Page:New Christianity.pdf/37

 and slaves; the class of masters was divided into two castes: that of patricians, who made the laws and occupied all the important offices; and that of plebeians, who were obliged to obey the law, although it was not made by them, and who filled, in general, only subaltern employments. The greatest philosophers could not conceive that civilization might have any other basis.

There existed as yet no system of morality, since nobody had yet found the means of collecting.

There existed as yet no religious system, since all the public creeds admitted a multitude of gods, which inspired men with different sentiments, even opposed the one to the other.

The human heart was not as yet elevated to philanthropic sentiments. The patriotic sentiment was the most general which was felt by the most generous minds; and the patriotic sentiment was extremely circumscribed, considering the small extent of territory, and the little importance of the people, among the nations of antiquity.

One single nation, the Romans, reigned over all others, and governed them arbitrarily.

The dimensions of the planet were not yet known; so that there could not be conceived any general plan of amelioration for the territorial property of the human race.

In one word, Christianity, its morality, its worship, its dogma, its partizans, and its ministers, began completely out of the pale of the social organization of that day, as well as of the customs and manners of society.

II. At the epoch when Luther effected his reformation, civilization had made great progress; since the establishment of Christianity, society had entirely changed its appearance. The social organization was founded upon new bases.

Slavery was almost entirely abolished; the patricians possessed no longer the exclusive right of making laws; they no more exercised all the important employments; the temporal power, impious in its