Russia has long since come under the international law which regulates the transactions of the rest of Christendom. The above observations are intended to show that the unhappy events of her early history have left traces which-principally from the absence of those counteracting circumstances that urged forward the civilization of the West—are not yet obliterated, and are more or less observable in all her international transactions. SECTION II. The Influence of Christianity upon the International Law of Abyssinia. Christianity was introduced into Abyssinia in a corrupted form1, and has been mixed up with many Jewish superstitions2, which have been perpetuated in a great measure by the rise of Islamism, about eighty years after the conversion of that country, having cut off from it all permanent or secure communication with the rest of Christendom. When this intercourse was renewed it proved of evil effect; for the Portuguese, on their arrival on the coast of the Red Sea, by introducing Jesuits, and endeavouring to convert the people to the Romish faith, caused dissensions prejudicial to Christianity3; 1 The Monophysite errors were introduced by the first missions, and kept up by ecclesiastical dependence on the Coptic Church. 2 Bishop Russell's Nubia and Abyssinia, p. 265. 8 For a brief account of these transactions see Nubia and Abyssinia, chs. 3, 5 and 6, and Gibbon, ch. 47, § 6. which, together with the long-continued predatory inroads of various barbarous tribes, caused the rapid decline of Abyssinia. Christianity has thus never had an opportunity of producing its real effects, or exerting its proper influence in that country; and accordingly frequent instances of its influence, especially internationally, cannot reasonably be expected. One remarkable instance however may be cited which exhibits a spirit of toleration well worthy of a Christian state. It was to the tolerant Christian land of Abyssinia that a great part of Mahomet's disciples withdrew on the commencement of the persecution against them at Mecca1. There are other circumstances which will further explain the little influence Christianity has been able to exert there. The church indeed did not wholly neglect to teach true Christian doctrines. The ninth section of the Ethiopic version of the Apostolic Constitutions declares that Christians ought to forgive the trespasses of their neighbours, and not let revenge dwell in their hearts nor think evil; and bishops are enjoined to enforce this: and in the tenth section it is expressly declared to be their special duty to be peacemakers 2. But the very peculiar policy pursued in regard to the election of the abuna or patriarch, impaired alike the authority and usefulness of the Church3. The abuna is by a canon directed to be chosen by the patriarch of 1 Sale's Koran, Preliminary Discourse, § 2. 2 Platt's Didascalia. 8 Jowett's Christian Researches, pp. 174, 5. Alexandria, and not to be a native of Abyssinia. By not being permitted to consecrate suffragans he becomes the only bishop of the country, and being quite a stranger to the people, their language and institutions, he has ever been incapable of exerting his power in any effective beneficial manner1, Legrand shows how this further prejudicially affects the usefulness of the clergy, on account of the abuna's inability to judge of the fitness of those whom he ordains: "Il est même très difficile qu'il puisse juger de la capacité de ceux qu'il ordonne: la langue dans laquelle on célébre l'office et on administre les sacremens est l'ancienne langue du païs, qu'on n'entend plus, à moins qu'on ne l'apprenne comme nous apprenons les langues étrangères; et l'abuna ne sçait ordinairement non plus la langue sçavante que la vulgaire 2." And thus "from the want of an independent power to give force to humanizing tendencies, the religion which has struck its roots deep into the heart of this singular people assumes rather a passive than an active characters." The sincerity of the attachment of the Abyssinians to Christianity, by which means they stand an oasis amidst the heathen, has indeed been rewarded by the continued independent existence of their native country through more calamities than perhaps ever afflicted any other land; and while Christianity remains there is hope for a revived 1 Legrand, 9th dissertation, at the end of his edition of Lobo's Relation Historique. 2 Ibid. p. 287. 3 Eastern Churches, p. 108. national Church, as well as for a return of all the blessings to which it would again give rise. Under other conditions, the Christianity of this land would probably acquire a more active influence, and effectively co-operate as well in the evangelization of eastern Africa, as in the extension in that part of the continent of the international usages of the rest of Christendom. CHAPTER X. The Influence of Christianity upon International Duties. THESE, like some of the international rights above mentioned, belong in part to polity as well as to international law. For the sake of completeness, however, they will, so far as they relate to the latter, be briefly stated here. States, in their capacity of moral agents as well as individuals, have their several duties. It is of their higher or moral duties1 that mention will now be made, the primary of which are those of humanity, justice, truth, purity, and order; and the duties of moral and intellectual progress, including of course in these that of religious belief. These are in a great measure international duties; they are prescribed by morality, and are enforced with fresh and increased authority by the Christian revelation. And inasmuch as Christians are under stricter moral obligations than those imposed by natural religion, of which their religion is a "republication and external institution2," the conduct of states professing to guide their actions by Christian principles must of necessity be stricter than that of nations who from ignorance, or a perverse attachment to an infidel faith, have not yet acknowledged the truth of the Christian creed. 1 Whewell's Elements of Morality, Polity, ch. 3. |