be the least fitted to receive the gospel; and its general
propagation among them would be embarrassed by many peculiar
difficulties. The rural population was probably not entirely converted
before the general establishment of the monastic institutions. Compare
Quarterly Review of Beugnot. vol lvii. p. 52--M.]

[Footnote 56: Such a charge should not be lightly made; but it may
surely be justified by the authority of St. Augustin, who thus
addresses the Donatists: "Quis nostrum, quis vestrum non laudat leges
ab Imperatoribus datas adversus sacrificia Paganorum? Et certe longe
ibi poera severior constituta est; illius quippe impietatis capitale
supplicium est." Epist. xciii. No. 10, quoted by Le Clerc, (Bibliotheque
Choisie, tom. viii. p. 277,) who adds some judicious reflections on the
intolerance of the victorious Christians. * Note: Yet Augustine, with
laudable inconsistency, disapproved of the forcible demolition of the
temples. "Let us first extirpate the idolatry of the hearts of the
heathen, and they will either themselves invite us or anticipate us in
the execution of this good work," tom. v. p. 62. Compare Neander, ii.
169, and, in p. 155, a beautiful passage from Chrysostom against all
violent means of propagating Christianity.--M.]

Chapter XXVIII: Destruction Of Paganism.--Part III.

In the cruel reigns of Decius and Dioclesian, Christianity had been
proscribed, as a revolt from the ancient and hereditary religion of the
empire; and the unjust suspicions which were entertained of a dark
and dangerous faction, were, in some measure, countenanced by the
inseparable union and rapid conquests of the Catholic church. But the
same excuses of fear and ignorance cannot be applied to the Christian
emperors who violated the precepts of humanity and of the Gospel. The
experience of ages had betrayed the weakness, as well as folly, of
Paganism; the light of reason and of faith had already exposed, to the
greatest part of mankind, the vanity of idols; and the declining sect,
which still adhered to their worship, might have been permitted
to enjoy, in peace and obscurity, the religious costumes of their
ancestors. Had the Pagans been animated by the undaunted zeal which
possessed the minds of the primitive believers, the triumph of the
Church must have been stained with blood; and the martyrs of Jupiter and
Apollo might have embraced the glorious opportunity of devoting their
lives and fortunes at the foot of their