that were granted to Christians, and their spiritual rulers; shutting up the schools in which they taught philosophy and the liberal arts; encouraging the sectaries and schismatics, who brought dishonour upon the gospel by their divisions; composing books against the Christians, and using a variety of other means to bring the religion of Jesus to ruin and contempt. Julian extended his views yet further, and was meditating projects of a still more formidable nature against the Christian church, which would have felt, no doubt, the fatal and ruinous effects of his inveterate hatred, if he had returned victorious from the Persian war, which he entered into immediately after his accession to the empire. But in this war, which was rashly undertaken and imprudently conducted, he fell by the lance of a Persian soldier, and expired in his tent in the 32d year of his age, having reigned, alone, after the death of Constantius, twenty months."

XIII. It is to me just matter of surprise, to find Julian placed, by many learned and judicious writers, among the greatest heroes that shine forth in the annals of time; nay, exalted above all the princes and legislators that have been distinguished by the wisdom of their government. Such writers must either be too far blinded by prejudice, to perceive the truth; or, they must never have perused, with any degree of attention, those works of Julian that are still extant; or, if neither of these be their case, they must, at least, be ignorant of that which constitutes true greatness. The real character of Julian has few lines of that uncommon merit that has been attributed to it; for, if we set hside his genius, of which his works give no very high idea; if we except, moreover, his military courage, his love of letters, and his acquaintance with that vain and fanatical philosophy which was known by the name of modern Platonism, we shall find nothing remaining, that is, in any measure, worthy of praise, or productive of esteem. Besides, the qualities now mentioned, were, in him, counterbalanced by the most opprobrious defects. He was a slave to superstition, than which nothing is a more evident mark of a narrow soul, of a mean and abject spirit. His thirst of glory and popular applause were excessive, even to puerility; his credulity and levity surpass the powers of description; a low cunning, and a profound dissimulation and duplicity, had acquired, in his mind, the force of predominant habits; and all this was accompanied with a total and perfect ignorance of true philosophy. So that, though, in some things, Julian may be allowed to have excelled the sons of Constantine the Great, yet it must be granted on the other hand, that he was, in many respects, inferior to Constantine himself, whom, upon all occasions, he loads with

5

the most licentious invectives, and treats with the utmost disdain.

XIV. As Julian affected in general, to appear moderate in religious matters, unwilling to trouble any on account of their faith, or to seem averse to any sect or party, so to the Jews, in particular, he extended so far the marks of his indulgence, as to permit them to rebuild the temple of Jerusalem. The Jews set about this important work; from which, however, they were obliged to desist, before they had even begun to lay the foundations of the sacred edifice. For, while they were removing the rubbish, formidable balls of fire, issuing out of the ground with a dreadful noise, dispersed both the works and the workmen, and repeated earthquakes filled the spectators of this astonishing phenomenon with terror and dismay. This signal event is attested in a manner that renders its evidence irresistible, though, as usually happens in case of that nature, the Christians have embellished it by augmenting rashly the number of the miracles that are supposed to have been wrought upon that occasion. The causes of this phenomenon may furnish matter of dispute; and learned men have, in effect, been divided upon that point. All, however, who consider the matter with attention and impartiality, will perceive the strongest reasons for embracing the opinion of those who attribute this event to the almighty interposition of the Supreme Being; nor do the arguments offered by some, to prove it the effect of natural causes, or those alleged by others to persuade us that it was the result of artifice and imposture, contain any thing that may not be refuted with the utmost facility."

