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secution: recommended the provincial governors to promote Christianity, and forbade the customary sacrifices; so that the Christians were everywhere the leading people, and the Pagans, in their turn, the complaining party. We are also informed that, in a letter to Sapor II., king of Persia, Constantine begged him to favour the Christians in his dominions: and his request was attended to so far, that the severe persecution there did not begin till three years after his death.

CHAP. XLIV.

TWO-FOLD EFFECT OF THE ESTABLISHMENT OF CHRISTIANITY. THE WISDOM OF CONSTANTINE AS A SOVEREIGN. -ZEAL WITHOUT KNOWLEDGE.-NATURE OF THE PRESENT DISPENSATION.-EXTENT OF A BELIEVER'S POWER IN ADVANCING THE SPIRITUAL GOOD OF OTHERS.-MEANS OF CONVERSION. IGNORANCE OF THE PAGANS.-MYSTICS AND MONKS.-GUILT OF THE CHURCH.-GOD OVER ALL, BLESSED FOR EVER.

THE establishment of the profession of Christianity is one of the most important eras in the history of the world; and it is under a sense of this, that I close this part of my "Universal History," with the reign of Constantine. But I cannot again take leave of you, my dear young friends, without calling your attention to an event so important in its consequences, and the effects of which have extended even to ourselves.

We have to consider the establishment of Christianity in two points of view, as it regards the people of God, and as it affects the world at large. In speaking of the apostasy, or falling away of the Church from its original standing, it must be understood that, as in the case of Israel, we are speaking of the apostasy of the body corporate. This body, in both cases, includes true-hearted individuals who are faithful to God, according to their measure of light: and, in its worst estate, we have reason to believe He reserves unto himself a blessed remnant. But the office of the historian is to speak of the appearance and doings of the body corporate, and it is that to which I refer.

Constantine, as a wise sovereign, was quite right in es

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tablishing such a system of religion as he thought likely to be for the good of his people. Christianity, in its lowest form, as a mere outward profession, and that was all he knew of it, was incomparably preferable to Paganism; and, in every point of view, it was for the benefit of the world. The very shadow of it, as it were, thrown over the face of the earth, had a miraculous effect: humanizing those who before were as brutes, civilizing the savage, chasing away the gross darkness, and veiling some of the most conspicuous abominations. Yet it must be allowed that the zeal of Constantine was without knowledge. As we have before observed, God did visit the Gentiles to take out of them a people." He never promised by the gospel to subdue the world unto himself. That is the work of Christ alone, at his second coming; and cannot be accomplished, till the devil, who deceives the nations, is bound. As long as Christ waits at the right hand of the Father, exercising grace and patience, and forbearing to take to himself his great power and reign, his faithful followers should be contented to wait also, knowing that this is not the time for them to have great power and reign. Indeed, the idea of an enthroned, or reigning Christian, seems to be an unscriptural anticipation of the Millennium (see 1 Cor. iv. 8; Rev. xx. 4).

If Constantine had been commissioned by Christ to benefit his Church, he would have acted according to the mind of Christ. He would himself first have taken the place of a little child, counting all the glories of the empire but as loss and dung, for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ : he would have bid his people search the Scriptures, and not blindly obey the priests; he would have told the clergy what a wrong position they were in, instead of increasing their pride and selfexaltation ; he would have been as busy in unloading the Church of its worldly pomp, as he was in weighing it down ; he would have been stripping it of its false trappings and vain ceremonies, instead of adding to them; he would have encouraged the preaching of the simple Gospel to his Pagan subjects, and not have enticed them by weaving a net of golden threads; he would have known that the love of Christ, and not the lusts of the eye, could win souls; and, finally, he might have told the men of the world, from such experience as Solomon's, the vanity of the greatest pleasures the world could

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give, and the fruitlessness of things of which he was ashamed, instead of drawing them together by presenting them with their idol in a novel form-the form of the Church. Being acquainted with the nature of the present dispensation, we perceive that one, who would wisely use the amount of power and influence given to him, must use it according to the way in which the Spirit of God is now working.

The Church was at first gathered by individual conversion, through the power of the Holy Ghost accompanying the preaching of the Gospel: it was increased by the communication of the truth from one to another: and the Lord added to it daily such as should be saved. But the Church itself became impatient of this slow process; and, by degrees, man added to it multitudes that were not born of God, till it became what it was in the reign of Constantine. Now, all that a believer can do for the benefit of unbelievers, whether it be the ruler for his people, the master for his servants, or the father for his children, is to remove the stumbling-blocks, to take away the hindrances that they might put in their way to Christ, and to instruct them in the truth. According to the words of Christ," Suffer the little children, and forbid them not to come unto me." He did not say, make them come to me, or teach them to profess themselves to be mine. But some will say, the human heart is so hard—so dull-so stupid, that mere instruction will not do; hearing is not enough, they must have words put into their mouths; they must be constrained to take upon themselves the service of Christ.

