CONCILIUM NICAENUM  
London Printed for Ric: Chiswell. 1683.    

ECCLESIASTICI: OR, THE HISTORY OF THE 

Lives,  
Acts,  
Death,&  
Writings,   Of the most Eminent Fathers of the Church, That flourished in the FOURTH CENTURY.  
WHEREIN Among other things an Account is given of the Rise, Growth, and Progress of ARIANISM, and all other SECTS of that AGE descending from it.  
Together with An INTRODUCTION, CONTAINING An Historical Account of the State of PAGANISM Under the First Christian Emperours.  
By WILLIAM CAVE, D. D. Chaplain in Ordinary to His MAJESTY.  Greg. Nazianz. Orat. XXI. p. 376. {αβγδ}. 
LONDON, Printed by J. R. for Richard Chiswel at the Rose and Crown in S. Paul's Church-Yard. MDCLXXXIII.   

TO THE Most Reverend FATHER in GOD WILLIAM, By Divine Providence, Lord ARCH-BISHOP of Canterbury, Primate of all England, and Metropolitan, And one of the Lords of His MAJESTIES Most Honourable PRIVY-COUNCIL.  
May it please your GRACE,  
TO Pardon the Presumption of sending abroad the following Papers under the Patronage of your Name. Not that by the advantage of your Graces Authority I design to cover any Mistakes or Failures that are in them; or that I think any Authority, how great soever, can protect even the most useful and innocent Undertaking from the Censures of the Envious and the Malicious: But that I should esteem it a singular Honour and Privilege to have them owned by a Person, who by his excellent Learning is as able, as by his Place he is obliged to defend those Great Catholic and Apostolic Truths, whose hard lot and portion is Historically represented in the following Book. The Doctrines, I mean, of the holy and undivided Trinity, and the Divinity of our blessed Saviour, together with the appendent Articles, so vigorously persecuted in the Age we writ of, and now again opposed in the Age we live in.  
Nor is this the only instance, wherein the Church needs your Graces Learning, and wise Conduct; no less now, than it did that of Athanasius, Basil, or Ambrose of old. Our Times, like theirs, are troublesome and unquiet, full of disorder and distraction on every side. The common Laws of Charity are broken down; and Religion, in itself the strongest Principle of Peace and Unity, is made the Instrument of Feud and Faction, and of a bitter and intemperate Zeal. The Church of England, incomperably the best Part of the Catholic Church at this day visible upon Earth, is miserable torn in pieces, hated and maligned; secretly undermined by Enemies from abroad, and openly assaulted by pretended Friends at home. Altar is erected against Altar, and private Congregations kept up in opposition to the public Constitutions. Her Liturgy and Forms of Divine Administration derided, odiously traduced, and run down with nothing but Noise and Clamour. Her Rites and Institutions, though the same that were used in the Primitive Ages of Christianity, decried as Antichristian. Her Discipline and Authority weakened, and by the obstinacy and perverseness of Men made ineffectual. The small remains of Her Endowments( the Monuments of the Bounty and Piety of elder Times) envied, and greedily gaped at by those who again expect and watch for a lucky Revolution of Affairs. Her Governors and regular Clergy reproached, belibell'd, and affronted upon all Occasions, though generally for no better reason than doing of their Duty, and daring to be honest in an evil time. And in pursuance of these ill designs, Calumnies are framed without any regard to truth and justice; and no arts, how bad or unwarrantable soever, scrupled, that may serve to wound either Her Interest, or Reputation. And as Schism in the Church seldom fails to draw on Faction in the State, we find the same evil Spirit fermenting, and mixing itself with Civil Affairs, and that Character which the Apostle fixed upon the schismatics of old, too notoriously revived amongst us, to des●ise dominion, and speak evil of dignities. Presumptuous are they, and self-willed, and seem disposed quiter contrary to the mildred and gentle Spirit of the Gospel, to beat their Plough-shares into Swords, and their Pruning-hookes into Spears.  
This is our case; and as sad was theirs in the Age we are speaking of. The Faith once delivered to the Saints, as the noblest Depositum that could be committed to the Church, and which was secured and settled with all the Care, which the Piety of the Great Constantine could bestow upon it, was yet not only shaken, but attempted to be plucked up by the roots, and though Truth can be but one, was broken into a thousand Blasphemies, and lewd Opinions. The Ark of God was tossed and driven from place to place, and the honour and interest of the Catholic Church run down with all the force, which an insolent and powerful Faction could raise against it. But I had rather your Grace should take the account of their deplorable state from Nazianzen's Pen than Mine. 
Orat. XXIII. p. 417.  Arianism( says he) though it began like a little Spark at Alexandria, yet like Wild-fire it quickly overran the World; and however for the present stopped and quenched by the decisions of the Nicene Council, yet it broken out again in the next Reign, like a Wound slightly cured, that opens and runs afresh; when grievous Wolves from several quarters invaded us, and made havoc of the Church. Priests were up in Arms against Priests, and one part of the People furiously engaged against another, and under the countenance of the Imperial Authority Laws were made against the Catholic Doctrine, and that too by the procurement of those who were neither Men nor Women, a Generation that governed all in that Court. Who can sufficiently represent the Tragical face of things at that time? the Banishments, Confiscations, Disgraces, the Assemblies kept in the Deserts, the vast Multitudes of Persons, yea whole Cities forced to sojourned in the Fields, and open Air, and there to contend with Hunger and could, with Wind and Weather, and yet not secure there, the very Wilderness not affording them Safety and Protection; and what is yet more lamentable, the Torments, Deaths, and Triumphs of Bishops, contemplative Ascetics, of Men and Women, and those both young and old. Who can set forth the great Ministers that contrived these horrible Actings and Sufferings, and those who studied in this kind to out-do one another, and who had this addition to the honour of their enterprise, that they far outwent in Cruelty the design of the Prince that employed them. And then lightly passing over the Reign of Julian( whereof he had sufficiently spoken elsewhere) he proceeds to describe the Miseries which the Catholics endured in the time of Valens, which I shall not here represent. In short, so Calamitous was the state of those Times, that Religion must have sunk under its Pressures, or been stisted in a crowd of heresy and profaneness, had not God raised up an extraordinary race of Men, who set themselves to oppose that Impiety and preciousness that was become Epidemical, who by their diligent Preaching rescued the Minds of Men from error, and by the Learnedness of their Writings, and their great Acumen and dexterity in Disputing contended earnestly for the Faith, baffled and convinced Gainsayers; who by the exemplariness of their Lives balanced the iniquity of the Age, and by their Prayers to Heaven arrested that Vengeance that was ready to overtake the World. 'twas the Patience and Constancy of Athanasius, the Vigour and Activity of S. Hilary, the Prudence and Temper of S. Basil, the Learning and Eloquence of the Gregories, the Courage and Impartiality of S. Ambrose, the Zeal and Vehemency of S. Chrysostom, that supported the Catholic Cause, while they lived, and ever since rendered their Names Venerable to Posterity.  
Of all these Matters I have endeavoured to give some competent Account in the following Lives; but with what Success and Satisfaction, I know not. May the Work prove so happy, as in any measure to gain your Graces Approbation,( so great a Master in Church-Antiquity) and I shall be less solicitous about others; being well assured, I may much trulier say in this case what Sozomen  told the younger Theodosius,( to whom he dedicated his Ecclesiastic History) Whatever shall seem right and acceptable to you, 
Praefat. ad Hist. Eccles. p. 397.  will certainly appear good and useful to all other Readers; nor will any venture to find fault with what has once past your Graces judgement and examination. But whatever becomes of the Book itself, if it shall serve to no other purpose, 'twill at least to this, to convey to the World a grateful sense of those Favours, wherewith your Grace is pleased to oblige  
My Lord, Your Graces most Obedient and Dutiful Servant, WILLIAM CAVE.   

THE PREFACE TO THE READER.  
TWO Things there are, whereof 'tis like the Reader will expect some Account in reference to the following Papers; First, Concerning the Work itself; and next, The Materials out of which it is framed and built.  
The Work contains the Noblest Portion of Church History, this being in many respects the most considerable Age of the Church. For besides what concerns particular Persons, whose Lives and Actions are here related, he will here find an Account of the Fall and Suppression of Paganism, the Ancient and Universally received Religion of the World; of the Conversion of Princes to the Faith, the Adopting Christianity to be the Religion of the Empire, the Acts and Proceedings of the Two First General Councils, the Advancement of the Church to its greatest height of Splendour, and those lamentable Ruptures, that soon after were made in it by Schism and Faction, by Covetousness and Ambition, and the cunning Craftiness of those that lay in wait to Deceive.  
It had pleased the Divine Wisdom and Providence, now at length to rescue Christianity from the Cruelties of those Heathen Persecutions, which for some Ages had quartered so heavily upon it, and to raise up a Prince to be a Nursing Father to the Church, whose Piety made him as willing, as his Power made him able, to protect and defend it. He guarded it with Wise and Prudent Laws, enriched it with an immense Bounty and Munificence, honoured and revered its Bishops, encouraged and nobly provided for its Clergy; demolished Churches were repaired, and new ones were erected with all the Pomp and Magnificence, which Cost or Art could bestow upon them; the Solemn Assemblies were mightily frequented, and increased by the daily accession of New Converts; the Holy Offices were performed with all due Reverence and Devotion, and days of Jubilee were kept in every place, in thankfulness to Heaven for so happy a Change and Revolution of Affairs, so blessed a Scene of Prosperity and Safety. It added to the joys of the common triumph, to see Pagan Idolatry and Superstition going so fast down the Wind, and every where driven into Holes and Corners. All this the Devil, the great Adversary of Mankind, beholded with an Envious and an Evil eye; and because no longer able to assault the Church by Force and Violence, he resolved to attack it by more Secret and Destructive Councils. Hereupon the Envious Man betook himself to his old trade of Sowing Tares, stirring up fit Agents and Emissaries to poison Mens minds with error, intending thereby to break the Church into Parties and Factions, and to introduce irreconcilable Feuds and Quarrels; which produced Fatal and Mischievous effects, beyond the rage of all the Heathen Persecutions. Nor did these Agents make their onset upon the Out-works of the Faith, but set themselves to undermine the main and Foundation Articles of Christianity; and whereas hitherto the Gentiles had exalted Creatures into the place of God, these Factors endeavoured to dethrone God into the rank of Creatures.  
The first that entered on the public Stage, to set on foot this Design, was Arius, a Presbyter of Alexandria, who being a Man of nimble Parts, and a daring Spirit, openly called in Question the Catholic Doctrine concerning the Divinity, Eternity, and Coessentiality, of the Son of God, and in opposition thereunto advanced quiter quiter contrary Propositions of his own; which notwithstanding his shuffling Compliances at every turn to serve his Cause, he stiffly maintained while he lived, and his Disciples and Followers improved and carried on after his decease. The growth and progress of whose pernicious heresy, we have with some Care and Diligence traced from its very first Originals, remarked the several steps and advances which it made, and the evil arts which that subtle and potent Faction made use of to promote and further it. The Account whereof we have chiefly lodged in the Life of Athanasius( the proper Seat of the Arian Story) where if any passages seem but hinted at, or briefly related, they will be found more at large in some of the other Lives, where they more properly fall in. And because from this root of bitterness many poisonous Branches sprung up; we have taken Notice, as they came in our way, of the several subordinate Sects and Heresies, that infested the Church within this Period.  
But though all along we have kept an eye to the general Story, yet we have still remembered what we had more particularly in design, the Lives of the Learned and Excellent Persons of this Age, whose Story we have drawn together, as far as the Records of those Times would enable us, with useful Reflections upon those Divine Graces and virtues, which rendered them so Exemplary and Conspicuous in their several Stations: Nor have we forgotten, what conduces not a little to clear the Learned part of their Story, to observe the particular Times and Occasions, upon which many of those Books which they have left behind them, were written. If we have not made so particular a Crisis and Censure of every single Tract, as some Men perhaps may expect, it was because the thing has been done so often, and to far better purposes by others, than I can pretend to do it. And I had no mind to writ Church-Histories out of Binius, or to present the World with a View of Antiquity, by transcribing what Scultetus, Cook, Rivet, &c. what Possevine, Bellarmin, Labbee, &c. have said upon those Arguments. However I hope enough is here said to clear the most material Cases, and that their Works are set in such a Light, as will let the World see, how unjust and unscholar-like that Censure is, 
Bs. abridge. of Ch. Hist. ch. 5. sect. 17. p. 92. Treat. of Episc. p. 1. ch. 14. p. 169.  which a Hater of false History has past upon the Primitive Fathers, and ushered in with a, 'tis past all doubt, that the Number of Learned Bishops among them was very rare; and that there are many Poor men among us, divers Weavers and Plough-men of his own Church at Kidder-minster, who are able not only to Pray and Teach, as well as most of those, who are by Eusebius extolled as the Famous Bishops of the Second and Third Age, but to writ as methodical, pious, weighty Tractates, as any that were Written by men that neither conversed with the Apostles, nor had been bread up in Philosophy; no not excepting Clemens Romanus himself, Ignatius, Irenaeus, Cyprian, Macarius, Ephrem Syrus, Synesius, Isidor Pelusiota, and many more; and that he could name many Lay-men not only Learned, but such as have neither had many Languages nor Philosophy, who have Written more Accurately, and Judiciously, and as Piously, as any of these.  
If it shall seem strange to any, that so Learned and busy an Age of the Church should afford Materials but for Nine Lives( for no more were at first drawn up) that wonder will cease when it is considered, that the Story of these Persons is very Large and Comprehensive, and gathers in the Account of most others of Note, which of themselves were not enough to fill up distinct single Lives. However these Papers lying a long time by me, gave me an opportunity to look back upon the Story of this Age, and to gather up the scater'd and imperfect Memoirs, that were left behind; which accordingly I picked up, and put together, and have thrown into an Appendix at the end of the Book. I might indeed have taken the advantage of the Lives of S. Augustine, Jerom, and some others; but their Story runs too far out into the following Saeculum, to be properly brought within the compass of this. Besides that, I was sensible that the Volume was already swelled into too great a bulk, and indeed much greater than I either desired, or intended. And because I had elsewhere observed the Methods, by which Christianity had prevailed in the World, during the times of the Heathen Emperours, I now thought good to premise an Historical Survey of the state of Paganism under the Reign of the First Christian Emperours; though not with that Latitude which the Subject may seem capable of; remembering I wrote not an History but an Introduction. I know not whether the Reader may expect to find more particular Accounts of some things relating to the Reign of Julian( of late so hotly contested among us.) But besides my natural averseness to controversy, this Introduction was not only Written, but Printed some Months before ever the Dispute was started concerning Julian, which has made so much noise amongst us. If the Reader shall meet with any Passages in the body of the Book, which may more properly seem to challenge a place in the Introduction, he may please to take notice, that this last was a Piece of a later date, done after the other was completed. A good part of the Accounts relating to this affair, I have borrowed from the Imperial Laws of those times; for adjusting the dates, and ascertaining the true meaning of many of which, I own myself obliged to the Learned Monsieur Gothofred, in his elaborate Commentaries on the Theodosian Code. The same Author has a small Tract under this Title, De Statu Paganorum, &c. but which upon view, as these Papers were going to the Press, I found to be nothing but short Notes, which he afterwards published more at large in his Comment on the Tenth Title of the last Book of the forementioned Code, viz. the Title de Paganis, Sacrificiis,& Templis. And pity it is that that Title is so defective, the Laws of Five several Emperours, relating to these matters, viz. Julian, Jovian, Valentinian, Valens, and Gratian, for the space of no less than Five and twenty Years( the full fourth part of the Saeculum) being utterly lost.  
Such is the Work we have here built up. Come we next to the Authors, that furnished out Materials for it. And herein I have constantly observed this Method. In the first place I always had recourse to the Works of that Person, whose Life I desi●n'd to writ, as which were likeliest to afford the most certain and satisfactory Account of things. And herein none served me to better purpose, than the Writings of Athanasius, who is most punctual and accurate in setting down all the important Affairs and Passages of his own Life, and indeed in recording the general Story of those Times. And it could not but seem strange to me, as I suppose it will do to others, that the the Church Historians, Socrates, &c. who trade so much in his Writings, have yet so woefully perplexed and entangled his Affairs, even in those things which in Athanasius himself are very plain and easy. And here by the way, I cannot but bewail the unhappy Fate of this Great mans Writings,( and indeed of most of the Greek Fathers) that they are generally so ill translated, as must very often unavoidably misled those that are forced to depend upon them. Of the truth whereof, were there no other, Baronius is a notorious instance. Next, I betook myself to those who lived at the same time with them, or at no great distance from them, and from them picked up such Historical Remarks as might be most useful to my purpose; especially such who had written the Lives of any of the ancients, that lived not long before them. Last of all, I applied myself to the Ecclesiastical Historians; the chief whereof( setting aside Eusebius, of whom elsewhere, and a small part of whose History relates to this period) are Four, all Writing much about the same time, viz. Socrates, Sozomen, Theodorit, and Philostorgius.  
Socrates was born at Constantinople, probably about the beginning of the Reign of Theodosius, educated under two Famous Masters, Helladius and Ammonius, who having fled from Alexandria, had opened a Grammar-School in the Imperial City. Being grown up, he turned Advocate,( thence termed Scholasticus) and pleaded Causes. In his declining Age, he set himself to writ the History of the Church, which he dispatched in Seven Books, beginning where Eusebius left, and ending Anno CCCCXXXIX. A Work designedly written in a plain style, but with singular Industry and Fidelity, and which he reviewed and corrected more than once. Nor did he trade in flying Reports, the Accounts he gives being either of such things as himself had seen, or had received from credible Eye-witnesses; or transcribed from Records of unquestionable Authority. As to his Religion he was a Catholic, for though some Passages in his History look favourably upon the Novatians, yet they are not sufficient to evince him to have been of that side.  
Sozomen was descended of Ancestors that were of palestine extraction, he studied the Law at Berytus, the University of the Roman Laws. And thence betook himself to the practic part of them, viz. to pled Causes at Constantinople. During this employment he set upon Writing an Ecclesiastical History, which he began from the Birth of Christ, and brought down to the deposing of Licinius. But this 'tis like was nothing but a Compendium of Eusebius's History, and is long since lost. Hence he carried it on through the Reigns of the several Emperours, till the times of the younger Theodosius, to whom he Dedicated it. His Style is even, and very agreeable to his Subject, wherein he goes as far beyond Socrates, as he falls short of him in judgement and accuracy. They both lived at the same time, and it admits of some debate which of them Wrote first; but there are some circumstances that adjudge the precedency to Socrates, and this not the least, that Sozomen frequently adds to, and enlarges the others Relations and Accounts of things.  
The next that succceds is Theodorit, born at or near Antioch in Syria, devoted by his Parents to a very strict and devout Life; and accordingly brought up under great Severity of Discipline, especially under the Care and Tutorage of Theodorus Bishop of Mopsuestia. preferred afterwards to the bishopric of Cyrus, a City built by the Jews in honour of Cyrus, the great Persian Prince. A Man of excellent Learning, and admirable Parts, among the many Monuments whereof, which he has transmitted to Posterity, his Ecclesiastical History is not least considerable; consisting of Five Books( though there are that say he writ as many more) which he published not till some time after those that had writ before him, whose Defects and Omissions he designed to supply, especially as to the Church Affairs of the Eastern parts, where himself lived. His Style and way of Writing is highly commended by the incomparable Photius, as more polished, clear, and equal, and every ways adapted to an Historical strain.  
Contemporary with the rest was Philostorgius, a Cappadocian, the Son of Carterius, and Eulampia, born about the Year CCCLXVIII. At twenty Years of Age he came to Constantinople, to accomplish his Studies, and attained to a great Proficiency in all the polite, as well as useful parts, both of Secular and Sacred Learning. As to his Religion he was an Arian, and that of the worst stamp, an Eunomian, as also his Parents were before him. He wrote an History of the Church from the rise of Arius, till about the Year CCCCXXV. which he digested into XII. Books, with this peculiar contrivance, that the first Letter of every Book, being taken in order, and put together, ingeniously expresses the Author's Name. Though his Style be generally very neat and good, yet his Accounts are intolerably partial; his design throughout the whole being to expose the Catholics, and to vindicate the Arians, especially Aetius and Eunomius, making all his Relations look in favour of them. So that as Photius well observes, his Book seems rather a Paneg●rick upon heresy, than an Ecclesiastical History. For which reason he cannot safely be trusted in those things, wherein the interests of Arianism, but especially Eunomianism, are particularly concerned. His History has either miscarried, or has not yet seen the light; only the large excerpta, which Photius long since made out of it, are still preserved, and were first published with an useful Comment by that Learned French Lawyer Jacobus Go●hofredus, whom we mentioned before. In short, the Authorities of the ancients, which we rely upon, are generally authentic, and unquestionable, and need no suffrages to support their Credit.  
As for Writers of a modern and later date, we have made little use of them, especially such as have particularly dealt in this way of writing Lives. I know the Lives of several of these Fathers have of late times been written in French. But besides that, my unacquaintedness with that Language had kept me from knowing what they had done in that kind, their lax and diffuse way of writing Lives made me less curious and solicitous in inquiring after it. Whether herein I have done Well or Ill, I know not; sure I am, I have gratified my own Inclinations. For it being my design to derive the notices of things immediately from the Fountain head, I thought it to little purpose to go so great away about, for what I must come to at last. I have but one thing more, and that is to request the Learned Reader, that if he chance to meet with any material Mistakes, besides those that lye at the Printers door, he would please to drop a soft and favourable Censure, considering that the Work is large, and the searches that were to be made Diffuse and Various, and which necessary drew such an hurry of thoughts along with them, as perhaps might not always leave Consideration at home, minutely to weigh every thing in an exact balance. Not that I am conscious to myself of having been wanting in any Point, either of Fidelity or Care, but that after all, I dare not confidently secure myself from Error. If the Reader shall be at any time at a loss in Circumstances that relate to time, I desire him to consult the Chronological Table, which I have added at the end of the Book.   

ERRATA. Though all due Care was taken in correcting the Sheets from the Press; yet, through the negligence of others, several Errors have escaped, which the Reader is desired thus to amend.  
INTROD. p. 12. l. 5. r. 25th. p. 23. l. 1. after, stood, add ( as some affirm) 24. 19. r. Febr. the 14th. 39. 49. r. for all. 45. 38. r. Schoolmaster. 52. 4. r. {αβγδ}. 59. 4. r. May the 2d. 63. 21. deal. the Parenthesis and what is in it.  
BOOK. p. 3. l. 20. r. {αβγδ}. 8. 32. after, tittle, add, out. 9. 20. Marg. r. Blast. 11. 17. r. Son. 34. 24. after, foisted, add, in. 57. 16. Marg. {αβγδ}. 62. 25. after, very God of, add, very. 76. 6. after, Cabinet, add, full. 97. 9. June 17th. l. 13. r. one month. 105. 8. r. Maraeotis. 107. 10. after, it, add, all. 133. 32. r. Calaritanus. 139. 27. r. VIII. 142. 1. r. say. l. 45. r. at. 162. 32. r. where. l. 33. r. were. 165. 6. r. Theoctistus. 176. 36. r. gentleness. 195. 34. r. 39mae. 196. r. Levitici. l. 9. r. Auctuario. 210. 19. r. thats. 211. 38. r. falsify. 216. 11. deal. the. 222. 13. place the Semicolon after, {αβγδ}. 226. 45. r. wild. 238. 44. deal. singing. 246. 24. r. {αβγδ}. 268. 14. r. Mother. 279. 2. r. asserters. l. 17. r. throne. 282. 2. r. specimen. 290. 38. r. {αβγδ}. 297. 46. r. Thassus. 310. 43. r. 360. 311. 44. r. obnoxious. 315. 3. r. {αβγδ}. 319. 15. for, which, r. its. 324. 17. r. clap. 336. 41. r. unworthy. 337. 8. r. Episcopus. 343. 42. r. ran. 351. 2. r. unwarrantably. 361. 40. after 339. add, years. 381. 24. r. strictures. 383. 37. r. Divinity. 387. 36. r. covered. l. 46. r. World. 442. 35. r. turned. 444. ult. r. {αβγδ}. 475. 1. deal. un- 477. 19. r. over-run. 492. 30. after, 60. add, and. 494. 7. r. {αβγδ}. 495. 31. r. all. 500. 24. r. hast. 514. 2. r. {αβγδ}. 533. 46. deal. then.  
APPEND. p. 5. l. 25. r. man. 32. 14. for, 30. r. three,( which place, upon second thoughts, I conceive relates to the number of the {αβγδ}, Lines or Verses, that were contained in his whole Works.) ib. l. 25. for, world, r. light. p. 35. l. 35. deal. and. 47. 42. r. Simplicium. col. 2. l. 23. r. rectione.  
N. B. A Passage concerning Arius p. 75. is again made use of p. 89. occasioned by following S●crates.  
Whereas in P. 248. it is said from S. Basil, that Hermogenes was Bishop of Caesarea at the time of the Nicene Council; the Reader is not to understand it( as otherwise he will be apt to do, and Baronius so far took for granted, as to affirm, S. Basil had mistaken, and forgot himself, Ann. 325. N. 33.) of the Great caesarea in Cappadocia( for Leontius was at that time Bishop of that See, as we have noted from Naz. p. 273. and is generally granted) but rather of another Caesarea in armoniac minor, mentioned by Pliny, l. 6. c. 8. p. 91. and that as distinct from the Cappad●cian Caesarea, ib. c. 3. and whoever carefully considers S. Basil's account, will think it not only probable, but beyond all peradventure.   


THE CONTENTS OF THE INTRODUCTION.  
SECT. I. The State of Paganism under the Reign of CONSTANTINE the Great. The design of the Introduction. Constantine succeeds in the Empire. His eminent Preservation and Escape. He assumes the Title of Augustus. His march against Maxentius, and secret care and thoughtfulness about Religion. The Vision of the across appearing to him, with the form of it. Hereupon instructed in, and converted to Christianity. His victory over Maxentius, and the Honours done him at Rome. His first Edicts in favour of Christians. The Gentiles vexed at his kindness to Christians, and his neglecting the Ludi Saeculares. The favourable Edict, and miserable End of Maximinus. Licinius raises a grievous Persecution in the East, is encountered by Constantine, overthrown, and put to death. The Imperial Monarchy resting in Constantine. His Laws against soothsayers, and the Practisers of Magic Charms. His care about the Lord's day, and form of Prayer prescribed to his Heathen Souldiers to be used upon that day. The Gentiles forbidden to compel Christians to be present at their solemn Rites. Laws made in behalf of Christians. The Emperors Letters to the Provincial Governours, persuading the Gentiles to come over to Christianity. The Seat of the Empire removed from Rome to Constantinople, and why. The great privileges conferred upon that City. Constantine's care to rout and expose all Monuments of Pagan Impiety there. The successful propagation of Christianity in several Countries without the bounds of the Roman Empire. S●verer Proceedings against Pagan Superstitions. Commissions dispatched into several Countries for the routing all Monuments of Idolatry. Temples shut up, and many of them demolished. Greater connivance herein at Rome and Alexandria, than in other places. Constantine's Death; his Piety; and the happy state of his Reign above that of preceding Emperors. Pag. 1.  
SECT. II. The Condition of the Gentiles under the Reign of CONSTANTINE Junior, CONSTANTIUS, and CONSTANS. The Division of the Empire among the three Sons of Constantine. Their care to advance the Christian, and to suppress the Pagan Religion. Provision made against violation of the Tombs and sepulchres of the Dead. Sacrifices prohibited, but Temples left standing. Julius Firmicus his Address to the Emperors against the Errors of Paganism. Magnentius his Usurpation of the Empire, his Overthrow, and Death. The favours allowed by him to the Gentiles recalled, and Sacrifices utterly abolished, and made Capital. Curious and unlawful Arts strictly forbidden. A Law to that purpose, wherein the several sorts of Diviners are particularly enumerated, Haruspices, Mathematici, Harioli, augurs, &c. what and who these were, and how distinguished. Constantius at Rome removes the Altar of Victory. All practisers of Divination severely prohibited to come near the Court. The occasion of that Law, Barbatio the General's consulting with soothsayers about an extraordinary Omen. That Treason how brought to light. Constantine's jealousy of his Cousin Julian, for his secret Dealings with Magicians. Several in the Eastern parts punished and put to Death upon pretence of consulting with Oracles. Constantius's last Law to exempt the Clergy from Civil Offices. His Death. Pag. 18  
SECT. III. The State of Paganism under the Reign of JULIAN. Julian's Parentage, and Education under several Masters. His inclinations to Paganaism nourished by Libanius and others, who blew him up with hopes of the Empire. His subtle dissimulation of Christianity confessed by his greatest admirers. His taking upon him the place of a Reader, and erecting an Oratory to S. Mamas the Martyr. His residence at Athens, and frequent consulting with Pagan Priests. His driving away the Daemons at a Consult, by an undesign'd making the sign of the across. advanced to the Dignity of Caesar, upon what account. Sent into gall to govern there, and to repress the Germans. Auspicious Omens at his arrival there. His great success, and assuming the Empire. An account of it sent to Constantius, and his passionate Resentment of it. Julian's preparation to march against Constantius. His gradual opening his Resolutions to restore Paganism, and his caressing the greater Cities to that purpose. The frowardness of some zealous Gentiles in setting up their Superstitions. His arrival at Constantinople, and public care about the restitution of the gentle Rites, their Temples, Altars, Sacrifices, Ceremonies, Revenues, &c. His Zeal for these things in his own Person and practise. The principal methods he made use of for the suppressing Christianity, and restoring the gentle Religion, considered. His design to reform Paganism from its more gross Abuses; an Abstract of his wise Discourses, and prudent Directions to that end: His endeavours to comform it to the excellent Institutions of Christianity; his Letter to Arsacius, Chief-Priest of Galatia, to that purpose. His taking all occasions of exposing Christians, and making them and their Religion appear ridiculous. His Wit mainly employed that way. The Title of Galileans by Law fixed upon them. The blasphemous Speeches and practices of others after his Example, and their fatal and miserable Ends. His traducing the Emperour Constantine, as a person dear to Christians. His attempts to bring Christians low, and to weaken their Power and Interest, by banishing them from all places of Honour and Trust, by unreasonable Fines and Taxations, and by setting the several Parties of Christians at variance with each other. Instances given of all these. His conniving at the Persecution raised against the Christians by his Commanders and Governours. His abstaining from open Persecution, why; tho it fell heavy upon particular persons and places. His discouraging and driving away the Bishops and Clergy, and abolishing their Revenues and Privileges. The policy of that attempt. His encouraging the Jews, and restoring their Temple and Religion, in opposition to the Christians. The advantages which he propounded to himself therein. His endeavour to extinguish all human Learning among the Christians, thereby to make them more pliable to gentle Insinuations. The folly of that attempt. The infinite encouragement he gave to Philosophers, and all that appeared able and zealous against Christians. His project to ensnare unwary Christians into a compliance with Pagan Superstition. Some Instances given of it. The Historical part of the remainder of his time briefly prosecuted. His expedition against Persia. The Orations he composed in his march in honour of the Pagan Deities. His coming to Antioch, and reproaching them with the notorious neglect of the gentle Rites. The scurrilous Reflections cast upon him by the people of that City. His writing his Misopogon, a satirical Discourse, to be revenged of them. His departure from Antioch, and execrable Divinations at Carrae, the relics whereof found after his Death. His engagement with the Persians, ill Success, and Death. The Author of his Death unknown: Several Reports concerning it; charged by Libanius upon the Christians. Some extraordinary passages relating to his Death. His Character. The seasonableness of his Death to the Christians. Nazianzen's triumphant Discourse upon it. Pag. 25.  
SECT. IV. In what Case Gentilism stood under the Reigns of JOVIAN, VALENTINIAN, and VALENS. Jovian chosen Emperour, resolutely refuses it, till the Army professes itself Christian. He is traduced by the Pagans for his Zeal towards Christianity, which he owns to be the true Religion. His granting some kind of Indulgence to Men of any Religion. The great Commendations given him by Themistius the Philosopher upon that account. Moderation in Religion highly cried up and pleaded for by the Gentiles, when themselves stood in need of it. The sudden Death of Jovian. Valentinian elected by the Army. His Zeal against Pagan Idolatry, and sufferings upon that account in the time of Julian. His Brother Valens taken into a Partnership in the Government. Indulgence granted to every one to use his own way of Worship. This Liberty abused by the Gentiles, and therefore retrenched by several Laws. No Christians to be condemned to the Gladiatory Sports, or to be forced to guard the Heathen Temples. The vanity of a Prediction of the Gentiles, that the Christian Religion should last but CCCLXV Years. All divinatory Consultations severely prohibited in the Eastern Parts. A magical Tripos made by the Gentiles for inquiring after Valens his Successor, and the manner of consulting it: Theodorus, a gentle, intimated to be the Person. These Transactions discovered to Valens, who puts to death all Persons concerned in the Conspiracy. A severe Process against all Philosophers and Magicians. Maximus, Tutor to Julian, beheaded upon this occasion. Great rigour used towards all whose Names began with THEOD, and yet Theodosius escaped, and was his Successor. Books of Magic ordered to be burnt. St. Chrysostom in danger upon that account. Smart Proceedings against the Gentiles in the West, but moderated by the Intercession of the Senate. privileges granted to the Provincial Priests. The Saracens, when and how converted to the Christian Faith. Arrianism, how it crept in among the Goths. Their Letters invented, and the Bible translated into that Language by Ulphilas their Bishop. Valens his Rage against the catholics mitigated by an Oration which Themistius the Philosopher made to him to that purpose. Pag. 50.  
SECT. V. The State of Pagan Religion under the Reigns of GRATIAN, THEODOSIUS the Great, and his Successors. Theodosius advanced by Gratian to the Eastern Empire. His restraining the boldness& liberty of the Pagans, by severe Laws against apostasy, Sacrifices, Divinations, &c. Gentilism hereby reduced to a low ebb. Particular provision about the Temple at Aedessa. Gratian refuses the Sacerdotal stolen, and the Title of Pontifex Maximus, hitherto worn by Christian Emperours. Proceedings against Paganism revived, and more briskly carried on in the East. The famous Temple of Sarapis at Alexandria defaced, and the ridiculous Follies of gentle Idolatry publicly exposed. Sedition and Tumult hereupon raised by the Gentiles, and great mischief done to Christians. The Reformation carried on by Theophilus Bishop of Alexandria. The celebrated Image of Sarapis openly burnt. The Ruin of this Temple foretold by the Gentiles themselves. The rest of the Temples at Alexandria demolished. The lewdness and debaucheries usually committed in those places shown by a particular instance. Christian Churches erected over those places. The River Nilus not flowing so plentifully as formerly. This charged by the Gentiles as a punishment from the Gods for the destruction of their Temples; but proved false by a contrary Event. The same Reformation carried on in the Eastern Parts. The miraculous demolishing a Temple at Apamea by Marcellus Bishop of that place. Theodosius at Rome persuades the gentle part of the Senate to become Christians, but is obstinately rejected. Symmachus for his insolence and importunity banished Rome. The gentle Cause undertaken, and ex professo pleaded by Libanius: The Sum of his Oration de Templis presented to the Emperour, but nothing gained from him. Attempts of the Gentiles against his Life. Several Edicts for the Suppression of Pagan Rites. Theodosius his last Law against the whole Body of their Religion, and the several Parts and Branches of it. The Death of that good Emperour. The same work pursued by Arcadius his Son and Successor. The remaining Temples pulled down, and the Materials disposed of to public Buildings. The Council of Carthage petitions Honorius for the abolishing the Remainders of Idolatrous Rites in Afric, with the Emperour's Answer. Several Laws of Honorius, and the younger Theodosius, in pursuance of the same Design through all Parts of the Empire, briefly noted. Paganism afraid to show its head, and generally driven into Corners. The whole concluded with a short Recapitulation out of Theoderit. Pag. 58.   

THE CONTENTS OF THE BOOK.  
The Life of EUSEBIUS Bishop of Caesarea in palestine. The time and place of his Birth. His Kindred unknown. His first Studies. His intimacy with Pamphilus and others. The Diocletian Persecution when begun. Its fierceness in palestine. Pamphilus cast into Prison. His and Eusebius's joint Studies there. Their Apology for Origen. Pamphilus his Trial and martyrdom. His Learning and great Charity. Eusebius his journey into Egypt. The great severity of the Persecution in those parts. His imprisonment there. Vindicated from the Charge of offering Sacrifice. His writing against Hierocles. Hierocles who, and what his Books against the Christians. These Books answered by Eusebius; and this proved to be our Eusebius. His being made Bishop of Caesarea, and the eminency of that See. His oration at the Dedication of the Church at Tyre. The Licinian persecution. The Arian controversy. His interceding with Alexander of Alexandria in behalf of Arius, and his Letter to that purpose. The Synod of Nice. Eusebius his honourable place and employment in that Council; his explication of that place, The Lord created me, &c. His Letter to the People of Caesarea about the Affairs of the Nicene Synod, the Creed, the explication of the Articles, and his Subscription to them. Some brief remarks upon that Epistle. Constantine's Letter to him about the rebuilding of Churches, and his care for the destruction of Idolatry. Eusebius's Letter to the Empress Constantia concerning the Image of our Saviour. His Chronicon, what and when written. His ecclesiastic History, and Books de locis Hebraicis. His Commentaries de Praeparatione& Demonstratione Evangelica. The time of their being written stated. The Synod at Antioch, and Deposition of Eustathius. Eusebius his refusal of that See, and commendation from the Emperour upon that account. The Dedication of Constantinople. The Emperor's Letter to Eusebius, to provide Bibles for the new erected Churches there. The Council at Tyre. Eusebius's rude treatment there by Potamo Bishop of Heraclea. The Dedication of the magnificent Church of the Sepulchre at Jerusalem. Eusebius his Orations upon that occasion. His Book of the Description of that Church. His Oration de laudibus Constantini, where, and upon what occasion. His writing against Marcellus, when, and why. Marcellus who. The death of Constantine, and his Character. Eusebius his Books de vita Constantini, and the design of them. Eusebius's death, and successor. His admirable learning, and excellent works. His collecting Church-antiquities, and how qualified for it. His Style, with Photius his censure of it. The charge of Arianism heavily laid upon him. An attempt towards his Vindication by a general Apology, and by many particular passages out of his writings. Who his Apologists among the Ancients. condemned by the second Nicene Council, and why. The Characters given him, and Honours done him in the Western Church. The moderate censure of Pope Pelagius. Baronius his particular pique against him, whence. The story of Constantine's being baptized at Nicomedia considered. The truth of Eusebius his relation justified against Baronius. What allowance to be made for the harsh expressions in Eusebius his works. His writings enumerated. Pag. 1.  
The Life of ATHANASIUS Bishop of Alexandria. 

SECT. I. His Acts from his Birth till the first Condemnation of Arius by the Synod at Alexandria. Alexandria his Birth-place. The greatness of that City. His personating a Bishop, and administering Baptism when a Child. The care taken of his Education, and being placed under Peter Bishop of that See. The breach between Peter and Meletius under the Diocletian Persecution. The rise and occasion of the Meletian Schism. Arius who; his taking part with Meletius. Achillas how long Bishop of Alexandria, proved not to be the Arian Achillas against Sandius. Alexander's succeeding him in that S●e, and his advancement stomach'd by Arrius. The various accounts concerning the first occasi●n of Arius his venting his impious Principles enquired into. What his Principles were, represented fr●m the Fragments of his own Writings. His Notions( probably) borrowed from the Schools of the degenerate Platonists. His industrious propagating of his Doctrine, especially by means of the weaker Sex. Condemned by a Synod at Alexandria. Pag. 37.  
SECT. II. His Acts from Arius his first Condemnation, till the Council of Nice. Arius his great endeavours to recommend and support his Cause. The sum of Alexander's Letter to Alexander of Byzantium, concerning Arius, his Principles, Abetters, and Condemnation. Eusebius Bishop of Nicomedia, Arius's great Patron. Collucianists, who, and why so called. Arius his Letter of complaint to Eusebius, who writes Letters in his behalf. The Intercession of the Synod of Bithynia. He is admitted by the palestine Bishops. Condemned a second time at Alexandria. Alexander's Encyclical Epistle about his Proceedings against Arius. The ill Effects of the Disputes about these Matters. Arius his flight into palestine, and Reception there, and at Nicomedia. His attempt to reconcile himself to his own Bishop. Constantine's trouble at these Divisions of the Church: His Letter to Alexander and Arius. Hosius sent by him to Alexandria, not employed in these Affairs as the Pope's legate, shew'd against Baronius. A Synod holden by him at Alexandria, but without any good Effect. Pag. 46.  
SECT. III. The Acts and Proceedings of the Council of Nice. A general Council summoned at Nice from all Parts of the Christian Church. The di●fer●nt accounts of the Number that met in that Synod. Whenc● this arose. How many took part with Arius. The time and place of their Meeting. A busy Philosopher silenced and convinced by an 〈◇〉 Confessor. The preliminary Disputes with Arius. The vigour 〈◇〉 ●●●●●ss of Athanasius in those Disputes. The manner of the Emperor's entrance into the Synod, and the Effects of his Speech to them. Their mutual Heats and Accusations quashed by Constantine. The Arian Doctrine more solemnly debated by the Fathers. The Arian Formula by whom brought into the Synod. The subtle Evasions of the Arians in the Niceties of the Difference between them and the catholics. The Nicene Creed drawn up by Hosius, and approved by the Council. By whom rejected. Arius and his Associates banished by the Emperor. Constantine's Edict against them and their Writings, and command that they should be styled Porphyrians. What Determination the Synod made in the Case of Meletius, and the Persons ordained by him. Their Decision of the Paschal controversy. The number of the Canons made by them. What passed between Constantine and Acesius the Novatian Bishop. No reason to question the Truth of that Story. The Synodal Epistle to the Church of Alexandria, concerning the Transactions of the Council. The Effects of some of Constantine's Letters to the same purpose. The End and Duration of the Synod: The Fathers magnificently treated by the Emperor. Eusebius of Nicomedia, and Theognis of Nice recant their Subscription to the Decrees of the Synod, and are banished by the Emperor; their Boldness and Impiety. The true account of that Matter. Pag. 56.  
SECT. IV. The Acts of Athanasius from the Nicene Council till the Synod at Tyre. A more close approach to the Athanasian Story. The Death of Alexander, and Election of Athanasius to that See. The regularity of his Ordination justified against the Calumnies of the Arians. His Age at that time. The Story of his childish personating the Bishop suspected. The Arians confederate with the Meletians against him. Meletius his Violation of the Nicene Decrees. Arius his release from Banishment. The return of Eusebius and Theognis, and the Declaration of their Assent to the Faith of Nice. The Arian Stories of Constantine's favour to their Party, and displeasure against the catholics. Athanasius his Visitation of his Diocese, and Discovery of Ischyras. His intimacy with S. Anthony. Great attempts made for Arius's Reconciliation. Complaints made at Court against Athanasius. His Defence, and honourable dismission. The Crimes falsely charged upon Eustathius Bishop of Antioch, and his Banishment. The charge revived against Athanasius, who gives Satisfaction to the Emperor in those Matters. A Synod indicted at Caesarea, to inquire into the Cause of Athanasius. He refuses to appear, and is misrepresented for his refusal. Pag. 70.  
SECT. V. The Acts and Proceedings of the Synod at Ty●e, with other consequent Affairs. A Synod summoned at Tyre. The Emperor's Lieutenant appointed to preside there. The sum of Constantine's Letter to the Council. Athanasius's Carriage before the Synod. A twofold Charge exhib●ted against him. Matters of 'vice and Immorality in three Instances; Oppression, and how guilty of that; Ravishment, the villainy whereof how discovered; Murder, his killing Arsenius, and cutting off his Hand. The wickedness of this Story pursued and refuted at large, and evidently proved before the Council. The second head of Accusation, Impiety and Profanation. The Case of his Ordination enquired into. His Violation of Ischyras's Church, breaking the Communion Cup, &c. Several Answers to that Charge. Commissioners sent by the Synod into Egypt, to examine Matters upon the place. Athanasius his Exceptions against the Persons. All Motions in his behalf over ruled. The Partial and unjust Proceedings of the Commissioners. The Zeal of the Maraeotick Clergy for their Bishop. Athanasius condemned and deposed by the Synod at Tyre. The Synod adjourned by the Emperour to Jerusalem. Arius's Cause commanded to be taken under Consideration by means of an Arian Presbyter's favour with the Emperor. What truth in that Report. Arius sent for to Court; Constantine's Letter to him to that purpose. His and Euzoius's Hypocritical Confession presented to the Emperor. The judgement of the Synod about his Case. Whether he return'd to Alexandria. Upon Athanasius's complaint at Court the Bishops are summoned to make good their Charge against him. accused by them of High Treason, and banished by the Emperor to Triers. Arius taken into favour at Court. Alexander Bishop of Constantinople commanded to admit him to Communion. The perplexity of the good Bishop, and his zealous Prayers to Heaven. The unnatural and execrable Death of Arius, and the manner of it. His Character. The Description of his Temper and Person. Intercessions in behalf of Athanasius rejected. The Death of Constantine, and Division of the Empire amongst his Sons. The occasion of Constantius's favouring the Arian Party. Pag. 79.  
SECT. VI. Athanasius his Acts from his return from Exile till the Synod at Sardica. Athanasius his treatment at Triers. Is released, and sent home with a Letter from the younger Constantine. The time of his Exile adjusted. The Joy expressed at his return. The Faction at Court made against him. The licence taken in disputing Matters of Faith. The Eusebian Party appear vigorously against him. A Synod holden by him at Alexandria, which asserts the Innocency of his Cause. His Messengers at Rome Encounter with and baffle them of the Eusebian Faction. A more general Council consented to on both sides. A Council summoned at Antioch upon what occasion. The number of Bishops that met in it. The Confession of Faith indicted by them. Some other Confessions drawn up by the same Synod, and why. Their Canons. Athanasius deposed. His See refused by eusebius Emisenus, accepted by Gregory of Cappadocia. Athanasius's retirement to Rome. Pope Julius's Message to them at Antioch, and their peremptory Answer. Athanasius absolved in a Synod at Rome. Julius his Letter to the Synod at Antioch. Gregory settled in the See of Alexandria by the Secular Power. The Cruelties and Barbarities committed at the time. Gregory's servile courting great men. The miserable end of his Patron Balacius. Gregory's legates rejected at Rome. Athanasius how employed during his long stay there. The Creed that goes under his name shew'd not to be his. A new Confession of Faith drawn up at Antioch, and sent to the Court of Constans in the West. This rejected in a Synod at Milan. Ursacius and Valens their Recantation. Athanasius his Converse with the Emperor. Pag. 95.  
SECT. VII. The Acts of the Synod at Sardica. A Synod convened at Sardica, when. What number of Bishops in it. No British Bishops there. The Eastern Prelates refuse to join with them of the West, and why. They transact Synodically in separate Assemblies. publicly challenged by Athanasius and his Party. The Reasons of their refusal to proceed to a fair and open Trial. Their trifling Proposal to gain time rejected. The pretence of their being recalled by Constantius. Their deposing Athanasius and the Principal of his Party. Baronius offended with their sentemcing Pope Julius. Their Confession of Faith. Their circular Epistle in the name of the Sardican Synod. All this transacted at Sardica, not( as commonly believed) at Philippolis. The Proceedings of the true Sardican Council. No Confession or Explication of Faith made in this Synod. Athanasius, Marcellus, and Asclepas, particularly absolved and restored. The Mischiefs done by the Arians to the catholics examined. The Chiefs of the Arian Faction sentenced and deposed. Their Synodical Epistles, and Letters to the Emperors. Pag. 109.  
SECT. VIII. His Acts from the time of the Sardican Council, till the Death of Pope Julius. Constans his smart Message to his Brother Constantius in behalf of Athanasius. The vigorous Persecution raised by the Arians against the catholics. The could entertainment of the Sardican legates at the Court of Constantius. A villonous Plot against one of the Legates detected and punished. Constantius's Relaxation of the Severities against the catholics, why. The death of Gregory the Arian Bishop of Alexandria. Athanasius recalled by several Letters from Constantius. His taking leave of the Western Parts, and arrival at the Court at Antioch. What Discourse passed between him and the Emperor. Constantius his Letters and Rescripts in his behalf. His positive denial of a Church to the Arians at Alexandria, requested by the Emperor; his Journey towards Alexandria. The first occasion of Apollinaris his starting aside from the catholic Church. A Synod assembled at Jerusalem, which entertained Athanasius, and gave him Communicatory Letters. Constantius his kind Message to him upon the Death of Constans. His coming to Alexandria, and the mighty Expressions of joy for his return. His composing the State of that Church. Ursacius and Valens desire Reconciliation; their Libel of Satisfaction sent to him. His making use of a Church not yet dedicated without the Emperor's leave. The ill use made of this by his Enemies. The fresh attempts of the Arians against him. Their Address to the Emperor to that purpose. The Crimes charged upon him. Letters forged in his name. A Synod holden at Sirmium against Photinus. A Confession of Faith drawn up in general Terms. The Disputation between Photinus and Basil of Ancyra. The mistake of Socrates and some others about this Council. Constantius's march against Magnentius. The imposture used by Valens Bishop of Mursa to gain favour with the Emperor. Pag. 118.  
SECT. IX. His Acts from the Death of Pope Julius till the Banishment of Liberius. The Arian attempts upon Pope Liberius. An Epistle forged under his name. The Emperor's Edict for all to subscribe against Athanasius. Liberius's interposal with Constantius about that matter. A Convention of Bishops at Arles, wherein the catholics are overreached. The Papal Legate prevailed with to subscribe. Another Synod holden at Milan. The Proposal of Eusebius of Vercellae to that Synod. Constantius threatens the catholic Prelates; their resolute reply. Dionysius of Milan retracts his Subscription. The several Banishments of the catholic Bishops. Pope Liberius sent for by Constantius; his rejecting the Motions and Presents sent to him; he is conveyed to Milan; his free and undaunted Address to the Emperor. The Dialogue that passed between him and Constantius, concerning Athanasius and his Affairs, related at large. Liberius banished to Beroea in Thrace. The Money sent him by the Emperor to bear his charges generously refused. Pag. 130.  
SECT. X. The cruel Proceedings against Athanasius and the catholics at Alexandria. Severe Edicts published against Athanasius. Respite granted by the Governours, but not observed. The desperate attempts of the Arian Faction at Alexandria under Count Syrianus. The Congregation set upon by armed Multitudes; the horrible Murders, Out-rages, and profanations committed at that time. The Protestation of the People of Alexandria. Athanasius his escape into the Wilderness. The Persecution reinforced by Count Heraclius. The extreme cruelties of that Persecution. Great encouragement and rejoicing hereby given to the Gentiles. Immediate Judgments upon some of the most forward Zealots. George of Cappadocia ordained Bishop of Alexandria by the Arians. This George, who; what his temper and former course of Life. The time and place of his Ordination. His arrival at Alexandria, and violent Procceedings against the catholic Party, without distinction of Age, Sex, Person, or Profession. The prodigious Severities used throughout the neighbouring Countries. Constantius his Letter in Commendation of the Proceedings at Alexandria, and for a farther exposing of Athanasius. Athanasius his excellent Converse with the Monks and Hermits in the Wilderness, and their just Veneration for him. What Books he wrote at that time. His several Apologies in his own defence. Persecuted into a more private part of the desert. The fabulous report of Rusinus, of his lying hide in a Well; and of Palladius, that he dwelled six years in the House of a Virgin. The mistake of a Greek Historian of his being banished into England. Pag. 137.  
SECT. XI. The State of the Athanasian Cause from the Council at Sirmium, till the Synod at Seleucia. A Synod called i● Sirmium, and a Confession of Faith drawn up. Subscriptions procured to it. An attempt upon Hosius Bishop of Corduba. Hosius who. The Honours done him by Constantine the Great. His great Authority amongst the catholics. Constantius his Letters to him to solicit his subscribing the Condemnation of Athanasius. His bold 〈◇〉 impartial Answer, and Banishment. threatened and tortured into a subscribing the Sirmiam Confession. His releasement and return into Spain; the Report of his violent Proceedings against all that refused Communion with him, founded upon what Authority. His Age, Death, and Character. The various Divisions and misapprehensions of the Arian Tribe, and the chief heads of the several Parties. Another Synodal Assembly at Sirmium. Constantius solicited in behalf of Liberius his release. Liberius persuaded and prevailed with to sign the last Sirmian Confession. His Letter to the Eastern Bishops, testifying his consent and compliance with them. S. Hilary's sharp Reflections upon that Letter. Several other Letters written by him to the same purpose. His return to Rome, re-possession of his See, and death. Another Confession agreed upon, and drawn up with the Date of the Consuls. Athanasius his witty Remarks upon it. The Emperor's design of convening a more general Council. Several places pitched upon for that Assembly. A Resolution to have two Synods at the same time, one in the East, and another in the West, and why. A Council summoned at Ariminum for the West. The number of Bishops meeting there. The Poverty of the British Bishops. The late Sirmian Confession rejected by the catholics, who urge the Condemnation of Arianism. The Nicene Faith confirmed, and all opposite Doctrines censured and thrown out. Ursacius, Valens, &c. deposed. An account of their Synodal Transactions transmitted to the Emperor. The could entertainment of their Legates. The Legates circumvented into a compliance by some about the Emperor, but denied Communion at their return. The Fathers at Ariminum hardly used, and wearied out, to force them to a compliance. Valens his notorious shuffling, when pressed home by the Synod. The Council imposed upon by ambiguous Terms and plausible Pretences. The Bishops afterwards severally repent, and retract their Subscriptions. Pag. 158.  
SECT. XII. The Acts of the Synods of Seleucia and Constantinople. The time and place of the Council at Seleucia. Things propounded to be transacted in the Synod. Two different Parties in the Council. The Acacians contend for the abolishing the Nicene Creed. opposed by the other Party, who dislike nothing but the word Consubstantial. Leonas the Emperor's Lieutenant sides with the Acacian Faction. Acacius surprises the Synod with a Confession of Faith subscribed by all the Bishops of his Party, which Leonas commanded to be red. This Confession canvased and debated. The Creed of Antioch resolved on. The Acacians refuse to come any more to the Council, and are deposed by the Synod; but fly to Constantinople, and make an Interest at Court, before the Arrival of the Synodal Legates. A Synod procured in the imperial City. Basil of Ancyra challenged by Aetius to a Disputation. The Semiarians press hard upon the Opinions of Aetius and eudoxus at a hearing before the Emperor. Aetius banished. His Doctrine unwillingly condemned by eudoxus. Sylvanus and his Party condemned and banished. A Synodal Epistle sent to George of Alexandria concerning the Condemnation of Aetius. This subscribed by the Followers of Aetius in a Convention at Alexandria. The Confession of Ariminum, with some few Additions ratified by the Synod at Constantinople. Constantius's removal to Antioch; a Synod holden there to damn the Consubstantial Doctrine. Meletius chosen to the See of Antioch. The good opinion all Parties had of him. He hearty declares himself for the catholic Faith, to the great Vexation of the Arians. His Sermon at Antioch to that purpose. His Banishment. Another Synod at Antioch procured by Acacius against eudoxus. Constantius his Resolution of having Controversies once more decided in a more public Council, but is prevented by death. His Sickness, Death, and Character. Pag. 162.  
SECT. XIII. His Acts during the Reign of Julian. Julian's succeeding in the Empire. His pretended kindness to Christians. His restoring all Parties from Exile, and why. A Riot at Alexandria about the Temple of Mithras. The Insurrection principally levelled against George their Arian Bishop: The miserable and ignominious manner of his Death. His murder unpitied, he being obnoxious to all Parties. His Learning and Library. Julian's great Care to secure his Books. The Emperor's Expostulatory Letter to the People of Alexandria about his death. Athanasius his return and welcome. His Reformation of his Church. His care about the Distractions of the Church of Antioch. A Synod convened at Alexandria to adjust the particular sense of those two Terms, {αβγδ} and {αβγδ}, the Cause of great Mistakes amongst the catholics. Apollinarism and other Heresies condemned. An account of all given by Athanasius in a Letter to them of Antioch. The State of that Church. Paulinus made Bishop there by Lucifer Calaritanus. This the Cause of a long-continued Schism in that Church. The Original of the Luciferian Separation. Athanasius by whom opposed and undermined. The Emperor's Edict for his Banishment; and his Letter to Ecdicius the governor to the same purpose. These Orders not mitigated by any Intercession. Athanasius his flight, and miraculous escaping his Pursuers upon the Nile. Julian's death made known the same day at Alexandria. Pag. 173.  
SECT. XIV. His Acts from the death of Julian till that of Jovian. Julian's death infinitely resented by the Gentiles. The kindness of his Successor Jovian to the Christians. His Letter to Athanasius to give him an account of the true catholic Faith. A Synod at Alexandria on that occasion; their Epistle to the Emperor concerning the catholic Doctrine, and the Nicene Creed. This Letter sent by Athanasius to Antioch, who is heavily complained against by Lucius and the Arian Party from Alexandria. Their Petitions frequently rejected by the Emperor; and their Favourers at Court checked and punished. Several Parties of Sectaries endeavour to make their interest at Court, and to undermine each other. The Emperor's Declaration against dissension in the Church. The Acacians subtly comply in a Synod at Antioch. An Address presented to the Emperor by the Synod concerning their Agreement in the Faith. The great stickling of the Anomaean Faction at Constantinople. Their frequent Ordinations of Bishops in all places. Quarrels between eudoxus and Aetius. Pag. 181.  
SECT. XV. His Acts from the death of Jovian, with his own death and Character. Valens in the East espouses the Arian side. A miserable Persecution hereupon raised against the catholics. Warrants particularly issued out against Athanasius. The People of Alexandria remonstrate the true State of his Case. Athanasius retires, and happily escapes the Fury of his Persecutors. The Embassy of the Alexandrians to Court in his behalf. The quiet that ensued upon it, while the Persecution raged in all other places. His Interposals in the Affairs of foreign Churches. His assisting Basil to compose the Distractions in the Church of Antioch. His Age, Death, and Successor, The Opposition made by the Arians against Peter his Successor, and the heavy Persecution that commenced thereupon at Alexandria. His admirable Character drawn by Nazianzen. His natural Parts, and acquired learning what. His great accuracy in Theologick Studies. charged with skill in magic, and why. His style and way of writing highly commended. His Writings justly held in great Esteem. His Works distinguished into Doctrinal, Polemical, and Historical. A general account of each. Spurious Books fathered upon him. His Writings enumerated. Pag. 187.    
The Life of S. HILARY Bishop of poitiers. The eminent place of his Nativity. His Education in the gentle Religion; and by what Methods converted to Christianity. His Baptism. His Married Life. Marriage not then thought inconsistent with the Pastoral or Episcopal Office. His singular Piety, and concernment for Religion, while yet a laic. advanced to the See of poitiers, and when. His ignorance of the Controversies about the Nicene Faith after he was Bishop. He sets himself to oppose the growing Power of Arianism in the West. His remonstrance to Constantius concerning the State of the catholic Party, and his impartial dealing with that Emperor. Constantius his Edict in favour of Bishops. His abstaining from all Communion with the Favourers of the Arian Party; and detecting the Impiety of that Cause in a Discourse presented to the Synod at Arles. An Order directed to Julian for his Banishment into Phrygia. His employment during the time of his Exile. His writing the XII. Books de Trinitate. His frequent Advices sent to the Bishops in France. His Letter to his Daughter Abra, to engage her to a single Life. The Letter now extant of suspected Credit. His Book de Synodis; written to give the Gallican Bishops an account of what late Confessions of Faith had passed in the East. His being summoned to the Council at Seleucia, and what happened in his passage thither. He vindicates the Churches of France from the Imputation of Sabellianism, charged upon them by the Arians. His defence of the {αβγδ} in the Synod. The Blasphemy of the Anomaeans, and the hypocrisy of their Principles. Hilary's Petition to the Emperour. His Oration to him in Vindication of the catholic Cause. His bold Libel directed to Constantius, published after the Emperor's death. His release from Banishment, and return homeward. S. Martin one of his Scholars, his course of Life, and intimate familiarity with S. Hilary. The State of his Church at his return. The great influence of his judgement, in determining that the penitent Bishops were to be admitted to Communion. A Synodical Answer to the Eastern Bishops, discovering the Artifices of the Arians. Saturninus of Arles excommunicated. A Book of S. Hilary's corrupted, and the fraud detected. His Journey to Milan to expose Auxentius. The Cause referred and heard, but judgement over-ruled. His Death and Burial. The dis-intombing and burning his Bones falsely charged upon the Hugonots. His Miracles and famed after Death. His incomparable Piety, Zeal, and Courage. His Learning; his Style; what contributed to the obscurity of it. What he borrowed from the Greeks. Abatements to be made for his odd Opinions. His works Genuine and Spurious. Pag. 197.  
The Life of S. BASIL Bishop of Caesarea in Cappadocia. 

SECT. I. His Acts from his birth till his first entrance into holy Orders. His birth-place. The eminency of his Ancestors. Their Sufferings under the Maximinian Persecution. The miraculous Provision made for them. His Parents, and their great Piety and virtue. His Education under his Grand mother Macrina. His foreign improvements in several Schools and Universities. His removal to Athens. The manner of initiating young Students in that University. The dear Intimacy between him and Nazianzen. His Victory over the captious Sophists, His Tutors, and their great famed and eminency. His and Nazianzen's joynt-Studies, and strict deportment. His quitting the University, and settling at Antioch under the tutorage of Libanius. Deserting the Oratory, he betakes himself to the Study of Theology. His frequent converse with the Writings of Origen. His Travels into Egypt and other parts. The high esteem Julian had of him, and the frequent Letters that passed between them. His acute Repartee to Julian's censure. A pretended Letter of his to Julian, in favour of Image-worship, shown to be Spurious. Julian's great Severity to the Christians at Caesarea, and upon what occasion. Pag. 215.  
SECT. II. His Acts from his entrance into Orders, till his return from his pontic Solitudes. Basil's first entrance into ecclesiastic Orders. Eusebius ordained Bishop of Caesarea; great Trouble and dissension about that matter. Basil quarreled with by Eusebius, but defended by the Monk of ●●●sarea. His retirement to Neocaesarea; and thence into the Wilderness. The deligh●ful Situations of the place of his abode. Nazianzen and others ●epair to him. The manner of their monastic Life, and strict Devotion. Rules of monastic Discipline composed by Basil. His apologetic to the People of Caesarea for his retirement, and to vindicate himself from the malicious Reflections cast upon him, and to establish them in the catholic Faith. His erecting devout Societies both of men and women. His advice taken about things to be transacted in the Synod at Lampsacus. The notorious juggling of Eustathius, and others of the Semiarian and Macedonian Parties. A Reconciliation endeavoured between Eusebius and Basil. His return importunately desired, and why. An Agreement effected by Nazianzen's Mediation. Pag. 224.  
SECT. III. His Acts from his return, till his being made Bishop of Caesarea. His activity after his return in reforming Abuses, and diligent assisting the Bishop in the Government of the Church. His incomparable Charity in a time of public Famine. His care of mens Souls as well as Bodies. His Constancy against the Attempts of the Arian governor. The death of Eusebius. Basil's flight to avoid the bishopric. His Election to it, promoted by the effectual Instance and Recommendations of Nazianzen, and his aged Father. The time of his Ordination to that See. His advancement congratulated by Nazianzen. Pag. 232.  
SECT. IV. His Acts from his being made Bishop, till the end of his Contest with Valens and the governor at Caesarea. Valens his arrival at Caesarea. Basil summoned before the Arian perfect. The Dialogue that passed between them, discovering his inflexible adherence to the catholic Religion. His great virtue reported to the Emperour, who admires the Piety of their public Devotion. His discourse with him. His sharp rebuk of Demosthenes the Emperour's Cook. The Arians earnest for his Banishment. Valens unable to sign the Warrant. Embracing the catholic Faith propounded by him, as the best expedient for the young Princes recovery; but rejected by the Emperour: The Child dies. Basil honoured by his Enemies. His Intercession for the catholics at Nice, justified by a Miracle. The Sufferings of Eusebius Samosatenus in defence of the Nicene Cause. His prohibiting the People to resist Authority. His unfortunate death by the Arians. Basil's Troubles at Caesarea, for his protecting a Widow that fled from Sanctuary to the Altar: His undaunted Courage in that Affair. Pag. 2●6.  
SECT. V. His Acts from the end of the foregoing Contests, till the Contest between him and Eustathius Bishop of Sebastea. His Visitation and Reformation of his Diocese. His great care in correcting the Abuses crept into Ordinations. His confolatory Letters to the People of Antioch. The miserable Distractions in that Church. Their Letter to the Bishops of the West. Basil's complaint of the Pride and unconcernedness of the Western Prelates. The issue of the long Schism at Antioch. The modesty and humility of Meletius. The Emperor's Commission to Basil, to visit the Armenian Churches. Pag. 243.  
SECT. VI. The Contest that happened between him and Eustathius, with his Acts till his death and burial. His Contest with Eustathius Bishop of Sebastea. The unsettledness and subtle practices of that man. Basil charged with undue admitting Eustathius to Communion. His rude treatment by Theodotus. Eustathius his great malice towards him. His Vindication of himself from being a Favourer of Apollinaris. accused of being unsound in the Doctrine of the Trinity, upon what pretence. Several Forms of Doxology in use at that time. His writing his Book de Spiritu Sancto, upon what occasion. The Monks under his Rule incensed against him. His Expostulation with Athanasius of Ancyra. A second Metropolis erected by Valens in Cappadocia, and why. Basil's Contest with Anthimus of Tyana about the Metropolical Power. His consolatory Letter to the Church of Alexandria upon the death of Athanasius. His last sickness, death, and burial. The pomp and solemnity of his Funeral. His Epitaph. Pag. 247.  
SECT. VII. A Character and Account of his Person, Temper, and Writings. His Character. His natural Abilities, and acquired Improvements. The extent of his Learning in all Faculties. His incomparable Style. The judgement of the Ancients concerning it. The high commendation of his Eloquence given by Liberius. His moral and divine Accomplishments, Piety, Zeal, Constancy, Temperance, Contempt of the World, Charity, Humility, Peaceable-mindedness. The Description of his Person. His Works; whereof some only ascribed to him. His Genuine distinguished into Commentaries, Controversies, Sermons, encomiastics, Epistles, and caconical Tracts. A distinct Survey of each Class. His ascetic Constitutions. His Liturgy how far Genuine. Nazianzen's high Encomium of his Writings. Pag. 259.  
SECT. VIII. An account of his nearest Relations. His Relations and Parents. The pious death of his Mother Emmelia. The singular Piety and strictness of Life of his Sister Macrina. The immature death of his hopeful Brother Naucratius. His brother Gregory Bishop of Nyssa. A short account of his Brother Peter Bishop of Sebastea. The happiness of his Parents in having three Sons eminent Bishops at one time. His Writings enumerated. Pag. 267.    
The Life of GREGORY of Nazianzum Bishop of Constantinople. 

SECT. I. His Acts from his birth till his coming from Athens. The dearness between him and Basil. The place and time of his birth. His Father Gregory brought up in an odd Sect of Religion, called that of the Hypsistarians. What that Sect was. His bigotry in that way; converted by what methods. His Baptism; his advancement to the See of Nazianzum. The ill condition of that place at his coming to it. His diligence in its Reformation. The exquisite Piety of his Mother Nonna. The pregnancy of his Parts, and agreeableness of his temper to the noblest Studies. His foreign Education in what places. His Voyage to Athens, and the infinite danger of that passage. His effectual intercession with Heaven. His dangers communicated to his Parents in a dream. The appearance of his Mother to one of his acquaintance in the Ship. His happy arrival at Athens. His joint studies with Basil, and their generous Emulation. His divine dream concerning Wisdom and Chastity. His acquaintance with Julian, afterwards Emperour, and the Censure he then past upon him. Pag. 271.  
SECT. II. His Acts from his return from Athens, till his being made Bishop of Sasima. His public Profession of rhetoric, and great famed at the time of his leaving Athens. His meeting with his Brother Caesarius. The excellent learning of that young man, and his refusal of Preferments and Dignities offered him to profess physic at Constantinople. Nazianzen's Consultation about his future course of Life. ordained Presbyter by his Father. His rescuing his Father from the subtleties of the Arian Impostures, and reconciling him to the Monks. His Oration upon that occasion. Julian's Edict to prohibit Christians teaching of gentle learning. This Policy countermined by the excellent Poems of Nazianzen and Apollinaris. His Father's Courage and Resolution against Julian's Officers. Nazianzen's two Invectives against Julian published after his death. His retirement into the Wilderness, and strict course of Life there. His return home to assist the infirmities of his Father. His Apolegetick de fuga sua. The death of Caesarius. A brief account of his Learning, Eminency, and Preferments at Court. His stout resisting Julian's solicitations. His return to Court after the death of Julian. His miraculous escape in the terrible Earthquake in Bithynia. His Brothers Letter to him upon that occasion. His Funeral Sermon preached by Nazianzen. His great Charity, and Nazianzen's trouble in recovering his Estate. Whether the Questions and Answers under his name be his. Pag. 277.  
SECT. III. His Acts from his being made Bishop, till his going to Constantinople. Basil's importunate soliciting him to become Bishop of Sasima, and why. His obstinate refusal of that offer. The sharp Contests between these dear Friends upon that account. overruled by the persuasions and Authority of his Father, he is ordained Bishop of that place. His apologetic Oration upon that occasion. His Oration to entertain Gregory Nyssen. Anthimus of Tyana his endeavour to gain him over to his side. Nazianzen's utter refusal to desert Basil. His neglecting to go to Sasima. The great inconveniences of that place. His withdrawing to an Hospital, and being remanded thence to the assistance of his Father, submitted to upon what Condition. His Oration made upon that occasion. The Mutiny of the People of Nazianzum against the Imperial Assessor. All things pacified hy Nazianzen's Oration. The death of his Sister Gorgonia. Her transcendent virtues, pious Life, and happy death. The Death of his Father. His great Age, and many Infirmities. His exemplary virtues briefly enumerated. The Sermon preached by Nazianzen at his Funeral. This followed by the Death of his Mother Nonna. The holy Life, the admirable graces and accomplishments of that pious and excellent Woman. His retirement from Nazianzum, and presiding over a Society of devout Virgins at Seleucia. summoned to the Synod at Antioch. By them obliged to go to Constantinople, to support the sinking cause of catholic Truth, miserable oppressed by the Arian Factions. Pag. 285.  
SECT. IV. His Acts from his coming to Constantinople, till the meeting of the Great Council there. His abode at Constantinople, where. His numerous Congregations of catholics. His Oratory erected into a Church; called Anastasia, and why. The mighty Opposition he met with from several Sectaries. His famed hereby increased. Two of his most noted Scholars, S. Jerom, and evagrius Ponticus. This evagrius, who. Nazianzen desired by the catholics at Constantinople for their Bishop. The beginning of his Troubles upon that account. Maximus the cynic of Alexandria; who. His notorious juggling and Impostures. His insinuating himself into Nazianzen's favour. His ambitious designs to obtain the bishopric of Constantinople. Three egyptian Bishops privately sent thither for that purpose, who secretly ordain Maximus. A great tumult hereupon in the City. Nazianzen's Oration to them at that time. Maximus forced to fly the City: Makes his interest among the Western Bishops, who appear in his behalf; solicits his cause at Court, but in vain; flies to Alexandria, and is expelled thence. The fresh rage and malice of the Arians against Nazianzen. His particular answers to the frivolous Cavils, and scurrilous Reflections which they cast upon him. His mildness and clemency blamed by his Friends and Followers. The Declaration of his Resolution to leave that place. This highly resented by his Auditors. His promise not presently to forsake them. Theodosius his Edict for Confirmation of the catholic Faith, and suppressing Heretical Conventicles. His arrival at Constantinople, and publication of another Law more express to the same purpose. The date of that Law not corrupted. His expelling Demophilus the Arian Bishop out of the City. The Churches delivered to the catholics. Nazianzen highly in favour with the Emperour. Preparations for the solemnity of his installment, and what happened at that time. His modest declining that solemnity. The manner of his private life. His sickness, and singular clemency towards an assassinate, that crowded into his Bed-chamber with a design to kill him. Pag. 294.  
SECT. V. The Acts and Proceedings of the Second General Council. A General Council summoned to meet at Constantinople. The number of Fathers in that Synod. Things transacted in the Council. Their care about the See of Constantinople. Maximus's Title and Ordination vacated. Nazianzen established in that See. The regularity of his Translation thither, cleared. Matters of Faith discussed. The Nicene Confession ratified. A Creed drawn up to explain the other. The FILIOQUE when added to this Creed. The Controversy hereabout between the Greek and the Latin Church. An account of the several Sects and Heresies anathematized by the Synod. The Sabellians. Sabellius who, and what his Principles. Marcellians: the Author and tenants of that Sect. Photinians. Photinus who, and what was his chief Dogmata. Eunomians. This Sect founded by Actius. A short view of his Life and Actions. His designs carried on by his Disciple Eunomius: the most material passages of whose Life are briefly noted. The Opinions, Principles, and Usages of that Sect: not accounted Christians by the Synod. What the Principles and Heresy of Apollinaris. Macedonians. The Council principally called with respect to them. A more particular account concerning Macedonius, and the original and progress of this heresy through the Reigns of the several Emperors. His followers the same in effect with the Semiarians. In what places they most abounded. Their cunning deportment, and hypocritical insinuations. Treated with by the Synod about their reunion to the Church; but without effect. The Synodal Decree against heretics ratified by the Emperour. Canons made by this Council. Two more particularly noted; One, concerning the Bounds of the greater Churches in the East. This heedlessly confounded by most with a Law of the Emperor Theodosius concerning the bounds of Ecclesiastical Communion. What Socrates means by patriarches constituted in this Council. The other Canon giving precedence to the See of Constantinople next that of Rome. This the foundation of the after greatness of that bishopric. The fuller consideration of this referred to another place. Pag. 306.  
SECT. VI. Particular Transactions of the Council relating to Nazianzen. His resignation and departure. dissensions arrising in the Synod about the See of Antioch. Nazianzen's proposal in favour of Paulinus ill resented, and Combinations made against him. His free discourse to them upon that occasion. The People troubled at the bare report of his readiness to resign. The Confederacy against him increased by the arrival of the egyptian Bishops. Their Opposition to him, whence. His admirable Oration to them concerning Peace. His Address to the Emperor for leave to resign his See. This very difficultly obtained. His eloquent Oration to the Synod at his taking leave. Some passages of that Oration laid before the Reader. The time of his departure, and universal sorrow for it. Nectarius elected to be his Successor. The occasion of his Name being proposed among the rest. The Emperor pitches upon him, and persists in his resolution. The dissolution of the Council. Pag. 320.  
SECT. VII. His Acts from his Resignation to his death. He is invited to the re-assembling of the Synod of Constantinople; but refuses to come, and why. His excuse sent to the Emperor. His refusal to take upon him the charge of Nazianzum. The slanders raised upon him upon that account. Another Synod at Constantinople. The activity of the catholic Bishops against the prevalency of the Arians. The bold Address of Amphilochius to the Emperor. Theodosius ratifies the Consubstantial Doctrine, and rejects all sorts of heretics. Nazianzen's care and solicitude for the peace of the Church. The employment and Diversions of his retired Life. His frequent Infirmities. His Last Will and Testament exemplified at large. This Will when made. His Age, and the time of his death. The Description of his Person and outward shape. His Image whether set up, and worshipped in his Church. His Divine Temper of mind. His great Piety and Love to God, contempt of the World, unbias'd carriage, mortification and self-denial, kindness and charity, concernment for the Peace of the Church, calmness and Patience, and immovable Zeal for the catholic Faith. His natural Parts. Great famed for Learning; accuracy in Theology. honoured with the titlt of THE DIVINE. His way of writing. The excellency and sublimity of his style. His imitation of Esocrates. Basil, he and Apollinaris, compared. His too much indulging the vein of Oratory, gave hint to the practise of invocating Saints. His excellenent skill in Poetry. Why none of his works epitomized or mentioned by Photius. An account of his Writings. Pag. 326.    
The Life of S. CYRIL Bishop of Jerusalem. His Original uncertain. The first mention of him. The Renown of Maximus Bishop of Jerusalem. Cyril ordained Presbyter of that Church. Made Catechist. His Catechestick Lectures when red. The perplexed account of his Succession to that See. The Relation of it by S. Jerom. Imputations of Arianism unjustly charged upon him. cleared by Theodorit and the Synod at Constantinople. Another Cyril in those days Bishop of Jerusalem mistaken for ours. What contributed to the mistake. The time of his entrance upon that bishopric. The miraculous appearance of the sign of the across in the Heavens stretching over Jerusalem. Cyril's Letter to the Emperor, giving an account of that Apparition. Some remarks upon that Letter. His quarrel with Acacius Bishop of Caesarea, about the Metropolitick Rights. The great Reputation of the Church of Jerusalem. Recriminations passing between Cyril and Acacius. Acasius in a Palestine Synod deposes Cyril. Strange Confusion about the Persons succeeding in that See during the Arian Prevalency. The different accounts given of this matter represented. A Reconciliation of Writers in this Case impossible. Cyril mortally hated and undermined by Eutychius. The Arian intruders wholly omitted by Theodorit. Cyril's Anti-remonstrance to Acacius's Sentence, and Appeal to the Emperor. His retirement to Sylvanus Bishop of Tarsus, and constant preaching there. His appearing at the Synod at Seleucia, and referring his Cause to the judgement of that Council. His refusal to withdraw out of the Synod as a Person deposed. Acquitted and restored by the Council. Acacius his Complaint against him to the Emperour. The Crimes charged upon him, and aggravated by Acasius. He is again deposed, and banished. His return to his See under the Reign of Julian. Julian's great kindness and favour to the Jews, and resolution to repair their Temple, and restore their Worship, upon what account. His Letter to them to that purpose. His Conference with their Chiefs about this matter. What he propounded to himself in this design. Preparations made for the undertaking. expenses allowed, and Overseers appointed by the Emperour. The vanity of this attempt declared to them by Cyril. Their endeavours in building frustrated by extraordinary storms, earth-quakes, and fire from Heaven. Black Crosses impressed upon the clothes of the Jews. Many converted by these miraculous appearances and attestations. The Jews finding S. John's Gospel in a Cave at the clearing the Foundations reported by Philostorgius. The truth of the other particulars abundantly attested. Julian's Command for the building an Amphitheatre at Jerusalem. The elegant reflections which S. Chrysostom makes upon this disappointment of the Jews. Cyril's flight, and return a little before the death of Valens. He prefers his Nephew Gelasius to the See of Caesarea. Gelasius who. Cyril's presiding with others in the second general Council. His public Vindication by the Testimony of that Synod. The time of his death. The description of his Person. His Character. The Catechetick Lectures his only remaining Works. The genuineness of them unjustly questioned. Some exceptions against them considered. Abatements to be made for the plainness and rawness of them, and unaccuracy of some Expessions. The main design of them to explain the Creed. What that Creed was then used in the Church of Jerusalem. His writings. Pag. 339.  
The Life of S. AMBROSE Bishop of Milan. 

SECT. I. His Acts from his birth till the Synod at Aquileia. The time and place of his Nativity, and nobility of his Descent. A swarm of Bees settling about his mouth as he lay in the Cradle. A sportive presage of his future bishopric. The care of his Education. His pleading Causes. His Commission to be governor of Insubria, &c. with Consular Dignity. The greatness of the City of Milan. The death of Auxentius Bishop of that See. The providing a fit Successor recommended by the Emperor to the Provincial Bishops. Ambrose his Exhortation upon that occasion. The choice unanimously cast upon him. His positive refusal, and artifices used to decline it. His flight: forced to come in at the Emperor's Proclamation. The general joy and satisfaction at his Consecration. His Ordination, how far justifiable according to the Canons. Communicatory Letters to him from all Parts. S. Basil's friendly Letter to him. His ordering his domestic Affairs for the better discharge of his Episcopal Office. His Theological Studies under the assistance of Simplician His diligence in reforming his Diocese, and the exercises of his private Life. The ●rruption of the Northern Nations into Italy. His flight into Illyricum, and visiting Rome. The cure of a paralytic Woman, said to be done there by his Prayers. His Books de Fide upon what occasion written. The trouble created him by the Arian Empress Justina. His impartial advice, and resolute carriage towards the young Emperour Valentinian. His consecrating Anemmius Bishop of Sirmium, and what happened there. Euthymius his design to surprise him, requited with the same punishment upon himself. Pag. 359.  
SECT. II. His Acts from the meeting of the Synod at Aquileia, till the Death of Gratian. The Arians Petition the Emperor for a public hearing. A Synod indicted at Aquileia. The time of meeting, and number of Bishops. The proceedings of the Synod against Palladius and Secundianus, two Arian Bishops. The charge pressed by Ambrose, and the shuffling replies of Palladius. His exceptions against his Judges, and the manner of Procedure. His Sentence passed by particular Votes. The Condemnation of Secundianus, as also of Attalus and Valens, two Arian Presbyters. Synodal Letters written to the Emperours. The truth of the Acts of this Council defended against Chiffletius. Another Synod at Aquileia about the Case of Ursicinus. Synodal Epistles to Theodosius about the Union of the Eastern and Western Churches, the Schism at Antioch, and the case of Nazianzen and Maximus at Constantinople. Ambrose his Book de Incarnationis Dominicae Sacramento written upon what occasion. The rise of the Priscillian heresy. The Author of it vigorously opposed by Ambrose. The Quarrel between him and Macedonius a great Officer upon that account. His undaunted interceding for the Pardon of a condemned Nobleman. The Rebellion of Maximus General of the Army of Britain. His murdering the Emperor Gratian, and usurpation of the Empire. S. Ambrose his Embassy to him. The death of his Brother Satyrus, and his Funeral Oration for him. Pag. 368.  
SECT. III. His Acts from the death of Gratian, till the end of the Contest between him and Symmachus. The confidence of the Gentiles at Rome upon the usurpation of Maximus. The Party headed by Symmachus Provost of the City. Their former Petition in the name of the Senate countermined by an Anti-remonstrance. Symmachus employed again to petition the Emperor for the restoring the Altar of Victory. S. Ambrose his elegant and passionate dissuasive sent to the Emperour about this matter. A Copy of the Petition sent him by the Emperour. Symmachus's Address to the Emperour in behalf of Paganism and the Altar of Victory, and S. Ambrose his excellent Reply to that Address exemplified at large. Symmachus accused to the Emperour. Another Petition of his in behalf of the Gentiles. banished Rome, and why. His recantation, and re-admission into favour. Pag. 374.  
SECT. IV. His Acts from his Contest with Symmachus, till his second Embassy. Symmachus the means of bringing S. Augustin to Milan. A short account of S. Augustin's first years, Education, Studies, and Religion. His coming to Rome. Sent by Symmachus to teach rhetoric at Milan. Ambrose his kindness to him. Preparatives towards his Conversion. The strange and extrordinary manner of it. His Baptism and preferment to the See of Hippo. A Law published at Milan in favour of the Arians. Benevolus stoutly refuses to draw it up. Attempts upon Ambrose. The Mutiny of the People quieted by him. The great numbers of the Arians at Milan. Ambrose challenged by Auxentius to a Disputation. His defence and answer presented in writing to the Emperour. A Church demanded for the Arians. His answer to the Emperour's Officers. His encouragement given to the People. Antiphonal Hymns introduced by him into the Church of Milan. This quarrelled at by the Arians. The great Confusions in the City. Insolent demands of the Arians. Warrants for the seizing several Persons. Ambrose his answer to the Commanders concerning the Imperial Authority. Guards set upon his Church. His Sermon to the People at that time. The discourse between him and the Emperour's Secretary. His generous answer to Calligonus. The discovery of the Bodies of SS. Protasius and Gervasius, Martyrs in the Reign of the Antonini. Several miraculous Cures effected by them, reported by S. Ambrose, Augustin, &c. then present. The credibility of these Miracles, with respect to the state of things at that time and place. The Translation and entombing of these Remains, and S. Ambrose his Sermon upon that occasion. Several attempts made by the Arian Party upon S. Ambrose his Life. Pag. 391.  
SECT. V. His Acts from his second Embassy, till the death of Valentinian. The fears in Italy of Maximus's Invasion. Ambrose prevailed with to undertake an Embassy to him. His arrival at Triers, and dispute about his reception. The Discourse that passed between Maximus and him in the Consistory. The great freedom and impartiality of his Discourse. He refuses Communion with the Usurper. His return, and account of his Embassy. Domninus sent in his room deluded by Maximus. Maximus invades Italy, is encountered by the Emperor Theodosius, routed, and put to death. Ambrose his intercession with the Emperor in the case of the Jewish Synagogue. His plain dealing with him, and prevailing to repeal the Edict. The murder of the Emperor's General at Thessalonica. Warrants issued out for revenge. The miserable slaughter committed in that City. The Letter of S. Ambrose, and a Synod to the Emperor Theodosius, suspending him from Church-Communion, till public Repentance, and satisfaction given. S. Ambrose his impartial discourse to him at the Church-door, denying him admittance. The great sorrow and resentment of the Emperor. His passionate desire of being reconciled. His Absolution over confidently undertaken by Rufinus. The Emperor's coming to Church, and public expressions of Sorrow and Repentance. His Absolution. admonished by Ambrose to receive the Communion without the Rails. His high commendation of Ambrose his courage and impartiality. Jovinian and his errors condemned by S. Ambrose and a Synod at Milan. Valentinian his expedition into France. Slain there by the treachery of Arbogastes. S. Ambrose his Oration at his Funeral. Pag. 402.  
SECT. VI. His Acts from the death of Valentinian, till his own death. Eugenius his Usurpation of the Empire. His mean Quality, and unsettled Principles. His great favours shewed to the Gentiles. His approach to Milan. S. Ambrose his flight thence, and Letter to him. Routed and put to death by Theodosius. Ambrose his intercession in behalf of the conquered. The death of the good Emperor Theodosius at Milan. His Character. Vindicated from the Calumnies of Zosimus. Ambrose his stout defence of the Privileges of the Church. Immediate punishment upon the Violaters of it. Ambrose sent to by the Queen of the Marcomans, for Instruction in the Christians Faith. His Sickness. An account of his last hours. His death and burial. His Character. The exemplary Piety of his private Life. His behaviour in his Episcopal Station. His indefatigable Industry, Zeal, Courage, Impartiality; his Clemency to Penitents, sollicitousness for the Church, managery of public Affairs; His Charity, and Hospitality. Dining on Saturdays contrary to the Custom of other places. His Learning, and quick Progress in the study of Theology. His Phrase and Style. His Works, consisting of Tracts, Sermons, Epistles and Commentaries. His making so much use of the Greek Fathers no blemish to him. S. Jerom's Pique against him. His famed and Reputation in foreign Countries. A Journey made by some from Persia on purpose to converse with him. An account of his Writings. Pag. 413.    
The Life of S. EPIPHANIUS Bishop of Salamis in Cyprus. His birth-place. The Condition and Religion of his Parents. Reports of some of the former parts of his Life uncertain. His Travels into, and abode in egypt. The danger of his being seduced into the Sect of the gnostics. Temptations adapted to that purpose. The lewdness and horrible villainies of that Sect. His discovering that accursed Fraternity to the Bishop of the place. His converse with, and imitation of the devout Asceticks in egypt. His return into Palestine, and living under the Discipline of Hilarion, the Founder of Monachism in those Parts. His presiding over a Monastery of his own erecting. Promoted to the bishopric of Salamis in Cyprus, when, and by whom. The manner of it related by an uncertain Author. Salamis famous upon what accounts. The great famed and Reputation of Epiphanius. The occasion of writing his Ancyrat. This Book why so called, and what the Subject of it. His work against Heresies when written, and upon what occasion. Why styled Panarium. The Anacephalaeosis or Epitome of it. His Journey to Rome, to a Synod there about the controverted See of Antioch. His joyful entertainment at that place. His Contests with John Bishop of Jerusalem, and the first occasion of them. John suspected by Epiphanius of retaining his old kindness for the Origenian Opinions. The many affronts he put upon Epiphanius upon that account. The Quarrel enlarged by Epiphanius's ordaining a Presbyter to officiate in his own Monastery. John's loud complaints of him upon this and many other accounts. Epiphanius's calm and mildred reply. This matter cleared by a farther account of it from S. Jerom. Epiphanius charged with violence and injury. The Story of his rending the Curtain that had a Picture on it in the Church of Anablatha. The vain shifts of the Romish Writers to evade this Testimony against Image-Worship. This not the only Evidence of Epiphanius's sense in that Point. Attempts to make Peace between John and Epiphanius in vain. John's Letter to Theophilus of Alexandria, who interposes by his Legate, but without effect. John's Apology to Theophilus, and faint Vindication of himself. Epiphanius his Letters to Rome and other places. A more particular account of the controversy sent by S. Jerom to Pammachius. A fresh controversy of the Anthropomorphites started among the Monks of Mount Nitria in egypt. The Original of it. Theophilus how engaged in it. His quarrel with the four Brethren called Longi, whence. Their interposal in the behalf of Isidore, and ill treatment by Theophilus. His design to beget an ill opinion of them among the Monks. His Synodical Condemnation of them, as guilty of Origenism. His subtle actings in that matter. His cruel and violent Proceedings against the four Longi. They and some others forced to fly first into Palestine, then to Constantinople. The truth of this Story undeservedly questioned. Epiphanius engaged by Theophilus in this quarrel. A Synod summoned in Cyprus, which condemns the reading Origen's Books. Epiphanius's Letter to Chrysostom to do the like. His Journey to Constantinople in pursuance of his design, and refusal of Chrysostom's kind invitations of sojourning with him. His drawing in Bishops to subscribe his Decrees. opposed by Theotimus Bishop of Scythia. The great advantage given to Chrysostom's Enemies by his Proceedings. Severely rebuked by a Message from Chrysostom. His ill entertainment at Court from the Empress Eudoxia, whence. The f●ur Longi sent to wait upon him, and their Discourse with him. The odd parting between him and Chrysostom. His going Aboard in order to his return. His last discourse and admonitions to those about him. His death and burial. His great Age. His mighty Zeal against heresy. His admirable Piety and strictness of Life. His singular Charity and Beneficent temper. The Veneration which his very Enemies had for him. His learning and skill in Languages. The weakness of his judgement, and his over-great Credulity noted. The flatness of his style. The general parts and divisions of his Book against Heresies. What advantages he had in compiling that work. His Writings. P. 423.  
The Life of S. CHRYSOSTOM Bishop of Constantinople. 

SECT. I. His Acts from his birth, till his being made Bishop of Constantinople. The greatness of the City of Antioch, the place of his Nativity. His Parents. The singular virtues of his Mother. His Sister. His Education under Libanius. His pleading Causes. Under what Masters he studied Theology. His recovery of Theodorus to an ascetic Life. His dear and intimate Friendship with Basil. Basil, who. Their joynt-resolution for a monastic course. The elegant and passionate dissuasive of his Mother from engaging in that state of Life. His declining a bishopric, and cheating Basil into that Office. The occasion of his Books de Sacerdotio. His retirement into the Wilderness, employment, and time of stay there. His entering upon the Order of Reader. Made Deacon. The Books he wrote in that Station. ordained Presbyter. His first Sermon on that occasion. The care of preaching committed to him. The Troubles at Antioch, whence. Pulling down and disgracing the imperial Statues. Revenge resolved on at Court. Commissioners sent thence about it. The miserable Consternation, and sad face of things at Antioch. Chrysostom's Sermons ad Populum Antiochenum. Flavian their Bishop prevailed with to undertake an Embassy to Court. Libanius sent by the gentle part of the City. His Oration to Theodosius. The activity of the Monks at Antioch, and their Supplications to the Magistrates and Commissioners. The humble Address and Expostulation of Macedonius. The Commissioners rigorously execute their Orders. Chrysostom's melancholy Visitation and Survey of the City at that time. Flavian's arrival at Court. The Emperor's Expostulation with him. His eloquent and pathetical Discourse to the Emperor. Pardon obtained for the City. Theodosius his great tenderness and concernment for them. Flavian's joyful welcome home. The death of Paulinus the old Bishop. Flavian's prudent carriage. A period put to the long Schism in that Church. Pag. 447.  
SECT. II. His Acts from his being made Bishop, till the trial of Antoninus Bishop of Ephesus. The death of Nectarius. Chrysostom recommended to be his Successor. The Emperor's Warrant to Antioch for his removal. His private conveyance to Constantinople. Theophilus of Alexandria against his Consecration, and why. His zealous and impartial reformation of his Church. His Revenues employed to build and endow Hospitals. His correcting the abuses of all ranks and conditions. The spite and ill-will the corrupt Clergy bore him. A Woman of the Macedonian Sect miraculously converted. His free reproving Eutropius the Emperor's Favourite, and upon what account. The fall of that man, and his taking Sanctuary in the Church. Chrysostom's Sermon upon that occasion. The disgrace, banishment and death of Eutropius. Chrysostom's obstinate refusal to grant a Church to the Arians at the Request of Gainas. Their quarrel upon that account. Chrysostom's bold address to the Emperor. Gainas his Treason and Rebellion. Chrysostom sent on an Embassy to him. Gainas slain. The arrival of the Egyptian Monks at Constantinople. Chrysostom makes provision for them, but denies to admit them to Communion. Messengers from Theophilus to Chrysostom about this matter. Chrysostom's intercession in their behalf. His second Letter. Theophilus's last answer to him. Pag. 463.  
SECT. III. His Acts from the trial of Antoninus till the Combination made against him by Antiochus, and others. The impeachment of Antoninus in a Convention of Bishops at Constantinople. The Articles exhibited against him. Chrysostom's endeavour to compose the business. Antonine's denial of the Charge. Chrysostom's resolution to go and judge the Cause at Ephesus, countermanded by an order from Court. Commissioners sent into Asia to examine matters. The foul shilliings of Eusebius the Plaintiff and Prosecutor. The death of Antonine. Chrysostom desired by the Clergy of Ephesus to come thither, and settle their Affairs. His Journey to Ephesus, and the Synod holden there. The Examination of the Case of Antonine, and others concerned with him. The Synodal determination of this matter. Heraclides ordained by Chrysostom to the See of Ephesus. Gerontius of Nicomedia deposed, and why. What number of Bishops deposed by Chrysostom in this Visitation. The insolence of the Arians at Constantinople. Chrysostom's introducing Antiphonal Hymns, and solemn Processions in opposition to them. The tumult raised by the Arians. Their meetings prohibited by Proclamation. Chrysostom's endeavour to reduce the Goths to the catholic Faith. His care to plant the Gospel in Scythia, and to rout Paganism in Phoenicia. Pag. 472.  
SECT. IV. His Acts from the Combination of Antiochus, Severian, &c. till his being deposed by Theophilus. Antiochus and Severianus, who Chrysostom's great kindness to, and confidence in Severianus. Quarrels between Séverianus and Serapio Chrysostom's archdeacon. The Case heard in a Synod. Contests between Chrysostom and Severianus upon this account. Severianus dismissed Constantinople. Reconciled to Chrysostom by the means of the Empress. Severianus, Antiochus, Acacius of Beroea, and Isaac combine against Chrysostom. Their consult how to manage their Plot. Their engaging Theophilus of Alexandria in the Confederacy. The suitableness of Circumstances to bring him in. Theophilus summoned to Constantinople. The Empress Eudoxia's displeasure against Chrysostom, whence. The Temper of that Princess. Theophilus's arrival. His shunning all Converse with Chrysostom. His first actings, and procuring fit Instruments for the prosecution of his designs. The Synod at the Oak holden by Theophilus. The Persons chiefly active in that Synod. A charge of XXIX. Articles given in against Chrysostom. A Convention of Chrysostom with the Bishops of his Party. His excellent Discourse to them. A Summons to him to appear at the Synod. The several Answers return'd by him and his Bishops to that Summons. Another Summons. Chrysostom's answer. Which of the Articles insisted on by the Synod. XVII. Additional Articles delivered in. The most material of them represented. judgement demanded and past against Chrysostom. An account of it sent the Emperour, who ratifies the Sentence. Theophilus reconciled to the egyptian Monks. An account of the death and burial of Dioscorus and Ammonius. Theophilus's conversing with Origen's works, notwithstanding his clamours against them. Pag. 478.  
SECT. V. His Acts from his departure till the Order for his second Banishment. The Peoples disturbance at the news of his being deposed. Chrysostom privately conveyed into Bithynia. The great distractions in the City. Chrysostom recalled. The Empress excuses her self to him. His refusal to enter the City, till publicly cleared. forced to come in, to quiet the People. His triumphant return, and Oration to the People upon that occasion. The quarrel between the followers of Theophilus, and the Citizens. Theophilus privately returns back to Alexandria. A Synod at Constantinople to reverse the Acts of the former Synod against Chrysostom. He falls again under the displeasure of the Empress. His smart Invective against her Statue, and the dissolute sports used at that place. His bold Sermon preached at that time. His Enemies furnished with secret instructions from Theophilus. A second Synod holden against Chrysostom at Constantinople. A Canon of the Council of Antioch urged against him, with his exception to it. The true state of that matter. Elpidius's stout pleading for Chrysostom before the Emperor. The Emperor overperswaded by Chrysostom's Enemies. All interposals in his behalf vain. The violence used towards Chrysostom's Clergy, and their People assembled in Constantius's Baptisterium. The abuses and injuries offered to those that fled to assemble in the Fields and Woods. Theophilus's Message and Representation of the Case at Rome. Chrysostom's Letter to Pope Innocent, and other Western Bishops. Innocent's Letter to Theophilus, that the whole Cause might be fairly heard in an impartial Synod. Pag. 489.  
SECT. VI. His Acts from the signing of the Warrant, till his being carried into Banishment. Several attempts upon Chrysostom's Life. The Warrant signed for his Banishment. His ready compliance with it. His taking leave of the Bishops, and the Deaconesses in the Baptistery. His contrivance to escape being stayed by the People. The encouraging considerations which he suggested to himself at that time. A Fire breaking out in S. Chrysostom's Church. The mighty rage and violence of it there, and in the parts adjoining. This spitefully charged upon his Party. Several imprisoned and ill treated upon that account. Arsacius placed in the See of Constantinople. Chrysostom's Followers keep separate Assemblies, and pass under the name of Joannites. An Edict for holding Communion with Arsacius, Theophilus, &c. The violent Proceedings against the Joannites. The great Sufferings of Olympias, one of Chrysostom's Deaconesses. A brief account of her, and her singular Piety and Devotion. Porphyry a notable Stickler against Chrysostom. An account of his evil Temper, and the manner of his advancement to the See of Antioch. Several dispatches sent by the Joannites to Rome to solicit assistance. The Emperor Honorius's Letter to Arcadius about this Affair. Innocent's Letter to Chrysostom. Another to the Clergy and People of Constantinople. Pag. 499.  
SECT. VII. His Acts from his going into Banishment, till the death of Arsacius. Chrysostom denied liberty to clear himself of the imputation of burning the Church. Conveyed into Bithynia. The places designed for his Exile; first Sebastea, then Cucusus in armoniac. The misery and disconsolateness of that place. The civility of the Commander appointed to conduct him. His arrival at Caesarea, and recovery from his fever. The treachery and rudeness of Pharetrius Bishop of that place. Chrysostom forced to quit that place at a dangerous season. The kindness of the People, and noble Civilities done him by the Lady Seleucia. Pursued by the malice of Pharetrius. The danger and trouble of his Journey. The infinite kindness shewed him in his passage. His coming to Cucusus. The obligingness of his entertainments there, and the Provisions made for his accommodation. His recovery into a good degree of health. The Isauri, who; their dangerous neighbourhood. The flocking of his Friends to him. His employments there. His care for the Propagation of Christianity in Phoenicia, and among the Goths. His last Tract, Quod nemo laeditur nisi à seipso. His Letters to those that suffered for his Cause. Frequent Distempers return upon him. The fears he daily lived in of the Isaurian inroads. Pag. 509.  
SECT. VIII. His Acts from the Death of Arsacius, till his own Death. The Death of Arsacius, and Succession of Atticus. Atticus, who. An Edict commanding all to communicate with him. A fierce Persecution of the Joannites at Constantinople, and elsewhere. Several Instances of the Sufferings of particular Persons. A Synod convened at Rome upon Chrysostom's account. Honorius's Letters to Arcadius, in his behalf. legates sent by the Synod to Constantinople. Their ill Voyage thither, and barbarous Usage there. Chrysostom's Letters to them. Chrysostom forced to shelter himself in Woods and Mountains. The place of his Abode shew'd there at this day. His removal to Arabissus, and equal dangers and inconveniencies in that place. The time of his continuance here. His last Letter to Pope Innocent. His Enemies at Court procure an Order for his removal to Pityus upon the pontic Sea, and why. The great Cruelties used towards him by the Soldiers in this Journey. His coming to Comana Pontica. admonished of his approaching Dissolution, by the Vision of S. Basiliscus the Martyr. His Preparation for death. His last Prayer, Doxology, and Death. The Solemnity of his Funeral. His Age, and the time of his sitting in that See. Pag. 517.  
SECT. IX. The Character of his Person, Temper, and Endowments. The description of his outward shape. His natural temper choleric; how increased. His mighty Zeal for God, and passionate concernment for the Truth and Honour of Religion. His unwearied diligence and fidelity in his Episcopal Charge. His impartial, resolute, and undaunted carriage towards all. His contempt of the World. His Charity, and earnest pressing others to it. The Charge of his not keeping Hospitality considered, and answered. His Humility. accused of Pride, and why. The Reasons of his dining alone. His natural Abilities. Great Learning. His Talent in preaching, and peculiar excellency in expounding Scripture. His Expositions accounted the Rule of Orthodoxy. His little Ostentation of Secular Learning. The many excellent Scholars bread under him. His incomparable style, and mastery in Eloquence. The Character given of it by the Ancients. Spurious pieces fathered upon him. The opus imperfectum, the issue of a Latin Pen. The Case of his Liturgy. Pag. 525.  
SECT. X. Passages relating to Chrysostom, that happened after his Death. Pope Innocent's Letter to Arcadius, and suspension of him from Communion. Honorius's severe Letter to Arcadius. Arcadius his Repentance, Humiliation, and Absolution. Vengeance overtaking S. Chrysostom's Adversaries. The miserable end of the Empress Eudoxia. The death of Arcadius in the flower of his Age. The pains, torments, and deaths of many others of his Persecutors. The death of Theophilus of Alexandria, when and how. Chrysostom's name first restored to the Diptychs by Alexander Bishop of Antioch. The like done afterwards by Atticus at Constantinople. Atticus's Letter to Cyril of Alexandria about that matter. Cyril's sharp Answer to Atticus. Cyril's Prejudices against Chrysostom, how taken off. He is reconciled to his memory. S. Chrysostom's Remains, when and by whom removed from Comana to Constantinople. The great Pomp and Solemnity of that Translation. S. Chrysostom's Writings enumerated. Pag. 531.     

The APPENDIX.  
The Life of ARNOBIUS. Hls Country, Education, and opening a School for rhetoric. His bigotry for Paganism. Converted to Christianity, when, and how. forced to writ Adversus Gentes, to give satisfaction of the truth of his Conversion. His great joy for his being rescued from Gentilism. His Learning. Abatements to be made for his want of skill in Christian Theology. His style, method, and way of Writing. The Commentaries upon the Psalms under his name, whose. The time of his Death inquired into. Pag. 1.  
The Life of LACTANTIUS. His Birth-place. His Education under Arnobius. The first Essay of his Parts and Learning Diocletian's study to advance Nicomedia. Lactantius sent for thither to profess rhetoric. The Books he wrote at his first coming thither. The design of his Book De opificio Dei. The original and progress of the Persecution raised by Diocletian against the Christians, and by whom contrived and carried on. Two learned Men at Nicomedia undertake to writ against Christianity. The account Lactantius gives of the former. The latter, Hierocles. The main design of his Book. These two undertaken by Lactantius. His Defence of the Christian Religion in his seven Books of Institutions. The particular design and sum of each of these Books. These Books, when written: Not originally dedicated to Constantine the Great. Lactantius preferred to be Tutor to Crispus, Constantine's eldest Son. His Book De mortibus persecutorum, when written. The excellency of that Tract. His Death, and Poverty. His great Parts and Learning. His odd or ambiguous expressions upon what accounts excusable. His excellent Style. His Writings. Pag. 4.  
The Life of PAUL Bishop of Constantinople. His Ancestors, whence. His sustaining the Inferior ecclesiastic Orders under Metrophanes and Alexander. His succeeding in that See, when. His subscribing in the Synod of Tyre, questioned. The Arians conspire, and prefer Articles against him. His first Banishment under Constantine. His return. Eusebius of Nicomedia his ambitious intrusion into his See. Paul's flight to Rome, and courteous reception by Pope Julius. Eusebius his Death. Macedonius thrust up into that See. A great Hubub and Sedition at Constantinople about that matter. Constantius his speedy return, suspension of Macedonius, and banishment of Paulus. His releasement in order to the Synod at Sardica, but not permitted by his People to go thither. His last banishment, and private conveyance to Cucusus in armoniac. Messengers sent after to dispatch him. Close imprisoned, starved and strangled. Remarkable punishment of Philip the governor, the manager of his murder. The honourable Translation of his Remains under Theodosius the Great. Pag. 12.  
The Life of JULIUS Bishop of Rome. His Birth-place and Kindred. His advancement to the See of Rome, when. His zeal for the catholic Cause; his kindness to, and concernment for Athanasius and others. His citing the Eusebian Faction to a public hearing. Athanasius acquitted by him in a Synod at Rome. Julius's Letter to the Synod at Antioch. Gregory of Alexandria his Agents rejected at Rome. The Libel of satisfaction, presented by Valens and Ursacius to Julius. Julius deposed by the Eastern Bishops at Sardica. The Canons for Appeals to Rome passed in the Synod at Sardica, shew'd to be not standing Rules, but only personal and provisionary, and suited to that time. Julius's Letter to congratulate the return of Athanasius, his public Buildings at Rome. The time of his death. Supposititious Epistles entitled to him. His Writings. Pag. 18.  
The Life of EUSEBIUS Bishop of Emisa. The place of his Nativity. His early Education in the knowledge of the Scriptures. His instruction in Divine and human Learning, under what Masters. His declining the offer of a bishopric. The improvement of his Studies at Alexandria. His peremptory refusal of the See of Alexandria, then vacated by the Council of Antioch; and why. Ordained Bishop of Emisa, but excepted against by the People, upon what account. His retirement, and return back to that Charge. His death. The great esteem had of him. The charge of Arianism and Sabellianism, by different Parties fastened upon him. His Parts and Learning. Homilies falsely fathered on him. An enquiry whether any of his Writings be now extant. Pag. 23.  
The Life of EPHRAIM the Syrian, Deacon of Edessa. His Birth-place. The care taken of his Education. The great pregnancy and strictness of his early Age. His eloquent Speech presignified to him by a Vision. His vast attainments in Learning. His retired Life. His changing that Course, and fixing at Edessa. What happened to him at his first coming thither. His sober and abstemious course of life. His feigning himself distracted, to avoid the offer of a bishopric. His Journey to Caesarea to converse with S. Basil, and the satisfaction he reaped by that intercourse. His return to Edessa. The extraordinary care he took of the Poor in a common Famine. His charge to his Friends upon his Death-bed. What happened to one that complied not with that charge. His dying Reflections upon the integrity of his life; and last Exhortation. The time of his death. His exemplary Piety, and love to God, purity of mind, devotion, abstinence, contempt of the World, Charity and Humility. His hearty and immovable Zeal for the catholic Faith. His memorable device to shane and confounded Apollinaris. His natural and acquired accomplishments. The great advantages of his natural Eloquence. The elegancy of his Discourses, though translated into other Languages. His composing Hymns for the use of the Syrian Churches, in imitation of Bardesanes. The vast number of his Writings. None of these extant, but what are translated into Latin. Pag. 26.  
The Life of DAMASUS Bishop of Rome. His Country. Contest about the particular place of his Nativity. Presbyter of Rome under Liberius. His siding with Faelix during Liberius his Exile. restored by Liberius. The Competition between him and Ursicinus about the See of Rome. The mischiefs happening during these dissensions. The bloody and violent Proceedings of Damasus against Ursicinus and his Party, related by Marcellinus and Faustinus. What credibility in their reports. His Synodical condemning the Transactions of the Council of Ariminum. S. Basil's resentment of his coldness and indifferency in the Cause of the catholic Churches of the East. Consulted by S. Jerom, with whom to communicate at Antioch. The Apollinarian heresy condemned in a Synod at Rome. Vitalis head of the Party, abjures his Errors there. A large Confession of Faith sent by Damasus to Paulinus. The Second general Council not holden by his Authority. A Canon of his, asserting the Supremacy of the Church of Rome against the Decree of Constantinople, pretended by Baronius. The {αβγδ} in the Constantinopolitan Canon, what. The great Age and Death of Pope Damasus. His public Buildings. His intimate correspondence with S. Jerom. The Liber Pontificalis falsely ascribed to him. His skill in Poetry. His Writings. Pag. 33.  
The Life of AMPHILOCHIUS Bishop of Iconium. His Originals obscure. His monastic Life; Companion therein to Basil and Nazianzen. Fabulous reports concerning the manner of his being consecrated Bishop of Iconium. S. Basil's Letter to him to congratulate his Election to that See. Appointed one of the Commissioners for admitting Persons to Communion by the Council at Constantinople. His vigorous opposing the Arians and other heretics, especially the Massalians. The Rise and Principles of that Sect. Its condemnation in a Synod at Sida, wherein he presided. Present in a Synod at Constantinople to determine a controversy about the See of Bostra. His great Age. The time of his death uncertain. The high esteem S. Basil had of him, and the excellent Character he gives him. Several Spurious or Doubtful Pieces entitled to him. His Writings. Pag. 40.  
The Life of GREGORY Bishop of Nyssa. His Country, Parents, and Kindred. Education, and love of rhetoric. Hardly drawn off to the study of Theology. His Preferment to the See of Nyssa. His Zeal for the catholic Interest. banished by the Arian Faction, and hardly used. Delegated by a Synod at Antioch to visit the Eastern Churches. His Journey into Arabia; thence to Jerusalem. His entertainment there, and Survey of that place. His return, and large Letter against making Pilgrimages to Jerusalem. The unanswerable Reasons he offers in that matter His visiting his Sister Macrina, and assisting at her Death. His Book De Anima& Resurrectione, on what occasion penned. His going to the Council at Constantinople. His Book against Eunomius. His Funeral Sermons for the Empress Placcilla, and her Daughter Pulcheria. When we meet with the last mention of him. His singular Learning and Eloquence. His Writings enumerated. Pag. 43.   
The End of the CONTENTS.   

AN INTRODUCTION: CONTAINING AN Historical Account Of the STATE of PAGANISM UNDER THE FIRST Christian Emperours.  

SECT. I. The State of Paganism under the Reign of CONSTANTINE the Great. 
Pa 1.   depiction of coin  
The design of the Introduction. Constantine succeeds in the Empire. His eminent Preservation and Escape. He assumes the Title of Augustus. His march against Maxentius, and secret care and thoughtfulness about Religion. The Vision of the across appearing to him, with the form of it. Hereupon instructed in, and converted to Christianity. His victory over Maxentius, and the Honours done him at Rome. His first Edicts in favour of Christians. The Gentiles vexed at his kindness to Christians, and his neglecting the Ludi Saeculares. The favourable Edict, and miserable End of Maximinus. Licinius raises a grievous Persecution in the East, is encountered by Constantine, overthrown, and put to death. The Imperial Monarchy resting in Constantine. His Laws against soothsayers, and the practisers of Magic Charms. His care about the Lord's day, and form of Prayer prescribed to his Heathen Soldiers to be used upon that day. The Gentiles forbidden to compel Christians to be present at their Solemn Rites. Laws made in behalf of Christians. The Emperours Letters to the Provincial Governours, persuading the Gentiles to come over to Christianity. The Seat of the Empire removed from Rome to Constantinople, and why. The great Privileges conferred upon that City. Constantine's care to rout and expose all Monuments of Pagan Impiety there. The successful propagation of Christianity in several Countries without the bounds of the Roman Empire. Severer Proceedings against Pagan Superstitions. Commissions dispatched into several Countries for the routing all Monuments of Idolatry. Temples shut up, and many of them demolished. Greater connivance herein at Rome and Alexandria, than in other places. Constantine's Death; his Piety; and the happy state of his Reign above that of preceding Emperours.  
I. BY what means and methods the Christian Religion made its own way into the world, and unassisted by any Secular Power or Interest, triumphed over all the opposition that was made against it, has been considered in another place. The subject of this Discourse will be to observe by what degrees Paganism, that part of it especially that was the public and standing Religion of the Roman Empire, a Religion that for so many Ages had influenced the Minds of Men, and seemed firmly rooted by Custom, Laws, and an inveterate prescription, was driven into corners, and in effect banished out of the World. The main of the Story lies within the compass of the Age we writ of, and being a Subject both pleasant in itself, and that which will reflect no mean Light upon several passages in the following Lives, it will not, I conceive, be unuseful here to lay it all together. The account whereof we shall briefly deduce from the time that the Empire became Christian.  
II. CONSTANTINE the Great was born in Britain, as all impartial Writers, not biased either by Envy at ours, or by a Concernment for the Honour of their own Country, are willing to allow. A thing owned by some, not contradicted by any Writer of that Age, asserted by the very Orator 
Paneg. Maxim.& Constant. dict. p. 3.  in the Congratulatory Oration that he made to him. His Father Constantius, a wise, merciful, and virtuous Prince, died at York on the 25th of July, Ann. Chr. CCCVI. His Son Constantine had for some years resided in the Court of Diocletian, and after in that of Galerius Maximian in the East, where he was kept as an honourable Pledge, and as a check and restraint upon his Father. Galerius hated 
Lactant. de mortib whereout. c. 24. p. 47. Edit. Oxon. Vid. Zosim. l. 2. p. 672. Aur. Victor. de Caesar. c. 40. p. 310.  the Father, and was jealous of the Son, whom he would have taken off by a violent death, had he not feared the Army, to whom he knew Constantine was very dear. He sought therefore under pretence of Sports and marshal Exercises to have dispatched him out of the way; but the Divine Providence still brought him off. His Father had often sent for him, and had as oft been delayed. And now again in his Sickness had renewed his Importunity, till Galerius ashamed any longer to deny so reasonable a request, gave him a Warrant under Seal to be gone, intending nothing less, but that by some device he would stop his Journey, and therefore willed him to come to him again the next Morning to receive his final Instructions and Commands. But no sooner was the Emperour gone to bed, but Constantine immediately took Horse, and at every Stage where he came, besides those few he made use of, he ham-string'd all the Post-Horses that he left behind him. The next day Galerius called for him, but was  told, That he was gone the night before: He gave order to go after him, and when he understood that all the Post-Horses were disabled, he burst out into an equal passion of Rage and Grief. Constantine in the mean while made hast, and arrived at York four days before his Father died. Upon whose decease, and by whose Last-Will he succeeded in the Western Empire, unanimously saluted by the joyful Acclamations of the Army, and readily submitted to by the Western Provinces. His Image, 
Zosim. l. 2. p. 672.  as was customary upon the advancement of a new Emperour, being publicly exhibited at Rome, provoked the Ambition of Maxentius, Son of Maximianus Herculius, who had resigned the Empire to Constantius, who looking upon himself as having a better Right, and every way as fit for government, by the help of some great Officers, whom he gained to his Party, usurped the Empire, tho he paid dear for it a few years after.  
III. CONSTANTINE having solemnized his Father's Funerals, and settled his Affairs in Britain, passed over with his Army into gall, where he resided the six first years of his Reign, all which time he continued in the gentle Religion; but that, as Zonaras 
Annal. Tom. III. p. 3.  adds, he should at the solicitation of his Wife Fausta, Daughter of the Emperour Maximian, who stirred him up to a zealous Vindication of Pagan Idolatry, persecute the Christians, is, I believe, merely a conjecture of his own, unwarranted by the Authority of any ancient Writer. He contented himself as yet with the name of Caesar, 
Panegyr. ubi supr. Lact. ibid. c. 25. p. 49.  not presently assuming the Title of Augustus or Emperour, expecting the signior Emperour should have sent him that Title; but in vain: For no sooner was his Image wreathed with the Imperial Laurel presented to Galerius, but he was resolved to have thrown both it and the Messenger into the Fire, had not his Friends upon wise considerations over-ruled his Anger. That therefore he might seem to do voluntarily what he could not help, he sent him the Purple, but withall made Severus Emperour, and gave him only the Title of caesar. But Constantine stood in no need of his Approbation to confirm his Title; his Fathers declared Will 
Vid. Eumer. Paneg. Constant. dict. p. m. 94.  for his Succession, and the Universal Consent, both of the Army, and the whole West, put his Right beyond dispute. Besides, Maximianus Herculius, who, together with Diocletian, had some years since laid down the Purple, did now again endeavour to resume it, and upon some ill success of his Affairs fled into gall to Constantine, to whom he gave the Title of Augustus, together with his Daughter Fausta to Wife into the bargain. Here Constantine governed with great success, till hearing from all hands of the intolerable Outrages 
Euseb. de vit. Const. l. 1. c. 26, 27. &c. p. 420. &c.  and insolences committed by Maxentius at Rome, and solicited 
Zonar. ibid.  by an Embassy sent to him for that purpose from the Senate and People of that City, he took up a resolution worthy of so great a mind, to march against him, and free the City from the Tyranny and Extravagancies of that Usurper. No sooner was he engaged in this Expedition, but like a prudent and good Man he began to think of some assistance beyond the mere strength and courage of his Army, and knowing there was great variety of Deities at that time worshipped in the World, his first care was, which of these to pitch upon, and implore as his Protector and tutelar Guardian. He observed the fatal miscarriages of his Predecessors, that had stickled hard for a multiplicity of Gods, had reposed entire confidence in their assistance, and courted their favour by all the formal and fond Rites of Worship; notwithstanding all which, their Wars had been generally improsperous, and they themselves brought to unfortunate and untimely ends: On the contrary, that his Father had acknowledged and adored one only God, and him the supreme governor of the World, who had strangely succeeded his Undertakings, and given him many illustrious Instances of a Divine Power and Goodness through the whole Series of his Life; so thereupon he grew to this Resolution, to lay aside the vulgar Deities, who 'tis plain did but pretend to Divinity, and cheat the World, and to adhere only to the God of his Father; to whom therefore he addressed himself, beseeching him to make himself known to him, and effectually to assist him in this expedition. And Heaven heard his Prayer, and answered it in a most miraculous manner, so wonderful, that Eusebius, who reports it, grants, it would not have been credible, if he had not had it from Constantine's own mouth, who solemnly ratified the truth of it with his Oath. The Army was upon their march, and the Emperour taken up with these devout Ejaculations, when the Sun declining,( about three of the Clock, as 'tis probable, in the Afternoon) there suddenly appeared a Pillar of Light in the Heavens in the fashion of a across, whereon( or as others, about it) was this Inscription( in Latin say some, but Eusebius mentions not that) expressed in Letters formed by a configuration of Stars,( if what Philostorgius, 
H. Eccl. l. 1. c. 6 p. 469. Zonar loc. cit.  and some others report, be true) {αβγδ}, In this Overcome. Constantine was not a little startled at this sight, and so was the whole Army that beholded it; and 'tis plain, the Commanders and Officers, prompted by their Aruspices, looked upon it as an inauspicious Omen, portending a very unfortunate Expedition. The Emperour himself knew not what to make of it, musing upon it all that Evening: At Night our Lord appeared to him in a Dream with the across in his hand, 
Vid. etiam Lactant. ibid. c. 44. p. 79.  which he had shew'd him the day before, commanding him to make a Royal Standard like that which he had seen in the Heavens, and cause it to be born before him in his Wars as an Ensign of Victory and Safety. Early the next Morning he got up, and  told his Friends what had happened, and sending immediately for Workmen, sat down by them, and described to them the form of the thing, which he commanded them to make with the most exquisite Artifice and Magnificence, and they made it accordingly after this manner: A long Spear picked over with Gold, with a Traverse piece at the top a little obliqne, in the fashion of a across; to this Cross-piece was fastened a four-square Curtain of purple, embroidered and beset with Gold and precious Stones, which reflected a most amazing lustre, and towards the top of it were pictured the Emperour in the midst of his Sons. On the top of the shaft above the across stood a Crown over-laid with Gold and Jewels, within which were placed the sacred Symbol, viz. the two first Letters of Christ's name in Greek, X and P, 
 depiction of sacred symbol  the one being struck through the other as in the Margin. This Device he afterwards wore in his Shields, as not only Eusebius tells us, but is evident by some of his Coins extant at this day. This Imperial Standard in all his Wars was carried before him; and my Author assures us, he had often seen it. And in imitation of this he caused Banners( which they called Labara) to be made for the rest of the Army, continued by his Christian Successors, tho not always keeping exactly to the same form. 'tis true, the gentle Writers make no express mention of this apparition of the across, nor is it reasonable to expect they should: But this they confess, which they say was a currant and uncontradicted report in the mouth of all, that before this Engagement an Army in the Air was seen to come down from Heaven, persons of great strength and stature, with vigorous and cheerful looks, and bright flaming armor, who were heard to say, We seek for Constantine, we are come to assist him; as the Heathen Orator 
Nazar. Paneg. Constant. dict. p. 71.  tells us in that very Oration, wherein he congratulated the Victory.  
IV. CONSTANTINE had a mighty curiosity to be farther instructed in these Divine significations, and therefore calling for some Christian Bishops, asked them, who this God was, and what he meant by this sign. They  told him, the person that had done this was the only-begotten Son of the one only God; the Sign that had appeared to him was the Symbol of Immortality, and the Trophy of that Victory, which this God while he was upon Earth, had gained over Death: They explained to him the reasons of his coming down from Heaven, and the state of his Incarnation, and undertaking the cause of Mankind. He heard their Discourses with great pleasure and satisfaction, but kept himself upon the reserve, like a wary and prudent Man, not giving too much way at first; he oft compared the heavenly Vision with what they had discoursed to him upon that Argument, and the more he did so, the more he was satisfied, not doubting but that in due time God would more perfectly discover these things to him; in order whereunto he resolved at leisure hours to peruse the Holy Scriptures. But herein he kept his thoughts to himself, nor indeed for the present was it safe for him to declare them. However assured in his own mind he marched through Italy, 
Euseb. ibid. c. 37, 38. p. 426. Vid. Liban. Or. III. p. 105.  against all opposition almost to the very Walls of Rome, encamping his Army( consisting, says Zosimus, 
Lib. 2. p. 676.  of ninety thousand Foot, and eight thousand Horse) in a large Plain before the City. Maxentius was a Man 
Vid. Paneg. II. Constant. p. 42. &c. Zosim. l. 2. p. 676. Lactant. loc. supr. citat. A. Vict. c. 40. p. 313.  that wholly gave up himself to Ease and Luxury, dividing his time between Pleasure and Superstition. He never went out of the City; and seldom out of the Palace; so intolerably idle, that to remove into the Salustian Gardens,( tho to enjoy a fresh scene of pleasure) was accounted a Journey, and an Expedition, as the Orator justly jeers him. But Constantine now approaching, he saw he must leave the City, and therefore plied the Altars with numerous Sacrifices, and commanded the Sibylline Books to be searched, and the answer brought him was, That that day the great Enemy of Rome should perish. This he understood of Constantine, and applied the success to himself, and the rather 'tis like, because it was then his Birthday. So having put all things into the best posture he could, he quitted the City, and came out against Constantine with far more numerous Forces, his Infantry consisting of an hundred and seventy thousand Foot, and his Cavalry of eighteen thousand Horse, a great part whereof being Romans and Italians, and having smarted so much under his insolent Tyranny, desired nothing more than to see him fall at the Enemies foot. The Engagement was fierce and bloody, till Victory having hovered a while, restend on Constantine's side, for the Enemies Cavalry being routed, the whole Army fled, and thinking to escape the nearest way by a Bridge of Boats, which Maxentius had built over the tiber, and had contrived with secret Springs and engines on purpose to drown Constantine if he passed that way, were caught in their own Trap, and fell into the Pit which they had digged for others. For the engines giving way, the Boats partend, and overpress'd with the weight of the Company sunk to the bottom of the River, and Maxentius himself along with them, whose Body being found, his Head was strike off, and carried upon a Pole before the Army.  
V. AN entire Victory thus obtained, Constantine made a triumphant Entry into the City, being met by the Senate, Nobility, and infinite crowds of people, whose cheerful Faces, and loud Acclamations, sufficiently testified the sense they had of their Deliverance, publicly styling him their Saviour, Redeemer, and the Author of their Happiness. The first thing he did was to set up a standing Monument of his Gratitude to that God, by whose assistance he had gained the Victory, which he did, or rather the Senate by his direction, by erecting a Statue to him in the most eminent part of the City,( and this I take to be the Signum, which the Orator 
Paneg. supr. cit. p. 47. vid. A. Vict. ubi supr.  says, the Senate had lately bestowed upon him, and which a little after he calls a Golden Statue) holding in his hand a long Spear in form of a across, with an Inscription in the Basis of it to this effect: 
Hanc Inscriptionem Latino Sermone factam, Graece exhibet Eusebius Hist. Eccl. l. 9. c. 9. p. 359. his verbis. {αβγδ}.  
HOC SALUTARI SIGNO, QUOD VERAE VIRTUTIS 
 ARGUMENTUM EST, VESTRAM URBEM 
 TYRANNICAE DOMINATIONIS JUGO 
 LIBERATAM SERVAVI 
 SENATUI POPULOQ. ROMANO 
 IN LIBERTATEM ASSERTO 
 PRISTINUM DECUS NOBILITATIS 
 SPLENDOREMQ. RESTITUI.  Intimating, that under the influence of that victorious across, he had delivered their City from the Yoke of tyrannical Power, and had restored to the Senate and People of Rome their ancient Glory and splendour. Several other Monuments with Inscriptions they set up for him, remains whereof are still to be found among the Antiquities of Rome, particularly at the foot of the Palatine Mount,( whereon stood the Imperial Palace) they erected a triumphal Arch, whereon they acknowledged the great Deliverance he had wrought to be done INSTINCTU DIVINITATIS as well as MENTIS MAGNITUDINE, by the impulse and assistance of God, no less than by his own Courage and pvissance.  
VI. HAVING settled Affairs at Rome, and endeared himself to all sorts of persons, he began by little and little more openly to declare himself in favour of the Christians, tho so as not to fall presently upon the Gentiles. But that he himself was now fully settled in the Christian Faith, is evident, not only from several Laws 
Vid. C. Th. lib. 16. Tit. II. l. 1 not. Gothofred. ibid.  which he published in favour of the Clergy, and about the Affairs of Christians not long after his Victory over Maxentius,( this Victory was obtained about the midst of November, Ann. Chr. CCCXII.) but also from the Answer 
Ap. Optat. de Schism. Donat. l. 1. p. 27.  which the next year he gave to the Donatists, who petitioned him to assign them Judges in France, to adjust the Controversies between them and the Catholics, You desire judgement from me( said he) here below, when I myself expect the judgement of Christ. The first Edict 
Ext. ap. Euseb. H. Eccl. l. 10. c. 5. p 388. ( now extant, for in it they refer to a former) that opened the way, was that published at Milan, Ann. CCCXIII. by himself and his Brother in Law Licinius, who had some time since been created Caesar, whereby they granted a general Toleration to all Religions, more especially to the Christians, that none should disturb them in their Profession, or their way of Worship, nor hinder any that had a mind to embrace Christianity, and that their Churches and places of Assembly, and all the Incomes and Revenues belonging to them that had been confiscated and taken from them, should forthwith be freely and entirely restored to them, and the present Purchasers or Possessors be repaired out of the Exchequer. A Copy of this Edict they sent to Maximinus, who governed in the Eastern Parts, requesting him to do the like. He was an obstinate and sturdy Pagan, and being neither willing to grant, nor yet daring to deny their Desires, suppressed their Edict, and directed a Rescript 
Ext. ib. l. 9. c. 9. p. 360.  to Sabinus, setting forth what care and pains his Predecessors Diocletian and Maximian had used to secure their Religion against the encroachments of Christianity, that at his coming the last year to Nicomedia, he had been earnestly solicited both there and in other places, that no Christian might be suffered to inhabit their City; however his pleasure was, that the Governours of the Provinces should use no severity against the Christians, but treat them with all mildness and moderation, and rather try by clemency and kind persuasions to reduce them to the worship of the Gods, which if any of them would harken to, they should most readily receive them; but if they had rather persist in their own Religion, they should be left to the freedom of their own choice. This Rescript as it was extorted, so was it so straighten'd, as it did little good. The Christians knew the Man too well, and the zeal and fierceness of his temper, to trust him, no provision being made in it for their Churches, but only a general indemnity from trouble, they durst neither build Churches, nor keep their public Assemblies, nor for the present so much as openly profess themselves Christians, but kept upon their Guard, awaiting a more fit and favourable Season. Constantine in the mean time went on in his kindness 
Id. de vit. Const. l. 1. c. 42. p. 429. H. Eccl. l. 10. c. 5, 6, 7. p. 390. &c. vid. l. 1. C Th. Tit. II. l. 1.& seqq.  to them, their Bishops he received with all due honour and respect, taking them along with him in all his journeys, and oft entertaining them at his own Table; by several constitutions he exempted the Clergy from all Civil and Secular Offices and Employments, with which hitherto they had been sorely vexed, received their Appeals, and appointed Commissioners to umpire and end the Controversies that arose amongst them, and( which was a kindness beyond that of his Successors) freed 
C. Th. lib. XI. Tit. 1. l. 1. p. 6.  the Churches from the Taxes and Tributes ordinarily assess'd upon all other Persons and Societies; and if the Commentator 
Vid. Gothofred. in lib. 9. Tit. V. l. unic. Tit. XVIII. l. unic. Tit. XL. l. 2.  upon the Theodotian Code hit it right,( which yet methinks is not very clear from the Laws themselves) he took away about this time the punishment by Crucifixion, the most slavish and ignominious method of Execution( which the very Heathen Historian remarks in him, as an argument of a noble and generous Mind, tho he did it chiefly) out of Reverence to our Saviour's Passion; he might have added, and out of Honour to that Heavenly Vision of the across that had so lately appeared to him, 
Eo pus, ut etiam vetus veterrimumque( f. teterrimum) supplicium patibulorum& cruribus suffringendis primus removerit: hinc pro conditore, seu Deo habitus. A. Vict. Schotti. c. 41. p. 315.  as the forerunner of a happy Victory.  
VII. ALL this the Gentiles beholded with an envious and malicious Eye, as what certainly prophesied the fatal declension, if not final overthrow of their Religion; and were more confirmed in these suspicions, when they saw the Emperour neglected 
Zosim. l. 2. p. 671.  the Celebration of the Ludi Saeculares, or Solemn Games, that were wont to be kept for three days and nights with unusual Magnificence and Devotion, with abundance of pompous Sacrifices, peculiar and appropriate Hymns, and a long train of other Ceremonies. They were holden but once every hundred years, or a few years under or over, whence the Crier that proclaimed them used to do it in this form, Come hither and behold those Sports, which no man alive ever saw before, or shall see again. The period of the last Century was now run out, and fell in with Ann. Chr. CCCXIII. But the Emperour took no notice of them, for which the Gentiles severely censured him, not only looking upon it as an Argument of his aversion to their Religion, but crying out against it as pernicious to the State, and that which drew down the vengeance of the Gods upon it. And it added not a little to their Trouble, when they found that Maximinus himself, upon whom they relied so much, began to turn upon them: For falling out with Licinius, 
Euseb. H. Eccl. 9. c. 10. p. 363.  and being miserable defeated by him, notwithstanding all the vain hopes and assurances, wherewith his Priests and soothsayers had blown him up into a confidence of Success and Victory, at his return home he put several of them to death as Cheats and Impostors, and Traitors to his Life and Crown. And either in spite to them, or in this declining state of his Affairs to keep in with so numerous a Party, he published an Edict 
Ext. ap. Eus. loc. cit.  in behalf of the Christians, wherein he confirmed the Rescript which he had sent to Sabinus the year before, and supplied now what was defective in it, viz. the restitution of their Churches, with all those Revenues and Possessions which had been seized into the Exchequer, and either sold, or bestowed upon any public Corporations, or private persons. Not long after, just as he was resolved to try his fortunes in a second battle, he was struck with infinite pains and torments all over his Body, so that in a little time he wasted to nothing, and his very Eye-sight failing, he became stark blind, and died at Tarsus, confessing upon his Death-bed, that all this was but a just punishment upon him for his spiteful and virulent proceedings against Christ, and his Religion. The Churches hereupon in those parts began exceedingly to flourish, and the Christians for the present enjoyed a very serene and prosperous Season.  
VIII. BUT alas! this peace and security lasted not long; for Licinius, who had hitherto dissembled with Constantine and the World, having now the whole Eastern Empire at his Command, began to show himself in his own Colours; he hearty espoused the cause of the Gentiles, which he sought every where to relieve and support, and by a Law 
Socr. l. 1. c. 3. p. 8.  expressly forbade the Christian Bishops to go to the Houses of the Gentiles, lest by their intimate Converse with them they might have an opportunity of propagating Christianity among them. Nor content with this, he took all occasions of venting his Spleen and Malice, raising one of the hottest Persecutions against the Christians, whom he every where pursued with all possible Cruelties; so that( as Eusebius 
De vit. Const. l. 1. c. 49. &c. p. 432. &c. l. 2. c. 1, 2. &c. p. 433. usque ad c. 19. p. 452. vid. Zosim. l. 2. p. 678. &c.  observes) the East and the West seemed like night and day, a dreadful Darkness overspread all the Eastern Parts, while the West sate under the warm and benign Sun-shine of Prosperity and Peace. In compassion to whose deplorable case, and to chastise this Man's monstrous Inconstancy and Ingratitude,( whom no ties of Blood, Friendship, or Interest, could oblige) and his horrible Perfidiousness and hypocrisy, Constantine resolved upon an Expedition against him. The Armies first met at Cybalis in Panonia, where Licinius was worsted, but afterwards recollecting his Forces, engaged again in Thrace, at what time Constantine, in the midst of his Bishops and Chaplains, was earnestly engaging Heaven by Prayer to be on his side, while Licinius on the other hand laughed at him, and calling for his Priests and Fortune-tellers, his Aruspices or Diviners, fell to sacrificing, inquiring what judgement they made by inspecting the entrails of the Beasts; the Expounders of Dreams likewise were at hand, and the auspexes that divined by the flight of Birds, who unanimously agreed, that Success would wait upon him. Whereupon he took the chief Officers of his Army into a private Grove, thick set with the Images of their Gods, where having lighted Torches, and performed the accustomed Sacrifices, he made this Oration to them, which my Author had from the mouth of those that heard it. Gentlemen, said he, and Fellow-Soldiers, these are the Gods of our Country, whom we worship according to immemorial Custom and Tradition derived from our Ancestors. The Enemy that fights against us, is one that has renounced the Religion of his Country, and joined himself to an impious Sect, and being thus imposed on, has chosen I know not what strange Deity for his God, with whose infamous sign he dishonours his Army, and in confidence of it is come forth not so much against us, as against the Gods themselves, whom he has thus vilified and rejected. To day will show which of us is in the right, and whether ours or theirs be the true Gods. For either the Victory which we shall obtain, will evidently declare our Gods to be the Saviours and Deliverers, or if notwithstanding their number this strange and obscure God of Constantine shall get the better, no Man will then any longer doubt which God he ought to worship, but will go over to the most powerful Deity, and ascribe to him the honour of the Victory. And if this strange God, whom we now so much despise, shall appear to be the more powerful Being, we ourselves also ought to embrace and adore him, and bid adieu to those, to whom we have lighted our Tapers to so little purpose. But if ours carry the day, which no Man can doubt, after such a signal Victory, we may securely go on in our attempts against these impious Contemners of the Gods. The Armies now faced each other, and Constantine having piously recommended his Cause to God, gave the Signal, the Imperial Standard of the across was born before him, fifty Men being peculiarly deputed to guard it, and to carry it by turns; which way soever it turned, the Enemy fled, so that when the Emperour saw any part of the Army pressed hard upon, he called for the across to that place, and it turned the Scale. The Engagement was renewed in several Encounters, till the Enemies Forces being wholly broken, the greatest part threw down their Arms, and yielded, and Licinius himself fled the Field; who finding his Affairs desperate, betook himself to his old arts of Treachery and Dissimulation, begging Peace with Constantine, who readily accepted the motion, the other ratifying it with his Oath. But what Obligations can hold a bad Man? All is soon forgotten, and Licinius raises another Army, but charges his Soldiers to offer no violence to the Standard of the across, nor to engage near it. The battle, tho bloody, went against him, who fled thereupon to Nicomedia, whither Constantine followed, and besieged him. But he surrendered himself upon condition of life, which he promised to led private and obscure, and which some say Constantine granted, and confirmed with his Oath. However that was, he sent him to Thessalonica, and there, upon his attempting new Seditions, put him to death.  
IX. BY the death of Licinius the whole Government of the Empire devolved upon Constantine, who immediately restored 
Euseb. de vit C. l. 2. c. 19. &c. p. 452.  Peace and tranquillity to the Christians, and directed several Orders to the Provincial Governours, whereby they recalled the banished, released those that had been put upon Offices, restored Estates to those that had lost them, set at liberty the imprisoned, and those who had been condemned to the Mines, or any other slavery, all whom he bountifully rewarded; and for them that had suffered Martyrdom, he commanded their Goods and Lands to be restored to them that were next a kin, or where they had no Relations, to be appropriated to the uses of the Church. Of all which his prolix Edict 
Ext. ib. c. 24.& seqq. p. 455.  sent to the Provincial Governours of Palestine,( and the same no doubt to other places) is a sufficient Evidence. Great Encouragement the Gentiles, even in the Western Parts, had taken from the Patronage of Licinius, whom they hoped to see the prevailing conqueror, and perhaps might by some secret and mystic Rites of their Religion endeavour to promote his success; so that even during those Wars Constantine was forced to lay some check upon them. By two Laws, 
C. Th. lib. 9. Tit. XVI. l. 1.& 2. p. 114.  Ann. CCCXIX. the one directed to Maximus Provost of the City, the other to the People of Rome, he forbade the Aruspices or soothsayers, and all the rest of that divining Tribe, to exercise their Skill within any private House under any pretence whatsoever, adjudging the soothsayer so offending to be burnt, and the person that consulted him and received him into his House, to confiscation of Estate, and banishment into some remote iceland; but withall, permitting them to exercise their Art at the public Altars and Temples, and in the open light, where every one might see and hear what was done or said. Two years after by another Rescript 
Ib. lib. 16. Tit. X. l. 1. p. 257.  to the same Provost he gave leave, in case of mischief done by Lightning, publicly to consult these Aruspices, but with this limitation, which laid no small Restraint upon them, That their Answers and Interpretations should be sent to the Emperour in writing: Not that he approved these Diabolical Rites, but to try what Principles they suggested to the People, and to keep them in awe, well knowing how apt the Gentiles, who were vexed at his espousing Christianity, would be under these pretences to consult and carry on Designs against the peace and safety of the Empire. About six Months after he prohibited 
Ib. lib. 9 ubi supr. l. 3.  all Sorceries and Magic Charms, that were used either against the health and lives of persons, or to inveigle Men's Affections to unchaste Love, permitting such only as were accounted harmless, either for the curing or alleviating of Distempers, or the driving away pernicious Storms and Tempests. The same year he provided, 
Ib. lib 4. Tit. VII. leg. unic.  that Slaves( heretofore emancipated in the Pagan Temples) might be made free in the Christian Churches in the presence of the Bishop; and that Clergy-men might do it alone, and by word of mouth, without any formal Writing. That this Solemnity 
Ib. lib. 2. Tit. VIII. l. 1.  might be performed upon a Sunday, tho all Contentions, Controversies, and Law-Suits, were utterly forbid upon that day. Indeed this good Emperour took all imaginable care to secure the honour and observation of the Lord's day, he commanded 
Eus. de vit. C. l. 4. c. 18, 19, 20. p. 534. Sozom. l. 1. c. 8. p. 412.  it to be set apart for Prayer and Holy Exercises, that Priests and Deacons should constantly attend upon them, that all persons should, as far as might be, be drawn to it, and that his great Officers and Commanders should set them a good Example, and accompany the Emperour in his Devotions on that day. And that none might be then unemploy'd, he took care that his Pagan Army should be busied in Prayer to Heaven, as the only giver of all Victory, and upon every Lord's day should go out in the open Fields, and there, upon a Signal given, fall down, and offer up their Requests in a form of Prayer, which himself composed, and commanded them to learn by heart, in these words: We do aclowledge thee to be the only God, we confess thee to be King, upon thee do we call for help. By thee it is, that we have at any time got the Victory, and subdued our Enemies. To thee we thankfully ascribe all our past Blessings, and from thee we expect all for the time to come. We beseech thee to preserve to us our Emperour Constantine, together with his hopeful Progeny, with long Life, Health, and Victory. The like proportionable care he took for Friday, both as to the Cessation from Courts of Judicature, and other Civil Affairs, in memory of our Saviour's Passion, as he had done for the other in honour of his Resurrection.  
X. THE Gentiles vexed at this prosperity of the Christians, omitted no opportunity of venting their Spleen against them. In many places, and at Rome especially, they forced them to join in the Celebration of their Lustra, their solemn Processions, attended with Sacrifices, Hymns, and Festival Entertainments, and sometimes with inspecting the Sibylline Books, which was done in cases of any public necessity, or of Invasion by a Foreign Enemy, or any extreme danger to the State. And perhaps they might pretend the Christians could not refuse it, without declaring themselves Enemies to the Peace of the State, and the Safety of the Emperour, especially at this time, when the Goths had made a violent irruption into Thrace, and the Empire was disquietted with intestine Wars, I mean, the last attempts of the Emperour Licinius. But this was complained of to Constantine, who by a Law, 
C. Th. lib. 16. Tit. II. l. 5. p. 27.  bearing date May the 30th, Ann. CCCXXIII. expressly forbade any such compulsion to be used towards Christians, under the penalty of being publicly beaten with Clubs, if the person offending was of Plebeian rank, but if of better quality, of being severely fined. And in this Edict, as he styles Christianity The most holy Law, so he calls Gentilism Alienam Superstitionem, a strange Superstition. Next he took care, that none should be Governours or Presidents, but who were Christians; or if Gentiles, that they should not offer Sacrifices, and this to extend even to the Praetorian prefects, the highest Officers in the Empire. He published a Law 
Eus. de vit. C. l. 2. c. 44, 45.& seqq. p. 464. &c.  likewise, which he sent to the Governours of Provinces, for the erecting, enlarging, and beautifying the Christians Churches at his own Charge, notice whereof he gave by Letters to the Bishops of the several Churches. That to Eusebius, being the first that was written, is still extant, written Ann. CCCXXIV. soon after the final Defeat of Licinius, whom he styles in it that great Dragon, which by his Ministry God had removed from the Government. Besides this, he wrote a large exhortatory Epistle to the Provincial Governours of the East, wherein with great Wisdom and Piety he persuades all his Subjects to embrace Christianity, a Religion attested by the Heathen Deities themselves, whereof he assures them himself was an Ear-witness, Apollo' s Oracle confessing, that certain righteous persons were the cause why he could no longer deliver out true Oracles. And when Diocletian( whom he then attended) asked, who these Men were? One of the Priests answered, They were the Christians: Which so enraged the bloody Emperour, that he immediately published the most severe merciless Edicts against the Christians, commanding the Judges to contrive more exquisite Instruments of Torment, than what the Law had hitherto provided for them. But tho he endeavoured both by Prayers and Arguments to bring them over to the Truth, yet he still left them to the freedom of their own choice. He would not, he tells them, force them to change their Religion, nor that one Party should offer any injury or violence to the other upon that account: If they would still obstinately persist in their old way, let them enjoy their Temples stuffed with nothing but Lies and Falshoods; assuring them it was not true, what some reported, that he had abolished the Rites of their Temples, and their Religious Solemnities: He wished indeed they would steer the same Course that he had done, and doubted not to have persuaded the World to it, if the power and efficacy of an inveterate error, deep rooted in the minds of Men, had not prejudiced the designed Reformation of Mankind. About the same time he repealed 
Sozom. l. 1. c. 8. p. 410.  the Edicts of his Predecessors, which in maintenance of the Pagan Superstitions in the times of Persecution, they had put out against the Christians, and particularly the cruel and unjust Laws 
C. Th. lib. 15. Tit XIV. l. 1, 2,& 3. p. 404.  and Constitutions of Licinius, as soon after he did the Acts and Decrees of his Judges, tho this was not to extend to any thing which either he or they had warrantably done according to Law.  
XI. CONSTANTINE having now restored perfect peace and tranquillity to the Roman World, took up a resolution of transferring the Seat of the Empire to some other place: Whether it was, because he was offended with the people of Rome for the rude Reflections wherewith they affronted him, when on a Festival day going up with his Retinue to the Capitol he spake contemptibly of those sacred Rites( as Zosimus 
Lib. 2. p. 686.  reports it), or whether because he would not honour that place with his Court, that for so many Ages had been the chief Stage of Idolatry, and the Scene of Martyrdom and Persecution; or whether because he thought the Eastern Parts did more immediately require his Presence to defend them, not only against the encroachments of the Persians, but against the Inroads of the Northern Nations, which at that time did usually thereabouts break in upon them; or whatever else the occasion was, 'twas certainly a Policy very fatal and unfortunate to the Empire. After many Designments he pitched upon Byzantium, a City of Thrace, situate upon the Isthmus, or neck of the Hellespont, a place which Nature seemed to have formed, on propose to command the World. He reedified and enlarged it, beautified it with the most stately and magnificent Buildings, and all the Ornaments which Art could contrive, or Wealth could purchase, or any curious pieces of Antiquity, which Rome or any other Parts could furnish it with. He endowed it with vast privileges and Immunities, peopled it with the best Families he could draw from Rome, or other places, and by a Law( engraven upon a Stone-Pillar, and placed in the Strategium, near the Emperour's Statue on Horse-back) commanded, it should be called NEW ROME, tho in despite of his Edict it retained the honour of his Name, and keeps it to this day. He laid the Foundations November the 26th, Ann. CCCXXVIII. finished and dedicated it about two years after. But what is most proper to be here observed is, that he built 
Eus. ib. l. 3. c. 48. p. 507. Socr. l. 1. c. 16. p. 45.  many noble Churches and Oratories both in the City and Suburbs, wherein he suffered no gentle Altars or Images to be placed, nor any Pagan Festivities to be solemnized, nay, suffered the follies, imposture, and vanities of them to be exposed in the open Streets. I know Zosimus 
Ibid. p. 687.  tells another story, That Constantine set up the Statues of the Heathen Deities in several public places of the City, and that at one end of the four-square Portico that encompassed the Forum, he erected two chapels on purpose, in one whereof he placed the Image of Rhea the Mother of the Gods, in the other that of the Genius or Fortune of Rome. But his known partiality in matters of this nature abates his Credit, especially when set against the express Testimony of those, who lived at that time, and saw what was done. And probable it is, that to make the best of a bad Cause, he laid hold of any Twig which he could bend the contrary way, and represented that as done in honour of their Gods, which was done only by way of Derision and Contempt. But tho Constantine thus routed the Monuments of Pagan Idolatry, yet did he not demolish or deface the Temples, some of which were here standing 
Liban. Otat. de Templ. p. 9.  till the times of Theodosius. Indeed he took away their Sacred Treasures, 
Id. ibid.& p. 22.& Orat. XXVI. p. 591.  and seized the Rents and Revenues belonging to them, which he employed in building those noble and magnificent Structures, wherewith he adorned that Imperial City. Nor did the barbarous Countries go without their share in these happy influences of Christianity. The Indians 
Rusin. l. 1. c. 9. p. 225. Socr. l. 1. c. 19. p. 45. ●oz. l. 2. c. 24. p. 477.  were brought over to the Christian Faith by the ministry of Frumentius, who had been brought up the greatest part of his time there, and whom Athanasius having ordained Bishop, was sent again amongst them. The Iberi, since called Georgians, a People near the Caspian Sea, were converted 
Rusin. c. 10. Socr. c. 19. Soz. ib. c. 7. p. 451.  by means of a Woman-Slave, who being a Christian, was become famous among them for the incomparable strictness and piety of her Life, and her miraculous Cures; among others, she cured the Queen of the Country, and thereby converted her, and by her solicitations, the King himself, who convening his Subjects, preached to them, and persuaded them to embrace the Faith. Hereupon a Church is erected, and an Embassy sent to Constantine to request, that Bishops and Preachers might be sent amongst them to carry on and complete the work. Which was done accordingly, and the Emperour to give an additional honour to their King Bacurius, created him Comes Domesticorum, or controller of his household, from whose own mouth my Author 
Rusin. loc. cit.  received this Relation, with many more particulars, which he sets down at large. The like success the Christian Religion had in other 
Soz ib. c. 6. p. 450.  Countries, for by reason of the frequent Wars which the Romans had with the Barbarians, many Christian Priests were taken Captive, who employed all their time and pains to subdue those Countries to the Faith of Christ. And by this means were the Inhabitants of the Rhine, the Celtae, and the remotest parts of gall, the Goths, and those who dwelled upon the Danow, brought to embrace and entertain the Gospel.  
XII. THE Emperour had hitherto tried by patience and persuasion, and by all the Arts of Lenity and Gentleness to reclaim the gentle World: But finding the greatest part perverse and obstinate, he proceeded to rout Idolatry by rougher methods. To which purpose he gave out Dispatches, which the Christians that were about the Court greedily caught, 
Rus. de vit. C. l. 3. c. 54. &c. p. 510. Soz. l. 2. c. 5. p. 449.  and readily transmitted into the several Countries, and put them into present Execution. The Commissioners entered every where into the Temples, and threw open the Doors of their most secret Revestries, so that those Mysteries, which before-time none but the Priests might behold, were now publicly exposed to the Eyes of the People, and many of the Temples untiled, and laid open to all Storms and Weather. The common people were afraid, and durst make no resistance, and the Priests and Flamens being left alone, quietly submitted, and did themselves bring forth their most venerable Deities, which being stripped of their external Pageantry and Ornament, were shown in their own colours to every vulgar Eye. The Statues of Gold, and like precious Materials, were melted down, and coined into Money, the best of those that were curiously wrought in Brass were brought up to Constantinople, where they were drawn with Ropes up and down the Streets, and set up for the people to behold and laugh at. Here might you have seen the Pythian, there the Sminthian Apollo; in the Circus were placed the famous Tripodes brought from Delphos, in the Palace the Muses of Helicon, in another place the great God Pan, so solemnly and universally worshipped in Greece, planted there as standing Monuments to Posterity of the folly and madness of Pagan Superstition. At Aphaca in Phaenicia near the top of Mount Libanus, stood a famous Temple in the midst of a Grove, dedicated to Venus, where the Men busied themselves in performing the Rites of Worship, while the Women prostituted themselves to all manner of Lewdness in every corner. This Temple the Emperour commanded to be pulled down to the ground, and all its rich Gifts and Ornaments to be disposed of, and that lewd Society to be dispersed and scattered. There was another dedicated to her at Heliopolis in the same Country, where the Men gave leave to their Wives and Daughters to prostitute themselves in honour of the Goddess; this he abolished, and built a Church in the room of it, and furnished it with a Bishop and other Ministers of Religion. Abraham's Oak at Mamre, which for so many Ages had been annually defiled with Jewish and Heathenish Solemnities, he removed, and erected a Christian Church there. He demolished the celebrated Temple of Aesculapius at Aegae in Cilicia, where that pretended God was worshipped for his eminent Cures, and frequent appearances in Dreams to his Votaries. At Alexandria he dispersed and banished the Androgyni, 
Euseb. ib. l. 4 c. 25. p. 537. Socr. l. 1. c. 18. p. 48.  or Priests of Nile, who used to perform ridiculous Cerem nies to that River, accounted by them a Deity, and caused the Nilometrium, or famous Cubit, wherewith they wont every year to measure the height of the River, to be removed out of the Temple of Serapis( where it was Religiously kept) into the Christian Church at Alexandria: And when the people cried out hereupon, that the Goddess would be angry, and the Nile no longer overflow its Banks, the event shew'd the prediction to be false and foolish, the River overflowing the Country the next year in larger measures and proportions than it had done before. In short, by several Laws he forbade to offer Sacrifices, or to erect any Images to the Gods, or to consult their Priests and Oracles, or to exercise any of their Mysterious Rites. And tho Libanius more than once affirms, 
Or. de Templ. p. 20, 21.  that their Temples were left open, and Sacrifices permitted at Rome and Alexandria, yet was it no otherwise true, than as they could do it by stealth, or by connivance, not by any public allowance or constitution of the Empire. I will not deny but that Rome and Alexandria being the capital Cities of the Empire, and places where Gentilism had taken the deepest Root, and whence it could not be easily plucked up, a more particular permission or connivance might be allowed there. But when my Author 
De Templ. p. 9, 22.  affirms, that Constantine, tho he took away their Revenues, made no alteration in the ancient usages of their Worship, he must be understood of the former part of his Reign, it being unquestionably evident from the Testimony both of Christian and gentle Writers, 
Hieron. Chr. ad Ann. CCCXXXII. Oros. Hist. l. 7. c. 28. fol. 322. ●unap. in vit. Aedes. p. 33. C. Th. lib 16. Tit. X. l. 2.  that in his latter times he shut up all, and demolished some of their Temples, and forbade their Sacrifices and Superstitions. Indeed, that he might not altogether seem to exasperate and provoke them, he suffered the people, at least in some places, still to choose their Priests and Flamens, and those Priests to enjoy the Temporal Honours and Immunities belonging to their Office, as appears by a Law 
C. Th. lib. 12. Tit. l. l. 21. p. 364.  which he made Ann. CCCXXXV. and directed to Faelix the Praetorian Praesect of Afric to that purpose. By these smart and vigorous proceedings against the Idolatry and Impieties of the Heathen World, Satan every day visibly fell as Lightning from Heaven, and the great Dragon, that old Serpent, which had so long deceived the World, fled before, and fell under the power of the across. In memory whereof, this good Emperour caused some of his Coins, still extant, to be stamped on the Reverse with the figure of a Serpent bowing under, and struck through with the Banner of the across. And in the Portico 
Euseb. de vit. C. l. 3. c. 3. p. 484.  before his Palace he caused his Picture to be drawn at full length with the across over his head, and a Dragon under his feet struck through with Darts, and thrown into the Sea, to denote by what assistance he had routed and ruined the old Enemy of Mankind, and had cast him down to Hell. All which, my Author says, was foretold by that of the Prophet, Isa. 27.1. That the Lord with his sore, and great, and strong Sword, should punish Leviathan, that crooked Serpent, and slay the Dragon that is in the Sea.  
XIII. AND now God having brought about so great a Change and Reformation, and advanced Christianity, which had lately been so much despised and trampled on, to be the Religion of the Empire, took this excellent Prince into a better World. He died at Nicomedia May the 22th, Ann. CCCXXXVII. to the irreparable loss of the Church, and the grief of all good Men. I shall conclude his Reign with the comparison, which Eusebius, in an Oration delivered at the Solemnization of his Tricennalia, about a year before his Death, makes between this and the preceding Times, the sum of whose Discourse upon that Argument 
Orat. de laud. Const. c. 9. p. 628.  we shall here represent. The former Emperours, says he, were passionate Admirers of their Gods, and the people every where h●nour'd them with Statues and Images, which they erected to them in Fields and Houses, yea in their very Buttries and Bed-chambers; chapels and Portico's, Groves and Temples were with infinite pains and charge set apart for their Worship, and enriched with the most costly Ornaments and Oblations. The fruit of all which Devotion was nothing else but War and Fighting, Mutinies and Seditions, which filled the World with blood and slaughters: Their Gods by their feigned Answers and Oracles vainly flattering them into hopes of Prosperity and Success, when, alas! they could not foresee that sad Fate that did attend themselves. encouraged with this assurance, and carrying the Statues of their fond and senseless Deities at the head of their Army, they marched into the Field: Whereas Constantine armed with no other Breast-plate but that of Piety, nor carrying any other Banner than that of the across, at once triumphed both over his Enemies, and their Gods. In a grateful sense of so signal a Mercy he openly owned the power of that triumphal Sign, a Monument whereof he set up in the midst of Rome, and commanded that all should look upon it as the tutelar and guardian Power of the Roman Empire. He taught the Mystery of it to all, and especially his Soldiers, and trained them up both in the ●rinciples and practise of true Prayer, and holy Adoration, and and that they must not depend upon the strength of their Arms, the greatness of their Courage, the multitude of their Number, but look up to God as the only Fountain of all Power and Victory, and observe the Lord's day as most proper for their Devotions. His own vacant time he spent in Prayer, reading the Scriptures, and other divine Exercises and Employments, and he formed his whole Court after his Example. He paid a just Reverence to the victorious across, and erected triumphal Arches to it in every place, and with a noble and magnificent bounty commanded Churches and Oratories to be built, and those to be reedified which had been demolished by the rage and madness of his Predecessors, who taking upon them to fight against God, had all come to untimely ends, and both they and their Families been swept away as in a moment. While this Emperour, guarded by the salutary Standard, carried Victory about him, and had founded newer and more stately Churches, and re-built the old ones into greater Magnificence than before; conspicuous Instances whereof were to be seen at Constantinople, Nicomedia, Antioch, and in Palestine, where at Jerusalem he raised an immense and admirable Structure over the place of our Saviour's sepulchre, which he enriched and adorned with the most exquisite Artifice. Three other incomparable Churches he built, the one over the place of our Lord's Birth, another at the place of his Ascension, and a third at the place of his Passion. So illustrious a Piety God was pleased to reward with the enlargement of his Empire, and the prosperity and security of his Family, besides those eminent Blessings which were reserved for his Posterity. A signal Evidence of that Divine Power that superintended the happiness of the Empire, that could so equally distribute recompenses suitable to each party: For all those that had ruined and laid wast the Churches, had quickly reaped the Wages of their Impiety, and had been swept away without leaving either House or Posterity behind them. But this good Emperour having endeared himself to Heaven by an unusual Piety and Bounty, had accordingly engaged God to be the Saviour and Protector of his Empire, his Family, and his Posterity.   