XV. Upon the death of Julian, the suffrages of the army were united in favour of Jovian, who, accordingly, succeeded him in the imperial dignity. After a reign of seven months, Jovian died in the year 364, and therefore, had not time to execute any thing of importance. The emperors who succeeded him, in this century, were Valentinian I. Valens, Gratian, Valentinian II. and Honorius, who professed Christianity, promoted its progress, and endeavoured, though not all with equal zeal, to root out entirely the Gentile superstitions. In this they were all surpassed by the last of the emperors who reigned in this century, viz. Theodosius the Great, who came to the empire in the year 379, and died in the year 395. As long as this prince lived, he exerted himself, in the most vigorous and effectual manner, in the extirpation of the Pagan superstitions throughout all the provinces, and enacted severe laws and penalties against such as adhered to them. His sons, Arcadius and Honorius, pursued with zeal, and not without success, the same end; so that, towards the conclusion of this century, the Gentile religions de

6 See Jo. Alb. Fabricii Lux Evang. toti orbi exoriens, p 124. where all the testimonies of this remarkable event are carefully assembled; see also Moyle's Posthumous Works, p. 101, &c.

7 The truth of this miracle is denied by the famous Basnage, Histoire des Juifs. tom. iv. p. 1257. against whom Cuper has taken the affirmative, and defended it in his Letters published by Bayr, p. 400. A most ingenious dis. course has been published lately in defence of this mira. cle, by the learned Dr. Warburton, under the title of Julian; or, A Discourse concerning the Earthquake and Fiery Eruption, &c. in which the objections of Basnage are particularly examined and refuted.

8 See Bletterie, Vie de Jovien, vol. ii. published at Paris in 1748, in which the Life of Julian, by the same author is further illustrated, and some productions of that emperor translated into French.

clined apace, and had also no prospect left of recovering their primitive authority and splendour.

XVI. It is true, that, notwithstanding all this zeal and severity of the Christian emperors, there still remained in several places, and especially in the remoter provinces, temples and religious rites consecrated to the service of the Pagan deities. And, indeed, when we look attentively into the matter, we shall find, that the execution of those rigorous laws that were enacted against the worshippers of the gods, was rather levelled at the multitude, than at persons of eminence and distinction. For it appears, that both during the reign, and after the death of Theodosius, many of the most honourable and important posts were filled by persons, whose aversion to Christianity, and whose attachment to Paganism, were sufficiently known. The example of Libanus alone is an evident proof of this; since, notwithstanding his avowed and open enmity to the Christians, he was raised by Theodosius himself to the high dignity of prefect, or chief of the Pretorian guards. It is extremely probable, therefore, that in the execution of the severe laws enacted against the Pagans, there was an exception made in favour of philosophers, rhetoricians, and military leaders, on account of the important services which they were supposed to render to the state, and that they of consequence enjoyed more liberty in religious matters, than the inferior orders of

men.

XVII. This peculiar regard shown to the philosophers and rhetoricians will, no doubt, appear surprising, when it is considered, that all the force of their genius, and all the resources of their art, were employed against Christianity; and that those very sages, whose schools were reputed of such utility to the state, were the very persons who opposed the progress of the truth with the greatest vehemence and contention of mind. Hierocles, the great ornament of the Platonic school, wrote, in the beginning of this century, two books against the Christians, in which he went so far as to draw a parallel between Jesus Christ and Apollonius Tyanæus. This presumption was chastised with great spirit, by Eusebius, in a particular treatise written expressly in answer to Hierocles. Lactantius takes notice of another philosopher, who composed three books to detect the pretended errors of the Christians, but does not mention his name. After the time of Constantine the Great, besides the long and laborious work which Julian wrote against the followers of Christ, Himerius and Libanus, in their public harangues, and Eunapius, in his lives of the philosophers, exhausted all their rage and bitterness in their efforts to defame the Christian religion; while the calumnies that abounded in the discourses of the one, and the writings of the other, passed unpunished.

XVIII. The prejudice which the Christian cause received in this century, from the stratagems of these philosophers and rhetoricians, who were elated with a presumptuous notion of their knowledge, and prepossessed with a bitter aversion to the gospel, was certainly very considerable. Many examples concurred to prove this; and particularly that of Julian, who was seduced

