services to the Virgin Mary. But although the bishops of Rome in all their generations have shown much tact in adopting customs, and applying them to the members of their church, they have not displayed much genius of invention. The female worshippers of Ashtoreth and Diana, we learn from several passages in the scriptures, were showy and luxurious in their apparel and ornaments when they went to the temples. Paul had a good deal of trouble with the early female converts to Christianity, in getting them to go to church without their broidered hair, or gold, or pearls, or costly array. The ancient Jewish ladies were extravagant in the fashion of their ornaments, no doubt caused by their perversion to idolatrous worship. In the catalogue of a complete fashionable wardrobe, there is an allusion to the costume worn at the adoration of the queen of heaven in the tinkling ornaments about the feet, and their cauls, and "their round tires like the moon."+ It may be mentioned, in illustration of the particular injunctions given to Timothy, that he had to minister and preach in Ephesus, where the great temple of the Crescent-bearing queen of heaven was placed, and where idolatry prevailed in its most corrupting forms. Isaiah iii. 17-23.

* 2 Tim. ii. 9.

CHAPTER IV.

Military and Ecclesiastical History of the Origin of the War Cross.-Rapid Sketch of the State of the Roman World at the beginning of the fourth century.-Constantine uprears the Standard of the Cross in the decisive battle on the 28th October, 312.-An Account of the Vision of the Cross, which he affirmed he saw.-Reasoning on this Vision or Sign.—Inferences and Conclusions from the account.-Consequences of Constantine's claims to Divine Right, and from his assumption of the headship of the Church.

Ar the end of about 3248 years by one account, and of about 2376 years by another account, from the grounding of the ark on the high lands of Ararat, or Labar, the cross was erected upon Mount Calvary. The witnesses of the Resurrection beginning at Jerusalem, spread the knowledge of the religion of Christ among the civilised peoples, and the barbarous tribes of the then known world. Against the powers of this world, and amidst dangers and persecutions, the missionaries of the cross extended and planted that religion without the aid of civil government, or the help of those influences which are usually operative on the success of a new faith.

Early in the fourth century an event happened which gave a new form to the Christian religion, and by an act of imperial power raised it from the cottage to the palace, and elevated its humble ministers, who had preached and lived in apostolic simplicity, to the rank and power of courtly bishops.

Constantine was one of those extraordinary men who was permitted, in the providence of God, to effect a great change of military and political empire, and to give a form to Christianity, which, under various modifications, has continued to this present day to affect the social and religious condition of most of the nations of Europe. He was born and he lived in an age when the stoutest heart, the strongest arm, and the clearest head ruled the Roman world. Emperor was a military title, and was conferred by the suffrages and the acclamations of the army, and hence the robust but atrocious characters of many of the Roman emperors. Constantine was in England when his father died there, and he was immediately proclaimed emperor by the army. His subsequent career proved the correctness of the judgment of his soldiers. He was in all respects qualified for the supreme command. He was in the prime of life, of majestic stature, great strength, and possessed of the mental powers, and calm personal and moral courage, suited for great enterprises. When he was elected by the army in Britain, no less than five other generals having received the title of emperor, he had to fight his way resolutely and ably to the imperial power at Rome. It is not, however, our purpose to give here any details of his military and political history, and all that we shall do will be to describe him as the inventor of the cross as a standard for war.

It would be desirable, were it possible, to give here a brief and intelligible sketch of the condition of the Roman world, and the state of opinion in the fourth century of the Christian era. That age was an important one in the struggle of opposite principles, and in the production of events which developed themselves in the fall of the Roman empire, and in the construc

tion of the various European nations which sprang out of it. The minds of men during that age were moved by the expectation of some extraordinary events about to take place. Both among the Pagan and the Christian population the belief generally prevailed of the near fulfilment of ancient prophecies. The Christians were excited with the hope, or the fear, of the accomplishment of one of the apocalyptic visions of Saint John, supposed to be at hand. Even in the time of the Saviour the world expected to see a sign from Heaven. It was imagined that the millennium, or the reign of peace, was about to commence; and as, in the following century, Attila, known in history as the Scourge of God, swept, with his hordes of ruthless Scythians, the fairest parts of Europe, a lesson is thus given to theologians to exercise Christian modesty in their speculations on fixing the times and seasons known only to God.

The ancient Pagan prophecy, or belief, was a very remarkable one, and takes us back to the foundation of Rome. A tradition was handed down that an Etruscan vaticination fixed twelve sæcula or ages as the period of existence allotted to Rome. Those twelve centuries ran out between the fourth and fifth century of the Christian era, and Niebuhr, in his Roman History, says, that all the adherents of the Pagan religion were filled with dismay at the approaching ruin, and the suppression of their faith. The remarkable Sibylline Books ceased, and were destroyed in the latter part of the fourth century.* This state

of mind and expectancy of the great mass of the population, heathen and Christian, of the Roman countries of Italy, Greece, and Asia Minor, prepared the people to receive strong and permanent impressions. In the * Prideaux, vol. iv.

fourth century there was the final struggle for outward ascendancy between Christianity and Paganism. The terrible persecutions of the Christians by Diocletian and Galerius, early in that century, were instigated by the Pagan priesthood, who made this last effort to put down the new religion. The father of Constantine put a stop to those persecutions, and the numbers and influence of the Christians may be inferred from the circumstance of Constantine's employing many of them in his public offices, and even in his household; and edicts of other emperors stopping the persecution confirm that inference. Gibbon says of Maxentius, the rival of Constantine, "The same tyrant who oppressed every other class of his subjects, showed himself just, humane, and even partial towards the afflicted Christians."*

The spread of Christianity was like light penetrating into thick darkness—or to describe it in its own language, it was pure water from a divine origin, and down to the period under consideration it had retained its purity from the fountain head. It had flowed in its own channel as unmixed with the poisonous qualities of the Pagan soil as the human frailty of those who used it would permit. Christianity admits of no compromise with heathenism or its practices, but unfortunately for its purity a compromise was made to some extent by the adoption of many pagan rites and ceremonies into the ministrations of the Christian churches. The pure stream was allowed to mix with the turbid and corrupted waters of heathen superstition; and hence at the present day a great part of Europe is covered with stagnant waters which impart no spiritual life.

The social condition of the population of the Roman *Gibbon, chap. xvi.