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Contents
Cover Page
About This eBook
Half Title Page
Title Page
Copyright Page
Dedication Page
Contents at a Glance
Contents
Preface
Acknowledgments
About the Author
1. Pythonic Thinking
Item 1: Know Which Version of Python You’re Using
Item 2: Follow the PEP 8 Style Guide
Item 3: Know the Differences Between bytes and str
Item 4: Prefer Interpolated F-Strings Over C-style Format
Strings and str.format
Item 5: Write Helper Functions Instead of Complex
Expressions
Item 6: Prefer Multiple Assignment Unpacking Over
Indexing
Item 7: Prefer enumerate Over range
Item 8: Use zip to Process Iterators in Parallel
Item 9: Avoid else Blocks After for and while Loops
 Item 10: Prevent Repetition with Assignment Expressions
2. Lists and Dictionaries
Item 11: Know How to Slice Sequences
Item 12: Avoid Striding and Slicing in a Single Expression
Item 13: Prefer Catch-All Unpacking Over Slicing
Item 14: Sort by Complex Criteria Using the key Parameter
Item 15: Be Cautious When Relying on dict Insertion
Ordering
Item 16: Prefer get Over in and KeyError to Handle
Missing Dictionary Keys
Item 17: Prefer defaultdict Over setdefault to Handle
Missing Items in Internal State
Item 18: Know How to Construct Key-Dependent Default
Values with __missing__
3. Functions
Item 19: Never Unpack More Than Three Variables When
Functions Return Multiple Values
Item 20: Prefer Raising Exceptions to Returning None
Item 21: Know How Closures Interact with Variable Scope
Item 22: Reduce Visual Noise with Variable Positional
Arguments
Item 23: Provide Optional Behavior with Keyword
Arguments
Item 24: Use None and Docstrings to Specify Dynamic
Default Arguments
Item 25: Enforce Clarity with Keyword-Only and Positional-
Only Arguments
Item 26: Define Function Decorators with functools.wraps
4. Comprehensions and Generators
 Item 27: Use Comprehensions Instead of map and filter
Item 28: Avoid More Than Two Control Subexpressions in
Comprehensions
Item 29: Avoid Repeated Work in Comprehensions by Using
Assignment Expressions
Item 30: Consider Generators Instead of Returning Lists
Item 31: Be Defensive When Iterating Over Arguments
Item 32: Consider Generator Expressions for Large List
Comprehensions
Item 33: Compose Multiple Generators with yield from
Item 34: Avoid Injecting Data into Generators with send
Item 35: Avoid Causing State Transitions in Generators with
throw
Item 36: Consider itertools for Working with Iterators and
Generators
5. Classes and Interfaces
Item 37: Compose Classes Instead of Nesting Many Levels
of Built-in Types
Item 38: Accept Functions Instead of Classes for Simple
Interfaces
Item 39: Use @classmethod Polymorphism to Construct
Objects Generically
Item 40: Initialize Parent Classes with super
Item 41: Consider Composing Functionality with Mix-in
Classes
Item 42: Prefer Public Attributes Over Private Ones
Item 43: Inherit from collections.abc for Custom
Container Types
6. Metaclasses and Attributes
 Item 44: Use Plain Attributes Instead of Setter and Getter
Methods
Item 45: Consider @property Instead of Refactoring
Attributes
Item 46: Use Descriptors for Reusable @property Methods
Item 47: Use __getattr__, __getattribute__, and
__setattr__ for Lazy Attributes
Item 48: Validate Subclasses with __init_subclass__
Item 49: Register Class Existence with __init_subclass__
Item 50: Annotate Class Attributes with __set_name__
Item 51: Prefer Class Decorators Over Metaclasses for
Composable Class Extensions
7. Concurrency and Parallelism
Item 52: Use subprocess to Manage Child Processes
Item 53: Use Threads for Blocking I/O, Avoid for Parallelism
Item 54: Use Lock to Prevent Data Races in Threads
Item 55: Use Queue to Coordinate Work Between Threads
Item 56: Know How to Recognize When Concurrency Is
Necessary
Item 57: Avoid Creating New Thread Instances for On-
demand Fan-out
Item 58: Understand How Using Queue for Concurrency
Requires Refactoring
Item 59: Consider ThreadPoolExecutor When Threads Are
Necessary for Concurrency
Item 60: Achieve Highly Concurrent I/O with Coroutines
Item 61: Know How to Port Threaded I/O to asyncio
Item 62: Mix Threads and Coroutines to Ease the Transition
to asyncio
 Item 63: Avoid Blocking the asyncio Event Loop to
Maximize Responsiveness
Item 64: Consider concurrent.futures for True Parallelism
8. Robustness and Performance
Item 65: Take Advantage of Each Block in
try/except/else/finally
Item 66: Consider contextlib and with Statements for
Reusable try/finally Behavior
Item 67: Use datetime Instead of time for Local Clocks
Item 68: Make pickle Reliable with copyreg
Item 69: Use decimal When Precision Is Paramount
Item 70: Profile Before Optimizing
Item 71: Prefer deque for Producer–Consumer Queues
Item 72: Consider Searching Sorted Sequences with bisect
Item 73: Know How to Use heapq for Priority Queues
Item 74: Consider memoryview and bytearray for Zero-Copy
Interactions with bytes
9. Testing and Debugging
Item 75: Use repr Strings for Debugging Output
Item 76: Verify Related Behaviors in TestCase Subclasses
Item 77: Isolate Tests from Each Other with setUp,
tearDown, setUpModule, and tearDownModule
Item 78: Use Mocks to Test Code with Complex
Dependencies
Item 79: Encapsulate Dependencies to Facilitate Mocking
and Testing
Item 80: Consider Interactive Debugging with pdb
 Item 81: Use tracemalloc to Understand Memory Usage
and Leaks
10. Collaboration
Item 82: Know Where to Find Community-Built Modules
Item 83: Use Virtual Environments for Isolated and
Reproducible Dependencies
Item 84: Write Docstrings for Every Function, Class, and
Module
Item 85: Use Packages to Organize Modules and Provide
Stable APIs
Item 86: Consider Module-Scoped Code to Configure
Deployment Environments
Item 87: Define a Root Exception to Insulate Callers from
APIs
Item 88: Know How to Break Circular Dependencies
Item 89: Consider warnings to Refactor and Migrate Usage
Item 90: Consider Static Analysis via typing to Obviate
Bugs
Index
Code Snippets