SECT. II. The Condition of the Gentiles under the Reign of CONSTANTINE Junior, CONSTANTIUS, and CONSTANS. 
Pa. 18.   depiction of coins  
The Division of the Empire among the three Sons of Constantine. Their care to advance the Christian, and to suppress the Pagan Religion. Provision made against violation of the Tombs and sepulchres of the Dead. Sacrifices prohibited, but Temples left standing. Julius Firmicus his Address to the Emperours against the Errors of Paganism. Magnentius his Usurpation of the Empire, his Overthrow, and Death. The favours allowed by him to the Gentiles, recalled, and Sacrifices utterly abolished, and made Capital. Curious and unlawful Arts strictly forbidden. A Law to that purpose, wherein the several sorts of Diviners are particularly enumerated, Haruspices, Mathematici, Harioli, augurs, &c. what and who these were, and how distinguished. Constantius at Rome removes the Altar of Victory. All practisers of Divination severely prohibited to come near the Court. The occasion of that Law, Barbatio the General's consulting with soothsayers about an extraordinary Omen. That Treason how brought to light. Constantine's jealousy of his Cousin Julian, for his secret Dealings with Magicians. Several in the Eastern parts punished and put to Death upon pretence of consulting with Oracles. Constantius's last Law to exempt the Clergy from Civil Offices. His Death.  
I. CONSTANTINE upon his Death-bed divided the Empire among his three Sons, to Constantine his eldest, he assigned Britain, Spain, gall, and part of Proconsular Afric; to Constans the youngest, Italy, Illyricum, Macedonia, Greece, the parts that border upon the Euxine, and the remainder of Afric; to Constantius the middle Son, Mysia, Thrace, Asia, the East, and Egypt. The first of these Princes lived but a little while, and the Reigns of the two other were so taken up with the Arian and other Controversies, which unhappily divided the Christian World, and distracted the State as well as the Church, that we meet not with much relating to the Gentiles within this period. Sozomen 
L. 3. c. 17, p. 529.  in the general gives us this account of the state of things, that the Emperours trod in their Fathers steps in their care of, and kindness to the Church, investing the Clergy, their Children, and Servants, with many peculiar privileges and Immunities; they not only confirmed their Father's Laws, but enacted new ones, prohibiting any either to offer Sacrifices, or to pay any Adoration to the Images of the Gods, or to exercise any part of Pagan Superstition: The Temples that stood either in the Cities or Fields, they commanded to be shut up, or bestowed them upon Churches, where they wanted either room or materials to build with; for 'twas their great care either to repair ruinated Churches, or to erect new ones more splendid and magnificent. Constantine had reigned scarce three years, when quarreling with his Brother Const●ns about the division of the Empire, he marched with his Army as far as Aquileia to encounter him, where he was slain about the latter end of April, Ann. CCCXL. but whether by Treachery( as some report) or in open Fight, is not easy to determine. His Death was no less passionately than elegantly bewailed by a graecian Sophist of that time, in a Funeral Oration 
{αβγδ}. Gr; L. a Fr. morel: edit. 1616.  still extant.  
II. THE first thing that occurs after his Death, is a Law 
Th. lib. 9. Th. XVII. l. 1.  of Constans published two Months after, directed to Titian Praefect of Rome, against those that violated and demolished the Tombs and sepulchres of the Dead, and took thence the Materials to any other use, with a Penalty upon the person that did it, of being condemned to the Mines, if he did it of his own head; and of banishment, if done at the command of his Lord: And that wherever any of those Materials should be found, that House or edisice should be forfeited to the Crown. 'twas occasioned, as is probable, by the forward Zeal of some Christians, who resolving to destroy all Monuments of gentle Superstition, wherever they met with them, flew upon, rifled, and defaced Tombs and Burying-places, which were wont to be consecrated with Heathen Rites, and adorned many times with Altars and Images. And not content to spoil and pull down the sepulchres themselves, they often took the Stones and other Materials to their own use. The Penalty provided was severe enough, but did not, it seems, wholly cure the Distemper; so that about nine years after, he was fain to reinforce it by a second Law 
Ibid: l. 2.  more punctual and particular, wherein provision is made, both against the Offenders in time past, whether Defacers, Demolishers, conveyors, Converters, Buyers, or Concealers of any part or parcel of them, as also against the like Offences for the time to come, and that the Officers to whom it appertained should from time to time inspect the Monuments, and see to the necessary Reparations of them; and if any of them neglected their Duties herein, they should not only incur the Penalties inflicted upon the transgressors of this Law, but the known ordinary punishment of such Offenders, which was that of Death. The like care herein Constantius took afterwards, by two Laws 
Ibid. l. 3.& 4.  very express in this matter.  
III. THE Emperour Constans being now at Peace, resumed his Zeal against the Gentiles, whose follies he restrained by this following Law, 
Ib. lib. 16. Tit. X. l. 2. p. 261.  the Inscription whereof we have duly rectified.  

The Emperours CONSTANTIUS and CONSTANS, the August, to Madalian Vice-Praetorian Praefect.  
LET Superstition cease, let the madness of Sacrificing be abolished: For whoever shall presume contrary to the constitution of our Father, a Prince of Blessed Mentory, and contrary to this command of our Clemency, to offer Sacrifices, let a proper and convenient Punishment be inflicted, and execution presently done upon him. Received, Marcellinus and Probinus being Consuls: That is, Ann. CCCXLI.   
This was followed with another 
Ibid. l. 3. vid. Gothosr. in loc.  the next year,( for the date of the Consulships as now extant is plainly mistaken) concerning the Temples at Rome, that altho all Idolatrous Superstition should be rooted up, yet 'twas his Majesties pleasure, that the Temples that stood in the Fields and Highways( for of those within the Walls there seems to have been no question, they being spared as highly conducing to the splendour and ornament of the City) should not be pulled down or defaced, many of the solemn Sports and Games, wherewith the people were wont to be entertained, depending upon, and having taken their Rise and Original from these Temples: So that the Structures were left standing either for Delight or Ornament, only the Abuse and Idolatry of them was quiter removed. encouraged with these Laws, Julius Firmicus Maternus wrote about this time his Book De error profanarum Religionum, which he dedicated to the two Brother-Emperours, wherein after he had run down and exposed the notorious follies and absurdities of Paganism, he addresses 
De error prof. relic. p. 11.  to those Emperours, that they would go on to make a perfect Reformation, and by very severe Laws cut off what did yet remain, that the Roman World might be no longer infected with such pernicious Errors and Impieties, and Wickedness gain ground by Custom and Connivance. He knew there wanted not those that opposed it, Men fond of their own ruin; but God had committed the Government of the World to their Majesties for this end, that they might be Physicians to heal the wounds that were made upon the Souls of Men, and they must not in this case stand to humour every palate; inveterate Diseases were not to be cured but by unpleasing Physic, which must be taken, how bitter soever it seem to the Patient, lest by too much indulgence the Distemper grow worse, and call for sharper methods, and it come at last to the Knife and the Caustic. A little more 
Ibid. p. 14.  to what they had already done, would lay the Devil fully prostrate, and make the Contagion of Idolatry( the Venom whereof grew weaker every day) wholly to evaporate and expire; they should therefore exalt and advance the Banner of the across, which would be a certain forerunner of Success and Victory; they should quiter remove 
Ibid. p. 19.& 20.  the Deities that were accounted the Safety and Ornament of their Temples, and either melt them down into Money, or some other use, and transfer all their Gifts and Treasures to the profit of the Empire. Great things God had already done for them as the reward of a well-begun Zeal and Piety, and greater Blessings were reserved when they should have finished and crowned the Work. All which should oblige them with a pure Mind, and a pious Conscience, sincerely to look up to Heaven, to solicit the Divine Assistance, and implore the help of our Blessed Saviour, and worship him only with Spiritual Sacrifices. By which means they might assure themselves of ●eace and Plenty, Victory and Triumph, that they themselves should rule quietly and securely, and the World enjoy the happiness and prosperity of their Government. Constantius being about this time informed, that many gentle Masters, 
C. Th. lib. 15. Th. VIII. l. 1. p. 379.  to put the greater affront and dishonour upon the Christian Profession, used to sell their Female Slaves that were Christians to be prostituted at the Stews, restrained it, ordering that none but Christians should have leave to buy them, and that they might pay their Ransom, and set them in free.  
IV. Ann. CCCL. Magnentius, a great Commander in the Army, having treacherously murdered the Emperour Constans, usurped the Empire, as upon notice of his Death, Vetrannio also did in Pannonia, and Nepotian, Nephew to Constantine the Great, at Rome. But these two were soon cut off, the former by Constantius, the latter by Anicetus, whom Magnentius had constituted Praefect of Rome. Magnentius himself made shift to hold out a few years, and like a prosperous Usurper went on without control, raising Taxes at pleasure, proscribing, nay killing any that stood in his way, and confiscating and seizing their Estates; where it made for his interest, he connived at the Gentiles, and persecuted the Christians, many of whom he caused to be put to Death. But after three years and six months Tyranny, he was finally routed by Constantius, and equally despairing of Pardon and Success, ran himself through and died. Constantius reversed 
Ib. Tit. XIV. l. 5.  the Proceedings which he or his Judges had illegally acted, and restored persons to their just Rights and Possessions, and for the better quieting Men's minds, published a general Act 
Lib. 9. Tit. XXXVIII. l. 2.  of Indemnity and Oblivion, excepting only five of the greater and more capital Crimes, which he left to the ordinary procedure of the Law. And whereas Magnentius, to cury favour with the Gentiles at Rome, had given them leave to celebrate their Sacrifices 
Ibid. lib. 16. Tit. X. l. 5.  in the night, Constantius immediately abolished those Nocturnal Sacrifices, and took away the licence that had been granted them: Nay, by another Law, 
Ibid. l. 4.  he expressly forbade all manner of Sacrifices, and commanded that every where, both in City and Country, especially within the Praefecture of Italy,( for which the Edict seems more immediately calculated) the Temples should be shut up, and none suffered to go into them( agreeable to what is related by other Writers 
Sozom. l. 3. c. 17. p. 529. Liban. Orat. fun. in Julian. p. 253.  of this time); that the person offending should lose his Head, and forfeit his Estate to the Exchequer, and the Governours of Provinces be punished, if they neglected the Execution of this Law. I know the names of the Consuls usually affixed to this Rescript, make it to be past Ann. CCCXLVI. But it being directed to Taurus the Praetorian Praefect of Italy, and he not being made Praefect till the year CCCLIII. does with far greater probability fasten it upon this time, and the occasion we have mentioned; when the Emperour no doubt highly resented the kindness which the Gentiles had shew'd Magnentius, and the Favours he had conferred upon them. A like Command 
Ibid. l. 6.  to this he issued out three years after, making it Capital for any to offer Sacrifice, or adore the Images; these vigorous Proceedings did, it seems, strike a terror into the greatest, even into Julian himself, so that about this time 
Am. Marcel. l. 16. p. 1468.  he was wont to rise at midnight, and in the most secret manner pay his Devotions to Mercury.  
V. CONSTANTIUS was an utter Enemy to Magic, and all curious and unlawful Arts, than which nothing more common among the Gentiles, and indeed were the very Life and Spirit of their declining Superstition. And therefore the next year, Ann. CCCLVII. he put out a Law 
C. Th. lib. 9. Tit. XVI l. 4. ubi vid. comment Gothosr.  against all Curiosity in this kind, that no Man, under the penalty of his Head, should dare to consult any of these Masters of Divination, who in the body of the Rescript are reckoned up by their several Titles; Haruspices, who made a judgement concerning future Events from Sacrifices, and inspecting the Entrails of Beasts slain to that purpose; Mathematici, who judged of things by the course and position of the Stars; Harioli, who attended the Altars, offered up Sacrifices and Supplications to the Deity, and received the Answer the daemon return'd; augurs, who divined by the slight or chattering of Birds; Vates, who were more immediate Chaplains to the Deity, and being filled, as they gave out, with an Enthusiastic Inspiration, gave out Oracles to the Votaries that required them; Chaldeans, or Fortune-tellers, were much the same with the Mathematici, who red Men's Doom by calculating their Nativities, and finding what Constellations governed at the time of their Birth; Magi, were properly such as dealt in Charms and Conjurations, framed into odd and uncouth Schemes of words; Malefici, in a strict sense, were those that traded in Necromancy, but are here used in a more general way, as comprehending all the other Professors of these Diabolic Arts. This was at the beginning, and about the end of the same year out comes another Law 
Ibid. l. 5.  against them that exercised Arts of Magic, by which they undertook to disorder the course of Nature, and do mischief to the Lives of innocent Persons, and by peculiar Charms to disquiet and conjure up Spirits, and the Souls of the Departed, that they might become Instruments of Revenge upon their Enemies, such persons, as being contrary to Nature, he commands to be destroyed Ferali peste, that is, as some think, by being burnt alive, the ordinary punishment of Magicians among the Romans, or as others more probably, by being thrown to wild Beasts. Either of them severe enough, and yet not exceeding the merits of such enormous villainies.  
VI. ABOUT the end of April this year Constantius came to Rome, where he took care to Regulate several things that were amiss there. And now probably it was, that he took away the famous Altar, and Image of Victory, which being placed upon a triumphal Chariot, stood in the Entrance or Portico of the Capitol. It was the only Idol left there, for tho it had been removed by Constans, yet was it again restored by Magnentius, and now taken away a second time, to the infinite grief and resentment of the Gentiles, who heavily complained 
Vid. Symmach. Relat. l. 10. Ep. 54. p. 538.  of it, especially Symmachus, who raised no little stir and bustle about it afterwards. After a month's stay at Rome, the Emperour return'd back to Milan, where finding that notwithstanding all the Provision he could make, the Trade of Divination still went on, and crept into his very Court, to the hazard of his Person and Government, he published a most severe Law 
Lib. 9. C. Th. Tit. XVI. l. 6. p. 124.  the year following against this sort of Men, setting forth, that altho in any part of the World they were to be accounted Enemies of Mankind, yet when they presumed to intrude into his Court or Presence, they offered a more immediate violence to Majesty. If therefore any Magician or Diviner, or any practising that way, should be found either in his Court, or in that of Caesar, be he of what rank or condition soever, he should not escape being tortured, tho in other cases the Law exempted persons of Honour and Dignity from that Penalty; so that if upon proof he still persisted to deny the Fact, notwithstanding the privilege of his Place and Quality, he should, as in ordinary cases of High-Treason, be put upon the Rack, and have his flesh raked off his sides with Ungulae, or Iron Hooks, made on purpose to torment the Malefactor. And indeed 'twas but time for Constantius to look about him, both with respect to himself and Julian. As to himself, he had a fresh instance at hand. Barbatio, 
Am. marcel, l. 18. p. 1522.  General of the Foot, had a swarm of Bees settled in his House; the Man was infinitely concerned at the Accident, and presently went to consult the soothsayers, who  told him, it portended some extraordinary Events, and gave him intimation of an advancement to the Empire. This the Man kept secret, and marched out with the Army; but his Wife, jealous of her own Interest, wrote to him, to beg, that after Constantius's Death, which was then at hand, and himself, according to his expectations, advanced to the Empire, he would not despise her, nor prefer Eusebia, the Queen-Dowager that was to be, a Woman of exquisite Beauty, before her. A Copy of this Letter her Maid carried privily to Court, whereby the whole Design came to light, for which both Barbatio and his Wife died, and several others were racked as complices in the Treason. And then for Julian, Constantius had for some time suspected him of hatching ill Designs, and knew that his chief Converse was with this sort of Men, who, by all the little insinuations of their Art, endeavoured to push forward his youthful Ambition. He always kept a company of Magicians about him, who went in the habit, and under the notion, of Philosophers, and sent for a famous Pagan Priest out of Greece, with whom alone he used to spend some time, and transact some Affairs in private, just before he broken out into an open Rebellion against Constantius. These things every day more and more alarmed the Emperours suspicions, and awakened his severity against these Men, especially after he understood that there was a mighty concourse to 
Am. marcel. l. 19. p. 1555.  Abydus, a Town in Thebais, famous for a Temple of Bera, the topical God of that Country, and he as much celebrated for his Oracles, and those who could not come themselves, sent their Questions in writing. This was represented to the Emperour as a thing of dangerous consequence, who immediately dispatched away Paulus and some others into the East to examine the matter, and call persons to account. Among others, Simplicius was accused for having put Questions to the Oracle about his obtaining the Empire, and tho commanded to be tortured, was only banished; many more were banished, or racked, or tormented, and their Estates confiscated. And so rigorous were the Proceedings,( if my Author say true) that if a Man wore but an Amulet about his Neck for the cure of a Quartan Ague, or any other Distemper, or walked but at night among the Tombs and Monuments, he was forthwith challenged for a Conjurer, and as a person trading in Necrom●ncy, and was put to Death as guilty of High-Treason. The last thing considerable that Constantius did, was a Law 
C. Th. lib. 16. Tit. II. l. 16. p. 44. ( if not the last, the last of this nature) he made to exempt the Clergy in every place, whether in City or Country, from all Civil Offices, which he did the rather, he says, because he rejoiced and gloried in nothing more, than in his munificence to the Church, well knowing, that the Empire was better preserved and kept in order by Religion, than by any external Offices, or corporal Labours whatsoever. This Law bears date March the 17th, Ann. CCCLXI. at An●ioch, whither he had retired from the Persian Expedition for his Winter Quarters, and whence he set out to go against Julian, but died in his march at Mopsucr●nae, October the 5th, others say November the 3d, partly wearied out with Troubles, partly Heart-broken with the Ingratitude and Rebellion of his Cousin Julian, wherein, now it was too late, he was sufficiently sensible of his Error, it being one of the three things he solemnly repented of upon his Death-bed, that he had taken him into a Partnership of the Empire.   

SECT. III. The State of Paganism under the Reign of JULIAN. 
Pa. 25.   depiction of coin  
Julian's Parentage, and Education under several Masters. His inclinations to Paganism nourished by Libanius and others, who blew him up with hopes of the Empire. His subtle dissimulation of Christianity confessed by his greatest admirers. His taking upon him the place of a Reader, and erecting an Oratory to S. Mamas the Martyr. His residence at Athens, and frequent consulting with Pagan Priests. His driving away the Daemons at a Consult, by an undesign'd making the sign of the across. advanced to the Dignity of Caesar, upon what account. Sent into gall to govern there, and to repre●s the Germans. Auspicious Omens at his arrival there. His great success, and assuming the Empire. An account of it sent to Constantius, and his passionate Resentment of it. Julian's preparation to march against Constantius. His gradual opening his Resolutions to restore Paganism, and his caressing the greater Cities to that purpose. The forwardness of some zealous Gentiles in setting up their Superstitions. His arrival at Constantinople, and public care about the restitution of the Gentile-Rites, their Temples, Altars, Sacrifices, Ceremonies, Revenues, &c. His Zeal for these things in his own Person and practise. The principal methods he made use of for the suppressing Christianity, and restoring the gentle Religion, considered. His design to reform Paganism from its more gross Abuses; an Abstract of his wise Discourses, and prudent Directions, to that end: His endeavours to comform it to the excellent Institutions of Christianity; his Letter to Arsacius, Chief-Priest of Galatia, to that purpose. His taking all occasions of exposing Christians, and making them and their Religion appear ridiculous. His Wit mainly employed that way. The Title of Galileans by Law fixed upon them. The blasphemous Speeches and practices of others after his Example, and their fatal and miserable Ends. His traducing the Emperour Constantine, as a person dear to Christians. His attempts to bring Christians low, and to weaken their Power and Interest, by banishing them from all places of Honour and Trust, by unreasonable Fines and Taxations, and by setting the several Parties of Christians at variance with each other. Instances given of all these. His conniving at the Persecution raised against the Christians by his Commanders and Governours. His abstaining from open Persecution, why; tho it fell heavy upon particular persons and places. His discouraging and driving away the Bishops and Clergy, and abolishing their Revenues and Privileges. The policy of that attempt. His encouraging the Jews, and restoring their Temple and Religion, in opposition to the Christians. The advantages which he propounded to himself therein. His endeavour to extinguish all human Learning among the Christians, thereby to make them more pliable to Gentile-Insinuations. The folly of that attempt. The infinite encouragement he gave to Philosophers, and all that appeared able and zealous against Christians. His project to ensnare unwary Christians into a compliance with Pagan Superstition. Some Instances given of it. The Historical part of the remainder of his time briefly prosecuted. His expedition against Persia. The Orations he composed in his march in honour of the Pagan Deities. His coming to Antioch, and reproaching them with the notorious neglect of the gentle Rites. The scurrilous Reflections cast upon him by the people of that City. His writing his Misopogon, a satirical Discourse, to be revenged of them. His departure from Antioch, and execrable Divinations at Carrae, the relics whereof found after his Death. His engagement with the Persians, ill Success, and Death. The Author of his Death unknown: Several Reports concerning it; charged by Libanius upon the Christians. Some extraordinary passages relating to his Death. His Character. The seasonableness of his Death to the Christians. Nazianzen's triumphant Discourse upon it.  
I. julian was the youngest of the three Sons of Constantius, Brother by the Fathers side to Constantine the Great. He was born at Constantinople, An. CCCXXXI. His Mother Basilina died soon after, and his Father was taken off in the first of Constantius. At seven years of Age he was committed to the tutorage 
Jul. Misop. p. 78. &c. Socr. l. 2. c. 1. p. 165. Sozom. l. 5. c. 2. p. 593.  of Mardonius the Eunuch, who red to him, and formed his tender years to a strict course of virtue, and an utter aversion to all those Pleasures and Divertisements that are apt to debauch the Minds and Manners of young Gentlemen: And therefore 'tis a great mistake in Baronius, 
Ad Ann. 337. N. LVII.  when from Julian's account of his Education under this Man, he makes him to have instilled into him the first Principles of Paganism, when, as 'tis plain, Julian represents it only as an ironical Accusation of his Master for training him up to such four Manners, and so great an hatred of Luxury and Effeminacy; an humour so ingrateful and displeasing to the people of Antioch. And Libanius 
Epitaph. in Jul. nec. p. 262, 263.  puts the case past adventure, when he tells us, this Eunuch was an excellent Guardian of Temperance and Sobriety, but withall, a bitter and open Enemy to the Gods. Under the conduct of this Mardonius he attended some other Masters, famous Professors at that time: Nicocles the Laconian for Grammar, and for Rhetoric Ecebolius the Sophist. But Constantius thought it not safe to continue him in the Imperial City, and therefore sent him and his Brother Gallus to Macellus, a Mannor belonging to the Crown, at the foot of the Mountain Argaeus, not far from Caesarea in Cappadocia, where there was a magnificent Palace, pleasant Gardens, adorned with Baths and Fountains, and other noble Entertainments: Tho Julian himself seems to speak 
Epist. ad Athen. oper. part. 1. p. 499.  of it under a worse Character, and looked upon their confinement there as a better sort of Imprisonment, not being allowed to go thence upon any occasion, and being restrained from all other Company but that of their own Servants. Six years they remained in this place, during which time they were educated in all Arts and Exercises suitable to their Age and Birth. After which, Gallus being called to Court, Julian was suffered to return to Constantinople, where he frequented the Schools of the most celebrated Professors, and became so famous for his proficiency in Learning, his plain Garb, and familiar Carriage, that he began to be talked of as a person fit to succeed in the Empire. To silence 
Liban. Paneg. ad Jul. p. 175. in Jul. nec. p. 263. Socr. loc. cit. vid. Ant. Marc. l. 22. p. 1622.  the spreading of such Rumours, Constantius removed him to Nicodemia, and recommended him to the care and superintendency of Eusebius, Bishop of that place, who by the Mother's side was somewhat of kin to him. The Emperour began to suspect his Inclinations, and therefore gave particular Charge, that he should hold no Correspondence with Libanius, a famous Orator, but a professed zealous Pagan, who having been forced to quit Constantinople, had opened a School at Nicomedia. But 'tis hard to chain up natural Inclinations, tho the Emperour had commanded, and his Tutor Mardonius had engaged him by Oaths to have nothing to do with Libanius, he could not wholly contain himself. He did not indeed personally Converse with him, but a way was found out, whereby his Orations and Speeches were by a secret Messenger conveyed to him every day, which he red with infinite greediness and delight, and laid before him as a Copy for his imitation. The news of his coming to Nicomedia brought thither Maximus, one of the greatest Philosophers of that Age, who, under pretence of teaching him Philosophy, confirmed him in his love of Paganism, and his spleen against Christianity: And being a Man famous for Magic, blew him up into a belief of the common report, that he should one day be Emperour, which so endeared the Man to him, that he took him into his most intimate friendship, and accounted him one of the most valuable Blessings of his Life.  
II. ALL this he managed with great artifice and subtlety: For knowing how jealous his Cousin Constantius was of his affection towards the Heathen Religion, he professed himself a zealous 
Sozom. ubi supr. Nazianz. Orat. I. in Jul. p. 58. Theod. l. 3. c. 2. p. 125.  Christian, and to cast the greater blind upon it, he took upon him the Tonsure, entered into a Monastic life, and suffered himself to be ordained Reader of that Church, where he red the Scriptures in the public Congregation. Nay, so far did his disguised Zeal extend, that he pretended a passionate Honour and Reverence for the Martyrs, and joined with his Brother Gallus to erect a stately Oratory to the memory of S. Mamas the Martyr, the one undertaking one part of the Work, and the other the other. But God disdained that either himself or his Servants should be honoured with such thick and damnable Hypocrisy, and accordingly gave testimony from Heaven against it: For when that part of the Church which Gallus had undertaken went up apace, and prospered, that of Julian could take no effect; in some places the Foundations could not be laid, the Earth throwing up the Stones again; in others, where 'twas built up to any height, it was immediately shattered, and tumbled to the ground. An accident that administered great variety of Discourse, and made man presage what would be the event and issue of things. However, he kept himself upon his Guard, tho he could not forbear, where he knew his Company, to open and disclose the Secrets of his Mind; and many times in discourse 
Naz. ibid. p. 61.  with his Brother Gallus, he would take upon him very eagerly to defend the cause of suppressed Paganism, wherein tho he pretended to manage the cause only by way of disputation, yet the warmth of his Temper, and the strength and seriousness of his Arguments, sufficiently shew'd he did it ex animo, what colour soever he otherwise put upon it. And his practise was accordingly: For whatever he made the World believe, he equally divided his time between Study and Idolatry, studying all day, and sacrificing at night. And the thing is confessed by one of his dearest friends, 
Liban. Epitaph. in Jul. nec. p. 265.  than whom none knew him better, that it being dangerous for him to appear in his own Colours, he seemed to be another Man than what he really was, and in public hide himself under another Dress; he was not the Ass in the Lion's skin, but a Lion clad with the skin of an Ass,( as my Author expresses it, scoffingly reflecting upon his Christian Profession:) He well understood the best way, {αβγδ}, but he thought good to dissemble, and for the present to steer the safest Course. While in truth it almost broken his Heart 
Id. ib. p. 266.  to see the Temples desolate, the Sacrifices forbidden and neglected, the Altars and Victims taken away, the Priests banished, and the Revenues of the Temples shared among the Impure and profane. And, if we may believe Libanius, it was not Pleasure or Power, Grandeur and Dominion, made him affect the Empire, but only to have an opportunity to restore the Worship of the Gods. But this, as yet, he kept to himself, waiting a more favourable season wherein to declare himself. This hypocritical Garb he wore about him till he was twenty years old, when he put it off by degrees. He left Nicodmeia, and retired to some little part of his paternal Estate in Asia, for the far greatest part had been confiscated by Constantius. But finding the Times growing troublesome and dangerous, by mediation of the Empress, who always stood his friend, he got leave to go to Athens, under pretence to perfect his Studies, but indeed to enjoy the Company of Philosophers and Pagan Priests, and to consult more securely about future Events. And he wanted not enough of that Tribe to attend him, nay he frequented the most celebrated 
Theod. l. 3. c. 3. p. 126.  Oracles in Greece. Among the rest he met with a Priest, who seemed more peculiarly for his turn: The Priest brought him to the Temple, and carrying him into the innermost Retirements, began to conjure up the Daemons about him. Julian was affrighted at the sudden and horrid Appearance, and in that amazement signed himself with the sign of the across, whereat the Daemons immediately vanished. The Priest was angry, and severely chid him, and withall  told him, that the Daemons had fled not because they were afraid of the across, but because they were angry at his making use of that detestable Sign. And so the Contest ended, and the Priest initiated him in those solemn Rites and Mysteries.  
III. HIS Brother Gallus, who had been some years Caesar, was now for some treasonable Innovations deposed, and put to Death. But things going to rack in gall and Germany, Constantius was necessitated to think of another Partner, and none could be thought of so proper as Julian; the Empress Eusebia 
Zosim. l. ●. p. 7●2.  whispering it into Constantius his Ears, that he was a young Man, of a simplo undesigning temper, wholly addicted to his Books, and unacquainted with the tricks of Ambition, and the intrigues of Government: If Success attended his Enterprizes, the Glory of them would redound to the Emperour; if he miscarried, and was cut off, they should be rid of him, and there would be none left of the Royal Family to hatch any dangerous Designs against the Empire. H●reupon he was sent for to Court. Before he left Athens, 
Epist. ad Athen. p. 505. vid Liban. Epitaph. in Jul. nec. p. 268.  with Prayers and Tears he solemnly recommended himself to the care and protection of Minerva, the tutelar Goddess of that place. He pretends he went to Court upon this Errand with a mighty Reluctancy, and when he came to Milan, drew up a Letter to the Empress to be excused from it, which the Gods, he tells us, whom he consulted upon this occasion, did by a Vision at night forbid him to sand upon pain of Death. So he was invested with the Title and Ornaments of Caesar, and sent into gall, but with a Train and Retinue altogether Strangers to him, and some persons joined with him, and set as so many Spies about him, especially Marcellus and salustius, without whose privity no Persons nor Dispatches could be brought to him. He had only two intimate Confidents along with him, the one his Library-keeper, who alone was privy to, and assisted him in the Secrets of his Religion; the other his Physician, who was his familiar Friend and Companion, whom I suppose to have been Oribasius, 
Vid. Eunap. in vit. Oribas. p. 140.  one of the most eminent Physicians of that time. He complains he was sent thither in the midst of Winter with but three hundred and sixty Men, and himself in a manner subjected to the Officers, being so limited in his Commission, that he could attempt nothing without their Concurrence, and they charged to keep as quick an Eye upon him, as upon the Enemy. However, 
Liban. loc. cit. p. 270.  encouraging himself in the presence and assistance of the Gods, which he promised himself would go along with him, he undertook the Expedition. At his arrival at 
Am. marcel. l. 15. p. 1457.  Vien in gall, when the whole City ran out to see him, and to give him an honourable Reception, an old blind Woman being  told who 'twas that was coming, cried out, That he was the person that should repair and restore the Temples: And at his entrance into another City, adorned( as the custom was) for the reception of so great a person, a Crown that hung between two Pillars, dropped full upon his Head as he passed under it; looked upon by all as a plain Omen of his sudden succeeding in the Empire. Five or six years he managed this Province with admirable success, all which time he publicly professed himself a 
Id. l. 21. p. 1584.  Christian, and would sometimes, especially upon the Feast of the Epiphania, go to Church, and offer up his Prayers to God. What he did otherwise was by stealth, rising at Midnight, 
Id. l. 16. p. 1468.  and doing his Devotions to Mercury. And finding now by Auguries and Divinations 
Id. l. 21. p. 1582.  that Constantius was not like to live long, Designs were set on foot with all speed to advance him to the Empire. And to hasten the matter, and inflame the Army, Papers 
Jul. Ep. ad Athen. p. 519. &c. Zosim. l. 3. p. 710. Liban. ubi supr. p. 282.  were scattered abroad among the several Regiments, containing an account of the mischievous Designs that were hatching against Julian, and that the Emperour intended to withdraw his Forces, and leave him exposed to the utmost danger; as indeed Constantius had sent to recall part of the Army, which he had occasion to make use of in his Wars with Persia. Upon this the Army began to mutiny, and refused to march, and coming to the Palace, clamorously required him to take the Empire upon him, who went presently apart and made his Address to Jupiter, and having received a favourable and benign Answer, complied with their Importunity, who lifting him up upon a Shield, and in want of a better Crown, a Soldier's wreathe being put about his Head, they saluted and proclaimed him Emperour. He had now thrown the die, and was necessitated to maintain what he had done. But that he might proceed with the greater fairness and plausibility, he first dispatched an Embassy to Constantius, to let him know, that his assuming the Imperial Power was a force put upon him by others, more than his own voluntary choice; and that if he pleased, he was ready to lay it down again, and return to the station and capacity of Caesar. Constantius  told the Ambassador, That if he would secure his Head from the Vengeance due to so great an Insolence, he should not only quit the Empire, but resign the Caesarean Dignity, and returning to a private Station, refer himself to him. Upon the declaration of which Message, Julian openly affirmed, He would much rather commit himself and his Fortunes to the Gods, than trust his Life with Constantius. And in order whereunto, he prepared to march into the Eastern Parts, giving out, he did it only to satisfy Constantius in the true reason of what had passed. He had long since among his Confidents abjured 
Zonar. Annal. Tom. III. p. 19.  Christianity, but his Army being most what made up of Christians, he durst not yet publicly renounce it, and therefore came into the Church upon Christmas-day, and did his Devotions among the rest. But the more he secured his Interest in the Soldiery, the more he opened his Inclinations to Paganism every day. All along his march he wrote 
Lib. Panegyr. Jul. p. 242. Or. pro Aristoph. p. 217. vid. Zos. ib. p. 712. Mamert. Paneg. Jul. p. 53.  to most of the great Cities, accommodating himself to their several Humours or Interests. That to the Senate and People of Athens is still extant, wherein he gives them a large and accurate account of his Affairs, what Designs he had on foot, what Injuries and Provocations had been offered him by Constantius, and how the Army had forced him, contrary to his inclinations, to take the Empire upon him. In his Letters to his private Friends he dealt more openly; in that to Maximus, 
Ep. XXXVIII. p. 182.  he tells him among other things, he would acquaint him with what he knew he would be right glad to hear, that they publicly worshipped, and sacrificed to the Gods, and that the whole Army was of his Religion, and that in gratitude to the Gods several Hecatombs had been already offered up. And indeed knowing his mind, they began in several places, and particularly in Greece, 
Liban. Epitaph. in Jul. nec. p. 288.  to open their Temples, and to beautify and trim them up, and to introduce Sacrifices; all which he encouraged by his Counsel, Direction, and Example: Nay, no sooner did the first news 
Demonstr. Chronol. Gr.& Lat. à Combef. Edit. lib. Orig. C. P. p. 25.  of his assuming the Empire arrive at Constantinople, but some, forward enough to adore the Rising-Sun, set up his Statue in the Porch of Constantine's Palace in that City; and Demophilus, Commander of the Soldiers, a bigoted gentle, erected a Porphyry Pillar to him, with this Inscription, {αβγδ}, The Great and the Religious Julian.  
IV. HE arrived upon the Borders of Illyricum about Autumn, when the Vintage was over, and yet on a sudden 
Sozom. l. 5. c. 1. p. 590.  the Vines put out afresh, and appeared laden with four Grapes, and at the same time certain drops of due fell upon his and his Soldiers Coats, every drop forming itself into the fashion of a across; both which he made a shift to interpret, the one as an effect of Chance, the other as a forerunner of good Fortune. In Thrace he heard the news of Constantius's death, who died in Cilicia as he was coming with a great Army to encounter him. Thus delivered from his fears, and all Rivalty and Partnership in the Empire, he marched with all speed to Constantinople, which he entered December the 11th, Ann. CCCLXI. and having solemnized the Funerals of Constantius, began to let the World see, what Religion he intended to espouse. He ordered the Temples 
Liban. Epitaph in nec. su●. p. 291 de vit. sua. p. 41. Sozom. ib. c. 3. p. 596. Naz. ubi supr. p. 70. Am. marcel. l. 22. p. 1612.  to be set open, those that were decayed, to be repaired, and where new ones were wanting, to be built: The Privileges and Endowments whereof he restored; where any Temples had been demolished, and the Materials converted to private uses, he fined the persons that had made use of them in a certain sum of Money, which he commanded should go towards the building new ones. Altars were every where set up, and the whole train of Gentile-Rites, Ceremonies, and Sacrifices, brought again into use. So that, as Libanius tells us, you could go no where, but you might behold Altars and Fires, Blood, Perfumes, and smoke, and Priests attending their Sacrifices without fear or interruption; the tops of Hills had their Oblations, and sacrificial Feasts, and the Imperial Palace its Temple and sacred Furniture. The Emperour assumed 
Liban. Orat. VIII. p. 245.  the Title and Office of Pontifex Maximus, and valued it as equal to that of Emperour; he renounced his Baptism, and profaned it by polluting himself with their bloody Rites, which he opposed to the Christian method of Initiation. The first thing he did every morning as soon as out of his Bed, was to sacrifice to the Gods: He went up and down in person, and was both present, and assisted at public Sacrifices, and gave encouragement to all that did so, writing to those Cities which he knew most devoted to Gentilism, and promising to grant whatsoever they should ask. The warrant of so great an Example made the Gentiles unmeasurably insolent in every place, so that not content with leave to celebrate their impious Mysteries, they began 
Theod. l. 3. c. 6. p 129.  in their wild cursitations up and down the Streets to scoff and deride the Christians, and by all imaginable ways of scorn and reproach to expose them and their Religion. And when with much greater advantage the Christians paid them home in their own kind, they burst out into a rage, and with blows and wounds fell foul upon them, the Emperour in the mean time conniving at what was done. In short, he recalled the Laws lately made against Pagan Superstition, and confirmed the ancient Edicts of his Predecessors that had been made in favour of them. And here perhaps 'twill be no unacceptable entertainment to the Reader, to present him with some of the principal methods Julian made use of for the supporting Paganism, and the suppressing Christianity.  
V. AND first, he set himself to reform Paganism, and the Professors of it, from the more gross Corruptions, and to introduce many wise and excellent Institutions, which he observed among the Christians. The faults and follies of the gentle World were so conspicuous in themselves, and had been so often exposed by Christians, that they lay open to every Eye. And he had no way to recover his Religion into any credit, but by retrenching what was so very scandalous and offensive, and planting what was more useful and excellent in the room of it. Earnestly therefore, and with great importunity, he pressed, 
Fragm. Epist. p. 529. &c.  that Magistrates would take care, that Men lived justly and according to the Laws, and expressed a great Piety towards the Gods, and Humanity towards Men, that they would correct Men only in order to their Reformation, and relieve the Necessities they lye under, as the Gods do ours; that this was the best and noblest quality, and that which did most recommend us to the favour of the Gods, who could not but be pleased with what was most agreeable to their own nature, and would certainly reward it, seeing no Man was ever made poor by his Charity; and he himself had often found, that the more he had given this way, the more he had received from Heaven; that our bounty to the Poor ought not to be stinted or limited, all Mankind is a kin to us, whether we will or no, and we derive our Pedigree from one common Original, and accordingly ought liberally to communicate to the needs of all, even to the worst of Men, and our greatest Enemies,( it being the Men we are to relieve, and not their Vices) but more especially to the Good and virtuous. That 
Ib. p. 536. &c.  being trained up in, and acted by these generous Principles, every Man should strive to be pious towards the Gods, kind to Men, chast and regular in their own Persons, and conversant in all the duties and offices of Religion; especially that he should always entertain in his Mind sacred and venerable apprehensions of the Gods, and with sanctity and honour approach their Temples, and adore their Statues and Images, as if we beholded themselves present before our Eyes: For we were not to look upon Altars and Images as Gods,( the Gods being incorporeal, and in themselves needing no Sacrifices) but as Symbols and Representations of the Divine Presence, and as means and instruments by which we might pay our Adoration to them. And because nothing tended more immediately to secure the Honour and Interest of Religion, than a just Respect and Reverence towards those who attend the ministries and Solemnities of it, he thought it highly reasonable, 
Ib. p. 542 &c.  that the Priests should be honoured equally with, or rather above the Civil Magistrates, as being the Domesties of Heaven, our common Intercessors with the Gods, and the means of deriving down their Blessings upon the World. And so long as they retained this Relation, they were to be treated with a reverence due to their Function, but if debauched and vicious, they should be deposed, and turned out. Persons invested with this Office, were to undertake 
Ib. p. 547 &c.  as Sureties for the honour of the Gods, and should behave themselves so, that their Lives might be a Copy and Pattern of what they were to preach to Men: That to this end, they should engage in all acts of Worship with a mighty awe and dread, and abstain not only from all vile and wicked Actions, but Words also, yea, from listening to any such Discourses, from all scurrilous and abusive Jests, all filthy and impure Converse; that they should red no idle Books, trifling Pamphlets, or loose wanton Plays, but seriously apply themselves to the study of that divine Philosophy, which was most apt to beget a great sense of God upon Mens Minds, and to learn by heart the Hymns that were to be sung in praise of the Gods, to whom they were both publicly and privately to put up their Supplications at least thrice a day, however, that nothing less than Morning and Evening should serve the turn, that every Priest in the course of his waiting should entirely attend upon it, and never depart out of the Temple, but give himself up to philosophy Thoughts, and a careful discharge of the Duties of that place; and when his time expired, and he was to return home, he converse with none but the best and most select Company, seldom go into the Forum, or approach the Houses of great Men, unless in cases that concerned his Office, and when he might be helpful to the Poor and Indigent; to be habited when he went abroad in a plain decent Garb, and different from what he wears in his Ministration in the Temple, that in no case they should frequent the theatres, or exhibit any obscene Sports or Shows in their own Houses, which he wished were reformed, or quiter taken away, but since there was little hopes of that, that the Priests at least should abstain from all such Theatrical Impurities, and leave them to the people, and be so careful of their Converse, as not to be seen in the company and familiarity of a Charioteer, or any Player or Dancer belonging to the theatre. Lastly, that in every City they ought to be chosen out of the best, the most religious and charitable Persons, without any consideration whether they be rich or poor, external circumstances not being to be regarded in this matter. 'twas enough if the person was endued with Piety to God, and Humanity to Men. An evidence of the first whereof it would be, if he trained up his Domestics and Relatives in the same paths of Piety: Of the latter, if out of that little which he has, he freely distributes to the Indigent, and does good to as many as he can. And the neglect of this, he tells them, was that which gave opportunity to the wicked Galilaeans by their singular Humanity and Charity, to strengthen and establish their pernicious Party, and pervert honest-minded Gentiles to their Impiety.  
VI. THIS is the sum of that excellent Discourse,( so much of it as is now extant) wherein he lays down Rules for reforming Paganism, which indeed he sought to bring as near as might be to those admirable methods and forms of Discipline, by which he saw Christianity had mainly prevailed in the World. In imitation 
Naz. Orat. l. in Jul. p. 101. Soz. l. 5. c. 16. p. 617.  whereof, he desgn'd and endeavoured to introduce Schools for the Educaion of Youth in every City, Churches and Altars of different degrees and privileges, Lectures both of moral and speculative Theology, stated times, and forms of alternate Prayer, the use of Anathematism and Pennance, Monasteries for devout and philosophy Persons of either Sex, Alms-houses and Hospitals for the Poor and Cripple, and the reception of Strangers, and what he most admired, the commendatory Ecclesiastic Epistles, or Letters testimonial, from the Bishop or governor of the Church, whereby persons traveling from one Country to another were upon the producing these Letters sure to meet, wherever they came, with a very kind and ready Entertainment. All which he hearty recommends in his Letter 
Jul. Epist. XLIX. p. 202.& ap. Soz. ib. p. 619.  to Arsacius, which, because so express to the case in hand, we shall here insert.  
To ARSACIUS Chief-Priest of GALATIA.  
THat the Gentile-Religion does not as yet go on according to our desire and expectation, is the fault of those that do profess it: For what has been done in reference to the Gods is splendid and magnificent, and great beyond either our desires or hopes. For( with reverence to the Iustice of the Divine Providence be it spoken) to bring about such and so great a change in so short a time, was more than any Man a little while since durst so much as wish for. What then? Shall we acquiesce here, and think these things enough, and not rather cast our Eyes upon those things that have advanced the impious Religion of the Christians? I mean, their kindness and compassion to Strangers, their diligent care in burying the Dead, and that feigned seriousness and gravity that appears in their whole carriage; all which, I am of opinion, we ought really to put in practise. Nor is it enough that you alone are thus qualified, but all the Priests in Galatia ought to be altogether such: And to that purpose either shane, or persuade them into it, or remove them from their Sacerdotal Function, unless, together with their Wives, Children, and Servants, they studiously apply themselves to the worship of the Gods, not suffering their Servants, Children, or Wives, to be Galilaeans, who are despisers of the Gods, and prefer Impiety before Religion. Moreover, warn every Priest that he go not to the theatre, nor sit drinking in Taverns, nor apply himself to any mean sordid Trade. Those that comply, give them honour and respect; those that continue obstinate, turn them out. Appoint several Hospitals for poor Travellers in every City, that indigent Strangers, not of ours only, but of any other way, may enjoy the benefit of our Grace and Charity. For the defraying which expenses, I have now made provision; for I have ordered thirty thousand Modii( or Bushels) of Wheat to be yearly distributed throughout Galatia, and sixty thousand Quarts of Wine: A fifth part whereof I will have allowed to the poor Officers that wait upon the Priests, the remainder you shall distribute among the Poor and Strangers: For it were a great shane, that when none of the Jews go a begging, and when the wretched Galilaeans relieve not only their own, but ours too, that our Poor only should be deserted by us, and left naked and helpless. Wherefore admonish and instruct the Gentiles, that they contribute liberally to these Services, and that every Village dedicate their first Fruits to the Gods. Accustom them to this kind of Benevolence, and show them that this has of old been practised among us. For so Homer brings in Eumaeus speaking thus: 

{αβγδ},  
{αβγδ}  
{αβγδ}.   

welcome, kind Stranger, 'tis not just with me  
Strangers to slight, tho meaner far than thee:  
Strangers and Beggars are alike from Jove;  
Mean is thy Treatment, yet a Feast of Love.    
Let us not then suffer others, who emulate our pious usages, to carry away the Glory from us, while by our carelessness and negligence we disgrace ourselves, and seem rather to betray and forfeit our Piety to the Gods. If I hear you shall bring these things about, I shall rejoice exceedingly. Go but seldom to the Governours Houses, but writ often to them. When they make their entrance into any City, let no Priest go out to meet them; if they come to the Temples, let him only meet them in the Porch; and when they enter in, let no Officer go before them, but as many as will may follow after, for no sooner does any one set his Foot over the Threshold of that place, but he becomes a private Man, equal with the rest. For yourself, you know, are sole Commander there, according to Divine Constitutions. Such only as are obedient, are the true worshippers of God, they that stand upon Pomp and Grandeur, are proud and vain-glorious. For my part, I am ready to afford Relief to them of Pessinus, provided they atone and propitiate the Mother of the Gods; but if they shall slight her, they shall not only be not blameless, but, which I am loathe to tell them, incur our heavy Indignation.  
{αβγδ}  
{αβγδ}.  
'tis impious to be kind to them,  
Who do th' Immortal Gods contemn.  
Persuade them therefore, if they desire I should take any care of them, universally to make their public Supplications to the Mother of the Gods.  
By this designed Reformation, and which, had he lived, he would no doubt in a great measure have accomplished, he hoped to render his Religion so amiable in the Eyes of Christians, as easily to bring them over to it, at least he should throw out of the way those popular Objections that were commonly made against it.  
VII. SECONDLY, he took all occasions of exposing Christians, and making them and their Religion appear ridiculous to the World. He was a Man of great Wit, and his Wit particularly set to a sharp and sarcastic Edge, and he principally turned it this way. He red the Scriptures for no other end but to cavil or confute them, to pick out, as he thought, the most obnoxious passages, which he first dressed up according to his own humour, and then derided them, and set them up for others to laugh at. If he met with a seeming contradiction, he made it real; if with an hyperbolical expression, he improved it into Blasphemy, and would run it down as inconsistent with the Dictates of infinite Wisdom. He scorned the simplicity of the Apostles and Prophets, whom he represented as a pack of ignorant and illiterate fellows, that had no Breeding and Education, and understood little beyond the Shop, or a Trade. He carp'd at them almost in every Epistle, and in his Persian Expedition wrote seven whole Books in confutation of Christianity, which were afterwards solidly and fully answered by S. cyril of Alexandria. When he spake at any time of our Saviour, he would give him no other Title than the Son of Mary, or the Galilaean, and by a particular Law 
Naz. ibid. p. 81.  commanded, That the Followers of our Lord should not be called Christians, but Galilaeans, foolishly thinking to render them odious to the World by clapping an infamous Name upon them. The Imperial Standard 
Id ib. p. 75. Soz. ubi supr. p. 621.  of the across, which his Uncle had made with so pious an Intention, and with such exquisite Artifice, he took down, and in the room of it put up another, in all his Pictures and Statues representing Jupiter near him as coming down from Heaven, and delivering him a Crown and the Purple, the two Insignia of the Empire; sometimes he had Mars and Mercury looking upon him, and seeming to give Testimony, one to his Valour, the other to his Eloquence. And his great Officers walked apace after his Example. His Uncle Julian, 
Theod. l. 3. c. 12, 13 p. 135. Philost. l. 7. c. 10. p. 506.  who was governor of the East, entering into a Church of the Christians at Antioch, pissed against the Holy Table, and when Euzoius reproved him for it, he took him a box on the Ear. And his colleague Faelix, Keeper of the Imperial Treasures, and who in compliance with the Emperour, had renounced his Christianity, taking up the noble and magnificent Communion Plate, which the Piety of the former Emperours had bestowed upon the Church, See( said he in a scorn) in what brave Cups and Vessels the Son of Mary is served. But behold the Justice of the Divine Providence, that immediately overtook these blasphemous Miscreants. Julian was seized with a miserable Distemper, his Bowels rotted within him, and his very Excrements flowed out of his profane Mouth, and after having lain forty days together under the most unconceivable torments of the Bowels, he breathed out his miserable Soul; tho before his Death his Lady, a pious and virtuous Christian, had brought him to so great a sense of his Sin, that he petitioned the Emperour in the behalf of the Christians. Faelix had a quicker Execution, for one of the Master-Veins breaking, all the Blood in his Body emptied itself out at his Mouth, to the horror and amazement of all that saw it, and in less than a days time he vomited up his Blood and his Soul together. But to return to the Emperour, who catched at all advantages of deriding whatever had any relation to Christianity: And because he knew how just a Reverence the Christians paid to the memory of the great Constantine for being the first open Patron of Christianity, he traduced him at every turn, and in the conclusion of his Caesars, represents him as a person notoriously guilty of the most scandalous Effeminacy and Debauchery, with other Vices as falsely as spitefully charged upon him; and indeed hooks in all occasions to bespatter and reproach him. And in the same place he proclaims the Christian Religion to be little else but a Receptacle and Sanctuary for Rogues and Villains, where the vilest of Men might shelter themselves, and tho guilty of the most enormous Crimes, might upon a little trifling Pennance be toties quoties, in a moment made pure and clean. This he thought must needs render it cheap and ridiculous to all wise and considering Men, and if he did not laugh Christians out of their Religion, he should however confirm the Gentiles in his own.  
VIII. THIRDLY, he sought by all ways to bring Christians low, and to weaken and destroy their Power and Interest: To this end, First, He banished them out of all places 
Soz. l. 5. c. 18. p. 623. Chrysoft. Hom. in Juvent.& Max. T. 1. p. 486.  of Honour and Authority, reducing them to this Dilemma, either to do Sacrifice, or to quit their Employment, and become incapable of all Civil Offices. If they complied with the first, he had his ends, and they fell under the reproachful Character of persons, who loved their Places better than their Consciences, and preferred an empty Honour before their Religion; if they laid them down, he was rid of so many potent and dangerous Enemies, who might head a Party to oppose his Designs, or at least encourage the common sort of Christians to stand to their Religion with a firmer constancy and resolution. Thus among others, Valentinian, who was afterwards Emperour, generously threw up his place of colonel of one part of the Guards of the Palace, and submitted to the sentence of Banishment, rather than he would come under the least shadow of an Idolatrous Compliance, whereof more in its proper place. And not content with this, where any had been employed in the Reigns of the preceding Emperours, in demolishing Pagan Altars, pulling down Temples, taking away their Ornaments, or the like, he not only stripped them of their Honours and privileges, but suffered them to be indicted, condemned, and executed, where a bare Accusation, was many times proof enough. Secondly, He exacted unreasonable sums of Money from them on all occasions, that being impoverished, they might either lye under a strong temptation to apostasy, or be secured from attempting any thing against the Civil State. Hence the Fines, Penalties, and Confiscations, that filled his Reign, any pretence serving to start a Title to their Estates. If a Man was but suspected to have enriched himself by any Revenues formerly belonging to Heathen Temples, he was presently brought into the Exchequer, and right or wrong forced to refund: If guilty of the least Mutiny or Riot, their Purses were sure to smart for it. Thus when the Arians 
Jul. Epist. XLIII. p. 196.  at Edessa had fallen foul upon the Valentinian Heretics, he presently seized the Treasures of that Church, which he bestowed upon his Soldiers, and the Lands, which he appropriated to his own use, jeering them into the bargain, that he did but herein deal with them according to the admirable Law of their own Religion, ease them of their Burden, that they might go so much the lighter unto the Kingdom of Heaven, and that being made poor, they might become wise, and not fall short of that heavenly Kingdom they so greedily expected. But nothing served him to better purpose than his War against Persia, under pretence 
Niceph. l. 10. c. 24. p. 53.  whereof he amassed infinite Treasures, imposing a heavy pecuniary Mulct upon the Heads of all those that refused to offer Sacrifice to the Gods. The Edict was executed with merciless severity, yea even upon those who had nothing to pay: Nay, the Commanders and Officers stretched it beyond its natural intention, extorting greater sums than the Edict had imposed, beating and abusing them that refused to pay. And when the Christians complained to him of the Oppressions and Injuries which in this case the Governours of Provinces put upon them, all the Redress they could get, was a Sarcasm tart enough, Your Christ( said he) has given you a Law, that when you suffer unjustly, you should bear it resolutely; and when oppressed and injured, should not answer again. Thirdly, He studied to set them a clashing and quarreling with one another, that he might do his work with their hands. The politic Prince remembered the old Maxim, Divide, and govern; 'twas but setting them together by the Ears, and they would ruin themselves. He was not ignorant what powerful Factions there were among them, what implacable Feuds and Animosities had been exercised between several Parties in the times of his Predecessors; he knew these bitter Contentions were not forgotten, and that they would return to them with fresh, and perhaps more eager Appetites. To which end he no sooner came to the Crown, but he recalled the banished Bishops, 
Sozom. l. 5. c. 5. p. 611. Philost. l. 7. c. 4. p. 504.  whom he gave leave to return to their Sees, possessed by those, who he knew would not easily part with them. And tho to gain himself the Reputation of a wise and merciful Prince, he sent for the Bishops and their people to Court, and pressed them to concord, and that every one would peaceably enjoy the freedom of his own way, yet the design at the bottom was plainly this, that he might set them a wrangling more effectually, and that the liberty he gave them might widen and increase their dissensions, that so they might be incapable of confederating into any dangerous and formidable Combinations, as is confessed by his own Historian. 
Am. marcel. l. 22. p. 1612.  An artifice he was sure would take effect, having by experience found( says mine Author, with reproach enough if it was true) that no kind of wild beasts were so outrageous to Mankind, as some Christians were to one another. At the same time, and for the same purpose, he gave the like Indulgence to all sorts of Heretics, and wrote particularly to Aetius, 
Epist. XXXI. p. 164.  the Patron and Ringleader of the Eunomian Sect, whom he not only permitted to return home, but sent for to Court at his own charge; who( that I may note this by the way) was no sooner return'd, 
Philost. l. 7. c. 5, 6. p. 504.  but his Party gathered about him, and ordained him Bishop, and eudoxus Bishop of Constantinople wrote in his behalf to Euzoius Bishop of Antioch, who getting together a convention of nine Bishops, synodically cancelled all the Acts that had been made against Aetius, particularly those that had passed in the late Council at Constantinople. Besides this favour to Aetius, at Cyzicum the Emperour commanded 
Socr. l. 3. c. 11. p. 183.  Eleusius Bishop of that place to rebuild the Church of the Novatians, which he had formerly pulled down, at his own charge, placing a heavy Fine upon his head, if he did not within two Months set upon it. He published likewise an Edict 
Vid. C. Th. lib. 16. l. 38.& Gothofr. Comment.  in favour of the Donatists, a Sect of Men peculiarly disposed to Quarrels and Contentions, whom he restored to their Liberties, Revenues, and the Possession of their Churches. What fatal and mischievous effects this licentious Toleration produced in the Christian World, they who have red the Church History of that time, need not be  told.  
IX. FOURTHLY, tho he himself abstained from open Persecution, yet he connived at those that did persecute the Christians. He passionately affencted the character of Justice and Clemency, and knew no readier way to do it, than by treating his declared Adversaries with some kind of Gentleness and Lenity. Hence he glories 
Epist. VII. p. 120. l. 11. p. 212.  once and again, how kind he had been to the Galilaeans, beyond the rate of that usage they had met with in the time of his Predecessors, instead of Banishment, they had been sent for home; instead of a Prison, they enjoyed Liberty; instead of being plundered, their confiscated Goods had been by Edict restored to them; that he had commanded none of them to be beaten, abused, or put to death without Law, and beyond the Rules of Justice. And notwithstanding their madness and folly had almost ruined all, yet the worst he had done them was, that in his esteem and choice of Persons, he had preferred pious and good Men before them: And one of his greatest Advocates 
Liban. Epitaph. Jul. p. 290.  triumphs in this, that he did not prosecute the untrue Religion( meaning the Christian) with Fire and Sword, nor drive Men over by Cruelty and Torment; which yet must be understood of his general carriage, and what he did above-board, and of negative rather than positive Favours. Besides, he considered, that all the methods of Rage and Flerceness would never compass or attain his ends; he might put the World into a flamme and a Combustion, but he could never drive the Christians out of it, nor force them to be of his mind; their Religion might be shaken, but it would take deeper Root. He had observed 
Chrys. loc. supr. citat. Sozom. ib. c. 4. p. 599. Naz. ubi supr. p. 72.  the unhappy miscarriages of his Pagan Predecessors, who by sanguinary Laws, and rigorous Proceedings, had been so far from extinguishing Christianity, that they had spread it through the World, and that the Churches Field was never more fruitful, than when watered with the Blood of Martyrs, who grew up thicker the faster they were mowed down. Great and generous Minds are not easily daunted with opposition, but grow up thereby into a more manly Courage and Resolution, In the midst of all their spite and cruelty Christians could court the Stake and the Flames, the Sword and the Rack, and their Persecutors sometimes had enough to do to keep them from pressing on to an Execution, and people could not but inquire into, admire, and embrace that Religion, which supported and invigorated the Minds of its Professors, and made them triumph in the midst of those Sufferings, which were beyond all the Powers of human Nature to bear up under. The same Spirit he saw continued still, and Christians were as ready as their Enemies, and to use his own expression, Give them but occasion, and they'l crowd as fast to Martyrdom, as Bees swarm to their Hives. But he would not gratify them in that, tho it had been so dearly to their cost; he envied them the honour of Martyrdom, a thing he found they so eagerly desired, and valued beyond all the conveniencies of Life, or the enjoyments and advantages of this World. And if any died in defence of their Religion, he commanded they should not be accounted Martyrs, and that they should be thought to die for any Crimes, rather than upon the account of Religion. For these reasons he laid aside all thoughts of a public and general Persecution, which would have made him and his Party so much the more odious, and them more great and venerable. But tho no public Warrants were issued out, he left his Commanders and Governours to use their discretion, especially in those places that were far from Court, who were not backward to improve their Authority and Power. They well understood their Master's mind, and from one instance among others might take measures from all the rest, when upon occasion of a complaint 
Naz. ibid. p. 92.  made to him of a miserable outrage the Gentiles had committed upon the Christians at Caesarea, he replied, What great matter is it, if one Gentile-hand dispatch ten Galilaeans. This mad● it a hot season, notwithstanding the general Indulgence among the poor Provincials, especially in some Parts, where the Governours proceeded with all the cruelty which Men's Bodies or Estates were capable of, and with all manner of violence against their Churches, and the Rites of their Religion. A particular account whereof I could easily give, but that it would require a Martyrology, rather than an incidental mention in an Introduction. Some few of the most considerable Theodorit 
L. 3. c. 7. p. 129, 130. vid. c. 16, 17, 18, 19.  has brought together, where the Reader may find them. Nay, not content to abuse the Living, their Rage extended to the Dead. Among others, they dug up the Bones 
Poilost. l. 7. c. 4. p. 503. Niceph. l. 10. c. 13. p. 32. Rufin. l. 2. c. 28. p. 258.  of the Prophet Elisha, and John the Baptist,( both butted at Samaria) which having mixed with the Bones of Beasts, they burnt to Ashes, and then scattered the Ashes before the Wind.  
X. FIFTHLY, he endeavoured especially to discourage and weary out their Bishops and Clergy. This had been an old trick, and vigorously attempted in all Ages by the great Enemy of Mankind; 'twas but for the Wolf to persuade the Flock they had no need of a Shepherd, and his work was done. The Clergy have always been the great Eye-sore to Men of pernicious and atheistical Principles, whose desperate Designs they have strenuously opposed and countermined, and could never be brought to be content, that the World should be over-run with Atheism and Impiety, and the people moulded into any shape, and thereby betray the Souls committed to their charge. This, whatever may be pretended, is the true source and original of all that Spite and Malice they are encountered with by Men of bad Minds, and of all those hard Names and characters of Reproach to this day fixed upon them by an ingrateful and degenerate World. Julian pretended, 
Soz. l. 5. c. 15. p. 616. Jul. Ep. L. II. p. 252.  the reason of his hard usage of them, was, lest they should stir up the people to Sedition, but in truth it was to be rid of them, that by their absence the people might be destitute of all means of Instruction and Information, and the divine Efficacy and Obligation of the Sacraments, and be by degrees brought into ignorance of, or an unconcernedness for their own Religion, and then they were fit to receive any impression; take but away the Candle, and darkness will ensue; if the Shepherd be smitten, 
Soz. ib. c. 5. p. 600. Philost. l. 7. c. 4. vid. C. Th. lib. 12. Tit. I. l. 50. lib. 13. Tit. l. I. 4.  the Sheep will be scattered. To compass this more effectually, he first seized their Incomes, and took away their allowances of Corn; next, he abrogated their Immunities; and whereas by the favour of former Princes they had been exempt from being of the Curiales, he repealed these Laws, and made them liable to the burdens and offices of the Civil Courts, especially where any of them had been ordained out of that Body: And when this would not do, he endeavoured to remove and drive them away by fraud or force. At Antioch the Churches were shut up, the Plate and Treasures seized into the Exchequer, and the Clergy forced to fly. So 'twas at Cyzicum, where there was not the least shadow of Sedition. At Bostra 
Soz. ib. p. 616.& Jul. Epist. cit.  he threatened Titus the Bishop, that if any Mutiny happened, he would lay all the blame upon him and his Clergy; and when the Bishop to clear himself sent his Apology to Court, to assure him, that tho the Christians were the far greater number, yet they lived peaceably under his Conduct, the Emperour wrote back to the City, making a spiteful and disingenuous representation of the Bishop's Letter, as if it had contained nothing but malicious and scurrilous reflections upon them, exciting the Commonalty to expel him as a common Enemy and Calumniator out of the City. And in some places proceeded to that extremity, 
Soz. ib. p. 600.  as to cast them into Prison, and expose them to great pains and tortures.  
XI. SIXTHLY, he gave all manner of assistance and encouragement to the Jews, merely in spite and opposition to the Christians: And herein we have a notorious Instance how far Malice will stoop to serve its ends. Julian hated the Jews almost equally with the Christians, and yet when he found they were likely to be proper Instruments to his purpose, he spake tenderly of them, pitied their miserable and afflicted State, desired their Prayers in his Persian Wars, released the Tribute put them upon, and pressed them to the rebuilding their Temple, merchandizing their Altar, and restoring their Sacrifices, and the Solemnities of their Worship. In order whereunto he sent them a Commission, allowed the charges of the Work out of his own Exchequer, and appointed Officers to superintend it, and that the governor of the Province should aid and assist them in it. Two things especially he propounded to himself in this: First, That by thus obliging the Jews, he should be the better able to bring them over to his own Religion; or however that went, should thrust an incurable Thorn into the sides of Christians. He was not to be  told what an inveterate and implacable Enmity the Jews bare to Christians, and that being now backed with the Royal Authority, they would not only reproach and bespatter, but oppress and trample upon them, and pursue them with the utmost violence of a fierce and ungovernable Zeal. Secondly, He hoped by restoring the Temple and legal Worship, to evidence to the World, that our Saviour was an Impostor and false Prophet, who had so expressly foretold the final and irrevocable dissolution of that Church and State. So the work was carried on with all possible briskness and activity, and nothing was thought of but Feasts and Triumphs, when Heaven on a sudden baffled the whole enterprise, and many illustrious and miraculous Appearances of the Divine Vengeance forced the Workmen to sit down, and give over in Despair; and what the Emperour designed as a way to suppress, became a means to advance Christianity, no inconsiderable number being hereby brought over to the Christian Faith. Of all which particulars, an account is given at large in the Life of S. Cyril of Jerusalem.  
XII. SEVENTHLY, he endeavoured to suppress and extinguish all human Learning amongst the Christians, well knowing how naturally Ignorance opens the way to Barbarism and Impiety. To bring this about, he published a Law, 
C. Th. lib. 13. Tit. III. l. 5. p. 30.  that no Professor of any Art or Science should set up in any place, till by long exercise he was fitted for it, and after mature deliberation, had gained the approbation and decree of the Court of that City, with the consent of the Optimates, and that this Decree should be sent first to him for his allowance. Next he forbade 
Naz. ibid. p. 51. Soz. ib. p. 623. Theod. l. 3. c. 8. p. 131.  Christian School-Masters to teach any Gentile-Learning, to instruct and educate Children in their Arts, or to red their Books to them; which his own Historian 
Am. marcel. l. 21. p. 1626. l. 25. p. 1696.  more than once censures as a churlish and cruel Edict, worthy to be covered with Eternal silence. By this means he designed to let in Rudeness and Ignorance among the Christians, and thereby dispose them to any impressions he might make upon them, to prevent the youths being perverted by going to the Christian Schools, to render them of his own Party more able to dispute with and baffle Christians, at least that Christians might be less able to encounter them, and to discern their sophistical Reasonings, their false and fallacious Insinuations, Lest otherwise( said he 
Ap. Theod. loc. cit. Socr. l. 3. c. 12. p. 184. ) we be shot through with our own Arrows, and they being furnished with our armor, make War upon us with our own Weapons. He challenged 
Naz. ibid.& p. 97.  the Learning and Writings of the Gentiles as their own proper Goods, who alone embraced the Religion, and worshipped the Gods, which they treated of; that these were unnecessary to Christians, who were trained up to an illiterate Clownishness, and the sum of whose Doctrine lay in {αβγδ}, Believe, and 'tis enough; and that by this Prohibition he did but retrieve stolen Goods, and restore them to their right owners. But besides the folly of the attempt itself, seeing' tho he might hinder them from speaking elegantly and genteely, he could not hinder them from speaking truth, which was mighty, and would prevail and make its way, notwithstanding all their Plots and Devices to the contrary; besides this, it did but whet on Nazianzen and the two Apollinares, who by their acute Poems, and elegant Orations, abundantly supplied the defect of all Heathen Authors, as we have elsewhere observed.  
XIII. EIGHTHLY, above all Men he highly honoured, embraced, and rewarded Philosophers, and those who were likely most vigorously to oppose and refute Christianity. It grieved him to see the Christian Faith so largely spread, so firmly rooted, and so many excellent Books written, either in defence, or explication of it; and he sticks not to tell 
Epist. IX. p. 122.  us, he hearty wished all Writings that concerned the Doctrine of the wicked Galilaeans, were quiter banished out of the World. But because there were no hopes of that, he encouraged all the Sophists, Philosophers, and Orators, that he could meet with, to bend their Wits and Studies this way; whom he resettled in their own Countries and Possessions, allowed them Pensions, and peculiar Privileges, and indeed whatever they could reasonably desire or expect from him. This filled all Schools and Colleges, all Courts and Corners with Lectures, Invectives, and Declamations against Christians. This made the philosophising Trade go on apace, every one desiring to comply with the Emperour's humour, though a great part of them had little more of the Philosopher in them, 
Vid. Socr. l. 3. c. 1. p. 169.  besides the Habit and the Cloak: This brought so many of them to Court, that the Palace seemed a kind of Academy, where all places were crowded with Philosophers, Aruspices, and Magicians; Jamblicus, Libanius, Maximus, Ecebolius, Oribasius, and great numbers more; whom he took into his Bosom, and made privy to his greatest Intrigues, steered Affairs by their Councils, and in their company spent his leasure-hours, and indeed was impatient at any time when they were wanting. And these being the Men that were generally entrusted with the education of Youth, and who governed and directed the Minds and Consciences of the people, he was sure of so many sworn Enemies to Christianity, who would not fail to lay out all their Talents and Abilities that way. And the truth is, if Wit, or Learning, or Eloquence, could have done it, he had certainly driven it out of the World. But the foolishness of God is wiser than Men, and his weakness stronger than Men, who baffled all their tricks of Artifice and Subtlety, and made foolish the Wisdom of this World.  
XIV. NINTHLY, he tried by several secret and subtle Artifices to ensnare unwary Christians into compliance with Pagan Superstitions, that having once drawn them in, he might either wholly bring them over, or, by the reflection upon what they had done, disquiet their Consciences, as the very report of it might undermine their Reputations. Of this, a few Instances shall suffice. He used to place the Images 
Soz. ib. c. 17. p. 621. Naz. ib p. 74& 83.  of the Heathen Gods next to, or behind his own Statues, that when the people came according to custom to do obeisance to the one, they might do it also to the other: Those that did it, he persuaded to venture a little farther; those that discovered the Cheat, and refused, he charged with Treason, and proceeded against them as Delinquents against the Laws and Customs of the Empire. When the Soldiers came at the solemn times to receive their Donative, the ancient usage was at the same time to throw a piece of Frankincense into the Fire in honour of the Gods, which tho the Christians generally detested, yet some few, surprised thereinto by an inveterate custom, did it. But being minded afterwards of what they had done, such an honour seized upon their Consciences, that they run up and down like mad Men, went to the Emperour, and threw back their Donatives, publicly professing themselves Christians, and desiring they might die to give testimony to their Religion. At other times he would defile 
Theod. l. 3. c. 15. p. 137. Chrysost. Orat. in Juvent.& Max. T. 1. p. 487. &c.  the Springs and Fountains with Gentile-Sacrifices, and sprinkle all the Flesh-meat, or whatsoever sort of Food was brought to Market, with hallowed Water offered to their Gods, that so they could neither eat nor drink, but they must seem at least to enter into a Partnership with Idolatry. The Christians resented it with a just indignation, tho they knew withall, S. Paul had long since determined this case. Upon this occasion Juventinus and Maximus, two Officers in the Imperial Guards, expressed a vehement dislike of the Emperour's action, with a tart reflection upon his apostasy. For which, being summoned and examined, they plainly  told him, Sir, we have been educated in the true Religion, and having submitted to those excellent Laws established by Constantine and his Children, cannot but now bewail the Abominations which we see you cast about in every place, while you pollute both Meat and Drink with impure filthy Sacrifices. These are the things we lament and complain of, both at home, and now again in your presence, and mourn under as the great blemish of your reign. Julian, notwithstanding all his Gravity and Philosophical Attainments, was so nettled at this Answer, that he could not pass it over, but commanded them to be first miserable tortured, and then put to death. Tho he would not have it thought that they suffered upon the account of Religion, but only for their bold and petulant carriage to himself.  
XV. HAVING thus viewed the methods by which Julian sought to extirpate Christianity, we proceed to the Historical remainder of his Reign. Seven or eight( Zosimus by mistake makes it ten) Months he stayed at Constantinople, when having settled Affairs there, he conceived it high time to take care of the Eastern Borders of the Empire: In order whereunto he crossed the Hellespont, and passing through Bythinia, came to Pessinus 
Liban. in Jul. nec. p. 254.  a City of Galatia, situate in the confines of the Greater Phrygia, where stood a very ancient Temple dedicated to Rhea or Ceres, the Mother of all Heathen Deities, the Worship whereof he restored, and created Callixenes Priest, and having paid his Devotions to the Goddess, published 
Id. Epitaph in Jul. nec. p 300.  an elegant Oration( the work but of one night) in honour of the Mother of the Gods; as about the same time at another night he drew up a smart Invective against an illiterate Philosopher, who pretending himself a Cynic, and of Diogenes his Tribe, did yet condemn the strict and severe Principles of that Institution by a loose and vicious Life. Thence he passed the Pylae, and through Cilicia, and came to Antioch, where he arrived about the latter end of July, Ann. CCCLXII. He found the City almost wholly Christian, and the Pagan Rites generally neglected. He went into the famous Temple 
Jul. Misopog. p. 96, &c.  of Apollo in the Daphne, on its great annual Festival, where instead of great Crowds and magnificent Oblations, which he expected, he found neither the one nor the other, whereat he wondered, thinking the People stayed without, and waited his leave to come in: But the Priest  told him, the City had provided no manner of Sacrifices, and that he had only there one poor Goose, which he had brought from home, to make an Offering to the God. The Emperour was highly offended, and expostulated sharply with the Senate, that in such a City there should be found so much Irreverence to the Gods, beyond what was to be met with in the most barbarous Corner of the Empire; and that being so rich, they should not afford one little bide for sacrifice, when every Ward might have brought an ox, much more the whole City joined together; that they spared no cost in their private Feasts and Entertainments, while they gave not a penny to any public or private Sacrifice, but suffered their Wives to enrich the Galilaeans, and throw away their Estates upon their Poor; there was none of them but would celebrate their own Birth-days with all imaginable pomp and plenty, when they would not bestow a little oil for the Lamps, not a piece of Frankincense, nor the smallest Oblation upon the Solemnities of the Gods. He intended 
Socr. l. 3. c. 18. p. 191. Soz. l. 6. c. 19, 20. p. 626. Amm. Marc. l. 22. p. 1629.  it seems to consult this Oracle about the Success of his Affairs, but by its own confession found it was tongue-tied in those matters by Babylas his Grave that was near it, and who had sometimes been Bishop of that place. He caused the Christians therefore to remove his Bones, which they did in a triumphant manner, and soon after, viz. October xxij. that famous Temple was burnt to the ground. And though 'twas highly probable it was fired by lightning, yet must it be charged upon the Christians, many of whom were put to the Rack, and the great Church at Antioch commanded to be shut up. But the story hereof we have more fully related in another place. I shall here only add, 
Philost. l. 7. c. 12. p. 507.  that St. Babylas his Bones being translated from the Daphne, the Oracle there, and in other places, recovered its speech, and gave forth its Answers; God permitting the Gentiles to be ensnared in their own errors, and what they accounted the honour of their Religion, through the falseness and vanity of their Predictions, turned to their disgrace. A great Instance whereof happened about this time. The Emperour's Uncle lay sick of a most miserable and incurable Distemper; all the Oracles were consulted about his Life, which all with one Mouth pronounced, that he should recover. The Answers were taken and brought in writing, and while they were reading them to him, that very minute he died.  
XVI. BUT that which further raised Julian's spleen against the Men of Antioch was this: The mighty Train he had brought along with him was likely enough to cause a scarcity, and he out of a vain affectation of Popularity 
Socr. ib. c 17. p. 190. Soz. ib. p. 624. Am. Mar. l 22. p. 1630. Zosim. l. 3. p. 713. Vid. Liban. de Vit. sua, p. 42. Epitaph. Jul. p. 306.  cried down the price of all vendible Commodities below what they could be afforded at. Hereupon the Traders withdrew, and brought nothing to Market, and so a real Famine ensued. This put the people into a Mutiny, who charged the fault upon the Emperour, and according to the humour of that place pelted him with satirical Reflections, especially playing upon his long rough and ill-shaped Beard; for which they called him a Goat, and usually said, 'twas good for nothing but to be shaved off, and to make Ropes of it. And whereas out of his immoderate vein of superstition, he did not only offer up daily sacrifices, but had caused a Bull standing before the Altar to be stamped upon the Reverse of his Coins, it signified( they said) how much he had tossed and overturned the World. Julian was sufficiently sensible of the Affront, and at first vowed Revenge, and that he would leave their City, and remove to Tarsus. But he soon altered his Resolution, and choose rather to repay them in their own coin, telling them, 
Zonar. Annal. Tom. III. p. 22.  he would by no means have his Beard made into Ropes, lest the roughness of it should offend their tender and delicate hands, reflecting upon their nice and effeminate manners. And indeed he abundantly revenged himself upon them by a tart satire, which he called Misopogon, or the Beard-hater, wherein besides some historical passages of note and value, he does very sarcastically, and in an ironical way, expose the Vices of that People, especially charging them with Luxury and Intemperance, Softness and Effeminacy, that they did little but spend their time in Sports, and the Entertainments of the theatre, with apostasy from the Religion of their Ancestors, and an over-fond Reverence for Chi and Kappa, that is, Christ and Constantine, and with an ill-order'd Magistracy, that neglected the public Weal, and complied with the Rich and Covetous, to the oppression of the common people. Winter being over, he departed with his Army from Antioch the first of March, and at his going out, to let them understand how much he resented the Affronts they had put upon him,  told them, by a fatal prognostication, that he would never see them more: And the 
Theod. lib. 3. c. 23. p. 145.  story is commonly known, that when Julian marched out with a great pomp and train, and had spoken big words of what he would do to the Christians at his return, Libanius, to add the greater scorn and reproach to them, asked a Christian School-man of his acquaintance at Antioch, what the Carpenter's Son was now doing? meaning our ever blessed Saviour. The Man replied with tartness enough, he's making a Coffin for your Master Julian. But to proceed: The Emperour marching on passed by Edessa, which he would not enter, because so populously inhabited by Christians,( though Zozimus says the People of that place came generally out to meet him, presented him with a Crown, and courteously invited him into the City, which he accepted of and went accordingly;) and on the xviiith of April came to Carrae a City of Mesopotamia, where he entred 
Theod. lb. c. 26, 27. p. 147.  into a Pagan Temple, and performed many secret and execrable Rites, which being finished, he sealed up the doors, and set a Guard upon them, giving order, that none should open them till his return. But being broken open, upon the News of his Death, there was found a Woman hanging by the Hair of her Head, her Hands extended, and her Belly ript up, that a presage of future success might be made by the inspection of her Liver. And the like it seems he had done at Antioch, where many Chests were found in the palace filled with dead Mens Skulls, and several dead Bodies hide in Wells, no doubt the unhappy engines and Monuments of his diabolical Divinations,( if the Story be not made worse, than perhaps it was.)  
XVII. IT was about the midst of Summer when they came within sight of the Persian Army, where after several Skirmishes he was within a hopeful prospect of a final Victory,( the Persian Affairs being brought to that low ebb, that ambassadors 
Liban. Epitaph. Jul. p. 303.  were appointed, and Presents prepared, which were to be sent next day, to beg a Treaty in order to Peace,) when venturing too far 
Am. Marc. l. 25. p. 1691.  in the pursuit, he was on a sudden struck with a Horseman's Lance, which grazing upon his Arm, passed in at his side, and went to the very lower lap or fillet of the Liver, with which as being two-edged he cut his Fingers while he striven to pull it out, and fainting with loss of spirits sunk down upon his Horse's neck. There went a Report, 
Theod. ibid. c. 25. p. 147. Sozom. lib. 6. c. 2. p. 638.  that finding himself mortally wounded, he took a handful of his Blood, and throwing it up into the Air, cried out, Galilean, thou hast got the better! Though others conceived he did it in contempt of the Sun, for having assisted the Persians more than him, especially the Sun having been the predominant Planet that governed his Nativity. We are  told by an Author 
Naz. Orat. II. in Jul. p. 117.  of good credit, that being laid down for a while upon the Bank of a River, he had persuaded some of his most inward Confidents secretly to convey him into, and drown him in the River, that so the suddenness of his disappearing might take off the ignominy of his Death, and give him( as it had done some others in the like cases) the Reputation of a Deity. And the Plot had been accomplished, had not some of the Imperial Eunuchs discovered and prevented it. But of this there are no intimations in any other Writer. How ever 'tis certain some Designs were laid that way, to create in the peoples minds a Belief of his Divinity. For Libanius 
Ubi supr. p. 330.  tells us, that the Messengers that brought the first News of his being slain, were almost stoned to death, for bringing up a slanderous and lying Report concerning a Person who was supposed to be a God, and consequently immortal. His wounds being perceived to be dangerous, he was laid upon a Target, and carried into his Tent, where he died at Midnight. Various were the Reports 
Naz. ib. p. 116. Socr. l. 3. c. 21. p. 195. Sozom. ib. c. 1. p. 636. Theod. ib. p. 146.  that went about how he came by his deaths-wound: Some say, 'twas given by an Angel; Callistus, an Officer of his Guards, and who wrote his Acts in an Heroic Poem, that 'twas done by a Daemon: Some say, 'twas a revolted Persian that did it; others, a Saracen; others, a Jester, that used to go freely up and down the Army; and some, that 'twas one of his own Soldiers, out of revenge, that he had unadvisedly brought the Army into so great distress and danger. Libanius does not only affirm, 
Or. de Templ. p. 24.  that he was killed by fraud and treachery, but without any other warrant than his own presumption, confidently charges 
Orat. Epitaph. in nec. Jul. p 324. Vid. Soz. loc. cit.  it upon the Christians, who took this opportunity( he says) to be revenged of him, and to rid him out of the world; and supports his conjecture with no wiser and stronger a probability, than than none of the Persians would confess who did it, no not, though the King proclaimed a great Reward to the person who should appear to demand and challenge it. But Ammianus 
Ubi supra,  Marcellinus, a more grave and sober Writer, and present at the Fight, says, 'twas uncertain who did it; and Eutropius, 
Lib. 10. p. 133.  a Pagan too, and at that time upon the spot, that 'twas done hostili manu, by the hand of the Enemy. Among the various extraordinary passages relating to his Death, that reported by Sozomen 
Lib. 6. c. 2. p. 637.  must not be omitted; who tells us, that a certain intimate Acquaintance of Julian's following after him in his Persian Expedition, came to a place, where finding no convenient Inn to entertain him, he lodged that night in the Church, and in his sleep he had a Vision, wherein he beholded several Apostles and Prophets, who assembling themselves into one company; began to complain of the extreme Injuries the Emperour did to the Church, and to advice what was to be done in that case. The Consult was long, and when they could come to no conclusion, two of the company rose up, and bad the rest be of good cheer, and as resolving to put a sudden period to Julian's Life and Reign, immediately departed the assembly. The Man hereupon was afraid, and resolved to go no farther, but there to await the Issue of things. The next night taking his rest in the same place, he beholded the very same Convention, whereinto the two persons, who the night before had gone out against Julian, suddenly return'd from their Expedition, and gave an account to the company of his being slain; as the very same day his Death was proclaimed by Horsemen in the Air to Didymus at Alexandria. And when Julian 
Theod. lib. 3. c. 24. p. 145.  the Monk, whom the Syrians called Sabba, or The Aged, and who had his Cell on the Eastern Bank of the River Euphrates, in the Province of Osroena, had heard of the great severities wherewith the Emperour had threatened the Christians, he applied himself with continual tears and prayers to Heaven, when on a sudden he started up, wiped his Eyes, and put on a most pleased and cheerful look. Those that were near him were surprised at it, and asked the reason of so sudden a change? He  told them, that the Wild-Boar that had wasted the Lord's Vineyard had now paid for all the Injuries he had done to it, that he lay dead upon the ground, incapable of doing it any farther harm. Whereat they all rose up, and sang a gratulatory Hymn to God. And soon after they understood, that the very same day and hour Julian had been slain in the battle. To all which let me add what Zonaras 
Annal. Tom, III. p 24.  relates on this occasion, that a certain Judge at Antioch, and he too a gentle, watching all night at the Praetorium, saw an unusual Constellation in the Heavens, the Stars forming themselves into these words, {αβγδ}, This day is Julian slain ●n Persia. Which accordingly proved true, and became the means of the Man's conversion to the Christian Faith. He died June xxvi. Ann. CCCLXIII. in the Thirty second Year of his Age, when he had reigned not full two Years. A Prince truly of great Virtues, prudent, considerative, impartial, strictly just, chast, and temperate, patient of hardship, unwearied in his labours, valorous in his attempts, even to rashness and precipitancy. He had a quick Wit, but too much inclined to Satyrism, a nimble Apprehension, and Learning beyond most Princes; but with all, was a passionate affecter of praise and popularity, one that loved to talk much, and not seldom vain-gloriously enough in his own commendation. He was, even in the Character of his own Writers, superstitious rather than religious, an immoderate lover of the Rites, Ceremonies, and Usages of Paganism, which he revived, and defended both with his Sword and Pen, and in the Exercise whereof he spent no inconsiderable portions of his time, and professed himself an hearty Enemy to all that opposed them. In short, to give him his due, had not his Memory been stained with an apostasy from the best Religion that ever was, and so bitter and incurable a Spleen against the Christians, he might have passed for one of the best Princes that ever managed the Roman Empire.  
XVIII. BUT his Death happened opportunely to the poor Christians, 'twas {αβγδ}, a truly seasonable wound, says Nazianzen, 
Loc. supra laudat. , that restored health and safety to the Christian World, who otherwise were sure to have felt( and 'twas but what he had threatened) the utmost effects of his severity and displeasure, had he return'd victorious from the Persian Expedition. And the truth is, had his Reign been extended to any great number of years, he would have mightily distressed Christianity, and have reduced it perhaps to a lower ebb, than ever it had been at in the times of any of his most fierce and violent Predecessors. No body therefore can blame them, if they entertained the News of his Death with joy and triumph; the Churches 
Theod. ibid. c. 28. p. 147.  were filled with Hymns and Thanksgivings, their Houses with Feasts and Merriments, and the very theatres chanted out the Glories of the across, and derided the Vanity of the Heathen Oracles: And at Antioch, the People insulted over Maximus, the great Philosopher and Magician, that had blown up Julian into all this Folly and Cruelty, and unanimously cried out, What's now become, O thou foolish Maximus! of all thy Oracles and Divinations? God and his Christ have overcome. I conclude this short, but famous Period, with the Words of Nazianzen in his second Invective against Julian, published not long after his death, which when he had at large discoursed of, These( says he 
Ibid. p. 122. ) are the accounts that are given by us poor contemptible Galileans, who worship a crucified Saviour, and profess ourselves the Disciples and Followers of Fishermen, and illiterate tradesman, as they are pleased to phrase it. These are the things which we sit down and sing in the company of our old Women; we that have half starved ourselves with long fasting and abstinence; that watch it seems to little purpose, and play the fool in our Night-devotions; and yet have made shift to lay you flat upon your back. Where are now your Grammarians and Orators? where are your Privy-councillors,( that I may begin my {αβγδ}, in the words of one of our unlearned and despised Party?) what are become of your Sacrifices, your Rites and Mysteries? where are your public and your secret Victims? where are your Arts of Inspecting Entrails, so much talked of? your prognostic Divinations, and Spirits that gave Answers out of the Belly? what's become of the great Babylon you spake so much of, and the whole World, which by the promise of a few execrable sacrificial Divinations, you had devoured and conquered? wher● are the Persians, and the Medes, which you had already in your hands? where are those Gods that lead you on, and yet were forced to be carried before you, that fought both before, and together with you? where are the Oracles, that denounced such heavy things against the Christians, and sixth the time of our utter destruction, even to the rooting our very Name out of the World? They are all vanished, and are proved to be Lies and Falshoods, and the Boasts and Vauntings of the Ungodly are fled, and have disappeared like the shadow of a Dream.   

SECT. IV. In what Case Gentilism stood under the Reigns of JOVIAN, VALENTINIAN, and VALENS. 
Pa: 49.   depiction of coins  
Jovian chosen Emperour, resolutely refuses it, till the Army professes itself Christian. He is traduced by the Pagans for his Zeal towards Christianity, which he owns to be the true Religion. His granting some kind of Indulgence to Men of any Religion. The great Commendations given him by Themistius the Philosopher upon that account. Moderation in Religion highly cried up and pleaded for by the Gentiles, when themselves stood in need of it. The sudden Death of Jovian. Valentinian elected by the Army. His Zeal against Pagan Idolatry, and Sufferings upon that account in the time of Julian. His Brother Valens taken into a Partnership in the Government. Indulgence granted to every one to use his own way of Worship. This Liberty abused by the Gentiles, and therefore retrenched by several Laws. No Christians to be condemned to the Gladiatory Sports, or to be forced to guard the Heathen Temples. The vanity of a Prediction of the Gentiles, that the Christian Religion should last but CCCLXV. Years. All divinatory Consultations severely prohibited in the Eastern Parts. A magical Tripos made by the Gentiles for inquiring after Valens his Successor, and the manner of consulting it: Theodorus, a gentle, intimated to be the Person. These Transactions discovered to Valens, who puts to death all Persons concerned in the Conspiracy. A severe Process against all Philosophers and Magicians. Maximus, Tutor to Julian, beheaded upon this occasion. Great rigour used towards all whose Names began with THEOD, and yet Theodosius escaped, and was his Successor. Books of Magic ordered to be burnt. St. Chrysostom in danger upon that account. Smart Proceedings against the Gentiles in the West, but moderated by the Intercession of the Senate. Privileges granted to the Provincial Priests. The Saracens, when and how converted to the Christian Faith. Arianism, how it crept in among the Goths. Their Letters invented, and the Bible translated into that Language by Ulphilas their Bishop. Valens his Rage against the catholics mitigated by an Oration which Themistius the Philosopher made to him to that purpose.  

Socr. l. 3. c. 22. p. 195. Soz. l. 6. c. 3. p. 639. Theod. l. 4. c. 1. p. 151.  I. VPON Julian's death, Jovian( or, as some call him, Jovinian) was by the Suffrage of the Army saluted Emperour. He was Primicerius of the Domestical Protectors, or Captain General of the Imperial Guards, a firm and resolved Christian, in so much that when Julian published an Edict, that the Army should either sacrifice or disband, he presently offered to lay down his Arms; but the Emperour knew him to be too considerable a Person, to be easily partend with, and therefore continued him in his Command. Upon the shouts and acclamations of the Soldiers he bluntly  told them, That he for his part was a Christian, and could not take upon him the Command of those Men, or the Conduct of that Army, that had been trained up in the impious Principles of the deceased Emperour; nor could he expect any Success from their Arms, who being destitute of the divine Blessing and Protection, must needs become a Prey and Derision to their Enemies. To this they almost unanimously replied, Make no scruple, Sir, to venture upon the Empire, nor let the Impiety of our Principles be an Argument with you to decline it. For you will reign over Christians, Men instructed in the Laws of Piety: Those of us that are eldest, were brought up under the Institution and Discipline of Constantine; those that are next, under the Instructions of Constantius; and for the late Emperour, his Reign was so short, that it was not capable of making any deep Impression upon the Minds of Men. Upon this assurance, he took the Government upon him, and made Peace with the Persians upon the best Terms that those evil Circumstances they were under could admit. The trouble which the Gentiles conceived for the Death of Julian was doubled upon them by the Election of Jovian, whose Zeal for Christianity they were too well assured of, and therefore in all places traduced 
Suid. in V. {αβγδ}, ubi plura exempla dantur.  and exposed him by Lampoons and Pasquils, especially at Antioch, where they scattered Libels in the streets, and affixed them at every corner, and the very old Women broken scurrilous Jests upon him; and the rather perhaps to cry quits with the Christians, who had not long before dealt so by Julian. As indeed petulancy and a sarcastic Wit were the peculiar humour of that Place.  
II. HE began his Reign, as became a wise and good Prince, with the Care of Religion. warned with the unhappy Fate of his Predecessor, he wrote 
Soz. ib. Theod. ib. c. 4. Philost. l. 8. c. 5. p. 512.  immediately to the Governours of Provinces to open the Churches, and diligently attend the Solemnities of Divine Worship, and let the Subjects know, that the Christian Religion was the only true way of Worship. He restored to the several Churches the Gifts and Revenues, and to the Clergy, and those who lived within the verge of it, the Privileges and Immunities which Julian had taken from them, particularly he restored the Corn-Canon,( as they called it) the yearly Allowance of Corn, which Constantine the Great had settled upon the Church, and which the late Emperour had abolished. But because a great Dearth raged at that time, he was forced for the present to cut off two thirds of that Tribute, promising to restore it entire as soon as the Famine was over, and would no doubt have made good his word, had God spared his Life. He also recalled all those, both ecclesiastic and secular Persons, that in the late times had been banished for their Religion. The Pagan Temples he commanded to be shut up, and the public Sacrifices to be taken away; whereupon the Priests crept into Corners, and the very Philosophers were so frighted that they laid aside the Pallium, and habited themselves according to the common Garb. But this I conceive they did more out of fear of the Christians upon this great Turn of Affairs, than any positive Constitution of the Emperour to that purpose. For wherever he came, he kindly received, and honourably entertained the Philosophers, and by an Edict 
Vid. Themist. Orat. XII. pag. 278.  gave every man leave to serve God in his own way, which I understand not of the public but private Exercise of Religion. By this time he was entred upon his Consulship, and being arrived at Ancyra in Galatia, was met by Themistius the Philosopher, with some others of the Senatorian Order, where Themistius in an elegant Oration 
Orat. supr. cit.  congratulated him for his new Honour and Dignity, and at large gives him his just commendation, especially for his compassion to the afflicted and banished, and his admirable care of Religion, his great Indulgence towards all, in leaving every one to the freedom of his own choice, and herein imitating God, who having planted in Mens Minds a natural Inclination to Religion, has left every Man free to choose that way and means wherein he may best express it: Princes might compel to the outward Act, but the Mind was above all Warrants or Threat'nings; Force may make Men Hypocrites, but not Religious; and to worship the Imperial Purple, not the Deity. Thence that unsteadiness and inconstancy that is in such Mens profession, for the force being taken off, they fluctuate to this or that, and change their Religion oft'ner than Euripus Ebbs and Flows. An Argument, which he there manages with all the advantages of a smooth, plausible, and rhetorical Insinuation. And 'twas an Argument the Gentiles 
Vid. etiam Liban. Orat. de Templ. p 18. Or. in Julian. nec. p. 290.  much insisted on in in those days. They were under hatches, and now all the Cry is for Gentleness and Moderation, and leaving Men to the Dictates of their own Consciences, which might be persuaded, but could never be compelled; that Force in this case was as unreasonable, as t'was insignificant, the effect whereof might be {αβγδ},( as Libanius argues) a painted and hypocritical Conversion, not a real change of Opinion and Principles. But whatever might be said for the thing itself, they forgot when this would not pass with themselves for currant Doctrine, and how miserable in former times they had treated the poor Christians, whom they had not only tempted to apostasy by promises and persuasions, but had endeavoured to force them to abandon their Religion by all the Methods of the most barbarous and merciless Severities. But this only by the by. Besides this, the Emperour put out a Law 
C. Th. lib. 9. Tit. XXV. l. 2. p. 197. Soz. l. 6. c. 3. p. 640.  to make it Capital for any to ravish, or but to attempt to mary the consecrated Virgins,( which we now call Nuns) occasioned by the looseness and iniquity of the late times, wherein many had either been by flattery courted into Marriages, or by force had been compelled to lewd Embraces. This Law is dated February xix. CCCLXIV. and himself survived not long after, dying at Dadastana, a Village in the Confines of Galatia and Bithynia, of poisonous Mushrooms, whereof some say he had plentifully supped; more probably he was choked with the smoke of Coals; or, as others, with the damp of a new plastered Chamber, and perhaps both cencurred to give him his death. However 'twas, he was found dead in his Bed, after he had reigned not full eight months. A valuable Prince, whose Reign 'tis like, had it been longer, would have rend'red the Condition both of Church and State very happy and prosperous.  
III. THE Army marched to Nice 
Socr l. 4. c. 1. p. 210. Soz. l. 6. c. 6. p. 644. Theod. l. 4. c. 6. p. 156. Philost. ib. c. 8.  where a Council of Officers being called, in order to the Election of a new Emperour, they unanimously pitched upon Valentinian, Tribune of the 2d school of the Salarii, whom they had left behind themat Ancyra. A Man he was of great spirit and courage, and had suffered deep for his Religion. Being under Julian, he was bound by virtue of his Place to attend 
Soz. ubi supr. Theod. l. 3. c. 16. p. 138.  the Emperour when he went to offer Sacrifice in the Temple, where the Priests stood ready at the door, with Branches in their hands( as the custom was) to sprinkle Holy-water upon those that ent'red in, some few drops whereof fell upon Valentinian, who( vexed to be defiled with their idolatrous Rites) struck the Priest a Box on the Ear in the Emperour's presence, and tearing off that part of his Garment whereon the water had fallen, threw it away with scorn and indignation. Julian was enraged to see his Religion affronted to his Face, but dissembled his passion, and not willing to give him the honour of Martyrdom, found fault with him for negligence in his Office, and turned him out, and banished him, some say, to Melitina, a desolate Town in armoniac; or, as others affirm, to Thebais in Egypt, whence he return'd in the beginning of Jovian's Reign. Messengers were immediately dispatched to Ancyra, to carry him the welcome News, and conduct him to Nice, where the Soldiers setting him upon a Shield, shew'd him openly, and proclaimed him Emperour, but withall required that he would take to him a Partner in the Empire, and the noise was loud and clamorous, whereupon beckoning with his hand to make silence, he replied, with a Resolution that became a Prince, 'twas in your power, Gentlemen, to make me Emperour, but being so, 'tis not yours, but my part to command: Submission is your Duty as Subjects, mine as Emperour, to take care of the Commonwealth. An Answer, that struck them dumb; however within a month he assumed his Brother Valens to be his colleague in the Empire, to whom he allotted the Eastern Parts, having reserved the Western to himself.  
IV. TO render their Government, at their first setting out, more grateful and acceptable to the People, they endeavoured to oblige all Parties by a general Toleration, enacting 
C. Th. lib. 9. Tit. XVI. l. 9. Amm. Marcel. l. 30. p. 1832. Symmach. l. 10. Ep. 54. p. 537, 539, 543. , That every one might worship God according to the Rites of that Religion wherein he had been educated; that no Man should be compelled to this or that way of Worship, nor Subjects be forced to profess the same Religion with their Prince, but all be left to a free and unconstrained choice. An Act, for which they are sufficiently cried up by Pagan-Writers. The Heathens were not to be taught what use to make of this Indulgence, which they wound up to the highest peg, so that not content 
Theod. lib. 4. c. 24. p. 187.  with the private exercise of their Superstition, in many places they set it up publicly, solemnized their accustomend Festivals, celebrated their impious Mysteries, and made their wild and extravagant Processions through the open streets. This general Liberty the Emperours by degrees began to restrain; by a Law 
C. Th. lib. 10. Tit. I. l. 8. p. 384.  published this first year of their Reign, they seized the Farms and Revenues belonging to the Heathen Temples, taken away by Constantine and his Sons, and either given or sold to private persons, but resumed and restored by Julian, which they now annexed as an additional Revenue to their own private Patrimony. By another 
Ib. lib. 9. Tit. XVI. l. 7. Zos. l. 4. p. 735. , they forbade all Night-sacrifices, Charms, and Magic-Divinations, these being accounted most malignant and dangerous, and the Night fittest to cover such black and hellish Rites. But upon a Representation made by Praetextatus, Proconsul of Greece, how intolerable this Constitution would be to that people, if it took away their sacred Mysteries, so universally entertained and reverenced by all Mankind, Achaia had the favour to be exempt from it, provided they acted nothing herein but what was agreeable to the ancient Usages of their own Country. They took care 
C. Th. lib. 9. Tit. XL. l. 8.  that no Christian, upon pretence of any Crime whatsoever, should be condemned to the gladiatory Sports, as being dishonourable to the Christian Name; and whereas the gentle Temples were fain to be guarded by Soldiers, to defend them from the assaults of Christians, who could not well brook the Liberty lately indulged them, wherever they had power and opportunity( as they now had at Rome, the elder Symmachus, a zealous Pagan, being Provost of that City) they forced Christians upon that Service: Which being complained of, Valentinian commanded 
Ib. lib. 16. Tit. I. l. 1. , That no Judge or Officer should presume to do it, upon pain of the loss both of Estate and Life. Both these Laws are directed to Symmachus, and bear Date Ann. CCCLXV. By these proceedings the Gentiles perceived the vanity of their own Predictions; for finding that Christianity 
Aug de Civit. D. l. 18. c. 53. col. 1130. vid. c. seq.  had gained ground under the fiercest persecutions, and that their own Religion sunk and declined apace, to keep up the spirits of their Party, they produced a prophesy, pretended to have been dictated by one of the Oracles of Greece, wherein they declared, that though Christ himself was no Magician, yet that St. Peter had procured by Art Magic, that the Christian Religion should last CCCLXV. Years, and then immediately vanish out of the World. This Period was now run out, and St. Augustin, who wrote several years after, does sufficiently deride and expose their folly, the Event having so palpably confuted their Prediction.  
V. BUT the insolent Carriage of the Gentiles was not easily taken down, they improved the public Toleration, and seeing Valens hearty espousing the Arian Cause, and spending the main of his severity upon the catholics, began every day to grow more bold and impudent, till he was forced to make it Capital for any, either in public or private, either by night or day, to exercise any Art of Divination, or to consult them that did so. The occasion of this Law was this: Several of the most eminent Philosophers 
Sozom. lib. 6. c. 35. p. 693. Socr. l. 4. c. 19. p. 229. Philost. l. 9. c. 15. p. 520. Amm. Marcel. l. 29. p. 1784, &c. Zosim. l. 4. p. 743. videsis Zonaram, said hanc rem paulò aliter narrantem. Annal. Tom. III p. 28.  of that time were inwardly grieved at the flourishing state of Christianity, they grew weary of Valens his Government, and longed for another Emperour of their own Religion. And that this Design might have both greater encouragement and reputation, they secretly confederated with some Great Persons at Court, and Officers in the Army, and tried by all methods of Divination, to know who was likely to succeed Valens in the Empire. At last a Tripos made of laurel was artificially prepared, and consecrated with certain Magic Charms and Invocations, it was placed in the middle of a Room perfumed with Arabian Spices, the Charger upon which 'twas set had upon its utmost brim the xxiv. Letters of the Alphabet neatly engraved, and set at due distances from each other. Then a Person clad in linen Vestments came in with laurel Branches in his hand, and after some Charms performed, shaked a Magical Ring hanging at a Curtain about the edge of the Charger, till by jumping up and down it sell upon such or such Letters of the Alphabet, where it seemed to stay, the Priest thereupon composing certain Heroic Verses in answer to the Interrogatories that had been put. The Letters which the Ring pointed out in this case were these four, Θ E. O. Δ which being put together composed these two syllables THEOD; whereupon one that stood by presently cried out, that the Oracle plainly intended Theodorus, who was indeed a Man of Birth and Quality, and famous for his Learning, Wisdom, Modestly, and Humanity, but a gentle, and one who they all passionately desired might be promoted to the Empire. But it was not long before the whole Conspiracy was discovered to the Emperour, who divided between astonishment and anger commanded the business to be brought under a through scrutiny and examination. Theodorus was beheaded, the Maker of the Tripos burnt alive, and all the rest that were any ways concerned in the fatal Consult exquisitely tortured, and then put to death, whose arraignments, racks, and severe usages, may be red at large in Ammianus Marcellinus. All Philosophers that came to hand were sure to be executed, and the Emperour, who was always cruel, was in this case outrageous, not sparing any that did but go habited like Philosophers, though they addicted not themselves to those studies; a fringed cloak being then taken for a sufficient evidence of a Magician and a Conjurer. Among these Philosophers was Maximus, Julian's great Master, the most celebrated Philosopher of that Age: Valens owed him an old grudge, for an affront he had done him and his Brother in Julian's time, and therefore in the beginning of his Reign had treated him with those exquisite severities, which Eunapius so tragically complains of; and being now charged with being privy to the Plot, though he only knew of it, and  told the Conspirators they would all come to an untimely end, was carried to Ephesus, the place of his Nativity, and there beheaded. But above all others, the Emperour's fury raged against those, whose Names began with those four Letters, whether Theodorus, Theodotus, Theodosius, Theodulus, or the like, whom he put to death wherever he found them, by the same bloody Policy wherewith Herod once butchered the Infants at Bethlehem, hoping that in the number he should make away the new-born Messiah, and King of the Jews. And this prosecuted with so much rigour, that many, to avoid the danger, changed their Names, as not being willing to lose their Lives for a malignant Name. And yet God, who delights many times to defeat Mens malicious curiosity, suffered the Great Theodosius to escape, and in despite of all his care and cruelty to succeed him in the Eastern Empire; and 'tis said, that his Parents were particularly warned in a Dream to give him that Name, as an Omen it seems of his after Greatness. Nor did Valens persecute Men only, but Books upon this occasion, commanding a search to be made for all Books of Magic, or any other curious or unlawful Art, which being piled upon heaps were publicly burnt. And at this time it was, that Chrysostom, then a Youth, was in some danger: 
Hom. xxxviii. in Act. p. 340.  For as he was going one day to Church, he took up a Book, which a suspected person had thrown into the River, and upon perusal found it a Book of Magic, and was espied by a Soldier that passed by and saw him and his companion take it up. They knew not well what to do with it, it being almost equally dangerous to keep or part with it: But they threw it away, and escaped the danger.  
VI. IN the West things were carried towards the Gentiles with a more easy hand. Several 
Am. Marcel. l. 28. p. 1701.  of the Senatorian Order at Rome had been accused of practising in unlawful Divination, and the Judge, to whom the examination of the Cause was referred, had proceeded in it with an over-rigorous partiality, and had made a very ill representation of it to the Emperour, who had begun to prosecute smartly: But the Senate sent a Committee to Valentinian, to beseech him that persons might not be punished above the Merits of their Crimes, nor any Senator extrajudicially put upon the Rack. The Emperour replied, he had given no such order, and that these were Reports framed on purpose to throw ill Reflections upon him; and in his Rescript 
C. Th. loc. cit. l. 9.  to the Senate declared, That he looked upon Soothsaying as not a kin to Magic, and so long as innocently practised, he found no fault with it, but permitted both it and the other Parts of the Religion of their Ancestors to be used, as the Laws which he had made to that purpose in the beginning of his Reign could sufficiently witness. And for the Charge 
Ibid l. ●0.  brought against the Senators, he had referred the debate of it to the Provost of the City, who if he could not determine it, then he commanded, that the persons concerned, with an account of all Proceedings in the Case, should be sent to him. By another Law, about the same time, he granted to the Provincial Priest 
Ib. lib. 12. Tit. I. l. 75. p. 425. ( they were those that superintended a whole Province, and were usually choose out of the Body of the Curiales, their business was to take care of the Temples and sacred Rites, the Pomps and Processions upon Festivals, and at their own charge to provide for, and manage the public shows and Spectacles; to these he granted) that they should be free from the burden of all civil Offices, and enjoy the same privilege with Persons of Honour and Quality, not to be racked and tortured, and have the Comitative Honour, or the same Place and Dignity which the Comites who had well discharged their trust, had conferred upon them as the reward of their pains and care. At this time also he took order about the Players 
Ibid. lib. 15. Tit. VII. lib. 1. p. 361.  who acted at the public Sports and theatres,( a Trade expressly forbidden by the Canons of the Church) that in case of imminent danger of Death, they might, upon their repentance and earnest desire, be admitted to the Sacraments,( that is, both Baptism and the Eucharist) provided it was done with the allowance of the Bishop, and the inspection of the Civil Magistrate: And that if such persons should recover, they should be no longer forced to attend the Service of the theatre.  
VII. IT was now about the Year CCCLXXII. when Mavia 
Socr. l. 4 c. 36. p. 253 Sozom. l. 6. c. 38. p. 699. Theod. l. 4. c. 23. p. 186. Rusin. l. 2. c. 6. p. 216. , Queen of the Saracens, a People inhabiting the Parts of Arabia that lay next Egypt, sent Moses( who lived a Monastic Life in the neighbouring Wilderness, a Man no less famous for his Miracles than his Piety) to Alexandria to be ordained Bishop, who refusing to be consecrated by Lucius, whom the Arians had thrust up into that See, newly vacant by the death of Athanasius, betook himself to the Catholic Bishops that lived in exile, and having from their Hands received his Ordination, return'd back into his own Country, the greatest part whereof he converted to the Christian Faith. And the work was afterwards carried on to great perfection, when Zocomus, Head of one of the principal Tribos, upon the birth of a Son( which a religious Monk assured him he should have, if he would embrace Christianity) was baptized, and brought over his People to the same Faith. Christanity likewise made a further progress among the Northern Nations, especially the Goths 
Socr. ib. c. 33. Soz. c. 37.  that dwelled upon the Danow: For Phritigernus, one of the Princes of that Nation, having by the assistance which Valens had lent him, gained a considerable Victory against Athanaricus, another of those Princes, did in gratitude to the Emperour, and as a firm assurance of his Friendship, entertain the Christian Religion into his Country, and the Arians being at this time the only powerful Faction at Court, took this opportunity to introduce Arianism among the Goths, though it had taken root there some time before by means of Ulphilas their Bishop, who coming on an Embassy in the Reign of Constantius,( Philostorgius 
Lib. 2. cap. 5. p. 471.  places it in the time of Constantine) had fallen in with eudoxus, Acacius, and others of that Party, by whom he was perverted to their pernicious Principles, which he carried back with him, and strenuously propagated in his own Country. He was the first that found out the Gothic Letters, and having done so, translated the Bible into their native Language, which mightily conduced to the further speedy success of Christianity in those Parts. And one thing especially is memorable in this case, that in this Translation he omitted the Books of Kings( which took in also those of Samuel and the Chronicles) because these containing little but an Account of Wars, would be apt to inflame the Minds of that People, who being naturally a fierce warlike Nation, needed rather a Bridle, than a Spur to quicken them to marshal Undertakings. Valens in the mean while miserable harassed the poor catholics, whom he pursued with that rage and violence, that Themistius 
Socr. ib. c. 32. p. 250. Soz. c. 36. p. 695.  the Philosopher, undertook their Cause, which he pleaded in a set Oration before the Emperour, showing him, that 'twas no wonder if there was such difference of Opinions amongst them, which was yet but inconsiderable, if compared with those numerous and vastly distant Opinions that were among the Greeks, which must necessary breed some disgust and disagreement; and that perhaps God was delighted with this variety of Sentiments, seeing it tended to beget in Mens Minds a profounder Reverence towards the Divine Majesty, when they found the Knowledge of him so deep, that no human capacity could fathom or comprehend it. And thus while he pleaded for the catholics, he cunningly insinuated the Cause of the Gentiles, which elsewhere he defends upon the same grounds. This Oration, translated by Dudithius, is still extant in latin, which Petavius, to supply the defect, has turned into Greek, but denies( though upon very weak Reasons) that 'twas the same pronounced by that Orator upon this occasion; not to say, that the Passages cited out of it by Socrates and Sozomen, are exactly to be found in it. And it seems an Argument he much delighted in, this being much what the same both for words and matter, with that Consular Oration, which he delivered before Jovian at his entrance upon the Consulship. Little else is memorable in the Time of these Emperours: Valentinian died the xviith of November, Anno CCCLXXV. whom Valens survived scarce three Years, whose Reign in the general was more indulgent to Pagans, and more severe to Catholic Christians, than that of any Christian Emperour either before or since.   

SECT. V. The State of Pagan Religion under the Reigns of GRATIAN, THEODOSIUS the Great, and his Successors. 
Pa: 58.   depiction of coins  
Theodosius advanced by Gratian to the Eastern Empire. His restraining the boldness and liberty of the Pagans, by severe Laws against apostasy, Sacrifices, Divinations, &c. Gentilism hereby reduced to a low ebb. Particular provision about the Temple at Aedessa. Gratian refuses the Sacerdotal stolen, and the Title of Pontifex Maximus, hitherto worn by Christian Emperours. Proceedings against Paganism revived, and more briskly carried on in the East. The famous Temple of Sarapis at Alexandria defaced, and the ridiculous Follies of Gentile-Idolatry publicly exposed. Sedition and Tumult hereupon raised by the Gentiles, and great mischief done to Christians. The Reformation carried on by Theophilus Bishop of Alexandria. The celebrated Image of Sarapis openly burnt. The Ruin of this Temple foretold by the Gentiles themselves. The rest of the Temples at Alexandria demolished. The lewdness and debaucheries usually committed in those places shown by a particular instance. Christian Churches erected over those places. The River Nilus not flowing so plentifully as formerly. This charged by the Gentiles as a punishment from the Gods for the destruction of their Temples; but proved false by a contrary Event. The same Reformation carried on in the Eastern Parts. The miraculous demolishing a Temple at Apamea by Marcellus Bishop of that place. Theodosius at Rome persuades the Gentile-part of the Senate to become Christians, but is obstinately rejected. Symmachus for his insolence and importunity banished Rome. The gentle Cause undertaken, and ex professo pleaded by Libanius: The Sum of his Oration de Templis presented to the Emperour, but nothing gained from him. Attempts of the Gentiles against his Life. Several Edicts for the Suppression of Pagan Rites. Theodosius his last Law against the whole Body of their Religion, and the several Parts and Branches of it. The Death of that good Emperour. The same work pursued by Arcadius, his Son and Successor. The remaining Temples pulled down, and the Materials disposed of to public Buildings. The Council of Carthage petitions Honorius for the abolishing the Remainders of Idolatrous Rites in Afric, with the Emperour's Answer. Several Laws of Honorius, and the younger Theodosius, in pursuance of the same Design through all Parts of the Empire, briefly noted. Paganism afraid to show its head, and generally driven into Corners. The whole concluded with a short Recapitulation out of Theoderit.  
I. THE Imperial Brothers dying, the Government restend in the hands of the two Sons of Valentinian; Gratian, who had already reigned twelve, and Valentinian junior, who had reigned three Years. Gratian found work enough on all hands, the Empire labouring under great encumbrances, and having little assistance from his Brother, who was but young, was necessitated to take in a Partner for the Eastern Empire, to defend those Parts, at this time miserable infested by the Goths. The Person he pitched on was beyond all exception, Theodosius, a Spaniard, who from the Renown of his Actions deservedly bears the surname of Great. The Gentiles for the main had enjoyed the peaceable Exercise of their Religion for many years, having met with little or no interruption in it since the Times of Constantius. And for the two first Years of Theodosius, almost wholly taken up with Wars, their Temples were open 
Vid. Zosim. l. 4. p. 755.  and they had the freedom of their old Rites and Ceremonies. So that many began to look kindly upon their former Superstitions, and others, meeting with such cruel usage in the Reign of Valens( when the Persecution was carried on by a joint-concurrence of Arians, Jews, and Gentiles,) took shelter in the old Religion. In so much, that the Emperour found it necessary to restrain it by a Law 
C. Th. lib. 16. Tit. VII. l. 1. vid. l. 2, 3, 4,  dated April xxvi. Ann. CCCLXXXI. That they who apostatised from Christianity to Paganism should lose all power of making a Will,( ever accounted the great Birth-right and Privilege of a Roman) so that none of his Friends or Kindred should be the better for any Estate which he left behind him. Which he and Valentinian explained and ratified by many subsequent Edicts, several Clauses being added respecting both Persons and Things. About the end of the same Year he forbade 
Ib. Tit. X. l. 7. p. 266.  under pain of proscription all divinatory Sacrifices, either by day or night, or that any should approach the Temples for any such purpose; adding, that God is to be worshipped with pure and chast Prayers, not with execrable Charms and Conjurations. And though it does not appear by this Law, that any more than Sacrifices used in order to Divination were taken away, yet Christians were willing to lay hold of it, and improve it farther than the Emperour at present intended it, the Temples both in City and Country( as Zosimus 
Ubi supr. p. 758.  complains) being assaulted, and the Pagans not able to lift up their Eyes to Heaven, and pay their Devotions to the Planets, without danger of their Heads. Among the rest, there was a famous Pantheon, curiously adorned with abundance of exquisite Statues and Images of the Gods, in the Province of Osrhoene,( at Aedessa, as Gothofred not improbably conjectures:) This was shut up, but upon the Gentiles complaint at Court, representing that the City was thereby greatly prejudiced, who were wont here to hold their public Meetings, and to keep their common Festivals, especially those wherein they offered up their Prayers for the life and safety of the Emperour, it was granted, 
Ibid. l. 8.  that it should stand open for these uses, that the Images should remain by way of Ornament, but that no Sacrifices should be offered in it. In the Western Parts Gratian kept somewhat a severe hand upon the Pagans. He had given them a taste of what they might expect from him, when he refused 
Zosim. l. 4. p. 761.  the Sacerdotal rob. The Roman Emperours had all along born the Office and Title of Pontifex Maximus, or Chief Head of the Pontifical college: Nay, none of the Christian Emperours had hitherto scrupled to accept of it as an honorary Title. But when the Priests came to confer it upon Gratian, and offered him the Pontifical rob, he plainly refused it, accounting it unlawful for him who was a Christian to wear that Habit. The stolen being delivered back to the Priests, the chief of their Company cried out, If the Emperour will not be styled Pontifex Maximus, it will not be long before Maximus be Pontifex, reflecting upon Maximus, who was then ready to invade the Empire, and who shortly after treacherously murdered Gratian, and became a great Friend and Patron to the Gentiles. But saving the authority of Zosimus who reports it, 
IMP. CAES. GRATIANUS pus. FELIX.— PONT. MAX. reliqua vid. ap. Collectores inscript. Unus in ore omnium Gratianus, potestate imperator— Pontifex religione. Auson. Grat. Action. ad Imp. Gratian. p. 716.  plain it is both from some ancient Inscriptions, and from the testimony of Ausonius, Gratian's Tutor, that this Title was frequently conferred upon him, tho perhaps it might be only by Connivance, and not by the Allowance of the Emperour. But whatever intimations of dislike Gratian might make, the Gentiles were not discouraged from attempting something in the Cause of their Religion; for finding the public Affairs embroiled, they began to take heart, at Rome especially, where a small part of the Senate took upon themselves in the name of the whole, to sand an Address to the Emperour Valentinian, to beg favour in behalf of their Religion, but were countermined and quashed by Pope Damasus and S. Ambrose, as we have elsewhere observed. And when a great Famine soon after raged at Rome, 'twas said to proceed from the displeasure of the Gods for the neglect and suppression of their Religious Rites, and that the Punishment had a visible signature of the Sin upon it, it being but just, that they should want Bread themselves, who had taken away from the Priests and Vestal Virgins that little Maintenance which the munificence of former times had bestowed upon them. The following year Symmachus was made Provost of Rome, who immediately drew up a large Address to the Emperour, wherein with all the subtleties of Wit and Eloquence he pleaded the Cause of his Religion. But was happily encountered, answered, and baffled, by the great and learned Bishop of Milan. An account whereof we have given at large in the Life of S. Ambrose.  
II. THE Gentiles in the East, notwithstanding the Provision that had been made against it four years since, could not be taken off from tampering with Aruspices, augurs, Magicians, and the rest of that Tribe, which forced Theodosius to quicken the execution of those Laws, making it Capital for any, either upon any present Emergency, or for the knowing any future Event, to consult divinatory Sacrifices. This Rescript is directed to Cynegius, the Praetorian Praefect of the East, a person honourable both for his Greatness and his Piety, and employed by the Emperour upon the most important Services: To him he committed 
Zosim. l. 4. p. 762.  the care of reforming Paganism in the Eastern Parts, especially in Egypt, whither he sent him, Ann. CCCLXXXVII. empowering him to shut up or demolish the Gentile-Temples, and extirpate their Superstitions. Upon his arrival at Alexandria, 
C. Th. lib. 1●. Tit. X. l. 19. p. 444.  Informers accused several of the Senate, and brought both their Persons and Estates in danger, upon pretence, 'tis like, that they were Church-Lands, Revenues belonging to the Pagan Temples. Cynegius upon examination punished the Informers, and freed their Estates, whose judgement herein upon their Petition at Court, the Emperour himself confirmed. But, alas! Cynegius left the main Work imperfect, dying the next year, and was honourably butted at Constantinople. But the Work went on however, Theophilus Bishop of Alexandria being zealous in it. The first attempt in it was thus: There was at Alexandria an ancient and famous Temple, 
Descript. Orb. Gr. L. Gothofr. p. 18.  dedicated to Sarapis, described by Rufinus, 
Rufin. l. 2. c. 22. p. 253. c. 23. p. 254. Socr. l. 5. c. 16, 17. p. 274. Sozom. l. 7. c. 15. p. 723.  and affirmed by a Geographer of that Age to have been a piece of exquisite Artifice, and for the stateliness of the Building, contrivance of the Structure, and solemnity of the Worship, to have carried away the Glory from all other places, and to have been the almost only admirable Spectacle in the whole World. This place Theophilus had begged of the Emperour, designing to enlarge it into a Church. Workmen were set on to clear the Rubbish, who found many dark Vaults and cellars, the secret Receptacles of the Pagans most hidden Rites and Mysteries, out of which they brought many detestable and obscene Images and Utensils, which they publicly exposed to the scorn and derision of the People. This provoked the Gentiles beyond measure, who immediately gathered into a Body, and tho the far lesser number, yet being armed with Rage and Fury, broken in upon the Christians, wounded many of them, others they killed out right, and flying to the Temple, engarrison'd themselves in it. Some Christians they had taken Prisoners, and brought along with them, whom they forced to do Sacrifice, or upon their refusal, put to Death with the most exquisite and unheard-of Tortures. The Party was headed by one Olympus a Philosopher, who persuaded them not to desert the Religion of their Country, but if need was, valiantly to die for it. And when he saw them dejected for the loss of their Images, he  told them, They should not be troubled at this, they were indeed no other than what they saw, things material, and liable to violence and corruption, but were inhabited by certain Divine Powers, which upon their defacing were retired into Heaven. Several Essays were made by the Magistrates to bring them to reason, and make them give account of what they had done; but in vain: They despised all Arguments and threatenings, whereupon the Magistrates were forced to sand and acquaint the Emperour with what had happened, who, according to the sweetness of his Nature, replied, That for the Christians that had been slain, they were happy, having been honoured with the Crown of Martyrdom; and for their Murderers, he resolved to pardon them, in hopes, that so much Grace and Clemency might become an effectual Argument for their Conversion: But however, that the Temples, that had been the cause of all this, should be pulled down to the ground. The Letter was no sooner red, but the Christians entertained it with infinite Acclamations, and the Gentiles dispersed and fled; which done, Theophilus, accompanied with the Monks, and assisted by Evagrius the Augustal Praefect, and Romanus Commander of the Army, again set upon the Work, the Temple itself they wholly demolished, in the Walls 
Socr.& Sozom. loc. cit. Rufin. ib. c. 29. p. 258.  whereof they found Stones with Hieroglyphics engraven upon them, resembling a across, which the Christians interpnted of the honourable Ensign of their Religion, and were therein the more confirmed, when one skilled in those mystic Letters, and lately turned Christian, assured them, those Hieroglyphic Notes signified the Life to come, and that others of those Hieroglyphics did impart, that the Temple of Serapis should have an end, when those Notes were brought to light. Within the circumference of this great Building stood a 
Rufin. ibid. c. 23. Theod. l. 5. c. 22. p. 229.  chapel, supported by rich Marble Pillars, the Walls overlaid with Gold, and that covered as a Shield with Silver, and that defended by a Cover of Brass; in this stood the Image of Sarapis, so large, that with one hand he touched one side, and with the other the other side of the Temple, with many quaint Devices to abuse and delude the people. They had a Tradition, that if any Man did but touch this Image, the Earth would immediately open, the Heavens be dissolved, and all things run into a Chaos and Confusion. But a Christian Soldier that stood by, animated thereto by Theophilus the Bishop, was resolved to make the Experiment: For taking a Bill in his hand, he cleft him down the Jaws, and finding no other dreadful Effects ensue, but an Army of Mice, which fled out at the breach he had made, they cut him Limb from Limb; his Head, Feet, and the rest of his Parts, were fastened to Ropes, and having been dragged up and down the Streets, were burnt in several places of the City, the Trunk or Body of the Image being reserved for a more solemn Fire in the amphitheatre. The utter ruin of this Temple was, it seems, foretold by Antoninus 
Eunap. in vit. Aedes. p. 60, 63.  the Philosopher, who assured his Scholars, it would happen soon after his death; nay, we are  told, 
Sozom. l. 7. c. 15. p. 725.  that Olympus himself, while he kept his Garrison in it, the very night before the Emperour's Order did arrive, it being a very dark and tempestuous Night, heard a voice in the Temple, singing Alleluïa. He was not a little surprised, knowing the Doors were fast shut, and all the Company fast asleep, and seeing no body, and plainly and distinctly hearing the Voice, and the Musical Note, began to suspect what it portended, and departing privately out of the Temple, took Ship immediately, and went for Italy.  
IV. THE Mother-Temple and Patron-Deity being thus rid out of the way, the rest followed with an easier hand, all the Pagan-Temples and Images 
Rufin. ibid. c. 24.  in that City being overturned, the Follies, Lewdnesses, and Impieties whereof, were laid open before the people. One Instance whereof must not be forgotten. Tyrannus a Priest of the Temple of Saturn, famous for giving Oracles, had his Temple frequented by persons of the best Quality about that City. When he had a mind to corrupt any of their Wives, he would tell the Nobleman, 'twas the Gods pleasure that his Wife should come and spend that nights Devotions in the Temple. The Lady was dressed up with all advantages, and night being come, the Doors were locked fast upon her, and while she was intent upon her Devotions, the Priest by secret conveyances crept into the old worm-eaten Image of Saturn, through which he spake to her, as if it had been the God himself, and having thus prepared her, by unseen Cords suddenly put out the Lights, and then coming forth, and seizing upon the affrighted Lady, easily drew her into lewd Embraces. This Trade he had followed many years, till meeting with one that would not be for his turn, and who knew him by his voice, she complained of the affront to her Husband, who discovered the villainy, brought Tyrannus to condign Punishment, and both Temple and Idol to a shameful end. These ruinated 
Rufin. ibid. c. 27.& Soz. loc. cit.  Temples were generally turned into Churches; out of that of Sarapis was built on the one side a Martyrium,( wherein were reposed the remains of John the Baptist;) on the other, a Church called after the name of Arcadius the Emperour. It happened upon this Revolution, that the River Nile 
Sozom. l. 7. c. 20. p. 736. Rufin. ib. c. 30. p. 259.  did not so plentifully overflow as it was wont to do. The people hereupon began to mutiny, and said, It was, because they were not suffered according to their ancient usage to do Sacrifice to the River. The governor was troubled, and fearing an open Sedition, sent to acquaint the Emperour, who return'd this answer, That 'twas better to preserve our Duty to God, than to prefer the Streams of Nile, or the Plenty of the Country before Piety and Religion. Let the River( said he) never flow again, if it must be drawn out with Charms, appeased with Sacrifices, and its Waters defiled with Blood. But the Controversy was soon ended, for the River return'd to its ancient course, and rising above the highest mark( which yet it seldom or never reached) put them into a quiter contrary Passion, fearing it would inevitably drown the Country. And now the Pagans changed their Tune, and turned their Scene into Droll and Ridicule, crying out in their theatres, That the old doting Nile had lost his retentive faculty, and could no longer hold his Water. While others made a more grave and serious use of it, being thereby convinced of the vanity of their native Superstition, and going over to Christianity. As indeed, throughout the whole progress of these Affairs, incredible numbers were gained over to the Christian Faith. These Proceedings alarmed the Gentiles 
Sozom. ibid. c. 15. p. 725. Theod. l 5. c. 21. p. 227.  in other Parts, in Arabia, Palestine, Phaenicia, &c. where they stood upon their Guard, and hired Country-men to come in and defend their Temples. At Apamea stood a celebrated Temple dedicated to Jupiter, a vast and strongly-compacted Structure; this Marcellus Bishop of that place resolved to pull down, but could get no Man to undertake it, so difficult a thing was it looked upon to demolish it. And ind●ed so strongly were the Pagan Temples generally built, and the Stones so fast cramped together with Irons, that Libanius 
Orat. de templ. p. 23.  tells us, it cost the Christians no less pains to take them down, than it had done the Gentiles at first to build them up. At length comes a common Labourer who ventured upon it, and undermining the Foundation of the Portico's that upheld it, put Fire to them, but a Daemon appearing in a black Dress, driven away the Fire. After several attempts to no purpose, Marcellus took a Pot of Water, which he carried into the Church, and falling down before the holy Table, hearty recommended the Cause to God; then he delivered the Pot to Equitius his Deacon, who went and threw it upon the Fire, which, like so much oil, immediately blew up the Flames, which spread without control, so that within a few hours, to the admiration of all that saw it, th●t strong and stately Building lay level with the Ground. But the good Bishop sped not so well in all his attempts; for going to do the like Execution upon a great Temple at Aulon, 
Sozom. loc. supr. citat.  a City in that Country, while his Company were busy about the work, certain Pagans came behind him, and catching him up, threw him into the Fire, and burnt him to death. And when afterwards upon the discovery of the Murder, his Sons would have prosecuted and revenged his Death, the Provincial Synod would not suffer it, affirming, that both he and they, and all his Friends, had cause rather to bless God, who had counted him worthy to die in so good a Cause.  
IV. THIS great and general wast committed upon Paganism in the Eastern Parts, made the Gentiles look about them, in so much, that their great Advocate Libanius, one in so great favour with the Emperour, that he made him Praetorian Praefect, about this time published an Oration pro Templis, presented to Theodosius, wherein he boldly pleads the cause of their Temples, which he shows originally sprung from that Encouragement which the Gods gave to the plain but early Piety and Devotion of Mankind, and were enlarged and beautified according as they gained footing in Towns and Cities. His main business was to encounter the popular Arguments which the Christians used for the taking down their Temples. As, that the Gentiles made use of them for the celebration of their Sacrifices expressly contrary to the Laws. This he flatly denies, and challenges any to make it good. And whereas 'twas pretended, that in their Festival Entertainments they slay Oxen, he answers, 'twas no such matter. They met indeed upon their Festival Solemnities in the open Fields, where he confesses they killed, dressed, and eat a Calf or a Sheep, and performed it with Incense, Hymns, and Invocation of their Gods, but this he says was not forbid by any Law, nor was this pulling down the Temples, as was plausibly given out, a rational means of bringing over Pagans to Christianity. He grants, it made some Hypocrites, none true Converts. Many through fear might go to the Christian Churches, and compose themselves after their Forms and Gestures, but when they did so, either worshipped their own Gods, or none at all. Besides, that Religion was to be planted in Men's minds by Reason and Persuasion, not by Force or Fear. And whereas 'twas commonly urged, that this destruction tended plainly to the advantage and benefit of the World, he endeavours to show, that the favouring and protecting that Religion had in all Ages entailed the greatest Blessings from Heaven upon the Civil State, and most immediately contributed to the Grandeur and Majesty of the Roman Empire. Nor had the Christians, he says, any reason to pretend, they did this in compliance with the Zeal of Constantine and Constantius, those two Emperours having been so signally punished for their attempts in this kind: Constantius's Posterity being soon cut off; some of his Children came to untimely ends, and Constantius himself lived perpetually in a slavish fear of the Persians, and most of his Adherents( who reaped the Spoils of the Temples) had met with some remarkable Vengeance that had overtaken them. Having urged this, he further backed his Plea with two Arguments. First, that next to the Imperial Palaces, Temples were the great Glory and Ornaments of Cities, and therefore in all good reason and policy ought not to be destroyed. Secondly, That however that might be, yet a considerable Interest and Advantage might be raised by them; for they might be let out, and converted to other uses, and the Rents of them be return'd into the Exchequer; which was better however than pulling of them down. And because the Monks had been of all others the most active and busy in demolishing the Pagan Temples, especially those that stood in the Fields, he falls very severely upon them, traducing 
De Templ. p. 10, 11. &c.& p. 29. Zosim. l. 5. p. 800. Eunap. in vit. Aedes. p. 64, 65.  them( and in the same spiteful representation concur most of the Gentile-Writers of that Age) as a Pack of idle Drones, and lewd Impostors, who under a grave and demure habit, and by a pretended mortification, coloured over with a procured artificial paleness, and by all the little Arts of Flattery and Insinuation, cheated the World into a good opinion of them, while they were really guilty of Gluttony and Excess. And that their work might be done more effectually, they had Military Offices called Sophronistae or Correctors to attend them, whose business it was to seize the Temples and Possessions, and who were no sooner shew'd by the Monks where to Quarry, but like Harpy's immediately flew upon it, to the utter discouragement of the Husband-men and Country-people, who placed all their hopes and expectations of the success and prosperity of their Labours in these opportunities of Devotion, and pledges of the favour of their Gods. And tho they had oft complained to the Bishops of these Irregularities, yet could they find no redress, the Bishops always taking part with the Monks. This is the sum of his Discourse, and, but that Theodosius was a Prince renowned for his Clemency, it had been prodigious impudence to have talked at that rate to a Christian Emperour. However it did them little good, the Process against them went on still, and the total ruin both of their Temples and Worship followed not long after: Which so far enraged that Party, that they made several attempts against the Life of that great Prince; particularly Lucius Commander of the Forces at Constantinople came into the presence, and thrice endeavoured to draw out his Sword, with an intent to dispatch the Emperour, but espying on a sudden( as he thought) a Woman of a mighty stature, and a terrible aspect standing behind and guarding the Emperour, he departed in a great fright. The next that undertook it was the General of the Forces in the East, who riding upon this errand, fell from his Horse and broken his Thigh, and died. Succeeded in the like Conspiracy by Severian, Marsus, Illus, and many more. All which is confessed by Damascius 
In vit. Isidor. ap. Phot. Cod. CCXLII. col. 1072.  the Philosopher, a bitter Enemy to Christians.  
V. WHILE these things were transacted in the East, Zeal against Paganism did not frieze in the Western Parts, where( if we may take measures of what was done in other places, from what we find done by S. Martin 
Sulp. sever. de vit. Martin. c. 10. &c. p. 196.& seqq.  Bishop of Tours) the Gentile-Temples, with all their Pomp and Retinue, went down the wind apace, and Christianity reaped a very plentiful Harvest. Theodosius was now in these Parts, and having routed Maximus, came with his Son Honorius to Rome, where he summoned 
Zosim. l. 4. p. 779.  the Senate, whom in a set Oration he persuaded to renounce their ancient Errors, and to embrace the Christian Faith, as the only Religion that held forth the true method of Pardon and Expiation of Sin, of purity and holiness of Life. But the gentle part of them were stiff and intractable, affirming, they would not prefer a senseless and unreasonable Belief before an old warranted way of Worship, and that under the influences of this Religion their City had prospered for near 1200 years together, and if they should now change it for any other, they knew not what Fate might ensue upon it. Theodosius replied, That if they were thus obstinate, he knew no reason why he should be at the charge to maintain them in it, and would therefore withdraw the public allowances made out of the Exchequer, nay, would abolish the things themselves which he utterly disliked, and the charges whereof he thought it much more reasonable should be translated to increase the Pay and Salary of the Army. The Senators replied, Their Sacrifices could not be duly celebrated, unless Charges were allowed out of the public Stock, and that for want hereof, and for the neglect and restraint of their ancient and paternal Rites and Ceremonies, it was, that the Roman Empire died by piecemeal, and was Limb after Limb pulled in pieces, and become a prey and a possession to the barbarous Nations, and indeed its Inhabitants so generally wasted, that it was reduced to a mere skeleton, and the very ruins of its Cities were scarce to be seen. In this Contest, the cause of Gentilism was managed, I doubt not, by Symmachus, a Man of greatest Note and Ability at that time, who partly upon the account of a flattering discourse 
Socr. l. 5. c. 14. p. 273.  which he had written in praise of Maximus, partly for the insolence and importunity of his Addresses in behalf of Paganism, fell so deep under the Emperours displeasure, that he was forced to take sanctuary in a Christian Church, and soon after in some disgrace banished out of Rome, and the Suburbicary Countries. But upon his submission, he was retaken into favour, and published an Apologetic to the Emperour, who advanced him to the honour of being Consul, Ann. CCCXCI. But withall, to render him incapable of doing any great service to his Cause, he published a Law 
C. Th. lib. 16. Tit. X. l. 10.  before his departure out of Italy, expressly prohibiting all manner of Sacrifices, going into Temples, or worshipping Images, inflicting several Fines upon delinquent persons according to their respective Places and Qualities. Some Months after being at Aquileia, he directed a Rescript 
Ibid. l. 11.  to Evagrius Augustal Praefect of Egypt, and to Romanus Commander of the Horse, commanding, that none under penalty of his Head should Sacrifice, frequent the Temples, or celebrate any Pagan Rites, Idolatry, it seems, notwithstanding all the late care still sprouting up in those Parts, unless we will say, it was not till this time that Theodosius sent Orders to these two great Officers to be assistant to Theophilus in that memorable Reformation. The next year the Senate at Rome again petitioned the Emperour Valentinian for the liberty of their Religion, but were denied. Valentinian was then in gall, where he was murdered by the treachery of Arbogastes General of the Army, who thereupon advanced Eugenius, a mean Schoolmaster, to be Emperour, who was courted by the Gentiles on all hands, and flattered by their Auguries and Divinations into a confidence of Success and Stability in his Usurpation. Upon which account he was prevailed with to grant them the famous Altar of Victory, so much, and so often contended for, and public allowances out of the Exchequer to defray the charges of its Solemnities. Theodosius was at this time at Constantinople, and resented the murder of Valentinian with that indignation that became a generous Prince, and to let the Gentiles feel the effects of his displeasure, he forbade the whole Exercise of their Religion, Temples, Sacrifices, and all the particular train of their Rites and Ceremonies. Which being the last Law he made, that is extant, of this nature, we shall here insert 
C. Th. lib. 16. Tit. X. l. 12. p. 273.  it.  

