ely most of the useful and respectable qualifications. The character us in which both the one and the other should be united and too harmonized would seem to constitute the most perfect idea of

human nature. The insensible and inactive disposition, which he should be supposed alike destitute of both, would be rejected, rs, by the common consent of mankind, as utterly incapable of nd procuring any happiness to the individual, or any public benefit se to the world. But it was not in this world that the primitive nd Christians were desirous of making themselves either agreeable he or useful.

e

d.

1.

a

f

Christians

pleasure and

The acquisition of knowledge, the exercise of our reason or The primitive e fancy, and the cheerful flow of unguarded conversation, may condemn as employ the leisure of a liberal mind. Such amusements, how-luxury ever, were rejected with abhorrence, or admitted with the e utmost caution, by the severity of the fathers, who despised all e knowledge that was not useful to salvation, and who considered all levity of discourse as a criminal abuse of the gift of speech. In our present state of existence, the body is so inseparably connected with the soul that it seems to be our interest to taste, with innocence and moderation, the enjoyments of which that faithful companion is susceptible. Very different was the reasoning of our devout predecessors; vainly aspiring to imitate the perfection of angels, they disdained, or they affected to I disdain, every earthly and corporeal delight.80 Some of our senses indeed are necessary for our preservation, others for our subsistence, and others again for our information, and thus far it was impossible to reject the use of them. The first sensation of pleasure was marked as the first moment of their abuse. The unfeeling candidate for Heaven was instructed, not only to resist the grosser allurements of the taste or smell, but even to shut his ears against the profane harmony of sounds, and to view with indifference the most finished productions of human art. Gay apparel, magnificent houses, and elegant furniture were supposed to unite the double guilt of pride and of sensuality: a simple and mortified appearance was more suitable to the Christian who was certain of his sins and doubtful of his salvation. In their censures of luxury, the fathers are extremely minute and circumstantial ;90 and among the various articles which excite their pious indignation, we may enumerate false hair, garments of any colour except white,

Lactant. Institut. Divin. 1. vi. c. 20, 21, 22.

Consult a work of Clemens of Alexandria, intitled the Pædagogue, which contains the rudiments of ethics, as they were taught in the most celebrated of the Christian schools.

Their sentiments con

riage and chastity

instruments of music, vases of gold or silver, downy pillows (as Jacob reposed his head on a stone), white bread, foreign wines, public salutations, the use of warm baths, and the practice of shaving the beard, which, according to the expression of Tertullian, is a lie against our own faces, and an impious attempt to improve the works of the Creator.91 When Christianity was introduced among the rich and the polite, the observation of these singular laws was left, as it would be at present, to the few who were ambitious of superior sanctity. But it is always easy, as well as agreeable, for the inferior ranks of mankind to claim a merit from the contempt of that pomp and pleasure, which fortune has placed beyond their reach. The virtue of the primitive Christians, like that of the first Romans, was very frequently guarded by poverty and ignorance.

The chaste severity of the fathers, in whatever related to the cerning mar. commerce of the two sexes, flowed from the same principle; their abhorrence of every enjoyment which might gratify the sensual, and degrade the spiritual, nature of man. It was their favourite opinion that, if Adam had preserved his obedience to the Creator, he would have lived for ever in a state of virgin purity, and that some harmless mode of vegetation might have peopled paradise with a race of innocent and immortal beings.92 The use of marriage was permitted only to his fallen posterity, as a necessary expedient to continue the human species, and as a restraint, however imperfect, on the natural licentiousness of desire. The hesitation of the orthodox casuists on this interesting subject betrays the perplexity of men, unwilling to approve an institution which they were compelled to tolerate.93 The enumeration of the very whimsical laws, which they most circumstantially imposed on the marriage-bed, would force a smile from the young, and a blush from the fair. It was their unanimous sentiment that a first marriage was adequate to all the purposes of nature and of society. The sensual connexion was refined into a resemblance of the mystic union of Christ with his church, and was pronounced to be indissoluble either by divorce or by death. The practice of second nuptials was branded with the name of a legal adultery; and the persons who were guilty of so scandalous an offence against Christian

91 Tertullian, de Spectaculis, c. 23. Clemens Alexandrin. Pædagog. 1. iii. c. 8. 92 Beausobre, Hist. Critique du Manichéisme, 1. vii. c. 3. Justin, Gregory of Nyssa, Augustin, &c., strongly inclined to this opinion.

