The citizens of Rome saw, with sorrow and shame, their city declining, Milan made the seat of government, and a foreigner placed on the throne. It so happened, that the two emperors, and the two casars, were all foreigners, being Illyrians. Besides, for five hundred years, or since the conquest of Macedonia, the spoils of war had been so abundant, that no taxes had been levied upon the Romans. But now Galerius, to whom Severus was in fact but a subordinate magistrate, though in name an emperor, levied such heavy taxes, that the inhabitants were ripe for revolt. In looking around for a new emperor, they selected Maxentius, son of Maximian, who, notwithstanding his high birth, had been justly passed by, in the late choice of casars. He was a voluptuary, equally destitute of talent and virtue. When he was saluted as emperor by the people of Rome, his father gladly left his private retreat in Lucania, and accepted again, at the invitation of the son, the purple which he had reluctantly relinquished. Severus hastened from Milan to quell the revolt, but had the mortification to see his soldiers flee to the standard of Maxentius. He was taken prisoner, and finally put to death. As this necessarily brought on a war between the new emperors and Galerius, Maximian, taking his daughter, Fausta, with him, proceeded to Arelatum (Arles), and bestowed her in marriage upon Constantine; and, at the same time, conferred upon him the title of Augustus. But Constantine was too wise to be drawn into a war with Galerius, and rejected this part of Maximian's proposal. As Galerius was afterwards foiled in his attempt against Rome, he adopted his old friend, Licinius, as associate, and placed him over Illyria, with the title of Augustus. This measure gave offence to Maximin in the East, who, as cæsar, claimed the right to that title in preference to Licinius; and Galerius, to avoid a new war in another quarter at so critical, a time granted him the title also. Thus, we have the novel spectacle, of six Roman emperors, all bearing the title of Augustus at the same time! Soon, the two emperors of Italy, the father and son, disagreed; the old ambitious Maximian desired supreme authority, which the son refused to grant him. He, therefore, went to Illyria, for sympathy and support; but neither the exemperor, Diocletian, nor Galerius, approved of the con

duct of the unnatural father, and he was finally driven from the country. He next fled to Constantine's court, at Arles, in Gaul, where he was kindly received, and allowed to reside, enjoying the rank, but not the authority, of an emperor. But, during an absence of Constantine, in subduing the Franks on the Rhine, the faithless old man attempted to wrest the government from the hands of his son-in-law. Constantine, informed of these movements by Fausta (wife of the one, and daughter of the other), took a select body of soldiers, and sailed rapidly down the Soane and the Rhone, and surprised Maximian, who now fled to Marseilles, and finally surrendered. Constantine spared the life of his father-in-law. But two years later, when the unprincipled man, who had age without wisdom, made an attempt to assassinate him, the latter resorted to the ordinary means employed by monarchs in such cases. Even Fausta felt herself obliged to sacrifice her filial, to her conjugal, love. This act of Constantine, in putting Maximian to death, has been held up by his enemies, from that time to the present, as a foul stain upon his character. It may be so; but how few absolute monarchs would escape infamy, if tried by the same standard of right and wrong! *

Maxentius sent able generals to quell a revolt of three years' standing, in Africa; and, being flushed with victory, now thought of turning his arms against Constantine, pretending that the murder of his father was the cause of the war. But how stupid was the project of that effeminate monarch, with an undisciplined, though large army, attached to him only by the love of plunder, in which he allowed them to indulge, to challenge the brave Constantine, who had lived in the camp, and distinguished himself as an able general in the East, in Britain, and especially on the Rhine, against the ferocious Franks; and who had a veteran army at his command, that never knew defeat! Maxentius raised a military force of 180,000 men, sent one division of it to his eastern frontiers, to operate against Licinius, with whom he was also engaged in war; directed another to march to Piedmont, to invade the country of Constantine; and retained

Maximian was put to death in 310; Galerius died in 311; Maxentius was killed in 312; and Maximin died, or was put to death, in 313!

with himself, the third, and by far the larger division, at Rome. But Constantine, who knew all his movements, anticipated him; and, with a select corps of 40,000 men, hastened from Arles across Mount Cenis, and met the enemy at Turin, where, after a signal victory, all Lombardy fell into his hands. At Brescia, a second general battle was fought, and gained by Constantine. Now he moved on towards Rome, to meet Maxentius himself. It was at this time, before the third great decisive battle, that the wonderful phenomenon appeared, supposed to be the immediate cause of Constantine's conversion, the sign of the cross in the heavens, with the inscription, "By this you shall conquer." The action took place near Rome, Oct. 28, 312, in which Maxentius lost his life, and his army was destroyed. Schlosser says, "the only thing miraculous about it was, that God hardened the heart of Maxentius, as he did that of Pharaoh."

Here commenced a career of twenty-five years, which produced some of the greatest changes known in history, a revolution in the religion of the whole empire. How changed all the social relations !-Christians raised from dungeons to palaces; government, laws, usages, literature, all changed; the Pretorian cohorts, those janizaries, who created and removed emperors at pleasure, forever abolished; a new division of the empire, and a new system of civil administration, founded upon that division, introduced; and a new capital of the world built, without which there might never have been a Byzantine or a Turkish empire.

