BOHN'S STANDARD LIBRARY, 
 
 NE ANDER' S 
 MEMORIALS OF CHRISTIAN LIFE. 
 
MEMOEIALS 
 
 OP 
 
 CHRISTIAN LIFE 
 
 IN 
 
 THE EAELY AND MIDDLE AGES. 
 
 INCLUDING HIS 
 
 "LLGHT IN DARK PLACES." 
 
 BY 
 
 DK. AUGUSTUS NE ANDER. 
 
 TRANSLATED FROM THE GERMAN 
 
 BY J. E. RYLAND. 
 
 LONDON : 
 HENRY G. BOIIN, YORK STREET, COVENT GARDEN. 
 
 1852. 
 

 PRINTED BY HAEKISON AND SON, 
 
 LO>DO.N GAZETTE OFFICE, ST. MAKTIA''S LANE; 
 AND 
 0ECHÄJU3 STEEET WESTMINSTER. 
 
^N 
 
 PEEFACE TO THE THIED EDITION OE VOL. I. 
 
 The work which I now publish in an amended form, was 
 undertaken from a desire to excite and cherish in the minds of 
 persons who were not devoted to the study of theology as a 
 science, a consciousness of the unity of that Christian Spirit which 
 has been in action through every age of the church, and which 
 connects us with all that has flowed from the operation of the 
 Holy Spirit since its first eifusion — to awaken an interest for every- 
 tliing which has proceeded from this Spirit — to let the testimonies 
 drawn from actual life, speak for general edification and instruc- 
 tion — and to lead to a recognition at once of the Unity of that 
 Spirit, and of the variety that exists in its forms of manifestation. 
 Accounts from several quarters have reached me that this 
 attempt has not ])een altogether in vain. I recollect especially 
 some beautiful lines which I received from Schleiermacher, when 
 the first part of these sketches appeared in the year 1822, in 
 which he expressed to me his deep interest, as a practical clergy- 
 man, in this undertaking. 
 
 As the object for which these sketches were first published 
 seems equally suited to the wants of the present times (though 
 changed in many respects from the former), I am desirous that 
 this work, of which the first volume has been long ago out of 
 print, should not sink into oblivion. And I wish to construct 
 these historical delineations in a manner more corresponding to 
 their object, to make them still more popular, and to remove 
 nil philosophical discussion, which will find a place wuth more 
 propriety in my larger Church History. On this account, and tO' 
 give a greater unity to the whole, I have been obliged, much to 
 my regret, to omit several contributions from other persons. I 
 hope that my dear friend Dr. Tholuck will not allow his Essay on 
 the Moral Influence of Heathenism to be lost, but present it to 
 the public in some other form. The First and Second Volumes are 
 now thrown into one. 
 
 I have endeavoured, as far as my other engagements would 
 permit, to perfect the form and contents of these sketches, and to 
 enrich them with new ones. 
 
 12 
 
vi PEEFACE TO TUE THIRD EDITION OF VOL. I. 
 
 Tliese delineations, which make not the least pretension to 
 scientific value, are desi.i^ned only to meet the wants of Christians 
 in general. Yet possibly it v.'ould gratify many a younger or 
 older theologian who makes use of these testimonies of the 
 Ciiristian life, to read, in the original, several important and 
 l>eautiful passages from the Fathers, which are here translated ; 
 therefore my dear young friend Mr. Schneider (theological 
 candidate from Silesia), who has compiled all the indexes, and 
 corrected the proof sheets, and whose diligence, zeal, and fidelity 
 have heen of great service, has taken the trouble to see to the 
 printing of these passages. My hearty thanks are due for all 
 his exertions. 
 
 The profits of this work were, from the first, devoted to the 
 1)encfit of poor and deserving students of theology. Kothing can 
 diminish my interest in an object so dear to my heart; it rather 
 supplies a fresh motive to resume and continue the work. But 
 as the so-called Neander Society has been since formed for the 
 same purpose, the amount will be added to its capital, or trans- 
 ferred to it for distribution. 
 
 As these sketches are intended to testify of the one (and in the 
 true sense (Catholic Church — which rests on an immoveable 
 foundation, even Christ — they are dedicated to all the members 
 of this church, under whatever form of constitution they may be 
 scattered ; and may tlie Spirit of the Lord accompany them and 
 make them a blessing to such ! 
 
 A. NEANDER. 
 Berlin, August 5, 1845. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 PART I. 
 CHRISTIAN LIFE OF THE FIRST THREE CENTURIES. 
 
 CHAP. PAGE 
 
 I. Various methods of conversion to Christianity 1 
 
 II. The influence of Christianity on the universal religious 
 
 principle in man 28 
 
 III. The relation of the Christian church to the heathen world .... 32 
 
 IV. The view taken by Christians of their calling 41 
 
 V. Favorite emblems in use among Christians 54 
 
 VI. The principle of the inner life of Christians, and its outward 
 
 mode of manifestation 55 
 
 VII. General delineation of the Christian life 59 
 
 VIII. Prayer 63 
 
 IX. Fasting, joined with Prayer 69 
 
 X. True and false Asceticism 72 
 
 XI. The practical brotherly love of Christians 77 
 
 XII. General philanthropy of Christians 80 
 
 XIII. The Christians under persecution 82 
 
 XIV. The sympathy of all Christians in the suffering of the Con- 
 
 fessors 97 
 
 XV. Occupations permitted or forbidden among Christians 100 
 
 XVI. The domestic life of Christians lOG 
 
 XVII. The Christians in the time of public calamities, infectious 
 diseases, and mortality — Memorials of the dead — The 
 
 Martyrs 109 
 
 PART II. 
 
 CHRISTIAN LIFE WHEN CHRISTIANITY HAD GAINED 
 THE ASCENDENCY IN THE ROMAN EMPIRE. 
 
 I. Various methods of conversion from heathenism to Chris- 
 tianity 118 
 
 II. Nominal and genuine Christians — Separation — Various 
 
 revivals of Christianity — The influence of pious motliers... 107 
 
 III. The monastic system and its relation to the general Christian 
 
 life 182 
 
 IV. The bishops and fathers of the church 200 
 
iV CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAP. PAGE 
 
 V. The general Christian calling and dignity 230 
 
 VI. Various errors in practical Christianity 233 
 
 VII. Prayer 244 
 
 VIII. Christian festivals 260 
 
 IX. Baptism— The Holy Supper — Christian fellowship 280 
 
 X. Christian friendship 288 
 
 XI. Various callings among Christians 296 
 
 XII, The Christians in affliction and general public calamities .... 309 
 
 PART III. 
 
 LIGHT IN THE DARK PLACES. 
 
 LFFECT.S OF CHRISTIANITY DURING AND AFTER THE 
 IRRUPTION OF THE NORTHERN NATIONS INTO THE 
 ROMAN EMPIRE. 
 
 Introductory Remarks 316 
 
 I. The North-African church under the Vandals 318 
 
 II. Severinus in Germany 333 
 
 III. The labours of pious men among the Franks : 
 
 1. Germanus in Auxerre (Antisiodorum) 342 
 
 2. Lupus of Troyes 344 
 
 3. Caesarius of Aries 345 
 
 4. Eligius, Bishop of Noyon 374 
 
 IV. Gregory the Great, Bishop o'f Rome, a.D. 590 , 386 
 
 V. Christianity in poverty and sickness 405 
 
 PART IV. 
 
 SKETCHES FROM THE HISTORY OF MISSIONS IN THE 
 MIDDLE AGES. 
 
 T. General remarks on the history of missions in this period .... 408 
 II. The lives and labours of individual missionaries: 
 
 1. Patrick, the Apostle of the Irish 425 
 
 2. Monasticism in Ireland — Columban 434 
 
 3. Gilius, the Apostle of Switzerland 449 
 
 4. Boniface, the Apostle of the Germans 453 
 
 5. Gregory, Abbot of Utrecht 470 
 
 6. The Abbot Sturm, of Fulda 473 
 
 7. Alcuin, on Missionary Efficiency 475 
 
 8. Lindger and Willehad 478 
 
 9. Anschar. the Apostle of the North 482 
 
 10. The Martyr Adalbert, of Prussia 488 
 
 11. The Monk Nilus 492 
 
 12. Otto. Bishop of Bamberg, the Apostle of Pomerania.... 503 
 
 13. Raimund Lull 520 
 
DEDICATION OF YOL. IL 
 
 TO THE REVEREND DR. HARMS, 
 
 FIRST PREACHER IN THE CHURCH OF ST. NICHOLAS AT KIEL, 
 ECCLESIASTICAL PROVOST, ETC. ETC. 
 
 I RECOLLECT that when I had the pleasure of seeing you some 
 years ago, you expressed to me — what very probably you have 
 long since forgotten — your sympathy with this undertaking for 
 the general cause of Christianity, and even remonstrated with me 
 for not carrying it on. If anything whatever, certainly such 
 language from your lips — the lips of such a witness and com- 
 batant for the cause of Christ — would be an incentive to me. I 
 would gladly have saluted you with it on your jubilee, in which 
 with so many others I took a cordial interest ; but as this was not 
 possible, I beg you to accept, with your accustomed kindness, 
 this volume, which contains a continuation of the sketches, as a 
 supplementary gift, and as a small token of the sincere respect 
 and love with which the author calls himself 
 
 Yours, 
 
 A. NEANDER. 
 Berlin, Augii%t 15, 1846, 
 
TREFACE TO THE SECOND YOLXJIME. 
 
 I NOW pul)lish the Second Volume of my Sketches from the 
 History of the Christian Life, which are taken from the same point 
 of view as the first. Those which relate to the missionary history 
 of the Middle Ages, closing with Raimund Lull, appear to form a 
 small finished whole by themselves, on which account I have not 
 extended this part any further. In this, as in the former volume, 
 I have given only the results of my studies in reference to the 
 Christian life, without anything which in itself can claim the 
 attention of scholars or give it a scientific value. May the Lord 
 accompany with his blessing these testimonies to that which, 
 coming from above and raised above the changes of time, directs 
 our looks aViove — these records of the motions of His Spirit in the 
 lives of believers as manifested amidst all the distractions of 
 humanity, which point to the source of the stream that flows 
 thr(jugh all ages ! 
 
 The profits of this volume are devoted to the object so dear to 
 my heart, mentioned in the Preface to the first — the benefit of 
 the Society of Students called after my name, for the support and 
 relief of their sick and indigent associates. I mention this in 
 order to add, that if any reader should, in consequence of this 
 statement, be disposed to contribute to this object, I shall grate- 
 fully receive every gift of love. My dear and respected colleague, 
 Counsellor Lichtenstein (to whom we are deeply indebted for the 
 care with which he manages the financial concerns of the Society), 
 has also expressed his willingness to receive contributions for the 
 same object, in consequence of the kindly interest he takes in it. 
 
 Ill conclusion, I heartily thank my dear young friend, Mr. 
 Schneider, for the attention he has paid to everything connected 
 with the correction and printing of the work. It will gratify, I 
 hope, not a few readers that Mr. Schneider has again taken the 
 trouble to copy some select original passages. 
 
 A. NEAXDER. 
 Berlin, August 15, 1846. 
 
 NOTE BY THE TRANSLATOR. 
 
 ^ The work now translated originally appeared in three volumes, 
 Berlin, Ls22 ; a second edition was published in 1825-1827 ; a 
 third. edition of Vol. I. was pubHshed at Hamburgh in 1845, and 
 of Vol. II. in the following year. 
 
■:» 
 
 PiVET I. 
 
 CHRISTIAN LIFE OF THE FIRST THREE CENTURIES. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 VARIOUS METHODS OF CONVERSION TO CHRISTIANITY. 
 
 The manifold wisdom of God, of wliich tlie Apostle of the 
 Gentiles speaks in Epli. iii. 10, is conspicuously exhibited, 
 not less than his inexpressibly condescending love, in the 
 variety of leadings by which men are brought, according to 
 their ditferent abilities and constitutional peculiarities, to the 
 attainment of the one great object, Redemption. At the same 
 time we here recognise a striking peculiarity of the gospel, 
 which distinguishes it from all human systems, that it is 
 designed and suited for human nature under all its condi- 
 tions and relations ; the inexhaustible riches it contains are 
 shown by the fact, that all the wants arising from the moral 
 nature of man are satisfied by it alone ; it alone heals all the 
 diseases of the inner man, and in the greatest diversity of 
 method influences, by its divine power, the various peculia- 
 rities of humanity. As Christ, dm-ing his life on earth, 
 visibly attached to himself men of the most different cha- 
 racters, by methods equally different, so he operates invisibly 
 by his gospel throughout ail ages of the Church. 
 
 Some persons experienced the Saviour's miraculous power 
 in the relief of their bodily maladies, and thus knew hiiu 
 first as a temporal benefactor ; they were not conscious of 
 any higher wants, but by the poweri'ul aid of this kind which 
 they had received from him, they were led to receive him as 
 the ' sent of God,' endowed with divine power, and became 
 receptive of those higher gifts wliich he Avas ready to impart. 
 
 p. 
 
2 CHRISTIAN LIFE OF THE FIEST CENTUEIES. 
 
 No sooner had they received his words into their hearts than 
 thev rcco<~'Tiised in Him, from whom they had at first sought 
 (jnly bodilv relief, a Redeemer from that internal nnhappi- 
 ncs's of which they now became conscious by the light which 
 lie shed upon them. Others who were already in a higher 
 sta"-c of spiritual deyelopmcnt, had passed, in their wants 
 and wishes, beyond immediate earthly interests ; dissatisfied 
 with the present they longed for the regeneration of the 
 world, and their faith in the ancient promises of Jehovah 
 led them to expect that it would be effected by the Messiah 
 who was to come. Those in whom such anticipations had 
 been so far developed, were incited by the miraculous acts 
 in which Christ manifested his di\'ine power, to receive him 
 as the promised Messiah. It is true, that their longing after 
 a better order of things was still involved in carnal represen- 
 tations ; they did not yet recognize the nature of that true 
 freedom which was to be expected from the Messiah ; but 
 still they believed in him as the Messiah, and in this faith 
 had surrendered their hearts to him : the truth which they 
 had received from his lips became gradually verified as that 
 which conferred true spiritual freedom and sanctification ; 
 and at last they acknowledged that " the kingdom of God 
 consisted not in meats and drinks, but in righteousness, and 
 peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost." They learned to form a 
 more correct judgment respecting the nature of the new dis- 
 pensation, when they had begun to experience its power in 
 their inward life. 
 
 Another class of persons came to the Saviour, who felt 
 themselves burdened with grievous sins. Repulsed and con- 
 demned by the zealots for the law, who were destitute of that 
 love without which everythinG: else is only as sounding: brass 
 or a tinkling cymbal, they took refuge with Him who, though 
 the Holy One, was meek and lowly of heart, and invited to 
 himself all the weary and heavy laden. He poured a healing 
 balm into the hearts of these contrite sinners, by announcing: 
 the forgiveness of sins, and blending heavenly grace with 
 heavenly majesty. They loved much because much was for- 
 given, and love taught them to understand and practise his 
 divine teachings. Others came to him, who (although it 
 appeared mysterious that it was necessary to be bom again of 
 the Spirit,) had not only led a blameless life before the world, 
 
VARIOUS METHODS OF CONYERSION. 3 
 
 but were actuated by an earnest and sincere moral striving ; 
 they stood in an unconscious connection with the Fountain of 
 all goodness and of all light ; they were already convinced, 
 that to love God above all, and their neighbours as them- 
 selves, was more than all burnt- offerings , and of them the Lord 
 could affirm, that they were not far from the kingdom of God, 
 although they were not yet in it. Since they loved the light, 
 and hated tlie works of darkness, this internal attraction to 
 the light led them to Him who was the light of the world, in 
 order that they might become the children of the light. There 
 were youths of ardent affectionate hearts, who had hitherto 
 lived in an unconscious innocence, as far as it was possible 
 for human beings. Their hearts were captivated by the Di- 
 vine in the a2:)pcarance and the discourses of the lledeemer, 
 without their being able to give an explanation of it. By 
 intimate intercourse with him, by cordial love to him, the 
 ideal of humanity, the ideal of holiness, was impressed on 
 their hearts, and in its light the hidden evil of their own 
 souls was exposed ; they recognized at once their own spiritual 
 malady, and in the divine Physician, to whom they were 
 attached by ardent love, that being who alone could impart a 
 cui'e. The ignorant came to Him, and learned those truths 
 that were hidden from the wise and prudent, but revealed to 
 babes. And there were Scribes, masters in Israel, who 
 esteeming themselves wise in their dead legal knowledge, 
 were astonished to hear of things which hitherto they had 
 never surmised ; and in the light of the divine wisdom which 
 now beamed upon them were first made sensible of their 
 blindness, and thus received their sight. To one who was 
 influenced with desire only to catch a sight of him, he gave 
 more than he had ventured to wish. Another, while perse- 
 cuting him with a mistaken zeal for the law, he forcibly 
 drew to himself, and by the power of his all-conquering love 
 converted the infuriated enemy into a devoted disciple. Some, 
 after seeking for pearls, and finding many of great beauty, at 
 last found the most beautiful one, of surpassing brilliancy, 
 and joyfully surrendered all they had to make this precious 
 pearl their own. Others, without seeking, unexpectedly 
 lighted on the treasure hid in a field. 
 
 This diversity of ways by which men were led to tlie gospel 
 according to the diversity of their natural peculiarities and 
 
 B 2 
 
4 CHRISTIAN LIFE OF THE FIKST CENTUKIES. 
 
 ])rcvious habits of life, was very strikingly exemplified on 
 the first appearance and spread of the gospel in the heathen 
 vorld. Many, before they were awakened to the necessity 
 of scekini? truth and righteousness, were led by deliverance 
 from bodily suffering, which they obtained in answer to the 
 believing pravers of Christians,' to a participation in the 
 spirituaf bles^'ings of heavenly good. AVe are reminded of 
 persons who in severe illnesses had in vain sought aid from 
 the scientific practitioners of the healing art, or from the 
 dealers in magic, on which much reliance was placed in that 
 age of excitement and false pretensions; it might happen 
 that one of this class was brought into the society of a Chris- 
 tian. When the Chi'istian was informed by the sick man 
 that he had sought the help of his gods in vain, he seized 
 the opj)ortunity of telling him of the numbers healed by 
 Christ while he lived on earth, and how many similar cm-es 
 he performed after his ascension, by the instrumentality of 
 the apostles. He appealed in child-like faith to his Re- 
 deemer, that he would be pleased to manifest the glory of 
 his heavenly Father, and glorify him among men. The sick 
 man was restored to health, and thus was brought to see the 
 worthlessuess of his gods, and to acknowledge the God re- 
 vealed in Chri>t as the only true God, to whom he was 
 indebted for the cure of his bodily malady, and in his most 
 important relation to men as the Physican of souls. 
 
 Mental diseases are wont to be reckoned among the symp- 
 toms of an age of internal variance and distraction, and such 
 to an extraordinary degree was the age of which we are 
 speaking. There were many persons who fielt, as it were, 
 subdued and fettered by a foreign power. It was as if two 
 opposing personalities d-sA elt v.ithin them, their own self and 
 an evil spirit, who would not allow the former to act for 
 itself, but injected his own thoughts and words, and thus 
 compelled it into complete subserviency to his bidding. As 
 «uch persons believed they were possessed by evil spirits, 
 they were called demoniacs. Enthusiasts and deceivers, both 
 Jews and Gentiles, such as we find mentioned in the Acts of 
 tlie Apostles, Simon Magus and Elymas. took advantage of 
 their calamitous condition, and pretended that they could 
 expel the evil spirits by various incantations and unmeaning 
 ceremonies. When devout Christians met with such unfor- 
 
MIRACULOUS CURES DEMONIACS. 5 
 
 tunate individuals, they recognized the kingdom of evil in its 
 destructive influence on mankind ; but they were also con- 
 vinced that their Lord had overcome this kingdom, and that 
 its powers could not prevail against him and his faithfvd fol- 
 lowers. In this faith they invoked him, that he would here 
 manifest his victorious power. The whole heathen world 
 with its idolatries and sinful practices, henceforward appeared 
 to the pagan, who had been thus cured, as the kingdom of 
 darkness, and he passed from it into the kingdom of Christ, 
 to whom, after experiencing his transforming moral power, he 
 felt indebted for being made every whit whole ; as the Lord 
 himself said, the evil spirits could be truly driven out only 
 by the Spirit of God, and unless He took possession of the 
 house in which the evil spirit had dwelt, this latter would 
 return with seven others, and the latter end of that man 
 would be M'orse than the first. 
 
 The Christian fathers of the first ages frequently appealed 
 to the fact of such cures even before the heathens themselves, 
 and particularly pointed out that they were effected, not by 
 magical incantations or impositions on the senses, but by 
 simple prayer proceeding from the hearts of believers. Thus 
 Justin ]\Iartyr, in the times of Marcus Aurellus, says, when he 
 wishes to show that Christ had freed men from the power of 
 evil spirits, " You may observe this from what passes before 
 your eyes ; for many of our Christian people, in different 
 parts of the world, and in your city, by calling on the name 
 of Jesus Christ, who was crucified under Pontius Pilate, have 
 cured many who were possessed of evil spirits, who could not 
 be cured by any exorcists or practisers of magic, and such 
 cures are still effected." And rather later in the second cen- 
 tury, Ircnecus says, " In the name of the Son of God, his 
 true disciples M'ho have received grace from him, labour for 
 the good of their fellow-men, according as each one has 
 received his gift from Him. Some expel evil spirits in a 
 sure and certain manner, so that frequently those who have 
 been purified [)y them from evil spirits become believers, and 
 are received into the church. Others heal the sick by the 
 laying on of hands. ]Many who have died have been brought 
 to life again, and continued a number of years among us. And 
 iimumerable are the gifts of grace which the church through- 
 out the world has received from God, and which are daily 
 
6 CHRISTIAN LIFE OF THE FIRST CENTURIES, 
 
 cm])loycd, in the name of Jesus Christ who was crucified 
 undcrPontlus Pilate, for the benefit of the heathen, without 
 makinf a traffic of them (like those Itinerant exorcists and 
 conjurers); for as they are received freely from God, so they 
 are frcolv dispensed. Nothing Is done by the invocation of 
 angels (as the Theosophlsts of that day, with their pretended 
 higher knowledge of the spiritual world ; ' the worshipping 
 of angels,' alluded to In Col. ii. 18) ; nothing by Incanta- 
 tions and other Impertinent Intrusions Into the Im^sible 
 world ; the only means they employ Is to direct their prayers 
 to the Lord, the Creator of all things, and to call on the 
 name of our Lord Jesus Christ." In the beginning of the 
 third century, Tertulllan at Carthage, In his Apology for the 
 Christians, which he addressed to the Roman governor of 
 the provinces. Scapula, appeals to the fact, that he had per- 
 sons in official situations about him who, however they might 
 exclaim against the Christians, had received benefits from 
 them; "for the notary Is one, since, when he was thrown 
 into a paroxysm by an evil spirit, he was freed by a Chris- 
 tian ; others are indebted to a Christian for the restoration 
 of a relative or a child. And how many honourable per- 
 sons (for we will not here speak of those who belong to the 
 populace) have been freed from possession by evil spirits or 
 from Illnesses." 
 
 In the third century, at a time when Christianity began to 
 exercise great power over the mental atmosphere, and much 
 intercourse existed between heathens and Christians, many 
 persons received Impressions of Christianity which operated 
 unconsciously in the interior of their minds, and occasioned 
 remarkable mental phenomena both by day and by night ; so 
 that to a person who had not diligently watched the secret 
 processes in the dcvelojjment of his mind, many things might 
 appear to be quite sudden, which yet had for a long time 
 been unconsclousl)' preparing In the laboratory of his soul. 
 Thus, an individual, through a sudden revolution of his inner 
 life, inex])licable to himself, and yet for which suitable pre- 
 ])aration had been made, might be carried away by the force 
 of Christian principles, and be converted from a vehement 
 opposcr to a devoted advocate of Christianity. To such 
 j)licnomena Origen appeals when he says. In his first book 
 against Celsus, " that many, as it were, against their will, 
 
PATIENCE AND HUMILITY OF THE EAKLY CHEISTIANS. 7 
 
 have been brought over to Christianity; since a certain spirit 
 suddenly turned their reason from hatred against Christianity 
 into zealous attachment, even at the cost of their lives, and 
 presented certain images before the soul, cither when awake 
 or dreaming." 
 
 Although such appearances were regarded by those to 
 whom they happened as the effect of something external, yet 
 they were pure operations which proceeded from the internal 
 power of Christianity by which their minds were overpowered. 
 Moreover, ail external appliances could only serve — in the 
 case of earthly-minded men, who felt no moral solicitude 
 which might serve as a point of connection for the gospel — 
 to awaken them first of all from their stupidity, and make 
 them receptive of the divine power of the gospel. By a con- 
 tinued succession of miracles, Christianity could not have 
 taken a firm hold on human nature, if it had not jDcnetrated 
 it by its divine power, and thus verified itself to be indeed 
 that which alone can satisfy the higher necessities of the 
 inner man. This divine power of the gospel revealed itself 
 to the heathen in the lives of Christians, which " showed forth 
 the virtues of him who had called them out of darkness into 
 his marvellous light, and enabled them to walk as the 
 children of God, in the midst of a perverse generation, 
 among M^iom they shone as lights in the world." This^ 
 announcement of the gospel by the life operated even more 
 powerfully than its announcement by the w^ord. " Our 
 Lord," says Justin Martyr to the heathen, *' does not wish us 
 to use force, and to be imitators of the wicked, but he exhorts 
 us by the power of patience and gentleness to rescue all men 
 from a life of shame and evil desires. And this ^ye are able to 
 demonstrate in the case of many who belonged to you, who have 
 been changed from being violent and tyrannical men either 
 by observing the endurance in daily life of their (Christian) 
 neighbours, or their extraordinary patience when defrauded by 
 their fellow-travellers, or having proved them in business- 
 transactions."* They saw Christians meet death in the confi- 
 
 * oil yap avraiptiv ^iX' ovde fiifirjTag ilvai tCjv <pav\uiv ßfßov- 
 \t]Tai TJi^äc, äXXä Siä tiiq vxofjiovijc Kni TTOftorjjrog t^ äi(yxinn]Q Kai 
 tTn9vf.üaQ Twv KaKiüv äytiv TrdvTag 7rpoirp6v|/flro. "O yäp Kai tiri 
 ttoXXCjv tCjv Trap' vfj.lv ytyivrip.iv(x)v cnrocti^ai t^ofiiv ' tK ßiaia)v Kai 
 Tvpdi'i'iJüv fiiTißaXov i'iTTijOU'Ttt;, i] ytiTuviov KapTtpiav ßiov irapuKO' 
 
8 CHRISTIAN LIFE OF THE FIRST CENTURIES. 
 
 (lencc of their faith with the greatest firmness and cheerfulness, 
 oftentimes amidst extreme tortures ; and this spectacle must 
 liave made a deeper impression, if they believed that these ene- 
 mies of tlie gods, of whom popular fanaticism had spread the 
 vilest and most monstrous reports, had been guilty of unnatural 
 crimes. Many asked, what gives men such energy to do and 
 suffer evcrvthing on account of their convictions, in an age of 
 such abject weakness, when we see all things bending before 
 earthly "power ? Whoever proposed this question endeavoured 
 to make himself acquainted with Christianity ; and the con- 
 sequence was. that the inquirer became captivated with the 
 ti-uth of the divine doctrine. To such facts Tertullian appeals 
 in addressing the Proconsul Scapula : " Whoever witnesses 
 such endurance is disturbed as by some scruple of conscience, 
 and is impelled to inquire what there is in the affair ; and 
 when he has ascertained the truth, forthwith follows it."-'" 
 And towards the end of his Apologj-, he says, " Our numbers 
 increase the oftener you cut us do\vn. The blood of Chris- 
 tians is seed. Many among you have exhorted to the en- 
 durance of pain and death, as Cicero in his Tusculans, as 
 Seneca, as Diogenes, as Pyrrho, as Callinicus ; yet their 
 words do not find so many disciples as Christians make by the 
 teaching of their actions. That very obstinacy with which you 
 reproach us is an instructress. For who is not struck by con- 
 templating it, and led to inquire into the nature of our profes- 
 sion r And who that has inquired does not join us, or having 
 joined, is not eager to suffer r'"f Such was the experience 
 
 Xoi'Otj/ravTfc: If (TvvoconrÖQiov TrXeovsKrorjfi'cj'uv vTronovi]v tkv7]v Kara- 
 voiiaavTtQ i) aii/iTrpayjuarsuo^Evwr ■nCioaGQivrtc. Justin. ApoL rnaj. 
 fol. 63, torn, i, p. 170. ed. Otto. (Jen», 1842.) 
 
 * Nee tamen deficiet haec secta, quam tunc magis Jsdificare scias, 
 cum caedi videtur. Quisque enim tantam tolerantiam spectans, ut aliquo 
 scrupulo pcrcussus et inquirere accenditur, quid sit in causa: et ubi cogno- 
 verit vcritatem.et ipse statim sequitur.— Tertullian. ad Scapulam. 
 
 t Plures efficimur, quoties raetimur a vobis ; semen est sanguinis 
 Christianorum. Multi apud vos ad tolerantiam doloris et mortis hor- 
 tantur, ut Cicero in Tusculanis, ut Seneca in Fortuitis, ut Diogenes, ut 
 Pyrrhon, ut Callinicus ; nee tamen tantos inveniunt verba discipulos, 
 quantos Christiani factis docendo. Ilia ipsa obstinatio, quam exprobratis,^ 
 magistra est. Quis cnim non contemplatione ejus concutitur, vA requi- 
 rendum quid intus in re sit? Quis non ubi requisivit, accedit ? Ubi 
 accessit, pati exoptat .' — Tertull. Apol. 
 
GOOD EFFECTS OF THEIR EXAMPLE. 9 
 
 of Justin Martyr when he thought that he had found in the 
 Platonic philosophy that satisfaction for his religious neces- 
 sities which the ancient popular faith could not furnish, and 
 had his attention first drawn to Christianity by the calumnies 
 propagated against its professors ; as he himself tells us in his 
 larger Apology, '* While I was delighted with the doctrine of 
 l^lato, and heard the Christians calumniated, but saw them 
 fearless in the prospect of death, and of all other things which 
 are wont to be dreaded, I judged it impossible that they could 
 live in vice and debauchery." 
 
 There was also a diversity in the course of the inner life by 
 which men were rendered receptive of the gospel, or by 
 M-hich that moral craving which can find satisfaction in Chris- 
 tianity alone, was excited in their hearts. In many persons 
 a powerful but indistinct sense of guilt was aroused. Their 
 consciences placed before them the wrath of an estranged 
 Deity, and in the anguish of their souls they beheld them- 
 selves surrounded by evil spirits, who endeavoured to ensnare 
 them. But as long as they did not understand their own 
 moral condition, and had no one at hand either able or 
 willing to throw light upon it, (for their priests and Goeta? 
 could only lead them further into error,) they sought for the 
 grounds of the divine wrath, and the method of reconciliation 
 with offended heaven in outward things ; for man, who is least 
 at home with himself, is always disposed to seek out of him- 
 self what he ought to seek in the depths of his own being. 
 Hence arose the numberless forms of superstition, in which a 
 conscience ill at ease takes refuge. The unhappy life of 
 those men who day and night were haunted by the spectres 
 of their own anguish, has been depicted by a profound ob- 
 server of the mental phenomena of his age (Plutarch), in his 
 work on superstition and unbelief. " While awake," he says, 
 "they do not use their reason, and when asleep they are not 
 free from the sources of disquietude ; their reason always 
 dreams ; their fear is always awake ; they are without a 
 refuge." 
 
 This noble-minded man, who was not far from the kingdom 
 of God, but who had not beheld the moral order of the 
 universe and human nature in the light of the gospel, was 
 mistaken in supposing that only false notions of the nature of 
 the gods were the source of such superstition, and that by 
 
10 CHRISTIAN LIFE OF THE FIKST CENTUEIES. 
 
 indicating what was erroneous in these notions superstition 
 might be conquered. Those erroneous views were not acci- 
 dental, but necessary ; they had a deeper foundation, and a 
 foundation in truth. It was of no use, though it might succeed 
 for an instant, to convince these unhappy men that they tor- 
 tured themselves with groundless fears. As long as their not 
 merely imaginary, but real inward malady, was not healed, 
 so long must new images of terror be constantly rising before 
 them. It was in vain to say that the gods were not envious, 
 hostile beings, that nothing but good was to be expected from 
 them. Their consciences spoke a diiferent language, and 
 caused them to di*ead an unknown, offended power, "What 
 an impression would the gospel make on such men ! It no 
 longer tortured them with requirements which they felt them- 
 selves unable to fulfil, but announced to them first of all the free 
 grace and compassion of their Father in heaven, who, out of 
 pure love, had sent his only-begotten Son into the world, and 
 caused him to endure the greatest sufferings for their sakes, 
 in order to free them from their misery, and to bring them as 
 fallen children to their reconciled Father, who was willing to 
 regard all their transgressions as if they had not been com- 
 mitted. The Son of God, crucified for sinners, was presented 
 to their hea-\-y-laden souls, who himself sinless, the Holy 
 One, bore their sins, and was a personal manifestation of the 
 love of a reconciled God. Now the bui'den was at once 
 taken away from their hearts, all the spectres of their guilty 
 conscience vanished before the filial confidence in God, and 
 joy filled their inmost souls. They no longer dreaded evil 
 spirits, for they knew that Christ had taken away their 
 power ; that no power could wrest from the hands of their 
 Almighty Father those who were united to God through 
 Christ: they had indeed the confident assui-ance that the 
 kingdom of evil must become subject to them in the name of 
 Jesus Christ. From this point of view the Apostle Paul 
 combated superstition, attacking it in the stronghold, in his 
 Epistle to the Colossians : " How can you any longer dread 
 evil spirits, since the heavenly Father himself has redeemed 
 you from the kingdom of darkness and translated you into the 
 kingdom of his dear Son — since he has exalted him'victoriously 
 to heaven to share in the di\ine power of his Father, with 
 which he now operates on humanity — since by his sufferings 
 
FALSE IMPRESSIONS OF CHIllSTIANITY. 11 
 
 for you lie has reconciled you to the heavenly Father, has 
 freed you from the domination of all the powers of darkness, 
 has conquered all their attempts against his kingdom, led 
 them in triumph, and exposed them in all their shame before 
 the whole creation ? How then can you be the slaves of a 
 wounded conscience, since Christ has taken from the cross 
 and destroyed the indictment which your consciences testified 
 against you, and has won and ratified the forgiveness of all 
 
 your sins 
 
 ? 
 
 " How can you be afraid of being defiled by earthly, tran- 
 sitory things ; how can you entangle yourselves, by ordinances 
 relating to such things, and attribute to them an importance 
 for your inner life, since you are dead with Christ to all 
 earthly things, and are risen with Christ in your inner life to 
 heaven ? Your faith must be fixed above, where Christ is at 
 the right hand of God ; your life is hid with Christ in God ; 
 you belong no more to the earth." 
 
 As the intercourse with publicans and sinners of Him who 
 came to call sinners to repentance, %vas made a matter of 
 reproach against him by hypocritical and self-righteous 
 Pharisees, so the educated heathen regarded it as a disgrace 
 to Christianity, that it exerted its saving influence on those who 
 had been sunk in vice. Thus Celsus says, " Let us hear what 
 people were called by Christ. Any sinner, or unintelligent 
 person, or a minor, and, in a word, any miserable mortal, is 
 received into the kingdom of God. They say that God 
 receives the sinner, if he humbles himself on account of his 
 unworthiness, but that he will not receive the righteous, 
 though he has from the beginning acted virtuously." The 
 example of this man, who, with all his acuteness and cleverness, 
 was blind in divine things, and (what is most important to 
 man) knew not himself, confirms the declaration that the 
 natm-al man knows nothing of the spirit of God, that it is 
 foolishness to him, because it must be spiritually discerned; 
 that in ridiculing it he onlj'- manifests his own blindness; that 
 his own inward being is an unknown world to a man, until 
 the word of God, which pierces through joints and marrow, 
 and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart, 
 lays open the real condition of his inmost soul. Certainly, 
 it is a truth testified by the gospel, which Celsus could not 
 comprehend, that man must recognize himself to be a sinner. 
 
12 CHKISTIAX LITE OF THE FIEST CENTURIES, 
 
 must feei his misery, must regard his supposed M'isdom, 
 founded on a false estimate of things, as folly, and must 
 receive the kingdom of God, to which he is called by grace, 
 as a little child, if he would enter into it. If there were 
 indeed a man whose whole life entirely agreed VN^ith the law, 
 written on the conscience by the finger of God, such a man 
 would need no Redeemer, and he would, as Celsus says, be 
 able to behold God with joy. But a truly holy man would, 
 least of all, be tempted to wish to be something of and by 
 himself: his life would be a life in God, and hence grounded, 
 in humility, in the consciousness that he was altogether, 
 through and from God, the original source of all life and all 
 goodness. But man, as he now is, must die to his ungodly 
 nature, before he can attain to a life in God. Origen justly 
 remarks against Celsus : — " We hold it to be impossible that 
 man can from the first look up to God in a virtuous manner ; 
 for evil, first of all, makes its appearance in man." And 
 the man who, according to the notions of Celsus, can confi- 
 dently look up to God in the consciousness of his v-irtue, will 
 be further from the kingdom of God than he who humbles 
 himself on account of his sins before God; as the Lord places 
 the publican who smote on his breast, and said, " God be 
 merciful to me a sinner!" far higher than the Pharisee, who 
 '' thanked God that he was not as other men, extortioners, 
 unjust, or adulterers." For all men, only one way to God is 
 possible — the way of humility ;, not merely that humility 
 which belongs to every created spirit, even the holiest and 
 happiest, being the necessary and indispensable condition of 
 holiness and happiness for all created spirits, — but that pecu- 
 liar form of humility which suits the position of a fallen 
 spirit, that self-humiliation before God which proceeds from 
 the consciousness, of sin and a longing after a righteousness 
 Avhich is available before God, and is only to be granted by 
 himself. And very justly Origen says against Celsus, — 
 " Sometimes the sinner who is conscious of his own sins, and 
 who is penitent and humbled on account of them, is to be 
 preferred to him who is reckoned less a sinner, but does not 
 reco;^nize himself as a sinner, and takes credit to himself for 
 some good quality which he fancies himself to possess." 
 
 Celsus regarded the conversion of a man who had grown 
 old in vice, as an impossibihty, for he knew not " the law of 
 
SUPPOSED IMPOSSIBILITY OF CONVEKSION. 13 
 
 the spirit," (o vo^io? rod TTvevfxaio's, Rom. vili. 2,) which is more 
 2)owerful than " the law in the members," [vöfiou tV to?? 
 /u-eXeai, Rom. vii. 23,) the power of God, which is mightier 
 than the power of flesli and blood, the supernatural and 
 transforming power of Christianity. Hence he adds to the 
 words above quoted, " It is manifest to every one, that 
 those who are disposed by nature to vice, and are accus- 
 tomed to it, cannot be transformed by punishment, much less 
 by mercy ; for to transform natm-e is a matter of extreme 
 difficulty." He utters in these words a great truth: law, 
 fear, punishment, can only repress and check the outward over- 
 flowings of evil ; they cannot produce a real amendment : it 
 is indeed a truth, that it is a matter of extreme difficulty to 
 transform the nature of man. But here again he is mistaken 
 in supposing that only certain men, in whom the power of 
 evil is manifested in palpable vices, are naturally disposed to 
 sin, and require conversion ; for selfishness, in whatever intri- 
 cate windings, or under whatever specious appearances it 
 mny conceal itself, has the ascendancy in every man, until it 
 is found to yield to the power of divine love. And this was 
 his error, that what appeared impossible for man, he regarded 
 as also impossible for God ; he had no confidence in the divine 
 mercy that it could effect what no severity of punishment, no 
 power, in short, that cannot penetrate the very depths of 
 human natm*e, can effect ; he did not acknowledge the power 
 of love over the heart, which can effect far more than all out- 
 M'ard compulsion and all fear. Christianity imparted a know- 
 ledge of human nature very different from what Celsus pro- 
 fessed. It first of all disclosed to those who sm-rendered 
 tliemselves to it, the depths of self-knowledge, in order to 
 reveal to them the inexhaustible riches of divine grace, by 
 which they might find a remedy for all their maladies. It 
 'fj^rounded the consciousness of the highest dignity on self- 
 humiliation; and conferred on all, without distinction, how- 
 ever much they might be bowed down by the burden of sin, 
 provided they were willing to accept the gift of grace, the 
 highest of privileges, to be born of God, to become children 
 of God, and partakers of a divine life. 
 
 " The corruption of nature," says Tertullian [De Anima, 
 c. 41), " has become to man a second nature; yet so that good- 
 ness, the divine and or-iginal, that which is properly natural, 
 
14 CHKISTIAX LIFE OF THE FIRST CENTUKIES. 
 
 Still dwells in the soul : for what is from God cannot become 
 extinct, but only obscured. It can be ol^scured, because it is 
 not God himself; it cannot become extinct, because it is from 
 God. As the light which may be blocked up by a surround- 
 ing obstacle, continues to exist, but is not visible if the 
 obstacle is dense, so also the good in the soul being obscured 
 by the evil, according to its various constitutions, is either 
 altogether inoperative, so that the light remains concealed, or 
 it shines through where it finds liberty. There are some very 
 bad and some ver^- good, and yet all souls are of one race. 
 Thus, in the worst there is something good, and in the best 
 something bad. For God alone is without sin. and among 
 men Christ alone, since Christ is also God. When the soul 
 attains to faith, and is transformed in the second birth by 
 water, and bv the power from above, it sees itself, after the 
 covering of its old corruption has been taken away, in clear 
 light. It is received by the Holy Spirit into his communion; 
 and the body follows the soul espoused to the Holy Spirit, as 
 a servant given to it as a dowry, which no longer serves the 
 soul but the Spirit.'' 
 
 A heathen writer of the third century, the learned physi- 
 cian Galen, who, like Celsus, was prejudiced against Chris- 
 tianity, says in his treatise respecting the diseases of the 
 soul, comparing the education of children to the planting of 
 trees, " The cultivator can never succeed in making the 
 thorn bear grapes, for its nature is from the first not capable 
 of such improvement. But if the vines, which in themselves 
 are capable of producing such fruit, be neglected, they will 
 produce either bad fruit or none at all." Now, on the 
 Christian stand-point we must admit, that natural endow- 
 ments and education must be combined in all mental deve- 
 lopment ; but as to what concerns the truly moral or divine 
 life, for which man was created, we shall find human nature 
 everj'where estranged from it, and requiring redemption and 
 restoration ; yet no one is excluded from it. no one can be 
 regarded as being incapable of being made a new man 
 through the power of divine grace. From this point of \-iew 
 TertuUian says, " The bad tree will bring forth no good 
 fruit if it be not grafted, and a good tree will produce bad 
 fruit, unless it be cultivated ; and the stones will become 
 childi-en of Abraham, if thev are formed to the faith of 
 
cypeian's yiEws or conversion. 15 
 
 Abraham ; and the generation of vipers will bring forth fruits 
 for repentance, if they expel the poison of malignity. For 
 this is the power of diyine grace, which is more powerful 
 than nature."*'' 
 
 Cyprian, who before his conversion took the same view as 
 Celsus respecting the possibility of such a transformation of 
 nature, excepting that he appears to have been better ac- 
 quainted with his own nature, speaks in the following passage 
 from his own experience:! "Receive M-hat must be expe- 
 rienced before it can be understood. When 1 lay in dark- 
 
 * Non dabit enim arbor mala bonos fructus, si non inseratur ; et bona 
 malos dabit si non colatur; et lapides filii Abrahse fient, si in fidem 
 Abrahse formentur ; et genimina viperarum fructum poenitentise facient, 
 si venena malignitatis exspuerint. Hsec erit vis divinse gratiae, potentior 
 utique natura. — Tertull. de Anima, 21. 
 
 t Accipe quod sentitur antequam discitur, nee per moras temporum 
 longe agnitione colUgitur, sed compendio gratiae maturantis hauritur. 
 Ego cum in tenebris atque in nocte caeca jacerem, curaque in salo jactantis 
 saeculi nutabundus ac dubius vestigiis observantibus fluctuarem, vitse 
 meae nescius, veritatis ac iucis alienus, difficile prorsus ac durum pro illis 
 tunc moribus opinabar quod in salutem mibi divina indulgentia pollice- 
 batur, ut quis renasci denuo posset, utque in novam vitam lavacro aquae 
 salutaris animatus quod prius tuerat exponeret, et corporis licet manente 
 compage, hominem animo ac mente mutaret. Quo possibilis aiebam, est 
 tanta conversio, ut repente ac pernicitur exuatur, quod vel genuinum situ 
 materiee naturalis obduruit, vel usurpatum duo senio vetustatis inolevit ? 
 Alta haec et profunda penitus radice sederunt. Quando parsimonium 
 discit, qui epularibus coenis et largis dapibus assuevit, et qui pretiosa veste 
 conspicuus in auro atque in purpura fulsit, ad plebeium se ac simplicem 
 cultum quando deponit ? Fascibus ille oblectatus et honoribus esse 
 privatus et inglorius non potest. Hie stipatus clientium cuneis, frequen- 
 tiore comitatu officiosi agminis honestatus, poenam putat esse cum solus 
 est. Tenacibus semper illecebris necesse est, ut solebat, vinolentia invitet, 
 inflet superbia, iracundia inflammet, rapacitas inquietet, crudelitas 
 stimulet, arabitio delectet, libido praecipitet. Haec egoraet ssepe mecum. 
 Kam ut ipse quam plurimis vitae prions erroribus implicitus tenebar, 
 quibus exui me posse non crederem, sic vitiis adhserentibus obsecundans 
 eram, et desperatione meliorum malis meis vtluti jam propriis ac verna- 
 culis ofFavebam. Sed postquam undae genitalis auxilio superioris aevi 
 labe detersa, in expiatum pectus serenum ac purum desuper se lumen 
 infuditj j)ostquam ccelesti Spiritu bausto in novum me hominem nativitas 
 secunda rei)aravit, mirum in modum protinus confirmare se dubia, patere 
 clausa, lucere tenebrosa, facultatem dare, quod prius difficile videbatur, 
 geri posse, quod impossibile putabatur, ut esset agnoscere terrenum fuisse, 
 quod prius carnaliter natum delictis obnoxium viveret, Dei esse coepisse, , 
 quod jam Spiritus Sanctus animaret. — Cyprian. £/j. 1 ad Donatum, 
 
IG CHRISTIAN LIFE OF THE FIUST CENTURIES. 
 
 ncss and blind night ; when I was tossed hither and thither 
 by the billows of the world, and M-andered about with an 
 uncertain and fluctuating course, according to my habits at 
 that time, I considered it as something difficult and hard 
 that any one could be born again, lay aside what he was 
 before, and although his corporeal nature remained the same, 
 could become in soul and disposition another man. ' How,' 
 said I, ' can there be so great a transformation, that a man 
 should all at once lay aside what is either innate from his very 
 organization, or through habit has become a second nature ? 
 How should a man learn frugality who has been accustomed 
 to luxuries ? How should he who has been clad in gold and 
 purple condescend to simpler attire?' Another man, sur- 
 rounded by troops of clients, regards it as a punishment to be 
 alone. Intemperance must always, as heretofore, invite him 
 with tenacious allurements, pride puff him up, anger in- 
 fluence him, ambition allure him, pleasure captivate him. 
 Thus I have often said to myself. For as I was entangled in 
 many errors of my former life, and did not believe that I 
 could be freed from them, so I complied with the ^ices that 
 cleaved to me, and despairing of amendment, submitted to my 
 evil inclinations, as if they belonged to ni}- nature. But 
 after the stain of my former life had been taken away by the 
 aid of regenerating water, a pure and serene light was poured 
 into the reconciled heart : when through the Spirit received 
 from heaven the second birth transformed me into a new man, 
 things formerly doubtful were confirmed in a wonderful man- 
 ner; what before was closed became open, and dark things 
 were illuminated ; power was given to perform wlitit before 
 seemed difficult, and what was thought impossible became 
 possible ; my former life, which, being of canial origin, M-as 
 spent in sin, was an earthly life; the life which now the Holy 
 Ghost has animated, is a life from God." 
 
 Celsus might justly have reproached Christianity for its 
 spread among the vicious, if it had attracted them by 
 creating a false confidence in the forgiveness of their sins, 
 and thus given support to their wickedness. Certainly, as 
 the enemy has from the first mixed tares with the wheat, 
 delusions falsifying the truth have at no time been wanting, 
 even during the lives of the apostles; thus Paul found it 
 needful to warn the Corinthian church that no one must 
 
ERRONEOUS VIEWS OF BAFTISil. 17 
 
 deceive himself by imagining that if he persisted in sin, or 
 backslidcd into it, that he could inherit the kingdom of 
 God. 1 Cor. vi. 9, 10. And thus in the second century we 
 find such a notion of a magical forgiveness connected with 
 baptism, by which many were made secure in their sins, and 
 deferred their baptism as long as possible, that in the mean 
 time they might live as catechumens more freely according 
 to their inclinations, while^ they reserved this means of purifi- 
 cation for the last extremity, in order, as they supposed, to 
 be purified at the end of life from guilt and sin, and to attain 
 eternal happiness. But the church opposed this delusion 
 most strenuously by its instructions and its appointments. 
 Tertullian, in his Treatise on Repentance, when he requires 
 of the catechumens so to regulate their lives that they may 
 be prepared for a worthy reception of baptism, thus writes: 
 " How foolish, how unreasonable it is, to expect the full for- 
 giveness of sins without repentance ; it is withholding the 
 purchase-money, and yet claiming the goods. For this price 
 has the Lord determined to set on the forgiveness of sins. 
 As all persons, when they sell anything, first of all examine 
 the money that is offered for it, whether it be genuine or base 
 coin, so we think the Lord first tries the quality of our repent- 
 ance, for which he is willing to give us so great a blessing as 
 eternal happiness. It is, indeed, easy for thee to obtain 
 baptism surreptitiously, and to deceive the president of the 
 church by thy ]3rotestations ; but God watches over his own 
 trcasm'C, and will not allow it to fall into the hands of the 
 unv.'orthy. Is there, forsooth, one Christ for the baptised 
 and another for the catechumens?" 
 
 But Vv'hen men who seemed incorrigible were amended by 
 Christianity, this was a most striking proof of its divine 
 power. On this point Origcn could justly make an appeal : 
 " When we see the doctrine which Celsus calls foolish, 
 operate as with magical power, — when we see how it brings 
 a multitude of men at once from a life of lawless excesses to 
 a well-regulated one, from unrighteousness to goodness, from 
 timidity to such a strength of principle that for the sake of 
 religion they despise death, have we not good reason for ad- 
 miring the power of this doctrine?*' What were the sweep- 
 ing reproaches of Celsus when set against the living examples 
 which the Christians Avere able to adduce ? '^ What must we 
 
18 CHEISTIAN LIFE OF THE FIEST CENTURIES. 
 
 say," said Justin Martyr to the heathen, " of the numberless 
 multitudes of those who by this doctrine have been converted 
 from a life of unbridled excesses ? for not the righteous, not the 
 moral, does Christ call to repentance, but the imgodly, the 
 immoral, the unrighteous ; for our heavenly Father prefers 
 the repentance of sinners to their punishment." 
 
 As the gospel in a measure found easier entrance among 
 notorious sinners than among the ?elf-righteous Pharisees, so 
 also it found easier entrance, to a degree, among the foolish 
 of the world, but who did not think themselves wise ; the 
 spiritually destitute, who could not deceive themselves with 
 apparent riches ; the poor in spirit ; than among the highly- 
 cultivated part of society, to whom, in their imaginary 
 M'isdom, the word of the cross was foolishness. Celsüs, after 
 his usual manner, reckons it a reproach to Christianity, that 
 " woollen-manufacturers, shoemakers, and curriers, the most 
 uneducated and boorish men, were zealous advocates of this 
 religion, men who could not open their mouths before the 
 learned, and who only tried to gain over the women and 
 children in families." Thus the gospel in that age, as in 
 later times, when its light has shone forth afresh after being 
 obscured by human inventions, found the readiest entrance 
 among the working classes, men belonging to the despised 
 people, whose essential moral necessities were not different 
 from those of all other men, but not so stifled by an artificial 
 training ; who, because the burdens of every-day life were 
 lightened by nothing, felt so much the more weary and heavy 
 laden, and therefore tm-ned to that which invited them to 
 refreshment. When people of this class were heard speaking 
 with enthusiasm of an Almighty God, of his compassion to 
 sinners, of a kingdom of God, and a life of eternal happiness, 
 all this in opposition to the aristocratic culture of the ancient 
 world, which nothing could overcome but Christianity, (the 
 true popular religion.) must have excited great astonishment. 
 For the idea of a dignity belonging to man, as man, to be 
 developed in all men (which was no other than the image of 
 God in all men that had been obscured by sin), and founded 
 upon tlie rights of human nature in all men, under all cir- 
 cumstances, was unknown to the times that preceded Chris- 
 tianity. According to the prevailing notions of antiquity, 
 and even of the most eminent philosophers and legislators, 
 
CHEISTIANITY COMPAKED WITH POLYTHEISM. 19 
 
 the pure knowledge of religion, and especially the idea of an 
 original source of all existence (which, if not altogether 
 wanting in the systems of Polytheism, was yet kept in the 
 back-ground), were only the property of a few individuals 
 distinguished by higher mental cultivation, and capable of 
 philosophic reflection ; the people were condemned to super- 
 stition in blind dependence on their enlightened leaders. 
 jVnd as Christianity had first established this pure freedom 
 and equality of men, so it continued to be the only instru- 
 ment of leading the people to maturity, and retaining them 
 in it. 
 
 To this remarkable effect of Christianity the Christian 
 apologists frequently appeal, since they were taught to 
 value it highly from comparing it with the existing religious 
 systems, both philosophic and popular. Thus Justin Martyr 
 says : " Socrates excited men to strive by the exercise of 
 reason after the knowledge of the unknoAvn God ; for he said 
 (in the Timwus of Plato), ' It is not easy to find the Father 
 and Creator of all existence, and when he is found, it is 
 impossible to make him known to all ;' but this is what our 
 Christ has effected by his power. For no one believed 
 Socrates so far as to die for the doctrine. But not only 
 philosophers and learned men followed Christ, but artisans 
 and illiterate persons, and despised honour, fear, and death ; 
 since here was the power of the incomprehensible Father, 
 and not what could be effected by the demonstrations of 
 human reason." Athenagoras says : " Among us you find 
 the ignorant, artisans, aud aged women, who, if they are not 
 capable of proving the salutary influence of the Christian 
 doctrine by words, yet can verify it in practice by the effects 
 of the character which is formed by it." And Tertullian 
 observes : "" Every Christian artisan has found God, and 
 points him out to thee ; and, in fact, shows thee everything 
 which is sought for in God, although Plato maintains that 
 the Creator of the world is not easily found, and that when 
 he is found, he can hardly be made known to all." 
 
 Yet it was not always that those who were sunk in vice 
 were most receptive of the gospel. Often such persons hated 
 the doctrine which denounced punishment on their evil deeds, 
 and called them to repentance ; as, on the other hand, others 
 Mere led to the gospel by the moral consciousness already 
 
 c 2 
 
20 CHEISTIAN LIFE OF THE FIEST CEXTUKIES. 
 
 awakened in them, and by their previous moral striving ; 
 whether it was that by their intercourse with Christians and 
 acquaintance with the gospel they first learned what was 
 requisite for a truly holy life, and knew how far their life 
 hitherto had fallen short of the ideal of holiness, and by the 
 dissatisfaction thus excited were led to the Physician of souls, 
 or whether by their sincere moral striving they had already 
 experienced the war between the law of the sphit and the 
 law in their members, and longing after redemption from this 
 conflict, liastened with joy to that Saviour who promised that 
 redemption. Thus Origen says : " We can point out more of 
 those who were converted from a life not altogether bad 
 than of those who were addicted to gross sins." 
 
 And as Christianity adapted itself to the various stand- 
 points of moral development, so it likewise did to the various 
 stand-points of intellectual culture. Indeed many, precisely 
 from their want of this, were peculiarly receptive of the light 
 of a higher wisdom ; but in others the absence of all in- 
 tellectual life counteracted most strongly the influence of the 
 gospel, and thus they were held fast in the bondage of 
 heathen superstition. The consequence was, that although 
 the preachers of the gospel at an early period felt compelled 
 to seek out the poor peasants in their hovels, and country 
 churches were formed under their own pastors, heathenism 
 lingered the longest among the rude peasantry ; hence, at a 
 period when Christianity had been generally spread, heathen- 
 ism and paganism (the religio pagonorum) were S}*nonymous. 
 On the other hand, many persons were led by their previous 
 mental cultivation to see the futility of the heathen idolatry, 
 and that cultivation opened the way for them to the religion 
 that can alone satisfy the intellectual necessities of man as a 
 being capable of religion. Tertullian says,""'" " Christianity 
 opened to the knowledge of the truth the eyes of men who 
 had been led astray by false and excessive retinement." 
 
 There were many of the educated class who were prompted 
 to occupy themselves with the studj* of philosojihy, not by a 
 speculative but rather by a religious interest. They vvished 
 
 * Non qui (Christus) rupices et adhuc feras homines multitudine tot 
 numinum demerendorura attonitos efficiendo ad humanitatem temperaret, 
 quod Numa; sed qui jam expolitos, et ipsa urbanitate deceptos, in agni- 
 tionem \eritaiis ocuiaret. — TertuU. Apol. 21. 
 
CHRISTIANITY COMPARED WITH STOICISM. 21 
 
 by this means to gain a satisfactory certainty of religious con- 
 viction, which the decaying popular faith could not impart. 
 On this account they applied to the most prevalent philo- 
 sophical systems of antiquity which appeared most nearly 
 allied to religious belief. There were particularly two such 
 systems, the Platonic and the Stoic. 
 
 But Stoicism could not meet their wants, for it gave them 
 no pledge of full satisfaction, but required their suppression, 
 and a denial of those deeply-implanted wishes belonging to a 
 soul thirsting for eternal life, which pass beyond the bounds 
 of a transitory earthly existence and strive to meet the com- 
 munications of an eternal love. That comfortless resignation 
 to the iron necessity of an mexorable fate manifested in the 
 circle of the world's development, which required the sacrifice 
 of all individual personal existence, could only satisfy the cold 
 understanding, not the warm, feeling heart. Whoever had 
 not suppressed the voice of nature in himself by the over- 
 weight of sophistical thinking could not accede to what M^as 
 here demanded by the philosopher, to look forward to death 
 in quiet resignation, without knowing anything of the future, 
 when he was left in uncertainty whether the soul perished 
 with the body or would still continue to live some time 
 longer ; and the final end was held out that his own personal 
 existence, like every man's, and that of the gods themselves, 
 would be absorbed in the one universal spirit from which 
 everything which formed life proceeded, again to be swallowed 
 up and destroyed. 
 
 There is great beauty in the remarks of St. Augustin on 
 that stand-point of an apathy formed by the suppression 
 of the natural feelings and cravings.* " It makes a great 
 difi'erence whether the insensibility proceed from health or 
 from numbness ; for in this state of mortality a sound body 
 sufi'ers pain if it be pricked, and so it is with the soul that 
 possesses a sound constitution for this life. But the body 
 
 * Interest ergo utrutn aliquid sanitate, an stupore non doleat. Nam 
 secundum sanitatem hujus mortalitatis sana caro cum pungitur dolet. 
 Qualis est et animus secundum istam vitam bene affectus, qui corapunctus 
 laborantis miseria, condolescit misericordia. Caro autem graviore morbo 
 stupida, vel amisso etiam spiritu mortua, nee cum pungitur dolet; qualis 
 est istorum animus, qui sine Deo philosophantur, vel potius prsefocautur. 
 —Aug. Senn. 348. (Ben. v, p. 1344.) 
 
22 CHRISTIAN LIFE OF THE FIRST CENTIJIIIES. 
 
 benumbed by severe illness, or dead and forsaken by the 
 breath, feels* no pain even when pricked. So it is with the 
 souls of those who philosophize without God." And in 
 another passage he says, " Health has no feeling of sickness, 
 but vet it feels pain when it is wounded. But stupidity feels 
 no pain ; it has lost the feeling of pain ; and the more in- 
 sensible, so much the worse. Again, immortality has no 
 room for pain ; for all that was transitoiy has passed away, 
 and the corruptible has put on incorruption, 1 Cor. xv. 53. 
 There is no pain, therefore, to the immortal — no pain to the 
 insensible body. Let not the insensible fancy that it is 
 already immortal. The healthfulness of those that feel pain 
 is nearer immortality than the insensibility of those that do 
 not feel it. So thou findest a man full of pride, who per- 
 suades himself that nothing is to be feared. Dost thou hold 
 such an one to be stronger than he who said, ' without were 
 fightings, and within were fears r' (2 Cor. vii. 5) ; or stronger 
 than our Lord himself, who said, ' My soul is exceeding 
 sorrowful, even unto death r" lie is not stronger ; rejoice 
 not in that insensibility. Such an one has not put on im- 
 mortality, but put ojf feeling. Wish not to have a passionless 
 soul, but say in the feeling of health, ' Who is weak and I 
 am not weak ? Who is offended and I burn not r' (2 Cor. 
 xi. 29.) If he had not been so moved by the offence of that 
 weak brother, would he have been better because destitute of 
 feeling and pain ? Away with this ! It would be insensibility, 
 not true rest. For when we reach our heavenly fatherland, 
 where our souls will find full security, there they will be filled 
 with rest and eternal blessedness ; there will be no pain, and 
 no cause of pain." 
 
 The influence of the Platonic philosojDhv on the religious 
 life was far deeper and more widely felt. This formed then, 
 as it has done in later times, for many persons, a transition- 
 point from unbelief to belief in Christianity. By means of 
 it an ardent longing was awakened, but which, not having a 
 distinct conception of its proper object and aim, fluctuated 
 with unsteady restlessness. When in sadness of heart the 
 self- questioner exclaimed, " What is the drop of my existence 
 in the boundless ocean of the infinite! M-hat is' man that 
 God should be mindful of him ! " this philosophy gave no 
 consolatory answer; to the wish that would fain believe. 
 
CHRISTIANITY COMPARED WITH PLATOXISM. 23 
 
 it gave no firm anchor for connection with heaven, no 
 elevating* power to soar to the super-mundane. True, it 
 led man to the consciousness of possessing an intellectual and 
 moral nature, rising above time and allied to the divine ; but 
 it could not give birth to an undoubting consciousness of a 
 personal existence, maturing into a state of moral perfection, 
 and the enjoyment of untroubled blessedness. All that it 
 gave was the doctrine of a soul, in its nature exalted above 
 change and dissolution, changing the form of manifesting 
 its existence without the recollection of its earlier states, — 
 the doctrine that souls which, in this temporal life, had 
 attained a certain stage of virtue and wisdom, after their 
 separation from the body would be exalted for a very long 
 period to a divine supersensual life, in order, after the lapse 
 of this long period, again to be reduced by the power of fate 
 to union with an earthly body. By such a doctrine no satis- 
 faction could be administered to natm-es more practical than 
 specidative. The needs of most men required a certain firm 
 support of faith, an anchor which would enter into the invi- 
 sible sanctuary M-hich the soul, in virtue of its destiny for 
 heaven, and its nature, originally allied to the divine though 
 estranged from God by sin, felt compelled to seek. How 
 powerfully these needs pressed upon men in that age, is tes- 
 tified by the memorable words of the heathen philosopher, in 
 the third century, who used every effort, in order, by the 
 Hellenic religion as artificially revived by a mystical Pla- 
 tonism, to satisfy these needs in a deceptive manner, and by 
 this deception to keep men at a distance from Christianity, 
 towards which they were impelled by the urgency of these 
 needs. In his introduction to his collection (formed Avith 
 this design) of the heathen oracles (both genuine and spu- 
 rious), Porphyiy saj^s : " The uses of this collection will bo 
 best known by those who, longing after the truth, have pre- 
 viousl)'" prayed that a divine manifestation might be granted 
 to them, in order that they might attain repose from their 
 doubts, by instruction endowed with trustworthy authority." 
 
 This want of the religious principle so strongly felt by 
 many, and yet unsatisfied, procured for persons who boasted 
 of a connexion with the invisible world, and certain higher 
 powers communicated to them, a ready introduction, and 
 great influence in those times. Many individuals, who could 
 
24 CHRISTIAN LIFE OF THE FIRST CENTURIES. 
 
 attain no firm and satisfactory convictions by means of the 
 contending systems of the philosophers, and tlie powers of 
 their own reason, sought for communications from the invi- 
 sible world by means of necromancers and the conductors 
 of awful mysteries. In a fictitious narrative, which was 
 perhaps a production of the second centmy, we find a vivid 
 delineation of the inquiring minds of that age, which cer- 
 tainly was drawn from the life. Let us listen how a distin- 
 guished Roman of the apostolic age, Clement, afterwards 
 bishop of Home, here represents the history of his inner 
 life : " I, Clement, was able to pass my fu'st years in a moral 
 course, since the thoughts that followed me from childhood 
 called me off from pleasure to sorrow and exertion; for there 
 dwelt in me, I know not vrhence it came, the thoughts which 
 reminded me frequently of death, that after death I should 
 not be, and then no one would think of me, for eternity 
 would involve all things in oblivion. When did the world 
 begin, and what was there before the world ? "Was it from 
 eternity r Then it would last to eternity. If it was brought 
 into existence, then also it would at some time perish. And 
 what would be again after its dissolution, unless perhaps the 
 stillness of death and oblivion (that comfortless idea which 
 is found in several of the oriental systems of religion, that 
 the changing forms of individual existence M'ill at last be 
 dissolved into an unconscious All — thus universal death 
 will be the ultimate result—- all existence will become an un- 
 real spectre), and perhaps something may then be which now 
 I cannot conceive of. 
 
 " Lost incessantly in these and similar thoughts, I knew not 
 whence, I so tortured myself, that I became pale and emaci- 
 ated. And what was more dreadful than all, when I longed 
 to throw off this anxiety from me as useless, my sufferings 
 became more intense. I was indignant at this, not being 
 aware that the thoughts that filled my mind, would be a 
 blessed guide to a happy immortality, as I afterwards found 
 by experience, for which I thank the Almighty ; for through 
 those thoughts which at first tortured me, I was compelled 
 to seek for the truth, and at last succeeded in findins; it, and 
 when I had found it I pitied those whom before I had igno- 
 rantly pronomiced fortunate. 
 
 "As from childhood I had been occupied with such 
 
EXPEKIENCE OF CLEMENT. 2ü 
 
 thoughts, I visited the school of the philosophers, in order to 
 attain some certain knowledge, and found there nothing but 
 the building up and pulling down of systems, a confused 
 strife of opinions. For example, sometimes the opinion 
 triumphed, that the soul was immortal, at other times that it 
 was mortal. In the first instance I rejoiced, in the second I 
 was troubled, and at last nothing fixed remained in my soul. 
 When I perceived that things did not appear as they really 
 were, but as were represented by men, my mental confusion 
 was worse than ever. I sighed from the depths of my soul, 
 for I could gain nothing fixed, and yet I could not free my- 
 self from their speculations, although I wished, as I said 
 before ; for though I often imposed silence on myself, yet I 
 knew not how it came to pass that such thoughts again found 
 their way into my mind, and I felt pleasure in them. 
 
 " Involved in fresh doubt, I asked myself why I troubled 
 myself in vain, since the matter was clear. If after death 
 I shall cease to be, I need not trouble myself about it while 
 I live. I will rather defer my anxiety for that time when I 
 shall cease to be, and therefore be unable to feel anxious. 
 And then another thought intruded, for I said to myself, — 
 * Perhaps I shall suffer then something worse than my present 
 anxiety, in case I have not led a pious life, and if, according 
 to the doctrine of some philosophers, I am delivered to eternal 
 punishment!' I then rejoined, — ' But it is not so ;' and then 
 again I said, — ' But if it should be so ? ' Since, therefore, 
 the matter is uncertain, it is the surest way for me to lead a 
 pious life. And looking at an uncertain hope, how shall I be 
 able, in order to will w'hat is good, to conquer the sensual 
 desires ? Nor have I a confident conviction what is good 
 and well- pleasing to God. I know not whether the soul be 
 mortal or immortal; I can find no certain doctrine, and yet 
 cannot rest satisfied wdth such thoughts. 
 
 ••' "What must I do now ? I will travel into Egj'pt to 
 make friends with the Hierophants and Prophets of the 
 Mysteries ; I will seek out a magician, and w^hen I have 
 found one, I .will induce him by a large sum of money to 
 raise a sj^irit for me, as if I wished to question him respecting 
 some worldly matter ; but my question shall relate to the 
 immortality of the soul. I shall not wait for the answer of 
 the spirit, but his look, his appearance, will be to me a 
 
56 CHKISTIAX LIFE OF THE FIEST CENTURIES. 
 
 siifficient proof, and uncertain words cannot overthrow what 
 I experience by actual eyesight. But M-hen I stated my 
 intention to a philosopher of my acquaintance, he suggested 
 many reasons why I should not venture to execute it. ' For,' 
 said'he, 'if the spirit will not obey the call of the magician, 
 you will live in constant terror for having broken the laws 
 which forbid the practice of magic. But if the spirit com- 
 plies with the call, then, along with distress of conscience, 
 you will have no more satisfaction in the things of religion, 
 having been so daring ; for the Divinity must be displeased 
 with those who disturb the souls of the departed.' 
 
 " Having heard this. I was no longer desirous to make the 
 experiment, but yet did not abandon my earlier resolution ; 
 I was only grieved to see myself prevented from carrying it 
 into effect." 
 
 In this state of seeking, wishing, doubting, and wavering, 
 Clement found himself, when he heard of the Son of God 
 appearing in Palestine, who promised eternal happiness to all 
 who believed on him. and regulated their lives by his teaching, 
 and confirmed his declarations by undoubted acts of divine 
 power. And hence he became acquainted with the gospel, 
 and found in it the rest he had sought for. 
 
 In this representation of Clement's inner life, even if 
 fictitious, we see the course of the inner life of many persons 
 in that age ; perhaps we may find in it a mirror for our own 
 times. 
 
 Thus Justin Martyr, after he had sought satisfaction in 
 many philosophic systems, and last of all in the Platonic, 
 which most strongly attracted him, was brought at last to 
 Christianity. He says of himself, after he had become a 
 Chi'istian instead of a heathen philosopher : " I found first 
 in Chi'istianity the only certain and salutary philosophy. 
 Gladly would I impart to all the same disposition which I 
 now possess, not to forsake the instructions of the Saviour ; 
 for these instructions have in them something worthy of 
 veneration, a power to shame those who have wandered from 
 the right way, M-hile they furnish the most delightful refresh- 
 ment to those who practise them." {Dialog, c. Tryph. § 8.) 
 Speaking from his o^ti experience, he calls Christ the glorious 
 rock from which living water flows into the hearts of those 
 who through him love the Father of all, and which he gives 
 
DIONYSIUS, BISHOP OF ALEXANDRIA. 27 
 
 to those who desire to drink tlie water of life. Elsewhere he 
 speaks of " the word of truth and of wisdom, burning and 
 shining brighter than the sun, penetrating and shining into 
 the depths of the heart and soul." 
 
 Thus Dionysius, bishop of Alexandria in the third century, 
 a man distinguished for pious zeal and philosophic knowledge, 
 was brought to Christianity by the examination of various 
 systems. The examination and trial of all things was, as 
 he says, the way of foith for him. In the system of many 
 Christian theosoj^hists in the east (Gnostics), which had been 
 formed from a combination of Christian ideas with existing 
 oriental modes of thought, evident traces may be found that 
 these eminent men had examined with an anxiety stretching 
 beyond the bounds of humanity the mysterious fragments of 
 religious systems that belonged to a venerable antiquity, until 
 they were attracted by the surpassing splendour of the reve- 
 lation of God in the gospel. And although they penetrated 
 into Christianity only on that one side, according to which 
 their whole intellectual life had been regulated, although they 
 did not possess the self-denial to sacrifice or subordinate their 
 former views and mental tendencies to the all-transforming 
 creation which Christianity necessarily produces where it 
 fully operates, yet we here see in a remarkable manner the 
 mighty influence of Christianity on opposite tendencies of 
 human nature ; both on that giant (so to speak) mental ten- 
 dency, striving upwards and despising as too narrow the 
 common conceptions of human nature, wishing to penetrate 
 far beyond into the depths of the hidden God, and on the 
 other hand on that tendency cleaving to the earth, drawing 
 down the heavenly to earth, and mingling it with the earthly ; 
 on both these opposite modes of speculation it was able to 
 exert an overpowering and attractive force. 
 
28 CHßISTlAN LIFE OF THE FIEST CENTUKlESo 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 THE IXFEUENCE OF CHKISTIAXITY OS THE UNIVERSAL 
 KELIGIOUS PEINCIPLE IN MAN. 
 
 Christianity in its operations connected itself with the 
 existing consciousness of God, which it awoke from a dor- 
 mant state, and released from its fetters, while it converted 
 the dim apprehension of the existence of a hidden God into 
 the clear and living consciousness of a God revealed in Christ. 
 The idea of an originator and source of all existence, " in 
 whom we live and move and have our being, whose offspring 
 we are, and who is not far from any one of us;" — this idea is 
 deeply founded in the intellectual and moral nature of man ; 
 but as long as it remains nothing more than an obscure sen- 
 timent in the back-ground of human consciousness, and does 
 not pervade the whole life as a vital principle, and mould the 
 whole life in conformity to it, it is absolutely barren, and by 
 contact with the world which rules the consciousness of men, 
 it is perpetually kept under, and degenerates into an idolatry 
 of Nature. It was of no use that reflective men possessed 
 the abstract knowledge of the highest Unity ; this could not, 
 as the ancient philosophers and lawgivers clearly perceived, 
 be brought down to the popular mind, and infused into it as 
 a practical principle of action. It was not by a traditionaiy 
 abstract knowledge of God, but only by the life of every indi- 
 vidual being brought into personal relation, not to a hidden 
 deity dimly apprehended, but to a God made known in his 
 living revelation, and immediately laying hold of human 
 nature ; only by such means could heathenism be completely 
 vanquished. In the various and peculiar modes by which the 
 converted heathens expressed the relation of that knowledge 
 of God which filled and penetrated their whole souls to their 
 former habits of thinking, we may again recognise the diver- 
 sity of those tendencies and ways out of which they were 
 brought to Christianity. 
 
 To a question commonly put to Christians by heathens sunk 
 in sensuality, " Wha then is the God whom ye honour in 
 secret without any visible cultus, without images, or temples, 
 
THEOPHILUS OF AXTIOCII. 29 
 
 or altars ? " Theophiliis of Antioch replied : " It is that Being- 
 whose breath animates all things ; if he were to withdraw his 
 breath, all would sink to nothing. Thou canst not speak 
 without testifying of him ; of him the brcatli of thy life testi- 
 fies, and yet thou knowest him not. This ignorance is owing 
 to the blindness of thy soul, the hardness of thy heart.*' God 
 is seen by those who are able to see him as soon as they have 
 the eye of their souls open. All have eyes, but some eyes are 
 darkened, and do not behold the light of the sun, and when 
 the blind do not see, it does not follow that there is no sun- 
 shine : the blind must accuse themselves and their own eyes. 
 So also, oh man ! the eyes of the soul are darkened by .sin. 
 Man must have a pure soul like a clear mirror. When sin is 
 in man, like rust on a metal mirror, he cannot see God. But 
 if thou art willing, thou canst be cured. Give thyself to the 
 Physician, and he will open the eyes of thy soul and of thy 
 heart. Who is the Physician ? God who heals and makes 
 alive by his words." Thus Theophilus points out to the hea- 
 then, that man by his estrangement from God, in consequence 
 of his internal corruption, is prevented from understanding 
 that revelation of God which is presented by the whole cre- 
 ation (Rom. i. 18, 20), and therefore he must first seek to 
 be freed from this corruption in order that the image of a holv 
 God may be reflected in a sanctified heart. lie very properly 
 refers to his own experience when he passed from heathenism 
 to Christianity, and shows that the true knowledge of God is 
 not to be communicated to men as something abstract, by cer- 
 tain ideas from without, but must proceed in a living manner 
 by a regeneration of the inner life. 
 
 Men, who before their conversion to Christianity, had 
 
 * JiXeTrerai yap Qtug toTq ^wankvoig avrbv op^v, tTrav tx'^"'' '^ovg 
 ocpOaXixouQ dvtdjyfjih'ovQ rijQ ■ipvxrJQ- TLdvifg f^iiv yao t^ovcrt tovq 
 6(pOa\iio> g, äWä itnoi viroKixv fikvovg, Kal fii) ßXkirovTag to (pCjg tov 
 ifXiov ' Kill oil Trapd to j-u) ftXtirtiv tovq TvcpXovg, jyt^;; Kal ovk Iti to 
 (pCjg tov I'jXiov tpalvov aWa iavTovg aiTidaGojaav oi TV(p\oi, Kal tovq 
 iavTiuv doOaXfiovg. Ovtoj kuI av, a» avOpioTrs, tx^ig ('iTroKexvfXsvovg 
 Toi'g öfpÖaXfxovg ti'iq \l/vx>}g cou vtto tuiv äfiaoTtj^iciTUJv Kal tuiv 
 TTpa^jwv aov tCjv Trovrjpujv. "Qcnrep tffOTTTpov kaTiXßwjAh'ov, ovtcj ^tl 
 Toi' ävOpiüTTOv tx^f^v KuOandv \l/vx>)v. 'Ewdv ovv i) log Iv T(^ t(7ÜTrTp({j, 
 ov cvvrtTai opciaOai to TrpacyojTrov tov dvOpiOTrov tv r^o taäirTpfi). OÜti>> 
 Kal'ÖTav i) AjiapTia 61' T(ij di'9p(jj7r(ij, ov ivvaTai b TOiovTog avOpuTrog 
 dtbjptlv TOV 9e6v. — Theoph. Antioch. ad Atiiolycum, 2. 
 
30 CHRISTIAN LIFE OF THE FIEST CENT[TEIES. 
 
 examined the various systems of the ancient philosophers, 
 now recollected with pleasure those pure religious ideas which 
 rose above the popular superstition, and proceeded from the 
 religious consciousness as developed by philosophy. From 
 the central point of Christianity they could now recognise 
 what bore an affinity to it in all the scattered traces of truth, and 
 separated them from the falsehood with which they were mLxed. 
 As Clement of Alexandi-ia expresses himself, " They bound 
 together the portions of truth sejDarated by human error into 
 one harmonious whole, and thus recognised the truth without 
 danger." 
 
 Yet certainly there was some truth at the fomidation, when 
 Tertullian, a rnan of practical life rather than a philosopher, 
 was disposed to see in all mental culture (what can be only 
 affirmed of what was not ti'ue), a falsifier of the original truth, 
 a corruption of nature ; and hence, instead of going to the 
 schools of the philosophers, in which he often found the voice 
 of Nature suppressed, he rather appealed to the involuntary 
 utterance of this voice in the unguarded expressions of spon- 
 taneous feeling by simple uneducated men. He wished to 
 show that even the predominance of delusion could not alto- 
 gether suppress the original consciousness of God. " I summon 
 thee, oh soul!" he says, "not such as when, trained in the 
 schools, exercised in libraries, nourished in the academies and 
 porches of Athens, thou utterest thy crude wisdom. I address 
 thee as simple and rude, unpolished and unlearned, such as 
 they have thee who have only thee ; the very and entii'e thing 
 that thou art in the road, in the highway, in the weaver's 
 factory. I have need of thy inexperience, since in thy expe- 
 rience, however small, no one puts faith. I demand of thee 
 those truths which thou bringest with thyself to man, which 
 thou hast learnt to know either from thyself, or from the author 
 of thy being .... We hear thee saying openly and 
 with full liberty, not allowed to us, both at home and abroad, 
 ' Which God grants' and ' If God tciU.' By this language 
 thou testifiest the being of a God ; thou ascribest all power 
 to him, to whose will thou makest reference ; thou deniest also 
 the being of other gods, since thou callest these by their par- 
 ticular names. Also what we say of the nature of God is not 
 hidden from thee ; it is thy language, ' The good God,' ' God 
 gives ivhat is good,' In fact, thou addest, ' hut man is evil,' 
 
YIEWS OF TERTULLIAN AND MAKCION. 31 
 
 Thou indicatest by this contrast, that man is evil, because he 
 has estranged himself from the good God. Also in what we 
 regard as the holiest foundation of doctrine and practice, in 
 the belief that God alone is the source of good for man, we 
 agree. Thou sayest, ' God bless thee ' as easily as it is neces- 
 sary for a Christian to say it. ' God sees all things ;' ' I com- 
 mend the Tnatter to God.'' ' God will recompense it; ' God 
 tvill judge between us.' Whence these expressions of those 
 who are not Christians ; yes, even while they are worshipping 
 false gods." He calls these expressions of the soul conscious 
 of God, " the doctrine of original nature, intrusted in silence 
 to the innate consciousness." " What wonder," he says, " if 
 being derived from God, it expresses the same truths which 
 God has communicated to his own people." In his apology 
 he calls these involuntary expressions of mankind " the wit- 
 ness of the soul which is Christian by nature." [Testimo7iium 
 animcD naturaliter Christiance.) And in pronouncing these 
 words he says, " It looks not to the capitol, but to heaven, 
 for it knows the dwelling-place of the living God ; from him 
 and thence it descended. Although shut up in the prison of 
 the body, although taken captive by bad instruction, although 
 enervated by lusts and pleasures, although the slave of false 
 gods, yet w^hen it comes to its senses as out of a fit, a sleep, 
 or an illness, and attains a feeling of soundness, it names God 
 with that name only which is peculiar to the true God." 
 
 While TertuUian justly acknowledged in Christianity the 
 revelation of that God who is never wholly hidden, is never 
 altogether wanting to man, who always lets himself be recog- 
 nised and perceived, to whom our whole being bears witness, 
 and in whom it rests, who need not be proved to exist since 
 he is proved by the fact that he cannot be denied ; — on the 
 other hand the warm heart of Marcion was so captivated by 
 the glory of the revelation of God in Christ, that he exclaimed : 
 " The God of holiness and love, whom I find in the gospel, 
 was hitherto wholly strange to the world ; neither Nature nor 
 Reason could point to him ; the God whom Nature and Rea- 
 son announced. Is not the most high God revealed in 
 Christ ? In the limited weak nature of man there is nothing 
 akin to this Almighty One, the God of holy love ; Christianity 
 has first communicated to man a divine life, flowing from this 
 God, by which he is raised above the whole finite creation to 
 
32 CIIKISTIAN LIPE OF THE FIEST CENTURIES. 
 
 communion with this infinite Being of holiness and love." 
 Although truth and falsehood are here mingled, yet we per- 
 ceive from it how extraordinary and new the knowledge of 
 God which Christianity communicated to men, and its opera- 
 tion on humanity, appeared to the mind of a heathen deeply 
 impressed by the power of the gospel ; how he, when he 
 compared the world to which Christianity had transported 
 him, with the world in which he had lived before, which 
 Avas all around him, and presented itself to his view in anti- 
 quity, could not believe in the possibility of any common 
 bond between these two worlds. 
 
 We learn from these examples how easily a partial appre- 
 hension of truth, combined with deep religious feeling, leads 
 into error; how easily, when a revolution takes jDlace in 
 deeply-seated feelings, error mingles with truth. And when 
 we compare these two men, who resembled one another in 
 ardent love and violent antipathy, and both deeply penetrated 
 by Christianity, we perceive how easily it happens that those 
 persons who, if they look into the recesses of each other's 
 hearts, would embrace one another as brethren, conduct 
 themselves as strangers, and even as enemies, because their 
 dispositions are manifested only through the enigmatical 
 medium of language and the imperfect vehicle of notions. 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 THE EELATION OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH TO THE 
 HEATHEN WORLD. 
 
 A RELIGION destined to satisfy the constant and ever- 
 abiding religious wants of human nature, and hence suited 
 for men under every variety of circumstances, and elevated 
 above all earthly forms of mental culture ; the idea of such 
 a religion of humanity was totally unknown to antiquity. 
 And though to every one who knows what religion is, and 
 who is aware that no other power can compensate for its 
 absence, it must be evident that the religious sentiment, in 
 itself, must be the same in the learned and the unlearned, the 
 
CHKISTIANITY UNIVERSAL, NOT NATIONAL. 33 
 
 civilized and the uncivilized; still, since either the essential in 
 religion is confounded with what is only deducible from it, or 
 something quite different is substituted in the place of reli- 
 gion, the error is ever renewed, that religion must be different 
 according to the various stages of mental culture. 
 
 Celsus, the opponent of Christianity, says : " He must be 
 void of understanding who can believe that Greeks and 
 barbarians, in Asia, Europe, and Libya, all nations to the 
 ends of the earth, can unite in the reception of one and the 
 same religious doctrine." All the ancient religions were 
 national and state religions, and this was especially the case 
 %vitli the Romans, among whom the political 2)üint of view 
 predominated in everything, not excepting religion. The 
 public apostacy of citizens from the state religion, and the 
 introduction of a foreign religion, or a new one not legalized 
 by the state {religio illicita), appeared as an act of high trea- 
 son. In this light was regarded the conversion of Roman 
 citizens or subjects to Christianity. *' Your religion is ille- 
 gal"' {jion licet esse ros), was the reproach commonly cast on 
 Christians, without referring to the contents of their religion ; 
 to this was added the striking difference between Christianity 
 and all that had hitherto been denominated religion. Thus 
 it was said to Christians, "While all other religions are as 
 so many sanctuaries for distinct nations handed down from a 
 venerable antiquity, on the contrary, your religion existed 
 from the first with disturbance ; it Avas a revolt against the 
 religion of the Ilebrew^s, which was venerable for its antiquity, 
 though blameworthy for its intolerance ; that was its origin, 
 and now it threatens to overturn everywhere the established 
 sanctuaries, and the order of things confirmed by sacred 
 customs and usages. Only see how your religion is distin- 
 guished from everything which has hitherto received the 
 name ; no temple, no altar, no image, no sacrifice ! How can 
 such a religion, which presents nothing for the senses, suit 
 men living in a world of sense, and though a purely spiritual 
 religion may be adapted for a few philosophers, how can it 
 be so for the rude, unreasoning people?"' The positivism, 
 which was zealous for what was established, and the prejudice 
 in favour of ancient tradition which condemned everytliing 
 new from the first as false, were opposed to the power which 
 threatened to unhinge the whole ancient M'orld. Accusations 
 and reasons such as in later times have been urged by the 
 
 D 
 
34 CHRISTIAN LIFE OF THE FIRST CENTURIES. 
 
 Romish Church against Protestantism, were then brought 
 forward from the stand-point of heathenism against Chris- 
 tianity. The multitude of sects opposed to one another 
 which had arisen from the fermentation caused by Chris- 
 tianity in the human mind was adduced as a proof, that 
 mankind, having once lost their respect for ancient tradition, 
 would become a prey to the caprice of contending opinions, 
 and on this the hope was founded that Christianity would 
 perish in the warfare of opinion, and Christians themselves 
 destroy one another. And yet the multitude of various 
 heresies at this time bears witness to the power with which 
 Christianity, condescending, as it did, to the lowest, and 
 rising to the highest, could attract minds of the most different 
 structure, each in its own way; for it was because men of 
 the most opposite stand-points could not withstand the 
 attractive power of Christianity, and yet were too much 
 entangled in their respective stand-points to surrender them- 
 selves without reserve to the Divine, that this multitude of 
 heresies arose. Clement of Alexandria, in order to remove 
 this stigma, appeals to what our Lord himself had propheti- 
 cally uttered, in his parable of the wheat and the tares, and 
 alleges as the general cause, that everywhere the bad follows 
 the good ; according to the significant old German proverb, 
 * Wherever God has a temple, the de^-il builds a chapel near 
 it ;' or as Agricola expresses it a little differently in his col- 
 lection of German proverbs, ' Wherever our Lord God builds 
 a church, the devil sets up an ale-house.' He also quotes 
 the words ascribed to our Lord by an ancient tradition, in 
 which he enjoins his disciples to be skilful money-changers, 
 and learn to distinguish between genuine and base coin. 
 "On account of heresies," he says,* "men must submit to 
 
 * 'ETraTTodvTeov apa T(^ 7r6v({j Trjg evpsaECüg cid Tag aipkaeig, dW 
 ov TsXeov aTToaTaTsov ' ovck ydp öirwaag TrapaKeifisvrjg, Trjg fikv 
 a\7]9ovg Kai ojpi^ov, Ti]g ck Ik Krjpov wg oti iidXiara iji<pf.povg ttsttoli]- 
 ^ivrjc, iid 7-//V ofioioTTjTa d/^poXv acpsK-kov' CiaKOiTiov ce b^iov Tt tij 
 KaToKrjTTTLKy QEojpig., Kai t(^ KvpnürdriiJ XoyKJfjK^ to dXrjOeg ÜTrö tov 
 <paivo^svov. Kai öJcTTrsp öcov fxiäg ^ikv Tiig ßamXiKrig rvyxa^ovcFTjc, 
 rroXXCJv is Kai dXXuji', rwv fiev trri Tiva Kpr]fivbv, Totv £k eTrl TroTafidv 
 po(i)CT] ij OaXaacrav dy^ißaGfi cpepovcrojv, ovk av Tig OKvrjaai cid ttjv 
 Cia^uiviav ocevaai, xPV<^aLTO c' av Ty aKtvdvvip Kai ßayiXiKy Kai Xfw- 
 popii»' o'vTojg aXXa aXXujv Trepi aXijOtiag XeyövTüJv, ovk ä tto err a rtoi', 
 tTTifiiXsaTspov Ci GrjpaTsov ttjv ÜKpißecrTdrtjv Trepl avTrjg yvoJCfiv. — 
 Clem, Alexand. Strom, vii. 754. (Pott. 888.) 
 
CHRISTIANITY NOT COMPULSORY. 65 
 
 the labour of investigating, but not altogether reject Chris- 
 tianity; for if natural and ripe fruit and also an imitation of 
 it in wax lie side by side, we must not on account of the 
 resemblance abstain from both kinds of fruit, but must seek 
 to distinguish the real from the apparent by trial. And if 
 there is one high-road, but many other bye- paths, of which 
 one may lead to a precipice, another to a rapid stream, or to 
 the deep sea, no one on account of this diversity will be afraid 
 to travel, but every one will make use of the safe high-road ; 
 so we must not desert the truth, because one says this, and 
 another that, respecting it, but must be so much the more 
 careful in gaining the exact knowledge of it." Thus he 
 requires all to examine the Scriptiu-es for themselves, in order 
 to learn the true doctrine of Christ. The manner also in which 
 Christianity, which, though threatened to be torn in pieces 
 by these manifold contrarieties, was able in the issue to over- 
 come them all, and to make them serve for the glorification 
 of the truth which was developed with greater clearness and 
 fulness than ever, was a proof of the divine power that dwelt 
 in this religion ; and the result of this conflict may serve to 
 strengthen faith in reference to the renewal of it in all future 
 ages. 
 
 As Christianity brought into consciousness the same image 
 of God in all men, set free the develojDment of humanity from 
 the narrow boundaries of the state, subordinating all to the 
 same level, and destroyed the ancient stand-point of state re- 
 ligion, so also ideas of religious freedom and the rights of 
 conscience, which were unknown to the ancient world, were 
 first diff'used abroad by Christianity. The Christian apologists 
 were the first who testified of these new ideas brought to 
 light by Christianity. " It is," says Tertullian to the E,oman 
 Proconsul Scapula, " one of the rights of man, and belongs to 
 the natural freedom of every one, to worship according to his 
 convictions, and the religion of one can neither injure nor 
 profit others. But it is not religion to employ force in re- 
 ligion ; for religion must be voluntary, and received without 
 compulsion. Sacrifices are desired only from free hearts. If 
 you force us to sacrifice you wiU give nothing to your gods, 
 for they will not desire any forced sacrifices." 
 
 There were magistrates or persons in authority who were 
 themselves free from fanatical hatred of the Christians, and 
 
 d2 
 
36 CIIEISTIAX LIFE OF THE FIEST CEXTÜEIES. 
 
 iinwillin"-lv Dut in execution the ]a^ys against them. They 
 evcn told the Christians that they might perform the out^Yard 
 ceremonies of the state religion as the laws required, but 
 assuredly might believe in their hearts what they liked ; that 
 the law only commanded the outward act, which in itself was 
 a matter of indifference. We recognize in such suggestions 
 a characteristic of the stand-point of a state religion degrad- 
 ing to a mere compulsory mechanism the most solemn act, 
 which ought to be only an expression of free individual con- 
 viction. This stand-point was completely foreign to Chris- 
 tians. The words of our Saviour were deeply impressed on 
 their hearts which were addressed to them before their 
 baptism, and often quoted by theii' bishops in their public dis- 
 courses: "Whoso shall confess me before men, him will I 
 confess before my Father in heaven ; but whoso denieth me 
 before men, him will I deny before my Father in heaven."' 
 ]\Iany Roman magistrates in the provinces, to whom gain was 
 a greater object than the proper discharge of their office, 
 offei-ed for a certain sum of money to grant individual Chris- 
 tians a certificate (JiheUum) that they had performed the 
 heathen religious ceremonies according to the law, and thus 
 to free them from any further molestation ; but to accept 
 toleration on these terms was repudiated by the chiu'ch as a 
 denial of the faith. 
 
 But the Roman statesmen desired only a blind obedience ; 
 they knew not how to understand the enthusiasm with which 
 the Christians would rather surrender their earthly life than 
 do anything against their consciences : nor could they respect 
 the rights of that which in its natm*e must be the freest thing 
 in man — the religious convictions of the individual. In this 
 firmness of the Christians they saw nothing but blind 
 fanaticism, criminal disobedience, and self-will. Indeed, in 
 an age enervated by despotism, men who met death and ex- 
 cruciating tortures with composure, rather than utter a few 
 words, or perform some ceremonies, must have appeared very 
 strange and suspicious. " Such hardihood of soul," it might 
 be said, '• suited the heroic times of the ancient republic, but 
 not this age of peace and refined sensibility." 
 
 In their conduct towards the government and the laws, the 
 Christians distinguished themselves in contrast with the 
 immoral practices which had gained ground in the times of 
 
RELATION OF CHRISTIANITY TO THE STATE. 37 
 
 despotism. In a time when the inclination of self-interest to 
 evade the laws in secret was combined with the timorousness 
 of a slavish spirit, the Christians set the example of the con- 
 scientious observance of the laws for God's sake, and of un- 
 bending mental freedom, which, as it only obeyed the rulers 
 of the world as placed in their office by God, so no power on 
 earth could force to obey when anything was required that 
 contradicted the divine laws. As to the first point, TertuUian 
 could attest that what the State lost by the decrease of 
 idolatry in the revenues of the temples, was amply com- 
 pensated by the conscientious exactness with which the Chris- 
 tians paid the taxes and customs. As to the second point, 
 since they only obeyed God in obeying men, nothing could 
 induce them to obey men rather than God, which is the true 
 freedom of those who wish to be only the servants of God. 
 Nothing could prevail upon them to pay an honour to the 
 emperors, which the idolatrous flattery of the heathen had in- 
 vented, to swear by the genius of Cccsar, to sacrifice or scatter 
 incense to their images, or to take a part in the noisy, ex- 
 travagant, and often unseemly public demonstrations of joy 
 and diversions in honour of the emperors on their birthdays 
 or anniversaries of their accession to the throne. On this 
 account it was complained, without considering the reasons 
 of their conduct, that the Christians violated the reverence 
 due to the emperors, and they were called enemies of the 
 State and of the emperor. " We," says TertuUian, vindi- 
 cating the Christians fi'om this charge, " we pray for the 
 emperor's welfare to the eternal, true, and living God, whom 
 even the emperors themselves would rather have propitious 
 to them than all the rest. They know who has given them 
 dominion ; they know, as men, who has given them life. 
 They feel that he is God alone, in whose power alone they 
 stand, to whom they are second, after whom they are first, 
 before all gods. And why not, since they are above all 
 men ? They reflect how far the powers of their empire 
 extend, and thus they imdcrstand God ; they acknowledge that 
 they prevail through Him, against whom they cannot prevail. 
 To Him we Christians look up with outspread, because 
 innocent, hands; with bare heads, because we are not ashamed; 
 finally, without a j^i'omptcr, because we pray from the heart. 
 We pray always for all emperors that thej'- may have a long 
 
38 CHRISTIAN LIFE OF THE FIKST CEXIUEIES. 
 
 life, a secure government, a safe home, valiant armies, a 
 faithful senate, a righteous people, a M'orld at peace, and all 
 that man or emperor can wish for. These things I cannot 
 ask of any other being than of Him from whom I know I 
 shall obtain them, since it is He who alone supplies them, 
 and it is I to whom the obtaining of them is due — I, his 
 servant, who reverence Him alone, who surrender my life for 
 his law, who offer Him a rich and larger victim which He 
 himself has commanded, the prayer proceeding from a chaste 
 body, an innocent soul, from the Holy Spirit ; not a mere 
 grain of incense of the value of an as^ leaves of an Arabian 
 tree, not two drops of wine, nor the blood of a diseased 
 beast that longs to die, and after all these foul things, an im- 
 pure conscience ; so that I marvel when the victims are 
 examined before you by the most wicked priests why the 
 hearts of the beasts rather than of the sacrificers themselves 
 are examined/' And afterwards he says, " I will call the 
 emperor lord, but only when I am not compelled to call him 
 lord instead of God. Otherwise I am free before him ; for I 
 have only one Lord, the almighty and eternal God — the same 
 who is his Lord also. He who is the father of his country, 
 how can he be its lord ?" 
 
 But though Christians were agreed in the principle to obey 
 men only for God's sake, and to obey God rather than man, 
 yet varieties of opinion arose in the application of this prin- 
 ciple. Here a question of importance relative to Christian 
 morals was raised, which even in later times has been often 
 agitated, and is still. Christianity, since it is designed to be 
 the salt and leaven for all human thin£:s, must certainly enter 
 into all human relations, and yet it must oppose everything 
 that is sinful in them, agreeably to our Lord's declaration, 
 " I am not come to send peace, but a sword." But the point 
 to be determined is, where is the line to be drawn between 
 being at " peace with all men as much as lieth in us," and 
 ^^'ielding the sword against the world defiled with sin. both 
 which are duties belonging to the Christian calling. There 
 is danger of failure on either hand ; either by a false accom- 
 modation to the world, or by a false opposition against it. 
 To avoid falling into one or other of these errors must have 
 been extremely difficult in that age. All the civil and domes- 
 tic relations, and all customs, were penetrated by the ancient 
 
p 
 
 RELATION OF CHRISTIANITY TO THE STATE. 39 
 
 popular religion ; but this connection had been long forgotten 
 in many forms of life, so that only learned antiquaries were 
 aware of it. And now the question arose, How can what 
 belongs to civil, social and domestic life, in the prevailing 
 institutions and customs, be separated from its reference to 
 to the heathenish element ? What is there in itself indif- 
 ferent, with which the Christian ought to comply in dis- 
 charging his duty as a citizen, or for the preservation of civil 
 order and tranquillity? These questions were answered in 
 different ways by a sterner and a milder party, and on both 
 sides the due mean was sometimes overstepped. As the first 
 glowing zeal of the new converts would readily carry them 
 awaj' into a violent opposition to the world, so a too violent 
 ojjposition against everything which appeared in any way 
 connected with heathenism might easily be excited at this 
 time in earnest dispositionsj Even in those who fell into 
 this error, we cannot refuse our homage to their noble-minded 
 zeal and deep Christian earnestness ; we feel attracted by 
 their elevation of soul, their warmth of heart. Thus Ter- 
 tuUian, a representative of the sterner tendency, said to those 
 who seemed to him to make too lax an application of Christ's 
 words, " Give to Ca3sar the things that are Capsai'^s, and to 
 God the things that are God's:" " The Lord required that the 
 tribute-money should be shown him, and asked concerning 
 the image whose it was : and when told that it was Caesar's, 
 he said, ' Render to Ca)sar the things that are Ca3sar*s, and 
 to God the things that are God's ;' that is, Render to Csesar 
 the image of Caesar which is on the coin, and to God the 
 image of God which is in man ; so that unto Caesar thou 
 givest money, unto God thou givest thyself; for if all things 
 ftre Csesar's, what will be left for God.^" Here we may quote 
 the beautiful Avords of Clement of Alexandria : " The puiified, 
 righteous man has become a coin of the Lord, and has the 
 impress of his king stamped upon him." As Tertullian 
 believed that he saw something heathenish in the practice of 
 illuminating the houses on occasion of the feasts in honour 
 of the emperors, he said to those Christians who without 
 scnqole fell into the general custom : " Let those, therefore, 
 who have no light, light their lamps daily. Thou art a light 
 of the world, and a tree that ever flourisheth. If thou hast 
 renounced the temples, make not thy own gate a temple." 
 
40 CHRISTIAN LIFE OF THE FIRST CENTURIES. 
 
 Under the Imperial government, all secret combinations or j 
 societies were regarded v/ith suspicion, as it was feared that 
 thev had political objects in view. Now the intimate cordial 
 union, the brotherly love and sympathy among Christians in 
 all parts, could not escape observation. But the Roman 
 magistracy and their political agents could form no conception 
 of that bond of invisible communion which held their hearts 
 together. They suspected worldly objects, and causes of 
 combination. "No sooner do Christians meet," it was said, 
 " than they recognize one another by certain signs, as mem- 
 bers of a secret confederation for concealed objects, and are 
 united to one another like brethren. At their love-feasts 
 {agapce)^ they pledge themselves by awful oaths and symbolic 
 rites." Tertullian, in reply to this imputation, says"^-' {^Apology ^ 
 ch. 38), " We who are indifferent to glory and fame have no 
 need of secret combinations ; nothing is more foreign to our 
 taste than politics ; we know only one commonwealth for all 
 mankind, that is, the world." 
 
 While some persons imputed secret political designs to the 
 Christians, others on the other hand complained of their 
 retired, joyless, gloomy manner of life, and their apathy 
 about public affairs. They were struck with the conduct of 
 Christians in standing aloof from all public, noisy diversions ; 
 it was remarked that they were never to be seen at the 
 theatres and gladiatorial shows ; they prayed and fasted, and 
 conversed more about the life to come than the present. 
 Thus they came to be looked upon as useless creatures in 
 social life, men who shunned the broad daylight, dumb when 
 they appeared in public, but loquacious enough when they 
 met one another in private. 
 
 Certainly the contrariety of Christianity when it first 
 appeared to the existing world was in many points so abso- 
 lute, that many persons, as we have already remarked, might 
 be impelled to a rigid withdrawal from those forms of worldly 
 life to which Christianity could M'ell adapt itself. But nothing 
 excepting the genuine Christian stand-point could enable a 
 person to distinguish between the true and the false on this 
 question. From the stand-point of heathen worldliness, 
 
 * At enim nobis ab omni gloria et dignitate ardore frigentibus nulla 
 est necessitas ccetus, nee ulla magis res aliena quam publica. Unam 
 omnium rempublicam agnoscemus mundum. — TertuU. Apol. 38. 
 
HELATION OF CHRISTIANITY TO CIVIL SOCIETY. 41 
 
 Christianity itself must have appeared as an erroneous oppo- 
 sition to the world, as an outrageous, repulsive tendency in 
 assuming- the supervision of human life ; in short, as a religious 
 extravagance. Christians of the stricter class, when they 
 kept aloof from those diversions which were inconsistent with 
 Christian principles and habits, were told that " such grati- 
 fications for the eye and ear could not injure the religion of 
 the heart. God would not be offended by those indulgences 
 which men might erijoy in the right time and place without 
 detriment to reh'giou. They were the gifts of God which 
 furnished mankind with these pleasures." (Sec Tertullian's 
 treatise De Spectaculis.) 
 
 But Tertullian says, in vindication of the Christians, in 
 answer to the reproach cast upon them for rendering life 
 useless by their contempt of the world : " We are said to be 
 unprofitable in the common concerns of life. How can this 
 be said of men who live Avith you, have the same food, dress 
 and furniture, the same wants of daily life ? For we are not 
 Brachmans, nor the gymnosophists of India, dwelling in the 
 woods, and exiles from life. We remember our obligations 
 to God our Lord and Creator ; we reject no enjoyment of his 
 works : certainl)' we refrain from using them immoderately 
 or wrongfully. Wherefore avc live with you in this world, 
 not without a forum, not without shambles; not without your 
 baths, taverns, shops, inns, markets, and other places of 
 traffic. We voyage, moreover, with you, serve in your 
 armies, labour in your fields, and trade with vou." — ApoL 
 ch. 42. 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 THE VIEAV TAKEN EY CHRISTIANS OF THEIR CALLING. 
 
 As the whole life of the Christian, from the beginning to 
 the end, is a conflict with the world and the powers of dark- 
 ness, a conflict within and without, the kingdom of God in 
 this world must appear as militant, and must make its way 
 by conflict; so that often, in Holy Writ, the calling of the 
 Chi'istian is compared to that of the military life, and the 
 
42 CHRISTIAN LIFE OF THE FIRST CE^'TURIES. 
 
 Christian is represented as the soldier of his Lord. This 
 image was very clear and familiar to the first Christians. 
 Though Christians, in later ages, may have been led to forget the 
 nature of their calling as one of conflict, amidst external tran- 
 quilhty and prosperity, yet in primitive times their entire out- 
 ward condition served to remind them of the spiritual warfare; 
 for the chm-ch found itself on all sides in conflict with the hea- 
 then world, and the pubhc profession made by Christians 
 compelled them to take a share in this conflict. Christians 
 rejoiced to consider themselves as the soldiers of God and 
 Christ {milites Dei et Christi), against the hostile powers of 
 darkness, against everything which appeared to them as 
 belonging to the kingdom of Satan, against the service of 
 sin and of false gods. "\Mioever united himself by baptism 
 (the signacidum Christianorimi) to the Christian church, gave 
 his hand to the president of the congregation, as a pledge 
 that he renounced Satan and his angels and all his works, by 
 which was intended not merely all idolatry and its accom- 
 paniments, magic, soothsaying, heathenish diversions, 6:c., 
 but all sinful indulgences. The positive side of their vow 
 was an obligation to a Hfe consecrated to God, and corre- 
 sponding to the doctrine of Christ. This vow was called the 
 Christian military oath (the sacrainentuni militice Christiance). 
 The confession of faith, which Christians learnt by heart and 
 repeated at their baptism, was regarded as the Christian 
 watchword {tessera militicB Christiance symholum) . The sign 
 of the cross, as the sign of their general's victory, the sign 
 of the sufierings by which he overcame the kingdom of dark- 
 ness, the sign on their forehead, they likened to the cha- 
 racter {stigma militare) which was stamped on the arm or 
 the hand, when a soldier was taken into the ranks. With 
 this sign they were wont to rise in the mornins: from 
 their beds, and in the evening to go to rest; thus their 
 waking and their sleeping, their acting and their resting, 
 were consecrated. All transactions and employments were 
 begun with it. It was their safeguard against all evil; 
 trusting in this sign of their Lord's victory, they faced every 
 danger with confidence. Indeed, though we are here shown 
 how the gospel had been received by those who overcame 
 the world and the powers of darkness, even Christians in 
 flesh and blood ; yet a fondness for what was external, leading 
 
THE CHRISTIAN LIFE A "WAKFAIIE. 43 
 
 to superstition, was combined -with the deep sentiments of 
 Christian piety, and a divine power was ascribed to outward 
 signs, which ought only to have been ascribed to the spiritual 
 reaUtics they symbolised. And by such examples we are led 
 to reflect on the warning of the Apostle Paul, that we should 
 uot end in the flesh, having begun in the Spirit. (Gal. iii. 3.) 
 To this comparison of the christian with the military pro- 
 fession, the beautiful words refer in the epistle of Ignatius 
 to Polycarp : " Strive to please Him in whose service you are 
 fighting, for from him you will receive the pay. Let none of 
 you prove deserters." Augustin, in his sermons, frequently 
 makes beautiful use of the same comparison. We M'ill quote 
 a few specimens. In his 302nd sermon, he says: " Thou 
 art a Christian, thou carriest on thy forehead the cross of 
 Christ. The mark of service thus impressed on thee, shows 
 for what end thou hast made a profession. When He hung 
 on the cross, which cross thou carriest on thy forehead, (he 
 adds, in order to warn against that dependence on externals, 
 ' make not the sign of the cross thy joy, but the sign of 
 Him who hung on the cross,') he looked round on his raging 
 foes, he bore with those w^ho insulted him, he prayed for his 
 enemies. The Physician healed the sick by his blood, even 
 when he was dying, for he said, " Father, forgive them, for 
 they know not what they do." And this was no empty word; 
 it was in the power of this word, that afterwards thousands 
 believed on Him whom they had put to death, and learnt to 
 suffer for Him who had suffered for them and by them. From 
 this sign we learn why we are Christians." — " Let the bap- 
 tised," he says in another passage, " look into his own heart, 
 whether that has been accomplished in his heart which has 
 symbolically taken place in his body ; let him see whether 
 he carries love in his heart, and then let him say, I am born 
 of God. But if he has not this, he may indeed have the 
 mark of service stamped upon him, but he wanders about 
 Avith it as a deserter." In another sermon he says: "Com- 
 pare thyself with a soldier ; when thou art standing in the 
 service, bearing the mark of tby commander, thou canst, 
 with full confidence, perform thy service. But when thou 
 bearest it out of service, the mark will not only be of no use 
 for the service, but thou wilt be punished as a deserter." He 
 applies this to the Christian who, by apostacy to a worldly 
 
44 CHRISTIAN LIFE OF THE FIRST CENTURIES. 
 
 life, has become unfaithful to his Lord, and against whom 
 the symbols of the sacred service, to which he was pledged, 
 bear witness. 
 
 Christians were always reminded of their baptismal vow, 
 when they were exhorted to fidelity in their Christian duties. 
 Tertullian wi'ites, M'hen exhorting Christians to stedfastness 
 imder persecution: " We were called to the service of the 
 living God {ad militiam Dei vivi). when we took our 
 military oath by answering in the affirmative to the ques- 
 .tions, ' Dost thou renounce,' &c. proposed at our baptism, 
 {cum in sacrament i verba respondimus.) No soldier takes 
 luxuries with him ; he marches to battle not from his sitting- 
 room but from the camp, where all kinds of hardship and in- 
 convenience are tp be met with. Even in peace soldiers 
 learn by labour and heavj^ tasks to endure war, since they 
 are always under arms, perform their exercise in the open 
 field, and dig trenches. Therefore, ye blessed ones, regard 
 all your hardships as exercise for your powers of body. You 
 are engaged in a good conflict, in which the living God is 
 your judge, where the Holy Spirit directs your exercises, and 
 the reward of victory is an angelic life in heaven, eternal 
 glory." 
 
 As the calling of Christians, in relation to the world, or 
 on its negative side, is represented as a military calling, so in 
 its own nature, or on its positive side, it appears as a priestly 
 calling. Christians, according to Psalm ex., are a nation of 
 warriors and priests. There is a close connection between 
 the two. By their priesthood their conflict with the world is 
 consecrated ; they carry on a holy war as priests. Since they 
 are called, as priests, to consecrate everything to God, to 
 keep at a distance all that is ungodly, they are thereby called 
 to the conflict, without which their priesthood cannot subsist, 
 nor be preserved in its purity. 
 
 This idea of the universal priesthood was one deeply rooted 
 in the original Christian consciousness, as it stood in essen- 
 tial connection with the entire peculiarity of the Christian 
 stand-point, with that which distinguishes Christianity from 
 all other religions. Christianity has broken down the wall of 
 separation between priests and laity, spiritual and secular 
 persons. By Christ, the one true Priest, all who believe in 
 him are consecrated to the heavenly Father ; as his brethren 
 
UNIVERSAL PRIESTHOOD OF CHRISTIANS. 45 
 
 they become priests -svith him, connected with him by faith ; 
 filled through him by the spirit of adoption, they rise to the 
 heavenly sanctuary, whither he has gone before them, and to 
 which he has opened the entrance for them ; hence they need 
 no human being as a priest to describe for them the sanctuary, 
 which is revealed to them no more in shadows and types, but 
 in truth and reality, or to lead them as chikken in the lead- 
 ing-strings of ordinances. They are dependent on no one to 
 deal out to them, according to his wisdom, as steward of the 
 heavenly treasures, what they can all receive in an equal 
 manner from the hands of Eternal Love, or to tell them what 
 it is necessary for them to know, for they are all taught of 
 God. They learn from the same Spirit who guides into all 
 truth, and have the same inward anointing ; for all, there is 
 one spirit, one divine life, one faith, one hope, one Redeemer, 
 who alone will be called Master, before whom all who wish 
 to be regarded as his disciples must, in the same manner, 
 confess themselves sinners, in order to receive redemption 
 and sanctification immediately from Him alone, and not from 
 or through any man whatever. The time was gone by in 
 which they worshipped dumb idols, as they were led by their 
 priests ; they had now attained their majority in religon. The 
 high -priest of humanity who conducted them, not to dumb 
 idols, but to the living God, led them not blindly, but gave 
 them an inward light which never forsook them, one Spirit 
 who revealed Himself in manifold gifts. 
 
 As no particular priestly class is established among Chris- 
 tians, but all are comprehended in one priestly generation, so 
 also the priestly office and the worship of God are no longer 
 confined to this or that special act, but all acts are now con- 
 sidered as having a priestly character, as a kind of divine 
 service for the worship of God in spirit and in truth. And 
 thus the calling pointed out to every Christian by his peculiar 
 station which God has assigned him, must be his special 
 priesthood. Accordingly, every Christian, in virtue of his 
 peculiar nature, animated and sanctified by the Holy Spirit, 
 as the common principle of life to all Christians, receives his 
 special gifts of grace to operate with them in his own parti- 
 cular calling as a member for the advantage of the whole 
 body. Justin Martyr says: "While the prophets of the old 
 covenant received only special gifts and powers from the 
 
46 CHRISTIAN LIFE OF THE FIKST CENTURIES 
 
 divine Spirit, Christ, on the contrar\% possessed the whole 
 fulness of this diA'ine Spirit, and he imparts to believers 
 spiritual gifts of his fulness as to the prophets of the old 
 covenant. Christians, after they have been enlightened,^ 
 receive, one the spirit of knowledge, another the spirit of 
 counsel (Christian j)ractical wisdom), another the spirit of 
 power, another the spiiit of healing, another the spirit of 
 prophecy, another the spirit of teaching, another the spirit 
 of the fear of God." In reference to this impartation of the 
 gifts of grace, we must consider that, although it is the same 
 Holy Spirit whom all the powers and talents of Christians, 
 throughout all ages, are destined to serve as instmments, yet 
 the primitive, apostolic age was distinguished more by what 
 appeared as immediate in his operations, to which we give 
 the name of wonders in a narrower sense ; but in the later 
 development of the church, the medium of gradual culture 
 and practice is made use of instead of the immediate, though 
 still all is to be regarded as animated and guided by the 
 Holy Spii'it. At that time there were still instances of those 
 effects of the agency of the Holy Spirit that distinguished 
 the apostolic church, among which are to be reckoned the 
 gift of healing, of which we have adduced some instances 
 above, and the gift of prophecy, to which latter a certain 
 power of divination developed under the influence of the 
 Holy Spirit, which human life and science cannot dispense 
 with, in a certain manner corresponds. Moreover, we cannot 
 omit noticing that even as to those Christian virtues which 
 must be combined to form the whole Christ-ian character and 
 life, one is more prominent in one person, and another in 
 another, and may be considered in each case as the distin- 
 guishing grace of the individual. 
 
 In reference to the universal Christian priesthood, Justin 
 Martyr says :f " We are through Jesus Christ devoted as one 
 man to God the Creator of the universe ; through the name 
 of his first-begotten Son we j^ut off our defiled gaiTnents, 
 that is, our sins ; and being influenced by the word of his 
 calling, we are the true high-priestly race of God, as God 
 himself testifies, saying, that in every place among the Gen- 
 
 * This refers to the regeneration through baptism, which in that age 
 was distinguished by the name of " lUumination." 
 f Dialog, c. Tryphone. c. 116. 
 
UNIVERSAL PRIESTHOOD OF CHRISTIANS. 47 
 
 tiles pure and acceptable sacrifices shall be offered to him 
 (Mai. i. 11). God receives no sacrifices from any one, 
 excepting through his priests. . . .^' Praj'ers and thanks- 
 givings presented by the worthy are the only perfect sacrifices 
 and acceptable to God." "All righteous persons have the 
 dignity of priests," says Irenaius ; and in another passage, 
 " The Jews devoted their tithes to God, but Christians who 
 have attained freedom devote their all joyfully and freely to 
 the Lord's service." " Prayer," says TertuUian, " is the 
 spiritual sacrifice which takes the place of the sacrifices under 
 the old covenant. The gospel teaches us what God requires : 
 ' The time cometh when the true worshippers shall wor- 
 ship the Father in spirit and in truth ; for the Father seeketh 
 such to worship him.' God is a spirit, and hence he requires 
 such worshippers. We are the true worshippers and the 
 true priests, who pray in the spirit and offer to God in the 
 spirit the prayers that are due and acceptable to him. These, 
 devoted by the whole heart, fed by faith, tended by truth, 
 complete in innocence, pure by chastity, crowned by love, we 
 ought to bring up to the altar of God with the train of good 
 works amid psalms and hymns, to obtain all things for us 
 from God."f To the same tenor also is the beautiful passage 
 of Origen, in which he vindicates Christians from the re- 
 proach cast on them by the heathen, that, unlike the pro- 
 fessors of other religions, they had no temples, images, or 
 altars. " He (Celsus) does not perceive," says Origen, 
 " that among us the souls of the righteous are the altars on 
 wliich are ofiered, in a true and spiritual manner, sacrifices 
 well-pleasing to God, namely, prayers from a pure conscience. 
 The images and the ofierings, as they are not the work of 
 men's hands, but are formed by the word of God, are the 
 virtues by which we form ourselves according to the model 
 of the first-born of the whole creation, in whom is the original 
 type of all righteousness and wisdom. The most glorious 
 
 * Dialog, c. Try phone, c. 117. 
 
 t Nos sumus veri adoratores et veri sacerdotes, qui spiritu orantes 
 spiritu sacrificamus orationem Dei propriam et acceptabilem, quam scilicet 
 requisivit quam sibi prospexit. Hanc de toto corde devotam, fide pastum, 
 veritate curatam, innocentia integram, castitate mundam, agape coronatam, 
 cum pompa operum bonorum inter psahnos et hymnos deducere ad Dei 
 altare debemus, omnia nobis a Deo impetraturam. — TertuU. de Orat. 23. 
 
48 CHRISTIAN LIFE OF THE FIRST CEXTUEIES. 
 
 image, far exalted above the whole creation, is indeed in our 
 Saviour, who could say of himself (John xiv. 10) : The 
 Father is in me ; but also in every one of those who according 
 to their ability imitate him, is the image of him who created 
 him (Col. ii.), an image formed by looking up to God M-ith 
 a pure heart. And generally, all Christians seek to set up 
 such altars and images in their hearts, not those devoid of 
 life and feeling into which they introduce their false gods,* 
 but such as receive the Spirit of God into themselves, which 
 connects itself with what is related to it. This is shoA^Ti in 
 Holy Writ, when God promises to the righteous (Lev. xxvi. 
 12), 'I M'ill walk among you, and will be your God, and ye 
 shall be my people ;' and the Saviour (John xiv. 23), ' If a 
 man love me, he will keep my words; and we will come unto 
 him and make our abode with him.' " 
 
 As the peculiar nature of Christianity is closely connected 
 with the view here given of an universal priesthood of Chris- 
 tians, so it was the most important and melancholy revolution 
 in the development of the Christian consciousness which led 
 to the formation of the Koman Catholic stand-Doint, when in 
 
 J. ■ 
 
 the course of the second century the Old Testament point of 
 view of a peculiar priesthood and priestly order began to find 
 an entrance into the Christian church. But in various usages 
 the view originally taken and founded on the ineffaceable 
 Christian consciousness often produced reactions against the 
 judaical spirit Avhich was beginning to prevail. We may 
 notice such in TertuUian : " All Christians," he says, " are 
 now in the position of those who were priests under the Old 
 Testament dispensation ; the particular Jewish priesthood 
 was a prophetic type of the universal Christian priesthood. 
 We are priests, being called for that purpose by Christ. The 
 highest priest, the great priest of the heavenly Father, Christ, 
 since he has clothed us with himself (' for as many of you as 
 are baptized have put on Christ,' Gal. iii. 27), ' has made us 
 kings and priests to God and his Father.' (Rev. i. 6.)" And 
 in another passage he combats the idea of a priestly caste in 
 
 * The contrast which Origen here makes is this: The heathen svip- 
 posed tliat by certain magical formulce they could introduce the gods 
 themselves into their images. But Christians, as genuine living images 
 of God, receive the Holy Spirit with a susceptible disposition. 
 
TIEW TAKEN BY CHRISTIANS OF THEIR CALLING. 49 
 
 Christianity. " We are under a delusion, if we believe that 
 what is not permitted to the priests is permitted to the laity. 
 Are not we laics also priests ? (Rev. i. 6.)"--' He regards the 
 distinction between clergy and laity not as existing origi- 
 nally, but as something introduced by the church for the sake 
 of order. This distinction, he thinks, should be regarded by 
 the laity for that reason. " But where there are no clergy," 
 he says, " thou may est also baptize, administer the Lord's 
 Supper, and art thyself a priest. Where there are three 
 (Matt, xviii. 20), there is a church, although they may be all 
 laics. Every man lives by his faith, and there is no respect 
 of persons with God ; for before God not those who hear the 
 law arc justified, but those who do the law. We ought all 
 of us so to regulate our lives according to God's will, that we 
 may be everywhere fitted to administer his sacraments. One 
 God, one faith, one law of life." " How can the priests," he 
 asks, '• be chosen from the laity, if the laity do not previously 
 live so as be fitted for the priesthood?" An argument, this, 
 of special force in that age, since then there was no peculiar 
 preparation for the clerical office ; there was no theological 
 school, unless the whole church might be regarded as a 
 school ; whoever was distinguished for Christian knowledge, 
 piety, fortitude, and zeal, especially under persecution, was 
 considered eligible for an ecclesiastical office. 
 
 It has indeed been maintained that TertuUian's language 
 must be regarded not as the expression of the primitive, 
 pure Christian spirit, but that the enthusiastic tendency of 
 jMontanism by Mliich the church was then agitated, was the 
 source of such views and of such expressions. But although 
 a layman in Phrygia who boasted of being favoured with 
 special revelations of the Holy Spirit, gave an impulse to a 
 movement that involved much that was enthusiastic, by which 
 also Tertullian was affected, yet we are not to regard every- 
 thing which arose from this movement, or was excited by it, 
 and rendered prominent, as sheer enthusiasm. This mental 
 tendency was opposed to many erroneous elements which had 
 already disturbed the pure Christian consciousness, and ]\Ion- 
 tanisni, on many points, advocated the interests of the primi- 
 tive Christian truth in its conflict with such errors. Among 
 
 * Yani erimus, si putaverimus quod sacerdotibiis non liccat, laicis 
 lioere. Noune et iaici sacerdotcs sumus ? — Tertull. de Exhort. Cast. 7. 
 
 E 
 
50 CHRISTIAN LIFE OF THE FIEST CEXTUEIES. 
 
 these points was the consciousness again revived of the uni- 
 versal Christian priesthood which was common to all the faith- 
 ful. That this was the original Christian view, and not an 
 error proceeding from Montanism, Ave may learn from what 
 Tertullian says, when he had to combat with these reactions 
 of the consciousness of the universal Christian priesthood 
 when they opposed the new Montanist principles. " When 
 we exalt and inflate ourselves against the clergy, then we are 
 all one, then we are all priests, because he hath made us 
 priests to God and the Father. (Rev. i. 6.)" {De Monogamia, 
 cap. xii.) 
 
 'While the oriental theosophists who had embraced Christi- 
 anity, without having undergone an entire revolution in their 
 habits of thinking, sought to transfer to Christianity a marked 
 distinction belonging to the ancient oriental systems of religion 
 of a higher wisdom, an esoteric priestly doctrine, and an exo- 
 teric popular religion, (the Gnostics, who boasted of a higher 
 knowledge, a spiritual Christianity, compared with the mul- 
 titude, who were only capable of a faith founded on authority) 
 — the church, on the contrary, adhered to the principle that 
 all Christians in virtue of their one faith in the one crucified, 
 risen, and glorified Savioui-, stood with one another in the 
 fellowship of a higher life, so that all true Christians are 
 necessarily enlightened by the Spirit of God, and in truth 
 spiritually minded men. Against the assumptions of the 
 theosophists, Clement of Alexandiia vindicated the univer- 
 sally spiritual character of all true Christians. " We live 
 already, we who are made free from death. To follow Christ 
 is already salvation. ' Whosoever heareth my word and 
 believeth Him who sent me,' he says, ' hath everlasting life, 
 and Cometh not into condemnation, but hath passed from death 
 unto life.' Believing and being born again constitute already 
 true life ; for God does nothing by halves. ' Ye yourselves 
 are taught of God,' says the apostle. (1 Thess. iv. 9.) We can- 
 not therefore imagine that he has left his instructions imper- 
 fect. Whoever is born again and enlightened, is consequently 
 freed from darkness and has received the light ; just as he 
 who has awoke from sleep is awake within ; or rather as he 
 who operates for a cataract, does not communicate new light 
 from M'ithout to the diseased eye, since he has nothing of the 
 kind, but has only taken away an obstacle from the sight, and 
 
VIEW TAKEN BY CHRISTIANS OF TIIEIE, CALLING. 51 
 
 given freedom to the pupil of the eye ; so also we are freed 
 by baptism from sin, M'hich, like a mist, obstructs the rays of 
 the divine light ; and the eye of the mind, by which alone we 
 can discern what is divine, is kept free from obstructions, 
 when the Holy Spirit flows down upon us from heaven. That 
 the faith of the gospel is the one universal remedy for all man- 
 kind is plainly declared by the apostle Paul, when he says 
 (Gal. iii. 23), ' Before faith came, we were kept under the 
 law, shut up unto the faith which should afterwards be 
 revealed. AVhcrefore the law Avas our schoolmaster to bring 
 us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith.' Do you 
 not hear that we no longer stand under that law M'hich is 
 attended with fear, but under the teacher of freedom, the Son. 
 of God ? Then he adds those words by which all distinc- 
 tion of persons is taken away : ' For ye are all the children, 
 of God, through faith in Christ Jesus. For as many of you 
 as have been baptized, have put on Christ. There is neither 
 Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is nei- 
 ther male nor female, for ye are all one in Christ Jesus.' 
 Therefore," he goes on to say, " there are not in Christianity 
 some possessing a higher wisdom, and others of a carnal mind, 
 but all true Christians are freed from the dominion of carnal 
 desires ; they are become like one another in the Lord, and 
 a clerical body." 
 
 As the introduction of such distinctions afiecting the uni- 
 versality and equality of the Christian calling tended on the 
 one hand to foster spiritual pride, so on the other hand it 
 lowered the requirements of Christianity in reference to the 
 great body of its professors ; the distinction, diametrically 
 opposed to the genius of the gospel, of a higher Christian per- 
 fection, for which only a few persons withdrawn from the 
 world were fitted, and a common Christianity which allowed 
 
 I of secular engagements, and the tics of domestic life, — this 
 distinction made "the way that leadcth unto life" hroacl for 
 
 I the many, which our Saviour pronounces '•'' nar'roiv'''' for all 
 without exception. We learn from Clement of Alexandria, 
 that there were persons who evaded exhortations to greater 
 earnestness in the Christian life by the excuse " that they 
 were no philosophers, that they had not learnt to read, and 
 
 i could not even read the Bible." Clement says in reply, " If 
 they cannot read, this will be no excuse for them, since they 
 
 E 2 
 
52 CHRISTIAN LIFE OF THE FIEST CENTURIES. 
 
 can hear* the word of God ; the gospel is not the property of 
 the worldly-wise, but of those who are wise towards God. 
 The scripture of the gospel which is divine, and yet can be 
 leai-nt by the illiterate, is love," (that is, the gospel must 
 evince its presence in the hearts of all Christians alike in its 
 divine power, vitally and efficaciously by love). 
 
 Moreover Christians regarded with joy their new condition 
 as that of children in relation to the new life acquired through 
 Christ, the new childlike relation to their heavenly Father, 
 the holy filial devotedness to God, free from all selfishness 
 and falsehood. Hence, in many districts in Africa, there was 
 the symbolic . custom of placing before the newly baptized a 
 mixture of milk and honey, as a sign of Christian childhood, 
 and of the childlike mind inseparable from it. Christ was 
 the instructor of children, and condescended to all their neces- 
 sities in order to draw them to himself. And Clement, in his 
 liymn to Christ,f says, " Assemble thy simple children to 
 .praise piously, to sing hymns without guile, with mouths 
 unknowing of evil, to Christ, the leader of children." 
 
 They were also pleased to regard themselves as free chil- 
 dren in the kingdom of grace, in distinction from the servants 
 under the law, or as slaves made free by the Redeemer. A 
 Christian who was one of the slaves in the imperial seiwice, 
 and was brought before the tribunal with other Christians 
 who were free citizens, in answer to the question who he was, 
 replied : " I am indeed one of Caesar's slaves, but a Christian 
 on whom Christ himself has bestowed freedom ; by his bene- 
 ficence and grace I am partaker of the same hope with those 
 whom I here see before you." 
 
 We have alread}^ noticed how TertuUian allowed himself to 
 
 * The reading of the holy Scriptures occupied a principal part of the 
 time in the public services of the Church ; it was intended by this means 
 to give those persons who could not read an opportunity of obtaining an 
 intimate acquaintance with the Scriptures, 
 't' Toi'C crovQ CKptXeig 
 JlaTcag äyeipov 
 AjVfTv äyiojg 
 'Yfiveiv äcoXws 
 Akcikoiq aToi-iacriv 
 Tlaiccjv ijyijTopa Xokttov. 
 Clem. Alex. Hymnus Christi, v. 5-lü'. (Pott. p. 312.) Opera, vol. i. 
 p. 347. ed. Klotz. 
 
tertulliak's tiews of slavery. 53 
 
 "be led away by a pious but one-sided extravagance of misdi- 
 rected zeal to reject all crowning with garlands as something 
 heathenish. As this led him to notice the various occasions 
 on which this ceremony was performed, he mentions amongst 
 others, the crowning of slaves on obtaining their manumission. 
 He endeavoured to show that even this was no proper occa-- 
 sion for crowning Christians. Tertullian, by the constitution 
 of his mind, was often impelled to push what was true in 
 itself to an extreme, where it must mingle with falsehood ; 
 and in this particular case we cannot help perceiving, that 
 while he justly appreciated the freedom bestowed by the Son 
 of God as the highest, without which all other freedom is 
 only a semblance, he fell into the error of undervaluing the 
 importance of earthly freedom, which is a real good, though 
 not the highest. Genuine Chiistianity, while it leads us to 
 regard as nothing every thing else when compared with the 
 highest good, the kingdom of God, acknowledges in other 
 things, a due subordinate value ; thus the Apostle Paul extols 
 the freedom which the Redeemer gives, even to persons lan- 
 guishing in earthly bondage, as the highest and only true 
 freedom, and yet says to the slave, " If thou mayest be made 
 free, use it rather." (1 Cor. vii. 21.) Although we must 
 make use of this to correct and limit what Tertullian says, 
 according to the light in which the divine word instructs us 
 to contemplate heavenly and earthly things, yet we feel our- 
 selves carried away by the enthusiasm with which he speaks 
 of the nature of that true freedom which is founded on inter- 
 nal dependence on the Lord. " Earthly freedom," he says, 
 *' gives crowns. But thou art already redeemed by Christ, 
 and that at a great price. How can the world set free 
 another's servant ? Though it seems to be freedom, yet is it 
 seen also to be servitude. In the world all things are imagi- 
 nary, and nothing real. For even when according to civil 
 relations thou wast a slave, tliou wast free from man as 
 redeemed by Christ; and now though made free by man, 
 thou art Christ's servant. If thou thinkest that the freedom 
 of the world is true liberty, so that thou even distinguishcst it 
 by a crown, thou hast returned to the service of man, which 
 thou thinkest to be liberty ; thou hast lost the freedom of 
 Christ, which thou thinkest to be servitude." 
 
 But Christians were far from wishing to abuse that freedom 
 
54 CHRISTIAN LIFE OF THE FIRST CEXTUEIES. 
 
 in which they gloried, by giving licence to the flesh ; they 
 knew, as appears from what has been said, that the true free- 
 man was a servant of God, and that to serve him was their 
 true happiness. They were conscious that the only true free- 
 dom consisted in being free to fulfil the law of love with 
 dehght and joy. " Not for this pm-pose," says Irenseus, " has 
 he set us free, that we might forsake him (for no one who 
 shuts himself out from the goods of his master, can himself 
 obtain what is necessary for his happiness) : but that the 
 more we experience his grace, we may love him more." 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 rAYOUBITE EMBLEMS IX USE AMGlSrG CHKISTIAISrS. 
 
 The emblems which were in most frequent use among 
 Christians in this age, show us the sentiments and ideas by 
 •which their inner life was animated. As yet, there were, 
 indeed, no paintings and images in their simple places of 
 worship, for they shunned the use of such embellishments as 
 approaching too near the idolatry of the heathen, and we have 
 already noticed that the absence of images made one ground 
 of reproach cast upon their religion by the pagans. They did 
 not, however, reject the use of the arts in domestic life. 
 Here they saw walls, drinking vessels, seal-rings, covered with 
 such images as were furnished by the heathen idolatry and 
 mythology. But since these images could not harmonize 
 with their Christian feelings, they felt compelled to substitute 
 other images or emblems taken from the Chi-istian life. A 
 favourite figure on the goblets of Christians was the shepherd 
 in om- Saviour's parable, carrying a lamb on his shoulders : 
 by this they expressed their constant gratitude to the 
 Redeemer who had rescued them from a corrupt world, on 
 whose grace alone they depended, while they rejoiced to con- 
 sider themselves as sinners redeemed by him. On their seal- 
 rings they had most frequently such images as the following : 
 — a dove, the well-known symbol of the Holy Spirit ; a ship 
 sailing towards Heaven, representing the Christian Church 
 
INNER LIFE OF CHUISTIANS. 55 
 
 and the souls belonging to it ; a lyre^ signifying joy in the 
 Holy Spirit, or the Christian living to the praise of God ; an 
 anchor^ or the Christian hope entering within the veil; aßsh 
 or a fisherman^ the spiritual draught of fishes (Matt. iv. 19) ; 
 Christians as regenerated by baptism, as it were born of water 
 (children whom the Redeemer has drawn out of the water, as 
 Clement of Alexandria expresses himself) ; moreover, it so 
 happens, that the Greek word iox fish (IX0Y2) is composed 
 of the first letters of each word in the sentence 'I?/o-ot)s XpiaT69 
 Ocov Y/o9, '^(VTTjp, Jesus Christ, Son of God, Saviour. In allu- 
 sion to this, TertuUian says, " We little fishes (pisciculi) were 
 born in water like our «x^f j^, Jesus Christ, and can only be 
 saved by continuing in water ;" i. e. only by fidelity to our 
 baptismal covenant, and preserving the grace we then received. 
 In these images with which Christians were most familiar, we 
 perceive the direction of their thoughts to heaven, their childlike 
 love to the Redeemer, and their consciousness that they could 
 do nothing of themselves, but were indebted to him for every- 
 thing ; and thus we are led to speak of what was regarded as 
 the animating principle of their inner life. 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 THE PRINCIPLE OF THE INNER LIFE OF CHRISTIANS, 
 AND ITS OUTWARD MODE OF MANIFESTATION. 
 
 It was the vital principle of Christianity, practically con- 
 sidered, that from fellowship with the Redeemer was derived 
 the participation of his divine life, which gradually penetrated 
 the whole nature of man, and manifested itself by a new and 
 holy walk. "As the dry earth," says Ircnteus, " when it is 
 not moistened, brings forth no fruit, so we also — who were 
 foraierly only dry wood — can never bring forth the fruit of a 
 divine life Avithout dew from above." "Man," the same 
 writer observes, " having experienced from what misery he is 
 freed, must be ever thankful to God ; and after he has obtained 
 fi'om him the gift of immortal life, must love him so much the. 
 
56 CHKISTIAN LIFE OF THE FIEST CENTUHIES. 
 
 more : for to whom much is forgiven, he loveth much. Man 
 is destined to receive into his soul the operation of God, in 
 order that the wisdom and power of God may be manifested ; 
 in him. As the skill of the physician is manifested to the 
 sick, so God manifests himself to man." 
 
 " We,'' says Clement of Rome, at the end of the first cen- j 
 tury, " who have been called by the will of God in Christ, ' 
 are not justified by ourselves, nor by our own wisdom or 
 understanding, or piety, or by the works which we have per- 
 formed in holiness of heart, but by faith AVhat then 
 
 shall we do, brethren r Shall we cease from good works and 
 renounce charity ? The Lord grant that this may never be 
 the case with us ; but let us hasten with earnestness to ac- 
 complish every good work. For He, the Creator and Lord 
 of all things, is delighted with his own works." (1 Ep. ad 
 Cor. c. 32, 33.) He means to say, we are indebted for our 
 justification only to the di\'ine grace, which we appropriate 
 by faith ; we cannot merit it by our works, for it is througr,, 
 faith that we first obtain sanctifying grace, and therefore 
 power to act aright. All that we have is only a work of 
 grace, wliich is bestowed on us sinners without merit on cur 
 part ; and when we are renewed by grace, we still continue 
 below the ideal of holiness, which humanity is destined to 
 represent, and therefore we can never lay claim to eternal 
 happiness as the reward due to perfect obedience to the 
 divine law. But ought we, because we are certain of justifi- 
 cation by faith, and because we cannot merit it by our own 
 works, to pay no attention to the performance of goodness ? 
 No ; being renewed after the image of God, and filled with a 
 divine life, we are necessarily impelled by that divine life to 
 exercise a godly disposition ; we feel ourselves happy only 
 while we are doing good — doing good not in order to obtain 
 anything by it, but because the new nature implanted in us 
 natvu-ally impels us to it : just as the self- sufficient God, whose 
 image we now bear, is constantly operating out of free love, 
 and manifests himself by his M'orks. In the same manner 
 the author of the Epistle to Diognetus, a production probably 
 bordering on the apostolic age, after speaking of the grace of 
 redemption, says, '-With what joy wilt thou be filled when thou 
 hast attained to the knowledge of this ! How wilt thou love 
 him who has thus first loved thee I But lovino; him, thou wilt 
 
INNEE, LITE OF CIIEISTIANS. 57 
 
 be an imitator of his goodness. And do not marvel if man is 
 
 able to be an imitator of God Whoever takes the 
 
 burden of his neighbour on liimself, or "vvho in M'hat he is 
 superior seeks to benefit his inferior, and communicates to the 
 needy what he has received from God, he becomes as it were 
 a god to those who receive from him ; he is an imitator of 
 God." (ch. 10.) 
 
 Tertullian regarded the entire life of Christians as a thank- 
 ofFerinji; of the redeemed, which is presented to God by the 
 eternal Priest of the human race. Comparing Christians 
 purified from sin to the cleansed leper, according to Lev. xiv,, 
 he says, " The sinner purified by the word presents to God 
 his gifts in the temple, prayer and praise in the congregation 
 through Christ, the universal priest of the Father." Cyprian, 
 Bishop of Carthage, says to Christians, " Let us know and 
 consider that we are members of God's temjjle. We are 
 the priests and ministers of that temple. Let us serve 
 him to Mhom we have begun to listen. Let us, who are re- 
 deemed by the blood of Christ, evince our obedience by 
 rendering every possible service to the government of the 
 Redeemer, and let us take all the care in our jDower that 
 nothing impure or unholy remain in the temple of God, that 
 he may not be provoked to forsake the place of his habitation. 
 These are the words of the Lord, who heals and AA'arns, 
 ^'Behold, thou art made whole ; go and sin no more, lest a 
 worse thing befall thee.' (John v. 14.) After he has re- 
 stored to soundness, he connnands to abstain from sin ; he 
 allowed him not to wander about without restraint, but spoke 
 a severe word of threatening to him — to the man, who. having 
 been healed by him, was bound to serve him." The same 
 writer says, " We must strive after the eternal and the divine ; 
 we must do all things according to the will of God, in order 
 to tread in the footsteps and teaching of our Lord, who says, 
 ' I t.'ame down from heaven, not to do my own will, but the 
 will of Him tliat sent me.' But if the servant be not greater 
 than his lord, and if the fi-eed-man is bound to obey him Avho 
 sets him free, so must we, who wish to be Christians, imitate 
 ■what Christ has said and done. It stands written ; we read 
 and hear it; the church enjoins it upon us: 'He who saith he 
 abideth in him ought himself also so to walk even as he 
 walked.' (1 John ii. 6.) Only then does oui' walk correspond 
 
58 CHRISTIAN LIFE OF TEE FIUST CENTXTEIES. 
 
 to the name to which we have confessed ; only then will the 
 faithful obtain their reward when they practise in the life 
 what they believe." " Not merely he who sacrifices to idols," 
 writes the same bishop to Antonianus, " but every one who 
 goes on in sin, and does Satan's will, serves evil spirits and 
 false gods." He says to Christians, " If we are the children 
 of God, if we have already begun to be the temple of God, 
 if we have received the Holy Spirit, in order to live holy and 
 spiritually, if we have raised our eyes from earth to heaven, 
 if we have directed a heart full of God and Christ to heaven 
 and divine things, then let us do nothing but what is -worthy 
 of God and Christ, as the apostle exhorts and urges us 
 (Col. iii. 1-4). Let us, who have risen again with Christ by 
 heavenly regeneration, think and act Christianly, as the same 
 apostle exhorts us, ' As is the heavenly, so are they who are 
 heavenly; and as we have borne the image of the earthly, so 
 let us also bear the image of the heavenly.' " These words of 
 the apostle in 1 Cor. xv. 49, do not in their literal application 
 belong to this subject ; but yet Cyprian might in a spiritual 
 sense make use of them, for, according to the apostle's 
 doctrine, only that wall come to perfection at the resur- 
 rection which has already been preparing in this temporal 
 life, and has begun in the germ which must be developed 
 more and more ; uameh', renovation after the image of the 
 heavenly man, Christ, in virtue of the inward reception and 
 apjDropriation of this heavenly man ; hence Cj-prian might 
 justly add. But we cannot bear the image of the heavenly 
 unless we can already show that the likeness of Christ is 
 begun, for that the old walk is laid aside, and the new" one 
 must be proved by the divine truth being apparent in thee. 
 There must be a divine course of conduct corresponding to 
 God, the heavenly Father ; and God must be glorified by the 
 lives of men ; for only to those who glorify him has He pro- 
 mised that He will glorify them again. 
 
DELINEATIOX OF CHKTSTIAN LIFE- 59 
 
 CHAPTER yil. 
 
 GENERAL DELINEATION OF THE CHRISTIAN LIFE. 
 
 This divine life could be manifested in all the diversified 
 relations and conditions of society ; it allowed all outward 
 human arrangements to remain as they were, as far as they 
 involved nothing contradictory to the laws of morality and 
 the pm'e worship of God, but infused a new spirit into them. 
 While Christians outwardly submitted to all existing laws 
 and social institutions, they elevated themselves by a life 
 resting in God, by their heavenly conversation, above all that 
 was limiting in these earthly regulations. " We do not speak 
 great things, but live them," says Cyprian.* Let us hear 
 how the author of the epistle to Diognetus describes the life 
 of Christians in this respect : f " Christians are not separated 
 from other men by country, nor by language, nor by customs. 
 They dwell not in cities of their own, nor make use of a 
 
 * Non loquimur magna, sed vivimus. — Cyprian, de Bono Patienticn^ 
 p. 247. 
 
 + 'S.piaTLavol yap ovtb yy, ovre tOtat diaKeKpifx'fvoi twv XonriHv 
 SLciv äv9pix)7rüjv. . . . KaroiKovvreg de 'jroXeig 'EWrjvicag rs Kal ßapßa- 
 povg, u)Q SKaarog eKXripujOr], iv Tois lyxt^pioig tOecriv aKoXovOovvTsg 
 Iv re laQrjTi Kal Siairy Kal t<^ Xolit(^ ßi^iJy Öav^acyTTjv Kai ofioXoyov- 
 fievwg Trapddo^oi' eKCeiKPvvTai Ttjv KaräfTTaaiv rrjg eavTuJv iroXiTtiag. 
 TLarpiSag oiKoiiaiv iciag, c'lXX' djg 7räpoiK<fi ' fiarexovai ttcivtujv wg 
 TToXIrai, Kal 7rav9' virofnivovcnv u}g ^kvoi. Tlaaa K'tvi] irarpig tcrnv 
 avTuJV, Kal TTaaa iraTplg t,kvT]. Tafxovffiv tbg TravTsg " TEKvoyovoixriv, 
 aXX' ov piiTTovcn ra yevvio^eva. . . . 'Ev (rapKl rvyxavovaiv, aXX' ov 
 Kara aapKa c,u)(nv. 'EttI yfjc ^larpißovaiv, aXX' iv ovpavtf ttoXitev- 
 ovTai. TLsiOovTai Tolg bipia^ikvoig vofioig, Kal Toig Uiöig ß'ioig vikuktc 
 Tovg vöfiovg. 'AyaTruxri Travrag, Kal virb 7rä.vT(jJV SiwKovrai. 'Ayvo- 
 ovvrai Kal KaTaKpivovraf davarovvTai Kal ^MOiroiovvTai. Tiruxtvovcriy 
 Kal irXovT'iZ,ovai TToXXovg. Tiavriov varipovvrai, Kal Iv ttckti TTipicr- 
 aevovcnv. ' An [jLovvrai, Kal tv ratg änixiaig do^d'CovTai ' ßXaacpjj- 
 fiovvrai, Kal diKaiovvTai' Xoidopovvrai, Kal evXoyoiKTiv' vßpit^ovTai, 
 Kal Tif-iuxJiv, 'AyaOoTToiovvrtg wg KaKol KoXa^ovraL' KoXaZ,6iievoi 
 \aipov(jLV ü)g L,{t)07roiov^itvoi. 'Ytto 'lovdaiujv (jjg ä.XX6(pvXoi ttoXc- 
 fiovvTai, Kal VTTO 'EXX7]viiJV tiwKOVTai' Kal rijv airiav Tfjg t^Opag 
 tiTitlv o'i fiiffovvTeg ovk t^ovaiv. ' ATrXCjg de t'nrtiv, oirep iarlv iu 
 (TiifiaTi ^i'X'/> "oiT* tlali^ iv Koc/^r^ XpiaTiavoi. — Epistola ad Dioffne- 
 turn, 5, 6. 
 

 CO CHRISTIAN LIFE OF THE FIKST CENTURIES. 
 
 peculiar dialect, nor affect a singular mode of life. They 
 live in the cities of the Greeks or the barbarians, as 
 each one"s lot may be ; and with regard to dress and food, 
 and other matters of every-day life, they follow the customs 
 of the country; yet they show a peculiarity of conduct, 
 wonderful and striking to all. They dwell in their own 
 native land as sojom-ners. They take a part in everything as 
 citizens, and yet endure all things as if strangers. Every 
 foreign country is as a fatherland, and every fatherland as a 
 forci'm country. They marry like all men, and beget chil- 
 dren; but they do not expose theii' childi-en." (A frequent 
 custom among the heathen in that age.) " They live in the 
 flesh, but not accordmg to the flesh. They pass their time 
 on earth, but they are citizens of heaven. They obey the 
 established laws, and yet raise themselves above the laws by 
 their lives. They love all, and are persecuted by all. They 
 are unknown and condemned, They are killed and made 
 alive;" (that is, theii- death leads them to life ; they enter 
 through sufferings on an eternal life : hence the death-day of 
 the martyrs was called their birth-day.) " They are poor, 
 and make many rich. They are in want of all things, and 
 abound in all things. They are dishonoured, and amidst 
 their dishonour are glorified .... In a word, what the soul 
 is to the body, that are Christians in the world. As the soul 
 is dispersed thi'ough all the members of the body, so are 
 Christians dispersed through all the cities of the world. The 
 soul, indeed, dwells in the body, but it is not of the body ; 
 and so Chi'istians live in the world, but are not of the 
 world. The invisible soul is inclosed in the visible body ; 
 so Christians are known as being in the world, but their 
 piety remains invisible. The flesh hates and makes war 
 against the soul (though the soul does the flesh no injury), 
 because it forbids the indulgence of its pleasures ; and the 
 world hates Christians, not because they refuse it, but for 
 opposing its pleasures. The soul loves the flesh that hates it, 
 and the members of the body ; and Christians love those who 
 hate them. The soul is inclosed in the body, and yet holds 
 the body together; and Christians are detained in the world 
 lis in custody, and yet they hold the world together. The 
 immortal soul dwells in the mortal tabernacle, and Christians 
 dwell as sojourners in mortal things, expecting immortahty 
 
DELINEATION OF CIir.ISTIAN LIFE. 61 
 
 in the heavens .... God has assigned them so important 
 a post which it is not lawful for them to quit," 
 
 Justin ]\Iart}T gives the following description of the lives 
 of Christians : " We who were once slaves of lust, now 
 delight in purity of morals ; we who once practised magical 
 arts," (the various deceptions and tricks of a pretended magic 
 then so common among the heathen,) " have consecrated 
 ourselves to the good and uncreated God; we who once 
 prized riches and possessions above all things, now contribute 
 what we have to the common use, and distribute to every 
 one who is in want ; we who once hated and murdered one 
 another, and on account of our differences would not have 
 a common hearth with those who were not of the same tribe, 
 now, sfince Christ has appeared, live in common with them, 
 and pray for our enemies, and endeavour to persuade those 
 who hate us unjustly, that living according to the admirable 
 counsels of Christ, they may enjoy a good hope of obtaining 
 the same blepsings with ourselves from God the ruler of all." 
 
 The great moral efi'ects of Christianity required no splendid 
 array of outward circumstances in order to make them evi- 
 dent, like the great effects of patriotism in antiquity, which 
 vet was a sentiment confined with the limits of Ciroism.'^'' 
 Christian virtue, quiet and unpretending, going forth with 
 fear and trembling, but under the form of a servant, having 
 in its bosom the consciousness of the dignity of the divine 
 relationship of the children of God, which raised it above all 
 earthly glorj' — this virtue could find its place in the meanest 
 cottage as well as in the j^alace, or more easily in the former, 
 since there it met with less opposition from the deceptive 
 glare of worldly grandeur ; and in contrast to earthly povertv, 
 the hidden glory beamed forth with greater brightness when 
 lodged in a mean receptacle. 
 
 The slaves, also, among whom Christianity in early times 
 made many converts, acquired the same exalted dignity of 
 the children of God, and were acknowledged by their fellow 
 Christians as brethren. They appeared in the public meet- 
 
 * In all well ordered polities, if we may judge from the experience of 
 past a^es, the attachment of men to their country is in danger of becom- 
 ing an absorbing principle, inducing not merely a forgetfulness of private 
 interests, but of the immutable claims of humanity and justice." — Robert 
 Hall, Wor/of, i. 372. [Tr.] 
 
62 CHRISTIAN LIFE OP THE PIEST CEXTUEIES. 
 
 ings with all the rest as equal before the Lord ; they partook 
 like others of communion with the Lord in the holy sujDper, 
 as members of the one body of Christ, in which no distinction 
 could exist between the slave and the fi'eeman, but the mem- 
 bers of which were all one in Christ Jesus. No one refused 
 to give them the kiss of brotherhood at the holy rite, as to 
 all the rest ; at the common lore-feasts they took their place 
 among the other believers. But Christianity guarded against 
 injuriously confounding spiritual and bodily freedom ; it 
 allowed the slave, in the consciousness of his blessed fellow- 
 ship with Christ, to be satisfied with his lot, and to fulfil his 
 calling with love, so that he obeyed not man but God, and 
 hence as a slave he was no longer a slave. Christianity 
 always operated outwards from within : it efiected no violent 
 revolutions, like the self-will which follows not God's ways 
 with patient resignation, but wishes to effect those changes 
 at once by an arm of flesh which can only succeed under 
 God's guidance in gradual development. But when Chris- 
 tianity had penetrated deeper on all sides into the life of 
 humanity, a relation must necessarily fall of itself which is 
 opposed to the Christian universal philanthi'opy, and to the 
 ideas spread by Christianity respecting the equal destiny and 
 dignity of all men as created in the image of God, and called 
 to rule over nature. Thus Ignatius, bishop of Antioch, writes 
 respecting slaves to Polycai'p, bishop of Smp-na : "Despise 
 not slaves and bondwomen ; but they must not be puffed up, 
 but let them serve more zealously for the glory of God, that 
 they may obtain from God a better freedom. Let them not 
 desire to be made free from the common fund, that they may 
 not be found the slaves of [earthly] desire." 
 
 As heart-communion with God and their Redeemer was 
 the essential necessity of Christians, as they were penetrated 
 by the consciousness that left to their own weak and sinful 
 nature they could do nothing without God, so they found 
 their daily nourishment and strength, their help in all dangers, 
 their consolation under all sufferings, in Pkatek, which will 
 be the subject of the following chapter. 
 
PKAYEE. 63 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 PEAYEE. 
 
 Teetullian exhorts to prayer in the following words : * 
 *' Under the arms of prayer let us guard the standard of our 
 general. Praying, let us await the trumpet of the angel. 
 .... All the angels pray. Every creature prays." (So he 
 explains the morning notes of the birds.) "The Lord himself 
 prayed." He speaks in the following manner of the cha- 
 ' racteristics of Christian prayer : " What has not God granted 
 ! to prayer offered up in spirit and in truth, for such prayer he 
 has required? .... The prayer of the old covenant deli- 
 vered from flames, and wild beasts, and hunger, and yet had 
 not received its form from Clmst. But how much more 
 efficacious is prayer now ! It does not place the angel of the 
 dew in the midst of the flames (Dan. iii. 28), nor shut the 
 mouths of lions (Dan. vi.), nor bring the dinner of rustics 
 to the hungry (2 Kings iv.). The grace now vouchsafed to 
 men does not take away the sense of suffering, but it arms 
 with endurance men who are suffering, feeling, and grieving ; 
 by its power it increases grace, that faith may know what it 
 may expect from the Lord, being conscious what it suffers 
 for ihe name of God. Formerly prayer brought do-svn 
 plagues, routed hostile armies, prevented beneficial rains. 
 But now the prayer of righteousness averts the divine M'rath, 
 keeps watch for enemies, and supplicates for persecutors. 
 .... Christ has confen-ed on prayer all power for good. 
 Therefore it knows nothing unless to call back the souls of 
 the departed from the way of death itself, to renovate the 
 
 * Oratio murus est fidei, arma et tela nostra adversus hominem, qui 
 nos undique observat. Itaque nunquam inermes incedamus. Die 
 stationis, nocte vigilise meminerimiis. Sub armis orationis signum nostri 
 imperatoris custodiamuS;, tubara angeli exspectemus orantes, Orant etiam 
 angeii omnes. Orat omnis creatura. Orant pecudes et ferse et genua 
 declinant. . . . Sed et aves nunc exsurgentes eriguntur ad coelum, et 
 alarum crucem pro manibus extendunt, et dicunt aliquid, quod oratio 
 ^^deatur. Quid ergo amplius de officio orationis ? Etiam ipse Dominus 
 oravit, cui sit honor et virtus in saecula steculorum.— Tertull. de Orat. 
 A 24. 
 
