APOLLO.

"The god of life, and poesy, and light."— Byron. POLLO was the god of the sun-the light of the world-the image of eternal "I am come a light into the world,'

ALL waste of the universe.

44

says the apostle, "that whosoever believeth in me should not abide in "darkness." (John xii; 46.) "As in the rays of the sun," says Moritz, "which are both beneficent and destructive, fertilizing and producing decay, creation "and destruction are united, so the divine form of which those rays are the "archetype, unites in itself both terror and mildness. For the god of beauty and "youth, who delights in lyre and song, carries, at the same time, the quiver upon "his shoulder, and draws the silver bow." He is the driver of the chariot of the Sun, which, drawn by milk-white steeds, he seems to guide along the vault of the skies. "His head is surrounded by rays of light. He gives light both to mortal "men and immortal gods. He sees and hears every thing, and discovers all that "was kept secret." "He is the true light which lighteth every man that cometh "into the world." (John i: 9.) "Serenity, benevolence, and loveliness," continues Moritz, "constitute the chief character of Apollo, and he whose arrow wounds, "heals again. Not only is he himself venerated under the name of the Healing, "but he is also the father and teacher of ESCULAPIUS, who is acquainted with "the means of soothing every pain, and knows a medicine for every sickness: "who by his art can save even from death itself."

The all-seeing, all-discovering sunbeam, is the image of Apollo, that "Lightens our darkness and defends us from all dangers and perils of the night." Collect "in Evening Service." And Apollo is also the animating sun-beam which awakes the heart to gayety and song. "If thou art afflicted now, and mourning," says Horace, it will not always be thus; for not always does Apollo bend his bow; soon will he awaken again the silent muse to play and song!" All are agreed,' says Cicero, "that Apollo is none other than the Sun, because the attributes "which are commonly ascribed to Apollo do so wonderfully agree thereto."

On the isle of Delos," continues Moritz, "he awoke to life, and soon after his "birth, the divine power that dwelt in him, speedily developed itself. The "august goddesses THEMIS, RHEA, DIONE, and APHRODITE, were present when "he was born: they wrapped him up in soft habiliments, and THETIS gave "him nectar and ambrosia. As soon as he had tasted the divine food, the bonds "of infancy confined him no longer; the divine boy stood erect, and his tongue was loosed: The golden lyre,' cried he, shall be my joy, the carved bow my "pleasure, and in oracles I will reveal the events of futurity. And when he "had thus spoken, now a blooming youth, he walked forth majestically over mountains and islands. He came to Pytho, with its craggy summits, and thence arose, swift as thought, into the assembly of the celestials, where then at once "reigned lyre and song; the Graces, tenderly embracing their friends and com"panions, the Hora, joined with them in the Olympian dance: while the Muses, "with harmonious voices, sang the joys of the blessed immortals.”

44

The piety of mankind has bestowed upon the son of JUPITER and LATONA the various names of Apollo, Phoebus, Sol, Helios, Hyperion, &c. He was worshiped as Mithras by the Persians, as Horus by the Egyptians, as Chrishna by the Hindoos, and as Apollo by the Greeks and Romans. "He was the only one of "the gods," says Lempriere, "whose oracles were in general repute over the "world." "His temple at Delphi," says Eschenburg, was illustrious beyond "all others, on account of its vast treasures. He was regarded as the god of the "sciences, especially poetry, eloquence, music, and also medicine. As the god "of inspiration and prophesy, he gave oracles at Didyma, Patara, Claros, and "other places. His image, as expressed by poets and artists, was the highest "ideal of human beauty a tall and majestic body, and an immortal youth and "vigor." His statue at Actium was a mark for mariners to avoid the dangerous coast, and his famous Colossus at Rhodes, was one of the seven wonders of the world. The most celebrated example of plastic art, which has been spared by the ravages of time, is the beautiful statue of APOLLO known as the Apollo Belvidere; and modern genius may scarcely hope to equal, but not surpass, the sublime conceptions and artistic perfection of the ancient Pagans.

