290

THE DECLINE AND FALL

CHAP.

XX.

vi Free-dom ofpublicpreaching.

tians, of the participation of the sacraments,and of the hope of paradise. The bishop ex-horts the clergy, the magistrates, and thepeople, to renounce all society with the ene-mies of Christ; to exclude them from theirhouses and tables; and to refuse them the com-mon offices of life, and the decent rites of bu-rial. The church of Ptolemais, obscure andcontemptible as she may appear, addresses thisdeclaration to all her sister churches of theworld ; and the profane, who reject her decrees,will be involved in the guilt and punishment ofAndronicus and his impious followers. Thesespiritual terrors were enforced by a dexterousapplication to the Byzantine court; the trem-bling president implored the mercy of thechurch; and the descendant of Hercules en-joyed the satisfaction of raising a prostratetyrant from the ground/ Such principles, andsuch examples, insensibly prepared the triumphof the Roman pontiffs, who have trampled onthe necks of kings.

vi. Every popular government has expe-rienced the effects of rude or artificial eloquence.The coldest nature is animated, the firmest rea-son is moved, by the rapid communication of theprevailing impulse; and eachheareris affectedby his own passions, and by those of the sur-rounding multitude. The ruin of civil libertyhad silenced the demagogues of Athens, andthe tribunes of Rome ; the custom of preaching,

f See Synesins, Epist. xlvii, p. 186, 187. Epist. lxxii, p. 218, 219.Epist. lxxxlx, p. 230, 231.