As the emperor had no independent judgment of his own in ecclesiastical matters, and certainly no spiritual discernment into these doctrinal controversies, the continuance of his favor could not be relied upon. In little more than two years his mind was completely changed. But these two years were eventful in the domestic history of Constantine, in what was much more serious than a change of mind as to Arianism. The same year that he convened the council of Nice, he gave private orders for the execution of Crispus, his eldest son, and for the suffocation of his wife, Fausta, in a hot bath, who had been married to him for about twenty years. History can find no better reasons for those deeds of darkness than a mean and an unworthy jealousy. The wisdom and bravery of Crispus in the final overthrow of Licinius, is said to have excited his father’s jealousy, and which was probably fomented by Fausta, who was his stepmother. Knowing that he was bitterly reproached for his cruelty to his own son, he ordered the death of Fausta in his remorse and misery. As we have expressed a very decided judgment against the unhallowed nature of the church’s connection with the state, we have said this much of the private life of the emperor, so that the reader may judge as to the fitness, or rather the unfitness, of one so polluted with blood, to sit as president in a christian council. From that day to this, the state church has been exposed to the same defilement, either in the person of the sovereign or the royal commissioner.
Constantia, the widow of Licinius, and sister of Constantine, possessed great influence with her brother. She sympathized with the Arians, and was under their influence. On her death bed in 327, she succeeded in convincing her brother that injustice had been done to Arius, and prevailed on him to invite Arius to his court. He did so, and Arius appeared, presenting to the emperor a confession of his faith. He expressed in a general way his belief in the doctrine of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost; and besought the emperor to put a stop to idle speculations, so that schism might be healed, and all, united in one, might pray for the peaceable reign of the emperor, and for his whole family. By his plausible confession, and his fair speeches, he gained his point. Constantine expressed himself satisfied, and Arius and his followers, in turn, stood high in the imperial favor. The banished ones were recalled. A breath of court air changed the outward aspect of the whole Church. The Arian party had now full possession of the emperor’s weighty influence, and they hastened to use it.
SAINT ATHANASIUS, BISHOP OF ALEXANDRIA.
In the Council of Nice Athanasius had borne a distinguished part; his zeal and abilities designated him at once as the head of the orthodox party, and as the most powerful antagonist of the Arians. On the death of Alexander, in the year 326, he was elevated to the see of Alexandria, by the universal voice of his brethren. He was then only thirty years of age, and knowing something of the dangers as well as the honors of the office, he would have preferred a less responsible position; but he yielded to the earnest desires of an affectionate congregation. He held the see for nearly half a century. His long life was devoted to the service of the Lord and His truth. He continued steadfast in the faith, and inflexible in his purpose, according to the noble stand which he made in the Council of Nice, down to his latest hour. The divinity of Christ was to him no mere speculative opinion, but the source and strength of his whole christian life. And nowhere else is it to be found by anyone; as the apostle assures us. “And this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life; and this life is in his Son. He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life.” (1 John 5:11, 1211And this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. 12He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life. (1 John 5:11‑12).) This life dwells in the only-begotten Son of the Father. He is “the eternal life.” And this life, to the praise of the glory of God’s grace, is given to all who believe in the true Christ of God. In receiving Christ, we receive eternal life, and become the sons of God—heirs of God—and joint heirs with Christ. This life is not the property of any mere creature, however exalted. The holy angels have a most blessed and an unceasing existence by the power of God; but the Christian has eternal life, through faith in Christ, by the grace of God. Nothing could be more fatal to the well-being of the human soul than the doctrine of Arius. But to return to our history.
While the advancement of Athanasius to the see of Alexandria gave great joy and hope to his friends, it filled his enemies with the bitterest resentment. They now saw the great leader of the Catholics the bishop of that church from which Arius had been expelled; and that he was supported by the affections of his people and by a hundred bishops who owned allegiance to the great see of Alexandria. They knew his power and indefatigable zeal in defense of the decrees of the Nicene Council; and might well judge, that if his influence had been so great when in a private capacity, what may now be expected when he is placed in so eminent a station? Wherefore, they laid their plans and united their powers to overthrow him.
ATHANASIUS CONTESTS THE AUTHORITY OF CONSTANTINE.
Eusebius, of Nicomedia, first resorted to apparently friendly measures with Athanasius, for the purpose of inducing him to re-admit Arius to the fellowship of the Church; but failing completely in this, he influenced the emperor to command him. An imperial mandate was issued to receive Arius and all his friends who were willing
to connect themselves once more with the catholic church; and informing him that unless he did so, he should be deposed from his station, and sent into exile. Athanasius, however, was not to be intimidated by imperial edicts, but firmly replied, that he could not acknowledge persons who had been condemned by a decree of the whole Church. “Constantine now found to his astonishment,” says Milman, “that an imperial edict—which would have been obeyed in trembling submission from one end of the Roman empire to the other, even if he had enacted a complete political revolution, or endangered the property and privileges of thousands—was received with deliberate and steady disregard by a single christian bishop. During two reigns, Athanasius contested the authority of the emperor.” He endured persecution, calumny, exile; his life was frequently endangered in defense of the one great and fundamental truth—the Godhead of the blessed Lord; he confronted martyrdom, not for the broad distinction between Christianity and heathenism, but for that one central doctrine of the christian faith.
A succession of complaints against Athanasius was carried to the emperor by the Arian, or more properly the Eusebian party. But it would be outside our purpose to go into details; still we must trace the silver line a little farther in this noble and faithful witness.