Emperours, THEODOSIUS, ARCADIUS, and HONORIUS, the August, to Rufinus the Praetorian Praefect.  
LET no Man, of what Order, Rank, or Quality soever, whether he be honourable by Birth, or eminent for Dignity, or of mean Birth, Breeding, and Fortune, let no Man presume in any Place, or in any City, either to offer, tho but an harmless Sacrifice to senseless Images, or in any more secret way of expiation to worship his Chimney-Deity with Fire, or his Genius with Wine, or his paternal household-gods with Fumes and Smoke, or pay Adoration by setting up Lights, burning Frankincense, or hanging up Garlands to them. And if any Man shall dare to offer Sacrifice, or to consult the reeking Entrails, let it be lawful for any one to accuse him, and being found guilty, let him receive Sentence accordingly, as in cases of High-Treason, altho it should appear, that he did not herein consult any thing against the Life of his Prince, or ask any question at all about it: For 'tis enough to aggravate the greatness of his Crime, that he would rescind the very Laws of Nature, search into things unlawful, disclose what is hidden and secret, attempt what is prohibited, inquire into anothers Fate, and give hopes of his Death or ruin. But if any Man shall burn Incense to a corruptible Image, a piece of human Artifice, and by a ridiculous example honour that which himself but just now framed, and shall by crowning the Stock with Garlands, or by erecting an Altar of Turfs, do what he can, tho but in a mean way, yet a way highly injurious to Religion, to pay Worship and Reverence to a tond Statute, let him, as a person guilty of the violation of Religion, be punished with the loss of that House or Field wherein he ministered to such Pagan superstition. For 'tis our judgement, that all places wherein it shall appear that Incense has been burnt,( provided they be legally proved to belong to the persons that did so) ought to be confiscated to our Exchequer. But if it shall so happen, that the place where such a person shall offer any Sacrifice, be a public Temple, or a consecrated chapel, or another Man's House or Ground, if it appear that he did it without the knowledge of the Owner, let him be fined in the sum of xxv. Pounds of 
The ordinary proportion of Gold to Silver being that of One to Twelve, a Pound of Gold amounts to 36 l. of our English Money. And much at the same rate it was at this time, for the elder Valentinian by a Law dated Ann. 367.( vid. lib. 12. C. Th. Tit. 6. l. 13.) appointed, that every Pound of Gold should be in value 72 Solidi; every Solidus Aureus of that, as generally of all succeeding Emperours, weighing four Scruples, or 10 s. According to which account, 25 Pounds of Gold amounts to the sum of 900 l.  Gold, and let him that connives at, or conceals the Fact, be fined the same sum with him, who sacrifices. This, our pleasure is, shall be so observed by the Iudges, Defensors, and Curiales of every City, that the Officers having discovered any such matter, shall immediately bring it before the Iudges, and they forthwith to see to the execution of the Penalty. But if the Defensors and Curiales shall conceal any thing, either for favour, or through carelessness, they shall be punished by the Iudges; and if the Iudges, upon information of these Officers, shall take no notice of it, but defer Punishment, they themselves shall be fined xxx. Pound of Gold, and their Officers be liable to the same Penalty. Given at Constantinople November the viiith. Arcadius the second time, and Rufinus being Consuls: That is, Ann. CCCXCII.   
This Law struck down Paganism Root and Branch, so that it never recovered itself into any tolerable degree of Life and Power, they being now restrained not only from the grosser kinds of Sacrifice, but from what had hitherto been permitted, as Libanius 
De Templ. p. 10.  tells us, the very burning Incense, and perfuming their Temples and Altars. Theodosius lived about two years after this, and having routed and killed the Tyrant Eugenius near Aquileia, died at Milan February the xxivth. Ann. CCCXCV. leaving the Empire to his two Sons Arcadius and Honorius, the former at seventeen years of Age succeeding in the East, the other at eleven in the West.  
VI. TOGETHER with the Death of this great Prince I might have shut up this Saeculum, and indeed put a period to the whole Discourse, but that upon his Death the Gentiles seem to have resumed new hopes, whom therefore Arcadius about six Months after 
C. Th. Ibid. l. 13.  debarred all use of Temples or Sacrifices, in any place, or at any time whatsoever, reviving all former Penalties made against them, and making it Capital for the Officers to neglect their Duties in this matter: As the next year he cancelled 
Ibid. l. 14.  all privileges anciently granted to Pagan Priests, of any Order, or under any Name or Title whatsoever; adding, 'twas not reasonable they should enjoy the privilege, whose very Profession was condemned by Law. And now Temples, the Nests of Idolatry and Superstition, went down apace in all places of the East, the Materials whereof Arcadius the year following gave 
Ibid. lib. 15. Tit. I. l. 36.  towards repairing the Highways, Bridges, Aqueducts, and public Walls and Buildings. And whereas in some places Temples were left standing in the Fields for the encouragement and conveniency of the Country-people, he commanded 
Ibid. lib. 16. Tit. X. l. 16.  even these to be quietly taken down, that so all Foundation of Superstition might be abolished. A Law particularly procured by S. Chrysostom, with respect to the Temples and Idolatry of the Heathens in Phanicia, as we have noted in his Life. In the West things went not altogether to that height. Honorius forbade 
Ibid. l. 15.  all Sacrifices, but commanded all Ornaments of public Buildings, such as Statues and Images to be preserved, and this, all Laws made, or pretended to be made, to the contrary in any wise notwithstanding. About this time the Council of Carthage petitioned 
Cod. Canon. Eccles. Afric. Can. LVIII. LX. LXI. Conc. T. II. col. 1085.  Honorius, that all remainders of Idolatry in Afric might be utterly abolished, and that the Temples that stood in the Fields, and in obscure private Corners, where they could not be pretended to be for any public Ornament, might be pulled down, that the Gentile-Feasts and Entertainments, attended with profane and scandalous Dancings, and whereat they sometimes constrained Christians to be present, and that upon the Solemnities of the Martyrs, might be prohibited, that their Sports and shows exhibited in their theatres, might not be on the Lords day, or on any Christian Solemnity, and that no Christian might be compelled to be there. In answer hereunto, the Emperour enacted, by Orders sent to Apollodorus Proconsul of Afric, that as for Temples, 
Ubi supr. l. 18.  if not used to any unlawful purposes, they should stand entire, but if any Man should do Sacrifice in them, he should be punished according to Law; and all Idols that were abused to vain and foolish Superstition, should by public Officers be taken down: That as to their public Feasts and Meetings, 
Ibid. l. 17.  the Law had already forbidden all profane Rites, but that their common Meetings, their shows and entertainments of the people, should, according to ancient Custom, be still suffered, provided it was done without Sacrifices, or any damnable Superstition, as the words of the Law are.  
VII. AND here the fourth Century expires, beyond which as there is no great occasion, so I shall not search far. Ann. CCCCI. Honorius granted 
Ibid. lib. 15. Tit. I. l. 41.  the Ground, and Buildings heretofore belonging to Temples, and which served to no more public Use or Ornament of the City, to the Curiales and Corporations, under several Clauses and Conditions. Seven years after he ordered, 
Ibid. lib. 16. Tit. X. l. 19.  that the Corn usually paid to Temples, should be taken away, and be bestowed upon the Soldiery; that if any Images were left in Temples, Groves, or any other places, they should be removed; the Temples themselves, whither in Cities, Villages, or in the open Fields, be converted to public Uses; those that stood within the Emperour's patrimony, should be put to some convenient use; those within the possessions of private persons, to be destroyed; Altars to be every where demolished; all Pagan Feasts, Sports, and Solemnities, to be put down: That the Bishops of the several places should have power to see this done, and a severe Fine is set upon the Head of all Judges and Officers that neglected the execution of it. That none 
Ibid. Tit. V. l. 42. vid. Zosim. l. 5. p. 820.  that were Enemies to the Catholic Church, should bear Arms in any of the Palatine Offices, nor be nearly employed under the Prince, who refused to be of the same Faith and Religion with him; a Law that equally struck at Heathens and Heretics. The next year he banished 
Ibid. lib. 9. Tit. XVI. l. 12.  the Mathematici, that is, all Haruspices, Magicians, &c. out of Rome, and all other Cities, unless they would bring the Books of their curious Arts, and burn them in the presence of the Bishop of that place, and engage never to return to their old Errors again. Theodosius the younger, who had some years since succeeded his Father in the Eastern Empire, Ann. CCCCXVI. made Gentiles 
Ibid. lib. 16. Tit. X. l. 21.  incapable of bearing Arms, or being admitted to places of Honour and Authority. And seven years after he speaks 
Ibid. l. 22,& 23.  of Pagans, as if there were none left, Pagani qui supersunt, quanquam jam nullos esse credamus, &c. and that if there were, the former Laws should be revived against them; and if any of them should be caught at their accursed Sacrifices, tho the Law made it Capital, it should be punished however with Banishment and Confiscation. Ann. CCCCXXVI. he once more forbade 
Ibid. l. 25.  all Pagan Oblations, Sacrifices, with all their Rites and Mysteries, and if any of their Temples, chapels, or consecrated Places were yet standing, the Magistrate should take care to strip them of their superstitious use, and expiate them by placing a across, the venerable Ensign of the Christian Religion in them; and that if any were proved guilty of having thus sacrificed before a competent Judge, he should forfeit his Life. This it seems was a parting blow, nor do we meet with any thing farther concerning these matters in the Imperial Laws of these times, nor indeed is any thing considerable to be found in History: For partly by the clear light and conviction of the Christian Doctrine, every where plainly and constantly preached, partly by the force and severity of the Laws of the Empire, Heathenism dwindled into nothing, and that little that was left, crept into holes and corners to hid its Head, according to the prediction long since of the Prophet Isaiah, that the Idols should utterly be abolished, and should go into the Holes of the Rocks, and into the Caves of the Earth, and that Men should cast their Idols of Silver and of Gold, which they made each one for himself to worship, to the Moles, and to the Bats; fit company for such blind Idolaters. And thus we have seen how Paganism ebbed and flowed in the Reigns of the several Princes, after Christianity became the Religion of the Empire, till it was quiter beaten out of Doors. The effects of which whole account, I shall sum up in the words of Theodorit. 
Lib. 5. c. 21. p. 226.  Constantine the Great( says he) a Prince worthy of all honourable Commendation, and who first adorned the Imperial Throne with Piety, when he saw the World running mad after Idolatry, expressly forbade that any should sacrifice to Daemons; their Temples indeed he did not pull down, but only commanded them to be shut up. His Sons came after, and trod in their Father's steps; but Julian revived Paganism, and added new Fuel to old Errors and Impieties. To him succeeded Jovian, who again prohibited the worship of Idols. The elder Valentinian governed the West, according to the same Rules and Measures; while Valens in the East permitted indeed all others to worship and adore what they had a mind to, but constantly persecuted those( and those only) who held to the Catholic and Apostolic Doctrine. All his time the Altars smoked with Incense, and the Gentiles undisturbedly brought their Sacrifices and Drink-Offerings to their Images, and kept their public Feasts in the open Market-place. The Priests and Votaries of Bacchus, clad in Goats Skins, ran up and down, tearing Dogs in pieces, howling and making dreadful noises, and behaving themselves in the most wild and frantic manner, with the rest of those mad Ceremonies, wherewith they were wont to celebrate the Festival of their Deity. All which, the most religious Prince Theodosius, when he came to the Empire, did utterly extirpate and abolish, and drove them into an Eternal Silence.   
The End of the INTRODUCTION;   


THE LIFE OF EUSEBIUS BISHOP OF CAESAREA in palestine. 
EUSEBIUS CAESARIENSIS.   portrait of Eusebius of Caesarea  
The time and place of his Birth. His Kindred unknown. His first Studies. His intimacy with Pamphilus and others. The Diocletian Persecution when begun. Its fierceness in palestine. Pamphilus cast into Prison. His and Eusebius's joint Studies there. Their Apology for Origen. Pamphilus his Trial and martyrdom. His Learning and great Charity. Eusebius his journey into egypt. The great severity of the Persecution in those Parts. His imprisonment there. Vindicated from the Charge of offering Sacrifice. His writing against Hierocles. Hierocles who, and what his Books against the Christians. These Books answered by Eusebius; and this proved to be our Eusebius. His being made Bishop of Caesarea; and the eminency of that See. His oration at the Dedication of the Church at Tyre. The Licinian persecution. The Arian controversy. His interceding with Alexander of Alexandria, in behalf of Arius, and his Letter to that purpose. The Synod of Nice. Eusebius his honourable place and employment in that Council; his explication of that place, The Lord created me, &c. His Letter to the People of Caesarea, about the Affairs of the Nicene Synod, the Creed, the explication of the Articles, and his Subscription to them. Some brief remarks upon that Epistle. Constantine's Letter to him about the rebuilding of Churches, and his care for the destruction of Idolatry. Eusebius's Letter to the Empress Constantia, concerning the Image of our Saviour. His Chronicon, what, and when written. His ecclesiastic History, and Books de locis Hebraicis. His Commentaries de Praeparatione& Demonstratione Evangelica. The time of their being written stated. The Synod at Antioch, and Deposition of Eustathius. Eusebius his refusal of that See, and commendation from the Emperor upon that account. The Dedication of Constantinople. The Emperor's Letter to Eusebius, to provide Bibles for the new erected Churches there. The Council at Tyre. Eusebius's rude treatment there by Potamo Bishop of Heraclea. The Dedication of the magnificent Church of the Sepulchre at Jerusalem. Eusebius his Orations upon that occasion. His Book of the Description of that Church. His Oration de laudibus Constantini, where, and upon what occasion. His writing against Marcellus, when, and why. Marcellus who. The death of Constantine, and his Character. Eusebius his Books de vita Constantini, and the design of them. Eusebius's death, and successor. His admirable learning, and excellent works. His collecting Church-antiquities, and how qualified for it. His Style, and Photius his censure of it. The charge of Arianism heavily laid upon him. An attempt towards his Vindication by a general Apology, and by many particular passages out of his writings. Who his Apologists among the Ancients. condemned by the second Nicene Council, and why. The Characters given him, and Honours done him in the Western church. The moderate censure of Pope Pelagius. Baronius his particular pique against him, whence. The story of Constantine's being baptized at Nicomedia considered. The truth of Eusebius his relation justified against Baronius. What allowance to be made for the harsh expressions in Eusebius his works. His writings enumerated.  
I. DIONYSIUS Bishop of Alexandria( that we may thence commence our design in this, where we concluded the foregoing saeculum) died Ann. Imp. Gallieni. XII. Chr. CCLXVI. immediately after the first Council held at Antioch, wherein the irregular Doctrines and Practices of Pa●lus Samosatenus Bishop of that Church, were discussed and censured. About this time Eusebius was born, whence entering upon the Affairs of that Council, he calls 
Eccl. l. 7. c. 26. p. 277.  it {αβγδ} his own age, and elsewhere affirms 
Lib. 3. c. 28. p. 100.  that Dionysius lived in his time. That he was born in Pa aestine there can be no doubt, the Ancients generally giving him that Title, and himself calling 
Orat. de Laud. Const. cap. 11. p. 632.  it his o●n, or his native home. The particular place of his nativity, though it cannot certainly, may with greatest probability be assigned to Caesarea, where we meet with the first notice of him, and to which he maintained a constant Relation to his dying day. Who, or what his Parents and Relations were, is unknown. Nicephorus 
H. Eccl. l. 6. c. 37. p. 436.  makes him Sisters Son to Pamphilus the Martyr, I believe upon no other warrant, than the great intimacy that was between them. They 
Val●s. Praef. in Eus. H. Eccl.  who conceive him to have been Brother to Eusebius Bishop of Nicomedia, do it upon the Authority of Arius; who so styles him in his Letter 
Apud Theod. H. Eccl. l. 1. c. 5. p. 21.  to that Bishop. This conjecture( were the Evidence sufficient) I should be inclinable enough to embrace, as what would give us a probable account, how he came to be so favourable to that party. But who ever impartially considers the matter, will see reason to think, that Arius intended no more than that he was his Brother in the Episcopal Order, or in some other collateral respect. Sure I am, the Nicomedian Eusebius in his Letter 
Ap. Theod. ib. c. 6. p. 22.  to Paulinus of Tyre, written immediately upon the receipt of that of Arius, gives him no other Title than that of {αβγδ} my Lord, or Master: Besides that I believe it unprecedented in the Records of those times, for two own Brothers to have only one and the same name. His younger years were entirely consecrated to Arts and Learning, to Philosophy and severer Studies, wherein he became as great a Master, as any of the age he lived in. What Tutors he had in the rudiments of the Christian Faith we find not, more than that he was sometimes an Auditor 
Eccl. l. 7. c. 32. p. 284.  of Dorotheus Presbyter of Antioch( he flourished under Cyril, who entred upon that See Ann. Chr. CCLXXIX.) one whom for his excellent parts, profound learning, and exemplary virtues, Diocletian himself had in great reverence and estimation, and had made him his Commissioner for the Trade of Purple-dying at Tyre.  
II. THEOTECNUS Bishop of Caesarea dying, Agapius 
Ibid. p. 288.  succeeded in that See, a man prudent and diligent in his Charge, and of a very kind and charitable temper. By him Pamphilus was ordained Presbyter of that Church, and it's like not long after Eusebius himself. Between which two commenced so great a Dearness and League of friendship, that as St. Hierom says, 
Apol. adv. ruffian. Tom. 2. p. 193.  they seem to have had but one Soul between them; and Eusebius to perpetuate the memory of so dear a friendship, assumed the name of Pamphilus, a Title which he carries to this day. Besides him, two more he mentions 
Ubi supr. p. 289. Phot. Cod. CXVIII. col. 299.  of his familiar acquaintance, Pierius Presbyter of Alexandria, and Regent of the Catechetic School there, who had sometimes been Pamphilus his Master, one whose strict life, and singular learning in all faculties gained him the Title of a second Origen; and Meletius Bishop of Sebastea in Pontus, a good man, and of incomparable Learning; and so extraordinarily eloquent, that he was commonly styled {αβγδ} the Attic honey, whose excellent converse Eusebius enjoyed, while for seven years together he sheltered himself in Palestine during the following persecution. Indeed as yet the state of the Church was serene and calm and the Sun shone very favourably upon them; they lived undisturbed, 
Eus. H. Eccl. l. 8. c. 1. p. 291.  and securely enjoyed the liberty of their Religion; many of them in favour at Court, and some admitted to great offices in the Empire, the Bishops and Ministers of Religion highly honoured by all, even by them that were strangers to the Faith, Christianity daily increased by numerous Converts, old Churches were repaired, and new ones erected more large and stately in every place. Thus stood the case with them, till their sins awakened the divine Justice, and provoked it to let loose the Storm upon them.  
III. ABOUT the entrance of the following Century, Diocletian having routed and killed Achilleus governor of Egypt( who had usurped the Empire, drawn those parts into Rebellion, and fortified himself in Alexandria) return'd for Syria, and passed through palestine with young Prince Constantin in his company, at what time Eusebius tells 
de vit. Const. l. 1. c. 19. p. 417.  us, he saw that young Prince, when the eyes and admirations of men were fixed upon him, his tall and comely parsonage, the strength and firmness of his body, but especially the virtues and endowments of his mind giving an early omen of the happiness of his future reign. Not long after Diocletian together with his colleague Maximian, entred Rome in a solemn triumph for the several victories which had of late been gained over the Barbarous Countries; which done, he return'd to Nicomedia, where he usually kept his Court. And now he began to think it an affront and disparagement to his other triumphs, to see the ancient religion of the Empire baffled and born down by Christianity, and therefore resolved to attempt the Suppression, if not Extirpation of it. To this purpose Imperial Edicts 
Eus. H. Ec●l. l. 8. c. 2. p. 294.  are issued out; by the first commanding their Churches to be demolished, their Bibles to be burnt, persons of Honour to be disgracefully turned out of their offices, and meaner persons to lose their liberty; by a second, that the Governours of the Church should be imprisoned, and by all methods of cruelty and torment, be compelled to sacrifice; which were shortly after followed by fresh orders more fierce and bloody than the other. This persecution began a little before Easter, Ann. CCCIII. and with what fury it raged through all the Provinces of the Eastern Empire, Eusebius 
Ib. fear per tot. lib.  has declared at large. We shall only remark a few of those that suffered in Palestin, and especially at Caesarea, where Eusebius resided, and was a sad Spectator of their sufferings. The first that came to trial was Procopius, 
de Mart. Palest. c. 1. p. 318, &c.  who obstinately refusing to do sacrifice to the Gods, was immediately beheaded at Caesarea; followed herein not long after by Alphaeus and Zaccheus in the same way of Martyrdom, and at the same place; as on the same day with them, Romanus Deacon and Exorcist of the Church of Caesarea, suffered at Antioch. The next year was memorable for the Martyrdom of Timotheus 
id. ib. c. 3. ●. 321.  at Gaza; of Timolaus, Dionysius, Romulus, Agapius, and several others beheaded at Caesarea. And now it was that Diocletian, either weary of the pompous Cares of Greatness, or vexed to see himself baffled by the constancy of Christians, laid down his Purple, and betook himself to the retirements of a private life. But alas the Scene hereby did not lose, but only shift its Actor. For Maximinus, who succeeded in that part of the Empire, carried on the same design with a fresh but more violent rage and cruelty, issuing out orders the following year to quicken the Governours of Provinces, in putting the Laws in strict execution against those, that refused to comply with the public Rites and Ceremonies of their Religion. To which purpose while the Officers were making Proclamation at Caesarea, 
Ubi sup. c. 4. p. 323, 324.  and summoning men by Name out of a public roll, Apphianus a young Gentleman of Lycia, and at that time scholar to Eusebius, stolen out of doors,( unknown to us, says Eusebius, who lived in the same house with him) and pressing through the crowds and guards, caught hold on the hand of Urbanus the President, then ready to offer Sacrifice, which he grasped so hard as forced him to let it fall, gravely reproving him for those Impieties. Whereupon( as we may imagine) the severest torments became his portion, after all which he was thrown half dead into the Sea, his Brother Aedesius for the same fact suffering the same kind of Martyrdom, and almost at the same time at Alexandria, not to mention what happened in other places.  
IV. IT was now the fourth year of the Persecution, when Maximinus 
ib. c. 6. p. 326.  the Emperor came in Person to Caesarea, there to solemnize his Birth-day, which was accordingly celebrated with infinite variety of Pomps and shows. But all had been nothing, if some Christian had not born part in the Triumphs of that day. Accordingly Agapius, who had been sometime since sentenced to wild Beasts, was brought forth into the amphitheatre, and nothing prevailed with by the Emperor's promises, was delivered over to the mercy of a She-Bear, who only left him so much life, as to be able survive till the next day, when great stones being tied to his feet, he was thrown into the Sea. Not long after Eusebius his dear friend Pamphilus was apprehended 
ibid. c. 7. p. 329. , and brought before Urbanus the President, who endeavoured by all the arts both of insinuation and terror to bring him over. But all in vain, the Martyr remained immovable, and generously despised his threatenings, which so enraged the governor, that he commanded him to be racked with the acutest tortures; and when they had more than once raked his sides, and torn off his flesh with Iron-pincers, and yet that all this did not shake the firmness of his mind, he was sent to keep company with the other Confessors in Prison, the President himself being immediately after disgracefully turned out of his office, and with shane enough condemned by the Emperor to die. But it was not at all the disgrace and torment Pamphilus endured, could fright Eusebius from his friend; he visited him in Prison, and diligently ministered to his occasions, and there they mutually employed their time and pains to excellent and useful purposes. And as heretofore 
Hieron. praef. in Paralip. Tom. 3. p. 19.  they had published the Greek Translation of the Septuagint, taken out of Origen's Hexapla, for the use of the Palaestin Churches; so now they composed an Elaborate Apology in defence of Origen, to vindicate him from those rude Censures and reflections, which the hasty and indiscreet zeal of some had made upon his memory. 'tis true S. Jerom( forgetting what he had elsewhere said 
de Script. Eccl. in Pamph.  concerning this matter) more than once peremptorily denies 
ad Pam. p. 193. T. 2. Apol. adv. Ruff. ib. p. 199. Apol. 2. p. 223.  that Pamphilus either wrote this or any other Book. But Eusebius himself, who knew best, expressly tells 
H. Eccl. l. 6. c. 23. p. 232.  us, that it was the result of their joynt-endeavours; and Photius 
Cod. CXVIII. col. 296, 297.  more particularly, that the whole Work consisted of six Books, the five first whereof were finished by Pamphilus in Prison with Eusebius his assistance, the sixth added by Eusebius after the other's Martyrdom, and that it was designed for the consolation of the Martyrs who laboured in the Mines, the chief of whom was Patermuthius, who shortly after was burnt at the Stake.  
V. TWO full years Pamphilus continued in Prison, when Firmilian 
de Mart. Pal. c. 11. p. 336.  Urbans Successor brought him to his fatal Trial. It happened that five Christians of Egypt out of a great reverence to the Martyrs, had accompanied some Confessors that were condemned to the Mines in Cilicia; and being now upon their return, took Caesarea in their way, where they were apprehended by the Watch that stood Sentinel at the Gates, to whom freely confessing what they were, they were immediately carried before the Governor, and by his command laid in Irons. The next day they were again brought before him, and Pamphilus also with his companions commanded to attend the Tribunal. What became of the Egyptian Martyrs, we are not now concerned to inquire: It came at last to Pamphilus his turn, whom the Judge knowing to be of an invincible Constancy and Resolution, only asked of him, whether he would yet comply. And having received both from him and his fellows nothing but a flat denial, the last doom was pass d upon them. But between Sentence and Execution in steps Porphyrius, Pamphilus his servant, a young man of good parts and learning, not above eighteen years of age, and boldly requests that the bodies of the dead might receive decent Sepulture. But he paid dear for his forward zeal, the Tormentors being commanded to exercise all their faculties upon him, who raked off his flesh, till they had laid bare the most inward recesses of his body, all which he endured with a most imcomparable patience; after which being ordered to be burnt, he sucked in the flames at a distance, entertaining his friends during the whole Scene of his Tragedy, with a most serene undisturbed mind, till his Soul mounted up, leading his Master the way to Heaven, who shortly followed after him. But the rage of their enemies died not with them, the President commanding their dead bodies to be kept by a Military Guard four days and nights together, that none daring to fetch them off, they might remain a Prey to wild Beasts. But when beyond all expectation neither bide nor Beast of Prey came near to touch them,( the providence of God defeating the malice of men) they were permitted to be decently interred. Thus have we brought Pamphilus to his Grave, a man of great Learning, but far greater Piety. He was a phoenician 
S. Metaphr. in Mart. Pamp. ap. Sur. ad 1. Jun. N. II.& V. ex Euseb. , of no inconsiderable birth and fortunes, born at Berytus, a City famous for the study of the Roman Laws, where he bore some secular offices in his younger years, and where being educated under all the advantages of human Arts, he next applied himself to the study of divine things, and was then made Presbyter of Caesarea. He was indefatigable in the pursuit of all parts of Learning, especially the knowledge of the Scriptures, for which end he erected a Library 
Hieron. de Script. in mat.& in Pamphil.& ad Princip. in Psal. 126. Tom. 3. p. 113. vid. Eus. H. E. l. 6. c. 32. p. 231  at Caesarea, and replenished it with Books from all parts, yea, in a great measure of his own writing, transcribing the far greatest part of Origen's Works with his own hand, which he there laid up, and which were extant in S. Jerom's time, which he tells us he valued as a most inestimable treasure. His life was truly strict and Philosophical, 
Eus. de vit. Pamph. l. 3. ap. Hier. apol. adv. Ruff. fin. Tom. 2. p. 199.  his Soul humble and mortified, eminent his contempt of the World, and his charity to the Poor, whom he relieved where ever he met, and by the truest sort of Charity provided for their Souls, that they might not be destitute of the bread of life. And for this purpose he caused great numbers of Bibles to be copied out, which he always kept by him, and freely bestowed upon any, whose piety made them as willing to red them, as their Purses made them unable to procure them.  
VI. EUSEBIUS thus deprived of his dear Companion, either to mitigate the sense of so great a loss, or to withdraw from the present heat of the Persecution, or it may be dispatched upon some affairs of the Church, left Caesarea, and about this time,( for I cannot well place it sooner) retired into Egypt 
H. Eccl. l. 8. c. 9. p. 300, 301. , where he found the Persecution so far from abating, that it increased together with the heats of the Climat, especially in the parts about Thebais, where he tells us he daily beholded the most sad and dismal spectacles; many were raked to death with sharp Shells instead of Pincers to tear off the flesh, women naked tied by one of their Legs and hoist up on high by Engines prepared for that purpose; others tied by the feet to great boughs of Trees, violently wrested and forced together, which being let go, in a moment rent the bodies of the Martyrs all in pieces. Nor were the numbers less considerable, than the cruelties of their execution, twenty, thirty, sixty, sometimes a hundred in a day, some beheaded, others burnt, till the very edges of their Swords were dulled, and the Tormentors themselves, though relieving one another, tired out. All which time they discovered not only the highest constancy, but the most impatient desire of Martyrdom, Sentence being no sooner passed upon the first, but others immediately crowded up to the Tribunal, confessing they were Christians. During his residence in these parts, Eusebius was seized and thrown into Prison: But how long he remained there, or by what means he was delivered thence, we no where find. Which has created a suspicion with many, improved by others into a confident assertion, that he offered Sacrifice, and basely complied with his Persecutors to procure his escape. This indeed was charged 
Epist. Synod. Alex. ap. Athan. Apol. II. p. 567. ap. Epiph. Haeres. LXVIII p. 309. Edit. Graec. Basil.  upon him by the Egyptian Confessors, and particularly by Potamo Bishop of Heraclea, his fellow-prisoner. But then it is to be considered, that they who suggested this were his avowed enemies, who looking upon him as a Champion of the Arian party, were willing to improve all rumours and jealousies, though never so slight and groundless, to his disadvantage; and that there seems to have been no other foundation for this suspicion( as Potamo plainly confesses) than merely his being released out of Prison without those badges of ignominy and cruelty upon his body, which some other of the Confessors underwent. Not to say, that had it been as they suggested, it would have been an insuperable bar to his after-preferment in the Church, it being the severe discipline of those days not to admit any of the lapsed to places of dignity and authority in the Church, and where any such had done Sacrifice, they were immediately stripped of their Ecclesiastical capacities, and though penitent were received to no more than a mere Lay-communion; and Athanasius himself tells 
de Synod. Arim.& Seleuc. p. 684. vid. Socr. l. 2. c. 36. p. 72.  us of Asterius the Cappadocian Sophist, that having sacrificed to Idols under this very Persecution, he could not for that reason be admitted into the order of the Clergy. Whence I cannot but note the disingenuous and uncharitable censure of Baronius 
ad An. 308. N. XXII. , who as he falls upon Eusebius at every turn, so in this positively affirms not only that he did actually Sacrifice, and was interdicted the communion of the faithful, but that its highly probable that he procured 
ad Ann. 318. N. LXXIX.  the Presidency of so noble a Church as Caesarea, by sinister and evil arts, as to which he could not be regularly admitted by the constitutions of the Church. In which malicious insinuation had there been any truth, we should not have failed to have heard of it in the Writers of those times, when the zealous contentions of the several Parties ripped up whatever might make to the disgrace of either.  
7. The persecution in the mean time was carried on in egypt, with all imaginable vigour and fierceness, by the care of two zealous Governors, Culcianus of Thebais, and Hierocles of Alexandria. This Hierocles had been sometime since Judge at Nicomedia in Bithynia, where Diocletian kept his Court, and where Lactantius at that time taught Rhetoric, and for his activity, especially against the Christians was, it's like, preferred to be Governor of Alexandria, for so Epiphanius expressly stiles him; where he carried it with so high a hand against the Christians, and prosecuted the Martyrs with such intolerable severities, that Aedesius 
Vid. m●n. Grec. {αβγδ}.  in a fit of indiscreet and immoderate zeal not only reproved, but stroke him on the Face. A man he was of wit and parts above the ordinary standard, but poisoned with inveterate prejudices against the Christians, whom he persecuted both with his Sword and Pen. For he wrote two Books 
Lactant. lib. 5. c. 2. p. 460. 462. c. 3. p. 464. p. 469.  which in imitation of Celsus his {αβγδ} he entitled {αβγδ}, as if not so much written against, as addressed to the Christians, that by a sly insinuation he might the easilier recommend himself to them; wherein he attempted to prove the Scriptures to be guilty of falsehood and contradiction, so particularly examining every minute punctilio, that Lactantius was ready to suspect him to have been an Apostate Christian; the Apostles he endeavoured to show to have been Cheats and impostors, rude and illiterate Persons, and our Saviour himself a public Robber, that his Miracles were the Effects of Magic, not comparable with those of Apollonius Tyaneus, whom he equalled with, and preferred before him. This Book Eusebius took to task, and waving all other parts of it, as himself tells 
Contr. Hierocl. non long. ab init. p. 511.  us, partly because being transcribed to a tittle of other mens writings( I suppose he means Celsus or Porphyry) they had been already answered by Origen, partly because he himself designed to examine them elsewhere, as he did in his Books against Porphyry afterwards,) he now only attacked that part of the {αβγδ} wherein Hierocles had compared Apollonius with our Saviour, which he refuted by no other method, than by making some strict reflections upon the Life of Apollonius, described by Phylostratus in VIII Books, all which he runs through with short remarks, showing Apollonius to be so unfit to be compared with our blessed Saviour, that he scarce deserved the name of a true Philosopher, or an honest man. I confess I find 
J. Jons. de scrip. Hist. Philos. l. 3. c. 18. ip. 304.  one( a man otherways Learned and Judicious) standing alone in this matter, peremptorily denying, that it was our Eusebius that wrote this Confutation of Hierocles, but rather one of a later date, as seems evident from Hierocles his Books concerning Fate, which were not written till near a whole age after. But this objection would have easily vanished, had he considered, what to me is most plain and evident, that our Hierocles could not be the Author of those seven Books concerning Fate and Providence, as wherein mention is made of Plutarch 
Phot. Cod. CCXIV. col. 553.  the Athenian, who flourished about the beginning of the fifth Century, and was contemporary with Olympiodorus, to whose judgement and censure 
Id. ib. col. 549.  he submitted those Books, and who dedicated 
Id. Cod. LXXX. col. 177.  his Roman History( for that it was the same Olympiodorus I make no Question) to the younger Theodosius, who began not his Reign till the year CCCCVIII. Those Books therefore belong to a younger Hierocles mentioned by Suidas 
Suid. in verb. {αβγδ}  and others, to whom he ascribes them, as also the most excellent Commentary upon the golden Verses of Pythagoras. That which betrayed the man into the mistake, was plainly this: He supposed 
Ubi supr. p. 302.  Eusebius his dissertation against Hierocles concerning Fate, to have been in answer to those VII upon that Subject, mentioned by Photius. When as Eusebius in that discourse has not the least relation to those Books, but only makes some brief animadversions upon Apollonius his principles concerning Fate, which he annexes as a suitable Appendage to the preceding Confutation, as is evident at first sight beyond all exception to any one that casts his eye upon that Discourse. After all which it were easy to justify our Eusebius his title to this Book from the express Testimony of Photius, 
Cod. XXXIX col. 24.  and the Faith of all ancient Copies, which bear his name in the Front of them. But of this enough.  
VIII. It's now high time to return with Eusebius into Palaestin, where the persecution ceased, Anno Chr. CCX. eight years after it began, as within two years after the weather cleared 
Eus. H. Eccl. l. 9. c. 9. p. 360.  up in all the Provinces of the East, Constantine the Great, after his memorable Victory over Maxentius at the Milvian Bridge, declaring himself in favour of the Christians, and writing in their behalf to Maximinus, who not daring to control the request of so potent a Colleague, Issued out his Letters to the Governors of Provinces, forbidding all rigorous prosecution of them. About this time dyed Agapius Bishop of Caesarea, in whose room none was thought so fit to succeed as Eusebius, whose admirable learning, eminent services, and peculiar relation to that Church recommended him to the Government of so famous and renowned a See. Caesarea, so called by Herod the Great, who beautified and enlarged it, in honour of Augustus Caesar, had ever since been one of the greatest Cities in those parts, and from the fall of Jerusalem, it had been the seat of the Proconsul, and the Metropolis of the Province; a place not more celebrated 
vid descrip. orb. Gothofr. p. 12.  for its abundance and plenty, than for the neatness and elegancy of its buildings. And as the fortunes of the Church in such Cases usually arise with the splendour and greatness of the civil state, it had been the Metropolitan 
Balsam. in Can. VI. council. Nic. Zonar.& Arist. in Can. VII. Matth. bliss. sub lit. E. c. 11. p. 116.  See of Palaestin, to which even Jerusalem itself was subject. And though the Fathers of the Nicene Synod thought fit to decree, 
Can. VII.  that according to ancient Custom and Tradition, honour shauld be paid to the Bishop of Jerusalem, yet still it was with a reservation, saving the Rights, the Power and Jurisdiction of its own Metropolis; by which they undoubtedly mean Caesarea, as the Scholiasts upon that Canon universally aclowledge, and is, I think, granted by all. And thus stood the Case for some ages, till the Ambition of some Bishops, and the great reverence which after-times bore to the place of our Saviour's sufferings and burial, turned the Tables, and Caesarea became subject to the Patriarchate of Jerusalem.  
IX. EUSEBIUS placed in so conspicuous a Throne, quickly became considerable among the Bishops of the East, but with none more intimate than Paulinus Bishop of Tyre, formerly Presbyter of Antioch, at whose invitation he performed a very solemn Service upon this occasion. Among the happy influences of Constantin●'s favour and kindness to the Christians, it was not the least, that the Houses of God, which the impiety of the late times had demolished, began to rise up out of their dust and ruins, and to grow up into fairer and more magnificent fabrics than before; and this not only by the Emperors lief, but by their particular encouragement and assistance. Nor were Churches more cheerfully built by the bounty of Christians, then with an equal piety they were solemnly dedicated to God's honour and service, the Consecrations being usually celebrated with Prayers and Sermons, Hymns and Sacraments, and all possible expression of mutual Love and Charity, the presence of the Governors of the Church, and resort of strangers from all parts. In which number P●ulinus of Tyre, partly by his own, partly by the contribution of his Friends, had erected a beautiful and stately Church, the fairest in all those parts, at the dedication whereof, there being a general confluence of the neighbour Bishops, Eusebius had the honour to make that large and elegant Oration, yet extant 
H. E●●l. l 10. c. ●. p. 371.  in the body of his History; wherein after a grateful commemoration of the care and goodness of the divine Providence, that had so strangely turned their Tears and Sorrows, into music and Triumphs, and especially that the solemnities of their Religion, and the places of divine Worship had been with advantage restored to them; and had therein recommended the piety and diligence of the Bishop of that place; he particularly describes the several parts and ornaments of that magnificent structure, together with their mystical aspects and significations, concluding, as he began, with a passionate address to all, to join unanimously in a hearty love and admiration of the divine Goodness; an Honour and Veneration suitable to those mighty blessings that had been heaped upon them. This was done Ann. CCCXIV. Or at most the following year. But alas, this pleasant serenity of affairs lasted not long. Licinius the Eastern Emperor laying aside 
ibid. c. 8. p. 394.  the Mask of his dissembled kindness to the Christians, by which he had hitherto imposed upon Constantine, sell now with great severity upon them, not only banishing them from Court, and all Offices of Trust and Power, but pursuing them with cruel Edicts, proceeding against their Estates and Persons, by Oppression and Violence, by Rapine and Confiscation, by Exile and Imprisonment, and by the most bloody and barbarous kinds of Death and Torment. The Gentile-religion he industriously revived, and endeavoured to restore it not only to Life, but to its ancient Power and splendour. This opportunity Valesius supposes 
Prae●it. de vit.& script. Euseb.  Eusebius took to writ his Books, de Praeparatione& Demonstratione Evangelica; as indeed the Occasion was very fit and proper. But that they could not be written till several years after this, we shall show afterwards.  
X. BUT though the Licinian Tempest was fierce and boisterous, yet arose there at this time a storm of another nature, that in some respects was more troublesone to the Church, than all the Pagan persecutions. I mean the Arian controversy, whereof we shall speak more particularly in the Life of Athanasius, the proper seat of that story, considering it here no farther, than as Eusebius was concerned in it. Arius like a subtle and designing man, had by couching his mind in ambiguous terms, and denying at one time, what he affirmed at another, so concealed the venom of his Propositions, that he so far imposed upon several Bishops of the East, and particularly upon our Eusebius, as to writ to Alexander Bishop of Alexandria, Arius his Diocesan, by whom he had been excommunicated, to readmit him to Communion. What use the crafty heretic made of these Letters is easy to imagine, insomuch that Alexander look't upon himself, as under a necessity by public Letters to represent the true state of the Case, and in one to Alexander 
Ap. Theod. H. Eccl. l. 1. c. 4 p. 15.  of Byzantium, he charges the three Syrian Bishops( meaning, no question, Eusebius of Caesarea, Theodotus of Laodicea, and Paulinus of Tyre) as giving too much countenance and encouragement to the Arian party, declaring that Arius and all his followers were expelled the Church, and that no man ought to receive or entertain them. This, Arius in his Epistle 
Ibid. c. 5. p. 21.  to the Nicomedian Eusebius interprets, as particularly putting our Eusebius and several others under an Anathema, as whom he supposed of the same Opinion with himself. Eusebius nettled hereat, writes 
Ext. fragm. literar. Act. VI. council. Nicen. II Conc. Tom. VII. col. 497.  to Alexander, telling him, that his Letters had wronged Arius and his followers, when they charged them with affirming, that the Sun like other things was made out of things that were not; when as they produced their own Letters written to himself, containing an account of their Faith, wherein they expressly declare, that the God of the Old and New Testament, had from eternal ages begotten his only begotten Son; by whom he made the World and all things therein; and that he begot him not seemingly, but truly and really, unchangeable, immutable, the perfect production of God( for so I presume to render {αβγδ}) but not as one of the Creatures. More he has there to the same purpose, to show how much Alexander had misrepresented them, and possibly the case had been much clearer, had the Epistle been entire; though by what of it is now extant, one would think, either that the Arian principles were not so thick and gross as their Enemies represented them, or that they rendered them more specious and plausible at first sight, in which some men of moderate and unprejudiced minds were willing to understand them. This I should be ready enough to believe, but that in the close of that Epistle,( here mentioned by Eusebius, but extant entire both in Athanasius and Epiphanius) they seem plainly to retract what before they had granted: Which it may be Eusebius never saw; if he did, he had kinder thoughts of them than they did deserve. Alexander nothing mollified, 
Sozom. H. Eccl. l. 1. c. 15. p. 428.  kept firm to his resolutions, whereupon Arius dispatched away Messengers to our Eusebius, Paulinus of Tyre, and Patrophilus Bishop of Scythopolis, begging, that by their Countenance and Assistance, he, and those of his party, might as they had been wont assemble their People, and exercise their ministries in their several Parish-Churches. The matter being canvased in a meeting of the palestine Bishops, they agreed to the request, affirming, that they might do so, but that withal they should yield submission to their Bishop, and unweariedly solicit and importune him, that they might be received to Peace and Communion with him.  
XI. THE controversy being grown beyond all private Methods of composure, Constantine, Ann. Chr. CCCXXV. summoned a General Council of Bishops from most parts of the Christian World for the decision of it, which accordingly met at Nice, where our Eusebius had the first seat 
De vit. Const. l. 3. c. 11. p. 489. Sozom. H. Eccl. l. 1. c. 19. p. 433.  on the right Wing of the Benches near the Emperor, and the honour to entertain him with an Oration in the name of the Synod at his coming thither. This was that Oration that he made at Constantine's Vicennalia, when, as he tells 
De vit. Const. l. 1. c. 1. p 405.  us, he beholded that great Conqueror compassed round with the servants of God, and displayed the goodness of Heaven, and the greatness of the Emperor, with just Praises and Commendations. A piece of service not more acceptable to that Prince, than honourable to himself. Indeed how considerable a part he bore in that great Assembly, may appear by what the Historian 
Gel. Cyz. H. Conc. Nic. l. 2. c. 18. Col. 188.  of that Council reports( though I confess not mentioned by any other) that when one of the Philosophers whom Arius had brought along with him to dispute on his side, pressed that place, {αβγδ} The Lord created me the beginning of his ways, as plainly destructive of our Lord's Divinity, Eusebius was commanded by the Synod to undertake him upon that argument, who waving the usual explications of that place, he insists upon this, that this is not spoken in the person of the Son of God, but of that {αβγδ}, that human and rational wisdom, which God at first planted in man, when he created him after his own Image. And because he foresaw it would be objected, that the wisdom here spoken of was before the rest of the Creation, he affirms, that the material World was indeed actually made before it, but that this wisdom and man as the Subject of it were first in the purpose and design of God. The particulars of the dispute are too tedious to be here inserted, he concludes with an address to the Philosopher, not to suffer himself to be lead aside out of the common road of the apostolic Faith, to apply his mind to truth, without respect to hatred or parties, by which means he would quickly understand that the Son of God was not a Creature, but the very maker and founder of the whole Creation. Among many things that induce me to disbelieve the account of these disputations, and particularly of this passage of Eusebius, this is not the least, the odd interpretation which Eusebius here gives of this so much controverted place. For though the Greek Fathers, who generally understood no Hebrew, were frequently at a loss about it, as it lies in the Version of the Septuagint, the only Translation they made use of, yet Eusebius, who was somewhat skilled in the original Text, was capable of giving a more easy and natural solution of it. And accordingly elsewhere 
Contr. Marcel. lib. 3. c. 2. p. 150. 151, 152, 153.  we find him expounding it of the Son of God, and expressly asserting, that if it were meant of creating, it could not be understood, as if he had proceeded from not being into being, seeing he did subsist and live, was pre-existent and presubsistent to the whole Creation, but rather that it might denote, that God had appointed and constituted him to be Prince and Head of all things; that the Hebrew Text had nothing concerning God's creating him, the Word Cana signifying to possess, and so he observes both Aquila, Symmachus, and Theodotion render it, the Lord possessed me the beginning of his ways, that is, he whom the Father begot as his only begotten Son, was the Head of all things that were made, both visible and invisible, both as to their Creation and Salvation; that there was a wide difference between {αβγδ} Created, and {αβγδ} Possessed, the one noting after the ordinary manner of creation, a proceeding from non-existence into a state of being, the other a possessing something pre-existent, and a most peculiarly distinguishing propriety towards him that possesses it: So that the Son of God in that place at once represents both his own preexistence and peculiar propriety to his Father, and also that benefit and advantage, which his Fathers Works would receive by his Providence and Administration. Which is the Sum, and as near as may be the very words, of what he more largely discourses upon this Subject.  
XII. GREAT were the pains which the Fathers of the Council took to convince Arius and his Party, and to satisfy the doubtful and the scrupulous, the moderate endeavouring to find out some expedient to heal the breach. To which end Eusebius brought in a Confession of Faith, wherein he hoped both parties might agree, which though well approved of, yet not being thought explicit enough in the main Article, was with some little alteration and addition, especially of the {αβγδ} or word Consubstantial, drawn up into a standing Creed. This form Eusebius at first disliked, and very minutely canvased and debated the matter, but considering how much the Peace of the Church ought to over-rule all private sentiments, and niceties about words, he the next day subscribed 
Athan. de decret. syn. Nic. p. 402. Epist. ad Afric. p. 721  the common Creed. Of all which he gave an account in a Letter to the People of his Charge,( though, as Theodoret thinks, it was more particularly designed, to give satisfaction to some Persons in that City, deeply leavened with Arian principles, and who seemed to challenge him as having betrayed and given up their cause. The Letter is somewhat larger than ordinary, and consists of expressions not very capable of being properly rendered into our Language; yet because it contains the Transactions of that Synod, so far as they relate to him, we shall here insert it. 
Ext. ap. Socr. H. Eccl. l. 1. c. 8. p. 23. Theod. l. 1. c. 12. p, 36. Gelas. H. Con. Nic. l. 2. c. 34. Col. 252. Niceph. H. E. l. 8. c. 22. p. 576. Athan. Tom. 2. p. 48.   
Eusebius his Letter to the People of Caesarea.  
THOUGH I doubt not, dear Brethren, but that before this you have heard by some other hand, what things have been debated concerning the Faith of the Church in the great Council of Nice, since report is wont to out-run the true account of things; yet to the end that such reports may not represent things otherwise to you than indeed they are, we have thought it necessary to sand you, first, the Confession of Faith, which we propounded, and next the other, which with some addition to ours the Synod established. The form proposed by us, and which was red in the presence of the most sacred Emperor, and seemed to be liked and approved by all, was in this manner. The exposition of our Faith. As we have received it from the Bishops, who were our predecessors, both when we were first instructed in the rudiments of the Faith, and when afterwards baptized into it; as we have learned from the holy Scriptures, and both believed and taught, not only when we sustained the Office of Presbyter, but since we came to the Episcopal Station, so do we still believe, and produce this as the account of our Faith.  
We believe in one God, the Father Almighty, maker of all things visible and invisible: And in one Lord Jesus Christ, the Word of God, God of God, Light of Light, Life of Life, the only begotten Son, the first born of every Creature, begotten of God the Father before all Worlds; by whom all things were made, who for our Salvation was incarnate, and dwelled amongst men, he suffered, and rose again the third day, and ascended to the Father, and shall come again with Glory to judge both the quick and the dead. We believe also in one holy Ghost. Each of these [ Persons] We believe to be and to subsist, the Father truly the Father, the Son truly the Son, and the holy Ghost truly the holy Ghost: As our Lord himself when he sent forth his Disciples to Preach, said to them, Go teach all Nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the holy Ghost. Concerning which we also declare the same to be our sense, that we hold this now, that we have ever hitherto held the same, and that we shall hold it to the death, firmly persevering in this Faith, and Anathematizing every impious heresy. All which we profess before Almighty God, and our Lord Jesus Christ, that we have sincerely, and from our very hearts maintained ever since we were capable to understand ourselves, that we still do really think and speak the same things, being ready to give you all assurance and demonstration, that heretofore we have constantly so believed and preached.  
Having thus declared our Faith, it met with no contradiction, yea the most holy Emperor himself first pronounced it to be sound and right, affirming that himself was of the same mind, and exhorting all others unanimously to assent and subscribe to this Doctrine, adding only the word Consubstantial to it, which also he expounded, affirming, that the Son was not said to be Consubstantial according to corporeal affections, or that he did subsist of his Father by any kind of Section or Division; it being impossible that an immaterial, intellectual and incorporeal Nature should admit any corporeal passion; but that these things were to be understood in a divine and secret way. And so did the most wise and religious Emperor discourse about these matters. The Bishops taking advantage of the Emperor's proposal concerning the word {αβγδ} drew up the following Creed.  

The Faith agreed on in the Synod.  
WE believe in one God, the Father Almighty, maker of all things visible invisible: And in one Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the only begotten of the Father, that is, of the substance of the Father; God of God, Light of Light, very God of very God; begotten, not made, of the same substance with the Father, by whom all things were made, which are in Heaven and in Earth: Who for us men and for our Salvation came down, and was incarnate, and was made man, and suffered; the third day he rose again, ascended into Heaven, and shall come to judge the quick and the dead. And in the holy Ghost. But for those that say, there was a time when he was not, or that he was not before he was, or that he was made of things that had no existence; or that affirm the Son of God to be of any other substance or essence, or that he was created, or is obnoxious to change or alteration; all such the catholic and apostolic Church of God do anathematize and reject.   
No sooner was the matter digested into this form, but we were especially careful to examine those Phrases, of the substance of the Father, and consubstantial with the Father. This begot various Questions and Answers, and an accurate weighing the true importance of them. They acknowledged that these words ( of the Substance) did imply, that the Son was of the Father, but not as a part of him. Which notion it seemed very reasonable to us to embrace, seeing the true Doctrine teaches, that the Son is of the Father, but yet no part of his Substance. Wherefore we also gave our assent to it, not rejecting the very word Consubstantial for peace sake; and that we might not decline from the right sense of things. Upon the same account we approved those terms, begotten, not made; where they  told us that ( made) was a word common to all other Creatures that were made by the Son, with which the Son himself had no resemblance; that therefore he was no Creature, like to any thing made by him, but of a Substance far more excellent than any created Being; which the divine Oracles teach to be of the Father, by an ineffable manner of Generation, which can neither be expressed, no nor comprehended by any created Understanding. So likewise for this, that the Son is Consubstantial, or of the same essence with the Father, upon debate it was agreed, that this was not to be understood after any corporeal Mode, or the manner of mortal Creatures, it not being capable of so being either by division of the Substance, or by abscision, or by change of the essence and power of the Father, his unbegotten nature being utterly inconsistent with any one of these: But that this, that he is Consubstantial with the Father, signified no more, than that the Son of God had no kind of similitude with any Creatures, but was only, and in all things like unto this Father that begot him, not of any other subsistence or essence, but of the Father. Which being so explained, it seemed very just and reasonable we should assent to it. Forasmuch as we know that some of the learned and famous Bishops and Writers of ancient times, in explaining the divinity of the Father and the Son, have used this word, Consubstantial. And so much for the Faith here established, to which we all consented, not rashly and inconsiderately, but in the sences alleged, discus'd before the most religious Emperor, and for the reasons above mentioned approved by all. And for the Anathema affixed by them at the end of the Creed, we readily own it, as what prohibits men to use unscriptural terms, from whence has arisen all the confusion and disturbance in the Church. For seeing the Divinely inspired Scripture no where makes use of these expressions, {αβγδ} of things not existent, and, there was a time, when he was not, and the rest there mentioned, it seems irrational and absurd, that they should be used or taught. To which wisely contrived sentence we readily gave our suffrage, having never heretofore accustomed ourselves to such expressions.[ Nor do we think it unfit to reject this, that, he was not before he was begotten, it being confessed by all, that the Son of God was pre-existent to his Incarnation: Yea, our most Religious Emperor has shown, that as to his divine Generation, he was before all Worlds. For before he was in Act, he was potentially in the Father by a certain unbegotten way, the Father being always a Father, as always a King and a Saviour, being all things in respect of Power, always and as to all things the same.] These things, beloved, we thought necessary to acquaint you with, that you might know with how much caution we first stood off, and then yielded our assent, and how not without reason, we resisted till the last minute, so long as there was any thing otherwise written that might give offence; but afterwards quietly embraced what was inoffensive, after that, having candidly examined the meaning of what was said, it appeared that they were consonant to that confession of Faith which we had first proposed. We salute you, with the Brother-hood together with you, wishing you, honoured Brethren, to farewell in the Lord.  
Such was the Letter which Eusebius sent to his Caesareans, to let them know how affairs went in the Council, to prevent mis-reports concerning himself, and to assure them he had subscribed no other Doctrine, than what he had always delivered to them. I shall make no other reflections upon the Epistle itself, than that hence 'tis evident, that whatever the Arians pretended concerning the novelty of the terms in the Nicene Creed, the word {αβγδ} whereat they most boggled was of a more ancient date, used by the Fathers in the precedent ages of the Church: And that when ever Eusebius speaks of Christ as in any sense created, he always means it of a divine production, to wit, his eternal Generation; that he never denies him to be of the same substance with the Father in any other sense, than as the divine nature is incapable of division or separation after the manner of corporeal Beings. The Reader may farther remark, that that passage in the close of the Epistle concerning Christ's being actually and potentially in the Father, is confused and obscure, and indeed the whole Period, which we have included within Breaks, is not extant in this Epistle as 'tis in Socrates, nor in that translated by the ancient compiler of the Tripartite History. Whence one of these two things plainly follows, either that they left it out as a dangerous, and unaccountable passage, or( which to me seems more probable) that not being in the Original Copy of this Epistle, it was shuffled in by some other hand. For I cannot think Socrates would have been guilty of so much both imprudence and unfaithfulness, as when he pretends to give the whole, to cut off, and conceal part of so considerable a Letter, and which being almost in every hand, must needs soon discover the Fraud.  
XIII. This great Assembly being ended, Constantine went on in his designs for the Establishment and Propagation of the Christian Religion. He had not long before the Synod upon his Victory over Licinius, written 
De vit. Const. l. 2. c. 45. p. 464.  to the Bishops in every Province to take care for the repairing and merchandizing of Churches, and the erecting others more large and beautiful, commanding Charges to that end to be allowed out of his own Exchequer. His Letter to Eusebius is still extant; 
Loc. cit. c. 46.& ap. Socr. l. 1. c. 9. p. 35. Theod. l. 1. c. 15. p. 44.  wherein he tells him, he could not but suppose that the Impiety and Tyranny of the late times had made strange havoc and devastation of Churches, and that the divine Providence by his Ministry having overcome the Dragon, and restored liberty and safety, it could not but have a mighty force upon the most prejudiced and incredulous, to bring them into the way of truth: That therefore he should take care of what Churches were within his jurisdiction, and give the same notice to all Bishops, Presbyters and Deacons of his acquaintance, to use peculiar diligence in this matter, that what Churches were yet standing might be repaired, or enlarged, and where need was, new ones erected; and that what was necessary to this purpose, he, and others by his means, should require of the Governors of Provinces, and the Praetorian Praefect, to whom he had given Orders to be assistant to him in any thing he should demand of them. Nor was he more careful to advance the true Religion, than to depress the false, especially to destroy the Monuments of Pagan Idolatry and Superstition. There stood 
Eus. de vit. Const. l. 3. c. 51. p. 508. Socr. l. 1 c. 18. p. 48. Sozom. l. 2. c. 4. p. 447.  in palestine an aged Oak called Mamre, which constant Tradition avowed to have remained since the time of Abraham, who dwelled there, and under it entertained the Angels that appeared to him. Here was annually holden a famous Mart, frequented by a numerous concourse of Christians, Jews and Gentiles from all the neighbouring Nations, partly to vend their several Commodities, partly to exercise the several Rites of their Religions. For which purpose there were Statues and Altars, and Sacrifices continually made upon them. Notice whereof being given to Constantine, by the pious Princess his Mother heal, he immediately sent dispatches to Acacius the governor about it, and wrote 
Ext. Epistola ap. Eus. loc. cit. c. 52, 53, p. 509.  to Eusebius, Macarius, and the rest of the palestine Bishops, letting them know how much he resented the Profanation of so venerable a Place; that a Place that had been honoured with so many divine Apparitions and Testimonies from Heaven, should be prostituted to such lewd Idolatry; a thing unfit in itself, and unbecoming the Piety of his Reign: That therefore he had ordered the Images to be burnt, the Altar to be demolished, the Sacrifices to be abolished, and a Church to be built in the Place; where nothing but the pure Worship of God might be performed. Which if any should dare to oppose, upon their Intimation to him, he should be punished according to the just Demerit of his Impiety and Folly. About this time I suppose it was( though I cannot certainly adjust the particular year) that Constantia, Constantine's Sister, and relict of the late Emperour Licinius, wrote to Eusebius as Metropolitan of palestine, desiring him to sand her the Image or Picture of our Saviour. To which, checking her vicious Curiosity, he returns this smart Answer. 
Ext. in Conc. Nic. II. Act. VI. Col. 493.  Because( says he) you desire me to sand you the Image of Christ, tell me which, or what kind of Image of Christ it is you mean. Is it that real and unchangeable Form, that naturally bears the Characters of himself? Or that which he took upon him for our Sakes, when he clothed himself with the Form of a Servant? As to the Form of God, I suppose you inquire not after it, being instructed by himself, that no man knows the Father but the Son, neither does any man sufficiently know the Son, but only the Father that begot him. You therefore unquestionably desire the Image of the Form of a Servant, that bodily shape which he undertook for us. But even this we know, to be taken into Partnership with the Glory of the Deity, and what was Mortal to be swallowed up of Life. What Painter then, with a few dead and inanimate Colours, a few Life-less lines and strokes, could be able to take the resplendent lustre of so much Majesty and Glory; when the divine Disciples themselves were not able to look upon him in the Mount, but fell upon their Faces, confessing they were unable to bear such a sight? If therefore his bodily shape was so much altered, and derived so much Power from the Divinity that dwelled in it; what may we say it is, now that he has put off Mortality, and being washed from all shadow of Corruption, has exalted the shape of his servile Form, into the Glory of a Lord and God? as now it is, since his Victory over Death, his Ascention into Heaven, being seated upon a Throne of Majesty, at his Fathers right hand, and his resting in the unconceivable and ineffable Bosom of his Father, into which, while he was ascending to retake Possession, the holy Angels followed him with Hymns and Praises, saying, Lift up your Gates, O ye Princes, and be ye lift up ye everlasting Doors, and the King of glory shall come in. Such was his Answer to the Empresses Message. For which free and impartial Censure the Fathers of the second Council of Nice, the great Patrons of Image Worship, fall upon him with hard words, and Characters of reproach; as upon the same account Baronius and they of the Church of Rome, their Successors in that Doctrine and practise, still do at this day.  
XIV. THE Church at this time was in a very calm and quiet State, freed from foreign Persecutions by the late Victory over Licinius, and rendered more peaceable within itself by the Synodical Determination lately made of the Arian controversy. And about this time Eusebius, probably, set himself to compose his Ecclesiastical History, as some few years since he had drawn up his Chronicon, a Work of infinite and incredible Labour and Industry, and which he took as much care to transmit entire to Posterity, as he had taken pains to compose it, obliging all Transcribers by this solemn Obtestation, 
Ext. in init. Chron.  the Form whereof he borrowed 
Vid. Eus. H. Eccl. l. 5. c. 20. p. 187.  from Iren●eus: Whoever thou art that shall transcribe this Book, I adjure thee by our Lord Jesus Christ, and by his glorious Coming, wherein he shall judge the quick and the dead, that thou compare what thou transcribest, and diligently correct it by the Copy from whence thou transcribest it, and that thou likewise transcribe this Adjuration, and annex it to thy Copy. A most prudent and Religious care, and no where more necessary than in Matters of Chronology, where the Mistake is as easy, as the Error is dangerous. And had but Posterity been as careful to observe this Charge, as he was to give it, we had not had such lame and broken accounts of those early Ages, as we are now forced to take up with, not much of the work itself, and less of the Original Greek arriving to us, and most of what remains so altered and interpolated by St. Jerom, that 'tis hard to say which is his, and which Eusebius's. The whole Work consisted of two Parts. The first called {αβγδ}, contained a kind of universal History, representing the Originals and Antiquities of all Nations, the Foundations of Cities, Transmigrations of People, Rise of Dynasties, Duration of Empires, Successions of Kings, and such like, from the Creation of the World, to the Vicennalia, or Twentieth year of the Reign of Constantine; traversing to this end all the Records and Monuments both of the Greeks and Romans, both of the Eastern and Western World, being especially beholden to Africanus his Chronography, which he almost entirely transcribed into this Work. But of this Part, only some Fragments are extant at this day. The other part is called {αβγδ}, wherein he drew what was in the former into a Compendium, reducing things to particular years, beginning from the year of Abraham's Birth, which he makes the standing Epoch, deriving it by decades throughout all Ages, comparing with, and adjusting to it, the Affairs of all Nations and Countries, with such memorable Passages as happened in all Ages of the World. After the Birth of our Lord, he regulates things by a triple Aera, the year of our Lord, the Reigns of the Roman Emperours, and the Series of the Consuls, and herein he represents the State of the Church, the Names and Successions of eminent Bishops and famous Writers, the several Heresies and Persecutions, and the like Affairs, all referred to their proper Periods; thereby laying the Scheme of a future Design, which in his Ecclesiastical History he enlarged afterwards, as himself tells 
H. Eccl. l. 1. c. 1. p. 4.  us. This History he divided into ten Books, wherein he accurately and orderly digested the Affairs of the whole Christian World for somewhat above CCC. years. A work noble and useful, and highly meriting of Posterity, upon the account whereof he is styled 
Gelas. Cyz. H. Conc. Nic l. 2. c. 1. col. 140.  {αβγδ}, the most excellent Cultivator of ecclesiastic History, as first breaking up the Ground, being as himself tells 
Ubi supr.  us, the first that beat out the Path, where he had no tract before him. He dedicated it to his old Friend Paulinus Bishop of Tyre, by whose Instigation and Encouragement he first set upon it, and who lived not long after the Council of Nice. To the same Paulinus he dedicated 
Vid. Praef. ad Paulin. in lib. de locis Hebr.  also two Books, {αβγδ}, the first containing a Chorography of Judea, the Division of the Twelve Tribes, the Description of Jerusalem and the Temple, and this is lost: The Second, an Alphabetical account of the Cities, Towns, Villages, Mountains and Rivers mentioned in Scripture, either under their ancient, or more modern Names, and this has escaped the Ruins of Time. In the interval between his Chronicon, and his ecclesiastic History, he seems to have penned his Books, de Praeparatione,& Demonstratione Evangelica, wherein with incomparable Learning and Industry, he has, out of their own Writings, so baffled the main Principles of the Pagan Cause; and so strongly asserted the Truth of Christianity against the pretences both of Jews and Gentiles, that the Christian World can never think itself sufficiently indebted to his Memory. The former Work consists of fifteen Books, which he dedicated to Theodotus Bishop of Laodicea, the latter of Twenty, extant entire in Photius 
Cod. IX. col. 12  his Time, now reduced to half the number. In both which he has shewed himself a man of diffuse and infinite Reading, and though there were nothing else in them, the World is greatly obliged to him for many Fragments of ancient Learning, which had otherwise never arrived to us. That they could not be written before this time( notwithstanding what Valesius supposes, that they were written about ten years sooner) is plain, because in them he cites, 
Praep. Evang. l. 10. c. 9. p. 484  and appeals to his Canones Chronici, as a Work already extant: Now these being brought down to the Twentieth year of Constantine, Anno CCCXXV. the other must be written at least some time after. Though I no way doubt, but the Licinian Persecution wherein the Gentiles carried themselves high, which ended not wholly, but with the death of that Prince( which happened towards the latter end of the foregoing year) gave birth and occasion to his undertaking of that Subject. And that they w re written before his Church-History is evident, because in it 
H. Eccles. l. 1. c. 2. p. 10.  he cites his {αβγδ}, his peculiar Commentaries, wherein he had collected all the Prophetical Passages and Predictions that concerned our blessed Saviour, and had thence demonstratively enforced the truth of all those things that related to him. Which can properly be applied to nothing but his Books of Evangelical D●monstration, which are little else but a Collection of the Passages of the ancient Prophets, and an Application of them to our Saviour.  
XV. THE Nicene Decrees, though they had a little allayed the present heats, yet the Spirit of the Arian Faction did still ferment, and broken out more openly in the Contentions between Eus●bius Bishop of Nicomedia, and Eustathius Bishop of Antioch, who mutually recriminated each other; though Sozomen 
L. 2. c. 18. p. 468.  says, that instead of him of Nicomedia, it was our Eusebius; but withall adds, that the Dispute between them lay only in words, they both agreeing that the Son had his Personal Hypostasis or Subsistence but that mistaking each others sense, they scuffled in the dark. But with the other Eusebius, Eustathius had a fiercer Contest. For Eusebius of Nicomedia being lately return'd from Banishment, 
Theod H. Ec. l. 1. c. 21. p. 51.  and having regained some Interest at Court, under a pretence of visiting the holy Places at Jerusalem, and especially the magnificent Structures which the Emperour was building there, was furnished by him with all Accommodations for his Journey; where taking Antioch in his way, he laid the Foundation of that Design which he carried on at his return thither. For having procured a Synod to be holden there, Eustathius was accused 
Socr. l. 1. c. 24 p. 59. Theod. ib.  by Cyrus Bishop of Beraea of Sabellianism, and to make the Indictment more heavy, some Immoralities were laid to his charge, a Woman of lewd famed being brought into the Synod with an Infant sucking in her Arms, which she impudently affirmed to be his, and when put to it, ratified it with her Oath. Whereupon the good man was deposed by the Council, and an account of it being transmitted to the Emperor, he was by his Order immediately banished into Illyricum. This kindled 
Eus. de vit. Const. l. 3. c. 50. p. 515. Socr.& Sozom. loc. cit.  a mighty flamme at Antioch, the City hereupon running into great Faction and Disorder, both Magistrates and People, Souldiers and tradesman, betaking themselves to Arms, and things had come to downright Blows and Blood, had not great care been used to prevent it. For besides the Emperours frequent dispatches from Court, by Persons of Honour and Authority to compose the Tumults, moderate men thought no expedient better to alloy the Disorders, than to choose some Person of Learning and Eminency to succeed in that Chair, in whom both Parties might meet and Center. Hereupon the Synod pitched upon our Eusebius, then present in the Council, a man of unquestionable Learning, and one whom they knew to be highly in favour with the Emperor, to whom they sent an account of their Election. But the fierce Animosities and Divisions still continued in the City, a great part both of the Clergy and People passionately contending for Eusebius his Translation thither, as others were importunate for Eusebius his Restitution to that Place. But Eusebius not caring to fish in troubled Waters, nor liking the See ever the better, out of which a Famous man had been so indirectly thrown, but especially beholding it as against the Rules and Constitutions of the Church, which ordinarily allowed not a Bishop to be translated from one See to another, and this ratified by a Canon 
Conc. Nic. Can. XV.  of the late Nicene Synod, obstinately declined the Election, whereof by Letter he certified the Emperor, who was infinitely pleased with his Prudence and Piety in that Affair. Upon his refusal, his dear Friend Paulinus of Tyre was translated thither. But he had not held it above six Months, when the See became again vacant by his Death. The Emperor upon the receipt of Eusebius his Letter, wrote 
Ext. Epist. ap. Eus. loc. cit. c. 60. p. 516.  back to the People of Antioch to this effect, That he very well knew the Person whom they had chosen, and recommended to him with such honourable Characters, and that he was one whom he had a long time had in great Veneration for his Learning and Modesty, and that in this Competition not many might be found equal to him: But yet that it was not fit that one Church should be provided for to the prejudice of another, that every one should be content with his own Bounds, and rest satisfied with their peculiar Allotments, that the Souls of men in a smaller as well as in a greater Church were equally dear to Heaven, and therefore should not have their Guide and Pastor ravished from them, an Act of greater Violence than Justice: That they should do well to unite in Love and Concord, and laying aside all seditious and immodest Clamours, prudently make choice of such a Person as might be most proper and convenient for them. To the same purpose he wrote 
Extat. ibid. c. 62. p. 519.  to the Bishops in the Synod, letting them know how much he approved Eusebius his prudent Resolution to wave the Election, as a thing highly consonant to the Laws of the Church; that he understood that Euphronius Presbyter of Caesarea in Cappadocia, and George the Arethusian Presbyter of Alexandria were men of approved Integrity in the Faith, whom together with such others as they should think fit for that Episcopal Station, they should set before them, and proceed in the Election as the rules of the Church, and Apostolical Tradition did require. Together with these, he wrote particularly to Eusebius himself, this following Letter. 
Ext. ubi supr. c. 61.   
CONSTANTINE the Great, the August, the conqueror to EUSEBIUS.  
I Have often red your Letter, and perceive how exactly you observe the Rule of ecclesiastic Discipline. For to persevere in those things that are both acceptable to God, and agreeable to Apostolical Tradition, is highly Pious; herein may you account yourself happy, that by the Testimony almost of all the World, you have been thought worthy to be Bishop of the whole Church. For since all have been ambitious to enjoy you, it unquestionably makes a great Addition to your Happiness. But your wisdom, whereby you have been taught to keep the Commands of God, and the Apostolical Canon of the Church, has done very well in refusing the charge of the Church of Antioch, and in desiring to continue in that Episcopal Station, wherein, by the Will of God, you were placed from the very first. But concerning this Affair I have written to the People, as also to your colleagues, who had written to me about this Matter. Which Letters, when your Holiness shall peruse, you will easily understand, that it being but just that I should deny their request, what I wrote to them about it, was by immediate guidance and direction from God. It will become your Wisdom to join in Consultation with them, that so this Affair of the Church of Antioch may be settled. God have you in his keeping, dear Brother.  
The Issue of the business was, that Eusebius remained where he was, and Euphronius was chosen to the See of Antioch, being one of the two whom the Emperor had nominated in his Letter to them.  
XVI. THUS ended the Troubles of Antioch, and the Synod there held Anno CCCXXX. A year memorable for the Dedication of Constantinople, 
Gallicano& Symmacho. His Coss. dedicata est Constantinopolis die V. Idus Maias. Idat. Fast. Consul. An. Aer. Hisp. CCCLXVIII.  whither Constantine having translated the Seat of the Empire, and enriched it with all the Ornaments of State and Grandeur, which the Power of so great a Prince was capable to confer upon it, solemnly dedicated it May the XIth. impressing his own name upon it, an Honour which of all the Fortunes of that mighty Empire, is the only surviving Monument of his Greatness at this day. Nor was he unmindful of Acts of Piety, Erecting several fair Churches and Oratories for the Assemblies of Divine Worship, and that they might not be unfurnish'd of Bibles for their holy Offices, he wrote to Eusebius( whom he knew most capable of this Affair, both for his Learning, and the incomparable Library at Caesarea) to provide him fifty Copies transcribed for that use. The Copy of the Letter 
Ext. ap. Eus. de vit. Const. l. 4. c. 36. p. 543 Socr. l. 1. c. 9. p. 36. Theod. l. 1 c. 16. p. 45.  we here insert.  
CONSTANTINE the Great, the August, the Conqueror to EUSEBIUS Bishop of Caesarea.  
IN the City that bears our name, by the Blessing and Providence of God our Saviour, there are great numbers of men gathered to the holy Church. Since then all things there are mightily improved, it seems above all things convenient, that several Churches should be erected there. Understand therefore what I am most readily resolved to do. It seemed good to me to intimate to your Wisdom, that you cause fifty Copies of the holy Scriptures, the use whereof you know to be absolutely necessary to the Church, to be fairly transcribed in Parchment by Antiquaries accurately dext●rous in that Art, such as may be easily red, and carried up and down upon any occasion. To this end we have graciously written to the Treasurer of the diocese, to take care that all necessary charges be allowed for the providing those Books. Your part it is, diligently to see that they be prepared with all speed that may be; for the transmitting whereof, you shall by virtue of these Letters, receive the command of two public Carriages, that so the Copies fairly transcribed, may be the more conveniently brought to our presence, attended by one of the Deacons of your Church, who at his arrival, shall not fail to taste of our Grace and Kindness. God preserve you, dear Brother.  
No sooner had Eusebius received the Commands, but he immediately caused 
Eus. ib. c. 37. p. 544.  the Books to be copied out, which in Parcels richly and elegantly Bound, he transmitted to the Emperor; who in his answer signified his Approbation of them; as also, how well he was pleased with what he had been  told, that Gaza a Town in Palestine had renounced Idolatry, and embraced the true Religion: For which he endowed it with great privileges, advancing it to the Honour of a City, and gracing it with the Title of Constantia, the name of his own Sister. Together with this Letter concerning the Bibles, he sent also an answer to Eusebius, about his Book concerning the Paschal Solemnity, which he had lately dedicated to him, wherein he had explained the Original, and all the Mysteries of the Festival: In which answer 
Ext. Epist. ap. Eus. ubi supr. c. 35 p. 543.  he tells him, how diligently he red his Book, how greatly he admired his excellent Learning, and indefatigable Studies, and how desirous he was, frequently to receive such Discourses from him, that he was resolved by publishing his Book, to make it universally useful, and that in order thereunto, he had caused it to be elegantly translated into the Latin Tongue.  
XVII. THE Arian Party by subtle Artifices and Insinuations at Court, daily gain ground of the Orthodox, whom they laboured by all ways possible to suppress. The main Stickler in defence of the Nicene Creed was Athanasius, whom not being able to rout by force of Argument, they loaded with all the black and infamous Calumnies, which Wit or Malice could invent, and these represented with all Advantages to the Emperor. Who incensed hereat, commanded 
Sozom. l. 2. c. 25. p. 479. Theod. l. 1. c. 28 p. 61.  a Synod to be convened at Caesarea in palestine, Eusebius his Episcopal See, where after a tedious Expectation nothing was done, the party accused refusing to appear. Which the Emperor so far resented, that some time after, Anno CCCXXXV. he commanded another Synod to be held at Tyre, empowering our Eusebius and some others to inquire into the Merits of the Cause, charging Athanasius under severe Penalties to appear. Who came 
Epiph. Haeres. LXVIII. p. 309.  accordingly, attended with several Egyptian Bishops, his Suffragans, who appeared in his behalf. Amongst which was Potamo Bishop of Heraclea, who had been Eusebius his Fellow-prisoner under the Diocletian Persecution: A man of a blunt and rugged Temper, who beholding Eusebius upon the Bench, transported with an ungovernable Zeal, rudely accosted him in this manner. And must you, Eusebius, sit upon the Bench, whilst innocent Athanasius stands to be judged by you at the Bar? Who can endure such Proceedings? Tell me, were not you in Prison with me in the time of the Persecution? I for my part lost an Eye in defence of the Truth; you have neither Wounds to show in any part of your Body, neither suffered any kind of Martyrdom, but are alive and whole. How got you out of Prison, unless you either engaged to the Persecutors to offer Sacrifice, or it may be actually did it. The improbability of which uncharitable Suggestion we shew'd before. Eusebius offended with so insolent a Reflection, and thinking such carriages ill beseeming Persons accused towards the Emperor's Commissioners, rose up and dissolved the Meeting for that time, saying, If when you are come hither, you take the Liberty to talk at this rate against us, the things may be true which your Accusers lay to your Charge: For if you exercise so much Tyranny here, what will you do in your own Country?  
XVIII. WHILE things were thus debating at Tyre, the Bishops were summoned by the Emperor's Letters, to go forthwith to Jerusalem, to celebrate the Dedication of that famous Church which he had erected there. For Constantine had some time since, by a Letter 
Ext. Epist. ap. Eus. de vit. Const. l. 3. c. 39. p. 499.  directed to Macarius Bishop of Jerusalem, given order for the building a most stately Church, over the Place of our Lord's Resurrection, or as others, the Place of his Passion; or as some, one in each, commanding that it should be done with all the Advantages of splendour and Greatness, and that neither Cost nor Pains should be spared about it. And the Work was done accordingly, the Porch before it large and open, paid with shining ston, and encompassed on three sides with large Portico's, the Church itself large and high, the Walls on the out-side of polished ston, on the in-side set with variegated Marble, the Roof adorned with the choicest carved Work, all overlay'd with Gold, at the upper end a Semicircle, surrounded with twelve Columns, after the number of the Twelve Apostles, the tops whereof were crowned with Chapiters of Silver. But I shall not undertake to describe Particulars, it may suffice, that it wanted nothing of Ornament or Magnificence which Art or Cost could confer upon it; not to mention the Princely Gifts, especially the rich Carpet and Hangings for the Altar, curiously wrought with Gold and Jewels, and suchlike noble Presents, which he bestowed upon it. Hither came 
Eus. ib. l. 4. c. 43. p. 548. Soz. l. 2. c. 26. p. 483. Theod. l. 1. c. 31. p. 65.  the Bishops from Tyre, where they were met by multitudes from other Provinces, who flocked to this Solemnity, and were receive d with great State by Persons of Honour and Quality sent from Court to entertain them at the Emperor's cost; the chief of whom was Marianus the Emperor's Secretary, a Pious and Religious man, who having been a Confessor in the late Times, was the fittest to be employed upon this Errand. The Solemnity was managed with all imaginable Expressions of Festivity and rejoicing, magnificent Feasts and Entertainments, mighty Charity to the Poor, but especially Acts of great Piety towards God, the Bishops employing themselves in the Offices of Religion, in Prayers and Sermons, some celebrating the Emperor's Piety towards our Saviour, and the magnificence of the Structure; others discoursing upon some divine Subject, accommodated to the present Occasion. Some expounding the Portion appointed to be red out of the holy Scriptures, explaining the mystical and hidden sense; others not so well qualified for that, being taken up in the Celebration of the Eucharist, and in Prayers and Praises, interceding with God for the common Peace, for the good of the Church, for the Emperor and his happy Issue. But herein none bore a greater Part than our Eusebius, honouring the Solemnity with several public Discourses, sometimes by writing, setting forth the greatness of the royal edisice; other whiles representing the prophetic Scriptures, and adapting them to the present State of things; and after all, drawing up a particular Description of this famous Church, the fashion of our Saviour's Sepulchre, the beauty and elegancy of the Building, the several Gifts wrought with Gold, Silver, and precious Stones; in a Book on purpose of this Subject, which he dedicated to the Emperor, and annexed to his Books, De vita Constantini; but 'tis long since lost.  
XIX. DURING the Celebration of this great Solemnity, Athanasius had made his 
Theod. loc. cit.  Address at Court, complaining of the unjust Proceedings against him in the late Council of Tyre; whereupon the Emperor summoned some of those Bishops to Court, to give an account of the Transactions of that Synod. Who came accordingly to Constantinople, and our Eusebius amongst the rest; and it being now near the Thirtieth year of Constantine's reign, he solemnized his Tricennalia; at that time Eusebius made that famous encomiastic 
Eus. ib. c. 46. p. 550.  in praise of Constantine yet extant, which the Emperor honoured with his Presence; and how well he liked it, he shew'd by the cheerfulness of his looks, and those peculiar Honours and Entertainments wherewith he treated the Bishops at the end of it. This being, as he tells us, the second Oration, which he had made before the Emperor in his Palace; the former 
Ibid. c. 33. p. 542.  having been a panegyric upon our Saviour's Sepulchre, which the pious Emperor, though in his own House, heard standing, although Eusebius importuned him to take his Chair. And when fearing to tyre him with the length of his Discourse, he offered in civility to break off, the Emperor bad him to proceed unto the End, at which he again pressed him to sit down, but the Emperor refused, saying, 'twas not fit at any time, much less at this, to hear Discourses concerning God in postures of ease and softness, and that it was very Pious to stand while we were hearing Discourses about Divine things. Amongst others that absented themselves both from the Synod at Tyre, and the dedicatory Solemnity at Jerusalem, was Marcellus Bishop of Ancyra the Metropolis of Galatia, who became the Author of some disturbance in the Church upon this occasion. Asterius a Sophister of Cappadocia had lately published some Books in Syria, in defence of the Arian Tenets; which Marc●llus reading, undertook to answer, wherein either designedly, or by surprise, he fell into another extreme, running into the Opinion of Paulus Samosatenus, that our blessed Saviour was but a mere man, that he took his 
Vid. Eus. l. 1. cont. marcel. c. 1. p. 6. l. 2. c. 1. p. 32.& alib. passim.  existence from the time of his Incarnation, before which he had no proper Hypostasis, but lay quiescent in the Mind and Will of the Father, as a Word does in man, till actual speaking brings it forth, and that at last his Kingdom should cease, and his human Nature being put off, he should be again resolved into the existence of the Father; together with suchlike gross and impious Assertions, stuffing his Book with tart Reflections, 
Euseb. contr. marcel. l. 1. p. 2.  bitter and severe Invectives against those that differed from him, sparing neither living nor dead, heaping loads of Calumnies and Reproaches upon them. This Book he had presented, with a great many flattering Addresses, and Insinuations to the Emperor, hoping he would espouse and undertake his Cause, but the Emperor referred the Examination and Determination of the Matter to the Bishops now assembled in Synod 
Sozom. l. 2. c. 33. p. 494. Euseb. ib. l. 2. p. 55. Niceph. H. Eccl. l. 8. c. 53. p. 662. Socr. l. 1. c. 36. p. 71.  at Constantinople, the Process was begun against him in the Council at Jerusalem, during which he had engaged he would burn his Book. But that Assembly being suddenly broken up by the hasty Message they received from the Emperor, the business for that time was laid aside. But being now at better leisure, they resumed the Process, and finding the man would not comply with his former promise, they proceeded to his censure, and deposed him from his bishopric, substituting one Basil a learned and eloquent Person in his room, and wrote to the Churches in those Parts to hunt out his Book, and burn it wherever they found it, and to recover those who had been infected with it; annexing to their Epistle some Extracts out of it, containing those Pestilent Dogmata that were in it. Which done, they commanded 
Euseb. loc. citat.  our Eusebius to undertake the Confutation of it, which he accordingly performed in five Books; the two first expressly written against Marcellus, wherein he exposes his Opinions out of his own Writings, with some brief Reflections upon them: In the other three entitled, de Ecclesiastica Theologia, dedicated to Flaccillus Bishop of Antioch, he sets himself to a more strict and accurate Refutation of them, and in both plainly evinces him to have been guilty of Sabellianism and the Samosatenian Errors. As for Marcellus himself he made a shift a long time to bear up his Reputation by his adhering to the Orthodox, sheltering himself especially under the wing of Athanasius, who pleaded strongly for him at every turn, and recommended his Cause at Rome, whither he fled, and was entertained by Pope Julius, where he published an Apology for himself, and finally was acquitted, and restored to his See by the Synod at Sardica, who declared 
Vid. Epist. Synod. Sard. ap. Theod. l. 2. c. 7. p. 78.  that what he had written had been propounded only by way of Question, not delivered as positive and dogmatical Assertions; that he did not maintain( what was charged upon him) that God the Word, took his beginning from his Incarnation, nor that his Kingdom should have an end; but on the contrary he affirmed, that his Kingdom neither had a beginning, nor should ever have an end. And yet after all he proved a subtle heretic, and was condemned and rejected not only by S. Basil 
Epist. LII. p. 80. , but by Athanasius himself. 
Sev. Sulp. l. 2. p. 149, 150.  And Epiphanius tells 
Haeres. LXXII. p. 357.  us, that when himself once asked Athanasius, what he thought of him, as he did not passionately exclaim against him, so neither would he acquit him, only smiling at the mention of him. And evident it is, that Epiphanius himself thought him guilty of very Heretical Notions and Propositions, and that the very Apologies which he was forced to make for himself, shew'd that there lay something at the bottom.  
XX. IT was now the year CCCXXXVII. when the Great Constantine left the World: His Distemper at first, was only a light Indisposition, 
Eus. de vit. Const. l. 4. c. 61. p. 557. &c.  which soon grew up into an incurable Sickness, for which cause he was first carried to the Baths, thence removed to Helenople, and so to Achyrona, a place within the Suburbs of Nicomedia, where he immediately caused himself to be baptized; and being, as the custom in such Cases was, clothed in White, he would thenceforth suffer no Purple to come near him. Having made his Will, and disposed the Affairs of the Empire, with a mind infinitely satisfied in what he had done, and impatiently desirous of that State whither he was going; he expired in his Palace at Nicomedia May the XXII. about Noon, being the last day of the Pentecost Solemnity, after he had reigned thirty years and ten months. His Death was ushered 
A. Vict. edit. Schott. c. 41. p. 318.  in by a blazing Star, and exceedingly lamented by the Souldiers and Officers of the Army, by all the Ministers of State, and universally by all the Subjects of the Empire, the Senate and People of Rome shutting up their Baths, and the Fora, prohibiting all public Spectacles and delightful Entertainments, and dedicating Statues to him; and all the while his Body lay in State at Nicomedia, all the great Officers at Court, the Senators and Magistrates of the City daily came and paid the same Reverence and obeisance to him, which they were wont to do while he was alive. Constantius being arrived, the Corps was with all the Pomp and Solemnity that was befiting the Funerals of so great a Prince, translated from Nicomedia to Constantinople, and there with universal Sorrow, interred in the Vestibulum of the great Church, which he himself had erected and dedicated to the holy Apostles. A Prince of a generous Mind, and undaunted Courage, and an indefatigable Industry, whereto he was greatly animated by an unsatisfied desire of Praise, especially military Glory. Admirable Laws he framed for the common Good, which he Impartially executed. The Embassies and Complaints from the Provinces he heard patiently, and did them Justice. He was powerful and prosperous, a great Patron of Learning in others, and himself very learned and studious; and which is above all, devout and pious, having from his first Conversion to Christianity, expressed a mighty Zeal and Passion for the Honour of God, and the Interests of Religion. Zosimus a Pagan Writer asperses his Memory, with a very odious, but withall unjust Representation of the Reason of his turning Christian. He tells us, 
Hist. lib. 2. p. 685.  that being haunted with the Conscience of his notorious Crimes in the Death of his Son Crispus, and his Lady Fausta, and his persidious dealing with Licinius, he applied himself to the gentle Priests for Purgation and Absolution, who  told him, their Religion allowed no methods of Expiation for such great Offences; that hereupon he was brought into acquaintance with an Egyptian newly arrived from Spain, who assured him that the Christian Religion was able to do away any Crimes whatsoever, and that no sooner did the most profligate Wretch close with it, but he should be immediately delivered from the Guilt of all his Sins; upon which assurance he renounced the Religion of his Ancestors, and went over to the Christians. This is the Tale as  told by my Author. But besides the known Spite and Malice of the man in Matters relating to Christianity, there needs no more to confute the Story, than that the account is inconsistent with itself, it being plain beyond all denial, that Constantine had embraced the Christian Religion no less than ten or eleven years before those unhappy accidents of the Death of Crispus and Fausta fell out, which this Author makes the immediate occasion of his Conversion to it. Another gentle Historian 
Aur. Vict. Schott. c. 40. p. 312.  is more favourable to his Memory, he commends him for his Learning, Eloquence, and Courteousness, and the rest of those virtues, for which he was celebrated and cried up to the skies; and affirms, that had he but put some bounds to his Bounty and Ambition, and those Arts wherewith great Minds are usually carried away in an over eager pursuit of Glory, he had come nearer to a God than a man. He was modest and humble, and notwithstanding some acts of Severity and perhaps Cruelty, which the reasons and necessities of State might put him upon, and whereof we at this distance can make no true judgement, tender and compassionate, of a courteous and obliging Temper, kind to all, and charitable to the Poor, large and even profuse in his Gifts, magnificent in his expenses, which made him sometimes grace hard upon the Subject in Taxes and Tributes, but especially bountiful to Admiration to the Bishops and Guides of Religion, to whom he thought he could never enough express an honourable Regard, tender of the State of the Empire, but most incomparably solicitous of the Peace of the Church. But it is not for me to attempt his Character, the thing is done by a much better Hand, one who knew him best, and was most familiarly Conversant with him, I mean our Eusebius, who not long after his Death drew up an account of his Life and Actions, not in the way of a strict History, but more like an Orator and Encomiast, not designing( as himself assures 
De vit. Const. l. 1. c. 11. p. 411 412.  us) to fill up all the Particularities of his Life, but to draw the more considerable Lineaments and Proportions, in some of the greater lines and stroke of his Piety and virtue, which was all he propounded to himself in that Work. Which may serve as an Answer to the great Exception which Photius 
Cod. CXXVII. col. 308.  makes against it, that in it he gives no larger an account concerning the Affairs of Arius, and the Transactions of the Council of Nice, his design being more immediately restrained to the personal Affairs of Constantine; and that too in an encomiastic, rather than in a strict Historical way, which Socrates 
〈…〉.  assigns as the Reason of this Omission. This he has done in four Books, or, as in Robert Stephens his Edition they are reckoned, five, which a learned man 
〈…〉 ●nnot. 〈…〉 1. de 〈…〉 p. 199.  wonders whence he derived. But plain it is, that long before him Nicephorus 
〈…〉 Eccl. l. 6. c. 31. p. 436.  had expressly mentioned five Books, under the last no doubt comprehending his Description of the Church of our Saviour's Sepulchre, or it may be Constantine's Oration, ad Coetum Sanctorum, both which Eusebius himself had annexed as an Appendix to them; for that he could not mean his Oration de laudibus Constantini, is evident, in that immediately after he reckons it as distinct from it. This work he tells us 
Ubi supr. c. 10 p. 410, 411.  he undertook as a piece of gratitude to his great Master, thinking it very shameful and indecent, that when Nero's and Caligula's had found those who clothed their bad Actions in large and elegant Relations, he should be silent in the Cause of so good and incomparable a Prince, who had had the Honour to stand before him, and familiarly to converse with him. And for this reason perhaps he uses somewhat a more neat and florid style, than in his other Writings. Which hath given occasion to some to call in question the genuineness of the Book itself. But 'tis a wonder to me, any learned man should doubt of it; when not to insist upon other Arguments, and the unanimous Authority of the Ancients; Eusebius 
L. 2. c. 45, 46. p. 464 l 4. c. 33 34, 35. p. 542, 543.  himself does more than once and again expressly own himself to be the Author of it.  
XXI. NOR did Eusebius himself long survive his great Patron, dying 
Socr. l. 2. c. 4,& 5. p. 83.  Anno CCCXL. a little before the Death of the younger Constantine: Succeeded in his See by Acacius one of his scholars, a man of considerable learning, who amongst many other Books wrote the Life of his Master Eusebius, which had it been extant, would have enabled us to present his Affairs with a better Face, without being so much beholden to the Pens of those who had no great kindness for him. He was a man sober and serious, of a very strict and philosophic course of Life, infinitely zealous for the Honour and Interest of the Christian Religion, which he readily defended against all Opposers. His Parts were great, and his Learning incomparable, for which the Age he lived in, and all Ages ever since have risen up before him with a just Veneration. So uncontrollable his Reputation herein, even in those early Times, that when Sabinus the Macedonian Bishop( who collected the Acts of several Synods) charged the Fathers of the Nicene Council, for a Company of rude and illiterate Persons, Socrates 
L. 1. c. 8. p. 22. c. 9. p. 31.  thought it Exception enough to that slander, to say, that he involved Eusebius in that Charge, whose Learning was above all Exception. Nay one of his greatest Adversaries 
Antip. Bostr. l. 1. adv. Euseb. Apol. pro Orig. in Synod. Nic. II. Act. V. Col. 368. council. Tom. VII.  is forced to give him this Testimony, that he was a man of singular Learning, one that had run through and searched into all the Books and Writings of the Ancients, and laid open their several Sentiments and Opinions; Evidences whereof he tells us, are those many excellent Writings which he left behind him for the benefit of Posterity. He wrote says S. Jerom, 
De Script. in Euseb.  infinite volumes, many whereof are long since lost, and some, the notice whereof never arrived at us. His Books against Porphyry( not now extant) and of the Preparation and Demonstration of the Gospel, show how great a Defender he was of the Christian Cause, and how able to baffle both Jew and gentle at their own Weapon. Nor was he less versed in the Antiquities of the Church, and the Acts and Sufferings of the Martyrs, the memoirs whereof he drew together, wherein he was furnished with an incomparable Advantage, if it be true, what S. Jerom, or the Author under his name probably enough reports, 
Epist. ad Chrom.& Heliod. praef. Martyrol. sub nomine Hieron. vid. Antip. Bostr. loc. citat.  that when Constantine the Great came to Caesarea, and bad Eusebius ask whatever might be advantageous and beneficial to his Church, he  told the Emperor, his Church was well enough endowed already, but that there was one thing which he most passionately desired, that the Proceedings of the Judges and Governours successively against the Martyrs and Confessors through all Parts of the Roman Empire might be diligently sought out, and the Records and Monuments searched, and that what Martyrs suffered under such Judges, in what City or Province, upon what day, and by what kind of Martyrdom, all these notices being extracted out of the public Archives and Registers, might by His Majesties Order be transmitted to him. Which was done accordingly, and out of these Materials he principally compiled his ecclesiastic History, and made up that {αβγδ} he so often mentions, the Collection of ancient Martyrdoms, which the Acts of S. Silvester assure 
Vita S. Silv. Graec.& Lat. à Comb●f. Edit. in Prin. p. 258.  us, consisted of eleven Books, wherein he described the Sufferings which Persons of all sorts underwent in all the Parts and Provinces of the World. A vast Work, and which is said 
Fr. Bivar. Comment. in Dextr. Chron. ad Ann. 308. p. 359. ( how truly I know not) to be still extant in the King's Library at the Escurial in Spain. His style in all his Writings,( as Photius 
Cod. XIII. col. 12.& Cod. CXXVII. col. 208.  observes) is neither pure nor pleasant, neither elegant nor perspicuous, though in his Books de vita Constantini, more neat and florid than the rest. And this roughness of Phrase Theodore Metochita 
Miscellan. MS. ap. Vales. ubi supra.  supposes he contracted by living a good while in Egypt, affirming that all who were educated there, were infected with such a harsh and rugged Style.  
XXII. BUT that which has raised a loud outcry against his Name and Memory, is his siding with the Arians in their Councils against the catholics, and his at best doubtful and ambiguous Expressions in those controverted Doctrines, upon which account S. Jerom 
Ad Pamm.& Ocean. p. 189 Tom. 2. Apol. adv. ruffian. p. 199. Apol. l. 2. ib. p 219.  at every turn makes no scruple to style him the Head, the Champion, the Standard-bearer of the Party. And the Charge is generally taken for granted, and in most Cases 'tis put in as a bar to his Authority; and a late learned man 
Hotting. H. Eccl. c. 4. p. 166  to help on the Matter, makes the Eusebian Faction to have been denominated and derived from him, when 'tis notoriously evident they were so called from the other Eusebius, Bishop of Nicomedia. It must be confessed, he maintained a great Correspondence with the Chief of the Arian Party. His frequent attendance at Court, and in all Ecclesiastical Assemblies, engaging him in their Society, whose Principles it's like he did not believe to be so bad, as others apprehended them; and plain it is, by his Letter to the Bishop of Alexandria, that Arius by shifting and dressing up his Notions, and by other Arts of Dissimulation, had imposed upon him. Nor, can it be denied, but that there are many unwary and dangerous Expressions to be found in his Writings: And what wonder, if one that had so long conversed with the several Books and Principles of Philosophers, especially the Writings of the Platonists, that had so thoroughly canvased the Books of Origen, should express himself in such sublime and intricate Questions, in a way somewhat different from others of that Age, especially while as yet the Church had made no explicit Determination in those Points, considering withall, how loosely and uncautiously many other Ante-Nicene Fathers, as well as he, express themselves in these Matters? But not to rest in a general Apology, let us consider a little, what Materials he himself can furnish out to one that would undertake his Plea. And whoever impartially considers the Case, will find enough, I doubt not, in his own Writings, those especially of his latter time, to vindicate him from the Charge of downright Arianism, to be sure extremely to mitigate the severity of the Censures that are passed upon him. Amongst many, a few Instances shall suffice; can we suppose him an Arian, that confesses 
H. Eccl. l. 1. c. 2. p. 5.  the Dignity, the Nature and Essence of the Son of God to be ineffable, that he was a Light before the World was; the intellectual and essential Wisdom that was before all Ages; the living Word that was with the Father in the beginning, and was God? That not only Styles 
Ib. l. 10. c. 4. p. 375.  him {αβγδ} the natural Son of that God that is over all, but {αβγδ} God of himself( then which nothing could be said more expressly to assert his self-subsisting independent Deity, it being a Word, which I am sure no Arian in the World can use;) and a little after, 
Ib. p. 376.  {αβγδ}, the Word that is universal King and governor, and of himself God. And elsewhere, 
De Laud. Const. c. 12. p. 639. vid. de Eccl. Theol. l. 1. c. 10. p. 69.  the perfect Word, the only begotten of the Father, not consisting like other Words in the Power of Prolation, not compounded of Names, Words and Syllables, nor expressed by articulate Sounds, but the living and operative Word of the great God, {αβγδ}, personally subsisting, which as being the Power and Wisdom of God, proceeds out of his Father's Godhead and Dominion. He tells 
De. Eccl. Theol. l. 1. c. 2. p. 61.  us it is the Doctrine of the Church, to aclowledge but one God, the Father of the only begotten Son, and Jesus Christ that only Son, not according to carnal Generation, but according to that( incomprehensible to us) which he had of the Father before all Worlds, by which he receives the fullness of the Father's Godhead; that the true catholic Church owns 
Id. ib. c. 3. p. 62  but one God, and one only begotten Son, and him God of God, begotten of his Father 
Ib. c. 8. p. 66.  before all Worlds; being indeed not the same with the Father {αβγδ}, but subsisting and living of himself, and truly co-existing with the Father, God of God, Light of Light, and Life of Life, begotten of the Father in a manner ineffable, and altogether unconceivable by human understanding, that he is {αβγδ}, Life, Wisdom, and Reason itself, all which he immediately communicates to created Beings: That 
De laud. Const. c. 12. p. 640, 641.  the Son is of one and the same Substance, as proceeding from one and the same Father; that the divine Nature is simplo, indivisible, and uncompounded, without Parts, not otherwise capable of being God. Therefore he makes 
Contr. marcel. l. 1. p. 29.  it great Blasphemy in Marcellus, to make God the Word differ in Power and Essence from the Father; and expressly affirms, 
De laud. Const. c. 2. p. 607.  that the only begotten Word of God does {αβγδ}, Reign together with the Father from Ages, without beginning unto infinite and eternal Ages. If he at any time affirm the Father to be the only true God, he never does it to exclude the Son, but as the word God does primarily refer to the Father as the Fountain and Principium of the Deity, never understanding it( as he tells 
Ubi supr. p. 27.  Marcellus, who objected this very thing) in any other sense, than wherein our Saviour meant it, when he said, thee, the only true God. If he style 
H. Eccl. l. 1. c. 2. p. 5. l. 10. c. 4. p. 373.  him( as sometimes he does) {αβγδ} a secondary Cause, 'tis plain he means it of the {αβγδ} of the Son, either as he co-operates with and serves his Father's Will in the Work of Creation, or of his procuring great Blessings to Mankind, as Mediator, and the Saviour of the World, in which respects the ancient Fathers made no scruple of styling him {αβγδ} and {αβγδ} a Servant and Minister, before the Arian Controversies disturbed the Church: Nay in that very place where he calls him a second Cause; he yet adds, that he is the natural and only begotten Son of God; the Lord, God, and King of all created Beings, who together with the Godhead, the Power and Honour, received Empire and Dominion from the Father. When he asserts 
De Eccl. Theol. l. 1. c. 20. p. 90.  that he is not {αβγδ}, one and the same with God, he means, that he has not the same Hypostasis with the Father, in opposition to Marcellus, who maintained that impious Error; otherwise, that he did subsist, and had {αβγδ}, his proper and peculiar Life; that 
Ib. c. 11. p. 70.  there is {αβγδ}, one Head and Principle of the Deity, which is God the Father, who has a proper, unbegotten, imprincipiate Deity, and Fountain of Monarchical Power, which he imparts and communicates to the Son, {αβγδ}, making him to partake of his Divinity and Life, and this still as he is the Principium and Fountain of the Godhead: In which sense he afterwards declares 
Ibid. l. 2. c. 6. p. 108.  the Son to be {αβγδ}, neither without beginning, nor unbegotten, lest the Church should make two several Principium's, and two Gods. He tells us, 
Ibid. l. 3. c. 4. p. 169. {αβγδ}.—  that the Son was always present, and intimately Conversant with the Father, and that when he came into the World to prosecute the Salvation of Mankind, he came forth of the most inward and unapproachable recesses of the paternal Divinity and Power; and that the same was true concerning the holy Spirit, which yet was {αβγδ}, another subsistence from the Son. His design in that place, being to show that there are three Hypostases in the Trinity, against the Doctrine of Marcellus, who taught that Father Son and holy Ghost, were but three Names of one and the same Hypostasis. It must be confessed, that a little after he dangerously affirms 
Ib. c. 6. p. 175.  the Spirit to be {αβγδ}, one of the things that were made by the Son; unless we understand him concerning the temporal Mission of the holy Ghost, whom Christ promised to bestow upon the World. How oft does he expressly deny those Propositions, that the Son was made of things not existent, and that there was a time when he was not, therein subverting some of the chief Arian Dogmata, condemned in terminis in the Nicene Creed, and by which Athanasius 
De decret. Syn. Nic. p. 402. de Syn. Arim.& Seleuc. p. 679.  himself confesses, though he purged himself, he condemned them. Add to all which, his Subscribing the Nicene Creed, wherein the Arian Doctrines were condemned with all imaginable care and accuracy. And though it be uncharitably suggested by many, that he did this with a fraudulent and deceitful Mind, understanding the Terms in his own sense, yet nothing can be plainer, than that he freely and solemnly protests in his Letter to the People of Caesarea, that he took them in that very sense and Explication of them, which the Fathers of that Council had themselves fixed upon them. Nor did he subscribe rashly, and hand over head, but with mature deliberation, and after a most strict Examination of every word, and a being fully satisfied in the sense of every Article, as in that Letter is declared at large. And though he seldom or never uses the word {αβγδ}, for which he had no fancy, as being an unscriptural Term; yet the thing itself he fully owns, that the Son has the same Essence and Substance with the Father, as we have before observed more than once, that 
De Eccl. Theol. l. 2. c. 14. p. 121.  he is his only begotten Son, his Image, proceeding of him, {αβγδ}, altogether and in all things most like to him that begot him, yea of himself God: And that 
Ibid. l. 1. c. 9. p. 66.  therefore they are justly to be condemned, that dare to call him a Creature, or affirm that he proceeds out of a state of Non-existence after the manner of created Beings. All which considered, makes me the more wonder at what Athanasius tells 
De Synod. Arim. p. 683.  us our Eusebius expressly affirmed in a Letter to Euphration, that Christ is not true God. Pitty it is, that the Epistle itself is not now extant, that we might have viewed his genuine sense. Sure I am, the Proposition, as 'tis represented by Athanasius, is plainly contrary to, and inconsistent with the most mature and deliberate Declarations of his mind in all his Writings extant at this day. All that can be guessed at this distance is, what arises from the Acts of the second Nicene Council( where this 
Act. VI. Conc. T. 7. col. 497.  and another short Passage is cited out of that Letter) that the Son is inferior to the Father, for which he quotes those words of our Saviour, my Father that sent me is greater than I. Which whether he understood of Christ's mediatory Capacity, or extended also to his filial Relation, and that too in respect of Essence and Power, is not sufficiently plain from that place. And then for the other Expression, that the Son himself is God indeed, but not the true God, 'tis barely repeated; though we may rationally suppose, he directly referred in it to that saying of Christ, That they may know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent. And himself abundantly clears this matter, when he tells us, 
Lib. 1. adv. marcel. p. 27.  that Marcellus charged him with holding, not that there was only one God, but that there was only one true God; as if he allowed other Gods that were not truly and properly so. But he denies the Charge, that ever he affirmed the Father to be the only true God, and appeals to his own words; and assures us, he had only quoted that forementioned Text. And he complains 
Ibid. p. 29.  of the same Person, that he accused him of holding Christ to be a mere man, for no other cause, than that in one of his Letters he had made use of that place of the Apostle; There is one God, and one Mediator between God and Man, the Man Christ Jesus.  
XXIII. NOR wanted there some, even in those times when the loudest Clamours were made against him, that stood up in his defence. Not to mention others, who because of their Inclination to Arianism, may be less credited in their Testimony; Socrates 
H. Eccl. l. 2. c. 21. p. 103.  in a set Discourse by particular passages out of his Writings,( besides what we have already alleged) proves him not to have been guilty of the Arian Notions, affirming that it cannot be proved out of his Books, that he ascribes beginning of Essence to the Son of God, though he frequently uses words relating to his economy or Dispensation. Thus Gelasius Bishop of Cyzicum, positively acquits 
Hist. Conc. Nic. l. 2. c. ●. col. 140.  him of this Charge, and affirms, that if he said or wrote any thing, that in the least borders upon Arianism, he did it not with a bad intent, but merely through heedlessness and Incircumspection, and that Eusebius himself made good all this in an apologetic Discourse, which he published and directed to all the Orthodox Bishops of the Church. As for the second Council of Nice, that lays the Charge so home and downright upon him, it's the less to be wond'red at, when 'tis remembered, that the great business of that Council being to establish the Worship of Images, and being pressed by their Adversaries, with the Authority of E s●bius his Letter to the Empress Constantia, so full against it, they knew no better way to decline the blow, than by directly charging him to have been an Arian,( though had he been so, it had in that Case made nothing against his Testimony) producing only some few Fragments to that purpose, and those out of Letters written before the Determinations of the Council of Nice. In the Western Church he fared better, scarce any of them( S. Jerom excepted, whose Zeal and Passion in this, as in many other Cases, oversway'd his judgement) speaking of him without great Honour and Reverence: Insomuch that he was taken into their Calendars and Martyrologies, and the highest Eulogies 
Vid. loca cit. apud Vales. inter Testimonia Vett.  and Commendations heaped upon him, honoured with the title of Saint, and a most blessed Priest of holy Memory. And in their Missals and Breviaries had particular Lessons, and divine Offices appointed for the Celebration of his Memory. I cannot but commend the Moderation of Pope Pelagius the Second, 
Epist. III. ad Episc. Istr. c. 21. conc. T. 5. col. 639.  who speaking concerning the Case of Origen, says, that good men may sometimes commend them that are bad; and amongst others Instances in our Eusebius, who had written an Apology in behalf of Origen: Amongst heretics, says he, who worse than Origen? And amongst Historians, who more honourable than Eusebius? In this Case, he tells us, the Church rather expounds the Opinion of its faithful Servants into a favourable sense, than nicely weighs and wracks their words; such a defence as it does not acquit the Innocent, so neither does it make the other Guilty. Amongst the Writers of this latter Age, none have fallen upon him with greater severity than Baronius, who when he has so often plentifully treated his Readers at his cost, falls upon him with the fierceness of an Enemy, hooking in all Occasions to bespatter and reproach him, whether with greater rudeness or ingratitude, 'tis hard to say. And the Case had been the more pardonable, had it been pure Zeal for the Truth, that had engaged him in those smart Invectives. But I'm afraid 'twas something else made him so irreconcilably angry with Eusebius, I mean his affirming Constantine the Great to have been baptized at Nicomedia a little before his Death, thereby robbing the Church of Rome of the Honour of it, and what's worse, of those great Gifts and extraordinary privileges and Immunities said by him to have been, at the time of his Baptism, conferred upon that Church. 'twas this 
Vid. Baron. ad Ann. 324. Num. XLIII.& Seqq.  so much provoked the Cardinals choler, for this he pelts him with hard Names, calls him Arian, Cheat, and Impostor, affirming, that he feigned this in favour of Constantius the Arian Emperor. But let us see what Foundation there is for all this Out-cry. Eusebius lived at that time, no man of his Order greater at Court, and was near enough to know the Truth of what was done nay probably was himself upon the spot amongst those Bishops he speaks of, that were called to Court, and thereby enabled to give so ready an account of the Discourses, and all the particular Circumstances of that dying Emperor. And suppose him to have had a design to forge such a Report, it was not consistent with a man of ordinary either Piety or Prudence to have published it when the thing was fresh, and so many Persons of Quality and Credit capable to disprove him. Besides he has all Antiquity herein on his side; not to mention particular Writers, the catholic Bishops met in the Synod at Ariminum not much above twenty years after, attest the same thing in their Letter 
Ap. Socr. l. 2. c. 37. p. 136. Sozom l. 4. c. 18 p. 566. Theod. l. 2. c. 18. p. 98.  to Constantius, that Constantine of happy Memory being baptized, went to that state of Rest and Peace that was reserved for him. Baronius found himself exceedingly gravelled with this Testimony, and instead of untying, downright cuts the Knot, crying out of falsehood and Forgery, confidently affirming, and promising to give up the Cause, if he make it not out, that the Epistle,( though he confesses it to be as we have represented it both in Socrates, Sozomen, and Theodorit) in that part of it is corrupted, and Constantine foisted instead of Constans. For that so it should be, he proves( and after so much confidence, his evidence had need be weighty and powerful) from the Copy of that Synodical Epistle, as 'tis extant in Athanasius. And so indeed it is in the Latin Translation of it, but had he looked into the Greek, 
Vid. Athan. Epist. de Synod. Arim.& Seleuc. p. 676.  he would have found small cause to rejoice so much in his Invention, it being not Constans, but Constantine there, as well as in all other Copies of that Epistle, and even in the original draft extant in S. Hilary: Not to say that the sense of the Place necessary determines it to Constantine the Great. To contend so zealously for a Matter( as they account it,) of so much importance to their Church, one would imagine, that besides endeavouring to disable the Authorities that are against it, they should have some very strong positive Testimonies to confirm it. And yet after all, the whole Story is built upon no better Foundation than the fabulous Acts of S. Silvester, which have no just Ground or Pillar of Truth or Probability to support them. I might add, that the Story of Constantine's being baptized at Rome, is plainly given up by some of greatest Note and Learning in that Church, especially Halloix 
Epist. ad Morin. inter Morin. Epist. XXXIII. p. 171.  the Jesuit, and Morinus 
vid. vit. J. Morin. p. 12, 13  the Oratorian, though the free declaring his mind in this Matter, cost Morin no little displeasure in the Court of Rome. But I return to Eus●bius. Whatever obnoxious passages may be in his Writings, would but men bring the same candour and Ingenuity that ought to be used towards all controversial Writers, were but abatements made for Discourses about such abstruse and incomprehensible Speculations, were but his Expressions allowed the favour of those Rules and Distinctions, which all wise and learned men have agreed on for the explaining the Doctrine of the Trinity, and hypostastick Union, and such-like unfathomable Mysteries; were but his obscure or dangerous Expressions, expounded by those that are sound and warrantable, I doubt not but a tolerable account might be given of any passages of this Nature, even those that are most doubtful and exceptionable, and which it must be confessed, will not otherwise bear a rigorous Examination.  
The End of Eusebius Caesariensis's Life.   

His WORKS.  

Extant.  
De Praeparatione Evangelica, Lib. XV.  
De Demonstratione Evangelica, Lib. XX.  
Extant non nisi X.  
Contra Hieroclem Liber.  
Contra Marcellum, Lib. II.  
De Ecclesiastica Theologia, Lib. III.  
Chronicon.  
Historiae Ecclesiasticae, Lib. X.  
De Martyribus Palaestinae liber singularis.  
De vita Constantini, Lib. IV.  
Oratio de laudibus Constantini.  
De locis Hebraicis.  
Epistola ad Caesarienses de fide Nicaena.   

Not Extant.  
De Praeparatione Ecclesiastica, Lib.—  
De Demonstratione Ecclesiastica, Lib.—  
Contra Porphyrium, Lib. XXX.  
Ad Stephanum de Evangeliorum dissonantia.  
{αβγδ}, Lib. V.  
In Psalmos CL. Commentarii.  
In Esaiam Commentariorum Lib. XV.  
{αβγδ}, Lib. I.  
Apologiae pro Origine, Lib. VI.  
De vita Pamphili, Lib. III.  
Antiquorum Martyriorum Collect. Lib. XI.  
Descriptio Basilicae Hierosolymitanae.  
De Festo Paschali liber.  
{αβγδ}  
Cujus fragmenta dvo extant apud Anastasium Sinaitam.  
Libri ejus ad Marinum saepius citantur ab eodem Anastasio.   

Doubtful or rather Supposititious.  
De fide adv. Sabellium, Lib. II.  
De Resurrectione liber Unus.  
De Resurrectione& Ascentione Domini.  
De Incorporali& invisibili Deo.  
De Incorporali.  
De Incorporali Anima.  
De Spiritali cogitatu hoins.  
Quod Deus Pater incorporalis est.  
De eodem  
De eo quod dicit Dominus, non veni pacem, &c.  
De Mandato Domini, quod dico vobis in aure, &c.  
De operibus bonis& malis.  
De operibus bonis ex Epist. II. ad Corinth.   
Haec omnia latin tantum edidit, J. Sirmondus Par. 1643.    

THE LIFE OF S. ATHANASIUS BISHOP OF ALEXANDRIA. 
S. ATHANASIUS.   portrait of Saint Athanasius of Alexandria  

SECT. I. His Acts from his Birth till the first Condemnation of Arius by the Synod at Alexandria.  
Alexandria his Birth-place. The greatness of that City. His personating a Bishop, and administering Baptism when a Child. The care taken of his Education, and being placed under Peter Bishop of that See. The breach between Peter and Meletius under the Dioclesian Persecution. The rise and occasion of the Meletian Schism. Arius who; his taking part with Meletius. Achillas how long Bishop of Alexandria, proved not to be the Arian Achillas against Sandius. Alexander's succeeding him in that See, and his advancement stomach'd by Arius. The various accounts concerning the first occasion of Arius his venting his impious Principles enquired into. What his Principles were, represented from the Fragments of his own Writings. His Notions( probably) borrowed from the Schools of the degenerate Platonists. His industrious propagating of his Doctrine, especially by means of the weaker Sex. Condemned by a Synod at Alexandria.  
I. THE City of Alexandria pleasantly situated in a clear and a wholesome Air, not far from the Delta, or Western Canal of the Nile, having the Pharus on a Promontory on the one side, and the Maraeotick Lake on the other; had during the Line of the Ptolomies been the Regal Seat of the Kings of Egypt, as afterwards the Metropolis of the Kingdom, and the Residence of the Praefectus Augustalis, when brought under the Roman Power. A City not more ennobled by the greatness of its Founder, than proud in the Riches of its traffic, the confluence of all Nations resorting thither, the famed of its Schools, and the Learning and Eminency of its Professors, in which respect it out-vied Rome, and rival'd the Glory of Athens itself. Nor was it the least Addition to its Honour, that amongst many other Fathers of the Church, illustrious for Learning and Piety, it gave Birth to Athanasius, a Person so renowned in the Histories of the Church. For here was he born about the close of the third Century, as is evident from some other Periods and Passages of his Life. His Parents( though the silence of Antiquity has concealed their Names) are said 
Vit. Athan. gr. l. Oper. ejus Tim. 2. p. 518.  to have been peculiarly eminent for Piety and virtue, who left no other Child but him, as if Heaven designed him on purpose to be the sole Heir both of their Estate and virtue. While he was yet but a Youth, and had not out-grown the cares and tutorage of domestic Education, he happened( if the Story which we are  told, be sufficiently authentic) to be recommended to public notice upon a very remarkable Occasion.  
II. THE Church of Alexandria kept 
Russin. H. Eccl. l. 1. c. 14. p. 230 So●r. l. 1. c. 15. p. 44. Sozom. l. 2 c. 17. p. 466 vit. Ath. ap. Ph●t. Cod. CCLVIII. col. 1429. Vit. Ath. ubi supr.  an Anniversary Commemoration of the Martyrdom of S. Peter, their late Bishop, who a little before had suffered under the Diocletian Persecution. This Festival Alexander newly advanced to that See, now celebrated; when the public Solemnities of the day being over, he was return'd to his House, which stood by the Sea-side, whither he had invited his Clergy to Dine with him. Of whose coming while he was in Expectation, looking out at a Window, he found himself entertained with no unpleasing Diversion. A company of Youths playing together on the Shore, were fallen upon a Humour of fancying themselves an Eccl●siastick College. Athanasius, the ripest probably both in Parts and Years, personated the Bishop, some were Presbyters, others Deacons, others represented Catechumens and Competentes, who sued to be initiated with the holy Rites. Hitherto Alexander was well enough contented with the Childrens sport, but when he saw them take upon them to administer what he thought resembled the sacred and solemn Rites of the Church, and the most hidden and concealed Mysteries of Religion, he sent some of the Clergy( who by this time were come) to inquire into the meaning of the Action. The Children affrighted at first, began to deny what they had done, affirming that there was no more in it than common Sport, but being severely pressed, confessed the Mystery of the whole childish Scene, that Athanasius had sustained the place of a Bishop, and had baptized some Children whom they presented to him, who had not been baptized before. This put him upon inquiring farther into the Manner and Circumstances of that Affair, and whether it had been managed by the usual way of Interrogations and Answers, and finding that every thing had been exactly done according to the Custom and Constitutions of the Church, upon advice with his Clergy it was concluded, that the Children so initiated should not be re-baptiz'd, but only consummated by Confirmation. And having sent for Athanasius his Parents, and those of the rest, who had wantonly usurped the Place of the Clergy, he delivered them to them with a solemn Charge to give them such Education, as might fit them for the Ministry of the Church, and the discharge of that Office, which in sport they had taken upon them. Athanasius hereupon was consigned to Masters and Tutors, and being sufficiently perfected in human Arts and Studies, his Parents return'd him to the Bishop, who took him into his Family, used him as his Secretary and Amanuensis to red to him, and writ for him; and when maturity of Age had qualified him for it, ordained him Deacon; and finding his Parts brisk and pregnant, and his Zeal vigorous and sincere, took 
Vid. Athan. Apolog. II. p. 564. D.&. Gelas. Cyz. H. Conc. Nic. l. 2. c. 11. col. 172. c.  him into his most private councils, used his assistance in his most important Controversies and Affairs, carried him along with him to the Council of Nice, where in all his Contests with Arius, and his constant Conflicts with that Party afterwards, he shew'd himself a stout and able Champion of the catholic Cause. For the clearer understanding of which Affair, it being the great Transaction of his whole Life, we must step back a while, that we may derive the notices of things from the Fountain-head.  
III. PETER Bishop of Alexandria succeeded Theonas in that See, Ann. Chr. CCC. or at most but the year before. And scarce had he satin three years quietly in the Chair, when the Diocletian Persecution overtook the Church, wherein he with many more of Note and Quality were apprehended and cast into Prison, in which number was Meletius Bishop of Lycus in Thebais, a Person, next Peter, of greatest Authority and Power, and under him Director general of all the Affairs of the Church. The severity of the Persecution( so Epiphanius 
Adv. millet. Haeres. LXVIII p. 306.  relates the Story, though no where more confused and careless than in the Meletian and Arian Relations, and in this case reporting things not very consistently with other Writers of those Times,) tempted many of all Orders of men, to renounce the Faith▪ and comply with the gentle Rites, who repenting afterwards of what they had done, applied themselves to the Martyrs and Confessors in Prison for Absolution, that they might be restored to Peace and Communion with the Church. This, Meletius and others would by no means yield to, affirming it would set open the door to apostasy from the Christian Faith, if when men had lapsed into Idolatry, they might at their return find so ready entertainment. Peter acted with the resentments and compassion of a common Father, was for the more mildred and moderate Opinion, that a time of Pennance being assigned, they might be re-admitted into the Church, lest Affliction be added to the afflicted, and men being put upon a desperate Issue, might be tempted to a total and final apostasy from Christianity. But not being able to prevail either by Arguments or entreaties, he hung up his Mantle across the Prison, crying out, they that are of my side, let them come hither; they that are for Meletius, let them go to him. Whereupon a few Bishops and others came over to him, the greatest part remaining with Meletius. Which widened the difference into such a Breach, that ever after they partend Companies, and in all Acts of divine Worship, kept their separate Assemblies. But it was not long before Meletius himself stood in need of that Mercy, which he had so rigidly denied to others, being through the infirmity of his Faith, betrayed to offer Sacrifice to Idols. Which though not mentioned by Epiphanius,( who doubtless transcribed his Reports out of the Acts of the Meletians, which may justly be presumed partial in their own Cause) is yet by a much better Author, I mean Athanasius 
Apolog. II. p. 603. Socr. l. 1 c. 6. p. 14.  himself, who adds, that for this, and some other Crimes, whereof he stood convict,( meaning, I suppose, his schismatical Proceedings) Peter in a common meeting of Bishops, deposed him from his Order. The Issue was, Peter received the Crown of Martyrdom, Meletius being got out of Prison, still bore up himself with the Power and Reputation of a Bishop, ordaining Bishops, Presbyters and Deacons wherever he came, erecting Churches for his own Party, and refusing to communicate with the other; each Party distinguishing their Assemblies by an Inscription over their Church doors; those who belonged to Peter, and possessed the Churches of the old Foundations, entitling themselves, the catholic Church; those of Meletius, the Church of the Martyrs. This Schism commenced Ann. CCCVI. Meletius vomiting up nothing but railings and reproaches against Peter and his Successors, complaining how much he had been injured by them. How far he and his Party were censured in the Nicene Synod, and what were their Conspiracies and Combinations against Athanasius, we may hear more afterwards.  
IV. AMONGST others that went along with the Meletian Schism, was Arius, the Son of Amonius, a Libyan by Birth,( a Country fruitful in monstrous and unnatural Productions) though Photius 
Epist. 1. ad Mich Bulg. p. 4  and some others expressly make him an Alexandrian. A man of a subtle and versatil Wit, of a turbulent and unquiet Head, but which he veiled with a specious Mask of Sanctity. Upon his deserting 
Sozom. l. 1. c. 15. p. 426.  the Meletian Party, he was made Deacon by Peter; but disliking afterwards the Bishop's severe Proceedings against Meletius, was rejected and expelled the Church. A little before Peter's Suffering, he mightily solicited to be again restored to his Place. But Peter knew the temper of the man too well to harken to it; and if the Acts 
Act. Martyr. S. Petr. Gr. L. à Combef. edit. p. 197.& ex i●s Nicet. Thes. Orth. Fid. l. 5. c. 1. p. 437. confer. Anastas. Sinait. {αβγδ}. c. 5. p. 86.  of his Martyrdom, of no inconsiderable Antiquity, be of any Credit, he was expressly forbidden it by a Vision from Heaven; our Lord appearing to him in the form of a beautiful Youth, with a bright shining Countenance, clad in a linen Coat, torn all in pieces from top to bottom. And when the good Bishop asked who had thus rent his Garment, he answered, 'twas Arius had done it; and withall, charged him not to admit him to Communion. Great and powerful Intercession would be made for him to that end, but he should not do it, but should give the like charge to Achillas and Alexander his Presbyters, who were to be his Successors. The next day 
Ib. p. 193. &c.  came a great crowd of Presbyters and Deacons to the Prison( whom Arius had engaged to speak for him,) earnestly importuning the Bishop for his Absolution. No sooner had they mentioned his name, but he interrupted them; Arius( said he) shall be separated from the glory of God, both in this World, and in that which is to come, even as he himself separated the Son of God from the Glory and Co-essentiality of the Father.( Though he did not actually do this till afterwards.) And taking Achillas and Alexander aside, he acquainted them with his Vision, and imparted to them the same Charge that had been delivered to him. Peter being consummated by Martyrdom, Achillas one of the Presbyters of that Church succeeded him; a man Grave and Pious, but of a more calm and easy Disposition than his Predecessor. An advantage which Arius knew how to improve, and accordingly upon the Profession of his Repentance was restored, yea and advanced to the Order of a Presbyter, one of the Churches of Alexandria called Baucalis, being assigned to him for his Cure; for it was the 
Epiph. contr. Arian. Haeres. LXIX. p. 311. Sozom. ubi supr. p. 428.  Constitution of that place, that every Presbyter in that Church should have a particular Parish-Church in the City allotted him, where he communicated and taught the People. Besides all which( if an ancient Writer 
Patric. Arars. lib. Ocean. dict. in Synodic. gr. l. à Pap. edit. p. 14.  may be believed) Achillas made him Regent of the Catechetick School at Alexandria. But Achillas lived not long in that honourable Place, but three Months, says Epiphanius, 
Loc. cit. p. 314  though mistaking the Order of his Succession, five, says Gelasius Cyzicenus, 
H. Conc. Nic. l 1. c. 1. col. 141  but a little while, so Theodorit; 
Li. 1. c. 2. p. 7.  and certainly it could not well be above a year at most, which is the time that Nicephorus of Constantinople assigns to him. Though I believe the Reader will think what the Author of the Oriental Chronicon says, 
Ap. Combef. not. in Act. Petr. p. 226.  in this Case to savour of more Zeal than Truth, that the Reason why God took away Achillas in so short a time,( six Months he allows him) was for his imprudent re-admitting Arius into the Church. And here I cannot but remark the Ignorant, or rather wilful Mistake of a late Author, the historical Advocate 
Sand. H. Eccl. l. 2. p. 8.  for the Arian Cause; who makes this venerable Bishop the same with that Achillas that sided with Arius in his Innovations; which he confidently puts beyond all doubt. And because he could not but see that Arius never vented his Opinion, till after Alexander was come into the Chair of that Church; he adds, that Alexander deposed and thrust out Achillas. A piece of Confidence, for which he offers not the least shadow of probability, as indeed 'tis most plainly repugnant to all the Writers of that Time; not once intimated, that I know of, by any Author, except only the Arabian Historian, 
Eutych. Annal. p. 541. Tom. 1.  whose accounts of things, when differing from more ancient Writers, are generally too idle and trifling, for any Prudent man to rely upon them. Not to say, that Theodorit 
Lib. 1. c. 4. p. 20.  makes the Arian Achillas to have been of no higher order than a Deacon; and admit him with others to have been a Presbyter, yet incredible is it, that there should be no tidings of his Deposition, especially when in the same List with him and others condemned by Alexander, Secundus, and Theonas, are reckoned up, 
Ap. Socr. l. 1. c. 6. p. 10.  and particularly said to have been Bishops heretofore. Besides, that Athanasius 
Contr. Arian. Orat. 1. p. 133.  styles our Bishop the Great Achillas; a Title which he would not have bestowed upon him, had he either joined with Arius, or done any thing that might make him obnoxious to be deposed from his Episcopal Station. But the Error is too gross, to deserve a Confutation.  
V. TO Achillas succeeded Alexander, one whom for his Piety, Justice, candour and courtesy, Kindness to all, and Charity to the Poor, both Clergy and People had in great Veneration. But impossible it is to please all, Arius secretly stomach'd the Election, that one to whom he thought himself no whit Inferior, should be preferred before him. And this is 
Theod. l. 1. c. 2 p. 7. Haeres. Fab. l. 7. c. 1. Niceph. l. 8. c. 5. p. 538.  generally supposed to have given the first occasion to his starting aside, and to his after Innovations in the Church. 'tis true the Arian Historian 
Philost. H. Eccl. l. 1. c. 3. p. 468.  gives quiter another account of it, that at the Election, when the greater number of Suffrages were for Arius, he modestly gave Alexander the Precedence, and transferred his Votes over to him. A thing so contrary to the proud and turbulent Spirit of the man, that it needs no more to make it seem improbable, if Philostorgius his known Partiality to the Cause did not render it suspected. Alexander for some time had Arius in good esteem, who in the mean while went on in his Parish-cure, where he began to vent 
Epiph. Haeres. LXVIII. p. 307. LXIX. p. 311.  his heretical Notions, as did also Collythus, Carpones, and Sarmatas, Presbyters of particular Churches in the same City; who by dispersing different Doctrines amongst their People, drew them several ways, each Party styling itself after the name of its Teacher; some Collythians, others Arians. Of all which Alexander is said to have been Ignorant, till Meletius( who though Schismatical in practise, was sound in the Faith) came to him and gave him notice of it, desiring a speedy stop might be put to it: Accordingly Arius was sent for, and being examined concerning the Matter, at first sight confessed it, and stood to it. A Passage I am apt to think,  told by the Meletians in favour of their Bishop, and from them borrowed by Epiphanius. Indeed the first occasion of Arius his discovery of himself, is somewhat differently related. Most probable it is, that Arius not knowing whence else to pick a Quarrel with his Diocesan, took occasion to censure and impugn his Doctrine. For Alexander 
Socr. l. 1. c. 5. p. 9.  on a time, in the presence of his Presbyters, and the rest of his Clergy, somewhat boldly discoursed concerning the holy Trinity, affirming, that in the Trinity there was an Unity. This Arius presently laid hold on, and supposing the Bishop to have meant it in the Sabellian sense, run himself into the contrary extreme, eagerly disputing against it to this effect; that if the Father begot the Son, then the Son had a Beginning of subsistence, and consequently that there was a time, when he was not a Son, and therefore proceeded out of nothing. The controversy thus unhappily started quickly engaged many on either side, for the allaying whereof, Alexander caused several Meetings, wherein the Matter might be debated, himself mod●rating in the several Disputations. In one of which it was,( if there was any Foundation for what Philostorgius 
Philost. loc. cit.  and Nicephorus 
Niceph. l. 8. c. 5. p. 539. conf. Sozom. l. 1. c. 15. p. 426.  report) that Alexander sur-nam'd Baucalis or Crook-back'd, an Alexandrian Presbyter, being vexed that Arius had sometime been preferred before him, charged him home for an Innovator in the Faith. For the ending of which contest, Alexander invited them to canvas the Matter by fair and amicable Discourses, which being done in several Disputes according to the Circumstances of their Disputation, he sometimes inclined to one, and sometimes to another, till at last he positively determined against those Doctrines which Arius had maintained. Hence it is, that Constantine the Great, in a Letter 
Ap. Eus. de vit. Const. l. 2. c. 69. p. 474.  jointly written to Alexander and Arius, blames them both, the one for propounding nice and subtle Questions to his Presbyters, the other for returning Answers concerning things never to be thought of, or if once thought of, to be immediately stilled in the profoundest Silence.  
VI. BEFORE we proceed any farther in the Course of the Story, it will not be amiss to inquire into the true State of the controversy, and to fix the Notion of the Arian Principles, wherein we shall not take our Measures merely from the account of his Adversaries, who may be suspected sometimes more partially to represent them; but from what of his own Epistles and Writings is yet extant, which, as well as the Nature of such things will bear, we will endeavour to describe in his own Words. And first for the Principles which he was charged to oppose; he tells 
Epist. ad Eus. Nicom. ap. Theod. l. 1. c. 5. p. 21  us they were these, viz. that God was always, the Son always; the Father together, the Son together; that the Son in an unbegotten way does co-exist with God, being ever-begotten; that God does not precede the Son in one minute, no nor so much as in a thought; and that the Son is of God himself. And then for his own Principles which he asserted, he declares, that the Son is not unbegotten, nor any ways any part of the unbegotten, that by Council and Decree he did before all Times and Ages subsist perfect God, the only begotten, and immutable; and that before he was begotten, or created, or determined, or founded, he was not; that the Son had a beginning, but that God was without all beginning; and that he therefore affirmed him to proceed out of a State of Non-existence, as being no part of God, nor of any subject Matter: That 
Excerpt. ex Arii Thalia ap. Athan. de Syn. Arim.& Seliuc. p. 681.  when he styled God unbegotten, it was to distinguish him from that Nature that was begotten; when without beginning, from him that had a beginning; when Eternal, from him that did exist in time: That he who is without beginning, has set his Son as the beginning of the things that are made, having made or adopted him to be his Son, who has of himself nothing of the peculiar subsistence of God, being neither equal to him, nor co-essential with him: That 
Id. con. Arian. Orat. II. p. 137.  God was not always a Father, but there was a time, when he was only God, and was not yet a Father; that afterwards he became a Father, and that the Son was not always such; for since all things were made of nothing, and that all things are created and made, the Word of God itself must be made out of nothing, and was not before he was made, but had a beginning, when he was created; there being a time when there was nothing but God, and afterwards the Word and Wisdom; and that when at length God was resolved to create us, he then made one, whom he called Word, Son, and Wisdom, by whom he did create us: That 
Ib. p. 141. A.  the Son has nothing peculiar of the Father's substance, but that he is a Workmanship and a Creature, and not true God, but only by Participation, and as he is made God: That 
De Syn. Arim.& Sel●bi supr.  there is a Trinity, but not all alike in Majesty, whose subsistences are unmingled with one another, one being more immensly Glorious than another, and that the Father, as being without beginning, is as to his Essence different from the Son: That in short, the Father is invisible, ineffable, incomprehensible to the Son; and that 'tis evident, that that which has a beginning, can never thoroughly understand or comprehend the Nature and Quality of that which is without beginning: That 
Arii Epist. ad Alex. ibid. p. 68●.  there are three Subsistences, and that God, as being the Cause of all, is alone without beginning; that the Son was begotten of the Father without time, and made and settled before time, but was not before he was begotten, and as such did alone subsist with the Father; that he is not eternal, nor co-eternal, nor begotten together with the Father, nor has the same Being with him, as some affirm, introducing two unbegotten Principles; but as God is Unity, and the Principle of all things, so he is before them, and consequently before the Son. From all which it appears, what Arius asserted, viz. that God was, before he was a Father; that he was before the Son, not only in order of Nature, but of Time; that the Son, though begotten of him, has not the same Essence, Power, and Glory with him; not made of his Substance, or at all partaking of his Nature, or existing in his Essence, but altogether different both in Nature and Power, though formed to the perfect likeness of it; as Eusebius of Nicomedia speaks out in his Letter 
Ap. Theod. l. 1. c. 6. p. 22.  to Paulinus Bishop of Tyre: That what subsistence he had from Eternity, was {αβγδ} by the Will and Council of God; that he is a God by Constitution, and as the Father imparts some Divinity to him; and that he was made, created, and established, though in a more sublime and mysterious Way, than any part of the Creation. 
De Platonicorum Trinitate vide sis Cl. V. D. Cudworth plenissime& doctiss. disserentem. lib. 1. de System. univers. c. 4. p. 551, &c.  If it shall be asked, whence Arius derived these Notions, probable it is, he took the hint from the Doctrine of the later Platonists, who at this time governed the Schools at Alexandria. For although the ancient Doctrine of the platonic Trinity, asserting three divine Hypostases, the {αβγδ}, the {αβγδ} or {αβγδ}, and the {αβγδ}, all eternal, necessary existent, undestroyable, and in a manner infinite, and which had a common {αβγδ}, or Deity, though this Scheme rightly stated, gave little, if any, encouragement to the Principles of Arius, yet the Junior Platonists of that time, out of spite to Christianity,( to which the old Scheme did too near approach) began to depart from the ancient Doctrine of Plato in this Matter, stretching the Differences, and gradual Subordination, which the Elder Platonists had made amongst the Hypostases, into too wide a distance, particularly they made the third Hypostasis to be {αβγδ}, the immediate Soul of the World, informing and acting all parts of the Creation, thereby blending God and the Creature together, or rather debasing the Deity into the rank of Creatures. Now Arius having been brought up in the Schools of Alexandria, and being a Person of a quick subtle Wit, easily caught up these Notions, and adapting them to the Christian Trinity, began to assert so wide a distance between the first and second Person( for as yet nothing was said concerning the third) as plainly to degrade it into the form of created Beings, though still sheltering himself under ambiguous Expressions. And for this attempt he was not a little prepared by the Principles which he had sucked in from Lucian of Antioch( though whether at the first or second hand it is hard to say) concerning the Person of our blessed Saviour, whom he maintained to be no more than a mere man, which Lucian himself had derived from Paul of Samosata. For that Arius was one of that Tribe, we shall see by and by.  
VII. THESE impious and pernicious Principles, which Arius propagated both by word and writing, were greedily entertained by Persons of loose and instable Minds, as indeed the minds of men are naturally disposed to novel and curious Opinions, and men are most apt to admire what they do not understand. Arius like a man that was resolved to go on with what he had begun, preached 
Theod. l. 1. c. 2. p. 7.  diligently at his Church, and liberally scattered his Notions amongst the People, and not there only, but diffused the Venom in all public Meetings and Conferences where he came, and that no method of a subtle heretic might be left unattempted, went home to their Houses, and by crafty Insinuations, gained Proselytes to his Doctrine. By which means he soon made himself a considerable Interest amongst the common People, and had drawn 
Epi●h. Her. LXIX. p. 311.  over to him DCC. Women that professed Virginity, and gained footing amongst the Guides themselves, and those both of the inferior and superior Order, not only in Alexandria, but Pentapolis, and the Parts thereabouts. It was high time for Alexander to have his Eyes about him, while the envious man thus sowed the Tares. He had treated the man by all prudent and gentle Methods, by wise Counsels, and friendly Admonition, if by any means he might reduce him to a right Mind. But the stubborn heretic was not to be wrought upon by arts of Kindness, and was therefore to be cut off by public Censures. In order whereunto 
Epiph. Her. LXVIII. p. 307. LXLX. p. 312.  Alexander summoned a Synod of all the Bishops under his Jurisdiction, who met at Alexandria, and having examined the Matter, condemned his Doctrine, deprived him of his ministerial Station, and expelled him, with nine more of his adherents out of the Church.   