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About This eBook
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Praise for Effective Python

“I have been recommending this book enthusiastically since the first

edition appeared in 2015. This new edition, updated and expanded
for Python 3, is a treasure trove of practical Python programming
wisdom that can benefit programmers of all experience levels.”
—Wes McKinney, Creator of Python Pandas project, Director of Ursa
Labs
“If you’re coming from another language, this is your definitive guide
to taking full advantage of the unique features Python has to offer.
I’ve been working with Python for nearly twenty years and I still
learned a bunch of useful tricks, especially around newer features
introduced by Python 3. Effective Python is crammed with actionable
advice, and really helps define what our community means when
they talk about Pythonic code.”
—Simon Willison, Co-creator of Django
“I’ve been programming in Python for years and thought I knew it
pretty well. Thanks to this treasure trove of tips and techniques, I’ve
discovered many ways to improve my Python code to make it faster
(e.g., using bisect to search sorted lists), easier to read (e.g.,
enforcing keyword-only arguments), less prone to error (e.g.,
unpacking with starred expressions), and more Pythonic (e.g., using
zip to iterate over lists in parallel). Plus, the second edition is a great
way to quickly get up to speed on Python 3 features, such as the
walrus operator, f-strings, and the typing module.”
—Pamela Fox, Creator of Khan Academy programming courses
“Now that Python 3 has finally become the standard version of
Python, it’s already gone through eight minor releases and a lot of
new features have been added throughout. Brett Slatkin returns with
a second edition of Effective Python with a huge new list of Python
idioms and straightforward recommendations, catching up with
everything that’s introduced in version 3 all the way through 3.8 that
we’ll all want to use as we finally leave Python 2 behind. Early
sections lay out an enormous list of tips regarding new Python 3
syntaxes and concepts like string and byte objects, f-strings,
assignment expressions (and their special nickname you might not
know), and catch-all unpacking of tuples. Later sections take on
bigger subjects, all of which are packed with things I either didn’t
know or which I’m always trying to teach to others, including
‘Metaclasses and Attributes’ (good advice includes ‘Prefer Class
Decorators over Metaclasses’ and also introduces a new magic
method ‘__init_subclass__()’ I wasn’t familiar with), ‘Concurrency’
(favorite advice: ‘Use Threads for Blocking I/O, but not Parallelism,’
but it also covers asyncio and coroutines correctly) and ‘Robustness
and Performance’ (advice given: ‘Profile before Optimizing’). It’s a
joy to go through each section as everything I read is terrific best
practice information smartly stated, and I’m considering quoting
from this book in the future as it has such great advice all
throughout. This is the definite winner for the ‘if you only read one
Python book this year...’ contest.
—Mike Bayer, Creator of SQLAlchemy
“This is a great book for both novice and experienced programmers.
The code examples and explanations are well thought out and
explained concisely and thoroughly. The second edition updates the
advice for Python 3, and it’s fantastic! I’ve been using Python for
almost 20 years, and I learned something new every few pages. The
advice given in this book will serve anyone well.”
—Titus Brown, Associate Professor at UC Davis
“Once again, Brett Slatkin has managed to condense a wide range of
solid practices from the community into a single volume. From exotic
topics like metaclasses and concurrency to crucial basics like
robustness, testing, and collaboration, the updated Effective Python
makes a consensus view of what’s ‘Pythonic’ available to a wide
audience.”
Other documents randomly have
different content
 CHAPTER XI.
CONSTANTINE’S LEGISLATION CONCERNING
THE PAGAN SUNDAY.

All his Tolerative Legislation Essentially Pagan—Christians did not Seek for
Sunday Laws—The first Sunday Law, 321 A.D., Pagan in Every Particular—
Essentially Identical with Existing Laws Concerning Other Days—
Legislation against Heathen Religions Feeble and Unenforced—Constantine
not a “Christian Prince.”

