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RAT RARL AAA RAR RAL AA AAAS AN ὺ ον ΑΥΤΟΝ SENNA ον ΣΝ 
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MEMORIALS 


OF 


Pee WIS TIAN LIFE 


IN 


THE EARLY AND MIDDLE AGES. 


INCLUDING HIS 


PLIGHT IN DARK -PLACES.” 


BY 


DR. AUGUSTUS NEANDER. 


TRANSLATED FROM THE GERMAN 
BY J. E. RYLAND. 


LONDON: 
HENRY 6, BOHN, YORK STREET, COVENT GARDEN. 
1852. 


PRINTED BY HARRISON AND SON, 


LONDON GAZETTE OFFICE, ST. MARTIN’S LANE; 
AND 
ORCHARD STREET WESTMINSTER. 


DEDICATION OF VOL. Τ|. 





TO THE REVEREND DR. HARMS, 


FIRST PREACHER IN THE CHURCH OF ST. NICHOLAS AT KIEL, 
ECCLESIASTICAL PROVOST, ETC. ETC. 


I recottEct 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, August 15, 1846, 


PREFACE TO THE SECOND VOLUME. ~ 


I now publish the Second Volume of my Sketches from the 
History of the Christian Life, which are taken from the same point 
of viewas 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 cr 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 above—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 
through 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. 

In 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. NEANDER. 
Berlin, August 15, 1846. 


NOTE BY THE TRANSLATOR. 


The work now translated originally appeared in three volumes, 
Berlin, 1822 ; a second edition was published in 1825-1827; a 
third edition of Vol. I. was published at Hamburgh in 1845, and 
of Vol. II. in the following year. 





PREFACE TO THE THIRD EDITION OF VOL. I. 


Tue 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 effusion—to awaken an interest for every- 
thing 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 been 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 
all philosophical discussion, which will find a place with 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. ne 


vi PREFACE TO THE THIRD EDITION OF VOL. I. 


These delineations, which make not the least pretension to 
scientific value, are designed only to meet the wants of Christians _ 
in general. Yet possibly it would gratify many a younger or 
older theologian who makes use of these testimonies of the 
Christian life, to read, in the original, several important and 
beautiful 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 been 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 
benefit of poor and deserving students of theology. Nothing 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 the Spirit of the Lord accompany them and 
make them a blessing to such ! 

A, NEANDER. 


Berlin, August 5, 1845, 


CONTENTS. 


PART: fT: 


CHRISTIAN LIFE OF THE FIRST THREE CENTURIES. 


CHAP. PAGE 
I. Various methods of conversion to Christianity ......Ψ.Ψ.. ννννννος 1 
II. The influence of Christianity on the universal religious 
POLITIC LLG PMMA este canes wascet eae Sac e cece vad sear εν βρη πον τον ἘΣ; ἘΣ 28 
III. The relation of the Christian church to the heathen world... 92 
IV. The view taken by Christians of their calling ......Ψ...νννννννννννννιν 41 
V. Favorite emblems in use among Christians .......Ψννννννονννννννννννον 8: 
VI. The principle of the inner life of Christians, and its outward 
MOG COhmanites ΘΙ ΠΟΙ essere ttarccssectel vot eeteusteettae coxceasarete 55 
VII. General delineation of the Christian life 0.0... cesses 59 
ΕΠ eam Est ay Clann τ ΠΟΤ τ Στ 63 
ΠΕ πη. θ᾽ πε ΠῚ PLAY el? Ὁ νο.νιηνεεν, ΤΠ ες του τι ΟΡ ereerece selene 09 
τ and) falser Δ ΗΘΕΙΣΟΙΒπν ss 02.00. ΑΣΑ αοο προς 72 
XI. The practical brotherly love of Christians oo... eee 77 
XII. General philanthropy of Christians 200.00. ἀπ τ το δ δι 80 
ML hes Christians under persecutions. .c::-211.+.s-52....-sasdecterevseesrese se 82 
XIV. The sympathy of all Christians in the suffering of the Con- 
HESSOUS Mer see ens catcees ceaclsnccsceiesatetnunchaessvese cucaratensic ent ΤΥ ΤΡ ΣῈ 97 
XV. Occupations permitted or forbidden among Christians ......... 100 
ΟΝ π᾿ domestic 116. Οὗ Christiansie νος τ tees eae une 100 
XVII. The Christians in the time of public calamities, infectious 
diseases, and mortality—Memorials of the dead—The 
INT Ab YRS ρα αν δα ςτὸ scverecnci ἐπ τ ρον 109 


BART IT: 


CHRISTIAN LIFE WHEN CHRISTIANITY HAD GAINED 
THE ASCENDENCY IN THE ROMAN EMPIRE. 


I. Various methods of conversion from heathenism to Chris- 
MEAT EaL ON eee ce ee NL πεν τε μεν are aNecrenscer sisloesastee lene ΤΡ ΤΉ ΤΡ τα 118 

II. Nominal and genuine Christians — Separation — Various 
revivals of Christianity—The influence of pious mothers... 167 

111. The monastic system and its relation to the general Christian 


lv CONTENTS. 
CHAP. PAGE 
V. The general Christian calling and dignity... 230 
VI. Various errors in practical Christiamity...........csecsnscsceecererees 233 
ΝΒ τΠοΠὁΠῤέ͵᾿ τ πο χτ pooner ceicad-conancehae onc coolsccoesaasaccc 244 
PNP πεβο αν γοβεϊν 5... το τοῖν τυ το να σε ἐν ἐτο ττ 200 
IX. Baptism—The Holy Supper—Christian fellowship Mere ἈΠ ΣΌΝ 280 
ΕΝ lristian ΓΓΙΘΠΟΒΏΙΡ, fccie see.cccacseocteersee. contends spss sesteeensneenaroanen 288 
XI. Various callings among Christiams..............ccccccccccescscsetserseeeeees 296 
XII. The Christians in affliction and general public calamities .... 309 


PART III. 
LIGHT IN THE DARK PLACES. 


EFFECTS OF CHRISTIANITY DURING AND AFTER THE 
IRRUPTION OF THE NORTHERN NATIONS INTO THE 
ROMAN EMPIRE. 


UmtroductoryReMatles, «6. os. -dsrn- wascnhe-nucoeescuacansquntabqantanceaneat 316 

J. The North-African church under the Vandals ............0.... 318 

ἘΠ Severus, 1η Germanys asa. cen ck cice oe sea dace του τον ἐπε νονι οσι το ΠΕ ΤῊΣ 333 
III. The labours of pious men among the Franks: 

1. Germanus in Auxerre (Antisiodorum) ...sesccseceessseeens 342 

Qe snus Of MTOy eS in ssn sarecns-onanacenseysa ἀν τὰν τ τ τ πο see emer 344 

ie) | Ceesaritis Of Am τιον πῆ stesdees<tchedenaeascae-saeetanra 345 

AS Eligius, ΒΙΒΒΟΡ Οὗ Noy Ont: .5.y. <acscsmiscecsesersoee-scossenereeeete 374 

IV. Gregory the Great, Bishop of Rome, A.D. 590......cceeeeeee 386 

V. Christianity in poverty and Sickness ........scssesssersscssesearsesesees 405 

PART EV. 


SKETCHES FROM THE HISTORY OF MISSIONS IN THE 


Us 
is 


MIDDLE AGES. 


General remarks on the history of missions in this period .... 408 
The livesand labours of individual missionaries: 

a Patrick, the Apostle of the Urisheesaesreeeresecaeeees 425 

2. Monasticism in Ireland—Columban  o......ccceseecsseseeeeee 434 

3. Gallus, the Apostle of Switzerland ............sssssssesesseesees 449 

4, Boniface, the Apostle of the German...........ccceesseeeee 453 

Ds Grerony, Abbot) off Witrechtt spare. cues eee anaes 470 

6. athe Abbot: Sturm, of Bul dns ππΠοΠ2Ὶ eee te eee 473 

7. Alcuin, on Missionary Efficiency.............secccescsecceeseseeees 475 

8. lindser ands Wallehad =.:csos cesses reese es eee eee 478 

9. Anschar, the Apostle of the North ............cscssssssseseneees 482 

Τοῦ: Dhe. Martyr. Adalbert, off Prisstai.s.c.s.0.cscssscteessccnoneeeseoare 488 

61: hes Moons (Nilins. <:.52s.0: desea aieede snec ohne adorn See oe 492 


12. Otto, Bishop of Bamberg, the Apostle of Pomerania.... 503 
TS.) Reatmarid Liu: o9s.csssnossstye pepeteencsbuct steer apnaoesss netgear 520 


ῬΆΒΗΣΊ: 


CHRISTIAN LIFE OF ΤΙΝ FIRST THREE CENTURIES, 


CHAPTER I. 
VARIOUS METHODS OF CONVERSION TO CHRISTIANITY. 


THE manifold wisdom of God, of which the Apostle of the 
Gentiles speaks in Eph. 11, 10, is conspicuously exhibited, 
not less than his inexpressibly condescending love, in the 
variety of leadings by which men are brought, according to 
their different 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, during 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 all ages of the Church. 

Some persons experienced the Saviour’s miraculous power 
in the relief of their bodily maladies, and thus knew him 
first as a temporal benefactor; they were not conscious of 
any higher wants, but by the powerful aid of this kind which 
they had received from him, they were led to receive him as 
the ‘sent of God,’ endcwed with divine power, and became 
receptive of those higher gifts which he was ready to impart. 

B 


s 


9 CHRISTIAN LIFE OF THE FIRST CENTURIES. 


No sooner had they received his words into their hearts than - 
they recognised in Him, from whom they had at first sought 
only bodily relief, 2 Redeemer from that internal unhappi- 
ness of which they now became conscious by the light which 
he shed upon them. Others who were already in a higher 
stage of spiritual development, 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 divine 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 born again of 
the Spirit,) had not only led a blameless life before the world, 


VARIOUS METHODS OF CONVERSION, 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 the 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 appearance and the discourses of the Redeemer, 
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 
cure. 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 
neyer 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. ΤῸ 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 the gospel 


according to the diversity of their natural peculiarities and 
B2 


4 CHRISTIAN LIFE OF THE FIRST CENTURIES. 


previous habits of life, was very strikingly exemplified on 
the first appearance and spread of the gospel in the heathen 
world. Many, before they were awakened to the necessity 
of seeking truth and righteousness, were led by deliverance 
from bodily suffering, which they obtained in answer to the 
believing prayers of Christians, to a participation in the 
spiritual blessings of heavenly good. We 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 Christian was informed by the sick man 
that he had sought the help of his gods in vain, he seized 
the opportunity of telling him of the numbers healed by 
Christ while he lived on earth, and how many similar cures 
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 
worthlessness of his gods, and to acknowledge the God re- 
vealed in Christ 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 felt, as it were, 
subdued and fettered by a foreign power. It was as if two 
opposing personalities dwelt within 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 
such 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 
the 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 faithful 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 worse 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 Martyr, in the times of Marcus Aurelius, 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, Ireneeus says, “In the name of the Son of God, his 
true disciples who have received grace from him, labour for 
the good of their fellow-men, according as cach 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 by 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 
innumerable are the gifts of grace which the church through- 
out the world has receiyed from God, and which are daily 


6 CHRISTIAN LIFE OF THE FIRST CENTURIES. 


employed, in the name of Jesus Christ who was crucified 
under Pontius Pilate, for the benefit of the heathen, without 
making a traffic of them (like those itinerant exorcists and 
conjurers); for as they are received freely from God, so they 
are freely dispensed. Nothing is done by the invocation of 
angels (as the Theosophists of that day, with their pretended 
higher knowledge of the spiritual world; ‘the worshippmg 
of angels,’ alluded to in Col. 11. 18); nothing by incanta- 
tions and other impertinent intrusions into the invisible 
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, Tertullian 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 development of his mind, many things might 
appear to be quite sudden, which yet had for a long time 
been unconsciously preparing in the laboratory of his soul. 
Thus, an individual, through a sudden revolution of his inner 
life, inexplicable to himself, and yet for which suitable pre- 
paration had been made, might be carried away by the force 
of Christian principles, and be converted from a vehement 
opposer to a devoted advocate of Christianity. To such 
phenomena Origen appeals when he says, in his first book 
against Celsus, ‘that many, as it were, against their will, 





PATIENCE AND HUMILITY OF THE EARLY CHRISTIANS. 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, either 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, all 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 penetrated 
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 whom they shone as lights in the world.” This 
announcement of the gospel by the life operated even more 
powerfully than its announcement by the word. ‘‘ 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 we 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- 


* Οὐ γὰρ ἀνταίρειν δεῖ" οὐδὲ μιμητὰς εἶναι τῶν φαύλων βεβού- 
ληται ἡμᾶς, ἀλλὰ διὰ τῆς ὑπομονῆς καὶ πρᾳότητος ἐξ ἀισχύνης καὶ 
᾿ ἐπιθυμίας τῶν κακῶν ἄγειν πάντας προετρέψατο. Ὃ γὰρ καὶ ἐπὶ 
πολλῶν τῶν παρ᾽ ὑμῖν γεγενημένων ἀποδεῖξαι ἔχομεν " ἐκ βιαίων καὶ 
τυράννων μετέβαλον ἡττηθέντες, ἢ γειτόνων καρτερίαν βίον παρακο- 


8 CHRISTIAN LIFE OF THE FIRST CENTURIES. 


dence of their faith with the greatest firmness and cheerfulness, 
oftentimes amidst extreme tortures; and this spectacle must 
have made a deeper impression, if they believed that these ene- 
mies of the 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 everything 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 
truth 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 Apology, he says, “‘ Our numbers 
increase the oftener you cut us down. The blood of Chris- 
tians 15 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? And who that has inquired does not join us, or having 
joined, is not eager to suffer?’’} Such was the experience 


λουθήσαντές ἢ συνοδοιπόρων πλεονεκτουμένων ὑπομονὴν ξένην κατα- 
νοήσαντες ἢ συμπραγματευομένων πειρασθέντες. Justin. Apol. maj. 
fol. 63, tom. i, p. 170. ed. Otto. (Jene, 1842.) 

* Nec tamen deficiet hiec secta, quam tunc magis edificare scias, 
cum cedi videtur. Quisque enim tantam tolerantiam spectans, ut aliquo 
scrupulo percussus et inquirere accenditur, quid sit in causa; et ubi cogno- 
verit veritatem, et ipse statim sequitur.—Tertullian. ad Scapulam. 

+ Plures efficimur, quoties metimur 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; nec tamen tantos inveniunt verba discipulos, 
quantos Christiani factis docendo. Illa ipsa obstinatio, quam exprobratis, 
magistra est. Quis enim non contemplatione ejus concutitur, ad 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 
Plato, 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 
which 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 Goete 
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, 
“πον 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 FIRST CENTURIES. 


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 different language, and 
caused them to dread 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 heavy-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 burden 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 assurance 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 
Hpistle 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—sinee he has exalted him victoriously 
to heaven to share in the divine power of his Father, with 
which he now operates on humanity—since by his sufferings 


FALSE IMPRESSIONS OF CHRISTIANITY. 11 


for you he 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 eross 
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, was 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 
natural 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 only 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 CHRISTIAN LIFE OF THE FIRST CENTURIES. 


must feel his misery, must regard his supposed wisdom, 
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 with 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 hfe 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 virtue, 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- 
har 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 
which 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 
recognize 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 impossibility, for he knew not ‘“ the law of 


SUPPOSED IMPOSSIBILITY OF CONVERSION. 13 


the spirit,” (ὁ νόμος τοῦ πνεύματος, Rom. viii. 2,) which is more 
powerful than ‘the law in the members,” (νόμον ἐν τοῖς 
μέλεσί, Rom. vil. 23,) the power of God, which is mightier 
than the power of flesh 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 nature is a matter of extreme 
difficulty.” He utters in these words a great truth: law, 
fear, punishment, can only repress and check the outward oyer- 
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 
may 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 nature, can effect; he did not acknowledge the power 
of love over the heart, which can effect far more than all out- 
ward 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 surrendered 
themselves 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 
grounded the consciousness of the highest dignity on scelf- 
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 original, that which is properly natural, 


14 CHRISTIAN LIFE OF THE FIRST CENTURIES. 


still dwells in the soul; for what is from God cannot become 
extinct, but only obscured. It can be obscured, 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 very 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 b 
water, and by 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 ¢rudy moral or divine 
life, for which man was created, we shall find human nature 
everywhere 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 view 
Tertullian 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 
children of Abraham, if they are formed to the faith of 





CYPRIAN’S VIEWS OF 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 divine 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 what must be expe- 
rienced before it can be understood» When I lay in dark- 


* Non dabit enim arbor mala bonos fructus, si non inseratur; et bona 
malos dabit si non colatur; et lapides filii Abrahe fient, si in fidem 
Abrahz formentur; et genimina viperarum fructum peenitentie facient, 
si venena malignitatis exspuerint. Hee erit vis divine gratie, potentior 
utique natura.—Tertull. de Anima, 21. 

+ Accipe quod sentitur antequam discitur, nec per moras temporum 
longe agnitione colligitur, sed compendio gratiz maturantis hauritur. 
Ego cum in tenebris atque in nocte cca jacerem, cumque in salo jactantis 
seeculi nutabundus ac dubius vestigiis observantibus fluctuarem, vite 
mez nescius, veritatis ac lucis alienus, difficile prorsus ac durum pro illis 
tune moribus opinabar quod in salutem mihi divina indulgentia pollice- 
batur, ut quis renasci denuo posset, utque in novam vitam lavacro aque 
salutaris animatus quod prius fuerat 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 
materiz naturalis obduruit, vel usurpatum duo senio vetustatis inolevit ὃ 
Alta hee 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. Hic 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, ambitio delectet, libido precipitet. Hac egomet sepe mecum. 
Nam ut ipse quam plurimis vite prioris erroribus implicitus tenebar, 
quibus exui me posse non crederem, sic vitiis adherentibus obsecundans 
eram, et desperatione meliorum malis meis veluti jam propriis ac verna- 
culis offavebam. Sed postquam unde genitalis auxilio superioris evi 
labe detersa, in expiatum pectus serenum ac purum desuper se lumen 
infudit, postquam ccelesti Spiritu hausto in novam me hominem nativitas 
secunda reparavit, 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, 
qaod jam Spiritus Sanctus animaret.—Cyprian. Ep. 1 ad Donatum., 


16 CHRISTIAN LIFE OF THE FIRST CENTURIES. 


ness and blind night ; when I was tossed hither and thither 
by the billows of the world, and wandered about with an 
uncertain and fluctuating course, according to my habits at 
that time, I considered it as something ducal 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? 
Fav 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 vices that 
cleaved to me, and despairing of amendment, submitted to my 
evil inclinations, as if they belonged to my 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 what before 
seemed difficult, and what was thought impossible became 
possible ; my former life, which, being of carnal origin, was 
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 haye 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 BAFTISM. 17 


deceive himself by imagining that if he persisted in sin, or 
backslided 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 protestations; but God watches over his own 
treasure, and will not allow it to fall into the hands of the 
unworthy. Is there, forsooth, one Christ for the baptised 
and another for the catechumens ?” 

But when men who seemed incorrigible were amended by 
Christianity, this was a most str iking proof of its divine 
power. On this point Origen 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?” W hat were the sweep- 
ing reproaches of Celsus when set against the living examples 
which the Christians were able to adduce? ‘‘ What must we 

c 


18 CHRISTIAN LIFE OF THE FIRST 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 ungodly, 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 self-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 
wisdom, the word of the cross was foolishness. Celsus, 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 turned 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 the 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, 


CHRISTIANITY COMPARED 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. 
And 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 unknown God; for he said 
(in the Zimeus 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, and 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 
were led to the gospel by the moral consciousness already 

c 2 


20 CHRISTIAN LIFE OF THE FIRST CENTURIES. 


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 spirit and the 
law in their members, and longing after redemption from this 
conflict, hastened 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 carly 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 Chri istianity had been generally spread, heathen- 
ism and paganism (the religio paganorum) were synonymous. 
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 
Tad been led astray by false and excessive refinement.” 

There were many of the educated class who were prompted 
to occupy themselves with the study of philosophy, not by a 
speculative but rather by a religious interest. They wished 


* Non qui (Christus) rupices et adhuc feras homines multitudine tot 
numinum demerendorum attonitos efficiendo ad humanitatem temperaret, 
quod Numa; sed qui jam expolitos, et ipsa urbanitate deceptos, in agni- 
tionem veritatis ocuiaret.—Tertull. 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 
aliied 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 inexorable 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 was 
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 
difference whether the insensibility proceed from health or 
from numbness ; for in this state of mortality a sound body 
suffers 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 utrum 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 compunctus 
laborantis miseria, condolescit misericordia, Caro autem graviore morbo 
stupida, vel amisso etiam spiritu mortua, nec cum pungitur dolet; qualis 
est istorum animus, qui sine Deo philosophantur, vel potius prefocantur. 
—Aung. Serm. 348. (Ben. v, p. 1344.) 


22 CHRISTIAN LIFE OF THE FIRST CENTURIES. 


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 yet 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 transitory has passed away, 
and the corruptible has put on incorruption, 1 Cor. xy. 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 δ᾿ (2 Cor. vii. 5); or stronger 
than our Lord himself, who said, ‘My soul is exceeding 
sorrowful, even unto death?’ He is not stronger; rejoice 
not in that insensibility. Such an one has not put on im- 
mortality, but put off 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?’ (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 philosophy 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! what is man that 
God should be mindful of him!” this philosophy gave no 
consolatory answer; to the wish that would faim believe, 





CHRISTIANITY COMPARED WITH PLATONISM. 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 natures more practical than 
speculative. The needs of most men required a certain firm 
support of faith, an anchor which would enter into the invi- 
sible sanctuary which 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 with 
this design) of the heathen oracles (both genuine and spu- 
rious), Porphyry says: ‘“ The uses of this collection will be 
best known by those who, louging after the truth, have pre- 
viously 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. 


atiain no firm and satisfactory convictions by means of the 
contending systems of the philosophers, and the 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 century, 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 Rome, here represents the history of his inner 
life: “51, Clement, was able to pass my first 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 whence 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? 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 will at last be 
dissolved into an unconscious //—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 tnan 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 finding it, and 
when I had found it I pitied those whom before I had igno- 
rantly pronounced fortunate. 

‘* As from childhood I had been occupied with such 





EXPERIENCE OF CLEMENT. 23 


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,—t 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 what 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 with such thoughts. 

“What must I do now? I will travel into Egypt to 
make friends with the Hierophants and Prophets of the 
Mysteries; I will seek out a magician, and when I have 
found one, I will induce him by a large sum of money to 
raise a spirit 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 


20 CHRISTIAN LIFE OF THE FIRST CENTURIES. 


sufficient proof, and uncertain words cannot overthrow what 
I experience by actual eyesight. But when 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 
Christian instead of a heathen philosopher: “1 found first 
in Christianity 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 imstructions have in them something worthy of 
veneration, a power to shame those who have wandered from 
the right way, while they furnish the most delightful refresh- 
ment to those who practise them.” (Dialog. c. Tryph. § 8.) 
Speaking from his own 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. ps | 


to those who desire to drink the 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 faith for him. In the system of many 
Christian theosophists 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 
ereation 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 CHRISTIAN LIFE OF THE FIRST CENTURIES, 


CHAPTER II. 


THE INFLUENCE OF CHRISTIANITY ON THE UNIVERSAL 
RELIGIOUS PRINCIPLE 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 Jiving 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 traditionary 
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, ‘‘ Who then is the God whom ye honour in 
secret without any visible cultus, without images, or temples, 





THEOPHILUS OF ANTIOCH. 29 


oraltars?’’ Theophilus 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 breath 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 15 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 holy 
God may be reflected in a sanctified heart. He 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 


ἢ * Βλέπεται yap θεὸς τοῖς δυναμένοις αὐτὸν ορᾷν, ἐπὰν ἔχωσι τοὺς 
ὀφθαλμοῦς ἀνεωγμένους τῆς ψυχῆς. Πάντες μὲν γὰρ ἔχουσι τοὺς 
ὀφθαλμοῦς, ἀλλὰ ἔνιοι ὑποκεχυμένους, καὶ μὴ βλέποντας τὸ φῶς τοῦ 
ἡλίου" καὶ οὐ παρὰ τὸ μὴ βλέπειν τοὺς τυφλούς, ἤδη καὶ οὐκ ἔτι τὸ 
φῶς τοῦ ἡλίον φαῖνον " adda ἑαυτοὺς αἰτιάσθωσαν οἱ τυφλοὶ, καὶ τοὺς 
ἑαυτῶν ὀφθαλμοὺς. Οὕτω καὶ σὺ, ὦ ἄνθρωπε, ἔχεις ἀποκεχυμένους 
τοὺς ὀφθαλμοὺς τῆς ψυχῆς cov ὑπὸ τῶν ἁμαρτημάτων καὶ τῶν 
πράξεῶν σου τῶν πονηρων. Ὥσπερ ἔσοπτρον ἐστίλβωμένον, οὕτω δεῖ 
Tov ἄνθρωπον ἔχειν καθαρὰν ψυχήν. ᾿Επὰν οὖν ἡ ἰὸς ἐν τῷ ἐσύπτρῳ, 
οὗ δύναται ὁρᾶσθαι τὸ πρόσωπον τοῦ ἄνθρώπου ἐν τῳ ἐσόπτρῳ. Οὕτω 
καὶ ὅταν ἡ ἁμαρτία ev τῷ ἀνθρώπῳ, οὐ δύναται ὁ τοιοῦτος ἄνθρωπος 
θεωρεῖν τὸν Oedy.—Theoph. Antioch, ad Autolycum, 2. 


90 CHRISTIAN LIFE OF THE FIRST CENTURIES. 


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 mixed. 
As Clement of Alexandria expresses himself, ‘They bound 
together the portions of truth separated by human error into 
one harmonious whole, and thus recognised the truth without 
danger.” 

Yet certainly there was some truth at the foundation, when 
Tertullian, a man of practical life rather than a philosopher, 
was disposed to see in all mental culture (what can be only 
affirmed of what was not true), 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 entire 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 grant, and ‘If God will.” 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 what ts good.’ In fact, thou addest, * but man is evil.’ 





VIEWS OF TERTULLIAN AND MARCION. 3l 


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 ;’ “ 1 com- 
mend the matter to God.’ ‘ God will recompense it; ‘ God 
well 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 conscivusness.”’ ‘* 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.” (Zestimonium 
anme naturaliter Christiane.) 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 
eneryated by lusts and pleasures, although the slave of false 
gods, yet when 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 Tertullian 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 
Ckrist? 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 


Ὁ CHRISTIAN LIFE OF THE FIRST 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 
was 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 place 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 eyen as enemies, because their 
dispositions are manifested only through the enigmatical 
medium of language and the imperfect vehicle of notions. 


CHAPTER III. 


THE RELATION 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 eyery variety ef 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 


"τς. σα, σεν α.. 





CHRISTIANITY UNIVERSAL, NOT NATIONAL. 99 


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 
with the Romans, among whom the political point 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 (relvgio alcita), 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” (non licet esse vos), 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 was a revolt against the 
religion of the Hebrews, 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 everything 
new from the first as false, were opposed to the power which 
threatened to unhinge the whole ancient world. Accusations 
and reasons such as in later times haye been urged by the 

D 


94 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, haying 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 mén 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 siynificant old German proverb, 
‘ Wherever God has a temple, the devil 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 


*? , » ~ , ~ en, \ \ Cet > > 
Ἐπαποδυτέον ἄρα τῷ πόνῳ τῆς εὑρέσεως διὰ τὰς αἱρέσεις, ἀλλ 
οὐ τέλεον ἀποστατέον" οὐδὲ γὰρ ὀπώσας παρακείμένης, τῆς μὲν 
αληθοὺς καὶ ὡρίμου, τῆς δὲ ἐκ κηροῦ ὡς OTL μάλιστα ἐμφεροῦς πεποιη- 
μένης, διὰ τῆν ὁμοιότητα ἀμφοῖν αφεκτέον᾽ διακριτέον δὲ ὁμοῦ τε τῇ 
καταληπτικῇ θεωρίᾳ, καὶ τῷ κυριωτάτῳ λογισμῷ To ἀληθὲς ἀπὸ Tov 
φαινομένου. Καὶ ὥσπερ ὁδοῦ μιᾶς μὲν τῆς βασιλικῆς τυγχανούσης, 
πολλῶν δὲ καὶ ἄλλων, τῶν μὲν ἐπί τινα κρημνὸν, τῶν δὲ ἐπὶ ποταμὸν 
ῥοώδη ἢ θαλασσαν ἀγχιβαθῆ φερουσῶν, οὐκ ἄν τις ὀκνήσαι διὰ τὴν 
διαφωνίαν ὁδεῦσαι, χρήσαιτο δ᾽ ἂν τῇ ἀκινδύνῳ καὶ βασιλικῇ καὶ λεω- 
φορῳ᾽ οὕτως ἄλλα ἄλλων περὶ ἀληθείας λεγόντων, οὐκ ἀποστατέον, 
ἐπιμελέστερον δὲ θηρατέον τὴν ἀκριβεστάτην περὶ αὐτῆς γνῶσιν.--- 
Clem, Alexand. Strom. vii. 754. (Pott. 888.) 








CHRISTIANITY NOT COMPULSORY. 35 


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 Scriptures 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. 

“1% Christianity brought into consciousness the same image 
of God in all men, set free the development 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 diffused 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 Roman 
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 will 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 


90 CHRISTIAN LIFE OF THE FIRST CENTURIES. 


unwillingly put in execution the laws against them. They 
even told the Christians that they might perform the outward 
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 their 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.” 
Many Roman magistrates in the provinces, to whom gain was 
a greater object than the proper discharge of their office, 
offered for a certain sum of money to grant individual Chris- 
tians a certificate (libellum) 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 church 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 nature 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 foree to obey when anything was required that 
contradicted the divine laws. As to the first point, Tertullian 
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 Cesar, 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 Tertullian, vindi- 
cating the Christians from 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 understand 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 prompter, because we pray from the heart. 
We pray always for all emperors that they may have a long 


98 CHRISTIAN LIFE OF THE FIRST CENTURIES, 


life, a secure government, a safe home, valiant armies, a 
faithful senate, a righteous people, a world 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—lI, 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 15 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 things, must certainly enter 
into all human relations, and yet it must oppose everything 
that is sinful in them, agreeably to our Lord’s declaration, 
“1 am not come to send peace, but asword.” 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 
wielding 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 


ee σου: SE DS 


ἢ 





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 conyerts would readily carry them 
away into a violent opposition to the world, so a too violent 
opposition against everything which appeared in any way 
connected with heathenism might easily be excited at this 
time in earnest dispositions. 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- 
tullian, 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 Cesar the things that are Czsar’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 Cesar’s, 
he said, ‘ Render to Cesar the things that are Czsar’s, and 
to God the things that are God’s;’ that is, Render to Czesar 
the image of Cesar which is on the coin, and to God the 
image of God which is in man; so that unto Cesar thou 
givest money, unto God thou givest thyself; for if all things 
are Ceesar’s, what will be left for God?’ Here we may quote 
the beautiful words of Clement of Alexandria: ‘The purified, 
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 
scruple 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 
societies were regarded with suspicion, as it was feared that 
they 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 
(agape), 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 well 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, 

* Atenim nobis ab omni gloria et dignitate ardore frigentibus nulla 


est necessitas coetus, nec ulla magis res aliena quam publica. Unam 
omnium rempublicam agnoscemus mundum.—Tertull. Apol. 38. 





RELATION 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 enjoy in the right time and place without 
detriment to religion. They were the gifts of God which 
furnished mankind with these pleasures.” (See 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 would: ‘We are said to be 
unprofitable in the common concerns of life. How can this 
be said of men who live with 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: certainly we refrain from using them immoderately 
or wrongfully. Wherefore we 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 you.’—Apol. 
ch. 42. 


CHAPTER IV. 
THE VIEW TAKEN BY 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 
Christian is compared to that of the military life, and the 


42 CHRISTIAN LIFE OF THE FIRST CENTURIES. 


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- 
quillity and prosperity, yét in primitive times their entire out- 
ward condition served to remind them of the spiritual warfare; 
for the church found itself on all sides in conflict with the hea- 
then world, and the public 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. Whoever united himself by baptism 
(the segnaculum Christianorum) 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, &c., 
but all sinful indulgences. The positive side of their yow 
was an obligation to a life consecrated to God, and corre- 
sponding to the doctrine of Christ. This vow was called the 
Christian military oath (the sacramentum militie Christiane). 
The confession of faith, which Christians learnt by heart and 
repeated at their baptism, was regarded as the Christian 
watchword (éessera militie Christiane symbolum). The sign 
of the cross, as the sign of their general’s victory, the sign 
of the sufferings 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 morning 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 WARFARE. 48 


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 
realities 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 will 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 who 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 
with 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 thy 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 
apples 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 writes, when exhorting Christians to stedfastness 
under persecution: ‘* We were called to the service of the 
living God (ad militiam Det vivr), when we took our 
military oath by answering in the affirmative to the ques- 
tions, ‘ Dost thou renounce,’ &e. proposed at our baptism, 
(cum ὧν sacramenti 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 to be met with. Even in peace soldiers 
learn by labour and heavy 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 heayen, 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 with 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 children 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 yirtue 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 FIRST CENTURIES 


divine Spirit, Christ, on the contrary, possessed the whole 
fulness of this divine 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 practical wisdom), another the spirit of 
power, another the spirit 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 instruments, 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 Spirit. 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 Christian 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:{ ‘‘ 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 put off our defiled garments, 
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 regenération through baptism, which in that age 


was distinguished by the name of “ Illumination.” 
+ Dialog. c. Tryphone. c. 116. 





᾿ 
f 
i 
᾿ 


UNIVERSAL PRIESTHOOD OF CHRISTIANS. 47 


tiles pure and acceptable sacrifices shall be offered to him 
(Mal. i. 11). God receives no sacrifices from any one, 
excepting through his priests. . . .* Prayers and thanks- 
givings presented by the worthy are the only perfect sacrifices 
and acceptable to God.” ‘‘ All righteous persons haye the 
dignity of priests,” says Irenzeus; 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 Tertullian, “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 αοα. 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 
which are offered, in a true and spiritual manner, sacrifices 
well-pleasing to God, namely, prayers from a pure conscience. 
The images and the offerings, 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. Tryphone. c. 117. 

+ Nos sumus veri adoratores et veri sacerdotes, qui spiritu orantes 
spiritu sacrificamus orationem Dei propriam et acceptabilem, quam scilicet 
requisivit quam sibi prospexit. Hane de toto corde devotam, fide pastum, 
veritate curatam, innocentia integram, castitate mundam, agape coronatam, 
cum pompa operum bonorum inter psalmos et hymnos deducere ad Dei 
altare debemus, omnia nobis a Deo impetraturam.—Tertull. de Orat. 23. 


48 CHRISTIAN LIFE OF THE FIRST CENTURIES. 


image, far exalted above the whole creation, is indeed in our 
Saviour, who could say of himself (John xiy. 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 with 
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 toit. This is shown in 
Holy Writ, when God promises to the righteous (Lev. xxvi. 
12), “1 will walk among you, and will be your God, and ye 
shall be my people ;’ and the Saviour (John xiy. 29), ‘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 Roman Catholic stand-point, when in 
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 which was beginning to prevail. We may 
notice such in Tertullian: ‘‘ 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. 111. 27), ‘has made (18 
kings and priests to God and his Father.’ (Rev. 1.6.) And 
in another passage he combats the idea of a priestly caste in 


* The contrast which Origen here makes is this: The heathen sup- 
posed that by certain magical formule 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. 


St eed eae 


VIEW 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. 1. 6.05 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 mayest 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 are 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.” “ον 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 Tertullian’s language 
must be regarded not as the expression of the primitive, 
pure Christian spirit, but that the enthusiastic tendency of 
Montanism by which the church was then agitated, was the 
source of such views and of such expressions. But although 
alayman 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 Mon- 
tanism, on many points, advocated the interests of the primi- 
tive Christian truth in its conflict with such errors. Among 

* Vani erimus, si putaverimus quod sacerdotibus non liceat, laicis 
licere. Nonne et laici sacerdotes sumus ?—Tertull. de Ewhort. Cast. 7. 
E 


50 CHRISTIAN LIFE ΘΕ THE FIRST CENTURIES. 


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, we 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. (Rey. 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 Saviour, 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 Alexandria vindicated the univer- 
saliy spiritual character of all true Christians. ‘ We live 
already, we who are made free from death. To follow Christ 
is already salyation. ‘ 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 without 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 THEIR CALLING. 51 


given freedom to the pupil of the eye; so also we are freed 
by baptism from sin, which, like a mist, obstructs the rays of 
the divine ight; 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- 
lund is plainly declared by the apostle Paul, when he says 
(Gal. 111. 23), ‘ Before faith came, we were kept under the 
law, shut up unto the faith which should afterwards be 
revealed. Wherefore the law was 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 which is 
attended with fear, but under the teacher of freedom, the Son 
of God? Then he adds those words by which all distine- 
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 affecting 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 
of secular engagements, and the ties of domestic life,—this 
distinction made “the way that leadeth unto life” broad for 
the many, which our Saviour pronounces “ narrow” 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 
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 FIRST 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 
learnt 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 
hymn 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 service, 
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 Ceesar’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 already noticed how Tertullian 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. 

+ Τοὺς σοὺς ἀφελεῖς 

Παῖδας ἄγειρον 

Αἰνεῖν ἁγίως 

Ὑμνεῖν ἀδόλως 

᾿Ακάκοις στόμασιν 

Παίδων ἡγήτορα Χριστόν. 
Clem. Alex. Hymnus Christi, v. 5-10. (Pott. p. 312.) Opera, vol. i. 
p. 347. ed. Klotz. 





TERTULLIAN’S VIEWS 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 Christianity, 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, “1 thou mayest be made 
free, use it rather.” -(1 Cor. vi. 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, thou 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 distinguishest 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 





δ4 CHRISTIAN LIFE OF THE FIRST CENTURIES. 


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 
delight and joy. ‘Not for this purpose,” says Ireneus, “ 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. 
FAVOURITE EMBLEMS IN USE AMONG CHRISTIANS. 


