PART II 



THE ARREST OF ENQUIRY 

 A.D. SO-A.D. 400 



I. From the Early Christian Period to the Time 

 of Augustine 



' A revealed dogma is always opposed to the free research that may 

 contradict it. The result of science is not to banish the divine alto- 

 gether, but ever to place it at a greater distance from the world of 

 particular facts in which men once believed they saw it.' RENAN. 

 Essay on Islamism and Science. 



A DETAILED account of the rise and progress of the 

 Christian religion is not within the scope of this 

 book. But as that religion, more especially in the 

 elaborated theological form which it ultimately 

 assumed, became the chief barrier to the develop- 

 ment of Greek ideas ; except, as has been remarked, 

 in the degree that these were represented by 

 Aristotle, and brought into harmony with it ; a short 

 survey of its origin and early stages is necessary to 

 the continuity of our story. 



The history of that religion is told according 

 to the bias of the writers. They explain its rapid 

 diffusion and its ultimate triumph over Paganism 



