XXVIII, was opened by the bishop, in the presence of an СНАР. innumerable multitude. The coffins of Gamaliel, of his fon, and of his friend, were found in regular order; but when the fourth coffin, which contained the remains of Stephen, was fhewn to the light, the earth trembled, and an odour, such as that of paradife, was fmelt, which inftantly cured the various diseases of feventy-three of the affiftants. The companions of Stephen were left in their peaceful refidence of Caphargamala: but the relics of the firft martyr were tranfported, in folemn proceffion, to a church conftructed in their honour on Mount Sion; and the minute particles of thofe relics, a drop of blood 78, or the fcrapings of a bone, were acknowledged, in almost every province of the Roman world, to poffefs a divine and miraculous virtue. The grave and learned Auguftin", whofe understanding fcarcely admits the excufe of credulity, has attefted the innumerable prodigies which were performed in Africa by the relics of St. Stephen; and this marvellous narrative is inferted in the elaborate work of the City of God, which the bishop of Hippo defigned as a folid and immortal proof of the truth of Christianity. Auguftin folemnly declares, that 78 A phial of St. Stephen's blood was annually liquefied at Naples, till he was fuperfeded by St. Januarius (Ruinart. Hift, Perfecut. Vandal. p. 529.). 79 Auguftin compofed the two-and-twenty books de Civitate Dei in the space of thirteen years, A. D. 413–426 (Tillemont, Mem. Ecclef. tom. xiv. p. 608, &c.). His learning is too often borrowed, and his arguments are too often his own; but the whole work claims the merit of a magnificent defign, vigorously, and not unskilfully, Executed. VOL. V. K he CHAP. he has felected thofe miracles only which were XXVIII. publicly certified by the perfons who were either III. Revival of Polytheifm. the objects, or the spectators, of the power of the martyr. Many prodigies were omitted, or forgotten; and Hippo had been lefs favourably treated than the other cities of the province. And yet the bishop enumerates above feventy miracles, of which three were refurrections from the dead, in the space of two years, and within the limits of his own diocefe. If we enlarge our view to all the diocefes, and all the faints, of the Christian world, it will not be easy to calculate the fables, and the errors, which iffued from this inexhaustible source. But we may furely be allowed to obferve, that a miracle, in that age of fuperftition and credulity, loft its name and its merit, fince it could fcarcely be confidered as a deviation from the ordinary, and established, laws of nature. III. The innumerable miracles, of which the tombs of the martyrs were the perpetual theatre, revealed to the pious believer the actual state and conftitution of the invifible world; and his religious fpeculations appeared to be founded on the firm basis of fact and experience. Whatever might be the condition of vulgar fouls, in the long interval between the diffolution and the refurrection of their bodies, it was evident that the 80 See Auguftin. de Civitat. Dei, 1. xxii. c. 22. and the Appendix, which contains two books of St. Stephen's miracles, by Evodius, bishop of Uzalis. Freculphus (apud Bafnage, Hift. des Juifs, tom. viii. p. 249.) has preferved a Gallic or Spanish proverb, “Who"ever pretends to have read all the miracles of St. Stephen, he "lies." fuperior XXVIII. fuperior fpirits of the faints and martyrs did not CHAP. 82 81 Burnet (de Statû Mortuorum, p. 56-84.) collects the opinions of the Fathers, as far as they affert the fleep, or repose, of human fouls till the day of judgment. He afterwards exposes (p. 91, &c.) the inconveniencies which must arise, if they poffeffed a more active and fenfible exiftence. 82 Vigilantius placed the fouls of the prophets and martyrs, either in the bofom of Abraham (in loco refrigerii), or elfe under the altar of God. Nec poffe fuis tumulis et ubi voluerunt adeffe præfentes. But Jerom (tom. ii. p. 122.) fternly refutes this blafphemy. Tu Deo leges pones? Tu apoftolis vincula injicies, ut ufque ad diem judicii teneantur cuftodiâ, nec fint cum Domino fuq; de quibus fcriptum eft, Sequuntur Agnum quocunque vadit. Si Agnus ubiqne, ergo, et hi, qui cum Agno funt, ubique effe credendi funt. Et cum diabolus et dæmones toto vagentur in orbe, &c. XXVIII. CHAP. faith and piety, were the peculiar and favourite objects of their moft tender regard. Sometimes, indeed, their friendship might be influenced by confiderations of a lefs exalted kind: they viewed, with partial affection, the places which had been confecrated by their birth, their refidence, their death, their burial, or the poffeffion of their relics. The meaner paffions of pride, avarice, and revenge, may be deemed unworthy of a celeftial breaft; yet the faints themfelves condefcended to teftify their grateful approbation of the liberality of their votaries: and the sharpest bolts of punishment were hurled against those impious wretches, who violated their magnificent fhrines, or difbelieved their fupernatural power 83. Atrocious, indeed, must have been the guilt, and ftrange would have been the fcepticism, of those men, if they had obftinately refifted the proofs of a divine agency, which the elements, the whole range of the animal creation, and even the fubtle and invisible operations of the human mind, were compelled to obey 84. The immediate, and almost inftantaneous, effects, that were fupposed to follow the prayer, or the offence, fatisfied the Chriftians, of the ample measure of favour and authority, which the faints enjoyed in the prefence of the Supreme God; and it feemed almost fuperfluous 83 Fleury, Difcours fur l'Hift. Ecclefiaftique, iii. p. 8o. 84 At Minorca, the relics of St. Stephen converted, in eight days, 540 Jews; with the help, indeed, of fome wholefome feverities, fuch as burning the fynagogue, driving the obftinate infidels to starve among the rocks, &c. See the original letter of Severus bishop of Minorca (ad calcem St. Auguftin. de Civ. Dei), and the judicious remarks of Bafnage (tom. viii. p. 245—251.). XXVIII. to enquire, whether they were continually obliged CHAP. to intercede before the throne of grace; or whether they might not be permitted to exercife, according to the dictates of their benevolence and juftice, the delegated powers of their fubordinate miniftry. The imagination, which had been raised by a painful effort to the contemplation and worship of the Universal Cause, eagerly embraced fuch inferior objects of adoration, as were more proportioned to its grofs conceptions and imperfect faculties. The fublime and fimple theology of the primitive Chriftians was gradually corrupted; and the MONARCHY of heaven, already clouded by metaphyfical fubtleties, was degraded by the introduction of a popular mythology, which tended to restore the reign of polytheifm "", IV. As the objects of religion were gradually IV. Intro reduced to the ftandard of the imagination, the rites and ceremonies were introduced that feemed most powerfully to affect the senses of the vulgar. If, in the beginning of the fifth century 8, Tertullian, or Lactantius 27, had been fuddenly raised from the dead, to affift at the feftival of fome 86 85 85 Mr. Hume (Essays, vol. ii, p, 434.) obferves, like a philofopher, the natural flux and reflux of polytheism and theifm. 85 D'Aubigné (fee his own Memoires, p. 156-160.) frankly offered, with the confent of the Huguenot minifters, to allow the first 400 years as the rule of faith. The cardinal du Perron haggled for forty years more, which were indifcretly given. Yet neither party would have found their account in this foolish bargain. 87 The worship practifed and inculcated by Tertullian, Lactantius, Arnobius, &c. is fo extremely pure and fpiritual, that their declamations against the Pagan, fometimes glance against the Jewish, ceremonies. K 3 popular duction of Pagan ce remonies. |