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In Newton's eyes, the conversion of the Roman Empire to Christianity in the fourth century CE was - paradoxically - probably the worst thing that had ever happened to the Christian faith. So long as the true religion had been persecuted, only sincere believers had been prepared to risk their lives by claiming allegiance to it. But as soon as it became the Empire's official religion, it was adopted by hypocrites and time-servers who saw it only as a means of gaining social or political advantage. As he explains in this document, Newton regarded this development as a fulfilment of St Paul's prophecy of the 'mystery of iniquity' (2 Thessalonians 2:7).
Includes variant drafts of passages in Yahuda Ms. 1.6 and the Clark Library document.
in English
Bought at the Sotheby sale by 'Ulysses' (Jacob Schwartz?) for £9. Schwartz told Yahuda on 15 Feb. 1937 that he could have it on inspection for £15.
Now efall of rise of e
manner. When eDrago Sun Moon & Stars of e
spe
the whole world was cast out of heaven by Michalecec overcom & cast out of ee
throne then did the Devil come down o by that was in its exalted to
roomee& preferments of this religion emore loose & & chiefly the more hypocriticalto turn dayly to lying in professionin outward profession without a in outwar out of temporal interest. And those eebeing
the most hypocritical sort of men & under the profession of their new religion
retaining their old heathen manners their vices & their inclination to all
kinds of superstition, they wereebewhich einha
bitants of ethat is amongst ee
Empires eeeevices heathen manners, their vices
& their inclination to all kinds of superstition, they
in profession Christians, they were tFor such fals converts are truly a & may deservedly be called thesynagogue of Satan who say they are Ie ws
In Ichcried
Empire cried travailing in birth & pained to be delivered & at eeof att train of attendants civil & military)
drew the third part of e (the saints of e
empire cheee [the
Now the
– While eCh the small encouragements for
hypocrites to turn christians was no guard upon was a guard upon eee
iniquity ch
hypocrites to work upon: & but after eech
withheld the revelation of this mystery, was taken out of e
tery no longer wanting a fit people to work upon must begin to grow
proportionally to e
the prevailing of fa such fals christians to be revealed. For in a dayly
flow of such converts into e
few years they would hypocrites would be more then double or triple e
to say more then ten or twenty times e
of fals converts e
First ee
came very corrupt in manners. They that please to read e
within less then an hundred years Constantines victorye
in manners (whoring, drinking, swearing, lying, gaming, cheating, barbarous nations & old heathens & eFor This Salvian shews to satisfy his readers that God was just in subjecting eeee
yeare 407 invaded ee
to compare him theon & down in e
Ecclesiastical historians, Oph
authors of those times, as well concerning eambition nmisdemeanoeee
sufficient reason to beleive that what Salvian wrote e impartially.
He wrote not in a peevish way to accuse his age but in a pi sober
way to answer an objection made by many of his own age about e
of God & to satisfy them by relating the matters of fact which they to whom
he wrote were judges of as well as he. Nor is't a wonder that Christians
should become so vitious in so short a time seing ee
heathens would be most apt to e
ambitious Christians would seek most for preferment in e
bius in his Ecclesiastical history tells us that Christians betwen e
cutions of Decius & Dioclesian through a respite of 30 or 40 years
from persecution began to grow corr very corrupt in manners. And
& much more would they grow corrupt after Constan
they were not only freed from persecution but reigned over flourished e
in rices & honours & dominion over ee
influx of ete
of Christians were corrected by e
tius I answer in those persecutions only in ee
but for a time & not directly for religion but upon accusations for various
crimes, as Basil tells us of e
of those under Constantius. And eee
against eHe cau he would persecute them he causedwere
who were found vitiated, were withm theyd
fession about four thousand Priests & of their Bishops & Priests were banished
together as Victor relate
confirmation of what Salvian affirms of eeetwas most just eee
almost made eI might instan [
of Valens the Emperor anot & those about him in causing 80 Presbyters
to be burnt inof were it not that e
rality of etells (who lived in eofe& when ee
where twas done) tells teteat first reported& makes him senten
ced to be burtthin ee
shore e [But an earlier ch
hard & suspiciouseaccusation of
Athanasius & some others for various crimes. For whilst Athanasius was
accused of killing Arsenius &c & contended t
the Eusebians in epro in confutation thereof produced
(not ee) but) the a corps for them ch
to view who pretended to know Arsenius, the strange contentions as Athana
sius & three hundred Bishops of Egypt & eee
to estrange heats in managing
these eeasyeis a stran against
Athanasius (even those few who were banished for him off] The strang contro
versies about Athanasius Paul of Constantinople Photius & some others
It would require a large according
& I shal butin eeth in e
sy of ethat age eeage
Valens Theodosius & his sons the Prophesy of Pau e
gan to e
come wherein men should be lovers of their own selves, covetous, proud boa
boasters, proud, blasphemers &c. fals accusers, having a form of gofie incontinent, fierce, despisers of
those tb
power thereof:
A second In eed som to superstition placing much of religion
immoderate abstinence from meats. For such was ee
Monks & in some measure of eeoth in other placeseethat age
sed to an immense multitude I need not describe. The first instituti
on is still by many applauded by but I find it faulty in these things.