64 cHrasTiAX life of the fiest cextueies. 
 
 weak, to heal the sick, to free from the power of evil spirits, 
 to loosen the bonds of the innocent. It washes away sins, 
 repels temptations, extinguishes persecutions, consoles the 
 feeble-minded, delights the magnanimous, guides travellers, 
 stills the waves, nourishes the poor, controls the rich, raises 
 the fallen, props the foiling, and preserves the standing. 
 Prayer is the bulwark of faith ; our arms and weapons against ■ 
 the adversary who waylays us on every side. Therefore let j 
 us never go about unarmed." 
 
 Origen asserts the advantage and the power of prayer 
 against certain proud theosophists, who despised prayer as a 
 mark of weakness, since they were unwilling to feel weak in 
 themselves (a sentiment that belongs to the very essence of 
 the Christian disposition), in order to be strong in the Lord. 
 Against such persons he says : " How much would each 
 among us have to recount of the efficacy of prayer, if only 
 he were thankfully to recall God's mercies. Souls which, 
 have been long unfruitful, becoming conscious of their death, 
 and fructified by the Holy Spirit through persevering prayer, 
 have Q-iven forth words of salvation full of the intuitions cf 
 truth. How many enemies have been driven back, \vhen 
 thousands in the service of the Evil One came into the field 
 against us, and threatened to annihilate our faith. But our 
 confidence was in those words, ' Some put their trust in 
 chariots and in horses, but we will think on the name of the j 
 Lord our God' (Psa. xx. 7); for verily, 'a horse is a vain 
 thing for safety.' .... How many have been exposed to 
 temptations more burning than flame, and yet came out of 
 them unhurt, without even the smell of the hostile flame 
 having passed upon them ! And what shall I further sa)' ? 
 How often has it happened that those who were exposed to 
 wild beasts, to evil spirits, and to cruel men, have muzzled 
 them by prayers, so that they have not been able to touch with 
 their teeth us who were the members of Christ. We know, 
 also, that many who have been deserters from the statutes of 
 God, and were just swallowed up by death, have been saved 
 from destruction by repentance, and ' God has again wiped 
 away the tears from their eyes.'" Cyprian says: "If He 
 prayed who was without sin, how mucli more ought we to 
 pra}-' who are sinners ? The Lord prayed not for himself : he 
 prayed for our sins." 
 
PRAYEK. 65 
 
 Tn general, according to a custom that already prevailed 
 among the Jews, nine, twelve, and three o'clock were re- 
 garded by Christians as sj)ccial times of prayer, though not 
 to be observed in a manner inconsistent with Christian free- 
 dom; " for respecting the hours of prayer," says Tertullian,* 
 *' nothing is prescribed, excepting that we should pray at all 
 times and in every place." Moreover, Christians began the 
 day with prayer, and with prayer they closed it. Cyprian 
 says, " We must pray early in the morning, in order that by 
 our morning prayer the Lord's resurrection may be cele- 
 brated ; and when the sun and the daylight depart from 
 us, and we pray that the light may again dawn upon us, 
 so we pray for the return of Christ, who will grant us 
 the grace of everlasting light." They prayed before they 
 took food, or bathed : for, as Tertullian says, " The refreshing 
 ;md nourishing of the soul should precede the refreshing and 
 nourishing of the body; the heavenly should go before the 
 earthly." When a Christian from a foreign land, after being 
 hospitably entertained as a brother, was about to take leave, 
 he was dismissed with prayer; for it was a common expres- 
 sion among them in reference to such guests, " In thy brother 
 thou hast seen thy Lord." They i)repared for all social 
 deliberations by prayer. On all important occasions Avhich 
 awakened general sympathy, such as impending persecutions, 
 or when an individual whose life was of value for the whole 
 church was in danger of death, it was customary to hold 
 meetings for social prayer, and examples are recorded of 
 special answers to prayer in such cases. " Often," says 
 Iremcus, " Avhcn the whole church in one place has called 
 upon God with fasting on account of some pressing necessity, 
 life has been restored to the dead, and he has been granted 
 to the prayer of Christians." 
 
 The Christian church, as we have already remarked, was 
 very far from wishing to confine prayer, in a carnal Jewish 
 sense, to certain times, as if a peculiar sanctity was attached 
 to them. They regarded prayer as the breathing of the 
 innermost Christian life, drawing down the enlivening Spirit 
 from above. By prayer the whole life of a Christian was 
 sanctified, and his wliole life was to be one continual prayer, 
 
 * De temporibus orationis nihil omnino praescriptum est, nisi plane 
 omni in tempore et loco orare. — Tertull. de Orat. § 18. 
 
G6 CHRISTIAN LIFE OF THE FIEST CENTTJKIES. 
 
 thanks for the grace of redemption, and petition for further 
 frrace in order to sanctify. " The ^vhole life of a saint," says 
 Orif'cn,* " should be one great continuous prayer, and what 
 is commonly called prayer is only a part of it." And Cle- 
 ment of Alexandria says,t " Prayer is intercourse with God, 
 even if we do but lisp ; if we only silently address God with- 
 out opening our lips, yet cry to him with onr inmost hearts, 
 God hears without intermission whatever is thus said to him. 
 If some persons appoint certain hours for prayer, yet the 
 mature Christian prays through his whole life, since by 
 prayer he strives to connect himself with God." Cyprian 
 says, " We who live in Christ the true sun, and therefore in 
 the tnie daylight, must suiTound the whole day with prayer ; 
 and when night succeeds to day, this also must not interrupt 
 our prayers, for to the childi-en of the light there is day even 
 at night. For when is lie without light who has light in his 
 heart ? Or when are the sun and day wanting to him, to 
 whom Christ is sun and day : Renewed in spirit, and rege- 
 nerated by God's grace, let us strive to be here what we 
 shall be hereafter ! Since in the kingdom of heaven we shall 
 have pure day without the interruption of night, let us be 
 awake for prayer by night as well as by day ! Since there 
 Ave shall pray and praise God without cessation, let us here 
 also not cease to pray and to praise."^ 
 
 * Oj)-(t> yap fiovdjQ TO 'AciaXeiTTTuiQ Tooffevx^aOe iK^s^affQai ^vvd- 
 us9a u)g Ivvarbv ou tlprmfvov, ft Trdvra rbv ßiov rov ayiov, fiiav 
 GwaTTTOn'ivriv ntyaki]v tiTrotjufv ivxh^ ' VQ ivx^Q f^^pog i(TTi Koi t] 
 (jvvi]9(j}Q ovofia^ofikvi] tv\r}, ovK iXaTTOv rov rplg tKäarriQ I'lfispag 
 1 7i IT t\t~ia9ai o^iiXouffa. — Origenes Trtpi tvxfJQ, § 12. 
 
 fEcTTlV OVV, ÜjQ ilTTtiv TOkflYipOTtpOV, OfllXia TTpOQ OtOV t) tVXV- K^V 
 
 \pi9vpiZovTeg cipa, firjci to. xti'X/; avoiyovTeg fitTci criyrig -TrpocrXciXCJfiev, 
 tvCo9ev KtKpaya^tv. Häcrav yap ttjv LvSid9eTov ofiiXiav 6 9i.bg 
 dciaXtiTTTiog tiraiei .... Et es Tiveg Kai üpag TaKTag äwoi'Sfiovaiv 
 ii/xOj ^C TpiT7]v (pkpt Kai SKTTjv Kai lvväTr,v, äXX' ovv yi b yi'ojcrTiKbg 
 Trapd vXov tvxi^~ai tov ßiov, Ct tvx^lS (TvvtXvai fitv cttevciov 9e(p. — 
 Clem. Strom. § 7, 722. (Pott. 854.) 
 
 X Nos, fratres dilectissimi, qui in Domine luce semper sumus, qui 
 meminimus et tenemus quid esse accepta gratias cceperimus, computemus 
 noctem pro die. Ambulare nos credamus semper in lumine, non impe- 
 diamur a tenebris quais evasimus. Nulla sint horis nocturnis precum 
 damna, nulla orationum pegra et ignava dispendia. Per Dei indulgentiam 
 recreati et renati imitemur quod futuri sumus. Habituri in regno sine 
 inter\-entu noctis solum diem sic nocte quasi in lumine vigilemus. Oraturi 
 semper et acturi gratias Deo, hie quoque orare et gratias agere non 
 desinamus. — Cyprian, de Oral. Dam. § 36. 
 
PRAYER. 67 
 
 The Christian fathers combated a superstitious notion which 
 attached great importance to a certain bodily posture and 
 certain outward ceremonies in prayer; they endeavoured to 
 show, as Cyprian in the passage above, that everything in 
 prayer depended not on a certain posture of the body, but a 
 certain posture of the heart. Thus Origen sa^'s, " It apjiears 
 to me that whoever wishes to pray, should first retire into 
 himself and collect his thoughts, and then sm'render himself 
 with so much greater ardour to prayer. He must, as much 
 as possible, be impressed with the greatness of that Being to 
 whom he draws nigh ; that it is an insult to . come to him 
 negligently, as if we despised him : a man should come to 
 2:>rayer, dismissing from his mind all foreign matters ; he 
 raises his soul before his hands ; he raises his spirit to 
 God before his eyes ; he shoidd banish from his soul all 
 desire of revenge, if there is any one from whom he has 
 suffered wrong, when he is seeking that his own offences 
 may not be punished by God. It cannot be doubted that 
 among the various postures of the body that is preferable to 
 others in which man stretches forth his hands and raises his 
 eyes, as an image of that state of the disposition in which the 
 soul should be found when praying. But we only think that 
 this posture is to be preferred when no circumstances prevent 
 it ; for under certain circumstances a man may pray in a becom- 
 ing manner sitting or even lying, as in case of illness. And 
 under certain circumstances, as, for example, on shipboard, or 
 when our employments do not permit us to retire and offer up 
 our wonted prayer, a man may pray without appearing to pray. 
 The apostle seems to refer, in Phil. ii. 10, to the spiritual 
 bowing of the knee, since the heart throws itself down before 
 God in the name of Jesus, and humbles itself in his pre- 
 sence." "God," Tertullian says, reproving those who uttered 
 too loudly their prayers in public,'''' " hears not the voice but 
 the heart, even as he looks into the heart." And against 
 those who believed that they ought to wash before every 
 prayer, he says, " What can prayer effect with washed hands 
 but with an impure mind? Pm*ity of mind is necessary even 
 for the hands, that before they are raised to God they should 
 be pure from deceit, bloodshed, cruelty, sorcery, idolatry, 
 
 * Deus non vocis, sed cordis auditor est, sicut conspector. — Tertull. 
 de Orat. § 13. 
 
 r2 
 
'68 cirniSTiAN life of the ftest ce>'turies. 
 
 and other evils which proceed from the mind, but are accom- 
 plislicd bv the labour of the hands. This is true purity, not 
 merely Avhat is external, about which many are careful, Avho 
 have brought Jewish or heathenish superstition with them 
 into Christianity. Our hands are pure enous^h, which we 
 washed with our bodies once for all in Christ." (An allusion 
 to baptism, M^hich at time was performed by the immersion 
 of the whole body. Probably TertuUian thought of John 
 xiii. 10. His meaning is: since we are once for all purified 
 through regeneration by faith in the Redeemer, nothing can 
 defile us, if we only faithfully guard the purification we have 
 received.) Of all such vain usages, which were not learnt 
 from the teaching of the Lord and his apostles, he says : 
 " Such afiected practices belong not to rehgion, but to super- 
 stition : they are the signs rather of a barren service taken 
 up with outward things, than of a rational devotion. We 
 ought to stand aloof from such things, for they make us like 
 the heathen." Elsewhere he says : '" The faithful observance 
 of the teachings of Christ paves the way to heaven for our 
 prayers, and it is most important that if we have been at 
 variance with our brethren, or injured them, we should not 
 approach God's altar before we are reconciled to them. For 
 what can that mean, to come to the peace of God without 
 peace ? To seek forgiveness of sins when we withhold it 
 from others ? How can he be reconciled to his Father who 
 is angry with his brother ? And the posture of prayer must 
 be free, not only from wrath, but from all pertui-'bation of 
 mind, so that it may come from a spirit that resembles the 
 Spirit to whom it is ofi'ered. The Holy Spirit cannot recog- 
 nize an impure spirit, nor the spirit of joy a melancholy 
 spirit, nor the free spirit a spirit entangled with worldly 
 cares ; no one receives into his society one who is hostile to 
 him ; ever)' one admits only persons with friendly feelings to 
 his communion." Cyprian says : " The Lord' teaches us 
 to pray in quiet, in our chamber, for we know that God is 
 omnipresent ; he sees and hears all things ; he penetrates the 
 most obscure comer with the fulness of his majesty; God 
 hears not the voice, but the heart. When we pray, our 
 whole heart must be directed to the praver. It should be 
 closed to the adversary, and open to God alone; for the 
 former frequently creeps in, and by his deceptions draws 
 
FASTING JOINED WITH PRAYER. 69 
 
 away our prayer from God, so that we have one thing in our 
 hearts, and another in our mouths ; for we must pray to the 
 Lord with an upright disposition, not with the sound of the 
 voice, but with the soul and the feelings. Christ teaches us 
 to pray, ' Our Father,' not ' my Father.' Each Christian 
 must not pray for himself alone. Ours is a common prayer. 
 We pray not merely for individuals, but for the whole 
 church ; because, as the church is one, we are one with it. 
 It is God's will that one should pray for all, even as he per- 
 mitted one to bear the sins of all." 
 
 Especially were Christians convinced that prayer should 
 be connected with the reading of the Scriptures, in order to 
 enter rightly into its meaning. When Origen was exhorting 
 one of his disciples, afterwards known as the illustrious 
 Gregory Thaumaturgus, to the diligent study of the Scrip- 
 tures, he added, "It is not enough for thee to seek and 
 knock ; prayer is most necessary in order to understand 
 divine things. When our Lord excited us to this, he said 
 not only, ' Knock and it shall be opened to you, seek and ye 
 shall find,' but also, ' Ask and it shall be given you.' " 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 TASTING JOINED WITH PRAYER. 
 
 It was certainly the aim of the Christian development, 
 that the whole life should be one continuous prayer, — 
 that it should commence with a surrender of the heart 
 to God, and that every action should be only an illustration 
 of this grand fundamental principle. But though the entrance 
 into the manifold engagements of life, into the variety of 
 worldly things, as might be required by the activity of an 
 ardent love for the kingdom of God, was not inconsistent 
 with the tendency of the soul towards the one great object, 
 yet human infirmity occasioned the entrance of contrarieties, 
 interruptions, and fluctuations. The soul, in its occupation 
 with the things of the world, cannot always persist in the 
 
70 CHRISTIAN LIFE OF THE FIRST CENTURIES. 
 
 same undeviating tendency towards God, in the same attitude 
 of praver. Hence, in order that the fountain of the divine 
 life may not fail, that the inner man may not be a prey to dis- 
 traction, intervals were set apart for intercourse with God, 
 when the soul might collect its scattered powers in devotion, 
 and thus a consecration and refreshment might be dififused 
 over the rest of life, which was taken up by worldly affairs. 
 
 Thus while Christians considered prayer as the daily 
 nourishment of their hearts and souls, as the daily consecra- 
 tion of their lives ; still they had, each one according to his 
 peculiar situation and necessities, certain times when they 
 retired from the confusion of worldly affairs, collected them- 
 selves in silence before God, examined the course of their 
 lives, as in his sight and according to the directions of his 
 word, repented of the evil which they detected in their 
 inward and outward life, and with contrite hearts implored 
 forgiveness and sanctification in the name of Christ. 
 
 The custom of connecting times of prayer and fasting with 
 one another was not peculiarly Christian, but usual among 
 the Jews, and hence probably was adopted by Christian 
 churches. The mention of prayer and fasting in close con- 
 nection in Matt. xvii. 21, appears designed to indicate 
 devout, earnest prayer. "When the Pharisees expressed their 
 astonishment that Christ did not accustom his disciples to 
 prayer and fasting, he declared that the joy which they ex- 
 perienced in intercourse with himself precluded fasting, as 
 it was to them a season of festivity. But the sorrow occa- 
 sioned by their separation from him would, of itself, induce 
 them to fast. Yet the pain of separation from him would be 
 only transitory, and would be followed by a perfect and en- 
 during joy in the consciousness of an indissoluble spiritual 
 communion with the glorified Christ. And this ever-endu- 
 ring festive joy must exclude all fasting ; therefore, the only 
 fasting that could be practised, would be the involuntary ex- 
 pression of pain in some transitory states of the inner life, 
 when the consciousness of redemption momentarily retires 
 before the feeling of contrition in estrangement from God ; or 
 we must understand these fasts of such abstinence as was 
 laid on the apostles by the duties of their calling, and to 
 which they were induced to submit with joy through the 
 power of the Spirit that animated them. '(Matt. ix. 15; 
 
FASTING JOINED AVITH mAYER. 71 
 
 Luke V. 35.) From what is contained in those \yords of our 
 Lord, a correct rule may easily be drawn for all fasts on the 
 Christian stand-point. But at that time, men followed in 
 these things an indistinct tradition of the church, and a feel- 
 ing not always certain and purely Christian, instead of for- 
 getting everything else, and examining impartially the mean- 
 ing of Christ's words, and thence deducing a rule of universal 
 adaptation. Those words of Christ were so misunderstood, 
 that the necessity of celebrating the remembrance of the 
 sufferings of Christ by a fast, was deduced from them, and 
 thus the foundation was laid of ecclesiastical fasts. 
 
 AVhen individual Christians, therefore, by their peculiar 
 necessities or disposition, felt impelled to appoint for them- 
 selves such a day of penitence and fasting, they were accus- 
 tomed to refrain from food during a certain part of it, per- 
 haps till three o'clock in the afternoon, or only to take a very 
 scanty portion in the course of the day ; but what they saved 
 by their abstinence on such days, they applied to the relief 
 of the poor. Friday was particularly set apart for this pur- 
 pose, in order that the recollection of the redemptive suffer- 
 ings of Christ might contribute to awaken the feelings of 
 genuine penitence. Christ, crucified and risen, formed the 
 central point of the whole Christian life, in the two-fold 
 reference to that ancient stand-point from which it was freed, 
 and from which it was to be increasingly freed, while it was 
 attracted and fixed even more firmly to the new stand-point ; 
 with Christ the crucified to die to sin, to self, and to the 
 world ; to follow him in penitence and the crucifixion of 
 the old man ; and with Christ the risen, to rise to a new 
 divine life consecrated to him in his communion. 
 
 To this view the most ancient church-festivals corresponded. 
 In accordance with it, as Friday M-as the day set apart for 
 penitence and fasting, so Sunday, being devoted to the com- 
 memoration of the resuiTcction of Christ, was exempt from 
 all fasts, and from everything which bore the marks of sorrow. 
 The joy of the new divine life, proceeding from communion 
 with the risen Saviour. Mas to be impressed on all the trans- 
 actions of that day. On Sunday, instead of kneeling, an 
 upright posture was adopted, as more expressive of the joyful 
 feeling that Christ had raised fallen man to heaven. On the 
 same grounds one Friday in the year was especially chosen as 
 
72 CHRISTIAN LIFE OF THE FIRST CENTURIES. 
 
 the (lav of fastinp^ and penitence, in commemoration of the 
 ßufferin<'-s of Christ, which was extended still further, as a 
 preparation for the joyful celebration of the resurrection. 
 And thus one Sunday in the year was appointed to comme- 
 morate the risen Saviour, and tlie whole seven weeks from 
 that day formed a continuous Pentecostal feast, dedicated to 
 the commemoration of the operations of the glorified Saviour, 
 until the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. Hence the whole of 
 this period was at first kept as a Sunday. 
 
 But what was here exhibited by particular feasts, was only 
 that which was always present to the consciousness of the 
 true Christian, to penetrate and animate his whole life. In 
 reference to this, Origen says: " The perfect Christian, who 
 always is familiar with such thoughts and words and works, 
 Mhich correspond to the Saviour's person and M'ork, always 
 celebrates the day of the Lord. Whoever is penetrated by 
 the consciousness that Christ, as our Passover, has been 
 sacrificed for us, and that he must celebrate the true Pass- 
 over by eating his flesh, he always celebrates the Passover, 
 since he always hastens on with his thoughts, words, and 
 actions, from the things of the v/orld to God and his own 
 city. And whoever can in truth say, ' We are risen with 
 Christ,' and ' he hath raised us together with him, and 
 placed us in heavenly places in Christ Jesus,' such a man 
 enjoys a constant Whitsuntide." 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 TRUE AND FALSE ASCETICISM. 
 
 What by most persons, according to the peculiar necessities 
 of the inner life and special states of mind, was applied only to 
 certain times set apart from the rest of life, was extended by 
 others to the whole of their lives, after they had been received 
 into Christian communion by baptism. As their life hitherto, 
 in heathenism, had been sunk in worldliness and given up to 
 the service of sinful lusts, the ardoui' of attachment with which 
 
TRUE AND FALSE ASCETICISM. 73 
 
 they were now inspired for divine things would more readily 
 show itself in an unsparing opposition to the world in which 
 they had formerly sought their highest good. The glow of 
 their first love would easily huny them on to overstep the 
 proper limits, to reject at once all earthly good, instead of 
 appropriating and employing for the seryice of the kingdom 
 of God (to which everything ought to be devoted) what had 
 hitherto been employed in the service of sin. It was in 
 reference to this fidelity in the management of earthly good 
 for the kingdom of God that our Lord said (Luke xvi. 22), 
 " If ye have not been faithful in that which is another's, who 
 shall give you that which is your own ?" (the heavenly good 
 corresponding to the higher nature of man in contrast to the 
 earthly). Thus it came to pass that many, impelled by the 
 glow of their first love, after their baptism surrendered their 
 property to the poor, renounced all earthly enjoyments, and 
 remained single to avoid the distraction of family cares, that 
 they might be occupied only with divine things and live for 
 the advancement of the kingdom of God ; they continued to 
 submit through their M-hole lives to these deprivations and 
 meagre fare with a two-fold object, — to be less disturbed by 
 the excitements of sensuality, and to employ for the benefit of 
 the poor what they thus saved by spare living out of the 
 gains of their manual labour. The persons, who from their 
 striving to form themselves to Christian virtue, were called 
 Ascetics (a(TKrjT(ii), or, by a metaphor taken from military 
 affairs, Christian combatants {ar-^tcvi<niKoi), or the Abstinent 
 (conttnenfes), did not separate themselves from the rest of the 
 Church. They lived in their midst, and employed the spiritual 
 experiences which they had gained in their quiet meditations 
 for the advantage of others, communicating to them the 
 treasures they had won by intercourse with God in prayer, 
 and by the diligent study of his Word. Among the heathen 
 also, were men who led a life of similar abstinence and Avho 
 when they appeared in the philosopher's cloak {jpißwv^ 
 pallium) were treated with great respect. Christians who 
 now went about in this garb, as Ascetics, were able by that 
 means to draw the attention of the heathen to the new 
 philosophy brought from the East, and thus gained an oppor- 
 tunity of declaring the gospel to them. 
 
 Around such a person, appearing in the philosopher's 
 
74 CHRISTIAN LIFE OF THE FIRST CENTURIES. 
 
 cloak, a number of men eager for knowledge and seeking 
 truth, or fond of novelty, would soon collect. He was 
 reo-ardcd as an enlightened sage, and as a rigid moral censor 
 he was allowed to attack public vices. Whoever met him 
 in his solitary walks, he entered into conversation with him, 
 and thus availed himself of many opportunities for publishing 
 the gospel. "Rejoice, Philosopher's Cloak," exclaims 
 Tertullian, " a better philosophy has done thee the honour to 
 cover itself with thee since thou hast begun to be the garb of 
 a Christian!" 
 
 This mode of life, in which opposition to the world was 
 exhibited by such outward signs, was therefore in itself not 
 peculiar to Christianity, and in itself was not suited to repre- 
 sent its peculiar nature, since this does not consist in mere 
 outward contrariety to the world but in an internal conflict 
 with it, to issue in the appropriation of the world with all 
 worldly things for the representation of the kingdom of God. 
 Hence the stand-point that preceded Christianity, in which 
 the consciousness of disunion prevailed, M'hen reconcilia- 
 tion to God was not yet effected, and all things were not yet 
 pure to the pure, had for its characteristics such an out- 
 ward contrariety to the world and such an avoidance of the 
 world appearing as impure, as may be seen in the religions of 
 the ancient East. This one-sided ascetic tendencj'- often stood 
 in connection with a style of thinking opposed to Christianity, 
 which regarded what was material or sensuous as the ground 
 and principle of evil, and hence prescribed the renunciation of 
 cveiy indulgence of the senses as the true way to perfection, 
 and a high-mindedness which seduced men into the notion 
 that by divesting themselves of what is human, by mortifying 
 the senses by means of the preponderance of the mind, they 
 would be able to seize on the divine life which grace onlj^ 
 imparts to those who humbly long for it. Christianity from 
 the first decidedly opposed this one-sided ascetic tendency, 
 since it turned men's thoughts in self-examination from the 
 outward to the inward, and taught them to find the ground 
 of evil not in anything external, not in nature, not in the 
 objects of sense, but in a selfishness that set itself in con- 
 trariety to the divine law. And hence it led to the con- 
 sciousness that the evil which had its seat in the deeply 
 rooted self-love, manifests itself in the form of spiritual pride 
 
TEUE AND FALSE ASCETICISM. 75 
 
 and of vanity, corrupting the movements of the higher life not 
 less than in the more palpable outbreaks of coarse sensuality. 
 Thus the Apostle Paul reprobates such an ascetic tendency, 
 which existed in the Church at Colosse and would have 
 mixed itself with Christianity, as nothing better than a 
 "being puffed up with a fleshly mind." (Col. ii. 18.) 
 Christianity deduced the disunion between sensuousness and 
 spirit from sin, and recognised its removal in Christ ; in the 
 original type of his holy humanity, a sensuous nature pene- 
 trated throughout by the divine life, and serving it as a pure 
 form of revelation, was to be seen, when he appeared in the 
 likeness of sinful flesh and condemned sin, and made it 
 appear inoperative in the flesh over which it had hitherto 
 exercised despotic power. Through Christianity the destiny 
 of the body was manifested, that when freed from the yoke of 
 sin, as in Christ, it was to be the organ of a sanctified soul, a 
 temple of the Holy Spirit, as at a future period the glorified 
 body will be raised from the dead to be the receptacle of a 
 perfectly holy soul. And thus the contempt of the body and 
 the mortifying of the flesh (Col. ii. 23) can find no point of 
 attachment to Christianity rightly understood, and viewed in 
 the connection of all its truths. Only in its predominant 
 moral eaniestness and more spiritual tendency, Christianity 
 agreed with that asceticism; and it could certainly more 
 easily attach itself to that than to a longing for sensual 
 enjoyment. But that which distinguished Christianity from 
 the other stand-points of religious and moral development, 
 was the spirit of active love pervading all the relations of life, 
 the humble and unper verted childlike disposition, the state of 
 mind which, from the consciousness of redemption, banished 
 all gloom and rejoiced • in the Lord evermore. We must 
 always distinguish between what was the transition-point in 
 the development of the Christian life on an earlier stand- 
 point, and what is founded in the nature of the Christian 
 life itself — how the latter has overcome the obstacles that 
 surrounded it. We may apply to such a practical point of 
 the Christian development, what Zinzendorf said to a noble- 
 man, who in answer to his requiring him to imitate Christ, 
 said, " One must not hang do^\'n the head." Zinzendorf 
 rejoined, "My head stands tolerably straight; but when a 
 
76 CHRISTIAN LIFE OF THE FIRST CENTURIES. 
 
 man comes to Christ for the forgiveness of sins, he must first 
 of all for some time hang down his head." _ 
 
 When that which ought to be only transitory is retained as 
 ßomcthino- permanent, as an end of development and as essential 
 to Christian perfection, it cannot fail to be injurious to prac- 
 tical Christianity ; but we may also notice, as soon as traces 
 of this injurious influence appear, a reaction of the original 
 Christian spirit against it. True acceptable fasting, it is said 
 in the Shepherd of Hermas, a production of at least the first 
 half of the second century, " is not outward fasting," but 
 " before all things, take care to fast from every evil word and 
 evil report; and purify thy heart from all pollution, and 
 remembrance of wrongs, and covetousness. On the day when 
 thou fastest, be content with bread, and vegetables, and water, 
 giving thanks to God ; and, reckoning the expense of the din- 
 ner which thou wouldst otherwise eat, give it to a widow, or 
 to an orphan, or to some needy person." 
 
 Clement of Alexandria, speaking against the austerities of 
 certain sects, says that there were many kinds of priests in 
 various heathenish religions, who practised celibacy and the 
 strictest abstinence.*'* As humility is shown by gentleness, 
 but not by mortification of the body, so also is continence a 
 virtue of the soul, having its seat not outward but within. 
 These highminded people say that they imitate the Lord, who 
 was not married, nor had any worldly possessions ; but the 
 Holy Scriptures call to them, '" God resisteth the proud, but 
 giveth grace to the humble." (1 Peter v. 5.) With the same 
 view Clement wrote a treatise on the question, " Who is the 
 rich man who will be saved? ' in wbich he endeavours to 
 show that the outward was in itself a matter of indifierence 
 as regards the salvation of the soul — that all depends on the 
 disposition with which man either uses or abuses it — that 
 riches in themselves are not hurtful, but only the love of 
 
 * 'Q,Q ct i) TaTnivoi>Qo<7v%>r] Trp^orrjg IgtIv, ol'x'i ^e KUKOVxia <T<i)fia- 
 Tog' o'lTu) Kal i] tyKpdreia -^I'x^C «ptrr/, j; oiiK tv ^avepf^, aXV iv 
 aTroKpv<p({). Ei'criv B' o'l Tropvtiav uvTiKpvg rbv y«^ov Xkyovci Kai vtto 
 Tov ciaßöXov TavTt]v TrupacicorsQai CayuariL^ovai' fiifitlcröai c' avrovg 
 oi i^uyuXavxoi (^a<n tov Kvpiov, fiijre yi)navTa, p.i]re ri iv roj KOfffni} 
 KTiiaäyavov.' fiäWov Trapd tovq äX\ovg vivojjKtvuL to tvayytXiov 
 KavxMfievoi. Afyei ci auTolg i) ypa<p7]. 'Y7rfpT](pävOLg 6 Otbg üvtitciG' 
 ctrat, TOTTitfolg ck cicwffi xapiv. — Clem. Strom. III. 446. (Pott. 533.) 
 
BROTIIEKLY LOYE OF CHRISTIANS. tj 
 
 earthly good — that poverty in itself is not praiseworthy, but 
 only the renunciation of the earthly by the heart. When the 
 enthusiasts of the Montanist sect, of whom we have spoken 
 above, wished to prescribe regular ftists at certain times, 
 many protested against them, and said that it was accordant 
 with evangelical freedom that no positive law should be laid 
 down on such points — that here every one is free to act 
 according to his own necessities, circumstances, and inclina- 
 tion. Tliey appealed to Isaiah Iviii. 5, 6, &:c., " that not fasts 
 but works of righteousness were well-pleasing to God." (Matt. 
 XV. 11:1 Tim. iv. 1, &c. ; 1 Cor. viii. 8.) 
 
 In the bloody persecution which befel the Church at Lyons 
 in the year 177, a person named Alcibiades, who had hitherto 
 lived as an ascetic, having stedfastly adhered to his Christian 
 profession, was put in close confinement. Here he continued 
 his former abstemious diet, living on bread and water, and 
 probably not tasting the food which the Christians sent to 
 their brethren in prison. But one of his fellow- prisoners, 
 Attains, told him that he was moved by the Divine Spirit to 
 charge him with acting wrong in not enjoying God's gifts, 
 and thereby being a stumbling-block to others. The ascetic 
 and revered confessor, instead of feeling his spiritual vanity 
 wounded, gave an example of the renunciation of self-will, a 
 thing far nobler and more difficult than all outward asceticism. 
 He now eat indifferently of whatever was set before him, and 
 gave God thanks for these gifts also. 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 THE PRACTICAL BROTHERLY LOYE OF CHRISTIANS. 
 
 As our Lord declared brotherly-love to be the special mark 
 by which mankind would recognise Ijis disciples, so we find 
 it strikingly manifested among the first Christians, who em- 
 ployed the term brother, as a common appellation of each 
 other. Of this mutual affection the kiss of charity testified 
 which was practised at the celebration of the supper every 
 Sunday, and at those love-feasts (the agcqjo), which were 
 held in the primitive age, when Christians of all classes, for- 
 
78 CHRISTIAN LIFE OF THE FIRST CENTURIES. 
 
 o-cttino- the differences of station, property, and education, met 
 to"-cthcr, and the rich partook with the poor. On these occa- 
 sions Christians assembled as if forming one family. As the 
 Lord sanctified the meals Avhich he partook of with his dis- 
 ciples, by his presence and communion, so likewise these 
 feasts, kept in brotherly love, were sanctified by the presence 
 of the Lord and spiritual communion with him ; everything 
 earthly became transformed into the heavenly ; the ultimate 
 object of all Christian association was here prefigured. Let 
 us listen to Tertullian's description of such a love-feast at the 
 end of the second ccntuiy, " No one sits down at the table," 
 he says, " till prayer has been offered to God. We eat as 
 much as hunger requires ; we drink no more than is con- 
 sistent Math sobriety ; we satisfy our appetites as those who 
 recollect that the night is to be spent in devotion ; we con- 
 verse as men who bear in mind that God hears them. After 
 the persons present have washed their hands, lights are 
 brought in, and every one is required to sing before all to 
 the praise of God, either something taken from Holy Writ, or 
 what his own heart has suggested ; this shows how he has 
 drunk. The feast concludes with prayer." 
 
 Christians also regarded themselves as standing in this 
 brotherly relation to one another under all the circumstances 
 of life ; the temporal and spiritual wants of every individual 
 were cared for by the Church. A Christian coming from dis- 
 tant parts, on his arrival in a foreign town, sought out the 
 assembly of Christians, and found there spiritual and bodily 
 refi-eshment. But partly because this brotherly love was 
 abused by impostors, the Christian churches adopted a pre- 
 cautionary measure to receive no stranger who did not bring 
 with him a regular testimonial {epistola formata) from the 
 bishop of the church to which he belonged. 
 
 This cordial brotherly love of the Christians struck the hea- 
 then with astonishment; and people whose suspicions went no 
 further than temporal ends, regarded it with a jealous eye. 
 *' See," they said, '• how the Christians love one another, and 
 are ready to die for one another." Tertullian,* in noticing 
 
 * Sed ejusmodi vel maxime dilectionis operatio notam nobis incerit 
 penes quosdam. Vide, inquirent, ut in\-icem se diligant ; ipsi enira 
 invicem oderunt ; et ut pro alterutro mori sint parati ; ipsi enim ad occi- 
 dendum alterutrum paratiores erunt. Sed et quod fratrum appellatione 
 
BROTHERLY LOVE OF CHRISTIANS. 79 
 
 the surprise of the heathen on this subject, says, " We are 
 even your brethren by right of our eommon mother ; the 
 same human nature, although, like unnatural brethren, ye 
 deny us the common human nature. But with how greater 
 right must they call and consider themselves brethren who 
 acknowledge God as their Father, who have received the same 
 spirit of sanctification, and have been raised from the same 
 abyss of ignorance to an admiration of the same light of truth. 
 We who are of one heart and one soul, cannot have the least 
 hesitation to have earthly goods in common." 
 
 At every weekly service of the Christians in some places, 
 at every monthly meeting in other places, collections were 
 made to which every member contributed according to his 
 ability for the relief of the poor, the sick, the infirm through 
 age, widows, and strangers who on account of their faith 
 were imprisoned or sentenced to work in the mines. In many 
 extraordinary cases the bishops made special collections for 
 these objects in their congregations. Individual churches not 
 merely cared for the M'ants of their own members, but the 
 richer churches of the capital cities, such as Rome, sent pecu- 
 niary aid to those who v/ere suffering for the faith, even to 
 the remotest parts. And when the poor chui'ches of the pro- 
 vincial towns were not in a condition to give sufiicient relief 
 to their suffering brethren from their own resources, they 
 sought the help of the church in the larger cities. About the 
 middle of the third century, it happened that in Numidia, in 
 North Africa, several Christian men and women were taken 
 captive by their barbarian neighbours. The Numidian 
 churches not being able to raise the sum required for their 
 ransom, applied to the metropolis, Carthage. The bishop 
 of this city, Cyprian, in a short time collected from the clergy 
 and laity a sum exceeding four thousand dollars, and remitted 
 it to the bishops of those churches, with an epistle in which 
 
 censemur non alias opinor infamant, quam quod apud ipsas omne 
 sanguines nomen de affectione sirnulatum est. Fratres autem etiam 
 vestri sumus, jure naturae matris unius, etsi vos parum homines, quia 
 mali fratres. At quanto dignius fratres at dicuntur et habentur, qui 
 unum Patrem Deum agnoverunt, qui unum spiritum biberunt sanctitatis, 
 qui de uno utero ignorantise ejusdem ad unara lucem expaverunt veritatis. 
 . . . . Itaque qui animo, animaque miscemur, nihil de rei communicatione 
 dubitamus. — Tertull. Apol, § 3y. 
 
80 CHRISTIAN LIFE OF THE FIRST CENTURIES. 
 
 he fsavs, " We cannot regard the imprisonment of our broth- i 
 rcn but as our own, nor their sufferings but as ours, since we i 
 are united with them in one body, and not only love, but a 
 peculiar religious interest must impel and confirm us in pro- 
 curing the freedom of brethren who are members of our body. 
 For the apostle says, ' Know ye not, that ye are the temple 
 of God, and the Spirit of God dsvelleth in your' (1 Cor. iii. : 
 16) ; therefore if love were not sufficient to impel us to help 
 our brethren, we ought to reflect thut the temples of God are 
 in captivity, and these temples of God m.ust not remain in it 
 any longer through our delay ; we must with all our might seek 
 by our obedience to gain the approbation of Christ our judge, 
 our Lord and God. For the Apostle Paul says, ' As many of 
 you as are baptized have put on Christ :' therefore in our cap- 
 tive brethren we must see that Christ who has rescued us from 
 the danger of captivity, who has redeemed us from the danger 
 of death. We must feel ourselves compelled to free them 
 from the hands of barbarians who has freed us from Satan's 
 grasp, and who now dwells and abides in us ; we must with 
 a small sum of money ransom Him who has ransomed us by 
 his cross and blood, and who has permitted this misfortune to 
 happen, in order to prove our faith, whether every one of us 
 will do for others what he would have wished for himself, had 
 he fallen into the hands of barbarians.'' He adds, ''We 
 wish, indeed, that nothing like this may happen in future ; 
 but yet should any thing of the kind occur again to try the 
 love of our hearts, and to test our faith, do not delay to inform 
 us of it by another epistle ; since you may be satisfied that our 
 whole church prays to God that it may not happen again, but 
 if it should occur, that they will help you cheerfully and 
 abundantly." 
 
 CHAPTER XH. 
 
 GENERAL PHILANTHROPY OF CHRISTIANS. 
 
 Although the heathen frequently charged the Christians 
 with misanthropy, because they would not imitate the con- 
 duct of the world, and sometimes because they showed some 
 
\ 
 
 PHILANTHROPY OF CHRISTIANS. 81 
 
 semblance of it by a too rude but easily explicable opposition 
 to the world, arising from the state of tlie develoi)mcnt of 
 the Christian life at that period, yet the principle of the 
 universal love of mankind and of enemies was always expressed 
 by the Christian church. The love of enemies especially was 
 not regarded as a single moral precept of Christianity, but 
 was a necessary result of the total Christian faith and con- 
 sciousness, of faith in the Kedeemer, who died for his enemies, 
 and of a love that expelled everything selfish. Whenever 
 they met for worshii) Christians prayed for the conversion of 
 all men, that all men might attain salvation by the reception 
 and faithful following of the doctrine of Christ. Also the 
 heathen poor received rich gifts from the Christian church. 
 When a narrow-hearted patriotism, which often was only a 
 more refined and diffused selfishness, had suppressed among 
 the ancients the general feelings of humanity, and many 
 noble persons among the Romans helped to furnish those 
 cruel sjjectacles of a bloodthirsty people — the gladiatorial 
 shows — the voice of the Christian church was from the first 
 raised against them with the greatest abhorrence. Whoever 
 frequented those spectacles was excluded from the commu- 
 nion of the church. 
 
 In the year 254 a desolating epidemic raged throughout a 
 great part of the Roman empire, and especially in Northern 
 Africa. The heathen at Carthage did not ventm-e to attend 
 the sick for fear of infection ; the infected were thrown out 
 into the streets, half dead. Corpses were left lying in heaps, 
 and threatened a general plague, by tainting the atmo- 
 sphere. A short time before, the Christians had suffered a 
 bloody persecution ; and even this desolating epidemic oc- 
 casioned new attacks upon them, as if the gods in their 
 wrath had made such judgments depend on their enemies, 
 the Christians. But Cyprian knew that it became Christians, 
 by well-doing, to heap the burning coals of shame on the 
 heads of their enemies. He assembled his church, and said 
 to them, " If we merely show kindness to our own people, we 
 do no more than publicans and heathens ; as genuine (Chris- 
 tians we must overcome evil by good, love our enemies as our 
 Lord exhorts us, and pray for our persecutors. Since we are 
 born of God, we must show ourselves worthy of our origin 
 by imitating our Fathers goodness." 
 
 G 
 
82 CHRISTIAN LIFE OF THE FIRST CENTURIES. 
 
 Tlic Christians answered this appeal by dividing the work 
 amon"- them according to their various situations and abilities. 
 Some "-ave money, others their personal labour, and in a short 
 time the dead received burial, and Carthage was rescued from 
 the danger of a general pestilence. 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 THE CHRISTIANS UNDER PERSECUTION. 
 
 It is indeed no proof of the divine origin and truth of a 
 conviction that it imparts power to contemn death; the 
 apathy of stupidity, or an artificial suppression of natural 
 feeling, can do this. The intoxication of fanaticism, which 
 does not allow men to reflect, but hurries them blindly on in 
 a state of insensibility, may produce such an effect. More- 
 over, the nature of man, as partaking of the divine, is sus- 
 ceptible of an enthusiasm for the objects of a higher world : 
 and this susceptibility may be led astray by deceptive in- 
 fluences. But fanaticism, like all elevation of the mental 
 powers proceeding from over-excitement, in its very nature is 
 incapable of always keeping at the same height. It begins 
 violently, and is only heated and roused by the opposition it 
 meets with; but it gradually loses its elasticity; and this takes 
 place sooner if it meets with no resistance from without, but 
 is left for a while to itself. But we see Christianity con- 
 flicting for three centuries, and overcoming death with the 
 same enthusiasm. After a long interval of rest, during 
 which it certainly sank in some measure into careless security 
 and indolent worldliness (as for the greater part of the time 
 from Heliogabalus to Trajan Decius, 218-249, from Gallienus 
 to the beginning of the Diocletian persecution, 268-303), yet 
 we see Christianity enter with fresh power on the conflict, 
 which only served to separate nominal Christians, who had 
 found their way into the chui'ch in great numbers during 
 
CHRISTIAXS UNDER TERSECUTION. 83 
 
 peaceful times, from those who felt the vital power of Chris- 
 tianity. Not only the most excruciating tortiu-es by which it 
 was attempted to extort a denial of their faith from Christians 
 could not shake their stedfastness, supported as it was by 
 divine power ; nor even could the protracted sufferings of 
 close imprisonment, with hunger and thirst, nor toilsome, 
 difficult, unwonted labours in the mines, weary out a patience 
 which was maintained by their faith. The representations 
 also of benevolent magistrates to the effect that they might 
 retain their peculiar ftuth, provided they performed the out- 
 ward ceremonies prescribed by the laws — these representations, 
 which were so adapted by their sophistry as they were agree- 
 able to the flesh to pacify their consciences — and all the per- 
 suasions of dear friends and relatives, the entreaties and tears 
 of beloved fathers, mothers, and children, could not turn the 
 tender hearts of Christians from the path of obedience to the 
 gospel ; they endured the severest conflict, not only the con- 
 flict with the fear of death as presented to the senses, but that 
 which is still more trying, the conflict with those tender and 
 deeply-implanted feelings in the moral nature of man, which 
 Christianity by no means suppresses, but, as it does in refer- 
 ence to all that is purely human, exalts, refines, and ennobles. 
 They were victorious in this conflict, because the words of 
 the Saviour were deeply impressed on their hearts : " If any 
 man come to me and hate not his father and mother, and wife 
 and children, and brethren and sisters, yea, and his own life 
 also, he cannot be my disciple." Fanaticism, like a paroxysm 
 of fever, hurries men along, and does not allow the sense of 
 human weakness to spring up. Trust in God's power — a 
 peaceful, sober devotedness to God, with a sense of human 
 weakness — fasting, watching, and praying, lest we fall into 
 temptation — experiencing the truth of Christ's words, " The 
 spirit is willing^ hut the ßesJi is iceak,^' and by the Spirit of the 
 glorified Son of Man overcoming the opposition of the weak 
 flesh, to say with the Apostle Paul, " When I am weak, then 
 am I strong;" — sentiments and thoughts like these were 
 the characteristics of the Christian martyr, as will be apparent 
 from the examples which will come under our notice. Ter- 
 tullian contrasts that patient resignation which he delineates 
 in a separate treatise as the soul of the Christian life, with 
 that artificial equanimity which is founded on an unfeeling 
 
 G 2 
 
84 CIIRISTL.VN LIFE OF THE FIEST CENTUKIES. 
 
 stupidity. He thus represents this Christian virtue :* " She 
 perfects martyrdom, she consoles the poor, she teaches mode- 
 ration to the rich ; she does not let the ^yeak overstrain 
 themselves, she does not consume the strength of the strong ; 
 she rejoices the believer, she allures the heathen, she makes 
 the slave well-pleasing to his master, and his master to God ; 
 she is loved in a boy, is praised in a youth, is honoured in the 
 aged, is beautiful in every sex, in every age. Let us try to 
 form an image of her. Her countenance is tranquil and 
 placid ; her forehead smooth, and marked by no wrinkles of 
 sorrow or anger ; her eyebrows cheerfully unknit ; her eyes 
 directed downwards in humility, not in grief; a complexion 
 
 such as belongs to the unanxious and the innocent 
 
 Where God is, there is his foster-daughter. Wherever, 
 therefore, the Spirit of God descends, this divine patience is 
 his inseparable companion. Can the Spirit abide where she 
 does not at the same time find admission ? Without his 
 companion and handmaid he will always and everywhere be 
 grieved. This is the nature, these are the acts of heavenly 
 and genuine, that is, of Christian patience." 
 
 There were some persons who, carried away by the ardour 
 of their zeal for the profession of the gospel, declared them- 
 selves to be Christians voluntarily before the heathen magis- 
 
 * [Patientia] fidem munit, pacem gubemat, dilectionem adjuvat, 
 humilitatem instruit, poenitentiam exspectat, exomologesin assignat, 
 camera regit, spiritum servat, linguam frenat, manum continet, tenta- 
 tiones inculcat, scandala pellit, martyria consummat, pauperem conso- 
 latur, divitem temp?rat, infirmum non extendit, valentein noa consumit, 
 fidelem delectat, gentilem invitat; servum domino, dominum Deo com- 
 mendat, feminam exornat, vinim approbat; amatur in puero, laudatur in 
 juvene, suspicitur in sene; in omni sexu, in omni getate formosa est. Age 
 jam sis et effigiem habitumque ejus compreliendamus. Vultis illi tran- 
 quillus et placidus frons pura, nulla mceroris aut irse rugositate contracta : 
 remissa seque in Isetum modum supercilia, oculis humilitate, non infelici- 
 tate dejectis ; os tacituraitatis honore signatum ; color qualis securis et 
 innoxiis ; motus frequens capitis in diabolum et minax visus ; c^teruni 
 aniictus circum pectora candidus, et corpori impressus, ut qui nee infla- 
 tur nee inquietatur. Sedet enim in throno spiritus ejus mitissimi et 
 mansuetissinn, qui non turbine gloraeratur, non nubilo livet, sed est 
 tenercc severitatis, apertus et simplex, quem tertio vidit Helias. Nam 
 ubi Deus, ibidem et alumna ejus, patientia scilicet. Cum ergo Spiritus 
 Dei descendit, individua patientia comitatur eum. — TertuU. de Patientia, 
 § 15. 
 
CHRISTIANS UNDER PERSECUTION. 85 
 
 trates, and thus gave themselves up to death. But the Lord's 
 injunction in Matt. x. 23, with his own example, and that of 
 his apostles, served to check the spread of sucli an enthusi- 
 astic excitement. The Christian church ill general always 
 repudiated this voluntary surrender to death as a proceeding 
 not in accordance with the gospel — a perverse self-confidence, 
 a want of devout humility. In an epistle from the Church at 
 Smyrna, containing an account of the persecution in a.D. 161, 
 in which Bishop Polycarp sufiered martyrdom, mention is 
 made of a person who gave himself up in this manner, but 
 afterwards — (a natural consequence of his bold self-confidence, 
 and of a zeal more carnal than godly) — did not maintain his 
 stedfastness. " On this account," they say, " we do not 
 praise those who surrender themselves, for such is not the 
 lesson of the gosj^el." Clement of Alexandria says, that 
 genuine Christians, if they truly call on God, surrender 
 themselves joyfully to his will, and verify the call of God, by 
 being conscious of no rashness. Cyprian, bishop of Car- 
 thage, who, by his own martyrdom at a later period, proved 
 that he did not flee from fear of death, withdrew at the 
 beginning of the Decian persecution for some time from his 
 chuiTh, in order to secui*e rest for them, and not to excite 
 the wrath of the heathen to a higher degree by his presence. 
 And his anxiety for his church during his absence not only 
 related to their continuing stcdfast in the faith, but to their 
 observance of Christian moderation and order, that nothing 
 fanatical might mingle with the zeal of the church. On this 
 account, he ordained that the clergy who visited the con- 
 fessors in their imprisonment, and administered to them the 
 Lord's Supper, should go alternately in order to excite no 
 suspicion in the minds of the heathen ; that the Christians 
 should not go in crowds to their imprisoned brethren, to 
 which the fire of love impelled them, lest by being too eager 
 to gain everything, they should lose all. " We must in all 
 things," so he M'rote to one of his clergy, "be gentle and 
 humble, as becomes the servants of God, to adapt ourselves 
 to the times, and to be solicitous for quiet." He was very 
 much displeased when those who for confessing themselves 
 had been sentenced to banishment, afterwards of their own 
 accord came back to their own country ; because when they 
 were taken and condemned to death, '' they sufiered not as 
 
86 CHRISTIAN LIFE OF THE FIRST CENTL'EIES. 
 
 Christians, but as criminals." In his last letter, when in 
 prospect of death, he wrote thus to his chm-ch: '"Conformably 
 to tlie doctrine you have received from me according to the 
 injunction of the Lord, dearest brethren, maintain quiet, and 
 let no one of you excite dissension among the brethren, or 
 voluntarily give himself up to the heathen. When he is 
 taken and delivered up, then he must speak : for in that hour 
 the Lord that dwelleth in us speaks by our mouth." 
 
 We would now adduce some individual instances, to illus- 
 trate the power of Christian enthusiasm and Christian faith 
 in times of persecution. 
 
 Polycarp. bishop of Smp-na, now ninety years of age, after 
 having done his utmost to retain his church around him, 
 obeyed the call of the Lord which he had continually before 
 his eyes. "The will of the Lord be done," he said, "'since 
 my persecutors are coming." He received them M'ith a 
 cheerfulness and mildness such as became the confessor of a 
 meek and humble Lord. He prepared himself for his last 
 journey, by praying for two hours with such fervency that 
 the hearts of the heathen spectators were deeply moved. He 
 addressed the magistrate respectfully, for though a heathen 
 he regarded him as a " minister of God," and expressed his 
 readiness to render an account of his faith. But with all 
 his humility, he showed undaunted resolution to do nothing 
 against his conscience. With the repugnance of a simple 
 childlike love, he rejected the proposal to blaspheme his 
 Lord, in order to save his life, " How can I blaspheme him, 
 my Lord and Saviour r eighty and six years I have served him, 
 and he has never injured me ; how can I blaspheme my King 
 who saves me r" He did not seek death in presumptuous self- 
 confidence ; but when his Lord called him, he knew that He 
 M-ho called him would also give him power to endure the fire, 
 and to stand unmoved in the flames. 
 
 The persecution under the Emperor Valerian against the 
 Christian church in the year 257, furnishes examples of many 
 excellent bishops, who with paternal anxiety for their flocks, 
 from whom no power on earth could separate these faithful 
 shepherds, met death with Christian tranquillity and presence 
 of mind. As it is common with men in the delusion of their 
 imaginary wisdom to make no distinction between what is 
 effected by divine power, and what results only from human 
 
POLICY OF THE EMrEIlOR YALEKIAN. 87 
 
 agency, and hence they fancy that by their contrivances they 
 can destroy a Mork -which, proceeding from the ])ower of 
 God, rests on an immoveable basis, though not visible to the 
 eye of the unenlightened man, — so this emperor thought he 
 had devised a plan for gradually overthrowing the Christian 
 church. lie conceived that the propagation and spread of 
 the new religion was mainly attributable to the reputation, 
 zeal, and activity of the clergy, particularly the bishops. If 
 he succeeded in inducing the bishops to abjure their faith, 
 and return to the state-religion, their example would no 
 doubt have a great influence on the people, who are always 
 actuated more by a regard to authority than by firm inde- 
 pendent conviction. If he were unsuccessful, it would be 
 only necessary to banish the refractory bishops from their 
 flocks, and the latter being deprived of theii' overseers and 
 teachers, would easily waver in their faith, and be brought 
 back to the observance of the state-religion. According to 
 this plan, he issued his orders to the governors in the pro- 
 vinces of the Iloman empire, to summon the bishops before 
 their tribunals. When Cyprian, bishop of Carthage, appeared 
 for the first time before the proconsul, and was examined, 
 he answered : " I am a Christian and a bishop. I know no 
 God beside the one true God, who created heaven and earth, 
 the sea, and all that is therein. This God we Christians 
 serve. To Him we pray day and night for ourselves, for all 
 men, and for the welfare of the emperors themselves." To 
 the question of the proconsul, " Dost thou persist in this 
 resolution?" he answered, "A resolution grounded on the 
 knowdedge of God is unchangeable." Being required to 
 name his clergy, he replied : "• Your laws wisely forbid the 
 trade of informing ; our religion forbids a man's giving him- 
 seli" up ; but if you seek after them, you will find them." 
 Cyprian, according to the imperial edict, was sentenced to 
 banishment. 
 
 When Dionysius, bishop of Alexandria, appeared before 
 iEmilianus, the i)refect of Egypt, and M-as required to wor- 
 ship the gods who protected the government of the emperor, 
 he answered, "' All men do not worship the same gods ; each 
 one worships those in whom he believes, according to his 
 convictions. We worship the one God, creator of the uni- 
 verse, who also has intrusted the government to our emperor, 
 
88 CIIKISTIAX LIFE OF THE FIEST CEXTUEIES. 
 
 and to Ilim we continually pray for the tranquillity of his 
 <>-ovenimcnt." The prefect rt^oined, "Now, what hinders 
 vou from worshipping this god, if he be really a god, together 
 with your country's gods ? The emperor only commands you 
 to worship the gods, that is, the gods acknowledged by all 
 men."' The goyeruor wished to impress upon him that he 
 need not deny his religion, and yet might acknowledge the 
 state-religion, the only point of importance ; but the bishop 
 would not allow his conscience to accept this eyasion. He 
 answered briefly, " We can worship no other."' Dionysius 
 was forthwith sentenced to banishment ; his place of exile 
 was Kcphi'o, a remote district in Lybia, whither the gospel 
 had not yet penetrated. To whateyer spot they were 
 banished, the bishops sought to propagate Christianity; they 
 won the love of the inhabitants ; they were frequently yisited 
 by members of their churches, Avith whom, though separated 
 from them in body, they maintained a Hying union in spirit. 
 Bishop Dionysius gives the following account of his banish- 
 ment. '* But they could not deprive us even of visible com- 
 munion with tlie faithful in the Lord. I led the brethren in 
 Alexandria so much more zealously to communion with one 
 another ; separated from them in body, but in spirit I was still 
 with them, and a large congregation assembled at Kephro, 
 whither many brethren followed me from the city, and mam' 
 came from Egypt. Also in Kephro itself the Lord opened 
 the door of the word. The first seed of the gospel was scat- 
 tered by us there. And as if God had led us on that account 
 to them in banishment, after we had fulfilled this call, he 
 brought us away from that place." As Dionysius had good 
 reason for saying, that though separated in body from his 
 flock, he %vas with them in spirit, he gave proofs of it by 
 sending letters to the church on the occasion of the festivals. 
 by which he promoted their celebration, and bestowed his 
 blessing upon them. 
 
 To the same period probably relates the pastoral epistle of 
 one of the African bishops, when separated from his church, 
 which is to be found in Cyprian's works, and begins thus : 
 " What can be more salutary in the church of the Lord, what 
 more suitable to the vocation of the bishop, than that believers 
 should be led by his instructions in the divine doctrine to the 
 kingdom of heaven ? I wish even during my absence to dis- 
 
 'O 
 
I» 
 
 MARTYEDOM OF CYTRIAK. 89 
 
 ' charge this daily business of my calling, and by letter to make 
 myself present among you. I endeavour by my M'onted 
 addresses to confirm you in the faith, in order that, being 
 grounded in the gospel, you may always be armed against the 
 attacks of Satan. I shall not believe that I am absent from 
 you if I am safe in your recollection. And not only do we 
 declare to you what we draw from the fountain of the Holy 
 Scriptures, but we join with our word of instruction our 
 prayer to the Lord, that he would open to us as well as to you 
 the treasures of his holy truth, and give us strength to prac- 
 tise what we know." 
 
 When the emperor saw that he could not put the light 
 under a bushel, so that it could not shine, he resolved to sup- 
 press it by force. All the bishops and teachers of Christian 
 churches were sentenced to death. On the arrival at Car- 
 thage of the new proconsul sent from Rome, at the beginning 
 of the following year 258, Cyprian was recalled, in order to 
 receive ihe decision of his fate. He quietly awaited what- 
 ever might be the will of his heavenly Father at his country 
 residence, which, in the ardour of his first love, he had sold 
 in order to assist the poor with the money, but which the 
 attachment of his church had restored to him. In the former 
 persecution he had withdrawn because the interests of his 
 church required it, and because he had hopes, that after the 
 first fury of the persecution had subsided, his church might 
 be preserved ; but now, on the contrary, the entreaties of 
 many friends, and even of men of note among the heathen, 
 who ofiered him a retreat, could not induce him to decline 
 that public confession which he believed the Lord had called 
 him to make. But when he heard that he was to be taken 
 to Utica, where the proconsul Mas then staying, that he 
 might be executed there, he resolved to yield for a while to 
 the advice of his friends, '• since," as he said, " it was fitting 
 that the bishop should confess the Lord before the church 
 over which the Lord has placed him, in order by his confes- 
 sion to honour the whole church ; for what the bishop utters 
 at such a juncture by the inspiration of God, he utters as 
 with the mouth of all." 
 
 Suddenly Cyprian was taken away by a guard dispatched 
 by the proconsul; but as long as the proconsul remained in 
 the country lor relaxation, Cyprian was not examined nor 
 
90 CHRISTIAN LIFE OF THE FIRST CENTUHIES. 
 
 sentenced. He remained for the night in custody, and was 
 treated kindlv. A great part of the church, who had heard 
 that their spiritual father was about to be executed, hastened 
 to the spot, and passed the whole night around the house 
 which contained their beloved pastor, so that nothing could 
 happen to him without their knowledge. With the daily 
 expectation of death before his eyes, he had no other anxiety 
 than the welfare of his flock. As among the multitude there 
 were many young females belonging to his church, he gave 
 special charge that they should be taken care of, and that no 
 injury should be done to their morals. The next morning, 
 accompanied by a multitude of Christians and pagans, he was 
 led to judgment. The place was at some distance, and as 
 the proconsul had not yet arrived, he was allowed to retire to 
 a solitary spot. Wearied with exertion, he lay down on a 
 bench that happened to be there. A soldier who had apos- 
 tatized from Christianity, offered out of love and reverence, 
 and in ordei to ertain a sacred memorial of the martyr, dry 
 clothes instead of his own, which were dripping with sweat. 
 But Cyprian answered him, " Shall I be concerned to be free 
 from discomfort, when perhaps to-morrow I shall feel nothing 
 at all?" When at last he appeared before the proconsul, the 
 latter said : " The majesty of the emperor requires thee to 
 perform the ceremonies of our state-religion." Cyprian re- 
 plied: "That I cannot do." The proconsul said: "Be 
 careful of thy life." Cyprian answered: " Do what is pre- 
 scribed to you. In so plain an affair, no further con- 
 sideration is needed." When he received the sentence of 
 death, he said : " God be praised." These were his last 
 words. 
 
 In a violent persecution against the Christians in the year 
 202, under the emperor Septimius Severus, amongst several 
 others, a young woman, only two-and-twenty years old, Per- 
 petua, was arrested. Her aged father, a heathen, imme- 
 diately came to her, and with the tenderest affection, en- 
 treated her to renounce Christianity in order to save her life. 
 After he had talked to her for a long time, she said to him, 
 with child-like simplicity, " Dost thou see that pitcher lying 
 on the ground?" "Yes," said he. "Now," she asked him, 
 "can I call that vessel by any other name than vrhat it is?" 
 "No." "Neither can I call myself anything but Avhat I 
 
iMAKTYliDOM OF PERrETUA. 91 
 
 am — a Christian." When the report reached her father that 
 her trial was coming on, he hastened, full of sorrow, to the 
 prison, and said : "• Dear daughter, have pity on my grey 
 hairs. Have pity on thy flither, if thou thinkest I deserve to 
 be called thv father : if with these hands I have brougrht thee 
 lip to this bloommg age ; if I have preferred thee to all thy 
 brothers, do not bring disgrace and shame upon me among 
 men. Look at thy brothers, thy mother, and thy aunt; thy 
 son, too (an infant at the breast, whom to nourish in prison 
 was her greatest solace), who M'hen thou diest cannot long 
 survive. Lay aside that high spirit, and do not plunge us all 
 in ruin ; for none of us will be able to speak freely if thou 
 sutforest." With these words he kissed his hands, and 
 threw, himself M-eeping at her feet. " My father's grey 
 hairs," said Perpetua, " pained me when I thought that he 
 alone of all my family M'ould not rejoice at my sufferings, 
 and I sought to strengthen him by saying, ' When I appear 
 before the tribunal, what will happen to me will be what God 
 wills ; for be assured we stand not in our own but in God's 
 power.' " When she was brought with the other Christian 
 prisoners to the judicial examination, and her turn was come, 
 suddenly the father entered with the infant in his arms, 
 showed it imploringly to the mother, and said : " Have pity 
 on the child." The judge supported the father's prayer, and 
 said : " Spare thy father's grey hairs ; spare the tender age 
 of thy child. Sacrifice for the welfare of the emperor." 
 She answered, " I cannot do that." "Art thou a Christian r" 
 said the judge ; and she answered, '• I am a Christian." 
 ^^^len the father wished to urge her still more, the judge 
 ordered him to be taken away by force. The soldiers struck 
 him. "lam pained," said Perpetua, "his unfortunate old 
 age pains me, as if I myself had been struck." Per- 
 petua and her companions, three youths and another young 
 married woman, were condemned to be thrown to the wild 
 beasts, for the gi-atification of a cruel people in a fight of wild 
 beasts, Avhich was to be given on the birthday of the young 
 prince Geta. The conduct of the Christian prisoners made a 
 deep impression on Pudens, the soldier who guarded them 
 (as in other instances the soldiers or jailers who attended the 
 Christians to martyrdom had their minds powerfully drawn 
 to Christianity as a supernatural power), and he felt him- 
 
92 CHRISTIAN LIFE OF THE FIRST CENTUUIES. 
 
 self compelled to acknowledge that here there was something 
 divine. In consequence, he showed fiivour to the Christians, 
 and allowed many of their brethren free access to them in 
 the prison, who must otherwise have paid for the privilege of 
 checrin"- each other by such intercourse. Shortly before the 
 public spectacle the aged father came for the last time to his 
 dau^'htcr, tore the hair of his beard, threw himself on the 
 ground, and uttered, as his daughter expressed it, "words 
 which must move any creature." But, however deeply 
 affected, although so full of sympathy and pain, yet faith and 
 love to the lledeemer gained the victory. 
 
 Perpetua's companion in suffering, Felicitas, was near her 
 confinement, and had much to endure. A heathen slave said 
 to her, "' If now you suflPer such pain, how will you feel 
 Avhen you are exposed to the wild beasts, which you made so 
 light of when you refused to sacrifice?" She answ^ered, 
 "What I now suffer, I endure myself alone; but then another 
 will be with me, who will suffer for me, because I also wiU 
 suffer for Him." 
 
 A custom was still retained, belonging to that ancient form 
 of idolatry which caused the blood of human victims to flow 
 at its altars, that the persons condemned to die at these bar- 
 barous shows were devoted as an offering to Saturn, It was 
 thought that if these Christians were thus devoted, it would 
 be a greater triumph of the gods over Christianity, since 
 their enemies would be made to do homage to them. It was, 
 therefore, proposed to dress the men as priests of Saturn, 
 and the women as priestesses of Ceres. But they firmly 
 resisted this proposal, saying, " We are come here voluntarily, 
 in order that our freedom may not be taken from us. We 
 have given up our lives that we may not do anything of this 
 kind; we have made these terms with you." The officers 
 who had the charge of the execution, admitted the justice 
 of this appeal and yielded to it. When Perpetua was already 
 wounded, she called to her brother and a catechumen, who, 
 in the time of suffering had performed many offices of 
 Christian love for her, and said to them, " Stand Itist in the 
 faith and love one another, and indulge in no feelings of 
 animosity on account of our sufferings." When one of the 
 young men, Saturninus, had been mortally wounded by 
 the bite of a leopard, he called to him the soldier above 
 
CONDUCT OF OKIGEN. 93 
 
 mentioned, Pudcns, and took farewell of him, sayinj:^, " Fare- 
 well ! meditate on my fiiith, and let not this unsettle you, 
 but rather confirm you in the faith;" at the same time he 
 took a ring oft" his finger, dipped it in the blood that flowed 
 from his wound, and gave it as a memento. Before the 
 martyrs received the customary coup de grace, they gave one 
 another in the article of death the Idss of charity. 
 
 Under the Valerian persecution, the martyrs in Numidia 
 wrote as follows, during a severe imprisonment, in which 
 they suffered much from hunger and thirst: " The dark prison 
 soon shone with the illumination of the Holy Spirit ; we 
 ascend to the place of punishment as if we were ascending to 
 lieaven. We cannot describe what days and nights we have 
 spent there. We are not afraid to describe the horrors of 
 that place, for the greater the trial so much greater must lie 
 be who has overcome it in us. And, indeed, it is not our 
 conflict, for by the help of the Lord we have gained the 
 victory: for to be put to death is easy for the servants of God, 
 and death is nothing, because the Lord has taken away its 
 sting and power ; He triumphed over it on the cross." 
 
 We find examples of husbands exhorting their wives, wives 
 their husbands, mothers their sons, and sons their fathers, to 
 stedfastness in the faith, and gaining the victory over the 
 natural human feelings. In the reign of the emperor Sej)- 
 timius Severus, when Leonides, father of the great doctor of 
 the church, Origen, was thrown into prison at Alexandria, 
 as a confessor of Christ, his son, tlien a youth of sixteen, 
 was inflamed with the desire to confess his Redeemer before 
 the heathen. The mother knew not how to keep him back, 
 except by hiding his clothes, and thus obliging him to stay 
 at home. He then wrote a letter to his father in prison, in 
 which, among other things, he said : " Take care not to change 
 your resolution on our account." Thus Origen, who already 
 in his youth was distinguished by his zeal and pov>er in the 
 ])ublicatiün of the gospel, drew on himself the hatred of the 
 fanatical populace. He was obliged to flee from one house 
 to another, to escape the crowds of embittered heathen by 
 whom he was waylaid. On one occasion they succeeded in 
 laying hold of him, and dragged him to the temple of Se- 
 rapis : having placed him on the steps, they put a pahn- 
 branch in his hands that he might present it, according to the 
 
94 CHPvISTIAX LIFE OF THE FIRST CENTURIES. 
 
 custom of the worshippers of that idol ; but returning it into 
 their hands, he said : " Receive not the palm of idols, but the 
 palm of Christ." 
 
 In the Decian persecution a Christian, named Numidius, 
 had animated many persons to martyrdom by his exhorta- 
 tions: he cheerfully beheld his wife burnt to death by his 
 side; he himself, after being half burnt, was covered with 
 stones and left for dead. His daughter searched for his body 
 in order to buiy it, and to her inexpressible joy was surprised 
 to find some signs of life remaining in him. By her care he 
 was restored, and afterwards laboured as a preacher of the 
 gospel and the pastor of a church. 
 
 Certainly a confession given while under torture, or in 
 sight of death, does not make a true Christian, if this con- 
 fession does not proceed from the spirit of love, and is not in 
 harmony with the whole life as a witness of the faith ; for the 
 Apostle Paul says : " If I give my body to be bm*ned, and 
 have not love, it profiteth me nothing." "Where watchful- 
 ness and sobermindedness are wanting, what woiüd have 
 been a victory of faith becomes a defeat. Thus it has some- 
 times happened, that those who had received power to 
 despise death and torture for the Lord's sake, afterwards for- 
 got that it was not their own power by which they had been 
 victorious ; through self- exaltation they were led away from 
 the straight path of new obedience, and overpowered by 
 temptations for which they were not prepared. Those who 
 had been able to overcome the natural weakness of the flesh, 
 and the natural fear of death, sometimes gave way to the 
 movements of a secret and refined, but so much the more 
 dangerous, self-love. But the teachers of the Church always 
 remind Christians, that only when the testimony of the lips 
 corresponds with the testimony of the life, the former can be 
 of any value in God's sight. It was from a lively sense of 
 the danger to which those persons were exposed who had 
 gained such a victoiy of faith, that intelligent clergjTnen 
 visited the confessors in their prisons, read the Holy Scrip- 
 tures to them, imparted to them not only words of consola- 
 tion but of warning, and came to their aid by administering 
 suitable and scriptural advice. 
 
 " May they learn of you," so writes Cyprian to his clergy, 
 "to be humble and peaceable, that they may preserve the 
 
Cyprian's advice to his clergy. 95 
 
 honour of their name ; and may those wlio have glorified the 
 Lord by their words, glorify himself also by their conduct. 
 There remains something more than they have yet fulfilled, 
 for it is written, ' Praise no man before his decease ; ' and 
 our Lord says : ' He that endureth to the cud shall be saved.' 
 May they imitate the Lord who, in the time of his sufferings,- 
 appeared not more high-minded- but more humble, for at that 
 juncture he washed the feet of his disciples, and said : ' If I 
 then, your Lord and Master, have washed your feet, ye also 
 ought to wash one another's feet.' May they also follow the 
 example of the Apostle Paul, who, after often suffering im- 
 prisonment and scourging, continued to be on all occasions 
 gentle and humble, and even after being caught up to the 
 third heaven and Paradise, indulged in no arrogance. And 
 since only he that humbles himself will be exalted, so ought 
 they now especially to fear the plots of their adversary, who, 
 because he is conquered, is so much the more exasperated, 
 and seeks to conquer the conquerors." To the confessors 
 themselves he thus writes : " Still we are in the world ; still we 
 are on the battle-field ; we fight for our daily life. Hence 
 you must strive that, after such a beginning, you may make 
 progress ; that what you have so happily begun, may be 
 brought to perfection. It is but little, if a man has been 
 able only to obtain ; it is something more to be able to keep 
 what he has obtained, as even faith and regeneration cannot 
 bring to eternal life, merely by being once received; they 
 must be kept. Our Lord himself taught this when he said : 
 ' Behold, thou art made whole ; sin no more, lest a worse 
 thing come unto thee.' (John v. 14.) In short, Solomon 
 and Saul, and many others, could keep the grace vouchsafed 
 to them as long as they walked in the ways of the Lord, but 
 as soon as their obedience failed, grace failed. We must per- 
 sist in the straight and narrow path of honour ; gentleness 
 and humility, a quiet and moral course of conduct, become 
 all Christians, according to the words of the Lord, who regards 
 none but the humble and meek, who receive his word with 
 fear and trembling ; and you, the confessors, are more than 
 all bound to observe and fulfil all this, since you are examples 
 for the rest of your brethren. Our Lord was ' led as a lamb 
 to the slaughter; as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so 
 he opened not his mouth.' And can any one now who lives 
 
 I 
 
96 CHRISTIAN LIFE OF THE FIRST CENTURIES. 
 
 through Him and in Him, be high-minded and boastful, un- 
 mindful of what he did, and of what he taught by his 
 apostles ? But if the servant is not greater than his lord, 
 then must those who follow the Lord, be humble and peaceful, 
 and tread in his footsteps quietly: for the more lowly any one 
 is, the higher will he become, since the Lord says, ' Who- 
 ever is least among you all. he shall be great.' " 
 
 The genuine evangelical confessors manifested this dis- 
 position. The above-mentioned Numidian martyrs closed the 
 account of their sufferings with these words : " Dear brethren, 
 let us, with all our might, hold fast concord, peace, and union 
 of heart. Let us strive to be now what w^e are to be in 
 another world. If we wish to be and to reign with Christ, 
 then we must act in the way which will lead to Christ and 
 his kingdom."' When afterwards they were led amidst a 
 great concourse of Christians and Pagans to the place of 
 execution, and the former cried out, " Think of us when you 
 go to the Lord," one of the martyrs answered, humbly, 
 *•' Rather may you think of me before the Lord." 
 
 A confessor at Rome during the Decian persecution, writing 
 to a confessor at Carthage, in order to solicit the intercessory 
 prayer of the African martyrs for his fallen sister, thus ex- 
 presses himself: "I believe, if we do not see one another 
 again in this world, we shall embrace one another in the 
 futvu-e world before Christ. Pray for me, that I may be 
 worthy to receive the martyr's crown in your kingdom. 
 But be assured I have much to suffer, and I think as if you 
 were with me, of your ancient love, by night and day. 
 God alone knows it. Wherefore I pray you to fulfil my wish, 
 and to mourn with me for the death of my sister, who in this 
 desolation has fallen away from Christ ; for she has sacrificed 
 and offended the Lord, as appears evidently to us. On ac- 
 count of her transgression, I spend this joyful time of Easter 
 in tears, both day and night." 
 
SYMPATHY IN THE CONTESSOKS' SUFFERINGS. 97 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 THE SYMPATHY OF ALL CHRISTIANS IN THE SUFFERINGS 
 OF THE CONFESSORS. 
 
 While Christians took a lively interest in all tlioir brethren, 
 this was especially the case in reference to the confessors. 
 •"Contributions were sent from remote districts for the relief of 
 those who were in prison or labouring in the mines ; delegates 
 also came to visit them. A generous emulation was excited 
 in aftbrding them relief both for body and mind. The prison 
 soon became converted into a church, owing to the numbers 
 who assembled there to assist the sufferers by their prayers ; 
 and the bishops, as we have already observed, were under the 
 necessity of trying to moderate the ill-regulated zeal of their 
 people. Tertullian composed a small treatise for the encourage- 
 ment of the confessors Avho suffered at Carthage under 
 Septimius Severus, which begins thus : " Besides the means 
 of bodily nourishment which your mother the church, from 
 her stores, and individual brethren from their private re- 
 sources, send to you in prison, receive from me something 
 which may serve for the sustcntation of your souls ; for it is 
 not good that the flesh should be replenished while the spirit 
 is famished. If what is weak be cared for, surely the stronger 
 ought not to be neglected. Yet I own I am not one vrho is 
 worthy to address you. Nevertheless the most accomplished 
 fencers are not only encouraged by their teachers, but also 
 are animated by the cheers of the people.'' He then pro- 
 ceeds : " Especially do not grieve the Tloly Sjiirit, who has 
 entered the prison with you. For if He had not entered with 
 you, you would not be here to-day. Hence, strive that He 
 may abide with you here, and lead you hence to the Lord. 
 The ])rison is also an abode of the Evil Spirit, where he ns- 
 semblcs those who belong to him ; but you are come to the 
 prison for the veiy purpose of treading him underfoot in his 
 own abode, Avhich you have already done outside the prison. 
 Might he not, therefore, say, Yc are in my kingdom ; I will 
 tem[)t you by low passions and dissensions. Let him flee 
 your countenance, and retire to his own abyss, like a serpent 
 
 H 
 
98 cnmsTiAN life of the first centuries. 
 
 rendered harmless by enchantraent. Nor let him succeed so 
 well in his kingdom as to involve you in strife, but may he 
 find you fortified against his attacks by concord ; for to main- 
 tain peace among yourselves is to make war on him. The 
 prison is darkness." he says, " but ye are light ; it has 
 
 fetters, but ye are free in God's sight Compare life 
 
 in the world and life in the prison, and see whether the spirit 
 does not gain more in the prison than the flesh loses. But 
 verily the flesh loses nothing that it absolutely needs, thanks 
 to the care of the church and the love of the brethren ; and 
 over and above that, the spirit gains what is always useful 
 for the faith. Thou secst no strange gods ; thou dost not meet 
 their images ; thou partakest not of the festivals of the 
 heathen by living among them ; thou art not touched by the 
 foul steam of their sacrifices ; thou art not dinned by the 
 shouts of the theatre, nor shocked by the cruelty and licentious 
 passions of those who frequent it ; thy eyes do not settle on 
 the abodes of public voluptuousness. Thou art free from 
 vexations and temptations, and even from persecution itself. 
 .... Discard the name of prison, and call it retirement. 
 Though the body is shut up, and the flesh detained, yet all 
 things are open to the spirit. Walk about in spirit, and do 
 not imagine that you ai'e among shady groves and long 
 porticoes, but in the way that leads to God. The limbs feel 
 not the pressure of the stocks when the soul is in heaven. 
 The soul leads the whole man with it, and transports it 
 whither it will. "Where thy heart is, there will thy treasure 
 be also."' 
 
 We may here quote the beautiful exhortation of Cyprian 
 to an African chm-ch in a time of impending persecution i^-' 
 
 * Neque enim sic nomen militias dedimus, ut pacem tantummodo 
 cogitare et detrectare et recusare militiam debeamus, quando in ipsa 
 militia primus ambulaverit Dominus humilitatis et tolerantiae et passionis 
 magister, ut quod fieri docuit prior faceret, et quod pati hortatur prior 
 pro nobis ipse pateretur. . . . Nee quisquam, fratres dilectissimi, cum 
 populum nostrum fugari conspexerit metu persecutionis et spargi contur- 
 betur, quod collectam fraternitatem non videat, nee tractantes episcopos 
 audiat. Simul tunc omnes esse non possunt, quibus occidere non licet, 
 sed occidi necesse est. Ubicunque in illis diebus unusquisque fratrum 
 fuerit a grege interim necessitate temporis corpore non spiritu separatus, 
 non moveatur ad fugte illius horrorem, nee recedens et latens deserti 
 loci solitiidine terreatur. Solus non est, cui Christus in fuga comes 
 
Cyprian's exhohtatiox to the pehsecijted. 99 
 
 " Not in that sense have we joined the soldiers of the Lord — 
 that we think of nothing but peace, and flee from conflict ; 
 since in the conflict the Lord has gone before us as the 
 teacher of humility, patience, and suffering ; since what he 
 has taught us to accomplish he has himself accomplished ; and 
 what he exhorts us to suffer, he has first suflercd for us. 
 And let none of you, dear brethren, be disturbed M'hen he 
 sees our congregations dispersed by the fear of persecution ; 
 let no one be disturbed because he does not see the brethren 
 assembled, nor hear the bishop preach. Christians, who may 
 not shed the blood of others, but must rather be ready to shed 
 their own, cannot at such a time meet together. Wherever 
 it happens in these days that a brother is separated from the 
 church awhile by the necessities of the times, but not in 
 spirit, wherever he may betake himself to flight, or wherever 
 he may be concealed, let him not be alarmed at the solitude 
 of the place. He is not alone who has Christ for a com- 
 panion of his flight. He is not alone who, preserving the 
 temple of God, is not without God wherever he may be. 
 And if the fugitive in solitude, or on the mountains, falls into 
 the hands of robbers, or is torn by a wild beast, or if he loses 
 his life by hunger, thirst, or cold, or is drowned in a storm at 
 sea, still Christ everywhere sees his soldier engaged in the 
 conflict ; and wherever death may meet him, the Lord will 
 give him the reward which he has promised to those who 
 sacrifice their lives for the honour of his name. And it is no 
 small honour of martyrdom when a man dies not i^ublicly and 
 among many, since he dies for Christ's sake. It is enough 
 that He is a witness of his martyrdom who tries and crowns 
 the martyrs." 
 
 est. Solus non est, qui templum Dei servans, ubicunque fuerit, 
 sine Deo non est. Et si f'ugientem in solitudine ac montibus latro 
 oppresserit, fera invaserit, fames aut sitis aut frigus afflixerit, vel per 
 maria prsecipiti navigatione properantem tempestas ac procella sub- 
 merserit, spectat militem suum Christus ubicunque pugnantem, et per- 
 secutiones causa pro nominis sui honore morienti praemium reddit quod 
 daturutn se in resurrectione promisit. Nee minor est martyrii gloria non 
 publice et inter multos perisse, cum pereundi causa sit propter Christum 
 perire. Sufficit ad testimonium martyrii sui testis ille, qui probat mar- 
 tyres et coronat. — Cypr. Ep. 5G ad Theheratanos. 
 
 h2 
 
100 CHRISTIAN LIFE OF THE FIEST CE^^TUEIES. 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 OCCUPATIONS PERMITTED OR FORBIDDEN AMONG 
 CHRISTIANS. 
 
 It is evident from the passages already quoted from Ter- 
 tullian's Apology, that all those employments or trades which 
 involved nothing immoral or contradictory to the principles 
 of Christianity were carried on by Christians. The rule given 
 by the Apostle Paul was applicable here : " Let every mem 
 abide iti the same calling wherein he 7cas called.''' (1 Cor. vii. 20.) 
 Christianity would only impart fresh fidelity in his calling. 
 It would now be carried on in a new spirit and with a new 
 disposition, as a trust from God — as something devoted and 
 serviceable to the kingdom of God. 
 
 Thus every calling not in itself immoral (although by the 
 manner in which it was commorily carried on it might be 
 immoral) might be sanctified by Christianity — that which had 
 hitherto been the abode of Satan might be transformed and 
 exalted into a temple of God. Among the ancients nothing 
 was in worse repute than that of a caupo or innkeeper ; so 
 that a word derived from it [caiiponari) became a proverbial 
 expression to designate dishonom'able adulteration. But the 
 innkeeper Theodotus, at Ancyra, in Galatia, Avho died as a 
 martyr in the Diocletian persecution, showed how even such 
 a trade might be made use of for the service of Christianity. 
 His tavern became in that persecution a place of refuge for 
 all persecuted Christians, where they received the means of 
 support, and where the communion was celebrated with bread 
 nnd wine at his expense. The biographer of this person com- 
 pares this tavern to Xoah's ark, on account of its being a 
 safe rendezvous for all true Christians in this persecution. 
 
 But when any one abused that expression of the Apostle 
 Paul by attaching to it a- laxer meaning, in order to justify 
 the carrying on of an occupation that was inconsistent with 
 the principles of Christianity, Tertullian indignantly replied : 
 ■" According to such an interpretation (in which no regard 
 is paid to proper definition and limitation), we might all 
 remain in sin ; for there is no one among us who is not to 
 
IDOL-MAKING AND ASTROLOGY TOREIDDEN- 101 
 
 be regarded as a siuner ; and Jesus Christ came on no other 
 account than to deliver sinners." Whoever before his con- 
 version to Christianity followed an occui)ation that pandered 
 to vice, or was founded on deceit, or was in any way con- 
 nected ^vith heathen idolatry, was obliged to renounce the 
 same before baptism. The church into which he entered 
 then assisted him to begin a new occupation. Such trades 
 M-ere forbidden to Christians as that of a maker of idols. To 
 the excuse sometimes made that making idols and worshipping 
 them was not the same thing, Tertullian answered: "Verily 
 thou dost Avorship them, who makest them that they may be 
 worshipped. And thou worshippest them not with the spirit 
 of any worthless savour of sacrifice, but with thine own ; nor 
 at the cost of the life of a beast, but of thy own life. To these 
 thou offerest up thy mind ; to these thou makest libations of 
 thy SM eat ; in homage to these thou kindlest the light of the 
 understanding." ISIorcover, it was considered unlawful to 
 exercise the profession of an astrologer, a juggler, or a 
 magician, which latter was at that time a very fruitful source 
 of gain. Such was the effect of the publication of the gospel 
 by the Apostle Paul at Ephesus, the ancient seat of such 
 deceitful and cmious arts, that those who practised them con- 
 fessed their sins, and sacrificed to the gospel what had hitherto 
 been so highly esteemed by them, and had been productive of 
 such gain. It must have been well known among the heathen 
 that Christianity counterworked these arts of darkness, since 
 that famous Goet in Pontus, Alexander, whose life was written 
 bv Lucian, placed the Christians and the Epicureans in the 
 same list as enemies of his juggleries, and would never prac- 
 tise his art in their presence. Then there were stage-players 
 (Jtistrio)ics), whose profession, as it then existed, appeared in- 
 consistent with Christian seriousness and demeanour, and 
 with the strictness of Christian morals. When in an African 
 church a stage-player who had embraced Christianity con- 
 tinued to support himself as heretofore by training boys for 
 the theatre, Cyprian declared that this ought not to be 
 allowed, and added : '* If such a person alleges poverty or 
 necessity, he may be provided for among the rest whom the 
 church su])ports, provided he will be content with a more 
 moderate but more innocent maintenance. But he must not 
 believe that he merits support on this account, because he has 
 
102 CHRISTIAN LIFE OF THE FIKST CENTUÜIES. 
 
 «;iven up a sinful habit, for by so doing he benefits not us, but 
 himself. Seek, therefore, as thou only canst to call him back 
 from this >vicked and shameful life to the path of innocence, 
 and to the hope of eternal life, that he may be satisfied with 
 a spare but yet wholesome maintenance given him by the 
 church. 13 ut if your church has not the ability to give 
 support to those who are in want, then he must come to us, 
 and receive as much as is necessary for food and clothing, 
 that he may not teach iujm'ious things to others who are out of 
 the church, but learn himself in the church what will con- 
 tribute to salvation.'" 
 
 Respecting military service the opinions of Christians were 
 divided. That the opinion that this calling was not permis- 
 sible for Christians was not universal, appears from the pas- 
 sage already cited from Tertullian, and from the story of the 
 Thundering Legion {legio fulmmea) under the Emperor Mar- 
 cus Aurelius ; for even if we are not disposed to admit that 
 this story is founded on fiict, yet its circulation among the 
 Christians of that age shows that the existence of Christians 
 in the army was not a novelty. Many other similar examples 
 are also to be found ; and from the treatises in which Tertul- 
 lian controverts the lawfulness of the military profession for 
 Christians, we see at the same timfe that another party vindi- 
 cated it, and appealed to the directions which John the 
 Baptist gave to the soldiers (Luke iii. 14), to the example of 
 the believing centurion (Luke vii.), and to that of Cornelius. 
 But others not only objected to the military service for 
 Christians, that it brought with it many temptations to take 
 a part in idolatrous ceremonies, but that it also aj^peared 
 inconsistent with the priestly character of all Christians. 
 " How shall the son of peace appear in the field of battle, 
 whom it will not befit to go to law ? Shall he administer 
 bonds and imprisonment, and tortm-es and punishments, who 
 may not avenge even his own injuries?" Certainly these 
 scruples testify the tender conscientiousness of some Chris- 
 tians, and show how theii- souls were filled with the heavenly 
 ideal of the legislation of a higher than any cai'thly state, 
 which the Bedeemcr sketched in his sermon on the mount. 
 Indeed, the perfect imderstanding of the legislation for the 
 kingdom of heaven, which was embodied in that discom'se, 
 had not yet been attained bv them. Thev did not ujiderstaud 
 
OPINIONS AS TO MILITARY SERVICE. 103 
 
 that these laws are laws of the spirit, not of the letter, which 
 require one unchangeable nature which no injustice can 
 Aveary or overcome, a love expelling every thing- selfish ; 
 but these laws do not prescribe to this love an unalterable 
 rule of outward action for all the multiplicity of the relations 
 of life. This disposition of love, which would rather endui'c 
 all injustice than recompense it with the like, which would 
 rather overcome it by endurance — yet, when necessitated for 
 the advantage of others, can undertake to withstand injustice ; 
 as when governors employ the power invested in them by 
 God against evil-doers within a state, or hostile forces from 
 Mithout. As long as the power of sin exists among men, all 
 this caunot be taken away by the power of love, nor all oppo- 
 sition against the kingdom of God be overcome ; but every 
 thing ought to be animated and determined by love. 
 
 Thus the youth Maximilian, in Numidia, under the Empe- 
 ror Diocletian, glorying in Christianity with youthful fervor, 
 surrendered his life before the outbreak of the persecution, 
 rather than violate his conscience. The noble enthusiasm of 
 this youth, just arrived at his majority — which a coldhearted 
 lloman governor, who measured every thing by the rigid 
 standard of law, could not appreciate — deeply affects our 
 hearts, though it was defective in genuine Christian humility. 
 AVhen called upon to take the military oath, he stedfastly 
 declared : ^' You may strike my head off, but I fight not for 
 the world ; I fight for my God." " Who has given thee this 
 advice r" asked the proconsul. " My own heart," answered 
 the youth, *•• and that Being who has called me." " Take the 
 soldier's badge," said the proconsul. " I wear already the 
 badge of Christ my God," (the sign of the cross,) replied the 
 youth. The proconsul then said : " I will send thee straight 
 to thy Christ."' The young man answered : '' If you only did 
 that, it would not redound to your honour." AVhen the pro- 
 consul ordered him to be decorated by force with the military 
 badge, he said : " I cannot wear tliis badge, after I have 
 received the badge of salvation, the badge of my Lord Jesus 
 Christ, the Son of the living God, whom ye know not, who 
 suffered for our salvation, whom God gave up for oiu" sins ; 
 whom all Christians serve, for we follow him as the Prince of 
 life, as the author of our salvation." " Enter the service," 
 rejoined the proconsul, " that you may not come to a miserable 
 
104 CHRISTIAN LIFE OF THE FIEST CENTUEIES. 
 
 end." " I perish not," said the youth, " for my name is 
 already with the Lord." The proconsul said : '• In the ser- 
 vice of our emperor, Christians are to be found who are good 
 poldiers." The young man replied : " They know what they 
 Jiave to do ; but I am a Christian, and I can do nothing evil." 
 " And what evil do soldiers perpetrate ? " said the proconsul. 
 " You mtU know what they do," answered the youth. He 
 met all threats by saying : " I shall not perish ; if I depart 
 iiom this world, my soul will live with Christ my Lord." 
 " God be praised ! " he exclaimed, when the sentence of death 
 was passed. He cheerfully desired his father, vrho was pre- 
 sent, to give the cloak which he had procured for his entrance 
 into the army, to the person who was ordered to behead 
 liim. 
 
 The Christians also appear not to have been unanimous on 
 the question whether they might take civil or court offices 
 under heathen emperors, as far as it might be done without 
 prejudice to the principles of their religion. Yet the general 
 voice was in the affirmative, and the examples of Joseph and 
 Daniel were brought to support it. Under several of the 
 emperors we find Christians filling high offices of state, and 
 occupying posts in the imperial palace. We are furnished 
 with some examples from the instructions which a Christian 
 bishop, Theonas, gave to an upper chamberlain (prcppositiis 
 cuhicidarionim^ how he should discharge his office in a 
 Christian manner, in the palace of an emperor who was 
 favourable to Christians, but had not yet embraced Christi- 
 anity. " You must not boast, my dear Lucian," he writes, 
 " that many individuals in the imperial palace have been 
 brought by your means to the knowledge of the truth ; but 
 you must rather thank our God, who has made you a good 
 instrument in a good cause, and has brought you into high 
 repute with the emperor, that you may spread the good report 
 of the Christian name to" the divine glory and the salvation of 
 many. For since the emperor, though not a Christian, believes 
 that he can trust Christians as the most faithful, with his body 
 and life, you must be proportionately more careful in your 
 service, that then Christ's name may be glorified to the 
 utmost, and the faith of the emperor be promoted by you who 
 daily serve him. Far be it from you that you should sell 
 access to the emperor for gold, or that, overcome either by 
 
CIVIL Ol'FlCES HELD BY CHRISTIANS. 105 
 
 entreaties or threats, you should give any unwortliy counsel 
 to the emperor. Far from you be all the attractions of gain 
 ■which looks more like idolatry than the rcHgion of Christ. 
 No ill-gotten gain, no falsehood, becomes the Christian who 
 has devoted himself to the simple, unhypoeritical Christ. No 
 slanderous, offensive language must be heard among you. 
 Every thing must be conducted with discretion, kindness, and 
 probity, that in all the name of God and of our Lord Jesus 
 Christ may be glorified.'' To the librarian who held office 
 under the chamberlain, he gives this advice : " Although he 
 is a Christian, let him not despise earthly sciences, and the 
 great pagan 2;)hilosophcrs in whom the emperor delights. Let 
 him praise each of those great writers in his own department, 
 but sometimes let him drop something in praise of the Holy 
 Scriptures ; let him lead the conversation to Christ, and gra- 
 dually show that he alone is the true God. All this, by the 
 help of Christ, may be accomplished. Only do no evil to any 
 one ; excite no one's wrath. If any injustice is done to you, 
 look to Jesus Christ, and as you desire that he M'ould forgive 
 you, so also do you forgive. Then you will overcome all 
 cnvj, and crush the head of the old serpent, who plots with 
 all his craft against all your good works, and all the success 
 of your efforts. Let no day pass over in which, at a given 
 time, you do not read a portion of Holy Writ, and meditate 
 upon it. Never neglect the reading of the Bible, for nothing 
 so nourishes the heart and enriches the mind as this ; but 
 especially derive from it the advantage of fulfilling your calling 
 in patience, honestly and piously, that is, in the love of Christ ; 
 despise all transitory things for the sake of his eternal pro- 
 mises, which surpass all human ideas and conceptions, and 
 will lead you to eternal happiness." 
 
106 CHRISTIAX LIFE OF THE FIRST CENTURIES. 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 THE DOMESTIC LIFE OF CHRISTIANS. 
 
 Tertullian contrasts the joys of the Christian life with, 
 worldly and heathen pleasures. "^ " Believe not that even, 
 this short period of the corporal life of Christians is joyless. 
 AVherefore art thou so unthankful that thou dost not esteem 
 enough and acknowledge the many and great pleasm-es which 
 are granted thee by God ? For what is more blessed than 
 reconciliation with God oui' Father and Lord, than the reve- 
 lation of truth, the detection of error, the forgiveness of great 
 sins ? What greater joy than even the disgust with worldly 
 joys ; than the contempt of all worldly things ; than tnie 
 freedom ; than a pure conscience ; than peacefulness in life ; 
 and the absence of fear in the prospect of death ; than to be 
 able to tread under foot the gods of the heathen world, and 
 to cast out evil spirits, and to seek for revelations : These 
 are the pleasures, the entertainments of Christians — holy, 
 everlasting, and not to be purchased Avith money." 
 
 * Jam nunc si putas delectamentis exigere spatium hoc, cur tarn 
 ingratus eo, ut tot et tales voluptates a Deo contributas tibi satis non 
 habeas neque recognoscas ^ Quid enirn jucundius, quam Dei Patris et 
 Domini reconciUatio, quam veritatis revelatio, quam errorum recognition 
 quam tantorum retro criminum venia? Quae major voluptas, quam 
 fastidium ipsius voluptatis, quam seculi totius contemtns, quam vera 
 libertas, quam conscientia integra, quam vita suificiens, quam mortis 
 timor nuUus, quod calcas deos nationum, quod dseraonia expellis, quod 
 medicinas faces, quod revelationes petis, quod Deo vivis ? Hae volup- 
 tatis, hsec spectacula Christianorum sancta, perpetua, gratuita; in his 
 tibi ludos circenses interpretare, cursus seculi intuere, tempora labentia 
 spatia dinumera, metas consummatiouis exspecta, societates ecclesiarum 
 defende, ad signum Dei suscitare, ad tubam angeli erigere, ad martyrii 
 jialmas gloriare. Si scenicse doctrinse delectant, satis nobis litterarum 
 est, satis versuum est, satis sententiorum, satis etiam canticorum, satis 
 vocura, nee fabulse, sed veritates, nee strophse, sed simphcitates. Vis et 
 pugillatus et luctatus ? prsesto sunt, non parva sed multa. Adspice 
 impudicitiam dejectam a castitate, perfidiam csesam a fide, stevitiam a 
 misericordia contusam, petulantium a modestia obumbratam, et tales 
 sunt apud nos agones, in quibus ipsi coronamur. Vis autem at sanguines 
 aliquid? habes Christi. — Tertull. de Spectac. §29. 
 
christians' home-happixess. 107 
 
 As to what especially concerns domestic life, tlie same 
 writer thus describes the happiness of a Christian marriage.^"' 
 ••' How can we find words to express the happiness of that 
 marriage which the Church effects, and the oblation confirms, 
 and the blessing seals, and angels rej)ort, and the Father 
 ratifies. What a union of two believers, with one hope, one 
 discipline, one service, one spirit, and one flesh ! Together 
 they pray, together they prostrate themselves, and together 
 keep their fasts, teaching and exhorting one another. They 
 are together at the church and at the Lord's supper ; they are 
 together in straits and refreshments. Neither conceals any- 
 thing from the other ; neither avoids the other ; neither is a 
 burden to the other ; freely the sick are visited, and the 
 needy relieved ; alms without torture ; sacrifices [the gifts 
 presented at the altar] without scruple ; daily diligence with- 
 out hindrance ; no using the sign [of the cross] by stealth ; 
 no hurried salutation [of fellow-Christians] ; no silent bene- 
 diction ; psalms and hymns resound between the two, and 
 they vie with each other which shall say best to their God. 
 Christ rejoices on hearing and beholding such things ; to such 
 pei'sons he sends his peace. Where the two are, he is him- 
 self; and where he is, there the Evil One is not." 
 
 Christian matrons expressed the change that had passed 
 over them, in their whole outward appearance ; the modesty 
 and absence of display in the attjre of Christian females 
 formed a striking contrast to the unbecoming and showy dress 
 of many heathen women. " If the duty of friendship," says 
 TertuUian, " and of kind ofiices to the heathen calls you, 
 
 * Quale jugum fidelium duorum unius spei, unius disciplinse, ejusdem 
 servitutis ! Auibo fratres, ambo consent, nulla spiritus carnisve dis- 
 cretio. Atque vero duo in cai*ne una ; ubi caro una, unus et spiritus. 
 Simul orant, simul volutantur, et simul jejunia transigunt, alterutro 
 docentes, alterutro liortantes, alterutro sustinentes. In ecclesia Dei 
 pariter utnque, pariter in convivio Dei, pariter in angustiis, in persecu- 
 tionibus, in refrigeriis ; neuter alterum celat^ neuter alterum vitat, neuter 
 alteri gravis est; libere leger visitatur, indigens sustentatur; eleemosinae 
 sine tormento, sacrificia sine scnipulo, quotidiana diligentia sine impedi- 
 mento; non furtiva signatio, non trepida gratulatio, non niuta benedictio ; 
 sonant inter dues psalini et hymni, et mutuo provocant, quis melius Deo 
 sno cantet. Talia Christus videns et audiens gaudet, his pacem suam 
 mittit; ubi duo, ibi et ipse; ubi et ipse, ibi et malus non est. — Tertull. 
 ad Uxorem, ii. 9. 
 
108 CHRISTIAN LIFE OF THE FIEST CENTUKIES. 
 
 -svhv not appear with your own proper weapons, so mucli the 
 ratiier when you have to do with strangers to the faith. Let 
 there be a distinction between the handmaids of the devil and 
 those of God, that you may be an example to them, and that 
 thev may be edified by you, that God may be glorified in 
 your body, as the apostle says ; but he is glorified by chastity 
 and by an attire that accords with chastity." Many persons 
 of hi.xer sentiments said, on the other hand, that Christians 
 ought not to give occasion to the heathen to blaspheme the 
 name of God and his doctrine (1 Tim. vi. 1), by a sudden 
 and striking alteration in the exterior, that people might not 
 have to say — what they would be sufficiently disposed to do 
 — that Christianity turned men into demure hypocrites. To 
 such persons Tertullian replied : " On that ground, then, let 
 us not put av\-ay our ancient vices ; let us retain the same 
 morals, as well as the external appearance ; and then, for- 
 sooth, the heathen will not blaspheme ! A great blasphemy, 
 indeed, if it be said, Since she has become a Christian, she 
 goes about more meanly dressed ! Will she be afraid to 
 appear poorer since she has become richer, and to appear 
 meaner since she has become more adorned r Must Christians 
 walk according to the good pleasure of the heathen or of 
 God ? Let our only wish be, to avoid giving just cause for 
 blasphemy. How much more blasphemous it is, if ye \^ho 
 are called the priestesses of chastity go about decorated and 
 painted after the manner of the immodest?' When some per- 
 sons said that the main point to be regarded was not the exte- 
 rior, but the internal disposition, which was visible to him who 
 sees the innermost heart ; Tertullian endeavoured to show 
 that it was a Christian duty to avoid every appearance of evil, 
 and to express by the whole outward life the essential nature 
 of the religion which is professed, and thus to win men over 
 to it. " God is the searcher of hearts, we all know ; but yet 
 we recollect what the apostle has said : " Let your honesty 
 {prohnim vestrum) be known unto all men,' (Phil. iv. 5) ; 
 and why, unless that wickedness may gain no access to you, 
 and that ye may be an example and a testimony to the Avicked ? 
 Or why is it said : ' Let yom- works shine ? ' Or why does 
 the Lord call us ' the light of the world r ' Why does he com- 
 jmre us to ' a city set upon a hill,' if we are not to shine 
 amongst those that are in darkness, and to be conspicuous 
 
THEIR MODESTY OF ATTIRE. 109 
 
 amongst the debased ? This it is which makes us the light 
 of the world — om* goodness. But goodness, at all events true 
 and complete goodness, loves not darkness, but rejoices to be 
 seen, and exults even in being pointed at. It is not enough 
 that Christian chastity should be, it should also be seen ; for 
 so great ought to be its fulness that it shoidd flow over from 
 the mind into the manners, and rise up from the conscience 
 into the countenance." " The Christian female," says Ter- 
 tuilian, " neither goes about to the temples, nor inquires after 
 the public shows, nor knows the heathen feast-days. She has 
 no cause for appearing in public, except to visit a sick brother, 
 or to present a sacrifice [/. e. to partake of the Lord's Supper], 
 or to hear the w^ord of God." And among the injurious effects 
 of a mixed marriage he adduces these : "' Who would allow 
 his wife, for the sake of visiting the brethren, to go about 
 from street to street, the round of strange cottages, even the 
 poorest ? . . . . Who would, without suspicion, let her go to 
 that feast of the Lord which they defame ? Who would suffer 
 her to creep into a prison to kiss the chains of a martyr ; yea, 
 and to meet any one of the brethren w^ith the kiss ? to offer 
 M-ater for the saint's feet ? .... If a stranger brother came, 
 what lodging would he expect in the house of an alien from 
 the faith .- If a present is to be made to any, the barns and 
 cellars are closed." 
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 THE CHRISTIANS IN THE TIME OF PUBLIC CALAMITIES, 
 
 INFECTIOUS DISEASES, AND MORTALITY MEMORIALS OF 
 
 THE DEAD THE MARTYRS. 
 
 We have already remarked that the heathen frequently 
 reproached the Christians on account of public calamities, 
 and attributed them to the wrath of the gods against these 
 their enemies ; or they said to them : " What advantage 
 have you before \is in worshipping your God, since you are 
 subject to the same calamities ? To this the teachers of the 
 
110 CIimSTIAN LIFE OF THE FIRST CENTURIES. 
 
 Church replied, that the Christians, in as much as they 
 belonn-cd outwardly to the world, must share in earthly suffer- 
 ings with the rest of mankind, but that in their inner life 
 thcv were exalted above them, and that they were distin- 
 guished by the impression which these sufferings made upon 
 them, and by the manner in which they bore them, from the 
 heathen in common with whom they had them outwardly. 
 " That man,'' says Cyprian,* " regards the misfortunes of the 
 world as a punishment, whose whole joy and glory is in the 
 world. That man mourns and weeps if he is unfortunate in 
 this world, who cannot be happy in the world to come ; all 
 the fruit of whose life is enjoyed here, all w^hose consolation 
 is bounded by time ; whose frail and short life reckons here 
 upon some sweetness and pleasure ; w hen it departs hence 
 nothing is left but punishment. But for them who have the 
 confident expectation of future good, the attacks of present 
 evils are not a cause of deep affliction. Lastly, we are not 
 thrown into consternation by adversities, nor are our spirits 
 broken, nor do we grieve, nor do we mui-mur in any loss of 
 property, or failure of health. We who live more in the spirit 
 than in the flesh, overcome the weakness of the body by the 
 strength of the mind. By those very things which torture 
 and weary us, we know and are sure that we are proved and 
 strengthened. Do you believe that we suffer misfortune 
 equally with yourselves, when you see that misfortune is borne 
 by you and by us in a very different manner. You always 
 manifest a noisy and complaining impatience ; we show a 
 steady and pious resignation which is always quiet and grate- 
 
 * Nee ideo quis putet Christianos iis quae accidunt non vindicari, quod 
 et ipsi videantur accidentium incursione perstringi. Poenam de adversis 
 mundi ille sentit cui et laetitia et gloria omnis in mundo est. Ille mceret 
 et defiet, si sibi male sit in sseculo, cui bene non potest esse post sseculum, 
 cujus vivendi fructus omnis hie capitur, cujus hie solatium omne finitur, 
 cujus caduca et brevis vita hie aliquam dulcedinem computat et volup- 
 tatem ; quando isthine excesserit poena jam sola superest ad dolorem. 
 Caeterum nuUus iis dolor est de incursione malorum prsesentium, quibus 
 fiducia est futurorum bonorum. Denique nee consternimur adversis, nee 
 frangimur, nee dolemus, neque in ulla aut rerum clade aut corporum 
 valetudine mussitamus. Spiritu magis quam came viventes firmitate 
 animi infirmitatem corporis vincemus. Per ipsa quae nos cruciaut et 
 fatigant probari et corrobari nos scimus et fidemus. — Cypr. lib, ad Deme- 
 trianum. 
 
THEIR CONDUCT TINDER PUBLIC CALAMITIES. Ill 
 
 fill to God ; it does not reckon upon anything joyful or for- 
 tunate here below, but gently, humbly, and stedfastly, amidst 
 all the storms of an unsettled world, waits for the time of the 
 divine promise. We who have stripped off our earthly birth, 
 and are new created and born again in the spirit, — we who 
 live no longer to the world but to God, we shall realise the 
 the gifts and promises of God when we come to God. And 
 yet we pray day and night fervently for preservation from 
 enemies, for rain, for the removal or alleviation of misfortune, 
 for peace, and for your welfare." But when some Christians, 
 who were weak in faith, deficient in an evangelical spirit, and 
 hankering after an earthly recompence, were disquieted because 
 they were not more exempt than the heathen from a conta- 
 gious disorder, Cyprian, who for the satisfaction of such 
 members of his church wrote his treatise on mortality, thus 
 expressed himself : " As if a Christian became a believer, in 
 order that he might enjoy the world free from the contact of 
 earthly evil, and not rather that he might enter into future 
 happiness when released from all the sufferings of the present 
 world. What is there in this world that is not common to 
 us with the rest of men, as long as we have, in common with 
 them, this body subject to all the laws of bodily life ? As 
 long as we live in the world, we have a bodily nature in com- 
 mon with other men ; only in spirit are we different from 
 them. In short, when a Christian perceives and firmly holds 
 the conditions on which he professes the gospel, he will be 
 aware that he has more to conflict with than other men in this 
 world." When others who, though not afraid of death, were 
 troubled, because instead of dying as martyrs, they would 
 probably die on a sick bed, Cyprian replied : "In the first 
 place, martyrdom is not in thine own power, but depends on 
 the grace of God. Then again, God is the searcher of the 
 hearts and reins, he knows the most secret things, and sees 
 thy disposition. It is one thing when there is martyrdom 
 without the right disposition, and another thing when there 
 is the right disposition without the martyrdom. For God 
 requires not our blood, but our faith.* We must recollect that 
 we must do not our own will, but God's will, as our Lord has 
 
 * Aliud est martyrio animum deesse, aliud animo defuisse martyrium. 
 
 Nee enim Deus sanguinem nostrum desiderat, sed fidem 
 
 tjugerit. — Cypr. de Mortalitate. 
 
112 CHRISTIAN LIFE OF THE FISST CEXTUEIES. 
 
 directed us to pray daily. The prevailiug sickness ought to 
 serve to prove men's dispositions, whether the healthy will 
 take care of the sick ; whether masters will show sympathy to 
 their sick servants/' 
 
 In what light Christians regarded these misfortunes, and 
 how they distinguished themselves from the heathen, we may 
 learn from a beautiful circular epistle which Dionysius, bishop 
 of Alexandria, a contemporary of Cji^rian, wrote on such an 
 occasion to the Egyptian churches. The persecution of the 
 Christians under the Emperor A'alerian, and after his death 
 a civil war, occurred first ; then followed a desolating pesti- 
 lence. At this time Dionysius invited the Egyptian churches 
 to the celebration of Easter in the following manner : " To 
 other men the present may appear an unsuitable time for the 
 celebration of a festival. But they cannot celebrate a true 
 festival, either now or at any other time ; not in a mournful 
 time, nor yet in a joyful one, as would appear to them most 
 suitable for a feast ; [he means to say, that the ground of true 
 festive joy cannot be given by earthly, but only by heavenly 
 good; this joy cannot be imparted to those who are yet 
 oppressed by the burden of their sins :] for now all is mourn- 
 ful. Nothing but complaints are heard in the city on account 
 of the multitude of the dead, and of more who die daily. 
 AVhat happened previously was also very terrible. First of 
 all, they persecuted us ; and although we alone were perse- 
 cuted and put to dcsith, we celebrated even at that time our 
 festival. Every place of suffering became to us a place of 
 festive gathering, the open country, the desert, the ship, the 
 tavern, the prison : and the perfected martjTS could celebrate 
 the most glorious festival, who had been admitted to the fes- 
 tivities of heaven. After that came war and hunger, M-hich 
 we were obliged to bear along with the heathen. Then we 
 were obliged to bear alone the sufferings which they inflicted 
 upon us, yet they must also experience the sufferings which 
 they inflicted on one another ; and moreover we enjoy the 
 peace of Clu-ist which he has granted to us alone. Now, after 
 we and they had been allowed to take breath for only a very 
 .short time, that epidemic broke out, most fearful and terrible 
 for the heathen, but for us a peculiar exercise and trial of om- 
 faith. Very many of our brethren who, from their great love 
 for their ncighbom*s and brethren, spared not themselves— 
 
THEIR CAHE FOR THE SICK AND DYING. 113 
 
 many, every one of whom cared for the rest, visited the sick 
 without regard to consequences, continually attended them, 
 and served them for Christ's sake, and joyfully pjave up their 
 lives Avith them. Many who had recovered others by their 
 care, died in their stead. In this way the best of our brethren, 
 some presbyters and deacons, and approved persons among the 
 laity, departed this life ; so that this kind of death, which pro- 
 ceeded from the greatest piety and the strongest faith, seemed 
 not inferior to martyrdom. And those who closed the eyes 
 and mouths of dying Christians, who carried them away on 
 their shoulders, embraced them, washed them and placed 
 them in their shroud, soon afterwards shared the same fate. 
 Tiie heathen acted quite differently. They turned away those 
 who fell ill ; they shunned their dearest friends, or threw 
 them half dead into the streets ; for they dreaded the spread 
 of death, which, with all their efforts, they could not easily 
 avoid.'' 
 
 A man whose feelings are not sanctified and enlightened 
 
 by the divine life, M'ho lives in the world without any certain 
 
 hope of the future, is either disposed to give way altogether 
 
 to the irregular outburst of excessive natural feeling on the 
 
 death of dear friends and relations, as we find among rude 
 
 nations ; or if he supjjresses the natural feelings of humanity, 
 
 he falls into the worse extreme of a cold insensibility, whether 
 
 It proceeds from his natural temperament or is the product 
 
 of a false philosophy. But Christianity does not say to a 
 
 man, ' Love and friendship, like everything connected with 
 
 individual personality, are transitory earthly appearances, onlj'' 
 
 passing phenomena, rays of light breaking into time, which 
 
 fiow back to their original fountain in eternity;' it does not 
 
 require from man the surrender of his individual existence 
 
 with a cold resignation to a lifeless, unfeeling idea of the 
 
 imiverse Avhich can warm no human heart, which is nothing 
 
 but a self-created idol of a perverted reason that mistakes 
 
 realities for shadows, and shadows for realities. It does not 
 
 require man to sacrifice to a Saturn who devours his own 
 
 children, but to a loving heavenly Father, who restores what is 
 
 sacrificed in a glorified, higher life ; it demands a surrender 
 
 to be again restored, to rise from the grave to a new glorious 
 
 life in a transformed i)orsonality through a Redeemer who has 
 
 conquered death. Those spirits, Christianity asserts, who 
 
 I 
 
114 CHRISTIAN LIFE OF THE FIKST CENTURIES. 
 
 meet one another in transitory coverings, and know and love 
 one another in the mysterious reflection of their inner life, 
 will know and love one another far more intimately when 
 they recognize one another in God"s presence, where they 
 shall know as they will be known ; Avhen they will recog- 
 nize one another as glorified beings in a new world of glory, 
 where God shall wipe away all tears, and there shall be no 
 more death, and no more night, and they shall need no 
 lamp nor light of the sun, but God the Lord shall be their 
 light. When that which is in part is succeeded by the per- 
 fect, when faith shall be changed into sight, love will increase 
 in proportion as it approaches nearer the original source of 
 all love, even God, who is love. "We shall become," says 
 Tcrtullian, "so much more intimately united to one another, 
 because we are destined for a better state, we shall rise again 
 to a spiritual communion; there will be a mutual recognition. 
 How could we sing eternal praises to God, unless we retained 
 the feeling and the remembrance of what we owe to him ? 
 if we do not in om' glorified state retain our self- conscious- 
 ness } We who WÜ1 be with God, will also be one with one 
 another, since we shall be all one in God." 
 
 Christianity, therefore, by no means suppresses the feelings 
 of sorrow natural to human nature in our separation from 
 those who have been snatched away' from our visible inter- 
 course ; but it mitigates andmoderates these feelings by the 
 altered view of death (which is now to be regarded as a sleep 
 from which man will awake to a glorified existence, as the 
 birth-day of a higher life), by the confident hope it inspires of 
 a reunion in the assembly of the perfect, and by a child-like 
 resignation to the unsearchable wisdom of the heavenly 
 Father, who makes all things work together for the good of 
 his people. Cyprian often said to his church in his sermons, 
 especially dm'ing the prevailing epidemic : " You must not 
 mourn for those who are released from the world by the call 
 of the Lord, when you know they are not lost, but sent 
 before, that they may go before those who are left behind, as 
 travellers or voyagers ; we must, indeed, long after them, but 
 not bewail them ; we ought not, for their sakes, to put on 
 black garments, since there they are already clothed in white. 
 We must not give the heathen an opportunity justly to blame 
 Christians by sorrowing for those whom they speak of as 
 
THEIR COMMUNION AYITH THE DEPARTED. 115 
 
 living with God, as if they were lost and perished men, and 
 thus not acknowledging as true by the witness of the heart, 
 what they confess outwardly in words." "We betray our 
 hope and our faith ; all that we say appeal's to be artificial 
 and hypocritical." 
 
 The affectionate remembrance of the departed was not 
 suppressed or -weakened by „Christianity, but rather height- 
 ened, reanimated, and rendered more cordial. Communion 
 M'itb the living and the dead was, in truth, a commumoii 
 in the Lord, a communion for eternity, the bond of which, 
 resting in the Eternal, could be sundered by no power of 
 death or hell. Christians have a consciousness of constant 
 invisible communion with those from whom they are out- 
 wardly separated. In prayer, by which the Christian feels 
 himself connected with the whole holy assembly of blessed 
 spirits to which he belongs, he thinks especially of those dear 
 friends who have joined it before him. These feelings in the 
 primitive age were especially indulged on the anniversary of 
 their death, or rather their birth-day for eternal life. They 
 partook on these days of the Lord's body, w^ith the lively con- 
 sciousness that they M'ere joined in communion with the Lord, 
 and M'ith their dear friends, his members ; they made parti- 
 cular mention of those who had died in communion with the 
 Lord in the church prayers at the celebration of the Supper. 
 In the same way the death- day of the martyrs was celebrated 
 by the whole church. The church assembled at their graves, 
 and partook of the Holy Supper in the living consciousness 
 of indissoluble communion with the Lord and his people ; 
 they prayed for the martyrs, who had been like themselves 
 sinful men, and could only find salvation in the grace of the 
 lledeemer. 
 
 The Christians also evinced their tender love to the remains 
 of the deceased, which did not appear to them as impure, as 
 a corpse always appears impure to the Jews and heathen, and 
 by the latter was regarded as carrying with it a bad omen. 
 The Christian knew only one thing to be dead and impure, 
 that is, sin, by which man is separated from the soiu'ce of all 
 true life ; only from this impurity it was needful that man 
 should purify himself by faith in the Redeemer, who suffered 
 and died for him (by the inward sprinkling of the heart with 
 the blood of Jesus, as it is described in the E^nstle to the 
 
 I 2 
 
116 CHRISTIAN LIFE OF THE FIRST CENTURIES. 
 
 Hebrews) ; he was bound to give himself continually to the 
 new life, and to regret all that was dead ; since both soul and 
 boflv were destined to be living, pure and sanctified as the 
 oro-an of a holy, all-penetrating higher life. Thus Chi-istians 
 regarded the remains of tlieir brethren with peculiar love and 
 care, as the organs formerly animated by a sanctified soul, 
 temples of the Holy Spirit, which would hereafter be again 
 animated as the glorified organs of glorified souls. 
 
 The fanaticism of the heathen wished to deprive the Chris- 
 tians of the precious remains of their martyrs, as they said at 
 the martyrdom of Polycarp, when they hesitated to give his 
 ashes to his friends, " lest they should leave the crucified 
 One, and worship him instead," When the Christians were 
 told of this, they replied, that the heathen "know not that 
 we can never forsake Christ, who suifered for the salvation of 
 those who are saved in all the world, nor can we reverence 
 any other ; for we adore him, being the Son of God ; but the 
 martyrs we worthily love on account of their unconquerable 
 obedience to their own king and teacher, of whom may we be 
 joint-partakers and fellow-disciples." The church said fur- 
 ther, in their account of his martjTdom : " At last, taking 
 his bones, more valued than precious stones, and esteemed 
 above gold, we deposited them in a suitable place. There, if 
 possible, assembling in joy and gladness, the Lord will grant 
 us to celebrate the birth-day of his martyrdom, in memorj^ 
 of those who have endui'ed past conflicts, and as an exercise 
 and preparation for those that are to come after them." 
 
 "We see, fi-om these examples, how far they were at that 
 time from over- valuing the vessels of divine grace. But such 
 an over- valuation is an error into which man easily falls. He 
 easily transfers the honoui* which is due to the Lord alone to 
 the frail vessel which the Lord has made use of for his own 
 glory. We have already noticed the dangers that threatened 
 from this quarter. Tertullian felt himself obliged to protest 
 against the excessive veneration of confessors and martyrs 
 which was gaining ground in his times, when some who had 
 been excommunicated for their vicious practices set too great 
 a value on the absolution granted by the confessors, to whom 
 they resorted in the mines or the prisons. Against the claims 
 of such confessors he says : " Who is there without sin, as long 
 as he lives on earth and in the flesh ? Whoever is a martvr. 
 
I 
 
 TEUTULLIAN's protest against MArtTYR-AVOESIIIP. 117 
 
 as lono: as he dwells on earth, has to bee: for the denarius 
 (Matt. XX. 2), is answerable to him M'ho requires interest for 
 the talents committed to him, and needs the physician. But 
 supposing; that the sword is already waving over his head, 
 that he is surrounded by the flames, that he is idready safe in 
 the possession of martp'dom, wlio can authorize a man to 
 give what belongs to God alone ? It will be enough for a 
 martyr to be purified from his own sin. It is ingratitude or 
 pride, to wish to extend to others what he cannot succeed in 
 obtaining for himself. Who is there, excepting the Son of 
 God, who has paid another's death by his own ? For in the 
 very time of his passion he liberated the malefactor. For this 
 very purpose he came, that being free from sin and perfectly 
 holy, he might die for sinners. Hence thou, who wouldst 
 im.itatc him in forgiving sins, suffer for me, if thou hast 
 not sinned thyself. But if thou art a sinner, how can the oil 
 in thy lamp suffice for rae and for thyself too?" 
 
118 
 
 PAET II. 
 
 CHRISTIAN LIFE WHEN CHRISTIANITY HAD GAINED 
 THE ASCENDENCY IN THE ROMAN EMPIRE. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 VARIOUS :methods of coxyersiox from heathenism 
 
 TO CHRISTIANITY. 
 
 We see in this period a great alteration in the relation of 
 the Church to the State. The alteration consisted in the 
 fact, that the Church, which had been hitherto oppressed, or 
 at the utmost tolerated, became outwardly predominant ; its 
 former depressed condition was exchanged for worldly splen- 
 dour, and thus multitudes were induced to enter it, for whom 
 the internal claims of Christianity had no attraction. Although 
 in its rise, when the Church conflicted M^ith the external 
 power of heathenism, in consequence of the fountain of self- 
 deception lying in man's nature, there were not wanting merely 
 apparent conversions; yet now, when the Church was sur- 
 rounded with outward splendour, the temptations were much 
 greater to substitute a merely outward profession for truly 
 " being in Christ." And the great alteration of which we 
 are speaking, arose, first of all, from the adhesion given 
 to Christianity by the rulers of the Roman Empire, which 
 was of such a kind that, though they believed themselves to 
 be really Christians from conviction, and laboured with sin- 
 cere zeal for the spread of the Christian Church, and its out- 
 ward aggi-andizement, yet their internal disposition was by 
 no means penetrated by Christianity. Often by this false 
 zeal, unsupported by a true Christian disposition, and unac- 
 companied by sound knowledge, they did far more injury to 
 
CONSTÄNTINE S PROFESSION OF CHRISTIANITY. 119 
 
 tho Christian Church, which they wished to serve, than they 
 could have done by direct hostility. 
 
 The first of the emperors who openly professed Christianity, 
 Constantine, espcciall)' in the first years of his reign, owing 
 to a certain eclecticism in religion, which was for him the 
 transition-point to Christianity, and to the influence of heathen 
 Platonists and Christian bishops of a more moderate and 
 gentle disposition, and also from general political considera- 
 tions, was very far from wishing to suppress heathenism by 
 force, to persecute its adherents, and to spread Christianity by 
 compulsory means. Thus when, after the victory over Licinius, 
 he became sole ruler of the empire, in a proclamation addressed 
 to the oriental provinces, now first under his control, he ex- 
 pressed the principles of a wise toleration in such a manner, 
 that indicated far more of the spirit of Christianity than 
 could have been shown by any zeal for proselytizing ; for here 
 we recognise what we noticed in a former part of this work, 
 that by Christianity the ideas of liberty of conscience, and 
 of the universal rights of man, were first brought to light, as 
 well as the consciousness of the right method of imbuing men's 
 minds with Christianity. The following was his language : 
 " Let those in error equally enjoy peace and rest with the 
 faithful, for the improving influence of mutual intercourse 
 may lead men into the right way. Let no one molest his 
 neighbour ; let each one act according to his inclination. 
 Whoever has rigbt convictions must know that they alone 
 will live in holiness and purity whom Thou thyself dost call 
 to find rest in thy holy laws. But those who keep at a dis- 
 tance from them, may, if they please, retain the temples 
 of falsehood. We have the glorious abode of truth, which 
 Thou hast given us to satisfy the cravings of our nature. 
 We wish for them that, in communion of mind with us, 
 they may participate our joy." 
 
 But he who uttered these beautiful sentiments was very far 
 from always adhering to them in his conduct, although he 
 employed no coercive methods of conversion. Though the 
 heathen were not, as in later times, exposed to many acts of . 
 oppression, nor obstructed in the exercise of their worship, 
 yet the manifold outward advantages and privileges which 
 flowed to the Christians of all classes from the time of Con- 
 stantino's accession, and the favour of the authorities, which 
 
120 ClIKISTIAXITY ASCEXDA.NT IX THE HOMAN EMPIRE. 
 
 could often be gained in this way, became a strong motive 
 to join the Christian Church with many to whom religion 
 was a matter of indifference, or to whom the objects of earth 
 were far more important than those of heaven. It became 
 the chief interest of the persons in power, to obtain numerous 
 adherents to the religion which they themselves professed, 
 and for such an object, temporal allurements, favours, honours, 
 and gifts were sufficient. Here we find no difference between 
 the Christian emperors Constantino and Constantius and 
 the heathen emperor Julian. It was natural, as in similar cir- 
 cumstances it will always be easy, that there shoiüd be many, 
 who, according to the expression of a Christian emperor, 
 Jovian, serve not God, but the imperial purple; who are not 
 drawn bv the heavenly Father, who are not impelled by 
 heartfelt necessity to confess the Lord, like those of whom it 
 is said in John ii. 24 : " Jesus did not commit himself unto 
 them;" and those to whom the Lord, rebuking their perverted 
 earthly mind, said, '' Labour not for the meat that perisheth, 
 but for that which endureth to life eternal." These very 
 words of the Lord are applied by Augustin to such persons, 
 when he says : ^'' " How many seek Jesus only to receive tem- 
 poral benefits ! One man has a lawsuit, and seeks the inter- 
 ference of the clergy ; another is oppressed by a more power- 
 ful neighbour, and flees to the Church ; a third seeks for an 
 advocate with a person over whom he has little influence; one 
 in one way, and one in another. The Church is daily filled 
 with such. Jesus is scarcely sought for his own sake." 
 Many a one, as the same writer observes, became a nominal 
 Christian, in order to win a powerful patron, to be able to 
 contract a desirable marriage, to escape a threatening perse- 
 cution, or to hold, as a Christian, a lucrative clerical office. 
 Such people Augustin had in his eye, when in one of his 
 sermons he speaks of the hypocrisy of those who, by assuming 
 the Christian name, wish to please men rather than God. 
 This hypocrisy was either of a grosser or more refined kind: 
 
 * Quam multi non quserunt Jesum, nisi ut Ulis faciat bene secundum 
 tempus. Alius negotium habet, quterit intercessionem clericorum: alius 
 premitur a potentiore, fugit ad ecclesiam ; alius pro se vult interveniri 
 apud quern parum valet; ille sic, ille sic; impletur quotidie talibus eccle- 
 sia. Vix quaeritur Jesus propter Jesura. — August, in J oh. Evang. 
 Tract. 25, § 10. 
 
I 
 
 WORLDLY MOTIVES OF PROFESSOliS. 121 
 
 as exemplified in the case of men thoroiiglily worldly-mindecl, 
 M-ho, \vitli distinct consciousness, employed religion, to Avliich. 
 they were wholly indilferent, only as a means of attaining 
 earthly objects; or that of men who were not wholly insen- 
 sible to moral and religious interests, but in whom the earthly 
 greatly predominated, who deceived themselves as if they 
 were determined by internal grounds in their convictions, 
 while yet, without being distinctly cognisant of the fact, they 
 were actuated principally by outward considerations. In 
 such persons who joined the Church from such impure motives, 
 whether grosser or more refined and self-deceptive, as long 
 as they remained in this state of impurity, the sanctifying 
 power of the gospel could not be shown. As long as no 
 inward cravings of the heart impelled them to the Lord, he 
 could not be made to them righteousness, and sanctification, 
 and redemption. The great number of such merely outward 
 members could not but injure rather than improve the consti- 
 tution of the Church; for, under the outward semblance of 
 Christianity, they brought in heathenish superstition and 
 heathenish vices. " He who before openly appeared as a 
 heathen," as Augustin says, " now concealed himself under 
 the Christian name, and remained a bad man in the garb of 
 religion. '■-'' " To be, not to seem, a Christian, is a great 
 thing,"' says Jerome. f But evil is necessarily the most 
 dangerous when it does not come into open conflict with 
 good, but combats it under the semblance of good. Every 
 srood cause has far more to fear from false friends than from 
 
 o ... 
 
 open enemies. The undivine, when it shows itself as it really 
 is, cannot long withstand the power of the divine ; but it 
 conquers when it deceives by an assumed foreign semblance, 
 when it mingles itself with the divine, and thereby beclouds 
 its manifestation and obstructs its operation. The angels of 
 darkness arc always most dangerous when they clothe them- 
 selves as angels of light. 
 
 Augustin, in M'arning against the dangers that arise from 
 
 * Primo vel apertus paganus erat, postea palliatur nomine Christiano, 
 sub velamine religionis occultus malus. De quibus dictum est: Populus 
 iste labiis me honorat, cor autem eorum longe est a me. — August. Enarr. 
 in Ps. 48. Serm. ii. § 1. 
 
 t E>se Christianum graude est, non videri. — Hieronym. Ep. 58 ad 
 Pauli man. 
 
122 CHRISTIANITY ASCEN-DANT IX THE EOMAK EMPIRE. 
 
 the attractions of the world, when it assumes the garb of 
 Christianity, beautifully remarks, " although the emperors 
 become Christians, does the devil too become a Christian?"'^' 
 Those who had been induced to join the Church by these 
 worldly motives, were the very persons who, when the court 
 influence altered its direction, threw off the garb they had 
 assumed ; if for the sake of outward advantages they had 
 been baptized under a Constantino, they returned to heathen- 
 ism under an enemy of the Christian Church, the Emperor 
 Julian, and after his death again became Christians. Asterius, 
 the bishop of Amasea, in Pontus, who lived in these times, 
 availed himself, in a sermon against avarice, of such facts, 
 in order to show how deep those could sink who made 
 mammon their idol. " How is it," said he, " that those who 
 once belonged to the Church, and partook of the Holy 
 Supper, are drawn into idolatry ? Is it not by a longing to 
 to gain earthly good, and to obtain possession of what belongs 
 to others ? When lucrative offices, or large sums from the 
 imperial treasury were promised them, they quickly changed 
 their religion like a cloak. And what happened before our 
 times is still kept in remembrance, and handed down to us 
 by report. But we ourselves have experienced many things 
 of the kind during our lifetime. For when that emperor 
 suddenly threw off the garb of a Christian which he had so 
 long worn, sacrificed publicly to idols, and promised many 
 rewards to those who did the same, how many were there 
 who forsook the Church, and ran to the altars of the gods ! 
 How many allowed themselves to be allured by the baits of 
 office, and then to apostatize ! Branded with disgrace, they 
 wander about the cities, objects of universal contempt ; they 
 are pointed a|:, as those who have betrayed Christ for a few 
 pieces of silver." That emperor himself, to whom Astenus 
 here alludes, Julian, had passed over from a Christianity 
 forced upon him by education, and afterwards for a long 
 time hypocritically professed, to a heathenism openly and 
 enthusiastically avowed, to which he had long been secretly 
 devoted ; and a government like that of the Emperor Con- 
 stantius, serving the Christian Chui'ch with a false zeal, 
 formed and called forth a Julian, and paved the way for him. 
 
 * Et si Christiani facti sunt imperatores, numquid diabolus Christianus 
 factus est .' — August, in Psa. do, § 19. 
 
VAEIOUS METHODS OF CONVERSION. 123 
 
 Yet, certainly', all persons who at first embraced Christi- 
 anity from impure or mixed motives, did not always continue 
 so ; in many cases, the outward became the entrance to the 
 inwards. By unexpected impressions, while joining in Chris- 
 tian worship or intercourse with genuine Christians, or by 
 more intimate acquaintance with the Christian doctrine, they 
 became gradually drawn to the Redeemer himself, and found 
 in Christians what they had never anticipated, and thus at 
 last from nominal became real Christians. Augustin testifies 
 that " many who had been brought into the Christian Church 
 by those outward motives, had attained to true renovation." 
 The Father of spirits draws men by manifold methods ; he 
 penetrates the inmost recesses of all hearts, and hence knows 
 infallibly what is necessary for the discipline of each one, 
 that he may attain unto life, and be led from the outward to 
 the inward. The Father and Ruler of the spiritual world has 
 means at his command which no other ruler can venture to 
 employ ; to him no creature is invisible, but all things are 
 naked and manifest; by his almightiness and infinite wisdom. 
 He can turn evil to good, without man's being justified iu 
 doing evil that good may come. It was a dangerous error, 
 when many persons at this period, even an Augustin, em- 
 ployed such carnal methods to lead men in error to a know- 
 ledge of the truth, and supposed that they could justify the 
 use of them by their design and success. But the injunction 
 of the apostle, " never to do evil that good may come," can 
 never be invalidated ; and this of itself is sufficient to con- 
 demn everything done professedly for the good of others, 
 under the name of love, but not in a manner coiTCsponding 
 to the law of God, and the rights of every human being, as 
 founded upon it. And although, in particular cases, evil may 
 serve for good, yet, on the whole, more evil than good results 
 from the use of such expedients. 
 
 The teachers of the Church, on whom it devolved to instruct 
 the heathen who wished to enter the Church, were called upon 
 to understand the variety of inducements and motives by 
 which men Avere led to take such a step, in order to regulate 
 their treatment of their dispositions ; just 'as the modern mis- 
 sionary must be on his guard, and be capable of examining 
 the various standpoints and mental circumstances of those 
 with whom he comes in contact, and of treating them accord- 
 
124 CHRISTIANITY ASCENDANT IN THE ROMAN EMPIRE. 
 
 inMy. Thus a wise and enlightened teacher of religion could 
 make, by his discourse, such an impression on a person who 
 at first came to him from the impulse of outward considera- 
 tions, that he would be seized by the power of truth and 
 acknowledge the perversity of his former disposition. Augustin , 
 in his excellent work on religious instruction, gives the fol- 
 lowing advice to religious teachers : " When a person, because 
 he expects to gain some advantage, or to escape some injury 
 from men whom he can conciliate in no other way, on this 
 account becomes a Christian, he will not become a real Chris- 
 tian, but only seem a Christian : for faith consists not in the 
 assent of tlie lips, but in the conviction of the soul. Yet the 
 mercy of God often operates by the instrumentality of the 
 religious teacher, so that a person, affected by his discourse, 
 begins earnestly to M'ish to become that which at first he 
 merely pretended to be. Not till this sincere will begins to 
 operate, can we regard him as really converted ; and indeed, 
 it is concealed from us when the man whom we see present in 
 body comes also v.itli his heart ; but still we must conduct 
 ourselves towards him in such a manner, that although that 
 will is not yet existent in him, it may be produced in him. 
 Nothing will be lost, since, if this will is already in him, he 
 Avill be confirmed by our instructions, though we cannot tell 
 at what precise time this will was produced. Certainly, it is 
 useful that we should make ourselves acquainted, if possible, 
 with his former connections, his peculiar state of mind, or the 
 causes by which he was moved to receive the Christian reli- 
 gion. But if there is no other person from Avhom we can 
 learn these particulars, we must inquire of the man himself, in 
 order to adapt our discourse to the kind of answer he makes. 
 If he comes M'ith a hypocritical heart, he will not hesitate to 
 tell a falsehood. Yet we must set out in our discourse from 
 what he tells us, even though it be false. Not that you should 
 expose his falsehood, as if you were certain of it, but so, that 
 if he professed a truly praiseworthy disposition, whether he 
 spoke truly or falsely, we should still commend and praise 
 such a disposition as he professes, and thereby make such an 
 impression upon him, that he will be glad to he what before 
 he wished to acem. But if he expresses a different disposi- 
 tion than is suited to one who is to be instructed in the Chris- 
 tian faith, you must set him right as an ignorant person in a 
 
KEMARKABLE CONVERSION IN DANGER. 125 
 
 kind and gentle manner. You must briefly and impres- 
 sively represent and extol the true design of the Christian 
 religion." 
 
 Many persons, especially those who had hitherto lived in 
 heathenism, because they were born and educated in it, and 
 had never given themselves any further thought on religious 
 subjects, were aroused by alarming outward impressions from 
 this state of indiiferencc, and led by their disturbed con- 
 sciences to the gospel. Thus it came to pass that in times of 
 public calamities, wars and earthquakes, many applied for 
 oaptism (as Augustin informs us, was the case on the occa- 
 sion of an earthquake in the city of Sitisis, in the North 
 African 2;)rovince of Numidia, by which two thousand per- 
 sons lost their lives) ; many, by striking dreams or some out- 
 ward phenomena, w^re either filled with fear at the judg- 
 ments of God, or were made sensible of the divine power of 
 the Redeemer. "Very seldom, or rather, never," says 
 Augustin, " has it happened that a person offers himself as 
 disposed to be a Christian, unless he has been in some way 
 alarmed by the fear of God." Paulinus of Nola, at the 
 beginning of the fifth century, narrates a memorable example. 
 A poor old man who occupied some inferior situation on board 
 a vessel, was driven about on the sea a long time in conse- 
 quence of a shipwreck. Although he had lived as a heathen 
 from habit, jTt, being among Christians, he must have heard 
 of the divine power of Christ, and perhaps had received 
 unconsciously some impressions of it. Bereft of all human 
 aid, he tm-ned to the Lord Jesus. Prayer gave him com- 
 posure, power, and understanding, successfully to conquer all 
 toils and difficulties. He saw the finger of God who rescued 
 him wondcrfull}- from the most imminent danger ; he believed 
 that he had seen with his bodily eyes the living Christ who 
 had been present with him in spirit. With tears he reported 
 the miracle after his deliverance, and requested baptism. 
 Paulinus introduces his account by saying : " As our Lord 
 in the gos])el declared, ' My Father worketh hitherto, and I 
 work,' so he docs still. Our gracious Lord does not cease to 
 animate om* faith by evident proofs of his truth. Thus, as it 
 is written in Acts i. 3, God our Saviour ' showed himself 
 among us by many infallible proofs.' lie operated for us 
 on the sea as wx41 as on the land, and what he effected in 
 
126 CHRISTIANITY ASCENDANT IN THE P.OMAN EMPIEE. 
 
 individuals, he made to contribute to the faith and salvation, 
 ofmanv." After giving the account, Paulinus adds : "You 
 will perhaps inquire by whose merit this old mariner, who 
 had "i-own up in the darkness of ignorance, obtained what 
 fell to the share of those few labourers who had borne the 
 burden and heat of the day from morning to night. Without 
 doubt the apostle will answer (Rom. xi. 29), ' The gifts and 
 calling of God are without repentance,' and ' that no flesh 
 can be justified by works in his sight.' It is the dispensa- 
 tion of grace, and faith is reckoned for righteousness ; for, 
 daily, sons of Abraham are raised out of stones. Now is the 
 accepted time, now is the day of salvation, when we bring the 
 sacrifice of peace and thanksgiving ; and the sacrifice which is 
 well pleasing to God, is a contrite heart. (Psa. li.) The temple 
 of God is now in man ; salvation is in the believing heart ; 
 the All -Holy is in the purified breast. Hence that Being who 
 does not despise the broken and co;itrite heart, accepted this 
 old man who pleased him by his natural goodness, as an 
 acceptable sacrifice ; for by virtue of an innate simplicity, he 
 must have had so pure a heart that the vices were foreign 
 to him." There are those who hear the voice of the law 
 inscribed on the inner man, who follow the drawing of that 
 God who is not far from every one of us, in M'hom we live, and 
 move, and have our being, although we dare not attribute to 
 such persons that true sanctification of heart which proceeds 
 from regeneration, and is first imparted by Christianity. But 
 such a state of the disposition as existed in this man might 
 be a preparative for the gospel, and when transformed by 
 Christianity, appeared far more glorious. 
 
 Such outward impressions often served to call forth, with 
 greater power, an impression that had long been gradually 
 and silently made, or to bring to a sudden crisis a conflict 
 that had long been carrying on in secret. In the fourth cen- 
 tury, the pious Nonna, in Cappadocia, had long labom-ed to 
 bring over to the gospel her husband Gregoiy (the father of 
 Gregory of Nazianzus). She often prayed with fervent tears 
 for his salvation, and endeavom-ed to impress him by kind 
 persuasions and earnest admonitions; but, as her son Gregory 
 teUs us, her peculiar disposition and glowing piety effected 
 more than all to bend and soften the soul, and to tiu-n the 
 will to virtue. The continual dropping of the water at last 
 
POWERFUL INFLUENCE OF DREAMS, ETC. 127 
 
 liollo\A'ed the rock. Nouna had often, in vain begged lier 
 husband to sing with her Psalm cxxii. 1 : '• I Avas glad when 
 they said unto me, Let us go into the house of the Lord." 
 One night he di-eamt that he sang this verse with his wife. 
 His dream made a great impression u2:)on him, and he Avas 
 seized with an earnest desire to share in the happy S2:)iritual 
 life of his wife, and this favourable impression she knew how 
 to take advantage of, regarding it as the M'ork of the Lord. 
 
 The Emperor Constantino was probably led by his early edu- 
 cation to regard Christ as a powerful divine Being, and the 
 Ciiristiaus in his vicinit}^ certainly endea^'om'ed to confirm 
 this conviction. The war with a heathen prince, who sought 
 to gain the assistance of his gods by a variety of magical 
 ceremonies, also produced in him a longing after a connec- 
 tion with a heavenly power M-ho could render him aid ; he 
 reminded himself, or was reminded by Christians, of the 
 power of Christ. With such thoughts he fell asleep, and in a 
 ch'cam Christ appeared to him exhibiting the cross, as the 
 sign of victory. He conquered under the banner of the cross, 
 and now became convinced of the divine power of Christ. 
 
 Thus sometimes even eiToneous representations, proceeding 
 from a false view of religious things, such as the magical 
 operation of the sign of the cross, led men to the acknow- 
 ledgment of the divine power of the Crucified, and thus to 
 Christianity. The paternal discipline of divine Providence 
 often took advantage of the errors and weaknesses of men, in 
 order to lead them into the way of salvation. Thus the 
 astrologers of the East were led by a star to recognise in the 
 child born at Bethlehem the great promised king, and Chry- 
 sostom^'' beautifully remarks in a homily on that event : 
 " Behold the wisdom of God, how he called them (the magi) ! 
 He did not send a prophet, for they would not have received 
 one ; nor an aj^ostle, for they would not have attended to him ; 
 nor Scriptures, for they knew them not ; but he di'aws them 
 
 * 'AW opa Otov (TO(piaVf rruig avTovg (tovq /idyovg) csaXf J£^. Oü 
 TrpotpijTrjv cTTf/ii/zti' ov yap av avkaxovTo ' ovk aTroaroXov, ov yap 
 TTpoatixov ' ov ypa(päg, ob yup yCtaav ' aXV ärrb tCjv oiKeiwu Kai 
 (TvvTpopijjv 7rpayi.ia.Tu)v avifiarai TTjg TrXdmjg avrovg. 'IßTrtih) yap 
 f.iäyoi {fcrav, /cat rrfpl äurtpag avToJg i) tex^i], dcrrip avroig (paivtrai 
 'iXKojv avTovg cnrb ri'ig inrtpopiag. — Chrysost. Homiiia habiia posiquam 
 presbyter Gotthus concionatus fuerat, § 5. 
 
128 Cnr.I!:TIAXITY ASCENDANT IN THE KOilAN EMPIRE. 
 
 from their error by familiar and every-day things. Since 
 they "were niasji, and their art related to the stars, a star 
 appears to them, drawing them from a foreign country — a 
 star drew them, in order to free them from bondage to the 
 stars. Thus Paul, also imitating his Lord (for he says, in 
 1 Cor. xi. 1, ' Be ye followers of me, as I am of Christ'), for 
 as his Lord sent the appearance of a star to call the astrologers, 
 in order that resembling what they were accustomed to, they 
 might easily follow^ it, and see the Lord of stars, and being 
 freed from bondage to them, should do homage to him ; so 
 Paul, in order to set aside circumcision, consented to the cir- 
 cumcision of Timothy. This was true condescension — to let 
 himself down to others, in order to raise them to him. Thus 
 Christ did when he called the men of the East ; for as he, to 
 call men, veiled himself in human nature and form, so lie 
 called the astrologers by a star." 
 
 We find an example of this kind in the Christian pastoral 
 poem of Severus, written in the latter part of the fourth cen- 
 tmy. Although a poem, it contains traits which are certainly 
 taken from the life of that age. The shepherd, a heathen, 
 notices with astonishment that during a general pest among 
 the cattle, the herds of the Christian shepherds are spared. 
 A Christian explains to him that this is the effect of the sign 
 of the cross. " It is the sign of the God,'' he says, " who 
 alone is now acknowledged in the great cities ; to obtain the 
 help of this God thou needest bring no bloody sacrifices. 
 Prayer and faith efiect everything." Upon this the heathen 
 shepherd says that he is resolved to become a Christian. 
 " How can 1 doubt that that sign, by which the power of the 
 pest is overcome, vrill also avail for eternal life to men r" 
 
 Bat men who were led by such methods to Christianity 
 might easily be seduced to exchange the inward for the out- 
 ward — to seek the earthly instead of the heavenl}- — and to 
 introduce heathenish superstition into Christianity ; all whicli 
 really occurred in the case of the Emperor Constantino. 
 They were always in danger, notwithstanding their outward 
 Christianity, of remaining in heart at a distance from vital 
 Christianity ; as Augustin describes such persons, living ac- 
 cording to the flesh, hoping for such things from God as the 
 wicked also possess, who place their whole happiness in the 
 same earthly good as the vdcked delight in ; or if they 
 
PROSPERITY NOT CONSEQUENT ON CHRISTIANITY. 129 
 
 despise it at present, hope for it in a future life — the carnally- 
 minded, who have a carnal fliith, a carnal hope, and a carnal 
 love. Such persons, if their expectations about earthly thin^-s 
 are not realized, run a great risk of becoming- erroneous 
 or wavering in their faith. On this point Augustin says : 
 '• Those who long after earthly good, and wish to be prosperous 
 in this, and pray for this alone to God, certainly so far do well 
 that they ask it of God ; but yet they are in danger. Docs 
 any one ask why they are in danger? They contemplate 
 human things, and they see that all those earthly blessin"-s 
 which they long for are possessed in abundance by the ungodly 
 and wicked, and they believe that they have lost the reward 
 of worshipping God." And in another passage he says: 
 " There are also others who possess indeed a better hope 
 (better, namely, than that of the persons before mentioned, 
 who go over to the Christian church merely from outward 
 considerations), but yet are in no small danger, who fear God, 
 and do not ridicule the Christian name — who do not enter the 
 church with hypocritical hearts, but expect happiness in this 
 life, and to be more prosperous in worldl}- affairs than those 
 who do not worship the true God, And when they see some 
 vicious and ungodly persons distinguished for earthly pros- 
 perity, while they perceive that they have less of such goods, 
 or have lost what they once had, they become dissatisfied, as 
 if they had no reason for worshipping God, and eiisily fall 
 away from the faith." 
 
 Against this desire of earthly rewards, which led many 
 persons with false expectations to Christianity, and then in- 
 duced them to forsake it, Augustin often spoke, and especially 
 protested against an erroneous mingling of the Old Testament 
 stand-point with that of the New, which cherished this wrong 
 course of conduct, as in his comment on Ps. xxxiv. 11 : 
 " The rich starve and suffer hunger, but they who seek the 
 Lord shall want no good thing." "If you understand this 
 literally it seems to deceive you, for you see many rich men 
 die with their riches ; you see a rich man who died on a bed 
 of ivory, surrounded by his family, receive a magnificent 
 burial, and you say to yourself, ' I know how very wicked this 
 man has been, yet he lived to an old age, he died in his bed, 
 he obtained a splendid funeral. Holy Scripture has deceived 
 me when I hear and sing, ' The rich must starve and liunger.' 
 
 K 
 
130 CHRISTIANITY ASCENDANT IN THE EOMAN EMPIKE. 
 
 "When did he starve r when did he suffer hunger ? I go to 
 church every day. daily I bow my knee, daily I seek the Lord, 
 and have no'good from it. That man never sought the Lord, and 
 yet he died in the possession of so many good things.' Who- 
 ever thinks so falls into a snare, for he seeks the perishable 
 provisions of earth, and not the true reward in heaven. 
 Therefore do not so understand it. And how then am I to 
 imderstand it ? The answer is, ' Of spiritual good things.' 
 But where are these ? They are not to be seen with the eye, 
 but with the heart. I do not see them, you say. He sees 
 them who loves them. Are you poor when the dwelling of 
 your heart is filled with the jewels of righteousness, truth, 
 love, faith, and patience ? Spread abroad youi* riches, if you 
 have such, and compare them with the riches of the rich. 
 But that man has met with a valuable mule at the sacra- 
 ment, and purchased it. If the gospel were to be sold, how 
 much would you give for it? and yet God has given it 
 without cost, and you are unthankful. How much had that 
 man, and what was it that satisfied him r He died in indi- 
 gence, since he always wanted more than he possessed. He 
 even wanted bread. How could he want bread .^ That bread 
 of which Christ says, ' I am the living bread that came down, 
 from heaven,' and ' Blessed are they who hunger and thirst 
 after righteousness, for they shall be filled ;' ' But they that 
 seek the Lord shall not want any good thing ;' but we have 
 already — what kind of good thing? They who,*' says 
 Augustin,*' " live carnally, believe carnally, hope carnally, 
 love carnally, belong to the Old Testament, not to the New." 
 The same writer says.f '' Let us love God, my brethren, 
 purely and chastely. The heart is not chaste if it worships 
 God for a reward. How, then ? Have we no reward from 
 worshipping God ? We have indeed a reward, but it is no 
 other than God himself, for we shall see him as he is. What 
 
 • Qui vero carnaliter vivunt, carnaliter credunt, carnaliter sperant, 
 carnaliter diligunt, adhuc ad vetus testamentum pertinent, nondum ad 
 novum ; adhuc in sorte sunt Esau, nondum in benedictione Jacob. — 
 August. Sey^m. iv. 
 
 + Nos ergo Daum amemus, fratres, pure et caste. Non estcastum cor, 
 si Deum ad mercedem colit. Quid ergo? raercedem de Dei cultu non 
 habemus ? Habebimus plane, sed ipsura Deum, quern colimus. Ipse 
 nobis merces erit, quia videbimus eum sicuti est. — August. Enarr. in Ps. 
 Iv. § 17. 
 
/ttvtvL- 
 
 THE KEWARD OF WORSHIPPING GOD. Om 131 Jj 
 
 does our Lord Jesus Christ say to those M^ho'lcEine Tliitf : ** 
 who hath my commandments, he it is that loveth me ; and he 
 that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love 
 him.' What wilt thou then give him? ' and 1 will manifest 
 myself unto him.' If you love him not, this will appear to 
 you a little thing. But if you love him. if you long after him, 
 if you worship him gratuitously, by whom you have been 
 redeemed gratuitously — for you previously had no claim on 
 him that he should redeem you — if contemplating his benefits 
 towards you, you long, and your heart is restless in longing 
 after him. then you will not seek for anything out of himself— 
 he himself will be enough for you. However covetous you may 
 be, God is enough for you ; for covetousness seeks to possess 
 the whole earth ; add heaven to that, yet the Creator of heaven 
 and earth is more than both. This is to call upon God in a 
 right manner, to call upon him on account of liimself. Those 
 persons do not call upon him in a right manner who seek to 
 obtain from him estates, increase of their property, long life, 
 and other temporal things." 
 
 Augustin gave the teachers of religion in his times directions 
 not to let those heathens who at first had been awakened by 
 the extraordinary outward impressions we have mentioned, 
 remain attached to outward things, but to lead them on from 
 the outward to the inward, and to make them alive to the real 
 nature of Christianity. " Also on the severity of God,"* said 
 he, " by which the hearts of mortals are shaken with salutary 
 alarm, must his love be founded, that man rejoicing to become 
 an object of love to that Being whom he feared, may venture to 
 love him again and fear to displease his love, even if he could 
 do it unpunished." '"' We must lead the tendency of his 
 mind," he says of such a person, "from miraculous appear- 
 ances or dreams to the sure way and certain authority of Holy 
 Writ, that he may be convinced how mercifully God lias acted 
 towards him in allowing those warnings to reach him before 
 he could occupy himself with Holy Writ. And it must now 
 be shown him that the Lord himself would not remind and 
 incite him to become a Christian, and to join himself to the 
 
 * De ipsa etiam sevtritate Dei, qua corda mortalium salubcrrimo 
 terrore quatiuntur, catitas sediticaiida est, ut ab eo quern timet, aniari se 
 gaudeus, euin redainare audeat, eju^que in se dilectioni, etiamsi impune 
 posset, tarnen displicere veieatur. — August, de Caiech. rud. § 9. 
 
 2k 
 
 I 
 
132 CHRISTIANITY ASCENDANT IN THE ROMAN EMPIHE. 
 
 church, or that he would not train him by such signs and 
 rcf^ulations, if he had not provided akeady a sure path for 
 him in the Holy Scriptures, where he must look for no visible 
 miracle, but accustom himself to hope in the invisible, and be 
 admonished, not asleep, but awake." 
 
