the empire; it counted among its adherents all the disciples of
the old philosophical schools. It looked down on its antagonist
with contempt. It asserted that knowledge is to be obtained only
by the laborious exercise of human observation and human reason.

The Christian party asserted that all knowledge is to be found in
the Scriptures and in the traditions of the Church; that, in the
written revelation, God had not only given a criterion of truth,
but had furnished us all that he intended us to know. The
Scriptures, therefore, contain the sum, the end of all knowledge.
The clergy, with the emperor at their back, would endure no
intellectual competition.

Thus came into prominence what were termed sacred and profane
knowledge; thus came into presence of each other two opposing
parties, one relying on human reason as its guide, the other on
revelation. Paganism leaned for support on the learning of its
philosophers, Christianity on the inspiration of its Fathers

The Church thus set herself forth as the depository and arbiter
of knowledge; she was ever ready to resort to the civil power to
compel obedience to her decisions. She thus took a course which
determined her whole future career: she became a stumbling-block
in the intellectual advancement of Europe for more than a
thousand years.

The reign of Constantine marks the epoch of the transformation of
Christianity from a religion into a political system; and though,
in one sense, that system was degraded into an idolatry, in
another it had risen into a development of the old Greek