1 Instit. Divin. lib. v. cap. ii. p. 535.

2 See Photius Biblioth. Cod. cap. lxv. p. 355.

by the artifices of these corrupt sophists. The effects of their disputes and declamations were not, indeed, the same upon all; some who assumed the appearance of superior wisdom, and who, either from moderation or indifference, professed to pursue a middle way in their religi ous controversies, composed matters in the following manner: They gave so far their ear to the interpretations and discourses of the rhetoricians, as to form to themselves a middle kind of religion, between the ancient theology, and the new doctrine that was now propagated in the empire; and they persuaded themselves, that the same truths which Christ taught, had been, for a long time, concealed by the priests of the gods, under the veil of ceremonies, fables, and allegorical representations. Of this number were Ammianus Marcellinus, a man of singular merit; Themistius, an orator highly distinguished by his uncommon eloquence, and the eminence of his station; Chalcidius, a philosopher, and others, who were all of opinion, that the two religions, when properly interpreted and understood, agreed perfectly well in the main points; and that, therefore, neither the religion of Christ, nor that of the gods, were to be treated with contempt.

XIX. The zeal and diligence with which Constantine and his successors exerted themselves in the cause of Christianity, and in extending the limits of the church, prevent our surprise at the number of barbarous and uncivilized nations, which received the gospel.' It appears highly probable, from many circumstances, that both the Greater and the Lesser Armenia were enlightened with the knowledge of the truth, not long after the first rise of Christianity. The Armenian church was not, however, completely formed and established before this century; in the commencement of which, Gregory, the son of Anax, who is commonly called the Enlightener, from his having dispelled the darkness of the Armenian super

the most extravagant manner, in a work published at 3 This notion, absurd as it is, has been revived, in Harderwyk, in Guelderland, in the year 1757, by Mr. Struchtmeyer, professor of eloquence and language in that university. In this work, which bears the title of the Symbolical Hercules, the learned and wrong-headed author maintains (as he had also done in a preceding work, entitled, An Explication of the Pagan Theology,) that all the doctrines of Christianity were emblematically represented in the Heathen mythology; and not only so, but that the inventors of that mythology knew that the Son of God was to descend upon earth; believed in Christ as the only fountain of salvation; were persuaded of his future incarnation, death, and resurrection: and had acquired all this knowledge and faith by the perusal of a Bible much older than either Moses or Abraham, &c. The Pagan doctors thus instructed (according to Mr. Struchtmeyer) in the mysteries of Christianity, taught these truths under the veil of emblems, types, and figures. Ju piter represented the true God; Juno, who was obstinate and ungovernable, was the emblem of the ancient Israel; and chaste Diana was a type of the Christian church; Hercules was the figure, or the fore-runner of Christ; Amphitryon was Joseph; the two Serpents, that Hercules killed in his cradle, were the Pharisees and Sadducees, &c. Such are the principal lines of Mr. Struchtmeyer's system, which shows the sad havoc that a warm imagination, undirected by a just and solid judgment, makes in religion. It is, however, honourable perhaps to the present age, that a system from which Ammianus Marcellinus, and other philosophers of old, derived applause, will be generally looked upon, at present, as entitling its restorer to a place in Bedlam.

4 Gaudentii vita Philastrii, sect. 3. Philastrius De hærcs. Præf. p. 5. edit. Fabricii. Socrates, Hist. Eccles. lib. i. cap. xix. Georgius Cedrenus, Chronograph. p. 234. edit.. Paris.

stitions, converted to Christianity Tiridates, king of Armenia, and all the nobles of his court. In consequence of this, Gregory was consecrated bishop of the Armenians, by Leontius, bishop of Cappadocia, and his ministry was crowned with such success, that the whole province was soon converted to the Christian faith.5

XX. Towards the middle of this century, a certain person named Frumentius, came from Egypt to Abassia, or Ethiopia, whose inhabitants derived the name of Axumitæ from Axuma, the capital city of that country. He made known among this people the gospel of Christ, and administered the sacrament of baptism to their king, and to several persons of the first distinction at his court. As Frumentius was returning from hence into Egypt, he received consecration, as the first bishop of the Axumitæ, or Ethiopians, from Athanasius. And this is the reason why the Ethiopian church has, even to our times, been considered as the daughter of the Alexandrian, from which it also receives its bishop."