T he representative legislation of Constantine, with reference to

Christianity, was pagan both as to its genius and form. The
various edicts in favor of Christians contained little or nothing of true
liberty of conscience. They were the steps by which Christianity,
already paganized, was recognized, and gradually raised to a
dominant place among the legal religions. This accorded with the
prevailing syncretism, and the policy which Rome had always
exercised toward foreign religions. On the other hand, the Emperor,
still acting as Pontifex Maximus, and long before he was baptized
into the fellowship of the Church, became its dictator. He convened
and controlled the famous council at Nice (325 A.D.) while his hands
were red with the blood of his kindred, whom he slew lest they
might come between him and his ambition to be sole emperor.
The decisions of the Council of Nice mark the beginning of centuries
in which imperial law determined what should be called Christianity,
what orthodoxy, and what heterodoxy. The Bible was not the
standard of faith, or practice. Traditions, imperial decrees, the
decisions of councils called and dictated by the imperial power,
determined the practice of the Church, and formulated her faith.
This will be shown more in detail farther on. Meanwhile we pause to
examine the character of one of Constantine’s earliest laws, which
has left a lasting influence on all Christian history—his “Sunday
Edict” of 321 A.D. It is the more important to do this, since the
question of Sunday laws and their enforcement is now at the front,
and it is well that the reader understand the source from which
Sunday legislation sprung. This edict of Constantine is the beginning
of Sunday legislation, and it is not difficult to determine the
influences which gave it birth. There is no evidence that such
legislation was either sought or desired by Christians. They formed
but a small fragment of the population of the empire, and in so far
as the principles of New Testament Christianity remained, they
forbade all such legislation.
The power to appoint holy days rested in the Emperor. His voice was
supreme in all such matters. Although history has been carefully
searched, there is no trace that any influence was brought to bear
upon Constantine, by any person, any event, any custom which
represented the Christians, or in which they were interested, to
induce him to enact a Sunday law. There is every evidence that he
acted in his proper capacity as Pontifex Maximus, and whatever
notions may have entered into his determination to promulgate the
edict, they could not have been Christian. On the other hand, there
were abundant reasons why he should begin legislation in favor of
Sunday. It was Apollo’s day. Apollo was the patron deity of
Constantine. He was the beautiful Sun-god, and Constantine was
proud of his own personal beauty, because of which his fawning
courtiers were accustomed to liken him to Apollo. The sun-worship
cult had been popular for a long time. Any favor shown to it would
strengthen his influence with the “first families” of the empire. It was
the settled policy of the emperors to overcome the discontent of the
masses, under increasing taxation and burdens, by increasing
holidays, games, and enjoyments. To exalt the day of the Sun at
such a time was a stroke of policy wholly in keeping with the
universal practice of Constantine. The general character of the man,
his personal devotion to the Sun-god, and the surrounding demands,
furnish all needful reasons for an act of legislation which was pagan,
as we shall see, from centre to circumference. This famous edict
runs as follows:
 “Let all judges, and all city people, and all tradesmen, rest upon
the Venerable Day of the Sun. But let those dwelling in the
country freely and with full liberty attend to the culture of their
fields; since it frequently happens that no other day is so fit for
the sowing of grain, or the planting of vines; hence the
favorable time should not be allowed to pass, lest the provisions
of heaven be lost.”[194]
This was issued on the seventh of March, A.D. 321. In June of the
same year it was modified so as to allow the manumission of slaves
on Sunday. The reader will notice that this edict makes no reference
to the day as a Sabbath, as the Lords day, or as in any way
connected with Christianity. Neither is it an edict addressed to
Christians. Nor is the idea of any moral obligation or Christian duty
found in it. It is merely the edict of a heathen emperor, addressed to
all his subjects, Christian and heathen, who dwelt in cities, and were
tradesmen, or officers of justice, commanding them to refrain from
their business on the “venerable day” of the god whom Constantine
most adored, and to whom he loved in his pride to be compared.
There are several distinct lines of argument which prove that this
edict was a pagan rather than a Christian document.
On the following day Constantine issued an edict with reference to
consulting the pagan soothsayers in case of public misfortune,
which, like the Sunday edict, is so purely heathen that no “Christian
Emperor” could have conceived or issued it. It runs as follows:

Edict Concerning Aruspices.

