tion; a transformation displayed not merely in health, but in sickness; not in prosperity, but also in adversity; not in life, but in the agonies of a cruel and excruciating death, Christian writers in the primitive church dwell with enlargement, with delight, with triumph. Between Christians and Pagans, those who embraced the gospel, and those who rejected it, the difference in every thing which constitutes individual or social excellence, was as great as between the children of Israel and of Ham, when there was light in the land of Goshen, and midnight darkness in the rest of Egypt*.

Within four hundred years after the birth of our Saviour, the Roman empire publicly owned the authority of Christ. It was not, however, until Theodosius ascended the throne, that idolatry was suppressed, and the finishing stroke given to the public worship of Heathen gods among his subjects. His reign was glorious, and the empire, considering the condition in which it was

k In Ryan's History of the Effects of Religion, chap. 3, sect. 1—6, 3d ed. the reader will find satisfactory information on this subject.

brought in the providence of God, highly exalted. I know, that the Pagans charged Christianity with the decline of Roman grandeur, and in this they have been supported by modern infidels. But it ought to be remembered, that before the reign of Constantine, who first established Christianity, the irruption of the Goths and other nations had taken place, and a general licentiousness among all classes, had deteriorated the virtues and the prowess of these haughty lords of the world'. Christianity alone arrested the progress of their political decay, and made them still respected and feared. There was nothing in the spirit of Paganism which could have saved the empire from destruction. On the contrary, by cherishing the most abominable vices in its votaries, by corrupting the public morals, it prepared the way for the inroads, and the final dominancy of the northern barbarians. We see, in the midst of the fearful struggles between the Romans and Barbarians, the spirit of the gospel animating the former, and overawing the latter. To that spirit, the former were indebted for

Ireland's Paganism and Christianity Contrasted, ch. 3.

the literature, the laws, the manners, the social enjoyments which rendered them superior to the latter, and which ultimately made the latter, though conquerors in arms, subjects in fact. They were, indeed, in the possession of the government, but, at the same time adopted the religion, cultivated the knowledge, and emulated the morals of those whom they had subdued. When they finally succeeded, it is true, that the purity of the gospel was greatly corrupted, and that its effects upon the lives of men were lamentably circumscribed. But, whatever was left of real Christianity they embraced, and by it regulated their conduct.

To what cause can we ascribe all these effects? Unquestionably to the doctrine of righteousness through a Redeemer. This was taught in its purity by the apostles, and their immediate successors. We find it distinctly recognised, though much obscured, in the writings of the Christian Fathers, so late as the fifth century", which comprehends the whole period, of which a brief account has been attempted. By examin

m Milner's Church History to the fifth century.

ing the history of the Church, we shall find that as this doctrine was taught and believed, in proportion to its purity and its legitimate influence, was the glory of the civilized world. Under its auspices the foundation for the civil law of Europe, was laid by Theodosius first, and afterwards by Justinian", and all that was valuable in domestic, useful in social, and ennobling in political life, preserved from utter extinction.

Let us descend to a period still later, and survey the nations who threw off the degrading yoke of Papal power. Among them, you are particularly invited to examine the state of England before the civil wars, when puritanism, as soundness of faith and holiness of life was called by those who hated both, had spread its influence over the whole land. A living writer, in a work by no means friendly to real scriptural godliness, but, on the contrary, its enemy, pronounces that period to be in every respect the most learned, moral, and polished in the history of England. "Undoubt"edly," such are his concluding remarks in reviewing the annals of those times, by a n Cooper's Justinian's Institutes. Butler's Hora Juridicæ.

cotemporary author, "we are struck with a "loftier air of manhood than presents itself

❝ in any after era; and recognise the same "characters of deep thought and steady "enthusiasm, and the same principles of

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fidelity and self-command which enno

"bled the better days of the Roman Republic, and have made every thing else appear childish and frivolous in the comparison"." During this period, the doctrine of righteousness through a Redeemer was taught and enforced more faithfully and generally, than in any preceding or subsequent period. Nor did the friends of this doctrine corrupt it under the administration of Cromwell. Some of the ablest, the clearest, the most successful defenders of " the "faith once delivered to the saints," that the world has ever seen, lived, and preached, and wrote at this time. They, at the restoration of the infatuated family of Stuart, were deprived of their worldly support, forbidden under heavy penalties to preach the gospel, because they could not conform to the Episcopal Church, and hunted like beasts of prey, though men " of whom the world was

o Edinburgh Review, vol. 13. art. 1.