The light of the gospel was introduced into Iberia, a province of Asia, now called Georgia, in the following manner: A certain woman was carried into that country as a captive, during the reign of Constantine the Great, and by the grandeur of her miracles, and the remarkable sanctity of her life and manners, she made such an impression upon the king and queen, that they abandoned their false gods, embraced the faith of the gospel, and sent to Constantinople, for proper persons to give them and their people a more satisfactory and complete knowledge of the Christian religion.'

XXI. A considerable part of the Goths, who had inhabited Thrace, Mæsia, and Dacia, had received the knowledge, and embraced the doctrines of Christianity before this century; and Theophilus, their bishop, was present at the council of Nice. Constantine the Great, after having vanquished them and the Sarmatians, engaged great numbers of them to become Christians. But still a large body continued in their attachment to their ancient superstition, until the time of the emperor Valens. This prince permitted them, indeed, to pass the Danube, and to inhabit Dacia, Masia, and Thrace; but it was on condition, that they should live in subjection to the Roman laws, and embrace the profession of Christianity, which condition was accepted by their king Fritigern. The celebrated Ulphilas, bishop of those Goths, who dwelt in Mæsia, lived in this century, and distinguished himself much by his genius and piety. Among other eminent services which he rendered to his country, he invented a set of letters for their peculiar use, and

5 Narratio de rebus Armeniæ in Franc. Combęfisii Auctario Biblioth. Patrum Græcor. tom. ii. p. 287. Mich. Lequien Oriens Christianus, tom. i. p. 419. 1356. Jo. Joach. Schroderi Thesaur. linguæ Armenica, p. 149.

6 Athanasius. Apolog, ad Constantium, tom. i. opp. par. II. p. 315. edit. Benedit. Socrates et Sozomen. Hist. Eccles. book i. chap. xix. of the former, book ii. chap. xxiv. of the latter. Theodoret. Hist. Eccles. lib. i. cap. xxiii. p. 54. Ludolf. Comment. ad Hist. Ethiopic. p. 281. Hier. Lobo, Voyage d'Abyssinie, tom. ii. p. 13. Justus Fontaninus, Hist. Litter. Aquileia, p. 174.

7 Rufinus Hist. Eccles. lib. i. cap. x. Sozomen. Hist. Eccles. lib. ii. cap. v. Lequien, Oriens. Chris. tom. i. p. 1333. 9 Socrat. Hist. Eccles. lib. i. cap. xviii.

9 Socrat. Hist. Eccles. lib. iv. cap. xxxiii. Lequien, Oriens Chris. tom. i. p. 1240, Eric. Benzelius, Præf. ad Quator Evangelia Gothica, qua Ulphila tribuuntur, cap. v p. xviii. published at Oxford, in the year 1750, in 4to.

translated the scriptures into the Gothic lan. guage.10

XXII. There remained still, in the European provinces, an incredible number of persons, who adhered to the worship of the gods; and though the Christian bishops continued their pious efforts to gain them over to the gospel, yet the success was, by no means proportionable to their diligence and zeal, and the work of conversion went on but slowly. In Gaul, the great and venerable Martin, bishop of Tours, set about this important work with tolerable success. For, in his various voyages among the Gauls, he converted many, every where, by the energy of his discourses, and by the power of his miracles, if we may rely upon the testimony of Sulpitius Severus in this matter. He destroyed also the temples of the gods, pulled down their statues," and on all these accounts merited the high and honourable title of Apostle of the Gauls.

XXIII. There is no doubt, but that the victories of Constantine the Great, the fear of punishment, and the desire of pleasing this mighty conqueror, and his imperial successors, were the weighty arguments that moved whole nations, as well as particular persons, to embrace Christianity. None, however, that have any ac quaintance with the transactions of this period of time, will attribute the whole progress of Christianity to these causes. For it is undeniably manifest, that the indefatigable zeal of the bishops and other pious men, the innocence and sanctity which shone forth with such lustre in the lives of many Christians, the translations that were published of the sacred writings, and the intrinsic beauty and excellence of the Christian religion, made as strong and deep impressions upon some, as worldly views and selfish considerations did upon others.

