such multitudes being received as could not partake in all acts and duties of communion with those particular churches whereunto they were disposed, and being the most of them unfit to be ruled by the power and influence of the commands of Christ on their minds and consciences, it was impossible but that a great alteration must ensue in the state, order and rule of the churches, and a great deviation from their original institution.”*

Men, converted to Christianity because it was the religion of the court; or because, pressed by their enemies, they hoped to find in Christ a more powerful god than those in whom they had before trusted; or, because their pagan monarch, driven to desperation in the day of battle, had vowed to be a Christian if he might but conquer; or for some other reason, equally remote from what the gospel requires-such men, it is evident, could know little of the rights of churches, and they would care as little. They,

* 66 Inquiry into the Original, etc. of Evangelical Churches," Preface-Complete Works, Vol. XX. p. 21.

"The conversion of the Burgundians, early in the fifth century, is thus related, with no improbability. Harassed by the continual incursions of the Huns, and incapable of self-defence, they resolved to place themselves under the protection of some God; and considering that the God of the Romans most powerfully befriended those who served him, they determined, on public deliberation, to believe in Jesus Christ. They therefore went to a city in Gaul, and entreated the bishop to baptize them. Immediately after that ceremony'they gained a battle against their enemies; and if (as is also asserted) they afterwards lived in peace and innocence, they reaped, in that respect, at least, the natural fruits of their conversion."-Waddington, Chap. 9. p. 117, note.

"In the year 493 Clovis espoused Clotilda, niece of the king of the Burgundians, a Christian and a catholic. He tolerated the religion of his bride, and showed respect to its professors, especially to St. Remi, archbishop of Rheims; but he steadily refused to

however, within a few centuries, constituted a majority of those who bore the Christian name.

More than this: such masses of ignorance could not be governed by the rules of Christ's church. They had been accustomed to the arbitrary control of their pagan priests, and they desired no further liberty under their new masters; and if they had desired it, they were manifestly unqualified to use it.

Thus it was, that one error led into another. Thus were the lineaments of the churches of Christ effaced. I speak not of their religious faith. There was, doubtless, much of doctrinal truth retained, and some sincere piety amidst all

abandon his hereditary idols on the importunity either of the prelate or queen. At length he found himself in a situation of danger; in the heat of an unsuccessful battle, while his Franks were flying before the Alemanni, Clovis is related to have raised his weeping eyes to heaven, and exclaimed, 'Jesus Christ! thou whom Clotilda asserts to be the son of the living God, I implore thy succor. If thou wilt give me the victory, I will believe in thee, and be baptized in thy name.' At that moment the king of the Alemanni was slain; his soldiers immediately fled, and abandoned the field to Clovis. The victor was not unmindful of the God of his adversity. On the conclusion of his expedition he caused himself to be publicly baptized; about three thousand of his soldiers attended him to the holy font with joy and acclamation, and the rest of his subjects followed without any hesitation the faith of their prince. The conversion of Clovis took place in 496; and though it had not the effect of amending the brutal character of the proselyte, it made a great addition to the physical strength of Christianity.”—Waddington, Chap. 11. p. 116.

The temper of this convert, after his professed conversion, is well exhibited by the following anecdote, related in Mosheim (Vol. 1. p. 315, note 10. Harper's Ed.): "Clovis once hearing a pathetic discourse on the sufferings of Christ, exclaimed: Si ego ibidem cum Francis meis fuissem, injurias ejus vindicassem. Had I been there with my Franks, I would have avenged his wrongs."

the increasing errors of the first seven centuries; yea, there were stars shining in the gathering darkness. I speak of the polity of the churches. This, as drawn by the hand of Christ and his apostles, was gradually defaced and deformed; and the causes which wrought this deformity were, in part at least, such as have been named.

The wealth and temporal honors conferred upon the clergy-the gifts of princes and the homage of converted nations had an important agency in corrupting the churches.

