ABSTRACT
Christianity at its beginning was preached to the poor, and during the first centuries gradually made its way up; yet even then it was the religion of towns and cities, so that after its triumph was established the same word came at length to signify a villager and a heathen. A religion of rites and ceremonies was as necessary for the rude and ferocious nations which overthrew the Roman empire, as for the Israelites when they were brought out of Egypt. The great struggle between the destructive and conservative principles,—between good and evil,—had not yet commenced; and it was not then foreseen that the very foundations of civil society would be shaken, because governments had neglected their most awful and most important duty. But the present consequences of this neglect were obvious and glaring; the rudeness of the peasantry, the brutality of the town populace, the prevalence of drunkenness, the growth of impiety, the general deadness to religion.
