" (Jer. ad Lect. ep. 5, 7.) Jerome here indulges a triumph,
natural and allowable in a zealous friend of the cause, but which could
only be suggested to his mind by the consent and universality with which
he saw; the religion received. "But now," says he, "the passion and
resurrection of Christ are celebrated in the discourses and writings of
all nations. I need not mention Jews, Greeks, and Latins. The Indians,
Persians, Goths, and Egyptians philosophise, and firmly believe the
immortality of the soul, and future recompenses, which, before, the
greatest philosophers had denied, or doubted of, or perplexed with their
disputes. The fierceness of Thracians and Scythians is now softened by
the gentle sound of the Gospel; and everywhere Christ is all in all."
(Jer. ad Lect. ep. 8, ad Heliod.) Were, therefore, the motives of
Constantine's conversion ever so problematical, the easy establishment
of Christianity, and the ruin of Heathenism, under him and his immediate
successors, is of itself a proof of the progress which had made in the
preceding period. It may be added also, "that Maxentius, the rival of
Constantine, had shown himself friendly to the Christians.
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