If we wish to arrive at a fair estimate of the poems of Paulinus, we must not confine ourselves to a few of the best parts, but examine a little the feebler portions. One of these, commemorating a miracle attributed to St. Felix, is as prosaic as any thing in metre can possibly be. The story is this: A poor man, who had put himself under the protection of St. Felix, is robbed of two favourite bullocks, animals which constituted all his wealth, and which he treated like children. He prays vigorously to the saint, through whose carelessness the misfortune has occurred: blames his want of foresight in leaving no trace of their footsteps, or clue to the place of their concealment; and demands them as of a responsible guardian, from whom he is determined to accept no shuffling excuse. He even declines the trouble of searching for his cattle, as a step unworthy of himself and his patron ; they must be restored to him on the very spot. The saint still forbears to interfere, and is reproached as a party to the theft; he certainly knows where they are, and yet refuses to produce them.

"Te teneo; tu scis ubi sunt, qui lumine Christi
Cuncta et aperta vides, longeque absentia cernis:
Non tibi celantur."

Still no answer; the suppliant maddened by despair, threatens to die on the spot, to lay down his life on the threshold of the church, and deprive the saint of the opportunity of restoring the bullocks at all.

"Ni properes, isto deponam in limine vitam,
Nec jam comperies cui reddas serò juvencos."

poor

During the night a knocking is heard at the man's door: he rises in alarm; but the horns of the beloved animals appearing in the doorway, dispel at once his terror and his grief.

DEO HONOR ET CLORIA

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CONCLUSION.

THAT a general change had passed upon the exterior of the Roman Church during its occupation of the Catacombs, is evident from the descriptions left by cotemporary Christian writers. If further proof be wanting, it is easily obtained by comparing with each other the calumnies of Pagans at different epochs, in which we have not only a forcible, though rudely executed, picture of primitive Christianity, but also an argument against the existence of many customs and observances, concerning which an entire silence was maintained by them.

The earliest accusations brought against the Christians were levelled principally at their obstinate adherence to their religion, and refusal to sacrifice to idols. Pliny described them as meeting together to worship Christ, to sing hymns, and to partake of a social meal: their morals were represented as pure, their opinions as simply opposed to the religion of the state. The same objections were urged afresh from time to time, with such additions as the malice of the heathen could invent, principally in relation to the supposed immorality of the Agape. No new accusations are noticed by Tertullian, nor by Minucius Felix, who, in the dialogue entitled "Octavius," has put into the mouth

of a Pagan the following description of them:"A darkling and light-avoiding race, dumb in public, garrulous in corners, they despise temples and tombs, revile the gods, and ridicule sacred rites; the wretches actually pity the honours of our priests, and, half-naked themselves, scorn the purple. O wonderful folly and incredible presumption! they contemn present torments, while they dread those that are future and uncertain: and while they fear to die after death, they are not afraid of dying immediately. *** They worship what they deserve" (meaning the cross). "The Jews," he continues, were an impracticable people enough; yet even they had temples and sacrifices but these, why have they no altars, temples, and images known to us? why must they always talk in secret, and never come together openly? what object can they have in all this, unless their worship and intercourse is something to be ashamed of, or to be punished?"

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Another general stumbling-block to the Pagans was the Divinity of Christ, and the worship offered to Him. One of their taunts on this subject has been preserved by Arnobius: "You worship a man, born, and crucified in a manner proper to vile persons: you contend that he is God, believe him yet living, and address him with daily prayers. The same objection was urged by Celsus: "After an infamous life, and a most wretched death, you

* Arnobius contrà Gentes, lib. i.

have made a God of him: how much more worthy of that honour ought you to consider Jonah under his gourd, or Daniel coming unharmed out of the den of lions, and others still more wonderful?”*

Not only can we, from these sarcasms cast upon the Christians for their adoration of the Saviour, prove the non-existence of martyr-worship in the days of heathen rule; but, from the after-controversy between the contending parties, we are enabled to date with accuracy the introduction of the new worship of saints and relics. Almost the latest objection to heathen idolatry made by a Christian, is to be found in the writings of Lactantius, early in the fourth century: with very little alteration, it might be addressed to a modern Romanist: "Why do you not raise your eyes to heaven, and, calling upon the names of the gods, offer sacrifices in open space? Why look rather to walls, and wood, and stone, than to that place in which you believe them to dwell? What is the meaning of temples, and of altars; what especially of images, which are either monuments of the dead or of the absent living?" But the argument, so long and so powerfully wielded against heathenism, was from that time abandoned, and, strange to say, was even turned against Christianity, at least the Christianity of the fourth century.

The worship of saints was first openly attacked by the Emperor Julian: "Instead of many gods," * Origen in Celsum, lib. vii.

† De Origine Erroris, lib. ii.