christians con. demn pleasure

and luxury.

dealing, to remove the suspicions which the profane | disposition, which should be supposed alike destiare too apt to conceive against the appearances of tute of both, would be rejected, by the common sanctity. The contempt of the world exercised consent of mankind, as utterly incapable of prothem in the habits of humility, meekness, and curing any happiness to the individual, or any patience. The more they were persecuted, the public benefit to the world. But it was not in this more closely they adhered to each other. Their world that the primitive christians were desirous mutual charity and unsuspecting confidence has of making themselves either agreeable or useful. been remarked by infidels, and was too often The acquisition of knowledge, the The primitive abused by perfidious friends." exercise of our reason or fancy, and Morality of the It is a very honourable circum- the cheerful flow of unguarded converfathers. stance for the morals of the primitive sation, may employ the leisure of a liberal mind. christians, that even their faults, or rather errors, Such amusements, however, were rejected with abwere derived from an excess of virtue. The bishops horrence, or admitted with the utmost caution, by and doctors of the church, whose evidence attests, the severity of the fathers, who despised all knowand whose authority might influence, the profes- ledge that was not useful to salvation, and who sions, the principles, and even the practice, of their considered all levity of discourse as a criminal contemporaries, had studied the scriptures with abuse of the gift of speech. In our present state of less skill than devotion, and they often received, in existence, the body is so inseparably connected with the most literal sense, those rigid precepts of Christ the soul, that it seems to be our interest to taste, and the apostles, to which the prudence of succeed- with innocence and moderation, the enjoyments of ing commentators has applied a looser and more which that faithful companion is susceptible. Very figurative mode of interpretation. Ambitious to different was the reasoning of our devout predeexalt the perfection of the gospel above the wisdom cessors; vainly aspiring to imitate the perfection of of philosophy, the zealous fathers have carried the angels, they disdained, or they affected to disdain, duties of self-mortification, of purity, and of pa- every earthly and corporeal delight. Some of our tience, to a height which it is scarcely possible to senses indeed are necessary for our preservation, attain, and much less to preserve, in our present others for our subsistence, and others again for our state of weakness and corruption. A doctrine so information, and thus far it was impossible to reject extraordinary and so sublime must inevitably comthe use of them. The first sensation of pleasure was mand the veneration of the people; but it was ill marked as the first moment of their abuse. The uncalculated to obtain the suffrage of those worldly feeling candidate for heaven was instructed, not philosophers, who, in the conduct of this transitory only to resist the grosser allurements of the taste or life, consult only the feelings of nature and the smell, but even to shut his ears against the prointerest of society." fane 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;" and among the various articles which excite their pious indignation, we may enumerate false hair, garments of any colour except white, 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. 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

Principles of

There are two very natural propenhuman nature. sities which we may distinguish in the most virtuous and liberal dispositions, the love of pleasure and the love of action. If the former be refined by art and learning, improved by the charms of social intercourse, and corrected by a just regard to economy, to health, and to reputation, it is productive of the greatest part of the happiness of private life. The love of action is a principle of a much stronger and more doubtful nature. It often leads to anger, to ambition, and to revenge; but when it is guided by the sense of propriety and benevolence, it becomes the parent of every virtue; and if those virtues are accompanied with equal abilities, a family, a state, or an empire, may be indebted for their safety and prosperity to the undaunted courage of a single man. To the love of pleasure we may therefore ascribe most of the agreeable, to the love of action we may attribute most of the useful and respect-❘ able, qualifications. The character in which both the one and the other should be united and harmonized, would seem to constitute the most perfect idea of human nature. The insensible and inactive

r The philosopher Peregrinus (of whose life and death Lucian has left us so entertaining an account) imposed, for a long time, on the credulous simplicity of the christians of Asia.

s See a very judicious treatise of Barbeyrac sur la Morale des Peres. Lactant. Institut. Divin. 1. vi. c. 20-22.

u Consult a work of Clemens of Alexandria, entitled the Pedagogue, which contains the rudiments of ethics, as they were taught in the most celebrated of the christian schools.