SECT. II. His Acts from Arius his first Condemnation, till the Council of Nice.  
Arius his great endeavours to recommend and support his Cause. The sum of Alexander's Letter to Alexander of Byzantium, concerning Arius, his Principles, Abetters, and Condemnation. Eusebius Bishop of Nicomedia, Arius's great Patron. Collucianists, who, and why so called. Arius his Letter of complaint to Eusebius, who writes Letters in his behalf. The Intercession of the Synod of Bithynia. He is admitted by the palestine Bishops. Condemned a second time at Alexandria. Alexander's Encyclical Epistle about his Proceedings against Arius. The ill Effects of the Disputes about these Matters. Arius his slight into palestine, and Reception there, and at Nicomedia. His attempt to reconcile himself to his own Bishop. Constantine's trouble at these Divisions of the Church: His Letter to Alexander and Arius. Hosius sent by him to Alexandria, not employed in these Affairs as the Pope's legate, shew'd against Baronius. A Synod holden by him at Alexandria; but without any good Effect.  
I. ARIUS though depressed by the public Sentence of the Synod, yet was so far from being discouraged in the Prosecution of his Cause, that he pursued it with more Life and vigour than before. What he could no longer do by his public Ministry in the Church, he carried 
Alex. Epist. ap. Theod. l. 1. c 4. p. 9. Epiph. ubi supr.  on by clancular and private Arts, setting up Conventicles for his Party, mingling himself with every Company, and starting opportunities of Discourse, running up and down both in City and Country, and filling all places with Clamours against Alexander, and the Synodical Censures. Nay the very Women whom he had inveigled over to his Party, immodestly ran up and down the Streets and highways, to tell Tales for him in every Corner, to pled his Cause, and promote his Interest; some of them taking upon them to solicit the Justice of the public Tribunals, to take Cognizance of his Case, and to rescind the Sentence of his Diocesan, creating the aged and venerable Bishop all imaginable trouble and disturbance. By these and such-like Artifices he daily increased and got ground at home, himself all the while successfully fishing in the troubled Waters. Abroad he supported and advanced his Reputation by frequent Messages and Dispatches, by writing to several of the most noted and eminent Bishops of the East, to whom he so dressed up his Notions, disguised his Affairs, put so specious and plausible a colour upon his Cause, that some of them openly appeared in his behalf, and most sent to Alexander to mediate a Peace and Reconciliation, the thing which Arius pretended he most desired. By this means Alexander found it necessary to make public, what he had hitherto suppressed and stifled, the true State of the Case, writing to most of the Eastern Bishops. His Letter to Alexander Bishop of Byzantium( for to him Theodorit expressly says it was written, otherwise I should for some Reasons have guest it to have been Alexander Bishop of Thessalonica) is yet extant, 
Ap. Theod. loc. supr. citat.  Wherein he first complains that Arius and his Party, had upon ill Designs, and by ill Arts, advanced and introduced an impious heresy into the Church, a Doctrine as destructive to the Deity of the Son of God, as that of either Jews or Gentiles, which they securely vented in those Dens of Thieves to which they had betaken themselves, and wherein they skulkt day and night: And not content with this, began to promote an open Schism and Sedition, making use of the disorderly Women, whom they had seduced over to their Side, to propagate their Faction in every Corner, yea, and to prefer Indictments against him before the civil Magistrates. And though by reason of their clancular Actings he had somewhat late discovered them, yet had he Synodically condemned, and cast them out of the catholic Church; but so far were they from acquiescing in that Sentence, that they dispersed themselves abroad, and by Flattery and Dissimulation had so far imposed upon foreign Bishops, as to procure large Letters of Commendation from them, which they made use of to great Advantage; nay, by some they had been admitted to Communion, whose rashness herein was to be blamed. Next, he exposes the Impiety of their Principles, concerning the divine Nature, and eternal existence of the Son of God; and shows at what places of Scripture they took Sanctuary to defend themselves; all which he refutes at large with admirable clearness and dexterity, and withall states the catholic Doctrine in this Matter. Then he proceeds to inquire into the Original of these mens Principles, which he shows to have been first brooded and hatched by Ebion and Artemas, afterwards nourished by Paul of Samosata, then by Lucian of Antioch, the very dregs of whose Opinion had been drank in, and vomited up by Arius, Achillas, and the rest; wherein they had received but too much encouragement from the three Syrian Bishops( he means Eusebius of Caesarea, Paulinus of Tyre, and Theodotus of Laodicea) whose Case he wished might be canvased and examined. That for himself, it was no wonder if after so many bold Reflections upon the Son of God, and the divesting him of his Divinity, they should liberally bestow their Scorn, their Slanders and Calumnies upon him and his Party, and decry them as a Company of ignorant and illiterate Fellows, boasting that all Wisdom dwelled with them, and that they had discovered Truths that had been hidden from Ages and Generations, and which had never so much as entred into the thoughts of any but of themselves alone. This he cries out upon as a most impious Arrogance, and an unmensurable madness, a piece of Pride kindled by the Devil, which neither the divine Demonstration of Scripture, nor the unanimous Consent of Bishops in the Doctrine of Christ, was able to restrain; nay, that herein they out-did the Impiety of the Devil, who durst not utter one word to blaspheme the Son of God. Hence he goes on to declare his belief in all the great Articles of the Creed, both concerning God the Father, the Son, and the holy Ghost; the one catholic and apostolic Church, the Resurrection of the Dead, founded in that of our Lord Jesus Christ, who truly, and not in appearance, took our Flesh upon him, and was born of Mary the Mother of God( {αβγδ}) and in the end of the World came hither for the Expiation of sin, who was crucified, and died( though without any impairing, or disparagement to his Godhead) rose again from the Dead, was taken up into Heaven, and set down at the right Hand of the divine Majesty. This was the Doctrine he taught and preached, this the apostolic Faith of the Church, for which he was ready to lay down his Life, little regarding the Opposition that was made against it by Arius and his complices, Enemies of the Truth, who were therefore expelled the Church, according to S. Paul's sentence in the Case, that if any one, yea though pretending himself, an Angel from Heaven should preach any other Gospel than what they had received, he should be accursed. In Conclusion he advices him, that he would keep a vigilant Eye upon them, who under a pretence of Peace and Piety, laboured to insinuate themselves in all Parts, that he would give them no entertainment, who had been regularly expelled and cast out of the Church, but by Letters would testify his agreement in the apostolic Doctrine, and his Approbation of what he had acted against those Gain-sayers, as great numbers had done in all Provinces, as he might see by the account which by Appion his Deacon he then sent to him. This is the sum of that very prolix Letter, which though particularly directed to the Bishop of Byzantium, yet( as is plain from several Passages in it) was intended to be of a more general Concernment, and that Copies of it( as no doubt they were) should be communicated to all the neighbour Bishops. To the same Effect he wrote 
Theod. ib. p. 20 Epiph. ubi supr. Socr. l. 1. c. 6. p. 15.  to Philogonius Bishop of Antioch, Eustathius of Beraea, and many more, to the number in all from first to last of LXX. Epistles, which together with their Answers, were carefully collected and kept together; as were also those of Arius and his side, and laid up in the several Repositories of each Party, whence the Writers of those times furnished themselves with Materials for the Transactions of that Age.  
II. AMONGST those to whom Arius addressed himself, the chief was Eusebius Bishop of Nicomedia, the Head and Champion of the Cause. He had sometime been Bishop of Berytus in Syria, and thence translated to Nicomedia, which being at that time the Seat of the Eastern Emperors, gave him a fair Opportunity to ingratiate himself with the great Ministers of State, and to render himself considerable for Power and Interest at Court. He was a man of Parts and Learning, of a subtle and a daring Temper, but of a Head deeply infected with those Principles, which Arius had newly broached to the World. For which we are to know, that Paul of Samosata Bishop of Antioch in the declining Part of the foregoing Age, had been by a Synod deposed for some heretical Doctrines, concerning the Trinity, and the Person of the Son of God. These Principles with some Improvements and Alterations, Lucian, who was born at the same Town of Samosata, and about the same time Presbyter also of the Church of Antioch, took up, and so stiffly maintained, that for many years, during the entire presidency 
Alex. Epist. ap. Theod. ubi supr. p. 15.  of the three succeeding Bishops, he withdrew himself from the Communion of the Church; though towards the end of his Life, he probably retracted his Errors, and suffered Martyrdom under the late Persecution. Disciples he had many, whom he had trained up in his erroneous Opinion, who held 
Philost. l. 7. c. 14, 15. p. 475  together in so strict a Fraternity, that they distinguished themselves by the name of {αβγδ}, Fellow-Lucianists, by which title Arius stiles Eusebius in his Letter to him. For indeed Eusebius was one of Lucian's principal scholars, who so strenuously defended his Master's Principles, that he made all his Interest subservient to it. To him therefore Arius directs a Letter, 
Ext. ap. Theod. l. 1. c. 5. p. 20& ●p. Epiph. loc. cit.  which he sent by his Father Ammonius, wherein he salutes him with the Titles of the most desirable Lord, the man of God, the faithful and orthodox Eusebius. In it he complains of Alexander's severe and unjust Proceedings against him, merely for his defence of Truth, that he turned every ston to do him mischief, and had expelled him for not subscribing to Principles which he could not own, and not him only, but had denounced an Anathema against Eusebius of Caesarea, Theodotus, Paulinus, Gregorius, and other Eastern Bishops,( not that Alexander had particularly condemned any of these, but only under the general name of Friends and Favourers of the Arian Cause,) desiring his favour, and to be mindful of those Troubles, which his Zeal for Truth had brought upon him. Eusebius, forward enough to undertake the Patronage of the Cause, writes 
Socr. l. 1. c. 6. p. 13, 14.  several times to Alexander about this Matter, Magisterially requiring him to loose the band of Excommunication, and restore Arius to Communion, as one whose Sentiments were sound and orthodox. And not content with this, he presently writes 
Ext. Epist. ap. Theod. ib. c. 6. p. 22.  to Paulinus of Tyre, chiding him for his Silence and Negligence; and pressing him to writ to Alexander, as hoping his Intercession might prevail. vexed to see that nothing was done by all this importunity, he summoned 
Sozom. l. 1. c. 15. p. 428.  a Synod of the Bithynian Bishops, where Letters were written to the Bishops of other Parts, that they would communicate with Arius and his Adherents, as Persons sound in the Faith, and use their endeavours with Alexander to receive them again into the Church. But the good Bishop stood firm and immovable as a Rock, deaf to all such Importunities. Which Arius perceiving, sent Agents to the Bishops of palestine, desiring that by their Sentence he might be allowed to assemble his Congregation, as aforetime he had done. The Bishops being met, assented to his Petition, but withall, charged him and his Fellows to behave themselves with all due Reverence and Submission to their own Bishop.  
III. ELATED with the Letters and Interposals of so many and such potent Intercessors; Arius behaved himself with greater Arrogance than before. He boasted of his great Alliances, and the numbers of those that consented with him, shewed the Letters that had been written to him, and in his behalf, proceeded confidently in his seditious Meetings, and despised his Adversaries as simplo and illiterate. To repress whose Insolence, Alexander found it necessary to convene a second Synod at Alexandria; for that it was distinct from the former, seems evident from the number of the Persons sentenced, ten only being condemned in the first, fourteen in this latter Synod, two of which, viz. Secundus and Theonas were Lybian Bishops, who having joined themselves to the Arian Party, were now condemned with them. In this Synod met near an hundred Bishops out of Egypt and Lybia, who solemnly excommunicated the man and all his Partners, declaring them to be fallen from the catholic Faith, and cut off from the Church of Christ. Accordingly Epiphanius tells 
Loc. supr. cit.  us, that Arius after his first Condemnation, having stayed a long time at Alexandria, was at length apprehended, and brought {αβγδ}, to a Conviction or Confutation in the City, and by public Proclamation proscribed and banished. Of these Proceedings Alexander presently published an account, and as before he had written to particular Bishops, so now he wrote a more general and Encyclical Epistle, 
Ext. ap. Socr. l. 1. c. 6. p. 10.& Gelas. Cyz. H. Conc. Nic. l. 2. c. 3. col. 144.  directed to all the Bishops and Governours of the Church, calling upon them as Members of the same Body, to entertain a compassionate Sympathy with the State of his Church.  
This Epistle is much shorter than that heretofore written to Alexander, and containing a brief, but true State of the controversy then on foot, we shall here set it down.  
TO our dear and venerable Brethren, our Colleagues in the Ministry of the catholic Church wheresoever dispersed, Alexander in the Lord greeting. For as much as the Body of the catholic Church is but one, and that we are commanded in the holy Scriptures to keep the bond of Peace and Concord, it is very fit that we should writ to you, and that whatever passes amongst us, should be mutually communicated to one another, so that whether one Member suffer, we also may suffer with it; or one Member rejoice, we may rejoice with it. Know therefore that within our diocese, certain bad men, Enemies to Christ are risen up, who propagate an apostasy; which a man may very truly judge and style the forerunner of Anti-christ. Desirous I was to have stifled and concealed this Matter, that the Venom might have been kept only within these Apostates, and so have expired, and not spread itself abroad into other Parts, and infect the Minds of the simplo. But since Eusebius now Bishop of Nicomedia( who presumes that the disposal of all ecclesiastic Affairs is lodged with him, especially since having deserted Berytus, he has possessed himself of the See of Nicomedia, without being prosecuted for it as a Violator of the Canons; since he) hath undertaken the Patronage of these Apostates, and has written Letters in their Commendation into all Parts, to seduce unwary and undiscerning Persons to this execrable and Anti-christian heresy; I thought it necessary, considering what is written in the Law, to be no longer silent, but to acquaint you all with the State of things, that you may both know the Apostates themselves, and understand the unhappy Terms and Expressions of this heresy, and that if Eusebius have written to any of you, you may give no heed to it. By these Persons he endeavours to broach and bring to light that corrupt and perverse Mind, which he has a long time concealed, and though he pretends he only writes in their behalf, yet he sufficiently declares he does it upon his own account. The Names of those who have thus apostatised, are these, Arius, Achillas, Aithales, Carpones, another Arius, Sarmates, Euzoius, Lucius, Julianus, Menas, Helladius, Gaius; and together with them, Secundus and Theonas, heretofore accounted Bishops. The Doctrines which they have started without any ground from Scripture, and which they publicly vent, are these. God( say they) was not always a Father, but there was a time, when he was God, but not Father: The word of God was not always, but sprung out of nothing. For he that was God, made him that was not, out of that which was not; and therefore there was a time, when he was not. For the Son is a Creature, and the Workmanship of God; neither in Essence like to the Father, nor the true and natural Word, or Wisdom of the Father, but one of the Creatures that were made, and is only improperly styled the Word and Wisdom: For as much as he himself was made by the genuine word of God, and by that Wisdom that is in God, by which God made him as well as all other things. Upon this account he is in his own nature mutable and alterable, as all rational Creatures are. He is a word Foreign, and separated from the Essence of God. The Father is incomprehensible and ineffable to the Son; who neither perfectly and accurately knows him, nor is able perfectly to behold him. Nay the Son understands not his own Substance, of what kind it is. For he was made for our Sakes, that by him as by an Instrument God might create us: Nor had he ever had any Being, had not God designed to create us. And when they were asked, whether the Word of God might change, as the Devil did, they blushed not to reply, he might do so; for being made and created, he must be of a mutable Nature. While therefore Arius and his Party discoursed at this rate, and impudently preached these things up and down, we with the Bishops of Egypt and Libya, to the number of near an hundred, met in a Synod, where we anathematized them, and all that adhered to them. Notwithstanding which, Eusebius and his Followers gave them entertainment, endeavouring to blend falsehood with Truth, and to confounded Impiety and Religion. But they shall be able to do nothing. For Truth is Mighty, and will overcome; neither is there any Communion of light with darkness, or any Concord of Christ with belial; who ever heard of such things as these before? Or who is there that hears them now, and does not stand amazed, and stop his ears, that they may not be defiled with such wretched and infections Discourses? Who can hear S. John say, In the beginning was the Word, and not presently condemn those that assert, that there was a time when he was not? Or who can hear those Expressions in the Gospel, the only begotten Son; and, by him all things were made, but he must abominate those that affirm, that the Son is one of the Creatures? For how can he be one of those things which himself made? Or how can he be the only begotten, who according to them is levelled with the rank of all created Beings? How can he arise out of nothing, when the Father assures us, 
Psalm XLIV. 1. juxta Septu.  my heart hath sent forth a good Word; and elsewhere, 
Psalm CIX. 4. Septuag.  from the Womb before the day-spring have I begotten thee? Or how is he in Substance unlike the Father, when he is the perfect Image and brightness of his Father, and has himself  told us, he that hath seen me, hath seen the Father? How can the Son be the Word and Wisdom of God, if there was a time, when he was not? For 'tis as if they should say, there was a time, when God was without Wisdom and Reason. How can he be liable to Change and Alteration, when he tells us of himself, I am in the Father, and the Father in me? And, I and the Father am one; and by the Prophet, behold, I am, and I change not. And though some may refer this Expression to the Father, yet may it now be more conveniently understood of the Son; for that being become man, he is not changed, but as the Apostle says, Jesus Christ, the same to day, yesterday, and for ever. But what was it induced them to affirm, that he was made for us; when S. Paul testifies, for whom, and by whom are all things? As for their blasphemous asserting, that the Son does not perfectly know the Father, no man ought to wonder at it. For having once proclaimed War against Christ, they easily set at nought his words, that tell us, as the Father knows me, so know I the Father. If therefore the Father knows the Son in part, plain it is, that the Son also in part knows the Father. But if it be unlawful to affirm that, and if the Father perfectly knows the Son, 'tis most evident, that in the same manner that the Father knows his Word, in the same does the Word know his Father, whose Word he is. With these Arguments, and the frequent urging of the holy Scriptures, we have often convinced and silenced them. But they Chamelion-like, presently again changed colour, making good in themselves, that which is written; that when the wicked is come to the bottom of evil, he will still despise. Many Heresies have arisen before these, which attempting more than was meet, have fallen into folly and madness. But these men, by their attempts to destroy the Divinity of the Word, which is the scope and design of all their Discourses, have justified all those ancient Heresies, and do themselves much nearer approach to Anti-christ. For which cause they are anathematized, and cut off from the Church. We are indeed hearty grieved for the Destruction of these men, and especially for that having h●retofore received the Doctrine and Communion of the Church, they are now departed from it. Which yet we ought not to think strange. For thus did Hymenaeus and Philetus, and Judas before them both, who having been a Disciple of our Saviour, became afterwards a traitor and an Apostate. Nor have we been left without warning of these things. For our Lord foretold, Beware, lest any man seduce you. For many shall come in my name, saying, I am he, and the time is at hand, and shall deceive many: but go not after them. And Paul, who learnt these things from our Saviour, writes thus: In the latter times some shall depart from the Faith, giving heed to seducing Spirits, and Doctrines of Devils, that turn away men from the Truth. Since therefore our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ has both himself forewarned, and by his Apostle given us notice of these Matters, we who were Earwitnesses of these mens Impiety, have justly condemned them, and declared them separte from the catholic Church and Faith. This, dear and honoured Brethren, we have thought good to signify to your Piety, that you may neither entertain any of them, if they shall have the Confidence to come to you, nor give any credit to Eusebius or any man else that shall writ in their behalf. For it becomes us, as we are Christians, to turn away from all those that either opine, or speak against Christ, as Enemies to God, and Corrupters of mens Souls, and not so much as bid them God speed, lest we be partakers of their evil Deeds, as S. John has charged us. Salute the Brethren that are with you. They that are with me salute you.  
This Epistle was subscribed 
Vid subs●ript. an● l G●las. C●z. ibid. col. 148.  by seventeen Presbyters of Alexandria, and thirteen Deacons, whereof one was Athanasius, and by sixteen Presbyters, and as many Deacons of the Province of Maraeotis. And indeed it was time for Alexander thus to bestir himself; for the flamme had not only kindled in his own Quarters, but began to spread itself into most other Churches. All places 
Eus●b. de vit. Const l 2. c. 61. p. 471, 472. Theod. l. 1. c. 6. p. 23.  were full of Schisms and Factions, of feuds and Quarrels, and that not with open Enemies, but amongst Friends and Neighbours; nothing but Disputes and Controversies heard in every Company; and the common People, who were least capable to understand them, were made, not only Spectators of the Differences, but Judges of the most abstruse and intricate Doctrines of Religion: Nay the very Gentiles themselves were furnished with matter of Scorn and Laughter, and the sublimest Articles of the Christian Faith, made sport for the theatre.  
IV. BY this time Arius had left 
Epiph. ubi supr.  Alexandria, which the Sentence of the late Synod had now made too hot for him. He first retired into palestine, to try what Reception he could find amongst the Bishops there, to whom he addressed himself with all the Arts of Courtship and Insinuation, that might beget in them a good Opinion of him and his Cause, and oblige them to stand his Friends. By many he was kindly entertained, but rejected by others. Which Alexander no sooner understood, but he wrote to the palestine Bishops, to Eusebius of Caesarea, Macarius of Jerusalem, Aesculapius of Gaza, Longinus of Ascalon, and several others, reproving those that had used him with so much kindness and civility; who all by their several Answers, return'd him an account of what had been done; some protesting that they had not received him, others that they had done it through ignorance and surprise, not knowing the State of his Case; others that they did not conceive him to be so bad as his Adversaries represented him, and others, that they had done it in order to the reducing and reclaiming of him. However the Effect was, that men generally became more shy of his acquaintance and Company. Whereupon finding his entertainment grow colder in these Parts, he betook himself to his great Patron at Nicomedia; with whom he found a hearty Welcome, being received with all the Demonstrations of Affection and Friendship. While he continued here, he again attempted to reconcile himself to his own Bishop, by explaining his Principles, and avoiding what he thought might be charged upon them, though he rendered them not one Syllable better than he had done before, which he did in a Letter 
Ext. ap. Athan. de Syn. Arim.& S●l. p. 682& Epiph. ubi supr. p. 313.  directed to Alexander after this manner. To the blessed Pope Alexander, our Bishop, the Presbyters and Deacons in our Lord greeting. The Faith which we have received from our Ancestors, and which we learnt even from you, blessed Father, is this. We aclowledge one God, &c. The whole Letter contains nothing else but an Explication of their Doctrines; wherein, though at first they seem to smooth over things with a plausible Gloss, and terms contrived on purpose to disguise their Meaning; yet in fine, they plainly declared that the Son is neither Eternal nor Co-eternal, nor Co-essential with the Father, but that God is before the Son; and this they confidently tell him is no more, than what they learnt from his own public Sermons in the Church. This Letter was subscribed by Arius and his Company, being the whole number of those who had been condemned in the late Synod, excepting only the other Arius, who was either absent at this time upon some occasion, or his name it may be left out by Transcribers, as supposing it the same with the former. A long time Arius remained at Nicomedia, though with what success to his Affairs is not known; after which he seems to have return'd back to Alexandria.  
V. THUS things stood till the year CCCXXIV when Constantine having vanquished Licinius, was come to Nicomedia, 
Const. Epist. ap. Eus. de vit. Const. l. 2. c. 72. p. 477.  intending a farther Journey into the East, into Syria, and palestine, and thence into Egypt, when he was advertised of the dissensions at Alexandria, either by Eusebius Bishop of Nicomedia, or by Letters from Alexander, for that he wrote to the Emperor about this Affair, Epiphanius 
Loc. citat.  expressly tells us. The good Emperor was infinitely surprised and troubled at this unhappy News, and stoping his Journey, wrote 
Ext. ap. Euseb. i●. c. 64.& seq●. p. 4●3. 〈◇〉 l. Soc. l. 1. c. 7. p. 15.  jointly to Alexander and Arius, the two Heads of the dissenting Parties: In which Letter he tells them, that two things he had chiefly designed with himself, to reduce all Persons to an Unity and Agreement in matters of Religion, and to deliver the World from that Yoke of Tyranny that was upon it; and that having happily effected the latter by his late Triumph and Victory, he was resolutely bent upon the other, when the sad Tidings of their woeful Differences overtook him: Differences which he understood arose from nice and curious Questions, and which ought not to be bandied in fruitless and subtle Disputations; that therefore they should forbear such unprofitable Problems, and mutually accord and join together; and when they were agreed in the main duties and principles of Religion, should not for little things go on by such pertinacious Contentions, to distracted the Minds of the People, and tear in pieces the Peace of the Church; passionately concluding, that they would return to mutual Love and Charity, and let the People enjoy their proper Kindness and Friendship, and laying aside all quarrelsome. Feuds and Animosities, would receive and embrace each other; especially that at least they would have some regard to his ease and quiet. Restore me( says he) my calm and peaceable dayes, and my nights voided of Cares, that so hereafter I may enjoy comforts of pure Light, and the pleasure of a quiet Life may be my Portion; otherwise I shall ravel out my dayes in Tears and Sorrow, and bid adieu for the future to repose and ease. For how shall I be able to support my mind, while my Brethren, the People of God are rent asunder by such pernicious and scandalous Schisms and dissensions? By your Concord open my Journey into the East, which you have blocked up by your Feuds and Quarrels; grant me thus much, that as soon as is possible, I may see you and all other People rejoicing together, and that we may unanimously celebrate the due Praises of God for the common Liberty, Peace and Concord. This Letter he sent by Hosius Bishop of Corduba in Spain, who had been an eminent Confessor under the late Persecution, one for whom Constantine had a great Honour and Reverence, and whom he now deputed as Umpire to decide these Differences. Indeed Baronius, 
Ad. Ann. 318. Nu. LXXXVIII, LXXXIX.  true to the Interest of his Design, will needs have Hosius to have been sent as a legate from Pope Silvester upon this errand, that so the Honour of this great Affair might be derived upon the See of Rome. But for this there's no Foundation appears in Story, not one Syllable of the Pope's being concerned in it: All the account Eusebius 
Loc. cit. c. 63. p. 472.  gives of it is, that when the Emperor heard the News, he was passionately concerned at it, and looking upon it as a thing nearly touching him, immediately dispatched away one of the Servants of God, that were then with him at Court, one Famous for the sobriety and excellency of his Faith, and his constancy in Religion in the late Times, to compose the dissensions at Alexandria, furnishing him with necessary Letters to the Authors of them. Whereas Baronius suggests, what errand else could bring Hosius to Court? As if an hundred Occasions might not bring him thither, that are to us unknown. But if a Reason must be assigned, why might not Constantine( who ever loved to have eminent Bishops in his Company) bring him along with him out of the West? Or if he came upon public business, I should rather think it was upon the account of the Contests of the Donatists in afric, whose cause had been so often heard and canvased in Synods, both there, and in France, and at Rome, and that by the Emperor's own Order and Direction, to whom those heretics frequently appealed: And this I am the rather inclined to believe, because Constantine in this very Epistle 
Ubi supr. c. 66. &c.  tells us, that upon his Victory over Licinius, he designed to convene Synods for the composing those African dissensions, which had so miserable disturbed and over-run the Church, which he had effectually done, had not these new Alexandrian Differences intervened. As for Hosius his subscribing first in the Council of Nice, implying him thereby to have been the Papal legate; admitting this to have been so, yet this was not till afterwards, and might be done time enough, when Silvester and the rest of the Bishops received the Imperial Summons for that Synod. Nor could the Pope derive his Proxy upon a fitter Person, a man of great Name and Note, already conversant in those Parts, and that had been concerned and busied in those Affairs. But the best of it is, there was no such thing, not is there any ground in Story for asserting it. And accordingly we find men of Learning, 
Fr. Bivar. Comment. in L. Dextr. Chron. ad Ann. 324. p. 376. ubi alii citantur.  and zealous enough for the Interests of the Church of Rome, who deny Hosius to have been the Pope's legate in that Council, and affirm him to have subscribed only in the name of the Province for which he served, and that whatever Presidency or Authority he had in that Synod, it was derived upon him by the Fathers of the Council, and that only upon account of his excellent Learning, and eminent Confessorship in the times of Persecution.  
VI. HOSIUS thus furnished with the imperial Commission, takes his Journey for Alexandria, where being arrived, he delivered the Emperor's Letters, and it was determined, that the Matter should be again examined in a public Convention. Hereupon a Synod 
Vid. Athan. Apol. 11. p. 614 C. 616. B.  of the Bishops of those Parts was assembled, which Baronius 
Ubi supr.& Ann. 319. N. XXIII. ( who traded no farther than in Latin Translations) calls a general Council, and that for this Reason, because it was held by the legate of the apostolic See. Both certainly true alike. For neither did Hosius preside in this Synod as the Papal legate, nor is this Synod in Athanasius styled a general Council, things being only said to be managed {αβγδ}, in a common Assembly of the Egyptian Bishops. What was particularly transacted in this Synod, we no where find, more than that Colluthus was deposed, who having been Presbyter of one of the Parish-Churches in Alexandria, had arrogantly assumed to himself the Place and Title of a Bishop, and as such had consecrated many into holy Orders, for which he was here censured and reduced to his former Station, and the Ordination of those who had been consecrated by him, declared null and voided. As for the Arian Controversies, we may guess by the Event what was the Issue of this Meeting, no good being done in it, neither the Care and Authority of the Emperor, nor the Presence and persuasions of Hosius being able to prevail, the full deciding of the Case being reserved to a more public and solemn Determination.   

SECT. III. The Acts and Proceedings of the Council of Nice.  
A general Council summoned at Nice from all Parts of the Christian Church. The different Accounts of the Numbers that met in that Synod. Whence this arose. How many took part with Arius. The time and place of their Meeting. A busy Philosopher silenced and convinced by an illiterate Confessor. The preliminary Disputes with Arius. The vigour and briskness of Athanasius in those Disputes. The manner of the Emperor's entrance into the Synod, and the Effects of his Speech to them. Their mutual Heats and Accusations quashed by Constantine. The Arian Doctrine more solemnly debated by the Fathers. The Arian Formula by whom brought into the Synod. The subtle Evasions of the Arians in the Niceties of the Difference between them and the catholics. The Nicene Creed drawn up by Hosius, and approved by the Council. By whom rejected. Arius and his Associates banished by the Emperor. Constantine's Edict against them and their Writings, and command that they should be styled Porphyrians. What Determination the Synod made in the Case of Meletius, and the Person ordained by him. Their Decision of the Paschal controversy. The number of the Canons made by them. What passed between Constantine and Acesius the Novatian Bishop. No reason to question the Truth of that Story. The Synodical Epistle to the Church of Alexandria, concerning the Transactions of the Council. The Effects of some of Constantine's Letters to the same purpose. The End and Duration of the Synod: The Fathers magnificently treated by the Emperor. Eusebius of Nicomedia, and Theognis of Nice recant their Subscription to the Decrees of the Synod, and are banished by the Emperor; their Boldness and Impiety. The true account of that Matter.  
I. AFTER Hosius had in vain attempted to make up the breach, he return'd back to the Court at Nicomedia, to give the Emperor an account of his unsuccessful Transaction at Alexandria. But Constantine desiring, if possible, to stop the Grangren from spreading farther, and finding that no private Method would effect the Cure, resolved for the suppressing this and some other Controversies then on foot, to call in the assistance of the whole Christian Church. To which purpose he presently issued out his Letters 
Euseb. de vit. Const. l. 3. c. 6, 7. &c. p. 486.  into all parts of the Christian World, commanding the Bishops and Clergy to meet together by a day appointed. Who no sooner received the Summons, but flocked out of all Provinces, from Syria, Cilicia, Phaenicia, Arabia, Pontus, Galatia, Pamphylia, Cappadotia, Asia, Phrygia, Persia, Scythia, Egypt, Lybia, Thracia, Macedonia, Epirus, Italy, and whence not? So that Eusebius compares this Council, to the great Apostolical Assembly that met together upon the day of Pentecost, where there were Parthians, Medes, Elamites, and the dwellers in Mesopotamia, and in Judaea, and Cappadocia, in Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphilia, in Egypt; and in the part of Lybia about Cyrene, Strangers of Rome, Jews and Proselytes, Cretes and Arabians, men out of every Nation under Heaven. Only herein( as he observes) this had the advantage of the other, that in that the greatest part were laics, and they but Proselytes; in this they were the Guides and Ministers of Religion; men venerable for their Age, and their Confessions, and constancy in the Faith; for the gravity of their Manners; the Wisdom, Learning, and Reason of their Arguments and Discourses, who meeting together out of the remotest and most distant Parts, made up a variegated Garland( as he Styles it) of the most beautiful and curious Flowers, which the Christian World ever beholded either before or since. The place appointed for the Assembly was Nice, the Metropolis of Bithynia( as Strabo 
L. 12. p. 565.  calls it) situate upon the Banks of the Ascanian Lake, in the same Province with Nicomedia, where the Emperor then kept his Court. 'twas a City large and exactly four-square, and seated in a pleasant Champion, highly commended by an old Geographer 
Vit. Orb. descr. gr. l. à Gothofred. edit. p. 28.  for the neatness, elegancy, evenness, and regularity of its Buildings, so as scarce any other place could equal it. Hither came CCCXVIII. Bishops, besides an innumerable Company of Presbyters, Deacons and inferior Orders. Indeed the number of the Nicene Fathers is uncertainly delivered by the Ancients. Eusebius 
Loc. cit. c. 8.  makes them more than CCL. Eustathius 
Ap. Theod. l. 1. c. 8. p. 26.  Bishop of Antioch CCLXX.( but withall tells us, that by reason of the greatness of the number, he could give no certain account, nor was he very exact and curious about this Matter.) Athanasius 
Ep. ad Solit. p. 660, 661.  CCC. more or less, Sozomen 
Lib. 1. c. 17. p. 430.  about CCCXX. A Manuscript Collection of Synodical Acts, which Mr. Selden 
Comment. in Eutych. p. 72.  conjectures to have been written about the time of the Council of Chalcedon, makes the Bishops to have been CCXXXII. the Priests, Deacons, and Monks LXXXVI. in all CCCXVIII. With him concurs a Modern Greek Historian, 
Doroth. Monemb. {αβγδ}. p. {αβγδ}.  who adds, that the Reason why just so many met, was because there were just so many years expired from the Birth of Christ, to the convening of that Synod, which he makes to have been called Ann. CCCXVIII. On the other hand Eutychius the arabic Historian, and ishmael Ibn all, a mahometan Historian, mentioned by Mr. Selden, 
Loc. citat.  enlarge the number to MMXLVIII. Out of which they tell us, the Emperor selected CCCXVIII. Though whence this variety of Reports should arise, whether from the great numbers of inferior Clergy that came thither, but had no Votes in the Council, or from the dissenting Parties in the Synod, not taken into account, is hard to say. The first is most probable, especially since Eusebius tells us, that the number of Presbyters, Deacons, Acolythi, and others that attended the Bishops thither was so great, that they could not well be reckoned up. Nicetas Choniates 
Thes. Orth. Fid. l. 5. c. 5. p. 441.  gives this Reason, why no more Bishops met in so venerable an Assembly, because Age and Sickness detained many at home, and that bishoprics were then but thin sowed, every little City not being then advanced into an Episcopal See, as it was afterwards, some whole Countries having no more than one Bishop to preside over them. The number that has gained the general Suffrage in all Ages of the Church, is that there were CCCXVIII. Bishops, and with this Athanasius himself elsewhere 
Epist. ad African. p. 718  concurs. And to make it the more sacred and venerable, Liberius 
Epis. ad Episc. Macedon. a●. Socr. l. 4. c. 12. p. 222.  with his Council of Western Bishops, has found out a Mystery in it, it being exactly the same number, wherewith the Patriarch Abraham went out and overcame the vast Army of the Infidels. Of this number there were that espoused the Cause of Arius in the Council, nine( say some 
T●eod. Mops. apud Nicet. Thes. Orthod. l. 5. c. 7. p. 445. ) thirteen( say others 
Theodorit. ap. eund. ) fifteen 
Sozom. ibid. , or seventeen( as others 
Act. Synod. ib. ruffian. l. 1. c. 5. ) Philostorgius 
H. I●. l. 1. ap. Nicet. loc. cit.  reckons up XXII. whose names he sets down, together with the Provinces from whence they came. They were all together with their Attendants and Followers, transported thither by public Conveyances at the Emperor's Charge, as they were maintained at his Cost during their being there.  
II. THIS venerable Synod began upon the XX. day of May, or, as others more probably, on the XIX. of June, Anno Chr. CCCXXV. They met( as the ecclesiastic Historians generally affirm) in the great Hall of the Palace; though a learned man 
H. Val. Annot. in Eus. de vit. Const. l. 3. c. 10.  thinks it highly improbable, that such sublime and sacred Matters should be debated any where, but in the Church; and that it was only on the final and conclusive day that they assembled in the Palace. But wherever it was, it was a place which this great Transaction recommended to the respect and reverence of Posterity, some part of it yet standing in the last Age, and which Busbequius the Emperor's ambassador supposes 
De legate. Turc. Epist. I. p. 79.  to be the place he lodged in in his Amasian Journey to the Grand Seignior's Court. The Bishops before they formally met in a solemn Council, spent some dayes in praeliminary Discourses 
Socr. l. 1. c. 8. p. 20. Soz. l. 1. c. 17. p. 431. ruffian. H. Eccl. l. 1. c. 3. p. 218.  and Disputations, wherein they were first attacked by certain Philosophers, men versed in subtleties and the Arts of Reasoning, whom either Curiosity had drawn hither, or as some suspect, Arius had brought along with him to pled his Cause, and to retard and entangle the Proceedings of the Synod. One of which priding himself in the neatness and elegancy of his Discourses, reflected with scorn upon the Fathers of the Council. A piece of insolence so intolerable, that an ancient Confessor then in the Company, a man plain, and unskill d in the Tricks and Methods of disputing, not being able to bear it, offered himself to undertake him. For which he was laughed at by some, while others more modest and serious, feared what would be the success of his entering the Lists with so able and famed a Disputant. The good man however went on with his Resolution, and bluntly accosted his Adversary in this manner. In the name of Jesus Christ, Philosopher, give ear. There is one God, maker of Heaven and Earth, and of all things visible and invisible, who created all these things by the Power of his Word, and ratifies them by the Sanctity of his holy Spirit. This word which we call the Son of God, pitying the apostasy and brutish State of Mankind, condescended to be born of a Woman, to dwell amongst men, and to die for them, who shall come again to sit as Judge upon whatever we do in this Life. These things we plainly believe. Strive not therefore to no purpose, to endeavour the Confutation of what we entertain by Faith, or to find out how these things may, or may not be; but answer me, if thou dost believe. The Philosopher astonished and thunder-struck with the Zeal and plainness of the old man's Discourse, answered that he did believe; and thanking that Conqueror that had overcome him, yielded up himself to his Sentiments and Opinions, persuading his Companions to do the like, solemnly affirming, that it was by an unspeakable Power, and not without immediate Direction from Heaven, that he was thus brought over to be a Christian. This passage, for substance the same both in Rufinus, Socrates and Sozomen, Gelasius Cyzicenus, has improved into many elaborate Stories, having given us at large the particular Disputations of these Philosophers, with the Replies of the several Fathers of the Synod about the Arian Doctrines; which being in all likelihood no better than the Issue of his own brain, we here omit.  
III. BUT to proceed, that which they were most intent upon, was the Examination of those Opinions, that had created so much noise and bustle in the Church. For which purpose they frequently 
Ruffi●. ubi supr. Sozom. loc. cit. &c. 18. p. 431.  called for Arius before them, debated his Propositions, considered what might be said on either side, weighed every thing with infinite Care and Deliberation, that nothing might be rashly determined in so weighty and important an Affair. This freedom of debate soon multiplied infinite Questions, and produced various and different Counsels and persuasions about the Matter. Some advised that no Innovations should be made in Matters of Faith, but that it should be still entertained with the same naked Simplicity, wherewith from the beginning it had been delivered to the Church; men of simplo and honest Minds not thinking it fit that Articles concerning God should be made the Subject of subtle and over-curious Disputes. Others contending that Times and Circumstances altered the decency of things, and that we ought not implicitly to follow the Opinions of the Ancients, without due trial and Examination. These Disputations were managed with great heat and briskness, both by them of the Episcopal, and by others of inferior Orders, amongst which, in the former capacity none appeared with more warmth and zeal than Alexander, as being most immediately concerned in the controversy, as amongst the latter none behaved himself with more smartness and accuracy than Athanasius, at that time Deacon of the Church of Alexandria, whom Alexander had brought along with him to the Synod, where with all boldness and vehemency he assaulted and opposed the Arian Principles, for which( as the Egyptian Bishops in their Synodical Epistle tells 
Ap. Atha●. Apol. II. p. 564. vid. Socr. l. 1. c. 8. p. 20.  us) that Party never forgave him, transferring their Pique against Alexander upon him; a Quarrel, which they never ceased to prosecute to his dying day.  
IV. HITHERTO the Fathers had been exercised only with private and preparatory Disquisitions, like light Skirmishes to the main battle: But now they were to act more solemnly in a Synodical way to bring the thing to a final Issue; at which Assembly, probably, none were present of the inferior Clergy, at least none gave their Votes. The Bishops being met 
Eus. de vit. Const. l. 3. c. 10. p. 488.  in the Palace, where all things were made ready to receive them, the Emperor came attended not with his usual Guards, but Persons eminent for their Faith and Piety. He entred the Council with all imaginable Pomp and State, clothed with the richest and most splendid Robes, but with a mind humble and pious in the midst of all his greatness. He passed through the Ranks on each side, to the upper end of the Hall, where he placed himself in the midst, and having received an Intimation from the Bishops that all things were ready, sat down in the Chair that was placed for him, after which the Fathers took their Places, and some of them having a while entertained him with Speeches in the name of the Synod, silence was made, and in the Latin Tongue( which by the Interpreter was soon rendered into Greek) he discoursed to them to this Effect. That there was nothing which he had more passionately desired, then to behold this venerable Assembly, for which being now met, he return'd hearty thanks to the supreme governor of the World; that he desired no envious man might hereafter interrupt their Prosperity, and that when the divine Power of our Saviour had delivered them from the Oppositions of impious and atheistical Tyrants, the mischievous Enemy of Mankind might not be suffered to shift the Scene, and attempt it by another way: That he looked upon the intestine Divisions of the Church of God, as the most pernicious and dangerous Commotions, nothing creating so great a trouble to his mind: That when God had blessed him with such happy success against his Enemies, he had well hoped he had had nothing to do, but to celebrate the divine Goodness, and rejoice in the common Safety; but being unexpectedly arrested with the unwelcome News of their dissensions, he thought himself obliged immediately to take care about it, and had for that end so suddenly called them together, as the most proper and effectual Remedy in this Matter, and should then think he had done it to good purpose, when he should see them join hearts and hands together, and promote the public Peace and Concord, which as Persons consecrated to God, they were above all others bound to procure and further; That therefore, as Ministers of God, as faithful Servants of the common Lord and Saviour, they should endeavour, that all occasions of Difference being thrown out of the way, and the noise of Contention being dissolved, they might preserve things in the bond of Peace. By which means( said he) you will at once do what is highly acceptable to the great God, and infinitely gratify me your Fellow-Servant. And certainly it was not without reason, that this pious Prince so pathetically pressed them to Peace and Unity. For amongst other Artifices to obstruct the Proceedings of the Council, this was not the least, to exasperate the minds of the Bishops against each other, by which means they had charged and impeached 
Sozom. l. 1. c. 17. p. 430. Theod. l. 1. c. 11. p. 36.  one another, and had presented Libels of Accusation to the Emperor: Which he receiving at their Hands, had tied together in a Bundle, and set his own Seal upon them. And having afterwards made Peace amongst them, produced the Bundle, and gravely chiding them for their mutual Recriminations,  told them; That these things were reserved for the Decisions of the great day, and were not so proper for the Cognizance of human Judicatures, both Plaintiff and Defendant being Persons in holy Offices, who ought to do nothing that may make them liable to those Tribunals: That setting before them the divine Clemency and Indulgence, they should forbear and forgive one another; and laying aside their Quarrels, agree, and mind the things that concerned the Faith, the end for which they were there met together. And with that he threw the Papers into the Fire, seriously protesting, that he had not red one word of them; that it was not fit the Faults of Priests should be published to the Scandal of the People, who might thence derive a Warrant to themselves to sin with more freedom and boldness; that for his own part, if he should chance to spy a Bishop overtaken in a wanton and immodest Action, he would cover him with his own imperial Cloak, rather than it should be exposed to the offence and scandal of Spectators. But to proceed.  
V. NO sooner had the Emperor given the Synod leave to debate their Matters, but they presently fell upon the Arian Controversies. And first they examined 
Jat. Pap. Ep. a●. Athan. ●pol. II. p. 576.  the Acts of the Synod at Alexandria, that so they might proceed with all possible Care and Caution, and the Parties Criminal know that they had not been sentenced without just Cause. Next they canvased the Doctrines of Arius, whose Propositions were extracted and red out of his own Writings, at the hearing whereof, the holy Fathers stopped their Ears, 
Athan. contr. Arian. Orat. I. p. 125.  declaring them Heretical, and Alien from the Faith of the Church. The Case at first was argued with heat on both sides, with great Contention and Opposition, there being Seventeen of the Bishops that appeared in favour of the Arian Cause, and some few more it may be, that did not openly declare themselves. In these Contests the good Emperor sat 
Eus. de vit. Const. l. 3. c. 13. p. 490.  as a public Moderator, hearing the Debates with an unwearied Patience, and weighing the Arguments with an intent and judicious Mind: To what appeared just and reasonable, he gave a ready Assent; where any were Refractory and Pertinacious, he sought to reclaim them by mildred and gentle Means; some he conquered by Reason and Argument; others he prevailed with by Importunity and persuasion; endeavouring to reduce all to Love and Peace. The Arians by Eusebius of Nicomedia brought a Writing into the Synod, containing an account of their Faith; which Eustathius 
Ap. Theod. l. 1● c. 8. p. 26.  of Antioch one of the Council calls Vile and Impious, and a most evident Argument of Blasphemy; and tells us, 'twas no sooner red, but 'twas infinitely resented, and torn in pieces before them all. I know Monsieur clois 
Annot. ad Socr. l. 1. c. 7, 8. p. 10.  will have this Libel brought in not by the Nicomedian, but Caesarean Eusebius; and that it was that Formula or Confession of Faith, which Eusebius brought into the Synod, and of which himself has given us a particular account in his Letter 
Ap. Theod l. 1. c. 12. p. 37.  to the People of Caesarea. But this certainly without any Reason, there being nothing in that Confession, that deserves so bad a Character; nothing that savours either of heresy or Blasphemy; and which the Author tells us was well approved, and both with the Emperor and the rest found a candid and kind Reception. Most probable therefore it is, that the Nicomedian Confession being rejected by the Synod, another was presented by Eusebius of Caesarea, as a more sound and safe Expedient.  
VI. BUT though this of Eusebius was consonant and agreeable enough to the Doctrine of the Church, yet was it not thought sufficiently punctual and expressive in the Minutes and Criticisms of the controversy. For the Arians represented their Propositions in such general Terms, 
Athan. Epist. ad Afric. p. 720 721. de decret. Synod. Nic. p. 415, 416, 437. vid. Theod. l. 1. c. 8. p. 27  and were so subtle and deceitful in their Explications, that the Fathers thought they could never particularly enough provide against them. When the Orthodox asserted Christ to be God, the Arians allowed it, but then meant it in no other sense, than as Angels and Holy men are styled Gods, and the Sons of God in Scripture: When they affirmed him to be true God, the others assented, that he was truly made so by God; if the catholics maintained that the Son was naturally of God, the Arians would grant it; for even we( say they) are of God, there being one God, of whom are all things. Did the one hold, that the Son was the Power, Wisdom, and Image of the Father; the other never scrupled to admit it, for that we also are said to be the Image and Glory of God, and even the meanest Creatures are sometimes called the great Power of God. Such being the Crafty and Fraudulent shifting of their Adversaries, the Fathers found themselves obliged to collect together the places of Scripture which represent the Divinity of the Son of God, which they more particularly declared to be meant of his being of the same Substance with the Father, that Creatures were said to be of God, because not existing of themselves, they had their Rise and Beginning from him; but the Son only was properly of the Substance of the Father; this being the peculiar propriety of the only begotten, and the true Word of the Father. All which they summed up into this one word {αβγδ}, implying him to be Con-substantial, or Co-essential with the Father.  
VII. MATTERS having proceeded thus far, the result of their Determination was ordered to be comprised in a standing Creed or Confession of Faith, which was accordingly drawn up by 
Athan. Epist. ad Solit. p. 648.  Hosius Bishop of Corduba, by him brought into the Synod, and highly approved both by them and the Emperor, and was in this Form.  

WE believe in one God, the Father Almighty, maker of all things visible and invisible: And in one Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the only begotten of the Father, that is, of the substance of the Father; God of God, and Light of Light, very God of God; begotten, not made, being Con-substantial, or, of one substance with the Father, by whom all things were made, both in Heaven and Earth: Who for us men, and for our Salvation came down from Heaven, and was incarnate, and was made man: He suffered, and rose again the third day; ascended into Heaven, and shall come again to judge the quick and the dead. And in the holy Ghost. But for those that say, there was a time when he was not, and, that he was not before he was made; or, that he was made out of things that were not, or, that he is of any other substance or essence, or that he is obnoxious to change or alteration; all such the holy catholic and apostolic Church does anathematize and reject.   
This Confession was almost universally entertained; Constantine 
Sozom. l. 1. c. 20. p. 434.  declaring his hearty Approbation of it, and that he looked upon this Unity in the Council, as immediately given from above, and that whoever refused to comply with the Decrees thus established, should he banished, as a Person endeavouring to reverse the judgement of God himself. Having thus condemned Arius his Doctrine, they proceeded next to censure his Person, deposing 
Soz. ib. c. 21.  and excommunicating him and his Followers, and forbidding him to enter into Alexandria, where he had so plentifully sowed his Tares. To these Decrees the Arian Party at first stood off and would not consent, but knowing how deeply they were like to fall under the Emperor's displeasure, and being advised to it( says Philostorgius 
L. 1. c. 8. p. 469 ) by their great Patroness Constantina, the Emperor's Sister, they at last subscribed, though not to the deposing of Arius, yet to the Confession of Faith. Though even this they did( as he adds, 
Loc. cit.& ap. Nicet. Thes. Orth. Fid. l. 5. c. 8.  and we may safely credit their own Historian) {αβγδ} by Arts of Treachery and Deceit, reserving to themselves their own sense, and subscribing not {αβγδ}, but {αβγδ}, not that the Son is of the same, but only of a like Essence with the Father. Two only of the whole number stood out, Secundus Bishop of Ptolemais, and Theonas of Marmarica, who choose rather to undergo the same Fate with Arius, than to own and acquiesce in the Synodical Determination. The former of which not long after, came to Eusebius of Nicomedia, and bluntly  told him; Eusebius, thou hast subscribed merely to prevent banishment, but I trust in God that thou wilt be banished within a Twelvemonth; which accordingly came to pass.  
VIII. THE Council having done their Part, the Emperor was not long wanting in his. For he commanded 
Soz. l. 1. c. 21. p. 435.  Arius and his condemned Associates to be banished, who were accordingly transmitted into Illyricum, the place appointed for their Exile. And by a subsequent Edict, directed indefinitely both to Clergy and People, ordered his Writings to be burnt, and a title of Ignominy to be fixed upon the Party. The Copy of the Letter 
Ext. ap. Socr. l. 1. c. 9. p. 32. vid. Sozom. loc. cit.  being but short, we here insert.  
CONSTANTINE the Great, the August, the Conqueror, to the Bishops and People.  
SINCE Arius has taken upon him to imitate impious and bad men, 'tis but just he should undergo the same punishment with them. As therefore Porphyry, the Enemy of true Religion, for the pernicious volumes he wrote against Christianity, met with a reward due to so great a villainy, to become infamous to all Posterity, to be loaded with Reproaches and Execrations, and to have his impious Books quiter banished out of the World. So it now seems good to us, that Arius and his Adherents be called PORPHYRIANS, that they may bear his Title, whose Manners they imitate and resemble. Farther, if any Book written by Arius be found, we command it to be burnt, that so not only his vile Doctrines may be utterly extirpated, but that not the least Monument of him may remain. Declaring also, that if any man shall be found to conceal any such Book of Arius, and not presently offer it to be burnt, as soon as ever he shall be apprehended, he shall be put to Death. God have you in his keeping.  
Several Letters of this nature Constantine wrote 
Soz. ubi supr. p. 436.  up and down against Arius and his Followers, and amongst the rest that cited by Epiphanius, 
Haeres. LXIX. p. 314.  but extant entire in Gelasius Cyzicenus, 
H. Conc. Nic. l. 3. c. 1. col. 269  wherein he expostulates the Case with him in the most vehement Manner, and treats the man with all imaginable sharpness and severity.  
IX. TOGETHER with that of Arius, the Synod took under Consideration the Case 
Epist. Synod. Nicen. ap. Socr. l. 1. c. 9. p. 28. vid. Sozom. l. 1. c. 24. p. 438.  of Meletius the Egyptian Bishop, who had given so much disturbance to Peter and his Successors in that See; with him they dealt by more easy and gentle Measures, his fault being not heresy, but a Schism only. Him they confine to his own City, allow him the title of a Bishop, but without any Episcopal Power or Jurisdiction either in City or Country. The Persons that had been ordained by him, being first confirmed by Alexander, their proper Metropolitan, were to be admitted to Communion, and to the exercise of their several Ministries; but according to the Capacities of their Station, were to take place after all other Clergy-men, in all Churches and Parishes where they come, and as others died out of any place, they in their Order might succeed, being regularly chosen by the People, and the Election ratified by the Bishop of Alexandria: But that they themselves should have no hand in the Election, or Power to choose whom they would. As for Meletius himself, knowing his inveterate Contumacy, and his rash heady Temper, they quiter divested him of all Power, lest he should excite the same Troubles and Factions which he had formerly raised in the Church of God.  
X. THE next thing that came under debate( for being thus far engaged, we shall give a brief account of the whole Transactions of the Synod) was the Paschal controversy, concerning the time of the Celebration of Easter, wherein the Christian World was so much divided; the Asiaticks and Eastern Churches observing it after the Jewish Custom, on the fourteenth day after the Phasis or appearance of the Moon, the rest on the next Lord's day after the Jewish Passover. A Question controverted from the very Infancy of the Church, and managed even by good men with great Bitterness and Animosity, and about this time revived as hot as ever. The suppressing whereof was one of the Emperor's prime inducements 
Eus. de vit. Const. l. 3. c. 5, 14, 18, 19.  in calling this ecumenical Assembly, where it was first concluded in the General, that 'twas a thing highly fit and reasonable, that this great Festival should in all places be solemnized upon one and the same day: Next, that it was as indecent and uncomely, that this Solemnity, wherein we commemorate our Saviour's rising from the Dead, should depend upon the Custom of the Jews, who with so execrable a villainy had embrued their hands in his innocent Blood: Wherefore it was universally agreed to follow the usage of those Churches, whose custom it had been from all Antiquity, to observe it on the Lord's day next ensuing the Jewish Festival. And thus was this storm on a sudden calmed, which the endeavours of preceding Ages were never able to alloy. The last thing they took in hand, was to draw up some Rules 
Socr. l. 1. c. 13. p. 43. Sozom. l. 1 c. 23. p. 437. Epiph. loc. supr. cit.  for ecclesiastic Discipline, and the Government of the Church, which they digested into XX. Canons, all extant entire at this day. Which they who have improved into LXXXIV. might by the same Authority have added as many more. For though neither Socrates nor Sozomen say any thing of the particular number, yet Theodorit, 
Lib. 1. c. 8. p. 29.  Gelasius, 
H. Conc. Nic. l. 2. c. 30. col. 236.  and many others expressly limit it to twenty. Nor have any more been owned, or so much as heard of( an arabic Writer or two, of no credit, excepted) till of late in the Christian Church.  
XI. AMONGST others whom the Emperor had summoned to the Synod, was Acesius 
Socr. l. 1. c. 10 p. 38. Soz l. 1. c. 22. p. 436.  Bishop of the Novatian Party, who upon the account of the severity of their Principles, kept separate Assemblies, and did not communicate with other Churches; The pious Prince, whose heart was set upon abolishing all dissensions amongst Christians, hoping to reconcile and bring them in. The Creed being drawn up and ratified by common Subscriptions, the Emperor demanded of Acesius; whether he also would subscribe it, and stand to the Determination about the Paschal Festival. Acesius replied, that the Council had defined nothing new in this Matter, and that he had ever received the Faith as such, and the time of the Solemnity of Easter, as what had been so delivered from the beginning, even from the very times of the Apostles. But why then( said Constantine) do you separate from the Communion of the Church? Hereupon the Bishop began to open his Case, and acquaint him with the State of things under the Decian Persecution, and what had happened between Novatian and Cornelius Bishop of Rome, and that it was the severe Principle of their Party, that those who after Baptism fell into any such crime, which the Scripture calls, the sin unto death, were not to be admitted to the holy Communion; they were indeed to be invited and exhorted to Repentance, but might not expect Remission or Absolution from the Priests, but must look for it at the hands of God, who alone has power and right to forgive Sin. The Emperor paused a little, and considering the unmerciful strictness of this Rule, replied, if so, then Acesius, set up your Ladder, and go to Heaven by yourself. This Story is questioned by the late Publisher 
Val. Annot. ad Socr. p. 9.  of the Ecclesiastical Historians, but Socrates that reports it, assures us he received it from Auxanon 
Vid. Socr. ib. &c. 13. p. 41.  a Novatian Presbyter, who attended Acesius to that Council, and both saw and heard what passed there. And though we should be so unreasonably disingenuity as to suppose Auxanon made the Relation itself, yet can it not be imagined, what should tempt him to feign a Story, that made so little for the credit of his own Party.  
XII. NOTHING now remained, but that as the custom was in such Cases, they should give some public notice of what had been transacted in the Synod, especially to the Churches whom it more immediately concerned. To which end they presently dispatched away the following Letter 
Ext. ap. Socr. l. 1. c. 9. p. 27. Theod. ubi supr. p. 30.  to the Church of Alexandria, and to the Bishops of those Parts, giving them a succinct account of what had passed in the Council.  
To the holy and great Church by the grace of God settled at Alexandria, and to the dear Brethren through Egypt, Libya, and Pentapolis, the Bishops assembled at Nice, and there constituting a great and holy Synod, in our Lord greeting.  
SINCE by the favour of God, and the most Religious Emperor Constantine, who has convened us out of divers Cities and Provinces, a holy and great Council is celebrated at Nice; we have thought it necessary, that Letters should be sent to you from the whole sacred Synod, that you may understand both what has been propounded and debated, and what has been agreed upon and decreed. First then the impious Cause of Arius and his Associates, was discussed in the presence of the most Religious Emperor, and by universal suffrage his ungodly Principles were condemned, yea and the very blasphemous Words and Phrases, that he makes use of to express them, when he affirms, that the Son of God sprung out of nothing, and that there was a time, when he was not, and that according to the freedom of his Will, he is capable of 'vice and virtue, not scrupling to call him a Creature, and the Workmanship of God. All which the holy Synod, being no longer able to bear such Impiety and Madness, nor to hear such blasphemous Expressions, has anathematized and condemned. And indeed what has been determined concerning him, you have either heard already, or will hear shortly; that we may not seem to insult over a man, who has received such a recompense as his Crimes deserved. Nay, so venomous and malignant was his Impiety, as to draw Theonas Bishop of Marmarica, and Secundus of Ptolemais, along with him into the same ruin. The same Sentence that passed upon him, being passed also against them. But forasmuch as when the grace of God, had delivered them from the blasphemy and impiety of this wretched Opinion, and from those Persons who feared not to raise dissensions and Divisions amongst a People formerly living in Peace and Unity; the boldness and contumacy of Meletius, and those that had been ordained by him did still continue; we give you to understand, dear Brethren, what the Synod has determined in this Matter. It seemed good then( the Council dealing more tenderly with him, for in strict Justice he deserved no pitty) that Meletius should reside in his own City, but have no Power either of electing, or laying on of hands; nor should, upon that account, appear in any Town or City, and should only retain the venerable title of Bishop. And as for those that have been ordained by him, being confirmed by a more holy and warrantable Ordination, they are to be admitted to Communion, with this condition, that they retain their Dignity, and their Office, but be ever placed after all those, whom our much honoured colleague Alexander, has at any time before ordained, in what Church or diocese soever they be. And as to these Persons, they shall have no Power to choose whom they please, or to propound any one's name in order to it, or indeed to do any thing at all without the consent of the Bishops of the catholic Church, that are under Alexander's Jurisdiction. But where any by the grace of God, and the assistance of your Prayers shall be found not to have been guilty of any Schism, but to have continued unblamable in the catholic and apostolic Church, let them have power of electing and propounding the names of such Persons as are fit to be admitted into the Clergy, and of doing all other things according to the Rules and Canons of the Church. And if any of them that are in the Church chance to die, let them who were lately taken in, be advanced into the Place and Dignity of the Person deceased, always provided that they appear worthy, and that the People choose; but withall, that the Bishop of Alexandria consent to, and ratify the Election. And the same is to be granted to all others. As for Meletius himself, it has pleased the Synod, not to deal altogether so favourably with him, that considering his former Contumacy, and the rash and precipitate Humour of the man, he should be entrusted with no Power or Authority, whereby he may again be capable to raise the same Stirs and Tumults that he did before. These are the things that peculiarly concern Egypt, and the most holy Church of Alexandria. If there be any thing else decreed or desired, while our Lord and reverend Colleague and Brother Alexander is present with us, he himself at his return shall acquaint you with it more particularly, he being chief Author and Actor of what is transacted here. We give you likewise to understand, of the Agreement about the most holy Feast of Easter, that by the assistance of your Prayers, this Affair is happily ended; and that all the Brethren in the East, who beforetime celebrated it after the Jewish Custom, will henceforth unanimously celebrate it agreeably to the usage of the Roman Church, and to us, and to all that from all Antiquity have kept it as we do. rejoice therefore for this happy settlement of Affairs, and both for the common Peace and Agreement, and for that all heresy is cut off, receive our Colleague, and your Bishop, Alexander with greater Demonstrations of Honour, Respect, and Love, who has both by his presence added great Contentment and Satisfaction to us, and even at this Age has sustained infinite and indefatigable Pains, that Peace and Unity might be restored to you. Pray for us all, that those things that have been well constituted, may remain firm and entire through the blessing of Almighty God, and our Lord Jesus Christ, being ordained, as we verily believe, according to the good pleasure of God the Father in the holy Spirit. To whom be Glory for ever and ever, Amen.  
This Synodical Epistle was backed with another 
Ext. ap. Socr. ib. p. 30.  from the Emperor, wherein he tells them, that he looked upon it as one of the greatest Blessings of the divine Providence, that Truth had so gloriously triumphed over Error; that Schisms and dissensions were banished; that the evil Doctrines which Arius( to whom he gives no better a Character, than {αβγδ}, the shameless Minister of the Devil) had scattered up and down the Word, having been first examined with all possible Care and Accuracy, had been rejected, and the contrary Truth established by the Fathers of the Synod; whose Sentence herein was to be embraced as the judgement of God, as proceeding from Persons enlightened and directed by the holy Ghost, which every one should show himself ready to entertain, and willing to return into the way of Truth. Besides this, he wrote 
Ext. ap. Eus. de vit. Const. l. 3. c. 17. p. 491 Socr. ubi supr. p. 32. Theod. ib. c. 10. p. 32.  also to the Churches in general, to let them know, what pains he had taken for the composure of the Paschal controversy, and how unanimously the Council had decided it, and how infinitely reasonable it was, that it should be kept at the same time in the whole catholic Church: That therefore he desired they would acquiesce in the Decree, and receive it as a Blessing from Heaven, {αβγδ}, and as truly a divine Command; seeing what was determined by the Bishops in holy Synods, was to be referred to the Will of God.  
XIII. ALL things thus successfully accomplished, the Emperor invited 
Eus. ib. c. 15. Soz. ib. c. 25. p. 438. Theod. ib. c. 11. p. 35.  the Bishops( it being then the great Solemnity of his Vicennalia) to a public Dinner, where all the Guards and Officers stood ready to receive them. The more eminent he entertained at his own Table, the rest in apartments prepared for them. And where he espied any that had lost their right Eyes for their constant adherence to the Faith in the times of Persecution, he kissed the Wounds, doing all imaginable reverence to the Persons, and expecting to receive their Benediction. After Dinner he loaded them with Gifts and Presents answerable to their Merits, and the Dignity of their Places, and suitable to the Magnificence of so great a Prince. Which done, he took his leave of them, again pressing them to maintain an Uniformity in the Faith, and Peace amongst themselves; withall requesting, that every day they would earnestly solicit Heaven for him, his Children, and the Prosperity of his Empire. After which, they mutually took leave of one another, each one preparing for his Journey home. Thus ended this great and first general Council, after it had satin somewhat more than two Months, beginning June the XIXth. and breaking up about the latter end of August. So prodigiously extravagant are the accounts of those, who extend it not only to more Months, but years. Some 
Act. Metroph.& Alex. ap. Phot. CCLVI. col. 1412.  make it to last three years and six Months, 
Lib. 8. c. 26. p. 588.  Nicephorus three years and somewhat better, Gelasius 
Lib. 2. c. 35. col. 265.  from the sixteenth to the twentieth Year of Constantine's Reign; Photius 
Epist. ad Mich. Bulg. p. 3.  and the Author of the Synodicon 
Synod. p. 16.  make it holden both under the Pontificats of Pope Silvester and Julius, which accounting from the usual Computation of its being called Ann. CCCXXV. can extend it to no less than thirteen years. When as 'tis most evident, that it was holden under the Consulship of Paulinus and Julian, and ended when Constantine celebrated his Vicennalia, or the twentieth year of his Reign; which commencing Ann. Chr. CCCVI. fell in just about this time.  
XIV. IT was but three Months 
Philost. l. 1. c. 9. p. 469. Soz. l. 1. c. 21. p. 436.  after the Dissolution of the Synod, when Eusebius Bishop of Nicomedia, and Theognis of Nice notwithstanding their politic Dissimulation, were sent the same way with Arius, being banished by the Emperor's Command. What the particular Cause was, is variously reported. Philostorgius, 
L. 2. ap. Nicet. Th. Orth. Fid. l. 5. c. 8. p. 448.  who studies all ways to● secure their Credit, tells us, that repenting of what they had done, their subscribing to the Nicene Decrees, they came to the Emperor, and  told him, We have done ill, Sir, in that, for fear of you, we have subscribed an impious Confession. Whereat the good Emperor was moved with a just Passion and Indignation. Others relate, 
Soz. l. 2 c. 21. p. 472.  that having corrupted the imperial Register, who kept the Acts of the Nicene Council, they razed out their Subscriptions, and then began openly to assert, that it was false Doctrine, to teach that the Son was Co-essential with the Father. For which Eusebius being complained of to the Emperor, carried himself before him with an excessive Confidence, and showing him his Garment, asked him, whether if he should see that Garment rent in two, he should ever a●firm, each part to be the same Substance. A piece of Impudence and Impiety which the Emperor resented with infinite trouble, and the more to see those Controversies again revived, which he had well hoped, by the care of the late Council, had been wholly suppressed and stifled. Though these Reports be no ways unsuitable to the Temper and Humour of the men, yet is it safest to rely upon the account which the Emperor himself gives of it in his Letter 
Ext. fragm. ap. Theod. l. 1. c. 20. p. 49. integra vero ap. Gelas. Cyzic. l. 3. c. 2. col. 278. vid. Nicet. Thes. Orth. Fid. l. 5. c. 8. p. 447.  to the People of Nicomedia, written immediately upon the Sentence of their Banishment; wherein after he had asserted the catholic Doctrine, and reflected upon the perniciousness of the Arian Principles; he comes more particularly to Eusebius their Bishop, whom he charges with holding Correspondence with the Tyrant Licinius, and having been a cause of the late Persecution, with Treasons and Conspiracies against his own Person, but especially with poisoning them with heretical Doctrine, for which he had now provided them a Remedy, by sending them a faithful and orthodox Bishop, who would not fail to set them in the right Way, did they but cheerfully comply with him. That as for Eusebius, he had between fear and shane renounced those impious Opinions in the late Council of Nice, sending frequent Messages to himself to intercede for him, and to pray that he might not be exposed to shane, and thrust from the Honour of his place, by which means he had been circumvented and imposed upon. And yet after all, he and Theognis had lately discovered and betrayed themselves. For that certain factious heretics of Alexandria, whom he had sent for from thence, as the common Boutefeus and Incendiaries of the Place, and whom the Mercy of the Synod had spared in hopes of their Repentance; being there, these men had not only encouraged and entertained, and taken them home to them, but communicated with them in all their wicked and ungodly Practices. For which cause he had ordered them to be banished into a remote Country; and if any should presume to speak in Commendation, or make mention of those Pests and Plagues, his boldness should quickly find its just Punishment and Correction. Accordingly they were immediately banished into France, and their Sees supplied by two worthy Persons, Amphion at Nicomedia, and Chrestus at Nice.   

SECT. IV. The Acts of Athanasius, from the Nicene Council, till the Synod at Tyre.  
A more close approach to the Athanasian Story. The Death of Alexander, and Election of Athanasius to that See. The regularity of his Ordination justified against the Calumnies of the Arians. His Age at that time. The Story of his childish personating the Bishop suspected. The Arians confederate with the Meletians against him. Meletius his Violation of the Nicene Decrees. Arius his release from Banishment. The return of Eusebius and Theognis, and the Declaration of their Assent to the Faith of Nice. The Arian Stories of Constantine's favour to their Party, and displeasure against the catholics. Athanasius his Visitation of his diocese, and Discovery of Ischyras. His intimacy with S. Anthony. Great attempts made for Arius's Reconciliation. Complaints made at Court against Athanasius. His Defence, and honourable Dismission. The Crimes falsely charged upon Eustathius Bishop of Antioch, and his Banishment. The Charge revived against Athanasius, who gives Satisfaction to the Emperor in those Matters. A Synod indicted at Caesarea, to inquire into the Cause of Athanasius. He refuses to appear, and is misrepresented for his refusal.  
I. HITHERTO we have followed the course of the main Story, we shall now more particularly bring it down to Athanasius his door, and present him upon the public Stage of Action; to be Bishop of Alexandria, being( as Nazianzen 
In Athan. Orat. XXI. p. 377.  speaks in this very Case) in effect to be Bishop of the whole World; and such especially he was, whose Acts and Sufferings make up almost the entire Story of that Age, in which capacity he will now fall under our Pen. Alexander being return'd from the Council of Nice, and having received into his charge the Churches, which Meletius, who had unjustly usurped them, readily delivered up to him, died not long after. As if God had but spared him, to let him taste the Fruit of his eminent Labours, and congratulate his Churches Settlement in tranquillity and Peace, and had only brought him home, that his Bones might be entombed with Honour amongst his own People. He died five Months after the rising of the Synod, and before his Death is said to have designed Athanasius for his Successor. For so Apollinaris the Syrian 
Ap. Soz. l. 2. c. 17. p. 465. ( whose Father was born and bread at Alexandria) informs us, that Alexander lying upon his Death-bed, frequently called for Athanasius, who was then absent, and suspecting him to have withdrawn himself to avoid the great charge that he meant to devolve upon him, he cried out, Athanasius, thou thinkest thou hast escaped, but thou shalt not escape. Epiphanius, who strangely confounds Times and Persons, tells us, 
Haeres. LXIX p. 308. LXX. p. 314.  that Alexander dying, and Athanasius, to whom he had bequeathed that See, being then from home, sent upon a Message to Court, Achillas was clapped in to fill the Vacancy, and Theonas set up by the Meletian Party, both which dying within three Months, Athanasius came quietly into the place. But omitting this as fabulous and inconsistent, no sooner was Alexander dead, 
Epist. Synod. Alex. ap. Ath. Apol. II. p. 565, 566.  but the People of Alexandria became passionately clamorous for Athanasius to succeed, universally flocking to the Church, and publicly putting up their Petitions to God in that behalf, continuing in those Devotions day and night, yea and solemnly adjuring the Bishops( who were come to Town to settle a new Bishop in that See) to consecrate and ordain him, till when they would neither leave the Church themselves, nor suffer the Bishops to depart. Which was no sooner done, but it was entertained with the universal Joy and Satisfaction both of the Clergy and People, manifested by all open signs of Festivity and rejoicing, cheerful Looks, general Confluences to behold the man, and common Gratulations and Thanks to God for so great a Blessing. So spiteful and groundless was the Calumny of the Arians( as the Egyptian Bishops, some of which were present, and did assist at his Ordination, in their Synodical Epistle do observe) that when upon Alexander's death, 
Loc. cit. vid. Sozom. ubi supr. p. 466.  both the catholic and Meletian Bishops unanimously agreed to choose a Successor, and solemnly bound their Agreement by an Oath, six or seven departing from the rest, retired into an obscure place, and there made choice of Athanasius, of whom very little mention had been made; upon which account many both of the Clergy and People refused Communion with him. Philostorgius adds, 
Lib. 2. c. 11. p. 473.  that while the Bishops were consulting about the Election, Athanasius with some of his Party, in the Evening went to the Church of St. Denys, and finding there two Egyptian Bishops, caused the Doors to be fast locked, and forced them to ordain him, for which the rest of the Bishops denounced an Anathema against him, but that he presently dispatched away Letters to Court, in the name of the whole City of Alexandria, as if the thing had been done by common consent, and by that Artifice procured the Emperor to confirm and ratify the Election. But there needs no dispute, who are to be trusted in this Matter, whether professed and sworn Enemies, whose custom was, to support their Cause by arts of craft and falsehood, or those who were themselves present at the Action, and made their public Protestation, whi●e the thing was but lately done; yea, and solemnly called in( as there they do) the whole City and Province to attest it. Not to say that Nazianzen 
Encom. Ath. Orat. XXI. p. 377.  expressly says of him, that he came in by the general Suffrage of the People, not as his intruding Successor, by Force and Slaughter, {αβγδ}, but after a Divine and apostolic manner. His Succession happened about the beginning of the year CCCXXVI. at which time he must be very young, not above XXVIII. years of Age. For his childish personating the Office of a Bishop( when we cannot well suppose him above thirteen or fourteen years old at most) not happening till Alexander was Bishop of that Church; and Alexander not being advanced to that See, till towards the latter end of Ann. CCCXII. the remainder till the year after the Nicene Synod, will but barely make up the Account. An Age not very consistent with the ordinary Customs and Constitutions of the Church. But it was thought fit it seems for once, rather to dispense with the Rules of ecclesiastic Discipline, than that, at this time especially, the Church should want so extraordinary a Person, so admirably fit and useful to the present State and Exigencies of that Church. All which is said upon the supposal that the Story of his childish playing the Bishop, is certain and unquestionable, which though transmitted to us by a great cloud of Witnesses, yet is the whole Evidence founded upon the single Authority of Rufinus, who 'tis plain, was the first reporter of the Story, a man infinitely careless in his accounts of things, and who took up this only as a popular Tradition at near an hundred years distance from the thing itself. And if that Story be set aside, then may Athanasius his Birth be carried back into part of the foregoing Saeculum, and a more competent Age allowed him at the time of his Ordination. And indeed it seems very strange, that the Arians who narrowly ransacked all the Passages of his Life, and particularly objected, or rather feigned other Irregularities of his Ordination, should never mention the Incompetency of his years for so great and eminent a Station, especially when it seemed to be against the Apostles own Canon, and the ordinary Rules and practise of the Church. But herein I determine nothing, but leave the Reader to the conduct of his own judgement, not being willing needlessly to shake the credit of any part of Church-History.  
II. ATHANASIUS his advancement to the See of Alexandria, was not more to the joy and comfort of the catholics, than it was to the grief and vexation of the Arians. They knew the man, the acuteness of his Parts, and his indefatigable Zeal in defence of the catholic Cause; and if he stickled so hard both at home, and in the Synod of Nice, when but in a private Capacity; what might they expect he would do, now he was placed in so eminent a Station? Wherefore they resolved to unite all their Powers against him. And to strengthen their Interest, no way appeared more fair and plausible, than to draw over the Meletians to their Party; a Body of men numerous, and by reason of the Orthodoxy of their Principles, of no inconsiderable Reputation with the People. Them they endeavour by all means to gain, for which they were now furnished with a fit Occasion. Meletius 
Sozom. l. 2. c. 21. p. 471.  upon Alexander's return from Nice, had resigned up the Churches that were under his Superintendency and Care, himself quietly living at his own City of Lycus. But a little before his Death, which happened not long after, besides Arsenius Bishop of Hypselis, he ordained John, otherwise called Arcaph to be his Successor. Which being so expressly contrary to the Nicene Decrees, gave a new Life and Resurrection to the Schism This the Arians quickly espied, and began to suggest how unjustly the M●l●●ians had been dealt with in the Nicene Council, that the People generally fl●ck'd after Athanasius, and the Alexandrian Clergy, against whom it was their joint Interest to combine, as against a common Enemy. And though their Designs were vastly different( the Meletians being as yet untainted in their Principles) yet, as Athanasius 
Orat. I. contr. Arian. p. 132.  observes, like Herod and Pontius Pilate, they both agreed against Christ, and dissembling their particular Oppositions, entred into a mutual Confederacy against the Truth, the Meletians being drawn by Covetousness and Ambition, the Arians by a desire to re-establish and propagate their Impieties.  
III. ONE of the first attempts, seems to have been the recalling Arius from his Banishment, which Sozomen 
Lib 2. c. 27. p. 483, 484. ( if he means it of his recalling from Exile, and not rather his calling to Court) against all Reason, makes not to be till many years after, a little before the Synod at Jerusalem, when he and Euzoius presented their Confession to the Emperor. Certain it is, that Arius was recalled from Banishment some time before Eusebius of Nicomedia; as not only Sozomen himself elsewhere confesses 
Ib. c. 16. p. 464 , but Eusebius expressly affirms in his Petition or Declaration 
Ib. p. 465. vid. Socr. l. 1. c. 14. p. 44.  to the Emperor, though forbidden to return to Alexandria, remaining, it's like, amongst his Friends and Favourers in the East. Not long after his two great Patrons, Eusebius and Theognis followed him. Three whole years 
Philost. l. 2. c. 7. p. 472.  they had continued in Banishment, when betaking themselves to their old Arts, they preferred a Bill by way of Petition and Retractation 
Ext. ap. Socr.& Sozom. locis citat.  to the Emperor, wherein they represent, that they had hitherto submissively acquiesced in the judgement which his Majesty had passed upon them; but lest their silence should be thought an Argument of their Guilt, they declared that they did unanimously agree in the Faith, and that having diligently examined the meaning of the Word Consubstantial, they had wholly given up themselves to Peace, being addicted to no heresy: that for the Quiet and Security of the Church, they had suggested the best Councils they could think of, and had given all necessary Satisfaction by subscribing the Faith, though they could not the Anathematism against Arius, having from the Converse they had had with him, both by Word and Writing, found him not guilty of what was charged upon him. And having done this, they did again ratify their consent by this present Libel, not so much that they were weary of their Banishment, as desirous to avoid the suspicion of heresy; and that if but admitted into His Majesties Presence, he would find them exactly to agree with the Faith and Decrees of the Nicene Synod; which favour they the rather hoped for, His Majesty having already so graciously treated the Person accounted most Criminal, and releasing him from his Banishment, had suffered him to vindicate himself from the things charged upon him. Hereupon the Sentence of their Banishment was taken off, and they were permitted to return to their own Sees again. It must not here be forgotten, that the Arians amongst the many Stories they coined to support their Cause, vented this; 
Sozom. l. 3. c. 19. p. 531.  that soon after the Synod at Nice, Constantine having banished Eusebius, Theognis and some others, for their obstinate rejecting the Consubstantial Doctrine, his Sister had a Vision or Revelation from Heaven, whereby she was advertised, that those men were Orthodox in their Opinions, and had those hard Measures very unjustly put upon them. That hereupon the Emperor recalled them from Banishment, and inquiring of them, why since they had with the rest subscribed the Nicene Creed, they dissented from it; received this answer, that they never hearty consented to it; but out of a fear, lest His Majesty, but newly converted, and not as yet confirmed by Baptism, taking offence at the Differences amongst them, should throw up the Christian Faith as doubtful and uncertain, return back to Paganism, and turn his resentment and displeasure against the Church. Upon this Apology he forgave them, and resolved( they say) to call another Synod about this Matter. But his Death preventing that, he left the Execution of it to his Son Constantius, with this remark, that his Empire would never prosper, if he did not bring all his Subjects to an Agreement in Matters of Religion: And that in compliance herewith, Constantius summoned the Council at Ariminum, which ratified their Faith. A Story not very consistent with itself, built only upon a slight and trifling Report, and repugnant to the unanimous account of all the Writers of those times. Most certain it is, that Constantine the Great, who to his dying day, was most constant to the Nicene Faith, would never have cancelled the Sentence of their Banishment upon any other Terms, than their subscribing that Creed. Which we see they accordingly did without any scruple. Of the same Thread with this, is the Passage related by Philostorgius, 
L. 2. c. 1. p. 469  that after the Nicene Council, and the Recantation of Eusebius and his Party( whom the Emperor punished for their Prevarication in their Subscriptions) Constantine recalled Secundus and his Adherents out of Banishment, and sent Letters or Edicts into all Parts to suppress and stifle the Consubstantial Doctrine, and to ratify the contrary Opinion; that Alexander of Alexandria subscribed these Letters, and thereupon communicated with Arius and his Party, but no sooner was the fear of the Emperor's displeasure over, but he return'd to his former Sentiments in this Matter, whereupon Arius and his Followers utterly deserted him. An account so improbable in all its Circumstances, and so directly contrary to all other Writers, that it needs no Confutation. forged no doubt either by Philostorgius himself( whom therefore Photius in the entrance upon it by a witty Allusion to his name censures, {αβγδ}) or handed to him by the Arians of those times, who spread abroad this and many more like Relations, to give life and credit to their Cause.  
IV. ATHANASIUS in the mean time, like a Prudent and a faithful Pastor, took an account of the State of his Flock, visiting 
Ath. Apol. II. p. 606. Epiph. Haer. LXVIII. p. 309.  the Churches of his diocese, which considering the State of that time, he knew, could not but be over-run with Irregularities, both in Faith and Discipline. Coming to the Province of Maraeotis, which was populous, and where Presbyters were fixed in every Parish, who taught and governed the People in great Peace and Order, the Meletian Schism not being able to set its foot here, he was  told that one Ischyras, a man vicious in his Morals, and that had never been really taken into ecclesiastic Orders, did yet take upon him the Title and Office of a Presbyter, and draw away the People where he lived. Whereupon he dispatched away Macarius his Presbyter, and the Presbyter of the Place, to inquire into the Matter, and to summon the Person. Coming thither, they found the man sick in Bed, so that charging his Father to let him know, that he should not dare to meddle in the things reported of him, they returned to Athanasius. Ischyras being recovered of his Distemper, was advised by his Father and his Friends, to shift for himself, who thereupon fled to the Meletians, and thence to Nicomedia, the usual Refuge of discontented Persons, where what mischief he hatched against Athanasius, we shall hear afterwards. In this Visitation Athanasius is said to have taken in his way the Egyptian Monasteries, so famous in the Stories of those times, where he was received with all due Honour and Respect; especially he visited the great S. Anthony, 
Sozom. l. 2. c. 17. p. 467.  the Father of all the Hermits of that Age, there being so great a Dearness and Intimacy between these two, that as oft as sent for, S. Anthony would leave his Solitudes, and come to Athanasius, meet him in Cities, accompany him to Church, give Testimony to his Faith, oppose and condemn his Adversaries, writ to Princes and great men in his behalf, which added no little Esteem and Reputation to him. Though considering the Factions and Artifices that at this time were on foot against him, he had need of all his Friends to stand by him and support him.  
V. FOR Eusebius was no sooner return'd to Nicomedia, but he began to set his Engines on work for the promoting the Arian Cause. His chief Design was, to resettle Arius at Alexandria, where he knew the Venom would work most effectually. To which end he wrote to Athanasius, 
Ath. Apol. II. p. 603 Socr l. 1. c. 23. p. 57.  smoothly courting him to receive Arius into Communion, while at the same time, by other hands, he threatened him, if he did refuse. But the good man equally dis-regarded his entreaties and his threatenings, he sent him word, that Arius was an heretic, and an Enemy to the Truth, that he had been condemned by a general Council, and that such could not be re-admitted. Failing in this, he went to work another way, by crafty Insinuations engaging the Emperor, who now looked upon Arius, as comforming himself to the Church, to writ in his behalf to Athanasius, which he did, 
Ext. Pars litter. ap. Ath. ib. p. 604.  being directed by him, in a very positive and peremptory manner, commanding him to set open the Church-doors to any that were willing to enter in, telling him, that if he knew he excluded any, who were desirous to return to the Communion of the Church, he would immediately sand orders to displace him, and sand him far enough off. In which clause of the Letter( for part of it only is set down) no particular mention being made of Arius, probable it is, that Eusebius had couched the Design only in general Terms, representing Athanasius as an Enemy to the Peace and Union of the Church. However trusting in the goodness of his Cause, he was nothing startled at this quick and severe Message of the Emperor, humbly remonstrating by his Answer, that the catholic Church could not possibly hold Communion with that heresy, that plainly subverted the Divinity of our Saviour. Eusebius disappointed in both these attempts, falls now to downright Methods of Fraud and falsehood, resolving by right or wrong to remove him, who so long as he stood in their way, would obstruct whatever they took in hand. And first he sends to the Meletians, that now was a fit time to put their confederate Councils into practise; who partly encouraged by his Letters, partly to solicit their own Cause, viz. the Restitution of their Churches, deputed three Bishops of their Party, Isio, Eudaemon, and Callinicus, to go and manage their Affairs at Court, where, by Eus●bius his advice, they forged an Accusation against Athanasius, charging him before the Emperor, to have exacted linen for the use of his Church, and to have imposed it as a Tribute upon the People. But Apis and Macarius two Alexandrian Presbyters, happening to be then at Court, quickly convinced the Emperor of the falseness of the Charge; who condemning the Accusers, commanded Athanasius, however to appear. Which when Eusebius understood, he persuaded the Meletians to stand to the Cause, and to attack him with new Indictments at his Arrival. To take off Macarius his Evidence, they renew a Charge, which they had not long since put in against him, of breaking the Communion-Chalice; upon Athanasius they clap no less than an Indictment of high Treason, that he had privily sent a Cabinet of Gold to one Philumenus, to enable him to usurp the Empire. Athanasius being come, his Cause was heard at Psammathia, a part of the Suburbs of Nicomedia, where the Emperor had a Palace( not at Constantinople, as Theodorit 
L. 1. c. 26. p. 60.  makes it, which was scarce finished, much less dedicated) where he so satisfied the Emperor in the Innocency and Integrity of his Cause, that his Adversaries were condemned, himself acquitted, and not only suffered to depart, but at his return the Emperor honoured him with a Letter 
Ext. ap. Ath. loc. cit.  to the Church of Alexandria, wherein after he had largely exclaimed against the Malice and Iniquity of the Age, he tells them, that the wicked Wretches had prevailed nothing against their Bishop, studying nothing but vainly to spend time, and render themselves incapable of Pardon; that they should assist one another by mutual Concord, and resist those that did oppose it; that as for Athanasius their Bishop, he had kindly received him, and conversed with him, as one whom he verily believed to be a man of God, and a most venerable Person, and whom he knew to be a Minister for his Equity and Diligence, and other Qualities every way necessary for them.  
VI. MALICE like Fire, must have a vent, or 'twill be stisted in its own Smoke. Eusebius prevailing nothing against Athanasius, for the present diverts his spleen another way. Eustathius Bishop of Antioch was a stout Stickler against the Arians, and being set in so eminent a See, was capable of doing the greater disservice to the Cause. Him he singles out, and resolves to hunt him down. In order whereunto, he begs leave 
Theod. l. 1. c. 21. p. 51.  of the Emperor( at whose charge also he went the Journey) to go see the magnificent Church which Constantine was then building at Jerusalem. Accompanied with his old Friend Theognis of Nice, he came to Antioch, where pretending Friendship, they were kindly and honourably treated by Eustathius. Thence passing through palestine they laid the Design, which they resolved to effect at their return. For procuring a Synod to be called at Antioch, Eustathius is charged as Heterodox in the Faith; but because they knew that too thin to hold Water, they backed it with the Accusation of Adultery, which they procured to be deposed upon Oath, though but the Oath of a lewd infamous Woman. Whereupon the good man was condemned, and thrown out of his See. And though there were those in the Council, who smelled the Knavery, and persuaded Eustathius not to stand to the Sentence of Deposition, yet were their Enemies too quick for them, having immediately conveyed notice of it to the Emperor, to whom they represented the Scandal of the Crimes, and the great Justice of the Sentence, persuading the Emperor to confirm it, who accordingly ordered him to be banished.  
VII. THOUGH let alone for the present, Athanasius was not forgotten. The business at Antioch being over, they are now at leisure to bait him a Second time. For Ischyras the usurping Presbyter, who had some while since fled from Maraeotis, having addressed 
Ath. Ap. l. II. p. 606. Socr. l. 1. c. 27. p. 64.  himself to Eusebius of Nicomedia, was readily entertained by him, as a fit Instrument to promote their Designs; and to oblige him faster, he is tied with the Assurance of a bishopric, which afterwards they made good, creating him Bishop of Maraeotis, and at present treating him in the capacity of a Presbyter. By his contrivance Accusations are framed, and brought into more formal and plausible Stories; Athanasius is charged with cruel and tyrannical Actings, Macarius his Presbyter as sent by him with forcible rushing into the Chancel, breaking the Communion-Cup, and tearing the Bible in pieces, Athanasius indicted of Murder, for making away Arsenius a Meletian Bishop, and a dead man's hand produced as evidence of the Fact, whereof more in their due place. All which were represented with their greatest Aggravations to the Emperor. The first he slighted, having himself heard it sufficiently baffled, when Athanasius, not long since, appeared before him at Nicomedia. For that of Arsenius, which seemed to be of most moment, he sent to his Brother Dalmatius the Censor, then residing at Antioch, to take the matter under Examination. The Censor presently writes to Athanasius, commanding him to prepare himself for a trial, and to answer the things laid to his Charge. He, conscious of his own Innocency, and the prodigious Malignity of the Fable, at first made light of it, but considering that the Emperor had concerned himself in it, he thought it not safe to neglect it. Wherefore he wrote to the Bishops of his diocese, to give them notice of it, and sent a Deacon to inquire after Arsenius, whom with much ado he found to be alive and well. Which was no sooner done, but he dispatched away Macarius with Letters to the Emperor at Constantinople, to give him a true account of the State of things, to put him in mind of what had been transacted at Psammathia, and to assure him that Arsenius after all was alive and safe. The Emperor wondering at mens immoderate boldness and confidence, commanded Dalmatius to surcease the Process, and the Accusers who had been sent into the East to manage the Charge, to depart from Court, himself writing 
Ext. Epist. ●p. Athan. ib. p. 609.  to Athanasius, to let him know how much he made it his business to preserve Truth and Justice, and delighted above all others in pious and good men: In which Letter he falls upon the Meletians with a very black Character, as the most merciless, wicked and execrable Persons, men hardened in Impiety, and who attempted the greatest Absurdities merely to gratify Envy, Emulation, and a seditious Mind, as was plain in their unjust Proceedings against him; commanding that his Letter should be red to the People, that all might take notice of it, especially those whom it most concerned, whom he assured, that if they still proceeded in these Practices, he would judge them not by Ecclesiastical, but Civil Laws, and would make it appear, that they were open Invaders not only of human, but of divine Constitutions.  
VIII. THIS just and necessary Severity of the Emperor frighted 
Ath. ib. p. 61●  the Meletians at this time from any farther attempts against Athanasius, the reproaches of their own Consciences, and the public famed causing them to retire with shane and silence. But Eusebius and his Party loth to loose such useful Instruments, endeavoured to put new life into them, by assuring them that things should be transacted in a Synod, where there was no doubt but they should have the predominant over-ruling stroke. To effect which, they put it into the Emperor's head, that his stately Buildings at Jerusalem were now almost finished, and ripe for Dedication, for which the Bishops of those Parts must be called together, that this opportunity might be taken first to settle and compose those Differences, which of late had so much disturbed the Church, that so they might more unanimously carry on that great Solemnity. To this the Emperor at length yielded, appointing a Synod 
Soz. l. 2. c. 25. p. 479. Theod. l. 1. c. 28. p. 61.  to be held at Caesarea in palestine, where the Bishops being met, Athanasius did not appear, suspecting, as some think, the Partiality of his Judges, and liking the place never the better, because Eusebius was Bishop of it, whom he looked upon as too favourable to the Arian Party. Though indeed Athanasius assigns no such Reason, nor is this Synod so much as once mentioned by him. Long time the Bishops waited at Caesarea, but Athanasius came not; which his Enemies knew well enough how to improve to his disadvantage, telling the Emperor, he might now see what little account Athanasius made of his commands, who dared thus contumaciously to disobey the imperial Orders. The Emperor, though otherwise of a mildred and easy Temper, exasperated with these Suggestions, appoints another Synod to assemble at Tyre, while things were making ready for the Solemnity at Jerusalem, commanding Athanasius at his Peril to appear, and summoning such Bishops especially, as the Eusebians had recommended to him, intending the Case should be canvased and determined in the most public and solemn Manner.   

SECT. V. The Acts and Proceedings of the Synod at Tyre, with other consequent Affairs.  
A Synod summoned at Tyre. The Emperor's Lieutenant appointed to preside there. The sum of Constantine's Letter to the Council. Athanasius's Carriage before the Synod. A twofold Charge exhibited against him. Matters of 'vice and Immorality in three Instances; Oppression, and how guilty of that; Ravishment, the villainy whereof how discovered; Murder, his killing Arsenius, and cutting off his Hand. The wickedness of this Story pursued and refuted at large, and evidently proved before the Council. The second head of Accusation, Impiety and Profanation. The Case of his Ordination enquired into. His Violation of Ischyras's Church, breaking the Communion-Cup, &c. Several Answers to that Charge. Commissioners sent by the Synod into Egypt, to examine Matters upon the place. Athanasius his Exceptions against the Persons. All Motions in his behalf over-ruled. The partial and unjust Proceedings of the Commissioners. The Zeal of the Maraeotick Clergy for their Bishop. Athanasius condemned and deposed by the Synod at Tyre. The Synod adjourned by the Emperor to Jerusalem. Arius's Cause commanded to be taken under Consideration, by means of an Arian Presbyter's favour with the Emperor. What truth in that Report. Arius sent for to Court; Constantine's Letter to him to that purpose. His and Euzoius's Hypocritical Confession presented to the Emperor. The judgement of the Synod about his Case. Whether he return'd to Alexandria. Upon Athanasius's complaint at Court, the Bishops are summoned to make good their Charge against him. accused by them of High-Treason, and banished by the Emperor to Triers. Arius taken into favour at Court: Alexander Bishop of Constantinople commanded to admit him to Communion. The perplexity of the good Bishop, and his zealous Prayers to Heaven. The unnatural and execrable Death of Arius, and the manner of it. His Character. The Description of his Temper and Person. Intercessions in behalf of Athanasius rejected. The Death of Constantine, and Division of the Empire amongst his Sons. The occasion of Constantius's favouring the Arian Party.  
I. and. Chr. CCCXXXV. met the Council at Tyre, 
Socr. l. 1. c. 28 p. 65. Soz. l. 2. c. 25. p. 479.  consisting of LX. Bishops of the East, besides XLVII. that came along with Athanasius out of Egypt, probably not formally summoned thither, but to pay an honourable Attendance upon their Metropolitan. And because the Emperor foresaw that Heats and Quarrels would arise, he sent Dionysius a man of Consular Dignity, to preside as his own Commissioner in the Synod, to see good Order and Decorum kept amongst them, himself writing 
Ext. Epist. ap. Euseb. de vit. Const. l. 4. c. 42. p. 546. Theod. l. 1. c. 29. p. 61.  to them to this effect; that they would use their utmost endeavour to heal the Breaches in the Churches Peace; the most honourable enterprise they could take in hand; that for his part nothing had been wanting, that he had granted whatever they desired, summoning what Bishops they thought convenient, and sending the Exconsular Dionysius to be a Witness of their Transactions, and their good Behaviours, that if any whom it concerned, refused to come, he would by Banishment, make them know what it was to disobey the imperial Summons; that nothing now remained, but that they would judge neither for hatred nor favour, but according to the ecclesiastic and apostolic Canon, administering proper Remedies to all Irregularities, that so at once they might free the Church from Reproach, ease his Cares, restore Peace and Tranquillity to the shattered State of the Church, and purchase Renown and Honour to themselves. At first Athanasius did not appear, 
Socr. ubi supr. p. 66.  not that he disinherited the goodness of his Cause, but either because he thought he should not have a fair equal Hearing, or that he feared they would innovate something in the Nicene Faith. But considering what peremptory Orders the Emperor had issued out, he came, accompanied with a great number of the Bishops of his own Province, as Witnesses of his Integrity, and Advocates of his Cause; as his Presbyter Macarius had a little before been brought thither in Chains from Alexandria, with a Guard of Soldiers to conduct him.  
II. ATHANASIUS being brought before the Council, had the Portion of a Criminal to stand at the Bar, which so incensed Potamon one of the Egyptian Bishops, that he fell foul upon Eusebius of Caesarea, one of the Synod, when he espied him sitting upon the Bench, while Athanasius stood below, reproaching him with some suspicions of idolatrous Compliance, while they had been Fellow-Prisoners under the Diocletian Persecution. Athanasius at first demur'd, though not to the Jurisdiction of the Court, yet to the competency and fitness of his Judges; which Exception not being admitted, his Indictment was red, and his Crimes openly mentioned. Now the things laid to his charge, were especially of two sorts, Matters of 'vice and Immorality, and Matters of Impiety and profanation; for as for the stale Accusations of Treason and Sedition, the levying an Imposition of linen Cloth upon the People, and conspiring with Philumenus to invade the Empire, they had been so notoriously baffled in former attempts, that I find them not so much as once mentioned in the Synod, though to add what colour they could to their Sentence, they charge 
Soz. ib. p. 482  him with Contumacy, in refusing to obey the Emperor's Edict, commanding him to appear the year before in the Synod at Caesarea, and that he had now brought so many Attendants with him to Tyre, as if he intended to offer force and violence to the Council. We shall a little more particularly inquire into the things charged upon him, because objected against him, not only in this, but in some after-Synods.  
III. IN reference to 'vice and Immorality, he stood indicted of three great Crimes, 
Soz. ib. p. 479.  Oppression, Ravishment, and Murder. Under the first he was charged with cruel and tyrannical Usage of his Brethren, that he had often fettered Ischyras, and having accused him before Hyginus Praefect of Egypt, for throwing Stones at the Emperor's Statues, had caused him to be cast into Prison; that he had deposed Callinicus Bishop of Pelusium for refusing to communicate with him, and given his Church to one mark, a degraded Presbyter, nay ( if Philostorgius 
L. 2. c. 11. p. 474.  may be believed) that he had laid Callinicus in Irons, imprisoned him, and never left prosecuting him, till he had driven him out of the World: Thus Euplus, Pachomius, Isaac, Achillas and Hermaeon, Meletian Bishops, accused him for having caused them to be whipped and beaten. But seeing these things in all likelihood wanted proof, no more than the bare mention of them being recorded, and that some of them depending upon other parts of the Indictment, fell together with them, it would be needless to insist upon them. The next branch of the Charge concerned Force and Ravishment, that he had offered violence to a Woman, 
ruffian. H. Eccl. l. 1. c. 17. p. 232. Sozom. loc. cit. p. 480. Theod. ib. c. 30. p. 63.  whom they had prevailed with to come in to the Council, and to own and attest the Fact; who accordingly declared, that for her self, she had vowed Virginity, but that having entertained Athanasius into her House, he had violently forced her into lewd Embraces. Athanasius who had smelled something of the Design, being brought into Court, came attended with Timotheus one of his Presbyters, between whom it was agreed, that Timotheus should take his part upon him. The Judges calling upon Athanasius to answer the matter of Fact alleged against him he stood silent, but Timotheus turning to the Woman, Woman( said he) was I ever in your House, did I ever, as you pretend, offer violence to you? To which, with some quickness and vehemency she replied, stretching out her hand, and pointing to him with her finger, yes, yes, you are the man, that forcibly pressed upon me, and stained my Chastity and my Honour; adding, as in such Cases is usual, both the time and place. The Cheat thus plainly discovering itself, put the Contrivers of it to the blushy; and when Athanasius required, that before the Woman was dismissed, she might be asked, who 'twas that had framed and laid the Plot, his just request was over-ruled by a clamorous Answer, that they had greater Matters against him to be examined, and for which they had Evidence beyond all Exception. This Passage, Sozomen tells us, was not recorded in the Acts of the Council, as being thought too light and immodest for the Transactions of a grave Assembly. Nor is it to be forgotten, that the Arian Historian 
Philost. ubi sup●. p. 473.  turns the Tale quiter the other way, affirming that Athanasius complotted with the Woman, and that by his direction she charged her great Belly upon Eusebius of Nicomedia, his chief Enemy in the Synod, who by a much like Stratagem brought it to light. But how much stress is to be laid upon his Relations, especially when levelled against the catholic Party, the judicious Reader needs not be  told. And perhaps it might not be the least encouragement to the Arian Faction, to shift the Scene, and turn it upon Athanasius, that they knew that these Proceedings were not entred amongst the Acts of the Synod, and that there was nothing extant upon Record to disprove them.  
IV. BUT that which of all others gave the most pleasant Diversion to the Synod( those only excepted who had contrived it) was the Tragy-Comick Scene of Arsenius the Meletian Bishop, the Murdering of whom was charged 
Socr. l. 1. c. 27. p. 65. Sozom.& Theod. loc. cit.  upon Athanasius, for proof whereof they produced a Box, out of which they took a dead man's Hand, dried and salted, which they affirmed to be the Hand of Arsenius whom Athanasius had made away; and to make the wickedness still more enormous, added, that he had done it to Magical Purposes, to make use of it in Arts of diabolic Conjurations. The Truth and Validity of which Charge, will best appear by a short Survey of the whole Matter. Arsenius, who stiles himself Bishop of Hypsele, whereof Meletius himself had been sometimes Bishop, having fallen under some great Irregularity, had to avoid 
Soz. ib. c. 23. p. 475.  the Conviction and Censure of his Metropolitan, withdrawn himself. This opportunity John, the chief of the Meletian Party, thought fit to embrace, to fasten a most desperate Calumny upon Athanasius. For which end he and his Confederates find out the Man, treat him with all kindness and courtesy, persuade him still to conceal himself, lodging him to that purpose with one pings, one of their Confidents, Presbyter of a Monastery in Thebais. This done, they give it out 
Ath. Apol. II. p. 606.  in all public places, that Athanasius had privately murdered Arsenius, showing about a dead man's Hand, which they affirmed to be his. The News hereof was not long, before it was by the Eusebians conveyed to the Emperor, who gave order to his Brother Dalmatius, to inquire into it. And though upon notice given him by the Censor, he slighted the Matter, as a thing sufficiently improbable in itself, yet knowing the Malice and Subtlety of his Enemies, and that the Emperor had taken Cognizance of it, he thought it not prudent to be unprepared for his own defence. Immediately therefore he sent one of his Deacons into Thebais to search for Arsenius, whom he had not seen in many years. The Deacon by the help of Pecysius, Sylvanus, and some other Monks, understood at length where he lay concealed. But coming to pings his Monastery, and entering the House, they found indeed, that he had been there, but that the bide was flown. For upon the first News of their arrival in those Parts, pings had clapped him aboard, and by the assistance of Helias a Monk, had conveyed him down into the lower Egypt. Missing the man, they however seized upon pings and Helias, whom they brought to Alexandria, and presented to the Governor, before whom they freely confessed that Arsenius was alive and well, and that Athanasius was guiltless and Innocent, as pings himself tells John the Meletian Bishop in his Letter 
Ext. ap. Ath. ib. p. 608.  to him. All which Athanasius presently certified to the Emperor, who by his answer testified how severely he resented the unjust Proceedings of that turbulent and malicious Party.  
V. AND thus stood things till the Synod at Tyre, when this wretched device was again dressed up, and brought upon the Stage; at which time the Providence of God strangely furnished him with an opportunity to silence the Malice of his Adversaries beyond all possibility of Evasion. The Meletians had strictly charged 
Socr. l. 1. c. 29. p. 66. vid. Ath. ubi supr. p. 607. Rufin. l. 1. c. 17. p. 231, 232.  Arsenius to keep close; but he tempted with curiosity to see how things went, had privately conveyed himself to Tyre, intending to lie there Incognito all the time. It happened that some Servants belonging to Archelaus the Governor being then at the Tavern, heard a rumour whispered, that Arsenius was then in Town. Which they immediately  told their Lord, who with equal secrecy and diligence found him out and apprehended him, giving notice of it to Athanasius. The man unwilling to be false to those that employed him, and loth that the whole frame of the Plot should be revealed and unraveled in a Moment, at first denied himself to be Arsenius, till Paul Bishop of Tyre, who had formerly known him, convinced him, and beat him out of that refuge. The day of the trial being come, and the Case of the impudent Strumpet dismissed, this of Arsenius was brought on, the Prosecutors boasting, that now they should make not their Ears, but their very Eyes Judges in the Case, therewith producing the dead Hand, which they said Athanasius had dismembered. At which a great shout was made in the Synod, many believing it to be true, and others, that nothing could appear to the contrary. Silence being made, Athanasius gravely asked the Judges, Whether any of them knew Arsenius? which when several affirmed, he commanded him to be brought into Court, and again asked, Whether this was the Person, the man whom he was charged to have killed, and cut off his Hand? The Case being too notorious to be denied, while men were in a strange surprise and suspense about it, Athanasius turns back the man's Cloak, and shows them one of his Hands; and after a little pause, to give them time to suspect it might be the other hand, he puts back the other side of the Cloak, and shows the other: And now Gentlemen( said he) Arsenius you see has both his hands, but where a third hand is to be had that was cut off, I leave to my Accusers to discover. Thus ended the Plot, not more to the Pleasure and Satisfaction of the Innocent, than to the shane and Confusion of the Guilty, amongst which John the Meletian Bishop, the main Contriver of the whole Scheme, is said to have slunk away in the Crowd, though others, as Theodorit tells us, 
Ubi supr. p. 64.  stood to it, railing upon Athanasius for a Conjurer, and affirming that by magic Arts he had cast a Mist before the Eyes of the Council, endeavouring to exasperate the Assembly to tear him in pieces, insomuch that had he not been rescued, the comic Scene had been turned into a real Tragedy. While others studied to device 
Soz. loc. cit. p. 481.  something that might look like a plausible excuse, saying with equal Truth, that Plusianus an Athanasian Bishop had by his command set on fire Arsenius his House, tied him to a Pillar and whipped him, and then shut him up in Prison; but that escaping out of a Window, he had a long time hide himself, which caused them to imagine him to be dead, and being a considerable Person, they thought they could do no less than bring his Cause before the Magistrate, that it might be examined and sifted out. I add no more concerning this, than that Arsenius himself, together with his Presbyters and Deacons, wrote 
Ext. Epist ap. Ath. ubi supr. p. 610.  to Athanasius to be received to the Peace and Unity of the Church, renouncing all Commerce with schismatical or heretical Persons, and promising all caconical Subjection and Obedience to him as their lawful Metropolitan; desiring him to writ to them, and to give notice of their entire Agreement with the catholic Church. Nay John himself repenting of what he had done, confessed the Injuries that had been done to Athanasius, and reconciled himself to him, as himself witnessed in his Letter to the Emperor, whereof Constantine gives an account in his answer 
Ext. ib. p. 611  to him.  
VI. WE have seen with what success the Charge of 'vice and Immorality was managed against this good man; let us next see how he sped in that of Impiety and Profanation, wherein two Articles especially were insisted on. First, that he had procured himself 
Soz. ubi supr. p. 480.  to be created Bishop of Alexandria by undue and unlawful means, that the Persons ordaining him, were in the very Act guilty of Perjury, all the Bishops having bound themselves, that no man should be ordained, till he had cleared himself of what could be objected against him; that being thus deceived, they had renounced Communion with him, who yet was so far from giving them Satisfaction, that he forcibly compelled, and cast them into Prison. To which purpose a Libel was red in the Synod, containing some popular Exceptions, as if for his sake the People of Alexandria had forsaken the public Assemblies. The Falsehood of all which is sufficiently evident from the manner of his coming to that See, the Alexandrian Synod( many whereof assisted at his Consecration) declaring 
Ap. Ath. Apol. II. p. 565, 566.  before the whole World, that he was elected by common Suffrage and Consent, and ordained at the unwearied instance and importunity of the People, and that his entrance upon it was so far from being entertained with Tumults and Murmuring, that it was celebrated with popular Triumphs and Thanks to God. But that which made a louder noise, was the other Branch of the Charge, 
Socr. ib. p. 64. Sozom. p. 479.  viz. that his Presbyter Macarius at his command, and by his Authority, had forcibly broken into the Chancel, while Ischyras was officiating in the holy Ministrations, that he had overturned the Communion-Table, broken in pieces the Sacramental Chalice, and burnt the holy Books. All which Ischyras was there present to attest. In answer to which, besides some general Exceptions that were over-ruled, we find it alleged, 
Ath. ib. p. 570.  that this Ischyras, whom the Indictment presented in the capacity of a Priest, was really no Presbyter, nor ever so accounted by any, but his own Relations, that he pretended to no better Orders, than what Colluthus had conferred upon him, who was himself but a Presbyter, and who for usurping the Office of a Bishop, had been Synodically censured, and the Persons ordained by him reduced into the Order and Class of laics; that when Macarius came thither, Ischyras was sick 
Athan. ib. p. 589, 581.  in Bed, and consequently incapable of ministering at the holy Table; that it was not then the Lord's day, 
Ib. p. 569.  the time of their public Solemnity, that there was no Church in the place where Ischyras lived, nor in the whole Village, Ischyras himself dwelling in a poor Farm-house, a parcel of an Estate belonging to one Isio an Orphan; that by the Confession of their own Witnesses 
Ibid. p. 620.  whom they had examined, the Catechumens were then in the Church, and therefore the holy Eucharist could not then be administered, who affirmed moreover, that Macarius had not burnt the Books, and that 
Ibid. p. 614. p. 581. vid. p. 572.  what Ischyras said was false; that the Presbyters and Deacons of that Country, who had accompanied Athanasius in his Visitation, were his Compurgators, solemnly protesting that there was no such matter, and that the whole of the Story was forged and fabulous; finally, that Ischyras himself had confessed 
Ib. p. 572, 615  the whole Plot, for being reproached by his own Party, and much more by his own Conscience, he had with tears addressed himself to Athanasius, and plainly discovered the whole Conspiracy, by a Writing 
Ext. ap. Ath. ibid. p. 606.  under his own Hand, delivered in the presence of six Presbyters, and eight Deacons, whose names are to it, declaring that he was set on, yea by stripes forced to it by Heraclides, Isaac, and the rest of their Associates, and that he called God to witness, that he knew nothing of the things charged upon Athanasius, but that he had been compelled to give what Testimony he had done, and that he thought himself obliged to make this Declaration, hearty wishing he might be admitted to Communion with him.  
VII. THE Case being thus clear( most of these things being no doubt then pleaded by Athanasius) his Accusers were at a stand, and knew not what course to take, till those 
Socr. l. 1. c. 31. p. 67.  who were confederate in the Council, put the Matter upon this Issue, that the Determination of the Case should be suspended, and that Commissioners should be sent into Egypt, to inquire into the true State of the Case, and to report it to the Synod, nominating to that end such as they could trust, Theognis Bishop of Nice, Maris of Calcedon, Theodore of Perinthus, Macedonius of Mopsus in Cilicia, Ursacius of Singidunum in Maesia, and Valens of Mursa in Pannonia, who together with Ischyras presently betook themselves to the Voyage. By this Athanasius perceived which way things were like to go, but not to be wanting to his Cause, he put in his Exceptions against the Commission, which he affirmed 
Ath. ubi supr. p. 612.  to be altogether needless, things being plain enough already, that the Design of it was only to gain time, and that 'twas in vain to go so far about to do what they had already resolved should be done. But this not being admitted, he next excepted against the Persons, alleging it to be highly unreasonable, that when Macarius was kept Prisoner at Tyre, Ischyras should be taken along with the Delegates, who themselves were all sworn Enemies, by which might be guessed what return was like to be made. And though this Exception was infinitely equitable, yet the Count Dionysius suffered them to depart. This procedure gave just distaste to all that were Friends to the Athanasian Cause, the Egyptian Bishops not long after presenting a Protestation 
Ext. ib. p. 616  to the Synod, subscribed by XLVII. Bishops, wherein they smartly complained of the fraudulent and mischievous Designs of the Eusebian Party in the Synod, their unjust Proceedings against Athanasius, their unfair Attempts to engage the rest of the Council to own and subscribe their Transactions, against which they thought it their Duty to protest, and to beseech them by all that was sacred, not to concur with them, as they would answer the contrary in the great day of their Accounts. This they backed with an Address 
Ext. ib. p. 618  to the most illustrious Count Dionysius, representing, that the Eusebian and Meletian Plots and Combinations being now so notorious, they could not but offer him their Protestation, beseeching and conjuring him for the sake of Almighty God, not to suffer the Synod to proceed any farther in this business, but to reserve the Cause to the Emperor's own hearing, where they might freely display their Case, and where they did not doubt of a righteous Issue. This was followed with a Letter 
Ext. ib. p. 619  to Dionysius, from Alexander Bishop of Thessalonica, a man of great name and note, and one of the Synod, wherein he complained, that by this Deputation, it was evident what they designed against Athanasius, that the thing had been acted without his privity, that he should advice them to do nothing rashly, and take care that no inconvenience might arise, nor any thing be herein acted, that might reflect upon them, and expose the Justice of the Synod to reproach. Dionysius alarmed with all these Addresses, sent a Note 
Ext. loc. cit.  to Eusebius and his Party, acquainting them, that things happened just as he had foretold, that Athanasius would complain of injurious dealing, and the Persons delegated, that he had advised them that none should be sent but by common Suffrage; that therefore they should take care, that what was done might not be liable to just Exception, or give the least shadow of occasion to any to bespatter their Proceedings, it being unfit that the Criminal Party should be suppressed and kept under any more than that of the Plaintiff; and that it would create a mighty jealousy in this case, if Alexander should refuse to concur with them. Notwithstanding all which endeavours, Athanasius finding that he could not with safety remain at Tyre, where all arts were used to enrage the People, insomuch, that the secular Arm was sometimes forced to be called in to his rescue, that a righteous Cause was not like there to take place, that there were small hopes either that the Delegates would be recalled, or his Case referred to the Emperor, thought it best to shift for himself in time, and to present his Petition to a higher Power, in order whereunto he absented 
Ath. ib. p. 619 Socr. ib. p. 68.  from the Synod, and privately withdrew himself.  
VIII. THE Commissioners in the mean while were arrived at Alexandria, 
Epist. Synod. Alex. ap. Ath. p. 571.  where they carried themselves like men resolved to go through with their Work, endeavouring to extort Confessions by drawn Swords, Whips, Clubs, and all methods of Cruelty and Severity, not sparing even the devoted Virgins, whom they suffered the very Gentiles to strip naked, drag to the Heathen Altars, and treat with all manner of extravagant Abuses, the Infidels petulantly insulting over the Church, and doing these things in the very House where the Commissioners resided, who at the same time were Feasting and making merry within, though it was then the time of a solemn Fast. The Clergy of Alexandria offered themselves to attend the Commissioners, desiring they might be admitted to give in evidence, or at least to be present at the Examinations that were taken, that so they might be able to credit and to justify the Proceedings, but were refused, whereupon not long after they presented a 
Ext. ib p. 615  Remonstrance subscribed by fifteen Presbyters, and four Deacons, to the Delegates, wherein they tell them what fair and reasonable demands they had made, professing that they looked for nothing but malicious Combinations from them, whereof this their Letter( a Copy whereof they had delivered to Palladius the Emperor's Officer, that they might not suppress it) would be a standing Monument, whenever the Case came to be canvased over again in a lawful Synod. From Alexandria 
Ath. ib. p. 571 vid. p. 569.  accompanied with Philagrius governor of Egypt, they went into Maraeotes, the proper Scene where the Plot was laid, 
Ibid. p. 571.  where they kept Court in Ischyras his House, the Governor attending them all the while with a Guard of Souldiers, that they might city whom they pleased, and terrify whom they cited, especially keep out the ecclesiastics; for the Clergy of the Country universally offered themselves to Examination, desiring they might be allowed to give in their Testimonies, but were rejected and excluded, and instead of them, Jews and Gentiles summoned, and any kind of evidence given and taken, and questions openly asked about the Sacraments and Mysteries of Religion, which ought not to have been propounded to Catechumens, much less to Pagans and Infidels. Besides their own Witnesses contradicted 
Id. ib. p. 620.  themselves in their Answers, and some of them openly denied part of the Charge, and gave Ischyras the lie. All which appeared from the Acts and Records, taken and kept by themselves, which though they suppressed with all imaginable diligence, charging the Notaries that no Copies of them should come abroad, yet were they brought to light, Rufus, who drew them up, betraying them, and the Eusebians themselves, afterwards transmitting them to Rome. The Maraeotick Clergy being not able to preval, presented a Petition 
Ext. ib. p. 616  however to Philagrius, and the other great Officers, declaring the falsehood of the Crimes charged by Is●●yras, and praying that the Case might be heard before 〈◇〉 Emperor. They wrote also to the Synod at Tyre, in which Le●●er 
Ext. ib. p. 614. ( subscribed by fifteen Presbyters, and as many Deacons) they ●ruly represent the Case of Ischyras, purge Athanasius from the Charge both from their own knowledge, and Ischyras his Confession extant under his own hand, and assure them that not one word would have been spoken against Athanasius, had it not been extorted by the Governor's threatenings, or drawn out by the Flattery and Insinuation of the Arians, whereby some men had been tempted to say whatever they had a mind should be attested. All which they tell them they testified as in the presence of God, and for which they knew they must be accountable at the divine Tribunal.  
IX. THE Delegates having patched 
Socr. ubi supr. Sozom. loc. cit. p. 481, 482. Philost. l. 2. c. 11. p. 474.  up what evidence they could any ways rak together, return'd to Tyre, where Athanasius being fled, it was no hard matter to procure his Condemnation, the Synod accordingly passing Sentence upon him, deposing him from his bishopric, and ordering that he should no more inhabit at Alexandria, lest his presence there should create Tumults and Factions. John the Meletian Bishop and his Party they restored to Communion, and to the Rights of their ministry, sent an account of their Transactions to the Emperor, and Letters to the Bishops abroad, not to communica●e with Athanasius, whom they had convicted of several enormous Crimes, and of which he by his flight had confessed himself guilty. Not but that there were many in the Synod that were willing to have done him right, but were over-powered by numbers, and particularly Paphnutius the Confessor is said to have taken Maximus Bishop of Jerusalem by the hand, Let's be gone( said he) it not becoming Confessors, who have lost their Limbs in the Cause of Religion, to go along with such pernicious Company. Things were thus concluding at Tyre, when Marianus the Emperor's Secretary came with Letters 
Socr. l. 1. c. 33. p. 68. Soz. l. 2. c. 26. p. 483 Theod. l. 1. c. 31. p. 65.  commanding the Synod to adjourn to J●rusalem, to celebrate the Dedication of a famous Church, which he had built to the honour of our Saviour. Where being met by several others, and the great Solemnity being over, a Message came from the Emperor, that they should take Arius his Case into Consideration. For it seems some Designs had been of late on foot to bring Arius into favour at Court, at least so far as to engage the Emperor to recommend him to the Synod, which we are  told, 
Rufin. l. 1. c. 11 p. 228. Soz. ib. c. 27. p. 484. Socr. l. 1. c. 25. p. 60.  was effected in this manner.  
X. AN Arian Priest, whose name was Eutocius 
Gelas. Cyz. ap. Phot. Cod. LXXXVIII. col. 208. , or as Vigilius Tapsensis 
Dialog. contr. Arian l. 1. c. 2. p. 85.  calls him, Evangelus( if at least he means it as a proper name) had subtly insinuated himself into the favour of Constantia the Emperor's Sister, and taking the softest seasons of address, had represented the hard Fate of Arius, oppressed merely by Envy and private Emulation. She upon her Death-bed as her last request, had bequeathed this Presbyter to her Brother's Grace and Care, expressing a great solicitude, lest some great judgement should overtake either him or the Empire, while just and good men were under Banishment. The Priest after her Decease, plied the Emperor with such effectual solicitations, that he gave his consent that he should be recalled, and his Case taken into a Re-examination. This Passage a learned man suspects 
Vales. Annot. ad Socr. l. 1. c. 25. p. 14.  as groundless and improbable. And indeed it seems shrewdly to shake the credit of the Story, not only that the Priest is so obscurely mentioned, but that Athanasius, who is punctual in noting all the Artifices of the Arian Party, giveth not the least Intimation of it. 'tis possible at first it might be nothing but a light rumour whispered about( as in all dissensions, there are Tales  told on both sides, the Effects only of jealousy and surmise;) which Rufinus catching up, first gave it an historical Credit, and so without any scruple, handed it down to others. But however it was,( for I am not willing absolutely to reject the Story, handed to us not only by the Authority of Rufinus, but Socrates and others) the Emperor declared, that if Arius subscribed to the Faith established in the Nicene Council, he was content he should come to Court, and would honourably dismiss and sand him home to Alexandria. In order whereunto he wrote to him this short Letter. 
Ext. ap. Socr. ib. p. 61.   
CONSTANTINE the Great, the August, the Conqueror, to ARIUS.  
'tis sometime since that I gave notice to your Gravity, that you should come to Court, that so you might enjoy the Comfort and Honour of our Presence. And strange it seems to us, that you should not immediately comply with it. Wherefore make use of the public Conveyance, and with all speed repair to us, that having tasted of our kindness and bounty, you may return into your own Country. God preserve you dear Brother. Dated November the XXVIth.  
Upon the receipt of this Letter, away posts Arius to Constantinople, attended with his Friend Euzoius, the Companion both of his Faith and Fortunes, where they present to the Emperor a new Confession 
Ext. ap. Socr.& Soz. loc. cit.  of their Faith, leaving out the more gross and scandalous Terms, and expressing things in more plausible Phrases, and such as were more agreeable to the Style of the holy Scriptures, which they introduce with this Preface. To our most Religious and Gracious Lord, the Emperor Constantine, Arius and Euzoius Presbyters. According to the command of your devout Piety, we have, Sir, explained the Faith we hold, and by this writing do in the presence of God profess, that both we ourselves, and all that are of our Party, do believe according to the Tenor of the Confession following. We believe in one God, the Father Almighty, and in our Lord Jesus Christ his Son, begotten of him before all Worlds, being God the Word, by whom all things were made both in Heaven and Earth; who came down from Heaven, and was incarnate, suffered, and rose again, and ascended into Heaven, and shall come again to judge the quick and the dead. And in the holy Ghost; the Resurrection of the flesh, the life of the World to come, the Kingdom of Heaven, and in one catholic Church of God, dispersed from one end of the World to the other. This Faith we have received out of the holy Gospel, especially that command of our Lord to his Apostles, go ye, and teach all Nations; baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the holy Ghost. And these things they professed they believed, and that they really owned the Father, Son, and holy Ghost, according to the Doctrine of the Scriptures, and the Faith of the whole catholic Church; which if we do not( 'tis their own Anathema in their own Words) God be our Judge both in this World, and in that to come. Wherefore they pray that by his Mediation they might be united to the Church their Mother, and that all needless Questions and Disputes laid aside, they might peaceably accord, and unanimously pray for his Majesties Prosperity and Safety.  
XI. THE good Emperor was infinitely pleased, that he thought Arius and his Party now reconciled to the Nicene Faith. Upon whose leave granted, Socrates 
L. 1. c. 27. p. 62. Soz. l. 2. c. 29. p. 488.  says( if he be not mistaken in his account, for Athanasius himself mentions it not) he return'd to Alexandria, where he no sooner arrived, but Athanasius stoutly opposed him. Hereof Eusebius complained at Court, beseeching the Emperor to writ in his behalf. Notwithstanding whose powerful Intercession Athanasius absolutely refused to admit the man to Communion, writing back to the Emperor, that they who had once violated and denied the Faith, and had been cast out of the Church, could not easily be taken in again to an entire Communion. The Emperor was angry that his Mediation was not complied with, and sent back Athanasius a threatening Message, 
Ext. ap. Ath. Apol. II p. 604.  that unless upon the receipt of this order he immediately submitted to it, and readily received all that were desirous to return to the Communion of the Church, he would sand one that should turn him out of his Station, and sand him far enough to some other Place. But this not succeeding, or the Emperor at least not yet willing to proceed to such extreme Courses, he recommended Arius and his Friends to the Synod at Jerusalem, to examine their Confession, and pass a candid judgement upon their Case. The Synod presently set the Case before them, and approving 
Socr. ib. c. 33. p. 68.  the Declaration of their Faith, decreed, that Arius and his Adherents should be received into Communion, which was done accordingly; whereof they gave an account 
Ext. litter. ap. Ath. de Synod. Arim.& Seleuc. p. 686. Sozom. ib. c. 28. p. 486.  both to the Emperor, and to the Church of Alexandria, persuading them kindly to entertain them, whose Faith the Emperor had pronounced to be sound and orthodox, and whose judgement therein had been ratified by the Sentence of the whole Synod, who had received them to Communion; that therefore it would become them hearty to embrace them as Fellow-Members of the Church, and to live in Peace, especially since by the Declaration of their Faith, they had made it evident, that they kept to the undoubted and approved apostolic Doctrine that had been delivered to the Church. The Council was not broken up, when the Wind seemed to turn into another corner, a new Message arriving from the Emperor about the Cause of Athanasius. For which we are to know, that Athanasius finding 
Ath. Apol. II. p. 568.  the Malice of his Enemies inflexible, and that the Count Dionysius was resolved to over rule all against him, upon his retreat from Tyre, had made his address at Court, where he met the Emperor on Horseback, entering into Constantinople, who at first sight knew him not, till  told who he was, and what his Case; nor after several Addresses could he get any access, till he took the Confidence freely to tell the Emperor, that he desired no more, than that he would not suffer him to be ruined by Malice and Violence, that his Cause might be debated and determined in a lawful and impartial Synod, at least that his Judges at Tyre might be brought face to face, and he have the liberty to exhibit his Complaints against them. Which the Emperor looking upon as a piece of common Justice, dispatched away a Letter 
Ext. ap. Socr.& Soz. loc. cit. Socr. ib. c. 35. p. 71. Soz. ubi supr.  to the Synod at Jerusalem, commanding those of them that had acted in the Council of Tyre to appear before him, and give an account of their Proceedings therein against Athanasius. The Bishops were strangely startled at this Message, the greatest part of whom fearing what might be the Consequence of things, stolen away and return'd home. But Eusebius, Theognis, Maris, Patrophilus, Ursacius, and Valens, resolving, if possible, to justify what they had done, went to Constantinople, where they boldly maintained that they had done nothing but according to rules of Justice; but however wisely waved the insisting upon the old Calumnies of the Cup, and the Table, and the death of Arsenius, which they knew were not defendable at a fair and impartial Audit, and agreed to attack him with a fresh 
Vid. Ath. ubi supr. p. 568.  Accusation, charging him, that he had threatened to stop the Fleet, that yearly transported Corn from Alexandria to Constantinople, which they offered to make good by the Evidence of Adamantius, Anubio, Arbaethio, and Peter, all Bishops, who heard it from his own mouth. And when Athanasius urged this to be highly incredible, it being altogether improbable, that so poor and inconsiderable a Person as he was, should be able to do this; Eusebius replied, and confirmed it with an Oath, that Athanasius was Rich, and had Power and Interest enough to effect what he had threatened. The Emperor giving credit to the Reporters of the Story, expressed a just Resentment at it, as Princes are never more tender and jealous, than of the Rights and privileges of their Crowns, and forthwith commanded 
Socr.& Soz. loc. cit. Theod. l. 1. c. 31. p. 65.  him to be banished. Though there are that think, the Emperor did this as an expedient for Peace, knowing that while the Heads remained, the two Parties would never be brought to any tolerable Union; others more probably, that the Emperor took this opportunity, by sending Athanasius out of the way, to provide at present for his Security, whose life he knew to be perpetually in danger by the restless Attempts and Machinations of his Enemies; and this not only Athanasius himself affirms, 
Epist. ad Solit. p. 653.  but the younger Constantine( who, may be, presumed to know as much of his Father's mind as any) expressly says so in his Letter 
Ap. Ath. Apol. II. p. 624. Ibid. p. 568.  to the catholic Church of Alexandria. However the good man looked upon it as a Mercy, that when his Adversaries designed his Death, the Goodness of God, and Clemency of the Emperor, turned it only into Banishment. Sentence being past, he was presently transported to Triers, an ancient and famous City of the belgic Gallia, the place appointed for his Exile, after which he never saw the Emperor more.  
XII. ATHANASIUS being thus rid out of the way, the Eusebians carried all before them without control; by the help of a few more Bishops that were summoned 
Socr. ib. c. 36. p. 71.  to Court, they held a Synod, wherein they condemned and deposed Marcellus Bishop of Ancyra upon pretence of some false and heretical Doctrines, ordered his Books to be burnt, and placed another in his See. But their chief Eye was upon Arius, 
Socr. ib. c. 37. p. 72. Soz. ubi supr. c. 29. p. 488.  who after his Restitution in the Synod at Jerusalem, had returned in Triumph unto Alexandria, where he met not with that welcome entertainment that he imagined, the People generally stood off, refusing to communicate with him, which put them afresh into Disorder and Confusion, equally vexed at the return of Arius, and the Banishment of Athanasius. Notice whereof being conveyed to Constantinople, he was again summoned thither to give an account of himself to the Emperor and the Synod. Alexander the aged Bishop of that place, foreseing what Designs were in hand, laboured all that he could that the Synod might be dissolved, which when he could not obtain, he set himself with an immovable Resolution to oppose whatever might subvert the Nicene Faith. No sooner was Arius arrived, but Eusebius openly appeared his Patron, telling Alexander to his face, that unless he received Arius within such a time, he would drive him out of the Church, and sand him into Banishment, and that the Glory of it should be reserved for his Successor. To satisfy the Emperor in his doubts, Eusebius introduces 
Athan. contr. Arian. Orat. I. p. 130. Epist. ad S●rap. p. 522.  him at Court, where he again presents an account of his Faith, and when the Emperor asked him whether he hearty believed what he professed, without any secret Reservation, he assured him he did, and ratified his assurance by an Oath, to whom the Emperor replied, if thy Faith be right, thou hast sworn well, but if otherwise, thou art forsworn, and God will revenge thy Perjury. Socrates adds, that the Tradition went, that having written his Opinions in a Paper, which he kept under his arm, when he came into the Emperor's presence, he secretly laid his hand upon the Paper, and swore that from his heart he believed as he had written. The Emperor fully satisfied that the man meant honestly as he professed, sent command to Alexander to receive him to the Peace and Communion of the Church.  
XIII. THE good Bishop was infinitely perplexed at what he saw was like to come upon him. But he armed himself with Patience and Courage, and by Prayers and Fasting and all the Methods of holy Devotion, solicited Heaven to come in to his assistance. And it was not without great Cause, it being a potent and an insolent Faction that he had to deal with. Elated they were with the prosperous success of their Affairs, and were scarce got out of the Court Gates, when they went directly to the 
Ath. locis supr. cit. Socr.& Soz. ubi supr. Theod. l. 1. c. 14. p. 42. Epiph. Haeres. LXVIII. p. 308. LXIX. p. 314. Niceph. l. 8. c. 51. p. 6●6.  Church called Irene, where the Bishop then was, demanding that Arius might be presently brought into the Church. But Alexander plainly  told them, he could not do it, that so arch an heretic could not be admitted to Communion. It was now Saturday, and in Expectation of the next dayes Solemnities they partend at present with this farewell, As against your consent we procured him to be called to Court, so to morrow in this very Church he shall join and assemble with us whether you will or no. These bold words made a deep Impression upon his mind, but shutting to the Churchdoors, attended with none but Macarius, he prostrated himself before the Altar, and sent up this Prayer to Heaven. If, Lord, thou permittest Arius to communicate to morrow, suffer me thy Servant to depart, and destroy not the Righteous with the Wicked. But if thou sparest thy Church, as I know thou wilt, have respect to the threatenings of the Eusebian Party, and give not over thine Heritage to ruin and reproach. Take Arius out of the way, least ent'ring into the Church, heresy enter together with him, and hereafter Piety and Impiety be accounted both alike. Thus he prayed, and Heaven heard his Prayer, and signed a Warrant for the Execution. For that very Evening, or as others report, the next Morning, Arius going through the Streets with a pompous Train of his Friends and Followers, swelled with the hopes of to morrows Triumphs, was come to a place called Sigma in Constantine's Forum, famous for the Porphyry Pillar erected there,( whereon stood a Statue of Constantine, called {αβγδ}, because placed opposite to the rising Sun,) when he found himself necessitated to inquire for a place of Easement, and being  told there was one on the back-side of the Market-place, he went thither, where his Spirits suddenly failing, the Fate of treacherous and apostate Judas became his Portion, he fell head-long, and bursting asunder in the midst, immediately expired. Socrates and others say, that the Bowels, and all the Intestina, with a vast Flux of blood issued out at the Postern passage. His Friends impatiently expect his return, till it seeming longer than ordinary, some went to call him, and Eusebius more forward than the rest, reproached his backwardness and neglect both of his Friends and himself, but hearing no answer, they went in, and there found the Wretch wallowing in his own Filth and Blood. His Followers were strangely surprised with the Accident, which they could not but look upon as a fatal blow to their Cause, though to cover as much as might be the shane and terror of so infamous a Death, they fled to their old Refuge of lies and falsehood, giving it out, that his death was procured by Sorcery and magic Arts. But the Account we have given of it is, that which Athanasius assures us, he received from his own Presbyter Macarius, then present at Constantinople, when the thing was done. He was butted by his own Party, who yet could not bury the dishonourable Memory of his ruin, the very place of his Death being accounted execrable, till afterwards a wealthy Arian purchased it of the State, and built an House upon it.  
XIV. HIS Death happened Ann. Chr. CCCXXXVI. though a learned man 
Vales. observe. Eccles. l. 2. c. 2. p. 183. Annot. ad Soz. l. 2. c. 30 p. 113.  will have him to die some years before, but fixes no certain time; and tells us, that the Arius who together with Euzoius was restored in the Synod at Jerusalem, was not ours, the head of the Faction, but another of the same Name. But as all this is said without any just ground from Story, not affirmed, not intimated by any one Writer, so he makes the Writers of those times, to proceed upon an unpardonable Mistake, who constantly speak of him as one and the same Person. As wide on the other extreme is Zonaras, 
Annal. Tom. III. p. 20.  who makes his Death, and the Passages that immediately preceded it, to have happened several years after, in the Reign of Constantius. Indeed several 
Oros. Hist. l. 7. c. 29. fol. 323. p. 2. Rufin. l. 1. c 11. in fin. vit. Ath. ap. Phot. Cod. CCLVIII. col. 1436. allique.  there are that tell us, that Arius flourished and was in great favour with Constantius. A Report, which if it has any thing of Truth and Solidity in it, must be meant of the other Arius, his Companion and Partner, who perhaps survived ours, and gave occasion to the Mistake. Thus died Arius, the great Incendiary of the Church, and happy had it been, had his Schism and his Principles died with him. He was a man whom Nature had furnished with acute Parts, and Industry with no inconsiderable Learning, a quick subtle Disputant, {αβγδ} as they all confess, one that knew how to make the best of a bad Cause, and where to take advantage of an Enemy. A man of a versatil and mercurial Wit, and who could put himself into any shape, and steer any course, that might gain the Point he aimed at. He was of a daring Temper, who durst speak what he thought, and attempt what he designed; proud and conceited of himself, and as the natural Effect of that, factious and unquiet, exasperated by Opposition, and that stuck the faster to his Opinions, the more they were battered and assaulted. Books he wrote, but such only as ministered to his purposes, composing Poems 
Philost. l. 2. c. 2. p. 470.  of several sorts, {αβγδ}, for Sea-men, for Millers, for Travellers, fitted both for Tune and Matter, as might best svit with each man's Genius and way of Life; these he dispersed amongst the People, great numbers whereof he by this means drew after him. But amongst all the rest, his Book entitled Thalia was 
Vid. Athan. contr. Arian. Orat. II. p. 135.  most eminent, so often cited by Athanasius, and at least as to the Doctrine contained in it, expressly condemned in the Synod of Nice, wherein he represented his Principles, and discoursed of the most grave and venerable Mysteries in a loose and soft kind of Verses, in Imitation of Sotades, the Cretan Poet 
Suid. in voc. {αβγδ}. , who treated of the most filthy Subjects in wanton and obscene Jambicks. If after all, any one desires to know in what kind of Tenement this odd Soul of his did inhabit, he was as to his outward shape 
Epiph. Haeres. LXIX. p. 311. Const. Imp. Epist. ad Arian. ap. Gelas. Cyz. l. 3. c. 1. col. 276. Nicet. Thes. Orth. Fid. l. 5. c. 1. p. 437. , very Tall, Lean and Meager, of a pale, dejected, and melancholy Countenance, careless in his Garb, his Hair long and squalid, his Coat hanging only upon one shoulder, and his whole mien and Dress so deformed and uncomely, that he seemed {αβγδ}, as one altogether half dead as he went along; so that Nature as well as Art had formed him to a great appearance of Mortification, and contempt of the World, and they who looked no farther than the outward shape, would have taken him for a man of singular Piety; whence Rufinus 
L. 1. c. 1. no● long ab init.  says of him, that he was Vir specie& forma magis, quam virtute Religiosus. His Voice was shrill and sharp, but his Discourse plausible and insinuative, and his Address such, as whereby he knew how to win upon those whom he had to deal with; in short, as Epiphanius Characters him, he was shaped like a Serpent, and like that too crafty and subtle, and that could easily wind and screw in himself.  
XV. GREAT hopes were conceived, that upon Arius his death, the Schism would have expired, at least the Stream have much abated. But the Spirits of the Party were still kept up, and the controversy fermented 
Soz. l. 2. c. 31. p. 491.  as high as ever at Alexandria, where the Arian and Meletian Party studied all ways to undermine and supplant the catholics; the People of Alexandria on the other side incessantly exclaiming against them, and offering up public Supplications for Athanasius his Restitution; the great S. Anthony the Hermit, frequently also by Letters interceding with the Emperor, not to harken to the Meletians, but to esteem their Accusations as no better than Slanders and Reproaches. But no solicitations could prevail; the Emperor wrote back to the People of Alexandria, upbraiding their Wildness and Disorders, commanding the Clergy and religious Virgins to be quiet, assuring them that he could not alter his mind, nor recall Athanasius, who in an Ecclesiastical Judicature had been condemned as Turbulent and Seditious. To S. Anthony he returned this answer, that he was not one that could make light of the Synodical Sentence: For admit( said he) that some few might judge for favour or hatred, yet it cannot be thought that so great an Assembly of good men, of wise and prudent Prelates should do so too, who had condemned him for being arrogant and injurious, and the cause of Discord and Sedition. These being the Crimes which his Adversaries had chiefly insisted upon, as knowing that the Emperor had a particular Aversation to such kind of men. But though he would not recede from his Resolution in this Case, yet to show himself Impartial, and take off what might be the Heats on both sides, he banished John the Meletian Bishop, the main Spring and Head of the Faction, from which the judgement and Decree of the late Tyrian Synod could not reprieve and save him.  
XVI. THE following year, Ann. CCCXXXVII. put a Period to the Life of Constantine the Great. Finding himself ill, he removed 
Socr. l. 1. c. 39. p. 75. Soz. l. 2. c. 34. p. 495. Act. Metroph. ap. Phot. Cod. CCLVI. col. 1416. vit. Athan. ib. Cod. CCLVIII. col. 1436.  from Constantinople to Nicomedia, where he made his Will, and divided the Empire between his three Sons, Constantine, Constans, and Constantius; to the first he assigned britain, Spain, gall, and the Alpes; to the second, Italy, afric, Greece, and Illyricum; to the third( his second Son) Thrace, Asia, Egypt, and the East. His Will being sealed up, he put it into the Custody of the Arian Presbyter( of whom before) commanding him to deliver it to none, but into the hands of Constantius, though others say Constantine, but that the Priest expressly contrary to his order, delivered it to Constantius. But it seems very unreasonable to suppose, that when he had so many great Officers of State, so many Bishops of note about him, he should choose to entrust so important an Affair with one obscure single Presbyter. More probable is the account which Philostorgius 
Lib. 2. c. 16. p. 475.  gives, that he delivered his Will to Eusebius Bishop of Nicomedia, by whom he is generally thought to have been baptized; and adds moreover, that fearing lest Constantin's Brothers( who, he tells us, had hastened his end by poison) suspecting,( what indeed he had ordered,) that his Successors should punish the Procurers of his Death, might demand it of him, he put it into the deceased Emperor's hand, and covered it with his imperial rob. And when the Confederates, as he suspected, came to require it of him; he  told them, that he did receive it indeed, but had returned it back into Constantine's own hand. And having thus deluded them, delivered it to Constantius, who being then in the East, was the first that arrived after his Father's Death. An opportunity which no doubt he improved with that Prince to espouse the Patronage of the Arian Cause. This report of Constantine's being poisoned by his Brothers, and his ordering his Son to revenge his Death, has very little warrant to support its Credit. 'tis not once mentioned by any gentle Writer of that age( whom we cannot suppose willing to conceal it) and by few Christians, and those 
Philostorg. Zonar. Cedrenus, &c.  too( Philostorgius excepted) of a latter date. Probable it is, that such a rumour might be spread abroad, and I am apt to think Constantius was willing to believe it, at least to lay hold of this opportunity to rid himself of those whom he was jealous of, in that we find him soon after his Fathers death, dispatching his Uncle's into another World. The Death of this good Emperor was universally bewailed, though certainly by none with greater Reason than the catholics; for though 
Vid. Theod. l. 1. c. 33. p. 66.  the easiness of his Temper, and his passionate desire of Peace, made him liable to be imposed upon by crafty Councils, and to be drawn to some severity against Athanasius, yet was he ever a firm and resolute Defender of the Nicene Faith, against which, while he lived, none durst openly appear, wherein he was more confirmed, after he had seen the ruin of Arius, and the remarkable Vengeance that from Heaven had immediately fallen upon him.   

