PROGRESS

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RELIGIOUS IDEA S.

CHRISTIANITY.

"Whatever errors may have crept in among the simple, yet sublime views, published by Christ, the practical moral character of his Gospel has always stood prominently above the abstract doctrines. From the first publication of Christianity, to this very day, it may be safely asserted that no sincere convert has embraced it allured by its creed."-J. BLANCO WHITE.

FROM THE TIME OF CONSTANTINE.

WHILE internal changes were being gradually wrought in Christianity, by the previous opinions of its converts, and by the various sects and schools, with which it was constantly engaged in controversy, important changes were also taking place in its relations to the government. The emperor Constantius, one of the colleagues of Diocletian, had been uniformly tolerant, and even friendly toward the Christians, either from humanity, or from motives of policy; they being numerous in the part of the empire which he governed. His son Constantine had been left as a hostage at the imperial court, and suffered much from the jealousy and tyranny of Galerius. He is said to have been in NicoVOL. III.-1

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media at the first furious outbreak of persecution, and to have witnessed the heroic endurance of the Christians. He afterward commanded the army in Gaul, and, on the death of his father, in the year three hundred and six, when he was nearly forty years old, the troops proclaimed him emperor; but rivals were in the way, and battles must be fought to decide who should wear the imperial purple. He was at that time a worshipper of the gods, and the Sun was his tutelary deity. In consequence of the successful termination of a war with one of his rivals, he gave public thanks in a celebrated temple of Apollo, presented magnificent of ferings, and had coins stamped with Soli, Invicto Comiti: To the Sun, the Invincible Companion. His situation at that period was perplexing. Adherents of the old religion, if not the most numerous, were still in possession of power. On the other hand, Christianity had become an important element in state affairs. The numerous communities, scattered throughout the empire, were united by the strongest of all bonds, that of a persecuted faith, and might be expected to serve zealously the interest of any ruler who would espouse their cause. The political enemies of Constantine were also the enemies of Christianity. His rival, Maxentius, was diligently employing every means of worship and of magic to secure the protection of the gods of Rome; and Constantine had great dread of the effect of such rites. If advantage was to be gained by pursuing an opposite course, it would be exclusively his own. He felt the need of assistance from some powerful Deity; and he reflected that emperors who had persecuted the Christians had generally ended miserably, while his father, who protected them, had a happier fate. A recent example had occurred in the painful death of Galerius. This was continually urged by the Christians; and Constantine appears to have been in a state of mind similar to Ahaz, king of Judah, who sacrificed to the gods of Damascus; saying: "The gods of the kings of Syria help them, therefore will I sacrifice to them, that they may help me." Eusebius, the historian, represents him as in a state of conflict; and the

fluctuating course he pursued for some time afterward, indicates the uncertainty of his faith.

A short time before the great battle, which was to decide his destiny, he prayed to the Christians' God that he would reveal himself, and protect him from his enemies. It is not easy to imagine a state of mind more favourable for the appearance of omens. It is recorded that, in the course of his march, he saw, about noon, a Luminous Cross above the Sun, which heretofore had been his tutelary deity. On it was inscribed the motto: "Under this sign thou shalt conquer." He and his army gazed at the brilliant phenomenon with astonishment. The following night, he dreamed that Christ appeared to him, and showed him a cross bearing the monogram of his name, with the assurance that, if he assumed it for a standard, he would march to certain victory. He sent for Christian teachers, and inquired of them concerning their God, and the import of the symbol. He then caused a standard to be made according to his dream, and, under its protection, he conquered Maxentius, entered Rome in triumph, and was proclaimed emperor. This occurred in the year three hundred and twelve.

The story is told by Eusebius, Bishop of Cæsarea, in his Life of Constantine, written after the death of that emperor, which occurred twenty-five years after the battle. He asserts that Constantine made the statement to him, in familiar conversation, many years after the event, and affirmed it with an oath. Rufinus, a celebrated Christian writer of the fourth century, states that Constantine saw a flaming cross in a dream, and waking up in a fright, found an angel by his side, who exclaimed: "By this conquer!" Cotemporary history is silent; which is remarkable, considering that a whole army were astounded by the extraordinary vision. It is also singular that Eusebius himself, in his Ecclesiastical History, makes no allusion to such a wonderful intervention of Deity to change the religion of the Roman Empire. It, however, remained an unquestioned miracle for many centuries. But, in modern times, the scientific have ventured to inquire of what nature such a

luminous apparition in the sky could be; and many of the religious have felt that Jesus could not have assumed the entirely new character of a military protector, without a manifest departure from his own pacific maxims. At the present day, the miracle is very generally rejected. Some consider it a fiction, invented either by Constantine or Eusebius, to throw supernatural interest round the first union of Christianity with the State. Others more reasonably suppose that the emperor really saw some uncommon meteor, and that, as years passed on, the account of it became greatly exaggerated. Being in an anxious state of mind, having prayed that the Christians' God would reveal himself, and living at a period when everything was construed into an omen, or a miracle, the imagination of Constantine would doubtless have been easily excited, either by northern lights in the evening, or a solar halo at noon; and it would be very natural that his dreams should be connected with what he had seen. If he subsequently adopted the motto, it would readily be added to the marvellous story in process of time. The probability that meteors were actually seen is increased by the statement of Nazarius, a Roman orator, and a votary of the old worship. He pronounced a panegyric on Constantine, nine years after his decisive victory, long before Eusebius wrote his account of the miracle. He describes a troop of beautiful Spirits in the sky, clad in refulgent armour, who were heard and seen by the whole army. He says: "It is the report throughout all Gaul that armies were seen, who professed to be divinely sent; saying, We want to find Constantine. We are sent to his assistance." The flattering orator adds that even Divine Beings were ambitious of such distinction, and glorified themselves with the idea of fighting for Constantine. Among the fantastic forms of the Aurora Borealis, none are more common than shooting streams of light, resembling lances hurled across the sky. In that age of the world, a supernatural cause would of course be assigned for such appearances; and where Greek and Roman imagination saw deities descending with brilliant