Tertullian, de Spectaculis, c. 23. Clemens Alexandrin. Pædagog. 1. iii. c. 8.

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. 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. Such are the early traces of monastic principles and institutions, which, in a subsequent age, have counterbalanced all the temporal advantages of Christianity.s

Their aversion to

the business of war and govern

pomp and pleasure, which fortune has placed be- | flight, the virgins of the warm climate of Africa yond their reach. The virtue of the primitive christians, like that of the first Romans, was very frequently guarded by poverty and ignorance. Their sentiments The chaste severity of the fathers, concerning mar in whatever related to the commerce riage and chastity. 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. 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. 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 purity, were soon excluded from the honours, and even from the alms, of the church. 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 ; 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. A few of these, among whom we may reckon the learned Origen, judged it the most prudent to disarm the tempter. Some were insensible and some were invincible against the assaults of the flesh. Disdaining an ignominious

y Beausobre, Hist. Critique du Manicheisme, 1. vii. c. 3. Justin, Gregory of Nyssa, Augustin, &c. strongly inclined to this opinion. z Some of the Gnostic heretics were more consistent; they rejected the use of marriage.

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

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

e Cupiditatem procreandi aut unam scimus aut nullam. Minucius Fælix, c. 31. Justin. Apolog. Major. Athenagoras in Legat. c. 28. Tertullian de Cultu Fœmin. 1. ii.

d Eusebius, 1. vi. 8. Before the fame of Origen had excited envy and persecution, this extraordinary action was rather admired than censured. As it was his general practice to allegorize scripture, it

The christians were not less averse to the business than to the pleasures of this world. The defence of our ment. persons and property they knew not how to reconcile with the patient doctrine which enjoined an unlimited forgiveness of past injuries, and commanded them to invite the repetition of fresh insults. Their simplicity was offended by the use of oaths, by the pomp of magistracy, and by the active contention of public life, nor could their humane ignorance be convinced, that it was lawful on any occasion to shed the blood of our fellowcreatures, either by the sword of justice, or by that of war; even though their criminal or hostile attempts should threaten the peace and safety of the whole community. 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 eivil 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

seems unfortunate that, in this instance only, he should have adopted the literal sense.

e

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

f Dupin (Bibliotheque Ecclesiastique, 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. g 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.

h See the Morale des Peres. 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.

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 the latter was insensibly corrupted, by the habits of government. In the church as well as in the world, the persons who were placed in any public station rendered themselves considerable by their eloquence and firmness, by their knowledge of mankind, and by their dexterity in business; and while they concealed from others, and perhaps from themselves, the secret motives of their conduct, they too frequently relapsed into all the turbulent passions of active life, which were tinctured with an additional degree of bitterness and obstinacy from the infusion of spiritual zeal.

occupations; but it was impossible that the chris- | whose peace and happiness they had attempted to tians, without renouncing a more sacred duty, could assume the character of soldiers, of magistrates, or of princes. This 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 adopt the pusillanimous sentiments of the new sect? To this insulting question the christian apologists returned obscure and ambiguous answers, as they were unwilling to reveal the secret cause of their security; the expectation that, before the conversion of mankind | was accomplished, war, government, the Roman empire, and the world itself, would be no more. It may 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. V. But the human character, however it may be exalted or depressed by

THE FIFTH
CAUSE.

The Christians ac.

church.

tive in the go. a temporary enthusiasm, will return vernment of the by degrees to its proper and natural level, and will resume those passions that seem the most adapted to its present condition. 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 aggrandizement, 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,

i Tertullian, Apolog. c. 21. De Idololatriâ, c. 17, 18. Origen contra Celsum, I. v. p. 253. 1. vii. p. 348. 1. viii. p. 423–428.

k Tertullian (de Coronâ 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.

