Experimental investigation of the spirit manifestations, [electronic ...

ON TIIK MORALS OF CHRISTIANS. 2511205. ^niomc, the capital of a great nionarcliy, was incessantly filledwith .subjects and strangers from every part of the world, who all introducedand enjoyed the favourite superstitions of their native country.Every city in the empire was justified in maintaining the purity of its ancientceremonies; and the Koman senate, using the common privilege,sometimes interposed to check this inundation of foreign rites. The 3'^gyptiansuperstition, of all the most contemptible and al^jcct, was frequentlyprohibited; the temples of Serapis and Isis demolished, and their worshippersbanished from Rome and Italy. But the zeal of fanaticism prevailedover the cold and feeble efforts of policy. The exiles returned, theproselytes multiplied, the temples were restored with increasing splendour,and Isis and Serapis at length assumed their place among the Roman deities.Nor was this indulgence a departure from the old maxims of government.In the purest ages of the commonwealth, Cybele and ^sculapiushad been invited by solemn embassies, and it was customary to temptthe protectors of besieged cities by the promise of more distinguishedhonours than they possessed in their native country.Rome gradually becamethe common temple of her subjects, and the freedom of the city wasbestowed on all the gods of mankind."For more than a thousand years the Grecian or Roman Catholic Clergyloere the sole depositories of the word of Gody so called, and Regulatorsof Religious morals } yet during that time theClergy luere for themost 2^cirt pre-eminent in vice, as compared tcith the rest of the community;tvhence it ts inferred that, like Pope Boniface, the wichedClergy in general luere really unbelievers in the truth of the Gospel.If the morals of the modern Clergy are better, it is neither from thebarbarous example furnished them in theOld Testament, nor the ultraprecepts of the Gospel ; being too much enlightened to be governed inpractice by either.1296. " Origen complains of the neglect and inattention of his day, tlirougli the increaseof worldliness. Cyprian about the same time mom-us over the pi'ogress of degeneracy,and Euscbius, toward the close of the third century, laments the corruption of theprimitive morality in strong terms of censure.1297. "But j-et superstition was rapidly advancing, and the complaints of priestly corruptionand general licentiousness were on the increase. The election of Pope Damasuswas the occasion of a i)ublic riot, in which his partisans besieged the church where thefriends of the other candidate were assembled, broke down the doors, and uncovered theroof Jand in the shameful battle that ensued, one hundred and thirty-seven persons wereslain, of both sexes. The splendour of the Iloman bishops had grown so rapidly, that theheathen historian Ammianus Marcellinus pronounced the episcopal style of living t'( besuperior to that of a king. Toward the close of the fourth century, Chrysostom defendedthe new system of monkery, on the ground that Christians had become so corrupt, especiallyin the large cities. Jerome before him had bitterly complained of the prevailinodegeneracy,and became a monk in order to escape from it. St. Augustine lamented thatmany Christians in his day (about A. D. .389) were superstitious, that they adored thesepulchres and pictures of the saints, and ate and drank to excess at funerals, under theexcuse that it was an act of religion.129$. '"The fifth century was not likely to improve the state of the church, but on tliocontrary it witnessed a rapid deterioration. Tlie testimony of Salvian is set forth byFleury, proving that among the Roman Christians there was much heathen idolatry re-