We reply, it is the working of such thoughts as these, fair as they appear, that has introduced "the form of godliness without the power." We have no warrant in Scripture,—no example in the Acts of the Apostles, of using any other means than the manifestation of the truth to the conscience of every man, both by word and deed. It is this that God blessesthe preaching of the truth accompanied with the doing of the truth and we cannot but observe the anxiety of the apostle, that the faith of those whom he addressed should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God.

We have no single example in the New Testament history that creeds or other formula-baptism, or the Lord's supper-were used as instruments of conversion or salvation; and we do not find that such means were thought of till Christianity was made

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an outward profession; till the clergy pretended to stand in the place of God to the people, and practically denied the power of the Holy Ghost. A sound form of words is very valuable; but only that which is found in the Scriptures can be perfect. The Nicene doctors might draw up a creed which was good, as far as it agreed with the word of God; but it was of no value to those who repeated it, except they were taught by the Holy Spirit, and their faith was "in the power of God." For even this, as a mere creed, or formal expression of the belief of the understanding, caused such bitter strife and contention, and hatred, between the two parties, that one of themselves remarked, that the kingdom of God was become like a chaos, or like hell itself.

Again, if Constantine had been a nursing-father to the Church, as some have said, he would not have united it with its worst enemy, the world. If he had known the mind of God, he would have awaited patiently the progress of the Gospel, instead of cloaking devil-worship, and veiling the abounding iniquity with forms so transparent. He would have been convinced that it was only his part to provide the best instruction that he could, and not to make worshippers; for "God is a spirit, and they who worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth."

The number of Christians at Rome was very large, and the bishop, who lived in great magnificence, was the chief in power and wealth among the clergy: but that ancient city, so long the mother and nurse of idolatry, was not likely willingly to receive this new religion, especially as it was patronized by a prince who had deprived it of its privileges as the metropolis of the world. Four deputations, consisting of the chief men of Rome, went successively to the imperial court to represent the grievances of the Senate and priesthood, and especially to plead for the restoration of the altar of the goddess Victoria, which had been thrown down. Symmachus, the orator, undertook to plead for the ancient religion, and to relate all the advantages that had been obtained by it. He affirmed that Hannibal and the Gauls, &c. had been driven away from the capital by the sacrifices now forbidden, and passionately added, Were my grey hairs reserved for this intolerable disgrace! I am ignorant of the new system I am required to adopt," &c. Indeed, it appears they were generally ignorant, for the right means had not been

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used to instruct them. There was, it is true, the cross in the forefront of the battle, instead of the eagle: there were new temples, almost as glittering as their own: there were new priests and new ceremonies; but those who could have instructed them in the nature of Christianity, were either selfishly enjoying the sunshine of worldly prosperity, or engaged in disputes with each other. And those who were more spiritual, or professed to be so, were so astonished and disturbed by the changes around them, that they retired from the busy scene altogether.

A solitary voice, here and there, was occasionally lifted up against the prevailing corruptions, and there was not a single error that escaped attack at some time or other: but these would-be Reformers either spoiled their testimony by errors peculiar to themselves, or were charged with such by their opponents. The Mystics, of whom we read much at different periods, seem to have been originally persons who saw from the Scriptures that there should be a marked difference between the people of God and the world; and took, as they thought, the best way of representing this to the outward senses. But their self-imposed hardships, and lives of indolent contemplation, were, after all, but a mischievous imitation of real spirituality and holiness and sin, in new and strange forms, quickly reigned over mystics, and hermits, and monks.

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It now remains for us to consider the guilt and loss of the Church in entering into such a close union with the world.

It was carrying out, on a large scale, the sin of union between believers and unbelievers, so clearly pointed out by the apostle (2 Cor. vi. 14). It is an unequal yoke, a vain effort to produce fellowship between righteousness and unrighteousness,-to mingle light with darkness,-to unite Christ and Belial,—and to make the temple of God agree with idols. We can no more justify the failure of the Church in accepting the alliance, than we can excuse the disobedience of the believer in uniting herself with an unbeliever. Such a connection, either on the small or large scale, could not be formed suddenly: the woman is a backslider in heart when she begins to enjoy the society of a worldly man: the Church, as we have seen, was long declining before it could profess an open friendship with the world.

The improvement of the world does not efface the apostasy