93 Some of the Gnostic heretics were more consistent; they rejected the use of marriage.

室 purity were soon excluded from the honours, and even from the alms, of the church.94 Since desire was imputed as a crime, and marriage was tolerated as a defect, it was consistent with the same principles to consider a state of celibacy as the nearest approach to the divine perfection. It was with the utmost difficulty that ancient Rome could support the institution of six vestals; 95 but the primitive church was filled with a great number of persons of either sex who had devoted themselves to the profession of perpetual chastity.96 A few of these, among whom we may reckon the learned Origen, judged it the most prudent to disarm the tempter.97 Some were insensible and some were invincible against the assaults of the flesh. Disdaining an ignominious flight, the virgins of the warm climate of Africa encountered the enemy in the closest engagement; they permitted priests and deacons to share their bed, and gloried amidst the flames in their unsullied purity. But insulted Nature Sometimes vindicated her rights, and this new species of martyrdom served only to introduce a new scandal into the church.98 Among the Christian ascetics, however (a name which they soon acquired from their painful exercise), many, as they were less presumptuous, were probably more successful. The loss of sensual pleasure was supplied and compensated by spiritual pride. Even the multitude of Pagans were inclined to estimate the merit of the sacrifice by its apparent difficulty; and it was in the praise of these chaste spouses of Christ that the fathers have poured forth the troubled stream of their eloquence.99 Such are the early traces of monastic principles and institutions

4 See a chain of tradition, from Justin Martyr to Jerome, in the Morale des Pères; c. iv. 6—26.

See a very curious Dissertation on the Vestals, in the Mémoires de l'Académie des Inscriptions, tom. iv. p. 161-227. Notwithstanding the honours and rewards which were bestowed on those virgins, it was difficult to procure a sufficient sumber; nor could the dread of the most horrible death always restrain their incontinence.

*Cupiditatem procreandi aut unam scimus aut nullam. Minucius Felix, c. 31. Justin. Apolog. Major [29]. Athenagoras in Legat. c. 28. Tertullian de Cultu Femin. 1. ii.

*Eusebius, 1. vi. 8. Before the fame of Origen had excited envy and persecu tion, this extraordinary action was rather admired than censured. As it was his general practice to allegorize scripture, it seems unfortunate that, in this instance only, he should have adopted the literal sense.

Cyprian Epist. 4, and Dodwell Dissertat. Cyprianic. . Something like this rash attempt was long afterwards imputed to the founder of the order of Fonterault. Bayle has amused himself and his readers on that very delicate subject.

Dupin (Bibliothèque Ecclésiastique, tom. i. p. 195) gives a particular account of the dialogue of the ten virgins, as it was composed by Methodius, bishop of Tyre. The praises of virginity are excessive.

Their aversion to the

business of war and

which, in a subsequent age, have counterbalanced all th temporal advantages of Christianity.1

