opponent
of that church, but from a dutiful son of hers. The work from which I am
making this extract is, moreover, considered as one of the master-pieces
of modern French literature, and it was crowned by one of the most learned
bodies of Europe--the _Academie des Inscriptions et des Belles Lettres_ of
Paris.(15)

"The fundamental idea of Christianity," says our author, "was a new,
powerful idea, and independent of all those by which it had been preceded.
However, the men by whom the Christian system was extended and developed,
having been formed in the school of Paganism, could not resist the desire
of connecting it with the former systems. St Justin, St Clement (of
Alexandria), Athenagoras, Tatian, Origenes, Synesius, &c., considered
Pagan philosophy as a preparation to Christianity. It was, indeed, making
a large concession to the spirit of the ancient times; but they believed
that they could conceal its inconveniences by maintaining in all its
purity the form of Christian worship, and rejecting with disdain the
usages and ceremonies of polytheism. When Christianity became the dominant
religion, its doctors perceived that they would be compelled to give way
equally in respect to the external form of worship, and that they would
not be sufficiently strong to constrain the multitude of Pagans, who were
embracing Christianity with a kind of enthusiasm as unreasoning as it was
of little duration, to forget a system of acts, ceremonies, and festivals,
which had such an immense power over their ideas and manners. The church
admitted, therefore, into her discipline, many usages evidently pagan. She
undoubtedly has endeavoured to purify them, but she never could obliterate
the impression of their original stamp.

"This new spirit of Christianity--this eclectism, which extended even to
material things--has in modern times given rise to passionate discussions;
these borrowings from the old religion were condemned, as having been
suggested to the Christians of the fourth and fifth centuries by the
remnants of that old love of idolatry which was lurking at the bottom of
their hearts. It was easy for the modern reformers to condemn, by an
unjust blame, the leaders of the church; they should, however, have
acknowledged, that the principal interest of Christianity was to wrest
from error the greatest number of its partisans, and that it was
impossible to attain this object without providing for the obstinate
adherents of the fals