t be favorable, or even
partial, to the sacerdotal order: but Constantine was satisfied, that
secret impunity would be less pernicious than public scandal: and
the Nicene council was edited by his public declaration, that if he
surprised a bishop in the act of adultery, he should cast his Imperial
mantle over the episcopal sinner. 2. The domestic jurisdiction of the
bishops was at once a privilege and a restraint of the ecclesiastical
order, whose civil causes were decently withdrawn from the cognizance of
a secular judge. Their venial offences were not exposed to the shame
of a public trial or punishment; and the gentle correction which the
tenderness of youth may endure from its parents or instructors, was
inflicted by the temperate severity of the bishops. But if the clergy
were guilty of any crime which could not be sufficiently expiated by
their degradation from an honorable and beneficial profession, the
Roman magistrate drew the sword of justice, without any regard to
ecclesiastical immunities. 3. The arbitration of the bishops was
ratified by a positive law; and the judges were instructed to execute,
without appeal or delay, the episcopal decrees, whose validity had
hitherto depended on the consent of the parties. The conversion of the
magistrates themselves, and of the whole empire, might gradually remove
the fears and scruples of the Christians. But they still resorted to the
tribunal of the bishops, whose abilities and integrity they esteemed;
and the venerable Austin enjoyed the satisfaction of complaining that
his spiritual functions were perpetually interrupted by the invidious
labor of deciding the claim or the possession of silver and gold, of
lands and cattle. 4. The ancient privilege of sanctuary was transferred
to the Christian temples, and extended, by the liberal piety of
the younger Theodosius, to the precincts of consecrated ground. The
fugitive, and even guilty, suppliants were permitted to implore either
the justice, or the mercy, of the Deity and his ministers. The rash
violence of despotism was suspended by the mild interposition of the
church; and the lives or fortunes of the most eminent subjects might be
protected by the mediation of the bishop.

V. The bishop was the perpetual censor of the morals of his people
The discipline of penance was digested into a system of canonical
jurisprudence, which accurately defined the duty of private or public
confession, the rules of evidence, the degree