100

t

The Christians were not less averse to the business than the pleasures of this world. The defence of our persons an government property they knew not how to reconcile with the patien doctrine which enjoined an unlimited forgiveness of past injurie and commanded them to invite the repetition of fresh insults Their simplicity was offended by the use of oaths, by the pom] of magistracy, and by the active contention of public life, no could their humane ignorance be convinced that it was law fu on any occasion to shed the blood of our fellow-creatures, eithe by the sword of justice or by that of war; even though thei criminal or hostile attempts should threaten the peace and safety of the whole community.101 It was acknowledged that, under a less perfect law, the powers of the Jewish constitution had been exercised, with the approbation of Heaven, by inspired prophets and by anointed kings. The Christians felt and confessed that such institutions might be necessary for the present system of the world, and they cheerfully submitted to the authority of their Pagan governors. But, while they inculcated the maxims of passive obedience, they refused to take any active part in the civil administration or the military defence of the empire. Some indulgence might perhaps be allowed to those persons who, before their conversion, were already engaged in such violent and sanguinary occupations; 102 but it was impossible that the Christians, without renouncing a more sacred duty, could assume the character of soldiers, of magistrates, or of princes.103 indolent, or even criminal, disregard to the public welfare exposed them to the contempt and reproaches of the Pagans, who very frequently asked, What must be the fate of the empire, attacked on every side by the barbarians, if all mankind should

This

100 The Ascetics (as early as the second century) made a public profession of mortifying their bodies, and of abstaining from the use of flesh and wine. Mosheim, p. 310.

101 See the Morale des Pères. The same patient principles have been revived since the Reformation by the Socinians, the modern Anabaptists, and the Quakers. Barclay, the apologist of the Quakers, has protected his brethren by the authority of the primitive Christians, p. 542-549.

102 Tertullian, Apolog. c. 21, De Idololatriâ, c. 17, 18. Origen contra Celsum, 1. v. p. 253, [p. 1232, Migne, Patr. G. xi.,] 1. vii. p. 348, [1457,] 1. viii. p. 423428, [1620, sqq.].

103 Tertullian (De Corona Militis, c. 11) suggests to them the expedient of deserting; a counsel which, if it had been generally known, was not very proper to conciliate the favour of the emperors towards the Christian sect.

the adopt the pusillanimous sentiments of the new sect? 104

To

this insulting question the Christian apologists returned obscure to and ambiguous answers, as they were unwilling to reveal the n secret cause of their security; the expectation that, before the conversion of mankind was accomplished, war, government, the ies Roman empire and the world itself would be no more. It may

:nt

пр

ts be observed that, in this instance likewise, the situation of the first Christians coincided very happily with their religious scruples, and that their aversion to an active life contributed rather to excuse them from the service, than to exclude them from the honours, of the state and army.

or

ul

er

it

if

f

ir

CAUSE.

tians active

church

V. But the human character, however it may be exalted or THE FIFTH depressed by a temporary enthusiasm, will return, by degrees, The Christo its proper and natural level, and will resume those passions in the govern that seem the most adapted to its present condition. The ment of the primitive Christians were dead to the business and pleasures of the world; but their love of action, which could never be entirely extinguished, soon revived, and found a new occupation in the government of the church. A separate society, which attacked the established religion of the empire, was obliged to adopt some form of internal policy, and to appoint a sufficient number of ministers, intrusted not only with the spiritual functions, but even with the temporal direction, of the Christian commonwealth. The safety of that society, its honour, its aggrandisement, were productive, even in the most pious minds, of a spirit of patriotism, such as the first of the Romans had felt for the republic, and sometimes, of a similar indifference in the use of whatever means might probably conduce to so desirable an end. The ambition of raising themselves or their friends to the honours and offices of the church was disguised by the laudable intention of devoting to the public benefit the power and consideration which, for that purpose only, it became their duty to solicit. In the exercise of their functions, they were frequently called upon to detect the errors of heresy, or the arts of faction, to oppose the designs of perfidious brethren, to stigmatize their characters with deserved infamy, and to expel them from the bosom of a society whose peace and happiness they had attempted to disturb. The ecclesiastical governors of the Christians were taught to unite the wisdom of the serpent with the innocence of the dove; but, as the former was refined, so

104 As well as we can judge from the mutilated representation of Origen (1. viii. P. 423 [1620]), his adversary, Celsus, had urged his objection with great force and candour.