Tur 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 Christian life. A 
favourite figure on the goblets of Christians was the shepherd 
in our 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; ὦ shzp 
sailing towards Heaven, representing the Christian Church 


INNER LIFE OF CHRISTIANS, 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; a fish 
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 for jish (IXOY) is composed 
of the first letters of each word in the sentence Ἰησοῦς Χριστός 
Θεοῦ Yios, Σωτήρ, Jesus Christ, Son of God, Saviour. In allu- 
sion to this, Tertullian says, “‘ We little fishes (pisciculi) were 
born in water like our ἐχθυν, Jesus Christ, and can only be 
saved by continuing in water ;” ὁ. 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. 


Ir 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 Ireneus, “ when it is 
not moistened, brings forth no fruit, sc we also—who were 
formerly only dry wood—can neyer bring forth the fruit of a 
divine life without 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 
from him the gift of immortal life, must loye him so much the 


56 CHRISTIAN LIFE OF THE FIRST CENTURIES. 


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- 
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... .. What then 
shall we do, brethren? 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 Ap. ad 
Cor. c. 32, 33.) He means to say, we are indebted for our 
justification only to the divine grace, which we appropriate 
by faith; we cannot merit it by our works, for it is througs, 
faith that we first obtain sanctifyimg grace, and therefore 
power to act aright. All that we have is only a work of 
grace, which is bestowed on us sinners without merit on our 
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 
naturally 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 works. 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! But loving him, thou wilt 





INNER LIFE OF CHRISTIANS. 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 himself, or who in what 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- 
offering 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 temple. We are 
the priests and ministers of that temple. Let us serve 
him to whom 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 power 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 warns, 
“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 commands 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 came down from heaven, not to do my own will, but the 
will of Him that sent me.’ But if the servant be not greater 
than his lord, and if the freed-man is bound to obey him who 
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 Johnii.6.) Only then does our walk correspond 


δ8 CHRISTIAN LIFE OF THE FIRST CENTURIES. 


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 haye 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 haye borne the image of the earthly, so 
let us also bear the image of the heavyenly.’” These words of 
the apostle in 1 Cor. xy. 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 will 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; namely, renovation after the image of the 
heavenly man, Christ, in virtue of the inward reception and 
appropriation of this heayenly man; hence Cyprian 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. 


i ae 





DELINEATION OF CHRISTIAN LIFE. 59 


CHAPTER VII. 


GENERAL DELINEATION OF THE CHRISTIAN LIFE. 


Tuts 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 pure 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: { ‘* 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 Patientie, 
p. 247. 

+ Χριστιανοὶ yap οὔτε γῇ, οὔτε ἔθεσι διακεκριμένοι THY λοιπῶν 
εἰσὶν ἀνθρώπων. ... κατοικοῦντες δὲ πόλεις Ἑλληνίδας τε καὶ βαρβα- 
ρους, ὡς ἕκαστος ἐκληρώθη, ἐν τοῖς ἐγχωριοις ἔθεσιν ἀκολουθοῦντες 
ἔν τε ἐσθῆτι καὶ διαίτῃ καὶ τῷ λοιπῷ βίῳ, θαυμαστὴν καὶ ὁμολογου- 
μένως παράδοξον ἐκδείκνυνται τὴν κατάστασιν τῆς ἑαυτῶν πολιτείας. 
Πατρίδας οικοῦσιν ἰδίας, ἀλλ᾽ ὡς πάροικοι" μετέχουσι πάντων ὡς 
πολῖται, καὶ πανθ᾽ ὑπομείνουσιν we ἕένοι. doa ἕένη πατρίς ἐστιν 
αὐτῶν, καὶ πᾶσα πατρὶς ξένη. Tapovow ὡς πάντες " τεκνογονοῦσιν, 
ἀλλ᾽ οὐ ῥίπτοῦσι τὰ γεννώμενα. . .. Ev σαρκὶ τυγχανοῦσιν, ἀλλ᾽ οὐ 
κατὰ σάρκα ζῶσιν. “Eri γῆς διατρίβουσιν, ἀλλ᾽ ἐν ουρανῴῷ πολιτεύ-- 
ονται. ἹΠείθονται τοῖς ὡρισμένοις νόμοις, καὶ τοῖς ἰδιόις βίοις νικῶσι 
Tove νόμους. ᾿Αγαπῶσι πάντας, καὶ ὑπὸ πάντων διώκονται. ᾿Αγνο- 
οὔνται καὶ κατακρίνονται" θανατοῦνται καὶ ζωοποιοῦνται. Πτωχεύουσι, 
καὶ πλουτίζουσι πολλούς. Πάντων ὑστεροῦνται, καὶ ἐν πᾶσι περισ- 
σεύουσιν. ᾿Ατιμοῦνται, καὶ ἐν ταῖς ἀτιμίαις δοξάζονται " βλασφη- 
μοῦνται, καὶ δικαιοῦνται" λοιδοροῦνται, καὶ εὐλογοῦσιν" ὑβρίζονται, 
καὶ τιμῶσιν. ᾿Αγαθοποιοῦντες ὡς κακοὶ κολαζονται" κολαζόμενοι 
χαίρουσιν ὡς ζωοποιούμενοι. Ὑπὸ ᾿Ιουδαίων ὡς ἀλλόφυλοι πολε- 
μοῦνται, καὶ ὑπὸ Ἕλληνων διώκονται" καὶ τῆν αἰτίαν τῆς ἔχθρας 
εἰπεῖν οἱ μισοῦντες οὐκ ἔχουσιν. ᾿Απλῶς δὲ εἰπεῖν, ὕπερ ἐστὶν ἐν 
σώματι ψυχὴ, τοῦτ᾽ εἰσὶν ἐν κόσμῳ Xprorcavoi.—Epistola ad Diogne- 
tum, 5, 6. 


00 CHRISTIAN LIFE OF THE FIRST 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 sojourners. ‘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 
foreign country. They marry like all men, and beget chil- 
dren; but they do not expose their children.” (A frequent 
custom among the heathen in that age.) ‘‘ They live in the 
flesh, but not according 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, their 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 through 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 Christians 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 
as 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 immortality 





DELINEATION OF CHRISTIAN LIFE. 61 


in the heavens . . . . God has assigned them so important 
a post which it is not lawful for them to quit.” 

Justin Martyr 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, since 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 blessings with ourselves from God the ruler of all.” 

The great moral effects 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 
yet was a sentiment confined with the limits of egoism.* 
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 glory—this virtue could find its place in the meanest 
cottage as well as in the palace, 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 poverty, 
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- 


* Tn all well ordered polities, if we may judge from the experience of 
past ages, 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, Works,i. 372. [Tr.] 


62 CHRISTIAN LIFE OF THE FIRST CENTURIES. 


ings with all the rest as equal before the Lord; they partook 
like others of communion with the Lord in the holy supper, 
as members of the one body of Christ, in which no distinction 
could exist between the slave and the freeman, 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 love-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 effected 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 philanthropy, 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 Polycarp, bishop of Smyrna: ‘ 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 PRayxER, which will 
be the subject of the following chapter. 








PRAYER. 63 


CHAPTER VIII. 
PRAYER. 


TERTULLIAN 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 Christ. 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 the name of God. Formerly prayer brought down 
plagues, routed hostile armies, prevented beneficial rains. 
But now the prayer of righteousness averts the divine wrath, 
keeps watch for enemies, and supplicates for persecutors. 
. . . . Christ has conferred 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 vigiliz meminerimus. Sub armis orationis signum nostri 
imperatoris custodiamus, tubam angeli exspectemus orantes. Orant etiam 
angeli omnes. Orat omnis creatura. Orant pecudes et fer et genua 
declinant.... Sed et aves nunc exsurgentes eriguntur ad coelum, et 
alarum crucem pro manibus extendunt, et dicunt aliquid, quod oratio 
videatur. Quid ergo amplius de officio orationis ? Etiam ipse Dominus 
oravit, cui sit honor et virtus in secula sezculorum.—Tertull. de Orat. 
§ 24. 


64 CHRISTIAN LIFE OF THE FIRST CENTURIES. 


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 falling, and preserves the standing. 
Prayer is the bulwark of faith; our arms and weapons against 
the adversary who waylays us on eyery side. ‘Therefore let 
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 given forth words of salvation full of the intuitions of 
truth. How many enemies have been. driven back, when 
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 
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 [ further say? 
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: “1 He 
prayed who was without sin, how much more ought we to 
pray who are sinners? The Lord prayed not for himself; he 
prayed for our sins.” 





PRAYER. 65 


In general, according to a custom that already prevailed 
among the Jews, nine, twelve, and three o’clock were re- 
garded by Christians as special 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 
and 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 prepared for all social 
deliberations by prayer. On all important occasions which 
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 
Treneeus, ‘‘ when 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 whole life was to be one continual prayer, 

* De temporibus orationis nihil omnino prescriptum est, nisi plane 
omni in tempore et loco orare.—Tertull. de Orat. § 18. 

Fr 


66 CHRISTIAN LIFE OF THE FIRST CENTURIES, 


thanks for the grace of redemption, and petition for further 
grace in order to sanctify. ‘‘’The whole life of a saint,” says 
Origen,* “ should be one great continuous prayer, and what 
is commonly called prayer is only a part of 11. And Cle- 
ment of Alexandria says,} ‘‘ Prayer is intercourse with God, 
even if we do but lisp; if we only silently address God with- 
out opening our lips, yet ery to him with our 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 ufe, since by 
prayer he strives to connect himself with God.” Cyprian 
says, ‘* We who live in Christ the true sun, and therefore in 
the true daylight, must surround the whole day with prayer ; 
and when night succeeds to day, this also must not interrupt 
our prayers, for to the children of the light there is day even 
at night. For when is de 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 
we shall pray and praise God without cessation, let us here 
also not cease to pray and to praise.” } 

* Οὕτω γὰρ μόνως τὸ ᾿Αδιαλείπτως προσεύχεσθε ἐκδέξασθαι δυνά- 
μεθα ὡς δυνατὸν ὃν εἰρημένον, εἰ πάντα τὸν βίον τοῦ ἁγίου, μίαν 
συναπτομένην μεγάλην εἴποιμεν εὐχήν" ἧς εὐχῆς μέρος ἐστί καὶ ἡ 
συνήθως ὀνομαζομένη εὐχὴ, οὐκ ἔλαττον τοῦ τρὶς ἑκάστης ἡμέρας 
ἐπιτελεῖσθαι ὀφείλουσα.---Οτίροποβ περὶ εὐχῆς, § 12. 

{Ἔστιν οὗν, ὡς εἰπεῖν τολμηρύτερον, ὁμιλία πρὸς θεὸν ἡ εὐχή. Κἀν 
ψιθυρίζοντες ἄρα, μηδὲ τὰ χείλη ἀνοίγοντες μετὰ σιγῆς τ προσλαλῶμεν, 
ἔνδοθεν κεκράγαμεν. Πᾶσαν γὰρ τὴν ἐνδιάθετον ὁμιλίαν ὁ θεὸς 
ἀδιαλείπτως Ἐπ Εν τ woe Ei δέ τινες καὶ ὥρας τακτὰς ἀπονέμουσιν 
εὐχῆ, ὡς τρίτην φέρε καὶ ἕκτην καὶ ἐννάτην, ἀλλ᾽ οὖν γε ὁ γνωστικὸς 
παρὰ ὕλον εὔχεται τὸν βίον, Ov εὐχῆς συνεῖναι μὲν σπεύδων θεῷ.--- 
* Clem. Strom. § 7, 722. (Pott. 854.) 

t Nos, fratres dilectissimi, qui in Domine luce semper sumus, qui 
repaid et tenemus quid esse accepta gratias coeperimus, computemus 
noctem pro die. Ambulare nos credamus semper in lumine, non impe- 
diamur a tenebris quas evasimus. Nulla sint horis nocturuis precum 
damna, nulla orationum pegra et ignava dispendia. Per Dei indulgentiam 
recreati et renati imitemur quod futuri sumus. MHabituri in regno sine 
interventu noctis solum diem sic nocte quasi in lumine vigilemus. Oraturi 
semper et acturi gratias Deo, hic quoque orare et gratias agere non 
desinamus,—Cyprian. de Orat. Dom. § 36. 








πα οΦ“Φ 


PRAYER. ὴ 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 says, “It appears 
to me that whoever wishes to pray, should first retire into 
himself and collect his thoughts, and then surrender 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 
prayer, dismissing from his mind all foreign matters; he 
raises his soul before his hands; he raises his spirit to 
God before his eyes; he should 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? Purity 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. 

F2 


68 CHRISTIAN LIFE OF THE FIRST CENTURIES. 


and other evils which proceed from the mind, but are aceum- 
plished by the labour of the hands. This is true purity, not 
merely what is external, about which many are careful, who 
have brought Jewish or heathenish superstition with them 
into Christianity. Our hands are pure enough, which we 
washed with our bodies once for all in Christ.” (An allusion 
to baptism, which at time was performed by the immersion 
of the whole body. Probably Tertullian 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 affected practices belong not to religion, 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 perturbation of 
mind, so that it may come from a spirit that resembles the 
Spirit to whom it is offered. 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; every 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 corner 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 prayer. 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. 
FASTING JOINED WITH PRAYER. 


Ir 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 prayer. 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 diffused 
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 WITH PRAYER. 71 


Luke y. 35.) From what is contained in those words 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. 

When 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 iife, 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 was the day set apart for 
penitence and fasting, so Sunday, being devoted to the com- 
memoration of the resurrection 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. was 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 day of fasting and penitence, in commemoration of the 
sufferings 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 the 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. 4 

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, 
which correspond to the Saviour’s person and work, 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 world 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. 


Wuat 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 ardour of attachment with which 


“τΦ- 





TRUE AND FALSE ASCETICISMN. 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 hurry them on to overstep the 
proper limits, to reject at once all earthly good, instead of 
appropriating and employing for the service 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), 
“Tf 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 whole 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 (ἀσκητάι), or, by a metaphor taken from military 
affairs, Christian combatants (ἀγωνιστικοι), or the Abstinent 
(continentes), 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 who 
when they appeared in the philosopher’s cloak (τρέβων, 
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 
iruth, or fond of novelty, would soon collect. He was 
regarded 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, O Philosopher’s Cloak,” exclaims 
Tertullian, “ ἃ 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, when 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 tendency 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 
every 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 only 
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-loye, manifests itself in the form of spiritual pride 











TRUE 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 earnestness 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 unperverted 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 down 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 
something 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 which he endeavours to 
show that the outward was in itself a matter of indifference 
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 

* Ὡς δὲ ἡ ταπεινοφροσύνη πρᾳότης ἐστὶν, οὐχὶ δὲ κακουχία σώμα- 
Toc’ οὕτω καὶ ἡ ἐγκράτεια ψυχῆς ἀρετὴ, ἡ οὐκ ἐν φανερῷ, arr ἐν 
ἀποκρύφῳ. Ἑἰσίν θ᾽ ot πορνείαν ἄντικρυς τὸν γάμον λέγουσι καὶ ὑπὸ 
τοῦ διαβόλου ταύτην παραδίδοσθαι δογματίζουσι" μιμεῖσθαι δ᾽ αὐτοὺς 
οἱ μεγάλαυχοί φασι τὸν κύριον, μήτε γήμαντα, μήτε τι ἐν τῷ κόσμῳ 
κτησάμενον μᾶλλον παρὰ τοὺς ἄλλους νενοηκέναι τὸ εὐαγγέλιον 
καυχώμενοι. Λέγει δὲ αὐτοῖς ἡ γραφῆ. Ὑπερηφάνοις ὁ Θεὸς ἀντιτάσ- 
σεται, ταπεινοῖς δὲ δίδωσι Yapty.—Clem, Strom. III. 446. (Pott. 583,}). 








BROTHERLY LOVE OF CHRISTIANS. 77 


earthly good—that poverty in itself is not praiseworthy, but 
only the renunciation ofsthe earthly by the heart. When the 
enthusiasts of the Montanist sect, of whom we have spoken 
above, wished to prescribe regular fasts at certain times, 
many protested against them, and said that it was accordant 
with evangelical freedom that no positive law should be laid 
down cn such points—that here every one is free to act 
according to his own necessities, circumstances, and inclina- 
tion. They appealed to Isaiah lviii. 5, 6, &e., “* that not fasts 
but works of righteousness were well-pleasing to God.” (Matt. 
myer bie ee Pim ive ly &e. οὐ 1 Cor: vine: 82) 

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 feod which the Christians sent to 
their brethren in prison. But one of his fellow-prisoners, 
Attalus, 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 ascetie 
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 ΧΙ. 
THE PRACTICAL BROTHERLY LOVE OF CHRISTIANS. 


As our Lord declared brotherly-love to be the special mark 
by which mankind would recognise his 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 agape), which were 
held in the primitive age, when Christians of all classes, for- 


78 CHRISTIAN LIFE OF THE FIRST CENTURIES. 


getting the differences of station, property, and education, met 
together, and the rich partook with the poor. On these occa- 


sions Christians assembled as if forming one family. As the 


Lord sanctified the meals which 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 century, ‘‘ 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 with 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 ina foreign town, sought out the 
assembly of Christians, and found there spiritual and bodily 
refreshment. 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 invicem se diligant ; ipsi enim 
invicem oderunt; et ut pro alterutro mori sint parati; ipsi enim ad occi- 
dendum alterutrum paratiores erunt. Sed et quod fratrum appellatione 


A aE Oe ΨΟΙ 








BROTHERLY LOVE OF CHRISTIANS. 79 


the surprise of the heathen on this subject, says, ‘“ We are 
even your brethren by right of our common 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 wants of their own members, but the 
richer churches of the capital cities, such as Rome, sent pecu- 
niary aid to those who were suffering for the faith, even to 
the remotest parts. And when the poor churches of the pro- 
vincial towns were not in a condition to give sufficient 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 simulatum est. Fratres autem etiam 
vestri sumus, jure nature matris unius, etsi vos parum homines, quia 
mali fratres. At quanto dignius fratres et dicuntur et habentur, qui 
unum Patrem Deum agnoverunt, qui unum spiritum biberunt sanctitatis, 
qui de uno utero ignorantiz ejusdem ad unam lucem expaverunt veritatis. 
. + .. Itaque qui animo, animaque miscemur, nihil de rei communicatione 
dubitamus.—Tertull. Apol, § 39, 


80 CHRISTIAN LIFE OF THE FIRST CENTURIES. 


he says, ‘“‘ We cannot regard the imprisonment of our breth- 
ren but as our own, nor their sufferings but as ours, since we 
are united with them in one body, and not only love, but a 
peculiar religious interest must impel and confirm us in pro- 
euring 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 dwelleth in you?’ (1 Cor. 11. 
16); therefore if love were not sufficient to impel us to help 
our brethren, we ought to reflect that the temples of God are 
in captivity, and these temples of God must 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 asare 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 
asmall 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 XII. 
GENERAL PHILANTHROPY OF CHRISTIANS. 
AutHovucH 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 the development 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 Redeemer, who died for his enemies, 
and of a love that expelled everything selfish. Whenever 
they met for worship 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 spectacles 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 venture 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- 
easioned 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 Father’s goodness.” 

α 


82 CHRISTIAN LIFE OF THE FIRST CENTURIES, 


The Christians answered this appeal by dividing the work 
among them according to their various situations and abilities. 
Some gave 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. 


Ir 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 church in great numbers during 








CHRISTIANS UNDER PERSECUTION. 83 


peaceful times, from those who felt the vital power of Chris- 
tianity. Not only the most excruciating tortures 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 faith, 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, “ Zhe 
spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak,” 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 
G2 


84 CHRISTIAN LIFE OF THE FIRST CENTURIES, 


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 weak 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- 
selyes to be Christians voluntarily before the heathen magis- 


* [Patientia] fidem munit, pacem gubernat, dilectionem adjuvat, 
humilitatem instruit, poenitentiam exspectat, exomologesin assignat, 
carnem yregit, spiritum servat, linguam frenat, manum continet, tenta- 
tiones inculcat, scandala pellit, martyria consummat, pauperem conso- 
latur, divitem temperat, infirmum non extendit, valentem non consumit, 
fidelem delectat, gentilem invitat; servam domino, dominum Deo com- 
mendat, feminam exornat, virum approbat; amatur in puero, laudatur in 
juvene, suspicitur in sene; in omni sexu, in omni etate formosa est. Age 
jam sis et effigiem habitumque ejus comprehendamus. Vultis illi tran- 
quillus et placidus frons pura, nulla moeroris aut ire rugositate contracta ; 
remissa zeque in lztum modum supercilia, oculis humilitate, non infelici- 
tate dejectis; os taciturnitatis honore signatum; color qualis securis et 
innoxlis; motus frequens capitis in diabolum et minax visus; ceterum 
amictus circum pectora candidus, et corpori impressus, ut qui nec infia- 
tur nec inquietatur. Sedet enim in throno spiritus ejus mitissimi et 
mansuetissimi, qui non turbine glomeratur, non nubilo livet, sed est 
teneree 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.—Tertull. de Patieniia, 
§ 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 such an enthusi- 
astic excitement. The Christian church in 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.p. 161, 
in which Bishop Polycarp suffered 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 gospel.” 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 
church, in order to secure 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 stedfast 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 wrote 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 suffered not as 


86 CHRISTIAN LIFE OF THE FIRST CENTURIES. 


Christians, but as criminals.” In his last letter, when in 
prospect of death, he wrote thus to his church: ‘* Conformably 
to the 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 Smyrna, 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 with 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? eighty and six years I have served him, 
and he has never injured me; how can I blaspheme my King 
who saves me?” He did not seek death in presumptuous self- 
confidence ; but when his Lord called him, he knew that He 
who 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 EMPEROR VALERIAN. 87 


agency, and hence they fancy that by their contrivances they 
can destroy a work which, proceeding from the power 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. He 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 their 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 Roman 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: “1 am a Christian anda 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 fer 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 
knowledge 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- 
self 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 
ZEmilianus, the prefect of Egypt, and was 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 CHRISTIAN LIFE OF THE FIRST CENTURIES. 


and to Him we continually pray for the tranquillity of his 
government.’ The prefect rejoined, ‘ Now, what hinders 
you 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 governor 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 evasion. He 
answered briefly, ‘‘ We can worship no other.” Dionysius 
was forthwith sentenced to banishment; his place of exile 
was Kephro, a remote district in Lybia, whither the gospel 
had not yet penetrated. To whatever spot they were 
banished, the bishops sought to propagate Christianity; they 
won the love of the inhabitants; they were frequently visited 
by members of their churches, with whom, though separated 
from them in body, they maintained a living 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 the 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 many 
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 was 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 heayen? I wish even during my absence to dis- 








MARTYRDOM OF CYPRIAN. 89 


charge this daily business of my calling, and by letter to make 
myself present among you. I endeayour by my wonted 
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 1 am absent from 
you if Iam safe in your reccllection. 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 the 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 offered 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 was 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 ail.” 

Suddenly Cyprian was taken away by a guard dispatched 
by the proconsul; but as long as the proconsul remained in 
the country for relaxation, Cyprian was not examined nor 


90 CHRISTIAN LIFE OF THE FIRST CENTURIES. 


sentenced. He remained for the night in custody, and was 
treated kindly. <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 shouid 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 order 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, 
‘ean I call that vessel by any other name than what it is?” 
“No.” “Neither can I call myself anything but what I 





MARTYRDOM OF PERPETUA. 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 father, if thou thinkest I deserve to 
be called thy father ; if with these hands I have brought thee 
up to this blooming 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 when 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 
sufferest.”” With these words he kissed his hands, and 
threw himself weeping at her feet. ‘‘ My father’s grey 
hairs,” said Perpetua, *‘ pained me when I thought that he 
alone of all my family would 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, “1 cannot do that.” ‘‘ Art thou a Christian ?” 
said the judge; and she answered, “1 am a Christian.” 
When the father wished to urge her still more, the judge 
ordered him to be taken away by force. The soldiers struck 
him. “Iam 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 gratification of a cruel people in a fight of wild 
beasts, which 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 CENTURIES. 


self compelled to acknowledge that here there was something 
divine. In consequence, he showed favour 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 
cheering each other by such intercourse. Shortly before the 
public spectacle the aged father came for the last time to his 
daughter, 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 Redeemer 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 suffer such pain, how will you feel 
when you are exposed to the wild beasts, which you made so 
light of when you refused to sacrifice?” She answered, 
“What I now suffer, I endure myself alone; but then another 
will be with me, who will suffer for me, because I also will 
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 fast 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 ΟΒΙΘΕΝ. 93 


mentioned, Pudens, and took farewell of him, saying, ‘‘ Fare- 
well! meditate on my faith, and let not this unsettle you, 
but rather confirm you in the faith;” at the same time he 
took a ring off his finger, dipped it in the blood that flowed 
from his wound, and gave it as a memento. SBefore the 
martyrs received the customary coup de grdce, they gave one 
another in the article of death the kiss 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 
heaven. 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 He 
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 Sep- 
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, then 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 power in the 
publication 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 palm- 
branch in his hands that he might present it, according to the 


94 CHRISTIAN 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 bury 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 burned, and 
have not love, it profiteth me nothing.” Where watchful- 
ness and sobermindedness are wanting, what would 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 victory of faith, that intelligent clergymen 
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 who 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 end 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. Itis 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 vy. 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 meck, 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 


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 his 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 we 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: “41 believe, if we do not see one another 
again in this world, we shall embrace one another in the 
future 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 CONFESSORS’ SUFFERINGS. 97 


CHAPTER XIV. 


THE SYMPATHY OF ALL CHRISTIANS IN THE SUFFERINGS 
OF THE CONFESSORS. 


Waite Christians took a lively interest in all their brethren, 
this was especially the case in reference to the confessors. 
“ontributions 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 affording 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 who 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 sustentation 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 who 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 Holy Spirit, 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 prison is also an abode of the Eyil Spirit, where he as- 
sembles those who belong to him ; but you are come to the 
prison for the very purpose of treading him underfoot in his 
own abode, which you have already done outside the prison. 
Might he not, therefore, say, Ye are in my kingdom; I will 
tempt you by low passions and dissensions. Let him flee 
your countenance, and retire to his own abyss, like a serpent 


98 CHRISTIAN LIFE OF THE FIRST CENTURIES. 


rendered harmless by enchantment. 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 seest 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 are 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 church in a time of impending persecution :* 


* Neque enim sic nomen militia dedimus, ut pacem tantummodo 
cogitare et detrectare et recusare militiam debeamus, quando in ipsa 
militia primus ambulayerit Dominus humilitatis et tolerantiz et passionis 
magister, ut quod fieri docuit prior faceret, et quod pati hortatur prior 
pro nobis ipse pateretur.... Nec quisquam, fratres dilectissimi, cum 
populum nostrum fugari conspexerit metu persecutionis et spargi contur- 
betur, quod collectam fraternitatem non yideat, nec tractantes episcopos 
audiat. Simul tunc omnes esse non possunt, quibus occidere non licet, 
sed occidi necesse est. Ubicunque in 1115. diebus unusquisque fratrum 
fuerit a grege interim necessitate temporis corpore non spiritu separatus, 
non moveatur ad fugze illius horrorem, nec recedens et latens deserti 
loci solitudine terreatur. Solus non est, cui Christus in fuga comes 





/ 


CYPRIAN’S EXHORTATION TO THE PERSECUTED. 99 


« Not in ¢hat 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 suffered for us. 
And let none of you, dear brethren, be disturbed when 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 publicly 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 fugientem in solitudine ac montibus latro 
oppresserit, fera invaserit, fames aut sitis aut frigus afflixerit, vel per 
maria precipiti navigatione properantem tempestas ac procella sub- 
merserit, spectat militem suum Christus ubicunque pugnantem, et per- 
secutiones causa pro nominis sui honore morienti premium reddit quod 
daturum se in resurrectione promisit. Nec 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. 56 ad Theberatanos. 


100 CHRISTIAN LIFE OF THE FIRST CENTURIES, 


CHAPTER XV. 


OCCUPATIONS PERMITTED OR FORBIDDEN AMONG 
CHRISTIANS. 


Ir 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 man 
abide in the same calling wherein he was 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 Goc g devoted and 
serviceable to the kingdom of God, 

Thus every calling not in itseif immoral (although by the 
manner in which it was commonly 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 (cawponarz) became a proverbial 
expression to designate dishonourable adulteration. But the 
innkeeper Theodotus, at Ancyra, in Galatia, who 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 
and wine at his expense. ‘The biographer of this person com- 
pares this tavern to Noah’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 FORBIDDEN. 101 


be regarded as a sinner; and Jesus Christ came on no other 
account than to deliver sinners.” Whoever before his con- 
version to Christianity followed an occupation that pandered 
to vice, or was founded on deceit, or was in any way con- 
nected with 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 
were 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 worship 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 sweat; in homage to these thou kindlest the light of the 
understanding.”” Moreover, 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 curious 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 Goét in Pontus, Alexander, whose life was written 
by 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 
(histriones), 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 supports, 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 FIRST CENTURIES. 


given 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 wicked 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. But 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 injurious 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 fulminea) under the Emperor Mar- 
cus Aurelius; for even if we are not disposed to admit that 
this story is founded on fact, 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 time that another party vindi- 
cated it, and appealed to the directions which John the 
Baptist gave to the soldiers (Luke ili. 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 appeared 
inconsistent with the priestly character of all Christians, 
“ον 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 tortures and punishments, who 
may not avenge even his own injuries?” Certainly these 
scruples testify the tender conscientiousness of some Chris- 
tians, and show how their souls were filled with the heavenly 
ideal of the legislation of a higher than any earthly state, 
which the Redeemer sketched in his sermon on the mount. 
Indeed, the perfect understanding of the legislation for the 
kingdom of heaven, which was embodied in that discourse, 
had not yet been attained by them. They did not understand 





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 
weary 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 endure 
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 
without. As long as the power of sin exists among men, all 
this cannot 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 
Roman 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. 
When called upon to take the military cath, 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?’’ asked the proconsul. ‘ My own heart,” answered 
the youth, ‘and that Being who has called me.” “Take the 
soldier’s badge,’’ said the proconsul. “1 wear already the 
badge of Christ my God,” (the sign of the eross,) replied the 
youth. The proconsul then said: “1 will send thee straight 
to thy Christ.” ‘The young man answered: “ ΠῚ you only did 
that, it would not redound to your honour.” When the pro- 
consul ordered him to be decorated by force with the military 
badge, he said: “I cannot wear this 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 our 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 FIRST CENTURIES. 


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 
soldiers.” The young man replied: ‘‘ They know what they 
have to do; but Iam aChristian, and I can do nothing evil.” 
- And what evil do soldiers perpetrate?” said the proconsul. 
“You well know what they do,” answered the youth. He 
met all threats by saying: “I shall not perish; if I depart 
from 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, who 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 
him. 

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 (prepositus 
cubiculariorum) 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 
aecess to the emperor for gold, or that, overcome either by 





CIVIL OFFICES HELD BY CHRISTIANS. 105 


entreaties or threats, you should give any unworthy counsel 
to the emperor. Far from you be all the attractions of gain 
which looks more like idolatry than the religion of Christ. 
No ill-gotten gain, no falsehood, becomes the Christian who 
has devoted himself to the simple, unhypocritical Christ. No 
slanderous, offensive language must be heard among you. 
very 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 philosophers 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 dono 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 would forgive 
you, so also do you forgive. Then you will overcome all 
envy, 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.” 


1] 


106 CHRISTIAN 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. 
Wherefore art thou so unthankful that thou dost not esteem 
enough and acknowledge the many and great pleasures which 
are granted thee by God? For what is more blessed than 
reconciliation with God our 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 true 
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 with money.” 


* Jam nunc si putas delectamentis exigere spatium hoc, cur tam 
ingratus eo, ut tot et tales voluptates a Deo contributas tibi satis non 
habeas neque recognoscas’? Quid enim jucundius, quam Dei Patris et 
Domini reconciliatio, quam veritatis revelatio, quam errorum recognitio, 
quam tantorum retro criminum venia? Que major voluptas, quam 
fastidium ipsius voluptatis, quam seculi totius contemtus, quam vera 
libertas, quam conscientia integra, quam vita sufficiens, quam mortis 
timor nullus, quod calcas deos nationum, quod dzmonia expellis, quod 
medicinas faces, quod revelationes petis, quod Deo vivis? He volup- 
tatis, hec spectacula Christianorum sancta, perpetua, gratuita; in his 
tibi ludos circenses interpretare, cursus seculi intuere, tempora labentia 
spatia dinumera, metas consummationis exspecta, societates ecclesiarum 
defende, ad signum Dei suscitare, ad tubam angeli erigere, ad martyrii 
palmas gloriare. Si scenice doctrine ‘delectant, satis nobis litterarum 
est, satis versuum est, satis sententiorum, satis etiam canticorum, satis 
vocum, nec fabulz, sed veritates, nec strophz, sed simplicitates. Vis et 
pugillatus et luctatus? presto sunt, non parva sed multa. Adspice 
impudicitiam dejectam a castitate, perfidiam czsam a fide, szvitiam a 
misericordia contusam, petulantium a modestia obumbratam, et tales 
sunt apud nos agones, in quibus ipsi coronamur. Vis autem et sanguines 
aliquid? habes Christii—Tertull. de Spectac. § 29. 





CHRISTIANS HOME-HAPPINESS. 107 


As to what especially concerns domestic life, the 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 report, 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 seruple ; 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 
persons 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 attire of Christian females 
formed a striking contrast to the unbecoming and showy dress 
of many heathen women. ‘If the duty of friendship,” says 
Tertullian, “and of kind offices to the heathen calls you, 


* Quale jugum fidelium duorum unius spei, unius discipline, ejusdem 
servitutis! Ambo fratres, ambo conservi, nulla spiritus carnisve dis- 
cretio. Atque vero duo in carne una; ubi caro una, unus et spiritus. 
Simul orant, simul volutantur, et simul jejunia transigunt, alterutro 
docentes, alterutro hortantes, alterutro sustinentes. In ecclesia Dei 
pariter utrique, pariter in convivio Dei, pariter in angustiis, in persecu- 
tionibus, in refrigeriis ; neuter alterum celat, neuter alterum vitat, neuter 
alteri gravis est; libere ger visitatur, indigens sustentatur; eleemosinze 
sine tormento, sacrificia sine scrupulo, quotidiana diligentia sine impedi- 
mento; non furtiva signatio, non trepida gratulatio, non muta benedictio ; 
sonant inter dues psalmi et hymni, et mutuo provocant, quis melius Deo 
suo 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 FIRST CENTURIES. 


why not appear with your own proper weapons, so much the 
rather 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 
they 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 laxer 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 away 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? 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 who 
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 
(probrum 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 wicked? 
Or why is it said: ‘ Let your works shine?’ Or why does 
the Lord call us ‘ the light of the world?’ Why does he com- 
pare us to ‘acity 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—our 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 should flow over from 
the mind into the manners, and rise up from the conscience 
into the countenance.” ‘‘ The Christian female,” says Ter- 
tullian, “‘ 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 [?. 6. to partake of the Lord’s Supper ], 
or to hear the word 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 wouid, 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 ofa martyr ; yea, 
and to meet any one of the brethren with the kiss? to offer 
water for the saint's feet? . . . . Ifa stranger brother came, 
what lodging would he expect in the house of an alien from 
the faith? Ifa 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 haye 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 us in worshipping your God, since you are 
subject to the same calamities? ‘To this the teachers of the 


110 CHRISTIAN LIFE OF THE FIRST CENTURIES. 


Church replied, that the Christians, in as much as they 
belonged outwardly to the world, must share in earthly suffer- 
ings with the rest of mankind, but that in their inner life 
they 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 whose consolation 
is bounded by time; whose frail and short life reckons here 
upon some sweetness and pleasure; when 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 murmur 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- 


* Nec ideo quis putet Christianos iis que accidunt non vindicari, quod 
et ipsi videantur accidentium incursione perstringi. Poenam de adversis 
mundi ille sentit cui et letitia et gloria omnis in mundo est. 1116 moeret 
et defiet, si sibi male sit in szeculo, cui bene non potest esse post seeculum, 
cujus vivendi fructus omnis hic capitur, cujus hic solatium omne finitur, 
cujus caduca et brevis vita hic aliquam dulcedinem computat et volup- 
tatem ; quando isthinc excesserit poena jam sola superest ad dolorem. 
Ceterum nullus iis dolor est de incursione malorum presentium, quibus 
fiducia est futurorum bonorum. Denique nec consternimur adversis, nec 
frangimur, nec dolemus, neque in ulla aut rerum clade aut corporum 
valetudine mussitamus. Spiritu magis quam carne viventes firmitate 
animi infirmitatem corporis vincemus. Per ipsa qu nos cruciant et 
fatigant probari et corrobari nos scimus et fidemus.—Cypr. lib. ad Deme- 
trianum. 


THEIR CONDUCT UNDER PUBLIC CALAMITIES. 111 


ful 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. 


no adap Gig: Nec enim Deus sanguinem nostrum desiderat, sed fidem 
querit.—Cypr. de Mortalitate. 


112 CHRISTIAN LIFE OF THE FIRST CENTURIES. 


directed us to pray daily. The prevailing 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 Cyprian, wrote on such an 
occasion to the Egyptian, churches. The persecution of the 
Christians under the Emperor Valerian, 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. 
What happened previously was also very terrible. First of 
all, they persecuted us; and although we alone were perse- 
cuted and put to death, 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 martyrs could celebrate 
the most glorious festival, who had been admitted to the fes- 
tivities of heaven. After that came war and hunger, which 
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 Christ which he has granted to us alone. Now, after 
we and they had been allow ed 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 our 
faith. Very many of our brethren who, from their great love 
for their neighbours and brethren, spared not themselves— 





THEIR CARE 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 gave up their 
lives with 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. 
The 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, who 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 suppresses 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, ‘ Loye and friendship, like everything connected with 
individual personality, are transitory earthly appearances, only 
passing phenomena, rays of light breaking into time, which 
flow back to their original fountain in eternity;’ 1t does not 
require from man the surrender of his individual existence 
with a cold resignation to a liféless, unfeeling idea of the 
universe which 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 ina transformed personality through a Redeemer who has 
conquered death. ‘hose spirits, Christianity asserts, who 

I 





114 CHRISTIAN LIFE OF THE FIRST 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; when 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 
Tertullian, ‘‘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. 
Τὸν 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 our glorified state retain our self-conscious- 
ness? We who will 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 haye been snatched away from our visible inter- 
course; but it mitigates and moderates 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 during 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 WITH 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 appears to be artificial 
and hypocritical.” 

