Constantine, Christianity at length triumphed over Paganism, and was seated on the throne. Though this great and glorious change, which had brought to the ground a religion “guarded and fought for by the armed strength of the most powerful government of all empires-to their connection with which thousands and tens of thousands owed their daily bread-to which many noble families owed their rank and influence-and of which even the Emperor himself was high-priest;" yet, in transferring these honours and emoluments to the church of the living God, it associated those things with it which are so completely at variance with its real glory and true prosperity, that from this splendid period its first ostensible step into that vortex of corruption and sinful conformity to the world, into which it subsequently fell, may be dated.

The church continued in this state of outward prosperity, with little to interrupt its progress except the determined but short-lived hostility of Julian the Apostate, until the time of Theodosius the Great, whose influence in its affairs was of too marked a character not to be attended with remarkable effects. He exerted himself in the most vigorous and effectual manner in the extirpation of Paganism throughout all the empire, and enacted severe laws and penalties to such as adhered to that religion.

The next great advance made by Popery was when the Emperor Valentinian III. increased the power and authority of the Pope to a most amazing degree, by giving Leo, surnamed the Great, almost a total supremacy over all the churches. From this time the declining power and the supine indolence of the emperors, whose reigns from Valentinian to Augustulus were peculiarly short and unfortunate, left the Pope, or Bishop of Rome, almost without controul: and the barbarian conquerors, after the extinction of the Western empire, found their advantage in reconciling him to their interests: so that the occurrences of the times were in all respects favourable to his ambitious views, and to the rise of Popery, however unfortunate and calamitous they were to others.

At length Justinian appeared, the last of the four emperors who in a marked and special manner contributed towards the full establishment of this awful apostasy. His contemporary, Procopius, hath likened him to a demon sent by God to destroy men; and the various events of his memorable reign, of an ecclesiastical, civil, and military nature, are of so remarkable a character and complexion, that Echard speaks of him "as if he had been raised by some chance, which forced him to act for some time contrary to the law of nature, and then disappeared again on a sudden, and vanished into nothing."

It was this emperor who, by a formal edict, settled the precedency that had been so long contested by the Bishops of Rome and Constantinople ever since the foundation of the latter city, and in the most unequivocal and fullest manner declared the former prelate "the head of all the churches;" thus fulfilling the language of this prophecy" and the saints were given into his hands."

This celebrated edict is couched in the following terms:

"Victor Justinian, the Pious, the Fortunate, the Illustrious, the Triumpher; Augustus, Consul, &c.; to John, the most sacred Archbishop and Patriarch of our most noble city of Rome.

"Rendering honour to the Apostolic see, and to your Holiness (which always was and is our wish), and honouring your Holiness as a father, we have been anxious to bring to the knowledge of your Holiness all things which relate to the state of the churches; since it was always our great desire to maintain the unity of your Apostolic see, and that state of the sacred churches of God, which has hitherto obtained and still remains fixedly undisturbed by any opposition.

"Therefore we have hastened to subject and unite all the ministers of the East to the use of your Holiness.

"For the present, then, we have deemed it necessary to bring to the knowledge of your

Holiness the points that are disputed, although they are manifest and undoubted, and, according to the doctrine of your Apostolic see, firmly maintained and declared by all bishops. Nor do we permit that any disputed point concerning the state of the churches, although it be manifest and unquestionable, should be moved without the knowledge of your Holiness, who is THE HEAD OF ALL THE CHURCHES. In all things, then, we are desirous of increasing the honour and authority of your Apostolic chair."

The remaining part of this edict relates to various controverted points; and also mentions that the Archbishop of Constantinople had written to the Pope, "he being desirous in all things to follow the Apostolic authority of his Holiness." Justinian likewise, in a letter to Epiphanius of the same date as this edict, repeats his decision, that all affairs relating to the church shall be referred to the Pope, "head of all bishops, and the true and effective corrector of heretics."

But there are in this case, as in the former period of two thousand three hundred years, four edicts from which the commencement of this period of twelve hundred and sixty years might be supposed to be reckoned. The first was issued by the Emperors Gratian and Valentinian, in the year 379, and was "chiefly for the purpose of regulating appeals to the Roman Pon

tiff, and giving him jurisdiction over the whole Western empire, which was all comprehended within the prefectures of Italy and Gaul."

The second was issued by the Emperor Valentinian III. in 445, and "confers upon the Pope the most extensive authority. It begins by expressly acknowledging his primacy, as founded on the three-fold basis of the merit of the Apostle Peter, the dignity of the Roman city, and the authority of a sacred synod. It declares that it shall neither be lawful for the Gallic bishops, nor those of the other provinces, to do any thing without the Pope; and that whatsoever the authority of the Apostolic see shall enact, shall be for a law to all." (See Sir Isaac Newton, on Daniel and St. John, where both these edicts are given.)

The third edict is that above quoted, of the Emperor Justinian, issued in 533. And the fourth and last was from the tyrant Phocas, the murderer of the Emperor Maurice and his family, and was given A.D. 606; adjudging the palm of ecclesiastical supremacy to the Pope, rather than to the Primate of Constantinople; merely, however, confirming, as far as it went, the preceding edict issued by Justinian.

If we had to decide from any certain principles, à priori, which of these four edicts was designed to mark the commencement of Popery, the difficulty would be found to be very great;