“The August Emperor Constantine to Maximus:
“If any part of the palace or other public works shall be struck
by lightning, let the sooth-sayers, following old usages, inquire
into the meaning of the portent, and let their written words,
very carefully collected, be reported to our knowledge; and also
let the liberty of making use of this custom be accorded to
 others, provided they abstain from private sacrifices, which are
specially prohibited.
“Moreover, that declaration and exposition written in respect to
the amphitheater being struck by lightning, concerning which
you had written to Heraclianus, the tribune, and master of
offices, you may know has been reported to us.
“Dated the 16th, before the calends of January, at Serdica (320)
Acc. the 8th, before the Ides of March, in the consulship of
Crispus II. and Constantine III., Cæsars Coss. (321).”[195]
There is abundant evidence, beyond the above, that the Sunday-law
was the product of paganism.
The language used speaks of the day only as the “Venerable Day of
the Sun,” a title purely heathen. There is not even a hint at any
connection between the day and Christianity, or the practices of
Christians.
Similar laws concerning many other heathen festivals were common.
Joseph Bingham bears the following testimony, when speaking of the
edict under consideration:
“This was the same respect as the old Roman laws had paid to
their feriæ, or festivals, in times of idolatry and superstition....
Now, as the old Roman laws exempted the festivals of the
heathen from all judicial business, and suspended all processes
and pleadings, except in the fore-mentioned cases, so
Constantine ordered that the same respect should be paid to the
Lord’s day, that it should be a day of perfect vacation from all
prosecutions, and pleadings, and business of law, except where
any case of great necessity or charity required a juridical process
and public transaction.”[196]
Bingham states correctly that such prohibitions were made by the
Roman laws in favor of pagan festivals, but adds, incorrectly, that
Constantine made the same in favor of the “Lord’s day.” It was not
the Lord’s day, but the “Venerable Day of the Sun,” which the edict
mentions; and it is impossible to suppose that a law, made by a
Christian prince, in favor of a Christian institution, should not in any
way mention that institution, or hint that the law was designed to
apply to it.
Millman corroborates this idea as follows:
“The earlier laws of Constantine, though in their effect favorable
to Christianity, claimed some deference, as it were, to the
ancient religion, in the ambiguity of their language, and the
cautious terms in which they interfered with paganism. The
rescript commanding the celebration of the Christian Sabbath,
bears no allusion to its peculiar sanctity as a Christian institution.
It is the day of the sun which is to be observed by the general
veneration: the courts were to be closed, and the noise and
tumult of public business and legal litigation were no longer to
violate the repose of the sacred day. But the believer in the new
paganism, of which the solar worship was the characteristic,
might acquiesce without scruple in the sanctity of the first day of
the week....
“The rescript, indeed, for the religious observance of the
Sunday, which enjoined the suspension of all public business and
private labor, except that of agriculture, was enacted, according
to the apparent terms of the decree, for the whole Roman
Empire. Yet, unless we had direct proof that the decree set forth
the Christian reason for the sanctity of the day, it may be
doubted whether the act would not be received by the greater
part of the empire as merely adding one more festival to the
fasti of the empire, as proceeding entirely from the will of the
emperor, or even grounded on his authority as supreme pontiff,
by which he had the plenary power of appointing holy days. In
fact, as we have before observed, the day of the sun would be
willingly hallowed by almost all the pagan world, especially that
part which had admitted any tendency toward the oriental
theology.”[197]
Millman hints at some “direct proof.” There is none; hence the
correctness of his conclusion, that the people looked upon the new
holiday, “as merely adding one more festival to the fasti of the
empire.” It was not only non-Christian but eminently unchristian.
Stronger still is the testimony of an English barrister, Edward V. Neale.
These are his words:
“That the division of days into juridici et feriati, judicial and non-
judicial, did not arise out of the modes of thought peculiar to the
Christian world must be known to every classical scholar. Before
the age of Augustus, the number of days upon which out of
reverence to the gods to whom they were consecrated, no trials
could take place at Rome, had become a resource upon which a
wealthy criminal could speculate as a means of evading justice;
and Suetonius enumerates among the praiseworthy acts of that
emperor, the cutting off from the number, thirty days, in order
that crime might not go unpunished nor business be
impeded.”[198]
After enumerating certain kinds of business which were allowed
under these general laws, Mr. Neale adds: “Such was the state of the
laws with respect to judicial proceedings, while the empire was still
heathen.” Concerning the suspension of labor, we learn from the
same author that:
“The practice of abstaining from various sorts of labor upon days
consecrated by religious observance, like that of suspending at
such seasons judicial proceedings, was familiar to the Roman
world before the introduction of Christian ideas. Virgil
enumerates the rural labors, which might on festal days be
carried on, without entrenching upon the prohibitions of religion
and right; and the enumeration shows that many works were
considered as forbidden. Thus it appears that it was permitted to
clean out the channels of an old water course, but not to make a
new one; to wash the herd or flock, if such washing was needful
for their health, but not otherwise; to guard the crop from injury
by setting snares for birds, or fencing in the grain; and to burn
unproductive thorns.”[199]
Sir Henry Spelman, who is recognized as high authority, in discussing
the origin of practices in the English courts, says that all ancient