The affectionate remembrance of the departed was not 
suppressed or weakened by Christianity, but rather height- 
ened, reanimated, and rendéfed more cordial. Communion 
with the living and the dead was, in truth, a commumon 
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, with the lively con- 
sciousness that they were joined in communion with the Lord, 
and with 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 grayes, 
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 
Redeemer. 

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, sm, by which man is separated from the source 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 Epistle to the 

12 


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 
body were destined to be living, pure and sanctified as the 
organ of a holy, all-penetrating higher life. Thus Christians 
regarded the remains of their 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 suffered 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 martyrdom: “ 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 memory 
of those who have endured past conflicts, and as an exercise 
and preparation for those that are to come after them.” 

We see, from 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 honour 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 martyr, 


TERTULLIAN’S PROTEST AGAINST MARTYR-WORSHIP. 117 


as long as he dwells on earth, has to beg for the denarius 
(Matt. xx. 2), is answerable to him who 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 already safe in 
the possession of martyrdom, who 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 
imitate him in forgiving sins, suffer for me, 7f thou hast 
not sinned thyself. But if thou art a sinner, how can the oil 
in thy lamp suffice for me and for thyself too?” 


PART AI. 


CHRISTIAN LIFE WHEN CHRISTIANITY HAD GAINED 
THE ASCENDENCY IN THE ROMAN EMPIRE, 


CHAPTER I. 


VARIOUS METHODS OF CONVERSION 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 confiicted with 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 aggrandizemert, 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 


CONSTANTINE’S PROFESSION OF CHRISTIANITY. 119 


the 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, especially 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 haye 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 right convictions must know that they alone 
will live in holiness and purity whom Thou thyself dost eall 
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- 
stantine’s accession, and the favour of the authorities, which 


120 CHRISTIANITY ASCENDANT IN THE ROMAN 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 Constantine and Constantius and 
the heathen emperor Julian. It was natural, as in similar cir- 
cumstances it will always be easy, that there should be many, 
who, according to the expression of a Christian emperor, 
Jovian, serve not God, but the imperial purple; who are not 
drawn by the heavenly Father, who are not impelled by 
heartfelt necessity to confess the Lord, like those of whom it 
is said in John 11. 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 querunt Jesum, nisi ut illis faciat bene secundum 
tempus. Alius negotium habet, quzrit intercessionem clericorum: alius 
premitur a potentiore, fugit ad ecclesiam ; alius pro se vult interveniri 
apud quem parum valet; 1116 sic, ille sic; impletur quotidie talibus eccle- 
sia. Vix queritur Jesus propter Jesum.— August. in Joh. Evang. 
Tract. 25, § 10. 





WORLDLY MOTIVES OF PROFESSORS. 121 


as exemplified in the case of men thoroughly worldly-minded, 
who, with distinct consciousness, employed religion, to which 
they were wholly indifferent, 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.t| 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 
good cause has far more to fear from false friends than from 
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 
105 manifestation and obstructs its operation. ‘The angels of 
darkness are always most dangerous when they clothe them- 
selves as angels of light. 

Augustin, in warning 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. 

+ Esse Christianum grande est, non videriimHieronym. Ep. 58 ad 
Paulinum. 


Ν 
122 CHRISTIANITY ASCENDANT IN THE ROMAN 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 Constantine, 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 at, as those who have betrayed Christ for a few 
pieces of silver.”” That emperor himself, to whom Asterius 
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 Church witha 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. 93, § 19. ἢ 


VARIOUS 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 renoyation.” 
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 in 
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 corresponding 
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 were 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. 


ingly. 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 the 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 wish 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 with 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 
will be confirmed by our instructions, though we cannot tell 
at what precise time this will was produced. Certainly, it 15 
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 whom 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 with 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 be what before 
he wished to seem. 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 


REMARKABLE 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 indifference, 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 
vaptism (as Augustin informs us, was the case on the occa- 
sion of an earthquake in the city of Sitisis, in the North 
African province of Numidia, by which two thousand per- 
sons lost their lives) ; many, by striking dreams or some out- 
ward phenomena, were 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, yet, 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 turned 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 wonderfully 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 gospel declared, ‘My Father worketh hitherto, and I 
work,’ so he does still. Our gracious Lord does not cease to 
animate our faith by evident proofs of his truth. Thus, as it 
is written in Acts i. 8, God our Sayiour ‘ showed himself 
among us by many infallible proofs.’ He cperated for us 
on the sea as well as on the land, and what he effected in 


126 CHRISTIANITY ASCENDANT IN THE ROMAN EMPIRE. 


individuals, he made to contribute to the faith and salvation 
of many.” After giving the account, Paulinus adds: ‘* You 
will perhaps inquire by whose merit this old mariner, who 
had grown 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 isin the believing heart ; 
the All-Holy is in the purified breast. Hence that Being who 
does not despise the broken and contrite 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 whom we live, and 
moye, 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 laboured to 
bring over to the gospel her husband Gregory (the father of 
Gregory of Nazianzus). She often prayed with fervent tears 
for his salvation, and endeavoured to impress him by kind 
persuasions and earnest admonitions; but, as her son Gregory 
tells us, her peculiar disposition and glowing piety effected 
more than all to bend and soften the soul, and to turn the 
will to virtue. The continual dropping of the water at last 


POWERFUL INFLUENCE OF DREAMS, ETC. 127 


hollowed the rock. Nonna had often in vain begged her 
husband to sing with her Psalm exxui. 1: “ I was glad when 
they said unto me, Let us’ go into the house of the Lord.” 
One night he dreamt that he sang this verse with his wife. 
His dream made a great impression upon him, and he was 
seized with an earnest desire to share in the happy spiritual 
life of his wife, and this favourable impression she knew how 
to take advantage of, regarding it as the work of the Lord. 
The Emperor Constantine was probably led by his early edu- 
cation to regard Christ as a powerful divine Being, and the 
Christians in his vicinity certainly endeavoured 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 who 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 
dream 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 erroneous 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 apostle, for they would not have attended to him ; 
nor Scriptures, for they knew them not; but he draws them 


* "ANN ὕρα θεοῦ σοφίαν, πῶς αὐτοὺς (τοὺς μάγους) εκαλεσεν. Οὐ 
προφητήν ἔπεμψεν οὐ γὰρ ἂν ἀνέσχοντο" οὐκ ἀπόστολον, οὐ γὰρ 
προσεῖχον " οὐ γραφὰς, οὐ γὰρ ἤδεσαν" αλλ᾽ ἀπὸ τῶν οἰκείων καὶ 
συντρόφων’ πραγμάτων ανιμᾶται τῆς πλάνης αὐτούς. ᾿ἘΕπειδὴ γὰρ 
μάγοι ἧσαν, καὶ περὶ ἀστερας αὐτοῖς ἡ τέχνη, ἀστὴρ αὐτοις φαίνεται 
ἕλκων αὐτοὺς ἀπὸ τῆς ὑπερορίας.---ΟὨγγδοβύ. Homilia habita postquam 
presbyter Gotthus concionatus fuerat, 8 5. 


128 CHRISTIANITY ASCENDANT IN THE ROMAN EMPIRE. 


from their error by familiar and every-day things. Since 
they were magi, 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 he 
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- 
tury. 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 effect everything.” Upon this the heathen 
shepherd says that he is resolved to become a Christian. 
“How can 1 doubt that ¢hat sign, by which the power of the 
pest is overcome, will also av ail for eternal life to men ?” 

But men who were led by such methods to Christianity 

might easily be seduced to exchange the inward for the out- 
ward—to seck the earthly instead of the heayenly—and to 
introduce heathenish superstition into Christianity ; all which 
really occurred in the case of the Emperor Constantine. 
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 w hole happiness in the 

same earthly good as the wicked delight in; or if they 


i eS 


PROSPERITY NOT CONSEQUENT ON CHRISTIANITY. 129 


despise it at present, hope for it in a future life—the carnally- 
minded, who have a carnal faith, a carnal hope, and a carnal 
love. Such persons, if their expectations about earthly things 
are not realized, run a great risk of becoming erroneous 
or wayering 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. Does 
any one ask why they are in danger? They contemplate 
human things, and they see that all those earthly blessings 
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 worldly 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 easily 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, xxxiy. 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 iyory, 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 1 hear and sing, ‘ The rich must starye and hunger.’ 

K 


180 CHRISTIANITY ASCENDANT IN THE ROMAN EMPIRE. 


When did he starve? 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 
understand 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 your 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? 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.{ ‘‘ 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. Serm. iv. 

"+ Nos ergo Deum amemus, fratres, pure et caste. Non est castum cor, 
si Deum ad mercedem colit. Quid ergo? mercedem de Dei cultu non 
habemus? Habebimus plane, sed ipsum Deum, quem colimus. Ipse 
nobis merces erit, quia videbimus eum sicuti est.—August. Enarr. in Ps. 
ly. § 17. 


THE REWARD OF WORSHIPPING GOD. 131 


does our Lord Jesus Christ say to those who love him: ‘He 
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 ina 
right manner, to call upon him on account of himself. 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 nad 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 has acted 
towards him in allowing those warnings to reach him before 
he could oceupy himself with Holy Writ. And it must now 
be shown him that the Lord himstlf would not remind and 
incite him to become a Christian, and to join himself to the 


* De ipsa etiam severitate Dei, qua corda mortalium saluberrimo 
terrore quatiuntur, caritas edificanda est, ut ab eo quem timet, amari se 
gaudens, eum redamare audeat, ejusque in se dilectioni, etiamsi impune 
posset, tamen displicere vereatur.—August. de Catech. rud. § 9. 

2K 


182 CHRISTIANITY ASCENDANT IN THE ROMAN EMPIRE. 


church, or that he would not train him by such signs and 
regulations, if he had not provided already 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 
intercourse 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 give 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 friend 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 unable 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 world, 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 thee; thou canst not ask Paul or Peter him- 
self, or one of the prophets, for already they rest with their 
Lord; but the ignorance of this world is great, and thy 
hungry 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? 
Therefore apply by prayer to the Lord himself, to the Lord 
with 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 importunity. 
He will give to thee. Hast thou knocked, and not yet 
received? Knock again, he will 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 accurately acquainted with the Scriptures, in order to 
be in a position to give the heathen a rational account of their 
faith, 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 
ealls 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 worth- 
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 
ineur the guilt of their blasphemies when we treat the matters 
of faith as secondary objects and those of earth as primary.” 


184 CHRISTIANITY ASCENDANT IN THE ROMAN EMPIRE. 


In another homily he also says:* “On this account God 
permits us to remain in the world that we be as lights (Phil. 
11. 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. No one would be a heathen, if we were Chris- 
tians as we ought to be. If we keep the commands of 
Christ—if we suffer 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, earthly-minded; 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? But of this a trace is nowhere 
to be found. Therefore we are answerable, not only for our 
own sins, but for the faults of others.” And Augustin says 

* Διὰ τοῦτο γὰρ ἡμᾶς εἴασεν, ἵνα ὡς φωστῆρες ὦμεν, ἵνα διδάσ- 
Kado. τῶν ἄλλων καταστῶμεν, ἵν᾿ ὡς ζύμη γενώμεθα, ἵν᾿ ὡς ἄγγελοε 
μετά τῶν ἀνθρώπων περιπολῶμεν, ἵν᾿ ὡς ἄνδρες μετὰ τῶν παίδων τῶν 
μικρῶν, ὡς πνευματικοὶ μετὰ τῶν ψυχικῶν, ἵνα κερδαίνωσιν ἐκεῖνοι, 
ἵνα σπέρματα ὦμεν, ἵνα καρπὸν πολὺν φέρωμεν. Οὐκ ἔδει λόγων, εἰ 
τοσοῦτον ἡμῶν ὁ βίος ἔλαμπεν. Οὐκ ἔδει διδα τκάλων, εἰ ἔργα ἐπεδεικ-- 
νύμεθα" οὐδεὶς ἄν ὴν Ἕλλην, εἰ ἡμεῖς ὦμεν Χριστιανοὶ, we δεῖ. EL 
τὰ τοῦ Χριστοῦ ἐφυλάττομεν; εἰ ἠδικούμεθα, εἰ κακῶς πάσχοντες εὐεργε- 
τοὺμεν, οὐδεὶς οὕτω θηρίον ἦν, ὡς μὴ ἐπιδραμεῖν τῇ εὐσεβείᾳ, εἰ παρὰ 
παντων ταῦτα éyivero.—Chrysost. in 1 Tim. 10, § ὃ. 


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 ofa 
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 wives 
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, whose 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 


196 CHRISTIANITY ASCENDANT IN THE ROMAN 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 carry everything out of 
their houses for the support of the poor Christians, while they 
themselves would 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 wiyes and their tears, and 
led away from the altars.” 

The means by which the heathen were brought to Chris- 
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 
outward 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 Chrysostom; the cnward 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 century 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, ‘Asa 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 10. In many respects, though not 


INJURIOUS IMPRESSIONS ON HEATHEN MINDS. [197 


absolutely and unconditionally, this was true—since the 
heathenish element, the wild-grown morality so to speak, 
even in nobler natures, though on one side it would be 
attracted by the power of Christianity as exhibited in the 
lives of its professors, would 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 
those 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, while 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 1 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 wished to be priests of the Lord, the leaders and 
teachers of the churches, especially the bishops in large cities, 
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 
the 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 
directly and forcibly ; while, on the contrary, what is truly 
divine is less obtrusive, conceals its indwelling glory, 


198 CHRISTIANITY ASCENDANT IN THE ROMAN EMPIRE. 


works more in secret, is to be looked for at a greater depth, 
and may remain unnoticed, 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 ina 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 jookest 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 
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 General History of the Christian Religion 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 seen 
any one. Thatis 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 ina 
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 1 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 
urer ; 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 Ὁ 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 sanctification. 
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 imperfections that still cleave to the truly pious. 

+ Amurca per publicum currit, oleam autem ad sedem suam occultos 
transitus habet. Et cum occulte transeat, in magnitudine apparet.— 
‘August. Serm. xv. § 9. 


140 CHRISTIANITY ASCENDANT IN THE ROMAN EMPIRE. 


their own to the poor. But many robbers and oppressors 
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!” 

Often the deluded opponents of Christianity, or pharasaical 
eensors 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 this 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 work can only 
gradually develop itself in its full 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 always will haye, 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 cf the 
Spirit remain in the scabbard, in order to obyiate this defect, 
which so easily gives occasion for slandering the diyine 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, through the 
misconduct of those who profess it. 

As Augustin remarks, in the passages we have quoted, it 
was often a certain internal ground 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 with 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 be 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 CHRISTIANITY ASCENDANT IN THE ROMAN 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 tome? Iam 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 
what 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 que dicuntur ante fidem quamvis videantur homini- 
bus laudabilia inania suut. Ita mihi videntur esse, ut magne vires et 
cursus celerrimus preter viam. 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 optime gubernationis 
dirigat. Fac enim hominem optime gubernare navim, et perdisse quo 
tendit, quid valet quia artemonem optime tenet, optime movet, dat proram 
fluctibus ὃ Cavet ne latera infligantur; tantis est viribus, ut detorqueat 
navim quo velit atque unde velit ; et dicatur ei: usque quo is? et dicat : 
nescio; aut non dicat: nescio, sed dicat: ad illum portum eo, nec in portum 
sed in saxa pertinet? Nonne iste quanto sibi videtur in navi gubernanda 
agilior et efficacior, tanto periculosius eam sic gubernat, ut ad naufragium 
properanda perducat? ‘Talis est et qui optime currit preeter viam. 
Nonne ergo erat melius et tolerabilius, ut esset gubernator ille aliquanto 
invalidior, ut cum labore et aliqua difficultate gubernacula regeret, et 
tantum rectum debitumque cursum teneret ; rursumque ille pigrius etiam 
et imbecillius, tamen in via ambularet, quam preeter viam fortiter curreret. 
—August. in Ps. xxxi, Enarr. 2, ὃ 4. 


CHRISTIAN 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. Will not such a man, the more 
active and vigorous he strives to be in steering the 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 were 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 were 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 with his life, yet God 
will condemn their arrogance;”’ for the right disposition, which 
Augustin 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 hear 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. 
The Christian doctrine is indeed lofty, powerful, divine, in- 
comparable, but who conforms to it?’ Augustin answers: 
“Ὁ 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 the grace of God, 
they were believers in this confidence, they might go on, and 
obtain help from God, instead of condemnation. Believers 


144 CHRISTIANITY ASCENDANT IN THE ROMAN EMPIRE. 


live, each one fulfilling in his own 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 receive?’ (1 Cor. iv. 7.) ‘Now, if thou didst 
receive it, why dost thou glory, as if thou hadst not received 
1} 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 sayed, 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? ΤῸ 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 :* 
“ΤΡ 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 very far from being one.’ The heathen 
rejoins: ‘ But if some one comes and says, this stands in 
Scripture, but thou sayest something different ; and so the 
Scripture is interpreted arbitrarily, and our minds are dis- 
tracted.” ‘“ But hast thou not reason and the power of 
judgment given thee by God?” is Chrysostom’s reply. 


* Ἔρχεται Ἕλλην, καὶ λέγει, ore βούλομαι γενέσθαι Χριστιανός " 
ἀλλ᾽ οὐκ οἷδα τίνι προσθῶμαι Μάχη παρ᾽ ὑμῖν πολλὴ καὶ στάσις, 
πολὺς θόρυβος. ἸΠοῖον ἕλομαι δόγμα; Τί αἱρήσομαι; ἕκαστος λέγει, 
ὅτι ἐγὼ αληθεύω. Τίνι πεισθῶ, μηδὲν Owe εἰδὼς ἐν ταῖς γραφαῖς; 
Κἀκεῖνοι τὸ αὐτὸ προσβάλλονται; Πάνυγε τοῦτο ὑπὲρ ἡμῶν. Et 
μὲν γὰρ λογισμοῖς ἐλέγομεν πειθεσθαι, εἰκότως ἐθορυβου. Εἰ δὲ γρα- 
φαῖς λέγομεν πιστεύειν " αὗται δὲ απλοῖ καὶ ἀληθεῖς, εὔκολον σοι τὸ 
κρινόμενον. ἘΪ τις ἐκείναις συμφωνεῖ, οὗτος Χριστιανός" εἴ τις μάχεται, 
οὗτος Téppw τοῦ κανόνος τούτου. Ti ουν ἂν ἐκεῖνος ἐλθὼν εἴπῃ; τοῦτου 
ἔχειν την γραφὴν, σὺ ᾽δὲ ἕτερον Aeyyc, καὶ ἄλλως παρεξηγῆσθε τὰς 
γράφὰς τὰς διανοίας αὐτῶν ἕλκοντες ; Σὺ οὖν, εἰπέ μοι, νοῦν οὐκ ἔχεις 


οὐδὲ κρίσιν ;—Chrysost. in Act. Apost. Hom. 33, § 4. 


DIVERSITY OF OPINIONS AND SECTS. 145 


But this professed external hindrance was often only a pre- 
text behind which 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 opinions 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 which 
seeks; it is love which knocks; to love it is revealed ; and by 
love is rest found in what is revealed.” ‘Do what thou 
oughtest to do,” says Chrysostom to such persons, “ἃ Πα 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 animi viribus concupiscatur, invenire 
nullo pacto potest. At si ita queratur, ut dignum est, subtrahere sese 
atque abscondere a suis dilectoribus non potest. Hine est illud, quod 
in ore habere etiam vos soletis, quod ait, Petite et accipietis ; queerite, et 
invenietis ; pulsate, et aperietur vobis. Nihil est occultum, quod non 
reyelabitur. Amore petitur, amore queritur, amore pulsatur, amore 
revelatur, amore denique in eo quod revelatum fuerit permanetur. — 
August. de Morib. Heel. Cath. 1, § 3. 

L 





146 CHRISTIANITY ASCENDANT IN THE ROMAN EMPIRE. 


but that Being who fashioneth all hearts (Psa. xxxiti. 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 differences 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 dissolye the union (1 Cor. vii, 12); and yet what 


THE POWER OF CHRISTIAN LOVE. 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 we 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- 
ort the weak, be patient towards all men.’ (1 Thess. y. 14.) 
hat does he mean, when he says: ‘If any man obey not 
our word 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 tohim? 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 workest miracles and raisest the 
dead, whatever 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; for thus many 
will be altogether freed from evil. Nothing 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 CHRISTIANITY ASCENDANT IN THE ROMAN EMPIRE. 


to effect everything at once. Let him at first 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 win the heathen by the 
power of love, and to lead them to the Redeemer. Thus 
towards the end of the fourth century, a monk, Abraham, in 
Pheenicia, 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 when 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, who opened the door, drew out 
the Christians from the rubbish, and commanded them to go 
away immediately. At this instant the imperial taxgatherers 
arrived, 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 
while before had threatened him with a shameful and fright- 
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 power 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 
agreed, 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 


PROTOGENES 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 favoured 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 Jessons in that art. He 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 with 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 οἵ 
our Christian brethren has presented the church with a 
number of gold and silver vessels. But our God does not 
need silver and gold. 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 fayour of Christianity on 





150 CHRISTIANITY ASCENDANT IN THE ROMAN EMPIRE. 


the Persians, who 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: “1 would fain invite you, not only as a 
fellow-citizen, but as a brother in the faith; that, however, 
your 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 false, 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 happened commonly, they 
would no longer be extraordinary. For suppose any one 
for the first time to observe the alternation of day and night, 
the undeviating order in the course of the heavenly bodies, 
the changes of the four seasons of the year, the fail and 
renewal of the foliage, the beauty of the light, the variety of 
eolours and sounds,—and he wiil be overwhelmed with 


TRANSFORMING 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 Ingher 
authority might pass into their general habits. But habit 
has such power over the souls of men, that we ourselves can 
sooner blame and abhor the bad which 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 effects of Christianity in the 
spread of continence, self-sacrificing benevolence, contempt 
of death, renunciation of the world, 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 agreement of general 
opinion he recognizes the power with 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 promulgate 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 God 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 
Holy 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 
haruspicia), 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, who had often accused the Christian 
age, were forced to seek protection, when Alaric, the general 
of the Goths, captured Rome in 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 were 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 Christianity. Whoever sees it, and does not 
bless God, is ungrateful!” He recognized here the power of 
Christ’s name, even over the rudest natures. 

To the class above described belonged those persons who, 
through a rhetorical-zsthetie 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, who had acquired great reputation in Rome 
by his acquaintance with ancient literature and his lectures 
on the ancient philosophers; after he had been zealously 
deyoted for many years to this philosophic heathenism, he 
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 


SYNESIUS OF CYRENE. 158 


which his distinguished friends ridiculed as foolishness, 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: 
‘ T shall not believe it, nor number you among the Christians, 
till Isee you in a Christian church.” Victorinus used to rejoin 
in asarcastic tone: ‘* Do church-walls then make a Christian?” 
He thought probably, like the individual whom Augustin 
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?’ Yet 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; why should I now be afraid publicly to: 
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 Synesius 
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 CHRISTIANITY ASCENDANT IN THE ROMAN 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 te a friend who 
had become a Christian monk: “1 need not begin with 
wishing thee good health, since thou hast forsaken us men 
who are burying 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 (φαιὸν τριβωνιον, 
the dress of Christian monks, as λευκὸν τριβώνιον, 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 which 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 friends; in an esoteric union of four individuals 
agreeing in their religious and philosophic habits of thinking 
(his sacred quaternion, ἱερὰ tetpaxzvs); in blameless pleasures; 
in the succour which his property, talents, and influence 
eould render to the afflicted and oppressed, which was a 
source of peculiar joy to his benevolent heart. In his out- 
ward circumstances there was 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 without to endure 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 spirits 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 coutinual 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 prayer, with tears of anxious longing, to a purifying, 
redeemiiig, conciliating God (θεὸς pUotos, mex Los, καθάρσιος), 
to whom he felt himself drawn in his heart; he sought this 
redeeming God on high; he did not yet know the redeeming 
God who 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. An 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 le 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 oceupy- 
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- 
fider#ial and congenial friends, these he must now discuss as 


the common property of the unlearned and the educated, of 


the ignorant and the philosophic, and explain them in a 
manner intelligible to all. He was also convinced that max 


——— 


APPOINTED BISHOP OF ῬΤΟΙΈΜΑΙΒ. 157 


could only please God through that truth which was allied 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 
whom the impartation of the episcopal dignity depended. 
But the pious clergy indulged the confident hope that He 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 office servea 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 offering, 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 1 hate,” he said, ‘‘ public offices and cares, yet I 
will 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 living 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. ΤῸ those who had chosen him to the 
episcopate, he wrote thus: “1 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 what 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 trom my youth I have lived 
in philosophic leisure and in the peaceful contemplation of 


158 CHRISTIANITY ASCENDANT IN THE ROMAN EMPIRE. 


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 gradualiy 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 hand, in the instance of a man, 
who was afterwards a distinguished father of the church, 
Augustin, how a new great section of a life, penetrated 
altogether by the spirit of Christianity, 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 aiready 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 which needed to be tamed 
by the higher power of the divine Spirit, and led into another 
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 was 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 which 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 ROMAN EMPIRE. 


“every vain hope seemed to be annihilated, and with 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 truth and wisdom, 
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 the 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 himself, “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 Scriptures rather a pr ying 
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 difficulties. Such a promise 
must have alarmed the inexperienced, on account of the 
obscurity which the Holy Scripture must at that time have 
had; while it would be very 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 allured 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 
(auditores), from whom the key to their mysteries was kept 
concealed, and the elect (elect), to whom the heights of 
wisdom were to be exhibited in all their extent. How were 
Augustin’s expectations fixed on the time when he was to 
receive the disclosure of the mysteries as one of the elect! 
He seized with 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 acuteness. 
He sought an interview with him, but found not what 
he hoped for. Disappointed hope had made him wander 
into Manicheism ; 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 distrustful of everything which 
professes to be truth; so it happened that Augustin was 
now in danger of giving himself up to total scepticism. Yet 
a longing after truth, deeply seated in his soul, called him 
back from this despair, and since under all the vacillation of 
his 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 

M 


162 CHRISTIANITY ASCENDANT IN THE ROMAN 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 was in this state of 
mind, he heard the discourses of Ambrose, the venerable 
bishop of Malan, 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 
Christianity, 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 
were 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 gaye power to as many as received him to 
become the sons of God—this way he found not. Like 
Synesius 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-PLATONIC 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 who 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 puffed up by the pride 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 ; already he constructed out of this 
philosophy a Christ of his own, whom 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, “1 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 first 
awakening of his longing after the higher 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, deyoted wholly 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 im 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 whom 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.’ _Idid 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 our pride and nourish our love, that we may not proceed 
further in self-confidence, but rather become weak by the 
Π τ ΠΡΟΣ of the Deity descending to our weakness, that 

ve may prostrate oursely es 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 ais a sense of his misery and weakness, to despair 
altogether of himself in order to experience the power of the 
Redeemer 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, ley passed to that 
of the Scriptures, from which he had been deterred eleven 
years 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 w τρις: 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 conyiction; and that one among the sacred writers, with 


DISCOVERS TRUTH IN THE SCRIPTURES, 165 


whom 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, 
‘Miserable man, what can he do? Who ean free him from 
his misery? Only the grace of God through our Lord Jesus 
Christ, by whom the handwriting that is against us is blotted 
out.” 

While 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 lightminded 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 ROMAN 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 affected that he exclaimed, full of the sense of the 
nothingness of his endeavours, which had hitherto been 
directed to worldly splendour and honour—‘ What 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? Butif 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, which 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 
atin 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 poured forth his heart before God, with- 
out being able to find comfort. He heard in an adjoining 
house a child’s voice repeatedly ery 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. xi. 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—io 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 incalculable importance 
to their connection with the whole preceding development of 
his life, including so many different stages. 


CHAPTER II. 


NOMINAL AND GENUINE CHRISTIANS—SEPARATISM— 
VARIOUS REVIVALS OF CHRISTIANITY —THE 
INFLUENCE OF 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 concerns 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. ‘‘ Where 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 how 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 werds, ‘ 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 children to support ; 


168 CHRISTIANITY ASCENDANT IN THE ROMAN EMPIRE. 


domestic affairs demand my attention; I am a man of busi- 
ness; it isnot my concern to read the Holy Scriptures, but 
theirs who have renounced the world, who have withdrawn to 
the top of the mountain.’ What dost thou say, O man? [5 
it not thy business to occupy thyself with the Buble, when 
thou art surrounded by a thousand cares? On the contrary, 
thou needest it more than other persons. They are at rest, 
as ifin 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, who 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? -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 dwelling 
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 among 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 RIDICULED AS ENTHUSIASTS. 169 


sermon the same father says:* ‘ Whoever begins to 
live to God, to despise the world, 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 wake, they say of their own 
people, their fellow-Christians, ‘ Wkat has happened to thee ? 
Why dost thou live so? Wilt 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 (remedia 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 are 
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. 


* TIncipiat mundum contemnere, inopi sua distribuere, nihilo habere 
qu homines amant, contemnat injurias, non appetat vindicari, paret 
maxillam percutienti, oret pro inimicis; si quis ei abstulerit sua, non 
repetat; si quid alicui abstulerit, reddat quadruplum. Cum ista facere 
coeperit omnes sui cognati, affines, amici commoventur. Qui diligunt 
seculum, contradicunt. Quid insanis? Nimius es; numquid alii non 
sunt Christiani? Ista stultitia est, ἰδία dementia est.—August. Serm. 
SoH gal 25 18. 


170 CHRISTIANITY ASCENDANT IN THE ROMAN EMPIRE. 


But if he persists and conquers them by endurance, is not 
negligent 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 filled 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 church, 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, zn itself, can as little be found as a pure - 
and holy man in himself; that he alone finds true purity and 
holiness, who, forgeting and denying himself, seeks them in 
his Lord, who will appropriate to him his own holiness; that 
everywhere, in every individual believer, as well as in every 
collective body, great or small, the tares grow up with the 
corn; 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 wheat, 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 sigh among 
false brethren? Must he betake himself to the desert? 
Offences will follow him there. Must the far-adyanced 
Christian wholly separate himself, in order to endure the pre- 
sence of no man? 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 bear 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 with. 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 loye.’ Thou forsakest human 
things, and keepest thyself aloof that none may see thee. 
To whom wilt thou be of use? Wouldst thou have attained 
to that had no one been of use to thee?’ He then addresses 
himself particularly to those who, in order not to give up Chris- 


172 CHRISTIANITY ASCENDANT IN THE ROMAN 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- 
elude, if thou canst, all evil thoughts from thy own heart. 
We all wish for strong hearts in which 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 security, 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 whom 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 Christians. What 


DUTY OF THE CHURCH TO THE WORLD. 173 


people are these Christians? Are they not the same who 
fill the theatres on the days of public spectacles, and the 
churches on the feast-days ?” 

That separation of the third kind which Jed men, when 
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 
aman. Man is only something as long as he depends on 
God. Let him withdraw from Him, and he is nothing. Re- 
ceive counsel through man only in such a way that thou 
lookest to Him who enlightens man. Tor 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 
has 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 who 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 
when 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 enlighten 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 CHRISTIANITY ASCENDANT IN-‘THE ROMAN EMPIRE. 


Lord has. also ealled 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 leayen, 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 
yariety 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. We notice that early Christian 
education, particularly by pious mothers, has had great 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 church, 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 tears 
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 gratitude, 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 neyer wore mourning on a feast-day, for in her 


INFLUENCE OF PIOUS MOTHERS. 175 


the human was always overpowered by the divine; the re- 
ligious feelings conquered all others ; the concerns of salvation 
relatmg to mankind moved her heart more deeply 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, Ceesarius. His course of life was very different 
indeed from Gregory’s; he was 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 when 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 Ceesarius. His family 
were rendered yery 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 Czsarius 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 Nicsa 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 Czesarea, 
then wrote to him, and suggested how it behoyed a Christian 


176 CHRISTIANITY ASCENDANT IN THE ROMAN EMPIRE. 


to regard such events. ‘ It now remains for us to show that 
we are not ungrateful nor unworthy of so great a mercy, but, 
according to our ability, to make known 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 human 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 Czsarius: 
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 Ceesarea received his first training in a lonely spot 
of Pontus from his pious grandmother, Emmelia, who scattered 
in his young mind the seeds of Christianity, which she had re- 
ceived from Gregory Thaumaturgus, the venerable bishop of 
Neo-Cexsarea. When he returned from his literary studies at 
Athens to his native place Ceesarea, 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 Scriptures 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 whcle 
youth in learning that wisdom which is foolishness with 
God—when I, awaking, 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; ¢hen I lamented my hitherto 
pitiable life; I sought help ; Ἰ 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 was three-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 was 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, “1 am a mortal like 

ourself, and a man full of sin; I can dono 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 beer the means of ex- 
citing. And this cure of a bodily malady 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, Macedonius, told her 
that if she would only pray, she Sonal havea 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 CHRISTIANITY ASCENDANT IN THE ROMAN EMPIRE. 


you ason; for to those who pray to him in sincerity, he is 
wont to give double what they ask of him.’ When she 
found herself 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, T’heodoret, 1.6. God-given; his parents wished to re- 
mind him of this all his 116}. But what is devoted to God is 
to be honoured 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 diligently with her 
own haud 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 


MATERNAL CARE EXERCISED 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 see 
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 should 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 haye 
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 adream. She thought that she was standing 
by a wooden balustrade, and a young 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 was her joy when this new life had 
made a path for itself; when all her hopes were surpassed ; 
when her son, after the victory of faith with inward peace, 
which had sueceeded to those powerful perturbations, came 
to her in the glow of his first love; how she thanked God, 
who can do exceeding abundantly above all the expecta- 
tions and conceptions of men. Augustin himself says to her 
at this time: “ΤῸ your prayers I believe I owe that God has 
given me this disposition—to esteem nothing more highly than 

N2 


180 ΟἸΒΙΒΤΙΑΝΙΤῪ ASCENDANT IN THE ROMAN 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, “15 not every one happy who has what he 
wishes δ᾽ 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 she 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 haye 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 withdrawn 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 calm 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 infiuential 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 1 led an evil life, which 1 confess; and in proportion 
as 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 under 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; in 
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 CHRISTIANITY 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 glory, 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 posszble way, the repose, dignity, 
and serenity of a higher life were revealed, of which they 
themselyes 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 Scriptures (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 seif-. 
inspection had an opportunity of knowing many men as to 
their outward appearance. The monk who was 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 whole 
Reformation. 

Such experiences also were those of the monk Marcus 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 Mareus 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 fermer; he always combats the onesidedness 
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 we 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 from 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 unbelievers, 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 yoid, 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 hberator,* the 
work of freedom and of faith. Haye 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 i. 12) 
[Marcus 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 return again to that which 
* Ei γὰρ ἐξ ἔργων, οὐκ ἔτι χάριτι (ἀναρεῖται ἁμαρτια)" εἰ δὲ χὰριτι, 
τὸ ἐργον οὐκ ἔστιν ἔργον, ἀλλ᾽ ἐντολὴ του ἐλευθερώσαντος, καὶ ἕργον 
ἐλευθερίας καὶ πιστεως.---Μάτουβ, 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. ΑΒ to those persons who quote 
Rom. vii. 14, and following verses, against this doctrine of 
the internal freedom of Christians, Marcus 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 are 
already 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. xxxili. 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 would 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, always follows in his steps, he keeps, 
cherishes, and supports.”” Nilus 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 
imtended which shows itself in action. ΝΙΝ 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 your 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 was 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 1s 





TENDENCY TO FALSE HUMILITY. 187 


going.” The outward 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 lur king- places and turnings, and to 
change himself as a Proteus into Yall shapes, whom man takes 
Abani 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: 
“Tet it not produce pride in you that you have despised the 
pride of the world; take care lest, simce 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 ἜΡΟΝ of 
which Paul speaks in the Epistle to the Colossians, which in 
that age of shams assumed a yariety of forms beyond the 
bounds of monkery. Isidorus, abbot of Pelusium, in the 
first haif 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 we 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 


* Ἐὰν δὲ αὐτοὶ μὲν λέγωμεν μυρία ἑαυτοὺς κακά, map ἑτέρων δὲ 
AKOVOVTEC δυσχεραίνωμεν, οὐκέτι ToUTO ταπεινοφροσύνη ἐστὶν, ουδὲ 
ἐξομολόγησις, ἀλλ᾽ ἐπίδειξις καὶ κενοδοξία. ᾿Βπίδειξίς ἐστι, φησιν, 
ἑαυτὸν ἁἅμαρτωλον κὰἀλεῖν; Ναί. Ταπεινοφροσύνης γὰρ λαμβάνομεν 
δόξαν, θαυμαζόμεθα, ἐγκωμιαξζόμεθα. ᾿Εὰν δὲ τοὐναντιον εἴπωμεν 
ἑαυτοὺς, καταφρονούμεθα. Ὥστε καὶ τοῦτο δόξης ἕνεκεν “ποιοῦμεν. 
Τί δὲ ἐστι ταπεινοφροσύνη ; Τὸ ἑτέρου ὀνειδίζοντος, το ἐπίγινώσκειν 
τὸ ἁμαρτημα, τὸ φέρειν τας κακηγορίας, καὶ οὐδὲ τουτο ταπεινο- 
φροσύνης ἂν εἴη, ἁλλ᾽ εὐγνωμοσύνης. Νῦν δὲ ἑαυτοὺς μὲν λέγομεν 
ἁμαρτωλοὺς, ἀναξίους, μυρὶα ὕσω" ay δὲ ἕτερός τις ἡμῖν ἐν τούτων 
προσενέγνῃ, χαλεπαὶΐνομεν, ἀγριαινόμεθα. Ὁρᾷς bre οὐκ ἔστιν εξἕομο- 
λογησις, οὐδὲ εὐγνωμοσυνὴ ;—Chrysost. in Ep. ad Hebr. xxvii. § 5. 


