and the particular God, to whom the play was dedicated, on the left. In this state, much degenerated by show and spectacle, the fathers found the Roman stage. And it was occasionally profaned by representations of the Ludi Scenici. “ Nec fas est nobis audire adulteria deorum hominumq, qur suavi verborum modulantur mercedet."

This being the case, a christian could not be present, or assist at these representations, without openly countenancing or conforming to the idolatrous worship of the Heathens; which the fathers, as became conscientious and pious pastors, were extremely solicitous to prevent. They were sensible of the difficulties they had to encounter, and the obstacles they had to surmount.

† Another instance of their incorrectly blending the Histriones and the Ludi.

The christian religion was yet but newly planted, and therefore until it had taken suficient root, was carefully to be covered and defended from the injuries of rude beasts, and the contagion of those rank superstitious weeds that grew about it, by which the root might be killed, or the soil infected, and the sap withdrawn. Paganism was a religion invented at first to oblige and captivate the people, and gained its credit and authority among them by indulging their sensuality, and even gratifying their lusts; it was augmented by degrees, by ambitious cunning men, who, to render themselves more popular, and gain an interest with the multitude, recommended to them under the notion of religion, what they found most acceptable to the humour and palate of the populace. By this means the various processions, games, and shows, were introduced, and became the most formal part of their solemnities; men being

easily persuaded to like what was so conformable to their inclinations, that in the exercise and discharge of their duties, their senses were entertained, and their appetites flattered. Against a superstition thus framed for luxury, and contrived for sensual enjoyment, christianity was to make its way, drive out those rites, destroy a title founded upon the prescription of many ages, supported by the authority of the civil government, and fortified in its possession by prejudice, inclination, and interest; and all this to be done with the assistance only of truth, and simplicity of doctrine and manners. The pomp and magnificence of their solemn worship was absolutely to be taken away, and their licentious practices to be restrained, reformed, and replaced, by severe principles and austerity. All this to be accomplished amongst a people, whom the submission and tribute of the world for ages, had made wealthy, proud, and wanton.

It is not, therefore, to be wondered at if those early champions of the gospel proportioned their zeal and vigilance to the magnitude of the occasion, and the strength of the opposition. The games and shows of the ancient heathens were the parts of their religion the most generally engaging, that attracted most and kept the multitude firmest to them. The fathers, who knew where the strength lay, have employed all their artillery against these shows; their batteries have played incessantly upon them as the only forts that were capable of making resistance and stopping their progress The drama, from its idolatrous origin, and its then existing appearance, of course participated with the shows in the condemnation of the fathers. It was unwarrantable because idolatrous; and, in their opinion, impossible for a christian, however well principled or disposed, to partake of the entertainment without shar

ing the pollution, or to abstract the diversion from the guilt. They thought it dangerous to trust their converts, however fortified, to the temptation of so seductive a religion, which was far from curbing the appetites or laying any restraints upon the desires of its proselytes. Indeed, many of its duties were but panders to their lusts, and most of its acts of devotion so many entertainments for their senses. The portion of those that embraced christianity was mortification and suffering, meeting perpetual discouragement, and (until the time of Constantine) encountering frequent persecutions. Their reward was in reversion; their expectation, indeed, was large, but the prospect was distant. Present ease and enjoyment are too apt to prevail against a remote hope. In our common affairs of the world futurity maintains itself but ill against the present; and neither the greatness nor the certainty of the reversion will