could not be forfeited by their own vices, nor recalled by the caprice
of their subjects. The same extraordinary providence, which was no
longer confined to the Jewish people, might elect Constantine and
his family as the protectors of the Christian world; and the devout
Lactantius announces, in a prophetic tone, the future glories of his
long and universal reign. [22] Galerius and Maximin, Maxentius and
Licinius, were the rivals who shared with the favorite of heaven the
provinces of the empire. The tragic deaths of Galerius and Maximin soon
gratified the resentment, and fulfilled the sanguine expectations,
of the Christians. The success of Constantine against Maxentius and
Licinius removed the two formidable competitors who still opposed the
triumph of the second David, and his cause might seem to claim the
peculiar interposition of Providence. The character of the Roman tyrant
disgraced the purple and human nature; and though the Christians might
enjoy his precarious favor, they were exposed, with the rest of his
subjects, to the effects of his wanton and capricious cruelty. The
conduct of Licinius soon betrayed the reluctance with which he had
consented to the wise and humane regulations of the edict of Milan. The
convocation of provincial synods was prohibited in his dominions; his
Christian officers were ignominiously dismissed; and if he avoided
the guilt, or rather danger, of a general persecution, his partial
oppressions were rendered still more odious by the violation of a solemn
and voluntary engagement. [23] While the East, according to the lively
expression of Eusebius, was involved in the shades of infernal darkness,
the auspicious rays of celestial light warmed and illuminated the
provinces of the West. The piety of Constantine was admitted as an
unexceptionable proof of the justice of his arms; and his use of victory
confirmed the opinion of the Christians, that their hero was inspired,
and conducted, by the Lord of Hosts. The conquest of Italy produced a
general edict of toleration; and as soon as the defeat of Licinius
had invested Constantine with the sole dominion of the Roman world, he
immediately, by circular letters, exhorted all his subjects to imitate,
without delay, the example of their sovereign, and to embrace the divine
truth of Christianity. [24]

[Footnote 22: Lactant Divin. Institut. i. l. Eusebius in the course of
his history, his life, and his oration, repeatedly inculcates the divine