In Dwight's Mythology it is stated, on the authority of Proclus, "that the "Athenians honored the seventh day' -the Sun-day- as sacred to APOLLO, "the god of the Sun;" and Jews and Christians have both followed the Pagan example of observing one day in seven as a sacred and holy day. Indeed, there is scarcely a rite, a dogma, or a myth, now existing in the Christian theology, which cannot be traced to its origin in ancient Paganism. The Pagan doctrine of immortality, which is now the fundamental doctrine of the Christian creed, may serve as a pertinent example. As is well known, it was taught by Plato to his Pagan contemporaries centuries before the Christian era, and it is now implicitly believed by Christians of all sects throughout the civilized world. "Not so much "as one single line," says Taylor, containing or conveying the vestige of any idea or conceit whatever, find we in Christian temples, but what will fit back again and dove-tail into its original niche in the walls of the Pantheon."— E,

THE MOTIVES, PROGRESS, AND EFFECTS, OF THE CONVERSION OF CONSTANTINE.-LEGAL ESTABLISHMENT AND CONSTITUTION OF THE CHRISTIAN OR CATHOLIC CHURCH. †

Τ

HE public establishment of Christianity may be considered as one of those important and domestic revolutions which excite the most lively curiosity, and afford the most valuable instruction. The victories and the civil policy of Constantine no longer influence the state of Europe; but a considerable portion of the globe still retains the impression which it received from the conversion of that monarch; and the ecclesiastical institutions of his reign are still connected, by an indissoluble chain, with the opinions, the passions, and the interests of the present generation. In the consideration of a subject which may be examined with impartiality, but cannot be viewed with indifference, a difficulty immediately arises of a very unexpected nature-that of ascertaining the real and precise date of the conversion of Constantine. The eloquent Lactantius, in the A. D. 306. midst of his court, seems impatient' to proclaim

Date of the conversion of

Constantine.

1 The date of the Divine Institutions of Lactantius has been accurately discussed, difficulties have been started, solutions proposed, and an expedient imagined of two original editions; the former published during the persecution of Diocletian, the latter under that of Licinius. See Dufresnoy, Prefat. p. v.

Long before the advent of Christianity, and when the materialistic Jews believed that death ends all, "and that a man hath no pre-eminence above a "beast," the Pagans taught the doctrine of the soul's immortality, and of a life beyond the grave.-E.

+ Chap. XX. Gibbon s History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire.

294

ESTABLISHMENT OF CHRISTIANITY.

to the world the glorious example of the sovereign of Gaul; who, in the first moments of his reign, acknowledged and adored the majesty of the true and only God.' The learned Eusebius has ascribed the faith of Constantine to the miraculous sign which was displayed in the heavens whilst he meditated and prepared the Italian expedition. The historian Zosimus maliciously asserts, that the emperor had embrued his hands in the blood of his eldest son,* before he publicly renounced the gods of Tillemont, Mém. Ecclesiast. tom. vi. pp. 465-470. Lardner's Credibility, part ii. vol. vii. pp. 78-86. For my own part, I am almost convinced that Lactantius dedicated his Institutions to the sovereign of Gaul, at a time when Galerius, Maximin, and even Licinius, persecuted the Christians; that is between the year 306 and 311.

A. D. 312.

2 Lactant. Divin. Instit. i. 1, vii. 27. The first and most important of these passages is indeed wanting in twenty-eight manuscripts; but it is found in nineteen. If we weigh the comparative value of those manuscripts, one of 900 years old, in the king of France's library, may be alleged in its favor; but the passage is omitted in the correct manuscript of Bologna, which the P. de Montfaucon ascribes to the sixth or seventh century (Diarium Italic. p. 409). The taste of most of the editors (except Isæus: Lactant. edit. Dufresnoy, tom. i. p. 596) has felt the genuine style of Lactantius.

