d sword in his
behalf; it gave him unwavering adherents in every legion of the armies.
In a decisive battle, near the Milvian bridge, victory crowned his
schemes. The death of Maximin, and subsequently that of Licinius,
removed all obstacles. He ascended the throne of the Caesars--the first
Christian emperor.

Place, profit, power--these were in view of whoever now joined the
conquering sect. Crowds of worldly persons, who cared nothing about its
religious ideas, became its warmest supporters. Pagans at heart, their
influence was soon manifested in the paganization of Christianity that
forthwith ensued. The emperor, no better than they, did nothing to check
their proceedings. But he did not personally conform to the ceremonial
requirements of the Church until the close of his evil life, A.D. 337.

TERTULLIAN'S EXPOSITION OF CHRISTIANITY. That we may clearly appreciate
the modifications now impressed on Christianity--modifications which
eventually brought it in conflict with science--we must have, as a
means of comparison, a statement of what it was in its purer days.
Such, fortunately, we find in the "Apology or Defense of the Christians
against the Accusations of the Gentiles," written by Tertullian, at
Rome, during the persecution of Severus. He addressed it, not to the
emperor, but to the magistrates who sat in judgment on the accused. It
is a solemn and most earnest expostulation, setting forth all that could
be said in explanation of the subject, a representation of the belief
and cause of the Christians made in the imperial city in the face of the
whole world, not a querulous or passionate ecclesiastical appeal, but
a grave historical document. It has ever been looked upon as one of the
ablest of the early Christian works. Its date is about A.D. 200.

With no inconsiderable skill Tertullian opens his argument. He tells
the magistrates that Christianity is a stranger upon earth, and that she
expects to meet with enemies in a country which is not her own. She only
asks that she may not be condemned unheard, and that Roman magistrates
will permit her to defend herself; that the laws of the empire will
gather lustre, if judgment be passed upon her after she has been tried
but not if she is sentenced without a hearing of her cause; that it is
unjust to hate a thing of which we are ignorant, even though it may be a
thing worthy of hate; that the laws of Rome deal with actions, not with
mere names; but that, notwithsta