As to the miracles attributed to Antony, Paul the Hermit, and Martin, I give them up without the least difficulty, and join with those who treat these pretended prodigies with the contempt they deserve.1 I am also willing to grant, that many events have been rashly esteemed miraculous, which were the result of the ordinary laws of nature; and also, that several pious frauds have been imprudently made use of, to give new degrees of weight and dignity to the Christian cause. But I cannot, on the other hand, assent to the opinions of those who maintain, that, in this century, miracles had entirely ceased; and that, at this period, the Christian church was not favoured with any extraordinary or supernatural mark of a divine power engaged in its cause.

13

XXIV. The Christians, who lived under the Roman government, were not afflicted with any severe calamities from the time of Constantin

10 Jo. Jac. Mascovii Historia Germanorum, tom. i. p. 317. tom. ii. not. p. 49. Acta SS. Martii, tom. iii. p. 619. Benzellus, loc. citat. cap. viii. p. 30..

11 See Sulpit. Severus. Dial. i. De Vita Martini, cap. xiii. p. 20. cap. xv. p. 22. cap. xvii. p. 23. Dial. ii. p. 106. edit. Hier. a Prato, Verona, 1741.

12 Hier. a Prato, in his Preface to Sulpitius Severus, (p. xiii.) disputes warmly in favour of the miracles of Martin, and also of the other prodigies of this century. 13 See Eusebius' book against Hierocles, chap. iv. p. 431. edit. Olearii; as also Henr. Dodwell. Diss. ii, in Irenæum, sect. 55. p. 195. See Dr. Middleton's Free Inquiry into the Miraculous Powers which are said to have subsisted in the Christian Church, &c. in which a very different opinion is maintained. See, however, on the other side the answers of Church and Dodwell to Middleton's In quiry.

2

the Great, except those which they suffered during the troubles and commotions raised by Licinius, and under the transitory reign of Julian. Their tranquillity, however, was, at different times, disturbed in several places. Among others, Athanaric, king of the Goths, persecuted, for some time, with bitterness, that part of the Gothic nation which had embraced Christianity, In the remoter provinces, the Pagans often defended their ancient superstitions by the force of arms, and massacred the Christians, who, in the propagation of their religion, were not always sufficiently attentive either to the rules of prudence, or the dictates of humanity. The Christians who lived beyond the limits of the Roman empire, had a harder fate; Sapor II. king of Persia, vented his rage against those of his dominions, in three dreadful persecutions. The first of these happened in the 18th year of the reign of that prince; the second, in the 30; and the third, in the 31st year of the same reign. This last was the most cruel and destructive of the three; it carried off an incredible number of Christians, and continued during the space of forty years, having commenced in the year 330, and ceased only in 370. It was not, however, the religion of the Christians, but the illgrounded suspicion of their treasonable designs against the state, that drew upon them this terrible calamity. For the Magi and the Jews persuaded the Persian monarch, that all the Christians were devoted to the interests of the Roman emperor, and that Symeon archbishop of Seleucia, and Ctesiphon, sent to Constantinople intelligence of all that passed in Persia."

PART II.

THE INTERNAL HISTORY OF THE CHURCH.

CHAP. I.

from the noble simplicity and majesty of the ancients, instructed the youth in the fallacious art of pompous declamation; and the greatest part of the historical writers were more set upon embellishing their narrations with vain and tawdry ornaments, than upon rendering them interesting by their order, perspicuity, and truth.

II. Almost all the philosophers of this age were of that sect which we have already distinguished by the title of Modern Platonics. It is not therefore surprising, that we find the principles of Platonism in all the writings of the Christians. The number, however, of these philosophers was not so considerable in the west as in the eastern countries. Jamblichus of Chalcis explained, in Syria, the philosophy of Plato, or rather propagated his own particular opinions under that respectable name. He was an obscure and credulous man, and his turn of mind was highly superstitious and chimerical, as his writings abundantly testify. His successors were desius, Maximus, and others, whose follies and puerilities are exposed, at length, by Eunapius. Hypatia, a female philosopher of distinguished merit and learning. Isidorus, Olympiodorus, Synesius, afterwards a Semi-Christian, with others of inferior reputation, were the principal persons concerned in propagating this new modification of Platonism.

