legislation. the reconstruction of social relations between two hostile races, and holding out the model of Imperial legislation. Their position soon ensured territorial influence' and hierarchical organization; a valuable means of permanence in an age when moral consideration only or religious reverence might have proved short-lived. From this era, the era of Gregory the Great, may be dated the final Christianization of Europe in its full possession of society Its part in and of the human mind. The religion and laws of all nations are more or less closely connected : and the Barbaric Codes were framed for the most part after their settlement within the Empire and their submission to Christian teaching. The rise, then, of the Church of Christ on the ruins of the Imperial system; its assimilation of the new conditions under which it was placed; forming a bond of union among the scattered fragments of the Empire; the facility with which it applied itself to the social regeneration of the time, constitute a palmary example of the power and character of its influence, of its capacity for permanence and 1 See Robertson, u. s., and Milman's description of the position of bishops and clergy, Lat. Chr., I 361. "Thus the clergy stood between the two hostile races in the new constitution of society-the reconcilers, the pacifiers, the harmonizers of the hostile elements," &c. 2 Not indeed to the secular clergy at large. 3 Dean Milman, Lat. Chr., VI. 207, makes some just observations on the importance in respect of holding together the great commonwealth of European nations against a Mahommedan confederacy of an ubiquitous clergy, speaking a common language, of all countries, under one head, law, discipline, &c. poral sub tual liberty. this respect Eastern Chris advance. It is true that in secular matters, such as Its temthe confirmation of Bishops in their temporalities, ordination, (sometimes even in their election), the Church was subordinated to the royal mandates. But on the side of dogmatic and spiritual authority she remained free, supreme: and thus established herself in the most fertile and perennial source of influence, but spiriHow large a contrast to the decline of ecclesiastical importance in the Eastern Empire! There from Contrast in the despotic authority of the Emperors; their tra- between ditional policy of reducing the Bishops to depend- and Latin their custom of interference not only with the government and administration, but even with the creeds of the Church by decrees and edicts of doctrine; and also from the fact of the laity taking part in matters of theology, and converting them into instruments of policy; the relations of the ecclesiastical to the civil power were impaired : the influence of the clergy in spiritual affairs diminished; and the authority of the Christian doctrine, both among the Barbarian immigrants and within the bosom of the Empire, was vitally affected. Its consequences were witnessed alike in the sub 1 See Milman, L. Chr., I. 331. "Theodosius and Gratian define or ratify the definition of doctrines, declare and condemn heretics. Justinian is a kind of Caliph of Christianity," &c. Comp. Gieseler, I. 341, 421; II. 59, 119, § 116. The words of Constantine (ap. Euseb., Vit. Const., IV. xxiv.) are well known. See Robertson, C. H., I. 296, 298; III. 137. The Emperor Manuel took part, as an author, in theological controversy. Hence Iconoclasm, which was the Reformation of the Eastern Church, was abortive. tianity. Spiritual effects of the reli gion amid ruption. servience of Bishops and clergy, during the rival struggles of Constantinople and Alexandria, and in the Iconoclastic controversies, as also in the fanaticism of the monks of the East, alternately encouraged or compelled by court influence. § 9. There is ground, then, for asserting the presence during these centuries of high spiritual moral cor- ideas, notwithstanding the corruption and degeneracy of the times: and that the influence of these ideas produced effects which, with whatever admixture, are characteristic of the Religion of Jesus Christ. One by one the Barbarian Tribes, as they mingled with the Greek or Latin populations of the Empire, were silently subdued.' Later, indeed, in the case of the Franks, the compulsion of stern and even sanguinary legislation was brought to bear (partly for political objects) in aid of conversion. Heathenism, it might thus be said, 1 Allusion is here made more particularly to the Moeso-Goths, or, as known later, Ostro and Visigoths, within the Empire; not to the Gothi minores, as they were called, won over to the faith by Ulphilas, “que les Grecs appelèrent le Moïse de son temps." Ozanam, Études, II. 22. "No record whatever," says Milman, "not even a legend, remains of the manner in which the two great branches of the Gothic race, the Visigoths in France, the Ostrogoths in Pannonia, and the Suevians in Spain, the Gepidæ, the Vandals, the mingled hosts which formed the army of Odoacer, the first king of Italy, and at length the fierce Lombards, were converted to Christianity."-Lat. Chr., I. 255. Niebuhr remarks that the proportion of Christians among the Goths was much greater than among the populations they invaded. Vorträge, III. 316. See Robertson, C. H., I. 489. From Sozomen, H. E., II. vi., it would appear that Christianity was first spread by Roman captives in the wars of the third century. 2 46 Germany," says M. Littré, with some scorn, "disputed its con of involun version. waned before it, as Christianity in its turn within Examples the realm of Islamism. But the parallel suggested tary conwould be found inexact. For the Faith of Christ, though beaten down, survived in many quarters even under the scourge of Mahommedanism;' while Paganism in the far North of Europe altogether, however slowly, disappeared. From first to last in the work of the conversion of Europe it is plain to see that it was an infelt sense of the truth and of the blessings of Christ's Religion, which captivated and retained the homage of the Barbarian tribes: the combination of its deeper mysteries with the purity of its moral code. The Barbarians were True inopen to the influence neither of art nor of know- of Chrisledge. There remained only the logic of the heart. Here the satisfaction offered by the Faith of Christ to the fears and hopes of our nature with its yearning after the Unseen and Divine; here too the intrinsic and exquisite goodness of its teaching, wrought in the case of the German race on congenial soil. Apart version for four centuries, and then yielded to the sword of Charlemagne."-Les Barbares, p. 18. Mr. Freeman, Norman Conquest, I. 29, points out that in England Christianity made its way without violence and coercion. He quotes Bede, E. H., i. 25. 1 As, e. g., in Armenia. In Persia, Magism, which had resisted the appeal of Christianity, yielded to the scimitar of Mahomet. 2 Compare Tacitus (Germ., c. ix.). "Cæterum non cohibere parietibus Deos, neque in ullam humani oris speciem adsimilare ex magnitudine cœlestium arbitrantur: Deorumque nominibus appellant secretum illud quod solâ reverentiâ vident." It has been remarked by Grimm (D. M., pp. 9-11) that certain religious forms and words are common to all the races of Teutonic descent. See Milman, I. 242. Similarly the readiness of the language to frame words for the new doctrinal ideas of fluences tianity from any legendary pretensions to miraculous power, adapted to they were its permanent credentials to reception. ter of the Amid the tumult and suffering of an age of violence, the charac barbaric tribes. the piety of the Christian believer was the more Christianity points in the same direction. This topic is pursued by the same author (VI. 347). The same remark had been previously made by Guericke (Kirchengesch., sub init.). On the whole subject, see Guizot, Civ. en Fr., Lec. VII. Ozanam, Études Germaniques, I. c. iii. Krafft, Anfänge der Christlichen Kirche bei den Germanischen Völkern, and Merivale, Lectt., pp. 88, 130. He remarks on the connection between the Teutonic mythology and the teachings of Christianity, for which it formed a preparation. 1 Milman, Latin Christianity, I. 250. "Le Christianisme fut animé d'un ardent prosélytisme. Le prosélytisme triompha: les barbares furent vaincus et pris: s'ils avaient été inconvertibles, nul ne saurait dire ce qui serait advenu des destinées de l'Occident."-Littré, u. s. In a single generation from their conversion the Normans became remarkable for their devotion. See Hallam, M. A., I. 135. |