world, and the Bishop was not likely to disclaim the homage which would occasionally be offered to him. But it was not until the habit of acting in bodies made them sensible of their common interest and real power, that they ventured to assert such claims, and assumed a loftier manner in the government of their dioceses; so that, though these synods were doubtless indispensable to the well-being of Christianity, they seem to have been the means of corrupting the original humility of its ministers; and the method which was intended to promote only the eternal interests of the Church, promoted, in some degree, the worldly consideration of the order which governed it. This change began to show itself towards the end of the second century; and it is certain that, at this period, we find the first complaints of the incipient corruption of the clergy*. On the other hand, there can be little doubt that the increased authority and influence of the hierarchy was highly serviceable to the whole body in periods of danger and persecution, and that in those times it was generally exerted to excite the courage, and sustain the constancy of the faithful.

Excommunication was the oldest weapon of ecclesiastical authority. Doubtless, every society has the right to expel its unworthy members; and this right was of extreme use to the first Christians, as it gave them frequent opportunities of exhibiting to the heathen world the scrupulousness of their moral purity. But afterwards we know how dangerous an engine it became when wielded by weak or passionate individuals, and directed by caprice, or interest, or ambition.

The question has been greatly controverted, whether an absolute community of property ever subsisted in the Church. That it did so, is a favourite opinion of some Roman Catholic writers, who would willingly discover, in the first apostolical society, the model of the monastic system; and the same, to its utmost extent, has been partly asserted, and partly insinuated by Gibbon. The learned argument of Mosheimt disposes us to the contrary belief; and if the words of Scripture in one place‡ should seem to prove that such community did actually exist among the original converts in the Church of Jerusalem, we are obliged to infer from other passages §, not only that it did not universally prevail as one law of the whole Church, but that it gained no favour or footing in the several Churches which were founded elsewhere. This inference is generally confirmed by the uninspired records of Christianity; and it is indeed obvious that a society of both sexes, constituted on that principle, could not possibly have had a permanent existence. The truth appears to be this, that the ministers of religion, and the poorer brethren, were maintained by contributions perfectly voluntary, and that a great and general intercourse of mutual support and charity prevailed, as well among the various Churches, as among the members of each.

It is probable that the ceremonies of religion had somewhat outstripped their primitive simplicity, even before the conclusion of the second century. Some additions were introduced even thus early, out of a spirit of

* 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.

+ Dissertationes ad Hist. Eccl. pertinentes, vol. ii. Mosheim's object is to prove that St. Luke means community of use, not of possession. Some suppose the passage in Acts v. 4 to be at variance with that opinion.

Acts iv. 32, 34, 35.

§ Acts v. 4. After it was sold, was it not in thine own power?'

conciliation with the various forms of Paganism which were beginning gradually to melt into Christianity; but they were seemingly different in different countries; and it is not easy, or perhaps very important, to detect them with certainty, or to enumerate them with confidence. We shall, probably, recur to this subject at some future period, when we shall have stronger light to guide us.

The first Christians were unanimous* in setting apart the first day of the week, as being that on which our Saviour rose from the dead, for the solemn celebration of public worship. This pious custom was derived from the example of the Church of Jerusalem, on the express appointment of the Apostles. On these occasions, portions of Scripture were publicly read to the people from the earliest age.

The two most ancient feasts of the Church were in honour of the resurrection of Christ, and of the descent of the Holy Spirit. At a period when belief must almost have amounted to knowledge, the first Christians, the companions of the Apostles, perhaps the disciples of our Saviour himself, were so seriously and practically earnest in their belief, and so satisfied of the generality of that belief, in the truth of those two mighty miracles, which have presented, perhaps, the greatest difficulties to the sceptical inquirers of after ages, as to establish their two first festivals in solemn commemoration of them.

We find no mention of any public fast, except on the day of the crucifixion. The superstitious multiplication of such acts of mistaken devotion was the work of a later age.

Christian schools existed in the second century, as well at Rome, Ephesus, and Smyrnat, as at Alexandria; they were conducted on the model of the schools of philosophy, and even the terms, by which the different classes of the faithful were designated, were borrowed from these latter. There appears to have been as yet no costume peculiar to the ministers of religion. The bishops usually adopted the garb of the heathen philosophers.

Creeds.

(3.) The first Christians used no written Creed; the Confession of Faith, which was held necessary for salvation, was delivered to children or converts by word of mouth, and entrusted to their memory. Moreover, in the several independent Churches, the rule of faith was liable to some slight changes, according to the opinion and discretion of the Bishop presiding in each. Hence it arose, that when the creeds of those numerous communities came at length to be written and compared together, they were found to contain some variations; this was natural and necessary; but when we add that those variations were for the most part merely verbal, and in no instance involved any question of essential importance, we advance a truth which will seem strange to those who are familiar with the angry disputations of later ages. But the fact is easily accounted for,-the earliest pastors of the Church drew their belief from the Scripture itself, as delivered to them by writing or preaching, and they were contented to express that belief in the language of

*Mosh. Gen. Hist., 1. i. p. ii. c. 4.

