IN CHURCH HISTORY. 6l 



been maimed and tortured during the previous 

 persecutions, others who had lost their all except 

 life itself, came out of their hiding-places to find 

 the religion for which they suffered, now the religion 

 of the empire. 



But, how sad it is to confess it, this marvellous 

 change, this wonderful increase of temporal prosper- 

 ity, was not entirely a blessing. It became some- 

 times a hindrance and not a help, for the trials of 

 prosperity are as hard to bear as the trials of adver- 

 sity, and then too there almost immediately sprang 

 into prominence those corruptions of the true faith 

 by the heretics, by which the Church was torn and 

 agitated for many ages afterward. As we read on 

 we are to learn how numerous and how dreadful 

 these heresies were, and we are to see how, with the 

 growth of worldly wealth and power, the purity, 

 simplicity and earnestness of the early times gave 

 way to arrogance and superstition. 