III. As the emperor Julian was passionately attached to this sect, (which his writings abun dantly prove,) he employed every method to increase its authority and lustre; and, for that purpose, engaged in its cause several men of learning and genius, who vied with each other in exalting its merit and excellence. But, after his death, a dreadful storm of persecution arose, under the reign of Valentinian, against the Platonists; many of whom, being accused of magical practices, and other heinous crimes, were capitally convicted. During these commotions, Maximus, the master and favourite of Julian, by whose persuasions this emperor had been engaged to renounce Christianity, and to apply himself to the study of magic, was put to death with several others. It is probable, in

PHILOSOPHY.

1. PHILOLOGY, eloquence, poetry, and history, were the branches of science particularly cultivated at this time, by those among the Greeks and Latins, who were desirous to make a figure in the learned world. But though several persons, of both nations acquired a certain degree of reputation by their literary pursuits, yet they came all far short of the summit of fame. The best poets of this period, such as Ausonius, appear insipid, harsh, and inelegant, when compared with the sublime bards of the Augustin age. The rhetoricians, departing now

subsisted between the apostate emperor and these pretended sages were greater crimes, in the eye of Valentinian, than either their philosophical system or their magic arts. And hence it happened, that such of the sect as lived at a distance from the court, were not involved in the dangers or calamities of this persecution.

IV. From the time of Constantine the Great, the Christians applied themselves with more zeal and diligence to the study of philosophy and of the liberal arts, than they had formerly done. The emperors encouraged this taste for the sciences, and left no means unemployed to excite

1 See Theodor. Ruinarti Acta Martyr. sincera, and there Acta S. Sabæ, p. 598.

2 See Ambrosius, De officiis, lib. i. cap. xlii. sect. 17. 3 See Sozomen. Hist. Eccles. lib. ii. cap. i. xiii. There is a particular and express account of this persecution in the Bibliothec, Oriental, Clement. Vatican. tom. i. p. 6. 16. 181. tom. iii. p. 52. with which it will be proper to compare the Preface of the learned Asseman, to his Acta martyrum oriental et occidental, published in two volumes in folio, at Rome, in the year 1748; as this author has published the Persian Martyrology in Syriac, with a Latin translation, and enriched this valuable work with many excellent observations.

4 Dr. Mosheim speaks here of only one Jamblichus, though there were three persons who bore that name. It is not easy to determine which of them was the author of those works that have reached our times under the name of Jamblichus; but whoever it was, he does not certainly deserve so mean a character as our learned historian here gives him.

5 See the learned Baron Ezekiel Spanheim's Preface to the works of Julian; and that also which he has prefixed to his French translation of Julian's Cæsars, p. 111. and his Annotations to the latter, p. 234; see also Bletterie, Vie de l'Empereur Julien, lib. i. p. 26.

6 Ammian. Marcellin. Historiarum. lib. xxix. cap. i, p 556. edit. Valesii. Bletterie, Vie de Julien, p. 30-155, 150 and Vie de Jovien, tom. 1. p. 194.

and maintain a spirit of literary emulation among the professors of Christianity. For this purpose, schools were established in many cities; libraries were also erected, and men of learning and genius were nobly recompensed by the honours and advantages that were attached to the culture of the sciences and arts." All this was indispensably necessary to the successful execution of the scheme that was laid for abrogating, by degrees, the worship of the gods. For the ancient religion was maintained, and its credit supported by the erudition and talents which distinguished in, so many places the sages of paganism. And there was just reason to apprehend, that the truth might suffer, if the Christian youth, for want of proper masters and instructors of their own religion, should have recourse, for their education, to the schools of the Pagan philosophers and rhetoricians.