The most weighty charge was, that Athanasius had sent a sum of money to a person in Egypt, to aid him in the prosecution of a design of conspiracy against the emperor. He was ordered to appear and answer the charge. The prelate obeyed and stood before him. But the personal appearance of Athanasius, a man of remarkable power over the minds of others, seems for the moment to have over-awed the soul of Constantine. The frivolous and groundless accusations were triumphantly refuted by Athanasius, before a tribunal of his enemies, and the unblemished virtue of his character, undeniably established. And such was the effect of the presence of Athanasius on the emperor, that he styled him a man of God; and considered his enemies to be the authors of the disturbances and divisions: but this impression was of short duration, as he continued to be governed by the Eusebian party.
THE COUNCIL OF TIRE.
In 334 Athanasius was summoned to appear before a council at Caesarea. He refused on the ground that the tribunal was composed of his enemies. In the following year he was cited before another council, to be held at Tire, by imperial authority; which he attended. Upwards of a hundred bishops were present; a lay commission of the emperor directed their proceedings. A multitude of charges were brought against the undaunted prelate; but the darkest, and the only one we will notice, was the twofold crime of magic and murder. It was said that he had killed Arsenius, a Miletian bishop; had cut off one of his hands, and had used it for magical purposes; the hand was produced. But Athanasius was prepared for the charge. The God of truth was with him. He calmly asked whether those present were acquainted with Arsenius? He had been well known to many. A man was suddenly brought into the court, with his whole person folded in his mantle. Athanasius first uncovered the head. He was at once recognized as the murdered Arsenius. His hands were next uncovered; and on examination he was proved to be Arsenius, alive, unmutilated. The Arian party had done their utmost to conceal Arsenius, but the Lord was with his guiltless servant, and the friends of Athanasius succeeded in discovering him. The malice of the unprincipled Arians was again exposed, and the innocence of Athanasius triumphantly vindicated.
But the implacable enemies of the bishop were yet fruitful in their accusations against him. Once more he was commanded to appear in Constantinople, and answer for himself in the imperial presence.
The old charges, on this occasion, were dropped, but a new one was skillfully chosen, with the view of arousing the jealousy of the emperor. They asserted that Athanasius had threatened to stop the sailing of the vessels laden with corn from the port of Alexandria to Constantinople. By this means a famine would be produced in the new capital. This touched the pride of the emperor; and whether from belief of the charge, or from a wash to remove so influential a person, he banished him to Treves, in Gaul. The injustice of the sentence is unquestionable.
THE DEATH OF ARIUS.
Neither Constantine nor Arius long survived the exile of Athanasius. Arius subscribed an orthodox creed; Constantine accepted his confession; he sent for Alexander, bishop of Constantinople, and told him that Arius must be received into communion on the following day, which was Sunday. Alexander, who had almost completed a hundred years, was greatly distressed by the emperor’s orders. lie entered the church, and prayed earnestly that the Lord would prevent such a profanation. On the evening of the same day, Arius was talking lightly, and in a triumphant tone of the ceremonies appointed for the morrow; but the Lord had ordered otherwise: He had heard the prayer of His aged servant; and that night the great heresiarch died. His end is related with circumstances which recall to mind that of the traitor Judas. What effect the event had on Constantine we are not informed; but he died soon after, in his sixty-fourth year.
REFLECTIONS ON THE GREAT EVENTS IN CONSTANTINE’S REIGN.
Before proceeding farther with our general history, we shall do well to pause for a moment, and consider the bearings of the great changes which have taken place both in the position of the Church and the world, during the reign of Constantine the Great. It would not be too much to say, that the Church has passed through the most important crisis of her history; and that the downfall of idolatry may be partly considered as the most important event in the whole history of the world. From a period shortly after the flood, idolatry had prevailed among the nations of the earth, and Satan, by his craft, had been the object of worship. But the whole system of idolatry was doomed throughout the Roman earth, if not finally overthrown, by Constantine; it had, at any rate, received its deadly wound.
The Church, doubtless, lost much by her union with the state. She no longer existed as a separate community, and was no longer governed exclusively by the will of Christ. She had surrendered her independence, lost her heavenly character, and become inseparably identified with the passions and interests of the ruling power. All this was sad in the extreme, and the fruit of her own unbelief. But, on the other hand, the world gained immensely by the change. This must not be overlooked in our lamentations over the failure of the Church. The standard of the cross was now raised all over the empire; Christ was publicly proclaimed as the only Savior of mankind; and the holy scriptures acknowledged to be the word of God, and the only safe and certain guide to eternal blessedness. The professing church was no doubt in a low, unspiritual state, before she was connected with the civil power, so that she may have thought more of her own ease, than of her mission of blessing to others; nevertheless, God could work by means of these new opportunities, and hasten the disappearance, from the face of the Roman world, of the fearful abominations of idolatry.
The general legislation of Constantine bears evidence of the silent under-working of christian principles; and the effect of these humane laws would be felt far beyond the immediate circle of the christian community. He enacted laws for the better observance of Sunday; against the sale of infants for slaves, which was common among the heathen; and also against child-stealing for the purpose of selling them; with many other laws both of a social and moral character, which are given in the histories already noted. But the one grand, all-influential event of his eventful reign, was the casting down of the idols, and the lifting up of Christ. The Ethiopians and Iberians are said to have been converted to Christianity during his reign.