SECT. 1.] Conversion of Constantine the Great.

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stantine. Christian writers, transported with his profession of their faith, have magnified his abilities and virtues to excess, and thrown an almost celestial splendour over every part of the portrait; while the pagan historians have spread their gloomy shades upon the canvas, and obscured every trait that was great and amiable.

The circumstances attending his conversion to Christianity, are too familiar to most readers, to render any thing like a minute detail of them proper in this place. His father Constantius had shewn himself very favourably disposed towards the Christians, and Constantine gave early indications of a desire to protect and favour its professors. If we may credit his own assertion, he had been an indignant spectator of the savage cruelties which had been inflicted by the hands of the Roman soldiers, on those citizens whose religion was their only crime. In the east and in the west he had seen the different effects of severity and indulgence, and as the former was ren dered still more odious, by the example of Galerius, his implacable enemy, the latter was recommended to his imitation by the authority and advice of a dying father. These tolerant principles were displayed alike both towards Pagans and Christians, before the emperor had avowed any peculiar attachment towards the latter. It is true, nevertheless, that he did not always maintain this state of indifference; he appears evidently to have been convinced of the folly and impiety of the pagan superstition, which induced him to exhort all his subjects earnestly to embrace the gospel, and at length to employ all the force of his authority to abolish the ancient heathen worship.

According to his own account, he was marching at the head of his army, from France into Italy, against Maxentius, on an expedition, which he was fully aware, involved in it his future destiny. Oppressed with extreme

anxiety, and reflecting that he needed a force superior to arms, for subduing the sorceries and magic of his adversary, he anxiously looked out for the aid of some deity, as that which alone could secure him success. About noon, when the sun began to decline, whilst praying for supernatural aid, a luminous cross was seen by the emperor and his army, in the air, above the sun, inscribed with the words, "BY THIS CONQUER," at the sight of which, amazement overpowered both himself and the soldiery on the expedition with him. He continued to ponder on the event till night, when, in a dream, the author of Christianity appeared to him, to confirm the vision, directing him, at the same time, to make the symbol of the cross his military ensign.*

Few things have occasioned more perplexity to the writers of ecclesiastical history, and set them more at variance, than this vision of Constantine. Mr. Milner, whose credulity upon most occasions is sufficiently apparent, entertains no doubt of the reality of the miracle; and, such is his inconsistency with his own Theological creed, that he resolves it into an answer to Constantine's importunate prayer. "He prayed, he implored," says he," with much vehemence and importunity, and God left him not unanswered." (As though the blessed God would listen to any prayer but that of faith! Prov. xv. 8. and Heb. xi, 6.) Dr. Haweis gives up the miracle altogether, and seems to consider the whole as an imposition. The learned Mosheim is evidently perplexed about it, and seems at a loss in what light to consider it-and so also is his translator. "The whole story," says the latter, "is attended with difficulties which render it, both as a miracle and as a fact, extremely dubious, to say no more." If any should think the subject worthy of further investigation, I would recom. mend to their perusal a very ingenious and learned disquisition upon it, subjoined as an appendix to the first volume of Dr. Gregory's Church History, written by Mr. Henely of Rendlesham. They will there find a compressed account of the opinions of the different writers on the subject, and the following deductions not unfairly drawn from the whole-That Eusebius, who received the account of this extraordinary scene from the mouth of Constantine himself, and who wrote the life of that emperor, does not appear to have given any credit to it, though the latter attested it by an eath-that neither the day, the year, the time, nor the place of this vision is recorded that there is no evidence that any one of the army saw the phe

SECT. I.] Character of Constantine.

