by the fire of fervent charity, the sacrifice of humility and praise. In order to see Him, as he may be seen, and to hold fast by Him, we are cleansed from every spot of sins or evil desires, and by His name are we made holy." 199 CHAPTER VIII. FAULTS OF THE EARLY CHRISTIANS. SUCH is the universal weakness of human nature, that it is impossible to form a correct notion either of any individual, or of any class of men, without paying some attention to their faults. These unhappily form a chapter in the history of every person and of every society, and to this general rule the history of the early Christians, admirable as their conduct was in many respects, furnishes no exception. They, like all other men, fell sometimes into mistakes and errors, and if the consideration of these be less pleasing than that of their good qualities and virtues, it is by no means unworthy of our notice; it may afford us many a warning lesson, besides that it may prevent us, when we see that they were erring mortals like ourselves, from feeling despair of being able to follow in other respects their bright example. One great cause of the mistakes into which they were led was, that they were somewhat given to overdo what was right. From the spiritual Sodom of heathenism many of them, warned by the voice of the Gospel, had escaped for their lives ;" and, full of horror at the thoughts of the state from which they had been delivered, they continued to flee from it without ever recalling to mind that it was possible to go too far, to be wrong in the opposite extreme. They looked back with disgust upon the vices and loose morals of those whom they had left, and in consequence the early Christians were too apt to overstrain things the other way. Misled by this feeling they began very early to discourage second marriages, and some of them were even inclined to set their faces altogether against a married life*. One writer (A. D. 177,) ventures to say that "whosoever forsakes his wife, even though she be dead, is but a plausible adulterer." There were in the Church, from the very first, persons of both sexes, who from motives of religion were willing to live single, and devoted themselves to God. In those times of trial much might be said in favour of such a course, as it left the parties that chose it free from all domestic cares and encumbrances, on which account alone, no doubt, it is recommended by St. Paul. (1 Cor. vii.) But at length this kind of life was too much esteemed, even by pious and wellmeaning men; there was an appearance of holiness about it, which dazzled the minds of the vulgar, and furnished the better-informed with what seemed to be a strong argument for Christianity against * Several of the sects of heretics either were, or affected to be, very strict in this respect; and perhaps a wish not to be outdone in purity by these, might have some influence in making such doctrines fashionable. Instead of following the truth, and turning aside neither to the right hand nor to the left, men are often tempted into error by its vain, but shallow, pretences of superior holiness. heathenism; and finally it came to be so cried up and respected, as to become a cause of the greatest abuses. It would have been well, if the Church of Christ had always kept in mind the words of one, who was himself quite partial enough to a single life. He says, in arguing against certain heretics who considered marriage to have been instituted by Satan, that "the real Christian is not manifested by choosing a single life; but that he surpasses others who can attend to all the duties of the married and parental state without being separated from the love of God; who can rise superior to every trial occasioned by wife and children, by servants and possessions." And he adds, “the man that has no home is in many respects without a trial." If these remarks, sensible and agreeable as they are to Scripture and to reason, had been borne in mind by the early Church, later ages might perhaps have escaped those swarms of monks and nuns which have abounded to such a degree in the Romish Church, and have produced so much mischief, though not quite unmixed with good, in the Christian world. A kindred error to this, and one also which sprang from the very same desire of avoiding as far as possible the faults of the heathens, was the undue regard sometimes paid to fasting, and such like acts of mortification and self-denial. A certain degree of pride, and a wish to go somewhat beyond their bare duty, might, in each of these cases, have had its effect even in those times, upon the minds of some Christians. Especially after persecution had ceased, men were to be found, who, full of admiration for the martyrs, "contrived a method of voluntary martyrdom, and inflicted upon themselves as many pains and penalties as pagan cruelty had invented. They left parents, wives, friends, children, families, and fortunes; they retired from the world, they obliged themselves to a single and solitary life; and allowed themselves no more food, raiment, and sleep, than would just keep body and soul together. Several of them, when their mothers or sisters came to visit them, and earnestly begged admittance, would not be seen. When any of them quitted their retirement and returned to the world, they were considered as apostates, and men lost to goodness." that they sometimes carried their self-torments to such a pitch, as to drive themselves at last to distraction and self-murder. Many, too, who had been forced from home by persecution, becoming attached to the wild places where they had found shelter from the rage of their enemies, chose to live there for ever afterwards. Such a one was Paul of Thebais, an Egyptian, who, when quite young, withdrew to a cavern in the deserts, wherein he continued to dwell till his death, which, it is said, did not happen till nearly ninety years afterwards. He was called the first hermit, and was an object of much admiration. It would have been well, if he had done as little It is said |