She carried away in triumph the brightest ornament of the Pagan
schools and placed it in the hands of her chosen ministers. So that the
Christian pulpit soon began to rival the Forum in an eloquence which may
be called artistic,--a natural power of moving men, allied with learning
and culture and experience. Young men of family and fortune at last,
like Gregory Nazianzen and Basil, prepared themselves in celebrated
schools; for eloquence, though a gift, is impotent without study. See
the labors of the most accomplished of the orators of Pagan antiquity.
It was not enough for an ancient Greek to have natural gifts; he must
train himself by the severest culture, mastering all knowledge, and
learning how he could best adapt himself to those he designed to move.
So when the gospel was left to do its own work on people's hearts, after
supernatural influence is supposed to have been withdrawn, the
Christian preachers, especially in the Grecian cities, found it
expedient to avail themselves of that culture which the Greeks ever
valued, even in degenerate times. Indeed, when has Christianity rejected
learning and refinement? Paul, the most successful of the apostles, was
also the most accomplished,--even as Moses, the most gifted man among
the ancient Jews, was also the most learned. It is a great mistake to
suppose that those venerated Fathers, who swayed by their learning and
eloquence the Christian world, were merely saints. They were the
intellectual giants of their day, living in courts, and associating with
the wise, the mighty, and the noble. And nearly all of them were great
preachers: Cyprian, Athanasius, Augustine, Ambrose, and even Leo, if
they yielded to Origen and Jerome in learning, were yet very polished,
cultivated men, accustomed to all the refinements which grace and
dignify society.

But the eloquence of these bishops and orators was rendered potent by
vastly grander themes than those which had been dwelt upon by Pericles,
or Demosthenes, or Cicero, and enlarged by an amazing depth of new
subjects, transcending in dignity all and everything on which the
ancient orators had discoursed or discussed. The bishop, while he
baptized believers, and administered the symbolic bread and wine, also
taught the people, explained to them the mysteries, enforced upon them
their duties, appealed to their intellects and hearts and consciences,
consoled them in their afflictions, stimulated their hopes, aroused
their fears, a