Aurelian; or, Rome in the Third Century
too lately entered among the Christians to take upon us a course which
they condemn? It is but yesterday that we were among the enemies of this
faith. Are we to-day to assume the part of leaders? Would not modesty
teach us a different lesson?'
'Modesty has nothing to do with truth,' said Macer. 'He who is wholly a
Christian to-day, is all that he can be to-morrow, or next year. I am as
old in faith and zeal as Piso, Probus, or Felix. No one can believe
more, or more heartily, by believing longer. Nay, it is they who are
newly saved who are most sensible to the blessing. Custom in religion as
in other things dulls the soul. Were I a Christian much longer before
God called me to serve him by suffering or death, I fear I should be
then spiritually dead, and so worse than before I believed. Let it be
to-morrow, O Lord, that I shall glorify thee!'
It was plain that little impression was to be made upon the mind of
Macer. But we ceased not to urge him farther, his wife and elder
children uniting with us in importunate entreaty and expostulation. But
all in vain. In his stern and honest enthusiasm he believed all
prudence, cowardice; all calculation, worldliness; all moderation and
temperance, treason to the church and Christ. Yet none of the natural
current of the affections seemed to be dried up or poisoned. No one
could be more bound to his wife and children; and, toward us, though in
our talk we spared him not, he ever maintained the same frank and open
manner--yielding never an inch of ground, and uttering himself with an
earnestness and fury such as I never saw in another; but, soon as he had
ceased speaking, subsiding into a gentleness that seemed almost that of
a woman, and playfully sporting with the little boy that he held on his
knee.
Soon as our conversation was ended, Macer, turning to his wife,
exclaimed,
'But what hinders that we should set before our visiters such
hospitality as our poor house affords? Arria, have we not such as may
well enough entertain Christians?'
AElia, at a word from her mother, and accompanied by her sister,
immediately busied themselves in the simple rites of hospitality, and
soon covered the table which stood in the centre of the room with bread,
lettuces, figs, and a flask of wine. While they were thus engaged, I
could not but observe the difference in appearance of the two elder
sisters, who, with equal alacrity, were setting out the provisions for
our repast. One was clad like the others of the family in the garments
common to the poor. The other--she who had spoken--was arrayed, not
richly, but almost so, or, I should rather say, fancifully, and with
studied regard to effect. While I was wondering at this, and seeking in
my own mind for its explanation, I was interrupted in my thoughts by
Macer.
'Thanks to Aurelian, Piso, we are able, though poor, as you see, and
dwelling in these almost subterranean vaults, to live above the fear of
absolute want. But especially are we indebted for many of our comforts,
and for such luxury as this flask of Massican, to my partly gentile
daughter, AElia, whom you behold moving among us, as if by her attire she
were not of us--but Cicer's heart is not truer--and who will, despite
her faith and her father's bidding, dance and sing for the merriment of
these idolaters. Never before, I believe, had Christian preacher a
dancing-girl for a daughter.'
A deep blush passed over the features of the daughter as she answered,
'But, father, you know that in my judgment--and whose in this matter is
so to be trusted?--I am in no way injured by my art, and it adds
somewhat to the common stock. I see not why I need be any the less a
Christian, because I dance; especially, as with me, it is but one of the
forms of labor. Were it forbidden by our faith, or could it be shown to
be to me an evil, I would cease. But most sure I am it is neither. Let
me now appeal to Probus for my justification, and to Piso.'
'Doubtless,' said Probus, 'those Christians are right who abstain from
the theatres, the amphitheatres, the circuses, and from the places of
public amusement where sights and sounds meet ear and eye such as the
pure should never hear or see, and such as none can hear or see and
maintain their purity. The soul is damaged in spite of herself. But for
these arts of music and dancing, practised for the harmless
entertainment of those who feast their friends,--where alone I warrant
AElia is found--who can doubt that she is right? Were not the reception
of the religion of Christ compatible with indulgence in innocent
amusement, or the practice of harmless arts such as these, few, I fear,
would receive it. Christianity condemns many things, which, by Pagans,
are held to be allowable, but not everything.'
'Willingly would I abandon my art,' said AElia,' did I perceive it to
injure the soul; or could I in other ways buy bread for our household.
So dearly do I prize this new-found faith, that for its sake, were it to
be retained in no other way, would I relinquish it, and sink into the
deeper poverty that would then be ours, or drudge at some humbler toil.'
'Do it, do it, AElia,' said Macer; 'and the Lord will love thee all the
more. 'Tis the only spot on thy white and glistering robes. The Lord
loves not more than I to see thee wheeling and waving to and fro, to
supply mirth to those, who, mayhap, would crucify thee the next hour, as
others crucified thy master.'
Tears fell from the eyes of the fair girl as she answered,
'Father, it shall be as you wish. Not willingly, but by constraint, have
I labored as I have. God will not forsake us, and will, I cannot doubt,
open some new path of labor for me--if indeed the disorders of the times
do not first scatter or destroy us.'
