“There exists not a people, whether Greek or Barbarian, or any other race of men, by whatever appellation or manners they may be distinguished, however ignorant of arts or agriculture, whether they dwell under tents or wander about in covered wagons, among which prayers are not offered up in the name of a crucified Jesus to the Father and Creator of all things.”
Persecution had not been continuous, but spasmodical; at times raging like a tempest, and again dying away into a transient calm. If any thing went wrong, pagan superstition attributed it to the displeasure of the idol gods. All calamities were considered as the punishment which the gods were inflicting upon the people because the Christians were causingthe shrines of the idols to be deserted. Tertullian, an earnest Christian pastor in Carthage, wrote,—
“If the Tiber overflowed its banks, if there were famine or plague, if the season were hot or dry or scorching, whatever public calamity happened, the universal cry of the populace was, ‘To the lions with the Christians!’”
When Diocletian abdicated, he compelled Maximian also to abdicate, and then divided the empire into halves, placing Galerius as emperor in the East, and Constantius in the West. Galerius was a cruel, proud, fanatical pagan, who hated the Christians. He assailed them with one of the most bloody persecutions they had ever experienced.
Constantius had married a Christian lady, Helena. Though not himself a Christian, he was so far influenced by his pious wife as to greatly befriend them. In fifteen months after the enthronement of Constantius over the Western empire, he died. The crown descended to his son Constantine, then thirty-two years of age. This was in the year 306. Constantine was not a Christian; but he was a humane, intelligent man, who revered the memory of his pious mother. His father Constantius, like Agrippa, had been almost a Christian. Like many such men now, he had great respect for religion. There were many Christians who were inmates of the palace. He even appointed Christians as chaplains, and listened to their daily prayers in his behalf. All through history, we see traces of the wonderful power of a truly Christian wife and mother.
Helena, the mother of Constantine, was so consistent in her Christian character, that her family were constrained to recognize her superiority, and to admire her spirit. It was doubtless her example which mainly influenced her illustrious son to embrace the gospel. Through her long life she was the munificent friend of the Christians,—travelling from place to place to aid them with her money and her personal influence. She died at the age of eighty years, a true mother in Israel. In the palace, as in the cottage, maternal piety has been one of the greatest blessings of earth.
Nothing now could arrest the dissolution of the old Roman world, crumbling beneath the weight of its own corruptions. The dogs of war were soon unleashed. Rival emperors again appeared. While Constantine was in Britain, a general by the name of Maxentius raised the standard of revolt against him in Italy. At the head of an army of a hundred and eighty thousand foot, and eighteen thousand horse, he bade defiance to Constantine.
The emperor, roused to the highest pitch of indignation, impetuously crossed the British Channel, traversed Gaul, surmounted the Alps by the pass of Mont Cenis, and descended into the plains of Piedmont. He was within four hundred miles of Rome before Maxentius was aware that he had crossed the British Channel. In accordance with the barbaric customs of the times, Constantine, as he approached Rome, ravaged the States which had sympathized in the revolt of Maxentius, and made slaves of all the people. The number of captives so increased, that hundreds of smiths were constantly employed in hammering the swords of the vanquished into fetters.
Maxentius was an inveterate pagan. In preparing for the conflict with Constantine, he had supplicated the aid of the Roman gods by the most gorgeous ceremonies and the most costly sacrifices. This led Constantine to feel that he must appeal to the God of the Christians for support. The following remarkable narrative is recorded by contemporary writers as given by Constantine himself.
Just before the final battle, Constantine was earnestly praying in his tent to that God whom his mother had revealed to him. While engaged in this act of devotion, he observed a remarkable appearance in the heavens; when there emerged, in wonderful distinctness and effulgence, a cross with this inscription,—“In hoc vinces” (“By this thou shalt conquer”). The miraculous apparition was seen by the whole army.