188 CHRISTIANITY ASCENDANT IN THE ROMAN EMPIRE. 


humility that we 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? ΤῸ 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 fuil of wrath, and turn 
savage. 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? Let him think of Christ’s 
command: ‘ When ye shall have done all, say, we are un- 
profitable servants.’ (Luke xvii. 10.) Let him think of that 
great teacher who said: ‘I count not myself to have appre- 
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, was visited by another, named Avitus. 
After conversation and prayer, Marcian caused a mealto 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 was 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 ΟΕ ΜΟΝΆΕΕΥ.. 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 seest instead a glutton.” These words 
did not fail to make an impression on Avitus, and he said, 
with shame: “1 would rather eat flesh than hear thee speak 
thus.” Then Marcian said: “1 have been accustomed to the 
same manner of life as thyself, my dear brother; but I know 
that dove is a thing of greater value than Jasting; 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 ali 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 CHRISTIANITY 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 
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 
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 there 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. xi.) 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 threatens 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. Ifthe 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 misery. 
For if men cannot in married life maintain such a disposition 





IDLE SELF-CONTEMPLATION 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 we 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 coe 3 about their own proper business, and 
tamed by labour, threatened to mingle with and disturb the 
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: 
“T 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 writes 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 AND CCNOBITES. 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. ΤῸ whatever class you turn, be 
prepared to meet with hypocrites; for if you are not so 
prepared, you will find what you do not expect, and will 
be 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 are not what they 
appear to be.” 

As to the outward life of the monks, we must distinguish 
in this respect the Anchorites from the Ccenobites. 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, counsel and comfort. A 
single word uttered from their lips 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 epoch in a man’s life! Even the 
hermits, who never issued from their cells or caves, and only 
gave answers from small openings in them, were consulted 
by governors and emperors. When 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, 
nothing could reach such persons but the written or oral 
opinion of a member of the-monastie 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, suddenly made their appearance on the 
oceasion of political catastrophes, in cities where for a long 
time they 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 

ο 


194 CHRISTIANITY ASCENDANT IN THE ROMAN EMPIRE, 


associations of a hundred or even 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- 
yants, 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 church, were trained by 
close study and deyout 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 greatmonastic community could labour for the 
advantage of others, and be active in Christian love. Others 
rightly thought that greater ripeness 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 andthe 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. Whoever in his heart prostrates himself before 
God, for that very reason does not prostrate himself before 
any man; as the seryant of the Lord alone who created him, 





TRUE NOBLE-MINDEDNESS. ᾿ 196: 


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,‘ Iam 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 different 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? 15 
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 us 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 ina 
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. 


ἐν Τὸν γὰρ ᾿ἀπονενοημένον ἀνάγκη πάντως καὶ ἀσθηνῆ τινα εἶναι. 
οὺ γὰρ ἐστι τὸ ὕψος ὑ ὑγιὲς, ἀλλ᾽ ὥσπερ αἱ πομφολυγες εὐκόλως ῥήγνυν- 
ται, οὕτω καὶ οὗτοι ῥᾳδίως ἀπόλλυνται.--- ΟὨτγδοβί, in Ep. ad Roman. 
Hom. xx. δ᾽ 4. 
0 2 


196 CHRISTIANITY ASCENDANT IN THE KOMAN 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 own 
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 gives 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, 
acknowledging only one Lord and Master. To such Chris- 
tians, the Apostle Paul says: ‘* Ye are bought witha 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 itis 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 
our 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 from faith but from slavishness of spirit, the slave of 
falsehood, the enemy of truth, which knows nothing of true 
freedom. May we therefore humble our hearts before God, 
and raise our 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 difference. 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 OPPOSITION TO MONACHISM. 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 must 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 who 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 Christianity everywhere excited, 
says: ‘“ Truly, my brethren, we see by daily examples that, 
jet 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 honoured 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. He remarks that 
Christ said: ‘Let your light shine before men, not on the 
mountains, not in the deserts.” “1 donot 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 oursely es, in order that 
cities may become what cities ought to be.” And Augustin 


198 CHRISTIANITY ASCENDANT IN THE ROMAN EMPIRE. 


‘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 vineyard; 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 his 
eyes.| In your love for rest recollect that there is no place 
here below in which that being who 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 Rome, 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 superbie et voraginem desidie 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 
our 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 nature and grace proceed from the 
whole reference of the life to Christ, and sought to re-establish 
in their proper 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 were 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, who, 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 unworthiness. 
Many were induced by this depressing consciousness to run 
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 own 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 
canyass 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 





RESPONSIBILITY 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 humility, might have supposed that 
he was 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 
ἢ and 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 faith 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 
what 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 which 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 thou 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, which 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 endowments 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 burden 
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 ἕο you, I 
am comforted to think what I am with you; for fo you lama 
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 storms 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 Iam 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 what 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 ROMAN EMPIRE, 


ment [of baptism] and to be incorporated into the church ; 
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 b 

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 learn was sent down 
direct from heaven or uttered by angels? 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 
men were not to be taught by 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 heard 
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 hac se posse, 
si potuerit, et in quantum potuerit, pietate magis orationum quam ora- 
torum facultate non dubitet, ut orando pro se, ac pro illis, quos est 
allocuturus, sit orator antequam dictor. Ipsa hora 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, que secundum fidem dilectionemque tractanda sunt, multa 
sint, que dicantur, et multi modi quibus dicantur ab eis, qui hee sciunt ; 
quis novit quid ad prasens 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, que docenda sunt, 
qui et nosse vult, et docere, facultatemque dicendi, ut decet virum eccle- 
Siasticum, comparet; ad horam vero ipsius dictionis illud potius bone 
menti cogitet convenire, quod Dominus ait: Nolite cogitare quomodo 
aut quid loquamini; dabitur enim vobis in illa hora quid loquamini: 
non enim vos estis qui loquimini, sed Spiritus Patris vestri qui loquitur in 
vobis.—August. de Doct. Christ. 4, § 32, 





OBJECT OF PREACHING. 205 


than by oratorical talent—that he must be a pleader in prayer 
for himself and for his hearers, before he can bea preacher. In 
the very hour when he is about to address them, before he opens 
his 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 faith 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 hearts? And who can cause us to express the right 
thing in the right manner, unless He in whose hands we and 
eur works stand? Wherefore, 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 the 
Spirit in proportion as it became more dangerous under a 
hypocritical profession of Christianity. Thus Augustin said: 
‘* Far be it from us to say to you, ‘ Live as you like; be assured 
God will 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 are 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, hold 
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 ASCENDANT 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 thei flocks. What do I intend? what dol 
wish ?” said Augustin to his church; ‘“‘ why do I speak? 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 soul, 

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 © .urish 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 workings 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 discourse 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 lim good; and when 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! 
Τ 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 
ourseives trouble to bring together well-arranged and well- ᾿ 





EVILS ATTENDING ELOQUENT DISCOURSES. 207 


sounding 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,an 
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: “ὃ 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 praise and comfort, and to 
you the greatest gain and spiritual riches.” 

Jerome, in his instructions for an ecclesiastic, gives the 


908 CHRISTIANITY ASCENDANT IN THE ROMAN EMPIRE. 


following 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 
learned 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? because thou teachest by words? 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 impossibie 
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, 


* Myéiv εἶναι νομίσῃς σαυτοῦ. Λόγον ἔχεις καὶ διδασκαλικὴν 
χὰριν; Μὴ διὰ τούτων νομίσῃς πλέον τι τῶν ἄλλων & ἔχειν. Διᾶ τοῦτο 
μάλιστα ταπεινοῦσθαι ὀφείλεις, OTe πλειόνων ἠξιώθης δωρεῶν" ᾧ γὰ 
πλεῖον ἀφέθη, πλειον ἀγαπήσει. Οὐκοῦν καὶ ταπεινοῦσθαι χρὴ, ὅτι 
τοὺς ἄλλους παρελθὼν, εἰς σὲ ἐπένευσεν ὁ θεος" φοβοὺ διὰ τοῦτο. 
ἙΤολλάκις γὰρ σοι καὶ ἀπολεῖίας τοῦτο γίνεται αἴτιον, ἂν μὴ νήφῃς" τί 
μέγα φρονεῖς ; ὕτι τούτο διὰ λόγων: ; add’ εὔκολον τοῦτο τὸ φιλοσο- 
φεῖν ἐν ῥήμασι" δίδαξόν μὲ διὰ τοὺ βίου τοῦ σοῦ. Αὕτη ἡ διδασκαλία 
ἀρίστη. Λέγεις, Ore δεῖ μετριάζειν, καὶ μακρὸν ὑπὲρ τούτου “λόγον 
ἀποτείνεις, καὶ ῥητορεύεις ῥέων ἀκωλύτως ; ἀλλὰ σοῦ βελτίων ἐκεῖνος 
φησιν, ὁ δι᾿ ἔργων τοῦτο παιδεύων ἐμέ,---ΟἸγγϑοε. in Act. Apost. Hom. 
KEK Sloe 





ACTION MORE INFLUENTIAL THAN PRECEPT. 909 


‘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 coutradict his words. 
This has been the cause of much evil in the church.” 

The genuine bishop 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 
endeayour, 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. He 
thus addressed his flock, after reading to them John viii. 31: 
“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 usall. He 
has spoken in his gospel to us all, and he has said to us what 
I now say to you. But he has said of us, both of us and ot 
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 discourse 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 1 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 CHRISTIANITY ASCENDANT IN THE ROMAN EMPIRE. 


away hungry. 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 
Chrysostom, 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 Scripture 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 must 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 
deyoted 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 Scripture, 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 auditur si non intelligitur. Videtis quem- 
admodum pertineat ad officium pastoris, opertos fontes (scripture) 
aperire, et aquam puram innoxiam sitientibus ovibus ministrare. — 
August. Serm. 128, § 7. 





THE BIBLE, THE CHRISTIAN’S TREASURY. 211 


and that 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 outward 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 affairs 
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 Jabours 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, 
Ρ 2 


912 CHRISTIANITY ASCENDANT IN THE ROMAN EMPIRE. 


hear the sermon, hear God's word read, find a Bible, open 
and read it; all this men may see when it happens. Mistor- 
tune comes upon him: other persons lament for him as an 
unfortunate man; they know not what he has within. 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 him, 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 obscure to them. “ΠῚ 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 
known, and faithfully to apply 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 shall be made clear.” ‘ When we live 
piously, when we believe in Christ, when we do not wish to 
fly 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 wilfulness 
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, he 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, unlearned as well as 
learned, and yet furnishes inexhaustible materials for the 
deepest reflection: ‘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 flows 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 uniearned, those of weaker understanding, who- 
ever is disposed, let him venture. To such it resounds, ‘ Jn 
the beginning God created the heavens and the earth; and 
who may 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 


914 CHRISTIANITY ASCENDANT IN THE ROMAN EMPIRE. 


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 toa 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 wealth; 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 
do 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 which 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, 
O Lord!’ 


* Modus autem ipse dicendi, quo sancta Scriptura contexitur, quam 
omnibus accessibilis, quamvis paucissimis penetrabilis. Ea que aperta 
continet, quasi amicus familiaris sive fuco ad cor loquitur indoctorum 
atque doctorum. Ea vero que in mysteriis occultat, nec ipsa eloquio 
superbo erigit, quo non audeat accedere mens tardiuscula et inerudita, 
quasi pauper ad divitem; sed invitat omnes humili 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 corriguntur, et parva 
nutriuntur, et magna cblectantur ingenia. Ille huic doctrine inimicus 
est animus qui vel errando eam nescit esse saluberrimam, vel adit zgro- 
tando medicinam.—August. Ep. 137, ad Volusianum, § 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 daily 
examination of the Scriptures. ‘“ Under temptations the 
soul is made vigorous by the Word of God; for this is the 
vital principle of our souls, by which 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 what 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 
shouldest 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 
lying 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 openest the door of thy heart to him, and admittest 


* Tota ergo die in lege meditare; non perfunctorie tibi debet esse 
transcursio. Siagrum emere valis, si mercaris domum, prudentiorem 
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 tuo 
pretio tractatur, considera quid sis, quod nomen habeas, quid adquiris 
tibi? non agrum, non pecuniam, non gemmarum monilia; sed Jesus 
Christum, cui nulla possunt pretia, nulla ornamenta conferri. Adhibe 
tibi consiliarios Moysen, Esaiam, Hieremian, Petrum, Paulum, Johan- 
nem, ipsum magnum consiliarium Jesum Dei Filium, ut adquiras Patrem. 
—Ambrosius, Hxpos. in Psa. exviii. Serm. 13, 8 7. ; 


216 CHRISTIANITY ASCENDANT IN 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 writes, recommending the study of the Scrip- 
tures: “1 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? Iam 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 [1.6. who does not strive, but remains sitting there]. Ido 
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 with 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? Let 
us, therefore, occupy ourselves with reading the Scriptures, 
not merely during 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 








THEIR 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:* ‘* 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 
the tools of their craft, and when pressed with hunger or 
poverty, they would rather suffer 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 
euccess 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 lke- 
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 apostles. 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 only 
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, &c. ] 
e 


“ Μηδὲ περιμείνῃς ἕτερον διδάσκαλον" ἔχεις τα λόγια τοῦ Θεοῦ. 
Οὐδείς σε διδάσκει ὡς ἐκεῖνα. Οὗτος μὲν γὰρ πολλὰ καὶ διὰ κενοδοξίαν. 
καὶ Od βασκανίαν επικρύπτει πολλακις. ᾿Ακούσατε, παρακαλῶ, παντες 
οἱ βιωτικοὶ, καὶ κτᾶσθε βίβλια φάρμακα τῆς ψυχῆς. - .. Τοῦτο πάντων 
αἴτιον τῶν κακῶν, τὸ μὴ εἰδέναι τας γραφάς. Χωρὶς ὕπλων εἰς πόλεμον 


Badigopev.—Chrysost. in Ep. ad Coloss. Hom. 9, § 1. 


218 CHRISTIANITY ASCENDANT IN THE ROMAN EMPIRE, 


“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 intelligible to all; so that artisans, servants, widows, and 
the rudest, might gain advantage from 10. 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 vii. 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 was 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 aiso 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 he 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 bishops 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 Constantine, 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 
exix. 115 (which verse, according to the Alexandrian version 
and the Vulgate, reads thus: “ Depart from me, ye evil, and 
I wiil 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 


9090 CHRISTIANITY ASCENDANT IN THE ROMAN EMPIRE. 


committed such inyestigations 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, 
this night shall thy soul be required of thee; and whose shall 
those things be which thou hast prepared?’ 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 willbe. 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. Now, 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 PROTECTOR OF THE OPPRESSED. 221 


order to avoid the imputation of being 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 fulfil this duty, 
connected with their office under existing circumstances, they 
needed a powerful faith to raise them victoriously above the 
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 natural 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 
powerful. You know how often I have fought against the 
imperial power for the property of widows entrusted to my 
care.” The property of a widow was entrusted to the church 
at Pavia, under the emperor Valentinian 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 Heliodorus, 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- 
vinees. 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 bishop 
with the ery, ‘ Hasten for his life!’ (Curre propter animam !)” 
Augustin closes this striking instance with the beautiful 


222 CHRISTIANITY ASCENDANT IN THE ROMAN EMPIRE. 


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 from 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 labour 
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 
were not compelled? And we conduct ourselves towards these 
persons of rank, if they are Christians, as we are bound 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 CHURCH. 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. exviii. 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 toa 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 sweet 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 what 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 


924 CHRISTIANITY ASCENDANT IN THE ROMAN EMPIRE. 


your souls to witness that I fear more for you, when I say 
this, than for those as whose intercessor I now address 
ou.” 
Ἵ The inhabitants of Cappadocia, in the year 371, were 
thrown into great 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 Cesarea, 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 court and frankly 


represent that they ought not to think of having two pro- 
vinces instead of one; for they had not brought the second 
province 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 words: “1 do no one 
injustice when 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 
wrote to the Emperor Theodosius, when he had victoriously 
suppressed the rebellions in the West, as follows: ‘* You have 
all that you could wish; I must therefore annex my highest 








AMBROSE’S LETTERS TO THEODOSIUS. 225 


wish to that which you already possess. You are a pious, 
gracious prince, yet I wish 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 
great 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 apprised 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 
hands of the revered bishop. The emperor had committed a 
erime, 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 
secure 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, 
which does 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 in writing what Ambrose must 


a 


226 CHRISTIANITY ASCENDANT IN THE ROMAN EMPIRE. 


otherwise have upbraided him with publicly and by word of 
mouth, but which he could now meditate upon 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 
wrote 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: “1 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 your reign; and this you 

may do, if you humble your soul before God. For only by 
tears and repentance can sin beremoved. 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 
fayour 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 haye 
had. Conquer him while you still possess the means of 


conquering him. 

“1 have no cause to wish to be contumacious towards you, 
but I have cause to be afraid for you. I cannot yenture to 
celebrate the Supper in your presence. Ought that which 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 as 
will, if the matter allow it?”’ 

Ambrose, in a funeral oration for this emperor, thus speaks 
of him: “1 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 TOURS. 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 he did not 
lament his error.” 

When, in the sixth century, the Emperor Justinian, by 
his despotic wilfulness, produced great disorder in the 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 with 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 


228 CHRISTIANITY ASCENDANT IN THE ROMAN EMPIRE. 


sented to us, makes more conspicuous the power 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 
first 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 
ehurch to those who had taken refuge 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, when his fall 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 thought 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 
inaking 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 the conscience of every one of you; we ought 


CHRYSOSTOM’S APPEALS AGAINST INJUSTICE. 229 


always to meditate upon them, since the deceitfulness of 
worldly things—mere profession and hypocrisy—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,” he 
said, ““ of the injustice suffered; we are servants of the 
Crucified, who said, ‘ Forgive them, for they 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 we forgive our debtors,’ if you 
long for the punishment of your debtors? Let no one, 
therefore, give himself 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 expres- 
sion he used in reference to the soldiery, that no one could 


230 CHRISTIANITY ASCENDANT IN THE ROMAN EMPIRE, 


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. 


AxtHovucH 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- 
vive 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 heayen 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 itis 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 





ΝΕ αι. νων" πα... ς΄ τ 


THE ΟΗΒΙΞΤΙΑΝ᾿ 5 DUTIES IN THE WORLD. 231 


believer say, ‘Iam holy.’ ‘To speak thus is no prond as- 
sumption, but an expression of thankfulness. If thou sayest 
that thou art holy of thyself, that is pride. 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 willing 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 place where we 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 whole. 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 your families. If ye do this, ye will put out your 
money to interest; then ye will not be like the slothful 
servant, nor have reason to fear his dreadful sentence.”’ And 
in a sermon on Psa. 1. 23, Augustin says to the members of 
his church: “Goyern your houses, your sons, and your 


232 CHRISTIANITY ASCENDANT IN THE ROMAN EMPIRE. 


families. As it is our business to address you in the church, 
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 every 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 instructions 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 services thy wife 
renders thee; how she takes care of all household matters. 
Do inreturn 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 
Nola, 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.” 





VARIOUS APOLOGIES FOR LAX MORALITY. 233 


CHAPTER VI. 
VARIOUS ERRORS IN PRACTICAL CHRISTIANITY. 


As it is impracticable to give relief to a man who is 
suffering from bodily disease, if he 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 judicem te habeat, non patronum. In tribunal 
mentis tuz adscende contra te, et reum constitue te ante te. Noli 
ponere te post te, ne Deus ponat te ante se.—August. Serm. 20, § 2. 


234 CHRISTIANITY 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). 

Chrysostom, 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 impair 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 true God, should allow themselves to be 
again carried 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, which 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 
eyen the devil himself cannot hurt us.” 





ERRORS INJURIOUS TO CHRISTIAN HOLINESS. 2385 


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 from self and putting confidence in redeeming 
grace. 

Ἧ Augustin places together these temptations: ‘By such 
eraft,”’ 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, 1 am not abeliever. Ido not yet ask how 
thou livest, but what thou believest. 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, 
thou wilt guard thyself against sin; if thou guardest thyself, 


236 CHRISTIANITY ASCENDANT IN THE ROMAN EMPIRE. 


thou wilt exert thyself. God knows thy strivings; he sees 
thy willing; he sees thy conflict with the flesh; he exhorts 
thee to carry on the conflict; he supports thee, that thou 
mayst conquer; he succours the faint; he crowns the con- 
queror. Therefore rejoice in the Lord, ye righteous (Psa. 
xxxili. 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 for believers, and zz 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 Redeemer, 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 soul of 


* Anceps animus humanus et fluctuans inter confessionem infirmitatis 
et audaciam presumptionis, plerumque hinc atque inde contunditur, et 




















GOOD WORKS THE EVIDENCE OF FAITH. 237 


man,” he says, “commonly fails, 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 mercy 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 does 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.” He 
then contrasts those who believe they can be justified by their 
works, and those who believed they could be saved by faith 
while they continued in sin. He compares Paul and James, 
and adds:* ‘The apostles 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 would 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 eiin quamlibet partem cadere precipitium sit.—August. 
in Psa. xxxi. Enarr. 2, § 1. 

* Jacobus in epistola sua, contra eos qui nolebant bene operari de 
sola fide presumentes, ipsius Abrahe opera commendavit, cujus Paulus 
fidem ; et non sunt sibi adversi apostoli. Dicit autem opus omnibus 
notum; Abraham filium suum immolandum Deo obtulit. Magnum 
opus, sed ex fide. Laudo superedificationem operis, sed video fide 
fundamentum ; laudo fructum boni operis; sed in fide agnosco radicem,— 
August. in Psa. xxxi. Enarr. § ὃ. 


238 CHRISTIANITY ASCENDANT IN THE ROMAN EMPIRE. 


tion; but faith gives its right direction to the disposition.” 
Against those self-confident persons he says :* “Ὁ 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: {+ ‘‘ 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 heavy laden, 
and I will give you rest; learn of me, for Iam 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. How 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.” 


* QO fortes, quibus medicus opus non est! Fortitudo ista non sanitatis 
est, sed insaniz. Nam et phreneticus nihil fortius, valentiores sunt sanis; 
sed quanto majores vires, tanto mors vicinior.—August. in Psa. lviii. 
Serm.1, § 7. 

tT Sed considerans infirmitatem tuam, deficis sub praecepto ; confor- 
tare in exemplo. Sed etiam exemplum ad te multum est; adest ille qui 
prebuit exemplum, ut prebeat et auxilium.—August. in Psa. lvi. § 1. 





NECESSITY OF UNION 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 yarious images he shows us how we must be one 
with him. 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 walk 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 ; 

* Θεμέλιον yap ἄλλον οὐδεὶς δύναται θεῖναι παρὰ τὸν κείμενον. 
Ἐπὶ τοῦτο οὖν οἰκοδομώμεν, καὶ ὡς θεμελίου ἐχώμεθα, ὡς κλῆμα 
ἀμπέλου, καὶ μηδὲν ἔστω μέσον ἡμῶν καὶ Χριστοῦ. “Ay γὰρ γένηταί 
τι μέσον, εὐθέως ἀπολλύμεθα. Καὶ γὰρ τὸ κλῆμα κατὰ τὸ συνεχὲς 
ἕλκει τὴν πιότητα, καὶ ἡ οἰκοδομὴ κατὰ τὸ κεκολλῆσθαι ἕστηκεν " ὡς 
ἄν διαστῇ, ἀπόλλυται, οὐκ ἔχουσα ποῦ ἐρείσει ἑαυτήν. Μὴ τοίνυν 
ἁπλῶς ἐχώμεθα τοῦ Χριστοῦ, ἀλλὰ κολληθῶμεν αὐτῷ. “Av γὰρ 
διαστῶμεν, ἀπολλύμεθα. Οἱ γὰρ μακρύνοντες ἑαυτοὺς ἀπὸ σοῦ, απο- 
λοῦνταί, φησι. Κολλώμεθα τοίνυν αὐτῷ, καὶ κολλώμεθα διὰ τῶν ἔργων. 
Ὃ ydo τηρῶν τὰς ἐντολάς μου, αὐτὸς ἐν ἐμοὶ μένει. Καὶ γὰρ διαὶ 
πόλλῶν ἡμᾶς ὑποδειγμάτων ἑνοϊ. Σκόπει de* αὐτὸς ἡ κεφάἀλὴ, ἡμεῖς 
τὸ σῶμα. Μὴ δύναται μέσον τι εἶναι κεφαλῆς καὶ σώματος διάστημα; 
αὐτὸς θεμέλιος, ἡμεῖς οἰκοδομὴ αὐτὸς ἄμπελος, ἡμεῖς κλήματα" 
αὐτὸς ὃ νυμφίος, ἡμεῖς ἡ νύμφη αὐτὸς ὁ ποίμην, ἡμεῖς τὰ πρό- 
Bara’ ὁδὸς ἐκεῖνος, ἡμεῖς οἱ βαδίζοντες - ναὸς πάλιν ἡμεῖς, αὐτὸς 
ἔνοικος" αὐτὸς ὁ πρωτότοκος, ἡμεῖς οἱ ἀδελφοί" αὐτὸς ὁ κληρονόμος, 
ἡμεῖς οἱ συγκληρονομοι" αὐτὸς ἡ ζωὴ, ἡμεῖς οἱ ζῶντες" αὐτὸς ἡ 
ἀνάστασις, ἡμεῖς οἱ ἀνιστάμενοι" αὐτὸς τὸ φῶς, ἡμεῖς οἱ φωτιζόμενοι. 
Taira πάντα ἕνωσιν ἐμφαίνει, καὶ οὐδὲν μέσον κενὸν ἀφίησιν εἶναι; 
οὐδὲ τὸ pxpdratov.—Chrysost, in 1 Cor. Hom. 8, § 4. 


240 CHRISTIANITY ASCENDANT IN THE ROMAN EMPIRE. 


as the twig, if it be only partially separated from the root, it 
immediately withers.” 

When the Apostle Paul wrote 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. What was in itself a proper 
expression of Christian disposition and feeling, lost its true 
import, and became injurious 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, &c. were meritorious. 
Those teachers of the church who were animated with 
Christian zeal, were hence necessitated to combat, this over- 
valuation of externals, and to direct men’s minds from the 
outward to the inward. 

Augustin says:* “ΤῸ 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 thanksgiving’ 
(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 love the habitation of 


* Eleemosyne iliis prosunt, qui vitam mutaverunt..... Nam si ideo 
das, ut liceat tibi semper impune peccare, non Christum pascis, sed 
judicem corrumpere conaris.—August. Serm. 39, § 6. 








THE SOUL THE TRUE TEMPLE OF CHRIST. 241 


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 marbie and of gilded tables, but in 
believing, holy men, who love God with all their hearts, and 
their neighbours as themselves.” 

Jerome thus writes to a person who sought his advice for 
the 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 what 
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. ‘‘ When heaven and earth pass away, certainly 
all earthly things will pass away. The sttes of the crucifixion 
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 Britain the 
kingdom of heayen 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 

R 


242 CHRISTIANITY 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 believed 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 Amasea 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 would 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-WORSHIP. 243 


Augustin says: “Many make the sign of the cross, and are 
not disposed to understand its meaning. 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 by 
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 

R2 


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 
wanders from its proper object and attaches itself to sensible 
appearances. Zeai for the truth and for the honour of God 
cannot be without forbearing, recognising loye, neither can 
love exist without holy zeal for the truth. 


CHAPTER VII. 
ON PRAYER. 


‘‘PrayERr,”’ says Ambrose, “is the nourishment of the 
soul; by it the seat of vice is transformed into a sanctuary 
of virtue.” ‘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 que temporaliter cupiebantur, ut 
acies cordis simplicis ferre possit simplicem lucem.—August. de Sermone 
Domini in Monte 2, § 14. 





PRAYER, THE CHRISTIAN’S CONSTANT ACT. 245 


but since thou connectest 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 pray 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 special 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.’ Who can understand it except that Being before 
whose eyes and ears he sighs? Wherefore it is said in 
Psa. xxxvill. 9, ‘I have roared by reason of the disquietness 
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- 
perty; 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 Him, 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.17): ‘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?’ But if we so understand prayer, we cannot do it 
without ceasing. But there is another internal praying 
without ceasing, 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 ceasest to 
loye. 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 after the water-brooks, so 
panteth my soul after thee,O God!” And Augustin explains 
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 effect this is the design of 
the Holy Scriptures, of public worship, and of the sacraments. 
The design of singing of God’s praises 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 laudare quis durat? Suggero remedium, unde tota dies laudes 
Deum, 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 cantando, discedis ut reficiaris ; noli 
inebriari, et laudasti Deum. Discedis ut dormias; noli surgere ad male- 
faciendum, et laudasti Deum. Negotium agis; noli fraudem facere, et 
laudasti Deum. Agrum colis; noli litem movere, et laudasti Deum. In 
innocentia operum tuorum prepara te ad laudandum Deum tome die.— 
August. in Psa, xxxiv. Serm. 2, § 16. 





PRAYER PROMOTED BY SELF-KNOWLEDGE, 247 


temptations threatened to quench the fire of first love; and 
in this conviction, he says: “As long as we are here below, 
we must pray to God that he would not let our zeal in prayer 
and his merey depart from us; that is, that we may pray 
continually, and that he may always have compassion upon 
us, for many become negligent in prayer; in the novelty of 
conyersion 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 
anacquainted with himself, he knows not what he can bear 
and what he cannot; sometimes he is confident that 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 xxi. 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, who had not 
yet received, knew not his own deficiency: the tempta- 
tion came; he denied his Lord, he wept, he received 
strength.” 

On distraction in prayer and the long-suffering of God, 


* Omnis enim tentatio probatio est, et omnis probationis effectus 
habet fructum suum. Quia homo plerumque etiam 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 quasi interrogatio, et invenitur homo a se ipso, quia latebat et se 
ipsum, sed artificem non latebat.— August. in Psa. lv. § 2. 


248 CHRISTIANITY ASCENDANT IN THE ROMAN EMPIRE. 


which he shows towards those who pray to him, Augustin thus 
writes (Psa. Ixxxvi.5): ‘ ‘ For thou, Lord, art good and ready 
to forgive, and plenteous in mercy unto all them that call upon 
thee.’ What is meant by being good and ready to forgive ? 
Thou bearest with me till thou hast brought me to perfection. 
For truly, my brethren, I will speak as a man among men; let 
every one ask his own heart, and consider himself without 
flattery ; for nothing is more foolish than for a man to flatter 
and mislead himself. Let him see, then, what passes in the 
human heart; how prayer itself is often hindered by vain 
thoughts, so that the heart scarcely stands still before its 
God; how it must manage itself in order to stand firm, and 
can, as it were, find no limits, no bar in order to restrain its 
unsteady movements, and to make it quiet, that it may be 
blessed by its God. When, therefore, it is said here, ‘Re- 
joice the scul of thy servant; for unto thee, O Lord, do I lift 
up my soul; for thou, Lord, art good and ready to forgive ;’ 
I think that God is here said to be good and ready to forgive, 
because he bears with us as we are, and still waits for our 
prayers in order to assist us further. For what man would 
endure it, if when he wished to answer his friend who had 
begun to converse with him, the latter should turn away, and 
say something else to another person? Or would thy judge 
have patience if, after he had admitted thee to an audience 
with him, thou wert all at once to turn away and begin to 
talk with thy friend? And yet God bears with so many 
hearts of those who pray to him whose thoughts are turned 
to different objects, sometimes even perverse and hostile to 
God. Even to think on other things is an insult to him with 
whom thou hast begun to converse. Thy prayer is a speak- 
ing with God. When thou readest the Holy Scriptures, God 
speaks to thee; when thou prayest, thou speakest to God.”* 
Thus also Basil exhorts Christians not to despair on account 
of their unworthiness, but to trust in the mercy of God under 
all circumstances, with prayer. ‘‘As concern for a man’s 
own salvation is a good thing, so on the other hand de- 
pression of spirits, despair, giving up the hope of salvation, is 
injurious to the soul. Hope, therefore, in the goodness of 
God, and expect his help; and be assured that if we turn to 

* Oratio tua locutio est ad Deum. Quando legis, Deus tibi loquitur ; 
quando oras, Deo loqueris.—August. in Psa, Ixxxv. § 7. 





THE PRIVILEGE AND POWER OF PRAYER. 249 


him in the right way, he will not only not reject us, but even 
while we are uttering the words of prayer, he will say, 
‘Behold, here am I!’ ” 

Chrysostom says of prayer: “There is nothing more 
powerful than prayer, nothing that can be compared to it. 
The emperor adorned with the purple is not so splendid an 
object as the man of prayer who attains to the honour of 
intercourse with God. For just as when a person converses 
with the emperor himself, in the presence of all his nobles, 
the eyes of all are turned towards him, and he is held in 
special honour by them—so it is with the man of prayer. For 
only think what a great thing it is that thou, as a mere man, 
darest speak freely, in the presence of all the powers of the 
spiritual world, with God, the king of all those powers! 
What other honour can be compared to this? And not mere 
honour, but the greatest advantage, will also accrue to us from 
prayer, even before we receive what we pray for. For as soon 
as a man has only raised his hands to heaven, and called on 
God, he is at once taken away from the crowd of all human 
things, and is borne into the future life; from that moment 
he thinks only of heavenly things: in the act of prayer he has 
nothing in common with the present life, if he prays in 
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 earnest 
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 storm, 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 says: “It is impossible for him to sin who 
prays with real fervour, and always calls upon God. And 
wherefore? He who warms his soul raises himself to heaven, 
and thus calls on his Lord ; thinks of his sins, for the forgive- 
ness of which he prays to him, and implores his grace, and, 
occupied with such thoughts, lays aside all earthly cares ; 
such a man is furnished with wings, soars above human 
passions, and if after prayer he sees an enemy, he no longer 
regards him as an enemy. But we as men are liable to sink 
into indolence; and hence it comes to pass that when one, 


950 CHRISTIANITY ASCENDANT IN THE ROMAN EMPIRE. 


two, or three hours haye flown 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 zs 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 our ownselves into a temple of God, 





WORDS OR POSTURE NOT ESSENTIAL. 251 


Hence we have everything easy on all sides; for our worship 
is not such as it was formerly among the Jews, which required 
much that belonged to the senses, and many outward rites. 
Under the old economy, 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. Godis 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 


952 CHRISTIANITY ASCENDANT IN THE ROMAN EMPIRE. 


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 
uttered 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 our fault 
if he is far from us; for he himself is alwaysnear 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 tothee. ‘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, Iam 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 when he sees that we do this by our- 
selves. Thus he acted towards the Canaanitish 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 request. 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 we 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? Alldepends 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 fathers always combated the earthly disposition of 
those persons who 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 
aware that Christianity does 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 helpsand 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. 
““Eyen the body of the good Christian,’ says Augustin, 


254 CHRISTIANITY ASCENDANT IN THE ROMAN EMPIRE, 


“seeks in this world only God’s help; for God gives the soul 
tts 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 from 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 things—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 
effects 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 civil 
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. When 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 teats 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 {Π15 δ᾽" 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 encouragement 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 simply 
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 faith 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 
ean remove mountains, he is nothing. The same remark 
applies 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 mourn over you? Daily I 
experience such things, and what can I do? Cannot I con- 
ec πα that they must place their hopes in Christ 

one?” 


There was an unchristian mysticism which opposed prayer 


256 CHRISTIANITY ASCENDANT IN THE ROMAN EMPIRE, 


and exertion, such as we find in the Syrian sect of the 
Euchites* (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 from 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 their morbid feelings 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: “1 would that 
those persons may not deceive themselves who say, Why 
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 todo? 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. 





PRAYER SHOULD LEAD TO SELF-CONSECRATION. 257 


do, not to do nothing.’’* And Chrysostom 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 who 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 you. But on what conditions has he promised it? 
If we are willing, and follow Him, 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 which he 
again humbles them, and refers everything back to God.’” 

Prayer, therefore, ought not to cherish sloth in human 
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 oughtest to follow; 
for what must thou do for tiy 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 apply 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?”’ ¢ 

Both Chrysostom and Augustin expressed themselves 
strongly against the false notion, that prayer offered in cer- 
tain places was more acceptable to God. They 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 wf agant, non ut ipst nihil agant. 
+; An nescis, O homo, quod primitias tui cordis ac yvocis quotidie Deo 
debeas ?>—Ambros. in Psa, cxvill. Seri 19, § 22, 
5 


258 CHRISTIANITY ASCENDANT IN THE ROMAN 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 return 
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? 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 hectie 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 within, 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, ‘Call out and say, “1 
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 zon- — 
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— 
seck Him.” By true prayer, proceeding from the heart, man 

" Ἢ δὲ παρατήρησις λοιπὸν μὴ περὶ τόπον ἔστω, ἀλλὰ περὶ τὸν 
τρόπον τῆς EvxHC.—Chrysost. in 1 Tim. 8, § 1. 





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 unworthy 
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. O 
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 contrary ; 
for we are all of us men.” * 


+ Εὐχαριστοῦμεν ὑπὲρ πασῶν τῶν εὐεργεσιῶν σοῦ τῶν ἐκ πρώτης 
ἡμέρας μέχρι τῆς παρούσης εἰς ἡμᾶς τοὺς ἀναξίους ἐπιδεικνυμένων * 
ὑπὲρ Ov ἴσμεν, καὶ οὐκ ἴσμεν" ὑπὲρ τῶν φανερων, ὑπὲρ τῶν ἀφανῶν 
τῶν ἐν ἔργῳ γενομένων, τῶν ἐν λόγῳ " τῶν ἑκοντὶ, των ἀκοντί" πασῶν 
τῶν εἰς τοὺς ἀναξίους ἡμᾶς γεγενημένων" ὑπὲρ θλίψεων, ὑ ὑπὲρ ἀνέσεων, 
ὑπὲρ τῆς γεέννης, ὑπὲρ τῆς κολάσεως, ὑ ὑπὲρ βασιλείας τῶν οὐρανῶν. 
ἸΠαρακαλοῦμέν σε φυλάξαι τὴν ψύχην ἡμῶν ἁγίαν, καθαρὰν συνείδησιν 
ἔχουσαν, τέλος ἄξιον τῆς φιλανθρωπίας σου. Ὁ ἀγαπήσας ἡμᾶς ὥστε 
τὸν ᾿μονογενῇ σου δοῦναι ὑπὲρ ἡμῶν, καταξίωσον ἀξίους γενεσθαι τῆς σῆς 
ἀγάπης" δὸς ἐν τῷ λόγῳ σου σοφίαν, καὶ ἐν τῷ φόβῳ σου, “μονογενὴς, 
Χριστέ, ἔμπνευσον ἰσχὺν τὴν “παρὰ σοῦ. ‘O τὸν μονογενῆ δοὺς ὑπὲρ 
ἡμῶν, καὶ τὸ πνεῦμά σοῦ τὸ ἅγιον ἐξαποστείλας εἰς ἄφεσιν τῶν ἡμε- 
τερων ἁμαρτιῶν, εἴ τι ἑκόντες ἢ ἄκοντες ἡμάρτομεν, συγχώρησον, καὶ 
μὴ λογίσῃ᾽ μνῴσθητι πάντων τῶν ἐπικαλουμένων το ὄνομά σου ἐν 
ἀληθείᾳ μνήσθητι πάντων τῶν εὖ, καὶ τἀναντία ἡμῖν θελόντων. 
Πάντες γὰρ ἄνθρωποί topev.—Chrysost. in Col. 10, § 3 (Viri cujusdane 
sancti precatio). 

s 2 





260 CHRISTIANITY ASCENDANT IN THE ROMAN EMPIRE. 


CHAPTER VIII. 
CHRISTIAN FESTIVALS. 


