Page:Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (1827) Vol 2.djvu/103

 OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE. 85 selected from the more opulent and distinguished CilAP. ranks of society, were strictly attached to the literal ^^' sense of the Mosaic law; and they piously rejected the immortality of the soul, as an opinion that received no countenance from the divine hook, which they revered as the only rule of their faith. To the authority of scripture the pharisees added that of tradition ; and they accepted, under the name of traditions, several speculative tenets from the philosophy or religion of the eastern nations. The doctrines of fate or predesti- nation, of angels and spirits, and of a future state of rewards and punishments, were in the number of these new articles of belief; and as the pharisees, by the austerity of their manners, had drawn into their party the body of the Jewish people, the immortality of the soul became the prevailing sentiment of the synagogue, under the reign of the Asmona'un princes and j)ontifrs. The temper of the jews was incapable of contenting itself with such a cold and lan<juiil assent as mi<dit satisfy the mind of a polytheist; and as soon as they admitted the idea of a future state, they embraced it with the zeal which has always formed the character- istic of the nation. Their zeal, however, added no- thing to its evidence, or even probability ; and it was still necessary, that the doctrine of life and immortal- ity, which had been dictated by nature, approved by reason, and received by superstition, should obtain the sanction of divine truth from the authority and example of Christ. When the promise of eternal happiness was pro- among the posed to mankind, on condition of adopting the faith and of observing the precepts of the gospel, it is no wonder that so advantageous an offer should have been accepted by great numbers of every religion, of every rank, and of every province in the Roman empire. The ancient christians were animated by a contempt for their present existence, and by a just confidence of immortality, of which the doubtful and imperfect faith of modern ages cannot give us any adequate no-