I here said to Macer and his daughter, that there need be no hesitation
about abandoning the employment in question, from any doubt concerning a
future occupation; if AElia would but accompany her mother, when next she
went to visit Julia, I could assure her of obtaining there all she could
desire.
At this the little boy, whom Macer held, clapped his hands and cried out
with joy--'Ah! then will AElia be always with us and go away no more;'
and flying to his sister was caught by her in her arms.
The joy diffused throughout the little circle at this news was great.
All were glad that AElia was to dance and sing no more, for all wished
her at home, and her profession had kept her absent almost every day.
The table was now spread, and we sat down to the frugal repast, Macer
first offering a prayer to God.
'It is singular,' said he, when we were seated,'that in my Heathen
estate, I ever asked the blessing of the gods before I ate. Nay, and
notwithstanding the abominations of my life, was often within the
temples a worshipper. I verily believe there are many Christians who
pray less than the Heathen, and less after they become Christian than
before.'
'I can readily believe it,' said Probus. 'False religions multiply
outward acts; and for the reason, that they make religion to consist in
them. A true faith, which places religion in the inward disposition, not
in services, will diminish them. More prayers were said, and more rites
performed in the temple of Jupiter, where my father was priest, than the
Christian church, where I serve, ever witnesses. But what then? With the
Pagan worshipper religion ended when the service closed, and he turned
from the temple to the world. With the Christian, the highest service
only then commences when he leaves the church. Religion, with him, is
virtuous action, more than it is meditation or prayer. He prays without
ceasing, not by uttering without cessation the language of prayer, but
by living holily. Every act of every hour, which is done conscientiously
is a prayer, as well as the words we speak, and is more pleasing to God,
for the reason that practice is better than mere profession--doing
better than saying.'
'That is just, Probus,' replied Macer. 'When I prayed as an idolater, it
was because I believed that the gods required such outward
acknowledgment, and that some evil or other might befall me through
their vengeance, if I did not. But when I had ended that duty I had
ended my religion, and my vices went on none the less prosperously.
Often indeed my prayers were for special favors,--wealth, or success in
some affair--and when, after wearying myself with repeating them a
thousand times, the favors were not bestowed, how have I left the temple
in a rage, cursing the gods I had just been worshipping, and swearing
never more to propitiate them by prayer or sacrifice. Sometimes I
repented of such violence, but oftener kept my word and tried some other
god. You, Probus, were, I may believe, of a more even temper?'
'Yes, perhaps so. My father was one of the most patient and gentle of
men, and religious after the manner of our remoter ancestors of the days
of the republic. He was my instructor; and from him I learned truths
which were sufficient for my happiness under ordinary circumstances. I
was a devout and constant worshipper of the gods. My every-day life may
then have been as pure as it has been since I have been a Christian; and
my prayers as many or more. The instincts of my nature, which carried up
the soul toward some great and infinite being, which I could not resist,
kept me within the bounds of that prudent and virtuous life which I
believed would be most acceptable to them. But when a day of heavy and
insupportable calamity came upon me, and I was made to look after the
foundations of what I had been believing, I found there were none. I was
like a ship tossed about by the storms, without rudder or pilot. I then
knew not whether there were gods or not; or if there were any, who,
among the multiplicity worshipped in Rome, the true ones were. In my
grief, I railed at the heavens and their rulers, for not revealing
themselves to us in our darkness and weakness; and cursed them for their
cruelty. Soon after I became a Christian. The difference between my
state then, and now, is this. I believed then; but it was merely
instinctive. I could give no reason to myself nor to others for my
faith. It was something and yet nothing. Now, I have somewhat to stand
upon. I can prove to myself, and to others, my religion, as well as
other things. I have knowledge as well as blind belief. It is good to
believe in something, and in some sort, though one can give no account
of his faith; but it is better to believe in that which we know, as we
know other things. I have now, as a Christian, the same strength of
belief in God, providence, and futurity, that I have in any facts
attested by history. Jesus has announced them or confirmed them, and
they are susceptible of proof. I differed from you, Macer, in this; that
I cursed not the gods in my passion, or caprice; I was for years and
years their humble, and contented, and patient worshipper. I rebelled
not till I suffered cruel disappointment, and in my faith could find no
consolation or light. One real sorrow, by which the foundations of my
earthly peace were all broken up, revealed to me the nothingness of my
so called religion. Into what a new world, Macer, has our new faith
introduced us! I am now happier than ever I was, even with my wife and
children around me.'
'Some of our neighbors,' said Auria, 'wonder what it is that makes us so
light of heart, notwithstanding our poverty and the dangers to which we
are so often exposed. I tell them that they, who, like us, believe in
the providence of a God, who is always near us and within us, and in the
long reign with Christ as soon as death is past, have nothing to fear.
That which they esteem the greatest evil of all, is, to us, an absolute
gain. Upon this they either silently wonder, or laugh and deride.