The Roman Nation Develops Rapidly and Immensely According to the Providence of God

For the same purpose divine providence raised up the great Roman state from small beginnings, so that it might cooperate in the regeneration of the human race.

Rome, the ruler of the world, developed according to her own impulses and inclinations and became a great nation, and worked toward the accomplishment of the predetermined end. Rome, having subdued the world, paved the way for the spread of Christianity through the unification of the peoples under the scepter of one emperor; she prepared the concentration of the elements of the new worship, by which the New Church was strengthened and was able to impose the authority of the proclaimed truth upon all the peoples then known, and give them laws by which they ought to understand thoughts, spirit, imagination, feelings, morals, and worship. For the great purpose, great power was required. By this power the revealed truth was guarded and fortified. The Ecumenical Councils are owed to the dominion of Rome. This cooperation of Rome in the regeneration of humanity with the aforementioned two nations, the Greek and the Jewish, can it be regarded as a chance occurrence? Is it possible to suppose that the three greatest powers that constitute and direct humanity—the worship of the heart, the philosophy of the spirit, and the dominion of power—met by chance on the common stage to accomplish such a great work? The acceptance of chance becomes so unacceptable as the affairs are presented as deliberately prepared and of extraordinary magnitude, and as the work appears lofty and divine. Judaism, Hellenism, and Romanism—three opposing nations on account of the contrary formation of each—unconsciously cooperate and serve the divine will for the regeneration of humanity.

The sublime oversight of human affairs appears demonstrated even from what comes after. Let us look at the history of these nations after the completion of the work for which they were called. These nations, after the precise execution of their duty, one by one withdraw from the stage. First the Jewish nation leaves it, so that it may no longer appear upon it. Judea is followed by Rome, which remains a little longer in order to work for the advancement of Christianity, to which she is destined to hand over the authority that she soon transfers and withdraws from the stage forever. The sudden and abrupt transfer of the seat of the Roman state from Rome to Constantinople was the formal transfer of the authority of Romanism to Christianity, the future reformer of the world, which is destined to play a new role on the great stage of the world. The heir assumes the rule, and the testator shortly thereafter is handed over to the fated end of human affairs. Rome underwent the common fate; she had fulfilled her destiny. Byzantium, the new Constantinople, is raised up in place of the ancient Rome. The Byzantine state was not the same as the old Roman state. The establishment of the new Roman autocracy with its new capital has nothing in common with the old autocracy. For it does not have the same destiny. We see the fate of Rome displayed after a short time also in Athens. The new Christian state, seeing the old Hellenism resisting the accomplishment of the task appointed to it, although he sympathizes with it, acting under the authority of a higher will, destroys the ethnic existence of the aged Hellenism, which for twelve whole ages had labored for humanity. The common fate of mankind brought even upon it the appointed end. The decree of Justinian brought down the already long-dying Greek polytheism that was barely breathing, which upheld ethnic sentiment. In this manner these three nations, after the appearance of Christianity upon the universal stage, withdraw one after another, leaving free the action to the new face that appeared upon the stage. Christianity, as a moral person, had to take on an external representation, so that it might act in a determined and successful manner. From the elements that composed it, the most spiritual was the Greek; for this reason it was regarded as the most suitable and fitting for serving the great purpose. The Greek spirit brings forth again the Greek element upon the stage under a new form, under a new garment, under the purple of Christianity, so that it might serve through its advantages the great purpose. Christianity in the Byzantine state, by taking on Greek elements, takes form as a new nation. The new nation, vigorous and living, having perceived its great destiny, separated itself from the elements that ignored the general transformation of things and resisted against it. The Greek element, working with zeal and fervor in the new stage, revealed itself as the foremost in the new nation, to which it gave its own character. The severed part was quickly absorbed and no power was able to retain it. In vain philosophers and emperors sought to support it. The old Hellenism, as bound up with the old worship, was unable, after the appearance and dominion of Christianity, to be preserved. The fall of the old worship brought about also the fall of ancient Hellenism. The attempts of Julian to restore to the stage the nations already withdrawn, Hellenism and Romanism, were miserably shipwrecked, because another power, the great dramatist, was bringing forth on the stage another character. Another scene of the drama had already appeared. The persons withdrawn but a short time before, who had amazed by their art, their wisdom, their power, their worship, and their other splendor, were now wholly unsuitable, and so no one was able to restore them to the stage.

From the study of the history of these three nations we are taught that there is a great intellect above human thoughts, who directs the activities of the nations through a completely incomprehensible influence toward the purposeful and deliberate end, which is the very perfection of man. Is it possible, then, that man, the object of divine providence, perishes in the grave? Is it possible that divine providence directs the fortunes of men for no good reason? No, a thousand times no. God exercises providence for man, because he is destined to be perfected and to live even beyond the grave. For this reason the prophet-king, amazed, asks God: What is man that you remember him, or the son of man that you care for him? Therefore man is a rational being; he possesses an immortal soul and was formed for immortality.

In Rome February 6.

THE END AND TO GOD BE GLORY