41

3 Euseb. in Vit. Constant. 1. i. c. 27-32.

*A spirited account of the life and character of Constantine can be found in Taylor's Diegesis, pages 345-354. from which we condense a few excerpts. "Constantine the Great, under whose reign Christianity became the established religion, and but for whom, as far as human probabilities can be calculated, it never would have come down to us, was born on the 27th of February, A. D. 272, or 274, was converted to the Christian religion on the night of October 26, A. D. 312, reigned about thirty-one years, and died May 22, A. D. 348, the "second year of the two hundred and seventy-eighth Olympiad, in the sixty"sixth year of his age. The conversion of Constantine (says Dr. Lardner) was a favor of divine providence, and of great advantage to the Christians, and his reign may be reckoned a blessing to the Roman empire on the whole. "Eusebius-who would never lie nor falsify, except to promote the glory of "God-the conscientious Eusebius Pamphilus, who has written his life, seems to "know no bounds of exaggeration in his praise. I am amazed (says this veracious bishop, on whose fidelity all our knowledge of ecclesiastical antiquity must ultimately depend) when I contemplate such singular piety and goodness. "Moreover, when I look up to heaven, and in my mind behold this blessed soul "living in God's presence, and there invested with a blessed and unfading "wreath of immortality; considering this, I am oppressed with silent amazement, and my weakness makes me dumb, resigning his due encomium to Almighty God, who alone can give to Constantine the praise he merits.

"

"

In the Life of Constantine, lib. iv. c. 63, it is stated that "Constantine was the first of all the emperors who was regenerated by the new birth of baptism, and signed with the sign of the cross; and being thus regenerated, his mind was so illuminated, and by the raptures of faith so transported, that he admired in himself the wonderful work of God: and when the centurions and captains admitted into his presence, did bewail and mourn for "his approaching death, because they should lose so good and gracious a prince, he answered them, that he now only began to live, and that he now only began to be sensible of happiness, and therefore, he now only desired to "hasten, rather than to slack or stay his passage to God.'

44

"For he alone of all the Roman emperors did, with most religious zeal, honor and worship God. He alone, with great liberty of speech, did profess the gospel of Jesus Christ. He alone, did honor his church more than all the rest. He alone, abolished the wicked adoration of idols; and, therefore, he alone, "both in his life, and after his death, hath been crowned with such honors as no one hath obtained, neither among the Grecians nor Barbarians, nor in former "times, among the Romans. Since no age hath produced anything that might "be paralleled or compared to Constantine.

"Lardner, who branded the virtuous Julian, as a persecutor, has not one ill

CONVERSION OF CONSTANTINE.

295

A. D. 326.

A. D. 337

Rome and of his ancestors. The perplexity produced by these discordant authorities, is derived from the behavior of Constantine himself. According to the strictness of ecclesiastical language, the first of the Christian emperors was unworthy of that name till the moment of his death; since it was only during his last illness that he received as a catechumen, the imposition of hands, and was afterwards admitted, by the initiatory rites of baptism, into the number of the faithful. The Christianity of Constantine must be allowed in a much more vague and qualified sense; and the nicest accuracy is required in tracing the slow and almost imperceptible gradations by which the monarch declared himself

4 Zosimus, 1. ii. p. 104.

That rite was always used in making a catechumen (see Bingham's Antiquities, l. x. c. i. 419. Dom Chardon, Hist. des Sacramens, tom. i. p. 62), and Constantine received it for the first time (Euseb. in Vit. Constant. 1. iv. c. 61) immediately before his baptism and death. From the connection of these two facts, Valesius (ad. loc. Euseb. has drawn the conclusion which is reluctantly admitted by Tillemont (Hist. des Empereurs, tom. iv. p. 628), and opposed with feeble arguments by Mosheim (p. 968).

6 Euseb. in Vit. Constant. 1. iv. c. 61, 62, 63. The legend of Constantine's baptism at Rome, thirteen years before his death, was invented in the eighth century, as a proper motive for his donation. Such has been the gradual progress of knowledge, that a story, of which Cardinal Baronius (Annal. Ecclesiast. A. D. 324, No. 43-49) declared himself the unblushing advocate, is now feebly supported, even within the verge of the Vatican. See the Antiquitates Christiana, tom. ii. p. 232; a work published with six approbations at Rome, in the year 1751, by Father Mamachi, a learned Dominican.

