CHAP. Thus closed the most memorable of all the attacks of Satan on the Christian Church. Since that time he has never been able to persecute Christians, as such, within the limits of Roman civilization in Europe. I thought the account of the most violent attempt to eradicate the Gospel, ever known, deserved to be distinctly related. If some things happened more approaching to the nature of miracles, than ordinary history knows, the greatness of the contest shows at once the propriety of such signal divine interpositions, and renders them more credible. The present age affects a scepticism more daring than any preceding one; but in every age before this, all pious and considerate persons have agreed that the arm of God was lifted up in a wonderful manner, at once to chastise and to purify his Church, and also to demonstrate the truth of the Christian religion to the proudest and the fiercest of his enemies, till they were obliged to confess that the Gospel was divine, and must stand in the earth invincible; that the most High ruleth, and that he will have a Church in the world, which will glorify him, in spite of earth and hell united, and that this Church contains in it all that deserves the name of true wisdom and true virtue. CHAP. II. CHA P. II. A VIEW OF THE STATE OF THE CHRISTIAN religion, THIS HIS emperor from early life had some predilection in favour of Christianity. His father Constantius, like Agrippa, had been almost persuaded to be a Christian, and probably the same fear of man and the same love of the world operated as a check upon both. This, however*, we are informed concerning him, that he condemned the polytheism of the times, and worshipped one God, the maker of all things, that he had multitudes of Christians in his palace, and among these, ministers of the Gospel, who openly prayed for the emperor. The knowledge of these things, joined to the remarkable contrast between the moral character of his father, and that of the other emperors, must have made some impression in favour of the Christian religion on the intelligent spirit of Constantine, though more pungent views of internal depravity and guilt be needful to induce the mind to enter fully into the spirit of the Gospel. But even a worldly mind may feel the need of divine assistance, when dubious under the prospect of important secular events: And Constantine marching from France into Italy against Maxentius, on an expedition, which was likely either to exalt or to ruin him, was oppressed with anxiety. Some god he thought needful to protect him. The God of the Christians he was most inclined to respect; but he wanted some satisfactory proof of his real existence and power; and he neither understood the means of acquiring this, nor could he be content with the atheistic indifference, in which so many generals and heroes since his time have acquiesced. He prayed, he implored with much · vehemence and importunity; and God left him not unanswered. While he was marching with his forces, in the afternoon, the trophy of the Cross appeared very luminous in the heavens, higher than the sun, with this inscription, "Conquer by this †." He and his soldiers were astonished at the sight. But he continued pondering on the event till night. And Christ appeared to him when asleep, with the same sign of the cross, and directed him to make use of the symbol as his military ensign. Constan*Euseb. Life of Constantine, XVII. Η Τετω νικα. CENT. II. tine obeyed, and the cross was henceforward displayed in his armies *. Constantine, who hitherto was totally unacquainted with Christian doctrine, asked the pastors, who this God was, or what was the meaning of the sign. They told him, that it was God, the only-begotten Son of the only true Godt, that the sign was the trophy of the victory, which he when on earth had gained over death. At the same time they explained to him the causes of his coming, and the doctrine of his incarnation. From that time Constantine firmly believed the truth of Christianity. He would have acted irrationally, if he had not; and it were an inexcusable want of candour to ascribe to motives merely political a course of conduct in favour of Christianity, in which he persevered to his death; and which he began at a time when the triumph of the Christian cause and the success of his arms, as connected with it, were extremely dubious. He began after this to read the Scriptures, and zealously * I give the narrative of Eusebius as concisely as possible. It is proper to add, that he tells us he had the story of the miraculous appearance in the heavens from the emperor himself a long time after, and that confirmed by an oath. He, who is determined not to believe Christianity to be divine, will doubtless disbelieve this miracle, from the same spirit which has induced him to harden his heart against much more striking evidence. With such a one I would not converse on the subject. But to those who admit the divine origin of Christianity, if any such doubt the truth of the miracle, I would say, that it seems to me more reasonable to admit a divine interposition in a case like this, especially considering the important consequences, than to deny the veracity of Eusebius or of Constantine. On the former view God acts like himself, condescending to hear prayer, leading the mind by temporal kindness to look to him for spiritual blessings, and confirming the truth of his own religion; on the latter, two men not of the very best, but surely by no means of the worst character, are unreasonably suspected of deliberate perjury or falsehood. I suspect Eusebius expresses here his own sense of the doctrine of the divinity of Christ, which will be considered hereafter: his words are, τον μεν είναι θεον ; θεε τ8 ενός και μονο μονοδενη παιδα. IV. patronized the pastors of the Church all his days, CENT. Whether he really loved the Gospel, and felt its influence on his own heart, is a doubtful question; but that he believed it to be divinely true, is certain, if a consistent and long course of actions be admitted as evidence. It belongs to civil history to describe the civil and military transactions of this warlike and magnanimous prince. He was no sooner made master of Rome by the destruction of Maxentius, than he honoured the cross by putting a spear of that form into the hand of the statute erected for him at Rome. He now built churches, and showed great beneficence to the poor. He encouraged the meeting of bishops in synods, he honoured them with his presence, and employed himself in continually aggrandizing the Church. In the mean time his associate in the East, Licinius, began to persecute it. Notwithstanding the proofs which this man had had of the divine interposition in favour of the Gospel, during his contest with Maximin, the force of old prejudices imbibed under Galerius operated at length, in conjunction with the native depravity of the human heart, to induce him to renew the persecution. He prohibited Christian synods in his dominions, expelled believers from his court, and forbad the women to attend the public assemblies of men, and ordered them to furnish themselves with separate teachers of their own sex. He dismissed from his armies those who refused to sacrifice, and forbad any supplies to be afforded them in their necessities. He proceeded still further, He murdered bishops, and destroyed churches. At Amasia, in Pontus, his cruelty was particularly distinguished. He used enchantments, and once more His victory over the tyrant was providentially striking; and the credulity of Maxentius, and the failure of the heathen oracles, which encouraged him to proceed against Constantine, are no less remarkable. But this is civil history. CHAP. A. D. 324 & 325. Satan made a feeble attempt to recover by his means the ground he had lost. It was not probable that Licinius should take these steps without quarrelling with Constantine, and a war soon commenced between the two princes. Licinius put the truth or falsehood of the Gospel on the event of war. It was an unwarranted appeal, but God answered him in his own way. He lost in the issue both his empire and his life. It is remarkable, that one of Constantine's soldiers, who parted with the banner, of the cross in battle to save his life, lost it, while he, who in his room supported and upheld the banner, was preserved. It were to be wished, that there had been as much zeal at this time to support the doctrines and realize the power of the cross, as there was to honour its formalities. But this was far from being the case. For neither in Constantine, nor in his favourite bishops, nor in the general appearance of the church, can we see much of the spirit of godliness. Pompous apparatus, augmented superstitions and unmeaning forms of piety, much show and little substance appears. This is the impression, which the account given by Eusebius has left on my mind. As the matter of my history is very scanty here, I shall endeavour to compress it into a small compass, chiefly with a view to catch the face of Christianity at this period, and to pave the way for a more complete understanding of the great controversy, which must soon arrest our attention. If we look at the external appearance of Christianity, nothing can be more splendid. An emperor, full of zeal for the propagation of the only divine religion, by edicts restores to the Church every thing of which it had been deprived, indemnifies those who have suffered, honours the pastors exceedingly, recommends to governors of provinces to promote the Gospel; and though he will neither oblige them nor any others to profess it, yet he forbids them to |