 In others, a spirit of religious inquiry was aroused by the 
 inclination of their inner life ; by their doubts respecting the 
 heathen religion, in which they had been educated ; by their 
 intcrcoui^e with Christians, and by particulars which they 
 had heard of Christianity. Before applying to a minister of 
 religion for instruction, they had examined much themselves 
 in the Scriptures, they had imparted their mental exercises 
 to whomsoever they were able, and with whom they could 
 confer. Hence it became Christians to be always prepared 
 to o-ive a reason of their faith from the Scriptures ; for many 
 an inquiring heathen who had not courage to lay his doubts 
 before a bishop or any other ecclesiastic, turned in confidence 
 to a Christian friend among the laity, revealed to him his 
 restless, agitated heart, and sought from him a solution of his 
 doubts. But what could such a frienci do, if hitherto the 
 Bible had been to himself a sealed book ; if he had not yet 
 earnestly reflected on his own faith ? In reference to such 
 cases that sometimes occurred, Augustin said to his flock : 
 "A harassed friend comes to thee, who is imable to find that 
 truth by the knowledge of which he may be saved. Wearied by 
 all the desires and by all the poverty of the M'orld, he comes 
 to thee as to a Christian, and says : ' Give me a rational ac- 
 count of thy faith — make me a Christian.' And he asks thee 
 after what, in the simplicity of thy faith, thou hast not to give 
 him. and thou hast nothing to refresh the hungry soul. And 
 reminded from without, thou art made sensible of thy own 
 destitution, and then thou wilt learn ; then thou wilt first be 
 obliged to learn, and because thou art put to shame before 
 him who has asked thee, but has not found in thee what he 
 sought ; thou wilt be impelled to seek, and thereby make 
 thyself worthy to find : and where must thou seek ? "Where 
 else, but in the books of the Lord ? Perhaps that which he 
 inquires after, stands somewhere in Holy Writ ; but it is 
 obscure. Perhaps Paul has said it in one of his epistles. But 
 he has so said it, that thou canst read it but canst not under- 
 stand it. And thou canst not pass it over, for the questioner 
 
ACQUAINTANCE WITH THE SCRIPTURES. 133 
 
 presses it upon tliee ; thou canst not ask Paul or Peter him- 
 self, or one of the prophets, for ah-eady they rest with their 
 Lord ; but the ignorance of this world is great, and thy 
 liungry friend presses upon thee. A bare simple faith per- 
 haps satisfies thee ; but it does not satisfy him. Must thou 
 abandon him ? Must thou turn him out of thy house r 
 Therefore apply by prayer to the Lord himself, to the Lord 
 %vith whom the apostles and prophets rest; call upon him, 
 cease not. He will not, like the friend in the parable, arise 
 and give, merely because wearied out by thy im})ortunity. 
 He u'ill give to thee. Hast thou knocked, and not yet 
 received ? Knock again, he ivill give thee. He delays to give 
 what he means to give thee, that thy longing may be more 
 intense. Learn and teach ; love and impart nourishment." 
 
 Hence the zealous doctors of the church, such as Chrysos- 
 tom, always impressed on the laity the duty of making them- 
 selves accm-ately acquainted with the Scriptures, in order to 
 be in a position to give the heathen a rational account of their 
 fixith, and to explain the divine word to them. They justly 
 observed, that the bishops, by their homilies and lectures, 
 could effect little in this respect, unless the laity, among 
 whom the heathen lived, operated upon them in their daily 
 intercourse by their words and by their lives. Thus Chry- 
 sostom, in one of his homilies, after explaining to his hearers 
 the arguments by which to oppose the attacks of the heathen 
 on Christianity, says : " But give good heed, for it is something 
 astonishing that the physician should know how to argue 
 ably for his art, and even the shoemaker and the weaver, and 
 others of any trade or art whatever, and yet that he who 
 calls himself a Christian should not be able to give a rational 
 account of his faith ! And yet this relates to things of the 
 highest moment, what concerns the soul, and is necessary to 
 its salvation. And this is the reason why the heathen do not 
 sooner attain to a knowledge of their errors ; for if they who 
 advocate falsehood employ every means to conceal the wortli- 
 lessness of their doctrine, but we who profess to do homage 
 to the truth cannot once open our mouths in its defence, will 
 they not charge our doctrine with great weakness ? We 
 incur the guilt of their blasphemies when we treat the matters 
 of faith as secondary objects and those of earth as primary." 
 
134 CHßISTIANITY ASCENDANT IN THE ROMAN EMPIRE. 
 
 In another homily he also says i"^' " On this account God 
 permits us to remain in the world that we be as lights (Phil. 
 ii. 15); that we may be teachers of others ; that we may be a 
 leaven ; that we may walk as angels among men, or as men 
 with little children ; as spiritual men with the carnally- 
 minded, that they may be profited; that we may be as seeds, 
 and bring forth much fruit. Words are not needed, if our 
 lives shine forth. There is no need of teachers, if we exhibit 
 our works. Xo one would be a heathen, if we were Chris- 
 tians as we ought to be. If we keep the commands of 
 Christ — if we sufi'er wrong — if we are defrauded — if, being 
 reproached, we bless — if, being ill-treated, we do good — no 
 one would be so brutish as not to hasten to piety, if all its 
 professors acted thus. And that ye may know it, consider 
 Paul was only one man, and how many did he convert to the 
 faith ! If we were all likeminded, how many people should 
 we not gain ? Behold, there are more Christians than heathens, 
 and in other arts one man can instruct a hundred boys at once. 
 But here, where the teachers are far more numerous, and 
 the scholars fewer, no one comes to school ; for the scholars 
 look at the virtue of the teachers. And if they see that we de- 
 sire the same things, that we strive to rule and to be honoured, 
 how can they admire Christianity? They see persons among 
 us full of faults, parthly-mijided; we admire riches as much as 
 they do, and even far more ; we fear death, poverty, sickness, 
 like themselves ; we are the slaves of circumstances. On what 
 grounds, then, can they believe ? On account of miracles : 
 But such things do not occur. Must love beaming upon 
 them lead them to the faith ? Bi^it of this a trace is nowhere 
 to be found. Therefore we are answerable, not only for oui- 
 own sins, but for the faults of others." And Augustin says 
 
 * Ala Torro yap r/^/äg eiacrtv, "iva iog (piüffrijptg ihjxfv, "iva cinder- 
 KaXoi tCjv aWujv KaraGri^fiev, 'iv wq L,v^r] yevwij.e9a, 'iv wq ayyiiXoi 
 jitra Tujv avOpMTTiov TnpiTroXwfitv, "iv Öjq ävcptg fiträ tu)V Traicwv tu)i> 
 fiiKpuiv, ü)Q TTvevfxäTiKoi fxsTd rCüV ■'I/vx'-kCjv, 'iva Ktp^aivmcnv tKtlvoi, 
 ova (TTTipnara ijjjjitv, 'iva Kapirov ttoXvv (pfpujfjisv. OvK tSti XdywVy ei 
 ToaovTov ii^aiv 6 ßiog tXa^mv. Oük iSti iLCaiKokujv, d toy a e-jreduK- 
 vvjitBa' ovciig av riv"FA\t]v, ei r'/fitlg wfiev Xpiariavol, ojg Sti. Ei 
 Ta Tou XpicFTou tcpuXdrTOfiEVf ei i^hKovfitOa, ei KUKuig Trdaxovreg evepye- 
 Toi/fiiv, ovotlg o'vTu) 97]piov ijv, ü)g jxf] iTnCpaj.it'iv T7^ evaeßeia, ei Trapd 
 TravTtDVTaiiTa lyivfTo. — Chrysost. in 1 Tim. lo, §3. 
 
CHRISTIAN INSTRUCTION OF THE YOUNG. 135 
 
 to his church : " Which of the true believers does not an- 
 nounce Christ? Do you believe that we only who stand 
 here announce Christ, and that you do not announce him ? 
 Whence do persons come to us to become Christians whom 
 we have never seen or known, to whom we have never 
 preached ? Have they come to the faith without its being 
 announced to them by any one ? The Apostle says : ' How 
 shall they call on him, in whom they have not believed? and 
 how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard ? 
 And how shall they hear without a preacher?' (Rom. x. 14.) 
 Therefore the whole church announces Christ. All believers 
 are ' the heavens which declare the glory of God,' whose care 
 it is to win unbelievers for God, and who do this from love. 
 God permits the terrors of his judgment to sound forth from 
 them, — the unbeliever trembles and believes. Show men 
 what Christ can effect in the whole world when you preach 
 to them, and lead them to the love of Christ. Seize, lead, 
 snatch whomsoever you can ; be sure that you lead them to 
 him who cannot but delight those who behold him; and pray 
 to him that he would enlighten them." 
 
 We have seen, in the example of Nonna, how in a mixed 
 marriage, pious women, who let Christianity shine forth in 
 their lives, could gradually exert the incalculably attractive 
 power of the divine for the conversion of their husbands, by 
 the immediate impression of their whole conduct still more 
 than by words; in which reference the Apostle Paul says of a 
 heathen husband that he is sanctified by his Christian wife ; 
 an incalculable, operative principle of sanctification was thus 
 implanted in the marriage relation. And when such ^vives 
 could not overcome the unsusceptibility of their husbands, 
 still they succeeded in scattering at an early age the seeds of 
 Christianity in the hearts of their children. This seed often 
 produced a great effect on the inner life, and though this 
 effect was for a long time oppressed by the distractions and 
 business of the world, yet often, when the storm was allayed, 
 it. brought forth rich fruit, as is shown in the memorable 
 instance of Augustin, ^^ hose youthful heart had received early 
 christian impressions by the instructions of his pious mother. 
 After passing through many storms and conflicts and doubts 
 for a series of years, by which he was borne hither and 
 thither, he looked off from the path he was treading to that 
 
136 CHIlISTIA^'ITY ASCENDANT IN THE KOMAN EMPIRE. 
 
 religion which, had been implanted in his childhood and 
 entered his inmost soul, and which without his being aware 
 drew him to itself. The Emperor Julian acknowledged how 
 the influence of females counterworked his plans for the 
 re-introduction of heathenism. He lamented that the heathen 
 in Antioch permitted their wives to caiiy everything out of 
 their houses for the support of the poor Christians, while they 
 themselves M'ould not make use of the least thing for the 
 worship of the gods. And the rhetorician Libanius, a heathen, 
 made this excuse for the Christians who having through 
 fear and other causes passed over to heathenism, afterwards 
 repented and sought to repair their apostacy, " that they 
 were turned round at home by their wives and their tears, and 
 led away from the altars."' 
 
 The means by which the heathen were brought to Chrie- 
 tianity must have been very various, and must indeed have 
 varied according to the nature of the hindrances that opposed 
 their conversion. These were outward and inward. The 
 ouhcard hindrances were in the condition of the church at 
 that time and of the public Christian life, which was no 
 longer the same as in the first century, as is testified by the 
 passage already quoted from Chrysostora ; the inicard hin- 
 drances were in the various modes of thinking and mental 
 tendencies of the heathen, in which we recognize the same 
 tendencies which in all ages have opposed the reception of 
 Christianity. As in the first centmy the genuine Christian 
 life, as a living witness of the power of the gospel, operated 
 powerfully in favour of its extension, so now the inconsistent 
 lives of so many nominal Christians gave occasion for the 
 name of the Lord to be blasphemed among the heathen. 
 "Look at the heathen," says Augustin, "sometimes they 
 meet with good Christians who serve God ; they admire such, 
 and are attracted to the faith. Sometimes they see those 
 whose lives are bad, and they exclaim, 'These are your 
 Christians!'" And Chrysostom says, in the homily last 
 quoted, "As a blind man cannot call the sun dark, for he 
 would be ashamed to contradict what every body acknow- 
 ledges to be true, — so no one complains of the truly good ; 
 on account of their doctrine the heathen may blame such 
 persons, but they will not attack their good'life, but join 
 with others in admiring it." In many respects, though not 
 
INJURIOUS IMPRESSIONS ON HEATHEN MINDS. 137 
 
 absolutely and unconditionally, tliis was true — since the 
 heathenish clement, the wild-grown morality so to speak, 
 even in nobler natui'cs, though on one side it would be 
 attracted by the power of Christianity as exhibited in the 
 lives of its professors, Avould yet be repelled on many points 
 which were peculiar to Christianity. Augustin says, in a 
 sermon on Psalm xxvi. 12, " In the congregations will I bless 
 the Lord," " My brethren, so live that by the conduct of each 
 one of you the praise of God may be promoted, for whoever 
 praises God with his tongue and blasphemes him by his works 
 does not ' bless the Lord in the congregations.' Almost all 
 praise him with the tongue, but not all with their works. But 
 tliose persons, in whose conduct is not found what they 
 express by their lips, cause God to be blasphemed ; and those 
 who love their sins, and therefore do not -wish to be 
 Christians, excuse themselves with the vicious, M^iile they 
 flatter themselves and say, ' Why wilt thou persuade me to be 
 a Christian ? I have been deceived by a Christian, but I have 
 never deceived any one ; a Christian has sworn falsely to me, 
 but I have never done so.' " 
 
 Certainly, it cannot be denied, that the accusations of the 
 heathen against Christianity were for the most part deserved by 
 Christians, as appears from the complaints of Chrysostom, who 
 was so distinguished for zeal in the cause of his Lord. "When 
 those who M-ished to be priests of the Lord, the leaders and 
 teachers of the churches, especially the bishops in large (rities, 
 allowed themselves to be infected by worldly corruption, gave 
 way to earthly passions, and under cover of pretended zeal 
 for the honour of God, engaged in the warmest contests for 
 selfish interests, their own honour and power, — this made a 
 most injurious impression on the minds of the heathen, and 
 was frequently employed by them as a witness against a 
 religion which had such advocates. But the injustice of 
 these accusations against Christianity lay in not distinguish- 
 ing between the cause and the instruments, and even as to 
 ihe latter making no difference, but confounding the lights 
 and shadows in the phenomena of the Christian life. They 
 did not consider that evil according to its nature attracts 
 notice, and makes much noise as it is borne on the surface of 
 the stream of life, and strikes superficial observers most 
 .tlirectly and forcibly ; while, on the contrary, what is truly 
 divine is less obtrusive, conceals its indwelling glory. 
 
138 CHKISTIANITY ASCENDANT IN THE ROMAN EMPIKE. 
 
 works more in secret, is to be looked for at a greater depth, 
 and may remain mmoticed, unless the eye of a kindred spirit 
 is directed towards it. That which can best serve for a 
 caricature, is most easily seized by every man and in all 
 ages. The world, as such, remains always the same, and 
 as it takes the appearance for the reality, it must take the 
 appearance of that which has moved the minds of men most 
 deeply, and thus the most glorious object becomes the most 
 despicable caricatures. Moreover, Christianity at it first 
 appearance, met the corruption that arose from the breaking 
 up of the old world, and operated as enlivening and 
 refreshening salt ; but it could not at once transform every- 
 thing. It could only evince its saving and transforming 
 power in those cases where persons freely surrendered them- 
 selves to its influences. But where this did not take place, the 
 existing corruption propagated and strengthened itself under 
 the semblance of Christianity ; thus, on the one hand, there 
 was the culminating point of the corruption of the old nature, 
 concealing itself under the semblance of Christianity ; and on 
 the other hand, in opposition to it, beaming forth with so 
 much greater splendour, we behold what was truly the result 
 of the new creation of Christianity. We see in a Chrysostom, 
 a contrast to a Theophilus."^' In answer to this reproach 
 of the heathen Augustin admirably observes, " How many 
 robberies in our times, say some, how much oppression of 
 the innocent ! thou lookest only at the scum, and not at the 
 oil. Ancient times had not such robbers of property that 
 belonged to others, but neither had they persons who so 
 willingly resigned their own property. Be more attentive 
 in observing the wine-cellars ; look not merely at that which 
 flows on the surface. Hear and understand how many do 
 that which moved one to go away sorowful, when he heard 
 it from the lips of the Saviour. Many hear the words of the 
 gospel (Matt. xix. 21). 'If thou wouldst be perfect, sell j 
 that thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have ' 
 treasure in heaven, and come, follow me.' Seest thou not 
 how many do this. Though sayest, there are few. Yet 
 these few are the oil; and those who apply what they 
 possess to a right use, belong also to the oil. Take all 
 together, and thou wilt see thy Father's store -houses filled. 
 
 * See Neander's Genpral History of the Christian Religioa and 
 Church, vol. iii. p. 301, Standard Library edition. — Tr. 
 
OBJECTIONS OF THE HEATHEN. 139 
 
 Thou seest a robber as thou hast never seen him ; see also 
 the man who despises earthly good, as thou has not yet scon 
 any one. That is fulfilled which is written in the Apocalypse : 
 ' He which is filthy let him be filthy still, and he that is 
 holy let him be holy still ;' good and evil still go on in a 
 reciprocal climax." And in another sermon he says : " Much 
 evil results from bad Christians ; those who are without and 
 do not wish to be Christians, take occasion from their con- 
 duct to excuse themselves. A heathen replies to the person 
 who exhorts him to become a Christian, — ' Am I then, to be 
 what this man or that man is ? ' and he names one and another, 
 and sometimes says the truth ; but let not that lead thee 
 wrong ; be thou that which he seeks. Be thou a good 
 Christian, in order to put a stop to the calumnies of the 
 heathen. Forswear impurity, but not the faith. Become 
 purer ; by the exertion of the conflict itself, become purer; — 
 let the heathen assist in removing from thee what pollutes 
 thee, not in suppressing what is of real value in thee.^* 
 When thy enemy injures thee, he injures thee openly. Thou 
 prayest for him in secret and only God knows it ; thy enemy 
 does not believe it, because he cannot see into thy heart. 
 When therefore he injures thee openly, thou prayest in secret. 
 See whether in that wine-press, since the church has been 
 compared to a wine-press, whether he that injures openly is 
 not the scum flowing along the surface ;f the scum flows over 
 the surface, but the oil has a secret passage to its proper recep- 
 tacle. And as it passes in secret, it will appear in its 
 greatness. Amidst the storms of the world, how many, 
 brought back by this predominance of evil, have turned to 
 God and renounced the world ; and they who before seized 
 what belonged to others, have suddenly begun to give up 
 
 * Augustin means to say — Let not the attacks of the heathen infuse 
 into thee any mistrust of the divine power of Christianity, but let them 
 only serve to make thee more watchful over what is contrary to it in thy 
 own soul ; thus, by surrendering thyself to it, thou wilt by its divine 
 power become continually purified, and make progress in sanctificaiion. 
 The same remarks are applicable to the charges brought against the pecu- 
 liarities of Christian piety, which are founded on the false pretences to 
 piety or on the imj)ertections that still cleave to the truly pious. 
 
 t Atiairca per publicum currit, oleum autem ad sedeni suam occultos 
 transitus habet. Et cum occulte transeat, in magnitudine apparet. — 
 August. Serm. xv. § 9. 
 
140 CHRISTIANITY ASCENDANT IN THE EOMAN EMPIRE. 
 
 their own to the poor. But many robbers and op])ressors 
 attract public notice : they are the scum flowing through the 
 streets ; they may be outwardly separated, one here, and 
 another there, but they are joined in heart 1" 
 
 Often the deluded opponents of Christianity, or pharasaical 
 censors who would rather notice the mote in another's eye 
 than the beam in their own, have made an extravagant de- 
 mand on Christianity inconsistent with the constitution of 
 human nature, as destined to a free development, that it 
 should transform by one stroke as by a magical power human 
 nature in the whole and in all its parts — should at once make 
 all rough places smooth, and crooked ways straight; and when 
 they do not see tliis irrational requirement fulfilled, they 
 pronounce Christianity to be a fallacy, and Christians to be 
 hypocrites. They do not consider that the great work of the 
 new birth, of the new creation, must have its distinct com- 
 mencement in the inner life, but that this M'ork can only 
 gradually develop itself in its fidl extent — always carrying- 
 on a conflict with the still existing old, corrupt nature ; that 
 Christianity is a leaven in reference to individuals, as well as 
 to whole nations and races, which once thrown into the mass, 
 can only gradually penetrate and leaven with its peculiar 
 nature, with a gradual separation of foreign elements ; the 
 foundation on which the structure of the Christian life is 
 raised, either for communities or individuals, may be truly 
 divine, and yet wood. hay. and stubble may appear on this 
 divine foundation, which is Christ, along with the gold, 
 silver, and precious stones ; and the superficial or hostile ob- 
 server may see only the former and not the latter. That may 
 be affirmed of the church which has its true stability in the 
 souls of believers, both as a body and in individuals, which an 
 enlightened man in the beginning of the seventeenth century. 
 Paul Sarpi, says, in a letter : " The church of God is a build- 
 ing which, though founded by so great an architect, yet in 
 consequence of the defects of the materials of which it is con- 
 structed, it always has had, and alw^ays will have, its imper- 
 fections. And if only the foundation remains firm, we must 
 bear with other defects, and let them pass as human." On 
 this account, the Christian should never let the sword of the 
 Spirit remain in the scabbard, in order to obviate this defect, 
 which so easily gives occasion for slandering the divine foun- 
 
DEFECTIVE VIEWS OF MORALITY. 141 
 
 dation to those who do not know it, and for the name of the 
 Lord to be reviled among those who are without, thi'ough the 
 misconduct of those who profess it. 
 
 As Augustin remarks, in the passages we have quoted, it 
 was often a certain internal srround which caused the heathen 
 to find and take that outward offence. There was something 
 in their inner man which led them to seek, and easily to find, 
 grounds of excuse, in order to exclude the gospel from gaining 
 access to their consciences. Instead of comparing their inner 
 man with the ideal of holiness expressed in the life and doc- 
 trine of Christ — instead of seeking out the members of the 
 invisible church — the genuine Christians, whose great aim it 
 was to imitate their Redeemer, and recognizing in them the 
 genuine effects of this religion where it is sincerely received, 
 — instead of this, they pleased themselves with observing 
 only the evil that was floating on the surface of the outward 
 church, and that which resembled it, and still adhered to 
 Christians, who were in heart sincere, among whom there 
 were many stages of development in the Christian life up to 
 the maturity of full-grown manhood. If in their own lives 
 they kept free from gross outbreaks of sin, performed their 
 duties in their civil capacity according to the common 
 standard, and if they then compared themselves wdth those 
 nominal Christians who lived in open vice, they thought 
 that they advanced further with their own moral power than 
 those professed believers in Christianity; they also thought 
 that even in those who must bo regarded as genuine Chris- 
 tians, such failures could be discovered as they perceived in 
 their own lives, but were accustomed to excuse as weak- 
 nesses which were inseparable from human nature. They 
 thought that they had less need of a Redeemer, because they 
 were not sinners like those Christians, because they fulfilled 
 the requirements of the moral law, those human weaknesses 
 excepted, which were also to be found among Christians. It 
 ■would have appeared altogether different to them if they 
 could have rightly apprehended in the divine light the high 
 standard of the law, and the state of their own inner man 
 in relation to it. "Many," says Augustin, "boast of their 
 works, and thou findest many heathen who do not wish to 
 become Christians ; for this reason, that they are satisfied with 
 their own virtuous life. ' It is our duty to live virtuously,' 
 
142 CHKISTIANITY ASCENDANT IN THE BOMAN EMPIRE. 
 
 say they ; ' what more can Christ prescribe to us ? That I 
 should live virtuously ? I already live virtuously : for what 
 purpose is Christ necessary to me ? I am guilty of no mur- 
 der, no theft, no robbery; I do not covet my neighbour's 
 goods ; I am not polluted with adultery. Let any man find 
 something culpable in my life, and whoever can do that, let 
 him make me a Christian.' " And in another sermon he 
 says : ' There are many persons who, according to com- 
 monly-received notions, are called good men, good husbands, 
 good wives, who, without being Christians, appear to observe 
 the prescriptions of the law, honour their parents, commit 
 neither adultery, nor murder, nor theft ; bear no false witness 
 against any one, and like the Pharisees of old, ask in a boast- 
 ful tone, 'Are we also blind?' " (John ix. 40.) 
 
 Augustin says, in reference to such who fancied that their 
 moral efforts were sufficient :^' " The right direction of the 
 disposition makes an action good ; but faith gives the right 
 direction to the disposition. It is not only of importance 
 ichat a man does, but what object he has in view in doing it. 
 Let the captain of a vessel understand perfectly how to 
 manage it, but if he does not know the direction of the port 
 he is sailing to, of what use is it that he can sail hither and 
 thither as he pleases ? He knows how to protect the vessel 
 from the fury of the waves, to turn and to tack about just as 
 
 * Ea enim opera quae dicuntur ante fidem quamvis videantur laomini- 
 bus laudabilia inania suut. Ita mihi videntur esse, ut magnse vires et 
 cursus celerrimus praeter viatn. Nemo ergo computet bona sua opera 
 ante fidem ; ubi fides non erat, bonum opus non erat. Bonum enim opus 
 intentio facit, intentionem fides dirigit. Non valde adtendas quid homo 
 faciat, sed quid cum facit adspiciat, quo lacertos optimse gubernationis 
 dirigat. Fac enim hominem optime gubernare navim, et perdisse quo 
 tendit, quid valet quia artemonem optime tenet, optime movet, dat proram 
 fluctibus .■' Cavet ne latera infligantur ; tanris est viribus, ut detorqueat 
 navim quo velit atque un Je velit ; et dicatur ei : usque quo is ? et dicat : 
 nescio; autnon dicat : nescio, sed dicat: ad ilium portum eo, nee in portum 
 sed in saxa pertinet ^ Nonne iste quanto sibi videtur in navi gubernanda 
 agiiior et efficacior, tanto periculosius earn sic gubernat, ut ad naufragium 
 properanda perducat ? Talis est et qui optime currit praeter viam. 
 Nonne ergo erat melius et tolerabilius, ut esset gubernator ille aliquante 
 invalidior, ut cum labore et aliqua difficultate gubernacula regeret, et 
 tantum rectum debitumque cursum teneret ; rursumque ille pigrius etiam 
 et imbecillius, tamen in via arabularet, quam printer viam fortiter curreret. 
 — August, in Ps. xxxi. Enarr, 2, § 4. 
 
CIIBISTIAN MORALITY TOO ELEVATED. 143 
 
 he may think best; but if asked. Whither are you sailing? 
 he answers, I do not know; or, instead of saying that, he 
 says, I am sailing to yonder port, and then runs not into 
 port, but against the rocks. AVill not such a man, the more 
 active and vigorous he strives to be in steering tlie vessel, 
 run the greater risk of a speedy shipwreck ? So it is with 
 the man who, if he runs ever so well, has lost the right path. 
 Would it not be better if the captain w^cre not so vigorous, 
 if he steered the vessel with labour and some difficulty, and 
 yet pursued the right track ; and would it not? be better for 
 the traveller if he Avere weaker and slower, but yet in the 
 right way, rather than be running in the wrong direction ?" 
 Further, he says of those persons who think that their virtue 
 is so great that they need no Redeemer: "Although a man 
 does everything that is right before the eyes of men in such 
 a manner that they can find no fault Avith his life, yet God 
 will condemn their arrogance ;" for the right disposition, which 
 Aagustin was accustomed to compare to the eye as the light 
 of the body, is, according to his own explanation, that of 
 humble love towards God. 
 
 Others of the heathen acknowledged the elevation of the 
 Christian morality, but they availed themselves of the un- 
 Christian lives of so many nominal Christians, to support the 
 opinion that this morality was too high for human beings. 
 Let us lienr what Augustin says of this class of heathens : 
 " What did the pagan formerly say ? Whom do you rever- 
 ence ? A dead, crucified Jew, a powerless man, who could 
 not deliver himself from death. But after he had seen the 
 human race assemble in the name of Christ, the temples 
 demolished, the idols broken in pieces, the sacrifices abolished 
 in the name of the Crucified ; when men were seized with 
 admiration, and their hearts could no longer reproach Christ, 
 the pagan concealed himself in the praise of Christ, and 
 sought another method of deterring men from the faith. 
 'J'he Christian doctrine is indeed lofty, powerful, divine, in- 
 comparable, but who conforms to it?" Augustin answers: 
 " O that the doubters were believers ; that they would not 
 say, who fulfils this ? True, if they trust their own strength, 
 they will not fulfil it. But, if confiding in tiie grace of God, 
 they were believers in this confidence, they might go on, and 
 obtain help from God, instead of condemnation. Believers 
 
144 CHEISTIAXITY ASCENDANT IN THE KOMaN EMPIRE. 
 
 live, each one fulfilling in his ovra station the precepts of 
 Christ ; they live as far the Lord grants them to live, and 
 depend not on their own strength, but are aware that they 
 must glory in the Lord alone. ' For what hast thou, that 
 thou dost not receiver' (i Cor. iv. 7.) 'Now, if thou didst 
 receive it, why dost thou glory, as if thou hadst not received 
 it:' Say not to me, 'Who fulfils it:' He fulfils it in me 
 who, because he was rich, came to the poor ; in poverty truly 
 to the poor, but with fulness to the empty. Whoever con- 
 siders this, and does not despise the poverty of Christ, he 
 knows the riches of Christ, and is already saved, even in this 
 world." 
 
 Another external hindrance which deterred the heathen 
 from Christianity was the variety of opinions and sects into 
 which Christians were divided. " How can we look for 
 truth among you," they said, " since you are not of one mind 
 among yourselves about your religion ? To which scheme of 
 doctrine shall I turn myself? Each one says, ' I teach the 
 truth.' Whom shall I follow, since I know nothing of the 
 Holy Scriptures :"' Chrysostom thus replies to this objection : -'' 
 " If we professed to follow human reasonings, thou mightest 
 be perplexed. But if we say that we believe the Scripture, 
 and this is simple and true, thou mayest easily come to a de- 
 cision. Whoever agrees with it, he is a Christian ; whoever 
 opposes it, he is veiy far from being one," The heathen 
 rejoins : " But if some one comes and says, this stands in 
 Scripture, but thou say est something difierent ; and so the 
 ScrijDture is interpreted arbitrarily, and our minds are dis- 
 tracted." " But hast thou not reason and the power of 
 judgment given thee by Godr" is Chiysostom's reply. 
 
 * ''EpxeTai"EX\7]v, Kcii Xtyf«, on ßov\o[iai ytvioQai X^iaTiavOQ' 
 aW oi'K o'ida t'ivl TVpoaQwjxai Islaxr] Trao vjuv ttoWi) Kal aracnc, 
 TroXi'c Oopvßog. TLoTov aXofxai Coyjia ; Ti a\pi)(jO}iai ; iKciaroQ Xeyei, 
 on lyuj aXijOtvoj. TivL TrstaOw, /.iijciv oXujg siiujg iv toaq ypa<pa7g; 
 KaKuvoi TO avTo TrpoaßdXXovrai ; Havvys tovto virkp ijfiCjv. El 
 fiav yap Xoyicrfiolg IXsyonev TreiOeuQai, aiKorcog lOopvßov. Ei Ce ypa- 
 (palg Xkyofitv Tnareveiv • avrai ce aTrXoT Krai äXi^Otig, evicoXov coi to 
 tcpLvofisvov. El Tig kKslvaig (TVfj.<püJisi, ovTog XpKTTiavog' d Tig /ua\'£-art, 
 
 OVTOg TTÖppöj TOV KUVOVOg TOVTOV. Tt OVV aV iKHVOg IXOwV £(~{?, TOi'TOV 
 
 tx^i-v Trjv ypa(pi]v, av '£e eTspov Xeyyjc, Kai äXXiog 7rapeti]yii(r9£ Tag 
 ypa<päg Tag Ciavo'iag avTujv '^XicovTtc ; ^v ovv, dirk fioi, vovv OVK £%€«£ 
 ovU Kpiaiv ; — Chrysost. in Act. Apost. Horn. 33, § 4. 
 
DIVERSITY OF OFINIONS AND SECTS. 145 
 
 But this professed external hindrance was often only a pre- 
 text behind M'hich lay concealed an antipathy to the gospel 
 arising from other internal grounds, or sloth and indifference 
 to the higher concerns of man. How often it has happened 
 that men who have never been disposed to inquire into the 
 truth respecting divine things with that zeal and earnestness 
 with which they pursue earthly objects excuse themselves by 
 the variety of contradictory o})inions and the difficulty of 
 finding the truth, and thus surrender themselves to a comfort- 
 able indifference, or throw themselves blindly into the arms of 
 some authority that offers itself. But such men ought to seek 
 for the reason which prevents their finding the truth in their 
 own state of mind; for, as Augustin justly remarks :* "If 
 truth is not sought with all the powers of the soul, it cannot 
 be found. But if it be so sought as it deserves, it cannot be 
 withdrawn and hidden from those who love it. ' Ask, and it 
 shall be given you ; seek, and ye shall find ; knock, and it 
 shall be opened to you. There is nothing hidden that shall 
 not be revealed.' It is love which prays ; it is love M'hich 
 seeks ; it is love which knocks ; to love it is revealed ; and by 
 love is rest found in what is revealed." " Do Avhat thou 
 oughtest to do," says Chrysostom to such persons, " and seek 
 with a right mind to receive the truth from God, and he will 
 certainly reveal it to thee." And in another homily he says: 
 *' The present life is a scene of conflict, and a man must have 
 a thousand eyes on all sides not to believe that ignorance is a 
 sufficient excuse ; for wilful ignorance is deserving of punish- 
 ment. But if thou dost not know what it is not possible for 
 thee to know, thou wilt be free from responsibility. But, 
 provided we are not negligent, but do our part, God will assist 
 us in what we do not know ; as Paul said to the Philippians, 
 * If in anything ye be otherwise minded, God shall reveal even 
 this unto you.' Ask not, therefore, how can God leave that 
 simple good man in heathenism ? For, in the first place none 
 
 * Si sapientia et Veritas non totis aninii viribus concupiscatur, invenire 
 nuUo pacto ))otest. At si ita quoeratur, ut dignum est, subtrahere sese 
 atque abscondere a suis dileotoribus non potest. Hinc est illud, quod 
 in ore habere etiam vcs soletis, quod ait. Petite et accii)ietis ; quoeritc, et 
 inveniefis ; pulsate, et aperietur vobis. Niliil est occultuni, quod non 
 revelabitur. Amore petitur, amore quceritur, amore pulsatur, amore 
 rovelatur, amore denique in eo quod revelatum fuerit permanetur. — 
 August, lie Morib. EccL Cath. ]. § 3. 
 
 I. 
 
146 cnmsTiANiTT ascendant in the koman empire. 
 
 but that Being who fashioneth all hearts (Psa. xxxiil. 15), can 
 know whether any one is simple. It might be also said, he often 
 did not exert proper diligence, nor show becoming zeal. And 
 how. thou askest, could he do this, since he is so simple ? Look 
 at this simple man in his worldly concerns, and you will see 
 him exert diligence enough. If he only exerted as much in 
 spiritual things, God would not leave him unnoticed." 
 
 Had Christians, indeed, with all their diversities of opinion 
 on unessential points, been united by love to their common 
 Lord, and by mutual brotherly love, these diiFerences would 
 not have been of so much importance to the heathen. Their 
 unity in Christ would have manifested a power superior to 
 all those differences, and the power of love would have done 
 more than all things beside to overcome the opposition of their 
 minds ; as Chrysostom says, in one of his homilies : " As 
 clothes and shoes, covered with gold, are not enough to make 
 the emperor known ; but if we see the purple mantle and the 
 diadem, we seek no other sign of the imperial dignity, — even 
 so it is here. Where the diadem of love is, it is sufficient to 
 make us known, not only to the genuine disciples of Christ, 
 but also to unbelievers. Hence this sign is greater than all 
 miracles, since by it the true disciples are known. If they 
 performed a thousand miracles, and yet were at variance with 
 one another, they would be scoffed at by unbelievers ; but if, 
 on the contrary, though they perform no miracles, they only 
 have genuine love towards one another, they will be honoured 
 and invincible." 
 
 The same Chrysostom says of this power of love : " How 
 wilt thou convert him who is in error, if thou hatest him ? 
 How canst thou pray for the unbeliever ? For that thou art 
 bound to pray for him, let Paul teach thee : ' I exhort, there- 
 fore, that first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and 
 giving of thanks be made for men.' (1 Tim. ii. 1.) But that 
 at that time all men were not believers, is clear to every one. 
 And then he adds : ' for kings, and for all that are in autho- 
 rity.' But it is also clear that these were heathens. Then 
 he gives the reason : ' for this is good and acceptable in the 
 sight of God our Saviour, who will have all men to be saved, 
 and come to the knowledge of the truth.' On this account, 
 when he found a heathen woman married to a believer, he 
 does not dissolve the union (1 Cor. vii. 12); and yet what 
 
THE POWER OF CHRISTIAN LOYE. 147 
 
 stands nearer to the wife than the husband ? But if we hate 
 the ungodly, we must hate not merely the ungodly, but sin- 
 ners. And so wc shall be worse than wild beasts ; we shall 
 turn away from all, lifted up with pride like the Pharisee. 
 But Paul does not give such directions ; what does he say ? 
 ' Warn them that are unruly, comfort the feebleminded, sup- 
 port the weak, be patient towards all men.' (1 Thess. v. 14.) 
 What does he mean, when he says : ' If any man obey not 
 our M'ord by this epistle, note that man, and have no com- 
 pany with him.' (2 Thess. iii. 14.) This is said especially of 
 Christian brethren, but not without a further application ; 
 yet this must be done with gentleness, for after he had said, 
 * have no company with him,' he adds, ' yet count him not as 
 an enemy, but admonish him as a brother.' Thou seest that 
 he commands thee to hate the vicious act, and not the man ; 
 for it is the devil's work to separate us from one another, and 
 he labours hard to banish love, in order to stop the way to 
 improvement, to keep that man in the wrong way and thyself 
 in hatred, and thus exclude him from the way of salvation. 
 For if the physician hates and flees from the sick man, and the 
 sick man shuns the physician, when will the sick man rise from 
 his bed ; if neither he calls the physician to him, nor does the 
 physician go to him ? But tell me, wherefore dost thou avoid and 
 flee from him ? Because he is godless ? But precisely for that 
 reason thou oughtest to receive him, and labour for his salvation. 
 Even if his malady be incurable, still thou must do thy part ; 
 for the malady of Judas was incurable, and yet the Lord ceased 
 not to labour for his healing. So thou must not be weary ; 
 for if thou labourest without freeing him from his ungodli- 
 ness, thy reward will be the same, and thou wilt oblige him 
 to admire thy gentleness ; and thus all will redound to the 
 glory of God. If thou werkest miracles and raisest the 
 dead, Mhatever thou mayest do, the heathen will never so 
 admire thee as when they recognize in thee a gentle and a 
 mild believer. And this is no small gain ; lor thus many 
 will be altogether freed from e^'il. Nothin": can attract with 
 such power as love. Other points of superiority, such as 
 miracles, may excite their envy : here they will at once 
 admire and love thee. If they love thee, they will gradually 
 be led to the truth. But if a person does not at once become 
 a believer, do not be surprised; be not over hasty; think not 
 
 l2 
 
148 CI1EISTIA^'ITY ASCENDANT IX THE EOMAN EMPIRE. 
 
 to effect everything at once. Let him at fii'st only praise 
 and love, and then will he gradually advance further." 
 
 Many pious bishops and monks who were deeply imbued 
 with the Christian spirit sought to wdn the heathen by the 
 power of love, and to lead them to the Redeemer. Thus 
 towards the end of the fourth centuiy, a monk, Abraham, in 
 Phoenicia, having been recovered from a dangerous illness, 
 felt himself impelled to prove his gratitude to the Lord, by 
 exposing himself to great danger in publishing the gospel. 
 In the disguise of a merchant he betook himself, with several 
 companions, to a village in Lebanon, where all were pagans, 
 under the pretence that they wished to purchase walnuts 
 there, for which that village was noted, and took sacks with 
 them for that purpose. . But M-hen the people heard him 
 singing spiritual songs with his friends in a hired house, men 
 and women assembled in a rage, barricaded the door of the 
 house, uncovered the roof, and ceased not to throw a quantity 
 of rubbish, so that at last the Christians were likely to be 
 buried under it. They expected death, praying calmly, till, 
 their patience and resignation allayed the fury of the better- 
 disposed among the heathen, v>-ho opened the door, drew out 
 the Christians from the rubbish, and commanded them to go 
 away immediately. At this instant the imperial taxgatherers 
 amved, who demanded more than the poor people could pay, 
 and began taking severe and cruel measures against the de- 
 faulters. But the pious Abraham, who had much influence 
 as a revered monk, now interceded for those who a little 
 vrhile before had threatened him with a shameful and frisht- 
 ful death. He offered himself as surety to the tax-gatherers, 
 hastened to the neighbouring town of Emesa, borrowed a 
 large sum of money from his friends, and satisfied the merci- 
 less tax-gatherers. The hostility of the villagers, conquered 
 by the povrer of love, was now changed into love, gratitude, 
 and reverence. They requested their deliverer, as they had 
 no overseer of the village, to undertake the office. He 
 agi'eed, on the condition that they would build a church. In 
 a short time it was erected, and he now urged them to ap- 
 point a clergyman to it. They entreated him to be himself 
 their spiritual father and shepherd, as well as their overseer 
 in civil matters, and by his labours for the space of three 
 years he laid the foundation of the Christian church, where 
 
PHOTOGENES OF EDESSA. 149 
 
 now the little tribe of Maronites, so distinguished for their 
 pure and simple manners amidst the general corruption of 
 the East, dwell, but who in recent times have been very- 
 much disturbed by political revolutions and war with the 
 Druses. 
 
 Protogenes. a presbyter of Edessa, was banished by the 
 Emperor Valens in the fourth century, as an opponent of the 
 Arian heresy, which was fiivoured by that emperor, and sent 
 to the city of Antinous in Egypt. He found that the 
 churches here were almost empty, and on inquiring the 
 cause, he learnt, to his great grief, that the greater part of 
 the inhabitants of the city were still heathens. Love im- 
 pelled him to contrive some method by which he might 
 scatter unperceived the seed of the divine word in the minds 
 of the youth. As he was skilled in short-hand, he opened a 
 school to give lessons in that art. lie dictated to the heathen 
 youth, as exercises in short-hand, passages from the Psalms 
 and the Gospels, which, as well as the truths they contained, 
 were thus impressed on their minds ; a method which has 
 been adopted, not without good results, by missionaries in the 
 East Indies, Siam, and Africa. One of the youths became 
 very ill ; Protogenes visited him Avith paternal love, prayed 
 at his bed-side, and he was restored to health. This love 
 and the answer to prayer made a great impression on the 
 heathen. 
 
 In the war which the Roman emperor, Theodosius II.. 
 carried on against the Persians, who were violent enemies of 
 Christianity, seven thousand prisoners were dragged away by 
 the Roman soldiers, and found themselves in a miserable 
 plight. Acacius. bishop of Amida, a city in Mesopotamia, 
 on the borders of the Roman empire towards Persia, called 
 his clergy together, and said to them : '' The pious love of 
 our Christian brethren has presented the church with a 
 number of gold and silver vessels. But our God docs not 
 need silver and c;old. Let us rather make use of them for 
 the aid of our unfortunate fellow-men." The gold and silver 
 were melted down to make coin, and the prisoners were not 
 only set at liberty, but also sent back to their homes with 
 money and provisions for the journey : this work of love 
 naturally made an impression in favour of Christianity on 
 
150 CHRISTIA>'ITY ASCENDANT IN THE EOMAN EMPIRE. 
 
 the Persians, ■wiio had been hostilely disposed towards the 
 church. 
 
 The venerable Theodoret, bishop of Cyros, on the Eu- 
 phrates, invited a heathen inhabitant of his city to a festival 
 commemorating the consecration of a church, a general 
 popular feast, at the same time addressing him with these 
 expressions of love : " I would fain invite you, not only as a 
 fellow-citizen, but as a brother in the faith ; that, however, 
 vour prepossessions will not allow. On this account I only 
 make use of the claims of a common country, and invite you 
 to participate in the friendly blessing of the holy prophets 
 and apostles (to whose names this church is dedicated), for 
 this participation is hindered by no separation." 
 
 As the Apostle Paul represents the Jews requiring a sign, 
 and the Greeks seeking after wisdom, as occupying the two 
 antagonist stand -points to Christianity, so in all ages these 
 two tendencies have opposed Christianity — either a sensu- 
 ousness predominating above the religious elements, which 
 would reduce the divine to sensuous conceptions, or a one- 
 sided spirituality which would stifle the genuine actings of 
 the heart, a fiilse, arrogant refinement. 
 
 To the first class belonged those persons among the heathen 
 who, in order to believe, required new sensible miracles, and 
 who urged the want of miracles in that age, for the purpose 
 of throwing doubt on the miracles of Christ and his apostles. 
 They failed to perceive the greatest of all miracles, though it 
 stood before their eyes — the existence of the church which 
 referred back, as its necessary antecedent, to the miracle of 
 the appearance of Christ, and his power of operating through 
 the apostles. They failed to understand the miracle of the 
 transformation of mankind by Christianity. To such men 
 Augustin says : " Why are there no longer such miracles ? 
 Because they would make no impression, if they were no 
 longer extraordinary, and if they hap])ened commonly, they 
 would no longer be extraordinary. For suppose any one 
 for the first time to observe the alternation of day and night, 
 the undcviating order in the course of the heavenly bodies, 
 the changes of the four seasons of the year, the fall and 
 renewal of the foliage, the beauty of the light, the variety of 
 colours and sounds. — and he will be overwhelmed with 
 
TRANSFOEMING POWER OF THE GOSPEL. 151 
 
 miracles. But we regard with unconcern all these things, 
 not because they are so easily explained ; for what is more 
 obscure than the course of them all ? but because we are 
 accustomed to see them constantly. Those other miracles 
 therefore happened at the right time, in order that, after 
 the multitude of believers had been once collected and spread 
 abroad, what had been introduced to mankind by higher 
 authority might pass into their general habits. ]3ut habit 
 has such power over the souls of men, that we ourselves cau 
 sooner blame and abhor the bad %vhich has become habitual, 
 than renounce or alter it. Is it a little thing gained for 
 mankind, when not merely a few learned men prove it, but 
 when the illiterate multitude of both sexes believe and 
 announce it in so many different nations — that the honour 
 belonging to God is not to be given to any object of the 
 senses, but that men must rise with spiritual worship to him 
 alone." He then describes the eff(icts of Christianity in the 
 spread of continence, self-sacrificing benevolence, contempt 
 of death, renunciation of the w'orld, longing after eternal life, 
 and then adds : " Indeed, a few only practise this in such a 
 degree, still fewer in a right manner and with sound wisdom : 
 but the people hear this, the people praise it and love it ; 
 they lament their weakness that they cannot reach such a 
 standard, and this indicates a certain tendency to the soul of 
 God, some sparks of virtue." In this ügreem(?nt of general 
 opinion he recognizes the power wäth which Christianity had 
 moulded the moral sentiments of mankind. And in his work 
 on the true religion, having quoted the elevated language of 
 the moral precepts in the New Testament, he says : " When 
 this was read throughout the world, and listened to with 
 profoundest reverence ; when after so much blood had been 
 shed, after so many funeral piles, the churches had spread 
 so abundantly, even to barbarous nations ; when this had been 
 so received, that though heretofore it had appeared as some- 
 thing unheard of to })romulgate such precepts, it now seemed 
 strange to utter anything different ; when in cities and in the 
 country, withdrawal from earthly things and the direction of 
 the mind to one Gud was so openly urged and aimed at, 
 that daily, throughout the world, men almost unanimously 
 answer, " We have raised our hearts to the Lord (by the 
 Iluly Supper), why should we still sleep in the confusion of 
 
152 CHRISTIANITY ASCENDANT IN THE ROMAN EMPIRE. 
 
 the past, and seek divine revelations in dead beasts (the 
 hariispicia), and why should we always be repeating the name 
 of Plato, Instead of having our hearts full of divine truth ?' " 
 
 Such wonder-seekers who could not recognize the miracles 
 of the present that pointed to the past, often unexpectedly 
 encountered the power of Christianity in the life In such 
 experiences as subdued the opposition of their hearts. 
 Many Roman heathens, Avho had often accused the Christian 
 age, were forced to seek protection, w^hen Alarlc, the general 
 of the Goths, captured llome iu the year 410, among the 
 praying, psalm-singing Christians in the churches (as those 
 of St. Peter and St. Paul), the only edifices that were spared 
 amidst the general havoc and devastation ; and they were 
 rescued by the piety of those that surrounded them, so that 
 they Avere filled with gratitude towards those whose name had 
 protected them, and left the churches with far different 
 feelings from those that they entered them with. Augustin on 
 this account exclaims : " He must be blind who does not see 
 that for this we are indebted to the name of Christ, and to 
 the times of Clnistlanlty. Whoever sees it, and does not 
 bless God, is ungrateful ! " He recognized here the j)0wer of 
 Christ's name, even over the rudest natures. 
 
 To the class above described belonged those persons who, 
 through a rhetorlcal-sesthetic or philosophic training, had 
 been turned aside from simplicity of mind, so that they 
 could not apprehend the divine power and wisdom of the 
 Holy Scriptures, appearing in a humble form ; along with the 
 mythical popular religion, full of sensuous glitter, they wanted 
 a speculative mystical theology for the highly educated. The 
 later Neo-Platonic philosophy gave them both, which for a 
 long while had Its enthusiastic adherents. 
 
 One of these men, in the beginning of the fourth century, 
 was VIctorinus, vrho had acquired great reputation in Rome 
 by his acquaintance with ancient literature and his lectures 
 on the ancient philosophers ; after he had been zealously 
 devoted for many years to this philosophic heathenism, ho 
 became acquainted In his old age with the sacred Scriptures, 
 and the more he read them, the more he was convinced of the 
 truth of their contents. At first he endeavoured to amalga- 
 mate Christianity with his former habits of thinking. He 
 was also ashamed openly to avow his regard for that gospel 
 
SYNESIÜS OF CYRENE. 155 
 
 whicli his distinguisliecl friends ridiculed as foolisliness, and 
 was afraid to offend them. But he often said in confidence 
 to his Christian friend the presbyter Simplician, that he was 
 already a Christian. The answer he always received was : 
 " I shall not believe it, nor number you among the Christians, 
 till I see you in a Christian church." Victorinus used to rejoin 
 in a sarcastic tone : " Do church-walls then make a Christian?" 
 He thought probably, like the individual whom Augustiu 
 describes in one of his sermons : " It is enough for me to 
 worship God in spirit ; why need I go into a church, or 
 connect myself visibly with Christians?" \'et as his faith 
 became more living and strong, he felt himself compelled in 
 his conscience to make an open profession. He came one 
 day unexpectedly to his friend Simplician, and said to him, to 
 his great joy : " Come, let us go together to the church ; I 
 will become a Christian." When he was to be baptized, and 
 was about to repeat previously the confession of faith drawn 
 up in precise terms and learnt by heart, they wished to allow 
 him not to repeat it publicly, as was usual, before a numerous 
 assembly, but only in the presence of a few ; but he said, " I 
 was not ashamed formerly to deliver publicly what could not 
 give me salvation ; Avhy should I now be afraid publicly tf> 
 express that in which alone I can find salvation?" With 
 great cheerfulness and confidence he then repeated the con- 
 fession of faith. The apparent resuscitation of heathenism 
 under the reign of the Emperor Julian could not seduce him. 
 When this emperor, unjustly displeased that Christianity had 
 brought under its control all forms of culture, and even em- 
 ployed in its service the ancient Greek and Roman philosophy, 
 forbade the Christians to keep open schools of literature and 
 rhetoric, Victorinus gladly ceased to practise as a rhetorician, 
 and wrote in defence of the truths of Christianity. 
 
 One of the noblest and most devout men among the ad- 
 herents of the religious system grounded on the Platonic 
 philosophy, at the beginning of the fifth century, was Syncsius 
 of Cyrene, in Africa. He was very far from charging, like 
 many prejudiced heathens, on the Christian religion itself, 
 the wickedness of its hypocritical professors. His religious 
 sensibility perceived something divine in Christianity, and he 
 distinguished this from the undivine, which, as it has every- 
 where disturbed the revelation of the divine in this lower 
 
154 CHEISTIANITY ASCENDANT IN THE SOMAN EMPIRE. 
 
 world, SO also its revelation in Christianity. But to him all 
 religions appeared as manifold veiled appearances of the divine; 
 he sought everywhere with earnestness for the common, the 
 universal religious ideas ; and he recognized everywhere with 
 esteem and favour the religious disposition wherever he met 
 with it, in every manner and under every form of its manifesta- 
 tion. Thus he wrote while still a heathen to a friend who 
 had become a Christian monk : • " I need not begin with 
 wishing thee good health, since thou hast forsaken us men 
 who are bmying ourselves in the dark in a sinful world, and 
 involved in earthly cares, and hast raised thyself above us, 
 and though still living in the world, hast withdrawn from the 
 world, and laid hold of a blessed life — if it be true what a 
 friend has told me, that thou hast betaken thyself to the 
 monastic life ; that thou only visitest the city in order to 
 fetch books, and those only which refer to divine things ; 
 and that thou hast assumed the black cloak [cpaiov Tpißtvpiov, 
 the dress of Christian monks, as XevKov -rpißicviov, the white 
 cloak, was the dress of heathen philosophers and ascetics). 
 It would indeed be quite as well if it were the white cloak ; 
 for to heavenly light the most pure and lightsome of the ob- 
 jects of sense might most naturally be appropriated. But 
 since, following some of thy elders, thou hast preferred the 
 black colour, I reckon this, like everything else, good which 
 has a reference to the divine ; for the good consists in that on 
 account of w^hich anything is done, and virtue depends on the 
 disposition." He also attached such ideas to many heathen 
 forms of religion, which he did not acquire from them, but 
 had drawn from his own religious consciousness, to which 
 already much had been transferred from the Christian circle 
 in which he lived. Yet he was still far from that poverty of 
 spirit which leads men to Christ. Living in silent contem- 
 plation, he was satisfied with his own ideal world : he felt 
 himself happy among his books ; in intercourse with a few 
 congenial iriends ; in an esoteric union of four individuals 
 agreeing in their religious and philosophic habits of thinking 
 (his sacred quaternion, lepa rex/ja/cTv?) ; in blameless pleasures ; 
 in the succour which his property, talents, and influence 
 could render to the afflicted and oppressed, which was a 
 source of peculiar joy to his benevolent heart. In his out- 
 ward cii'cumstances there w^as little that could remind him of 
 
HIS SEARCH FOR TRUTH. 155 
 
 the poverty, the misery, or the weakness of man. As he had 
 few conflicts from Avithout to endnre which might have called 
 forth in him a deeper consciousness of sin, so by the peculiar 
 constitution of his mind he belonged to that class in whom it 
 is difficult to develop such a consciousness. He was not in- 
 clined to sensuality, not moved by ambition ; in general, he 
 was not a man of warm passions ; his predominant tendency 
 was to philosophic contemplation ; yet even this in itself, so 
 noble, when the way to heaven by the cross has not been dis- 
 covered, may become a pillow on which the "old man" may 
 repose. He felt indeed, when he wished to rise to the con- 
 templation of the divine, the mastership of a foreign power 
 which dragged down to earth the heaven-allied spirit of man; 
 but he sought for the cause of it, not in the corruption of his 
 inward nature, but in a foreign element — the gross earthly 
 matter by which the heavenly essence was detained as in a 
 prison. He attributed this foreign element to the influence 
 of demons, to whom man had been subjected by his connection 
 with it. But these demons again were not sj)irits fallen from 
 the holy God by their own will, but only the progeny of that 
 material principle, that blind power of nature, the antagonist 
 of reason, law, and order, with which the divine, as it revealed 
 itself in this world, was at continual war. Hence blind 
 desire and passion formed the peculiar essence of these 
 demons ; they infused into men who were brought under their 
 sway desires and passions, by means of their connection with 
 matter. Synesius sought, therefore, redemption from the 
 power of matter and its demons, but not redemption from sin. 
 The spirit sought to be freed from the bondage of matter. 
 Yet even in this conflict he might be made aware of his want 
 of strength. And this might be the transition-point to a sense 
 of the need of redemption, although the right understanding 
 of what redemption is might not yet exist. 
 
 In moments when he felt himself oppressed in spirit by a 
 foreign power, and checked in rising to the divine, he turned 
 himself in j)rayer, with tears of anxious longing, to a purifying, 
 redeeming, conciliating God (öeo? [waio^;^ /^ieiXi^io<s, Ka6äi)aio<<), 
 to whom he felt himself drawn in his heart ; he sought this 
 redeeming God on high ; he did not yet know the redeeming 
 God wlio appeared in lowliness, and who is nigh to the lowly. 
 The heavenly Father, who in every nation is not far from any 
 
156 CHRISTIANITY ASCENDANT IN THE ROMAN EMPIRE. 
 
 one who fears and loves him, and acts right, as far as he is 
 able, did not leave himself without witness when out of the 
 fulness of his heart he prayed to him, and thereby strengthened 
 him in his faith. He who draws the hearts of men to his 
 Son, in order to impart himself to them through him, and in 
 him grants them to find rest — he drew Synesius by many ex- 
 periences, which at the time were painful. Au embassy to 
 the imperial court, which he had undertaken for his native 
 city, forced him to spend three years full of care and dis- 
 quietude at Constantinople. It was the most melancholy 
 time he had ever had in his life ; he to whom, as to every 
 noble-minded man, freedom was the sweetest of all earthly 
 things, was obliged to sacrifice even this to duty, to subject 
 himself to a variety of harassing engagements, to beg for an 
 audience with persons of rank or the emperor, and to pass 
 nights on a carpet before the palace. Here he sought con- 
 solation in God ; he went into all the churches, fell on his 
 knees, and prayed with tears that his journey might not be in 
 vain. He had the opportunity of hearing the discourses of a 
 Chrysostom, which could hardly fail of affecting his heart. 
 By the consolation which he found in Christian churches, and 
 by his frequent attendance on the public worship of Chris- 
 tians, Christianity itself gained easier access to his heart. 
 Although still mixing heathen and Christian views, he prayed 
 after his return, when he again trod on his native soil, that 
 God would unite him closer to himself by baptism. " Father, 
 thou fountain of heavenly wisdom," he prayed, "let spiritual 
 light shine into my heart from thy bosom ; show me the holy 
 path that leads to thee ; give me the sign ; impress thy seal 
 upon me." 
 
 Synesius, owing to the confidence placed in him by his 
 fellow-citizens, was appointed bishop of Ptolemais before he 
 had arrived at the simplicity of faith, and while still occupy- 
 ing a middle point between Platonism and Christianity. On 
 many grounds he strove to decline the office. The subjects 
 with which he had occupied himself only in quiet solitude, on 
 which he had been used to converse only with the most con- 
 fidei«^ial and congenial friends, these he must now discuss as 
 the common property of the imlearned and the educated, of 
 the ignorant and the philosophic, and explain them in a 
 manner intelligible to all. He was also convinced that man 
 
APPOINTED BISHOP OF PTOLEMAIS. 157 
 
 could only please God through that truth which was alHcd to 
 him, and durst not come into God's sanctuary with falsehood; 
 he wished, therefore, not to conceal that his sentiments con- 
 tradicted the doctrine of the church on many points, and felt 
 compelled to express them frankly before those persons on 
 w^honi the impartation of the episco])al dignity depended. 
 But the pious clergy indulged the confident hope that lie who 
 perfects what he has begun would carry on the work of grace 
 that had commenced in this individual. And the disposition 
 with which Synesius at last accepted the ofiicc served to 
 justify this expectation; for he was resolved to sacrifice his 
 own dearest inclinations to that God to whom obedience, 
 the sacrifice of self-will, is the most acceptable oflPering, as 
 soon as it appeared clear to him, from the leading of circum- 
 stances, that God had called him to this office, especially when 
 he found that the open avowal of his scruples had no effect in 
 setting aside his nomination. 
 
 " Much as I hate," he said, " public offices and cares, yet I 
 M'ill undertake this onerous office, though with pain, as soon 
 as God lays it upon me." Although the concerns of the 
 episcopal office necessarily deprived him of the rest and leisure 
 of a life devoted to meditation, yet he was convinced that if 
 God, who called him to this office, were with him, it would 
 not withdraw him from that wisdom after -which he strove, 
 but rather lead him to a higher stage of it. Indeed, he 
 might justly expect, that what he had not yet discovered by 
 meditation and study, would be learned in livicg experience, 
 in daily intercourse with holy things, since he brought with 
 him an earnest mind, turned to God and impressed with the 
 dignity of the office. To those who had chosen him to the 
 episcopate, he wrote thus: "I did not overcome you at first 
 when I used every means in my power to avoid the episcopal 
 dignity, and now you have not overcome me, but it is the 
 leading of God which has brought matters to their present 
 issue. I would rather have died many times over than under- 
 take this office ; for I believed myself unequal to such labour. 
 But since God has brought about, not wliat I prayed for, but 
 what he willed, it is my prayer that he who has allotted me 
 this kind of life will be also my guide in performing its 
 duties. For how should I, since from my youth I hav{^ lived 
 in philosophic leisure and in the peaceful contemplation of 
 
158 CHEISTIANITY ASCENDANT IN THE KOMAN EMPIEE. 
 
 Truth, and have only experienced so much care as was 
 absolutely unavoidable, if one has anything to do with worldly 
 and civil life — how should I be equal to incessant cares? Or 
 how shall I, if I engage in a variety of affairs, be able to 
 attend to those spiritual and sublime objects which can only 
 be.enjoyed in a state of happy repose ? I know not how this 
 can be, yet we are told that with God all things are possible, 
 even what appears impossible. Therefore lift up your hands to 
 God; pray for me, and require the whole church in town 
 and country to pray for me ; for if I am not forsaken by God, 
 I shall find that the priesthood, so far from leading me away 
 from philosophy, will lead me to a higher stage of it." What 
 he here asserts, he experienced in fact, although in a different 
 way from what he expected: God's thoughts are not as man's 
 thoughts. In fact, God led him, by what he experienced 
 during his episcopate, in the way of the cross, nearer to the 
 end of true living wisdom. 
 
 In his episcopal office he met with a variety of domestic 
 and public trials, which lead the heart to that Being who 
 alone can help and cure — such as the devastation of the 
 country by war, the loss of beloved children, and other 
 calamities affecting his church. We cannot trace his subse- 
 quent life with sufficient accuracy to decide what progress he 
 made in Christian knowledge. From his zeal for the doctrine 
 of the Trinity, which at an earlier period he had no scruple 
 in admitting, and which he could easily by his Platonic 
 philosophy explain in his own way, we cannot draw conclu- 
 sions respecting his views of Christian truth as a whole, for a 
 doctrine of the Trinity poured into the crucible of a certain 
 philosophy does not make Christians ; but we might gather 
 more from the fact that in one of his letters he grounds the 
 dignity of man not so much on his heaven-allied nature"^' as 
 on Christ's dying for men on the cross. 
 
 While in this excellent man the transition from Platonism 
 to Christianity was gradually formed without our remarking 
 any decided crisis, and a new section in his life proceeding 
 
 * As in those words of his prayer — " I bear in me thy seed, the sparks 
 of the Spirit, which is of heavenly origin." This consciousness has a 
 foundation in truth ; only, he who experiences it must not forget that 
 man by sin has lost that nobility of descent, and that it must be reno- 
 vated. 
 
augustin's early life. 159 
 
 from it, we see, on the other hanrl, in the instrmce of a man, 
 who was afterwards a distinguished iather of the church, 
 Aup^ustin, how a new great section of a life, penetrated 
 altogether by the spirit of Chi-istianity, resulted from a long 
 preparatory process. The life of this individual shows us 
 many periods of development in mankind considered as a 
 whole, and we recognize in him the wonderful methods by 
 which Infinite Wisdom knows how to form its instruments. 
 
 We have already remarked that Augustin in early childhood 
 received into his heart the seeds of Christianity from his 
 loving and pious mother, Monica. But this seed was not all 
 at once to germinate and bring forth fruit. There was in his 
 nature, great but yet wild power Avhich needed to be tamed 
 by the higher power of the divine Spirit, and led into anotlier 
 direction; a raging earthly fire, which required to be purified 
 into a heavenly flame. It happened here that the seed fell 
 among thorns, and the thorns grew up and for a while 
 choked it (Matt. xiii.). When the passions and desires of 
 youth began to stir within him, ambition spurred him on, 
 and he entered into the amusements and dissipation of a large 
 city, Carthage, where he studied rhetoric ; gradually he 
 became alienated from the pious direction of his childhood, 
 and from the God to whom his pious mother had so early 
 dedicated him ; he Avas carried away into the world to 
 indulge in the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eye, and the 
 pride of life. 
 
 It often happens that amidst the darkness to whicb man 
 surrenders himself, a ray of light is sent by that divine grace 
 which trains the soul by outward and inward appliances ; and 
 if he does not yet firmly retain it, nor follow immediately the 
 call of grace, yet a restless anxiety remains in his bosom when 
 he has been once touched by Heaven, and this anxiety urges 
 and disturbs him till he attains that which can alone give 
 him inward rest and satisfaction. So it happened with 
 Augustin. In his nineteenth year, in the course of his 
 rhetorical studies, he met with Cicero's Hortensius, which 
 contained an exhortation to the study of philosophy. All at 
 once the futility of the objects that had hitherto fascinated 
 him struck his mind, and it seemed evident that philosophy 
 and the knowledge of truth formed the only worthy ends of 
 human exertion. " Suddenly," as he himself confesses, 
 
160 CHRISTIANITY ASCENDANT IN THE KOMAN EMPIRE. 
 
 *' every valu hope seemed to be annihilated, and ^yith an 
 incredulous movement of the heart I longed after imperish- 
 able wisdom, and I began to stand up in order to return to 
 thee, my God." This longing after tnith and vs'isdom, 
 without his being aware, impelled him to that God in whom 
 alone he could find truth and wisdom ; but yet the way that 
 would lead to him was wanting. He was indeed on the 
 point of rightly explaining this anxiety and of seeking for its 
 satisfaction from him in whom are hid all the treasures of 
 wisdom and knowledge. Awakening recollections of his 
 childhood drew him in the same direction. " Since my heart 
 while yet tender had taken in tlie Saviour's name with my 
 mother's milk, and had received so deep an impression of it, 
 nothing which was without this name, however beautiful and 
 refined it might appear, could captivate me." 
 
 He applied therefore to the volume of which his heart in 
 childhood had received so many salutary impressions — the 
 Bible ; but he was still too little trained to simplicity and 
 humility, and too much blinded by appearances, in order to 
 receive greatness in the form of a servant. '■ My pride," he 
 says of himseK, " was ashamed of thy lowliness, and my 
 vision could not penetrate into thy interior. It was thy 
 method to manifest thy greatness to the little ; but I was 
 ashamed to be little, and inflated with pride I appeared to 
 myself to be great." And in a sermon which he delivered 
 when a bishop, he says, " When first of all, as a youth, I 
 brought to the study of the Holy Scriptm-es rather a prying 
 acuteness, than a spirit of devout, truth-loving investigation, 
 I closed my Lord's door against myself by my perverted 
 state of mind. Instead of knocking that it might be opened 
 to me, I rather acted so that it might remain closed against 
 me ; for I ventured to seek with a lofty spirit what can only 
 be found by humility." In this state of mind he met with 
 persons belonging to the sect of the Manicheans, who ridiculed 
 the blind submission to authority in ordinary Christians, and 
 promised him, if he allowed himself to be initiated into their 
 sect, instead of faith, a perfect knowledge, which would 
 resolve all doubts and remove all difiiculties. Such a jDromise 
 must have alarmed the inexperienced, on account of the 
 obscurity M'liich the Holy Scripture must at that time have 
 had ; while it would be yery attractive to a youth who was 
 
ATTACHES HIMSELF TO THE MANICHEANS. 161 
 
 fired by an ardent curiosity. The enigmatical mysteries of 
 this sect must also have alhircd his imaginative faculty. As 
 the sensuous disposition of the natural man expresses itself 
 either in a dread of miracles or a longing for them, so that 
 either he seizes with a superficial mind what lies on the 
 surface, prefers clearness without depth, will neither dig into 
 the deep nor raise himself on high, and rejects without 
 examination as full of mystery whatever goes beyond the 
 circle of his common experiences or representations; or he 
 seeks for deep wisdom in everything which announces itself 
 as mysterious and enigmatical, while he holds as foolishness 
 divine wisdom, becauses it appears in simple attire. In the 
 sect of the Manicheans there were two degrees — the hearers 
 {auditor es) ^ from whom the key to their mysteries was kej)t 
 concealed, and the elect (electi), to whom the heights of 
 wisdom were to be exhibited in all their extent. How were 
 Augustinus expectations fixed on the time Avhen he was to 
 receive the disclosure of the mysteries as one of the elect ! 
 He seized w^th his whole soul what he could learn in the 
 first stage from the lessons of the Manicheans; but all that he 
 learned made him neither wiser nor better. He remained in 
 a state of conflict with himself, that unhappy distraction 
 which the apostle has so vividly depicted from his own 
 experience in Rom. vii. 
 
 For eight years he was thus harassed. Meanwhile many 
 difficulties in the Manichean doctrine were brought to his 
 view. He betook himself to Faustus, at Carthage, a leader 
 of the Manichean sect, noted for his genius and acutenoss. 
 He sought an interview with him, but found not what 
 he hoped for. Disappointed hope had made him wander 
 into Manichoism ; but as it not unfrequently happens, when 
 a person has hoped to find certain truth in a system to which 
 he has devoted himself, and yet is deceived in his expecta- 
 tions, he at last becomes distrustfid of everything which 
 professes to be truth ; so it happened that Augustin was 
 now in danger of giving himself uj) to total scej)ticism. Yet 
 a longing after truth, deeply seated in his soul, called him 
 back from this desjiair, and since under all the vacillation of 
 Lis opinions he had firmly retained faith in God, he derived 
 fresh hope and fresh courage from the thought that God 
 ■would not leave unsatisfied a want which he had implanted 
 
162 CHRISTIANITY ASCENDANT IN THE EOMAN EMPIRE. 
 
 SO deeply in the spirit of man allied to himself: accordingly 
 he often prayed to Him, the only witness of his internal 
 conflict, with many tears that he would reveal to Him the 
 way of truth. Recollections of the impressions of his child- 
 hood admonished him to seek this way in Christianity. 
 "Would, indeed," he thought to himself, " God have allowed 
 this religion to conquer after so many conflicts, and to have 
 accomplished so much for the transformation of mankind, if 
 he had not appointed it as the way to truth and salvation 
 for men who are uncertain, wavering, and driven hither and 
 thither in their opinions!"' While he M'as in this state of 
 mind, he heaid the discourses of Ambrose, the venerable 
 bishop of Milan, which had a powerful effect on his mind 
 and heart. He would fain have believed, but his scepticism 
 would not permit him to believe. There was a strife between 
 his understanding and his heart. As he was always afraid 
 lest he should be again deceived if he arrived at a conclusion 
 too soon, he wished to have a sensible certainty of divine 
 things, such a certainty as he had that " three and seven made 
 ten." 
 
 The Neo-Platonic philosophy, with which he became 
 acquainted during this period of mental agitation, had an 
 important influence on Augustin's mental tendencies. It 
 became for him a transition-point, from Manicheism and 
 scepticism, to a Christian mode of thinking on both divine 
 and human things. He found in it many ideas allied to 
 Chi'istianlty, though they had not the impress of what 
 was peculiarly Christian, since they wanted the real historical 
 element. Christianity rests, indeed, not on ideas, but on 
 facts. The first verse of John's gospel, respecting " the Word 
 that was with God and was God," and "by whom all things 
 w^ere made," became intelligible to him by means of this philo- 
 sophy; but the way to the Word who became flesh, and dwelt 
 among men, and gave power to as many as received him to 
 become the sons of God — this way he found not. Like 
 Sj'nesius he sought for God, whom he acknowledged as the 
 highest good of men, who were attracted to him by the 
 innermost necessities of their moral and spiritual nature — 
 he sought for him on high. Augustin thus expresses himself : 
 " That souls could only receive felicity from the fulness of 
 the eternal Word — that they could be received to wisdom 
 
INFLUENCE OF THE NEO-PLA.TONIC PHILOSOPHY. 163 
 
 through communion with the eternal Wisdom, — this is to be 
 found there. But that he in time should die for the ungodly, 
 and that thou hast not spared thy own Son, but given him up 
 for us all, that is not to be found there ; for this thou hast 
 hidden from the wise and prudent and revealed unto babes 
 — that all Avho are weary and heavy-laden should come to 
 him, and he can receive them ; for he is meek and lowly of 
 heart, and he teaches his way to the meek, since he sees 
 our lowliness and wretchedness, and forgives all our sins. 
 But those who are puifed up by the i)ride of a doctrine 
 which pretends to be something superior — they will not hear 
 Him who calls to them, ' Learn of me, who am meek and 
 lowly of heart, and ye shall find rest for your souls ;' although 
 they know God, they glorify him not as God, but are become 
 vain in their imaginations." Already Augustin sought a 
 method of uniting this philosophy — which filled him with an 
 enthusiasm for divine things, though deficient in power — with 
 the religion of his childhood ; akeady he constructed out of this 
 philosophy a Christ of his own, Avhom he conceived of as a 
 man peculiarly enlightened by God, and a Christianity con- 
 sisting of certain ideas. He spoke of divine things like an 
 experienced person without having experience. '■ Already," 
 he says, referring to his state at that time, " I wished to pass for 
 a philosopher, and bore my punishment in myself and yet 
 wept not. Where was, then, the love built on the foundation 
 of humility, which is Jesus Christ?" Yet this philosophy 
 could not impart power to make him master over those 
 passions with which, ten years before, ever since the fii*st 
 awakening of his lonoino; after the hi2:her life, he had main- 
 tained such a conflict. He still remained between God and 
 the world, inspired by a lofty ideal (as he renounced, for 
 example, all earthly things, and wished to live with his 
 friends in a Platonic society, devoted M'holly to the investiga- 
 tion of truth, so that no one should be anxious about his 
 bodily wants, but be supplied out of a common chest), and he 
 believed that in many moment of higher elevation he had 
 seized this ideal ; but it always vanished when the power of 
 passion and of counteracting circumstances brought him back 
 to the common realities of life. For the living and enlivening 
 ideal on which life forms itself is not the transient paroxysm 
 
 M 2 
 
164 CHRISTIANITY ASCENDANT IN THE ROMAN EMPIRE. 
 
 of poetic inspiration, but faith in the Word revealed in flesh, 
 in whom the ideal is realised, in Avhom heaven, the great 
 source of the ideal, is joined to earth. Augustin thus 
 expresses himself on this point: "I sought the way to a 
 happy communion with God, and could not find it until 
 I embraced the mediator between God and man, ' the man 
 Jesus Christ ;' even Him who has said, ' I am the way, the 
 truth, and the life.' I did not stay myself upon my Lord Jesus, 
 humbly on the humble One, and I knew not what was to be 
 learned from his weakness. For thy word, the eternal truth, 
 exalted above the whole creation, draws those which are 
 under its influence to itself; it has built itself a mean habita- 
 tion from the mud of our earth, in order to humble us, to 
 free us from ourselves, and to incorporate us with itself, to 
 cure o\ir pride and nourish our love, that we may not proceed 
 further in self-confidence, but rather become weak by the 
 contemplation of the Deity descending to our weakness, that 
 Me mav prostrate ourselves exhausted before it, and that then 
 it may raise us up." And such was the discipline through 
 which Augustin had to pass. It was necessary for him to 
 be filled with a sense of his misery and weakness, to despair 
 altogether of himself in order to experience the pov>-er of the 
 lledcemer in his inmost soul. He needed to become abso- 
 lutely and entirely weak in himself, ere he could be strong in 
 the Lord. This was the important decisive point for his 
 whole life, to which he was brought by a variety of inward 
 and outward experiences, under the direction of that God 
 who, in the guidance of free agents, discovers his infinite 
 wisdom. 
 
 From the study of the Platonists, Augustin passed to that 
 of the Scriptures, from which he had been deterred eleven 
 vears before. When he now came to the Bible, he had not 
 arrived at the conviction that here the only source of true 
 knowledge in divine things was to be found : but since he 
 felt himself drawn to the religion of his childhood by a 
 deeply seated impulse of his heart, he imagined, that as he 
 believed that he had found the highest wisdom in the Platonic 
 philosophy, he must find the same truth, only in another form, 
 and this agreement would confirm him so much the more in 
 his conviction ; and that one among the sacred writers, with 
 
DISCOVERS TRUTH IN THE SCRIPTURES. 165 
 
 •Nvliora he first became acquainted, was exactly the person 
 to whom he felt most allied in his mental constitution and 
 course of life, in whom he found those views most prominent 
 which were the most needful to him in his internal state 
 at that time, and which the Platonic philosophy could not 
 give. This writer was the Apostle Paul. Here he learnt 
 to know and judge himself; here he learnt the difference 
 between an idle, merely an apparent pleasure in divine 
 things, and a life in God ; what a chasm between the ideal, 
 in the contemplation of which the spirit delights itself, and 
 the realisation of the same in life. He arrived at the convic- 
 tion that it is of no avail for a man to delight in the law of 
 God after the inward man ; for what must he do with the 
 law in his members, warring against the law of his mind, and 
 bringing him into subjection to the law of sin which is in 
 his members ? Here he learnt that the great point is for man 
 to learn the way by which he may attain, not only to see 
 God afar off, but to be cured of his sins in order to become 
 a habitation of the holy God. Here he learnt to exclaim, 
 'Oliserable man, M'hat can he do ? Who can free him from 
 his misery ? Only the grace of God through oui- Lord Jesus 
 Christ, by whom the handwriting that is against us is blotted 
 out." 
 
 AVTiile Augustin was occupied in comparing the Platonic 
 philosophy with the theology of the Apostle Paul, and 
 engaged in close conflict with himself, impelled in contrary 
 directions by the law of the spirit and the law in his 
 members, a fellow-countryman, Pontitian, who held a dis- 
 tinguished office at court, came to visit him. His astonish- 
 ment to find, not an ancient heathen author, but the Apostle 
 Paul lying on the table, gave the conversation a turn to 
 religious subjects ; amongst others, to the monastic institution, 
 in which at that time all earnest minds took a deep interest, 
 since this was then the form in which the earnest inward Chris- 
 tian life expressed itself, in opposition to a lightmindcd worldly 
 life, that was more heathenish than Christian. Pontitian on 
 this occasion gave the following narration to his friend, who 
 listened with deep attention : "It happened that I came in the 
 emperor's retinue to Treves. While the emperor witnessed 
 the exhibitions at the circus, in the afternoon I went with 
 
166 CHRISTIANITY ASCENDANT IN THE EOMAN EMPIRE. 
 
 three of my colleagues and friends to walk in the gardens 
 near the city walls. We went two together. Two of us 
 went before, and came to a hermit's cell. Here we found the 
 life of Anthony, the father of monks. One of us read, and 
 was so atFected that he exclaimed, full of the sense of the 
 nothingness of his endeavours, which had hitherto been 
 directed to vrorldly splendour and honour — ' ^^^lat do we 
 intend by all our labour ? Can we desire anything higher 
 at court than the favour of the emperor ? And when shall I 
 obtain it r But if I wish to be a friend of God, I can be so 
 in an instant.' He at once renounced the service of the 
 court and remained there as a hermit, in order to be occu- 
 pied only with divine things." 
 
 This story. v>-hich his friend told Augustin without any 
 special design, made a decided impression on his mind, 
 in accordance with his state of feeling at the time. During 
 a conflict which had lasted twelve years, he had not mastered 
 the desires and passions that attached him to the world, nor 
 had been able to come to a resolution which that person arrived 
 at in an instant, by a firm direction of the will ! "How long," 
 said he, '"do we fight with all our knowledge against flesh 
 and blood, when here a man, without philosophy, gives up all 
 worldly follies in an instant ! " Carried away by this reflec- 
 tion, filled with anguish and shame for himself, he hastened 
 into the garden, and threw himself down under a fig-tree. 
 His internal state stood exposed before his eyes ; with 
 fervent weeping he pom-ed forth his heart before God, with- 
 out being able to find comfort. He heard in an adjoining 
 bouse a child's voice repeatedly cry out — "Take and read!" 
 He regarded these words as a direction from heaven, — he 
 snatched up the Bible which he had left on a bench in the 
 garden, and applied to himself the first words he found as a 
 watch- word given by the Lord. He opened it, and the first 
 words that met his eyes were those in Rom. xiii. 14, " Put 
 ye on the Lord Jesus Christ." These words diffused at once, 
 repose, clearness, and confidence in his inmost soul. He now 
 knew what he had to do. — to forget the things that were 
 behind and renounce self, to resign himself to the Redeemer, 
 who had called him to himself — to submit to his guidance, 
 and in him to forget himself. The few moments in which he 
 
MANY PROFESSORS ONLY FORMALISTS. 167 
 
 formed these resolutions, owed their incalcuhible importance 
 to their connection with the whole preceding development of 
 his life, including so many different stages. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 NOMINAL AND GENUINE CHRISTIANS SEPARATISM— 
 
 YARIOUS REVIVALS OF CHRISTIANITY THE 
 
 INFLUENCE OP PIOUS MOTHERS. 
 
 Since so many persons, as we have seen in the foregoing 
 pages, became converts to Christianity merely from outward 
 considerations, or remained in communion with the church 
 merely from the force of habit, we cannot be surprised that on 
 such persons Christianity could not evince its sanctifying 
 power. Hence the great mass of those persons who formed 
 no just conceptions of the nature of Christianity, and of the 
 Christian calling, supposed that they had done enough by 
 frequenting the churches on the principal religious festivals, 
 and looked upon serious occupation with the coHcerns of 
 Christianity as belonging only to the clergy and to monks. 
 This led Chrysostom to complain that the churches which 
 were thronged on feast-days, on other occasions were visited 
 only by a few. " ^^^lere are now," he says, " those who 
 thronged to us at the feasts ? I mourn for them, when I think 
 how many brethren I have lost, how few pay attention to 
 their salvation, and hpw the great part of the body of the 
 church resembles a corpse." In another homily, he says, in 
 reference to people who supposed that reading the Bible was 
 not their business : " 1 always exhort and shall never cease 
 to exhort you, not merely to read the Bible here in church, 
 but also occupy your time in reading it at home, and I would 
 also have you pay attention to it in your private meetings. 
 For let no one utter those cold and culpable words, ' I must 
 always be at the court; I have civil business to manage; I have 
 a trade to carry on ; I have a wife and childi'cn to support ; 
 
168 CHRISTIANITY ASCENDANT IN THE ROilAN EMPIRE. 
 
 domestic affairs demand my attention ; I am a man of busi- 
 ness ; it is not my concern to read the Holy Scriptures, but 
 theirs who have renounced the world, who have withdraM'n to 
 the top of the mountain.' What dost thou say, man? Is 
 it not thy business to occupy thyself with the Bible, when 
 thou art surrounded by a thousand cares ? On the contrary, 
 thou needest it more than other persons. They are at rest, 
 as if in port. But we who are driven about on the ocean of 
 life, require continual exhortation from Holy Writ. They 
 are far from the scene of conflict ; thou art in the midst of 
 the combat, and art continually receiving fresh wounds; 
 hence thou needest more means of salvation. Many cares, 
 many inducements to anger or to sorrow, much nourish- 
 ment of vanity and pride, much suffering surrounds us on 
 all sides ; a thousand darts are directed against us from 
 every quarter. Hence we continually need the whole armour 
 of the Holy Scriptures." As in the apostolic age, those 
 Christians who distinguished themselves from the corrupt 
 heathen world by their serious and strict life, were ridiculed 
 by the heathen as gloomy enthusiasts ; so now those persons 
 were ridiculed by light-minded nominal Christians, vrho were 
 not satisfied to confess the Saviour with their lips, but felt 
 impelled by the inspiration of faith to follow him in their 
 practice. Augustin says, " As whoever among the heathen 
 resolves to be a Christian, meets with harsh language, so 
 those among Christians who wish to be better Christians, 
 and to be strict in their Christianity, suffer reproaches from 
 their fellow-Christians. And of what use is it, my brother, 
 that thou hast found a place where there is no heathen r No 
 one calumniates Christians here, excepting Christians, since 
 here not a single heathen, is to be found ; but there are many 
 Christians who are leading bad lives. And whoever dwellins: 
 near them, wishes to live a truly Christian life, to be sober 
 among the intemperate, to be chaste among the unchaste, — 
 among those who consult astrologers, to worship God sincerely,, 
 and to keep clear of such practices, — to go only to church,^ 
 among the lovers of pleasure who flock only to the theatre, — 
 he will find his calumniators amonfj Christians themselves, and 
 must endure many a hard word from them. They say, ' Thou 
 great man, thou saint, thou art, to be sure, an Elijah, a Peter ; 
 thou art indeed come down from heaven !'" And in another 
 
THE PIOUS HIDICULED AS ENTHUSIASTS. IGO 
 
 sermon the same father says : '^' " Whoever begins to 
 live to God, to despise the Avorld, not to wish to revenge 
 himself for injuries inflicted, not to long after the riches of 
 this world, not to seek earthly good here, but to contemn it, 
 to think of the Lord alone, not to turn aside from Christ's 
 ways — of such not only do the heathen say, ' He is mad,' but 
 what is still more to be lamented, since in the church itself 
 so many sleep and will not Avake, they say of their own 
 people, their fellow-Christians, ' What has happened to thee ? 
 Why dost thou live so ? AVilt thou be alone a Christian ? 
 Why dost thou not do what others do ? Why art thou not 
 present at the shows, like others ? Why dost thou not use 
 charms and amulets {Q'cmedia et ligaturas) ? Why dost thou 
 not consult soothsayers and astrologers, like other people?'" 
 And elsewhere he says, " He calls on Christ aright who says, 
 not with his lips but with his life, ' The world is crucified unto 
 me, and I unto the world.' He begins to despise the world, 
 to esteem as nothing what men love ; he despises injuries ; 
 he seeks no revenge ; he prays for his enemies. When he 
 begins to act in this manner, all his relations and friends arc 
 in an uproar. Those who love the world gainsay him : 'Why 
 dost thou act like a madman ? Thou art extravagant. Are 
 other people no Christians ? This is folly, madness.'" 
 Augustin here spoke of what he had experienced at the 
 turning-point of his own life, and added from his own expe- 
 rience, for the benefit of those who wished not to place them- 
 selves on a level with the world, " I will tell you what many 
 besides myself have experienced in the name of Christ; for 
 the church does not cease to let such go forth from her bosom. 
 When a Christian first begins to live piously, to show a 
 glowing zeal in good works, to despise the world, he finds, 
 since his mode of life strikes them as a novelty, that luke- 
 warm Christians treat him with reproach and contradiction. 
 
 * Incipiat mundum contemnere, inopi sua distribuere, nihilo habere 
 quiE homines amant, contemnat injurias, non appetat vindicari, paiet 
 maxillatn percutienti, oret pro inimicis ; si quis ei abstulerit sua, non 
 repetat ; si quid alicui abstulerit, reddat quailruplum. Cum ista faccre 
 coeperit omnes sui cognati, affines, amici commoventur. Qui diligunt 
 ssecuium, contradicunt. Quid insanis ? Nimius es ; numquid alii non 
 sunt Christiani ? Ista stultitia est, ista dementia est. — August. Serw. 
 88, § 12, 13. 
 
170 CHRISTIANITY ASCENDANT IN THE EOMAN EMPIEE. 
 
 But if he persists and conquers them by endurance, is not 
 neo-lio-ent of good works, then, at last, those who before 
 would have hindered him begin to imitate him ; for they 
 find fault, bluster and exclaim against him as long as they 
 can hope to make him give way. But if they see themselves 
 conquered by his persistency, they turn round and begin to 
 say, ' A great, a holy man ! how happy is he whom God has 
 so blessed.'" 
 
 Those persons who were animated with the fire of holy zeal 
 inthe midst of a generation of cold and lukewarm Christians 
 would have acted best to let their light shine in their midst, 
 and to testify among them, by word and conduct, of the virtues 
 of him who had called them out of darkness into his marvel- 
 lous light, in order to attract others to him who dwelt and 
 operated within them. But many in the first glow of their 
 awakening fled into the deserts, in order to escape the pre- 
 valent corruption, since their ardour could not endure the 
 indifference of other professed Christians to divine things, 
 and they were fiUed with disgust at the moral corruption 
 of a world glossed over with a semblance of Christianity; 
 others, who could not deny the necessity of Christian com- 
 munion and outward activity, united themselves with like- 
 minded persons, in a state of separation from other society, in 
 a convent; others altogether renounced the chm-ch, and main- 
 tained that on account of the wickedness tolerated in it, it 
 had ceased to be a genuine church of Christ, for such an one 
 must necessarily be pure and holy, and they sought to form 
 for themselves a church bearing this mark. But all these 
 classes of persons forgot that it is the calling of Christians, 
 not to flee outwardly from the world, but as Vigilantius, the 
 opponent of monkery, rightly observed, to combat it in 
 dependence on Him who said to his disciples, and equally to 
 all believers : " These things have I spoken unto you, that in 
 me ye might have peace : in the world ye shall have tribulation ; 
 but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world ;" and who 
 prayed for them to his Father : "I pray not that thou shouldst 
 take them out of the world, but that thou shouldst keep them 
 from the evil." They forgot that the Christian, as long as he 
 is in the world, has to combat with the world, whether it be 
 the world pressing upon him from without, or the world in his 
 own bosom, a far more dangerous enemy, and but for which 
 
TENDENCY TO MONASTIC LIFE. 171' 
 
 all the power of evil pressing upon him from without could 
 not injure him. They do not consider that in this world a 
 pure and holy church, in itself, can as httle be found as a pure 
 and holy man in himself; that he alone finds true purity and 
 holiness, who, for2;eting and denying himself, seeks them in 
 his Lord, who will appropriate to him his own holiness ; that 
 everj'-where, in eveiy individual believer, as well as in every 
 collective body, great or small, the tares grow up with the 
 com ; that it is the Christian's calling to take all possible 
 care of the good fruit, and to preserve it pure ; to guard 
 against the spread of the tares, but that, above all, he has to 
 guard himself against a self-willed, intolerant zeal, which, before 
 all things are ripe for harvest, would separate the tares from 
 the wheat. Against such a tendency as that last mentioned, 
 Gregory of Nazianzen says : " Thou mayst pull up at the 
 same time with the tares the concealed M'heat, and wheat 
 perhaps more valuable than thyself." And Augustin says 
 very admirably against the same tendencies: "Whither 
 should the Christian withdraw in order not to sijrh amonsr 
 folse brethren ? Must he betake himself to the desert r 
 Offences will follow him there. Must the far-advanced 
 Christian wholly separate himself, in order to endure the pre- 
 sence of no man r What, although no one would endure him, 
 before he was so far advanced } If, therefore, because he is so 
 far advanced he will endure no man, the very fact of his not 
 bearing with others convicts him of the contrary, and proves 
 that he is not an advanced Christian. Mark what the apostle 
 says (Eph. iv. 2) : ' Forbearing one another in love, endeavour- 
 ing to keep the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace.' 'For- 
 bearing one another,' he says. Hast thou nothing in thyself 
 which another must boar with ? I should be surprised if it 
 were so. But supposing it were so, thou art so much the 
 stronger to bear with others, if thou hast nothing in thee for 
 others to bear M'ith. Thou needest not to be borne, only do 
 thou bear others. Thou sayest, ' I cannot.' Then hast thou 
 that in thee which others must bear with ; for it is said, 
 ' Forbearing one another in love.' Thou forsakcst human 
 things, and keepest thyself aloof that none may see thee. 
 To whom wilt thou be of use r Wouldst thou have attained 
 to that had no one been of use to thee r" He then addresses 
 himself particularly to those who, in order not to give up Chris- 
 
172 CHRISTIANITY ASCENDANT IN THE EOMAN EMPIRE. 
 
 tian communion along -with their separation from the world, 
 connected themselves with like-minded persons in a cloister. 
 " Withdrawn from the bustle of the world, they are, as it 
 were, in a harbour. Do they find there the pure and pro- 
 mised joy ? Not yet : but still sighing, still the misery of 
 temptations. What should prevent a bad man from finding 
 entrance there ? Do all come with their hearts laid open to 
 view ? The comers do not know themselves ; how much less 
 canst thou know them ? "Wilt thou exclude the bad brethren 
 from the society of the good ? Thou, who talkest thus, ex- 
 clude, if thou canst, all evil thoughts from thy own heart. 
 W"e all wish for strong hearts in Avhich nothing evil gains 
 entrance. But who knows whence the evil has gained en- 
 trance? And we have daily conflicts in each of our own 
 hearts. Where is security? Never here ; never in this life, 
 but in the hope inspired by God's promises. But there, when 
 we have arrived there, will be perfect secui'ity, when the 
 gates of the heavenly Jerusalem shall be closed and the bars 
 of its gates made fast, then there will be a full jubilee and 
 great joy." Golden words, these! All extravagant require- 
 ments from others in the world generally arise from this, that 
 man is a stranger to himself: that he does not know how 
 much he has yet to deplore on his own account, and to 
 amend in himself, and that he who would enjoy heaven upon 
 earth cannot eat bread in the sweat of his brow. Augustin 
 shows how easily those — who have not observed that here 
 below evil always stands at the side of good — who know not 
 how to distinguish the church triumphant from the church 
 militant, nor the invisible church, the assembly of the saints, 
 from the visible church, and hence wish to have the ideal 
 here — such persons, when they find themselves deceived, 
 pass from extravagant praise to extravagant censure. " The 
 Christian church is extolled," he says ; " Christians only are 
 great men ; they all love another ; they do whatever they 
 can for one another. Whoever hears such language and 
 does not know that the evil mixed with them is passed over 
 in silence, is attracted by the panegyric ; he finds the bad 
 mixed with the good, of M'hom nothing had been said before ; 
 false Christians give him offence, and on that account he 
 avoids even those who are genuine. Now he turns round, full 
 of hatred and calumny, to find fault with Chiistians. What 
 
DUTY OF THE CHURCH TO THE WORLD. 173 
 
 people are these Christians ? Are they not the same %Yho 
 fill the theatres on the days of public spectacles, and the 
 churches on the feast-days?" 
 
 That separation of the third kind -which led men, ^vhen 
 they had joined this or the other honoured individual, to seek 
 a pure and holy society in opposition to a corrupt church, 
 that tendency which we may designate the separatist, easily 
 led to false confidence in persons and in human rectitude. 
 Such a tendency Augustin found among the Donatists of his 
 time, with whom Donatus was everything, and of them he 
 says : " When they hear that a heathen speaks evil of Christ, 
 they bear it more patiently than when they hear their 
 Donatus evil spoken of." And against this tendency he 
 remarks admirably : " Let no one wish to place his hopes in 
 a man. Man is only something as long as he depends on 
 God. Let him withdraw from Him, and he is nothing, lle- 
 ceive counsel through man only in such a way that thou 
 lockest to Him who enlightens man. For thou mayest come 
 to Him who speaks to thee through man ; for he lets not that 
 man come to him while he rejects thee. And to him who 
 lias so come to God that God dwells in him, all persons are 
 displeasing who do not place their hope in God. Whoever 
 wishes to form a party amongst men, he is not one of those 
 mountains which the Most High enlightens ; but what is he ? 
 he is dark in himself, not light in the Lord." 
 
 Against those Avho were neglectful of their calling to 
 labour for the salvation of others, Chrysostom says : " That 
 .every one should be active, not only for his own salvation, 
 but also for that of the multitude, is proved by Christ" s words 
 V, hen he calls Christians salt, and leaven, and light ; for the 
 light shines not for itself, but for those that sit in darkness, 
 and thou art a light not to enjoy the light for thyself alone, 
 but to bring back the wanderers. What is the use of the 
 light if it does not enli^rhten those that sit in darkness ? 
 What is the use of a Christian if he wins no one, brings back 
 no one to virtue ? Also the salt does not keep itself alone, 
 but it keeps bodies that are in danger of putrefaction, and 
 preserves them from dissolution. Do thou also the same ; 
 since God has made spiritual salt out of thee, keep the mem- 
 bers that are likely to putrefy ; rescue them from it, unite 
 them to the sound body of the church. On this account the 
 
174 CHEISTIANITY ASCENDANT IN THE EOMAN EMPIRE. 
 
 Lord has also called thee leaven ; for the leaven does not 
 leaven itself, but the rest of the mass. A little quantity- 
 leavens a large mass. So it is with you: if you are only few 
 in number, yet you may be many and powerful by faith and 
 divine zeal. Now as the leaven, though small in quantity, is 
 not too weak, but penetrates by its indwelling warmth and 
 power, so also you can arouse many more, if you will, to the 
 same zeal." Thus Chrysostom exhorts them to home-mis- 
 sionary efforts. 
 
 That Providence brings men to vital Christianity by a 
 varietv of methods is shown particularly in the history of the 
 mental formation of those men who were employed by the 
 Lord as instruments for the advancement of Christian know- 
 ledge and of the Christian life. AVe notice that early Christian 
 education, particularly by pious mothers, has had gi-eat in- 
 fluence in most cases, which was aided by many peculiar 
 disturbances in their inward and outward life, by which the 
 long-oppressed seed of religion was called forth to full activity. 
 Thus Gregory Nazianzen, whose mother was the pious Nonna 
 already mentioned. She hastened with her firstborn, as soon 
 as she could, to the chui-ch, dedicated him to God, that his 
 life might be of special service to religion, and placed as a 
 sign of dedication, as was often done in such cases, a copy of 
 the Gospels in the child's hand. The recollection of this first 
 consecration always made a great impression on Gregory's 
 mind ; he compared himself to Samuel, whom Hannah dedi- 
 cated so early to God. When a youth, he was nearly ship- 
 wrecked in a storm, and he was pained at the thought that he 
 was likely to die unbaptized. He prayed with ardent teai's 
 that God would preserve his life for his service. And when 
 he saw that his prayer was heard, he regarded it as a second 
 dedication, a fresh obligation to devote his whole life to God. 
 The son, who never reflected on his mother without a feeling 
 of the deepest gi'atitude, especially on account of the blessing 
 received from her for his higher life, gives the following 
 description of her: '' That she never visited the theatre ; that 
 though full of inward feeling and concern for the sufferings of 
 others, yet no sudden emotion of sorrow could overcome her 
 soul so that she could not first of all thank God for what had 
 happened to her ; that whatever mournful event might have 
 happened, she never wore mourning on a feast-day, for in her 
 
INFLUENCE OF PIOUS MOTHERS. 175 
 
 the human ^yas always overpowered by the divine ; the re- 
 ligious feelings conquered all others ; the concerns of salvation 
 relating to mankind moved her heart more dee])ly than any- 
 thing personal. She appeared in church with reverential 
 devotion. This feeling of reverence was impressed on her 
 outward appearance, so that she never ventured to expectorate 
 in the church nor to turn her back to the altar;" which as 
 a mere outward thing might be despised, but an outward 
 manifestation of internal tender piety deserves respect, as at 
 all times the disposition is of main importance, in whatever 
 forms, in themselves indifferent, it may be expressed ; and 
 this disposition Nonna preserved in her last trial, for " she 
 died while praying in the church." 
 
 The effects of this Christian training of her children by the 
 pious Nonna were seen not only in her firstborn, but in her 
 second son, Ca^sarius. His course of life was very different 
 indeed from Gregory's; he w^as more deeply involved in the 
 distractions of worldly life, and held the office of imperial 
 physician in the court of Constantinople. He remained at 
 court W'hcn the Emperor Julian came to the throne. This 
 prince, who was so hostile to Christianity, and anxious to 
 withdraw all men of eminent talent from the church, and to 
 enlist them in the service of heathenism, employed all the 
 arts of persuasion and promises upon Cocsarius. His family 
 were rendered very anxious on his account. His brother 
 Gregory wrote to him, and said, " How can thy father, the 
 bishop, exhort others not to be carried away by the times? 
 how can he punish offenders in any other quarter when in his 
 own house he has no ground for joy?" They endeavoured to 
 conceal the state of things from his mother, for they knew 
 that her pious heart would be wounded most acutely if her son 
 yielded to the emperor's solicitations. But Ca^sarius held 
 the gospel to be a pearl for which everything should be parted 
 with, and he quitted the court rather than injure the cause 
 of God. When he returned to a court life, after this em- 
 peror's death, a remarkable occurrence gave fresh excitement 
 to his piety. During an earthquake which desolated the town 
 of Nica;a in Bithynia, where he held an honourable office, he 
 was buried under the falling ruins of his own house. But he 
 was taken out alive and unhurt. His friend, Basil, of Caesarea, 
 then wrote to him, and suggested how it behoved a Christian 
 
176 CHEISTIANITY ASCENDANT IX THE ROMAN EMPIRE. 
 
 to regard such events. " It now remains for us to show that 
 we are not unirrateful nor unworthy of so great a mercy, but, 
 according to our ability, to make kno^\Ti God's wonders, and 
 to thank him not only with words, but also to be thankful in 
 fact, as I am convinced that you are disposed to be after the 
 wonders you have witnessed. Although it is enjoined on all 
 of us to devote ourselves to God as those that are alive from 
 the dead, yet how much more is this incumbent on those who 
 have been raised from the gates of death. This, according to 
 my conviction, would be attained most certainly if we always 
 wished to have the same mind which we had in the time of 
 danger ; for then surely the thought of the nothingness of life 
 laid hold of us, and we felt that nothing in buman things was 
 trustworthy and stable, since all things were so instantaneously 
 changed. Then probably we repented of our former lives, 
 and we vowed to serve God afresh if he delivered us, and to 
 watch over ourselves most strictly. Hence we are bound to 
 discharge an urgent debt." Such an impression was really 
 made by this wonderful deliverance on the mind of Caesarius. 
 Baptism was for him, as for so many others at that time, the 
 starting-point of a new section of his life, which was now 
 filled with deeper earnestness. Yet he was able to exemplify 
 his new resolutions only for a short time, for he was called 
 away to eternal life. '• I leave all I have to the poor," were 
 his last words. 
 
 Basil of Caesarea received his first training in a lonely spot 
 of Pontus from his pious grandmother, Emmelia. who scattered 
 in his young mind the seeds of Ciiristianity, which she had re- 
 ceived from Gregory Thaumatm-gus, the venerable bishop of 
 Neo-Ca^sarea. When he returned from his literary studies at 
 Athens to his native place Caesarea, and by the splendour shed 
 around him by his talents might have been seduced from serious 
 thoughts, the effect of his pious grandmother's instructions 
 was strengthened by the influence of his sister Macrina, who 
 had been early trained to read the Sacred Script-ares by that 
 grandmother, and in whom the first impressions of childhood 
 had been perpetuated in a quiet, retired life. Basil entered 
 on a new section of his life at his baptism ; he prepared him- 
 self for the clerical office in retirement, or in intercourse with 
 like-minded persons, and in prayer, combined with the study 
 of the Holy Scriptures and the Fathers. He says himself of 
 
CONVERSION OF THEODORET's MOTHER. 177 
 
 this new direction of his life : " When I — who had dissipated 
 much time in vain things, and had spent almost my whole 
 youth in learning that wisdom which is foolishness witli 
 God — when I, aAvaking, as it were, out of a deep sleep beheld 
 the wonderful light of the truths of the gospel, then I per- 
 ceived the uselessness of the wisdom of the princes of this 
 world, which comes to nought ; then I lamented my hitherto 
 pitiable life ; I sought help ; I sought to appropriate divine 
 truth, and strove before all things to amend my mental state, 
 which had been injured for a long time by associating with 
 the bad." 
 
 Theodoret's pious mother exerted a similar influence in his 
 education. She Avas threc-and-twenty years old, brought up 
 in all the splendour of the metropolis of the Roman empire in 
 the East, Antioch, when a weakness of the eyes M-as the occa- 
 sion of bringing her to serious reflection. She sought out 
 Peter, a venerable monk of Antioch, and besought him to cure 
 her by his prayers. He began to reprove her for the splendid 
 attire in which she appeared before him. " Did she mean to 
 insult the formative skill of the Creator by attempting to deck 
 and beautify his workmanship by artificial ornament?" He 
 then said, in answer to her request, "I am a mortal like 
 yourself, and a man full of sin ; I can do no miracle ; nor does 
 God do such things for my sake." Upon urging her suit 
 with tears, he said, " God alone can heal, and he hears the 
 prayers of believers ; he will therefore now grant this favour 
 not to me, but to yourself, if he sees your faith. If you have 
 such a firm faith, then receive the cure from God." He drew 
 his hand across her eyes, and made the sign of the cross 
 upon them ; she was cured, certainly not by the magical power 
 of that manipulation which the monk himself denied, but by 
 the power of her faith, which he had been the means of ex- 
 citing. And this cure of a bodily malad}^ laid the foundation 
 of a cure for the malady of her soul. Having been long 
 childless, though resigned herself to the will of God, her 
 husband could not rest, but requested the prayers of all the 
 monks on her behalf. One of them, Maccdonius, told her 
 that if she would only pray, she would have a son ; but she 
 must dedicate him to that God from whom she received him. 
 When she answered that she sought nothing on earth but her 
 soul's welfare, he replied : " The bountiful God will also give 
 
 N 
 
178 CHKISTIANITY ASCENDANT IX THE KOMAN EMPIRE. 
 
 you a son; for to those who pray to him in sincerity, he is 
 ■wont to give double what they ask of him." When she 
 found hei'self in danger of a bad confinement, the monk came 
 again to her, and said, " Take courage. He who has bestowed 
 this gift on you will not take it from you, if you do not break 
 your vow, but persevere in devoting to his service what he has 
 given you." The pious mother, who told this to her son in 
 his boyhood, took him every week to these venerable men, that 
 he might receive their blessing, and derive sacred impressions 
 from their appearance and their words. Peter sought to 
 make the child friendly with him, by taking him on his knee, 
 and giving him bread and grapes. Macedonius often said to 
 him, " My son, your birth has cost much toil. Many nights I 
 have kept awake to pray God that he would give you to your 
 parents. Lead, therefore, a life worthy of such efforts. From 
 your birth you have been dedicated to God [even by his 
 name, Theodoret^ i.e. God-given; his parents wished to re- 
 mind him of this all his life]. But what is devoted to God is 
 to be honom-ed by all; it must not be touched by the vulgar. 
 Therefore you must not admit of any evil emotions in your 
 soul, but only do, say, and think that by which God, the law- 
 giver of holiness, will be glorified." By such powerful 
 admonitions that inward piety was cherished in Theodoret 
 which distinguished him throughout his life in conflict with 
 the corruptions of the times. 
 
 As Chrysostom was first led to vital Christianity by his 
 pious mother, the young widow Anthusa, who devoted herself 
 entirely to his education, so Augustin, as we have already 
 remarked, heard and read the word of God through the care 
 of Monica, who was a model of a Christian wife and mother. 
 She bore with Christian patience and gentleness the rough, 
 passionate temper of her husband. She had the warmest 
 affection for him ; and her earnest endeavour to accomplish 
 the most cherished wish of her heart, to win him to the Lord, 
 more by her life than by her words, was at last accomplished. 
 After her husband's death, she laboured dilio-entlv with her 
 own hand to acquire a competency to enable her son Augustin 
 to pursue his studies at Carthage. But nothing gave her 
 greater sorrow than the alteration which she perceived in her 
 son after his return ; for no one could pain her more than by 
 wishing to take away that Christ whom she bore in her 
 
MÄTERICAL CAKE EXEKCISED OVER AUGUSTIN. 179 
 
 heart, as her son did, to whom this Christ was too much 
 "according to the flesh," and who on the contrary spoke 
 only of a spiritual Christ whom her childlike faith could not 
 comprehend. And nothing could pain her more than to sec 
 him, whom of all other beings she most loved, destitute of 
 that which was dearest to her, on which her hopes for eternity 
 were grounded as well as her happiness in this world. She 
 often prayed with many tears to God, and requested wise and 
 pious men to take him under their care. One bishop to 
 whom she applied gave her, from his own experience (for he 
 belonged himself early in life to the sect of the Manicheans), 
 the wise advice, that she shoidd quietly let her son go on, for 
 he now exulted in his first youthful confidence and had 
 overcome many simple Christians by his sophisms; it would 
 now be in vain to dispute with him, but when he had cooled 
 down, he would himself see what was untenable in that 
 doctrine. As she could not desist urging him, he said at 
 last, half vexed, "Take courage! the son for whom you have 
 shed so many tears cannot be lost!" — words which entered 
 her heart like consolation from heaven. 
 
 Thinking day and night about her son, she was very much 
 encouraged by a dream. She thought that she was standing 
 by a wooden balustrade, and a J'oung man in a shining form 
 appeared and bade her be of good courage ; and that if she 
 looked round she would see her son standing by her side. 
 When filled with joy, she told this dream to Augustin ; he 
 replied, " It means that you will become a Manichean." 
 " No," said she quickly, in her simplicity, " then it would 
 have been said, ' where he stands you will stand.' " She 
 hastened after her son to Milan, and how was she rejoiced 
 with the alteration that had taken place in him ; she recog- 
 nised in the workings of his mind the entrance of a new life, 
 and how great at last M-as her joy when this new life liad 
 made a path for itself; when all her hopes were surpassed; 
 when her son, after the victory of faith with inward peace, 
 which had succeeded to those powerful perturbations, came 
 to her in the glow of his first love ; how she tlianked God, 
 who can do exceeding abundantly above all the expecta- 
 tions and conceptions of men. Augustin himself says to her 
 at this time: " To your prayers I believe I owe that God has 
 given me this disposition — to esteem nothing more highly than 
 
 n2 
 
180 CHRISTIANITY ASCEXDAXT IN THE EOMAN EMPIRE. 
 
 the investigation of truth, to wish for, to think, to love nothing 
 else." She took a lively interest in the conversations on 
 divine things which Augustin held with his friends, in a 
 lonely country place, whither he had retired, after that epoch 
 of his inner life, in order to prepare for baptism. In her 
 pious simplicity she often expressed correct sentiments in 
 an extraordinary manner. When, for example, the ques- 
 tion was proposed, '" Is not every one happy who has what he 
 wishes?" she answered, " If he wishes and has the good, he is 
 happy; but if he wishes for the evil, he is not happy, even 
 when he has it." When the conversation was brought to 
 this conclusion, that happiness can only be found in com- 
 munion with God, she expressed her assent in the words of a 
 hymn, of which she had been reminded by the turn the 
 conversation had taken and said, " That is certainly the 
 happy life which is perfect life, and we must hasten to this 
 life with firm faith, with joyful hope, and ardent love." 
 Monica had now attained the object of all her earthly 
 wishes. She now hastened, since as she supposed she had 
 nothing more to do on earth, to the perfection of that happy 
 life. She had long before felt anxious to die in her native 
 country, in order that she might be buried in the same grave 
 as her husband. But now she was resigned on this point to 
 the will of God. The Lord, she said, who will awaken us, 
 can collect our bones everywhere. With this peaceful and 
 joyful resignation slie soon departed to everlasting life, after 
 she had seen the fulfilment of her last and most ardent wish. 
 
 Chrysostom refers to the influence thus excited by Christian 
 females, as in the examples we have adduced, in one of his 
 homilies, when he says, " Wives in true practical Christian 
 wisdom have the advantage over their husbands, because for 
 the most part they sit quietly at home. But, thou sayest, 
 there is much that is unquiet in the house. Yes, because 
 thou wilt have it so, and encumberest thyself with a multitude 
 of cares. The husband, who busies himself in the market or 
 in the courts of justice, is tossed hither and thither by the 
 unrest of the world. The wife remains at home, as in a 
 school of wisdom, collects her thoughts, and can occupy 
 herself with prayer and the reading of the Scriptures. Like 
 those persons who have withdi-awn into solitude, she is dis- 
 turbed by no one ; she can enjoy perpetual quiet. And when 
 
SOCIAL INFLUENCE OF CHRISTIAN FEMALES. 181 
 
 her husband comes home, burdened with a multiplicity of 
 cares, she can cahn his temper, restore harmony to his soul, 
 prune off strange and distracting thoughts, and thus enable 
 him to leave the house purified from the evil that he brought 
 from the market, and accompanied by the good that he has 
 learned at home. For nothing is more influential than a 
 pious and intelligent wife to form her husband, and to 
 influence him as she will. I could tell of many a hard and 
 inflexible nature which has been thus softened." 
 
 Of his conversion Augustin thus speaks at Carthage, where 
 he once lived as a youth in the pleasures of the world: 
 *' Here I led an evil life, which I confess; and in proportion 
 as I rejoice in the grace of God, so do I mourn over my 
 former sins. Shall I say I mourn ? I should mourn if I were 
 still the same. But what shall I say ? that I rejoice ? and 
 that I cannot say, for alas! oh, that I had never been such. 
 Yet what I was it is past, in the name of Christ."' If we 
 recognise in an Augustin and a Chrysostom the same Chris- 
 tian spirit which united men of the most different characters, 
 and imder the most different relations, to labour for one 
 common object, yet we may observe the difference in their 
 Christian culture ; as Chrysostom gradually attained to vital 
 Christianity in a retired monastic life, without undergoing 
 such a violent mental conflict, we find in him at all times a 
 mild warmth, a spirit of quiet love and moderation; iu 
 Augustin, on the other hand, whose conversion commenced 
 with a powerful commotion in his inner life, and proceeded 
 from one point, the central point of Christianity, the know- 
 ledge of sin, grace, and redemption — the whole scheme of 
 faith and morals appears standing in vital relation to this 
 central point, and formed in harmony with it, as we find in 
 no other person. 
 
182 CHEISTIANITY ASCENDANT IN THE ROMAN EMPIRE. 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 THE MONASTIC SYSTEM, AND ITS RELATION TO THE 
 GENERAL CHRISTIAN LIFE. 
 
 We have seen that, in the first ages, the opposition to 
 heathen corruption caused Christianity to appear preeminently 
 as a world-conflicting power, which gave rise to the onesided 
 ascetic tendency; and this tendency, as we have already re- 
 marked, was called forth in the age of which we are now 
 speaking by the opposition to a secularized Christianity, to 
 a heathen life continued under the semblance of Christianity. 
 Such an opposition tended especially to promote the spread of 
 monkery, in which the free ascetic character acquired a more 
 fixed and regulated form. 
 
 Hence numerous monastic societies were formed in the 
 vicinity of a great corrupt city such as Antioch ; and they 
 often formed a salutary counteractive to the corruption of 
 such places. Many individuals who felt dissatisfied and 
 vacant amidst all the splendour of earthly glorj-, and all 
 earthly pleasures, visited the cells of the monks from curiosity, 
 or to obtain consolation or advice under some emergency. 
 Here they saw how to men who possessed nothing of the 
 splendour or joys of the world, and who had limited their 
 natural wants in every possi.ble way, the repose, dignity^ 
 and serenity of a higher life were revealed, of which they 
 themselves had previously no conception. They met here 
 many a one who had withdrawn from splendid places of 
 honour, to find among the poor monks what he had vainly 
 sought for in the pomps of the world. Hence it might 
 happen that a person, struck by the spectacle before him, 
 would be seized with a sense of the nothingness of earthly 
 glory, renounce everything, and associate himself with the 
 monks. By intercourse with God in prayer, and by the 
 devout study of the Scriptures, many became really sanctified 
 — such persons as those who read the Scrij)tures (as the monk 
 Marcus expresses it) — " so that full of humility they applied 
 everything which they read to themselves, and judged not 
 others, but themselves, according to it." But when they 
 learned to know themselves in the light of the divine word. 
 
NUMEROUS MONASTIC SOCIETIES. 183 
 
 according to their inmost being, a deeper knowledge of human 
 nature was disclosed to them than to those who without self- 
 inspection had an opportunity of knowing many men as to 
 their outward appearance. The monk who M-as not disposed 
 to deceive himself by the semblance of good works strove 
 with warmer longing after true holiness and purity of the 
 inner man, and he could thus attain to so much deeper know- 
 ledge of the nature of sin and of the true righteousness pro- 
 ceeding from Christ, as in later times the inner experiences 
 of Luther's monastic life became the fountain of the M'hole 
 Reformation. 
 
 Such experiences also were those of the monk ]\Iarcus in 
 the fourth century. " Every good," he says, "is given by 
 God : Christ is all to believers;" and, " Seek not for perfection 
 in human virtues, for in them nothing perfect is to be found. 
 The perfection of the law of freedom is hidden in the cross of 
 Christ. The kingdom of heaven is not the reward of works, 
 but prepared as the gracious gift of the Lord for his faithful 
 servants. Some think they have a sound faith, and yet do 
 not fulfil the divine commands; others endeavour to fulfil 
 them, but expect the kingdom of heaven as a reward due to 
 them ; both these classes miss the right way to the kingdom 
 of heaven. The Lord owes no reward to his servants ; but if 
 they do not serve him in the right way, they do not obtain 
 freedom. If Christ died for us, and we live not to ourselves 
 but to Him who died for us, and rose again, then are we 
 bound to serve him, even to death. How can we then regard 
 adoption into God's family as a reward which we can claim ? 
 Christ is our Lord according to his divine nature, and accord- 
 ing to the humanity assumed by him, since he created us out 
 of nothing ; and when we were dead through sin, he redeemed 
 us by his own blood, and has given grace to those who believe 
 in him. All of us who have been worthy of the bath of re- 
 generation perform good works, not to merit reward, but in 
 order to preserve the purity imparted to us." 
 
 Thus Marcus always insists on the necessary connection 
 between the whole work of Christ for and in men, and their 
 progressive sanctification, and points out that the latter is 
 founded on the former; he always combats the onesidedncss 
 by which the one is separated from the other, as when he 
 says, " We must not by our fault get again entangled in the 
 
184 CHRISTIANITY ASCENDANT IN THE ROMAN EMPIRE. 
 
 yoke of bondage, but preserve our freedom by keeping the 
 commandments ; and in proportion to our doing that, we shall 
 attain a knowledge of all truth. And ^ye must know for 
 certain that in proportion as we neglect these commands, we 
 are brought under the influence of sin. Let us not believe 
 the speculations of men, but the Holy Scriptures : that Christ 
 died for our sins; that we are buried with him by baptism; 
 and that he who is dead is justified fi'om sin ; and that sin 
 will not be able to reign over us, if we obey his commands. 
 But if we do not observe them, we are imbelievers, and are 
 under the dominion of sin. For it does not merely belong to 
 the gospel that we should be baptized into Christ, but likewise 
 that we should obey his commands. If we say that by our 
 works sin will be destroyed, then Christ has died in vain, and 
 all that is affirmed of his work is false : and if baptism be not 
 something complete by itself, but they think by their conflicts 
 to attain completeness, then in such persons the law of 
 freedom is made void, the whole essence of the new covenant 
 is destroyed, and they make Christ unrighteous if he pre- 
 scribed to the baptized works of freedom, and yet against 
 their will they are the servants of sin, and the grace of God is 
 no more grace, but the reward of our conflict. If we are 
 justified by works, there is no more grace ; but if it is by 
 grace, then work is no more work (nothing outward subsist- 
 ing for itself), but it is the command of our liberator,^ the 
 work of freedom and of faith. Have you not heard that the 
 commands of Christ given after baptism are a law of freedom ? 
 as the Holy Scripture saith : ' So speak ye. and so do, as they 
 that shall be judged by the law of liberty,' (James ii. 12) 
 [Mejrcus correctly recognizes in these words the agreement 
 of James and Paul] ; and 2 Peter i. 9 : ' He that lacketh 
 these things hath forgotten that he was purged from his old 
 sins.' " From what has been said, he acknowledges purifica- 
 '" tion by baptism, which indeed takes place in a hidden manner, 
 but shows its reality by the observance of the commandments. 
 Those who as believers have received power to fulfil the com- 
 mands, the Lord exhorts to fight, not as if they could thereby 
 atone for sin, but that they may not retui-n again to that which 
 
 * Et -yap t| tpycjv, ovk tri xäpiTi (ävapürai ä^apTia) ' tl ck xäpiri, 
 TO ipyov OVK iariv tpyov, äW tvroXr] rov tXtvOepoxrai'Tog, Kai 'ipyov 
 kkivQtpiaQ Kai TTKTTiujs. — Msircus, de Baptism. (Galland. viii. p. 37.) 
 
CORRECT VIEWS OF THE FIRST MONKS. 185 
 
 they have left behind. And the observance of these com- 
 mands does not itself expel sin, for this is only effected 
 through the cross, but it guards the boundaries of the freedom 
 that is vouchsafed us. As to those persons who quote 
 Rom. vii. 14, and following verses, against this doctrine of 
 the internal freedom of Christians, I\Iarcus justly replies, that 
 the apostle here speaks in the person of an unbelieving Jew, 
 in order to show the Jews that men without the grace of 
 Christ cannot be freed from sin; and he appeals to ver. 25 as 
 the exclamation of a redeemed person. He then says : " The 
 heavenly lawgiver, Christ, has himself inscribed the spiritual 
 law by his Spirit in the hearts of believers. Learn from the 
 Apostle Paul that by baptism thou hast put on Christ; thou 
 hast received power and weapons to overcome evil thoughts. 
 We must not believe that by our conflict we can blot out 
 Adam's sin, nor the sins committed by ourselves after baptism; 
 for that can be effected only through Christ. For he himself 
 works in us to will and to do." And on the heavenly life 
 of believers he says : " We know that the heavenly Jerusalem, 
 and the blessings which the righteous shall receive at the 
 resurrection, are above ; but the pledge and the first-fruits arc 
 akeady in the hearts of firm believers, as those who are 
 already spiritually-minded; so that we, being confident of 
 future things, despise the present, and love God even to death. 
 On this account the apostle, in Heb. xii. 22, says, not ' ye 
 will come,' but ' ye are come to the city of the living God.' " 
 We find similar attestations in favour of true inward 
 Christianity in the monk Nilus : " ' Behold, the eyes of the 
 Lord are upon them that fear him, upon them that hope in 
 his mercy.' (Psa. xxxiii. 18.) Whoever does not think 
 that he can be justified by works, places the hope of his sal- 
 vation in God's mercy alone. For when he hears that God 
 will reward every one according to his works, and thinks of 
 his own sinful works, he is filled with fear. But that he may 
 not be swallowed up by anguish, he looks to the grace of 
 God." The same writer says also, in another epistle : " Thou 
 writest that a heathen who acknowledges that he is a sinner, 
 has said to thee : ' If thou art a Christian, thou hast no pre- 
 eminence before me, for thou also art a sinner.' Propound to 
 him, therefore, this parable : A householder has two dogs, 
 the one that rages, and w^ould tear his master in pieces, he 
 
186 CHRISTIANITY ASCENDANT IN THE ROMAN EMPIRE. 
 
 orders him to be killed ; the other that loves his master, and, 
 full of attachment, ahvavs follows in his steps, he keeps, 
 cherishes, and supports." Xilus meant by this that what 
 distinguishes one of these sinners from the other is love to 
 God, from whom he had been estranged by sin ; that love 
 •which longs for freedom from all that is ungodlike, which 
 accepts the forgiveness of sins, and resigns itself to the Re- 
 deemer in order to be progressively sanctified and purified by 
 him. In love itself is given, notwithstanding all the im- 
 purity that still cleaves to man, the principle from which all 
 progressive purity must proceed. That true love is here 
 intended which shows itself in action. Nilus was very far 
 from approving a slavish disposition which seeks to gain 
 over by flattery the Being whose vengeance is feared, which 
 ought not to be called love, but rather the hypocrisy of fear. 
 That such, was the meaning of his expressions appears from 
 what he wrote to a person who excused his sins, by saying 
 that no man could boast of having a holy heart: "But the 
 worst thing is that you do not come to the Lord Christ, who 
 can change youi" heart into a holy one, and that you do not 
 ask him to bestow this gift upon you ; for Christ can purify 
 your heart by the Holy Spirit. Who Avas more sinful than 
 that publican ? but because he said, ' God be merciful to me 
 a sinner !' he went down from the temple justified rather 
 than the pharisee. Yet it was not that prayer that purified 
 him, but the disposition with which he uttered it ; and above 
 all the love of God to man, who wills not that we should 
 perish, but calls us to repentance." 
 
 Such were the views of the most enlightened monks. But 
 there were many others who imagined that they had over- 
 come sin by chastising their bodies ; they trusted so much 
 the more to the righteousness of their works, because the 
 simple, uniform, and quiet life of monkery, which they made 
 no use of for the purpose of self-examination, subjected them 
 to no trials by which they might have been brought to correct 
 self-knowledge. Jerome, who might have known this from 
 his own experience, and yet, alas ! too often forgot that ex- 
 perience ! thus writes to a friend who was a monk : " In 
 solitude sometimes pride creeps in, and when a person has 
 fasted a little and seen no one, he thinks himself to be some 
 great one; he forgets whence he came and whither he is 
 
TENDENCY TO FALSE HUMILITY. 187 
 
 going." The outwai-cl apparent abjuration of the world be- 
 comes a hindrance to true inward self-examination, and 
 fosters spiritual pride — that pride which is so much more 
 dangerous for the inner life in proportion as the objects to 
 which it refers are of a higher and more refined kind, and that 
 is made use of to nourish pride which is designed to cast 
 down all high thoughts. That secret invisible enemy who 
 knows how to hide in all lurking-places and turnings, and to 
 change himself as a Proteus into all shapes, whom man takes 
 about with him everywhere, if he has not conquered him by 
 the power of the cross, follows him from the bustle of the 
 great world into the quiet of cloisters and deserts. Jerome 
 did not without reason warn a distinguished Roman female : 
 " Let it not produce pride in you that you have despised the 
 pride of the world ; take care lest, since you have ceased to 
 wish to attract notice in garments full of gold, you seek it in 
 sordid attire.' " 
 
 Thus, from monkery proceeded that show of humility of 
 which Paul speaks in the Epistle to the Colossians, which in 
 that age of shams assumed a variety of forms beyond the 
 bounds of monkery. Isidorus, abbot of Pelusium, in the 
 first half of the fifth century, raised a warning voice against 
 this delusion : " Be humble," said he, " in disposition, and 
 not in words, that your words may not be contradicted by 
 your actions." And Chrysostom •'' says against this feigned 
 humility : " If Ave speak evil of ourselves a thousand times, 
 and yet are affronted when another says anything of the kind, 
 this is not humility; this is not confession of sin, but only 
 pretence and vanity. What ! a pretence when a man calls 
 himself a sinner? Yes; we assume the appearance of 
 
 * 'Edu ce avTol fitv Xeyoifiiv fxvpia tavrovQ KUKci, Trap' krtpiov 5e 
 aKOVovTSQ CucYfpatVwjUfv, oijksti tovto TaTrtivo(ppo<yvvi] taTiv, ov^s 
 i^ofioXöyrjaic, äX\' tTridei^ig kcu KsvoOo^ia. 'ETviStiKig tan, (pjjffii', 
 iavTov ctfxaprujXov KaXuv ; Not. Tarreivo(l)po(Tvv7]g yap \a/(/3aroynf j/ 
 So^av, 6av[ia'Cünt9a, tyicw/^ita^o/utOa. 'Eav ce rovvavTiov ttTTwjufj/ 
 iavTOVQf Ka-acppovovfxtOa. "ütr-g Kai tovto ^6^i]q ivtKtv ttoiovhev. 
 Ti Se tOTL TaTTUvoippoavvi] ; Tu irspov opudi^ovTog, to eTriyivuxTKeiy 
 TO dfxapTy]}xa, to (p'ipnv Tag KaKi]yopiag, Kal ovdi tovto Tarreivo- 
 6po(Tvv}]g av ht], c'lXX' tvyvoiiioavvrjc. Ni)»/ ^k iavTOvg fxtv Xsyoßsu 
 äfiapriüXovg, äva^iovc, fivpla Öaio ' av de tTspög Tig rffiiv iv tovtiov 
 Trpoaev'tyvy, XaXeTr aivofiev, ciypiaivöi^itBa. 'Opq.g oti ovk tnTtv t^ofio- 
 Xoyr]ai.g, ovct evyviDjxoavvT] ; — Chrysost. in Ep. ad Hebr. xxvii. § 5. 
 
188 CHKISTIANITY ASCENDANT IN THE KOMAN EMPIEE. 
 
 humility that vre may be admired and praised. If we spoke 
 of ourselves in a contrary manner, we should be despised. 
 Therefore we do this for the sake of reputation. But what is 
 humility ? To endure when another reviles us — to be sensible 
 of our faults — to bear reproach — is not humility, but simple 
 fairness. Now, we call ourselves sinners, unworthy beings, 
 and ten thousand such things ; but if any one else should apply 
 any of these epithets to us, we are full of wrath, and turn 
 savase. Dost thou not see that this is not confession nor 
 ingenuousness?"' The same Father says, in another homily: 
 *' Understand and tremble ; never be proud of thy humility ! 
 Perhaps you may smile at this expression, as if any one could 
 be proud of his humility. But do not be surprised ; it serves 
 for self-exaltation when it is not genuine. How and in what 
 manner? When it is practised not for the sake of pleasing God, 
 but for the sake of being praised, and of indulging pride ; for 
 this is something devilish. How many out of vanity show the 
 appearance of vanity, and thus are proud of their humility. 
 For example, a brother or a servant comes ; thou hast thyself 
 taken care of him ; thou hast washed his feet : at once pride 
 comes in ; thou sayest, ' I have done what no one else has 
 done; there I have shown my humility.' How should a 
 person keep himself humble r Let him think of Christ's 
 command : ' When ye shall have done all, say, we are un- 
 profitable servants.' (Luke x-sii. 10.) Let him think of that 
 great teacher who said : ' I count not myself to have ajjpre- 
 hended.' Only he who does not think, whatever he may do, 
 that he does some great thing, can be truly humble, and who 
 always bears in mind that he has not yet attained." 
 
 Still humility and love were not always wanting to the 
 strict asceticism of monkery, without which everything else 
 is worthless. Not always did a person who chose for himself 
 a life of stricter abstinence place the essence of Christianity 
 in it. Of this we have a beautiful example. Marcian, a 
 venerated Syrian monk, M'as visited by another, named Avitus. 
 After conversation and prayer, Marcian caused a meal to be 
 prepared, not altogether according to his customary spare 
 diet, and invited Avitus to set at table with him. He de- 
 clined, saying that he never M'as wont to eat anything before 
 evening, and often fasted two or three days. Marcian replied, 
 "Depart from thy custom to-day for my sake; I am too 
 
THE BENEFITS AND EVILS OF MONKERY. 189 
 
 weak to wait till evening." But when he could not thus 
 persuade Avitus, he said, sighing : " Alas ! I am very sorry 
 that thou hast taken so much trouble to see a strict and wise 
 man, and now thou secst instead a glutton." These words 
 did not fail to make an impression on Avitus, and he said, 
 with shame : " 1 would rather cat flesh than hear thee speak 
 thus." Then Marcian said: " I have been accustomed to the 
 same manner of life as thyself, my dear brother ; but I know 
 that love is a thing of greater value than fastiny ; for the 
 former is a work commanded by God, the latter we have 
 chosen ourselves. But we ought to think far more highly of 
 the divine laws than of self-imposed exercises." 
 
 Thus it appears that as, on the one hand, there proceeded 
 from monkery a deep Christian self-knowledge, so on the 
 other there was much deceptive self-righteousness and merit 
 of works. As the monastic life was promoted by the erro- 
 neous notion that there was a higher stand-point of Christian 
 life than that of general practical Christianity, a morality of 
 the perfect ; so the monastic system, in return, strengthened 
 this error : and it was an error of very dangerous conse- 
 quences. The distinction here made of a two-fold Chris- 
 tianity was very acceptable to many who were contented 
 with only a profession of religion; since it transferred all the 
 earnestness of the higher Christian life to men who lived in 
 retirement from the world, and they could excuse themselves 
 from all the claims of practical piety, by alleging that these 
 did not relate to people living in the world, but were quite 
 out of their sphere. 
 
 Against such a tendency, Chrysostom, after describing the 
 piety of the monks who lived in the mountains not far from 
 the great city of Antioch, as an example worthy of imitation by 
 his flock, says : " We wish that we men were ashamed at the 
 sight of their resolution, and that we ceased to cleave to the 
 earthly, to that which is shadows, dreams, and vapour. Let us 
 strive after unchangeable and imperishable goods, after the life 
 that never grows old. Even living in the midst of the city, we 
 can imitate the wisdom of the monks. And when a man is 
 married and is busied with family cares, he can pray and repent; 
 for those who were the first converts of the apostles dwelt in 
 cities, and there were among them those who manifested a 
 piety such as we find in those who dwell on the mountain-tops ; 
 
190 CHEISTIANITT ASCENDANT IN THE ROMAN EMPIRE. 
 
 and were people in business, as Priscilla and Aquila. The 
 prophets had wives and families, as Isaiah, Ezekiel, and the 
 great Moses, and this did not hinder them in their efforts I 
 after virtue. Thus let us imitate them, and continually thank • 
 and praise God. Let us strive after true health of the soul * ; 
 and all Christian virtues, and let us carry into the city the 
 Christian life of the desert." In the third book of his work 
 against the enemies of monasticism, he also says : " Some , 
 say, indeed, it is not the same thing when a man in the world \ 
 sins, and one who has devoted himself to the service of God; ' 
 for both do not fall from the same height, and hence do not 
 receive the same injury. But thou deceivest thyself, if thou i 
 thinkest that one thing is required of a man in the world and 
 another of a monk. The whole difference consists only in 
 being married or a celibate. In all other respects they have 
 to render the same account." He appeals to the fact that the 
 precepts of the Sermon on the Mount are addressed to all 
 Christians, and that Christ makes thei-e no distinction be- 
 tween monks and people in the world ; that Paul, writing 
 to persons who had wives and children, required from 
 them the same strictness of the Christian life which could be 
 required from the monks, since he reduces everything to 
 unselfish love. (1 Cor. xiii.) He requires that we should 
 consider ourselves as dead and buried in reference to sin. 
 (Rom. vi. 7.) "How is it that he commands us to imitate, 
 not merely the monks nor the disciples, but Christ himself, 
 and thi'eatens with the severest punishment those who neglect 
 to do this. How sayest thou, then, that they stand on a 
 greater elevation ? All men should rise to the same height, 
 and what ruins the whole world is just this — the imagining 
 that greater strictness of Christian conduct is required in a 
 monk, but that other persons may lead careless lives." And 
 in a homily he says : "A secular man is distinguished from a 
 monk only by marriage : in all other respects he ought to act 
 like a monk. And the beatitudes in the Sermon on the 
 Mount were not pronounced merely for monks, otherwise the 
 whole world would be lost, and we should accuse God of 
 cruelty. If the beatitudes were intended only for the monks, 
 and secular men cannot fulfil their conditions, but God has 
 sanctioned marriage, then he has involved all men in miserj''. 
 For if men cannot in married life maintain such a disposition 
 
IDLE SELF-CONTEMPIiATION INDUCED BY IT. 191 
 
 as is required of monks, then all is lost, and virtue is indeed 
 confined to a very narrow path. How, then, can marriage be 
 an honourable condition, if it is such a hindrance to our 
 spiritual progress ? What must wc say then ? It is possible, 
 yes, very possible, even in wedlock to practise virtue, if we 
 are only willing — if those who have wives be as those that 
 had none (1 Cor. vii. 29) ; (that is, if they are ready to forego 
 everything for the sake of the kingdom of God:) if we do 
 not place our chief joy in earthly possessions ; if they who 
 use this world are as if they used it not (their hearts are not 
 attached to it, they are ready to resign all for the sake of 
 higher interests). But if to many marriage should prove a 
 hindrance, they may know that it is not marriage that is the 
 hindrance, but the perverse will that makes a bad use of 
 marriage."' 
 
 Thus the monastic life led to an idle self-contemplation, 
 which for man, who ought always to turn from himself to 
 something higher than himself, will be always very dangerous; 
 it led to an uniform see- saw movement in a confined circle of 
 feelings and views. And the consequences were, either the 
 fanatic self-idolatry of a perverted mysticism, such as was 
 to be found, for example, in the Messalians or Euchites, who 
 proceeded from the Syrian cloisters in the fourth century, or 
 a torturing and gloomy anxiousness, which was opposed 
 to the spirit of adoption and to that love which casteth out 
 fear. The more the monks occupied themselves with their 
 temptations, instead of looking from themselves to the Lord, 
 so much the more those temptations increased, many of which 
 they could easily have overcome, if they had been willing 
 to forget themselves in an activity of a calling that would 
 have laid under requisition all the powers of their nature ; 
 on which account they felt the need of occupying, by manual 
 labour — such as basket-making, and other handicrafts — the 
 senses and lower powers of their nature, which if they had 
 not been employed about their own proper business, and 
 tamed by labour, threatened to mingle with and disturb tlie 
 higher faculties ; — for this reason Jerome applied himself 
 late in life to the study of the Hebrew, with the sweat of his 
 brow. He describes his internal conflicts, when he says : 
 " I recollect that I often continued crying day and night, 
 and ceased not to beat my breast, until by the voice of the 
 
192 CHRISTIANITY ASCENDANT IN THE ROMAN EMPIRE. 
 
 Lord rest returned to me. I even dreaded my cell, as if 
 it were privy to my thoughts. Wherever I saw hollows in 
 the valleys or rough places on the mountains, there were my 
 praying stations, and as the Lord himself is a witness, I 
 believed often, after many tears, after my looks had long 
 been fixed on heaven, that I was transported among choirs of 
 angels." 
 
 The monk Nilus -«Tites in the following manner to another 
 monks, who was sorely troubled by internal temptations : 
 " Above all. we conquer by faith, singing, reading the Scrip- 
 ' tures, humility, and especially by calling on the name of 
 Jesus Christ, the God who loves mankind, and our Saviour. 
 But evil spirits cannot overcome us, if we do not first all, 
 by want of faith, depart from the fear of God, and neglect 
 the commands of the Lord. But if souls harassed by sins 
 can only collect themselves, and with mournful heart sigh to 
 God, if they embrace with their prayers the invisible feet 
 of the Lord, he will say to the angels, as Elisha said of the 
 Shunammite (2 Kings iv. 27) : Let her alone and drive her 
 not from me ; for if she possesses no virtue, and cannot come 
 with joy to me, yet since her heart is contrite, and since she 
 prays to me incessantly with sorrow and tears, I receive her 
 and rescue her. Let us not therefore, when we avoid the 
 thoughts that trouble us, retire from one place to another, 
 but rather let us remain where we are, and continue in 
 prayer, as Moses said to the Israelites : ' Fear ye not, stand 
 still and see the salvation of the Lord, which he will show to 
 you this day." (Exod. xiv. 13.)" 
 
 There were among the monks great souls, who were in 
 fact free from earthly bonds, had their conversation in 
 heaven, and only entered into worldly relations in order to 
 dispense blessings ; like that Antony, who, when the 
 Emperor Constantine wrote to him in his remote solitude, 
 and his scholars congratulated him upon the honour, said to 
 them: " Rejoice not that a sinful man like ourselves has written 
 a letter to us, but rejoice that the holy Almighty God, our 
 Creator, has thought us worthy to write the epistle of the 
 gospel to us, from heaven itself to us his poor creatures!" 
 But there were also among the monks a great many persons 
 who still retained in their hearts the world, which they had 
 outwardly forsaken, and too often showed their worldly dis- 
 
THE ANCHORITES XSJ) CCENOBITES. 193 
 
 position, to the great scandal of the church. As it has ever 
 been, good was mixed with evil, and Augustin justly remarks 
 of monasticism : " Even this order in the church has its true 
 men and mere hypocrites. To whatever class you turn, be 
 prepared to meet with hypocrites ; for if you are not. so 
 prepared, you will lind what you do not expect, and will 
 bo led to apostatism, or be filled with disquiet. Let no one 
 deceive you. If you would not be deceived, and if you wish 
 to love your brethren, be assured that in every class of 
 persons in the church, there are those who arc not what they 
 ojypear to be." 
 
 As to the outward life of the monks, we must distinguish 
 in this respect the Anchorites from the Coenobites. The 
 Anchorites by no means excluded themselves from exercising 
 an agency over other men. As they were held in greater 
 reverence, they were more sought for by men of all stations, 
 to whom, from the treasures of their inner experience, they 
 were able to impart instruction, covmsel and comfort. A 
 single word uttered from their lijDS was received as a voice 
 from heaven, and often had more effect, when spoken at 
 the right juncture, than many a long discourse from any 
 other quarter. We must not estimate human agency in too 
 mechanical a manner, especially when it relates to the 
 inner life, and lays hold of the invisible. How often has a 
 single word formed an e])och in a man's life ! Even the 
 hermits, who never issued from their cells or caves, and onl}'' 
 gave answers from small openings in them, were consulted 
 by governors and emperors. "V\ hen no voice of truth ven- 
 tured to penetrate to persons in authority and emperors, who 
 had given themselves up to the fury of their passions, or to 
 powerful bishops, who had lost all sense of their duty, 
 nothir-g could reach such persons but the written or oral 
 opinion of a member of the -monastic order, whose lot forbade 
 every suspicion of a self-interested motive. Often monks, 
 who had been for a long time concealed in their deserts or 
 on the mountains, sudder.ly made their appearance on the 
 occasion of political catastrophes, in cities where for a long 
 time tliey had never been seen, and through their powerful 
 intercession effected the deliverance of many unfortunate 
 persons. 
 
 As to the monastic unions in cloisters, they formed small 
 
 
 
194 CHRISTIANITY ASCENDANT IN THE EOMAN EMPIRE. 
 
 associations of a hundred or eren a thousand persons, where 
 no one was allowed to live idle, but each one, in his assigned 
 place, was to be active for the general good in the spirit of 
 love. The presidents of these unions were the spiritual 
 guides, who, if they possessed Christian knowledge and 
 wisdom, could do much for the benefit of each individual. 
 In the cloisters, men of the most different classes — ser- 
 vants, the poor, and people of rank — were sometimes col- 
 lected together, and became united in Christian fellow- 
 ship. By the labour of these associations, many persons 
 in distress were often relieved : here attention was paid to 
 the Christian education of youth ; here men who after- 
 wards became able doctors of the chui'ch, were trained by 
 close study and devout occupation with spiritual things. By 
 many, the cloister-life was preferred to that of the Ancho- 
 rites, as the latter, living alone, could for the most part care 
 only for their own salvation ; while, on the other hand, the 
 members of the great monastic community could labour for the 
 advantage of others, and be active in Christian love. Others 
 rightly thought that greater rijDcness and firmness of reli- 
 gious principle — a point attainable by few — were requisite in 
 order to bear the Anchorite-life ; they regarded the cloister- 
 life as a sort of training for the former. " Men must first 
 learn to obey," they said, " before they are capable of stand- 
 ing alone." 
 
 Self-denial and the humility of obedience were especially 
 called into exercise in the monastic life, and constituted its 
 leading virtues. But here also an erroneous view was 
 introduced, arising from a perversion, which has been the 
 source of many errors, that did much injury in these and 
 succeeding times, and was often employed for palliating a 
 servile spirit and spiritual despotism. True humility 
 refers only to the relation of man to God ; it is false when 
 applied to the relation to the creature, even when considered 
 as the organ of God. Man ought to humble himself, but 
 not before any creature whatever, but before his God and 
 Redeemer alone ; he should be conscious of his nothingness 
 in God's sight, in order to accomplish everything in him and 
 through him. "\Mioever in his heart prostrates himself before 
 God, for that very reason does not prostrate himself before 
 any man ; as the servant of the Lord alone who created him, 
 
TRUE NOBLE-MINDEDNESS. 195 
 
 and redeemed him at such a price, he can become the servant 
 of no man. In humility alone is founded the true freedom 
 and elevation of a spirit related to God and redeemed by 
 God. Isidorus, abbot of Pelusium, says : " True humility 
 proceeds from a great and heavenly soul ; pride, on the con- 
 trary, is the offspring; of a little and vulgar mind." Chry- 
 sostom also says : " Where shall we find a nobler-minded 
 man than Abraham ? and yet he said, ' I am but dust and 
 ashes' (Gen. xviii. 27) : the truly noble-minded is also the 
 man of genuine humility — I mean not the flatterer, nor him 
 who does homage to men. For noble-mindedness is some- 
 thing very difierent from self-exaltation. And this makes 
 it very evident — if one person holds and despises dung as 
 dung, but another regards it as gold, which of the two is 
 noble-minded ? which the debased and narrow-minded ? Is 
 it not he who admires and values what is worthless ? Apply 
 this to the subject before us. He who calls himself dust and 
 ashes, although he humbles himself, is truly noble-minded. 
 But he who does not hold himself to be such, but to be some 
 great one, he is the low-minded person who would make little 
 things great. It was true greatness of soul which made Abra- 
 ham say, ' I am but dust and ashes.' He possesses true great- 
 ness who does not require all those things on account of which 
 others imagine themselves something, but despises those 
 things, and has his greatness in himself. Let lis therefore 
 be humble, in order to attain true greatness ; for whoever 
 humbles himself shall be exalted." And in another homily 
 he says :'^' " He who exalts himself is necessarily without 
 real strength, for he possesses no sound exaltation, but sinks 
 from his elevation, as suddenly as a soap-bubble bursts. If 
 thou disbelievest this, give me a bold, arrogant man, and 
 only let him once fall, and thou wilt see that he is more 
 cowardly than any one, if he meets with even the slightest 
 misfortune ; for as a fire kindled of brushwood is soon in a 
 blaze, and is as soon reduced to ashes, but hard wood is not 
 so easily kindled and lasts longer ; thus firm and solid souls 
 are not easily kindled, nor does their flame easily go out. 
 
 * Tbv yap äTrovevoTjfievov avdyKT] irdvTOjg Kal afföf/j^T/ m'n tlvai. 
 Ov yap laTi to v-^oq vyiig, aX\' Cjairtp al Trof-KpoXvyeg euKoXujg pi^yvvv- 
 Tai, o'vTu) Kai ovtoi fxfd'nog äiröWvvrai. — Chrysost. in £!p. ad Roman. 
 Horn. XX. § 4. 
 
 o2 
 
196 CHRISTIANITY ASCENDANT IN TKL IcOMAN EMPIRE. 
 
 But in light sorts of wood, both happen in an instant. Since 
 we know this, let us practise humility ! For nothing is more 
 powerful than this ; it is stronger than rocks, harder than 
 the diamond, and it produces greater security than walls and 
 bulwarks ; it overcomes all the machinations of Satan." Man 
 must deny his self-will, but only in order to regain his will 
 in a sanctified and refined state, which he subordinates only 
 to that of God, that he may be the organ of the divine will, 
 which, in virtue of its self-determination, is the only true 
 freedom of a created spirit. But whoever denies his o-vnti 
 will, in order to become the will-less organ of another man, 
 he denies the image of God, in the dignity of his own free 
 personality, turns himself from being a servant of God into 
 a servant of man. and skives to the creature the honour due 
 to God alone. Let not any one say that he sees in man, 
 not man but only God. who makes use of man as an organ. 
 In this way the Indian deification of the Brahmins may be 
 justified. But every Christian must be a living organ of the 
 Deity, a temple of the Holy Ghost, one taught of God, 
 acknowledg-in"- onlv one Lord and Master. To such Chris- 
 tians, the Apost :o Paul says : " Ye are bought with a price, be 
 not the servants of men.*' Against that false humility, 
 Paulinus of Nola says : " Take care : called to freedom as the 
 servant of Christ,, do not call thyself a servant of man, if thy 
 fellow-servant : for it is rather the sin of flattery than the 
 virtue of humility, to give to any man whatever the honour 
 which we owe to our Lord alone, to our Teacher on earth, to 
 om- God. Also in humility, we must maintain the just 
 medium, that we only humble ourselves before our Lord in 
 the fear of God. whom to serve is true freedom. On the 
 other hand, that humility is to be condemned which springs 
 not fr'om faith but from slavishness of spirit, the slave of 
 falsehood, the enemy of truth, which knows nothing of true 
 freedom. !Mav vre therefore humble our hearts before God, 
 and raise oiu' souls to the Lord, that we may fear none 
 besides him, and love him above all" 
 
 Among the opponents of monachism, or of an excessive 
 valuation of it, we must make a great difierence. In con- 
 flicting with such a tendency of the Christian life, which 
 proceeded from a perverse onesidedness, or from a mixture of 
 a foreign with the Christian element, the main point is not 
 
GROUNDS OF OPrOSITION TO MOXACHISM. 197 
 
 what is common, but what is different in the grounds of the 
 opposition to it. To be able to oppose correctly a disturbed 
 Christian tendency, we nnist first of all acknowledge what is 
 really Christian in it, and know how to separate this from the 
 disturbing element. Thus it makes an essential difference 
 whether the monastic system is attacked from a pure and free 
 Christian stand-point, or from the stand-point of a worldly 
 spirit, which is incapable of perceiving and acknowledging 
 what is Christian and elevated in it. To many, monachism 
 was distasteful because it opposed worldly pleasures and a 
 disposition that was directed entirely to earthly things. 
 What they disliked in monasticism was not its limitation of 
 Christian liberty, but its earnest spiritual disposition. Thus, 
 fathers %sho wished their sons to pursue a splendid course 
 in the world were very much chagrined if they took a 
 serious direction under the influence of pious mothers. And 
 when fathers wished to entangle their sons in worldly plea- 
 sures, and forcibly to suppress the religious spirit, it more 
 easily took a decidedly ascetic direction. Augustin, in a 
 passage in which he is speaking, according to Matt. x. 34, of 
 the spiritual conflict which Christiariity everywhere excited, 
 says: "Truly, my brethren, we see by daih^ examples that, 
 let a youth delight to serve God, he displeases his father; the 
 father promises an earthly inheritance, the son prefers the 
 heavenly. Let not the father deem himself insulted ; only 
 God is preferred to himself." 
 
 Other persons, while they honom-ed the earnest Christian life 
 in monasticism, and regarded it as an instrument of Christian 
 culture, spoke against the over- valuation of a mode of life not 
 connected with practical efficiency in the church. Thus, 
 Chrysostom laments that Christian virtue, which ought to 
 have dwelt in cities, had fled into the deserts ; that those who 
 should have been the salt of the earth had withdrawn from 
 the world, leaving it to its corruption. lie remarks that 
 Christ said : " Let your light shine before men, not on the 
 mountains, not in the deserts." " I do not say this," he adds, 
 " to cast a reflection on those who inhabit the mountains, but 
 to accuse the inhabitants of the cities that they have banished 
 virtue from them." "On this account," he says, "let us 
 bring Christian virtue thence among ourselves, in order that 
 cities may become what cities ought to be." And Augustin 
 
198 CHRISTIANITY ASCENDANT IN THE HOMAN EMPIKE. 
 
 says : " Many say we want rest, to be free from care — to 
 withdraw from the bustle of the world — to place ourselves in 
 a state of security. When thou seekest rest, thou seekest as 
 it were a bed, on which thou canst repose without anxiety. 
 There are men who wish not to sustain the business of the 
 world, and yet do nothing in the church, like teachers labour- 
 ing in the Lord's %TLneyard ; but who, as if too weak for it, 
 withdraw themselves, and as if conscious of their weakness, 
 do not venture on any great enterprise, but pray to God on 
 their bed of languishing." The same Augustin writes to a 
 monk : " Do not esteem your repose of more importance than 
 the necessities of the church ; for how could ye yourselves 
 have been brought forth by her if ye had had no kindly dis- 
 posed persons to assist at your birth. We must make our 
 way between the summit of pride and the abyss of indolence.*" 
 For some who too anxiously flee from the elevation of pride, 
 take to other bad courses, and are lost. Others who seek to 
 avoid such courses, lest they should sink into indolent 
 effeminacy, are consumed, on the other hand, by pride. 
 [The middle path between a restless and uncalled-for activity, 
 in which man, under the appearance of zeal for a good cause, 
 only serves his own self-will, and a love of rest that with- 
 stands the call of God, only self- pleasing and seeking enjoy- 
 ment, while it shuns conflict and toil. Augustin justly re- 
 marks that he only can find the middle path between these 
 two extremes who does everything for the honour of God, that 
 works all in all, and who has God continually before liis 
 eyes.] In your love for rest recollect that there is no place 
 here below in which that being vrho fears lest we should 
 rise to God, cannot plot against us, and that we can have no 
 perfect rest till all evil be taken away." Thus also Gregory 
 the Great, bishop of Home, who so highly esteemed the 
 monastic system, and made use of monks as missionaries, 
 says: '' There are some who, being endowed with great gifts, 
 while they are animated only with the love of contemplation, 
 are afraid to contribute to the advantage of their neighbours 
 by preaching, and love the repose of solitude. But if they 
 are strictly judged in this respect, they are certainly so much 
 the more blameable in proportion to the good they could do 
 
 * Inter apicem superbise et voraginem desidise iter nostrum temperare 
 debemus. — August. Ep. 48, 2. 
 
DANGERS OF MONACHISM. 199 
 
 in the world. With what a disposition can such an one, who 
 could effect great advantage for others, prefer his solitude to 
 the advantage of others, when the Only-begotten of the great 
 Father himself descended from the bosom of the Father into 
 oui- world for the advantage of many?" 
 
 Other persons, while they attacked monachism more warmly 
 from that point of view, found themselves engaged in conflict 
 with their age ; like Vigilantius, who appears indeed to have 
 been too violent and immoderate in his opposition, and who 
 asked : "■ If all Christian men shut themselves up in cloisters, 
 and withdraw into deserts, who shall preach the gospel, and 
 call sinners to repentance ?" The well-known Roman monk, 
 Jovinian, entered most deeply into this warfare. He appears 
 to us as a prototype of Luther, inasmuch as we recognize in 
 him that reaction, called forth and nourished by monachism, of 
 a more spiritual, internal Christianity, in opposition to what 
 was merely external in monachism — that reaction which 
 stretches through the mysticism of the middle ages down to 
 Luther. He opposed not monachism in itself, nor the whole 
 system of outward asceticism in itself, but the unevangelical 
 notion, as if man could thereby attain a higher stage of the 
 Christian life, a special meritoriousness in God's sight ; as if 
 there was a perfection rising above the general standard of the 
 Christian calling, which could only be found in withdrawing 
 from the world. " There is," he said, " one and the same 
 divine life springing from fellowship with the Redeemer, in 
 which all genuine Christians share, and a higher stage cannot 
 exist!" Since in his polemics he made the central point of 
 the opposition between naüire and grace proceed from the 
 whole reference of the life to Christ, and sought to re-establish 
 in their ])roper position the fundamental truths which the 
 great Apostle of the Gentiles opposed to Jewish externality, 
 he was in these respects Luther's forerunner. 
 