That the story of the sign in the heavens is not true in all its details, needs not be proved here. Any one, interested in this subject, may consult Dr. Murdock's note in Mosheim's Church History. But nothing is more unhistorical than the supposition that the whole account is a fabrication. There must have been something at the bottom, as a nucleus to the improbable story; perhaps some striking, and yet natural, appearance in the heavens. The religious character of Constantine does by no means stand or fall with this legend. To maintain that he was truly pious, is one thing; to assert that his piety was caused wholly by such a phenomenon, is another thing. It would appear, that his knowledge of Christianity at this time was very superficial. He probably

viewed it, at first, much as he viewed other systems of religion, and regarded it as a powerful and excellent form of paganism; certainly he had no just notions of its spiritual nature. There is nothing incredible, that, on the eve of battle, he should, like Clovis, call the God of the Christians to his aid, or that his victory should induce the belief, that Christianity was not a vain religion. That the impression thus produced, was, in itself, no spiritual renovation in Constantine, is, indeed, very obvious; but that it, as a matter of mental association, did not lead to inquiry, and finally to a well-founded conviction of the truth of the Christian religion, and even to an adoption of it, cannot be shown from any thing in this account. It might be so, or it might not: that question must be settled by other evidence. That Constantine was not a man of distinguished piety, can also be easily shown. His many acts of violence show, not merely that he was naturally a passionate man, but that the subject of Christian morals was not very well understood by him. Is this never the case with Christians? Do not they sometimes exhibit a slender religious character? It seems to us, that the only question in regard to Constantine's religious character is this: "Was he one of the weakest of Christians, or was he mistaken in believing himself a Christian?" We choose to refer the decision of this question to the Omniscient Judge. It is indeed possible that he was altogether hypocritical; but it is highly improbable. The historical proof, that he was actually so, is wanting; the supposition, that he was so, hardly agrees with the serious concern that he manifested in religion during his subsequent life, and at his death. It is probable that the constant influence of his pious mother, Helena, and of his mother-in-law, Eutropia, as well as his growing intercourse with Christian bishops, made him more and more acquainted with the real nature of Christianity.

The connection requires us here to say a word respecting the last general persecution of the Christians; for the man now appeared, who had it not only in his heart, but in his power, to prevent them. The Diocletian persecution, which was the last, was also one of the bitterest. Diocletian himself was, at least, for the first fourteen years of his administration, inclined from policy to spare

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the Christians. But his son-in-law Galerius, and others, were perpetually plying their arts to excite the emperor to acts of hostility. Finally, the order for persecution was issued, and the work commenced, at Nicomedia, in 303. The following year, after several irritating circumstances had occurred, the fury of the persecution reached its acme. But Constantius Chlorus favored the Christians in his territories. In 306, Constantine, west of the Alps, and Maxentius, in Italy, commenced their reigns, and both were disinclined to persecution; the latter greatly needing the support of so powerful a body as the Christians now were. In fact, during this whole period, only he who sat firmly on his throne, could, without great danger, harass so large and respectable a body. Maximin, Galerius's cæsar in the East, was, indeed, furious against them. But in 311, Galerius repented his undertaking, and revoked his orders. After Constantine's great victory over Maxentius, he and Licinius, now the successor of the deceased Galerius, issued the celebrated edict of Milan, in favor of religious liberty. Nothing like the true idea of religious liberty had been known in antiquity and even in this case, the principle was neither fully understood nor recognised. The edict itself declared, that the emperors were influenced by views of expediency. Such was the present equality of the Christians and the pagans, both in numbers and influence, that it would be hazardous to offend either party. Consequently, we find, that as soon as the former became predominant, the liberties of the latter were infringed.* As Maximin in the East died in 313, Constantine and Licinius were now sole emperors. They met, but a short time before, at Milan; where the former gave his sister, Constantia, in marriage to the latter.

The earliest rational views of religious liberty were presented by the pagan orator, Themistius, in his address to the Christian emperor, Jovian, in 363, who had given to all his subjects liberty to worship according to their own convictions: "You alone," says the orator to the emperor, "seem to understand, that a ruler cannot force every thing from his subjects; that there are things which are above all compulsion, threatening, or command, such as every kind of virtue, and especially piety towards God. You have perceived, that in all this, if it be not hypocritical, a perfectly independent and free act of the will is necessary. If it is impossible, by an edict, to compel the affections of those who at heart have no regard for you, how much more is it so, to make men devout by edicts! It is ridiculous, that we change our religion with every new emperor, and worship the purple more than the Deity. Those who were yesterday with the altars and sacrifices, are to-day at the table with Christians. But such is not your will. He who employs power here, robs the individual of the liberty which God has given to every man. You can indeed force the body, but the soul and its freedom you cannot control; it spurns compulsion, even when you force the tongue." -See Neander's Church History, II, 97.