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Million Book Collection - The Fishers of Men Ministries

Million Book Collection - The Fishers of Men Ministries

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LIBRARY ST. MARY STHE THIRD AGE OF THE MARTYR CHURCH.309more everywher else it had planted its foot openlyon the soil <strong>of</strong> the empire. It is time, then, to viewthe Church as an institution4<strong>of</strong>fering the strongestcontrast to the empire itself, to the barbarismwhich surrounded the empire, and to the sectarianismwhich was everywhere aspiring to counter-work and supplant that entire body <strong>of</strong> truth onsome portion <strong>of</strong> which nevertheless it was all thetime feeding.1. And first the empire during this centurypresents itself to us in a most unwonted aspect.Septimius Severus having destroyed the rivalswho competed with him for what was now becomethe great object <strong>of</strong> a successful"general's ambition,based his power avowedly on the sword. <strong>The</strong>secret <strong>of</strong> empire which he transmitted to his chil-dren was to foster and indulge the army, and todisregard all else. <strong>The</strong> senate, the representative<strong>of</strong> legal power, he despised and decimated. Hedied in 211, not before his eldest son had alreadylifted his hand against him, and the four princes<strong>of</strong> his house all perished by the sword, one by thehand <strong>of</strong> a brother, the other three by revolted soldiers.In the seventy - three years which elapsefrom his death to the accession <strong>of</strong> Diocletiantwenty-five emperors are acknowledged at Rome,m wenty-three come to an end by violentdeaths, almost always by insurrections <strong>of</strong> soldiers,under instigation <strong>of</strong> ambitious <strong>of</strong>ficers. Besidesthese, eight associates <strong>of</strong> the empire, and nineteen

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