CHA P. legend of Theodoret, between the character of Cato and that XXXVII. of Simeon, we may appreciate the memorable revolution which was accomplished in the Roman empire within a period of five hundred years.

II. CON

II. The progrefs of Christianity has been marked by two VERSION glorious and decifive victories: over the learned and luxurious citizens of the Roman empire; and over the warlike BarbaBARBARI- rians of Scythia and Germany, who fubverted the empire,

OF THE

ANS.

Ulphilas,

the Goths,

A. D. 360,

and embraced the religion, of the Romans. The Goths were the foremost of these favage profelytes; and the nation was indebted for its converfion to a countryman, or, at least, to a fubject, worthy to be ranked among the inventors of useful arts, who have deserved the remembrance and gratitude of pofterity. A great number of Roman provincials had been led away into captivity by the Gothic bands, who ravaged Afia in the time of Gallienus: and of these captives, many were Chriftians, and feveral belonged to the ecclefiaftical order. Those involuntary miffionaries, difperfed as flaves in the villages of Dacia, fucceffively laboured for the falvation of their mafters. The feeds, which they planted of the evangelic doctrine, were gradually propagated; and, before the end of a century, the pious work was atchieved by the labours of Ulphilas, whofe ancestors had been tranfported beyond the Danube from a fmall town of Cappadocia.

Ulphilas, the bishop and apostle of the Goths (73), acapoftle of quired their love and reverence by his blameless life and indefatigable zeal; and they received, with implicit confidence, &c. the doctrines of truth and virtue, which he preached and practifed. He executed the arduous task of tranflating the Scriptures into their native tongue, a dialect of the German, or Teutonic, language; but he prudently fuppreffed the four books of Kings, as they might tend to irritate the fierce and fanguinary spirit of the Barbarians. The rude, imperfect, idiom of foldiers and fhepherds, fo ill-qualified to communicate any fpiritual ideas, was improved and modulated by his genius; and Ulphilas, before he could frame his verfion, was obliged to compofe a new alphabet of twentyfour letters; four of which he invented, to exprefs the peculiar

(73) On the fubject of Ulphilas, and the converfion of the Goths, fee Sozomen, 1. vi. c. 37. Socrates, 1. iv. c. 33. Theodoret, 1. iv. c. 37. Philoftorg. I. ii. c. 5. The herefy of Philostorgius appears to have given him fuperior means of information.

peculiar founds that were unknown to the Greek, and Latin, c H A P. pronunciation (74). But the profperous state of the Gothic XXXVII. church was foon afflicted by war and inteftine difcord, and the chieftains were divided by religion as well as by intereft. Fritigern, the friend of the Romans, became the profelyte of Ulphilas; while the haughty foul of Athanaric difdained the yoke of the empire, and of the Gofpel. The faith of the new converts was tried by the perfecution which he excited. A waggon, bearing aloft the fhapelefs image, of Thor, perhaps, or of Woden, was conducted in folemn proceffion through the ftreets of the camp; and the rebels, who refused to worship the God of their fathers, were immediately burnt, with their tents and families. The character of Ulphilas recommended him to the esteem of the Eastern court, where he twice appeared as the minifter of peace; he pleaded the cause of the diftreffed Goths, who implored the protection of Valens; and the name of Mofes was applied to this fpiritual guide, who conducted his people, through the deep waters of the Danube, to the Land of Promise (75). The devout fhepherds, who were attached to his perfon, and tractable to his voice, acquiefced in their fettlement, at the foot of the Mafian mountains, in a country of woodlands and paftures, which fupported their flocks and herds, and enabled them to purchase the corn and wine of the more plentiful provinces. Thefe harmless barbarians multiplied, in obfcure peace, the profeflion of Christianity (76).

ans, &c.

