brought Cæfar into Gaul? Are the nations of the world, into which Chriftianity hath not found its way, ⚫ or from which it hath been banished, free from contentions? Are their contentions less ruinous and fangui、 nary? Is it owing to Christianity, or to the want of it, that the finest regions of the Eaft, the countries inter quatuor maria, the peninsula of Greece, together with a great part of the Mediterranean coaft, are at this day a • defart? or that the banks of the Nile, whofe constantly renewed fertility is not to be impaired by neglect, nor destroyed by the ravages of war, ferve only for the scene of a ferocious anarchy, or the supply of unceafing hoftilities? Europe itself has known no religious wars * for fome centuries, yet has hardly ever been without war102'

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Befides, it was during the dark ages, and particularly in the early part of the 13th century, that perfecution was earried on with the greatest violence, in the name of Chriftianity. Now, fays bp. Porteus, at a time when military • ideas predominated in every thing, in the form of govern⚫ment, in the temper of the laws, in the tenure of lands, * and even in the administration of justice itfelf, it could * not be matter of much furprize, that the church fhould ⚫ become military too 103.

That Chriflianity has been the caufe of various benefits to mankind, no infidel, who is poffeffed of tolerable candour and hiftorical information, and who is defirous to maintain the reputation of good sense and impartiality, will prefume to deny. The remarks that follow from Mr. Gibbon have not only a reference to the political flate of nations, as influenced by the propagation of the gofpel, but alfo to the topics which have already been confidered, namely, its effects upon knowledge and upon

02 Evid. of Chr. 2d. ed. vol. II. p. 384-387.

ses Serm. p. 285.

morals.

morals. But the teftimony they contain is fo honourable to Christianity, that I cannot reconcile my mind to their

omiffion.

In the 5th century, Christianity was embraced by almoft all the Barbarians, who established their kingdoms on the ruins of the Western empire.' It' introduced ⚫ an important change in their moral and political condi'tion. They received, at the fame time, the use of let⚫ters, fo effential to a religion, whofe doctrines are con⚫tained in a facred book, and, while they ftudied the divine truth, their minds were infenfibly enlarged by the ⚫ diftant view of history, of nature, of the arts, and of fociety. The verfion of the Scriptures into their native tongue, which had facilitated their conversion, must ex'cite, among their clergy, fome curiofity to read the ori*ginal text, to understand the facred liturgy of the church, ⚫ and to examine, in the writings of the fathers, the chain of ecclefiaftical tradition. Thefe fpiritual gifts were ⚫ preserved in the Greek and Latin languages, which concealed the ineftimable monuments of ancient learning. The immortal productions of Virgil, Cicero, and Livy, which were acceffible to the Chriftian Barbarians, maintained a filent intercourfe between the reign of Auguftus, and the times of Clovis and Charlemagne. • The emulation of mankind was encouraged by the re'membrance of a more perfect state; and the flame of 'fcience was fecretly kept alive, to warm and enlighten 'the mature age of the Western world. In the most

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corrupt state of Christianity, the Barbarians might learn 'juftice from the law, and mercy from the gospel: and, • if the knowledge of their duty was infufficient to guide 'their actions, or to regulate their paffions, they were • fometimes reftrained by confcience, and frequently pu⚫nished by remorfe. But the direct authority of religion ' was less effectual, than the holy communion which

' united them with their Chriftian brethren in fpiritual friendship. The influence of these fentiments contri'buted to secure their fidelity in the fervice, or the alliance, of the Romans, to alleviate the horrors of war, 'to moderate the infolence of conqueft, and to preserve, in the downfal of the empire, a permanent respect for the name and inftitutions of Rome.-The facred cha'racter of the bishops was fupported by their temporal 'poffeffions; they obtained an honourable feat in the

legislative affemblies of foldiers and freemen; and it 'was their intereft, as well as their duty, to mollify, by 'peaceful counfels, the fierce spirit of the Barbarians 104.

The

14 Thus in the year 990, feveral bishops in the South of France as'fembled, and published various regulations, in order to set some bounds to the violence and frequency of private wars; if any person in their dio'cefes should venture to tranfgrefs, they ordained, that he should be ex'cluded from all Chriftian privileges during his life, and be denied Chrif'tian burial after his death.-A council was held at Limoges, A. D. 994. The bodies of the faints, according to the custom of thofe ages, were carried thither; and by these facred relics men were exhorted to lay down their arms, to extinguish their animofities, and to fwear that they ' would not for the future violate the public peace by their private bofti. lities. Several other councils iffued decrees to the fame effect.' In France a general peace and ceffation from hoftilities took place A. D. 1032, and continued for feven years, in confequence of the methods which the bishop of Aquitaine fuccessfully employed to work upon the superftition of the times. And a refolution was formed, that no man fhould ' in times to come attack or moleft his adverfaries, during the seasons fet apart for celebrating the great festivals of the church, or from the evening ' of Thursday in each week, to the morning of Monday in the week enfuing, the intervening days being confidered as particularly holy, our 'Lord's Paffion having happened on one of thefe days, and his Resurrec'tion on another. A change in the difpofitions of men fo fudden, and 'which produced a refolution fo unexpected, was confidered as miracu'lous; and the refpite from hoftilities, which followed upon it, was called the Truce of God.-This, from being a regulation or concert in one king'dom, became a general law in Chriftendom, was confirmed by the authority of feveral popes, and the violators were fubjected to the penalty of excommunication.

