* Origen, Contra Celsum, Bk. I, Ch. II.-328-right, those derived from Hebrew sources were the most effective. The argument is the more
curious as he points out that Moses forbade sorcery. *
Christians, we are told, should not take part in the government of the State, but only of the
"divine nation," i.e., the Church. †This doctrine, of course, was somewhat modified after the
time of Constantine, but something of it survived. It is implicit in Saint Augustine's City of
God. It led churchmen, at the time of the fall of the Western Empire, to look on passively at
secular disasters, while they exercised their very great talents in Church discipline, theological
controversy, and the spread of monasticism. Some trace of it still exists: most people regard
politics as "worldly" and unworthy of any really holy man.
Church government developed slowly during the first three centuries, and rapidly after the
conversion of Constantine. Bishops were popularly elected; gradually they acquired
considerable power over Christians in their own dioceses, but before Constantine there was
hardly any form of central government over the whole Church. The power of bishops in great
cities was enhanced by the practice of almsgiving: the offerings of the faithful were
administered by the bishop, who could give or withhold charity to the poor. There came thus to
be a mob of the destitute, ready to do the bishop's will. When the State became Christian, the
bishops were given judicial and administrative functions. There came also to be a central
government, at least in matters of doctrine. Constantine was annoyed by the quarrel between
Catholics and Arians; having thrown in his lot with the Christians, he wanted them to be a
united party. For the purpose of healing dissensions, he caused the convening of the
oecumenical Council of Nicæa, which drew up the Nicene Creed, ‡ and, so far as the Arian
controversy was concerned, determined for an time the standard of orthodoxy. Other later
controversies were similarly decided by oecumenical councils, until the division between East
and West and the Eastern refusal to admit the authority of the Pope made them impossible.
The Pope, though officially the most important individual in the
* Origen, op. cit., Bk. I, Ch. XXVI.â
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Ibid., Bk. VIII, Ch. LXXV.â
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¡Not exactly in its present form, which was decided upon in 362.-329-
Church, had no authority over the Church as a whole until a much later period. The gradual growth
of the papal power is a very interesting subject, which I shall deal with in later chapters.The
growth of Christianity before Constantine, as well as the motives of his conversion, have been
variously explained by various authors. Gibbon * assigns five causes: