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FIFTH CENTURY.

CHAPTER I.

STATE OF THE CHURCH DURING THE DECLINE OF THE EMPIRE.

THIS century opens with vast changes in both the moral and political state of the world. The Roman empire was divided into two separate and independent parts. Areadius presided at Constantinople, as emperor of the East. Honorius, sovereign of the West, chose Ravenna, in preference to Rome, as the seat of his go

vernment.

The divided empire began to fall in pieces, and to be crushed by its own weight; while the feeble hands which grasped the trembling sceptre, scarcely defended the tottering throne on which they were seated. We are now sinking into Gothic barbarism, ecclesiastical usurpation, monkery triumphant, and the profession of Christianity buried under frauds, follies, ceremonies, and all kinds of the most ridiculous and debasing superstitions. I feel myself like the adventurous traveller, entering the burning soil of Afric, surrounded with desolation, whirlwinds, moving pillars of sand, and widespreading barrenness; and stretching his eager eyes over the waste, to catch a rising tree, or a verdant spot, which may afford a resting place for his weary feet, and a welcome fountain to cool his parched tongue."

Chap. 1.

Decline of the Empire.

178

The history of the church is now inseparably interwoven with the achievements of a variegated race of me n with whose national character and denomination we have, heretofore, been unacquainted: Goths, Ostrogoths, Vandals, Suevi, Alans, Franks, Burgundians--these were among the barbarous tribes that first attacked the Roman empire, and in a few years reduced it to a state of degradation and subjection, dividing the various provinces of it into several distinct governments and kingdoms. These warlike barbarians were, for the most part, idolaters; and, consequently, the church of Jesus suffered much from their conquests and depredations. Some of the Arian party had been driven, by the cruel and unjust measures connected with the Theodosian establishment, into the north, and taking shelter among these tribes, had succeeded in the conversion of some to the Arian faith. These, in their conquests, forgot not to avenge their wrongs on the Nicenians. "Bishops were tortured, maimed, banished, or massacred, and their churches levelled with the ground." These things attended the church in the West. In the East, tho Persians exercised similar severities; and to those whose portion was only in the outward church, the scene must have been truly distressing and gloomy. But the Eastern empire, notwithstanding its sufferings from the common enemy, maintained at least the shadow of its power for many ages after the total destruction of the West.

Upon the ruins of the Western empire were established, in the course of the century, eight or ten distinct sovereignties, among which, in Europe, were the several kingdoms of Italy, France, Spain, and Britain, and the Vandals in Africa. Amidst the confusion and devastation which attended these conquests, Britain seems to

174

Conversion of Clovis.

Cent. 5.

have had its share; by which means the poor Christian inhabitants were robbed of their churches, and driven into the mountains of Wales and the retreats of Conwall. This circumstance accounts for the many monuments of religious antiquity found even to this day in the principality of Wales.

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But these convulsions destroyed not Christianity for by these very means the gospel became more widely extended, and even these very conquerors, barbarous as they were, were prevailed on to embrace the faith; though it is to be feared many of these conversions were but from one superstition to another. An instance of this we have in the baptism of Clovis, and three thousand of his subjects, which took place A. D. 496, in consequence of a vow made by the monarch, on condition that the God of the Christians would render him victorious over his enemies. Victory was decided in his favour, and he was accordingly baptized at Rheims, by Remigius, bishop of that city. Miracle is said to have aided at this ceremony, by the descent of a milk-white dove with a vial of heavenly unction, with which to anoint the royal convert. But this miracle must be plased to account of fiction and imposture, and must be added to the long catalogue of lying wonders invented in the cells of monks and circulated by mendicants and vagabonds. One thing, however, in relation to this af fair appears probable. The conversion of Clovis gave' rise to the titles, " Most Christian King, and Eldest Son of the church"-titles by which the kings of France have been distinguished from the earliest periods of their history to the present day.

CHAPTER II.

Zeal, Sufferings, and Death of Chrysostum-Augustine -Affairs in the West-Pelagius-St. Patrick.

THE mode hitherto adopted of dividing our history by the successive reigns of the several emperors, must henceforth be abandoned. During the four former centuries, the government of a prince, whether friendly or unfriendly to Christianity, contributed greatly to the stock of incidents by which the course of our narrative was continued; but hereafter we shall find the real church retiring from observation--holding fellowship, not by rituals, and canons, and external service, but by secret devotion, by the spirit of love and inutual forbearanee, and by the communication of the Holy Ghost, which is in all, and upon all, them that believe, and upon them only. Hence, the history of the church must be selected from the lives, labours, and sufferings of men, both in and out of the church, reputed catholic; and even the characters of Christians themselves must be divided; part will furnish materials for our purpose, and part must be left to contribute to the stories of monks and hermits, for the entertainment of little children and old wives.

The character of JOHN CHRYSOSTOM has been just glanced at in a former chapter. He was introduced to the see of Constantinople about two years before the close of the last century. In this ordination, Arcadius, the emperor, heartily concurred, though he was as insipid and insignificant a prince as ever held the reigns of government. Such a man as Chrysostom was truly worthy of the metropolitan chair; for he no sooner found

476

Chrysostom's Zeal.

Cent. 5.

himself seated in it than he began to correct the many abuses which had crept in, and had been indulged by his predecessors; he abolished those customs by which the purity and chastity of the clergy had been corrupted; he forbad their aggrandizement, retrenched those expenses by which they had indulged themselves in luxury and voluptuousness, and applied the spare money to the endowment of charitable institutions for the help of the aged, the infirm, the sick, and the poor. Such of the clergy as refused to submit to his wholesome discipline, he suspended from their office, or cast them out as unworthy. The widows who were maintained by the church, he insisted upon should be "widows indeed ;" or urged upon them to marry, agreeably to the apostolic injunction. In order to counteract the temptations to which the people were exposed by the exhibitions of public shows, and the institution of divers pastimes, he instituted frequent lectures during the week, which he conducted in person; and so indefatigable was he in these services, that multitudes attended and profited by his labours. His zeal was not confined to the limits of his own diocese, he extended his endeavours to the conversion of heretics, especially among those Goths misled by the Arians. And he carried forward the noble designs of the church among the pagans in barbarous nations.

It was not likely that Chrysostom, in such a city as Constantinople, should amid these exertions, escape the envy of some, and the hatred of others; luxury and intemperance had too long been indulged not to resist these acts of reformation. His zeal soon procured him enemies from among both parties; real religion was at too low an ebb to hail any thing like primitive discipline. The Novatians, those strict disciplinarians, brought

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