Your Jupiter, a loose adulterer, Incestuous with his sister. Read but those That have canonized them. You will find them worse Than in chaste language I can speak them to you.' " Whatever had been touched by paganism, seemed, and can we say unjustly ? to be reeking with impurity." On this subject we incline towards the opinions of the reviewer, notwithstanding the evidence adduced by Bingham; at the same time we do not mean to deny the occasional application of pagan temples to Christian uses under peculiar circumstances, as in the case of Austin and the Saxons at a later date, yet we do think the instances of such application were comparatively few, and formed the exception rather than the rule. For not only were the feelings of the early Christians enlisted against every thing connected with the worship of the heathen deities,—or devils, as St. Paul calls them,—but the form also of pagan temples was totally un• suitable for churches. Temples were little more than cells for the reception of the idol and priests, the people stood outside. The services of the Christian church required a very different arrangement; here you required accommodation for worshippers within the walls, as the very name etrubloca, assembly, implies ; there is here a communion or organized congregation. Christians came together not merely to behold as it were a spectacle, but to pray together, and to hear the Gospel read to them. "The Christian temple," says Pro. fessor Willis, "was a heathen temple turned inside out;" in the heathen temples the colonnade was outside, in the Christian church it was necessary to transpose it to the to obtain greater internal space, as we see was the case it their later structures. Taking all this into consideration we think there is some reason to decide that the examples of the adaptation of temples to the purpose of Christian worship formed but exceptions. The very term temple was never used by the earlier writers, when speaking of the church, the terms were distinctive of the religion to which they belonged, the former when used, implying always heather temples. The term employed in eontra-distinction to thi: is sssbiata, which, from being the name of the assembly, soot came to be applied to the place in which they met ; this word is very common. Another appellation is uvpcauov, Dominicum, or Domus Dei, which is met with in Eusebins and two or three councils; Domus Columba; used by Ter tullian, is a similar term. Other terms found in Eusebius, Socrates, Sozomen, and others, are irpocremmipta and oluoc mrrnptoc; but one very frequent in the writers of the fourth and fifth centuries, though scarcely seen before, is Basilicas. The word temple was seldom or never used in this sense during the first three centuries.
The earliest descriptions of early churches, now extant, are to be found in the writings of Eusebius, who gives some what lengthened accounts of the Holy Sepulchre at Jerusalem, and of the church of Paulinus at Tyre, which we proceed to notice. The descriptions are not very lucid ; they show us how richly churches were adorned, and throw some little light upon their structure and arrangement, although the account is in many places confused ; still it gives us some idea of the buildings, and, by comparison of this with other accounts, and with the remains of what are supposed to be earlier churches, we are enabled to decide pretty nearly their original form and distribution. He commences with a des cription of the Holy Sepulchre.
The Empress Helena, after a long search, succeeds in discovering the place of the Holy Sepulchre; which had been covered over by the pagans, and polluted by their rites, the place having been dedicated by them to Venus, a statue of which goddess was erected over the Sepulchre. Constan tine having destroyed all the remains of heathenism, and having had the place purified from such abominations, proceeds to consider the erection of a suitable church upon the spot, and sends directions to Macarius, bishop of Jerusa lem, upon the subject, a portion of which, as given by Eusebius, we transfer to these pages.
"Moreover, I would persuade you to that which is clear and evident, namely, that we ought to take especial care that this place, which we have purified and cleansed from super stitious idols, and which God and good men, from primitive times accounted sacred and holy, and which was afterwards so esteemed for the attestation and confirmation it gave to our belief in Christ's passion, should be honoured by erecting a church thereat. It is meet therefore that your wisdom should so dispose of this work, and prudently provide all things necessary thereto, that the beauty of the temple may excel all other churches, and the several parts of it may exceed the chief churches in other cities. Know therefore that we commit the care of erecting, building, and curiously adorning the walls thereof; to our friend Dracilianus and the president of your province. For out of our gracious bounty we have commanded them that they should have recourse to your wisdom to know what artificers and workmen shall be necessary to the building thereof, and accordingly shall straightway provide them, and send them thither. And when you have cast and contrived what marble pillars, or other marble works, will be necessary, either to adorn it, or make it more durable, look that you certify us by your letters, that when we understand what shall be necessary, we may provide accordingly. For this, which is the most special place of's]] the world, ought to be adorned with all kinds of work of cost and curiosity.
" I would have you certify me whether the roof of the sanctuary should be arched, or built in some other form ; but if it be built archwise, it may be conveniently gilded. It remains therefore that your holiness should speedily signify unto those whom we have appointed to be overseers of the work, both what artificers and labourers will be necessary and what charge it will require ; and also to certify us not only concerning the pillars and other marble work, but also concerning the wood-work of the roof, if you think fit that it should be built in that form." Then follows a glowing description of the building when completed, from which we extract the following :— " First of all, then, he adorned the sacred cave itself; as the chief part of the whole work, and the hallowed monu ment of which the angel radiant with light had once declared to all that regeneration which was first manifested in the Saviour's person. This monument, therefore, first of all, as the chief part of the whole, the emperor's zealous magnifi cence beautified with rare columns, and properly enriched with the most splendid decorations of every kind. The next object of his attention was a space of ground of great extent, and open to the pure air of heaven. This he adorned with a pavement of tinely-polished stone, and enclosed it on three sides with porticos of great length. For at the side opposite the sepulchre, which was the eastern side, the church itself was erected, a noble work rising to a vast height, and of great extent both in length and breadth. The interior of this structure was floored with marble slabs of various colours, whilst the external surface of the walls, which shone with polished stones exactly fitted together, exhibited a degree of splendour in no respect inferior to that of marble. With regard to the roof; it was covered on the outside with lead, as a protection against the rains of winter. But the inner part of the roof, which was finished with sculptured fretwork, extended in a series of connected compartments, like a vast sea, over the whole church ; and being overlaid throughout with the purest gold, caused the entire building to glitter as it were with rays of light.