XV. infirm, and of the poor, who were maintained by the ob- CHAP. lations of the faithful, amounted to fifteen hundred. From reason, as well as from the analogy of Antioch, we may venture to estimate the Christians of Rome at about fifty thousand. The populousness of that great capital cannot perhaps be exactly ascertained; but the most modest calculation will not surely reduce it lower than a million of inhabitants, of whom the Christians might constitute at the most a twentieth parti70. and the The western provincials appear to have derived the In Africa knowledge of Christianity from the same source which western had diffused among them the language, the sentiments, provinces. and the manners of Rome. In this more important circumstance, Africa, as well as Gaul, was gradually fashioned to the imitation of the capital. Yet, notwithstanding the many favourable occasions which might invite the Roman missionaries to visit the Latin provinces, it was late before they had passed either the sea or the Alps; nor can we discover in those great countries any assured traces either of faith or of persecution that ascend higher than the reign of the Antonines72. The slow progress of the gospel in the cold climate of Gaul, was extremely different from the eagerness with which it seems to have been received on the burning sands of Africa. The African Christians soon formed one of the principal members of the primitive church. The practice introduced into that 169 Eusebius, 1. vi. c. 43. The Latin translator (M. de Valois) has thought proper to reduce the number of presbyters to forty-four. 170 This proportion of the presbyters and of the poor, to the rest of the people, was originally fixed by Burnet (Travels into Italy, p. 168.) and is approved by Moyle (vol. ii. p. 151.) They were both unacquainted with the passage of Chrysostom, which converts their conjecture almost into a fact. 171 Serius trans Alpes, religione Dei susceptâ. Sulpicius Severus, I. ii. These were the celebrated martyrs of Lyons. See Eusebius, v. 1. Tillemont, Mem. Ecclesiast. tom. ii. p. 316. According to the Donatists, whose assertion is confirmed by the tacit acknowledgment of Augustin, Africa was the last of the provinces which received the gospel. Tillemont, Mem. Ecclesiast. tom. i. p. 754. 172 Tum primum intra Gallias martyria visa. Sulp. Severus, 1. ii. With regard to Africa, see Tertullian ad Scapulam, c. 3. It is imagined, that the Scyllatin martyrs were the first (Acta Sincera Ruinart. p. 34.) One of the adversaries of Apuleius seems to have been a Christian. Apolog. p. 496, 497. edit. Delphin. CHAP. province, of appointing bishops to the most inconsideXV. rable towns, and very frequently to the most obscure villages, contributed to multiply the splendour and importance of their religious societies, which, during the course of the third century were animated by the zeal of Tertullian, directed by the abilities of Cyprian, and adorned by the eloquence of Lactantius. But if, on the contrary, we turn our eyes towards Gaul, we must content ourselves with discovering, in the time of Mareus Antonimus, the feeble and united congregations of Lyons and Vienna; and even as late as the reign of Decius, we are assured, that in a few cities only, Arles, Narbonne, Thoulouse, Limoges, Clermont, Tours, and Paris, some scattered churches were supported by the devotion of a small number of Christians. Silence is indeed very consistent with devotion, but as it is seldom compatible with zeal, we may perceive and lament the languid state of Christianity in those provinces which had exchanged the Celtic for the Latin tongue: since they did not, during the three first centuries, give birth to a single ecclesiastical writer. From Gaul, which claimed a just pre-eminence of learning and authority over all the countries on this side of the Alps, the light of the gospel was more faintly reflected on the remote provinces of Spain and Britain : and if we may credit the vehement assertions of Tertullian, they had already received the first rays of the faith when he addressed his apology to the magistrates of the emperor Severus 74. But the obscure and imperfect origin of the western churches of Europe has been so negligently recorded, that if we would relate the time and manner of their foundation, we must supply the silence of antiquity by those legends which avarice or superstition long afterwards dictated to the monks in the lazy gloom of their con 173 Rare in aliquibus civitatibus ecclesiæ, paucorum Christianorum devotione, resurgerent. Acta Sincera, p. 130. Gregory of Tours, l. i. c. 28. Mosheim, p. 207. 449. There is some reason to believe, that, in the beginning of the fourth century, the extensive dioceses of Liege, of Treves, and of Cologne, composed a single bishopric, which had been very recently founded. See Memoires de Tillemont, tom. vi. part. i. p. 43. 411. 174 The date of Tertullian's Apology is fixed, in a dissertation of Mosheim, to the year 198. XV. vents175. Of these holy romances, that of the apostle CHAP. St. James can alone, by its single extravagance, deserve to be mentioned. From a peaceful fisherman of the lake of Gennesareth, he was transformed into a valorous knight, who charged at the head of the Spanish chivalry in their battles against the Moors. The grav est historians have celebrated his exploits; the miraculous shrine of Compostella displayed his power; and the sword of a military order, assisted by the ter rors of the Inquisition, was sufficient to remove every objection of profane criticism176. the limits The progress of Christianity was not confined to Beyond the Roman empire; and according to the primitive of the Rofathers, who interpret facts by prophecy, the new re- man emligion, within a century after the death of its divine pire. author had already visited every part of the globe. "There exists not," says Justin Martyr," a people, "whether Greek or Barbarian, or any other race of "men, by whatsoever appellation or manners they "may be distinguished, however ignorant of arts or "agriculture, whether they dwell under tents, or wan"der about in covered wagons, among whom prayers "are not offered up in the name of a crucified Jesus "to the Father and Creator of all things"." But this splendid exaggeration, which even at present it would be extremely difficult to reconcile with the real state of mankind, can be considered only as the rash sally of a devout but careless writer, the measure of whose belief was regulated by that of his wishes. But neither the belief, nor the wishes, of the fathers, can alter the truth of history. It will still remain an undoubted fact, that the barbarians of Scythia, and Germany, who afterwards subverted the Roman monarchy, were involved in the darkness of paganism; and that even 175 In the fifteenth century, there were few who had either inclination or courage to question whether Joseph of Arimathea founded the monastery of Glastonbury, and whether Dionysius the Areopagite preferred the residence of Paris to that of Athens. 