Yet The Civilians Have Always Respected The

A Jurisdiction Thus Vague And Arbitrary Was Exposed To The Most Dangerous Abuse: The Substance, As Well As The Form, Of Justice Were Often Sacrificed To The Prejudices Of Virtue, The Bias Of Laudable Affection, And The Grosser Seductions Of Interest Or Resentment.

[the] Penalty Of Death Was Abolished In The Roman Empire, A Law Of Mercy Most Delightful To The Humane Theorist, But Of Which The Practice, In A Large And Vicious Community, Is Seldom Consistent With The Public Safety.

It Was With The Utmost Difficulty That Ancient Rome Could Support The Institution Of Six Vestals; But The Primitive Church Was Filled With A Great Number Of Persons Of Either Sex Who Had Devoted Themselves To The Profession Of Perpetual Chastity.

The Archiepiscopal Throne Of Macedonius, Which Had Been Polluted With So Much Christian Blood, Was Successively Filled By Eudoxus And Damophilus. Their Diocese Enjoyed A Free Importation Of Vice And Error From Every Province Of The Empire; The Eager Pursuit Of Religious Controversy Afforded A New Occupation To The Busy Idleness Of The Metropolis: And We May Credit The Assertion Of An Intelligent Observer, Who Describes, With Some Pleasantry, The Effects Of Their Loquacious Zeal.

But The Sages Of Greece And Rome Turned Aside From The Awful Spectacle, And, Pursuing The Ordinary Occupations Of Life And Study, Appeared Unconscious Of Any Alterations In The Moral Of Physical Government Of The World.