98 THE DECLINE AND FALL CHAP, divine Master, the missionaries of the gospel disdainetl '__ not the society of men, and especially of women, op- pressed by the consciousness, and very often by the effects, of their vices. As they emerged from sin and superstition to the glorious hope of immortality, they resolved to devote themselves to a life, not only of virtue, but of penitence. The desire of perfection became the ruling passion of their soul ; and it is well known, that while reason embraces a cold me- diocrity, our passions hurry us, with rapid violence, over the space which lies between the most opposite extremes. Care of When the new converts had been enrolled in the taTi'mr'"' number of the faithful, and were admitted to the sacra- ments of the church, they found themselves restrained from relapsing into their past disorders by another con- sideration, of a less spiritual, but of a very innocent and respectable nature. Any particular society that has de- parted from the great body of the nation, or the religion to which it belonged, immediately becomes the object of universal as well as invidious observation. In propor- tion to the smallness of its numbers, the character of the society may be affected by the virtue and vices of the persons who compose it; and every member is engaged to watch with the most vigilant attention over his own be- haviour, and over that of his brethren; since, as he must expect to incur a part of the common disgrace, he may hope to enjoy a share of the common reputation. When the christians of Bithynia were brought before the tri- bunal of the younger Pliny, they assured the proconsul, that, far from being engaged in any unlawful conspiracy, they were bound by a solemn obligation to abstain from the commission of those crimes which disturl) the pri- vate or public peace of society, from theft, robbery, adultery, perjury, and fraud p. Near a century after- wards, Tertullian, with an honest pride, could boast, that very few christians had suffered by the hand of the executioner, except on accoiuit of their reli- P riin. Epistol. X. P7.
