But be it remembered our immediate argument demands nothing beyond the proof necessary for showing that the ancient church cannot claim our submissive reverence on the ground of its alleged pre-eminent sanctity. Salvian's Preface dedicatory bespeaks the good man, bold from a sense of duty, and coming forward to urge useful, but very unpalatable truths, upon the consciences of his contemporaries. His language is not that of his times;-it is the language of honesty and of calm seriousness;-it is moreover wholly devoid of the animation of fanatical excitement. He is the very writer whom an historical inquirer, sickened with delusion, and with the attempt to delude, welcomes with a cordial greeting. The evidence of one such writer is worth more (if we ourselves be searching for truth) than many folios of devout declamation. 'Omnes enim,' says he, ' in scriptis suis causas tantum egerunt suas, et propriis magis laudibus quàm aliorum utilitatibus consulentes, non id facere adnisi sunt, ut salubres ac salutiferi, sed ut scholastici ac diserti haberentur. . . . . in scriptiunculis nostris non lenocinia esse volumus sed remedia, quæ scilicet non tàm otiosorum auribus placeant, quàm ægrotorum mentibus prosint, magnum ex utraque re cœlestibus donis fructum reportaturi.' This writer, throughout the treatise now before us, speaks as to the sick; nor is it possible to believe that he is feigning the facts he alleges; nor is his tone splenetic; and in all instances he loudly challenges the consciences of men to attest the truth of his heaviest criminations. I shall do the best I can, within the compass of a few pages, to present the general purport of this writer's evidence, touching the state of the christian community in his times; condensing what is much amplified; and, by omitting virtual repetitions, give the reader the historical substance of the treatise; at the same time laying before him Salvian's own words,* to such an extent at least, as will I think relieve me from any very weighty responsibility, as to the general fidelity of my report. The author, in the first and second books, establishes the doctrine of the divine government of the world; that is to say, as well the Gubernatio, as the Judicium, on the ground of reason, The original passages will be found in the Supplement to this number, where not on the page itself. by an adduction of examples, and by an appeal to the testimony of the Scriptures ;-ratione, exemplis, et testimoniis. Having done this, in a manner which he confidently assumes to be conclusive, he advances with so much the more calmness to a consideration of the difficulties that beset the doctrine.-If it be so, that the world is governed by a good and holy God-the christian's God, how is it that the condition of barbarous nations is by far better than our own; cur melior multo sit barbarorum conditio quàm nostra, (p. 66); and why, even among ourselves, is the lot of the good harder than that of the wicked? Such inquiries the author does not hold himself bound to meet, otherwise than by peremptorily referring to the abstract truth, as already established: and besides, who shall dare to penetrate the secret reasons of the divine mind? he insists, however, upon the topics ordinarily adverted to in explanation of such difficulties, and in doing so takes occasion to define the christian character:-a christian is one who is found faithful to Christ, and obedient to the divine commands, and who proves himself a good steward of the benefits entrusted to his care and what are these?- the Law, the Gospel, the Prophets, the Apostolic writings (lectiones) the gift of the new birth, the grace of holy baptism, the unction of the divine chrism (not extreme unction, but that of initiation.) ..... 'Those who are faithless to this trust are infidels, whatever may be their profession. And who then is faithful? Who regards even the most explicit of his Lord's commands ?-to wit,' &c. . . . Among his illustrations, Salvian refers to Paul's assertion that thrice he had suffered shipwreck. 'Well then, at last, if we fail in all other apostolic virtues, yet in this point we may make our boast, inasmuch as it is not thrice, but constantly that we christians are making shipwreck. In tantum quippe vitiosè ab omnibus vivitur, ut prope nullus christianorum sit, qui non jugiter naufragare videatur.' P. 78. But you say, 'Christians in these times are not called upon to endure persecutions-princes themselves being christians.-True; but do christians yield obedience to their Lord in those things which are of perpetual obligation? Who is it that patiently relinquishes his cloak? Where are they to be found who, yield to the spoiler? nay, where are any who do not endeavour to make reprisals upon their adversaries? So far is it from being true that we resign, with the cloak, aught beside -if by any means we can, we snatch from others coat and cloak too.' P. 79. And so as to smiting. - Who is there that, if he receives a blow, will not return many for one? and far from offering the other cheek to the smiter, that he might so conquer, he cannot be satisfied in smiting merely, but must slay his adversary. 'Well enough we seem to understand one half of the Lord's command-Whatsoever ye would,' &c. but we appear utterly ignorant (happy were we if ignorant indeed) of the other—' do ye the same to them.' Alas! instead of seeking the advantage of others, we seek our own at their cost! But you say these commands are such as none can possibly obey.-Are you indeed at liberty to make your choice among your Lord's injunctions? The Saviour has forbidden christian men to swear. But you may find more who often perjure themselves, than who swear not at all. He says, ' Curse not;' but of whom is not the speech a cursing? 