OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE.

afterwards admitted, by the initiatory rites ofbaptism, into the number of the faithful/ TheChristianity of Constantine must be allowed ina much more vague and qualified sense; andthe nicest accuracy is required in tracing theslow and almost imperceptible gradations bywhich the monarch declared himself the pro-tector, and at length the proselvte, of the church.It was an arduous task to eradicate the habitsand prejudices of his education, to acknow-ledge the divine power of Christ, and to under-stand that the truth of his revelation was in-compatible with the worship of the gods. Theobstacles which he had probably experiencedin his own mind, instructed him to proceedwith caution in the momentous change of a na-tional religion ; and he insensibly discoveredhis new opinions, as far as he could enforcethem with safety and with effect. During thewhole course of his reign, the stream of Chris-tianity flowed with a gentle, though accelerat-ed, motion; but its general direction was some-times checked, and sometimes diverted, by the

Vit. Constant. 1. iv, c. Cl) immediately before his baptism and death.From the connection of these two facts, Valesins (ad loc. Enseb.) hasdrawn the conclusion which is reluctantly admitted by Tillemont (Hist,des Emperenrs, tom. iv, p. G2S), and opposed with feeble argumentsby Mosheim (p. 968).

f Euseb. in Vit. Constant. 1. iv, c. 61, 62, 63. The legend of Con-stantine’s baptism at Rome , thirteen years before his death, was invent-ed in the eighth century, as a proper motive for his donation. Suchhas been the gradual progress of knowledge, that a story, of whichCardinal Baronins (Annal. Ecclesiast. A. D. 32-1, No. 43-49) declaredhimself the unblushing advocate, is now feebly supported, even withinthe verge of the Vatican. See the Antiquitates Christianae, tom. U,p. 232; a work published with six approbations at Rome , in the year1751, by Father Mamachi, a learned dominican.

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