200 CHRISTIANITY ASCENDANT IN THE ROMAN EMPIRE. 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 THE BISHOPS AND FATHERS OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 The many outward advantages which Avere now connected 
 with the ecclesiastical offices excited many persons who had 
 not reflected on the sanctity and importance of the clerical 
 function to press into it uncalled ; men, vvho, as Gregory 
 Nazianzus said, intrude into the sanctuary with unwashed 
 hands and unconsecrated souls, and convert this office into a 
 means of gain. But in opposition to these crowds of worldly- 
 minded ecclesiastics, earnest souls were so much more deeply 
 penetrated by a feeling of the sanctity and responsibility of 
 this office, and of their own weakness and un worthiness. 
 Many were induced by this depressing consciousness to rmi 
 away from the call to a spiritual office, when it was in their 
 power ; which, on the other hand, was blamed by others who 
 had equally high conceptions of the sanctity and responsibility 
 of such an office, but considered themselves bound trustfully 
 to follow a divine call, even at the sacrifice of their owq self- 
 will. " He is not truly humble,'' says the Roman bishop, 
 Gregory the Great, who acknowledges and yet rejects the call 
 from above to undertake an office in the church." The latter 
 class of persons indeed believed that they ought not to 
 canvass for such an office, but that they ought to accept it if 
 they were called to it without their seeking it. In that case 
 they believed that they might have that confidence to which 
 Basil of Caesarea summoned a newly-elected bishop. '' Lament 
 not over a burden exceeding thy power. Wert thou thyself 
 obliged to bear this burden, it would not merely be difficult, 
 but intolerable. But it is the Lord who will bear it with 
 thee; therefore cast thy burden on the Lord, and he will do. 
 it." Thus Augustin, when the eyes of all persons in his native 
 country were directed towards him, avoided being present 
 when any church assembled, in which a spiritual office was 
 vacant, in order to prevent the choice from falling on himself. 
 But when on some special occasion he came to the city of 
 Thagasta in Numidia, and was present at a meeting of the 
 church, being unanimously elected presbyter, he did not 
 
hesponsibility of the ecclesiastical office. 201 
 
 venture to decline the call of God, but received it with fear 
 and trembling, with visible alarm and affliction ; so that those 
 persons who judged of him according to their own disposition, 
 or as compared with many others who concealed extreme 
 pride under the garb of Immility, might have supposed that 
 he Avas mortified because he had not obtained a higher office, 
 more corresponding to his abilities. It lay heavy on his soul 
 that, so soon after he had arrived at rest and peace from the 
 wanderings of his earlier life, he should be made the teacher 
 nnd guide of others. When he requested the bishop of the 
 church to grant him an interval, in which he wished to pre- 
 pare himself by prayer and the study of the divine word for 
 the sacred office, he wrote to him : " I am so deficient, that I 
 can more easily reckon what I have than what is wanting to 
 me. For I might indeed venture to say that I know and hold 
 in confident ftiith what is requisite for our salvation. But 
 how shall I apply this to the salvation of others, so as not 
 to seek what may be of use to myself, but to others, that 
 they may be saved? Certainly, in the Holy Scriptures, there 
 are counsels laid down, by the knowledge and application of 
 which a man of God may be able so to conduct the service of 
 the church, or at least live and die with a pure conscience 
 amongst sinners, so that the true life will not be lost after 
 which alone gentle and humble Christian hearts aspire. But 
 M'hat other means contribute to it besides those the Lord has 
 marked out — asking, seeking, knocking — that is, — prayer, 
 reading, and mourning for sin ! 
 
 "To perform these exercises I request your love to grant me 
 a little interval till Easter. For what answer must I make 
 to the Lord, my judge ? Shall it be, I could not seek before 
 I was already entangled in church affairs ? Now if he should 
 say to me, ' Thou unfaithful servant, if an estate of the 
 church, on the harvest of Avhich much labour has been 
 bestowed, by any artifice whatever has been made a subject 
 of dispute, and thou mightest thyself have to appear before 
 earthly judges on a charge of neglecting a field which I had 
 manured with my blood, wouldst thou not seek after the best 
 counsel, and if the sentence was against thee, wouldst thou 
 pass over the sea [to the supreme authorities at Rome]? 
 And if tliou wert absent a year or longer, would no complaint 
 call thee back, in order that no other person might possess a 
 
202 CHRISTIANITY ASCENDANT IN THE ROMAN EMPIRE. 
 
 piece of land, whicli yet is not necessary for the souls but for 
 the bodies of believers, whose hunger would be far more 
 easily and willingly appeased by my living trees, provided 
 they were carefully attended to ?'" Augustin means that if 
 ministers rightly apply themselves to preaching and pastoral 
 duties, the zeal of Christian love in the church would do more 
 for the relief of the necessitous than could be gained from 
 any earthly possession whatever. He says this against the not 
 inconsiderable number of persons in his times who cared 
 more for the endo"«Tnents and revenues of the church than 
 for the salvation of souls, and whom he wished to remind 
 that all their outward circumstances would be better if only 
 due care were taken of the internal state. 
 
 The anniversary of the ordination of the bishops was a 
 feast-day for their flocks. It was the day on which pious 
 bishops brought with fresh weight before their souls the 
 sanctity and responsibility of their office, and rendered an 
 account to the Lord of the manner in which they had up to 
 that time discharged it. " Indeed," says Augustin, on such 
 an occasion, "ever since that burden of which a strict account 
 must be given has been laid on my shoulders, anxiety on 
 account of this my dignity has troubled me ; yet I am far 
 more moved by this consideration when the anniversary 
 places it before my eyes, than if I had undertaken the office 
 for the first time to-day." He added what it was that 
 sustained and consoled him under this depressing conscious- 
 ness. " The Lord Jesus would not have called his bui'den 
 light if he had not been willing to bear it with those on whom 
 it is laid. When I am alarmed to think what I am to you, I 
 am comforted to think what I am with you ; for to you I am a 
 bishop — with you I am a Christian. The former is the name 
 of the obligation laid upon me, the latter denotes the grace 
 that is given to me. The one brings me danger, the other 
 salvation. Lastly, by the stonns of this restless office we 
 are, as it were, driven about on the open sea ; but when we 
 think by whose blood we are redeemed, we come, by the 
 repose which this thought brings with it, into a secure haven. 
 The labour of our calling we have for ourselves alone, but our 
 repose we find in the benefits which are common to all." 
 The heart-reviving thought of the grace common to all 
 Christians filled his soul and gave him new power, while it 
 
DANGER OF SELF-CONFIDENCE OR INDOLENCE. 203 
 
 excited new lively feeling of his obligations to the Redeemer 
 in his calling. "When I am more rejoiced," he says, "to 
 think that I am redeemed with you than that I am set over 
 you, then, as the Lord has commanded, I shall more zealously 
 serve you, that I may not be ungrateful for the inestimable 
 honour of being your fellow-servant. For I must love my 
 Redeemer, and I know M'hat he said to Peter, ' Lovest thou 
 me.'' Feed my sheep.' This he said to him the first, the 
 second, and the third time. He asked him after his love, and 
 he imposed a task upon him — for the greater the love, so 
 much lighter will be the task." 
 
 There are always two wrong paths into which men are 
 liable to go astray : one is, a haughty self-confidence which 
 leads those who are filled with it to imagine that they can 
 attain and accomplish everything by the exertion of their 
 own unassisted powers; the other is, an indolent confidence 
 in God, often proceeding from pride, only of another kind, by 
 virtue of which a man fancies he may expect everything from 
 the operation of the Divine Spirit, without employing the 
 means that God has ordained. We find both these errors 
 among those who sought to fill ecclesiastical office at this 
 period. Thus, there were some persons who rejected all 
 study, all application to mental culture, for the office of 
 religious teachers, and maintained that everything must 
 proceed from the operation of the Holy Ghost. In opposition 
 to this notion Augustin says, "The Christian may learn 
 without pride what man must learn from men ; and whoever 
 would teach others, let him impart without pride or envy. 
 Let us not tempt Him in whom we have believed, in order 
 that we may not be deceived by such cunning delusions of 
 the Evil Spirit, to err so egregiously that we cannot go into 
 the church to hear or learn the gospel, or that we cannot 
 read the Holy Scriptures or hear other persons read and 
 explain them, and that we should expect to be caught up to 
 the third heavens and there hear ' unspeakable words which 
 it is not lawful for a man to utter,' or to see the Lord Jesus 
 there and to learn the gospel from him rather than from men. 
 May we be on our guard against such dangerous temptations, 
 and rather recollect that the apostle himself, although struck 
 to the ground and instructed by a heavenly voice, yet was 
 sent to a fellow-man in order to receive from him the sacra- 
 
204 CHRISTIANITY ASCENDANT IN THE EOMAN EMPIRE, 
 
 ment [of baptism] and to be incorporated into the chureli ; 
 and that the centurion, Cornelius, although the angel informed 
 him that his prayer was heard, was referred to Peter for 
 further instruction. Everything might have been done by 
 the ministry of angels, but human nature would have been 
 degraded, had it seemed as if God would not communicate his 
 word by man to man. For how could it have been true what 
 the Scripture says, ' The temple of God is holy, which temple 
 are ye;" if God gave no responses from this human temple, 
 and if everything that he wished men to leam was sent down 
 direct from heaven or uttered by angels r In that case, the 
 love which binds mankind together by the bond of unity 
 would have no means of fusing dispositions, so to speak, 
 together, and placing them in communion with each other, if 
 onen ivere not to he taught hy men.'' But others also were 
 not wanting who thought they could become true preachers 
 of the divine word by study and human art alone, depending 
 on their own powers instead of depending on Him by whose 
 power alone man can effect anything. Against such persons ' 
 Augustin says \'^ " If our preacher delivers what is right, holy, 
 and good, let him labour to the utmost that he may be lieard 
 intelligibly, willingly, and obediently, and he must be con- 
 vinced that this is to be attained by devout prayer rather 
 
 * Agit itaque noster iste eloquens, cum et justa et sancta et bona 
 dicit, neque enim alia debet dicere ; agit ergo quantum potest cum ista 
 dicit, ut intelligenter, ut libenter, ut obedienter audiatur; et bsec se posse, 
 si potuerit, et in quantum potuerit, pietate magis orationum quam ora- 
 torum facultate non dubitet, ut orando pro se, ac pro illisj quos est 
 allocuturus, sit orator antequam dieter. Ipsa hcra jam ut dicat accedens, 
 priusquam exserat proferentem linguam, ad Deum levet animam sitientem, 
 ut eructet quod biberit. vel quod impleverit fundat. Cum enim de 
 unaquaque re, qua secundum fidem dilectionemque tractanda sunt, multa 
 sint, quae dicantur, et multi modi quibus dicantur ab eis, qui ha^c sciunt ; 
 quis novit quid ad praesens tempus vel nobis dicere, vel per nos expediat 
 audiri nisi qui corda omnium videt ? Et quis facit ut quod oportet, 
 et quemadmodum oportet dicatur a nobis, nisi in cujus manu sunt et nos 
 et sermones nostri ? Ac per hoc discat quidem omnia, quae docenda sunt, 
 qui et nosse vult, et docere, facultatemque dicendi, ut decet virum eccle- 
 siasticura, comparet; ad horara vero ipsius dictionis illud potius bonffi 
 menti cogitet convenire, quod Dominus ait : Nolite cogitare quomodo 
 aut quid loquamini ; dabitur enim vobis in ilia bora quid loquamini r 
 non enim vos estis qui loquimini, sed Spiritus Patris vestri qui loquitur in 
 vobis — August, de Boot. Christ, i, § 32. 
 
OBJECT OF TREACHIN-G. 205 
 
 than by oratorical talent — that he must be a })leader in prayer 
 for himself and for his hearers, before he can be a preacher. In 
 the very hour when he is about to address them, before he opens 
 liis lips to preach, let him lift his thirsty soul to God, that he 
 may pour forth what he himself has drawn from the fountain. 
 For of everything which relates to fiuth and love, many 
 things may be said, and in various ways, by those who are 
 informed respecting them ; but who can tell what is most 
 useful for the present moment unless that Being who looks 
 into all liearts r And who can cause us to express the right 
 thing in the right manner, unless lie in whose hands Ave and 
 our works stand ? AVherefore, whoever wishes to know and 
 to teach, let him learn all that is to be taught, and let him 
 acquire the faculty of teaching as becomes an ecclesiastic ; 
 but at the very time of preaching let him rather bear in mind 
 the words of the Lord. ' Take no thought what ye shall speak, 
 for in that hour it shall be given you what ye shall speak.' " 
 
 Those men who regarded themselves only as servants of 
 the gospel, as instruments of the Holy Spirit, did not wish 
 to attach men to their own persons ; they sought not their 
 own glory and the applause of men, but the glory of God 
 and the salvation of men. They held themselves bound and 
 felt compelled to express in its nakedness the ungodliness 
 of human nature with whatever splendour it might deck 
 itself, and to attack it more earnestly with the sword of tlie 
 Spirit in proportion as it became more dangerous under a 
 hypocritical profession of Christianity. Thus Augustin said : 
 " Farbe it from us to say to you, 'Live as you like; be assm-ed 
 God Avill not let any one perish, only hold firmly the Christian 
 faith. [Of course he is here speaking only of a dead faith.] 
 He will not let any of those who are redeemed by him perish. 
 He will not let those perish for whom he shed his blood. If 
 you arc pleased with the public shows; go thither — what is 
 the evil? Go, join in those feasts which are celebrated in all 
 cities with public revelry. The mercy of God is great ; it 
 pardons all. Let us wear the garlands of young roses before 
 they wither. (Wisd. of Sol. ii. 8.) When you will, iiold 
 feasts in the house of your God, you and yours be filled with 
 food and wine, for those gifts are granted to us that we may 
 enjoy them ; for God has not given them to the ungodly and 
 the heathen, and wished to deprive you of them.' If we talk 
 
206 CHRISTIANITY ASCElfDANT IN THE ROMAN EMPIRE. 
 
 in this manner we shall perhaps collect larger auditories. 
 But we shall not then publish the word of God, the word of 
 Christ, but our own ; we shall be shepherds who feed them- 
 selves, but not their flocks. What do I intend ? what do I 
 %vish ?" said Augustin to his church ; '* why do I speak r For 
 what purpose do I live ? What "is the object of my life, but 
 that we live with one another in the fellowship of Christ? 
 That is my glory, my joy, my possession. But if ye do not 
 hear and I am not silent, I shall indeed redeem my own sovd, 
 but I would not be saved without you." 
 
 In the great cities of the Grecian empire, the bad and cor- 
 rupt manners proceeding from the theatres and the schools of 
 the rhetoricians, had spread so far that the preachers were in- 
 terrupted with loud plaudits. Chrysostom often emphatically 
 reprobated this abuse, which served to Bomish vanity — the 
 most dangerous enemy attending all the gifts granted to man ; 
 and his own words testify that he himself had not felt alto- 
 gether free from some M'orkings of this vice, from which his 
 own nation and times had suffered so much. "Many," he 
 says, " take great pains to make a long discourse before the 
 congregation, and when the multitude loudly testify their 
 approbation, they fancy themselves equal to kings. But if 
 they bring their discourse to an end without noise, this is 
 worse to them than hell. This has been the ruin of the 
 church, that you will listen to no discoiu'se that leads you to 
 repentance, but only to one which can entertain you ; and 
 that, too, by the tones of the speaker's voice, and the ar- 
 rangement of the words, as if you were so many singers and 
 musicians. And we are so faint-hearted and miserable that 
 we fall in with your desires ; we who were bound to combat 
 them. And it is the same as if the father of a spoilt child, 
 when he is ill, should give him cakes and cold drink, and 
 anything else that pleases him, but is not anxious about what 
 will do him good ; and M^hen the physician blames him, says 
 in his defence : ' What could I do ? I cannot bear to see 
 the child cry.' Miserable man ! and so you ruin your child ! 
 I should be sorry to call such a man my father. How much 
 better it is to suffer pain for a short time, and then to be 
 made well for ever, than to make some brief enjoyment the 
 cause of ever-during sorrow ! So it is with us. who give 
 ourselves trouble to bring together well-arranged and well- 
 
EVILS ATTENDING ELOQUENT DISCOURSES. 207 
 
 soimding words in order to please, not to profit; to be 
 admired, not to instruct ; to produce gratification, not con- 
 trition. Believe me, I say nothing but the truth. In such 
 demonstrations of approbation there is at the instant some- 
 thing congenial to human nature, and I am pleased. But 
 when I come home, and reflect that the persons who thus 
 testified their approval derived no advantage from what they 
 heard ; that if they did gain anything whatever, it was all 
 lost by the shouts and the plaudits ; I am deeply grieved and 
 sigh, and feel as if I had said everything in vain. Of what 
 use is all my pains-taking, if my hearers derive no fruit from 
 my ministry ?■' " Nothing," he says, " becomes a church so 
 much as quiet and order. Such noises belong to theatres, 
 markets, and processions. I think of all ways in which I can 
 profit your souls ; and this is not a little thing [that is, if 
 they agreed not to interrupt the preacher again in that man- 
 ner]. It would be of service, not only to you, but to our- 
 selves, that we should not be led astray ; that we should not 
 love praise and honour ; that we should say not what may- 
 contribute to our maintenance, but what is to our spiritual 
 profit. Hence we are in ill repute with the heathen, who 
 say that we do everything for show and applause." This last 
 remark and warning of Chrysostom is, indeed, deserving of 
 consideration in every age ; since, although there are not 
 openly avowed pagans in opposition to Christianity, yet there 
 are never wanting those persons who gladly avail themselves 
 of all that is artificial, showy, and vain, in connection with 
 Christian services, to throw discredit on the whole. And, in 
 fact, nothing is so much adapted to excite suspicion and 
 destroy all right feeling, as when a parade is made of that 
 which in its own unostentatious nature is most opposed to 
 parade. In another homily Chrysostom says : " Wc would 
 not speak in vain in order to gain your praise, to receive a 
 testimony of your approbation, and then go away. Not only 
 for such an object ; far from it ! but for your benefit. It is 
 the greatest praise, and praise enough, if one wicked man be 
 converted to goodness ; if one who heretofore had been neg- 
 ligent becomes, through our exhortations, a zealous Christian. 
 Thus to me will accrue the greatest })raise and comfort, and to 
 you the greatest gain and spiritual riches." 
 
 Jerome, in his instructions for an ecclesiastic, gives the 
 
208 CHRISTIANITY ASCENDANT IN THE ROMAN EMPIRE. 
 
 folio win o- advice : " Often read the Holy Scriptures : let 
 them never be out of thy hand. Learn what thou hast to 
 teach. Continue in that which thou hast learned, and which 
 has been entrusted to thee ; remember from whom thou hast 
 karned it. Let not thy actions disgrace thy preaching. 
 When thou preachest in the church, let no one quietly say to 
 himself: ' Why dost thou not do what thou sayest :" " 
 
 When, as we learn from Chrysostom, in the passage quoted 
 above, eloquence in sermons was made an occasion of vanity, 
 the consequence was, that many persons were most of all 
 misled by that which should have contributed to their salva- 
 tion. On this point Chrysostom says :••' " Thou hast the gift 
 of eloquence and of teaching. Do not believe that on this 
 account thou hast something more than others. Thou 
 oughtest to be the more humble, because more gifts are im- 
 parted to thee. Be fearful for this : for often this is likely to 
 be thy ruin, unless thou art sober-minded. Why art thou 
 conceited r because thou teachest by v>'ords r But it is easy 
 to be wise in words ? Teach me by thy life ; that is the best 
 teaching. Thou sayest that it is proper to practise modera- 
 tion, and thou utterest a long discourse on this, and pourest 
 forth a flood of words. But he speaks better than thyself 
 who teaches this lesson by his actions : for precepts are im- 
 planted not so much by words as by the actions of the soul. 
 If thou hast not performed the work, thou hast not only done 
 no good by the words, but hast done harm. Better is it to 
 be silent. Why ? because thou makest the thing impossible 
 for me ; for I think, if thou who sayest it, dost not do what is 
 right, I shall be more easily pardoned for the neglect of it, 
 since I say nothing of the kind. Unto the wicked God saith, 
 
 * Mijcku tlvai voixiff7jg cavrov. Aoyov t^tig kcu cicaaicdXiKrfv 
 y^aoLi' ; M?) Lid tovtojv vojxiayg rrXkov ri rCJv äWojv i\tiv. Aid tovto 
 fidXicra rciTreivovaOai ocpeiXeic, on —\ei6vojv i)t,nx)di]Q cojpiwv (^ yap 
 7i-\e1cv äc^'iOr], TrXeiov äya~i](jti, Ovkgvv Kai raTreLvovaöai xp^), ÖTi 
 roi'c dXXovQ TraoeXOojv, tig ce iTrkvevGSV ö Osog' öoßov Cid rovro. 
 TloXXuKig yap aoi Kai cnroXeiag tovto yivtTai a'lTiov, dv /(?} i'r](pyg' tL 
 u'tya (ppoveig ; on ^icdcJKtig cid Xoyiov ; aXX' svkoXov tovto to (piXoao- 
 <pi~iv tv pi]iiaai' clcaEov /xs Cid tov ßiov Toii (tov. Avtij ?) cidaaKaXia 
 dpLCTTr}. Akyeig oti ch fiiTpidCtiv, Kai naKOOv vTrep tovtov Xoyov 
 aTTOTeiveig, Kai prjTopevtig pkuiv ciKujXvTojg ; aXXd aoi) ßtXTiojv kKtlvog 
 (pj]aiv, oh' ipyojv tovto Traidsvwv Ink. — Chrysost. in Act. Apost. Horn. 
 XXX. § 3. 
 
ACTION MOUE INFLUENTIAL THAN PRECZPT. 209 
 
 'What hast thou to do, to declare my statutes?' (Psa. 1. 16.) 
 For greater is the disgrace when a person teaches what is 
 right by his words, while his actions contradict his words. 
 This has been the cause of much evil in the clmrch." 
 
 The genuine bishoj) did not wish to set himself up as a 
 teacher and master ; he wished only to present himself as 
 a scholar of the one heavenly Teacher. It was his earnest 
 endeavour, by word and deed, to introduce all the members 
 of his congregation into Christ's school, that they might learn 
 immediately from him. Such an one was Augustin. lie 
 thus addressed his flock, after reading to them John viii. 3 1 : 
 *' Ye know that we all have one teacher, and we find our- 
 selves in the same discipleship under him. And we are not 
 on this account your teachers, because we speak to you from 
 above ; but the teacher of us all is He who dwells in us all. He 
 has spoken in his gospel to us all, and he has said to us wluxt 
 I now say to you. But he has said of us, both of us and oi 
 you, ' If ye abide in my words,' — certainly not in my words, 
 which I am now speaking to you, but the words of Him who 
 said in the gospel, ' If ye abide in my words, then are ye 
 my disciples indeed.' We abide in Him by a consciousness 
 of our poverty; he abides in us by his mercy." The same 
 writer says : '* Ye must indeed consider who I am who ventures 
 to speak to you, and of what things I venture to speak to 
 you ; I venture to discom'se to you of divine things as a man, 
 of spiritual things as a carnal person, of eternal things as a 
 mortal. If I would live healthfully in the house of God, I 
 must keep at a distance from a vain arrogance. I conceive 
 according to my capacity what I set before you ; where it is 
 opened to me, I enjoy it with you ; where it remains closed, 
 I join with you in knocking.' If any one does not under- 
 stand, because it has not been said by me in a right way, let 
 him pardon human weakness, and pray to God's goodness; for 
 we have Christ within us as a Teacher. If ye cannot lay hold 
 of something by my mouth and your ear, then turn in your 
 hearts to Him who teaches me what I utter, and who will 
 impart to you as he thinks good. He who knows what he 
 gives, and to whom he gives it, will not be wanting to the 
 suppliant, and will open to him who knocks. And if he 
 does not give alike, let no one think himself forsaken. 
 Perhaps he delays to give something, but he sends no one 
 
 p 
 
210 CHRISTIAXITY ASCENDANT IN THE EOMAN EMPIRE. 
 
 away himgrj-. For if he does not give at the instant, it is in 
 order to prove the faith of the seeker, and not because he 
 despises him who asks." 
 
 Hence it was the zealous endeavour of an Augustin, as of a 
 Chrysostora, to lead the members of his church to the fountain 
 of the Divine Word, that without human intervention, they 
 might draw from it for themselves, and learn to apply what 
 they then drew to practical purposes. Thus Augustin says, 
 in reference to a portion of Scriptui-e on which he had lec- 
 tured : " Our Lord and God, who heals all the diseases of the 
 soul, has laid before us in Holy Writ, which is his own reposi- 
 tory, many means of cure, and we must act as his assistants 
 in order to apply them to our wounds. For we mast not 
 consider ourselves as assistants sent out by the Physician to 
 heal others, without requiring to be healed ourselves. When 
 we look to him, when we give ourselves up to him with all 
 our hearts in order to be healed by him, then we shall be all 
 healed." 
 
 Augustin regarded it as " the duty of the Christian pastor 
 to open the fountain of Holy Writ to his thirsty flock, and to 
 supply them with its pure water ;"^ and while he conducted 
 them to a right understanding of it, to guard against possible 
 mistakes. The meetings which in the North African church, 
 as in many other parts, were held on Saturdays, Augustin 
 devoted particularly to the study of the Bible; especially 
 because on this day he had more leisure than on Sundays, 
 and the attendance was not so numerous, but consisted only 
 of those who took a deep interest in an acquaintance with the 
 Divine Word. So Chrysostom often, in his preaching, broke 
 off in the middle of an important investigation, which he 
 promised to finish on the next occasion, in order that his 
 hearers might have an opportunity, in the meanwhile, of 
 reflecting on the subject, examining the ScrijDture, and 
 conversing with one another respecting it. Thus he 
 says, in one of his sermons : "I have said this, my 
 brethren, in order that you may observe how anxious I am 
 that you should pray both for me and yourselves — that the 
 Lord would grant that I may speak worthy of the subject, 
 
 * Videtis quam periculose auilitur si non intelligitur. Videtis quem- 
 adraodum pertineat ad officium pastoris, opertos fontes (scripturse) 
 aperire, et aquam puram innoxiam sitientibus ovibus ministrare. — 
 August. Serm. 128, § 7. 
 
THE BIBLE, THE CHRISTIAN'S TREASURY. 211 
 
 and tliat you may be capable of receiving it in a right manner. 
 Until the question is solved, examine it yourselves; ask 
 others, and say: " This question our bishop has proposed to 
 us to-day, and if the Lord grant, he will also explain it." 
 Augustin endeavoured to impress his people, with the blessed 
 consequences of an intimate acquaintance with the Divine 
 Word, in the following beautiful passage : " Why dost delay 
 with thy conversion ? What thou fearest to lose as a good 
 man, perhaps thou wilt lose as a bad man. If thou losest it 
 as a good man, he who has taken it away will be thy Com- 
 forter. The gold is withdrawn from thy coffers, but thy 
 heart is full of faith. Outwardly thou art poor, but inwardly 
 thou art rich. Thou bearest riches with thee, which thou 
 wouldst not lose, even if thou escaped naked from shipwreck. 
 The ungodly suffer greater detriment. Their house is empty; 
 still more empty is their conscience. When an ungodly man 
 suffers loss, nothing outwai'd remains to him which he can 
 hold fast, and within he has no resting-place. He has lost 
 that which gave him opportunity to exhibit himself with his 
 wealth before the eye of his fellow-men, and he can fall 
 back on nothing within him, for he has nothing. He has 
 not imitated the ant, ' and provided his meat in the summer.^ 
 (Prov. vi. 8.) What do I say — 'when it was summer?' 
 When he had the repose of life, when his worldly affixirs 
 were flourishing, when time was at his disposal, and all men 
 called him fortunate — that was his summer. He would have 
 imitated the ant, had he heard the word of God, thus collected 
 his meat, and laid it up within him. But trials and afflictions 
 came ; hard winter came, the storm of fear, the chill of 
 sorrow; there was some loss, or dangerous illness, or the 
 death of a relation, or a disgrace, a humiliation, — it was 
 winter. The ant turns to what she has collected in the 
 summer, and within, in her retirement, where no one sees it, 
 she is revived by the labours of the summer. As she col- 
 lected this in the summer, all saw it ; but while she feeds on 
 it in the winter, no one sees it. And what does this mean? 
 See God's ant ; he rises up daily, and goes to the house of 
 God, prays, hears the Bible read, sings a hymn, digests 
 what he has heard, meditates upon it, brings his provisions 
 into the store-house. Such is the conduct of the intelligent 
 hearer ; every one sees him go to church, return from church, 
 
 p 2 
 
212 CHKISTIANITY ASCENDANT IN THE EOMAN EMFIKE. 
 
 hear the sermon, hear God's word read, find a Bible, open 
 and read it; all this men may see when it happens. Misibr- 
 tune comes upori him : other persons lament for him as an 
 unfortunate man ; they know not what he has Yv'ithin. The 
 ant now enjoys the fruits of its summer labours ; thou canst 
 see it collect these fruits, but thou canst not see it enjoying 
 them. The Christian may lose what God hath given hira, but 
 God himself he cannot lose." Augustin recommends the 
 reading of the Holy Scriptures, as a guide to right self-exa- 
 mination and self-knowledge. To those who think themselves 
 righteous, because they commit no gross sins, he says : 
 " Certainly, when thou hast contemplated the law of holiness 
 in the Holy Scriptures, thou wilt, whatever progress thou 
 hast made, find a sinner within thee."' 
 
 Against those persons who seek for an excuse in their 
 worldly occupations for neglecting the Scriptures, he says; 
 " Do not be so fettered by present things as to say, I have no 
 time to read, I have no time to hear; such conduct is to press 
 down the ear to the earth." He appeals to the fact that the 
 Holy Scriptures, which contain remedies for every disease of 
 the soul, were read, and publicly sold throughout the world. 
 
 Still, on account of the knowledge of the art of reading 
 not being universally spread, it could not be supposed that 
 all could read the Bible themselves ; the church-teachers took 
 special care that all persons who wished, might become ac- 
 quainted with the Holy Scriptures, by the repeated reading 
 of portions of them at divine service. " Perhaps some of 
 you," said Augustin, " cannot read, or have not time for 
 reading; but they might at least, by attentive hearing, not 
 forget the doctrine of salvation." He calls upon his hearers 
 to question him privately on passages of Scripture which were 
 still obscm'e to them. " If anything strikes them," he says, 
 " on which they desire to question me more closely, they 
 would at another time find, in the name of Christ, an open ear 
 with me." But he also gives them, in order to learn how to 
 understand the Scriptures themselves, the rule, owing to the 
 non-observance of which the Bible had so long remained to 
 himself a closed book: namely, to examine with humility 
 and prayer, with an ardent love for divine things, to hold 
 fast with confiding, child-like faith what they had once clearly 
 knovrn, and faithfully to apjjly it to practice, and thus ad- 
 
SIMPLICITY, YET DEPTH OF -THE SCRIPTURES. 213 
 
 vance from the obscure to the clear. '' Hold fast and de- 
 voutly receive what is revealed, and thus you will merit 
 that the obscure sliall be made clear." '• When we live 
 piously, when we believe in Christ, when we do not wish to 
 ily out of the nest before the time," he says, " even the oppo- 
 sition of erroneous teachers will only lead us to a deeper 
 knowledge of the divine mysteries." " "With simple and con- 
 fiding faith we must adhere firmly to the Lord Christ, in 
 order that he may open to believers what is hidden in him. 
 There is no difficulty in the obscure meaning when we are 
 assisted by the Holy Spirit. Even your longing, your wish- 
 ing to understand, is a prayer to God ; from Him you must 
 expect help." As Augustin laid down rules to his congrega- 
 tion for the right interpretation and application of Holy Writ, 
 so also he considered it his duty to warn them especially 
 of the errors that were rife in his own times — that wilfuln^ 
 with which persons imagined they could explain and adjust 
 all things as they pleased; so that however much anything 
 might contradict the language of Scripture, they found a 
 point of connection, or an excuse for it. Against the indul- 
 gence of an allegorising humour, ho says, " First of all we 
 must firmly hold the fact as a foundation, and then inquire 
 into its meaning ; otherwise, without this foundation, we 
 shall only build castles in the air." 
 
 He represents it as a characteristic of Holy Writ, that it 
 speaks intelligibly for all kinds of men, imlearned as well as 
 learned, and yet furnishes inexhaustible materials for the 
 deepest refleetion : " The weak and the strong both drink at 
 the same stream, and every one quenches his thirst. The 
 water does not say, I am sufficient for the weak, and it does 
 not reject the strong : nor does it say. Let the strong come 
 here, but if the weak come, he will be carried away by the 
 force of the current. It Hows so securely and so gently, 
 that it quenches the thirst of the strong spirit, and yet does 
 not deter the weak. It utters the voice of a Cicero or a 
 Plato. The unlearned, those of weaker understanding, who- 
 ever is disposed, let him venture- To such it resounds, ' In 
 tlie hpji lining God created the heavens and the earth;' and 
 who ma}' not venture to drink of this water? For whom do 
 the Psalms resound, and who can say, ' It is too high for 
 me ?' They utter mysteries of the kingdom of God, yet so 
 
214 CHRISTIAXITY ASCE>'DAXT IX THE EOMAN EMPIPvE. 
 
 that children may be delighted to hear them, that the un- 
 learned may come and pour forth their full hearts in song." 
 Thus, he writes to a person on whom he urged the examina- 
 tion of the Scriptures : ^'' ^' How accessible is the language 
 of Scripture, although few can penetrate into its depths. 
 What it contains, open to all, it utters like an intimate 
 friend, to the heart of learned and unlearned alike. And 
 what it conceals in mysteries it does not present in lofty 
 language, which the sluggish and untaught mind dare not 
 approach, like a pauper before a man of Avealth; but invites 
 all in simple speech, whom it nourishes, not only by manifest 
 truth, but excites by concealed truth — the same truth being 
 sometimes more manifest, sometimes more concealed." He 
 represents to his hearers the higher joys which the examina- 
 tion of Holy Writ insures under all circumstances. " Whence 
 d#those who still walk on earth, draw spiritual joys? From 
 the Word of God, and the examination of a parable of Holy 
 Writ — from the sweetness of the peace M'hich is preceded by 
 the labour of seeking ; here is a holy and pure joy. This is 
 not to be found in gold and silver, in feasting and revelry, 
 in the tricks of the theatre, in striving after perishable 
 honours, or in their possession; for in all these things much 
 is wanting to true joy, and according to this book there can 
 be none. Rather the soul which is raised above inferior 
 objects, and finds its joy here, says what it can affirm truly 
 and confidently, ' The ungodly have told me of these joys ; 
 but these are not to be compared with the joys in thy law, 
 OLord!"t 
 
 * INIodus autem ipse dicendi, quo sancta Scriptura contexitur, quam 
 omnibus accessibilis, quamvis paucissimis penetrabilis. Ea quae aperta 
 continet, quasi amicus familiaris sive fuco ad cor loquitur indoctorura 
 atque doctorum. Ea vero quae in mysteriis occultat, nee ipsa eloquia 
 superbo erigit, quo non audeat accedere mens tardiuscula et ineruditn, 
 quasi pauper ad divitem ; sed invitat omnes huraili sermone, quos non 
 solum manifesta pascat, sed etiam secreta exerceat veritate, hoc in 
 promptis quod in reconditis habens. Sed ne aperta fastidirentur, eadem 
 rursus operta desiderantur, desiderata quodam modo renovantur, renovata 
 suaviter intimantur. His salubriter et prava cori'iguntur, et parva 
 nutriuntur, et magna cblectantur ingenia. Ille huic doctrinas inimicus 
 est animus qui vel errando earn nescit esse saluberrimam, vel adit segro- 
 tando medicinam. — August. Ep. 137, ad Volusiannm, § 18. 
 
 + Psa. cxix. 85 ; but not according to the Hebrew text. 
 
THEIR DAILY EXAMINATION. 215 
 
 Ambrose, bishop of Milan, also frequently exhorted the 
 members of his congregation, in his sermons, to the dailv 
 examination of the Scriptures. '' Under temptations the 
 soul is made vigorous by the AVord of God ; for this is the 
 vital principle of our souls, by Avhieh they are nourished and 
 regulated. Thus, as the Word of God increases in our souls, 
 when it is received into them, is understood and apprehended, 
 so then life increases; and so, on the other hand, when the 
 Word of God is lessened in our souls, their life is lessened. 
 Hence we must by all means strive to value M'hat is higher 
 than anything else, to store up the word of God within us, and 
 to receive it into our spirit and mind, to incorporate it with 
 our habits of thinking and acting." Again, he says :* *• Thou 
 must not run through the Word of God in a superficial 
 manner. When thou wishest to buy a field or a house, thou 
 callest into thy council an experienced judge, and considerest 
 exactly what is right; and thou dost not trust thyself, lest thou 
 shoukiest be in any way deceived. But now, shouldest thou 
 sell thyself, is thy own price treated of? is it estimated what 
 thou art, how much credit thou hast, what thou gainest ? 
 not land, not gold, not precious stones, but the Lord Jesus 
 Christ, with whom no price and no ornament can be com- 
 pared. Take for thy counsellors Moses, Isaiah, Jeremiah, 
 Peter, Paul, John ; take the great counsellor Jesus, the Son 
 of God, that you may gain the Father." Ambrose also 
 directs every Christian immediately to the source of light, to 
 that Teacher who alone is the true teacher : '• For how can 
 Ivingr man teach the truth who knows it not himself? and 
 justly the Lord says, ' Call no man master, for one is your 
 master, Christ.' But God enlightens the souls of all indi- 
 viduals, and imparts to them the clearness of knowledge, if 
 thou only opeuest the door of thy heart to him, and admittest 
 
 * Tota ergo die in lege meditare ; non perfunctorie tibi debet esse 
 transcursio. Si agrum emere valis, si raercaris domum, ])rudentiorem 
 adhibes, et quid juris sit diligenter consideras et ne in aliquo forte fal- 
 lacis, tibi ipse non credis. At nunc tu ipse emendus es tibi, de tue 
 pretio traetatur, considera quid sis, quud noraeii habeas, quid adquins 
 tibi .•' non agrum, non pecuniam, non gemmarum moiiilia ; sed Jesus 
 Christum, cui nulla possunt pretia, nulla ornamenta conterri. Adhibe 
 tibi consiliarios Moysen, Esaiam, Hiereniian, Petrum, Pauluni, Johan- 
 nen!, ipsum magnum consiliarium Jesum Dei Filium, ut adquiras Patrem. 
 — Ambrobius, jßxpos. in Psa. cxviii. Üerm. 13, § 7. 
 
21 G CIlFvISTIANITY ASCEXDAXT IX THE ROMAN EMPIRE. 
 
 the light of heavenly grace. If thou doubtest, carefully in- 
 quire ; for he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks, it shall 
 be opened." 
 
 Jerome thus wiites, recommending the study of the Scrip- 
 tures : "I pray you, my dearest brother, to live among such 
 things, to think upon such things, to know nothing else, to 
 seek nothing else. Does not the seat of the kingdom of heaven 
 already appear to thee to be on earth ? I am not so rash and 
 stupid as to pledge myself that this is to be, and that we are to 
 eat on earth the fruits of the tree which has its roots in heaven ; 
 but I admit it is my endeavour. I prefer myself to the man who 
 sits [i.e. who does not strive, but remains sitting there]. I do 
 not wish to be a teacher, but I promise to be thy companion. 
 To him that asks, it is given ; to him that knocks, it is opened : 
 the seeker finds. Let us learn on earth the things of which 
 the clear intelligence remains for us in heaven." He exhorts 
 Leta to make her daughter early acquainted with the Bible : 
 '• Instead of jewels and silks, let her love the Holy Scriptures: 
 let her go over the gospels, never to lay them down ; let her 
 imbibe -svith all the longing of her heart the Acts and the 
 Apostolic Epistles." 
 
 Chrysostom, in his comment on Psa. i. 1, observes: "As 
 the tree planted by the water-brooks, since it is continually 
 moistened by the water, yields to no irregularity of the atmo- 
 sphere, so likewise the soul which dwells by the streams of 
 Holy Writ, and is continually watered from that source, and 
 receives the dew of the Holy Spirit, will be overcome by no 
 change of circumstances, although all the evil influences of 
 the world press on such a soul. Nothing else can give such 
 consolation to sufferers; for everything else is transitory, and 
 guarantees only transitory consolation : but the reading of the 
 Scriptures is intercourse with God. And what in the whole 
 world can sink a person in sorrow if God comforts him r Let 
 us, therefore, occupy ourselves with reading the Scriptures, 
 not merely dm'ing these two hours, but continually ; and let 
 every one, when he goes home from church, take the Bible in 
 his hand, and meditate on the portions that have been read 
 here, if he would derive sufficient advantage from Scripture ; 
 for a tree growing by the water-side is supplied with water 
 not merely for two or three hours in the day, but all day, and 
 all night, and consequently is full of foliage and loaded with 
 
THEIK INFLUENCE ON THE LIFE. 217 
 
 fruit, although no one has watered it. Thus the man who 
 always reads the Holy Scriptures, although he has no one to 
 explain it to him, derives great advantage from incessant 
 reading." The same father says y^' " Wait for no other 
 teacher ; thou hast the Word of God. There is no other such 
 teacher. Other teachers often conceal much from vanity and 
 envy. Hear this, ye men of the world, and provide yourselves 
 with Bibles, as dispensaries for the health of your souls. 
 Ignorance of the Holy Scriptures is the cause of all evils. If 
 we go unarmed to the battle, how can we escape ? Throw 
 not everything upon us ; ye are sheep entrusted to us for 
 guidance, but sheep not irrational, but endowed with reason.'' 
 When exhorting the members of his congregation to procure 
 Bibles, he says : " Seest thou not the smiths, the goldsmiths, 
 or artisans of whatever class, how they are prepared with all 
 tlie tools of their craft, and when pressed with hunger or 
 poverty, they would rather suifer anything than to procure 
 food by selling their tools ? Many often prefer to pay interest 
 for money, in order to support their families ; and very pro- 
 perly, for they know that by selling these tools their skill in 
 their trade is entirely useless, and the whole ground of their 
 Cdccess in life is taken away. But if those tools remain in 
 their possession, they are able, in course of time, to pay all 
 their debts by working at their trade. We must be like- 
 minded. For what the hammer, and anvil, and bellows, are 
 to such people as instruments of their craft, that, to us as 
 Christians, are the writings of the prophets and ajjostles. As 
 they melt down, or change the shape of old vessels, so also 
 with these instruments we remodel our souls ; we make the 
 crooked straight ; the old, new. And those persons can oidy 
 show their skill in changing the form, for they cannot trans- 
 form the materials of the vessels ; they cannot turn silver into 
 gold. But it is not so with thee ; thou canst do something 
 more ; thou canst take a wooden vessel and make it into a 
 golden one." [He adduces in proof of this, 2 Tim. ii. 20, &cc.] 
 
 * Mrict TTtoi^iiinjQ 'irfoov cicanKciXov ' t^iiq ra \uyia rov Otov. 
 Oudtig (TS cidäcTKu io£ iictn'a. Ovtos fcii' yap noWd kui Cid KSvoSo^iav. 
 Kai Sid ßaaKai'iav tTriKOvirrti iroWaKig. 'AKuvaart, irapaKaXu), Travng 
 Ol ßiüJTiKo'i, Kai KräaOt ßißXia (pdpfi.xKa Ttjg \pvx>j'.^- • • • Tolto Trdi'riov 
 aiTiov Tojv KaKÖJv, TO Hi) ti'ch'ai rac yna(pciQ. Xwpif ÖttXoii' tlg iruXtfiov 
 ßaSi'^ofitv. — Chrysost. in Ep. ad Coloss. Hom, 9, § 1. 
 
218 CHRISTIANITY ASCENDANT IN THE KOMAN EMPIHE. 
 
 " Let US, therefore, not neglect to furnish ourselves with 
 Bibles. Let us collect not gold, but the Word of God." 
 And to those who excused themselves by alleging the ob- 
 scurity of the Bible, he says : " On this account the grace of 
 God has so arranged matters, that these books were composed 
 by publicans, fishermen, tent-makers, and shepherds, ignorant 
 and illiterate men, in order that no ignorant person might 
 take refuge in such an excuse, but that what was said might 
 be inteUigible to all ; so that artisans, servants, widows, and 
 the rudest, might gain advantage from it." He then adds: 
 " Take the Bible in thy hand ; hold fast what thou under- 
 standest ; often review that which at present is unintelligible 
 to thee. And if by repeated reading thou canst not after all 
 find out the meaning, go to the teacher, ask advice of him, 
 only show greater zeal ; and if God sees greater zeal in thee, 
 he will not despise thy watching and anxiety ; but although no 
 man instruct thee in what thou seekest, He himself will cer- 
 tainly reveal it to thee." In proof he adduces the history of 
 the Ethiopian eunuch (Acts viii. 30, 31), and then makes this 
 application of it : " God saw the man"s zeal, and therefore 
 sent him a teacher. And now, though there is no Philip here, 
 the Spirit who moved Philip is here." 
 
 In various ways the bishops stood in close connection with 
 the members of their congregations, which made it possible 
 for them to know them more accurately, and to operate 
 upon them according to their peculiar circumstances. The 
 people were desirous that the bishops should visit individual 
 families, — a desire that arose more frequently from vanity 
 than from religious concern, as Chrysostom M-as obliged to 
 complain in his work on the priesthood. Of Augustin, his 
 biographer Posidonius relates, that he would not be drawn 
 off, by such solicitations of vanity, from those things which 
 more nearly concerned his ecclesiastical calling, and from 
 those labours in which he engaged for the benefit of his con- 
 temporaries and of succeeding ages, but confined his visits to 
 the houses of distressed widows and orphans. Sick persons 
 often sent for the bishops, in order to receive consolation 
 from them ; that they might pray by their bedside, and im- 
 part their blessing. Laics also came to them, to converse on 
 religious subjects. Thus we find that Ambrose was bur- 
 dened the whole day with a multiplicity of concerns, and the 
 
DECISION OF CIVIL CAUSES BY BISHOPS. 219 
 
 greater part such as lie felt more oppressive, because they 
 "were foreign to his spiritual calling ; yet in the few moments 
 of leisure, which he so gladly devoted to reflection on divine 
 things and spiritual studies, he was ready to speak to every 
 one. Especially on feast-days, a meeting of the laity with 
 the bishops often took place, in order to ask them questions 
 on religious subjects. Members of their congregations of 
 various ranks, high and low, who met with perplexities in 
 their daily business or official duties, frequently applied to 
 them, which gave faithful bisho])S an opportunity of correcting 
 many evils, and of warning against them. 
 
 The decision of civil causes in the church, which was per- 
 mitted by the laws of the emperor Constantino, when two 
 parties appeared at their tribunal, this examination and de- 
 cision of civil causes certainly occupied much time, which 
 spiritually-minded men would gladly have employed for other 
 purposes : it involved them in many worldly things, exposed 
 them to many calumnies, when they decided simply according-^ 
 to the merits of the case ; yet they obtained, by this means, 
 an opportunity of knowing more accurately the members of 
 their congregations, and their moral character ; they could 
 thus scatter among them suitable practical lessons, point out 
 the sinfulness of that selfishness which gave rise to these dis- 
 putes, and urge them to unity. Pious bishops, in submitting 
 to this burden, sacrificed inclination to duty, and in their de- 
 voting their attention to worldly things, practised mortification 
 to the world ; while others became immersed in secularity, 
 and lost sight of the spiritual design of their vocation. Au- 
 gustin belonged to the former class. He says, on Psalm 
 cxix. 115 (which verse, according to the Alexandrian version 
 and the Vulgate, reads thus : " Depart from me, ye evil, and 
 I will examine the commandments of my God"') : " The 
 wicked certainly exercise us in obedience to the commands of 
 God, but they draw us away from the examination of them, 
 not only when they persecute us, but also when they show us 
 respect and honour, and yet require that we should engage 
 in satisfying their corrupt and busy desires, and employ our 
 time upon them, or at least when they oppress the weak, and 
 force them to bring their cause before us. And we do not 
 venture to say to such persons, ' Who hath made me a judge 
 or divider of an inheritance over you ?' For the apostle has 
 
220 CHRISTIANITY ASCENDANT IN THE KOMAN EMPIRE. 
 
 committed such investigations to members of the church, by 
 enjoining Christians not to appear before the judgment-seat 
 of heathen magistrates. We also do not venture to say to 
 those who do not seize on the property of others, but only 
 eagerly seek after their own : ' Beware of covetousness ;' or 
 to place before them the man to whom it was said : ' Thou fool, 
 tliis night shall thy soul be required of thee ; and whose shall 
 those things be which thou hast prepared r' for if we say such 
 things to them, they do not turn away from us ; but they 
 urge, torment, entreat, and vociferate, that we should rather 
 surrender ourselves to that which they love than to that 
 which we love — the examination of the divine law. O, with 
 what disgust at this noisy restlessness, and with what longing 
 after the Divine "Word is it said, ' Depart from me, ye evil 
 doers ; I will examine the commandments of my God !' May 
 those obedient persons among believers pardon me, who on 
 account of their worldly engagements seldom visit me, and 
 are easily satisfied with my judgment, who do not disturb me 
 by their disputes, but rather comfort me by their obedience. 
 We may at least use this exclamation of the Psalmist, on 
 account of those who stubbornly dispute with one another." 
 ** Two persons come to a spiritual judge ; both believe that 
 they are in the right. Before judgment is pronounced both 
 say : ' Decide as you please, only decide ; we should deserve 
 to be condemned if we rebelled against your sentence.' Both 
 love the judge before he decides. But when the judgment 
 has been given, it must be against one ; and neither of the 
 two knows against which it will be. If the judge seeks to 
 please both, he receives the praise of man as his reward. 
 But see what he gains and what he gives up. He gives up 
 what abides to all eternity for the transitory, the reality for a 
 nullity. But if he had God before his eyes, he would, look- 
 ing up to God as the judge's judge, pass sentence against one 
 of the two. Xow, although the person against whom the 
 sentence has been passed, since he sees himself bound not so 
 much, indeed, by the laws of the church as by the laws of 
 the emperor, must obey ; yet he will cast discontented looks 
 at the judge, and calumniate him as much as he can. He 
 was partial to the rich, says the man ; he has received some- 
 thing from him, or he fears to offend him. But if the sen- 
 tence is favourable to the poor, then the rich man says : ' In 
 
CHURCH THE mOTECTOR OF THE OPPRESSED. 221 
 
 order to avoid the imputation of beinj^ severe upon the poor, 
 he has suppressed justice, and has given judgment contrary 
 to truth.' " 
 
 The bishops were looked upon as the guardians of the 
 weak, who were exposed at this period to so many attacks of 
 despotic and arbitrary power, and in order to fullil this dutv, 
 connected with tlicir office under existing circumstances, they 
 needed a powerful faith to raise them victoriously above tlio 
 fear of man. Fathers, when at the point of death, committed 
 their young children to them for protection and education ; 
 for bishops in general were regarded as the natm'al protectors 
 of widows and orphans. 
 
 Ambrose thus writes to his clergy : " It is a peculiar dis- 
 tinction of your office, when the assault of a powerful person, 
 whom widows and orphans cannot resist, is warded off by 
 the help of the church ; when you show that the command of 
 the Lord has more power over you than the favour of the 
 jDOwerful. You know how often I have fought against the 
 imperial poAver for the property of widows entrusted to my 
 care." The property of a widow was entrusted to the church 
 at Pavia, under the emperor ^'alentinian II. Some person 
 managed to procure an imperial order, by which it was to be 
 put into his hands. It was demanded repeatedly in the name 
 of the emperor, with threats in case of refusal; but the 
 bishop, who acted according to the counsel of Ambrose, 
 steadily withheld it, opposed the laws of God to the emperor, 
 and quoted the example of Ileliodorus, in 2 Maccabees iii. 
 His representations made an impression at the moment, and 
 the bishop gained time to restore the property into the 
 widow's own hands. 
 
 The mediation of the bishops was also frequently solicited 
 in reference to special disasters, and for whole cities and pro- 
 vinces. Augustin, in his sermons, describes cases which 
 frequently occurred : " A person, pale and trembling, runs 
 into the church, is eager to see the bishop, and falls at his 
 feet. The bishop asked, ' What is the matter ?' He an- 
 swered, ' Sir, they will lay violent hands upon me ; I 
 shall be cast into prison. Deliver me ; have pity on me !' 
 Or, if the danger is still greater, they all rush to the bishoj) 
 with the cry, ' Hasten for his life!' (Curre propter animam !)"' 
 Augustni closes this striking instance with the beautiful 
 
222 CHEISTIANITY ASCENDANT IN THE EOMAN EMPIEE. 
 
 exhortation : "I hasten to rescue thy body; mayest thou so 
 run as to rescue thy soul. He whom thou fearest can only 
 rage against thy body : do not thou rage against thy own 
 soul ! You see, when the earthly life of a man is in danger, 
 his friends run for him, how they run to the church, how the 
 bishop is besought to leave what he is engaged in. and to 
 hasten to his relief. If thou runnest a hundred miles for this 
 life, how many miles must thou not run for eternal life !" 
 Augustin availed himself of such analogies in order to lead 
 the thoughts of his hearers fi'om the earthly to the heavenly. 
 " Sometimes people flee to the church, and commonly we 
 regard them as refractory persons, who wish to be free from 
 the yoke of their masters, but not from the yoke of their 
 sins. Sometimes, also, those who have been subject to an 
 unrighteous yoke flee to the church, who, though free-born, 
 were held in servitude, and when the bishop does not labom' 
 to recover their lost freedom, they regard him as hard-hearted. 
 Let us all flee to Christ, and pray to God that he would be 
 our deliverer from sin." In another sermon he says : " It is 
 often said of us, the bishop is gone to that person of rank, 
 and what does the bishop mean by visiting him? And yet 
 you all know that your necessities oblige us to go whither we 
 do not wish ; to stand at the door to wait while the worthy 
 and the unworthy enter in ; to send in our names, and at last 
 scarcely to be admitted ; and then to carry ourselves with 
 humility, to supplicate, sometimes to give a pledge, some- 
 times to go away sorrowful. Who could endure this, if we 
 w^ere not compelled ^ And we conduct ourselves towards these 
 persons of rank, if they are Christians, as we are boimd to do 
 towards Christians ; if they are heathens, as we ought to 
 conduct ourselves to heathens — we who are bound to be bene- 
 volent to all."' 
 
 It is true that worldly-minded bishops converted the duty 
 of mediating for the unfortunate into a pretext for mixing in 
 worldly concerns, and entering into high life. Of such per- 
 sons Jerome says : " It is a shame that before the door of a 
 priest of the poor and crucified Saviour, who was supported 
 by others, are to be seen standing the lictors of the consuls 
 and the guard of soldiers, and that the judge of the province 
 is entertained more sumptuously with thee than in his palace. 
 But if thou pretendest that thou dost this in order to be able 
 
BENEFICIAL INFLUENCE OF THE CHITRCH. 223 
 
 to intercede for the unfortunate and oppressed, thou must be 
 answered, the Judge of this world will show more regard to 
 an ecclesiastic who practises abstinence than to a rich one, 
 and he will honour thy holiness more than thy riches. Or if 
 he is such a man that he only listens to the intercession of 
 ecclesiastics for any oppressed person while amongst his 
 cups, I would gladly dispense with such a benefit, and instead 
 of applying to the judge, I will pray to Christ, who can help 
 more effectually and speedily than the judge ; for ' it is better 
 to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in man ; it is 
 better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in princes.' 
 (Psa. cxviii. 8, 9.)" 
 
 The bishops, moreover, often received country people, who 
 in these times were severely oppressed by excessive taxation. 
 On such an occasion Augustin wrote a letter of severe remon- 
 strance to a man of rank whom he had baptized, Romulus, 
 who sought to obtain the heavy rents which his country 
 tenants had already paid to his steward, under the pretence 
 that this person had not been authorized to demand them : 
 "Truth is at the same time swq^t and bitter; when it is 
 sweet it saves, and when it is bitter it heals. If you are not 
 afraid to take the draught which I present to you in this epistle, 
 you will acknowledge M'hat I say to be true. May all the 
 reproaches you have uttered against me, hurt yourself as little 
 as they do me ; and oh ! may the injustice which you have 
 committed against the unfortunate and the poor injure you 
 not more than those against whom you have committed it. 
 For they suffer only for a short time, but do you look well to 
 it what is prepared for you in the day of wrath, and the 
 revelation of the righteous judgment of God, who will render 
 to every one according to his works, I supplicate his mercy, 
 that he would lead you to repentance in his own way, and 
 not allow you to live on unchanged to that day in which 
 there will be no space for repentance ; that he who has given 
 you the fear of God, on account of which I do not despair of 
 you, may open your mind, that you may know, abhor, and 
 amend your doings. For what now appears to you as insig- 
 nificant or a nullity, is so great an evil that when your cooled 
 passion will allow you to be conscious of it, you will water 
 the earth with your tears, in order to implore the mercy of 
 God. Fear God, if you would not deceive yourselves ; I call 
 
224 CHRISTIANITY ASCENDANT IN THE EOMAN EMPIRE. 
 
 your souls to witness that I fear more for you, wlien I say 
 this, than for those as whose intercessor I now address 
 
 The inhabitants of Cappadocia, in the year 371, were 
 thrown into gi'eat consternation by the division of the pro- 
 vince into two parts : by this division they had lost much of 
 their gains, and their taxes were doubled. Basil, the bishop 
 of the metropolis Caesarea, would gladly have undertaken a 
 journey to the imperial court, in order to intercede for the 
 oppressed ; but ill-health and his ecclesiastical engagements 
 held him back. Hence he applied to a distinguished person 
 belonging to the province for his mediation. He requested 
 him " not to remain at rest when his native land was alto- 
 gether pressed down, but betake himself to coui't and frankly 
 represent that they ought not to think of ha^dng two pro- 
 vinces instead of one ; for they had not brought the second 
 pro^-ince from another world, but had managed matters just 
 as if the owner of a horse or an ox had divided it into two 
 parts, and fancied that he had now two animals instead of 
 one. But a person acting thus would not have made two, 
 but killed one."' He wished also to represent to those who had 
 the greatest influence in the government, that this was not 
 the right method of aggrandizing a kingdom ; for its power 
 consisted not in the number, but in the good condition of its 
 provinces: for "we believe,*' he wrote, ''that perhaps some 
 from ignorance of the truth, and others to avoid saying any- 
 thing unpleasant, since the whole was a matter of indifference 
 to them, whatever might happen, have suffered it to take 
 place." 
 
 In rebellions and political revolutions the bishops rescued 
 many unfortunate persons, and by their persevering inter- 
 cession prevented much bloodshed. Thus in particular 
 Ambrose, the bishop of Milan, laboured in the reign of the 
 Emperor Theodosius the Great, a stormy period for the West. 
 His disposition is shown in the following v.'ords : " I do no one 
 injustice M'hen I honour God more than all men, and, trusting 
 in him, am not afraid to utter to you emperors what I con- 
 sider right, according to the measure of my insight."' He 
 Avrote to the Emperor Theodosius, when he had victoriously 
 suppressed the rebellions in the West, as follows : " You have 
 all that you could w^ish ; I must therefore annex my highest 
 
Ambrose's letters to theodosius. 22-j 
 
 wish to that which you nkcady possess. You are a pious, 
 gracious prince, yet I Mish you a greater increase of piety, 
 which is the best gift of the Lord, that the church, as it 
 enjoys through you peace and rest for the innocent, may, 
 through your clemency, obtain also pardon for the guilty." 
 He reminds the emperor, that " since God had done such 
 groat things for him, people were justified in expecting great 
 things from him." 
 
 The emperor, exasperated by a riot at Thessalonica (in the 
 year 388), was disposed to take severe revenge on the whole 
 city. Ambrose, who had been a})])rlscd of the emperor's in- 
 tentions, made representations which induced Theodosius to 
 promise that no blood should be shed. But as flatterers again 
 weakened the impression of truth, the emperor gave way 
 afresh to his resentment ; he surrendered the city to the fury 
 of the soldiers, to which thousands, the innocent with the 
 guilty, fell a sacrifice. Theodosius came to Milan, and 
 wished, as he was wont, to receive the Holy Supper from the 
 liands of the revered bishop. The emperor had committed a 
 crime, which, according to the regulations of the church, 
 would exclude him from the assembly of believers. The 
 church could see in him only the man, not the emperor, even 
 as in God's sight there is no respect of persons. Ambrose 
 could not bring his mind to accept a gift for the altar from 
 one who had shed so much Innocent blood, and thus make him 
 secm'e in his sins, or communicate the body of the Lord to 
 him, or In his presence, until he had acknowledged his sins 
 and professed repentance ; but he was anxious to connect 
 with zeal for the law of the Lord and Christian frankness, the 
 respect due from Christians to the civil authorities — to unite 
 the innocence of the dove with the wisdom of the serpent, 
 v.liich docs not allow persons to be carried away by the 
 sudden impulses of even justly-excited feeling, but takes ac- 
 count of time and circumstances. It might have flattered his 
 vanity to meet the emperor as he approached the altar, to 
 have inveighed publicly against his conduct, and called him 
 to repent before the church. But thus he would have lowered 
 the respect of the emperor among the people ; and it could not 
 be calculated beforehand what Impression such treatment 
 might make on the passionate emperor. It was another thing 
 to represent to the emperor iu writing what Ambrose must 
 
 a 
 
226 CHEISTIANITY ASCEXDA^^T IN THE KOMAN EMPIKE. 
 
 otherwise have upbraided him with publicly and by word of 
 mouth, but which he could now meditate ujiou at his leisure. 
 Ambrose, on this account, thought it best to avoid an inter- 
 view with the emperor at Milan, on the ground of ill health, 
 from which he was really suffering, and afterwards wrote him 
 a letter. " If Ambrose admitted you to communion," he 
 wi'ote to him, " you would thereby receive no forgiveness of 
 your sins ; but I should have had so much more to answer for, 
 if no one told you that you ought to be first reconciled to 
 God." After holding up to him the example of King David's 
 repentance, he added: " I have not written this in order to 
 put you to shame, but that the example of such a king may 
 urge you to put away the sin from yom' reign ; and this you 
 may do, if you humble your soul before God. For only by 
 tears and repentance can sin be removed. No angel nor arch- 
 angel can blot out sin. And the Lord himself, who alone can 
 say, ' I am with you,' when we have sinned, forgives our sins 
 only when we approach him in penitence. I counsel, I 
 entreat, I exhort you, because I am so pained that you, who 
 were an example of extraordinary piety, who had shown 
 favour to so many criminals, should feel no compunction at 
 the death of so many innocent persons. Although you have 
 been so successful in war, although you have also acquired 
 glory in other affairs, yet piety must be always the crown of 
 your works. The Evil Spirit envies you the success you have 
 had. Conquer him while you still possess the means of 
 conquering him. 
 
 " I have no cause to wish to be contumacious towards you. 
 but I have cause to be afraid for you. I cannot venture to 
 celebrate the Supper in your presence. Ought that w^hich is 
 not allowed when the blood of one innocent person has been 
 shed, to be allowed when the blood of so many innocent 
 persons has been shed ? I cannot believe it. 
 
 " Must it not be desirable for me to possess the emperor's 
 favour, so that I should certainly act in accordance with your 
 will, if the matter allow it?" 
 
 Ambrose, in a fimeral oration for this emperor, thus speaks 
 of him: " I loved the man who preferred the person who 
 told the strictest truth to the flatterer. He laid aside all his 
 imperial insignia, he publicly bewailed in the church the sin 
 into which he had fallen, being deceived by others. With 
 
MARTIN, BISHOP OF TOUKS. 227 
 
 sighs and tears he implored the forgiveness of his sins. He 
 was ashamed not as an emperor, but as private persons are 
 ashamed who submit publicly to church penance, and hence- 
 forward there was no day of his life on which be did not 
 lament his error." 
 
 When, in the sixth century, the Emperor Justinian, by 
 his despotic wilfulness, produced great disorder in tlie church, 
 Facundus, bishop of Hermiane, in North Africa, boldly said, 
 " If it pleased God now to raise up an Ambrose, another 
 Theodosius would not be wanting." 
 
 A man of similar stamp to Ambrose was his contemporary 
 Martin, the excellent bishop of Tours. The usurper, Maxi- 
 mus, countenanced by unprincipled worthless bishops, had 
 ordered the heretical teacher, Priscillian, to execution. Mar- 
 tin, to whom the emperor had given his word that he would 
 not shed blood, came to Triers, where the imperial court 
 was then held. The boldness of this good man alarmed them. 
 He was told that he ought not to come, unless he brought 
 peace ; he answered, " I come with the peace of Christ;" and 
 went into the city. He severely punished the unworthy 
 bishops, and no entreaties, flatterers, or threats could pre- 
 vail upon him to have communion M'ith them ; but when 
 he heard that officers had been sent into Spain, in order 
 to put down the rest of the Priscillians, and that fresh blood 
 was likely to be shed, he hastened by night to the imperial 
 palace, and declared himself ready to make concessions at 
 once if the orders sent to Spain were withdrawn. Thus he 
 saved many innocent lives. 
 
 In these conflicts of Christian love the bishops of the seat 
 of the eastern Roman empire, the patriarchs of Constanti- 
 nople, particularly distinguished themselves. Placed as they 
 were in the vicinity of a court full of corruption, and ex- 
 posed to the artifices of vicious courtiers and worldly 
 ecclesiastics, they often found themselves in a difficult and 
 dangerous position, when they aimed at faithfully discharging 
 the duties of their office in all its extent. Under such cir- 
 cumstances we see the Christian hero, John Chrysostom, from 
 whom we have already quoted so many beautiful passages, 
 combat all the corruptions of his age, full of the energy of 
 faith and the glow of holy love ', and the contrast thus pre- 
 
 q2 
 
223 CIIEISTIAXITY ASCEXDAXT IN THE EOMAN EMPIHE. 
 
 sentccl to us, makes more conspicuous the po^yer of the 
 Divine. 
 
 He was called to the bishopric of Constantinople through 
 the powerful influence of Eutropius. who might be said to 
 hold the reins of government, and was very much impressed 
 by a sermon of Chrysostom's which he heard at Antioch. At 
 jirst he stood high in his esteem, but when he frankly told 
 him the truth, protected the unfortunate in contravention of 
 his will, and remonstrated with him on account of his injus- 
 tice, he fell under his displeasure. In opposition to Chry- 
 sostom. the protector of oppressed innocence and of the per- 
 secuted, he managed to limit the protective power of the 
 church to those who had taken refuse at her altars. In 
 vain Chrysostom pointed out to him, in private conversations, 
 the reverses of fortune ; in vain he warned him not to think 
 himself secure in the possession of power. In vain he be- 
 sought him not to trust the flatterers who only did homage to 
 his good fortune, and would soon forsake him when that 
 failed him : in vain he pointed out that, however disagree- 
 able the language of truth might be to him, it should be 
 regarded as his true friend. Afterwards, Mhen his full took 
 place, he reminded the emperor of all this, and made use 
 of what he had said as a warning to those in high stations ; 
 but he preached to the deaf. 
 
 But in a short time Eutropius had to learn, by bitter expe- 
 rience, the truth of Chrysostom's predictions. At one stroke 
 he was hurled from the summit of power to the greatest 
 wretchedness. Forsaken by all his former friends, perse- 
 cuted by his unmerciful enemies, threatened by infuriated 
 soldiers, in the year 299 he sought safety for his life in an 
 asylum which he would not have thou2:ht of in the times of 
 his prosperity, and there found in the individual whom he 
 had hated on account of his frankness his only protector. 
 
 As a great multitude of persons, of all ranks, were drawn 
 together by this extraordinary spectacle, Chrysostom delivered 
 a discourse on the text, " All things are vanity." After 
 making use of the example then presented to them, in order 
 to impress them with the truth of the words, he added: 
 *' These words ought to be inscribed on the walls, on your 
 clothes, on the market, on the doors, on the gateways, and, 
 above all, in tlie conscience of every one of you ; we ought 
 
chuysostom's appeals against injustice. 229 
 
 always to meditate upon tlicm, since the dcceitfulncss of 
 worldly things — mere profession and hy])ocrisy — have the 
 appearance of truth to the multitude." He endeavoured to 
 inspire his auditory with sympathy for him who had merited 
 his misfortune by such evil conduct. "" Do not think," lie 
 said, " of the injustice suffered ; we are servants of the 
 Crucified, who said, " Forgive them, for thev know not what 
 they do.' How can you afterwards partake,'' he said, " of 
 the Holy Supper, and utter those words of the Lord's Prayer, 
 ' Forgive us our debts as M'C forgive our debtors,' if you 
 long for the punishment of your debtors ? Let no one, 
 therefore, give liimself up to anger, but rather let us pray a 
 gracious God, that he would grant him still a respite of his 
 life, and rescue him from impending death, that he may 
 try to make reparation for his injustice; and let us unite in 
 beseeching the benevolent emperor, that he would extend 
 his clemency to this man." To protect the unfortunate, Chry- 
 sostom afterwards exposed himself to great danger. He was 
 dragged along by the infuriated soldiers, and in reference to 
 this treatment he said to his people, " It is no disgrace to me, 
 for there is no disgrace but sin ; and if the whole world hold 
 thee in disgrace, but thou dost not disgrace thyself, thou art 
 not really disgraced." 
 
 Chrysostom had afterwards to sustain with the Empress 
 Eudosia conflicts similar to those with Eutropius, when he 
 appealed to her conscience, and vigorously withstood her 
 injustice towards those whom she sacrificed to the machina- 
 tions of her favourites. He often incurred her displea- 
 sure, and often became the object of her vindictive feelings. 
 But her conscience, ill at ease, again prompted her to be 
 reconciled to him ; but at last her animosity became unap- 
 peasable, and a distinguished prelate, full of worldly desires 
 and passions, Theophilus of Alexandria, whose enmity 
 Chrysostom had roused by the succour he afforded to the per- 
 secuted monks, served as the instrument of her vengeance. 
 Zeal for orthodoxy was used as a pretext. Banished to a 
 remote wild region, Chrysostom showed in adversity true 
 Christian magnanimity, founded on faith, love, and humility, 
 — a light that shone more brightly in proportion as attempts 
 were made'to obscure it. In harmony with the noble ex])ies- 
 sion he used in reference to the soldierv, that no one could 
 
230 CHEISTIANITY ASCENDANT IN THE EOMAN EilPIEE. 
 
 be really disgraced who did not disgrace himself, he com- 
 posed a treatise amidst his sufferings, to console his friends 
 who suffered with him, and to show that no one could really 
 injure him who did not injure himself. 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 THE GENERAL CHRISTIAN CALLING AND DIGNITY. 
 
 Although the consciousness of the general Christian 
 priesthood was much obscured by the causes already adverted 
 to, yet it was too closely connected with the essence of Chris- 
 tianity to be entirely suppressed, and reactions of the original 
 sentiment were continually taking place. As we have already 
 had occasion to adduce many expressions of the fathers who 
 opposed the corruptions of their times, and who sought to re- 
 "vdve a sense of the dignity and elevation of the Christian 
 calling, and the common duties founded upon it, we would 
 take this subject into special consideration. 
 
 "We find," says Augustin, "a citizen of the heavenly 
 Jerusalem, a citizen of the kingdom of heaven, who discharges 
 the functions of an earthly calling ; he wears the purple 
 mantle ; he is a magistrate, a proconsul, or an emperor ; he is 
 occupied about the concerns of an earthly kingdom, but he 
 has his heart above, if he is a Christian, a believer, a man of 
 piety, if he despises that which he now possesses, and hopes 
 for that which as yet he does not possess. We must, there- 
 fore, not despair of the citizens of heaven if we see them 
 transacting earthly business in an earthly state ; and on the 
 other hand, we must not congratulate all men as happy whom 
 we see occupied with heavenly concerns, since sometimes the 
 sons of perdition sat in Moses' seat, of whom it is said : ' All 
 whatsoever they bid you observe, that observe and do; but do 
 not ye after their works; for they say and do not.' The 
 former class, amidst earthly concerns, lift up their hearts to 
 heaven; the latter, while uttering the words of heaven, drag 
 down their hearts to earth." Elsewhere he says : " Let every 
 
THE CHRISTIAN S DUTIES IN THE WORLD. 231 
 
 believer say, ' I am holy.' To speak thus is no proud as- 
 sumption, but an expression of thankfulness. If thou say est 
 that thou art holy of thyself, thai is pritle. But if, as a be- 
 liever in Christ, and as a member of Christ, thou wilt not call 
 thyself holy, thou art unthankful. When the apostle wishes 
 to check pride he does not say, ' Thou hast not,' but ' What 
 hast thou which thou hast not received ?' Thou wilt not be 
 censured for saying that thou hast something which thou hast 
 not, but that thou hast of thyself what thou hast. Acknow- 
 ledge rather that thou really hast, but hast nothing of thyself, 
 in order not to indulge in pride or ingratitude. Say to thy 
 God, ' I am holy, since thou hast made me holy ; since thou 
 hast bestowed thy gifts upon me, not because I have merited 
 them ;' for if thou art not v/illing to call thyself so, thou be- 
 ginnest to offend our Lord Jesus Christ ; for if all Christians 
 who believe on him, and have been baptized into him, have 
 put him on, as the apostle says, ' As many of you as have 
 been baptized have put on Christ;' if. therefore, they have 
 become members of his body, and say they are not holy, they 
 offend the Head himself, whose members are, according to 
 them, not holy." And in one of his sermons Augustin says 
 to all Christians : " Learn that it is your business to put out 
 your money to interest. (Matt, xxv.) Ye cannot indeed get 
 interest from the ])lace where w^e stand, but ye can elsewhere, 
 wherever ye may be. Yet ye get interest whenever you gain 
 over one or another to the Lord. Be as my representatives 
 in your families. A bishop means an overseer, because by his 
 overseeing he takes care of the M'hole. Every father of a 
 family exercises the office of a bishop for his own house ; he 
 watches over the faith of his family, that none of them may 
 be seduced by false doctrine ; neither wife, nor son, nor 
 daughter, nor servant, since he has purchased them at a dear 
 price. The apostolic doctrine has placed masters before ser- 
 vants, and subjected servants to their masters ; yet Christ paid 
 the price of redemption for both. Despise not any of the least 
 among you ; with all watchfulness care for the salvation of the 
 members of yoiu* families. If ye do this, ye will put out your 
 money to interest ; then ye will not be like the slothful 
 ser\^ant, nor have reason to fear his dreadful sentence." And 
 in a sermon on Psa. 1. 23, Augustin says to the members of 
 his church : " Govern your houses, your sons, and your 
 
232 CHKISTIANTTY ASCE>-DANT IN THE KOMAN EMPIEE. 
 
 families. As it is our business to address you in tlie churcli. 
 so it is yours in your houses to take care that you may be able 
 to give a good account of those who are under your care." 
 Thus also Chrysostom addresses his church, on 2 Thess. v. : 
 *' Let eveiy one of you first of all teach himself. As a light, 
 if it burns clearly, can kindle many lights, but if it is ex- 
 tinguished, neither can give light itself, nor kindle other 
 lights, so it is with every holy light. If the light in us burns 
 clearly, we shall form many scholars and teachers. Suppose 
 a pious man who has a wife and children. Tell me, cannot 
 he do more to profit them than I can ? For they hear me only 
 once or twice in a month ; and what they have heard, perhaps 
 they retain till they have crossed the threshold of the church, 
 and then forget it. But if they see continually before them 
 the life of such a person, they derive great benefit from it. 
 Take your part with me in the service of the church. I speak 
 to all collectively ; you should speak to each one, and let 
 every one take on himself to care for the salvation of those 
 who are nearest to him; for that every one should care in 
 these things for his own household, learn from the Apostle 
 Paul. Hear his in.structions to wives : ' If they would learn 
 anything, let them ask their husbands at home ;' he does not 
 send them to the church-teachers. For as in elementary 
 schools the scholars in their turn become teachers, so it 
 should be in the church. See how many seiwiccs thy wife 
 renders thee ; how she takes care of all household matters. 
 Do in return something for her benefit. How ? Take her by 
 the hand in divine things. What thou hearest that is useful 
 carry home in thy mouth, like the swallow, and put it in the 
 mouth of the mother and children." Paulinus, bishop of 
 Xola, writes to a Christian householder : " The Lord himself 
 has said that he will be always present in the communion of 
 two or three ; hence I am convinced that he also dwells in the 
 midst of thy house." 
 
VAKIOUS APOLOGIES TOR LAX MORALITY. 23S 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 VARIOUS ERRORS IN PRACTICAL CHRISTIANITY. 
 
 As it is impracticable to give relief to a man who is 
 suffering from bodily disease, if lie is insensible of it, and 
 rejects all remedies, so the spiritually diseased — the sinner — 
 cannot be relieved as long as he is unconscious of his spiritual 
 malady, of his sin and guilt ; whether he will not acknow- 
 ledge what is sinful in his heart and life, or attempts to 
 quiet his conscience by seeking excuses for his sins. Augustin 
 justly observes, that " only that man can obtain the for- 
 giveness of sins who says, 'I have sinned.'" Every age 
 has its own peculiar apologies for the evil which it cannot 
 altogether deny. In the age we are now reviewing there 
 were partly apologies of a kind in which we recognize the in- 
 fluence of the earlier heathen stand-point, and partly such 
 as were framed from Christian doctrines, misunderstood and 
 isolated, disjoined from their connection with other truths. 
 The disposition which prompts men to seek for excuses can 
 easily find them everywhere, even in what is true in itself. 
 The ground of apology taken from heathenism was the power 
 of fate, by which human actions are determined ; the grounds 
 of apology deduced from a false application of biblical truths 
 were, the irresistible influence of evil spirits, the sinful nature 
 of man in his present condition, and the power of sensuality 
 founded upon it — a point in which what belonged to 
 heathenism, and the misconception of Christian truth, met. 
 
 Against such grounds of apology Augustin says :* "Be a 
 judge, not an advocate, of thy sins. Ascend the judgment- 
 seat of thy conscience, and be thy own accuser. I seek for 
 no excuse for sin, whoever has sinned with me or seduced 
 me to sin ; I say not — fate has willed it ; lastly, I say not — the 
 devil has done it. For the devil himself has indeed power to 
 allure or to terrify, and, if God permit, to assail with sore 
 temptations ; but we must pray to the Lord for strength, that 
 
 * Peccatum tuum judioem te habeat, non patronum. In tribunal 
 mentis tuse adscende contra te, et reum constitue te ante te. Noli 
 poncre te post te, ne Deus ponat te ante se. — August. Serm. 20, § 2. 
 
234 CHKISTIANITY ASCENDANT IN THE ROMAN EMPIRE. 
 
 his snares may not entangle us. Perverse men," he says, 
 " try to put the guilt of evil upon God, while they ascribe 
 what is good to themselves. If a man has done something 
 good, he says, I have done it ; but if he has done something 
 evil, he seeks to lay the fault on another, to avoid confessing 
 his sin to God. He who is not altogether abandoned, has 
 Satan at hand, whom he accuses. ' Satan did it,' he says ; 
 * he seduced me into it,' as if Satan had the power to compel 
 him. He has only the craft to allure. But if Satan spoke, 
 and God were silent, thou mightest excuse thyself. But now 
 thy ear is placed between God commanding and the Tempter 
 alluring. Why is it inclined one way, and why does it turn 
 from the other ^ Satan ceases not to prompt to evil ; but 
 God also ceases not to exhort to good. But Satan forces no 
 one against his will ; it stands in thy own power to follow him 
 or not. Then again, many persons accuse not Satan, but their 
 fate. Thus one says, ' My fate has brought me to this.' But 
 sometimes they attack God himself, and say, when they sin, 
 ' God willed it ; if God had not willed it, I should not have 
 sinned ;' like those persons who are referred to in the Epistle 
 of James (i. 13). 
 
 Chrj^sostom, who had to contend in populous cities against 
 such notions, so detrimental to moral earnestness and zeal, 
 calls the doctrine of fate, and of all-ruling necessity, an in- 
 vention of the devil, " who," as he beautifully expresses it, 
 "wishes to imj^air on all sides the liberty granted us by 
 God." " We cannot wonder," he says, " that unbelievers, 
 who bow down before wood and stone, are seized by this 
 malady ; but that those who have been set free from this 
 delusion and servitude, who have been privileged to attain to 
 the knowledge of the ti'ue God, should allow themselves to be 
 again earned away by such infatuation, is most lamentable ; 
 when those who profess to honour Christ, to whom heavenly 
 wisdom has been revealed, voluntarily cast themselves into 
 the abyss, since with extreme irrationality they deprive them- 
 selves of that freedom which God gave them, subject them- 
 selves to the hardest servitude, and place themselves, by their 
 thoughts, under the worst tyranny, vvhich in reality has no 
 existence, and seek to maim the sinews of zeal for virtue." 
 " If we only will," he says elsewhere, " not only death, but 
 even the devil himself cannot hurt us." 
 
ERRORS INJURIOUS TO CHRISTIAN HOLINESS. 235 
 
 When refuge was not sought in such grounds of apology, 
 there were two others, the effect of errors, that were in- 
 jurious to progressive holiness ; the contemplation of the love 
 of God apart from his holiness, or of his holiness apart from 
 his love ; on the one hand, a false dependence on God's love, 
 as inclined to overlook evil, which led to carnal security in sin; 
 and on the other hand, despair in the view of God's holiness, 
 which consumed all moral power, since it was not accompanied 
 by looking off fi'om self and putting confidence in redeeming 
 grace. 
 
 Augustin places together these temptations : "By such 
 craft," he says, " Satan seduces souls, and draws them away 
 from being saved by confessing their sins, since he either 
 leads them to seek excuses for their sins, and to make accu- 
 sations against others, or because they have already sinned 
 to indulge in despair, by imagining that they cannot obtain 
 pardon ; or he leads men to be careless about amendment, 
 because God will pardon everything." To the despairing- 
 soul who exclaims, " How can I come to God laden with such 
 great sins ?" Augustin says: " Do not give yourselves up ; do 
 not despair ! Ye are men, made in the image of God. He 
 who created you men, himself became man ; the blood of the 
 Only-begotten has been shed for you, in order that many sons 
 might attain to the everlasting inheritance of God's children. 
 When you are reduced to nothing on account of your earthly 
 frailty, value yourselves according to the price of your re- 
 demption. Estimate according to its worth what ye eat, what 
 ye drink [he here refers to communion with the Lord in the 
 Holy Supper] ; and what is confirmed to you by your Amen 
 [the words 'for the forgiveness of sins,' used at the celebration 
 of the Lord's Supper]. Do we thus exhort you that ye may 
 be high-minded and pretend to perfection .'^ No ; but ye must 
 not think yourselves far from all righteousness. I will not 
 ask you about your righteousness, for perhaps none of you 
 would venture to say, I am just ; but I ask you about your 
 faith. As none of you ventures to say I am just, so no one 
 ventures to say, I am not a believer. I do not yet ask how 
 thou livest, but what thou bclievest. Thou wilt answer, that 
 thou believest in Christ. Hast thou not heard the apostle — 
 ' that the just shall live by his faith ?' If thou believest, 
 tliou wilt guard thyself against sin ; if thou guardest thyself. 
 
236 CHRISTIANITY ASCENDAJ^T IN THE ROMAN EMPIRE. 
 
 tliou wilt exert thyself. God knows thy strlvmgs ; he sees 
 thy willing ; he sees thy conflict with the flesh ; he exhorts 
 thee to carry on the conflict ; he supports thee, that thou 
 mavst conquer ; he succours the faint ; he crowns the con- 
 queror. Therefore rejoice in the Lord, ye righteous (Psa. 
 xxxiii. 1) ; for the just lives by his faith. Learn to have in 
 your heart what every man has on his tongue : ' As God 
 wills' (quod Deus vult) :— a proverb often contains wholesome 
 doctrine." 
 
 Like Augustin, another theologian of this age, the monk 
 Pelagius (whose errors proceeded from a one-sided conception 
 of truth, a one-sided opposition against falsehood), combated 
 that perverse self-apology in the service of sin, and that vain 
 confidence in the abused compassion of God : the false ten- 
 dency of his opposition consisted in this, that he did not, like 
 Augustin, refer men to the power of God in redemption, but 
 rather to their own moral power, which in all ways he sought 
 to magnify; that he represented Christ more as a teacher, a 
 lawgiver, and the ideal of a holy life, than as the Redeemer, 
 who himself is /or believers, and in them the source of true 
 righteousness and holiness. The people whom Pelagius op- 
 posed with honest moral zeal were those who said : " If a 
 man only believes in the Pedeemer, he may continue to live 
 in sin — he will notwithstanding be saved by his faith." They 
 did not consider that this faith, where it really exists, is 
 necessarily the basis and germ of a new life, proceeding from 
 self-renunciation and a surrender to the Redeemer, — that 
 faith in the Redeemer and continuance in sin from which 
 man was redeemed, is a contradiction. The Pelagians, who 
 justly combated this delusion, said, on the other hand, " Faith 
 does not alone make man righteous, but good works must be 
 added." But here was their error, that they regarded these 
 works as something added from without, as a fruit inde- 
 pendent of faith, and produced by the moral power of man 
 roused into greater activity by the Christian doctrine, instead 
 of representing these good works as the fruit of the divine 
 principle of life contained in genuine faith. Both these oppo- 
 site errors were combated by Augustin.-^ '• The soiü of 
 
 * Anceps animus humanus et fluctuans inter confessionem infiimitatis 
 et audaciam prsesumptionis, plerumque bine atque inde contunditur, et 
 
GOOD WORKS THE EVIDENCE OF FAITH. 237 
 
 man,"' ho says, " commonly foils, because it fluctuates hither 
 and thither between the two extremes, — the confession of 
 "weakness and the presumption of pride, and so fails on the 
 one side or the other. There are those who resign them- 
 selves entirely to their weakness, and indulge in the notion 
 that the merc)^ of God is for all sinners, though they persist in 
 sin, if they only believe that God forgives sins ; so that even 
 none that are vicious among believers will perish. Such 
 persons are inclined to trust in the non-punishment of all 
 sin ; but for their sinful confidence they are necessarily con- 
 demned by that righteous God whose judgment, as well as 
 whose mercy, the Psalmist celebrates. (Psa. ci. 1.) But if 
 any one, shocked by such a thought, rises to a bold self-con- 
 fidence, trusts in his own righteousness and his own powers, 
 although such an one docs everything that appears right in 
 the eyes of men, so that no fault can be found with his life, 
 yet God himself condemns such presumptuous pride." lie 
 then contrasts those who believe they can be justified by their 
 works, and those who believed they could be saved by fiiith 
 M-hlle they continued in sin. He compares Paul and James, 
 and adds : * *■' The a})ostles by no means contradict one 
 another. Paul commends the faith of Abraham, and James 
 his works. James mentions the well-known act of Abraham, 
 his presenting his son as a sacrifice to God. A great work, 
 but proceeding from faith. I praise the superstructure of 
 works ; but I also see the foundation of faith. I praise good 
 works as the fruit ; but I recognize the root in faith. If 
 Abraham had had such a faith that when God commanded 
 him to offer his son, he had said to himself, ' I will not do it, 
 and yet I believe that God acquits me, though I despise his 
 commands ;' his faith without works woukl have been dead, 
 and, like a root without fruit, would have remained dried up 
 and withered. A good work becomes such by the disposi- 
 
 ita impellitur ut ei in quamlibet partem cadere prsecipitium sit. — August. 
 in Psa. xxxi. Enarr. 2, § 1. 
 
 * Jacobus in epistola sua, contra eos qui nolebant bene operari de 
 sola tide praesumentes, ipsius Abrahee opera commendavit, cujus Paulus 
 fidem ; et non sunt sibi adversi apostoli. Dicit autem opus omnibus 
 notum ; Abraham filium suum immobindum Deo obtulit. Magnum 
 opus, sed ex fide, Laudo superiediticationem operis, sed video tide 
 fundamentum ; laudo fructum boni operis ; sed in fide agnosco radiccm. — 
 August, in Psa. xxxi. Enarr. § 3. 
 
238 CHEISTIANITY ASCENDANT IN THE ROMAN EMPIRE. 
 
 tion; but faith gives its right direction to the disposition." 
 Against those self-confident persons he says :^ *' ye strong 
 ones, who need no physician ! Yours is not the strength of 
 health, but the strength of frenzy. For none are stronger 
 than the raving mad ; they have greater strength than per- 
 sons in health ; but the greater their strength appears to be, 
 so much nearer death are they." In another passage he 
 says : f " When thou thinkest on thy weakness, thou sinkest 
 down before the requirements of the doctrine of Christ. 
 Strengthen thyself by his example. But that example is too 
 high for thee. He is with thee who has given the example, 
 in order to aid thee." And again, Christ's humility is an 
 offence to the high-minded. But if it pleases thee as a 
 Christian, then imitate him therein. If thou imitatest him, 
 thou wilt find no weariness; for he himself says (Matt. xi. 
 28.) : ' Come unto me, all ye that are weary and hea^y laden, 
 and I will give you rest ; learn of me. for I am meek and 
 lowly of heart.' This, then, is the Christian doctrine. No 
 man can do anything good but through the grace of Christ. 
 When he has begun to do good, let him not ascribe it to 
 himself: and if he does not ascribe it to himself, let him 
 thank God. from whom he has received it. But if he does 
 good, let him not exalt himself above him who does it not; 
 for the grace of God is not limited to him so that it cannot 
 reach others. Such is the pride of the human heart, at so 
 great a distance is it from God ; and when it withdraws from 
 God, it sinks into the abyss. On the contrary, the humble 
 heart draws God down from heaven, so that he comes very 
 near to it. God is greatly exalted, enthroned above the 
 highest heaven, exalted above all angels. Hovv high must 
 thou raise thyself in order to reach him, the Most High ! 
 Do not weary thyself, striving beyond thy measure ; I give 
 thee better counsel. Certainly, God is highly exalted; but 
 only humble thyself, and he will lower himself to thee." 
 • 
 
 * O fortes, quibus medicus opus non est ! Fortitudo ista non sanitatis 
 est, sed insanise. Nam et phreneticus nihil fortius, valentioi'es sunt sanis; 
 sed quanto majores vires, tanto mors vicinior. — August, in Psa. Iviii, 
 Serm. 1, § 7. 
 
 t Sed considerans infirmitatem tuam, deficis sub prsecepto ; confor- 
 tare in exemplo. Sed etiam exeniplum ad te multum est; adest ille qui 
 prsebuit exemplum, ut prsebeat et auxilium. — August, in Psa. Ivi, § 1. 
 
NECESSITY OF UNIOX WITH CHRIST. 239 
 
 And Chrysostom says:* " No one can lay any other founda- 
 tion than that which is laid!" On that let us continue to 
 build, to that let us hold fast as the branch to the vine; let 
 nothing stand between us and Christ, for if anything stands 
 between we are undone ; for the branch draws its nourish- 
 ment from the stock, and the building stands firm because 
 it rests upon the foundation ; taken from that, it sinks at 
 once, for it has nothing by which it can support itself. Let 
 us not merely hold fast to Christ, but become altogether one 
 with him. If we are separated from him, we are undone. 
 Let us become one with Him, and become one by our works, 
 ' for whoever keepeth my commands,' he says, ' abideth in 
 me.' By various images he shows us how we must be one 
 with hini. He is the head, we are the body. He is the 
 vine, we are the branches. He is the bridegroom, we are 
 the bride. He is the shepherd, we are the sheep. He 
 is the way, we are those that w'alk therein. We are the 
 temple, he is the indwelling divinity. He is the first-born, 
 we are his brethren. He is the heir, we are the co-heirs. 
 He is the life, we are the living. He is the resurrection, we 
 are the risen. He is the light, we are the enlightened. All 
 these images denote the most intimate union, and leave not 
 the least intervening space ; for if we were only a little sepa- 
 rated from Him, we should by degrees be further removed; 
 
 * Qef-is^iov yap aWov ovdetg tvvarai Qtivai irapd tov Kfijxsvov. 
 'Etti roi'To ovv oiKoSofxcjfiev, Kal (jjq OtfieXiov tx*^^e9a, wg KXiJi-ia 
 äyLiikXov, tcai ^riotv Igtoj fikaov Tt'jfiCjv Kai XpicTToi"'. "Av yap y'ivrjrai 
 ri fitffov, ivQeuig aTroWvp-tda. Kai ydtt to KXtjpa Kara to avvi\ig 
 
 'h\KH TtlT TTK'lTTjra, Kol T) OiKO^Op)) KttTO. TO KeKoWtjaOai l<7T7]KtV ' wg 
 
 av Ciaanj, cTroXXvrai, ovk l\ovc!a ttov iptiaei lavTrjv. Mr) Toivvv 
 cnrXCjg Ix^'^H^^^ "^^^ XpicTTov, dWd KoWrj^uJptv avTtp. 'Av yap 
 OiaarCüptv, cnroWvpiOa. Oi ydp jiaKpvvovTsg tavTovg diro aov, otto- 
 Xowj'r«(, fpj)(Ji. Ko\\ü)i.u6a Toivvv auTip, Kal KoXXwptOa oid ratv tpyioj'. 
 O yap Tt]pil)v Tag LvToXdg pov, avTog tv tpoi ukvti. Kai ydp Cid 
 ttoXXCjv rjpäg InroStiypaTajv tvoX. "EKOTrtice' avTog y) Kt^äX//, r^ptig 
 TO aujpa. M»} hvvaTai p.k<Tov n uvai KicpaXijg Kai awpaTog ^jnoT7//ia ; 
 avTog OtpiXiog^ VH-^^^ oiKoCopri' avTog apiriXog, vpelg KXrjpaTa' 
 avTog 6 vupcpiog, riptlg t] vvp^ri ' avTog b TToiprjv, rjptlg rd Trp6- 
 ßara' olbg tKttvoc» vptlg oi ßaSi^ovrtg • vabg TrdXiv r'lptlc, avTog 
 ivoiKog' abrbg b TrpujroTokog, jjpilg o'l äSeX<poi' avrbg b KXtjpovopog, 
 r)pt7g 01 (TvyKXTjnoi opoi ' avTbg y) Kf^yj, ript^g oi ^iövTfg' avrbg y) 
 dväaraaig, yptlg oi dvifrrdptvoi' avrbg to <pCjg, ripiig ol ^wrt^o^fvot. 
 'iavTa TTavTa tvuxriv Iprpaivti, Kal ovch> pkaov kivov ä<pir]aiv tlvai^ 
 ovdk TO piKpoTUTov. — CliTysost. in 1 Cor. Horn. 8, § 4. 
 
240 CHRISTIANITY ASCENDANT IN THE ROMAN EMPIRE. 
 
 as the twig, if it be only partially separated from the root, it 
 immediately withers.'' 
 
 ^Vhen the Apostle Paul ^yl'ote to the Galatians, who sought 
 again for justification by outward performances, " Having 
 begun in the Spirit, are ye now made perfect by the flesh?" 
 he marked the stand-point to which their Christian life had 
 sunk back — the reducing of religion to external works, and 
 things which were substituted for the rational service of God, 
 embracing the whole life of the redeemed ; and this out- 
 ward tendency formed one of the greatest obstacles to the 
 progress of real Christianity. AVhat was in itself a proper 
 expression of Christian disposition and feeling, lost its true 
 import, and became injm'ious to the Christian life, when it 
 was contemplated apart from its connection with this disposi- 
 tion, and a meritoriousness was attributed to it in and for 
 itself Thus, for example, alms-giving was practised in the 
 confidence that by means of it men could purchase indem- 
 nity for their sins, or gifts were made to the church, 
 under the notion that mere outward church-going pil- 
 grimages to holy places at Jerusalem, or the mechanical 
 repetition of the sign of the cross, Sec. were meritorious. 
 Those teachers of the church who were animated with 
 Christian zeal, were hence necessitated to combat this oyer- 
 yaluation of externals, and to dii-ect men's minds from the 
 outward to the inward. 
 
 Augustin says:^'' '" To give alms is of advantage to those 
 who have changed their lives. But if thou givest something, 
 in order to be permitted to sin unpunished, thou dost not 
 feed Christ in the persons of the poor, but thou seekest to 
 "bribe thy judge.*' Elsewhere he says, " When a man has 
 heard that the Lord has said, ' Offer to God tbankssivins:' 
 (Psa. 1. 14), he thinks and says to himself, I will rise early 
 every day, go to church, sing a hymn morning and evening, 
 and a third or fourth in my house; I will daily bring God the 
 offering of my praise. Thou dost well indeed if thou dost 
 this ; but take care that thou dost not thereby become more 
 secure because thou dost this, lest while thy tongue praises 
 God thy life blasphemes Him." We loye the habitation of 
 
 * Eleemosynae illis prosunt, qui vitam mutaverunt Nam si ideo 
 
 das, ut liceat tibi semper impune peccare, noa Christum pascis, sed 
 judicem corrumpere coaaris. — August. Serm. 39, § 6. 
 
THE SOUL THE TRUE TEMPLE OF CHEIST. 211 
 
 God's house and the place where his honour dwelleth (Psa. 
 xxvi. 8), if we are it ourselves. Whoever loves the habita- 
 tion of God's house doubtless loves the church, — the church 
 which does not consist in walls and roofs, adorned by art, 
 not in the splendour of marble and of gilded tables, but in 
 believing, holj' men, who love God with all their hearts, and 
 their neighbours as themselves." 
 
 Jerome thus writes to a person who sought his advice for 
 tlic right conduct of a Christian life. " The true temple of 
 Christ is the souls of believers ; adorn these, — clothe these, 
 — bring them as offerings, — in them receive Christ. Of wliat 
 use is it that the walls of the churches are resplendent with 
 jewels, while Christ suffers hunger in the persons of the poor?" 
 In the same epistle, he writes against an over-valuation of 
 pilgrimages. " AVhen heaven and earth pass away, certainly 
 all earthly things will pass away. The shes of the cruciiixion 
 and the resurrection profit those who take up their cross 
 and rise with Christ daily, and thus show that they are 
 worthy to dwell in such a place. Finally, let those who ex- 
 claim, ' the temple of the Lord,' listen to the apostle : ' Know 
 ye not that ye are the temple of God, and the Spirit of God 
 dwelleth in you?' From Jerusalem and from ]h-itain the 
 kingdom of heaven is equally open to you, for the kingdom of 
 God is within you." 
 
 Gregory of Nyssa, when he had returned from a journey 
 to Jerusalem, thus writes : " Before I visited that spot, and 
 since I have professed my faith in Christ as the true God, my 
 faith has neither been increased nor diminished. I believed 
 that the Son of God was born of a virgin before I saw 
 Bethlehem. I believed in the resurrection of Christ before I 
 saw his sepulchre. I confessed the reality of the Ascension 
 without having seen the Mount of Olives. I have only gained 
 thus much from that journey, to know, from actual compa- 
 rison, that there is far more holiness near us than in foreign 
 places. Hence I call on you who fear the Lord, to praise him 
 in whatever place ye may happen to be. For no one comes 
 nearer to God by a mere change of place. Wherever thou 
 art God will come to thee, if the habitation of thy soul is so 
 prepared that the Lord can dwell in thee and walk in thee. 
 But if in the inner man thou art full of evil thoughts, thou 
 mayest be on Golgotha or the mount of Olives, yet thou art 
 
242 CHEISTIANITY ASCENDANT IN THE ROMAN EMPIRE. 
 
 as far from having received Christ into thy soul, as those 
 who have not yet made a profession of the Christian faith. 
 If the Spirit blows where he wills, then believers here become 
 partakers of the work of grace according to their faith, not 
 in consequence of a pilgrimage to Jerusalem." 
 
 Thus Augustin endeavoured to. turn the thoughts of men 
 from anxiety after the bodily view of the Redeemer, to spiri- 
 tual communion with him. " We must hear the gospel in 
 such a state of mind, as if we actually heard the voice of 
 the Redeemer, and we must not say, ' Blessed were they who 
 could see him ! ' for many among those who saw him, joined 
 in crucifying him. But many among us who never saw him, 
 have bclie\ed on him. The Lord is on high, but the Lord is 
 also here with his truth." 
 
 Though in the great cities of the Grecian empire many 
 sought to find a religious pretext for the splendour of their 
 dress, and thus fancied they could combine the claims of 
 vanity and of religion, yet Asterius, of Araasea in Pontus, 
 remarked in a sermon: "Those among rich men and women 
 who wish to be pious have chosen the evangelical history 
 itself and given it to the weavers ; I mean our Lord 
 Jesus Christ, with all of his disciples, and every one of his 
 miracles as it is narrated. There thou wilt see the marriage 
 at Cana and the water-pots of stone, the paralytic who 
 carried his bed on his shoulders, the blind man restored 
 to sight with clay, the woman with the bloody issue who 
 was cured by touching the hem of Christ's garment, the 
 penitent sinner who fell at his feet, and Lazarus whom he 
 raised from the dead. And when they have done this, they 
 think they are pious and wear a dress acceptable to God. If 
 they M^ould take my counsel, they would part with these 
 clothes, and hold in honour the living images of God. Do 
 not have pictures of Christ on thy garments, but bear his 
 spiritual image in thy soul. Do not have the paralytic 
 painted on thy walls, but find out the sick that are lying on 
 the ground. Do not always have before thy eyes the woman 
 who was cured of the bloody issue, but give relief to suffering 
 widows. Gaze not continually on the penitent woman falling 
 at the Lord's feet, but feel contrition on account of thy own 
 sins." 
 
 Against the mechanical use of the sign of the cross, 
 
RELic-.woKsniP. 243 
 
 Augustln says: "Many make the sign of the cross, and arc 
 not dis})osed to understand its meanin«^. God desires a person 
 who will bring this sign into the life, not one who merely 
 describes it with his finger. If thou bearest on thy forehead 
 the mark of Christ's humility, then bear in thy heart the 
 imitation of Christ's humility." When Augustin missed 
 many of his usual hearers in his church, who had resorted to 
 the public games at the circus, preferring noisy amusements 
 to devotion, he said of them : "If they are alarmed b)^ 
 anything at the circus, they make at once the sign of the 
 cross, and yet they would not stand there if they bore in their 
 hearts what they carry on their foreheads." 
 
 Vigilantius attacked, with passionate zeal for the honour of 
 God, that outward direction of the religious spirit which 
 bordered on heathenism ; but he was so far carried away by 
 his feelings, as not to observe a tender consideration for the 
 religious sentiment which was at the basis of the error ; and 
 without such forbearance no attempt at reformation can 
 succeed. The man whose superstitious feeling is justly 
 opposed, feels himself injured in that which in his mind is 
 associated with the sacred feelings of devotion. That which 
 is despised, as something merely outward and belonging to the 
 senses, becomes partly internal by its relation to his religious 
 feelings ; the point to be considered is not what this outward 
 thing is in and for itself, but what it has become by the 
 admixture of religious feeling. Vigilantius justly combated 
 the reverence, bordering on heathenism, which was shown to 
 the relics of men who in their life-time were witnesses of the 
 truth and organs of the Holy Spirit. He justly opposed to 
 this the true nature of religious worship. But he forgot the 
 feeling of love and piety, the due respect and consideration 
 for the memory of the men of God, when he ridiculed persons 
 for adorning ashes and bones with gold and silver, or 
 wrapping them up in costly clothes. Jerome could here 
 justly object to him that the devotion of believers saw some- 
 thing more than this in it; that there was something higher in 
 the feeling ; that to believers there was nothing dead, but that 
 they were raised in spirit by the sight of these relics to the 
 saints who were living with God ; that God was not the God 
 of the dead but of the living. Yet even this remark could 
 not take from Vigilantius his right to combat superstitious 
 
 b2 
 
244 CHRISTIANITY ASCENDANT IN THE ROMAN EMPIRE. 
 
 devotion. Superstition could not be approved of merely 
 because there was something Christian lying at its basis, nor 
 was it on that account less dangerous. A certain religious 
 feeling is originally at the basis of all idolatry, which only 
 M'anders from its proper object and attaches itself to sensible 
 appearances. Zeal for the truth and for the honour of God 
 cannot be without forbearing, recognising love, neither can 
 love exist without holy zeal for the truth. 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 ON PRAYER. 
 
 " Prayer,'' says Ambrose, " is the nourishment of the 
 soul ; by it the seat of vice is transformed into a sanctuary 
 of vii'tue." " The aim of prayer itself," says Augustin. 
 " ennobles and purifies the heart, and makes it receptive of 
 the divine gifts which are imparted by the Spirit. God, 
 indeed, is always ready to impart his spiritual illumination to 
 us, but we are not always capable of receiving it, when we 
 incline to other things and are darkened by desires after 
 worldly objects.'** In prayer the heart is turned towards 
 him who is always ready to give if we only receive what 
 he gives ; and in this very act of turning there is a purging 
 of the inward eye when temporal objects of desire are ex- 
 cluded, so that the vision of a simple heart is rendered able 
 to receive the simple light." The prayer of the Christian 
 must not exist as an isolated thing, as an act dissevered 
 from the rest of life and self-enclosed; it must proceed 
 from the innermost ground of the whole Christian life, be its 
 animating principle, and react upon it with sanctifying power. 
 " Thou must pray without ceasing," says Basil, "not in words, 
 
 * Fit ergo in oratione conversio cordis ad eum, qui semper dare 
 paratus est, si nos capiamus quod dederit ; et in ipsa conversione purgatio 
 interioris oculi, cum excluduntur ea quae temporaliter cupiebantur, ut 
 acies cordis simpliris ferre possit simplicem lucem. — August, de Sermone 
 Domini in Monte 2, § 14. 
 
PEATETl, THE CHRISTIAN'S CONSTANT ACT. 245 
 
 but since thou connectcst thyself with God through the 
 whole course of life, thy whole life must be one continued 
 prayer." And Augustin says : "Ye notice how the children 
 of God frequently praj' to him with sighs, and ye inquire 
 after the cause of the sighing. Men hear the sighing and 
 know not its cause, if, indeed, the sighing reaches the ears of 
 a bystander. For there is a secret sighing of which no 
 human being is cognizant. Yet if a sjiecial anxiety has so 
 seized the heart of a man that he expresses in a loud voice 
 the sufferings of the inner man, the cause is inquired into, 
 and the bystanders say, ' Perhaps he sighs on this or that 
 account.' AVho can understand it except that Being before 
 whose eyes and ears he sighs: Wherefore it is said in 
 Psa. xxxviii. 9, ' I have roared by reason of the disq\iietness 
 of my heart.' For men commonly hear only the sighing of 
 the flesh ; but they do not hear him who sighs out of the 
 depths of his heart. A man has been deprived of his pro- 
 j)erty ; he laments, but not with the sighing of his heart. 
 Another because he has lost a son, or another because he has 
 lost a wife ; a third because his vines have been destroyed by 
 hail-storms, or his wine has turned sour, or he has been 
 robbed of his cattle, or because he dreads his enemy: all 
 these lament, but it is the sighing of the flesh. On the other 
 hand, the child of God who sighs as he meditates on the 
 Sabbath of the kingdom of God, which flesh and blood cannot 
 inherit, says : ' I roar for the disquietude of my heart.' And 
 the holy Psalmist adds : ' Lord, all my desire is before thee ; 
 not before men who cannot see into the heart. Let thy de- 
 sires be before Ilim, and the Father who seeth in secret will 
 grant what thou desirest ; for the desire itself is thy prayers, 
 and if thy desires do not abate, thy prayer is without ceasing ; 
 for not in vain the Apostle says (1 Thess. v. 1 7) : ' Pray without 
 ceasing.' Do we bow the knee incessantly: do we prostrate 
 ourselves before him incessantly, or do we incessantly raise 
 our hands to him so that he can say : ' Ye pray without 
 ceasing r' But if we so understand prayer, we cannot do it 
 without ce.asing. But there is another internal praying 
 without ceasins:, which consists in the desires. "Whatever else 
 thou mayest do, if thou longest after that Sabbath, thou prayest 
 without ceasing. Thou wilt be silent when thou ceascst to 
 love. The waxing cold of love is the silence of the heart ; 
 
246 CHRISTIANITY ASCENDANT IN THE ROMAN EMPIRE. 
 
 the flame of love is the call of the heart to God. And, ' I 
 will praise the Lord at all times.' See, my brethren, the 
 sermon is a little longer than usual, and you are exhausted.* 
 Who, then, can hold out to praise God at all times } I will 
 show thee the method of praising God at all times, if thou 
 wilt. What thou doest, do rightly, and thou praisest 
 God. If thou singest a spiritual song, thou praisest God ; 
 what does thy tongue do, if thy heart also does not praise 
 God?*' It was customary to sing the forty-second Psalm at 
 the baptism of catechumens after they had been duly in- 
 structed. " As the hart panteth aftei the water-brooks, so 
 panteth my soul after thee, O God !" And Augustin exj^lains 
 the words in this mode of applying them, to mean, " that 
 they cry after the fountain of the forgiveness of sins as the 
 hart pants after the fountain of fresh water. But he adds : 
 '* Yet, my brethren, even at baptism this longing of believers 
 does not appear to be satisfied, but probably when they know 
 where they are travellers, and whither they are going, their 
 feelings will become still more ardent." Hence, he says : 
 " Oh ! if we felt it even in sighs what strangers we are here ; 
 if we did not love the world, but continually with pious hearts 
 knocked at the gate of Him who has called us. Desire is the 
 lip of the heart ; we shall receive if we expand our desires 
 to the utmost of our power. To eifect this is the design of 
 the Holy Scriptures, of public worship, and of the sacraments. 
 The design of singing of God's j)raises and of our preaching 
 itself is not merely that desire may be sown and spring up, 
 but that it may increase to such a degree that it may receive 
 what the eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, nor has it entered 
 into the heart of man to conceive." But this father, who was 
 so profoundly acquainted with the human heart, was also 
 aware of many disturbing influences which in a world full of 
 
 * Ecce modo paulo longior sermo factus est fatigamini. Tota die 
 Deum Uiudare quis durat ? Suggero remedium, unde tota dies laudes 
 Daum, si vis. Quidquid egeris, bene age, et laudasti Deum. Quando 
 cantas hymnum, laudas Deum ; lingua tua quid agit, nisi laudet et con- 
 scientia tua ? Cessasti ab hymno csmtando, discedis ut reficiaris ; noli 
 inebriari, et laudasti Deum. Discedis ut dormias ; noli surgere ad msde- 
 faciendum, et laudasti Deum. Negotium agis ; noli fraudem facere, et 
 laudasti Deum. Agrum colis ; noli litem movere, et laudasti Deum. In 
 innocentia operum tuorum praepara te ad laudandum Deum tola die. — 
 August, in Psa. xxxiv. Serm. 2, § 16. 
 
PKA.TER PROMOTED BY SELF-KNOWLEDGE. 247 
 
 temptations threatened to quench the fire of first love ; and 
 in this conviction, he says : " As long as ^ye are here below, 
 we must pray to God that he -wouid not let our zeal in prayer 
 and his mercy depart I'rom us ; that is, that we may pray 
 continually, and that he may always have compassion upon 
 us, for many become nep^ligcnt in prayer ; in the novelty of 
 conversion they pray with ardour, but afterwards become 
 negligent, cold, and indifferent. The adversary is awake ; 
 thou art asleep. Let us then not relax in prayer. Although 
 he delays what he designs to bestow, yet he will not refuse 
 us. His promise is certain; let us not relax in prayer; 
 but even that we do not relax in prayer is owing to his 
 grace. As long as the spirit of prayer has not departed from 
 thee, be assured that the mercy of God has not forsaken 
 thee." 
 
 Augustin remarks how the awakening man out of his 
 slumbers and disclosing what is in his heart, must impel him 
 to prayer through self-knowledge and a consciousness of his 
 real wants. "Every temptation," he says,-'" " is a trial; and 
 every trial brings its fruit. Since man, for the most part, is 
 unacquainted with himself, he knows not what he can bear 
 and what he cannot ; sometimes he is confident tliat he can 
 bear what he cannot, and sometimes he despairs of bearing 
 what he can bear : thus temptation comes as an inquiry, and 
 man discovers himself; for he was hidden from himself, 
 though not from his Creator. Thus Peter was confident that 
 he had what he did not really possess. (Luke xxii. 33.) He 
 knew not his own strength ; but the Lord knew it. He 
 did not give the right answer ; but the Creator, who was 
 willing to give the strength necessary for his creature, knew 
 what he had not yet given him, though Peter, wlio had not 
 yet received, knew not his own deficiency : the tempta- 
 tion came ; he denied his Loid, he Mept, he received 
 strength." 
 
 On distraction in prayer and the long-suffering of God, 
 
 * Omnis enim tentatio probatio est, et omnis probationis effectus 
 habet fructuin suum. Quia homo plerumque etiani sibi ipsi ignotus est, 
 quid ferat, quidve non ferat, ignorat ; et aliquando praesumit se posse ferre 
 quod non potest, et aliquando desperat se posse ferre quod potest ; accedit 
 tentatio quahi interrogatio, et invenitur homo a se ipso, quia latebat et se 
 ipsum, sed artificem uon latebat. — August, in Psa. Iv. § 2. 
 
•winch he shows toward« those who pray to hi m . An^Tigtiii thuf- 
 writes ''Psa. IxxrrL 5 : *" ' For thou. Lord, art irood and ready 
 to fors^T-fe. and plenteoiiH in mercy niito all them that call upon 
 läiee/ What is meant by bein<* good and ready to foririve" 
 Thon bearest with me till thon hast bro-aght mie to perfection. 
 For truly- my brethren, I will speak as a man among- men : let 
 erery one ask hi« own heart ^ tit 
 
 flattery ; for nothing is more 1;. . ■- i-_iiei 
 
 and mifdead himself. Let him see, then, what paaaes in the 
 
 heart: ho-^^ " - ' --^d by vain 
 
 . ::h, ho that before itf< 
 
 Qf&A ; how it muHt manage itself m order to stand firm-, and 
 
 '■ " ~ '/: - 'r der to restrain its 
 
 .^■t, that it may be 
 biessea oy n» Groa. Wnen, tna^efore, n is said here, ' Re- 
 joice the Hcnl of thy servant : for nnto thee. O Lord, do I iift 
 trr> m-f ßon] ; for thou. Lord, art good and ready to forgive :' 
 ■ God in here said to be gnod and ready to forgive, 
 .-.;...., ,.,. bears w^th ue as we are, and stfll waits for our 
 pravers in order to a»«iflt us farther. For what man would 
 it. if wher. • who had 
 
 :. , :.:> converse ■' : "^ ixway, and 
 
 »ay something else to anothei* person r Or would thy judge 
 
 -ice 
 
 .^ , to 
 
 talk with thy fnendr And yet Grod bears witb so many 
 
 1 ... '• . ..-. .- : :^ whose th" :'" - - ^ .:-d 
 
 'jven perver to 
 
 Grod. ii^ven to tnmk on otuer things is an insuit to mm with 
 
 ^A:r.,^. ^i „,. 1 . ...4 . , .(.^ conTerse. Thy prayer is a sp^^ak- 
 
 hmi readesit the Holy ScriptiTres, God 
 ;e:: Mti thou speakest to God."* 
 
 . -" '^•- '...., -.. ■ .lOt to despair on account 
 
 H. but to trust in the mercy of Grod under 
 
 ''As concern for a man's 
 
 ;. ^ ' '. .;•, so on the other hand de- 
 
 prPKKiorj oi" sp^ritn, despair, givirjg up the hope of salvation, ie 
 
 • 'fore, in the y- ' of 
 
 uHsured that if ^ to 
 
 * OraÜo taa locut.io e«t ad iMmm. Qnando le^B, I>«ub tibi loctuitnr ; 
 fiuando otm, Deo lotjueriB. — Augfunt. in Haa. Ixxxv. § 7. 
 
THE PE.rTIL£5E A^D FOWES. 01 PBATIX. 24S 
 
 in the risiit "w^y. he "wui not only not reject us. bat e^^esi 
 e "we axe nttering me -vroröfc of DraTer. he will sax. 
 'Behold, here am IT" 
 
 Ckrysostom says of prayer : ~ There is nothrmr more 
 powerfoi than prayer, nothrng: that can be compared to it. 
 The emperor adorned with the purple is not so splendid an 
 object as the man of prayer ■vrho attains to the honoirr of 
 intercourse with God. For just as when a person converses 
 with, the emperor himseK in the presence of all his nobles. 
 the eyes of all are turned towards h^m, an " " 
 special honour by them — so it is with the Tnar ; _: _ _^ 
 only think what a great thins: it is that thou, as a m^ere fn^T », 
 darest speak freely, in the preseiee of all the power- 
 spiritual world, with God. the king of all those 
 What other honour can be compared to this : And not mere 
 '«ikODOUT. but the greatest advantasre, will also accrue to us from 
 jwayer, even before we receive what we pray for. For as soon 
 as a man has only raised his hands to hearen, and t 
 God. he is at once taken away from the crowd of al. 
 things, and is borne into the future life ; from that : 
 he thinks only of heavenly things : in the act • 
 nothing in common with the present life, „ -. .._ - ._ 
 earnest- Yes, even if anger is kindled, it is easily pacified : 
 if eager desire inflames him, it is extinguished: if envy 
 tortures him, it is easily expelled. If we only pray in camcsi 
 "with a watchful soul and sober spirit, even the devil himself, 
 if he is there, is forced to give way. Prayer is the haven for 
 those who are driven hither and thither by the stonn, the 
 treasure of the poor, the security of the rich, the cure of dis- 
 ease, the preserver of health. Prayer retains the good we 
 possess immoveably, and quickly changes evil into good." 
 The same father savs : " It is impossible for him to sin who 
 pravs with real fervour, and al"ways calls upon God. And 
 wherefore ? He who warms his soul raises himself to heaven, 
 and thus calls on his Lord ; thinks of his sins, 
 ness of which he prays to him, and impIore> - - 
 occupied with such thoughts, lays aside all earthiy cares ; 
 such a man is " i with wings, soars ab • '"^ .roan 
 
 passions, and if l. yer he sees an enemy, i. sger 
 
 regards him as an enemy. But we as men are liable to sink 
 into indolence ; and hence it comes to pass that when one. 
 
250 CHRISTIANITY ASCENDANT IN THE EOMAN EMPIEE. 
 
 two, or three hours have flowTi after prayer, thou wilt be 
 sensible that thy ardour is gradually cooling ; then quickly 
 take refuge again in prayer, and warm thy chilled heart. 
 And if thou dost this through the day, warming all the in- 
 tervals by prayer, thou wilt keep the devil from getting an 
 entrance into thy thoughts. And what we are wont to do at 
 breakfast, and when we wish to drink — when we see that the 
 water that has been warmed becomes cold, we set it afresh 
 on the fire, that it may be quickly warmed again : this let us 
 do here, continually warming our souls afresh by prayer. 
 And let us imitate architects : for they are wont, when they 
 use bricks for a building, to support the building by long 
 wooden beams placed between, on account of the weakness of 
 the materials ; and they do this not at long but short intervals, 
 in order thereby to make the junction of the bricks so much 
 the firmer. Thus do thou act ; and if thou lettest repeated 
 prayer come between all thy worldly concerns, thou shalt 
 fortify thy life on all sides. If thou so actest, and a thousand 
 storms should blow, temptations, anxieties, burdensome 
 thoughts, press on thee, and what would otherwise fill thee 
 with alarm, nothing will be able to throw down the building 
 which is thus held together by frequent prayer. And thou 
 askest. How it is possible that a man of business, or one who 
 is occupied in the courts of law, can pray three hours a day, 
 and go to church ? Yes, this is possible, and very easy ; for 
 if thou canst not go into the church, yet thou canst stand 
 before the door, and pray even when nailed to the court of 
 justice. For it does not require the voice so much as the dis- 
 position, not the outstretching of the hands, but of the self- 
 collected soul, not the outward posture of devotion, but the 
 inward direction of the thoughts. For even Hannah ( 1 Sam. ii.) 
 was not heard when she spoke aloud, but when she called 
 earnestly upon God in her heart. And this has often been 
 the case with many others. When an earthly potentate rages 
 and threatens in his palace, thus those pray who stand with- 
 out, uttering only a few words in their hearts, and then they 
 enter in, and are able to transform his rage into gentleness. 
 Neither place, nor time, nor silence, can hinder such a prayer. 
 Let us not then make use of such an excuse, that there is no 
 house of prayer at hand: for if we are soberminded. the grace 
 of the Spirit will make oiir o%\Tiselve8 into a temple of God. 
 
WORDS OR POSTURE KOT ESSENTIAL. 251 
 
 Hence we have everything easy on all sides; for our worship 
 is not such as it was fonncrly among the Jews, which required 
 much that belonged to the senses, and many outward rites. 
 Under the old econom3% worshippers had to go up to the 
 temple, purchase beasts for sacrifice, stand before the altar, 
 and fulfil many other injunctions ; but here nothing of the 
 kind exists, but wherever thou art, thou hast an altar with 
 thee ; thou art thyself priest, altar, and sacrifice ; wherever 
 thou art, thou canst erect an altar ; if only the direction of 
 thy heart is correct, time and place hinder not. And if thou 
 canst not bend the knee, nor smite on thy breast, nor raise 
 thy hands to heaven to heaven, but only show a soul warm 
 with devotion, thou hast accomplished everything that belongs 
 to prayer. The wife, as she sits at her spindle, can look with 
 her soul to heaven, and call on God with ardour ; a man who 
 is occupied in the market can pray fervently ; another, who 
 sits in the workshop, and sews skins together, can lift up his 
 soul to the Lord ; the domestic, as he makes purchases, as he 
 goes to and fro, or as he stands in the kitchen, and it is 
 not in his power to go to church, may pray fervently and 
 earnestly. God is not ashamed of the place ; the only thing 
 he requires is the warm heart, the upright soul. And that 
 thou mayest know that no particular posture of body is re- 
 quired, that time and place signify nothing, but only a rightly- 
 awakened mind, take the Apostle Paul for an example. He 
 did not stand upright when he was in the prison, for his feet 
 were made fast in the stocks ; and yet as he lay there, he 
 prayed so fervently, that he shook the walls of the prison, 
 made a prisoner of the jailor, and then brought him to holy 
 baptism. And not only do we see this in the instances of 
 great and holy men, but even the thief who stood in no house 
 of prayer, nor could bend his knee, but was stretched on the 
 cross, won with a few words the kingdom of heaven." 
 Chrysostom also says of grace at meals : " The meal which 
 begins and closes with prayer will never suffer want, but is 
 richer than other sources to bring us all good ; for it is striking 
 that our domestics, when we give them anything from our 
 table, go away expressing their thanks ; but we, who enjoy so 
 much good, never give God this honour, though we should 
 obtain great security thereby ; for where prayer and thanks- 
 giving are, thither comes the grace of the Holy Spirit, and all 
 
252 CHRISTIANITY ASCENDANT IN THE KOMAN EMPIEE. 
 
 the power of evil must be weakened. But whoever would 
 apply himself to prayer must not venture to say anything un- 
 seemly during the meal ; and if he has spoken anything of the 
 kind, let him quickly repent of it." In another passage he 
 says : ''A man who is accustomed to converse with God is 
 like an angel ; thus the soul is freed from the fetters of the 
 body ; thus the spirit soars to heaven, and approaches the 
 throne of God. And the supplicant may be poor, in bondage, 
 ignorant, uncultivated ; for God looks not at the beauty of the 
 language, but at the beauty of the soul. If the soul has 
 littered what is well-pleasing to God, all is accomplished. 
 Seest thou what an easy thing it is ! Whoever would make 
 application to one of his fellow-men must know how to speak 
 well, must flatter, and use many contrivances in reference to 
 all the persons who are about a man of rank, in order to meet 
 with a good reception. But here nothing of all this is neces- 
 sary ; nothing is required but a right state of mind, and there 
 is then no hindrance to thy being in God's presence. ' For 
 am I not a God at hand,' saith the Lord, ' and not a God 
 afar off?' (Jer. xxiii. 23.) Therefore it is owing to oui' fault 
 if he is far from us ; for he himself is always near us. And as 
 to what I have said, that we need no eloquence, we often need 
 not even use the voice at all : for if thou only speakest in thy 
 heart, and callest upon him in a right manner, he will readily 
 hearken to thee. There is no servant in waiting to deny thee 
 an entrance ; there is no one to say, Now thou canst not be 
 admitted — thou must come later ; but when thou comest, He is 
 there to hear thee, whether at breakfast time or at dinner, or 
 late at night ; whether in the market or on the road, or in the 
 bedchamber. And when thou standest before the magistrate 
 in judgment, and makest thy appeal, nothing hinders that He 
 should not hear thy prayer, if thou callest upon him in a right 
 manner. Thou canst not say, I am afraid to plead before him, 
 and to petition him ; this hindrance does not exist, for he 
 hearkens to no enemy ; thou canst always have access to him; 
 thou needest no one to introduce thee ; but when thou appliest 
 to him by thyself alone, then he hears thee most readily — when 
 thou seekest no other mediation. We cannot move him so 
 much when we approach to him through another as when we 
 come by ourselves. For since he desires our friendship, and 
 ■ does everything, that we may have confidence in him, he 
 
SPIRITUAL BLESSINGS MOST TO BE SOUGHT. 253 
 
 then hears us most of all wlien he sees that we do this by our- 
 selves. Thus he acted towards the Caiiaanitish woman. When 
 Peter and James applied for her, Christ did not regard the re- 
 quest ; but when she persisted in her entreaties, immediately 
 he granted her rccpiest. And if he seemed a little to set her 
 aside, yet he did it not to drive the woman away, but to- 
 honour her still more, and to excite her to greater importunity. 
 Herein wc must also exercise ourselves, in order to prevail 
 with God. Let us learn in what manner this should be done. 
 We need employ no money, no particular time, nor frequent 
 any school, in order to learn this art ; it requires only the 
 willing mind, and everything belonging to this art is complete. 
 And thou canst speak at this tribunal not for thyself alone, 
 but for many others. And what is here the business of the 
 advocate ? All depends on the right kind of prayer — to draw 
 nigh with a sober spirit, with a contrite heart, and with tears ; 
 to make request for spiritual things ; not to pray against 
 enemies ; to bear no grudge against any one ; and to banish 
 from the heart all those passions which keep down the 
 soul." 
 
 The fiithers always combated the earthly disposition of 
 those persons Avho regarded prayer, by which their souls ought 
 to be raised to the true life in God, only as a means for 
 obtaining from God the satisfaction of their earthly wants, 
 who by this their carnal disposition excluded themselves 
 from the true blessing of prayer: they always taught that 
 the true Christian must seek God in prayer after the example 
 of Christ (as Ambrose says, whoever seeks God, ascends with 
 Christ into the Mount), that he must express in prayer before 
 God his thirst after wisdom and righteousness; yet they were 
 aw^are that Christianity docs not despotically repress the natural 
 feelings of the spiritually-minded man, but with the gentle 
 force of filial love subordinates them to the will of his 
 Heavenly Father and to the higher necessities of the spirit 
 allied to God and renewed after his image. They exhorted 
 Christians, even in temporal distress, to apply to the fountain 
 of all help and of all consolation; only with this disposition, 
 that in every case they should subordinate their will to the 
 divine, and leave to the disposal of eternal wisdom and pater- 
 nal love whatever might conduce most to their salvation. 
 '"Even the body of the good Christian," says Augustin, 
 
254 CHEISTIANITY ASCENDANT IN THE ÜOMAN EMPIRE. 
 
 *' seeks in this world only God's help: for God gives the soul 
 its bread which is the word of truth, and he gives the body 
 what is necessary for it, since he created both soul and 
 body." 
 
 When Christian physicians could find in their medical 
 skill no aid for a sick person, they used to direct the anxious 
 relatives to God. " When the physician," says Augustin, 
 "turns in despair to those who stand in the house weeping 
 and anxiously expect to hear fiom his lips the decisive opinion 
 respecting the patient whose recovery seems doubtful, he 
 stands debating with himself — he sees not how he can pro- 
 mise any amendment, he fears to tell the worst, and in order 
 not to create alarm, he at last prudently says, 'The good 
 God can do all thmgs — pray for him.' " 
 
 In such cases pious ecclesiastics and laymen assembled 
 round the sick-bed ; they exhorted the sick man to be resigned 
 to the will of his Heavenly Father, and prayed for him and 
 with him. Augustin tells us of a remarkable example of the 
 efiects of prayer in such a case, as an eye-witness and a 
 truth-loving man who abhorred a fabrication of any kind, 
 even for a good object, as a sin. A person holding a ci\al 
 office at Carthage, Innocent, was suffering severely from 
 fistula. He had undergone successfully several painful and 
 dangerous operations, and believed that he was cured, when it 
 was discovered that a sinuous ulcer was formed, which baffled 
 surgical skill. At last he was told that he could expect no 
 relief, unless he underwent a fresh operation. This informa- 
 tion reduced himself and his family to despair. On the 
 evening before the day appointed for the operation, the clergy 
 as usual came to see him. He besought them with tears to 
 be present with him on the morrow, when he expected no 
 less than to die under the surgeon's hands. The clergy pro- 
 mised him no miracle for his deliverance ; but they exhorted 
 him to trust in God, and manfully to bear God's will, whatever 
 it might be. A^Tien the clergy knelt down to pray, Innocent 
 also, as if seized by a higher power, threw himself down on 
 the ground, and prayed with such a flood of tears and with 
 such fervour, that Augustin says, " It could not be described 
 in words. I could not pray ; I only said the words in my 
 heart, * Lord, what prayer of thy servants wilt thou hear, if 
 thou dost not hear this .^'" The following morning all parties 
 
ITS EFFICACY ON BEHALF OF THE SICK. 255 
 
 were in a state of anxious suspense. After the clergy had 
 said a few words of encourai^emeut to the sick man, the sur- 
 geons prepared to perform the operation ; but how were they 
 astonished when they found that there was nothing to operate 
 upon. " I cannot venture to express in words," says Augustin, 
 " the thanksgiving and overflowing gratitude to the merciful 
 and almighty God which was poured forth from the lips of 
 all, accompanied with tears of joy." 
 
 Nor can we reject all that is told of the cures wrought at 
 the graves of the martyrs, at their shrines, or with their relics, 
 in this age — only we must deduce these great effects simjily 
 from the believing devotion to which the grace of the Lord 
 condescended; even as Christ acknowledged, in the erroneous 
 notion of the afflicted woman who believed in a divine virtue 
 issuing from his garment — the existing of lliith lying at the 
 basis, and therefore did not refuse to answer her petition. 
 Outward circumstances had no other influence, excepting that 
 they contributed to excite this believing piety in the heart. 
 But it was a carnal mind which extolled and sought out such 
 works of faith as the greatest, and forgot the genuine heavenly 
 fruits of love, without which, though a man has faith that 
 can remove mountains, he is nothing. The same remark 
 a2)plies to many appearances in all ages, of which a correct 
 judgment cannot be formed either from the stand-point of a 
 superstition that cleaves only to the senses, or from that of an 
 unbelief totally unacquainted with the mysteries of the king- 
 dom of God, and of the internal spiritual world. 
 
 The sick were directed to pray only in connection with 
 medical aid. The church always condemned the fanaticism 
 and unbelief of those who, besides seeking help of God in 
 prayer, and the common means of human art, sought help 
 also in supernatural powers, of which heathen magic boasted, 
 in various manipulations, enchantments, and amulets. " Let 
 us," said Augustin to his congregation, " bear the chastise- 
 ment of our Heavenly Father. Let us not, if we have the 
 headache, run to enchantments and other vain methods of 
 relief. My brethren, must I moui-n over you? Daily I 
 experience such things, and what can I do ? Cannot I con- 
 vince Christians that they must place their hopes in Christ 
 alone?" 
 
 There was an unchristian mysticism which opposed prayer 
 
II 
 
 256 CHRISTIANITY ASCENDANT IN THE HOMAN EMPIEE. 
 
 and exertion, such as we find in the Syrian sect of the 
 Enchites"'-' (or Messalians). Man, they said, can do and 
 effect nothing, but must only let God work in him. It is 
 true that the Christian must let God work within him ; but 
 this does not exclude the proper activity of man, only this 
 activity must be animated and guided by the Holy Spirit, 
 and to render it such, prayer must henceforth serve as the 
 consecration of the Christian life. The Spirit of God is a 
 spirit of power that makes those who resign themselves to 
 him, with denial of their own will, to be his powerful, effica- 
 cious instruments, as he wishes them to be. From a life in 
 God necessarily proceeds an activity in and fi'om God. But 
 that vain notion of the Euchites, of a rest exclusive of all 
 activity, under the pretence of complete resignation to God 
 (not the living God, but an idol, which men have made by 
 the play of then- morbid fee]iuo;s and imaginings), proceeded 
 either from a self-will which, through carnal sloth, shunned 
 exertions that were not pleasing to the flesh, and would 
 not bear the cross after the Redeemer, — or from a pride 
 which would not, confiding in the Lord, employ the means 
 of his appointment, but would rather tempt him to work 
 miracles. The Christian, whose whole life ought to rest in 
 communion with his Saviour, and proceed from it, dare not 
 say, " When does God begin to work, and when does man 
 cease?" But he knows, that as the branch, separated from 
 the living sap of the vine, withers, so, independently of his 
 God, he can neither be nor do anything; — that all that is 
 human in him must be animated and sanctified by the Holy 
 Spirit. Hence, Augustin says, against those who so misun- 
 derstood the doctrine of divine grace as the source of all 
 good, that they excluded all human activity: " I would that 
 those persons may not deceive themselves who say, Vv'hy 
 should they preach to us, and enjoin us to depart from evil and 
 do good, when we do not do it, but God works in us to will 
 and to do ? Should they not rather, if they are the children 
 of God, acknowledge that they are led by the Spirit of God 
 to do that which they ought to do, and when they have done 
 it, thank Him by whom they were led ; for they were led to 
 
 * See Neander's General History, vol. iii. p. 341. Standard Library 
 dition.— Tr. 
 
rn.VTEIl SHOULD LEAD TO SELr-CONSECKATION. 257 
 
 do, not to do nothing." ^^' And Chrysostoni says: "Paul 
 grounds the confidence of man on the certainty of the pro- 
 mises of God, since he says (2 Thess. iii. 3), ' But the Lord 
 is faithful M'ho shall stablish you and keep you from evil ;' 
 that is, if he has called you to salvation, he will certainly 
 grant it to you ; but on the conditions on which he has pro- 
 mised it to yon. But on what conditions has he promised it? 
 If we are willing, and follow Ilim, not unconditionally, not 
 so that we are as inactive as wood or stone. Justly, there- 
 fore, he says to them, ' We have confidence in the Lord 
 touching you;' that is, we depend on his grace, by wliich he 
 again humbles them, and refers everything back to God.'" 
 
 Prayer, therefore, ought not to cherish sloth in liuman 
 action and labour, but impart to all human action a divine 
 power and consecration. Ambrose on Luke vi. 12, says: 
 *' Here is an example given which thou oughtcst to follow ; 
 for what must thou do for thy salvation, seeing that Christ 
 passed all night in prayer for thee ? What must thou do, 
 when thou wishest to begin a good work, since Christ, when, 
 he designed to send out his apostles, first of all prayed ?" 
 *' What is more blessed,'' says Basil, "' than to imitate on 
 earth the choir of angels ; at the break of day to apj)!}- our- 
 selves to prayer, to extol the Creator with praise and thanks- 
 giving ; when the sun is fully risen, to go forth to labour, so 
 that prayer accompanies it everywhere, in order to season 
 labour with God's praises as with salt; for the refreshment 
 produced by praising God gives joy to the soul, and drives 
 away sadness." Prayer ought to give the consecration to the 
 whole day. " Knowest thou not, O man," says Ambrose, 
 *' that thou owest to God every day the first-fruits of thy 
 heart and of thy tongue? "f 
 
 Both Chrysostom and Augustin expressed themselves 
 strongly against the false notion, that prayer offered in cer- 
 tain places was more acceptable to God. Tliey asserted that 
 man was near to God, or at a distance from him, according to 
 the direction of his disposition; that in every place, provided 
 the heart was turned from the world, man could equally 
 approach to God. " A Christian should be careful, not about 
 
 * Aguntur enim nt ayani, non ut ipsi nihil acjant. 
 + An nescis, O homo, quod ])rimitias tui cordis ac vocis quotidie Deo 
 debeus ? — Ambros. in Ptsa. c.wiii. Üenn, I'J, § 22. 
 
 S 
 
258 CHKISTIAXITY ASCEXDAXT IX THE HOMAX EMPIRE. 
 
 the place of prayer," says Chrysostom,"^ " but about the 
 right kind of prayer." And Augustin says, " If those per- 
 sons are unfortunate, who are afraid that when they retui-n 
 home they shall be disturbed by the vexation which the 
 members of their household will give them, how much more 
 unfortunate are those who cannot commune with their own 
 hearts, lest their conscience should be disturbed by the sins 
 that intrude upon them r Purify thy heart, that thou mayest 
 be glad to commune with it. Put away the foulness of lust — 
 free it from the contagion of ambition — the hectic fever of 
 superstition — from unholy and evil thoughts, and hatred — I 
 do not say only towards thy friend, but thy enemy. Get rid 
 of all these things ; then enter into thy heart and thou wilt 
 have joy. The purity of thy heart itself will give delight 
 and excite thee to prayer. Thus, when thou comest into a 
 lonely place, and stillness and quiet are there, it is a pure 
 place, and thou sayest, ' Let us pray here ;' the quiet in this 
 place pleases thee, and thou believest that there God listens 
 to thee. If, therefore, the quiet in the visible place pleases, 
 why art thou not displeased with the impurity of thy heart ? 
 Enter wdthin, purify all things, lift up thy eyes to God and he 
 will hear thee." By what Augustin here says of purity of 
 heart as a preparative for praying aright, he by no means 
 intends to assert that man while on earth can attain to that 
 perfect unalloyed purity of heart, and to that untroubled 
 perpetual peace, which will constitute the blessedness of the 
 life everlasting. He well knew, as he himself, a faithful 
 examiner and inspector of the depths of the heart, experienced 
 even to old age, that man below has continually to combat, 
 striving after that which is before, and forgetting the things 
 that are behind him, holding fast by faith his righteousness 
 in Christ. On this account, he adds, "Cali out and say, 'I 
 sought the Lord and he heard me, and delivered me from all 
 my fears.' (Psa. xxxiv. 5.) Wherefore '? Because if thou 
 art enlightened, if thou beginnest to gain here a good con- 
 science, temptations do not cease, for some weakness still 
 remains in thee, until the mortal shall put on immortality. 
 God will purify all ; he will deliver thee from all thy fears — 
 seek Him." By true prayer, proceeding from the heart, man 
 
 * 'H C£ Traparrjorjaig Xoittov fir) ■nspi tottov Igtu), aXXa rrepi tov 
 TQo-ov tT]q ivxng. — Chrysost. in 1 Tim. 8, § L 
 
THE HEART PURIFIED AND ELEVATED BY IT. 259 
 
 therefore becomes continually more purified ; and a purified 
 man, who is transformed into the image of God continually 
 from one degree of glory to another, must thereby be conti- 
 nually attracted to God in Christ as the only fountain of 
 blessedness. 
 
 In conclusion, we would here quote the prayer of a man 
 whose character for piety is sufficiently attested by it, as it 
 has been preserved for us by Chrysostom : " We thank thee 
 for all thy benefits which thou hast shewn to us unworthv 
 beings, from the first day until the present, for those we know 
 and those we do not know ; for those that are manifest, and 
 for those that are hidden ; for benefits in actions and benefits 
 in words ; for benefits wished for or unwished for ; for afilic- 
 tions, for refreshments, for hell, for punishment, for the king- 
 dom of heaven. We pray thee to preserve our soul holy, 
 having a pure conscience, an end worthy of thy philanthropy. 
 O thou who hast loved us so as to give thy only-begotten Son 
 for us, grant that we may become worthy of thy love. Ü 
 only-begotten, O Christ, give us wisdom in thy word and in 
 thy fear : inspire us with the power that comes from thee. O 
 thou who gavest thy only-begotten Son for us, and sendest 
 forth thy Holy Spirit for the remission of our sins, whether we 
 sin voluntarily or involuntarily, pardon us and impute it not 
 to us ; remember all that call upon thy name in truth ; remem- 
 ber all that wish us well, and those who wish the contrar}' ; 
 for we are all of us men.""^' 
 
 * 'Ev^apiGTOim^v virlp TraaCJv toiv evepyecniöv aov tuiv t/c Trpiorijr 
 ijfxspag fisxpi^ Trjc; irapovai^q tig I'lfxag rovg äva^iovg iTTUtiKvvfih'utV 
 VTTtp b}v 'liTfitv, Kal ovK "ifffiev ' iiTrep twv (pavepwj'j i'TTio tCjv ä<paviijr ' 
 Twv iv tpyif) ytvop.kviijv, tCjv iv Xoyy * Twv tKOVTi, tojv aKoi'Ti ' TranöJv 
 Tu>v tigrovg äva^iovg if/J-äg yfytvi]^i'iV(i>V virip GXiipeuiv, vwip ävtffnoi, 
 VTTsp Trig yt'evvrjg, virkp riig KoXcKTtojg, virip ßaaiXiiag twv ovpavü>f. 
 Jlapaica\ovfie.v ae <pv\ä^ai ti)v y\/v\i]v ijfiuii' äyiav, Kadapäv cvi'iiirjmi' 
 ixovoav, TtXog a^iov Tijg cpiXavQpujTriag aov. "O aya-nrfaag r)^äg uiore 
 Tov novoytVTJ <Tov dovvai virep I'lfiCjv, KaraKioJOOv a^iovg yfviaOai ri/j oiig 
 aya.Trr]g ' ^bg iv ry X6y<^ cfov ero^tai', Kal iv Ttfi i^oßti) ffov, ^ovoyti'tjc, 
 "KpiffTs, tUTTvtvaov i(y\vv Tt)v irapa (Tov. 'O tov /joi'oytri} fot'c virip 
 y'lfioiv, Kal TO Trvf.vp.ci aov to liyiov i^airoaTtiXag tig a<ptaiv tCjv »y/^*- 
 Ttpuiv c'lfiapTiCJv, tl Ti icövTtg if uKovTtg »y^iapro^f r, avyxiopqaov, icat 
 fit) Xoyiay' }xvya9i]Ti ttc'ivtuiv tCjv iTriKciXovfifvuji' to oi'ofia aov tv 
 äX7]9ti(} • fXviiaQi]TL TiCivTOJV Twv tv, Kai TavavTia I'lfuv 6tXövTu>r. 
 UcivTtg yap ävdpwTToi ia^tv. — Chrysost. in Col. 10, § 3 {Viri cvjusdam 
 sancti precatio). 
 
 s 2 
 
260 CHRISTIANITY ASCENDANT IN THE EOMAN EMPIEE. 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 CHUISTIAN EESTIYALS. 
 
 As the prayers of Christians were not confined to any 
 definite times, but their whole life was to be a continued prayer, 
 so also their whole life was to be a festival — a day dedicated 
 to their God and Redeemer. AU. the sabbatical and festive 
 regulations of the Old Covenant were closely connected ^vith 
 the spirit of bondage and minority, since men were confined 
 imder outward ordinances. 
 
 The redeemed, who had received the spirit of adoption, no 
 longer required such discipline. Hence the Apostle Paul 
 appealed to the Galatian Christians who had allowed them- 
 selves to be seduced to make the Jewish festivals a matter of 
 prime importance in religion. " How turn ye again to the 
 weak and beggarly elements whereunto ye desii'e to be again 
 in bondage?" The law of the sanctification of the Sabbath 
 is, like the whole ceremonial law, abolished for Christians, 
 and it can only be applied in a spiritual sense to the Christian 
 dispensation, inasmuch as the Christian ought to sanctify 
 every day as a day of the Lord, by a life founded on foith 
 in the Redeemer, and on heart-communion with him. In 
 opposition to the carnal Jev^ish passover connected with out- 
 ward observances, the Apostle Paul says, " Christ, our pass- 
 over, is sacrificed for us." But he does not infer from this, 
 Therefore you ought, instead of the Jewish feast dedicated 
 to the remembrance of freedom from earthh', bodily bondage, 
 to appoint a paschal feast in remembrance of your freedom 
 from the service of sin by the sacrifice of Christ ; no ! your 
 whole life, he would say, must be such a spiritual paschal feast, 
 consecrated by faith to the redemption gained for you by the 
 sufierings of Christ, while you strive to preserve the purifica- 
 tion from sin bestowed upon you, and to keep from all the 
 pollution of sin, from the dominion of which you have been 
 freed by the Redeemer. '• Let us keep the feast," he says, 
 "not with old leaven," not with the leaven of sin, the nature 
 of the old man, but as men created anew, with the new bread 
 (the new divine life which we, as justified, have received from 
 
THE EXPRESSION OF JOY BY FESTIVALS. 261 
 
 our Redeemer), " the unleavened bread of sincerity and 
 truth," (inward truthfulness, tlic essence ()f ,2:enuine morality, 
 as falsehood is the essence of sin). And Chrysostom justly 
 remarks on this passage :^' " Therefore the present time is a 
 feast-time, for when he says, ' Let us keep the feast (in 
 Luther's translation the Easter feast) he does not say this 
 because it was then Easter or Whitsuntide, but to show that 
 all times are feast-times for Christians, in virtue of the super- 
 abundance of the blessings imparted to them. For what good 
 has not been imparted to Christians r The Son of God has 
 become man for thy sake ; He has freed thee from death ; He 
 has called thee to the kingdom of heaven. How canst thou, 
 Avho hast obtained and art obtaining such great things, help 
 making thy whole life a feast? No one, therefore, should 
 be cast do^^^l on account of poverty, sickness, or persecution ; 
 for we have a perpetual feast-time. Tlierefore the Apostle 
 Paul says (Phil. iv. 4) : ' Rejoice in the Lord always.' 
 On feast-days no one wears soiled garments. Therefore we 
 must not do it, for it is a marriage-feast ; a spiritual marriage- 
 feast (Matt. xxii. 2) ; 'for the kingdom of heaven is like unto 
 a certain king who made a marriage for his son.' Now when 
 a king makes a marriage- feast, and that for his son, what 
 greater gift can there be than such a feast ? Let no one, 
 then, come clad in rags to the marriage-feast ; but I speak 
 not here of outward garments, but of impure works.'" Of this 
 feast of Christians not confined to any special time, Augustin 
 says : " ^\^len men here celebrate their feasts of revelry, they 
 are accustomed to have musical instruments before their 
 houses, or choirs of musicians. And what do we say when 
 we hear this as we pass by? What is going on here? and 
 the answer is, a feast. We are told it is a birth- day or a 
 wedding that is here celebrated, as an apology for the revelry 
 that is indulged in on the occasion. In Gods house there is 
 a perpetual feast, for nothing transitory is here celebrated ; 
 the choir of angels, the presence of God's countenance, joy 
 without decay. This feast is without beginning or end. 
 From this everlasting feast of joy there resounds an inde- 
 
 * 'Eoprj/f apa u rrapujv Kaiput;. Kai yap eiVwi', iopTuCio^er, ovk 
 lirfiCi) TTÜay^a TTcipiiv, oirtk tTTtiii) i) TrivrrjKoart) tXtyiv^ «XXd CfiKi-vr 
 on TTiic Ö XP"V0C, topTfii; iari KauiuQ roic XpirrTiavolt; iiu Tt):> v~ip- 
 ßoXijv Tu)i' coOii'Tujj' c'lyaVuJV. — Chrysost. in 1 Cor. Hum, 15, § 3. 
 
262 CHRISTIANITY ASCENDANT IN THE ROMAN EMPIRE. 
 
 scribable echo on the ears of our heart, though the world does 
 not repeat the echo. Whoever walks in the house of God, 
 and contemplates the wonders of God in the redemption of 
 believers; his ear will be ravished by these festive heavenly 
 sounds." 
 
 Socrates, the ecclesiastical historian of the fifth century, 
 justly remarks: " Christ and his apostles laid down no law for 
 festivals, but left it to the free expression of grateful feeling 
 in reference to the divine benefits." But the multiplication 
 of festivals is no proof of the liveliness and depth of these 
 feelings ; for the first Christians believed that while their 
 Avhole life was continually penetrated by these feelings, and 
 was highly spiritual, while the conflict between Christianity 
 and the world was everywhere becoming more intense, that 
 there was less need of such outward means of remembrance 
 and excitement. They found sufficient excitement in every 
 Friday as the day of the Lord's passion, and in every Sunday 
 as the day of his resurrection. We cannot, certainly, deduce 
 the establishment of particular annual festivals from a perver- 
 sion of the Christian life which had sunk down from its ori- 
 ginal height, but must find in it the mark of a natural develop- 
 ment of it ; so that the reference to the fundamental facts of 
 the Christian consciousness which at first were celebrated on 
 particular days of the week, was afterwards attached to cer- 
 tain days in the year, in order by that means to penetrate 
 the Christian life and communion more completely with it. 
 Only it was injurious, though by no means a necessary con- 
 sequence, when a false contrast was formed between the feasts 
 and the rest of the Christian life, and thus the original spiritual 
 character of the latter Wcis lost ; as we have ah-eady heard 
 Chrysostom lament, that, in great cities, many believed that 
 they had religion enough if they attended the leading festi- 
 vals of the church. 
 
 Augustin opposes the celebration of a feast with worldly 
 diversions in the following manner : " See to it, that, since 
 ye desire to celebrate this day in a carnal manner, ye do not 
 make yourselves unfit for celebrating what this feast means, 
 eternally with the angels. Perhaps that drunken man whom 
 I reprove, will say to me, ' Thou hast, forsooth, preached to us 
 that this feast annoimces to us eternal joy ; shall I not there- 
 fore do myself some good :' Yes, thou mightest truly do thy- 
 
THE "WHOLE LIFE SHOULD BE A FEAST-TIME. 2G3 
 
 self good, and not harm ! For it announces joy to thee if tlioii 
 art a temple of God. But if thou defilest the temple of God 
 by drunkenness, the apostle tells thee (1 Cor. iii. 17), 'If any 
 man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy.' " 
 
 As the whole life of the Cliristian ought to be continually 
 penetrated and animated by Him who is the great object of 
 the Christian festivals ; as, therefore, these festivals ought to 
 serve to excite afresh in a Christian the ideas and feelings 
 which, if his inner life be Christian, ought never to be with- 
 drawn from it, Chiysostom presents this very strikingly in a 
 sermon preached at Whitsuntide : " It is a Judaizing notion 
 to appear before God only three times a year : to the Jews it 
 was said (Exod. xxiii. 14), 'Three times thou shalt keep a 
 feast unto me in the year ;' but from us God expects that we 
 should at all times appear before him ; and with the Jews the 
 separation of space was the cause that only that number of 
 assemblies could take place ; for the worship of God was then 
 confined to one place, therefore they could assemble only a 
 few times in the year : for in Jerusalem, and nowhere else, 
 could they worship God; on this account God commanded 
 them to appear three times a year before him, and the distance 
 of space served as an excuse. But we are commanded con- 
 stantly to celebrate a feast, for we always have a feast. And 
 in order that ye may know that there is always a feast for us, 
 I will name to you the object of the feasts, and ye will know 
 that there is a feast every day. Our first feast is that of 
 Christmas. What is the object of this feast r That God 
 appeared on earth and walked with men. But this is for all 
 times, for hesaid: ' I am with you always, even to the end 
 of the M'orld.' We can therefore celebrate Christmas at all 
 times. What is the meaning of the second feast r We then 
 announce the death of Christ — this is the Paschal feast ; but 
 since at all times we announce the Lord's death, we can also 
 at all times celebrate the Paschal feast. What is the object 
 of the feast to-day r That the Holy Spirit may come to us. 
 But as the only-begotten Son of God is always with believers, 
 so also is the Holy Spirit. Whence does this appear ? Our 
 Lord says (John xiv. 15, 16) : '* If ye love me, keep my com- 
 mandments. And I will pray the Father, and he shall give 
 you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever; 
 the Spiiit of truth.' As Christ says of himself, ' Lo, I am 
 
264 CHEISTIANITY ASCENDANT IN THE HOMAN EMPIRE. 
 
 with you always, even to the end of the world,' and we can. 
 at all times celebrate the feast of the appearance of Christ; so 
 he also said of the Spirit that he is always with us, and we can. 
 always celebrate Whitsuntide." 
 
 Bishop Theodoret, according to the custom of the bishops 
 in that age, announced a Christmas festival in the following 
 words : " When the only-begotten Son of God became man 
 and effected oui- salvation, the men of that day, who beheld 
 the fountain of blessing, celebrated no festival. But now, by 
 land and sea, in cities and villages, they celebrate the memorial 
 of these blessings, though they never saw the source of them 
 with their bodily eyes."' The same bishop, when bowed down 
 with many sufferings, thus announced the festival : " Sorrow 
 has, indeed heavily oppressed me : for I have received not an. 
 iron but a human nature ; but the remembrance of the Lord's 
 birth has been an antidote for me." Augustin said at this 
 festival : " ^lay the humble humble themselves before God^ 
 that by his help, as the support of their weakness, they may 
 rise to God's height." And again :'^ " Rejoice, ye righteous, 
 this is the birthday of the Justifier ; rejoice, ye weak and sick, 
 this is the birthday of the Saviour ; rejoice, 3'e prisoners, this 
 is the birthday of the Redeemer ; rejoice, ye slaves, it is 
 the birthday of the Lord ; rejoice, ye free men, it is the 
 birthday of the Liberator ; rejoice, all ye Christians, it is the 
 birthday of Christ !" An ingenious and profound thought ! — 
 as although the remembrance of the birth of the Redeemer 
 must on the one hand call forth the same feehngs in the 
 hearts of all Christians, yet on the other hand, according to 
 their various characters, circumstances, and wants, the re- 
 membrance of the birth of Hiiri who, as Origen says, became, 
 in a higher sense than Paul, all things to all men, in order to 
 satisfy the wants of all, as the minds of men were affected by 
 them in a variety of ways. 
 
 Leo the Great, bishop of Rome, spoke as follows at a 
 Christmas festival :"[ " Our Saviour was born to-day, that we 
 
 * Exultate justi ; Natalis est Justificatoris. Exultate debites et 
 segroti ; Natalis est Salvatoris. Exultate captivi ; Natalis est Redemp- 
 toris. Exultent servi ; Natalis est Dominantis. Exultent liberi ; 
 Natalis est Liberantis, Exultent omnes Christiani; Natalis est Christi. — 
 August. S^rm. 184 in Natali Domini, §2. 
 
 f Salvator noster, dilectissimi, hodie natus est : gaudeamus. Neque- 
 
CHEISTIAN AXD HEATHEN FESTIVALS. 265 
 
 might rejoice ; for no mourning is admissible when that life 
 is born which destroys tlie fear of death, and pours into our 
 hearts the joy of a promised eternity. No one is excluded 
 from a participation of this joy ; for our Lord, the destroyer 
 of death and sin, when he found no one free from guilt, came 
 to free all. Let the saint triumph, because he hastens to 
 receiyc the crown of yictory; let the sinner rejoice, because 
 he is inyited to the forgiyeness of sins ; let the heathen be 
 awakened, because he is called to life." 
 
 About Christmas time many heathen feasts were celebrated 
 in the Roman empire, with which the Christian festiyal might 
 have connected itself, had more pure and oleyated yiews been 
 taken of their meaning. And ycry naturally Christianity, 
 with all its opposition against what was ungodly in men's 
 sentiments on religious subjects, could easily find certain 
 points of connection, since the Father of Spirits, in whom we 
 live and moye and have our being, has nowhere left himself 
 without a witness, by the wants implanted in human nature, 
 which find their satisfaction in Christianity alone, and by 
 those undefined longings excited in human nature, which are 
 first developed into clear consciousness by Christianity. 
 
