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Clu.j s[ p lea ter triumph felt by the zeal which taught the early

t'hicijg j lls ,0 glory in casting down the altars and the highiudgg ® v oted to sin ; deeming—we will not presume tol ° die ?, ^‘er rightly or wrongly—that such a testimonywas imperatively enjoined upon them. By theirilley s contemned the temporizing policy of the emperors.Ir, g the actual and visible victory of literally erect-

th e <] etn ldo of the Lord upon the ruins of the habitationh" ln 'lat' em0n ’ '-1'he statues were broken, to be buried in theduirig > hence few sculptures have ever been found aty the;,, 1 ', 0 ' 1 ^ not > dhe the Venus of the Medici, show,/liad )~ e ^ aceine nt and fractures, the aversion of which^ tile f. • i en the objects. Amongst the great congregationN ts 'tul, the distaste, the horrors excited by paganism^''able Ctures > monuments, glories, charms—were uncon-t 1 '^ the | 1 "^ paramount. Idols might have been removed,j° tlr e ,. tabling consecrated by the rites, which, accordingl^tf^tiori l * Ve belief, would drive away the demon ; yet nor^Sttareg Cou hl entirely heal the leprosy of the walls. Thee *rt the Virgin Martyr was echoed in every

‘V 0l

Op r .®°d s , your temples, brotliel-liouses rather;p u Wle ke'l actions of the worst of men,

Oh | SUe< * ani * P 1 ' act * se< l- Your religious rites!

Th ' ca l 1 them rather juggling mysteries,

v ' ( ‘« baits and nets ofliell. ......

j?j 0 whom you worship, was a harlot_

» fc ^ le foundress of the miblic stews.

Auh'u l,llu . Iou otli*ess of the public stews,

Y 0u j 85 ft’ 1 * that her sacrifice.

In r ^piter, a loose adulterer,r J'hat l'° US s ^ 8 * :er * K ta< * hut those

T^an * ave can °nized them. You will find them worseln chaste language I can speak them to you.’

*1 iv e 8i Ver had been touched by paganism, seemed, andte • this Un Justly ? to be reeking with impurity.”t lt Su hject we incline towards the opinions of the

**T>pV'' e t * lC ev *^ ence a( 3^ uce d by Bingham;

,i 0n e f tlme we do not mean to deny the occasionala ,x star , 0t P a gan temples to Christian uses under peculiardat e 6S ’ as ' n ^'e case of Austin and the Saxons attl, a eornr,’ ^ We think the instances of such applicationrid^'^y few, and formed the exception ratherW bsiia ns 6 ’ . ^ or not only were the feelings of the early111 0 j. ®nhsted against everything connected with the

tttjj >'''but t| e * leat * len deities,—or devils, as St. Paul callsfop 1 6 f 01 , „J e form also of pagan temples was totally un-

°t .

<nu , ta e rec e ^ ll - U,c * les ' Temples were little more than cellsVy The 1 * 011 t ^ le ant i priests, the people stood

aer vices of the Christian church required a' , s«e 1 ' s 'iip n ari 'angement; here you required accommodation<>, irnnl? Witl,in th ? walls > as the very name uacki/ota,H 1 ' e gatin„ le ® > there is here a communion or organizedCh nst

I^M^^^ectade.

Christians came together not merely to behold, but to pray together, and to hear the'it ^ ^ r illi g l l hem. “ The Christian temple,” says Pro-he at j’ was a heatlien temple turned inside outh> n ,hati c i n temples the colonnade was outside, in theC>n *>urch j tl. . greats

Was necessary to transpose it to the inside,^ th* ^ 8t ln ternal space, as we see was the case m

‘Ok ’

PPtatirPT, „ Som e reason to decide that the examples of

1 l. ua Of to-.i. . • ,• , .

Taking all this into consideration,

hut g*°5 tern pies to the purpose of Christian worship,e'e ,by tl le e ^ a |;Pti°ns. The very term temple was never

i^°ti» ltris Wev' Uei " writers, when speaking of the church ;th e j' 8 distinctive of the religion to which theyThe °. riner when used, implying always heathen* h *"» employed in coirtra-distinction to thisc b from being the name of the assembly, soon

came to be applied to the place in which they met ; thisword is very common. Another appellation is mpiaicov.Dominicum, or Domus Dei, which is met with in Eusebius and two or three councils ; Domus Columbce used byTertullian, is a similar term. Other terms found in Eusebius ,Socrates, Sozomen , and others, are irpootvsTripia and ohcoievTTipioi ; hut one very frequent in the writers of the fourthand filth centuries, though scarcely seen before, is Basilicas .The word temple was seldom or never used in this senseduring the first three centuries.

The earliest descriptions of early churches, now extant, areto be found in the writings of Eusebius , who gives somewhatlengthened accounts of the Holy Sepulchre at Jerusalem ,and of the church of Paulinus at Tyre, which we proceed tonotice. The descriptions are not very lucid; they show ushow richly churches were adorned, and throw some littlelight upon their structure and arrangement, although theaccount is in many places confused ; still it gives us someidea of the buildings, and, by comparison of this with otheraccounts, and with the remains of what are supposed to heearlier churches, we are enabled to decide pretty nearly theiroriginal form and distribution. He commences with a des-cription of the Holy Sepulchre .

The Empress Helena, after a long search, succeeds indiscovering the place of the Holy Sepulchre ; which hadbeen covered over by the pagans, and polluted by their rites,the place having been dedicated by them to Venus, a statueof which goddess was erected over the Sepulchre. Constan-tine having destroyed all the remains of heathenism, andhaving had the place purified from such abominations,proceeds to consider the erection of a suitable church uponthe spot, and sends directions to Macarius, bishop of Jerusa-lem, upon the suhject, a portion of which, as given by Eusebius ,we transfer to these pages.

“ Moreover, I would persuade you to that which is clear andevident, namely, that we ought to take especial care that thisplace, which we have purified and cleansed from superstitiousidols, and which God and good men, from primitive times,accounted sacred and holy, and which was afterwards soesteemed for the attestation and confirmation it gave to ourbelief in Christ's passion, should he honoured by erecting achurch thereat. It is meet therefore that your wisdom shouldso dispose of this work, and prudently provide all things neces-sary thereto, that the beauty of the temple may excel all otherchurches, and the several parts of it may exceed the chiefchurches in other cities. Know therefore that we committhe care of erecting, building, and curiously adorning thewalls thereof, to our friend Draeilianus and the president ofyour province. For out of our gracious bounty we havecommanded them that they should have recourse to yourwisdom to know wliat artificers and workmen shall henecessary to the building thereof, and accordingly shallstraightway provide them, and send them thither. Andwhen you have cast and contrived what marble pillars, orother marble works, will he necessary, either to adorn it, ormake it more durable, look that you certify us by yourletters, that when we understand what shall be necessary,we may provide accordingly. For this, which is the mostspecial place of all the world, ought to be adorned with allkinds of work of cost and curiosity.

“ I would lmve you certify me whether the roof of thesanctuary should be arched, or built in some other form ; butif it be built archwise, it may be conveniently gilded. Itremains therefore that your holiness should speedily signifyunto those whom we have appointed to he overseers of thework, both what artificers and labourers will he necessary,and what charge it will require ; and also to certify us not

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