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. All the sabbatical and festive 
regulations of the Old Covenant were closely connected with 
the spirit of bondage and minority, since men were confined 
under 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 desire 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 asa day of the Lord, by a life founded on faith 
in the Redeemer, and on heart-communion with him. In 
opposition to the carnal Jewish 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 earthly, 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 
sufferings 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 ἘΝ the essence of genuine 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? The Son of God has 
become man for thy sake ; He has freed thee from death; He 
has called thee to the kingdom of heayen. How canst thou, 
who hast obtained and art obtaining such great things, help 
making thy whole life a feast? No one, παν should 
be cast down on account of poverty, sickness, or persecution ; 
for we have a perpetual feast-time. Therefore the Apostle 
Paul says (Phil. iv. 4): ‘Rejeice in the Lord always.’ 
On feast-days no one wears soiled g 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: ‘* When 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 ora 
wedding that is here celebrated, as an apology for the revelry 
that is indulged i in on the occasion. In God's 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- 


* ἱἙορτῆς ἄρα ὁ παρὼν καιρός. Καὶ γὰρ' εἰπὼν, ἑορτάζωμεν, οὐκ 
ἐπειδὴ πάσχα παρῆν, οὐδὲ ἐπειδὴ ἡ πεντηκοστὴ ἔλεγεν, ἀλλὰ δεικνὺς 
ὅτι πᾶς ὁ χρόνος, ἑορτῆς ἐστι καιρὸς τοῖς Χριστιανοῖς διὰ τὴ» ὑπερ- 
βολὴν τῶν δοθέντων ayauv.—Chrysost. in 1 Cor. Hom. 15, ὃ 3. 


2962 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 
whole 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. α 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 was lost; as we have already 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 reproye, will say to me, ‘ Thou hast, forsooth, preached to us 
that this feast announces 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. 263 


self good, and not harm! For it announces joy to thee if thou 
art a temple of God. But if thou defilest the temple of God 
by drunkenness, the apostle tells thee (1 Cor. i. 17), ‘ If any 
man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy.’ ”’ 

As the whole life of the Christian 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, Chrysostom 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? That God 

appeared on earth and walked with men. But this is for all 
| times, for he said: ‘I am with you always, even to the end 
of the world.’ We can therefore celebrate Christmas at all 
times. What is the meaning of the second feast? 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? 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 1 will pray the Father, and he shall give 
you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever; 
the Spirit of truth.’ As Christ says of himself, ‘ Lo, Iam 


eee 


264 CHRISTIANITY ASCENDANT IN THE ROMAN 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 our 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 sutferings, 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: ‘‘ May 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, ye 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 feelings 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 Aim 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 
egroti; Natalis est Salvatoris. Lxultate captivi; Natalis est Redemp- 
toris. Exultent servi; Natalis est Dominantis. Exultent liberi; 
Natalis est Liberantis. Exultent omnes Christiani; Natalis est Christi.— 
August. Serm. 184 in Natali Domini, § 2. 

+ Salvator noster, dilectissimi, hodie natus est: gaudeamus. Neque 


CHRISTIAN AND HEATHEN FESTIVALS. 265 


might rejoice; for no mourning is admissible when that life 
is born which destroys the 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 
receive the crown of victory; let the sinner rejoice, because 
he is invited to the forgiveness 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 festival might 
have connected itself, had more pure and elevated views been 
taken of their meaning. And very 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 move 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 age that was deeply im- 
planted in the consciousness of fallen man, although the 
sentiment associated with it was not understood. Here 
Christianity found a point of connection, since it taught men 
that the true golden age was destined to be restored by 
Christ. He had, indeed, established 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 themselves in the peaceful innocence of a 
golden as belonging to the past, Christianity held forth to 
them in the present and the future. The Christian does not 


enim locum fas est 101 esse tristitie, ubi natalis est vitee que consumto 
mortalitatis timore nobis ingerit de promissa zternitate letitiam. Nemo 
ab hujus alacritatis participatione secernitur, una cunctis letitie com- 
munis est ratio, quia Dominus noster, peccati mortisque destructor, sicut 
nullum a reatu liberum reperit, ita liberandis omnibus venit. Exultet 
sanctus, quia propinquat ad palmam. Gaudeat peccator, quia invitatur 
ad veniam.—Leo M. Serm. 21, cap. 21. 


266 CHRISTIANITY ASCENDANT IN THE ROMAN 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 
which 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 heayen 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 
revelry that mournful reality from the galling yoke of which 
they freed themselves once a-year, the Christian surrendered 
himself to a holy, tranquil joy; he saw earthly life itself trans- 
formed by his Saviour, and human nature sanctified from its 
first development in order to become tlie 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 szgzdlaria, or children’s feast, when they received pre- 
sents of little earthenware figures (szgi//a). Then also, at 
Christmas, was the festival of the shortest day, the birthday 
of the new sun (drumalia, 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 History, vol. iii. p. 442, Standard Library 
Edition. [Tr.] 





COMMEMORATION OF ΟΗΒΙΒΤ 5 BIRTH AND DEATH. 267 


of the Western Church; as, for example, Augustin: “ He 
who for our sakes humbled himself and came down 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 who 
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 lght 
with 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 
every 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 human nature—‘‘ enlighteneth 
all men.’’ 


268 CHRISTIANITY ASCENDANT IN THE ROMAN EMPIRE. 


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 formed the preparation for the 
celebration of communion with the glorified Christ, the con- 
queror oyer 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 conyersion ef 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. ‘This 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, but of which he boasts, 
saying (Gal. vi. 14): ‘God forbid that I should glory, save 
in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is 
crucified unto me and I unto the world.’ This cross relates 
not only to forty 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 Christian 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? 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 





EXHORTATIONS OF LEO THE GREAT AND CXSARIUS. 269 


we cannot conquer our enemies in any other way than by 
conquering ourselves. For there are 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 oyer- 
comes the allurements of earthly pleasure, then the 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.’’** Czesarius, bishop of Arles, 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 dried up by hunger and want, till it 
becomes like a lifeless image, so the soul, if it is not 
nourished by the word 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 we 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 
world give way, which, according to the Scriptures, cause 
many to be negligent. May carnal pleasures and the 
poisonous attractions of the world cease to allure: the time 


_. which you were wont to devote to exciting amusements, begin 


to occupy in reading the Scriptures. Instead of idle conyer- 
sation and poisonous evil-speaking of others, engage in con- 
versations respecting the Holy Scriptures. In the hours 
which we 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 Scriptures 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 


Ὁ judice regitur, et animus Deo preside gubernatur.—Leo M. Serm. 39, 


cap. 2. 


270 CHRISTIANITY ASCENDANT IN THE ROMAN EMPIRE. 


may be able to speak of the 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 injurious effects of such thoughtless commnu- 
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 effected 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 aJew 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 nature 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 mourn on account of the cross—far be it! but on 
account of our own sins.” ἢ 

As the preparation for the Easter festival brought to mind 
the grace youchsafed to all sinners, the fathers 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, by showing love and 
compassion to others. The bishops endeay oured 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 nature. 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 should 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 heavy 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 week. ‘It is called great,” says Chrysostom, “because 
the goods are great and superabundant which are imparted to 
us in it; for in this week the long conflict terminated which 
annihilated the power of death, took away the curse, set us 

* Τό ye πάσχα ov νηστείας ἐστὶν, οὐδὲ πένθους ἀλλ᾽ εὐφροσύνης 
καὶ χαρᾶς ὑπόθεσις. ὋὉ γὰρ σταυρὸς ΠΤ, τὴν ἁμαρτίαν, καθάρσιον 
τῆς οἰκουμένης ἐγένετο, καταλλαγὴ Xpoviag ἔχθρας, ἀνέῳξε τοῦ οὐρανοῦ 
τὰς πύλας, τοὺς μισουμένους φίλους ἐποίησεν, εἰς τὸν οὐρανὸν ἐπανή- 
γαγ'ν, ἐν δεξιᾷ τοὺ Spduay ἐκάθισε τὴν ἡμετέραν φύσιν, μυρία ἕτερα 
παρέσχεν ὑμῖν ἀγαθα. ... Οὐ πενθοῦμεν διὰ τὸν σταυρὸν, μὴ γένοιτο, 


ἀλλὰ διὰ τὰ οἰκεῖα ἁμαρτήματα. —Chrysost. in eos qui pascha jejunant, 
3, § 4. 


272 CHRISTIANITY ASCENDANT IN THE ROMAN EMPIRE. 


free from the tyranny of Satan, established 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 their 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 offences. ‘“‘ 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 opened 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 world, congregations consisting of thousands come to 
meet the Lord Jesus, not holding and waying 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, 
πὸ μέγα σάββατον), 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 were pagans; and others who 
wavered in their convictions were so powerfully impressed 
by what they witnessed 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 


ἃ 
i 
J 





UNIVERSAL JOY OF THE CHRISTIANS. 273 


for good or evil. Augustin says on this point, “ With what joy 
must the friend of Christ watch, since even the enemy of Christ 
watches with pain? With what ardent zeal must the Christian 
watch during such a glorification of Christ, when even the pagan 
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 speak to God in our prayers. If we 
hear his word 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 Risen 
One was present to the eye of faith; the resurrection of 
Christ served to believers for © 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. exvili. 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, which 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 happy 
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 

Tr 


274 CHRISTIANITY ASCENDANT IN THE ROMAN EMPIRE. 


first-fruits of my nature so victorious over death, I fear no 
longer; I 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 
spread 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 11. 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 suffer 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 holdest a burning torch upright, the flame rises towards 
heaven; turn the torch downwards, still the flame goes 
towards heaven. It knows no other way; it seeks heaven. 
One person is warm, another cold; the warm 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 PARTICIPATION IN CHRIST’S GLORY. 26, 


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. ii. 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 Jmmanuel (God with us, Isa. vil. 
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 
who 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- 
fitemur, nos in Christo crucifixi, nos sumus mortui, nos sepulti, nos etiam 
in ipso die tertio suscitati—Leo ΔΙ. Serm. 72, cap. ὃ. 

Tu 


276 CHRISTIANITY ASCENDANT IN THE ROMAN 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 fasting, and 
spend it in celebrating the praises of God. Both are pre- 
figured for usin 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 us 
the life which we shall receive.” 

In 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 heayenly 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 with the glorified Christ, that they 
should be filled with the Spirit of the glorified One, made 
continually 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, adscendamus cum illo, et sursum cor habea- 
mus, Adscendentes autem non extollamur, nec de nostris quasi de pro- 
priis meritis preesumamus. Sursum enim cor habere debemus, sed ad 
Dominum.—August. Serm. 261, § 1. 





PLEA FOR THE INSTITUTION OF FESTIVALS. DTT 


to heayen.’ 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 through Chrysostom’s beautiful sermon on the 
Ascension. ‘ Christ,” says he, “has carried the first-fruits 
of our 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 what 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 Chrysostom, 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 haye 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 Christian freedom, yet made the reading 


278 CHRISTIANITY ASCENDANT IN THE ROMAN EMPIRE. 


of the Scriptures dependent on such particular times, he 
brings forward the reason for this special arrangement. 
“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 himself at Whitsuntide: ‘Many 
blessings 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. Ixxvii. 24.) Then fire from the Lord descended and 
converted the backsliding Jewish peopie, and deyoured the 
burnt- offerings on the altar. (1 Kings xvii. 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 heavenly 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 spirits, but 
remained in human nature, and became angels in disposition. 
Not ten days,” he says, ‘“‘ had passed since Christ's ascen- 
sion, and he sent to us spiritual gifts of grace, as presents 
which sealed 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 reconciliation, 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 our part we have given obedience, and have 


THE HOLY SPIRIT 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 
Spirit, which they had not experienced in their own souls, 
Chrysostom exhibited the proofs of the continued operation 
of the Holy Spirit, without which the Pentecostal 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, remeinber 
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 who says 80, 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 
purity, 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 church. 
What the soul effects in all the members of the same body, 
that the Holy Spirit effects in the whole church.” 


280 CHRISTIANITY ASCENDANT IN THE ROMAN EMPIRE. 


CHAPTER IX. 


BAPTISM—THE HOLY SUPPER—AND CHRISTIAN 
FELLOWSHIP. 


In the first age of the church, only adults who entered it 
consciously and voluntarily, were baptized. But after the 
first foundation of the church had been laid, and Christian 
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 lreneus founded infant baptism 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 we are now speaking, many 
things, especially in the Oriental church, opposed the intro- 
duction of infant baptism. There were many persons who 
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 course of their 
lives. Many acted thus, that meanwhile they might more 
freely indulge their lusts, in the false confidence of which we 
haye already spoken, that if they received baptism on the 





THE ORIGIN OF INFANT BAPTISM. 281 


near approach of death, however 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 haye injuriously reacted. 

But many pious parents, owing to a misapprehension, were 
afraid to trust what was of the highest value, and which 
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 
Spirit. 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 was 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 baptism, which was designed to arouse them to a 
consciousness of what 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 
understand what no eye had seen, and no ear had heard ; that 
he would instruct them in the words 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 eyery kind of evil, from all 
devilish sins, and all temptations of the Wicked One; that he 
would grant them, at the right 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 CHRISTIANITY ASCENDANT IN THE ROMAN EMPIRE. 


wise; that he would cause everything that awaited them to 
be for their good.” While this prayer was offered, the ecate- 
chumens knelt down; 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 yourselyes to the 
living God, and to his Christ.’’* 

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 Redeemer, 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. 1. 30.) 
Whoever, therefore, hungers after this bread, he hungers after 
righteousness, but after that righteousness which comes down 
from heayen—the 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 PARTICIPATION IN THE HOLY SUYPPER. 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 believeth on me hath everlast- 
ing life.’ He meant to reveal what he was; for he could in 
a word say: ‘Whoever believeth 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 ; 
whence he can draw 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 cutward visible 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 through 
the latter. Others thought that the Christian ought to ven- 
ture only after special preparation, a collectedness 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- 
yailed 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 should 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 Centurion 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 Saviour, 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 unworthiness, 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 
ἃ stricter manner of living during the fast; without coming 
with those sincere feelings of repentance, and of renewed 
cordial surrender to Him with 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 οὐν; τίνας ἀποδεξόμεθα; τοὺς ἵπαξ (τῆς θυσίας μεταλαμ- 
βάνοντας τοῦ παντὸς ἑνιαυτοῦ); τοὺς πολλάκις ; τοὺς ὀλιγάκις ; Οὔτε 
τοὺς ἅπαξ, οὔτε τοὺς πολλάκις, οὔτε τοὺς ὀλιγάκις, ἀλλὰ τοὺς μετὰ 
καθαρᾶς καρδίας, τους μετὰ βιου ἀλήπτου. Οἱ τοιοῦτοι ἀεὶ προσίτωσαν. 
Οἱ δὲ μὴ τοιοῦτοι, μηδὲ ἅπαξ. Ti δηποτε; Ὅτι κρίμα ἑαυτοῖς λαμ- 
Bavovor-—Chrysost. in Hebr. 17, § 4. 





PRE-REQUISITES TO COMMUNION. 985 


to be right? 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 differently 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? ‘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 CHRISTIANITY ASCENDANT IN THE ROMAN EMPIRE. 


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 powers, your own merits, your own 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. What 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 
are 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 spirit of Christian 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. 
Chrysostom laments that so little was shown 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. Ina 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 
thyself 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 conferred on 
thee the honour of being at sucha table. May we all hearken 
to this who are here assembled with the poor at the hoiy 
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 evil, 
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 ccelo eterna Jerusalem, ubi sunt cives nostri angeli; ab 


ipsis civibus nostris peregrinamur in terra. In perigrinatione suspiramus, 
in civitate gaudebimus.—August. in Psa. exxxi. § 2. 


288 CHRISTIANITY ASCENDANT IN THE ROMAN EMPIRE. 


one another. ‘Let us go on!’ they cried, ‘ Let us go on!’ 
Some asked, ‘ Whither must we go?’ 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! Let us run and not be weary, since we shall at last 
arrive where no weariness 15 felt.” 


CHAPTER X. 
CHRISTIAN FRIENDSHIP. 


WHat we call friendship, that inward contact and com- 
munion between souls which 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 various forms of the new spirit—transformed, sanctified, 
and glorified them; so also it must receive into itself and 





GENUINE, SPIRITUAL FRIENDSHIP. 289 


fill with 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 consciousness 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 by the Spirit of the 
Lord, form a church, in the midst of which the Lord has 
promised to be present. 

Chrysostom says of true friendship: “If thou namest a 
thousand treasures to me, none is of so much worth asa genuine 
friend. Let us first of all say what high joy friendship 
insures of itself. The communion of souls gives overflowing 
joy. Ispeak 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. Whoever 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 what 
he prays for himself. I know one who requested pious men 
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 oni 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 CHRISTIANITY ASCENDANT IN THE ROMAN 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 ies 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 form 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 reciprdcal 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 δὲ πνευματικὴ ἀγάπη πασῶν ἐστιν ἀνωτέρα, καθάπερ τις 
βασίλισσα τῶν ἰδίων κρατοῦσα, καὶ λαμπρὸν ἔχει τὸ σχῆμα. Οὐδὲν 
γὰρ γήϊνον αὐτήν τίκτει, οὐ συνήθεια, οὐ εὐεργεσία, οὐ φύσις, οὐ χρόνος. 
"ANN’ ἄνωθεν κάτεισιν ἐκ τοῦ οὐρανοῦ. Καὶ τί “θαυμάζεις, εἰ εὐεργεσίας 
οὐ δεῖται πρὸς τὸ συνεστάναι, ὕπου γε οὐδὲ τῷ κακῶς παθεῖν ἀνατρέ- 
merat.—Chrysost. in Col. 1, 8 3. 





AUGUSTIN AND HIS FRIEND ALYPIUS. 291 


In the relation first described stood Augustin and Alypius 
to one another. The latter, a man distinguished from early 
life by his noble striving, was a neighbour of Augustin, and 
perhaps 8 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. He was carried away by his ardour. At 
first he was in error, and Alypius 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. xii. 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 easily attain a decisive victory, 
as Augustin, and surrender his heart and life so wholly and un- 
reservedly to the Redeemer; he could not make eprias 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 
with 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 Czesarea and 
Gregory Nazianzen. The former, by nature powerful, ardent 

vu 2 


292 CHRISTIANITY ASCENDANT IN THE ROMAN 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, earthly 
fire. Gregory, on the other hand, was more inclined to the 
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 Roman 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 which at that time had a 
secret support in the young and promising imperial prince, 
Julian, to whom all eyes were directed. The studious Chris- 
tian youth gathered round the two friends, in whom they 
beheld bright examples of faith and practice. ‘There were 
for us,” says Gregory, ‘‘ only two ways known: the way to 
the church and the teachers of the church; and the way to 
the teachers of the sciences. As 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 down 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 different out- 
ward relations and spheres of action. Basil lived in the re- 
tirement of Pontus, at the head of a religious society, while 





BASIL OF CHSAREA AND GREGORY NAZIANZEN. 295 


Gregory, whom he had invited thither, was obliged to remain 
at Nazianzus, in order to take care of his parents. ‘‘ Tallow,” 
he wrote to Basil, in answer to his reproaches, “1 have not 
kept the promise 1 made at Athens to live with you, and to 
pursue our studies together ; but it is against 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 happy intercourse. ‘‘ Who will give me again,” 
he writes, ‘‘ those Christian hymns, those risings of the soul 
to God in prayer, that almost super-earthly life, that heart- 
communion with the brethren 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 
united them in spirit. Gregory, who had once known the 
work of God in his friend’s soul, and had become one with 
him in the Lord—who 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 


2904 CHRISTIANITY ASCENDANT IN THE ROMAN EMPIRE. 


only faith and love can penetrate. ‘ Love endureth ail 
things, believeth all things, hopeth all things,” as the apostle 
says; it continues to believe and hope in the divine original 
image, 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 him by the common 
participation 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 which 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 different 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 inverts the right order 
of things, since it would form its conceptions of light from 
shadows, while shadows can only be rightly understood in 
their relation to light. 








JERUME 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: “1 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 weil 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, which 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 life 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 higher 
genuine kind, such as described by himself; yet it was broken 
up by the power of this separating, egoistic element. These 
two individuals, who had formerly been friends, strove against 
each other with carnal violence, so that Augustin wrote to 
Jerome: “When and where must not every man, whoever 
he may be, be afraid, simce to you—at a time in which ye 
follow the Lord free from the burden of the world, and live 
together in a land in which the Lord, when he walked on it 
with human feet, said: ‘Peace I leave with you, my peace I 


296 CHRISTIANITY ASCENDANT IN THE ROMAN EMPIRE. 


give unto you;’ and you are men of riper years, who have 
studied the word of God together—since to you, I say, such 
things can happen? ‘Truly, must not man be continually in 
a state of warfare on earth. (Job vii. 1.) Alas! that I 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 should renew the 
controversy with one another.” 


CHAPTER XI. 
THE VARIOUS 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 Rom. xii. 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 SERVICE 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 pavers 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 ; whether 
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 were incon- 
sistent with Christianity; the same writer says: ‘“ These pre- 
cepts relate rather to the internal disposition than to the out- 
ward 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 I 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 reipublice, 
dent exercitum talem quales doctrina Christi esse milites jussit, dent tales 
provinciales, tales maritos, tales conjuges, tales parentes, tales filios, tales 
dominos, tales servos, tales reges, tales judices, tales denique debitorum 
ipsius fisci redditores et exactores, quales esse preecepit doctrina Christiana, 
et audeant eam dicere adversam esse reipublice immo vero non dubitent 
eam confiteri magnam, si obtemperetur, salutem esse reipublice. — 
August. Epist. 138, ad Marcellinum. 


298 CHRISTIANITY ASCENDANT IN THE ROMAN EMPIRE. 


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 
wish 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 when 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 802nd 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. vi. 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 


I 





AUGUSTIN’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 itis 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 
world; 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!’ 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 every 
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?” 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, Augustin wrote him an epistle of exhortation and 
warning to recall him to hisduty. “1 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 they 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 











——O———— τυ στο στο σον 


AUGUSTIN’S ADVICE TO BONIFACE. 301 


of this world, and how thou 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 taking 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 I 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 right 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 are 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 does 
not see that to defend thy power 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 ROMAN EMPIRE. 


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 living 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 through 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 reccived 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- 
561. He 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 





τὸν 
γα 


Ξ-- 


eee κόρα Es 


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: “Ὁ 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 vyocation:—“ (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 flame 
of a holy longing impel you to the reading of the Scriptures.” 
““(6.) Be not too rigid in administering justice [7.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,”’ 


9504 CHRISTIANITY ASCENDANT IN THE ROMAN EMPIRE. 


Gregory Nazianzen 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 
emperor’s 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 HIS MASTER. 305 


Epistle to the Corinthians, he says to the higher classes 
before whom he spoke :* ‘‘ Do not say that such 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 the disciples 
of the fishermen, of the publicans, of the tentmakers, of Him 
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 thy 
brother, as well as him who rides in a chariot with a multi- 
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 spirit 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. vil. 22, 23: ‘* In Christ 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 


* M7 γὰρ εἴπῃς, ὕτι ὁ δεῖνα ὑποδηματοῤῥάφος, μηδ᾽ ὅτι δευσοποιὸς 
ἕτερος, pene Ort χαλκοτύπος ἄλλος" ἀλλ᾽ ἐννόησον Ore πιστὸς καὶ 
ἀδελφός. ᾿Εκείνων γὰρ ἐσμὲν μαθηταὶ τῶν ἁλιέων, τῶν τελωνῶν, τῶν 
σκηνοῤῥάφων, ἐκέινου τοῦ τραφέντος. ἐν οἰκίᾳ τέκτονος, καὶ τὴν μνηστὴν 
τούτου μητέρα καταξιώσαντος σχεῖν, καὶ ἐκ σπαργάνων ἐπὶ φάτνης 
κειμένον, καί οὐκ ἔχοντος ὕπου κλίνῃ τὴν Kepadnv.—Chrysost. 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 slavery. 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 fo recognize in slaves men in the 
image of God, for whose salvation, as for their own, Christ 
died, and it excited them by the fire of love to care for the 
spiritual and bodily welfare of their brethren. Chrysostom 
says, 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 
own experience, Chrysostom says, “1 know many families 
who by the virtue of their servants have gained much [2. 6. 
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 1 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 
Apostle’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 


* Τοιοῦτον ὁ Χριστιπνισμὸς, ἐν δουλείᾳ ἐλευθερίαν yapizecOar.— 
Chrysost. 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 Lord’s service; 
for the Apostle, though he says that Christianity imparts true 
inward freedom even to slaves, also advisés: ‘If thou mayest 
be free, use it rather.” (1 Cor. vii. 21.) 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,” 
wrote 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 af 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? 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 dwelleth on high, and 
looketh on the lowly; not on the high, but the lowly.’ (Psa. 
exil. 6.) What, then, is the gold which we have given in 

x2 


308 CHRISTIANITY ASCENDANT IN THE ROMAN 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 wert 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 ?’”? When 
these exhortations proved of no avail, he endeavoured to 
purchase 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—and 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 one’s 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 your 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. 





CHRISTIANS, 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 ; 
you will deceive yourselves, my brethren. Do not promise 
yourselves what the gospel does 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 that a 
person shouid say, Joyful times are coming, then I will do this 
or buy that. It is good for thee to hear Him 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 


410 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 may 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 





DUTY OF CHRISTIAN ACTIVITY AND VIGILANCE. 311 


feared that during the delay, those who believed what the 
first said, may become unsettled; and thou seest what injury 
to their souls may thence ensue. And even if they have faith 
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 own 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 
“6 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 
eyer-enduring consolations of the gospel. He said: * “" Is thy 


* Quare enim turbaris? Pressuris mundi turbatur cor tuum, quo- 
modo navis illa, ubi dormiebat Christus? Ecce que causa est, homo 
cordate, ut turbetur cor tuum; ecce que causa est. Navis ista, in qua 
Christus dormit, cor est ubi fides dormit. Quid enim tibi novi dicetur, 
Christiane, quid enim tibi novi dicetur ὃ Temporibus Christianis vastatur 
mundus, deficit mundus, Non tibi dixit Dominus tuus, deficiet mundus ὃ 
‘Quare credebas quando promittebatur, et turbaris quando completur ? 
Ergo tempestas seevit in cor tuum; cave naufragium, excita Christum. 





e 


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. ii. 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 world 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 decrepitude ; 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 what Christ commands, then the heathen 
would blaspheme only to their own disgrace.”’ 

The tide of desolation approached Augustin’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, whether it were allowable for the bishops to save them- 
selves by fiight. Augustin spoke strongly against the hire- 
lings who forsook their flocks for which 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 advantages which the churches might derive from the 
presence of their bishops in times of the greatest distress. 
“ According to the abilities which the Lord has given them, 
they will help all; some are baptized, others receive the com- 


Habitare, inquit apostolus, Christum per fidem in cordibus vestris. Per 
fidem habitat in te Christus. Fides presens, preesens est Christus ; fides 
vigilans, vigilans est Christus ; fides oblita, dormiens est Christus.—August. 
Serm, 81, § 8. 








GRADUAL APPROACH 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 upon 
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: 
“1 wish that we renounced the world voluntarily, and not by 
compulsion. I prefer that freely-adopted poverty which tends 
to repose, to that foreed poverty which is endured as a cala- 
mity. Finally, in relation to the miseries of the present time, 
when 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 tace 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 of the West that were overwhelmed by the barba- 
rians to Bethlehem, roused his sympathy by their appearance. 
He himself says, in the preface to the third book of his com- 
mentary on Hzekiel: ‘‘ Everything which has been originated 
is now destroyed; and what had grown to maturity is now 


314 CHRISTIANITY ASCENDANT IN THE ROMAN EMPIRE. 


antiquated. Who could believe that that Rome 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 we 
have interrupted our commentary on Ezekiel and almost all 
our studies ; and, instead, we endeavour to change the words 
of Scripture into works, and not to preach but to practise 
piety.” Disturbed 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 his 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 





CHRYSOSTOM’S LETTER ΤῸ OLYMPIAS. 815 


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 
appoint 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 
rejoice that we are honoured with such a distinction far 
exceeding our deserts. But does the solitude in which I 
dwell disturb you? and what is more pleasant than a resi- 
dence here? Rest, peace, no business, and soundness of body. 
If the city offers nothing to purchase, it makes no difference 
to me; for I am abundantly supplied. I have never ceased, 
and shall never cease to say: ‘ There is only one evil—szn ; 
everything else is dustand 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, 
out of the reach of the darts of the devil, and learn to despise 
every thing which can be undertaken against them.” ‘‘ As 
no change of weather, no cold, no bad nourishment can injure 
those who are sound in body,” he says, ‘‘ because health can 
ward off all injuries—so it is with the health of the soul. 
Even before the reward of heaven, virtue is its own reward. 
Thus Paul rejoiced when he was scourged and persecuted, 
and endured a thousand dreadful things. ‘I rejoice under 
my sufferings for you,’ he said. ‘ Virtue does not expect its 
reward first in heaven; already it finds it in the suffering 
itself: for this is the greatest reward, to suffer for the truth. 
Hence the company of the apostles departed joyfully from 
_ before the Sanhedrim, not only on account of the kingdom of 
heaven which they had in expectation, but because they were 
counted worthy to suffer shame for his name. ‘This in itself 
is the greatest honour and crown, the yictor’s prize, the ground 
of inexhaustible joy.” 


916 


PART III. 


EFFECTS OF CHRISTIANITY DURING AND AFTER THE 
IRRUPTION OF THE NORTHERN NATIONS INTO 
THE ROMAN EMPIRE, 


INTRODUCTORY REMARKS. 


THE world and the glory of it pass away, but the word of 
God abides for ever, to renew the world and make it young 
again; to call forth from death a new and more glorious life. 

We have seen destruction invade the world-wide empire of 
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 away 
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 the 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 of 
the church, as of Christianity, could not be touched by any 
destructive power, and at this period of the world’s decrepitude 


EFFECT OF TRIAL ON THE UNDECIDED. 517 


and exhaustion showed itself more evidently to be the un- 
changeable vital principle of a new creation. In this time of 
invading destruction, a Christian father (probably Leo the 
Great, before he was a bishop) thus wrote:* “Even the 
weapons by which the world is destroyed, subserve the opera- 
tions of Christian grace. How many, who in the quiet of 
peace had delayed their baptism, were impelled to it by the 
fear of imminent danger! How many sluggish and lukewarm 
souls are roused by sudden and threatening alarm, on whom 
peaceful exhortation had produced no effect! Many sons of 
the church who have been brought into captivity, make their 
masters subject to the gospel. and become teachers of the 
Christian 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 they 
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 gratize Christiane, etiam ipsa quibus mundus alteritur, 
arma famulantur. Quam multos enim qui in tranquillitate pacis sacra- 
mentum baptismatis suscepere differebant, ad aquam regenerationis con- 
fugere instantes periculi metus impulit ; et tentis tepidisque animus quod 
diu cohortatio quieta non suasit, minax subito terror extorsit? Quedam 
ecclesiz filii ab hostibus capti, dominos suos Christi evangelio mancipa- 
rant, et quibus conditione bellica serviebant, eisdem fidei magisterio 
prefuerunt. At alii barbari dum Romanis auxiliantur, quod in suis locis 
nosse non poterant, in nostris cognovere regionibus, et ad sedes suas cum 
Christiane religionis institutione remearunt. Ita nihil obsistere divine 
gratize potest, quod minus id quod voluerit impleatur, dum etiam dis- 
cordiz ad unitatem trahunt et plage in remedia vertuntur; ut ecclesia 
unde metuit periculum, unde sumat augmentum.—VDe vocat. omn. gen= 


tium, lib. ii. cap. 33. (Leon. M. opp. ed. Balerin. tom. ii. p. 242.) 


918 CHRISTIANITY IN THE FIFTH CENTURY. 


the power of religion. We shall first direct our attention to 
the North African church, in which the period of devastation 
immediately followed the period of its greatest prosperity. 


CHAPTER I. 
THE NORTH AFRICAN CHURCH UNDER THE VANDALS, 


Tue 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 corruption of nominal 
Christians in the opulent cities of North Africa was certainly 
very great, as appears from the words of Augustin already 
quoted: still there were not wanting here and there churches 
of genuine Christians, traces of whom we have indicated in 
the former part of this work. Persecution consequently 
operated differently on the different 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 
true 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 VANDALS IN NORTH AFRICA. 919 


them great worldly advantage on their compliance with this 
eondition. 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 bishop 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 was 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 people, and by their agency many persons were 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 city 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 cruel Genseric was roused afresh. His vengeance could 
reach them, because the Moors were in some measure depen- 
dent on the king of the Vandals. He gave orders to bind them 
to horses let loose ina forest, tnat thus they might be dragged 


920 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 by the Vandals; “for,” 
said the Moorish prince, “1 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 CHRISTIANS SOLD INTO SLAVERY. 92] 


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 
Theodoret was bishop. Along with her was also sold another 
female, one of ker 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 changes 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 became 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 when 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, who 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 there 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 

We 


922 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 carried off Julia by force from the vessel. 
The governor promised her freedom if she would sacrifice. 
But she answered, ‘t 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 was scourged, she said, “1 confess him who was scourged 
for me.” And thus she endured everything patiently, with 
faith in the Redeemer and love towards him, eyen 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 light-minded Romans that when a 
solemn thanksgiving was appointed, the bishop found the 
church empty, while the theatre and circus were crowded. 
This calied 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 liying in the 


DESTITUTION OF THE CHURCH. 323 


interior of the country; husbands were separated from their 
wives, and children from their parents. Bishop Deogratias 
of Carthage caused all the gold 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 night he 
visited them on their beds in 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 Constantinople in 
the Gothic language, wishing to show how Christianity was 
designed and suited to become an element of culture for all 

¥2 


924 CHRISTIANITY IN THE FIFTH CENTURY. 


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 North 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 very 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 cireumstances— 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 
aman 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 faith was apprehended, but all 
those persons, although of Roman descent, who had taken 
offices in the state, and were therefore obliged 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 ciyil authorities would not allow their designs to 


NUMBERS BANISHED INTO THE AFRICAN DESERTS. 8325 


be thwarted; they placed guards at the church-doors, who 
were ordered to apprehend and treat with violence all, both 
men and women, who came in Vandal 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. Among them were many 
sick persons, and individuals whom age had already deprived 
of sight. When they had 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 prison, 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 their 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 torturmg imprisonment, 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 the 
Holy Supper? Where shall we find a father-confessor ? 
Who will conduct us to our final resting-place with prayer 
and singing? Oh that we could go along with you, that the 
sons might not be separated 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 drove 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 favourable 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-willed 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 Vandalic king was first addressed, readily perceived 
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 themselives.' 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 RESULTS. 927 


cially those belonging to the Roman church, might join in 
this examination, which the king 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 of 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 Epiphany, 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: “1 have 
already told thee, my brother, that I am a sinful man, but 
the Lord, who has thought thee worthy of this special grace, 
may act towards thee according to thy faith, and open thy 
eyes.” His prayer was 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 conyicted heretics, now issued an edict, by 


928 CHRISTIANITY IN THE FIFTH 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 were, 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, 
seven monks were dragged from the town of Capso in the 
province of Byzacium, 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 keepers 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 singings—* 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 Liberatus, 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: “1 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 consolution and joy.” 

After some years had elapsed, Bishop Eugenius was re- 


STEADFASTNESS UNDER PERSECUTION. 929 


called from his banishment by the Vandalic king Guntamund, 
but about a.p. 496 he was again separated from his fiock by 
King Thrasamund. As he knew not what 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 remoyal, 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 yictory. 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 retirement, edifying 
by his life the inhabitants of that district. 

Fulgentius belongs to the class of distinguished men whose 
labours were 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 
loving heart could find no rest in its exercise. His longing 
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 [ not, he thought, by the grace of 
God, be changed lke 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 CHRISTIANITY 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. 1. 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 heayen.”’ ‘Writing 
to a widow, to console her for the loss of her husband, he says: 
ἐς 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 God's 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. 301 


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 sensibility 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 
aright 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 underrates God’s mercy. The apostle says 
(Rom. ν. 6), 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 


992 CHRISTIANITY IN THE SIXTH CENTURY. 


aman 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 way 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, which 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.” When 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 may be 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 to 
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 ΒΕΥΕΒΙΝΤΙΒ IN GERMANY. 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,” 


CHAPTER 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 death 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 Seyerinus. 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 
him 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 courage 
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 hea- 
venly one? But know this, that the God who has granted 
you to be a priest, has commissioned me to live among this 
heavily-oppressed people.” After that, no one ventured to 
propose such a question to him. But probably he was 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 call 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 
day 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 Severinus had lived long among these 
people, and laboured much among them, his fame was 
widely spread, and the episcopal dignity was offered him; but 
he rejected it, declaring ‘‘ that it was enough for him to be 
deprived of his heloved 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 with wonder and awe when they witnessed with 
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 haye some rest from fasting and watching!” Glowing 


HIS BENEVOLENCE AND ACTIVITY. 335 


as his heart was with love, Severinus could not refrain from 
tears that a person belonging to so sacred a vocation could 
disgrace himself and his order by such a frivolous speech. 