When Christianity became the adopted child of the Roman emperor, it was natural that he should feel a pride in honoring and elevating her in the eyes of the world. And, as the clergy had now become THE CHURCH,* the most obvious way to accomplish the desired end was to heap wealth and honors and privileges upon them. This accordingly was done. "The whole body of the Catholic clergy," says Gibbon, more numerous perhaps than the legions, was exempted by the emperors from all service, private or public, all municipal offices, and all personal taxes and contributions, which pressed on their fellow citizens with intolerable weight. The example and command of the Em. peror Constantine rendered them the objects of private be nevolence and public benefactions.‡

66

*"From the moment that the interests of the ministers became at all distinguished from the interests of the religion, the corruption of Christianity may be considered to have begun."-Waddington, p. 44, Note,

This period he dates towards the end of the second century.

"Decline and Fall," Vol. I. Chap. 20. p. 429.

Gibbon tells us, that the bishop of Carthage was at one time informed by a messenger from Constantine, "That the treasurers of the province are directed to pay into his hands the sum of three

The bishops alone, of all the myriads of Roman citizens, enjoyed the privilege of being tried by their peers; and the minor orders were amenable for all ordinary civil offences to their respective bishops; who, from the time of Constantine, were made judges of civil as well as ecclesiastical causes, in their respective dioceses. Hence arose the "Bishop's Court;".a tribunal which so many of the fathers of New England Congregationalism had cause to remember.

It is hardly necessary to remark, that the truth of these representations necessarily implies a very considerable change in the order and discipline of the churches-rather, of THE CHURCH, as the "established" religion of the empire was now called.

This wealth, and these honors, immunities, and privileges bestowed upon the clergy, were fuel to their ambition and pride. Instead of satisfying their rapacity, they acted as incitements to intrigue and unhallowed efforts to increase their wealth and importance.

We have yet, however, deeper shades to throw over this dark picture. In addition to all that the Roman emperors

thousand folles, or eighteen thousand pounds sterling, and to obey his further requisitions for the relief of the churches of Africa, Numidia, and Mauritania." In another sentence the historian informs us, that "An annual income of six hundred pounds sterling may be reasonably assigned to the bishops, who were placed at equal distance between riches and poverty, but the standard of their wealth insensibly rose with the dignity and opulence of the cities which they governed."-Chap. 20. p. 430.

Mosheim says, that "the vices and faults of the clergy, especially of those who officiated in large and opulent cities, were augmented in proportion to the increase of their wealth, honors, and advantages, derived from the emperors and various other sources; and that this increase was very great, after the time of Con. stantine, is acknowledged by all."-Cent. IV. P. II. Chap. 2. § 8.

had done to vitiate the order of the churches, by pampering the pride and feeding the ambition of the clergy, there were elements in the community itself, which gave peculiar encouragement to clerical usurpations.

The emperor's partiality for the church, was, with the mass of his subjects, the most powerful of all arguments to profess attachment to the new religion. If we may credit the testimony of Gibbon, "in one year twelve thousand men were baptized at Rome, besides a proportionable number of women and children."* The example and smiles of the emperor were a sufficient inducement for all classes in society to think favorably of Christianity-or, at least, to profess this opinion-without supposing that bribes were actually offered to all who would become converts.t Men who had been educated amidst the sensuous attractiveness of pagan worship, were not displeased to find something of the pageantry of Paganism in their Christian worship. The churches were encouraged to erect sumptuous buildings for their accommodation.

The costly edifice with its beams of cedar from Libanus, and its roof of glittering brass, enriched, perhaps, with gilding, and its walls, and columns, and pavement, of variegated marble, was an object well suited to attract the Pagan, and to quiet any lingerings of regret in the half-made convert to Christianity. And when to these superb fixtures were added the splendid ornaments of gold, and silver, and precious stones, with which the Christian altars were made to glisten,‡ the most fastidious, and sensual heathen could scarcely

* Vol. I. Chap. 20. p. 425.

+ Gibbon insinuates, "that a white garment, with twenty pieces of gold, had been promised by the emperor to every convert." In a note, he has the candor to admit that the "evidence is contemptible enough" on which he makes the insinuation.

‡ See Gibbon's description of these matters.—Vol. I. Chap. 20.