Their fiercer brethern, the formidable Vifigoths, uni- The Goths, verfally adopted the religion of the Romans, with whom Vandals. Burgundithey maintained a perpetual intercourfe, of war, of friendfhip, or of conqueft. In their long and victorious march embrace from Chriftianity, A. D. 400,

G g 2

(74) A mutilated copy of the four Gofpels, in the Gothic verfion, was published A. D. 1665, and is efteemed the most ancient monument of the Teutonic language, though Wetstein attempts, by fome frivolous conjectures, to deprive Ulphilas of the honour of the work. Two of the four additional letters exprefs the W, and our own Th. See Simon. Hift. Critique du Nouveau Teftament, tom. ii. p. 219-223. Mill, Prolegom. p. 151. edit, Kufter. Wetflein, Prolegom. tom. i. p. 114.

(75) Philoftorgius erroneously places this paffage under the reign of Con Rantine; but I am much inclined to believe that it preceded the great emigration.

(76) We are obliged to Jornandes (de Reb. Get. c. 51. p. 688.) for a fhort and lively picture of thefe leffer Goths Gothi Minores, populus immenfus, cum fuo Pontifice ipfoque primate Wulfila. The laft words, if they are not mere tautology, imply fome temporal jurisdiction.

&c.

CHA P. from the Danube to the Atlantic ocean, they converted their XXXVII. allies; they educated the rifing generation; and the devotion

Motives of

which reigned in the camp of Alaric, or the court of Thouloufe, might edify, or difgrace, the palaces of Rome and Conftantinople (77). During the fame period, Christianity was embraced by almost all the Barbarians, who established their kingdoms on the ruins of the Weftern empire; the Burgundians in Gaul, the Suevi in Spain, the Vandals in Africa, the Oftrogoths in Pannonia, and the various bands. of mercenaries, that raised Odoacer to the throne of Italy. The Franks and the Saxons ftill perfevered in the errors of Paganifm; but the Franks obtained the monarchy of Gaul by their fubmiffion to the example of Clovis; and the Saxon conquerors of Britain were reclaimed from their favage fuperftition by the miffionaries of Rome. Thefe Barbarian profelytes displayed an ardent and fuccefsful zeal in the propagation of the faith. The Merovingian kings, and their fucceffors, Charlemagne and the Othos, extended, by their laws and victories, the dominion of the cross. England produced the apoftle of Germany; and the evangelic light was gradually diffufed from the neighbourhood of the Rhine, to the nations of the Elbe, the Viftula, and the Baltic (78).

The different motives which influenced the reafon, or the their faith. paffions, of the Barbarian converts, cannot eafily be ascertained. They were often capricious and accidental; a dream, an omen, the report of a miracle, the example of fome priest, or hero, the charms of a believing wife, and above all, the fortunate event of a prayer, or vow, which, in a moment of danger, they had addreffed to the God of the Chriftians (79). The early prejudices of education were infenfibly erazed by the habits of frequent and familiar fociety; the moral precepts of the Gospel were protected by the extravagant virtues of the monks; and a fpiritual theology was fupported by the vifible power of relics, and the pomp of religious

(77) At non ita Gothi non ita Vandali; malis licet doctoribus inftituti, meliores tamen etiam in hâc parte quam noftri. Salvian de Gubern. Dei, 1. vii. p. 243

(78) Mofheim has flightly sketched the progrefs of Christianity in the North, from the fourth to the fourteenth century. The fubject would afford materials for an ecclefiaftical, and even philofophical, hiftory.

(79) To fuch a cause has Socrates (1. vii. c. 30.) afcribed the converfion of the Burgundians, whose Christian piety is celebrated by Orofius (1. vii. c. 19.).

