CENTURY FIRST. PART I. THE EXTERNAL HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. CHAPTER I. THE CIVIL AND RELIGIOUS STATE OF THE WORLD AT THE BIRTH OF OUR SAVIOUR. 1. At the time when God became incarnate, a great part of the world was subject to the Romans. Their remoter provinces they either ruled by means of temporary governors and presidents sent from Rome, or suffered to live under their own kings and laws, subject to the sovereign control of the Roman republic. The senate and citizens of Rome, though not deprived of all appearance of liberty, were really under the authority of one man, Augustus, who was clothed with the titles of emperor, pontifex maximus, censor, tribune of the people, pro-consul; in a word, with every office which conferred general power and pre-eminence in the commonwealth.' 2. The Roman government, if we regard only its form and laws, was sufficiently mild and equitable. But the injustice and avarice of the nobles and provincial governors, the Roman lust of conquest and dominion, and the rapacity of the publicans who farmed the revenues of the state, 3 brought incalculable evils on the people. The magistrates and publicans on the one hand fleeced the people of their property; and on the other this lust of dominion required numerous armies to be raised in the provinces, which was oppressive to them and was the occasion of almost perpetual wars and insurrections. 3. Still, this widely extended dominion of one people, or rather of one man, was attended with several advantages. First, it brought into union a multitude of na 1 See Campianus De Officio et potestate magistratuum Romanor. et jurisdictione, p. 3, &c. Geneva, 1723, 4to. [Memoirs of the court of Augustus, by Blackwell, 2 vols. 4to. Edinb. 1753.- Schl. See Moyle's Essay on the constitution of the Roman government, in his posth. works, vol. i. pages 1-98. Lond. 1726, 8vo. Scip. Maffei, Verona illustrata, lib. 1. p. 65. [Giannone, Histoire civile du royaume de Naples, vol. 1. p. 3, &c.- Schl. See Burmann, de Vectigalibus populi Romani, cap. ix. p. 123, &c - Schl. tions differing in customs and languages. Secondly, it gave freer access to the remotest nations. Thirdly, it gradually civilized the barbarous nations, by introducing among them the Roman laws and customs. Fourthly, it spread literature, the arts, and philosophy, in countries where they were not before cultivated. All these greatly aided the ambassadors of our Lord in fulfilling their sacred commission.5 For 4. At the birth of Christ the Roman empire was much freer from commotions than it had been for many years. though I cannot agree with those who think with Orosius, that the temple of Janus was then shut, and the whole world in profound peace; yet there can be no doubt that the period when our Saviour descended on earth, if compared with the preceding times, was peculiarly peaceful. And according to St. Paul,' this peace was very necessary for those whom Christ commissioned to preach the gospel. 5. Of the state of those nations which lay without the Roman empire, historic records will not allow us to give so full an account. Nor is it very necessary to our purpose. It is sufficient to know that the oriental nations were pressed down by a stern despotism, which their effeminacy of mind and body, and even their religion, led them to bear with patience, while the more northern nations enjoyed much greater liberty, which was protected by the rigour of their climate and the conse 4 Seo Bergier Histoire des grands chemins de l'empire Romain, 2nd Ed. Brussels, 1728, 4to, and Otto, De Tutela viarum publicarum, par. ii. p. 314. 5 Origen, among others, acknowledges this, lib. ii. ado. Celsum, p. 79, Ed. Cambr. [See also Heilmann, Comment. de florente literarum statu et habitu ad relig. Christi initia.- Schl. 6 See Massonus, Templum Jani, Christo nascente, reveratum. Rotterd. 1706, 8vo. 7 See 1 Tim. il. 1, &c. quent energy of their constitutions, aided By their mode of life and their religion.' 2 6. All these nations were plunged in the grossest superstition. For though the idea of one supreme God was not wholly extinct, yet most nations, or rather all except the Jews, supposed that each country and province was subjected to a set of very powerful beings, whom they called gods, and whom the people, in order to live happily, must propitiate with various rites and ceremonies. These deities were supposed to differ materially from each other in sex, power, nature, and offices. Some nations, indeed, went beyond others in impiety and absurdity of worship, but all stood chargeable with irrationality and gross stupidity in matters of religion. 