CHA P. III. THE STATE OF THE CHURCH DURING THE REIGN ON the death of Juftin, his nephew Juftinian A.D fucceeded at Conftantinople in the year 527. 527. He was then forty-five years old, and reigned thirtynine. I fcarce know any prince, whofe real and oftenfible character were fo different. If one judge by external things, he may appear one of the wisest, the moft pious, and the most profperous of men. He re-united Africa and Italy to the Roman empire; he is to this day famous for his code of laws; he was temperate and abftemious in private life, and was inceffantly employed in religious acts and ceremonies he honoured monks and perfons reputed holy, built fumptuous churches, endowed monafteries, was liberal beyond measure in the fupport of the externals of religion, was inceffant in the encouragement of orthodoxy, at least of that which to him appeared to be fo; indefatigable through the courfe of a long life in public affairs; seems scarce to have ever unbended himself in any recreations, spent much time in religious fpeculations, rooted out idolatry from its obfcure corners, and brought over a number of barbarous kings and nations to the profeffion of Chriftianity. What a character, if his heart had been right! His understanding and capacity indeed have been called in question; but I think unjustly. No weak man could have done half of what he did. He muft have been a perfon of fuperior talents, and of very vigorous and strong faculties. But fo far as appears from his conduct, he was altogether, in religion, the flave of fuVOL. III. B perftition, perftition, in morality the flave of avarice. For gold he fold his whole empire to those who governed the provinces, to the collectors of tributes, and to those who are wont to frame plots against men under any pretences. He encouraged the vileft characters in their deteftable and infamous calumnies, in order to partake of their gains. He did alfo innumerable pious actions, fays Evagrius *, and fuch as are well pleafing to God, provided the doers perform them with fuch goods as are their own property, and offer their pure actions, as a facrifice, to God. In this emperor then it may be seen more eminently what a poor thing the body of Christian religion is without the fpirit. Whatever benefit the church might, in some cases, derive from his administration, particularly in what relates to the extenfion of its pale, this is to be afcribed to the adorable Providence of God bringing good out of evil. On the other hand the evil he wrought was palpable. Diffenfions and fchifms, forced converfions attended with cruelties which alienated men's minds still more from godliness, the increase of superstition and formality, the miferable declenfion of real internal godlinefs, especially through the Eaft, where his influence was moft extenfive, and the increase of ignorance and practical wickednefs, were the undoubted confequences of Juftinian's fchemes. In truth this man attempted too much he preffed uniformity of doctrine through the world by imperial menaces and arms: he laboured to bring all nations into a nominal attachment to Chriftianity; he prescribed what bishops and laity fhould believe, and was himself, in effect, the pope as well as Ch. XXX. B. IV. Evagrius Scholafticus. His ecclefiaftical history takes us up, juft after we are deferted by Socrates, Sozomen, and Theodoret, the tripartite hiftorians of the fame period; and in future I muft make fome use of him, though in historical merit far inferior to the three former. as the emperor of the Roman world; yet, wretched being! he himself feems not to have known any one thing in religion in a right manner. In external things he could not but fometimes be right; in internal religion it was hardly poffible he should be fo; for he was ignorant of his own heart, while his eyes and ears with infatiable curiofity were intent on all perfons and objects. It will not be pertinent to the defign of this history to enter into a detail of the actions of fuch a prince; but the view of his character, which I think is fupported by the concurrent teftimony of civil and ecclefiaftical hiftorians, may teach persons of eminence, either in power, or learning, or genius, who fhall give their minds to religious objects, to be in the first place more concerned for their own genuine converfion, and for perfonal godliness *; and then to contract and limit their plans within the humble circle that belongs to a fallible, confined, and short-lived creature like man; and fteadily to move within that circle in the propagation and support of the gospel of Chrift, and of whatever is virtuous and praife-worthy, without being feduced by romantic and dazzling schemes to attempt what is vaftly above their reach for by this method they may be the victims of their own ambition or avarice, while they think they serve God, and may fill the world with evil, while they vainly fuppofe they are its benefactors. But these are ideas with which the profane and the careless gover nor *Nothing fhews in a ftronger light the emptiness of his mind than his boafting after he had finished the magnificent Church of St. Sophia, "I have excelled thee, Solomon." Yet was this vain emperor made use of by Divine Providence as a shield to fupport external Chriftianity at least in the world. In his time Chofroes king of Perfia perfecuted the Chriftians in his dominions with extreme cruelty, and publickly declared, that he would wage war not only with Juftinian, but also with the God of the Chriftians. The military measures and the religious zeal of Juftinian however checked the progrefs of his ferocity. A.D. nor has no right to meddle: Juftinian was neither the one nor the other. He was ferious through life, though void of humility, faith, and charity; and for serious spirits, the caution, which his character is calculated to give, will stand an instructive lesson. In his first year he made laws relating to bishops: a few words of them will deferve to have a place in this history. "The absence of bishops, fays he, is the reason that divine fervice is fo negligently performed; that the affairs of the Churches are not fo. well taken care of, and that the ecclefiaftical revenues are employed in the expences of their journeys, and of their refidence in this city (he means the metropolis of Conftantinople) with the clergy and domeftics who accompany them.-Let no bishops quit their churches to come to this city, without an order from us, whatever may happen.-If we find their presence to be neceffary here, we will fend for them." What motives induced bishops to attend the court fo much, is easy to guess; and we have here a plain defcription how much the Eastern Church was fecularized, and how it gradually ripened into a fitnefs for defolating judgments. Juftinian fays further, "When an episcopal See becomes vacant, the inhabitants of the city fhall declare in favour of three perfons, whofe faith and manners shall be teftified by witneffes, that the most worthy may be chofen-" He proceeds to lay down rules to restrain the avarice of bishops; rules, which had no existence in purer times, because a purer fpirit prevailed. In the year 529, a council, memorable for its 529. evangelical fpirit, was held at Orange in France; Cæfarius was its head. He had, as I obferved, tafted the doctrine of Auguftine concerning grace, and was therefore zealous for its propagation. We may Fleury, B. XXXII, 10. may reasonably fuppofe the articles of this council to have been framed in oppofition to the attempts in favour of Semi-Pelagianifm made in France, as well as to give teftimony to the grace of the gofpel. Thirteen bishops were prefent, and we have a pleafing fpectacle of the work of the Divine Spirit flourishing in a confiderable degree in France, particularly in the parts about Orange, and in the vicinity of the Rhone. "Adam's fin, fays the council *, did not only hurt the body, but the foul; it defcended to his pofterity; the grace of God is not given to them who call upon him, but that grace is the cause that men do call upon him: the being cleanfed from fin and the beginning of our faith, is not owing to ourselves, but to grace. We are not able by our own natural ftrength to do or think any thing which may conduce to our falvation. We believe that Abel, Noah, Abraham, and the other fathers, have not had that faith by nature that St. Paul commendeth in them, but by grace." To clear the Almighty of being the author of fin, they add however, "that fome may be predeftinated to evil, we not only difbelieve, but deteft those who think fo.". These words express in substance the sentiments of these holy men. But to enable the reader to judge for himself what they were more precifely, I fhall give him two paffages from the fifth and feventh canons, tranflated at length from the Latin original. "If any one say, that the beginning or increase of faith, and the very affection of belief is in us, not by the gift of grace, that is by the infpiration of the Holy Spirit correcting our will from infidelity to faith, from impiety to piety; but, by nature, he is proved an enemy to the doctrine of the Apoftles." "If any man affirm, that he can, by the vigour of nature, think any thing good which per * See Fleury, Id. 12. tains |