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stop the decay, and arrest the break-up of the Roman empire. To that it 
would be enough to remark, that God both could and did choose to bring 
about the regeneration of society by other means. But a fuller answer can 
be given. The Roman empire was doomed, like other empires, to decay, 
because, like them, it was founded upon a falsehood. Its principle was the 
deification of man as man, with all his imperfections on his head. We learn 
from the prophecy of Daniel that the “ stone made without hands ” had long 
been destined, in the providence of God, to destroy that evil, that idolatrous 
principle, and to substitute for it the deification of man by personal union with 
God. The dissolution of the Roman empire, with its Bivus hnperator, its 
sacrifices to his genius , must first take place, before society, constructed 
upon its only true basis, could advance to her true perfection. Mr. Leach 
next inquires, why Christianity, in times past, instead of encouraging 
science, always opposed it. In the first place, his remark is true of physical 
science only ; for, as was remarked (to me) in the course of the discussion, 
we owe all our other knowledge to the mediaeval clergy, who cultivated it, as 
far as possible, in their monastic retreats, when the world outside was in too 
disturbed a condition to pursue it. In the next, we have to remember that 
one great truth of Christianity was this, “ To the poor the Gospel is preached.” 
The old philosophies exalted the intellect ; they had no message for the poor 
and degraded ; they had descended, in and after the Apostolic era, to mere 
displays of disputation and rhetoric. The Gospel came with an emphatic 
proclamation of the principle, “ not with wisdom of words, lest the cross of 
Christ should be made of none effect” Whether the world has been, on the 
whole, a loser by the fact, that this foundation has been made secure, before 
men were permitted to build the temple of knowledge upon it, I will not 
argue. But I think that the gradual nature of God’s dealings with man has 
been entirely lost sight of by the objectors to my line of argument. He who, 
so for as modern science would lead us to conclude, formed the visible 
universe by processes extending over periods of vast duration ; who took 
ages upon ages to prepare this earth for habitation by man ; who permitted 
mankind— assuming the truth of Christianity- to live for thousands of years 
without its light, can hardly be complained of, if He allowed some centuries 
to elapse before the influence of Christianity upon the world had reached 
even its present stage of development. Christianity has done wonders in the 
past ; in the future it has, I believe, still greater triumphs in store. Mr. 
Leach asks whether our present progress is due to Christianity or civiliza- 
tion. In reply, I would simply point to the fact, that without Christianity, 
civilization, whether in Egypt, Assyria, Persia, Greece, Rome, Arabia, India, 
has been the parent of decay. It has secured permanence only when allied 
to Christianity. This fact decides the question, whether we owe to Chris- 
tianity or to civilization the blessings we now enjoy. 
With regard to the idea of Mr. R. W. Dibdin, that I was, to a certain ex- 
tent, reflecting the whole influence of Christianity, and heightening the lights 
and darkening the shadows, I do not think my paper is justly chargeable 
VOL. XI. 2 l) 