'How can we wonder that God does not hearken to our prayers, seeing that we listen not to his commands? not merely do we neglect what is enjoined; but, with our utmost endeavour, we do the very contrary. God commands us to love one another; we rend each other. He commands us all to impart of our substance to the needy; we encroach upon each other's rights. God commands that the christian should be pure, even as to the eye; but who among us does not roll himself in the mire of fornication? and what more? alas how grievous and doleful is what I am to say! The very church of God, which in all things ought to be the pacificatrix of God, what in fact is she but the provoker of God? And a very few excepted, who flee from evil, what else is almost every assembly of christians, than a sink of vices? For you will find in the church scarcely one who is not either a drunkard, or a glutton, or an adulterer, or a fornicator, or a ravisher, or a frequenter of brothels, or a robber, or a manslayer;-and what is worse than all-almost all these without limit. I put it now to the consciences of all christian folks, whether it be not so, that you will barely find one who is not addicted to some of the vices and crimes which I have mentioned: or rather who is it that is not guilty of all? Truly you will more easily find the man who is guilty of all, than one who is guilty of none. As to this-none, my imputations perhaps may seem too serious: I will go further;-sooner will you find those chargeable with every crime, than any not chargeable with all;sooner those addicted to the greatest crimes, than those guilty of the less. I mean to say-more are living in the perpetration of the greater as well as of the lighter vices, than of the lighter alone. Into this shameless dissoluteness of manners (morum probrositatem) is nearly the entire ecclesiastical mass so sunk, that, throughout the christian community, it has come to be regarded as a species of sanctity, if one is a little less vicious than others. And so it is that the churches, or rather the temples and altars of God, are by some held in less reverence than the most inferior courts and common magistrates' rooms. . . . . . 'The churches,' says our author, are outraged by indecencies, and by the irreverence of those who rush thence, after the formal confession of their past sins, to the perpetration of more. You may well imagine what men have been thinking about at church, when you see them hurry off, some to plunder, some to get drunk, some to practise lewdness, some to rob on the highway. 'But it may be thought, perhaps, that the crimes and depravity I have spoken of attach only to certain slaves, and to a few persons of the lowest condition. No noble name, surely, is blotted by disgraces such as these! What else but fraud and perjury is the course of life of all traders? What but iniquity, that of those attached to halls and courts? What but false accusation, that of officials? What but rapine that of all the military? But you imagine perhaps that these alleged vices are such only as must be expected from men in their several professions. You say the behaviour of such men is only answerable to their profession; nor is it to be wondered at if they are found to act in character. As if, truly, God willed any (in the way of their calling) to do or profess what is wicked! . . . . . If so, the greater portion of mankind would be excused, on the plea of their profession. . . . But you say the body of nobility is altogether free from these crimes. Far is this from being the fact. .... For who is there, --- ..... whether among the noble, or among the rich (and it is one of the miseries of these times that none is accounted so noble as he who has amassed the greatest wealth) who is there that shudders at crime? But I am wrong-many shudder indeed at crimes, yet very few avoid them. At the vices of others they are shockedthemselves practising the same! Strangely are they seen, now accusing the guilty, now, excusing themselves. They execrate openly, what they perpetrate secretly; and in this way, while they believe that they are condemning others, they the more condemn themselves. . . . . . But who is there, whether rich or noble, preserving innocency, nay holding back his hand from crimes of every kind? It were superfluous to speak of all crimes. Would they were clear from the greatest. As to the less, I will say nothing, and especially as our great folks may think themselves privileged to indulge in smaller offences. Let us see then whether any of this rank can plead exemption from one of these two capital crimes-murder and adultery.* Who is there that, if his hands do not reek with human blood, is not soiled with foul impurities? and yet, though one of these burdens is enough to sink a man to perdition, hardly is there a rich man who is not chargeable with both. . . . . . 'What benefit can we think to derive from the holy name of christian, without the manners of a christian, seeing that a life at variance with the profession nullifies, by the pravity of our unworthy conduct, the honour due to the appellation. Wherefore, inasmuch as scarcely any one part of the christian community, scarcely any one corner of the churches, anywhere, is not full of offence, or not blotted with the stain of mortal sin, what room have we for flattering ourselves with an assumption of the christian name? And especially as we are only so much the more guilty in doing so much discredit to that sacred name. Sinning, as we do, under the obligations of religion, we only the more mock God.' + * As the writer is here explicitly speaking of the greatest enormities, these two words homicidium and stuprum, must be understood to carry the heaviest meaning that belongs to them. These citations are from the third book. The original of the principal passages will be found in the Supplement. |