enumerated as ten; a number not very accurate, as it exceeds in amount the persecutions that were general throughout the empire; and falls far short of those that raged at different times in particular provinces, and which arose sometimes from the fury of legal vengeance, at other times from the unauthorised but unrestrained outrages of the people.* But notwithstanding this violent opposition, their numbers increased daily, and their religion, upheld by the promised assistance of its divine author, and rising with augmented force from the bloody conflicts of persecution, soon made wonderful progress in the Roman empire, and overspread almost every part of the then known world. We learn from Tertullian,† that in the third century there were Christians, in the camp, in the senate, in the palace, and, in short, every where but in the temples, and in the theatres: they filled the towns, the country, and the islands. Men and women, of all ages and conditions, and even those of the highest rank and dignity, embraced the faith, insomuch that the Pagans complained, that the revenues of their temples were ruined. "By the time the empire became Christian," says the late The chief Gentile persecutions, for the first three centuries, and till the reign of Constantine, were those under Nero, A. D. 64; Domitian, A. 93; Trajan, A. 104; Hadrian, A. 125; M. Aurelius, A. 151; Severus, A. 197; Maximin, A. 235; Decius, A. 250; Valerian, A. 257; Au relian, A. 272; Numerian, A. 283; Dioclesian, and Maxi venerable Bishop of London," there is every reason to believe, that the Christians were more numerous and more powerful than the Pagans."* Thus did the word of God go forth, and was glorified; and in the course of a few years after the expiration of the first three centuries, the cross was waving in the banners of victorious armies, and many of the kingdoms of the world become "the kingdoms of our God and his Christ." Constantine granted to the Christians the free and unmolested enjoyment of their religion, in the early part of his reign; and becoming, by degrees, more fully convinced that Christianity was true, and that every other religion must necessarily be false, he at last embraced it himself, and earnestly exhorted all his subjects, by edicts issued A. D. 324, to receive and embrace the gospel; and thus he became the first Christian Emperor, and has the glory of establishing Christianity as the religion of the Roman Empire. His conversion happened about A. D. 312; and during a fortunate reign of 30 years, i. e. from A. D. 306 to 337, he extended the knowledge of true religion, with and beyond his victories and conquests. On the death of Constantine, his empire was divided among his three sons, who were all favourers of Christianity; and laboured, though not always by unobjectionable means, to abolish the Pagan * Evidences of Christianity, p. 62. superstition. That superstition, however, experienced a determined support from the Emperor Julian, who ascended the throne A. D. 361. Affecting moderation, he assailed the Christians with equal dexterity and bitterness. He abrogated their privileges-sneered at their complaints—shut up their schools-encouraged sectaries and schismatics-stimulated the philosophers to vilify the gospel-and exercised against it the wit of his own imperial pen. In order to decry the prophecies of Christ, he encouraged the Jews to rebuild the temple of Jerusalem. But the undertaking was frustrated, (according to Ammianus Marcellinus, a Pagan philosopher, whose relation is confirmed by an eminent Jewish writer,*) by earthquakes, and the repeated eruptions of balls of fire, which dispersed the terrified workmen, and demolished their labours. Fortunately for the church, Julian's reign was but short, and his successor Jovian, and the emperors who followed to the close of the century, particularly Theodosius the Great, exerted themselves with various degrees of zeal, for the support of the Christian cause. The ancient religion of the empire declined on all sides more and more; and the gospel advanced into new regions, viz. Armenia, Iberia, and Ethiopia. But the persecutions to which Christianity had hitherto * See the Modern Universal History, 8vo, vol. xiii. p. 191. Note. See likewise above, p. 8. been exposed, however severe, deserve to be styled, in some sense, the friends of Christian virtue. At least, they were enemies far less dreadful than prosperity accompanied by those schisms, and heresies, and that general corruption of doctrine, discipline, and morality, that soon made their appearance when the church began to enjoy peace from without. The Christian religion now began to be embraced and professed by many, not from a real and full conviction of its truth and importance, but from worldly and interested motives; and whatever attention may have been paid to the form of it, its power, its influence on the hearts and lives of its professors, began to suffer a fatal decline; so that before we proceed much farther in its history, we shall have much occasion to adopt the exclamation of Jeremiah, and say, "How is the gold become dim! How is the most fine gold changed!"* This century gave birth to the Arian Heresy, which was favoured by several of the successors of Constantine; and the opinions of the Christian world too often fluctuated in compliance with the changing sentiments of its masters. Superstition also, advancing with rapid strides, was now making surcessful inroads into every quarter; and though the Bishop of Rome did not openly announce himself as head and sovereign of the universal church till the following century, several of the peculiarities of the church of Rome had, by *Lament. chap. iv. v. 1. this time, made their appearance. The reverence shewn to the memory and example of those holy men, who had suffered matrydom for the religion of Christ, had been carried in the preceding century to excess, and the evil once established augmented daily. A pilgrimage to the sepulchre of a martyr was now esteemed most meritorious, and festivals, in commemoration of the sufferers, were multiplied. The worship of reliques and of images commenced; prayers for the dead became common; as likewise the belief of the existence of a purgatorial fire destined to purify the souls of the departed. Celibacy was imposed on the clergy; the invocation of angels had crept into the church, and the gaudy ceremonies of heathen idolatry were transferred or accommodated to the rites of Christian worship. In the beginning of the fifth century, the Roman empire was divided into two, the Western, and the Eastern or Greek empire; and the former of these was now assailed with redoubled violence by the Northern barbarians, who had, for a considerable time, harassed and endangered its frontiers. In the convulsions that ensued, the Christians underwent peculiar sufferings; as they not only shared in the common miseries of the times, but had also to encounter the cruel usage which their religion drew upon them from the invaders, who were chiefly Pagans. By degrees, however, their new masters embraced the religion of Christ; but even that circumstance did not, in every instance, pre |