SECT. VI. Athanasius his Acts from his return from Exile, till the Synod at Sardica.  
Athanasius his treatment at Triers. Is released, and sent home with a Letter from the younger Constantine. The time of his Exile adjusted. The Joy expressed at his return. The Faction at Court made against him. The licence taken in disputing Matters of Faith. The Eusebian Party appear vigorously against him. A Synod holden by him at Alexandria, which asserts the Innocency of his Cause. His Messengers at Rome Encounter with and baffle them of the Eusebian Faction. A more general Council consented to on both sides. A Council summoned at Antioch upon what occasion. The number of Bishops that met in it. The Confession of Faith indicted by them. Some other Confessions drawn up by the same Synod, and why. Their Canons. Athanasius deposed. His See refused by Eusebius Emisenus, accepted by Gregory of Cappadocia. Athanasius's retirement to Rome. Pope Julius's Message to them at Antioch, and their peremptory Answer. Athanasius absolved in a Synod at Rome. Julius his Letter to the Synod at Antioch. Gregory settled in the See of Alexandria, by the Secular Powers. The Cruelties and Barbarities committed at the time. Gregory's servile courting great men. The miserable end of his Patron Balacius. Gregory's legates rejected at Rome. Athanasius how employed during his long stay there. The Creed that goes under his name shew'd not to be his. A new Confession of Faith drawn up at Antioch, and sent to the Court of Constans in the West. This rejected in a Synod at Milan. Ursacius and Valens their Recantation. Athanasius his Converse with the Emperor.  
I. BUT it's time now to look back, and see what became of Athanasius. No sooner did he arrive at Triers, but he sat down under the Protection of the younger Constantine, who governed the Western parts of the Empire, and kept his Court in that City, to whose Care as well as Jurisdiction, he had been particularly consigned by the Emperor, and who accordingly received him with all Demonstrations of kindness and condescension. But he was especially welcome to, and honourably entertained by Maximinus Bishop of that See. Though S. Jerom 
Chron. ad an. Chr. CCCXLIV. , who relates the Passage, places it at least seven years after, and refers it to the times of his being persecuted by Constantius. Which must either be a mistake, or be understood of some other coming of his to this place. For I dare not with Baronius 
Ad Ann. CCCXXXVI. Num. 21.  for Constantius red Constantine, both because what S. Jerom says of his being hunted out in order to his Punishment, agrees not so well with Constantine's carriage towards him, and because the date under which 'tis placed, is incapable of being reconciled with the times of Constantine. How Athanasius spent his time in this place, is not certainly known, no doubt to the purposes of Piety and Religion, and to the Comfort and Establishment of the Christians there. As for the Story of his being forced to hid himself in a Well( which Tradition points out at this day) to avoid the fury of the Arians, and that there he composed 
Dur●n●. Rational. l. 4. c. 〈◇〉 p. 251.  the Creed that passes under his name, they are Reports so groundless and trifling, such thick and palpable mistakes, that I think it not worth while to take notice of them. Nor indeed is Baronius and other grave Authors willing, that Triers should carry away the Glory of that Creed, and therefore stiffly contend that it was drawn up at Rome; while Poss●vine 
V. Ath. T. 1. p. 125.  loth that any place should lose the Honour of it, thinks it probable that Athanasius dictated and divulged it where ever he came. But of that Confession we shall speak more afterwards. Here he continued till the Death of Constantine the Great, the News whereof no sooner slay over hither, but Constantine being eldest Son, began to act as Heir to his Father's Power and Greatness; and amongst the first Cares of his Empire, took into Consideration the Case of Athanasius, whose hard Fate he pitied. Indeed Constantine himself designed his Releasement before he died, yea, and took care for it they say, by his last Will and Testament; though Eusebius of Nicomedia, who then stood by his Bed-side, opposed it, and earnestly dissuaded him from it. But his Death hap'ning soon after, left it to his Son to perfect what he had designed, who according to his Father's Will, immediately gave him leave to return, and recommended him to his People by this following Letter 
Ext. ap. Ath. Apol. II. p 624. Socr. l. 2. c. 3. p. 82. Soz. l. 3. c. 2. p. 498. Theod. l. 2. c. 2. p. 69. .  
CONSTANTINE Caesar to the People of the catholic Church at Alexandria.  
I Suppose you are not ignorant, that Athanasius, Preacher of the venerable Law, was therefore for a time sent into gall, lest the fierceness of his bloody and inhuman Enemies, who struck directly at his sacred Person, might bring incurable mischiefs upon him. To prevent which, he was sent out of the reach of those who had Designs upon his Life, and was commanded to remain under my Jurisdiction, that so in this City, wherein he has sojourned, he might be furnished with all necessary Accommodations; though such his incomparable Courage and virtue, that being supported by the Divine assistance, he made light of all the Burdens and Hardships of an afflictive Fortune. Now forasmuch as our Lord and Father of blessed Memory, Constantine the August, was fully resolved to have restored the said Bishop both to your excellent Piety, and his proper Station, but being prevented by the Law of Mortality, before he could put this his purpose into Execution, is gone to the place of rest, I thought myself concerned, in pursuance of the Will of this Prince of sacred Memory, to make it good. With how much respect and reverence we have treated him, himself at his arrival will declare to you. Nor is it any wonder, that I should do this for him, since both the R●flection upon your earnest Expectation, and the sight of so excellent a Person moved and engaged me to it. The divine Providence preserve you, dear Brethren.  
Dated at Triers the XVth of the Calends of July.  
II. THIS Letter, dated July XVIIIth. while Constantine was yet Caesar,( the Division of the Empire between the three Brothers, at what time they took the title of Augusti 
Vid. Idat. Fast. Consu●. ad An. CCCLXXVI.  upon them, not being till the IXth. of September following) plainly shows, that it was written within two months after his Father's death, who departed this Life May the XXIIth. By which 'tis evident that Athanasius continued not in his German Exile much above a year and a half, the Sentence of Banishment being denounced against him not long after the Synod at Jerusalem( held towards the latter end of the year CCCXXXV.) and his Restitution hap'ning July XVIII. CCCXXXVII. Notwithstanding which, 
H. E l. 2. c. 1. p. 69.  Theodorit I know not by what Computation makes the time of his Banishment to be two years and four months; and Rufinus 
L. 1. c. 18. p. 233. , that it was six years before his return to Alexandria, but then heedlessly confounds it with an after-Exile. But most prodigious is the account of Epiphanius, who speaking of this Affair, tells 
Adv. Melet. Haeres. LXVIII. p 310.  us, that he remained in the Parts of Italy more than XII. or XIV. years. A mistake not capable of excuse any other way( and that too lame and unsatisfactory) than by saying, that he meant it of the several Banishments which Athanasius underwent from first to last. But we have formerly remarked, that of all others, he is the most loose and careless Relator of these Matters.  
III. FURNISHED with this royal Warrant, Athanasius puts himself upon his Journey, passing through Syria, and so to Alexandria, welcome we may be sure to the People of his Charge, 
Theod. l. 2. c. 2. p. 70.  all Ranks and Orders of men, high and low, in City and Country, receiving him with all imaginable Expressions of Joy and Gladness. All this the Arians beholded with an envious and evil Eye, and not being able to prevent his coming back, were resolved to make it uneasy to him. To which end they endeavoured to spoil the Triumphs of his return, by blowing up People into Tumults and Disorders, on purpose that hence they might have some pretext of improving it into a formal Charge and Accusation, which they did shortly after, by means of their potent Friends above. For the Eusebian Faction at this time ruled all in the Court of Constantius, to whose share the Eastern part of the Empire fell. First 
Socr. l. 2. c. 2. p. 81. Soz. l. 3. c. 1. p. 497.  they gained Eusebius the Eunuch, great Chamberlain of the Palace, to their side, and by him the rest of the Eunuchs, men of greatest note and favour with the Emperor. Next they recommended their Opinions, and the Merit of their Cause to the Empress, and last of all prevailed with the Emperor, who being a young Prince, and of an easy and credulous Temper, was without any difficulty brought over to them. And now the Cause began to run smooth, and to be freely vented without control. The Emperor's Guards were able to tell you how the Case stood between Athanasius and his Adversaries; the Eunuchs and Court-Ladies held chat, and confidently disputed the most profound Points of Faith, nay scarce a corner in the City, where the meanest mechanic would not take upon him to argue Pro or Con in these weighty Matters. And this licence soon spread itself into other Parts, till from inquiring they fell to disputing, and that turned to wrangling, which ended at length in more fatal Feuds and Quarrels.  
IV. HAVING thus successfully settled and secured their Interests at Court, they fall more directly upon Athanasius, whom they accuse to the Emperor of all the Crimes that had been charged upon him in the time of Constantine, with some few Matters of later date, of equal Truth and Credit with the rest. And not content to assault him at home, they next attempt to ruin his Reputation abroad, writing Letters 
Epist. Synod. Alex. ap. Ath. Apol. II. p. 562. &c. vid. Theod. ib. c. 3. p. 71.  to that purpose to Constantine and Constans, the two other imperial Brothers, wherein they set forth at large all the Evils and Mischiefs which they could with any pretence heap upon him from his first entrance upon the See of Alexandria, enumerating those several absurd and foolish Accusations that had been managed against him with so much heat in the Synod of Tyre; to which they now add, that he had insolently taken upon him to return without leave; that having been Synodically condemned, and thereupon banished by the Emperor, he had resumed his Place without any Synodical Sentence of Absolution; that his return was so distasteful to the People, that it hurried all things into a general Tumult and Confusion, whence ensued blood and slaughter, charging him with things done by the Governor of Alexandria, before he return'd thither, yea that he himself had commanded some to be beaten, others to be brought to Trial, and cast into Prison; and that not Egypt only, but palestine, Phaenicia, and the neighbour Provinces were likely to be involved in the same Storm and Tempest. The same they writ to Julius Bishop of Rome, desiring that he would ratify and confirm the Sentence which the Council of Tyre had given against him. The chief Actors in this Affair were Theognis Bishop of Nice, Theodore of Heraclea, and( who acted all the rest) Eusebius, translated about this time from Nicomedia to the See of Constantinople, in the room of Paulus, now again ejected and banished by the prevalency of the Arian Party.  
V. OF all these Transactions Athanasius had quick Intelligence, and finding from what Quarter the Wind blew, thought it high time to provide against the Storm which he saw coming upon him. To this end he first convened the Bishops of Egypt, Thebais, Libya, and Pentapolis, who met in Synod at Alexandria, to the number of near an hundred, unanimously agreeing to vindicate the Innocency of their Metropolitan, conceiving themselves most properly capable to give Testimony in this Case, as being nearest to the Stage of Action, and many of them Eye-witnesses of the most material Passages, whereof Athanasius stood accused. Immediately therefore they writ an Encyclical Epistle 
Ext. ap. Ath. ubi supra.  to all the Bishops of the catholic Church, wherein they complain of the Fraud and Malice of his Enemies, solemnly declare against those Scandals and Calumnies which they had cast upon him, particularly refute the several misdemeanours, wherewith in the late Letters to the Emperors, and the Bishop of Rome, he had been charged, concluding with an earnest Importunity that they would receive this Testimony, and stand up for the Cause of Athanasius, and not give credit to the wicked and fraudulent Suggestions of his Adversaries, who boggled at no ways, how lewd soever, to advance their Cause; but especially imposed upon them in the matter of Subscriptions; the names of Egyptian Bishops wherein they so much gloried, not being catholics, but Meletian schismatics, who notoriously disturbed the Peace of the Church, and were Guilty of worse things than they were willing to commit to writing, an account whereof they might receive from those who should deliver their Letter to them. Thus prepared, he forthwith dispatched away Messengers 
Ath. ad Solit. p. 631.  to the Courts of the Western Emperors, where meeting with those sent from the adverse Party, they so baffled their Reports, and plainly exposed the falsehood of their Accusations, that they were forced to retire thence with shane. At Rome 
Ib.& Apol. II. p. 577, 578. ( whither they went also to carry the Synodical Epistle) they had frequent Meetings, where they found, that before their arrival, the Eusebian Messengers had been pressing Julius to own what had been done in the Synod at Tyre, desiring him for his Satisfaction in the Truth of things, to writ to one Pistus at Alexandria, who would give him a faithful Relation of these Matters. Which they no sooner heard, but they acquainted Julius, that this Pistus was a professed Arian, and as such had been branded long since by Alexander their Bishop, and by the Synod of Nice, and that he had no other Orders, than what he had received from Secundus of Pentapolis, whom that great Council had rejected as an Arian Bishop. And indeed at all their Meetings, they still managed their Cause with so much clearness, and uncontrollable Evidence, that Julius and all indifferent Persons were abundantly satisfied in their accounts of things, which put Martyrius, Macarius, and Hesychius, the Eusebian legates, to such a plunge, that not well knowing what shift to make, they requested Julius, that a Council might be called about this Matter, and both Parties concerned summoned to appear, that so the Case might be debated and decided in a just and an impartial Way, and that then they should be ready to make good whatever they had charged upon Athanasius. This, however intended by them only as a present shift, yet seeming fair and reasonable, was assented to, and the Eusebian legates dismissed, or indeed rather they fled away by night, though sick and indisposed, not able to bear the shane of such frequent and public Refutations; Julius resolving to give their Masters notice of the time and place by Messengers of his own. Hereof he presently advertised Athanasius, referring it to him to appoint the place of the Synod, where he thought he might best appear and answer for himself with freedom and safety; sending him withall, a Copy 
Ubi supr. p. 620. vid. etiam p. 581.  of the Acts of the Synod of Tyre, and of those that had been drawn up in Maraeotis, which the Messengers of Eusebius had brought with them. This good success of his was yet about this time, or soon after, a little allayed with the News of the death of his great Lord and Patron, Constantine the Emperor, the eldest of the three Brothers, who invading the Dominions of his Brother Constans, was himself killed in the attempt Ann. Chr. CCCXL.  
VI. THINGS being thus transacted at Rome, Eusebius and the rest, who had espoused the Defence of the Arian Party against Athanasius, not knowing what would be the event of things, resolve to hold a Synod in the East; which they knew well enough how to pack, or at least to influence to their advantage; and for this a convenient opportunity soon presented itself upon this occasion. Constantine the Great, some years before he died, had begun a very stately and magnificent Church at Antioch 
Euseb. de vit. Const. l. 3. c 50. p. 508. , the oversight whereof he committed to his Son Constantius, who according to the Design of so generous a Piety, carried it on after his Father's death to Perfection, with all the Advantages both of greatness and ornament, which it was capable to receive, whence it was commonly called DOMINICUM AUREUM 
Hieron. Supplem. ad Chron. Eus. An. 329.  or The Golden Church. And being now finished, the Bishops of the neighbouring Provinces were, by the Emperor's Letters, summoned to the Solemnity of its Dedication; 
Socr. l. 2. c. 8. p. 84. Soz. l. 3. c. 5. p. 501.  this being the Pretence, while the Design at the bottom was a Synodical Convention. There met at Antioch ninety odd Bishops, Maximus Bishop of Jerusalem not appearing with the rest, for being sensible how much he had been imposed upon by subtle Artifices in the Synod of Tyre, to subscribe to the deposing of Athanasius, he would not trust himself a second time, having done too much already to the prejudice of the catholic Cause. Indeed Baronius 
Ad. An. 341. Num. IV, V.  with great confidence assures us( and which to me is strange, he is followed herein by a man 
P. de Marc. de Concord. l. 3. c. 3§ 2. p. 134.  of more learning than himself) that of the whole Number, there were but XXXVI. Arians( which being men of Spirit and Interest, over-ruled the whole Assembly) and that the rest were catholic Bishops. But evident it is, that he was lead into that Error, by a gross Mistake of a Passage in the Letter of Pope Julius 
Ap. Ath. Apol. II. p. 582. , which being rightly understood as 'tis in the Greek, looks quiter another way, as a learned man 
Vales. observe. l. 1. c. 8. ad calc. Sozom. p. 180.  has demonstrated beyond all Exception. Besides, that all of them with one consent, expressly disowned themselves to be Arians, however otherwise partial and favourable to the Cause. As for matters of Doctrine( that we may dispatch this first, though transacted last) they proceeded herein with great Art and Subtlety, doing nothing that might openly clash with the Synod of Nice. And first they wrote a Synodical Epistle 
Ext. ap. Ath. de Synod. p. 687& Socr. l. 2. c. 10. p. 86. ( which they sent abroad to the Bishops of the several Churches) wherein they drew up a brief Account of their Creed. The Letter( at least so much of it as is now extant) runs thus. We are not the Disciples of Arius. For how can we that are Bishops, be Followers of him that was but a Presbyter? Nor have we entertained any other Faith, than that which has been published from the beginning. But being constituted Judges for the Trial and Examination of his belief, we received him, rather than followed him, which you may understand from what follows. For from the beginning we have been taught to believe in one God, the Maker and Preserver of all things both intelligible and sensible, and in one only begotten Son of God, subsisting before all Worlds, and abiding together with the Father that begot him; by whom all things were made, visible and invisible; who according to the Father's will, did in these last dayes come down from Heaven, and took flesh of the Blessed Virgin, and when in all things he had fulfilled his Father's Will, suffered, and rose again, and return'd to Heaven, and sits at the right hand of the Father. He will come again to judge the quick and the dead, and being King and God, abides so for ever. We believe also in the holy Ghost. And if it be necessary to add, we believe likewise the Resurrection of the flesh, and the life everlasting.  
A Confession plausibly drawn up, and so put together that each Party might subscribe it, it consisting of Propositions owned on all hands, but industriously omitting the word Con-substantial, which they ever rejected as foreign and unscriptural. But this being thought too short and unsatisfactory, and the sense of it obscure and ambiguous in the most important Articles, they afterwards published a larger Confession of their Faith 
Ext. loc. cit.  in this Form. According to the Faith delivered by the Evangelists and Apostles, we believe in one God, the Father Almighty, Maker and Creator of all things; and in one Lord Jesus Christ, being God, his only begotten Son, by whom all things are made, begotten of his Father before all Worlds, God of God, whole of whole, alone of God alone, perfect of perfect, King of King, Lord of Lord, the living Word, true Wisdom, Life and Light, the way of Truth, the Resurrection, the Shepherd, the Door; unchangeable and inseparable, the most express and exact Image of his Father's Godhead, Substance, Power, Council, and Glory; the first-born of every Creature; he who in the beginning was with God, even God the Word, as it is said in the Gospel, and the Word was God, by whom all things were made, and in whom all things subsist. Who in these last dayes came down from Heaven, and was born of the Virgin Mary according to the Scriptures; and was made man, the Mediator between God and man, the Apostle of our Faith, and the Prince of life, as himself says, I came down from Heaven, not to do mine own Will, but the Will of him that sent me; who suffered for us, and rose again the third day, and ascended into Heaven, and sits at the right hand of the Father; and he shall come again with Glory and Power to judge the quick and the dead. And in the holy Ghost, which is given for Consolation, Sanctification, and Consummation to them that believe; even as our Lord Jesus Christ commanded his Disciples, saying, go ye, and teach all Nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the holy Ghost, plainly intimating the Father as truly a Father, the Son as truly a Son, and the holy Ghost as truly such: So as these are not mere simplo Names, but such as accurately express each ones proper Hypostasis or Person, Order, and Glory: So that they are three in Person, but one in Consent. Holding therefore this Faith, which in the presence of God and Christ we have maintained from the first, and shall retain to the last, we under an Anathema condemn all perverse heretical Opinions. And if any one contrary to the orthodox Belief held forth in Scripture, shall teach and affirm, that there was any Time or Age, before the Son was begotten, let him be accursed. And if any shall affirm the Son to be a Creature, as one of the Creatures; or a Branch, as one of the Branches, and shall not hold all the things beforemention'd, just as the holy Scriptures have delivered them; or shall teach or preach any other thing than what we have received, let him be accursed. For we for our Parts do truly and religiously believe and entertain all things delivered both by the Prophets and Apostles, and that are consigned to us in the holy Scriptures.  
In this Form also, they omit the word Consubstantial; in all things else Sozomen 
L. 3. c. 5. p. 502.  thinks they agree with the Decrees of the Nicene Creed; but wisely adds, unless some secret meaning lurk under the Words, which he was not ware of. And to gain the greater Credit to this Confession of Faith, they gave it out that they found it written with Lucian the Martyr's own hand, a man eminently versed in all sorts of Learning, especially the holy Scriptures, and who suffered under the Diocletian Persecution at Nicomedia. After this Theophronius Bishop of Tyana, a man greatly reverenced by the Synod, drew up another short Confession, 
Ap. Ath. ubi supr. p. 688.  which was propounded and assented to; wherein I find no material difference from the former, concluding only with an explicit Anathema against that man( or any that shall communicate with him) that shall teach, or privately maintain any thing contrary to this Faith, or that shall favour of Marcellus of Ancyra, Sabellius, or Paul of Samosata. Nor content with this, some Months after the recess of the Council, being re-assembled in another Session, they drew up a fourth Confession 
Ext. ib. p. 689 , though without any considerable Alteration in the substance of it, concluding those, who affirm the Son of God to be {αβγδ}, of things not existing, or of any other substance( {αβγδ}) than that of God, and that there was any time, when he was not, to be separate from the catholic Church. This they sent to the Emperor Constans then in France, dispatching Narcissus Bishop of Neronias, Maris of Chalcedon, Theodore of Heraclea, Marcus of Arethusa, Members of their Synod, to that purpose. It may seem strange, that in one Council, so many Creeds should be drawn up: But besides that, they sat a long time, and so had leisure enough to review and refine their Debates and Determinations, possibly they might design a Liberty to choose which they pleased, as the Circumstances of after-times might make most convenient; or as Socrates 
Loc. supr. cit.  thinks, that by making way to introduce several Forms, they might in time bring down things to downright Arianism. Next to Matters of Faith, they took notice of the external State and Polity of the Church, composing XXV. Canons concerning several Cases of Order and Discipline, which have place in the body of the Councils at this day, and which, whatever might be the particular Occasions, or the Designs of those that made them, are certainly excellent Rules of Church-Policy, and wisely contrived to prevent those ordinary misrepresentations that are wont to invade the Government of the Church.  
VII. BUT leaving these Matters, come we to what was the Subject of their first Debates, and the prime Design of the Meeting, viz. the Case of Athanasius. No sooner was the Council sate, but heavy Complaints were brought in, all the Accusations being revived and dressed up, which either heretofore, or of late, had been made against him, which we may be sure, wanted neither Wit nor Artifice to set them off. And the thing took accordingly, it being resolved on, that he should be deposed from his Charge, and another substituted in his room. The place was first proffered 
Socr. l. 2. c. 9. p. 85. Soz. l. 3. c. 6. p. 503.  to one Eusebius, born of a good Family at Edessa, a man of extraordinary Parts and Learning both Divine and human, and who had sometimes been scholar to his Name-sake, the great Bishop of Caesarea. But he wisely declined it, upon whose refusal, they pitched upon one Gregorius, an obscure Person born in Cappadocia, whom though a mere Stranger, altogether unknown both to the Clergy and the People over whom he was Preside, they did, and at that distance too, contrary to all the Rules and Customs of the Church, consecrate Bishop of Alexandria( in which Capacity he subscribed the Decrees of the Synod) resolving to implore the Imperial Assistance, to give him Possession of the Place by force, and to suppress all Opposition that might be made against it. The News hereof quickly flew to Alexandria, and alarmed Athanasius timely to withdraw, and get into shelter, before the Tempest could arise 
Ath. ad Solit. p. 632. Apol. I. p. 526. II. p. 57● vid. Theod. l. 2. c. 4. p. 71. ; who accordingly set Sail for Rome, to vindicate himself in open Synod, according to the Summons which he had received from Julius to that purpose; who sent also Elpidius and Philoxenus, Presbyters, with a Letter to Eusebius and his Party, appointing time and place, where he required them as Plaintiffs to appear, otherwise they must leave the World to judge, whether the Cause they defended was not unsound, and unable to abide the Test. The Messengers arriving in the East, found Eusebius and the rest in the Council at Antioch, where the Letters being delivered, they were strangely surprised with the Summons to a Synod at Rome, a place where they knew very well they had neither Interest nor Authority, where they should have no great Minister of State to govern the Assembly, no Military Guard to keep the Doors, no Secular Powers to abet their Practices, and execute their Commands. This made them while off the Matter with delays, detaining the Messengers with Expectation of an Answer, till the time appointed for the Synod was past, and then fairly excused themselves, pretending they durst not venture so long a Journey, the Wars with Persia then growing on, but indeed privately agreeing amongst themselves, that if they could not get the better by Ecclesiastical Sentence, they must betake themselves to their accustomend Arts of Force and Power. At last the Roman Presbyters are dismissed with Letters to Rome, drawn up with all the exquisite Arts of Eloquence, but tart and invective, wherein( as appears from Julius his Answer, and the sum of the Letter itself set down by Sozomen 
L. 3. c. 8. p. 508. vid. Socr. l. 2. c. 15. p. 91. ) they complained that they should be cited to Rome, there being other Places more convenient, that they acknowledged the Church of Rome to be very venerable, as having been the Seat of the Apostles, and from the first the Metropolis of Piety, yet that it was beholden to the East, for those great men who had planted and propagated Religion there; that the Dignity of Bishops was not to be measured by the greatness of Cities, wherein if they were not equal, they were at least Superior in Virtue, in Readiness and Resolution; that the time appointed for the Synod was too short for so great an Affair, and for Persons at that distance; that he had taken upon him to examine the Acts of the Council of Tyre, which ought not again to be called in question; that he had reflected contempt upon them, writing only to Eusebius and some others, and taking no notice of all the rest; that he had in a manner prejudg'd the Cause, by holding a friendly Correspondence and Communion with Athanasius and Marcellus; Persons whom they had long since condemned, and deprived of Ecclesiastical Communion; in short, they offered to hold Peace and Communion with Julius, if he would ratify the Deprivation of those whom they had deposed, and own the Ordination of those whom they had substituted in their rooms; but if not, they refused to have any thing to do with him, putting him in mind, that their Predecessors the Bishops of the East, never meddled with the Affairs of the West, when the Church of Rome had cast Novatian out of doors. As soon as the Messengers were return'd, the Synod met at Rome 
Ath. Apol. II. p. 575. ad Solit. p. 633. , above fifty Bishops assembling in the Church of Vito the Presbyter, where the Letter from the Council at Antioch being red, the Cause of Athanasius was brought before them, who opened his Case, and so cleared his Reputation from the malicious Imputations laid upon it, by the evidence of Witnesses, and the refusal of his Adversaries to make good the Charge; that the Synod declared themselves abundantly satisfied in the Innocency of his Cause, and decreed that he( and together with him Marcellus of Ancyra, who had been condemned at the same time with him by the Conventicle at Constantinople in the time of Constantine) should be held acquitted of all Accusations, and be admitted to the Communion of the Church. Hither 
Ath. Apol. II. p. 584.  also at this time came several Bishops out of Thrace, Phoenicia, palestine, and other Parts, many Presbyters from Alexandria and elsewhere, complaining of the merciless Usage they and their Churches met with, from the Cruelty and Insolence of the prevailing Party in the East, and more had come out of Egypt and Alexandria, had not their Adversaries detained them by force and violence. All which inspired the good Bishops with a holy Zeal and Indignation, and they accordingly, before their Dissolution, ordered Julius to writ in the name of the Synod to the Eastern Bishops, in answer to the Letter which they had sent, which he did in a prolix Epistle 
Ext. ib. p. 575. , wherein he smartly checks their insolent and irregular Proceedings, fully answers all their vain Cavils and Pretences, refutes their Excuses for not coming to the Synod, and gives them an account of their receiving Athanasius and Marcellus to Communion. This Letter he sent by Count Gabian, before whose arrival in the East, Eusebius of Constantinople( the great Spring of Motion in these Actions) was dead, and the Synod, probably, broken up, so that what became of it is uncertain. For though a learned man 
Annot. in Socr. l. 2. c. 15. p. 22.  tells us from the Authority of Sozomen, that upon the arrival of this Epistle, the Eastern Bishops again assembled the next year, Ann. CCCXLIII. in Synod at Antioch, and wrote a sharp stinging Answer, yet is it plain, and as clear as the Sun, that this could not be no other than the Answer we mentioned before, sent by Elpidius and Philoxenus, and this himself grants elsewhere 
Annot. in Soz. l. 3. c. 8. p. 115. , blaming Sozomen for making this Epistle, to have been written not in the former, but in an after-Synod at Antioch, but withall taking no notice of his own confident Mistake.  
VIII. BUT it's time we return to Alexandria, and see how things were carried there since Athanasius his retirement, where we shall find them bad enough. The Bishops at Antioch having( as before was said) conferred the Government of that Church upon Gregory the Cappadocian, and finding the Stream in the West to run strong against them, were forced to call in the help of the secular Arm, which they had ever found the most positive way of Confutation, importuning Constantius 
Ath. ad Soli● p. ●31. &c.  to interpose his Power for the support of their tottering Cause, otherwise likely to tumble to the Ground; that now, if ever, was the time for him to show himself the Patron of their Cause, and the Defender of their Faith, and that to this purpose he would cause Gregory to be forthwith seated in the Chair of Alexandria. And that the Work might be done effectually, they procure Philagrius to be again made Governor of Egypt. He had some years since discharged that place of Eminency, at what time he had done them considerable Service against Athanasius, when the Commissioners came from the Synod at Tyre to examine the Case of Ischyras in the Province of Miraeotas. A man every way fitted for their turn: He was Gregory's own Country-man, in his Nature fierce and cruel, for his Religion a Pagan-Idolater, and which was worse, an Apostate from the Christian Faith. With him and Arsacius the Eunuch, attended with a strong Military-guard, and furnished likewise with the Emperor's Letters, Gregory sets forward for Alexandria; where they no sooner arrived, but they endeavoured to strengthen themselves, by joining to their Party all the most rude and profligate Rabble about the City, men of mean Conditions, and desperate Fortunes; who arming themselves with Clubs and Swords, broken into the Church dedicated to Quirinus( where great numbers of catholics were assembled) killing some, and trampling others under foot, others were first beaten and wounded, and then banished; 
Vid. etiam Apol. II. p. 583.  no Order, Sex, or Age escaped their Savage hands, they offered violence to Presbyters, and those who had more immediately devoted themselves to the Service of Religion, abused Virgins beyond all bounds of Modesty, dragged Matrons before public Judicatures, treating them with the highest Instances of rudeness and incivility; nay, so far did they persecute the Aunt of Athanasius( if we may so understand his {αβγδ}; of some Bishop however) that their Malice reached beyond her Life, not permitting her, when dead, to have the Conveniency of a Grave, which she had wanted, had not those who undertook to bury her, carried her out, as if it had been their own Relation. Some mens Estates were seized, others had their Food and Provisions taken from them, nay, the holy Sacrament itself was profaned by Pagans, and scornfully thrown to the ground. The Bishops were spoiled, beaten, imprisoned or banished, and used without any reverence either to their Age or Order; and amongst the rest, Sarapammon an ancient Confessor, after all other hardships, was sent into Banishment, and Potamo the aged Bishop of Heraclea, who had suffered Imprisonment, and lost an Eye for his constancy to the Truth under the Diocletian Persecution, was now so miserable scourged and beaten, that they gave not over, till they left him for dead; and though, by the means that were used, he after some time recovered life, yet he died shortly after of his Wounds and Pains, carrying to his Grave the honour of a second Martyrdom.  
IX. THESE bloody and violent Proceedings, so distasteful to all peaceable and sober Minds, Gregory knew well could not hold long, unless strongly backed by the civil Power. Accordingly he set himself by all plausible Insinuations, to court the favour of those in Authority, without any regard to Persons of his own Rank and Order. If a Letter came from a great man, the Messenger should be caressed and dismissed with a Reward; if from a Clergy-man, it should be scorned and slighted. Amongst others whom he obliged to his side was ●●lacius, General of the Egyptian Forces, who espoused and pursued his Cause with a furious Zeal, and sitting with him upon the Bench of Justice, would command the Bishops, and sometimes the Professors of monastic life, to be brought, and to be unmercifully beaten and whipped before them; Gregory, after all, persuading and inviting them to join in Communion with him. But the divine Vengeance soon after overtook this potent Assessor. For nothing mollified by the Letters and Warnings given him by S. Anthony, the great Father of the Heremitical Institution,( venerable in those times for the incomparable Strictness and Austerity of his Life in the Egyptian Solitudes) he still went on, till riding out one day, to the first Stage from Alexandria, his Horse threw back his head, and catching him by the Thigh, tore off the flesh, withall casting him to the ground, so bruised and wounded, that being carried back into the City, within three dayes he ended his miserable life. Gregory, though thus busily employed at home, was not yet altogether unmindful of his credit and interest abroad; for knowing how many both Bishops and Presbyters were fled to Rome, where they were likely to make a tragical Representation of Affairs, he dispatched away Carpones 
Ibid. p. 578.  a Presbyter( one that had been convicted long since by Alexander of too much Familiarity and Correspondence with Arius) as his legate to Rome,( where the Synod then sat about the Case of Athanasius) to mollify Reports, and beget a favourable Construction of what had passed at Alexandria. But the man was rejected, neither he nor his Message finding entertainment.  
X. WE left Athanasius in the Synod at Rome, purging himself, whereupon he was absolved by the Council of the Crimes charged upon him. Indeed he made that City the main Seat of his Exile, having been there a year and an half already, and continuing some years longer, kindly received and entertained by all. We cannot imagine that so good a man, and one of so active a Genius, would lie idle so long a time, though how he spent his time there, is unknown to us. Baronius 
A● Ann. 342. Num. XLII.  in the general, finds him this employment,( though without any other Authority than his own conjecture) diligently and solemnly to visit and adore the Shrines and Memories of the Martyrs, the Cryptae and the Coemeteria, those venerable Subterranean Monuments, especially those of S. Peter and Paul, expressing a more peculiar Devotion towards S. Peter, for having sent thence his Disciple S. Mark to plant and propagate Christianity in Egypt. All which we are bound in good manners to believe, though not one Syllable of any warrant is produced to make it good. More particularly he tells 
Ad Ann. 340. Num. VII.  us, that he first introduced into Rome the monastic Discipline of Egypt, publishing to that end, the Life of Anthony the Great, then living, and that this Institution was embraced, not only by others, but also by the noble Matrons of Rome. Though S. Jerom( upon whose Authority he builds all this) says 
Epist. ad Princip. p. 119.  no more, than that Marcella a Roman Lady, had from Athanasius and his Successor Peter( who fled thither in the time of the Arian Persecution) received an account of the Life of Antony, and of the Discipline of the Monasteries of Pachomius, and of the Virgins and Widdows that were in the Country of Thebais; but was followed herein by none for many years after, till Sophronia revived the Institution. But( what is most considerable) now it was( they tell us 
Id. ib. N. XI.& seq. ) that Athanasius composed the famous Creed, that commonly passes under his name; that being cited to Rome, and charged as Criminal, he could not expect a favourable Reception without giving an account of his Faith, that therefore he drew up in Latin this Confession, which he repeated before Julius and the rest, which being approved, was together with the Acts of the Synod, laid up amongst the Archiv● of the Church of Rome, whence it was published many Ages after. This is pretended for its Birth and Pedigree, which being said without any shadow of proof, may with the same reason be rejected. Indeed so far is it from being probable, that he made it at this time at R●me, that no evidence appears that he ever made it all. For not to insist upon other Arguments, there's this unanswerable prejudice lies against it, that Athanasius himself( who is very punctual in setting down all the material Passages of his Life, that concern these Matters) does not so much as once in all his Writings, give the least Intimation of it; nor is it mentioned by any Historian or Writer of that or the following times, no not by the Writers of his Life, that lived in the middle Ages of the Church. Nor indeed was it ever heard of in the World, till above six hundred years after Athanasius was dead; but barely mentioned then, and not urged with any confidence, till above CC. years after that, when the Legates of Pope Gregory the IXth. produced and pleaded it at Constantinople, in their Disputations with the Greeks. And can it be imagined, that so famous a Confession, made by a Person, for whom the World had so just a reverence, whose Writings were so highly valued, and so diligently sought after in all Parts of the World, should lie Incognito for so many Ages, when it might have been of so much use and importance to the Church, to have ended several Controversies then on foot, especially being pretended to lie no farther out of reach, than the Records of the Roman Church, which there was daily occasion of searching, and to which there was frequent resort from all Parts. But by whomsoever compiled, having entitled itself to so great a name, and bearing so express an Image of his Doctrine, so stoutly maintained by him both by Writing and Suffering, and being vouched and asserted by the supereminent Authority of the Church of Rome, it soon gained Credit and Reputation amongst all the Churches of the West.  
XI. BUT whether or no Athanasius was busied in the drawing up a Confession of his Faith at Rome, 'tis certain his Adversaries were hammering one in the East. About four years since they had composed several Forms in the Council of Antioch, where they now again met in Synod, more accurately to examine, and fully to declare their Sense concerning the Controversies that at this time so much distracted and disturbed the Church. And in pursuance of this, they composed {αβγδ}( as Athanasius 
De Synod. p. 690. ubi exit.& apud Socr. l. 2. c. 19. p. 97.  tells us) a very long Explication of their Faith, thence commonly called {αβγδ}, or the large Confession, drawn up( as 
Vales. Annot. in Socr. p. 24.  one truly observes) with great Learning and Elegancy; wherein having first set down the Symbol made in their last Session at Antioch, they add a prolix Explication of the principal Articles, with a particular Antithesis to the Errors and Heresies of Paulus Samos●tenus, Marcellus, Photinus, Sabellius, the Patropassians, and some others. It will be too tedious to set down the whole, 'twill be enough to remark some few of the things which they declare concerning the Person of the Son of God. They assert, that he was not begotten of any pre-existent Substance( {αβγδ}) besides the Father, but was truly begotten of God only, and that {αβγδ}, without time, and before all Ages, and this {αβγδ}, by a most unfathomable and incomprehensible way of Generation; that although he be subject to God the Father, yet notwithstanding before all times was he begotten of God, and in his nature is true and perfect God, being not of man afterwards made God, but of God for our sakes made man, yet without ever ceasing to be God; that they did abominate and anathematize the Followers of Marcellus and Photinus, who under a pretence of asserting a divine Monarchy, did in Conformity with the Jews, deny Christs eternal Essence and God-head, and his endless and immortal Kingdom; that they acknowledged him to be the living and self-subsisting Word, the substantial Word of the Father, and God of God, being perfectly joined together, without any Medium, or distance, or Separation from each other. In Conclusion they add, that they were forced thus largely to express themselves about these Matters, not out of any Vanity or Affectation, but to remove all sinister suspicions of Heterodoxy, with those that were unacquainted with their Case, and that the Western Bishops might understand the groundless Calumnies of their Adversaries, and their catholic Sentiments appear to all uncorrupt and unbiased Persons to be consonant to, and founded in the holy Scriptures.  
XII. THIS account of their Faith they gave 
Id. loc. citat. vid. Liber. Epist. ad Const. ap. Hi●ar. in fragm. col. 456.  to eudoxus Bishop of Germanicia, Macedonius of Mopsuestia, Martyrius and D●mophilus to be carried into the West, where when they arrived, they found a very convenient Opportunity to deliver it. For very many of the Western Prelates were about this time assembled in a Synod at Milan( where the Emperor Constans kept his Court) to advice about the Case of Athanasius, and to Petition the Emperor to interpose his Authority to compose the distracted Affairs of the Church. The Messengers arriving, presented their Confession to the Synod, desiring their concurrence in it. But they either not sufficiently understanding the Criticisms of the Greek Language,( as Socrates 
Ib. c. 20. p. 101  thinks) or, more probably, judging some heretical poison to be couched under those specious Expressions, refused to accept it, saying they were content with the Nicene Creed, and would admit no more, and that it was but reasonable that they who brought the Confession, should first explicitly condemn the Arian Doctrine. This the Eastern Legates highly resented, and finding there was little hope to prevail, departed the Synod in great Passion and Discontent. At this Convention also Photinus 
Hilar. in fragm. col. 411.  Bishop of Sirmium( who had sometimes been scholar and Deacon to Marcellus of Ancyra) was condemned for some heretical Propositions he had lately started, affirming our Saviour to be only a mere man, endeavouring to revive the long-since branded heresy of Paul of Samosata. And now it was too, that Ursacius and Valens, two great Sticklers against Athanasius, presenting the Assembly with a Book, wherein they expressly condemned the Arian and Photinian Heresies, were absolved, and taken into the Communion of the Church. Towards the Conclusion of this Synod( as is most probable) Athanasius 
Vid. Apol. ad Constant. p. 526  came to milan, summoned thither by the Emperor's Mandat, by whom he was frequently admitted into his presence, and treated with great Kindness and Humanity. And though( as became a Prudent man under his Circumstances) he carried himself with all imaginable Caution, never going alone into the Emperor's presence, but always accompanied with a great Train of Bishops and others, yet could he not escape the lash of Malice and Envy; his Adversaries hence taking occasion to traduce him to Constantius, suggesting that he had done ill Offices between him and his Brother Constans, possessing him with prejudices, and endeavouring to stir him up against him. Whereof, and of some other Crimes he very clearly purges himself in his Apology to Constantius.   

SECT. VII. The Acts of the Synod at Sardica.  
A Synod convened at Sardica, when. What number of Bishops in it. No B●ittish Bishops there. The Eastern Prelates refuse to join with them of the West, and why. They transact Synodically in separate Assemblies. publicly challenged by Athanasius and his Party. The Reasons of their refusal to proceed to a fair and open Trial. Their trifling Proposal to gain time rejected. The pretence of their being recalled by Constantius. Their deposing Athanasius and the Principal of his Party. Baronius offended with their sentemcing Pope Julius. Their Confession of Faith. Their circular Epistle in the name of the Sardican Synod. All this transacted at Sardica, not( as commonly believed) at Philippopolis. The Proceedings of the true Sardican Council. No Confession or Explication of Faith made in this Synod. Athanasius, Marcellus, and Asclepas, particularly absolved and restored. The Mischiefs done by the Arians to the catholics examined. The Chiefs of the Arian Faction sentenced and deposed. Their Synodical Epistles, and Letters to the Emperors.  
1. THE good Emperor Constans, at the instance and solicitation of Athanasius and the Western Bishops, had often and earnestly dealt with his Brother Constantius, that the Nicene Faith might be established, and the exiled Bishops restored, and so a Period put to the Churches Troubles, who now at length consented that the Matter should be referred to the Decision of a general Council, which was accordingly called by the imperial Letters Ann. Chr. CCCXLVII. not long after that at Milan; for that it was after that Convention, is evident, as from other Circumstances, so especially from what Athanasius 
Loc. proximè citat.  himself tells us, that at his being at Milan, Constans assured him, that he had written to his Brother, that 〈◇〉 Synod might be held about this Matter. The place appointed for the Council was Sardica, an eminent City of Illyricum( perhaps an ancient Colony from Sardis in the lesser Asia, and upon that account so oft in Athanasius styled {αβγδ}, the City of the Sardians) a place conveniently situate in the Confines of the Eastern and the Western Empire, and in that regard equally fit for both. Hither out of both Empires met to the number of about CLXX. Prelates, as Athanasius 
Ad. Solit. p. 634.  expressly tells us. Socrates 
L. 2. c. 20. p. 101. Soz. l. 3. c. 12. p. 514. vit. Pauli ap. Plot. ●od. 257. col. 1424. vit. Ath●n. ib. col. 1441. aliique plurimi.  indeed, and those who follow his account, affirm, that there were no less than CCC. Bishops out of the West only, and for this city the Testimony of Athanasius. But the mistake is gross and palpable; for Athanasius 
Apol. II. p. 560 praecip● vero. p. 596, 597.  in that place says, not that so many met at Sardica( though his Translator indeed makes him say so) but that his Cause had been adjudged and ratified by so many, partly in that Synod, partly by the Suffrages of those, who both before and after it had subscribed in his behalf, the whole number amounting to about CCCXLIV. Amongst which we find mention of the Bishops of Britain, whence 'tis generally taken for granted, not only by common Writers, but even by those 
Usse● de prim. Eccl. Brit. c 8 p. 196 S●ld. in Eutych. p. 123. Burt. Comment on Antonin. p. 86.  who see farther than ordinary into such Matters, that our British Bishops were present at this Council; when yet the most that can be inferred from that place is, that they only ratified and subscribed what the Synod determined in the Cause of Athanasius, the Synod sending their Decision into several Provinces for the Approbation of those who could not be present at the Council. And indeed in the Title of the Synodical Epistle( as 'tis extant in Athanasius 
Ubi supr. , but more entirely in ●h●odorit 
H. E●●l. l. 2. c. 8. p. 74. ) where all the Provinces are reckoned up, from whence they came, no mention is made of Britain. Which I have therefore noted, not being willing that the honour of our Country should be built upon uncertainties and mistakes. So that the number of the Bishops must be reduced to almost one half, not above LXXVI. coming out of the East, and out of above XXXV. Provinces of the West( for out of so many Athanasius 
Ad Solit. p. 635.  tells us, this Synod was collected) not full an hundred, who yet could not agree when they came together.  
II. FOR the Eastern Bishops arriving at Sardica, kept themselves in a separate Assembly, refusing 
Ath. A●ol. II. p. 587. Epist. Syn. Sard. ib. p. 592. &c. Epist. ad Solit. p. 634.  to join with the Bishops of the West, and though there were some amongst them, men Orthodox in their Judgments, and of peaceable Tempers, yet were they so influenced by the mayor part, either by Promises or threatenings, that they durst not stir from them, two only excepted, Arius a palestine Bishop, and Asterius Bishop of Arabia, who got away by stealth, and came over to the catholic Party. The Truth is, they found a quiter other face of things, than what they looked for: they came with a confident persuasion, that Athanasius durst not appear and abide a Trial, and were strangely surprised, not only to find him here, but that he was prepared, and openly challenged them to a trial, they perceived that things would be managed here according to the strict Rules of ecclesiastic Discipline, that no force could be put upon the Synod, no Guards set at the Doors, no great men of their Party admitted from Court, who might awe and direct Proceedings; the usual Arts by which they had hitherto prevailed, and for which end they had now brought with them Count Musonianus, and H●sychius an Officer of the imperial Palace, by whose Authority and influence they doubted not but they should be able to carry the day; they were amazed to see so many there, whom they had deposed and banished, and treated with all kinds of barbarous Inhumanity, some having brought along with them the Chains and Instruments of Cruelty, wherewith they had been tortured, others showing the Wounds and the Scars which they had received. The Friends and Kindred of those whom they had put to death, appeared to exhibit their Complaints, and Messengers came in the name of whole Churches to represent the Injuries and Sufferings which they had undergone from the Rage of the Arian Party. Nor did it a little sensibly touch them, that Arius and Asterius were gone over to the Synod, who had come along with them, and were privy to their most intimate Councils and Transactions. These things prophesied to them no good Success, they saw 'twas no purpose to let their Cause come to a fair open Trial, that Athanasius had all Acts ready that concerned his Case, which would sufficiently blast and expose their Cause, and that they had no potent Friends in the Synod to support it: That therefore it was most advisable to break up and be gon, to prevent their being condemned upon the Place; that if they departed, they should find one means or another to propagate and uphold their Cause; and if the Synod should condemn them after their departure, they had a sure Friend of the Emperor, who, they doubted not, would protect and assist them.  
III. HEREUPON they shut themselves up in the Palace, where they were lodged, and where they daily held their Consults. They were several times cited by the Synod to appear, and that with smart Provocations; if they came with a design to try the Merits of the Cause, why did they decline it? Either they should not have come at all, or being come, they could not without just disparagement to their Cause refuse it. Athanasius and his Brethren, whom they had so heavily charged, were there present, if they had any thing to object against them, they were required to do it; if they had not, the Synod must proceed against them as false and unjust Accusers. Athanasius also, together with Marcellus and Asclepas his Fellow-sufferers, publicly challenged them to it, assuring the Synod they would not only refute their Slanders and Calumnies, but make it fully appear what Mischiefs and Miseries they had brought upon their several Churches. Protogenes Bishop of Sardica, and Hosius the aged Confessor, and venerable Bishop of Corduba, and now President of the Council, addressed themselves to them in a more private way, endeavouring by all fair means to persuade them, Hosius 
Osii Epist. ad Const. ap. Ath. ad Solit. p. 649  promising them a most candid and impartial Hearing; or if they would not have the Matter canvased in open Synod, that they would at least make him Judge and Umpire in the Case, engaging, that if Athanasius was proved guilty of the Crimes charged upon him, they would universally reject him, nay, although he should be found Innocent, and they false Accusers, if, notwithstanding all this, they should persist in their dislike of him, he would, to avoid offence, persuade him to go along with him into Spain. To which Athanasius, who stood by, gave his assent. An offer so infinitely reasonable, and fair beyond all Expectation, that nothing but obstinacy and a bad Cause could have the face to refuse it. However, they resolved not to appear upon any Terms, nor submit to a Sentence, which they had too much reason to suspect would go full against them.  
IV. BUT that they might give some colour to their Non conformity, they pretended 
Epist. Oriental ap. Hilar. in fragm. col 441, 442.  in the first place, that Athanasius and his complices had been heretofore convicted of notorious Crimes, and accordingly condemned and deposed by several Councils, and that they could not join with the Synod, till they were banished thence, and denied Communion; otherwise they should trample under foot the Laws of the Church, rescind and violate the Sentence of God. But the Synod was satisfied in this Matter, their Cause having been more than once maturely debated, and their Innocency adjudged in Councils called for that purpose, and themselves absolved, and received to Communion by almost all the Bishops of the West. Next they pleaded that vast numbers of Persons, guilty of the most enormous villainies, of Blood and Murders, of Rapine and Violence, of sacrilege and Impiety, and what not? both against God and Man, had at this time flocked hither from Constantinople and Alexandria, and were entertained and encouraged, advanced and respected by the Synod, with whom they could not communicate without manifest Impiety and profanation. And whereas Athanasius his Innocency was so much insisted on, they made this offer, that a select number of each Party might be sent into Egypt, to the places where the Crimes charged upon him, had been committed, and might be bound under the Obligation of an Oath, to take a faithful account of things; that if the Charge proved false, they were ready to submit to censure, promising never to exhibit any Complaints, either to the Emperors, or to any Synod or Bishop; but if true, that the other Party should silently acquiesce in what had been already done. This Proposal was made by those five Commissioners, who had been, many years since, deputed by the Council of Tyre, to go into Maraeotis to examine and report the State of things; and they now renewed the same Motion probably, either to gain time, not knowing but some emergent accident might intervene, or because they knew they should be able there successfully to manage the Cause to their own Advantage, as they had already done heretofore. But the Synod rejected the Motion, having 
Epist. Syn. ap. Athan. Apol. II. p. 593.& ad Solit. p. 634.  already by them authentic Copies of all those Acts and Records, and Witnesses 
Hilar. in fragm. col. 409.  to attest the Truth of things. Being thus beaten out of all other Refuges, they fell upon one more absurd and weak than all the rest, pretending 
Ath. ad Sol. ubi supr.  that they had received Letters from the Emperor concerning his triumphant Victories against the Persians, and that there was a necessity of their departure to assist at those Solemnities. This they intimated to the Synod by Eustathius Presbyter of the Church of Sardica, to whom Hosius in the name of the rest, sent back this short peremptory Message, that either they should stand to, and make good the Charge which they had exhibited, and answer that which others had given in against them, or they might assure themselves, that the Synod would take the Matter pro Confesso, and proceed against them as Criminals, and acquit Athanasius and his Party. A Message which served only to quicken their departure thence.  
V. SOME time it was, that they had now stayed at Sardica, which we cannot suppose they spent merely in Wrangling and Contention. No, they held frequent Assemblies, and though in a private and clandestine way, kept up the Formalities of a Synod. They plainly saw what measure they were like to expect from the Council, and therefore resolved not to be behind-hand with them. Hereupon they Synodically proceeded against the Heads of the Party, condemning 
Soz. l. 3. c. 11. p. 512.  and deposing not only Athanasius, Marcellus, Asclepas, and Paulus of Constantinople, as the prime Criminals, but as Accessories by communicating with them, Hosius Bishop of Corduba President of the Council, Maximinus of Triers, Protogenes of Sardica, Gaudentius of Naissus, and especially Julius Bishop of Rome, whom they style the Prince and Captain of all the Mischief, he who had first set open the door to Communion with wicked and excommunicate Persons, and had made way for others to violate the Laws of the Church. At this Baronius 
Ad Ann. 347. Num. LXX.  is out of all Patience. What! excommunicate the Head of the Church? Depose the Prince of the apostolic See? A piece of Insolence, he tells us, never before attempted in any Age by the most execrable heresy. But the privilege of the infallible Chair, was not, it seems, then understood, nor these bold men frighted with the noise of, Thou art Peter. Next they drew up a Confession of Faith, wherein they particularly condemn some of the Arian Propositions; a Confession wherein the most Critical of the catholics found nothing to complain of, but that the word Consubstantial was left out; and accordingly it was owned by S. hilary 
De Syn. adv. Arian. col. 336. , and is expounded by him into a very Orthodox sense. This done, they wrote a very prolix Encyclical Epistle 
Ext. ap. Hilar. in fragm. col. 434. , which they published in the name of the Sardican Synod, wherein they give an account of what they had done, and of the Bishops whom they had deposed, whom they expose with all contempt imaginable, and load with the bitterest Reflections they could heap upon them, charging the Governours of the Church, as they valued Peace, Order, and ecclesiastic Discipline, to abstain from all Communion with them, either by word or writing, not to sand Letters to them, or receive any from them, or so much as have to do with any that did communicate with them, overdoing to the Epistle, the Confession of their Faith. This decretal Letter they dispatched abroad to the Bishops of several Countries, and amongst the rest, to Donatus the Head of that schismatical Faction at Carthage, hoping that the Donatists who stood at such open defiance to the catholics, might by this means be brought over to their Party. And indeed we find the Donatists glorying in their Communion with the Eastern Bishops, and insisting upon this Epistle of the Sardican Synod,( for as such it passed) as the evidence of it; and the truth is, it seems, that for some time after, no other Sardican Synod was known in afric, but this clancular Convention, which may seem the stranger, in that Gratus Bishop of Carthage was at this time a Member of the Council.  
VI. THAT all this was done by the Eastern Prelates, during their stay at Sardica, I am strongly tempted to believe. I know the report passes currant, uncontradicted, that I know of, by any writer, that in their return from Sardica, they stayed at Philippopolis, a City of Thrace, where they held a Synod, and passed the things we have but now mentioned, which, that they might be swallowed more unsuspected, they gilded over with the specious title of the Sardican Synod. Now though I love not needlessly to swim against the Stream, yet I must profess I see no reason to fix the Scene at Philippopolis. 'tis founded upon the single Authority of Socrates 
Lib. 2. c. 20. p. 102. , not mentioned by any Writer( that I know of) after him, ancienter than the two trifling anonymous Authors in Photius, who writ with little certainty, and less judgement. Sure I am, 'tis not so much as once hinted by Athanasius, then whom none more exact in setting down these Affairs, nor in any of the Letters which the Synod wrote, wherein they give a most particular account of things; it being equally improbable that they should not know it, and if known, that they should omit it. Besides, the Eastern Bishops do not only in the front of their Epistle affirm, that they celebrated their Council in the City of Sardica, but in the body of it expressly say, that they did de Sardica scribere 
Ap. Hilar. col. 444. , writ the account they there give from Sardica. And with what confidence can we imagine men of common Prudence should in a public Epistle tell the World, that these things were done at Sardica, had it been notoriously known( as it must be, had it been so) that they were dispatched at a place an hundred Miles distant from it? That which perhaps lead Socrates into the mistake, was this. The Eastern Bishops in their Journey to Sardica 
Epist. Syn. ap. Athan. Apol. II. p. 595.  held many little Synods of their own Party by the way in several Places,( and no doubt at Philippopolis amongst the rest) where it was agreed amongst them( and those who seemed backward, were threatened into compliance) that when they came thither, they should peremptorily refuse to concur with the Synod, or to put the Affair to the issue of a Trial, but that having appeared for fashion-sake, should break up and depart. And thus indeed Sozomen 
Lib 3. c. 11. p. 411.  plainly reports it, that before they came to Sardica, meeting first at Philippopolis, they thence wrote to the Western Bishops at Sardica, to let them know, that unless they dismissed Athanasius and his Party, and abstained from their Communion, as Persons already sentenced and deposed, they would in no wise join with them; and they were as good as their word, when they arrived at Sardica; where after several Transactions to no purpose, but rather to the exasperating of each into a wider distance, they met( as he tells us) in separate Assemblies, and made Decrees contrary to each other; and then immediately subjoins what they did in the deposing of the Bishops, we mentioned, and in the Explication of their Faith, and the circular Epistle which they wrote upon it; which is a just Representation of things in their due place and order. All which Socrates not carefully attending to, confounds what was done at Sardica, with what passed before at Philippopolis, making that the Scene of their Synodical Transactions, which had been only the Seat of their preparatory Councils. Nor is it the only instance wherein he mistakes, not only in other Cases, but in this very Affair of the Sardican Council, as were it worth the while, I could evidently make appear.  
VII. HAVING thus dispatched the Affair of the Oriental Prelates, let us look next, to what the Fathers in the mean while did at Sardica. Three things, they tell 
Epist. Syn. ad Jul. Pap. ap. Hilar. in frag. col. 406.  us, there were that lay before them, and which the Emperors by their Letters had left to them to be freely discussed and ventilated in the Council, the soundness of the Faith, the Case of the Persons accused and condemned, and an enquiry into the great Evils and Mischiefs which the Arian Party were reported to have committed in every place. As to the first, however Matters of Faith might be debated in the Synod, 'tis certain they made no Synodical Determination in that Matter. Indeed to the decretal Epistle of the Council, as 'tis extant in Theodorit 
Lib. 2. c. 8. p. 80. &c. , there is an Appendix containing a large account and Explication of their Faith. And it was it seems an early Addition; for Athanasius 
Epist. ad Antioch. p. 449.  himself takes notice of it, and cautions against it, and withall assures us, that the Council defined no such Matter. He says, indeed, that some men were very hot that a Supplement might be made to the Faith agreed on in the Council of Nice, but that the Synod vehemently rejected the Motion, and decreed that nothing should be farther added to the Faith, declaring that they fully acquiesced in the Nicen● Creed, as pious and orthodox, and complete enough, and that no other Form should be admitted, lest the Nicene Faith should be thought imperfect and insufficient, and a way laid open for men of wanton and petulant Wits to attempt new Creeds, as oft as humour or interest should incline them. Accordingly in all ancient Copies both in Athanasius and S. Hilary this additional Appendage is left out, and it argued either in-sincerity, or at least great carelessness in Theodorit to insert it. 'tis mentioned also by Sozomen 
Lib. 3. c. 12. p. 513. , who seems to make Hosius and Protogenes the principal Contrivers of it, and that they were forced to writ to Julius Bishop of Rome to excuse it, that they did not thereby intend to derogate from the Nicene Faith, but only more clearly to explain it, lest the Arians making an ill use of that short Compendium, should impose upon the unwary and the unskilful, by putting what sense they pleased upon it.  
VIII. THE Persons accused, and who were now present that their Cause might be heard and canvas'd in the Synod, were Athanasius of Alexandria, Marcellus of Ancyra, and Asclepas of Gaza, who petitioned the Synod that their Accusers might be summoned to appear, which the Accusers obstinately refusing( though particularly challenged to't by the Defendants more than once) the Fathers proceeded to take cognizance of their several Cases. And first for Athanasius 
Ath. Apol. II. p. 593. ad Solit. p. 635. , they caused all the Acts and Proceedings of the Synod of Tyre, and the Informations that had been taken in Maraeotis, to be produced and red, and every particular to be thoroughly scanned, and the Witnesses that were brought out of Egypt to be examined, and having accurately debated the whole Matter, and found it from first to last, nothing but a train of Malice and villainy, and being confirmed in it by the notorious Tergiversation of the adverse Party, who durst not abide the Trial, or make good the Charge they had exhibited, they pronounced him innocent of the Crimes wherewith he had been defamed, restored him to his See, and with all the Demonstrations of Love and Kindness, of respect and honour, embraced and entertained him. Next came on the Cause of Marcellus Bishop of Ancyra. He had been long since sentenced and deposed by the Eusebian Faction in the Conventicle at Constantinople, for some un-orthodox Assertions in his Writings, tending to the heresy of Paul of Samosata. These he now explained 
Ath. Apol. II. p. 594. , and shew'd that his Adversaries had maliciously perverted and misrepresented his meaning, urging those as dogmatical Assertions, which he had only Problematically handled by way of Question. The Synod approved his Declaration, and accordingly absolved and restored him. But though by his subtlety and Dissimulation, he made shift a long time to blind the Eyes of the catholic Party, yet his Sabellian Tenets were discovered afterwards, which that he took not up after his Synodical Absolution, but had all along craftily concealed them, is plain, however my Author 
Sever. Sulp. l. 2. p. 149.  assures us, that Athanasius perceiving it, suspended him from Communion. Together with him, the Council acquitted Asclepas Bishop of Gaza, he making it appear by the Acts of the Synod of Antioch( which he then produced) that even then when his Accusers were there present to manage the Cause against him, he had been absolved by the Sentence of that Synod.  
IX. NEXT they proceeded to inquire into the carriage of the other Party, and the intolerable Mischiefs and Injuries which they had done to the catholic Bishops and Churches. And here they met with nothing but Blood and smoke, and a sad Face of things: the good Fathers were entertained with dismal and tragical Stories 
Ath. ubi supr. p. 592 Ep. Syn. ad Jul. ap. Hilar. col. 407.  of some that had been threatened, others condemned upon false and suborned Accusations, some beaten, others wounded, and some directly murdered, many loaded and almost strangled with Iron-Chains, more imprisoned, some whereof were stifled with the noysomness of the Prison, multitudes banished, and that into the most miserable and uncomfortable Places, where hunger and nakedness would not fail to dispatch them; Churches had been set on fire, devout Virgins stripped and rifled, and the common Goals filled with men of the holy Order. And this for no other reason, but because they refused to enter into the Arian Communion. All which was ready to be attested, partly by the Confessors themselves then present in the Council, partly by Deputies sent by those that were absent, whole Churches having sent Commissioners to represent their Complaints and Grievances to the Synod. Upon Consideration of the whole Affair, it was concluded, that they should proceed against the prime Heads of the Faction, those who had been chief Authors and Instruments of so many Evils and Mischiefs to the Christian World; and thereupon 
Ath. ib. p 595& ad Solit. p. 635.  condemned and deposed Basil Bishop of Ancyra, Quintianus of Gaza, Theodorus of Heraclea, Narcissus of Hierapolis, Acacius of Caesarea, Stephen of Antioch, Ursacius of Singidunum, Valens of Mursa, Menophantus of Ephesus, George of Laodicea, banishing them from the Communion of the Faithful, it being but fit( say they) that they who separate the Son from the Father, should themselves be separated from the catholic Church; but especially in passing sentence against Gregory the Arian Intruder at Alexandria, they shew'd a particular Detestation, pronouncing him not only to have been no Bishop, but not worthy the name of a Christian, nulling all Ordinations made by him, and forbidding any to bear that Character, that had received Orders from him. This done, they wrote 
Ext. Epist. ap. Ath. Apol. II. p. 588.  to the Clergy and the Church of Alexandria, to receive Athanasius as their lawful Bishop, whom they had found, and adjudged Innocent of the things charged upon him, warning all those who had any ways communicated with Gregory and his Party, to repent and withdraw, and return to the Communion of the catholic Church. They wrote 
Ext. ap. Hilar. in frag. col. 406  also to Julius of Rome, desiring him to impart what had been transacted in the Council to the Bishops of Italy, Sicily, and Sardinia, lest being imposed upon by the adverse Party, they might receive communicatory Letters from them. Besides this, they drew up( as is usual in such Cases) a circular or general Epistle 
Ext. ap. Ath. ib. p. 591.& ap. alios passim.  to all the Bishops of the catholic Church, giving them a particular account of what had passed from the first meeting of the Council, desiring them to look upon the Persons they had condemned, as under a just Anathema, and to have no manner of Communion with them, and that they would ratify the Sentence and judgement of the Synod, by adding their own Suffrage and Subscription to it. Which was accordingly done, the Synodical Determination being subscribed by at least CCCXLIV. Bishops. Lastly, having formed and agreed upon XXI. Canons concerning the Rites and good Government and Discipline of ecclesiastic Matters, and concluded upon an Address with Letters to the Emperors, to be sent by some of their own Body, the Council broken up, and the Fathers return'd home to their several Sees.   

SECT. VIII. His Acts from the time of the Sardican Council, till the Death of Pope Julius.  
Constans his smart Message to his Brother Constantius, in behalf of Athanasius. The vigorous Persecution raised by the Arians against the catholics. The could entertainment of the Sardican legates at the Court of Constantius. A villainous Plot against one of the legates detected and punished. Constantius's Relaxation of the Severities against the catholics, why. The death of Gregory the Arian Bishop of Alexandria. Athanasius recalled by several Letters from Constantius. His taking leave of the Western Parts, and arrival at the Court at Antioch. What Discourse passed between him and the Emperor. Constantius his Letters and Rescripts in his behalf. His positive denial of a Church to the Arians at Alexandria, requested by the Emperor; his Journey towards Alexandria. The first occasion of Apollinaris his starting aside from the catholic Church. A Synod assembled at Jerusalem, which entertained Athanasius, and gave him Communicatory Letters. Constantius his kind Message to him upon the Death of Constans. His coming to Alexandria, and the mighty Expressions of joy for his return. His composing the State of that Church. Ursacius and Valens desire Reconciliation; their Libel of Satisfaction sent to him. His making use of a Church not yet dedicated, without the Emperor's leave. The ill use made of this by his Enemies. The fresh attempts of the Arians against him. Their Address to the Emperor to that purpose. The Crimes charged upon him. Letters forged in his name. A Synod holden at Sirmium against Photinus. A Confession of Faith drawn up in general Terms. The Disputation between Photinus and Basil of Ancyra. The mistake of Socrates and some others about this Council. Constantius's march against Magnentius. The imposture used by Valens Bishop of Mursa to gain favour with the Emperor.  
I. THE Persons deputed by the Council to carry an account of their Synodical Transactions to Constantius, were Vincentius Bishop of Capua, and Euphratas Bishop of Col●n Together with whom( says Theodorit 
L. 2. c. 8. p. 83. , though others not improbably suppose it was not till some time after) the Emperor Const●ns sent Salias, a General in the Army, a Person renowned for his Justice and Piety. Their business was, to prevail with the Emperor to put the Decrees of the Synod in Execution, and to permit the ejected Bishops, whom they had restored, quietly to return to their several Sees. And indeed, if it be true what Socrates 
Lib. 2. c. 22. p. 106.  reports, Constans wrote to his Brother with some smartness in this manner. Athanasius and Paulus are here with me, whose Cause having enquired into, I find they are persecuted upon the account of Religion. If therefore you will engage to restore them to their Sees, and to proceed against those who have unjustly created them all this trouble, I will sand them to you. But if you shall refuse to do this, take notice, that I myself will come thither, and restore them their Sees whether you will or no. This Letter is not mentioned by Athanasius himself, nor can it be assigned to the time of the Sardican Synod, Paulus being at that time in quiet Possession of his See of Constantinople, and therefore must necessary be referred to some time preceding that Council, when Paul was under his second Exile. But whatever Messages were sent to the Eastern Court, they availed little, their Enemies having got the start, and in all places having barred up the Doors against them. For immediately upon their return from Sardica, they so wrought 
Ath. ad Solit. p. 635.  upon that Emperor's easy and credulous Temper, that he gave them leave to proceed against the catholic Party, which they did with all imaginable Force and Cruelty, especially against the Bishops and Clergy. Some they loaded with the heaviest Calumnies, others they banished, others they put to death, as at Adrianople, where, with the assistance of their old trusty Friend Count Philagrius, they beheaded many,( the Monuments of which savage Inhumanity, Athanasius tells us, he himself saw without the City at his return) and when Lucius the Bishop reproved their impious Practices, they bound him neck and hands with Chains, and sent him into Exile, where he died. Edicts they procured from the Emperor for the casting them out of all Cities and Churches, and putting them to death wherever they should be found, and that all Ports and Gates should be strictly watched, that if any of the Bishops restored by the Synod, should return to their bishoprics, they might be immediately apprehended; and having the advantage of the public Posts, Messengers were dispatched into all Parts, and where they met with any that dis-allowed their Proceedings, they either scourged them like Slaves, or imprisoned, or banished them. And for Athanasius and his faithful Clergy, Edicts were particularly directed to the Governors of that City, that if any of them came thither, or did but set their foot within the Borders, they should be forthwith put to death. And of them that remained there, two Presbyters, and three Deacons had been already banished into armoniac.  
II. THE legates, in the mean while, proceeded forward in their Journey, and arrived at the imperial Court at Antioch, where they met with but could entertainment. For the Arian Faction had so blocked up all Passages, that there was little hope their Embassy should succeed. Nay, not content to ruin them by public and open Violence, they endeavoured by secret and hellish Arts to blast and smother the Reputation of these venerable Bishops at their first Arrival. For which end a Plot 
Ath. ib. p. 636, 637. Theod. ubi Supr. c. 9. p. 84.  is set on foot, contrived by Stephen Bishop of Antioch, and carried on by him and his Clergy, and such lend Persons as they had drawn into the Conspiracy, which in short was thus. An infamous Strumpet was by night introduced into the Bishop's Lodgings by one Onager, a Fellow of a most debauched and flagitious Life, he himself with fifteen of his Associates being near at hand to assist and carry on the Plot. And to mend the matter, it was the time of Easter, when this Scene was laid. Some of the Family being before-hand corrupted, the Woman is let in, and having stripped her self, went directly to the apartment where the Bishops lodged. The first she entred was that of Euphratas, the elder Bishop of the two, whom she found asleep; but awaking with the noise, and finding by her voice that it was a Woman, he began to cry out in a great amazement, supposing it to be some Daemon that had assumed a Female shape. The Woman( who had been made to believe, that a young Gentleman newly come to Town had desired her company that night) perceiving that 'twas a grave ancient Bishop, was as much surprised on the other side, and presently shriek'd and cried out aloud, nor could all that Onager and his Party could say, still her clamour, and persuade her to go on with the Design. In short, the Family is raised, the Woman and seven of the Conspirators are taken, and secured till next Morning, when( the whole City flocking at the rumour of so strange a Passage) the Matter is heard and examined before the Emperor in the palace, where it is quickly brought to light, the Woman confessing who 'twas that had set her on, and he impeaching Onager as the Person that had acted him, and Onager casting the original Contrivance of all upon Stephen the Bishop. The issue was, that the Bishops then at Court, were commanded by the Emperor and the Judges to depose Stephen, and place another in his room. Which was immediately done: so signally did his malicious and diabolical Project return upon his own head.  
III. HOW powerfully does the divine Providence many times over-rule the attempts of bad men, to an end quiter contrary to their Designs and Expectations! This unfortunate enterprise not only failed in the main Intention, but a little awakened the mind of Constantius, and made him suspect that Cause could not be very good, that needed such impious Artifices to support it. Hereupon he began to relax the severity that had been used, commanded the Deacons and Presbyters that had been banished into armoniac, to return, and wrote expressly to Alexandria to stop all Proceedings against Athanasius and his Party. Indeed there had passed of late several dispatches between him and his Brother Constans about this Matter, in one 
Ext. ap. Socr. l. 2. c. 22. p. 106 vid. Theod. ubi supr. c. 8. p. 83. Philost. l. 3. c. 12. p. 485.  whereof( as we noted before) Constans plainly  told him, that unless Athanasius were suddenly restored, and his Enemies called to an account, he himself would come in Person, and re-settle him by force of Arms. This smart Message, together with what accidents had since ensued, turned the Scale with him, who calling some of his Bishops together, communicated to them his thoughts about these Matters, and especially about the rapture that was like to ensue between him and his Brother. Their Advice was, that the least of Evils was to be chosen, and that it were better Athanasius should be restored to his See, than the State of the Empire put to the hazards of a Civil War. And the Council at this time was very wise and prudent, Constantius being engaged in a tedious and not very successful War against the King of Persia, an Enemy big enough alone to employ the whole Strength of the Eastern Empire. But nothing more contributed to this composure, than the death of Gregory the Arian Bishop of Alexandria, who dyed 
Ath. ubi supr. p. 637. ( not murdered by the Citizens as Theodorit 
Ib. c. 12. p. 87.  makes him by a mistake for his Successor) ten Months after the late Transaction at Sardica. And now the Chair, so much contended for, being vacant, Constantius might with a more plausible Salvo to his honour recall Athanasius to repossess it. To which purpose he wrote 
Ath. Apol. II. p. 597. ad Solit. p. 637.  to his Brother Constans, desiring him that he would persuade and expedite his return, assuring him that for a whole year he had expected it, and had suffered nothing to be done to his prejudice at Alexandria, commanding also several of his great Ministers of State to writ to the same purpose. Next he sent Letters to Athanasius to hasten his return, and that more than once, as we shall see by and by, when we have first remarked Athanasius his Motions since the time we last partend from him.  
IV. NO sooner was the Sardican Synod broken up, but Athanasius 
Ath. Apol. ad Const. p. 526. Apol. II. p. 598.  betook himself to Naissus, a City in Dacia, in the Company( as is probable) of Gaudentius Bishop of that place, who gave him, no doubt, a very welcome entertainment, where he received Letters from the Emperor. Constans, acquainting him, 'tis like, how he had been transacting with his Brother on his behalf. Hence he removed to Aquileia in Italy, where Letters from Constantius found him, giving him leave, and inviting him to return. The first that came was in this Form 
Ext. ap. Ath. Apol. II. p. 597. Socr. l. 2. c. 23. p. 107. .  
CONSTANTIUS the August, the Conqueror, to ATHANASIUS the Bishop.  
OUR Compassion and Clemency will not suffer you any longer to be tossed upon the Waves of a stormy and tempestuous Sea; and though in such mean and miserable Circumstances, driven out of your Country, despoiled of your Goods, and forced to wander up and down in wild and disconsolate Places, yet has not our unwearied Piety been regardless of you, We have indeed hitherto deferred to intimate to you this ready Declaration of our good Will, because we expected you should have come of your own accord, and have besought us to give remedy to your Troubles. But because 'tis like fear has detained you from this Course, we have sent you these our gracious Letters, that forthwith you may securely come into our presence, to the end, that your desires being granted, and having tasted of our kindness and benignity, you may be restored to your Friends, your Possessions, and Country. For the same purpose I have written to my Lord and Brother the Emperor Constans, desiring him to give you leave to return, that so by the mutual Consent of both being restored to your See, you may have an equal instance of our grace and favour.  
After this, came a second Letter 
Ext. locis cit.  to reinforce the security promised in the former, and to grant him the liberty of the public carriages for his more speedy conveyance to Court. But all this assurance did not yet wholly conquer his suspicion and jealousy, not knowing whether under these specious pretences, some snares might not be laid to entrap him. While therefore he hovered in this doubtful uncertainty, a third 
Ext. ibid.  Letter came, gently taking notice of his delays, and earnestly quickening his departure. 'twas sent by Achitas a Deacon, to whom the Emperor referred him for a more full Satisfaction in that Matter. So that now abandoning all fears, he firmly resolved to return.  
V. BUT before his departure from Aquileia, he received a Summons 
Ath. Ap. ad Const. p. 526. Apol. II. p. 598. vid. Soz. l. 3. c. 20. p. 532.  from the Emperor Constans to come to him into France. In obedience whereunto, he took his Journey by Rome, that he might take his leave of Pope Julius and his Friends there, and thank them for the Civilities wherewith he had been treated in that place. Good News it was to them at Rome to understand this happy turn of Affairs, they looking upon it as a hopeful Presage, that the Eastern Court would now undertake the Patronage of the catholic Cause. And to add to the joy of his coming home, Julius wrote 
Ext. Epist. ap. Ath. Apol. II.& Socr. locis cit.  to the Church of Alexandria, to congratulate with them for the return of their beloved Bishop, a Person whose eminent Sufferings had made him illustrious through the World, and to commend them for their constant kindness and affection to him, not doubting but they would receive him with all possible joy and cheerfulness. Thus leaving Rome, and having dispatched his attendance upon the Emperor Constans, he put himself upon his Journey into the East, and being honourably entertained and dismissed at every place, came at last to Antioch, where Constantius received him with great Humanity, and gave him leave to return quietly to his See, with Letters directed to the Governors for his safe conduct, and free passage thither. The good Bishop secure in the Conscience of his own Innocency, complained 
Ath. ad Solit. p. 637.  of the Calamities and the Calumnies he had suffered, desiring the Emperor that his Enemies might not be admitted to exhibit any more Slanders against him behind his back, that his Majesty would be pleased now to call his Accusers before him, that he might refute and convince them face to face. This the Emperor would not assent to, but  told him, that whatever Calumnies had been entred upon Record against him, should be abolished, and that for the future he would receive no slanderous Insinuations against him, wherein nothing should alter his Resolution. All which, he did not only simply promise, but Seal with the Solemnity of an Oath. Accordingly he wrote 
Ext. Epist. ap. Ath. Apol. II.& Socr. locis cit.  in his behalf to the Bishops and Clergy of the catholic Church, to let them know that the most reverend Athanasius being restored both by the Synodal and Imperial Sentence, he expected that all Acts and Decrees heretofore made against him and his Party, should be butted in Oblivion, and that not the least jealousy should remain, and that the Clergy of his Party should be re-admitted to all those privileges which they had heretofore enjoyed. 
Ext. ubi supr.  He wrote likewise to the Laity of Alexandria to the same purpose, that they should with all readiness receive their Bishop, one universally renowned for the Piety of his Manners, and the Integrity of his Life, that they should join in Communion, and live in all Peace and Concord with him, and that if any should attempt to raise Tumults and Seditions, he had given order to the Judges, that they should be punished according to Law. 
Ext. ibid.  A third Rescript was directed to Nestorius the Augustal perfect, and to the respective Governors of Augustamnica, Thebais, and Libya, commanding, that whatever had been inserted into the public Records of Egypt, to the scandal and prejudice of Athanasius and his Party, should be defaced and razed out, and that they should be entirely re-instated in their former privileges and Immunities. The Arians( who beholded all this with an evil Eye) not being able to hinder it, resolved however to make some advantage of these immense Favours, which the Emperor had conferred upon Athanasius, and thereupon prompted 
Socr. ib. p. 111. Sozom. ubi supr. Theod. l. 2. c. 12. p. 86. Rufin. l. 1. c. 19. p. 233.  him in consideration of so many Obligations, to request this one kindness from him, that of all the Churches of Alexandria, he would grant one for those that were of a different Communion from him. To whom the Bishop modestly replied, It is in your Power, Sir, to command and do whatever you please, nor shall I attempt to contradict you, but your Majesty, I hope, will not think it unreasonable, for me to beg the like favour from you, that here at Antioch and elsewhere, one Church may be allowed to the catholics, for those that are of their own Communion. The Emperor could not deny the request to be fair and just, which the Arians perceiving, let fall the Motion, well knowing, that if granted, their Sect would do little good at Alexandria, where Athanasius was held in such a mighty Esteem and Veneration, that he would rather daily diminish and drain their Party, whereas at Antioch the catholics were numerous, and though themselves governed there with so much Authority, yet could they not generally bring over the People to their side.  
VI. ALL things running thus smooth and easy, Athanasius set out in his Journey towards Alexandria. Coming to Laodicea 
Soz. l. 6. c. 25. p. 671. , he was very familiarly attended by Apollinaris, a man of polite Parts and Learning, and one of the Clergy in that City, who for no other Reason, than this Civility to Athanasius, was instantly excommunicated by George the Arian Bishop of that place, and the Sentence being obstinately persisted in, is said to have given the first occasion to Apollinaris to start aside, and set up a Sect of his own. Hence he went into palestine, where he was joyfully entertained by Maximus Bishop of Jerusalem a venerable Confessor( who under the Maximinian Persecution had lost an Eye, and the use of his right Leg in the defence of the Faith) who assembling a Synod of neighbor-Bishops, they unanimously received him to Communion, and wrote 
Ext. Epist. ap. Ath. Apol. II. p. 601.& Soz. l. 3. c. 22. p. 535  to the Bishops of Egypt and Libya, and to the Clergy of Alexandria to this Effect; That they could never sufficiently magnify the goodness of God, that after so dismal a face of things had so wonderfully restored their true Bishop and Pastor, the Fruit of their many Prayers and Tears, that they themselves had embraced him, and communicated with him, and as Evidences of it had sent these Communicatory Letters, and that next to their gratitude to God, they were bound to pray for the happiness of the Emperors, by whose favour he had obtained so honourable a Restitution. This Letter, subscribed by sixteen Bishops, was delivered to Athanasius, who took his leave and departed. But while he was thus on his way, an accident happened, that had like to have spoiled the whole Scheme of his Affairs, I mean the death of the Emperor Constans, treacherously slain by Magnentius in France; a Prince of great Zeal and Piety towards the Church, and a particular Friend and Patron to Athanasius. With him 'twas thought would fall the Prosperity of Athanasius, and indeed the Arians began now to think the day their own, and to conclude, that for all his hast, he should never see Alexandria. The loss of so great a Patron, and the terror of such potent Enemies, could not but startle the good man, when on a sudden these black Clouds that seemed gathering about him, were dispelled by a kind Message from Constantius, sent by Palladius controller of the palace, and Asterius Governor of armoniac, who brought him the following Letter 
Ext. ap. Ath. Apol. ad Const. p. 536.& ad Solit. p. 638. .  
CONSTANTIUS the August, the Conqueror to ATHANASIUS.  
HOW earnestly I ever wished all Happiness and Prosperity to my Brother Constans, you are not ignorant, and with what trouble and resentment I entertained the News of his being cut off by barbarous and wicked hands, you may easily imagine. And because there are not wanting some, who in this calamitous time, will be ready to terrify you with frightful Rumors, we have thought good to direct these our Letters to you, exhorting and commanding you, that as becomes a Bishop, you go on to instruct and build up the People in the true Religion, and as you were wont, to attend to the ministries of Devotion and Prayer, giving no heed to vain idle Stories. For that I am firmly purposed, according to my former Resolution, that you shall constantly continue Bishop of that See. The divine Providence preserve you, dear Father, many years.  
VII. ENCOURAGED with this Message, Athanasius finished the remainder of his Journey, arriving at Alexandria Ann. Chr. CCCL. near nine years since his last departure, and more than two full years since his Restitution by the Sardican Council. The long time of his absence, and the many and great Calamities he had suffered in defence of the Faith, did not a little enhance the joys and Triumphs of his return. The Bishops 
Ath. ad Solit. p. 631. Theod. l. ●. c. 12. p. 87.  and Clergy, and People from all Parts flocked to meet him, at once glad to see their beloved Bishop unexpectedly return'd, and to find themselves relieved of the Yoke of those, who had hitherto cruelly lorded it over them, and exercised a Tyranny both over their Persons and their Consciences. public Feasts and Entertainments were made up and down the City, and that God also might have his share of Praise and Honour, sacred Solemnities were frequently kept, and that with more than ordinary strains of Devotion, People exhorting one another to a mighty Zeal and Constancy in Religion. And so far were even some young men and women transported, as upon this occasion to dedicate themselves to a stricter course of Piety: Alms and Charity were distributed with a liberal hand, the hungry were fed, the naked clothed, Widows and Orphans provided for; the great Contention was, who should express most forwardness in acts of Piety and virtue, so that every Family seemed to be turned into a little Church. In sum, that Church which of late was over-run with nothing but Disorder and Confusion, was now happily blessed with a profound admirable Peace, and Athanasius not only honoured at home, but caressed and saluted by Bishops from abroad, Letters of Peace frequently passing between him and them. But above all others, the Case of Ursacius and Valens, the one Bishop of Singidunum, the other of Mursa, is especially remarkable. Men they were of unsettled Principles, and of a light desultory Temper, apt to turn as the Wind blew from any Quarter; great Instruments they had been of the Arian Party in all their Proceedings against Athanasius, deposed by Julius Bishop of Rome, restored upon their Profession of Repentance in the Convention at Milan; but immediately apostatising, were again condemned in the Synod of Sardica. And finding now that Athanasius was likely to be received into favour in the Eastern Court, they again tacked about, and in the year CCCXLIX. exhibit a Libel 
Ext. ap. Ath. Apol. II. p. 602. Hilar. in frag. col. 411. Sozom. l. 3. c. 23. p. 536,  of satisfaction to Pope Julius, wherein they openly confess, that whatever Crimes they had heretofore charged upon Athanasius, were false, and had been all forged by them, and were of no force and value; that they now prayed for Pardon, and were hearty desirous to entertain Communion with Athanasius, expressly condemning Arius for an heretic, and all those that sided with him. To Athanasius also, some time after, they wrote this following Letter 
Ext. ubi supr. .  
To our Lord and Brother Athanasius the Bishop; Ursacius and Valens Bishops.  
Dear Brother,  
TAKING the opportunity of Moses our Brother and Fellow-Presbyters coming to you, by him we hearty salute you from Aquileia, wishing you health, and that our Letters may come safe to your perusal. And hereby shall we be satisfied in your acceptance, if you also please to writ back to us. For by these our Letters, we give you to understand, that we hold with you the Peace and Communion of the Church. God keep you, Brother.  
After which they freely subscribed to those Communicatory Letters, which Athanasius by Peter and Irenaeus his Presbyters, and Ammonius a laic, had sent up and down to the several Bishops of the catholic Church, that they ought to testify their Communion with him.  
VIII. THE first thing of note he did after his return, was to assemble 
Socr. l. 2. c. 26 p. 119. Soz. l. 4. c. 1. p. 538.  the Bishops of his Province, who confirmed the Decrees of the Sardican Council, and what had been done in the late Synod at Jerusalem. So that all prejudices seemed now to be laid asleep, and the Arian Interest in those Parts went down the Wind apace, the People flocking in such vast numbers to the public Assemblies, that the Churches were not able to contain them. There was at Alexandria 
Epiph. adv. Arian. Haeres. LXIX. p. 311.  a stately fabric called Hadrianum( probably because built by the Emperor Adrian) and afterwards the Licinian or Royal Gymnasium; this in the Reign of Constantius, was repaired and turned into a Church, and called Caesarea, or the Great Church; begun it had been in the time of Gregory the Arian Bishop, and was now brought to perfection by Athanasius, but yet had not received the Solemnity of a Dedication. Hither 
Ath. Apol. ad Const. p. 531.  in the Easter holidays( when the Congregations were thronged with a more than ordinary confluence of People) it was importunately demanded, that the People might be admitted to assemble, and that Prayers and the holy Eucharist might be administered, as a place more capable of Reception, and to avoid that Crowd and Confusion that attended the lesser Churches. Athanasius used all prudent Arts to put them off, and to delay the time till leave might be obtained to dedicate the Church, but the People impatient, plainly  told him, that if their desires were not presently granted, they would leave the Town, and assemble in the open Fields, being willing rather to undergo a Journey abroad, than to celebrate the Festival with so much trouble and inconveniency at home. In the Pentecostal Solemnities the Conflux being still greater, and the importunities of the People more loud and clamorous, he was wearied with them, and finding that several both young and aged Persons had been almost crowded to death, he was forced at length to comply with their request, and to permit Congregations to be held in that place. Which how it was improved by his Adversaries into a formal Charge and Accusation, we shall see anon.  
IX. WHILE the Church of Alexandria enjoyed this ferene and flourishing Season, under the conduct and influence of its venerable Prelate, another Storm began to threaten, and the Clouds to return after Rain. Sooner may sore Eyes endure the light of the Sun, than Envy and Malice digest the Prosperity of its Enemies. The Arians were not a little vexed to see Athanasius live in so much Honor at home, and Estimation abroad, and the catholic Interest prosper so in every place, and therefore resolve now upon fresh attempts against him. And first 
Ath. ad Solit. p. 640.  they deal with Ursacius and Valens, whom they persuade to recant their Recantation, pretending their penitential Confession to have been extorted through fear of the Emperor Constans. Next at a common Consult it was agreed, that they should make an Address to Constantius, which they did to this effect. We  told you, Sir, from the beginning, though we had not the happiness to be believed, what would ensue upon your recalling Athanasius, that thereby you would undermine and mine our Party, he being all along our professed open Enemy, whom he ceases not to anathematize, and to inveigh against in the Writings which he disperses through the World, so that almost all embrace his Communion; and even of those who were of our own side, some have already gone over to him, and others stand ready for it. We in the mean while being deserted on all hands, our Cause is in danger of being exposed, and not we only, but your Majesty to be accounted an heretic, and perhaps to be thrust down into the lowest and worst rank of them, that of the Manichees. Renew therefore your Proceedings against them, and undertake the Patronage of a Party, that truly owns you for their Emperor.  
X. AND that they might not seem to press this without some plausible pretence, certain new Charges are framed against him, and exhibited to the Emperor; as 
Ath. Apol. ad Const. p. 531. , that he had usurped upon the imperial Authority, by presuming, of his own head, to celebrate the Encaenia, the festival Dedication of the great Church at Alexandria, a thing that might not be done without express Warrant from the Emperor: that 
Ibid. p. 527.  he had by Letters, held treasonable correspondence with the Tyrant Magnentius, who having murdered the Emperor Constans in France, had invaded the imperial Dignity, and to out-face the Matter, pretended that they had a Copy of the Letters. In which there was no more Truth, no nor shadow of a Foundation whereon to build such a Story, further than that Magnentius sending ambassadors to Constantius( whereof two were Bishops, Servatius of Tongren, and Maximinus of Triers, and two of the Nobility, Counts Clement and Valens) they put in at Alexandria, where the Bishops as being catholic Prelates, and his ancient and intimate Friends, were courteously treated by Athanasius; which was but an act of common kindness and gratitude, they being his old acquaintance, by whom, in the time of his Banishment, and at his lowest ebb, he had been generously owned and entertained. And though at the same time, to the very face of the other ambassadors, and in the presence of several great Officers of Constantius, he declared his severest Detestation of Magnentius his Proceedings, and publicly prayed for Constantius his Happiness and Prosperity, and afterwards prayed the Emperor strictly to examine the Matter, and offered himself to undergo a thousand deaths, if but the just suspicion of any such thing could be proved against him,( for the Letters pretended, how easy was it to counterseit his, yea even the Emperor's own hand, besides that, his own amanuensis were ready to make Oath, that he never wrote any such Letter, and he desired that Magnentius his Secretaries might be examined, whether any such ever came to their hands.) Yet did it serve a present turn well enough, to prejudice and exasperate the Emperor's mind against him. Nor did they stay here, but being extremely desirous to be rid of him by any means 
Ubi supr. p. 534. , forged a Letter in his name to Constantius, begging his leave that he might go into Italy for the settling some Ecclesiastical Affairs. Immediately a Warrant is dispatched from Court by Montanus an Officer of the Palace, not only giving him licence to go, but taking care for the Accommodations of his Voyage. The good man was greatly surprised with the Message, but smelling the Design,  told Montanus, he was most ready to go at the Emperor's order, but the Letter did only give him leave, not command him to depart. This not succeeding, they turn the Design the other way, charging him with Contumacy and Disobedience to the Emperor's Authority, in not quitting his See, when he commanded it. So dextrous is Malice to improve any advantage, and to sail forward with every Wind.  
XI. IT is no wonder, if by such false, and villainous Insinuations; the mind of that credulous Prince was easily inflamed against Athanasius. But however at present he thought good to dissemble his Resentments, till he had composed the Distractions of the Empire. He was now at Sirmium in Pannonia, where by smooth and politic Transactions, he had brought over and secured Vetrannio, General of the Foot, who about the same time with Magnentius had usurped the Purple, and set up for himself. While he was here, complaint was made against Photinus Bishop of that See, for his heterodox and unsound Opinions. He had been condemned in the Synodal Assembly at milan, and presently after in that at Sardica; two years after which( as S. Hilary 
Frag. col. 411.  expressly affirms) that is, Ann. CCCXLIX. the Western Bishops met out of several Provinces, by whom he was again sentenced as an heretic, and deposed from his bishopric. But the People thereupon growing into Tumults and Faction, the Synodal Sentence could not take Effect. Another opportunity now presenting itself, the Bishops that were about the Court, persuade the Emperor to convene a Synod about this Matter, which consisted chiefly of Eastern Bishops, the Western Parts being at this time under the Tyranny of Magnentius. The first thing they did, was to frame a Confession of Faith, drawn up in such general Terms, as both Parties might assent to it, and accordingly 'tis approved and expounded by S. Hilary. 'twas this 
Ext. ap. Socr. l. 2. c. 30. p. 122.& Hilar. l. de Synod. col. 338. .  

WE believe in one God. Father Almighty, Maker and Creator of all things, of whom the whole Family in Heaven and Earth is name: and in Jesus Christ, his only begotten Son our Lord, begotten of his Father before all Worlds, God of God, Light of Light, by whom all things were made both in Heaven and in Earth, visible and invisible, who is the Word and Wisdom, the true Light and Life; who in these last times was made man for us and born of an holy Virgin, who arose from the dead the third day, and ascended into Heaven, and sitteth on the right hand of the Father, and will come again in the end of the World, to judge the quick and the dead, and to render to every one according to his Works; whose Kingdom shall have no end, but shall continue to infinite Ages. For he shall sit at the right hand of his Father, not only now, but in the World to come. We believe also in the holy Ghost, that is, the Comforter, whom our Lord promised to his Apostles, and after his Ascension into Heaven, sent down to teach and bring all things to their remembrance, by whom also the hearts of those that truly believe in him are sanctified.   
To this they added many particular anathemas against those that affirmed the Son to be of things not existing, or of any other substance, and not of God, or that there was any time or Age, when he was not, or that he was of Mary only, according to God's Prescience, and not born of the Father, and with God before all Worlds, and that all things were made by him; or that say the divine Essence is dilated or contracted, or that the Son makes it so, or is the Dilatation of the divine Essence; or that being born of Mary he was a mere man, or that being God and Man, he is the unbegotten; or that the Word being made flesh, shall opine that the Word was changed into flesh, or suffered any change by that Assumption, or that by his Crucifixion, his Divinity was obnoxious to any Corruption, Passion, or Alteration, or that it sustained any Diminution or Separation; or that the Father, Son, and holy Ghost are but one Person, or that the holy Ghost is the unbegotten God, or that it is part of the Father and the Son, or that they three are three Gods; whoever shall affirm any of these( some whereof they more particularly explain) they denounce him accursed, and cut off from the catholic Church.  
XII. THE Confession thus drawn up, was offered to Photinus 
Socr. ib. p. 125. Sozom. l. 4. c. 6. p. 543. vid. Epiph. adv. P●ot. Haeres. LXXI. p. 353.  to subscribe, which he rejected, and was thereupon again deposed, and Germinius placed in his room. After which, they proffered upon his Recantation and Subscription to restore him, but he refused it, and being a man of an acute Wit, and a voluble Tongue appealed to the Emperor, and challenged his Enemies to a Disputation. The Emperor granted his Petition, ordering Basil Bishop of Ancyra to manage the Cause against him, and appointing Thalassius, Marcellinus, Datian and some others of the Senatorian Order, as Judges to see things fairly carried in the Disputation, public Notaries also attending to take things as they were delivered, whose notes in three Copies being severally sealed up, one was carried to the Emperor, another was left with the Judge, and the third remained with Basil himself. The issue was, Photinus was baffled, and beat out of the Field, and shortly after banished, where he employed his time in writing against the catholic Faith. This Synod was held at Sirmium in the year after the Consulship of Sergius and Nigrinianus, that is, Ann. Ch. CCCLI. as both Socrates 
Ib c. 29. p. 121  and Sozomen 
Ib. p. 542.  positively say, though by confounding this with some later Synodical Conventions at this place, they strangely mistake both in the Persons of some of the Bishops and in the number of the Creeds then agreed on, which they make to be three, when as one only was published at this time. A mistake that so far imposed upon Baronius 
Ad Ann. 357. , that he makes not this Synod at Sirmium to convene till six years after. When as the things now transacted, the Emperor's residence at this time at Sirmium, but especially the date of the year fixed by Socrates( who is wont to be most accurate in noting the years of the Consuls) do place it at this time past all peradventure. Nor must it be forgotten, that it is not one of the least Errors that Socrates commits in this Case, that he makes the Confession we have here set down, to have been composed by Marcus Bishop of Arethusa, whereas the Formula dictated by him was not agreed on and drawn up, till at least eight years after this, whereof more in its due time and place.  
XIII. AFFAIRS being quieted at Sirmium, and Vetrannio reduced into order, Constantius was at liberty to prosecute his Expedition against Magnentius, towards which he immediately set forth. Several Skirmishes there had been already, but now both Armies were met in the Plains of Mursa, a City in Pannonia, where after a fierce and hot Engagement Magnentius his Army was wholly routed, and himself forced to fly from place to place, till at length in France he put a Period to his own Life. Constantius 
Sulp. Sev. l. 2. p. 152.  not daring to venture himself in the Fight, expected the issue of the battle in a Church dedicated to the Martyrs situate without the City, attended by none but Valens Bishop of that place, who above all the Prelates of the Arian Faction was dear to him. And 'tis not unpleasant, to remark how bold a Cheat he at this time put upon the Emperor. For having so laid his Intelligence, as to have the first account of things before the Emperor's dispatches could arrive, while Constantius was distracted with a thousand Cares and Fears, he brings him the joyful Tidings of an absolute Victory. And when the Emperor demanded to see the Messenger that had so speedily brought the News, Valens  told him, that it was brought to him by an Angel, who came on purpose to impart it to him. An imposture which according to his Design, did not a little advance his credit with Constantius, who used publicly to profess, that he had gained that Victory by Valens his Merits, not by the Power and Courage of his Army. This battle was fought, and Victory obtained Ann. CCCLI. as the Fasti Consulares 
Idat. Fast. Const. p. 55.  expressly place it, and not as Baronius heedlessly makes it Ann. CCCLIII. which was indeed the year in which Magnentius died, as the same Fasti do declare. And like enough it is, he supposed Magnentius both to have been overthrown, and to have ended his life the same year, which betrayed him into that mistake.   

SECT. IX. His Acts from the Death of Pope Julius, till the Banishment of Liberius.  
The Arian attempts upon Pope Liberius. An Epistle forged under his name. The Emperor's Edict for all to subscribe against Athanasius. Liberius's interposal with Constantius about that Matter. A Convention of Bishops at Arles, wherein the catholics are overreached. The Papal Legate prevailed with to subscribe. Another Synod holden at Milan. The Proposal of Eusebius of Vercellae to that Synod. Constantius threatens the catholic Prelates; their resolute reply. Dionysius of Milan retracts his Subscription. The several Banishments of the catholic Bishops. Pope Liberius sent for by Constantius, his rejecting the Motions, and Presents sent to him; he is conveyed to Milan; his free and undaunted Address to the Emperor. The Dialogue that passed between him and Constantius, concern Athanasius and his Affairs, related at large. Liberius banished to Beroea in Thrace. The Money sent him by the Emperor to bear his charges, generously refused.  

{αβγδ}. Zosim. l. 2. p. 701.  I. CONSTANTIUS thus rid of the Dangers that threatened him, and elated with his prosperous success against Magnentius, found himself at leisure to take Athanasius and his Cause to task. Some attempts had been made of late by the Arians, to bring over the Western Bishops to consent to the condemning of Athanasius, and herein especially they had dealt at Rome. Pope Julius Athanasius his fast Friend was newly dead, and Liberius promoted to the Chair, with whom they hope to speed better than they had done with his Predecessor. An Address therefore is made to him with Letters 
Epist. Lib. ad Const. Conc. T. 11 col. 745.  containing the Crimes that were charged upon Athanasius. Liberius summons an Assembly of Bishops, communicates the Letter to them, and having at the same time received an Epistle subscribed by LXXV. Egyptian Prelates in favour of Athanasius, return'd answer to the Orientalists, that he could not credit the Charge, and that it seemed unreasonable to condemn him, whom the far mayor part of Bishops had absolved. There is indeed an Epistle exant 
Ap. Hilar. in fragm. col. 418.  under his name( ancient enough, being written, no doubt, about that time) wherein he assures them, that he had by special Messengers cited Athanasius to appear, and answer for himself at Rome, otherwise that he would exclude him the Communion of that Church; that upon his refusal he had, according to their desire, embraced Peace with them, and shut out Athanasius from all ecclesiastic Communion with himself. This Letter Baronius 
Ad Ann. 352. N. XIV, XV. &c.  takes a great deal of pains to prove to be false and spurious, and to have been forged by the Arians under his name. And the thing, I confess, is not improbable, it being evident that Liberius for several years after his entrance upon that See, stood firm to Athanasius and the catholic Cause, nor could be drawn to subscribe to his Deposition, by all the Arts the Emperor could use, as the Heathen Historian 
Am marcel. l. 15. p. 1453.  of that time assures us. And indeed the short remark at the end of that Letter, as far from S. Hilary's mind, as darkness from light, puts it past all question, that the Epistle is supposititious, added by some other hand.  
II. NOT being able to do any good by fair and peaceable ways( the catholics generally rejecting the Motion) they were constrained to have recourse to their old Methods of Force and Power. And first Constantius 
Sulp. Sev. l. 2. p. 153.  published an Edict, that all should subscribe to Athanasius his Condemnation, and that they who refused, should be banished. This made the catholics look about them, and think it high time, if possible, to prevent the Storm they saw coming upon them. Liberius 
Epist. ad Const. ubi supr.& ad Osium Ep. 1. ib. vid. Epist. 3. ib.& Sulp. Sev. loc. cit.  immediately dispatched away Vincentius of Capua, Marcellus a Campanian Bishop and others, to the Emperor then lying at Arles in France, to desire of him, that a Synod might be called at Aquileia, for the composing these Matters. Coming to Arles, they found there a Company of Arian Bishops, and some few of the West, whom they had already drawn to be of their Party, especially Saturnius or Saturninus Bishop of Arles, and Fortunatian of Aquileia, who had heretofore stoutly stood for Athanasius in the Sardican Council It being resolved that things should be here taken under Examination, they could not presently agree upon the method of procedure, on the one side it was desired that they might immediately proceed to the Case of Athanasius, on the other 'twas insisted on, that they might first discuss Matters of Faith, and that it was improper to judge the Person, till they had first taken cognizance of the thing. However that for the Peace of the Church, they were willing to yield to the Proposals of the Eastern Bishops in reference to Athanasius, upon condition that they also should condemn the Arian Doctrine. Which was assented to, and mutually given under their hands. But when they came Synodically to assemble, Valens and his Party flew off, and plainly  told them, they could not condemn the Doctrine of Arius, and that the only business they had in hand, was to agree that no Communion should be held with Athanasius. Great importunity was used, backed with frowns and threatenings, to bring them over, till at length 
Vid. Epp. Lib; loc. cit.& Ath. Apol. ad Const. p. 539.  Vincentius himself, the aged Bishop of Capua, the premier Papal Legate( which Office he had long since sustained in the great Nicene Council) was prevailed with to subscribe to Athanasius his Condemnation, whose example was followed by most of the Western Bishops then present. Some few stood their ground, whom no Terrors nor Promises could move, and amongst them Paulinus Bishop of Triers, who for his exemplary constancy was forced into Exile.  
III. LIBERIUS desirous to stop the Current, did by several Messages importune the Emperor, that Matters might be referred to the Decision of another Synod, which was accordingly summoned to meet at Milan, whither Constantius was then removed. There met( say my Authors 
Socr. l. 2. c. 36. p. 13●. Soz. l. 4. c. 9. p. 547. ) to the number of above CCC. Bishops, most of them out of the Western Provinces. But the number is too great, easily to gain belief, and therefore a learned man not improbably conjectures that there is a mistake in the Copies, and that three hundred is crept in for thirty; for just so many are found to have subscribed the Synodal Epistle 
Ext. ap. Baron. ad Ann. 355. Num. XXII.  Yet I cannot but think that there must have been somewhat a greater number in a Synod convened upon so important an occasion, and where the Emperor himself was present, though perhaps no more might be present at the Subscription, not to mention those who refused to subscribe. Hither came Eusebius Bishop of Vercelles, Lucifer of Calaris in Sardinia, and some others as Legates from Rome, where they remained ten dayes before they were admitted into Council, the Synod in the mean while sending Customius and Germinius with a Letter 
exit ap. Bar. ad Ann. 255. Nam. VI.  to Eusebius, to let him know how desirous they were of the Peace and Unity of the Church, in order whereunto it was necessary that he should communicate Councils with them, and agree to what almost the whole World had determined in the Case of the Sacrilegious( so they term him) Athanasius; entering into the Synod, Eusebius 
Hila. lib. ad Const. col. 305.  was required to subscribe against Athanasius, who presently replied, that they ought first to be satisfied about his soundness in the Faith, and that he plainly perceived there were those there present, that were infected with the Arian heresy. Whereupon he laid the Nicene Creed down before them, promising he would comply with what they desired, if they would own and subscribe that Faith. Dionysius Bishop of Milan took up the Paper, and began to underwrite it, which Valens Bishop of Mursa perceiving, snatched the Pen and Paper out of his hand, saying, that that might by no means be suffered. The thing was contested with great noise and opposition, and the report of it quickly spread amongst the People, who entertained it with equal Grief and Indignation, insomuch that the Heads of the Party not daring to hazard the Effects of a popular Resentment, thought good to translate the Synod from the Church( where it had been hitherto held) into the Palace, where they might command with greater Authority, and be more secure from the Rage and Fury of the People. And here Constantius 
A●h ad Solit. p. 666.  himself sat as Judge and Moderator, though a very partial one, for no sooner did he perceive Athanasius his Accusers at any time to flag and falter, but he himself would interpose, and help them out, and when Paulinus, Lucifer, and others of the catholic Bishops pressed hard upon the Witnesses, and pleaded that Ursacius and Valens had heretofore more than once solemnly disowned and recanted the Charge, and therefore could not now again be admitted as competent Witnesses in this Case, he hastily started up and said, I myself do here accuse Athanasius, upon my account give credit to their Testimony. The catholics modestly replied, that he could not implead Athanasius, nor any judgement pass in the Case, the Party accused not being present to answer, and defend himself; that they were not now judging a civil Cause, where the Emperor's bare word might take place; but concerning a Bishop, where the accuser and accused should be equally and impartially dealt with; that if what his Majesty had to object, was only by hearsay, 'twas fit that he should also give credit to what was said on Athanasius's behalf; but if he would not believe him, and yet believe the others, 'twas more than suspicious, that it was merely to please his Majesty that they had brought in that Charge against Athanasius.  
IV. THIS answer silenced the Emperor, who yet was the more enraged for being baffled, and that what was wanting in right, might be supplied by force, he resolved to banish the catholic Prelates, and for Athanasius himself, severe things were decreed against him, that he should be punished according to his Merits, that the Churches should be delivered up to the Arians, and that they should be left to their Liberty to act whatever might be for the Interest of their Cause. Thirty of the Bishops then present subscribed to his Condemnation, amongst whom Dionysius Bishop of Milan being drawn in, did presently retract his Assent, and by a wile of Eusebius Bishop of Vercelles, got his name strike out of the Roll. Before they partend, they published a pestilent Epistle 
S. Sever. l. 2. p. 154.  under the Emperor's name, which they did to this end, that if it took with the People, it might seem to come out with the Sanction of public Authority, but if it met with no entertainment, the Odium of it might fall upon the Emperor, who might the easilier be excused, being as yet a Catechumen, that could not be supposed to be critically versed in the Mysteries of the Faith. But no sooner was it red publicly in the Church, but the People generally testified their abhorrence of it. Constantius 
Ath. ubi supr. p. 643.  sending for the chief of the catholic Bishops, commanded them once more to subscribe the Synodal Decree, and to communicate with the other Party. Whereat when they stood amazed and replied, that this was not the Rule and Canon of the Church, he briskly answered, What I command, let that be your Canon, for so the Syrian Bishops are wont to entertain my Edicts, either therefore submit, or you shall immediately into Banishment. The good Bishops yet more astonished, lift up their hands to Heaven, and freely declaring their minds,  told him, that the Empire was not his, but Gods, from whom he had received it, and that he should be afraid to provoke him to take it from him. They put him in mind of the day of judgement, and advised him not to offer violence to the Church, not to blend the civil Power with ecclesiastic Constitutions, nor to introduce Arianism into the Church of God. His anger and impatience could bear no more, but full of rage and threatening, he brandished his Sword at them, and forth with commanded several of them to be banished, Eusebius of Vercelles to Schythopolis, Lucifer Cataritanus into palestine, where he wrote against the Emperor, Dionysius of Milan into Cappadocia, where he died, and Paulinus of Triers, who in the fifth year of his banishment died in Phrygia.  
V. BUT all this was not thought sufficient, unless Pope Liberius was either brought over, or removed out of the way. Constantius 
Id. ib. p. 644.  therefore presently dispatches Eusebius the Eunuch his Chamberlain away to Rome with Letters and Presents to Liberius; whom he acquainted with the Emperor's Counsel and Command, and taking him gently by the hand, shew'd him the Presents, which, said he, are all at your Service, if you will but comply with the Emperor. But the Bishop rejected them with a generous scorn, and  told him, that he could not consent to condemn Athanasius, a Person, who had been once and again Synodically absolved from all the Crimes charged upon him, and whom the Church of Rome had entertained and dismissed with peace; that it would look strange, if he should reject him being absent, with whom when present he had maintained friendship and agreement, and that this was not the Canon nor Custom of the Church; that if the Emperor was concerned for the Peace of the Church, and desirous that what had been written in defence of Athanasius might be razed and stisted, it was but fit that what had been written against him should be blotted out also, and such a Synod called, where neither the Emperor might be present, nor any of his great Ministers of State to influence and awe the Council; where nothing but the fear of God, and the apostolic Constitution might take place, that so the Faith agreed upon at Nice might be first confirmed, and the Favourers of Arianism condemned, and that then the Case of Athanasius and his Opposers might be discussed and canvased. This had been the way of the Ancients, and with this Resolution he might acquaint the Emperor. The Eunuch was vexed to find the Bishop not only unwilling to subscribe, but obstinately infected with what he called heresy, whereupon he broken out into high words and threatenings, and taking up the Presents, went out of doors, and entering into S. Peter's Church, offered them at the Altar. Which Liberius no sooner understood, but he sharply chid the Guardian of the Church for suffering it, and threw the Gifts that had been offered out of doors. Which still more exasperated the Eunuch, who made no over-favourable Representation of these things to the Emperor. Hereupon several great Officers of the Palace were sent to Rome, and Letters written to Leontius 
Vid. Am. marcel. l. 15. p. 1453.  perfect of the City, commanding that either by fair means or force Liberius should be forthwith sent to Court. The rumour quickly raised infinite Confusion and Consternation in the City, every man thinking himself concerned to provide for his own safety either by concealment or slight. Liberius was kept under strict watches, and at length by night conveyed to Milan. Where at his arrival he freely  told the Emperor, that he should do well to leave off persecuting Christians, and not think to make him a property to introduce Impiety into the Church, and that he was ready to suffer any thing, rather than to become Arian; that he advised him to take heed how he unworthily fought against him that had made him Emperor, and that he would find it hard for him to kick against the pricks; that for his own part he was come with an expectation of being banished, before any thing was charged upon him; that so it might appear, that the rest that had been served so, had been brought to it merely through malice and falsehood.  
VI. THERE is a more particular account still extant, of what passed between them at this meeting, extracted out of the Acts of the imperial Consistory, where this Conference was held, at which were present the Emperor, Liberius, Eusebius the Eunuch, and Epictetus an Arian Bishop. The sum of the Discourse is set down by 
Lib. 4. c. 11. p. 551.  Sozomen, but 'tis extant entire in Theodorit 
Lib. 2. c. 16. p. 92. , which because it chiefly concerns the Cause of Athanasius, we shall here insert.  
CONSTANTIUS. Forasmuch as you are a Christian, and Bishop of our City, we have thought good to sand for you, and admonish you to renounce Communion with the lewd and wretched Cause of Athanasius. A thing wherein the World has consented, having by Synodal Sentence banished him all Ecclesiastical Communion. LIBERIUS. Sir, I the Determination of ecclesiastic Affairs, ought to be made with all possible Equity and Impartiality. If therefore it please your Majesty, let the Cause be judged; and if it shall appear that Athanasius deserves to be condemned, then according to the Rules of Ecclesiastical Proceedings, let Sentence pass against him; for we cannot condemn a Person, whom we have not judged. CONST. The whole World has already passed Sentence upon his impious Cause, but he, as he has done all along, does but trifle away the time, and make light of it. LIB. They who gave this account, did not themselves see the things done, but wrote them for vainglory, or fear, or to avoid the disgrace which your Majesty might cast upon them. CONST. What glory, what fear, what disgrace do you mean? LIB. Those I mean, who do not love the Glory of God, but preferring your bounty and favour, have condemned him, whom they have neither seen nor judged. A thing which all true Christians do abhor. CONST. Was he not present in the Synod at Tyre, and there judged and condemned by all the Prelates of the Empire? LIB. No, Sir, he was never judged where himself was present; for they who condemned him in that Assembly, passed that unjust Sentence upon him after his departure from the Council. EUSEBIUS.[ In the Synod of Nice 
Nescio quid sibi volverit hic Eunuchus, &c. Stultus stultu● loquitur. Vales. in loc.  he was convict of being an Enemy to the catholic Faith.] LIB. There were indeed but five of them that judged him, those five who were purposely sent by the rest into Maraeotis, to forge and make Acts and Records against him. Of these five two are dead, Theognis and Theodorus, the three others, Maris, Valens and Ursacius, are still alive; who for this very Cause were condemned in the Sardican Synod, and who afterwards in a Synod preferred their Libels, and begged pardon for the Acts which in Maraetis they had falsely and clandestinely framed against Athanasius; which Libels we have now by us. And now, Sir, Judge, whom we ought rather to believe, and communicate with? those who first condemned Athanasius, and then asked pardon for what they had done, or those who lately condemned them for such irregular Practices? EPICTETUS. It is not, Sir, for the Faiths-sake, or for defence of Ecelesiastical Judgments, that Liberius at this time makes all this stir, but that he may boast to the Senators at Rome, that he has been too hard for the Emperor. CONST. How considerable a part of the World, Liberius, do you reckon yourself, that you only should patronise a vile man, and thereby disturb the Peace of the whole Roman Empire? LIB. Though I were alone in this Matter, yet the Cause of the Faith would not be thereby prejudiced. There was once a time, when there were but three found that refused to comply with the King's Command. EUSEB. What, then you make our Emperor a second nabuchadnezzar. LIB. No, I do not; but you rashly condemn a Person, whom we have not judged. All that I require is, that first the Nicene Creed may be ratified by an universal Subscription; then, that our Brethren that are banished may be recalled, and restored to their Sees; and if then it appear, that they who now raised all there stirs, do embrace the apostolic Faith, we may all Synodically meet at Alexandria, where both the Accusers and the Accused are, and the Advocates of each Party, where having thoroughly examined Matters, we may unanimously pronounce Sentence in the Case. EPICT. But the public Carriages will not suffice to convey so many Bishops thither. LIB. As for that, Ecclesiastical Causes need not the assistance of the public Carriages. For every Church may easily enough at their own Charge transport their Bishops by Sea. CONST. The things that have been already agreed on, cannot be undone; for the Vote of the Majority of Bishops ought to prevail. You are the only Person that retains the Friendship of that wicked man. LIB. Sir, I never yet heard a Judge lay Impiety to any Person's Charge, who was not there to answer for himself; a thing that would rather argue a private Grudge and Enmity against him. CONST. He has in general injured all men, but no man like me. For not content with the death of my elder Brother, he never ceased to stir up Constans of blessed Memory to Quarrels and Hostility against me, which must have broken out into ill Effects; if I by a most invincible Meekness and Patience had not born the powerful Inclination both of him that was excited, and of him that excited him to that attempt. And therefore I account no Victory so great, no not that which I obtained over Magnentius and Silvanus, as I do the ejecting this wretched man out of all ecclesiastic Administration. LIB. I beseech you, Sir, don't reek your Enmity upon the Bishops; for the hands of ecclesiastics ought to be employed only to bless and consecrate. May it please you therefore to command that the Bishops be recalled to their own Sees, and if they than be found to agree with him, who to this hour tenaciously adheres to the orthodox Faith explain'el in the Synod of Nice, then let them assemble and provide for the Peace of the World, that so it may not appear that an Innocent man is branded and condemned. CONST. All that I require and command is, that you entertain Communion with the Churches, and return back to Rome. Yield therefore to Peace, and subscribe, and then go home. LIB. I have already taken leave of the Brethren at Rome; for the Laws of the Church are dearer to me, than an Habitation at Rome. CONST. I give you three dayes time to advice, whether you will subscribe and go back to Rome, or to consider of what other place you desire to be transported to. LIB. It is not the space of three dayes or months, that will make any Alteration in my mind. sand me therefore whither you please.  
VII. THUS ended the Conference, wherein Constantius was Superior in nothing but Power and Might, which seldom fails to carry the Conclusion. Two dayes after, the Emperor again called for Liberius, and finding him stiff in his Resolution, decreed him to be banished to Beraea a City of Thrace. The good man took his leave, and being gone out, the Emperor, either to mollify the sharpness of the Sentence, 
{αβγδ} Idem proculdubio erat cum solido aureo. Jam vero solidus aureus tempore Constantii( juxta calcu●im Brerewoodi nostri) valebat de nostro— 0— 8 s.— 6d— 0b— q& 6/ 7 q.  or out of a generous Compassion, and respect to the Condition and Quality of the man, sent him five hundred pieces of Gold to bear his Charges. But he refused it, and bad the Messenger restore them to his Master, and desire him to give them to his Souldiers, to his Flatterers and needy Courtiers, who were always craving, and never satisfied. The Empress also sent him the like Sum, which he return'd with the like answer, adding, that if the Emperor had no need of the Money to pay his Army, he might give them to Auxentius and Epictetus( two Arian Bishops that hung about the Court) who had need enough of them. When Eusebius the Eunuch perceived that he had refused the imperial Presents, he himself brought him one. To whom Liberius tartly replied, you have laid wast the Churches throughout the World, and do you bring me an Alms as to a Criminal Person. Go your way, and first become a Christian. So after three dayes he took his Journey towards Beraea, where we leave him for a while, being likely to find him of another mind, when we shall next meet with him.   

SECT. X. The cruel Proceedings against Athanasius and the catholics at Alexandria.  
Severe Edicts published against Athanasius. Respite granted by the Governours, but not observed. The desperate attempts of the Arian Faction at Alexandria under Count Syrianus. The Concregation set upon by armed Multitudes; the horrible Murders, Out-rages, and profanations committed at that time. The Protestation of the People of Alexandria. Athanasius his escape into the Wilderness. The Persecution reinforced by Count Heraclius. The extreme Cruelties of that Persecution. Great encouragement and rejoicing hereby given to the Gentiles. Immediate Judgments upon some of the most forward Zealots. George of Cappadocia ordained Bishop of Alexandria by the Arians. This George, who; what his temper and former course of Life. The time and place of his Ordination. His arrival at Alexandria, and violent Proceedings against the catholic Party, without distinction of Age, Sex, Person, or Profession. The prodigious Severities used throughout the neighbouring Countries. Constantius his Letter in Commendation of the Proceedings at Alexandria, and for a farther exposing of Athanasius. Athanasius his excellent Converse with the Monks and Hermits in the Wilderness, and their just Veneration for him. What Books he wrote at that time. His several Apologies in his own defence. Persecuted into a more private part of the Desert. The fabulous report of Rufinus, of his lying hide in a Well; and of Palladius, that be dwelled six years in the House of a Virgin. The mistake of a Greek Historian of his being banished into England.  
I. HAVING thus far represented the Athanasian Cause, as acted upon the Stage abroad, we most now step back a little, and see how the Scene was managed nearer home. Long he had not quietly repossessed his Episcopal Throne, when by subtle and malicious Insinuations, Constantius his mind was again alienated from him, who having procured him to be condemned in the packed Synods of Arles and Milan, published very severe Edicts against him, and commanded 
Socr. l. 2. c. 26 p. 117.  that he should be killed wherever he could be met with. But before they proceeded to open rigours, they attempted him by secret and crafty Artifices. And first Montanus the Palatine 
Ath. Apol. ad Const. p. 534, 535, 536.  was sent to him, to try if he could put a trick upon him, and draw him into a Voluntary recess from Alexandria. But that not succeeding, he was let alone for somewhat more than two years, when came Diogenes, the Notary, who whatever he might set on foot by private Councils, had no public Commission to proceed against him, nor so much as once offered to speak with him. After him came Count Syrianus, Commander of the Army, a man according to his Profession, of a fierce bloody Temper, who yet at first attempted nothing. But the Arian Party bearing themselves high, and talking of what great things they would now do, the Clergy and mayor part of the City came to Syrianus, and besought him, that no disturbance might be made, till they could sand an Embassy to the Emperor. This with great difficulty he assented to, solemnly swearing to observe his Promise. And the Legation( if we may believe Sozomen 
Lib. 4. c. 9. p. 547. ) was actually sent, Athanasius dispatching five Bishops( the chief whereof was Serapion Bishop of Thmuis, a very Pious and Eloquent man) and with them some of the Presbyters; soon after whose departure came Letters from the Emperor, commanding Athanasius to repair to Court, upon whose refusal, a Messenger came the next year to force him thence. But of this Athanasius himself makes no mention, no not in those places where he most solemnly vindicates himself from this Charge, affirming more than once, how ready he was to have come, had he but received the least order from the Emperor.  
II. IN the mean while Syrianus and the other Governours began to be attended with crowds of the Arian Faction, and Cabals were held, and entertainments made in several places, which made Athanasius suspect that something more than fair dealing was intended. However they restend secure in Syrianus his Promise, and the public Assemblies were kept with great joy and thankfulness. When behold on a sudden within less than a Month after the security given, Syrianus with a Party of above five thousand Souldiers, accompanied with great numbers of Arians, who had never ceased to instigate him to this attempt, broken into the Church, where the People were met at their common Devotions, in order to the holy Communion that was to be administered the next day. It was night 
Ib. p. 538.& Apol. de fug. p. 557.& protest. Pop. Alex. ad calc. Ep. ad Solit. , and great numbers were assembled, and were intent at their holy Offices, when on a sudden the Church was full of drawn Swords, Spears, Clubs, Arrows, and other Military Furniture, which meeting with the dankness of the Night, and the Reflection of the lights in the Church conspired to heighten the Amazement and Consternation. Guards were also set round the Church, that none might escape, and command given to begin the Tragedy within, whereupon followed an innumerable Slaughter, those of the holy Order being some beaten, or chained, others killed, the devout Virgins abused, risled, and several of them slain, whose Bodies for shane they cast into Graves. Athanasius, who soon apprehended what the Matter was, sat still in his Chair, and not willing to desert his Flock in this distress, called to the Deacon to sing the CXXXVI. Psalm, the People answering, For his mercy endureth for ever. Which done, he commanded them to depart, and go to their Houses. By this time the Souldiers were advanced, and were coming to beset the choir, when the Clergy and People that were about him, earnestly besought Athanasius to shift for himself, he on the other hand protesting he would not stir a foot, till they were all departed, and rising from his Chair, passionately entreated them to be gone, affirming it to be much better, that he himself should be exposed to danger, than that any of them should be hurt. The People getting away as well as they could, the Clergy and Monks that were left, in a manner forced Athanasius along with them, whom( though almost stisted and crowded to death) they conveyed safe through all the Guards, and secured him out of their reach. All things were full of Terror and Confusion, the Church profaned with blood and dead carcases, with Swords and Arms, no reverence had either to Persons or Things, the Souldiers rushing into those places, where none but the holy Order were permitted to enter, and when any complained, or prayed help of Syrianus against force and violence, they were rejected and soundly beaten into the bargain: Nay, he endeavoured to force the People to an acknowledgement, that no Tumult had been raised, nor any hurt done. Who so much the more complained that all this had been done without any order from the Emperor, to whom they sent an account by some that were then going to Court, beseechmg Maximus Governor of Egypt, and the rest of the Governors, that they also would sand dispatches concerning it to the Emperor; and that it might not fail, they obliged the Masters of Ships then ready to depart, to disperse the report of it in all places where they came, that so it might some way arrive at the Emperor's ear. And after all, they entred their public 
Ext. ad calc. Ep. ad Solit. said in Edit. Commel. loco non suo ad sin. Tom. 1. p. 856.  Protestation, wherein they give an account of the violence that had been offered, professing they were ready to suffer Persecution, if it were the Emperors pleasure; but if not, they desired that they might live in quiet, and enjoy their Bishop, without having any other imposed upon them. By which Protestation it appears, that this Tragedy was on the XXVth. of February, Ann. CCCLVI.  
III. ATHANASIUS having thus happily escaped the hands of his Enemies, retired into the Wilderness, whence he determined to go in Person to the Emperor, and was now 
Apol. ad Const. p. 539.  entred on his Journey, when hearing of the cruel and barbarous Usage which his Friends and Followers every where met with, and despairing of success, he return'd back to his Shades and Solitudes, where we shall again find him, and how he employed himself. No sooner was he departed, but Count Heraclius 
Epist. ad Solit: p. 652, &c.  comes with a Warrant from the Emperor to the Senate and People of Alexandria, commanding them upon their Allegiance, with joynt-force to persecute Athanasius. The man executed his Edict with the utmost rigor, proclaiming it openly in every place, that it was the Emperor's pleasure that Athanasius should be ejected, and the Churches resigned up to the Arians, commanding the Magistrates and respective Officers under great Penalties to see it done, and forcing even the Gentile-Priests and Officers to approve his Transactions, and to promise to own him for Bishop whom the Emperor should sand, some for fear, others out of hopes of Advantage engaging with him, for the performance whereof, he took security under their own hands. With Heraclius joined Cataphronius perfect of Egypt, and Faustinus the Treasurer, who were followed by a Rabble, especially of the younger sort, 
{αβγδ}; which Baronius ad Ann. 356. Num. 32. renders quarta Sabbati ante Pentecosten; for what reason I cannot imagine, unless he thought what was now done in Lent, had happened a little before whitsuntide.  and multitudes of Gentiles. Their first attempt was upon the Assembly met on Wednesday in the great Church of the City, though it happening that the Congregation being dismissed, the greatest part were gone; some few Women only being left, whom as they were rising from their Devotions, they set upon with Clubs and Stones, the holy Virgins they miserable beat, tearing their clothes, pulling off their Head-attire, and kicking those that made resistance, and what was infinitely more intolerable to them than Clubs or Stones, grated their chast Ears with filthy and obscene Speeches. Many young Maids they forcibly took out of their Father's Houses; others they abused and affronted as they met them in the Streets, stirring up the wild Rabble to pull off their Vales, and giving their own Wives leave to abuse all they met, so that grave Matrons were glad, as they met them, to step aside, and give them the way; who ran up and down like wild Furies, accounting it a hard Case, and a lost day, wherein they had not done some injury or mischief. Nor did the Clergy fare better than the rest, the Deacons and Presbyters, yea and their Friends and Followers were pulled out, banished, beaten, and some killed and by a Savage Barbarity not commonly known amongst men, their dead Bodies torn limb from limb. So that all Humanity seemed to be laid aside, and Hell itself to be broken loose. They took Eutychius a Sub-deacon, a man of approved Integrity and Fidelity, and having whipped him, till they had even driven his Soul out of his Body, were carrying him to the Mines, and the worst part of them too, called Pheno, a place where the sturdiest Malefactor is not wont to live many dayes, not giving him so much as an hours respite for the dressing and curing of his Wounds. But the good man was soon released out of their hands, for they had not gone far, when unable to hold out, he dropped down and died. The People out of common Compassion had interceded for him, but were rejected, and four of them, honest and substantial men, were apprehended for their pains, grievously scourged and thrown into Prison. And when the Arians not satisfied herewith, murmured, and threatened to complain above, the Commander, out of fear, gave order that they should be scourged a second time, the Innocent men saying no more, than that, 'tis for the Truth that we suffer, we cannot communicate with heretics; go on to beat us as much as you please, there will be a time when God will reckon on with you for these things. And that they might wholly extinguish all sparks of Charity and Compassion, they suffered not the Poor to be relieved; for whereas the poor Widows and Orphans that had formerly been sustained by the Bounty of the Church, were yet provided for by the kindness of pious and charitable Persons, they now by a new and unheard of Cruelty indicted, prosecuted and punished those who received the Alms, as well as those that gave them. 'twere endless to tell of the Houses that were broken open and rifled, the Goods and Provisions carried away, and divided amongst the Soldiers; the Tombs and Monuments of the dead violated and spoiled, under a pretence of searchtng for Athanasius; the Multitudes that were fined, and forced to take up Money at Interest to pay their Ransom; others that fled from place to place, and at last were driven into the Wilderness; others choosing rather to commit themselves to the Mercy of the Sea, than to fall into the hands of such merciless and bloody People.  
IV. NOR did their rage extend only to the living, but even to senseless and inanimate things; they took the Benches in the Church, the Episcopal Chair, the Communion-Table, the Partitions, and whatever else they could bring away, and throwing them on an heap in the great Street before the Church-gate, set them on fire, casting Frankincense into it. A day of Triumph, of Joy and Jubilee to the Gentiles, who concluded, that surely the Emperor and the Arians were coming over to them, and were so far elevated in their Hopes and Expectations, that they were upon the Point publicly to set up their Pagan-Rites; for espying a Beast drawing Water for the Gardens of the imperial Palace, they intended it for a Sacrifice, and had actually done it, but that it proved an Heifer, which was not allowed by their Sacrificial Laws. And certainly had they not been fatally bent upon these mischievons Proceedings, they met with some unhappy Accidents, that one would have thought should have stopped their Career. When they first broken into the Church, a bold young Fellow rushed into the choir, and insolently clapping himself down in the Bishop's Throne, sung a lewd obscene Song through the Nose, and rising up, caught the Chair, with an intent to beat it all in pieces, when a large Splinter of it ran into his Belly, and pierced his Bowels, which presently began to flow out, and being taken up, and carried away, he died the next day. Another coming into the Church with boughs in his hands, and waving them about after the gentle manner, was immediately struck stark blind, and became insensible where he was, and being ready to drop down, was carried out, and after a dayes time hardly recovered his understanding, being neither sensible of what he had done, nor of what had been done to him. These miraculous Interposals of the divine Providence, though they had no good effect upon the Arians, who Pharoh-like were hardened the more by every stroke, yet struck terror into the Gentiles, who become less forward to such profane attempts. And indeed to such a height did the Cruelties of this Persecution proceed, that the very Gentiles began to be ashamed on't, and could not but abominate the Arians as the most merciless inhuman Butchers, Persons that offered notorious Violence to all those Principles of kindness and tenderness, that are natural and essential to Mankind.  
V. WHAT had hitherto happened was but the beginning of Sorrows, Preparatory Evils, to make way for the new-design'd Bishop, For it very much concerned them quickly to fill up the vacancy they had made, and to fix a trusty Person in this great Station of the Church. And to this end they pitched upon one George, an inconsiderable Fellow, but a man fit for the purpose, being( as Sozomen 
Lib. 3. c. 7. p. 507.  tells us) a busy man, and a prime Stickler for the Arian Cause. This George( whom, one 
Heyl. Hist. of S. George p. 1. Ch. 6.§. 6. p. 109. vid. §. 4. p. 106.  otherwise sufficiently versed in Church-story, by a prodigious and almost unpardonable mistake, makes the same with his Arian Predecessor Gregory, most commonly called George in the Latin Translation of Athanasius, condemned and deposed in the Sardican Council, and to make good one mistake commits another, by more than once confounding him with George Bishop of Laodicea, and the mistake so much the worse, because he himself 
Ibid.§. 8.  so smartly and severely censures those, who having taken a conceit against George the Arian, think presently that every George they meet with in discourse or reading, must be of Alexandria: This George, I said, was born in Cappadocia, a Country famous even in common Speech, for the lewdness of its manners, and therefore one ot the three Proverbially noted with a {αβγδ}; whence Athanasius once and again styles him, a man of Cappadocia, and Nazianzen 
Orat. XXI. p. 382. ( himself that Country-man) calls him a Cappadocian Monster, that broken loose from the utmost confines of that Country, and apologises 
Ib. p. 381.  for his Country for producing him, Impiety not being to be ascribed to the Place, but the Person, that Thorns will spring up in the Vine-yard, and that a traitor was amongst the twelve Disciples. S. Gregory of Nyssa 
Contr. Eunom. l. 1. p. 30.  calls him the Cappadocian Tarbasthenite, because born, I suppose, at Tarbasthenes, a poor Village in Cappadocia, and Sozomen 
Ubi supr.  says most expressly, that he 〈◇〉, a Cappadocian born. 'tis true Ammianus Marcellinus 
l. 21. p. 16 26.  tells us, that he was born in a Fulling-Mill at Epiphania a Town in Cilicia. But besides that those conterminous Parts of Cilicia were anciently reckoned under the Notion of Cappadocia taken at large, the Historian vouches no other security for his Assertion than mere report; when as Nazianzen( who lived also at that time) may not only be reasonably presumed to understand better the Affairs of his own Country, but expressly declares, that he delivered those things not as Rumors, or vain suspicions, but as Matters of certain and accurate knowledge. Agreeable to his Country were his Temper and Manners; a man( as that eloquent Father goes on to decipher him) of a had Race, and worse Qualities, of no Consideration or Account, sordidly educated, and of a rough and unaffable Conversation, one that did not so much as pretend to Religion, fit to undertake any villainy, and to disturb Affairs wherever he came, a detestable Flatterer, that thrust himself upon great mens Tables, and composed all his Words and Actions to promote no other Designs than those of Gluttony and Excess. This servile Temper recommended him to an employment in the State, first to be Provisor General of Pork for the Army( an Office suitable to his sordid and swinish Temper) and then( if it were not the same employment) to be receiver 
Ath. ad Solit. p. 666.  of the Stores at Constantinople, wherein he behaved himself so unfaithfully to his Trust, prodigally wasting all upon his Luxury, that he was forced to run for't, and Vagabond-like, wand'red from place to place, till at last he was picked up and made Bishop of Alexandria, where( as Nazianzen adds) he left off his rambling, and began his villainies, and whither he came like one of the Egyptian Plagues. And indeed the Heathen Historian 
A. marcel. loco cit.  grants, that the sending him thither, was to the mischief and prejudice of a great many, and against his own as well as the common Good, as it was not like to be otherwise in a place so naturally prove to Sedition, and apt to fly out into Tumults, even when there's no just Cause to provoke them to it. He was ordained to this place by a Synod met an Antioch, Ann. Chr. CCCLVI.( for Sozomen 
Lib. 4. c. 8. p. 546. , who relates the Passage, plainly mistakes the time) where were assembled Narcissus of Cilicia, Theodorus of Thrace, Eugenius Bishop of Nice, Patrophilus of Scythopolis, Menophantus of Ephesus, and about thirty more, who wrote an Encyclical Epistle to the Bishops of the several Churches, to let them know, that Athanasius had, contrary to the Canons, return'd to Alexandria, having not been adjudged Innocent by any Synod, nor any other ways, but by the contentious Proceedings of his own Party; that therefore they entreated them to hold no Communion with him, nor so much as to writ to him, but to communicate with George, whom they had ordained in his room.  
VI. HE arrived at Alexandria about the end of Lent 
Ath. de fug. p. 548.& Epist. ad Orthod. p. 729. &c, , introduced and installed by a Military Guard, great Crowds of People flocking to the Church to behold this new and strange sight. He was attended and ushered in amongst others by Philagrius( his Country-man, a trusty Friend to the Arians, and one who had heretofore more than once been employed upon the like errands) who, probably, was again made perfect of Egypt to serve this turn. The Octaves of Easter being past, the Wolf began to lay aside the Sheeps clothing, and to show himself in his own colours. For the People generally detesting Communion with him, and assembling in the Churches as they were wont, his Friend Philagrius with an armed multitude of Jews and Gentiles, and all the scum and refuse of the People broken in upon them, and what miserable havoc they made, 'tis easy to imagine. For now nothing could be seen but hurrying the sacred Virgins to Prison, committing Bishops to the custody of men of War, forcibly breaking open and rising the Houses of Widows and Orphans, draging Persons out of their Houses by night, and the very Brethren of Clergy-men faring ill for their Relation-sake. On the Week immediately after whitsuntide, the People having ended their Fast, were gone out into the Church-yard to their Devotions, being unwilling to communicate with George the Bishop. Which he no sooner understood, but he sent to Sebastian Captain of the Guards, and by Sect a Manichee, to repair thither with his Company; which he did immediately, and finding that by this time of the day a great part of the Assembly was gone, he made a violent assault upon the rest. He caused a fire to be made, to which he brought the holy Virgins, and threatened to burn them, if they did not forthwith turn Arians. But when he perceived them constant and resolute in the Faith, and to make light of the Flames that were ready to devour them, he strip'd them of their Garments, and beat them so cruelly on the Face, that for a long time after, it was hard to know who they were. Forty men were so unmercifully handled with Rods newly made, and the pricks yet upon them, that some of them very difficultly recovered after a tedious Cure, and others not able to bear up under it, died; the rest that were not thus severely dealt with, were banished. As for the Bodies of the Slain, they all along denied them to their Friends and Kindred, but keeping them unburied, hide them, lest the World should he Spectators of such barbarous Indignities. Neither Persons nor things were safe from rudeness and violence, Virgins, Priests, laics were dragged up and down, haled before the Bench of Justice, fined, imprisoned, beaten, trampled on, and even trodden to death. Churches and Fonts were set on fire, Bibles burnt, and the Communion-Tables over-turn'd, and Sacrilegiously abused. Jews and Heathens irreverently broken into the Baptisteria, and putting off their clothes, profaned and defiled those Holy places by Words and Actions not fit to be related. Nor were they afraid to sacrifice Birds, and offer Fruits upon the holy Table, praising their Idols, and blasphemously reproaching the Son of God.  
VII. THUS, and much worse it was in the City; nor 
Ubi supr.& Apol. ad Const. p. 539, &c.  was it better in the neighbor-Countries. The aged and reverend Bishops were sure to smart for it, above thirty of them being banished, and near ninety turned out of their Churches; which were immediately filled with Arians, and those taken either from amongst the Catechumens, or civil Officers, a great Estate and Zeal for Arianism being then Qualifications sufficient to recommend any man to a bishopric. Together with the Bishops were banished many of the inferior Orders, and so cruel their treatment without any regard either to their Age or Office, that some of them died by the way, others in the Places of their Banishment. At Barca 
Ath. ad Solit. p. 660. ( which by the way Baronius 
Ad An. 356. Num. XLV.  makes the name of the Person when as 'tis notoriously known 
Strab. l. 17. p. 837. Steph. in V. {αβγδ}.  it was a City of Lybia, but more commonly called Ptolemais, and the Greek in Athanasius puts it past peradventure, that 'twas the name of a City) Secundus Presbyter of that place, was by Secundus Bishop of Pentapolis and his Co-partner Stephen trodden to death, because refusing to comply with them, the poor man breathing out his Soul with this pious and innocent Charge, Let no man revenge my death, I have a Master that will do it, for whose sake I suffer all this. I shall wade no further in these Tragical Stories, so much to the shane and dishonour of human nature, much more of the Principles of the Christian Faith, it being true what he in Photius 
Cod. CCLVIII. col. 1444.  observes upon this account, that the bloody Cruelties committed by this Arian Bishop, exceeded the greatest of the Heathen Persecutions, which were human and merciful, if compared to this. While they were engaged in these violent and barbarous Proceedings, a Letter 
Ext. ap. Ath. Apol. ad Const. p. 540.  came from the Emperor directed to the People of Alexandria, wherein he commends them for what they had done, that they had rejected and driven out Athanasius, a Cheat( says he) and an Impostor, a man broken loose from the very bottom of Hell, who by little Tricks and Arts is wont to deceive the People, who being convict of the most notorious villainies, such as ten of his deaths could not expiate, durst not abide a legal Trial, but ran away into voluntary Banishment, where 'tis the Interest even of the Barbarians to cut him off, lest he also inveigle them with his Impieties; that they did well to adhere to the most reverend George, a Person most admirably versed in Divine things, and who would conduct them in the way to Heaven; upon whose Direction and Council they should do well to depend, as upon a sacred Anchor, to keep them safe from all Winds of Seduction and Error. This is the Sum of the Letter, the Truth whereof is evident at first sight. And that Athanasius might be secure in no place, he wrote to the barbarous Countries to search him out, and deliver him up to the Emperor's Officers, and that both People and Clergy should be compelled to embrace the Arian heresy, or in case of refusal be put to death. And because Athanasius had some time since ordained Frumentius Bishop of Auxumis, and sent him to convert and christianize those Nations, he dispatched a Letter 
Ext. loco cit. p. 541.  to Aizana and Sazana Princes of that Country, to require them to cause Frumentius to repair to Alexandria to George and the rest of the Bishops, that( as was fit) he might from them receive Episcopal Authority and Ordination, and be rightly instructed in the Faith and Discipline of the Church; otherwise it was evident that he still persisted in the Cause and Communion of wicked Athanasius, and consequently being seduced by his lewd Discourses, not only God would be dishonoured, and the Churches disturbed, but the whole Country in danger of being over-run and brought to ruin.  
VIII. WHILE the Storm fell thus heavy round about, God had provided Athanasius a secure shelter in the Wilderness, where in the midst of his solitary Retirements he enjoyed the pleasures of a very grateful Conversation, the company of those pious and devout Inhabitants of the Desert, the primitive Monks, a quiter other sort of men from those who in these latter Ages pass under that name and Character; Persons who retiring from the World, lived wholly to God, and were entirely taken up in the most severe Exercises of Religion, a Course wherein they had been trained up by Paul of Thebais, and Athanasius's kind Friend S. Anthony( who was still alive) the two great Founders of the monastic Institution. There were two 
Naz. Orat. XXI. p. 384.  sorts of them, Eremitae and Coenobitae; the first were wholly devoted to Solitude, and conversed with none but God and themselves, and knew no more of the World, than what they met with in the Wilderness; the other kept together in Societies, exercising mutual Love and Fellowship, and were Hermits in the midst of populous Cities, and lead mortified lives amid the noise and crowd, being a World to themselves, and by mutual Conversation great examples and incentives to Piety and virtue. With these our great man spent his time, reconciling in his own practise both the Solitary and the Coenobitick Life, showing that the Episcopal Order could Philosophize, and that Philosophy itself needed Episcopal Direction; both the contemplative and the active Life met in him, and he convinced the World, that a monastic Life consisted more in Gravity and Constancy of Manners, than in an absolute Separation from the World. And indeed with so great Reverence and Veneration did they entertain him, that whatever he commanded or disliked, was received by them as a Law; and when afterwards he was hunted as a Partridge upon the Mountains, they not only refused to tell the Messengers where he was, but so much as to speak to them, exposing their Necks to drawn Swords for his sake, and accounting it a more sublime and heroic Action to suffer for him, than to refine themselves by long fasting and abstinence, and other Religious Austerities, which yet they accounted the Pleasure as well as Duty of that place. To gratify the desires of these devout Companions, and to do right to Truth, he wrote that large Epistle {αβγδ}, To the Solitary Asceticks that every where lead a monastic Life, wherein he gives them an account of his own and the Churches Calamities, of the malicious Arts, and bloody Practices of the Arians, and what he and his Friends and Followers had suffered for the catholic Cause, especially since the time of the Sardican Council. He sent 
Theod. l. 2. c. 14. p. 90.  also Consolatory Letters to the holy Virgins, to administer proper encouragements to them to undergo the Sufferings that came upon them for their Constancy to the Truth; but these are lost. And because his Adversaries heavily charged upon him his retirement, as an evidence of his Guilt, and the badness of his Cause, he wrote an Apology for his Flight, wherein he shows what cause they had given him so to do, and that his withdrawing was warranted by the Will of God, the reason of things, and the Examples of wise and good men in all Ages. This he backed with an Apology to the Emperor, wherein he very particularly answers at large to all the material Crimes that had been charged upon him, assuring his Majesty that he was most ready and desirous personally to have done it in his presence, and had begun his Journey, when the evil Tidings, that like Job's Messengers came flocking in, one still worse than another, made him retreat, and look upon the attempt as desperate. Some time after he wrote a Second Apology for himself, wherein he justifies his Innocency from the public Attestations and Decrees of several Synods that had been purposely held to that end in Egypt, at Rome, at Sardica, at Jerusalem, and by the Testimony both of the Emperor Constans, and Constantius, all which he demonstrates out of public Records, and the Epistles themselves, which he there inserts.  
IX. BUT the most unspotted Innocency is not shield enough against the Assaults of Envy, nor can Rocks and Mountains afford a Refuge and Protection, where Cruelty is inspired by an active Malice. While Athanasius thus happily employed his vacant and retired hours, his Enemies, encouraged by the Severity of the Emperor( who had set a price 
Rufin. H. E. l. 1. c. 18. p. 233. Theod. ubi supr.  upon his Head, and commanded him to be brought either alive or dead) diligently ransacked every place, and searched the very corners of the Wilderness, threatening the Monks with the utmost Cruelty, if they did not discover him. This forced him to shift his Quarters, and to retire to a more private and disconsolate 
Vid. Epist. ejus ad Lucif. Calar. inter Lucif. op.  place, where he had scarce Air to breath in, and where none came at him, but only one Person, who brought him Necessaries, and conveyed Letters to him. And well might it be a close place, were it true what Rufinus 
Loco citat.  reports, that for six years together he lay hide in a dry Well, where he never saw the Sun, and when at length betrayed by a Maid, who alone was privy to his concealment, the Officers came to search for him, he upon a warning from God, had removed that very night, which so provoked the Officers, that they punished the Maid, as one that had abused them with a false Report. Nay we are  told 
Pallad. Hist. Lausiac. c. 135. in Biblioth. Pp. gr. l. Tom. 2. p. 1039. Sozom. l. 5. c. 6. p. 602. , that upon the danger of his being apprehended in the Church at Alexandria, not knowing whither to retire( it not being safe for him to go to any of his Friends or Relations) he fled privately to the House of a young Virgin, then not above twenty years of Age, a Person of such incomparable Beauty, that good men were afraid to behold her, and of a Temper no less adorned with divine Graces and virtues: He  told her his Circumstances, and that by an Intimation from Heaven, he had been admonished to come thither, as the only safe and unsuspected place. She bad him welcome, performing her self the meanest Offices to him, and there he remained unknown to any for six years together, till the Death of Constantius let him out; when to the astonishment of all, he was unexpectedly found sitting in the Church. These Passages I have related, not that I give any credit to them, or advice the Reader to believe them, but because delivered by Writers, who themselves lived in, or near those times, nay Palladius Bishop of Helenopolis( the first Reporter that I find of the Story) assures us, that he was acquainted with this very Virgin, then seventy years of Age, when he was at Alexandria, and that the whole Clergy of the Church attested the Truth of her Relation. Baronius thinks 'twas first framed by the Arians, to reflect disgrace upon Athanasius, and thence taken up by some unwary catholics. Whether so or no, I cannot tell. Sure I am, were there nothing else to shake the Credit of the Story, this alone were enough, that not only Nazianzen, but Athanasius himself expressly assures us, that all that time he sojourned in the Desert. Perhaps thus much of it might be true; and that give Birth to all the rest, that Athanasius affrighted with the great bustle and danger in the Church, and not knowing where to retreat for safety, might for the present take Sanctuary in the House of this Virgin, and thence immediately escape into the Wilderness. I cannot but here remark what Dorotheus Arch-bishop of Monembasia( who wrote a Synopsis of History in Modern Greek) relates 
{αβγδ}. p. {αβγδ}. , that Constantius in the XVth. year of his Reign banished the great Athanasius {αβγδ}, that is according to the Phrase of his time, into England, and that one Foelix was ordained in his room. Where besides the Error in Point of Chronology, two great mistakes are crowded into a few words. First, that Faelix was ordained to be his Successor, no such being ever Bishop of Alexandria: Secondly, that he was banished into England, a thing never mentioned by any but himself. I conceive him rather by a slip of memory, to have put Athanasius instead of Liberius, upon whose Banishment( not into England, but Thrace as we have seen before) Faelix was thrust into the See of Rome. As for Athanasius, he sheltered himself at this present in the Egyptian Deserts. Where we leave him for a time to his Devotions and Studies, while we step out into the World to see how his Cause fared abroad.   

