Page 183 - Third Book of Reading Lessons

182 THIRD BOOK OF LESSON XI.
THE EMPEROR CONSTANTINE.
PREDILEC1TION, n., partiality; prepossession in vour of anything. F. predilection, om eligere, L., to elect, to choose,
NuR'TuRED, v., educated, brought up. L. nutritus, bred up, nursed, om nutria, I educate, I nourish.
D1v1N1ITY, n., divine origin (in this place): the Deity. F. divinite, om divinus, L., om Divus, God, and this om dios, G., godlike.
RESPLEN1DENT, a., refulgent, brightly shining. L. resplendens, om resplendere,-re, and splendere, to shine.
CAMPAIGN (kam-pane'), n., the period of encampment, or that of ac­ tive military eld-service. F. campagne, om ca us, L., an open eld.
EccLESIAS1TICAL, a., relating to the Church (here applied to persons in Holy Orders). F. ecclesiastique, om ekklesia, G., an assembly, and this om kaleo, I call. The Athenian ekklesiai were popular assemblies called to consult on a airs of the commonwealth: now. applied to the Church.
OEL1IBACY, n., the state of being unmarried. F. celibat, om c lebs, L., single, standing alone.
SuN1DAY, n., the Christian Sabbath day: the day of the week conse­ crated, in pagan times, to the sun. A.S. sunnand ,-the day of the sun.
METROP10LIS, n., the mother city; the chief city of a country, prov­ ince, or district. L. and G. metropolis,-(G.) mater, a mother, and polis, a city.
HEA1THEN, a., pagan, idolatrous, or gentile. Go. haithnai; A.S. hwthne; L. ethnicus, om ethnos, G., a nation; applied especially to the ethnea, or nations not Jews.
1. CONSTANTINE, although nurtured in the bosom of paganism, had inherited the kindly disposition, we may perhaps call it the predilection of his ther, Constantius, in vour of Christianity. These senti­ ments were soon converted into a decided inclination, and nally, into a rm .belief in the divinity of the same religion. The change was e ected, according to his own declaration, which we nd in Eusebius, by the miraculous appearance in the heavens of a resplendent cross, which was accompanied by a promise of victory. This occurred in the year 311, during his campaign against Maxentius.