But the case was the same with the Church of Rome. Since the end of the second century the bishop of Rome (we do not say the Pope, for it was only centuries after that he had the boldness, or rather impudence, to call himself exclusively Pope,) commenced to claim a personal supremacy over the other bishops, and also a supremacy of his church over the other Christian churches. Vain were his efforts until the beginning of the fourth century, when Sylvestre, bishop of Rome, obtained for himself and for his church the favors and protection of the emperor Constantine I., who afterwards joined it, (we will state in the last chapter of this work the reasons why this tyrant took these steps.) In behalf of the Church of Rome, he convoked the council of Arles, and the general council of Nice, and defrayed the expenses of the bishops out of his own treasure. His protection to the Church of Rome the most of his successors on the imperial throne continued; and thus the power and supremacy of this church grew in ratio of the persecutions directed against the other Christian denominations, which were debarred from voting in the councils; whose church property was oftentimes confiscated; and which many of them were prohibited to publicly worship. In consequence, it is not true to say that, if the various Christian sects spoken of before had composed the majority of the body of Christians, the Church of Rome would not have obtained their condemnation. Therefore the various sects spoken of before composed the majority of the body of Christians during the third, the fourth and the fifth centuries. APPENDIX _To the proofs that the first Christians did not believe in endless hell._ From the second to the fourth centuries many Apocryphal Gospels had been written. Some of them have been transmitted down to us, at least their fragments; and others have not been preserved except their titles. Among those gospels are: 1st, the Gospel according to the Hebrews; 2d, according to the Nazareans; 3d, according to the Twelve Apostles; 4th, according to St. Peter. It is supposed that these four Gospels were that of Matthew, altered by the Hebrews. This circumstance has led the critics to believe, that the Hebrew or Syriac text of Matthew had been abandoned, lest it might be altered; and that the Greek version had been preserved.