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Constantine vanquished his adversary; and no sooner was he 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 statue erected for him at Rome. He now built places for Christian worship, and shewed great beneficence to the poor. He encouraged the meeting of bishops in synods-honoured them with his presence, and employed himself continually in aggrandizing the church. He removed the seat of empire to Byzantium, which he embellished, enlarged, and honoured with the name of Constantinople, and prohibited, by a severe edict, the performance of any pagan rites and ceremonies throughout the city. His religious zeal augmented with his years; and towards the close of his life, several imperial edicts were issued for the demolition of the heathen temples, and the prevention of any sacrifices upon their altars. He was on the other hand, scrupulously attentive to the religious rites and ceremonies which were prescribed by the Christian clergy. He fasted; observed the feasts in commemoration of the martyrs, and devoutly watched the whole night on the vigils of the saints. And, in his last illness, he summoned to the imperial palace at Nicomedia, several Christian bishops, fervently requesting to receive from them the ordinance of baptism, and solemnly protesting his intentions of spending the remainder of his life as the disciple of

nomenon besides the emperor—that the accounts given of it by the emperor at different times do not quadrate-that the whole story is replete with contradictions-and that there exists a presumption diametrically opposite to the intent of the alleged miracle, in the declaration of Christ to the Ro man governor," My kingdom is not of this world; if my kingdom were of this world, then would my servants fight, &c."—and that, in a word, the powerful inducements of policy, and party, the obvious character of Constantine, and the opinions of the times, when judiciously considered and properly combined, present in themselves an easy solution of the whole contrivance and fraud.

Christ. He was accordingly baptized by Eusebius, bishop of that city; after that he entirely laid aside his purple and regal robes, and continued to wear a white garment till the day of his death, which, after a short illness, took place on the 22nd of May, in the year 337, at the age of sixty-four, having reigned thirty-three years.

The extraordinary occurrences of the life of Constantine produced an entire change in the whole of the Christian profession. Its friends were now no longer called to endure patiently the hatred of the world-to take up their cross, and press after a conformity to Christ in his sufferings, and, through much tribulation, to enter his kingdom; but they were to bask in the sunshine of worldly prosperity, enjoying the smiles of the great, and connecting with their profession the riches and honours of this present world-the baneful effects of which began speedily to develope themselves. So long as the Christians were persecuted by the heathen on account of their faith and practices, they were driven to the gospel as their only source of consolation and support; and they found it every way sufficient for their utmost need. The animating principles which it imparted, raised their minds superior to the enjoyments of this world, and in the hope of life and immortality, they were happy, even if called to lay down their lives for the sake of their profession. And herein the power of their religion was conspicuous. It was not with them an empty speculation, floating in the mind, destitute of any influence upon the will and the affections. While it induced them to count no sacrifice too costly which they were called to make for the gospel's sake, they were led by it to exercise the most fervent Christian affection one towards another-to sympathize tenderly with each other in all their sorrows and distresses --and, by bearing one another's burdens, they fulfilled

• Eusebius's Life of Constantine, b. iv. ch. 62.

SECT. I.] Profession of Christianity altered.

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their Lord's new command of brotherly love. This was the prominent feature in Christianity during the first three centuries. The writings of the apostles and evangelists all breathe this amiable spirit, and abound with exhortations to cultivate this God-like disposition; and so conspicuous was the exercise of it among the primitive Christians, that it was commonly remarked by their enemies, and recommended by them as worthy of imitation.

Such, however, is the depravity of human nature, that, as they enjoyed any intervals from persecution, they became more profligate in their morals and more litigious in their tempers. But now that the restraint was wholly taken off, by Constantine, the churches endowed, and riches and honours liberally conferred on the clergy; when he authorised them to sit as judges upon the consciences and faith of others, he confirmed them in the spirit of this world-the spirit of pride, avarice, domination, and ambition-the indulgence of which, has, in all ages, proved fatal to the purity, peace, and happiness of the kingdom of Christ. This inconsistent conduct of the leading men among them, in professing a religion, the prominent characteristics of which are humility and selfdenial, and at the same time aspiring after the pleasures and the honours of this world, seems to have forcibly struck the very heathens themselves. Hence, an historian of the latter class, who lived shortly after the time of Constantine, remarks concerning the bishops of Rome, "It would be well if, despising the magnificence of the city, they would imitate some of the bishops of provincial towns, whose temperance in eating and drinking, plainness of apparel, and looking above the world, recommended them to the deity and his true worshippers."*

Now they began to new-model the Christian church, the government of which was, as far as possible, arranged * Ammianus Marcellinus, b. xxvii. p. 362.