 Thus, at this season, the heathen celebrated in their Satur- 
 nalia the remembrance of a golden au:c that was deeply im- 
 planted in the consciousness ot" fallen man, althougli the 
 sentiment associated with it was not understood. Here 
 Christianity found a point of comiection, since it taught men 
 that the true golden age Ayas destined to be restored by 
 Christ. He had, indeed, establi-^hed no such golden age on 
 earth as the imaginations of men whose hearts clave to the 
 world represented it, but the true golden age which har- 
 monized with the longings of the soul allied to God. What 
 men imaged to themselyes in the peaceful innocence of a 
 golden as belonging to the past, Christianity held forth to 
 them in tlic present and the future. The Christian does not 
 
 enim locum fas est ibi esse tristitiae, ubi natalig est vitae quce consumto 
 mortalitatis timore nobis ingerit de promissa asteruitate la-titiam. Nemo 
 ab liujus alacritatis participatione secernitur, una runctis hetitiic com- 
 munis est ratio, tpiia Dominus noster, peccati mortisfpie destructor, .sicuC 
 nullum a reatu liberum roperit, ita libt-randis omnibus vcnit. Exultct 
 sanctus, quia propinquat ad palmam. Gaudeat peccator, quia invitatur 
 ad veniam. — Leo M. >Scnn. 21, c.t«'. 21. 
 
266 CHEISTIAXITY ASCENDANT IN THE EOMAN EMPIRE. 
 
 allow himself to be deceived by a dazzling ideal inspired by 
 fancy, but which proves a nullity in actual life : he knows 
 where he has to look for the realization of the original after 
 M'hich he strives ; namely, in heaven, and in the time when 
 the transformed earth shall blend harmoniously with heaven, 
 and only serve for its manifestation. But the birth of the 
 Saviour had already brought down heaven to earth, and had 
 removed the separation between them. Amidst the conflicts 
 of earth the Christian possesses the elevated consciousness of 
 being a citizen of heaven ; he has the golden age in his 
 heart ; he tastes the powers of the world to come, and 
 already partakes of the joys of heaven. He finds the mild, 
 paternal reign of Saturn, in the kingdom of his heavenly 
 Father, regained by the spirit of adoption, the kingdom of 
 the Redeemer, the kingdom of grace, where the soft, gentle 
 yoke of love is substituted for that stern schoolmaster, the 
 law. While the pagans sought to forget in noisy, wild 
 revehy that mournful reality from the galKng yoke of which 
 they freed themselves once a-year, the Christian sm-rendered 
 himself to a holy, tranquil joy; he saw earthly life itself trans- 
 formed by his Sa-v-iour, and human nature sanctified from its 
 first development in order to become the revealer of a divine 
 life in human form. In remembrance of the golden age, the 
 Saturnalia removed the distance between freemen and slaves, 
 and for a brief interval the latter were freed from the yoke 
 of bondage. How beautiful was the connection here with 
 the birthday of Him who brought the same true freedom to 
 both bond and free, the same blessedness, the same higher 
 life — in whose kingdom there is neither bond nor free ! On 
 this account Augustin called Christmas the festival of slaves 
 as well as of freemen. Moreover, it was a custom at this 
 festival to make presents and burn lights ; and at the close, 
 was the sigillaria, or childi'en's feast, when they received pre- 
 sents of little earthenware figures (sigilla). Then also, at 
 Christmas, was the festival of the shortest day, the birthday 
 of the new sun (brumalia, dies natalis invicti solis).^ The 
 analogy it bore to the birthday of the sun of the spiritual 
 world, the beginning of the new spiritual life, of the new 
 creation in the human race, was often alluded to by preachers 
 
 * See Neander's General Historv, vol. iii. p. 442. Standard Librarv 
 Edition. [Tr.] 
 
COMMEMORATIOX OF CHEIST's BIRTH AND DEATH. 267 
 
 of the Western Church ; as, for example, Augustin : " He 
 who for our sakes humbled himself and came do\NTi to us, 
 chose the shortest day, or that on which the light begins to 
 increase ; and although silently, yet he admonishes us by his 
 appearance at this time, as with a loud-sounding voice, that 
 we may learn to be rich in Him who for our sakes became 
 poor ; that we may obtain freedom in Him who for our sakes 
 assumed the form of a servant ; that we may possess heaven 
 in Him who for our sakes was born on earth." And Leo the 
 Great says : " At all times and seasons, the birth of our 
 Lord and Saviour must be present to the souls of believers 
 that are aiming at the divine ; but this birth, the object of 
 wonder both to heaven and earth sets before us no day more 
 conspicuous than the present, which by the light that beams 
 forth in the natural world offers to our senses a little image 
 of the miracle of grace." And then he points those M'ho 
 were wavering between paganism and Christianity, from the 
 natural sun to the sun of the spiritual world. " Do not make 
 thyself a slave of that light in which birds and serpents, flies 
 and worms rejoice. Raise thyself to the incorporeal light 
 Avith the incorporeal senses, and with the whole sensibility of 
 the heart receive the true light which lighteth all men who 
 come into the world (John i. 9),* and of whom the Psalmist 
 says : ' They looked unto him and were lightened, and their 
 faces were not ashamed.' (Psa. xxxiv. 5.) For if we are the 
 temple of God, and the Spirit of God dwell in us, then, what 
 everj' believer has in his own soul, is more wonderful than what 
 he admires in the heavens ; and that we may contemplate our 
 hope more closely, we should consider, at the feast of our 
 Lord's birth, how much divine grace has granted to our 
 nature." 
 
 Of earlier date than Christmas were the festivals of Easter 
 and Whitsuntide in the Christian church ; for the reference 
 to Jesus the crucified and Jesus the glorified, whom believers 
 are bound to follow through repentance and the cross to 
 glory — this two-fold reference pervaded, as we have often 
 intimated, the whole life of the first Christmas, and from it 
 the most ancient circle of Christian festivals began. Con- 
 
 * According to the original, it should be translated : ''which coming 
 into the world" — i. e. by its appearance in humau nature — "enlighteneth 
 all men." 
 
268 CHr.ISTIANITY ASCENDANT IX THE EOMAX EMPIEE. 
 
 011 
 0' 
 
 sen 
 
 fession of sin, repentance, crucifying of the flesh, fasting, and 
 prayer, in the contemplation of the sufferings of Christ on 
 account of our sins — these foiTned the preparation for the 
 celebration of communion with the glorified Christ, the con- 
 queror over sin and death, of communion with him here by [^ 
 faith, and by actual vision hereafter. The end of that fasting ^^ 
 preparative to the celebration of Easter would, indeed, be 
 lost sight of by many (as is always the case with outward 
 institutions) who would mistake the means for the end ; but 
 the teachers of the church always directed the attention to 
 the latter, and to point out that mere outward fasting without 
 the conversion of the soul to God. and true repentance ex- 
 pressing itself in the life, were of no advantage. They pro- 
 ceeded from the point of view which regards the fast as pre- 
 parative to the festival of the resurrection, as representing 
 the earthly life of Christians, as preparative to the festival of 
 eternal life. '"Tliis crucifixion," says Augustin, "must be 
 continued through the whole life of the Christian, which is 
 passed in the midst of temptations ; it is that cross of which 
 the servant of Christ is not ashamed, bui of which he boasts, 
 saying (Gal. vi. 14) : ' God forbid that I should glory, save 
 in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by M'hom the world is 
 crucified unto me and I unto the world.' This cross relates 
 not only to fortj* days, but to the whole life. Thus must 
 thou ever live, O Christian ! If thy steps are not to sink in 
 the mire of earth, desert not this cross !" Leo the Great 
 says : " If it is becoming to appear in better clothing on 
 feast-days, and to manifest the joy of the soul by the dress 
 of the body ; if we even more carefully adorn the house of 
 prayer, is it not requisite that the Chiistian soul, which is the 
 true and living temple of God, should adorn its form with 
 wisdom, and that when it designs to celebrate the festival of 
 its redemption, it should carefully guard against the defile- 
 ment of sin : For of what use is the outward show of de- 
 corum, if the inner man be defiled by sin r Let every one 
 prove himself, and judge himself. Let him see to it, whether 
 he can find in the bottom of his heart that peace which 
 Christ alone gives." The same Leo says, in another fast- 
 sermon, that Christians during a fast ought to exercise simply 
 the same watchfulness against their spiritual enemies which 
 ought to regulate their whole lives. '* We must know that 
 
EXHOBTATIONS OF LEO THE GREAT AND C-SSARIUS. 269 
 
 we cannot conquer our enemies in any other way than by 
 conquering ourselves. For there arc many conflicts in our- 
 selves, and the flesh lusts against the spirit, and the spirit 
 against the flesh. If in these conflicts the sensual desires 
 are victorious, the soul will, to its great disgrace, lose its 
 peculiar dignity, and it will be most pernicious for that to 
 serve which ought to rule. But when the soul is in subjec- 
 tion to its ruler, and rejoices in grace from above, and over- 
 comes the allurements of earthly pleasure, then tlie reason 
 will maintain its due sovereignty, and no temptation of evil 
 will shake its steadfastness. Then man has true peace and 
 true freedom, when the body is governed by the soul, and the 
 'soul by God.'"^' Caesarius, bishop of Aries, in the beginning 
 of the sixth century, when exhorting his flock, during a fast, 
 to diligent and serious attention to the Divine Word, said ; 
 " You must certainly know that as it is with the body which 
 has been long famished, so it will be with the soul which is 
 not constantly nourished by the word of God; and as the 
 body is withered and di-ied up by hunger and want, till it 
 becom.es like a lifeless image, so tlie soul, if it is not 
 nourished by the v.'ord of God, becomes dry, and unfruitful, 
 and fit for no good work. See, my brethren, if we fill our 
 barns and our cellars every year, that Ave may have food 
 during the year for our bodies, how much ought we to collect 
 that our souls may receive nourishment for eternity ? At 
 least, in these days, may the hindrances arising from the 
 Avorld give way, which, according to the Seriptm'cs, cause 
 many to be negligent. May carnal pleasures and the 
 poisonous attractions of the world cease to allure : the time 
 M'hich you were wont to devote to exciting amusements, begin 
 to occupy in reading the Scriptures. Instead of idle conver- 
 sation and poisonous evil-speaking of others, engage in con- 
 versations respecting the Holy Scriptures. In the hours 
 which M'c were accustomed to pass to the detriment of our 
 souls, let us visit the sick and those in prison, receive 
 strangers, and be reconciled to those with whom we have 
 been at variance. Hear the Holy Scriptm-es read as you are 
 wont, in the church, and read them at home, in order that ye 
 
 " Tunc est vera pax homini et vera libertas, quando et caro animo 
 judice regitur, et animus Deo preeside gubernatur. — Leo M. Serm.'69, 
 cap. 2. 
 
270 CHRISTIAXITY ASCENDANT IN THE ROMAN EMPIKE. 
 
 may be able to speak of tbe word of God in your houses and 
 ■wherever ye may be, and also to instruct others." 
 
 As at Antioch, during the fasts, divine worship was daily 
 performed, and the Scriptures read and expounded, Chry- 
 sostom held this forth to his church as a source of consola- 
 tion in difficult times, when the city was threatened with 
 great misfortunes. In one of his fast- sermons, he says: 
 " In order to endure with fortitude what has now befallen 
 us, we gain no small encouragement from this opportunity; 
 for it must greatly contribute to soothe our pain, that we 
 daily assemble to hear the Holy Scriptures read, to see one 
 another, to sympathise, to receive the blessing, and then to 
 return home.'' Chrysostom represents the fasts as an ordi- 
 nance of the church introduced from a consideration of human 
 weakness ; he says : " Many persons formerly came without a 
 proper collectedness of mind to the Holy Supper, and especially 
 at the time when it was instituted by Christ. Our fathers, 
 perceiving the injui'ious effects of such thoughtless commu- 
 nion, appointed forty days for fasting, prayer, hearing the 
 divine word, and meetings of the church, in order that in 
 these days we may all be carefully purified by prayer, by 
 works of Christian love, by fasting and watching, by tears 
 for our sins, and by all other things, so that we may come 
 according to our ability with a pure conscience to the com- 
 munion ; and that much good has been efiected by the habits 
 to which this humiliation leads, is evident. We have con- 
 tinued during the whole year to call and to summon to the 
 fasts, and no one has hearkened to our words ; but now the 
 time of fasting comes, and without an exhortation from any 
 one even the most careless are aroused, because the time 
 itself serves for an exhortation. Now when a Jew or a pagan 
 asks thee, Why dost thou fast? say not, on account of the 
 sufferings of Christ, for then thou wilt present to him 
 a weak side; for Christ's passion is not a cause for sorrow, 
 but only for joy, since the cross of Christ has atoned for sin: 
 it has become the means of purifying the world, it is the 
 reconciliation of a long enmity, it has opened the gates of 
 heaven, has made the enemies of God into his friends, brought 
 us back to heaven, exalted our natm'e to the right hand of 
 God, and gained a thousand other blessings for us; therefore 
 we must not mourn, but rejoice and exult for all this. We 
 
OBLIGATION TO SYMPATHY AND COMPASSION. 271 
 
 are not to mouni on account of the cross— far be it ! but on 
 account of our own sins."* 
 
 As the preparation for the Easter festival brought to mind 
 the grace vouchsafed to all sinners, the fothers of the church 
 especially recommended at this time that every one, in his 
 own station, should evince his gratitude for the love and 
 compassion of his heavenly Father, bj' showing love and 
 compassion to others. The bishops endeavoiu-ed to settle all 
 disputes in their congregations by reminding them of the 
 approaching festival. Leo the Great, in a fast-sermon, says : 
 "Although we ought first of all to relieve the poverty of 
 believers, yet we must also show our sympathy with the 
 misery of those who have not yet received the gospel; for in 
 all we must love the fellowship of natm-e. This must also 
 make us kind to those who are in any way subject to us, 
 especially if they have been already regenerated by the same 
 grace and are redeemed by the same price of Christ's blood. 
 For we have it in common with them, that we are created in 
 the image of God, and they are not different from us either 
 by bodily birth or spiritual regeneration. We are sanctified 
 by the same Spirit, we live in the same faith, we meet at 
 the same sacraments. This unity must not be despised: a 
 fellowship of this kind ought not to be insignificant in our 
 esteem ; but it shoidd make us more gentle in every respect 
 that we have those persons under us, with whom we are 
 subject to the same Lord. If therefore many have wounded 
 their hearts by hea\'y transgressions, let them receive forgive- 
 ness in these days of reconciliation." 
 
 The last of these weeks of fasting which preceded Easter 
 was peculiarily distinguished, and on that account called the 
 great iveek. " It is called great," says Chrj'sostom, "because 
 the goods are gi-eat and superabundant which are imjiarted to 
 us in it; for in this week the long conflict terminated which 
 annihilated the power of death, took away the curse, set us 
 
 * To y£ TTä(r\a ov vrjcmiag tarlv, ovce Trti'Oovg äW ivtpponuvtjc 
 Kai X"P"G v7r69((Ttg. 'O yun aravpuq ai'ttX« Tt)v äiiapTiar, KaOäpaioi' 
 rj/c oiKovufvrjg tytvtTo, KaraWayi) \poyiaQ i\Gpag, ävfift^t tov ovpavov 
 TU(^ TTvXag, Toi'Q fiirrovf^ifvovg (^iXovg iiroitjmy, tig tov ovpavov tTtavii- 
 yayf-v, iv St^nji ruv Opuvov t/caötrrt Tt)v if^tTtpav ipvaiv, ^vpia i'rtpa 
 TTapkax^v vfiiv äyaOa. . . . Oö Tnvi)ovp.iv ttd tov aravpov, fii'i yivoiTO, 
 äWä ciä TO. oiKua anapTTjfiara. — Chrysost. in eos qui pascha jejunant , 
 3, §4. 
 
272 CHRISTIANITY ASCENDANT IN THE ROMAN EMPIRE. 
 
 free from tlio tyranny of Satan, estabiislied the reconciliation 
 of God with man, made heaven accessible, reunited men and 
 angels with one another, beheld the God of peace in heaven, 
 and made peace on earth/' In this week prisoners, the worst 
 criminals excepted, were released from theii' fetters. Often 
 at this period letters from the emperor appeared in the 
 provinces, which gave entire liberty to all who had been 
 committed merely for lesser oifences. " The emperors," says 
 Chrysostom, " imitate their Lord according to human ability ; 
 for as he (they say) freed us from the miserable dungeons of 
 sin and granted us the enjoyment of a thousand blessings, 
 so must we, as far as we are able, imitate our Lord's philan- 
 thropy." This week was ojDcned by Palm Sunday, so 
 important for the whole history of the human race by the 
 openly expressed glorification of Jesus, as the promised 
 founder of the kingdom of God, and at the same time the 
 kingdom itself appeared. " Not from one city," says Chry- 
 sostom, in a sermon on Palm- Sunday, " do we come to-day 
 to meet Christ ; not only from Jerusalem, but from all parts 
 of the M'orld, congregations consisting of thousands come to 
 meet the Lord Jesus, not holding and waving palm-branches, 
 but presenting to the Lord Christ alms, philanthropy, virtue, 
 fasting, prayers, and all the indications of piety." 
 
 On the Saturday of this week (the so-called great sabbath, 
 TO Me'/a aäßßa-ov), old and young proceeded at night with 
 lights and torches to the churches, where, watching, praying, 
 and singing, they waited for the morning of the resurrection- 
 festival. " Even many of those," says Augustin, " who are 
 not yet Christians watch during this night — many from grief, 
 many from shame : some also who are almost believers do not 
 sleep from the fear of God." He means to say, that vexation 
 on account of the universal adoration of Christ which is 
 exhibited on this festival-night does not allow the most zealous 
 pagans to sleep ; others are ashamed to sleep, because it 
 would make it known that they Avere pagans ; and others who 
 wavered in their convictions were so powerfull}' impressed 
 by what they M'itnessed on this night, and by the thoughts and 
 feelings that it excited, that they could not sleep. The great 
 power which a conviction that animates a whole community 
 exercises over those who live in its neighbourhood, according 
 as it is on the side of truth or of error, influences their minds 
 
TJNITERSAL JOY OF THE CHRISTIANS. 273 
 
 for good or evil. Aiigiistin says on this point, " With what joy 
 must the friend of Christ watch, since even the enemy of Christ 
 M-atches M'ith pain ? With what ardent zeal must the Christian 
 watch during such a glorification of Christ, when even the })agan 
 is ashamed to sleep ? Does it not become him, who has 
 entered this great house, to watch at this great festival, since 
 already he watches who prepares to enter it ? Let us there- 
 fore watch and pray, that we may inwardly and outwardly 
 celebrate this night-watching. God speaks to us by his 
 word, and we must s])cak to God in our prayers. If Ave 
 hear his M'ord obediently, he to whom we pray will dwell 
 in us."' 
 
 The morning of the festival of the resurrection dawned, 
 and the Christians gave signs of universal joy The llisen 
 One was present to the eye of faith ; the resurrection of 
 Christ served to believers for r. sure pledge of their own 
 resurrection to eternal life, and they felt constrained to rejoice 
 as called from death unto life. This transition from death 
 unto life was placed before their eyes, as they had experienced 
 it in themselves at their conversion, by the great number of 
 the baptized on the former night [in great cities often thou- 
 sands], who in their white garments [signs of the purity in 
 Christ which they were to preserve] united for the first time 
 with the assemblage of believers at the Holy Supper, and all 
 were wont to partake of it on the resurrection-morning. In 
 order to call forth universal joy in the Lord, they sung 
 Psa. cxviii. 24: "This is the day which the Lord has made, 
 we will be glad and rejoice in it."' In allusion to this cir- 
 cumstance, Chrysostom, in a sermon on this day, remarks: 
 *" Death is now only a sleep. Death, M'hich before Christ's 
 appearance had a fearful aspect, is now easily become an 
 object to be despised. Behold the glorious victory of the 
 resurrection. By it a thousand blessings are secured to us; 
 in virtue of it we mock death, we despise the present life and 
 aspire after future blessings. In virtue of it we have, if we are 
 only willing, though enveloped in bodies, all that the haj)py 
 spirits have. Let us then rejoice. For although it is our 
 Lord who has won the victory, yet the joy is common to us, 
 for he has effected everything for our salvation. On this day 
 he freed human nature from the dominion of Satan, and 
 brought it back to its original dignity. For when I see the 
 
 T 
 
274 CHRISTIANITY ASCENDANT IN THE ROMAN EMPIRE. 
 
 first-fruits of my nature so victorious over death, I fear no 
 longer ; 1 am no longer alarmed at the conflict ; I look not at 
 my own weakness, but I gaze on the superabundant power of 
 Him who has assured me of his aid ; for what will not the 
 conqueror over death, who has deprived it of all its power, 
 do for the nature that is related to his own, which he valued 
 so much that he assumed its form out of his great love for 
 man? Let no one therefore be dejected to-day on account of 
 his poverty, for this is a spiritual feast: let no rich man 
 pride himself on his riches, for he can contribute nothing 
 to this feast by his wealth. All distinctions are here taken 
 away. There is one table for rich and poor, bond and free. 
 It is divine grace, and knows no respect of persons. Yes! 
 why should I speak of rich and poor? The same table is 
 spi'ead for him who occupies the imperial throne and sways 
 the sceptre of the world, and for the poor man who asks for 
 alms. The poor man comes with the same confidence as the 
 emperor to partake of the Holy Supper. Yes! do I say with 
 the same confidence ?— often the poor man comes with greater 
 confidence." 
 
 Augustin at this feast says: "Let us believe in Christ 
 crucified, but who rose again on the third day. Retain this 
 firmly in your hearts. Confess it with the mouth; but have 
 the faith of Christians, not of the devil (James ii. 19); be 
 inflamed with the fire of love, which the devil has not, the 
 fire with which those two disciples burned as they were on 
 the way; for when they recognized Christ, and he parted 
 from them, they said one to another, ' Did not our hearts 
 burn within us while he talked with us by the way, and while 
 he opened to us the Scriptures ? ' This fire draws you 
 upwards ; it raises you to Heaven. Whatever toils you 
 may sufier on earth, however much the adversary may bow 
 the heart of the Christian down to earth,' the flame of love 
 draws him to the Most High. Understand a simile ; when 
 thou boldest a burning torch upright, the flame rises towards 
 heaven ; tm-n the torch downwards, still the flame goes 
 towards heaven. It knows no other way ; it seeks heaven. 
 One person is warm, another cold; the waiTn kindles the 
 cold, and whoever has only a little of that flame in himself, 
 let him pray that it may increase ; the Lord is ready to give, 
 if we only seek to receive with open hearts." 
 
THEIR PAHTICIPATION IN CHEIST's GLORY. 275 
 
 Leo the Great thus speaks :^' " If we really believe in our 
 hearts what we confess with our mouths, then are we cruci- 
 fied with Christ as well as risen with him. (Col. iii. 1.) 
 But in order that the souls of believers may know* by what 
 means, despising worldly desires, they may attain to heavenly 
 wisdom, the Lord promises his presence, saying : ' Lo ! I am 
 with you always, even to the end of the world.' Jesus fulfils 
 the meaning of his name Immanuel (God with us, Isa. vii. 
 14), and though exalted to heaven, he does not forsake those 
 who have received adoption. He who sits at the right hand 
 of the Father, dwells with the whole body of the church ; he 
 Avho calls us above to glory, strengthens us here below to 
 patience." 
 
 Thus the whole period from Easter to Whitsuntide was 
 connected, as a commemorative festival, with what the glori- 
 fied Redeemer is continually effecting for the glorification 
 of the human nature he has redeemed, until it is exalted to 
 the complete participation of his glory. Christians prayed 
 only in an upright posture, remembering that Christ has 
 restored fallen humanity to heaven. There was no fasting. 
 In the churches the triumphant praise of God resounded in 
 the hallelujahs. The Acts of the Apostles was read in the 
 churches, as containing living evidence of the resurrection of 
 Christ ; for how could the apostles— since they had seen 
 their expectations that still clave to the earthly and to the 
 outward appearance of Christ, at once annihilated by his 
 death — (the appearances of Christ after his resurrection being 
 the necessary links between what the apostles were at an 
 earlier period, and what they afterwards became) — how could 
 they speak and act with such confidence and power, unless 
 He who had been crucified in weakness had revealed himself 
 to them, and then through them to others, as the risen, living, 
 glorified Christ ? Augustin says on this point: ''Since our 
 existence is divided into these two sections, the one under 
 the temptations and sufferings of this present life, the other, 
 which is first attained in the security and joy of eternity, so 
 the circle of the festival is divided into two sections, the time 
 before and after Easter. The time before Easter points out 
 
 * Si incunctanter itaque, dilectissimi, credimus corde, quod ore pro- 
 fifemur, nos in Christo crucitixi, nos sumus mortui, nos sepulti, nosetiam 
 in ipso die tertio suscitati. — Leo M. Sen/i. 72, ca]). 3. 
 
 T 2 
 
276 CH'ßISTIAKITY ASCENDANT IN THE EOMAN EMPIRE. 
 
 the conflict of the present life — the time after Easter the 
 blessedness which we shall attain hereafter. On this account 
 we employ ourselves during the former time in fasting and 
 prayer; but during the latter we cease from fisting, and 
 spend it in celebrating the praises of God. Both are pre- 
 figured for us in our Head. The Lord's passion shows us the 
 present life of suffering while we fight and suffer, and at last, 
 die. The resurrection and glorification of the Lord show u» 
 the life which we shall receive." 
 
 Li that jubilee of fifty days, two events were specially 
 presented to the minds of believers: the ascension of Christ, 
 as that by which human nature was raised to heavenly glory, 
 a type of what all believers as the members, whom he as the 
 Head will draw after him, have to hope for ; and, secondly, 
 the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, as the effect and living 
 evidence of that glorification, a pledge for all, as they were 
 now connected in faith witli the glorified Christ, that they 
 should be filled with the Spirit of the glorified One, made 
 continual!}' more like him in their inner life by that Spirit, 
 and be changed from glory to glory until they attained to his 
 perfect likeness and to perfect communion with him. " The 
 resurrection of the Lord,"*>' said Augustin, in a sermon at 
 the Feast of the Ascension, " is our hope — the ascension of 
 the Lord is our glorification. If we celebrate the Feast of 
 his Ascension in a right, believing, holy, pious manner, we 
 must ascend with him to heaven, and have our hearts above. 
 But thus ascending, we must not exalt ourselves and trust in 
 our own merits; our hearts must be above, but with the Lord." 
 And in another sermon, on a similar occasion, he says : " To- 
 day our Lord Jesus Christ ascended to heaven. Let our 
 hearts also ascend with him. (Col. iii. 1, 2.) For as he has 
 ascended, and yet is not removed from us, so also are we here 
 with him, although not yet glorified with him. He who 
 descended from heaven, does not grudge us heaven : but as it 
 were calls to us, ' Ye are my members, if ye wish to ascend 
 
 * Resurrectio Domini, spes nostra ; adscensio Domini, glorificatio 
 nostra. ... Si ergo recte, si fideliter, si devote, si sancte, si pie adscen- 
 sionem Domini celebramus, adsceiidamus cum illo, et sursum cor habea- 
 mus. Adscendentes autem non extollamur, nee de nostris quasi de pro- 
 priis meritis praesumamus. Sursum enim cor habere debemus, sed ad 
 Dominum. — August. Serm, 261. § 1. 
 
PLEA TOR THE INSTITUTIOlSr OF FESTIVALS. 277 
 
 to heaven.' To this call may we meanwhile strengthen our- 
 selves; thither may our most ardent longings be directed; 
 living on earth, may we always bear in mind that we belong 
 to heaven." 
 
 In the first-fruits of mankind the whole human nature was 
 sanctified and blessed. This is the rich, pregnant thought 
 which goes tlirou":h Chrvsostoni's beautiful sermon on the 
 Ascension. "Christ," says he, "has carried the first-fruits 
 of om- nature to the Father, and the Father was so pleased 
 with the gift, on account of the dignity of the Giver, and the 
 holiness of what he presented, that he received it with his 
 own hands, placed it by his side, and said : ' Sit thou on my 
 right hand.' To ^vhat nature has God said: ' Sit thou on my 
 right hand?' To that which was once addressed: 'Dust 
 thou art, and to dust thou shalt return.'" "May we give 
 ourselves up to spiritual joy, full of thankfulness," says Leo : 
 *' and may we direct the open eyes of our soul to that height 
 where Christ dwells. Souls that are called from above, dare 
 not allow themselves to be pressed down by earthly desires. 
 By the path of love on which Christ descended to us, must 
 we also ascend to him." 
 
 In the Oriental church the Acts of the Apostles was read 
 at public worship during Easter to the close of Whitsuntide ; 
 and Chrj-sostom, in a beautiful homily, has given the reason 
 of this practice. " Not without reason," he says, " have the 
 fathers observed these times ; they had wise views in doing 
 so; they did not do it in order to subject our freedom to the 
 yoke of times and seasons, but condescended to the poverty 
 of the weaker, that they might be exalted to the riches of 
 knowledge." He endeavours to illustrate this method of 
 proceeding by the example of the Apostle Paul, '• who, since 
 he wished to lead the weak (those who were still entangled 
 in the Jewish stand-point) condescended to them by such an 
 observance. For if he had always remained on his own high 
 stand-point, he would never have been able to lead upwards 
 those who were lying below it. It was necessary to lower 
 himself first, in order that he might raise others. On this 
 account the apostles lowered themselves from the height of 
 evangelical conduct, in order to raise the Jews from the 
 lower Jewish stand-point to their own height." After having 
 thus given a reason why the fathers, who by no means 
 wished to infringe on Chi'istian freedom, yet made the reading 
 
278 CHRISTIAXITT ASCESDJ^ST IX THE ROMA?f EMPIEE. 
 
 of the Scriptures dependent on such particular times, he 
 brino^s forward the reason for this special aiTanp:ement. 
 " The miracles wrought by the apostles are the proof of the 
 resurrection of Christ. Therefore, the fathers have appointed 
 that what would specially serve to accredit the resurrection 
 of the Lord, should be read at the festival of Easter. Thou 
 hast not beheld Christ risen with thy bodily eyes, but thou 
 beholdest him risen with the eyes of faith; for the testimony 
 of the miracles wrought by the apostles brings thee to the 
 intuition of faith." 
 
 Chrysostom thus expressed bimself at "VMiitsuntide : " Many 
 blessins^s have often descended from heaven to earth for man- 
 kind, but never before this time such as we celebrate to-day. 
 God caused manna to fall, and gave them bread from heaven. 
 (Psa. Ixxviii. 24.) Then fire from the Lord descended and 
 converted the backsliding Jewish people, and devoured the 
 bumt-offerings on the altar. '1 Kings xviii. 38.) The rain 
 came again, when all were pining with hunger, and spread 
 universal joy. This was a great thing; but far greater is the 
 present event. For to-day has descended, not manna, or fire, 
 or rain, but an effusion of the gracious gifts of the Spirit ; 
 not streams of water, to fructify the earth ; but those streams 
 which operate on human nature, so that it brings forth to 
 them who scatter the seed upon it the fruits of holiness. 
 Those who have received some drops of that heavenlv shower, 
 immediately forgot their nature, and the whole earth was at 
 once filled with angels: not with the angels of heaven, but 
 with such as manifest in a human body the holy life of 
 heavenly spirits ; for it was not those who descended, but, 
 what was more wonderful, men on earth had risen to their 
 holiness, for they did not proceed as disembodied spii'its. but 
 remained in human nature, and became angels in disposition. 
 Not ten days," he says, " had passed since Christs ascen- 
 sion, and he sent to us spiritual gifts of grace, as present? 
 which scaled the reconciliation he had effected; for in order 
 that no one might doubt whether Christ had reconciled us to 
 the Father, and to prove to us that he had reconciled him 
 with our nature, he sent us immediately the gifts of the 
 festival of reconcüiation, as when enemies are reconciled, 
 proofs of affection and presents follow upon the reconciliation. 
 On our part we have given faith, and have received the gifts 
 of grace; on oui* part we have given obedience, and have 
 
THE HOLY SPIEIT THE SOURCE OF BLESSING. 279 
 
 received justification." To the carnally-minded, who, because 
 they saw no miracles cognizable by the senses before them, 
 were not willing to believe in the operation of the Holy 
 S})irit, which they had not experienced in their own souls, 
 Chrysostom exhibited the proofs of the continued o])cration 
 of the Holy Spirit, without which the I'entecostal festival 
 would have been for Christians unintelligible, dead, and 
 insignificant. " Without the Holy Spirit," he says, " there 
 is no forgiveness of sins — without the Holy Spirit we cannot 
 call Jesus our Lord (1 Cor. xii. 3) — without the Holy Spirit, 
 who is the spirit of adoption, we cannot call upon God as our 
 Father. If, therefore, thou callest God thy Father, remember 
 that thou art -worthy to address him by this name, because 
 the Holy Ghost has moved thy soul. If there were no Holy 
 Spirit, there would be no gifts to speak of wisdom, and no 
 gifts to speak of knowledge in the church. (1 Cor. xii.) If 
 there were no Holy Spirit, there would be no shepherds and 
 teachers in the church. No Holy Supper could be held; for 
 although man is used as an instrument, everything depends 
 on the agency of the Holy Spirit. If the Holy Spirit were 
 not present, the church would not exist. But if the church 
 exists, it is a proof of the presence of the Holy Spirit." 
 Augustin preached in a similar strain at Whitsuntide: "My 
 brethren, will the Holy Spirit now not grant us anything ? 
 He w^ho says so, is not worthy to receive anything. If you 
 wish to receive the Holy Spirit, then pay attention. What 
 does the soul do in the body? It animates all the members ; 
 it sees through the eyes ; it hears through the ears ; it speaks 
 through the tongue; it works through the hands; it animates 
 all the members, and imparts to each the power of fulfilling 
 its proper office. There are various offices of individual 
 members; but there is one common life. So it is with the 
 church of God, in which some of the saints work miracles, 
 others publish the truth; in which some preserve a virgin 
 pui'ity, and others live in holy matrimony ; some in one way, 
 and some in another. Every one works in his own manner; 
 but all share in the same life. What the soul is to the body, 
 that the Holy Spirit is for the body of Christ, the churcli. 
 What the soul effects in all the members of the same body, 
 that the Holy Spii'it effects in the whole church.*' 
 
280 CHRISTIANITY ASCENDANT IX THE EOMAN EMPIF.E. 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 BAPTISM THE HOLY SUPPER AND CHRISTIAN 
 
 PELLOWSHIP. 
 
 In the first age of the church, only adults who entered it 
 consciously and voluntarily, were baptized. But after the 
 first foundation of the chm'ch had been laid, and Chiistian 
 domestic life had been formed, infant baptism was introduced, 
 from a development of the Christian consciousness correspond- 
 ing to the idea of baptism and of the church. Whoever was 
 born in a Christian family, it was necessarily presupposed 
 that he did not become acquainted with Christianity from the 
 midst of heathenism; that he did not first develop himself 
 from the stand-point of the natural man, and then make his 
 way into a new life, through regeneration, but from the be- 
 ginning the sanctifying influence of Christian communion 
 must have been shed on the first development of the life of 
 the soul, surrounded as it was with a Christian atmosphere. 
 From the first it must have been trained into communion 
 with Christ — dedicated to him — ^led to his redeeming grace. 
 Regeneration must have taken place not suddenly, but 
 gradually, allying itself to the first movements of advancing 
 rational life. Thus Irenscus founded infant baj^tism on the 
 fact that Christ became a child to children, and had sanctified 
 human nature from the first germs of its development. 
 
 But in the centuries of which M'e are now sj^eaking, many 
 things, especially in the Oriental church, opposed the intro- 
 duction of infant baptism. There were many persons uho 
 for a long time had lived thoughtlessly in a middle position 
 between heathenism and Christianity, who remained in the 
 class of catechumens, and could not be induced to receive 
 baptism, except by some alarming event in the com-se of their 
 lives. Many acted thus, that meanwhile they might more 
 freely indulge their lusts, in the false confidence of which we 
 iuive already spoken, that if they received baptism on the 
 
THE ORIGIN OF INFANT BAPTISM. 281 
 
 near approach of death, howeycr faulty their lives had been 
 up to that time, they would at once be purified, and enter into 
 eternal life. It is evident that in such cases the delay of 
 baptism arose from a preponderance of the heathenish element, 
 and from a defect in Christian domestic life, upon which it 
 must have injuriously reacted. 
 
 But many pious parents, owing to a misapprehension, were 
 afraid to trust what was of the highest value, and M-liich 
 might so easily be lost, to the weakness of the child, who had 
 to pass through a development as yet uncertain. Gregory 
 Nazianzen, in an exhortation on infant baptism, says : " Thou 
 hast a child. Let not evil gain any time. From the be- 
 ginning let it be sanctified ; let it be dedicated to the Holy 
 vSpirit. Thou art afraid of the seal of baptism on account of 
 the weakness of nature, like a narrow-hearted, distrustful 
 mother. Hannah vowed to devote her son to God, even 
 before he M-as born ; she treated him as a priest, and brought 
 him up in a priestly dress, because she was not afraid of what 
 was human, but trusted in God." In the church of Antioch a 
 prayer was offered up for the catechumens who had been pre- 
 pared for ba2:)tism, which was designed to arouse them to a 
 consciousness of M-hat was essentially necessary for them, and 
 to excite a longing after the divine light, without which they 
 could understand nothing of divine truth. The prayer was to 
 this effect : that " the all-merciful God would hear their prayers ; 
 that he would open the eyes of their hearts ; that they might 
 luiderstand what no eye had seen, and no ear had heard ; that 
 he would instruct them in the Avords of truth ; that he would 
 sow the fear of God in their hearts, and confirm their souls in 
 the truth of his word ; that he would reveal to them the 
 gospel of righteousness ; that he would grant them a godly 
 disposition, a sound understanding, and a virtuous course of 
 life ; so that at all times they might think and act according 
 to God's will — might dwell day and night in the law of God ; 
 that he would redeem them from evciy kind of evil, from all 
 devilish sins, and all temptations of the Wicked One ; that ho 
 would grant them, at the riglit time, regeneration, the forgive- 
 ness of sins, the garment of a divine life raised above all 
 death ; that he would bless their going out and coming in, 
 their families, their domestics ; that he would increase their 
 children, bless them, lead them to maturity, and make them 
 
282 CHKISTIANITY ASCENDANT IN THE EOMAN EMPIRE. 
 
 wise ; that he would cause everything that awaited them to 
 be for their good." While this prayer was offered, the cate- 
 chumens knelt dowTi ; they were then called to stand up, and 
 to pray themselves "' for the angel of peace : peace for every- 
 thing that might await them ; peace for the present day, and 
 peace for all the days of their lives, and for a Christian end." 
 The injunction ended with, " Commend yourselves to the 
 living God, and to his Chi-ist.""^ 
 
 As the regeneration symbolically represented and mediated 
 by baptism, the being born of the Spirit, without which no one 
 born of flesh can enter the kingdom of heaven, must be distin- 
 guished from it ; so must the spiritual participation of the 
 Holy Supper be distinguished from its bodily participation, 
 in reference to the former of which Christ calls himself the 
 bread that came down from heaven — the bread of life — and says 
 in the same connection : " As the living Father hath sent me, 
 and I live by the Father ; so he that eateth me, even he shall 
 live by me." This spiritual participation, which is confined 
 to no special time, but pervades the whole life of a Christian, 
 must be continually renewed, as the Christian is always im- 
 pelled to turn afresh from himself to his Kedeemer, and to 
 seek his life in him. Of such a spiritual participation of the 
 Supper, Augustin says : " The first resurrection is that which 
 takes place in the inner man during the present life, in which 
 he believes, and passes from death unto life. That bread of 
 the inner man presupposes hunger. Hence Christ says : 
 ' Blessed are they that hunger and thirst after righteousness, 
 for they shall be filled.' But the Apostle Paul says, that 
 ' Christ is made unto us righteousness.' (1 Cor. i. 30.) 
 AVhoever, therefore, hungers after this bread, he hungers after 
 righteousness, but after that righteousness which comes down 
 from heaven — th© righteousness which God gives, not that 
 which he makes himself. To believe in him is to eat the living 
 bread. Whoever believes, eats ; he is satisfied in an invisible 
 manner, because he is regenerated in an invisible manner ; 
 he is renewed inwardly ; where he is renewed, there he is 
 satisfied. Give me a man who feels this longing and hunger, 
 a wanderer in this desert, who thirsts and who sighs after the 
 
 * Neander's General History, vol. iii. p. 456. Standard Library 
 Edition. [Tr.] 
 
SPIRITUAL PABTICIPATION IN THE HOLY SUPPER. 283 
 
 fountain of his eternal fatherland. Give me such a man, and 
 he will understand my meaning. But if I speak to one who 
 is cold and indifferent, he understands not what I say. Christ 
 says (John vi. 47) : ' He that believcth on me hath everlast- 
 ing life.' He meant to reveal what he was ; for he could in 
 a word say : ' Whoever believcth hath me ;' for Christ himself 
 is the true God and eternal life. Whoever believes in me, he 
 therefore said, passes into me ; and whoever passes into me, 
 has me. But what is it to have me ? It is, to have eternal 
 life. Whoever wishes to live, knows where he can find life ; 
 w^hence he can di-aw life. He comes, he believes, he is incor- 
 porated with Christ; he is made alive. But he who belongs 
 to the body of Christ, lives by the Spirit of Christ." All 
 enlightened Christians must agree in this, that the outward 
 participation of the Holy Supper can be of no advantage 
 without that internal spiritual participation. On the words, 
 " This is the bread that cometh down from heaven, that a man 
 may eat thereof, and not die," Augustin says: "This is ap- 
 plicable to the inward power and meaning of the sacrament, 
 not to the outward \4sible signs. It is to be applied to that 
 which is internal, not to that which is merely external ; to 
 that which is enjoyed with the heart, not to that which is 
 enjoyed merely with the mouth." 
 
 Though in reference to the necessity of that continued 
 spiritual 'communion no controversy could arise among 
 genuine Christians ; yet, on the other hand, opinions differed 
 respecting the greater or less frequency of the outward parti- 
 cipation of the Holy Supper. Some thought that as the 
 Christian must live in daily fellowship with the Redeemer, he 
 required all daily outward fellowship with him by means of 
 the communion, and that he must attain the former thi'ough 
 the latter. Others thought that the Christian ought to ven- 
 ture only after special preparation, a coUcctedness of mind 
 before God, and examination of his life and faith (which, 
 indeed, if every thing were as it should be, must be daily 
 continued through the whole of life), and (since amidst the 
 business of the world he could not partake of it daily), at spe- 
 cial times to partake of the communion. The first view pre- 
 vailed in the Oriental church, the second in the Western, 
 Augustin thus gives his opinion on this difference : " Perhaps 
 those persons decided the controversy most correctly who 
 
284 CHRISTIANITY ASCENDANT IN THE ROMAN EMPIRE. 
 
 advised, that before all things they shoiild cultivate Christian 
 union ; that every one should do that which, according to his 
 belief, and with a devout mind, he considered ought to be 
 done. For neither of the two parties were wanting in rever- 
 ence towards the body and blood of the Lord ; on the con- 
 trary, they vied with each other how they might show him 
 the greatest reverence. For Zaccheus and the Centmion did 
 not quarrel with one another, and neither of them preferred 
 himself to the other, though the one joyfully received the 
 Lord into his house, and the other said : ' Lord, I am not 
 worthy that thou shouldst come under my roof.' Both 
 honoured the Saviom-, though in different and almost opposite 
 ways. Both were unhappy in their sins, and both obtained 
 mercy." 
 
 Meanwhile, even many in the Oriental church came but 
 seldom, perhaps only once a year, at one of the principal fes- 
 tivals, to the communion, not from a conscientious reverence 
 for the body of the Lord, nor bowed down by a sense of their 
 own unworthincss. but from indifference to sacred things, and 
 to the state of their own souls ; those nominal Christians of 
 whom we have spoken. And when such persons came only 
 once a year at Easter to the communion, they were not better 
 prepared, or believed that they were sufficiently prepared, by 
 a stricter manner of living during the fast ; without coming 
 with those sincere feelings of repentance, and of renewed 
 cordial surrender to Him M'ith whom they were to unite them- 
 selves more closely by the communion. Had they made such 
 a preparation, the blessed effects of the holy ordinance would 
 have been manifested in their subsequent life, from what 
 actually happened. Chrysostom says : •*' " Many partook of 
 the Holy Supper only once a year, sometimes twice ; others 
 more frequently. I speak to all, not only to those who are 
 here, but to those who dwell in deserts (the hermits) ; for 
 these take the Supper only once a year, and often only twice 
 in two years. How now ? Which among all shall we allow 
 
 * Ti ovv ; Tivag airode^ofisOa; rovg u-a% (TrJQ Ovalag fUTaXafi' 
 ßavovrac rov ttuv-öq eviavrov) ; rovg TzoWciKig ; rovg öXiyätcig ; Ovts 
 rovg ÜTraK, ovrs rovg TToWaKig, ovre rovg oXiya/ctc-, äXXä rovg fiera 
 KaQapag Kapciac, rovg ^erd ßiov ccXi'jtttov. Ol roiovroi an Trpoaircjaav. 
 01 ci fii) ToioÜToi, fxijcs u—a'£. T(' (^rjTron ; 'On Koifia kavroig Xafi- 
 ßdvovai — Chrysost. in Hebr. 17, §4. 
 
PRE-HEQUISITES TO COMMUNION. 285 
 
 to be right r In and for itself, neither those who only take It 
 once a year, nor those who take it more frequently, nor those 
 who take it seldomer ; but those who come with pure con- 
 sciences, pure hearts, and holy lives. Such persons might 
 communicate at any time — those who are ditferently minded, 
 ■not at all ; for they would only do it to their own condemna- 
 tion. Tell me, I pray thee, if thou comest at the expiration of 
 a year to the Holy Sacrament, dost thou believe that forty days 
 are sufficient to purify thy sins for the whole time ? And 
 when a week has passed away, dost thou betake thyself again 
 to thy former life ? Tell me then, if after a long illness thou 
 art well for forty days, and then betakest thyself to thy former 
 unhealthy diet, will not all thy former abstinence be in vain ?" 
 In the liturgical celebration of the Supper, every thing was 
 properly arranged to impress the hearts of all with the design 
 of the holy rite, the more intimate union of believers with the 
 Redeemer as members of one body, and to excite in them the 
 spirit of love, and a longing after heavenly things. The bro- 
 therly kiss which preceded the celebration of the Supper ; the 
 appeal which was made to all present, " Has any one ought 
 against another? Is no one here with a hypocritical dispo- 
 sition ? "' Then follows the call of the bishop, " Lift up your 
 hearts!" to which the congregation reply : " We have lifted 
 them to the Lord!" The few but pregnant words of the 
 bishop before the distribution of the elements, — " The holy to 
 the holy!" — signified the holy could only be received with a 
 holy disposition, and called every one to self-examination ; 
 for then the congregation answered, in order to show that no 
 man could be esteemed holy, — that only one was holy, by 
 communion with whom all must be made holy, — " One is 
 holy, one Lord, one Jesus Christ." Augustin explains this 
 liturgy, in a sermon to the newly baptized, in the following 
 manner : " After the prayer, you are first of all exhorted to 
 lift your heart above. Thus it becomes the members of 
 Christ. For if you have become members of Christ, you must 
 know where your Head is. The members have a head. If 
 the Head had not gone before, the members would not follow. 
 "Whither has your Head risen ? What have you expressed in 
 your confessions of faith r ' On the third day he rose from 
 the dead and ascended to heaven, and is seated at the right 
 hand of the Father.' Therefore, our Head is in heaven. On 
 
286 CHEISTIANITY ASCENDANT IN THE ROMAN EMPIEE. 
 
 this account you respond to the call, ' Lift your heart above,' 
 by saying, ' It is above with the Lord.' And that you may 
 not ascribe this, — that your heart is above with the Lord, — 
 to your own posvers, your own merits, your o^mdl exertions, 
 since to have the heart above is the gift of God, the bishop 
 begins to speak and says : ' Let us thank God, our Lord, for 
 this, namely, that we have our heart above, since if he had not 
 granted it, our heart would have been detained on earth. 
 And you attest this, since you say : ' It is fair and right that 
 we should thank Him who has granted us to have our heart 
 above with our Head.' After the consecration we repeat the 
 Lord's Prayer as a sign that we should devote ourselves as a 
 sacrifice to the Lord. Then it is said : ' Peace be with you,' 
 and the Christians give one another the holy kiss of brotherly 
 love. It is the sign of peace. AVhat is here outwardly repre- 
 sented, takes place inwardly in your hearts ; that is, as 
 thy lips touch the lips of thy brother, so thy heart touches his 
 heart. Here most holy things appear. The outward signs 
 arc transitory, but what they represent is unchangeable. 
 Receive them with the recollection that you regard yourselves 
 as members of the body of Christ, that you are united to him 
 in heart, that your heart is always above. Let your hope be 
 not on earth, but in heaven ; let your faith be firm in God, 
 for what you do not now see and yet believe, ye shall here- 
 after behold, when your joy shall have no end." 
 
 If the hearing and joining in that beautiful liturgy, so 
 expressive of the deep devotional spii'it of Chiistian antiquity, 
 had not become with many a mere mechanical act, Chrysos- 
 tom would not so often have been obliged to lament the 
 unworthy participation of the Holy Supper, or the want of 
 stillness and devotion during its celebration. On this account 
 those great fathers of the church, Augustin and Chrysostom, 
 laboured to unfold the internal meaning of these words and 
 usages, and to impress them on the minds of men. The word 
 of an enlightened teacher, that comes loving and continually 
 fresh from the inner life, and applies itself to the constant 
 wants of the church among whom he lives ; however glorious 
 it is in and for itself, is always in danger of relapsing into a 
 stationary dead form, and requires to be perpetually renewed. 
 Chrj'sostom laments that so little M-as sho^^'n in the lives of 
 Christians of that brotherly communion which ought to have 
 
CHRISTIAN LOVE AND FELLOWSHIP. 287 
 
 been kept continually alive by the celebration of the Supper, 
 which connected the members with their Head and with one 
 another. In a sermon on 1 Cor. xi. 20-27, he says: "Thou 
 hast partaken of the blood of the Lord, and yet thou knowest 
 not thy brother. If thou wert not willing to know him before, 
 thou oughtest at least to recognise him when he appeared 
 with thee at the same sacred table. Dost thou not bethink 
 tliyself of what thou art by nature, and what thou hast 
 become ? Dost thou not recollect that thou wert far poorer 
 in good works than this poor man in money, so full of sins, 
 and yet God has freed thee from all these, and confen-ed on 
 thee the honour of being at such a table. May we all hearken 
 to this who are here assembled with the poor at the holy 
 table, and who, when we go away, conduct ourselves towards 
 them as if we had never seen them." Looking back with 
 sorrow on the times of primitive brotherly love, he says : 
 *' An individual excluded from church-communion was like a 
 limb separated from the rest of the body. And why was this 
 then so shocking ? Because the being united with Christian 
 brethren was esteemed a great blessing. For at that time 
 they dwelt in every church as if they dwelt in the same house, 
 under the superintendence of the same Father, and taking 
 their food at the same table. How great, then, was the e^il, 
 to be estranged from such love ? But now this appears as of 
 no importance, because it is esteemed of no importance for us 
 to meet together in communion." 
 
 What could be effected for the advancement of the higher 
 life, by means of mutual excitement, is beautifully depicted 
 by Augustin in the following passage:^' "In heaven is the 
 everlasting Jerusalem, where our fellow- citizens, the angels, 
 are ; we are now separated from our fellow-citizens, as stran- 
 gers upon earth. As strangers we sigh ; in our fatherland 
 we shall be happy. But we meet with companions in this 
 our pilgrimage, who already have seen the fatherland itself, 
 and call upon us to hasten thither. My brethren, recollect 
 how, when the feast of the martyr was celebrated, to whose 
 memory this church is dedicated, a multitude of persons 
 streamed together, how they mutually aroused and encouraged 
 
 * Sed est in coelo aeterna Jerusalem, ubi sunt cives nostri angeli; ab 
 ipsis civibus nostris peregrinamur in terra. In perigrinatione suspiramus, 
 in civitate gaudebimus. — August, in Psa. cxxxi. § 2. 
 
288 CHUISTIANITY ASCENDANT IN THE EOMAN EMPIHE. 
 
 one another. * Let us go on ! ' they cried, ' Let us go on ! ' 
 Some asked, ' ^Miither must we go r ' and the other answered, 
 'To that place, that holy place.' They responded to one 
 another, and as the ardour of each one was kindled, they 
 formed together a common flame, and this one flame formed 
 by the mutual discourse of those who thus caught fire from 
 each other, carried them along to the holy place, and commu- 
 nicated the emotions of piety to all. If their holy love can so 
 carry men on to earthly places, of what power must that love 
 be which carries men associated with one another to heaven, 
 and makes them exclaim, ' Let us go up to the house of the 
 Lord I Let us run and not be weary, since we shall at last 
 arrive where no weariness is felt." 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 CHRISTIAN FEIENDSHIP. 
 
 What we call friendship, that inward contact and com- 
 munion between souls Mhich reciprocally attract and imme- 
 diately understand one another, ought from the very nature 
 of brotherly love to become an universal bond of humanity. 
 The one life of Christ which communicates itself to all, in 
 which all who share it reciprocally attract, feel, and under- 
 stand in unison, forms the fundamental element of this 
 spiritual union. But this does not exclude a more limited 
 friendship between individual members of the body of Christ, 
 which by virtue of the peculiarities adapted by the Creator, 
 from whom proceeds that mysterious attraction implanted in 
 the soul, joins and connects them together. As Christianity, 
 with that higher unity which it everywhere created by 
 allowing all to become one in Christ, did not abolish the 
 variety of peculiarities founded on the natural dispositions 
 implanted at the original creation — but united them to one 
 another by means of that higher unity, appropriating to as 
 many vai'ious forms of the new spirit — transformed, sanctified, 
 and glorified them; so also it must receive into itself and 
 
GENUINE, SPIEITUAL FRIEXDSHTP. 289 
 
 fill Avith a new animation that peculiar relation which was 
 based on the original reference of peculiarities to one another. 
 Since it first of all unfolded the undeveloped germ of mental 
 peculiarity ; since it brought into eonseiousne^^s a world 
 hitherto concealed from man in the depths of his soul, which 
 was now first laid open, it must also bring forward new, 
 higher, and deeper points of contact between these worlds 
 now laid open to a more developed and transformed mental 
 peculiarity. If in the life everlasting, a more intimate and 
 immediate contact and communication take place between 
 persons that will no longer see things though a glass darkly, 
 but know each other's peculiarities as they are known. Chris- 
 tianity in this respect forms the transition-point between time 
 and eternity, a foretaste of eternal life! Two redeemed 
 souls who attach themselves more closely to one another, 
 impelled by a close relationship, sanctified l3y the Spirit of the 
 liOrd, form a church, in the midst of which the Lord has 
 promised to be })resent. 
 
 Chrysostom says of true friendship : " If thou namest a 
 thousand treasures to me, none is of so much worth as a genuine 
 friend. Let us first of all say what high joy fiicndship 
 insures of itself. 'J'he communion of souls gives overflowing 
 joy. I speak of genuine friends who are one soul, ready to 
 die for another. Do not suppose, when you think of those 
 persons who are commonly called friends, that what I say is 
 contradicted by such. AVhoever has such as a friend as I 
 have described will understand what I say. If he sees him 
 daily, yet that is not enough. He prays on his behalf vrhat 
 he prays for himself. I know one who requested pious ]nen 
 first to pray for his friend and then for himself. So great a 
 blessing is a friend that we love a place and a time on account 
 of our friend. If we often come without friends to the same 
 place, we weep, for we recollect the day on which we there 
 met with our friends. I speak of spiritual friends, our love 
 to whom surpasses all things. Such an one was Paul (1 Thess. 
 ii. 8). Thus we ought to love with glowing hearts. Do not 
 name to me the present time. This with other things, this 
 blessing also has departed from us. Think of the apostolic 
 times ; and I will not say, think of the most distinguished, but 
 only of ordinary believers. All were of one heart and of one 
 soul. It was imparted to every one as he had need. There 
 
 U 
 
290 CHTIISTIANITY ASCEXDAXT IN THE BOMAX EMPIRE. 
 
 was then no meum and tuum. This is friendship when a 
 person does not reckon his own as his own, but as if it 
 belonged to his friend ; a friend will not rule or command, 
 but rather be thankful when the other commands him to do any- 
 thing. He would rather show some kindness to the other than 
 receive kindness from him ; for he loves, and feels as if he 
 had rendered no satisfaction to his propensity to love. Friend- 
 ship conceals its good deeds. The friend would not hold the 
 other as a debtor, but appear himself as a debtor. Friendship is 
 a plant of heaven." The same father says elsewhere :••' 
 " Spiritual love is higher than all other love, and is as a queen 
 ruling over her own subjects, and has a shining form : for she 
 is the offspring of nothing earthly, neither intimacy, nor 
 beneficence, nor nature, nor time. But she comes down from 
 above, from heaven. And why dost thou wonder that she 
 does not require beneficence in order to fonn an union, since 
 she is not disheartened even by ill-treatment:"' 
 
 As a philosopher (Pascal) has said, " In Jesus Christ all 
 contradictions are reconciled," so Christian friendship could 
 overcome contrarieties, combining opposites in a higher unity. 
 Often, persons of very opposite natural constitutions were so 
 united to each other by the higher spirit which amalgamated 
 their souls in the communion of a higher life, that they reci- 
 procally made up what was wanting in each — the ardent 
 energy of one carried forward the more gentle, and the 
 gentleness of the latter moderated the powerful ardour of the 
 former. Such joining to each other — such a co-operation of 
 persons separated by flesh and blood, but united in the Spirit 
 of the Lord — such a reciprocal supplementing of the gifts of 
 grace has always contributed much to further the work of the 
 Lord : as on the other hand, this work has often been much 
 injured, when, on account of what was humanly different, the 
 unity in spirit was ignored ; when those who might have been 
 one in spirit, on account of such differences separated from one 
 another. 
 
 * H ^£ TrvevfiaTiKT] ayairr] Traaiov i(JTiv avojTspa, Ka0a7rfp rtc 
 ßaaCKiarra tuiv iciojv Kparovaa, Kai XayuTrpov ix^i to axvf^<^- Ov^fv 
 yap y-qivov avrrjv TiKTfi, ov <Tvvi]9eia, ov evipyecriaf ov (pvaic, ov xpovoc. 
 AW di'U)9sv KCLTfiaiv Ik tov ovpnvov. Kai ri Oavfiä^nc, ft ibspytoiai^ 
 ov curat Trpoc to avvtaTcivai, ottov ye ovce rtp KaKwg vaQtiv ävarpi- 
 TTtrat. — Chrysost. in Col. 1, § 3. 
 
AUGTTSTIN AND HIS FBIEND ALTPIUS. 291 
 
 In the relation first described stood Augustin and Alypius 
 to one another. The latter, a man distinii^uishcd from early 
 life by his noble striving, was a neighbour of Augustin, and 
 perhaps a few years younger. It happened that when 
 Augustin delivered lectures on rhetoric at Carthage, Alypius 
 on one occasion came into the lecture-room, and heard him 
 ridicule the passion for the circus and the theatre. Alypius 
 was deeply infected by this passion in the great city. Though 
 Augustin had not thought of him in what he had said, Alypius 
 took it home to himself. He was brought to reflection, ac- 
 knowledged his obligations to Augustin, and became his most 
 intimate friend. lie was carried away by his ardour. At 
 first he was in error, and Alj'pius became a Manichean. He 
 followed his friend to Italy, and from Manicheism passed 
 over with him to Scepticism and to Platonism. And in the 
 last great crisis in the inner life of Augustin, Alypius quietly 
 and gently adhered to him. When Augustin applied to 
 himself, Rom. xiii. 14 (" Put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, 
 and make not provision for the flesh to fulfil the lusts 
 thereof"), Alypius referred the following verse in the next 
 chapter (" Him that is weak in the faith, receive ye,") to his 
 own relation to Augustin. Alypius had not so much to 
 combat ; but he could not so eavsily attain a decisive victory, 
 as Augustin, and surrender his heart and life so wholly and un- 
 reservedly to the Redeemer ; he could not make up his mind 
 to become a fool to the world, in order to find wisdom in 
 Christ crucified ; hence he thought, for example, that in 
 scientific writings a man might speak in the language of 
 philosophers and be silent about Christ. Thus matters stood 
 w4th him, when Augustin's ardent faith at last carried him 
 away; so that Augustin called him a brother of his heart. 
 When, from the idea of a platonic, philosophic association, 
 which Augustin had planned in his platonic enthusiasm, a 
 spiritual association had been formed, which Augustin, after 
 his return, founded in his native city, Alypius became a 
 member of it. Thus the friendship begun in the flesh was 
 perfected in the spirit. Alypius afterwards co-operated with 
 Augustin as one of the most zealous and worthy bishops of 
 the Numidian church. 
 
 Such also was the relation between Basil of Caesarea and 
 Gregory Nazianzen. The former, by nature powerful, ardent 
 
 u 2 
 
1292 CIIKISTIANITY ASCE^;DA^'T IX THE EOMAN EMPIRE. 
 
 — more disposed to vigorous outward activity — stood in need 
 of such a friend, who on many occasions moderated his zeal, 
 and cautioned him against the admixture of a strange, eartnly 
 lire. Gregory, on the other hand, was more inclined to tiio 
 quiet repose of contemplation, and to be averse from outward 
 activity ; he therefore required a friend who would draw 
 him out from his repose, when the interests of the church de- 
 manded it, and impel him, by sacrificing his inclinations, to 
 put out his talents to interest by external activity. 
 
 At Athens, whither at that time the youth desirous of 
 learning resorted from all parts of the Eoman empire, they 
 laid the foundation of a friendship when youths, arising from 
 fellowship in the Christian life and in philosophic pursuits, 
 which was important for the whole of their future lives and 
 labours. The Christianity implanted in their minds by early 
 education united them more closely, because they were obliged 
 to defend their faith against the heathenism which was there 
 predominant, and which the teachers of the place sought to 
 promote in every possible way by an ostentatious eloquence, 
 and a mystical, plausible philosophy, which was attractive to 
 young inexperienced minds, and vrhich at that time had a 
 secret sup])ort in the young and promising imperial prince, 
 Julian, to whom all eyes were directed. The studious Chris- 
 tian youth gathered round tlie tvro friends, in M-hom they 
 beheld bright examples of faitli and practice. ''There were 
 for us," says Gregory, '• only two ways know^n : the way to 
 the church and the teachers of the church ; and the way to 
 the teachers of the sciences. A-S to other things, festivals, 
 the theatres, noisy assemblies, and banquets, we left them to 
 those who liked them. Others bore distinguished names 
 derived from their ancestors ; for us, the great concern and 
 most valued reputation was to be and to be called Christians. 
 Nothing was to us so important as to be raised to God by 
 and with one another." 
 
 At Athens they laid do^^•n a plan for the whole of their 
 future lives, as it was their wish never to separate from one 
 another, but to be associated in seeking God and investigating 
 truth ; the plan, however, which these youths sketched, was 
 frustrated by Providence, which called them to diiferent out- 
 ^yard relations and spheres of action. Basil lived in the re- 
 tirement of Pontus, at the head of a religious society, while 
 
BASIL OF C^SAEEA A^'D GREGORY NAZIAXZEN. 293 
 
 Grcpjoiy, whom lie had invited thither, was obliged to remain 
 at Nazianziis, in order to take care of his parents. " I allow," 
 he wrote to Basil, in answer to his reproaches, " I have not 
 kept the promise I made at Athens to live with you, and to 
 pursue our studies together ; but it is ai^ainst my inclination, 
 since the law which commands me to take care of my parents 
 outweighs the law of friendship." Yet afterwards Gregory 
 was able to spend some time with him in that religious 
 society, and often looked back "with fond remembrance on 
 those days of hap])y intercourse. " Who will give me again," 
 he writes, " those Christian hymns, tliose risings of the soul 
 to God in prayer, that almost super-earthly life, that heart- 
 communion with the bretlu'cn who were carried by thee to 
 God, the associated study of Holy Writ, and the light we 
 found in it under the guidance of the Holy Spirit." Gregory 
 often received fresh consolation and encouragement by taking 
 refuge from the vexations of his lot in the heart of his friend. 
 When a dispute arose between Basil, as a presbyter, and his 
 bishop, Gregory declined the honour which this bishop wished 
 to show him, and wrote to him, that " to honour him, and 
 insult his friend, was just as if a man would tear up the foun- 
 dations of a house, and at the same time decorate the walls." 
 But he also advised his friend to sacrifice his own feelings to 
 the law of Christian love, and to the good of the church; and 
 he gave himself no rest till he reconciled these two ecclesiastics, 
 to the great advantage of the church. Frankly, but in 
 general with a mild forbearance, he censured his friend, if 
 he observed anything inconsistent in his behaviour ; he ad- 
 monished him not to let adverse circumstances mislead him to 
 do anything unworthy of Christian wisdom. Even a sudden 
 error committed by Basil could not break the bond which 
 iniited them in spirit. Gregory, who had once known the 
 work of God in his friends soul, and had become one with 
 him in the Lord — Avho carried in his own heart that which 
 was the animating principle of his friend — did not allow 
 himself to be prevented by what still remained of the old 
 man from recognizing the man of the Spirit, and he cast a 
 veil over the faults of his friend in the spirit of love. Who- 
 ever knows himself rightly will not very easily fall into error 
 with respect to others whose higher nature has once been dis- 
 cerned by him. Everywhere there are obscurities which 
 
291 CHRISTIANITY ASCENDANT IN THE EOMAN EMPIEE. 
 
 only faith and love can penetrate. " Love endureth all 
 thin"-s, believeth all things, hopeth all things," as the apostle 
 says ; it continues to believe and hope in the divine original 
 iinage, even where the appearance, still obscured by sin, stands 
 in contradiction to it. 
 
 The mark of Christian friendship ought to be the indis- 
 soluble bond of love with the sword of the Spirit, sparing 
 nothing, but wielded by love. Whoever has become one with 
 another in the Lord, and is united with hirn by the common 
 ])articipation of the divine life, must not let himself be sepa- 
 rated by anything which the flesh and the world everywhere 
 strive to mix with God's work. The power of that which 
 unites and holds together must here show itself stronger than 
 everything that tends to separate. Here the words of our 
 Lord hold good: " What God hath joined together, let no 
 man separate." Hence Jerome justly remarks: "The friend- 
 ship which can cease, was never a true one;" for true friend- 
 ship is grounded only in that which is divine and eternal, 
 and consequently is as unchangeable as that on which it 
 rests. This divine principle must also here, as in all the 
 branches and relations of life w^hich it animates, evince its 
 purifying and transforming power ; two souls who are joined 
 by the Lord, form a temple in which he dwells, and from 
 which he will himself, by their reciprocal co-operation, take 
 away all the impurity that still defiles this temple. As the 
 Christian becomes one with another in the Lord, he must 
 learn clearly to distinguish in the other as well as in himself 
 the two opposing fundamental powers which in this life are 
 found in every man, the power of the flesh, and the power of 
 the spirit, as well as their difierent works. Only love which 
 honours a human soul in which a life from God is begun, as 
 a sanctuary — only love attracts to itself and draws to a centre 
 all that is divine — only love, which thus exercises its attrac- 
 tive power over the divine that is allied to it, while it exer- 
 cises a repulsive power against the undivine that is foreign to 
 it — only such love is equal to this task. The hatred which 
 is merely repulsive, and never attractive, must necessarily 
 misunderstand and misapprehend ; it in^'erts the right order 
 of things, since it would form its conceptions of light from 
 shadows, while shadows can only be rightly imderstood in 
 their relation to light. 
 
JEROME AND RUFINUS. 295 
 
 But as the Christian cannot excuse nor spare what is evil 
 in himself, but surrenders himself to the primitive spirit of 
 truth, so he acts as the organ of that truth in relation to his 
 friend. It is the greatest service of love that he can show 
 him, to undeceive him when disposed to flatter himself. 
 Hence Augustin justly wrote to the self-seeking, irritable 
 Jerome : "I doubt whether such a friendship can be rec- 
 koned a Christian one, to which the common saying — ' Obse- 
 quiousness makes friends, truth produces hatred,' is more 
 applicable than the proverb of Solomon — ' Faithful are the 
 wounds of a friend; but the kisses of an enemy are deceitful.' 
 Hence we would rather inform our friends, who sincerely 
 wish well to our labours, in all ways on this point, in order 
 that they may know how it can happen that among the most 
 intimate friends a contradiction may take place on either 
 side, and yet love not be diminished ; and the truth required 
 by friendship, as a debt, produces no hatred, provided the 
 contradiction be agreeable to truth, or of whatever kind 
 what is said may be, if it comes from an upright heart, so 
 that nothing is held in the heart, M'hich the tongue contra- 
 dicts." 
 
 We have remarked above in what terms Jerome speaks of 
 true friendship. Thus, in another place he says : " True 
 friendship which is joined by the bond of Christ, is founded 
 not on worldly advantage, nor deceitful hypocrisy, but on the 
 fear of God and mutual zeal in the study of the Scriptures." 
 But Jerome, alas ! did not always correspond in his lite to the 
 sentiments so beautifully expressed. The same man who had 
 acquired in a high degree the mastery over sensuality often 
 succumbed to the power of a secret and dangerous egoism, 
 which rendered him practically unfaithful to the truths he 
 expressed. His friendship with Rufinus was of that liigher 
 genuine kind, such'as described by himself; yet it was broken 
 up by the power of this sejjaratlng, egoistic element. These 
 two individuals, who had formerly been friends, strove against 
 each other with carnal violence, so that Augustin Mrote to 
 Jerome : " When and where must not eveiy man, whoever 
 he may be. be afraid, since to you — at a time in which ye 
 follow the Lord free from the burden of the world, a)id live 
 together in a land in which the Lord, when he walked on it 
 with human fi^et, said : ' Peace I leave with you, my peace I 
 
296 CHUISTIANITY ASCENDANT IN THE EOMAN EMPIEE. 
 
 give unto you ;' and you are men of riper years, who have 
 studied the word of God together — since to yon. I say. such 
 things can happen ? Truly, must not man be continually in 
 a state of warfare on earth. (Job vii. 1.) Alas! that 1 can 
 never meet with you both together. Probably, as I am 
 moved and penetrated with sorrow and fear, I should fall 
 down at your feet ; I should weep to the utmost ; I should 
 beseech you with all possible love. Sometimes I should be- 
 seech each of you separately for himself, sometimes each one 
 for the other, and especially for the weak, for whom Christ 
 died, who have seen you to their great peril on the theatre of 
 this life, that you would not scatter such things in your 
 writings respecting one another, which, hereafter, you who 
 now are not disposed to be reconciled — if ye should be 
 reconciled — would not be able to obliterate, or which you 
 would then be afraid to read, lest you shoiüd renew the 
 controversy with one another." 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 THE VAEIOtrS CALLINGS AMONG CHRISTIANS. 
 
 We have seen that in the first ages, the opinions of 
 Christians, whether it was allowable for a Christian to fill a 
 civil office, or to serve in the army, were divided. At a later 
 period, the general voice of the church decided in the affirma- 
 tive. Only separatists thought otherwise, such as probably the 
 Novatians and Donatists, whose convictions, as far as they pro- 
 ceeded from Christian love, and aimed at reaching the ideal of 
 the Christian life, although in part founded on a misconception, 
 were deserving of respect and forbearance. Ambrose satis- 
 fied a Christian judge, who had been troubled with conscien- 
 tious scruples respecting the exercise of his office, by appeal- 
 ing to Rora. xiii. 4. We recognise the new ideas respecting 
 the importance of human life that were spread by Christianity, 
 the power of love extending itself to those who had fallen 
 however low, when many judges who in their office had been 
 
MILITARY SEUVICE NOT PROHIBITED. 297 
 
 obliged to pass sentence of death, were held back by a certain 
 feeling from approaching the body of the Lord who died for 
 all sinners, at the love-feast. Yet the church did not consider 
 herself warranted to refuse communion to a person who dis- 
 charged a function committed to him by God, and founded on 
 the law of God. 
 
 Against those heathens who blamed Christianity for all the 
 corruption of the Roman empire at that time. Augustin says :^ 
 " Let those who assert that the doctrine of Christ is opposed 
 to the well-being of the state give us an army of such men as 
 the doctrine of Christ enjoins soldiers to be. Let them give 
 us such citizens, such husbands, such wives, such parents, 
 such masters, such servants, such kings, such judges; lastly, 
 such payers and receivers of the public revenues, as Christi- 
 anity requires, and we shall see whether they will then ven- 
 ture to say that Christianity is injurious to the state ; M'hether 
 they must not rather admit that this religion, when it is 
 obeyed, is a great safeguard to the state." Against those who, 
 from a literal interpretation of passages in the sermon on the 
 mount (Matt. v. 39 ; Luke vi. 29), believed they must infer that 
 the discharge of civil offices and military service w^ere incon- 
 sistent with Christianity ; the same writer says : " These pre- 
 cepts relate rather to the internal disposition than to the out- 
 ^vard act; let patience and love abide constantly in the 
 interior of the soul, but in reference to the outward act let 
 that be done which appears most useful for those we love in 
 heart." This appears plainly from the example of the Lord 
 Jesus, that extraordinary example of patience, who, when he 
 was smitten on the cheek, said : " If 1 have spoken evil, bear 
 witness of the evil, but if well, why smitest thou me?" He 
 therefore did not fulfil his own precept, if we merely take it 
 according to the letter, for he did not present the other cheek, 
 but rather prevented the person who had committed an unjust 
 
 * Proinde qui doctrinam Christi adversam dicunt esse reipublicae, 
 dent exercitum talem quales doctrina Chnsti esse milites jussit, dent tales 
 provinciales, tales maritos, tales conjuges, tales parcntes, tales filios, tales 
 dominos, tales servos, tales reges, tales judices, tales denique debitorum 
 ipsius fisci redditores et exactores, quales esse prsecepit doctrina Christiana, 
 et audeant earn dicere adversam esse reipublicre immo vero non dubitent 
 earn confiteri maguam, si obtemperetur, salutem esse reipublicae. — 
 August. Ejilst. loH, ad Marcellinum. 
 
298 CHRISTIANITY ASCENDANT IN THE EOMAN EMPIEE. 
 
 act from a repetition of it ; and yet he was ready, not only 
 to let himself be smitten in the face, but to die on the cross 
 for those from whom he met with such treatment ; for whom, 
 indeed, he prayed on the cross, " Father, forgive them, for 
 they know not what they do." Therefore we must always 
 have love in our inward disposition, so that we should not 
 vrish to return evil for evil ; yet outwardly we must do many 
 things in which we shall rather consult the true interests of 
 men than their inclination, as a father %vhen he chastises his 
 son, even sharply, does not, certainly, lose his parental affec- 
 tion. And if, therefore, an earthly state observes the pre- 
 cepts of Christianity, war itself will not be carried on without 
 love, in order to lead back the conquered so much more easily 
 to peaceful intercourse, founded upon what is good and equi- 
 table ; for he who loves the liberty of doing evil, is conquered 
 for his own best interests — for nothing is more unfortunate 
 than the good fortune of the vicious, by which impunity, 
 which is the greatest punishment, is secured, and the evil 
 will, as an internal enemy, is strengthened. If Christianity 
 condemned all war as sinful, then the soldiers, when they 
 asked advice concerning salvation, should rather have been 
 told to throw away their arms, and to abandon military ser- 
 vice ; but they were told, " Do violence to no man, and be 
 content with your wages." "Not the military profession," 
 says Augustin in another passage, where he quotes the same 
 words, in his 302nd sermon ; " but an evil disposition in that 
 profession, prevents from doing good. Oh that soldiers, that 
 we ourselves, would hearken to what Christ enjoins ; there is 
 one Christ for them and for us. May we all listen to him, 
 and live in harmony and peace." To a general, Boniface, who 
 had requested Augustin to give him directions how to lead a 
 Christian life in his vocation, he wrote : " Do not believe that 
 no one bearing arms can lead a life well-pleasing to God. The 
 holy David bore arms, to whom the Lord gave so strong a testi- 
 mony, and so did most of the good men of that age. The 
 centurion bore arms. (Matt. viii. 8.) To the same class also 
 belonged Cornelius, to whom the angel was sent, and to whom 
 he said : ' Thy prayers and thy alms are come up for a me- 
 morial before God ;' when he told him to send for the Apostle 
 Peter, and learn from him what he was to do ; and who sent 
 * a devout soldier of them that waited on him,' to request 
 
AUGITSTIN S ADVICE TO BONIFACE. 299 
 
 that apostle to visit him. Reflect, first of all, when thou 
 armest thyself for battle, that thy heroic spirit itself is a 
 gift of God. So wilt thou guard against using God's gifts 
 contrary to God's will. Thou must always wish for peace, 
 and only engage in war as a matter of necessity, that God 
 may free thee from that trouble, and maintain peace. Even 
 in war be peacefully disposed, in order to bring back those 
 who are conquered by thee to a peace that will be beneficial, 
 even to themselves. Let chastity and moderation adorn thy 
 demeanour ; for it is a shame that the power of unlawful desires 
 should vanquish him whom no human power can vanquish. 
 If earthly riches are wanting to thee, seek for thyself such as 
 are not to be gained by wicked works, and belong to this 
 Avorld ; but if thou possessest such, seek to retain them for 
 heaven by good works. Brave and Christian souls are not 
 puffed up by worldly riches when they fall to their lot, nor 
 are they disheartened by the loss of them. Let us rather 
 think of our Lord's words : ' Where your treasure is, there 
 will your heart be also I ' And if we understand the call (made 
 at the celebration of the Supper), to have our hearts above, 
 we must not answer thee with falsehood. If, when reading 
 this epistle of the Holy Scriptures, thou art made aware that 
 thou art defective in this or the other point of the Christian 
 life, seek to gain it by strenuous effort and prayer. Thank 
 God for what thou hast, as the source of good from whom thou 
 hast it ; and in all the good thou doest, glorify him and 
 humble thyself, as it is written, ' Every good gift and eveiy 
 perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father 
 of lights.' But however far may be thy progress in the love 
 of God, and of thy neighbour, and in true piety, never expect, 
 as long as thou walkest on earth, to be without sin ; for of this 
 life on earth we read in the Holy Scriptures (Job vii. 1), " Is 
 there not a warfare to man on earth r" Therefore as long 
 as thou livest in the body thou must use the prayer which 
 the Lord has taught us, * Forgive us our debts as we for- 
 give our debtors ; ' be ready thus to forgive quickly, if 
 any one has committed an offence against thee, and seek for- 
 giveness for thyself, that thou mayest be able to pray with 
 uprightness." When Boniface, at that time one of the 
 greatest generals in the Roman empire, was dejected by the 
 death of a much-loved pious wife, and had thoughts of becom- 
 
300 CHRISTIANITY ASCENDANT IN THE ROMAN EMPIRE. 
 
 ing a monk, Augustin dissuaded him from it, and represented 
 to him, " how much he could benefit the church in the calling 
 that was entrusted to him by God, provided he exercised it 
 according to the divine will, since he defended the Christians 
 against the barbarians, so that they could lead a quiet and 
 peaceable life in all godliness and honesty, and that while bear- 
 ing carnal weapons he could gain the stronger and surer pro- 
 tection of spiritual weapons." 
 
 But afterwards, when through various intrigues, dissension 
 was sown between this great general and the Roman govern- 
 ment, which he had served so long and so successfully, and 
 when on account of the unjust treatment he received he was 
 induced to join a rebellion which opened the north of Africa 
 to the Vandals, and occasioned great trouble to that part of 
 the world, Augu.'^tin wrote him an epistle of exhortation and 
 warning to recall him to his duty. " I wish to say something 
 to you, not for the purpose of maintaining your power, and 
 the honour with which you are invested in this evil world ; 
 nor for your temporal welfare, which is a transitory and 
 uncertain thing ; but something which may contribute to 
 the attainment of that salvation which Christ has promised 
 us, who on that account suffered shame here below, and was 
 crucified, in order to teach us that we should rather despise 
 than love the good things of this world, but should make that 
 the object of our love and hope which he has placed before us 
 in his resurrection. I know, indeed, that there are not want- 
 ing persons who wish thy advantage in reference to the life 
 of this world, and would give thee counsel relating to it, both 
 good and bad. since thej' are men, and can only give their 
 advice according to present appearances, without knowing 
 what may happen on the next day. But a person does not 
 easily give thee counsel, that thy soul may not lose eternal 
 life ; not that persons are wanting who could do this, but they 
 can hardly find a moment to speak to thee respecting it. For 
 I have always been anxious to do it, and yet have never 
 found time and place to lay before thee what I feel that I am 
 bound to lay before a man whom I so much love in Christ. 
 Hear me, then ; yea, hear the Lord our God. who speaks to 
 thee through the instrumentality of my weakness. Recollect 
 thy state of mind when thy first wife was still living, and 
 soon after her death how thou wert disgusted with the vanity 
 
AUGUSTIn's advice to BONIFACE. 301 
 
 of this world, and how th.ou longedst to serve God alone. I 
 know what thou then saidst to me concerning the state of 
 thy soul and thy resolutions. I and brother Alypius were 
 both alone with thee. I believe that the earthly anxieties 
 that now occupy thee have yet not so much power over thee 
 as to efface this altogether from thy remembrance. Then 
 thou wert desirous of giving up all thy public business, and 
 of retiring into the quiet of a monk's life, devoted to God." 
 He then reminds him how he was held back from takiiis: such 
 a step by his remonstrances. He next speaks of the alteration 
 that had come over him since his second marriage, and into 
 what transactions he had allowed himself to be hurried. He 
 then says to him : " Thou art a Christian, thou art an intelli- 
 gent man, thou fearest God ; bethink thyself of what 1 can- 
 not speak, and thou wilt thyself acknowledge how much evil 
 thou hast to repent of, and I believe that to give thee time for 
 repentance, the Lord spares thee and rescues thee from all 
 dangers, in order that thou mayest repent in a jight manner ; 
 and when thou hearest what is written in Sirach v. 8, (' Set 
 not thy heart upon goods unjustly gotten, for they shall not 
 profit thee in the day of calamity,' ) delay not to turn to the 
 Lord, and put it not off to another day. Thou thinkest 
 indeed that thou hast a righteous cause, and of that I cannot 
 judge, since I am not in a condition to hear both sides ; but 
 however it may be with thy cause, into the examination of 
 which we need not further enter, canst thou in the sight of 
 God deny, that thou wouldst not have been brought into these 
 difficulties if thou hadst not loved the good things of this 
 world, which as a servant of God, as I knew thee in former 
 times, thou shouldst have esteemed as nothing, which, indeed, 
 thou mightest accept, if presented to thee, in order to use 
 them in a pious manner ; but if they were denied thee, thou 
 shouldst not seek after them in such a manner as to plunge 
 thyself into this danger where, if things that arc truly good 
 are loved, real evil will be the result, little, indeed, by thyself, 
 but much on thy account ; and if that is feared which if it 
 injures, injures only for a short time, yet what is done will 
 injure for ever. I will only adduce one thing. Who docs 
 not see that to defend thy j)ower or thy security many men 
 are connected with thee, who if they are all faithful to thee, 
 and thou hast no need to fear plots from them, yet they only 
 
302 CHRISTIANITY ASCENDANT IN THE EOMAN EMPIHE. 
 
 seek to obtain worldly advantages through you ? And thus 
 thou, who oughtest to control thy own desires, art obliged to 
 satisfy the desires of others. To attain this object, much that 
 is displeasing to God must take place, and yet such desires 
 will not be satisfied ; for it is easier to deny these altogether 
 in the case of those who love God, than to satisfy them for 
 those who love the world." After representing to him this 
 great misfortune, that he to whom north Africa formerly owed 
 its deliverance had now invaded it, he went on to say : " But 
 thou wilt perhaps answer that the blame rests on those who 
 have not rewarded thy services as they deserve, but recom- 
 pensed them with evil. On this matter I cannot decide ; but 
 do thou rather look to thy own case, which thou hast not to 
 settle with any man, but with God ; since thou art li^'ing a 
 believer in Christ, thy fear should be lest thou shouldst offend 
 Him. Look to God, — contemplate Christ, who has bestowed 
 such great blessings on us, and endured such great sufferings 
 for us. Whoever would attain to his kingdom, and live with 
 him and under him happy thi'ough eternity, loves his enemies, 
 does good to them that hate him, and prays for his persecu- 
 tors. If, therefore, good, although earthly and transitory, 
 accrued to thee from the Roman government — (for as to its 
 being earthly, not heavenly, only that can be given over 
 which the giver has power) — do not wish to recompense good 
 with evil. But if thou hast received evil, wish not to recom- 
 pense evil with evil. What there may be of either good or 
 evil I will leave unexamined: I am speaking to a Christian; 
 as such, wish neither to return good with evil, nor evil with 
 evil. Thou wilt perhaps ask me, what must I do then in 
 such great trouble? If thou askest my advice about thy 
 earthly welfare, I know not how to answer thee. No certain 
 counsel can be given about the uncertain. But if thou 
 desirest counsel in what relates to God, respecting the salva- 
 tion of thy soul, and if thou fearest the words of truth, ' What 
 shall it profit a man, if he gain the whole world and lose his 
 own soul?' (Luke ix. 25), I know how to give thee coun- 
 sel." Ho points him to 1 John ii. 15, and adds: " See here 
 my counsel ; take it and use it. Here let it be seen whether 
 thou art a brave man ; conquer the desires of the love of the 
 world ; repent of the evil thou hast done, when, overcome by 
 these desires, thou allowedst thyself to be hurried away to 
 
FERRANDUS OF CARTHAGE. 303 
 
 desire what was not just. "But," he continues, ''perhaps 
 thou askest me again how thou must effect this when once 
 involved in such great worldly trouble. Persevere in prayer, 
 and address God in the words of Psalm xxv. 17: ' O bring 
 thou me out of my distresses.' Thy distress will be at an 
 end when these desires are overcome. He who heard thee, 
 and us for thee, so that thou wast redeemed from so many 
 and such great dangers which threatened thee on the side of 
 visible, bodily enemies, he will also hear thee that thou mayest 
 be able to conquer internal and invisible enemies." 
 
 Ferrandus, a deacon of Carthage, at the beginning of the 
 sixth century, gave to an imperial general and governor, the 
 Count Regino, the following seven rules for leading a Chris- 
 tian life in his vocation: — " (1.) Be convinced that in every 
 action the help of divine grace is necessary for you, and say 
 with the apostle, ' By the grace of God I am what I am.* 
 (2.) Let your life be a mirror in which your soldiers may see 
 what they have to do. (3.) Aim not to rule, but to be useful. 
 (4.) Love your native country as yourself. (5.) Let what 
 relates to God be of more value to you than anything human." 
 In explaining this rule, he adds, " Be earnest in prayer. 
 Although business presses upon you on all sides, let the llamc 
 of a holy longing impel you to the reading of the Scriptures." 
 " (6.) Be not too rigid in administering justice [^i.e. to the 
 injury of Christian love and mercy]. (7.) Bear in mind that 
 you are a Christian." 
 
 Augustin thus addresses a judge: "Man sits in judgment 
 on man, on his equal ; a sinner on a sinner. When those 
 words of the Lord are repeated, ' He that is without sin among 
 you, let him first cast a stone at her,' does not every earthly 
 judge tremble ? First of all, judge yourself, and then from 
 the hidden ground of your conscience go forth to judge others 
 with safety. We have two different names — man and sinner. 
 God created man : man made himself a sinner. Let what 
 man has made be destroyed ; but let the work of God be set 
 free: as man, retain love to man in your heart, and be an 
 earthly judge. Although you must be feared, yet love. Let 
 your anger fall on that which displeases you in yourself; not 
 against him who is created as you are. Punish : I do not 
 forbid thee; but with a loving disposition, with the wish to 
 amend." 
 
304 CHRISTIANITY ASCENDANT IN THE KOMAN EMPIEE. 
 
 Gregory Xazianzen said to a governor of his native country, 
 who was embittered against his fellow-citizens: " You are an 
 image of God, and you govern over God's image, which 
 indeed is ruled by you here below, but passes into another 
 life, into which we shall all pass after the short scene of this 
 mortal life. Reflect whose creature you are, whither you 
 are called, how much you have received, how much you are 
 indebted. Imitate therefore God's love to man. To do good 
 is the divinest thing belonging to man." On a festive occa- 
 sion he delivered an exhortation to the various classes in the 
 capital of the eastern Roman Empire : " Emperor ! honour 
 your purple, for even the lawgiver has a lawgiver over him — 
 Reason. Acknowledge how much is entrusted to you. We 
 believe as it is written (Prov. xxi. 1), that the king's heart 
 is in the hand of the Lord : let your strength be there; not in 
 gold nor in armies. And you who surround the throne, be 
 not lifted up on account of your power, and do not regard the 
 transitory as something eternal. Remain faithful to the 
 emperor, but first of all be faithful to God, and for his sake 
 to those whom he has set over you. You, who boast of your 
 nobility, acquire true nobility of disposition." Such a states- 
 man, in whose esteem the cause of God stood highest, was the 
 emperors secretary, Benevolus. When the Empress Justina 
 commanded him to make a law by which a doctrine would be 
 rendered predominant which he held to be irreconcilable 
 with faith in the divinity of Christ, he excused himself from 
 the task. The empress offered him great honours, but he, 
 who had only God before his eyes, preferred laying down at 
 her feet the insignia of his office. 
 
 Chrysostom also called upon the artizans to meditate on the 
 word of God; and in reference to this subject says : " Do not 
 imagine that, because you are an artizan, this occupation 
 is foreign to you; for Paul was a tentmaker, and even after 
 his conversion he resumed his trade. Therefore let none of 
 those be ashamed who follow such a trade; but only let those 
 be ashamed who live to no purpose, and are idle. The souls 
 of those who are always at work are purer and stronger ; for 
 the idler speaks and does many vain things. But he who 
 labours aright does not easily allow anything useless, either 
 in work, word, or thought, for his soul is always directed to a 
 life of labour." And in his twentieth homily on the first 
 
RELATION OF THE SLAVE TO UIS MASTER. 305 
 
 Epistle to the Corinthians, he says to the higher classes 
 before whom he spoke :'•'- "• Do not say that sueh an one is a 
 cobbler, nor another a dyer, nor a third a brazier; but think 
 of him as a believer and a brother. For we are tlie disciples 
 of the fishermen, of the publicans, of the tentmakers, of Ilim 
 who was brought up in the carpenter's house, and was thought 
 worthy to have for his mother the espoused wife of the 
 carpenter, and was laid in swaddling clothes in a manger, 
 and had not where to lay his head. Consider this, and know 
 the nothingness of human pride. Hold the tentmaker for tliy 
 brother, as well as him who rides in a chariot with a nnilti- 
 tude of slaves going before him. If you honour men for 
 Christ's sake, then must every believer, although the meanest, 
 be honoured by you."' 
 
 As to the relation of servants to their masters, the former 
 were at that time in the state of slavery, and Christianity, 
 which everywhere began with operating, not on the outward 
 relations and forms of life, but upon the spirit within, and 
 thence brought forth a new creation, left in this case, as we 
 have remarked already, the existing outward relation un- 
 touched; but it spread abroad a new sjnrit by that great 
 utterance, "■ In Christ there is neither bond nor free." Chry- 
 sostom admirably develops the contents of this great doctrine 
 in his exposition of 1 Cor. vii. 22, 23 : " In C'hrist both are 
 are equal, for thy lord as much as thyself is Christ's bonds- 
 man. How then can the bondsman be a freeman ? Because 
 he has not only freed thee from the servitude of sin, but, 
 although thou remainest a bondsman, from servitude itself. 
 Christianity allows the slave to remain a slave, — this is 
 wonderful ! And. how can the slave, although he is a slave, 
 be not a slave ? If he does all things according to the will of 
 God; if he is no hypocrite, if he does nothing in order to be 
 seen of men — this is to serve men, and yet to be free. Or 
 how can a freeman become a slave .'' When he serves men in 
 
 * Mr) yap iIttijij, on o Ctlva iiTrocr]^iaTo()()ci(')0^, fn]o' '6ti etvffOTroiug 
 '^Tfoog, fii]t>' OTL ^rtXKori'TTot,' dWoc; ' ä\\ tvvötjaoi' ort ttkttüq Kai 
 ä^tX^og. 'EKeivujv yäp tafiiv fiaQijral tCjv üXdiov, tuiv reXaivuii', ruiv 
 
 aKJJVlippdöujT, iKtlViiV TOV T(ia<l>!:VTOQ tV OlKl^ TiKTOVOQ, Kai TTjV jiVriaTljl' 
 
 TovTov fiijreoa KaTu^itoaavTOQ (T^ftv, Kai tK GTranyäi^iov i—i <päTvi]Q 
 KHnkvov, Kai ovk t\oi'-or ÖTioy K\ivy tj)v Kt^'a\r\v. — Chrvsost. in 1 Cor. 
 V. 20, § 5. ' 
 
 X 
 
306 CHRISTIANITY ASCENDANT IN THE ROMAN EMPIRE. 
 
 what is evil. This is the true freedom that shines forth even 
 in shivery. This is the peculiarity of Christianity, that it 
 bestows freedom even in slavery."* Christianity also ren- 
 dered masters sensible of their obligations to their common 
 Master; it taught them to recognize in slaves men in the 
 image of God, for whose salvation, as for their own, Christ 
 died, and it excited them by the fii-e of love to care for the 
 spiritual and bodily welfare of their brethren. Chrysostom 
 sajs, in one of his sermons: "Abraham cared for his servants 
 as well as for himself. He said almost like Job, ' Did not He 
 that made me in the womb, make him?' (Job xxxi. 15.) Let 
 us, then, take great care for the improvement of our servants. 
 Let us also instruct our servants in divine things. So shall 
 the whole house be filled with blessing." Appealing to his 
 ow^n experience, Chrysostom says, " I know many families 
 who by the virtue of their servants have gained much [^. e. 
 for their souls]." Thus a Christian female, who had been 
 sold as a slave, by her piety and faith laid the foundation for 
 the conversion of the whole population of the Iberians [the 
 modern Georgia]. 
 
 A Syrian monk, Malchus, in the fourth century, who had 
 been taken captive by a horde of Arabs, and was intrusted 
 with the care of his master's flocks, found his consolation in 
 the Christian faith, and in calling to mind the Holy Scriptures. 
 He says himself: '^I appeared to myself to be somewhat like 
 holy Jacob; I recollected Moses; and that both were once 
 shepherds in the desert ; I prayed earnestly ; I sang the 
 psalms which I had learned in the cloister ; I found joy in 
 my captivity, and I was thankful for God's wise guidance. 
 My master could discern no deceit in me, for I knew the 
 A})ostle"s injunction, that we should serve God faithfully in 
 our masters. (Eph. vi.)" 
 
 Augustin protested against treating slaves as things. "The 
 Christian dare not regard a slave as his property, like a horse 
 or silver, although it may happen that a horse fetches a higher 
 price than a slave, and still more an article of furniture made 
 of gold or silver. But when a slave is better educated by 
 thee, or led to the service of God, than he would be by him 
 who wishes to take him from thee, I know not whether any 
 
 * Totovrov 6 Xpiarinvicrfibg, iv dovXelg. VkivOtpiav xapi^ta9ai. — 
 Clirysost. in 1 Cor. 19, § 5. 
 
SPIRITUAL EQUALITY OF MASTERS AND SLAVES. 307 
 
 one could venture to say that he may be thought of as little 
 value as a cloak ; for man must love his fellow-man as himself, 
 since the Lord requires of him that he should love even his 
 enemies." 
 
 Many persons already felt and acknowledged that the rela- 
 tion of slaves, although its pressure would necessarily be 
 relieved by the influence of the spirit of Christian love, was 
 at variance with the general rights of man as called forth 
 into clearer consciousness by Christianity — since man, if not 
 fettered in his inward life by it, yet was hampered in the free 
 development and use of all his powers for the Lords service; 
 for the Apostle, though he says that Christianity im})arts true 
 inward freedom even to slaves, also advises: " If thou mayest 
 be free, use it rather." (1 Cor. vii. 2L) Many persons were 
 moved, by motives of piety, to give their freedom to slaves of 
 good character, and allowed them to learn a trade, or fit 
 themselves for monks or ecclesiastics. " I did not suppose," 
 ^vrote the Abbot Isidorus, of Pelusium, when he was inter- 
 ceding for a slave with his master, " that any one who loves 
 Christ, and who knows the grace by which we are all made 
 free, could keep a slave in his possession." 
 
 Johannes Eleemosynarius, who was bishop of Alexandria 
 from A.D. 606 to 616, sent for those persons of whom he had 
 heard that they treated their slaves harshly, and said to them : 
 " God has not given us slaves that we should smite them, but 
 that they may serve us ; perhaps not even for that, but that 
 they may be supported by us with that which God has given 
 us. For tell me — what has a man given to purchase one who 
 was created in the image, and thought worthy of that high 
 honour r Dost thou possess — thou who art his master — 
 something more in thy body or in thy soul.'* Is he not equal 
 to thee in all these respects? Hear what Paul says: 'As 
 many as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ. 
 Here there is neither Jew nor Greek, bond nor free; but all 
 are one in Christ.' If, therefore, we are equal to one another 
 in Christ, we must also be equal in relation to one another ; 
 for Christ has assumed the form of a servant, in order to 
 teach us that we must not exact ourselves against our ser- 
 vants. 'There is one Lord of all, who dwclleth on high, and 
 looketh on the lowly; not on the high, but the lowly.' (Psa. 
 cxiii. 6.) What, then, is the gold which we have given in 
 
 X 2 
 
308 cnmsTiAxiTY ascendant in the koman empire. 
 
 order to subject him as a slave, who has been purchased with 
 ourselves by the blood of the Lord ; one on whose account 
 heaven and earth were created — whom angels serve — for 
 whose sake Christ washed his disciples* feet — for whom he 
 was crucified and suffered all things ? But thou dishonourest 
 him who is honoured by God, and smitest him without for- 
 bearance, as if he were not a partaker of the same nature as 
 thyself. Tell me, I adjure thee, wouldest thou be willing 
 that, as often as thou M-ert guilty of a sin, God would forth- 
 with punish thee ? Certainly not. Tell me. how canst thou 
 pray daily, ' Forgive us, as we forgive our debtors r' " When 
 these exhortations proved of no avail, he endeavoured to 
 jiurchase the slaves. 
 
 As in the former period, so according to the prevalent 
 principles of the church of this age. whoever followed an 
 occupation that directly opposed the principles of the Christian 
 faith, such as magic or soothsaying, was excluded from Christ's 
 communion, although in secret many such things might pass 
 unpunished. We find in Augustin, an example of an astro- 
 loger, who had previously deceived many with his vain art, 
 being impelled by the powerful impressions made on his 
 terrified conscience, to own his guilt to the bishop, and 
 submit to confession before the church. On this occasion 
 Augustin addressed the following words to his flock : '' In 
 order that ye may know how many in the congregation of 
 Christians praise the Lord with their lips, and blaspheme him 
 in their hearts, so this individual, alarmed by the almighty 
 power of the Lord, takes his refuge in the mercy of the Lord. 
 Long was he deceived and a deceiver — nnd spoke many lies 
 against God, who had given men power to do good, and not 
 to do evil. This man said : ' That not one's own will, but 
 Venus, was the cause of adultery — not ones own will, but 
 Mars, was the cause of murder — and that not God, but [the 
 planet] Jupiter, made a person righteous.' How many 
 Christians has he deprived of their money ! He now abhors 
 falsehood, as we are bound to believe he professes penitence, 
 and seeks mercy. We must commend him to your eyes and 
 to your hearts. Love him in your hearts; watch over him 
 with 3'our eyes ! Pray for him through Christ ! " Augustin 
 reports that he committed his deceptive books to the flames, 
 like the persons mentioned in Acts xix. 19. 
 
CHEISTIAKS, IN PROSPECT OF CALAMITY. 30 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 THE CHRISTIANS IN AFFLICTION AND GENERAL PUBLIC 
 
 CALAMITIES. 
 
 As Christianity always has proved itself to be the only 
 powerful preservative against the seductions of worldly pros- 
 perity — as it allows man to find no abiding home on earth, 
 and excites in his breast a constant vital longing after his 
 heavenly fatherland ; so it is also the only system that gives 
 a firm support to man in times of universal destruction, when 
 the form of this world is changed, and structures erected cen- 
 turies before are thrown down. Christianity alone inspires 
 men with new life in the midst of death, and is able to 
 transform everything, however hostile, into materials for prac- 
 tising discipleship to the Lord in self-sacrificing love. 
 
 In such an age lived Augustin ; the age of the approaching 
 dissolution of the Roman Empire, when destruction, conti- 
 nually advancing nearer, at last seized hold of blooming North 
 Africa. Augustin consoled his flock, not by the deceptive hope 
 of better times, a hope which coming events would soon con- 
 tradict, but by pointing to a ground of hope which could not 
 be destroyed under all the changes of earthly things. "Wish 
 not," he said, " to hope for more peaceful and better times ; 
 3-0U will deceive yourselves, my brethren. Do not promise 
 yourselves what the gospel docs not promise you. You 
 know what the gospel says. I am speaking to Christians; 
 we must not be unfaithful to our faith. This gospel says, 
 that in the last times tribulations will prevail ; but he that 
 endures to the end shall be saved. Let no one, therefore, 
 promise himself what the gospel does not promise, so tluit a 
 person should say, Joyful times are coming, then I will do this 
 or buy that. It is good for tliec to hear Tiini who is never 
 deceived, and never deceives — who has promised joy not here 
 below, but in him (John xvi. *33); hope thou, that when this 
 earthly has passed away, thou shalt reign with him for ever, 
 lest if thou wishest to reign here, thou mayest find joy neither 
 here nor there." 
 
 In such calamitous times, there were many who, not 
 
310 CHRISTIANITY ASCENDANT IN THE ROMAN EMPIRE. 
 
 reflecting that in various important epochs for the develop- 
 ment of the kingdom of God among mankind, similar appear- 
 ances mav be repeated before the last decisive epoch comes — 
 believed that they could infer from the signs of the times, the 
 near impending appearance of the Lord, or could compute 
 that point of time which the heavenly Father had reserved 
 among his secret councils. Augustin disapproved this style 
 of thinking, although he passed judgment on the various 
 opinions with evangelical moderation. " We must indeed," 
 he wrote, " guard, as far as mortals can, against the error on 
 both sides ; but yet, he does not appear to me to err who 
 acknowledges his own ignorance, but he who believes that he 
 knows what he does not know. Let us, therefore, remove 
 from our midst that wicked servant who, saying in his heart : 
 ' My lord delayeth his coming,' begins to beat his fellow- 
 servants (Matt. xxiv. 48) ; for he, without doubt, hates the 
 appearance of his Lord. Putting him out of view, let us 
 represent to ourselves the three good servants who conscien- 
 tiously and soberly attended to their master's affairs, longed 
 after his appearance, and waited for it with watchfulness. If 
 one of these believes that the Lord will come sooner, and 
 another that he will come later, and the third confesses his 
 total ignorance respecting the event, yet they all agree with 
 the gospel in this point, that they all love their Lord's appear- 
 ance : let us see which among them agrees most with it. The 
 first says : ' Let us watch and pray, because our Lord will 
 come quickly.' The second says : ' Let us watch and pray, 
 since this life is short and uncertain, although the Lord is to 
 come later.' The third says : ' Let us watch and pray, since 
 this life is short and uncertain, and we know not the time 
 when our Lord cometh.' The gospel says : ' Take heed, 
 watch and pray, for ye know not when the time is. I pray 
 you, what does the third say otherwise than what we hear the 
 gospel say ? All, in their anxiety for the kingdom, wish that 
 what the first says were true ; but the second denies this ; the 
 third denies neither what the one nor the other affirms, but 
 admits that he does not know which of them speaks the truth. 
 If, then, that comes to pass which the first predicts, the second 
 and the third will rejoice with them ; for they all join in loving 
 their Lord's appearance. But if that does not happen, and 
 that which the second says appear more probable, it is to be 
 
DUTT OF CHRISTIAN ACTIVITY AND VIGILANCE. 311 
 
 feared that during the delay, those who believed what the 
 first said, may become unsettled ; and thou secst what injurj' 
 to their souls may thence ensue. And even if they have taith 
 enough, to turn themselves to the expectation of the second, 
 and still to wait faithfully and patiently for their delaying 
 Lord, yet their adversaries will endeavour by their reproaches 
 to turn many weak persons from the faith. But the adherents 
 of the second, if he should be mistaken, will not be disturbed, 
 but will be transported by unexpected joy. Of these, there- 
 fore, who love the appearance of their Lord, the first is heard 
 with greater pleasure, the second is more surely believed, but 
 he who confesses that he does not know which of these 
 opinions is true, wishing the one, and enduring the other, in 
 neither case does he err ; for he maintains nothing, he denies 
 nothing." 
 
 Augustin declared himself more strongly against these com- 
 putations of the Lord's coming in his exposition of the sixth 
 Psalm, because it had been said by the Lord : " It is not for you 
 to know the times and the seasons which the Father has put in 
 his ow^n power" (Acts i. 7) ; and " of that day and hour 
 knoweth no man ; no, not the angels of heaven, but my 
 Father only" (Matt. xxiv. 36) ; and since it is written that 
 " the day of the Lord cometh as a thief in the night, it is suffi- 
 ciently evident from this that no one by any certain compu- 
 tation of years can pretend to a knowledge of that point of 
 time." (1 Thess. v. 2.) 
 
 When the news of the sacking of Rome by the Goths, in 
 A.D. 410, was first brought to Carthage, and exaggerated 
 reports of the destruction of that capital of the ancient world, 
 which had hitherto been deemed imperishable, had spread 
 universal consternation, Augustin directed the attention of his 
 flock from the destruction of a perishable earthly glory to the 
 ever-enduring consolations of the gospel. He said : * "Is thy 
 
 * Quare enim turbaris ? Pressuris mundi turbatur cor tuum, quo- 
 modo navis ilia, ubi dormiebat Christus } Ecce quse causa est, homo 
 cordate, ut turbetur cor tuum ; ecce quae causa est. Navis ista, in qua 
 Christus dormit, cor est ubi fides dormit. Quid enim tibi novi dicetur, 
 Christiane, quid enim tibi novi dicetur .' Temporibus Christianis vastatur 
 mundus, deficit mundus. Non tibi dixit Dominus tuus, deficiet mundus ? 
 Quare credebas quando promittebatur, et turbaris quando completur .' 
 Ergo tempestas saevit in cor tuum ; cave naufragium, excita Cliristuuu 
 
312 CHRISTIANITY ASCENDANT IN THE ROMAN EMPIRE. 
 
 heart agitated by the distresses of the world, like that vessel 
 in which Christ slept ? Behold the reason why thy heart is 
 agitated. That vessel In which Christ sleeps, is thy heart, 
 where faith sleeps. The apostle says '• that Christ may 
 dwell in your hearts by faith'' (Eph. ill. 17) ; by faith Christ 
 dwells In thee. Faith present, Christ is present : faith being 
 awake, Christ is awake. Faith forgetting itself. Christ is 
 asleep. Has God given thee some inconsiderable thing in 
 sending Christ to thee at the time when the v.-orld was grow- 
 ing old, to revive thee when all things are sinking ? When 
 all things are growing old, he comes and makes thee anew. 
 Cleave not to the world in its decrej^Itude ; and be not ashamed 
 to become youthful in Christ. Love the word of God, and no 
 vexation will affect you. Be gentle, sympathize with the 
 sufferers (the fugitives from Italy), receive the sick, and on 
 this occasion, when there are many foreigners, needy and 
 suffering, let your hospitality show itself abundantly. Oh that 
 Christians would do ^\ hat Christ commands, then the heathen 
 would blaspheme only to their own disgrace." 
 
 The tide of desolation approached Augustln's native land. 
 The wild Vandals invaded North Africa, and spread devasta- 
 tion on all sides. As Arians, they were especially violent 
 against the clergy of the dominant church The question was 
 raised, M-hether it were allowable for tlie bishops to save them- 
 selves by flight. Angustin spoke strongly against the hire- 
 lings who forsook their flocks for v»hich they ought to have 
 been ready to lay down their lives. "Why did they not 
 rather strive boldly, by the Lord's help, against their fear ? 
 This is done where love is ardent, and worldly desires do not 
 prevail. For love says : ' Who is weak and I am not weak ? 
 Who Is offended and I burn not?" (2 Cor. xi. 29.) But love 
 is of God. Let us therefore pray that love may be given to 
 us by him who has enjoined it upon us." He then depicts 
 
 the advantao-es which the churches mi<>'ht derive from the 
 
 . . . . ^ 
 
 presence of their bishops in times of the greatest distress. 
 
 " According to the abilities which the Lord has given them, 
 
 they vi'ill help all ; some are baptized, others receive the com- 
 
 Habitare, inquit apostolus, Christum per fidem in cordibus vestri«. Per 
 fidem habitat in te Christus. Fides praesens, praesens est Christus ; fides 
 vigiians, vigilans est Cliristus ; fides oblita, dormiens est Christus. — August. 
 Serm. 81, § 8. 
 
GRADUAL APPEOACH OF PERSECUTION. 313 
 
 munion ; all are comforted, edified, encouraged to pray to 
 God, who can avert all that is feared — so that they may be 
 ready in either case, that if the cup cannot pass from them. 
 His will may be done who can will only what is good." As 
 Augustin spent the last days of his advanced age in a city 
 besieged by the barbarians, who threatened its destruction, it 
 was his daily prayer ; " May the Lord either deliver the city, 
 or if this be not his will, may he grant his servants strength 
 to prefer his will to theirs, or take them to himself out of 
 the world!" 
 
 Amidst the overwhelming stream of desolation, monasti- 
 cism insured a place of refuge ; the privations forced vipon 
 persons by the pressure of external necessity, here became 
 matter of free and joyful renunciation. When individuals 
 sought shelter from the raging storms of the world in quiet 
 solitude, they learned how to collect, enjoy, and communicate 
 treasures of which not all the assaults and ravages of barba- 
 rian hordes could rob them. Thus Jerome writes, in a.d. 411 : 
 " I v/ish that we renounced the world voluntarily, and not by 
 compulsion. I prefer that freely-adopted poverty which tends 
 to repose, to that forced poverty which is endured as a cala- 
 mity. Finally, in relation to the miseries of the present time, 
 %vhen the sword rages in every quarter, he is rich enough who 
 does not want bread, and he is powerful enough who is not a 
 slave." But even a monk in this season of desolation could 
 not easily find a place where he would not be disturbed by 
 the universal tribulation, and where the shield of faith was 
 not required, in order to stand firm in the face of threatening 
 destruction. Jerome (a.d. 412). in his quiet retirement at 
 Bethlehem, amidst his zealous biblical studies and labours 
 for the advantage of posterity, was disturbed by the ravaging 
 incursion of the Arab nomads, so that he was obliged to 
 renounce his studies, and, as he writes, " scarcely, through 
 the mercy of Christ, was able to escape out of their hands. * 
 Crowds of unfortunate fugitives who, after the capture and 
 plundering of Rome by Alaric, came from that city and other 
 districts oi the West that were overwhelmed by the barba- 
 rians to Bethlehem, roused his sympathy by their appearance. 
 He himself says, in the prefoce to the third book of his com- 
 mentary on Ek'kiel : " Everything which has been originated 
 is now destroyed : and what had grown to maturity is now 
 
814 CnRISTIA:NITY ASCENDANT IN THE KOMAN EMPIEE. 
 
 antiquated. Who could believe that thatB.om.e which had been 
 erected on the world would be involved in ruin, and be at 
 once the mother and grave of its people — that all the shores of 
 the East, of Egypt and of North Africa, would be filled with 
 crowds of the inhabitants of the foremost city in the world, 
 dragged away as bondsmen and bondswomen ? That Beth- 
 lehem must daily receive, as beggars, persons of both sexes, 
 who once belonged to the nobility, and enjoyed a superabun- 
 dance of wealth ? If we cannot help these, we at least share 
 in their grief, and blend our tears with theirs, and hence wc 
 have interrupted our commentary on Ezekiel and almost all 
 our studies ; and, instead, we endeavom' to change the words 
 of Scripture into works, and not to preach but to practise 
 piety." Distm'bed in the day-time by the crowds of the 
 impoverished, sick and wounded, who had escaped from the 
 hands of the barbarians, and sought in the monasteries shelter, 
 consolation, and help ; he was obliged to have recourse to the 
 night, with eyes weakened by old age, in order to be able to 
 continue his labours on the Bible, and to seek repose for his 
 deeply agitated heart in the exposition of the Scriptures. 
 Chrysostom experienced many severe sufferings, dragged 
 from one place of banishment to another, until his weak body 
 gave way to accumulated toils, what he had often foretold to 
 the people of bis charge. As he had often urged upon them 
 the words of Job, " Blessed be the name of the Lord for all 
 things," as the source of all joy and of all consolation under 
 all sufferings, so this was his watchword amidst those trials 
 under which he closed his life as a witness of the truth, the 
 last expression that fell from his dying lips. He thus closes 
 an epistle in which he endeavoured to console his deeply sor- 
 rowing friend Olympias, at Constantinople : " Only about one 
 thing I have a requested to make, respecting which I have 
 never ceased to admonish you, to dismiss grief and to praise 
 God, to bless him for all things, even for these sufferings. 
 Thus you will gain the greatest benefits, and give a death- 
 blow to the devil. Thus will all clouds be easily dispersed, 
 and you well enjoyed unalloyed peace." When she had 
 expressed her sorrow, that she could not, by her influence, 
 procure his recall from banishment, he wrote to her : " Why 
 do you mourn, why do you lament, and bring a worse evil on 
 yourself than your enemy could suspend over you ? What 
 
CHRTSOSTOll's LETTER TO OLYMPIAS. 315 
 
 troubles you ? That you have not removed me from this place 
 of banishment ! Yet you have done your part, since you have 
 set every thing in motion. But if you have not succeeded, 
 that is no ground of sorrow ; for perhaps it has pleased God to 
 ipj)oint a longer period to my course, in order that I may 
 obtain a more resplendent crown. Wherefore do you mourn, 
 then, for that which leads us to triumph, since you ought to 
 ejoice that we are honoured with such a distinction far 
 3xceeding our deserts. But does the solitude in which I 
 iwell disturb you ? and what is more pleasant than a resi- 
 ience here ? Rest, peace, no business, and soundness of body, 
 "f the city offers nothing to purchase, it makes no difference 
 :o me ; for I am abundantly supplied. I have never ceased, 
 ind shall never cease to say : ' There is only one evil — si?i ; 
 3verything else is dust and smoke.' " " It is the nature of suf- 
 fering," he writes, "that those who bear it calmly and stead- 
 fastly, thereby raise themselves above every object of dread, 
 Dut of the reach of the darts of the devil, and learn to despise 
 ävery thing which can be undertaken against them." '*As 
 10 change of weather, no cold, no bad nourishment can injure 
 :hose who are sound in body," he says, " because health can 
 sv^ard off all injuries — so it is with the health of the soul. 
 Even before the reward of heaven, virtue is its own reward, 
 rhus Paul rejoiced when he was scourged and persecuted, 
 md endured a thousand dreadful things. ' I rejoice under 
 ny sufferings for you,' he said. ' Virtue does not expect its 
 •eward first in heaven ; already it finds it in the suffering 
 tself : for this is the greatest reward, to suffer for the truth. 
 Hence the company of the apostles departed joyfully from 
 )efore the Sanhedrim, not only on account of the kingdom of 
 leaven which they had in expectation, but because they were 
 jounted worthy to suffer shame for his name. This in itself 
 8 the greatest honour and crown, the victor's prize, the ground 
 )f inexhaustible joy." 
 
316 
 
 PART III. 
 
 EFFECTS OF CHRISTIANITY DURING AND AFTER THE 
 
 IRRUPTION OF THE NORTHERN NATIONS INTO 
 
 THE ROMAN EMPIRE. 
 
 INTEODÜCTORY EEMAEKS. 
 
 The world and the glory of it pass away, but tlie word oi 
 God abides for ever, to renew the world and make it youn£ 
 again; to call forth from death a new and more glorious life. 
 
 We have seen destruction invade the world-wide empire oi 
 that city which arrogated to itself the epithet eternal; and we 
 have seen even those great ecclesiastical establishments, the 
 fruit of the blood of the martyrs, and of the protracted labours 
 of enlightened and devout fathers of the church, carried awaj; 
 by this mighty overwhelming torrent. But while the pagans 
 hopelessly mourned at the grave of earthly glory, and, filled 
 with despair, beheld all the forms of ancient culture dashed in 
 pieces by the hands of barbarians, devout Christians held fast 
 to the anchor of believing hope, which raised them above all 
 that was changeable, and gave them a firm stand-point in the 
 midst of tbe destroying waters. They knew that, though 
 heaven and earth might pass away, the words of the Lord 
 could not pass away; and these words were to them, even 
 when surrounded by death, an inexhaustible source of life. 
 The existing ecclesiastical forms, as far as they were connected 
 with the constitution of the Roman empire, necessarily perished 
 in the universal breaking-up of society ; but the essence oi 
 the church, as of Christianity, could not be touched by any 
 destructive power, and at tliis*period of the world's decrepitude 
 
EFFECT OF TRIAL ON THE UNDECIDED. 317 
 
 nd oxliaustion showed itself more evidently to be the un- 
 ihanjijeable vital principle of a new creation. In this time of 
 nvadins^ destruction, a Christian father (probably Leo the 
 jreat, before he was a bishop) thus wrote :^' "Even the 
 veapons by which the world is destroyed, subserve the opera- 
 ions of Christian grace. How many, who in the quiet of 
 )eace had delayed their baptism, were impelled to it by the 
 ear of imminent danger! How many sluggish and lukewarm 
 >ouls are roused by sudden and threatening alarm, on whom 
 peaceful exhortation had produced no effect ! Many sons of 
 he church who have been brought into captivity, make their 
 Qiasters subject to the gospel, and become teachers of the 
 Cln-istian faith to those to whom the chances of war have sub- 
 jected them. Others of the barbarians, who had entered the 
 ranks of the Roman auxiliaries, have learnt in Christian coun- 
 tries what they could not learn in their native land, and returned 
 to their homes instructed in Christianity. Thus nothing can 
 prevent divine grace from fulfilling its designs, whatever thev 
 may be ; so that conflict leads to unity, wounds are changed 
 into restoratives, and that which threatened danger to the 
 church is destined to promote its increase." Individuals in 
 whom the gospel had kindled a flame of holy love, who 
 combined the spirit of wisdom with the powerful energy of 
 faith, appeared as messengers of heaven, as beings of a higher 
 divine order, which indeed they were, among the corrupt 
 enfeebled people who had succumbed to the rude power of 
 the barbarians, and even among the conquerors themselves. 
 It was here shown how much individuals could effect through 
 
 * Effectibus gratiae Christianae, etiam ipsa quibus mundus alteritur, 
 irma famulantur. Quam multos enim qui in tianquillitate pacis sacra- 
 mentuin baptismatis suscepere differebant, ad aquam regcnerationis cou- 
 fugere inslantes periculi metus iiiipulit ; et tentis tepidisque animus quod 
 iiu cohoitatio quieta non suasit, minax subito terror extorsit ? Qusedam 
 scclesiae tilii ab hostibus capti, dominos suos Christi evangelio mancipa- 
 runt, et quibus conditione bellica serviebant, eisdem fidei inagisterio 
 prsefuerunt. At alii barbari dum Romanis auxiliantur, quod in suis locis 
 [)o<se non poterant, in nostris CDgnovere regionibus, et ad sedes suas cum 
 Christianae religionis institutione remearunt. Ita nihil obsistere divinai 
 jratiae potest, quod minus id quod voluerit impleatur, dum etiara dis- 
 :ordioe ad unitatem trahunt et plagae in remedia vertuntur; ut ecclesia 
 ande metuit periculum, unde sumat augmcntum. — De vocat. nmn. yen- 
 Hum, lib. ii. cap. 33. (Leon. M. opp. ed. Balerin.ton),ii. p. 242.) 
 
318 CHKISTIANITY IN THE FIFTH CENTUEY. 
 
 the power of religion. We shall first direct our attention to 
 the North African church, in M'hich the period of devastation 
 immediately followed the period of its greatest prosperity. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 THE NORTH AFRICAN CHURCH UNDER THE VANDALS. 
 
 The fierce nation of the Vandals who, though they made 
 an outward profession of Christianity, had been taught and 
 guided by an ignorant and fanatical clergy, and appear to have 
 had no idea of the nature of real Christianity, overwhelmed 
 North Africa under their despotic and cruel king Genseric. 
 Fanatical hatred against the confessors of another creed (for 
 the Vandals had adopted a creed opposed to that of the 
 church, namely, the Arian) accompanied insatiable avarice, 
 and served as a cloak for it. The coiTuption of nominal 
 Chnstians in the opulent cities of North Africa was certainly 
 veiy great, as appears from the words of Augustin already 
 quoted : still there were not M-anting here and there churches 
 of genuine Christians, traces of whom we have indicated in 
 the former part of this work. Persecution consequently 
 operated difierently on the diiferent elements of the churches, 
 and became a sifting and refining process. To many the 
 question was in effect put, — Wilt thou deny thy faith in 
 order to retain the undisturbed enjoyment of earthly things, 
 or wilt thou suffer the loss of all things in order to remain 
 tnie to thy faith? And this question made Christianity, for 
 many persons, a concern of heart-felt importance, which it 
 would not have been without such a call to decision. Splendid 
 examples are presented to us of a faith that joyfully sur- 
 rendered all things and confidently endured all things under 
 these persecutions. Distinguished men of Roman descent had 
 filled offices of state with Christian fidelity under the chief of 
 the savage people, whom God had given them for their ruler; 
 but now he exacted from them, as a proof of their obedience, 
 that they should confess the same faith with him, and promised 
 
RAVAGES OF THE YANDÄ.LS IN NOKTH AFEICA. 319 
 
 them great worldly advantage on their compliance with this 
 condition. But here, where their convictions and their 
 consciences were affected, obedience found its limits. For 
 the sake of their faith, they readily surrendered earthly good, 
 honours and liberty, and often even their life in martyrdom. 
 
 To one of the first of these confessors, named Arcadius, 
 who first of all was condemned to banishment, the bisliop of 
 Constantina, in Numidia, addressed an epistle of powerful 
 exhortation, in which, among other things, he charged him : 
 " Look to him on whom thou hast depended ; adhere to 
 him; hold him fast; forsake him not; forsake him not; look 
 not back on thy wife, thy property or thy family. Raise thy 
 heart! The fallen Chief of the Angels himself combats thee; 
 but on thy side are the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. 
 Fear not ; he helps thee, in order to crown thee as conqueror. 
 Christ was smitten on the face, was spat upon, was crowned 
 with thorns ; the Holy One was placed on a level with lawless 
 robbers, he M-as pierced with the spear, he died; Christ 
 suffered all this for thy guilt. How much more oughtest thou 
 to stand firm for thy soul's sake, that no one may rob thee of 
 thy crown of victory! Fear nothing, for the whole church 
 prays for thee that thou mayest conquer. The Lord Christ 
 endures along with thee; the church endures along with 
 thee." 
 
 Martinian and Maxima, because they would not deny their 
 faith, were handed over, after severe tortures, as slaves to the 
 chief of a savage tribe that inhabited the wilds of North 
 Africa. They strove by discourse and conduct to convert the 
 heathen peo])le, and by their agency many persons w^re won 
 to the Christian faith, who till that time had been totally 
 ignorant of it. Upon this, they sent messengers through 
 trackless districts to a citv under the Roman government, in 
 order to obtain fresh Christian teachers and ministers. They 
 came ; many persons were baptized, and a church was built. 
 But these exiles, in their state of wretchedness and slavery, 
 had effected so much, especially for the spread of a doctrine 
 which the Vandals regarded as heretical, that the wrath of 
 the ci"uel Genseric was roused afresh. His vengeance could 
 reach them, because the Moors were in some measure de])en- 
 dent on the king of the Vandals. He gave orders to bind them 
 tO horses let loose in a forest, that thus they might be dragged 
 
320 CHRISTIANITY IN THE FIFTH CENTURY. 
 
 to death. "While the Moors lamented, the two martyrs, with 
 peaceful looks, bade farewell to each other, saying, '■ Pray for 
 me ; God has heard our wish ; thus we shall reach the kingdom 
 of heaven." They met their fate praying and singing. 
 
 Thus God glorified himself among this heathen people by 
 the powerful faith of these sufferers, and even those persons 
 who were not led to embrace the gospel might yet be brought 
 to acknowledge the power of that God who had imparted 
 such strength to his confessors. At a later period, when the 
 Moorish chieftain in the district of Tripolis was at war with 
 the Vandalic king Thorismund, he sent some of his people in 
 disguise into the parts through which the Vandals passed, and 
 when the latter had completely profaned the churches which 
 did not belong to those who held their faith, these Moors 
 showed all possible reverence to the buildings, as well as to 
 the clergy who had been ill-treated b}- the Vandals ; " for," 
 snid the Moorish prince, " I do not know who the God of the 
 Christians is ; but if he is as powerful as he is represented, 
 he will take vengeance on those who insult him, and succour 
 those who do him honour." 
 
 When Genseric, in the year 439, sacked Carthage, the 
 capital of North Africa, many persons were plunged from the 
 summit of earthly felicity into the deepest misery. Whole 
 families, after losing all their property, were glad to escape 
 with their lives and liberty, and wandered in a state of 
 destitution into different countries. Others, both men and 
 women of the first families, were dragged away as prisoners 
 and sold for slaves in various parts. Yet earthly sufferings 
 contributed to the spiritual salvation of many, and gave 
 occasion for the exercise of Christian virtues. Many a one 
 who had felt no concern about religious matters while in 
 prosperity, was led by outward distress to a sense of his 
 spiritual wants. Thus a senator, who became a wanderer 
 with his whole family, had to that time remained a stranger 
 to Christianity, and was first brought to the faith by his 
 sufferings. Bishop Theodoret, in recommending him as an 
 object of Christian love and sympathy, wrote thus: "I am 
 struck with admiration at the man's disposition, for he praises 
 the Disposer of his destiny as if he were in the midst of 
 worldly prosperity, and thinks nothing of his severe trials ; 
 for his misfortunes were the means of his gaining piety, while 
 
MANY CHKISTIANS SOLD INTO SLAVERY. 321 
 
 during his prosperity he would not come within the sound of 
 the gospel. But now, stripped of that prosperity, he has 
 renounced heathenism, and possesses the riches of faith; 
 wherefore he makes light of his misfortunes." 
 
 A young female, of a noble family, was sold for a slave to 
 some Syrian merchants, and thus came into the service of a 
 family living at Cyrus, a town on the Euphrates, where 
 Theodorct was bishop. Along with her was also sold another 
 female, one of her own former slaves, with whom she now 
 shared the same lot. But the slave did not now refuse the 
 internal bond of love, when the clianges of fortune had 
 dissolved the external bond between herself and her former 
 mistress. Next to the service of their common Master she 
 rendered service to her former mistress. Gradually this cir- 
 cumstance l)ecame known throughout the whole city, and 
 made a great impression. Some pious soldiers made a sub- 
 scription in order to purchase the freedom of this young 
 female. Bishop Theodoret, who had been absent during 
 these occurrences, on his return, commissioned the deacons of 
 the church to make provision for the maintenance of the young 
 Carthaginian M'hen she had obtained her freedon. When 
 it was discovered that her father was still living, and filled a 
 civil office in the West, Theodoret took measures that she 
 might be restored to him. 
 
 Among the young females of the higher ranks who were 
 sold for slaves, was one named Julia. Her master was a 
 merchant in Palestine, named Eusebius, mIio still adhered to 
 paganism. She fulfilled her duty towards him with Christian 
 fidelity, in a manner which won his respect for herself and 
 for her religion. She devoted her leisure time, after fulfilling 
 the duties of her station, to devotion, to reading the Scrip- 
 tures, and prayer. Eusebius took her with him on a com- 
 mercial journey to France. On his way, he landed at 
 Capocorfo, a promontory of Corsica, It happened that a 
 pagan feast was celebrated tliere just at that time. Eusebius 
 took part in it, and offered a sacrifice. But the pious Julia 
 remained on board, grieving for the pagans, who gave them- 
 selves up to all kinds of indulgences. The governor of the 
 pagan people, when he heard that she alone had absented 
 herself from the festival, wished to purchase her from her 
 master, that he might compel her to take a part in the 
 
 Y 
 
322 CHRISTIANITY IN THE FIFTH CENTURY. 
 
 idolatrous service. But the master would not part with her 
 at any price ; taking advantage, however, of his having fallen 
 into a deep sleep, owing to intoxication at the heathen 
 festival, the pagans canned off Julia by force from the vessel. 
 The governor promised her freedom if she would sacrifice. 
 But she answered, " The service of Christ, whom I serve daily 
 with a pure heart, is my freedom." She was ill-treated, spit 
 upon, struck in the face ; but she said, " My Lord Jesus 
 suffered himself for my sake to be struck in the face and spit 
 upon ; ought not I for his sake to suffer the same ?" When 
 she w^as scourged, she said, " I confess him who was scourged 
 for me." And thus she endured everything patiently, with 
 faith in the Redeemer and love towards him, even to mar- 
 tyrdom. 
 
 Twenty years later, Rome, the metropolis of the ancient 
 world, met with the same fate as the capital of North Africa, 
 from the hands of the Vandalic king Genseric. It was owing 
 solely to the representations of Bishop Leo, supported by the 
 reverence with which his character inspired even the rude 
 Vandals, that Rome was rescued from universal slaughter and 
 utter destruction. Yet the impression of their deliverance 
 had so little hold on the lis:ht-minded Romans that when a 
 solemn thanksgiving was appointed, the bishop found the 
 church empty, while the theatre and circus were crowded. 
 This called forth a public rebuke from him, in which he said : 
 " Let that expression of the Saviour touch your hearts, when 
 he said of the ten lepers, whom he had cleansed by the power 
 of his mercy, that only one returned to give thanks ; and on 
 the other hand the ungrateful men whose souls still retained 
 their ungodliness, neglected the duty of piety, although their 
 bodies had been restored to soundness. In order that this 
 reproach of ingratitude may not fall also on you, return to the 
 Lord, since ye know the wonders which God has been pleased 
 to effect for us, and do not ascribe our deliverance to the 
 influence of the stars [to a destiny determined by the course 
 of the stars], but let your thanks be given to the unspeakable 
 mercy of Almighty God, who was pleased to soften the hearts 
 of the furious barbarians." 
 
 It was one consequence of the capture of Rome by this 
 king, that a number of prisoners were carried off by the 
 Vandals to Africa. They were sold to parties living in the 
 
DESTITUTION OF THE CHURCH. 323 
 
 interior of the country; husbands were separated from their 
 wives, and children from their parents. Bisliop Dcogratias 
 of Carthage caused all the c:old and silver vessels to be melted 
 down, and employed the money obtained from them in pur- 
 chasing the freedom of the persons who had been carried away 
 captive, and in bringing; together again members of families 
 who had been separated from one another. As there was no 
 other place large enough to receive so great a number, he set 
 apart two large churches for their reception, and furnished 
 them with chaff and beds. He settled also a daily main- 
 tenance for each one according to their station in life. As 
 many had lost their health owing to the voyage and their 
 hardships in confinement, he went round to them at set times 
 with physicians. Food was carried after him, which he 
 distributed to the sick under medical direction. At nisrht he 
 visited them on their beds m order to inquire after their 
 health. The infirmities of age could not check this venerable 
 man in his pious activity. As the blessing was great which 
 proceeded from such a bishop to an oppressed church, so in 
 proportion was the sorrow great which was felt at his death, 
 three years after they had first enjoyed his paternal guidance. 
 Four-and- twenty years the church remained in a destitute 
 state, as the Vandals would not allow a new bishop to be 
 chosen. But under the reign of King Hunneric, who did 
 not at first evince so persecuting a disposition, the Emperor 
 Zeno gained permission for the election of a new bishop for 
 the church. But the Vandalic king made a condition for his 
 Roman subjects very hard and insidious, though not unfair, 
 considering his relation to the Greek empire — namely, that 
 the Arian churches should have the free exercise of their 
 religion there on equal terms. Liberty also was to be granted 
 to the Arian bishops in the East to preach in what language 
 they liked, which indicates that already in the East certain 
 languages began to be considered as sacred, and that there was 
 a wish not to employ the Teutonic language used by Ulphilas 
 in his translation of the Bible, as too rude for the service of 
 the church. Chrysostom took a different view, for he gave a 
 Gothic presbyter permission to preach at Constantino])le in 
 the Gothic language, wishing to show how Christianity was 
 designed and suited to become an element of culture for all 
 
 y2 
 
824 CHRISTIANITY IX THE FIFTH CEXTUEY. 
 
 barbarous nations. If these conditions were not assented to, 
 all the non-Arian bishops and clergy of the North African 
 church were to be banished among the ]Moors. 
 
 Since the clergy of Carthage could plainly foresee that a 
 settlement concluded on such terms would be employed to 
 find a pretext for many persecutions against the oppressed 
 party in ISortli Africa, they declared that "on such condi- 
 tions we will have no bishop. May Christ who has guided 
 the church hitherto, guide it still further!'' But the church 
 were \erv anxious to have a bishop again, and could not rest 
 till one was chosen. The election fell on a man who by his 
 pious zeal and powerful faith was well fitted for these difficult 
 and perilous (.'ircumstances — Eugenius. His consecration was 
 a great festival, especially for the young people, who had 
 never yet seen a bishop in the church. We recognise in him 
 a man qualified to guide the church in those difficult times, 
 who through the power of faith and love could effect much 
 with small means. His church, stripped of all its possessions 
 by the Vandals, was very poor, and yet he was able to distri- 
 bute large alms among a great number of needy persons. 
 "What was furnished to him by pious men daily, he distributed 
 on the same day ; and God did not for a single day suffer him 
 to want the means of exercising his love. Such love, indeed, 
 must have roused many hearts to liberality. But in propor- 
 tion to the great reverence such conduct called forth from 
 those who differed from him in religious belief, and to the 
 facility it gave for propagating his faith, even among the 
 Vandals — the jealousy of the Arian clergy, and the hatred of 
 their tyrannical chief, was roused against him. It was re- 
 quired of him to send back all in the country occupied by the 
 Vandals, who frequented his church. By this means not only 
 would the bishop lose all influence over the Vandals, whose 
 conversion to the orthodox fiiith. was apprehended, but all 
 those persons, although, of Roman descent, who had taken 
 offices in the state, and were therefore obli2;ed to assume the 
 Vandal dress, would be separated from the ancient church. 
 Eugenius replied in a christian, manly spirit : " The house 
 of God stands open for all : no one can send back those who 
 wish to enter it." 
 
 But the civil authorities would not allow their designs to 
 
JfUMBEES BANISHED INTO THE AFRICAX DESERTS. 325 
 
 be thwarted ; they placed guards at the church-doors, who 
 were ordered to ajiprehend and treat with violence all, both 
 men and women, who came in ^'andal attire. 
 
 After many single harsh and cruel measures, four thousand 
 nine hundred and seventy-six of the clerical order, and other 
 persons distinguished for their zeal, were condemned to 
 banishment in an African desert. Amoni2: them were many 
 sick persons, and individuals whom age had already deprived 
 of sight. When they liad reached the towns Sicca, Veneria, 
 and Lares, on the borders of Numidia, whence the Moorish 
 population were to fetch them, two Vandal functionaries of 
 rank came to them, and endeavoured to persuade them to 
 compliance ■with the will of the king, who would treat them 
 with great honour ; but their answer was, " We are Christians; 
 we are orthodox Christians." They were now put in a very 
 narrow pi-ison, where they stood so close to one another that 
 they could not move, and from which they were not allowed 
 to stir on any account ; so their retention in this prison, full 
 of foul air, occasioned the greatest torture. Yet then- faith 
 gave them steadfastness and joy under their great trials. And 
 when on a Sunday, in that miserable condition to which they 
 had been reduced by their torturing imj^risonment, without 
 being able to refresh themselves, they were driven out by 
 their pitiless Moorish leaders, they joyfully sang, in spite of 
 all threatenings, the 149th Psalm. All the way they were 
 met by their fellow-believers with wax-tapers, testifying to 
 them their sorrow, sympathy, and love. " With what men," 
 they said, " do you leave us, when you go to receive the 
 martyrs' crown ? Who will baptize these our children for 
 US? (whom they bore in their arms). Who will give us tho 
 Holy Supper r A\^here shall we find a father-confessor ? 
 Who will conduct us to our final resting-place M-ith prayer 
 and singing r Oh that we could go along with you, that the 
 sons might not be sej)arated from the fathers !"' But nothing 
 would move the rude Moors ; they scarcely allowed the 
 prisoners time to receive the sympathy of those who met 
 them. They di'ove forward the aged and the infirm with 
 spears or with sharp stones. Those who were unable to 
 walk, they dragged along, with their feet bound together, 
 unmercifully over the rough stony roads. Many, of course, 
 sunk under this inhuman treatment. The rest looked forward 
 
326 CHRISTIANITY IN THE FIFTH CENTURY. 
 
 to greater misery in the burning sandy deserts, full of 
 venomous reptiles, where their only sustenance was barley. 
 
 The arrival of an ambassador from the Eastern Roman 
 empire meanwhile produced apparently milder regulations. 
 The king appointed a disputation between the bishops of 
 both parties, which was to begin at Carthage on February 1. 
 A.D. 484. A fovourable result of a theological debate can 
 only be expected when the contending parties are, first of 
 all, agreed on the common grounds of their faith ; and, after 
 they have recognized one another as Christian brethren, con- 
 fer in the spirit of love, humility, and self-denial respecting 
 their differences of sentiment, and are ready to be led in all 
 things by the spirit of the Lord. Thus they may expect that 
 the Lord will show himself efficaciously among those who 
 have really assembled in his name. But since most debates 
 and conferences of this kind have not been held with such a 
 spirit and disposition, but if not in a spirit of profane pas- 
 sion, yet in a spirit of self-wiUed zeal, they have commonly 
 produced only greater enmity and more violent divisions. 
 Here, with the passions on both sides so excited, with the 
 natural mistrust of the oppressed against the dominant party, 
 no good could possibly be expected from a conference on 
 religious matters held under such circumstances. And this 
 was not lost sight of by the dominant party. The whole 
 tone of the royal summons gave intimations that this con- 
 ference would furnish a pretext for the total suppression of 
 the other party under the semblance of justice. 
 
 Eugenius. the bishop of Carthage, to whom the summons 
 of the YandaUc king was first addressed, readil}' ])erceived 
 the danger that threatened his fellow-believers ; if they com- 
 plied with the requisition, it was foreseen that no peaceful 
 discussion of their doctrine would be permitted, but rather 
 that an attempt would be made to suppress it by the influence 
 of the • dominant part ; if they absented themselves, the 
 accusation would be, that they stood self-condemned, since 
 they dare not venture to defend themselves. Eugenius 
 adopted the following expedient : he declared to the king 
 that they by no means shrank from giving an account of 
 their faith ; but since this question concerned not merely the 
 African church, but the whole of Christendom, they must 
 wish that their brethren on the other side of the sea, espe- 
 
THEOLOGICAL CONFERENCE AND ITS KESULTS. 327 
 
 cially those belongin<j^ to the Roman church, niight join in 
 this examination, which the kin«^ could grant without diffi- 
 culty, since his power was everywhere acknowledged. The 
 king returned to the bishop the insulting answer, " Make me 
 master of the whole world, and I will gladly comply with 
 your wishes." Eugenius replied: " It is oi' no use to desire 
 impossibilities. All I have said is only this, — If the king 
 wishes to become acquainted with our faith, which is the 
 only true one, he may write to his friends ; I will also write 
 to my brethren in office, that they may come hither, and 
 explain to you the faith which they hold in common with 
 ourselves." To this the Vandal officer replied : '^ Do you 
 put yourself on an equality with our sovereign ?"' 
 
 Ever since the divine power proceeding from Christ en- 
 tered into the life of mankind, the natural and supernatural 
 have not always been separated sharply from one another, 
 in what is effected by its immediate impression, and in which 
 the life of Christ is copied, the energy of faith, love, and 
 prayer. And the spirit of the Lord has its peculiar mode of 
 operation in various ages, depending on the wants of suf- 
 fering humanity. Thus it happened that a blind man at 
 Carthage, one Felix, had a dream several times in the night 
 before the feast of E})iphany, intimating that he should go to 
 the bishop, at the time when he was preparing the catechu- 
 mens for baptism, and that if he touched the man's eyes they 
 would be healed. When the afflicted man came to the bishop, 
 the latter said to him, as became a Christian : " Depart from 
 me, my brother. I am not worthy to do this ; I am the 
 poorest of all sinners, and therefore I am obliged to witness 
 these sad times." Eugenius then betook himself to the 
 place of baptism, accompanied by his clergy. When he rose 
 from prayer, he said to Felix, who had followed him : " I have 
 already told thee, my brother, that I am a sinful man, but 
 the Lord, who has tliought thee worthy of this special grace, 
 may act towards thee according to thy faith, and open thy 
 eyes." His prayer Mas heard. His enemies accused him of 
 having effected this cure by magic. 
 
 The result, as might be expected, of this conference at 
 Carthage was, that the oppressed party were accused of 
 shunning a peaceful inquiry, and King Hunneric, who re- 
 garded them as convicted heretics, now issued an edict, by 
 
328 CHEISriANITY IN THE PIFTH CENTURY. 
 
 which he deprived them of all free exercise of their religion^ 
 and subjected them to similar punishments to those which 
 had been inflicted on the Arians in the Roman empire. 
 The bishops -vi-ere, part of them, banished to the island of 
 Corsica, which had fallen into the hands of the Vandals, 
 and the rest to the African deserts ; among the latter was 
 Eugenius. 
 
 These cruel persecutions furnished many beautiful examples 
 of Christian fidelity and steadfastness. Thus, among others, 
 seyen monks were dragged from the town of Capso in the 
 province of Bvzacium, to Carthage. At first it was attempted 
 to induce them by promises to apostatize from their faith. 
 When they declared that they would not for any consideration 
 betray their faith, they were loaded with heavy fetters, and 
 cast into prison. But the people bribed the keejDers of the 
 prison, and day and night their prison was filled with visitors 
 in whom their discourse infused fresh courage to endure all 
 things. As they were led through the streets to the place of 
 execution, they met death singing — " Glory to God in the 
 highest, peace on earth, good-will amongst men." And to 
 the people they cried out: " Fear no threats and no terrors 
 of present suffering, but rather let us be willing to die for 
 Christ, as he died for us." Attempts were made to shake 
 the constancy of a youth among them, Maximus ; but he 
 answered : " No one shall separate me from my father, the 
 Abbot Libera tus, nor from my brethren, who brought me up 
 in the cloisters : with them I will suffer ; with them also I 
 hope to enter hereafter into glory." 
 
 There was a person of distinction at Carthage, Victorinus^ 
 who stood high in favour with the king, and received from 
 him the most flattering promises to induce him to apostatize, 
 but he answered : " I am certain of Christ, my Lord and God. 
 Although we had only this present life, and had no eternity 
 to hope for, yet I would not for the sake of enjoying the 
 honours of this short time be ungrateful to my Creator, who- 
 has entrusted me with his faith." 
 
 A female, who. after much ill-treatment, had been banished 
 into a distant desert, when a willingness was expressed to 
 mitigate her exile, answered : " Bereft of all human conso- 
 lations, I find a rich source of consobtion and joy." 
 
 After some years had elapsed, Bishop Eugenius was re- 
 
STEADFASTNESS UNDER PERSECUTION. 329 
 
 called from his banishment by the Vandalic king Guntamund, 
 but about A.D. 496 he was again separated from his flock by- 
 King Thrasamund. As he knew not wliat might happen to 
 him, he took farewell of his charge in an affecting epistle : 
 " That the church of God," he writes, " may not be left in 
 an uncertain state by my removal, or in other words, that 
 the sheep of Christ may not be left to an unfaithful shepherd, 
 I consider it necessary as a substitute for my personal pre- 
 sence to address this epistle to you, by which I request, 
 exhort, and adjure you, to hold fast the true faith. My 
 brethren, my sons and daughters in the Lord, let not my 
 absence trouble you ; for if you abide faithful to the pure 
 doctrine, I shall not forget you at any distance, nor even will 
 death itself separate me from you. Be assured, whatever 
 may separate me outwardly from you, I shall have the palm 
 of victory. If I go into banishment, I shall have before me 
 the example of the Evangelist John. If I die, Christ is my 
 life, and death my gain. If I return, I shall see you again 
 in this life. If I do not return, I shall see you again in the 
 life to come. Farewell ! pray for me and fast ! Meditate 
 on what is written in Matt. x. 28 : ' And fear not them which 
 kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul ; but rather 
 fear him which is able to destroy both body and soul in 
 hell.' " Eugenius was banished to Albigeois, in France, 
 where he spent his last days in peace and retii'ement, edifying 
 by his life the inhabitants of that district. 
 
 Fulgentius belongs to the class of distinguished men whoso 
 labours Avere so important during this trying period of the 
 North African Church. He held the office of a procurator 
 (or manager of the revenues) in the African Vandalic king- 
 dom, and was in a fair way of being promoted to more impor- 
 tant offices. He endeavoured to mitigate the strictness which 
 his office demanded by the spirit of love, but yet his gentle 
 loviuii; heart could find no rest in its exercise. His longinff 
 after a quiet spiritual life was developed with so much greater 
 force from being thus brought into contact with the vexations 
 of a worldly life. Might I not, he thought, by the grace of 
 God, be changed like a Matthew, from a receiver of customs 
 into a disciple of the Lord, and a preacher of the gospel. 
 First of all he became a monk, and then at a time when King 
 Thrasamund would endure no bishop not belonging to the- 
 
330 CHEISTIANITY IN THE SIXTH CENTURY. 
 
 Arian party, he was chosen, against his will, bishop of a des- 
 titute church at Ruspe, in Byzacium. He vindicated his faith 
 with boldness and dignity before his Arian sovereign. He 
 thus addressed the king in an apology for his faith : " If I 
 freely vindicate my faith, as far as God has granted me ability, 
 yet I venture to believe I shall incur no suspicion of contu- 
 maciousness, since I am not unmindful either of my own 
 inferiority, or of the king's dignity, and since I well know 
 that I am bound to fear God and honour the king according 
 to Rom. xiii. 7; 1 Pet. ii. 17. Certainly, he evinces true 
 love and honour for you who answers your questions as the 
 true faith requires." After praising the king for showing such 
 great zeal for the pure doctrine of Scripture, though placed 
 over a people not yet civilized, he says : " You are well 
 aware, that whoever strives to know the truth, strives after a 
 far higher good than he who seeks to extend the boundaries 
 of a temporal kingdom." A second time he was banished to 
 Sardinia. Here he was the spiritual guide of many other 
 exiles, who joined themselves to him ; from this spot also he 
 imparted counsel, consolation, and confirmation by his epistles 
 to his Christian friends whom he had left in Africa, and to 
 those in other parts who applied to him on spiritual things 
 and the welfare of their souls. 
 
 We will give a few extracts from these epistles. He 
 thus exhorts a Roman senator : — " Direct the striving of 
 thy heart to the Holy Scriptures, and learn there what 
 thou wert, what thou art, and what thou wilt be. If thou 
 comest with humility and gentleness to the Holy Scrip- 
 tures, thou wilt certainly find the grace which raises up 
 the fallen, leads him into the way of goodness, and conducts 
 him to the blessedness of the kingdom of heaven." Writing 
 to a widow, to console her for the loss of her husband, he says : 
 '• Pray earnestly with words, but always with holy thoughts 
 and a holy walk. Thus you will fulfil the apostle's injunction 
 to ' pray without ceasing" (1 Thess. v. 17) ; for in Gods sight 
 every good work is a prayer with which the all-sufficient God 
 is well pleased." To the same individual he writes : "Let 
 love to the (heavenly) bridegroom ever live in thee, who him- 
 self lives for ever, as after the resurrection was testified by 
 the word of the angel : ' Why seek ye the living among the 
 dead ? ' The living one is He who is the word of the Father, 
 
EPISTLES OF FULGENTIUS. 331 
 
 and is himself the life of believers." In another epistle he 
 says : " Christ came to pour forth the fire of divine love upon 
 the earth, to burn up all the seeds of pride, and to communi- 
 cate to humbled hearts the glow of holy contrition. Thus it 
 comes to pass that we accuse ourselves for our sins with sin- 
 cere hearts, and praise God with sincere humility for our good 
 works ; so that we thank him for what his love has given us, 
 and confess ourselves guilty wherein our weakness has sinned 
 against him. Contrition of heart awakens sensibilitv for 
 prayer. Humbleness of mind craves divine aid. Contrition 
 of heart feels its wounds ; but prayer seeks healing to obtain 
 soundness. And who is capable of that ? Who can pray in 
 a right manner unless the Physician himself infuse the begin- 
 ning of spiritual desire .'' Or who can persist in prayer, unless 
 God, who begins it in us, increases it, and carries on to per- 
 fection what he has implanted ?" Against an ascetic pride 
 he thus writes : '* In vain thou despisest thy earthly goods, if 
 thou carriest in thy heart punishable pride. For not only do 
 those sin whose hearts are lifted up on account of their riches ; 
 those persons are still more criminal whose hearts are lifted 
 up on account of their contempt of riches." In his third 
 epistle he writes : " The souls of all who are justified and live 
 in the faith are severely tried while here. Yes, only those 
 souls know what severe pressure they suffer, into whom the 
 true light pours itself which enlightens every man that comes 
 into the world." He warns equally against despair and over- 
 confidence. " Who prevents the hand of the Almighty Phy- 
 sician by his culpable despair, from effecting the salvation of 
 man ? Truly the Physician says : ' The whole have no need 
 of a physician, but they that are sick.' If our Physician is 
 rightly qualified, he can cure all sickness. If our God is mer- 
 ciful, he can forgive all sins. That is not perfect goodness, 
 by which all evil is not overcome. That is not a perfect art 
 of healing for which there is one incurable disease. There- 
 fore let no one remain in his sickness through despair of the 
 physician. Let no one perish in the consumption of his 
 sins, because he undeiTates God's mercy. The apostle says 
 (Rom. V. b), that ' Christ died for the ungodly,' and (1 Tim. 
 i. 15), that "Christ Jesus came into the world to save sin- 
 ners.' Sound conversion consists in two things ; repentance 
 is not forsaken by hope, nor hope forsaken by repentance, if 
 
332 CHRISTIANITY IN THE SIXTH CENTURY. 
 
 a man with his whole heart renounces his sins, and with his 
 whole heart places his hope of forgiveness in God." 
 
 He was soon recalled from his second banishment under 
 the mild government of King Hilderic. The return of the 
 persecuted confessors was a festival for the Carthaginian 
 people. Multitudes flocked to meet them at the port; but 
 Fulgentius was received with the greatest love and veneration. 
 When he returned from Carthage to his church, great crowds 
 met him all the v/ay with torches and garlands. Yet he who 
 had remained steadfast in his faith amidst his sufferings, 
 remained also steadfast in humility, in this return of pros- 
 perity, when he was threatened by refined (and so much the 
 more dangerous) temptations to pride. The reverence which 
 was paid him only made him feel more deeply his own unwor- 
 thiness, his internal sinfulness, v.'hich the Christian still suffers 
 in the life of grace here below. He did not desire to work 
 miracles ; for the performance of wonderful things, he said, 
 does not give righteousness, but only fame among men. But 
 he who is famed among men, unless he is also a righteous 
 man, will not escape eternal punishment. But he who by 
 God's mercy is justified, and lives as a righteous man in God's 
 sight, however little he may be known to men, will have a 
 part in the salvation of the saints." AVhen he was required 
 to pray for the sick or for any one in affliction, he prayed with 
 this addition, " Lord, thou knowest what is serviceable for the 
 welfare of our souls. If, therefore, we ask thee for what the 
 present necessity admonishes us to ask of thee, may thy mercy 
 grant what will not hinder our spiritual advantage. May our 
 humble prayer therefore be so heard by thee, that before all 
 things thy will maybe done." When those persons who had 
 asked him for his intercession, returned him thanks for its 
 being heard, he answered : " It happened not on account of 
 my merit, but of your faith. The Lord has granted it not ta 
 me, but to you." His biographer and pupil says of him, in his 
 own spirit : " This admirable man would not have the repu- 
 tation of a worker of miracles, although he performed daily 
 great wonders, since by his holy exhortations he led many 
 unbelievers to the faith, many teachers of error to a knowledge 
 of the truth ; many who had led abandoned lives were brought 
 under the laws of temperance ; drunkards learned sobriety, 
 and adulterers chastity ; the grasping and covetous imparted 
 
APPEARANCE OF SEYERINUS IN GEEMANY. 333 
 
 : their all to the poor ; humility became pleasant to the proud, 
 peace to the quarrelsome, obedience to the disobedient. Such 
 were the wonders that Fulgentius strove always to per- 
 form." 
 
 CHxVPTER II. 
 
 SEVERINUS IN GERMANY. 
 
 As the Lord sends his angels where their help is most 
 needed, so amidst the ravages and desolation which followed 
 that immigration of the nations by which the Roman empire 
 was shattered in pieces, he sent assistance, after the deatli of 
 the world-waster Attila, in the person of a distinguished man 
 inflamed with holy love to the various tribes in the vicinity of 
 the Danube. He was exactly the man they required. His 
 name was Severinus. His whole appearance had something 
 mysterious. As he was not accustomed to speak of himself, 
 nothing determinate is known respecting his native country. 
 Though many persons of all classes, who had gathered round 
 liim from the vicinity or a distance, wished to know his 
 country, yet they did not venture to ask him ; till at last a 
 priest who had fled to him from Italy, summoned up corn-age 
 to put the question to him. Severinus at first replied in his 
 peculiar manner with good-natured playfulness : " What ! do 
 you take me for some runaway slave ? then provide a ransom, 
 which you can pay for me if I am inquired for." Then he 
 added in a serious tone : " What pleasure can it be to a ser- 
 vant of God to specify his home or his descent, since by silence 
 he can so much better avoid all boasting. I would that the 
 left hand knew nothing of the good work which Christ grants 
 the right hand to accomplish, in order that I may be a citizen 
 of the heavenly country. Why need you know my earthly 
 country, if you know that I am truly longing after the hca- 
 vcnlv one ? But know this, that the God who has granted 
 you to be a priest, has commissioned me to live among this 
 lieavily-oppressed people." After that, no one ventured to 
 propose such a question to him. But probably he Mas a 
 native of the West, and had withdrawn into one of the deserts 
 
334 CHRISTIANITY IN THE FIFTH CENTURY. 
 
 of the East in order to devote himself to a quiet life of holy 
 contemplation. Here he received the divine c:ill to sacrifice 
 his rest for the benefit of the suffering people in the West, as 
 at a later period when he would gladly have retired again into 
 solitude, a divine voice often admonished him not to deprive 
 the oppressed people of his presence. 
 
 The regions in which he placed himself, known at this 
 dav as Austria and Bavaria, were just then the scene of the 
 greatest desolation and confusion. No place was secure ; one 
 savage tribe followed another ; all social order was broken up. 
 The country was laid waste ; the natives were carried away 
 as captives. Universal destitution and famine followed the 
 incessant wars. As Severiuus had lived long among these 
 people, and laboured much among them, his fame was 
 widely spread, and the episcopal dignity was oflPered him; but 
 he rejected it, declaring " that it was enough for him to be 
 deprived of his beloved solitude, and to be brought by the 
 divine providence into these parts where he was obliged to 
 live among men who gave him no rest." 
 