religious worship. But the rational and ingenious mode of C H A P. perfuafion, which a Saxon bishop (80) fuggested to a popu- XXXVII. lar faint, might fometimes be employed by the miffionaries, who laboured for the converfion of Infidels. "Admit," fays the fagacious difputant, "whatever they are pleased to "affert of the fabulous, and carnal, genealogy of their gods " and goddeffes, who are propagated from each other. "From this principle deduce their imperfect nature, and ❝ human infirmities, the affurance they were born, and the "probability that they will die. At what time, by what means, "from what cause, were the eldest of the gods or goddeffes "produced? Do they still continue, or have they ceafed, 66 to propagate? If they have ceased, fummon your antagonifts to declare the reafon of this strange alteration. If "they ftill continue, the number of the gods muft become « infinite; and shall we not risk, by the indifcreet worship "of fome impotent deity, to excite the refentment of his "jealous fuperior? The vifible heavens and earth, the "whole fyftem of the univerfe, which may be conceived by "the mind, is it created or eternal ? If created, how or "where, could the gods themselves exift before the crea"tion? If eternal, how could they affume the empire of "an independent and pre-exifting world? Urge these ar

guments with temper and moderation; infinuate, at fea"fonable intervals, the truth, and beauty, of the Christian "revelation; and endeavour to make the unbelievers "afhamed, without making them angry." This metaphyfical reasoning, too refined perhaps for the Barbarians of Germany, was fortified by the groffer weight of authority and popular confent. The advantage of temporal profperity had deserted the Pagan cause, and paffed over to the fervice of Christianity, The Romans themselves, the most powerful and enlightened nation of the globe, had renounced their ancient fuperftition; and, if the ruin of their empire seemed to accuse the efficacy of the new faith, the difgrace was already retrieved by the converfion of the victorious Goths. The valiant and fortunate Barbarians, who fubdued the provinces

(80) See an original and curious epiftle from Daniel, the first bishop of Winchester (Beda. Hift. Ecclef. Anglorum, 1. v. c. 18. p. 203. edit. Smith), to St. Boniface, who preached the gofpel among the Savages of Heffe and Thuringia. Epiftol. Bonifacii, Ixvii. in the Maxima Bibliotheca Patrum, tom. xiii, p. 93.

CHA P. vinces of the Weft, fucceffively received, and reflected, the XXXVII. fame edifying example. Before the age of Charlemagne, the Chriftian nations of Europe might exult in the exclufive poffeffion of the temperate climates, of the fertile lands, which produced corn, wine, and oil; while the favage idolaters, and their helpless idols, were confined to the extremities of the earth, the dark and frozen regions of the North (81).

Effects of

their con

verfion.

Chiftianity, which opened the gates of Heaven to the Barbarians, introduced an important change in their moral and political condition. They received, at the fame time, the use of letters, fo effential to a religion whose doctrines are contained in a facred book; and while they ftudied the divine truth, their minds were infenfibly enlarged by the diftant view of history, of nature, of the arts, and of society. The verfion of the Scriptures into their native tongue, which had facilitated their converfion, muft excite, among their clergy, fome curiofity to read the original text, to understand the facred liturgy of the church, and to examine, in the writings of the fathers, the chain of ecclefiaftical tradition. Thefe fpiritual gifts were preferved in the Greek and Latin languages, which concealed the ineftimable monuments of ancient learning. The immortal productions of Virgil, Cicero, and Livy, which were acceffible to the Christian Barbarians, maintained a filent intercourfe between the reign of Augustus, and the times of Clovis and Charlemagne. The emulation of mankind was encouraged by the remembrance of a more perfect state; and the flame of science was fecretly kept alive, to warm and enlighten the mature age of the Western world. In the moft corrupt state of Christianity, the Barbarians might learn justice from the law, and mercy from the gospel : and if the knowledge of their duty was infufficient to guide their actions, or to regulate their paffions; they were fometimes reftrained by confcience, and frequently punished by remorfe. But the direct authority of religion was less effectual, than the holy communion which united them with their Chriftian brethren in fpiritual friendship. The influence of these fentiments contributed to fecure their fidelity in the fervice, or the alliance, of the Romans, to alleviate

the

(81) The fword of Charlemagne added weight to the argument; but when Daniel wrote this epiftle (A. D. 723.) the Mahometans who reigned from India to Spain, might have retorted it against the Chriftians.