V. From what has been here said concerning the state of learning among the Christians, we would not have any conclude, that an acquaintance with the sciences was become universal in the church of Christ. For, as yet, there was no law enacted, which excluded the ignorant and illiterate, from ecclesiastical preferments and offices; and it is certain, that the greatest part both of the bishops and presbyters were men entirely destitute of all learning and education. Besides, that savage and illiterate party, who looked upon all sorts of erudition, particularly that of a philosophical kind, as pernicious, and even destructive to true piety and religion, increased both in number and authority. The ascetics, monks, and hermits, augmented the strength of this barbarous faction; and not only the women, but also all who took solemn looks, sordid garments, and a love of solitude, for real piety (and in this number we comprehend the generality of mankind) were vehemently prepossessed in their favour.

CHAP. II.

CONCERNING THE GOVERNMENT OF THE CHURCH, AND THE CHRISTIAN DOCTORS, DURING THIS

CENTURY.

I. CONSTANTINE the Great made no essential alterations in the form of government that took place in the Christian church before his time; he only corrected it in some particulars, and gave it a greater extent. For though he permitted the church to remain a body-politic, distinct from that of the state, as it had formerly been, yet he assumed to himself the supreme power over this sacred body, and the right of modelling and governing it in such a manner, as should be most conducive to the public good. This right he enjoyed without any opposition, as none of the bishops presumed to call his authority in question. The people therefore continued as usual, to choose freely their bishops and their teachers. The bishop governed the church, and managed the ecclesiastical affairs of the city or district, where he presided in council with the presbyters, and with a due regard to the suffrages of the whole assembly of the people.

The provincial bishops assembled in council, deliberated together concerning those matters that related to the interests of the churches of a whole province, as also concerning religious controversies, the forms and rites of divine service, To these and other things of like moment. lesser councils, which were composed of the ecclesiastical deputies of one or more provinces, were afterwards added ecumenical councils, consisting of commissioners from all the churches in the Christian world, and which, consequently represented the church universal. These were established by the authority of the emperor, who assembled the first of these universal councils at Nice. This prince thought it equitable, that questions of superior importance, and such as intimately concerned the interests of Christianity in general, should be examined and decided in assemblies that represented the whole body of the Christian church; and in this it is highly probable, that his judgment was directed by that of the bishops. There were never, indeed, any councils held, which could, with strict propriety, be called universal; those, however, whose laws and decrees were approved and admitted by the universal church, or the greatest part of that sacred body, are commonly called ecumenical or general councils.

II. The rights and privileges of the several ecclesiastical orders were, however, gradually changed and diminished, from the time that the church began to be torn with divisions, and agitated with those violent dissensions and tumults, to which the elections of bishops, the diversity of religious opinions, and other things of a like. nature too frequently gave rise. In these religious quarrels, the weaker generally fled to the court for protection and succour; and thereby furnished the emperors with a favourable oppor tunity of setting limits to the power of the bishops, of infringing the liberties of the people, and of modifying, in various ways, the ancient customs according to their pleasure. And, indeed, even the bishops themselves, whose opulence and authority were considerably increased since the reign of Constantine, began to introduce, gradually, innovations into the forms of ecclesiastical discipline, and to change the ancient government of the church. Their first step was an entire exclusion of the people from all part in the administration of ecclesiastical affairs; and afterwards, they by degrees divested even the presbyters of their ancient privileges, and their primitive authority, that they might have no importunate protesters to control their ambition, or oppose their proceedings; and principally, that they might either engross to themselves, or distribute as they thought proper, the possessions and revenues of the church. Hence it came to pass, that, at the conclusion of this century, there remained no more than a mere shadow of the ancient government of the church. Many of the privileges which had formerly belonged to the presbyters and people, were usurped by the bishops; and many of the rights, which had been formerly vested in the universal church, were transferred to the emperors, and to subordinate officers and magistrates.

III. Constantine the Great, in order to prevent civil commotions, and to fix his authority upon solid and stable foundations, made several changes, not only in the laws of the empire, but also in the form the Roman government."

8 See Bos, Histoire de la monarchie Francoise, tom. i. p 64. Giannone, Histoire de Naples, tom. i. p. 94, 152.