176 The stupendous metamorphosis was performed in the ninth century. See Mariana (Hist. Hispan. I. vii. c. 13. tom. i. p. 285. edit. Hag. Com. 1733.), who in every sense, imitates Livy, and the honest detection of the legend of St. James by Dr. Geddes, Miscellanies, vol. ii. p. 221. 177 Justin Martyr, Dialog. cum Tryphon. p. 341. Irenæus adv. Hæres, 1. i. c. 10. Tertullian adv. Jud. c. 7. See Mosheim, p. 203. VOL. II. S XV. CHAP. the conversion of Iberia, of Armenia, or of Æthiopia, was not attempted with any degree of success till the sceptre was in the hands of an orthodox emperor178. Before that time, the various accidents of war and commerce might indeed diffuse an imperfect knowledge of the gospel among the tribes of Caledonia 179, and among the borderers of the Rhine, the Danube, and the Euphrates180. Beyond the last-mentioned river, Edessa was distinguished by a firm and early adherence to the faith. From Edessa, the principles of Christianity were early introduced into the Greek and Syrian cities which obeyed the successors of Artaxerxes; but they do not appear to have made any deep impression on the minds of the Persians, whose religious system, by the labours of a well-disciplined order of priests, had been constructed with much more art and solidity than the uncertain mythology of Greece and Rome. General proportion of Christians From this impartial though imperfect survey of the progress of Christianity, it may perhaps seem probable, that the number of its proselytes has been excesand Pa- sively magnified by fear on the one side, and by devotion on the other. According to the irreproachable testimony of Origen 83, the proportion of the faithful was very inconsiderable, when compared with the multi gans. = 178 See the fourth century of Mosheim's History of the Church. Many, though very confused circumstances, that relate to the conversion of Iberia and Armenia, may be found in Moses of Chorene, l. ii. c. 78-89 179 According to Tertullian, the Christian faith had penetrated into parts of Britain inaccessible to the Roman arms. About a century afterwards, Ossian, the son of Fingal, is said to have disputed, in his extreme old age, with one of the foreign missionaries, and the dispute is still extant, in verse, and in the Erse language. See Mr. Macpherson's Dissertation on the antiquity of Ossian's Poems, p. 10. 180 The Goths, who ravaged Asia in the reign of Gallienus, carried away great numbers of captives; some of whom were Christians, and became missionaries. See Tillemont, Memoires Ecclesiast. tom. iv. p. 44. 181 The legend of Abgarus, fabulous as it is, affords, a decisive proof, that many years before Eusebius wrote his history, the greatest part of the inhabitants of Edessa had embraced Christianity. Their rivals, the citizens of Carrhæ, adhered, on the contrary, to the cause of Paganism, as late as the sixth century. 182 According to Bardesanes (ap. Euseb. Præpar. Evangel.) there were some Christians in Persia before the end of the second century. In the time of Constantine (see his epistle to Sapor, Vit. 1. iv. c. 13.) they composed a flourishing church. Consult Beausobre, Hist. Critique du Manicheisme, tom. i. p. 180. and the Bibliotheca Orientalis of Assemanni. 183 Origen contra Celsum, 1. viii. p. 424. XV. tude of an unbelieving world; but, as we are left with- CHAP. out any distinct information, it is impossible to determine, and it is difficult even to conjecture, the real numbers of the primitive Christians. The most favourable calculation, however, that can be deduced from the examples of Antioch and of Rome, will not permit us to imagine that more than a twentieth part of the subjects of the empire had inlisted themselves under the banner of the cross before the important conversion of Constantine. But their habits of faith, of zeal, and of union, seemed to multiply their numbers; and the same causes which contributed to their future increase, served to render their actual strength more apparent and more formidable. the first rant. Such is the constitution of civil society, that whilst Whether a few persons are distinguished by riches, by honours, Christians and by knowledge, the body of the people is condemn- were mean ed to obscurity, ignorance and poverty. The Chris. and ignotian religion, which addressed itself to the whole human race, must consequently collect a far greater number of proselytes from the lower than from the superior ranks of life. This innocent and natural circumstance has been improved into a very odious imputation, which seems to be less strenuously denied by the apologists, than it is urged by the adversaries, of the faith; that the new sect of Christians was almost entirely composed of the dregs of the populace, of peasants and mechanics, of boys and women, of beggars and slaves, the last of whom might sometimes introduce the missionaries into the rich and noble families to which they belonged. These obscure teachers (such was the charge of malice and infidelity) are as mute in public as they are loquacious and dogmatical in private. Whilst they cautiously avoid the dangerous encounter of philosopers, they mingle with the rude and illiterate crowd, and insinuate themselves into those minds, whom their age, their sex, or their education, has the best disposed to receive the impression of superstitious terrors 184 Some ex ceptions This unfavourable picture, though not devoid of a faint resemblance, betrays, by its dark colouring and with reCelsus ap. Origen, learning; 184 Minucius Felix, c. 8. with Wowerus's notes. 1. iii. p. 138. 142. Julian ap. Cyril. 1. vi. p. 206. Edit. Spanheim. gard to |