d.
1875). Constantine, in fact, was not baptised until a few days before
his death.

The character of the first Christian emperor is not one which strikes us
with admiration. As emperor he sank into "a cruel and dissolute monarch,
corrupted by his fortune, or raised by conquest above the necessity of
dissimulation ... the old age of Constantine was disgraced by the
opposite yet reconcilable vices of rapaciousness and prodigality"
(Gibbon's "Decline and Fall," vol. ii., p. 347). He was as effeminate as
he was vicious. "He is represented with false hair of various colours,
laboriously arranged by the skilful artists of the time; a diadem of a
new and more expensive fashion; a profusion of gems and pearls, of
collars and bracelets, and a variegated flowing robe of silk, most
curiously embroidered with flowers of gold." To his other vices he added
most bloodthirsty cruelty. He strangled Licinius, after defeating him;
murdered his own son Crispus, his nephew Licinius, and his wife Fausta,
together with a number of others. It must indeed have needed an
efficacious baptism to wash away his crimes; and "future tyrants were
encouraged to believe that the innocent blood which they might shed in a
long reign would instantly be washed away in the waters of regeneration"
(Ibid, pp. 471, 472).

The wealth of the Christian churches was considerable during the third
century, and the bishops and clergy lived in much pomp and luxury.
"Though several [bishops] yet continued to exhibit to the world
illustrious examples of primitive piety and Christian virtue, yet many
were sunk in luxury and voluptuousness, puffed up with vanity,
arrogance, and ambition, possessed with a spirit of contention and
discord, and addicted to many other vices that cast an undeserved
reproach upon the holy religion of which they were the unworthy
professors and ministers. This is testified in such an ample manner by
the repeated complaints of many of the most respectable writers of this
age, that truth will not permit us to spread the veil which we should
otherwise be desirous to cast over such enormities among an order so
sacred.... The example of the bishops was ambitiously imitated by the
presbyters, who, neglecting the sacred duties of their station,
abandoned themselves to the indolence and delicacy of an effeminate and
luxurious life. The deacons, beholding the presbyters deserting thus
their functions, boldly usurped their rights and privileges; and the