nations prohibited legal proceedings on sacred days. His words are:
“To be short, it was so common a thing in those days of old to
exempt the times of exercise of religion from all worldly
business, that the barbarous nations, even our Angli, while they
were yet in Germany, the Suevians themselves, and others in
those Northern parts would in no wise violate or interrupt it.
Tacitus says of them that during this time of holy rites, non
bellum ineunt, non arma sumunt. Clausum omne ferrum. Pax et
quies tunc tantum nota, tunc tantum amat.”
Speaking of the origin of the English “court terms,” Spelman says:
“I will therefore seek the original of our terms only from the
Romans, as all other nations that have been subject to their civil
and ecclesiastical monarch do, and must.
“The ancient Romans, while they were yet heathens, did not, as
we at this day, use certain continual portions of the year for a
legal decision of controversies, but out of superstitious conceit
that some days were ominous and more unlucky than others
(according to that of the Egyptians), they made one day to be
fastus or term day and another (as an Egyptian day), to be
vacation or nefastus; seldom two fast days or law days together;
yea, they sometimes divided one and the same day in this
manner:
“Qui modo fastus erat, mune nefastus erat.
“The afternoon was term, the morning holy day.
“Nor were all their fasti applied to judicature, but some of them
to other meetings and consultations of the commonwealth; so
that being divided into three sorts, which they called fastos
proprie, fastos endotercisos, and fastos comitiales, containing
together one hundred and eighty-four days through all the
months of the year, there remained not properly to the prætor,
as judicial or triverbial days, above twenty-eight.”[200]
Nothing more is needed to show that the Sunday edict was the
product of the heathen cult, as truly as that which was issued in
connection with it, relative to the Aruspices. There is an evident
connection between the two edicts. Apollo was the patron deity of
the soothsayers, as well as of Constantine. At least nine years later
than this, Constantine placed his new residence at Byzantium under
the protection of the heathen goddess of Fortune; he never gave up
the title of high-priest of the heathen religion; he did not formally
embrace Christianity until sixteen years later.
Whatever he did to favor Christianity, and whatever claims he made
to conversion, were the outgrowth of a shrewd policy, rather than of
a converted heart. And when the conservative historian can say of
him, “The very brightest period of his reign is stained with crimes,
which even the spirit of the age, and the policy of an absolute
monarch, cannot excuse,” he cannot be called a Christian prince.
If he made any general laws against heathenism, they were little
executed; for it was not suppressed in the empire until A.D. 390—
seventy-nine years after his Sunday edict, and fifty-three years after
his death. The few abuses against which he legislated were those
which had been condemned before by the laws of the heathen rulers
who had preceded him, such as the obscure midnight orgies, etc.
Millman says on this point:
“If it be difficult to determine the extent to which Constantine
proceeded in the establishment of Christianity, it is even more
perplexing to estimate how far he exerted the imperial authority
in the abolition of paganism.... The pagan writers, who are not
scrupulous in their charges against the memory of Constantine
and dwell with bitter resentment on all his overt acts of hostility
to the ancient religion, do not accuse him of these direct
encroachments on paganism. Neither Julian nor Zosimus lay this
to his charge. Libanius distinctly asserts that the temples were
left open and undisturbed during his reign, and that paganism
remained unchanged. Though Constantine advanced many
Christians to offices of trust, and no doubt many who were
 ambitious of such offices conformed to the religion of the
emperor, probably most of the high dignities of the State were
held by the pagans.... In the capitol there can be little doubt
that sacrifices were offered in the name of the senate and the
people of Rome till a much later period.”[201]
The whole matter is tersely told by a late English writer, who,
speaking of the time of the Sunday edict, says:
“At a later period, carried away by the current of opinion, he
declared himself a convert to the church. Christianity then, or
what he was pleased to call by that name, became the law of
the land, and the edict of A.D. 321, being unrevoked, was
enforced as a Christian ordinance.”[202]
The following words of the learned Niebuhr, in his lectures on Roman
history, are to the same effect:
“Many judge of Constantine by too severe a standard, because
they regard him as a Christian; but I cannot look at him in that
light. The religion which he had in his head, must have been a
strange jumble indeed.... He was a superstitious man, and
mixed up his Christian religion with all kinds of absurd and
superstitious opinions. When certain oriental writers call him
equal to the apostles, they do not know what they are saying,
and to speak of him as a saint is a profanation of the word.”[203]
It is a curious and little known fact, that markets were expressly
appointed by Constantine to be held on Sunday. This we learn from
an inscription on a Slavonian bath rebuilt by him, published in
Gruter’s Inscriptiones Antiquæ Totius Orbis Romani, clxiv., 2. It is
there recorded of the emperor, that “provisione pietatis suæ
nundinas dies solis perpeti anno constituit”; “by a pious provision he
appointed markets to be held on Sunday throughout the year.” His
pious object doubtless was to promote the attendance of the country
people at churches in towns. “Thus,” says Charles Julius Hare,
“Constantine was the author of the practice of holding markets on
Sunday, which, in many parts of Europe, prevailed above a thousand
years after, though Charlemagne issued a special law (cap. cxl.)
against it.”[204] In “Scotland, this practice was first forbidden on holy
days by an Act of James IV., in 1503, and on Sundays in particular
by one of James VI., in 1579.”[205]
 CHAPTER XII.
OTHER FORMS OF PAGAN RESIDUUM IN
CHRISTIANITY.

