400

THE DECLINE AND FAIX

chap, of the true faith, and the hope of eternal happi-~^. I .„ ness - y Sometimes they rudely disturbed thefestivals, and profaned the temples of paganism,with the design of exciting the most zealous ofthe idolaters to revenge the insulted honour oftheir gods. They sometimes forced their Avayinto the courts of justice, and compelled the af-frighted judge to give orders for their immediateexecution. They frequently stopped travellerson the public highways, and obliged them to in-flict the stroke of martyrdom, by the promise ofa reward, if they consented, and by the threatof instant death, if they refused to grant so verysingular a favour. When they were disappoint-ed of every other resource, they announced theday on which, in the presenceof their friends andbrethren, they should cast themselves headlongfrom some lofty rock; and many precipices weresheAvn, which had acquired fame by the num-ber of religious suicides. In the actions of thesedesperate enthusiasts, Avho were admired by oneparty as the martyrs of God , and abhorred bythe other as the victims of Satan, an impartialphilosopher may discover the influence and thelast abuse of that inflexible spirit, which wasoriginally derived from the character and prin-ciples of the Jewish nation.

Genera The simple narrative of the intestine divisions,

of a the Cter "which distracted the peace, and dishonoured thesects** 811 t r i um ph,of the church, will confirm the remark ofA^ o/sia- a pagan historian, and justify the complaint of a

1 The donatist suicides alleged in their justification the example ofRazier, which is related in the 14th chapter of the second book of theMaccabees.