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XX.

fon and murder, immediately affumed the facred C H A P. character of vicegerent of the Deity. To the Deity alone he was accountable for the abuse of his power; and his fubjects were indiffolubly bound, by their oath of fidelity, to a tyrant, who had violated every law of nature and fociety. The humble Chriftians were fent into the world as fheep among wolves; and fince they were not permitted to employ force, even in the defence of their religion, they fhould be ftill more criminal if they were tempted to fhed the blood of their fellow-creatures, in difputing the vain privileges, or the fordid poffeffions, of this tranfitory life. Faithful to the doctrine of the apoftle, who in the reign of Nero had preached the duty of unconditional fubmiffion, the Chriftians of the three first centuries preserved their confcience pure and innocent of the guilt of fecret confpiracy, or open rebellion. While they experienced the rigour of perfecution, they were never provoked either to meet their tyrants in the field, or indignantly to withdraw themselves into fome remote and fequestered corner of the globe ". The proteftants of France, of Germany, and of Britain, who afferted with fuch intrepid courage their civil and religious freedom, have been infulted by the invidious comparison between the conduct of the

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19 Tertullian. Apolog. c. 32, 34, 35, 36. Albiniani, nec Nigriani vel Caffiani inveniri potuerunt Christiani. Ad Scapulam, c. 2. If this affertion be ftriatly true, it excludes the Chriftians of that age from all civil and military employments, which would have compelled them to take an active part in the service of their respective governors. See Moyle's Works, vol. ii. P. 349.

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CHA P. primitive and of the reformed Chriftians 20. Per haps, instead of cenfure, fome applause may be due to the fuperior fenfe and fpirit of our anceftors, who had convinced themfelves that religion cannot abolish the unalienable rights of human nature Perhaps the patience of the primitive church may be ascribed to its weakness, as well as to its virtue. A fect of unwárlike plebeians, without leaders, without arms, without fortifications, must have encountered inevitable deftruction in a rash and fruitless refiftance to the mafter of the Roman legions. But the Chriftians, when they deprecated the wrath of Diocletian, or folicited the favour of Conftantine, could allege, with truth and confidence, that they held the principle of paffive obedience, and that, in the space of three centuries, their conduct had always been conformable to their principles. They might add, that the throne of the emperors would be established on a fixed and permanent basis, if all their fubjects, embracing the Chriftian doctrine, fhould learn to fuffer and to obey.

Divine right of Conftantine.

In the general order of Providence, princes and tyrants are confidered as the minifters of Heaven, appointed to rule or to chastise the nations of the earth. But facred hiftory affords many illuftrious

zo See the artful Boffuet (Hift. des Variations des Eglifes Protestantes, tom. iii. p. 210-258), and the malicious Bayle (tom. ii. p. 620.). I name Bayle, for he was certainly the author of the Avis aux Refugiés; confult the Dictionnaire Critique de Chauffepié, tom. i. part ii. p. 145.

2 Buchanan is the earlieft, or at least the most celebrated, of the reformers, who has juftified the theory of refiftance. See his Dialogue de Jure Regni apud Scotos, tom. ii. p. 28. 30. edit, fol. Ruddiman.

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examples of the more immediate interpofition of CHA P. the Deity in the government of his chofen people. The fceptre and the fword were committed to the hands of Mofes, of Joshua, of Gideon, of David, of the Maccabees; the virtues of those heroes were the motive or the effect of the Divine favour, the fuccefs of their arms was deftined to atchieve the deliverance or the triumph of the church. If the judges of Ifrael were occafional and temporary magiftrates, the kings of Judah derived from the royal unction of their great ancestor, an hereditary and indefeasible right, which could not be forfeited by their own vices, nor recalled by the caprice of their subjects. The fame extraordinary providence, which was no longer confined to the Jewish people, might elect Conftantine and his family as the protectors of the Christian world; and the devout Lactantius announces, in a prophetic tone, the future glories of his long and univerfal reign 22. Galerius and Maximin, Maxentius and Licinius, were the rivals who fhared with the favourite of Heaven the provinces of the empire, The tragic deaths of Galerius and Maximin foon gratified the refentment, and fulfilled the fanguine expectations, of the Chriftians. The fuccefs of Conftantine against Maxentius and Licinius, removed the two formidable competitors who still oppofed the triumph of the fecond David, and his caufe might feem to claim the peculiar interpofition of Providence. The cha

22 Lactant. Divin. Inftitut. i. 1. Eufebius in the course of his history, his life, and his oration, repeatedly inculcates the divine right of Constantine to the empire.

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CHA P. racter of the Roman tyrant difgraced the purple and human nature; and though the Chriftians might enjoy his precarious favour, they were expofed, with the reft of his fubjects, to the effects of his wanton and capricious cruelty. The conduct of Licinius foon betrayed the reluctance with which he had confented to the wife and humane regulations of the edict of Milan. convocation of provincial fynods was prohibited in his dominions; his Chriftian officers were ignominiously difmiffed; and if he avoided the guilt or rather danger, of a general persecution, his partial oppreffions were rendered ftill more odious, by the violation of a folemn and voluntary engagement 23. While the Eaft, according to the lively expreffion of Eufebius, was involved in the fhades of infernal darkness, the aufpicious rays of celeftial light warmed and illuminated the provinces of the Weft. The piety of Conftantine was admitted as an unexceptionable proof of the justice of his arms; and his ufe of victory confirmed the opinion of the Chriftians, that their hero was infpired, and conducted, by the Lord of Hofts. The conqueft of Italy produced a general edict of toleration: and as foon as the defeat of Licinius had invefted Conftantine with the fole dominion of the Roman world, he immediately, by circular letters, exhorted all his fubjects to imitate, without delay, the example of their fove

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23 Our imperfect knowledge of the perfecution of Licinius is derived from Eufebius (Hift. Eccles. 1. x. c. 8. Vit. Conftantin. 1. i. ·49–56. 1. ii. c. 1, 2.). Aurelius Victor mentions his cruelty in general terms.

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reign, and to embrace the divine truth of Chrifti- CHAP. anity 24.

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Loyalty

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The affurance that the elevation of Conftantine was intimately connected with the defigns of and zeal of Providence, inftilled into the minds of the Chrift- ian party. ians two opinions, which, by very different means, affifted the accomplishment of the prophecy. Their warm and active loyalty exhaufted in his favour every refource of human industry; and they confidently expected that their ftrenuous efforts would be feconded by fome divine and miraculous aid. The enemies of Conftantine have imputed to interefted motives the alliance which he infenfibly contracted with the Catholic church, and which apparently contributes to the fuccefs of his ambition. In the beginning of the fourth century, the Chriftians ftill bore a very inadequate proportion to the inhabitants of the empire; but among a degenerate people, who viewed the change of masters with the indifference of flaves, the spirit and union of a religious party might af fift the popular leader, to whofe fervice, from a principle of conscience, they had devoted their lives and fortunes 25. The example of his father had inftructed Conftantine to efteem and to reward the merit of the Chriftians; and in the dif

24 Eufeb. in Vit. Conftant. I ii. c. 24—42. 48—60.

25 In the beginning of the last century, the Papifts of England were only a thirtieth, and the Protestants of France only a fifteenth, part of the respective nations, to whom their spirit and power were a constant object of apprehenfion. See the relations which Bentivoglio (who was then nuncio at Bruffels, and afterwards cardinal) tranfmitted to the court of Rome (Relazione, tom. ii. p. 211. 241.). Bentivoglio was curious, well-informed, but fomewhat partial.

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