del

XX.

the prudence of the laws) might constrain the cHAP.
reluctant, and protect the diftreffed; and the im-
pofition of hands for ever beftowed fome of the
moft valuable privileges of civil fociety. The
whole body of the Catholic clergy, more nume-
rous perhaps than the legions, was exempted by
the emperors from all fervice, private or public,
all municipal offices, and all perfonal taxes and
contributions, which preffed on their fellow-citizens
with intolerable weight; and the duties of their
holy profeffion were accepted as a full discharge
of their obligations to the republic". Each
bishop acquired an abfolute and indefeasible right
to the perpetual obedience of the clerk whom he
ordained the clergy of each epifcopal church,
with its dependent parishes, formed a regular and
permanent fociety; and the cathedrals of Con-
ftantinople" and Carthage 9 maintained their pe-
culiar

98

brother of St. Jerom was ordained in Cyprus, the deacons forcibly
topped his mouth, left he should make a folemn proteftation, which
might invalidate the holy rites.

96 The charter of immunities, which the clergy obtained from
the Chriftian emperors, is contained in the 16th book of the Theo-
dofian code; and is illuftrated with tolerable candour by the learned
Godefroy, whofe mind was balanced by the oppofite prejudices of
a civilian and a protestant.

97 Juftinian, Novell. ciii. Sixty prefbyters, or priests, one hun. dred deacons, forty deaconeffes, ninety fub.deacons, one hundred and ten readers, twenty-five chanters, and one hundred doorkeepers; in all, five hundred and twenty-five. This moderate number was fixed by the emperor, to relieve the diftrefs of the church, which had been involved in debt and usury by the expence of a much higher establishment.

98 Univerfus clerus ecclefiæ Carthaginienfis ... fere quingenti veļ amplius; inter quos quamplurimi erant lectores infantuli. Victor Vitenfis, de Perfecut. Vandal. v. 9. p. 78, edit. Ruinart. This VOL. III.

U

remnant

XX.

CHA P. culiar establishment of five hundred ecclefiaftical minifters. Their ranks 99 and numbers were infenfibly multiplied by the fuperftition of the times, which introduced into the church the fplendid ceremonies of a Jewish or Pagan temple; and a long train of priests, deacons, sub-deacons, acolythes, exorcifts, readers, fingers, and doorkeepers, contributed, in their refpective ftations, to fwell the pomp and harmony of religious worship. The clerical name and privilege were extended to many pious fraternities, who devoutly fupported the ecclefiaftical throne 100. Six hundred parabolani, or adventurers, vifited the fick at Alexandria; eleven hundred copiate, or gravediggers, buried the dead at Constantinople; and the fwarms of monks, who arofe from the Nile, overfpread and darkened the face of the Chriftian world.

JII. Pro

perty.

A.D. 313.

ΙΟΙ

III, The edict of Milan fecured the revenue 25 well as the peace of the church 11. The Chriftians not only recovered the lands and houfes of which they had been stripped by the perfecuting laws of

remnant of a more profperous ftate fubfifted under the oppreffion of the Vandals.

99 The number of seven orders has been fixed in the Latin church, exclufive of the epifcopal character. But the four inferior ranks, the minor orders, are now reduced to empty and useless titles.

100 See Cod. Theodof. I. xvi. tit. 2. leg. 42, 43. Godefroy's Commentary, and the Ecclefiaftical History of Alexandria, fhew the danger of thefe pious inftitutions, which often difturbed the peace of that turbulent capital.

to The edict of Milan (de M. P. c. 48.) acknowledges, by re. citing, that there exifted a species of landed property, ad jus corporis eorum, id eft, ecclefiarum non hominum fingulorum pertinentia. Such a folemn declaration of the fupreme magiftrate must have been received in all the tribunals as a maxim of civil law.

Diocletian

XX.

A.D. 321.

