the episcopal house and office. * The
victory of Aurelian changed the face of the East, and the two contending
parties, who applied to each other the epithets of schism and heresy,
were either commanded or permitted to plead their cause before the
tribunal of the conqueror. This public and very singular trial affords
a convincing proof that the existence, the property, the privileges, and
the internal policy of the Christians, were acknowledged, if not by the
laws, at least by the magistrates, of the empire. As a Pagan and as a
soldier, it could scarcely be expected that Aurelian should enter
into the discussion, whether the sentiments of Paul or those of his
adversaries were most agreeable to the true standard of the orthodox
faith. His determination, however, was founded on the general principles
of equity and reason. He considered the bishops of Italy as the most
impartial and respectable judges among the Christians, and as soon as
he was informed that they had unanimously approved the sentence of the
council, he acquiesced in their opinion, and immediately gave orders
that Paul should be compelled to relinquish the temporal possessions
belonging to an office, of which, in the judgment of his brethren, he
had been regularly deprived. But while we applaud the justice, we should
not overlook the policy, of Aurelian, who was desirous of restoring and
cementing the dependence of the provinces on the capital, by every means
which could bind the interest or prejudices of any part of his subjects.

Amidst the frequent revolutions of the empire, the Christians still
flourished in peace and prosperity; and notwithstanding a celebrated aera
of martyrs has been deduced from the accession of Diocletian, the
new system of policy, introduced and maintained by the wisdom of that
prince, continued, during more than eighteen years, to breathe the
mildest and most liberal spirit of religious toleration. The mind of
Diocletian himself was less adapted indeed to speculative inquiries,
than to the active labors of war and government. His prudence rendered
him averse to any great innovation, and though his temper was not very
susceptible of zeal or enthusiasm, he always maintained an habitual
regard for the ancient deities of the empire. But the leisure of the two
empresses, of his wife Prisca, and of Valeria, his daughter, permitted
them to listen with more attention and respect to the truths of
Christianity, which in every age has ackno