SECT. XI. The State of the Athanasian Cause from the Council at Sirmium, till the Synod at Seleucia.  
A Synod called at Sirmium, and a Confession of Faith drawn up. Subscriptions procured to it. An attempt upon Hosius Bishop of Corduba. Hosius who. The Honours done him by Constantine the Great. His great Authority amongst the catholics. Constantius his Letters to him to solicit his subscribing the Condemnation of Athanasius. His bold and impartial Answer, and Banishment. threatened and tortured into a subscribing the Sirmian Confession. His releasement and return into Spain; the Report of his violent Proceedings against all that refused Communion with him, founded upon what Authority. His Age, Death, and Character. The various Divisions and misapprehensions of the Arian Tribe, and the chief heads of the several Parties. Another Synodal Assembly at Sirmium. A second Confession agreed upon, and drawn up with the Date of the Consuls. Athanasius his witty Remarks upon it. Constantius solicited in behalf of Liberius his release. Liberius persuaded and prevailed with to sign the last Sirmian Confession. His Letter to the Eastern Bishops, testifying his consent and compliance with them. S. Hilary's sharp Reflections upon that Letter. Several other Letters written by him to the same purpose. His return to Rome, re-possession of his See, and death. The Emperor's design of convening a more general Council. Several places pitched upon for that Assembly. A Resolution to have two Synods at the same time, one in the East, and another in the West, and why. A Council summoned at Ariminum for the West. The number of Bishops meeting there. The Poverty of the british Bishops. The late Sirmian Confession rejected by the catholics, who urge the Condemnation of Arianism. The Nicene Faith confirmed, and all opposite Doctrines censured and thrown out. Ursacius, Valens, &c. deposed. An account of their Synodal Transactions transmitted to the Emperor. The could entertainment of their Legates. The Legates circumvented into a compliance by some about the Emperor, but denied Communion at their return. The Fathers at Ariminum hardly used, and wearied out, to force them to a compliance. Valens his notorious shuffling, when pressed home by the Synod. The Council imposed upon by ambiguous Terms, and plausible Pretences. The Bishops afterwards severally repent, and retract their Subscriptions.  
I. CONSTANTIUS the Emperor departing from Rome( where he had lately been to celebrate a magnificent Triumph for his Victory over Magnentius) lay at this time at Sirmium, Ann. CCCLVII. where the Arian Bishops that were about the Court taking advantage of the Emperor's presence, convene a Synodal Assembly, and study to smooth over things with fair pretences; that they were desirous to remove those things that might give offence on either side, and show how much they were inclined t● Peace. And to this end they framed a new Confession 
Ext. ap. Ath. de Synod. p. 695 Hilar. de Synod col. 323. Socr. l. 2. c. 30 p. 124 , wherein having premised, that though they aclowledge one God the Father Almighty, and one only Son begotten of his Father before all Worlds, yet they did not allow two Gods; they amongst other things declare, that because some were offended with the Word {αβγδ} or Substance, therefore that neither of these Terms {αβγδ} ( Consubstantial) nor {αβγδ} ( of like substance) should be used in common discourse, or be treated of in the Church, both because the Terms were unscriptural, and the things themselves above any human Comprehension; that there could be no doubt, but that the Father was greater both in Honour, Dignity, Brightness, Majesty, and in the very title of Father, the Son himself testifying, the Father that sent me, is greater than I; that no man could be ignorant that this was catholic Doctrine, that there are two Persons, one of the Father, and another of the Son; that the Father was the greater, the Son Subject, together with all things which the Father had put under him; that the Father was without beginning, invisible, immortal, impassable, the Son born of the Father, God of God, Light of Light, whose Generation none but the Father could understand; and that the number of the Trinity was entire and perfect. This was the sum of their Declaration, whereto they designed to gain the Subscriptions of some of the most eminent of the catholic Party; and first they set upon Hosius, a man of renown, whom they partly insnar'd, and partly compelled into a compliance with them.  
II. THIS venerable Prelate was Bishop of Corduba in Spain, in which capacity he appeared, and subscribed in the eleventh place in the Illiberin Council, held about the year CCCV. He had been a noble Confessor even under the Heathen Persecutions, a Person of singular account, and who had for many years been employed in the most important Affairs and Transactions of the Church. He was peculiarly dear to Constantine the Great, who committed to his care the adjusting the Difference between Caecilian and Donatus of Carthage in the Synod of Arles, Ann. CCCXIV. and sent him afterwards to Alexandria to compose the growing Differences between Alexander and Arius; present soon after in the Council of Nice, where he bore a prime stroke, and had a chief hand in drawing up the Creed; called also to that of Sardica, where he was President of the Council, and stoutly defended the Athanasian Cause. Indeed a man of that great Reverence and Authority, that he was at every turn styled Father Hosius, counted and called the Father of Bishops. The Arians knew well of what importance it would be to them, to have so considerable a Person brought over to their Party, or at least sent out of the way, and therefore addressing themselves to Constantius, represented 
Ath. ad Solit. p. 648.  to him, that they had taken all courses that they could for the support and advancement of their Cause, that they had banished Liberius, and many other Bishops before him, and had filled all places with Terror and Violence, but that all this turned to no account, so long as Hosius was left in the way, that so long as he stood his ground, all others in a manner possessed their Churches, being a Person of that eminent Ability and Authority, that he alone was able to arm the whole World against them; that 'twas he that steered Synods, and whose Letters were received every where with an uncontrollable Veneration, that 'twas he that bad composed the Nicene Faith, and every where proclaimed the Arians to be heretics; that therefore his Majesty should do well to set upon him also, without any regard to his Gray Hairs, a nicety which their Cause did not stick at. The Emperor easily persuaded by their Insinuations, sent for him, and as he had before done to Liberius, sought by fair and plausible Councils and Arguments to persuade him to subscribe, and join with the Arians. The good old man was infinitely surprised, and troubled to hear the least motion made that way, for which he checked the Emperor, and at length prevailed with him to desist, who accordingly gave him leave to return back into his own Country. But his Enemies did not leave him so, but again solicited the Emperor, and by help of their Friends the Eunuchs at Court, so exasperated his mind, that he wrote him a sharp Letter full of Menaces and Reproaches, which yet wrought as little upon him, as Promises and persuasives had done before. This Letter was followed by several others, the Emperor sometimes insinuating, and gently treating him as a Father, sometimes threatening, and laying before him those that had been banished, letting him know how ill he took it, that he only should stand out. To which Hosius return'd an Answer 
Tixt. Epist. ib. p. 649.  to this effect, that he had been a Confessor under the Maximian Persecution, and was ready to be so again, rather than to betray the Truth; that he might harken to him that was old enough to be his Grand-father; that he had been present at, and privy to all the Transactions of the Sardican Council, where he had seen Athanasius openly challenge his Adversaries, who retired with shane; that like his Brother Constans, he should lay aside force and terror, and suffer things to come to a fair and impartial Trial; that he should remember that he himself was Mortal, and ought to live under the aweful sense of a judgement to come, and reserve himself undefiled against that day, and not thrust himself upon the Determination of ecclesiastic Matters; that for the Case in hand, his Resolution was this, that he would not join with the Arians, but would condemn their heresy; nor would he subscribe against Athanasius, whom he and the Church of Rome, and a whole Synod had pronounced Innocent, and to which his Majesty himself had assented, having thereupon honourably remitted him to his own See: concluding thus, Stop, I beseech you, Sir, and be persuaded by me, for these are things which both become me to writ, and you not to despise.  
III. THIS resolute Letter did but the more provoke the Party, who  told the Emperor, that Hosius reflected upon him as a Persecutor, and was so far from complying with his Majesties desires, that for Athanasius's sake he condemned the Arians, and persuaded others to suffer death, rather than betray the Truth, and that great numbers in Spain were of his mind. Amongst these Accusers Potamius 
Faustin. Lib. prec. p. 13. Edit. Oxon.  Bishop of Odyssipona in Spain was not the least, who bribed with a rich Farm, having heretofore become an Apostate from the catholic Party, owed Hosius an old Grudge for discovering his villainy, and reproaching him for an heretic, and therefore took this opportunity to pay him home. Hereupon he again sent for him, and confined him to Sirmium as the place of his Banishment, where he remained a whole year, till Constantius at this time return'd thither, who caused him to be cited into the Synod 
Ath. ib. p. 651. Faust. ib. p. 14, Socr. l. 2. c. 31. p. 126. Soz. l. 4. c. 6. p. 542, 543& c. 12. p. 554. Philost. l. 4. c. 3. p. 493. , where the Confession was offered him to subscribe, which he rejected at first, but being threatened, and severely handled, beaten and racked, and not so well able to hold out by reason of his great Age( at this time an hundred years old) and a little too tender of his dying carcase( nimium Sepulchri sui amans, as S. Hilary 
De Synod. col. 360.  has it) and as some say, being Rich, and loth to be sent further into Banishment, he yielded at last, and subscribed the Confession, which, might we believe the Title put to it by S. Hilary, was drawn up by him: Philostorgius adds, that he subscribed not only against the {αβγδ}, but against Athanasius; but Athanasius 
Ubi supr.& Apol. II. p. 625,  himself,( who certainly best knew) assures us to the contrary, that though he communicated with the Arians, yet he did not subscribe against him. A great instance it was of human frailty, and how far a good man, after so many years resolute Profession, after so many noble and undaunted Conflicts both against Heathens and heretics, may fall, when God leaves him to himself; which yet is the less to be wondered at in so feeble and decrepit an Age, and under so much Force and Cruelty. And probable it is, he might hope by this condescension, to mollify the stubbornness of the Arian Faction, who could at no rate endure the word {αβγδ}, especially since it was no where to be found in Scripture. Being thus released, and set right by the Synodal Letters, and especially furnished with a Warrant from the Emperor, that all Bishops that refused Communion with him, should be banished, he return'd into Spain, where, say my Authors 
Faust.& marcel. Libel. prec. ubi supr. p. 14, &c. , he first fell foul upon Gregory Bishop of Illiberis, who opposed him, whom by virtue of his Warrant he caused Clementinus( who at that time as the Emperor's Vicar governed Spain) to bring before him. Great Disputing there was between them, which Hosius perceiving would not put the Matter to an Issue, called to the Governor to execute his Warrant, and to banish him. Clementinus replied, he could not do it, till first he was deposed from his bishopric, and reduced to a private Station. Which when Hosius was resolved to do, Gregory appealed to Heaven, O Christ,( said he) thou that art God, and who art coming to judge the quick and the dead, suffer not the Sentence of man to be this day pronounced against thy Servant, who for thy sake am, as a Criminal, made a Spectacle to the World; but judge now thyself, I beseech thee, in thine own Cause, and vouchsafe by some instance of Vengeance to determine the Case. Which I request, not that I am afraid of Banishment, any punishment for thy names sake being acceptable and easy to me; but that others seeing the immediate Interposals of thy Vengeance, may be delivered from that Error and Prevarication, whereinto they are ensnared. This said, Hosius just as he was going to pronounce Sentence, was strike in a Moment, his Mouth distorted, his Neck drawn awry, and falling back from the Bench to the Ground, died. An Accident that struCk a strong Terror and Astonishment into all the Beholders, and even into Clementinus himself though an Heathen governor. This unfortunate Story I am not very willing to believe, though I must needs aclowledge it is related by Marcellinus and Faustinus, two Presbyters in their Supplication to the Emperor Theodosius, who lived at that time, and wrote this within less than thirty years after the thing was done, and for the truth of it, appeal to all Spain, as a thing notoriously known. 'tis true they have hard words given many them upon this account, and I am so far willing to grant, that their being of the Luciferian Separation( who abominated all those that had but once communicated with the Arians, though they return'd to the bosom of the Church, for 'tis an unpardonable mistake in them 
Rivar. Comm●nt. in Dextr. Chron. ad Ann. 360. p. 388.  that make Marcellinus to have been an Arian) might render them less Impartial, and apt to make the worst of things. Certain I am, Athanasius 
Ad Solit. p. 651.  expressly affirms, that Hosius upon his Death-bed solemnly professed the force that had been used towards him, anathematized the Arian heresy, and gave charge that none should embrace or entertain it. He departed this Life, as may probably be conjectured, Ann. CCCLXI. a little before the death of Constantius, after he had been above sixty years Bishop of that See. I conclude his Story with a double Character and Encomium, the one given him by all the Fathers 
Epist. Syn. ap. Ath. Apol. II. p. 592.  of the Sardican Council, who style him The good Old Hosius, one who for his Age, Confession, and the infinite troubles he had undergone in the Service of the Church, was worthy of all Honour and Veneration: The other by Athanasius, He was,( says he 
Apol. ad Const. p. 547. ) the great, the most illustrious Confessor, truly Osius, i. e. Holy, what Council did he not preside in, and who yielded not to his orthodox Discourses? What Churches have not admirable Monuments of his Care and Patronage? Who ever came sad to him, that went not cheerful from him? Who ever begged any thing of him, which he did not easily obtain from him? All these Passages we have here laid together, that we might present the account of this great man entire. Which done, we now return.  

{αβγδ}. Cyril. Catech. VI. p. 134.  IV. ERROR is not farther distant from Truth, than 'tis multifarious and inconstant in its own nature, and apt to divide and separate from itself. The Arians all agreed in the main Point, in opposing the catholic Doctrine concerning the Son of God, but fell out amongst themselves, and each Class divided and sub-divided from one another. One sort would not allow him to be of the same, but only of a like nature and substance with the Father; a second affirmed him to be in all things like to the Father, but withall denied the holy Ghost to have any Communication of Nature and Essence either with the Father or the Son. Which was the Opinion of the Macedonians. Another decried the {αβγδ}, but yet affirmed that he was not a Creature, as one of the Creatures: and this way went Acacius Bishop of Caesarea and his Party. A fourth were for neither, but expressly asserted him to be {αβγδ}( thence called Anomaeans) altogether unequal to and unlike his Father. And this was started by Aetius, made Deacon by George of Alexandria, says Epiphanius, by Leontius of Antioch say most others( and perhaps both truly, for being first ordained Deacon by Leontius, and after for his misdemeanours deposed, he might be again advanced to that degree by the other) and in that capacity serving at this time in the Church of Antioch, where he met with an opportunity to publish and propagate his Notions. For about the time of the Sirmian Convention, eudoxus 
Soz. l. 4. c. 2. p. 553, &c.  having usurped the See of Antioch, espoused the Cause of Aetius, who for his troublesome and contentious Temper had been rejected by his own Party, especially by Leontius the former Bishop. eudoxus having got Possession, convened a Synod at Antioch, where he expressly condemned both the Homoousian, and the Homoiousian Terms,( as they had lately been in the Conventicle at Sirmium) and wrote to Valens, Ursacius and Germinus, the chief Heads of the Party in that Synod, to give them thanks for bringing over the Western Bishops to their side. But a Party in his own Church( whom he had thrown out) made Head against him, and having procured the Recommendatory Letters of George Bishop of Laodicea, went to Ancyra in Galatia, where Basilius the Bishop had at that time assembled many of the Neighbour-Prelates to the Dedication of a Church which he had lately built. Who being satisfied with the Letter, and the account they gave of his Actings, and the Confession he had published in the Synod at Antioch, appointed Basilius and some others to wait upon the Emperor, and acquaint him with the Case, and to request of him, that all the Synodal Determinations might take place, that had defined the Son to be {αβγδ}, of l ke substance with the Father. The Emperor hereupon revoked the Letter which he had just then given to Asphalius, eudoxus his Legate, and sent a smart Epistle 
Ext. ap. Soz. ib. c. 14. p. 555.  to the Church of Antioch, to let them know, that he had never sent eudoxus to be their Bishop, nor would ever favour such, that he was resolved to crush Aetius and his Followers, and that they should thrust them out of all public Assemblies, and that they had no other way to save themselves, but by recovering themselves out of the snare of the Devil, and by consenting to those Determinations which the wise and holy Bishops had regularly agreed upon. And by this means the Anomaean heresy was stopped for the present.  
V. IT was the year CCCLVIII. and the Court was still at Sirmium, where the Eastern legates 
Soz. ib. c. 19. p. 557. vid. c. 13.& Vales. Annot. p. 125. conser. Philost. l. 1. c. 8.  together with the rest of the Bishops that were about the Court, held a Synodal Convention, wherein pretending that some went about to establish their own Errors, under pretence of the word Consubstantial, they passed and ratified a new Confession, made up of a former Sirmian Confession against Photinus 
Ext. supra Sect. 8. Num. 11 , and the old Dedication-Creed at Antioch blended together, and which 'tis like was the same with that which Basilius and his Synod had framed some few months before at Ancyra against eudoxus and his Party. But nothing rendered this Confession so famous, as that in all probability it was that, which was subscribed by Pope Liberius; it being evident beyond all dispute( both from the Earthquake at Nicomedia, the date of Faelix and Liberius's death, and other Circumstances) that it was this year, viz. An. CCCLVIII. that Liberius subscribed at Sirmium, and was released from Banishment. He had been now almost three years in Exile, and plain it is, from the Note written with his own Hand at the end of his Letter 
Ext. ap. Hilar. in fragm. col. 428.  to Vincentius, that he was hearty weary of his Exile, and that his desire to return, had a considerable influence upon his subscribing. And as for Constantius, he was pretty well disposed towards it. At his last being at Rome 
Theod. l. 2. c. 17. p. 95. , the noble and great Ladies had desired their Husbands to Petition the Emperor for his Restitution, threatening, that unless this was done, they would leave them, and go to their Bishop. But the men apprehending the danger of the attempt, put the Women upon it, as who might safeliest undertake it. And they accordingly, with great Pomp and Gallantry made their Address, and presented their Petition, to which the Emperor answered, that the City was already well provided for, Faelix, who succeeded Liberius, being a moderate man, who adhered to the Nicene Faith, and yet did not superciliously exclude others from Communion. However he gave them no denial, intending to compromise the business between the two Bishops. And being now at Sirmium, and a plausible Confession, as he thought, agreed on, he resolved to sand for Liberius 
Soz. l. 4. c. 15. p 557. , and that at a time when the Legates both of the Eastern and Western Bishops were at Court, the Prelates of the East earnestly exciting the Emperor to make him subscribe the Homoiousian Creed. It seems at first he stood off, till threatenings 
Ath. ad S●lit. p. 647. vid Soz. loco cit. C.  and force were used, and then he came over and subscribed, Sozomen expressly telling us, that 'twas part of the Confession he was forced to, that the Son is not Con-substantial, but that in substance and in all things he is like to his Father; and that eudoxus and the Aetians gave it out at Antioch, that he had likewise condemned the {αβγδ}, and declared the Son to be unlike the Father. Which they did to give life to, and to keep up the Reputation of their sinking Cause. But preparatory hereunto, and before his coming to Court, he had been dealt with by Demophilus and Fortunatian,( sent to him no doubt by the Emperor's Order) who plied him so successfully, that he gave his consent, and began now more freely to declare himself, and first he wrote a 
Ext. ap. Hilar. ib. col. 426.  Letter to the Eastern Bishops, which together with S. Hilary's Censures( thrown into the Margin) we here insert.  
To my dear Brethren, the Presbyters and Bishops of the East, Liberius greeting.  

Pro d●ifi●o timore s●●ila sides v●s●●a, &c.  HAving had the fear of God before your eyes in your Proceedings, your holy Faith is known both to God and good men, according as the Law speaks, Judge righteously O ye Sons of men. For my part I did not defend Athanasius, but forasmuch as my Predecessor Julius of happy Memory had entertained him, I was afraid lest anyone should judge me to prevaricate. But as soon as I understood, what it had pleased God should come to pass, that you had justly condemned him, I immediately gave my assent to your Determinations, and wrote Letters concerning him 
〈◇〉 His Condemnation. H●●●r. , which I gave to our Brother Fortunatian to be carried to the Emperor Constantius. Athanasius therefore being shut out of Communion with all of us, from whom I intend not to receive any Letters, I declare, that I have Peace and Unanimity with you all, and with all the Bishops in the East, or in any other Provinces. And that you may be the better satisfied that it is the true Belief which I declare by this Epistle, our common Brother Demophilus has been pleased, according to his wonted kindness, to open to me the true and catholic Faith, treated of, expounded, and received by all our Brethren and fellow-Bishops, that were present at Sirmium 
This is the perfections false Arian Faith. This is my Note, not the Apostates. Hilar. . This Faith I freely and willingly receive without any contradiction 
I denounce an Anath●ma to thee, Liberius, and to thy Fellows. Hilar. , to this I have yielded my consent, this I follow, this I maintain 
Again and a third time an Anathema to thee, thou Prevaricator Liberius. Hilar. . And now I have thought good to beseech your Holiness, that forasmuch as you see that I am in all things of the same mind with you, you would vouchsafe by common advice and study to promote my being released from Banishment, and that I may return to the See, which Heaven has committed to me.  
Next he 
Ext. ubi sapr.  wrote particularly to Ursacius, Valens, and Germinius, whose Interest he knew swayed much at Court, to the same purpose, declaring his Detestation of Athanasius, that he held Communion with them, with Epictetus and Auxentius, and others, entreating them to improve their Interest for his Restitution, concluding, that whatever dissented from this Peace and Concord, should be cut off from his Communion. Which S. Hilary seals up, with an Anathema from me to the Prevaricator of the Arians. He wrote 
Ex●. loc. cit.  likewise to Vincentius Bishop of Capua, to let him know that he had deserted the Athanasian Cause, and was gone over to the Orientalists, and that Peace being now restored to him, he desired him to assemble the Bishops of Campania, and to acquaint them with these Matters, and that they would dispatch some of their number with a Letter to the Emperor, that he being satisfied in the Peace and Unity between them, he might be delivered out of that uncomfortable condition wherein he was; adding this Note at the bottom, I have Peace with all the Eastern Bishops, and with you, I have acquitted myself to God, look ye to it, if you have mind I should end my days in Banishment. The Lord judge between me and you.  
VI. ABUNDANT satisfaction being thus given, he came to Sirmium, and upon his Subscription was received, released and restored, the Bishops writing 
Soz. l. 4. c. 15. p. 558.  to Faelix Bishop of Rome, and to the Clergy there, that they should receive Liberius, and that both should quietly sit in the apostolic Throne, and all things done in Liberius's absence be butted in Oblivion. Herewith Liberius return'd to Rome, which he entred in a kind of Triumph, and though Baronius 
Ad Ann. 357. Num. LVII.  out of the Pontifical Book tells us, that at his return, the People of Rome rejected him for his Arian compliance, and shunned Communion with him, and that a very severe Persecution was thereupon raised in the City, yet others 
marcel.& F●ust. Praefat. ad Libel. prec. vid. Hieron. Chron. ad Ann. Chr. CCCL.  who lived in those Times, tell us another Story, that at his return the People of Rome went out to meet him with great joy, and when( as Theodorit 
Lib. 2. c. 17. p. 96.  informs us) the Emperor's Letters were red in the Circus, commanding that he and Faelix should jointly carry on the Affairs of that Church, and the two different Factions of the Circus required, that one might have one Bishop, and another the other, the People unanimously cried out, one God, one Christ, one Bishop. My Authors add, that Faelix either by the Senate or People was driven out of the City, and a little after at the Instigation of some perjured Clergy-man( who had sided with him contrary to their Oath given at Liberius's departure, that they would admit no Bishop in his room) return'd, and kept public Meetings in Julius's Church beyond Tiber, whom the Nobility and People did immediately cast out again with infinite disgrace; that Faelix survived Liberius his return eight years, dying November XXIId Ann. CCCLXV. After whose Death Liberius absolved the perjured and schismatical Clergy, who restored them to their proper Offices, and the next year ended his own Life September the XXIVth. Ann. CCCLXVI. Though before his Death we may hope he saw his Error, and return'd to a better Mind, which seems more than probable from the account of his Faith in these important Articles, which he sent to Athanasius, yet extant in Athanasius his Works 
T●m. 1. p. 396. , if at least as Baronius will have it,( for which yet he offers no convincing Argument) that Profession was made after Liberius his apostasy to the Arian Party.  
VII. HOW infinitely mutable and inconstant is Error! The Emperor by turns continuing still at Sirmium, the next year Ann. CCCLIX. the Bishops were again convened, where they agreed upon a new Form or Confession of Faith, drawn up by Marc, Bishop of Arethusa, and by him dictated no doubt in Greek, though Socrates says 'twas translated out of Latin. It ran thus 
Ext. ap. Ath. d. S●no● p. 674 Socr l. 2. c. 37. p 132. .  

The catholic Faith expounded and published in the presence of our Lord, the most Religious and Incomparable Emperor Constantius, the August, Eternal, at Sirmium, May the XXIId. the most excellent Flavius Eusebius, and Hypatius being Consuls.  
WE believe in one only and true God, the Father Almighty, Maker and Creator of all things, and in the one only Begotten Son God, begotten of God impassibly before all Ages, and before all beginning, before all time that can be imagined, and before any comprehensible Conception; by whom the Worlds were framed, and all things made; the only begotten, begotten alone of the Father alone, God of God, like to the Father that begot him, according to the Scriptures; whose Generation none knows, but the Father only that begot him. This we know to be the only begotten Son of God, who by his Fathers appointment came down from Heaven for the Destruction of sin, was born of the Virgin Mary, and conversed with his Disciples, and having accomplished his whole economy according to his Father's Will, was crucified, and di●d, and descended into Hell, where he finished what yet remain d, and where the Keepers of that place trembled at his presence. He al●o rose again the third day, and conversed with his Followers, and having spent forty dayes, was taken up into Heaven, and sits at the right hand of the Father, and shall come again at the last day, in the glory of the Father, to render to every one according to his works. And in the holy Ghost, whom Jesus Christ the only begotten Son of God, promised to sand as a Comforter to Mankind. As it is written, I go to my Father, and I will pray the Father, and he shall sand you another Comforter, even the Spirit of Truth; he shall take of mine, and shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance. But as for the word Substance, it having been used by the Fathers in a more simplo and harmless sense, and not being understood by the People, and since it is that whereat many take offence, as not being found in Scripture, we have therefore thought good that it should be quiter laid aside, and that henceforth when any discourse is concerning God, no mention should be made of it, the holy Scripture never making mention of the Substance of the Father and the Son. As to the Son, we affirm him to be in all things like unto the Father, according as the Sacred Scriptures do assert and teach.   
To this Confession of Faith they add, we see in the Inscription,( what was never before heard of in the Church of God) the Imperial Titles, and the date of the Consuls, and the day of the Month. A tacit acknowledgement to all wise and understanding men( as Athanasius 
Loco citat. p. 671.  wittily retorts upon them) that their Faith was none of the Ancients, and took its date only from the Reign of Constantius. And whereas( says he) they pretended to writ concerning our Lord, instead of him, they adopted another Lord, to wit, Constantius; and they who refused to own the Son of God to be Eternal, yet made no scruple to give that Title to the Emperor. As for the body of the Creed, they peremptorily declare( what in some of their late Confessions they had damned and rejected) that the Son is in all things like unto the Father, and that this was the plain and currant Doctrine of the Gospel.  
VIII. THE Troubles of the Church still increasing, notwithstanding all the Methods that had been used to alloy them, the Emperor( who it seems was newly removed to Singidunum, a Town in Mysia) was forced to think of composing things by a more general Council, and as Philostorgius 
Lib. 4. c. 10 p. 495.  tells us, by the advice of Patrophilus Bishop of Scythopolis, and Narcissus of Irenopolis, who were come to Court to make complaint against Basil of Ancyra, it was resolved that a Synod should be holden at Nicomedia 
Soz. l. 4. c. 16. p. 558. . But a terrible Earthquake( wherein amongst others Cecropius Bishop of that place perished) having there shattered all in pieces; the Bishops who were upon their Journey were commanded to stop and go no farther, till the Emperor having advised with Basil, appointed Nice to be the place. A City the rather pitched on( as Theodorit 
Lib. 2. c. 26. p. 109.  will have it) that they might take advan●age of the name, and that their Assembly might be styled the Council of Nice, whereby it would be no hard matter to impose upon simplo and unwary minds, as if theirs were the true Nicene Faith. But the Earth-quake having reached hither also, and left behind it sad Monuments of its Rage and Violence, spoiled that Design: Whereupon the Emperor changed his mind, and wrote to Basil, to consult with the Eastern Bishops, what place was most fit for the Synod to meet at. But they not agreeing, Basil himself went to the Court at Sirmium, where he met with Mark of Arethusa, and George Bishop of Alexandria. The next place thought on was Tarsus a City of Cilicia( S. Paul's Birth-place) but neither did this give Satisfaction. At last a new Project is resolved on, that the Council should be divided, and that at the same time a Synod should be holden for the West at Ariminum a City of Aemilia in Italy, and another at Seleucia a City of Isauria, called the Sharp, for the East. The Emperor hoping, that as by this means the Journeys being shortened, the Bishops would be more willing to come, so Councils being divided, they would the easilier agree, and those Heats and Feuds be prevented, which were otherwise likely to arise between such contending Parties, and in so great a mixture of such d●fferent Nations. Letters of Summons were forthwith given out, with command to the Prelates of each Council, that they should first handle and agree Matters of Faith, and then proceed to discuss the Causes of the Bishops that should come before them, which being ended, they should sand ten of each Party to Court, to give the Emperor an account of what was done.  
IX. At Ariminum there met above CCCC 
Soz. l. 4 c. 17. p. 563. Sulp. Sev. l. 2. p. 156. , nay if we may believe the partial Account of Hunnericus King of the Vandals, in his Edict 
Ap. Vict. Vit. de whereout. Afric. l. 4. p. 50.  against the catholic Bishops of afric, above a thousand Prelates. 'tis certain they were a great number, being convocated ex omni orb Romano,( as the Edict 
C. Th. lib. 16. Tit. 1. l. 4.  of the younger Valentinian informs us) from all parts of the Roman Empire, though not many of the Eastern Bishops were there, the main body of the Council consisted of Western Prelates, Taurus the Governor having dispatched Officers with particular Summons into all the Provinces of the West, and was commanded not to suffer them to depart home, till they had agreed in one uniform Confession of Faith, with promise, that if he brought it about, he should be honoured with a Consulship for his pains. He had Orders also to allow the Bishops Provisions of Meat and Wine at the Emperor's Charge. Which was refused by them of Aquitaine, gall, and Britain, who choose rather to live at their own charge. Three only of our British Bishops, who were poorer than the rest, accepted of the public Allowance, refusing the maintenance which their Fellow-Bishops offered them, accounting it more reasonable to burden the Exchequer, than private and particular Persons. Which though some quarreled at, yet the Historian 
S. Sever. loc. cit.  honestly makes their Defence, that it was a sign of ancient virtue and Piety, for Bishops to be found so Poor, and that it was much better to be beholden to the Exchequer, where they would not be burdensome to any. Being met, they could not at first agree to sit together, the catholics assembling in the Church, the Arians( who were not above LXXX.) in a chapel or Oratory, though, probable it is, they soon joined, at least held Correspondence with each other. At their coming together, the Arians declined 
Socr. l. 2 c. 37. 132. Soz. ubi supr. Ath. de Synod. p. 674, &c.  all meddling with the Case of Athanasius, and so they proceeded to discuss Matters of Faith. And when several things were propounded and debated, Ursacius and Valens backed by the rest of the Arian Party, stood up and made a Motion, that since the Minds of men were greatly distracted with Diversities of Creeds, all Forms hitherto published might be abolished, and that the Confession that had been drawn up in the late Synod at Sirmium, might be received and settled as the common and universal Standard, that the Emperor had approved it, and that the Council could not but accept it, that curious inquiries about these Matters begot Disputes, and they Feuds and Quarrels, and that it was better to have right Notions of God, though we arrived at them by more unskilful ways of reasoning, than introduce novel Expressions, of near affinity with mere Subtleties of logic; that the Term, Consubstantial, was to many obscure, and wholly a Stranger to Scripture, and that it was far better, in the room of it, to say with the holy Scriptures, that the Son is in all things like his Father. This said, they caused the Confession( which they held in their hands) to be red before the Council, which the catholics had no sooner heard, but they cried out, We came not hither because we wanted a Form of Faith, we have one which we have received from our Ancestors, and which we preserve entire. If you have composed this, as now only beginning to believe, you are not yet within the holy Order, not having yet learned the Rudiments of your Faith; but if these things have nothing novel in them, then openly anathematize Arianism, as it has been the ancient Rule and way of the Church, to reject other Heresies as Impious; for that this blasphemous Doctrine of Arius has done nothing but raise Seditions and Confusions, from its first Commencement to this day, is too manifest to the World. If therefore ye be come with the same Minds that we are, let us unanimously agree, let us condemn and accurse Heresies, and adhere to the Constitutions of our Fore-Fathers, that so we may cut off all occasions of future Synods upon this account, the Fathers of Nice having done all that is necessary in this Case for the catholic Faith.  
X. BEFORE they had proceeded any further, a Letter 
Ext. ap. Hilar. in frag. col. 457  came to them from the Emperor, commanding to define nothing concerning the Eastern Bishops, who were assembled elsewhere, and that if they did, it should signify nothing, for that he would not suffer it to take place. This Order they complied with, till perceiving the Falsehood and Treachery of the other Party in their Conventions, they found it necessary to confirm the Nicene Creed, which they did, by publishing a definitive Sentence 
Ext. at. Hilar. ib. , which they all subscribed, wherein they professed that they ought not to recede from the Nicene Faith( which contained the ancient Faith dictated by God to the Prophets and Apostles, and from them successively handed down by the Fathers) to which nothing should be added, from which nothing should be diminished, and the word Substance, both as to name and thing should remain unshaken. Next they explicitly condemned the Arian Doctrines in several Propositions 
Ext. loc. cit. , wherein they particularly struck at the very Root and Vital parts of the Arian heresy. Lastly, they censured 
Ext. Sententia Synod. ap. Ath. de Synod. p. 678.  and deposed Ursacius, Valens, Germinius, Auxentius, and Caius, as obstinate heretics, as Corrupters of, and implacable Enemies to the Council, and the Faith of Nice. This being done, they wrote an account 
Ext. Epist. ap. Ath. ib. p. 676. Socr. ib. p. 136. Theod. l. 2. c. 19 p. 97. Hilar. ib. col. 451. Soz. l. 4. c. 18. p. 565  of all to the Emperor, beseeching him that no Innovations might be made in the Faith, but that things might remain as they had been settled in the time of his blessed Father, and that he would please to give the Bishops( many of whom were Poor and Aged) leave to return to their several Churches, to take Care of the People committed to their Charge, and to join with them in Prayers for the Happiness and Prosperity of his Reign. This Letter they sent by ten of their own body, men of honest Minds, but unexperienced in the Arts and Subtleties of business, especially in the Affairs of Courts, and as many the Arians sent on their Part, Persons of Age and Experience, of Wit and Dexterity, and who had been trained up in the Methods of Craftiness and Deceit. But Ursacius and Valens having got the start, and coming to Court before the rest, had so possessed the Emperor's mind with prejudices against the Proceedings of the Council, that when the Legates arrived, they were not admitted to the Emperor's presence, but were wearied with delays, the Courtiers pretending the Emperor was taken up with more important Affairs. But that he might not seem wholly to neglect them, he wrote 
Ext. ap. Socr. l. 2. c. 27. p. 139  to them to excuse his not having conversed with the Legates, that Matters of that nature required a mind free from the Distractions of public business, which he could not have at this time, being ready for an Expedition against the barbarous People, that therefore he had commanded them to stay at Adrianople till his return, when he would take an account of their Message, and sand them back, and that they should not think much in the mean time to wait their coming back. The Synod little satisfied with this Message, writ back an 
Ext. ap. Socr. ib.& Theod. l. 2. c. 20. p. 100  Answer to the Emperor, that they could by no means recede from what they had done, and that they had given the same in Charge to their Legates, that they once more besought his Majesty to let them go home, that they might depart before the Winter grew too far upon them, which would render their return extreme difficult and uneasy to them.  
XI. THE Emperor being now at leisure, the Legates 
Sulp. Sev. l. 2. p. 159. &c.  are called for, and being circumvented by crafty but fair pretences, were  told, that the Difference was not great, consisting only in one word, a thing not worth contending about, that the word Substance, which was the great bone of Contention, was ambiguous, and had been rashly taken up by the Fathers without any Authority from the Scripture, and that the true Faith was, that the Son was like the Father( though therein lay a pernicious Fallacy, they owning him to be like indeed, but not equal to the Father.) With these and some other Artifices, the Legates were prevailed with to consent to them, and to communicate with the Arians; after which they were dismissed, and Orders sent to Taurus the Praefect, not to suffer the Synod to break up; till they had all yielded to the prescribed Form, and that they who stood out, should be all banished, till there were not above fifteen left. The Legates returning, were denied Communion, though, they pleaded the force that had been put upon them. But the Arians growing more confident by this success, the catholic Fathers, partly not seeing to the bottom of things, partly tired out with their tedious stay, came over to an agreement with the Orientalists, not above twenty being left that made good their ground, of whom Phaebadius Bishop of again in France was chief. These Taurus besought with the most passionate Importunities to yield; they had been now seven Months shut up in the City, that they were almost starved by the scarcity and hardship of the Winter, and that otherwise there could be no hopes of their departure; that they should follow the Example of the most, whom they ought to think wiser than a few. Phaebadius for a while could not be wrought upon, till at last a Temper was found out, that he and his Party should have liberty to add their Explication to the Confession, which they did, and therein condemned Arius, and some of his main Propositions, though after all their Caution herein, they were craftily overreach'd and imposed upon. Indeed the whole Affair was transacted and carried by the Artifice and Dissimulation of Valens of Mursa, who 
Hieron. adv. Lucif. Tom. 11. p 143 ex Act. Synod. Arim.  before the whole Council, publicly professed that he was no Arian, and that he abhorred their Blasphemies. Whereupon Musonius Bishop of Byzacium, a man reverenced by all for his Age, moved the Synod, that the impious Assertions charged upon Valens might be red and censured by the Council. Which was accordingly done by Claudius of the Province of Picenum. Upon reading the Paper Valens stormed, and declared the Assertions were none of his, and to clear himself cried out, whoever denies that Christ the Son of God was begotten by the Father before the World, let him be accursed. Whereto the Council unanimously added their Placet. He goes on, whoever denies the Son to be like the Father according to the Scriptures; or that affirms the Son of God not to be Eternal with the Father; or that shall say, the Son of God is a Creature, as are the rest of the Creatures; or that he arose out of nothing, and not of the Father; or that there was a time when he was not a Son, let him be accursed. To all which Propositions he denounced a particular Anathema, the Synod also adding their Suffrage to each of them. Several other Questions Claudius put to him, whereof he purged himself, and this amongst the rest; whoever shall affirm that the Son of God was indeed before all Ages, but not before all time,( this being a Fallacy under which the Arians used to shelter themselves) let him be accursed. Which was universally assented to, and all were pleased with his candid and full Confession, so that they extolled him to the Skies, and blamed themselves that they had suspected him. And yet all this while there was a Snake in the Grass, which they saw not, he having cunningly shuffled in this Proposition amongst the rest, that the Son of God was not a Creature like the rest of the Creatures: the sting whereof( though they did not then discern it) lay in this, that the denying the Son to be like the rest of the Creatures, did however necessary infer him to be a Creature, though in a more sublime and excellent capacity than the rest. And as for the word Substance, it being cried out against as an unscriptural Term, and that which by its novelty had given great offence, the unwary Fathers consented to lay it aside, not reckoning it worth while to contend about words, so long as they thought themselves secure of the sense. The Issue was, both Parties restend satisfied, the Arian Confession carried the day, and was published abroad as the Determination of the Council of Ariminum. And plain it is throughout the whole course of the Story that the Arians mightily bore up themselves upon the Reputation and Authority of this Synod, which at every turn they opposed 
Vid. Aug. contr. Max. Arian. l. 3. c. 14. col. 733. T. VI.  to the great Council of Nice, and thought it weighty enough to be laid in the balance with it. The Synod being ended, Ursacius 
Socr. ib. p. 141 Soz. ib. c. 19. p. 568.  and his Party going for the East, stayed a while at Nice a City in Thrace, where they Synodically convened, and translating the Confession passed at Ariminum into Greek, ratified it anew, and published it, giving out that this Faith published at Nice, was dictated and drawn up by an Oecomenical Council; that so unwary People being imposed upon by the name of Nice, might think this to be the Creed composed by that great Synod of Nice. But the Imposture was soon found out, and the attempt exploded by all as Foolish and Ridiculous. Nor did the Triumph of the Conquest which they had gained at Ariminum last long. For the catholic Fathers 
Vid. Epist. Synod. Damas. ap. Theod. l. 2. c. 22. p. 103. Soz. l. 6. c. 23. p. 668. Hieron. ubi supr. Ambros. Epist. XXXII. p. 123. , however imposed upon at present, were no sooner return'd home, but they saw their Error, and retracted what they had agreed to in that Council, confessing with Tears, they had been overreached by Fraud and Subtlety, and that they little suspected but mens Minds and Tongues had agreed together. I shall remark nothing further concerning this Synod at Ariminum, than that they took upon them not only to discuss Matters of Faith, but to settle privileges upon the Clergy and their Churches, particularly ordaining 
Vid. C. Th. l. 16. Tit. II. l. 15.  that the Carriages belonging to any Church should be exempt from public Service, and should be liable to no Molestation. But this Constantius soon after took away, and perhaps was not well pleased that they had taken so much upon them.   

SECT. XII. The Acts of the Synods at Seleucia and Constantinople.  
The time and place of the Council at Seleucia. Things propounded to be transacted in the Synod. Two different Parties in the Council. The Acacians contend for the abolishing the Nicene Creed. opposed by the other Party, who dislike nothing but the word Consubstantial. Leonas the Emperor's Lieutenant sides with the Acacian Faction. Acacius surprises the Synod with a Confession of Faith, subscrih'd by all the Bishops of his Party, which Leonas commanded to be red. This Confession canvased and debated. The Creed of Antioch resolved on. The Acacians refuse to come any more to the Council, and are deposed by the Synod; but fly to Constantinople, and make an Interest at Court, before the Arrival of the Synodal Legates. A Synod procured in the imperial City. Basil of Ancyra challenged by Aetius to a Disputation. The Semiarians press hard upon the Opinions of Aetius and eudoxus at a hearing before the Emperor. Aetius banished. His Doctrine unwillingly condemned by eudoxus. Sylvanus and his Party condemned and banished. A Synodal Epistle sent to George of Alexandria concerning the Condemnation of Aetius. This subscribed by the Followers of Aetius in a Convention at Alexandria. The Confession of Ariminum, with some few Additions ratified by the Synod at Constantinople. Constantius's removal to Antioch; a Synod holden there to damn the Consubstantial Doctrine. Meletius chosen to the See of Antioch. The good opinion all Parties had of him. He hearty declares himself for the catholic Faith, to the great Vexation of the Arians. His Sermon at Antioch to that purpose. His Banishment. Another Synod at Antioch procured by Acacius against eudoxus. Constantius his Resolution of having Controversies once more decided in a more public Council, but is prevented by death. His Sickness, Death, and Character.  
I. BUT it's time we should look towards the East, and inquire what was done in the Synod at Seleucia, contemporary with that of Ariminum, were in the Church dedicated to S. Tecla the Virgin-Martyr, where assembled to the number of about CLX. Prelates( though others make it less by ten) all the Bishops of the East, and of the Asian and pontic diocese being summoned to the Council, whither also the Emperor sent Leonas Treasurer of the Palace, to be present at all Debates in Matters of Faith, and Lauricius President of Isauria, to be assistant to the Fathers in what they needed. Socrates 
Lib. 2. c. 39. p. 146. &c. Soz. l. 4. c. 22. p. 573 Theod. l. 2. c. 26. p. 109.  from Sabinus his Collections of Synodal Transactions, has given us a particular account of the Acts of this Council, whose Foot-steps we shall briefly follow. On the XXVII. of Septemb. Ann. CCCLIX. the Council was opened, when Leonas  told them, that every one had liberty to propound what he pleased, but they refused as yet to enter upon the most important Matters, pretending that several whom they expected, were not yet arrived, as indeed Macedonius of Constantinople, Basil of Ancyra, and some others had upon pretence of Indisposition or the like excused themselves, not knowing what might be moved in the Synod against them. And when notwithstanding Leonas urged they should proceed, they answered, that they could propound no Questions, till first they had examined the Case of those Bishops that were accused. So that they could not agree what first to discuss, whether Matters of Faith, or the accused Bishops, and to this Confusion the Emperor's Letters did not a little contribute, sometimes commanding the one, and sometimes the other. The Issue was, the Council divided into two parts, the one headed by Acacius Bishop of Caesarea, George of Alexandria, Uranius of Tyre, and Endoxius of Antioch, to whom about thirty others joined themselves; the other managed by George of Laodicea, Sophronius of Pompeiopolis, Eleusius of Cyzicum, followed by the far greater part of the Synod. It being determined that Matters of Faith should be handled first, Acacius and his Party contended that the Nicene Creed should be abolished, and another Form drawn up. The other side were in all things for adhering to the Synod of Nice, only that the word Consubstantial should be left out. The Dispute held till night, when Silvanus Bishop of Tarsus stood up and spake aloud, that no new Confession should be made, but that that which had many years since been agreed on at Antioch, in the Synod assembled for the Dedication, should be ratified. Which said, the Acacians withdrew, and the others producing the Antiochian Confession, red it in the Synod, and so ended that Session.  
II. THE next day being met in Council, they shut the doors, and subscribed the Confession of Antioch, Deputies subscribing for those Prelates that could not attend the Council. This furnished Acacius and his Followers with a plausible Objection, who said that those doings must needs be nought, that were forced to seek Privacy, and could not bear the open light. The Truth is, they had themselves drawn up another Confession, which they had privately shown to Leonas and Lauricius, and which they were passionately desirous should take place. The third day Leonas took great pains to persuade both Parties to meet together in the Synod, at what time Macedonius of Constantinople, and Basil of Ancyra were come, who joined with the moderate Party. At this the Acacians were afresh offended,( they being the chief Persons excepted against) and refused to come into the Council, till they who had been deposed, and all that were accused, were first dismissed. Which being granted for quietness-sake, they came in; when Leonas acquainted the Synod that Acacius had given him a Paper( which he did not tell them was a Confession of Faith, nor did they suspect it) which he commanded to be red together with the Preface to it 
Ext. ap. Socr. ib. c. 40. p. 149.& Ath. de Syn. p. 696. Epiph. Haeres. LXXIII. p. 371. , wherein they set forth, that having according to the Emperor's command come to the Synod, they had made it their business, that the Peace of the Church might be preserved, and Matters of Faith fairly and orderly debated, and that nothing might be obtruded upon the Faith of the Church, but what was contained in the holy Scriptures. But forasmuch as some in the Council had affronted several of their Party, silenced others, excluded others, when as they themselves had brought some into the Synod that were deposed, and others unduly and uncanonically ordained, so that the Council was filled with Tumult and Confusion; for this Cause they were forced to declare, that they did not decline the Confession agreed on, and promulgated in the Dedication at Antioch, which they owned and produced at every turn, but because these words {αβγδ} and {αβγδ} had heretofore, and did still disturb and trouble many, and that some had lately introduced a novel term, {αβγδ}, importing the Son to be unlike the Father; therefore they rejected both the {αβγδ} and the {αβγδ}, as Expressions unknown to Scripture, and expressly condemned the {αβγδ}, and denounced all that held them to be separated from the Church. For that they did openly profess the Son to be like the Father, according to the Apostles Doctrine, who says of him, that he is the Image of the invisible God. Then follows the Confession itself, comform neither to the Nicene or Antiochian Creed, but warily couched in such Terms, that both the Arian and Aetian Party might safely subscribe to it. It ran in this Form.  

WE confess and believe in one God, the Father Almighty, Maker of Heaven and Earth, and of things visible and invisible. We believe likewise in his Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, begotten of him without any manner of Trouble or Passion before all Worlds, being the Word which is God, the only begotten of God, the Light, the Life, the Truth, the Wisdom, and the Power; by whom all things were made both in Heaven and in Earth, whether they be visible or invisible. We believe that in the end of the World he took flesh of the holy Virgin Mary for the abolishing of Sin, and that he was made man, and suffered for our sins, and rose again, and was taken up into Heaven, and there sits at the right hand of the Father, and shall come again with glory to judge the Quick and the Dead. We believe also in the holy Ghost, whom our Lord and Saviour styled the Comforter, and whom he promised to sand to his Disciples after his departure, and whom he sent accordingly; by whom he sanctifies all those in the Church that believe, and are baptized in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the holy Ghost. And whosoever shall teach any thing besides this Faith, the catholic Church does utterly reject such Persons.  
subscribed as followeth. 

I George Bishop of Alexandria have thus declared my Faith, and do profess myself to believe as is above written.  
I Acacius Bishop of Caesarea have thus declared my Faith, and profess myself to believe as is above written.  
Uranius Bishop of Tyre.  
Eutychius Bishop of Eleutheropolis.  
Zoilus Bishop of Larissa in Syria.  
Seras Bishop of Paratonium in Libya  
Paulus Bishop of Emisa.  
Eustathius Bishop of Epiphania.  
Irenaeus Bishop of tripoli in Phaenicia.  
Eusebius Bishop of Seleucia in Syria.  
Eutychianus Bishop of Patara in Lycia.  
Eustathius Bishop of Pinara and Didyma.  
Basilius Bishop of Caunia in Lydia.  
Peter Bishop of Hippus in palestine.  
Stephen Bishop of Ptolemas in Libya.  
eudoxus Bishop[ perhaps of Antioch.]  
Apollonius Bishop of Oxyrinchus.  
Theoclistus Bishop of Ostracene.  
Leontius Bishop of Lydia.  
Theodosius Bishop of Philadelphia in Lydia.  
Phaebus Bishop of Polychalanda in Lydia.  
Magnus Bishop of Themisa in Phrygia.  
Evagrius Bishop of Mitylene in the Islands.  
Cyrion Bishop of Doliche.  
Augustus Bishop of Euphratesia.  
Polydices Bishop of the second Province of Libya.  
Pancratius Bishop of Pelusium.  
Philicadus Bishop of Augustadae in the Province of Phrygia.  
Serapion Bishop of Antipyrgum in Libya.  
Eusebius Bishop of Sebasta in palestine.  
Heliodorus Bishop of Sozusa in Pentapolis.  
Ptolemaeus Bishop of Thmuis in Augustonice.  
Augurus Bishop of Cyrus in Euphrasia.  
Exeresius Bishop of Gerasa.  
Arabion Bishop of Adraa.  
Charisius Bishop of Azotus.  
Elisaeus Bishop of Diocletianopolis.  
Germanus Bishop of Petra.  
Barochius Bishop of Arabia.     
To these Subscriptions there is a Note added in Epiphanius, importing the whole number to be XLIII. whereas being reckoned by particulars, they amount to no more than XXXIX. To supply this, a man might be apt to suspect that the four Bishops, viz. Basil, Marc, Pancratius, and Hypatianus( whom Epiphanius but just before mentions as present and subscribing) should be taken in. But that Passage( as 'tis judiciously corrected both by Petavius 
Animadv. in Epiph. p. 326. , and Valesius 
Annot. in Socr. p. 36.  with little or no Alteration) plainly refers to their subscribing the Confession of Faith at Sirmium. It remains therefore that that Note was not originally put down by Epiphanius, but added by some later hand, which heedlessly reckoning upon those four Bishops, summed up the whole number into XLIII. But omitting that, come we to the thing itself. The Synod was not a little surprised at the Matter, Sophronius Bishop of Pompeiopolis crying out, if for any man that will, every day to declare his Opinion, be to be accounted a Confession of Faith, we shall soon be left destitute of a measure and rule of Truth. In the fourth Session held the day after Acacius  told them, that it could not be inconvenient to draw up now a new Confession, seeing the Nicene Creed itself had been oft changed and altered. Eleusius of Cyzicum replied, that the Synod was now met not to learn what it had not learned already, nor to receive a Faith which it had not before, but that insisting upon the Faith derived to them from their Fathers,( meaning that of the Synod of Antioch) they should not suffer either Life or Death to part between them and it.  
III. AFTER this they began to examine the Acacian Confession, and asked in what sense they held the Son to be like the Father; the Acacians answered, that they affirmed him to be like in Will only, not in Substance; all the rest affirming him to be so in Substance and Essence. The day was spent in this Dispute, several confuting Acacius out of his own Books, wherein he had maintained the Son to be like in all things to his Father, asking how he had face now to deny it. He replied( and it was it seems the best answer he had at hand) that none either of the Ancients or Moderns was to be judged out of his Writings. The wrangling, as in such Cases is usual, grew higher, and the Dispute grew more warm and hot, till Eleusius stood up and spake to this purpose, whether Basil and Marc have done any thing between themselves, and whether they and the Acacians do mutually charge one another about private Matters, the Synod is not concerned to inquire, nor is it necessary curiously to examine whether their Confession be good or bad; but it becomes us to embrace the Faith agreed upon by our Elders, the XCVII. Prelates that convened at Antioch; and that if any dare to introduce any other besides this, he be accounted as cast out from Religion and the Church. This Discourse was received with general Acclamation, and the Synod for that time dismissed. The next day the Acacians refused to come to the Council, and so did Leonas, who now openly declared on their side, and the Messengers that came from the Synod found them assembled in his House. He sent them word that the Synod was divided, and that he was commanded by the Emperor, not to be present, unless they could all agree, that therefore they might go and prate together in the Church. The Acacians were often cited, but they sometimes required that certain Bishops might be sent to Leonas his House to confer with them, sometimes affirmed that the Emperor had impow'red them to judge others. So that nothing further could be done, whereupon the Synod proceeded to censures, deposing Acacius, George of Alexandria, Uranius of Tyre, Leontius of tripoli, eudoxus of Antioch, and some others; and excommunicating Asterius, Eusebius, Abgarus, and six more, till they had purged themselves of the Crimes charged upon them. An account of all which they sent in Letters directed to the several Churches, and so the Synod dissolved, ten of them being appointed to wait upon the Emperor, to acquaint him what had passed in that Council.  
IV. BUT the Acacians were too nimble for them, and got first to Court, where they  told their Tale enough to their own Advantage, casting Reproaches upon the Synod, which they affirmed to have been an Assembly of lewd wicked men, met together to the Destruction and ruin of the Church. Besides partly by Pretexts of Truth, partly by Bribes, partly by Flattery and subtle Insinuations they had made the great men of the Court on their side; amongst whom Acacius, who was a man of quick Parts, well-spoken, and infinitely active and diligent, and not a little regarded for his eminent Station in the Church, and his Relation to the great Eusebius his Predecessor, had a considerable Interest. The Emperor was lately return'd from the Western Parts to Constantinople, where they met him, who was so incenss'd at the Suggestions which Acacius and his Party had made, that he resolved to crush the opposite side, and turned out all of that Party out of all public Offices. And the better to effect their purpose, they persuaded the Emperor to convene a Synod; which consisted partly of Western Bishops, to wit, the Legates of the Council of Ariminum, lately come to wait upon the Emperor, partly of Libyan Bishops, Serras, Stephanas, and some others, but the mayor part were the Bishops of the East, especially they of the Province of Bithynia, as being next at hand, the chief of whom was Maris of Chalcedon. There met to the number of fifty Bishops, or as the Alexandrian Chronicon 
Ad An. Const. XXIII. p. 682. ubi LIV. nomina recensentur.  reports it, seventy two. The Synod was divided 
Philost. l. 4. c. 12. p. 496.  into two principal Factions, the one of the Semtarian or Homoiousian Party, under the conduct of Basil of Ancyra, and Eustathius of Sebastea; the other of the Heterousians, who held the Son to be of a quiter different nature from the Father. The chief Heads of this Party were Maris Bishop of Chalcedon, and eudoxus of Antioch, and with them sided Acacius, not so much out of kindness to their Opinion, as out of spite to Basil for showing respect and honour to Cyril of Jerusalem, whom he had deposed. But they who appeared most in the business were Aetius and Eunomius, who though they were but Deacons, yet being bold forward men, and quick nimble Disputants, were made choice of to enter the Lists as Champions on this side. Which when Basil and his Party perceived, they declined the Contest, saying, 'twas an indecent thing for Bishops to dispute with Deacons about Matters of Faith. The other side replied, that the Dispute was not now about Dignity and Precedence, but to search and find out the Truth. So Basil unwillingly condescended to the Debate, wherein( if we may believe my Author, a Favourer of the Aetian side,) he was so utterly and irrecoverably baffled by Aetius, that he not only confessed that the Son was wholly of a different Substance from the Father, and had no manner of Communication with it, but at Aetius his request ratified this Confession with his own Subscription. However Constantius finding the Distractions that were in the Council, and that he might not seem altogether to slight the late Seleucian Synod, at the instance of the Legates,( the Principal whereof were Eustathius of armoniac, Basil of Ancyra, Sylvanus of Tarsus, and Eleusi●s of Cyzicum) first referred 
Soz. l. 4. c. 23. p. 578.  the Matter to the Hearing and judgement of Honoratus( whom he had then newly made perfect of the City) and some others of the Senatorian Order, and then recalled 
Theod. l. 2. c. 27. p. 111.  it to his own hearing, whereat when Basil presuming upon his wonted Freedom with the Emperor, took upon him to reprove him for undermining the apostolic Doctrine, the Emperor commanded him to hold his Peace, as being become a Disturber of the Church. Hereupon Eustathius took up the Argument, And since, Sir,( said he) you desire Matters of Faith should be determined, behold what Blasphemies eudoxus has vomited up against the only begotten Son of God. And with that presented him a Confession, wherein were these words: Those things that are produced after a divers manner, are dis-like in substance. There is one God the Father, of whom are all things, and one Lord Jesus Christ, by whom are all things. But of whom, and by whom are things unlike; therefore the Son is unlike God the Father. The Emperor was startled at this, and asked eudoxus whether this was his Writing, who disowned it, and cast it upon Aetius, who being sent for, and shew'd the Confession, was asked whether he was the Author of it. He not knowing how things stood, and hoping that it made for his Credit and Advantage, owned it to be his; whereat the Emperor immediately sentenced him to be banished to Pepuza a Town in Phrygia, and he was disgracefully turned out of the Palace. Then Eustathius charged eudoxus to be of the same Opinion, and that Aetius had written this by his direction, as appeared in, that none but he could tell Aetius to be the Author. But Judges( said the Emperor) ought not to proceed by Conjectures, but accurately to examine Matters of Fact. If it be not so( replied the Bishop) let eudoxus convince us of the contrary, by denouncing an Anathema to this Confession of Aetius; which the Emperor judging reasonable, commanded him to do it. But the man began to baffle, and sought to elude it by Arts and Tricks: Which the Emperor perceiving, threatened to sand him after Aetius, if he did not do it, which he then did, condemning that Doctrine which both then and afterwards he constantly maintained. And when he urged, that Eustathius also ought to condemn the word Consubstantial, as not found in Scripture, Sylvanus answered, that the {αβγδ} was not the only thing excepted against, that they had invented a great many other Expressions( such as {αβγδ},& {αβγδ}) not to be found in Scripture, nor in any prophetic or apostolic Writing, which they should do well to condemn, and to banish out of all Christian Assemblies. Which the Emperor granting, commanded the Eudoxians to condemn them. This at first they refused, till perceiving the Emperor to resent their obstinacy, they unwillingly did it, but ceased not still to urge the condemning the word Consubstantial. Whereupon Sylvanus turning to the Emperor, pressed them with this Argument, if God the Word be neither made out of nothing, nor be a Creature, nor of any other Substance( these being the Expressions which they had but just now condemned) then he must be Consubstantial with God the Father, as being God of God, and Light of Light, and have the very same Nature with him that begot him.( Though how Sylvanus, who sided with the Semiarians, could so strongly pled for the Consubstantial Doctrine, Theodorit must answer for it.) The Argument was unanswerable, but had no success; yea, the Acacian and Eudoxian Party raised a great Noise and Clamour, insomuch that the Emperor was angry with the other side, and threatened Banishment. Sylvanus and the rest resolutely  told him, that he might appoint what punishment he pleased, but it belonged to them to determine concerning Matters of Piety and Impiety, and that they would never betray the Doctrine of their Ancestors. Upon which the Emperor gave Sentence of Banishment against them, and commanded their Churches to be anew supplied.  
V. THIS Contest being ended, the Emperor ordered the Synodical deposing and Condemnation of Aetius, which his Friends and Partners durst not contradict, but for fear of the Emperor, were forced to dissemble, and subscribe the Sentence, only Serras and the Libyan Bishops stood out. Whereupon a Letter 
Ext. ap. Theod. ib. c. 28. p. 114.  was written in the name of the Synod, and sent to George Bishop of Alexandria to let him know what they had done in the Case of Aetius, that for his impious and scandalous Writings, they had deprived him of his Deacon-ship, and excommunicated him, and had forbid that his impious Epistles should be received or red, and that if he persisted in this Course, both he and all his Followers should be put under an Anathema: that the Libyan Bishops that came to the Synod, had obstinately refused to concur with the rest in this Sentence, nor would yield after all the Methods that had been used to prevail with them, whom therefore they had denounced excommunicate, if within six Months they did not comply with the Vote and Decision of the Council, and had ordered, that being deposed, others should be substituted in their room. In this Letter we find Serras, one of the Libyan Prelates, though he refused to subscribe to his Condemnation, yet giving in this Testimony against Aetius before the Council, that he had dared to say, that God had revealed those things to him, which he had concealed from the very Apostles, and from all others to that day. Which agrees with what his great admirer Philostorgius 
Lib. 3. c. 19. p. 487.  reports of him, that he had a Vision from Heaven to confirm and comfort him, and which miraculously conveyed to him an insuperable and irresistible Wisdom, so that from that time he had this peculiar Gift, that he should always get the better in Disputation. No sooner had George received the Synodal Epistle, but in a Convention of Bishops, which he had summoned to that purpose( though placed by my Author 
Id. l. 7. c. 2. p. 502.  out of due time) he caused the Followers of Aetius( who were numerous in those Parts) to subscribe the Decree of the Constantinopolitan Council made against him. In short, the Conclusion of the Council at Constantinople was this, they pitched upon the Confession, which had the names of the Consuls prefixed to it, and that had been lately published in the Synod at Ariminum, which they now again confirmed 
Ext. ap. Ath. de Synod. p. 697 Socr. l. 2. c. 41. p. 153. , with some few Additions made to it, wherein they condemned the word Substance, as unknown, offensive, and unscriptural, and made it unlawful to make any mention of the Hypostasis of the Father, Son, and holy Ghost. The main Spring of all these Motions, was Acacius, who by the Power of his Interest, and the Dexterity of his Wit, managed all Affairs in the Synod, all the Acts and Dispatches whereof, were dictated and digested by him; he steered the Emperor which way he pleased, so that he deposed and banished Basil, Eustathius, Macedonius of Constantinople, and all others that stood in his way, whose vacant Sees he filled up with such Persons as were agreeable either to his humour or his Interest.  
VI. THE Synod at Constantinople breaking up, and the great Church of S. Sophia, which the Emperor had lately re-built, being anew dedicated by eudoxus( who upon Macedonius his Banishment had invaded that See) Constantius in the Spring of the year Ann. CCCLX. began to set forward in his Expedition against Persia, and having unfortunately spent the Summer, return'd to keep his Winter-Quarters at Antioch. Where they again took the opportunity of establishing their Cause by another Synod 
Ath. de Synod. p. 698. Soz. l. 4. c. 29. p. 588. Theod. l. 2. c. 31 p. 119. , and of damning the word Substance under any Relation, declaring the Son to be in all things unlike the Father, both in Substance and in Will, and that he was made out of nothing, whence they gained the Title of Anomaeans, and of Exucontians, or those that affirmed that the Son was made out of nothing. And when the catholics asked them, how they who acknowledged the Son to be God of God, durst contrary to their own declared Form, assert him to be unlike, and made of nothing, they replied, they herein followed the Apostle, who says, that all things are of God; in which number the Son is also comprehended; and in this sense they meant what they had so oft inserted into their Confessions, that he was so according to the Scriptures. At last the Form agreed upon in the late Synod at Constantinople was again approved and ratified. The See of Antioch by eudoxus his removal to Constantinople, was vacant at Constantius's coming thither, and upon a nice enquiry Meletius( who upon Eustathius's Deposition, had been not long before made Bishop of Sebastia in armoniac, but lived at this time at Beraea) was judged the fittest Person for the place; a man in whom all Parties consented, each concluding him of their side. He was it seems a prudent and moderate man, that had not mixed himself with the Squabbles and Controversies of the Age, but had preached plain, honest, moral Doctrine to the People( as 
Lib. 2. c. 44. p. 158.  Socrates and Sozomen 
Ubi supr. p. 587.  expressly say) so that not having critically declared himself, each Party hoped to find him theirs. But no sooner was he settled here( where he was received with great Demonstrations of Joy, and with an universal Confluence and Acclamation of the People) but he put all out of doubt, openly declaring himself for the catholic Doctrine. For the Emperor having desired the chief of the Prelates to preach upon that Text, {αβγδ}, The Lord created me, the beginning of his ways for his Works, that so they might be more accurately expounded to the People( Notaries also being appointed to take their Sermons) first George Bishop of Laodicea, then Acacius of Caesarea preached, who delivered themselves according to their Notions and Sentiments in that Matter. After them came up Meletius, who discoursed 
Ext. sermo ejus ap. Epiph.  upon the Words according to the sense of the Nicene Faith, and stoutly established the Consubstantial Doctrine. The People were infinitely pleased to hear him, and entreated him to give them some short Memorial of his Doctrine, which he did by showing them three of his Fingers, and then contracting two, one only was left, adding, to declare his meaning, there are three which are conceived in the mind, though we seem to speak but to one. Which his Adversaries stretched, as if he had meant it in the Sabellian sense. Sozomen says, that while he was preaching, the archdeacon( who was of the opposite Faction) ran to him, and with his hand stopped his Mouth, who thereupon made the Signal with his Fingers which we mentioned, and when the archdeacon laid hold upon his hand to hinder him, he declared his meaning with a loud voice, and exhorted his Auditory to stand to the Nicene Faith, protesting that all others were erroneous and false. But however it was, his Adversaries were enraged, and procured him to be banished, and Euzoius, an old Companion of Arius's, and who, when Deacon, had been deposed by Alexander, to be ordained Bishop in his room. Which was one thing that occasioned the Schism in that Church, those who had hitherto mutually communicated, now flying off, and separating from one another. These things were transacted at Antioch about the latter end of the year CCCLX. The year following another Synod 
Philost. l. 6. c. 4. p. 501.  was called there upon occasion of Acacius's complaint to the Emperor against eudoxus Bishop of Constantinople, for having, without common consent, ordained Eunomius Bishop of Cyzicum, one that was a professed Disciple of Aetius, and a more fiery and zealous heretic than his Master. The Emperor hereupon sent for Eunomius to Antioch, and summoned an Assembly of Bishops, whom he commanded to examine the Case. The Synod calling the Case before them, demanded the Prosecutor and Accuser; but none appeared. For Acacius who thought to carry his Design by his Power and Interest with the Emperor, and never intended it should come under a Synodal Discussion, declined the Process, and would not appear. For which the Emperor began to suspect him, as one that had acted herein rather out of Malice, than any good intent, and therefore commanded him to be immediately gone to his own See.  
VII. CONSTANTIUS was greatly disquieted with these Contentions, and found the misapprehensions of the Arian Tribe designing little more than to undermine one another, for the composing whose Differences, he resolved upon a more general Synod, which he intended to convene at Nice. But while engaged in these Designs, he was unexpectly taken off, whereupon ensued great Revolutions both in Church and State. He had some years since taken his Cousin Julian to be his Colleague in the Government, having created him Caesar, and sent him into France, to defend those Parts against the Inroads of the Germans, where he managed the Province with great Success, till partly by his own Ambition, and partly by the request of the Army he was moved to take upon him the Imperial Name and Dignity, and was now marching with his Army towards the East to justify what he had done. The News hereof infinitely disturbed Constantius, but he trusting to the prosperous successses that had all along attended him against the Usurpers of the Empire, and having shuffled up a Truce with the Persians, turned his Forces, and marched to meet his Nephew. At Tarsus he fell into a fever,( caused partly by his making too much hast, partly by the inward Trouble and Vexation of his mind) which together with his Journey increased upon him, till his flesh became so hot, that it burned like Fire. Being come to a place called Mopsucrenae in the Confines of Cappadocia and Cilicia, his Spirits failed, and he expired, having first been baptized by Euzoius, and having ordained( at leastwise it was so given out) Julian to be his Successor in the Empire. He died October the Vth. Ann. CCCLXI. in the XLVth. year of his Age, and XXXVIIIth. of his Reign, having ruled XIII. years with his Father, and XXV. alone. His body was brought to Constantinople, and after some time butted with a pompous Solemnity, Julian himself walking before the Corps in a mournful Posture, having put off his Crown, and without any other ensign of Majesty upon him, than the Imperial Cloak. He was a Prince of a lofty Mind, careful to preserve the Decorum of State and Empire, a rigid Exactor of Discipline, especially in Military Matters, fortunate in vanquishing intestine Divisions, and home-bred Usurpations, unsuccessful in foreign Expeditions. A great Master of those private virtues that adorn a Prince, sober, chast, and temperate, kind and bountiful to his Friends and Followers, but of a Temper inclined to Cruelty, especially where there was the least suspicion of attempting the Empire,( seen above others in putting to death so many of his nearest Relations) which yet he sought to cover with a smooth plausible Carriage. He was greatly Uxorious, and wholly given up to the conduct of Eunuchs and Flatterers, who stood about him, and admired all his Sayings as Oracles, and made his affirmation or denial the Measure and Rule of Truth; they filled all great Offices in the Palace, and were the Springs that steered all public Affairs, oppressing in the mean time and fleecing the People, and doing innumerable Mischiefs under the shadow of his Authority. These were the quick-sighted Beasts about this many-headed Hydra( they are Julian's 
Ad Hermog. Epist. XXIII. p. 141.  own words both concerning him and them) that exasperated and made him fiercer, who was not overmild in his own nature, whatever he pretended to be to others. Neither his natural nor acquired Parts were extraordinary, though he affencted to be thought learned, but miscarried, when ever attempting any thing that way. In sacred things he was Superstitious rather than Religious, corrupting Christianity, in itself a most simplo and absolute Religion( as the very Heathen Historian 
Am. marcel. lib. 21. in sin.  acknowledges upon this occasion) with vain and trifling Superstition. He understood little of the Controversies then started, which yet he curiously enquired into, and vigorously endeavoured to compose, by striving to draw all Parties to be of his mind and way, convening Synods for that purpose at every turn,( the expenses whereof were commonly born at his cost) so that his whole Reign seemed nothing but so many several Sessions of one ecclesiastic Diet. This laid him open to all the Impostures and Insinuations of the Arian Party, who fed his humour, and abused his Power, whereby they stained his Reign with the Blood and ruin of more catholic Christians, then perhaps had suffered under any one Heathen Emperor. But it seems he saw his Error when it was too late, there being three things, which S. Gregory of Nazianzum( who by the way in his zealous Transports against Julian, elsewhere over-stretches Constantius's Commendation) 
Orat. XXI. p. 389. vid. Zonar. Annal. Tom. III. p. 19.  tells us, he repented of when he came to die, as the great Blemishes of his Reign, that he had put to death so many of his Kindred, that he had advanced Julian to the Empire, and that he had so zealously promoted Innovations in the Faith 
Vid. Theod. l. 3. c. 1. p. 125. . And with that Protestation breathed out his last.   

SECT. XIII. His Acts during the Reign of Julian.  
Julian's succeeding in the Empire. His pretended kindness to Christians. His restoring all Parties from Exile, and why. A Riot at Alexandria about the Temple of Mithras. The Insurrection principally levelled against George their Arian Bishop: The miserable and ignominious manner of his Death. His murder unpitied, he being obnoxious to all Parties. His Learning and Library. Julian's great Care to secure his Books. The Emperor's Expostulatory Letter to the People of Alexandria about his death. Athanasius his return and welcome. His Reformation of his Church. His care about the Distractions of the Church of Antioch. A Synod convened at Alexandria to adjust the particular sense of those two Terms, {αβγδ} and {αβγδ}, the Cause of great Mistakes amongst the catholics. Apollinarism and other Heresies condemned. An account of all given by Athanasius in a Letter to them of Antioch. The State of that Church. Paulinus made Bishop there by Lucifer Calaritanus. This the Cause of a long-continued Schism in that Church. The Original of the Luciferian Separation. Athanasius by whom opposed and undermined. The Emperor's Edict for his Banishment; and his Letter to Edicius the Governor to the same purpose. These Orders not mitigated by any Intercession. Athanasius his flight, and miraculous escaping his Pursuers upon the Nile. Julian's death made known the same day at Alexandria.  
I. THE death of Constantius brought along with it great Alteration of Affairs in Church as well as State. For Julian being come to the Crown, either to sweeten his entrance upon the Government, or to reflect an Odium upon the Memory of Constantius, presently recalled 
Socr. l. 3. c. 1. p. 168. Soz l. 5. c. 5. p. 600. Theod. l. 3. c. 4. p. 127.  the banished Bishops, and restored their confiscated Estates; and calling for some of the contending Parties into the Palace, earnestly advised them to lay aside all mutual Feuds and Animosities, and every one to go on securely in the way of his Profession, saying often to them in an affencted Bravery, harken to me, whom the Francks and the Almains have heark'ned to. This pains he took, not out of any kindness to them( as his own Historian 
Am. marcel. l. 22. p. 1612.  confesses) but to throw a bone of Contention amongst them, for he knew that a general Toleration would soon set them together by the Ears, and that he should be thereby freed from the Combination of an united Multitude, whom he foresaw the Course he intended to steer, would be sure to enrage. However at first he treated the Christians with great Humanity 
Vid. Epist. ejus VII. ad Artob. p. 120. , commanding that no Force or Incivility should be offered to them, and that none should be compelled against their Wills to sacrifice; only in the Church of Edessa, where the Arian Party had made a Mutiny, and offered violence to the Followers of Valentinus, he took away the Rents and Revenues of that Church, the money he gave to his Army, the Rents he converted to private Uses; which he did, that being made Poor, and so eased of their Burden, he might help them forward in their way to the Kingdom of Heaven, as according to his Sarcastick Vein he expresses himself in his Letter to Ecebolius 
Epist XLIII. p. 196. . Nor was it long before he made it a general Case, depriving the Clergy of their Honours and privileges, and their allowance of Corn out of the public Exchequer, and making them subject to serve in the civil Courts, yea forcing the poor Maids and Widows to refund what they had received out of the common Stock and Patrimony of the Church; he confiscated their Rents, and took away their Plate and the Ornaments of their Churches, with infinite other Cruelties, not to be related in this place.  
II. AT Alexandria a Riot happened in the beginning of his Reign, which yet made Athanasius his return more easy to himself, and welcome to the People. George the Arian Bishop had been accused of great misdemeanours in the Synod at Seleucia, and for his obstinate compliance with the Aetian Party had been deposed. But being a man of Stomach and Courage, had gone on, and that with greater fierceness than before. He was become, through his Oppressions and Cruelties, extremely burdensome to the People of Alexandria; for he declined not the most sordid Acts, nor scrupled the most unjust invading other mens Rights, so he might but amass a great Estate to himself. He would rob the Fatherless 
Epiph. Haeres. LXXI●I. p. 388. , and seize Estates left by Parents to their Children, he endeavoured to engross the Monopoly of Nitre, and to get into his hands the Paper-Marshes, and the sole Trade of the Salt-Pits; he invented a new sort of Biers or Coffins for the carrying out the Dead, and would not suffer a Corps to be so carried out, without a Fee first paid to him. He was obnoxious to all sorts 
Soz l. 4. c. 30. p. 589.  of men; the Nobility hated him for his Pride, and his imperious Lording it over the Governors, being oftener upon the Bench at the Decision of civil Causes, than Praying or Preaching in the Church; the common People looked upon him as a Tyrant, that ruled all at his Will; the catholics fled from him as a merciless Persecutor, one that crushed and oppressed them wherever he met them; the Gentiles were enraged at him for prohibiting them to exercise the Rites of their Religion, and taking away by force of Arms the Statues, the consecrated Gifts, and Ornaments of their Temples. All which rendered him universally odious, and at this time conspired his ruin upon this occasion. He had been not long since at Court 
A. marcel. ib. p. 1626. , where, according to his Custom, he had accused several as not well affencted to the Government, and amongst other things had informed the Emperor, that all the Buildings at Alexandria erected by their Founder the Great Alexander at the public Charge, ought to pay Rent to the Exchequer. At his return, passing one day, attended with a great Train, through a Temple dedicated to the Genius of the City, casting back a scornful look, And how long( said he) must this Charnel-house stand? This the Gentiles resented as an Affront, and looked upon it as a Presage of the ruin that was intended it, and thenceforth set themselves to study his Destruction, which upon Julian's succeeding to the Empire they accomplished. The Church-Historians 
Socr. l. 3. c. 2. p. 170. Soz. l. 5. c. 7. p. 603. conser. Chron. Alex. ad Ann. Jul. 1. p. 686.  relate the Matter( for that it was the same, I nothing doubt) with more particular Circumstances. There was at Alexandria a Temple of Mithras or the Sun, wherein they had used of old to celebrate the Worship of that Deity, especially by human Sacrifices. This place being decayed, and filled with Rubbish, Constantius had bestowed upon the Church of Alexandria, which George at this time intended to rebuild into a Church, and had to that end given order for the cleansing of it. But when they were come to the Chancel, or innermost part of the Temple, and had cleared the Rubbish, they found a great number of dead mens skulls, both of Young and Old, who had been slain there in order to their Charms and magic Rites, together with certain Images, and Instruments which the Priests had used in their Sacrifices and impious Mysteries. These the Christians brought forth, and carrying them up and down the Streets in Triumph, exposed them to the view of the People, deriding the Follies and villainy of Pagan Superstition. The Gentiles were provoked hereat beyond all measure, and catching up what came next to hand, fell upon the Christians, knocking some on the head with Clubs, stoning others, or running them through with Swords, some they strangled, others they crucified, and none came in their way, but were grievously wounded. But their chief Spite and Rage was against George the Bishop, whom they took, and that night only put into Prison. Early in the Morning they fetched him out, and abused him with all manner of Cruelty, trampled on, and dragged up and down the City, and in the Evening having laid him upon a Camel, carried him to the Water-side, and there burned him,( and the Camel too for Company) and after all threw his Ashes into the Sea, lest, they said, his Followers should gather them up, and build a Church over them, as they had done for others, who had died glorious deaths, and had commenced Martyrs. His death was charged by the Arians upon Athanasius's Party 
Idem ibid. , and Philostorgius 
Z● 1. c. 2. p. 50●  says expressly, 'twas he plotted and contrived it; and withall intimates, it was a just punishment upon George for compelling the Aetian Party to subscribe to the Synodical Condemnation of Aetius, agreed upon, and sent to him by the Council at Constantinople. But what Interpretations will not partiality make to serve a Cause? What will not Malice say to defame an Adversary? 'tis plain, that besides the account given of it by Am. Marcellinus a Heathen Writer of that time, Julian himself( who would have been glad of any Pretext to have shifted it off from his own side) lays it wholly upon the populace, and those too of his own Religion.  
III. HE was a man suitable to his Country and Education, proud and insolent, rough and intractable, fierce and bloody, sordid and covetous. But though Nazianzen decry him for his illiberal Education, yet must he be confessed to have been something of a Scholar. Witness that noble Library 
Vid. Julian. Epist. IX. p. 122.& XXXVI. p. 176.  that he left behind him, replenished with all sorts of Books, of Philosophy, rhetoric, History, but especially such as concerned the Christian Religion; indeed so very considerable, that Julian( who had been acquainted with him heretofore in Cappadocia, and had borrowed several Books of him to be transcribed) immediately sent two Expresses to secure the Books, commanding that his Amanuensis should be dealt with, who if he faithfully discovered them, should be rewarded, if not, punished; charging the Governors under severe Penalties to use their utmost Care and Diligence in this Matter, and that if any of the Books had been purloined, they should examine suspected Persons upon Oath, and their Servants by Torture, that so not one of them might be concealed from him. But to proceed. The News of his death was no sooner brought to Court, but the Emperor seemingly resented it as an Affront to his Government, and though perhaps well enough pleased with the thing itself, yet thought good to take notice of it as a Violation of his Authority, and the ordinary Course of Justice. He wrote 
Epist. X. p. 123. exit. etiam ap. Socr. ubi supr. c. 3. p. 171.  therefore to the People of Alexandria, to let them know what a rash and unjust Action they had rushed upon, and that although George had done ill things, and had deserved as bad, and perhaps worse things at their hands, yet there were Laws, and they should have proceeded against him in the usual course of Justice, and not taken Revenge and Reformation into their own Hands, a thing not to be endured in any well-establish'd Constitution; that it was well for them, that this fell out in his time, who for the Reverence that he bore to their great God Serapis, and for the sake of his Uncle Julian, who had been perfect of Egypt, and President of Alexandria, would use no other Remedies in this Case but soft and gentle Methods, to wit, those of Argument and persuasion, with which he doubted not but they would readily comply. This unfortunate end had this troublesone and cruel man, with whose fall his Party were not so far beaten out of heart, but they pitched upon a Successor, ordaining one Lucius a Presbyter in his room, who kept the Party together in private Conventicles.  
IV. THIS uproar at Alexandria being over, Athanasius quitted his solitary Retirements,( where he had hitherto sheltered himself) and return'd home. A welcome Guest we may be sure after so hard and tedious an Exile; the ways 
Nazian. Orat. XXI. p. 390. &c.  and Streets were crowded from all Parts, and all places full from whence they might behold this great man; the People were divided according to their Sexes, Ages, and several Trades( as the Custom there was, when any great Person was to receive the Honour of a public Entry) and every one striven to out-do his neighbour in the celebrity of the Triumph, which was so great, that it became even Proverbial amongst them, when they would express the Grandeur of any extraordinary Pomp, to say, that the great Athanasius himself was not brought in with more Honor and Solemnity. His first work was to Restore and Reform the Church, which he did with all imaginable lenity and greatness, and even to the Wonder and Approbation of his Enemies; next he endeavoured to abolish Feuds, and to reconcile Persons both to himself, and to one another; injured Persons he restored to right without any regard to Parties or Interests; Matters of Doctrine he reduced to their pristine Purity, and the Faith of the holy Trinity was now again sincerely taught, employing his time in writing to, and receiving Letters from the most eminent Persons and Churches of the Christian World. Nay many of them repaired to him in Person, partly to congratulate his return, partly to assist him in settling the Distractions of the Church. Amongst the banished Bishops, whose minds were intent upon this pious Design, were Lucifer 
Socr. l. 3. c. 5. p. 173. c. 9. p. 180. Soz. l. 5. c. 12. p. 612. Rufin. l. 1. c. 27, 28. p. 236, 237. Theod. l. 3. c. 4. p. 127.  Bishop of Calaris in Sardinia, and Eusebius of Vercellae in the Confines of Jusubria in Italy, who of late had spent the time of their tedious Exile in the upper Thebais, not far from Alexandria. These two agreed together, the one to go to Alexandria, the other to Antioch. Lucifer( who sent a Deacon or two along with Eusebius to Alexandria to assist in his name) went strait to Antioch, where he found that famous Church miserable over-run with Schism. Euzoius the Arian Bishop governed in chief, and for the main carried all before him, the catholics were divided into two Parties, the one the Followers of Eustathius their former, the other the Followers of Meletius their present Bishop( not yet return'd from Banishment) who kept separate Meetings, and refused to communicate with each other. Lucifer hoping to bury this Schism by pitching upon a Person in whom both Parties might agree, unadvisedly ordained Paulinus, a Presbyter of the Eustathian Party, Bishop of that Church, which yet was so far from healing, that it widen'd the breach, one Party more being set up in that miserably-divided Church. Paulinus held his Assemblies in one of the little Churches within the City, which Euzoius out of courtesy and reverence to the man permitted him to enjoy.  
V. PAULINUS thus advanced to the See of Antioch, dispatched Maximus and Calemerus as his Legates to Alexandria, where Athanasius with Eusebius and others out of Italy, Arabia, Egypt and Libya, were assembled in Council. The chief things debated and determined in this Synod, were concerning the lapsed Bishops, who had in the late Reign of Constantius gone over to, and joined with the Arians, whether they should be restored to their Sees. At length the milder Opinion took place, that those who had complied only out of fear or mistake, or had been imposed upon by any specious pretence, should upon their Repentance and abjuring of their Error, be re-admitted to their Churches. But besides this, the Synod perceived that great Disputes were arisen about the true meaning of these Terms {αβγδ} and {αβγδ}, one part charging the other with maintaining three Gods or Principles, the other recriminating upon them the Charge of Sabellianism, or confounding the Persons in the Trinity. A misapprehension that created no little disturbance in the Church, and broken out into Heats and Feuds amongst good men, as in other places, so particularly in the Church of Antioch,( for whom the Council chiefly intended this Synodal Determination) where we find 
Th●od. l. 5. c. 3. p. 201.  Flavian a Presbyter of that Church, objecting to Paulinus, whom Lucifer had lately ordained Bishop there, that he denied a Trinity of Hypostases, whereas Pope Damasus, with whom he pretended to hold Communion, expressly asserted but one nature, but withall that there were three Hypostases in the Trinity. Both Parties were in the right, only by Hypostasis one meant the Essence( and so there were not three Hypostases) while the other understood the Persons in the holy Trinity. The Synod therefore upon a full Examination of the Matter, finding that the mistake lay only in the ambiguity of the Terms, and that they all agreed in the same thing, all held the true Faith of the holy Trinity, all abominated the Arian Doctrines, all detested the Sabellian and Samosatenian Heresies, decreed, that the Nicene Creed was the most excellent and accurate Compendium of Faith, and that henceforth they should rather acquiesce in, and make use of the Terms agreed on in that Council. And therefore when Socrates 
Ib. c. 7. p. 175.  affirms, that the Synod condemned the use of these Expressions of {αβγδ} and {αβγδ}, as applied to God; 'tis plain he mistook the sense of the Council, which was not simply to condemn those Terms( {αβγδ} being the very word used in the Nicene Creed) but to adjust the meaning of them, and because by reason of their ambiguity they were apt to create misunderstandings, that therefore they should keep to those Phrases that had been established by the Synod of Nice. They anathematized likewise those that denied the Divinity of the holy Ghost, affirming it to be a Creature, and of a different Nature and Essence from that of our Lord. Concerning the Incarnation of our Lord,( about which also there began to be some Dispute and controversy) they defined, that the Son of God really took our nature upon him, and was perfect man as well as God, of a reasonable Soul, and human Flesh subsisting, and that in that capacity he wrought out our Salvation. In this Synod the Legates from Antioch were received, who consented to the Acts of it, and soon after it broken up, having before their departure desired Athanasius to writ an answer to them at Antioch. Which not long after was done 
Ext. Oper. Tom. 1. p. 447. , wherein he at large gives them an account of what had been determined in the Synod, earnestly presses the two dissenting catholic Parties to Peace and Concord, and to unite upon no other Terms than that of an hearty Agreement in the Nicene Faith, which was abundantly sufficient to end all Disputes; and that whereas some produced an Explication made in the Sardican Council, they should take notice, that it was forged, and that no such Explication had been agreed upon in that Synod; that to promote these great ends of Peace and Unity, they were ready to travail as far as Antioch, which they would have done, had not the present Necessities of the Church detained them at home. This Letter was subscribed by Athanasius, and XIII. Bishops that yet stayed at Alexandria, besides the Antiochian Legates: Fusebius of Vercèllae subscribed his sentence apart in the Latin Tongue, but exactly agreeable to the rest; so did Asterius, and being carried to Antioch, it was subscribed likewise by Paulinus, who added an explicit Declaration of his Faith concerning three Persons, and one divine Essence, concerning the Incarnation of our Saviour, and that he anathematized those who rejected the Nicene Faith, and denied the Son to be of the Substance, and co-essential with his Father, or affirmed the holy Ghost to be a Creature, or that held the Principles of Sabellius, Photinus, or any other heresy.  
VI. AFFAIRS being settled at Alexandria, Eusebius 
Socr. ib. c. 9. p. 180. Soz. ib. c. 13. p. 613. Rufin. ubi supr. c. 30.  hastened to Antioch, where with infinite trouble he beholded the lamentable dissensions in that Church. Meletius, who return'd about this time, kept his residence and the Assemblies of his Party in the Old City,( especially in the great Apostolical Church, founded by S. Peter, and which is itself sometimes styled the Old Church, and stood in that part of Antioch.) Euzoius with the Arians had Possession of the New, who yet out of respect to Paulinus allowed him the use of one Church. And to make the Case more deplorable, these two ancient Friends and Fellow-Confessors Lucifer and Eusebius, who were to have healed the breach, fell out themselves, whether because E●sebius resented Lucifer's rash Ordination of Paulinus; and Lucif●r on the other side stomach'd Eusebius his refusing to approve that Act( as Socrates and some others think) or whether because Lucifer being a man of a very strict and sour Temper, was displeased with the Determination of the Alexandrian Synod about the restoring of the lapsed Bishops, or whether upon both accounts, it is hard to say. Certain it is, that these two good men partend in great discontent, Lucifer returning to his own bishopric at Calaris, the chief City in the iceland of Sardinia, where though he made a shift in some measure to suppress his Sentiments while he lived( being unwilling openly to disown what he had ratified by his Deputies in the Synod at Alexandria) yet after his death it broken out into a violent Schism, his Followers styling themselves Luciferians, after the name of their Master, and utterly rejecting all manner of Communion with those that had any ways communicated with the Arians.  
VII. WHILE Athanasius was taken up in managing the Affairs of his Church at home, his Enemies were busy to undermine him at Court. The Gentiles now enjoyed the full exercise of their Religion, and were arrived to that height of Impiety, that not content with their common Ceremonies, they ran up into the most inhuman and diabolic Mysteries, killing 
Socr. l. 3. c. 13 p. 185.  young Children of both Sexes, divining by their entrails, and eating their Flesh. A Barbarism practised in other places, but especially at Athens and Alexandria. But in the midst of this horrid licentiousness, it vexed them to see Athanasius in so much vogue and credit with the People, whose pains and presence kept them in, and secured his People from apostasy. He therefore must be removed at any rate. A Conspiracy wherein both Arians and Heathens joined together. The Emperor was informed 
Soz. ib. c. 15. p. 615. Theod. l. 3. c. 9. p. 132. Ruf. ib. c. 33. p. 238.  that Athanasius without any regard to his Government, did publicly keep Religious Assemblies, and had perverted very many Gentiles to his Religion, and that if he were suffered to go on, not one gentle would be left, but that they would all flock over to him, the Tribe also of Magicians, Philosophers, Aruspices, and Augurs representing, that their Arts would signify nothing, unless Athanasius, as the great Remora, were taken out of the way. Exasperated with these Insinuations, the Emperor dispatched this following Edict 
Ext. inter Epp. Julian. XXVI. p. 155.  to Alexandria.  

IT was but fit, that he who had been banished by so many Royal and Imperial Edicts, should at least have expected one to recall him, before he had ventured to return, and not by so mad and bold a Presumption have affronted the Laws, as if no such had been made. And even now when we have given the Galileans that were banished by Constantius, leave to return, it was not to return to their Churches, but into their Countries. Notwithstanding I understand that that daring Fellow Athanasius, according to his accustomend confidence, has again repossessed his Episcopal See, and that the thing is highly offensive to the pious and good People of Alexandria. Wherefore we command him to depart the City on that very day, whereon you shall receive these our Letters; and if he offers to stay, we order far greater and severer Penalties to be inflicted on him.   
This Edict was attended with a Letter 
Epist. Jul● VI. p. 119.  to Ecdicius Governor of Egypt to this effect.  
To Ecdicius Governor of Egypt.  
ALthough you writ nothing else, you ought certainly to have given us an account of Athanasius, the Enemy of the Gods, especially when you had long since heard of our useful Constitutions. I call to witness the great Sarapis, that if this Athanasius, the Enemy of the Gods, depart not the City, or rather all Egypt, before the first of December, the Regiments under your command shall be fined an hundred pound of Gold. You know how backward I am to condemn, and how much more backward, when I have done it, to remit and Pardon. It is no small trouble to me, that by his means all the Gods should be set at nought. Of all your Services, none would be more acceptable to me, than to see or hear that Athanasius is driven out of all parts of Egypt, a wretch that has dared under my Reign to force many honourable Greek Ladies to be baptized.  
And when, to mollify these rigorous Proceedings, some Addresses were made to the Emperor in his behalf, he wrote 
Jul. Epist. LI. p. 207.  back to them, wherein he Expostulates with them for their Faction and Novelty, and their great degeneracy from the Religion of their Ancestors, it being a shane that any in that City should dare to profess himself a Galilean; that they should do well to harken to him, who having for twenty years been a Christian, had by the assistance of the Gods, changed his opinion, and had now for twelve years been of the other Religion; that however they should retain mutual Concord, and give over desiring Athanasius, there being enough of his Disciples, and they nothing inferior to him, who might tickle their itching Ears with pleasant but impious Discourses; that if upon any other account they were desirous of him, for that very reason he would expel him, a busy and factious man, being of all men the most unfit to govern others; if yet he might be called a man, and not rather a pitiful and contemptible Rascall, for whose sake it was not worth while to hazard a public Disturbance; which that it might be prevented amongst them, as he had some time since commanded him to quit the City, so now he commanded him to depart all Egypt.  
VIII. ATHANASIUS, who foresaw the Storm arising, upon the first News of the imperial Edict, 
Socrat. ib. c. 14. p. 185. Soz. l. 4. c. 10. p. 549.& l. 5. c. 15. p. 615 Theod. l. 3. c. 9. p. 132. Ruf. ubi supr. c. 34.  prepared to depart, and when his Friends burst out into the most mournful and passionate Resentment, he said to them, Be of good cheer, Sirs, let us give way a little, 'tis but a little Cloud, and 'twill soon blow over. Which said, he presently took Boat, and went down the Nile towards Thebais. He was no sooner gone, but the Officer came to apprehended him, who having learned which way he went, followed after. But having advice hereof forthwith sent him, his Friends that were with him in the Boat, persuaded him to go on shore, and to betake himself to the desert; No, replied he, let's rather go and meet our Executioner, that he may know that greater is he that's with us, then he that is against us. And with that commanded the Steers-man to turn the Boat, and row back to Alexandria. By this time the Officer and his Company were come near, who never suspecting them that were going that way, only enquired of them, whether they saw Athanasius; they answered, he was hard by, and that if they made hast, they might quickly overtake him. So they partend, and by this means the good man escaped, and came safe to Alexandria, where he concealed himself, till the Storm was over-past, which happened soon after. For Julian engaging in a War against the Persians, was slain in the Engagement, and his death miraculously made known the very same day at Alexandria. There was in that City one Didymus, a devout and severe ascetic, or( as Sozomen 
Lib. 6. c. 2. p 638. vid. Pallad. Hist. Lans. c. 3. in vit. Didym. p. 905.  styles him) an Ecclesiastical Philosopher, who while taken up according to his custom with over-long Fasting and Prayer, fell into a Trance, and saw men upon white Horses galloping through the Air, and crying, tell Didymus, and let him acquaint Athanasius, that this very hour Julian is slain, and now let him break his Fast.   

SECT. XIV. His Acts from the death of Julian till that of Jovian.  
Julian's death infinitely resented by the Gentiles. The kindness of his Successor Jovian to the Christians. His Letter to Athanasius to give him an account of the true catholic Faith. A Synod at Alexandria on that occasion; their Epistle to the Emperor concerning the catholic Doctrine, and the Nicene Creed. This Letter sent by Athanasius to Antioch, who is heavily complained against by Lucius and the Arian Party from Alexandria. Their Petitions frequently rejected by the Emperor, and their Favourer's at Court checked and punished. Several Parties of Sectaries endeavour to make their interest at Court, and to undermine each other. The Emperor's Declaration against dissension in the Church. The Acacians subtly comply in a Synod at Antioch. An Address presented to the Emperor by the Synod concerning their Agreement in the Faith. The great stickling of the Anomaean Faction at Constantinople. Their frequent Ordinations of Bishops in all places. Quarrels between eudoxus and Aetius.  
I. JULIAN's death cast so great a damp and discouragement upon the Gentiles, that Libanius 
De vit. sua p. 45.  himself upon the News of it grew weary of his Life, and casting his Eye upon his Sword, resolved to have dispatched himself, which he had done, but that seasonably reflecting upon the Principles of his own Philosophy, he remembered that the disposal of life was in no mans Power, and that in this Case we are to await the Decrees of God, the Violation whereof he could not answer in another World. But his death did not more disanimate the Gentiles, then it gave a new Life and Spirit to the Christian Cause, which but a little before was in danger to be stisted with the vigorous Efforts of antiquated Paganism. For Jovian( or Jovinian as others call him) who had not long since been Captain of the Guards, but discharged for his resolute Profession of Christianity, being proclaimed Emperor in the Field, and having upon the Spot professed himself a Christian, no sooner return'd to Antioch, but gave order 
Socr. l. 3. c. 23. p. 202. Soz. l. 6. c. 3. p. 640. Theod. l. 4. c. 2. p. 152.  to the Governors of the Provinces, that they should go to Church, and worship God according to the Rules of the Christian Religion, and that the banished Bishops should be called home to their several Sees, and that all dissensions( if possible) being removed, the Nicene Faith might universally take place. To this end he directed Letters to Athanasius,( whom all the World beholded as the great Champion of the catholic Cause) requiring him to sand him an exact account of what was the true orthodox Faith. The good man was glad of the occasion, and a Synod of the neighbouring Prelates being convened for this purpose, an Epistle was drawn up to be presented to the Emperor in this Form 
Ext. ap. Ath. p. 398.& Theod. ib. c 3. p. 152. .  
To the most Religious and Gracious Prince JOVIAN, the August, the Conqueror, Athanasius and the rest of the Bishops, who come in the Person of all the Bishops of Egypt, Thebais, and Libya.  
A Mind acted with an earnest desire after the knowledge of divine things, is a Temper highly becoming a Religious Prince; for so shall your heart truly be in the hand of God. Forasmuch therefore as your Piety desires to learn from us the Faith of the catholic Church, we, having for this first rendered our thanks to God, have resolved above all things to lay before your Devout and Religious mind, the Faith published by the Fathers at Nice; which some having rejected, and thereupon endeavoured by a thousand Artifices to undermine us, because we went not along with the Arian Sect, have introduced Schisms and Heresies into the catholic Church. But the true and holy Faith in our Lord Jesus Christ is manifest unto all, being both known out of, and to be red in the holy Scriptures. In which Faith holy men have suffered Martyrdom, and being dissolved, are now at rest in the Lord, and which had for ever remained pure and entire, if the wickedness of some heretics had not presumed to corrupt it. For a certain Person name Arius, together with his Followers, made it his business to deprave it, and to bring in Impiety in its room, asserting the Son of God to be made out of nothing, to be a Creature and a Workmanship, and to be mutable; with which Discourses they seduced many, so that some who seemed to be of greatest account were lead aside with their blasphemous Insinuations. But our holy Fathers being assembled, a● was said, in the Synod at Nice, condemned the Arian heresy, and consigned to writing a Confession of the Faith of the catholic Church, which being every where published, extinguished that heresy, which the Founders of it had brought in. And this Faith is every where known and preached throughout all the Churches. But forasmuch as some being still desirous to renew the Arian heresy, have dared to reject the Nicene Faith; others pretend indeed to confess it, but in truth deny it, perverting the meaning of the word Consubstantial; and moreover blasphemously affirming concerning the holy Ghost, that he is a Creature, made by the Son; we taking into Consideration the danger arising to the People by these blasphemous Assertions, have thought it necessary to offer to your Majesty the Faith consented to at Nice, that you may understand with how much accuracy it was drawn up, and how widely they err from the Truth, who maintain any other Doctrine. Know therefore, most Religious Emperor, that this is the Faith which was preached from the beginning, agreed upon by the Nicene Fathers, and afterwards owned and subscribed by all the Churches in the World, by those of Spain, of Britain, gall, by all Italy, Campania, Dalmatia, Dacia, Mysia, Macedonia, and all Achaia; by all the Churches of afric, Sardinia, Cyprus, Crete, Pamphylia, Lycia and Isauria; all Egypt and Libya, Pontus and Galatia, and the Regions round about, and in short, by all the Churches of the East, a few only excepted, who embrace the Sentiments of Arius. The opinion of all these Churches in this Case we have known upon Trial, and have their Letters to produce. And though some few dissent from this Faith, yet we know, Sir, that a few cannot pre-judge the consent of the whole World; and being long since infected with Arianism, they do at this time most pertinaciously oppose the Truth. Now that your Piety may know the Faith published by the CCCXVIII. Fathers at Nice, though a thing sufficiently known, we have here set it down. It runs thus, We believe in one God, the Father Almighty, &c. In this Faith, Sir, we ought to continue, as being Divine and Apostolical, nor may any man alter it by plausible pretences, or sophistical Reasonings, as the Arians have done all along, who affirm the Son of God to be made of nothing, that there was a time when he was not, that he was made, created, and is mutable. For this Reason the Council of Nice, as we said before, condemned that heresy, and explained the true Faith. For they did not affirm the Son to be simply and absolutely like the Father, that so he might not be believed to be simply like to God, but to be true God of God. Moreover they affirmed him to be Consubstantial, which is the Property of a true genuine Son begotten of a true natural Father. Nor did they separate the holy Ghost from the Father and the Son, but rather glorified him together with the Father and the Son, in the one Faith of the holy Trinity, there being but one God-head in the holy Trinity.  
II. THIS Letter was delivered to Athanasius and a Committee of the Council, who in the name of the Synod were to wait upon, and present it to the Emperor, for that it should be by them drawn up at Antioch, I can scarcely believe. And indeed it was time for them to hasten thither. For upon the first Intimation of the new-created Emperor, the Arian Party at Alexandria had dispatched away 
Vid. libel. prec.& varìa eorum colloquia ap. Ath. Tom. 2. p. 34. &c. vid. etiam Soz. l. 6. c. 5. p. 642, 643  Lucius, Bernician, and some others to Court, to exhibit a Charge against Athanasius. At their arrival they met the Emperor riding through the Roman Gate to the Artillery-ground, whom they petitioned for Audience; being asked who they were, whence, and for what they came, they  told him, and that they desired a Bishop might be set over them. The Emperor answered, that he had given order that Athanasius their former Bishop should possess that See. They replied, that he had been impeached and banished many years ago. Whereat an Officer of the Army standing by, cried out, I beseech you, Sir, inquire yourself who, and whence these are? for these are the Dregs and relics of that wretched George the Cappadocian, who have wasted Alexandria and the whole World. Which the Emperor hearing, spurred on his Horse, and rid away for that time. At the next opportunity they acquainted the Emperor that they had several Crimes to lay to Athanasius's charge, and that he had been banished near thirty years since, by the ever-memorable Constantine and Constantius, and after them by the most Religious and Wise Prince, Julian, late deceased. The Emperor answered, that Accusations made ten, twenty, or thirty years ago, were past and laid aside, that they should say nothing to him of Athanasius, for that he knew wherefore he had been accused and banished. The men were not discouraged with this ill success, but  told the Emperor at the next meeting, that they had other Charges against Athanasius, and requested that they might have any man but him to be their Bishop, and that if he come amongst them, the whole City would be infested, and no man would join in his Religious Assemblies. To this the Emperor answered, that he had already  told them, he had settled Athanasius's Affairs, and that upon strict enquiry he had found him Orthodox, and to teach true catholic Doctrine. They replied, that he spake well indeed, but dissembled in his heart. That, said the Emperor, is enough, which yourselves testify of him, that he speaks well, and preaches truly; and if with his Tongue he teaches right, but believes amiss in his heart, he is in that Case answerable only unto God. For we that are men, can but hear what is spoken, 'tis God only knows what is in the heart. And when they complained that he declared them to be heretics and Innovators in Religion, the Emperor said, that in this he did but his Duty, and that it was the part of all catholic Preachers. After this, and some other trifling Requests, the Emperor dismissed them for that time, commanding them to meet together and consult the next day; and after their breaking up  told them, that the Bishops were there ready, that each of them should draw up the Confession of his Faith; that Athanasius was there too( for by this time he and his Company were come to Antioch) and that whoever was ignorant, or unsatisfied in the Faith, might learn of him. The Issue of the several Addresses and Conferences was, that Euzoius the Arian Bishop of Antioch, who improved all his Interest to settle Lucius in the See of Alexandria, lost his labour, Lucius himself was commanded to be gone, and quietly to behave himself; Probatius Lord Chamberlain, and the other Eunuchs( who at Euzoius's Instigation had stickled hard for Lucius and the Arian Cause) chastised and punished, the Emperor proclaiming, that whoever should dare to undertake any such Cause against Christians, should be served in the same manner. After this, Athanasius was honourably dismissed by the Emperor, with great Commendations of his virtue and the Integrity of Life, his Wisdom and Prudence, as well as his orthodox Belief.  
III. BUT we must not leave Antioch, before we have seen what became of the Attempts that were made by some other Parties at that time. The Emperor's sweet and excellent Temper being known, the Principals 
S●cr. l. 3. c. 25 p. 203. Soz. l. 6. c. 4. p. 641.  of every Sect flocked about him, hoping to establish their particular Interests, and to suppress their Adversaries. Amongst these the Macedonian Party appeared very forward, Basil Bishop of Ancyra, Silvanus of Tarsus, Sophronius of Pompeiopolis and some others, presented a Petition in behalf of the Homoiousians, and against the Anomaeans, wherein they set forth, that they blessed God for advancing his Majesty to the Roman Empire, desiring him either that those things might be ratified, which had been concluded in the Synods of Ariminum and Seleucia, and those things cancelled, which by some mens Power and Interest had been effected; or else that the breach remaining in the Churches as it was before those Synods, the Bishops from all places might meet together in what place they pleased, and freely debate things amongst themselves, none else being admitted into their Society; and that the attempts of any who had a mind to act clandestinely, and to impose upon others,( as had been done in the time of the Emperor Constantius) might not be suffered to take effect. That they had not themselves come to Court, lest their Numbers might give offence; but if commanded, they were most ready to do it at their own Charge. The Emperor taking their Petition, gave them no other answer, but that he hated Contention, but loved and honoured all that were Studious of Peace and Concord. Much about the same time a Synod was held at Antioch, wherein the Acacian Party tacked about, and made it appear that they could at any time be of the Emperor's Religion, and therefore readily joined with the rest in confirming the Nicene Consubstantial Doctrine, which they represented to the Emperor in this following Address.  

To our most Pious and Religious Prince JOVIAN, the August, the Conqueror, the Synod of Bishops assembled at Antioch out of several Provinces.  
WE are not ignorant, most Pious Emperor, that it is your Majesties chief Care and Study, to promote the Peace and Concord of the Church; nor are we ignorant that you very rightly apprehended a Form of the true orthodox Faith, to be the Foundation of this Unity. Therefore that we may not seem to be of the number of those that corrupt the true Doctrine, we acquaint your Piety, that we embrace and firmly maintain the Faith heretofore agreed on in the holy Synod of Nice. For the word Consubstantial, which to some seemed new and strange, was cautiously expounded by those Fathers, so as to signify that the Son is begotten of the Substance of the Father, and that he is in substance like unto the Father; so as neither any Passion may be understood to be in that ineffable Generation, nor the word Substance be taken according to the Use and Custom of the Greeks; but so as to overthrow what Arius presumed to assert, that the Son was made out of nothing. Which also the Upstart Anomaeans do with a greater Boldness and Impudence affirm, to the rending asunder the Peace and Agreement of the Church. And for this Reason we have to this our Address annexed a Copy of the Creed composed by the Bishops in the Nicene Council, which we also own, and is as follows. We believe in one God, the Father Almighty, &c.   
This Declaration of their Faith was subscrib'b by XVII. Prelates, and by Acacius Bishop of Caesarea amongst the rest, then whom no man had heretofore more vigorously opposed the Nicene Creed. But he knew it seems how to steer his course in all Weathers, and softly to comply with what made most for his present Ease and Interest.  
IV. WHILE things passed thus at Antioch, the Anomaean Party was not idle at Constantinople. Aetius 
Philost. l. 7. c. 6. p. 504. l. 8. c. 2, 3, 4, 5, 6. p. 510, &c.  head of that Sect had conceived great hopes from what Euzoius of Antioch with his Synod of nine Bishops had done in his behalf in the Reign of Julian. For at the earnest instance of eudoxus Bishop of Constantinople, he had nulled the Sentence of Deposition passed upon Aetius, and had drawn up a Libel in defence of him and his Doctrine. But the change of Affairs by the Succession of Jovian to the Crown, and the late Council at Antioch that had expressly condemned the Anomaean Doctrine, had broken their Measures, and Euzoius thought best to proceed no further in that Matter. Whereupon Aetius and Eunomius, who were at this time at Constantinople, conceived it high time to look after their own Affairs, and to strengthen and secure their Interest in all places. To which purpose they consecrated several new Bishops of their Sect; at Constantinople they ordained Poemenius, who dying soon after Florentius succeeded in his room; Thallus at Lesbus, Euphronius for Galatia and Cappadocia, Julian for Cilicia; Theophilus the Indian was sent to Antioch to persuade Euzoius to perfect what he had begun in the Cause of Aetius, and upon refusal, to take the Charge of that People upon himself. In Egypt and Libya, Serras and his Brethren were to administer the Affairs and Interests of the Party. Over the Churches of Lydia and Ionia they set Candidus and Arianus, whom Aetius himself accompanied home to give them Possession of their Charge. But he met with an Opposition which he looked not for. For one Theophilus a Bishop of his own Faction, set himself against him, and associating with Phaebus, and seven Bishops more, met in a Synodal Assembly, and protested against him and his Proceedings, and wrote Letters to eudoxus, and Maris of Chalcedon, wherein they charged Aetius his Ordination as irregular and uncanonical, and that when he had been degraded from his Deaconship, he had without the leave and allowance of his Deposers, invaded the Episcopal Office. They disowned the Ordinations he had given to Candidus and Arianus, and any of the rest, as Acts done rashly, and without the common Suffrage. The Letter was very welcome to eudoxus, who highly resented Aetius his ordaining a Bishop under his own Nose at Constantinople, and wrote back to Theophilus and his Associates, that they should go on vigorously in what they had begun, and proceed severely rather against Aetius and the rest of the Ordainers, than against those who had been ordained by them, and perhaps he might at that time be the more tender in the Case of Candidus and Arianus, because they were near akin to the Emperor Jovian, and had gone to him while he lay yet at Edessa, to solicit him against Athanasius. But he wisely concealing his own Opinion, referred the Matter to a more public Assembly, which soon after met, when he arrived at Antioch. Afterwards eudoxus wrote likewise to Euzoius to engage him against Candidus and Arianus. But he rejected the Motion with some Indignation, and in his answer rebuked the Rashness and Confidence of the man, and advised him to let fall that design, calmly putting him in mind of his great neglect in not performing what he had solemnly engaged to do in the behalf of Aetius. This Opposition, and the mutual feuds of these great men gave a notable check to the Anomaean Faction, and made the catholic Cause, lately espoused by the Council at Antioch, run more clear and smooth.   

SECT. XV. His Acts from the death of Jovian; with his own death and Character.  
Valens in the East espouses the Arian side. A miserable Persecution hereupon raised against the catholics. Warrants particularly issued out against Athanasius. The People of Alexandria remonstrate the true State of his Case. Athanasius retires, and happily escapes the Fury of his Persecutors. The Embassy of the Alexandrians to Court in his behalf. The quiet that ensued upon it, while the Persecution raged in all other places. His Interposals in the Affairs of foreign Churches. His assisting Basil to compose the Distractions in the Church of Antioch. His Age, Death, and Successor. The Opposition made by the Arians against Peter his Successor, and the heavy Persecution that commenced thereupon at Alexandria. His admirable Character drawn by Nazianzen. His natural Parts, and acquired learning what. His great accuracy in Theologick Studies. charged with skill in magic, and why. His style and way of writing highly commended. His Writings justly held in great Esteem. His Works distinguished into Doctrinal, Polemical, and Historical. A general account of each. Spurious Books fathered upon him. His writings enumerated.  
I. THINGS thus happily proceeded, when these hopeful beginnings of the Churches Prosperity were checked by Jovian's sudden and unexpected death, after he had reigned not above eight Months. To him succeeded Valentinian, a sweet and good natured Prince, and a great Patron of the catholic Cause, who choose the West for the Seat of his Empire, assigning the East to his Brother Valens, whom he assumed to be his colleague in the Government, one of somewhat a more rough and intractable Temper, who being baptized by eudoxus Bishop of Constantinople in order to his more prosperous Expedition against the Goths, soon after declared himself in favour of the Arians. They were not to be taught how to improve the Advantage of having the imperial Authority on their side. Edicts 
Soz. l. 6. c. 12● p. 653.  were hereupon sent to the Governors of Provinces, that the Bishops who in the time of Constantius had been banished, and restored by Julian, should be again expelled their Churches, Valens hoping hereby to decline the Envy of the Fact, by insinuating that he did but revive the Law of his Predecessor. We may be sure that Athanasius was not without his share in the common Calamity, nay a more particular regard was had of him, very severe both pecuniary and corporal Mulcts being threatened to all Officers from the highest to the lowest, if they did not herein faithfully and diligently execute their Warrants. But the People of Alexandria began to remonstrate, entreating the governor that he would not rashly force away their Bishop, that he would more considerately weigh the Tenor of the Imperial Letters, which were directed only against such as being banished by Constantius, had been recalled by Julian; that Athanasius was not within this compass, that he had indeed sled under Constantius, but that he was by him recalled and restored to his See, and that when Julian restored all the rest, he was the only Person whom he persecuted, but that Jovian had again recalled him. All would not satisfy, the Governor persisted immovable in his Resolution, which the Multitude seeing, made Head, and resolved to defend him from Force and Violence. And now all things openly tended to ●edition, the People threatening to burn the Corn-ships that transported G●ain from Alexandria, and to set fire to the public Buildings, to prevent which, the Governor prudently let the thing rest at present, till he could give the Emperor an account of it. So that the Storm seemed to be wholly laid; but Athanasius fore-seeing what was like to happen, and fearing to be accused as the Author of a Rebellion, privately in the Evening retired out of the City, and that he might be the more unsuspected, concealed himself in a Monument belonging to his Family, where he lay hide for the space of four Months. And 'twas a seasonable retirement. For that very night he withdrew, the Governor attended with the Commander of the Forces, came to the Church, whereto adjoined Athanasius's House, hoping that the People being all asleep, they might easily apprehended him without any Tumult; they narrowly searched all Places, ransacking the very Garrets and top of the House, but finding him not, returned. The Governor at this time was Tatian 
Vit. Ath. ap. Phot. Cod. CCLVIII. col. 1449.& ap. Sim. Metaphr. gr. l. ap. Ath. Tom. 2. p. 566. , a Person of great Cruelty and Inhumanity, whom the divine Vengeance not long after overtook. For being divested both of his Preferments and Estate, he was forced to beg his Bread, and being struck blind, lead a disgraceful and uncomfortable Life, his Statues also in all parts of the City being smoked and blacked, were every where exposed to contempt and scorn. But to proceed.  
II. THE Alexandrians not knowing what Representation the Governor might make, did themselves sand an Embassy 
Epiph. Haeres. LXVIII. p. 310. vid. Socr. l. 4. c. 20. p. 230.  to the Emperor, earnestly beseeching him that for Peace-sake Lucius the Arian Bishop might be translated to Antioch or some other place, and that Athanasius might be permitted quietly to possess his See. The Emperor either out of regard to the great famed and Reputation of the man,( for whom the World had so just a Reverence and Veneration) and especially fearing to provoke his Brother Valentinian, or else apprehending the ill Consequences of a Rebellion in Egypt( where he knew Athanasius had so numerous a Party, and where the People were so naturally disposed to Seditions and Tumults) if things were carried with too stiff a hand, yielded to their Request, and gave him leave to return. To which the wiser Heads of the Arian Faction were not unwilling, foreseing that if Athanasius were banished, he would in probability make his Address at Court, where upon a just Representation of Affairs, he might undeceive and bring over Valens, especially having the Emperor Valentinian to be friend him. But whatever the Cause was, the Effect was happy, the good man by this means enjoying henceforward a calm and serene Season, while the Storm 
Socr. l. 4. c. 15.16. p. 226. &c. Soz. ib. c. 14. p. 655.  raged in the neighbour Churches round about him: some were impeached with false Accusations, and drawn before the Courts of Judicature, others scourged and beaten, some imprisoned, others fined, or their Estates confiscated, and when for the redress of these intolerable Grievances, LXXX. ecclesiastic Persons were appointed to carry a Petition to the Emperor, then at Nicomedia, upon the delivery of it, the Emperor who was highly enraged, but yet dissembled his Resentment, gave order to the Governor to put all these Persons aboard a Ship, under pretence of transporting them into Banishment, which was done accordingly, and the Ship being out at main Sea, the Mariners according to their Instructions got into the Boat, and set the Ship on fire, whereby all those fourscore innocent Persons miserable perished. All this while Athanasius sat quiet and secure at home, and was at leisure by his Councils and Interest to assist his Friends in foreign Parts. He had been lately called upon by S. Basil 
Ad Athan. Epist. XLVIII. p. 75.  to interpose his Influence and Authority for composing the Distractions at Antioch, and other Churches of the East, as being a Person whose Prudence and Piety, whose Age and Experience, and whose many Sufferings for the Faith rendered him the fittest Person to undertake such a Work; that therefore he should do well to improve his Interest with Heaven by Prayers for them, sand Legates to the Bishops of the West, to give them an account of the calamitous State of the Eastern Churches; and afterwards others into the East, where there was the greatest Danger, and most immediate necessity of his assistance. And by his next Letter 
Ib. Epist. XLIX. , wherein he again presses the same thing, it appears he had some expectation of Athanasius his coming into those Parts, and enjoying the Company( as he calls it) of that truly great and apostolic Soul. But Age, and the multitude of his Affairs at home, would not suffer him to undertake so great a Journey, however not to be wanting in what he might, besides others, he sent Peter 
Al. Ath. ib. Epist. LII. p. 79.  a Presbyter of his Church, as his Deputy and Vice-gerent, who traveled earnestly in those Matters, till he had brought them to a tolerable Composure and Agreement. After which S. Basil dispatched Dorotheus Meletius's Deacon at Antioch to Athanasius for his further Advice and Council, entreating him to writ to the Bishop of Rome, that since a general Synod could not be had about this Affair, he would sand his Opinion about it, and deputy some fit Persons to come into the East,( who might have an easy and private Passage by Sea, Persons furnished with Prudence and Meekness, who might alloy the Heats, and bring with them the Acts of the Synod at Ariminum, and rescind those things which had by force and violence been enacted in that Synod; and withall 'twas very much desired both by himself and others, that they should come empowered to condemn the heresy of Marcellus, which still spread itself, and whereof he had his Books by him, evidences beyond all dispute; and this the rather necessary for them to do, because in all their Letters directed into those Parts, they had sufficiently censured and anathematized Arius, but in the mean time had taken no notice of Marcellus, who had brought in a quiter contrary, but perhaps no less impious and dangerous Error. That Athanasius complied with this request, we need not doubt, for we find the Western Prelates 
Vid. Basil. Epist. LXXIV. p. 129.& CLXXXII. p. 195.  by Letters and Messages, comforting them under their Sufferings, and expressing a great Sympathy and Commiseration towards them. Nor was Athanasius wanting in personal kindnesses towards S. Basil, writing 
Epist. ad Joan●& Antioch. p. 733. Epist. ad Pallad. p. 734.  in his behalf, when the Monks of his diocese fell out and quarreled with him, reproving their rashness and insolence in mutinying against so great a Person, whom he styles the Glory of the Church, and tells them they had cause to bless God, that had given such a Bishop to Cappadocia, whom every Province would be glad of.  
III. ATHANASIUS being thus full of dayes, and broken with infinite labours and hardships, departed this life in a good old Age, Gratian the second time and Probus being Consuls( says the Church-Historian 
Socr. l. 4. c. 20. p. 230. ) that is Ann. Chr. CCCLXXI. The year after says Baronius 
Ad Ann. 372. , and most of the Moderns. But Proterius one of his Successors in that See tells us in his Letter 
Edit. à butcher. come. in Victor. Can. Pasch c. 2. p. 84  to Pope lo about the Paschal Cycle( if for Anastasius we are there, as no doubt we are, to red Athanasius) that he was yet alive March XXIV. Ann. Chr. CCCLXXIII. or according to his way of Computation in the LXXXIXth. year of the Diocletian Aera. He died January the XVIIIth. says an Anonymous Author 
Vit. Ath. gr. l. ap. Ath. T. 2. p. 544. , on the IId. of May according to the Calendar of the Greek and Latin Church, on the seventh of that Month, says the Author of the Excerpta Chronologica 
Non Procul à fin. p. 85.  published by Scaliger, in the XLVIth. or XLVIIth. year of his Episcopal Office. Being asked 
Rufin. l. 2. c. 3. p. 243. Socr. ib. Soz. l. 6. c. 19. p. 661. Theod. l. 4. c. 20. p. 175  before his death, concerning a Successor, he nominated Peter, the same no doubt whom he had lately sent to S. Basil into the East, and who had been the constant Companion of his Labours and Sufferings, to whom he gave many grave and wise Directions, how to behave himself in those troublesone Times. A Person so venerable for his great Parts and Piety, his known Zeal and Resolution for the Truth, that Theodosius the Emperor made him one of the two Standards of catholic Doctrine, from whom all Persons in that Case should take their Measures, as appears from a Law 
C. Th. lib. 16. Tit. 1. l. 2. vid. Soz. l. 7. c. 4. p. 708.  he made for reducing the People to the catholic Faith, wherein also he styles him a man of apostolic Sanctity. The People rejoiced greatly at the Designation of so excellent a Person, and the Election was consummated by the Vote and Hands of the neighbor-Bishops. The News of Athanasius's death soon flew to the Court at Antioch, when Euzoius Bishop of that place having procured the Imperial Warrants, and attended by Magnus Lord-Treasurer, hastened immediately to Alexandria, where joining with Palladius the Governor, a bitter and implacable Enemy to Christianity, they violently broken in upon the Church, and raised a Persecution not inferior in profaneness, and the most horrid Impieties, in Cruelty, and the most savage Barbarities to any that had been before it, those of the Heathen Ages not excepted. Peter they seized, and cast into Prison, and advanced Lucius the Arian( that second Plague of Egypt, Traitor to the Truth, that Pastor of Wolves, the Thief that climbs over the Fold, the second Arius, a Current fuller than its pernicious Fountain, as Nazianzen 
Orat. XXIII. p. 417.  styles him) to the Episcopal Throne, delivering the Churches into his hand, and giving him Power to do whatever might make for the Interest of his Cause. Peter escaping out of Prison, took Shipping and went to Rome, where he was kindly received, and where he expected a more favourable Season; whence after some time being effectually recommended by Pope Damasus's Letters, he return'd home, recovered his See, and driven out Lucius, who fled to Constantinople; but the Emperor at that time being taken up with the Inundation of the barbarous Nations on the one hand, and frighted with the Rebellion of his own People at home, that threatened him on the other, was not at leisure to assist him.  
IV. THUS have we brought the great Athanasius to his Grave, the most considerable man of the Church in his time. Take his Character from one of the most elegant Pens 
Nazian. in Iincom. Athan, Orat. XXI. p. 378.  of that Age. He was( saith he) as humble in his mind, as he was sublime in his life, a a man of an inimitable virtue, and yet withall so courteous, that any might freely Address to him, meek, gentle, compassionate, amiable in his Discourse, but much more so in his Life, of an Angelical look, but much more of an angelic Temper and Disposition, mildred in his Reproofs, and instructive in his Commendations, in both which he observed such even Measures, that his reproof spake the kindness of a Father, and his Commendation the Authority of a Master, so that neither was his Indulgence over tender, nor his Severity austere, but the one savoured of Gentleness and Moderation, the other of Prudence, and both the Effect of true Wisdom and Philosophy. He was one that so governed himself, that his Life supplied the place of Sermons, and his Sermons prevented his Corrections; much less need had he to cut or lance, where he did but once shake his Rod. In him all Ranks and Orders might find something to admire, something particular for their Imitation: One might commend his unwearied Constancy in Fasting and Prayers, another his vigorous and incessant persevering in Watchings and Praises; a third, his admirable Care and Protection of the Poor; a fourth, his resolute Opposition of the Proud, or his condescension to the Humble. The Virgins may celebrate him as their Bride-man, the Married as their Governor, the Hermits as their Monitor, the Coenobites as their Law-giver, the simplo as their Guide, the Contemplative as a Divine, the Merry as a Bridle, the Miserable as a Comforter, the Aged as a Staff, the Youth as a Tutor, the Poor as a Benefactor, and the Rich as a Steward. He was a Patron to the Widows, a Father to Orphans, a Friend to the Poor, a harbour to Strangers, a Brother to Brethren, a Physician to the Sick, a Keeper of the Healthful, one who became all things to all men, that if not all, he might at least gain the more. With respect to his Predecessors 
Id. p. 37●.  in that See, he equalled some, came near others, and exceeded others; in some he imitated their Discourses, in others their Actions, the Meekness of some, the Zeal of others, the Patience and Constancy of the rest, borrowing many Perfections from some, and all from others, and so making up a complete Representation of virtue, like skilful Limners, who to make the Piece absolute, do first from several Persons draw the several Perfections of Beauty within the idea of their own Minds. So he, insomuch that in practise he out did the Eloquent, and in his Discourses out-went those who were most versed in practise; or if you will, in his Discourses he excelled the Eloquent, and in his practise those that were most used to business, and for those that had made but an ordinary advance in either, he was far Superior to them, as being eminent but in one kind; and for those who were Masters in the other, he out-did them, in that he excelled in both. This and much more has that incomparable Father, who says in the beginning of that encomiastic, that to commend Athanasius, was the same thing as to commend virtue itself, that the Course 
Ibid. p. 397.  of his Life was accounted the Standard of the Episcopal Function, and his Doctrine the Rule of Orthodoxy; that he was 
Id. Orat. XXIII p. 417.  the most holy Eye and Light of the World, the Archiepiscopal Bishop, the Pillar of the Faith, and a second John the Baptist. The truth is, he was a man of real and unfeigned Piety, of an impregnable Courage, which no Dangers or Troubles could daunt, of a most active and unconquerable Zeal for the catholic Faith, in the defence whereof he held up the Bucklers, when the united strength almost of the whole World besides pressed upon him, and which never flagg'd under so many years potent Opposition, and so many and such barbarous Hardships as were heaped upon him. He overcame every thing by a mighty Patience, and recommended his Cause by the meekness of his Sufferings, he was {αβγδ}( as the fore-cited Father says 
Orat. XXI. p. 392.  of him) an Adamant to his Persecutors, and a Load-stone to Dissenters, the one found him incapable of Impressions, no more apt to yield than a Rock of Marble, the other by a singular meekness, and a generous Patience he drew over to himself, or where not that, he drew them at least to a secret Reverence and Veneration of him. He was in short, what Vincent 
Commonit. p. 366.  of Loire truly says of him, a most faithful Teacher, and a most eminent Confessor.  
V. HIS natural Parts were acute and brisk, his Reasonings quick and smart, his judgement stayed and solid, all which, had they been improved with equal Advantages of Education, were capable to have rend'red him one of the most learned Persons the Church ever had. But his juvenile Efforts and Re-searches were soon diverted to more grave and severe Studies, which made him less eminent in the politer Parts of secular Learning, for the want whereof he is censured by Philostorgius. He was taken, when but a Youth, into the Service of a Sage Reverend Prelate, under whom he engaged betimes in Theological Speculations, and nice Disputes about the most sublime Articles of Religion, lived all his time in a Crowd and bustle, and was exercised with little else besides Crosses and Controversies to his dying day. Thus Nazianzaen 
Ubi supr. p. 376.  apologises for him, that he was instructed early in divine Studies, and did but just salute Philosophy and the Arts, that he might not seem altogether a Stranger to them, nor to be ignorant of those things, which he did not think worth his more serious Care. For he was not willing that the noble and generous Efforts of his mind should be stisted and swallowed up in such vain Re-searches; he applied himself to the Meditation of the Old and New Testament, becoming a greater Master in both, than any other was in one; thence he enriched his Notions, thence he adorned the brightness of his Conversation, both which he admirably connected as a Golden Chain. Indeed his Master-piece lay in the Studies of Theology, and Church-learning, wherein he was in a manner( says Sozomen 
Lib 2. c. 17. p. 466. ) {αβγδ}, self-instructed from a Child, and which his continual Conflicts with the Arians, and other heretics of that Age forced him to beat out to the utmost Accuracy and Perfection. He was a profound Divine, an excellent Preacher, a prudent Governor, furnished with all the Graces necessary to that Office. Nor was he unvers'd in the Paths of foreign and external Learning, besides those of Humanity, he was well red in the Laws of the Roman Empire, whence Severus 
S. Hist. l. 2. p. 148.  styles him Juris consultum, one skilful in the Laws. He was accused likewise( says the Heathen Historian 
A. M●r●●●l. l. 15. p. 1453. ) to be exactly skilled in Astrology and magic, that he understood the sorts Fatidicae, and the augural Portent of the slight of Birds, and had sometimes foretold things to come. Which however improved by the Arians and Heathens into a formal Charge, seems to have had no wiser a Foundation than this occasion. Passing 
S●z. l. 4. c. 1●. p. 549.  on a time through the Streets, a Raven chanced to sly croaking over his head: the Gentiles that stood by, asked him in scorn, what 'twas the Raven said. He smiling, and alluding to the noise of the bide, answered, it cried Cras, which in the Roman Language signified to morrow, and thereby portended, that to morrow would be no very acceptable day to them, for that the Emperor would thenceforth prohibit them to celebrate their Pagan Festivals. Which however slighted by them, accordingly came to pass; for the next day Letters came from the Emperor to the Magistrates, commanding them to forbid the Gentiles to resort to their Temples, and to abstain from the customary Rites and Solemnities of their Worship.  
VI. HIS style and way of Writing 
Vid. P●●t. C●●●. XXXII. c●l. 20.& CXXXIX. CXL. col. 316.  is every where, but especially in his Epistles and Apologeticks, very clear and perspicuous, grave and chast, count and eloquent, acute and persuasive, and admirably adapted to the Subject that he undertakes. He frequently uses Logical Arguments and Ratiocinations, not barely propounded, and strictly tying himself to terms of Art( as young Scholars do that vainly dispute for Glory) but like a wise and generous Philosopher, duly forming and dressing up the Conceptions of his own mind. As occasion requires, he is wont to confirm his Argument with frequent Testimonies and Demonstrations derived out of the holy Scriptures, especially in such Points as are of pure Revelation. compared with other Writers, he is not( if we may trust Erasmus his judgement 
Praefat. in Ath. E●●●t. de Sp. S.& inter. Epist. l. 3●. E●. 88. col. 1871. ) harsh and rugged like Tertullian, affencted like S. Jerom, not operose and difficult, which is the fault of S. Hilary, not full of turnings and windings like S. Augustine and S. Chrysostom, he savours not of Isocrates his numbers, or Lysias his elaborate Compositions, like S. Gregory of Nazianzum, but is wholly taken up in explaining the Matter he has in hand, being clear, quick, sober, and intent upon his Argument. His works were ever held in great Estimation; when thou meetest with any Tract of Athanasius( said abbot Cosmas to the Author of the Pratum spiritual 
Prat. S●. c. 40 Bib●●ot●. Pp. gr. l. T. 2. p. 1070. ) and hast no Paper at hand to transcribe it, rather than fail, writ it upon thy Coat. Several of his Writings are lost, those yet extant are either Doctrinal, Polemical, or Historical. His Doctrinal Tracts are most what spent in laying down, explicating and asserting the main Doctrines and Principles of the Christian Faith; such are his Expositio Fidei, Responsum ad Liberium, his Homilies de Semente, and de Sabbato& Circumcision●, &c. His polemic Pieces are levelled either against Heathens or heretics; against the former he Disputes rationally and wittily in his two Books against the Gentiles, the latter whereof, though it has been thought to be lost, yet 'tis plain 'tis no other than his {αβγδ}, his Discourse concerning the Incarnation of the Word, as is beyond all dispute evident at first sight from the beginning of it, where he tells us, that having in the former Tract succinctly though sufficiently treated of the Idolatry and Superstition of the Gentiles, and its Original in the World; and having spoken something of the Divinity of the Word of God, and his universal Power and Providence, as by whom God the Father creates, governs, and disposes all things; he would now, according to his method, proceed to treat of the Incarnation of the Word, and his Divine coming in the Flesh, against the Calumnies of the Jews on the one hand, and the Derision of the Gentiles on the other. But his main conflict was not with open Enemies, but secret depravers of the Christian Doctrine, and though as they come in his way, he spares no sort of heretics, confuting the Marcionites, Valentinians, Samosatenians, Sabellians, Manichees, &c. yet he principally directs his Forces against the Arians, whom at every turn he beats out of all their Refuges, and this he has especially done in his five Orations against the men of that Sect, a Book which Photius 
Loc. supr. cit.  thinks to be alone sufficient to overturn the whole Foundation of Arianism, so clearly, so fully has he managed the controversy in those Discourses; a Magazene out of which 'tis thought S. Basil and S. Gregory the Divine borrowed their best Weapons to resist and refel the Errors of that subtle and daring heresy. In his Historical Tracts,( in which number we must comprehend his Apologetical Discourses, most-what filled with Matters of Fact, and wherein he more particularly stretches forth all the Nerves of his Wit and Eloquence) he gives us a clear and distinct account of the most material Transactions of his Age; and for which alone we can never pay a sufficient Tribute of thankfulness to his Memory, who otherwise had been left miserable in the dark, there being in his Writings far more, and far better accounts of the State of those times, than in all other Writers put together, indeed little in others, but what is borrowed from him, and what commonly fares worse by falling into other hands. Nor has he escaped the Fate of all wise and excellent Writers, to be abused by others. For besides that heretics made bold sometimes to corrupt his Writings( an instance whereof Rufinus 
Apol. ap. Hier. T. 4. p. 197.  tells us, he knew in his time) others presumed to gain Credit and Authority to their Writings, by thrusting them out under his name. The first I find charged 
Evagr. H. Eccl. l. 3. c. 31. p. 361.  in this kind, being the Nestorian and Eutychian Monks of palestine, who fathered several of Apollinaris's pieces upon him. And the Example was followed by after-Ages, who have laid a numerous Bastard-issue at his door, and some of them foolish and trifling, and altogether unworthy so great a name. Of all which, both genuine and spurious, for a Conclusion we here present the Reader the following Index.   

His WRITINGS.  

Genuine.  
Oratio contra Gentes.  
Oratio de incarnatione Verbi.  
Contra Arianos Disputationes seu Orationes V.  
In illud Dictum; Omnia tradita sunt mihi a Patre; &c.  
Ad Adelphium Episc. contr. Arianos Epistola.  
Epistola ad Maximum Philosophum de Divinitate Christi.  
Epistola ad Serapionem adv. eos, qui dicunt filium creaturam esse.  
— ad eund. adv. eos, qui dicunt Spiritum S. esse creaturam.  
Expositio Fidei.  
Responsum ad Liberii Epistolam, cum Epistola Liberii.  
Epistola ad Jovianum de Fide.  
Epistola de Synodi Nicaen contra Haeresim Arianam decretis.  
Epistola de Sententia Dionysii Alexand. adv. Arianos.  
Ad Fratres Orthodoxos Epistola Catholica.  
Refutatio Hypocriseos Meletii, Eusebii,& Pauli Samosat. {αβγδ}.  
Epistola ad Antiochenos.  
Epistola ad Epictetum Episc. Corinth. adv. Haereticos.  
De incarnatione verbi Dei adv. Paulum Samosat.  
De humana natura suscepta,& contra Arianos.  
De incarnatione Domini contra Apollinarium.  
Oratio de adventu Christi adv. eundem.  
Oratio contra gregales Sabellii.  
Oratio, quod unus sit Christus.  
Epistola ad Serapionem de morte Arii.  
Apologia ad Imperatorem Constantium.  
Apologia de fuga sua.  
Apologia II.  
Epistola ad Omnes ubique solitariam vitam agentes.  
Populi Alexandrini protestatio.  
Epistola de Synodis Arimini& Seleuciae.  
Epistola ad Africanos adv. Arianos.  
Epistola ad omnes ubique Orthodoxos.  
Epistola ad Joannem& Antiochum.  
Epistola ad Palladium.  
Epistola ad Dracontium.  
Ad Marcellinum de interpretatione[ seu Titulis] Psalmorum.  
De Sabbatis& Circumcisione.  
In illud, Quicunque dixerit verbum contra filium, &c.  
In illud, Profecti in Pagum, &c.  
De virginitate.  
Homilia de Semente.  
Oratio contra omnes Haereses.  
Oratio in Assumptionem Domini.  
Oratio de Melchisedech.  
Epistola ad Serapionem de Spiritu S.  
Adeund. de Spiritu S. Epistola altera.  
Contra Arianos {αβγδ}.  
Libellus precum, seu colloquia varia  
Arianorum cum Joviano Imper.  
Antiochiae habita.  
De incarnatione verbi Dei.  
Responsum ad Epistolam Joviani, cum Imperatoris Epistola.  
Epistola ad Ammon Monachum.  
Epistolae XXXIXth. Festalis Fragmentum.  
Epistola ad Rufinianum.  
Ad Luciferum Calaritanum Epistolae duae. Lat.  
Fragmenta Commentariorum in Psalmos.   

Doubtful.  
Synopsis S. Scripturae.  
Testimonia ex S. Scriptura de communi essentia Patris, Filii,& Spiritus S.  
Sermo in passionem& crucem Domini.  
Vita D. Antonii, prout extat hody.   

Supposititious.  
Disputatio contra Arium in Synodo Nicaena.  
De sanctissima Deipara virgin.  
Symbolum Athanasii.  
Tractatus de Definitionibus.  
De S. Trinitate Dialogi V.  
Dialogus inter Orthodoxum& Macedonianum, continens XX. Capitula.  
Quaestiones CXXXV. ad Antiochum.  
Dicta& Interpretationes parabolarum Evangelii, Quaest. CXXXIII.  
Quaestiones aliae XX.  
Disputationes cum Ario Laodiceae habitae. Lat.  
De unita Deitate Trinitatis ad Theophilum Lib. VII. Lat.  
Ad Monachos exhortatio. Lat.  
Epistola ad Marcum Papam, cum Rescripto Marci. Lat.  
De passione imaginis D. N. I. Christi crucifixa in Beryto.  
Declaratio Levetici.  
Homiliae VII. ab Holstenio latin Editae.  
Expositiones II. de Incarnatione verbi. exit. Lat. in Biblioth. Pp. Tom. XI. p. 3.  
Orationes IV. in Anchiurio Gr. l. a Combef. edit. Tom. 1.  
S. Syncleticae vita. Lat. ap. Bolland. ad Januar. V.   

Not Extant.  
Commentarii in Ecclesiasten.  
Comment. in Cantica can●●orum.  
Contra Valentem& Ursacium Lib. unus.  
Epistolae {αβγδ}.  
Epistolae aliae plures.    
The End of S. Athanasius's Life.   