He was 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 


996 CHRISTIANITY IN THE FIFTH CENTURY. 


them all in a church, 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 alla blessing for their hearts, and to direct their 
attention to the source 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 words, ““ 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 was 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 brethren who required 
his aid. When he met with the princes or generals of the 
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 imparted to them such exhor- 
tations or instructions as were best adapted to the circum- 
stances of each individual. The Arian chief of the Rugi, 
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 power 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 own 
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. xv. 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 men 
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 
Severinus to meet the Rugian chief, and to mollify him. 
Seyerinus 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 Rugian 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 
you still longer? 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, 

Ζ 


998 CHRISTIANITY IN THE FIFTH CENTURY. 


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 greatly, and bad 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 their freedom. 

His magnanimous trust in God gave courage and strength 
to the weak in their calling. When he was staying 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 str ongest. God will fight ‘for you. 
Therefore only make haste; but above all things ‘observe this, 
to bring 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 


REGARDED BY THE PEOPLE AS A PROPHET. 339 


plunder, for they will not escape punishment from God, who 
fights for his people.” 

Severinus was regarded as a prophet. It might be, that 
among the gifts with which 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 prophet to the men among whom he lived, who 
were so far inferior to him, when he spoke with such confi- 
dence in the inspiration of his rock-firm faith in God, when 
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 happens 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 
nations. 

A monk, Bonosus, who laboured under a disease of the 
eyes, longed to obtain a eure through the prayers of Severi- 
nus. But he advised the monk rather to pray that his inward 
eye might be enlightened; and from the instructions often 

22 


Ὁ 


940 CHRISTIANITY IN THE FIFTH CENTURY, 


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 you 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 universally. 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 
deyoured 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, they contributed jointly to support 
the poor man for a year. When Gisa, the queen of the 
Rugu, 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: “1 trust in my Lord Jesus Christ, that she will 
be forced by necessity to do that which, in her perverted 
state of mind, she will 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 in 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 with an oath, that being 
wearied of life, they would first 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 inyited the 
king 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 husband 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 could 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 labouring successfully for thirty years 
in the midst of devastation, he died on the Ist of January, 
482." 


* Neander’s General Hist, v.34—36. Standard Library Edition.—Tr. 


942 CHRISTIANITY IN THE FIFTH CENTURY. 


CHAPTER III. 
THE LABOURS OF PIOUS MEN AMONG THE FRANKS. 


Iw 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.p. 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 their 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 sermons 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 Hallelwah / all to utter it 
aloud with him ; they did so, and the united loud ery of the 


GERMANUS, BISHOP OF AUXERRE. 949 


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 Aétius 
had commissioned Koctor, 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 cold man, in front of all the warlike people, and their 
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 pardon 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 wih 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 bishop 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 further, 
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 place 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 


941 CHRISTIANITY IN THE FIFTH CENTURY. 


answered: ‘The first thing with me, before everything 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 arrival spread universal joy over the estate ; 
he visited with equal sympathy masters and servants on their 
sick-beds; he went even into the poorest hoyels and strength- 
ened all by his prayers. 

Germanus met with universal respect in the imperial 
court at Rayenna, 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 cat. 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 wilt 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: “1 well know what fatherland the Lord 
promises his servants.” And to this heavenly fatherland he 
was soon remoyed. He died July 31, Α.}. 448. 


2. Lupus of Troyes. 


Lupus, bishop of Troyes, the contemporary and friend of 
Germanus, rescued his city from threatening destruction by 


CHSARIUS, BISHOP OF ARLES. 345 


his great influence over the savage conqueror Attila, king of 
the Huns, who spread terror everywhere 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 march back and dis- 
missed him with a request that he would 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 ke places himself on an equality with 
those who are subject to him. By his conduct and preaching 
he seeks not his own glory but the glory of Christ. ΑἹ] 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 course; he spreads 
light among those who are wandering. 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 
applies to 


3. Cesarius of Arles. 


He was born in the district of Chalons-sur-Saéne in A.D. 
470. He appears to have been awakened early in life to 
vital Christianity by a pious education. When 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 (Lerina), in Provence, 
from which at that time emanated a spirit of deep, practical 
piety. The weak tender freme of young Czsarius was so 


946 CHRISTIANITY 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 
Arles 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 Cesarius, 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 slavery, 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 Arles, 
was Gregoria, who had united herself in these labours of love 
with a near relation, Firminus. They took joint charge of 
young Ceesarius 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 
monasticism, 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? if the show 
of rest is spread over our exterior while all within is ina 
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, 347 


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 
eternal life, and let us strive to attain a delightful foretaste 
of that blessedness with 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 Arles; he committed 
the temporal concerns of his church to others, and devoted 
himself to the cure of souls and attention to religious instruc- 
tion. This appears to us the highest duty of a bishop, 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 Him who 
lent it to thee. Hear what 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 pulpit 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. “1 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 impart 
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 apply the same attention which we exercise in the 


348 CHRISTIANITY IN 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 
we 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 rings, 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. Ifa 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? Regard me therefore as the mother of your souls ; 
think, that I am adorning you in order that you may 
appear without 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 what 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. 11. 18.) ‘ Cry aloud, spare not, lift up your voice like 
a trumpet, and show my people their transgression.’ (Isa. 
lyiii. 1.)—And 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 
outer 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 im~- 
portant instrument for the Christian culture of the people 


THE UNEDUCATED TO BE CHIEFLY ADDRESSED. 949 


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 Bishop 
Ceesarius, it was ordained that persons on Sundays should 
attend divine worship to the close, till the benediction had 
been pronounced. Once when Cesarius, after the reading 
of the Gospel, saw several persons hastening out of church, 
he ran after them and said, “ What are you doing, my 
children? Why do you allow 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. 1 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 gencral 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 Cesarius, 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 his 


* Nec vero se per imperitiam pontifex excusabit, quasi propterea 
docere non valeat quod ei sufficiens et luculentus sermo non suppetat ; 
* quando nulla alia sacerdotis doctrina debet esse quam yita; satisque 
auditores possint proficere, si a doctoribus suis quod vident spiritualiter 
fieri, hoc sibi etiam simpliciter audiant preedicari, dicente apostolo, Eé sz 
imperitus sermone, sed non scientia (2 Cor. xi. 6). Unde datur intelligi, 
quod nen se debeat ecclesize doctor de accurati sermonis ostentatione 
jactare, ne videatur ecclesiam Dei non velle edificare, sed magis se 
quantz sit eruditionis ostendere. Non igitur in verborum splendore, sed 
in operum virtute totam preedicandi fiduciam ponat; non vocibus de- 
lectetur populi adclamantis 5101, sed fletibus; nec plausum a populu 
studeat expectare, sed gemitum. Hoc specialiter doctor ecclesiasticus 
elaboret, que fiant qui audiunt eum, sanis disputationibus meliores, non 
vana assentatione fautores. Lacrymas quos vult a suis auditoribus fudi, 
ipse primitus fundat, et sic eos compunctione sui cordis accendat. Tam 
simplex et apertus, etiamsi minus latinus, disciplinatus tamen, et gravis 
sermo debet esse pontificis; ut ab intelligentia sui nullos, quamvis 
imperitos, excludat; sed in omnium audientium pectus cum quedam 
delectatione descendat.—Julian. Pomerius, De vit. contempl. lib. i. cap. 23. 


350 CHRISTIANITY IN THE SIXTH CENTURY. 


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 
acceptableness. Finally, it is one thing with the rhetorician, 
and another thing with the Christian teacher. The former 
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 15 
employed in common life.”’ 

Ceesarius followed the principles here laid down, as he says 
in one of his sermons: ‘If I wished to expound to you the 
Holy Seriptures 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 church 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 bim,—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. Anexample 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 
ignorance in religion. “1611 me who has shown you how to 
prune your vines, at what time you should plant new stocks ὃ 
Who has told you this? You have seen or heard it, or have 


THE DUTY OF SOUL-CULTIVATION. 3851 


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?* 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, God’s 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 villam tuam; habet et Deus suam. 
Villa tua est terra tua; villa Dei est anima tua. Numquid justum est ut 
villam tuam colas, et Dei villam desertam dimittas? Si colis terram 
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 negli- 
gamus? Quomodo adtendis villam tuam cultam, et gaudes, cur non 
adtendis animam tuam desertam, et plangis? De agro ville nostre 
paucis diebus victuri sumus in mundo; ibi ergo, id est, in anima nostra 
majus studium debemus semper impendere. 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 nostram yenire voluerit, 
totum cultum, totum compositum, totum ordinatum inveniat, messem in- 
veniat non spinas, yinum inveniat non acetum, -triticum magis quam 
lolium. . . . . Non est grande quod a nobis requirit Deus, non durum, 
non asperum. Clamat tibi in conscientia tua eterna justitia; quomodo 
gubernas agrum tuum, guberna et cor tuum; quomodo colis villam tuam, 
cole et animam tuam ; quomodo superfluos palmites tollis de vite tua, sic 
malos affectus tolle de anima tua. Precidis de vite tua, quod malum est ; 
incide de anima tua quod iniquum est. Quomodo qui vitem suam uno 
anno potare voluerit, ipso anno abundantius exhibet, et postea sine fructu 
sterilis remanebit; sic et qui malas cogitationes et mala desideria non 
tollet de anima sua, videtur offerre fructum de rapinis et fraudibus in anno 
vite suz quo vivit in hoe mundo; sed postea sterilis reraanebit in 
ezternum. .. . . Quomodo in vite tua totos oculos_ superfluos 
aimputas et duos aut tres qui sunt legitimi derelinquis; sic et in anima 
tua omnia desideria qu res alienas male respiciunt et pessime con- 
cupiscunt Spiritus sancti gladio et crucis falce debes incidere, et hoc 
tantum unde justitia vel miserivordia cernitur reservare.— Cesarius Arelat. 
August. ed. Ben. tom. v. appd. serm, ccciii. § 5, 6, 7. 


352 CHRISTIANITY IN THE SIXTH CENTURY. 


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, andno weeds. Itisnot 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 off 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 Cesarius 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:— 
“Tf 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 affection. 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 conyeyed your love to me, although under many 
engagements. God knows that if I were abie to come to you 
twice or three times a year, it would not be enough for my 
desires ; for where is there a father who does not wish to see 
his son, and especially a good and faithful son, frequently ?” 

Czesarius 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 affairs in his native land, at the coun- 


EXCUSES TO EVADE INDIVIDUAL LABOUR. 300 


cils held in France. We perceive this influence when, in the 
second council held at Vaison, a.p. 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 
their successors.* 

It was his zealous endeavour that occupation with divine 
truths shouid be felt to be the personal concern of every 
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: “1 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 Czsarius, were very confined, so probably in many 
parts the village congregations could only enjoy religious instruction at the 
episcopal visitations. It was 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. We 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 
Czsarius 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 
my 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.” 

“1 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 calling. He would fear those words of the prophet Isaiah (lvi. 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.”’ 

2A 


854 CHRISTIANITY IN THE SIXTH CENTURY. 


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 
you 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 neglect. 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, ‘1 have 
no time to read, and therefore I cannot become acquainted 
with God’s 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? 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 deyil 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 what 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 preach 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 Cesarius 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 
purpose, 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 
Lord’s 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.’ —‘ Fasting, watching, 

2.2 


306 CHRISTIANITY 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 sufferings, 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. i1.), 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 soul, 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.” ‘My brethren, what is sweeter than 
love? Who does not know it? Taste and see. Hear what 
the Apostle says, ‘God islove. He who loveth, God dwelleth 
in him, and he in God.’ Whatcan 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? Perhaps 
thou believest that he is rich whose chests are full of gold, 
and that he is not rich whose soul is full of God? But it is 
not so, my brethren; only fe is rich to whom God has shown 
the grace to dwellin him. [ἴον 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 nec jejunia, nec vigiliz, nec orationes, nec eleemosyne, 
nec fides atque virginitas ullum hominem adjuvare valent. Radix 
omnium bonorum est caritas. Vera caritas in adversitatibus tolerat, 
in prosperitatibus temperat, in duris passionibus fortis, in 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 Maria 
preter virum, humilis in Petro ad obediendum, in Paulo ad arguendum, 
humana in Christianis ad confitendum, divina in Christo ad ignoscendum. 
Vera enim caritas anima est omnium scripturarum fidei fructus, diviti« 
pauperum, vita morientium.—Cesarius Arelat. Hom. 10, Galland. Bibl. 
Patr. tom. xi. § 16. 


LOVE, THE SOURCE OF ALL HOLY LIVING. 357 


worthy to have God the Lord within thee? As long as the 
root within thee is unchanged, thou canst not bring forth 
the right fruit; in vain thou promisest good with thy lips, if 
thou canst not bring it to perfection as long as thou carriest 
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 appear 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 les out of thyself. God 
leads thee to thyself and to thy conscience. In 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 15 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! May God punish thy sins in order 
that they may not cleave to thee! May God correct thy 
errors in this world!’ He prayed 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. xvi. 


358 CHRISTIANITY IN THE SIXTH CENTURY. 


22, “ A merry heart doeth good like a medicine,”’) his joyful 
heart spread pleasure over his whole life, as the scholar who 
wrote his life expresses himself. 

Although Cesarius 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 asermon 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! 
present to him spiritual gifts, that is, yourselves; 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. “TI 
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 markest 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? What avails it if we bear Christ’s 
sign on our brow and in our mouth, and yet harbour 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. 9869 


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 Clhirist’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 
eyerything 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 your 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 ourselves, 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 
unsightly : 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 makest 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, 
with all thy powers that God may not find in thy soul what 
thou wouldst not find in thy house. If Christ sees thee pre- 
pared 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 CHRISTIANITY IN 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, put 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 voice was not heard.’ Let us therefore pray 
with sighing, as in that passage (Psa. xxxvill. 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 
scul 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. 
Behold! 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 Cesarius 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 Cxesarius 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 well pleasing 


WARNINGS AGAINST DEATH-BED REPENTANCE. 96} 


to God when the tongue sings believingly ; but it is not truly 
good unless the life agrees with the tongue. Especially pay 
regard to the internal meaning of the Psalms. When you 
sing, ‘ Let the proud be ashamed’ (Psa. exix. 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. 1. 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 earnestly 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 Czesarius says, “‘ We need not hesitate to express 
what awaits such an one, who habitually leads a wicked life 
and puts off 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? 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.’ I cannot admit such a man into the 
number of the penitent; but God, who knows all hearts and 
who will judge every one according to his deserts, he knows 


962 CHRISTIANITY IN THE SIXTH CENTURY 


with what faith and with what disposition such an one has 
submitted to penance.” * 

“When we 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 their 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 righfeous 
judgment of God.” And in another passage he says: “ 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. 

Cesarius of Arles, 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 already 
become habitual, and lest he should 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 
hair, 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 
among men who were disposed to make religion consist in a 
dead faith, and in the observance of ceremonies, he justly 
insisted on the necessity of good works as the fruits of faith, 
and placed before their eyes the requirements of God’s holy 
law in all its strictness, yet he was by no means a legal 
preacher who can only kill, but not make alive. He pointed 
men not to their own power, but sought rather to bring them 
to a sense of their own inability, in order that they might 
learn to have recourse to the eternal source of all power to 
which he directed them. After representing what belonged 
to a holy life, he says: ‘All this, my brethren, appears to 
be laborious, until it becomes habitual, and, to express it 
more correctly, it will be held to be impossible as long as we 
believe that it is to be accomplished by human power. But 
if man is convinced that it can be received from God and 
accomplished by God’s grace, then it will no longer appear 
as something hard and laborious, but as light and easy, 
according to the words of the Lord,‘ My yoke is easy and 


964 CHRISTIANITY IN THE SIXTH CENTURY. 


my burden is light.’”” He calls on men to confide, in their 
conflict with evil, on the power of the Redeemer, as when he 
says: “ How can it ever come to pass that we should be 
afraid 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; for 
truly, he who will not bow himseif 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 unlucky, &c. Czesarius 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 fourth, 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 sneezing. 
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 anda right interpretation of Scripture ; as, for exam- 
ple, on the passage 2 Kings iy. 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 
obserye an omen, and on this account he commanded his 





SUPERSTITIOUS USAGES AMONG CHRISTIANS. 365 


servant not to return the salutation of any one on the way. 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 another on the doctrines of grace and 
free will. The one (the so-called Semipelagians) 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 redemption 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 which Czsarius (though in vain) sought 
fo 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 wdymark to eternal life. In earlier 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 evangelicis 
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.p. 508, 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 from church communion. 
This was a repetition of the prohibition already passed at the Council of 
Vienne, a.p. 465. 


966 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 evident that one extreme would necessarily 
call forth and promote the other. Czesarius 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 aliow of his suc- 
ceeding in clearly recognizing and expressing that point 
by which everything 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 


ey ἘΥῈ ἘΝ 


THE SEMI-PELAGIANS AND PREDESTINARIANS. 967 


on the free self-determination of man, either to surrender 
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 predestinarian 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 Cesarius, as it was 
confirmed at the second council held at Orange (Arausio), 
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? 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” [2. 6. 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 with a sense of sinfulness, but does 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 diyine life, the gifts of 


368 CHRISTIANITY IN THE SIXTH CENTURY. 


the Holy Spirit, to men whom 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- 
ence, 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 
of 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 fountain 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 might 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 Ceesarius was tried by many severe afflictions 


ete 


ae  " 


HIS UNIVERSAL BENEFICENCE, 369 


in this stormy period. One of his secretaries contrived in 
a most artful manner to accuse him to Alaric II., king of the 
Visigoths in those parts, as if from attachment to Burgundy, 
his ἕο: country, he was designing to bring lest under 
the Burgundian government. In A.D. 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 erafty Ἐν 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 faithful obedience to their governors, that 
they should give to Cesar the things that were Cesar’s, and 
to God the things that were Gods; 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 Aes 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 
Cesarius obtained a pardon for him from the king. After 
Alarie II., in a. Ὁ. 507, 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 Arles, then in possession of the Goths, was 
besieged by the united forces of the Franks and Burgundians. 
During the siege, it happened that a young ecclesiastic, a 
relation of Cesarius, 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 Ceesarius, 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. Czsarius 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 

28 


370 CHRISTIANITY IN THE SIXTH CENTURY. 


walls and pillars of the church, 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, Cesarius 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 would 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 haye 
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 continually fear what the Lord says in 
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.’”’ 

Cesarius was again accused to the Ostrogoth Arian king, 
Theodoric, and in a.p. 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. “TI 
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. 
Cesarius, 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 the 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 senda 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 Cesarius for alleviating the sufferings of the 
people; his love and inexhaustible confidence in God over- 
came all difficulties, and carried him through victoriously. 

great multitude of prisoners were on one occasion brought 
sogether at Arles, among whom were many of high rank, 
whose ransom he had paid, but who could not yet be certain 
f returning to their friends. As they were detained at Arles 
282 















himself asking for aid m the deaf and dumb, and m othen 
that stood without, waiting and begging, he said: “Traly 
is Christ who is waiting without, who says so much, who 
deaf. and still prays, and exhorts, and adjures all to give.” 
A man once asked him for money to ransom a captive 
and as he had nothing to give, he said: “What must I ¢ 
for thee, my poor fellow! What I have, I give to thee. 
He went to his cell. and fetched the sacerdotal dress m 
tended for extraordinary occasions, gave it to him, and sad: 


His DEATH. 3i3 


ascribed the preservation of her son’s life, he answered her. 
that she ought rather to thank Him whose power and grace 
are ready to assist all those in trouble who ery to him; and 
he often used to say: “Those to whom the care of souls is 


ae as ἔρον αἴας δον ae τς 


severe illness. Amidst grievous pains, he asked if the day 
kept im memory of Augustin’s death was not at hand) When 
he was told that the day was near, he said: “I trust im the 
Lord that he will not let the day of my death be far from 
that; ye know how I have loved him as 2 teacher of the truth, 
and how great the distance is between him and me in point 
of worthiness.” He died on the day preceding August's, 
the 27th of August, 542.* 

* About the same time that Cesarius leboured im France, E 


equal Bares, 
gad dispensed his bencficcace both io frends and foes. Rte gn ces 
host of Odoacer, shot oie ohare mean ττειαε: Epiphanies 
alone could conquer the fury of the barbarians, 2nd rescucd many πεπ- 
fortunate persons. It was by means of his efforts thst the restoration and 
οὗ the Gty was efecied. Im dependemce om God be ταιᾶετ--- 

teok the restoration of the church, which bed be=m bernt ἔν ashes, 
he sew no means of being able to meci ihe apse. He med 

to say: “To the rich soul [he meant the soul thet possesses by faith true 
Imweard riches] means can hardly be wanting; and, on the other hend. & 
352 most dificalt thime for a man who is poor im his soul to have enonsh.” 
Althoush in its spit he was dead to the world, end Hved Ξε the constant 
sight of eternity, yet, out of love to his brethren, be took 2 lively Imterest 


the lessening of public burdens, and the freedom of coptives 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. He 
was born at Chatelat, one mile from 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 King 
Theodoric, appears to have brought on his death. He returned to Pavia 
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, “1 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, and 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 
friendly to thy companions ; always love and fear God. Guard carefully 
against 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, 
when 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 
parents 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 departing soul, after whom love causes me to sigh day 
and night.” 


i δ. 


. 





ELIGIUS, BISHOP OF NOYON. 375 


over the rest of his life. When a youth, his father Eucherius 
placed him with a goldsmith, who was noted in his art, who 
superintended the public mint at Limoges. By 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 earthly things, he felt so much the greater need 
to refresh his spirit by occupying it with heavenly things. 
He attended public worship regularly and zealously, and 
what he heard read from the Hely Scriptures, was impressed 
deeply on his mind, and was the frequent subject of his 
meditations. When afterwards he obtained a Bible as his 
a 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 II. The royal treasurer Bobbo became 
intimate with 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 
which he described. Since none of his own workmen 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 king 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, that 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, paid 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.” 


916 CHRISTIANITY IN THE SEVENTH CENTURY. 


things, 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, was 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 without 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.’? Ina biography of this age mention 
is made of the communication of the true light which enlightens every 
saint who prays for himself and all believers in Christ. When the abbot 
Wandregisei, 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 the Christian 
calling consisted in renouncing the world with the heart. 
Hence he appeared in splendid clothing, which was usually | 
worn by courtiers, that he might occasion no surprise. But 
when, by his usual course of conduct, he had won sufficient 
respect to be able to deviate from the usual style of dress 
without giving offence, 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 Roman, 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. He went at once with them to the king, procured 
letters of manumission for them, and gaye 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, 
lastly, 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 away. He 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 wherever he is called upon, as the Lord 
himself has spoken by the prophets (Jer. xxix. 13), ‘ Andye shall seek me 
and find me when ye shall search for me with all 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 life and 
Jabours of the apostolic Schwartz, in the East Indies, what an impression 
he made by his preaching on the thievish Kaller; so that by means of 
Christianity they were in part changed into quiet, peaceable agricultural 
labourers.—(See The Modern History of Missionary Institutions in the 
East Indies, edited by Knapp. Halle, 1804, vol. v. p. 282, &c.) 


978 CHRISTIANITY IN THE SEVENTH CENTURY. 


who 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 we 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 down 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 
burying 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 spread of religious knowledge. 
On his journeys he delivered edifying discourses to the 
people. He founded monasteries, which 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 i 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 





OPPOSITION ΤῸ HEATHENISH AMUSEMENTS. 379 


many indignities which 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 
mighty ones of the land, who wished to combine Pagan 
indulgences and superstitions with the nominal Christianity, 
and who promoted both among the people by their reputation 
and example. On one occasion, the Feast of the Apostle 
Peter was kept with pagan amusements in a diocese not far 
from the city of Noyon. Eligius, 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, which 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 sixth 
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 he had told them affectionately, in 
the name of the Lord, that they ought to abstain in future from heathenish 
superstitions, he presented each with 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 hasa great reward ; and 
what? hearken!—‘that you may be the children 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 
obey 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 
mein. 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 already 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 his internal 
depravity, always takes the same direction, if we notice how the Mahom- 
medans in Asia and Africa sell for amulets sentences in Arabic, taken from 


PROTEST AGAINST PAGAN SUPERSTITIONS. 381 


married woman hang amber about her neck; ἰού no one, 
in weaving or colouring, call on Minerva, or one of the other 
heathen goddesses, but let every female wish 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 ery 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 Hin, 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 likeaheathen; 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.’ For 
this reason the apostle enjoins: Whatever 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-inyited.”’ 


982 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 
who pronounces those fearful words: ‘He that hateth his 
brother is a murderer, and walketh in darkness.’ By the 
term ‘ brother’ we must understand every man, for we are all 
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 yourselves 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 1 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: “1 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 Him 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, bas bestowed such great blessings 
on us unworthy creatures ὃ 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 APPROACHING DEATH. 383 


tendency of his heart to eternal life, are beautifully exhibited 
in his epistle to his old friend Sie ee 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 person 
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 Elgius, when thou pourest out thy 
prayer before the Lord. And although we 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 seventicth year, in constant 
unwearied activity, when he peacefully 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 workman, 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 fear. 
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 the 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 divine aid, I advise thee once more to read this narrative 
attentively.” 


984 CHRISTIANITY IN THE SEVENTH CENTURY. 


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 earnestiy 
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: 
“Tf 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 deeply moved by his sympathy with the sorrow of 
his friends. Atlast he began again, “ Do not grieve so much, 
nor trouble me any more by your tears. If you are wise, you 
will 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 
adjuring 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 had bidden them an affectionate fare- 
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 weeping he said 
again, “1 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. He then prayed aloud, “Ὁ 
Lord, now lettest 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 flesh living can be justified. Remember me, O 
thou who 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 thy 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. 
Receive 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 adduced 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 forest live by robbery, and can endure no one among them who 
supports himself by the labour of his own hands. You cannot remain 
here any longer in safety. But what do you wish to do in this wild, un- 
fruitful district ?’’ The Abbot Ebrolf answered: ‘* Know, my brother, 
that the Lord is with us; and since we are under his protection, we fear 
not the threatenings of men, for he himself has said, ‘ fear not them who 
can kill the body, but cannot 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, 21). Therefore, my brother, 


20 


386 CHRISTIANITY IN THE SIXTH CENTURY. 


CHAPTER IV. 
GREGORY THE GREAT, BISHOP OF ROME, A.D. 590. 


Gop, 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 next 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 approaches,* 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.’ Gregory 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 
scarcely an inhabitant is left im the cities, and even this small 
remnant of the human race is daily and incessantly massacred. 
The scourge of divine justice does 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 suffered from them as 
omens of the end of all things. 

202 


988 CHRISTIANITY IN THE SIXTH CENTURY. 


is there, my brethren, that can give joy in this life? Ifwe 
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 weare able.” He availed him- 
self of the state of the world to remind bishops of their 
responsibilities. ‘You see,’’ he said, ‘ by what sword the 
world is smitten to the ground; you sce 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 who 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 who 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. 989 


Marinian on the subject. “ἍΤ seems strange to me that a 
person who has clothes, and silver, and a cellar, should have 
nothing to give tothe poor. Tell him, therefore, that with his 
condition he must also alter his manner of living. Let him 
not think that reading and prayer 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 1 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 
sigh over the desolating 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 clergy, monks, and nuns), 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 within 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 support of the 
brethren may be provided, to take care for the defence of the 
city against hostile swords; to prevent the citizens from 
being surprised by 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 IN 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, buf 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 aspirations 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. 9391 


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 what 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 private 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, which 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 
haying 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 are 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 our 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 


992 CHRISTIANITY IN THE SIXTH CENTURY. 


souls; to that you must direct your heart, to that you 
must apply your utmost care and diligence.” ΤῸ 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, fiery 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 froma 
sick-bed, and preached with a weak voice: “The voice,” he 
said, “15 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 walls 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 censure me, if I leave. off after this discourse ; 
for you all see that our sufferings have reached the highest 
point; everywhere 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 with bread; sometimes he 
chastises them with the rod: by pains and gifts he trains 
them for their eternal inheritance.” 

It was Gregory’s exrnest 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, 


j 
j 
4 





HE URGES THE STUDY OF THE SCRIPTURES. 393 


we sce 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, and referred 
him to Rom. 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’). 
“Tf 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 burden 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 his 
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 glow 
with more intense desire after heayenly joys; for there will 


994 CHRISTIANITY IN THE SIXTH CENTURY. 


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 own 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 all 
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, 1 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 what 
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 with 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!’ (Rey. 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 perhaps be 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 nourishment of the Word, a soul destined to 


———— “ 


Ἷ 
; 
if 
Κ 
ἤν 





SPIRIT IN WHICH THEY SHOULD BE CONSULTED. 99 


everlasting life, than to satisfy the mortal body with earthly 
bread. Therefore, my brother, do not withhold from thy 
neighbour 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 give 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 preaching. 
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 he supports 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.”’ 

While 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-suffering, 
but only what may serve to distinguish them as men of 
learning, and enable them to talk on all points. 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.” But he pointed 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 special 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 


395 CHRISTIANITY IN THE SIXTH CENTURY. 


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, we take refuge in 
the Holy Scriptures. There we find what Paul heard when 
he 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 togetber, and 
when he has once spoken, he need not repeat it. In what 
he spoke to our fathers 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 only spoken onee 
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.” 

Gregory 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: “1 thank Almighty 
God that by your instrumentality, heretics have been reclaimed 
to the church. But you must take care that those who are 


HIS SENTIMENTS AS TO MIRACLES. 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 children in the bosom of the church herself.’ 
When Riccared, 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, arial 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- 
ration in the administration of your government, in order that 
the plenitude of your power may not seduce your soul; for 
only 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. Anger, also, if it punishes the guilt of transgression, 
must not carry away the soul with it as if it were its lord, 
but must obey 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 par ticular 
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 place, he says: “When 
Paul came to Malta, 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 when ill, 


998 CHRISTIANITY IN THE SIXTH CENTURY. 


‘Drink no longer water, but use a little wine 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 natural remedies, like a physician? [5 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 asa visible miracle, faith may be 
produced in the greater, invisible miracle? 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: 
ἐς Tn 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 ground, 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 δῇ 
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 





AUGUSTIN, MISSIONARY TO THE BRITONS. 399 


cannot attain to everlasting life. The gifts of prophesying 
and of miraculous cures are also his 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 whole 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 IN THE SIXTH CENTURY. 


accordingly would form a right judgment if they noticed a 
want of humility in Augustin, and that he, in fact, required 
the exhortation and warning which Gregory addressed to him. 

He 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 we have found those whom we sought 
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 power, 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 with 
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 were 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 examine yourself with strict- 





NECESSITY FOR HUMILITY IN SUCCESS. 401 


ness, and learn 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 wonderful powers you have received, regard them 
as given, not to yourself, but to those for whose salvation they 
were entrusted to you. With 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 al!, but said, “1 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 

2D 


402 CHRISTIANITY IN THE SIXTH CENTURY. 


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 holiness 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 virtues 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 eyil, gives God his property but gives himself to sin. 





INEQUALITY IN THE CHURCH DESIRABLE. 408 


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, when 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. He might have 
given fruits of all kinds to every land; but if every land did 
not require the fruits of another, there would 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 with one another their respective productions, they are 
all 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 upon 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 Ὁ 


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 our desires, fall upon the secret ear of 
God as the most powerful sound. If we 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. ΤῸ 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. Itis felt, but cannot express 
itself in words.” Of the various ways in which the Holy 
Spirit draws 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 our 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? 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 the faith ; in order that those who cannot be drawn to the 
faith by the gentle power of preaching, may not be repelled 
by threatenings and terror.” 


CHAPTER V. 
CHRISTIANITY IN POVERTY AND SICKNESS. 


THE influence of Christianity is shown not less in little 
things than in great. It requires 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 heayenly 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. 1. 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 history. 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 dissolution. 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 sounds 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 with 
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, we, 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 believers 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 own bands, 
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 Ὁ 
of knowing the gospel. But where do we find the true dig- 
nity ofgman, the true elevation founded on humility, which 
therefore nothing can drag down or deprive of its crown? 


408 


PART TY. 


SKETCHES FROM THE HISTORY OF MISSIONS IN 
THE MIDDLE AGES, 


CHAPTER 1. 


GENERAL REMARKS ON THE HISTORY OF MISSIONS IN 
THIS PERIOD. 


THE operations of Christianity are certainly always the same 
as far as they depend on its peculiar nature and its relations 
to human nature; but it makes a difference whether Chris- 
tianity first of all effects an entrance among nations who have 
hitherto been entirely unacquainted with 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 nature 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 already 
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 directed ; whether 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 





~~ tee 


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, Christianity 
will communicate the first impulse and generative power of 
every kind of culture, such as may correspond to the peculiar 
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 whom 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, Christianity, on the contrary, leads 
us to distinguish between what 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 produce 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 vice 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 among men,’* he says, “could ever tra- 


* Tic πώποτε ἀνθρώπων ἠδυνήθη διαβῆναι τοσοῦτον, Kai εἰς 
Σκύθας, καὶ Αἰθίοπας, ἢ Πέρσας, ἢ ᾿Αρμενίους, ἢ Τόθους, ἢ τοὺς 
ἑπέκεινα τοῦ ὠκεανοῦ λεγομένους, ἢ τοὺς ὑπὲρ Ὑρκανίαν ὄντας, ἢ 
ὅλως τοὺς Αἰγυπτίους καὶ Χαλδαίους παρελθεῖν, τοὺς φρονοῦντας μὲν 
payud, δεισιδαίμονας. δὲ ὑπὲρ τὴν φύσιν καὶ ἀγρίους τοῖς τρόποις, καὶ 
ὅλως κηρύξαι, περὶ ἀρετῆς καὶ σωφροσύνης καί τῆς κατὰ εἰδώλων 
θρησκείας, ὡς ὁ τῶν πάντων κύριος, ἡ τοῦ θεοῦ δύναμις, ὁ ὁ Κύριος ἡμῶν 
ἸΙησοῦς Χριστὸς, ὃς οὐ μόνον ἐκήρυξε διὰ τῶν ἑαυτοῦ “μαθητῶν, ἀλλὰ 
καὶ ἔπεισεν αὐτοὺς κατὰ διάνοιαν τῶν μὲν τῶν τρόπων ἀγριότητα 
μεταθέσθαι, μηκέτι δὲ τοὺς πατρῴους σέβειν θεοὺς, ἀλλ᾽ αὐτὸν ἐπιγι- 
νώσκειν Kai Ot αὐτοῦ τον πατέρα θρησκεύειν. Πάλαι μὲν γὰρ εἰδωλο- 
λατροῦντες᾽ Ἕλληνες καὶ βάρβαροι κατ᾽ ἀλλήλων ἐπολέμουν, καὶ ὡμοὶ 
πρὸς τοὺς συγγενεῖς ἐτύγχανον. Οὐκ ἣν γάρ τινα τὸ σύνολον οὔτε 
τὴν γὴν οὔτε τὴν θάλασσαν διαβῆναι χωρὶς τοῦ τὴν χεῖρα ξίφεσιν 
ὁπλίσαι, ἕνεκα τῆς πρὸς ἀλλήλους ἀκαταλλάκτου μάχης. Καὶ γὰρ 
καὶ ἡ πᾶσα τοῦ ζῆν αὐτοῖς διαγωγὴ δι᾿ ὅπλων ἐγίνετο, καὶ ξίφος ἦν 
αὐτοῖς ἀντὶ βακτηρίας, καὶ παντὸς βοηθήματος ἔρεισμα" καίτοι, ὡς 
προεῖπον, εἰδώλοις ἐλάτρευον, καὶ δαίμοσιν ἔσπενδον θυσίας, καὶ ὅμως 
οὐδὲν ἐκ τῆς εἰδώλων δεισιδαιμονιάς ἠδυνήθησαν οἱ τοιαῦτα φρονοῦντες 
μεταπαιδευθῆναι. Ὅτε δὲ εἰς τὴν τοῦ Χριστοῦ διδασκαλίαν μεταβε- 
βήκασι:" τότε δὴ παραδόξως ὡς τῷ ὄντι κατὰ διάνοιαν, κατανυγέντες, 
τὴν μὲν ὠμότητα τῶν φόνων ἀπέθεντο, καὶ οὐκ ἔτι πολέμια φρονοῦσι " 





THE OBJECT AIMED AT BY CHRISTIANITY. 411 


verse so large a portion of the earth among the Scythians, 
AMthiopians, 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? For 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 fight- 


πάντα δὲ αὐτοῖς εἰρηναῖα, καὶ τὰ πρός φιλίαν καταθύμια λοιπόν ἔστι. 
Τίς οὖν ὁ ταῦτα ποιήσας, ἢ τίς ὁ τοὺς μισοῦντας ἀλλήλοις εἰς εἰρήνην 
συνάψας, εἰ μὴ ὁ ἀγαπητὸς τοῦ πατρὸς υἱὸς, ὁ κοινὸς πάντων σωτὴρ 
Ἰησοῦς Χριστὸς, ὃς τῇ ἑαυτοῦ ἀγάπῃ πάντα ὑπὲρ τῆς ἡμῶν σωτηρίας 
ὑπέστη; καὶ γὰρ ἄνωθεν ἦν προφητευόμενον περὶ τῆς παρ᾽ αὐτοῦ πρυτα- 
νευομένης εἰρήνης; λεγούσης τῆς γραφῆς" Συγκοψουσι τὰς μαχαίρας 
αὐτῶν εἰς ἄροτρα καὶ τὰς ζιβύνας αὐτῶν εἰς δρέπανα, καὶ οὐ λήψεται 
ἔθνος ex’ ἔθνος μάχαιραν, καὶ οὐ μὴ μάθωσιν ἐτι πολεμεῖν. (Jes. ii. 4.) 
Καὶ οὐκ ἄπιστόν γε τὸ τοιοῦτον, ὕπου καὶ νῦν οἱ τὸ ἄγριον τῶν τρόπων 
βάρβαροι ἔμφυτον ἔχοντες, ἔτι μὲν θύοντες παρ᾽ αὐτοῖς εἰδώλοις, 
μαίνονται κατ᾽ αλλήλων, καὶ χαρὶς ξιφῶν ουδεμίαν ὥραν ἀνέχονται 
μένειν. Ὅτε δὲ τῆς τοῦ Χριστοῦ διδασκαλίας ἀκοούσιν, εὐθέως ἀντὶ 
μὲν πολέμων, εἰς γεωργίαν τρέπονται" ἀντὶ δὲ του ξίφεσι τὰς χεῖρας 
ὁπλίζειν, εἰς εὐχὰς ἐκτείνουσι. Καὶ ὕλως, ἀντὶ τοῦ πολεμεῖν πρὸς 
ἑαυτοὺς, λοιπὸν κατὰ διαβόλου καὶ τῶν διαμόνων ὀπλίζονται, σωφρο- 
σύνῃ καὶ ψυχῆς ἀρετῇ τούτους καταπολεμοῦντες. Τοῦτο δὲ τῆς μὲν 
θεότητος τοῦ σωτῆρός ἐστι γνώρισμα" ὅτι ὃ μὴ δεδύνηνται ἐν εἰδώλοις 
μαθεῖν οἱ ἄνθρωποι, τοῦτο παρ᾽ αὐτοῦ μεμαθήκασι" τῆς δὲ δαιμόνων 
καὶ εἰδώλων ἀσθενείας καὶ οὐθενείας ἔλεγχος οὐκ ὀλίγος ἐστὶν οὗτος. 
Εἰδότες γὰρ ἑαυτῶν δαίμονες τὴν ἀσθένειαν, διὰ τοῦτο συνέβαλον 
πάλαι τοὺς ἀνθρώπους καθ᾽ ἐαυτῶν πολεμεῖν, ἵνα μὴ παυσάμενοι τῆς 
κατ᾽ ἀλλήλων ἔριδος, εἰς τὴν κατὰ δαιμόνων μάχην ἐπιστρέψωσιν. 
᾿Αμέλει μὴ πολεμοῦντες προς EavTove οἱ Χριστῷ μαθητευόμενοι, κατὰ 
δαιμόνων τοῖς τρόποις καὶ ταῖς κατ᾽ ἀρετὴν πράξεσιν ἀντιπαρατάσσον- 
ται, καὶ τούτους μὲν διώκουσι, τὸν δὲ τούτων ἀρχηγὸν διάβολον κατα- 
παίζουσιν, ὥστε ἐν νεότητι μὲν σωφρονεῖν, ἐν πειρασμοῖς δὲ ὑπομένειν, 
ἐν πόνοις δὲ καρτερεῖν, καὶ ὑβριζομένους μὲν ἀνέχεσθαι, ἀποστερουμένους 
δὲ καταφρονεῖν " καὶ τό γε θαυμαστὸν, ὅτι καὶ θανάτου καταφρονοῦσι, 
καὶ γίνονται μάρτυρες Xororov.—Athanas. de Incarnat. § 51, 52. 


