The History Of Empires Is

In Their Censures Of Luxury The Fathers Are Extremely Minute And Circumstantial; And Among The Various Articles Which Excite Their Pious Indignation, We May Enumerate False Hair, Garments Of Any Colour Except White, Instruments Of Music, Vases Of Gold Or Silver, Downy Pillows, White Bread, Foreign Wines, Public Salutations, The Use Of Warm Baths, And The Practice Of Shaving The Beard, Which, According To Tertullian, Is A Lie Against Our Own Faces, And Am Impious Attempt To Improve The Works Of The Creator.

His Manners Were Less Pure, But His Character Was Equally Amiable With That Of His Father. Twenty-two Acknowledged Concubines, And A Library Of Sixty-two Thousand Volumes, Attested The Variety Of His Inclinations, And From The Productions Which He Left Behind Him, It Appears That The Former As Well As The Latter Were Designed For Use Rather Than Ostentation.

A Society In Which Marriage Is Encouraged And Industry Prevails Soon Repairs The Accidental Losses Of Pestilence And War.

The History Of Empires Is The Record Of Human Misery; The History Of The Sciences Is That Of The Greatness And Happiness Of Mankind.

But How Shall We Excuse The Supine Inattention Of The Pagan And Philosophic World To Those Evidences Which Were Presented By The Hand Of Omnipotence, Not To Their Reason, But To Their Senses? During The Age Of Christ, Of His Apostles, And Their First Disciples, The Doctrine Which They Preached Was Confirmed By Innumerable Prodigies. The Lame Walked, The Blind Saw, The Sick Were Healed, The Dead Were Raised, Daemons Were Expelled, And The Laws Of Nature Were Frequently Suspended For The Benefit Of The Church.