7. Thus every nation had a class of deities peculiar to itself, among which one was supposed to be pre-eminent over the rest and was their king, though subject himself to the laws of fate, or to an eternal destiny. For the oriental nations had not the same gods as the Gauls, the Germans, and the other northern nations; and the Grecian deities were essentially different from those of the Egyptians, who worshipped brute animals, plants, and various productions of nature and art.3 Each nation likewise had its own method of worshipping and propitiating its gods, differing widely from the rites of other nations. But from their ignorance or other causes, the Greeks and Romans maintained that their gods were universally worshipped; and they therefore gave the names of their own gods to the foreign deities, which has caused immense confusion and obscurity in the history of the ancient religions, and produced numberless errors in the works of very learned men.1 Seneca, de Ira, lib. ii. cap. xvi. Opp. tom. i. p. 36, Ed. Gronovii: Fere itaque imperia penes cos fuere populos, qui mitiore cœlo utuntur: in frigora, septentrionemque vergentibus immansueta ingenia sunt, ut ait poëta, suoque simillima cœlo. See Meiners, in his Historia doctrina de vero Deo, omnium rerum Auctore atque Rectore, Lemgo. 1780, 8vo, where, from a critical investigation, proof is adduced, that the ancient pagan nations were universally ignorant of the Creator and Governor of the world, till Anaxagoras, about 450 years before Christ, and afterwards other philosophers, conceived that the world must have had an intelligent architect.-Mur. 3 This was long since remarked by Athanasius, Oratio contra Gentes, Opp. tom. i. p. 25. [See Lo Clerc, Ars critica, par. ii. sec. 1, cap. xiii. sec. 11, and Bibliothèque Choisie, tome vii. p. 84; Warburton's Divine Legation of Moses demonstrated, vol. ii. p. 233, &c. And respecting the Egyptian gods, see Jablonski, Pantheon Egyptiorum. Francf. ad. Viadr. 1750, 8vo.; F. 8. Von Schmidt, Opuscula, quibus res antiquæ, præcipue Egyptiaca, explanantur, 1765, 8vo. - Schl. 4 Maclaine here subjoins a long note, asserting that the gods worshipped in different pagan countries 8. But this variety of gods and religions in the pagan nations produced no wars or feuds among them, unless, perhaps, the Egyptians. are an exception. Yet the Egyptian wars waged to avenge their gods, cannot properly be called religious wars, not being undertaken either to propagate or to suppress any one form of religion. Each nation, without concern, allowed its neighbours to enjoy their own views of religion, and to worship their own gods in their own way. Nor need this tolerance greatly surprise us. For they who regard the world as being divided like a great country into numerous provinces, each subject to a distinct order of deities, cannot despise the gods of other nations, nor think of compelling all others to pay worship to their own national gods. The Romans in particular, though they would not allow the public religions to be changed or multiplied, yet gave the citizens full liberty in private, to observe foreign religions, and to hold meetings and feasts, and erect temples and groves to those foreign deities in whose worship there was nothing inconsistent with the public safety and the existing laws.7 9. The greater part of the gods of all nations were ancient heroes, famous for their achievements and their worthy deeds; such as kings, generals, and founders of cities, and likewise females who were highly distinguished for their deeds and discoveries, whom a grateful posterity had deified. To these, some added the more splendid and useful objects in the natural world, among which the sun, moon, and stars, being preeminent, received worship from nearly all; and some were not ashamed to pay divine honours to mountains, rivers, trees, the earth, the ocean, the winds, and even to diseases, to virtues and vices, and to almost every conceivable object-or at least, to were so similar, that they might properly be called by the same names. He therefore thinks Dr. Mosheim has overrated the mischief done to the history of idolatry by the Greek and Roman writers. But there was, certainly, little resemblance between Woden and Mercury, Thor and Jupiter, Friga and Venus; or between the Roman deities and Brahma, Vishnoo, Siva, and the other gods of Hindostan. And as the classic writers give very imperfect descriptions of foreign deities, and leave us to infer most of their characteristics from the names assigned them, it is evident that Mosheim's remark is perfectly just.