412 MISSIONS OF THE MIDDLE AGES. 


ing with one another; for the whole course of their lives 
was spent in the practice of arms, and a sword was to them 
in place of a staff, and the instrument resorted to on every 
occasion ; and as I have already said, they worshipped idols 
and offered sacrifices to demons, and those who were thus 
minded could not be trained to give up their idolatrous super- 
stition. But when they passed over to the doctrine of Christ, 
then in a wonderful manner, being filled with compunction, 
they renounced their cruel slaughterings, and no longer 
meditated wars; but all was peaceful and tending to friend- 
ship. But who effected this? who united in peace those 
that hated one another? who but the beloved Son of the 
Father, the common Saviour of all, Jesus Christ, who in love 
submitted to all things for our salvation? for from the begin- 
ning it was prophesied concerning the peace which was to be 
effected by him, as the Scripture saith, ‘ They shall beat their 
swords into ploughshares, and their spears into pruning-hooks; 
nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall 
they learn war any more.’ (Isa. ii. 4.) And this is no longer 
incredible, since we already see how barbarians whose savage- 
ness of manners was innate, as long as they sacrificed to their 
gods, rage against one another, and never remain a single 
hour without their swords; but when they heard the teach- 
ing of Christ, immediately, instead of wars, they turned to 


husbandry; instead of arming their hands with swords, they. 
stretched them forth in prayer. In a word, instead of fight- 


ing with one another, they arm themselves henceforth against 
the devil and demons, warring against them with discretion 
and manliness of soul. This is a mark of the divinity of the 
Saviour, that what men were unable to learn while they lived 
in idolatry, they have learnt from him; nor is this an insig- 
nificant proof of the weakness and worthlessness of demons 
and idols. For the demons knowing their weakness, on this 
account set men to fight with one another, lest ceasing from 
their mutual strife, they might turn to fight against the 
demons. Certainly the disciples of Christ, instead of making 
war on one another, set themselves in array against the 
demons by the habits and deeds of virtue; they chase them 
and mock their leader, the devil; in youth they are sober- 
minded ; in temptations they endure; in labours they perse- 
vere; being insulted, they forbear; and when despoiled, they 


| 
. 
{ 





TRANSFORMING INFLUENCE OF CHRISTIANITY. 413 


despise; and what is wonderful, they despise death and 
become martyrs for Christ.” Thus also Jerome in his times 
saw, like Athanasius, a fulfilment of Isaiah’s prophecy, when 
men of the Gothic tribes, who were regarded by the Greeks 
and Romans as uncivilized barbarians, proposed questions to 
him respecting the interpretation of the Scriptures; and 
when zeal for the study of the Scriptures spread itself among 
this rude people, as we have seen in modern times among the 
tribes of Australia, in whom Christianity has implanted the 
germ of civilization. ‘Who could believe* that the bar- 
barous tongues of Goths should inquire after the Hebrew 
original, and that while the Greeks sleep or rather quarrel 
with one another, Germany should investigate the word of 
God? Now, ‘of a truth, I perceive that God is no respecter 
of persons; but in every nation he that feareth him and 
worketh righteousness, is accepted with him.’ (Acts x. 34, 
35.) The fingers which were most apt to handle arrows, are 
now softened enough to guide a pen; and warlike breasts are 
changed to Christian meekness.” He then quotes a passage 
in Isaiah, similar to that referred to by Athanasius: “ The 
wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and 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 young ones shall lie down 
together; and the lion shall eat straw like the ox.” (Isa. xi. 
6,7.) “Not,” Jerome adds, “that simplicity shall pass into 
sayageness, but that savageness shall learn simplicity.” 

As such an effect could only proceed from Christianity, so 
nothing but Christianity could give the impulse and the 
power by which rude nations received a divine life. What 
was it that impelled men to forsake their kindred and native 
land, and to give themselves up to numberless toils and 
mortal perils in the midst of barbarians? It was the con- 
sciousness of the Sayiour’s love which induced him to ex- 


* Quis hoc crederet ut barbara Getarum lingua Hebraicum quereret 
yeritatem ; et dormitantibus immo contendentibus Grecis, ipsa Germania 
Spirittis Sancti eloquia scrutaretur? . .. Dudum callosa tenendo capulum 
manus, et digiti tractandis sagittis aptiores, ad stilum calamumque mol- 
lescunt; et bellicosa pectora vertuntur in mansuetudinem Christianum.... 
Non ut simplicitas in feritatem transeat, sed ut feritas discat simplicitatem. 
Hieronymus, Zp. 106, ed, Vallars. 1. 1. 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 still estranged from 
God, in order to impart the salvation they had through grace 
obtained to others for whom they were ready to hazard every 
thing. 

But since Christianity operated on the formation of uneul- 
tivated nature throughout all its parts and powers, by com- 
mencing at the heart, and thence spreading its influence to 
the outward 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 nature, 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 culture is a necessary result which yet, till 
human nature 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 burn in any 
century, 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 te the sphere of the changeable cannot be applied 
here. 

We must not, then, forget that the rude stock of humanity 





Se a ccc ccc rr ὉΔὉ|Ἠ0.-........ϑ.Ψ.Ψ..Ψ“ “πὸ 





RECEPTION OF CHRISTIAN DOCTRINES. 415 


necessarily communicated its rudeness to the 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 verify 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. Irenzus 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 ennnciation, the 
written 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 
from 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 history, 
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 the mixture of the carnal 
and the undiyine. Eyerywhere, and always, we find in the 


416 MISSIONS OF THE MIDDLE AGES. 


tradition the Antichristian by the side of the Christian, just 
as each individual must detect this admixture in his own 
inward and outward life; and what is shown on a small seale 
in the life of every individual Christian, appears in larger 
dimensions in the life of the whole church. We should be 
always 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 purifying principle, a 
fixed standard, in order that we may separate the divine and 
the undivine from one another, whether in our own hearts or 
in the tradition of the whole church. 

And further, the experience of all ages teaches us, that 
Christianity 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 Arab tribes, 
Christianity 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 Europe suffered from, became schools where, in quiet 
retirement, religion and science were fostered in close con- 
nection with one another, and from which, at the same 
time, Christianity and the seeds of scientific culture were 
transported to other countries; as the Abbot Alcuin, when he 








a me ena 


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 churches. 
While 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 fresh purity and splendour, 
entered into a league with scientific culture. Thus it was at 
the Reformation, that work of God for the restoration of 
the apostolic church. Luther, in a letter to Eoban Hess, in 
the year 1523, beautifully remarks, “1 see that there was 
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 Englan 

among the Anglo-Saxons, such a desire after knowledge 
seized many persons of all classes that they eagerly 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 
was 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: “1 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. De Wette, II, 313. 
25 


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 
deseribed 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.p. 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, 
“Ὁ 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 
burst 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 1 afraid to die, 
for we have a gracious Lord.’ Besides the lessons that he 
gave us, 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 





; 
i 
| 


CLCSING SCENE OF HIS LIFE. 419 


learn; I know not how long I may remain with you, whether 
my Creator may not soon take me to himself.” The following 
night he spentawake 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 departure is at hand; I long to depart and to be 
with Christ.’ 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, where 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 people, among 
whom many missionaries had already laboured, for his 
exertions in making provision 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 disvosition ; or according 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 with other infiuences 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 whether 
its effect is merely something external. 

Clovis, 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; Clovis 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 
Clovis 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 Clovis alloaved her — 
second child also to be baptized. It fell sick, and Clovis 





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 anncunced it to her husband 
as an answer to her prayers. 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 mingled with it, as in the case of the afflicted woman 
in Luke vill. 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, reapéots 
ing these occurrences to the Longobard queen, Clodeswinde, 
a grand-daughter of Clotilda: ‘* You have heard from your 
grandmother Clotilda, how, since she came into France, she 
has won over King 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 Zilpich 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 
turned 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 Constantine, the victory over 
Maxentius and Licinius. Remigius, archbishop of Rheims, 
who had been sent for by the queen, found easy access to 


422 MISSIONS OF THE MIDDLE AGES. 


the king’s mind, thus prepared. When he narrated the 
history of the Crucifixion, the king exclaimed, “ If I had 
been there with my Franks, I would have 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 received 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! Several 
among us are already well acquainted with this God; that he 
ean lend great assistance to those who hope in Hin, 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: ‘‘ When 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 therest. But already they unanimously 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 conyerting and baptizing a distinguished indiyidual, 


OTTO, THE APOSTLE OF POMERANIA. 423, 


named Witstock. Although his knowledge 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 Rugen, 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 after earnest prayer, the 
venerable bishop Otto appeared to him in a dream, and 
promised him aid. This encouraged him very much. Bya 
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 
countrymen 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- 
wards 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 beautiful contrast to 
Clovis, who showed so little interest in divine things. The 
first step towards his conversion, as in the instance 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 reflect on divine 
things. 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- 
quently on religion with those of his nobles whom he 
esteemed the wisest, and often appeared lost in solitary me- 
ditation. Atlast 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 you were seated at table 
with your captains and servants in a well-warmed hall, while 
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 only 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: “41 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. 





PATRICK, THE APOSTLE OF THE IRISH. 425 


CHAPTER II. 


THE LIVES AND LABOURS OF INDIVIDUAL MISSIONARIES. 


1. Patrick, the Apostle of the Irish. 


Tuts remarkable man was trained for his important calling 
by a very peculiar way 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 Bonayen, (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 sayage 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 which 
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 written 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 MISSIONS OF THE MIDDLE AGES. 


to the Lord my God, to Him who looked down on my low 
condition, had pity on my youth and ignorance, and before I 
knew Hin, before I could distinguish between good and evil, 
guarded, protected, and cherished me, as a father his son. 
This I certainly know, that before God humbled me, I was 
like a stone sunk in the mire; but when He came who had 
power to do it, he raised me in his mercy, and put me on a 
very high place. Wherefore I must testify aloud, in order to 
make some return tothe Lord for such great blessings in time 
and eternity, which no human reason is able to estimate.” 
“ς When I came to Ireland and had daily charge of the cattle, 
I prayed many times a day; the fear of God and love to Him 
was increasingly kindled in me ; faith grew in me, so that in 
one day I offered a hundred prayers, and at night almost as- 
many; and when I passed the night in the woods or on 
the mountains, I rose up to pray in the snow, ice, and rain, 
before daybreak. Yet 1 felt no pain; there was no sluggish- 
ness in me such as I now find in myself, for then the spirit 
glowed within me.” 

After spending six years in the service of this chief, he 
believed that he heard a voice in his sleep which promised 
him a speedy return to his native land, and soon announced 
to him that a vessel was ready for him. In dependence on 
this call he set out, and after a journey of several days he met 
with a vessel which was on the point of sailing. But the cap- 
tain at first would not receive the poor unknown youth. 
Patrick fell on his knees and prayed. He had not finished 
his prayer when one of the ship’s company called him back 
and summoned him to go with him. After undergoing many 
sufferings, and experiencing, by the mercy that guarded him, 
many a deliverance from great dangers, he reached his home 
once more. Several years after, he was again taken prisoner 
by pirates. But after sixty days he regained his liberty by a 
special interposition of Providence, and returned home after 
many fresh dangers and toils. Great was the joy of his 
parents, to see their son again who had endured so much, 
and they entreated him now to remain constantly with them. 
But Patrick felt an irresistible call to carry the message of 
salvation to the people among whom he had passed his youth, 
and had been born again io the life of heaven. As the 
Apostle Paul was called by the Lord in a night-yision to carry 


HIS CALL TO MISSIONARY LABOUR. 427 


the first news of salvation to the people of Macedonia, so a 
man appeared to Patrick in a night-vision, with many letters, 
He gave him one, and Patrick read the words, “ words of the 
Trish,” and as he was reading, 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 fullof joy. One night it wasas if 
there was something in him and yet above him, 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 itselZ 
maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be 
uttered.” And (Rom. yi. 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 for 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?’ 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 power of the Lord who had 
imparted to him an inward assurance 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, although many gifts were offered 


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 ail, 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 ina 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 was zealously engaged with 
him in publishing the gospel to the time of his death, and he 
succeeded him in the pastoral office. 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, who 
would not allow themselves to be terrified by the threats and 
ill-treatment of their heathen masters. 

Patrick received slaves who 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, 
among any nation, seeing he is not far from every one of us; for in him 
we live, and move, and have our being.’”” He says of men in-general ; 
“That which may be known of God is manifest in them, 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 can 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 his youth up he 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 all 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 the perfected saints; for I am a poor, 
sinful, despicable man.”” But far more important to him 
than the miracles which he had performed, 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, ‘Who 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 I 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 obscurity 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 
ποῦ disposed to recognize what the Spirit of God had 
effected—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 


432 MISSIONS OF THE MIDDLE AGES. 


brought him presents, and pious females gladly surrendered 
their ornaments for the purpose, Patrick, in order to ayoid 
every appearance of evil, refused them all, though the givers, 
both men and women, were at first offended. He himself 
gave presents to the heathen chiefs (one of whom had for- 
merly plundered him, thrown him in fetters, and imprisoned 
him for a fortnight), in order to procure from them peace for 
himself and his flock; he redeemed many Christians from 
captivity, and was ready, as a faithful shepherd, to give up 
everything, even life itself, for his sheep. In his Confessions, 
which after he had been labouring thirty years in his calling, 
he addressed to his converts, he says: ‘‘In order that you 
may give me joy, and that I may always give you joy in the 
Lord, I do not repent of what I have done, and yet it is not 
enough forme. I give up and will give up far more. The 
Lord is powerful henceforth to grant that I may give myself 
up for your souls. I call God to witness that I have not 
written this in order to gain honour from you. That honour 
is enough for me which is not seen but is believed in the 
heart. God is faithful who has promised and who never lies. 
But I see myself already in this world exalted by the Lord 
above measure. I know very well that poverty and discom- 
fort suit me much better than riches and a life of pleasure. 
Yes; even the Lord Christ became poor for our sakes. 
Daily I expected to be seized, to be dragged to slavery, or to 
be killed. But I feared none of all these things on account 
of the promises of heaven; for I have cast myself in the arms 
of the Almighty God who rules over all, as it is said in Psa. 
ly. 22 (‘Cast thy burden on the Lord and he shall sustain 
thee’).* Now I commend my soul to my faitiful God, whom 
I serve as his messenger in my lowliness: but since he has 
no respect of persons, and has chosen me to this calling that 
I should serve him, as one of the least of his servants, how 
can I repay the Lord for all the goodness he has shown me? 


What shall I say unto my Lord, or what shall I promise | 


* Compare with this the beautiful words of Livinus (a preacher of the 
gospel at Brabant in the seventh century, who suffered martyrdom). 
“« Blood-thirsty Brabant longs for my death. Wherein have I sinned 
against thee, inasmuch as I bring thee the message of peace? Peace is 
what I bring ; why dost thou threaten me with war? But thy rage brings 
me a joyful victory—it will grant me a glorious crown of martyrdom. 1 


: 


TESTIMONY TO THE TRUTH OF CHRISTIANITY. 433 


him? For I have no power unless he gives it me! But he 
tries the heart and the reins, and he knows that I greatly 
desire that he would give me the cup of suffering to drink as 
he has given it to others who love him. May my God never 
suffer it, that I should lose the church which he has won in 
the most remote corner of the earth. I pray God that he 
would give me perseverance, and think me worthy to bear a 
faithful testimony until the time of my departure; and if I 
have ever striven to accomplish anything for the sake of my 
God whom I love, I beseech him that I may be allowed to 
shed my blood for his name with those my new converts who 
have been imprisoned, eyen though I should obtain no burial, 
or even should my body be torn in pieces by wild beasts. 
I firmly believe, if this should happen to me, that I have 
gained my soul along with my body; for beyond a doubt we 
shall rise again in that day with the splendour of the sun, 
that is, with the glory of our Redeemer Jesus Christ, who is 
the Son of the living God, as fellow-heirs with Christ and 
bearing his image; for we shall reign by him, and through 
him, and with him. That sun which we see, daily rises for 
us according to God’s command, but it will never reign, nor 
will its splendour endure for ever. All the unhappy beings 
who worship it will suffer punishment. But we adore 
believingly the 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 Gaul, after many 
years’ absence and labour, but he sacrificed his inclination to 
a higher call. “I would gladly,” he says, “travel to my 


‘know in whom 1 have believed, and my hope will not be put to shame. 
God is the surety. Who can doubt ?” 
Hic Brabanta furit meque cruenta petit. 
Quid te peccavi, qui pacis nuntia porto ? 
Pax est quod porto: cur mihi bella moves ? 
Sed qua tu spiras feritas, sors leta triumphi, 
Atque dabit palmam gloria martyrii. 
Cui credam novi, nec spe frustabor inani. 
Qui spondet Deus est; quis dubitare potest? 
—Liyinus, Madillon. Act. Sanct. sec. 11, fol. 404, 


2F 


484 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 should fall to 
the ground.” 


2. Monasticism in Ireland.—Columban. 


The wild parts of Ireland became, from the example of 
Patrick, covered with monasteries erected by the hard labour 
of the monks. The Irish monasteries were distinguished for 
strict Christian discipline, for industry, zeal for the knowledge 
of the Scriptures 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 digested it in their monastic retirement, and were 
destined to bring back the seeds of science along with more 
living Christianity to the districts from 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 century. When about thirty years old, he felt an 
impulse to go out amidst difficulties and dangers, to publish 
the gospel, and to plant Christian discipline among sayage 
nations. In a letter written after suffering 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 life, recol- 
lecting that command of the Lord, ‘Go forth from thy 
country, and from thy kindred, 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, “1 am come to kindle a fire on the earth.” 
Columban himself says of that holy fire of love: ““Ὁ 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- 
lenee, 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 which thou dwellest 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, 
where at that time, owing to the continual wars, the political 
disturbances, the remissness of the worldly-minded bishops 
who 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 conyents having been given 
away by the princes to laymen of rank. The strict piety and 
superior knowledge of Columban obtained so much the 
greater reyerence 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 

282 


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 (Anagrates). 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 cireum- 
stances where human succour was wanting, 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 (xxxvil. 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 our 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 soul 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 down with the Bible in 
his hand on the hollow trunk of a tree. On Sundays and 
feast-days he gladly retired to a caye or some other secret 
place, and gave himself up entirely to prayer, and meditation 
on divine things. 


HIS POPULARITY AS A TEACHER. 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. 
The number of monks was so great that one convent was 
not sufficient, and they were obliged to erect two others, 
also in forests, Luxeuil (Luxuviwm) in Franche Comte, and 
Fontenay (/ontane). 

As the highest object to which all the monastic regulations 
of Columban were adapted to form those who were placed 
under 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 
sanctification, 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 
either loves or hates the world.” And in another instruction 
he says: “6 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, 
God for man. What ought we 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 
sin? Certainly, thou must do that. Let us therefore die; 
let 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. 
‘We must take the kingdom of heaven by violence, since we 
have to eontend not only with our adversaries, but most 


488 MISSIONS OF 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 spimit 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 οὗ 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 
them 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 own 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 As calling, while 


MECHANICAL OBEDIENCE INCULCATED BY HIM. 439 


thetr calling was only to obey. This gratifies the indolence 
of man, who would gladly be exempted from personal con- 
flict and from that personal 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 perilous 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 will. Frequently from the point 
of view assumed by the monkish system, the striving after 
a proper free development, 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 God’s likeness and glory, becomes confounded with a 
sinful, self-seeking striving, which indeed early attaches itself 
toit. 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-mindedness called forth into 
so much unbending opposition by the compulsion from without, 
or if the self-will be broken, all fresh, proper 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 which Paul speaks in 
Col. ii. 23. 

In this respect, what Anselm of Canterbury, 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 
with 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, “" [5 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 iaclosed it on all sides, so that 
it could not spread out its branches in any direction, and after 
some years transplant it in an open space, what 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 oyer-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 

* Constringitis? Dic mihi, queso, si plantam arboris in horto tuo 
plantares, et mox illum omni ex parte concluderes, ut ramos suos nulla- 
tenus extendere posset, cum eam post annum excluderes, qualis arbor 
nde prodiret ὃ Profecto inutilis, incurvis ramis et perplexis; et hoc ex 
cujus culpa procederet, nisi tua, qui eam immoderate conclusisti? Certe 
hoc facitis de pueris vestris.—Anselmus, Vit. Eadm. § 30, in Act. Ss. 
April, tom. 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 offered him; 
let him have just as much as he receives; Jet 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 
suffers 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. 
‘“‘ Tf 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 endeayour 
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 much more worthy of honour must that 
man appear 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. 


dation of the convent of Fontaines, Columban saw sixty 
monks toiling with hoes to loosen the soil, in order to pre- 
pare it for the future sowing, while only a small quantity of 
provisions 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 were under him with courage and power. The 
monks would experience that faith multiples 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 
will 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. xxii. 24.) The universe is full of 
the Spirit of the Lord. ‘ Heaven is my throne 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 off?’ 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.’ Who 
shall search out the Most High according to this his unutter- 
able and inconceivable essence? Who shall fathom the 
depths of the Godhead? Who shall boast that he knows the 
infinite God, who fills and surrounds all things, who pene- 


HIS WARNING AGAINST DOCTRINAL SUBTLETIES. 443 


trates all things, 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 
unchangeable God. God is perceived by the pious faith of a 
pure heart, and not by an impure heart and vain discourse. 
Art 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 
eannot fail, may remain in us; that fear of God which joined 
with loye 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 
whom 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 aday’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- 
quently, 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 salutary, 
something healthful for the heart. If the heart is not dis- 
eased with sin, then its health is love. He who fulfils the law 
with the ardour of love, has eternal life; as John says: ‘ We 
know that we have passed from death unto life, because we 
loye the brethren. He that loveth not his brother abideth in 


444 MISSIONS OF THE MIDDLE AGES. 


death. He that hateth his brother is a murderer, and ye 
know that no murderer hath eternal life abiding in him.’ 
We must, therefore, do nothing but love, or we can expect 
nothing but punishment. May our gracious Lord and Saviour 
Jesus Christ, our 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 every 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 
strict discipline, and against the irregularities which had 
spread among the Frankish churches, and by his frankness, 
he necessarily made himself many enemies among persons 
of influence, both ecclesiastics and laymen, who 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 differed widely 
from those of the Romish church, which had been univer- 
sally adopted in those parts. As his convents in the forests 
formed a secluded whole 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 securing 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. 


HUMAN 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 wished to 
introduce all the usages relating to divine worship which 
he 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 Rome, Gregory the Great. He called on him not 
to bind himself by the authority of the earlier Roman 
bishops, but to examine freely, and to adopt whatever he 
found to be best: ‘‘ In such a matter,’”’ he wrote to him, ‘‘ you 
must not depend merely on your 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 Smyrna, 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 inyolyed 


446 MISSIONS OF THE MIDDLE AGES. 


themselves too much in worldly concerns, the salutary 
institution of provincial synods had been for a long time 
neglected, 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 could 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 1 am meek and lowly of heart,’ we should 
love another as disciples of our Lord Jesus Christ, with all 
our hearts—since the humble cannot quarrel—since the truth 
wil 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: 
“Τὴ order that we may mutually love one another without 
hypocrisy, let us contemplate closely the commands of our 
Lord Jesus Christ, and if we understand them, strive to 
fulfil them, so that through his teaching the whole church 
may strive towarus 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 course. 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 offensive, 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. 
When 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 corn 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 yalue with me.” Ofa 


448 MISSIONS OF THE MIDDLE AGES. 


monk, Waldolin, who was much beloved by him, he writes on 
the contrary: “God bless him! 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 Italy, 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 church (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 wrote a very respectful, but at the same time 
very frank epistle to Pope Boniface IV., in which he required 
from him an unprejudiced 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 heayen, who by true knowledge opens it to 


GALLUS, 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 know 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 
heayen and earth over your peace and union. I know not 
how a Christian can quarrel respecting the faith 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 knowledge in France, Switzer- 
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 
Treland to France, Gallus was one of the most distinguished. 
He was descended from a respectable Irish family, and was 
early intrusted by his pious 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 simplicity and fervour, and to 

26 


450 MISSIONS OF THE MIDDLE AGES, 


apply the word to the hearts of men. When Columban with 
his associates met with a hospitable reception from pious per- 
sons, and after laying down his luggage wished to have some 
portion of Scripture read, he called on his favourite scholar, 
Gallus, to perform this office, and at the same time to explain 
what was read. When 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. 
But they found in that chapel three gilded images of idols 
which the pagans worshipped as tutelary divinities. As 
Gallus, during his residence in the Frankish territory, had 
made himself well 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 
comes from without, is a farce.’’ If 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 idolatry 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. Gallus 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 given of Bishop Wilfred, who preached the. 
gospel in Sussex towards the close of the seventh century. When he first 
came there, a famine prevailed: the sea and the rivers were full of fish ; but 
the people only knew how to catch eels. He was obliged to instruct 
them in 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. By this means 
he won the love of the people; and as they were so much indebted to him 
for their temporal welfare, they listened to him more willingly when he 
discoursed of heavenly things. 


FOUNDS THE MONASTERY OF ST. GALL. 451 


When they were expelled from this region, and the Abbot 
Columban was proceeding to Italy, Gallus was prevented 
from following him by illness—and this circumstance proved 
a great blessing to the people among whom they had been 
residing; for otherwise Gallus would have not been to them 
what he actually became. Gallus being thus left behind 
betook himself with his fishing-nets to a priest named 
Willimar, who lived in an old castle, and had already received 
him hospitably with the Abbot Columban, and had assigned 
them their residences. After he had been restored to health 
by this person’s affectionate care, he wished to find out a 
place in the forest for building and cultivating. He there- 
fore applied to the deacon Hillibald, whose business it was 
to supply his people with fish and birds, who hence frequently 
traversed the woods, and was well acquainted with the paths. 
In company with him he wished to find out a place suited for 
building and provided with good water. The deacon gave him 
a fearful description of the multitude of wild beasts in the 
forest, but Gallus answered him: “It is an expression of the 
apostle’s, ‘If God be for us, who can be against us?’ and 
again: ‘All things work together for good to them that 
love God ;* He who- preserved Daniel in the lion’s den, can 
deliver me from the power of the wild beasts.” The deacon 
then said: ‘Put only some bread and a little net in your 
knapsack ; to-morrow I will take you into the forest; that 
God who has brought you here to us from a distant land 
will also send his angel with us, as he once did with Tobias, 
and show us a place answering to your pious wishes.” 
Gallus prepared himself for his journey by prayer; when 
they had travelled till two or three o’clock, Hillibald said: 
“‘Let us now take some bread and water, that we may be 
strengthened to pursue the rest of our way.” Gallus 
answered: ‘‘ My son, do what is necessary for your own 
strengthening ; I am resolved to taste nothing till God has 
pointed out to me the desired place of rest.” But the deacon 
answered: ‘ No—we will share the discomfort together, 
and then the joy.” They proceeded till towards evening, 
when they came to a stream full of fish, running down from 
a rock; they succeeded in catching a quantity of fish—the 
deacon made a fire, broiled the fish, and took bread out of 
their knapsack. Meanwhile Gallus had gone a little on one 

262 


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 his 
neck. Here they both knelt down again to pray; and on 
this spot was founded 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 wealthy 
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 yacant bishopric of Costnitz was offered to Gallus: 
but he preferred discharging the quiet duties of his conven. 
and therefore declined the office. He obtained the appoint- 
ment for the deacon Johannes, a native of the country, who 
had studied the Scriptures under 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. You ought to know 


BONIFACE, THE APOSTLE OF THE GERMANS. 453 


this cause of your creation, my Christian brethren, in order 
that you may not regard yourselves as reprobate beings, and 
abdicate your dignity by living lke brutes. God, who is the 
highest good, resolved to create beings endowed with reason, 
that acknowledging him as their Lord, the author of their 
existence, and being filled with his love, they should rejoice 
in being made happy in him.” He then deduced the origin 
of evil from the desire of rational beings to have in them- 
selves the ground 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 who are the unworthy messengers of the gospel to these 
times, adjure you in Christ’s name that you renounce 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. . . . . May God Almighty, 
who wills that all men should be sayed 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 


. . . Ὁ’ 5 
his grace you may bring forth fruit in your hearts.” 


4, Boniface, the Apostle of the Germans. 


Boniface, or Winfred (his Anglo-Saxon name), who was born 
at Crediton, in Devonshire, in the year 680, deserves to be 
honoured as the father of the German church, though he was 
by no means the first who brought the seeds cf 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 MIDDLE 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 laity and to deliver dis- 
courses 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 Scriptures, which were to be a light 
to his path in after-life among sayage tribes. His mind was 
certainly narrowed during this period by many prejudices 
which kept him from the pure knowledge of Scripture doe-. 
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 during 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 building of the Roman church, 
in 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, whom alone 
to serve and on whom alone to depend is true freedom. 

When Boniface had completed his five-and-thirtieth year, 


HIS LABOURS 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 
first 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 
him 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 Christ, which he believed himself bound to 
fulfil: he would have exclaimed with the Apostle Paul, ‘‘ Woe 
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 Friesland and the Netherlands. 
He wished to have retained Boniface near him that he might 
be his successor as archbishop of Utrecht; but he declined 
compliance, feeling impelled by an inward call to begin a 
fresh work among the heathen tribes of Germany. 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 Bugga) in 
England reminded him at a later period, that God had 


- 
EE ee 


456 MISSIONS OF THE MIDDLE AGES. 


revealed himself to him in a dream, and 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, whom he ex- 
horted to a diligent study of the Bible: ‘Throw aside 
everything that hinders you, and direct your whole study to 
the Holy 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 return, “that she had consoled him when 
banished to Germany, with spiritual ight; 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 written in very plain and 
distinct characters. “Τῇ 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 wish for, and with my already _ 
weak eyesight I cannot distinguish small and closely-written 
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. exiii. 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 Romish 
church has sent out for the publication of the gospel, may I 
not die without having brought forth fruit for the gospel ; 
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 1 may not, by the 
guilt of my sins, instead of the reward of labour, receive 
punishment for unfruitful labour from Him who sent me.” 
Thus he endeayoured—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, who will have 
all men sayed 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 watereth anything, 
but God who giveth the increase.” In a letter to an 
English bishop, he says: “1 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 conyents 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 revived the attach- 
ment of the rude people to it. What effect Boniface could 
produce upon uninstructed men by external impressions, is 
shown by a singular incident. "When 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. When they saw the oak fall asunder in four 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, Fulrad, 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. “1 entreat our 
sovereign (Pepin), in the name of Christ the Son of God, 
that he would intimate during my lifetime what reward he 
will give to my scholars after my decease. For there are 
some priests appointed in many places for the service of the 
church and the parishes who are almost entire strangers. 
There are some monks who haye been placed in our cells, in 
order to teach the children to read. There are some aged 
men who 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 the 
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 show 
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?” 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 live, and move, 


PERNICIOUS ERRORS COMBATED BY HIM. 461 


and have our being,” like Cornelius, will be led—if not in 
this world, yet in a future state of existence—to the know- 
ledge of Him who is the way, the truth, and the 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. “Are there some 
among you,” he says, “(Ὁ 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, when 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 perish before his incarnation! If we 
admit the complaints of such people, then we must remain 
sick, even after the bestowment of such a physician. Why, 
O man, dost thou complain of the Sun of Righteousness for 
rising so late, when even after its rising thou choosest 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 Epistles 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.” 


a_i oa ον, ν...πΧΔ..νϑΔ4ΧΚςΚΔδΧὃ0.0.κ.:..1...1..“εἔἄποκνακοιυκα πον, νκν οἐνκ δον κων» πὰ ὦ ὦὋὃὃςἔ:ἔ;}οὦἔ΄ὦ)ΨῃΔνυψυοῦήΠ᾿;͵͵νἔὁὈὄἔὄ 


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 views of secular policy. His anxiety for the spread of 
religious knowledge among the people is apparent, 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 greatness 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 shepherd 
of the church; 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 foreed 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. ui. 17, 18.) He shows by this language that 
the priest ought to say what he has learnt from the study of 
the Divine Word, what God had imparted to him, not what 
human 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 ston 
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?’ Who, then, but the man who does 
not believe God, can doubt that what God has said will come 
to pass? Since, then, these things are so, let our weary 


HIS CANDOUR AND PRUDENCE. 463 


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 Him, and He shall 
direct thy paths.’ And in another passage it is said: ‘The 
name of the Lord is a strong tower; the righteous runneth 
to it, and are safe.’ Let us, then, stand fast in righteousness, 
and arm our souls against temptation, and bear 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 burden 
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 required it. A rem- 
nant of the ancient pagan superstitious usages and excesses 
on New-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 murmured 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, Bayarians, 
or Franks, think if they see any of those evil practices which 
we forbid indulged in at Rome, that they are sanctioned by 
the priests; they then reproach us and are offended, and 
thus our 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 
labours abroad, he still felt a lively interest in the affairs of 
his native land, and was grieved to hear of the licentious 
life of this 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 from the Lord at the day of judgment: ‘ Verily I 





464 MISSIONS OF THE MIDDLE AGES. 


say unto you, inasmuch as ye did it to one of the least of 
these my brethren, ye have done it unto me; inherit the 
kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the 
world.’ I have also heard that you have 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 : “1 adjure 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 have been made a ruler over multitudes, not 
by your own merit but by the grace of God, should yourself, 
through lust, become the slave 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 Christianity, were distinguished for their chastity. 
“‘Therefore the heathen who know not God, and haye not 
the law, do by nature the things contained in the law ; these 
show the work of law written 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 sinfal 
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 example, 
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 inthatage. The 
presents were simple, according to the character of the time. Pope 


y 


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 we 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 writes 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 loye, 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 reproach 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 fail to recognize the work of the Spirit, 
which shows itself in its fruits; still, on the other hand, we ought 
not to leave these disturbing ingredients 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 known 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 made in allusion to the washing the feet of 
others as asign of humility) and some silver; to an English archbishop two 
flasks of wine; toa person holding an office in the Romish church a 
silver cup and a linen cloth. 

2H 





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 eit the ordinances of this world. He knew, 
ΞΕ ἘΠῚ 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 
along 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, would 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 
pure 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 turn ye again to the weak and beggarly 
elements, whereunto ye. desire again to be in bondage ?” 
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 spirit, 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 certainly 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 Rome, 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 wkom 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 brought 
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 probably 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 ques- 
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 gospel 
through the preparatory discipline of the law, it is not diffi- 
2H 2 





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 mystical sects who opposed a 
certain internal religion of the heart to ceremonial service 
and human ordinances ; but since they followed only their sub- 
jective 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 beginning 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 
createst heaven and earth, the sea and all that is therein, on 
thee I call, to thee I ery, I invite thee to my miserable self; 
for thou hast graciously promised, ‘ Whatsoever 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 Rome. 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 injurious, 
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 aboye 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 Boniface, 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 Willibrod, 
and the greater part of whom were still pagans ; this inten- 
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 whither 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 perfec- 
tion 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 be 
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 
always 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 brought to Fulda. 

fe summoned up the remaining powers of his old age, 


* In a similar manner Luther, the second apostle of the Germans, was 
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. 351), he says, 
“« And it is to be considered that it is a very great thing that we all have one 
and the same baptism, the sacrament, God, and the Spirit, by which we all 
become spiritually brothers and sisters. Now this spiritual brotherhood 
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. 


which were invigorated by the inspiration of faith, travelled 
through Friesland in his seventieth year with youthful 
vigour, 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 Kast and West Friesland. When the morning 
of the appointed day dawned, 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 murder 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 went out, accompanied by his clergy, with the relies 
which he had with him, and said to the young men: 
“Cease fighting, for the Holy Scriptures teach us not to 
return 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 Ὁ. 
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; endure steadfastly the brief moment of 
death, that you may reign for ever with Christ.” Thus he 
died a martyr on the 5th of June, 755. 


5. Gregory, Abbot of Utrecht. 


Boniface took a peculiar 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 UTRECHT. 471 


shows in a remarkable manner with what power he could 
operate on youthful minds. 

