ians. The sacrament of baptism
was supposed to contain a full and absolute expiation of sin; and the
soul was instantly restored to its original purity, and entitled to
the promise of eternal salvation. Among the proselytes of Christianity,
there are many who judged it imprudent to precipitate a salutary rite,
which could not be repeated; to throw away an inestimable privilege,
which could never be recovered. By the delay of their baptism, they
could venture freely to indulge their passions in the enjoyments of this
world, while they still retained in their own hands the means of a sure
and easy absolution. The sublime theory of the gospel had made a much
fainter impression on the heart than on the understanding of Constantine
himself. He pursued the great object of his ambition through the dark
and bloody paths of war and policy; and, after the victory, he abandoned
himself, without moderation, to the abuse of his fortune. Instead of
asserting his just superiority above the imperfect heroism and profane
philosophy of Trajan and the Antonines, the mature age of Constantine
forfeited the reputation which he had acquired in his youth. As he
gradually advanced in the knowledge of truth, he proportionally declined
in the practice of virtue; and the same year of his reign in which he
convened the council of Nice, was polluted by the execution, or rather
murder, of his eldest son. This date is alone sufficient to refute the
ignorant and malicious suggestions of Zosimus, who affirms, that,
after the death of Crispus, the remorse of his father accepted from the
ministers of Christianity the expiation which he had vainly solicited
from the Pagan pontiffs. At the time of the death of Crispus, the
emperor could no longer hesitate in the choice of a religion; he could
no longer be ignorant that the church was possessed of an infallible
remedy, though he chose to defer the application of it till the approach
of death had removed the temptation and danger of a relapse. The bishops
whom he summoned, in his last illness, to the palace of Nicomedia, were
edified by the fervor with which he requested and received the sacrament
of baptism, by the solemn protestation that the remainder of his life
should be worthy of a disciple of Christ, and by his humble refusal to
wear the Imperial purple after he had been clothed in the white garment
of a Neophyte. The example and reputation of Constantine seemed to
countenance the delay of baptism. Futu