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temples said to be built by Hadrian were intended for theworship of himself, or the worship of Christ; for Casaubonand Pagi think he designed them for himself, whilst Iluetiusdefends Lampridius, his relation, who says, “ He designedthem for the honour of Christ yet it is certain, that afterthey had been used to other purposes, they were at last, someof them, turned into Christian churches: for Epiphanius says, ‘ There was a great temple at Tiberias, called theHadrianum, which the Jews made use of for a bath ; butJosephus Comes, the converted Jew , in the time of Constan-tine, turned it into a church.’ And the like was done byanother of them by Athanasius at Alexandria, having beforebeen the hall or place of Licinius, as the same Epiphanius informs us. So that now, partly by the munificence of theemperors, and partly by their orders for converting heathentemples into churches, and partly by the great zeal and libe-rality of private Christians in times of peace, churchesbecame another thing from what they were in former ages, thatis, more noble and stately edifices, more rich and beautiful.”
Thus far Bingham, who seems to conclude from the abovequotations of the early writers, that to convert heathen tem-ples into Christian churches was not an uncommon prac-tice : a writer, however, in the Quarterly Review, in a cri-tique on the publications of Knight and Bunsen, on Eccle-siastical Antiquities, arrives at a very different conclusion ;and as he has evidently given more than ordinary attentionto the subject, it may not be amiss to refer to his remarks, inthis place :—
“ The antipathy,” says he, “ borne by the early Christians to the fine arts, debased by the pollutions of heathen idolatry,can neither be denied nor concealed ; and the same causeswhich prevented the cultivation of the arts, ensured thedegradation and subversion of their proudest and most splendidmonuments. Excluding for the present the consideration ofother agencies, the first paragraph in the rise of Christian architecture, must narrate the fall of the structures devotedto the superstition, which it was the end of the gospel toobliterate and destroy.
“ The heathen temples were doomed to inevitable ruin.Laws had been promulgated by Theodosius for their preser-vation; conducive to the decoration of the city, they mightbe perhaps rendered useful for the purposes of civil society.Some may have been thus respited, though not rescued, untilthe decayed remains crumbled to the ground ; they werenever respected or honoured by public opinion, and couldrarely be adapted to the objects pointed out by the imperiallaw, without such alterations as in most cases amounted todestruction. Others were accidentally preserved in desolateor secluded situations, in the forest or the marsh, or themountain-glen, or on the shore, whence the inhabitants havebeen extirpated, or chased away. Such are the columns ofPsestum: the heavens are yet as bright as when the garlandshung down from the ruined architrave ; the sea as azure aswhen the waves were ploughed by the painted prows; thecrushed herbs beneath your feet, still send up their richperfume. To the senses, the works of art are still as noble,the works of nature as sweet and gay; but the whole scenemourns under the curse inflicted upon scoffing, lascivious,corrupted Hellas . Language, people, race—their very namehas disappeared. The wasting pestilence still hovers, andwill ever hover, marking the vengeance which has fallen onthe deserted shore.
“ Few temples were ever adapted for the purposes ofChristian worship; fewest of all in the capital of the Chris-tian world. ‘ Of the Christian hierarchy,’ says Gibbon, ‘ thebishops of Rome were commonly the most prudent and theleast fanatic; nor can any positive charge be opposed to
tbe meritorious act of saving and converting the 0 f tl> estructure of the Pantheon.’ In casting the accom^ ^ pofl'merits and demerits of the Christian hierarchy, sU c j|„edtiff as Gregory the Great would have been y* na tim 3lI) iaccept the encomium. In the gergo of Gibbon, a ct,
is piety, and ‘ prudence’ unbelief. The ‘ men to* e{at by
or diS'
; ’*th e
prudence’ unbelief.
thankful as we may be for the result, wasno means influencing the general balance of >
praise ; it was tbe solitary performance of Bonn ' t
was an act from which no consequences resulted- ^juiip 1 ®exception of the Pantheon, we fail to detect any Teain Rome , of a temple which can be said to owe it® c | e rgy-tion, in th a proper sense of the term, to the Chn» 1,1
They had no thought of the kind—they took no P^ c ar^such antiquities. They sought no credit eX» 1I1 P 1
Antiquaries, with eager zeal, have collected about . cJ iSin which this preservation is asserted. Even JI ^p 1 j ll iedwhich are least dubious, no further merit can be c ^ 0 rl' lC °’tbe hierarchy than the accidental preservation 0 ^leso 1 *a cella, or a wall, an encumbrance which it was ^ u jltto remove—a fragment which saved some expen® J (0 vvl> lCconcealed, marred, or deformed by the new erectit was unwillingly conjoined. ri,ristia nS ’ “ltd
“ It could not be otherwise. In the early ^ altj W° . eparticipation in our modern worship of heath a |lhave been false and unnatural. All the °P inl g ar {yhabits, all tbe feelings, all the conscience, of the ^ iyl0r inl 9 ^tinns strove against the preservation of the t ),eyheathenism. Neither beauty nor convenience, 1 g pec'possessed the latter requisite, would, save in s° nie gerva 1 '^cases, like that of the Pantheon, plead for the I’ j ( ,,. B dof the relics of classical antiquity. They c °”ywi® e t oidols as accursed. No object which had .i!T b e sUl>P°f e ho utconnected with the worship of idols, or could j w* 1 |1)fhave been employed in their service, was to b ^ Q. dieexorcism. Thus, in the ritual of the chuic i n( j inthere is a form of prayer for hallowing the vaS ® , e d for ^Roman encampment, which could not be emp ) jsjot tt ,Christian use until subjected to such purificatio ^ gall t, °!.tiilthis belief confined to the rude Northumbrian ]^ ( j 1(J p® fa barbarous age. Let us place ourselves be )( j g . 1 g (
of St. Peter’s, fresh from the workmen a ae 0 beb®months have been employed in removing the 1 n y r0 nt ° , j„gSesostris from the ruins of Nero’s Circus to t ^ cJ . e agreat Basilica. Eight hundred workmen, toi 1 o v ||ll»
> efZ
wbic'*
1 am 1 '
"inch and firroanirxr /.«
deathless p rnw j ° c ^P stan > heave up the mass ; ,r ;^ , &
It Stops ; XI Z ti,e sW ™ingthe individual wlm ° ne * a 9 ua a ^ e f um ’ w )IC ' the P ,llX1of death, enables f , SUgSests t,le happy expedient, tothe thunder of th* & mnestro to complete his task , eJ . eC t
'™PV of a, e v iM „, z,::,z
- —:^n with its
cH 1
nil®
i<m s
yet be received *
slavery to the fiend'w , 1 ’/ 1 "*' 1 a]1 connectlon >V V" „ (>r° L
sion, the sum-emo J leen destroyed. In solemn f 0! w g dedicated to the°f'T exorcises the magnificent " (e jU t0 the honolr p, uI su P e ™titi 0 n of Misraim, « ,,d d ,,id>
were deemed to extiJ^i Cl ' oss ’ Performing the ritesex pel the evil spirit. ' rl
Th0S6
®hapG jjj the h i* t* 4
nevertheless, resn!^ , !!' icil dict:l ted these ceremc
majestic latiirn.jjl t ie sen timents contained in d' ,■ piespoils of heath,?,,-’ commem orating the consecration e
Crux Domini_pj Sm to tile service of the Cross- . tl! i
Christus vincit-Christus regnat-f^suiun dele
■et s
imperat—Christus ab omni malo plebemVicit Leo de tribu Juda.’ , i,
yet
tlie r '