Ecclesiastical History, Ancient And Modern, From The Birth Of Christ eBook

Whilst the greatest effort has been made to ensure the quality of this text, due to the historical nature of this content, in some rare cases there may be minor issues with legibility. VI. It is needless to repeat here the Observa tion we have had so Often occasion to make u on such conversions as these we have been now reiat ing, or to advertise the reader that the savage nations, who were thus dragooned into the church, became the disciples of Christ, not so much in reality, as in outward appearance. They professed, with an inward reluctance, a religion which wasinculcated by violence and bloodshed, which recalled to their remembrance nothing but scenes Of desolation and misery; and which, in deed, when considered in the representations that were given Of it by the greatest part of the mis sionaries, was but a few degrees removed from the absurdities of paganism.] The pure and rational religion of the gospel was never presented to these unhappy nations in its native simplicity; they were only taught to appease the Deity, and to render him propitious, by a senseless round of triing ceremonies and bodily exercises, which, in many circumstances, resembled the supersti tions they were obliged to renounce, and might have been easily reconciled with them, had it not been that the name and history of Christ, the sign Of the cross, and some diversity between certain rites and ceremonies of the two religions.