When Boniface left his first field of labour in Friesland, 
and was travelling to Hesse, he came to a nunnery, situate 
on the Moselle, 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 returned from school. After Boniface had pro- 
nounced 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 he 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 : 
“No, 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 
eame; 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 forgot parents and native land, 
and at once went up to his grandmother and said, that he 
wished to go with this man and learn from him to under- 
stand the Holy Scriptures.”’ The abbess tried to keep him 
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, 
T will 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 CF THE MIDDLE AGES. 


Boniface. Lindger says, respecting it: “It appears to me 
that at that time the same Spirit was working in this young 
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 im all, 
imparting to every one as he will.” 

Gregory from that time followed Boniface wherever he 
went, amidst all his dangers and toils, as a most faithful 
scholar. He travelled with him ata 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 Christian 
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 nursery 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 address out of the Word of God what was 
exactly suited to the wants and peculiar disposition of eaeh 
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 build 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 was 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 Sturm, of Fulda. 


Next to the Abbot Gregory, one of the most able scholars 
of Boniface was Sturm, descended from a respectable Baya- 
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 remained there for some 
time. Sturm returned to his beloved master, for the purpose 
of giving an exact report to him (a man who considered 
everything carefully, and was not content with what might 

suffice for the present moment) respecting the situation of 


a ENS 


SS eee ee 


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 
πο πε dhol: the pat ἐμ ἡμοὰ choice οτος 
exposed to the incursions of the wild Saxons. Sturm and his 
companions sought a long time, but could find no place eor- 

g to the wishes of their bishop. At last Sturm set 
out alone. He rode on an ass through the wildest parts, 
singing psalms and lifting his heart to heaven, or prayimg 
with sighs to God. He rested wherever he happened to be 
at nightfall. The earth was his bed. With a sword which 
he carried with him he cut down 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 im 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- 
img im the Fulda, met him, naked as they were; they pre- 
sented a fearful appearance. and received him with an msult- 
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 objeet 
of his toilsome and dangerous pilgrimage, and found a place 


with which Boniface was perfectly satisfied. Here, then, =~ 


the year 744. the foundation of the monastery of Fulda 

laid, from which the cultivation of this wilderness com- 
menced, and in which the most distinguished teachers of the 
German church m following ages were traimed. 

Charlemagne employed Sturm particularly m 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 hateful. 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 eaid to them: “You know what has been my 


Ξ 


ALCUIN, ON MISSIONARY EFFICIENCY. 475 


earnest aim; how I have laboured up to this day for your 
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 im 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 by 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 spimt 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 
I will 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 
d error consisted in attempting to effect an alteration 
from without which can only proceed from within: im con- 
necting a worldly object with the introduction of Christianity, 
and in not following the example of the Apostle Paul, who in 
publishing the gospel 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 faith. 
and carry 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 ‘ milk of the word.” (1 Cor. 
πὶ. 1, 3.0 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 faith 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 effect he wrote to Arno, bishop of 
Salzburg, to whom the Emperor Charles had committed the 
conversion of the Avari. “Οὐ what use is baptism without 
faith, since the apostle says: ‘ Without faith it is impossible 
to please God?’ 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 CHARLEMAGNE 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 He who is the truth himself says: 

‘No man can come unto me unless the Father, who hath sent 
me, draw him;’ and in another passage, ‘ No man cometh 
unto the Father but by me;’ and of the Holy Spiri it he says: 

‘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 baptism there are three visible and three in- 
visible things. The visible are, the priest, the body, and the 
water ; hee the invisible, the Spirit, the soul, and faith. 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 
the 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 Rome 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 required 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 wrote: ‘‘ We 
read in the Acts of the Apostles that Paul and Barnabas 
went up to Jerusalem to James and the other apostles, in 


} 
᾿ 
: 
; 





478 MISSIONS OF THE MIDDLE AGES. 


order to confer with them on the question, how the gospel 
should be published 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 views, and to 
show that only the man who was inflamed with the love of 
Christ ought to publish the gospel, as the Saviour himself 
charged his disciples: ‘ Freely ye have received, freely 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 grace 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 our brethren have been able to bear? 
We trust, therefore, that through faith in Christ the souls of 
believers will be saved.” 


8. Lindger and Willehad. 


We wish here to mention two men who in their ministry 
among the Saxons knew how to guard against the faults cen- 
sured by the Abbot Alcuin, and to present the model of 
genuine missionaries. One of these was Lindger. He was 
by birth a Frieslander, and the seeds of Christianity were 
early sown in his heart. His grandfather was a distinguished 
man of that people, named Ado Wursing. He belonged asa 
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 their 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, tlie 





LINDGER, MISSIONARY TO THE FRIESLANDERS. 479 


Pagan king of the Frieslanders, 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. When 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. His desire of knowledge 
led him afterwards to resort to the renowned teacher of his 
age, Aleuin, at York. Enriched with acquirements and books, 
he returned to his native country, where he was weleomed 
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 Miinster 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 
Normans, who had struck the Christian nations with great 
terror, and among whom he could reckon on no support; but 
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 Coesteld; in the afternoon, 
about three o’clock, in the church at Billerbeck, where he 


Ὁ 2 τῷ κὐπεϑίεννι κῶν τ το κόνις, τ ὲκτυ νων τυ νωσοννονενυσοι - που μου - : 


480 MISSIONS OF THE MIDDLE 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 have 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 their example. He laboured first 
of all in the district where Boniface had met with martyrdom. 
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 province now called Grénin- 
gen, where idolatry still predominated, the fury of the pagan 
population 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 their 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 wrath 
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 kull 
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, 
whom they believed to be protected by a higher power. 
When 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 CAREER AND DEATH. 481 


the diocese of Bremen. He was at first to labour as a priest 
among the Frieslanders and Saxons, and to perform ever 
part of the pastoral office till a bishopric could be founded. 
After a while, his successful ministry was interrupted by a 
fresh reyolt 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 offered to him for flight. 

He afterwards found a quiet place of refuge in a convent 
founded by Willebrord 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 Emperor 
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 congregations, which 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 
your 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 we 
may not wander 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 
wearisome earthly life. I do not desire to live here any 
longer, and 1 am not afraid to die. I will only beseech my 
God, whom 1 have always loyed with my whole heart, whom 1 

21 





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 whose 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 quict but active love. Boniface was more 
fitted to produce great outward effects ;‘it was Anschar’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 haye 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. When 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 


it - 


ANSCHAR, THE APOSTLE OF THE NORTH. 483 


words, ‘My son, wilt thou come to thy mother? And when 
he answered her eagerly that he was anxious to do so, she 
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 reading, thinking, and other serious 
useful employments. 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. He 
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 ight. Yet I believed that He was there whom 
the angels desire to look upon; for from it proceeded an 
inexpressible glory, by which the whole length and breadth 
of the assembly of the blest was enlightened. He 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 all their wants, and he was 
their guiding soul. He hovered over them protectively ; 
he was the support which bore 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 that imparted to 
them a pleasurable sensation. There was nothing corporeal, 
but all was incorporeal, though there was an appearance of 
the corporeal. It was something inexpressible.” When his 
two guides, Peter and John, had led him in front of this 
boundless light, a yoice, as from the Divine Majesty, which 
212 


484 MISSIONS OF THE MIDDLE AGES. 


appeared represented to him by this immeasurable, unchange- 
able light, sounded forth to him, full of inexpressible sweet- 
ness : “Ὁ hence, and return to me with 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 
prayed. But Anschar saw not the face of Him from whom 
the voice came. ‘ After these words,’’ 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 with 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 we 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 was, for it 
appeared to me to be what no eye had seen, nor ear heard, 
nor had entered into the heart of man to conceive.” 

We have represented this vision according to Anschar’s 
own description, because it gives us so deep an insight into 
the divine life of a simple Christian soul. This vision made a 
powerful and indelible impression upon him. He was awoke 
by it toa new earnestness in the Christian life, and it animated 
him henceforward with 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 ina small chapel to which he was often 
used to retire for secret devotion, and when he rose from 
prayer, there entered at the door a person of noble counte- 
nance in a Jewish dress, whose 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 
upon him to stand up; and when full of awe he stood 
before Him, and was 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 answered: ‘ Lord, 
why need I say it to thee? thou knowest all: nothing is hid 
from thee.” ‘The Lord said: “I indeed know all things, 


\ 


a i i os 


UNDERTAKES A MISSION TO DENMARK. 485 


but yet it is my will that men should confess their sins to me 
in order that they may receive forgiveness.’ Thereupon he 
made confession of sin, and knelt down to pray. The Lord 
then said, “Fear not; Iam He that blotteth out thy trans- 
gressions.”” With these words he vanished, and Anschar 
woke full of joyful confidence that his sins were forgiven. 

At a later period he was sent with some other monks from 
the monastery of Corbie as a colony for spreading Christianity 
and Christian education to the monastery of Corvei, situated 
on the Weser, where he had to conduct a school and to preach 
to the people. Under the various difficulties 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 missionary 
calling. 

When the Jutland king, Harold, who was baptized at Ingle- 
heim in the year 826, 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 spread it more widely. 
It was difficult, however, to find one who was not alarmed by 
the reports of the wildness 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 suffer for it. Anschar 
was called and was ready immediately to go with King Harold 
to Denmark. While his abbot visited the court, Anschar 
prepared himself in the retirement of a vineyard, by reading 
the Scriptures and prayer, for his great calling. He appeared 
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. 
But it was in him only the consciousness of the greatness 
and difficulty 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 unworthiness 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, Autbert, 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 venture 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 nature 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 with a convenient 
vessel; this induced King Harold to become his associate, 
and Auschar 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 purchase 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 turn 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 unfavourable 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 companions wished to return, 
but he declared “that what might happen 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 seat 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 Denmark, 
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 
him 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 his 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 
ehurch. He obtained permission from him to erect a church 
in the town of Schleswig, which, as a mart of commerce, was 
peculiarly fitted to spread Christianity further 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 permitied 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 wisdom had opened for him. 

Anschar experienced many wonderful answers to prayer in 
the course of his laborious and dangerous ministry. 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 ἃ holy 
man.” 

When, after four-and-thirty years labour, in his sixty- 
fourth year, he came to his end through the sufferings of a 
painful malady, he frequently said with Job, “Shall. we 
receive good at the hand of God, and shall we not receive 
evil?’’ After 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 lovingkindness. 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 
heayen, he left this world, in the year 865. 


10. The Martyr 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 endure 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 





ae ὙΠ ΟΝ 


THE MARTYR ADALBERT, OF PRUSSIA. 489 


people who would not submit to his control, were here put to 
a severe trial. Thus he frequently gave notice of his iten- 
tion of leaving the congregation which would not follow him 
as their shepherd, nor give up their lawlessness. He wished 
to find a place of rest in monasticism, 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 under 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 Christianity 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 receive 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 
produced on the mind of their son, young Stephanus, who 
afterwards contributed principally to the establishment of 
the Christian church in Hungary. 

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 I., 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 opposite 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 pupil Gauden- 
tius with him. It was the Frische 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 OF THE MIDDLE AGES. 


of his hand, and he himseif fell to the ground. When 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, whence 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 off, 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 who 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 which 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 PERILS AND DEATH. 491 


turf and enjoyed some of the provisions they had brought with 
them. After Adalbert had repeated a verse 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 Jived 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 yery widely, and on this account we 
place next to the foreign missionaries— 


492 MISSIONS OF THE MIDDLE AGES. 


11. The Monk Nilus. 


Nilus was of Greek descent, but born at Rossano, in 
Calabria, in the year 910. His pious parents, who had only 
one child, a daughter, prayed to the Lord that he would 
grant them ason. ‘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 things.” 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 


when 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 faithful disciple imitated his 
model. Nothing can so quench the fiery darts of the Wicked 
One as the sobriety of humility, the working 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 temptations to pride pressed on 
Nilus, the more he humbled himself. He 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, thou 
knowest that Iam weak; have compassion upon me, relieve 
me of the conflict which makes me despair of life.” He 
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 his 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 effeet, 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 the 
one thing needful, to warn them against a false confidence 
in a mere outward Christianity, a dead faith and outward 
works, and to eall them off from barren subtleties to that 
which was necessary for the 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 OF 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 
to 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? 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 you 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 fe 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!” 
An officer of the imperial guard, Nicholas, now put in a word, 
to show that the gospel was not so strict: ‘* For what reason, 





HIS FAITHFUL REPROOFS 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 warm 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 you 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 he 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, what 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 were, 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 neighbouring castle, 
he met with a Jew who had been known to him from his 
youth, who was in high repute as a physician. ‘This man 

* These words in their connection (1 Cor. iii. 17) have certainly 
another reference, but trey may justly be applied to those who defile and 
destroy the temple of God by unchastity. 


400 MISSIONS OF THE MIDDLE AGES. 


said to him: “ I have 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 give 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. 
exyiii, 8.) As we 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 many, excited great dissatisfaction. The 
inhabitants of the district of Rossano were 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 Nilus, 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, who did not refuse his sympathy even to the erring, 
was called for by them, he hastened to them. When 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, Nilus 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 
graye crime that they have committed. Were it the act of 
only a few of the higher class, the merited punishment might 
fall upon them; but now the whole multitude share in the 





PHILANTHROPIC 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: “ΝΟ; we do not wish 
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 enrich 
the imperial treasury but ruin your own soul? How will the 
heavenly King forgive your guilt, if you do not forgive them 
who haye 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 light. 

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 with 
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 
chamberlain still felt much surprised at his conduct, he 
wrote 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 

2K 


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 Nilus 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: “1 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 toa 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 Nilus 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 Nilus, and to receive something to calm her mind from 
the lips of one who was universally revered as a man of 
God. Nilus complied with her request to visit her. When 
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 heme, 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 EMPEROR. 499 


and to prove whether she was really penetrated with a feeling 
of it, “Τὸ pray in the Psalter, and to give alms to the poor, 
is useful to yourself and to the indigent. But this will not 
call back him who has been unjustly deprived of life, nor will 
the grief of those who mourn his loss be thereby 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: “1 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 prophet, he denounced 
against her the divine judgment that would befall her and her 
family, since she trusted in her superior rank, 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 Roman 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. 
He called upon him to renounce the secular honours which 
he enjoyed to excess, and to retire from the world. In the 
year 998, Gregory was reinstated by the arms of the Emperor 
Otto III., and cruel revenge was taken on the archbishop. 
His eyes 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 Rome, although he was out of 
health, and it was Lent,—a season when any interruption in 
his devotional and penitential exercises was peculiarly an- 
noying. He requested the emperor to place the archbishop 
under his care, that they might live together, and join in 

2K2 


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 iasult, Nilus declared to the pope and 
the emperor that they offended not him, but God; out of love 
to him they 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 Nilus were frequently solicited for the sick, 
either by themselves or their relations, especially for those 
who laboured under mental distempers, and were regarded 
as possessed by evil spirits. But 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. Nilus 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 thoughts that torment me! Rather 
pray for me, 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 Nilus for his intercession, he 
answered: ‘‘ God has healed thy son; I have done nothing 
towards it.” The scholar of Nilus, who wrote his life, and 
has presented us with the spirit of his teacher in these 
words, says: “1 will not recount great miracles performed 


by him, which haye filled childish people and unbelievers 


CONTROVERSIES IN GREEK AND LATIN CHURCHES. 501 


with astonishment; but I will narrate his 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 respecting: certain ecclesiastical usages, customs, and 
doctrines, on which a difference 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 higher 
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 
inyited 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 communion 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 might 
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 the 
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 Apostle Paul: “ Let 
not him that eateth, despise him that eateth not ; and let him 
which eateth not, judge him that eateth, for God hath received 
him. Who art thou that judgest thy brother? Whether, 
therefore, ye eat or fast, do all to the glory of God.” After 
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 God.’ (1 Cor. vill. 8.) 
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: “15 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. 


502 MISSIONS OF THE MIDDLE AGES, 


Everything that is done for God’s sake is something good.” 
And he endeavoured to show them that men might be led to 
a difference 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 invited 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. Iam come to this little place for no other 
reason but to die.” 


Gregory, an overbearing, hard-hearted man, the governor .. 


of the district in which the convent was situated, when he 
understood that the yenerable man had taken up his abode 
there, was very much affected. He came to him, fell at his 
feet, and said: “Ὁ 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 


ἐν 


OTTO, THE APOSTLE OF POMERANIA. 5038 


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 burial; that they would not 
inter him in the church, nor build any arch or other memorial 
for ornament over his 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: “Ὁ father, 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 earthly 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. He 
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 Bamberg, the Apostle of Pomerania. 


As the close of the eleventh century was marked by 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 
distinguished 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 yery dear, an expensive fish was brought 


δρά MISSIONS OF THE MIDDLE AGES. 


to his table: he said to his 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 
ona sick bed. For me who 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 persons in the town, those suffering from lameness, 
leprosy, 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 
earry 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 Saviour to those who 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 be 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 


N 





ΞΕ... - 


—y 


eS at een ee ee σα 


nn ee mm -e— = at 


ΕΞ; ΕΣ. sa 23 = ss 


ASCETICISM AN ERROR IN MISSIONARY WORK. 5095 


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 particular 
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 
differently, 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 disciples 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 xxi. 
85), they were to be satisfied with what every one set 
before them 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, were an opulent, lively people, abounding in all 
the gifts of nature, among whom there were no poor or 
beggars. They knew only priests 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 
had 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. When Paul in Rom. vil. says of 
himself: “1 was alive without the law;” he marks a 


δ06 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 astate; 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 Bernard’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 


᾿ς 


STETTIN, THE SCENE OF HIS LABOURS. 507 


daily maintenance, but also took with him 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 that 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 happy 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 
capital, and it seemed at first as if this would not be 
favourable. How commonly the lives of those who 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, 
as 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 
a 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 
exercise dominion over the world, as a being made in the 
image of God. As yet all the misery was unknown to them 
of 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 
appearances 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, 
and during that time acted in a manner best suited to silence 
those complaints against Christianity, by the example of his 
pious life, animated with the spirit of love. If these Pagans 
had heard of such vices prevailing among Christians, which 
accompanied the transition from barbarism to civilization, 


508 MISSIONS OF THE MIDDLE AGES. 


and were still unknown to them by experience, Otto now 
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 ΤΟΝ were attracted 
towards him. 

The wife of an opulent and respectable per son 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 feeli ings, 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 with 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 youths 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 from the religion of their fathers, which 
had made so violent an impression upon her. But their views 
were quite changed as soon as the woman came to herself, 


as 





DEMOLITION OF IDOLATROUS TEMPLES. 509 


and could find words to express her feelings. Her first 
words were, “1 bless Thee, Lord Jesus Christ, thou source 
of all hope and consolation, that I behold my sons consecrated 
in thy sacrament, and enlightened in thy divine truth;” then 
embracing and kissing her sons she added, ““ For thou knowest, 
my Lord Jesus Christ, that I have never ceased, in the secret 
recesses of my heart, for many years past, to commend them 
to thy mercy, and have besought Thee to do that for them 
which Thou hast done for me.’ And upon this she turned 
to the bishop and said, “‘ Blessed be your coming to this 
town, for if you only stay here you will gain a large church 
for the Lord; only be not wearied out by long waiting. 
Behold! I myself, who stand before you, confess, by the 
assistance of Almighty God, and encouraged by your pre- 
sence, venerable father, trusting also in the help of my 
children, that Iam a Christian, which I have not hitherto ven- 
tured to express openly !’’ She then told her whole history. 
The bishop, deeply afiected, thanked God for the wonderful 
methods of his grace, assured the woman of his cordial 
sympathy, spoke many encouraging words to support her 
faith, 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 Supper to 
them for the first time, dismissed them to their friends. 
When the destruction of all the monuments of idolatry 
had been resolved upon, and this resolution had been carried 
into effect, there were many valuable things which they 
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 beautiful 
ones, we have at home.” But he was by no means inclined 
to consign everything to destruction which had formerly been 
used for idolatrous purposes. He well understood how to 
distinguish what is pure 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 the 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 people. Otto, on account of business 
connected with his episcopal office, was recalled to his diocese 
too early, before he was able to carry on the work further, 
and to establish it more firmly. The infection cf 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 stvict 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 official 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 different 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 their husbands—and parents from their children. First 


a 





IMPRESSION MADE BY HIS PREACHING. 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 their friends. 
Whitsuntide was chosen for the purpose of holding 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 which 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 his 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 poor despicable people, 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 abundance 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 had 
left a life full of honour and comfort, and had made use of 
his own property, in order to communicate to them that 
which he esteemed of the highest value. These words paved 
the way to their hearts for the 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 instructed in Christianity and 
baptized. By a decree of the diet, the free publication of 
the gospel in all places was permitted. 


512 MISSIONS OF THE MIDDLE AGES. 


Bishop Otto was distinguished by an union of mildness and 
firmness. We have seen how those articles which had been em- 
ployed in idolatrous worship were not devoted to destruction, 
but allowed to serve a better purpose. But he acted differ- 
ently under 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 
ereat 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 :— 
“Would you indeed,” he said to them, ‘sow wheat over 
thorns and thistles? 1 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 band, 
to indemnify the people for the loss of the temple, Otto ae 


lously promoted the building of a magnificent church. And. 


as soon as the chancel and the altar were completed, 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 what 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 faith. Ne then turned to Mizlav, the noble who 
governed in this part. of Pomerania, and who was baptized 





δ πῶ αν. ee ee en 


<a 


PRISONERS LIBERATED BY HIS INFLUENCE. 613 


by him 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 dwelling-place. 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 those 
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 are 
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 
set them all at liberty. Yet he made one exception of which 
no one knew anything. He was the son of a very respectable 
man from Denmark. His father, who owed Mizlav a large 
sum of money, had left him behind as a pledge. He lan- 
guished, heavily chained, in an underground prison. By a 
singular providence this also came to light. 

All persons were filled with joy at Mizlay’s conduct. When 

21, 


514 MISSIONS OF THE MIDDLE AGES. 


the clergy 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 asum of money. Yet after conflicting with him- 
self, he yielded. He went with tears to the bishop, 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 hissayorks and 
the sacrifices he made. 

Bishop Otto would with joy have sacrificed his life for atic 
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 Rugen, 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, who 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 











HIS ANXIETY TO SPREAD THE TRUTH. old 


our testimony be so much the more glorious, since it would 
be sealed by our blood?” As endeavours were made to pre- 
vent by every method his departure to Rugen, he meditated 
some way of going unobserved, and it was therefore needful 
to watch his movements closely. Yet while most persons 
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 pass over to 
the Isle of Rugen. 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 intermission, 
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, 
while he thanked God that he had granted him such great faith 
and resolution. The manner in which the bishop’s 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 Ulrich’s voyage. ‘‘ Who,” said they, 
ἐς 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 was then guilty of their death? Was 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. Christ 
did not expose his disciples to certain death among the wolyes, 
21,2 


516 MISSIONS OF THE MIDDLE AGES. 


but enjoined on them to unite the wisdom of the serpent with 
the harmlessness 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 in 
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. ‘he 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 first aware of his 
leaving when they wished to call him to the early morning 
service. Seized with shame and anxiety for their spiritual 





FLUCTUATIONS OF RELIGION AT STETTIN. 517 


father they hastened after him, and obliged him to return; 
but the next morning they set out with him and sailed for 
Stettin. 

It was not yet known how the seed scattered by Otto, 
which seemed to have perished, remained and germinated 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 Christianity had gained an entrance 
among the better educated, higher class of persons. On them 
the heathen priests could not so easily operate, and among 
them reviving paganism could find 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 their 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 the Christians. Still 
paganism swayed his soul. He could not renounce the 
worship of his ancient gods; but at the same time the God 
whose temple they wished to demolish, appeared to him as a 
being against whom no human power could ayail, 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, together with their ancient gods. By all 
these favourable circumstances, preparation was made for 
Otto’s renewed labours in Stettin, and he found here a 


δ18 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 confiding 
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 everything 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 himself, 
by prayer and fasting, 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 


ducted by Wittstock to the market-place. 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 Christianity. Otto availed himself of the favour- 
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 effected; he also called a meeting of the citizens, 
and spoke 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 
vietory of Christianity was decided. Otto, far from shrinking 


δ20 MISSIONS OF THE MIDDLE AGES. 


from martyrdom, would willingly have extended his labours 
to the Isle of Rugen if he had not been called back by the 
concerns of his own diocese in the year 1128. 


18. Raimund Lull. 


We close these sketches, selected from the missionary 
history of the Middle Ages, with the delineation of an extra- 
ordinary man who was awakened to the higher life in a very 
peculiar manner,—a man possessed of noble qualities and 
mental endowments which seldom meet in one person, and 
in whom everything was adorned by the glow of holy love— 

taimund 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 culture, 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 from the 
former stand-point to Christianity: the example of a Paul is 
a witness to this, and many examples in the first ages of the 
church also witness to it. And in such a connection this 
man of great mental power, Raimund Lull, is to be mentioned, 
who in all his deep thinking kept this especially in view, 
how he might find means to bring reason entirely into the 
obedience of the faith. For the missions of our age, his words 
are well deserving of meditation. 

Raimund Lull was born in the Island of Majorca, in the 
year 1236. 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 





RAIMUND LULL. 521 


his life. ‘* When we see, Ὁ God, the trees first of all bring 
forth leaves and twigs, and then blossoms, and after the 
blossoms fruit, it intimates that we 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, O 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 must be deeply ashamed, and 
acknowledge my great guilt. ΤῸ 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 senes facere id, quod deberent facere 
juvenes, et juvenes facere id, quod deberent facere senes; et quotidie video 
homines facere mane id, quod deberent facere meridie, et vesperi id, quod 
deberent facere mane; sed de arboribus et herbis non est ita, quia in quo- 
libet tempore anni, et in qualibet hora diei et noctis faciunt ordinate omne 
id quod faciunt. Video, Domine, quod arbores omni anno producant 
flores et fructus, per quos letificantur 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 meis amicis: igitur, cum arbor, que 
est sine intellectu et ratione, sit fructuosior quam ego fuerim, valde 
verecundor et me reputo valde culpabilem,—Raymundus Lullus, Lid. 
Contempl. in Deum, cap. 107, § 5, 6, tom. ix, p. 237. 


522 MISSIONS OF THE MIDDLE AGES. 


people, were communicated 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 loye-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 arid 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 deyote himself with his whole heart to the service 
of Christ. 

Haying resolved to dedicate himself wholly to the Lord’s 





DESIRE TO FOUND MISSIONS TO THE SARACENS. 528 


service, he proceeded to consider in what way this resolution 
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 uninstructed 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 proye the truth in opposition to 
all the errors of unbelievers. He believed that he could 
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, then 
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 the 
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 


δ24 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 
his soul. He resolved to follow the example of that man 
immediately; 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 
again. First of all he visited several churches, in which he 
called upon God for his blessing 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- 
jorea, and began his studies there. He bought a Saracen, by 
whom he was instructed in Arabic. The highest point of 
interest in his researches was the vindication of the truths 
of religion. If he succeeded, he thought, 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 
tco 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 
erder 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 Rome a second 
time for the same object, he was 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,” he 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 thy 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 they 
endure 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 sutfer 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 1287, he 


§26 MISSIONS OF THE MIDDLE AGES. 


went to Genoa, in order to sail from that place to North 
Africa. As already so much kad 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 Raimund Lull, according as it stood in the service 
of a higher or lower power. Already the vessel in which 
Raimund was to embark, was ready for sailing; his books 
were put on board, when his fervent imaginative faculty 
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 believers 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 fuli 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. When, 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 


LULL ARRIVES ΑἹ TUNIS—IS EXPELLED. 527 


these particulars respecting Raimund 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 arrived 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-treatment 
from the fanatical people. He was conveyed to the Genoese 
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 their souls was so great, he could 
not make up his mind to let that hope 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 
waiting 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 VIII. 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 wants 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 ail 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 MAJORCA, CYPRUS, AND ARMENTA. 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 unbelievers is easier than all 
others. For it must appear hard to unbelievers to forsake 
their own faith for a foreign one; but who is there that will 
not feel himself compelled to surrender falsehood for truth, 
the self-contradictory for the necessary?’ And then he adds : 
«ΟἹ 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 speediest, which 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 Baptist, 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 Rome 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 Majorea; he visited Cyprus, and pro- 
eceded 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 powerful and opulent. At 
intervals, he delivered lectures on his philosophical 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 ana that Mohammed's doc- 
trine was false. He wished to convince every one of this. 

2M 


δ90 MISSIONS OF THE MIDDLE AGES. 


A great 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 down, 
from recollection, what he had composed in his work 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 be 
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. His 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 carried 
into effect. In the year 1308, in the month of April, he 
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 Vienne, 
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 Arabie, 
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 bring them to salvation. In his work on the con- 
templation of God, in which he examines the various classes 
in Christendom and exposes their defects, he says:* “1 see 


* Multos equites video ire ad sanctam terram ultramarinam, et putare 
ipsam acquirere per vim armorum, et in fine omnes consumuntur, quin 
yveniant ad id, quod putant; unde videtur mihi, quod acquisitio illius 
sanctz terre 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 preedicationem, melius quam per vim armo- 
rum, progrediantur sancti equites religiosi, et muniant se signo crucis et 
impleant se gratia sancti Spiritus, et eant predicare infidelibus veritatem 
tue passionis, et effundant pro tuo amore totam aquam suorum oculorum, 
et totum sanguinem sui corporis, sicut tu fecisti pro amore ipsorum, 

2M 2 





δ92 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 
won 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 arms, 
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 method 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 eam, Domine, quod si tibi placeret, modus bene apparet quod 
eam 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, qucd fecisti pro amore ipsorum, 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 Deum, cap. 112, 
§ 10-12. 

* Quia Christiani et Saraceni pugnant intellectualiter in hoc quod dis- 
cordent et contrarientur in fide et credentia, propterea pugnant sensualiter, 
et ratione hujus pugne multi vulnerantur et captivantur et moriuntur et 
destruuntur, per quam destructionem devastantur et destruuntur multi 
principatus et multe divitie et multe terre, et impediuntur multa bona quee 
fierent si non esset talis pugna. Igitur, qui velit ponere pacem inter Chris- 
tianos et Saracenos, Domine, et velit quod cessent magna mala que veniunt 
ex bello ipsorum, oportet quod eos pacificet in sensuali natura, ut alii 
possint esse inter alios et per pacem sensualem transire ad pacem intel- 
lectualem ; et quando bellum intellectuale sit finitum, erit pax et concor- 
dantia inter ipsos per hoc quod habeant unam fidem et credentiam, que 
erit eis occasio et ratio pacis sensualis. Sed quia Christiani, Domine, 


ilies te Net 


ee 


CRUSADES NOT ADAPTED TO PROFESSED END. 5093 


conflict respecting the faith, a war is also carried on by force 
of arms; many are wounded, taken prisoners, or killed—which 
would not happen if there were no such war. Whoever 
would 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 bea point 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. O, 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 quando 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 Sancti Spiritus, et per veras rationes significatas in 
perfectione tuarum qualitatum. Coelestis Domine, Pater omnium tem- 
porum! Quando tu misisti tuum Filium ad assumendum humanam 
carnem ipse et sui apostoli et discipuli habuerunt pacem sensualiter cum 
Judeis et Phariseis et aliis hominibus, quia nunquam captivarunt nec 
occiderunt nec coegerunt sensualiter ullum hominem 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 habuistis 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 
attulisti in terram pacem intellectualem. Sed, quia fervor et devotio, 
que erat in apostolis et sanctis hominibus preterito tempore, non est in 
nobis, et fere in toto mundo est infrigidatus amor et devotio; propterea 
mihi videtur quod Christiani faciant vim in bello sensuali multo majorem 
quam in intellectuali, et ratione timoris belli sensualis nolint ire ad que- 
rendum pacem intellectualem modo quo tu et tui apostoli eam quesivistis 
effundendo angustiosam mortem ad dandum gloriam et laudem de te qui 
es noster Dominus Deus.—Raym. Luilus, Zdid. cap. 204, § 25-30. 
2M3 





δ84 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 weapons, 
although such were used against Thee, it is very reasonable, 
that Christians should bear 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 αοα. “ 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 different 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, 
et qui eant predicare infidelibus, et eos dirigere ad veram vitam, et extra- 
here ab errore in quo sunt. Si ecclesie, Domine, que sunt de lignis et 





ἢ νας. 


πα δ “een Ξε, πω ΜΝ“ 


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 helpest are truly blessed; but far more blessed are 
those who offer themselves to unbelievers, and become mar- 
tyrs 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, Ὁ 
Lord, need not withdraw from his own country, nor from his 
friends and relations, for he can find Thee near at hand—he 
ean gain Thee in his own house.” ‘ We see,” he says, 
how pilgrims set out to seek Thee in distant lands, and thou 
art so near, that whoever will, can find Thee in his own 
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 pulchre, quia habent diversas figuras et picturas, 
sancta ecclesia, que consistit in animabus hominum justorum catholicorum, 
esset valde pulchrior, si essent homines, qui scirent diversas linguas, et 
irent per omnes terras, ut homines injusti et infideles essent laudatores 
tue gloriose Trinitatis et tuz benedicte humanitatis et tue angustiose 
passionis.—Raym. Lullus, Zoid. cap. 106, § 28, 29. 

* Nos videmus, Domine, multas merces esse in quibus homo non 
potest lucrari, nisi eat ad queerendum et deferendum eas ἃ longinquis terris, 
et per Jongas vias ; sed qui te vult lucrari, non oportet elongare se a sua 
terra nec a suis cognatis nec a suis amicis, quia prope potest te invenire, 
et in sua domo potest te lucrari. Etiam videmus, Domine, quod, quando 
mercatores veniunt a suis peregrinationibus et fecerunt lucrum deferant 
munera, que dant suis amicis et vicinis: igitur cum ego adeo parum 
lucratus fuerim in hoc mundo, si nunc morerer, pauca essent munera et 
bona opera que deferrem in alterum seculum.—Raym. Lullus, Ibid. 
cap. 116, ὃ 13, p. 261. 


536 MISSIONS OF THE MIDDLE AGES. 


the figure which we see on the cross is a resemblance in wood, 
but the religious man is of the same kind as thy glorious 
humanity.”’* ‘ Often,’’ he says, “I haye sought Thee on the 
crucifix, and my bodily eyes could not find Thee there; but 
they 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 
glow of love, and my eyes to shed tears, and my mouth to 
praise Thee.”’+ 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 heavy sufferings in this world.’’} 
‘“* Men who die of old age,” he says, ‘‘ die owing to the want 
of natural warmth and an excess of cold; and, therefore, ma 

thy servant, if it please Thee, not die such a death, but die 
owing the glow of love, since Thou wert willing 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 tuum exemplum, Domine, est pulchrum ad videndum in cruce, 
multo pulchrius est ad videndum in hominibus religiosis et amatoribus 
veritatis ; quia propinquior est in natura et similitudine tue humanitati 
figura beati religiosi, quam figura crucis; quoniam figura, quam videmus 
in cruce, est pictura in ligno, sed beatus religiosus est illius speciei, 
cujus est tua gloriosa humanitas.—Raym. Lullus, Ibid. cap. 123, § 20, 
p- 281. 

t+ Amorose Domine! Tuus subditus multoties te quesivi in cruce, et 
mei oculi corporales nunquam potuerunt te in ea invenire ; sed bene invye- 
nerunt in ea tuam figuram et representationem tuz mortis; et quando 
non poteram te invenire oculis corporalibus, te querebam oculis mez 
anime, et cogitando et memorando in te mea anima inyeniebat te, et per 
inventionem tui statim incipiebat meum cor calefieri calore amoris, et mei 
oculi plorare, et meum os te laudare.—Raym. Lullus, Jdid. cap. 113, 
§ 23, p. 254. 

1 Sicut acus per naturam 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 
voluit in hoc mundo sustinere graves dolores et graves passiones.— 
Raym. Lullus, Idid. cap. 129, § 19, p. 296. 





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RETURNS TO AFRICA AND SUFFERS MARTYRDOM. 537 


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 expressed itself—words which contain a world of mean- 
ing, and which a man must ponder deeply, in order rightly 
to understand and fully to fathom. ‘‘ He who loves not, lives 
not; he who lives by the Life cannot die.” “δ who gives 
his friend love, gives him more than untold 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 stript of desire 
is to die. Desire, and thou wilt live. He is not poor who 
desires ; he lives sorrowfully who has no desire.”* “5Α holy 
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.’’+ 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.”’ 

On the 14th of August, 1314, he again crossed over to 
Africa. He went to Buggia and laboured here first of all in 
secret, in the small circle of those persons whom he had won 


* Desidera et vives. Non est pauper qui desiderat. Plus valet sus- 
pirium in desiderio quam honor in principe. Quinon desiderat, non 
attingit. Tristis vivit qui non desiderat.—Raym. Lullus, Idd. p. 38. 

t Sanctus eremita stat altior in voluntate Dei quam rex in throno. 

Quo plus valebis, eo altior eris. 
Eleva tuum intelligere, et elevabis tuum amare. 
Coelum non est tam altum, sicut amare sancti homines. 
Quo magis laborabis ad ascendendum eo magis ascendes. 
Raym. Lullus, Lib. Proverb. tom. vi. p. 34. 
+ Qui vult inquirere et percipere secreta aliorum hominum, respiciat 
seipsum et suam naturam et suammet proprietatem; quia, sicut unum 
speculum demonstrat formam alterius in seipso, ita homo cognoscendo 
suammet naturam percipjt secreta que inquirit in aliis—Raym. Lullus, 
Lib. Contempl. in Deum, cap. 174, § 25, tom, ix. p. 412. 









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6. CHRONICLES OF THE CRUSADERS; RICHARD OF DEVIZES, GEOFFREY 
de Vinsauf, Lord de Joinville. Complete in one volume, with a splendid Illumi- 
nated Frontispiece. 

7. EARLY TRAVELS IN PALESTINE, WILLIBALD, SEWULF, BENJAMIN OF 
Tudela, Mandeville, La Brocquiere, and Maundrell. In one volume. With Map. 


8. BRAND'S POPULAR ANTIQUITIES OF ENGLAND, SCOTLAND, AND 
Ireland, by Sig Henay Extis. Vol. 1. 

9. ROGER OF WENDOVER’S FLOWERS OF HISTORY (FORMERLY ASCRIBED 
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