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 respectable, qualifications. The character in which both the one and the other should be united and harmonised would seem to constitute the most perfect idea of human nature. The insensible and inactive disposition, which should be supposed alike destitute of both, would be rejected, by the common consent of mankind, as utterly incapable of procuring any happiness to the individual, or any public benefit to the world. But it was not in this world that the primitive Christians were desirous of making themselves either agreeable or useful."

primitive

pleasure

The acquisition of knowledge, the exercise of our reason or fancy, and the cheerful flow of unguarded conversation, may em- The ploy the leisure of a liberal mind. Such amusements, Christians however, were rejected with abhorrence, or admitted with condemn the utmost caution, by the severity of the fathers, who ant luxury. despised all 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 disdain, every earthly and corporeal delight.88 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, BT Lactant. Institut. Divin. 1. vi. c. 20, 21, 22.

Et que me fait cette homélie semistoicienne, semi-épicurienne? A-t-on jamais regardé l'amour du plaisir comme l'un des principes de la perfection morale? Et de quel droit faites vous de l'amour de l'action, et de l'amour du plaisir, les seuls élémens de l'être humain? Est-ce que vous faites abstraction de la vérité en ellemême, de la conscience et du sentiment du devoir? Est-ce que vous ne sentez point, par exemple, que le sacrifice du

moi à la justice et à la vérité est aussi dans le cœur de l'homme; que tout n'est pas pour lui action ou plaisir; et que dans le bien ce n'est pas le mouvement, mais la vérité, qu'il cherche? Et puis Thucydide et Tacite, ces maîtres de l'histoire, ont-ils jamais introduits dans leurs récits un fragment de dissertation sur le plaisir et sur l'action? Villemain, Cours de Lit. Franç. part II. Leçon V.-M.

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; 89 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.90 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.

Their sentiments concerning marriage

The chaste severity of the fathers in whatever related to the 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 and chastity. 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

91

89 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.

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

a

But these were Gnostic or Manichean opinions. Beausobre distinctly ascribes Augustin's bias to his recent escape from

Manicheism; and adds that he afterwarde changed his views.-M.

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 connection 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 arms, of the church.93 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.95 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 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.97 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.

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

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

24 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 number; nor could the dread of the most horrible death always restrain their incontinence. 95 Cupiditatem procreandi aut unam scimus aut nullam. Minucius Felix, c. 31. Justin. Apolog. Major. Athenagoras in Legat. c. 28. Tertullian de Cultu Femin. 1. ii.

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

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.

188

Their aver

sion to the business of

war and government.

AVERSION OF THE CHRISTIANS TO SECULAR BUSINESS. CHAP. XV.

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.98 Such are the early traces of monastic principles and institutions, which, in a subsequent age, have counterbalanced all the temporal advantages of Christianity."" The Christians were not less averse to the business than to the pleasures of this world. The defence of our 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 fellow-creatures, 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 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; 101 but it was impossible that the Christians, without renouncing a more sacred duty, could assume the character of soldiers, of magistrates, or of princes. 102 This indolent, 98 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.

100

99 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. 100 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.

191 Tertullian, Apolog. c. 21; De Idololatriâ, c. 17, 18. Origen contra Celsum, 1. v. p. 253 [c. 33, tom. i. p. 602, ed. Bened.], 1. vii. p. 349 [c. 26, p. 712], 1. viii. p. 423-428 [c. 68 sq. p. 793 sq.].

102 Tertullian (de Corona Militis, c. 11) suggested to them the expedient of deserting; a counsel which, if it had been generally known, was not very proper to con ciliate the favour of the emperors towards the Christian sect."

a There is nothing which ought to astonish us in the refusal of the primitive Christians to take part in public affairs;

it was the natural consequence of the con. trariety of their principles to the customs, laws, and active life of the Pagan world.

103

or even criminal disregard to the public we.fare, 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.

The Chris

in the

of the church.

V. But the human character, however it may be exalted or de-. pressed by a temporary enthusiasm, will return by degrees THE FIFTH to its proper and natural level, and will resume those CAUSE. passions that seem the most adapted to its present con- tians active dition. The primitive Christians were dead to the business government 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

103 As well as we can judge from the mutilated representation of Origen (1. viii. p. 423 [c. 73, tom. i. p. 796, ed. Bened.]), his adversary, Celsus, had urged his objection with great force and candour.

As Christians, they could not enter into the senate, which, according to Gibbon himself, always assembled in a temple or consecrated place, and where each senator, before he took his seat, made a libation of a few drops of wine, and burnt incense on the altar, as Christians, they could not assist at festivals and banquets, which always terminated with libations, &c.; finally, as "the innumerable deities and rites of polytheism were closely interwoven with every circumstance of public and private life," the Christians could not participate in them without incurring, according to their principles, the guilt of impiety. It was then much less by an effect of their doctrine than by the consequence of their situation that they stood aloof from public business. Whenever this situation offered no impediment, they showed as much activity as the Pagans.

Many passages of Tertullian prove that the army was full of Christians: Hesterni sumus et vestra omnia implevimus, urbes, insulas, castella, municipia, conciliabula, castra ipsa. (Apol. c. 37.) Navigamus et nos vobiscum et militamus (c. 42). Origen, in truth, appears to have maintained a more rigid opinion (Cont. Cels. 1. viii.); but he has often renounced this exaggerated severity, perhaps necessary to produce great results, and he speaks of the profession of arms as an honourable one (1. iv. c. [83] 218 [tom. i. p. 564, ed Bened.]).-G.

On these points Christian opinion, it should seem, was much divided. Tertullian, when he wrote the De Cor. Mil., was evidently inclining to more ascetic opinions, and Origen was of the same class See Neander, vol. i. part 2, p. 305, edit 1828.-M.