epistle of St. Paul to Philemon and a letter of Pliny the Younger to one of his friends, and each recommending a runaway slave to the mercy of his master.1 The Church's solicitude for the poor and the oppressed is also exemplified in the loving care which the Christians have ever manifested in relieving their wants, and providing for their comfort, as well as in the heroic courage which they have always displayed in serving the sick and burying the dead during seasons of plague and pestilence. The Catholic Church has always, according to the

1St. Paul writes to Philemon, v. 10-21: "I beseech thee for my son Onesimus, whom I have begotten in my chains, who heretofore was unprofitable unto thee, but now profitable both to me and to thee. Whom I have sent back to thee. And do thou receive him as my own bowels: whom I would have detained with me, that for thee he might have ministered to me in the bands of the Gospel: but without thy counsel I would do nothing; that thy good deed might not be as it were of necessity, but voluntary. For perhaps he therefore departed for a season from thee, that thou mighest receive him forever: not now as a servant, but, instead of a servant, a most dear brother, especially to me: but how much more to thee, both in the flesh and in the Lord? If, therefore, thou count me a partner, receive him as myself: and if he hath wronged thee in anything, put it to my account. I, Paul, have written with my own hand. I will repay it: not to say to thee, that thou owest me thy own self also. Yea, brother, may I enjoy thee in the Lord: refresh my bowels in the Lord. Trusting in thy obedience, I have written to thee, knowing that thou wilt also do more than I say."

The letter of Pliny to his friend reads thus: "Your freedman, with whom you said you were angry, has sought me out. He has thrown himself at my feet, as though it were at your own. He has wept much, prayed much. For a long time, too, he remained silent. He has convinced me of his sorrow. I think him really amended, since he has acknowledged his fault. You are angry with him, I know, and justly, too; nevertheless, I hope that you will some day receive him into your favor. Be somewhat indulgent to him, in consideration of his youth, his tears, and follow the instincts of your own natural mildness. Give neither him nor yourself any further unnecessary vexation; for, since you are by nature mild and humane, it would but vex and torment yourself. I join my prayers to his, and I do so with the greater earnestness, the sharper the reproof I have given him has been.”

Charpentier, who makes this comparison, adds further: "In truth, this letter does honor to the mind of the younger Pliny; but what an immense difference there is between it and that of St. Paul! Where do we find in it that Christian charity and equality? Where the self-imposed expiation? Where the name brother given to the slave? Where, finally, the entire liberation from the bonds of slavery?" (Studies on the Fathers of the Church, Mayence, 1855, p. 276.)

words of the Roman Deacon Lawrence, regarded the poor as "her most prized and cherished treasures."1

Even philosophers and writers of distinction among the Pagans did not and could not deny that the true liberty of the human race is a distinguishing characteristic of the sublime genius of Christianity. And when the sarcastic Lucian2 attempts to cast ridicule upon the Christians, and to represent them as fools and visionaries, his words of contemptuous abuse are their highest eulogy. "These foolish men," says he, "have got a notion into their heads that they are immortal, and this belief leads them to despise death. Their Lawgiver has left upon their minds the conviction that they all become brothers the moment they put aside the gods of Greece, adore the Crucified Sophist, and live obedient to His laws. They make no account of the riches of the world, which they regard as the common property of all. They intrust the administration of their effects to certain persons, of whom they do not exact so much as a guaranty."

If such be the character of the bulk of those Christians who lived during this epoch, and there is no reason to doubt the truthfulness of the picture, particularly if we take it as representing such men as St. Ignatius and St. Polycarp, St. Justin and St. Cyprian, and those other great ornaments of the Church, the saintly popes and bishops, the crowds of martyrs and ascetics, pious virgins and holy matrons, who are her glory and the admiration of mankind, still, after all this is said, it must also be admitted that the writings of the Fathers contain many passages rebuking those who embraced Christianity from selfish and worldly motives. Neither should we forget that in seasons of persecution some lost courage and denied Christ, and that the lengthy and detailed penitential code would never have. existed had there not been a call for it to meet the evils of this epoch. Many also, unwilling to give up the pleasures of the world, and entertaining the superstitious belief that, by receiving baptism at the moment of death, they should in

1

1 Cf. +Ratzinger, Hist. of Eccl. Almonry, Freib. 1868.

2Lucian. de morte Peregrini, c. 13. The Pagan Caecilius satirizes the Christians after the same fashion in a dialogue by Minucius Felix, called "Octavius," c. 8.

stantly enjoy the Beatific Vision and be united with God, neglected to prepare for so great a grace, by leading virtuous lives.

These examples will serve to warn us against admitting, without qualification, that the Christians of the first three centuries were altogether exceptional representatives of religion and morality; they will also call to our mind the words of Our Lord, when He bade the husbandmen suffer the tares to grow up with the good grain till the time of harvest was

come.

RETROSPECT.