 It must indeed have made a great impression on persons 
 rendered effeminate by luxury, as well as on the savage 
 tribes, when they saw Severinus voluntarily renouncing all the 
 conveniences of life, and contenting himself with the most 
 meagre fare ; and in the midst of winter, when the Danube 
 was frozen so hard that waggons could pass over it, going 
 about barefooted in the ice and snow. Effeminate men might 
 learn from him what was so necessary, in their altered condi- 
 tion, to make themselves independent of outward things, to 
 rise above present sufferings by living in the spirit, to mollify 
 and sweeten want and destitution by spiritual joy. Men 
 belonging to the barbarous tribes who saw before them only 
 weaklings whom they had crushed by the superiority of phy- 
 sical force, and who knew no other superiority, must have 
 been struck wdth wonder and awe when they witnessed mth 
 their own eyes, how such a man with a body reduced by absti- 
 nence could accomplish the greatest things, simply by a 
 spiritual power, the power of a soul animated by faith and 
 love. What a contrast between him and worldly-minded 
 ecclesiastics ! as one of them once said to him, " Contrive, 
 thou holy man, to leave our city, that during thy absence we 
 may have some rest from fasting and watching!" Glowing 
 
HIS BENEVOLENCE AND ACTIYITY. 335 
 
 as his heart was with love, Severinus could not refrain from 
 tears that a person belon2:in<r to so sacred a vocation could 
 dis^i^race himself and his order by such a frivolous speech. 
 
 He M-as very far from regarding the privations to which he 
 submitted as peculiarly meritorious, or entitling him to be 
 esteemed a saint. If any one commended him on this account, 
 he said : " Do not imagine that what you see is a merit on 
 my part ; it ought rather to serve you as a wholesome example. 
 Let it humble human pride. We are chosen for this purpose 
 that we may effect some good ; as the apostle says, the Lord 
 has chosen us ' before the foundation of the world, that we 
 should be holy and without blame before him in love,' Only 
 pray for me, that the gifts of my Saviour may not issue in the 
 increase of my condemnation, but in the advancement of my 
 salvation." 
 
 However strict and severe he was against himself, he was 
 full of tender sympathy for the wants and sufferings of others. 
 " He felt hunger," his pupils said of him, "only when others 
 suffered hunger ; he felt cold, only when others were destitute 
 of clothing." He made use of everything in order to assist 
 the necessitous in these parts. His prayers, his exhortations, 
 the example of his self-sacrificing love, rendered possible 
 what was apparently impossible in a desolated, impoverished 
 country that was always liable to famine. From many places 
 the tithes of the produce were sent to him, for collecting 
 which he employed the resident clergy, besides clothing for 
 the destitute. On one occasion, in the middle of winter, 
 people came through the ice and snow over mountainous and 
 pathless districts, laden with clothing, which the inhabitants 
 of Noricum had sent to him for the poor. He gave readily 
 to the poor more than was sufficient for their mere necessities. 
 In consequence of his advice, many persons from the sur- 
 rounding places and towns took refuge in the considerable 
 town of Lauriacum (the modern Lorch), on the Danube, in 
 order to find protection from the wandering hordes of the 
 barbarians. It so happened that he had received, through 
 the merchants, a quantity of olive oil, a commodity very 
 scarce in these parts. He regarded it as a most agreeable 
 opportunity for gratifying his beloved poor, of whom a great 
 number were residing in that place of refuge. He assembled 
 
336 CHKISTIANITY IX THE FIFTH CENTITRY. 
 
 them all in a cliiirch, and, to the great joy of the poor people, 
 divided to each one a due proportion of the oil. 
 
 "While he thus cared for the earthly wants of men, and 
 divided earthly gifts among them, he never omitted to com- 
 bine with all a blessing for their hearts, and to direct their 
 attention to the som'ce of all spiritual and temporal blessings. 
 He opened the assembly with prayer, and before he pro- 
 ceeded to the distribution of the gifts, took care to conclude 
 with the vrords, " Blessed be the name of the Lord!" He 
 ■admonished the poor that they should receive these gifts as 
 from the hands of the Lord, and offer praise to him. His 
 love M'as wide and comprehensive, as is the nature of genuine 
 Christian love, not narrowed by any partial considerations. 
 In the barbarians, as well as in the Romans, in Arians not 
 less than in the orthodox, he beheld brethi-en Avho required 
 his aid. When he met with the princes or generals of th.e 
 wild barbarians who were attached to the Arian doctrine, he 
 did not begin, with disputing on their favourite dogma — he 
 did not repel them by pronouncing sentence of condemnation 
 on the doctrine they professed ; but attracted them first of all 
 by the power of love, and then imj)arted to them such exhor- 
 tations or instructions as were best adapted to the circum- 
 stances of each individual. The Arian chief of the Rugii, 
 who dreaded the power of the Goths, asked advice of Seve- 
 rinus, whom he regarded as an oracle, respecting his affairs. 
 Severinus answered : " If we were connected by a common 
 faith with one another, you must have preferred questioning 
 me respecting the concerns of eternal life. But since you 
 only ask me respecting the well-being of that temporal life 
 which we share in common, receive my advice. You need 
 not fear the poM'cr of the Goths, if you do not slight the 
 warnings of humility. Do not neglect seeking peace, even 
 with the most insignificant, and never trust to your ovm 
 strength. ' Cursed/ says Holy Writ, ' is the man who 
 trusteth in man and maketh flesh his arm, and whose heart 
 departeth from the Lord.' (Jer. x^-ii. 5.)"' 
 
 The power which Severinus exerted over the minds of these 
 men is evident from many examples. The son of that chief 
 of the Rugii who regarded Severinus as his most faithful and 
 trusty counsellor, wished to take by surprise Lauriacum, in 
 
HIS INFLUENCE OVER THE BARBARIAN CHIEFS. 337 
 
 which, by Severinus's advice, so great a multitude of mcu 
 belonging to the surrounding districts had taken refuge from 
 the swords of the barbarians, and to disperse those who had 
 settled there in various parts of his territory. When this 
 alarming news had reached Lauriacum, they all besought 
 Scverinus to meet the Rugiau chief, and to mollify him. 
 Severinus immediately set out, and travelled all night, so that 
 early in the morning he met the chief several miles from the 
 town. When the chief expressed his concern that Severinus 
 had so wearied himself, and inquired the reason of his making 
 such haste, he answered: '• Peace be with you, excellent king. 
 I come as an ambassador of Christ, to implore favour for 
 your subjects. Think of the blessings which the Lord has 
 often imparted to your father by me as his instrument. 
 During the whole of his reign, he did not venture to do 
 anything without taking my advice. And following my 
 wholesome exhortations, he learned, from his own experience, 
 the advantages that accrue to conquerors from not being 
 rendered haughty by their victories." The lluglan chief 
 pretended that he was actuated only by anxiety for the wel- 
 fare of the inhabitants of that town; he wished them not to 
 be a prey to the rapacity or to the sword of the Alemanni 
 or Thuringii, since they might find protection in his own 
 towns and fortresses. Severinus replied : " Have those people 
 been snatched from the frequent incursions of the barbarians 
 by your darts and swords, or have they not rather been 
 redeemed by the grace of God, in order to be able to serve 
 5'ou still longer r Do not, therefore, excellent king, disdain 
 my advice. Take my security for these your subjects, and do 
 not expose them to ill-usage from so great a host ; for I 
 depend upon my Lord, that he who permitted me to dwell 
 among them during their distresses, will grant me power to 
 keep my pledge in reference to their guidance." On hearing 
 this, the king was induced to retire with his army. 
 
 So much dependence was placed on the protective power 
 of this single individual, that the inhabitants of the Roman 
 fortresses in this district requested him to reside in succession 
 among them, since they believed his presence would be a 
 greater security than their walls. As long as he was with 
 them, they thought that no disaster could befall them. Thus, 
 in the town of Passau, he had a small cell assigned him, 
 
 z 
 
338 CHKISTIANITT IN THE FIFTH CENTUEY. 
 
 where he reposed when the inhabitants called him thence, in 
 order to be protected by his intercession from being pillaged 
 by the Alemanni, whose king. Gewald, honoured and loved 
 him greatlv, and had wished formerly to come to this town to 
 see Severinus once more. Severinus went to meet him, to 
 avoid the admission of so troublesome a guest into the town. 
 His exhortation made such an impression on the king, that 
 he was seized with a violent tremor, and afterwards declared 
 to his soldiers, that in none of the perils of war had he felt 
 such trepidation. When in this state he desired Severinus to 
 acquaint him with his wishes; the latter prayed that he would 
 do what would be also for his own advantage — keep his 
 people back from laying waste the Roman territory, and set 
 at liberty the persons who had been dragged into captivity by 
 his subjects. The consequence was that a multitude of these 
 unfortunate persons actually regained theii' freedom. 
 
 His magnanimous trust in God gave courage and strength 
 to the weak in their calling;. When he was stavin«; in the 
 city of Faviana, the adjacent country, even to the walls, was 
 disturbed by a horde of barbarians, who seized both men and 
 cattle. Several of the citizens bewailed their misfortunes to 
 Severinus. He asked the commander of the garrison whether 
 he had no soldiers to pursue the marauders. The tribune 
 answered: " I cannot venture, with my small force, to attack 
 the greater force of the enemy. Yet if you tell me to do it, 
 I will venture ; for 1 hope to conquer, if not by force of arms, 
 yet by your prayers." Severinus encouraged him to trust in 
 God. " Go forth," he said, " confiding in God's name. If 
 God be with you, the power and strength of men matter not. 
 If your soldiers are unarmed, they must take weapons from 
 the enemy. Since the merciful God goes before you, the 
 weak will become the strongest. God will fight for you. 
 Therefore only make haste ; but above all things observe this, 
 to biing me all the barbarians whom you capture, unhurt." 
 The tribune accordingly marched forth. Half a mile from 
 the city he met with the enemy; he put them to flight, armed 
 his men with the weapons he took from them, and brought 
 the prisoners unhurt, as he had promised, to Severinus. 
 Having refreshed them with meat and drink, Severinus dis- 
 missed them with these words: "Go and warn your fellow- 
 countrymen not to venture here again for the purposes of 
 
KEGARDED JSY THE PEOPLE AS A PHOPIIET. 339 
 
 ])lundGr, for they Nvill not escape punishment from God, who 
 tights for his people." 
 
 Severinus was re<2:ardcd as a prophet. It miglit be, that 
 among the gifts M'ith whicli God honoured this extraordinary 
 man, that of a seer might be included. It might be, that by 
 the superiority of his spirit, filled with the divine life, he 
 appeared as a ])rophet to the men among whom he lived, who 
 were so far inferior to liim, when he spoke with such confi- 
 dence in the inspiration of his rock-firm faith in God, M'hen 
 he announced impending judgments to men who had not yet 
 been brought to reflection, or roused to repentance by the 
 horrors of desolation ; or when he promised to the faithful 
 the aid of heaven, as if he saw it already before his eyes ; or 
 again, when he looked with a mental vision, sharpened by 
 religion, into a future that was veiled to the obtuse minds 
 around him, and hence educed warnings and counsels which 
 were verified by the event. 
 
 He appeared also as a worker of miracles. He himself did 
 not hanker after such, a reputation. He often enjoined the 
 persons who were eye-witnesses of the things he performed, 
 to be silent respecting them. When, on one occasion, a 
 dying person was brought in her bed before the cell of Seve- 
 rinus, that she might obtain her recovery by his prayers, he said, 
 with tears : " What great thing do you desire of one who is 
 so little ? I acknowledge myself to be altogether unworthy. 
 If I could only obtain the forgiveness of my own sins ! " 
 But when they still persisted: " We believe if thou prayest, 
 she will revive," he threw himself, weeping, on his knees. 
 And when his prayer was heard, he said: "'Ascribe nothing 
 of all this to my influence. For this grace has required fer- 
 vent faith, and this ha])pens in many places, and among 
 many nations, that it may be known that there is a God who 
 does wonders in heaven and on earth, who revives the lost to 
 salvation, and calls back the dead to life." We perceive how 
 Severinus contemplated these facts as adapted to the peculiar 
 character of these times, as means of education for these 
 I nations. 
 
 ! A monk, Bonosus, who laboured under a disease of the 
 i eyes, longed to obtain a cure through the prayers of Severi- 
 nus. But he advised the monk rather to pray that his inward 
 eve might be enlightened; and from the instructions often 
 
 z2 
 
340 CHKISTIANITY IX THE FIFTH CEXTUKY. 
 
 imparted by the venerable man, he at last learned to strive 
 rather to see with the eye of the mind than with that of the 
 body, and to forget his sufferings in intercourse with God. 
 
 Two examples may serve to show how Severinus, in pecu- 
 liar circumstances, was supported by Providence in his 
 ministry, and how he exercised it. A great swarm of locusts- 
 settled on the country. When Severinus was asked for his 
 prayers for deliverance from this plague, he said: " Have you 
 not heard, what God commanded his sinful people by the 
 prophet (Joel ii.) : ' Turn ye to me with all your heart . 
 rend your heart and not your garment .... sanctify a 
 fast, call a solemn assembly :' Do all this, in order by 
 works of repentance to escape the evils of the present time. 
 Let no one of 3^ou now go to his fields, as if by human care you 
 thought yourselves able to ward off the locusts." His words 
 affected their hearts ; the feelings of repentance were called 
 forth universallv. They all assembled in the church, acknow- 
 ledged with tears their penitence for their sins, and distri- 
 buted alms. Only one poor man, from anxiety about his land, 
 while the rest were at church, was absent all day, in order 
 to keep off the locusts, and only in the evening went with the 
 rest to the church. But the next morning he found his field 
 devoured by the locusts, while the other fields had escaped. 
 This occurrence made a great impression, and Severinus 
 availed himself of it, in order to exhort men to trust in God, 
 and to impress upon them that care for the things of the 
 kingdom should take precedence of everything else. But he 
 also said to the rest : '* It is reasonable that by your bounty 
 this man should be supported during the present year, who 
 by the punishment he has suffered has given you a lesson of 
 humility." Accordingly, thc}^ contributed jointly to support 
 the poor man for a year. When Gisa, the queen of the 
 Rugii, had condemned some Roman subjects, who had been 
 taken prisoners, to hard slave-labour, Severinus petitioned for 
 their release. She made him a very angry answer, to the effect 
 that he might stay shut up in his cell and pray, but she should 
 act towards her slaves as she pleased. When Severinus heard 
 this, he said : " I trust in my Lord Jesus Christ, that she will 
 be forced by necessity to do that which, in her perverted 
 state of mind, she wül not do voluntarily." Not long after- 
 wards the queen met with a punishment, which was the 
 
HIS TRIUMPHANT DEATH. 341 
 
 natural consequence of her harshness and cruelty. She had 
 confined m a narrow prison some goldsmiths who had to 
 make some royal ornaments, in order to force them to labour 
 beyond their strength. The queen's little son one day, child 
 like, ran into the prison. The prisoners seized the boy, and 
 threatened if any one ventured to come to them without 
 assuring them of their freedom M'ith an oath, that being 
 wearied of life, they would ßrst kill the child and then them- 
 selves. The queen, filled with alarm, now acknowledged the 
 divine retribution ; she went to them, gave the artizans their 
 liberty, sent a messenger as quickly as possible to Severinus, 
 entreated his forgiveness, and also returned to him the Roman 
 prisoners. 
 
 When Severinus found himself near death, he invited the 
 kmg of the Rugii and his cruel consort to come to him once 
 more. He admonished him with undaunted freedom to act 
 towards his subjects with the constant recollection of the 
 account that he must render before the Lord. Then pointing 
 with his hand to the king's heart, he asked Gisa, " "Which do 
 you love most, — this soul, or gold and silver ?" And when 
 she replied, that her Imsband was dearer to her than all the 
 treasures of the world, he said : '• Take care, then, not to 
 oppress the innocent, that you may not expose your own 
 power to destruction ; for you often stand in the way of the 
 king's clemency. I, your inferior in station, on the point 
 of appearing before God, warn you to desist from your evil 
 works, and to adorn your course with good works." In his 
 last hours he assembled his monks around him, and in an 
 affecting manner exhorted them to devote their lives to God. 
 Then embracing them individually, he cheerfully took the 
 Holy Supper, and desired them not to weep, but to sing 
 psalms. But as they coidd not utter the words for very grief, 
 he began himself to sing, *' Praise the Lord in his holy place ; 
 let everything that has breath praise the Lord." These were 
 his last words. After laboui'ing successfully for thirty years 
 in the midst of devastation, he died on the 1st of January, 
 482.-'' 
 
 ^ Neander's General Hist. v. 34 — 30. Standard Library Edition. — Tr. 
 
342 CHRISTIANITY IX THE FIFTH CENTURY. 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 THE LABOURS OF PIOUS MEN AMONG THE FRANKS. 
 
 In ancient Gaul the Christian love of many pious bishops 
 was manifested by their indefatigable and zealous labours 
 during a period of great political commotions. 
 
 1. Germanus of Auxerre {Antisiodorum). 
 
 Such a man was Germanus, bishop of Auxerre, who held 
 that office in a.D. 418, and of whose life and labours we 
 would here present a sketch. It happened about ten years 
 after his first entrance on the office, that along with Lupus, 
 bishop of Troyes ^of whom further mention will be made), 
 he was called to Britain, in order to counteract the spread of 
 the Pelagian doctrine, as being such as taught men to rely 
 more on theii' own strength than on the grace of God, and 
 by cherishing self-righteousness led men to misconceive the 
 nature of true internal sanctification. They preached there, 
 not only in the churches, but also in the streets and fields ; 
 wherever they came they collected crowds of people, to whom 
 they announced the grace of the Lord. The Britons, who 
 could obtain no protection from the rapidly sinking Roman 
 empire, were then in great distress from a war with the wild 
 Saxons and Picts. The two bishops were called into the 
 British camp, and their presence infused as much courage 
 and confidence into the despairing Britons, as if a whole host 
 had come to their aid. It was the season of Lent ; the 
 bishops preached daily amidst the dangers of war, and many 
 were induced by their seiTnons to apply for baptism. At 
 Easter the churches were crowned with garlands, and orna- 
 mented for the celebration of baptism. The Britons peace- 
 fully enjoyed the Easter-festival ; the Picts, indeed, had 
 formed a plan to take advantage of their carelessness, and to 
 fall upon them when they were unarmed. But their plot 
 was discovered; Germanus himself pointed out to the Britons 
 a valley inclosed by mountains, where they might wait the 
 approach of the enemy. He himself went thither with them, 
 and told them when he exclaimed Hallelujah ! all to utter it 
 aloud with him ; they did so, and the united loud cry of the 
 
GEEMANUS, BISHOP OF AUXERRE. 343 
 
 numerous multitude, reverberated in the mountain echoes, 
 made such a powerful impression on the Picts, that they were 
 panic-struck, and betook themselves to flight. 
 
 At another time, on his return from a second visit to Bri- 
 tain, his aid was solicited by the inhabitants of the province 
 of Brittany, that he would avert a great danger which 
 threatened this province ; for the renowned general Aetius 
 had commissioned p]octor, king of the savage tribe of the 
 Alani, to punish them on account of a rebellion. As the 
 biographer of Germanus narrates, he placed himself alone, 
 and an old man. in front of all the warlike people, and tlieir 
 pagan chief. He passed through the host peacefully till he 
 reached the king. When he would not listen to him and 
 was going to ride on, Germanus held him back. This bold- 
 ness so astounded the barbarian warrior, that he yielded, and 
 promised. that he would spare the province till the bishop had 
 tried whether he could obtain ])arQon for the province from 
 the imperial government. Germanus to gain this object, set 
 off for Italy. On his way he joined a company of poor 
 artisans, who, after hiring themselves out as labourers in 
 foreign parts, were returning home. Among them was a 
 lame old man, whose strength was insufficient to cross a rapid 
 stream wi h a heavy pack in company with the rest. Ger- 
 manus took his baggage and carried it over, and afterwards 
 the man himself. 
 
 As he was coming out of the opulent city of Milan, where 
 he had been preaching many times, some poor people met 
 him and asked alms. He asked the deacon who accompanied 
 him how much they had left in their money-box ; he an- 
 swered, only three gold pieces. The bisliop ordered him to 
 distribute the whole among the poor. But whence shall we 
 get our living to-day ? asked the deacon ; Germanus an- 
 swered, God will feed his own poor. Give away what thou 
 hast. But the deacon thought he would manage the business 
 more prudently, so he gave only two pieces away, and kept 
 one back. When they had proceeded some distance furtlior, 
 two persons on horseback came after them, to request a visit 
 from him, in the name of a great landowner, who with his 
 family, was suffering great affliction. The })lace lay out of 
 the road he was travelling, and for that reason his com- 
 panions begged him not to comply with the invitation ; but he 
 
344 CHRISTIANITY IX THE FIFTH CENTrRT. 
 
 answered : " The first tiling with me, before everj-thing else, 
 is to do the will of my God." When the messengers heard 
 that he had made up his mind to come, they presented him 
 with the sum of two hundred solidi (a gold coin of those 
 times worth originally about seventeen shillings and eight 
 pence), which had been entrusted to them for Bishop Ger- 
 manus. He gave them to his deacon, saying, •'Take this 
 and understand that you have withdrawn a hundred such 
 pieces from the poor ; for if you had given all to the poor, 
 the Rewarder would have given us to-day three hundred 
 pieces." His amval spread universal joy over the estate; 
 he visited with equal sympathy masters and servants on their 
 sick-beds; he went even into the poorest hovels and strength- 
 ened all by his prayers. 
 
 Germanus met with universal respect in the imperial 
 court at Ravenna, and easily accomplished the object of his 
 visit. The empress Placidia sent to his lodgings a large 
 silver vessel, full of costly provisions ; Germanus divided the 
 latter among his attendants, and kept the silver for himself, 
 in order that he might use it for the benefit of the poor. He 
 sent to the empress in return a wooden dish with coarse 
 bread, such as he was used to eat. But the empress regarded 
 it as a precious memorial, and afterwards caused the plate to 
 be enchased with gold. 
 
 One morning during his stay at Ravenna, when he was 
 conversing with the bishops on religious subjects, he said to 
 them: ''Brethren, I give you notice of my departure from 
 this world. The Lord appeared to me last night in a dream, 
 and gave me money for travelling ; and when I inquired 
 respecting the object of the journey, he answered: 'Fear 
 not ; I am not sending thee to a foreign country, but to thy 
 fatherland, where thou M'ilt find eternal rest.' " The bishops 
 endeavoured to interpret the dream as intimating his return 
 to his earthly fatherland ; but he would not be led into an 
 error, for he said : "I well know what fatherland the Lord 
 promises his servants." And to this heavenly fatherland he 
 was soon removed. He died July 31, a.d. 448. 
 
 2. Liij)us of Troyes. 
 
 Lupus, bishop of Troyes, the contemporary and friend of 
 Germanus, rescued his city from threatening destruction by 
 
C^SAHIUS, BISHOP OF ARLES. 345 
 
 his great influence over tlic sava*;o conqueror Attila, kinp; of 
 the Huns, who spread terror cvcrywlierc before him, and in 
 the year 451 invaded Gaul with his lawless hordes. The 
 savage warrior was touched with such reverence for him that 
 he relied upon his presence as an omen of success, and on 
 that account took him with him on his nuirch back and dis- 
 missed him with a request that he woidd pray for him. A 
 letter from him induced a chief of the Alemanni to release 
 prisoners without a ransom. He spent his revenues in sup- 
 porting the poor, and especially in redeeming captives ; he 
 formed the fugitives under Attila's ravages, into a colony, in 
 a mountainous district, where he himself resided for a con- 
 siderable time. 
 
 A contemporary, Julianus, thus delineates the character of 
 a pious bishop in this age : — " He converts many to God by a 
 holy life and by holy preaching. He does nothing in an 
 imperious manner but always acts with humility. By the 
 striving of holy love he places himself on an equality with 
 those who- are subject to him. By his conduct and preaching 
 he seeks not his o^^^l glory but the glory of Christ. All the 
 honour which is shown him if he lives and teaches in a 
 priestly manner, he always refers back to God. He consoles 
 the dejected ; he feeds the poor ; he announces to those who 
 are in despair the hope of the forgiveness of sins ; he urges 
 on those who are advancing in a right couise; he spreads 
 light amone: those who are wanderinsr. Such a man is a 
 minister of the Word ; he understands God's voice, and is 
 for others an oracle of the Holy Spirit." This description 
 api^lies to 
 
 3. Cccsarius of Aries. 
 
 He M-as born in the district of Chalons- sur-Saone in a.d. 
 470. He appears to have been awakened early in life to 
 vital Christianity by a pious education. AVhen seven or 
 eight years old it often happened that he would part with 
 some of his clothes to the poor whom he happened to meet, 
 and when he came home said that they were taken from him 
 on the road. When growing up to manhood he entered the 
 famous monastery of the Isle of Lerins (licrina), in Provence, 
 from which at that time emanated a spirit of deep, practical 
 piety. The weak tender frame of young Cecsarius was so 
 
346 CHKISTIANITY IN THE FIFTH CENTURY. 
 
 exhausted by the exercises and severities which he imposed 
 on himself, that the abbot insisted on his visiting the city of 
 Aries for the re-establishment of his health. 
 
 In this country there were at that time many pious 
 females who employed their means in alleviating the suffer- 
 ings of this season of devastation, and assisted the worthy 
 bishops in labours of love. Such an one was Synagria, who 
 because she used the church as a stock-in-trade for accom- 
 plishing every good object, was called the treasure of the 
 church. When Epiphanius, bishop of Pavia, a contemporary 
 of Capsarius, came to France, with a sum, given to him by 
 Theodoric, king of the East Goths, to purchase the freedom 
 of thousands of the inhabitants of desolated Italy, who had 
 been dragged away as captives into slaveiy, and the amount 
 was not sufficient for so great a multitude, this pious woman 
 added what was requisite from her own purse. 
 
 Another pious female of this class, at that time in Aries, 
 was Gregoria, who had united herself in these labours of love 
 with a near relation, Firminus. They took joint charge of 
 young Caesarius in order to bring him up. They introduced 
 him to the bishop of the city, who soon perceived what he 
 was capable of, and placed him for instruction in a monastery 
 on a neighbouring island. With all his high estimation of 
 monasticisni, how far he was from confounding means and 
 end, from attributing a value to asceticism in the absence of 
 the genuine Christian disposition, of true internal holiness, is 
 apparent from his exhortations to the monks. " What use is 
 it," he says, " if we are only as to our bodies in a place of 
 rest, and unrest continues to pervade our hearts r if the show 
 of rest is spread over our exterior while all within is in a 
 tumult ? for we are not come to this place in order to make 
 use of the world and to enjoy perfect rest in all manner of 
 superfluities. You must know, my brethren, that it avails 
 nothing if we mortify our bodies with fasting and watching, 
 and our hearts are not made better, or if we take no care of 
 our internal state. In vain we flatter ourselves with cruci- 
 fying the flesh, if our outward man is tamed by austerities 
 and the inner man is not cured of its evil desires. It is as if 
 any one made a statue gilt on the outside, or if a house built 
 with splendid art was painted outside with the most beautiful 
 colours, and within it was full of serpents and scorpions. 
 
HIS VIEWS OF RELIGIOUS INSTRUCTION. 34V 
 
 Of what avail is it that thou torturest thy body if thy heart 
 is not made better ?" In another exhortation he says, " Let 
 us renounce the sweetness of earthly life and think daily on 
 cterTial life, and let us strive to attain a delig-htfuf foretaste 
 of that blessedness M'ith. hearts purified from the bitterness 
 of worldly desires. Let us now serve our Lord and God 
 with that joyfulness with which he invites us to come by his 
 assistance to the enjoyment of his gifts." 
 
 In the year 501 he became bishop of Aries; he committed 
 the temporal concerns of his church to others, and devoted 
 himself to the cure of souls and attention to reli<i:ious instruc- 
 tion. This appears to us the highest duty of a bi.»ihop, and 
 he was profoundly imbued with a sense of his responsibilities. 
 Often when the clergy from other parts visited him, who 
 did not attach sufficient importance to the religious instruc- 
 tion of their flocks, he endeavoured to impress them with 
 their obligations in this respect. "Brother!" he would say 
 to many a one — " think like a prudent pastor of the talent 
 committed to thee, that thou return it twofold to Ilim who 
 lent it to thee. Hear wli^t the prophet says, ' Woe to me ! 
 that I have kept silence.' Hear what the apostle says, 
 filled with fear, ' Woe to me ! if I preach not the gospel.' 
 Take care, lest thou occupiest the pul})it to the exclusion of 
 another, and it be said of thee as of the Scribes, ' They have 
 taken the key of knowledge — they enter not in themselves — 
 and hinder those that are entering in,' — those, perhaps, who 
 could have promoted far better the cause of the Lord." He 
 urged his younger clergy to ask him frequent questions 
 respecting the interpretation of the Scriptures. " I know 
 well," he would often say to them, " that ye do not under- 
 stand all things. Why do you not ask that ye may learn to 
 understand? Ye ought to stir us up by your questions that 
 we might be forced to search, in order to be able to imi)art 
 to you sweet spiritual nourishment." His zeal and earnest- 
 ness in the publication of the Divine Word are shown in 
 these words of a sermon : " I ask you, my brethren or sisters, 
 — tell me — which appears to you more important, the Word 
 of God or the body of Christ? If you would answer the 
 truth, you must certainly say that the Word of God is not of 
 less importance than the body of Christ. Hence we ought 
 to a])ply the same attention which we exercise in the 
 
■348 CHEISTIANITY IX THE SIXTH CENTURY, 
 
 participation of the body of Christ, that nothing of it may 
 fall from our hands to the ground — that the Word of God 
 when imparted to us may not escape out of our hearts while 
 vre are thinking or speaking of something else. I should 
 like to know if at the hour when the "Word is begun to be 
 announced — if we wished to distribute precious stones or 
 golden rino-s, whether our daughters would not wish to 
 remain and receive them. There can be no doubt they would 
 be very eager to receive such presents. But we have no 
 ornaments for the body to present, and on that account are 
 not gladly listened to. And it is not right that we who 
 impart spiritual things should be regarded with indifference; 
 for he who gladly hears the will of God, may be assured that 
 he receives golden ornaments for the soul, from its native 
 land in Paradise. If a mother wished to adorn her daughter 
 with her own hands, and she despised the ornaments, and 
 shifted herself hither and thither, so that her mother could 
 not adorn her as she wished, would she not deserve to be 
 punished r Regard me therefore as the mother of your souls ; 
 think, that I am adorning you in order that you may 
 appear M'ithout spot or wrinkle before the judgment-seat of 
 the Eternal. "We collect for you pearls from our fatherland 
 in Paradise, and we desire in this world no other reward 
 than to see you receive with joy Avhat is offered to you-, and 
 with God's help, according to your powers, be complete in 
 good works."' And in another sermon he says: '"It is not 
 a small thing which the Holy Ghost threatens the priest of 
 the Lord by the mouths of the prophets, — ' If thou givest 
 the wicked not warning, nor speakest to warn the wicked 
 from his wicked way, his blood will I require at thy hand.' 
 (Ezek. iii. 18.) ' Cry aloud, spare not, lift up your voice like 
 a trumpet, and show my people their transgression.' (Isa. 
 Iviii. 1.) — Aud those words so terrible to negligent priests,— 
 ' Thou shouldst have taken my money to the exchangers, 
 and when I returned I should have received my own with 
 interest.' And further, ' Cast the unprofitable servant into 
 43uter darkness.' This is the doom that awaits the negligent 
 priest, who will not publish the word of God diligently." 
 
 At a time when the unsettled state of the nations threat- 
 ened a relapse into barbarism, preaching was a peculiarly ira - 
 jiortant instrument for the Christian culture of the people 
 
THE UNEDUCATED TO BE CHIEFLY ADDRESSED. 34^ 
 
 But it was necessary often to apply a certain force to rule men 
 who in proportion as they needed preaching were less able to- 
 value it, in order to insure their listening to it. Thus at 
 the council, held at Agde, under the presidency of Bishoj> 
 Cccsarius, it was ordained that persons on Sundays should 
 attend divine worship to the close, till the benediction had 
 been pronounced. Once when Ca^sarius, after the reading 
 of the Gospel, saw several persons hastening out of church, 
 he ran after them and said, '" What are you doing, mv 
 children ? Why do you aUow yourselves to be seduced by 
 evil counsel? Listen attentively, for the sake of your souls, 
 to the word of exhortation. You will not be able to act in 
 this manner at the day of judgment. I exhort you; I adjure 
 you; hasten not away, and be not deaf. I would not be 
 guilty, on my part, of silence." 
 
 It is evident that in such times as those we have been 
 describing, the preacher, in order to communicate a great 
 and general blessing, was obliged to condescend to the stand- 
 point of the uneducated multitude, and especially to use 
 language that would be easily understood by that class. 
 The contemporary and teacher of Ca^sarius, Julianus Pomerius, 
 of ]Mauritania, lays special stress on this point, and says:*" 
 *' The teacher of the church must not seek to distinguish 
 himself by regular oratory, that it may not seem that hi» 
 
 * Nee vero se per imperitiara pontifex excusabit, quasi propterea 
 docere non valeat quod ei sufficiens et luculentus sermo non suppetat ; 
 quando nulla alia sacerdotis doctrina debet esse quam vita ; satisque 
 auditorcs possint proficere, si a doctoribus suis quod vident sjiiritualiter 
 fieri, hoc sibi etiam simpliciter audiant praedicari, diccnte apostolo, Ei i'i 
 impcrihis sermone, sed non scientia (2 Cor. xi. 6). Unde datur intelligi, 
 quod ncn se debeat ecclesise doctor de accurati sermonis ostontatione 
 jactare, ne videatur ecclesiam Dei non velle aedificare, sed magis se 
 quantse sit eruditionis ostendere. Non igitur iu verboruni splendore, sod 
 iu operum virtute totani praedicandi fiduciam ponat ; non vocibus de- 
 lectetur populi adclamantis sibi, sed fletibus ; nee plausum a populo 
 studeat expectare, sed gemitum. Hoc specialiter doctor ecclesiasticus 
 elaboret, quo fiant qui audiunt eum, sanis disputationibus meliores, non 
 vana assentatione fautores. Lacrymas quos vult a suis auditoribus fudi, 
 ipse priraitus fundat, et sic eos compunctione sui cordis accendat. Tani 
 simplex et apertus, etiamsi minus latinus, disciplinatus tamen, et gravis 
 sermo debet esse pontificis ; ut ab intelligentia sui nullos, quamvis 
 iraperitos, excludat ; sed in omnium audientium pectus cum quajdam 
 delectations descendat. — Julian. Pomerius, Devit. contempl. lib. i. cap. 2'd. 
 
350 CHRISTIANITY IN THE SIXTH CENTÜEY. 
 
 principal object is to make a display of his superior culture. 
 Let him not be delighted with the plaudits of Christian 
 people, but with their tears; let him not wait for approba- 
 tion, but for the sighs of contrite hearts. The great aim of 
 the teacher should be, that his hearers may be made better 
 by his instructions, not that they should give him empty 
 applause. Let him first shed such tears as he wishes his hearers 
 to shed, and let him affect their hearts by the contrition of 
 his own. The discourse of the bishop should be so simple 
 and clear, though not in Latin of classical purity, yet well 
 arranged and valuable, that he may be understood even by the 
 ignorant, and enter into the hearts of all with a certain 
 aeceptableness. Finally, it is one thing with the rhetorician, 
 and another thing with the Christian teacher. The fonner 
 seeks for the reputation of an artistically elaborated oration, 
 with all the powers of eloquence ; the latter seeks to advance 
 the honour of Christ, with simple language, such as is 
 employed in common life." 
 
 Caesarius followed the principles here laid down, as he says 
 in one of his sermons : '• If I wished to expound to you the 
 Holy Scriptm-es according to the art of the fathers, the 
 spiritual nourishment would reach only a few better-educated 
 persons; the rest of the people must suffer hunger. Hence, 
 I humbly request, that such persons will be pleased patiently 
 to listen to country words, if only the whole chui'ch of the 
 Lord may receive spiritual nourishment by such rude speech: 
 since the uneducated cannot raise themselves to the height of 
 the educated, the latter must submit, and condescend to the 
 ignorance of the former; for the educated can well under- 
 stand what is said to the simple, but the simple cannot 
 comprehend what is addressed to the superior class." His 
 biographer says of him, — God had bestowed on him such 
 grace to speak on divine things, that he knew how to make 
 use of whatever was presented to his eyes, as a parable for the 
 edification of his hearers. An example we have already quoted 
 shows us his method and skill in this respect. We would here 
 quote a passage from a sermon delivered in the country at a 
 visitation, when he combats the excuse, sometimes urged, of 
 iirnorance in religion. '• Tell me who has shown vou how to 
 prune youi' vines, at what time you should plant new stocks ? 
 Who has told you this ? You have seen or heard it, or have 
 
THE DUTY OF SOUL-CTJLTIVATION". 351 
 
 asked the best vine-dresser how you ought to cultivate your 
 vineyard; why are you not as anxious about your soul as 
 you are about your vineyard r* Pay attention, my brethren, 
 I beseech you. There are two kinds of fields — the field of' 
 God, and the field of man. You have your field ; — God has 
 his. Your field is your land, Gods field is your soul. Is 
 it right that you should cultivate your own field, and let 
 God's field lie waste .'' Does God deserve that at our hands, 
 that we should neglect the soul which is so dear to him ? 
 With our lands we shall only have a few days in this 
 world ; therefore, we ought to pay so much greater attention 
 to our souls. God has entrusted our souls to us as his field, 
 which it is our duty to cultivate with all possible diligence. 
 
 * Adtendite, rogo vos, fratres. Duo genera agrorum sunt ; unus ager est 
 Dei, alter est hominis. Habes tu villain tuam ; habet et Deus suam. 
 Villa tua est terra tua ; villa Dei est anima tua. Numquid justum est ut 
 villara tuam colas, et Dei villam desertam dimittas ? Si colis terr;im 
 tuam, cole et animam tuam. Villam tuam vis componere, et Dei villam 
 desertam dimittere ? Numquid hoc justum est, fratres ? Numquid a 
 nobis hoc meritur Deus, ut animam nostram quam satis ille diligit npgli- 
 gamus .'' Quomodo adtendis villam tuam cultam, et gaudes, cur non 
 adtendis animam tuam desertam, et plangis ? De agro villae nostrse 
 paucis diebus victuri sumus in mundo ; ibi ergo, id est, in anima nostra 
 majus Studium debemus semper inipendere. Animam nostram quasi 
 villam suam nobis dignatus est committere Deus, ut illam omni studio 
 debeamus excolere. Totis ergo viribus cum Dei adjutorio laboremus, ut 
 cum Deus ad agrum suum, hoc est, ad animam nostrum v<nire voluerit, 
 totum cultum, totum compositum, totum ordinatura inveniat, messem in- 
 veniat non spinas, vinum inveniat non acetum, triticum magis quam 
 
 lolium Non est grande quod a nobis requirit Deus, non durum, 
 
 non asperum. Clamat tibi in conscientia tua seterna justitia ; quomodo 
 gubernas agrum tuum, guberna et cor taum ; quomodo colis villam tuam, 
 cole et animam tuam ; quomodo suj)eifluos palmites toUis de vite tua, sic 
 malos affectus tolle de anima tua. Prtecidis de vite tua, quod malum est ; 
 incide de anima tua quod iniquum est. Quomodo qui vitem suam uno 
 anno potare voluerit, ipso anno abundantiiis exhibet, et postea sine fructu 
 sterilis remanebit ; sic et qui malas cngitationes et mala desideria non 
 toilet de anima sua, videtur offerreiVuctum de rapinis et fraudibus in anno 
 vitfiB suae quo vivit in hoc mundo; sed postea sterilis remanebit in 
 
 setemum Quomodo in vite tua totos oculos superfiuos 
 
 amputas et duos aut tres qui sunt legitimi dereiinquis ; sic et in anima 
 tua omnia desideria quae res alienas male respiciunt et pessime cou- 
 cupiscunt Spiritus sancti gladio et crucis falce debes incidere, et hoc 
 tantum unde justitia vel misericordia ceriiirur reservare. — Ccesarius Arelat. 
 August, ed. Ben. torn. v. appd. serm. ccciii. § 5, G, 7. 
 
352 CHKISTIANITY IX THE SIXTH CEXTUKY. 
 
 Let US therefore labour with all our powers, depending on 
 God's assistance, that when God shall inspect his field, that 
 is, our souls, he may find the ground well cultivated, the 
 harvest ready, and no weeds. It is not a great or a hard thing 
 that God requires of us: eternal justice calls to thee in thy 
 conscience, ' As thou carest for thy field, so care for thy soul ; 
 as thou cuttest ofi" the superfluous shoots from thy vine, so 
 take away the bad inclinations from thy soul ; as the man 
 who will not prune his vine for a whole twelvemonth, may 
 obtain for this one year a larger crop, but afterwards the 
 tree yields nothing, so it appears that he who does not clear 
 his soul of evil thoughts and inclinations, may by violence 
 or fraud obtain fruit for the one year of this mortal life — 
 but then he will remain unfruitful to all eternity." 
 
 The sermons which Caesarius delivered in the course of his 
 visitations throughout his diocese, both in cities and in the 
 country, vividly expressed his paternal love for all the parts of 
 his great episcopal charge, and his sorrow that his numerous 
 engagements, under the painful circumstances to which we 
 have already referred, prevented him from visiting them more 
 frequently. In one of these discourses he thus speaks: — 
 " If these troublous times permitted, I would visit you not 
 only once but twice or three times a year, in order to gratify 
 my desire as well as your own of seeing one another. But 
 while the heart longs for it, the distresses of the present 
 time will not allow it. Yet it can injure neither you nor me 
 that we see one another so seldom in the body, since we are 
 always present to one another in afiection. In travelling 
 through this world, even if we were in the same city, we 
 could not always be together. There is another city where 
 good Christians will never be separated from each other." 
 And in another discourse he says, " I bless God that he has 
 graciously conveyed your love to me, although under many 
 engagements. God knovrs that if I were able to come to you 
 twice or three times a year, it would not be enough for my 
 desii'es ; for where is there a father who does not wish to see 
 his son, and especially a good and faithful son, frequently ?"' 
 
 Cajsarius also took great pains that the people should not 
 be destitute of preaching in all parts of the country. For 
 this purpose he exerted his great influence in the manage- 
 ment of ecclesiastical afiaii'S in his native land, at the coun- 
 
EXCUSES TO ETADE INDIVIDUAL LABOUR. 
 
 iöu 
 
 cils held in Franco. We perceive this influence when, in the 
 second council held at Yaison, a.d. 529, it was ordained that 
 there should be preaching constantly in the village churches ; 
 that the clergy in the country should rightly "instruct the 
 young church-readers in the Scriptures, and train them to be 
 thcii- successors.* 
 
 It was his zealous endeavour that occupation with divine 
 truths should be felt to be the personal concern of everv 
 Christian, and that especially every one should learn to draw 
 for himself from the Word of God. He combated the pretexts 
 by which men sought to evade this requirement, and to 
 indulge their frivolous worldly dispositions. Thus he says in 
 one of his sermons: " I beseech you, dearest brethren,' that 
 what by divine grace you willingly receive in these sermons, 
 — that all that you have heard you will deliver again with 
 great zeal to your neighbours and relations, who cannot, or 
 
 * As the rights of the clergy in these districts, until they were enlarged 
 by the influence of Csesarius, were very confined, so probably in many 
 parts the village congregations could only enjoy religious instruction at the 
 episcopal visitations. It v^'as now provided that if the clergy were ill, the 
 congregation should not be entirely destitute of preaching ; for a deacon 
 was ordered to read something from older homilies, ^^'e see here the 
 clerical prejudice combated admirably, as if to preach sermons was some- 
 thing too high for deacons ; yet the office was committed to deacons of 
 reading the gospels in the churches. " If the deacons are worthy to read 
 what Christ has spoken in the gospels, why should they be held unworthy 
 publicly to read the expositions of the fathers ?" In the biography of 
 Caesarius we are told that he introduced his presbyters and deacons to 
 preach, in order that the congregation might lose nothing in case he was 
 prevented by illness, and that he said : " What ! If the words of the Lord, 
 of prophets, and apostles, are read by presbyters and deacons, ought they 
 not to be permitted to read the words of Ambrose or of Augustin, or of 
 ray insignificant self ? The servant is not greater than his Lord. Those 
 who have a right to read the gospels, methinks, are indeed authorized to 
 read in the churches the sermons of the servants of God or their expositions 
 of Holy Writ." 
 
 " I have done my part. Those bishops who neglect to make this 
 arrangement will have to give an account at the day of judgment. Yet no 
 one is so hardened in his own mind that if God calls to him, ' Cry out 
 boldly, spare not,' he would not call himself, and would hinder others 
 from calHng. He would fear those words of the prophet Isaiah (Ivi. 10) : 
 ' They are dumb dogs — they cannot bark.' For all the souls which go 
 astray through the fault of the silent priest, he will be answerable." 
 
 2 A 
 
854 CHRISTIANITY IN THE SIXTH CEXTTTEY. 
 
 perhaps will not, come with you to church, or to those who, 
 if they come, quickly go away. For as I should blame 
 myself if I neglected to say it to you, so must you fear, if 
 vou do not so retain in your memory what you hear as to 
 be able to impart it to others, that you will have to answer 
 for your neo;lect. And on this account seek to perform, by 
 the help of divine grace, what the apostle Paul enjoins in 
 Gal. vi. 1 : ' If a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are 
 spiritual restore such an one in the spirit of meekness ;' an 
 injunction which concerns not the clergy alone, but also the 
 laity." And in another sermon he says : " Let no one, my 
 beloved brethren, seek to excuse himself by saying, ' I have 
 no time to read, and therefore I cannot become acquainted 
 with Gods commands or fulfil them.' And let no one of you 
 say, ' I cannot read, therefore it will not be reckoned against 
 me when-I fail in keeping the divine commands.' That is a 
 vain and worthless excuse. In the first place, if a person 
 cannot himself read Holy Writ, he can easily get it read 
 to him. And he who can read, ought he not to find time to 
 read the Scriptures ? Who need sleep so much in the long 
 winter nights, that he may not spend at least three hours in 
 reading the Bible or in hearing it read .^ Consider it well. 
 I tell you what you yourselves must well know. We know 
 many merchants who, because they can neither read nor write, 
 hire clerks, and acquire great gains while they allow their 
 accounts to be kept by others. And if those persons who 
 can neither read nor write, employ clerks in order to gain 
 earthly wealth, why do you not request some one for hire to 
 read the Scriptures to you, that you may be able to gain 
 eternal wealth r I beseech and exhort you, therefore, my 
 brethren, that whoever can read, let him frequently read the 
 Holy Scriptures ; and he who cannot read, let him listen 
 attentively when another reads them. For the light of the 
 soul and its eternal nourishment is no other than the Word 
 of God, without which the soul can neither see nor live. 
 For as our body dies if it receives no food, so our soul pines 
 away if it does not receive the Word of God. 'I am a 
 rustic, and am always occupied with earthly employments ; 
 I can neither read the Holy Scriptures nor hear them read.' 
 How many rustics, both men and women, learn the devil s 
 
TENDENCY TO THE EXTERNAL IN RELIGION. 355 
 
 songs by heart, and sing them. They can retain and use 
 what the devil teaches, and can they not retain wliat Christ 
 teaches ?" 
 
 He often said to those who came to him, " Believe not 
 that you do enough when you nourish the souls of your 
 relations and friends with the word which we preach to you. 
 I testify to you before God and the holy angels that you will 
 be answerable for the salvation of your lowest menials, if you 
 do not impart to them what we ])reach as well as to your 
 friends and relations. The menial is subject to you, accord- 
 ing to existing earthly relations, but he is not dependent on 
 you by an eternal bond." 
 
 At all times the aim of Caesarius was apparent in his 
 sermons to counterwork the tendency to the external in 
 religion, which at this time was gaining ground ; to direct 
 men's attention to that one thing which was needful for the 
 inner life ; to cut off their dependence on external works. 
 As a scholar of Augustin, on whose writings he had evidently 
 formed himself, he always referred men to the love of 
 God, as the only source of true goodness. '• "Whatever 
 good works," he said, " any one may do, it will be all to no 
 purjDose, unless true love be in him — love which extends not 
 only to friends, but to enemies." He quotes 1 Cor. xiii. 3. 
 " And since selfishness is the root of all evil, and love the 
 root of all good, I ask, what does it profit a man that he has 
 a thousand branches with the most beautiful or charming 
 flowers or fruits, if the living and true root is not in him ? 
 For as when the root of selfishness is torn up, all the shoots 
 that spring from it at once wither and die ; so on the other 
 hand, those who have allowed the root of love in themselves 
 to die, have no means left for attaining eternal life." And 
 in another sermon he says : " Wherein ought we to follow the 
 Lords example ? Is it in raising the dead or walking on the 
 sea .^ No, surely. But in this : in being meek and lowly of 
 heart ; in loving not only our friends but also our enemies. 
 Whoever says that he lives in him must walk as he walked. 
 How did Christ walk: On the cross he prayed for his 
 enemies, ' Father, forgive them, for they know not what they 
 do.' Are they insane, — possessed by evil spirits .^ On that 
 account we must rather pray that they may be freed than 
 that they should be condemned." — '' Fastin'j:. watching, 
 
 2 A 2 
 
356 CHKISTIANITY IN THE SIXTH CENTURY. 
 
 prayer, alms, celibacy, faith, — all avail nothing without love. 
 True love endures in adversity, is moderate in prosperity, is 
 steadfast under severe suiferings, is joyful in doing good, in 
 temptation is sure, among true brethren full of pleasantness, 
 among false brethren full of power ; innocent amidst plots, 
 sighs under injustice, is refreshed by the truth, is humbly 
 obedient in Peter, reproves freely in Paul (Gal. ii.), confesses 
 humanly in Christians, forgives divinely in Christ. True 
 love is the soul of all the Scriptures, the fruit of faith, the 
 wealth of the poor, the life of the dying.--' Therefore faith- 
 fully guard love ; love the highest good with all your heart 
 and with all the powers of your sou], for the Lord is kind and 
 sweeter than all sweetness. In communion with Him every- 
 thing offensive is strange ; in intercourse with him all 
 deception is absent.*' " ^W brethren, what is sweeter than 
 love ? WTio does not know it ? Taste and see. Hear what 
 the Apostle says, ' God is love. He who loveth, God dwelleth 
 in him, and he in God.' V.'hat can there be more delightful? 
 Whoever does not know it, let him hear what the Psalmist 
 says (Psa. xxxiv. 9), ' O taste and see that the Lord is good.' 
 God therefore is love. If thou hast love, thou hast God; 
 and if thou hast God, what more canst thou want r Perhaps 
 thou believcst that he is rich whose chests are full of gold, 
 and that he is not rich whose soul is fuU of God } But it is 
 not so, my brethren ; only he is rich to whom God has shown 
 the grace to dwell in him. How can the meaning of Holy 
 Writ be hidden from thee, if love, that is, God himself, 
 animates thee ? What good works wilt thou not be able to 
 accomplish when thou carriest the fountain of good works in 
 thy heart? What adversary wilt thou fear, if thou art 
 
 * Sine caritate nee jejunia, nee vigilifö, nee orationes, nee eleeraosynse, 
 nee fides atque virginitas uUum hominem adjuvare valent. Radix 
 omnium bonorum est Caritas. Vera caritas in adversitatibus tolerat, 
 in prosperitatibus temperat, in duris passionibus fortis, la bonis operibus 
 hilaris, in tentatione tutissima, inter veros fratres dulcissima, inter falsos 
 potentissima, inter insidias innocens, inter iniquitates gemens, in veritate 
 respirans, casta in Susanna in virum, in Anna post virum, in jNIaria 
 praeter virum, humilis in Petro ad obediendum, in Paulo ad arguendum, 
 humana in Christianis ad confitendum, divina in Christo ad iguoscendum. 
 Vera enira caritas anima est omnium scripturarum fidei fructus, divitias 
 pauperum, vita uiorientium. — Casa^niis Arelat. Horn. 10. Galland. Bibl. 
 Patr. torn. xi. § ]5. 
 
LOVE, THE SOURCE OF ALL HOLY LIVING. 357 
 
 worthy to have God the Lord Mithin thee ? As long as the 
 root within thee is unchanged, tliou canst not bring forth 
 the right i'ruit ; in vain thou promisest good Mith thy lips, if 
 thou canst not bring it to perfection as long as thou carricst 
 not the root of good in thy heart. Christ plants one root in 
 the heart of believers ; the Evil Spirit plants another in the 
 hearts of the high-minded, and thus one is planted in heaven 
 and the other in hell. But many a one will say, ' If this 
 root is planted in the hearts of believers, but believers cer- 
 tainly ap})ear to be still in the world, how is that root planted 
 in heaven :' Wilt thou know how ? Because the hearts of 
 believers are in heaven ; because they are daily raised to 
 heaven (for when the priest says, ' Raise your heart !' the 
 congregation quietly answers, ' We have raised our heart to 
 the Lord), because the apostle says, 'Our conversation is in 
 heaven.' For the attainment of eternal life, God does not 
 send us on laborious pilgrimages to the east or to the west; 
 he leads us back to ourselves ; what he has granted us by 
 his grace, that he requires from us ; for he himself says in 
 the gospel, ' The kingdom of God is within you.' " And 
 again, " The Lord has not said, ' Go to the east and seek for 
 righteousness ; sail to the west in order to receive forgiveness 
 of sins.' But what says he ? ' Forgive thine enemies, and 
 it shall be forgiven thee. Give and it shall be given thee.' 
 God requires nothing of thee that lies out of thyself. God 
 leads thee to thyself and to thy conscience. Li thyself has 
 he deposited that which he requires of thee. Thou needest 
 not seek the means of healing thy wounds at a distance. 
 Thou canst find the forgiveness of thy sins when thou wilt, in 
 the recesses of thy heart." 
 
 The life and preaching of this man of God were cast in the 
 same mould ; the soul of his sermons was also the soul of his 
 life. It is said of him that he never prayed merely for him- 
 self ; that when he met with injustice from his enemies, he 
 was wont to say nothing but * May God pardon thy sins ! May 
 God take thy sins away ! ^lay God punish thy sins in order 
 that they may not cleave to thee ! May God correct thy 
 errors in this M'orld!' He praj'cd for his enemies with the 
 utmost fervency. His inward state was expressed in his out- 
 ward mien. A heavenly repose was always spread over his 
 countenance, so that according to the Scripture (Prov. xvii. 
 
358 CHRISTIANITY IX THE SIXTH CENTFEY. 
 
 22, " A merry heart doeth good like a medicine,'') his jojrful 
 heart spread pleasure over his whole life, as the scholar who 
 wrote his life expresses himself. 
 
 Although Ceesarius often exhorted earnestly to beneficence 
 and almsgiving in those times of distress, yet he also spoke 
 with great impressiveness against the delusion of those persons 
 who converted almsgiving into an external legal righteousness, 
 and thought by means of it to make reparation for all their 
 sins. Thus in a sermon at the feast of Epiphany, he says : 
 " Those wise men from the East presented costly gifts to the 
 Lord Christ ; O that you would present to him your souls I 
 present to him spiritual gifts, that is, yom'selves ; for God 
 loves yourselves far more than your property. There are 
 many who give alms and yet do not cease from sinning. 
 These act as if they would present their property to God, and 
 themselves to the devil. But God has no fellowship with the 
 devil, and therefore with God's help you must banish from 
 yourselves extortion, luxury, hatred, pride, all evil, whatever 
 it may be, so that your Creator may possess you altogether."' 
 
 He also spoke against the delusion of those persons who, 
 attributing a magical power to the mere sign of the cross, 
 were only confirmed so much the more in their sins. " I 
 beseech you, my beloved brethren," he said, " let us carefully 
 reflect why we are Christians, and bear the cross of Christ on 
 our foreheads. For we must know that it is not enough for 
 us to have received Christian names, if we do not perform 
 Christian works. As the Lord himself says in the gospel. 
 ' Why call ye me. Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I 
 say ? ' If thou pretendest to be one of Christ's soldiers, and 
 always marliest thyself with Christ's cross, and yet dost not 
 give alms according to thy ability, art not willing to know 
 anything of love, honesty and chastity, the Christian name 
 will be of no use to thee. Christ's sign, the cross of Christ, 
 is a great thing, and therefore must serve as a sign of a 
 great and precious thing. For what avails it, if thou sealest 
 with a golden ring, and yet under that seal carefully 
 guardest mere rubbish r What avails it if we bear Christ's 
 sign on our brow and in our mouth, and yet harboui' sin in 
 our souls ? Who ever thinks evil, speaks evil, does evil, and 
 will not improve himself. — his sin, if he makes the sign of the 
 cross on himself, will not be less but greater. For many per- 
 
ENTIRE CONSECRATION OF THE HEART TO GOD. 359 
 
 sons when they are about to commit theft or adultery, make 
 the sign of the cross if they happen to stumble, and yet do 
 not refrain from the evil deed; and the wretched men are 
 not aware that in so doing they rather drive evil spirits 
 into themselves than expel them. But whoever, with God's 
 help, keeps sin at a distance, and strives to think and to per- 
 form what is good, he has a right to make the sign of the 
 cross on his lips, since he strives to perform works which are 
 worthy of receiving Christ's sign." 
 
 Thus also at the consecration of churches he endeavoured to 
 turn the thoughts of the congregation from the outward sanc- 
 tuary to the inward sanctuary in the hearts of men ; for 
 example : " As often as we celebrate the festival of the con- 
 secration of an altar or a church, and lead a holy life, so will 
 everything which is designed to be effected by the temples 
 made with hands be accomplished by the spiritual building in 
 our hearts. For he did not utter falsehood who said, • The 
 temple of God is holy, which temple are ye ;' and ' know ye 
 not that yom* body is a temple of the Holy Ghost ? ' But since 
 without any merit on our part we have attained by God's 
 grace to be a temple of God, let us, with his help, strive as 
 much as we can that the Lord find nothing in his temple, 
 that is, in om-selves, which may offend the eye of the Divine 
 Majesty, — that the habitation of our heart may be purified 
 from sins, and filled with virtues, closed against the devil and 
 opened to Christ." In an Advent sermon he says: "Think, 
 my brethren, if a man of power or rank wished to celebrate 
 his own birthday or his son's, how anxious he would be for 
 several days beforehand to purify his house from all that is 
 imsightly : the house is whitewashed, the floors swept, and 
 the rooms decorated with flowers. Everything which can 
 contribute to the joy of the soul or the delight of the body, is 
 carefully provided. But if thou makcst such great provision 
 for thy own or thy son's birthday, what preparations oughtest 
 thou to make for the birthday of thy Lord ? Strive, therefore, 
 M-ith all thy powers that God may not find in thy soul what 
 thou wouldst not find in thy house. If Christ sees thee pre- 
 ])ared for the celebration of his birthday, he will himself 
 come to thee, and not only visit thy soul, but also rest in it, 
 and dwell for ever there. How blessed is the soul which so 
 seeks to regulate its life by God'.s help, that it is capable of 
 
360 CHEISTIANITY IX THE SIXTH CENTURY. 
 
 receiving Christ into itself as its guest and inmate, and on the 
 contrary, how miserable is the soul which has so defiled itself 
 with sin that Christ does not begin to rest in it, but the devil 
 begins to rule." 
 
 As to prayer also, he pointed out the difference between 
 the appearance and the reality : '' Above all things we must 
 in stillness and quiet pray to God ; he hears even our sighs, 
 as was the case with Hannah (1 Sam. i. 13) : * Only her lips 
 moved, but her A-oice was not heard.' Let us therefore pray 
 with sighing, as in that passage (Psa. xxxviii. 9), ' I have 
 roared by reason of the disquietness of my heart.' Let us, 
 therefore, so pray, that not our voice but our inward soul may 
 cry to God. And let every one with God's help drive away 
 from his soul, before he kneels down to pray, all foreign 
 thoughts, that it may be inflamed with the glow of the Holy 
 Spirit ; let him consume everything sinful by the fire of con- 
 trition or of prayer. For to whatever object man directs his 
 soul in the time of prayer, that he puts in the place of God — 
 that he appears to make his God, and to worship as his Lord. 
 Eehold ! how sore a bondage ! that our tongue as it were 
 speaks to God, and the whole tendency of our soul is towards 
 earth and earthly things ! " 
 
 As it was so important to Csesarius to make Christianity 
 and Christian devotion the common concern of all persons 
 belonging to the church, so instead of church-singing con- 
 ducted by singers consisting of ecclesiastics, he introduced 
 choral singing in which all took part ; and for this, besides 
 the Latin language which was prevalent in Gaul, the Greek 
 was used, which through the colonies from the East prevailed 
 in many parts of Southern France. The devotional psalmody 
 of his flock gave Ca^sarius much pleasure ; yet he regarded it 
 only as a means, and warned them against an overvaluation, 
 of the means in all external things. He always directed atten- 
 tion to the grand object, the promotion of a holy disposition. 
 "It is impossible for me to express in words," he says in a 
 sermon, " the joy that your devotion gives me. For these 
 several years it has been the wish of my heart that the blessed 
 Lord would incline you to this practice of psalmody. Hence,. 
 strive before all things that the Holy Spirit which resounds 
 from your lips, not only in prayer but also in holy thoughts, 
 may dwell in your hearts. It is indeed good and Avell pleasing 
 
WARNINGS AGAINST DEATH-BED REPENTANCE. 361 
 
 to God when the tongue sings believingly ; but it is not truly 
 good unless the life agrees witli tlie tongue. Especially pay 
 regard to the internal meaning of the l^sahns. When you 
 sing, ' Let the proud be ashamed' (Psa. cxix. 78), then seek 
 to flee from pride. When we sing, ' Lo, they that are far 
 from thee shall perish' (Psa. Ixxiii. 27), let us seek to avoid 
 all evil desires. When we sing, ' Blessed is he who meditates 
 in the law of the Lord day and night;' (Psa. i. 2) let us avoid 
 all useless and unbecoming language as devilish poison, and 
 frequently read the Holy Scriptures, or if we cannot read 
 them ourselves, let us gladly and frequently seek to hear those 
 who do read them." 
 
 He often warns most eaniestly against whatever seemed 
 to make men at ease in their sins ; the practice of many to 
 indulge in their pleasures, with the hope that there would be 
 time enough on a death-bed to repent and receive absolution ; 
 or the notion of others that they would be sure of salvation if 
 on a sick-bed they adopted the tonsure and dress of the monks ; 
 or again, the excuse of others that they could not in their 
 youth renounce the world, and that therefore they were 
 exempted from the labour of true conversion. Against such 
 delusions Ctcsarius says, " We need not hesitate to express 
 what awaits such an one, who habitually leads a wicked life 
 and puts olf repentance to the close of life, and who sins in 
 the hope that by instantaneous repentance he may obtain 
 forgiveness of all his sins ; — a man who yet, after submitting 
 to the penance enjoined by the church, does not restore ill- 
 gotten gain, does not forgive his enemies from the heart, 
 does not in his heart resolve, in case he recovers, to repent 
 all his life with great contrition and humility ; — we need not 
 say it — the Lord himself has said it in the gospel most 
 distinctly what such an one has to expect ; for he says, ' If 
 ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father 
 forgive you your trespasses.' How can that sinner be for- 
 given who is not willing to forgive ? Or what can he expect 
 to receive who has not been willing to give r The Lord will 
 say of those who have given no alms, ' Depart from me, ye 
 cursed, into everlasting fire — for I was an hungred, and ye 
 gave me no meat.' 1 cannot admit such a man into the 
 number of the penitent ; but God, who knows all hearts and 
 M'ho will judge every one according to his deserts, he knows 
 
362 CHEISTIANITY IX THE SIXTH CEXTTJEY 
 
 Avith what faith and with what disposition such an one has 
 submitted to penance.'"'''" 
 
 " When w^e exhort all to repentance, perhaps one of you 
 thinks, ' I am a young married man, how can I adopt the 
 tonsure or a monk's dress ?' Let him know that this is not 
 what we preach, that men should change theii- dress rather 
 than their morals. For true conversion is enough of itself, 
 without a change of dress. A clerical dress without good 
 works can be of no avail, but will incur the righteous 
 judgment of God." And in another passage he saj^s : " But 
 perhaps some one thinks he has committed such grievous 
 sins that he can no longer deserve God"s mercy. Far be 
 that from the thoughts of any sinner. O man, whoever thou 
 art, thou lookest at the multitude of thy sins, and thinkest not 
 of the almighty power of the heavenly Physician. For since 
 God will have mercy because he is good, and is able because 
 
 * The question of the validity of a death-bed repentance was at that 
 time a frequent subject of debate. The pious Faustus, bishop of Rhegium 
 (Riez), in Provence, in the warmth of his zeal for practical Christianity, 
 and in order to give no pretext for security in a sinful life, denied all 
 value to this repentance, " Since God does not allow himself to be 
 mocked, that person deceives himself who only begins when he is half 
 dead to seek for life, and first resolves on the service of God when all the 
 powers of soul and body are wanting for this service. That man appears 
 to mock God who, when he was able, neglected to go to the physician, 
 and begins to be willing to go when he is no longer able." Faustus, very 
 justly and very suitably for his times, here disputes the value of a faith 
 not manifested by works. This epistle of Faustus disturbed the Bur- 
 gundian king, Gundobad, who took an interest in religious subjects, as 
 well as the epistle of Avitus, to whom he proposed many theological 
 questions, and he asked the above-mentioned Avitus, bishop of Vienne, 
 respecting its meaning. He correctly maintained that if a sincere con- 
 version proceeding from repentance and faith took place even in the last 
 moments of life, it could not be in vain. He appealed to Matt. xx. 9, 
 Luke xxiii. 40. Avitus at the same time spoke as strongly against the 
 value of a hypocritical repentance. But he unjustly opposed what 
 Faustus had said against the worth of mere faith ; for Faustus was not 
 here speaking of that faith which is the foundation of all spiritual blessings, 
 a living faith, but that dead and merely apparent faith which is no work 
 of the Spirit, and can bring with it no kind of spiritual good. But with 
 the nothingness of such a faith the new converts to Christianity could not 
 be too much impressed. 
 
 Caesarius of Aries, as well as Avitus, allowed the possibility of a valid 
 repentance in the hour of death, but presented in a stronger light its 
 indispensable requisites and its difficulties. 
 
ERRONEOUS VIEWS OF REPENTANCE. 363 
 
 he is almighty — that man closes against himself the door of 
 the divine mercy, who believes that God either will not or 
 cannot have mercy on him ; he mistrusts either God's 
 goodness or his power. Let no one therefore despair of 
 God's mercy : only let him not delay to seek reconciliation 
 with God, that it may not be too late, if sin has ah-eady 
 become habitual, and lest he shoidd no longer be able to 
 free himself from the snares of the devil, if he would. But 
 perhaps many a one may say, ' I fill an official situation ; I 
 have a wife : and how can I repent ? ' As if, when we 
 advised to repentance, we said that a person must cut off his 
 lair, and not rather renounce sin, that he should change his 
 dress rather than his disposition. Whoever seeks to deceive 
 rather than to excuse himself by such hypocrisy, let him 
 recollect that neither royal dignity nor royal dress prevented 
 King David from repenting." While he combated the delu- 
 sion of those persons who supposed that men must repent 
 only of grosser and open sins ; while he wished to show that 
 every Christian, even the holiest, always needed repentance, 
 — he reckoned among the minor sins, that persons should 
 neglect to visit prisoners or the sick at the right time, or to be 
 reconciled to enemies, or that any one should unnecessarily 
 irritate his neighbour, his wife, his son or his servant. If 
 imong men who were disposed to make religion consist in a 
 iead faith, and in the observance of ceremonies, he justly 
 insisted on the necessity of good works as the fruits of faith, 
 md placed before their eyes the requirements of God's holy 
 [aw in all its strictness, yet he was by no means a legal 
 Dreacher who can only kill, but not make alive. He pointed 
 nen not to their own power, but sought rather to bring them 
 :o a sense of their own inability, in order that they might 
 earn to have 7*ecourse to the eternal source of all power to 
 vhich he directed them. After representing what belonged 
 ;o a holy life, he says : " All this, my brethren, appears to 
 je laborious, until it becomes habitual, and, to express it 
 nore correctly, it will be held to be impossible as long as we 
 jelieve that it is to be accomplished by human power. But 
 fman is convinced that it can be received from God and 
 iccomplished by God's grace, then it will no longer appear 
 is something hard and laborious, but as light and easy, 
 iccording to the Avords of the Lord, ' My yoke is easy and 
 
364 CHRISTIANITY IN THE SIXTH CENTURY. 
 
 my burden is ligiit.' " He calls or men to confide, in. their 
 conflict with eyil, on the power of the Redeemer, as when he 
 says : '' How can it ever come to pass that we should be 
 afi-aid of the devil, if we are joined with God ? Hast thou 
 such a leader in the conflict, and dost thou fear the devil?! 
 Dost thou fight under such a king, and dost thou doubt of 
 victory ? True, Satan daily opposes thee ; but Christ is 
 present : the one will press thee to the ground, but the other 
 will raise thee up ; the one will kill thee, but the other will 
 make thee alive ; but be comforted, my brother ! Christ is 
 better able to raise thee up than Satan to keep thee to the 
 ground." And in another sermon, he says: '"Because we 
 "were little. He made himself little. Because we lay dead. 
 He, the benevolent Physician, bowed himself down; fori 
 trul)' , he v,'ho will not bow himself down cannot raise the 
 prostrate." 
 
 Owing to the disturbances which at that time befell France, 
 and the frequent marches through it of nations who were 
 either pagans, or had not long been converted to Christianity 
 — superstitious practices that proceeded from heathenism 
 again became prevalent, such as the regarding certain things 
 as omens, the custom of not undertaking any business on 
 days that were considered unluck}', kc. Caesarius often spoke 
 against such notions. " Let no one," he said, " regard on what 
 day he goes from home, or what day he returns — for the Lord 
 has made all days ; as the Scripture says. It was the first, and 
 the second, and the third, and the fom-th, and the fifth, and the 
 sixth day, and the Sabbath, and of each it is said, God saw all 
 that he had made, and behold it was very good. Guard against 
 that not only impious, but ridiculous observation of s?ieezin^. 
 But as often as you hasten anywhere, make the sign of the 
 cross in the name of Christ, repeat the creed believingly, 
 and undertake your journey, certain of God's aid." He 
 carefully warned his flock against misunderstanding such 
 passages in the Bible which might be perverted to favour 
 superstitious usages by persons, from ignorance of biblical 
 language and a right interpretation of Scripture ; as. for exam- 
 ple, on the passage 2 Kings iv. 29, he said : " Be on your 
 guard here, my brethren, lest a wicked thought finds its way 
 into your minds ; lest any of you say, Elisha was disposed to 
 observe an omen, and on this account he commanded his 
 
SUPERSTITIOUS USAGES AMONG CHEISTIANS. 365 
 
 servant not to return the salutation of any one on the -vvay. It 
 is as if he had said, ' Go so quickly as to allow no time for 
 talking with any one on the road,'"-'^ 
 
 For a long time there -were two parties in the French 
 church opposed to one anotlier on the doctrines of grace and 
 free will. The one (the so-called Scmipclagians) sought for 
 a means of reconciling the divine and the human in the work 
 of conversion; they wished to refer to God as the source of all 
 goodness, and to redem])tion as the cause of true sanctifica- 
 tion, without denying the free self-determination of man, 
 and thereby making God the author of sin and misery ; they 
 wished to guard againt contracted views of the paternal love 
 of God towards all mankind. Such were the pure Christian 
 
 * Among the superstitions whicli Caesaiius (though in vain) sought 
 to suppress, was an abuse which at this time was gaining ground in 
 France — that of seeking for oracles respecting earthly things in the book 
 which ought to be regarded as the waymark to eternal life. In earher times 
 it had often happened that pious men, in moments which were import- 
 ant for the decision of their inner life, regarded an expression of Scripture, 
 which they happened upon, as a word from heaven specially spoken to 
 them — of which we find examples in the lives of Athanasius and Augustin. 
 But it was a different thing to seek in Scripture for a decision respecting 
 uncertain worldly events, to make use of them in the service of a vain 
 earthly mind and of superstition. We find the first trace of this abuse in 
 Augustin ; and he would have expressed himself more strongly against it, 
 if the heathen arts of soothsaying, a consequence of mere superficial con- 
 version, had not spread so widely in the Roman empire, and especially in 
 North Africa. "Although," says Augustin, "it is to be wished that 
 those who seek their fortunes out of the gospels {qui de paginis evanf/elicis 
 sortes legunt) would rather do this than run to ask their idols ; — yet this 
 custom displeases me — the wishing to use the Word of God, which 
 speaks in reference to another life, for worldly concerns and the vain 
 objects of the present life." But this abuse gained ground even among 
 the clergy; so that in doubtful earthly concerns persons would lay down 
 a bible in a church, upon the altar, or especially on the grave of a saint, 
 would fast and pray and invoke the saint, that he would indicate the 
 future by a passage of Scripture, and sought for the answer in the first 
 passage which met the eye on opening the Bible. (This was called sortes 
 sanctorum.) Against this practice a decree was passed at the above- 
 mentioned Council of Agde, a.d. TjOS, that since many persons, both of 
 the clergy and laity, practised divination under the semblance of religion, 
 or promised a disclosure of the future by looking into the Scriptures, all 
 who advised or taught this were to be excluded troni church communion. 
 This was a repetition of the prohibition already passed at the Council of 
 Vienne, a.d. 465. 
 
366 CHRISTIANITY IN THE SIXTH CENTURY. 
 
 motives of these persons ; but they erred in wishing to 
 define too sharply the lines of demarcation between the 
 divine and the human in conversion, and ascribed too much 
 to the will of the creature, which yet can only be considered 
 as receptive and susceptible in relation to the eternal, crea 
 tive, original source of all good. That genuine Christian 
 design of taking the middle path between opposing errors, 
 induced many pious men in Southern France, such as Faustus, 
 bishop of Riez, in Provence, to join themselves to this party. 
 They were anxious to counteract a spiritual indolence, which 
 found its stand-point in the notion that God accomplishes 
 everything in man without any doing on his part. Against 
 the party stood opposed another (the so-called Predestinarians), 
 who regarded the whole development of the divine life in man 
 as an unconditional work of divine grace, to which the will of 
 man can contribute nothing in any way, so that God was 
 here regarded as a being awakening by a blind caprice some 
 persons to faith and salvation, and driving others into sin and 
 eternal destruction ; on which they often expressed them- 
 selves with an outrageous severity that shocked all human 
 feelings. It is e\-ident that one extreme would necessarily 
 call forth and promote the other. Caesarius took the middle 
 ground between these two parties. It was the desire of his 
 pious soul, deeply penetrated with a sense of the nothingness 
 of human merit and human power, with a sense of depend- 
 ence on God, and the idea of an entire surrender to him, — 
 to give prominence to the doctrine that man can do nothing 
 of himself, that even the first movements of desire after 
 justification and holiness come to man from God, — that he 
 must only surrender himself to the Redeemer, in order to be 
 sanctified by him. He was bent on putting down every 
 assumption of merit which fostered human pride. The 
 whole tendency of his disposition was to much fixed on one 
 point, and he was too much captivated with Augustin (to 
 whom he was deeply indebted for his inward Christian 
 life and his theological development), to allow of his suc- 
 ceeding in clearly recognizing and expressing that point 
 by which eveiy thing of practical importance in this matter 
 is gained, by which alone a path can be found between 
 the two opposing precipices, and with which faith (which 
 is not sight) must satisfy itself; namely, that it depends 
 
THE SEMI-PELAGIANS AND PKEDESTINABIANS. 307 
 
 on the free self-determination of man, cither to suiTcnder 
 himself to attracting and guiding grace, or to oppose and 
 exclude it. But this tender-hearted man, glowing with 
 love and filled with Christian moderation, could never fall 
 into the harshness of that predestiuarian doctrine. On the 
 contrary, he declared himself against everything which could 
 ■wound the moral feelings, or be at variance with faith in the 
 holiness and love of God. He never expressly taught the 
 doctrine of an unconditional predestination, but only main- 
 tained the doctrine of grace effecting everything, without 
 indulging in wider speculations. This spirit was expressed 
 in the system of doctrine drawn up by Ca}sarius, as it was 
 confirmed at the second council held at Orange (Araiisio), 
 A. D. 529. In this, among other things, it is said : " Even 
 in its original state, human nature requires the aid of its 
 Creator, in order to maintain its purity;" a position that 
 could be maintained on good grounds, since the fountain of 
 goodness for every created being can only be God, but the 
 wishing to be something of and for himself is the cause of all 
 evil. Then again, it is said : " Since therefore human nature 
 cannot keep the state of soundness it has received without 
 the help of God, how can it regain it when lost without 
 God's help r Let no one boast of that which he seems to 
 have, as if he had not received it ; and let no one believe 
 that he has received only in this sense, that the letter of the 
 law has appeared to him from without"' [e. e. let no one 
 believe that the grace of God consists only in the revelation 
 of the law ; since the law, in and for itself, if the inward 
 man does not agree with the law by being filled with a 
 divine life and animated with the spirit of love, only im- 
 presses w^ith a sense of sinfulness, but docs not impart the 
 power to do good — it cannot sanctify the soul]; for the 
 apostle says, ' If righteousness were by the law, then Christ 
 has died in vain.' (Gal. ii. 21.) And (Eph. iv. 8), ' He has 
 ascended on high, and taken captivity captive, and received 
 gifts for men.' Christ, after he had crushed the might of 
 the Evil Spirit and freed humanity from his power, rose vic- 
 toriously, rose to a participation of divine power in heaven ; 
 and he, the Redeemer, armed with divine power, glorified, 
 and victorious over everything that opposed the kingdom of 
 God, communicates the power of a divine life, the gifts of 
 
368 CHRISTIANITY IN THE SIXTH CENTURY. 
 
 the Holv Spirit, to men wbom he has liberated and redeemed. 
 Every one who has anything, has it from him. But whoever 
 denies that he has it from him. either in reality has nothing, 
 or that which he seems to have will be taken from him. 
 [As soon as pride and self-will, however refined, self-confi- 
 dence, and self -valuation, have gained the mastery in man, 
 goodness is corrupted and crushed in the germ.] Heathen 
 heroism is brought forth by worldly desires [such as the love 
 cf fame and attachment to earthly freedom] ; Christian 
 heroism is produced by the love of God, which is shed 
 abroad in our hearts not by our own free will, but by the 
 Holy Ghost, which is given unto us. Even as the apostle 
 said to those who had fallen from grace because they wished 
 to be justified by the law : ' If righteousness come by the 
 law, then Christ is dead in vain ; ' so also is it justly said to 
 those who exchange nature for grace, ' If righteousness came 
 by nature, then Christ is dead in vain.' For the law was 
 already in existence, and it justified not ; and nature was 
 already in existence, and it justified not. Hence Christ died 
 not in vain in order that the law might be fulfilled by him 
 who said, ' I am not come destroy the law, but to fulfil 
 it;' and the nature lost by Adam is restored by him, who 
 said that he ' came to seek and save that which was lost.' 
 
 '• Man has nothing from himself but sin and falsehood. 
 Whatever of truth and righteousness man possesses, he has 
 from that fomitain after which we must thirst in this desert, 
 in order that, refreshed by a few drops of it, we may not faint 
 by the way. The branches are in such a manner connected 
 ■with the vine that they give nothing to it, but receive the 
 vital sap from it. On the other hand, the vine furnishes 
 vital sap to the branches, but receives nothing from them. 
 Hence it is for the advantage of the disciples, and not of 
 Christ, that Christ dwells in them and they dwell in Christ. 
 For if the branches were cut off. other branches miirht shoot 
 forth from the living root, — but the branches that are cut off, 
 cannot live without the root." He also expressed abhorrence 
 of those who taught that God had predestined man to evil. 
 This was a beautiful witness of the genuine Christian spirit 
 and of clear Christian knowledge, in the midst of uncul- 
 tivated tribes of barbarians. 
 
 The faith of Csesarius was tried by many severe aölictions 
 
HIS UNIYERSAT. BENEFICENCE. 369 
 
 in this stormy period. One of his secretaries contrived iri 
 a most artful manner to accuse him to Alaric II., l<iiig of the 
 Visigoths in those parts, as if from attachment to Burgundy, 
 his native country, he was designing to hring Aries under 
 the Burgundian government. In a. t>. 505, he was torn 
 from his flock and banished to Bordeaux. Here he acquired 
 a great reputation. They were indebted to his prayers for 
 the quenching of a great conflagration. Instead of plotting 
 rebellion, as his crafty calumniator accused him, he rather 
 laboured to suppress the ferment which arose from dissatis- 
 tion with the Arian chiefs. He inculcated on all persons the 
 Christian duty of ftiithful obedience to their governors, that 
 they should give to Cecsar the things that were Caesar's, and 
 to God the things that were God's : that according to the 
 Apostle Paul's injunction, they should obey kings and all in 
 authority, if they commanded nothing contrary to the divine 
 law, and see in the chiefs only chiefs and not Arians. By 
 his conduct he gave the best refutations of the calumnies 
 against him. Alaric himself acknowledge his innocence, and 
 recalled him. His traducer would have been stoned, but 
 Ca?sarius obtained a pardon for him from the king. After 
 Alaric IL, in a. t>. 607, had lost his life in an unsuccessful 
 war with the Franks, this region was occupied by a host of 
 the Ostrogoths, who had hastened to the aid of the Visigoths, 
 and the city of Aries, then in possession of the Goths, was 
 besieged by the united forces of the Franks and Burgundiaus. 
 During the siege, it happened that a young ecclesiastic, a 
 relation of Ca!sarius, in order to be freed from the confine- 
 ment, was inconsiderate enough to let himself down by a 
 rope from the wall. This awoke suspicion among the Goths 
 against Cccsarius, as if he wished to betray the city to their 
 enemies. He was seized and thrown in prison, till, at last, 
 the falsity of the charge against him came to light. 
 
 When the Goths obtained the victory, they brought a 
 number of prisoners into the city. Ctcsarius received them 
 into his church and his house, and provided them with 
 clothing and food, until he was able to raise a sum sufficient 
 to purchase their freedom. In order to accomplish this 
 object, after having exhausted the church-chest, he sold, not 
 only all the gold and silver vessels of his church, but also 
 stripped off all the gold and silver that could be found on the 
 
 2 B 
 
370 CHRISTIANITY IX THE SIXTH CENTURY. 
 
 walls and pillars of the cliurcli, and turned all into money. 
 He considered this to be the duty of a bishop, and said of 
 those who would not act thus, or who disapproved of such 
 conduct: "If I see such persons among our priests, who 
 (I know not from what love of superfluities) would not give 
 up the dead silver and gold, which was given to Christ, for 
 the servants of Christ — I would ask such persons whether 
 they, if they had met with such misfortunes, would not wish 
 to be redeemed by such dead gifts, or whether they would 
 regard it as a sacrilege, if assistance was afforded them by 
 means of these gifts devoted to God. I cannot persuade 
 myself that it is contrary to the will of God to apply what 
 has been devoted to his service, to the redemption of men, 
 since he has given himself for their redemption." 
 
 After this season of trial, Caesarius said, in a sermon : 
 " The possessions on which we depend are not be found in 
 this world, for the hope which a man sees is not hope 
 (Rom. viii. 24) ; the hope of the world, which man sees, 
 consists only in bitterness. The world presents a bitter cup 
 to its votaries. O the misery of mankind ! The world is 
 bitter and yet is loved. How would it be loved, if it were 
 sweet ! Ye votaries of the world, to you the truth speaks, — 
 where is that which ye loved ; which was so dear to you ? 
 where is that which ye M'ould not let slip ? where are so 
 many tracts of country, so many flourishing cities ? It is 
 enough to make a great impression on the heart, only to hear 
 of such desolations. But now, the horrible miseries of a 
 siege have struck our eyes ; — we have seen so many dead 
 persons, that scarcely living persons enough have been left 
 to bury them ! Contemplate that plague which by God's 
 righteous judgment has smitten us ; whole provinces have 
 been dragged into captivity ; mothers of families have been 
 snatched away ; and the mistress of many servants is now 
 herself the bondswoman of barbarians. Barbarians, without 
 a spark of humanity, have imposed the hard service of 
 slaves on tender and distinguished females. But we, my 
 beloved brethren, whom the Lord has spared, not because 
 we deserved it, but to whom he has allowed space for 
 repentance, we cannot think without fear and trembling, 
 that this ought to be a warning example for all of us. Let 
 us from the wounds of others obtain remedies for our own 
 
PRISONERS RANSOMED BY HIS GENEROSITY. 371 
 
 wounds ; and let us continuixlly fear wliat the Lord says ia 
 the gospel : ' Suppose ye that these Galileans were sinners 
 above all the Galileans, because they suffered such things ? 
 I tell you, nay ; but except ye repent, ye shall all likewise 
 perish,'" 
 
 CaBsarius was again accused to the Ostroo:oth Arian king, 
 Theodoric, and in a.d. 513 was brought by his orders to the 
 imperial court at Ravenna. But this noble prince was so 
 susceptible of the impression made by the venerable appear- 
 ance of a man whose whole being seemed glorified throughout 
 by the spirit of the gospel, that in a personal interview 
 with him the charge made against him was annihilated. " I 
 trembled," he afterwards said, "when I looked at him — 
 when I saw the angelic countenance of the apostolic man. 
 before me ; of so venerable an individual I can believe no 
 evil." It pained him exceedingly that such a man should 
 have been obliged by ill-designing persons to undertake so 
 long and toilsome a journey. About noon he sent him, as a 
 token of remembrance, a silver dish, of nearly sixty pounds 
 weight, and with it a sum of money, three hundred solidi. 
 Caesarius, within three days, sold the plate, and used the 
 money received for it to set at liberty numbers of persons 
 who had been made prisoners by the Goths. 
 
 The house in which he resided was so filled with tlie poor 
 and afflicted, that it was difficult to make way through the 
 crowd to visit him. So great was the veneration for his 
 person, that all persons of the higher class sent him money 
 for distribution. He was able to send a multitude of captives 
 who had been dragged away from France, back to their 
 families in waggons, and took with him also a large sum 
 (eight thousand solidi) for the poor and the imprisoned in 
 France. 
 
 Even amidst the most melancholy state of this district, and 
 though his church was so impoverished, means were not 
 wanting to Ca}sarius for alleviating the sufferings of the 
 people ; his love and inexhaustible confideTice in God over- 
 came all difficulties, and carried him through victoriously. 
 A great multitude of prisoners were on one occasion brought 
 together at Aries, among whom were many of high rank, 
 whose ransom he had paid, but who could not yet be certain 
 of retm-ning to their friends. As they were detained at Aries 
 
 2 B 2 
 
372 CHKISTIANITY IN THE SIXTH GEXTUEY. 
 
 for so long a time without the means of support, he took 
 chai'o-e of their daily maintenance. One day his steward 
 informed him that nothing could be done for them except to 
 let them beg their living in the streets for that day; for if 
 they were supplied with provisions from the church, he would 
 have not a morsel of bread on his table the next day. When 
 Ca:sarius heard tliis, he went into his cell and prayed that 
 the Lord would grant supplies for the poor. He then came 
 back with cheerful trust, reproved the steward for his want 
 of faith, and said to his secretary : '■' Go to the barn, and 
 empty it to the last grain, of corn ; then bake the bread as 
 usual, and we will all eat together : if to-morrow there should 
 be nothing, we will all fast together ; only we will not let 
 people of good descent and the other prisoners go begging- 
 about the streets to-day while we sit down to eat and drink." 
 But he whispered to one of his confidential friends : " To- 
 nioiTow God will sui-ely give ; for he that gives to the poor, 
 shall never suffer want." The next day, to which all looked 
 forward with anxiety, early in the morning three vessels 
 hove in sight, laden with corn, which the Burgundian kings 
 Gundobad and Sigismund had sent to Caesarius in aid of his 
 beneficence. He often desired his attendant to go out and 
 see whether any poor person was standing before the door, but 
 afraid to come in, lest he should disturb his rest. He deeply 
 lamented that the poor found it so ditficult to gain access to 
 the hearts of their brethren ; and believing that he saw Christ 
 himself asking for aid in the deaf and dumb, and in others 
 that stood without, waiting and begging, he said : " Truly it 
 is Christ who is waiting without, who says so much, who is 
 deaf, and still prays, and exhorts, and adjures all to give." 
 A poor man once asked him for money to ransom a captive, 
 and as he had nothing to give, he said : " What must I do 
 for thee, my poor fellow! What I have, I give to thee." 
 He went to his cell, and fetched the sacerdotal di-ess in- 
 tended for extraordinary occasions, gave it to him, and said : 
 *' Go, sell that to one of the clergy, and witb the money set 
 thy captive free." His heart, full of love, never refused to 
 intercede for any sufferer, and great confidence was placed in 
 his prayers, which were often visibly answered ; but he 
 always refused the reputation of a wonder-worker. When a 
 mother with tears thanked him for his prayers, to which she 
 
HIS DEATH. 373 
 
 ascribed the preservation of her son s life, he ansvrcred her, 
 that she ought rather to thunk Ilim whose power and grace 
 are ready to assist all those in trouble who cry to him ; and 
 he often used to say : " Those to whom the care of souls is 
 intrusted ought to be on their guard, lest persons seek from 
 them rather what is bodily than Avhat is spiritual ; that is, 
 the healing rather of bodily inlirmities than of diseases of 
 the soul. Divine grace grants such miraculous gifts rather 
 to the simple than to the learned. May a gracious God grant 
 us the discretion to keep within just bounds, and to lead a 
 life acceptable to Ilim with the talents committed to us. It 
 is unreasonable to expect that such unworthy persons as we 
 are will be allowed to work miracles." 
 
 Ca^sarius had laboured forty years as a bishop, and had 
 reached his seventy-third year when he was seized with 
 severe illness. Amidst grievous pains, he asked if the day 
 kept in memory of Augustinus death was not at hand. When 
 he was told that the day was near, he said : ''I trust in the 
 Lord that he will not let the day of my death be far from 
 that ; ye know how I have loved him as a teacher of the truth, 
 and how great the distance is between him and me in point 
 of worthiness." He died on the day preceding Augustin s, 
 the 27th of August, 542.^^ 
 
 * About the same time that Csesarius laboured in France, Ej)iphaiiius, 
 bishop of Pavia, laboured in a similar spirit in Italy. He also was a 
 blessing to a country distracted by wars and overrun by one tribe of bar- 
 barians after another. Amidst the conflict of hostile nations he won 
 equal confidence and veneration from the leaders of the opposing parties, 
 and dispensed his beneficence both to friends and foes. When the savage 
 host of Odoacer, in the year 47G, ruined and plundered Pavia, Epiphanius 
 alone could conquer the fury of the barbarians, and rescued many un- 
 fortunate persons. It was by means of his efforts that the restoration and 
 repopulation of the city was effected. In dependence on God he under- 
 took the restoration of the church, which had been burnt to ashes, 
 although he saw no means of being able to meet the expense. He used 
 to say : "To the rich soul [he meant the soul that possesses by faith true 
 inward riches] means can hardly be wanting; and, on the other hand, it 
 is a most difficult thing for a man wlio is poor in his soul to have enough." 
 Although in his spirit he was dead to the world, and lived in the constant 
 sight of eternity, yet, out of love to his brethren, he took a lively interest 
 in earthly concerns. He sacrificed his rest, appeared at tlie courts of 
 ])rinces, undertook difficult, toilsome journeys, in which he sacrificed all 
 convenience and endured all deprivations, for the sake of obtainin;; peace, 
 the lessening of public burdens, and the freedom of captives from the 
 
374 CHRISTIANITY IN THE SIXTH CENTURY. 
 
 4. Eligius, Bishop of Noyon. 
 
 The life of this pious bishop is of more importance to us, 
 because a considerable part of his life was spent in an ordi- 
 nary civil station and business before he entered the eccle- 
 siastical order ; and hence his life may be taken as a repre- 
 sentation of the civil life of pious persons in his age. Ho 
 was born at Chatelat, one mile Irom Limoges, in the year 
 588. He belonged to an ancient Christian family, and re- 
 ceived a pious education,'"'' the effects of which were spread 
 
 chiefs of the nations who at that time were masters of Italy. A journey 
 which he undertook in his 58th year for such a purpose, attended with 
 many difficulties in an inclement season of the year, to the court of Kitif; 
 Theodoric, appears to have brought on his death. He returned to Pavi;i 
 ill, and though the joy of being once more with his flock, after he had 
 gained the assistance he had sought for, made him forget his ill health, 
 yet at last he was overpowered by it. As the watchword of his life had 
 been the words which were often on his lips, " To me to live is Christ and 
 death is gain;" so when he felt the approach of death, he said, calmly and 
 cheerfully, " I will sing of the mercies of the Lord for ever ; with 
 my mouth will I make known thy faithfulness to all generations" 
 (Psa. Ixxxix. 1), and " Lord, into thy hands I commend my spirit," 
 and " My heart rejoiceth in the Lord ; my horn is exalted in the Lord ; 
 I rejoice in thy salvation" (1 Sam. ii. 1) ; and thus he left the world, 
 singing the praises of God. 
 
 * The heart of a pious mother of this age is expressed in the letters of 
 a mother of Desiderius, a friend of Eligius, who lived at the same time 
 with him at the French court, and was afterwards bishop of Cahors. 
 Her name was Archanefreda,vand she thus writes to this her young son, 
 Desiderius : '* My dearest son, I exhort thee to think of the Lord always, 
 to have God continually in thy soul, neither to have pleasure in evil 
 works, which God hates, nor to do them. Be faithful to the king, and 
 fdendly to thy companions ; always love and fear God. Guard carefully 
 a2;ainst all evil works, whereby the Lord is offended, that thou mayest 
 not, by thy wicked life, lead others into wickedness. Let not thy neigh- 
 bours or equals have any opportunity of calumniating thee, but rather, 
 Vxhen they see thy good works, may they praise the Lord. Always 
 remember, my son, what I have promised God for thee [at that time the 
 ]iarents were commonly the sponsors at baptism], and walk constantly in 
 the fear of the Lord." After the death of her other two sons, she wrote 
 to him : '^What should I, thy unfortunate mother do, if thou wert to 
 die .'' But thou, my dearest son, always take care that, after thou hast lost 
 thy dear brothers, thou dost not lose thyself. Be on thy guard always 
 against the broad way that leads to destruction, and keep thyself in the 
 way of God. I believe that sorrow will end my life ; do thou pray that 
 He may receive my dejiarting soul, after whom love causes me to sigh day 
 and night." 
 
ELIGIUS, BISHOP OF NOYON. 375 
 
 over the rest of his life. When a youth, his father Euchcrius 
 phiced him with a goldsmith, who was noted in his art, who 
 superintended the public mint at Limoges. ]3y the skill 
 which he acquired in this art, by his general abilities, and 
 by his intelligent Christian conduct, he soon became known 
 through the whole neighbourhood. Religion gave him power 
 and pleasure in labour : and by the labour which directed his 
 attention to earthlv thin^rs, he felt so much the irreater need 
 to refresh his spirit by occupying it with heavenly things. 
 He attended public worship regularly and zealously, and 
 M'hat he heard read from the Holy Scriptures, was impressed 
 deeply on his mind, and was the frequent subject of his 
 meditations. When afterwards he obtained a Bible as his 
 own property,* he always laid it open before him at his 
 work. 
 
 He afterwards left his native country, and resided at the 
 court of King Clotaire H. The royal treasurer Bobbo became 
 intimate M'ith him, and received him into his family. It 
 happened that the king wished to have a chair ornamented 
 with gold and precious stones, made in a certain manner 
 M'hich he described. Since none of his own w'orkmen could 
 make it according to his wishes, the treasurer applied to 
 Eligius, who declared himself ready to undertake it. Much 
 gold was given him for this work, and he used it with such 
 care and economy, that instead of one chair, such as the 
 king wished, he was able to finish two. Eligius caused one 
 of the chairs to be brought to the king, but kept the other 
 at his home. The kinj;: admired the workmanship, and ex- 
 pressed his satisfaction. But he was still more astonished 
 when Eligius sent for the other chair, and said to him : 
 '' That I might not be chargeable with any negligence, I have 
 used the gold that remained for this work." The king 
 immediately said : "He who is found so faithful in little 
 
 * In a biography of this age a pious youth is thus described : " He 
 read the Holy Scriptures daily with such eagerness, tliat he almost knew 
 them by heart, and made them the constant subject of reflection. In this 
 school he sought no other teacher than the Lord Jesus Christ, whom he 
 loved with all his heart. He had him present to the eyes of his soul. He 
 placed his hopes in his mercy, and strove to adhere to him with the 
 entire devotion of his heart. He prayed diligently, jiaid attention to 
 almsgiving and fasting, relieved the poor, clothed the naked, and, as far 
 as lay in his power, distributed to the poor from his father's property." 
 
376 CHRISTIANITY IN THE SEVENTH CENTURY. 
 
 thino-s, will be faithful also in greater;" and Eligius, after 
 this occurrence, was held in increasing respect for his talents 
 and character, Such great confidence was now placed in 
 him, that if any work was to be executed for the court, 
 gold, silver, and jewels were entrusted to him without 
 measure or weight, since there was the assurance felt that 
 he would take no more than he needed. On one occasion, 
 he requested the king to grant him a piece of land — the 
 property of the crown — to found a monastery. The king 
 consented ; but Eligius afterwards found that he had stated 
 the extent of the ground to be about a foot less than it 
 actually measured. This vexed him exceedingly: imme- 
 diately he hastened to the king, and informed him. The 
 king said to the bystanders : " See ! what a noble thing is 
 Christian integrity ! My nobles and treasurers amass great 
 wealth for themselves, and this servant of Christ, on account 
 of his fidelity to his Lord, could not be easy to remain silent 
 about a handful of earth!" The king once required of him, 
 in reference to some business, to take an oath, which ac- 
 cording to the usages of those times was done by laying the 
 hand on certain relics ; but this was too hard a requirement 
 for the tender religious feeling of Eligius. He endeavoured 
 by all possible means to evade it. At last the king gave up 
 pressing it upon him, and exempted him in a friendly manner, 
 declaring that he would believe him more than if he had 
 taken ever so many oaths. 
 
 Although Eligius lived at court in the midst of the world, 
 yet his heart was always turned from the world and set on 
 God and divine things. His going out and coming in, the 
 beginning of his business, "vvas accompanied by prayer,-^ and 
 
 * The abbot Eustasius, of the monastery of Luckau, who lived in this 
 age, says of prayer : " The more the Lord is sought, the more will he be 
 found. We must allow nothing to occupy us so much as diligent prayer, 
 for the Lord exhorts us, in the person of his apostles : ' Watch and pray, 
 that ye enter not into temptation.' Thus also the apostle exhorts us to 
 pray witliout ceasing ; thus the whole Scripture requires us to call 
 upon God ; for whoever neglects to call upon him is cut off from com- 
 munion with the members of Christ." In a biography of this age mention 
 is made of the communication of the true light which enlightens every 
 saint who ya-ays for himself and all believers in Christ. When the abbot 
 Wandregisti, of Fontanelles, in this century, was still a layman, he came 
 to a village, the inhabitants of which were in bad repute, and a quarrel 
 
HIS INTEGRITY AND LIBERALITY. 377 
 
 he prayed not about earthly goods for the body, but about 
 heavenly gifts for the soul. At first he appeared outwardly 
 like the world, for he knew that the essence of tlie Christian 
 calling consisted in renouncing the world with the heart. 
 Hence he appeared in splendid clothing, which was usually 
 worn by covnliers, that he might occasion no surprise. JJut 
 when, by his usual course of conduct, he hud won sufficient 
 respect to be able to deviate from the usual style of dress 
 without giving oifence, he laid aside all ornaments, and went 
 in mean clothing, in order that he might give all he could 
 spare to the poor. When a stranger enquired for his resi- 
 dence, it was usual to describe it by saying, " Go in that 
 direction, and where you see a number of poor people 
 assembled, there dwells Eligius." When he heard that vessels 
 were arrived full of slaves for sale, captives of Iloman, Gallic, 
 British, and Moorish descent, but particularly Saxons, who 
 were driven like so many cattle, he hastened to the spot and 
 sometimes ransomed a hundred. When money failed him, 
 he gave up not only all his ornaments but also necessary 
 articles of clothing, and even stinted himself in his daily 
 food. lie went at once with them to the king, procured 
 letters of manumission for them, and gave them the choice, 
 whether they would return free to their native country, in 
 which case he would furnish them with money for travelling, 
 or remain with him not as slaves but as free brethren, or, 
 histly, whether they would become monks ; if they decided 
 on that, he would find suitable places for them in a monas- 
 tery. Sometimes it happened that Eligius had in this manner 
 given everything awa}'. lie sat down at table with the poor, 
 
 arose among them, which seemed likely to end in bloodshed. He had 
 recourse to prayer, and succeeded in restoring order. His heart then 
 began to glow and to praise God ; whilst he said : " Certainly He must be 
 loved above all who is present whrrever he is called u])on, as the Lord 
 himself has spoken by the prophets (Jer. xxix. 13), ' And ye shall seek me 
 and tirid me when ye shall search for me with ail your heart.'" Similar 
 examples of the effects of Christianity, and of men animated by it, are to 
 be met with in modern times. Who is not reminded of the hfe and 
 labours of the apostolic Schwartz, in the Ea^t Indies, what an imjtression 
 he made by his preaching on tlio thievish K'aller ; so that by means of 
 Christianity they were in part changed into quiet, peaceable agricultural 
 labourers. — (See The Müdem Histoi-y of Mimnonary Institutions in the 
 East Indies, edited by Knapp. Halle, 1804, vol. y. p. 282, &c.) 
 
378 CHKISTIA^^ITT IN THE SEYENTH CENTUEY. 
 
 wlao commonly were his guests. "When his servants ridiculed 
 or expressed their sympathy, he said, " How unbelieving are 
 ye ! Will He who fed Elijah and John in the wilderness, 
 refuse his blessing to us in such society: I depend upon my 
 Creator, that although \ye do not deserve it, yet these poor 
 people will not leave the room till they have been refreshed 
 by his gifts." Scarcely had he uttered these words, when 
 persons knocked at the door, bringing bread and other pro- 
 visions which the king, or some wealthy individual, or some 
 pious man who knew his unbounded hospitality, had sent. 
 
 His tender heart was pained when he saw the bodies of 
 malefactors hanging ; he obtained permission from the king 
 to have them taken do'VNTi and interred. On one occasion he 
 passed with his followers by the body of a person who had 
 been hung ; he went up to it, in order to have it interred ; 
 yet he first felt it on all sides, to ascertain whether there were 
 any signs of life, and when he really perceived some, he said, 
 not thinking of any miracle, though his admirers gave out 
 that it was so : " What a sin we might have committed in 
 burj'ing a man alive, if the Lord had not helped us!" By 
 his care he succeeded in restoring the unfortunate person. 
 The persons who had obtained his execution urged that he 
 should be again given up, but Eligius procured his pardon. 
 
 Eligius was zealous for the sjDread of religious knowledge. 
 On his journeys he delivered edifying discourses to the 
 people. He founded monasteries, M'hich were distinguished 
 by their strict discipline from the irregularities which at that 
 time pervaded those of France ; he also provided them with 
 Bibles. 
 
 The universal veneration which his pious conduct had 
 gained for him, and the confidence which was placed in his 
 Christian zeal, led to his election to the episcopal office when 
 a vacancy occurred in the year 641, which required to be 
 filled up by a self-sacrificing, laborious man. It was the large 
 diocese of Vermondes, Tournay, and Noyon, in and adjoin- 
 ing which dwelt partly people that were still heathens, whom 
 no preacher of the gospel had yet visited, partly those who 
 knew nothing of vital Christianity, and who had received 
 nothing more than a mere semblance of Christianity, a mere 
 routine of ceremonies with which various heathen supersti- 
 tions were mingled. At the peril of his life, and under 
 
I OPPOSITION TO HEATHENISH AMUSEMENTS. 379 
 
 many indignities Avhich were heaped upon him, he laboured 
 among fierce Pagans and nominal Christians, who were un- 
 willing to renounce their heathenish pleasures and supersti- 
 tions. By his Christian love and gentleness, he soon gained 
 the victory over the rage and hatred of the Pagans. He 
 was soon placed in antagonism to the increasing power of the 
 mightv ones of the land, who wished to combine Pairan 
 indulgences and superstitions with the nominal Christianity, 
 and who promoted both among the people by their rejjutation 
 and exam})le. On one occasion, the Feast of the A])ostlc 
 Peter was kept with pagan amusements in a diocese not fai* 
 from the city of Noyon. Kligius, accompanied only by three 
 of his clergy, repaired to it, amidst the crowds that were 
 furious against him on account of his sermons. He mounted 
 an elevated place in front of the church, and denounced in 
 strong terms the heathenish spirit, while the crowds, con- 
 sisting of people of Germanic descent, cried out in a threaten- 
 ing manner to him, who, owing to his Roman-Gallic origin, 
 appeared to them as a foreigner: " Preach as much as thou 
 pleasest, thou Roman, but thou art not permitted to abolish 
 our ancient customs ; no man shall prohibit our ancient 
 amusements, M'hich give us so much pleasure.""^" 
 
 Some fragments of the sermons of Eligius have been pre- 
 served, from which we see how anxious he was to combat the 
 delusive notion that men might satisfy the Almighty by mere 
 outward historical faith and outward ceremonies, and to 
 enforce the necessity of true holiness. " It is not enough, be- 
 loved brethren," he said, " that you have assumed the Christian 
 name, if you do not perform Christian works ; for to be called 
 a Christian avails only him who constantly preserves the 
 doctrine of Christ in his soul, and practises it in his conduct ; 
 who commits no theft, bears no false witness, lies not, is not 
 guilty of adultery, hates no man, but loves all as himself; 
 
 * It is narrated of Sampson, bishop of Dot, in Bretagne, in the sixtli 
 century, that after he had preached with success in an island on the first 
 of January against the usual heathen customs at the beginning of the year, 
 he collected around him the children who, on account of the usual 
 festivities were running about, and when lie had told them aflectionately, in 
 the name of the Lord, that they ougiit to abstain in future from heathenish 
 superstitions, he presented each witli a piece of money, in order, by this 
 token of love, to secure a further entrance to his admonitions into their 
 young hearts. 
 
380 CHRISTIANITY IN THE SEVENTH CENTURY. 
 
 who does not recompense evil to his enemies, but rather prays 
 for them ; who stirs up no strife, but leads back to harmony 
 those who are at variance ; for the Lord himself gave this 
 command [he quotes Matt. xix. 18 ; vii. 12] ; and still greater 
 (v. 44), ' Love your enemies : bless them that curse you ; do 
 good to them that hate you ; pray for them that despitefully 
 use you and persecute you.' See here a strong command ; to 
 men it seems somewhat severe, but it has a great reward ; and 
 what ? hearken ! — ' that you may be the childi-en of your 
 Father in heaven.' O, what grace ! Of ourselves we are not 
 at all worthy to be the servants of God, and by loving our 
 enemies we become the children of God. Therefore, my 
 brethren, love your friends in God, and your enemies for God's 
 sake. For whoever loves his neighbour has fulfilled the law, 
 as the apostle says. Whoever will be a true Christian must 
 obev these commands. If he does not obey them, he deceives 
 himself. A good Christian, then, is the man who trusts to no 
 amulets or devices of Satan, but places all his hopes on Christ 
 alone : "who receives strangers with joy, as if they were Christ 
 himself, since he himself says, ' I was a stranger, and ye took 
 me in. Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of 
 these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.' He is a Chris- 
 tian who believes no false report, who lives chastely himself, 
 and teaches his sons and neighbours to live chastely, and in 
 the fear of God ; who knows the Lord's Prayer and the Creed 
 by heart, and instructs his children and all his household in 
 them. In such a man Christ dwells ; for he has said : ' I and 
 my Father will come to him, and make our abode with him.' 
 He admonished them to train up their children (for whom they 
 pledged themselves at their baptism) in the fear of God, — and 
 to visit the sick and those in prison ; he warned them against 
 the various forms of pagan superstition, not to hang amulets 
 about the necks either of men or beasts, even if they were 
 made by ecclesiastics, and although they were told that they 
 were holy, containing passages of Holy Writ ; for such things 
 are not Christ's remedies, but the devil's poison.''-' ' Let no 
 
 * Chrysostom, Jerome, and Augustin, had aheady spoken against this 
 superstitious practice of making amulets of fragments or passages of the 
 Gospels. We may see how superstition, which does not enter into man 
 from without, but proceeds from the copious fountain of liis internal 
 depravity, always takes the same direction, it we notice how the Mahom- 
 medans in Asia and ASrica. sell for amulets sentences in Arabic, taken from 
 
PROTEST AGAINST PAGAN SUPERSTITIO^■S. 381 
 
 married woman hang amber about her neck ; let no one, 
 in weaving or colouring, call on Minerva, or one of the other 
 heathen goddesses, but let every female "svish in every work 
 that the grace of Christ may be present with her, and let her 
 trust with all her heart in the power of his name. Let no 
 one cry if the moon should be eclipsed, for at God's com- 
 mand it is eclipsed at certain times ; and let no one fear to 
 commence any undertaking at the new moon, for God has 
 created the moon for that purpose, that it should mark the 
 times and lessen the darkness of the night, not to hinder any 
 one's business, or to make any one insane, as foolish people 
 believe. Let no one believe in fate, or in the influence of the 
 stars, so as to say, as the nativity of a man may be, so will it 
 be with him in after-life ; for God wills that all men should 
 be saved, and come to the knowledge of the truth ; and he 
 guides everything with wisdom, as he has ordained before the 
 creation of the world. Certainly heaven is high ; the earth is 
 great, the sea is immeasurable, the stars are beautiful, but 
 more immeasurable and more beautiful must He be who 
 created all things ; for if these visible things are so incompre- 
 hensible, the manifold fruits of the earth, the beauty of the 
 flowers, the various species of animals, if visible things are of 
 such a nature that we cannot comprehend them, what repre- 
 sentation can we form to ourselves of those heavenly things 
 which we have not seen ? Or what must the Creator of all 
 these things be, at whose nod all these things were created, 
 and by whose will they are all governed ? Fear Ilim, there- 
 fore, above all, my brethren ; pray to Him at all times ; love 
 Him above all ; trust in his mercy ; never despair of his 
 grace. Let no one anxiously observe as an omen, when he 
 goes in or out, what meets him, what he hears any one call, 
 or a bird sing, or what he sees any one carrying ; for he who 
 does so, acts like a heathen ; but whoever despises this, let him 
 rejoice that he can apply to himself the words of the Psalmist 
 (Psa. xl. 4) : ' Blessed is that man that maketh the Lord his 
 trust, and respecteth not such as turn aside unto lies.' F'or 
 this reason the apostle enjoins : AVhatever ye do, do all in 
 the name of the Lord Jesus.'" He laid particular stress on 
 despising dreams ; since, as the Holy Scriptures testify, they 
 are vain, and he appealed to Lev. xix. 26 : " Have Christ 
 
 the Koran. " No need," says an old proverb, full of meaning, " to paint 
 the devil on the wall ; he comes in self-invited." 
 
382 CHRISTIANITY IN THE SEVENTH CENTURY. 
 
 always in your hearts, and his sign on your foreheads. A 
 great thing is the sign of Christ — the cross of Christ ; but it 
 is of use only to those who obey Christ's commands. Let no 
 one deceive you ; he that doeth righteousness is righteous ; 
 but he that committeth sin is of the devil ; and no sin, be it 
 adultery or theft, or lying, is done without the influence of 
 the devil. Let no one deceive himself; whoever hates any 
 man in this world, he loses everything which he presents to ) 
 God in good works ; for the apostle does not utter falsehood I 
 who pronounces those fearful words : ' He that hateth his * 
 brother is a murderer, and walke th in darkness.' By the 
 term ' brother ' we must understand every man, for we are all I 
 brethren in Christ. Also despise not the poor man, nor the 
 slave, for perhaps in God's sight he is better than thou art. 
 Strive to separate yom-selves from the devil ; but remain united 
 to God, for he has redeemed you. I wish that the heathen 
 may be astonished at your conduct ; and if they ridicule your 
 Christian life, let not that unsettle you ; they must render an 
 account to God. Wherever you may be, be mindful in your 
 intercourse of Christ, for he says : ' Wherever two or three are 
 met together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.' As 
 an incentive to beneficence, he reminded them that all were 
 redeemed with the same price, and served one common Lord. 
 He represented the Redeemer as thus addressing the sinner 
 at the last judgment : ' I made thee a man with my hand from 
 a clod of earth ; I placed thee, without thy deserving it, in the 
 delights of Paradise, but despising me and my commands, 
 thou preferredst to follow the tempter, and hence hast merited 
 righteous condemnation. Afterwards I had pity upon thee ; 
 I appeared in flesh, and dwelt among sinners upon earth ; I 
 bore shame and suffering for thy sake ; I took thy pains upon 
 me, in order to heal thee. I have taken thy punishment on 
 myself, in order to bestow glory on thee.'" "Let us love 
 God above all," he says in another place, " for it is truly a 
 crime not to love Hiin to whom we can repay nothing, even 
 if we love him ; for what return can we, poor sinners, make 
 to the gracious Lord for all that he has bestowed upon us ? to 
 Him who, without our merit, has bestowed such great blessings 
 on us unworthy creatures .^ to Him who, in order to save us 
 from horrible condemnation, descended from the abode of his 
 Father's glory, and endured the utmost ignominy on earth .^" 
 The affectionate disposition of Eligius, and the constant 
 
HIS PRESENTIMENT OF ArPEOÄ.CHING DEATH. 38o 
 
 tendency of his heart to eternal life, are beautifully exhibited 
 in his epistle to his old friend Dcsiderius/'' bishop of Cahors; 
 " Above all, I beg that as often as thy soul is able to rise 
 above worldly cares to the life of eternal rest, thou wilt not 
 omit to connect the remembrance of my insignificant j)erson 
 with thy prayers. It is indeed certain that nothing in this 
 world penetrates the heart and soul with such intense solici- 
 tude, as the thought of eternal life and of the blessed father- 
 land of the just. With whatever the heart, the mouth over- 
 flows. Therefore, my Desiderius, whom I bear in my heart, 
 think always of thy Eligius, when thou pourest out thy 
 prayer before the Lord. And although wc are separated in 
 space from one another, let us always be near one another in. 
 Christ ; and let us always so strive to live that, after no long 
 period, soul and body may be connected with one another, 
 and we may live for ever connected with one another. I 
 hope that our most gracious Lord Jesus Christ will grant 
 this in answer to our persevering and believing prayers." 
 
 Eligius had reached his seventieth year, in constant 
 unwearied activity, when he jDcacefully found death approach- 
 ing. As he was one day walking about in Noyon with the 
 young clergy who were educated under him, he noticed some- 
 thing threatening to fall in a church to which they were 
 coming ; immediately he sent for a w^orkman, in order to 
 repair it. His pupils said it would be better to wait for a more 
 convenient season, in order that the work might be done 
 more firmly; he replied, " Let it be done, my children, for if it 
 is not now repaired, I shall never live to see it done." Deeply 
 troubled by this declaration, his pupils answered, "• God 
 forbid ! may the Lord preserve you yet many years for the 
 
 * To give some notion respecting this friend of Eligius, we would 
 quote some expressions of his to an abbess who had fallen into sin : 
 " Moved by thy tears, I have selected this evangelical narrative 
 (Luke vii. 38) for thee, for it will occasion thee both comfort and tear. 
 Comfort, since the soul that sought relief from the burden of sin by re- 
 pentance was not rejected by the Lord. Fear, because the soul that 
 gives itself up to the service of the Lord must be prepared for tlie steady 
 endurance of temptations, as Sirach says (ii. 1) : ' My son, if thou wilt be 
 the servant of God, prepare for temptation,' Thy tears spread joy in 
 heaven, since thou voluntarily condemnest sins voluntarily committed. 
 Repent to the utmost of thy power, and keep thy heart with all diligence. 
 The more thou seest thyself forsaken by human aid, so much the more 
 pray for divme aid. I advise thee once more to read this narrative 
 attentively." 
 
384 CHRISTIAXITY IX THE SEVENTH CEXTUKY. 
 
 honour of his church and the benefit of his poor." But 
 Eligius admonished them to acquiesce in the will of God, 
 and said : "Be not troubled, my children ; but rather 
 rejoice, and congratulate me, for I have long earnestly 
 desired for dismission from the tedious vexations of this life." 
 A slight fever was to him a sure sign of approaching death. 
 He called all his attendants together, announced to them the 
 speedy termination of his life, and exhorted them to love and 
 harmony. His illness lasted five or six days, and during that 
 time he went about with the assistance of a staff, for he was 
 always active. On the last day of his life he again assembled 
 all his domestics and all his young clergy, and said to them : 
 " If you love me as I love you, you will willingly hearken to 
 my last words. Strive to fulfil God's commands, always long 
 after Jesus, let his teachings be deeply impressed on our hearts. 
 If you truly love me, love the name of Christ as I love it. 
 Think continually of the uncertainty of the present life ; keep 
 the judgment of God constantly before your eyes, for I am 
 now going the way of all flesh : from this time you will live 
 without me in this world, for it pleases the Lord to call me 
 away now, and I long after my release, after rest, if it pleases 
 the Lord." He then called the young men whom had edu- 
 cated and trained for the clerical office, individually, to him, 
 and told each one to what monastery he should betake him- 
 self after his death. For a long time their lamentations and 
 tears prevented him from speaking ; and much as he longed 
 after eternal life, and rejoiced in the approach of his end, he 
 was yet deej^ly moved by his sympathy with the sorrow of 
 his friends. At last he began again, " Do not grieve so much, 
 nor trouble me any more by your tears. If you are wise, you 
 wdll rather rejoice than mourn, for though I shall be far from 
 you as to my bodily presence, yet in spirit I shall be present 
 among you in a far superior manner, and if it were not so, 
 yet God is always with you, to whom I commend you, to 
 whose care I commit you. If I have been able to do any 
 good, how I have laboured for your advancement in all things 
 you will know in that day when the Lord will judge the 
 secret thoughts of men. I know indeed that as an unprofi- 
 table servant I have done nothing as I ought to do; yet 
 the Lord knows what has been my will hitherto." After 
 adjm-ing them in the most solemn manner to abide faithful to 
 his instructions,— to take care of his clerical establishments 
 
HIS DYING PRAYER. 385 
 
 in the monasteries, and liacl bidden them an affeetionate fore- 
 well, he fell down on his knees and commended to the Eternal 
 Shepherd the sheep that had been intrusted to his care. In 
 his last moments he once more assembled his pupils round his 
 bed, and while they embraced one another weepinu; he said 
 again, " I cannot now say anything more to you, and you will 
 not see me any longer with you ; live then in peace, and let 
 me go to rest." It was noticed that for a long time he prayed 
 silently, looking up to heaven. lie then prayed aloud, " O 
 Lord, now leitest thou thy servant depart in peace, as thou 
 hast said. O remember that thou hast made me out of a clod 
 of earth. Enter not into judgment with thy servant, for in 
 thy sight no llesh living can bo justified, llemember me, O 
 thou Avho art alone without sin. Christ, Saviour of the world! 
 deliver me from the body of this death, and redeem me to 
 thy heavenly kingdom. Thou hast always been my protector ; 
 into thy hands I commend my spirit. I know that I do not 
 deserve to behold tliy face. Yet thou knowest that my hope 
 has always been placed in thy mercy, and that I firmly abide 
 in thy faith, and with my last breath confess thy name. 
 Keceive me therefore, of thy great mercy, and let not my hope 
 be brought to shame. Let thy gracious hand protect me and 
 lead me to the place of rest, the final habitation which thou 
 hast prepared for thy servants and for those who fear thee." 
 Having uttered this prayer, he departed.* 
 
 * To the examples adilucccl in the foregoing biographies of the power 
 which religion exerts over rude uncultivated minds, we may here add the 
 following. The Abbot Ebrolf (Euroul) had settled with his monks in a 
 thick forest inhabited by wild beasts and robbers. One of the robbers 
 came to them, and, struck with awe at their appearance, said to them : 
 " You have not chosen a suitable place for yourselves. The inhabitants 
 of this foreftt live by robbery, and can endure no ojie among them who 
 supports himself by the labour of his own hands. You cannot remain 
 here any longer in saftty. But what do you wish to do in this wild, un- 
 fruitful district?" The Abbot I'' brolf answered : "Know, my brother, 
 that the Lord is with us ; and since we are under his jjrot'ction, we fear 
 not the threatcnings of men, for he himself has said, ' i-'ear not them who 
 can kill the body, but c.mnot kill the soul.' And know that he will 
 supply his servants abundantly with food even in a desert. And thou 
 also canst be a partaker of these riches if thou wilt renounce thy evil 
 vocation, and vow to serve the true and living God ; for our God forgets 
 all the evil which a sinner has done on the day when he turns from all his 
 sins, as the prophet declares (Ezek. xviii. 2i). Therefore, my brother, 
 
 2 c 
 
386 CHRISTIANITY IN THE SIXTH CENTURY. 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 GREGORY THE GREAT, BISHOP OF ROME, A.D. 590. 
 
 God, to whom all his works are known from eternity, by 
 means of a twofold preparation fitted Gregory for the great 
 and onerous office of guiding the church in the West, agitated 
 at that time by so many storms. He who was to be involved 
 in an enormous multitude of engagements of various kinds, 
 was prepared to bear so great a burden by having filled to 
 his fortieth year an important civil office in the state. Then, 
 following a long-felt impulse of his heart, he retired to a 
 monastic life, and here in calm consecrated repose he was to 
 cultivate self-acquaintance, and to acquire power and stability 
 for the inner life. 
 
 From this calm repose, upon which he frequently looked 
 back with regret, he was then drawn out into a restless mani- 
 fold activity, into a whirl of business for the most part alto- 
 gether foreign to the ecclesiastical life and calling, as he 
 
 despair not of God's goodness on account of the greatness of thy sins, 
 but according to the exhortation of that psalm (Psa. xxxiv.), ' Depart 
 from evil and do good,' and be convinced that 'the eyes of the Lord are 
 upon the righteous, and his ears are open to their cry.' But let that 
 terrible word resound also in thy ears, * The face of the Lord is against 
 them that do evil, to cut off the remembrance of them from the earth.' 
 Upon this, the robber departed ; but the forcible tones of the words he 
 had heard left a deep impression on his soul. The nest morning he 
 hastened back to the monks — he brought to the abbot a present (such as 
 his poverty could furnish) three coarse loaves and a honeycomb ; he 
 vowed amendment of his life with all his heart, and remained there as a 
 monk. And after his example many other robbers of this forest were 
 moved by the exhortations of the pious abbot either to become monks or 
 to begin agriculture and support themselves in an honest way by the 
 labour of their hands. 
 
 Another French abbot of this age, Laumann (Loumon) was suddenly 
 attacked by robbers in his cell, but his venerable appearance so overawed 
 them that they fell at his feet, embraced his knees, and exclaimed, 
 " Spare us, O holy man of God!" He answered, " Why do you ask 
 me to spare you, my children? why are you come hither?" They 
 confessed everything to him, and he replied, full of gentleness, '* The 
 Lord have mercy on you, my beloved children stand up and renounce 
 your robberies, that God's mercy may be granted to you." 
 
GREGORY THE GREAT, BISHOP OF ROME. 387 
 
 himself laments : " As the end of the world ap])roaches,* the 
 times are full of disquiet, and evil increases ; and thus we our- 
 selves, whose life is apparently devoted to divine mysteries, 
 are embroiled with earthly cares." Gre<^ory himself drew vivid 
 sketches of the depopulated state of the world at that time, 
 and took occasion from it to admonish his contemporaries of 
 the vanity of earthly things, and to direct their regards to 
 eternity. Thus, in one of his sermons, he says : " Those saints 
 on whose graves we stand, raised themselves in spirit to 
 despise the then flourishing world. There was then long life 
 among men — prosperity, rest, and peace — and yet, while the 
 world still flourished in itself, it had already withered in the 
 hearts of those men. Behold ! now the world is withered in 
 itself, and yet it flourishes in our hearts. Everywhere there 
 is death, and mourning, and destruction ; we are smitten on 
 all sides, the bitter cup is handed to us from every quarter, 
 and yet with the blindness of earthly desires we love even the 
 bitterness of the world, we pursue the fleeting world, we hold 
 fast to the sinking world, and since we cannot keep it from 
 sinking, we sink ourselves with it, wishing to retain it as it 
 sinks. Once the world enchanted by its amusements ; now it 
 is so full of suffering that of itself it points us to God. The 
 downfall of these earthly things shows how worthless they 
 were, even when they appeared to stand firm. Therefore 
 think upon this, in order to direct your hearts to the love of 
 the Eternal, so that, despising earthly glory, you may attain 
 through our Lord Jesus Christ to that glory which you already 
 possess in faith." And in another sermon he says : " I pray 
 you, what now can give joy in this world ? Everywhere we 
 behold sorrow ; on every side we hear groans. Cities are 
 destroyed, fortresses are pulled down, the fields are laid waste, 
 the land is become desolate. The villages are empty, and 
 scared v an inhabitant is left in the cities, and even this small 
 remnant of the human race is daily and incessantly massacred. 
 The scourge of divine justice docs not rest, because no amend- 
 ment has followed under it. We see how some are dragged 
 to prison, some are mutilated, others are put to death. What 
 
 * The devastations which God, who kills in order to make alive and 
 who knows how to call new life out of death, permitted to be the har- 
 bingers of a new creation, appeared to those who suflered from them as 
 omens of the end of all things. 
 
 2o 2 
 
388 CHRISTIAN-ITY IN THE SIXTH CENTURY. 
 
 is there, my brethren, that can give joy in this life r If we 
 still love such a world, we love not pleasures but pains. What 
 has become of that city which was once the empress of the 
 world ? "' He then points out how other great cities had met 
 with a similar fate, and closes with the exhortation : " There- 
 fore let us despise with all our hearts the present world, at 
 least, as one that has perished ; may our longing after the 
 world find an end with the end of the world, and let us imi- 
 tate the works of the pious as we are able." He availed him- 
 self of the state of the world to remind bishojDS of their 
 responsibilities. "You see," he said, " b}' what sword the 
 world is smitten to the ground ; you see under what strokes 
 the world daily sinks. Does not this come to pass through the 
 guilt of our sins ? Behold ! cities are ruined ; fortresses are 
 destroyed ; churches and monasteries are pulled down ; the 
 land is laid waste. But we are the cause of the death of 
 the people M^ho perish, we who ought to be their guides to life." 
 Italy was laid waste by the Longobards, who frequently 
 threatened the Roman territory, and Gregory, as one of the 
 most powerful vassals of the Greek emperor, had to take 
 measures for the defence of the country, placed between the 
 Longobards thirsting for conquest, the governors of the Greek 
 empire, often forgetful of their duties, and a court full of 
 intrigues. We may imagine what a melancholy situation it 
 must have been for a man wlio would so gladly have devoted 
 himself entirely to his spiritual duties ! Moreover, he had to 
 attend to the management of the numerous estates which the 
 Romish church possessed in various parts of the world and in 
 different kingdoms, and the revenues of which were indis- 
 pensable to the bishop that, as the duties of his office re- 
 quired, he might provide for the maintenance of a multitude 
 of poor persons, and the redemption of a number of captives. 
 How much Gregory regarded this as the duty of a bishop, is 
 evident from one example. Some poor aged persons came to 
 him at Ravenna, who told him how much had been given 
 them everywhere for their journey; and when he asked them 
 what they had received from Marinian, the new bishop of 
 Ravenna, who in his youth had been a monk with him, they 
 answered, he had refused to give them anything, alleging that 
 he had nothing to give. Gregory wrote, therefore, to a 
 friend, whom he commissioned to remonstrate with Bishop 
 
HIS ECCLESIASTICAL AND OTHER DUTIES. 389 
 
 Marinlan on the subject. "It seems stranj^e to me that a 
 person who has clothes, and silver, and a cellar, should have 
 nothin£^ to give to the poor. Tell him, therefore, that with his 
 condition he must also alter his manner of livin«^. Let him 
 not think that readiiij>; and 2:)rayer will now be enough for 
 him; that he can be allowed to sit alone in a corner without 
 bringing forth fruit in works. He must help the necessitous, 
 he must regard the wants of others as his own ; otherwise his 
 title of bishop will be only an empty name." 
 
 He gives us a picture of his own situation in a few words 
 of one of his letters : " I must at the same time attend to the 
 bishops and the clergy, the monasteries and the churches ; I 
 must be on my guard against the machinations of enemies, 
 always suspicious of the fraud and meanness of the governors; 
 the purer your love is towards me, the more correctly esti- 
 mate my labours and sufferings." He complains also, in a 
 sermon : '" When I lived in a cloister, my soul could almost 
 always keep in a disposition for prayer. But since I have 
 taken on myself the burden of the pastoral office, my soul, 
 distracted with many things, can hardly ever collect itself, 
 since sometimes I am obliged to receive reports of the affairs 
 of the churches ; sometimes of the monasteries, and often 
 respecting the life and conduct of individuals ; sometimes the 
 affairs of citizens are referred to me ; sometimes I have to 
 si2:h over the desolatiuf? swords of the barbarians, and to 
 dread the wolves plotting against the flocks entrusted to my 
 care ; sometimes I have to attend to the management of 
 estates, in order that those who have a legal maintenance 
 (the clergv, monks, and ninis), may not want a livelihood ; 
 sometimes I must be patient towards the robbers of church 
 property; sometimes, without violating love, I must with- 
 stand them. How can the soul, distracted by so many and 
 such various thoughts, retire M'ithin itself, in order to collect 
 itself for preaching, and not to neglect the service of the 
 Word?" And in another sermon he says : " How am I able 
 to think so that what is necessary for the sui)port of the 
 brethren may be provided, to take care for the defence of the 
 city against hostile swords ; to prevent tlie citizens from 
 being surprised bv a sudden assault, and amidst all this to 
 dispense in the fullest and most efficacious manner the word 
 of exhortation for the good of souls ? For to speak of God 
 
390 CHRISTIANITY IX THE SIXTH CENTURY. 
 
 requires a tranquil and undistracted soul." Yet he knew in 
 whom he trusted, when he says : " "What sort of watchman 
 am I who stand not on the height of a mountain, but in the 
 valley of weakness?" He thus answers the question himself: 
 " But the Creator and Redeemer of the human race is power- 
 ful to impart to me, unworthy as I am, vigour of life and 
 power of the tongue, if from love to him I do not spare 
 myself in the publication of his word." He knew also how 
 to take advantage of these conflicts for his inner life ; by his 
 own experience he saw clearly how easily a man living undis- 
 turbed in the quiet of contemplation might deceive himself 
 respecting the state of his own souL and that the divine and 
 the human can only be rightly discriminated under tempta- 
 tions and conflicts. He says : " By contemplation is man 
 directed to God, but by the force of temptation he is driven 
 back to himself. Temptation molests, that contemplation may 
 not puff up ; and contemplation elevates, lest temptation should 
 sink. For if contemplation raised the soul so that temptation 
 was utterly wanting, it would fall into pride ; and if it were 
 so oppressed by temptation, that it would not rise in contem- 
 plation, it would sink into despair. But by a wonderful 
 arrangement the soul is balanced in a mean, so that it neither 
 becomes proud of its good things nor sinks under its evils." 
 And he beautifully remarks on Matt. xx. 22 : " The disciples 
 desired a place of height : the truth calls them back to the way 
 by which alone they could attain that height, Man attains to 
 glory by the cup of suffering. . . . "What was that ' all.' which 
 he had heard of the Father and would reveal to his servants in 
 order to make them his friends (John xv. 15) ? What, but the 
 joys of inward love, those feasts of the heavenly fatherland 
 which by the asj)irations of his love he impresses daily on our 
 minds .' For if we love the things above the heavens of which 
 we have heard, we already know what we love, for love itself 
 is knowledge. The friends of the Lord make known their 
 eternal fatherland by word and life ; through sufferings they 
 enter into it. But whoever has attained this dignity of a 
 friend of God, let him look at himself, how he is in himself, 
 and let him look at the gifts he has received as to something 
 exalted above himself." 
 
 His spiritual functions were to him the dearest and most 
 important : his exhortations to the bishops show how deeply 
 
HIS COMMENDATION OF CHRISTIAN ACTIVITY. 391 
 
 he was penetrated by a sense of the greatness and respon- 
 sibility of the office of a spiritual pastor. '' There are only a 
 few labourers," he laments, " for the great harvest, which we 
 cannot say without sorrow; for although there is no lack of • 
 persons to hear wliat is good, there is a lack of persons to 
 declare it. Behold ! the world is full of priests, but yet 
 there are only a few labourers for the harvest of God, since 
 though we have undertaken the priestly calling, we do not 
 fulfil the duties of this calling. Whoever is unable to exhort 
 all at the same time by a connected discourse, must instruct 
 individuals as many as he can, edify them by jjrivate conver- 
 sations, and by simple exhortations bring forth fruits in the 
 hearts of his children. We must always consider what was 
 said to the apostles, and through them is said to us, ' Ye 
 are the salt of the earth.' " He expresses his grief that men 
 should postpone, to the outward matters of business connected 
 with the episcopal office, the office of preaching, Avhich yet 
 was the most important of all. " In order that what I say," 
 he remarked, '* may offend no one, I equally accuse myself, 
 although I have submitted to act thus from being compelled 
 by the necessities of this time of desolation. For we are 
 degraded to outward concerns. We neglect the office of 
 preaching, and still, to our own condemnation, assume the 
 title of bishops. Let us consider who has been converted by 
 our tongue, what profit have we brought to God, we who 
 ha^'ing received our talents were sent out to trade with them; 
 for he said, ' Occupy till I come.' — Behold ! he is already 
 come ; behold ! he requires profit from our traffic — What 
 gain of souls can we show him from it?" 
 
 To a bishop of Messina who wished to wait upon him at 
 Rome, he wrote repudiating such vain demonstrations of 
 respect: " Do not trouble yourself to come to me, but pray 
 for us, that although we arc separated from one another by 
 the sea, we can yet be connected with one another in spirit, 
 through love, by the help of Christ; so that supporting one 
 another by reciprocal exhortations, we may be able to place 
 the pastoral office entrusted to us without spot, in the hands 
 of oui' coming Judge." 
 
 To a bishop whom he had censured for his secular life, 
 Gregory wrote: "You must be aware that you have under- 
 taken not the care of earthly things, but the guidance of 
 
392 CHRISTIANITY IN THE SIXTH CENTURY. 
 
 souls ; to that you must direct your heart, to that you 
 must apply your utmost care and diligence." To another 
 he wrote, '• Let the word be in our mouth, and glowing 
 zeal in our hearts, so that we may, in truth, belong to 
 the number of those of whom we read in Acts ii. 3 ; for 
 truly; hery tongues will settle upon us if we are inflamed 
 by the glow of the Divine Spirit to publish the word of 
 exhortation to our brethren and sons." He got up from a 
 sick-bed, and preached with a weak voice: "The voice," he 
 said, " is unequal to the exertion of speaking, and I admit it 
 when I cannot be heard by many, I am ashamed to speak 
 among many. But I blame myself for this feeling. For 
 how ? should I, because I cannot profit many, on that account 
 not be anxious for a few?" He preached while the Longo- 
 bard host was spreading devastation almost to the Avails of 
 Rome, and at last closed his sermons on Ezekiel, in which he 
 did not proceed beyond the fortieth chapter, with these words : 
 " Let no one censm'e me, if I leave off after this discourse ; 
 for you all see that our sufferings have reached the highest 
 point ; everpvhere we are surrounded by swords — on all 
 sides death threatens us. Some return to us with their 
 hands chopped off; of others we hear that they are either 
 taken prisoners or killed ; what then remains for us but that 
 we thank God with tears, under his rod, which is the punish- 
 ment of our sins? For our Creator has become our Father 
 by the spirit of adoption which he has given us. Some- 
 times he feeds his children v«^ith bread ; sometimes he 
 chastises them with the rod : by pains and gifts he trains 
 them for their eternal inheritance." 
 
 It was Gregory's earnest endeavour to promote the study 
 of the Scriptures among both clergy and laity. He says, in 
 one of his sermons: "As we behold the faces of strangers, 
 but do not know their hearts, yet when we are connected 
 with them by confidential intercourse, we learn by this- 
 means to know their thoughts : so when in the Divine Word 
 nothing is seen but the mere history, it is nothing more than 
 the outward countenance. But when by constant intercourse 
 we imbue our minds with it, then we enter into its spirit as. 
 in the confidence of reciprocal conversation." " Often we 
 believe," he says elsewhere, " when we do something, that 
 it is meritorious; but when we return to the Word of God, 
 
HE ITRGES THE STUDY OF THE SCRIPTURES. 393 
 
 we see at how great a distance we stand from perfection." 
 A bishop, whom Gregory had exhorted to the study of the 
 Scriptures, excused himself on the ground that the disturbed 
 state of the times would not give him leisure for reading; 
 Gregory pointed out the futility of this plea, arid referred 
 him to Uom, xv. 4 (*' Whatsoever things were written afore- 
 time were written for our learning, that we, through 
 patience and comfort of the Scriptures, might have hope''). 
 " If then,*' he said, " the Holy Scriptures are written for our 
 comfort, we ought to read them more in proportion as we 
 feel oppressed by the bm-den of our sufferings." The bishop, 
 on the other hand, quoted Matt. x. 19 (" But when they 
 deliver you up, take no thought how or what ye shall speak, 
 for it shall be given you in that same hour what ye shall 
 speak"); from which misunderstood words, he thought it 
 might be inferred that the teachers of the church, without 
 applying to the study of the Divine Word, need only trust 
 to the immediate suggestion of the Holy Spirit. But 
 Gregory well knew how to refute such a ground of excuse. 
 " The Divine Word would be left to us for no purpose, if, 
 being filled with the Spirit, we had no need of the external 
 word. But it is one thing what we may trust to without 
 doubt in a time of persecution, and another thing what we 
 ought to do when the church is in a state of rest; for we 
 receive through this Spirit, in reading, what, if occasion 
 should arise, we must show by suffering." He also reproved 
 one of the emperor's physicians, that amidst the distractions 
 of the times he neglected reading daily the words of hi« 
 Redeemer. " What else are the Holy Scriptures," he wrote 
 to him, " but a letter from the Almighty God to his 
 creatures? Truly, if you were staying at a distance from 
 the court, and received a letter from the earthly emperor, 
 you would not rest, you could not sleep, till you knew its 
 contents. The King of heaven, the Lord of men and 
 angels, has sent you his letter, giving you directions how to 
 gain eternal life, and yet you neglect to read this letter 
 carefully. Therefore bestir yourself, and reflect daily on the 
 words of your Creator. Learn to know the heart of God 
 from the words of God, in order that you may yearn with 
 ardent longing after the Eternal — that your soul may gloH' 
 with more intense desire after heavenly joys ; for there will 
 
394 CHEISTIANITY IN THE SIXTH CENTUEY. 
 
 be so much greater rest in your soul, if love to your Creator 
 gives you no rest. But in order that you may attain to that, 
 may God Almighty pour his Spirit into you ; may he fill 
 your soul with his ONvn presence, and thus filling it, raise 
 you to himself." 
 
 We have indeed seen that Gregory applied the words of 
 our Lord, " Ye are the salt of the earth," in too confined a 
 sense; since he referred these words, which relate to aU 
 Christians as such, only to the teachers of the church, as the 
 successors of the apostles. But he was very far from 
 considering the call to labour for the spread and advance- 
 ment of the kingdom of God, as not common to all Christians. 
 After describing the dignity of the priests in the words of 
 Malachi (ii. 7), " For the priests' lips should teach knowledge, 
 and they should seek the law at his mouth, for he is a 
 messenger or angel of the Lord of hosts ; " he added, 
 addressing all the members of the church: " But you may all 
 attain the high dignity of this name, if you will ; for if any 
 one among you, as far as he has received grace from above, 
 calls his neighbour from wickedness and seeks to exhort him 
 to a right course, if he speaks to him words of holy exhor- 
 tation, he is certainly a messenger or angel of the Lord. 
 And let no one say, I am not capable of exhorting others; 
 give as much as thou art able ; that a severe reckoning may 
 not be required of thee for keeping in a dishonest way M'hat 
 thou hast received: for he had received only one talent who 
 would rather hide it than put it out to use. As far as ye 
 yourselves have made progress, take others \vith you ; seek 
 to gain companions in the ways of God. If one of you, my 
 brethren, is going to the market or the bath, he invites some 
 one whom he sees at leisure to come with him. Let what 
 you thus do in earthly things serve as an example for you ; 
 and when God is the object at which you aim, strive not to 
 come to Him alone, for on this account it is written, ' Let 
 him that heareth, say, Come!' (Rev. xxii. 17); in order 
 that who ever has heard in his heart the voice of heavenly 
 love may speak the word of exhortation outwardly to his 
 neighbour. And jDerhaps he has no bread to give alms to 
 the needy ; but if he has a tongue, there is something of more 
 value in his power to give. For it is a greater thing to 
 refresh, by the noui'ishment of the AVord, a soul destined to 
 
SPIRIT IN WHICH THEY SHOULD BE CONSULTED. 395 
 
 everlasting^ life, than to satisfy the mortal body with earthly 
 bread. Therefore, my brother, do not withhold from thy 
 neighbom- the alms of the Word.'' And in another sermon 
 he says : " There is no one who can truly say, ' I have 
 received no talent, I therefore need ^ive no account ; ' for to 
 every poor man, even the little that he has received will be 
 reckoned as a talent. One has received knowledge; he is 
 bound to display his talent in the office of jireaching. 
 Another has received earthly possessions ; then earthly 
 possessions are his talent, for the use of which he has to 
 render an account. Another has obtained neither a know- 
 ledge of heavenly things nor an abundance of earthly things; 
 but he has learnt a trade by which ho su])ports himself, 
 and so his trade will be placed to his account as a talent. 
 Another has received none of all these things, but perhaps 
 he stands in a confidential relation to a rich man. If, there- 
 fore, he does not employ his interest with such a man on 
 behalf of the needy, he will be condemned for the non- 
 employment of his talent." 
 
 AVhile he exhorted to the study of Holy Writ, he strongly 
 insisted on the distinction between the true and false use 
 of Scripture, and exhorted to such a method of reading the 
 Bible, in which its relation to individual sanctification 
 would always occupy the first place. " Those persons," he 
 said, '• who wish to explore the mysteries of God in Holy 
 Scripture more than they are able to comprehend, will gain 
 nothing by their hunger ; for they do not seek that by which 
 they may be trained to humility, patience, and long-sutfering, 
 but only what may serve to distinguish them as men of 
 learning, and enable them to talk on all ])oints. They often 
 talk boldly of the nature of God, while they are wretchedly 
 ignorant of their own. While they strive after what they 
 cannot attain, they neglect to learn that which might con- 
 duce to their own improvement."' liut he jjointed out at the 
 same time, how every one, if he sought in the right way, 
 might find an answer to his inquiries and satisfaction for his 
 necessities in the Holy Scriptures : " God," he said, " does 
 not answer individual dispositions by sj)ecial sounds, but 
 he has so constituted his Word that he answers by it all 
 questions. If we seek our special concerns in the Holy 
 Scriptures, we shall find them. There is a general answer 
 
398 CHRISTIANITY IN THE SIXTH CENTTJEY. 
 
 given in them to all of us, respecting that which we suffer in 
 particular. The lives of those who lived before, are a pattern 
 for those that follow them. For, to quote one example out 
 of several — see ! if we are smitten by some affliction or 
 grievance in the flesh, we long perhaps to ascertain its hidden 
 causes in order to find comfort in what we suffer, in the 
 knowledge of the thing itself. But since no special answer 
 is given us respecting our particular trials^ M'e take refuge in 
 the Holy Scriptures. There we find what Paul heard when 
 lie was tried by an infirmity in the flesh : ' My grace is 
 sufficient for thee, for my strength is made perfect in weak- 
 ness.' This was said to him in reference to his special 
 infirmity, in order that it need not be said to us all parti- 
 cularly.' We therefore hear the voice in Holy Writ in 
 reference to Paul's sufferings, that when we have to endure 
 suffering, we need not seek to hear it each of us individually 
 for his consolation. The Lord answers us all together, and 
 w^hen he has once spoken, he need not repeat it. In what 
 he spoke to our fiithers by the Holy Scriptures, he has had 
 our improvement in view. Therefore the teachers of the 
 church, when they see many persons suffering from des- 
 pondency, because God does not answer us all in so many 
 words, may confidently say that God has onh' spoken once 
 and will not repeat it, that is, he does not now render assist- 
 ance to the thoughts and trials of individuals by particular 
 prophetic voices, or the ministry of angels ; for Holy Writ 
 includes in itself everything -which can suit individual cases, 
 and it is constructed in such a manner as to form the lives 
 of later persons by the examples of those who lived at an 
 earlier period." 
 
 Gregoiy combated, not less earnestly than the great fathers 
 of the church of whom we have spoken in the former part of 
 this work, the false notion that a man by professing the 
 pure doctrine contained in the creeds, and by zeal for this 
 profession, can satisfy the claims of religion without the prac- 
 tical influence of his faith on his life. To a bishop who boasted 
 to Gregory his zeal in the conversion of heretics, but of whom 
 he had cause to think that he had not laid sufficient stress 
 on holiness in himself and others, he wrote : " I thank Almighty 
 God that by your instrumentality, heretics have been reclaimed 
 to the church. But vou must take care that those who are 
 
HIS SENTIMENTS AS TO MIE.VCLES. 597 
 
 already in the bosom of the church so live that by their evil 
 conduct they do not rank among its enemies. For if they do 
 not love what is divine, but serve earthly lusts, then you will 
 bring up strange childi-en in the bosom of the church herself." 
 When lliccared, king of the Visigoths in Spain, had given 
 up Arianism for the orthodox doctrine, Gregory admonished 
 the first Spanish bishop, Leander of Seville, when he expressed 
 his joy at the king's conversion, to watch over it, that he 
 might perfect the good work that was begun, and not be 
 elated as if he had already done good enough — that he should 
 show his fidelity to the faith he had professed by the conduct 
 of his life, and prove himself to be a citizen of the heavenly 
 kingdom by his works. And to the king himself he thus 
 wrote on the occasion : '* You ought to exercise great mode- 
 rn tion in the administration of yom' government, in order that 
 the plenitude of your power may not seduce your soul ; for 
 onlv then will the government be well administered when the 
 lust of power does not prevail over honour. You must use 
 precaution that anger may not find its way into your breast, 
 and that what you are allowed to do is not done with over- 
 haste. Auger, also, if it punishes the guilt of transgression, 
 must not carry away the soul with it as if it were its lord, 
 but must obc)^ as the servant of reason ; for if it has once 
 begun to take possession of the soul, it will consider as right 
 what it does in a cruel manner. Hence it is written, ' The 
 wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God.' 
 (James i. 20.)"' 
 
 Although Gregory was credulous respecting the accounts of 
 miracles in his age, yet he was far from that morbid craving 
 for the miraculous which was so taken with paiticular 
 miracles as to forget the aim and central point of all mira- 
 cles. Many a noble sentiment he uttered respecting the 
 true object of all miraculous appearances, in order to raise 
 the regards of men from the visible to the invisible, respect- 
 ing the relation of particular miracles to the highest mira- 
 cles, the end of all miracles, the work of God in the hearts 
 of men, redeemed and sanctified by him, the work of bringing 
 forth a new creature. Thus in one ])lace, he says : " When 
 Paul came to^Maltn, and saw the island full of unbelievers, he 
 healed the father of Publius, who was ill of dysentery and a 
 fever, by his prayers ; and yet he said to Timothy mLcu ill, 
 
398 CHRISTIANITY IN THE SIXTH CEXTUEY. 
 
 'Drink no longer water, but use a little Tvine for thy 
 stomach's sake and for thy often infirmities.' How is it, O 
 Paul, that thou restorest the sick unbeliever to health, and yet 
 prescribest to thy fellow-labourer in the publication of the 
 gospel only natuj'al remedies, like a physician r Is not this 
 the reason — because outward miracles have for their object that 
 souls should be conducted to the inward miracle, so that by 
 that which appears outwardly as a visible miracle, faith may be 
 produced in the greater, invisible miracle r By such a miracle 
 was the father of Publius healed, that he was made alive again 
 in the spirit, while by the miracle he received bodily soundness. 
 For Timothy no outward miracle was needed, since already 
 he was wholly alive inwardly." And in a sermon, he says : 
 " In order for faith to grow, it must be nourished by miracle : 
 for when we plant shrubs we pour water on them till we see 
 that they have taken firm root in the groimd, and when this 
 comes to pass, we leave off watering them. Some of these 
 miraculous signs must be more closely considered ; for the 
 church works now, in a spiritual manner, what it then 
 effected through the apostles in a bodily manner. Believers, 
 who have renounced the language of their former worldly 
 life, who cause holy truths to issue from their lips, announc- 
 ing, as far as they are able, the praise and power of their 
 Creator, what else do they do but 'speak with new tongues?' 
 "When they hear pernicious counsel, but are not carried away 
 to commit evil works, they ' drink,' indeed, ' deadly poison,' 
 but it does not hurt them. When they see their neighbours 
 weak in goodness, and help them with all their might, and 
 strengthen them by their own example, what else do they 
 do but ' lay their hand upon the sick so that they recover ? ' 
 These miracles are so much greater in proportion as they are 
 more spiritual ; so much greater since, by their means, not 
 the body but the soul is revived. These miracles, my beloved 
 brethren, you may perform if you will, by the grace of God. 
 Strive after these miracles of love and piety, which are more 
 sure as they are more hidden." And in another passage, he 
 says : " We must distinguish between those gifts of the 
 Spirit without which a man cannot attain to life, and those 
 by which holiness of life is manifested for the advantage of 
 others ; for gentleness, humility, patience, faith and hope, are 
 gifts of the Spirit, but gifts of a kind without which men 
 
ATJGUSTIN, MISSIOIs^AEY TO THE BRITONS. 399 
 
 cannot attain to everlasting life. The gifts of prophesying 
 and of miraculous cures are also liis gifts, but such as 
 demonstrate the prescience of his power for the benefit of 
 the beholders." 
 
 Gregory rejoiced in the successful agency of the Abbot 
 Augustin, whom he had sent out for the conversion of the 
 Anglo-Saxons, and who he believed was supported by 
 miracles in his work. Gregory praised the divine grace, 
 but warned Augustin that he should not be lifted up by it. 
 This active missionary needed such an admonition. By his 
 want of humility there was danger of the divine work being 
 hindered, of which he was the instrument. Probably, if he 
 had possessed more of this salt of all Christian virtue and 
 activity, he might have succeeded in accomplishing something 
 very important for the establishment and progress of the 
 new church in England, and induced the ancient Britons, 
 who by their ancient customs and ecclesiastical freedom, were 
 separated from the Roman Anglo-Saxon church, to unite 
 themselves to it, so as to form a M'hole with it. The Britons 
 asked the opinion of a pious anchorite, respecting the pro- 
 posal made to them. His answer was, that they might fol- 
 low Augustin if he were a man of God. When they further 
 asked what was the sign by which to distinguish a man of 
 God, he replied, " If he is meek and lowly of heart, accord- 
 ing to the pattern of his Lord, it may be expected that he, 
 as a disciple of Christ, wears his Master's yoke, and will not 
 wish to impose any other on you. But if he is of a violent 
 and haughty temper it is evident that he is not born of God, 
 and we ought not to listen to his words." When they asked 
 again, by what sign they might know that he was a meek 
 and humble man, he said, '' that they should first of all let 
 him enter and take a place with his friends in the assembly, 
 in which they wished to consult on that business. If they 
 came in later, and he rose up to them at their entrance, they 
 ought to acknowledge him as a servant of Christ ; but other- 
 wise, if he remained sitting, although they far exceeded his 
 friends in number." Such an outward sign is, indeed, rather 
 deceptive, but yet it may have a special importance as an 
 involuntary expression of the disposition. The internal 
 impress of the spirit is often shown most distinctly in minute 
 traits, and so it might be here. And the ancient Britons 
 
400 CHRISTIANITY IX THE SIXTH CENTURY. 
 
 accordingly would form a riglit judgment if they noticed a 
 want of humility in Augustin, and that he, in fact, required 
 the exhortation and warning which Gregory addi'essed to him. 
 lie wrote to him the following letter, inspired by the spirit 
 of Christian wisdom : — " Glory be to God in the highest, 
 peace on earth, and good-will amongst men, that the grain of 
 corn has fallen in the earth and died (.John xii. 24), in order 
 that he should not reign alone in heaven by whose death 
 we live, by whose weakness we are made strong, by whose 
 sufferings we are redeemed from suffering, out of love to 
 whom we seek our brethren in Britain whom we knew 
 not, by whose grace m'c have found those whom we souglit 
 without their knowing it. Is it not the word of him who 
 said, ' My Father worketh hitherto and I work ;' and who, 
 in order to show that he will convert the world, not by 
 human wisdom but by his own povver, chose unlearned men 
 for his apostles ; the same thing which he does now, since he 
 has condescended to effect mighty things among the English 
 people by weak instruments ? But, my beloved brother, 
 there is something in this heavenly gift which, along %vith 
 your great joy, gives reason for much fear. You must rejoice 
 that the souls of Englishmen have been led by outward 
 miracles to inward grace, but you ought to fear lest the 
 miraculous works which have been performed should puff up 
 your own weak soul ; for we must remind one another that 
 when the disciples returned with joy from their mission, and 
 said to their heavenly Master, 'Lord, even the very devils 
 are subject unto us through thy name ;' they M'ere at once 
 told, ' In this rejoice not that the spirits are subject unto 
 you, but rather rejoice because your names are written in 
 heaven.' When they rejoiced in the miracles, they allowed 
 a self-seeking and temporal joy to take possession of their 
 souls. But their Lord recalled them from a selfish joy to 
 one that was common to all his true disciples, from tem- 
 poral to eternal joy. For not all the elect work miracles, 
 but the names of all of them are written in heaven. The 
 disciples of the truth ought to rejoice only in the good which 
 they all have in common, and in which there is no end of 
 joy. Therefore, my beloved brother, this remains for you to 
 do ; that amidst the effects which you produce outwardly by 
 the power of God,, you always exaimne yourself with strict- 
 
NECESSITY FOR HUMILITY IN SUCCESS. 401 
 
 ness, and Icani correctly what you are yourself, and how- 
 great the grace of God has shown itself to be amonG; this 
 people, for whose conversion you have also received the 
 power of working miracles. If you recollect that you have 
 sinned against our Creator in any way, by word of mouth or 
 by deeds, recall this continually to your mind, in order that the 
 remembrance of your guilt may keep down rising pride. And 
 as to all the M-onderful powers you have received, regard them 
 as given, not to yourself, but to those for whose salvation they 
 were entrusted to you. AVith these miraculous powers the 
 soul must be kept humble, lest it seek its own honour by 
 means of them, and be carried away by the joy it feels for 
 its own exaltation. By these miracles, nothing must be 
 sought for except the winning of souls, and the honour of 
 Him through whose power these miracles are performed. 
 But the Lord has given us one mark in which we may heartily 
 rejoice, and by which we may recognize the honour of our elec- 
 tion. ' By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if 
 ye have love one towards another.' *' A most precious admo- 
 nition for every one in any age to whom the Lord has granted 
 great success in his ministry, and who is tempted to glorify him- 
 self on account of what God has effected by his instrumentality. 
 A female who suffered great anguish from a sense of her 
 sins, sought consolation from Gregory, and wrote to him that 
 she would give him no rest till he had informed her that he 
 had received a special revelation that her sins were forgiven. 
 Gregory wrote to her that he was unworthy of a special 
 revelation, and referred her to the fountain of the Redeemer's 
 mercy that was open for all, but said, " I know that you 
 fervently love the Almighty, and I trust in his mercy that 
 that word from the lips of the truth has been spoken also in 
 reference to you, ' Her sins, which are many, are forgiven, 
 for she loved much.' " In one of his sermons he said, of 
 Christian self-knowledge : " The greater progress saints make 
 in the divine life, so much more sensible are they of their 
 own unworthiness ; for when they are nearest the light, they 
 discover what was concealed in their inner man, and they 
 seem outwardly more hateful the more beautiful that is 
 which they behold internally. For every one when he is 
 enlightened by contact with the true light, becomes manifest 
 
 2 D 
 
402 CHRISTIANITY IN THE SIXTH CENTUKY. 
 
 to himself, since by knowing what holiness is, he is also 
 enlightened to know what guilt is." 
 