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The perpetual correspondence of the Latin clergy, the frequent pilgrimages to Rome and Jerufalem, and the 'growing authority of the Popes, cemented the union of 'the Chriftian republic: and gradually PRODUCED the 'fimilar manners, and common jurifprudence, which have distinguished, from the rest of mankind, the inde'pendent, and even hoftile, nations of modern Europe.' And the hiftorian obferves in another place, that, in all the purfuits of active and speculative life, the emulation of states and individuals is the most powerful fpring of the efforts and improvements of mankind. The cities of ancient Greece,' he remarks, were cast in the happy mixture of union and independence, which is repeated on a larger fcale, but in a looser form, by ⚫ the nations of modern Europe: the union of language, religion, and manners, which renders them the specta'tors and judges of each other's merit: the indepen⚫dence of government and intereft, which afferts their separate freedom, and excites them to ftrive for pre⚫ eminence in the career of glory.'

In the 9th, 10th, and 11th centuries of the Christian ⚫æra, the reign of the gospel and of the church was extended over Bulgaria, Hungary, Bohemia, Saxony,

• excommunication.-A ceffation from hoftilities during three complete ' days in every week allowed fuch a confiderable space for the paffions of ⚫ the antagonists to cool, and for the people to enjoy a refpite from the ⚫ calamities of war, as well as to take measures for their own fecurity, that, if the Truce of God had been exactly observed, it must have gone far to"wards putting an end to private wars,' But the violent fpirit of the nobility could not be restrained by any engagements. The complaints of • this were frequent; and bishops, in order to compel them to renew their vows and promises of ceafing from their private wars, were obliged to • enjoin their clergy to fufpend the performance of divine service and the * exercise of any religious function within the parishes of fuch as were re• fractory and obftinate.' Dr. Robertson's View of the Progress of Society in Europe, &c. p. 335.

'Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Poland, and Ruffia 105 • Truth and candour must acknowledge, that the converfion of the North imparted many temporal benefits both 'to the old and the new Chriftians.-The admiffion of 'the Barbarians into the pale of civil and ecclefiaftical fociety delivered Europe from the depredations, by fea 'and land, of the Normans, the Hungarians, and the Ruffians, who learned to fpare their brethren and cultivate their poffeffions 106. The establishment of law ⚫ and order was promoted by the influence of the clergy; and the rudiments of art and science were introduced 'into the favage countries of the globe. The libe'ral piety of the Ruffian princes engaged in their fer⚫vice the most skilful of the Greeks, to decorate the ⚫ cities and inftruct the inhabitants.-The Sclavonic and 'Scandinavian kingdoms, which had been converted by 'the Latin miffionaries, were exposed, it is true, to the fpiritual jurifdiction and temporal claims of the popes; 'but they were united, in language and religious worship, 'with each other, and with Rome; they imbibed the

10 The first introduction of literature into Russia muft,' says Mr. Coxe, be ascribed to Ulomir the Great, upon his conversion to Chriftia• nity in 988: that fovereign even inftituted schools, and paffed a decree 'to regulate the mode of instructing youth in his dominions. His fon 'Yaroflof, who afcended the throne in 1018, invited many learned priests ⚫ from Constantinople; and caufed various Greek books to be translated into the Ruffian tongue. He established a feminary at Novogorod for 300 Students; and gave to that republic the first code of written laws.' Travels into Poland, Ruffia, &c. vol. III. p. 291.

106 The following is a note of Mr. Gibbon. 'Listen to the exultations of Adam of Bremen (A. D. 1080), of which the substance is agreeable 'to truth; Ecce illa ferociffima Danorum, &c. natio—jamdudum novit in • Dei laudibus Alleluia refonare.-Ecce populus ille piraticus-fuis nunc ⚫ finibus contentus eft. Ecce patria horribilis femper inacceffa propter cultum idolorum-prædicatores veritatis ubique certatim admittit. &c. • (de Situ Daniæ, &c. p. 40, 41. edit. Elzevir: a curious and original profpect of the North of Europe, and the introduction of Christianity).”

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