The Christian historian, in reviewing the epoch of Church History which has just been concluded, contemplates with pleasurable pride the great work accomplished by Christianity. The greater part of the Roman empire has been wholly transformed, and a new spirit and fresh life have been infused into those portions of it that came under the benign influence of the Church. The following causes were instrumental in bringing about this result: 1. A fundamental and thorough knowledge of the Christian religion, which, once implanted in the minds of the people, was afterward nourished and invigorated by a careful and assiduous system of instruction;1 2. The introduction of a pure system of morality and enduring spirit of patience; 3. The amelioration of the condition of the poor and the alleviation of the distressed; 4. The effectual abolition of slavery; and, 5. The establishment and development of faith on a scientific basis, and the conviction that its teachings, its hopes, and its consolations were adequate to all the requirements of the temporal and eternal happiness of mankind.

The historian, impressed with the greatness and vital importance of these blessings, may well give expression to his joy in the words of St. Clement of Alexandria: "Truly has Christ converted the very stones into men, in bringing the Pagans, who adored statues of stone, to the light of Christianity. The power of His Word has created the universe,

1What St. Augustin says on this is just to the point: Dicatur in quibus locis haec docentium Deorum solebant praecepta recitari et a cultoribus eorum populis frequentur audiri, sicut nos ostendimus ad hoc ecclesias institutas, qua quaversum religio christiana diffunditur (de civitate Dei II. 6).

made the earth stable, and set limits to the waters of the ocean. It has done more. It has destroyed the ancient empire of the Serpent, who went about raging and seducing mankind to the worship of idols." In the presence of such changes, at once radical and far-reaching, the conviction is irresistibly borne in upon our minds, that the Church, after these three hundred years of trial, conflict, and bloody persecution, has every right to be acknowledged as a divine institution, and has exemplified in her history the words of Our Divine Lord: "The gates of hell shall not prevail against Thee."

SECOND EPOCH.

FROM THE EDICT OF PACIFICATION OF CONSTANTINE THE GREAT TO THE END OF THE SEVENTH CENTURY.

THE RELATIONS OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH TO THE ROMAN EMPIRE.

§ 96. Sources- Works.

I. SOURCES.-The CHURCH HISTORIANS, GREEK and LATIN, indicated in Chapter IV., p. 34-37 of the Scientific Introduction, Eusebius, Socr., Sozom., Theodoret, Philostorg., Theodorus lector, Evagrius, Nicephorus Callisti, Sulpitius Sever., Rufin., Cassiodor., and Epiph. ; the chronicon paschale (Alexandrinum), Pt. I., until 354; Pt. II., 628, ed. du Fresne du Cange, Paris, 1688, and Lud. Dindorf, Bonnae, 1832, 2 T. (corpus scriptor. hist. Byzant.); Theophanes Confessor. xpovoypapía (277-805), cum notis Goari et Combefisii, Paris, 1655, Venet. 1729 sq.; ex recensione Joannis Classeni, Vol. II. praecedit Anastasii bibliothecarii hist. eccl. ex recensione Imman. Bekkeri, Bonnae, 18391841, 2 T. (Corpus scriptor. hist. Byzant.) The Acts of the Councils in the collectio concilior. by Harduin, T. I.-III.; by Mansi, T. II.-XI. Fuchs, Library of the Ecclesiastical Councils of the Fourth and Fifth Centuries, Lps. 1780 sq., 4 pts. *Hefele, History of the Councils, Vol. I.-III. The Works of the Holy Fathers and Writers of this Epoch, both Latin and Greek (maxima bibl., T. III.-XI.; Gallandii bibl., T. IV.-XII., most complete in both collections of the series Graeca et Latina, by Migne), or particular editions.

The IMPERIAL LAWS, relative to ecclesiastical affairs, in the Codex Theodosianus (compiled 438), cum comment. Gothofredi, cura Jos. Dan. Ritter, Lps. 1737 sq., 6 vols. fol., with recently discovered books and fragments, ed. Haenel, Bonnae, 1842. Codex Justinianeus, compiled by Tribonianus (529), codex repetitae praelectionis, 534 (in the ed. of the corpus juris civilis). Cf. Trolong, de l'influence du christianisme sur le droit civil des Romains, Paris, 1843, and Rohrbacher-Hülskamp, Vol. IX., p. 72-75 and p. 175.

PROFANE HISTORIANS: The Pagan Ammianus Marcellinus, rer. gestar., libb. XXXI., of which only lib. 14-31 (fr. 353-378), ed. Henr. Valesius, Paris, 1681, according to which we quote; ed. Jac. Gronov., Lugd. Batav. 1692, fol.; ed. Wagner, 1808. Zosimus, likewise Pagan, under the Emperor Theodosius II., iotopía véa, libb. VI. (until 410), ed. Reitemeier, Lps. 1784, 8vo ed. J. Bekker, Bonn. 1837 (in the corpus scriptor. hist. Byzant.) Cf. the favorable criticism of the latter by Leunclavius, in the ed. by. Reitemeier, in the beginning; also

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