very common during the fifth century, and when, at a later period,
Christianity wished to annul them, it met with great obstacles."--(BEUGNOT,
vol. i., p. 286.)

The Jews had been brought up in the knowledge of the true God, and their
faith could not but be strengthened by the miracles with which their
exodus from Egypt was accompanied, and yet a short absence of Moses from
their camp was sufficient to make them call for gods that would go before
them, and to induce them to worship an image evidently borrowed from the
idolatry of those very Egyptians by whom they had been so much oppressed.
It was, therefore, no wonder that society, educated for many centuries
under the influence of Paganism, were continually returning to their
ancient rites, superstitions, and manners, though under a new name, and in
a modified form. If we consider further, that such a man as Aaron had not
sufficient strength to resist the senseless demands of the multitude, and
even consented to mould an object for their idolatry, how could the
leaders of the church oppose the pressure of Paganism, which they had
incautiously admitted into her pale, and which, under the assumed name of
Christianity, was establishing its dominion over the church? There was no
inspired prophet amongst the Christians of that time, to restore the
purity of their faith in the same manner as Moses did amongst the Jews,
after his return from Mount Sinai. The Christian church was therefore left
for centuries under the oppression of pagan superstitions, from which, as
yet, only a small portion of her has been emancipated, though I firmly
believe that she will be one day entirely restored to her pristine purity.
This hope, however, is not founded upon the mere advance of human
intellect, because, in spite of its boasted progress, it seems now to be
powerless against the daily growing reaction of the above-mentioned
superstitions, even in places whence they apparently had been banished for
ever, but because Christianity is of a divine and not human origin.

There was no lack of opposition to this universal corruption of the church
on the part of several true Christians, and there were undoubtedly many
more instances of this noble conduct than those which have reached us, but
the records of them were probably either lost in the lapse of ages, or
destroyed by their opponents. I have already mentioned the prohibition of
the use of images in the churches by the council of Elvira in 3