-Mur. 5 See what Pignorius has collected on this subject, in his Expositio Mensa Isiacæ, p. 41, &c. 6 Though extolled by Shaftsbury, among others Characteristics, vol. ii. p. 166. and vol. iii. pages 60, 86, 87, 154, &c.- Schl. 7 See Corn, à Bynckershoeckh, Dissert. de cultu peregrina religionis apud Romanos, in his Opuscula, Leyden, 1719, 4to. [Warburton's Divine legation, vol. 1. p. 307. Compare Livy, Hist. Rom. lib. xxv. 1, and xxxix. 18, and Valer. Max. 1. 3.-Schl. [See also Lardner, Credib. of Gospel Hist. part 1. book 1. chap. viii. secs. 3-6.-Mur. the deities supposed to preside over these objects.1 7 they could not divulge any thing they had seen, without exposing their lives to immi10. The worship of these deities consisted nent danger. Hence it is that the interior in numerous ceremonies, with sacrifices, of these hidden rites is, at this day, little offerings, and prayers. The ceremonies known. Yet we know that in some of the were for the most part absurd and ridicu- mysteries many things were done which lous, and throughout debasing, obscene, were repugnant to modesty and decency; and cruel. The sacrifices and offerings and in all of them the discerning might varied according to the nature and offices see that the deities there worshipped were of the different gods. Most nations sacri- mortals more distinguished for their vices ficed animals; and, what was most horrid, than their virtues.8 not a few of them likewise immolated human victims. Their prayers were truly insipid, and void of piety both in their form and matter. Over this whole worship presided pontiffs, priests, and servants of the gods, divided into many classes, and whose business it was to see that the rites weré duly performed. These were supposed to enjoy the friendship and familiar converse of the gods; and they basely abused their authority to impose upon the people. 5 11. The religious worship of most nations was confined to certain places or temples, and to certain times or stated days. In the temples, the statues and images of their gods were placed; and these images were supposed to be animated in an inexplicable manner by the gods themselves. For, senseless as these worshippers of imaginary gods truly were, they did not wish to be accounted worshippers of lifeless substances, brass, stone, and wood, but of a deity which they maintained to be present in the image, provided it was consecrated in due form. 12. Besides this common worship to which all had free access, there were among both orientals and Greeks certain recondite and concealed rites, called mysteries, to which very few were admitted. Candidates for initiation had first to give satisfactory proofs to the hierophants of their good faith and patience, by various most troublesome ceremonies. When initiated, 1 See the learned work of Vossius, De Idololatria, lib. i. ill. [and La Mythologie et les Fables expliquées par 'Histoire, par l'Abbé Banier, Paris, 1738-40, 8 vols. 12mo, and Fr. Creutzer's Symbolik u. Mythologie der alten Völker, besonders der Griechen, Leipz. u. Darmst. 1810-12, 4 vols. 8vo.-Mur. [This standard work of Creutzer has been translated into French by J. D. Guiguiaut, under the title of Religions de l'Antiquité considérées principalement dans leurs formes symboliques et mythologiques, Paris, 1825-41, 4 vols. 8vo.-R. See Saubertus, de Sacrificiis Veterum; Leyd. 1699, 8vo. See Columna, Ad Fragmenta Ennii, p. 29, and Saubertus, De Sacrificiis Vet. cap. xxi. p. 455. 4 See Browerius à Niedeck, de Adorationibus veterum Populorum. Utrecht, 1711. 8vo. [and Saubertus, ubi supra, p. 343, &c.- Schl. 5 Some nations were without temples, such as the Persians, Gauls, Germans, and Britons, who performed their religious worship in the open air, or in the shady retreats of consecrated groves.