Being obliged to compete with powerful rivals for the supreme power, he adopted the cross as the standard of his army, and identified his cause with that of Christianity. The result was, that he easily vanquished his adversaries, and, in A. D. 324, became sole master of the Roman empire. He continued to reign in great glory till his death, A. D. 337. His first assumption of the title and powers of Cæsar had been in a. D. 305. He was not happy in his family; and, though the friend and patron of the church, and, by the general consent of the ecclesiastical authorities, its virtual head, he did not receive baptism till a short time before his death, and was then baptized by the Arian bishop Eusebius.

He changed the system of Roman jurisprudence, and altered, in many respects, the constitution of the empire. He modified, also, the polity of the church, to make it agree, as nearly as possible, with that of the state. The bishops of Rome, Antioch and Alexandria, and afterwards the bishop of Constantinople, were raised to a princely rank and dignity, and subsequently received the title of patriarchs. Other bishops were raised to be the spiritual heads of provinces, and of subordinate divisions of the empire. The Christian Sabbath received the sanction of the Roman law, and every possible facility was afforded to the bishops to regulate things according to their judgment and pleasure. Murdock's Mosheim, vol. 1., pp. 231–236.

CHAPTER III.

GENERAL COUNCILS.

CONSTANTINE, on adopting Christianity as the

religion of the

Roman empire, made some changes in its polity. He took upon himself a general superintendence of the church, and added to

the system of provincial councils, that of general councils. The object of general councils was to determine all questions of doctrine or discipline affecting the church generally, or pertaining to the general principles of Christianity. - Murdock's Mosheim, vol. 1., p. 231.

The First General Council.

The first general council was that of Nice, in Bithynia, in 325. There is some doubt whether this council met on the 20th of May, or the 19th of June. It closed its sessions on the 24th of July, on the day that Constantine celebrated the twentieth year of his reign. It was held in the central hall of the imperial palace at Nice, one of the residences of the emperor, and consisted of three hundred and eighteen bishops, convened by call of the emperor, conveyed to the place of meeting, supported there, and carried home, at his expense. It was attended and opened by the emperor in person; yet he did not dictate to the bishops their decisions, but allowed them to debate the matters that came before them most freely, and to decide according to their ideas of truth and duty. He regarded and treated them as divinely-constituted judges of church matters. It does not appear that this council kept any journal of its proceedings. The results only to which they came were made matters of record, which were the creed, twenty canons, and an epistle to the African churches on the subject of Arianism.

The canons settled several principles of church order and discipline.

The epistle to the African churches announces the condemnation of Arius and Arianism, and sustains the divinity of Christ. The Nicene creed is as follows: "We believe in one God, the Father Almighty, and in one Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, begotten of the Father, only begotten (that is) of the substance of the Father, by whom all things were made that are in heaven, and that are in earth; who for us men, and for our salvation, descended and was incarnate, and became man, suf

fered and rose again the third day, ascended into the heavens, and will come to judge the living and the dead; and in the Holy Spirit. But those who say there was a time when he was not, and that he was not before he was begotten, and that he was made out of nothing, or affirm that he is of any other substance or essence, or that the Son of God is created and mutable or changeable, the Catholic church doth pronounce accursed." Murdock's Mosheim, vol. 1., pp. 291–295. Gieseler and the Encyclopedia Americana on the Council of Nice.

Under Constantine, the bishop of Rome, Antioch and Alexandria, and, subsequently, after the removal of the seat of empire to Constantinople, the bishops of Constantinople were called Patriarchs, and divided the Christian world, to a great extent, among them. Subsequently, the patriarchs of Rome and Constantinople swallowed up the others.

The Second General Council.

The council of Constantinople, assembled by the Greek emperor Theodosius the Great, in a. D. 331, was composed of one hundred and fifty bishops, from all parts of the Eastern Roman empire. The first canon of this council respects the creed, which is as follows:

"We believe in one God, the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth, of all things visible and invisible; and in one Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the only-begotten of the Father, before all ages, light of light, true God of true God, begotten, not made, of the same nature as the Father, by whom are all things. For the sake of us men, and for the sake of our salvation, he descended from heaven, became incarnate by the Holy Spirit and the virgin Mary, and became man. He was crucified for us by Pontius Pilate; he suffered, was buried, and arose from the dead the third day, according to the Scriptures, and ascended into heaven, and sat down on the right hand of the Father, and again will come in glory to judge the living and dead, of whose kingdom there will be no end; and in one Holy Spirit, the Lord,

the author of life, which proceedeth from the Father, and ruleth with the Father and the Son, and is glorified with them, that speaketh by the prophets; in one holy Catholic apostolic church. We acknowledge one baptism for the forgiveness of sins, we expect the resurrection of the dead, and the life of the world to come."

The second canon of this council confines the bishops to their provinces, and the third gives to the bishop of Constantinople the rank of second patriarch.Murdock's Mosheim, vol. 1., pp. 306, 307, note 64.

The Third General Council.

The council of Ephesus was called by Theodosius II., a. d. 431. Bishops were present at this council from Egypt and all parts of the Eastern empire, and from Italy and Sicily. This council was called on account of the supposed heresy of Nestorius, bishop of Constantinople, in regarding the divine and human natures in Christ as distinct, and constituting different substances, but not different persons. The council was attended by a commissioner on the part of the Nestorius emperor. was condemned, not from the Scriptures, but from the fathers, by a faction opposed to him, before all the members had arrived. Subsequently, the council was divided; a part, with the imperial commissioner, favoring Nestorius, and a part insisting that he ought to be condemned. The proceedings of this council were charac terized by shameful irregularity.—Murdock's Mosheim, vol. I., pp. 358-360.

The Fourth General Council.

The council of Chalcedon was called by the Emperor Marcian, A. D. 451, and was attended by six hundred bishops, mostly from the East. This council, among other things, decreed that “following the holy fathers of Nicene and Constantinopolitan creeds, we unitedly declare that one and the same Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, is to be acknowledged as being perfect in his Godhead

and perfect in his humanity, truly God and truly man; with a rational soul, and a body of like substance with the Father as to his divine nature, of like substance with us as to his human nature; in all things like us, sin excepted; begotten of the Father from all eternity, as to his divine nature, of Mary the mother of God, in these last days, for us and for our salvation, as to his human nature; recognized as our Christ, Son, Lord, only begotten, in two naturés unconfounded, unchanged, undivided, inseparable; the distinction of natures not at all done away by the union, but rather the peculiarity of each nature preserved and combined into one substance, not separated or divided into two persons, but one Son, only-begotten, God the word, the Lord Jesus Christ. As the prophets before taught concerning him, so he, the Lord Jesus Christ, hath taught us, and the creed of the fathers hath transmitted to us."

In this council, which had been called at his request, the influence of the bishop of Rome was predominant. Murdock's Mosheim, vol. I., pp. 410, 411.

The Fifth General Council.

This was assembled at Constantinople, by Justinian, A. d. 553. It consisted of one hundred and sixty-five bishops, principally from the East. This council inserted the name of Origen in its list of heretics, and condemned certain tenets known as the three chapters; but did nothing of importance. - Murdock's Mosheim, vol. I., p. 411.

CHAPTER IV.

MONACHISM.

MONACHISM originated in Egypt, and was adopted from a previous sect of religious enthusiasts that arose under Judaism. — Murdock's Mosheim, pages 37, 38.