 But he warned his hearers against that sham humility 
 which fosters vanity by means of what is most opposed to 
 all vanity and all pride. " We know many," he says, " who 
 without being accused by any one, confess that they are 
 sinners ; but if they are censured by others on account of a 
 fault, seek to justify themselves, that they may not appear as 
 sinners. If such persons, when they voluntarily say it, 
 acknowledged with real humility that they are sinners, they 
 would not, when censured by others, deny that they are what 
 they have voluntarily confessed themselves to be." 
 
 Speaking of the nature of self-denial, he says : " Is it not 
 enough that we renounce our property, although we do not 
 renounce ourselves ? Why must we come out of ourselves ? 
 We must renounce ourselves in that which we have made 
 ourselves through sin, and keep ourselves in that which 
 we have become through grace." In reference to the same 
 subject he says elsewhere : " The more hoKness daily grows 
 in us through God"s Spirit, the more our own spirit lessens. 
 For we attain the perfection of growth in God when we 
 renounce ourselves entirely." 
 
 Gregory always spoke against the externalizing and iso- 
 lating of virtues and good works, and pointed out, that a close 
 connection exists between every kind of real goodness, and 
 that love is the soul of all goodness, apart from which it has 
 no value. " Chastity," he says, " abstinence, distribution of 
 earthly goods among the poor, are nothing without love. 
 Satan very much dreads the true humble love which we 
 show towards one another ; he grudges us our union, for we 
 thus maintain that which he could not himself hold fast. Evil 
 spirits fear the flock of the elect if they are bound to one 
 another by the harmony of love. But the value of harmony 
 appears from this, that without it the other vii-tues are no 
 virtues." " In order," he says, "that a person should show 
 compassion to the needy in a right manner, two things are 
 requisite ; the man who gives, and the thing which is given. 
 But the man is of incomparably greater value than the thing. 
 Whoever, therefore, communicates of his earthly substance 
 to his destitute neighbour, but does not guard his own life 
 from evil, gives God his property but gives himself to sin. 
 
INEQUALITY IN THE CHTJKCH DESIBA.BLE. 403 
 
 He presents what is of least value to his Creator, and that 
 which is of greater value he retains for the Evil One. 
 Only that is a genuine sacrifice to God, \vhen the branches 
 of devotion proceed from the root of righteousness," He 
 marks love as the equalizing principle for all the distinction 
 of gifts among men as bodily and spiritual, since, by means 
 of it, a gift peculiar to the individual becomes common pro- 
 perty. In speaking of those diversified gifts among the apostles 
 which were designed to supplement one another, he says : 
 " The Almighty has acted with the souls of men as he has 
 with the different countries of the earth. Pie might have 
 given fruits of all kinds to every land ; but if every land did 
 not require the fruits of another, there woidd be no fellowship 
 maintained with the others. Hence it comes to pass, that to 
 one he gives a superfluity of wine, to another of oil, to another 
 of cattle, to another of the fruits of the field, so that, since 
 one gives what the other has not, and the latter supplies what 
 the former wants, the separated lands are united by a commu- 
 nication of gifts. And like different countries, the souls of 
 saints are related to one another ; by reciprocally communi- 
 cating what has been imparted to them, as different countries 
 share Math one another their respective productions, they are 
 aU united together in one love." Thus Gregory points out 
 how the inequality and diversity among men is necessary and 
 ordained by God ; that to wish to make all things externally 
 equal would be a mutilation of nature, and a destruction of 
 divine arrangement ; but that the love that proceeds from the 
 gospel equalizes all from within, as all the inequalities founded 
 in nature, or springing out of the relations of life, ought to 
 be materials for the expression and preservation of love. Of 
 true prayer, he remarks : " We see, my dear brethren, in what 
 numbers you are assembled at this feast ; how you bow your 
 knees, strike npon your breasts, utter words of prayer and 
 confession, and moisten your faces with tears. But, I beseech 
 you, consider the quality of your prayers : see to it whether 
 you pray in the name of Jesus, that is, whether you desire the 
 joys of everlasting blessedness ; for you do not seek Jesus in 
 the house of Jesus, when in the temple of eternity you pray 
 for temporal things without reserve. One prays for a wife, 
 another for an estate, another for a livelihood. It is allowable, 
 indeed, to pray for such objects to the Almighty if we need 
 
 2 D 2 
 
404 CHRISTIANITY IN THE SIXTH CENTURY. 
 
 them, but we must, at the same time, remember what our 
 Saviour has enjoined, ' Seek ye first the kingdom of God and 
 his righteousness, and all other things shall be added unto 
 you.' " And in another place he says : " True prayer consists 
 not in the words of the lips, but in the feelings of the heart, 
 for not our words, but om- desires, fall upon the secret ear of 
 God as the most powerful sound. If m'c pray for eternal life 
 with our lips, but do not desire it with our hearts, our calling 
 is only a silence. But if we desire with the fulness of our 
 hearts, then our very silence is a calling upon God. The 
 hidden cry is therefore in the inward parts, in the longing of 
 the heart which does not reach the human ear, and yet fills- 
 the ear of the Creator." Of the influence of the Holy Spirit 
 on the human mind he says : " The breath of the Holy Spirit 
 elevates the human soul when it touches it, and suppresses 
 earthly thoughts, and inflames the soul with longings after the 
 eternal ; so that it rejoices in nothing so much as in things- 
 above, and despises what comes from the earth and from 
 human corruption. To understand the hidden word is to 
 receive the word of the Holy Spirit into the heart. This word 
 only he can know who has it. It is felt, but cannot express 
 itself in words."' Of the various ways in which the Holy 
 Spirit di'aws men to himself, and how he trains them, Gregory 
 says : " God sometimes awakens us by love, sometimes by 
 fears, to repentance. Sometimes he shows us the nothingness 
 of the present, and directs our desires to the love of the eternal; 
 sometimes he begins with revealing the eternal, that then the 
 temporal may be exposed in all its nothingness. Sometimes 
 he places our own wickedness full in view, and thus softens 
 our hearts to feel pain for the wickedness of others. Some- 
 times he presents the wickedness of others to om* view, and 
 by thus leading us to repentance, delivers us, in a wonderful 
 way, from our own wickedness. 
 
 A man who understood so well the manner in which Chris- 
 tianity was designed to operate on the human heart, must 
 have acknowledged that man, in order to lead his brethren to 
 salvation, can do no more than by word and conduct bring 
 this inward divine power near their hearts ; that the work 
 which the Lord reserves to himself alone to accomplish, can- 
 not be coerced by human mechanism or human power. And 
 we find in his writings many beautiful expressions relating to 
 
THE POWER OF GENTLENESS AND MILDNESS. 405 
 
 this subject, although, carried forward by a zeal not sufficiently 
 regulated, he did not always act in accordance with the 
 principles here laid down. He declared himself strongly 
 against those blind zealots who compelled the Jews in Italy 
 to receive baptism, or wished to obstruct them in the free 
 exercise of their religion. To a bishop of Naples he writes : 
 *' Those persons who with upright intentions attempt to lead 
 unbelievers to the true faith, must endeavour to act with kind- 
 ness not with rudeness, that the souls which might be won by 
 a full development of Christian truth, may not be driven 
 farther off by hostile feelings. Those who act otherwise, and 
 under this pretext would hinder them from the exercise of 
 their own religion, show that they seek rather to advance their 
 own interests than the cause of God. Why should we prescribe 
 rules for the Jews how they are to conduct their worship, if 
 we cannot gain them thereby r "We must therefore strive to 
 attract them more by rational conviction and gentleness, to 
 join us, and not to flee from us, that when we prove what we 
 say, from their own sacred writings, we may, by God's grace, 
 convert them." And to a bishop of Tarragona, he writes : 
 " We must seek to lead those who are far from Christianity 
 by gentleness and mildness, by exhortation and conversation, 
 to tile faith ; in order that those who cannot be drawn to the 
 faith by the gentle power of preaching, may not be repelled 
 by thi'eatenings and terror." 
 
 CIIArTER V. 
 
 CHEISTIANITY IN POVERTY AND SICKNESS. 
 
 The influence of Christianity is shown not less in little 
 things than in great. It recpiires no great and conspicuous 
 theatre, in order to manifest itself. It is the light which, 
 wherever it may be, cannot be hid under a bushel. What 
 Christianity really is, appears most evidently in its filling ves- 
 sels that are insignificant and contemptible in human eyes, with 
 a heavenly glory which infinitely outshines all earthly glory, 
 
406 CHRISTIANITY IN THE SIXTH CENTURY. 
 
 since it pours into them the powers of the world to come, 
 compared with which all the powers of earth are nothing. In 
 all ages the glorious declaration of the apostle in 1 Cor. i. 27, 
 has been amply verified in the operations of the gospel : " God 
 hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the 
 wise, and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to 
 confound the things which are mighty, and base things of 
 the world, and things which are despised, yea. and things 
 which are not, to bring to nought things that are." A great 
 part of these effects of the gospel always remains hidden from 
 the eyes of the majority of men, and hence finds no place in 
 the pages of histor}^ So much the more foolish it is to wish 
 to judge of the effects of Christianity in any age from what 
 appears on the surface : and so much more is it the duty of 
 an historical observer, to search in every direction for these 
 rays of light scattered through the darkness, and next to the 
 man whom the Lord had placed in so exalted a position, and 
 intrusted with so great and varied a field of labour, to notice 
 a man who, in the lowest worldly station, in the most needy 
 and helpless lot, manifested the glory of a divine life. We 
 should have known nothing of the life of this child of God, if 
 that great bishop had suffered himself to be deceived like the 
 world, by appearances, so as to be enabled to discern this 
 treasure in an earthen vessel. Let us listen to him while he 
 describes the life of this individual : "In the vault through 
 which persons pass to the church of Clement, was a certain 
 man named Servulus, whom many of you knew, as I knew 
 him, poor in earthly goods, rich towards God, who had been 
 worn out by long illness ; for from childhood to the end of 
 life he was lame in all his limbs. Do I say that he could not 
 stand ? He could not even sit upright in his bed, nor raise 
 his hand to his mouth, nor turn himself from one side to the 
 other. His mother and brother were always with him to 
 wait upon him, and whatever he received in alms he distri- 
 buted with his own hands to the poor. He could not read, 
 but he had purchased a Bible ; he received all pious men as 
 his guests who read to him constantly out of the Bible. And 
 thus, without being able to read, he became acquainted with 
 the whole Bible. Amidst all his pains he endeavoured to 
 thank God, and to spend day and night in praising him. 
 "When he felt himself near death he begged his visitors to 
 
CONTENTMENT AND PEACE UNDER AFFLICTION. 407 
 
 stand up near him and to sing psalms with him in expectation 
 of his approaching dissohition. And as he was singing with 
 them he made a sudden pause, and exclaimed aloud : ' Hush ! 
 do you not hear how the praise of God soimds in heaven ? * 
 And as he applied the ear of his heart to this praise of God 
 which he perceived mentally, the holy soul departed from the 
 body." To this narrative Gregory added a word of exhorta- 
 tion to his flock : " Behold the end of this man who bore M'ith 
 resignation the sufferings of this life. But I beseech you, my 
 beloved brethren, consider what ground of excuse shall we find 
 in the day of strict account, Ave, who although we have had 
 worldly good, and the use of our limbs, are yet slow in good 
 works, while this poor man who wanted the use of his hand 
 could yet fulfil the Lord's commands. Even if it should not 
 please the Lord to exhibit against us the apostles, who, by 
 their preaching, brought crowds of believer^ into his king- 
 dom, nor the martyrs, who shed their blood when they entered 
 their heavenly fatherland ; yet what shall we say when we 
 see this Servulus, whose limbs were lamed by disease, without 
 his being prevented from the accomplishment of good works ? " 
 Let us compare with this Servulus, whose life was not in vain, 
 even in a disabled, helpless body, and who effected more for 
 the glory of God and the true interests of his brethren, than 
 others who lived in the splendour of the world, and in greater 
 activity; — let us compare with him, I say, those noble 
 Romans, of whom the younger Pliny gives an account, who 
 in a lingering and desperate illness ended by their ONvn hands, 
 with the tranquillity of philosophers, a life which appeared 
 to them useless and unworthy. We would not condemn 
 those noble spirits who were not favoured with the privilege 
 of knowing the gospel. But where do we find the true dig- 
 nity of man, the true elevation founded on humility, which 
 therefore nothing can di'ag down or deprive of its crown ? 
 
 'UNIVERSITY 
 
408 
 
 PART IV. 
 
 SKETCHES FROM THE HISTORY OF MISSIONS IN 
 THE MIDDLE AGES. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 GENEKAL KEMAEKS OX THE HISTOEY OF MISSIONS IN 
 THIS PEEIOD. 
 
 The operations of Christianity are certainly alv\-ays tlie same 
 as far as they depend on its peculiar nature and its relations 
 to human nature : but it makes a difference whether Chiis- 
 tianitv first of all effects an entrance amonoj nations who have 
 hitherto been entirely unacquainted v.-ith it, either on the 
 stand-point of barbarism or of a certain culture proceeding 
 from other religious elements, or whether it connects itself 
 with a Christian tradition already existing. Even in the 
 latter case it will always have to renew the combat with the 
 same counteraction of the natm'e of the old man, which among 
 nations as yet entire strangers to Christianity comes forward 
 openly and uncovered ; but where a Christian tradition exists, 
 is recognizable only as concealed under a Christian exterior. 
 And even among nations with whom Christianity has ah-eady 
 gained an entrance, there are always classes of persons who 
 in their rude and neglected state have remained almost alien 
 to the influences of Christianity, and hence require a fresh 
 missionary agency ; so that the distinction of a home and 
 a foreign mission is, under such circumstances, a correct one. 
 
 In reference to foreign missions, it is necessary to dis- 
 tinguish the various stand-points of the people to which the 
 missionary agency is dii'ected : M-hether they are altogether a 
 rude people, or such who already possess a certain marked 
 culture ; but the principle of Christianity will be always able 
 to prove its transforming power, whether, through the divine 
 
VARIOUS CONDITIONS OF HEATHEN NATIONS. 409 
 
 life which is engrafted on the rude stock of the natural man, 
 the seed of all human cultivation is at the same time imparted, 
 or whether a new transforming spirit is infused into an already 
 existing cultivation. In this last case, Christianity will find 
 its point of connection in a national culture already expressed; 
 but this must be purified, transformed, and animated anew 
 by that spirit of a higher life of which everything not yet 
 born of the Spirit is destitute ; in the former case, C'hristianity 
 will communicate the first impulse and generative power of 
 every kind of culture, such as may correspond to the })eculiar 
 genius of the nation. Of this we have a specimen in the 
 operation of Christianity during the period of its first appear- 
 ance ; the other is shown in the effects of Christianity among 
 the nations of Germanic origin, in \vhom Christianity prepared 
 the peculiar culture of the Middle Ages. 
 
 If on the stand-point of antiquity the existing contrarieties 
 between nations appeared invincible, and mental culture the 
 privilege of certain races, Christianitj^ on the contrary, leads 
 us to distinguish between Mhat is founded in the original 
 nature of man as he came out of the hands of his Creator, and 
 what proceeded first of all from sin. It teaches us that as 
 all nations are descended from one common origin (Acts xvii.), 
 and have received in virtue of this descent the same nature 
 destined to be the image of God ; therefore also, by virtue of 
 redemption and regeneration, this image is restored in all, and 
 whatever has been the result of depravity through sin (the 
 ground of all contrarieties and divisions) must be overcome. 
 And Christianity is able (of which the history of missions is 
 constantly giving proofs) to realize that which it puts forward 
 as its idea, aim, and requirement ; although the differences in 
 the mental endowments of nations and individuals continue, 
 Christianity can communicate to all the same higher life ; it 
 can equally in all 2)roduce the consciousness and effect the 
 realization of that on which alone the true dignity of man 
 depends. But by what means has Christianity accomplished 
 this? What was the peculiarity of the process of culture 
 everywhere put in action by it? It is one of our Lord's say- 
 ings that new wine must not be put into old skins, nor a new 
 piece of cloth into an old garment, but all must become new. 
 The same law applies to the education of nations as to that of 
 individuals. It is not the method of Christianity to reform 
 
410 MISSIONS OF THE MIDDLE AGES. 
 
 and to mould from the outside — to begin with combating bar- 
 barism and -v-ice first of all in single outbreakings — lest the 
 unclean spirit thus driven out should return with seven others 
 more wicked than himself, and the last state of the man be 
 worse than the first (Luke xi. 26). Christianity did not 
 begin with forcing the old nature into an outward discipline 
 or moral training ; it did not impress on the nations a 
 culture already complete, and cast in a foreign mould, as has 
 happened in other attempts at culture, which repress the 
 fresh life of individuality, and contain in them the germ of 
 malformation : on the contrary, attaching itself to the con- 
 sciousness of sin, by which man feels himself separated from 
 God. or arousing this consciousness where it was dormant, it 
 imparted to those who had it the joyful tidings of redemption, 
 from the appropriation of which was developed the new life 
 of faith and love, the antagonist of all barbarism and false 
 culture, and the mainspring of all true culture. 
 
 That such was the operation of Christianity, Athanasius 
 bears witness in an age when this new creation began to 
 show itself among the tribes of Germanic origin, who by 
 their wars were brought into connection with the Roman 
 empire. " Who amoug men,"^ he says, " could ever tra- 
 
 * Tig TraiTTore ävQpajTTUJV t/jSwyjOt} Siaßrjvai roaovrov, Kal elc 
 ^KvOag, Kal AiOioTrag, ?) Ilkpffag, rj 'Apueviovg, ij FoQovg, ri rovg 
 iTTiKiiva Tov ojKsavov Xeyonsvovc, ri rovg VTrfp 'YpKaviav ovrac, rj 
 oXojg Tovc klyvTTTiovg Kal XaXSaiovg TrapeXQelv, rovg (ppovovvraq jitv 
 fiayiKa, biiaiCaijiovag ik virkp Trjv <pvaLv Kai aypiovg roTg rpÖTCoig, Kal 
 oXujg Krjpvtai, Tvepi aperfig Kai (j()}(ppo(Tvvr]g Kai rfjg Kara eictüXojv 
 Gpr]ßKtiag, log o tCjv Trävrojv Kvpioc, i) tov Osov Cvvaiiig, 6 Kvpiog T}fiuiu 
 *lT}(Tovg XpLaroc, og ov fiovov tKrjpv^s ciä tCjv lavTov iJtaOyjroJv, äXXä 
 Kai i.TrH<jtv avTovg Kara didvoiav twv fiiv tCjv rpÖTTwv äypi6ri]ra 
 fieTaQ'ecrOat, firjKfri ck rovg Trarpv^ovg ckß^iv Qeovg, äXX' avTov iiriyi- 
 V(i)ffKfiv Kal 8i' ai'Tov tov TraTspa OprjaKeveiv. JldXai fiev yap sicojXo- 
 XarpovvTsg"EXXr]veg Kai ßäpßapoi kut' dXXrjXiov iTToXejiovv, Kai wfioi 
 TTpbg Toi'g crvyyevtlg iTvyx^nvov. O'vk rjv yap TLva to cvvoXov ovtb 
 TYfv yfjv ovTS ttjv QdXaacav liaßrivai xwpig tov ti)v X^^P^ ^itpscriv 
 OTrXiffai, sveKa Trig TTpbg dXXi]Xovg aKaTaXXaKTOv fidxVG' ^<^^ yo.p 
 Kai r) iraaa tov Zi]v avTolc ^layioyij li ottXwv kyivsTO, Kai Ei(pog fjv 
 avToXg AvtI ßaKTripiag, Kai TravTog ßori9r}[.iaTog ipsiafxa' Kai-oi, iig 
 TrpoCiTcov, ticwXoig tXaTpevov, Kai datjxoaiv t(T7r-evSov Qvaiag, Kai ofiutg 
 ovSkv tK Tyg eiC(jjXu)v cucncainovidg r]Cvvr]Qr\cav o\ ToiavTa (ppovovvT^g 
 fiSTaTraf^tvOrivai. "Ore ck tig t7]v tov Xptorov didaanaXiav fieTaßt- 
 ßrjKacTL' TOTS CT) Trapacötwg wc Tip ovti Kara Cidvoiav, KaTavvykvTtgy 
 rffv fiiv ojfxoTTfTa tu)v (povujv ctTrtOn'To, Kal ovk Iti TroXkfxia (ppovovcn. * 
 
THE OBJECT AIMED AT BY CHRISTIANITY. 411 
 
 verse so large a portion of the earth amoiif^ the Scythians, 
 Ethiopians, Persians, Armenians, or Goths, or those who are 
 situated beyond the ocean, or those above Hyrcania, or 
 finally, the Egyptians and Chaldeans, who practise magical 
 arts, and are unnaturally superstitious and rude in their man- 
 ners ; who could address them concerning virtue, and tem- 
 perance, and idolatry, but the Lord of all, the power of God, 
 our Lord Jesus Christ, who not only addressed men by his 
 disciples, but persuaded them in their minds to lay aside the 
 rudeness of their manners, no longer to worship the gods of 
 their respective countries, but to acknowledge him, and 
 through him to worship the Father? F'or in ancient times 
 the idolatrous Greeks and barbarians made war with one 
 another, and were cruel to their own kindred ; nor in general 
 could any one travel by land or water without arming his 
 hand with the sword, on account of their incessant light- 
 
 Travra dk avTolg t'lpTjvdia, Kal to. irpög <pi\iav KaraQvixia \onr6v tOTi. 
 Tig ovv 6 ravTa TTOirjcraQ, ij rig 6 rovg [naovvTag aWijXoig tig flptjvtjv 
 (Tvvd-^ag, si fii) b äyaiTT]Tbg roii irarpbg v'lbg, b Koivbg iravriov (TUJTijp 
 'Ii](Tovg XpiffTbg, bg ry tavTov äyä-Try irdvra VTrkp Tijg y'jfxujv aujTijniag 
 vTTfcrTri ; ical yap dvojOtv ifv irpo(pT]Ttv6neyov irepi Trig Trap' aiiTov Trnvra- 
 vtvofih'Tjg eiprjvrjg, Xeyov(T7]s Ti]g ypa<prig ' "^vyKoxpovffi rag fiaxatpaQ 
 avrijjv (ig äporpa Kal rag ^ißvvag avriov eig cpsTrava, Kai ov \>/v//(rai 
 tOvog iTr' iQvog fidxaipav, Kai ov f^ii] [xaOioaiv tri 7roXf//fTf. (Jes. ii. 4.) 
 Kn« oi'K aTTifTTÖv ye to toiovtov, ottov Kai viiv o'l Tb äyniov rwi' TooTruiv 
 ßdpßapoi tfi(pvTov 'ixovTfg, tri fifv QvovTig Trap' avTolg fUioXoig, 
 fiaivovTai kut' a\\t)\ujj\ Kal X"P'C st0wr ov^efiiav Cjoav dv^xovTai 
 fikvHv. "Ote Se Tijg tov XpicTToii SiCaaKuXing aKoovtnv, fvO'iujg avTi 
 fikv TToXtfiMV, tig ytijjpyiav TpiirovTai ' dvTi Ct tov iirptai Tag x^'^P^Q 
 OTrXi^eiv, tig tvxds tKTtivovai. Kat oXwc» dvTi Toi) TroXifitiv -rrpbg 
 iavTovg, Xonrbv kutu ciaßuXov Kai tCjv Siafibviov oTrXi^ovrai, (Tiotppo- 
 ai'vy Kai \pvxiig dptT7j TovTovg KaTa7roXtf.iovvTig. ToiJTO H Tiig ftiv 
 OeoTTiTog TorJ oujTiipog ioTi yvoipiap-a ' on o ^i) ^tCvvT]VTai tv «i'öwXoif 
 jxaOtiv oi avOpioTTOi, tovto Trap' avToii pfpaOt'iKaffi • Ti'ig St Cai^uvtav 
 Kai ticioXiDV aaQtvtiag Kai ovGtvtiag tXtyxog ovk bXiyog iffTtv ovTog. 
 
 ce KaTa(ppovtiv Kai to yt Oav^anToi', on Kai Oavdrov KaTatppovonai, 
 \Kai yivovrai fidpTvptg XpitTTov. — Athanas. de Incamat. § 51, 52. 
 

 iiiiltruiii 
 
 t^6mir^s^i üi Ü 
 
 thoii ij 
 
 ÜCIUWUT- 
 
 Itebibls Uilii 
 
 litett tbi;iJ- 
 
 ^fvrt?; b«u^ üttMUteu, uw>v uurtHmn; üüü wiiüü aüHpüuuü» lixi • 
 
TRANSFORMlNa INFLXTE:?CE OV OHKISTIA^ITY. 4l;> 
 
 despise ; ami what is Avoiulortxil, thov despise death and 
 become martyrs for C^'hrist." Thus also Jeivme iu his time» 
 saw, like Athunasius, a lultilment of Isiiiah's propheey, wheu 
 men of the (.K>thie tribes, who weiv ivg-arded by the (.iiveks 
 and Koiuaus as uncivilized barbixriaus, pivposeil questions to 
 him respeetinij the ii\terpretation of the Scriptures ; and 
 when zeal for the study of the Seriptuivs spread itself au\ou^^- 
 this rude people, as we have seen in modern times amoui; the 
 tribes of Australia, in whom Christianity has implanted the 
 i^erm of civilization. '"Who could believe* that the bai*- 
 barous toui^ues of Goths should iuquiiv alter the Hebrew 
 original, tmd that while the Greeks sleep or rather quarrel 
 with one another, Germany should investigate the word of 
 God? Now, * of a truth, 1 perceive that God is no respecter 
 of pei-sous ; but iu every nation he that feareth lum and 
 worketh righteousness, is accepted with him.' (^Acts \. 84, 
 o">.^ Tho tingcrs which were nu>st apt to luu\dle arrv>ws, are 
 now softened enough to guide a pen; and warlike breasts are 
 changed to Christian meekness." He then quotes a jwssago 
 iu Isaiah, siu\ihvr to that ivferred to by Athaiiasius : " The 
 wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, aiul the leopard shall lie 
 down with the kid; and the calf and the young lion and the 
 fatling together; and a little child shall lead them. And the 
 cow and the bear shall feed ; their yoimg ones shall lie down 
 together; and the lion shall eat straw like the o\." ^Isa. \i. 
 t), 7.) *"Not," Jerome adds, "that sinq)licity shall pass into 
 savageuess, but that savagencss shall learu simplicity." 
 
 As such an ettcct could o\\\\ proceed from Gluistlauity, so 
 nothing but Christianity coidd give the impulse ami the 
 power by which rude nations received a ili\ inr lite. What 
 was it that iuq)ellcd nuM\ to forsake their kindvotl aiul native 
 lauil, and to give themselves iq> tv> numbcrU'ss toils and 
 nuutal perils iu the midst of barbarians? It was the con- 
 sciousness of the Saviour's love which iiuluceil him to e\- 
 
 • QuLs luH- iMvdi'ivt ut brtibtira (Jctiuum lii\miii MfbriUi'Uin quu-rtTt't 
 verittttcm ; et iloiimtaiitilms i»>mu» i'oiiti'»KUiitil>us iJru'iis, ijistk lu-iiiuiui;i 
 Spiiitus Smuti floi|UUi si-rutaitlu»- .■',.. l)uiluin rallosu IoiuiuIm i-iipiilum 
 luuiuis, ft iligiti tr;u't«iulis sagittin aptioif.s, ail stiluiu ralai\mim[iiv' luol- 
 U'scvmt; et belUoosa juvtora veituntur in inaiisuftiuliiu-m Christi mum, . . . 
 N\)n ut »intplii'itas iu tViitateu» transeat, seil ul fentus iliseat !>iu>|iliritalctui. 
 HieionyuiU!*, Kp. IU0> eil. YäIIuvs. 1. i. 641. 
 
414 MISSIONS OF THE MIDDLE AGES. 
 
 change his glory for human misery, and to suffer death for 
 sinners. The feeling of this love impelled them to show 
 similar love to their brethren who were stüi estranged from 
 God, in order to impart the salvation they had thi-ough grace 
 obtained to others for whom they were ready to hazard every 
 thing. 
 
 But since Christianity operated on the formation of uncul- 
 tivated nature throughout all its parts and powers, by com- 
 mencing at the heart, and thence spreading its influence to 
 the outwai'd life, since it had nothing ready to bestow ex- 
 cepting the germ of a divine life, from which everything else 
 would be developed spontaneously, but gradually ; such being 
 the case, Christianity had to carry on a long contest with 
 barbarian rudeness, though it would in the end completely 
 vanquish it. Persons who utter vain lamentations over the 
 rudeness of certain ages of the church do not consider, in 
 the first place, that the true dignity of man does not consist 
 in the harmonious cultivation of all the spiritual and moral 
 tendencies of his natm-e, but in that divine life received into 
 the interior of the soul, from which, when it has penetrated 
 the stock of human nature from the root up to all the branches, 
 that harmonious cultui'C is a necessary result which yet, till 
 human natui-e is thus penetrated, may coexist with a rude- 
 ness predominant in the mass, and advances along with 
 it. Thus we find, in the midst of the rudest ages, opera- 
 tions of the genuine Christian spirit, or revelations of that 
 divine life in humanity, as we have noticed in the pre- 
 ceding pages, and such are not altogether wanting in suc- 
 ceeding times. That fire which the Redeemer came to kindle 
 among the human race has never ceased to bum in any 
 centm-y, either with a clearer or duller flame. The stream 
 of the Holy Spirit advances through all ages, flowing with a 
 clearer or more troubled current. That which is highest and 
 deepest in humanity, descending from heaven and rising to 
 heaven, remains always the same, exalted above the alterna- 
 tions of time, and all who have a share in it feel and know 
 that they are one with the company of believers of all times, 
 and in all places. On this account the idea of progress that 
 belongs to the sphere of the changeable cannot be applied 
 here. 
 
 We must not, then, forget that the rude stock of humanity 
 
KECEPTION OF CHRISTIAN DOCTRINES. 415 
 
 necessarily communicated its rudeness to tlie church on its 
 first appearance, in order to be trained by it, which, in virtue 
 of human freedom, could take place in no other way. 
 
 Christianity indeed can be propagated in a few generally 
 intelligible doctrines, which verity themselves as the power 
 of God in the souls of men. The experience of the present 
 age among Hottentots, Negroes, and Greenlanders, as well 
 as of former ages, shows that these doctrines can find en- 
 trance even among those who are destitute of all culture ; for 
 everywhere there lies in human nature that which has an 
 affinity to God, which must be brought into self- conscious- 
 ness by the revelation of its original source, be freed from 
 the covering of its ancient corruption by the breath from 
 above, and redeemed from its imprisonment. Irenaeus could 
 appeal to the fact, that without paper and ink, by the power 
 of the Holy Spirit, the doctrines of salvation had been 
 inscribed on the hearts of those who were unacquainted with 
 the alphabet, and could not understand a doctrine expressed 
 in writing. But experience also teaches, that the divine 
 doctrine could never have been propagated in an abiding 
 manner, unless, in conjunction with the oral enunciation, the 
 \vritten records had been given, from which every age and 
 every individual can deduce it afresh in its purity, and appro- 
 priate in a suitable peculiar form. By the propagation of 
 these original records the divine contents may be preserved 
 firom falsification, or, where they have been falsified, may be 
 restored to their original purity. In truth, all things that 
 proceed from the operation of pure, genuine Christianity, all 
 things which throughout every age have been thought, 
 willed, done, and established in a genuine Christian spirit, 
 stand in an intimate connection with one another ; all the 
 operations of the Holy Spirit in the life of humanity form a 
 great invisible chain ; and it must impart a holy joy, when 
 we can recognise the manifestation of this chain in historv, 
 and trace a Christian tradition in this sense throughout all 
 ages, in all places which the preaching of the gospel has 
 reached, and under all church forms. Yet this operation of 
 the Holy Spirit (as well as the Christian tradition proceeding 
 from it) is nowhere and never pure and untroubled, but is 
 everywhere and always obscured by tlie mixture of the carnal 
 and the undivine. Everywhere, and always, we find in the 
 
416 5IISSI0XS OF THE MIDDLE AGES. 
 
 tradition the Antichrist] au by the side of the Christian, just 
 as each individual must detect this admixture in his own 
 inward and outward life : and what is sho^sTi on a small scale 
 in the life of every indi^-idual Christian, appears in larger 
 dimensions in the life of the whole church. We should be 
 alwavs in danger of mingling with one another the Christian 
 and the unchristian, the fruits of the spirit and those of the 
 flesh, if we had not in the volume of the Divine Word, which 
 purely represents to us the operation of the Holy Spirit, a 
 certain source of knowledge, a sure pm-ifying principle, a 
 fixed standard, in order that we may separate the divine and 
 the rmdivine from one another, whether in our own hearts or 
 in the tradition of the whole chui-ch. 
 
 And fuither, the experience of all ages teaches us, that 
 Cliristianity has only made a firm and living progress, where 
 (in accordance with the tendency of its peculiar nature when 
 it operates with vital power) from the first it has brought 
 with it the seeds of all human culture, although this can only 
 be developed by degrees. Among a nomadic people, as is 
 proved, for example, by the history of the Ai'ab tribes, 
 Chi'istianity cannot maintain itself. It may, indeed, gain an 
 entrance here, as under all other forms of social life ; but if 
 it really takes firm root, it must bring about a complete revo- 
 lution in the whole manner of living. Hence the Christian 
 instructors of these rude tribes very wisely endeavoured to 
 impart a knowledge of the art of reading along with Chris- 
 tianity, to insure its continued progress, and with it the im- 
 plantation of all culture for the people and the country. Thus 
 the eminent Ulphilas, in the fourth century, invented an 
 alphabet for the Goths, and gave them the word of God in 
 their own language. Patrick also gave a written character 
 along with Christianity to the Irish; he imparted to his 
 scholars the little stock of knowledge which he himself pos- 
 sessed, and zeal for the acquisition of more. The monas- 
 teries of Ireland, which by its remoteness and insular position, 
 was more secure against the devastation which the other parts 
 of Emope suffered from, became schools where, in quiet 
 retirement, religion and science were fostered in close con- 
 nection with one another, and from vrhich, at the same 
 time, Christianity and the seeds of scientific cultm-e were 
 transported to other countries ; as the Abbot Alcuin, when he 
 
THE LABOURS OF THE VENERABLE BEDE. 417 
 
 required of the Irish monks, that henceforth it should be 
 their endeavour, " that through then, and from them, the 
 light of truth might shine to many parts of the world," 
 reminded them that, in ancient times, the most learned 
 teachers came from Ireland to Britain, France, and Italy, 
 and conferred great benefits on the Christian cliurchcs. 
 AVhile other religions, resting in a blind belief, dreaded the 
 light of science which exposed the unsoundness of their prin- 
 ciples, Christianity, on the contrary, as soon as it began to 
 penetrate the spiritual life of mankind or of a nation, or 
 •where it began to manifest itself in fresli purity and splendour, 
 entered into a league with scientific culture. Thus it was at 
 the Keformation, that work of God for the restoration of 
 the apostolic church. Luther, in a letter to Eoban Hess, in 
 the year 1523, beautifully remarks, " I see that there M-as 
 never any remarkable revelation made of the Word of God, 
 unless he prepared the way by the revival and flourishing of 
 languages and literature, as so many precursors like the 
 Baptist/' -'' 
 
 When the Christian church was established in England 
 among the Anglo-Saxons, such a desire after knowledge 
 seized many ])ersons of all classes that they eagerlv resorted 
 to the cells of the Irish monks, -who communicated to them 
 in Christian love both spiritual and bodily sustenance. 
 They supplied them daily with food, books, and instruction. 
 In the second half of the century, the venerable Theodore 
 of Cilicia, brought philosophy from Greece, and, as arch- 
 bishop of Canterbury, travelled through all England with 
 his friend the Abbot Hadrian, and endeavoured to collect 
 scholars around him. The knowledge which in this manner 
 >vas diffused through the English church was collected during 
 the following age into a whole, by the presbyter and monk 
 Bede, a man distinguished for his deep and simple piety, 
 no less than for his unquenchable thirst for knowledge. 
 This eminent person, who shone as the light of his own age 
 and of succeeding times, says of his own life from his 
 seventh year: " I have applied with the utmost diligence to 
 the study of the Holy Scriptures ; and in observing the rules 
 of the monastery and the daily attention to singing in the 
 
 * Luther's Briefe, herausgegeb. von Dr. Te Wctto, II, .'U3. 
 
 2 E 
 
418 MISSIONS OF THE MIDDLE AGES. 
 
 church, it was always my delight to learn, to teach, or to 
 write something." 
 
 The last days of this model of a faithful Christian teacher, 
 who died in the exercise of his vocation, surrounded by his 
 pupils, who were devoted to him with ardent love, have been 
 described by one of their number, named Cuthbert. He 
 tells us that Bede, during the last weeks of his life, suffered 
 from an illness which brought him to his end in his sixty- 
 third year, A.D. 735: " He lived," says Cuthbert, "joyfully, 
 praising God day and night, yea, at all hours, till the feast of 
 Ascension ; he gave us, his scholars, daily lessons, and the 
 rest of his time he occupied in singing psalms. The whole 
 night, a small part excepted, he spent in watching with joy 
 and thanksgiving, and when he woke from a short sleep, he 
 lifted up his hands and began his thanksgiving again ; he 
 sang the words of the Apostle Paul, ' It is a fearful thing to 
 fall into the hands of the living God;' he sang also many 
 other passages from Holy Writ, and also several Anglo- 
 Saxon hymns ; he sang antiphonies (according to the custom 
 of his church and of our own), and among the rest, the one, 
 ' O King of glory. Lord of might, who to-day has ascended 
 as Conqueror above all heavens, leave us not as orphans, but 
 send to us the promised Spirit of the Father. Hallelujah ! ^ 
 And when he came to the words ' Leave us not as orphans,' he 
 bmrst into tears ; and after a lesson he began again ; we 
 wept with him, sometimes we read, sometimes we wept : 
 indeed we could not read without tears. He often thanked 
 God that he had sent him this sickness, and said : ' God 
 chasteneth every son whom he loveth.' He often repeated 
 the words of St. Ambrose : ' I have not so lived as to be 
 ashamed to live among you ; but neither am I afraid to die, 
 for we have a gracious Lord.' Besides the lessons that he 
 gave u3, and the singing of psalms, he composed during this 
 time two important writings, — a translation of John's gospel 
 into our vernacular tongue for the good of the church, and a 
 selection from Isidore of Seville ; and said, ' I do not wish 
 my scholars to read what is incorrect, and after my death to 
 labour without profit.' On the Tuesday before the feast of 
 Ascension, his sickness got worse, his breathing was difficult, 
 and his feet began to swell: but he spent the whole day 
 cheerfully and dictated; sometimes he said : ' Make haste to 
 
CLOSING SCENE OF HIS LIFE. 419 
 
 learn; I know not how long I may remain with you, whether 
 my Creator may not soon take nie to himself."' Tlie following 
 night he spent awake in thanksgiving ; and when Wednes- 
 day came, he commanded us diligently to continue writing 
 what we had begun. After this we carried, as was customary 
 on that day, the relics in procession ; one of us said to him, 
 
 * Dear teacher, we have yet one chapter to translate : will 
 it make you worse if we still ask you questions?' He 
 answered, ' It is not difficult ; take the pen and write 
 quickly.' About three o'clock he said to me : ' Run quickly 
 and call the priests of this convent to me, that I may impart 
 to them the gifts that God has bestowed upon me ; the rich 
 of this world seek to give gold and silver, and other precious 
 things, but I will give with greater love and joy to my 
 brethren what God has given me.' He now requested each 
 of them to repeat the service of the mass, and pray earnestly 
 for him. They all wept, especially on this account, because 
 he said that they would not see his face any longer in this 
 world. But they rejoiced when he said : ' It is time that I 
 should go to my Creator ; I have lived long enough ; the 
 time of my departm-e is at hand ; I long to depart and to be 
 with Chi'ist.' One of his scholars then said to him : ' Dear 
 teacher, there is still one sentence to be written;" he answered, 
 'Write quickly.' The young man shortly after said: 'The 
 sentence is written,' He answered : ' Thou hast spoken 
 rightly, it is finished. Take my head in thy hand, for it 
 gives me pleasure to sit opposite my sanctuary, wlierc I have 
 been used to kneel in prayer, so that sitting now I may call 
 upon my Father.' He then placed himself in his cell on the 
 ground and sung the doxology : ' Glory be to the Father, the 
 Son, and the Holy Ghost ; ' and as he uttered the words 
 
 * Holy Ghost,' he breathed his last." 
 
 Boniface deserved well of the German peoj^le, among 
 whom many missionaries had already laboured, for his 
 exertions in making ])rovision for popular instruction and 
 improvement by founding churches, convents, and schools 
 connected with them. 
 
 We have already spoken at the beginning of this work, of 
 the various methods of conversion (part i. chap, i.); according 
 as they proceeded from within in a purely spiritual manner, 
 by an influence on the internal disDosition ; or accorcUng as 
 
 2e2 
 
420 MISSIONS OF THE MIDDLE AGES. 
 
 men, in whom the necessities of the higher life were not yet 
 felt, were necessarily conducted from the temporal to the 
 spiritual, from the outward to the inward, from the earthly 
 to the divine. As to the latter, great effects were often 
 prepared by circumstances that were trifling in themselves, 
 but which in a certain connection acquired peculiar im- 
 portance, and could not have come into notice but in con- 
 nection M'ith other influences of a higher kind. How 
 important was the miraculous draught of fishes for the 
 relation of the Apostle Peter to Christ ! And thus both the 
 ancient and modern history of missions teaches us that much 
 is frequently effected by little outward circumstances towards 
 the conversion of individuals and of nations. It makes 
 indeed a great difference whether the impulse given from 
 without leads to a genuine internal conversion, or M'hether 
 its effect is merely something external. 
 
 Ciovis, the pagan king of the Franks, was destitute of any 
 special interest in religious matters ; he lived according to 
 the usages of his forefathers, without reflecting on religion. 
 His gods were regarded by him only as powerful beings 
 whom he feared, and whose help he sought to obtain in his 
 wars. As he contemplated religion from this point of view, 
 the disasters of the fallen Roman empire were a proof to him 
 that the god of the Romans could be no powerful being. 
 But he had married the pious Christian princess, Clotilda of 
 Burgundy. She often conversed with him of the worthless- 
 ness of his gods, and of the almighty power of the God whom 
 she worshipped; Ciovis always met her with the above- 
 mentioned argument. But far more than by her conversa- 
 tion, the mind of the uncultured pagan was wrought upon by 
 the example of her pious life, in daily intercourse with which 
 even the rudest could not be wholly unaffected, and by her 
 confiding faith and prayers, though the king himself was 
 unconscious of this impression, and found fault with her 
 exhortations. Yet she obtained his consent to the baptism 
 of their first child; but its death shortly after confirmed 
 Ciovis in his unbelief. The pious mother was not shaken in 
 her faith by this event; she rather expressed her joy that 
 her child was thought worthy of joining the assembly of the 
 blessed in the garment of innocence ; yet Ciovis allowed her 
 second child also to be baptized. It fell sick, and Ciovis 
 
CONVERSION OF CLOVIS, KING OF THE FRANKS. 421 
 
 at once foretold its death ; but Clotilda prayed fervently and 
 in faith for the restoration of her child. When this happy 
 result took place she confidently announced it to her husband 
 as an answer to her praj'crs. She availed herself also of 
 another means, combining:; everything which might contri- 
 bute to alter her husband's state of mind. From early 
 times many churches were built over the graves of revered 
 saints, especially martyrs, and were famed for the wonderful 
 cures performed in them of certain disorders, especially those 
 of the nervous class. Whether it was that there were special 
 answers to prayer granted there — for the love of God meets 
 the longing of the pious heart even where erroneous concep- 
 tions are min^-led with it, as in the case of the afflicted woman 
 in Luke viii. 44 ; or the excitement of religious feeling pro- 
 duced great effects on the bodily condition — or, as it some- 
 times happened, there was a mixture of deception ; be that 
 as it may, Clotilda spoke in sincere faith, when she directed 
 her husband's attention to such phenomena at the grave of 
 Martin, the former bishop of Tours, and the less capable he 
 was of explaining them the greater impression must these 
 facts have made upon him. 
 
 Nicetius, bishop of Triers, wrote, in the year 561, respect- 
 ing these occurrences to the Longobard queen, Clodeswindc, 
 a grand-daughter of Clotilda : " You have heard from your 
 grandmother Clotilda, how, since she came into France, she 
 has won over Kin<jr Clovis to the Catholic faith, and since he 
 is a very shrewd man, he would not consent before he had 
 ascertained the truth. But when he had examined the proofs 
 of what I have mentioned above, he prostrated himself with 
 humility at the grave of Martin, and permitted himself to be 
 baptized without delay."' 
 
 But another event gave the decisive stroke to the still 
 wavering soul of Clovis. At the battle of Ziilpich against 
 the Alemanni, in the year 486, he was in a critical situation ; 
 he called on his gods for aid, but all in vain. He then 
 tm-ned to the God of the Christians, besought his help if he 
 were the Almighty, and vowed to become a Christian. His 
 victory was to him a proof of the power of the God of the 
 Christians, as in the case of Constantino, the victory over 
 Maxentius and Licinius. llemlgius, archbishop of Rheims, 
 who had been sent for by the (pieen, found easy access to 
 
422 MISSIONS OF THE MIDDLE AGES, 
 
 the king's mind, thus prepared, ^^^len he narrated the 
 history of the Crucifixion, the king exclaimed, " If I had 
 been there with my Franks, I would haye chastised the 
 Jews!" 
 
 Such outward leadings and impressions were often prepa- 
 rative measures for the Pagans, since by these they were 
 taught to regard Christ as a powerful being, before they 
 found in him a Redeemer from the misery of sin : first of 
 all they only receiyed the true God as a new deity along 
 with their ancient gods, but at last they received Him as 
 the only true God, and the Almighty Creator.. Anschar, 
 the apostle of the North, who was supported by no human 
 power in the publication of the gospel, often experienced 
 the aid of Providence in difficult situations, by means of out- 
 ward circumstances, which operated favourably on the minds 
 of the Pagans. When he undertook, in the year 832, his 
 second missionary expedition to Sweden, he found at first an 
 unfavourable disposition in the Pagans, who were stirred up 
 against Christianity by delusive notions of the wrath of 
 their gods, on account of the reverence paid to a foreign 
 god. A public assembly was held to deliberate on the subject, 
 and a great impression was made by an old man, who rose 
 up and said : " Hear me, O king and people I Several 
 among us are already well acquainted with this God ; that he 
 can lend great assistance to those who hope in Him, for 
 many of us have experienced this in dangers at sea, and in 
 other manifold perplexities." We may compare this with 
 what Adam of Bremen said of the Swedes, in the second 
 half of the eleventh century : " A\'lien they are pressed in 
 battle, they call out of the multitude of gods whom they 
 reverence on one especially for help, and to him, after the 
 victory is obtained, they especially devote themselves, and 
 prefer him to the rest. But already they imanimously regard 
 the God of the Christians as more powerful than all the rest ; 
 they say that the other gods have often deceived them, but 
 that this one has in all emergencies rendered efficient 
 succour." 
 
 When Otto, bishop of Bamberg, the apostle of Pome- 
 rania, in the year 1124, laboured for the establishment of 
 the Christian church for the first time in Stettin, he suc- 
 ceeded in converting and baptizing a distinguished individual, 
 
OTTO, THE APOSTLE OF POMERANIA. 423 
 
 named Witstock. Although his knowledp^e of Christianity 
 was by no means pure, yet a powerful faith was developed 
 in him. Especially the image of the venerable bishop, whom 
 he had seen labouring with so much self-sacrificing love and 
 such firm confidence in God, seems to have left a deep im- 
 pression on his mind ; thus the Redeemer was wont to mani- 
 fest himself most powerfully in the lives of those who truly 
 received him, and by his image, expressed in their lives, 
 attracted many others also to himself. In a battle he and 
 others were taken, carried to the isle of Rügen, at that time 
 inhabited by Pagans, and thrown into prison. During his 
 imprisonment he found consolation and support in prayer. 
 One night when he had fallen asleep alter earnest prayer, the 
 venerable bishop Otto appeared to him in a dream, and 
 promised him aid. This encouraged him very much. By a 
 remarkable train of circumstances he was released from 
 prison. He found a boat floating by the shore, in which he 
 ventured to trust himself to the waves, and the wind being 
 favourable, he happily returned to Stettin in a short time. 
 He regarded his deliverance as a miracle, as a testimony to 
 Otto's holy life, and a proof of the divine origin of Chris- 
 tianity. It was to him a call from God, to testify among his 
 countrjTQen of the God who had thus delivered him, and to 
 labour for the spread of his worship among them. On his 
 return he caused the boat to be hung up at the gate of the 
 city, as a striking memorial of his escape, and a witness of 
 that Being to whom he was indebted for it. When after- 
 M-ards the bishop appeared again, and the inhabitants of 
 Stettin, who were for the most part sunk in heathenism, 
 Witstock said to him, in reference to this boat : " This boat 
 is a testimony to thy holy life, a confirmation of my faith, 
 and a proof that God has sent me to this people."' And he 
 was the special instrument of preparing the way for the 
 preaching of Bishop Otto, and bringing back those who had 
 fallen away to the Lord. 
 
 Edwin, the pagan king of Northumberland, at the begin- 
 ning of the seventh century, forms a l)cautiful contrast to 
 Clovis, who showed so little interest in divine things. The 
 first step towards his conversion, as in the iuetance of King 
 Clovis, was his marriage to a Christian princess of the 
 kingdom of Kent. But Edwin was more susceptible of reli- 
 
424 MISSIONS OF THE MIDDLE AGES. 
 
 gious impressions, and more disposed to refloct on divine 
 thinj^s. He first of all renounced idolatry, and for a consider- 
 able time was in a state of doubt. He allowed himself to be 
 instructed more accurately in Christianity by Bishop Pau- 
 linus, who attended his Christian consort ; conversed fre- 
 quentl)- on religion with those of his nobles whom he 
 esteemed the wisest, and often appeared lost in solitary me- 
 ditation. At last he assembled the nobles and wise men of 
 his people, for a final consultation on this great question. 
 
 At this assembly one of the nobles came forward and said: 
 " It appears to me that the relation the present life bears to 
 that which unknown to us, is as if 3'ou were seated at table 
 with your captains and servants in a well-warmed hall, vrhile 
 without the blasts and snow-storms of winter were raging, 
 and a sparrow should quickly fly in at one opening and out at 
 another. During the short interval it is under cover, it is 
 not affected by the inclemency of the weather ; but after a 
 short moment of rest it vanishes and is again exposed to the 
 storm. So this life of men on earth is onlj* manifest as a 
 brief interval, but of what goes before or comes after, we 
 know absolutely nothing, Hence, if this new doctrine has 
 brought anything more certain, we ought, in all justice, to 
 follow it." Bishop Paulinus, who was present in the 
 assembly, was required to explain the Christian doctrine, 
 and the chief priest himself then said : "I have for a long 
 time known that what we reverence is nothing, for the more 
 zealously I have sought for the truth in this religion the less 
 I have found it. But now I openly confess that the truth is 
 evident to me in this discourse, which is able to bestow upon 
 us this gifts of life, salvation, and eternal blessedness." And 
 when the question was raised, who should make a beginning 
 in the destruction of the idolatrous altars and temples, the 
 priest offered himself immediately for the purpose : " For,"^ 
 said he, " who should be a more suitable person than I for 
 this work, to destroy, according to the wisdom given me by 
 the true God, the objects which I have worshipped in my 
 foolishness:'" In this connection Pomare, the first Christian 
 king of Tahiti, as described by the English missionaries, may 
 be mentioned as a contrast to Clovis and Constantine. 
 
PATEICK, THE APOSTLE OF THE IRISH. 425 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 THE LIVES AXD LABOURS OF INDIVIDUAL MISSIONARIES, 
 
 1. Patrichy the Aposile of the Irish. 
 
 This remarkable man was trained for hJs important calling 
 by a very ])eculiar M'ay of life ; and in his example we see 
 how that infinite wisdom which conducts the development of 
 the kingdom of God on earth knows how to produce great 
 results by what, in the eyes of men, appears little. Patrick, 
 in his native language called Sukkath, was born about the 
 year 372, in the village of Bonaven, (since called, in honour 
 of his memory, Kilpatrick), between the Scottish towns of 
 Dumbarton and Glasgow, He was the son of a poor un- 
 learned deacon belonging to the village church. No particular 
 care was taken with his education, and he led a thoughtless 
 life, without laying to heart the religious instructions of his 
 parents, till towards his seventeenth year. It then came to 
 pass that a severe chastisement by his heavenly Father woke 
 him from his sleep of death to a higher life. 
 
 Pirates, of the savage tribe of the Scots who then inha- 
 bited Ireland, landed at Patrick's residence and carried him 
 and others away as prisoners. He was sold into the service 
 of a Scottish chief, who committed to him the care of his 
 cattle. Trouble led his heart to God, whom during the days 
 of quiet in his parent's house he had not thought of. For- 
 saken by men, he found in Him consolation and happiness, 
 and now first learnt to know and enjoy the treasure wliich 
 the Christian has in heaven. As he wandered about with the 
 cattle in the ice and snow, he enjoyed intercourse with God 
 in prayer and calm meditation. Let us hear him speak for 
 himself, as he describes the change that now came over him 
 in a narrative Nvritten by him at a later period. " I was," 
 he says, '" about sixteen years old, and knew nothing of the 
 true God, when I and many thousand persons were carried 
 away into captivity, according to our deserts, since we had 
 departed from God, and had not observed his commands. 
 There God opened my unbelieving mind, so that, although 
 late, I thought of my sins, and turned with my whole heart 
 
426 MIS . >5 <^F THE MlPDlJil JkOKSU 
 
 to tbe Loul HIT GimL U) Hiiu i^bo looked down on mj Ionv 
 coodiiie»n, had piiy on my rouih and is^orame«>^ and before 1 
 knew liim, before 1 could disuiii:xüs>b Ix^l wtvu gpod aod evi] . 
 pt»ded, proteeted, »nd dmisbed me, as a tuber hi» son 
 Till* 1 oenainlr know, thai before God bombied me, I wa> 
 Uki-« a fione is^ank in ibe inire; bnl when He c^me who bi^ä 
 p.^wfT to do iu be rais«t*ii mt" in bis mirpT. and put me on ii 
 very bi^ place. Wbereiore I must te^tiiy aloud, in order to 
 make swme return to tbe Irford for 5ueb srreat bleisänirs in tin:c 
 
 and etemitv, wbieb no buman reason is able tot^ ' 
 
 " XNTien I eame to Ireland and bad daily cbai^^ af -. 
 
 I prayed many time« a day ; tbe fear of Cri*d and lore lo Him 
 
 wr» ineTeasiiisly kindit>d in me ; faiib srrew in me, ^ " ' :. 
 
 one day 1 otfexed a huiuiri>d prayerss and at nisbt 
 
 many ; and when 1 passt-d ihe nisht in tbe - 
 
 tbe moontainsw 1 ivi<*e up lo pray iu tbe snow, 
 
 before daybreak. Vet 1 ft-h liO paxa ; there was no fJuiTiTish- 
 tnem in me «ueb a» 1 now find m my sx ' 
 glowed vitbin me.*' 
 
 After spendiiig six. years in tbe senriee of tbi5 ebidf, be 
 briiered that be heard a voiee in bb sleep wbicb promiaed 
 bim a speedy retnna to bis. natiTe land, and soon amMmnoed 
 to bim tbat a Tessel was restdy for bim. In dependenee on 
 tbi< eall be set out^ and after a journey of several days be met 
 vr:-.ä a ressel which wa» on tbe pfxnt of saüins:. But tbe eap- 
 tain at first woold not reeeäre tbe poor unknown youth. 
 Patrick leQ on bis knees and prayed. He bad not fin»bed 
 bis prayer when one of tbe ^p» eompany called bim baek 
 and samoMmed bim to |r :m. Jkhsst nadeargoiii^ many 
 
 suft t in g». and expenenc .: .be mercy that guarded bim, 
 many a debTeranee firom great dai^rera« be reached bis borne 
 once more. SeTcial years after, be was a^ain taken pns<mer 
 by pirates. But after sixty day« be regained bis Hbes^ by a 
 special inteqMXBtian of Providence, and returned bome after 
 many fresh dangcR and Uuk. Great was tbe joy of his 
 parents, to «ee their son again who bad eadored so modi, 
 and they cntreaicd bim now to remain eonstantly with them. 
 Bat Patrick foh an inesislible call to cany the messa^ of 
 salvation to tbe pec^de among whom be had passed bis youth, 
 and had been bora again to the life of heaven. Äs the 
 i^MMlle PSanl was called by tbe Lord in a niebt-rision to ?am 
 
HIS CALL TO MISSIONARY LABOUR. 427 
 
 the first news of salvation to the people of Macedonia, so a 
 man appeared to Patrick in a ni«^ht-vi.sion, with many letters. 
 He gave him one, and Patrick read the words, " words of the 
 Irish,"' and as he was readin«:;, he thought he heard the united 
 voices of many Irish who dwelt near the sea, exclaiming : 
 " We beseech thee, child of God, come and again walk among 
 us !" His feelings would not allow him to read any further, 
 and he awoke. Another night he believed that he heard a 
 voice from heaven in a dream, the last words of which were 
 intelligible to him, — " He who gave his life for thee. He 
 speaks in thee." He awoke full of joy. One night it was as if 
 there was something in him and yet above liim, that was not 
 himself, praying with deep sighs, and at the close of the prayer 
 it spake as if it was no other than the Spirit of God. He 
 awoke and recollected the transcendent expressions of Paul 
 respecting the intimate intercourse of God's children with His 
 own Spirit. " The Spirit helpeth our infirmities, for we know- 
 not what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit itself 
 maketh intercession for us with groaniugs which cannot be 
 uttered." And (Rom. viii. 34): " Christ, who maketh inter- 
 cession for us." 
 
 As the Almighty Shepherd of souls does not draw to him- 
 self, guide, and cherish all souls in exactly the same way, but 
 manifests and imparts himself to them in various ways, accord- 
 ing to his special purposes respecting them and their diversi- 
 fied wants, so he granted Patrick, by peculiar tokens of his 
 grace, the pledge lor the certainty of his intimate communion 
 with him. and particularly for his call to publish the gospel to 
 the inhabitants of Ireland. His relations and friends strove 
 to keep him back, and represented that such an undertaking 
 far exceeded his powers. We are informed of this by him- 
 self. "■ Many opposed my going, and said behind my back : 
 * Why does this man rush into danger among the heathen who 
 do not know the Lord r ' It was not badly intended on their 
 part ; but they could not comprehend the matter on account 
 of my uncouth disposition." Yet nothing could turn him 
 aside, for he depended on the j)ower of the Lord who had 
 imparted to him an inward assmance that He had called him, 
 and would be with him. He says himself: "Whence did I 
 receive so great and blessed a gift, to know and love God, to 
 leave native land and parents, allhough many gifts were ofi'ered 
 
428 MISSIONS OF THE MIDDLE AGES. 
 
 me with tears if I would remain there? And against my 
 wishes I was forced to offend my relations and many of my 
 well-wishers. But according to God's guidance, I did not 
 yield to them at all, not by my own power, but it was God 
 who conquered in me and withstood them all, so that I went 
 to the people of Ireland to publish the gospel to them, and 
 suffered many insults from unbelievers, and many persecu- 
 tions, even unto bonds, resigning my liberty for the good of 
 others. And if I am found worthy, I am ready to give up my 
 life with joy for his name's sake." 
 
 Thus Patrick went to Ireland in the year 431. The know- 
 ledge he had obtained of the Irish language was now of great 
 use to him. By the sound of a kettle-drum he collected large 
 assemblies of people in the open air, and told them of the 
 sufferings of the Saviour for sinful humanity ; and the word 
 of the cross evinced its power on the hearts of many. Patrick 
 met, indeed, with warm opposition. The priests and national 
 bards, who had great influence, instigated the people against 
 him, and he had to endure many severe persecutions. But he 
 conquered by steadfastness of faith, by glowing zeal, and by 
 the attractive power of love. The following incident furnishes 
 a beautiful example of the power with which he operated on 
 the minds of men. 
 
 He was at one time in a family of rank, the members of 
 which he baptized. The son of the house, a youth, enter- 
 tained such love for Patrick, that he resolved, however much 
 his friends tried to dissuade him. to forsake all and to accom- 
 pany the preacher of the gospel amidst all his dangers and 
 toils. On account of his friendly, gentle disposition. Patrick 
 gave him the name of Benignus. He availed himself of the 
 agreeable voice of the youth in order to influence the people 
 by means of singing. Benignus M'as zealously engaged with 
 him in publishing the gospel to the time of his death, and he 
 succeeded him in the pastoral oflBce. Many of the national 
 bards were converted by him, and sang in their own hymns 
 of the worthlessness of idolatry and to the praise of God and 
 Christ. Patrick devoted himself particularly to the heads or 
 chieftains of the people. If they allowed themselves to be 
 stirred up by the priests (the Druids) against the foreign 
 religion, they could do much harm: and on the other hand, if 
 they received the gospel, their example would render the 
 
HIS EFFORTS TO SPREAD THE GOSPEL. 429 
 
 people more inclined towards it and form a counterpoise to 
 the reverence felt for the Druids. The superior education of 
 these chiefs also rendered it more easy to convince them of 
 the absurdity of idolatry >' But Patrick was far from seeking 
 merely to bring about an external conversion of the people 
 by means of their chiefs ; he frequently travelled round the 
 whole island, accompanied by his pupils and assistants, read 
 to the assembled people out of the Gospels and preached on 
 what he had read. Young persons of both sexes were seized 
 with the love of a religious life, and even female slaves, -svho 
 would not allow themselves to be terrified by the threats and 
 ill-treatment of their heathen masters. 
 
 Patrick received slaves M'ho had suffered harsh treatment 
 from their owners. When he found young men of the lower 
 rank who seemed suited for a higher calling, he took care 
 that they should be instructed and brought up to be teachers 
 of the people, f 
 
 * The Apostle Paul says : " God hath not left himself without witness, 
 tjmoRg any nation, seeing he is not far from every one of us ; for in him 
 Ave live, and move, and have our being." He says of men in general : 
 ^' That which may be known of God is manifest in tliem, for God hath 
 shewed it unto them ; for the invisible things of him, from the creation of 
 the world, are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, 
 even his eternal power and godhead." Amidst the reign of the darkest 
 idolatry there were always men who acknowledged its futility, and rose to 
 the belief in one Almighty God. It is true that this general belief, with 
 more exact and certain knowledge of the relation of God to man, without 
 the doctrine of a Redeemer, is by no means satisfactory for the religious 
 and moral necessities of men. There is a prodigious difference between 
 belief in the hidden God who dwells in light that no man approaches, 
 "whom no man has seen or Ciin see, and the knowledge of God as revealed 
 to us by the only begotten Son who is in the bosom of the Father ! But 
 that belief may serve (as often happens) as a preparation for this know- 
 ledge. So, in the latter part of the fourth century, a great king of the 
 Irish, Cormac, attained to this faith, and to a conviction of the futility 
 of the idolatrous system of his Druid priests, especially when after laying 
 down his government he gave himself to silent reflection and religious me- 
 ditation in solitude ; and no representations or arts of the Druids could 
 induce him to return to them. The distinctness with which the account 
 is given, speaks for the truth of the narrative, and later Christian monks 
 and ecclesiastics would hardly have had a motive for inventing such a story. 
 
 t We have seen, in the first part of this work, how Christianity — 
 •of which the method is not to bring on a sudden revolution — although it 
 allowed the outward existence of slavery, which contradicted the sentiment 
 
430 MISSIONS OF THE MIDDLE AGES. 
 
 From Ills youth up lie had experienced, as we have seen, 
 special divine leadings, by which his heart was deeply 
 affected. As he now laboured with the ardour and power 
 of faith, he was able to produce effects on rude minds to 
 which common human power was incompetent. He saw 
 himself also here supported by the peculiar guidance of that 
 God whose word he published. Patrick speaks of this fact, 
 not with spiritual pride, but full of the sense of his unwor- 
 thiness and weakness, and from a consciousness of the power 
 and grace of God that worked in him and by him. After 
 speaking, in one of his letters, of the miracles which God had 
 allowed him to perform among a rude people, he adds: "Yet 
 I conjure aU persons ; let no one on account of these or 
 similar things believe that I place myself on a level with the 
 
 it awakened of the general dignity of human nature, yet by the spirit and 
 disposition it fostered, prepared the way for the total subversion of this 
 institution. Thus Christianity, in the times of which we are now speak- 
 ing, promoted the recognition of the equal dignity, as men, of those who 
 by their lot were placed in a position in which no man ought to stand to 
 a fellow man — that common dignity of being made in the image of God 
 and the high destiny founded upon it, to realize which in all men the Son 
 of God appeared in humanity and gave up his life for all. It was the 
 frequent practice of missionaries and bishops of that age, to purchase 
 heathen slaves, especially boys, and train them for missionaries to their 
 countrymen. Thus, Gregory the Great bought up Anglo-Saxon slaves, 
 through the managers of the estates of the Roman Church in Gaul ; and 
 in the same manner Amandus, the bishop of Maestricht, acted, who pub- 
 lished the gospel in the Netherlands in the seventh century, of whom we 
 are told : " When he met with prisoners or slaves who were brought over 
 the sea, he baptized them, caused them to be well instructed, and, after 
 he had given them their freedom, placed them in different churches ; and 
 of several we have since heard that they became bishops, priests, or 
 abbots." Bonitus (Bonet), bishop of Clermont, in the seventh century, 
 when he was governor of Provence, would condemn no one to slavery, 
 but repurchased as many as he could find who were sold for slaves, and 
 sent them back to their friends. 
 
 It contributed to set this class of persons in a more favourable light 
 among the Franks, when the bishops (often influenced it is true by 
 motives of self-interest) received persons of this condition into the clerical 
 order. When Chrodegang, bishop of Metz, in the middle of the eighth 
 century, declared that slaves were consecrated to the clerical office only 
 from bad motives, he at the same time, in order to guard against an under- 
 valuation of persons of this class, observed that " he would by no means 
 exclude men of approved conduct among the slaves from the church and 
 the clerical order, since God was no respecter of persons." 
 
HIS SINCERE HUMILITY. 431 
 
 apostles or any of tlic perfected saints ; for I am a poor, 
 sinful, despicable man." But far more important to him 
 than the miracles which he had pcrfonncd, was that which 
 filled his whole soul — that by him, who, till God had led him 
 to himself by sharp correction, had felt so little concern 
 about his own salvation — many thousands of the people who 
 had hitherto known nothing of the true God, had been 
 brought to salvation. " Be astonished," he says in his Confes- 
 sions, " both high and low, who fear God, and ye fine talkers 
 who know nothing of the Lord, understand and examine 
 who it is has called a simple person like myself from the 
 midst of those who were regarded as wise men and scribes, 
 as mighty in words and works ; and though I was despicable 
 in the eyes of the world, he has called me by his Spirit 
 to serve, though with fear and trembling, yet faithfully and 
 blamelessly, the people to whom the love of Christ has led 
 me. I must bless my God unceasingly, who has kept me 
 faithful in the day of trial, so that at this time I can present 
 my soul full of confidence as a living thank-offering to my 
 Lord Christ, who has rescued me from all my distresses, so 
 that I am obliged to say, ' A^Tio am I, O Lord, and what is 
 my calling ? since thou hast so gloriously revealed thy divi- 
 nity to me, that to-day I can continually rejoice among the 
 heathen, and glorify thy name wherever 1 am, not only in 
 prosperity but also in tribulation ; so that whatever may 
 befall me I can receive evil as well as good with an equal 
 mind, and must continually thank God, who has taught me to 
 believe in him as eternal truth !' " 
 
 Patrick endeavoured to avoid even the semblance of seeking 
 his own glory or profit. A man who according to all human 
 appearance was not fitted to accomplish anything so great, 
 who was called from obscui'ity and meanness to so high a 
 place, and hence one in whom, as it often happens, many 
 who knew him earlier and only according to the flesh were 
 not disposed to recognize what the Spirit of God had 
 efiectcd — for such an one it was necessary to be peculiarly 
 careful to take away every pretext from those who were dis- 
 posed to explain everything by flesh and blood, whatever 
 they could not measure or conceive of by the common stan- 
 dard. When many persons, affected by gratitude and love to 
 the teacher of salvation, their spiritual father, voluntarily 
 

 ■ >■•••„ I, 
 
 W^i\ ftw« Äüvi wv4tt<&tL >*vrt? at liftkC <L^ät?ttvi<:^> Ute IiviuhU 
 
 , \tA »l'^vIvv ?\' I'TVVUtv h>i«i (iU<c-m j'^cavri? t\'v 
 
 •• :% :\ " ■ ^ • . Novi jv^v '•• •'■ ■ 
 
 ■ •••■ ' ■ ■ ■■ ■■■ •- yic-l< U '^ •• ■■ 
 
 '.^ I ^\ie Vit» Äftd xrüt j^v^ wi|» fiur mv>ih6. thio 
 
 \ .-v.-. -.^ ■ ' ' ■ ' . . . ^. . X ^i^y ^jy^^ mm-llf 
 
 ^^«,tii<v<:\ (ii;»i« itt v«vis?<f itv? g»m iiv<w\itr örvJWi vvhu Ttiait hvmv.HiLr \ 
 ..•.,. v.- t.. •.,<,-,• r rvM.^xv vt-'v «••*! (th<*tt |vt\:A'<iT JAud vlisvrvöi- 
 
 
 t ^*ct^vi iiv»!i« vrf" äLI t5i«<» 
 
 
 
 
 ■\ vtt itR<' L^.'Jl^i 
 
 
 
 f XUtfM^ ■ 
 
 
 
 • vs. 
 
 
TESTIMONY TO TTIE TRUTH OF CTIRISTI ANITY. 433 
 
 him ? For I have no jiowcr iinlovss l\c gives it mo ! lUit he 
 trios tlio luMvt ;iml the roitis. nml ho knows that T ijroatly 
 dcsiro that ho would givo iwo tho oup of sutVoriug to «hink as 
 ho has given it to others who h>vo him. May my God never 
 suffer it. that I shouUl h>so tho ehurch whieh ho has won in 
 the m(^st remote eorner of the earth. I pray (Jod t]\at ho 
 would give me persevoranoe. and think n\o worthy to bear a 
 faithful testimony until the time of my dojvirtmv : and if I 
 have ever striven to aceomplish anything for th«^ sak(^ of my 
 (lod wln)n\ 1 love. I hesoeeh hitn tliat I may be allowed to 
 shed my blood for his name with those my new eonverts who 
 have been imprisoned, even though I should obtain no burial, 
 or even should my body bo torn in ]>i(MM\s by wild beasts. 
 I fu-inly believe, if this shoidd happen to me, that I have 
 gained my soul along with my body : for beyond a do\d)t wc 
 shall rise again in that day with the sphM\do\n* of the sun, 
 that is, with the glory o( our Re<loemer J(\sus Christ, who is 
 the 8on of tho living God, as fellow-heirs with Christ and 
 bearing his image ; for wc shall reign by him, and through 
 him. and with him. That sun whieh we see, daily rises for 
 us aeeording to God's eommand. but it will never reign, nor 
 will its splendour endure for ever. vVU the unhappy beings 
 who worship it will suffer punishment. But we adoi'O 
 believingly tho true sun — Christ, who will never set ; and 
 also he who does his will shall never set, but will live for 
 ever, as Christ lives for ever, and reigns with God the Father 
 Almighty, and with the Holy Ghost from eternity, both now 
 and for ever." 
 
 Patrick would gladly have revisited his native land, 
 Britain, his relations, and his old friends in (hnd. aftor many 
 years' absence and labour, but he sacrdieod liis mt^linalion to 
 a higher call. "I would gladly,'' he says, "tuixol (o niy 
 
 'know in whom T liavp hcliovrtl. nnd my hope will not bp |mi( (o shame. 
 God is tho suroty. ^Vho v:\n doubt ?" 
 
 Ilio Ikrtli^nt."» furit incquo orurnta ppfif. 
 U»nd to poooavi, qui pans nuntia jMMto ? 
 
 Pax Out (plod porto : our mihi holla moves ? 
 Sed (p>a tu spiras foritas, sors lasla tiiumphi, 
 
 Atipio dabif pahnani phuia martvrii. 
 Cui orodnni novi. noo sjto frustahor inani, 
 
 Qui spondot Dou« ost ; <|ui<5 dultif^re potest? 
 •— Livinus, Mabillon. Act. ISatict, taei. II. lol. 404. 
 
 2 F 
 
434 MISSIONS OF THE MIDDLE AGES. 
 
 parents in my native land, and also visit the brethren in 
 Gaul, to see once more the faces of the saints of my Lord. 
 God knows that I wish it very much ; but I am bound by 
 the Spirit, who testifies that he will pronounce me guilty if I 
 do this, and I dread lest the work I have begun shoidd fall to 
 the ground." 
 
 2. Monasticism in Ireland. — Colmnban. 
 
 The wild parts of Ireland became, from the example of 
 Patrick, covered with monasteries erected by the hard laboiu- 
 of the monks. The Irish monasteries were distinguished for 
 strict Christian discipline, for industry, zeal for the knowledge 
 of the Scriptui'es and general knowledge, as much as they 
 could collect of it. The Irish monks fetched knowledge 
 from Britain and France ; they preserved this knowledge, 
 and disrested it in their monastic retirement, and were 
 destined to bring back the seeds of science along with more 
 living Christianity to the districts fi'om which they had 
 formerly received these seeds, but where they were choked 
 by the spreading barbarism. 
 
 The most renowned of the Irish monasteries, and a semi- 
 nary for missionaries and teachers of the rude nations, was 
 that of Bangor, founded by the Abbot Comgal, who had 
 three thousand monks under his care. From this school the 
 Irish abbot Columban came forth, in the latter part of the 
 sixth centurj'. WTien about thirty years old, he felt an 
 impulse to go out amidst difläculties and dangers, to publish, 
 the gospel, and to plant Christian discipline among savage 
 nations. In a letter written after suflPering persecution in 
 France, he says : " It was my wish to visit the heathen, and 
 to preach the gospel to them," 
 
 His pupil and biographer, Jonas, gives the following 
 account : " He began to long after a pilgrim's Hfe, recol- 
 lecting that command of the Lord, ' Go forth from thy 
 country, and from thy kindi'ed. and from thy father's house, 
 into a land which I will show thee.' " He disclosed to 
 Father Columban the glowing desire of his heart ; that 
 longing kindled by the fire of the Lord ; that fire of which 
 the Lord says, " I am come to kindle a fire on the earth." 
 Columban himself says of that holy fire of love : " O that 
 God would grant (since insignificant as I am, still I am his 
 
COLUMBAN, THE IRISH ABBOT. 435 
 
 servant), that he would awaken me out of the sleep of Indo- 
 lence, and so kindle that fire of divine love that this divine 
 flame may always burn within me. O that I had the wood 
 with which that fire might be continually nourished, that it 
 might never more be quenched, but always increase within 
 me. O Lord, give me, I beseech thee, in the name of Jesus 
 Christ thy Son, my God, that love which can never cease, 
 that will kindle my lamp but not extinguish it, that it may 
 burn in me and enlighten others. Do thou, O Christ, our 
 dearest Saviour, thyself kindle our lamps, that they may 
 evermore shine in thy temple ; that they may receive un- 
 quenchable light from thee, the unquenchable light that will 
 enlighten our darkness, and lessen by us the darkness of the 
 world. My Jesus, I pray thee, give thy light to my lamp, 
 that in its light the most holy place may be revealed to me, 
 in Mhich thou dwellcst as the eternal Priest, that I may 
 always behold thee, desire thee, look upon thee in love, and 
 long after thee. It belongs to thee to show thyself to us 
 thy suppliants, O Saviour full of love, that we may know 
 thee, love thee alone, think of thee alone day and night, that 
 thy love may fill our souls, and that this love, so great, may 
 never more be quenched by the many waters of this earth ; 
 as it is written, ' Many waters cannot quench love.' (Sol. 
 Song. viii. 7.)" 
 
 Permission having been granted by the abbot, Columban, 
 with twelve youths who were training under his guidance 
 for ecclesiastics, repaired about the year 590 to France, 
 Avhere at that time, owing to the continual wars, the political 
 disturbances, the remissness of the worldly-minded bishops 
 M'ho occupied themselves more about worldly business than 
 about spiritual concerns, the greatest confusion and irregu- 
 larity prevailed ; among the monastic orders, especially, great 
 degeneracy had spread, many convents having been given 
 away by the princes to laymen of rank. The strict piety and 
 superior knowledge of Columban obtained so much the 
 greater reverence for him among a disorderly and ignorant 
 multitude. He was requested to settle in the kingdom of 
 Burgundy, and might have obtained a convent, in which he 
 could have lived with his scholars in quiet comfort and great 
 respectability. But he declared that he did not seek for earthly 
 goods, but felt himself compelled to obey the words of 
 
 2f2 
 
436 MISSIONS OF THE MIDDLE AGES. 
 
 Christ, " "Whoever will be my disciple, let him deny himself, 
 and take up his cross, and follow me." He now betook 
 himself to an immense wilderness in the Vosges, and chose 
 for his settlement the ruins of an ancient dilapidated castle 
 called Anegray {Anayi-ates). As the monks were obliged 
 to bring the land into a state of cultivation, at first they often 
 suffered hunger ; but Columban, even under such circum- 
 stances where human succour was v>'anting, maintained an 
 unwavering confidence in God which could never be put to 
 shame. At one time the monks had nothing to eat but the 
 bark of trees and wild herbs, and their destitution was more 
 pressing, because one of their number was ill, for whose 
 restoration they could do nothing. Three days they had 
 spent in prayer to obtain relief for their sick brother, when 
 they saw a man standing at the door of the convent, whose 
 horses were laden with sacks full of provisions. He told 
 them that he felt obliged by a sudden impulse to assist with 
 his means those who from love to Christ endured such pri- 
 vations in the wilderness. Another time they had for nine 
 days suffered similar want, when the heart of another abbot 
 was moved to send them provisions. When a foreign priest 
 once visited them, and expressed his surprise that Columban 
 could feel so easy, although he had so little corn in his 
 granary, Columban replied: '' If people faithfully serve their 
 Creator, they will suffer no want ; as it is written in the 
 Psalm (xxxvii. 25), ' I have never seen the righteous for- 
 saken, nor his seed begging bread.' He who could satisfy 
 five thousand men with five loaves, can easily fill om* barns 
 ■with meal." 
 
 To great power and activity for practical purposes, Colum- 
 ban joined a disposition for religious contemplation, taking 
 delight in inward quiet ; and the union in him of these 
 two qualities, as in many pious men of that age, is a proof 
 of his healthy Christian simplicity, of a sold resting firmly 
 on God. He frequently went into the depths of the forest, 
 carrying a Bible on his shoulder, and read as he walked, and 
 meditated on what he read, or sat &o\ytl with the Bible in 
 his hand on the hollow trunk of a tree. On Sundays and 
 feast-days he gladly retired to a cave or some other secret 
 place, and gave himself up entirely to prayer, and meditation 
 on divine things. 
 
HIS POPULAEITY AS A TEACHiEE. 437 
 
 Such was the reverence in which Columban was held, that 
 persons of all ranks flocked to him, and committed themselves 
 to his guidance, or brought their sons to him for education. 
 Tlie number of monks was so great that one convent was 
 not sufficient, and they were obliged to erect two others, 
 also in forests, Luxeuil {Luxiivhnn) in Franche Comte, and 
 Fontenay {Fontancp). 
 
 As the highest object to which all the monastic regulations 
 of Columban were adapted to form those who were placed 
 imder his guidance, he regarded self-denial, the total sur- 
 render of the will to God. In his instructions to the monks, 
 he says many admirable things respecting this highest aim 
 of internal improvement, this great concern of Christian 
 eanctitication, the one thing needful : " Whoever overcomes 
 himself, treads the world under foot. No one who spares 
 himself can hate the world. In the interior of his soul he 
 <?ither loves or hates the world." And in another instruction 
 he says : " We must willingly surrender for Christ's sake 
 what we love out of Christ. First of all, if it is necessary, 
 ■our bodily life must be surrendered by martyrdom for Christ. 
 Or if the opportunity be wanting for such blessedness, the 
 mortification of the will must not fail, so that they who live 
 henceforth, live not unto themselves, but unto Him who died 
 for them. Let us therefore live to him, who though he died 
 ■for us, is the life ; let us die unto ourselves, that we may live 
 to Christ. For we cannot live to him, if we do not first die 
 ourselves, that is, our own wills. Let us be Christ's, not our 
 own ; we are bought at a dear price, truly so ; for the Master 
 gave himself for the servant, the king for his attendants, 
 <jod for man. What ought m'c to give in return, when the 
 ■Creator of the universe died for us sinners, who yet were his 
 -creatures ? Believest thou that it is not necessary to die to 
 «in ? Certainly, thou must do that. Let us therefore die ; 
 iet us die for life, since he who is the life died for the dead ; 
 that we may be able to say with Paul, ' I live, yet not I, but 
 Christ liveth in me, who died for me ;' for this is the lan- 
 guage of the chosen. No one can die to himself, if Christ 
 •does not live in him. But if Christ be in him, he cannot 
 live to himself. Live in Christ, that Christ may live in thee. 
 AVe must take the kingdom of heaven by violence, since we 
 have to contend not only with our adversaries, but most 
 
438 MISSIONS or the middle ages. 
 
 earnestly with ourselves. It is a great misery when a man 
 injures himself and is not sensible of it. If thou hast con- 
 quered thyself, thou hast conquered all things." 
 
 Although these quotations express the genuine spirit of 
 Christian self-denial combined with love, yet this spirit did 
 not show itself unalloyed in the monastic institutions that 
 were founded by Columban. Though love predominated in 
 his own disposition, and he strove to train his monks to the 
 free love of the children of God, yet they were subjected to 
 a strict legal discipline. They were obliged to exercise self- 
 denial in the total annihilation of their own will, in slavish 
 subjection to a foreign human will, which presented itself to 
 ihem only as the organ of the Lord for their guidance. As 
 instruments without wills of their own, they were to serve 
 their superiors, in whom they believed that they saw the 
 Lord himself, who guided them by their means. It was this 
 spirit of making religion a matter of outward regulation, of 
 mechanical obedience, which prevailed in the ages before the 
 Reformation, until at that period the sign was given of the 
 restoration of the liberty gained by Christ for his people. 
 True humility refers itself to our relation to God in a sense 
 that is applicable to no creature whatever. He who humbles 
 himself before God, for that very reason humbles himself 
 before no man, though ready to serve every man on his own 
 stand-point in free love. He who bows his knee before God, 
 bows it for that reason before no man. The spirit of true 
 freedom is grounded in genuine humility ; as the apostle 
 says : " Ye are bought with a price ; be not the servants of 
 men." According to that false conception of a mind fettered 
 by externals, a man, instead of subjecting his o\\ti will to 
 God alone with inward self-renunciation, and letting himself 
 act in the free self-determination of his own spirit, makes his 
 own will subject to another man, by whom he lets himself be 
 determined in all things — the very opposite of that line of 
 conduct which the apostle enjoins in those words. 
 
 Columban, in his instructions to the monks, gives them the 
 consolation that by that blind obedience they obtained so much 
 greater rest and security, since in everything which they 
 did by the command of another, they were free from respon- 
 sibility, and the blame would fall on the individual from whom 
 they had received commands according to his calling, while 
 
MECHANICAL OBEDIENCE INCULCATED BY IIIM. 439 
 
 their calling was only to obey. This gratifies the indolence 
 of man, who would gladly be exempted from personal con- 
 Üict and from that pej'sonal probation to which he is destined. 
 But the# divine plan of educating the human race is contrary 
 to this, since man, having reached his majority, must attain 
 by means of Christianity, walking in the light of his God, 
 freely to prove all things with an enlightened reason, accord- 
 ing to the Word of God, and to determine his conduct 
 according to the law inscribed by the Spirit on his regene- 
 rated heart, apart from outward guardianship. What Co- 
 lumban prescribes to his monks as their aim, " that man 
 should always be dependent on the mouth of another," is 
 contrary to the spirit and genius of Christianity, which teaches 
 man to depend only on the mouth of God. 
 
 It is always a jjcrilous matter to attempt to break the 
 will of man by the strict discipline that was employed in the 
 instance before us : for the human will can only be truly 
 subjected and transformed by the power of God, by the 
 might of love, acting inwardly, so that giving itself up in its 
 self-hood, it regains itself in a higher manner as the reno- 
 vated organ of the Divine M'ill. Frequently from the point 
 of view assumed by the monkish system, the striving after 
 a proper free dcvelojjment, which is implanted in a rational 
 being created after the likeness of God, — the feeling that stirs 
 powerfully in the breast of the young that he is created 
 for Gods likeness and glory, becomes confounded with a 
 sinful, self-seeking striving, which indeed early attaches itself 
 to it. Thus, the despotic compulsion which cannot distinguish 
 one from the other, by powerfully repressing the proper free 
 development, produces a crippled, stunted being. The 
 self-will which is not to be subdued by human power, may 
 either give birth to a proud high-mindcdncss called forth into 
 so much unbending o})position by the cüm})ul.sion from without, 
 or if the self-will be broken, all fresh, pro})er life is destroyed, 
 and there remains an obtuse slavish spirit, unsusceptible of 
 everything higher ; or such a distortion is the result, that 
 with that slavish spirit is combined a pride veiled in the garb 
 of humility — that sham humility of Mhich Paul speaks in 
 Col. ii. 23. 
 
 In this respect, what Anselm of Canterbur}% at the end of 
 
440 MISSIONS OF THE MIDDLE AGES. 
 
 the eleventh century, said against the rigid monastic disci- 
 pline is admirable. An abbot complained in conversation 
 Ävith him of the incorrigible youths, who would not be 
 amended by all the correction he administered. Anselm 
 replied, "You never cease beating the boys, and what sort of 
 men will they be when they grow up ?" " Stupid and 
 brutish," answered the abbot. " A good sign for your 
 method of education," said Anselm, " when you educate 
 men into brutes !" The abbot answered, " Is that our fault? 
 We try to compel them, in all manner of ways, to be better, 
 and yet we effect nothing?" "You compel them?"^' 
 answered Anselm ; " tell me then, I pray you. if you planted 
 a tree in your garden, and inclosed it on all sides, so that 
 it coiüd not spread out its branches in any direction, and after 
 some years transplant it in an open space, Avhat kind of 
 tree would it have become? certainly, a useless one, with 
 crooked, tangled branches. And whose fault would it be, 
 but your fault, who trained the tree in this over- compulsory 
 manner ?" 
 
 But to form a correct judgment of Columban, we ought not 
 to forget under what circumstances he lived, what men he 
 had to form, and with what difficulties he had to combat. 
 Multitudes of men were to be governed, to be rescued from 
 the prevailing wildness and licentiousness, and to be trained 
 to industry, to the endurance of difficulties and privations of 
 all kinds, and, as the highest end of all, to a truly spiritual 
 life, devoted to God in self-renunciation. He himself says 
 in a letter : '• We must reach the city of the living God by 
 the right way, through chastisement of the flesh, contrition of 
 heart, labour of body and humiliation of spirit, and through 
 our striving, while we do what is our duty, not as if we 
 could merit anything, and, what is more than all, through the 
 grace of Christ, faith, hope, and love." 
 
 In his instructions, Columban says : " Let the monk live 
 
 * Constriagitis ? Die mihi, quseso, si plantam arboris ia horto tuo 
 plantares, et mox ilium omni ex parte concluderes, ut ramos suos nulla- 
 tenus extendere posset, cum earn post annum excludetes, qualis arbor 
 nde prodiret ? Profecto inutilis, incurvis ramis ct perplexis ; et hoc ex 
 cujus culpa procederet, nisi tua, qui earn immoderate conciusisti ? Carte 
 hoc facitis de pueris vestris.— Anselmus, ViL Eadm. § 30, in Act. S. 
 April, torn. ii. p. 873. 
 
DISCIPLINE ENFORCED AMONGST THE MONKS. 441 
 
 in a convent under the discipline of a father, and in fellow- 
 ship with many others, that from the former he may learn 
 humility, and by means of the latter, patience ; by the one 
 he may learn silent obedience, by the others, gentleness ; let 
 him not do his own will : let him eat what is ottered him ; 
 let him have just as much as he receives; let him fulfil the 
 day's work prescribed to him. Let him go to bed weary ; let 
 him go to sleep while travelling, and although he has not 
 slept enough, let him be compelled to get up. When he 
 suÖ'ers unjustly, let him be silent. Let him fear the superior 
 of the convent as a master, and love him as a father," 
 
 Yet with all his strictness of discipline, a spirit of paternal 
 love animated the abbot, and hence, as we see from his life, 
 so many were attached to his person. He always kept this 
 end in view, so to train the monks that this punctilious 
 arrangement should not become dead and mechanical, — that 
 this strict discipline should not be an insupportable burden, 
 but become a second nature, and that everything should be 
 easy to them through the spirit of love and resignation. 
 *' If the monks learn the humility of Christ, his yoke will be 
 easy, his burden will be light. Heart-humility is the repose 
 of a soul wearied by its conflict with corrupt inclinations, its 
 inward pain ; it is its only refuge from so many evils, and the 
 more completely it collects itself into this state from perpetual 
 distraction with outward vanities, so much more entire is its 
 repose, and it is refreshed within, so that even the bitter is 
 sweet, and what before was too hard and too heavy for it, now 
 becomes light and easy." 
 
 Columban's instructions to the monks show an endeavour 
 to bring divine things close to their minds, and if we see 
 how easily those who had to gain their daily bread by hard 
 labour, — how easily, under the endurance of daily toil and 
 earthly anxieties, they would forget the higher objects of the 
 mind and heart, so mucli more worthy of honour must that 
 man appeal' who sought to operate on these men by the 
 power of Christianity, that in the midst of their conflict with 
 their native rudeness they might regard the highest interests 
 of the inner man as most important for themselves and 
 others, and to avail themselves of that daily conflict as a 
 means of exercising self-denial, resignation to God, and 
 unconditional trust in him. One time, after laying the foun- 
 
442 MISSIONS OF THE MIDDLE AGES. 
 
 (lation of the convent of Fontaines, Columban saw sixty 
 monks toiling with hoes to loosen the soil, in order to pre- 
 jiare it for the futui-e sowing, while only a small quantity of 
 I)rovisions to satisfy the hunger and thirst occasioned by this 
 severe labour was in the magazine of the convent. How 
 much was implied here ! Here we see the power of faith, 
 which can remove mountains. Others would have lost all 
 pleasure and power for labour under such great difficulties 
 and gloomy prospects, but Columban's strong faith inspired 
 those who v/ere under him with courage and power. The 
 monks would experience that faith multiplies what a man 
 has, and can create means where they are wanting, since it 
 fills the heart of man with courage, power, and joy ; as, on 
 the contrary, unbelieving despondency lessens the gifts of 
 God, since it weakens power, makes earthly wants doubly 
 felt, and when the soul is given up to this feeling, it sinks 
 down to earth, and adds anxiety for the future to the desti- 
 tution of the present moment. 
 
 Some passages from Columban's instructions for his monks 
 wiU bring before us his deep Christian feeling, and his endea- 
 vour to excite the same in them. Speaking against idle 
 subtleties respecting the Trinity, he says : " Who can speak 
 of the essence of God ? How he is everywhere present and 
 invisible, or how he fills heaven and earth and all creatures, 
 according to those words, ' Do not I fill heaven and earth ? 
 saith the Lord?' (Jer. xxiii. 24.) The universe is full of 
 the Spirit of the Lord. ' Heaven is my thi'one and earth 
 is my footstool.' God, therefore, is everywhere in his whole 
 infinity; everywhere altogether nigh, according to his own 
 testimony of himself. ' Am I not a God at hand, saith the 
 Lord, and not a God afar ofi"?' We therefore seek after 
 God not as one who is far from us, since we can apprehend 
 him in our own inward souls : for he dwells in us as the soul 
 in the body, if we are not dead in the service of sin. If we 
 are susceptible of this, that he is in us, then we are truly 
 made alive by him as his living members. 'In him,' says 
 the apostle, ' we live, and move, and have our being.' Wlio 
 shall search out the Most High according to this his unutter- 
 able and inconceivable essence? Who shall fathom the 
 depths of the Godhead ? AVho shall boast that he knows the 
 infinite God, who fills and suiTounds all things, who pene- 
 
HIS WARNING AGAINST DOCTRINAL SUBTLETIES. 443 
 
 trates all tilings, and is exalted above all, — whom no man 
 has seen as he is ? Let no one then venture to inquire into 
 the unsearchable essence of God ; only believe simply but 
 firmly that God is and will be what he was, since he is the 
 imchangeable God. God is perceived by the pious faith of a 
 pure heart, and not by an impure heart and vain discourse. 
 ^\j-t thou disposed to investigate the Unutterable with thy 
 subtleties? then wisdom will be further from thee than it 
 was (Eccles, vii. 24). Dost thou, on the contrary, apprehend 
 him by faith ? then wisdom will stand before thy doors. 
 Wherefore we must implore the omnipresent invisible God 
 himself that the fear joined with faith, and the love which 
 cannot fail, may remain in us ; that fear of God which joined 
 with love will make us wise in all points ; and piety com- 
 mands us to be silent respecting the Unutterable." Of the 
 happiness of those who possess vital Christianity, he says : 
 •' Who, in truth, is more happy than he whose death is life, 
 whose life is Christ, whose reward is the Saviour ; to whom 
 heaven lowers itself, to whom Paradise stands open, for 
 M'hom hell is closed, whose father is God, whose attendants 
 are the angels." In the eighth instruction he says: "It 
 becomes travellers to hasten homewards ; they have cares 
 as long as they are on their travels, but rest in their native 
 country. Let us, then, who are travelling, hasten to our 
 native country, for our whole life is like a day's journey. The 
 first thing for us is, to love nothing here below, but to love 
 only what is above ; to long only after that which is above ; 
 to think only of that ; to seek only our fatherland above, 
 — there, where our Father is. Here, on earth, we have 
 not our fatherland, because our Father is in heaven." 
 Of love as the soul of the Christian life, he says: "What 
 has the law of God prescribed more carefully, more fre- 
 (juently, than love ? And yet you seldom find a person 
 who properly loves. What excuse can we offer? Can we 
 say that it is something laborious and difficult? Love is 
 no labour; it is rather something sweet, something salutarj-, 
 something healthful for the heart. If the heart is not dis- 
 eased with sin, tlien its health is love. lie who fulfils the law 
 with the ardom- of love, has eternal life ; as John says : ' We 
 know that we have passed from death unto life, because we 
 love the brcthi-eu. He that loveth not his brother abideth in 
 
444 MISSIONS OP THE ^MIDDLE AGES. 
 
 death. He that hateth his brother is a murderer, and ye 
 know that no mui'derer hath eternal life abiding in him.' 
 "We must, therefore, do nothing but love, or vre can expect 
 nothing but punishment. May our gracious Lord and Saviour 
 Jesus Christ, om- God, the Creator of peace and love, imbue us 
 with this love, which is the fulfilling of the law." Also in his 
 exhortations and lessons for his scholars and friends, contain- 
 ing small poems, Columban expresses his ardent love of 
 Christ. " Let no one," he there says, " live to himself, but 
 let eveiy one live only to Christ. If thou truly lovest 
 Christ, then seek not thy own, but the honour of Christ. 
 Love not thyself nor the world, but Christ alone." 
 
 Columban requires of the true monk, that he should unite 
 steadfastness and power with gentleness and humility, in the 
 conflict for truth and righteousness against the high and 
 mighty ones of the world — that he should be ready to contend 
 for what is essential — that he should be humble towards those 
 who are cast down,*" but honestly oppose the highminded — 
 that he should be bold in the cause of truth — that he should 
 show himself obliging and compliant towards the good, but 
 invincible in conflict with the wicked. 
 
 In this spirit Columban acted in contending for Christian 
 freedom and Christian moral discipline. By his zeal for 
 «trict discipline, and against the irregularities which had 
 spread among the Prankish churches, and by his frankness, 
 he necessarily made himself many enemies among persons 
 of influence, both ecclesiastics and laymen, M'ho gladly 
 availed themselves of an opportunity to get rid of so trouble- 
 some a person. Columban had brought with him several 
 peculiar usages from the Irish church, which difiered widely 
 from those of the Romish church, which had been univer- 
 sally adoj^ted in those parts. As his convents in the forests 
 formed a secluded wliole unconnected with others, he wished 
 to follow the practices of his fathers, and not to submit to the 
 prevalent practice of the church. He might, indeed, have 
 conceded certain external things, not of any importance in 
 themselves, for the sake of seeming what was more essential ; 
 but it was an object of some importance to him to place 
 himself in opposition to an arrogant ecclesiastical authority, 
 which refused to acknowledge the rights of Christian liberty, 
 * Humilis dejectis, rectus erectis. 
 
HITMAN AUTHORITY IN RELIGION. 445 
 
 and aimed, by its enactments, to force an uniformity in out- 
 ward things. His enemies gladly availed themselves of this 
 departure from the prevailing church usages, to excite a 
 prejudice against him. Columban by no means Avished to 
 introduce all the usages relating to divine worship which 
 lie had brought from Ireland, though he believed they were 
 preferable ; all he desired was that he should be at liberty 
 to follow his own method with the convents under his 
 superintendence. 
 
 With Christian frankness, subjecting himself to no human 
 authority in matters of religion, he addressed a letter to the 
 bishop of Home, Gregory the Great. He called on him not 
 to bind himself by the authority of the earlier Koman 
 bishops, but to examine freely, and to adopt whatever he 
 found to be best : " In such a matter," he MTote to him, " you 
 must not dej^end merely on j-our humility, or the dignity of 
 the person, which often deceives. In such inquiries, perhaps 
 a living dog is better than a dead lion (Eccles. ix. 4). Living 
 saints may improve what had not been improved by a 
 greater than themselves in a former age." Gregory, in a case 
 which required a free examination of the truth, was not 
 justified in a humility which would not permit him to sub- 
 mit the enactments of his predecessors to a fresh exami- 
 nation. At a later period, Columban wrote to the Roman 
 bishop Boniface IV., saying that as they were connected 
 with one another by unity of faith, since they agreed in 
 believing with the heart, and confessing with the mouth, 
 one Father in heaven, of whom are all things, and one 
 Redeemer the Son of God, through whom are all things, 
 and one Holy Spirit, in whom are all things, — he hoped it 
 might be granted to him and his associates, without injury 
 to the peace of the church, to continue in their own usages ; 
 as in former times, Polycarp, bishop of SmjTua, and Anicetus, 
 bishop of Rome, without injury to the faith, separated from 
 one another with uninterrupted love, and each one adhered 
 to the customs he had received. 
 
 About the year 602, a Frankish synod was held to delibe- 
 rate on this matter, and Columban addressed an epistle to it, 
 full of zeal for the welfare of the church. As, partly owing 
 to political disturbances in the kingdom of the Franks, and 
 partly to the remissness of the bishops, who had involved 
 
446 MISSIONS or the middle ages. 
 
 themselves too much in worldly concerns, the salutary- 
 institution of provincial s}-nods had been for a long time 
 neo-lected, Columban thanked God that the disputes with 
 him had led to summoning such a synod, and he prayed God 
 to grant that they might on this occasion be occupied with 
 more important things relative to faith and practice. On 
 this occasion he asserted, with all respect to his opponents, 
 the great truth that if they did not evince by their lives that 
 they had heard the voice of the true Shepherd, and follow 
 him, they coidd not expect that those words which they 
 uttered only as hirelings could meet with obedience. 
 
 He justly remarks (and it is a sentiment that ought to be 
 laid to heart in all similar cases) that if all professed 
 Christians were united to one another by the fellowship of 
 love and the unity of the evangelical disposition, all disputes 
 might easily be settled. "The diversity of practices and 
 usages has certainly much injured the peace of the church ; 
 but if we only made haste to expel the poison of pride, envy, 
 and vain ambition, by the exercise of true humility, accord- 
 ing to the doctrine and example of our Lord, who said, 
 ' Learn of me, for I am meek and lowly of heart,' we shoiüd 
 love another as disciples of our Lord Jesus Christ, with all 
 our hearts — since the humble cannot quarrel — since the truth 
 will soon be known by those who seek to know which is 
 most correct, with the same determination and the same 
 anxiety after a knowledge of the truth — since no one is con- 
 quered excepting error, and no one glories in himself, but 
 only in the Lord."' He closes his letter with these words : 
 ' ' Li order that we may mutually love one another without 
 hjjjocrisy, let us contemplate closely the commands of our 
 Lord Jesus Christ, and if we understand them, strive to 
 fulfil them, so that thi-ough his teaching the whole church 
 may strive towards the heavenly in a glow of holy zeal. 
 May his undeserved grace vouchsafe to us that we may 
 all renounce the world and love him alone, and seek after 
 him with the Father and the Holy Spirit. Lastly, O 
 father, pray for us, even as we, though persons of little 
 account, pray for you, and regard us not as those who are 
 strangers to you ; for we are members of one body, whether 
 we are Gauls, or Britons, or Irish, or of whatever other 
 nation. May we, out of all nations, rejoice in the faith 
 
HIS RETIREMENT FROM FRANCE. 447 
 
 and knowledge of the Son of God, and hasten to become 
 a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness 
 of Christ, in "which we mutually improve one another, care 
 and pray for each other, and finally rule and rejoice with 
 one another !" 
 
 An attack from another quarter led to important conse- 
 quences for Columban. He was held in great respect by 
 Thierry II., the king of Burgundy, where his convents were 
 situated. He availed himself of this, to administer reproof 
 to the king on account of his voluptuous life, and to urge 
 him to a better coui'se. But his influence on this side 
 came into collision with the policy of the powerful grand- 
 mother of this prince, Brunehault — and she laid a plan, with 
 the nobles and prelates, to whom Columban's proximity 
 had long been otfensive, to drive him away. It was not 
 Columban's manner to evade the machinations that were 
 formed against him. In accordance with his maxim " to be 
 bold in the cause of truth, and unconquerable by evil," he met 
 the plot with unbending firmness. At last, after five-and- 
 twenty years of activity,' he was banished from the country 
 in the year 610. Orders were at first given that he should 
 be sent back to Ireland, but peculiar circumstances prevented 
 their execution. In his journeying through France, he met 
 with many consolatory proofs that God was with him. 
 "WTien he had arrived with his followers at the city of Nantes, 
 and was occupied with meditating in his cell, a beggar 
 came before it. Columban caused the last measure of meal 
 in his stores to be given to the hungry man. The two follow- 
 ing days he was obliged to contend with want himself, and 
 continued joyful in faith and hope, when suddenly some one 
 knocked at the door, and it was the servant of a pious female 
 of the city, whom she had sent with a considerable supply 
 of com and wine for him. From Nantes he wrote an epistle 
 full of paternal love to the monks he had left behind in 
 France, in which he exhorted them to unity and humility : 
 " It were better," he wrote to them, " that you should not be 
 together if you have not the same likings and dislikes." He 
 represents God as addressing the proud self-righteous soul : 
 '' Since thou hast allowed thyself to be seduced by thy holi- 
 ness to pride, now descend, and count thyself among sinners ; 
 for what is done in pride is of no value with me." Of a 
 
448 MISSIONS OF THE MIDDLE AGES. 
 
 monk, "Waldolin, who was much beloved by him. he writes on 
 the contrary : " God bless him I he is humble ; give him a 
 kiss, which in my haste I was prevented from doing." 
 Columban then withdrew into Switzerland, near Tuggen and 
 Pregentia (Bregenz), where he laboured several years for 
 the conversion of the Suevi and Alemanni. Afterwards he 
 went to Italv. and established in the vicinity of the Apennines 
 the famous monastery of Bobbio, where he found rest for the 
 last years of his life. 
 
 Still he was active to the last, in order to compose an 
 ecclesiastical division which had existed in Italy from ancient 
 times. The Emperor Justinian, who, by his indiscreet and 
 despotic interference in church affairs, by his strong inclina- 
 tion to exercise his imperial power in making theologians 
 instead of faithfully fulfilling the duties of his office, had 
 caused such great disorders in the Greek Church, had also 
 allowed himself to be moved, by the intrigues of a troublesome 
 theological court-faction, publicly to brand as heretical the 
 memory of three great Syrian fathers of the chm-ch (Theo- 
 dorus, Theodoret. and Ibas), and the vacillating, weak-minded 
 Roman bishop, Vigilius, had allowed. himself to be compelled 
 to favour the foolish undertaking of the emperor. As the 
 later Roman bishops followed the decision of their predeces- 
 sor, a division of the church in Italy was the consequence ; for 
 several churches of eminence in Istria and the Venetian ter- 
 ritory disapproved of this decision. Many accusations against 
 the orthodoxy of the Roman Church were occasioned by it. 
 Columban now WTote a very respectful, but at the same time 
 verA' frank epistle to Pope Boniface TV., in which he required 
 from him an imprejudiced examination of this affair, and 
 pressed upon him to take measures for restoring the peace of 
 the church. '• "Watch," he writes to the pope, '"first of all 
 over the faith, and then to command the works of faith, and 
 to root out vices ; for your vigilance will be the salvation of 
 many, as on the contrary your indifference will be the ruin of 
 many. Our concern here is not persons, but the truth. As 
 in virtue of the dignity of your church you are held in great 
 honour, you need to take greater care not to lessen your dig- 
 nity by any aberration ; for the power will remain with you 
 as long as you are in the right way. He is a true key-bearer 
 of the kingdom of hea\en, who by true knowledge opens it to 
 
 II 
 
GALLTJS, THE APOSTLE OF SWITZERLAND. 449 
 
 the worthy and shuts it against the unworthy. He who acts 
 in an opposite manner, can neither open nor shut. Since from 
 a certain pride you arrogate to yourselves greater authority 
 and power in divine things, you may knoAv that your power 
 will be so much less in the Lord, although you only indulge 
 these thoughts in your hearts ; for the unity of faith in the 
 whole world produces everywhere the unity of spiritual power; 
 so that everywhere liberty is given by all to truth, and the 
 entrance must be refused to error in the same manner by all." 
 Then follows a beautiful exhortation which applies to so many 
 divisions which arise from laying greater stress on subordi- 
 nate differences than on unity in the essentials of faith, and 
 thus the bond of love was broken. '' Therefore quickly return 
 to unity, beloved brethren, and do not prolong old controver- 
 sies ; but rather be silent, and consign these controversies to 
 everlasting oblivion. "When anything is doubtful, reserve it 
 for the decision of God. But what is clear, or what man can 
 judge, decide justly upon it without respect of persons. 
 Mutually acknowledge one another, that there may be joy in 
 heaven and earth over your peace and union. I know not 
 how a Christian can quarrel respecting the foith with other 
 Christians. Whatever the orthodox Christian who rightly 
 praises the Lord may say, the other will say Amen, because 
 both believe in the same and love the same." 
 
 Columban died in his seventy-second year, or a little older, 
 after having, in the course of an active and very laborious life, 
 scattered the seeds of Christian knowledsre in France, Switzor- 
 land, and Italy, and, by the scholars whom he left behind him, 
 made provision for its still wider propagation in succeeding 
 ages. 
 
 3. Gallus, the Apostle of Switzerland. 
 
 Among the scholars whom Columban brought with him from 
 Ireland to France, Gallus was one of the most distinguished. 
 He was descended from a respectable Irisli family, and was 
 early intrusted by his j)ious parents to Columban to be edu- 
 cated for the service of the kingdom of God. Columban, who, 
 as we have remarked above, was a zealous student of the 
 Scriptures, deeply imbued the mind of youth with a love for 
 acquaintance with the sacred volume. He knew how to dis- 
 course from the Scriptures with simplicitv and fervour, and to 
 
 2 G 
 
450 MISSIONS or ihz ioddu: ag^zs. 
 
 apply the word tx) the hearts of men. "When Columban with 
 his associates met with a hospitable reception from pious per- 
 sons, and after laving down his luggage wished to have some 
 portion of Scripture read, he called on his ^vourite scholar, 
 Gallus, to perform this office, and at the same time to explain 
 what was read. T\lien they took up their residence among 
 the ruins of the ancient castle of Bregenz, they met with an 
 old dilapidated chapel which they resolved to consecrate for 
 Christian worship, and in which they constructed their cells- 
 Sut they foimd in that chapel three gilded images of idols 
 which the pagans worshipped as tutelary divinities. As 
 Gallus, during his residence in the Prankish territory, had 
 made himself weU acquainted with the German language, 
 Columban permitted him to preach the gospel to a numerous 
 multitude who had flocked together to witness the consecra- 
 tion. It is indeed a true saying of Luther's, " It is God's 
 work alone to banish idols from the human heart : whatever 
 cümes from without, is a farce. "' J£ men are deprived of some 
 of their idols, they will manufacture others. But when the 
 preaching of divine grace opens a way to the heart, it will 
 facilitate if the sensible impression to which idolatrv cleaves 
 be taken away. Thus Gallus confirmed the impression that 
 his discourse made, by dashing in pieces the images before the 
 eyes of the wild pagan multitude, and thus giving them ocu- 
 lar demonstration of the nothingness and weakness of their 
 false gods. 
 
 At this place the monks occupied themselves with gardening 
 and planting fruit-trees. Gmllus wove nets and attended to 
 fishing. His success was so great that he not only supplied 
 the other monks with fish, but also entertained strangers, and 
 often made presents to the people.* 
 
 * A similar account is giren of Bishop Wilfred, who preached the 
 gospel in Sussex towards the close of the serenth centurv. When he first 
 came there, a famine prevailed : the sea and the rivers were foil of fish : but 
 the people only knew how to catch eels. He was obhg-ed to instruct 
 them m fishing. He collected all the nets: his people used them in the 
 right manner, and caught three hundred fishes of different kinds. One 
 hundred of these he kept for his own people, a hundred he gave to the 
 owners of the net, and the remaining hundred to the poor. Bt this means 
 he won the love of the people; and as they were so much indebted to him 
 for their tempordl welfare, they listened to him more wiiiin^iy when he 
 discoursed of heavenly things. 
 
FOUNDS TIIL ÄKJNAHTKUY OF ST. (iAI.I,. 4.>1 
 
 WluM» (licy ncro cxpollcd from tliis rci^rion, ninl iho y\l)l)(»(, 
 Coluiubiui was jjrocecdiiij; to Italy, (iallus was j)ri.«vi'iitt'il 
 froui fbllowinjjf him by illnoKH — und thm cinnnnHtaiUM' proved 
 a ^rcat bli'.ssiiijj; to the pcoplr aiiioiifr uli(»in tiny liad been 
 ii'.sidiii^; Cor otlirrwiso (iallus would liavo not bi-cn lo tluin 
 what he actually became. OalluH bcinp; thuH hit ix hind 
 betook hiniHolf witli his fiHl»in|^-nets to a priest named 
 WiUimar, who lived in an old eastle, and had alreadv received 
 him hospitably with the Abbot (.'olumban, and had asHijriu'd 
 them their residences. After he had been reslore-d to health 
 l)y this j)ers()n's aliecitionato care, he wished to find out a 
 plaee in i1k' fon>st for buil(lin>j, and eidtivatin;;. lb; there- 
 ibre a])|)lie(l to the deaeon llillibahl, whose business it was 
 to suj)j)ly his ])(>ople with fish and birds, who hence fn!(iuently 
 traversed the woods, and was well aetpiainted with the paths. 
 In company with him h(> wished to lind out a j)laee suited for 
 building and provided with ^ood water. 'i'hedeaet)n f;ave him 
 a fearful (lescrij)tion of tlu; mvdtitude of wild beasts in the 
 forest, but (iallus answered him: " It is an e.\j»rehsion of the 
 a])ostle's, 'If (lod be for us, who can be against us?' and 
 a}4;ain : ' All things work toj^ether for }j;oo(i to them that 
 love(iod;' lie who preserved Daniel in the lion's den, can 
 deliver me from tlui power of the wild beasts."' The deacon 
 then said : " I'ut only some bread and a little net in ytmr 
 kna[)sack ; to-morrow I will take you into tlie forest ; that 
 (jlod who has brout;ht y"U hen; to us from a distant land 
 will also send his an^el with us, as he once did with Tobias, 
 and show us a ])lace ansvverinj.^ to your pious wislu!»." 
 Callus ]»repared himself for his journey by prayer ; when 
 they had travelled till two or three o'clock, llillibald said: 
 *' Let us now take some bread and water, that we may be 
 strengthened to j)ursue tin; rest of our way." (iallus 
 answered : " My son, do what is necessary for your own 
 Htren^theninj^ ; I am resolved to taste nothinj^ till (iod has 
 pointed (jut to me the desired j)lace of rest." Hut the deacon 
 answcicd : " No — we will share the discomfort to^^'ther, 
 and then the joy." 'I'hey ])r(teeed<'d till towaids evening, 
 when they came to a stream full of fish, runniuj^ down from 
 a rock ; they succeeded in catchin)^ a (piantity of fish — tho 
 deacon made a fire, broiled the fish, and took bread out of 
 their knapsack. Meanwhile Gallus had gone a lillle on ouo 
 
 2 a 2 
 
452 MISSIONS OF THE MIDDLE AGES. 
 
 side in order to pray, but being entangled in the bushes he 
 fell down ; the deacon hastened to help him up, but Gallus 
 refused his aid, saying : " Let me alone ; this is my resting- 
 place for life ; here will I dwell." He consecrated the 
 place by prayer, and after he had risen up, he made a cross 
 with a small twig, planted it in the earth, and hung on the 
 cross some relics which he used to wear in a case about hi& 
 neck. Here they both knelt down again to pray; and on 
 this spot was foimded the monastery, afterwards called by 
 his name, St. Gall. Here Gallus laboured in the education 
 of youth, in the training of ecclesiastics and monks, by whom 
 the seeds of Christian knowledge were scattered still wider ; 
 he also dispensed many spiritual and temporal benefits among 
 the people. When he received presents from w^ealthy 
 individuals he assembled crowds of poor people in the district, 
 and distributed among them what he had thus obtained. 
 On one such occasion, one of his scholars said to him : " My 
 father, I have a costly silver vessel, beautifully enchased ; if 
 you approve, I will reserve it, that it may be used at the 
 Holy Supper." But Gallus answered: "My son, think of 
 Peter's words, ' Gold and silver have I none:' and in order 
 that you may not act contrary to so wholesome an example, 
 hasten and dispose of it for the good of the poor; my 
 teacher Columban used to distribute the Lord's body in a 
 vessel of brass." 
 
 The vacant bishopric of Costnitz was offered to Gallus r 
 but he preferred discharging the quiet duties of his convent, 
 and therefore declined the office. He obtained the appoint- 
 ment for the deacon Johannes, a native of the country, who 
 had studied the Scriptures imder him. At the consecration 
 of the bishop, a great multitude of persons came from all 
 quarters ; Gallus availed himself of the opportunity to impress 
 on the hearts of those who had recently been converted to 
 Christianity, the love of God as exhibited in creation and 
 redemption, and to trace, in a connected manner, the leadings 
 of God's providence for the salvation of mankind. He 
 entered the pulpit with his late scholar Johannes, who 
 interpreted to the people in German, a discourse which he 
 delivered in Latin. Speaking of the creation he said : " God 
 created beings endowed with reason, to praise him and to be 
 happy from him, in him, and through him. Ycu ought to know 
 
BONIFACE, THE APOSTLE OF THE GEEMANS. 453 
 
 this cause of youi' creation, my Christian brethren, in order 
 that you may not regard yourselves as reprobate beings, and 
 abdicate your dignity by living like brutes. God, who is the 
 highest good, resolved to create beings endowed with reason, 
 that acknowledging him as tlieii' Lord, the author of their 
 existence, and being filled with his love, they should rejoice 
 in being made ha})py in him." He then deduced the origin 
 of evil from the desire of rational beings to have in them- 
 selves the gi'ound of their being, life, and happiness ; hence 
 arises that internal emptiness, since the creature, turning 
 away from the fountain of life and left to itself, must fall 
 from fulness to emptiness, from reality to nothingness. He 
 closed the whole address with the following exhortations : 
 " We M'ho are the unworthy messengers of the gospel to these 
 times, adjure you in Christ's name that you reno!;.nce for ever 
 the devil and all his works and ways, as you have already 
 renounced them once at baptism; that you will acknowledge 
 the one true God and Father who reigns for ever in heaven, 
 and the eternal Wisdom who in time became man for us 
 men, and the Holy Ghost, the pledge of eternal salvation 
 granted to us in our sojourn here ; and thus may you strive 
 to live, as you have acknowledged it becomes the children of 
 God. Be kind to one another and forgive one another as 
 
 God hath forgiven you your sins ^f ^y God Almighty, 
 
 who wills that all men should be saved and come to the 
 knowledge of the truth, and who, by the instrumentality of 
 my tongue, has delivered this in your hearing, grant that by 
 his grace you may bring forth fruit in your hearts." 
 
 4. Boniface, the Ajwstle of the Germans. 
 
 Boniface, or Winfred (his Anglo-Saxon name), who was born 
 at Crediton, in Devonshire, in the year 080, deserves to be 
 honoured as the father of the German church, though he was 
 by no means the first who brought the seeds of the gospel 
 into Germany. Many had already laboured in that field 
 before him, but the efforts of scattered and isolated indi- 
 viduals were not sufficient to secure the continued propa- 
 gation of Christianity. Settled ecclesiastical institutions 
 required to be added, and this was first effected by Boniface, 
 from whose agency the salvation of so many proceeded even 
 down to the present time. 
 
454 MISSIONS OF THE 3IIDDLE AGES. 
 
 The first particular to be noticed in Boniface's history is, 
 that the seeds of religion were early developed in his heart. 
 As in England the custom had been kept up, which was 
 introduced by the first pious Irish missionaries, for the 
 clergy to visit the houses of the lait}' and to deliver dis- 
 com'ses on religious subjects before their families, the children 
 in such cases often listened attentively, and they gladly con- 
 versed with them on the things of religion. His father tried 
 to repress his inclination for the ecclesiastical profession, as 
 he had intended him for a post of secular distinction. But, 
 as it often happens, the inclination which his father aimed to 
 subdue only acquired greater force, and at last the impression 
 of a severe illness induced his father to give up further oppo- 
 sition to his son's views. Boniface was educated in several 
 noted English convents, where he became intimately ac- 
 quainted with the Holy Scriptm-es, which were to be a light 
 to his path in after-life among savage tribes. His mind was 
 certainly narrowed during this period by many prejudices 
 which kept him from the pure knowledge of Scripture doc- 
 trine, and which must necessarily have been a hindrance to 
 him in his missionary labours : for the more pure and free, 
 and unmixed with human schemes, Christianity is. the more 
 easily it makes its way into the hearts of men, and the more 
 easily can it preserve in undiminished vigour its divine 
 attractive power over human nature. The missionary 
 requires especially the spirit of Christian freedom, that he 
 may not obstruct the work of God in the soul by human 
 alloy, or prevent Christ, whose organ alone he ought to be, 
 from obtaining in every nation that peculiar form which is 
 exactly suitable to each one. This stand-point Boniface 
 certainly did not occupy, and it was dming this whole period 
 unknown in the development of the church. The nations 
 were obliged, first of all, to receive Christianity in the form 
 of a definite, visible church, which had built many foreign 
 materials on the one foundation, which is Christ, and to 
 admit among them the great buildino: of the Roman church, 
 m order to develop themselves under its guardianship to the 
 maturity of manhood in Christ, but at last were led by Luther 
 from the guardianship of the church to Christ, vrhom alone 
 to serve and on whom alone to depend is true freedom. 
 
 When Boniface had completed his five-and-thirtieth year. 
 
HIS L-iBOTTUS AMONG HEATHEN TRIBES. 455 
 
 he felt himself excited by the example of other missionaries 
 among his countrymen to carry the message of the gospel 
 to the heathen. What would have become of our father- 
 land if God had not by his Spirit awakened that missionary 
 zeal, especially in England and Ireland ! And as we now 
 with joy look back with gratitude on the labours of 
 those heroes of the faith, to whom we owe the blessings of 
 Christianity and of all mental culture, so hereafter, the 
 churches gathered from among the heathen in South India, 
 Asia, and Africa, when they have received through Chris- 
 tianity the abundance of all earthly and heavenly good, will 
 look back with gratitude on the commencing missionary zeal 
 of the present day. An English priest, Egbert, gave the 
 fii'st impulse to this missionary movement. In a dangerous 
 illness he made a vow, that if his life were spared he would 
 devote it to the service of the Lord among foreign nations. 
 After this, he decided with several of his associates to visit 
 the German tribes ; but when on the point of sailing he was 
 prevented by several circumstances from accompanying them, 
 though he must still be regarded as the prime mover in the 
 undertaking. 
 
 Boniface himself informs us, that an impulse natural to 
 his nation contributed, with the religious interest, to impel 
 liim to missionary labour — in other words, a passion for 
 foreign travel and the fear of Christ, as he expresses it in 
 one of his letters. He terms it the fear of Christ, since he 
 regarded it as a debt due to the heathen, an obligation laid 
 upon him by Chi'ist, which he believed himself bound to 
 fulfil: he would have exclaimed with the Apostle Paul, '*"\Voe 
 is me, if I preach not the gospel !" First of all, he assisted 
 in his labours the zealous Willibrord, one of those mis- 
 sionaries who followed the impulse given by Egbert, and 
 founded the church in East Fricsland and the Xethcrlands. 
 He wished to have retained Boniface near him that he might 
 be his successor as archbishop of Utrecht ; but ho declined 
 compliance, feeling impelled by an inward call to begin a 
 fresh work among the heathen tribes of GciTuany. The 
 subject of his waking thoughts presented itself to him in an 
 admonitory dream, and great views of the future were 
 opened to him, as a female friend (the Abbess Bui^ija') in 
 England reminded him at a later period, that God had 
 
456 MISSIONS OF THE MIDDLE AGES. 
 
 revealed himself to liim in a dream, anä had promised him 
 an abundant harvest among the heathen. The value he set 
 on the Holy Scriptures is shown in the following words, 
 addressed to a young man in his native land, Avhom he ex- 
 horted to a diligent study of the Bible : '• Throw aside 
 everything that hinders you. and direct your whole study to 
 the iloly Scripture, and there seek that divine wisdom which 
 is more precious than gold ; for what is it more seemly in 
 youth to strive after, or what can age possess more valuable, 
 than the knowledge of the Holy Scriptures, which will guide 
 our souls, without danger of being shipwrecked in the storm, 
 to the shores of the heavenly Paradise, to the eternal hea- 
 venly joys of angels?" To an abbess who had sent him a 
 Bible, he wrote in retui'n, " that she had consoled him when 
 banished to Germany, with spiritual light ; for whoever is 
 obliged to visit the dark corners of the German people falls 
 into the jaws of death, unless he has the Word of God as a 
 lamp to his feet and a light to his path." He requested his 
 old friend, Daniel, bishop of Winchester, to send him a 
 manuscript of the Prophets left behind by his deceased abbot 
 and teacher, Wimbert, which was M'ritten in very plain and 
 distinct characters. " If God incline you to grant this 
 request," he wrote to him, "you can render no greater com- 
 fort to my old age ; for in this country I cannot obtain such a 
 manuscript of the Prophets as I wdsh for, and Avith my abeady 
 weak eyesight I cannot distinguish small and closely-Avritten 
 characters." 
 
 In the following passage of a letter to an English abbess, 
 he shows what was the ground of his confidence in all his 
 labours and conflicts. " Pray for me, that He who dwelleth 
 on high and looketh on the lowly (Psa. cxiii. 5) would 
 forgive my sins, that the word may be given me with freedom 
 of utterance, and that the gospel of the glory of Christ may 
 run and be glorified among the heathen." In his twenty- 
 second letter to some English nuns, he says : " I entreat, as I 
 have confidence in you that you always do so, that you pray 
 fervently to the Lord that we may be redeemed from wicked 
 and mischievous men — for all have not faith ; and be assured 
 that we praise God, although the sufferings of our heart are 
 many. May the Lord our God, who is the refuge of the 
 poor and the hope of the humble, deliver us from our trouble 
 
HINDRANCES TO COMPLETE SUCCESS. 457 
 
 and from the temptations of this evil world, that the glorious 
 gospel of Christ may be glorified, that the grace of the Lord 
 shown to me may not be in vain ; and since I am the last 
 and most unworthy of all the messengers which the llomish 
 church has sent out for the publication of the gospel, may I 
 not die without having brought forth fruit for the go.spel ; 
 may I not depart without leaving sons and daughters behind; 
 so that when the Lord comes I may not be found guilty 
 of having hidden my talent, and that I may not, by the 
 guilt of my sins, instead of the reward of labour, receive 
 })unishment for unfruitful labour from Him who sent me." 
 Thus he endeavoured — as became a humble labourer in the 
 Lord's vineyard, who knew how to distinguish what was 
 divine in the cause from the defects of its human instru- 
 mentality — to find the reason of the hindrances to his success 
 in his own sinfulness and deficiencies. In a letter addressed 
 to the English clergy, he says : " Seek to obtain by your 
 prayers that our God and Lord Jesus Christ, M'ho will have 
 all men saved and attain to the knowledge of God, may 
 convert the hearts of the pagan Saxons to the faith, that they 
 may be delivered from the snares of the devil in which they 
 are entangled, and become associated with the children of 
 the mother-church. Have pity upon them, for they were 
 used themselves to say, ' We are of the same flesh and bone 
 [with the Anglo-Saxons].' " To an English abbot, he writes: 
 '• We beseech you earnestly that you would support us by 
 your prayers — us, who labour and scatter the seed of the 
 gospel among the rude and ignorant tribes of Germany : now 
 neither is he that planteth nor he that watcreth anything, 
 but God who giveth the increase." In a letter to an 
 English bishop, he says : " I need your prayers, since the sea 
 of Germany is so dangerous to sail over, that I may by your 
 prayers and under God's guidance arrive at the haven of 
 eternal rest without stain or damage to my soul ; that I may 
 not, while I am trying to bring the light of evangelical 
 truth to the blind who know not their own darkness and do 
 not wish to see — that I may not be covered by the darkness 
 of my own sins — that I may not run or have run in vain— 
 that i may be supported by your prayers, and may attain 
 undefiled and enlightened to the light of eternity."' And 
 again: "Pray the living Protector of our life, the only Refuge 
 
458 MISSIONS OF THE MIDDLE AGES. 
 
 of sufferers, the Lamb of God that takes away the sins of the 
 •world, that he would preserve us uninjured by his protective 
 power, that the gracious Father would put into our hands an 
 enlightening torch, and that he would illuminate the hearts 
 of the heathen to contemplate the glorious gospel of Christ." 
 
 Boniface availed himself of the aids of the secular power 
 in order to protect his churches and convents from the devas- 
 tation of the rude pagans ; to secure the lives of the monks 
 and nuns whom he had sent for, from his native land, to 
 instruct the pagans, and to educate the converts ; to procure 
 the necessary means of subsistence ; and where Christianity 
 had found an entrance, to remove out of the way the ancient 
 objects of pagan idolatry, which always re\dved the attach- 
 ment of the rude people to it. WTiat effect Boniface could 
 produce upon uninstructed men by external impressions, is 
 shown by a singular incident. \\Tien he was preaching the 
 gospel in Hesse (at Geismar, in the department of Guden- 
 berg), a sacred oak of immense size, and dedicated to Thor, 
 the god of thunder, filled the minds of the people with the 
 greatest awe, and powerfully counteracted the impression of 
 his sermons. The people could not divest themselves of their 
 belief in the divine power of this oak ; and hence, though 
 the discourses of Boniface might take a momentary effect 
 upon them, they quickly relapsed into paganism. Boniface, 
 by the advice of some Hessian Christians, went with a few 
 of his associates to the oak. He himself began to hew down 
 the oak with an axe, while a crowd of infuriated pagans stood 
 around. 'WTien they saw the oak fall asunder in foui' parts, 
 and that their god could take no vengeance on Boniface, their 
 delusion was at once broken up. In order to perpetuate the 
 impression of this event, Boniface made use of the timber of 
 this tree in building a chapel. 
 
 It was always a principal object with Boniface to operate 
 on the minds of the young by religious instruction and a 
 Christian education. His zealous anxiety for the educational 
 institutions connected with the convents (not to mention other 
 proofs), amply refuted the reproach cast upon him that he 
 had effected the outward conversion of the people in a com- 
 pulsory manner, merely by the secular power, though he did 
 not refuse it as an auxiliary in carrying out his plans. 
 
 His paternal care for the instruction and training of the 
 
HIS PATERNAL CARE FOR HIS SCHOLARS. 459 
 
 new converts is expressed very beautifully in the letter in 
 which he urges on the Frank court-chaplain, Fuh-ad, to 
 appoint a zealous and able man, after his death, to be at the 
 head of the whole work, when he was on the point of leaving 
 the world, after a service of twenty years. " I entreat our 
 sovereign (Pepin), in the name of Christ the Son of God, 
 that he would intimate during my lifetime what reward ho 
 WÜ1 give to my scholars after my decease. For there are 
 some priests appointed in many places for the service of the 
 chiu'ch and the parishes who are almost entire strangers. 
 There are some monks who have been placed in our cells, in 
 order to teach the children to read. There are some aged 
 men w^ho have lived with me a long time, and assisted me in 
 my labours. For all these persons, I am anxious that after 
 my death they may not be scattered as sheep without a 
 shepherd, and that the people who are in the immediate 
 vicinity of the pagans may not lose their Christianity. My 
 clergy, who live near the pagans, have a wretched main- 
 tenance. They can, indeed, obtain daily bread; but as to 
 clothes, they would be quite destitute, unless they obtained 
 aid from other quarters, with which I have supported them, 
 that they might continue in those places for the benefit of tlie 
 people." 
 
 When he first entered on his field of labour, his friend 
 Daniel, bishop of Winchester, gave him instructions which 
 contained many useful hints. "■ He was especially to sliow 
 the rude pagans that he was accurately acquainted with their 
 religious doctrines ; by asking questions, he was to find out 
 what was irrational or contradictory in their belief, in such a 
 manner as not to insult or irritate them, but act on all occa- 
 sions with gentleness and moderation ; he ought to institute 
 frequently a comparison between their doctrine and the 
 Christian, yet not too pointedly, that the pagans might not 
 be exasperated, but rather ashamed of their absurd opinions." 
 
 The following is a specimen of his method of preaching : 
 "■ Behold, my beloved brethren, what kind of message we 
 bring you ; not the message of one from obedience to whom 
 you can be redeemed by money [as among the Germanic 
 tribes it was common for persons to redeem themselves from 
 punishment, or to make reparation by the payment of a fine. 
 
460 MISSIONS OF THE MIDDLE AGES. 
 
 which paved the way for the infamous practice of indul- 
 gences], but a message from Him to whom you are indebted 
 for shedding his blood for you. We exhort you, live in 
 regular wedlock ; let no one pollute himself with an illicit 
 connection. Let no one who has so polluted himself approach 
 to the body of the Lord before he has truly repented, that it 
 be not for his condemnation, but for his salvation. My dear 
 brethren, we are altogether impure men, and yet we would 
 not come in contact with one outwardly defiled. And do we 
 believe that the only-begotten Son of God has willingly taken 
 on his body the pollution of our sins ? Behold, my brethren, 
 our King, who has thought us worthy of this message, comes 
 directly to us. Let us prepare a pure dwelling for him 
 within us, if we wish that he should dwell in our body. 
 We beseech you, dear sons, that you who are wont to fear 
 the laws of the world, would willingly hearken to the law of 
 our God. He it is who by the instrumentality of our tongue 
 speaks to you, whose Easter blessing you have recently cele- 
 brated, who did not spare his only-begottten Son from the 
 hands of his persecutors, in order to grant us the heritage of 
 his children. If you perceive what great grace has been, 
 shown us by his sufferings, you will so much the more 
 quickly obey his commands, in order that we may not, by 
 our disobeying, be guilty of ingratitude for his benefits 
 towards us." 
 
 He then refutes the objection which, among various heathen 
 nations, had often been made to the publication of the gospel, 
 " How could God, if Christianity be the only saving religion, 
 have left men without it for thousands of years r " Mission- 
 aries themselves who entertained confused and ill-digested 
 opinions, had contributed to call forth such objections when 
 they asserted more than they were justified in doing by the 
 doctrine of Holy Scripture, when they applied what it 
 declares only respecting those who obstinately reject the 
 gospel, to all unbelievers, even those who could not believe, 
 because the gospel was not published to them (Rom. x. 14). 
 But the example of Cornelius, and what the Apostle Peter 
 .says in reference to it, justifies us in deducing the general 
 law, — that those who without knowing anything of Christ, 
 follow the leadings of that God '* in whom we Kve, and move, 
 
PEENICIOTJS ERRORS COMBATED BY HIM. 461 
 
 and have oiir being," like Cornelius, will be led — if not in 
 this world, yet in a future state of existence — to the know- 
 ledp;e of Him who is the way, the truth, and tlio life. 
 
 Without entering further into the answer to that objection, 
 Boniface attacks that pernicious mode of thinking which 
 seeks excuses for unbelief and sin ; which gives birth to such 
 doubts in the minds of many : he calls them back to their 
 want, which is the one thing needful. "Arc there some 
 among you," he says, " (O that they were few.) who com- 
 plain respecting our negligence, because we are come to you 
 so late with the message of salvation. Their pain might 
 be just, if they were now willing to receive the means of 
 salvation ; but how can he complain of the delay of the 
 physician, who, M'hen he comes, though late, is not willing to 
 be healed ? Yes ; the longer the disease has preceded, so 
 much greater must be the subsequent humility. For who 
 can endure the pride of the sick, who complains sorely of his 
 disease, and yet will not accept the means of curing it? 
 How many, my dear sons, do we find, who live in their sins, 
 yet murmur because Christ came so late ; because he allowed 
 so many thousands to j)erisli before his incarnation ! If we 
 admit the complaints of such people, then we must remain 
 sick, even after the bcstowment of such a physician. ^Vhy, 
 O man, dost thou complain of the Sun of Righteousness for 
 rising so late, when even after its rising thou chooscst to 
 walk in darkness ? Because the clouds have long overcast 
 the sky, shall we not rejoice at the return of brighter 
 weather?" 
 
 He frequently requested his friends in England to send 
 him their comments upon various portions of the Bible, 
 which he made use of in his sermons ; as, for example, a 
 useful compendium for preachers, of Bede's expository re- 
 marks on the texts for Sundays and festivals. In order to 
 rightly impress sense-bound men with reverence for the 
 Holy Scriptures, he caused a copy of a part of the Scriptures 
 which he wished to use in his sermons to be written in gilt 
 letters. He chose for this purpose the Kpistles of the Apostle 
 Peter, since in virtue of the relation in which he stood to 
 the pope, he regarded himself as the messenger of this 
 apostle : '• He wished,"* he said, " to have constantly before 
 his eyes the words of him who had led him into this path." 
 
462 MISSIONS OF THE MIDDLE AGES. 
 
 In such language, which although mixed with error was 
 sincere, we see how far his reverence for the papacy was 
 from A-iews of seculai' policy. His anxiety for the spread of 
 religious knowledge among the people is appai-eut, also, 
 from his repeated regulations respecting it, that every layman 
 should know in German the Creed, the Paternoster, and the 
 form of renunciation at baptism. 
 
 How deeply Boniface felt the gi-eatness and responsibility 
 of his calling as archbishop of the German church, is shown 
 in his letter to an English archbishop. " The apostle [Paul 
 calls the priest an overseer [bishop] ; the prophet [Ezekiel 
 calls him a watchman ; and the Saviour calls him a shepherc . 
 of the chm-ch ; and all confirm the truth, that the teacher 
 who is silent respecting the sins of the people, incurs by his 
 silence the guilt of the blood of souls. Hence a great, a 
 fearful necessity, is forced upon us, that according to the 
 apostle's words, we should be patterns to believers ; that is, 
 every teacher must live so piously as not to rob his words 
 of their power by inconsistent conduct ; and while he lives 
 watchful over himself, he must also not lay himself open 
 to condemnation for silence respecting the sins of others. 
 ' Hear the word at my mouth, and give them warning from 
 me.' (Ezek. iii. 17, 18.)" He shows by this language that 
 the priest ought to say what he has leamt from the study of 
 the Divine "Word, what God had imparted to him, not what 
 himian thought had discovered. " Thou art to proclaim for 
 my sake, not thy words, but mine : thou hast no ground for 
 self-exaltation. ' When I say to the wicked, thou shalt surely 
 die, and thou givest him not warning, nor speakest to warn 
 the wicked from his wicked way, to save his life, the same 
 wicked man shall die in his iniquity, but his blood will I 
 require at thy hand.' " Let us not, then, have such stony 
 hearts as not to be alarmed at these words of the Lord. 
 All that God would have us observe, he has so clearly set 
 forth and confirmed by the sanction of his name, that we — 
 shocking as it is to say so — may more easily despise his word 
 than falsely say that we do not understand divine things that 
 are so plainly represented to us. Have we not heard it, 
 * Thus saith the Lord ? ' "\Mio, then, but the man who does 
 not believe God, can doubt that what God has said wiU come 
 to pass? Since, then, these things are so, let our weaiy 
 
HIS CANDOUR AND PRUDENCE. 4G3 
 
 souls take refuge in Him of whom Solomon says, ' Trust in 
 the Lord with all thine heart, and lean not to thy own under- 
 standing. In all thy ways acknowledge Ilim, and He shall 
 direct thy paths.' And in another passage it is said : ' The 
 name of the Lord is a strong tower ; the righteous runnetli 
 to it, and are safe.' Let us, then, stand fast in righteousness, 
 and arm our souls against temptation, and beai- what the 
 Lord gives us to bear, while we say to him, ' Lord, thou art 
 our refuge for ever and ever.' (Psa. xc. 1.) Let us trust in 
 him who has laid the burden upon us. What we cannot 
 bear by our own strength, let us bear through him who is 
 Almighty, and who says, ' My yoke is easy, and my bui'den 
 is light.' " 
 
 Devoted as Boniface was to the pope, he was by no means 
 afraid to speak the truth candidly to the pope, when the 
 interests of the newly-planted church requii-ed it. A rem- 
 nant of the ancient pagan superstitious usages and excesses 
 on Xew-year's day was still retained at Rome. Amulets 
 were worn by the women, and offered for sale. As people 
 belonging to the new churches frequently visited Rome, they 
 believed that such abuses, which fell under. the eyes of the 
 pope, received his sanction, and consequently mm*mui'ed at 
 Boniface, who so zealously tried to suppress all heathenish 
 superstitions and usages. Boniface made strong representa- 
 tions to Pope Zacharias on this subject. " Men devoted to 
 the senses," he wrote to him, " ignorant Germans, Bavarians, 
 or Franks, think if they see any of those evil practices which 
 we forbid indidged in at Rome, that they are sanctioned by 
 the priests ; they then reproach us and are offended, and 
 thus om- preaching and instruction are hindered." 
 
 Boniface showed also this Christian candour, combined 
 with wise consideration and forbearance, in his conduct 
 towards King Ethelbald of Mercia. In the midst of his 
 laboui's abroad, he still felt a lively interest in the affairs of 
 his native land, and was grieved to hear of the licentious 
 life of tliis prince. He resolved to write a remonstrance to 
 him. He began his epistle with commending the good 
 qualities of the king : ''I have heard that you distribute 
 many alms, and am glad on your account, for he who gives 
 alms to the least of his needy brethren, will receive a gracious 
 sentence ii'om the Lord at the day of judgment : ' Verily I 
 
464 MISSIONS or the middle ages. 
 
 sav unto you, inasmuch as ye did it to one of the least of 
 these my' brethren, ye haye done it unto me ; inherit the 
 kin2:dom prepared for you from the foundation of the 
 world.' I haye also heard that you haye strictly forbidden 
 theft, robbery, and perjury, that you show yourself to be the 
 protector of the widows and the poor, and maintain firm 
 peace in your kingdom. On this account also I bless God ; 
 for he who is truth and peace itself, our Lord Christ, says, 
 ' Blessed are the peacemakers : for they shall be called the 
 children of God.' " He then proceeds to mention the report 
 of the king's unchaste life, and says : " I adjm-e you by Christ 
 the Son of God, by his second adyent and his kingdom, that 
 if this is true, to amend your life by repentance, and reflect 
 how unseemly it is that you should change the image of God, 
 in which you are created, into the image of the devil ; and 
 that you who haye been made a ruler oyer multitudes, not 
 by your own merit but by the grace of God, should yom^self, 
 through lust, become the slaye of the Evil Spirit ; for, as the 
 Lord says, 'He that doeth sin, is the servant of sin.'" He 
 then adduces to the shame of nominal Christians, the ex- 
 ample of the German Saxons, who even before their conver- 
 sion to Chi'istianity, were distinguished for their chastity. 
 " Therefore the heathen wlio know not God, and have not 
 the law, do by nature the things contained in the law ; these 
 show the work of law TSTitten in their hearts." " It is time," 
 he says, " that you save the multitudes who are rushing to 
 destruction, who, if they follow the example of their sinful 
 chiefs, will sink into the gulf of perdition ; for we are all 
 either attracted by good example to the life of our heavenly 
 fatherland, or are seduced to destruction by evil examj)le, 
 and we shall all without doubt receive punishment or reward 
 from the eternal Judge." He then declares to the king 
 that if the sanctity of matrimony is not preserved intact 
 among a people, the youthful generation will degenerate and 
 sink deeper into corruption, like the people of Spain, who 
 at last came under the power of the Saracens. In order to 
 prepare the king for this letter, he sent him a shorter letter 
 by another messenger, in which he said nothing of the 
 contents of this, and which he accompanied with presents,^' 
 
 * To accompany letters with presents was common in that age. The 
 presents were simple, according to the character of the time. Pope 
 
HIS CHRISTIAN KNOWLEDGE LIMITED. 465 
 
 which in that age were considered suitable for a king; 
 namely, two falcons, two shields, and two lances. " Although 
 these are not worthy presents," he said, " yet accept them as 
 signs of love. And finally, may w^e all alike hear the words, 
 ' Fear God and keep his commandments.' And when you 
 have received a letter (the one already mentioned) by another 
 messenger, I pray that you will carefully weigh its contents." 
 That first letter, however, did not come directly into the 
 king's hands, but Boniface sent it to a presbyter, Herefried, 
 to read it to the king. " For we have heard," he ^\Tites to 
 Herefried, " that by the fear of God you are freed from the 
 fear of man, and that on several occasions this prince has 
 thought proper to listen in some degree to your exhortations. 
 And you must know that we have addressed these words of 
 exhortation to the prince, from no other motive than from 
 pure love, and because having been born and educated among 
 the English, I rejoice in the welfare of my countrymen, and 
 in the praise bestowed upon them; but I am troubled for their 
 sins, and the consequent re2:)roacli that they suffer."' Thus 
 Boniface connected the utmost Christian prudence with the 
 pious zeal that wields the sword of the Spirit. 
 
 If in a man whom God has employed as an instrument in 
 order to found his kingdom among an important portion of 
 mankind, we are bound to recognize the work of the divine 
 Spirit, and to take care lest, on account of the disturbing mix- 
 tures of the flesh, we fiiil to recognize the work of the Spirit, 
 which shows itself in its fruits; still, on the other hand, we ought 
 not to leave these disturbinc: in2:redients unmarked and con- 
 cealed. We must guard — as first of all in self-examination, 
 so also in the judgment we form of others — against con- 
 founding what proceeds from the spirit with what proceeds 
 from the flesh. 
 
 What impaired the efficiency of Boniface was, that the 
 freedom of the children of God, in its whole extent, was 
 not knowTi to him, — the freedom of those who are dead 
 with Christ to the elements of the world, whose life no 
 
 Zacharias sent Boniface a woollen cloth for washing the feet (one of the 
 presents which he frequently nr.ade in allusion to the washing the feet of 
 others as a sign of humility) and some silver; to an English archbisliop two 
 flasks of wine ; to a person holding an office in the Romish church a 
 silver cup and a linen cloth. 
 
 2 H 
 
 4 
 
» 
 
 466 MISSIONS OF THE MIDDLE AGES. 
 
 more belongs to this world, but Is hid with Christ in 
 God, belonging to heaven, and therefore can be no longer 
 entangled with the ordinances of this world. He knew, 
 indeed, the ground of inward Christianity, and possessed 
 it in his inner life ; here he had more than he could express 
 in words, since his knowledge (intellectually considered) 
 was not developed in proportion to his life of faith. But 
 alono" with this internal Christianity, he connected a certain 
 attachment to external things, which was foreign to it. He 
 built on the right foundation, which is Christ, and therefore 
 his work as being divine, vmuld stand and develop itself 
 through divine power in succeeding ages, and would be 
 purified in the fire ; but on this foundation he had built not 
 pm-e gold alone, but also wood, hay and stubble. Yet it must 
 be said, in his behalf, that he was not the author of this mix- 
 ture of heterogeneous materials, but it belonged to his age. 
 The fire kindled by the Lord at the Reformation was requisite 
 to consume the wood, hay and stubble, so that the foundation 
 might shine forth with its genuine lustre. 
 
 The language in which Paul addresses the Galatians, was 
 applicable in a certain sense to the whole church at this 
 period. " Having begun in the spirit, are ye now made per- 
 fect by the flesh ? How tui-n ye again to the weak and beggarly 
 elements, whereunto ye desire again, to be in bondage r" 
 But we also recognize in this development of the church, 
 the guiding wisdom of its invisible Ruler, who permitted it 
 to happen, that rude humanity should be again placed under 
 the law as a schoolmaster, that it might be trained to the 
 righteousness of faith, to the gospel of the spmt, as this was 
 about to appear at the Reformation in all its clearness, in 
 contrariety to that confused mixture of the law and gospel. 
 Underneath that shell of ordinances relating to outward 
 things, the kernel of the gospel was still preserved, and 
 it needed only the shell to be broken for the kernel to be 
 exhibited in all its purity. And from the time that mixture 
 of law and gospel spread in the church, and the things of the 
 spirit were involved in outward ordinances, the spirit of the 
 gospel always aroused individual witnesses to whom the 
 things of the spirit were revealed in their purity, and who 
 felt themselves compelled to combat that bondage to the 
 rudiments of this world. They were the lights that appeared 
 
CLEMENT, PUPIL OF BONIFACE. 467 
 
 in a dark place, till the day dawned and the morning star 
 arose on the church of God. To this class an opponent of 
 Boniface appears to belong — Clement, from Ireland. The 
 British and Irish missionaries certainl}- surpassed Boniface in 
 freedom of spirit and purity of Christian knowledge. We 
 have a beautiful specimen of the Christian freedom of spirit 
 which animated the ancient British Church, in the answer 
 of an abbot of the British convent of Bangor when called 
 upon by Augustin to submit to the Romish Church. " Be it 
 known to you of a surety that we are all obedient and subject 
 to the church of God, to the pope of Home, and to every 
 pious Christian, in the sense that we love every one in his 
 place, and are ready to help him in word and deed. But of 
 any other obedience which we owe to him whom you call 
 pope, or father of fathers, I know nothing. But the obe- 
 dience I have mentioned we are ready to render to him and 
 every Christian to all eternity." Thus Clement brou^ht 
 from his native country a purer Christian knowledge, free 
 from the human ordinances of the Romish Church. He 
 wished in matters of faith to bow only to the authority of 
 Holy Writ ; he disputed the authority of the church laws 
 and of the distinguished fathers of the Western Church, to 
 whose dicta a decisive force was then attributed. Clement 
 maintained, agreeably to the doctrine of the New Testament, 
 that a bishop, without violating the dignity of his office, might 
 live in matrimony. Clement therefore was probabl)' superior 
 to Boniface in Christian knowledge. And how much might 
 he have effected if he had connected the spirit of love and of 
 wisdom with this clearness of mental vision, if he had built 
 up the German Church on the foundation that the Holy 
 Scriptures explained from their own contents, are the fountain 
 of Christian knowledge ! What fruits must Christianity have 
 borne when understood in its purity ! Yet it may be (jucs- 
 tioned whether Clement was as capable as Boniface of dealing 
 with uncultivated men ; whether he knew how to distinguish 
 properly between the milk and the strong meat, to separate 
 the practically important from the unimportant, and to make 
 allowance for the limited capacity of men in a rude state. If 
 Providence intended to lead rude humanity to the go<;pel 
 through the preparatory discipline of the law, it is not diffi- 
 
 2h2 
 
468 MISSIONS OF THE MIDDLE AGES. 
 
 cult to understand why it chose a Boniface and not a Clement 
 as the instrument for the formation of the German church. 
 
 Near this Clement stands Adalbert the Frank, who in 
 knowledge and reflection was not to be compared to Clement. 
 He was a forerunner of those m^'stical sects who opposed a 
 certain internal religion of the heart to ceremonial service 
 and human ordinances ; but since they followed only their sub- 
 iective feelings and their imagination, since Holy Writ did 
 not stand by their side as a monitor to watchfulness over 
 themselves, as a warning voice against the angels of darkness 
 who clothe themselves as angels of light, as a waymark for 
 the trial of the spirits, or because they wished to place them- 
 selves as masters above the Scriptures, instead of humbly 
 following, hence fell into many dangerous self-deceptions 
 of enthusiasm and often opposed the errors which they 
 combated by errors of another kind. A sincere piety is ex- 
 pressed in this prayer of Adalbert's : '' Almighty God, 
 Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, thou who art the Alpha 
 and the Omega (the beginnino: and the end of all existence), 
 who art throned above cherubim and seraphim, supreme love, 
 essence of all bliss. Father of the holy angels, thou who 
 Greatest heaven and earth, the sea and all that is therein, on 
 thee I call, to thee I cry, I invite thee to my miserable self; 
 for thou hast graciously promised, ' "S^Tiatsoever ye ask the 
 Father in my name, that will I do.' Therefore now I desire 
 thyself, for my soul confides in thee." He spoke also 
 against the over- valuation of pilgrimages to E.ome. But in 
 other parts of the above prayer are found the names of various 
 angels, which, besides other particulars, lead us to believe 
 that Adalbert indulged in many enthusiastic notions, which 
 if propagated among a rude people would be very injm^ious, 
 especially when he was the object of an excessive veneration, 
 though perhaps not desired by himself. 
 
 Though on many points the mind of Boniface was cramped 
 by the regulations of the Romish Church, yet at times the 
 spirit of Christianity which animated him appears to have 
 carried him above these limits. Thus he could not be 
 satisfied when he heard that according to ecclesiastical law, 
 the so-called spiritual relationship presumed to exist between 
 sponsors was a bar to marriage between the parties ; for how 
 
Boniface's later labours and death. 469 
 
 in this one case could the spiritual relationship be so great 
 an obstacle to corporeal union, since by baptism all become 
 sons and daughters of Christ, brothers and sisters of each 
 other ? '^' 
 
 But Bonifoce, at the advanced age of seventy years, was 
 not willing to pass his last days in self-indulgent repose. 
 When he could with confidence leave his follower Lull 
 to carry on the work in Germany, Christian love impelled 
 him to go where there was a deficiency of labourers, where 
 severe conflicts for the gospel were still to be waged. The 
 intention of labouring for the conversion of the inhabitants 
 of Friesland, for whom nothing had been done since the 
 labours carried on for fifty years by the zealous AVillibrod, 
 and the greater part of whom were still pagans ; this interi- 
 tion had never left him, and now when there was nothing 
 more for him to do in Germany, was revived with fresh 
 vigour. He took leave of his follower Lull, saying : " I 
 cannot do otherwise ; I must go v.-hither the impulse of my 
 heart leads me, for the time of my departure is at hand ; 
 soon shall I be freed from this body and obtain a crown of 
 eternal glory. But you, my dearest son, carry on to ])erfec- 
 lion the founding of the churches, which I began in 
 Thuringia ; earnestly recall the people from erroneous 
 doctrines ; complete the building of the church in Fulda 
 (the favourite establishment of Boniface), and may that bo 
 the resting-place of my body, bowed down with years.'' 
 He commissioned Lull to get ready everything necessary for 
 his journey, especially to lay a cloth in his book-chest (he 
 alwavs carried with him spiritual books, out of which he 
 either read or sung as he was travelling), in which his body 
 was to be wrapped when brouglit to Fulda. 
 
 He summoned up the remaining powers of his old age, 
 
 * In a similar manner Luther, the second apostle of the Germans, waa 
 brought to recognize the futility of these regulations of the Canon Law. 
 In a letter of the year 1523 (De Wette's edition, vol. ii. p. 301), he says, 
 *' And it is to Ije considered that it is a very great thing that we all have ono 
 and the same baptism, the sacrament, God, and the S{)irit, by which we all 
 become spiritually brothers and sisters. Now this spiritual brutlurhood 
 does not prevent my taking a damsel to wife who has had the same bap- 
 tism with thyself; why should it hinder that I have stood godfather to her, 
 ■which is much less ? The Evil Spirit has invented such regulations, to 
 damage God's free rule." 
 