THE LIFE OF S. HILARY BISHOP OF poitiers. 
S. HILARIUS PICTAVIENS.   portrait of Saint Hilary of Poitiers  
The eminent place of his Nativity. His Education in the gentle Religion; and by what Methods converted to Christianity. His Baptism. His married Life. Marriage not then thought inconsistent with the Pastoral or Episcopal Office. His singular Piety, and concernment for Religion, while yet a laic. advanced to the See of poitiers, and when. His ignorance of the Controversies about the Nicene Faith after he was Bishop. He sets himself to oppose the growing Power of Arianism in the West. His remonstrance to Constantius concerning the State of the catholic Party, and his impartial dealing with that Emperor. Constantius his Edict in favour of Bishops. His abstaining from all Communion with the Favourers of the Arian Party; and detecting the Impiety of that Cause in a Discourse presented to the Synod at Arles. An Order directed to Julian for his Banishment into Phrygia. His employment during the time of his Exile. His writing the XII. Books de Trinitate. His frequent Advices sent to the Bishops in France. His Letter to his Daughter Abra, to engage her to a single Life. The Letter now extant of suspected Credit. His Book de Synodis, written to give the Gallican Bishops an account of what late Confessions of Faith had passed in the East. His being summoned to the Council at Seleucia, and what happened in his passage thither. He vindicates the Churches of France from the Imputation of Sabellianism, charged upon them by the Arians. His defence of the {αβγδ} in the Synod. The Blasphemy of the Anomaeans, and the hypocrisy of their Principles. Hilary's Petition to the Emperor. His Oration to him in Vindication of the catholic Cause. His bold Libel directed to Constantius, published after the Emperor's death. His release from Banishment, and return homeward. S. Martin one of his Scholars, his course of Life, and intimate Familiarity with S. Hilary. The State of his Church at his return. The great influence of his judgement, in determining that the penitent Bishops were to be admitted to Communion. A Synodical answer to the Eastern Bishops, discovering the Artifices of the Arians. Saturninus of Arles excommunicated. A Book of S. Hilary's corrupted, and th● fraud detected. His Journey to Milan to expose Auxentius. The Cause referred and heard, but judgement overruled. His Death and Burial. The dis-intombing and burning his Bones, falsely charged upon the Hugonots. His Miracles and famed after death. His incomparable Piety, Zeal, and Courage. His learning; his Style; what contributed to the obscurity of it. What he borrowed from the Greeks. Abatements to be made for his odd Opinions. His Works Genuine and Spurious.  
ST. HILARY was born at poitiers 
Hier. Praefat. in l. 2. come. in Gal. T. 9. p. 173. V●n. fortune. de S. Hil. in init.  in France, anciently called Augustoritum, a prime City in the Province of Aquitania Secunda, and at this day next in extent to Paris, an Episcopal See, and an University, renowned for the Study of the Civil Law. His Parents( whose names Antiquity has concealed from us) were Persons of considerable Rank and Quality, and who accordingly gave him a liberal and generous Education, evidently seen in the Learning and Eloquence, that rendered him famous through the Christian World. He seems to have been bread up in the Religion of the Gentiles, and to have been brought over to Christianity by the truest and most rational Methods of Conviction. For he tells 
De Trinit. l. 1. p. 2. &c.  us, that having seriously considered the Folly and Vanity of Pagan Idolatry, he began to think with himself, that the Professors of this could never be competent Tutors and Guides to truth. Whereupon he set himself to contemplate the visible Frame of things, and to conclude that the same Power that made, must preserve and steer all things, that in an almighty and incorruptible Being, there could be no Sexes, no successive Generations, that the Author of all could have nothing without himself, and that Omnipotency and Eternity were necessary and incommunicable Perfections of the divine Nature, incapable of agreeing to any more than one. While he was engaged in these and such-like Reflections, he met with the Books of the Old Testament, wherein he was greatly surprised with that short, but comprehensive account of God, I am that I am. This put him upon further researches, and he was infinitely delighted with his Speculations concerning the Nature and Perfections of God, to pursue the knowledge of whom( so far as attainable) he reckoned to be one of the most kindly Offices he could perform to his great Creator. In this pursuit he was mightily encouraged by the natural sense he had of future Rewards, and that it was not enough only to have right Notions of God, unless there was a lively hope that good men should be happy in another Life, and that it was an unworthy apprehension of God, to conceive that so noble a being as the Soul of man, made to understand, adore, and enjoy its Maker, should expire with the last breach. From hence he proceeded to survey the Revelation of the Gospel, and so arrived to the knowledge of God the Son, and the great end and Advantages of his coming into the World, the Divinity of his Person, and the great Mystery of his Incarnation, that he was God of God, the Word that was God, and that in the beginning was with God, of the same Nature, Glory, and Eternity with his Father, the Word that was made flesh, being both God and Man in one Person. furnished with this accurate knowledge of the Christian Doctrine, he was baptized, or to use his own Phrase 
Ibid. p. 4. ●. , he was called by Faith into the new Nativity, and to obtain the heavenly Regeneration, which he knew to be the Pledge and Assurance of a future and better Life. And now he resigned up his understanding to the Authority of divine Truth, avoiding all captious and sophistical Questions, and resolving the more sublime and intricate Articles into the Veracity and Power of God, not peremptorily concluding that to be false, which his shallow Capacity could not presently comprehend.  
II. WE have little account how he bestowed the former part of his Life, only that he was married 
Ven. Portun. in vit. S. Hilar. non long ob init. , and by his Wife had one only Daughter, called Abra, whom he took care to train up in all the Principles of Religion, and in the Paths of Piety and virtue. With his Wife he co-habited even after his preferment to the Episcopal Function, as the more ingenuous 
Vid. Gillot● Praef. ante ap. Hilarii.  of the Roman Communion dare not deny, and that Marriage was not then thought inconsistent with that Office, nay that married men were oftener chosen to it, than single Persons, 
Quia isti non tam idonei curae pasturali quam illi judicarentur. Hieron. ap. Gillot. loc. cit. Quasi non body quoque plurimi sacerdotes habeant Matrimonia,& Apostolus Episcopum describat unius uxoris virum, habentem filios cum omni castitate. Hieron. l. 1. ad Jovin. p. 32. T. 2. Eliguntur mariti in sacerdotium, non nego, quia non sunt tanti virgines, quanti necessarii sunt sacerdotes. ibid. p 40.  who( as S. Jerom himself grants) were not so fit for the Pastoral Care, as the other; but withall they tell us, that in those dayes the Church had defined nothing in this Matter. And surely had the Church, I mean that of Rome, never made any such Constitution, nor pressed the observance of it with so much rigor and importunity, the Christian World might have been free from infinite Scandals and Inconveniencies, which this one Constitution of ecclesiastic Celibacy has brought upon it. S. Hilary while yet a Lay-man took not that liberty, which men of secular employments usually indulge themselves, but so carefully kept himself to the Rules of ecclesiastic Discipline, that he seemed to be particularly designed by Heaven for some eminent Dignity and Authority in the Church. He was admirably strict in the government of his Life, and true to the Interests of the catholic Faith, with the Enemies whereof he would not eat, no nor so much as salute them when he met them. A good part of his time he spent in instructing others, explaining to them the Nature and Principles of Religion, and informing them in the right Belief of the holy Trinity, other-whiles persuading them to the virtues of a good Life, by laying before them the infinite Rewards of Heaven and Immortality. An employment that would be thought much below a Gentleman in this loose and degenerate Age.  
III. THIS excellent Temper and course of Life, at the concurrent instance and importunity of the People, recommended him to the bishopric of poitiers 
T. fortune. ubi s pr. , wherein Baronius 
●d Ann. 355. N●●. LXX.  places him not till the year CCCLV. without any other warrant, that I know of, than his own conjecture. For my part, I see no reason but to fix him there some years sooner, especially since he sometimes speaks of things as done several years before his Banishment. Nor is his not being at the Council of Arles( which the Cardinal intimates) a sufficient Argument, that he was not then Bishop, seeing there might be particular Occasions of his absence at that time. One thing memorable he tells us of himself 
De Synod. ad●. A●ian. col. 362. , that for some time after his being Bishop, he had never heard of the Nicene Faith,( Copies of it perhaps not being commonly dispersed in the Western Parts, where the controversy started later,) though I suppose he means it of the nice and particular Disputes about the {αβγδ} and {αβγδ}, howbeit even then, he tells us, by conversing with the Writings of the Evangelists and Apostles, he very well understood the thing itself, and the meaning of two so much controverted words, which he ever expounded in an orthodox sense. The famed of the man thus eminently seated, soon spread abroad, and filled not France only, but foreign Parts with the Report of his virtues, and invited him to be concerned in some of the most important Affairs of the Church. The Arian Faction having pretty well subdued the East, were now attempting to erect their Banners in the West. Constantius after the over-throw of Magnentius, lay at Arles in France Ann. CCCLIII. where they packed a Synod, and partly by force, partly by smooth Insinuations, partly by Arts of Falsehood and Treachery, they carried the day, and drew in not only Saturninus Bishop of that City( who thenceforward became a great Bigot for the Party) but Vincentius Pope Julius's own legate to that Synod. Somewhat more than a year after, the Emperor being removed to Milan, another Synod( Synagoga Malignantium, as S. Hilary calls it, a Synagogue or Congregation of the wicked) is convened there, where they more openly prosecute their Design, some they wrought upon by persuasives and fair Pretences, and where they could not untie the Knot, they cut it, banishing those that refused to condemn the Athanasian Cause, in which number were Eusebius of Vercellae, Lucifer of Calaris in Sardinia, and Dionysius of Milan; into whose place they thrust one Auxentius, a man composed of deceit and subtlety, a fit Instrument to promote a bad Cause.  
IV. THESE rigorous and violent Proceedings awakened the Zeal and Spirit of S. Hilary, who published hereupon a Remonstrance 
Lib. ad Const. Aug. exit. op. ejus p. 302.  to the Emperor, wherein he lays before him the miserable State of the catholic Party, humbly and passionately beseeches him to deliver them from the contempt and injuries of their Brethren, and to command the Governors of Provinces not to proceed with fury and violence against innocent Persons, or to meddle in Causes not proper to them, to permit the People to enjoy their own Bishops and Pastors, and to offer up their joynt-Prayers for his Majesty's happiness and safety, and that he would recall those excellent Persons whom he had banished, where Liberty would be no less acceptable, than the Joy would be universal. He tells him, that there had been Christians before Arius, whose Faith was not vain, and who had obtained the end of their Faith, the Salvation of their Souls; that 'twas but a little while since the Plague of Arianism had infected the Air of the Christian World, that its Parent was known, and those who nursed it were of late date, the two Eusebius's Narcissus, Theodorus, Stephanus, Acacius, Menophantus, and especially those two forward Youths Ursacius and Valens, who by Letters and Messages had barked and railed at those that differed from them, and by Whips and Gibbets, by Chains and Prisons had endeavoured to rack men into a Belief, and to compel them to become not Christians, but Arians; that to effect this, they had abused the imperial Authority, and had imposed upon his Majesty, persuading him under a pretence of Religion, to deliver up his Subjects into their hands, to be examined, condemned, and punished; yea extorting connivance even from the common People. Instances whereof were their Actings in the late Synods both of Arles and Milan. To this purpose was the Address; and that such free and impartial Dealing should not exasperate Constantius to sand him the same way after his Brethren, is( as Baronius 
Ubi supr. N. LXXXII.  not improbably guesses) to be attributed to his unwillingness, too much to dis-oblige the People in France, at this time especially, when those parts were over-run with Invasions of the barbarous People. Nay to sweeten the exasperated humour for the present, he published this following Edict 
Lib. 16. C. Theod. Tit. 2. l. 12.  in favour of the Bishops, against the Usurpations of secular Magistrates, who at every turn called them before them, judged Matters of Faith, and inflicted Punishments upon the Persons whom they had condemned, whereof S. Hilary had smartly complained in his late Petition. The Edict was as follows.  

WE forbid, by the Law of our Clemency, that Bishops be questioned in civil Courts, lest under pretence of avoiding that way of Trial, which is presumed will be over-favourable to them, liberty should be given to men of evil minds, to bring them into trouble, and prefer Indictments against them. If therefore any one have a Complaint to make, it is expedient that the Cause should be debated before other Bishops, that so a fit and proper hearing may be given to all those Charges that shall be preferred against them.  
Dated the IXth. of the Calends of Octob. Arbitio and Lollianus being Consuls; that is, Septemb. XXIII. Ann. Chr. CCCLV.   
Indeed Constantius was greatly startled at the News of the Commotions in France, to quiet which, the best expedient that could be thought of, was to create his Cousin Julian Caesar, and to sand him with an Army to reside in those Parts, where he quickly driven out the Germans, and reduced the Country into order.  
V. THE late Transactions at Arles and Milan, had highly offended the catholic Bishops in France, insomuch that S. Hilary 
Hilar. lib. contr● C nst. col. 286.  advising with the rest, it was unanimously agreed, to abstain from Communion with Saturninus, Ursacius, and Valens, the prime Sticklers of the Faction, and to leave a Liberty to the rest of the Party to come in upon their Repentance. Saturninus, a man proud and factious, of an ill Temper, and worse Morals, stomach'd it to be excommunicated by the Bishops of his own Province, and by his Interest at Court procured a Synod to be held at Besiers near Arles, and all the neighbor-Bishops to be summoned thither, hoping that in his own diocese, where he had so direct an influence, and by the countenance of the Civil Power, he might carry things to his own mind. The Council met Ann. CCCLVI. but S. Hilary had his Eyes open, and knowing how easy it was for the subtle Faction by smooth Pretexts and their accustomend Arts of Dissimulation to abuse the Simplicity of his Brethren, drew up an account of the true State of the Case, wherein he laid open the Impiety and villainy of the Arian Cause, which he presented to the Synod. But they not caring to hear on that ear, would not suffer it to be red, most of the Prelates either complying, or at least conniving at what was done, only Rhodanius 
Sulp. Sev. H. S. l. 2. p. 154.  Bishop of Tholose stood his ground, who being otherwise of a soft and easy Temper, was kept upright merely by the Spirit and Courage of S. Hilary, whose company he kept, and whose advice he followed, and accordingly ran the same Fortune with him. Saturninus saw now there was no hope of gaining our Bishop of poitiers, and therefore dispatched Messengers to Court 
Hil. and Synod. col. 319. l. ad 〈…〉 3●6. ●●r. de S●●i●. ●●lar.  in the name of the Synod, where by false and sly Insinuations, he traduced him to the Emperor, from whom he obtained an order for his Banishment, and that he might be sent far enough out of the way, he was banished into Phrygia, a Warrant being directed to Julian to put it into Execution, and thereby he as well as the Emperor was abused and imposed upon by those false Suggestions; for so I understand that Passage of S. Hilary 
●ib. ad Const. col. 3●6. , and not as Baronius 
Ad An. 355. N. LXXXVIII. , who thence infers that Julian had interceded for him with the Emperor, and upon that account had been slandered and mis represented by the Arians.  
VI. HAVING disposed his Affairs at home, and committed the Government of his Church to the Care of his Presbyters, he betook himself to the place of his Exile, where he continued some years. Nor did he pass his time in Softness and Delicacy, but in Prayers and Tears, in Cares and Labours for the good of the Church. For now it was 
Vid. l. 10. de Trin. col. 196. F. ( though we cannot six the particular year) that he set upon that noble and elaborate Work, of writing his twelve Books concerning the Trinity, wherein he has largely and accurately handled the whole controversy, and was the first, or at least one of the first of the Latin Church, that professedly undertook the Defence and Patronage of that Argument against the subtle Reasonings, and impious Assertions of the whole Arian Faction. He wrote 
De Synod. in initio.  frequently into France from all places whither he came, giving his Friends an account what Transactions were then on foot, what Designs the Arians were driving on, what Councils he and his Brethren the Eastern Bishops had entertained for the Interest and Security of the catholic Cause. Nor was he unmindful of his private Concerns, and the Affairs of his Family, if we may believe what is reported by one 
V. fortune. de vit. Hila●. ubi supr.  of his Successors in that See. For understanding that his Daughter Abra( whom he had left at poitiers with her Mother) was importunately desired in Marriage by a young Gentleman, of good Accomplishments and great Estate, he wrote a Letter to her to dissuade her from it, assuring her that he had provided her a Husband, whose Birth and Nobility was beyond any human Race, whose Beauty out-did the lily and the Rose, whose Eyes sparkled like Diamonds, whose Garments were whiter than the Snow, whose Wisdom was incomprehensible, Riches inestimable and indefectible, and his Chastity pure and uncorrupt, persuading her in short to devote her self entirely to the Service of Christ, a match he  told her which he would accomplish at his return, and that in the mean time she should lay aside the thoughts of any other Nuptials. And a Letter is extant 
ap. Fort. loc. citat. , which my Author( who wrote this about the year DLIX.) tells us, was kept as a Monument at poitiers, wherein he declares this at large, as represented to him in a Vision, and presses her to expect his return, when he would more clearly unriddle and unfold it to her; sending her withall, a divine Hymn to be used at her morning and evening Devotions, referring her for any thing less intelligible in them to the Instructions of her Mother, whose great desire it was by an excellent Example to form and train her up to a divine Life. The Letter and Hymn are still extant, which being both of suspected Credit, we shall not here insert.  
VII. TOWARDS the end of the year CCCLVIII. a rumour 
Vid. lib. de Synod. col. 319, &c.  being spread, that a Synod was to be held at Ancyra in the East, and another at Ariminum in the West, and that two Bishops, or one at least, were to be summoned out of every Province in France, he took care to inform them of the true State of things. He had of late from their long continued silence, begun to suspect that they had warped aside, and gone along with the Stream, and had entertained the Confession agreed upon, and subscribed by Hosius in the late Arian Convention at Sirmium. But at last their Letters came, which cleared all his Doubts, assuring him, that they continued firm to the catholic Interest, owned his Cause, and still refused Communion with Saturninus of Arles; that the Sirmian Confession had indeed been sent them, but that they had not only rejected, but condemned it, entreating him to sand them an account of what Confessions of Faith had of late years been passed in the Eastern Parts. This he presently did in his Book de Synodis, wherein he set down the most considerable Confessions that had been made since the great Council of Nice, which he translated out of Greek, and explained and illustrated with his own Comment upon them, and amongst other things, Discourses concerning the so much bandied Expressions of {αβγδ} and {αβγδ}, showing, that if men were of sincere and honest Minds, they might be both expounded into a very sound sense, but that to avoid the danger of Dissimulation, and out of Reverence to the Fathers of Nice, it was best to keep to the Term {αβγδ} or Consubstantial, there being no just Reason why the Arians should except against it; that therefore he besought them to remain inviolable in that Belief, and to recommend his Cause in their Prayers to Heaven.  
VIII. HE had now continued somewhat more than three years in Banishment, when to answer the Council held at Ariminum in Italy, a Synod was called at Seleucia in Isauria, to which he was sommon'd 
S. Sev. l. 2. p. 158.  amongst the rest, not by any particular Direction from the Emperor, but by the command of Leonas the Treasurer, and Lauricius the President of Isauria, to whose Care the Emperor had committed that Affair, from whom he received safe Conduct, and the benefit of public Carriage. In this Journey 
V. fortune. in vit. Hilar.  thither( take it upon the Credit of my Author) as he passed by a certain Garrison, he went on the Lord's day into the Temple there, when immediately a Heathen Maid, called Florentia, breaking through the Crowd, cried aloud, that a Servant of God was come amongst them, and fell down at his Feet, importunately beseeching him that she might be signed with the Sign of the across. Whose Example her Father Florentius following, was, together with his whole Family baptized into the Christian Faith. Nor was the Maid satisfied with this, but taking leave of her Parents, followed him in all his Travels, and attended him to his own House at poitiers, saying, that herein she thought her self more obliged to her spiritual, than to her natural Father. Being arrived at Seleucia, he was gladly received by those few catholic Bishops that were there, but rejected by the rest, till he had cleared an Imputation laid upon him. For the Arians before his coming, had traduced him and the Churches of France, as guilty of Sabellianism, or of maintaining Father, Son, and holy Ghost, to be but three several names of the same God. But having wiped off this, and given them an account of the Faith professed by the gallic Churches, agreeable to the Nicene Creed, he was admitted into the Council. The grand Question debated in the Synod, was concerning the {αβγδ} and the {αβγδ}, and the {αβγδ}, or Sons dissimilitude to the Father, fiercely contested between two contending Parties, the one headed by Acacius Bishop of Caesarea, the other by George of Laodicea, who were the far greater and more moderate Party. There were not many stood by the {αβγδ} besides S. Hilary, and the few Egyptian Bishops of Athanasius's side; for the others, the Debates flew high, there wanting not those that affirmed 
Hilar. lib. contr. Const. col. 292. , that nothing could in Substance be like to God, that in the divine Nature there could be no Generation, and that Christ was a Creature; that upon the account of his Creation, he was said to be born, but that he was made of nothing, and consequently was neither Son, nor like to God. Nay, what was the excess of Blasphemy and profaneness, it was there publicly averred to have been preached at Antioch, that in the God-head there was neither Father nor Son, and that if there were, it necessary inferred, that there must be a Female Partner, and all consequent Acts and Instruments of Generation. At the hearing whereof, and other the like Stuff, the Synod begun to ferment into great Tumult and Disorder. The Anomaeans considering that Christian Ears would never brook such impious and extravagant Assertions, drew up a Form of Belief, that condemned the Doctrine of dissimilitude. Which seeming strange to the Assembly, S. Hilary asked one, who was set upon him to feel how he stood affencted, what was the meaning, that they who had positively denied the Son to be either of the same, or like Substance with the Father, should now condemn the Doctrine of his being unlike to God. He was answered, that Christ was not like to God, but to the Father. The answer made the thing more obscure and intricate than before; till upon a second enquiry the other thus explained himself, that when he affirmed the Son to be unlike to God, but like to the Father, he meant, that it was the Will of the Father to make such a Creature, which should will the like things that he did, and that in that regard he was like the Father, being the Son not of his Nature, but his Will: but that he was unlike to God, being neither God, nor of God, that is, not begotten of the Substance of the Father. S. Hilary was infinitely surprised and amazed hereat, nor could believe it to be spoken in earnest, till he was publicly assured, that it was the sense of the whole Party, all the Homoyousians expressing a most vehement Abhorrency and Detestation of it. The Conclusion was, that the Acacian Party and their Form, was rejected and condemned, and the Confession made twenty years since, in the Council at Antioch,( wherein was no mention of the Son's Consubstantiality) approved and ratified.  
IX. THE Synod being dissolved, ten Legates were 
S. Sev. ib. p. 159. 163.& Ven. fortune. ubi supr.  dispatched to Court, whom S. Hilary followed to Constantinople, not that the Emperor had commanded him to repair thither, but that he resolved to attend his Majesty's pleasure, whether he should return home or back again into Banishment. At his coming to Court, he found the catholic Faith going down the Wind apace, the Western Prelates in the Synod at Ariminum impos d upon, and vexed into compliance, and the Orientalists forced to go the same way, whereupon he presented three several Petitions to the Emperor, that he might have leave to come into his Presence, and to defend the Faith against its Antagonists and Opposers; but this the Arians would by no means agree to. This denied, he presented a Discourse 
Lib. ad Const. col. 306. init. Non sum nescius, &c. ( which he seems to have pronounced in the Emperor's presence) wherein having first begged a favourable Audience, he vindicates his own Innocency against the Attempts and Insinuations of his Enemies, complains of the unhappy State of Religion at that time, that new Creeds were multiplied so fast, that the Faith was lost in a crowd of Confessions, and was shaped according to the humour of the Age, not according to the truth of the Gospel, that they were the bravest men that could produce a Creed of the newest and the freshest Date, and most roundly denounce an Anathema against those that differed from them: Annuas, atque menstruas de Deo fides decernimus, Admirable Stewards( says he) of divine and invisible Mysteries, we compose new Creeds every year, yea every month, we make Decrees, and then recall them, defend them, and then anathematize those that do so, either in our own, we condemn others, or in sentemcing others, we condemn our own, and while we bite one another, we are devoured one of another. In these acute Reflections he spends a good part of his Oration, managing the Argument with great salt and smartness, and whereas his Majesty required a Faith agreeable to the divine Revelations, he besought him to give him leave to discourse a while before him and the Synod( then assembled at Constantinople, and torn in pieces with Heats and Animosities) concerning the Faith out of the holy Scriptures, and to undertake the Cause of Christ, whose Bishop he was, and for whose sake he now suffered Banishment; and this the rather, because the worst of heretics pretended to derive their impious and blasphemous Belief out of the Scriptures. Whereas the Scriptures lie not in the Letter but the sense, and become useful not barely by reading, but by understanding, and are understood not by subtlety, but by Love and Charity. And that he might give him a Specimen of what he would discourse on before so great an Assembly, and upon so famous and controverted an Argument, and what he hoped would turn to the Honour of his Reign, the Glory of the Faith, and the Peace and Settlement both of the Eastern and Western, Churches, he concludes with a brief Account of his Faith, that Faith which he had received at his Baptism, and which was according to the Doctrine of the Gospel.  
X. WHAT Effect this Discourse had, is uncertain. Baronius 
Ad Ann. 360 N. VIII.& seq.  conceives 'twas altogether without success, and that now looking upon the Case as desperate, he backed it with another, wherein laying aside all mildred and gentle persuasives, he proceeds in ruder and rougher Methods; and that this was no other than that Discourse still extant 
Oper. Hilar. col. 285. init. Tempusest loquendi, &c. , which in the Title is said to have been written against Constantius after his death; which Inscription he pretends is false, and that the Discourse was presented to Constantius himself at this time, induced hereunto by no other Argument, but because in it S. Hilary says, 'twas now the Fifth year from the time that he separated from Communion with Saturninus and his Party, which( says he) falls in exactly with this year. But whoever considers, with what intolerable Sharpness and Severity( to say no worse) he treats the Emperor in that Discourse, how in his transports of Zeal, he styles him Anti-christ,( and justifies it too from Scripture) fighter against God, the new Enemy of Christ, the Destroyer of Religion, a Tyrant in the things of God, a Persecutor beyond the Rage of Nero, Decius, or Maximian, the wickednest of men, with much more to that purpose, must needs think that no man of a far greater Patience than Constantius would have endured to have been  told so to his face, and that such an Address could not have been made at less cost than the price of his Head; and consequently must conclude, either that he suppressed it during his life, or( which is most probable) wrote it after his death, in the beginning of Julian's Reign, when a man might, if not with encouragement, at least with safety, talk at that rate. Nor, is the Objection from the time much material, seeing Constantius died the very next year after, nor can the precise time be fixed, when Hilary and the French Prelates first abstained from Communion with Saturninus, so that a quarter or half a year may contribute not a little to the salving of this Matter.  
XI. BUT be it as it will, this is certain, that the Arians grew weary of S. Hilary; they found him a man of Stomach and Courage, and one whom a mighty Zeal inspired with an indefatigable Industry and Diligence, and therefore to be rid of his company, persuaded the Emperor to let him go home, whereupon he is commanded 
Sev. ib. p. 163  to be gone, as a sour of Discord, and the great Troubler of the East. He made no great hast in his return to France, staying in most places by the way, especially in Illyricum and Italy, where he confirmed the catholic Faith, strengthened the Weak, resolved the Scrupulous, and mightily convinced Gain-sayers wherever he came. And here it was 
Soz. l. 5. c. 13. p. 614. R●fin l. 1 c. 30, 31. p. 238  that Eusebius of Vercellae, who return'd in the beginning of Julian's Reign, overtook him, found him employed, and joined with him in this excellent Work. Amongst all his Friends, none more earnestly desired, or impatiently expected his return, than S. Martin, who was afterwards Bishop of Tours. He was a Person of good Descent, and from a Child brought up with his Father in the Camp, and served in the Wars under Julian. At ten years of Age he left his Parents, and the Pagan Religion, wherein he had been brought up, sled to the Church, and became a Catechumen; at XVIII. he was baptized, but continued still his Military Life, till very hardly gaining his Dismission from Julian, he went to poitiers 
S. Sever. de vit. B. Martin. c. 4. p. 184, 187 V Fort. ubi supr.  to S. Hilary, with whom he lived some time before his Exile. The good Bishop was infinitely pleased with the Temper and Conversation of the man, and resolved to gain him to the Service of the Church, and frequently attempted to invest him with the Office of Deacon. But the Modesty and Humility of the man made him deaf to all persuasions, till S. Hilary considering there was no better way to catch him, than to propound a place that might look like a debasure and degrading of him, put him upon undertaking the Office of the Exorcist, which he complied with, that he might not seem to slight it as too mean an employment. Troubles increasing upon him by means of the Arian Faction, after S. Hilary's departure, he went into Italy, and set up a Monastery at Milan, where he met with no better usage from Auxentius the Arian Bishop; thence he sled with one only Companion, to a private iceland called Gallinaria, where he lead a most severe and pious Life. Having now heard that S. Hilary was coming home, he went as far as Rome to meet him, but missing of him, followed him immediately into France, and in a place near poitiers erected a Monastery, where he lived, till some years after he was created Bishop of Tours.  
XII. S. Hilary 
fortune. ib.  entred poitiers in a kind of Triumph, nothing was seen but Expressions of Joy, his presence put a new Life into the People, who seemed half dead while he was from them. As soon as his Affairs were a little settled at home, he began to look about him, and to see how he might compose the public Distractions in those Churches, and it was no more than what the State of those times did importunately call for. The Artifices that had been used in the Synod at Ariminum, had involved almost all the Bishops of the West in the guilt of Arian Compliance, the natural Effect whereof was Distrust and Quarrels, Divisions and Separations, the Sound shunned the infected, and one man refused to converse and communicate with another. And what yet added to the unhappiness of things was, that when some were willing to own their Fault, others were unwilling to receive them. And thus stood Affairs at S. Hilary's return 
S. Sever. loc. cit. , who was doubtful at first what course to take, many affirming, that no Communion was to be held with any that had approved the Transactions at Ariminum, who were to be rejected as Heathens and Publicans. But the good Bishop was for the more gentle and mildred Opinion, and thought it better in Imitation of the divine Compassions, to reduce men back to Repentance and Reformation. To this end he procured Synods to be convened in several Parts of France, where the Question was debated, and the Matter brought to an Issue; the Bishops 
Hieron. adv. Lucifer. p. 143. Tom. 2.  that had been ensnared in the Council at Ariminum, flocked from all Parts, and declared, that whatever they might be accounted, their Consciences did not charge them with heresy, protesting by the blessed Sacrament, and all that is Holy and Sacred, that they did not suspect any ill Design in what they had done, that they thought mens Minds and Words had agreed together, and that in the Church, where nothing but Simplicity and the Confession of Truth should take place, there should never have been sound one thing in the Heart, and another in the Tongue; that they ●●d entertained a good Opinion of bad men, and that that had betrayed them, and that they could never have believed that Christ's Commanders should have fought against him. All which they acknowledged with Tears and Sorrow, and professed themselves ready to revoke their former Subscriptions, and to condemn the whole Body of the Arian Blasphemies. And so the Matter went on smoothly, and the Penitent Prelates were received and restored. The only Person that made any considerable Opposition, was Saturninus of Arles, whose Obstinacy and Impiety not being curable by any other means, was to undergo the last and severest Remedy. S. Hilary having received Letters out of the East, letting him know how generally they acquiesced in those Confessions, wherein the words Substance and Consubstantial were omitted; a Synod was called at Paris, wherein they return'd a Synodical answer 
Ext. ap. Hil. in fragm. col. 431. Conc. T. 2. col. 821. Baron. T. 4. ad Ann. 362.  to the Eastern Bishops, and therein express a just Resentment of the Frauds and Subtleties that had been used in all late Conventions, to divide the Opinions of the East and West, and to lay aside those well-contriv'd Expressions, that had been purposely taken up to obviate heresy; that for themselves they had always owned the {αβγδ}, according to which they there largely explain their belief concerning the Son's God-head and Divinity; that this was the Faith which they had ever hitherto, and would still maintain, in Opposition both to the Errors of Sabellius on the one hand, and Arius on the other; that according to their desires they held excommunicate Auxentius, Ursacius, Valens, Gaius, Megacius, and Justin, and that their Brother Hilary had openly declared he would have no Peace with any of their Party, that they did condemn all those blasphemous Assertions, which had been sent together with their Letters, and did more peculiarly refuse converse with any that had invaded the Sees of the banished Bishops, solemnly promising, that if any in France offered to oppose these Determinations, they would depose him, and banish him all Communion.  
XIII. IN this, or at least some preceding Synod( for they mention it in their Letter) Saturninus was accused, not only of heresy, but of great misdemeanours in his Life and Manners, and continuing obstinate, was excommunicated by all the Bishops in France, and was no sooner thus taken off, but the rest struck Sail, and were admitted upon professing their Repentance. To one of these Synods also must be referred,( were there any truth in it) that trick, which Rufinus 
ap. Hieron. Apol. adv. Rufin. p. 221.  tells us was put upon S. Hilary, that one of his Books having after the Council of Ariminum, being secretly corrupted by some Arian hand, he was now in a Convention of Bishops, questioned about his Sentiments in that Matter, and his own Book appealed to, as evidence in that Case. The Book is sent for, and the places found so as was represented, and he thereupon condemned of heresy, and excommunicated, and as such forced to depart the Synod. This is the Story, which S. Jerom cries out upon as a most notorious Figment, challenging Rufinus to produce his Author, to name the place where such a Synod was holden, what Bishops were present, and who for or against it, under what Consuls, and by what Emperor it had been summoned, whether they were only French, or Spanish and Italian Prelates, and what was the occasion of the Assembly. I am loth to have so bad an opinion of Rufinus, as to think he purely forged and contrived the Story. For cvi bono? What end could he serve in it? Not to mention the palpable Violence that he must needs offer to his own Conscience. Perhaps something tending that way, might have been spread by the Malice of the Faction, and the thing improved by going from hand to hand; or S. Hilary's Enemies might have sentenced him in some of their clancular Assemblies, and Rufinus meeting the Report, heedlessly took it up, and it may be added some Circumstances to make it out. Sure I am, the men of the Luciferian Schism 
Vid. Faust.& marcel. lib. prec. p. 10, 11.  severely condemned S. Hilary for his Lenity and Indulgence to the penitent Bishops, that he had abated the edge of his Zeal, and was become a Patron of heretics and Apostates, whom before he had so happily confuted by his eloquent Writings. But whether this, or any such-like occasion gave birth to the Story, or whether there was any Foundation at all of Truth in it, I shall not further take upon me to decide.  
XIV. THUS by the Care and Industry of this great man, things were tolerably pacified in the West, and so continued for some years, when Auxentius of Milan, who had been often deposed and excommunicated by the catholics, had by Arts of hypocrisy and Dissimulation, so far wrought himself into the favour of the Emperor Valentinian, as to obtain an Edict from him for the quiet Possession of his See. Which coming to S. Hilary's Ears, he resolved upon a Journey to Milan, on purpose to uncase the Fox, and to dis-abuse the well-meaning Emperor. At his arrival at Court 
Hilar. lib. adv. Auxent. col. 314, &c. , he immediately fell upon Auxentius, whom he charged with Blasphemy, and with believing otherwise than he had made the Emperor and the World believe. Valentinian moved with the Address of so venerable a Person, referred the Cause to the Hearing of the Treasurer, and the Master of the Palace, who had ten Bishops as Assessors with them. At first Auxentius excepted against the Person of his Accuser, that he ought not to be heard as a Bishop, who had been heretofore condemned by Saturninus. But the Court over-ruled this Plea, and resolved, as the Emperor had ordered, to proceed directly to Matters of Faith. And here Auxentius found himself pinched, and not knowing where to get out, roundly professed he believed Christ to be true God, and to be of one and the same Substance and Divinity with God the Father. This Confession was entred upon Record, and S. Hilary prevailed with the Treasurer to present a Copy to the Emperor. Indeed Auxentius denied all that was charged upon him, and in his Libel 
Ext. Ibid. col. 317.  or Petition to the Emperor, endeavours a full Vindication of his Faith, complaining of Hilary and some others for branding him for an heretic, and raising all that clamour and trouble against him. And though, as S. Hilary observes he did but dissemble in his most orthodox Assertions, eluding all by subtle Distinctions and mental Reservations, yet by these plausible Pretences he kept up his Reputation with the Emperor and the People, who owned and conversed with him as a most catholic Bishop. S. Hilary urged, that all this was but Scene and Fiction, that he still denied the Faith, and did but mock God and man, but the Emperor bad him sur-cease any further Prosecution, and commanded him to be gone. So he was forced to return home, laden with nothing but the saisfaction of an honest and well-meant Design.  
XV. WHETHER this disappointment made any such Impression upon his mind, as to hasten Sickness upon him, or whether merely worn out with Age and Infirmities, and the many Troubles and Sufferings he had undergone, is hard to say. 'tis certain, that not long after his coming home, he departed this Life, six years( says Severus 
Lib. 2. p. 165. ) after his return from Exile; but that's impossible; S. Jerom 
Chron. ad Ann. CCCLXVIII.  nearer the Truth places it Ann. Chr. CCCLXVIII. But 'tis plain, it could not at soonest be till the following year, when he return'd from Milan, at what time( as appears from Auxentius's Epistle to the Emperor) it was ten years since the Council at Ariminum, which was holden Ann. CCCLIX. He died January the XIIIth. which therefore the Western Church has consecrated to his Memory, and was butted in his own Church, with this Epitaph 
Ext. ap. Gillot. Praefat. in Hil. ex. Cod. yet. , we are  told, written on his Tomb, but savouring of the Poetry of a later Age.  
Hilarius cubat hac Pictavus Episcopus urna,  
Defensor nostrae terrificus Fidei.  
Istius aspectum serpentes far nequibant,  
Nescio quae in vultu spicula sanctus habet.  
I find it reported by Authors 
Bellarm. de reliq. SS. c. 1. col. 745. Sur. Hist. ad Ann. 1562. p. 751.  of great name in the Church of Rome, that during the Civil Wars in France Ann. MDLXII. the Hugonots, amongst other Insolences, broken open the Grave of this venerable Prelate, took out his Bones, and having burned them, threw the Ashes into the River. A most impudent Calumny, stiffly disowned by Protestants 
Vid. Scult. Medul. Pp. in Hilar. p. 1258. , as destitute of all colour and pretence of Truth. Nor is it mentioned by any of the wiser and more judicious Persons of that Church, no not by those who are wont to catch all Opportunities of bespattering and reproaching Protestants, such as Possevin, Labbee, &c. Not the least hint of any such thing in the great Thuanus, even where he mentions the greatest Extravagances of that kind committed in those times. But why stand I to disprove what never was? S. Hilary is greatly famed for Miracles, said to have been done by him, which they that are curious may find in Gregory 
de Mira●. Martyr. l. 2. c. 2. p. 194.  Bishop of Tours, Peter Damian 
Serm. 150. , and especially in Vincentius Fortunatus 
de vit. S. Hil. l. 2.  one of his own Successors, who had he been as careful to transmit to Posterity the particular Notices of his Life( whereof he has given us a very dry and barren account) as he has been to Record the Miracles, said to be wrought by him, after his death, had much more obliged us to be thankful to his Memory. The great Church at poitiers is dedicated to him, 'twas heretofore an Abbey, and is now a Collegiate Church, and has this peculiar Honor, that the Kings of France are successively Heads or Abbots of it. He is the Protector or Tutelar Guardian of the City, in the midst whereof is a Column erected to him with this Inscription.  
DIVO HILARIO. URBIS PROPUGNATORI.  
FIDELISSIMO. ASSIDUISSIMO.  
CERTISSIMO.  
PICTAVORUM EPISCOPO.  
XVI. HE was a man of more than common severity of Life, in all the Passages whereof, and indeed in all his Writings there breaths an extraordinary vein of Piety; he solemnly appeals 
de Trin. l. 1. p. 11.  to God, that he looked upon this as the great Work and Business of his Life, to employ all his Faculties, of Speaking, of Reason and Understanding to declare God to the World, and either to inform the Ignorant, or reduce the Erroneous. He had a great Veneration for Truth, in the search whereof he refused no Pains or Study, and in the pursuit of it, was acted by a mighty Zeal, and in the Defence of it, used a freedom and liberty of Speech, that sometimes transported him beyond the bounds of Decency, as is too evident( not to name other Instances) in his Addresses to, and the Character he gives of Constantius, wherein he lets loose the Reins not to Zeal, but to Rage and Passion, and treats him with a Liberty far from being consistent with duty to Governors, or indeed justifiable by the common Rules of Prudence and Civility; his hearty concernment for Religion, meeting with the vigour and frankness of his Temper, the natural Genius of his Country, made him sometimes forget that Reverence that was due to Superiors, though otherwise he was of a very sweet gentle Temper. No Considerations either of hope or fear could bias him one hairs breadth from the Rule of the catholic Faith; he underwent Banishment with as unconcerned a Mind, as another man takes a Journey of Pleasure; he was not moved with the tediousness of his journeys, the hardships of his Exile, or the barbarity of the Country whither he went; he knew he had to deal with potent and malicious Enemies, and that were wont to imbrue their hands in blood; but he carried his Life in his hand, and dared at any time to look Death in the Face. He tells 
Praef. ad fragm. col. 399.  us, that would he have been content to satisfy and betray the Truth, he might have enjoyed his Peace and Pleasure, the favour and friendship of the Emperor, places of Power and Grandeur in the Church, and have flowed in all the Pomps and Advantages of secular Greatness. But he had a Soul elevated above the Offers of this World; and Truth was infinitely dearer to him, than Liberty or Life itself. He was acted by a true Spirit of Martyrdom, and seems to have desired nothing more, than that he might have sealed his Faith and his Religion with his Blood. He wishes 
L. contr. Cons● p. 287.  he had lived in the times of the Neronian or Decian Persecutions, that he might have born his Testimony to the Truth of God, that he would neither have feared the Rack, nor been afraid of the Flames, nor have shunned the across, nor startled, if thrown to the bottom of the Sea. And in the Conclusion of his Book to the Bishops of France, he tells 
●. Synod in f●●.  them, he knew not whether it would be more welcome to him to return home to them, or safe for him to die( where he then was) in Exile. In fine, he was to the West, what Athanasius was in the East, the great Atlas and support of the catholic Cause, to which he stood firm and constant, when all the rest of the Bishops sunk into an unwarrantable Compliance and Prevarication. And the Historian 
S. Sever. l. 2. p. 164.  Records it to his Honor, as a thing universally known and granted, that by his alone Care and Diligence France had been delivered both from the Infection and the guilt of heresy.  
XVII. HIS Learning was as considerable as those parts of the World could furnish him with. That he was not skilled in Hebrew,( which S. Jerom 
Epist. ad Marceli. T. 3. p. 114. 〈◇〉. in G●●●b. p. 201. Ep. ad Damas. ib. p. 123.  more than once charges upon him) is no wonder, Jewish Learning was rare in those dayes, and especially in the Western Parts. His living so many years in the East, had given him some acquaintance with the Greek, though he never attained an Accuracy and Perfection in that Language as is evident amongst other Inst●nces by his Translations extant at this day. He principally applied himself to Theological Studies, and to examine the Controversies of those times, wherein, though consisting of very nice and intricate Speculations, he became a great Master, and was one of the first amongst the Latins that openly undertook to explain and defend the catholic Faith. His style like the Genius of the French Language at that time is turgid and lofty, which therefore S. Jerom 
Praef. in l. 2. Comment. in Galat. vid. Ep. ad Paulin. T. 1. p. 104.  compares to the evan, not so much for the copiousness, as for the quickness and rapidness of that River. His Phrases are affencted, his Periods long, and his Discourses intricate, and not easily intelligible, and which oft require a second and attentive Reading. So that his Language, though eloquent in its kind, is not chast and genuine, it being true, what 
Epist. Praef. Op. S. Hilar.& inter Epist. l. 28. Ep. 8. col. 1636.  Erasmus not impertinently observes upon this occasion, that the Roman Provincials( some few only excepted who were brought up at Rom●) seldom or never attained the purity and simplicity of the Latin Tongue, but betray an over-anxious Affectation of Eloquence, a thing incident to all those who are naturalised into, rather than Natives of any Language, and who seldom fail of tincturing, or rather infecting their style with the peculiar Idiotisms of their own Country. Two things concurred to render him less perspicuous, the abstruseness of the Subjects that he manages, being generally so sublime, as not to admit a clear and easy Explication, and his humour of frequently intermixing Greek Idioms, and Phrases borrowed from a foreign Language, which he endeavours to set off with an operose and elaborate greatness and sublimity of style,( very familiar to the French Writers of that Age) attended with frequent Repetitions, studied Transitions, and over-nice Apologies and Interruptions, which cannot but render him somewhat obscure to vulgar and superficial Readers. All which he especially discovers in his Books de Trinitate, wherein he seems to set himself to club the whole strength of his Wit, Parts, and Eloquence, to manage that noble Argument with all possible Advantage, wherein( 'tis S. Jerom's 
Epist. ad Maga. T. 2. p. 328.  Observation) he imitated Quintilian both in the style and number of his Books. Indeed his affencted Subtlety, and exquisite Care of Words and Sentences resemble the humour of that Roman Orator, though 'twas an ill-chosen Copy to writ after, in so nice and sublime an Argument. In his Comments on the Psalms, and S. Matthew, wherein he is more concise and short, he borrowed 
Id. Apol. ado. Ruf. p. 196 adv. Vigil. p. 313. de Script. in Hilar.  the sense from Origen, which he clothed with his own Expressions, and many times added of his own, though in this work his Friend Heliodorus, to whom he trusted to render the Propriety of the Greek Phrases, and the more difficult Places, sometimes imposed upon him, dictating his own sense instead of Origens, which the other swallowed without discerning. His Notes upon the Psalms, with his Book de Synodis, S. Jerom 
Epist. ad Florent. T. 1. p. 53.  tells us he himself transcribed for him with his own hand, at what time he lay at Triers in Germany. His other Writings yet extant are commonly known, and we have taken notice of as they came in our way. His odd and peculiar Notions and Opinions have been sufficiently discussed by others, for which there will be little reason to bear hard upon his Memory, when it is considered, that the controverted Articles were but newly started, and not sufficiently explained, that he lived far from the Scene of Action, and after his coming upon the public Stage, was harassed all his Life with the Heats and Controversies of that Age. To conclude, he was learned, eloquent, and judicious, a man of quick Parts, and sound Reason, a catholic Bishop, and what is more, a pious and good man.  

His WRITINGS.  

Genuine.  
De Trinitate, Lib. XII.  
Adversus Constantium vita functum, Liber.  
Ad eundem Imperatorem, Liber.  
— Ad eundem, Liber.  
Adversus Arianos& Auxentium. Lib. cvi subjungitur Auxentii ad Imp. Epistola.  
De Synodis adv. Arianos.  
Fragmenta ex opere Historico de Synodis, Lib. II.  
Commentarii in Evangelium, S. Mat.  
Commentarii in Psalmos.   

Spurious.  
Epistola ad Augustinum.  
— alia ad eundem.  
Carmen in Genesim.  
Epistola ad Abram filiam.  
Liber de patris& silii unitate,& alter de essentia patris& filii, sunt Centones ex lib. de Trinitate consuti.   

Not Extant.  
Tractatus in Job.  
Comment. in Cantica can●●orum.  
Historia Ariminensis& Seluciensis Synod. adv. Valent.& Ursac.  
Adv. Salustium praefectum, seu Dioscurum Medicum.  
Liber Hymnorum.  
Liber Mysteriorum.  
Epistolae plures.    
The End of S. Hilary's Life.   

THE LIFE OF S. BASIL BISHOP OF CAESAREA in CAPPADOCIA: 
S. BASILIUS.   portrait of Basil of Caesarea  

SECT. I. His Acts from his birth till his first entrance into holy Orders.  
His birth-place. The eminency of his Ancestors. Their Sufferings under the Maximinian Persecution. The miraculous Provision made for them. His Parents, and their great Piety and virtue. His Education under his Grand-mother Macrina. His foreign improvements in several Schools and Universities. His removal to Athens. The manner of initiating young Students in that University. The dear Intimacy between him and Nazianzen. His Victory over the captious Sophists. His Tutors, and their great famed and eminency. His and Nazianzen's joynt-Studies, and strict deportment. His quitting the University, and settling at Antioch under the tutorage of Libanius. D serting the Oratory, he betakes himself to the Study of Theology. His frequent converse with the Writings of Origen. His Travels into Egypt and other Parts. The high esteem Julian had of him, and the frequent Letters that passed between them. His acute Repartee to Julian's censure. A pretended Letter of his to Julian, in favour of Image-worship, shown to be Spurious. Julian's great Severity to the Christians at Caesarea, and upon what occasion.  
I. ST. BASIL( whose incomparable Learning and Piety universally entitled him to the surname of GREAT) was by birth a Cappadocian( taking the word in its larger Signification) born in Pontus, where 'tis plain 
Naz. Orat. XX.( in S. Basil.) p. 318, 324.  his Father lived, and whence all his paternal Ancestors were descended. And here some fix his Nativity at Helenopontus, an obscure Town in that Country; indeed so obscure, that I find no such place in any Writer of that time. For though Constantine the Great, gave that Title to one of those Provinces in honor of his Mother Helena, yet I believe no City of that name was at this time in being, whatever might be afterwards. I conjecture him therefore born at Neocaesarea, which though reckoned to Cappadocia at large( in which sense it reached to the very Shore of the pontic Sea, and this the Ancients 
Const. Porphyr. Them. Orient. II. p. 12. ex Polyb.  called the Greater Cappadocia) was yet {αβγδ} 
Steph. in V. {αβγδ}. Am. marcel. l. 27. p. 1756. , a City of Pontus, yea the Metropolis of the Pontus Polemoniacus. And I the rather conceive him born here, or at least hereabouts, because 'tis certain his Grand-mother Macrina lived here, and here he himself was educated 
Bas. Epist. LXIV. p. 98.  from his very Child-hood, and here spent a good part of his after-life. He was descended 
Nazian. ib. p. 318, 319, &c vid. Suid. in V. {αβγδ}.  both by Father and Mothers side, of an ancient and honourable Race, Persons equally celebrated for Nobility and virtue; such as had been famous both in Court and Camp, and had born the highest Honors and Offices of their Country; but above all, were renowned for their Piety and their Sufferings, and their constant and undaunted Profession of Religion. Under the Maximinian Persecution, one of the last, but hottest Efforts of declining Paganism, and which made all that preceded seem human and Gentle; his paternal Ancestors, to avoid the Fury of the Storm, fled to one of the woody Mountains of Pontus, not doubting but to find better Quarter from the most wild and savage Creatures there, than by staying at home to encounter with Beasts in the shape of men. Here they continued near seven years, banished from the Comfort and Society of Friends,( a thing strange to them who had been wont to be crowded with a train of Attendants and Followers) and exposed to Hunger and could, to Rain and Storms, and to all the Hardships of a barren and disconsolate Place. And all this the more insupportable, because falling upon Persons, whose tender and delicate Education had made them Strangers to the pressures of Want and Hardship. Till at length course Fare and hard Lodging had so far impaired their Health, as to make them desirous of some Refreshments more suitable and grateful to the Appetites of weakened and decayed Nature, wherewith they knew God could, if he pleased, easily furnish them. And the divine Providence, which is never wanting in Necessaries, is wont sometimes, though at the expenses of a Miracle, to gratify his Servants with Delicacies. And thus it happened here, for on a sudden an Herd of fat dear came out of the Thicket, and voluntarily offered themselves to the Knife, following the Persons they met, without any other force, than the direction of a Nod. Being brought to the place of their abode, they stood still, till as many as were thought convenient were chosen out, and the rest being dismissed, quietly return'd back into the Woods. A Feast was hereupon immediately prepared, and our poor hungerstarv'd Confessors liberally treated, who thankfully owned the bounty of Heaven, and looked upon it as an Encouragement and Obligation to go on cheerfully with their Portion of Sufferings that were yet behind. But leaving them, let us come nearer home. His immediate Parents were not more famous for their mutual kindness, than for their Charity to the Poor, their Hospitality towards Strangers, the devoting a constant part of their Estate to God, their abstinence and Fasting, and all the virtues of a good Life, all which God was pleased to Crown with a numerous and hopeful Issue. His Father's name was Basil 
Naz. ib. p. 321 Nyssen. de vit. Macrin. T. 3. p. 178. , a man Prudent and Religious, and of great Name and Authority in his Country, whom Possevin 
In V. Basil. p. 178. vid. Labb. de Scrip. in Ad. lend. ad T. 1. p. 737.  and some others without any Authority that I know of, will have in his latter dayes to have been a Bishop; and the Centuriators 
Cent. IV. c. 10 p. 538.  are so confident of it, as to city Nazianzen for their Author, who yet says no such thing; his Mother was Emmelia, a Woman of strict conduct, and rare accomplishments; so exquisite and celebrated a Beauty, that she was on all hands solicited for Marriage, and some so far transported, as to be ready to attempt by force, what they could not carry by milder and more soft Addresses.  
II. THE product of this happy Marriage was our S. Basil, their eldest Son, and( if I mistake not) their second Child. A Youth of a goodly and promising aspect, the Index of a more pregnant Wit and ingenuous Mind. His first Studies 
Naz. ib. p. 324 Amphiloc. vit. Bas. c. 1. p. 157.  were conducted under the Discipline of his own Father, who was careful to instruct him in all the Rudiments of Learning, and especially to season him with right Notions of Religion, and to train him up to a course of Piety, which he equally promoted both by his Lectures and his Life. But herein none more industrious or serviceable than his Mother Emmelia, and especially his aged Grand-mother 
Basil. Epist. LXXV. p. 131. Ep. LXXIX. p. 140. fac. 2.  Macrina. She had sometimes been Auditor of the famous S. Gregory Thaumaturgus Bishop of Neocaesarea, by whom she had been educated in the Principles of the catholic Faith, whereto she had also born witness by being a Confessor under some of the latter Persecutions. This she took all imaginable care to convey and propagate to her grandchidren, planting their Minds with the first Seeds and Principles of Truth, as S. Basil more than once gratefully owns in his Epistles. Five years 
Amph. ubi supr.  being spent in this domestic Education, and being accurately accomplished with all the preliminary Parts of Learning, he betook himself to travail, to improve and complete his Studies. Whether he went first to Antioch,( which we know he did afterwards) and studied for some time under the great Libanius, the most celebrated Sophist, and eloquent Orator of that Age, though not absolutely certain, is yet highly probable. For Libanius himself tells us 
Ep. ad Basil. inter 〈◇〉. Bas. CXLIII. p. 174 , that he was acquainted with him, when but a Youth, and honoured him for the extraordinary Sobriety and Gravity of his Manners, and the mighty Advances that he made in Learning; which he mentions as antecedent to his going to Ath●us. Hence then he went to Caesarea 
Nazian. ibid. p. 325. &c. , the Metropolis of Palestim, famous at that time for Schools of Learning, where he soon out-went his Fellow-Pupils, and bad fair to overtake his Masters; so that he quickly drew the Eyes of all Persons upon him, who reverenced him for his excellent Learning, but especially for his more excellent Life; and generally beholded him as a Master-Orator, and dictatory in Philosophy, and what's more, as a Bishop in the Church, before his years rendered him capable of those employments. But above all, he applied himself to study the true Philosophy, to break loose from the Charms of this lower World, and to trade in divine and heavenly Things, and to barter away those things that are frail and perishing, for those that are unchangeable and eternal. From Caesarea he removed to Constantinople, lately made the Imperial City, and flourishing with eminent Professors of rhetoric and Philosophy, whose several Perfections by the quickness and comprehensiveness of his Parts, he digested into his own use and ornament; and then to crown all, went to Athens, the common Seat of Arts and Learning, where to have spent some time, was itself enough in those dayes to have given a man the Reputation of a Scholar.  
III. THE famed of so excellent a Person had before-hand prepared mens minds, and made that University big with Expectations of his coming, and every one was contriving how to gain him for their Pupil. It was the Custom at Athens, for the Youth of the University to lie in wait for the arrival of young Students, to beset all ways and Tracts, all Ports and Passages, that so first seizing upon them, they might either persuade or draw them in to be their Fellow-Pupils, thinking by this means to oblige their Masters, and outvie the Train of other Professors, between whom there used to be great Clashing and Emulation. Having gained the fresh man, their first care was to lodge him in the House of some Friend, or Country-man, or at least of one of those Setters, that plied up and down in the behalf of that Sophist, who was to be his Tutor. Next they gave way to any that would, to pose him with hard Questions, and to run him down with Quirks and Subtleties, which were either more rude or ingenuous, according to the humour and Education of him that put them. This they did, to baffle the good Conceit of himself, which the young man was supposed to bring along with him; and from the very first to subdue him into a perfect Submission to his Teachers. This being done, they conduct him in a pompous Procession through the Market-place to the public Bath, two and two going before him at equal distances; being come near the place, on a sudden they raised a wild frantic Noise, and fetched many strange Frisks and Capers, knocking like mad men at the Gates, till having sufficiently frighted the young man, the Doors were opened, and he was made Free, and then they return'd and embraced him as their Friend and Fellow-Pupil, and a Member of the University. These troublesone Ceremonies 
Conserqueae de hisce ritibus ha●t Olympiod. ap. P●ot. Cod. LXXX. col. 189& Liban. de vit. sua p. 7.& 9.  of initiation, however otherwise common and ordinary, were yet dispensed with towards S. Basil, out of the great Reverence they had for him, as a Person advanced beyond the Laws of ordinary Students. At Athens he met with Gregory of Nazianzum,( who had sometimes been his School-fellow) between whom there commenced so intimate and dear a Friendship( there being between them a peculiar affinity in Temper, Study, and course of Life) that nothing but their last breath could part them, they had the same Disposition, Inclination, Design, and Emulation; and as Nazianzen 
Ibid. p. 330.  adds, they seemed to have had but one Soul between them. One of the first Instances of Freedom and Familiarity, Nazianzen gave him upon this occasion. Some Armenian Students( a close and subtle People according to the Genius of that Nation) who had been his old Acquaintance and School-fellows, being vexed to be out-done by a Novice, one who had but just got on the philosophic Pallium, came to him under pretence of Friendship, and falling upon him with captious and sophistical Disputations, endeavoured at the first attempt to beat him down. But they soon found they were overmatched; whereupon Nazianzen to support the Honor of the University, struck in with them, and relieved their languishing side. But perceiving that 'twas not love to truth, but ●●vy and Emulation that inspired them, he presently deserted the● and went over to S. B●sil, and soon turned the Scale. For Basil now ●●●ed from so able an Antagonist, fell so heavily upon them with his Arguments, that not able to abide the Shock, they were forced to reti●● with shane, and to leave him the full and absolute Possession of the Field.  
IV. FOR the Direction of his Studies, he chiefly applied himself to Himerius 
Socr. l. 4. c. 26 p. 242. Soz. l. 6. c. 17. p. 659.  and Prohaeresius, two of the most eminent Sophists at that time at Athens; men renowned for Learning and Eloquence, and upon that account highly in savour with the Emperor Julian; the latter whereof was an Armenian 
Eunap. in vit. proares. p. 109.  born, and for that reason had the Youth of Pontus, Cappadocia, Bithynia, and the neighbor-Countries committed to his Care and Tutorage. He was greatly honoured by the Emperor Constans 
Ib. p 121, &c. , who sent for him into France, and set him amongst the Nobility at his own Table, and in a bravery sent him to Rome, where he was honoured with a Statue of Brass in full Proportion, with this Inscription, ROME THE QUEEN OF CITIES TO THE KING OF ELOQUENCE. Under these Masters he very happily improved his time, though he soon grew weary of the place 
Naz. ubl supr. p. 329. , which did not answer his Expectations, and was therefore wont to call Athens, {αβγδ}, an empty and vain Felicity. And indeed he had immediately turned his back upon it had he not been detained by the Arguments and persuasions of his dear Friend Nazianzen; for these two lived, ate and conversed together, mutually grew up in all the Endearments of Kindness and Friendship, and equally prospered in Learning and Piety. With none would they keep company but the Meek and Humble, the Chast and Sober, whose Conversation was likely to make them better. Those Parts of Learning they mainly insisted on, not which were most pleasant, but most useful, and which were aptest to minister to virtue and a good Life. As for Feasts, and shows, and public Solemnities, they wholly neglected them, reckoning it honor enough to be, and to be accounted Christians; and though Athens was a dangerous place, being the great Seat of Impiety and Idolatry, yet so far were they from being tempted, that they found themselves rather confirmed in the Truth of their Religion, by what they daily saw and heard. In short, the course they took, and the Improvements they made, caused them to be universally taken notice of, so that they became the talk both of City and Country, their famed spread itself all over Greece and foreign Parts, wherever their Tutors were known, they were mentioned, the Glory of the Scholars keeping place with the Name and Reputation of their Masters.  
V. BASIL had now furnished himself with all the Advantages which Athens could afford, the Ship was freighted with Learning( to use his Friends 
Nazian. ib. p. 333.  Expression) as far as human Nature could contain; and having thus got his lading, 'twas time to think of returning home. Much ado he had to break loose from the passionate entreaties and persuasions of his Friends, who vehemently urged and importuned his stay; but nothing went nearer to him, than the leaving his great Friend behind him; the parting, though but for a time, seemed like the pulling of Soul and Body asunder. In his return, passing by Constantinople, as a place beset with Snares and Temptations, he went strait for Asia, and so to Antioch; and this, I doubt not, he means by the Metropolis of Asia, whither he tells 
Epist. CLXV. p. 185.  us, he hastened after his return from Athens, for the sake of those excellent things that were to be acquired there; and the Church-Historians 
Socr.& Soz. loc. supr. cit.  put it past all peradventure. Here he put the last hand to his more Polite and Philosophical Studies under the conduct of Libanius, who henceforward entertained him as an intimate Friend, and beholded him with a most profound Veneration. And now he began to practise the Oratory, which he had hitherto learned, and for some time served the Forum 
Basil. Ep. CCCXCII. p. 397. vid. Naz. ib. p. 334. c , and pleaded Causes, wherein he discharged himself with great applause. But he soon grew weary of this course, the divine Providence having designed him for higher and nobler Purposes. Laying aside therefore the Profession of rhetoric, he betook himself to the Study of the holy Scriptures 
Socr.& Soz. ibid. , and the Expositions of the Ancients, especially the Comments of Origen, by reading whereof, he became afterwards so able to encounter and refute the Arians, and shew'd how little they( who so much pretended him to be on their side) understood either him or his Opinions. In this Study he and Nazianzen spent no small time and pains, running through that great man's Comments upon the Scripture, and noting what might be of more than ordinary use. Part of these Excerpta are still extant under the Title of Philocalia, consisting of Questions upon Scripture, with Solutions adapted out of Origen's Comments, and put together by these two learned men; a Copy whereof Nazianzen 
Nazian. Ep. LXXXVII. p. 843.  sent as an incomparable Present to Theodore Bishop of Tyana. But Basil had not yet sufficiently seen the World, he had further Travels 
Naz. loc. cit.  to undergo, before he could be fixed in any particular Station. He was a great admirer of Eustathius 
Vid. Bas. ib. p 397.& Ep. 79. p. 140.  an eminent Philosopher of that time, for whose sake he had chiefly left Athens; whom not finding in his own Country, he went after him into Syria, where he understood that he was gone for Egypt. Thither he followed him, though he could not meet with him. However at Alexandria and in other parts of Egypt, he conversed familiarly with the Monks and Hermits, whose incomparably strict and divine Course of Life he greatly admired, and afterwards copied out in his own practise, and perhaps now it was that he contracted an acquaintance with the great Athanasius, who about this time was forced to conceal himself in his Egyptian Solitudes. A full year he continued in these Parts, if we may believe the Counterfeit Amphilocius 
Ubi supr. p. 159. , who adds, that in his return he overtook the Philosopher Eubulus( perhaps he means Eustathius) whose Discourse and Conversation he relates at large; their coming to Antioch, and entertainment by Libanius; their going to Jerusalem, and his being baptized by Maximus the Bishop in the River Jordan; with innumerable other Relations, which being never hinted by Basil himself, nor justified by any concurrent Suffrage, and many of them in themselves trifling and improbable, I shall not here trouble the Reader with them. This only is certain, that he spent some considerable time both in Egypt, palestine, Caelosyria, and Mesopotamia, amongst the devout and pious Asceticks of those Countries, and having accomplished his Travels, came back and settled at Caesarea.  
VI. JULIAN was now advanced to the Empire, a Prince learned himself, and the great Patron of Learning in that Age. He had been acquainted with S. Basil, when Fellow-Students at Athens, and notwithstanding the difference in Religion( for Julian had now openly declared for Paganism) he wrote a Letter 
Ext. ap. Jul. Ep. XII. p. 127.& inter Basil. CCVI. p. 225.  to him, wherein with great kindness and civility he invited him to Court, assuring him of an hearty and unfeigned Reception, and a Liberty of Discourse, that for his conveyance, he might make use of the public Carriages, and having stayed his own time, should have liberty to return at pleasure. But notwithstanding so obliging an Invitation, Basil refused to come at him; his apostasy from Christianity stuck in the good man's mind, and he talked some things, it seems, to the Emperor's disadvantage; whereupon after a vain Ostentation of the mildness and gentleness of his Temper, and the grandeur and magnificence of his Empire, Julian by a second Letter 
Ext. ap. Basil. loc. cit.  lets him know how much he resented his Impudence, and the ill Character he had given of him, commanding him to sand him a thousand pounds of Gold( every pound amounting to no less than XXXVI. l. of our Money) towards the Persian Expedition which he had then in hand, if ever he hoped to enjoy his favour. A prodigious Sum, and which nothing can make it reasonable to believe he really intended; though at that time he generally laid vast Taxes upon the Christians, to furnish him out for that War. Basil, nothing dismayed, return'd an answer 
Ext. ibid.  quick and pungent, that for the generous Acts he so much talked of, they were inconsiderable, and levelled not so much against the Christians, as himself; that by his late carriage he had exposed himself to the just Censures of wise men; and being seduced by wicked and malignant Daemons, had exalted himself against God and his Church, and was fallen from all those early hopes, which his first excellent essays, when they jointly studied the holy Scriptures at Athens, had once given of him; that for the sum demanded, he had taken wrong Measures, in requiring so much of a poor Scholar, who had not Provisions moderately sufficient for one day, whose House was a Stranger to the Arts of Cookery, and to Knives stained with blood; a few Coleworts with Crusts of Bread, and a little sour vapid Wine being the costliest Provisions served up at his Table. What other Letters passed between these two great men, is uncertain; 'tis not improbable, but that they debated Matters of the Christian Faith, whereof Julian gave this short Magisterial Censure 
Ibid. p. 226. ●id. Niceph. H. F. l. 10. c. 25. T. 2. p. 56. ; {αβγδ}, what you have written, I have red, considered, and condemned; whereto S. Basil return'd this acute and elegant Repartee, {αβγδ}, you have red, but not understood; for had you understood, you would not have condemned it. There is indeed the Fragment of an Epistle to Julian, extant 
Act. II. Corc. T.q. col. 1●9.& Act. IV. col. 264.& exinde in●●r Bas. Ep. CCV.  in the Acts of the second Nicene Council, wherein he gives the Emperor a brief account of his Faith, and therein a most express acknowledgement of the Invocation of Saints, and the Worship of Images. But both Phrase and Matter so contrary to S. Basil's genuine Style and Doctrine, as sufficiently proclaim it to be Counterfeit; a passage not once mentioned by any Greek Writers of that or the following Ages, not by those who were most zealous to assert those Doctrines, and took most pains to canvas the Writings of the ancient Fathers to defend them; nor was it ever heard of in the World, till mentioned by Pope Hadrian( the great Patron of Image-worship) in a Letter to the Greek Emperor, brought by his Legates to that Synod. Which alone were enough to cast a damp upon it, seeing Hadrian is not wont to stick at any thing, even the most Spurious and apocryphal Stories( whereof he gives other instances in that very Letter) that might support and shore up his Cause. Hence the Passage is generally waved by the more wise and judicious Persons of the Roman Church; and Baronius 
Tom. 4. ad 〈◇〉 362.  himself, though he gravely produces the Passage, makes no advantage of it. An opportunity which he is seldom wont to let slip, when he can with any tolerable face lay hold upon it.  
VII. I cannot take my leave of Julian, till I have observed what mischief he did at Caesarea, where S. Basil now abode. It was a great and populous City 
〈◇〉. l. 5. c. 4. 〈◇〉 598. , and inhabited by vast numbers of Christians; who being zealous of the Honor of their Religion, had heretofore pulled down the two famous Temples of Jupiter and Apollo, and had very lately destroyed( what alone remained) the Temple dedicated to the public Genius of the City. This put Julian out of all Patience, to see Pagan Temples openly pulled down, at the same time that he was earnestly labouring to set them up. He was angry with the Gentiles of Caesarea, that though few in number, they had not rushed in as one man to defend the Temple, and ventured Lives and Fortunes in that Cause and Quarrel. Indeed some mischief was done the Christians 
Naz. Orat. I. in Julian. p. 91. , several of them being slain in the Hubub, and more had been so, had not the Governor carried it with an equal hand, sometimes conveying the Christians out of danger, sometimes punishing some of the over-forward Gentiles, for which prudent Care and Moderation he was accused to the Emperor, and had died for it, but that at last Julian was pleased to change the Sentence into Banishment. The Governor pleaded, that he had proceeded according to Law, that the number of the G●ntiles was inconsiderable, and that it would have been a barbarous cruelty, violently to have fallen in upon so great a Multitude; the Emperor replied, what great matter, if one gentle hand had dispatched half a score Galileans. Next he preceded to call the City to account, whose Charter he took away, reducing it into the rank of a Village, disnominating it, and not suffering it to bear the name of Caesar, a Title which it had had ever since the time of Claudius, being originally called Maza, from Mosoch Prince of that Country, afterwards Mazaca. He seized upon the Treasures and Revenues of the Churches, both within the City and without, forcing them by Racks and Torments to discover them; and commanding the sum of three hundred pounds of Gold, that is, in our account ten thousand and eight hundred pounds, to be immediately paid into the Exchequer. The Clergy he made to be entred upon the Muster-Roll, to serve as Souldiers under the Governor of the Province, the most troublesone and dishonourable part of the Roman Militia; the common People, with their Wives and Children, he put under Tribute, and left them in the same Capacity with those in the Country Villages; swearing after all, that unless the Temples were forthwith re built, he would utterly destroy the Place, and not suffer a Galilean to wear an head upon his shoulders. And perhaps had been as good as his word, had not death happily taken him off. To be sure S. Basil had gone to stake, Nazianzen 
Orat. IV. p. 132.  expressly telling us, that they two had the Honor of the Cyclops, to be reserved last to punishment, that at his return from Persia, they might have fallen as a triumphant and magnificent Victim to his Deities. But the divine Providence mercifully prevented that, Julian himself being shortly after taken off by a violent death. I know not whether it be worth relating, what the Author of the Alexandrian Chronicon 
ad An. Julian. II. p. 693.  reports, that the same night that Julian was slain, Basil had a Vision, wherein he saw the Heavens opened, and our blessed Saviour sitting upon a Throne, and calling aloud to S. Mercurius, to go and kill Julian the Emperor, the great Enemy of Christians. The Saint having received his Commission, and being armed with a Coat of Male, immediately departed. Soon after returning, he gave our Lord an account, that according to his command Julian was slain. Basil frighted with the noise, awakened in some Consternation, and going down to Church to Morning Prayers, called his Clergy together, whom he acquainted with his Vision, and that Julian was killed that night. They all besought him to conceal it, the reporting it being a Matter of dangerous Consequence. But my Author spoils the whole Story, by laying the Scene of it, while Basil was Bishop of Caesarea, which he was not at this time, nor for seven years after Julian's death.   

SECT. II. His Acts from his entrance into Orders, till his return from his pontic Solitudes.  
Basil's first entrance into ecclesiastic Orders. Eusebius ordained Bishop of Caesarea; great Trouble and dissension about that Matter. Basil quarreled with by Eusebius, but defended by the Monks of Caesarea. His retirement to Neocaesarea; and thence into the Wilderness. The delightful Situation of the place of his abode. Nazianzen and others repair to him. The manner of their monastic Life, and strict Devotion. Rules of monastic Discipline composed by Basil. His apologetic to the People of Caesarea for his retirement, and to vindicate himself from the malicious Reflections cast upon him, and to establish them in the catholic Faith. His erecting devout Societies both of men and women. His advice taken about things to be transacted in the Synod at Lampsacus. The notorious juggling of Eustathius, and others of the Semiarian and Macedonian Parties. A Reconciliation endeavoured between Eusebius and Basil. His return importunately desired, and why. An Agreement effected by Nazianzen's Mediation.  
I. ST. Basil in the mean time followed close his Studies, and entred into the Service of the Church by due and regular Approaches. For having for some time been Reader 
Naz. Or. XX. p. 336.  in the Church of Caesarea, he was next made Deacon 
Socr. l. 4. c. 26. p. 242.  by Meletius Bishop of Antioch, and afterwards advanced to the Order of Priest-hood by his own Diocesan, It must not be forgotten, that while he was yet Deacon 
Philost. l. 4. c. 12. p. 496. , he was present at the Synod of Constantinople, holden in the end of the year CCCLIX. where he assisted Basil Bishop of Ancyra, the Head of the Homoiousian Party, against the Anomaeans or Heterousian Sect, and though superior to most in the Arts of speaking, yet by reason of a natural bashfulness and diffidence, he declined public Disputations. After this he return'd home, and lived at Caesarea, chiefly conversing with those devout mortified men, who had formed themselves to a strict and monastic Course of Life. It happened that the See of Caesarea fell voided 
Naz. C●at. XIX. in fun. patr. p. 308. &c. , and great Expectations were on foot about the Choice of a new Arch-bishop, the splendour and greatness of that See meeting with the warm Temper, and ungovernable Zeal of that People, had put the City into an extraordinary Commotion about this Matter. Wearied at length, with mutual dissensions, they unanimously pitched upon one Eusebius, a Gentleman of chief Note and Authority in the City, a man of a most pious Life, but a Lay-man, and as yet unbaptiz'd. Him they lay hold of, and though protesting against it, by the help of the Guards, bring him to the Church, where some neighbor-Bishops were met in order to the Election, desiring( yea, and threatening too, if they were refused) that he may be forthwith baptized, and ordained their Bishop. The good Fathers saw there was no other way to alloy the Storm, but to comply with the importunity of the People, who thereupon having first baptized him, consecrated, and placed him upon the Episcopal Throne. But no sooner were they at liberty, but they began to disown what they had done, and resolved to rescind the Election, pretending it to be uncanonical, and extorted by force and violence; only Gregory, Nazianzen's Father, Bishop of Nazianzum, a little Town in that Province, stood to it, and by all means laboured to ratify and confirm it. It made the Case a great deal worse, that Julian lay at this time at Caesarea, whither he was come to see Execution done upon that City, for the Riot made upon the Pagan Temple; and it vexed him not a little, to see a Christian Arch-bishop thus zealously and tumultuously chosen under his very nose, and a man too, whom he did not like. The Governor of the Province, who likewise owed Eusebius an old grudge, for having taken a different Course, while employed in the Administration of civil Affairs, took advantage of the Emperor's resentment, and wrote Letters in his name to the several Bishops, commanding them with Menaces to repair thither, and manage the Charge against Eusebius. Amongst the rest, a Letter came to Gregory, the aged Bishop of Nazianzum, who return'd this short and bold answer, that in these Matters they were subject to an higher Prince, whose Cause was now opposed, who would examine the Election, which they had duly and regularly made; that in other things force and violence might be offered them, but that no man could hinder them from maintaining what they had legally and justly done; unless after all the rest, they could make a Law, that men should not take care of their own Affairs. The Governor, though offended with the Freedom of the answer, yet admired the Wisdom and Spirit of the man; and it so far prevailed, that the Emperor's displeasure cooled, and no farther attempts were made in that Matter.  
II. BUT though the Storm seemed allayed from abroad, yet did it not clear up into fair Weather at home. Eusebius the new-elected Bishop took some occasion to fall out with Basil 
Id. Orat. XX. p. 336. , and though otherwise a very good man, yet in this fell short of the ordinary Rules both of Prudence and Religion. He was himself obnoxious upon the account of his late Election, not strictly warrantable according to the standing Laws and Canons of the Church; he had to deal with a Person of a great name, and an unquestionable Reputation, and who by his Authority and Influence was able to steer a Party which way he pleased; besides, there were some Western Bishops( probably Lucifer of Calaris, and Eusebius of Vercellae) at this time at Caesarea, who took in with those that were most zealous for the catholic Interest. Nor did Basil stand alone in this Matter; the Monks of Caesarea, over whom he presided as their Director and Governor, presently espoused their Master's Quarrel, and finding Eusebius unreasonable in his Exceptions, and obstinate in his Resolutions, withdrew from all Communion with him, and drew a great part, not only of the common People, but of the Magistrates, into the Separation. Things ripening thus fast into an open breach, Basil, who was at a loss, how to behave himself in this dis-juncture of Affairs, out of a great regard to the Peace of the Church, thought it best, at least for the present, to retire into the Wilderness, wherein he was not a little swayed by his own Inclination, to embrace the Solitudes of a private Life, where he doubted 
Vid. Bas. Ep. LXXIX. p. 140.  not to find those happy opportunities for virtue and divine Converses, and those real advantages for conquering the World, and subduing the Power of vicious and inordinate Appetites, which a noise and a crowd were never likely to afford.  
III. THE first place he went to, was Neocaesarea 
Vid. Ep. LXIV p. 98. , the chief City of Pontus, which had been the place of his Education, where he had much acquaintance, and enjoyed the Converse of excellent men, and finding it a place sit for a contemplative Life( being situate in the more wild and desert parts of the Country) stayed here a long time. But wearied at length with the troublesone Interruptions of Society, he withdrew into the adjacent Wilderness, where he fixed his Station in the Mountainous parts 
Ib. Ep. XIX. p. 56. vid. Ep. LXXIX. p. 141. C.& Nyss. de vit. Maer●n. p. 182. , near the bank of the River Iris, a famous River, which arising in the Mountains of armoniac, runs through the middle of Pontus, and empties itself into the Euaeine Sea. The place he made choice of, was naturally fitted for all the Advantages of Solitude and Contemplation; it was a high ●ountain, clothed with a thick shady Wood, and watered on the North with cool and Crystal Springs that issued from it. At the foot of the Hill was a fruitful Valley, the Verdure and Fertility whereof, was not a little owing to those benign Streams that flowed from the neighbouring Hills; as for its quietness and security, it was beholden to the Woods, variegated with all sorts of pleasant Trees that encompassed it. Nature had formed it into a kind of Peninsula, and fortified it with bulwarks on every side; two parts of it were secured by deep and unapproachable valleys; a third by the River, which falling from a Precipice, was a sure Wall on that side; on the other was a ragged and naked Rock, which joining to the Valley, cut off all Avenues that way. There was but one Passage to it, and that too secured by those who lived within. It was on the most prominent part of this Mountain, that S. Basil fixed his Cell, whence there was an easy and delightful prospect both into the Valley below, and upon the neighbour River, which slowing with a quick rapid Stream, and dashing itself against the Rocks that opposed its passage, at once gratified both the Eye and Ear. Nor wanted there other Divertisements to those, who were desirous to entertain themselves with innocent Pleasures. For as the River afforded plenty of excellent Fish, and the adjoining Hills conveniency for Sport and Game; so the Birds from the Woods charmed the Ear with untaught music, while the Eye was ravished to look down and behold the Plains over-spread with a natural Tapestry of Herbs and Flowers. But the greatest advantage of the place, was its Solitude, being perfectly remote from all Company, not a man seen that way, unless when Hunting by chance brought them thither, and that not in quest of Beasts of prey, Wolves, Lions, &c.( for with such the place was not infested) but of dear, will Goats, and such like peaceable and harmless Creatures.  
IV. THE good man was infinitely satisfied with the place of his Retirement, and wanted nothing to complete his happiness, but the company of his dear Friend Nazianzen, whom he oft invited to come thither to him; In one of his Letters he elegantly describes his fortunate Islands( as Nazianzen calls them 
Epist. VII. p. 770. ) laying before him all the wild inartificial Pleasures of the place, and the great Advantages it ministered to Piety and Contemplation. Which Nazianzen in his answer 
Ibid.  with a great deal of witty Eloquence retorts upon him, turning all the Passages of his Letter into Sport and Merriment. But having after some time broken loose from those Affairs that detained him, over he goes to him, and joyful, we may be sure, was the meeting of those two dear Companions, whose Inclinations, Studies, and way of Life ran both in the same Channel. But though so mutually conversant with each other, yet they lived apart in different Cells, as is plain from Nazianzen's Epistle to Amphilocius 
Epist. XII. p. 776. , one of the pious Inhabitants of that place. Indeed Basil's Company and course of Life quickly drew others into those parts, who slying from the Noise and Troubles of the World, did after his Example, give up themselves to the Severities and Mortifications of a retired Life. He had in his Travels, with great Complacency, observed 
Vid. Bas. Ep. LXXIX. p. 140.  the strictness practised by the Monks and Anchorets in Egypt and palestine, whose Rules and Institutions he resolved to set on foot at his return. And meeting at Caesarea, with some ready disposed to a monastic Life, he joined himself to them, till being forced thence, he now again revived the Design, in a place much more opportune and convenient for it. Great numbers stocking thither, they soon grew up into Religious Societies, spending their time 
Vid. Naz. Ep. IX. p. 774.  in singing Psalms, in fervent Prayers, devout Meditations, reading and expounding the holy Scriptures, and the constant Exercises of Piety and virtue. And what hours were borrowed from the Offices of Religion, were laid out in bodily labours, felling Wood, or digging Stones, in setting Trees, planting and watering Gardens, an employment which at once afforded both Maintenance and Recreation. And because no course of Life can be managed without some fixed Laws and Constitutions, he advised with Nazianzen about drawing up particular Orders to be observed in the monastic State, which they formed into Rules and Canons, 
{αβγδ}. Naz. in. {αβγδ}, &c. id. in Bas. Orat. XX. p. 358.  and for the benefit of Posterity as well as the present Age, committed and consigned to writing. Some such thing he had been hammering at his first coming into the Wilderness, as appears by his 
Bas. Ep. I. p. 41.  Letter to Nazianzen upon that Subject, wherein he acutely balances the Advantages and Disadvantages both of a civil and retired Life, and gives many excellent Directions necessary to be observed by those who embrace a solitary and ascetic Life. These were the first Rules of monastic Discipline that were established in the East●rn Church, and from hence were derived the several Constitutions of all those Religious Orders, that afterwards over ran the Church.  
V. S. BASIL had now leisure to look about him, and to remember his Friends at Caesarea. They had greatly resented his departure from them, and had earnestly written to him to return. But instead of that, he sends them an Apologetical Epistle 
Ep. CXL● p. 103. , wherein he excuses his retirement, and begs their forbearance for a time,( this course of life being not only agreeable to his humour, but highly useful to the Purposes both of Piety and Study) and cautions them to beware of the Insinuations of Impostors, lest, like the Shepherds of the Philistin●s, they privily stopped up their Wells, and muddied the pure catholic Doctrine professed amongst them. And because the Doctrine of the holy Trinity was then mainly struck at, he spends the far greatest part of that apologetic in asserting the Deity of the Son of God, but especially in proving the Divinity of the holy Ghost. But the good man, though desirous of nothing more than an undisturbed quiet Life, sound that even the Solitudes of the Wilderness could not afford it. He had shifted his Scene, but had not changed his State: he had fled from Caesarea to avoid Noise and Contention, and he now met with Vexations and Inquietudes nearer hand. Musonius Bishop of Neocaesarea was lately dead, and the People was passionately desirous to have Basil for his Successor. But the Sab●llian Faction in that City, knowing how much it imported their Cause to exclude so zealous a Defender of the catholic Faith, strongly opposed the Election, and that they might lessen his Reputation with the People, loaded him what they could with odious Imputations. They charged him with Innovations in Matters of Religion, that he had set up Monachism, and had introduced a new way of singing Psalms into the Church, that he was a proud and ambitious man, and had importunately attempted to intrude himself into the Neocaesarean See; that he had deserted the Doctrine of their Ancestors, and especially departed from the Faith of the Great S. Gregory, the first Bishop and Founder of their Church, whose Doctrine they pretended to be the same with theirs. News hereof coming to him, he immediately prepares for his defence, not to promote his Interest, but to vindicate his Credit. To which end he w●●●es first to the Presbytery, and then to the whole Clergy of that Church 
Ep. LXIII.& seque , wherein having modestly reproved them for their unkindness to him their credulous assent to the Slanders of those who by ill Arts laboured to undermine his Reputation; and having warned them of the corrupt Dogmata, and bad Designs of the Sabellian Teachers; he particularly answers the Crimes objected to him. That for his forming men into a monastic Life, wherein having renounced the World, and all its secular Cares and Interests, they might the more closely attend the Duties of Piety and Devotion, he was so far from looking upon it as his fault, that he thought it to be his Glory, and the great business of his Life. Though he was not the first Founder of it, the thing being practised in Egypt, palestine, and elsewhe●e by Persons, in comparison of whom, he and his Brethren were but Children. Nor could he conceive how Persons could be better employed, than by fasting and abstinence, to crucify the Fl●sh with its Aff●ctions and Lusts, to get above the care and solicitude about clothes and Diet, day and night to converse with Heaven by Prayers and Praises, and to labour diligently with their own hands, that they might have to give to them that wanted. For the new way of Psalm●●y which he was charged to have brought in, it was no other than what was now practised in most parts of the Christian Church, the People rising before day, and going to Church, where having made their Confessions and Prayers to God, they proceeded to singing Psalms, in which holy Exercise the choir being divided into two parts, mutually answered one another; the Precentor beginning, and the rest following after; that thus employed, they held on till Morning, when they jointly sung a Psalm of Confession unto God, and each one made Profession of his Repentance. And that if this was a fault, they must blame the Pious and good men in Egypt and Libya, and Thebais; in palestine, Arabia, Phaenicia, Syria, and where not? That he should affect the Episcopal Throne, was, he tells them, a most false and groundless Insinuation, wherein they might satisfy themselves from his carriage many years ago, when the prime men of their City were sent to him, to invite him to an honourable Office amongst them, and to which he wanted neither encouragement nor importunity, but had utterly refused it. And could they think he would now thrust himself upon them, who had heretofore so obstinately rejected their Invitation? Lastly, as to his Doctrine, 'twas sound and orthodox; and whereas the Sabellian Party sheltered themselves under the pretended Authority of S. Gregory, and made a great noise with a particular Expression in his Writings looking that way, he shows them that passage had not been considerately delivered by him as a point of Doctrine, but had fallen from him in the heat of Disputation, when warmly engaged in discourse with Aelian the gentle, the desire of gaining whom, made him less accurate and critical about words, not nicely contesting about lesser things, that he might reach the main Conclusion. Which occasioned his using many other Phrases in that discourse, which however sincerely meant, were yet capable of being stretched by men of perverse minds to a bad sense; that the passage itself rightly explained, was sound and warrantable, and that for the main of the Cause, there was enough in that great man's Works, to clear the Matter beyond all Exception; and that Sabellianism had heretofore been silenced by the force of that Doctrine that he had preached amongst them. Concluding his whole Apology with a serious Admonition, to beware of these mens Insinuations, which however gilded over with fair pretences, did yet convey the most mortal poison.  
VI. WE may not suppose this excellent Person merely cloistered up in his private Cell, he had a more active and comprehensive Piety, making frequent Excursions 
R●sin. l. 2. c. 9. p. 248.  into the Province, preaching both in Cities and Villages, till by his warm and zealous Discourses, he had thaw'd the dull and frozen Temper of that People, and had kindled in them a brisk and generous sense of Religion, so that Societies were every where erected both of men and women, who gave up themselves to Prayers, Psalms, and the perpetual Intercourses of Devotion; Hospitals founded for the Poor, and endowed with competent Provisions, so that the whole Country seemed to put on a new face. He was employed in these and such-like Exercises, when a Synod being convened at Lampsacus, a City standing upon the Hellespont, near the mouth of the Propontis, Eustathius 
Bas. Epist. LXXIX. p. 141.  Bishop of Sebastia, and some others going thither, came to Eusinoa, whither they sent for Basil,( for that they invited him to go with them to the Synod, I see no necessity with Baronius 
ad Ann. 365. p. 174.  to affirm) where they discoursed him upon several Arguments, and took his judgement in Writing, as a Person accurately versed in the Controversies of that time. The Synod was chiefly( if not entirely) managed by the S●miarian, 
Socr. l. 4. c. 4. p. 213. c. 12. p. 219. Soz. l. 6. c. 7. p 646. c. 9. p. 650. &c.  and by the Macedonian Party( however Sozomen by mistake says, they were catholics) who condemned the Confession of the Arian Synod of Ariminum, ratified by eudoxus and his Party in the Convention at Constantinople, a little before the death of Constantius, and established that agreed upon in the Council of Antioch( wherein the Consubstantiality of the Son, was neither affirmed nor denied) and which had been lately ratified in the Synod at Seleucia. After two months Session they broke up, and gave the Emperor an account of their Synodal Transactions, and ordered a Legation to the Bishops of the West, which was committed to Eustathius of Sebastia, Sylvanus of Tarsus, and Theophilus of Castabila, who as soon as the Wars then on foot would give leave, put themselves upon their Journey. Coming to Rome they gave out themselves for perfect catholics, and zealous Defenders of the Nicene Faith, and by that means procured Letters of Peace from Pope Liberius, protesting in the Libel 
Ext. p. Socr. ib. p. 220.  they delivered to him, that they did hearty embrace and maintain the catholic Faith, agreed upon in the holy Synod of Nice, with the {αβγδ}, or word Consubstantial, piously added to it in Opposition to the perverse Doctrine of Arius; that they did, ever had, and ever would hold this Faith, that as for Arius, and his impious Opinions, they condemned both him and them, with all his Adherents and Followers, and whatever Sects were contrary to the holy catholic Faith of Nice, more particularly the Confession that had been assented to in the Council of Ariminum. To this they annexed a Copy of the Nicene Creed, which they subscribed both in their own name, and in the name of the Persons by whom they were sent, professing they did it freely, and of their own accord. From Rome they went for Sicily, where a Synod being assembled, by the same Arts of Dissimulation they gained their consent and communicatory Letters. Hence in their return they passed through Illyricum, where in a Convention of Bishops assembled on purpose, they procured also their Letters, testifying their Agreement and Consent with them in the Faith. Thus loaded with Letters and Synodal Determinations, they came back into the East, and at Tyana a City in Cappadocia, situate at the foot of Mount Taurus, found the Bishops of that Country( amongst whom were Eusebius of Caesarea, and Gregory the aged Bishop of Nazianzum) met in Synod, to whom they delivered their Testimonial Letters, and professed their embracing the Nicen● Faith. Which was received and published with universal applause and Approbation, and Eustathius thereupon restored to his See.  
VII. TO this Synod it was( as Baronius will have it) that Basil wrote, acquainting them with his peaceable Desires and Inclinations, and that thereupon they mediated a Peace between him and Eusebius, a chief Member, and in all likelihood( it being in his Province) President of the Synod. The Epistle is still extant 
Ep. LXVIII. p. 104.  with this Inscription, {αβγδ}, to the Senate or Council of Tyana, wherein he does indeed in general Terms express a passionate desire of Peace; but that this should be written to the Synod assembled there, and that upon this particular occasion, neither the Title, nor body of the Epistle do necessary enforce us to believe. But however this be, 'tis certain that about this time great endeavours were used to heal the breach, and to recover this good man back into his Country. The People of C●●sarea were infinitely desirous of his return, and the necessities of the Church did loudly call for it. For the Arian Faction encouraged by the favour of the Emperor Valens, carried all before them, and taking the advantage of his absence, had been very busy in their attempts upon Caesarea. Eusebius the Bishop was a good man, but having been immediately advanced from the civil Tribunal to the Episcopal Throne, was but little versed in Theological Studies, especially the nice Controversies of that Age. The Arians were not to be  told what use to make of this, it being that which mainly gave encouragement to the bold and brisk endeavours of that subtle Sect, which had not so successfully spread its plumes, had Basil been at home to encounter them, whom all knew to be a no less resolute, than dextrous Champion of the catholic Cause. This made his return importunately desired on all hands; though the main Spring of the Motion was his dear Companion Nazianzen, who had some time since been forced to quit the pontic Solitudes, to relieve the Infirmities of his aged Father. He dealt effectually with Eusebius 
Naz. Ep. XX. p. 783. vid. Ep. CLXIX.& CLXX.  about this Matter, whom he treated with that plain and downright freedom, that the man was angry, and resented it as an Affront, for which the other apologises with a submiss, but yet becoming Liberty, abating nothing of his earnest Intercession. He thanked him for the Respect and Honor he was pleased to put upon himself, but withall  told him, he could not well bear the Injury he had done his dear Friend Basil, the intimate Partner of his Life and Studies, whom he loved and regarded above all other men; that therefore to honor him, and dis-respect his Friend, was to stroke a man's head with one hand, and strike him with the other; or to trim, and beautify the Walls of the House, while a man is digging up the Foundations; that it was his request, which he earnestly besought him to comply with, to afford Basil a better place in his esteem and favour, engaging for him on his behalf, as a most reasonable return, a Correspondent Reverence, and Regard. The Mediation it seems took effect, Eusebius remitting his stiffness and obstinacy, and showing himself forward to an amicable Reconciliation; which he assured him, he would by Letter intimate to Basil, and peaceably invite him to return. An account whereof Nazianzen 
Id. Ep. XIX. p. 782.  immediately transmitted to Basil, and withall advised him to prevent the Bishops kindness, either by his presence or Letter, or rather to writ first, and then follow himself, that so he might seem rather to conquer than be overcome: That the State of the Church at that time did no less bespeak him to hasten his return; heresy was broken in upon them, Confusion had over-run every place, and the Storm, 'twas feared, likely to grow worse, and Truth in danger to be rooted up, unless some such able Champion were forthwith sent in to their relief and succour; that if he desired it, he himself was ready to come to him to settle his Affairs, and conduct him home. Accordingly he went 
Vid. Naz. Or. XX. p. 338, 339.& Niceph. l. 11. c. 18. p. 134. , and found it no hard matter to persuade him to return, the miserable Condition of the Church having made a very deep Impression upon his mind; he saw 'twas now high time to lay aside private Grudges, and to look to the common tranquillity and Safety.   

SECT. III. His Acts from his return, till his being made Bishop of Caesarea.  
His activity after his returning, in reforming Abuses, and diligent assisting the Bishop in the Government of the Church. His incomparable Charity in a time of public Famine. His care of mens Souls as well as Bodies. His Constancy against the Attempts of the Arian Governor. The death of Eusebius. Basil's flight to avoid the bishopric. His Election to it, promoted by the effectual Instance and Recommendations of Nazianzen, and his aged Father. The time of his Ordination to that See. His advancement congratulated by Nazianzen.  
I. THE first thing he did after his return, was to set himself to redress the evil State of things at Caesarea; where differences had arisen, he endeavoured to compose them; where breaches had been made, he repaired them; his daily Study and Preparation was, how to attack the Enemy, whom he so successfully assaulted at every turn, that he soon driven them quiter out of the Field: Assisted in these Conflicts by his old Companion, who was to him as Barnabas to Paul( as he modestly speaks of himself) a Co-adjutor in this great Work, wherein he thought it honor enough to be a second to so great a Champion. And that the World might see that he was perfectly reconciled, and retained no resentment upon account of the harsh usage he had met with, he carried himself towards his Bishop with a most profound observance, whose late unkindnesses he extenuated, and represented them only as a Device and Artifice of the Devil, who envied the happiness of their Concord; notwithstanding which, he shewed how well he understood, how readily he could comply with the Laws and Canons of the Church. He was at hand in all Instances of caconical Obedience, he was to the Bishop an Impartial Monitor, a faithful councillor, a diligent. Co-adjutor,( especially in Preaching) a dextrous manager of business; he was, in short, the staff of his Age, the support of his Faith, the guide of his Family, and the Agent of his Affairs abroad; so that though he was below the Chair, yet the Reins of Ecclesiastical Government were lodged in his hands. Eusebius governed the People, and Basil Eusebius, who was content to shine by that lustre, which the others wise and prudent Administration of Affairs did reflect upon him. Where the Cause of the Church, or of common Equity was concerned, he scrupled not, freely to address himself to the chiefest Magistrates in the City, took up Differences amongst neighbors with so much impartiality, that his Decisions took effect, as if they had been ratified by Law. He was a common Advocate for the Poor, whose Right he defended, and whose Wants he relieved both of Soul and Body; by his means Provision was made for their Maintenance, Hospitals erected for the entertainment of Strangers, Directions given for the Education of devout pious Virgins; sometimes he was taken up in forming Rules for those who engaged in a monastic Life, and these delivered both by word and writing; otherwhiles in composing Forms of public Prayer, and in reducing the several parts and places of Divine Worship, into decency and order.  
II. HE was thus employed, when an opportunity of expressing the most generous Piety and Charity presented itself. Several Calamities had of late afflicted the Eastern Parts, Ann. CCCLXVII. fell great Storms 
Socr. l. 4. c. 11 p. 218. Hieron. in Chr. An. 368 Idat. F. Cons. p. 58. vid. Naz. in plag. grand. Orat. XV.  of Hail, of that unusual bigness, that they were like Stones; which beside other mischief, destroyed the Lives of many. A judgement some thought, sent by Heaven, for the Emperor's banishing so many pious Bishops, who had refused to communicate with eudoxus and his Crew. The next year happened vast Inundations, and terrible Earth-quakes, and these followed by a dreadful Famine, which as it spread in other parts, so raged principally in Cappadocia. At Caesarea 
Naz. Or. XX. p. 340.  was the greatest Dearth that had been known in the Memory of man, and being an in land City, was not capable of those foreign Supplies, which maritime Towns are furnished with. It added to the public Calamity, that what Stores there were, the Corn-Merchants kept up, and in despite of the severest threatenings of God, and the common Principles of Humanity, would not part with, but at excessive Rates. In this evil Case Basil bestirred himself, he plied the Rich with unwearied Arguments and persuasives, till he had first opened their Hearts, and then their Purses; and having made himself Master of their Treasures, he freely dealt his Bread to the Hungry: The Poor, and those who were even starved to death, Persons of all Ranks, Ages, and Sexes, he gathered into one place, distributing Victuals to them according to their several Necessities, which he, and others by his Example, prepared and administ'red with his own hand, not disdaining the meanest Office, whereby he might become useful to them. Nor was he wanting in Instances of the most real and perfect Charity, and to which he was conducted by the more immediate Obligations of his Office. For at the same time that he provided for the Bodies of the Poor, he took care especially to feed their Souls, which he nourished with the Bread of Angels, those divine and heavenly ●ouncils, which he liberally poured out upon them. The Ignorant he instruct●d in their Duty, the slothful he quickened to a life of Piety and virtue, and his Discourses made the deeper Impression, by being p●●ss'd home with so charitable a hand. About the same time he was called off to a more difficult Service, to give trial of his Constancy to the Truth. For Valens 
Gr. Nyss. l. 1. contr. Eunom. p. 48, 49. vid. Soz l 6. c. 16. p. 657.  the Emperor, puffed up with his late success against the Goths, resolved now by force to carry on the Arian Cause. In order whereunto he made an Expedition into Propontis, Galatia, Bithynia, and the neighbor-Provinces, making havoc of the Churches wherever he came, and was now come into Cappadoci●. M●d●stus the perfect came to Caesarea before him, where the first thing he did, was to set upon Basil, whom by all ways he sought to bring over to the Party. He promised him upon his Compliance, the Emperor's favour, and that he should be promoted to the Episcopal See( by which 'tis plain this was done, while he was yet Presbyter of that Church) but if he continued obstinate, he must expect the utmost Effects that a powerful displeasure could bring upon him. Against all which, the good man stood immovable, so that perceiving no good could be done upon him, the Emperor for that time departed, reserving him to a sharper Trial afterwards.  
III. EUSEBIUS had now sat Bishop somewhat more than eight years when he was translated to a better Life, expiring 
Naz. ubi supr. p. 342.  his last breath in Basil's Arms, who stood by him and assisted him in his last hours. The See thus vacant, Basil was well ware that attempts would be made to place him in the Archiepiscopal Chair. To prevent which, he withdrew himself, probably under pretence of Indisposition. But because he foresaw what advantage the Arian Party would make, both of the Vacancy and his absence, and that the Clergy of that Church had written to him, not to desert them in so dangerous a time, he dispatched away Eustathius the Deacon with a Letter 
Ep. IV. p 47.  to Nazianzen, entreating him to concern himself in this Matter, and to lend his best assistance in the speedy Election of a sit Pastor for that Church; that he had already an excellent Person in his Eye, whom if they could obtain, he made no doubt but 'twould prove an acceptable and happy Choice. At the first News of his being Sick( for he had sent him word 
Naz. Ep XXI. p. 784. , that he passionately desired to see and speak with him, and that he must make hast, if ever he intended to see him alive) Nazianzen was extremely afflicted, and prepared immediately to go to him. But when he understood that all this was little more than a device to draw him to Caesarea, and that indeed the business was the Choice of a new Bishop, he stopped his Journey, and turned back. However he laid not aside the Care of that place, but employed all his thoughts 
Greg. vit. Naz. p. 14. , and improved all his Interest to fix and settle that Affair; and because he knew there was none fitter than Basil, he recommended him both by public and private Letters, wherein he had the concurrent Advice and Suffrage of his Father, a man of great Esteem and Reverence in those Parts, in whose name he wrote 
Inter Naz. Ep. XXII. p. 785.  to the People of Caesarea, wherein he lets them know, that although he was Bishop of but an inconsiderable See, yet his Age and Interest in the common Peace and Welfare of the Church, made him equally concerned with any; that the fixing a Bishop in any Church, was a Matter of great weight, much more at Caesarea, a place renowned for its Dignity, Antiquity, Orthodoxy, and Unity, in all which Respects the Eyes of the Christian World were from all Parts drawn upon it, like lines directed from the Circumference to the Center; that for his own part, though they had invited him to the Consultation, yet he feared his Age and Infirmities would not permit him to be there; and if not, yet he thought himself obliged to supply by Letters the want of his Company. He doubted not but they would have plenty of excellent and worthy Persons Candidates for the place, but that he knew none of the whole number comparable to Basil the Presbyter, a man of an exact Life, and admirable Learning and Eloquence, and in both respects the almost only Person capable to encounter the subtle and disputing heretics of that time. Which he intimated to all both of the Clerical, and Monastical Order, and to all the Magistrates and Senators of the City, yea, to the whole Body of the People; that if they agreed in this Proposal, he was ready to give his Suffrage, which he was assured was right and well grounded, and would account himself Spiritually present at the Election, and would be the first that should lay hold upon the Person; but if otherwise they proceeded in this Matter( as heretofore they had done) by Cabals and Parties, by popular and tumultuary Elections, they might do what they pleased, he would reserve his Suffrage to himself. After this he wrote 
Ibid. Epist. XXIII.  to the same effect to the Bishops that were met there about this Matter, whom he gently chides for sending him only a loose and general Invitation, without any Intimation either of the time when, or the business they were to consult about, as if they designed on purpose to prevent his being there, lest he should oppose their Designs; that for the thing itself, he knew there would be several Persons proposed, according as their different Interest, Resolutions, or Inclinations led them, but that he could not recommend any one like Basil, either for the exemplariness of his Life, or the charms of his Eloquence, or his incomparable attainments in all parts of Virtue. If his weakness and infirmity of body were pleaded as a Bar to hinder him, they should remember they were to choose a Bishop, not an Athleta or Champion( where a strong and robust Constitution was necessary) and that God was able enough to strengthen the infirm and weak. In this choice he would readily join with them, but if they proceeded with by ends, and managed the Affair with Parties and Factions, 'twas their own doing, and he should rejoice to have no hand in it.  
IV. NOR was the good old man content only to make the Proposal, and thus freely and affectionately to declare his mind, but knowing of what importance his presence would be, he resolved to go 
Naz. Or. XX. p. 343. ; he was of a great Age, and struggled with many insupportable Infirmities and Distempers, but summoning together the whole strength of Nature for so good a Work, he set forward, being put into the Chariot, more like a Corps laid upon a Bier( as his own Son expresses it) than a man fit to undertake a Journey; though God was pleased so far to reward his honest and industrious Zeal, that his Journey was so far from impairing the little remainders of his Health, that he returned much more strong and vigorous than before. When he came to Caesarea, he found what he had all along foreseen, the Election driven on with Heats and Animosities, and especially a great Party made against Basil, the whole Arian Tribe with all their petty Branches and Sub divisions strongly opposing his Election, the Opposition being chiefly managed by the Governors and great men of the Court-Party, who had drawn no small number of the refuse part of the City to their side. But truth and honesty got the upper-hand, and the Choice fell upon Basil, whom the Prelates solemnly consecrated to that See, which was done either Ann. CCCLXX. or the year following; though Baronius places it Ann. CCCLXIX. and Dorotheus 
Synops. Hist. p. {αβγδ}.  of Monembasia Ann. CCCLXXII. or the IXth. year of Valentinian. No sooner was the hurry over, but his Friend Nazianzen sent him a Congratulatory Letter 
Nazian. Ep. XXIV. p. 787. , wherein he acquaints him how hearty he rejoiced with him for his eminent advancement in the Church, especially at a time when it stood so much in need of such a wise prudent Conduct; that he must not presently expect his coming over to him, lest it should diminish his Reputation, and argue him guilty of Rashness and Vanity, in a too hasty gathering his Friends and Followers about him, that he would come as soon as the Shadows of the Envious and the Malicious were vanished, which he reckoned would be no more able to bear up long, than the Blind and the Lame at Jerusalem, were to keep David out of the City. But the Opposition did not sink presently, the great men, vexed that they could not carry the day, gave him all the trouble they could in this new Scene of Affairs, nor wanted there those about him, that sought to make their ends of him to their own advantage. This troubled the good man, whereupon Nazianzen backs his former with a second 
Ib. Ep. sequ.  Letter, to encourage him to go on in despite of Envy and Opposition, and that he did not fear that any thing would befall him, but what would become a Philosopher to bear; that now was the time to show himself, and to make known that Philosophy which he had been studying all his life; how easily he could conquer the Affronts and Injuries of men, and how firmly he could maintain his ground like a Rock in the middle of the Sea: That if 'twere necessary, he would come over to him, and assist him with his Counsel, if at least he wanted it,( as what need has the Ocean of Water?) But however to benefit himself in Learning, Patience, and how to bear Contumelies and Reproaches with him. Accordingly some time after he came 
Naz. Or. XX. p. 344. , whom Basil received with all the endearments of an intimate Friend, proffered him the first place in the Presbytery, or the honor of an Episcopal Chair, which the other modestly declined, and that with mutual Content and Satisfaction.   

SECT. IV. His Acts from his being made Bishop, till the end of his Contest with Valens and the Governor at Caesarea.  
Valens his arrival at Caesarea. Basil summoned before the Arian perfect. The Dialogue that passed between them, discovering his inflexible adherence to the catholic Religion. His great virtue reported to the Emperor, who admires the Piety of their public Devotion. His discourse with him. His sharp rebuk of Demosthenes the Emperor's Cook. The Arians earnest for his Banishment. Valens unable to sign the Warrant. Embracing the catholic Faith propounded by him, as the best expedient for the young Princes recovery; but rejected by the Emperor: The Child dies. Basil honoured by his Enemies. His Intercession for the catholics at Nice, justified by a Miracle. The Sufferings of Eusebius Samosatenus in defence of the Nicene Cause. His prohibiting the People to resist Authority. His unfortunate death by the Arians. Basil's Troubles at Caesarea, for his protecting a Widow that fled for Sanctuary to the Altar. His undaunted Courage in that Affair.  
I. HE was as yet scarce warm in his Chair, when the Storm that had but lately blown over, return'd with more fierceness and violence than before. Valens the Emperor, in pursuance of his great Design, to subdue the East to the Doctrine of Arias, came a second time to Caesarea, 
Id. ib. p. 346. &c. 349, &c.  attended as before with Modestus the Praetorian perfect. vexed they were, that he had so openly baffled their first attempt, and that since that he had been chosen Bishop in despite of all the intrigues they had laid, and the Interest they could make against him. At their first arrival, he is sent for before the perfect, and went more like one that was going to a Feast, than a Prisoner to the Bar; the Discourse between them, passed in this manner. MODESTUS. What's the matter Basil,( for he vouchsafed not to honor him with his Episcopal Title) that you presume to oppose so great an Emperor, and that you alone carry yourself with so much obstinacy above all the rest? BASIL. What do you mean, Sir, what Arrogance do you speak of? For as yet I do not understand you. MOD. I mean your refusing to comply with the Emperor's Religion, when all others have struck sail, and given up the day. BAS. But that's inconsistent with the Will and Command of my sovereign Emperor; nor can I be ever brought to worship a Creature, when I myself am God's Creature; or one that is a made God, 
{αβγδ}. Postrema haec verba durius forfan sonare videntur.  when I myself am commanded to become a partaker of the divine Nature. MOD. And what then do you make of us? BAS. Nothing at all, as long as you command such things as these. MOD. But tell me, don't you think it a great Honor to come over to us, and to have us on your side? BAS. I grant you to be Governors, and very illustrious Persons, yet you are not greater and more honourable than God; 'tis no small honour to have you on our side, but yet in the same capacity with others, who are subjected to our Care and Charge. For Christianity is to be measured, not by dignity of Persons, but soundness of the Faith. The perfect was nettled at this, and Passion growing upon him, he started up out of his Chair, and proceeded in a sharper strain. MOD. What then, are you not afraid of the Power we are armed with? BAS. What can happen? What can I suffer? MOD. Any one of those many things that are within my Power. BAS. What are they, let us know? Confiscation of Goods, Banishment, Tortures, or Death? Or if there be any thing worse than these, threaten that; for of these, there's none can reach us. MOD. How so? BAS. He is not obnoxious to Confiscation, who has nothing to lose: Unless you want these old tattered clothes, and a few Books, wherein consists my whole Estate. Banishment I regard not, who am tied to no place; I account not this Country, where I now dwell, my own; and I can think any mine, where I shall be cast: Or to speak more properly, the whole Earth is God's, whose Pilgrim and Sojourner I am. As for Tortures, what can they do, where there's not a Body to bear them? Set aside the first blow, and there's nothing else within your Power. And then for death, I shall esteem it a kindness and benefit; 'twill but sooner sand me to God, for whose sake I live and act, and to whom I am in a great measure dead, having of a long time been hastening thither. MOD. I have never yet met with a man so much unconcerned, and that has talked at this rate of Freedom and Liberty. BAS. Perhaps you never yet met with a true Bishop, otherwise in like Circumstances he would have treated you in the same way that I have done. For, Sir, in other things we are peculiarly submissive and humble, according to the Law of our Religion, far from proudly exalting ourselves, I say, not against supreme Authority, but any of the meanest and most Plebeian Rank. But when the Cause of God, and Religion is at stake, we overlook all things else, and fix our eyes only upon him. In such Cases, Fire and Sword, wild Beasts, and Instruments to rak off the Flesh by piecemeal, are a Pleasure rather than a Torment to us. You may therefore reproach and threaten us, do your pleasure, and use your Power; let the Emperor know you cannot conquer us, for you shall never prevail with us to confederate with that impious Sect; no, though you should threaten worse things than you have done yet. And as for the Advantage 
Theod. l. 4. c. 19. p. 173.  you propound to me, and the favour of the Emperor, offer these things to Boyes and Children, who are wont to be caught with such gaudy Baits; the Professors of true Religion will not betray one Syllable of divine Truth, in defence whereof they are ready in any way to sacrifice and lay down their Lives. I highly value the Emperor's friendship, when I can have it with Piety, and the favour of Heaven, but without that, I look upon it as pernicious and deadly. Mod●stus  told him, surely he was mad. I wish( replied the other) I may be always thus mad. Then he was commanded to be gone, and to advice with himself what he would do, and return his answer to morrow, threatenings being added, unless he complied. The good man answered short, I will come again to morrow, but the very same that I am to day; and for your part, alter not your Resolution, but execute what you have threatened.  
II. THE perfect now plainly saw, that the man's Resolution was impregnable, and though he appeared outwardly angry, could not at the same time but entertain a secret Reverence and Veneration for him. Whereupon having dismissed him, he went immediately to the Emperor, and  told him, Sir, we are conquered by this one Bishop, whom no Threat'nings can shake, no Arguments move, no Promises 'allure. Some timorous or mean Fellow may be wrought upon, but for this man, he must either be set upon by direct open force, or there can be no Expectations of his yielding. Valens had so much Generosity, as to admire Virtue in an Enemy; and though he was ashamed to desert his Party, yet he commanded all rigorous Proceedings against him, to be stayed, and sought a fair occasion to insinuate himself into his good Opinion, which he attempted in this manner. It was now the time of the Christmas Solemnities,( the {αβγδ}, as Nazianzen, or {αβγδ}, as Nicephorus) and the Congregation was infinitely thronged, when the Emperor attended with a great Retinue, entred into the Church, where beholding the frequency of the Assembly, the Order and Decorum of the Service, the Majesty and Gravity of the Bishop, the Reverence and Devotion of the People, and taking notice of the Fervency of their Prayers, and the loud Harmony and Sprightliness of their singing Psalmody, he was struck with horror, as with a clap of Thunder, and his Sight and Sences began to fail him. And when the time of Oblation was come, that according to custom he was to make his Offering( which, say some 
Nicet. Comm. in Naz. Or. XX. , were Vessels of Silver) at the holy Table, and perceived that no body took it up, as not knowing whether Basil would receive it, he began to tremble, and his Legs to falter, and he had undoubtedly fallen to the ground, if one of the Clergy that stood next him, had not caught hold of him and kept him up. After this, he again came into the Church, and being admitted within the veil, into the Diaconicon or Vestry, the good Bishop discoursed to him at large concerning the Faith, which the Emperor heard with great Attention, and which Nazianzen who then stood by, professes he looked upon as things immediately spoken from Heaven, and that he could not sufficiently admire the Wisdom and divine Philosophy of those Discourses. At this intercourse amongst others of the Emperor's Train, was present one Demosthenes( whom the two Gregories, Nazianzen and Nyssen, elegantly call Nebuzaradan) Steward and chief Cook of the Imperial Palace, who took upon him to interrupt Basil, and contradict him in rude barbarous Language. Whereat smiling, he  told the Company, we have now seen an ignorant and illiterate Demosthenes. The man thought himself affronted with the answer, and broken out into Menaces and ill words, to whom the other replied, your business is to dress Meats, and prepare Sauces, but you cannot relish divine Truths, your ears being stopped up with the noisome Fumes and vapours of the kitchen. The Emperor however was not unpleas'd with the Converse he had had, the edge of his fury being for the present abated, and he had a better opinion of Basil and his Party than before.  
III. THE Arian Prelates that were about the Court, perceived the Emperor began to stagger, and therefore plied him with warm and importunate Councils, never giving over, till they had persuaded him to banish Basil. And so sure had they made themselves of it, that the very night was appointed, and at hand for his Transportation; the Chariot in readiness, his Friends prepared to accompany him, his Enemies every where triumphing, nothing was wanting but the Emperor's hand to the Warrant, which being brought to him to sign, he was not able to writ one Syllable, the Pen breaking under his hand; he tried a second and then a third, and still had the same success, whereat he was amazed, his hand shook, and a Consternation seized upon his mind, and catching up the Paper, tore the Warrant in pieces. The accident we may well suppose, soon filled every corner with discourse, and indeed was a great Instance of Heavens immediate appearing in the good man's Cause, which wanted not at the same time, other Testimonies from Heaven for its Vindication. Galates 
Naz. p. 352. Theod. ib. Socr. l. 4. c. 26. p 243 Soz l. 6. c. 16. p. 658.  the Emperor's Son was seized with a malignant fever, which raged beyond all hopes of Life. Valens was infinitely afflicted with the young Princes sickness, and in token of the deepest Grief and Passion, threw himself upon the ground. Physicians of the greatest Note are sent for, whom the Emperor entreated to improve the utmost of their skill for his Son's recovery. But all in vain, the Distemper was not to be removed by Arts of physic. The Empress Dominica was not only equally concerned with her Husband, but had been troubled with frightful Dreams, whereby she said she had been made to understand, that this Calamity had befallen them for the injury that had been done the holy Bishop. Hereupon 'twas concluded, that Basil should be sent for, and desired to improve his interest with Heaven for the Princes health. But because the Emperor was conscious to himself, how much he had affronted him by the late Order for his Banishment, he would not directly sand for him in his own name, but committed it to some great men to manage. Upon the first Intimation he came to Court, where the Emperor bespoke him in this manner; if the Doctrine of the Faith you profess be true, pray to God that my Child may not die. Basil replied, if, Sir, you'll entertain the same Faith that I do, and restore Peace and Unity to the Church, doubt not but the Prince shall recover. And indeed as soon as the Bishop set his foot within the House, the Distemper began somewhat to remit. But the Emperor it seems liked not the Terms, to whom Basil said no more but this, then God's Will be done concerning him, and went out. The Issue was, the Arian Bishops are called for, who prayed over, and baptized the Child, and he immediately died. warned by which example, Modestus the perfect( who was at that time taken with a desperate Sickness) sent for Basil, and with tears bewailed his carriage towards him; he  told him, he was now sufficiently sensible of his Error, beseeching him to become instrumental for the recovery of his Health; which by his Prayers he regained, as he confessed after upon all occasions, not ceasing to admire, and speak of him with great honor and respect. Thus God was pleased to buoy up the Interest and Reputation of this excellent Bishop, in the midst of his most inveterate Enemies, so that he was suffered to keep his Station, when almost all the catholic Bishops of the East were turned out and banished. Nay, so far was Valens himself pleased with him, that he gave several rich Farms which he had in those Parts, for the relief of those Poor and Lame, whereof Basil took the Charge and Care. Zonaras relates 
Annal. Tom. III. p. 26.  a Passage, which I deliver to the Reader purely upon his Authority, that when at the Instigation of the Arians, the catholics at Nice were turned out of their Church, they came to Basil to entreat him to intercede for them. He undertook their Cause, and went with them to the Emperor then at Nice, to whom he addressed himself to this purpose. Sir, the Determination of this Matter is to be left to God. Let the Church-doors be fast shut, and let the Arians stand without and pray to Heaven; if the Doors open to them of their own accord, let them have the Church; if they do not, let us have leave to come and put up our Prayers to God, and if they freely open to us, let it be declared, that by the judgement of Heaven the Church does belong to us; but if they do not open to us, then let it be adjudged to them. The Emperor could not decline the Proposal, and accordingly the Doors were made fast. The Arians came and prayed a long time, but to no purpose; they being withdrawn, the catholics came, with S. Basil in the head of them, who had no sooner begun their Prayers, but the Bars burst asunder, and the Doors flew open, and gave free passage for the People to enter in; to the no less Joy of the one, than to the shane and Vexation of the other Party.  
IV. VALENS after his departure from Caesarea, stayed some considerable time at Antioch, whence he issued out Warrants for the Vexation and Ejection of the orthodox Bishops; amongst whom two especially were in his eye; 
T●eod. l. 4. c. 13. 14. p. 165, 166. & l. 5. c. 4. p. 203.  Meletius the aged Bishop of Antioch, a great Sufferer for the catholic Cause, whom he now banished into armoniac; and Eusebius Bishop of Samosata. This Eusebius was a most zealous Champion for the Nicene Faith, and at this time in the hottest of all the Danger, put on the habit of a soldier, and went up and down the adjacent Countries, and ordained Bishops, Priests, and Deacons in all those Churches, which the Malice of the Faction and the Fury of the Emperor had left naked and destitute. One of the first things therefore resolved upon in the Arian Councils, was, that he should be sent far enough out of the way. The order for his Banishment was brought to him in the Evening, which he advised the Messenger to keep secret, plainly telling him, that if it should come to the Peoples Ears, they would infallibly throw him into the River, and he had no mind to be guilty of his death. Having without any discomposure finished the evening Service, at night the aged Bishop, attended only with one Servant to carry his Bible and his Pillow, took Boat, and went down the River all night, till they arrived at Zeugma, a Town situate also upon the Euphrates. Early in the Morning the News of his departure filled the City with an universal Lamentation, and multitudes of People taking Boat, followed after him to Zeugma, and with Tears besought him to go back with them, and not to expose his Flock as a prey to Wolves. But in vain; no persuasions or Considerations could prevail. Nay, so far was he from alleging for himself, that in this Case he must obey God rather than men; that he plainly  told them, the Apostles Rule must take place, which expressly commands us, to be subject to Principalities and Powers, Then they presented him, some with Money, others with clothes, or Servants; but he only accepted so much as was barely necessary for his Journey; and having fortified their minds with Prayers and Sermons, and exhorted them to contend earnestly for the apostolic Doctrine, set forward towards Thrace, the place allotted for his Banishment. But that Country being at this time over-run with the Goths, he went higher, and settled himself near the River Danow, where he so-journ'd till the death of Valens, when he return'd home, and was taken up in the public Affairs and Concernments of the Church. And coming to Dolicha a small City in Syria, a Town miserable infected with Arianism, to place an orthodox Bishop in that See, a Woman threw a Tile at him from the top of a House, which mortally broken his skull, and covered his head with a Crown of Martyrdom. Before he died he hearty forgave the Woman, and took an Oath of his Friends then about him, that they would not call her to account, nor revenge his death. But its time we return back to Basil.  
V. THE Emperor left Caesarea, but Basil's Troubles went not away with him. Eusebius 
Nazian. ibid. p. 353. vid. Nicet. Comment. Tom. 2. p. 781.  Uncle to the Empress, and at that time Governor of the Province, had a spleen against him upon the score of Religion, but which he sought to cover with other Pretexts. Several ways he studied to molest and vex him, and amongst others, took hold of this occasion. There was at Caesarea, a Widow called Vestiana( if Nyssen means the same Person) Rich, and of honourable Quality, whose Husband was lately dead. Courted she was, by one that was Assessor to the City-judge, who pressed her with such unreasonable and importunate Addresses, that she found no better way, than to retire from her own House; and take Sanctuary in the Church, where at the Communion-Table she solemnly invoked the divine Protection, and called in Heaven to her assistance. The Governor sends immediately to Basil to demand the Woman, who refused to deliver her up, letting him know, that the privileges of the Church, fenced in by Law, were Sacred, and the Honor of the holy Table not to be violated, nor could he deliver her in this Case, without betraying the Faith. The Governor stormed at the denial, and taking no notice where she was, sent Officers to search his House, and especially his Bed-chamber, insinuating thereby a public suspicion that the Holy man had taken her home, and kept her for his own Bed. Nor content with this, he commanded Basil, as a Criminal, to be brought before him, and sitting down upon the Bench, and being swelled with Choler and Passion, treated him with more than ordinary rudeness and inhumanity. He commanded his Cloak to be torn off his shoulders; hold, said Basil, I'll not only put off that, but if you please, my Coat also. He  told him he would cause his lean spare carcase to be scourged, to which the other readily yielded; that he would tear him piecemeal with Iron Pincers; do Sir, replied Basil, by these violent Lancings you'l cure an ill-affected Liver, with which you see I am sorely troubled. The noise hereof soon spread itself over the City, with which the People being alarmed, the whole City was presently in an uproar, Persons of all Ages, Trades and Sexes,( for the very Women put on a masculine Zeal and Resolution) betaking themselves to Arms, and catching up what came next to hand, Swords, or Spears, or Stones, or Clubs, or Fire-brands, or whatever might be an Instrument of Rage and Cruelty: They all pressed forward like a mighty Inundation, which no Banks could stop, and happy was he thought, that could get the honor to give the first blow, nothing less being resolved on, than the tearing him all in pieces. The Governor was sufficiently startled at the News of the danger that he was in, he knew what it was to encounter with armed fury, to which he had given but too much Provocation. And now the Scene was altered, and he who lately had so stormed and hectored, quaked and trembled, and his Spirit sunk within him. He crouch'd, and entreated, and bewailed his miserable and calamitous Case, which had been all in vain, had not Basil himself gone out, and both by his presence and discourse charmed and appeased the Multitude, thereby at once delivering himself, his Client, and his Judge. As for the Lady( whose unhappy Circumstances had given occasion to this whole passage) she was( if the same mentioned by my Author 
Nyss. de vit. S. Macrin. p. 197. ) recommended to the care of Macrina S. Basil's Sister, who superintended a Female college of devout Women, amongst whom she passed her time in all the strict Exercises of a pious and virtuous Life.   

SECT. V. His Acts from the end of the foregoing Contests, till the Contest between him and Eustathius Bishop of Sebastea.  
His Visitation and Reformation of his diocese. His great care in correcting the Abuses crept into Ordinations. His consolatory Letters to the People of Antioch. The miserable Distractions in that Church. Their Letter to the Bishops of the West. Basil's complaint of the Pride and unconcernedness of the Western Prelates. The issue of the long Schism at Antioch. The modesty and humility of Meletius. The Emperor's Commission to Basil, to visit the Armenian Churches.  
I. BASIL had now got a little respite from the Troubles that had of late surrounded him, and he thought no care more immediately necessary, than to take an account of the State of his diocese, and reform those Abuses that had crept in by the remissness of his Predecessors. The Chorepiscopi 
Basil. Ep. CLXXXI. ad Chorepp. p. 193.  took upon them to ordain the inferior Church-officers, without the leave or knowledge of the Bishop, and trusting wholly to the Presbyters and Deacons in this matter, admitted them without any just Examination of the fitness and Qualification of the Person, by which means the Church was filled with unworthy men, and every Village was crowded with Officers, who were a Scandal to the Service of the Altar: Interest or Relation, Friendship or neighbourhood were the best Qualifications that most had to recommend them, and many it seems pressed the harder to get in, that they might be freed from a necessity of bearing Arms, especially in those parts, where Souldiers were more than ordinarily pressed to the Service of the Wars. And what's beyond this, 'twas commonly reported 
Ep. LXXVI. p. 132. , that the Bishops of his Province were guilty of Simony, that they sold Ordinations, and set a price upon the Gift of the holy Ghost. As for the first of these, he charges them to revive the strictness of the ancient Discipline, when the Custom was, that the Persons to be admitted, were to be severely tried, and a most exact scrutiny to be made into their past Life, what had been the course of their Education, what the sobriety of their Youth; whether they were not guilty of Drunkenness, quarreling, &c. The Care of this was committed to the Presbyters and Deacons, who reported the Matter to the Chorepiscopi, and they upon the Testimonial given, first gave an account of it to the Bishop, and then received them into the Ministry of the Church. For the recovery therefore of things to this excellent Standard, he commanded them to re-inforce the ancient Canons, and in the mean time to sand him a Note of the Names of the Ministers in every Parish, with an account by whom they had been brought in, and what was the course and manner of their Life; a Copy whereof they should keep for themselves; that they should call them again under Examination, and if found fit, continue them, if otherwise, expel them, and return them back to a Lay-Station; and for the future, use their utmost care and diligence in the trial of such Persons, but not take them in, till they had sent him an account of them. As for the other, that of mercenary Ordinations( which he tells them, he could not at first believe) he lays before them the greatness of the Crime, in some of its more horrid Aggravations, that 'twas double iniquity to cover wickedness under a pretence of Piety, 'twas to sell the holy Ghost, to barter heavenly for earthly things, and to make a gain of the Church, which had the Body and Blood of Christ committed to it; 'twas to be a Slave to that which is Idolatry, and the Root of all Evil; to prefer a little Money before Christ, and Judas-like, to betray him again for a few Pence, who had been once crucified for the World; and that the Lands and Possessions got by such means, might too truly be styled an Aceldama, a Field of Blood; that they were here in more inexcusable than the Father of Simonists, having actually done, what he only attempted, who yet had that sad doom denounced against him, Thy Money perish with thee; that 'twas to no purpose for them to flatter themselves, that they had taken no Money before, but only after the Imposition of hands, that this was but a Trick to delude the World, and cheat their Consciences, seeing 'twas upon that account they received it, when ever they had it. That if these things were true, 'twas high time they were amended, and that they should quit this Trade, which was the very Path-way to Hell, and not dare to pollute those hands with such ungodly Gains, wherewith they were to handle the holy Mysteries: That if after this Admonition any of them should presume to offend in this kind, he should be immediately banished all Communion at the sacred Altar, and be forced to seek some other place, where he might freely sell what he had unlawfully bought, the Gift of God; For that, says he, we have no such custom, neither the Churches of God.  
II. NOR was his care confined only to his own Province, he had a public Soul, that engaged him, not only to wish well in general, but to lend his particular assistance towards the Peace and Welfare of Foreign Churches. The People of Antioch had been miserable harassed by the Arian Party at the Emperor's late being there; to take off the edge of whose sorrow, he writes them a letter 
〈◇〉. ● 88.  full of a generous Sympathy and Compassion; withall putting them in mind that God could put a Period to their present Persecutions; in prospect whereof, they might the better be content to bear them; if they looked upon them as a chastisement for their sins, they might prevent a greater deluge of wrath; if continued, God who suffered them to be laid on, would give proportionable strength to endure them, and at last crown their Faith and Patience; in order whereunto, 'twas not enough to give an instance or two of courage and fortitude, God thinking fit many times, to make us exemplary to the World by frequent Trials and repeated Victories. And at longest, the whole space of man's Life was short, if compared with the Duration of that happiness, that we expected in the future State: That no Sufferings should shake their Constancy in the Faith, the Faith derived from the Ancients, ratified by the Fathers at Nice, whose Creed he there sets down, as the Standard of sound orthodox Faith. But alas, the Church of Antioch laboured under greater Pressures than any that could arise from without, being well nigh ruined by unhappy and almost incurable Confusions within itself. For besides the Arians and Apollinarians, who had their several Bishops, and held distinct and separate Assemblies in that City, the catholic Party was broken into a lamentable Schism, the People being divided between Meletius their ancient Bishop, and Paulinus, whom Lucifer Calaritanus had constituted there in the Reign of Julian, ever since which time the Schism had not only smoked, but flamed out, each Party striving to advance its Interest, and to depress the other. The Effects whereof were sad and deplorable, a visible decay of Piety, the mutual Hatred and Animosity of Christians, the increase of heresy, and the open Triumph of the Enemies of the Faith. Basil was infinitely troubled at these dissensions, though he saw it necessary to espouse the Meletian Cause, on whose side 'tis plain the right lay. His first endeavour was, to give a true account of the State of the Case, and to engage some Persons of known Reputation in the composure of this difficult Affair. And because Athanasius was the man of the greatest name and vogue at this time in the Christian World, he wrote to him to interpose his Authority in this Matter, who accordingly sent Peter his Presbyter to Antioch, and by his means several dispatches were conveyed to Rome, and the Bishops of the W●st, as we have formerly noted in that great man's Life. And indeed 'twas but time for the Meletians to look about them, and to recommend their Cause to foreign Churches, when Paulinus's Party every where gave it out 
Basil ●●. CCCXLIX. p. 344. , that they had received Letters from the Western Bishops, which had given Suffrage on their side, and had adjudged the See of Antioch to Paulinus. Which if real, had been gotten by surprise, before the others were truly acquainted with the Case, as at first Athanasius himself had been prevailed with to sand Letters to Paulinus.  
III. THAT therefore they might be no longer wanting to the justification of their Cause, and to the necessities of the Church, a Letter 
Ext. ap. Basil, Ep. LXIX. p. 108.  is drawn up, directed to the Bishops of Italy and France, subscribed by Meletius, Eusebius, Basil, and XXIX. Prelates more, in which they lay before them the calamitous State of the Eastern Churches, harassed by Violence and Persecution, public Assemblies dispersed, and People forced to pray in Fields and Solitudes, heresy prosperous, and Arianism grown rampant; bad men stepped up into the Government of the Church, who trampled upon all Laws and Canons, seized the Revenues of the Poor, and devoured the Portion of the Widow and the Orphan, and like People like Priest, an universal degeneracy of manners had broken in upon them, the People following the conduct of their Teachers, and reckoning themselves securely warranted by their example. Nay not only did heresy prevail, but( what was the accent of their misery) the catholics were fallen out amongst themselves, and it was then with them, as 'twas once with the Jews at the Siege of Jerusalem, who were not only perpetually pressed upon by the Roman Army from without, but betrayed by their own intestine Factions and Seditions within. That therefore they besought them by all that was dear and tender to them, that they would take their Case into Consideration, and forthwith dispatch some of their number to their relief, and that in such a Proportion, as that they might by their number, as well as the gravity of the Persons, bear a considerable sway in a Synodal Convention, where they might help to preserve the languishing and declining Faith, and reduce things back to the Nicene Creed( now, if ever, like to suffer shipwreck) extirpate heresy, dissolve the Schisms that had risen up, reclaim the Erroneous, reconcile Dissenters, and restore Peace and Unity to the Church. This Epistle penned( as is probable) by Meletius 
Basil. Epist. LIX. p. 88. vid. Ep. LVII. p. 86. , and then transmitted to Basil, to be by him reviewed, and subscribed, was attended with a Commonitorium, giving a just account of the State of things, and delivered to Sabinus the Deacon, who was to give them a more particular account by word of mouth. With him Basil dispatched Dorotheus a Presbyter, and by him a Letter 
Ep. LXX. p. 111.  in his own name, wherein with a mighty Eloquence he bewails the miserable face of things amongst them, and pathetically presses them to a speedy assistance, before it was too late. But alas these and several other dispatches produced no more than a few good words, a Letter or two to comfort and condole with them, but no effectual means 
Vid. Ep. CLXXXII. p. 195.  set on foot to help them. The Western Prelates sat quiet and warm at home, and cared not to burn their Fingers in such a troublesome fire, especially at that distance, where such a Journey was to be undertaken, and therefore left them to scuffle it out, and end the Matter as well as they could. Plain it is, they no way satisfied Basil's desires and expectations, who sharply complains 
Ep. 10. ad Naz. p. 54.  of the {αβγδ} the Pride and superciliousness of the West, and how little help was to be looked for from them, that neither understood the Truth of their Case, nor would be content to learn it; that he was resolved to writ to the Pope, to let him know, that it did not become him to insult over, and add to the Miseries of the afflicted, nor to reckon it a piece of State and greatness to be proud, a thing alone sufficient to render a man odious in the sight of God; and elsewhere 
ap. Baron. ad An. 372. T. 4. p. 322.  he expresses a very passionate resentment, that he hated the Pride of that Church. But leaving the security and unconcernedness of the Western Churches, let us see what became of the main controversy at Antioch. The Emperor Gratian published an Edict 
Theod. l. 5. c. 2. p. 199.  for the recalling and restoring the catholic Bishops that had been ejected and banished by the Arian Faction. Upon this occasion several Bishops met in a Synod at Antioch, where, amongst other things, the woefully distracted State of that Church was taken into Consideration, and overtures made for a Reconciliation; Meletius 
Id. ib. c. 3. p. 201.  himself making this offer to Paulinus, and that in the presence of sapour, the Emperor's Officer who had brought the Edict to Antioch, Since our Lord( said he) has committed these Sheep to my care, and thou hast taken the Charge of others, who yet all agree in the same Principles of Religion, let us join both into one Flock, and lay aside all contest about Government and Precedence. Let us feed the Flock in Communion, and attend it with equal care. And if the Episcopal Chair that stands in the midst, creates any difference, I'll throw even that Bone of Contention out of the way. For placing the Holy Bible in it, I am content that we should sit on each side of it; and if it shall happen that I first depart this Life, you alone shall have the Government of the Flock: But if you die first, than I according to my Power, will take upon me the sole Care and Government of it. A modest, and truly peaceable Proposal; and although Theodorit says, that Paulinus rejected it,( which perhaps he might do at first) yet Socrates 
L. 5. c. 5. p. 262. , Sozomen 
L. 7. c. 3. p. 706. , and the Fathers in the Synod at Aquileia 
Syn. Aquil. Epist. II. Conc. T. 2. col. 1000.  inform us, that the Agreement was actually made between them. Which quieted things a little for the present. But alas, after Meletius his death, and Flavian's Election to that See, the Wound opened, and bled afresh, and the Schism continued several years, till upon the death of Paulinus, and his short-lived Successor Evagrius, Flavian put an end to it. But this account has carried us a little out of our way, the very Synod at Antioch not being holden there, till some months after Basil's death, to the course of whose Story we now return.   