A Low Standard of Religious Life—Faith in Relics—The Cross an Ancient

Pagan (Phallic) Symbol—A “Charm” Borrowed from Paganism—
Constantine’s use of the Composite Symbol as a Military Standard—
Prevalence of Faith in “Charms”—Sign of the Cross in Baptism—Baptism
and Holy Water as “Charms”—Stupendous Miracles, like Pagan Prodigies,
through Baptism—Delayed Baptism—Orientation at Baptism, etc.

T hose who have made a study of paganism as it appeared in

Christianity during and after the third century know that many
other forms of it were prominent besides those fundamental errors
which have been discussed in the preceding pages. Some of these
have attracted more attention than the fundamental ones, since they
lie more plainly on the surface of history. We shall glance at several,
that the reader may see the field yet more fully.

A Low Standard of Christian Life.

That the standard of individual character in the Church was brought
far below that of the New Testament, and much below what would
be accepted at the present day, appears in the history of morals and
social life, and in many ways in the Church.
The degenerate character of his time is thus set forth by Chrysostom:
“Plagues too, teeming with untold mischiefs, have lighted upon
the Churches. The chief offices have become saleable. Hence
numberless evils are springing, and there is no one to redress,
no one to reprove them. Nay the disorder has assumed a sort of
method and consistency. Has a man done wrong and been
 arraigned for it? His effort is not to prove himself guiltless, but to
find if possible accomplices in his crimes. What is to become of
us? since hell is our threatened portion. Believe me, had not God
stored up punishment for us there, ye would see every day
tragedies deeper than the disasters of the Jews. What then?
However, let no one take offence, for I mention no names;
suppose some one were to come into this church to present you
that are here at this moment, those that are now with me, and
to make inquisition of them; or rather not now, but suppose on
Easter day any one endued with such a spirit, as to have such a
thorough knowledge of the things they had been doing, should
narrowly examine all that came to Communion and were being
washed [in baptism] after they had attended the mysteries;
many things would be discovered more shocking than the Jewish
horrors. He would find persons who practise augury, who make
use of charms, and omens, and incantations, and who have
committed fornication, adulterers, drunkards, and revilers,—
covetous I am unwilling to add, lest I should hurt the feelings of
any of those who are standing here. What more? Suppose any
one should make scrutiny into all the communicants in the
world, what kind of transgression is there which he would not
detect? And what if he examined those in authority? Would he
not find them eagerly bent upon gain? making traffic of high
places? envious, malignant, vainglorious, gluttonous and slaves
to money?”[206]
A similar vivid description, under the figure of a burning building,
representing the Church as consumed with evil, is found in Homily
10, On Ephesians. Another description of the effect of heathenism
upon those who professed to be Christians is sharply set forth in a
Treatise Attributed to Cyprian, on the “Public Shows.”[207] He says:
“Believers, and men who claim for themselves the authority of
the Christian name, are not ashamed—are not, I repeat,
ashamed to find a defence in the heavenly Scriptures for the
vain superstitions associated with the public exhibitions of the
heathens, and thus to attribute divine authority to idolatry. For
 how is it, that what is done by the heathens in honor of any idol
is resorted to in a public show by faithful Christians, and the
heathen idolatry is maintained and the true and divine religion is
trampled upon in contempt of God? Shame binds me to relate
their pretexts and defences in this behalf. ‘Where,’ say they, ‘are
there such Scriptures? Where are these things prohibited? On
the contrary, both Elias as the charioteer of Israel, and David
himself danced before the ark. We read of psaltries, horns,
trumpets, drums, pipes, harps, and choral dances. Moreover, the
apostle, in his struggle, puts before us the contest of the
Cæstus, and of our wrestle against the spiritual things of
wickedness. Again when he borrows his illustrations from the
racecourse, he also proposes the prize of the crown. Why, then,
may not a faithful Christian man gaze upon that which the divine
pen might write about?’ At this point I might not unreasonably
say that it would have been far better for them not to know any
writings at all, than thus to read the writings [of the Scriptures].
For words and illustrations which are recorded by way of
exhortation to evangelical virtue, are translated by them into
pleas for vice; because those things are written of, not that they
should be gazed upon, but that a greater eagerness might be
aroused in our minds in respect of things that will benefit us,
seeing that among the heathens there is manifest so much
eagerness in respect of things which will be of no advantage.”
That these evils increased with the years, is shown by the words of
Augustine, when he says:
“Accordingly you will have to witness many drunkards, covetous
men, deceivers, gamesters, adulterers, fornicators, men who
bind upon their persons sacrilegious charms, and others given
up to sorcerers and astrologers, and diviners practised in all
kinds of impious arts. You will also have to observe how those
very crowds which fill the theaters on the festal days of the
pagans, also fill the churches on the festal days of the
Christians. And when you see these things you will be tempted
to imitate them. Nay, why should I use the expression, you will
 see, in reference to what you assuredly are acquainted with
even already. For you are not ignorant of the fact that many who
are called Christians engage in all these evil things which I have
briefly mentioned. Neither are you ignorant that at times,
perchance, men whom you know to bear the name of Christians
are guilty of even more grievous offenses than these.”[208]
Such degradation of Christian life was the unavoidable fruitage of
the various pagan influences which had substituted false standards
of Church membership and of action for the true ones laid down in
the Scriptures.

