Asa H. Craig, (Asa Hollister), 1847-1934
Up to the time of Constantine the Great the life of the Christian had been one of deepest persecution. During these three hundred years the strength of Christianity had proved its divine origin. No creed of man, or power of human strength, could have withstood the constant martyrdom that was continually following these patient followers of Christ. Although Constantine was raised a Pagan, yet he was not hard in heart, nor oppressive in his edicts. From his father he had inherited toleration and compassion. His nature revolted at the awful deeds of the bloody tyrant Diocletian, who had so recently ravished the Christian world.
The government of Constantine was only a portion of the Western division of the Roman empire, and comprised Spain, Gaul, and Britain. The rest of this great empire was governed by the cruel and licentious rulers, Maxentius, Licinius, and Maximm Daia, who were agreed in the persecution of Christians. Constantine being considered weak-minded in his oppression, and too tolerant in allowing Christian freedom, was declared incompetent to rule for the benefit of Pagan Rome, and Maxentius decided he would overthrow his power and establish a true Roman emperor.
These plans being communicated to Constantine, he decided to cross the Alps, enter Italy, and push his way victoriously to the very walls of Rome. “The world’s fate was here to be decided; Constantine feared the superior strength of the enemy. In his trouble he remembered the undisturbed prosperity enjoyed by his father, who had always been the friend of the Christians, while so many emperors’ hostile to them had died miserable deaths; and in fervent prayer he turned himself to the Christian’s God. The result justified his confidence, and in answer to his prayer, he and all his host beheld in the sky a shining cross, with the words, ‘In this sign shalt thou conquer.’ He caused a standard to be made after the pattern of this cross and borne before him into battle.”
Confident of divine aid, Constantine awaited the enemy’s attack. The superstitious Maxentius had caused the Sibylline books to be consulted, and the answer had been, “The foe of Rome shall perish miserably.” Thus, blinded he crossed the Tiber and risked a decisive battle. After a severe struggle his army fled in wild disorder. Thousands perished in the waters of the Tiber, among them Maxentius himself, who sprang fully armed into the river and sank in the mud.
Constantine entered the city victoriously, amid the rejoicings of the people. Upon the triumphal arch which the senate and people erected to him, and which is still standing among the ruins of ancient Rome, this great victory is ascribed to the “decree of God.” Constantine, moreover, caused his own statue to be set up, holding in his hand the cross, with the inscription, “Through this saving sign have I freed your city from the tyrant’s yoke, and have restored the Roman people to their ancient splendor and high estate.”
Constantine now established the free worship of the Christian religion, and in his loyalty to his new faith, he built splendid churches, showed great honor and respect to the priests, and in all things pertaining to the Church he considered the Pope the true head and authority. From this
time on Constantine believed he was chosen of God to be the instrument for aiding the Church in extending to man the knowledge of the true faith and worship of God.
With this faith he immediately began to make laws favorable to the Christians. He assured them that worship should be free and unrestrained, and he ordered a restoration of all landed estates that had been confiscated during their persecutions. In his Christian laws he severely decreed against immorality, and to check the practice of child-murder so common among Pagans, the Emperor provided out of the state treasury, or from his private purse, the means by which needy parents could support their children.
He sought, also, in many ways to ameliorate the wretched condition of the slaves. Thenceforward any Christian could free his slave in church in the presence of a priest, without the ancient formalities, and to impart to him at the same time all the rights of a Roman citizen. Bounds were set to the hitherto unlimited powers of the master. Slaves were to be regarded as men, and whoever, therefore, killed a slave was [to be dealt with as a murderer. In order to sanctify the Lord’s Day, public business and servile work was forbidden on it, both to Christians and heathens.
While Constantine was extending the cause of Christianity over his dominions, his brother-in-law, Licinius, had assumed, in the East, an increasing hostility to Constantine and his Christianity, and resolved, in the year 323, to wage a decisive battle to determine which religion would prevail — Paganism or Christianity. Accordingly, he published a solemn proclamation declaring that this battle would determine the true God of worship. Constantine assembled his troops beneath the standard of the cross, and with the words “God the Savior,” for his battle cry, he threw himself upon the enemy near Adrianople and defeated him with great loss. His victory over Licinius was complete, and he was now the sole ruler of the empire.
The East received his Christian influence, and what he had accomplished in the West he now brought forth with renewed splendor in the East. Ruined and wasted churches soon rose in greater beauty and splendor. At Rome, Nicomedia, Antioch, Tyre, Jerusalem, and Bethlehem he built new churches and endowed them with rich gifts of money and landed wealth. But bis greatest care was in his new capital of Byzantium, or, as it was now called, Constantinople, in honor of his name. In the most splendid apartment of the imperial palace, he placed a golden cross adorned with precious stones.
He converted the heathen temples into Christian churches, and built new ones of astonishing size and beauty. In every way ‘he sought to make manifest his love and veneration for the Christian religion. He provided for the splendor of all pertaining to the divine offices, and caused numerous copies of the sacred books to be made.
That the priests might be able to devote themselves without interruption to the duties of their office he secured to them ample revenues and freed them from civil burdens. Many churches received rich endowments, and every citizen was free, if he chose, to bequeath his property to the Church by will. He surrounded himself with learned bishops that he might receive instruction and conduct his authority in a true Christian spirit. He regarded the Pope as the head of the Church and continually expressed his devotion to the Holy Catholic Church. By these examples of Constantine thousands of heathens were converted to Christianity. The false gods were abandoned and their temples deserted. It was not a reign of persecution, but a reign of noble deeds, of charity, and filial devotion to the teachings of Christ. By these demonstrations of love and the spreading of comforts and blessings, he conquered heathenism, and in a short time the Christian religion was permanently established in the Roman empire.