such like," "but the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance."

Men become " sons of God by faith in Jesus Christ," and because they are sons, God sends forth the Spirit of his Son into their hearts, who works in their hearts every thing well pleasing in his sight." But this list of virtues is no common one; such a character as they form is, to say the least, of no ordinary occurrence. Such a character would even attract observation and excite remark. But this is the character of all who really possess faith. There is every reason to suppose that however men may err on other subjects, the errors on practical religion are more numerous, more palpable, and more general than on all others, and that the errors in doctrinal religion have their source too generally in superficial views of the nature of evangelical piety.

ART. VI. SOME PASSAGES IN THE LIFE OF CONSTANTINE, FROM EUSEBIUS.

THERE is possibly no epoch more important in the history of the Church and the world, than the age of CONSTANTINE, a prince whose character has been variously estimated by different writers according to the particular bias of their religious views, and the light in which they have been accustomed to regard an ecclesiastical establishment. To the general reader it is perhaps merely known, that the Christian Church, long proscribed by the secular power, was at length recognized by the State as a lawful society by their first Christian emperor-that Christianity was, to use a vague expression, established by him; yet what specific notions are conveyed under this general idea, it would be difficult to determine. The nature of an ecclesiastical establishment has varied in every age; and even in the life of Constantine it underwent two or three important changes in its internal and external relations. The ecclesiastical establishment of Constantine was not that of Theodosius; nor the establish

ment of Theodosius that of Justinian; nor the establishment of Justinian that of Charlemagne ; nor the establishment of Charlemagne that of Henry VIII. or of Napoleon; nor the establishment of Napoleon that of Louis XVIII.; nor the establishment of Louis XVIII. that of Louis Philippe. It has been the favorite maxim with some to charge all the corruptions of Christianity to what is called an ecclesiastical establishment with such a sweeping censure, as if Christianity merely needed to become established by the law of the land to neutralize its whole nature and efficiency. A few passages in the Life of Constantine, gathered principally from his friend and biographer, Eusebius, might be interesting and instructive to the general reader. They will tend to show the character of the man, and the nature of the ecclesiastical structure reared in his days, so ignorantly lauded or abused by men of different parties.

After the apostles left the earth the church appears naturally to have fallen into a systematic order, without presenting to us any express written scheme from which that order arose. This will appear upon the very face of the documents preserved to us by the most ancient fathers; and the evidence of this harmonious settlement of the churches will be to those who will search into ecclesiastical history more striking than they are otherwise aware. The pastors were settled according to their respective "districts" or "parishes," the functions of each officer was defined with sufficient precision; the ecclesiastical provinces were marked out for the general assemblies of the various churches at specified periods; a conventional subordination was established between the relative functionaries of the ecclesiastical commonwealth; and eighteen hundred churches, bound together by the ties of one common faith, presented a serried phalanx to the adversary, which perpetually alarmed the vigilant guardians of the old national superstition. According to the particular views of each party, this will be ascribed either to the especial providence of the Divine Author of our blessed religion, or to the influence of those who headed the church militant, and occupied the dangerous post of overseers, to the peril of being marked out for certain martyrdom by the relentless heathen. After being exposed to persecution of varied degree and extent, the churches. appear to have enjoyed remarkable peace and prosperity for forty-five years, during the first part of the reign of Dio

This wise instance to They now stately and

cletian towards the close of the third century. prince, naturally humane, appears in the first have connived at the success of the Christians. boldly came forth, and adorned the empire with spacious edifices for public worship. The bishops had been the bond which united the churches. They had headed and borne the brunt of the battle; and however ready now in the days of universal toleration, our Catholic denominations may be to impugn the ambition of these bold leaders, it is uncertain what would have been the fate of the various sects of those days, had they not taken shelter under these staunch captains who led the regular array of the church militant.

From the uncompromising nature of the Christian religion which, under the guidance of its able champions, sought to overthrow every other worship, it was impossible that the peace of the empire should subsist long under the connivance which the emperor awarded to an unlawful faith. The mildest prince which the Church had ever yet experienced, at length became an odium and reproach to all posterity; and the stigma of the Diocletian persecution has branded its author to all time, as an unnatural monster of impiety. It was deemed absolutely necessary for the peace of the empire, that he should decide between the claims of the old and new worship. It was judged expedient that Christianity should be crushed and exterminated with all its adherents. The persecution raged for ten years, till Constantine, “raised up by God," turned the tide against the Church's adversaries. and struck at one blow such a revolution in the world as it had never before experienced. From the following document, delivered some time after his proclaiming peace to the Christians at Rome, will appear the nature of Constantine's first establishment of the Christian religion.

