ere built much more handsomely than before, and were furnished
with gold and silver plate and other rich ornaments.[16] And after the
conversion of Constantine, they became still finer and costlier. The
clergy then wore rich dresses at service, the music was less simple, and
the ceremonies were multiplied. Some of the old heathen temples were
turned into churches; but temples were not built in a shape very
suitable for Christian worship, and the pattern of the new churches was
rather taken from the halls of justice, called _Basilicas_, which were
to be found in every large town. These buildings were of an oblong
shape, with a broad middle part, and on each side of it an aisle,
separated from it by a row of pillars. This lower part of the basilica
was used by merchants who met to talk about their business, and by all
sorts of loungers who met to tell and hear the news. But at the upper
end of the oblong there was a half circle, with its floor raised above
the level of the rest; and in the middle of this part the judge of the
city sat. Now if you will compare this description with the plan of a
church, you will see that the broad middle part of the basilica answers
to what is called the _body_ or _nave_ of the church; that the side
_aisles_ are alike in each; and that the further part of the basilica,
with its raised floor, answers to the _chancel_ of a church; while the
_holy table_, or _altar_, stands in the place answering to the judge's
seat in the basilica. Some of these halls were given up by the emperors
to be turned into churches, and the plan of them was found convenient as
a pattern in the building of new churches.

[16] Page 32.

On entering a church, the first part was the _Porch_, in which there
were places for the catechumens (that is to say, those who were
preparing for baptism); for those who were supposed to be possessed with
devils, and who were under the care of the _exorcists_;[17] and for the
lowest kinds of those who were undergoing penance. Beyond this porch
were the _Beautiful Gates_, which opened into the _Nave_ of the church.
Just within these gates were those penitents whose time of penance was
nearly ended; and the rest of the nave was the place for the
_faithful_--that is to say, for those who were admitted to all the
privileges of Christians. At the upper end of the nave, a place called
the _Choir_ was railed in for the singers; and then, last of all, came
the raised part or chancel, which h