Iren. ad Florinum, ap. Euseb. 1. v. c. 20. Mosh. Gen. Hist., c. i. p. ii. ch. 3.

It is expressly affirmed by Eusebius (E. H. hook iii. c. 24) that the four gospels were collected during the life of St. John, and that the three received the approbation of that apostle. And though there is great difficulty in ascertaining the precise period in which all the books of the New Testament were collected into one volume, it is unquestionable that before the middle of the second century the greatest part of them were received as the rule of faith in every Christian society. Mosh. c. 1. p. ii. ch. 2.

Chap. II.]

A HISTORY OF THE CHURCH.

HEFUL LIRKA, UNIVERSIT

T

Scripture. They were not curious to investigate that which is not clearly revealed, but they adhered firmly and faithfully to that which they knew to be true; therefore their variations were without schism and their differences without acrimony. The creed which was first adopted, and that perhaps in the very earliest age, by the Church of Rome, was that which is now called the Apostles' Creed, and it was the general opinion, from the fourth century downwards, that it was actually the production of those blessed persons assembled for that purpose; our evidence* is not sufficient to establish that fact, and some writerst very confidently reject it. But there is reasonable ground for our assurance that the form of faith which we still repeat and inculcate was in use and honour in the very early propagation of our religion.

The sacraments of the primitive Church were two-those of Baptism and the Lord's Supper. The ceremony of immersion (the oldest form of baptism) was performed in the name of the three Persons of the Trinity; it was believed to be attended by the remission of original sin, and the entire regeneration of the infant or convert, by the passage from the land of bondage into the kingdom of salvation. A great proportion of those baptized in the first ages were, of course, adults, and since the Church was then scrupulous to admit none among its members, excepting those whose sincere repentance gave promise of a holy life ‡, the administration of that sacrament was in some sense accompanied by the remission, not only of the sin from Adam, but of all sin that had been previously committed by the proselyte-that is to say, such absolution was given to the repentance necessary for admission into Christ's Church. In after ages, by an error common in the growth of superstition, the efficacy inherent in the repentance was attributed to the ceremony, and the act which washed away the inherited corruption of nature was supposed to secure a general impunity, even for unrepented offences. But this double delusion gained very little ground during the two first centuries.

The celebration of the sacrament of the Eucharist was originally accompanied by meetings which somewhat partook of a hospitable, or at least of a charitable character, and were called Agape or Feasts of Love. Every Christian, according to his circumstances, brought to the assembly portions of bread, wine, and other things, as gifts, as it were, or oblations to the Lord. Of the bread and wine such as was required for the administration of the sacrament was separated from the rest, and consecrated by the bishop alone §; its distribution was followed by a frugal and serious repast. Undoubtedly, those assemblies acted not only as excitements to ardent piety, but also as bonds of strict religious union and mutual devotion, during the dark days of terror and persecution. It was probably on those occasions, more than any other, that the sufferers rallied their scat

Ignatius, Justin, and Irenæus make no mention of it, but they occasionally repeat some words contained in it, which is held as proof that they knew it by heart.-See Cent. Magdeb., cent. i. lib. ii. c. 4.

As Mosheim, cent. i. p. ii. ch. 3; admitting however, (c. ii. p. ii. ch. 3) that the first teachers inculcated no other doctrines than those contained in what is commonly called the Apostles' Creed.

Whosoever are persuaded that those things are true which are taught and inculcated by us, and engage to live according to them, are taught to pray to God, fasting, for the remission of their former sins, while we pray and fast with them. Then they are led by us to some place where water is, and are regenerated even as we ourselves were regenerated; for they are then immersed in the water, in the name of the Father of all, the Lord God, and of our Saviour Jesus Christ, and of the Holy Ghost.'-Justin Martyr, Apol, i. ch. 61. § Mosh., c. i. p. ii. ch. 4. Justin, Mart. Ap. 2. p. 98.

tered ranks, and encouraged each other, by one solemn act of brotherly communion, to constancy in one faith and association in the same afflictions. We observe, moreover, that as the dangers passed away from the Church, that more social form * (if we may so express it) of eucharistical administration gradually fell into disuse.

(4.) The morality of the primitive Church is the subject to which we proceed with high confidence and unalloyed satisfactionMorality. for since, in the various history on which we are entering, our admiration of the excellence of Christianity will be sometimes interrupted by sighs for the degeneracy of its professors, it is delightful to pause on that period when the faith, yet fresh from heaven, did really carry practice and devotion along with it-a period which preceded the birth of intestine persecution, and was unstained by the furious contests of sectaries; which did not witness the superstitious debasement of the Church, or the vulgar vices of its ministers, or the burning passions of its rulers. We are taught, indeed, humbly to believe that at some future, and probably distant period, the whole world will be united in the true spirit and practice of Christianity; but in reviewing the history of the past, we are compelled to confess that the only model at all approaching to that perfection is confined to the two first centuries of our faith, and that it began to fall off in excellence even before the conclusion of that period. But transient as it was, we still recur to it with pious satisfaction, and we rejoice both as men and as Christians that our nature has been found capable of such holy exaltation, and that our religion was the instrument which exalted it.

