10. OF THE PECULIAR CHARACTERS,

WHICH DISTINGUISH THESE FIVE SUC

CESSIVE

PERIODS OF SECULAR AND

RELIGIOUS HISTORY.

MODERN

Q. DESCRIBE now more particularly HISTORY. the characters, or leading circumstances, which distinguish each of these COMMON PERIODS of Secular and Religious history.

A. The FIRST of these common periods commences with the establishment of the ROMAN, or Fourth, Empire by Augustus Cæsar, and with the Birth of Christ; and it extends to the extirpation of Paganism, and the final establishment of the eastern or GREEK HEAD of Roman empire by Theodosius and his

sons, in A. D. 395. This period is there- MODERN fore marked,

1. As to its SECULAR history, by the progress of the Imperial dignity of Rome; from the elevation of its FIRST head of empire in Rome, to the final establishment of its SECOND head of Empire in Constantinople. And,

2. As to its RELIGIOUS history, by the progress of the Christian Church; from its original foundation in JUDEA, to its triumph over the powers of idolatry throughout THE ROMAN EMPIRE.

"The division of the Roman world "between the sons of Theodosius, A. D. "395, (says Mr. Gibbon,) marks the final "establishment of THE EMPIRE of THE "EAST. The sovereign of that empire "assumed the title of EMPEROR of the "ROMANS; and the hereditary appella"tions of CESAR and AUGUSTUS Con"tinued to declare, that he was the legi

HISTORY.

MODERN "timate successor of the first of men, HISTORY. "who had reigned over the first of

"nations*"

66

"The ruin of Paganism in the age of "Theodosius, A. D. 378-395, (says the same writer,) is perhaps the ONLY EX"AMPLE of the total extirpation of an "ancient and popular superstition; and "may therefore deserve to be consi"dered, as a singular event in the his"tory of the human mind+." Thus the philosophical historian; but with far greater compass of thought, and force of truth, the philosophical divine: "The "universal extirpation of idolatry, and "the general establishment of the pure "worship of the true God the bruise

upon the serpent's head' is an event of "its nature SINGLE; a thing which must "be done once for all; and, being done,

can never be repeated;—and must be "allowed to be a proof, that the whole

Gibbon, Roman Emp, ch. xxxii. + Ib. ch. xxvii.

HISTORY.

work and counsel was of God; if in MODERN any case it be allowed, that the nature "of the cause may be known by the "effect*."

Q. What is the character which principally distinguishes the Second Common Period?

A. The SECOND period, common to secular and religious history, commences from the final establishment of the Greek or eastern head of Roman empire by Arcadius, son of Theodosius, and from the extirpation of the ancient Paganism; and it extends to the independence of the bishop of Rome upon the Greek emperor, and to the elevation of the FRANKISH HEAD of Roman empire in the person of Charlemagne, king of the Franks, in A. D. 800. This period is therefore marked,

1. As to its SECULAR history, by the

* Bp. Horsley's Serm. xvi. p. 53, 54.