"ed under the darkness of Paganifin, were confer"red upon the latter under the light of the gof

pel; or rather, under that cloud of fuperftition "that was obfcuring its glory. It is true, that "as yet images were not very common, nor were "there any ftatues at all. But it is at the fame "time as undoubtedly certain, as it is extravagant

86

and monftrous, that the worship of the martyrs was modelled by degrees, according to the religious fervices that were paid to the gods before "the coming of Chrift."

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66

66

Page 193.

The reft, after, the example of Origen, are laborious in the fearch of far fetched interpretations; and pervert the interpretations "of feripture, which they but half understand, by applying them, or rather ftraining them, to mat"ters with which they have no connection. St. Auguftin and Tychonius endeavoured to eftablifh plain and wife rules for the interpretation of fcripture, but their efforts were unfuccefsful. "The doctrines of Chriftianity had not a better fate, than the facred fcripture, from whence

46

46

they were drawn. Origen was the great model, "whom the moft eminent of the Chriftian doctors "followed in their explications of the truths of the

63

gofpel; which were, of confequence, explained "according to the rules of the Platonic philofophy, "as it was corrected and modified by that learned "father for the inftruction of the youth."

Page 200. "When we caft an eye towards the lives and morals of Chriftians at this time, we find as formerly, a mixture of good and evil; fome eminent for their piety, and others infa"mous for their crimes. The number however, "of immoral and unworthy Chriftians began so to "increase, that the examples of real piety and vir"tue became extremely rare. When the terrors "of perfecution were totally difpelled; when the "church, fecured from the efforts of its enemies, enjoyed the fweets of profperity and peace; "when the most of the bishops exhibited to their "flocks the contagious examples of arrogance,

แ

luxury, effeminancy, animofity and ftrife, with "other vices too numerous to mention; when

the inferior rulers and doctors of the church fell "into a flothful and opprobrious negligence of the "duties of their refpective ftations, and employed "in vain wranglings and difputes, that zeal and at"tention, that were due to the culture of piety, "and to the inftruction of their people; and when, "to complete the enormity of this horrid detail, "multitudes were drawn into the profeffion of "Christianity, not by the power of conviction and "argument, but by the profpect of gain and the "fear of punishment; then indeed it was no won"der that the church was contaminated with shoals

"

of profligate Chriftians, and that the virtuous "few were, in a manner, oppreffed and over"whelmed

"whelmed with the fuperior numbers of the wic"ked and licentious. It is true, that the fame

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rigorous penitence which had taken place before "Conftantine the Great, continued now in full force against flagrant tranfgreffors; but when

66

the reign of corruption becomes univerfal, the vigour of the law yields to its fway, and a weak "execution defeats the purposes of the moft falu"tary difcipline. Such was now unhappily the

cafe: the age was finking daily from one pe"riod of corruption to another; the great and the powerful finned with impunity; and the obfcure "and the indigent felt alone the feverity of the "laws."

The barbarous nations which overspread the Roman empire in the fifth century, carried ignorance and darkness along with their conquefts; and banished real fcience from the empire. Thus Mofheim writes, Hift. Vol. i. page 237. "But the bar"barous nations which either fpread defolation, "or formed fettlements in the Roman territories, "checked the growth of thofe genial feeds which "the hands of fcience had fowed in more aufpi"cious times. Thefe favage invaders, poffeffed of "no other ambition than that of conqueft, and looking upon military courage as the only fource "of true virtue and folid glory, beheld of confe

quence the arts and fciences with the utmost

contempt. Wherever therefore they extended

"their

"their conquefts, ignorance and darkness followed "their steps, and the culture of the fciences was "confined to the priests and monks alone. And " even among these, learning degenerated from its primitive fuftre, and put on the most unfeemly "and fantaftic form. Amidft the feduction of "corrupt examples, the alarms of perpetual dan"ger, and the horrors and devaftations of war, the

facerdotal and monaftic orders loft gradually all "tafte for folid fcience, in the place of which they "fubftituted a lifelefs fpectre, an enormous phan"tom of barbarous erudition."

CHAP.

CHAP. IX.

Verses 1, 2d, 3d, 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th, 9th, 10th, 11th, 12th.

AND the fifth angel founded, and I faw A

a ftar fall from heaven unto the earth: and to him was given the key of the bottomlefs pit. And he opened the bottomlefs pit, and there arose a sinoke out of the pit, as the fmoke of a great furnace; and the fun and the air were darkened, by reafon of the smoke of the pit. And there came out of the finoke locufts upon the earth; and unto them was given power, as the fcorpions of the earth have power. And it was commanded them that they should not hurt the grafs of the earth, neither any green thing, neither any tree; but only thofe men who have not the feal of God in their foreheads. And to them it was given that they fhould not kill them, but that they fhould be tormented five months; and their torment was as the torment of a fcorpion, when he

ftriketh