Certainly the character of the first Christians, and we are not without guides who make us acquainted with it, presents to us a singular spectacle of virtue and piety, the more splendid as it was surrounded by very mournful and very general depravity. We cannot read either St. Clement's description of the early condition of the Church of Corinth, or Origen's panegyric on that of Athens, without recognising a state of society and morality such as all the annals of paganism do not discover to us, and such as its principles (if it had any fixed principles) could not ever have created. The following lines are a quotation from the former. You were all humble in spirit, nothing boasting, subject rather than subjecting, giving rather than receiving. Contented with the food of God, and carefully embracing his words, your feelings were expanded, and his sufferings were before your eyes-so profound and beautiful the peace that was given to you, and so insatiable the desire of beneficence. Every division, every schism was detestable to you; you wept over the failings of your neighbours; you thought their defects your own, and were impatient after every good work,' &c.

It is true that soon after the period celebrated by this glowing description, some dissensions disturbed the peace, and probably the morality, of the Church of Corinth-but we have no reason to believe that they were of long duration, or left any lasting consequences behind them.

The above passage refers to the Christians of Greece; and there is a sentence in the letter of Pliny to Trajan, already quoted, giving still stronger testimony to the virtues of the Asiatics. They bind themselves by an oath, not to the commission of any wickedness, but not to be guilty of theft, or robbery, or adultery,-never to falsify their word, nor to deny a pledge committed to them when called upon to return it.'

* Acts ii. 42. Mosheim, 1. c. Hinds' Early Ch., vol. ii. p. 211, &c.

Bardesanes*, a learned Christian of Mesopotamia, who lived in the time of Marcus Antoninus, has the following passage, preserved to us by Eusebius. Neither do Christians in Parthia indulge in polygamy, though they be Parthians; nor do they marry their own daughters in Persia, though Persians. Among the Bactrians and the Gauls, they do not commit adultery; but, wheresoever they are, they rise above the evil laws and customs of the country.' This is not only a very powerful, but almost an universal testimony in favour of Christian morality; and there are some to whom its truth will appear the less questionable, because it comes from the pen of a heretic.

The virtue of chastity, which however it may have been celebrated in the heroic ages of paganism, was certainly little reputed in the east, during the more enlightened rule of philosophy, was very rigidly cultivated by the primitive converts. This truth, which is generally attested by the passages above quoted, is made the subject of peculiar exultation by Justin Martyrt. But the continence of the first Christians did not degenerate into any superstitious practice; yet it seems certain that, in the ages immediately subsequent, the simple principle of the Gospel began to be unreasonably exaggerated; and somewhat later the progress of monasticism was forwarded by the exalted value placed on that virtue. So that excess of admiration blinded enthusiasts as to its real nature and character, and led them to invest it with perfections and pretensions which were at variance with the advancement and happiness of human society.

The heathen governments, even the Roman, in its highest civilization, tolerated, and perhaps encouraged, the unnatural practice of exposing infants-who in that condition were left, as it might happen, to perish from cold or starvation, or preserved for the more dreadful fate of public prostitution. This practice was held in deserved detestation by the followers of Christ ‡.

Charity was the corner-stone of the moral edifice of Christianity, and its earliest characteristic; and as this is still the virtue by which it is most distinguished, both publicly and privately, from every false religion, so we need not hesitate to avow that this of all its excellencies was the most efficient under Divine providence in its original establishment. Every Christian society provided for the maintenance of its poorer members; and when the funds were not sufficient for this purpose, they were aided by the superfluities of more wealthy brethren §. The same spirit which 'preached the Gospel to the poor,' extended its provisions to their temporal necessities; and so far from thinking it any reproach to our faith that it first addressed itself, by its peculiar virtues as well as precepts, to the lower orders of mankind, we derive from this very fact our strongest argument against those who would persuade us that the patronage of kings was necessary for its establishment: it rather becomes to us matter of pious exultation that its progress was precisely in the opposite direction. By far the majority of the early converts were men of low rank ; and their numbers were concealed by their obscurity, until they became too powerful to dread persecution. Every step which they took was upwards. Until the middle of the second century, they could scarcely

* Euseb. H. E., 1. iv., c. 30.

+ C. 15. Apol. A.

Justin Martyr, Apol. A., c. 27.

Our readers will recollect that Dionysius of Corinth, in his Epistle to the Romans, desires them to continue the custom established from the beginning, of sending charitable contributions to all churches.