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

m

The government of the church has Its primitive freeoften been the subject, as well as the dom and equality. prize, of religious contention. The hostile disputants of Rome, of Paris, of Oxford, and of Geneva, have alike struggled to reduce the primitive and apostolic model to the respective standards of their own policy. The few who have pursued this inquiry with more candour and impartiality, are of opinion," that the apostles declined the office of legislation, and rather chose to endure some partial scandals and divisions, than to exclude the christians of a future age from the liberty of varying their forms of ecclesiastical government according to the changes of times and circumstances. The scheme of policy, which, under their approbation, was adopted for the use of the first century, may be discovered from the practice of Jerusalem, of Ephesus, or of Corinth. The societies which were instituted in the cities of the Roman empire, were united only by the ties of faith and charity. Independence and equality formed the basis of their internal constitution. The want of discipline and human learning was supplied by the occasional assistance of the prophets, who were called to that function without distinction of age, of sex, or of natural abilities, and who, as often as they felt the divine impulse, poured forth the effusions of the spirit in the assembly of the faithful. But these extraordinary gifts were frequently abused or misapplied by the prophetic teachers. They displayed them at an improper season, presumptuously disturbed the service of the assembly, and by their pride or mistaken zeal they introduced, particularly into the apostolic church of Corinth, a long and melancholy train of disorders.P As the institution of prophets became useless, and even pernicious, their powers were withdrawn, and their office abolished. The public functions of religion were solely intrusted to the established ministers of the

m The aristocratical party in France, as well as in England, has strenuously maintained the divine origin of bishops. But the Calvinistical presbyters were impatient of a superior; and the Roman pontiff refused to acknowledge an equal. See Fra Paolo.

n In the history of the christian hierarchy, I have, for the most part, followed the learned and candid Mosheim.

o For the prophets of the primitive church, see Mosheim, Dissertationes ad Hist. Eccles. pertinentes, tom. ii. p. 132–208.

p See the epistles of St. Paul, and of Clemens, to the Corinthians.

church, the bishops and the presbyters; two appellations, which, in their first origin, appear to have distinguished the same office and the same order of persons. The name of presbyter was expressive of their age, or rather of their gravity and wisdom. The title of bishop denoted their inspection over the faith and manners of the christians who were committed to their pastoral care. In proportion to the respective numbers of the faithful, a larger or smaller number of these episcopal presbyters guided each infant congregation with equal authority, and with united counsels.

Institution of

dents of the col.

ters.

|

tion of the sacraments and discipline of the church, the superintendency of religious ceremonies, which imperceptibly increased in number and variety, the consecration of ecclesiastical ministers, to whom the bishop assigned their respective functions, the management of the public fund, and the determination of all such differences as the faithful were unwilling to expose before the tribunal of an idolatrous judge. These powers, during a short period, were exercised according to the advice of the presbyterial college, and with the consent and approbation of the assembly of christians. The primitive bishops were considered only as the first of their equals, and the honourable servants of a free people. Whenever the episcopal chair became vacant by death, a new president was chosen among the presbyters by the suffrage of the whole congregation, every member of which supposed himself invested with a sacred and sacerdotal character.

cils.

Such was the mild and equal con- Provincial counstitution by which the christians were governed more than an hundred years after the death of the apostles. Every society formed within itself a separate and independent republic; and although the most distant of these little states maintained a mutual as well as friendly intercourse of letters and deputations, the christian world was not yet connected by any supreme authority or legislative