"word to spare for the Christian Constantine, who drowned his unoffending "wife FAUSTA, in a bath of boiling water, beheaded his eldest son, Crispus, in "the very year in which he presided in the Council of Nice, murdered the two "husbands of his sisters Constantia, and Anastasia, murdered his own father-inlaw, Maximian Herculius, murdered his own nephew, being his sister Con"stantia's son, a boy only twelve years old, and murdered a few others! which "actions, Lardner, with a truly Christian moderation, tells us, seem to cast a "reflection upon him.' Among those few others, never be it forgotten, was "Sopater, the Pagan priest, who fell a victim and a martyr to the sincerity of his attachment to Paganism, and to the honesty of his refusing the consolations of "heathenism to the conscience of the royal murderer.

The Rev. Robt. Taylor thus methodically arranges Constantine's slaughter bill under the following dates:

The reason for the martyrdom of Sopater, the Pagan philosopher and priest, is thus rendered from Sozomen by Dr. Lardner, vol. 4, p. 400:

"I am not ignorant that the Gentiles are wont to say that Constantine, having put to death some of his relations and particularly his son Crispus, and being sorry for what he had done, applied to Sopater, the philosopher, and he answering that there were no expiations for such offences; the emperor then had recourse to the Christian bishops, who told him that by repentance and baptism "he might be cleansed from all sin; with which doctrine he was well pleased, "whereupon he became a Christian."- E.

""

296

INDECISION OF CONSTANTINE.

the protector, and at length the proselyte of the church. It was an arduous task to eradicate the habits and prejudices of his education, to acknowledge the divine power of Christ, and to understand that the truth of his revelation was incompatible with the worship of the gods. The obstacles which he had probably experienced in his own mind, instructed him to proceed with caution in the momentous change of a national religion; and he insensibly discovered his new opinions, as far as he could enforce them with safety and with effect. During the whole course of his reign, the stream of Christianity flowed with a gentle, though accelerated, motion; but its general direction was sometimes checked, and sometimes diverted, by the accidental circumstances of the times, and by the prudence, or possibly by the caprice, of the monarch. His ministers were permitted to signify the intentions of their master in the various language which was best adapted to their respective principles; and he artfully balanced the hopes and fears of his subjects, by publishing in the same year two edicts; the first of which enjoined the solemn observance of Sunday, and the second directed the regular consultation of aruspices. While this important revolution yet remained in suspense, the Christians and the Pagans watched the conduct of their sovereign with the same anxiety, but with very opposite sentiments. The former were prompted by every motive of zeal, as well as vanity, to exaggerate the marks of his favor, and the evidence of his faith. The latter, till their just apprehensions were changed into despair and resentment, attempted to conceal from the world, and from themselves, that the gods of Rome could no longer reckon the emperor in the number of their votaries. The same passions and prejudices have engaged the partial writers of the times to connect the public confession of Christianity with the most glorious or the most ignominious era of the reign of Constantine.

A. D. 321.

8

The quæstor, or secretary, who composed the law of the Theodosian Code, makes his master say with indifference, "hominibus supradictæ religionis' Q. xvi. tit. ii. leg. 1). The minister of ecclesiastical affairs was allowed a more devout and respectful style, τὴς ἐνθίσμου καὶ ἁγιωτάτης καθολικῆς θρησκείας; the legal, most holy, and Catholic worship. See Euseb. Hist. Eccles. 1. x. c. 6. 8 Cod. Theodos. 1. ii. tit. viii. leg. 1. Cod. Justinian. 1. iii. tit xii. leg. 3. Constantine styles the Lord's day dies solis, a name which could not offend the ears of his Pagan subjects.

9 Cod. Theodos. 1. xvi. tit. x. leg. 1. Godefroy, in the character of a commentator, endeavors (tom. vi. p. 257) to excuse Constantine; but the more zealous Baronius (Annal. Eccles. A. D. 321, No. 18) censures his profane conduct with truth and asperity.