Diocletian, but they acquired a perfect title to all CHA P.
the poffeffions which they had hitherto enjoyed by
the connivance of the magiftrate. As foon as
Christianity became the religion of the emperor
and the empire, the national clergy might claim
a decent and honourable maintenance: and the
payment of an annual tax might have delivered
the people from the more oppreffive tribute,
which fuperftition impofes on her votaries. But
as the wants and expences of the church increased
with her profperity, the ecclefiaftical order was
ftill fupported and enriched by the voluntary
oblations of the faithful. Eight years after the
edict of Milan, Conftantine granted to all his
fubjects the free and univerfal permiffion of be-
queathing their fortunes to the holy Catholic
church 102; and their devout liberality, which
during their lives was checked by luxury or
avarice, flowed with a profufe ftream at the hour
of their death. The wealthy Chriftians were
encouraged by the example of their fovereign.
An abfolute monarch, who is rich without pa-
trimony, may be charitable without merit; and
Constantine too eafily believed that he should
purchase the favour of Heaven, if he maintained
the idle at the expence of the induftrious; and
diftributed among the faints the wealth of the
republic. The fame meffenger who carried over

102 Habeat unufquifque licentiam fan&tiffimo Catholicæ (ecclefia)
venerabilique concilio, decedens bonorum quod optavit relinquere.
Cod. Theodof. 1. xvi. tit. ii. leg. 4. This law was published at
Rome, A.D. 321, at a time when Conftantine might forefee the
probability of a rupture with the emperor of the Eaft.

4

XX.

CHA P. to Africa the head of Maxentius, might be entrusted with an epiftle to Cæcilian, bishop of Carthage. The emperor acquaints him, that the treasurers of the province are directed to pay into his hands the fum of three thoufand folles, or eighteen thousand pounds fterling, and to obey his farther requifitions for the relief of the churches of Africa, Numidia, and Mauritania 103. The liberality of Conftantine increased in a just proportion to his faith, and to his vices. He affigned in each city a regular allowance of corn, to fupply the fund of ecclefiaftical charity, and the perfons of both fexes who embraced the monaftic life, became the peculiar favourites of their fovereign. The Chriftian temples of Antioch, Alexandria, Jerufalem, Conftantinople, &c. difplayed the oftentatious piety of a prince, ambitious in a declining age to equal the perfect labours of antiquity 104. The form of these religious edifices was fimple and oblong; though they might fometimes fwell into the fhape of a dome, and fometimes branch into the figure of a crofs. The timbers were framed for the most part of cedars of Libanus; the roof was covered

103 Eufebius, Hift. Ecclef. 1. x. 6. in Vit, Conftantin. 1. iv. c. 28. He repeatedly expatiates on the liberality of the Chriftian hero, which the bishop himself had an opportunity of knowing, and even of tasting.

194 Eufebius, Hift. Ecclef. 1. x. c. 2, 3, 4. The bishop of Cæfarea, who ftudied and gratified the taste of his mafter, pronounced in public an elaborate description of the church of Jerusalem (in Vit. Conf. l. iv. c. 46.). It no longer exifts, but he has inferted in the life of Conftantine (1. iii. c. 36.), a fhort account of the architec.

ture and ornaments. He likewife mentions the church of the holy Apostles at Conftantinople (1. iv. c. 59.).

with tiles, perhaps of gilt brafs; and the walls, CHAP.
the columns, the pavement, were incrusted with XX.
variegated marbles. The most precious orna-
ments of gold and filver, of filk and gems, were
profufely dedicated to the fervice of the altar;
and this fpecious magnificence was fupported on
the folid and perpetual basis of landed property.
In the space of two centuries, from the reign of
Conftantine to that of Juftinian, the eighteen
hundred churches of the empire were enriched by
the frequent and unalienable gifts of the prince
and people. An annual income of fix hundred
pounds fterling may be reafonably affigned to the
bishops, who were placed at an equal distance
between riches and poverty 10, but the standard
of their wealth infenfibly rofe with the dignity
and opulence of the cities which they governed,
An authentic but imperfect 10 rent-roll specifies
fome houses, fhops, gardens, and farms, which
belonged to the three Bafilice of Rome, St. Peter,
St. Paul, and St. John Lateran, in the provinces
of Italy, Africa, and the East. They produce,
befides a reserved rent of oil, linen, paper, aro-
matics, &c. a clear annual revenue of twenty-
two thousand pieces of gold, or twelve thoufand

e

105 See Juftinian. Novell. cxxiii. 3. The revenue of the patriarchs, and the moft wealthy bishops, is not expreffed: the highest annual valuation of a bishopric is ftated at thirty, and the lowest at two, pounds of gold; the medium might be taken at fixteen, butt hefe valuations are much below the real value.

106 See Baronius (Annal. Ecclef. A. D. 324. No 58.65.70, 71.), Every record which comes from the Vatican is justly tuspected; yet thefe rent rolls have an ancient and authentic colour; and it is at least evident, that, if forged, they were forged in a period when farms, not kingdoms, were the objects of papal avarice.