Faith in “Relics.”
Faith in “Relics,” bodies, bones, garments, places, etc., as retaining
the virtues of the persons with whom they were associated, was a
prominent characteristic of paganism, from the earliest time.
Paganism brought this element into Christianity, where it took root
and flourished, like a fast-growing, noxious weed. The whole system
of relic worship, down to the “Holy Coat at Treves,” in 1891, is a
direct harvest from pagan planting. Relics were believed to be
powerful agents for good, by direct influence, and by acting as
charms to ward off evils of all kinds. Take an example from one of
the early Church historians, Sozomen, who gives the following with all
the soberness of undoubted fact:
“While the Church everywhere was under the sway of these
eminent men, the clergy and people were excited to the
imitation of their virtue and zeal. Nor was the Church of this era
distinguished only by these illustrious examples of piety; for the
relics of the proto-prophets, Habakkuk, and a little while after,
Micah, were brought to light about this time. As I understand,
God made known the place where both these bodies were
deposited, by a divine vision in a dream to Zebennus, who was
then acting as bishop of the Church of Eleutheropolis. The relics
of Habakkuk were found at Cela a city formerly called Ceila. The
 tomb of Micah was discovered at a distance of ten stadia from
Cela, at a place called Berathsatia. This tomb was ignorantly
styled by the people of the country, ‘the tomb of the faithful’; or,
in their native language, Nephsameemana. These events, which
occurred during the reign of Theodosius, were sufficient for the
good repute of the Christian religion.”[209]
The same author reports the discovery of the relics of Zechariah the
prophet. Calemerus, a serf, was directed in a dream to dig at a
certain place in a garden, being assured that he would find two
coffins, the inner one of wood, the other of lead; “beside the coffins
you will see a glass vessel full of water, and two serpents of
moderate size, but tame and perfectly innoxious, so that they seem
to be used to being handled.” Calemerus followed the directions, and
found the body of Zechariah, “clad in a white stole,” with a royal
child lying at his feet; and “although the prophet had lain under the
earth for so many generations, he appeared sound; his hair was
closely shorn, his nose was straight; his beard moderately grown, his
head quite short, his eyes rather sunken, and concealed by the
eyebrows.”[210] In a similar style,[211] Sozomen relates how the head
of John the Baptist was discovered in the suburbs of Constantinople.
That such ridiculous myths could be written down as a part of
genuine Church history, shows how fully the pagan falsehoods
corrupted the best currents of Christian life.

The Cross, its Sign, and other Charms.

Comparatively few readers realize that the cross was of heathen
origin, and a religious symbol of the lowest order, and that it was not
adopted as a symbol of Christianity until the Church was well
paganized. Its origin lies in the shadows of the prehistoric period. It
was a religious symbol in the Asiatic, Egyptian, Grecian, Roman,
Druidic, and Central American heathenism. It originated in the
lowest department of sun-worship cultus. Ishtar, the Assyrian Venus,
was represented as holding a staff, the upper end of which was in
the form of a Latin cross. The worship of Ishtar was one of the
darkest features of the Babylonian religion. It was conducted with
lascivious rites which may not be named. It corrupted the Hebrews
on every side. We find it, with other forms of sun-worship, polluting
the temple itself, and sharply condemned by the prophet of Jehovah.
[212]