Copy of the Imperial ordinances of Constantine and Licinius.

"As we long since perceived that religious liberty should not be denied, but that it should be granted to the opinion and wishes of each one to perform divine duties according to his own determination, we had given orders, that each one, and the Christians among the rest, have the liberty to observe the religion of his choice, and his peculiar mode of worship. But as there plainly appeared to be many

and different sects added in that edict [an edict lost] in which this privilege was granted them, some of them perhaps, after a little while on this account, shrunk from this kind of attention and observance. Wherefore, as I, Constantine Augustus, and I, Licinius Augustus, came under favorable auspices to Milan, and took under consideration all affairs that pertained to the public benefit and welfare, these things among the rest appeared to us to be most profitable and advantageous to all. We have resolved among the first things to ordain, those matters by which reverence and worship of the Deity might be exhibited; that is, how we may grant likewise to the Christians, and to all, the free choice to follow that mode of worship which they may wish. That whatsoever divinity and celestial power may exist, may be propitious to us and to all that live under our government. Therefore, we have decreed the following ordinance, as our will, with a salutary and most correct intention, that no freedom at all shall be refused to Christians to follow or to keep their observances or worship. But that to each one favor be granted to devote his mind to that worship which he may think adapted to himself. That the Deity may in all things exhibit to us his accustomed favor and kindness. It was just and consistent that we should write that this was our pleasure. That all exceptions respecting the Christians being completely removed, which were contained in the former epistle that we sent to your fidelity, and whatever measures were wholly sinister and foreign to our mildness, that they should be altogether annulled; and now that

EACH ONE OF THE CHRISTIANS MAY FREELY AND WITHOUT MOLESTATION, PRESERVE AND FOLLOW THAT COURSE and WORSHIP WHICH HE HAS PROPOSED TO HIMSELF, which indeed we have resolved to communicate most fully to your care and diligence, that you may know we have granted liberty and full freedom to the Christians to observe their own mode of worship, which, as your fidelity understands, being absolutely granted to them by us, the privilege is also granted to others to pursue that worship and religion they wish, which it is obvious is consistent with the peace and tranquility of our times; that each may have the privilege to select and to worship whatsoever divinity he pleases. But this has been done by us, that we might not in any manner appear to detract any thing from any manner of religion or any mode of worship. And this we further decree, with

respect to the Christians, that the places in which they were formerly accustomed to assemble, concerning which we also wrote to your fidelity in a different form, that if any persons have purchased these, either from our treasury, or from any other one, they shall restore them to the Christians, without money and without demanding any price, without any superadded value or augmentation, without delay or hesitancy. And if any have happened to receive these places as presents, that they shall restore them as soon as possible to the Christians, so that if either those that purchased, or those that received them as presents, have any thing to request of our munificence, they may go to the provincial governor, as the judge; that provision may also be made for them by our clemency. All which it will be necessary to be delivered up to the body of Christians, by your care without any delay. And since the Christians themselves are known to have had not only those places where they were accustomed to meet, but other places also, belonging not to individuals among them, but to the right of the whole body of Christians, you will also command all these, by virtue of the law beforementioned, without any hesitancy, to be restored to these same Christians, that is, TO THEIR BODY, AND EACH CONVENTICLE RESPECTIVELY. The aforesaid consideration, to wit, being observed, namely, that they who as we have said restore them without valuation and price may expect their indemnity from our munificence and liberality. In all which it will be incumbent on you, to exhibit your exertions as much as possible, to the aforesaid body of Christians, that our orders may be most speedily accomplished, that likewise in this, provision may be made by our clemency, for the preservation of the common and public tranquility. For, by these means, as before said, the divine favor with regard to us may be extended to the knowledge of all, it is expected that these things written by us, should be proposed and published to the knowledge of all, that this act of our liberality and kindness may remain unknown to none."

Such was the Edict of Milan, A. D. 313, by which Constantine gave the first establishment to the Christian religion. It was enacted in favor of the "whole body of the Christians" in general, and of "each conventicle," and "each one of the Christians" in particular. Constantine in setting the seal of the theocracy upon the thousands of the Christian