But the most perfect equality of bishops as presi- freedom requires the directing hand lege of presby- of a superior magistrate; and the order of public deliberations soon introduces the office of a president, invested at least with the authority of collecting the sentiments, and of executing the resolutions, of the assembly. A regard for the public tranquillity, which would so frequently have been interrupted by annual or by occasional elections, induced the primitive christians to constitute an honourable and perpetual magistracy, and to choose one of the wisest and most holy among their presbyters to execute, during his life, the duties of their ecclesiastical governor. It was under these circumstance that the lofty title of Bishop began to raise itself above the humble appellation of presbyter; and while the latter re-assembly. As the numbers of the faithful were mained the most natural distinction for the members of every christian senate, the former was appropriated to the dignity of its new president." The advantages of this episcopal form of government, which appears to have been introduced before the end of the first century, were so obvious, and so important for the future greatness, as well as the present peace, of christianity, that it was adopted without delay by all the societies which were already scattered over the empire, had acquired in a very early period the sanction of antiquity,' and is still revered by the most powerful churches, both of the east and of the west, as a primitive and even as a divine establishment." It is needless to observe, that the pious and humble presbyters, who were first dignified with the episcopal title, could not possess, and would probably have rejected, the power and pomp which now encircles the tiara of the Roman pontiff, or the mitre of a German prelate. But we may define, in a few words, the narrow limits of their original jurisdiction, which was chiefly of a spiritual, though in some instances of a temporal, nature. It consisted in the administra

q Hooker's Ecclesiastical Polity, 1. vii.

r See Jerome ad Titum, c. i. and Epistol. 85. (in the Benedictine edition, 101.) and the elaborate apology of Blondel, pro senteutiâ Hieronymi. The ancient state, as it is described by Jerome, of the bishop and presbyters of Alexandria, receives a remarkable confirmation from the patriarch Eutychius. (Annal. tom. i. p. 330. Vers. Pocock ;) whose testimony I know not how to reject, in spite of all the objections of the learned Pearson in his Vindiciae Ignatianæ, part i. c. 11.

See the Introduction to the Apocalypse. Bishops, under the name of angels, were already instituted in the seven cities of Asia. And yet the epistle of Clemens (which is probably of as ancient a date) does not lead us to discover any traces of episcopacy either at Corinth or Rome. t Nulla ecclesia sine episcopo, has been a fact as well as a maxim since the time of Tertullian and Irenæus,

u After we have passed the difficulties of the first century, we find

gradually multiplied, they discovered the advantages that might result from a closer union of their interest and designs. Towards the end of the second century, the churches of Greece and Asia adopted the useful institutions of provincial synods, and they may justly be supposed to have borrowed the model of a representative council from the celebrated examples of their own country, the Amphictyons, the Achæan league, or the assemblies of the Ionian cities. It was soon established as a custom and as a law, that the bishops of the independent churches should meet in the capital of the province at the stated periods of spring and autumn. Their deliberations were assisted by the advice of a few distinguished presbyters, and moderated by the presence of a listening multitude. Their decrees, which were styled canons, regulated every important controversy of faith and discipline; and it was natural to believe that a liberal effusion of the Holy Spirit would be poured on the united assembly of the delegates of the christian people. The institution of synods was so well suited to private ambition, and to public interest, that in the space of a few years

the episcopal government universally established, till it was interrupted by the republican genius of the Swiss and German reformers.

x See Mosheim in the first and second centuries. Ignatius (ad Smyruæos, c. 3, &c.) is fond of exalting the episcopal dignity. Le Clerc (Hist. Eccles. p. 569.) very bluntly censures his conduct. Mosheim, with a more critical judgment, (p. 161.) suspects the purity even of the smaller epistles.

y Nonne et laici sacerdotes sumus? Tertullian, Exhort. ad Castitat. c. 7. As the human heart is still the same, several of the observations which Mr. Hume has made ou Enthusiasm (Essays, vol. i. p. 76. quarto edit.) may be applied even to real inspiration.

z Acta Concil. Carthag. apud Cyprian. Edit. Fell, p. 158. This council was composed of eighty-seven bishops from the provinces of Mauritania, Numidia, and Africa; some presbyters and deacons assisted at the assembly; præsente plebis maximâ parte.