Tammuz was the young and beautiful sun-god, the bridegroom of

Ishtar who bore the cross-crowned sceptre; and this mourning for
him was associated with gross obscenity.
Another form of this same worship is condemned by Jeremiah, thus:
“Seest thou not what they do in the cities of Judah and in the
streets of Jerusalem? The children gather wood, and the fathers
kindle the fire, and the women knead their dough, to make
cakes to the queen of heaven, and to pour out drink-offerings
unto other gods, that they may provoke me to anger.”[213]
There is evidence to show that these cakes were marked with one
form of the cross, the Greek tau (Τ). In later times the Greeks
offered cakes thus marked to Bacchus, in connection with the vilest
orgies. Specimens of these are found at Herculaneum. Similar ones
have been found in the catacombs. The “hot cross-bun” is the lineal
descendant of the tau (Τ)-marked cakes of the obscene sun-worship
cultus. Its association with Friday—day of Ishtar, Venus, Frega—is a
remnant of paganism, although later efforts to Christianize it have
associated it with “Good Friday.”
The cross appears in Assyrian history, worn as a religious emblem by
the priest-king, Samsi-Vul, son of Shalamanezar, and also by Assur-
Nazir-Pal. These specimens may be seen in the British Museum. It is
the Greek cross, and identical with the “pectoral cross,” worn by the
Pope, and seen on altar-cloths at the present day. Priority of
possession is several thousand years in favor of the Assyrian. The
same style of crosses are found in the Etruscan department of the
Vatican Museum at Rome. They are on the breasts—painted—of
certain large Etruscan male figures, and are taken from mural
decorations in ancient Etruscan burial-places. Similar “pectoral”
crosses may be seen also in the British Museum on two figures from
Thebes, in the Egyptian Hall. They date from about 1100 B.C., and
represent men of Asia bringing tribute. In Wilkinson’s Ancient Egypt
the same cross may be seen on the breast of two warriors.
There is a figure of the youthful Bacchus, taken from an ancient
vase, with which antiquarians are familiar, holding a cup and fennel
branch—a figure of much beauty. The head-dress is a band with
crosses as of Horus. A portion of the band falls from the head, and
with its fringe and single cross, if lengthened, would form a modern
“stole.”
The cross is also found on Greek pottery, dating from 700 to 500
B.C. It appears in relics of the Latin people of the same period. It
was used as a symbol in Buddhism in India long before the time of
Christ. It is also found in Thibet, Scandinavia, and other parts of
northern Europe.
That the cross was extensively known and used before the Christian
era is shown by an admirable article in the Edinburgh Review of
October, 1870, on the pre-Christian Cross. The author of the article
claims to have collected nearly two hundred varieties of the cross, in
its heathen form. He speaks of it as follows:
“From the dawn of organized paganism in the Eastern world, to
the final establishment of Christianity in the Western, the cross
was undoubtedly the commonest and most sacred of symbolical
monuments, and to a remarkable extent it is so still in almost
every land where that of Calvary is unrecognized or unknown.
Apart from any distinctions of social or intellectual superiority of
caste, color, nationality, or location in either hemisphere it
appears to have been the aboriginal possession of every people
of antiquity—the elastic girdle, so to say, which embraced the
most widely separated heathen communities, the most
significant token of universal brotherhood, the principal point of
contact in every system of pagan mythology, to which all the
families of mankind were severally and irresistibly drawn, and by
which their common descent was emphatically expressed....
 “Of the several varieties of the cross still in vogue as national or
ecclesiastical emblems in this and other European states, and
distinguished by the familiar appellations of St. George, St.
Andrew, the Maltese, the Greek, the Latin, etc., there is not one
amongst them the existence of which may not be traced to the
remotest antiquity.”[214]
It is also true that the cross does not appear as the symbol of
Christianity until after its paganization under Constantine. He made a
composite symbol, known as the Chi-ro, of which see below. It
seems probable that he added these to the pagan cross. On this
point Blake says:
“The Cross and the Crescent were combined in the Oriental
standards (Fig. 29.) centuries before the time of Christ.
“Roman coins of the period of 269 B.C. show the cross of Saturn
(Fig. 30.) with distinctness. According to Gaume, the illustrious
writer, all the Roman standards bore this cross, and Constantine
being unable to vary the banner of the empire, added ‘XP’ the
Greek sign for Christ, to the imperial flag, 312 A.D.”[215]
The similarity between the heathenism of Asia and Central America
is a well-known fact of history.
“The religion of the Mexicans was purely Chaldean. They
professed to believe in a Supreme God, but idol-worship was
general. They had a regular priesthood, gorgeous temples and
convents; they had processions, in which crosses, and even red
crosses, were carried; and incense, flowers, and fruit-offerings
were employed in their worship. They confessed to their priests,
and generally confessed only once, receiving a written
absolution which served for the remainder of their lives as an
effectual safeguard against punishment, even for crimes
committed after receiving the said absolution. They worshipped,
and afterwards ate, a wafer-god, an idol made of flour and
honey, which they called ‘the god of penitence,’ and they always
ate him fasting. They also venerated the black calf, or bull, and
adored a goddess-mother, with an infant son in her arms. They
sacrificed human victims to the God of Hell, of whom they
considered the cross to be a symbol, and to whom they were
largely sacrificed, by laying them on a great black stone and
tearing out their hearts.
“We are now prepared to see how easily the heathen, in
adopting a nominal Christianity, as they did from the reign of
Constantine, would have modified and Christianized their views
of the heathen cross. Hitherto that emblem had been associated
with their worship of the gods. In their temples, in their houses,
on their images, their clothes, their cattle, etc., the worshippers
were accustomed to see the peculiar cross, or, crosses,
dedicated to each. Bacchus had his, Serapis his, and so forth.
Some of the new converts were themselves wearing on their
own persons the emblem of their gods. This was the case with
certain Asiatics and Etruscans, who wore the cross round their
necks, but not, apparently, with the Egyptians as far as relating
to a neck ornament. Wilkinson, chapter v., plate 342, gives the
figures of four warriors from the monuments of Egypt, from
Asiatic tribes, wearing crosses round their necks, or on their
clothes. Their date is about 1400 B.C.
“In plate 47 of his Peintures Antiques de Vases Grecs (Rome,
1817, fol.), Milligen gives examples of the cross on the apron of
the warrior, and within a circle on his horse.
“To enter then, into a heathen temple just rededicated to Christ,
where the cross of the rejected pagan deity still existed, or
where a new church cross had been substituted—to visit a
temple so reconsecrated, or to enter a basilica (judgment hall)
by the Emperor’s order just handed over to the bishop for
Christian use—all this would aid in making the change from the
worship of the gods to the worship of the Emperor’s God very
easy to the convert.
“The old temples, and the old basilicas, the arrangements of the
apse, etc., in the latter almost unchanged—the lustral, or holy
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