-Macl. 6 Arnobius, ado. Gentes, lib. vi. p. 254, ed. Heraldi. Augustine, de Civitate Dei, lib. vil. cap. xxxi. Opp tom. vii. p. 161, ed. Benedict. Julian, Misopogon. p. 361, ed. Spanheim. 13. The whole pagan system had not the least efficacy to produce and cherish virtuous emotions in the soul. For in the first place, the gods and goddesses to whom the public homage was paid, were patterns rather of pre-eminent wickedness than of virtue.9 They were considered, indeed, as superior to mortals in power and as exempt from death, but in all things else as on a level with us. In the next place, the ministers of this religion, neither by precept nor by example, exhorted the people to lead honest and virtuous lives; but gave them to understand that all the homage required of them by the gods, was comprised in the observance of the traditional rites and ceremonies. 10 And lastly, the doctrines inculcated respecting the rewards of the righteous and the 7 See Meursius, De Mysteriis Eleusyniis; and Clark son, Discourse on Liturgies, sec. 4. Leg. cap. xxiv., Varro, cited by Augustine, De Civitate 8 Cicero, Disput. Tusculan. lib. i. cap. xlii. [and De lib. ii. cap. iii.-Schl. [See Warburton's Divine Legat. Advantage and Necessity of the Christ. Rev. vol. 1. pages vol. i. lib. ii. sec. 4, who was confronted by J. Leland, 151-190; Meiners, über die Mysterien der Alten, in his Miscel. Philos. Works, vol. iil. Leips. 1776; the Baron de Sainte Croix, Mémoires pour servir à l'histoire de la religion secrete des anciens peuples, &c. Paris, 1784, 8vo, and (Vogel's) Briefe über die Mysterien; which are the 2d collection of Letters on Freemasonry. Nuremb. 1784, 12mo. It has been maintained that the design of at least some of these mysteries was, to inculcate the grand principles of natural religion; such as the unity of God, the immortality of the soul, the importance of virtue, &c. and to explain the vulgar polytheism, as symbolical of these great truths. But this certainly needs better proof. It is more probable that the later pagan philosophers, who lived after the light of Christianity had exposed the abominations of polytheism, resorted to this subterfuge in order to vindicato the character of their predecessors.-Mur. [See also Dr. Pritchard's Analysis of the Egyptian Mythology. Lond. 1819, 8vo.-R. 9 Ovid, de Tristibus, lib. ii. v. 287, &c. [Compare Plato, de Leg. lib. i. p. 776, and de Republ. lib. ii. p. 430, &c. ed. Ficini. Isocrates, Encom. Busiridis, Orat. p. 462, and Seneca, de Vita beata, cap. xxvi. -Schl. 10 See Barbeyrac, Preface to his French translation of Puffendorf, De Jure Nat. et gentium, sec. 6. [Yet there were some intelligent pagans who had better views, as Socrates and the younger Pliny. The latter, punishments of the wicked in the future world, were some of them dubious and uncertain, and others more adapted to promote vice than virtue.' Wherefore the wiser pagans themselves, about the time of the Saviour's birth, contemned and ridiculed the whole system. 2 14. Hence a universal corruption of morals prevailed, and crimes which at this day cannot be named with decency, were then practised with entire impunity. Those who would see proof of this, may read Ju. venal and Persius among the Latins, and Lucian among the Greeks; or, if this seems too painful, let them reflect on the gladiatorial shows and unnatural lusts, the facility of divorce, both among Greeks and Romans, the custom of exposing infants and procuring abortions, and the stews consecrated to the gods-all which no law opposed.3 15. Men of but common discernment could see the deformity of these religions; but they were met by the crafty priests with two arguments. First, the miracles and prodigies which were affirmed to have taken place, and still to be daily witnessed in the temples and before the statues of the in his Panegyric on Trajan, cap. iii. n. 5, says: Animadverto, etiam Deos ipsos, non tam accuratis adorantium precibus, quàm innocentiâ et sanctitate lætari: gratioremque existimari, qui delubris eorum puram castamque mentem, quàm qui meditatum carmen in tulerit. Schl. What the Greeks and Romans said of the Elysian Fields, was not only fabulous in its very aspect, but it held out the prospect of voluptuous pleasures, opposed to true virtue. The more northern nations promised a happy immortality only to those who distinguished themselves by a martial spirit and the slaughter of numerous foes; that is, to the enemies of