The Decline Of The Church, Part 7.

The Decline Of The Church:

Part 7.

The religious sincerity of Constantine, who, in a short period, effected such amazing changes in the religious world, can only be known to the Lord, for He alone searches the heart. As certain as it is, Constantine’s subsequent life furnished no evidence of conversion to God, but the Lord will make that final determination.

Constantine waded without remorse through seas of blood, and was a most tyrannical prince, so if we were to ask why he so patronized Christians, the answer could only be found in the state of the world. Paganism had nearly expired, and Christianity had gained deep roots so Constantine’s worldly policies soon became a religious strategy. 

The work was the Lord’s, and Constantine was the instrument of affecting it. As for the man himself, if he did have a saving interest in the Redeemer, whose causes he so illustriously upheld, let us all rejoice for him. But every circumstance shows the mighty power of God, for that little sect, Christianity, which three centuries before, sprang up in Judea, and seemed in the eyes of the world, to contemptible for notice had now filled the earth with its glories.

That little seed which was then planted, had sprang up and became a great tree, under whose branches the nations of the civilized world rested for comfort. The success was in strict accordance with prophecy, and proved to the nations that it was the Lord God that had set up his kingdom on the ruins of the kingdoms of Satan, and would ultimately triumph.

The joy felt by Christians throughout the Roman Empire, at the unexpected revolution, was beyond the power of words to express. Christian’s up to this time had only been allowed to live. Few privileges were theirs. There were few enjoyments for the men and women of the early church except those which sprang from their communion with God; — while they were often obliged to hide in the rocks and caves of the earth, and from there dragged off to suffer the cruelest deaths. 

If the truly pious among them could have looked forward in time and seen all this worldly splendor and magnificence being prepared to poison the very internal and vital organs of the body of the church, they would have grieved over the change, and preferred the endurance of further trials; but so easily impressed with the belief that the Lord was coming to take to himself the kingdom, and the dominion, and the greatness of the kingdom under the whole heaven, they fell on their knees before it.

And so it is, the worldly-minded among them, saw and used everything in this change of heart to gratify their own pride and ambitions; now they rushed with greed into all places of power and dominion, hailing Constantine as the greatest of human benefactors.

The heathen priests and vast crowds of subordinate officers, who had gained their subsistence in the idol worship, saw their darling gods trampled in the dust; their own consequence at an end, and their means of support entirely cut off; and Satan gnawed his tongue in pain! Great multitudes, indeed, were mere warriors and courtiers who were attached to the heathen superstition because it was the religion of the state, and were zealous in it because zeal gained them promotion. But they readily renounced these things and became Christians when they saw their Emperor fighting successfully under the banner of the cross.

Others, more intelligent and reflecting, had long, in their hearts despised the whole system of idol worship, while they had prostrated themselves with apparently the profoundest reverence. Such rejoiced to see the establishment of the ages overturned, though they had no knowledge of what would arise in its place.

But others, some from interest, and some from sincere attachment, struggled vehemently for their expiring cause. They beheld with indignation and grief the destruction of their temples and gods. They slandered the Emperor in the foulest language, and predicted the greatest calamities to his family and kingdom.

They were never again able to persecute the Christians as they had done, but they would occasionally rally until at length through the Excellency of Christianity and the power of the state, and the contempt into which their own gods and rites had sunk, they dwindled away and were to be found no more.

The revolution under Constantine was one from which almost everything a Christian would value and hope for was about to come to pass, but, alas! Such is the depravity of human nature, it was one in which almost everything of evangelical worth was lost.

Constantine brought the world into the Church, and the Church was paralyzed. The number of nominal Christians was increased a thousand fold, a new spring was given to missionary efforts; and in this century, a number of barbarous tribes, among The Armenians, the Ethiopians, the Georgians, the Goths and the Gaul’s were partially enlightened by the Gospel of Christ.

The work of translating and circulating the Holy Scriptures also received great encouragement; though, for the former, few had enough learning and diligence. The Latin version of Jerome, though far from being correct, stands pre-eminent over all others that were made. Schools were established, and libraries were formed for Christian youth; and the study of philosophy and the liberal arts was encouraged, that Christianity might not suffer by a comparison of her advocates with the bursting forth and skill of the sages of paganism.

Immense and splendid temples were erected and richly endowed; and a great priesthood, was regularly organized and liberally supported. The body existed, but the spirit had fled. Constantine set up an immense nation Church; and the humility and faith and spirituality of the age of Polycarp had passed away. Constantine did not find it in the Church which he thus raised to worldly glory; and how could he create it there by those very means which always destroy holiness?

Phillip LaSpino   www.seekfirstwisdom.com