11.07.2015 Views

Million Book Collection - The Fishers of Men Ministries

Million Book Collection - The Fishers of Men Ministries

Million Book Collection - The Fishers of Men Ministries

SHOW MORE
SHOW LESS
  • No tags were found...

You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles

YUMPU automatically turns print PDFs into web optimized ePapers that Google loves.

THE SECOND AGE OF THE MARTYR CHURCH.247<strong>The</strong> rule <strong>of</strong> Commodus and his successors fullyrevealed the fatal truth, that the five princes wh<strong>of</strong>rom the accession <strong>of</strong> Nerva had governed as ithey were really responsible to the senate, hadonly been a fortunate chance; that this time <strong>of</strong>prosperity rested upon no legal limitation <strong>of</strong> rightsbetween those things wont to exist only in severance,7the sovereign's power and the subject'sfreedom ; that it was no result <strong>of</strong> a constitutionwhich had grown up under a mutual sense <strong>of</strong>benefit arising from authority exercised consci-entiously, and obedience cordially rendered. <strong>The</strong>age which Tacitus8 at its commencement hadcalled "most blessed" was indeed over, and assoon as the second Aiitonine left the scene, a state<strong>of</strong> things ensued in which tyranny and crueltywere as unchecked as under Nero or Domitian attheir worst. It became evident that all had dependedon the sovereign's personal character.From Marcus to Commodus the leap was instantaneous; and so, again, afterwards the shortlivedserenity and order <strong>of</strong> Alexander's rulepassed at his death into a confusion lasting formore than forty years, which threatened to breakup the very existence <strong>of</strong> the empire.But in Rome from the accession <strong>of</strong> Commodus1in 180 to the death <strong>of</strong> Heliogabalus in 222 we finda pr<strong>of</strong>ound corruption <strong>of</strong> morals, an excess <strong>of</strong>7 " Res olim dissociabiles, princmatum muno statim

Hooray! Your file is uploaded and ready to be published.

Saved successfully!

Ooh no, something went wrong!