d chastity. Faith, zeal, curiosity,
and the more earthly passions of malice and ambition, kindled the flame
of theological discord; the church, and even the state, were distracted
by religious factions, whose conflicts were sometimes bloody, and always
implacable; the attention of the emperors was diverted from camps to
synods; the Roman world was oppressed by a new species of tyranny; and
the persecuted sects became the secret enemies of their country. Yet
party spirit, however pernicious or absurd, is a principle of union
as well as of dissension. The bishops, from eighteen hundred pulpits,
inculcated the duty of passive obedience to a lawful and orthodox
sovereign; their frequent assemblies, and perpetual correspondence,
maintained the communion of distant churches; and the benevolent temper
of the gospel was strengthened, though confined, by the spiritual
alliance of the Catholics. The sacred indolence of the monks was
devoutly embraced by a servile and effeminate age; but if superstition
had not afforded a decent retreat, the same vices would have tempted
the unworthy Romans to desert, from baser motives, the standard of
the republic. Religious precepts are easily obeyed, which indulge and
sanctify the natural inclinations of their votaries; but the pure and
genuine influence of Christianity may be traced in its beneficial,
though imperfect, effects on the Barbarian proselytes of the North.
If the decline of the Roman empire was hastened by the conversion of
Constantine, his victorious religion broke the violence of the fall, and
mollified the ferocious temper of the conquerors.

This awful revolution may be usefully applied to the instruction of
the present age. It is the duty of a patriot to prefer and promote the
exclusive interest and glory of his native country: but a philosopher
may be permitted to enlarge his views, and to consider Europe as one
great republic whose various inhabitants have obtained almost the same
level of politeness and cultivation. The balance of power will continue
to fluctuate, and the prosperity of our own, or the neighboring
kingdoms, may be alternately exalted or depressed; but these partial
events cannot essentially injure our general state of happiness,
the system of arts, and laws, and manners, which so advantageously
distinguish, above the rest of mankind, the Europeans and their
colonies. The savage nations of the globe are the common enemies of
civilized society; and we may inq