Moderate fasting of priva singleprivate e
openly upon set occasions is commendable: but for private
men to make a publick profession of fasting etof the ch hypocriteical Pharisees who
loved to pray standing in eee
red they might appear unto men
to fast, & therefore had their reward in this world in eethe by perusing ethese Monks I find the first Monks
(written by & of in I find that it tso soon upon their
entring into eMonks a Monastick life they found themselves
more tempted in e
thereof & on that account removed went by degrees further into e
dernesses then others did, complained most of all of temptations. The reason
they gave of it was that ewent were most
his enemies: but & fought most against him: but e true reason was partly
that the desire was inflamed by p prohibition of eperpetual t
in mind of what they strove against, & partly their idle lives gave liberty
to their thoughts to follow their inclinations. & whilst The way to chastity is
not to struggle cy esome
ployment, or meditation as tMen are By immoderate fasting the body wa
& for want of natural sleep the fansy was
ever it sets it self upon & towards a delirium towar so much& in so much that those Monks
ins who fasted most tat length arrived to
a state of seing apparitions of weomen & devils
such a lively manner as made them to think e
tempting them to lust. And In short I not unclean
ness superstition ignorance & sottishness e
of e
to marry & teaching to abstein from meats is by chin Re
Apostle condemned & made ee
depart from e
In ewhereas the in this age e
heathen doctrine of dæmons was brought into e fals miracles.tee
ceased for one or & for 200 years were scarce heard of in e
ches, there began in Egypt in egreat
cryee
upon e miracle working reliques of e
about the beginning of e&
all eseveral regions & their
reliques carried up & down byem
down. And so great was And ee
D. Augustinetheeee
of saints being about their tombs & reliques & of
those tmwhence And through ehabitual heathen converts
propension of e, being through education & custome propen
very propense, they grew so fast in e
that before ee
grown customary. At esuperstitious use custome superstitionof
makingeeto scare away e& do othe cure diseases & perform other miraculous effects
writing legendary stories, & of receiving that age receiving such th And lastly at that time began Christians to kill men for re
ligion as you may see by two ees
Africans communion the Donatists assembled in their churches were beseiged
there & their churches burnt over their
To these instances may be added ee
the contentions
of Alexandria described by Gregory Nazianzen; the wars between Basil & ee
Gregory; the blood through che
Rome eeendeavo eejurisdiction authorityee
Eastern, & tee
Rome; tin matters of so as to
endanger engaging them in a civil war about Church concerns; The And
the strange carria histories of e
great inconstancy of e they
every wind of doctrine First the novel definitions of Arius
met th before e
of ethe upon e
against him to be proclaimed in posted up in every city & calling e
cel of Nice, they condemned him more almost unanimously & at e
rors motion received ehomousios Consubstantial into their Creed. Then the p ethey rejected e as universally And To & soon after upon a new turn of affairs they received the west com
the same men in one Councel subscribing under oath to a one thing in
another to ee as
plying thÆgypt thfirstValens & then Athanas
sius; the same men in one Councel subscribing under oath to one thing in
another to ee
were as
according to ee as ready to turn for interest to any
Christian party as a little before from heathenism to Christianity for for e
same interest. Whence we need not wonder at te
Constantius over eemake occasion Athanasius e
Nazianzen of opinion te
was ediscovered & manifested lyed toe
Deity of eeworld Church in its more not bearing in
tender age not bearing th
[* the error of eee
in ee Homoüsios they]
I hope I have now sufficiently proved that the times age from e
of eeth30 or 40 even become as immoral as r
own times & th
exceeded us become more corrupt vitious as or perhaps more immoral then our own times at least the most immoral vitiou immorale
apt to turn first & so make so by their convers eerest of y Christians more much orthe this ech
unconverted. In shewing this I have insisted upo most upon eeee
whilst I compare those times thrre
& hore&
judicious & knowing. Tis emost least
acquainted with: Men & this makes us always think eremor vices be forgotten. The & then dying
same superstition that
them, afterwards adored them them to the first of them e
to e as e).
came And so temad first honoured the
& then made e
So we if we have a kindness for any age we are apt to deify
it when old eng enough. thô in truth it were no better then And as But this is e
most superstitious & ignorant heathens were most apt to raise the esti
mation of their Gods till they could raise them no higher, so the most superstitiouse
And whilst eee
homoüsioand some
of them those of them etwo
unequal ones others &eof one &
substanceit of one singular substance. till Constantius conquering ethee
West brought them to thereupon the& Greekse
Arianism for dividing eee
mutually accused the Greeks unitin making them one in singular substance Then enumber singular substance. Afterwardse
& bringing them they de both par both parties the Latines eActs of sense of ee
agreed to stand to it that sense but yet to abrogate e use of e
Homoüsius & that for several reasons: First because these reasons being alledged again]
till ewere being weree[they& express qualified nor did eethat
to end dispute tille] in elatin latine
language of one substance & three persons was reconciled to e
one hypo usia or essence,or naturein in
number. [ And at An til so tthen In ee
many parties, some of th ataning
the Father & son to be equal in equal others unequal, some only other some joyned only ethee receded from e
Nice & held them they also] both e& sense of e
of Nice & of these some joyned eeothers the, others did not did not: mos Others owned e
of eee
guity apt to give see be misunderstood by eof these some of
these some held e]ee
divided e
did eeby me & then return to it again