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THE PRINCIPAL FACTS OF THE NEW TESTAMENT CON BY PASSAGES OF ANCIENT AUTHORS WHO

FIRMED

WERE CONTEMPORARY WITH OUR SAVIOUR,
OR HIS APOSTLES, OR LIVED NEAR
THEIR TIME.

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THE

PRINCIPAL FACTS

OF THE

NEW TESTAMENT

CONFIRMED, &c.

CHAP. LXX.

CONSTANTINE THE GREAT, THE FIRST CHRISTIAN EMPEROR. I. The time and place of Constantine's birth, and the condition of his mother Helena. II. The state of the Roman empire in the latter part of the third, and the beginning of the fourth century, with a view of Constantine's reign. III. His conversion to the christian religion. IV. His acts as a christian, or favourer of christians: 1. Edicts in favour of the christians, soon after the defeat of Maxentius. 2. Particular privileges for catholic christians, and their ministers. 3. Edicts in favour of the christians, and restraining the heathens, after the final defeat of Licinius. 4. The council of Nice. 5. Churches built by Constantine and Helena in Palestine. 6. Of her finding the cross at Jerusalem. 7. Heathen people farther restrained, their temples shut up, and some of them demolished. 8. His treatment of heretics. 9. His religious exercises, and laws for observing the Lord's day, for abolishing the punishment of the cross, for prohibiting shows of gladiators, and the like. 10. Other laws and edicts. V. His character. VI. The censures passed upon several of his actions examined. VII. Remarks upon the different treatment of catholics, heretics, and heathen people. VIII. His testimony to the sacred scriptures.

I. CONSTANTINE, called the great, son of Flavius Valerius Constantius, surnamed Chlorus, and Helena, was born on a His name at length, in Latin, is Caius Flavius Valerius Aurelius Claudius Constantinus Magnus.

the 27th day of February, in the year of Christ 272, or, as some think, in 273, or as others, ind 274.

f

Baronius, and many others, have thought, that Constantine was born in Britain. Others, (which I suppose to be at present the more common opinion,) say, he was born at Naissus, now called Nissa, a town of Dardania in Illyricum.

The opinion, that Constantine was born in Britain, is chiefly founded upon a passage in the panegyric of an anonymous author to Maximian and Constantine, spoken in the year 307; where it is said, thath Constantine had ennobled Britain by his birth. But that expression may be as well understood of his royal, as of his natural birth. Eumenes likewise, in his panegyric to this prince, calls Britain happy, which first saw Constantine Cæsar. But the meaning, I apprehend, is not, that Britain first saw Constantine, but first saw him Caesar: he having been there proclaimed Cæsar by the soldiers, immediately after his father's death.

It is generally allowed, that Helena, the mother of Constantine, was a woman of a mean birth. And S. Ambrose1 calls her stabulariam, perhaps, as being the daughter of an innkeeper.

Whether Helena was the lawful wife of Constantius Chlorus, or only his concubine, is a disputable point: for even

b Natus est tertio Calendas Martii A. 272. Anno 306, octavo Cal. Augusti, patre Eboraci mortuo, in imperatorem levatus est. Cav. H. L. in Constant. M. Natus est Constantinus anno Ch. 272, ex Helenâ priori Constantii Chlori conjuge. Pagi Ann. 337. n. iv.

Constantinus-anno vel 272 vel 273, natus est. Basnag. 306. n. iii.

c

Imprimis certum est Constantinum natum esse anno circitur 273, Aureliano imperante. Noris. Diss. de M. Constantini patriâ et parentibus.

d Natus Naïsi Daciæ oppido A. C. 274, die 27 Februarii. Fabric. B. Gr. 1. v. c. 3. sect. 1.

Il naquit le 27 Février, vers l'an 274. Tillem. L'Emp. Constantin. Art. iv. in. e Ann. 306. n. xvi. f Pagi. Crit. in Baron. 306. n. ix. Basnag. 306. n. iii. Cuper Pr. ad Lact. de M. P. Tillem. Hist. des Emp. T. iv. P. i. Constantin. Art. iv. Noris. Diss. de M. Constantin. patr. et parent.

8 Hic igitur Constantinus natus Helenâ matre vilissimâ in oppido [forte vilissimo in oppido. Cuper.] Naïso, atque eductus, quod oppidum postea magnifice ornavit. Excerpta auctoris incerti a Valesio edita, ap. Amm. Marcell. p. 710. Lugd. Bat. 1693. Vid. et Jul. Firmic. Mathes. 1. i. c. ult. et Steph. de Urbibus. V. Nawroc.

h

-Liberavit ille [Constantius] Britannias servitute: tu etiam nobiles illic oriendo fecisti. Paneg. vi. sect. 4. p. 192. Paris. 1676.

i Vid. Basnag. 306. n. iii. Pagi 306. c. xiv. xv.

KO fortunata, et nunc omnibus beatior terris, Britannia, quæ Constantinum Cæsarem prima vidisti. Paneg. vii. sect. ix. p. 207.

! Stabulariam hanc primo fuisse asserunt, sic cognitam Constantio seniori, qui postea regnum adeptus est. Amb. de Obit. Theod. sect. 42. p. 1209. T. ii.

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