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with the court of their pagan predecessors. There were also pious believers, who saw, and bewailed the increasing tide of popular depravity, who "sighed and cried because of the abominations done in the midst of the city." But it must not be forgotten, that by the close of the fourth century Christianity in Rome was not what it was in the days when Paul wrote his epistle to the church, and congratulated them on their faith and piety. "The gold had become dim." Very great innovations had been made upon Christian doctrine and practice they had been slowly growing up for years, and, after the council of Nice, developed themselves more boldly than before. Christianity originally appeared as a system of wisdom and mercy, for the reconciliation of fallen man with God through the one Mediator, Jesus Christ, and for the renewal of his depraved nature by the power of the Holy Spirit; but now a crowd of inferior mediators had begun to rise in the church, and to hide the Saviour from the eye of the repenting sinner; while the scriptural doctrine of Divine influence was made void by the notion of the saving efficacy of the sacraments. In the New Testament we are informed that the religion of Christ is not a religion of forms-that the kingdom of God is. not meat and drink, but righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost; but now ceremonies were multiplied, men were led to addict themselves to these as of primary importance, and to lose sight of the spirituality of the Christian

scheme. The morality of the gospel, as taught by Christ and his apostles, was pure and perfect; but in the writings of some of the Fathers it assumed a different character, for "there principles may be found concerning veracity, which undermine the foundation of all true. virtue."* The church at first was "not of this world;" but now a spirit of secularity took possession of it, and it was hastening to identify itself more and more with the powers of the earth.

Scenes were witnessed in Rome, in connexion with ecclesiastical proceedings, which, so far from presenting an instructive and beneficial contrast to the flagrant disorders of society at the time, were of the very same description. "Damasus and Ursinus being extremely ambitious for the episcopal dignity, contended for it so fiercely, that, in the quarrel, were inflicted wounds and death; when Juventius, the prefect of Rome, not being able to repress these outrages, retired from the city. Damasus overcame. In the church of Licinius, where there was an assembly of Christians, a hundred and thirty-seven were killed in one day; and it was a long time before the excitement of the people was calmed. "Do not deny," proceeds the heathen historian, "that considering the wealth of the city, they who covet such things are justified in pursuing them, even though it be with contention, since, having obtained these honours, they will be enriched with the oblations of matrons, and will ride, sumptuously

* Giesler, vol. i. p. 298.

clad, in chariots, and make profuse entertainments, vying with regal banquets. But surely they might be happy, if disregarding the grandeur of Rome, which they allege as a reason for their luxury, they would follow the example of provincial bishops, who, by the plainness of their table, and their unostentatious dress and manners, commend themselves to the Divine Being as men of purity and religion.'

There is no doubt of the truth of this statement, respecting the episcopal quarrel, as it is corroborated by Socrates and Sozomenes, who were Christian historians: and while the satirical remark of the pagan writer, respecting the luxury of the bishops of Rome, throws a sad light on the state of the church in that city, his admission relative to the simplicity and virtues of some of the provincial pastors, shows that Christianity was still yielding its own proper fruit in other places. Christianity, thus corrupted and secularized, was not likely to produce a salutary influence upon society, and to retard the progress of moral decay and dissolution in the Roman state. Besides, Christianity, such as it was, had by no means been universally embraced in Rome, though the emperors had adopted the profession of Christianity, and laws had been made for its support. Paganism was still the religion of many. In the year A.D. 384, the senate petitioned that the altar of victory might be restored in the senatehouse; and, at the time of Alaric's invasion,

* Ammianus Marcellinus, lib. lxxvii. c. 3.

there were some of the same assembly, who recommended that Rome should endeavour to avert impending calamities, which they attributed to the anger of the gods, on account of the spread of Christianity, by offering, as of old, sacrifices to their honour, in the capitol, and other temples. Pagan rites, too, were no doubt sometimes performed in private, till a late period; for though the laws forbade them, the magistrates seem to have displayed a tolerant spirit toward the lingering vestiges of the ancient religion of the empire. Such being the case, Christianity having been corrupted, and paganism still existing to a great extent, in the city and the empire, the vice and profligacy of the Roman people, under the latest of the emperors, can furnish no materials for any just reflection upon the social tendencies of the Christian system, considered in itself.

In an age of social corruption and licentiousness, it would be vain to expect the cultivation of a pure taste in matters of art, or any noble efforts of the human intellect in the departments of literature. The imagination and judgment of mankind feel the moral contagion, and the intellectual energies in general become enfeebled and depressed. Hence the artistic civilisation of Rome, at the period before us, displayed a most vitiated taste. The studious imitation of classic beauty, as expressed in Grecian works of art, characterized the early cultivation of artistical skill among the Romans, and led them to produce buildings and statues

which might bear comparison with their admired models; but now, a taste for the really elegant, had been superseded by a passion for oriental magnificence and luxury. Colossal magnitude, and profuse ornaments, excited admiration rather than symmetry of proportion, and chasteness of decoration. As to literature, it was either neglected altogether, or cultivated according to the prevailing taste.

"The causes of this decay," observes Ammianus Marcellinus, "are not difficult to be traced they are the dissipation of our young men, the inattention of parents, the ignorance of those who pretend to give instruction, and the total neglect of ancient discipline. The mischief began at Rome, it has overrun Italy, and is now with rapid strides spreading through the provinces." The same author

also distinctly notices, in his sketch of the state of Rome, the prevalent ignorance and corrupt tastes of the higher classes, observing, that musical performers were preferred to philosophers; and that jugglers had taken the place of orators; while libraries were closed and deserted, like sepulchres of the dead.*

From this slight review of well attested facts, it must be evident to the reader, that Roman civilisation, immediately before the fall of the empire, was thoroughly corrupt. Every one will discern, in that corruption, enough to account for the prostration of the proud imperial city, beneath the power of barbarians.

Ammianus Marcellinus, lib. xiv. c. 6.