mankind. And the eternal bliss which they promised to these warriors was only a continued indulgence in vile lusts. How could such hopes excite to virtue? Moreover, the doctrine of even these rewards and punishments, was not an article of faith among the Greeks and Romans; but every one believed what he pleased concerning it: and, at the time of Christ's birth, the followers of Epicurus were numerous, and while many denied, most others doubted, the reality of future retributions. Polybius, Hist. lib. v. 54. Sallust, Bell. Catil. -Schl. 2 Cyprian, Epist i. p. 2. ed. Baluz, describes at large the debased morals of the pagans. See also Cornel. Adamus, Exercit. de malis Romanorum ante prædicationem Evangelii moribus; in his Exercit. Exeget. Gröning, 1712, 4to [and, what is still better authority, St. Paul to the Romans, chap. i. passim.-Mur. 3 On the subject of this and several preceding secions, the reader may find satisfactory proof in that elaborate and candid work, The advantage and necessity of the Christian Revelation, shown from the state of religion in the ancient heathen world; by J. Leland, D.D. 2d ed. Dublin, 1765, 2 vols. 8vo-Mur. [A still more satisfactory exposition of the origin, character, and influence of heathenism, viewed in the light of Christianity, especially of the Grecian and Roman polytheism, may be found in an admirable essay by Professor Tholuck of Halle, entitled, Ueber das Wesen u. den sittlichen Einfluss des Heidenthums, &c. an English translation of which will be found in the 28th number of the Edin. Biblical Cabinet.-R. gods and heroes; and secondly, the divinations and oracles by which they asserted these gods had foretold future events. In regard to both, the common people were miserably imposed upon by the artifices of the priests, and the discerning saw it. But the latter had to laugh with caution in order to be safe. For the priests stood ready to accuse of treason against the gods, before a raging and superstitious multitude, all such as opposed their frauds. 16. At the time chosen by the Son of God for his birth among men, the Roman religion, as well as arms, pervaded a large part of the world. To be acquainted with this religion, is nearly the same as to be acquainted with the Grecian superstition. Yet there is some difference between them; for besides the institutions of Numa and others, invented for political ends, the Romans superadded to the Grecian fables some Italic and Etruscan fictions, and also gave the Egyptian gods a place among their own." 17. In the Roman provinces, new forms of paganism were gradually produced, compounded of the ancient religions of the inhabitants and that of their Roman conquerors. For these nations, who before their subjugation had their peculiar gods. and religious rites, were persuaded by degrees to adopt many of the Roman usages. This was good policy in the Romans, whose interests were promoted by the extinction of the inhuman rites of the barbarous nations; and the levity of those nations and their desire to please their masters favoured the object." 18. The most prominent religions beyond the bounds of the Roman empire, may be divided into two classes, the civil and the military. To the first class belong the religions of most of the oriental nations, especially of the Persians, the Egyptians, and the Indians. For, whoever carefully inspects those religions will see that they are adapted merely to answer political ob 4 Schlegel here introduces a long note, showing that Mosheim, till towards the close of his life, did not utterly reject that common opinion of the ancients, that evil spirits sometimes aided the pagan priests, particularly in regard to their oracles. But Mosheim did, we are told by his pupil, come at last into the opinion now generally admitted; namely, that the pagan oracles were all mero cheats, proceeding from the craft of the priests. See Van Dale de Oraculis ethnicorum: among his Diss. Amster. 1696, 4to, and Fontenelle, Histoire des oracles, 1687, with the Jesuit, Baltus Réponse à l'histoire des oracles, &c. Strasb. 1707, 8vo, and Suite de la Réponse, &c. 1701. 8vo.-Mur. 5 See Dionys. Halicar. Antiquitat. Romanor. lib. vii. cap. lxxii. tom. i. p. 460, ed. Hudson. 6 See Petitus ad Leges Atticas, lib. 1. p. 71. [Lactantius, Divinarum Institut. lib. i. cap. xx.-Schl. "Strabo, Geograph. lib. iv. p. 189, &c.-Schl. |