470 MISSIONS OF THE MIDDLE AGES. 
 
 ^yhich were invigorated by the inspiration of faith, travelled 
 through Friesland in his seventieth yeai' with youthful 
 vio-our, preached, converted, and baptized thousands ; 
 destroyed idolatrous temples, and founded churches. The 
 persons baptized had dispersed and were all to assemble 
 again on a certain day, in order to receive confirmation. In 
 the meantime Boniface and his companions had pitched their 
 tents on the banks of the Burda, not far from Dockingen, on 
 the borders of East and West Friesland. When the morning 
 of the appointed day da%vned, Boniface waited with anxiety 
 for the arrival of his new converts. He heard the sound of 
 an approaching multitude ; but it was an armed host of 
 infuriated Pagans, who had sworn to mm-der on that day the 
 enemy of their gods. The Christian youths in the retinue of 
 Boniface wished to defend, and were on the point of 
 beginning the conflict ; but as soon as he heard the tumult, 
 he weut out, accompanied by his clergy, with the reHcs 
 which he had Avith him, and said to the young men : 
 *' Cease fighting, for the Holy Scriptures teach us not to 
 retm-n evil with evil, but with good. I have for a long time 
 earnestly desired this day, and the time of my departure is 
 now come. Be strong in the Lord and bear with thankful 
 resignation whatever his grace sends. Hope in Him and 
 he will save your souls." To the clergy he said : " My 
 brethren, be of good courage, and be not afraid of those who 
 can kill the body, but cannot kill the soul that is destined for 
 eternal life. Rejoice in the Lord, and cast the anchor of 
 your hope on him who will give you immediately the reward 
 of eternal happiness ; endui"e steadfastly the brief moment of 
 death, that you may reign for ever with Christ." Thus he 
 died a martp* on the 5th of June, 755. 
 
 5. Gregory, Abbot of Utrecht. 
 
 Boniface took a pecuHar interest in the young, and, in this 
 instance, sowed the seed which after his death brought 
 forth abundant fruit. He left behind him those who having 
 been educated and trained by him, continued to labour in 
 different spheres, in the same spirit. Among these, his 
 scholars, the Abbot Gregory distinguished himself The 
 manner in which Boniface first became connected with him, 
 
GREGORY, ABBOT OF TJTRECHT. 471 
 
 shows in a remarkable manner with what power he could 
 operate on youthful minds. 
 
 When Boniface left his first field of labour in Fricsland, 
 and was travelling to Hesse, he came to a nunnery, situate 
 on the IMoselle, in the territory of Triers, where he was 
 hospitably received by the Abbess Addula. It was a custom 
 of the times to read a portion of the Scriptures during meals. 
 For this office the abbess chose her grandson, a lad of fifteen 
 years old, just retm-ned from school. After Boniface had jn-o- 
 nounccd the blessing, the youth read out of the Latin Bible. 
 Boniface thought he observed marks of intelligence in his 
 countenance, and when he had finished, said : " You read 
 well, my son, but do you understand what you read? " The 
 youth, who did not catch Boniface's meaning, said that 
 certainly ho well understood what he had been reading:. 
 "Then tell me," said Boniface, "how you understand it."' 
 The youth began to read it over again. Boniface then said : 
 " Xo, my son, that is not what 1 mean : I know very well 
 that you can read it ; but you must give me in your mother- 
 tongue what you have read."' The youth acknowledged that 
 he was not able. " Shall I then tell you what it is ? " said 
 Boniface ; and when the youth requested him to do so, 
 Boniface let him read once more the whole distinctly, and 
 then he himself translated it into German, and preached upon 
 it before the whole company. And as Lindger, a scholar of 
 the Abbot Gregory, who is the narrator of this incident, 
 tells us, " it was evident from what source these words 
 came ; for they pressed with such power and rapidity on 
 Gregory's mind, that at a single exhortation of this teacher, 
 hitherto unknown to him, he i«»rgot parents and native land, 
 and at once went up to his grandmother and said, that he 
 wished to go M'ith this man and learn from him to under- 
 stand the Holy Scriptures." The abbess tried to keep hiui 
 back, and represented to him that this person was an entire 
 stranger to him, and that he knew not whither he was going. 
 But "many waters cannot quench love." (Cantic. viii.) 
 Gregory was firm to his resolution, and said to his grand- 
 mother : " If you will not give me a horse to ride with him, 
 I wül follow him on foot." When his grandmother saw 
 that something heavenly touched the youth's heart, she gave 
 him a horse and servant, and allowed him to go with 
 
472 MISSIONS OF THE MIDDLE AGES. 
 
 Boniface. LIndger says, respecting it : " It appears to me 
 that at that time the same Spirit was working in this yomig 
 man which inflamed the apostles, when, at the word of the 
 Lord, they forsook their nets and their father, and followed 
 their Redeemer. This was the work of the Supreme 
 Artificer, that same Divine Spirit who works all in all, 
 imparting to every one as he will." 
 
 Gregor}' from that time followed Boniface wherever he 
 went, amidst all his dangers and toils, as a most faithful 
 scholar. He travelled with him at a later period to Rome, 
 and brought back Bibles with him, which he used in the 
 instruction of youth. He also accompanied him on his last 
 journey to Friesland, and after his teacher's martyrdom 
 laboured much for the spread of Christianity and Chi-istian 
 education in Friesland, as abbot of a monastery at Utrecht. 
 He took great pains especially in preparing missionaries and 
 teachers. Young men from France, England, Friesland, 
 Saxony, Suabia, and Bavaria were here united by the bond, 
 of holy love, and formed into a nurserj' for the kingdom of 
 God : and from this spot preachers of the gospel went forth 
 in various directions, among tribes that were still pagan, 
 and such as were newly converted to Christianity. Early in 
 the morning he sat in his cell with paternal anxiety, and 
 expected each one of his scholars would come to him, to 
 whom he would addiTss out of the Word of God what was 
 exactly suited to the wants and peculiar disposition of each 
 individual. Frequently in his sermons he impressed on his 
 scholars that the new man could make no progress unless 
 the old man was continually dying ; and with this reference 
 he often quoted the words of the Prophet Jeremiah : "I 
 have set thee to root out and to pull down, and to destroy, 
 and to throw down, to buud and to plant; " and connected 
 with it, as an encouragement to the conflict, the promise : 
 " Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither hath it entered 
 into the heart of man to conceive what God hath prepared 
 for them that love him." 
 
 In his seventieth year, three years before his death,. 
 Gregory had a stroke of palsy on the left side : but he 
 retained his cheerfulness, went about among his scholars» 
 or M'as carried by them ; he continued to expound the 
 Holy Scriptures, and to preach to them or to distribute' 
 
ABBOT STURM, OF FULDA. 473 
 
 among them works for their particular study. In the last 
 year of his life his lameness had so increased that he was 
 obliged, like John the Apostle in his old age, to be 
 carried, whither he wished, by his scholars. At last he 
 was confined to his bed, where the Holy Scriptures were 
 read, or the Psalms were sung to him. He retained his 
 consciousness to the last. His scholars stood round his bed, 
 and comforted one another with repeating the words, " He 
 will not die to-day." But he summoned up his remaining 
 strength, and said : " To-day you must grant my discharge." 
 He was carried by his scholars into the church before the 
 altar, prayed there, took the Holy Supper, and anxiously 
 fixing his looks on the altar, breathed his last. 
 
 6. The Abbot Stunn, of Fulda. 
 
 Next to the Abbot Gregory, one of the most able scholars 
 of Boniface was Sturm, descended from a respectable Bava- 
 rian family, who was committed to Boniface when a boy by 
 his parents for education. After having assisted him for 
 three years in preaching, he was seized with the desire to 
 found a monastery somewhere in one of those wilds which 
 then covered Germany, and which were reclaimed only by 
 the transforming power of Christianity. As Boniface regarded 
 monastic institutions as the principal means of improvement, 
 both for the people and the land, he was well pleased with 
 this proposal. He joined with him two others as com- 
 panions, and after praying for them and giving them his bless- 
 ing, said : " Go into Buchwald ; may God enable his servants 
 to prepare a settled habitation in the wilderness.'' They 
 wandered for two days through the forest, and saw nothing 
 but the earth and sky and immense trees. On the third day 
 they came to a place which seemed suitable for cultivation, 
 then called Hersfeld or Heroldesfeld, and now Herschfeld. 
 After calling on Christ to give them his blessing, and that 
 this place might be an abode for them, they built small huts, 
 covered with the bark of trees, and romain.ed there for some 
 time. Sturm retui'ued to his beloved master, fur the })ar])ose 
 of giving an exact report to him (a man who considered 
 evervthing carefully, and was not content with what might 
 suffice for the present moment) respecting the situation oi 
 
474 MISSIONS OF THE MIDDLE AGES. 
 
 the place, the quality of the soil, and the springs. Boniface 
 did not at once give his opinion, but let him first of all rest, 
 and revived him by spiritual conversation. He then told 
 him plainly that the spot they had chosen was too much 
 exposed to the incursions of the wild Saxons. Sturm and his 
 companions sought a long time, but could find no place cor- 
 responding to the wishes of their bishop. At last Stui-m set 
 out alone. He rode on an ass through the wildest parts, 
 singing psalms and lifting his heart to heaven, or praying 
 with sighs to God. He rested wherever he happened to be 
 at night-fall. The earth was his bed. With a sword which 
 he carried with him he cut dowTi branches of trees, and 
 formed with them a fence round his ass to protect it from 
 the wild beasts, of which there were great numbers in the 
 forest. But after calling on the Lord, and marking his fore- 
 head with the sign of the cross, to testify that he resigned 
 himself entirely *to him, he lay down with composure. On 
 one occasion a troop of wild Sclavonians, who had been bath- 
 ing in the Fulda, met him, naked as they were ; they pre- 
 sented a fearful appearance, and received him with an insult- 
 ing outcry. Their interpreter asked him whither he was 
 going; he answered quietly: " Further into the forest;" and 
 the hand of God watched over him. The Sclavonians allowed 
 him to proceed unmolested. At last he reached the object 
 of his toilsome and dangerous pilgrimage, and found a place 
 with which Boniface was perfectly satisfied. Here, then, in 
 the year 744, the foundation of the monastery of Fulda was 
 laid, from which the cultivation of this wilderness com- 
 menced, and in which the most distinguished teachers of the 
 German church in following ages were trained. 
 
 Charlemagne employed Sturm particularly in publishing 
 the gospel among the wild Saxons, who, though often van- 
 quished, always rebelled against the rule of the Franks and 
 against the Christian church, which had been forced upon 
 them, and therefore rendered hatefid. Preachers of the 
 gospel coming in the train of an armed host could not indeed 
 find an easy entrance to the hearts of men. Sturm excited 
 the fury of the pagans against him, and the monastery was 
 often the object of their desolating attacks. 
 
 On the day before his death he called all his people around 
 him, and said to them: "You know what has been my 
 
ALCUIN, ON MISSIONAKY EFFICIENCY. 475 
 
 earnest aim ; how I have labom-ed up to this day for yo\u- 
 advantage and peace, and have been especially anxious that 
 this monastery, after my death, might abide faithful to the 
 will of Christ, and that you might here serve the Lord sin- 
 cerely in love. Now abide all the days of your life in the 
 course of conduct you have commenced. Pray for me to the 
 Most High ; and forgive me if I have done anything wrong, 
 or have injured any one b)^ injustice. I forgive with all my 
 heart all who have injured me, even Lull, who was my con- 
 stant enemy."* (The Archbishop Lull, of Mentz, who had 
 been engaged in many warm disputes with the Abbot Sturm, 
 and had not acted towards him in the spirit of Christian 
 love, though perhaps on both sides there was a mixture of 
 right and wrong.) 
 
 On the following day, when the signs of approaching death 
 showed themselves, the monks requested him to be their 
 intercessor with the Lord, to whom he was now going. He 
 answered : " Show yourselves worthy, and let your general 
 conduct be such that I can with propriety pray for you ; then 
 il wiU do what you desire." 
 
 7. Alcuin, on Missionary Efficiency. 
 
 The failure at first of the mission among the Saxons may 
 serve as a lesson and a warning for every following age. The 
 grand error consisted in attempting to elfect an alteration 
 from without which can only proceed from within ; in con- 
 necting a worldly object with the introduction of Christianity, 
 and in not following the example of the Apostle Paul, who in 
 publishing the gosjjel allowed the Jews to remain Jews, and 
 the Greeks to remain Greeks, who knew how to be a Jew to 
 the Jews, and a Greek to the Greeks. On these defects and 
 errors the pious and wise Abbot Alcuin addressed some ex- 
 cellent remarks to the Emperor Charlemagne. He thus 
 writes to him : " Seek out preachers for the people of sound 
 morals, well instructed in the doctrines of the Christian faitli, 
 and caiTy on the publication of the Divine Word according 
 to the example of the apostles, who were accustomed to sup- 
 ply their hearers at first with the ' mijk of the word.' (1 Cor. 
 iii. 1, 2.)"' The teacher of the world meant to show, accord- 
 ing to the inspiration of Christ speaking in him, that the yet 
 
476 MISSIONS OF THE MIDDLE AGES. 
 
 tender ftuth of new converts must be nourished with gentle 
 commands, as children with milk ; that their disposition, still 
 weak, must not be alarmed by the more rigid precepts which 
 would lead them to reject what they already received." 
 Alcuin perceived, in the manner in which Christ formed these 
 apostles, and trained them for their calling, and the account 
 he gives of it, the model which ought to be followed, in all 
 ages, for educating and training either nations or individuals. 
 He appealed to Christ's words, who, when he was asked why 
 his disciples did not fast, replied : " No man putteth new 
 wine into old bottles, else the new wine doth burst the bot- 
 tles, and the wine is spilled, and the bottles will be marred." 
 " You might hence," he added, " be led to consider whether 
 it was well done to impose on a rude people at their first 
 conversion the yoke of tithes (the church dues, so hateful to 
 the free Saxons), if, indeed, the apostles who were instructed 
 and sent out to preach, by the Lord himself, required tithes, 
 or anywhere prescribed that they should be required." 
 " Also due care must be taken to administer the office of 
 preaching and baptism in a right manner, that the outward 
 baptism of the body may not be useless, which it will be, 
 unless preceded by a knowledge of the faith in souls endowed 
 with reason. The Lord himself commanded (Matt, xxviii. 
 19) first of all to teach the faith, and then to baptize. At 
 suitable times the doctrines of the gospel must be often re- 
 peated, until man is brought to perfect manhood, until he 
 becomes a worthy habitation of the Holy Spirit, and a perfect 
 child of God in works of mercy, as our heavenly Father is 
 perfect." To the same efiect he wrote to Arno, bishop of 
 Salzburg, to whom the Emperor Charles had committed the 
 conversion of the Avari. '• Of what use is baptism without 
 faith, since the apostle says : ' Without faith it is impossible 
 to please Godr' For this reason the unfortunate people of 
 Saxony have so often abused the sacrament of baptism, because 
 they have never had the principle of faith in their hearts. 
 This also we must be aware of, that faith, as the holy Augus- 
 tin says, is a matter of free-will, and not of compulsion. 
 How can a man be forced to believe what he does not be- 
 lieve ? A man may indeed be forced to baptism, but not to 
 faith. Man being endowed with reason, must therefore be 
 instructed and taught by repeated preaching, that he may 
 
LETTERS TO CHAELEMAGNE AND OTHERS. 477 
 
 know the truths of the gospel. And especially we must 
 implore for him the grace of God; for the tongue of the 
 teacher is powerless, unless Divine grace penetrates the 
 hearts of the hearers, as lie who is the truth himself says : 
 ' No man can come unto me unless the Father, who hath s'ent 
 me, di*aw him ;' and in another passage, ' No man cometh 
 unto the Father but by me ;' and of the Holy Spirit he savs : 
 * Unless a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot 
 enter into the kingdom of God.' For what the priest per- 
 forms in a visible manner by water-baptism on the body, that 
 the Holy Spirit performs in an invisible manner by faith in 
 the soul. In ba])tism there are three visible andthree in- 
 \'isible things. The visible are, the priest, the body, and the 
 water ; but the invisible, the Spirit, the soul, and foitli. The 
 three visible things profit nothing but what is done out- 
 wardly, if these three invisible things do not operate inter- 
 nally. The priest washes the body with water, the Holy 
 Spirit justifies the soul by faith." After expressing similar 
 sentiments to those in the letters before quoted, and quoting 
 tlie words of Christ, he adds : " Who are the old bottles, if 
 not those who are hardened in the delusions of heathenism ? 
 If on such persons, when the gospel is first announced, we 
 impose the stricter precepts, they are rent ; that is, they fall 
 back into their old unbelief. The soul that has been a long 
 time strengthened by the faith is more capable of all good 
 works than when first initiated in the new doctrine. Peter 
 confessed his Christian faith very differently after he had 
 been filled with the new wine of the Holy Spirit, in the im- 
 perial palace at Home before Nero, from the manner in which 
 he answered the maid-servant in the house of Caiaphas. In 
 the latter case, Peter was an image of human weakness ; 
 in the former, of the power of God. Christ reminded him, 
 after his resurrection, of his high calling, when he recpiired a 
 threefold confession of his love, and committed to him the 
 sheep which he had purchased with his own blood to feed ; 
 and this should teach the good shepherd that wanderers must 
 not always be corrected by severe denunciations, but often 
 their improvement is promoted by affectionate expostulation." 
 To Meganfried, an imperial counsellor, Alcuin Mrote: " Wc 
 read in the Acts of the Apostles that Paul and P.arnabas 
 went up to Jerusalem to James and the other apostles, ia 
 
478 MISSIONS OF THE MIDDLE AGES. 
 
 order to confer with them on the question, how the gospel 
 should be pubHshed to the heathen ; and they resolved, unani- 
 mously, that nothing of a legal burden should be imposed 
 upon them. And the apostle of the Gentiles boasted that he 
 supported himself by the labour of his hands ; this he did 
 for the purpose of cutting away all occasion for charging the 
 preachers of the gospel with self-interested yiews, and to 
 show that OTilj the man who was inflamed with the love of 
 Christ ought to publish the gospel, as the Saviom- himself 
 charged his disciples : ' Freely ye have received, fi-eely give.' 
 If the easy yoke of Christ and his light burden were preached 
 to the stiff-necked Saxons with as much earnestness as the | 
 restitution of tithes and penal laws against the most trivial 
 offences are enforced, they would probably make no oppo- 
 sition to baptism. Lastly, let there be teachers of the faith 
 formed on the example of the apostles — preachers, not rob- 
 bers ; let them trust in the gi*ace of Him who said : ' Carry 
 neither purse, nor scrip, nor shoes.' (Luke x. 4.)" Thus also 
 he wrote to Archbishop Arno : " Be a preacher of godliness, 
 not a tithe-collector. Tithes have ruined the faith of the 
 Saxons. Why must a yoke be laid on these rude people 
 which neither we nor om' brethren have been able to bear ? 
 We trust, therefore, that through faith in Christ the souls of 
 believers will be saved." 
 
 8. Lindner and Willehad. 
 
 We wish here to mention two men who in their ministry 
 among the Saxons knew how to guaird against the faults cen- 
 sured by the Abbot Alcuin, and to present the model of 
 genuine missionaries. One of the^e was Lindger. He was 
 by bh'th a Frieslander, and the seeds of Christiaiiity were 
 early sown in his heart. His grandfather was a distinguished 
 man of that people, named Ado Wursing. He belonged as a 
 Pagan to that class of persons of whom the Apostle Paul 
 says, that they who have not the law, and yet by nature do 
 the works of the law, are a law unto themselves : — those who, 
 if they have received no other revelation, yet hear the voice 
 of God in theh' consciences. He took care of the poor and 
 oppressed, and was an upright judge. But by his zeal against 
 all injustice, he drew on himself the enmity of Radbod, the 
 
LINDGEK, MISSIONAEY TO THE FRIESLANDERS. 479 
 
 Pagan king of the Fricslandcrs, and was obliged to take 
 refuge in the adjacent kingdom of the Franks. He after- 
 wards became a zealous Christian, and assisted Willibrord 
 (who has been already mentioned, and who was called to the 
 archbishopric of Utrecht) in his labours among his coun- 
 trymen. 
 
 Lindger was a grandson of this pious man. \Micn a child, 
 he gave signs of his future destination. As soon as he began 
 to read and walk, he collected pieces of leather and the bark 
 of trees and made them into little books. When he found 
 any dark juice, he tried to write with it, as he had seen 
 older persons do. And when he was asked what he had done 
 in the day, he answered that he had been writing or reading. 
 And when further asked, ""Who taught you that?' He 
 replied, " God has taught me." He showed early a great 
 thirst for knowledge, and entreated his parents to intrust him 
 for education to some pious man. They placed him under 
 the care of the Abbot Gregory. Plis desire of knowledge 
 led him afterwards to resort to the renowned teacher of his 
 age, Alcuin, at York. Em-iched with acquirements and books, 
 he returned to his native country, where he was welcomed 
 by his former teacher, the Abbot Gregory. After his death, 
 he laboured, amidst manifold dangers and difficulties, for the 
 conversion of the Frieslanders and Saxons. He founded, 
 first of all, a Christian church on the island dedicated to 
 Fosite, one of the pagan divinities, which hence received the 
 name of Heligoland. After the overthrow of the Saxons, 
 the district of Münster became the settled scene of his 
 ministry, and he was consecrated bishop of that place. His 
 missionary zeal impelled him to seek a new sphere of labour, 
 attended with greater danger. He wished to visit the wild 
 I Normans, who had struck the Christian nations with great 
 ! terror, and among whom he could reckon on no support ; but 
 i the Emperor Charles would not allow him to leave his 
 diocese. Even in the illness which befell him not long before 
 his death in the year 809, he struggled with his bodily weak- 
 ness, in order not to interrupt the discharge of his spiritual 
 duties. On the Sunday preceding the night of his death, he 
 preached twice, to two different congregations in his diocese : 
 in the morning in the church at Coesfeld ; in tlu- afternoon, 
 about three o'clock, iu the chui*ch at liillerbeck, where he 
 
480 MISSIONS OF THE 3IIDDLE AGES. 
 
 expended the remnant of his strength in performing mass. 
 He expired, with his scholars assembled round his bed, on the 
 night of the 26th of March. 
 
 The second person to whom we tave referred was Wille- 
 had, from Northumberland. By the report of what other 
 missionaries had effected among the Frieslanders and Saxons, 
 he was impelled to follow theii' example. He labom-ed first 
 of all in the district where Boniface had met with martj'rdom. 
 Many persons were baptized by him ; many of the better 
 class intrusted their children to him for education. But 
 when he betook himself to the proyince now called Gronin- 
 gen, where idolatry still predominated, the fury of the pagan 
 23opulation was so excited by his exertions that they sought 
 to murder him. But by the advice of one of the more mode- 
 rate among them, they agreed first to inquire of theii' gods, 
 by casting lots. And since even superstition must serve the 
 will of God, Providence so ordered it that the lot was in 
 favour of his preservation, and he was able to leave unhurt. 
 He now proceeded to the district of Drenthe. His discourses 
 here had begun to meet with much acceptance, when some of 
 his scholars suffered themselves to be led away by intem- 
 perate zeal, and hastened to destroy the idolatrous temples, 
 instead of first banishing by the power of Christ the idols 
 from the hearts of their worshippers. This roused the '\\Tath 
 of the Pagans. They rushed upon the missionaries, and 
 Willehad was loaded with blows. One of the infuriated 
 mob aimed a stroke at him with a sword, intending to kill 
 him, but the stroke only cut a thong by which the box in 
 which, according to the custom of the times, he carried relics, 
 was fastened about his neck, and thus he escaped. The 
 prevalent notions of the times led persons to see in this 
 incident, not the universal providence of that Being who 
 numbers the hairs of our heads, and without whom a sparrow 
 does not fall to the ground, and who can make use of every 
 means for his holy purposes as he pleases, — but rather a 
 proof of the protective power of relics. Even the pagans 
 were induced by it to abstain from their attacks on Willehad, 
 M'hom they believed to be protected by a higher power. 
 ^Vhen the Emperor Charles heard of Willehad's undaunted 
 zeal for the propagation of the gospel, he sent for him, and 
 assigned him his post in the district which afterwards formed 
 
WILLEHAD HIS CAEEER AND DEATH. 481 
 
 the diocese of Bremen. He was at first to labour as a priest 
 among the Frieshmders and Saxons, and to perform every 
 part of the pastoral office till a bishopric could be founded. 
 After a while, his successful ministry was interrupted by a 
 fresh revolt of the heathen population. He believed that it 
 was his duty to follow his Lord's command (Matt. x. 23), 
 and not needlessly to risk his life. In order to preserve his 
 life for preaching the gospel still longer, he availed himself of 
 the opportunity ofiered to him for flight. 
 
 He afterwards found a quiet place of refuge in a convent 
 founded by Willcbrord at Afternach (Epternach), which also 
 became a rendezvous for his scholars, who had been dispersed 
 by persecutions and wars. He spent two years at this place, 
 occupied with teaching, reading the Scriptures, and the 
 multiplication of transcripts of them. 
 
 At last, after peace had been restored among the con- 
 quered Saxons, the bishopric intended by the Em])eror 
 Charles was founded at Bremen, and Willehad was installed 
 in it. "While on one of his visitation journeys, which he was 
 obliged to take frequently on account of the peculiar cha- 
 racter of his new diocese, he fell ill of a violent fever in the 
 year 789, at Blexem on the Weser, not far from Wegesak. so 
 that there were apprehensions of his speedy death. His 
 scholars stood weeping round his bed. One of them, who 
 was on very intimate terms with the bishop, broke silence, 
 and with tears expressed the pain they would feel if their 
 spiritual father were taken from them, and their anxiety for 
 the bereaved comrrecations, Avhich were scarcely won over to 
 Christianity. "Oh, venerable father,'' he said, "do not leave 
 those so soon whom you have but lately gained for the Lord. 
 Leave not the congregations and the clergy destitute, who by 
 Tour zeal have been brought together, that the weak flocks 
 may not be given up to the attacks of the wolves. Do not 
 withdraw your presence from us, your poor scholars, that wc 
 mav not waiider about like sheep without a shepherd." 
 "Willehad replied, with deep emotion, " Oh, do not wish, my 
 son, that I should be any longer detained from the presence 
 of my Lord ; do not force me to remain any longer in this 
 M'earisome eartlily life. I do not desire to live here any 
 longer, and I am not afraid to die. I will only beseech my 
 God, whom I have always loved with mv whole heart, wiiom 1 
 
 2 I 
 
482 MISSIONS OF THE MIDDLE AGES. 
 
 have always served with my whole soul, that he would grant me 
 such a reward of my labour as it may please him. But the 
 sheep which he committed to my care, I trust in him to 
 preserve them ; for if I have been able to do any good, I 
 have accomplished it through his power. The grace of him 
 with w'hose mercy the whole earth is full, will not be wanting 
 to you." 
 
 9. Anschar, the Apostle of the North. 
 
 If we compare Boniface and Anschar together, we shall 
 again see an example of two of very different mental con- 
 stitutions whom the Spirit of God that actuated them em- 
 ployed as his instruments. In Boniface there was a resem- 
 blance to the Apostle Peter, in Anschar to the Apostle John : 
 in Boniface there was more of ardent, impetuous power ; in 
 Anschar, more of quiet but active love. Boniface was more 
 fitted to produce great outward effects ; it was Auschar's gift 
 not to grow weary of small beginnings, but quietly, with 
 persistive love, to cherish the inconsiderable germs which are 
 important as the commencing-point of a plantation that will 
 advance to greatness. 
 
 Anschar appears to have received his fresh religious 
 impressions into his opening mind when a mere child, through 
 the early influence of a pious mother, whom he lost in his 
 fifth year. Wlien his father sent him to school after her 
 death, he fell into the society of rude boys, to whose influence 
 he yielded so much as to forget his early impressions of 
 piety. Yet still they remained unconsciously hidden in his 
 soul, and in a vision of the night were recalled to him. " It | 
 was as if he found himself in a slippery place, covered with 
 mire, from which he was hardly able to find a way out. But 
 near this place he thought he saw a pleasant path, and on 
 this path he beheld a graceful female, handsomely adorned, 
 and near her several other women in white garments, among 
 whom was his own mother. When he saw them, he wished 
 to hasten to them, but he could not get out of that slippery 
 place. When these women were advanced nearer, he 
 thought he heard one who stood at their head, very richly 
 adorned, and who appeared to be the Virgin Mary, utter these 
 
ANSCHAE, THE APOSTLE OF THE XOHTH. 483 
 
 words, * My son, wilt thou come to thy mother ?' And M'hon 
 he answered her eaj^erly that ho was anxious to do so, slio 
 said to him again, ' If thou wishest to come to our company 
 thou must guard against all vain waywardness, and diligently 
 pursue a serious course of conduct.' After this dream a 
 surprising change came over him, at which his own com- 
 panions could not sufficiently wonder ; instead of playing, he 
 occupied himself with readinp^, thinking, and other serious 
 useful em])loyments. When he afterwards became a monk 
 in the French convent of Corbie, and gave himself up most 
 entirely to a monastic life, he had another vision, in which 
 the hidden life with Christ in God was represented. lie 
 seemed as if transported to the assembly of the blest. All 
 had their faces towards the east, and celebrating in their 
 hymns of praise an appearance in the east ; and their united 
 hymn of praise filled the souls of the hearers with inexpres- 
 sible delight. In the east itself was seen a wonderful splen- 
 dour, an unchangeable light of surpassing brilliance, from, 
 which the most beautiful colours shone forth. All the 
 companies of saints who stood exulting on all sides, drew joy 
 from the sight. ''It was such unbounded splendour," says 
 Anschar, " that I could see neither beginning nor end of it. 
 And when I had looked round on all sides, I could see only 
 the superficial appearance and not what dwelt within the 
 centre of this light. Yet I believed that He was there whom 
 the angels desire to look upon ; for from it proceeded an 
 inexpressible glory, by which the wliole length and breadth 
 of the assembly of the blest was enlightened. lie himself 
 was, in a certain sense, in all, and all were in him ; he him- 
 self surrounded all from without, and he himself was in- 
 wardly among them ; he satisfied sdl their wants, and he was 
 their guiding soul. He hovered over them protectively; 
 he was the support which brire them up from beneath. 
 Neither sun nor moon gave light there, nor was heaven or 
 earth to be seen. And yet it was not a brightness which 
 dazzled the eyes of the beholders, but one tliat imparted to 
 them a pleasurable sensation. There was nothing c<'rporeal. 
 but all was incorporeal, thougli there was an appearance of 
 the corporeal. It was something inexpressible." AVhen his 
 two guides, Peter and John, had led him in front of this 
 boundless light, a voice, as fiom the Divine Majesty, which 
 
 2 1 2 
 
484 MISSIO>'S OF THE MIDDLE AGES. 
 
 appeared represented to him by this immeasurabie, imehange- 
 able light, sounded forth to him, full of inexpressible sweet- 
 ness : '■ Go hence, and return to me Avith the crown of martyr- 
 dom." At these words the whole host of those who were 
 praising God were dumb, and then with reverent looks they 
 ])rayed. But Auschar saw not the face of Him from whom 
 the voice came. " After these vv^ords,'" he says, " I was sad, 
 because I was obliged to return to the world ; but, quieted by 
 the promise that I should return from it again hereafter, I 
 •went back wdth my guides. On my return, as well as on 
 my way thither, they said nothing to me, but gave me such 
 a look of tender love as when a mother gazes on her only 
 son. And thus I returned again to the body. In going and 
 returning there was no effort and no delay ; we were imme- 
 diately where Ave wished to be. And although I have_ex- 
 pressed something of such blessedness, yet I admit that my 
 tongue can never express what my soul experienced. But 
 my soul itself experienced it not as it actually Avas, for it 
 appeared to me to be what no eye had seen, nor ear heard, 
 nor had entered into the heart of man to conceiA^e." 
 
 We have represented this vision according to Anschar's 
 own description, because it gives us so deep an insight into 
 thediA-ine life of a simple Christian soul. This A'ision made a 
 powerful and indelible impression upon him. Pie was awoke 
 by it to a new earnestness in the Christian life, and it animated 
 him henceforward Avith the thought that he was called to die 
 the precious death of a martyr for the faith. Two years 
 afterwards he had another remarkable vision. He had been 
 engaged in prayer in a small chapel to Avhich he was often 
 used to retire for secret de\'otion, and Avhen he rose from 
 prayer, there entered at the door a person of noble counte- 
 nance in a Jewish dress, Avhose eyes shone as if full of light. 
 He immediately knew it was the Lord Christ, and threw him- 
 self at his feet. As he lay prostrate, the apparition called 
 u^on him to stand up ; and when full of awe he stood 
 before Him, and Avas not able to look on his countenance for 
 the excessive splendour of the light which beamed from his eyes, 
 the Lord said with a kind voice to him : " Confess thy sins, 
 that thou mayest be justified." Anschar ansAA'ered: '"Lord, 
 Avhy need I say it to thee ? thou kuowest all : nothing is hid 
 from thee." The Lord said : " I indeed know all things, 
 
UNDERTAKES A MISSION TO DKXMAKK. 485 
 
 but yet it is my will that men should confess their sins to mc 
 in order that they may receive fori>iveness." Thereupon he 
 made confession of sin, and knelt down to pray. The Lord 
 then said, '' Fear not ; I am He that blottetli out thy trans- 
 gressions." With these words he vanished, and Anschar 
 woke full of joyful confidence that liis sins were forgiven. 
 
 At a later period he was sent with some oilier monks from 
 the monastery of Corbie as a colony for spreading Cliristianity 
 and Christian education to the monastery of Corvei, sitnated 
 on the Weser, where he had to conduct a school and to preach 
 to the people. Under the various difficufties with which this 
 monastery had to combat in a wild and poor district, he had 
 an opportunity of exercising himself in Christian patience, 
 and certainly this was a good preparation for his missionarv 
 calling. 
 
 When the Jutland king, Harold, who was baptized at Ingle- 
 heim in the year 820, was returning home from a visit to his 
 ally the Emperor Lewis the Pious, that emperor wished a 
 zealous preacher of the gospel to accompany the Danes, to 
 confirm and promote their faith, and to spreail it more widely. 
 It was difficult, however, to find one who was not alarmed by 
 the reports of the wildnc'ss of those northmen, and of the evil 
 character of their idolatry. But the Abbot Wala, of the 
 monastery of Corbie, to which Anschar had then returned, 
 informed the emperor that he knew a man of glowing zeal for 
 the cause of God, who longed even to sutfer for it. Anschar 
 was called and was ready immediately to go with King Harold 
 to Denmark. V\'liile his abhot visited the court, Anschar 
 prepared himself in the retirement of a vineyard, by reading 
 the Scriptures and prayer, for his great calling. He ajjpearcd 
 always serious and in deep thought, so that those who could 
 not look into his interior, might imagine that he was afraid of 
 dangers and toils, and repented of the resolution he had taken, 
 liut it was in \ü\n only the consciousness of the greatness 
 and diflSlculty of the calling that made him serious, since he 
 began the work, not in the arrogance of human self-confidence, 
 but with fear and trembling in dependence on God ; he was 
 well aware of his own un worthiness and weakness, he depended 
 only on the power of God, and appearing more quiet and 
 reserved before men, he had turned his whole heart to Him. 
 When another monk, Autbcrt. who wished to accompany him 
 
486 MISSIONS OF THE MIDDLE AGES. 
 
 in his missionary work, asked him whether he still kept to his 
 resolution, he answered : " When I was asked whether I 
 would go for God's name among the heathen, to publish the 
 gospel, I could not ventui'e to decline such a call. Yes ; with 
 all my powers I wish to go hence, and no man can make me 
 waver in this resolution." 
 
 The most striking points in Anschar's character were, his 
 unwearied patience, his winning love, and his steadfast faith, 
 when dangers and obstacles stood in his way. These distin- 
 guishing qualities were tried in a variety of ways from his 
 first entrance on this mission. The Danes whom he accom- 
 panied on their return to their native country, appear to have 
 been at that time great strangers to the natui'e of Christianity. 
 Anschar met with rough treatment from them till his arrival 
 at Cologne (whence they were to pass by the Rhine to Hol- 
 land, and then proceed by sea to Denmark), when the bishop 
 of that city, Hadelbod, furnished him M'ith a convenient 
 vessel : this induced King Harold to become his associate, 
 and Anschar now succeeded in subduing the rude manners of 
 the Danes. 
 
 King Harold was afterwards expelled from his kingdom. 
 Anschar could do nothing more excepting to pui'chase native 
 children in order to educate them for teachers to the people, 
 and found a little school at Hadeby, in Schleswig, the first 
 Christian institution in these regions. His companion, Aut- 
 bert, was taken from him by an illness which obliged him to 
 return to his native country. Yet these untoward circum- 
 stances could not tiu'n him aside — a proof how free he was 
 from self ; for the more self-love is mingled with zeal, flowing 
 even from the purest fountain, so much more restless and 
 impatient it is to see the fruit of its own labours. In pro- 
 portion as zeal is purified from the alloy of self, it carries on 
 the work of God, in the consciousness that " neither he that 
 planteth is anything, nor he that watereth is anything, but 
 God that giveth the increase ;" it will leave to Him when and 
 where to give that increase. 
 
 While in this unfixvourable situation he received a call to a 
 new missionary undertaking in Sweden, and immediately he 
 complied with it, convinced that it came from God. He pro- 
 ceeded to that country in a merchant- vessel, as an ambassador 
 from King Lewis the Pious, with presents for the king of 
 
HIS LABOURS IN SWEDEN. 487 
 
 Sweden. They were attacked by pirates and lost everything;-. 
 With great difficulty they gained the shore and saved their 
 lives. Several of Anschar's com])anions wished to return, 
 but he declared " that what might liappen to him was in 
 God's hands, but that he had made up his mind not to return 
 until he had discovered whether it was God's will that the 
 gospel should be published there.'' 
 
 At a later period he was suddenly fallen upon in the scat of 
 his diocese at Hamburgh by the pagan Normans ; he lost 
 everything, and saved himself with great difficulty. He was 
 obliged to take refuge on the estate of a pious female of rank 
 in Holstein ; but as soon as he could find safety and quiet in 
 his own diocese, he was immediately intent on widening the 
 sphere of his labours. The unfavourable prospect on account 
 of the enmity of Horick, the reigning sovereign of Deinnark, 
 who had taken a principal part in those incursions into the 
 diocese of Hamburgh, could not deter him. He knew the 
 omnipotence of love ; he prayed continually for the conver- 
 sion and salvation of those who threatened destruction to 
 hira and all Christians with fire and sword. He allowed him- 
 self to be employed by King Lewis of Germany as an ambas- 
 sador to King Horick ; he made him presents, won liis heart 
 by love, and at last Horick placed such great confidence in 
 Anschar that he would treat only through him with the Ger- 
 man empire : and he then made use of this personal attach- 
 ment of the king, to accomplish something for the Christian 
 church. He obtained ])ermission from him to erect a church 
 in the town of Schleswig, which, as a mart of connncrce, was 
 pecidiarly fitted to spread Christianity fuither inland. He 
 also procured from this king a letter of introduction to the 
 Swedish king, Olof. Horick wrote to the effect that *" he had 
 never in his life seen so good a man ; that he never found a 
 man so trustworthy: and since he had found so much good- 
 ness in him, he had permitted him to undertake what he 
 wished in reference to Christianity in his own land, and he 
 hoped that King Olof would also permit him to publish the 
 gospel in his kingdom, for he certainly wished to effect 
 nothing but what was good and right.' 
 
 When Anschar arrived in Sweden, he found the pagans 
 greatly opposed to the strange religion. His friends advised 
 him only to make use of the presents he had brought with 
 
488 MISSIONS OF THE MIDDLE AGES. 
 
 him in order to rescue his life from the impending danger. 
 But Anschar answered, " I would give nothing here to redeem 
 my life ; for if the Lord has so determined, I am ready to 
 suffer tortures and even death, here, for his name's sake.'' He 
 invited the king to an entertainment, gave him the presents, 
 and won his heart, for he knew well how to become all things 
 to all men ; and afterwards the Lord helped him in the way 
 which his infinite wasdom had opened for him. 
 
 Anschar experienced many wonderful answers to prayer in 
 the course of his laborious and dano-erous ministrv. This was 
 known, and many sick persons came to him, to obtain a cure 
 by his prayers. But he himself disowned the reputation of a 
 worker of miracles, and said : '" If I were thought worthy 
 before my God of that, I would beseech him to grant me this 
 miracle, that by his grace he would make of me a holy 
 man."' 
 
 ^^-lien, after four-and-thirty years labour, in his sixty- 
 fourth year, he came to his end through the sufferings of a 
 j^ainful malady, he frequently said with Job, " Shall we 
 receive good at the hand of God, and shall we not receive 
 evil r" Alter receiving the Holy Supper, he raised his hands 
 to heaven and prayed that the grace of God might forgive 
 every one who had ever in any way injured him. He then 
 frequently repeated the words, " Have mercy upon me, O God, 
 according to thy lovingkindncss. Be merciful to me a sin- 
 ner. Into thy hands I commend my spirit.*' And after he 
 had commended his spirit to the grace of God, looking towards 
 heaven, he left this world, in the year 865. 
 
 10. The Martijr Adalbert^ of Prussia. 
 
 Adalbert was descended from a respectable family in 
 Prague, where he was born in the year 956. He received his 
 education in Magdeburgh, and then returned to his own 
 country. In the year 983 he was chosen bishop of his native 
 city. Among this people there prevailed at that time a great 
 heathen rudeness, and Adalbert who could not endm-e a pagan 
 life connected with an outward profession of Christianity, had, 
 in consequence, to maintain a hard conflict. He had no 
 deficiency of glowing zeal and steadfastness, but rather failed 
 in moderation and all-enduring patience, which, among a rude 
 
THE MARTYR ADALBERT, OF PRUSSIA. 489 
 
 people ^Yho -would not submit to his control, were here put to 
 a severe trial. Thus he frequently gave notice of his inten- 
 tion of leaving the congregation M'hich would not follow him 
 as their shepherd, nor give up their lawlessness. He wished 
 to find a place of rest in nionastieism, and sought out in 
 Italy the venerable Nilus, who shone as a light in darkness, 
 and whose life and labours we shall notice in the sequel But 
 he was always urider the necessity of returning to his forsaken 
 untamed flock, and as often driven from it. 
 
 When for the third time he had taken his departure, his 
 glowing zeal for the spread of Cln-istianity prompted him to 
 visit Hungary, where, not long before, the seeds of Chris- 
 tianity had begun to germinate. He was gladly received by 
 Prince Geisa, who had consented to receiAC baptism through 
 the influence of his wife ; but he could make little impression 
 on either by his exhortations. Yet probably it was owing to 
 his society and conversation that a remarkable effect was 
 jH'oduced on the mind of their son, young Stephanus, who 
 afterwards contributed principally to the establishment of 
 the Christian church in Huniiarv. 
 
 But his restless spirit soon turned away from Hungary. 
 He resolved to go, where no missionary had ever been, to the 
 Pagans in Prussia. The Polish duke, Boleslad L, to whom he 
 applied for assistance, gave him a vessel and thirty soldiers 
 for a guard. 
 
 Thus he went to Dantzig, which was at that time the 
 border-town between Prussia and Poland. Here he first 
 began his ministry and succeeded in baptizing many ; he 
 then left this district in order to visit the o])posite shore. 
 "When landed there, he sent the vessel back with the crew. 
 He wished to be altogether left to the protection of his God, 
 and as a messenger of peace not to come forward under 
 human protection ; he also was anxious to avoid everything 
 which might create suspicion in the minds of the Pagans ; 
 he only retained the priest Benedict and his pu])il Gauden- 
 tius with him. It was the Frisehe Haff (Fresh Sea) where 
 they landed, and they betook themselves in a little boat to 
 an island formed by the Pregel at its mouth ; but the inha- 
 bitants came with cudgels to drive them away, and one of 
 them gave him such a severe blow with an oar that the 
 psalter, out of which he had been singing, was knocked out 
 
490 MISSIONS or the middle ages. 
 
 of his hand, and he himself fell to the ground. "WTien he 
 recovered himself, his first words were, '" Lord, I thank thee 
 that thou hast thought me worthy of at least one blow for 
 my crucified Saviour !" On Saturday they passed over to 
 the other side of the Pregel, on the coast of Samland. The 
 lord of the manor, whom they met with, brought them to his 
 village, where a great multitude of people assembled. When 
 Adalbert was asked who he was, v/hence and with what 
 design he was come, he explained to them in a gentle tone, 
 after he had said who he was and whence he came : " On 
 account of your salvation I am come hither, that you may 
 forsake your deaf and dumb gods and acknowledge your 
 Creator, beside whom there is no God, in order that be- 
 lieving in his name you may receive eternal life and be made 
 partakers of an imperishable existence of heavenly joy." 
 When the pagans heard these words they gnashed their 
 teeth, struck him with their sticks, and threatened him with 
 cudgels. He might think himself well ofi*, they said, that he 
 had come so far unhurt ; he could save his life only by a 
 quick departure. All persons in that kingdom had one law 
 and one manner of life. They w^ho served another unknown 
 God, if they did not go away that night, would be beheaded 
 the next day. They were put on board a vessel, but were 
 obliged immediately to leave the coast, and remained five 
 days in the place to w^hich they came. When they woke on 
 the last day, Gaudentius told his spiritual father a dream 
 which he had had in the night. " I saw on the altar, in the 
 middle, a golden cup half full of wine. No one was there 
 watching. When I wished to drink of the wine the at- 
 tendant at the altar would not permit it, for he said that it 
 was not allowable for me or any other man ; the wine was to 
 be kept for the bishop for his spiritual refreshment another 
 day." "My son," said Adalbert, who believed that he saw 
 in this an intimation of his crown of martyrdom, " may God 
 bless this vision ; one dare not trust a dream which may 
 deceive." At daybreak they began to set forward on their 
 journey, and went on joyfully, singing psalms, and calling on 
 the Lord Christ through the thick forests. Their singing 
 shortened the distance. About noon they came to a district 
 laid out in fields. Gaudentius here celebrated mass, and Adal- 
 bert partook of the Holy Supper ; then they sat down on the 
 
HIS PEEILS AND DEATH. 491 
 
 turf and enjoyed some of the provisions they had brought with 
 them. After Adalbert had repeated a Yerse out of the Bible 
 and sung a psalm, he stood up, and after he had gone a little 
 further he sat down again. Being exhausted, he fell into a 
 deep sleep, and so did his companions ; but they were awoke 
 out of sleep in a terrible way : they were startled by the 
 shouts of a band of furious pagans, and were all put in 
 chains. Adalbert maintained his tranquillity undisturbed, 
 and said to his two companions, " My brethren, do not be 
 troubled ; you know that we suffer this for the name of the 
 Lord, whose might is above all might, whose beauty is above 
 all beauty, whose grace is inexpressible ; what is there more 
 beautiful than to surrender sweet life for the sweetest Jesus!" 
 Then a priest came forth from the infuriated multitude and 
 struck, with his lance, the man of God on his breast, with all 
 his might ; the rest also vented their rage upon him. He 
 died raising his eyes and hands to heaven, praying to the 
 Lord for his own salvation and that of his persecutors. 
 This took place on April 23, in the year 997. 
 
 The age in which Adalbert lived was not rich in heralds of 
 the Christian faith. Only when the church is rich internally 
 in the gifts of the Spirit, will the divine fulness flow over 
 outwardly, and the water of life while it fructifies the heathen 
 world will flow back with a blessing to the districts from 
 which it issued ; but where the spiritual life is wanting, 
 no salutary influence can go forth on those who are without 
 the pale of the church. When the salt is become insipid, 
 nothing can be salted with it. This is true of the tenth 
 century, in which the seeds of Christianity that had previously 
 been sown threatened to be altogether suppressed by the 
 thorns and thistles of sensual barbarism. Men were here 
 needed who might go forth as missionaries, home-mission- 
 aries, among the intractable people who had assumed the 
 name of Christians, but among whom little of the spirit and. 
 life of Christ was to be found. Such an one was that man of 
 God, Nilus, in a country where lawlessness, superstition, and 
 ignorance had spread very widely, and on this account we 
 place next to the foreign missionaries — 
 
492 MISSIONS OF THE 3IIDDLE AGES. 
 
 n. The MoiiJc Nilus. 
 
 Nilus was of Greek descent, but born at Rossano, in 
 Calabria, in the year 910. His pious parents, wbo bad only 
 one child, a daughter, prayed to the Lord that he would 
 o:rant them a son. Their prayer was heard, and this son was 
 Nilus. They carried the child to church and dedicated him 
 to the service of God. They named him Nilus, after a dis- 
 tinguished and venerated monk of the fifth century, to whose 
 character this youth who bore his name did actually cor- 
 respond. The seed which his pious parents scattered in his 
 mind in childhood, operated to preserve him from the cor- 
 ruptions of the age ; but as he lost his parents early, he was 
 brought up under the care of his married sister, who was also 
 a pious woman. From childhood he read the biographies 
 of the ancient venerated monks, such as Anthony and Hila- 
 rion, and thus a spirit of earnest and deep piety was awakened 
 in him, which in early life taught him to shun the moral 
 corruption in the houses of the great, and to abhor the 
 amulets and magical charms as well as other arts of supersti- 
 tion which were then so much in vogue. 
 
 When at a later period his repugnance to the general 
 corruption of morals around him impelled him to a stricter 
 asceticism, he had to sustain manifold conflicts with himself, 
 and by means of them he had abundant opportunity given 
 him of exploring the depths of his own heart. Thoughts 
 tending to evil mingled themselves with his holiest emotions 
 — temptations to spiritual pride which most readily connect 
 themselves with ascetic striving after holiness by self-con- 
 quest, and temptations to sensuality. Often when he was 
 praying and singing in the church such thoughts rose 
 within him — " Look at the altar ; perhaps thou wilt see an 
 angel, or a flame of fire, or the Holy Ghost, as many have 
 beheld such thino;s." And had he resigned himself to such 
 thoughts he would easily have fallen into the most dangerous 
 self-deceptions of enthusiasm, and the divine life in him, as in 
 many who could not overcome such temptations, would have 
 been destroyed by pride and vanity. The angels of darkness^ 
 who know how to clothe themselves as angels of light, would 
 have overpowered his soul and involved it in their snares. 
 Such was the temptation in which his Saviour preceded him 
 
THE MONK NILUS HIS EARLY LIFE 493 
 
 w'lien the Prince of Darkness proposed to him to make bread 
 of the stones of the desert, and to throw himself from a 
 pinnacle of the temple. The faitliful disciple imitated his 
 model. Nothino^ can so qnench the fiery darts of the Wicked 
 One as the sobriety of humility, the workini^ out our salvation, 
 with fear and trembling. This gives that sober-mindedness 
 which can counteract all the intoxicating influence of self- 
 exaltation. The more such tem])tations to pride ])ressed on 
 Nilus, the more he humbled himself. lie closed his eyes 
 that he might not perceive tempting objects, and so wrestled 
 with himself in penitence and tears that the drops of sweat 
 fell off from him on the ground. Once when he was occupied 
 with writing, reading, and singing, in St. Peter's, at Rome, 
 and was beset with such temptations, he threw himself 
 before the altar, and said to the Saviour, "• Lord, tliou 
 knowest that I am weak ; have compassion upon me, relievo 
 me of the conflict which makes me despair of life." lie 
 then fell asleep and saw a vision. He beheld Christ before 
 him hanging on the cross, only separated from him by a very 
 thin white curtain. He exclaimed, "" Lord, have mercy upon 
 me, and bless thy servant." The Saviour three times from 
 the cross extended Ins right hand over him. He awoke and 
 was freed from all his temptations. In an age when many of 
 those who set themselves in opposition to the prevalent dege- 
 neracy of manners sought to be justified by their own. works, 
 he felt urged rather to surrender himself entirely to the 
 Saviour and to depend on him alone. The scholar of Nilus 
 who gives this account, adds : '' What much fasting and 
 watching could not effect, was effected by thus humbling 
 himself before the Lord, and by a knowledge of his own 
 weakness." 
 
 Nilus was frequently visited by men of all ranks, and the 
 most distinguished both of the clergy and laity, who used to 
 propose various questions to him. He availed himself of 
 these opportunities to direct the attention of persons to ^he 
 one thing needful, to warn them against a false confidence 
 in a mere outward Christianity, a dead faith and outward 
 works, and to call them off from barren subtleties to that 
 which was necessary for tlie salvation of their souls. When 
 he once saw coming to him the archbishop with an imperial 
 privy counsellor, besides several priests and magistrates, and 
 
494 MISSIONS or the middle ages. 
 
 private persons, he said : " Behold ! there they come to 
 entangle me in an empty, idle conversation. But, my Lord 
 Jesus Christ, free us from the devices of Satan, and grant 
 that we may think, and speak, and do, what is well pleasing 
 10 Thee !" And after he had so prayed, he opened the book 
 that he held in his hand, a biography of St. Symeon, and 
 made a mark in the place where it first opened. When those 
 who had come to visit him had saluted him and sat down, he 
 gave the privy counsellor the book to read where he had 
 made a mark, and he read the passage in which it was said, 
 that not one in a thousand is saved. The others who heard 
 this were shocked, and said, " God forbid that it should be 
 so ; that is not true. Whoever says that is a heretic. If it 
 be so, then we have been baptized in vain ; in vain we adore 
 the Crucified ; in vain we partake of the Holy Supper ; in 
 vain we are called Christians." After they had been talking 
 in this manner, and neither the archbishop nor the counsellor 
 said anything to them, Nilus said to them, in a mild tone : 
 " How now r If I could prove to you that the ancient fathers, 
 that Chrysostom, Basil, the Evangelists, and the Apostle Paul, 
 say the very same thing, what could j'ou allege — you, who 
 on account of your wicked lives, denounce as falsehood the 
 words spoken by the Holy Ghost.'' But I tell you, my 
 brethren, that by all that you have just repeated, you will find 
 no favour with God." And in order to remind them that 
 their continuance in a religion in which they had been edu- 
 cated, by a profession which involved no sacrifice of self- 
 renunciation, would be absolutely worthless, he added : 
 " What idols or what heresy have you forsaken, in order to 
 turn to the Lord Christ?" And when he further wished to 
 impress upon them that orthodoxy, without a life correspond- 
 ing to the faith, would avail nothing, he said : " If one of 
 you ventured to profess himself a heretic, and enters his own 
 town as such, would not all join in stoning him ? Be assured, 
 it will be of no advantage to you that you are no heretics ; 
 if your life is not improved, and is not radically amended, 
 no one can rescue you from destruction." All present, when 
 they heard this language, were greatly disturbed ; they 
 sighed deeply and said: ''Woe to us, miserable sinners!" 
 All officer of the imperial guard, Nicholas, now put in a word, 
 to show that the gospel was not so strict : " Por what reason, 
 
HIS FAITHFUL KEPROOFS TO CAVILLERS. 495 
 
 father, does the gospel say, that whoever gives a cup of cold 
 water to a poor man, shall not lose his reward?" Nilus 
 answered: "That was said, that no poor man might excuse 
 himself by saying, ' I have no wood to warai the water with,* 
 But what do you do, who deny the poor even a draught of cold 
 water?" Then one of the nobles who led an unchaste life, 
 and yet wished to feel safe in his sins, said : " I should like 
 to know, holy father, whether the wonderful Solomon was 
 saved or not." Nilus, who saw through him, replied : " I 
 should like to know of you, whether j'ou will be saved or 
 lost. For of what advantage is it to me or you, that Solo- 
 mon is saved or lost; for to us, not to him, it has been said, 
 * He that looketh on a woman to lust after her, hath already 
 committed adultery;' and ' if any man defile the temple of 
 God, him will God destroy.' ''>' But who can say of Solomon, 
 of whom we are nowhere told in Holy Writ, as of Manasseh, 
 that after he had sinned he repented, that lie is saved?" 
 Upon this one of the priests, in order to turn the conversa- 
 tion, asked of what kind was the forbidden fruit which 
 Adam tasted in Paradise? Nilus answered, " A crab-apple;" 
 at which they all laughed. He then said to them, " Laugh 
 not ; such a question deserves such an answer. Moses has 
 not told us precisely what tree it was : why should we wish 
 to know what the Holy Scriptures have concealed ? You do 
 not trouble yourself about how you are created, how you 
 have been placed like Adam in Paradise, Avhat was the com- 
 mand, or rather what were the commands, which you have 
 not kept, on account of which you also have been banished 
 from Paradise, or rather from the kingdom of God, and how 
 you can regain your original glory and honour; and yet you 
 want to know the name of a tree where one tree is as good as 
 another; and even if you knew its name you could not tell 
 of what kind the root, the leaves, and the bark Mere, or 
 whether it was a large tree or a small one. And who can 
 give you information about what no one has seen ?" 
 
 When on another day he visited a neighbourinjr castle, 
 he met with a Jew wlio had been known to him from his 
 youth, who was in high repute as a plivsieian. This man 
 
 * Tlie-;e words in their connection (1 Cor. iii. 17) have certainly 
 another reference, but they may justly be applied to those who dctile aud 
 destroy the temple ot God by uachastity. 
 
496 MISSIONS OF THE MIDDLE AGES. 
 
 said to him : " I nave heard much of your asceticism and 
 your abstemiousness, and I know your constitution of body, 
 and am surprised that you have not had epileptic fits ; but 
 now I will 2:ive you a medicine suited to your constitution, 
 that will last'you all the days of your life, so that you need 
 fear no sickness." Nilus replied, without making further 
 inquiry after such a preservative against all diseases, " One of 
 your own countrymen, a Hebrew, has told us, ' It is better 
 to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in man.' (Psa. 
 cxviii. 8.) As m'C confide in our physician, our God and Lord 
 Jesus Christ, we do not need your remedies." 
 
 A governor, sent from Constantinople, who had been set 
 over all the western provinces of the Greek empire, had, 
 by an undertaking which appeared salutary to him but was 
 burdensome to manj-, excited great dissatisfaction. The 
 inhabitants of the district of Rossano v»-ere led away by 
 momentary excitement to commit deeds of violence. They 
 afterwards repented, and were uncertain what they should 
 do, since they dreaded the vengeance of the governor. 
 Driven to despair, they had almost come to the resolution to 
 make the evil still worse, and to raise a general rebellion 
 against the Greek empire, on which they were dependent. 
 They turned their thoughts towards Xilus, and the recollec- 
 tion of him infused confidence into their souls ; they con- 
 fided in his mediation. As soon as this man, full of philan- 
 thropy, Avho did not refuse his sympathy even to the erring, 
 was called for by them, he hastened to them. ^Mien he 
 arrived he availed himself of what had occurred to give them 
 suitable admonitions, and then required the citizens no longer 
 to close their gates against the governor, whose vengeance 
 they dreaded, but admit him without delay. He entered full 
 of wrath, and while the magistrates and priests, and the 
 people in general, were struck with terror, and did not ven- 
 ture to say a word, Isilus appeared with the greatest calm- 
 ness before the governor, and spoke to him with a frank in- 
 dependence. His venerable appearance calmed the anger 
 of the governor, who left with him to decide respecting the 
 punishment due to the rebels. Nilus said : " It is indeed a 
 grave crime that they have committed. Were it the act of 
 only a few of the higher class, the merited punishment might 
 full upon them ; but now the whole multitude share in the 
 
PHILANTHEOPIC EFFORTS FOR THE DISTRESSED. 497 
 
 guilt. Would you pass sentence of death against the whole 
 population, and make so large a place empty of human 
 beings?"' The governor answered: "No; we do not wi.sh 
 to shed blood, but we wish to seize their goods, and use 
 them for the imperial treasury, that they may be brought to 
 their senses, and not venture on a like attempt again." 
 " And what good will it do you," said Nilus, " if you eiu-ich 
 the imperial treasury but ruin your own soul ? How will the 
 heavenly King forgive your guilt, if you do not forgive them 
 who have committed a fault against you, you who are alive 
 to-day and are dead to-morrow?" He offered, if the 
 governor thought that he could not grant a pardon without the 
 emperor's consent, to write to him himself; and at last he 
 succeeded in carrying his point. After he had restored quiet 
 and order he returned to the repose of his cell, which he had 
 unwillingly forsaken only at the call of benevolence, and 
 thanked God for what he had been able to accomplish. 
 
 In this manner he often tore himself away from the quiet, 
 holy rest of a life devoted to prayer and meditation, and 
 descended from his elevation to the distresses of suffering 
 humanity, in order to interest himself on behalf of those 
 who were oppressed by the power of rulers who did not 
 fear the Lord. In the most inclement weather, through cold 
 and heat, he took for such objects long journeys on foot. 
 He often reached the end of his wanderings, soaked with 
 rain, or benumbed hands and feet, or scorched by the sun's 
 rays, exhausted and faint with hunger and thirst ; but love 
 made all things liirht. 
 
 On one occasion the imperial chamberlain came in great 
 state from Constantinople to a neighbouring castle, and ex- 
 pressed his astonishment that Nilus did not meet him witli 
 the other abbots. The first bishop in the empire, the 
 patriarch — he believed — would have shown him more respect. 
 But those who knew Nilus better, answered: "This old 
 man is no patriarch, but he feels no fear before the patri- 
 archs : nor before the emperor, whom all fear." As the 
 cliamberlain still felt much surjjrised at his conduct, he 
 v>-rote him a letter, in which he requested that either he 
 would not conceal himself from him if he came to him, or 
 that he would visit the castle, in order to bless him and his 
 retinue. Partly moved by his entreaties, partly to obtain 
 
 2 K 
 
498 MISSIONS OF THE MIDDLE AGES. 
 
 a favourable hearing, in case he should have to intercede 
 for the poor with him, Nilus accepted the invitation. The 
 chamberlain was struck with awe when he came into his 
 presence. He ordered a copy of the Gospels to be brought 
 in order to swear by them, and to ratify by an oath what he 
 wished to promise him. But Xilus referred him, when he 
 thus began, to what Christ said in his sermon on the mount 
 respecting swearing, and asked: '-"Why will you give occa- 
 sion to mistrust your words, and why do you make such a 
 beginning of our conference, by transgressing the word of the 
 Lord ? For every one who is ready on slight occasions to 
 take an oath, is also ready to speak falsehoods.' The scholar 
 of Nilus says of him : " I am convinced that if all men 
 under the sun met together, in order to ask suitable counsel 
 of him, they would want nothing that would contribute to 
 their advantage ; for his counsel was as the counsel of God, 
 full of intelligence and salutary. If men followed him, he 
 led them to a glorious issue ; if they despised him, danger 
 to the soul and bodily harm ensued. And I could mention 
 many particular instances, if it would not extend the narrative 
 to an inordinate length." 
 
 The widow of a duke of Capua, with whom Xilus was 
 connected, named Abara, had excited her two sons to assas- 
 sinate a man of rank who was her nephew. She after- 
 wards was struck with remorse, and applied to the bishops 
 to impose penance upon her by way of satisfaction for her 
 sins. They wished to make it easy for her to come to terms 
 with the Almighty. They only prescribed for her to repeat 
 the Psalter three times every week, and to give alms to the 
 poor. But the duchess could not by these means silence 
 the upbraidings of conscience. She wished to take counsel 
 of Nil us, and to receive something to calm her mind from 
 the lips of one who was universally revered as a man of 
 God. Xilus complied with her request to visit her. AVhen 
 he came, she fell trembling at his feet, confessed her sins, 
 and implored forgiveness for them. Nilus desired her to 
 rise, and said: "Do not act thus, for I am a sinful man, 
 and have no power to bind and to loose. Go home, ask the 
 bishops what you must do, and follow' their advice.' Upon 
 this, she told him what the bishops had advised her to do. 
 Nilus now said, in order to bring her to a sense of her guilt, 
 
HIS INFLUENCE OVER THE EMPEEOE. 499 
 
 and to prove whether she was really penetrated with a feeling 
 of it, " To pray in the Psalter, and to give alms to tlie ])oor, 
 is useful to yourself and to the indigent. But this will not 
 call back him who has been unjustly dei)rived of life, nor will 
 the grief of those who mourn his loss be tliereby lessened. 
 If you will take advice from a poor man like myself, do this: 
 Give one of your sons to the relations of the murdered per- 
 son, to do with him what they please ; for the Lord has 
 said, * Whoso sheddeth man's blood, his blood shall be shed 
 again.' " Then said the duchess : " I cannot do that, for I 
 fear they will kill him." Then his holy anger was kindled 
 against her, because she felt so little the greatness of her 
 guilt ; and with the glowing zeal of a pro})liet, lie denounced 
 against her the divine judgment that would befall her and her 
 famil}-, since she trusted in her superior raidc, and would not 
 acknowledge that it is the Lord who makes poor and rich, 
 who brings down and exalts. She then began to weep 
 bitterly, and wished to fill the hands of the man of God with 
 gold, as if she could purchase from him the forgiveness of 
 sins. But Nilus hastened away, without being allured by 
 the abundance of gold, or moved by her tears, or awed by 
 her power, in order to let her know that he would not be a 
 partaker in her sins. 
 
 A countryman of Nilus, Philagathus, or John, bishop of 
 Piacenza, who was too much inclined to mix himself up with 
 political matters to his own hurt, had formed a connection 
 with the lloman usurper Crescentius, who had made him 
 pope after expelling Gregory V. Nilus felt himself compelled 
 to warn him, in a letter, of the consequences of his ambition. 
 lie called upon him to renounce the secular honours which 
 he enjoyed to excess, and to retire from the world. In the 
 vcar 998, Gregory was reinstated by the arms of the lMn])eror 
 Otto III., and cruel revenge was taken on the archbishop. 
 His eves were put out, his tongue and nose cut off, and he 
 was then consigned to a dungeon. As .soon as the news of this 
 reached Nilus, then in his eighty-eighth year, at his monastery 
 near Gaeta, he hastened to Home, although lie was out of 
 health, and it was Lent, — a season when any interruption in 
 his devotional and penitential exercises was peculiarly an- 
 noying, lie requested the emperor to place the archbishop 
 under his care, that they might live together, and join in 
 
 2 K 2 
 
500 MISSIONS OF THE MIDDLE AGES. 
 
 acts of penitence for their sins. The emperor gave his con- 
 sent. But when the archbishop was exposed, soon after- 
 wards, to fresh public insult, Xilus declared to the pope and 
 the emperor that they offended not him, but God ; out of love 
 to him the}- had promised to pardon the unfortunate prelate. 
 And as they had shown no mercy to the unfortunate man 
 whom God had put in their .power, they could not expect 
 their own sins to be forgiven by their heavenly Father. The 
 young emperor, who was flattered by all, was obliged this 
 once to hear the voice of truth from the lips of a poor monk. 
 "When afterwards the emperor asked him, what personal 
 favour he wished for, he answered : " I have nothing else to 
 request of you, except that you would not trifle with the 
 salvation of your own soul ; for though you are an emperor, 
 you will die like any other man, appear before the divine 
 judgment- seat, and give an account of your deeds, good and 
 bad." The emperor burst into tears, took off his crown, and 
 besought Nilus to give him his blessing. 
 
 The prayers of Xilus were frequently solicited for the sick, 
 either by themselves or their relations, especially for those 
 ■who laboured under mental distemners, and were resrarded 
 as possessed by evil spirits. Bnt he felt the temptation that 
 threatened him, and shrunk from the reputation of a miracle- 
 worker. On one occasion, a man who filled a distinguished 
 military post brought him his son, who was in a state of 
 severe suffering. Xilus replied to his request : " Believe, 
 O man. that I have never asked God to give me the power 
 of working miracles, or of casting out evil spirits ; I only 
 "wish that I may obtain the forgiveness of my many sins, and 
 freedom from the evil thouo-hts that torment me ! Rather 
 pray for mo, that I may be freed from many evil spirits. 
 For thy son has only one evil spirt, and this involuntarily ; 
 perhaps this affliction will serve for the salvation of his soul, 
 either by purifying him from former sins, or preserving him 
 against others." After the son had been restored to health, 
 and the father wished to thank Xilus for his intercession, he 
 answered: " God has healed thy son: I have done nothing 
 towards it." The scholar of Xilus, who wrote his life, and 
 has presented us with the spirit of his teacher in these 
 words, says : " I will not recount great miracles performed 
 by him, which have filled childish people and unbelievers 
 
CONTROVERSIES IN GREEK AND LATIN CHURCHES. 501 
 
 witli astonishment : but I ^vill narrate liis toils and labours, 
 for I know that in such things the great apostle placed his 
 reputation." 
 
 At this time, Christian fellowship between the members of 
 the Greek and Latin churches was interrupted by contro- 
 versies respectinnj certain ecclesiastical usages, customs, and 
 doctrines, on which a ditfercnce of opinion existed in the 
 two communions. But Nilus was too deeply grounded in 
 the divine word, not to regard the unity in Christ as liigher 
 than such differences, and the genuine spirit of Christian 
 love raised him above these divisions. He was held in equal 
 veneration by the members of both churches. Thus the 
 abbot and monks of the renowned abbey on Mount Cassino 
 invited him to celebrate mass in their church in his mother- 
 tongue ; ' in order,' as they said, ' that God might be all in 
 all ' (that is, that all might join in glorifying God in different 
 languages and forms, and that all differences might be subor- 
 dinated to the unity of connnunion in the divine life). At 
 first Nilus declined the invitation, saying, " How can we 
 (the Greeks) who have been humbled on account of our 
 sins in all lands, sing the Lord's song in a strange land?" 
 But at last he consented, in order that by so doing he nn'ght 
 contribute to the promotion of Christian union. After the 
 service, he entered into a conversation on the differences 
 between the two churches. One point was, that in ihc 
 Romish church it was customary to fast on Saturdays, but not 
 in the Greek. Nilus answered the question proposed to him 
 respecting it nearly in the words of the A})ostle Paul : '• Let 
 not him that cateth, despise him that eateth not ; and let him 
 which eateth not, judge him that eateth, for God hath received 
 him. AVho art thou that jndgest thy brother? Whether, 
 therefore, ye eat or fast, do all to the glory of God." Alter 
 stating the reasons which induced the Greeks not to fast on 
 the seventh day, he added : *' Yet let us desist from empty 
 talk ; for fasting is in itself nothing bad ; let us say with the 
 apostle : ' Meat commendeth us not to Ciod.' (1 Cor. viii. S.) 
 If the poor Jews would only honour the Crucified as their 
 Lord, and fast also on Sundays, it would not matter to me." 
 Upon this, the rest said to him ; '• Is it, then, no sin to fast on 
 Saturdays?'' He answered: ''Everything depends not on 
 what is external, but on the direction of the heart towards God. 
 
 I 
 
502 MISSIONS OF THE MIDDLE AGES. 
 
 EveiTthing that is done for God's sake is something good." 
 And he endeavoured to show them that men might be led to 
 a diflference in outward practices by the difference in their 
 points of view, and might agree with one another in all the 
 essentials of the faith. 
 
 Nilus heard that the governor of Gaeta designed, after his 
 death, to bring his bones into the city, and to inter them there, 
 since he regarded the relics of the holy man as a safeguard 
 for the town. But his humility could not endure the thought 
 that such honour should be paid to him, which it was then 
 customary to show to the saints ; he preferred that no one 
 should know where he was buried. He took leave of his 
 mourning scholars and friends, his monks, saying to them : 
 " Be not troubled, fathers and brethren, for I am going to 
 prepare a place and a convent, where all my brethren and 
 all my scattered children will assemble." He meant probably 
 the rest of heaven, in which he hoped to meet again with all 
 his friends. He then mounted his horse, and took the road 
 to Rome. When he came on his way to Frascati (Tusculum), 
 he entered the small convent of St. Agatha, and said : " Here 
 is my final resting-place." Many friends and persons of 
 rank in^-ited him to come to Rome, even if only to perform 
 his devotions at the tombs of the two first apostles : but he 
 answered them : " Whoever has faith only as a grain of 
 mustard- seed, can even in this spot honour the memory of 
 the two apostles. I am come to this little place for no other 
 reason but to die." 
 
 Gregor}', an overbearing, hard-hearted man, the governor 
 of the district in which the convent was situated, when he 
 understood that the venerable man had taken up his abode 
 there, was very much affected. He came to him, fell at his 
 feet, and said : "0 servant of the most high God, I do not 
 deserve, on account of my many sins, that thou shouldst come 
 under my roof. But since thou hast preferred sinners to the 
 righteous, according to the example of thy Lord and Master, 
 thou canst command my house and castle, and all my pos- 
 sessions which thou seest. If thou desirest anything, only 
 express it." Nilus answered : " The Lord bless thee and 
 thine, with thy whole house, and the whole place. Only 
 grant me and mine a small piece of ground in thy territory, 
 that we find a resting-place, and may pray to God for the 
 
OTTO, THE APOSTLE OP POMERANIA. 503 
 
 forgiveness of our sins, and for thy salvation." Gregory was 
 eager to fulfil the wish of Nilus. Perceiving his end was 
 near, Nilus requested those that were with him, that after his 
 death they would not delay his hurial ; that they would not 
 inter him in the church, nor build any arch or other memorial 
 for ornament over liis grave ; but if they wished to place 
 some mark by which it might be known, to let it be a seat 
 for wayfaring men, for such he had always been himself 
 For two days he lay stretched on his bed speechless, and with 
 closed eyes ; they only thought that they could perceive by 
 certain signs that he was praying. When Gregory, the 
 governor, heard of his state, he came in haste from his castle, 
 with an experienced physician. He threw himself weeping 
 upon Nilus, and exclaimed : "0 fother, father, why dost 
 thou leave us so soon!" And after kissing his hands, he 
 said : '• Behold ! now thou longer hinderest me from kissing 
 thy hands as thou usedst to do, when thou saidst, ' I am no 
 bishop, no priest, no deacon, but only a poor old man ; why, 
 then, dost thou wish to kiss my hands?'" While saying 
 this, he wept so loudly that all present were moved to tears. 
 They brought Nilus, before any marks of death could be 
 perceived upon him, into the church, for they knew that he 
 would prefer closing his earthlj- life there. He fell into a 
 gentle sleep without any marks of a death-struggle, — an end 
 that corresponded -with the whole course of his life. lie 
 died in the year 1005. He left behind him scholars who 
 continued to labour in his spirit during a corrupt age. 
 
 12. Otto, Bishop of Bamherg, the Apostle of Pomerania. 
 
 As the close of the eleventh century was marked b}' a 
 revival of Christianity, so missionaries were again sent forth 
 by the awakened church. We wish to delineate the 
 character of one to whom the Pomeranians were indebted 
 for Christianity. We refer to Otto, bishop of Bamberg, who 
 distingui^hed himself in his spiritual pastorate by fidelity 
 and self-sacrificing love. He gladly subjected himself to 
 deprivations, that he might be able to give more to the poor ; 
 to their benefit he most cheerfully devoted all the gifts that 
 princes and nobles, far or near, sent him. Once during a 
 fast, when fish were very dear, an expensive fish was brought 
 
504 MISSIONS OF THE MIDDLE AGES. 
 
 to liis table : lie said to liis steward : " God forbid that 
 poor Otto should devour so much gold to-day. Take this 
 expensive fish to my Saviour, who is dearer to me than I am 
 to myself. Take it hence to some one whom you may find 
 on a'sick bed. For me Avho am in health, bread is enough.'' 
 On another occasion a costly fur was sent to him with a 
 request that he would wear it as a memento of the giver. 
 But he returned it, saying " that since this gift was a 
 proof of peculiar love, he was anxious in remembrance of 
 him who had shown him such love, that the gift should be 
 preserved safe and uninjured, where neither moth nor rust 
 can consume, nor thieves break through and steal." In 
 these words he refers to our Lord's saying, respecting laying 
 up treasure in heaven. The bishop kept an exact register of all 
 the sick j^ersons in the town, those suffering from lameness, 
 leprosv, or cancer, with an exact account of the nature of each 
 complaint and of its duration. He made use of these memo- 
 randa, in order to send relief to all through his steward, accord- 
 ing to their particular necessities. He now said to one of his 
 servants : " Take this beautiful and expensive fur-cloak and 
 carry it to that lame bed-ridden person, whose body is covered 
 with sores." This was a diseased man whom he called by 
 name, an object of disgust to the whole neighbourhood. In 
 a time of great scarcity, numbers of the poor were saved by 
 his love, which was ready to make any sacrifice. It was 
 quite befitting a man whose heart so glowed with love that 
 he should testify of the Savioui- to those vrho had never before 
 heard of him. 
 
 A bishop Bernard, of Spanish origin, came to see him. 
 This person, who on account of certain disputes could not 
 enter on the bishopric to which he had been nominated, felt 
 impelled to travel with his chaplain to the Slavonic tribes, 
 who at that time inhabited Pomerania. He possessed 
 genuine missionary zeal, only it was not accompanied with 
 an equal measure of prudence. Accustomed to a strict 
 ascetic life, he went barefoot in the garb of a hermit. He 
 believed that in order to accomplish the missionary work, 
 according to the mind of Christ and the example of the 
 apostles, the directions given by our Lord, in Matt. 9, 10, 
 must bo observed to the letter. We here find the false use 
 of Scripture, by which, with the best intentions, much injury 
 is often done, if the wisdom of the serpent is not combined 
 
ASCETICISM AN ERROR IN MISSIONARY WORK. 505 
 
 with the innocence of the dove. It is of importance to 
 distinguish what the Lord has laid down as a universal 
 law for all ages, and what he says in reference to ])articuhir 
 relations as they were determined by the circumstances 
 under which he spoke. As to injunctions of the latter class, 
 our Lord, under different relations, would have spoken 
 diiFerentl}', and hence a literal observance of such injunctions, 
 under relations totally different, would be entirely to con- 
 travene the will of Christ ; in such a case we should do 
 what, under those circumstances, Christ himself would not 
 have done, nor have commanded his disci])les to do. In order 
 to follow the intention of Christ correctly, we must extract 
 the universal law contained in such particular injunctions. 
 
 Here this Spaniard entirely mistook Christ's meaning;. 
 The apostles were to prove, by acting agreeably to Christ's 
 directions, their confidence in God, whose words they were 
 commissioned to announce. If they came to a place where 
 they found susceptible souls who gave them bread for their 
 bodies, in return for the bread of spiritual life (Luke xxii. 
 35) , they M'cre to be satis^fied M-ith what every one set 
 before tliem according to their ability. That they did not 
 provide themselves with every thing necessary for travelling, 
 contributed to expedite and lighten their journeys. But 
 Bernard had to begin his missionary labours under totally 
 different circumstances. The inhabitants, at that time, of 
 Pomerania, M'cre an opulent, lively i)eoj)le, abounding in all 
 the gifts of nature, among whom there were no poor or 
 beggars. They knew only })riests who appeared in riches 
 and splendor ; so that poverty was looked upon as quite un- 
 worthy of the priesthood : from the manner in which Bernard 
 made his appearance among them, they could only regard 
 him as a mendicant, and impute to him nothing better than 
 self-interested views. He did not understand that it became 
 the genuine missionary to enter into the relations and the 
 stand-point of the persons whom he had to conduct to the 
 gospel, to become all things to all men. Among the 
 Christian nations of those times among whom a sense of sin 
 liad been developed by the discipline of the law, a person 
 who appeared among them like Bernard, as a strict monk, 
 would gain great reverence. But it was very different with 
 the pagan Pomeranians. AVhen Paul in Kom. vii. says of 
 himself: "I was alive without the law;" he marks a 
 
506 MISSIONS OF THE MIDDLE AGES. 
 
 peculiar stand-point of development among individuals and 
 nations in general, where man carries sin in his bosom, as in 
 a slumber or dead, where neither the consciousness of the 
 law, nor consequently of sin, has become vivid : evil and 
 good are yet side by side in the undeveloped germ. The 
 man is still hidden and unknown to himself; as yet he has 
 not been placed upon any such level which would make him 
 experience the conflict between flesh and spirit, which would 
 make him sensible of the chasm between the requirements of 
 the law and his own desires. Many emotions of goodness may 
 be felt in such a state ; many outbreaks, sometimes of the good, 
 sometimes of the evil nature, will occur, or both be mingled 
 together at the same time. Man may instinctively accomplish 
 much that is good following the good impulses of his heart ; 
 there may be hospitality, the domestic affections, the love of 
 country, and much that makes men amiable, as long as the 
 natural selfishness is not touched, nor put to any severe test. 
 But he is yet far from knowing the nature of the law, or 
 the nature of sin. On such a stand-point the Pomeranians 
 "were at that time, and therefore the internal conflicts and 
 state of contrition in which the ascetic life and monasticism 
 originated, must have appeared altogether strange to them, 
 and Bernai'd's mode of life must have been quite unin- 
 telligible. He must have excited their contempt, and they 
 could only regard him as a crack-brained enthusiast. Yet 
 they did him no injury till, by an inconsiderate act of en- 
 thusiastic zeal, he roused the wrath of the ignorant heathen, 
 by destroying an idolatrous image before anything had been 
 done to destroy idolatry in their hearts — for which as there 
 had been no preparation, this act was quite useless and could 
 only embitter their minds. Bernard was obliged to go on 
 board a vessel, and was banished from the country. 
 
 He repaired to Bamberg, and endeavoured to gain Bishop 
 Otto for the work in which he himself had not been able to 
 do anything, not having set about it in the right way. His 
 example served as a warning to the bishop not to commit 
 a similar fault. Hence, much as he was attached to the 
 monastic system, he refrained from everything of the kind 
 on his entrance into Pomerania. He resolved, on the 
 contrary, to appear in all the splendor of his episcopal 
 dignity. He not only furnished himself abundantly with 
 everything which he and his followers required for their 
 
STETTIN, THE SCENE OF HIS LABOURS. 507 
 
 daily manitcnancc, but also took -with liim rich articles of 
 dress and other things as presents for persons of the higher 
 class, besides all the requisite ecclesiastical vessels, in order 
 to give them plain evidence tliat he did not come to gain 
 anything, but rather to give away what was his own, and 
 to bring that to a foreign people which he esteemed highest 
 and best. 
 
 In the year 1124, Otto set out on his missionary travels. 
 After many hnppy results, though not without several 
 unsuccessful attempts, and overcoming some great dangers, 
 he came to the capital city, Stettin. Much depended on the 
 reception he might meet with here. Many of the Pagans 
 waited with intense expectation for the decision of their 
 
 apital, and it seemed at first as if this would not be 
 favourable. How commonly the lives of those w^ho profess 
 Christianity do it the greatest injury ! That which was here 
 known of the neighbouring Christian nations, who still were 
 very far from being truly Christian, did not contribute to 
 give a favourable idea of Christianity itself. But the people, 
 who, as we have before remarked, were still in a condition, 
 IS it were, of happy childhood, were not yet acquainted with 
 the evils through which man must pass in order to arrive at 
 manhood. They knew nothing of the evils that accompany 
 1 commencing civilization, the beginning of mental culture 
 from which man cannot remain exempt, who is not destined 
 for an indolent life on earth in dull unconsciousness, but to 
 
 xercise dominion over the world, as a being made in the 
 image of God. As 5'et all the misery was unknown to them 
 3f the discord that man must experience in order to learn 
 the corruption of his nature, and the only cure for it. Thus 
 the inhabitants of Stettin were disposed to overvalue the 
 advantages and prosperity of their situation, while they 
 judged of the effects of Christianity only according to the 
 ippearances presented to superficial observation, as shown 
 in the mass of its professors. 
 
 Otto, whose patience was not to be wearied out by the 
 want of immediate success, spent several months at Stettin, 
 ind during that time acted in a manner best suited to silence 
 hose complaints against Christianity, by the example of his 
 oious life, animated with the s])irit of love. If these Pagans 
 lad heard of such vices prevailing among Christians, which 
 iccompanicd the transition from barbarism to civilization, 
 
508 MISSIONS or the middle ages. 
 
 and were still unknown to them by experience, Otto now^a 
 showed them virtues which were equally unknown to them. 
 on the stand-point of their instinctive well-disposed state 
 of nature — specimens of that self-sacrificing love which are 
 only to be met with where the selfishness of man has been 
 overcome by the spirit of God. He redeemed, at his own 
 expense, many captives, and after furnishing them with 
 clothes and provisions, sent them back to their friends. But 
 one occurrence in particular operated advantageously, by 
 which the loving heart of the bishop became more gene- 
 rally known, and the hearts of the young were attracted 
 towards him. 
 
 The wife of an opulent and respectable person in the town 
 was a secret Christian, who, in her youth, had been taken 
 away by force from a Christian country. She had always 
 remained firmly attached to her faith, but had not ventured 
 to profess it publicly among a heathen people. She was 
 greatly rejoiced at the coming of the bishop, but never ven- 
 tured publicly to express her feelings, and to become one 
 of his adherents. It might, perhaps, be owing in part to 
 her influence, that her two sons frequently visited ecclesi- 
 astics, and asked them questions respecting the Christian 
 faith. The bishop availed himself of this to instruct them 
 gradually in the leading truths of Christianity. At last they 
 declared themselves convinced, and desirous of baptism. 
 After they had been baptized, they remained eight days with 
 the bishop, in order to spend M'ith him the first week with 
 proper devotion in their white baptismal dress ; meanwhile, 
 the mother heard of this before the time was gone by. Full 
 of joy she sent to the bishop, to inform him that she wished 
 to see him and her sons. He waited for her in the open air, 
 sitting on the turf surrounded by his clergy, and at his feet 
 were the youtlis in white baptismal garments. The sight of 
 her sons in this dress made such an impression on their 
 mother, who for so many years had concealed her Chris- 
 tianity that, overpowered by her feelings, she fell weeping on 
 the ground. The bishop and ecclesiastics were startled, and 
 hastened to raise the woman ; they tried to calm her mind, 
 for they imagined that it was the distress occasioned by the 
 apostacy of her sons fj-om the religion of their fathers, which 
 had made so violent an impression upon her. But their vicAVS 
 were quite changed as soon as the woman came to herself, 
 
DEMOLITION OF IDOLATROUS TEMPLES. 509 
 
 md could find words to express her fcelini^s. Ilcr first 
 vords were, " I bless Thee, Lord Jesus Christ, thou source 
 )f all hope and consolation, that I behold my sons consecrated 
 n thy sacrament, and enlightened in thy divine truth;" then 
 ^mbracing and kissing her sons she added, "• For thou knowest, 
 iiy Lord Jesus Christ, that I have never ceased, in the secret 
 eccsses of my heart, for many years past, to comnuMid them 
 :o thy mercy, and have besought Thee to do that for them 
 A'hich Thou hast done for me.' And upon this she turned 
 ;o the bishop and said, " IJlessed be your coming to this 
 'own, for if you only stay here you will gain a large eliurch 
 for the Lord ; only be not wearied out by long wailing. 
 Behold ! 1 myself, who stand before you, confess, by the 
 assistance of Almighty God, and encouraged by your pre- 
 sence, venerable father, trusting also in the lulp of my 
 hildren, that I am a Christian, which I have not hitherto ven- 
 tured to express openly !" She then told her whole hi>tory. 
 The bisliop. deeply ati'ected, thanked God for the wondc iliil 
 methods of his grace, assured the woman of his cordial 
 sympathy, spoke many encouraging words to su])port her 
 faiih, and gave her a valuable fur dress. When the eight 
 days were past, and the newly baptized laid aside, as was 
 customary, their white garments, the sign of the new 
 garment of innocence, he presented them with beautiful 
 costly clothes, and after administering the Holy Snpper to 
 them for the first time, dismissed them to their friends. 
 
 When the destruction of all the monuments of idolatry 
 liad been resolved upon, and this resolution had been carried 
 into efleet, there were many valuable things which ihey 
 wished to give the bishop ; but he would accept none of 
 them, saying, " Far be it from us to wish to enrich our- 
 selves at your expense. All such things, and far more beauiiful 
 ones, we have at home," But lie was by no nuans inclined 
 to consign everything to destruction which had Ibrmerly been 
 used for idolatrous purposes, lie well understood how to 
 distinguish what is ])ure in itself from the abuse of it by the 
 vain imaginations of men. He allowed the people to divide 
 among themselves all that was obtained from the demolition 
 of the idolatrous temples, after, according to the custom of the 
 church in those times, it had been marked with tliu sign of the 
 cross, and sprinkled with holy water. From Stettin, Otto's 
 labours extended to other parts of the country; yet the founda- 
 
510 MISSIONS OF THE MIDDLE AGES. 
 
 tion of the Christian church was not laid by him in such a 
 manner as defied, all attempts to destroy it. Many things 
 checked his influence on the minds of the people ; he could 
 only address them through an interpreter ; there were also 
 external political considerations, which influenced the conver 
 sion of a part of the j)eople. Otto, on account of business 
 connected with his episcopal oflBce, was recalled to his diocese 
 too early, before he was able to carry on the work fiu-ther, 
 and to establish it more firmly. The infection of one half of 
 the country which still adhered to paganism, could easily 
 react on those who were still weak in faith, in the other half 
 where Christian churches had been founded. Under the 
 deprivations to which the strict discipline of the church had 
 subjected them, they might long with regret for the enjoy- 
 ment of pagan pleasures, and the example of their heathen 
 neighbours would serve to stimulate their desires. Yet in 
 many hearts Otto had deposited an imperishable seed, from 
 which a counteraction might spring up against the revived 
 power of paganism. We may often notice in the history of 
 missions, how a rapid, and, to a superficial dreamer, a 
 very promising spread of Christianity has been succeeded by 
 a rallying of the forces of heathenism, and the final victory 
 of Christianity is not achieved till after a fresh conflict, 
 which serves to separate the genuine and the spurious. 
 
 Otto would gladly have come earlier to the aid of the 
 oppressed new church ; but he was hindered for three years, 
 by a variety of unfortunate events and of oflacial business, 
 from following the impulse of his heart, and could not fulfil 
 his wishes till the spring of the year 1128. As he travelled 
 by a diflTerent route from that of his first visit, he came first 
 to the town of Demmin, where he found an old acquaint- 
 ance in the governor. Here he also met with the Duke 
 Wartislav, of Pomerania, whose heart he had won on his 
 first missionary journey. He had just returned from a war 
 with the neighbouring Slavonian tribes, in triumph and 
 laden with spoils. Here a spectacle was presented to Otto 
 which must have deeply moved his benevolent heart. The 
 duke's army had taken a number of prisoners, who were to 
 be divided with the rest of the booty. Among them were 
 several of very weak, tender constitutions ; husbands were 
 threatened to be separated by lot from their wives — wives 
 from theii- husbands — and parents from theii* children. First 
 
IMPRESSION MADE BY HIS rHEACHINO. 511 
 
 of all, Otto succeeded with the duke in obtaining that the 
 weakest should be set at liberty, and that relatives should 
 not be separated from each other. But this did not 
 satisfy him ; he paid the ransom out of his own purse for 
 many who were still Pagans, instructed them in Christianity, 
 baptized them, and then sent them back to tlieir friends. 
 Whitsuntide was chosen for the purpose of liolding a diet, 
 on which the consent of the different orders in the state was 
 to be solicited, that churches might be founded in all parts of 
 the country. 
 
 The town of Usedom, in wliich the seeds of Christianity 
 had been sown by some priests who had been left there by 
 Otto on his first missionary tour, was selected to be the place 
 for holding the diet. Of those who assembled on this occa- 
 sion some had always remained Pagans, others had been 
 converted before by Otto, but during his absence had re- 
 lapsed into heathenism. The duke introduced the bishop to 
 the assembly, who were struck with awe at liis whole 
 demeanour. He urged upon them the appearance of this 
 individual among them, took away the ground of excuse they 
 formerly made for rejecting Christianity — that the publishers 
 of this religion were ])Oor despicable peo])le, in whom no 
 confidence could be placed, and who only made use of it to 
 get a living. Here they saw one of the first members of 
 the German empire, who at home had an abimdance of every- 
 thing, possessed much gold, silver, and many jewels — a 
 person, therefore, on whom no suspicion could be thrown, 
 that he sought anything for himself; so far from that, he liad 
 left a life full of honour and comfort, and had made use of 
 his own property, in order to communicate to tliem that 
 which he esteemed of the hit;hfst value. These words paved 
 the way to their hearts for tho bishop's address. The festival 
 of Whitsuntide gave him an opportunity to speak of the 
 grace and goodness of God, of the forgiveness of sins, of 
 the communication of the Holy Spirit to the redeemed, and 
 of spiritual gifts. His words made a deep impression : the 
 lapsed testified their penitence, and allowed themselves to be 
 readmitted into the church by the bishop ; those who had 
 always been heathens were instiucted in Christianity and 
 baptized. By a decree of the dii*t, the free publication of 
 the gospel in all places was jjermitted. 
 
512 MISSIONS OF THE MIDDLE AGES, 
 
 Bishop Otto was distinguished by an union of mildness and 
 firmness. We have seen how those articles M-hich had been em- 
 ployed in idolatrous \vor ship were not devoted to destruction, 
 but allowed to serve a better purpose. But he acted differ- 
 ently imder other circumstances. When he was occupied in 
 his mission at Gutzkow, the people requested that he would 
 spare a beautiful new temple which was considered to be a 
 great ornament to the town. In vain great presents were 
 offered to gain his consent. At last they entreated that he 
 would convert the temple into a Christian church. But the 
 bishop believed that if he allowed this, a mixture of paganism 
 and Christianity was to be apprehended. In order to show the 
 people that for their own best interests he could not comply 
 with their wishes, he made use of the following illustration : — 
 "AVould you indeed," he said to them, "sow wheat over 
 thorns and thistles ? I trow not ! As you, therefore, first of 
 all root out the thorns and thistles from your fields, in order 
 that the seed you sow may bring forth an abundant crop, so 
 must I take away from your midst all that belongs to idolatry, 
 the thorns for my sermons, that your hearts may bring forth 
 fruit unto everlasting life, from the good seed of the gospel." 
 And by daily reiterated representations he at last conquered 
 the opposition of the people, so that they destroyed with their 
 own hands the temple and the idols. But, on the other hand, 
 to indemnify the people for the loss of the temple, Otto zea- 
 lously promoted the building of a magnificent chm'ch. And 
 as soon as the chancel and the altar were comj^leted, without 
 waiting for the completion of the church, he prepared a splen- 
 did festival for its consecration, a true popular festival, which 
 would eclipse in glory all their former pagan festivals. When 
 all classes, high and low, were assembled for the occasion, 
 and after all the ceremonies ordained by the church had been 
 performed, he explained to the assembly the symbolic mean- 
 ing of the ceremony, and made use of it to direct their atten- 
 tion from the outward to the inward, and to warn them 
 against placing Christianity in mere externals. He tried to 
 make it evident to the people that Avhat had been outwardly 
 performed related to the internal state of the soul, which 
 would become a temple of the Holy Spirit if Christ dwelt 
 in it by foith. He then turned to Mizlav, the noble who 
 governed in this part of Pomerania, and who was baptized 
 
PKISOXERS LIBERATED BY HIS INFLUENCE. 513 
 
 by hini on the day the diet was held at Usedom. " You 
 are," he said to him, '' my beloved son, the true house of God. 
 You must, to-day, consecrate yourself to your God, the 
 Almighty Creator, in order to be freed from all other spirits 
 •which have taken possession of your heart, and to be his sole 
 property and dwellinj^-placc. Therefore, my beloved son, do 
 not prevent the completion of this consecration, for it is of no 
 use that this visible house of God is consecrated externally, 
 unless that which is signified by this consecration takes effect 
 in your inner man." As the bishop believed that it might be 
 inferred from Mizlav's expressions that he had been touched 
 by the influences of the Holy Spirit, he added : "• You have 
 in part, my son, begun to be the house of God. Strive that 
 you may be so altogether. Already you have forsaken the 
 worship of idols for the gospel, and have received the grace of 
 baptism. Now you must adorn the faith with the works 
 of piety ; you must renounce robbery, murder, oppres- 
 sion, and deceit. It must become the rule of your life. 
 What you do not wish other persons to do to you, that you 
 must not do to them. Set all your prisoners at liberty ; and 
 if you do not give all their freedom, at least manumit tliose 
 who are Christians, who hold the same faith with yourself." 
 By way of self-defence, Mizlav replied: '* It is rather hard for 
 me, O father, to give liberty to all ; for some of them arc 
 deeply in debt to me." The bishop replied: " The word of 
 the Lord tells us that we must forgive our debtors, in order 
 that we may be forgiven. Thus you will obtain a certain 
 acquittal for all your debts from the Lord, if you forgive 
 your debtors in his name." Mizlav then said, with a deep 
 sigh : •' Behold, in the name of the Lord Jesus, I give all their 
 freedom, that according to your word this consecration may 
 be completed in me to-day, with the forgiveness of all my 
 sins." And calling out to the servant to whom he had com- 
 mitted the oversight of the prisoners, he commanded him to 
 et them all at liberty. Yet he made one exception of which 
 10 one knew anything. He was the son of a very respectable 
 nan from Denmark. His .father, who owed Mizlav a large 
 ;um of money, had left him behind as a pledge. He lan- 
 guished, heavily chained, in an undertjround prison. By a 
 lingular providence this also came to liglit. 
 All persons were tilled with jov at Mizlav's conduct, ^^'heu 
 
 2l 
 
514 MISSIONS or the middle ages. 
 
 the clergv were exerting themselves to prepare everything that 
 was requisite for the completion of the solemnity, one of the 
 church vessels was missing. As an ecclesiastic was hurrying 
 about in quest of it, he came near that underground prison, 
 and the youth confined there succeeded in attracting his 
 attention. He called to him and entreated him to effect his 
 release through the bishop. When the bishop heard of this 
 he was moved with sympathy, but did not venture to ask 
 this favour of one who had already granted him so much. He 
 had recourse to earnest prayer, and when he rose from his 
 knees, he called his priests to him and requested them to take 
 Mizlav aside, and with all moderation to prefer this request. 
 It cost him a hard struggle to make this sacrifice, and to give 
 up so large a sum of money. Yet after conflicting with him- 
 self, he yielded. He went with tears to the bishoj), and said 
 to him : ' ' Yes ; for the sake of my Lord Jesus, if he require it, 
 I will surrender my body and all I have in devout obedience." 
 The example of this powerful noble roused all the rest to 
 emulation, so that every one, according to his station, sought 
 to evince the genuineness of his conversion by his works and 
 the sacrifices he made. 
 
 Bishop Otto would with joy have sacrificed his life for the 
 love of Christ. He longed for the crown of martyrdom, and 
 his zeal carried him beyond the bounds of moderation. With 
 anxious looks he regarded the Island of Rügen, distant about 
 one day's sail, and an earnest desire arose in his mind to go 
 forth as a witness of the faith among the warlike inhabitants 
 of this island, M'ho were a tribe still zealously attached to 
 paganism. But here death threatened him : the islanders : 
 vowed death to the enemy of their gods, should he venture to 
 come to their shores. But imminent danger could not keep 
 back Bishop Otto. He would gladly meet death for the cause 
 of Christ. The duke of Pomerania and all Otto's friends 
 tried in vain to detain him ; in vain they represented to him 
 that his life might be preserved for greater usefulness. He 
 called this little faith, saying that a man must seal the Christian 
 faith rather by works than by words. " How could the 
 publishers of the gospel," he exclaimed, " expect the reward 
 of eternal life, if they were afraid to give up the present ? 
 And supposing that we were all obliged to die for Christ's 
 sake, in publishing the gospel among the heathen, would not 
 
1« 
 
 ffard 
 
 HIS ANXIETY TO SPREAD THE TRUTH. 515 
 
 our testimony be so mucli the more glorious, since it would 
 be scaled by our blood?" As endeavours -were made to pre- 
 vent by every method his departure to liugen, he meditated 
 some way of going unobserved, and it was therefore needful 
 to watch his movements closely. Yet while most ])ersons 
 censured Otto's glowing zeal as not sufficiently discreet, one 
 of his priests, Ulrich, felt himself impelled to engage in a 
 work for which he himself was ready to sacrifice his own life. 
 After receiving the bishop's blessing, he went on board a 
 vessel, and took with him all that was necessary for celebrat- 
 ing mass. But he had to combat incessantly with wind and 
 weather ; three times he was obliged to give way to the fury 
 of the elements ; and as soon as the violence of the storm was 
 somewhat abated, he again made the attempt to jjass over to 
 the Isle of E,ugen. Thus he spent seven days in conflict with 
 the tempest and waves, and several times was in great danger. 
 But as the weather continued unfavourable, with iutermissiori, 
 and the vessel had sprung a leak, at last the bishop himself 
 considered this a token of the divine will against the under- 
 taking, and recalled his beloved priest home from the shore, 
 M hile he thanked God that he had granted hiin such great faith 
 and resolution. The manner in which the bishops project 
 was freely discussed by his clergy, and in which he received 
 their censure, shows the beautiful relation which here existed 
 between the superior and his subordinates ; the frankness of 
 the clergy, the gentleness and humility of the bishop. At 
 their common meal the clergy began, in the presence of their 
 bishop, to joke about Ukich's voyage. " Who," said they, 
 *' would have been guilty of murder if he had lost his life?" 
 Then another who had always been strongly opposed to the 
 undertaking, said, '• Who could with greater justice be charge- 
 able with the guilt of murder than he who moved him to rush 
 into such danger?" But the bishop, not taking this amiss, 
 endeavoured to vindicate himself against the imputation. 
 " When the Lord," he said, '' sent his disciples as sheep 
 among wolves, and they were torn in pieces by the wolves, 
 who M'as then guilty of their death? W^as it the Lord?" 
 This, indeed, was one of those applications of Christ's words 
 in which, as in an example we before adduced, due regard 
 was not paid to their original connection and design. C'lirist 
 did not expose his disciples to certain death among the wolves, 
 
 2 l2 
 
516 MISSIONS OF THE MIDDLE AGES. 
 
 but enjoined on them to unite the wisdom of the serpent with 
 the harmlcssness of the dove, in order to lessen the danger 
 that threatened them from the wolves. He did not order 
 them to sacrifice their life without an object and advantage, 
 but to preserve it in and for their calling, and only to resign 
 it when fidelity to that calling required. A correct under- 
 standing of the injunctions which Christ gave his apostles iu 
 reference to the duties of their calling, would rather have 
 withheld the pious bishop from yielding to the impulse of 
 that enthusiastic zeal. 
 
 There was another instance in which Otto justly ventured 
 everything in order to obtain a victory for the gospel ; for 
 here he might expect a happy result if he dreaded no danger, 
 while trusting in the Lord. It was the continuation of the 
 work he had begun, in which he was obliged to risk his life, 
 relying on the protection of him to whose service his life was 
 consecrated. The prosperity of the church in Pomerania 
 depended entirely on determining whether paganism should 
 retain the predominance or Christianity triumph in Stettin, 
 the capital city. The power of paganism had revived there ; 
 those priests who had received baptism on Otto's first visit 
 remained heathens in heart, and they had lost too much by 
 the change of religion to be able easily to suppress their 
 vexation. It was not difficult for them to find means to work 
 upon the mass of the rude people. An epidemic that spread 
 among both men and beasts, of which many died, was 
 regarded by them as a sign of the wrath of the gods, and 
 they could easily induce the deluded multitude to believe 
 this. Their influence succeeded so far that the people banded 
 together to demolish a Christian church. The most alarming 
 representations were now circulated of the fury of the Pagans 
 in Stettin, and of the danger that threatened all who ventured 
 to come forward on behalf of Christianity- Bishop Otto was 
 not alarmed, but his clergy had not equal strength of faith, 
 and fear held them back. As Otto could not overcome their 
 opposition by his remonstrances, he resolved to act alone in 
 the matter ; after spending a day in solitude, he stole away 
 in the dark when evening came on, with his mass-book and 
 the sacramental cup. The clergy were fi.rst aware of his , 
 leaving when they wished to call him to the early morning I 
 service. Seized with shame and anxiety for their spiritual i 
 
FLUCTUATIONS OF RELIGION AT STETTIN. 517 
 
 fatlier they hastened after him, and obli<^ed him to return ; 
 but the next morning they set out Avith him and sailed for 
 Stettin. 
 
 It was not yet known how the seed scattered by Otto, 
 which seemed to have perished, remained and f^crminatcd in 
 secret. A reaction of the Christianity already deeply im- 
 planted in the minds of many, at last effected, under a com- 
 bination of favourable circumstances, its victory over pagan- 
 ism. It appeared that Cinistianity had gained an entrance 
 among the better educated, higher chiss of persons. On them 
 the heathen priests could not so easily operate, and among 
 them reviving paganism could tind no point of connection ; 
 only they did not venture to come forward against the 
 clamour of the raging multitude. But there were those who 
 had been affected by Christianity without having altogether 
 detached themselves from paganism ; in tlieir minds a con- 
 flict was going on between Christianity and paganism, and 
 it depended on many influences what would be the final 
 result. In the popular uproar which had for its object the 
 demolition of a church, it so happened that one of the per- 
 sons who took an active part in it, while aiming a blow 
 with a hammer, was suddenly seized as with a fainting-fit. 
 His hand was paralyzed He let the hammer drop, and fell 
 down himself from the ladder. He probably belonged to 
 the number of apostate Christians. The faith which was 
 not entirely expelled from his soul perhaps again asserted 
 its power ; hence a mental conflict arose, terror seized him 
 and palsied his hand when he attempted to join in destroying 
 the temple dedicated to the God of tlie Christians. Still 
 paganism swayed his soul. lie could not renounce the 
 worship of his ancient gods ; but at the same time the God 
 whose temple they wished to demolish, ajipcarcd to \üm as a 
 being against whom no human jjower could avail, as it was 
 proved, and hence he advised, in order to be on good terms 
 with all the divinities, that near this church altars should be 
 erected to the gods of the country. This was often a bridge 
 which led from heathenism to Christianity, when the Pagans 
 began first of all to acknowledge the God of the Christians as 
 a powerful deity, toj^ethcr with their ancient gods. l>y all 
 these favourable circumstances, preparation was made for 
 (Jtto's renewed labours in Stettin, and he found here a 
 
518 MISSIONS OF THE MIDDLE AGES. 
 
 zealous friend who by the experiences of his own life had 
 become a courageous professor of the gospel, — that Wittstock 
 of whose memorable courage we have already spoken. 
 
 But Otto knew nothing of all these occurrences. He went 
 to meet the threatening danger, not in dependence on human 
 means and the co-operation of circumstances, but confidiug 
 in God alone and with resignation to his will, and regarding 
 his life as of little value compared with the holy cause that 
 he served. At first, he found a place of refuge with his 
 associates in the church built before the city. When their 
 arrival was known among the people, a band of armed men 
 led on by the priests collected round this church ; they 
 threatened destruction to the church and death to all who 
 were assembled in it. Here it was shown how the power of 
 faith gives true presence of mind and with it the requisite 
 prudence in those decisive moments when ever^'thing for the 
 future depends on right action at the time. Had Otto been 
 alarmed and shown signs of fear, his furious adversaries 
 would have proceeded further in their attempts ; but by his 
 calm confidence and courage their rage was overpowered. 
 After commending himself and his friends in prayer to God, 
 he went forth in his episcopal robes in the midst of his 
 clergy, who bore before him the crucifix and relics, singing 
 psalms and hymns. The calmness of the bishop, who ven- 
 tured thus to despise the fury of the raging mob, and a 
 spectacle so adapted to inspire awe, confounded the multi- 
 tude. Silence followed ; this was taken advantage of by the 
 more considerate or by those who favoured Christianity to 
 calm the minds of the rest. The priests were told that they 
 ought to defend their cause, not by force, but by argument. 
 Gradually the multitude dispersed. This happened on a 
 Friday. Otto made use of the next day to prepare himseh'^ 
 by prayer and fiisting. for coming events. 
 
 Wittstock, who since his wonderful deliverance had never 
 ceased to testify of the Lord to whom he owed so much, was 
 still more animated by the arrival of his beloved spiritual 
 father. He brought his friends and relations to the bishop, 
 and encouraged him not to relax in the conflict. He assured 
 him of victory, and concerted with him on what was to be 
 done. 
 
 On the Sunday, Otto, after performing mass, was con- 
 
HIS FORTITUDE AND ULTIMATE SUCCESS. 519 
 
 I ducted by Wittstock to the markct-placo. He mounted the 
 steps from which heralds and other official persons were wont 
 to address the people. After Wittstock had requested silence 
 by words and signs, Otto began to speak. The greater part 
 listened quietly and attentively. But now a stout priest of 
 portly appearance and great bodily strength pressed forward, 
 and with his sonorous voice overpowered Otto and his inter- 
 preter ; he tried to inflame the fury of the Pagans against 
 the enemy of their gods, and demanded of them to make use 
 of this opportunity for taking vengeance. Lances were 
 raised, but no one ventured to do anything against a man 
 who exhibited such confidence of faith. There was an im- 
 pression of the power of the divine on the wild multitude 
 and the quiet superiority of calm courage over raging passion, 
 which was aided by the circumstance that a part of those who 
 had assembled had not entirely overcome their earlier im- 
 pressions of Christianit5^ Otto availed himself of the favom*- 
 able impression on their minds ; and proceeded, with the 
 company of believers collected around him, to that church in 
 which the pagan altar had been erected. He consecrated 
 the church afresh, and repaired at his own cost the injuries 
 that had been done to it. 
 
 The next day a general meeting of the people was held for 
 the purpose of deciding what course they should adopt in 
 relation to religious matters. It lasted from early in the 
 morning to midnight. Some came forward who described 
 in glowing colours to the assembly all that had happened on 
 the preceding day, in the light of the miraculous, as it had 
 appeared to themselves, and testified with enthusiasm of the 
 active self-sacrificing love of the bishop. Among these 
 persons. Wittstock occupied the first place. The decision 
 was adopted that Christianity should be introduced and 
 everything that belonged to paganism should be destroyed ; 
 on the same night. Wittstock hastened to inform the bishop 
 of all that had taken place. The next morning he rose early 
 to thank God, by the celebration of the mass, for what his 
 grace had cff'ectcd ; he also called a meeting of the citizens, 
 and 5;poke to them words of exhortation which made a deep 
 impression. Many of the lapsed expressed their desire to be 
 readmitted to the communion of the church. Thus the 
 victory of Christianity was decided. Otto, far from shrinking 
 
520 MISSTONS OF THE MIDDLE AGES. 
 
 from martyrdom, would willingly have extended his labours 
 to the Isle of Rügen if he had not been called back by the 
 concerns of his own diocese in the year 1128. 
 
 1 3 . Raimund Lull. 
 
 We close these sketches, selected from the missionary 
 history of the Middle Ages, with the delineation of an extra- 
 ordinary man who vras awakened to the higher life in a very 
 peculiar manner, — a man possessed of noble qualities and 
 mental endowments ^yhich seldom meet in one person, and 
 in whom everything was adorned by the glow of holy love — 
 Kaimund Lull. We see in his example how much greatness 
 may be dormant in a human being till, by a ray of light from 
 on high beaming upon him, it is brought into conscious 
 activity. Various talents are required for missionary labour 
 which must be animated by the Holy Spirit ; nor can every 
 man do everything under all circumstances. Indeed, the 
 greatest effect proceeds from the power of the simple gospel, 
 from the demonstration of the Spirit and of power which 
 accompanies these fundamental truths in the hearts of men. 
 But among nations possessing scientific cultm'e, where their 
 culture has hitherto been in the service of a religious stand- 
 point opposed to Christianity, that science which does homage 
 to the cross and serves the spirit of the gospel, may be an 
 important instrument in effecting the transition fi'om the 
 former stand-point to Christianity : the example of a Paul is 
 a witness to this, and many exam^ples in the first ages of the 
 church also witness to it. And in such a connection this 
 man of great mental power, Eaimund Lull, is to be mentioned, 
 who in all his deep thinking kept this esj)ecially in view, 
 how he might find means to bring reason entirely into the 
 obedience of the faith. For the missions of om- age, his words 
 are well deserving of meditation. 
 
 Raimund Lull was born in the Island of Majorca, in the 
 year 1'236. Till his thirtieth year he led a life estranged 
 from all higher aspirations, in the court of the king of the 
 Balearic Islands. And after his marriage, he continued to 
 indulge in pleasure with a violation of matrimonial fidelity. 
 His poetry was devoted to sensual love. In his work on 
 divine contemplation, he mourns over the lost first part of 
 
BAIMUND LULL. 521 
 
 his life. "When we see, O God, the trees first of nil bring 
 forth leaves and twigs, and then blossoms, and lü'trr the 
 blossoms fruit, it intimates that wo should first of all give 
 the signs of a good life, then our good works must be seen, 
 as we see the blossoms follow the leaves ; and then the ad- 
 vantages which our good works bring must show themselves, 
 as fruits proceed from the blossoms. If trees are beautiful 
 and good because they bring forth twigs, leaves, blossoms, 
 and fruit, how much more beautiful and better are men when 
 they perform works of love, and glorify their Lord, Creator, 
 and God. Trees and plants follow the law of their destiny 
 in what they do, when step by step they bring forth twigs, 
 leaves, flowers, and fruit ; but it is not so with us, for we do 
 the contrary : as we see every day that we do that in youth 
 which we ought to do in old age ; and do that in old age 
 which we ought to do in youth. I see, Lord, that the 
 trees every year bring forth flowers and fruits by which men 
 are refreshed and nourished ; but it is not so with me, a 
 sinner. For thirty years I have borne no fruit in the world ; 
 yea, rather I have injured my neighbours and friends. If, 
 therefore, the tree which is destitute of reason brings forth 
 more fruit than I have done, I nmst be deeply ashamed, and 
 acknowledge my great guilt. To thee, O Lord my God, I, 
 thy servant, return many thanks, because I perceive a great 
 difference between the works which I used to perform in my 
 youth and those which I now perform in my declining age. 
 For as then all my works were done in sin and in fellowship 
 with sin, so now, I hope, by thy grace, my works, contem- 
 plations, and wishes relate to glorifying thee."* But the 
 feelings of Christian piety which, as they moved his age and 
 
 * Quotidie video, Domine, homines scnes faccre id, ijuod debcrent facere 
 juvenes, et juvenes facere id, qnod deberent faarc sciies ; ot (juotidie video 
 homines facere mane id, quod deberent facere ineridie, et vesperi id, quod 
 deberent facere mane ; sed de arboribus et herbis non est ita, quia in tjuo- 
 libet tempore anni, et in qualibet bora diei et noctis faciunt ordinate ouine 
 id quod faciunt. Video, Domine, quod arbores omni anno j)r()ducant 
 Acres et fructus, per quos lajtificantur et sustentantur homines; sed non 
 est ita de me peccatore, quia triginta annis non fui in hoc mundo fructu- 
 osus, imo fui nocivus meis vicinis et mtis amicis : igitur, cum arbor, quK 
 est sine intellectu et ratione, sit fructiiosior quam ce;o fuerim, va'.de 
 verecundor et me reputo valde rulpaljilem. — Uaymundu^ Lullus, Lib. 
 C'jntempl. in Deum, ca]). 107, § ."', d, tom. ix. j). 237. 
 
522 MISSIONS OF THE MIDDLE AGES. 
 
 people, were commimicated to him by education, had still 
 not lost all their influence over him, though mingled with 
 predominant sensuality. "We here see, as in many other in- 
 stances, the great blessing of pious influences on the develop- 
 ment of childhood, which, in a life carried away by sensual 
 desires and passions, may revive again at last. So it was 
 with Raimond Lull. From these influences the opposition 
 proceeded against that which had hitherto animated his life. 
 When one night he sat on his bed and wished to make an 
 amatory poem, the image of the crucified Saviour was presented 
 to his eyes, and made so powerful an impression upon him that 
 he could think no more of his love-song. He wished not to 
 give it up ; he began again, but that image came before him 
 again still more vividly, and at last he was obliged to desist 
 from his intended composition. Day and night that image 
 floated before him, and he could not shake off" the impression. 
 We must, indeed, acknowledge, when we consider the mani- 
 fold dealings of divine grace with the souls of men, whom 
 divine love follows in order to redeem, that although the 
 power of the divine over the heart is always the same, yet 
 the manner in which the impression of it is rendered con- 
 scious depends on the peculiarity of the mental constitution, 
 and the temperament ; and thus conversion is effected either 
 more gradually, or at once by a great revolution. In the 
 case of Raimund Lull, the man of poetic spirit, in whom 
 imagination predominated, in whom the power of the divine 
 came forth in opposition to the earlier ruling power of 
 sensual passion, the divine power of the impression which 
 the image of Christ made on his heart was represented in the 
 form of a vision. He received it as an admonition that he 
 should withdraw himself from the world, and devote himself 
 entirely to the service of Christ. But now the question arose 
 in his mind, — How shall I turn away from my hitherto im- 
 pure life to so holy a calling ? This thought gave him no 
 rest at night. Then he said to himself: " Christ is so gentle, 
 and patient, and merciful ; he calls all sinners to him, and will 
 not reject me, notwithstanding my sins." Thus he became 
 certain that it was God"s will that he should forsake the 
 world, and devote himself with his whole heart to the service 
 of Christ. 
 : Having resolved to dedicate himself wholly to the Lord's 
 
DESIEE TO FOUXD MISSIONS TO THE SARACENS. 523 
 
 service, he proceeded to consider in what way this resohition 
 might be best carried out, and he came to the firm conviction 
 that he could engage in no employment more pleasing to the 
 Saviour than devoting his life to the publication of the gospel. 
 His attention was directed particularly to the Saracens, whom 
 it had been in vain attempted to subdue entirely in the 
 Crusades by the power of the sword. But now the doubt 
 forcibly struck him, how could he, an uninstructcd layman, 
 be fit for such a work ? While he was filled with deep sor- 
 row on this account, the thought occurred to him to write a 
 book which might serve to prove the truth in opposition to 
 all the errors of unbelievers. He believed that he coidd 
 here recognize a divine call (and it was important for the 
 direction which from that time his deep reflectiveness took), 
 to prove the agreement between the truth of revealed reli- 
 gion and that which is founded in the nature of the human 
 mind. The heavenly power of love, by which he was now 
 seized, gave a new impulse to his thinking. Yet again he 
 asked himself, supposing he should succeed in writing such a 
 book, what good would this do to the Saracens, who only 
 understood the Arabic language. And thus the plan arose 
 in his mind to apply to the pope and the Christian princes, 
 that they would found institutions in the convents for learn- 
 ing the Arabic and the other languages which prevailed 
 among nations that were not Christian. The study of lan- 
 guages ought to serve the work of divine grace. If such 
 institutions were founded (Raimund Lull thought), in which 
 instruction in the different languages could be imparted, tht ii 
 missionaries could go forth into all parts. On the day fol- 
 lowing he repaired to a neighbouring church, and besought 
 the Lord with many tears that he who had infused this 
 thought into his mind might enable him to complete that 
 work for the vindication of Christianity ; to bring about tho 
 establishment of these missionary schools for languages ; and 
 lastly, to devote his life to the Lord's cause. This happened 
 at the beginning of the month of July; but the higher life in 
 Raimund Lull had still to go through many fluctuations be- 
 fore it could reach a confirmed state. Old habits were still 
 too powerful in him, and so it came to pass, that for three 
 months he proceeded no further in realizing these plans, 
 which had interested him so deeply. Then came the fourth 
 
524 MISSIONS OF THE MIDDLE AGES. 
 
 of October, the feast of St. Francis, and he heard a bishop 
 preach in the church of the Franciscans, at Majorca, on 
 St. Francis' renunciation of the world. This discourse was 
 the means of reviving afresh what had been lying dormant in 
 kis soul. He resolved to follow the example of that man 
 immediateiv; he sold his possessions, reserving only so much 
 as would afford the means of support to his wife and child- 
 ren. He surrendered himself wholly to the Lord Christ, and 
 forsook his home with the resolution not to return thither 
 ajrain. First of all he visited several churches, in which he 
 
 o .... . 
 
 called upon God for his blessmg in the execution of those 
 plans which had so forcibly occupied his thoughts. 
 
 He then wished to visit Paris, in order, by pursuing his 
 studies at the university, to acquire the knowledge which 
 was requisite for accomplishing his plans. But he was with- 
 held from effecting this intention through the influence of 
 his relations and friends. He remained, therefore, in Ma- 
 jorca, and began his studies there. He bought a Saracen, by 
 whom he was instructed in Arabic. The highest point of 
 interest in his researches v/as the vindication of the truths 
 of reliuion. If he succeeded, he thou2;ht, in refuting: the 
 objections of learned Mohammedans against Christianity, 
 and if they could not refute the arguments for the Christian 
 truth which he brought forward, they must, of course, be 
 converted to Christianity ; but in this expectation he trusted 
 too much to the power of his arguments. The promotion of 
 missions was a main object with him, and to this the learning 
 of languages would contribute. He obtained from James, 
 king of Majorca and Minorca, that on the former of these 
 islands a convent should be founded, on the express condition 
 that thirteen Franciscans in it should always be instructed 
 in the Arabic language, in order to labour as missionaries 
 among the Saracens. In the year 1286 he visited Rome, in 
 order to gain the sanction of Pope Honorius IV., that in all 
 countries such missionary schools should be attached to the 
 convents ; but he found the pope no longer living, and the 
 papal chair vacant. And when he visited Pvome a second 
 time for the same object, he M'as equally unsuccessful. How 
 great his desire was that schools for language in aid of mis- 
 sions should be established among the monks, appears from 
 those words in which he laments that with all the pious zeal 
 
PAUCITY OF CHRISTIAN EFFORTS. 525 
 
 that existed, so little was done for the conversion of unbe- 
 lievers. " I daily see," lie says, in his work on the contem- 
 plation of God, " pious monks, Franciscans, Dominicans, and 
 others, daily fatiguing themselves with our defects and sins, 
 while they endeavour, by their sermons, day and night, to 
 draw us away from sin, to excite to goodness, and to establish 
 love amongst us. I see monks taking up their abode in 
 lonely, wild districts, in order not to tempted by the sins 
 which prevail among us ; I see them plough and cultivate 
 the land in order to maintain themselves and the poor ; and 
 I see them rise in the middle of the night to sing tliy praises, 
 O Lord ! We see hermits fleeing from the vanities of this 
 world, withdrawn to mountains and uninhabited places, live 
 on herbs, renounce all the pleasures of this world, and spend 
 their whole life in loving and praising thee, O Lord, in 
 praying to thee, and in meditating on thy goodness and 
 holiness. I see monks and nuns forsake the world, that they 
 may be partakers of glory in another ; and although tliey 
 endm'c in their bodies much pain and toil, yet they escape 
 much anxiety and distress which we people of the world 
 suffer in our souls, because we are in the world, and love the 
 world. But I look round carefully, and as far as I have 
 examined, I find scarcely any one who out of love to thee, 
 O Lord, is ready to suffer martyrdom, as thou hast suffered 
 for us. It appears to me agreeable to reason, if an ordinance 
 to that effect could be obtained, that the monks should learn 
 various languages, that they might be able to go out and 
 surrender their lives in love to thee. Since in our day we 
 see many monks of holy lives and great wisdom, I pray thee, 
 O Lord, that I may also see in my day that they form institutions 
 in order to learn various languages, and to be able to preach 
 to unbelievers. O Lord of glory, if that blessed day should 
 ever be in which I might see thy holy monks so influenced 
 by zeal to glorify thee as to go into foreign lands in order to 
 testify of thy Holy Trinity, of thy blessed incarnation, and of 
 thy bitter sufferings, that would be a glorious day, a day 
 on which that glow of devotion would return with which the 
 holy apostles met death for their Lord Jesus Christ! " 
 
 As Raimund Lull was not able to form, as he wished, any 
 association for this holy undertaking, he felt himself impelled 
 to go all alone among unbelievers, and in the year l'J87, he 
 
526 MISSIOK^S OF THE MIDDLE AGES. 
 
 went to Genoa, in order to sail from that place to North 
 Africa. As already so much had been heard of the remark- 
 able change that had passed over him, of his ardent zeal for 
 the conversion of unbelievers, and of his new and (in his own 
 opinion) promising method of conversion, his undertaking 
 awakened great expectations. But he had still many a hard 
 conflict to sustain ; the natural man still asserted its power 
 over him. That imagination which was filled with trans- 
 porting images by the holy cause that inspired him, in which 
 the glory of his inner life was reflected, could also be stirred 
 up by the impulses of the natural man, and receive into 
 itself images of another kind ; the fear of the natural man 
 could be reflected in it. It could operate in a variety of 
 ways on llaimund Lull, according as it stood in the service 
 of a higher or lower power. Already the vessel in which 
 Eaimund was to embark, was ready for sailing ; his books 
 were put on board, M'hen his fervent imaginative facidty 
 depicted to him the fate which he might experience among 
 the Mohammedans (whether a torturing death or imprison- 
 ment for life) in so vivid and terrific a manner, that he could 
 not summon courage to go on board. Yet when the vessel had 
 sailed, the reproaches of his conscience took possession of him 
 for being unfaithful to the holy resolutions God had incited 
 him to make, and for having given such offence to behevers in 
 Genoa. A severe illness was the consequence of this inward 
 conflict. While he had to suffer so much in mind and body, 
 it happened that he heard that a ship had entered the port, 
 which was on the point of sailing to Tunis. Although he 
 seemed more dead than alive, he allowed himself to be carried 
 on board with his books. As his friends considered it impos- 
 sible that in such a state he could bear the voyage, they fetched 
 him back full of concern. Yet with all the care taken of his 
 body, his state of health showed no symptoms of improve- 
 ment ; for the root of the evil lay in his soul. 'S\Tien, some 
 time after, he heard of a second ship bound for Tunis, nothing 
 could keep him back from being taken to it. And when the 
 ship had set sail, he felt relieved from the burden that op- 
 pressed his conscience : for he found himself in his element ; 
 he had entered on the fulfilment of his calling, which he felt 
 confident was a divine one. With the health of the soul, 
 that of the body returned. The writer who has given us 
 
liULL ARRIVES AT TUNIS IS EXPELLED. 527 
 
 these particulars respecting Raiinund Lull, thus expresses 
 himself: " That health of conscience -which he believed that 
 he had lost when his soul was involved in darkness, he sud- 
 denly regained, rejoicing in the Lord by the merciful illumi- 
 nation of the Holy Spirit, at the same time with the health 
 of his languishing body." In a few days, to the astonish- 
 ment of all his fellow-passengers, he felt as well as he had 
 ever been in his life. 
 
 When he an-ived at Tunis, at the end of the year 1291, 
 or the beginning of the year 1292, he assembled the Mo- 
 hammedan doctors, and explained to them that he was come 
 in order to institute a comparison between Christianity (of 
 which he had exact knowledge, and could defend with the 
 arguments in its favour) and Mohammedanism. If he found 
 the arguments stronger for Mohammed's doctrine, he would 
 become a convert to it. The Mohammedan doctors assembled 
 in great numbers, in hopes that they might succeed in con- 
 verting him to Mohammedanism, and he disputed with them. 
 But one of the Saracen doctors, who was filled with extreme 
 fanaticism, pointed out to the king the dangers that would 
 arise to the Mohammedan faith from Raimund's proselyting 
 zeal, and proposed that he should be put to death. He was 
 cast into prison, and would have been condemned to death, 
 but one of the Saracenic doctors, more unprejudiced and 
 wiser than the rest, interceded for him. He commended the 
 spirit of Raimund, and said, that as the zeal of a Moham- 
 medan, who should go among Christians, to convert them to 
 the true faith, would be deemed praiseworthy, so they could 
 not hesitate to honour in a Christian such zeal for the propa- 
 gation of that religion which appeared to him to be the true 
 one. These representations succeeded so far that Raimund's 
 life was spared, and he was only ordered to leave the country. 
 When released from prison, he met with much ill-tnatnient 
 from the fanatical peoj)le. He was conveyed to the (ienoesc 
 vessel in which he had come, and which was soon to sail, 
 and informed at the same time that if he showed himself 
 again in the territory of Tunis, he would be stoned. But 
 since he hoped by continued exertions to convert many of 
 the Saracenic doctors with whom he had disputed, and his 
 anxiety for the welfare of tlu'ir souls was so gieat, he could 
 not make up his mind to let that hoj)e be frustrated. Gladly 
 
528 MISSIONS OF THE MIDDLE AGES. 
 
 would he have sacrificed his life for such an object. He 
 allowed that vessel to sail without him, went on board 
 another, and sought for an opportunity to steal from it unob- 
 served into Tunis. In September, 1292, while he was thus 
 lying in the bay of Tunis, he had sufficient composure of 
 mind to engage in preparing a philosophical work. After 
 vraiting here for three weeks in vain, he at last sailed in the 
 vessel, and went to Naples. Here he spent several years, 
 and gave lectures on his peculiar system of philosophy, till 
 the call of a pious hermit, Peter of Myrrhone, who had been 
 made pope by the name of Celestine V., gave him hopes that 
 he might at last engage in the work which he had so long 
 wished, for the promotion of missionary undertakings. But 
 Celestine' s government was too brief, and his successor 
 Boniface YHI. felt too little interest in religious concerns. 
 
 During his residence at Rome in the year 1296, Raimund 
 Lull composed a work which was closely related to his mis- 
 sionary projects, in which he aimed at demonstrating incon- 
 trovertibly the fundamental truths of the Christian religion. 
 Although he thought too highly of his proofs, yet this was 
 owing to the strength of his own faith. We must highly 
 esteem the confidence of the conviction that there could be 
 no division in the human mind ; that the truth which to him 
 was supreme, and corresponded to all the Avants of his 
 spirit, must stand in harmony with the reason and disposition 
 of man. "We must profoundly reverence the man whose 
 exertions were sustained by the incentive that Christianity 
 was destined to conquer the opposition of all minds, and 
 become the religion of all nations. At the close of his book, 
 he speaks thus : " We have composed this treatise, in order 
 that believing and devout Christians might consider, that 
 while the doctrines of no other religious sect can be proved 
 to be true by its adherents, and none of the truths of 
 Christianity are really vulnerable on the grounds of reason, 
 the Christian faith can not only be defended against all its 
 enemies, but can also be demonstrated. And hence, ani- 
 mated by the glowing zeal of faith, may they consider 
 (since nothing can withstand the truth which is mightier 
 than all) how they may be able by the force of argument, 
 through the help and power of God, to lead unbelievers into 
 the way of truth, so that the blessed name of the Lord Jesus, 
 
VISITS MAJOUCA, CTPRTTS, AND ARMENIA. 529 
 
 which is still unknown in most parts of the world, and among 
 most nations, may be manifested, and obtain universal adora- 
 tion. This way of converting luibelievers is easier than all 
 others. For it must appear hard to unbelievers to forsake 
 theu' own faith for a foreign one ; but who is there that will 
 not feel himself compelled to surrender falsehood fn- truth, 
 the self-contradictory for the necessary ?" And then he adds : 
 " On this account we humbly pray the pope and the car- 
 dinals, that they give their adhesion to this method ; for of 
 all methods of converting unbelievers, and reconquering the 
 Holy Land, this is the easiest and sjicediest, whicli is most 
 congenial to love, and is so much mightier than all other 
 kinds and methods, in the proportion that spiritual weapons 
 are more effective than carnal ones." " This treatise,"' he 
 writes, " was finished at Rome in the year 1296, on the holy 
 evening before the feast of John the 13aptist, the forerunner 
 of our Lord Jesus Christ. May he pray our Lord, that as he 
 himself was the herald of light, and pointed with his finger 
 to Him who is the true light, and as in his time, the dis- 
 pensation of grace began — it may please the Lord Jesus to 
 spread a new light over the world, that unbelievers may walk 
 in the brightness of this light, and be converted to join with 
 us in meeting him, the Lord Jesus Christ : to whom be praise 
 and glory for ever !" 
 
 Being unable to attain his object in Home he laboured for 
 a succession of years wherever an opening presented itself; 
 he endeavoured to convince by argument the Saracens and 
 Jews in the island of Majorca ; he visited Cyprus, and pro- 
 ceeded thence to Armenia, where he laboured to bring back 
 to the orthodox faith the various sects of the Oriental church. 
 All this he undertook with only one associate, without being 
 able to gain the assistance of the jiowerful and opulent. At 
 intervals, he delivered lectures on his philosopliical system 
 in the universities of France and Italy, and composed various 
 works. 
 
 Between the years 1306 and 1307, he travelled again in 
 North Africa, and visited the town of Buggia, at that time 
 the capital of a Mohammedan kingdom. He came forward 
 publicly, and declared, in the Arabic language, that Chris- 
 tianity was the only true religion and that Mohammed's doc- 
 trine was false, lie wished to convince everv one of this. 
 
 2ii 
 
530 MISSIONS OF THE MIDDLE AGES. 
 
 A o-reat crowd of people assembled round him, and he de- 
 livered hortatory addresses to the assembly. Many raised 
 their hands to stone him, when a mufti who heard it, hurried 
 him away from the multitude, and called him into his pre- 
 sence. He asked him how he could act so madly as to 
 appear publicly against the doctrine of Mohammed, and 
 whether he did not know that according to the laws of the 
 land his conduct was punishable with death. Raimund 
 replied : " A genuine servant of Christ who has experienced 
 in himself the truth of his faith feels no dread of death if he 
 can secure his soul's salvation." Upon this they entered 
 into a disputation on the relation of the two religions to one 
 another, and Raimund testified boldly of his faith. It was at 
 last settled, at his proposal, that a book should be written on 
 both sides in defence of their respective religions, and it 
 would then appear which had gained the victory by the 
 arguments brought forward. Raimund composed such a 
 work, and sent it to the mufti in order that he and other 
 learned Mohammedans might examine the book and answer 
 it. But after a few days, an order was issued to banish 
 Raimund from the country, and at the same time the Sara- 
 cens put him on board a vessel that was sailing for Genoa. 
 This vessel was shipwrecked not far from Pisa : some of the 
 passengers were drowned: Raimund escaped with the loss of 
 his books and all his property. At Pisa he wrote do>^Ti, 
 from recollection, what he had composed in his w^ork in 
 defence of Christianity. He sent the manuscript to the pope 
 and cardinals, and again complained, at the close of the book, 
 on the want of zeal for the conversion of unbelievers. " The 
 Saracens," he says, "write books for the destruction of 
 Christianity. I have myself seen such when I was in prison; 
 they have collected many arguments in order to convert 
 Christians to Mohammedanism ; and since the minds of these 
 Christians are not sufficiently grounded in knowledge to 
 discern the futility of these arguments, the Saracens have 
 succeeded by such arguments and the promise of riches and 
 women to gain over many Christians to their law. The 
 Christians give themselves no concern on the subject, and 
 lend no aid to the conversion of the Saracens; hence it 
 comes to pass that for one Saracen who becomes a Christian, 
 ten Christians and more become Mohammedans. It becomes 
 
COLLEGES FOR STUDYING ORIENTAL LANGUAGES. 531 
 
 those in power to consider what the end will be of such a 
 state of things. God will not be mocked." And after 
 speaking further of the great danger that threatened 
 Christendom from unbelievers, he offers some plans for 
 averting it ; one is, that four or five convents should bo 
 founded in which monks with learned and pious secular 
 priests, who were ready to surrender their lives for the glory 
 of God, might learn the languages spoken by unbelievers, 
 and that then they should go forth to publish the gospel to 
 the whole world, as Christ commanded. I lis second plan 
 related to the union of various religious orders of knighthood 
 in one, for recovering the countries taken from Christians by 
 unbelievers, with suggestions how this could be best earned 
 into effect. In the year 1308, in the month of April, ho 
 finished this work in the convent of the Dominicans at Pisa. 
 What he had so often proposed, as in the work just men- 
 tioned, he at length accomplished at the Council of Yienne, 
 in the year 1311, that an ordinance should be issued by the 
 pope for the establishment of colleges for the oriental lan- 
 guages — proposing that to promote the conversion of Jews 
 and Saracens, classes should be established for the Arabic, 
 Chaldee, and Hebrew languages, in all the cities where the 
 papal court was held, as well as in the universities of Paris, 
 Oxford, and Salamanca. As to the other part of his plan, 
 Raimund was more than ever convinced that unbelievers 
 ought never to be conquered by the sword, but only by the 
 force of truth ; that Christians ought not to put them to 
 death, but rather ought to be ready to sacrifice their own lives 
 in order to brins: them to salvation. In his work on the con- 
 templation of God, in which he examines the vai-ious classes 
 in Christendom and exposes their defects, he says :* " I see 
 
 * Multos equites video ire ad sanctam terram ultramarinam, et putare 
 ipsam acquirere per vim armorum, et ia fine omnes consumuntur, quin 
 veniant ad id, quod putant ; unde videtur mihi, quod acquisitio illius 
 sanctae terrae non debeat fieri, nisi eodem modo quo tu et tui apostoli eam 
 acquisistis, scilicet amore et orationibus et effusione lacrymarum et san- 
 guinis. Cum sanctum sepulcrum et sancta terra ultramarina, Domine, 
 videatur debere acquiri per praedicationem, melius quam per vim armo- 
 rum, progrediantur sancti equites religiosi, et muniant se sipno crucis et 
 impleant se gratia sancti Spiritus, et eant prsedicare infidelibus veritatem 
 tuce passionis, et effundant pro tuo amore totam aquam suoruin ocwlorum, 
 et totum sanguinem sui corporis, sicut tu fecisti pro amore ipsorum, 
 
 2m2 
 
532 MISSIONS OF THE MIDDLE AGES. 
 
 many knights crossing the sea to the Holy Land, and they 
 imagine that they shall conquer it by force of arms ; but at 
 last they are all driven away without accomplishing their 
 object : hence it appears to me that the Holy Land can be 
 •vvon in no other way than as thou, O Lord Christ, and thy 
 apostles won it — by love, by prayer, by shedding of tears 
 and blood. Since the Holy Sepulchre and the Holy Land 
 can be taken better by preaching than by force of arras, 
 let the pious spiritual knights still go on and be filled 
 with the grace of the Holy Spirit. ]May they go forth 
 to announce thy sufferings to unbelievers; may they out 
 of love to Thee pour out all their blood, as thou hast done 
 out of love to them. So many knights and noble chiefs 
 have crossed the sea to that land, in order to take it, that 
 if this metliod had been pleasing to Thee, O Lord^ they 
 would have taken it before now from the Saracens. From 
 this the pious ought to know, that thou daily expectest them 
 to do that out of love to Thee, which thou hast done out of 
 love to them. And they may be certain that if they expose 
 themselves to martyrdom from love to Thee, Thou wilt hear 
 them in all things which they wish to effect in this world 
 for thy glory." And in another passage of the same book 
 he says:"^ " Because Christians and Saracens are in a spiritual 
 
 Tot equites et nobiles principes iverunt in terram ultramarinam ad acqui- 
 rendam earn, Domine, quod si tibi placeret, modus bene apparet quod 
 earn eripuissent a Saracenis, qui contra nostram voluntatem ipsam possi- 
 dent : unde secundum hoc significatur Sanctis religiosis, quod quotidie eos 
 exspectes, ut faciant pro amore tui id, quod fecisti pro amore ipsorura, et 
 possunt esse certi et securi quod si se exponant martyrio pro amore tui, 
 eas exaudies in omni quod volent complere in hoc mundo, ad dandum 
 laudem de te. — Raym. Lullus, Lib. Contempl. in Deiim, cap. 112, 
 § 10-12. 
 
 * Quia Christiani et Saraceni puguant intellectualiter in hoc quod dis- 
 cordent et contrarientur in fide et credentia, propterea pugnant sensualiter, 
 et ratione hujus pugnse multi vulnerantur et captivantur et moriuntur et 
 destruuntur, per quam destructionem devastantur et destruuntur multi 
 principatus et multse divitise et multse terrae, et impediuntur multa bona quae 
 fierent si non esset talis pugna. Igitur, qui velit ponere pacem inter Chris- 
 tianos et Saracenos, Domine, et velit quod cessent magna mala quae veniunt 
 ex hello ipsorum, oportet quod eos pacificet in sensuali natura, ut alii 
 possint esse inter alios et per pacem sensualem transire ad pacem intel- 
 lectualera ; et quando bellum intellectuale sit finitum, erit pax et concor- 
 dantia inter ipsos per hoc quod habeant unam fidem et credentiam, quse 
 erit eis occasio et ratio pacis sensualis. Sed quia Christiani, Domine, 
 
CKUSADES NOT ADAPTED TO PROFESSED EXD. 533 
 
 conflict respecting the faith, a war is also carried on by force 
 of arms; many arc womidcd, taken prisoners, or killed — which 
 would not happen if there were no such war. Whoever 
 w^ould establish peace between the Christians and Saracens, 
 whoever wishes the great evils to cease which arise from their 
 conflicts, must first of all put an end to outward contention, 
 that outward peace may be a ])oint of transition to spiritual 
 peace. And when the spiritual conflict is ended, then will 
 peace and unity reign amongst them ; for they will have only 
 one faith. But since, O Lord, Christians have no outward 
 peace with the Saracens, they do not venture to dispute with 
 them respecting the faith ; but could they do this, it would 
 be possible to lead them into the way of truth by the argu- 
 ments of truth, and the grace of the Holy Spirit. 0, hea- 
 venly Lord ! Father of all times ! when Thou sentest thy 
 Son to assume human flesh, he and his apostles and disciples 
 had outward peace with the Jews and Pharisees and other 
 men; for they made no captives, nor killed any one, nor used 
 
 sensualiter non habent pacem cum Saracenis, propterea non audent dis- 
 putare de fide cum ipsis quaudo sunt inter eos ; et si Christiani haberent 
 pacem sensualiter cum Saracenis, et possent disputare cum eis de fide sine 
 bello sensuali, esset possibile quod eos dirigerent et illuminarent in via 
 veritatis per gratiam iSancti Spiritus, et per veras rationes significatas in 
 perfectioue tuarum qualitatum. Ccelestis Domine, Pater omnium tem- 
 porum ! Quando tu misisti tuum Filium ad assumendum humanam 
 carnem ipse et sui apostoli et discipuli habuerunt pacem sensualiter cum 
 Judaeis et Pharisceis et aliis hominibus, quia nunquam captivarunt nee 
 occiderunt nee coegerunt sensualiter xiUum hominera qui in te discredebant 
 et qui ipsas persequebantur ; et ideo tuus Filius et sui apostoli amarunt 
 pacem sensualem, ut illos qui contra eos erant in via erroris adducerent 
 ad habendum pacem intellectualem in gloria. Igitur sicut tu, Domine, et 
 tui apostoli et discipuli lialjuistis pacem sensualem in hoc quod non pug- 
 nastis sensualiter licet vobis fieret bellum sensuale, ita esset valde rationa- 
 bile quod Christiani haberent in memoria modum quem tu et apostoli 
 habuistis, et irent ad habendum pacem sensualem cum Saracenis ut pos- 
 sent dare laudem et gloriam de te, qui mortificandi naturam sensualem 
 attuljsti in terram pacem intellectualem. Sed, quia fervor et devotio, 
 quje erat in apostolis et Sanctis hominibus prseterito tempore, non est iii 
 nobis, ct fere in toto mundo est infrigitlatus amor et devotio ; propterea 
 mihi videtur quod Christiani faciant vim in bello sensuali multo majorem 
 quam in iiiteilectuali, et ratione timjris belli sensuaHs noliiit ire ad quai- 
 rendum pacem intellectualem inodo quo tu et tui apostoli e;im qutesivistis 
 effundendo angustiosam mortem ad dandum gloriam et laudem de te qui 
 es noster Dominus Deus. — Raym. LuUus, Ibid. cap. 204, § 25-30. 
 
 2 yi 3 
 
534 MISSIONS OF THE MIDDLE AGES- 
 
 physical force with any of those who did not believe in Thee 
 
 and who persecuted them Therefore, as Thou, O 
 
 Lord, and thy disciples did not fight with carnal M-eapons, 
 although such were used against Thee, it is very 3*easonable, 
 that Christians shouldbear this in mind, and seek to have out- 
 ward peace with the Saracens, that they may be able to render 
 praise and glory to Thee, who, by mortifying the carnal 
 nature, hast brought mental peace to the world ; but because 
 there is not that fervor and devotion in us which was in past 
 ages in the apostles and holy men, and almost throughout the 
 world, love and devotion have waxed cold: hence Chris- 
 tians apply their powers much more to carnal than to spi- 
 ritual warfare ; and for fear of carnal warfare they are un- 
 willing to seek spiritual peace in the way Thou and thy 
 apostles sought it — ^by pouring forth tears and groans and 
 blood, and enduring an agonizing death to give glory and 
 praise to Thee, who art our Lord God." " O thou true light 
 of all lights," he says, "as thy grace, through the true faith, 
 has enriched Christians before unbelievers, so they are bound 
 to demonstrate the true faith to unbelievers. But since we, 
 O Lord, are occupied with vain things, we forget our obli- 
 gations to love unbelievers, to help them and to guide them, 
 since through our fault they remain blind in the darkness of 
 unbelief. Hence they will accuse us to Thee, O Lord, at 
 the day of judgment for this our injustice, that we did not 
 preach to them and instruct them, in order that they might 
 forsake their error. And condemnation will fall on those 
 who have no sufficient ground of excuse. If the churches, 
 O Lord, which are of wood and stone and earth, are beau- 
 tiful, because they have various figures and pictures, the 
 holy church, which consists of the souls of just Catholic 
 men, would be far more beautiful, if there were men ac- 
 quainted with difierent languages, who would go through 
 the earth, that unrighteous and unbelieving men might 
 become praisers of thy glorious Trinity, and of thy blessed 
 humanity, and of thy painful passion."^' " Blessed are all 
 
 * Tibi Domine, Deus, sit gloria et honor, et honoratio omni tempore ; 
 quia in ecclesiis video fieri multas figuras et diversas picturas, ut sint pul- 
 chriores, sed paucos homines video, qui velint addiscere diversas linguas, 
 €t qui eant praedicare infidelibus, et eos dirigere ad veram vitam, et extra- 
 here ab errore in quo sunt. Si ecclesiee, Domine, quse sunt de lignis et 
 
EXTRACTS FROM RAIMUND LULL's WRITINGS. 535 
 
 those who out of love to Thee, O Lord, give alms to the 
 poor ; they help with that which thou hast given them, and 
 whom thou hclpest are truly blessed ; but far more blessed are 
 those who offer themselves to unbelievers, and become mar- 
 tjTS in publishing the way of truth ; greater help will they 
 obtain from Thee." 
 
 He always laments that in outward things men seek the 
 Lord, and wish to glorify him thereby, and he points from the 
 outward to the inward."* " Whoever would gain Thee, 
 Lord, need not withdraw from his own country, nor from his 
 friends and relations, for he can find Thee near at hand — he 
 can gain Thee in his own house." " We see," he says, 
 how pilgrims set out to seek Thee in distant lands, and tliou 
 art so near, that whoever will, can find Thee in his owni 
 house, in his own chamber ; wherefore there are many men 
 so ignorant that they set out to seek for Thee in distant 
 lands, and take the devil with them, if they are laden with 
 sins. The things which man wishes to find he must care- 
 fully seek for, and seek them in places where they can be 
 found. If, therefore, the pilgrims wish to find Thee, they 
 must seek for Thee carefully, and not seek for Thee in the 
 beautiful images and paintings of churches, but in the hearts 
 of holy men, in whom thou dwellest day and night." " If 
 Thy image, O Lord, is beautiful as seen on the cross, much 
 more beautiful is it when beheld in religious men and lovers 
 of truth ; for the figure of the religious man is nearer in 
 nature and likeness to thy humanity than the crucifix, since 
 
 lapidibus et terra sunt pulchrse, quia habent diversas figuras et picturas, 
 sancta ecclesia, quae consistit in animabus hominuni justorum catholicorum, 
 esset valde pulchrior, si essent homines, qui scirent diversas linguas, et 
 irent per omnes terras, ut homines injusti et infideles essent laudatores 
 tuae gloriosse Trinitatis et tuse benedictte huraanitatis et tuae angustiosae 
 passionis. — Raj'm, LuUus, Ibid. cap. 106, § '2S, 29. 
 
 * Nos videmus, Domine, multas merces esse in quibus homo non 
 potest lucrari, nisi eat ad quaerendumet deferendum eas a longinquis terris, 
 et per longas vias ; sed qui te vult lucrari, non oportet elongare se a sua 
 terra nee a suis cognatis uec a suis amicis, quia prope potest te inveniro, 
 et in sua domo potest te lucrari. Etiara videmus, Domine, quod, quando 
 mercatores veniunt a suis peregrinationibus et fecerunt lucrum deferant 
 munera, quae dant suis amicis et vicinis : igitur cum ego adeo parum 
 lucratus fuerim in hoc mundo, si nunc morerer, pauca essent munera et 
 bona opera quae deferrem in alterum saeculum. — Ravm. LuUus, Ibid. 
 cap. 11 Ü, § 13, p. 2G1. 
 
536 MISSION'S OF THE MIDDLE AGES. 
 
 the ficrure which we see on the cross is a resemblance in wood, 
 but the religious man is of the same kind as thy glorious 
 himianity."* '* Often," he says, ''' I have sought Thee on the 
 crucifix, and my bodily eyes could not find Thee there ; but 
 thev have found there thy form, and the representation of 
 thy death. And when I could not find Thee with my bodily 
 eyes, I have sought Thee with the eyes of my soul, and by 
 thinking and remembering my soul has found Thee, and as 
 soon as I found Thee my heart began to grow warm with the 
 tjlow of love, and mv eyes to shed tears, and mv mouth to 
 praise Thee.'f The glow of love gave him no rest, until, 
 summoning his remaining powers, he exhausted his life in 
 publishing the gospel. " As the needle,"' he says, " turns 
 by nature to the north when it is touched by the magnet, so 
 it behoves that thy servant should turn to praise his Lord 
 God, and to serve him, since out of love to him he willed to 
 endure sore griefs and hea\'7 sufferings in this world. ''t 
 " Men who die of old age." he says, " die owing to the want 
 of natural warmth and an excess of cold ; and, therefore, may 
 thy servant, if it please Thee, not die such a death, but die 
 owing: the glow of love, since Thou wert willino: to die such 
 a death. I have often shivered from great cold and fright, 
 but when will that day and that hour be, when my body will 
 
 * Si tunm exemplum, Domine, est pulchrum ad videndum in crace, 
 multo pulchrius est ad videndum in bominibus religiosis et amatoribus 
 veritatis ; quia pröpinquior est in natura et similitudine tuae humanitati 
 figura beati religiosi, quam figura crucis ; quoniam figiira, quam videmus 
 in cruce, est pictura in ligno, sed beatus religiosus est illius speciei, 
 cujus est tua gloriosa humanitas. — Raym. Lullus, löid. cap. 123, § 20, 
 p. 281. 
 
 t Amorose Domine ! Tuus subditus maltoties te quaesivi in cruce, et 
 mei oculi corporales nonquam potuerunt te in ea invenire ; ged bene inve- 
 nerunt in ea tuam figuram et repraesentationem tuae mortis ; et quando 
 non poteram te invenire oculis corporalibus, te quaerebam orulis mese 
 animae, et cogitando et memorando in te mea anima inveniebat te, et per 
 inventionem tui statim incipiebat meum cor calefieri caiore amoris, et mei 
 oculi plorare, et meum os te laudare. — Ravm. Lullus, Ibid. cap. 113, 
 § 23, p. 254. 
 
 X Sicut acus per natnram vertitur ad septentrionem dum sit tacta a 
 magnete, ita oportet, quod tuus servus se vertat ad amandum et laudan- 
 dum suum Dominum Deum, et ad serviendum ei quoniam pro suo amore 
 Toluit in hoc mundo suitinere graves dolores et graves passiones.— 
 Raym. Lullus, Itid. cap. 129, § 19, p. 296. 
 
BETURXS TO AFRICA AND SUFFERS MARTYRDOM. 53" 
 
 tremble, owing to the great glow of love, and its great 
 desire to die for its Saviour ? "' 
 
 We would here bring together at the close some short 
 passages, in which the deep glowing spirit of this eminent 
 man expres>«cd itself — words which contain a world of mean- 
 ing, and which a man must })onder deej)ly, in order rightlv 
 to understand and fully to fathom. *' He who loves not, lives 
 not ; he who lives by the Life cannot die.'' ** He who gives 
 his friend love, gives him more than imtold gold." " He who 
 gives not, lives not," *' All gold is not to be compared with 
 a sigh of holy desire." '* The more any one desires, the 
 more will he know what it is to live. To be strij)t of desire 
 is to die. Desire, and thou wilt live. He is not poor who 
 desires ; he lives sorrowfully who has no desire."* " A holv 
 hermit stands higher in the favour of God than a king upon 
 his throne. Elevate thy knowledge, and thou wilt elevate thy 
 love. Heaven is not so high as the love of a holy man. 
 The more thou labourest to ascend, so much more thou wilt 
 ascend. "t He was aware that man carries in his own being 
 the key for all men. '* He who would examine and under- 
 stand the mysteries of other men, let him first look into him- 
 self, and into his own nature. For as a glass shows in 
 itself the form of any other object, so man by knowing his 
 own nature, perceives the secrets which he seeks for in 
 others. "J 
 
 On the 14th of August, 1314, he again crossed over to 
 Africa. He went to liuggia and laboured here first of all in 
 secret, in the small circle of those persons whom he had won 
 
 * Desidera ct vives. Non est paujn-r qui desiderat. Plus valet sus- 
 pirium in desiderio quam honor in i)rinc-ipe. Qui non desiderat, uou 
 attineit. Tristis vivit qui non desiderat. — Raym. LuUus, Ibid. \>. 3S. 
 t t»anctus eremita stat altior in voluntate Dei quam re\ in thrüno. 
 Quo plus valebis, eo altior eris. 
 ICleva tuura intelligere. et elevabis tuum amare. 
 Coelum non est tarn altum, sicut amare sancti homines. 
 Quo magis laborabis ad ascendendum eo magis aseendes. 
 
 Ilaym. LuUus, Lib. Proterb. torn. vi. p. 3 t. 
 X Qui vult inquirere et periipere secreta aliorum hominum, respieiat 
 seipsuin et suam naturam et suammet ]>roprietatem ; (juia, sieut unum 
 fipeeulum denionstrat formam alterius in seipso, ita homo cognoscendo 
 suammet naturam percipit secreta quse inquirit in aliis. — Ravm. Lullus, 
 Lib. Contcmpl. in Dtrum, cap. 171, § 25, torn. ix. p. 412. 
 
538 MISSIONS OF THE MIDDLE AGES. 
 
 over to Christianity during his last sojourn. He endeavoured 
 to strengthen their faith, and to advance them further in 
 Christian knowledge. Thus he might have continued to 
 labour for a long time unnoticed, but he could not repress 
 the desire for martyrdom. He appeared in public, and 
 declared that he was the same person who had formerly been 
 banished from the countrj'. He exhorted the people with, 
 threatenings of the divine punishment, if they refused to 
 renounce Mohammedanism. He was attacked by the Sara- 
 cens with extreme fury, and after being severely handled, 
 was dragged out of the city, and stoned by the king's 
 command. According to one account, some merchants from 
 Majorca obtained permission to search for the corpse of their 
 countrjmian in the heap of stones under which he was buried, 
 and brought it back to Majorca ; according to another 
 account they found some remains of life in him, and suc- 
 ceeded in rekindling for awhile the sparks of life ; but he 
 died on ship-board, within sight of his native country, on the 
 30th of June, 1315. 
 
 THE END. 
 
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