SECT. VI. The Contest that happened between him and Eustathius, with his Acts till his death and burial.  
His Contest with Eustathius Bishop of Sebastea. The unsettledness and subtle Practices of that man. Basil charged with undue admitting Eustathius to Communion. His rude treatment by Theodotus. Eustathius his great malice towards him. His Vindication of himself from being a Favourer of Apollinaris. accused of being unsound in the Doctrine of the Trinity, upon what pretence. Several Forms of Doxology in use at that time. His writing his Book de Spiritu Sancto, upon what occasion. The Monks under his Rule incensed against him. His Expostulation with Athanasius of Ancyra. A second Metropolis erected by Valens in Cappadocia, and why. Basil's Contest with Anthimus of Tyana about the Metropolitical Power. His consolatory Letter to the Church of Alexandria upon the death of Athanasius. His last sickness, death, and burial. The pomp and solemnity of his Funeral. His Epitaph.  
I. THIS good man did not barely content himself to stay at home and writ Letters abroad, but willingly complied with any occasion of traveling up and down, to compose and settle the Churches Peace, though his weakness and want of health might well have pleaded his excuse. He had received 
Epist. CLXXXVII. p. 200.  Intimation from Count Terentius, and by him a Commission from the Emperor, to go visit the Armenian Churches, and to supply the vacant Sees, voided either by death, or by flight, or banishment under the late Persecution. With him Theodotus Bishop of Nicopolis was joined in Commission, between whom there fell out an unhappy difference, by means whereof that well-design'd undertaking came to nothing. The occasion this. Theodotus had summoned a Synod at Nicopolis, and invited Basil amongst the rest, who at his coming thither, met with Eustathius Bishop of Sebastea, a man of a fickle Temper, and unsettled Principles. He had been brought up under Arius 
Basil Epist. LXXIV. p. 124. vid. E●ist. LXXXII ● 154.  at Alexandria, one of whose prime Disciples he professed himself. Returning home, he was called to account for his impious Principles, and condemned by Hermogenes Bishop of Caesarea, who had been a great Stickler against the Arian Doctrines in the Nic●ne Council, and the first Proposer of that Creed. The subtle Fellow( who know how to transform himself into any shape) presented Hermogenes a Confession of Faith, sound and orthodox, and by that means regained his good opinion, and was by him admitted into Orders. After Hermogenes his death, the Prot●us changed again, and fled to Eusebius of Constantinople( formerly Bishop of Nicom●d●●) the great Patron and Steers man of the Arian Cause. But upon some misdemeanours being forced to sly from thence, he cam● back into his own Country, where he published an Apology, where in he endeavoured to clear himself, but so craftily contrived, that under ambiguous Terms he still retained his impious Opinions. By such shifting Artifices he procured himself to be preferred to the bishopric of S●bastea in the lesser armoniac, which was no sooner done, but in the Synod of Ancyra he drew up an Anath●matism against the C●ns●ubstantial Faith; thence he went to S●lcucia, where he joined with the Arians in that Synod; thence to Constantinople, where happening to espouse the wrong side( for they were divided into two Factions in that Council) he was deposed. To recover his Credit, he procured himself to be one of the Legates, that after the Synod at ●●●psacus, were sent into the W●st, where by dissimulation, he so imposed upon Pope Liberius and the W●st●rn Prelates, that he got their commendatory Letters, upon which he was restored in the Synod of ●yan●. In fine, he had as often changed his Faith, as 'twas either for his credit or advantage. Glad was Basil of the opportunity of conversing with him, and plainly  told him what things were laid to his charge, and desired him to declare himself, that if he stood to the catholic Faith, they might own and embrace him; if otherwise, they would avoid his Communion. Two dayes together he disputed with him, who was seconded by Poemenius his Presbyter, about these Matters, and at last so clearly evinced and established the Truth, and so fully satisfied all their Objections, that they both professed their entire Agreement with him, and as an Evidence thereof, they both rose up and ●ent to Church to evening Prayers, and there solemnly rendered tha●ks to God, who had disposed them to be of one mind, to think and spe●k the same things. But because he knew the Inconstancy of the ●ers●n that he had to deal with, he thought it imported him, to have some better assurance than bare words, and therefore urged him to subscribe a written Declaration of his Faith. To this end he drew up a Form 
Ext. Epist. LXXVIII. p. 1●7.  of Confession, wherein was inserted the Nicene Creed, and a particular Explication of the main Articles, with a most explicit renunciation of the ●rrors of Marcellus, Sabellius, and Arius, and an Anathema against those who denied the Divinity of the holy Ghost. All which are there laid down in Terms as full and perspicuous, as words were able to express them; which Eustathius ratified with this following Subscription. I Eustathius Bishop, having red the above-written Declaration to thee Basil, do aclowledge it to be true, and consent to it; and have subscribed it, to●●ther with as many of my Brethren as are now with me, Fronto, Severus the Chorepiscopus, and some others of my Clergy.  
II. THE noise of this Converse and Reconciliation was presently carried to Theodotus, who hastily catching up the Report, without ever enquiring into the true Circumstances of the Case, fell foul upon Basil, and not only invited him no longer to the Synod, but refused so much as to join at Prayers with him. Basil finding little good like to be done, departed for that time, and went home; the News of his holding Communion with Eustathius, being in the mean time scattered abroad to his disadvantage; nay, Eustathius himself disowning that he had recanted any of his Opinions, Letters to that purpose being dispersed by him and his Friends up and down the Country, wherein were also contained very severe and disingenuous Reflections upon Basil. This awakened him to take the next opportunity of going again into armoniac, and that he might clear his Innocence before a great and venerable Person, came to Getasa, where Meletius the reverend Bishop of Antioch had a Grange, whereat he then resided. Hither Theodotus came to him, to whom he gave a naked and impartial account of what had passed in his converse with Eustathius; and how in all Points he had come over to him. Theodotus answered, that after Basil's departure, Eustathius had positively denied the Agreement, or that ever he had declared any such consent. Basil replied, that he could not easily think so ill of the man, as to imagine he should so lightly skip from one thing to another, and deny what he had so lately done; that he who pretended so much to abhor a lie in the common Affairs of Life, should in so important a Matter, so openly out-face a known Truth. However, he was resolved to put it upon this issue, he would produce and show him the Declaration of his Faith which he had subscribed; if he owned it, and still continued in that mind, he would hold Communion with him; if not, he would utterly renounce it. Meletius liked the Proposal, and upon these Terms they seemed agreed, and Theodotus kindly invited them to Nicopolis, himself promising to conduct them afterwards part of their Journey. But when they came thither, his mind was altered, and forgetting what had so lately passed at Getasa, he gave fresh vent to his Passion, and contrary to the Laws both of Hospitality and Religion, treated him with great rudeness and contempt. Thus disappointed, Basil left that place, and went to Satala, where in a more peaceable way he treated with the Bishops of that Country, and communicated Councils with them about settling the Affairs of the Church; the People of Satala were importunate with him, that he would constitute and ordain them a Bishop. There was it seems a Quarrel between them and Cyril their Bishop, and upon some Suggestions they had withdrawn from him. Basil took the Matter into his Cognizance, and having inquired into the things objected, found them nothing but malicious Insinuations, as his very Enemies confessed. Whereupon he made them Friends, he and his People returning back to a mutual Communion. And hence Basil thought good to dlspatch an Advice to Count Terentius, to acquaint him with these Transactions, and let him know the Reasons, why he had not more successfully managed the Affair that had been committed to him.  
III. ALL this while Eustathius persecuted Basil with all the Arts of Malice and Envy. He writ Letters 
Basil. Ep. CXCVI. p. 212  into all parts to defame and reproach him, refused to give him a meeting in order either to the giving or receiving any Satisfaction; in all Synodal Conventions he took occasion to cast bitter Censures and Reflections upon him, and as he met with Persons for his purpose, would not stick to poison them with rank Arian Principles; and not satisfied with this, he wrote, or rather by a Club of his Party, composed tedious Discourses against Basil, stuffed with little besides railing and reproach. All which the good man bore with an invincible Patience, not returning one word of answer for three years 
Ep. LXXIII. p. 120.  together, hoping that in time malice would be weary, and his Innocency be unclouded and cleared from all weapons and mistakes. But when he found the reports to gather strength, and meet with entertainment in every place, and that his guilt was concluded from his silence, he thought it high time to awaken his Pen to his own defence, writing a prolix Epistle 
Ep. LXXIX. p. 139.  to Eustathius himself, wherein with the most incomparable mildness and composure of mind, he wipes off the several Aspersions that had been cast upon him, and lays open the Arts and Contrivances of his Enemies. And perhaps he had contented himself with this private Vindication, if his unwearied Adversaries had not started up a fresh Charge against him. For finding the business of Eustathius thin and empty, they now accused him of being a Friend and Favourer of Apollinaris 
vid. Ep. LIX. p. 87 LXXIV. p. 125. LXXXII p. 15●. CCCXLV p. 337. CCCLXXXII. p. 373.  the Laodicean, a man indeed of excellent Parts and Learning, but who had lately vented some dangerous and heterodox Opinions about the Person of our Saviour; that this was the man, whose Principles, they said, he had espoused, and with whom he maintained an intimate Correspondence: and a Book was produced containing some dangerous Propositions, written perhaps by Apollinaris, but interpolated by themselves, and wholly fathered upon Basil. And now every corner began to ring of Basil's deserting the catholic Cause, and communicating with men of heretical Principles, and the rumour had spread as far as the Western Parts. Whereupon he wrote to several Persons, and amongst others, to the Bishops of the West, to disabuse their credulity, wherein he gives this plain account concerning this Matter. That as to Apollinaris, there were some things in him, for which he paid him a just Reverence, but that he had not so much kindness for, or acquaintance with him, as to be willing to bear his burdens, and to answer for his faults; that he had red some of his Books, wherein he met with many pernicious and obnoxious Passages, which he greatly disliked, particularly concerning the Doctrine of the Incarnation, and his Book about the Resurrection, wherein he evidently reduced that state of things to the Mosaic Standard, and ridiculously turned Christianity into judaisme; and that he had red no more of his Writings, was, because he knew how to employ his time better, than to hunt after such things, nor did he at all delight in the Fancies of the neoterics: That if Apollinaris had written any thing that gave offence to any, what was that to him? And that if it must be, that one man must answer for another, Eustathius, who had charged him with Communion with Apollinaris( whose neither Tutor nor Disciple he had been) should do well himself, first to answer for his own Master Arius, and his Scholar Aetius; that for the particular Accusation, it could have no other Spring, nor had it any more Foundation to support it than this, that being in Syria above twenty years since, while both he and Apollinaris were laics, he had written a Letter to him, not concerning any Matters or Controversies in Religion,( and though there had been any thing less warily written, yet no man after his being made Bishop, ought to be challenged for indifferent and inconsiderable Matters spoken while he was a Lay-man) but merely complimental, as one Friend writes to another, and that if any of his Accusers had written at any time to a Jew or gentle, they would take it ill, if for no other reason, they should be branded for Jews or Heathens; but that his Letter had been corrupted by evil hands and to evil Purposes, to make it speak what was never intended; that these were base and unworthy Artifices to murder a man's Reputation, if they had any clear and unquestionable proofs of his holding Communion with the man, let them produce any communicatory Letters that had passed between them, either from Basil to him, or from him to Basil; or that he had conversed with any of his Clergy, or had admitted them to Prayers, or any other instance of Communion, and then he would give up the Cause; that for the Principles themselves given out, he detested and abhorred them( a thing known to all that knew him) and for the Books pretended, he had neither written them, nor did he approve of them.  
IV. BUT they left him not thus, but after all the rest, charged him with erroneous Tenets about the Doctrine of the holy Trinity, and particularly that he denied 
Ep. LXXIII. p. 122.  the Divinity of the holy Ghost. This they gave out in all Companies, and upon all Occasions, whereof he received quick advice and Intimation from his Friend at Nazianzum 
Na●ian. Ep. XXVI p. 7●9. , who acquainted him, that happening lately to be at a great Feast, where a very honourable Mention was made of Basil by almost all the Company, and especially by himself; a certain Professor of the monastic or ascetic life then at the Table,  told him, he looked upon this harangue, as nothing but Flattery and Dissimulation, that whatever Commendation might be due to Basil in other respects, he was sure he deserved none upon. the account of Orthodoxy, as one that had shamefully betrayed the Truth. Your reason, Sir, replied Nazianzen, of so bold a Charge? Whereto the other answered, that he was just then come from Caesarea, from solemnizing the Memorial of the Martyr Eupsychius,( 'twas he who had been put to death in the Reign of Julian, for offering violence to the Idol-Temple) where he had heard Basil preach indeed concerning the Father and the Son, with great judgement and Accuracy▪ and beyond the reach of most men, but disparagingly concerning the holy Spirit; that in this he had delivered his mind obscurely, in doubtful and ambiguous Terms, that he studiously shunned a free and open Declaration of the Truth, preaching ●●her like a Sophister than Divine, concealing a double meaning 〈◇〉 a smooth Rhetorical Discourse. Nazianzen calmly rebuked th●●●●●●dence of the man, and offered what was proper for the Vindic●●●● of his Friend, to whom he sent an account of what had pa●●●d. The first Rise of all this clamour was no more than this. Basil in the short gratulatory Prayer at the end of his Sermons, had not always used the same Doxology 
Bas. de Sp. S. c. 1. p. 293. T. 2. , but sometimes it ran thus, Glory be to the Father, with the Son, and the holy Ghost, otherwhiles thus, Glory be to the Father, by the Son, in the holy Ghost. This Variation it seems offended some nice and delicate Ears then at Church, who presently cried out, that these Expressions were not only foreign and novel, but inconsistent with one another. And 'tis the less to be wondered at, they should make these Exceptions, when we remember what stirs were heretofore raised at Antioch upon the like occasion 
vid. Theod. l. 2. c 24. p. 106 Soz. l. 3. c. 20. p 533. , where one part of the Congregation used the later Form of Doxology in opposition to the other. For the better understanding whereof we are to observe, that there were three or four several Forms 
Philost. l. 3. c. 13. p. 486. Niceph. l. 9 c 24 p 737. vid. Nicet. Thes. Orth●d. l. 5. 30. p. 482.  of Doxology in use amongst Christians, especially in the Church at Antioch. The first was, Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the holy Ghost. This was by all catholics confessed to be Orthodox. The second, Glory be to the Father, by the Son, in the holy Ghost. The third, Glory be to the Father, and the Son, in the holy Ghost. The fourt●, Glory be to the Father, in the Son, and in the Holy Ghost. The first of these was absolutely rejected by the Arians, the three last commonly used by them. And though some of them were capable of a catholic sense, yet could they not be used without great offence, especially of the more simplo and undiscerning part of the Auditory; as we see here in S. Basil's Case, who was immediately run down with a loud noise and clamour. And the report once set on foot was quickly improved into a formal story, which at first he neglected as vain and foolish, but soon after saw a necessity of putting a stop to it. Accordingly he oft preached upon that Argument, and freely declared his mind about it in all Companies, especially to Nazianzen, 
N●z. Or. XX. p. 365.  to whom that he might give the highest assurance, he added this solemn though unusual Imprecation, that he might for ever be deserted by the Holy Spirit, if he did not adore him as coessential with the Father and the Son, in Glory equal, in Majesty coeternal. And further to silence this malicious Calumny, he not only takes notice of it in his Epistles at every turn, and adds a particular Explication and enforcement of that Article concerning the holy Ghost, but penned several distinct Tracts about it, especially that famous and elaborate Discourse, de Spiritu Sancto, dedicated to Amphilochius Bishop of Iconium, at whose request it was undertaken, wherein he largely and acutely handles the whole State of the controversy, and by unquestionable Arguments, and the whole suffrage of Antiquity, refutes the frivolous Cavils and Exceptions that had been made against him. But malice is resolved to lay on its load, and to charge home, though not only by different, but self-contradicting evidence. We have heard him fiercely accused for taking away the God-head of one of the Persons in the Trinity; and at the same time he is traduced 
Ep. LXXX. p. 143.  to have made three several Gods. For while in Confutation of the Sabellian heresy, he asserted three distinct Hypostases or Persons in the God-head; some of his Auditors challenged him with affirming that there were three Gods. And though 'twas an absurd senseless Cavil, yet it spread so far amongst the People, that he was forced from the Pulpit to clear himself of it in a set Discourse. Thus he was set as a mark, at which his Enemies levelled their sharp Arrows, even bitter words. And it had been well if only his Enemies had been concerned in it, but what was the misery of it, some of his Friends began to be tainted with the common breath, wise and good men lending an Ear to the ill things that were spoken of him. The Monks that lived under his Rule and Discipline, were so disturbed with the Reports concerning him, that they were upon the Point of making an open Separation from him, whom therefore he endeavours to set right in a large Epistle 
Ep. LXXIII. p. 119.  to them. And indeed so far had they advanced in their disorderly Proceedings, that the great Athanasius was forced to writ to them, and with some sharpness to rebuk their irregular demeanour towards him, and the unjust and groundless Opinions they had conceived of him. Amongst his neighbor-Bishops, none seemed more forward to entertain the Suggestions of his Enemies, or more deeply to resent his supposed apostasy, than Athanasius of Ancyra, a good man, and a zealous Promoter of the catholic Faith, who accused him to have written things to the Subversion of the Faith, or at least to have subscribed what others had written to that purpose, for which he spake dishonourably of him, and threatened, if not to excommunicate him, at least to call him to an account for it. Upon Intimation whereof, Basil sends him word 
Ep. LIII p. 81 , that such reproachful and unworthy dealings were no surprise to him, considering how prove men are through the degeneracy of human Nature to entertain ill surmises, and a bad Opinion of other men, but that of all men he least expected it from him; that for his Menaces he laughed at them, 'twas this only troubled him, that a Person of so much Integrity and usefulness to the Church, should so far comply with the Iniquity of the Age, as to prefer common clamours before long Experience, and suffer himself to be so easily transported to suspicion and Indignation without any just Cause or Evidence; that if he had had a mind to have satisfied himself in the Truth of things, it had been but the pains of writing a short Letter, or sending a discreet prudent Messenger, or inviting him to have come over to him, but to talk thus publicly at all adventure, was to blaze abroad his Defamation over all the Country; that he could not imagine what was the matter, unless some ill-minded man had affixed his name to some heretical Writings, and by that means imposed upon him; however he entreated him to deal plainly with him, and let him know what it was that had moved his Indignation, that so he might not be wanting to his own just defence. The truth is, so perplexed was the good man's mind with the malicious Calumnies contrived by his Enemies, and entertained by his Friends, that he solemnly professed 
Ep. LXXIX. p. 140. fancy 2. LXXXII. p. 151. c. , it made him doubt of the Fidelity of mankind, being ready to question whether there was any honesty or faithfulness to be found amongst the Sons of men.  
V. NOR did his Troubles end here, a difference happening 
Naz. Or. XX. p. 355. vid. Bas. Ep. CCLIX. p. 257. , which created no small disturbance between him and Anthimus of Tyana upon this occasion. Cappadocia had been lately divided into two Provinces, Cappadocia prima and secunda; the prime and capital City of the former was Caesarea, as it had all along been of the entire Province; for the second the City of Tyana was erected into the honor of a Metropolis. It had been an ancient and well fortified place, built 
Strab. l. 12. p. 537.  upon a great Bank raised by Semiramis. Stephanus 
In voc. {αβγδ}. p. 670.  mistaking Strabo's account of it, places it at the foot of Mount Taurus near to the Portae Ciliciae. Whereas Strabo speaks there of the extent of the Praefecture, not of the Position of the City. It had continued a place of good account in all times, and was now advanced( out of spite chiefly, as 'tis probable, to S. Basil) into a Metropolis by the Emperor Valens, and a good part of the Country about it assigned for the Province. Hereupon Anthimus Bishop of Tyana challenged a Metropolitical Power and Jurisdiction over all the Churches in the second Cappadocia, it being but fit, he said, that the ecclesiastic Authority should be enlarged according to the bounds of the civil Power. Basil was sensible how great a Diminution this was to the ancient Dignity and Jurisdiction of his See, and therefore remonstrated against this intolerable encroachment and Usurpation; that this was a Violation of settled Rights, and an affront to the holy Canons, what had the Church to do with the Alterations of the civil State, the Sword and the Spirit had different Provinces, that his Archiepiscopal Jurisdiction was founded upon Custom and long Prescription, and that no man ought to remove the old Land-marks which the Fathers had set. The new Metropolitan on the other hand stickled hard to assert and secure his usurped Authority, he called Synods, which he held independent upon any other Power but his own, seized the Ecclesiastical Revenues,( and amongst the rest, the Rents of S. Orestes the Martyr in Mount Taurus, which as they were conveying to Caesarea, he set upon with an armed Multitude, taking away the Mules and Carriages by force) persuaded the Presbyters of the several Parishes to own and submit to him, and where he could not bring them over, ejected them, and placed others in their room. By which means infinite Confusions did arise, and the peace of the Church was broken into scandalous Feuds and Quarrels. Basil well saw 'twas in vain to contend, little favour could he expect at Court, and as little help from the Decision of a Council,( the Arians at this time swaying all) and therefore resolved to make the best he could of a bad Bargain, and to repair the breach by erecting some new Episcopal Sees within his own Province, whereby at once he allayed the Storm, appropriated the Church-Revenues of every City to the uses of its particular Bishop, and( what was above all) provided better for the necessities of the Church; for the dioceses of that Country being at that time wide and large, by multiplying of them into a greater number, the Churches Affairs were more nearly inspected, and greater care taken of the Souls of men. While he was thus employed, news came of the death of the great Athanasius, and of that severe Persecution that thereupon raged at Alexandria, the Arians sparing neither Age, Sex, nor Person, nor sticking at any Instances of fierceness and inhumanity. Our good Bishop hearty afflicted with their Case, wrote them a consolatory Letter 
Ep. LXXI. p. 115. , expressing his exquisite Commiseration of their Condition, the consideration whereof had almost tempted him to question, whether our Lord had utterly forsaken his Church? Whether this was not the last hour, when the great Degeneracy and apostasy was to take place, when the Son of Perdition was to be revealed, who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God, or is worshipped? However, whatever their Sufferings were, they should bear them as became stout Champions of Christ; that if the whole frame of the Creation should at length suffer a change and Dissolution, what wonder if we, who are so inconsiderable a Portion of it, be exposed to Miseries and Afflictions? which the great Judge of the World would not lay upon us beyond what he would enable us to bear; that the Crowns of Martyrdom were ready for them, and the whole choir of holy Confessors stretching out their hands to receive them into their number and company; that they should set before them the Examples of those great and good men of old, who went not thither by softness and effeminacy, but through many Tribulations entred into the Kingdom of God; and the greater the Sufferings, the brighter the Crown, the Sufferings of this present time not being worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us; that had he been able, he would himself have come to them to behold the generous instances of their Patience and Constancy, and to be refreshed with their Prayers and Company; but alas his body was wasted, and sickness kept him Prisoner in his Bed, and besides, Wolves lay in wait to make havoc of his Flock, for which reasons he was forced to visit them thus by Letter, begging of them to intercede on his behalf with Heaven, that for those few dayes or rather hours that he had to live, he might spend them usefully and serviceably to Religion and the Church of Christ.  
VI. EIGHT years 
Nyss. in vit. Macrin. p. 187. vid. Nazian. in Epitaph. Basil. T. 2 p. 153.  and some months Basil had now governed the Church of Caesarea, when his tottering carcase, undermined by Distempers from within, and shattered with continual Storms of trouble from without, fell to the ground. Finding himself declining apace, he mustered up so much strength 
Naz. Or. XX. p. 370. , as to ordain some of his Followers, that after his decease there might not want a Succession to attend the Service of the Altar. But weakness sensibly growing upon him, forced him to take his Bed. The news of his dangerous Condition ran round the City, and People every where awakened with the sense of their loss, flocked about his House, as if by their Prayers and passionate Exclamations, they were resolved to arrest that Soul that was now taking its flight to Heaven, there being none of them, but were willing to have redeemed his life with a part of their own. His Spirits were very low, but he summoned up nature to its last Effort, and having piously discoursed a while to those that were about him, sealed up his last breath with that divine Ejaculation, Into thine hands I commend my Spirit. What years he had attained to at the time of his death, is not certain. Some report him not to have exceeded XLV. But his so often mentioning his old Age, confutes that beyond all exception. His Funeral was attended with a Pomp and Solemnity suitable to the Memory of so great a Person. The Corps being taken upon the shoulders of grave venerable Persons, was thronged on all hands, some endeavoured to touch but the ends of his Funeral Shrowd, others the Bier whereon he lay, or to get within the shadow of it; some striven to get near the Persons that carried him, and they that could not do that, contented themselves to see him at a distance; the Streets and Portico's were all crowded as they went along, and thousands of all Ranks and Ages joined themselves, some going before, others following after as they could get along; nor was the noise less than the crowd, the People could not contain their Grief, so that the Psalms then sung,( as was the custom in those dayes at Funerals) were drowned by the Cries and Lamentations of the People. And herein all sorts of Persons conspired to make a mournful consort, Jews and Gentiles, Strangers and foreigners bearing a part, and striving to outvie each others resentment of this common Calamity. And indeed it proved a time of mourning in a sense beyond what they intended it. For so great and unavoidable was the Crowd, that in despite of all means used to save them, several were pressed to death, who yet were accounted happy to become the Companions of his departure, as if they had offered up themselves as Sacrifices at his Funeral. The Corps at last was with much difficulty brought to the Grave, and laid up in the Sepulchre of his Fathers, where he, who was himself in some sense both, kept Company with Bishops and Martyrs. The Pseudo-Amphilochius says 
Orat. in S. Bas. p. 225. , he was d●●osited in the Church of S. Eupsychius the Martyr, where L●●ntius one of his Predecessors, and some other Bishops had been interred before him. But wherever it was, his dear Friend 
Naz. Carm. LXIV. Tom. 2. p. 15●.  composed his Epitaph, which, though somewhat prolix, we shall here insert.  

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Thus rendered by an ingenious Friend.  

GREAT Saint, whose Soul upon the wings of Love,  
Toward the dearest Jesus still did move;  
I thought I should not live, when thou wert dead,  
More than my Body when my Soul were fled;  
But I unworthy of thy knowledge stayed,  
endured the loss, and friendship disobeyed;  
Will not my Basil to my rescue come,  
And take me with him to his glorious home,  
Must I stay here disconsolate and alone?  
Time never shall, I by thy Tomb do swear,  
Efface thy Memory to me so dear.   

When the Almighty Wisdom called away  
Basil, who longed to see that happy day;  
How did the flaming Seraphim rejoice,  
And every sprightly Angel tune his voice,  
While Cappadocia groaned a doleful noise?  
And th' universe in ecstasy, and cries,  
Attendant was at the sad Obsequies;  
Exclaiming, the transcendent Preacher's dead,  
And now all-charming Peace is banished,  
The World's in Mutiny, while some do fight  
For th' Deity of Christ, others deny't.  
Rise thou most skilful Pilot from thy sleep,  
alloy the Tempest, smooth the ruffled deep,  
Thy words, thy Prayers the World in awe will keep.  
Whose wisdom only taught thee to intwine  
angelic Actions with discourse Divine.  
There's one Almighty God, and none but thee,  
This Age can find fit his high-Priest to be;  
Truth's boldest Champion, and the Christian's light,  
Whose Soul was beautified with all that's bright.  
Honor of Pontus, Cappadocia's Glory,  
Whose Praise shall skill present and future Story;  
We beg thee, let thy Prayers ascend on high,  
To impetrate the World's Felicity.   

Caesarea's Citizens within this Grave,  
Me their beloved Primate butted have;  
Who to my Gregory such affection bore,  
That nothing here on earth could make it more:  
Great God, to him thy better Blessings give,  
And shortly let him in thy Palace live,  
Who warmed with flames, that from above descend,  
Dreams out those dayes, which he on earth doth spend.   

While thou 'mong men didst breath, Heaven did command  
Thy devout Soul, smooth Tongue, and active hand,  
Honor of Jesus, and his Priest's defence,  
Truth's Guardian, which we've sadly mangled since,  
How is the memory of our past talk dear,  
Athens how pleasant, when we conversed there?  
Happy the time we jointly did agree  
To practise the divine Philosophy.  
While now the happy Basil has attained  
His journeys end, and left me dumb behind;  
Alive thou wert Caesarea's chiefest praise,  
Thunder thy words, thy life like lightnings rays.  
But soon thou left'st that venerable Chair,  
To visit J●sus, and with Angels share;  
Sacred and human Learning thou didst know,  
Nothing above thy reach was, much below;  
Eight years thou ruld'st thy diocese, and then  
Too soon for it returnd'st to heaven again,  
farewell, my Basil, since I'm left behind;  
Accept this Epitaph from thy troubled Friend.  
'Tis the same Friend, who now thus speaks to thee,  
Whose beloved words made once sweet Harmony;  
This Debt my friendship to thy Virtue pays,  
Tho thy blessed Soul may slight my meaner praise;  
Who to thy Ashes dedicates this Verse,  
And with his tears, bedews thy sacred Hearse.     

SECT. VII. A Character and Account of his Person, Temper, and Writings.  
His Character. His natural Abilities, and acquired Improvements. The extent of his Learning in all Faculties. His incomparable Style. The judgement of the Ancients concerning it. The high Commendation of his Eloquence given by Liberius. His moral and divine Accomplishments, Piety, Zeal, Constancy, Temperance, contempt of the World, Charity, Humility, Peaceable-mindedness. The Description of his Person. His Works whereof some only ascribed to him. His Genuine distinguished into Commentaries, Controversies, Sermons, encomiastics, and Epistles, and caconical Tracts. A distinct Survey of each Class. His ascetic Constitutions. His Liturgy how far Genuine. Nazianzen's high Encomium of his Writings.  
I. 'tis no easy Matter to attempt his just Character, Nazianzen himself despaired of it, and if his Pencil could not draw him to the Life, it must not be expected from a meaner hand. We shall only therefore remark some main lines and strokes. Considered in his natural Faculties, he was a man of a very clear and perspicacious apprehension, a nimble and ready Wit, a smart dextrous reasoning, a deep and solid judgement. His acquired Abilities highly improved, and added an incomparable Lustre and Ornament to his natural Perfections. As he wanted no advantages of Education, so he was not wanting in Industry and Diligence to make use of them, whereby he soon became a most comprehensive Scholar, {αβγδ} 
Suid. in voc. {αβγδ}. , and attained the utmost Empire in all polite and useful Learning, wherein he left no Path untrodden 
Naz ib. p. 332 vid. Nysl Or. in Bas. T. 2. p. 911 , and yet was as conversant in all, as any other man is in any single Science, while he himself was as accurate in every Art, as if he had studied none but that. He was eminent in Grammar, rhetoric, Philosophy, Astronomy, Geometry, arithmetic, physic, and what not? He had riffled all the Treasures of the Gentiles, and searched into the most secret Retirements of Philosophy and secular Learning, in which respect Philostorgius says 
Ap Suid. loc. cit. , and perhaps truly, Athanasius was but a Child to him. Nor content with this, he chiefly applied himself to the knowledge of the holy Scriptures, and the Principles of Christian Theology, he perfectly understood all the sublime and nice Speculations of those times, and knew the Subtleties and Subterfuges of the several Sects, and where to countermine and blow them up. He was in short, says his own Brother, {αβγδ}, a two-handed Champion, who being armed both with divine and human Literature, beat down his Adversaries wherever he came, and successfully encountered both Heathens and heretics, seldom failing to come off a Conqueror. This made his judgement so oft desired, and so much relied on in weighty and important Cases, this made the heresiarches of those times so afraid to meddle with him, choosing rather to rail at him at a distance, than to engage with him in a close dispute.  
World 
Niz Or. XX. p. 357, &c. , and with a noble scorn looked down upon the Glory, the Pomps, Plenty, Grandeur, Luxuries and Pleasures of it; his Riches were to possess nothing, and he esteemed the across beyond all other Treasures. His Appetites were most chast and regular, and which he had perfectly subdued to the Discipline of Mortification and self-denial. His Diet mean and small, so little that he seemed to live without it, and to have put on before-hand the life of Angels. His Wardrobe afforded but one Coat, and a Pallium, the could ground was his Bed, Bread and Salt his ordinary Bill of Fare, and the next Spring his Cellar, whither he retired to quench his thirst. But what he wanted towards himself, he made up in care towards others, in his incomparable Charity to the Poor. What Estate he had( which was not inconsiderable) he disposed that way, and where his own fell short, he persuaded a liberal Supply out of the Purses of the Rich, wherewith he erected and endowed a noble Hospital without the City, whereinto he gathered all the Sick, the Lame, the diseased that were about the City, unable to help themselves, and not easily helped by others. So that the Streets and highways were no longer pestered with those lamentable Spectacles of want, anguish and misery, that had lately filled every corner. Here all necessaries were provided for them, the superintendency whereof himself undertook, and that he might set a good Example to others, he stooped to the meanest Offices about them, not disdaining to kiss and embrace the worst of the Patients, at whose stench and Sores others were ready nicely to recoil and start back. By which 'tis evident how unjustly he was accused by some of being proud, a Weed not likely to thrive in so haras'd and mortified a soil; his kind behaviour, known Condescension to all ranks of men, his equal and patient bearing 
Vid. Epist. LXXXII. p. 149.  the freest Reproofs and Admonitions of his Friends, being a sufficient Confutation of that groundless Slander. It was no doubt the Gravity and Constancy of his Temper, and his uncourtly incompliance with some mens humors fastened that charge upon him. Nor was he of a sour and morose Disposition, in company none more pleasant and cheerful, none more facetiously Witty; when he reproved, none did it more gently, so as neither the fierceness of the reproof made the Person insolent, nor the softness of it rendered it ineffectual. He was in short, a calm, harmless, and quiet Person; and though in his latter time, through the Iniquity of the Age he lived in, he became a man of Strife and Contention, yet in himself he was of an humble and peaceable Temper, kind to, and beloved by all good men, and revered by his greatest Enemies. If after all, any one be curious to know what kind of body it was that clothed so brave and great a Soul, we find him thus described 
Maen. Graec. {αβγδ}. sub lit. 〈◇〉. vid. etiam. Ex. Cod. Vatic. ap. Bar. ad Ann. 378. p. 385. : He was tall and straight, lean and meager, of a brown Complexion, but somewhat ruddy, his Nose of a just Dimension, his Eye-brows large and almost circular, his look musing and thoughtful, few wrinkles in his face, and those not unbecoming; his visage long, his Temples somewhat hollow, and his Beard prolix. In his younger dayes he was of a fresh and florid Complexion 
Naz. ib. p. 323 , of an healthful and well-built Constitution, till over-intense Study, excessive Fasting and Abstinence, and the many Troubles he met with, pulled him down, impaired his Health, and subjected him to habitual Weaknesses and Infirmities,( whereof he complains almost in every Epistle) besides those more violent Distempers that frequently rushed upon him. I only add, that so great was the Veneration which the World then had for him, that many affencted 
Id. ib. p. 370.  even his bodily Imperfections, and his odd accidental Customs as an Ornament, striving to imitate the paleness of his looks, the fashion of his Beard, the manner of his Gate, his sparingness of Speech, deep musing and thoughtfulness, his Garb and Apparel, and the manner of his Diet and Lodging, things in respect of him purely casual and unaffected.  
IV. OF the Works that he left behind him, some have been butted under the Ruins of time, there being evidence enough that he wrote more than what have been transmitted to us. Amongst those that remain, some are unduly ascribed to him, in which number are the X. and XI. Homilies upon the Hexaemeron, generally thought( but for any thing I see without any cogent reason) to have been added by his Brother Nyssen; the Encomium vitae solitariae, or de laudibus Erem●, no where found in Greek, and in truth is a piece of Peter Damian, besides several others extant in the last volumes of his Works. His genuine Writings consist of Commentaries, Controversies, Sermons, encomiastics, Epistles, and caconical Tracts. Amongst the first are his Commentaries upon the first XVI. Chapters of the Prophet Isay, unjustly questioned by some, chiefly, because not mentioned by Suidas or S. Jerom, as if they pretended to deliver an exact Catalogue of all the Writings of the Ancients, when they so often confess there were many which they had never seen. However this defect is abundantly supplied by the plain evident Testimonies of Simon the Metaphrast, Antonius Melissa, Maximus the Monk, Damascen, Oecumenius, and Tarasius Patriarch of Constantinople, who all city it as the undoubted Work of our Cappadocian Prelate. For his Controversies none challenge more Consideration than his egregii Libri( as S. Jerom calls them, {αβγδ}, as Suida● out of him) his incomparable Books against Eunomius, wherein with such a mighty force he batters down the impious Assertions of that bold man. The whole consists of five Books at this day, but the two last seem not to be of equal Authority with the other, having no earlier Testimony than the times of the valentine Council to support them; nor are they found in the most ancient Manuscripts, not to mention the difference of the Style. And indeed since Eunomius his reply( which he published not till after Basil's death) consisted but of three 
Vid. P●ot. Cod. CXXXVIII col. 313.  Books, 'tis not unreasonable to conjecture that Basil originally writ no more. Hither also, as being partly Polemical, we may refer his Book de Spiritu Sancto, which Erasmus first, and since him many, do with great clamour and confidence cry out to be corrupted and interpolated, especially in the Addition of the three last Chapters, but certainly without any just reason, the Exceptions to it being weak and trifling, so inconsiderable, that the learned Casaubon( who being better versed than ordinary in the Rites and Monuments of the ancient Church, saw that the main Objection from Apostolical Traditions would not bear the stress that was laid upon it) fairly gives 
Casaub. ●xerc. XXXIII. in Baro●. p. 520 XLIII. p. 556.  up the Cause. His Sermons are either upon some parts of Scripture, or upon particular Subjects. In the first Class are his IX. Homilies upon the Hexaemeron, or the six dayes Creation; a piece( says Suidas 
Ubi supr. ) justly to be admired, and which Nyssen 
In Hexaem. ●. 1. p. 5.  affirms, ought to give place to nothing but the inspired volumes. 'twas early translated by Eustathius into Latin, and by him dedicated to his Kinswoman Syncletica the Deaconess. A Translation so accurate, that Cassiodore 
Divin. Lect. c. p. 445.  is not afraid to say, that it has matched the elegancy of the original Composition. Such also are his XXII. Homilies upon the Psalms, out of which were taken the Excerpta extant in the ancient Catenas, and are quiter another thing from the Scholia upon the Psalms, inserted into the Latin Editions of this Father, borrowed for the most part from S. Christom and Theodorit. The Prologue to these Homilies S. Augustin, or some for him, translated into Latin, and clapped before his Tracts upon the Psalms. And therefore when Rivet affirms 
Crit. Sac. l. 3. c. 20. p. 329. ( and makes Fronto Ducaeus vouch for him) that this Prologue is S. Augustin's, translated by some body into Greek, and attributed to S. Basil, he is greatly out himself, and wrongs that learned Jesuit, who plainly asserts 
Not in Psal. Basil. p. 16.  the quiter contrary. Besides these, he has several single Homilies upon particular Subjects, both Theological and Moral, as de fide, baptismo, penitentia, &c. de avaritia, invidia, ebrietate, &c. in all which he discourses finely, and admirably accommodates himself to the Necessities and Capacities of his Hearers. In his encomiastic Orations( wherein his peculiar Talent lay) he elegantly displays the Faith and Patience, the Courage and Constancy of those who had suffered for the Faith; with suitable accounts of things, and proper Exhortations to the Imitation of their virtues, as in his Oration upon the XL. Martyrs that suffered at Sebastea in armoniac, upon the Martyrdom of Gordius, Julitta, &c. Epistles he wrote many, {αβγδ}, 
Ibid.  says Suidas, than which nothing can be more excellent and incomparable, and which Photius 
Cod. CXLIII col. 317.  commends as the true Norma and Character of Epistolary writing; CCCCXXVIII. of them are still extant,( amongst which are interspersed some few from Nazianzen and Libanius) wherein besides the inward Character of the man drawn by his own Pen, we have many useful Passages of those times, and thence we have extracted a good part of his Life. Besides these, he has an Epistolary Discourse to Chilo his Scholar, who had quitted the ordinary Rules of the monastic Institution, and turned Anchoret, wherein he gives him many excellent Admonitions and Rules for that State of Life; a Letter to a Monk, and another to a devout Virgin, who had committed folly together, where in a passionate strain of Eloquence he represents the Aggravations of their Crime, and excites them to repentance. He has also three caconical Epistles to Amphilochius of Iconium, at whose desire he drew up a body of Rules and Directions, wherein he states the Nature of the Crimes most usually incident to human Life, and prescribes the several penances that were fit to be undergone before Absolution, agreeably to the sense of the Ancients, and the established Canons of the Church. But these three more properly belong to the last Class of his Works which I mentioned, viz. his caconical Tracts; amongst which I place first, his ascetic Rules and Constitutions mentioned by S. Jerom and others, wherein with great acuteness and elegancy he resolves Doubts and Interrogatories raised out of Scripture, and lays down excellent Rules for those that engaged in a monastic Life. 'tis true Sozomen tells 
Lib. 3. c. 14. p. 520.  us, this work was ascribed to Eustathius Bishop of Sebast●a; but then he says, 'twas composed by Basil, and that there were only some that reported it to have been written by Eustathius. Indeed the unanimous Suffra●e of Antiquity,( as is plain from Jerom, R●sinus, Justinian the Emperor, Photius, Suidas, &c.) constantly adjudge it to S. Basil. It consisted of old( as Photius 
Cod. CXCI. col. 493.  informs us) of two Books, the first whereof contained those short Tracts d●●s●dicio Dei, de Fide, and some others, placed at this day before his ethics; the second his Discourses de Institutione Monachorum, wherein he represents the Character of a Christian, pressing on towards Perfection; and these as a kind of Preface to his {αβγδ}, or Regulae fusius disputatae, consisting of LV. Questions propounded by the monastics, with S. Basil's answers. Which are followed by CCCXIII. {αβγδ}, or shorter Rules delivered in the same way. Exactly according to the account which Photius has given of them; so that there can be no doubt but they are the same. In the Copy by which the Venice Edition of Ann. MDLIII. was printed, there was a Scholium added, implying that that Manuscript had been transcribed from a most ancient Copy brought out of Pontus, and the places where Basil had lived an ascetic Life, and had been compared with the Copy found in S. Basil's own Hospital at Caesarea, out of which were added XXVII. Chapters more, together with the Penalties that were to be inflicted upon delinquent Monks. These Constitutions Rufinus tells 
Lib. 2. c. 9. p. 250.  us he designed to turn into Latin for the benefit of the Western Monks, and he afterwards performed it, though he contracted them into a narrower compass. Of some affinity with these, are his {αβγδ} or Morals containing LXXX. divine Rules, each backed with apt select Texts of Scripture, for the conduct and Government of a holy Life.  
V. UNDER this head of caconical Tracts, I may take leave to place his Liturgy, which as to the Substance of it, I make no doubt to be truly his. For seeing Nazianzen expressly tells us 
Orat. XX. p. 340. , that after his return to Caesarea, he not only drew up Rules for the monastic Life, which he delivered both by word and writing, but also composed {αβγδ}, Orders and Forms of Prayers, and appointed {αβγδ}, decent Rites and Ornaments for the Altar, and since himself 
Ep. LXIII. p. 96.  elsewhere gives us an account of the Form of public Service used in the Oratories of his Institution, answerable to this Liturgy, and agreeable( as he tells us) to all the Churches of God, I can see no reason why it should be robbed of the Title which it has always claimed to so great a hand. Not but that in its present Frame and Constitution 'tis much changed from its original Simplicity, having received several Additions and Interpolations in after-times, as a Stream, though never so clear at the Fountain-head, contracts mud and filth by the several Channels through which it passes. But these being discharged( as 'tis no hard matter for a man versed in Church-Antiquity, to separate the Chaff from the Wheat) the rest will justly entitle itself to this great man's Composition, and be found consonant enough to the Customs and Usages of that Age. Hence the older the Copies of it, still the more pure and unexceptionable; thus the Syriac Liturgy of S. Basil, which Masius received from Moses Mardenus his Master, and turned into Latin 
Antw. edit. An. 1569. , is much more concise, and free from many of those obnoxious Passages which are crept into the Greek Copies extant at this day. It has till this last Age worldly maintained its Title, and is still used with great Reverence and Devotion by the Greek Church upon some of their more solemn times, that of S. Christom by reason of its shortness being in ordinary use; which two Liturgick Tombs {αβγδ}, have from ancient times been transmitted to us, and approved and used as authentic, says Jeremias 
R●spons. 1. c. 13. p. 103.  the Greek Patriarch in his answer to the Wittenberg-Divines. I shall have done with the consideration of his Works, when I have observed, with how much Veneration they were received by the Ancients; and I need instance in no more, than in that Elogium which Nazianzen, who best knew, and was best able to judge, gives of them from his own experience. Since he is gone( says he 
Ubi supr. p. 632, 633. ) all pleasure and delight ceases, the only satisfaction we enjoy, is the Books and Writings he has left behind him, in whose stock all that writ after him must henceforth trade. Let the Ancients now sit down in silence, and whatever they have written for the Explication of the holy volumes, a new Writer is start up, and he's with us the best Scholar, who most converses with, reads, understands, and digests his Writings, which alone are sufficient to instruct in all the Paths of Learning. This only will I say concerning him. As oft as I take up his H●xaemeron and red it out, I converse with my great Creator, und●rstand the reasons and methods of the Creation, and do much more reverence and admire my Maker, than I was wont to do, when I barely viewed the frame of things. When I red his Books against heretics, methinks I see the Flames of Sodom, red●cing these bold and impious Tongues to Ashes, or behold the Tower of Babel, insolently attempted; but powerfully dissipated and destroyed. When I turn over his Book de Spiritu Sancto, I meet with the true God, and insisting upon those grounds of Theology which he has laid down, am enabled confidently to preach and declare the Truth. When I peruse his other Expositions, which in several ways he made for the Instruction of the Ignorant; I find myself transported beyond the Letter, and Superficies of words, and carried up from one degree of light unto another, till at last I arrive at the highest Point. While I red his encomiastics upon the Martyrs, I despise the Body, and am joined in consort with the heavenly Chorus, and inspired with an eager Desire and Spirit of Martyrdom. Do I cast my eyes upon his ethics, his moral and practical Discourses, I am presently engaged to cleanse myself from all filthiness of Flesh and Spirit, turned into the Temple of God, and the Organ of the holy Ghost, to set forth the praises of the divine Power and Glory, and am refined into a God-like Temper, transformed into another thing than I was before. Thus far that excellent man, and more he has there to the same purpose.   

SECT. VIII. An account of his nearest Relations.  
His Relations and Parents. The pious death of his Mother Emmelia. The singular Piety and strictness of Life of his Sister Macrina. The immature death of his hopeful Brother Naucratius. His Brother Gregory Bishop of Nyssa. A short account of his Brother Peter Bishop of Sebastea. The happiness of his Parents in having three Sons eminent Bishops at one time. His Writings enumerated.  
I. BEFORE we conclude S. Basil's Life, it may perhaps reflect some light upon his Story, to give a brief account of his nearest Relations. His Father Basil( whom some 
Labb. de Scrip. Eccl. in Bas. in Addend. T. 1. p. 734. See Num. I. of this Life.  I know not by what Authority, do in his latter dayes make a Bishop or a Priest at least) died while his Children were yet very young. His Mother Emmelia, after the death of her Husband, and care taken in the Education of her Children, at the persuasion of her Daughter Macrina, and that she might be near her Son Basil, quitted the World, and retired after him into the Wilderness, where she planted her self in a Village 
Basil. Epist. LXXIX. p. 141.  on the other side of the River Iris, that so she might receive the comfort of his frequent Visits, and whence in a time of scarcity, or upon any particular occasion she was wont to supply 
Naz. Ep. VIII. p. 733.  him with necessary Provisions. Broken at last with extreme Age, she fell into her last Sickness 
Nyss. de vit. Macrin. p. 186. ; her Daughter Macrina, the eldest, and her Son Peter, the youngest of her ten Children, were then with her, and assisted her in her last hours. Having prayed for, and blessed her Children that were absent, she took the two present, one sitting on the one side of the Bed, and the other on the other, by the hand, and thus delivered them up to God. To thee, O Lord, I here devote and offer up both the first Fruits, and the Tenth of my Children; this the first, the other the tenth and last of the Fruit of my Womb. Both are thine by Law, both due as Gifts and Offerings unto thee. Let both therefore be entirely consecrated to thyself. And so having given order for her burial, that she might be interred in the Sepulchre of her Family( which was done accordingly) she died, a little before Basil's advancement to the See of Caesarea, who bewailed 
Ep. VII. p. 50.  her death, as the loss of the only comfort of his Life, the news whereof put him into a relapse that had near cost his Life.  
II. OF the ten Children which she had, four only besides Basil survive in Story, Macrina, Naucratius, Gregory, and Peter. Macrina was eldest, borrowing her name from her good Grand-mother Macrina, sometime Scholar to S. Gregory Thaumaturgus. Her Mother was particularly solicitous about her Education, and being a Child of acute and excellent Parts, besides Family-Affairs, she especially trained her up in the knowledge of the Scriptures, and particularly of those Rules which Solomon has laid down for the good Government of the Life. She often red the Psalter, which she committed to memory, and repeated upon all occasions; when she went to Bed, or arose in the Morning, or betook her self to, or left off any work, when she sat down to, or rose from Meals, or went to her Devotions, she always used to sing a Psalm. Such was her course even before she was twelve years of Age. Her Piety increased with her years, and her beauty with both, which made her so much courted, that her father to prevent importunities, provided her a suitable match, but the Gentleman died before the Consummation; and she not sorry for the occasion, thenceforth resolved upon a single Life, and to be assistant to her Mother in educating the other Children. Which she performed with great care and diligence, persuading her Brother Basi●, then newly return'd from the University, to lay aside the lofty opinion of his great learning, and to embrace the humble and difficult way of virtue, and to form himself to the strictness of a retired life. Her Father being dead, and the rest of the Family disposed of, she withdrew from common converse; and together with a company of pious Maids, over whom she presided as Governess, spent her whole time in circles of devotion▪ and in the strictest exercises of piety and virtue. Her Brother N●ssen( who had not seen her of eight years) undertook a journey to visit her, and in the way had some obscure intimations in his dream concerning her death, which he then knew not what to make of. Coming to the place, he found her sick, administered assistances proper to her dying circumstances, and after her decease saw her interred with great solemnity. After which he at large wrote her life 
Ext. in append. Oper. ejus Ann. 1618. , worthy the perusal of the learned Reader. She is said to have been infected with Origen's opinion: but finding it reported by no other than Nicephorus 
Lib 11. c. 19. p. 137. , I suppose he mistook her for her Grandmother Macrina, Auditor of S. Gregory, who had had Origen for his Tutor.  
III. Basil's next Brother was Naucratius 
Nyss. vit. Macr. p 182. ,( or, as Constantine Porphyrogenneta 
L. 1. T●em. II. p. 18.  calls him, Pancratius) a Youth of an amiable shape, strong body, and no less admirable endowments of mind. At XXII. years of age he had given signal evidence of his eloquence and abilities in his public Orations, to the great applause and admiration of the Theatre, when on a sudden he threw up all, and retired into the Wilderness, settling himself in a convenient solitude near the River Iris, where he enjoyed the company of none but a few mortified old men, whom he provided for by hunting( whereat he was dextrous) and was ready upon all occasions to attend his Mother. Five years he spent in this retirement, when going out one day to hunt, accompanied with none but his dear Chrysaphius( whom of all his domestics he had chosen to be the constant Companion of his life) they were both brought home dead: A loss that infinitely afflicted his Mother, and fell heavy( tho she bore it with a masculine patience) upon his Sister Macrina, who loved him above all the rest. Next him was Gregory, a person of excellent learning and great eloquence, made afterwards Bishop of Nyssa in Cappadocia, banished and persecuted by the Arians, who notwithstanding all their malicious attempts against him, lived to a great age, till near the conclusion of this Century, though the particular time of his death cannot be recovered.  
IV. The last of the Brothers, and indeed of all the Children 
Nyss. vit. Macr. p. 185. ( his Father dying as soon as he was born) was Peter, who was much beholden for the advantages of his Education to the care and tenderness of his Sister Macrina, who seasoned his early years with religious Principles, and the knowledge of Divine things, and so filled up all his hours, that he had little leisure to divert to vain useless studies. She was Father and Master, Tutor and Guardian to him, whom she so improved by her prudent councils and instructions, that he quickly arrived to the utmost perfection of true Philosophy. He had parts capable of any Science, especially a genius for mechanic Arts, which without any help he made himself Master of, beyond what others with long time and pains are wont to do. And though he attained not an equal accuracy and perfection in external literature with his Brothers, yet in the improvements of Virtue he was equal to them. To which end he gave up himself to a solitary and ascetic life, joining himself to the retired conversation of his Mother and Sister, with whom he spent a good part of his life. He was peculiarly remarkable for his Hospitality and Charity, and when in a time of great famine, multitudes that had heard of his liberal temper flocked to him into the desert, he made such plentiful provisions for them, that the place seemed no longer to be a Wilderness, But a populous City. Basil being promoted to the bishopric of Caesarea, ordained him Presbyter, as afterwards he was made Bishop of Sebastea( that probably that was situate in Cappadocia, or as Stephanus according to the Division in his time, in armoniac, there being several Cities of that and the like denomination, Sebaste, Sebastea, Sebastopolis in the Eastern parts) though when this was, or how long he sat, or how he discharged the Affairs of that See, we are wholly left in the dark. Nothing of his Writings remain, but one short Epistle to his Brother Nyssen, who at his request, had undertaken to answer Eunomius's Book against Basil, and had desired his advice how to proceed in that Affair. By this account that we have given, we see it true what Nazianzen 
Orat. XX. p. 322.  observed in his Funeral Oration upon Basil, that however his Parents were renowned for many noble Virtues and honourable Qualities, yet this was the greatest, the most glorious of all, that they were so happy in their Children. And perhaps 'tis an instance hardly to be paralleled in any Age, for three Brothers, all men of note and eminency, to be Bishops at the same time.   

His WORKS.  

Genuine.  
Homiliae IX. in Hexaemeron.  
In Psalmos Homiliae XXII.  
Homiliae XXXI. varii argumenti.  
De baptismo Lib. II.  
De vera virginitate ad Letoium Melitens.  
Commentarii in XVI. priori Isaiae capita.  
Adversus Eunomium Lib. V.  
Ad Amphilochium de Spiritu Sancto.  
Sermo de Abdicatione rerum.  
De vera ac pia Fide.  
Proemium Ethicorum de judicio Dei.  
Ethica seu Moralia.  
Ascetica, seu de Institut. Monach. Serm. II.  
Regulae fusius disputatae.  
Regulae breviores.  
Constitutiones Monasticae.  
Epistola ad Chilonem Anachoretam.  
Ad Monachum lapsum,& Virgin. laps. Epist. III.  
Ad Amphilochium Epistolae Canonicae, III.  
Epistolae aliae CCCCXXVIII.  
Liturgia, said interpolata.  
Conciones molars XXIV. ex Basilii libris. Per Simeonem Logothetam selectae.   

Supposititious.  
Homil. Xa& XIa in Hexaemeron.  
De Grammatica exercitatione Libellus( revera Moschopuli.)  
De Consolatione in adversis. Lat.  
De laudibus eremi, seu vitae solitariae( fragmentum ex oper. Petri Damiani.)  
Admonitio ad filium Spiritualem. Lat.  
Precatio cum sacris operaretur.  
Fragmentum Epistolae ad Julianum Imp.     

THE LIFE OF S. GREGORY of NAZIANZUM BISHOP OF CONSTANTINOPLE. 
S. GREGORIUS NAZIANZENUS.   portrait of Gregory of Nazianzus  

SECT. I. His Acts from his birth till his coming from Athens.  
The dearness between him and Basil. The place and time of his birth. His Father Gregory brought up in an odd Sect of Religion, called that of the Hypsistarians. What that Sect was. His bigotry in that way; converted by what methods. His baptism; his advancement to the See of Nazianzum. The ill condition of that place at his coming to it. His diligence in its Reformation. The exquisite Piety of his Mother Nonna. The pregnancy of his Parts, and agreeableness of his temper to the noblest Studies. His foreign Education in what places. His Voyage to Athens, and the infinite danger of that passage. His effectual intercession with Heaven. His dangers communicated to his Parents in a dream. The appearance of his Mother to one of his acquaintance in the Ship. His happy arrival at Athens. His joint studies with Basil, and their generous Emulation. His divine dream concerning Wisdom and Chastity. His acquaintance with Julian, afterwards Emperour, and the Censure he then past upon him.  
I. ST. GREGORY of Nazianzum ought by no means to be partend from S. Basil, the great Companion of his Life; a pair of the dearest and most intimate Friends, that we meet with in the whole History of the Church, knit and bound up in so firm a friendship, that as himself tells us 
Carm. de vit. sua. Tom. 2. p. 4. , they had all things common; 
— {αβγδ}  
{αβγδ}.  and that 'twas but one and the same Soul, that united and acted both their Bodies. He was born at Arianzum 
Greg. presb. in vit. Naz. p 3. Nicet. argum. in Naz Or XV. vid. Naz. Or. XXV. p. 435. Epist. VI. p. 770. ( where his Father had a Country house) an obscure Village belonging to Nazianzum, a Town of the second Cappadocia, situate in that part of the Country called Tiberina, a poor, barren, unhealthful, and unpleasant place, and which perhaps had silently passed untaken notice of in Story, had not the interest it had in this great man given Reputation to it. He came into the World just about the time of the great Nicene Council, as if the divine Providence had designed him on purpose for an able Champion to defend that Faith, that then began to be so vigorously opposed by the Arian Faction, and which the Fathers of that Synod took so much pains to assert and establish. His Parents 
Greg. press. ibid.  were Persons of the better Rank, and no less eminent for their virtues. His Father( whose name also was Gregory) was a good man, but had been unhappily educated 
Naz. Or. XIX. p. 289. vid. Or. X. p. 161. XI. p. 178. de vit. sua. p. 2. de reb. suis. ib. p. 33. Gr. presb. loc. citat.  in an odd Sect of Religion, a kind of Samaritan mixture, made up of judaisme and Paganism, or rather some select Rites of each: with the Gentiles they did honour to Fire, and burning Lights, but rejected Idols and Sacrifices; with the Jews they observed the Sabbath, and a strict abstinence from some kinds of Meats, but disowned Circumcision; pretending to worship no other Deity but the Almighty, Supreme, and Most high God; whence they took to themselves the name of Hypsistarians; a Sect not appearing among the Tribes of ancient heretics, though something like to it may be found among the Euphemitae, mentioned by Epiphanius 
●… res. LXXX. 〈…〉. . It had been it seems the Religion of his Ancestors, and that wherein himself had been a Bigot in his younger years, the deserting whereof lost him the kindness of his friends, estranged 
Naz. Or. XIX: ibid.  his own Mother from him, and cut him off of his Estate. All which he entertained with greater cheerfulness than others are wont to do the greatest Honours, knowing that though he had lost a Mother upon Earth, he had gained a Father in Heaven; and though despoiled of his Goods, he had secured in Heaven a better and an enduring Substance. The chief Instrument of his conversion was his Wife, who continually plied him with prayers and importunate persuasions, which at length made impression. Indeed he was admirably prepared for such a change by the piety of his Temper, and the purity of his Life. He was in a manner a Christian even before his coming over to Christianity: Such his strict care and government of himself, his humility and modesty, his temperance and chastity, justice and integrity, uncorruptness and impartiality in all the great Offices of the Commonwealth which he had undergone. Thus disposed, he stood fairer for a compliance with that Religion, wherein he was  told these graces would shine with a better lustre, and wherein they would receive their utmost accomplishment and perfection. And an accident happened, which though not very considerable in itself, did yet turn the Scale. He dreamed 
Id. ib. p. 293.  one night, what he had never done before, that he sung that passage in David's Psalms, I was glad when they said unto me, let us go into the house of the Lord. This way of singing seemed a little strange to him, but withall inspired him with a secret pleasure and delight: The good Woman was not to be taught how to improve the passage, which she explained and urged with all its advantages; she magnified the mighty kindness and condescension of Heaven, pressing him not to be wanting to his own Salvation, nor any longer to resist the call of God, but immediately to break through whatever stood in the way to hinder him. He now yielded up himself to her importunity, and that nothing might be wanting, an opportunity presented itself to crown and complete it.  
II. IT happened about this time, that Leontius Bishop of Caesarea, with some other Prelates of his Province, set out in his Journey to the Council of Nice, and took Nazianzum in their way. To him he addressed himself, and acquainted him with his earnest desire to be made a Christian; in order whereunto he was forthwith put under the Rites preparatory to his initiation, in the management whereof the Catechist committed a mistake; for instead of making him stand up during his attendance upon the Catechetick Lecture( as was customary for the Catechumens who were Candidates for Baptism) he kneeled down all the while, a posture proper only to those who were to be consecrated to the Priesthood. They that were present perceived the mistake, but withall looked upon it as a good Omen of his future advancement to the Episcopal Office. Soon after he was baptized by the Bishop of Nazianzum, when at his coming out of the Baptisterium, an extraordinary light and splendour was seen to shine round about him, beholden by several, who at present took no notice of it to one another, each one thinking the Vision had been communicated to him alone, but especially to the Bishop it appeared with so surprising a brightness, that he publicly cried out, and  told the People, that he had anointed this Person to be his Successor in that place by the immediate Designation of the holy Ghost. Which accordingly came to pass, for upon the Bishop's death, after some considerable vacancy, he was promoted to that See. He found the place in a bad condition, and every thing strangely out of order. It had not been long erected into an Episcopal Station, his Predecessor being the first Bishop, a man indeed of an incomparable Life, but of great plainness and simplicity, destitute of those advantages, which the Bishops of those times were furnished with, and which the evident necessities of the Church did require. And yet even he too soon snatched away, and the See a long time vacant after his death, so that it was miserable over run with 'vice and Error, when our new Prelate entred upon it, who set himself to make a speedy Reformation, and by his prudence and diligence formed the People to better Manners, and at once brought them under the Laws both of Civility and Religion. Such, and so excellent a Person was this great man's Father; nor was his Mother Nonna less eminent for her Sex. A Woman descended of a pious Family, whose virtues she improved to that height, that( if we may believe the account which her Son every where gives of her) she became for Piety the wonder of her Age. Children she had then none at least but one Daughter( if Gorgonia was her eldest) and was eagerly desirous 
Naz. de vit. s●●. p. 2. Orat. XIX. p. 292. Gr. Presb. ubi supr.  of a Son, in which behalf she oft solicited Heaven, promising as Hannah did in the like Case, if God gave her one, she would entirely devote him to him. Her Prayers like the others prevailed above, and God to gratify her present importunity, was pleased in a Vision by night to communicate to her both the shape of the Child she should bear, and the name by which he was to be called. And no sooner was she delivered, but careful to perform her vow, she immediately consecrated and gave him up to God.  
III. A Child he proved of ripe pregnant Parts 
Gr. P●esb. ib. de vit. sua ut supra. , by which and the advantages of domestic Institution, under the Discipline and Government of his Parents, he soon out-strip'd his equals in Learning, wherein he made such quick advances, that his tender years were no hindrance to those improvements, which in others are the attainments of the maturest Age. He was above the little sports and pleasures of Youth, which he generously slighted as vain and useless, and obstructive to the progress of nobler Studies, nature having formed him to a more grave and serious Temper, so that as his reason grew up with his years, he delighted in reading such Books as were at that time written in defence of the catholic Cause, and in frequently conversing with wise and good men. The first step of his foreign Education, was to Caesarea, where he put himself under the best Masters▪ and where I doubt not, he first became acquainted with Basil. Having rifled the Learning of that University, he went into palestine, to Caesarea Philippi, where some of the most celebrated Masters of that Age resided, and where the great Eusebius then sat Bishop; where he studied under Thespesius 
Hieron. de Scrip. in E●z●●●. c. 113.  the famous Orator, and had among other fellow Pupils Euzoius, afterwards by the Arian Faction made Bishop of that place. Here he particularly applied himself to the study of rhetoric, minding the elegancy, not the vanity and affectation of that Profession. Hence he removed to Alexandria, whose Schools were famous next those at Athens. Having furnished himself with the advantages of that Society of Learning, the last Stage he designed was Athens; where he intended to lay the topstone. In order hereunto he went aboard 
Praeter locae supr. vid. Orat. XIX. p. 306.& Carm. I. de reb suis. T. ●. p. 36, 37.  a Ship belonging to Aegina, an iceland not far from Athens( the Mariners whereof were his familiar acquaintance) but in a bad season, it being then about the middle of November, when the Seas are most rough and stormy, and Navigation, if ever, dangerous. And he found it so: for being arrived near Cyprus, a violent Tempest suddenly arose, which shook and tossed the Ship at random, a thick darkness wrapped them up, so that neither Land, nor Sea, nor Sky could be descried, and this attended with dreadful Thunder and Lightning, as frightful and amazing as the darkness that covered them. And to add yet a deeper accent, Hunger and Famine conspired with the common Calamity, their Provisions of Water and Victuals being all lost or spoiled, though herein seasonably relieved by some Phoenician Traders, who though in the same danger, ventured near the Ship, and supplied that want. The Storm in the mean time increased into a greater rage and fierceness, and continued several dayes, the Ship ran a drift, all the skill of the Master, or the strength of the Sea-men being vain and useless. The Case in short seemed desperate, and no probability to escape, every man gave up himself for lost, and bitterly bewailed his unhappy Fate, and the immediate hazard of his life. While our Athenian Passenger was taken up with Considerations that more nearly concerned him. The apprehensions of death and another World, had summoned him to a review of his past Life, and nothing so much troubled him, as the thoughts of his being unbaptiz'd, and thereby unintitled to the privileges of the Christian State. A Reflection that made him burst out into the most passionate Sorrows, he tore his clothes, threw himself upon the floor, mourned and cried out with so loud Exclamations, that the very Sea-men laying aside the sense of their common danger, came and sat by him, and wept with him for Company. But recollecting himself, he addressed his Prayers to Heaven, and laid before God those miraculous deliverances and Preservations he had afforded his People in the most imminent dangers, he pleaded the particular care which the Divine Goodness and Providence had heretofore taken of him, that he was his by a most solemn Dedication, and that now a second time he did devote and consecrate himself to him, which he would assuredly make good, were he pleased at this time to deliver him. His Prayers were no sooner ended, but granted, the Tempest ceased, and the Ship went on securely in its right course, with this farther happy effect of so miraculous a Preservation, that all the Passengers forthwith declared themselves resolved to become Christians. And what is yet further memorable, this imminent danger at Sea, was at the same time communicated to his Parents in a Dream, who presently betook themselves to Prayers and Tears for his safety; and himself a little after, as soon as the abating of the Storm suffered him to indulge his rest, dreamed that he lead in Triumph a certain Fury, a malignant Daemon, that had been busy to contrive and promote his ruin. Nay, one of his intimate acquaintance, a young man then with him in the Ship, did at midnight, when they were at the greatest Crisis of their danger, behold his Mother Nonna coming along upon the Sea, and laying hold of the Ship, drawing it safe to land, which was no sooner declared, but the weather cleared up, and the Tempest vanished. The Storm thus over, they held on their course, and passing by Rhodes, came not long after to Aegina,( where the Ship-Master lived) and so to Athens, where he was joyfully entertained, and it was soon known what he was, his great Abilities rendering him admired, not only by the Scholars, but the chief Professors of that place.  
IV. HE had not been long at Athens 
Naz. de vit. sua. p. 4. Orat. XX. p. 330. Gr. Presb. ibid. , when Basil, who had lately studied at Constantinople, came thither. And now the acquaintance that was begun before, grew up here into an indissolvable Friendship. They dwelled together under the same Roof, did eat at the same Table, joined in the same Studies, wherein they were not sour'd by Envy, but whetted on by a generous Emulation; nor was the Contention so much which should out-vy and out-go the other, as which should be forwardest in yielding to the other the glory of their eminent attainments. They equally drew in the same paths of virtue, and nothing so firmly united their Affections, as a mighty zeal and sincere reverence for Religion. They were generally taken notice of for their prudent and grave demeanour, their temperance and abstemiousness, their modesty and chastity, their integrity and contempt of the World, scorning those little Arts, by which others unworthily enriched and advanced themselves; the firmness and constancy of their minds, which they maintained under the heaviest Calamities, and eminently kept up in that terrible Earth-quake that over-run Greece, when the courage of so many others sunk and failed. I forbear particular instances of the Friendship and Studies of these two great men during their residence at Athens, having remarked enough to that purpose in S. Basil's Life. While he thus pursued his philosophic Studies, he had a not unacceptable Dream, that seemed to carry something more than human in it. He dreamed 
Rufin. prologue. in oper. Naz. inter Naz. oper. T. 1. p. 726. ex ipsius Naz. Carm. IV. de Anim. suae calam. T. 2. p. 71, 72.  that sitting at his Book, he espied two lovely and beautiful Ladies standing by him in white Garments, one on his right hand, the other on his left. The man( who had taken up unalterable Resolutions for a chast single Life) beholded them with a rigid frown, asking who they were, and what their business. They familiarly embracing him, answered, don't be troubled, young man, we are very well known to you; the one of us is called Wisdom, the other Chastity, and we are sent by God to dwell with you, who have already prepared in your Soul so neat and pleasant an Habitation for us, and with that vanished. And indeed armed with a pious and generous Resolution, he maintained the Innocency and Integrity of his mind, amid all the Temptations, and those charms of Company and Conversation, which that place above most others did afford. Amongst others with whom he fell into acquaintance there, was Julian 
Naz. Orat. 4. p. 121, 122. Gr. Presb. p. 12. , afterwards Emperor, who was come thither under pretence of study, but chiefly to consult the Impostors and Magicians( to whom he was passionately addicted) concerning his future Fortunes. His behaviour there was very odd and indecorous, so that from the usual distortings of his mouth, rolling and wandring of his eyes, the fierceness of his looks, the tossings of his head, and unequal motions of his shoulders, his uneven gate, and excessive laughter, his broken speech, rash and incoherent Questions, and his bold and impious manner of disputing; Nazianzen was wont to foretell what course he would take, and to say to his Friends, See what a mischief the Roman Empire nourishes in its Bowels, wishing withal, that herein he might prove a false Prophet. Though alas, the course of his after-life too truly verified that Prediction.   

SECT. II. His Acts from his return from Athens, till his being made Bishop of Sasima.  
His public Profession of rhetoric, and great famed at the time of his leaving Athens. His meeting with his Brother Caesarius. The excellent learning of that young man, and his refusal of Preferments and Dignities offered him to profess physic at Constantinople. Nazianzen's Consultation about his future course of Life. ordained Presbyter by his Father. His rescuing his Father from the subtleties of the Arian Impostures, and reconciling him to the Monks. His Oration upon that occasion. Julian's Edict to prohibit Christians teaching of gentle learning. This Policy countermined by the excellent Poems of Nazianzen and Apollinaris. His Father's Courage and Resolution against Julian's Officers. Nazianzen's two invectives against Julian published after his death. His retirement into the Wilderness, and strict course of Life there. His return home to assist the infirmities of his Father. His apologetic de fuga sua. The death of Caesarius. A brief account of his Learning, Eminency, and Preferments at Court. His stout resisting Julian's solicitations. His return to Court after the death of Julian. His miraculous escape in the terrible Earthquake in Bithynia. His Brothers Letter to him upon that occasion. His Funeral Sermon preached by Nazianzen. His great Charity, and Nazianzen's trouble in recovering his Estate Whether the Questions and Answers under his name be his.  
1. BAsil had now quitted the University, and Nazianzen 
Gr. Presb. p. 8. de vit. sua. p. 5.  by the unwearied importunity of the Students was prevailed with to stay behind, and publicly to profess the Art of rhetoric, which he did for a little while, managing the Chair with great Honour, both to himself and the University. But the love of his own country, the age and infirmities of his Parents, and the considerable part he had spent of his own Life( being at this time XXX years of Age) made him earnestly desirous to return. So taking leave privately of his Friends, he left Athens, and took his Journey 
Naz. Or. X. p. 164.  by Land to Constantinople, where he met with his Brother Caesarius, just then arrived from Alexandria, where he had so accomplished himself in all the polite Learning of that Age, and especially in physic( to the Study whereof he had particularly applied himself) that he had not been long in the Imperial City; when his famed had so far recommended him to the notice and good opinion of all, That public Honours were decreed him, Matches propounded from Noble Families, the dignity of a Senator offered him, and a Committee ordered to wait upon the Emperour, to entreat him, that( though the City wanted at that time no learned men in any faculty) yet this might be added to all its other Glory, that Caesarius might become its Physician and Inhabitant. These were indeed great Temptations to a young Gentleman: But the Authority and In●●uence of his Brother Nazianzen weighed down all other Considerations, at whose persuasions he modestly declined the honourable Proposals and Importunities of the City, which was by no means willing to part with him, and accompanied him into his own country, welcome to all, but especially to their Parents, being made much dearer to them by so long an absence from them. The first thing considerable Nazianzen did after his return, was to make good what he had so solemnly vowed, to consecrate himself to God by Baptism. This done, his next Consult was, in what course of life he should fix himself. He found himself strongly inclined to a solitary and monastic life, the pleasures of Retirement and Contemplation being infinitely grateful to him. On the other hand he was inflamed with a desire, fully to inform himself in the knowledge of the holy Scriptures, and the divine Mysteries of the Christian Faith, wherein he could not hope for those advantages from a solitary Life, which he might expect from Society and Conversation. He resolved therefore upon a middle course, neither wholly to desert the World, nor yet to engage in the Business, and the bustle of it; he could reap the benefits of Contemplation at Home, as well as the devoutest ascetic in the Wilderness, and yet at the same time( what he accounted no small part of Piety) be helpful and assisting to his aged Parents. He looked upon it as a great part of that divine Philosophy he had attained to, to be able to promote the ends of virtue, without the help of a Cell or a Monastery, desiring rather to be, than to seem Religious, it not being the place, but the Life makes the Monk. And his Father to render him more useful both to himself, and to the Church, surprised him into ecclesiastic Orders against his will. For though he had a singular reverence for the Ministerial and Episcopal Order, yet was he resolved not to engage in it. Wherein yet his Father over-ruled him, and ordained him Presbyter, which he took the more patiently, considering the necessities of the Church at that time, and how ready heretics were to infest the Orthodox, as he tells Basil in a Letter 
Ep. XI. p. 776.  upon this occasion. And indeed he had sad experience of their subtle Insinuations in his own Father. For the Arian party managed by Acacius in the Convention at Constantinople, held presently after that of Seleucia, Anno CCCLIX. had, with as much Artifice as they could, refin'dd their Doctrine; they pretended out of a mighty reverence to the Scriptures, they could not admit any terms into the exposition of the Faith, which were not found there, and that therefore the Word Consubstantial being laid aside, they thought good to express the Article thus, That the Son was in all things like the Father, according to the Scriptures. This smooth pretence imposed upon several of the Eastern Bishops, and among the rest upon Gregory 
Gr. Presb. p. 10. Naz. Or. XIX. p. 297. vid. argum. in Or. XII. T. 2. p. 632.  of Nazianzum, who received the Confession, and admitted the Persons to Communion. Hereupon the Monks of Cappadocia( of all others the most zealous affecters of the catholic Doctrine flew off, denying him Communion, a great part also of the People moved by their Example, falling off from him. The breach was wide, and every day likely to become wider, had not Nazianzen bestirred himself to make it up. He first convinced his Father of the Error which his uncautiousness and simplicity had run him into, which he found him as ready to recant, and to give public satisfaction to the People; then he dealt with the other party, whom he soon prevailed with to be reconciled. And that he might bind all with a faster Cement, he made upon this occasion, his first Oration concerning Peace, wherein having elegantly described the monastic state, and given thanks to God for the late re-union, 
Orat XII. p. 190.  he persuades to a firm and lasting agreement, the advantages whereof he discourses at large, and the intolerable mischiefs and disorders that division brings upon the World.  
II. JULIAN was now got into the Thronce▪ and was become a declared Enemy to Christians; and among the several methods whereby he attempted to suppress and stifle Christianity, this was one. He published a Law 
Niz. Or. III. p. 51. 96. S●cr l. 3. c. 16. p 187. Soz. l 5. c. 18 p. 623. Niceph. l. 10. c. 25. p. 55.  prohibiting Christians not onely to teach School( but as the ancients tell us) to be taught the Books and Learning of the Gentiles. It vexed him to see how shamefully he and his Party went down the Wind, and especially that Basil and Nazianzen had so filled the World with the renown of their Eloquence and Learning, and he had little hopes his beloved Paganism would gain ground, while its Adversaries were so able to beat them at their own Weapons, which therefore he was resolved to wrest out of their hands. But herein the wise was caught in his own Craftiness, God raising up those, who by their admirable works, abundantly supplied the want of any gentle learning. Among which of chief Note, were the two Apollinares in Syria; the Father, an excellent Poet and Grammarian, in imitation of Homer wrote the whole story, and entire antiquities of the Jewish Nation, till the Reign of Saul in Heroic verse, which he divided into XXIV Books, and denominated each, according to the Letters of the Greek Alphabet. The rest of the Sacred story he represented in other kinds of Verse, either Comic like Menander, or tragic like Euripides, or lyric in the way of Pindar, indeed comprehended the whole System of the liberal Sciences in various sorts of Poetry, still taking his Argument out of the holy Scriptures. While his Son, the younger Apollinaris( besides his Book {αβγδ}, which he dedicated to the Emperor, wherein he dexterously defended the Cause of Christianity, and refuted the falsehood and follies of the Pagan Religion) reduced the History of the Gospels, and S. Paul's Epistles into the form of Dialogues, after the manner, and in the style of Plato, and that with so much Art and Accuracy, that they were capable of vying with the most elaborate and celebrated Compositions of the Ancients. Upon the same occasion we were  told, 
Gr. Presb. p. 12. 33. Zonar Annal Tom. III. p. 2  that Nazianzen composed a good part of his Poems, comprehending all sorts of divine, grave, and serious Subjects in all kinds of Poetry. By which means, the Christian youth of those times were completely furnished, and found no want of those Heathen Authors that were taken from them: Nor did Julian proceed against the Christians merely by stratagems and arts of subtlety, but by acts of force and cruelty. He lay at this time at Caesarea, where he made them feel the effects of his severity, and thence he sent parties of Souldiers up and down the country, to rout the Bishops, and take possession of their Churches. One Party of them came to Nazianz●m, 
Naz. Or. XIX. p. 307.  where the Commander peremptorily required the Church( which the elder Gregory had not long since built) to be delivered to him. But the good old man stoutly opposed him, daily assembling the People there to public Prayers; who were so affencted with the common case, that the Officer for his own safety was forced to surcease his demand, and quietly to retire. Not long after this, Julian was slain, and in that very day his thoughts perish'●. After whose death Nazianzen published two invective Orations against him, in which he strains all the sinews of his Wit and Eloquence to the highest Peg, to describe the pernicious Projects, desperate Acts, and miserable death of that unfortunate Prince. Wherein, though the Subjects he treats of, deserved a great share of that satirical and Sarcastick rhetoric he bestows upon it, yet must it be confessed, that some things must be placed to the accounts of heat and Animosity, and the Liberty which Orators are wont to take, especially in declamations against an inveterate Enemy, and one too that had particularly designed his head, had he return'd safe from the Persian expedition. But its time now to step back a little, to resume the story which we have left behind.  
8. THOUGH Nazianzen, to comply with the importunity of his Father, and the exigences of the Church, had suffered himself to be engaged in holy Orders, yet he looked upon it as a kind of force and Tyranny 
de vit. sua. p. 6.  put upon him, which he knew not well how to digest, and it caused his natural inclinations 
Or. I. p. 4. XIX. p 312.  to privacy and retirement, with so much a greater Impetus to return upon him. He had been of late strongly invited 
vid. Naz. Ep. IV. V. p. 769.  and importuned by his dear Friend Basil to come to him into his Pontic solitudes, and though he desired nothing more, yet he knew not as yet how to desert his Parents. But his Brother Caesarius being now return'd from Court, with a purpose to six at home, gave him opportunity to withdraw, who thereupon presently betook himself to his old Companion; with whom he spent some years in that solitary recess, where he perfectly learnt to despise the World, to correct the extravagancies of nature, to regulate his passions, and to subdue the lower appetites to the Laws of reason and sobriety. He lay upon the ground, fed sparing upon the meanest diet, wore nothing but what was course and vile, he watched, wept, and fasted; worked hard all day, and fared hard at night, which he spent many times entire in Hymns or Contemplations; so far from yielding to the Courtship of any pleasure, that he suffered it not so much as to address itself unto his thoughts. Nor was he yet so entirely taken up in these severe exercises of mortification, as wholly to neglect his Studies, which he daily improved, especially that of the holy Scriptures, which the oftener he red, the better he liked, so that in a short time he began to dis-relish those profane Authors, which before time had stolen away so many of his hours, and had entertained him with so much delight.  
IV. HE thus employed himself, when the necessity of Affairs at Home forcibly ravished him from his sweet retirements. His Father stooped under the infirmities of age, and was no longer able to attend his Charge, with that care and diligence he was wont to do; the Arians by their interest at Court, carried all before them in every place, turning out, and putting in at pleasure, and by their Agents and Emissaries in all parts, perverting men of simplo and honest minds. To be helpful to him in these Circumstances, his Father had oft solicited him to return, and besides his own, had used the Intercession of Friends to persuade him, till at length he yielded, and came back. He return'd about Easter, and took the occasion of making an Oration 
Or. XLI. p. 673 vid. Nicet. argum. V. comment. in hanc Orat.  to the People, as afterwards to vindicate himself from those ill interpretations which some men had made of his flight into the Wilderness, he published a large apologetic, 
Or. I. seu Apologet. post fugam.  wherein he shows, 'twas not fear of danger, nor making light of an ecclesiastic Office, nor discontent that better Preferment was not offered him, that had caused him to retire, but a great love to solitude, a sense of his unfitness for an ecclesiastic Charge, and a dread of the importance and difficulties of the Office: Whereupon he proceeds elegantly to describe the Sacerdotal Office, and what are the genuine Qualifications of a true and well-accomplish'd Prelate, with severe reflections upon the irregular Ordinations, and miscarriages of many in those times. That as to his return, he was swayed in it by a double motive, his desire to gratify the Church of Nazianzum, who were importunate for his coming among them, and the reverence he bore to his Parents, whose Commands he could no longer resist, and whose necessities called for his assistance. Thus he became Coadjutor to his Father, the cares of whose old age he relieved by his unwearied pains and diligence, in preaching, opposing and convincing Gainsayers, and all other parts of the Ministerial Function, though some who had been forward to recall him from his solitudes, shewed a great coldness and indifferency to his Ministry, when he was come among them, whereof he complains with some resentment in an Oration 
Or. II. p. 46.  preached on purpose upon that occasion.  
V. HE had not long entred upon this Charge, when a sad accident did greatly afflict their Family, the death, I mean, of his Brother Caesarius, who departed this life a little after the terrible Earthquake that happened in Bithynia Octob. 11th. Ann. CCCLXVIII. A Gentleman, whose Parts, Learning, and virtues made him equal to any, Superior to most of that time. After a pious Education under his Parents, he was sent to Alexandria 
Naz. Or. X. p. 163. , where he soon went beyond his Companions, with great success, traveling through the whole circled of the Sciences, though he particularly betook himself to the study of physic, and became so eminent in that Profession, that in his return( as we noted before) he was invited to stay at Constantinople upon the most honourable terms, as before his quick Parts, vast Learning, strict Temperance and Sobriety had endeared him to all at Alexandria. He return'd with his Brother into his own country, to which he consecrated the first Fruits of his Profession, not more to his own credit, than the advantage of the places where he lived. Here he continued some years, when to the dissatisfaction of his Friends he removed to Constantinople under the reign of Julian; who loved a man of Learning where ever he met him, but was particularly taken with Caesarius. He had scarce given a Speciment of his Learning, and excellency in his Art, when he was made chief Physician to the Emperor, and the highest Honours and Offices at Court not thought too great for him, being at last made Treasurer to the Emperor. It was no small grief and trouble to his Parents( nay, and what others reproached them with) that he had thus disposed of himself. What the Son of a Christian Bishop thrust himself into the Service and Family of an Apostate Emperor, one that openly defied, and plainly subverted Christianity? Was it for him to engage in Honours and Offices, to hunt after Power and Grandeur, to amass Wealth and Treasure, at a time, when he should think it the richest, noblest and safest Course, with a generous courage to oppose the growing Impieties of the age, and to get as far as he could, out of the reach of the villainies and Mischiefs of an evil time? How could Bishops ever hope to prevail with others, not to suffer themselves to be carried down the Stream, or to keep themselves from being infected with the Superstition and Idolatry of the times, if they could not first persuade their own Children? With what face could they reprove others for their Faults, that swept not before their own door, and removed the Objections that lay at home? All which his Brother represented in a Letter 
Ep. XVII. p. 779.  to him, beseeching him to lay down his Offices, and retire, as the only way to secure himself, and to refresh, comfort, and preserve the lives of his aged Parents, at all times ready to tumble into their Graves, but now wholly unable to bear up under the weight of so great a trouble. That if all this swayed nothing, he would only put him in mind, that one of these two things must be his Portion, either, that continuing a sincere Christian, he must be unequally yoked, with a shameful and impious Tribe, and live unworthy of himself, and the great hopes that had been conceived of him; o● if he did go on to pursue Honour and Applause, 'twould betray him to temptation and a snare, and what would prove bitterness in the latter end. The Counsel had its desired effect, Caesarius grew weary of his Attendance at Court, and resolved to part with all, rather than make ship●rack of Faith and a Good Consc ence. Julian had attempted 
Orat. X. ●. 167.  his constancy, with Arguments suited both to his hopes and fears; but these were easily thrown off. Next he sought to run him down by force of Reason, and a warm and brisk Dispute passed between them. But Caesarius stood his ground, and came off Conqueror, and having answered all his Sophisms, and rejected all his Offers, in conclusion plainly  told him, that he both was a Christian, and was resolved to be so. And though notwithstanding all this, the Emperor was unwilling to part with him, yet being then preparing for his expedition against Persia, Caesarius took the opportunity to return. About two years after he went back to Court, when Valens, not yet tainted with Arianism, was advanced to the Eastern Empire, by whom he was restored to his former Office of Comes rerum privatarum, or Treasurer of the Imperial Rents, in which capacity a Rescript to him is yet extant in the Theodosian Code. Indeed, both Valentinian and Valens were at strife, which of them should have him, though Valentinian was willing to resign him up, as sittest to serve the Eastern Emperor. Nor was his present employment any more than an earnest of what higher Dignities were designed for him. In the execution of this Office he went into Bithynia, where he was when that fatal Earthquake happened, 
Vid. etiam Naz. Carm. I. de reb. sui●. T. 2. p. 34.  which, as in other places it left such lamentable footsteps of its rage and fury, so particularly overturned the great and famous City of Nice, with the far mayor part of its Inhabitants, and Caesarius himself had perished in the common Ruins, had not the divine Providence miraculously interposed for his deliverance, by preserving him and some few more under hollow parts of the ruinated Houses, so that he escaped without any considerable damage. This Accident Nazianzen immediately laid hold of, writing 
Ep. XVI. p. 778.  to his Brother wisely to improve what had happened to him, that even the fears of danger might be managed to very useful purposes, and to the bringing of us nearer unto God; that we should not so much resent the evils that befall us, as be thankful to God, that we are delivered from them, and in all Circumstances of life, whether private or public, devote ourselves to him, who is the Author of our Preservation, and whose Service we ought not to neglect, for a few little trifling advantages, which places of Honour and Profit might bring in; an Admonition that perhaps might not be overwelcome to him: That he hearty wished himself with him, to bear part in the joy of his deliverance, and more fully to discourse him about these matters; but if that could not be that at least he might out of hand enjoy his company at home, where they might jointly solemnize the memory of so signal a preservation. Caesarius understood his meaning, and it seems, followed his Advice: For soon after, he came home, fell sick, and died, and his Funeral was attended with Psalmodies, and lighted Torches carried before it; wherein his own Mother bore her part; his Funeral Oration was made by his Brother, wherein he especially commends him for his ingenuous temper, his sobriety, and the strictness of his conversation, his care to keep himself in the midst of all his greatness, from being corrupted with the snares of the World, and the Vices that attend Princes Courts, his Fidelity and Constancy to his Religion, and his incomparable Charity to the poor, whom by his last Will 
Naz. ibi●. p. 173. Bas. Ep. LXXXIV. ●. 156.  he made the sole Heirs of his Estate, comprising all in a few words, worthy to be written in Letters of Gold, {αβγδ}, My Will is, That all that I have be given to the poor. His Estate was considerable( though he had lost no small part of it in the fatal Earthquake) but no sooner was he dead, but some greedy Officers laid hands upon it, pretending it due to them, and that they must be accountable for it to the Exchequer, nay, and Nazianzen who had possessed himself of some small part of it, and disposed it to the use of his Will, was brought into trouble about it, insomuch, that he was forced to address 
Naz. Ep. XVIII. p. 781.  himself to Sophronius the Governor, and entreat him to do right to his deceased Friend, one, whom both living and dying he had loved and honoured, and that he would pity and relieve those who were innocently betrayed into so troublesome an Office. The Contest it seems was not presently ended, it depending after Nazianzen was made Bishop, as appears from St. Basil's Letter 
Loc. supr. citat.  to Sophronius about this very thing, to whom he truly states the case, and begs of him to use his Interest with the Treasurer, that the business might be brought to an Issue, and that he would find out a way, whereby the good man might be freed from the vexatious svit wherein he was entangled. But to pass by that, so great and exemplary were Caesarius's virtues, that he was invested after his death with the Honour of a Saint, and his name has found a place in the Martyrologies 
Vid. Mart. Rom Feb. XXV.  of the Church. Suidas says, 
In V. {αβγδ}.  he wrote several Books, and especially against the Gentiles; and at this day there are four Books of Dialogues concerning divine and spiritual matters extant 
Ex●● gr. l. in Bibl. P. P. gr. lit. Tom. 1. p. 545. vid.  under his name. And for his 'tis plain, they went in the dayes of Photius, 
Bi●l. argum. in Naz. Or. X. C. Cod. CCX. col. 540.  when they consisted of CCXX Questions and Answers, though they contain somewhat less than CC. at this day. The style is clear, but Poetical, and the matters themselves accurately enough discussed. But 'tis very evident, that the Author of these Dialogues lived somewhat later than our Caesarius, as is manifest from several Passages and Quotations in them, nor did he tarry, much less publicly teach XX years at Constantinople, as is expressly affirmed in the Title of them. Not to say, that the Argument of them being purely Theological, and of the subtlest Questions and Speculations in Religion, was foreign to a man of his Profession, and unsuitable to his practise and Course of Life, and who was not baptized neither till a little before his death: And what is more, his Brother in the large and particular accounts he gives of him, has not the least hint to this purpose▪ no, nor that ever he committed any thing to writing, which if he had, 'tis not reasonable to think he would have passed it by.   

SECT. III. His Acts from his being made Bishop, till his going to Constantinople.  
Basil's importunate soliciting him to become Bishop of Sasima, and why. His obstinate refusal of that offer. The sharp Contests between these dear Friends upon that account. over-ruled by the persuasions and Authority of his Father, he is ordained Bishop of that place. His apologetic Oration upon that occasion. His Oration to entertain Gregory Nyssen. Anthymus of Tyana his endeavour to gain him over to his side. Nazianzen's utter refusal to desert Basil. His neglecting to go to Sasima. The great inconveniences of that place. His withdrawing to an Hospital, and being remanded thence to the assistance of his Father, submitted to upon what Condition. His Oration made upon that occasion. The Mutiny of the People of Nazianzen against the Imperial Assessor. All things pacified by Nazianzens Oration. The death of his Sister Gorgonia. Her transcendent virtues, pious Life, and happy Death. The Death of his Father. His great Age, and many Infirmities. His exemplary virtues briefly enumerated. The Sermon preached by Nazianzen at his Funeral. This followed by the Death of his Mother Nonna. The holy Life, the admirable graces and accomplishments of that pious and excellent Woman. His retirement from Nazianzum, and presiding over a Society of devout Virgins at Seleucia. summoned to the Synod at Antioch. By them obliged to go to Constantinople, to support the sinking cause of catholic Truth, miserable oppressed by the Arian Factions.  
I. HIS Brother being dead, Nazianzen continued at home, performing all dutiful Offices to his Parents, when he was unhappily drawn into new Troubles; which he oft bewails as the greatest inquietude of his Life. Valens the Emperor( out of spite, as some conjecture to St. Basil) had divided Cappadocia into two Provinces, and had constituted Tyana the Metropolis of the Second Cappadocia, by which means Anthimus Bishop of that See set up for a Metropolitan, and laid claim to the Churches within that Province, formerly dependant upon the See of Caesarea. Basil resented the injury, but knew not how to remedy it, nor to make up the loss, but by erecting some new bishoprics. Which he did, and among the rest Sasima( {αβγδ}) a Town lying within the Verge of the Second Cappadocia. A trusty Friend in this Station, he reckoned would mightily secure his Interest, and keep a fair Decorum between him and Anthimus, the Town lying between Caesarea and Tyana; and none could he think of so fit for this Affair as his dear Friend Gregory. To him 
Naz. O●. XX. p. 356. Epist. XXXI. &c XXXII. p. 795 de vit. sua. p. 7. Gr. Presb. p. 14.  therefore he proposes it by Letter, which the other rejected with Contempt, as a thing destructive of his beloved privacy, which made him decline all public Preferment in the Church, but this especially, a place so mean and contemptible in itself, and upon all accounts so inconvenient for him. Basil nettled with his obstinate refusal, treated him it seems with some severity, calling him a rustic and a Clown, and a man that understood not his Interest, and that was resolved to forfeit and disoblige his Friends. The other replied with stomach enough, that he knew not wherein he had deserved this usage, that 'twas hard for a man first to be abused, and then charged for complaining of it; that perhaps the best account that could be given of it, was, that his Archiepiscopal Dignity had swelled him with pride and loftiness; otherwise, abating the eminency of his place, he knew not wherein he was inferior to him, a thing which he himself at all other times was forward enough to allow; that the World talked loud of him for this unkind attempt, and that he was weary with making Apologies to defend him from those sharp Censures, that were passed upon him, that those who spoken softest, said, it was not according to those strict Laws of Friendship that were between them, that 'twas an instance of great contempt and disrespect, after he had made so much use of his assistance( he means I suppose, his endeavours in promoting Basil to the See of Caesarea) he should now cast him away as a dishonourable instrument, good for nothing, and deal with him like the supporters of a new built Arch, which when the structure is able to stand alone, are taken down, and thrown aside as useless and unprofitable; that he begged of him to let him enjoy his ease and privacy, and not to reproach him with sloth and idleness, because he refused his offer of Sasima, and had no mind to a bishopric, while others were contending for them with zeal and fierceness; a quiet life being to him above all other business, wherein if he had more to follow him, the Church would have far less trouble, and the Faith, which now by every Party was made an instrument of Faction, would be preserved much more entire and sound: That therefore he should do well to let him alone, and not attempt to rob the new Metropolis of so glorious a prise as Sasima, and in the mean time discover( what he ought to keep secret) the unwarrantable design he had in it: That however he disposed his Affairs, yet as to himself, he had gained these two points from his Friendship, never henceforth to trust Friends, nor to esteem any thing more excellent and valuable than God. To such heats and jars may the dearest, and the firmest Friendship be sometimes exposed.  
II. BASIL though meeting with all this opposition, would not however give over the attempt. His own interest failing, he knew no better way to over-power Nazianzen, than by gaining over his Father to his Party. He did so, and by his persuasions and commands, he was at last prevailed with to comply, and accordingly was ordained Bishop of Sasima; at what time he made an apologetic Oration 
Orat. VII. p. 142. , directed peculiarly to his Father and S. Basil, and let them know what 'twas had made him so unwilling to undertake that charge, at the consideration whereof, he was as much amazed, as Children are wont to be at a great flash of Lightning; that the thing being done, it was but reasonable they should be his Guides and Tutors, to instruct him in the true Art of feeding and governing his Flock; with all modestly reflecting upon Basil, that he who while they were Fellow-Pupils, had treated him with so much Humanity, should now put such hard things upon him; that he had indeed got the better of him, and carried the day, but 'twas not by argument, but by force; that he should prosperously go on in his pastoral Government, and show him the way both by his Precepts and Examples, whose happy conduct he was resolved to follow. Upon the same Argument and Occasion, and to the same Persons,( though whether at the same time, I know not) he discoursed in another Oration 
Orat. V. p. 134. , modestly complaining of the injury that had been done him, in drawing him out of the shades of his beloved Solitude, and thrusting him upon the Stage of a public Life, a thing he little expected from Persons of such intimate Familiarity and Friendship. The next day came Gregory Nyssen, Basil's Brother,( who probably should have been present at the Ordination) whose arrival( it being then a Festival Commemoration of the Martyrs) he wellcom'd with an Oration 
Orat. VI p. 136. , wherein passing by his own Case, as not proper for that occasion, he principally presses them to imitate the Piety, Purity, Zeal, and Constancy of the Martyrs, to cleanse ourselves, and offer up Soul and Body, as a living, holy, and rational Sacrifice; this was the way truly to celebrate the Festival, and render it acceptable to Christ; this the way to honour the Martyrs, and not to meet to eat and drink, to indulge Luxury and Debauchery, things fitter for a Pagan Festival, than a Christian Solemnity. Authimus of Tyana quickly heard of the Ordination, whereupon accompanied with some Bishops of his Province, he came to Nazianzum 
Naz. Ep. XXX p. 797. , under pretence indeed of making a visit to the elder Gregory, but the design was to try if he could bring over Nazianzen to his Party. He set upon him with all the methods of Insinuation, sometimes congratulating, other whiles entreating, sometimes threatening, and then expostulating; now commending, and anon reproaching, telling him that he ought to look upon him only as his Ecclesiastical Superior, and upon the new Metropolis as the greatest and most honourable. Nazianzen vindicated the honor of the See of Caesarea, as the most ancient and true Metropolis of all those parts, nor could he be prevailed with to stir one foot. So that Anthimus departed in discontent, foaming, and charging him with Basilism, or an undue partiality to Basil, alluding to the charge of the Athenian Ambassadors, who accused each other of Philippism, that is, of a traitorous correspondence with that Macedonian Prince. After this, he summoned him to a Synod, which the other refused, as an injury to the Metropolitick Rights; then he wrote to him to intercede, that Basil and they might meet, to consult about and debate this Matter. This he embraced as an equitable Proposal, referring it to Basil to appoint time and place, or whether at all he would meet about it. But I believe it came to nothing. For Nazianzen highly dissatisfied with what he had done, never so much as once 
De vit. sua, p. 9.  honoured his See with his presence, nor performed any one ministerial or Episcopal Act in it. the truth is, 'twas a place that had little in it to invite him. It was 
Id. ib. p. 7. Gr. press. 〈◇〉. 14.  a paltry inconsiderable Town, close and narrow, situate upon three great Roads; the common Stage where all the public Horses and Carriages were lodged, the Air unwholesome, the soil barren, and destitute of Water, the People inconstant and Vagrants, the place perpetually full of noise and smoke, and dust and filth. So that he could not but look upon his sending hither, as a Condemnation to a Prison or a Dungeon. And it highly aggravated the unkindness, that when Basil had above fifty Sees in his Province, he should pick out this, and create it on purpose for so dear a Friend. And yet after all, if he would have gone thither, he could not, for upon his refusal of Submission, his denying to desert Basil, and betray the ancient Rights of his Metropolitan; Anthimus had seized upon it, so that there could be no hopes for him to reside there with any tolerable comfort, or so much as with safety to his Life.  
III. IN these Circumstances he knew not well which way to turn him, but judged 
Vid. ubi supr.  it the best way for the present to retire, and so withdrew to an Hospital seated in a solitary place, where he passed his time in pious Exercises, and the strictness of a philosophic Life. But neither here could he find any rest. His Father's commands followed him close, who earnestly desired( if possible) to fix him in his Episcopal Station at Sasima; but that being peremptorily refused, he pressed him to come home, and under him to take upon him the charge of Nazianzum, his great years having disabled him, and in the judgement of all given him a Writ of ease. He knew he had a Temper to deal with, mightily averse to the encumbrances of a public Life, and therefore recommended the motion to him, with all the Arts of endearment and soft Insinuation. Taking him gently by the Beard, Son, said he, your own Father is become your Petitioner, an aged Father to a youthful Son; a Master to one that is a Servant by Nature and a double Obligation. 'tis not Riches, or great things I ask, I require no more than that like Aaron and Samuel you would undertake to minister before the Lord. Despise not the desires of him, who was the Instrument of your being, and let it appear you have an indulgent Father; the thing I request is fair and reasonable, and though it were not, yet remember 'tis your Father requests it, one who has spent so great part of his Life in the ministries of Religion. gratify me therefore in this, or else I vow that some body else shall close mine eyes, and commit my body to the ground, which I intend to inflict as the punishment of your disobedience. 'tis but a little time that I have to live, assist me in it, and then I shall leave you to your own Counsels. To this pathetical address Nazianzen replied, Sir, how troublesone soever the commands are which you are pleased to lay upon me, yet for your sake I submit, and I am content to take upon me the Administration of your cure at Nazianzum, only upon this condition, that when ever you shall be translated into Heaven, I may be perfectly free from all obligation to that charge. Upon these Terms they agreed, and he became his Co-adjutor in the Episcopal Office. Whence the Error of S. Jerom 
In Gr. Naz. c. 117. , Rufinus 
Lib. 2. c. 9. p. 249. , Socrates 
Lib. 4. c. 11. p. 219. c. 26. p. 242. , and Troops that follow their Authority, is very obvious, when they make him to have been Bishop of Nazianzum, while himself most expressly tells 
Epist. XLII. p. 804. Orat. VIII. p. 148.  us, that he was not; and that out of reverence to his aged Father, and the mighty importunity of Friends, he only engaged in it as a substitute for his Father's Life, with open Protestation, that he would be obliged no longer, nor succeed him in it. At the entrance upon his charge he made an Oration 
Orat. VIII. p. 145 , wherein he addresses himself first to his Father, with whom he expostulates why he had made choice of so weak a Crutch to support his Age and Cares, and indeed why any at all? His body though infirm and weak, was yet acted by a Soul brisk and vigorous, and now wholly free from the inordinate Motions of the sensual appetite; that it concerned him however to have made such a choice, wherein he might not seem to have been lead more by considerations of Consanguinity and Relation, than the common Good. Next he turns to the People, whom he acquaints with the force that had been used towards him, and how much he had yielded to the Age of his Father, and the importunity of his Friends, and therefore begged their assistance according to their several capacities; that he was distracted between two different Principles; his inclination to solitude made him cast an eye to the ●ountains and the Wilderness, and long for those happy opportunities of retiring from the Regions of sense, of turning inward, and conversing with God and his own mind; on the other hand the Sacerdotal Consecration that had passed upon him, obliged him to appear in public, and to consult the happiness of others, to reclaim men from 'vice, and repair the divine Image in them, and to form and build up a peculiar People unto God; that no man ought merely to consult himself, but to promote the good of others, though with some disadvantage to himself, a practise wherein our Lord has set us the most generous Example: that he would as much as might be, reconcile these two courses, neither desert this Ministry, nor yet take upon him a burden too heavy for him, and which his strength would not serve him to go through with; that therefore for the present he would undertake the charge to comply with his Father's Age and Infirmities, but after that he would be free, nor should any man prevail with, or compel him against his Inclination; and though the succeeding in a paternal Charge wanted not some considerable advantages to recommend it, yet that the best and safest course was both for Governors and People to be mutually willing to embrace each other, the Laws of Religion and the Church commanding the Episcopacy, or oversight of the Flock to be undertaken willingly, and not by constraint to have it forced upon them.  
IV. ONE of the first things he did, after his coming amongst them( if I conjecture the time aright) was his making their peace with the offended Governor. The People of Nazianzum either burdened with some unreasonable Taxes, or vexed with some intolerable Edict, had it seems broken out into evident Symptoms of Tumult and Discontent. Whereat the Governor( whom one of the ancient Scholiasts 
Vid. Billii arg. in Orat. XVII.  supposes to have been Julian the Assessor of the Imperial Taxes, who had been Nazianzen's School-fellow 
Vid. Or. IX. p. 158. , and was his intimate acquaintance) highly offended, f●ew out into passion, and threatened to make them feel the Justice of his provoked Severity. To pacify his anger, and to alloy the storm, Nazianzen gets up into the Pulpit, and makes an Oration 
Orat. XVII. p. 265.  to them, wherein after he had endeavoured to support the minds of the People under their apprehensions of danger, and advised them how to behave themselves, neither to be secure or insolent in prosperity, nor yet despondent in calamitous times, but especially to submit to God, the supreme Governor of the World, and to Princes as those that are sent by him to preserve the public Order and Discipline of Mankind, Obedience to Government being one of the great Laws of the Christian Religion; he next directs his speech to the Magistrates, whom he beseeches to own and stoop to his Spiritual Authority; and then lastly to the Governor, whom he puts in mind of his pious Education, his Baptism, and strict profession of the catholic Faith, persuading him by many excellent Arguments, to use his Power with Mercy and Moderation, and to improve that Authority for Christ, which he had received from him; a Subject which he manages with so much eloquence and strength of Reason, that were there nothing else, this alone were enough to show him to have been one of the Master Orators of that Age.  
V. ABOUT this time died his Sister Gorgonia, whose Funeral Sermon 
Orat. XI. p. 176.  he preached. She was the Wife of Vitalian, a Gentleman in those Parts, by whom she had several Children. A Woman of transcendent virtues, pious towards God, whose House she frequented; whose Ministers she reverenced; charitable to the Poor, whose necessities she relieved, and her House open to all that wanted; prudent and exemplary in her Relations; one who knew how to reconcile the advantages of celibacy with the Conveniencies of a married Life; and to reap the Fruits of both; grave, but not austere; neither merry, nor morose; a great enemy to all modes of artificial beauty; chast in her Garb, temperate in her Diet, much conversant in watching and abstinence, spending whole nights in singing Psalms, or in reading the Scriptures, or in divine Meditations, or fervent Prayers, wherein she was so frequent, that her knees were grown hard like those of Camels; so modest and bashful, that in extremities of sickness, she would not endure a physician to come near her, being unwilling that in those Circumstances any man should either see or touch her. She was seized with a very malignant fever, which attended with some other Complications, rendered her Case desperate beyond the hopes of her Friends, or the skill of Physitians. In this condition she ventured upon a strange unaccountable way of cure. Finding some intermission of her Fits, she got up, and in a stormy night went to Church, where she kneeled down before the Altar or Communion-Table, and poured out her Prayers to Christ, and laying her head upon the Table, protested she would not take it thence, till she had recovered her health, withall pouring out such abundance of tears, that she moistened the pieces of the holy Eucharist,( {αβγδ}, the Antitypes or Figures of Christ's precious Body and Blood, as Nazianzen there 
Ib. p. 187.  calls them) which she had about her; whereupon of a sudden she found her self perfectly restored to health. Which yet did not abate her vigorous desires to depart, and to be with Christ, and God granted her request, and was pleased by an extraordinary Vision to represent to her the particular day of her Dissolution; which being come, she called for her Husband, Children, and Friends about her, and having discoursed incomparably to them, what properly concerned their several Duties, she fell into a Trance, so that they all concluded her to be dead; but her Lips being perceived still to move, she was found by those who laid their ears close to her, to be repeating of a Psalm, which she had then brought to the Conclusion, I will lay me down in peace to sleep, and will take my rest; and with that finished her Psalm and her Life together.  
VI. HER death was followed not long after with that of her Father, the aged Bishop of Nazianzum, then near an hundred years old 
Orat. XIX. p. 313. , after he had sat XLV. years Bishop of that place. His great Age betrayed him to many Infirmities, and those attended with painful and acute Distempers, which grew upon him as he approached nearer to death, and wherein he seldom had any Intermissions, but while engaged in the public Ministrations, all which time he had perfect ease; whither the intenseness and fervency of his Devotion over-powered the sense of pain, or God mercifully restrained and tied it up, while he was engaged in so good a work. He was renowned for his strictness and sobriety, his Justice and Integrity even before his conversion to Christianity, as afterwards he became a serious Professor, and a most incomparable Prelate, and though wanting those previous advantages 
Ib. p. 296.& Carm. IV. de anim. suae calamit. T. 2. p. 71.  of Education which others had, yet he quickly made up all by an indefatigable industry, whereby he arrived to an exquisite understanding of the Scriptures, and those Controversies that exercised the Church in those times. A constant Friend to, and zealous Defender of the catholic Doctrine; he found his See miserable over-run with 'vice and Error, both which with infinite diligence he rooted up, and that God might be worshipped in a decent manner, he built 
Hujus●e T●mpli descriptionem habes. ibid▪ p. 313.  from the ground a very neat and beautiful, a stately and magnificent Church, elegantly adorned with Columns and Portico's, and with all sorts of curious Sculpture and Architecture, wherein though he took in the Contributions of the People, yet the main of it was done at his own charge. In his Garb and Diet he was wont to observe a just Decorum, equally distant from sordidness and curiosity, and though none contented themselves with meaner Food and clothes, yet he managed it in such a way, as seemed least liable to vanity and affectation. In his Conversation he was courteous and affable, none more gentle and easy to pardon Injuries; and though nature had formed him inclinable to passion and quick resentments, yet he never gave way to it, but where zeal against obstinate Offenders made it necessary; to the Poor he was kind and charitable, and indeed a common Father; and what crowned all, was a man plain and honest, a true Nathannael, in whom there was no guile. Amongst other Prelates present at the Funeral was S. Basil, to whom Nazianzen in the beginning of the Oration which he then made, particularly addressed himself with many singular Commendations, as in the Conclusion 
Ib. p. 315.  of it he directed his discourse to his Mother Nonna, to support her mind under so great a loss; that she was not to wonder at what had happened, all things in this World are obnoxious to change and mutability, subject to decay and die, the happiness of the other World only being immutable and eternal, to provide for which, is the great business of life, and that therefore there could be no reason to mourn for those that had made so happy an exchange, unless we can be so uncharitable as to rob another of his happiness, merely for our own conveniency; if the burden was heavy, 'twas but a little way she had to bear it, she her self being like shortly to follow after; and though they were great comforts she had lost, yet it was to be remembered how long she had enjoyed them; that it was but fit she should submit to what was best; and she who with so much wisdom and courage had born the death of her Children in their most flourishing years, ought much more to bear the fall of a tottering Carcase, quiter worn out with age and weakness. And indeed the Consolations were proper and seasonable; for the good Woman thus deprived of the main Staff of her Li●e, and her self ready to drop into the Grave( being near of equal years with her Husband) died( as may probably be conjectured) soon after. A Woman of incomparable piety, 
Orat. X. p. 161. XIX. p. 290, 291. &c.  which she inherited as an hereditary blessing from her Ancestors, and which she imparted first to her Husband, and then to her Children; a faithful Wife, and an excellent Mother. Those little arts of fineness and bravery, whereof other Women are so much enamoured, she slighted, accounting the truest beauty to lie in a divine temper of mind, and no Nobility to be comparable to the Virtues of a good life. She carefully administered the Affairs of her Family, as if she had had nothing else to mind, and yet attended the duties of Religion, as if that alone had been her business. The Ministers of Religion she was wont to entertain with a profound reverence, beholding them as the Messengers of Heaven, and Stewards of holy things: Her time she spent in Fasting, and Watching, in Prayers, and singing Psalms day and night; in the public Congregation she was taken up with silent admirations, and her Soul possessed with so aweful a reverence of the Majesty of those Divine Solemnities, that she would never turn her back upon the holy Table, nor spit upon the Pavement of that place, where God was so devoutly worshipped, she shunned the Converse of the Gentile-Ladies, even those of them that were nearly related to her, whom she would not salute with the ordinary expressions of Familiarity, nor eat with those that defil d themselves with Pagan Idolatrous Worship. In the midst of those many and severe troubles that came upon her, she maintained an even temper of mind, whatever Accident befell her, praise was always the first word in her mouth; not a tear in her eye, nor a mourning Habit to be seen upon her upon any of the Churches Festivals. And yet at the same time, none more compassionate of the miseries of others, and more ready to assist them, singularly kind to her indigent Relations, and no less charitable to the poor, a public Guardian to Widows and Orphans, to provide for whose necessities she reckoned was the only true and durable Riches, and the best way at once to secure and improve an Estate.  
VII. BY These heavy breaches in the Family, one following close at the heels of the other, Nazianzen was sufficiently weaned from the place of his Nativity, and looking upon himself as now fully released from the Obligation of his Promise, resolved immediately to throw up his Charge. In vain he attempted to procure a Successor to be placed at Nazianzum, whereupon he retired, 
De vit. sua. p. 9. Gr. Presb. p. 16.  and went to Seleucia, famous for the Temple of St. Tbecla the Virgin-Martyr, where in a Monastery of devout Virgins dedicated to that Saint, he continued a long time, hoping that in the mean while, the See of Nazianzum would have been disposed of. He return'd much about the time of St. Basil's death, whom to his great trouble he could not attend in his last hours, being himself at that time detained by sickness, though afterwards he honoured his memory with an elegant encomiastic, 
Or. XX. p. 316.  where in lively colours he described that great man's Virtues and course of life. But the Church of Nazianzum remained still a Widow, and so continued several years, the greater Affairs of the Church swallowing up the care of that. About this time Nazianzen was summoned to the Synod at Antioch, holden Ann. CCCLXXVIII. to heal the Schism that had so long raged in that Church, and to consult about the distracted state of the Eastern Churches, miserable harassed by the late prevalency of the Arian Party. In this Council some were deputed to go into one part, and some into another, and among the rest, Nazianzen, as one whose polite Parts and Learning could not but render him acceptable to the Court, and capable of coping with the ablest Adversary, was over-ruled quiter contrary to his own inclination( as he expressly tells us 
De vit. sua. p. 10. vid. querel. ad Episcop. p. 301, 302. ) to go to Constantinople( the main spring that gave life and motion to the mischievous attempts of the several Parties) there to encourage and assist the Orthodox, and to undertake the defence of the catholic Cause.   

SECT. IV. His Acts from his coming to Constantinople, till the meeting of the Great Council there.  
His abode at Constantinople; where. His numerous Congregation of catholics. His Oratory erected into a Church; called Anastasia, and why. The mighty Opposition he met with from several Sectaries. His famed hereby increased. Two of his most noted Scholars, S. Jerom, and Evagrius Ponticus. This Evagrius, who. Nazianzen desired by the catholics at Constantinople for their Bishop. The beginning of his Troubles upon that account. Maximus the cynic of Alexandria; who. His notorious juggling and Impostures. His insinuating himself into Nazianzen's favour. His ambitious designs to obtain the bishopric of Constantinople. Three egyptian Bishops privately sent thither for that purpose, who secretly ordain Maximus. A great tumult hereupon in the City. Nazianzen's Oration to them at that time. Maximus forced to fly the City: Makes his interest among the Western Bishops, who appear in his behalf; solicits his cause at Court, but in vain; flies to Alexandria, and is expelled thence. The fresh rage and malice of the Arians against Nazianzen. His particular answers to the frivolous Cavils, and scurrilous Reflections which they cast upon him. His mildness and clemency blamed by his Friends and followers. The Declaration of his Resolution to leave that place. This highly resented by his Auditors. His promise not presently to forsake them. Theodosius his Edict for Confirmation of the catholic Faith, and suppressing heretical Conventicles. His arrival at Constantinople, and publication of another Law more express to the same purpose. The date of that Law not corrupted. His expelling Demophilus the Arian Bishop out of the City. The Churches delivered to the catholics. Nazianzen highly in favour with the Emperor. Preparations for the solemnity of his installment, and what happened at that time. His modest declining that solemnity. The manner of his private life. His sickness, and singular clemency towards an assassinate, that crowded into his Bed-chamber with a design to kill him.  
I. COMING to Constantinople, he took up his Lodging with one of his own 
Or. XXVIII. p. 484.  Relations; whom Baronius 
Ad Ann. 378. p. 400.  not improbably supposes to be Nicobulus; who had married Alypiana one of his Sister Gorgonia's Daughters. Here he found the catholic Interest at the lowest ebb, the Arians during the favourable Government of the Emperor Valens, had possessed themselves of all the Churches, and carried things with so high a hand, that scarce any durst openly appear to own the truth. He first preached in his Lodgings to those that repaired thither( Valens his Edict having lately given Liberty to the catholics) and the Congregation soon grew numerous, and the House by the bounty of his Kinsman was freely bestowed, and immediately erected and consecrated into a Church, which Nazianzen entitled the Church of Anastasia, or the Resurrection, 
Vid. Ca●m. IX. de ins●m● Anast. p. 78. Orat. XXXII. p. 527.  because the catholic Faith, which in that City had hitherto been oppressed and stisted, here seemed to have its Resurrection. Though Sozomen 
l. 7. c. 5. p. 709  gives another reason of the name, that while they were one day at their public Worship, a Woman great with Child fell down from a Gallery into the Church, and was taken up dead. But the Congregation immediately joining in Prayer to God for her, she revived, and appeared as one miraculously raised from the dead. But the former account is most to be relied on, as being given by him who had most cause to know, I mean Nazianzen himself. In this Church he assembled daily, and preached boldly, not with more success to his Ministry, not with greater satisfaction to his People, than with trouble and vexation to his Enemies. The Arians and Apollinarians, an up start Sect( whose growing errors he also vigorously opposed) had their eyes upon him, and were sufficiently apprehensive, how much their Cause was like to be baffled by so able a Champion's entering the Lists against them. Hereupon they fall to their ancient Artifices of reproach and slander, traducing him to the People as an infamous heretic, 
De vit. sua. p. 10, 11. &c. Gr. Presb. p. 18, 19.  particularly that he maintained that there were three Gods, because he had asserted that in the Holy Trinity there were three Hypostases, or Persons subsisting, which the vulgar( cu●tom not having as yet fixed the notion of the word) took for distinct Substances. Having thus prepared the minds of the People, they next instigate them to open violence, who thereupon treated him as he went along the streets with showers of Stones, and not content with this, they dragged him as a Malefactor before the Magistrate, charging him with Tumult and Sedition. The rage and the clamour was great against him, but he comforted himself at that instant to remember, 
Or. XXV. p. 440.  that though they had the stronger Party, yet he and his had the better Cause; they had the Churches, he had God, they had the People to back them, he had Angels to guard him; they had boldness and confidence, he the Faith on his side; they could threaten, while he could pray; they beat him, and he endure it; they had Wealth and Treasure, he the true catholic Doctrine: he had 'tis true, but a little Flock, but 'twas securely lodged; a narrow Fold, but 'twas free from Wolves, and the assaults of Thieves and Robbers, but which he doubted not daily to see enlarged, and that by the accession of those who at present were Wolves, who he hoped would become not sheep only, but some of them Pastors of the Flock. The accusation being examined, was found false and groundless, and he accordingly dismissed without further trouble.  
II. THE Oppositions he met with did but so much the more increase his famed, and the number of his Auditors, and drew to him admirers and followers out of Foreign parts, among which, two were especially remarkable: S. Hierom, who having quitted the West, had some years since taken up his abode in the deserts of Syria, and being ordained Presbyter by Paulinus of Antioch, came to Constantinople, and put himself under the Tutorage and Discipline of Gregory Nazianzen, an happiness wherein he glories 
Ep. ad Nepot. T. 1. p. 14. cattle. in Gr. Naz. adv. Jov. l. 1. p. 27. T. 2.& alibi.  at every turn; the other was Evagrius Ponticus, 
Socr. l. 4. c. 23. p. 234. Soz. l. 6 c. 30. p. 686. Niceph. l. 11. c. 42.  a Presbyters Son born in Iberia, near the Euxine Sea, a man of a subtle Wit, quick and ready Apprehension, learned and eloquent, of a stayed and grave temper, moved neither with Injuries nor Commendations. He studied Philosophy and the holy Scriptures under Nazianz●n, who made him archdeacon of Constantinople, as before he had been ordained Reader 
Vid. Palla●. Hist. La●●. c. 8●. p. 1● 10. ubi ●. 〈◇〉 plura.  by S. Basil. He was a handsome man, and loved neatness and elegancy in his Habit, which rendered his Company acceptable to the Ladies; insomuch, that a great man gro●ing jealous of him, laid a design against his Life, whereof being plainly warned in a dream, he the next day lest the City, and fled first to J●rusalem, and then into egypt, where in the famous Monastery of Mount Nitria, he engaged in the strictest Profession of the Mona●tick Life, and obstinately declined a bishopric, when afterwards pressed to it by Theophilus Bishop of Alexandria. He was a great Patron of the Origenian dogmata, and wrote many Books, which they that are curious may find reckoned up by Socrat●s, and Nic●ph●r●●.  
III. THE number of the Orthodox was by this time grown considerable at Constantinople; who earnestly desired that a catholic Bishop might be placed over them, and Nazianz●n was the man designed, concurrent with the Peoples desires, wherein were the Vot●s of almost all the Orthodox Bishops of the East, especially his old Friend Meletius of Anti●ch, who stickled hard for it; and Peter, S. Athanasius his Successor at Alexandria, who by Letters congratulated the choice, and gave suffrage for his confirmation in that See. Though the troubles that ensued, rendered it uneasy to him, and soon made him resolve to quit the place. They began thus. There was at Alexandria one Maximus, 
De vit. s●a. p. 12. &c. gr. Presb. p. 2●. &c  by birth an egyptian, by Profession a cynic Philosopher, but withal, a Christian, who pretended to be descended of a noble Family, and that too honoured with the blood of Martyrdom, and that himself upon the Persecution that arose after Athanasius's death, had for his constancy to the truth been banished to O●sis, one of the most uncomfortable Solitudes in egypt. He went habited according to the custo● of his Order in a Pallium, with his hair growing to its full length, and a staff in his hand, carrying a semblance of the greatest strictness and gravity; and as the men of that Sect were wont, used bluntly to address 
Naz. Or XXIII. p. 413.  himself to great men, and freely to expostulate with them in matters of right and wrong, and took a liberty to reprove the Vices of the Age, and to censure and correct the miscarriages and indecencies of any Persons of what rank soever. By these smooth and demure pretences he cast a mist before the eyes of the People, and concealed his fraud and treachery, his gluttony and covetousness, his pride and ambition, and the rest of those Vices, whereof he was really guilty. However he had gained a considerable Reputation in the World, and held correspondence with men of chiefest note in foreign Parts, as appears by S. Basil's two Letters 
B●s. Ep. XLI. XLII.  to him. And having thus acquired a stock of Credit, he came to Constantinople, where the first thing he did, was to insinuate himself into Nazianzen's acquaintance, who welcomed his Arrival with an Oration, 
Or. XXIII. p. 4●9.  wherein he expatiated himself in his praises for the Nobility of his birth, his Relation to Martyrs, his own personal sufferings, his Masculine temper, and the admirable course and institution of his Life. All which afterwards, when he came to discover him, and was forced in another Oration to set him out in his own colours, he tacitly retracted, either himself or some other for him, that he might not seem to contradict himself, expunging the Name 
Hieron. de script. in Gr. Naz. c. 117.  of Maximus, and inserting that of Hero the Philosopher, the Title that it bears at this day. Nay, so far had the subtle impostor made his way, that the good man took him into his House, and to his own Table, instructed him in the mysteries of the Faith, baptized him, and after some time admitted him to the lower Orders of the Church, and indeed communicated to him his most intimate Councils and Transactions. And now the wretch thought himself sufficiently qualified to set up for himself, he saw Nazianzen was like to be fixed in that See, and he had not so mean an opinion of himself, as not to think he deserved it as well as his Master. To this end he confederated with one of Nazianzen's Presbyters, who without any other Provocation than that he himself had not been the Person nominated to the bishopric, though in truth he governed all under Nazianzen, took part with Maximus, who accordingly laid their heads together to contrive and carry on the design. And now an Interest is made for him at Alexandria: and Peter who so lately stood for Nazianzen, and had by Letters conveyed him his Vote and Suffrage, tacked about, and espoused Maximus's design, and three Bishops( for so many I guess they were) are dispatched to Constantinople to effect the matter, who set out not long after the Fleet that carried the public Tribute of Corn that was annually transported to Constantinople, the Masters of which ships were Ammon, Apammon, Harpocras, Steppas, Rhodon, Anubis, and Hermannubis, whom Baronius, by a great mistake makes to have been the Bishops, and thereupon enters into a needless Discourse of the Episcopi Frumentarii, and the Corntribute: When as( besides that Nazianzen styles them contemptible Seamen) 'tis plain, 
{αβγδ}. Naz. de vit. sua p. 14.  the Bishops went not on Board, till after the Fleet was set out, the Masters whereof were to go before, to prepare the way, and to promote the design. At whose arrival Nazianzen entertained them with an Oration 
Or. XXIV. p. 424.  in commendation of their City, that had been an impregnable fortress of the true Doctrine of the Church; of Athanasius, their late, and Peter their present Bishop, both stout Champions of the Faith; and that they themselves coming to the Imperial City, had so readily joined themselves to the catholic party. And perhaps at this time it was that he made his particular encomiastic 
Orat. XXI. p. 373.  in praise of the great Athanasius, whose Virtues he fully describes, with a memorable account of his Life and Actions.  
IV. MAXIMUS found his design mightily strengthened by this Accession of his countrymen, and yet to bind the egyptian Bishops firmer to him, he corrupted them 
De vit. sua ibid. Gr. pr. p. 21.  with extraordinary Bribes, having to that end by crafty insinuations, and a pretended security given, borrowed large sums of Money of a certain Presbyter newly arrived at Constantinople from Thuffus, an iceland in the Aegean Sea, to buy Pillars of Preconnesian Marble, and other materials for the building a Church in that iceland. And now the work went on a place, to which Nazianzen's absence contributed a fit opportunity, who, the day before, had upon an indisposition retired out of the City to take the Air. That very night the egyptian Bishops privately broken into his Church, and placed Maximus upon the Episcopal Throne. But morning coming on, and the Report of it being spread about the City, both Clergy and Laity, Magistrates and People, Citizens and Strangers, yea, the very Arian● themselves flock d together and in a great fury driven them out of the Church, before they could finish what they had begun, so that being forced out thence, they went into a Players House hard by, where attended with a few lewd excommunicate Persons, they cut of his Hair, and consecrated him Bishop of that place; which was no sooner done, but the People stormed more than before, loading him with all manner of revilings, and blaming Nazianzen himself for treating the wretch with so much kindness and humanity, and nourishing such a pernicious Viper in his Bosom. The news hereof coming to him( whose candour and simplicity had rendered him secure, and unsuspicious of such perfidious dealing) he hastened into the City, where he made an Oration 
Or. XXVIII. p. 472.  to the People, whom he lets know, how great a trouble it had been to him to leave them, which yet made him return with so much the more cheerfulness and rejoicing, and having  told them, how much a little absence did accent and increase mutual affection, he reflects upon the great villainy of Maximus and his Party, in their late Transactions, describes the temper of a true Christian Philosopher, and by the Characters which he there lays down, weighs himself and his own life and actions. As to his being censured for his over-kindness and indulgence to the man, he ingenuously pleaded 
De vit. sua. p. 15. Gr. pr. p. 22.  for himself, that he had been betrayed by the easiness of his temper, always apt to make the best of things, and imposed upon by subtle Artifices, and feigned Pretences, that there could be no Fence against an Hypocrite, whose Tongue and Heart went different ways, that we judge of men merely by their words and actions, 'tis God only inspects the thoughts, and sees how 'tis within; that we are commanded to be kind to all, especially them of the household of Faith; that if he be blameworthy for his well-meant Friendship and indulgence to the man, how great a Villain must the other be, that made so ill a use of it, and so perfidiously improved it to his ruin.  
V. THOUGH the minds of the People were pretty well quieted with his Discourse( whose case was rather to be pitied than blamed) yet did they ferment into a greater rage against Maximus, who perceiving upon what uneasy and unsafe Terms he stood, fled the City, and now began to think of the best ways to shore up his tottering Cause. And first, if he went not in Person, he wrote 
Vid. Epist. Ambr.& Epp. Ital. ad Theod. Imper. Conc. T. 2. col. 1007.  at least to the Bishops of Italy then assembled in Synod at Aquileia, whom he certified of his Ordination, and that it was ratified by the Communicatory Letters of Peter Bishop of Alexandria( which he sent therewith to be red in Council) that his Ordination indeed had been managed in a private House, but that was because the Arians possessed all the Churches, and that he was forced to give way by reason of the Violence which both Clergy and People had offered to him. The Synod unacquainted with the true Circumstances of the Case, approved his Ordination, and Right to the place, apprehending Nazianzen to have been uncanonically promoted, as for the same Reason they afterwards denied Communion to Nectarius his successor, and therefore wrote to the Emperor, to beseech him to take care in it, and either to restore Maximus to the See of Constantinople, or to summon a General Council at Rome, where the matter might be fully canvased and determined. Nor did Maximus stay here, but went to solicit his Cause at Court; 
D● vit. sua. p. 16. Gr. Pr. p. 22.  then lying at Thessalonica, begging of the Emperor, to restore him by his Imperial Edict. But the Emperor rejected his Petition, and commanded him to be gone, threatening to take a course with him, if he did not desist. The ambitious man vexed with this repulse at Court, swelled with rage and madness, and not knowing well what Course to steer, went home to Al●x●●dria, where having bribed some to be of his Party, he rudely accosted the aged Bishop( who had sufficiently appeared in his behalf) pressing him to improve his Interest for the recovery of the bishopric, plainly telling him, that unless he procured him the See of Constantinople, he would eject him, and take possession of his Throne. A fair warning to look about them, insomuch, that the governor of Alexandria fearing what might be the effects of so wild an Ambition, and such extravagant boldness, immediately banished him the City. And what became of him afterwards, we no where find.  
VI. Perfect ease and tranquillity is not the Portion of this World. Nazianzen, though delivered from the molestations of Maximus and his Party, yet found the wind blow hard from another quarter. The Arians, notwithstanding the death of Valens, and the Edict he had published for permitting the Orthodox Bishops to return to their Sees, yet finding no restraint laid upon them, still openly played their Game, and offered all manner of affronts and indignities to the catholics: Insomuch, that Eusebius the venerable Bishop of Samosata in his return from Banishment, was knocked on the head at Dolicha with a Tile thrown by a Woman from the top of a House as he passed along the Streets. But their great spite was at Nazianzen, whom not daring to attempt by open force, they laboured to murder his Reputation, and because Malice itself was not able to object any thing material, they pelted him with little trifling Cavils, as, that he was born in a poor and obscure place, descended of mean and ignoble Parents, that he was of a rude uncourtly temper, blunt of speech, and of an austere and unpleasant Conversation, as there were others that charged him with a too tame and easy disposition, that let things run which way they pleased. These were things that weighed little with wise men, but they were the best they had to object. However, not to be wanting to himself especially at this time, he wiped off these aspersions in a public Oration 
Or. XXV. p. 431. , wherein he more particularly addressed himself to the Arian Party. As for the mean place of his Nativity he tells 
Ibid. p. 435. &c.  them, it might be his unhappiness, but not his fault. No man accuses the Dolphin that he is not a Land-animal, or the Ox, that he does not live in the Water. Must he be run down, because he did not build the place of his Nativity, and furnish it with such splendid ornaments of Walls, theatres, Circ's, Palaces, Portico's, Forums, such a frequent Populacy, and a noble Senate, as they had at Constantinople. He was poor, he granted, and had no Estate or Revenues, kept no sumptuous Table, nor wore costly Garments; things which he did not think reasonable to make the matter of his glory. If he was born in an obscure corner, so was Samuel, and Saul, and David, and Moses, and other great Worthies upon Record in Scripture: Was he a stranger and foreigner? So was Abraham, so were the Apostles, when they were sent to convert the World. As for his Birth and Extract, they mistook the true notion of Nobility; all men with respect to this lower World, are descended of the same mean Original, the true country and Kindred of great and good men is the Jerusalem that is above; 'tis the Soul polished by virtue, and reformed into the Divine likeness, that challenges the true Nobility; which he that defaces and defiles by sin, and superinduces the Image of the Serpent, that's the man that's base-born and vile, Civil Dignities and Distinctions are but the Scenes and fantastic Pageantries of this frail transient Life; things that may be gained by money, and lost by poverty, denied or granted at the pleasure of the Prince. In these things you may pride yourselves, and boast of the Stories, and the Tombs and the Monuments of your Ancestors; my study is to purify myself from all fraud and 'vice, the only way, either to preserve, or to regain Nobility. The moroseness and rusticity which they objected, and his avoiding the pleasures and intercourses of common Conversation, was not pride or an affencted singularity, but a serious retiring within himself, to take the more frequent and impartial Account of himself, and his own actions. That they had made mildness and moderation 
Ibid. p. 439.  a part of his Crimes, and had charged it upon him as a piece of madness and folly, he thanked them for it; for what was all this to what Christ had suffered? And yet his whole life and death was filled with nothing more than instances of meekness and tenderness, of mercy and forgiveness. And if he who was God, scrupled not to do, and to undergo so much, and to lay down his Life for us, shall we think much to forgive a few petty Injuries and Offences to our fellow-creatures? And indeed, that such had been his own carriage among them, he solemnly appeals to themselves, tacitly reproaching them with their own cruel severities. What Rabble( says he 
Ibid. p. 432. &c. ) have I ever exasperated against them to revenge my quarrel? What Souldiers have I hired? What fierce and violent Commanders have I pro ● ed( as some in the World have done) and those Pagans too, who by that means caused their own Idolatrous impiety to triumph over the Christian Faith? What miserable wretches have I besieged, while in Prayer they were lifting up their hands to Heaven? When did I ever drown the voice of those who were singing Psalms with the noise of Trumpets, or mingle the mystical Blood of Christ with the blood of the slain, or stifle the Tears of the Penitents with the cries which slaughter and cruelty extorted from them? What Churches have I turned into Tombs and Charnel-houses? What consecrated Vessels have I delivered into impious hands, to be profaned to unholy uses? What Altars have I exposed to the obscene songs, and immodest gestures of wanton youth? Where among us has a Pagan Orator stepped up into the Episcopal Throne, and made biting invectives against Christianity: Which of us ever ravished or abused the holy Virgins, or turned wild Beast upon the Bodies of the Saints; or indicted others for burying what the mercy of the most savage Creatures had spared? Did we ever tear off the Flesh of aged Bishops with Iron Pincers, and afterwards Martyr them? Or sand Presbyters to Sea in a rotten Ship, and then set it and them on fire? But what need I rub up old sores, when so many fresh Instances are at hand, when men like wild Bores have violently broken through all bounds and limits. Witness the yesterdays Sacrifice of that Abrahamical old man, who being newly return'd from Banishment, ye knocked on the head at noon-day in the middle of the streets, whose Murderers yet at our intercession were spared and pardonned. Since I came 
Ib. p. 439.  among you, whose covetous practices have I imitated, what instances of insolent Zeal have I been guilty of, and such as the times well enough would bear? What Churches or Revenues have we contended with you for, though you overabounded, and we are destitute of both? What Imperial Edict have we slighted, much less reviled? What Governours have we courted to ruin you? Or whose Cruelties have we so much as discovered? Even then I cried out with Stephen, Lord lay not this sin to their Charge, and 'tis still my Prayer, Being reviled, we bl●ss; being persecuted, we suffer it; being defamed, we entreat. And if it be a fault, that being cruelly treated, I patiently bear it, forgive me this wrong; 'tis but what I have been used to.  
VII. THE truth is, so great was his Clemency and Indulgence, that the catholics themselves began to complain of it, 
Orat. XXXII. p. 525.  that they had suffered the hardest things, and yet he all the time he had been their Bishop had taken no care to remedy it, nor to improve his Power with great men, and his Interest at Court to put a stop to it, or to return it upon the heads of their Enemies. And what was yet worse than Complaints, by the Insinuations of the Presbyter that had combined with Maximus, some of the catholic Party were really made against him. So that oppressed with these, and other troubles that daily grew upon him, he took up a Resolution to leave 
De vit. sua. p. 17, 18. &c. Gr. Presb. p. 23.  the Charge he had there taken upon him, and in the close of his farewell-discourse, affectionately persuaded the People to persevere in that Orthodox Faith that he had preached to them, and to be mindful of the Labours and Sufferings which he had undergone for that Cause among them. The words were no sooner out of his mouth, but the whole Auditory were surprised with equal resentment and admiration, and Persons of all Ages, Sexes and Qualities came about him, and passionately besought him not to desert his Flock, and thereby betray them to the Wolves, who, with open mouth stood ready to devour them. The good man was miserable distracted with the tears and entreaties of his People, and knew not well, either how to grant, or to deny their importunities. The day was well nigh spent in these kind Contentions, when the People solemnly protested, that not one of them would stir out of the Church, but were resolved to die upon the spot, unless he granted their desires, one of the Company telling him openly( which was no small Motive to prevail with him) Sir with your departure you banish the catholic Faith out of this City. Overcome with importunity, he consented to stay with them, till( which was rumoured, and expected) the Eastern Prelates were summoned to Town, who might release him by choosing a more worthy Person into that place. And with that the People restend satisfied. And in this condition things stood till the new Emperors arrival at Constantinople.  
VIII. THEODOSIUS being lately assumed into a Partnership of the Empire, was come into Greece in order to his Wars with the Northern Nations. At Thessalonica he sell sick, 
Socr. l. 5. c. 6. p. 262.  and sent for Acholius Bishop of that See in order to his being baptized, of whom he enquired what Faith it was that he professed. The Bishop  told him, they entirely preserved the Faith delivered by the Apostles, and confirmed by the Council of Nic●, and that the Arian impieties did not infect those Parts. Whereupon he received from his hands the holy Rites. For indeed he was a great Patron of the catholic Cause, and a passionate admirer both of the Peace and Purity of the Church. In order whereunto he directed an Edict 
C. Th. lib. 16. T. 1. l. 2. Soz. l. 7. c. 4. p. 708.  to the People of Constantinople, dated Febr. XXVII, Ann. CCCLXXX, commanding that all his Subjects within his Dominions, should hold no other but the right Orthodox Faith concerning the holy Trinity, according as it was professed and taught in the Churches of Rome and Alexandria, and that all such Professors should be styled catholic Christians, and all others called and accounted heretics, and that their Conventicles should not be honoured with the Title of Churches, and they themselves become liable to Civil, as well as Divine Punishments. Towards the latter end of this year, viz. on the XXIVth. of Novemb. he came to Constantinople, and finding that to be the common Nest and Refuge of the several Heretical Parties, published another Edict 
Ibid. Tit. V. l. 6.  on the Xth. of January, which being so great an Evidence of this Emperors Piety and Zeal for the Church, will deserve the Readers perusal.  

THEODOSIUS, Gratian, and Valentinian, Emperors, to Eutropius the Praetorian Praefect.  
LEt no place be allowed to heretics for the holding their Religious Assemblies, no occasion permitted for the exercising of their madness and obstinacy. Be it known to all, that although this sort of men may have fraudulently procured some special Rescript in their Favour, such Rescript shall be of no force. Let all such Heretical Assemblies be prohibited, and dispersed. Let the name of the one only and most high God be celebrated in all Places; and the Nicene Faith delivered long since by our Ancestors, and confirmed by the Testimony and Assertion of our Divine Religion, be had in perpetual observance: Let the defilement of the Photinian blemish, the Venom of the Arian Sacrilegiousness, the falsehood and perfidiousness of Eunomius, and the abominable Prodigies of Sects, together with the monstrous names of their Authors, be banished even from common hearing. But he only is to be accounted an Assertor of the Nicene Faith, and a true Professor of catholic Religion, who confesses God Almighty, and Jesus Christ the Son of God, one in Name, God of God, Light of Light, who does not by any denial[ of his Divinity] offer Violence to the holy Spirit, by whom we receive what we hope for from the hands of our Heavenly Father; and who according to the tenor of the sound and orthodox Faith, maintains the undivided Substance of the most perfect Trinity, which by a Greek term right Believers call {αβγδ}. These are the Doctrines which we approve, and which are to be entertained with Veneration. Whoever adhere not to these, let them cease by crafty Affectations to entitle themselves to the Name of the true Religion, a Name that belongs not to them, and let them be publicly known by their own infamous Appellations; and since we prohibit all sorts of heretics to hold their unlawful Assemblies within Towns or Cities, let them be utterly removed out of all Churches. And if hereupon the Faction shall forcibly attempt any thing, we command, that with all rigour they be banished out of all Cities, that so the catholic Churches throughout the World may be restored to all Orthodox Bishops, that hold the Nicene Faith.  
Given at Constantinople the IVth. of the Ides of January, Eucherius and Syagrius being Consuls. That is, January the Xth. Ann. CCCLXXXI.   
A learned Commentator 
Jac. Gothofred. in loc.  upon this Law, thinks the date of the month mistaken for June or July, and that it was published about the latter end of the Council holden here this year, in Confirmation of the Faith agreed upon in that Synod. But there's no reason to suspect the date, which is the same both in this, and the Justinian Code; and whereas he observes a great Conformity both of words and things in it, with the Creed and first Canon of that Council; it cannot be doubted, but that in drawing it up, he consulted with Nazianzen, and perhaps some other catholic Bishops, who directed both Phrase and Matter to the sense of the Church, and to the necessities of that time, and which 'tis like were imitated and made use of by the Fathers of that venerable Synod, who met some months after. But however that was, the Emperor at his first arrival in pursuance of the design, which he had some time before taken up of rooting out heresy, and re-settling the Peace of the Church, sent 
Socr. l. 5. c. 7. p. 263. Soz. l. 7. c. 5. p. 709.  to Demophilus the Arian Bishop of Constantinople, commanding him either to subscribe the Nicene Creed, and reduce the People to Unity and Concord, or to quit the Churches, and depart the City. Demophilus knowing 'twas to no purpose for him to contend, assembled the People, and acquainted them with the Emperor's Order. Brethren, said he, 'tis written in the Gospel, if they shall persecute you in this City, flee into another; since then the Emperor drives us out of our Churches, take notice that to morrow we will hold our Assemblies without the City. And with that he departed out of the City, and with him Lucius, whom upon Athanasius's death the Arians had made Bishop of Alexandria, who at this time lived here in Banishment. Thus were the Arians dispossessed of their Churches at Constantinople, after that they had held them( ever since Eusebius of Nicomedia was translated to that See Ann. CCCXXXIX.) for XL. years together. Theodosius having made his entry, presently called for Nazianzen, whom he treated 
De vita sua p. 20, 21, &c. Gr. Presb. p. 26.  with great kindness and humanity, and among other things  told him, that God had sent him to give him Possession of the Church, which he was ready to deliver up into his hands, as the reward of his labours. But the Arians, however pretending to submission, were yet resolved not so tamely to part with their hold. They filled all places with peevish and passionate Complaints, the Emperor they plied with Petitions, as on the other hand they vomited out nothing but Exclamations and threatenings against Nazianzen and his Party, and to make good their words, had prepared an armed multitude to make resistance. So that the next day, which was to be the Solemnity of the instalment, the Emperor was forced with a strong Military Guard to conduct the poor Bishop through the Streets, which were not only beset with Enemies designed either by public Tumults, or private Assassinations to do mischief, but crowded with multitudes of Spectators on every side. As they passed along to the Church, a black Cloud suddenly arose, which wrapped them up all in darkness, and threatened them instantly with a most dreadful Storm. This the Arians presently caught hold of, and cried out, 'twas a miraculous Testimony from Heaven against the Proceedings of that day, and indeed it struck no little damp and terror into the catholics. But no sooner were they got within the Church, and the Emperor and the Bishop entred into the choir, and an Hymn begun to the praise of the great Creator, but in a moment the Cloud dissipated, and the Sun burst out with so amazing a brightness, that few were able to behold it, which greatly animated the catholic, and confuted the foolish and presumptuous Presages of the Arian Party. And now the cry was from all parts of the Church. and from all sorts of Persons, beseeching the Emperor, as the greatest kindness he could do the City, to place Nazianzen on the Episcopal Throne. The good man partly through weakness and infirmity, and partly through affirightment( a desperate Fellow having drawn his Sword at him, though immediately forced to put it up again) was not able, as at other times, to make an Oration to the People, and therefore commanded one of the Presbyters to stand up, and modestly acquaint them in his name, that he desired them to surcease their svit, that this was a day of Thanksgiving, and to be entirely devoted to the praise of that God who had heaped such Blessings upon them, and that what was of further concernment, should be transacted in due time and place.  
IX. THE modesty of the answer was not unacceptable, and so the Assembly broken up, and the man became equally dear to the People, and the Prince, who mightily delighted in his Conversation, and( as Nazianzen 
Carm. x T. 2. p. 80.  intimates) sometimes placed him at his own Table, who yet seldom cared to come to Court, the Manners of that place not suiting with the strictness and severity of his Temper, which knew not how either to bribe or flatter, or to make use of those little Arts, that render men grateful to Courtiers. He spent his time in Prayer and Fasting, in Preaching and visiting the Sick, retiring sometimes out of the City, partly to repair his health, and partly to enjoy the advantages of solitude. The Revenues of his Church, though very large, he never meddled with; and albeit he had fair opportunities thence to have enriched himself, he took not one penny of it to increase his private Estate, but committed the management of it wholly to the Stewards and Treasurers of the Church, not so much as taking an account of the Plate that belonged to it. His thoughts were employed about higher and better things, and his time and strength so entirely swallowed up with the Cares and Troubles of his Charge, that his body could bear up no longer. Sickness confined him to his Bed, and that presented him with an opportunity of exercising an instance of the greatest Charity. It happened that great numbers of People highly satisfied with what had lately passed, crowded into his Room, to pay in his presence their acknowledgements to Almighty God for so great Mercies, and to pray for the health and prosperity of the Emperor, and withall to pay their thanks to him, whom they owned to have been the Instrument that procured these Blessings; which done, they departed. The rest being gone, there stayed behind a young man with a pale look, long hair, in squalid and tattered clothes, who standing at the Beds feet, made all the dumb signs of the bitterest Sorrow and Lamentation. Nazianzen startled a little at the man and his behaviour, asked him who he was, whence he came, and what he wanted? To which he returned no answer, but expressed so much the greater Passion and Resentment, howling, wringing his hands, and beating his breast, insomuch that the Bishop himself was moved to tears. Being at length plucked from that place by force, one who stood by  told the Bishop; This, Sir, is the Assassinate, whom some had suborned to murder you, and had effectually done it, had not the divine Providence interposed to hinder him; for this his Conscience has fallen foul upon him, and he's here come ingenuously to confess his fault, and to beg your Pardon. Whereto the good Bishop replied, Friend, God Almighty be propitious to you, his gracious Preservation of me obliges me freely to forgive you; the desperate attempt you designed has made you mine; nor do I require any other reparation, than that henceforth you desert your Party, and sincerely give up yourself to God. The news of this accident being spread abroad, mightily advanced his Reputation, and rendered him dearer to the City than he was before.   

SECT. V. The Acts and Proceedings of the Second General Council.  
A General Council summoned to meet at Constantinople. The number of Fathers in that Synod. Things transacted in the Council. Their care about the See of Constantinople. Maximus's Title and Ordination vacated. Nazianzen established in that See. The regularity of his Translation thither, cleared. Matters of Faith discussed. The Nicene Confession ratified. A Creed drawn up to explain the other. The FILIOQUE when added to this Creed. The Controversy hereabout between the Greek and the Latin Church. An account of the Several Sects and Heresies anathematized by the Synod. The Sabellians. Sabellius who, and what his Principles. Marcellians: the Author and tenants of that Sect. Photinians. Photinus who, and what his chief Dogmata. Eunomians. This Sect founded by Aetius. A short view of his Life and Actions. His designs carried on by his Disciple Eunomius: the most material passages of whose life are briefly noted. The Opinions, Principles, and Usages of this Sect: not accounted Christians by the Synod. Macedonians. The Council principally called with respect to them. A more particular account concerning Macedonius, and the original and progress of this heresy through the Reigns of the several Emperors. His followers the same in effect with the Semiarians. In what places they most abounded. Their cunning deportment, and hypocritical insinuations. Treated with by the Synod about their reunion to the Church; but without effect. The Synodal Decree against heretics ratified by the Emperour. Canons made by this Council. Two more particularly noted; One, concerning the Bounds of the greater Churches in the East. This heedlessly confounded by most with a Law of the Emperor Theodosius concerning the bounds of Ecclesiastical Communion. What Socrates means by patriarches, constituted in this Council. The other Canon giving precedence to the See of Constantinople next that of Rome. This the foundation of the after greatness of that bishopric. The fuller consideration of this referred to another place.  
I. THEODOSIUS being highly solicitous about the Peace of the Church, at this time torn in pieces with so many several Sects and Parties, had some time since given hopes of convening a Synod to heal those breaches. This he now made good 
Socr. l. 5. c. 8. p. 264. Soz. l. 7. c. 7. p. 711. , and to that end Writs are issued out to summon the Prelates of the East, who met at Constantinople in May, Ann. Chr. CCCLXXXI. to the number of CL. all catholics, besides XXXVI. of the Macedonian Party, who were summoned also in hopes of Union. And though they were only the Bishops of the Eastern Empire that assembled in this Synod, yet has the Council passed the Approbation of the catholic Church, and in all Ages obtained the Style, Honor, and Authority of a General Council. The things transacted in the Synod, may be reduced to three Heads, the present Case of the See of Constantinople, Matters of Faith, and Rules concerning Order and the Polity of the Church. The first thing they took in hand, was to settle the present State of the See of Constantinople, distracted at this time between Gregory Nazianzen the present Occupant, and Maximus the Philosopher, who challenged it as his right. The Cause being fully heard and debated, the Fathers proceeded to give sentence in the Case, and unanimously damned not only Maximus's claim, but his very Ordination by this Synodal Decree 
Conc. CP. Can. 4. .  
COncerning Maximus the cynic, and his insolence and irregularity committed at Constantinople; the Synod has decreed, that Maximus neither is, nor ever was a Bishop, nor any of those truly ordained, whom he advanced to any order of the Clergy, and that whatever was done in his Ordination, or has been since done by him, is null and voided.  
Having thus vacated his Title, they next confirmed 
De vita sua p. 24. Gr. Presb. p. 29. vid. p. 27.  Nazianzen in the See, placing him upon the Episcopal Throne, which though with tears and passionate entreaties he endeavoured to decline, yet was he at last prevailed with to accept, upon this consideration, that he should hereby have a fairer opportunity to reconcile and unite dissenting Parties, a thing which above all others he did most desire. It was indeed objected against him by some, that he had been Bishop of Sasima and Nazianzum, and that Translations of Bishops from one See to another were prohibited by the ecclesiastic Laws, as indeed the XVth. Canon of Ni●e is express in that Case. But to this Meletius 
Theod. l. 5. c. 8. p. 206.  the aged and venerable Bishop of Antioch replied, that he very well understood the mind of those that made that Canon, which was designed only to prevent Pride and Ambition, which had no place in this Case. Besides, custom had made nothing more familiar than such Translations, and therefore Nazianzen 
De vit. sua p. 29.  styles those Canons {αβγδ}, Laws dead a great while since, common practise and the conveniency of the Church having rendered them obsolete and out of use; and though they should still retain their force and vigour, yet they reached not him, who had never been Bishop of Nazianzum, but only Coadjutor to his Father in that Church; and for Sasima, though unwillingly ordained to it, he had never come near it, nor exercised one ministerial Act in it.  
II. THIS Affair being over, they next entred upon the discussing Matters of Faith. And first 
Can. 1.  they ratified the Nicene Creed, which they commanded to be kept inviolate. But because in that, the Article concerning the holy Ghost was but barely mentioned, which was now become one of the prime Controversies of the Age, and for the Determination whereof, the Council had been principally summoned, it pleased the Fathers to draw up an Explanatory Creed,( composed, we are  told 
Niceph. l. 12. c. 13. in sin. , by Gregory Nyssen) which they published in this ensuing Form. 
Ext. in Conc. Chalced. Act. II. Conc. Tom. IV. Col. 342.   

WE believe in one God, the Father Almighty, maker of Heaven and Earth, and of all things visible and invisible: And in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only begotten Son of God, begotten of his Father before all Worlds; Light of Light, very God of very God, begotten, not made, being of one substance with the Father, by whom all things were made; who for us men, and for our Salvation came down from Heaven, and was incarnate by the holy Ghost of the Virgin Mary, and was made man, and was crucified also for us under Pontius Pilate. He suffered, and was butted, and the third day he rose again according to the Scriptures, and ascended into Heaven, and sitteth on the right hand of the Father. And he shall come again with glory to judge both the quick and the dead, whose Kingdom shall have no end. We believe in the holy Ghost, the Lord and giver of life, who proceedeth from the Father, who with the Father and the Son together is worshipped and glorified, who spake by the Prophets. We helieve one holy catholic and apostolic Church. We aclowledge one Baptism for the Remission of Sins; look for the Resurrection of the dead, and the life of the World to come, Amen.   
The Reader will easily observe that this is one of the three famous Creeds, which our Church has adopted into her solemn Liturgy, and which commonly passes under the name of the Nicene Creed at this day. When as 'tis plain 'tis not the Nicene Creed( which we have represented in another place) but an Explanation of it, especially in the Article about the holy Ghost, and was composed( as the Council of Calchedon assures us) by this Synod at Constantinople. Though it be no new thing for this Creed to pass under the name of that of Nice, 
l. 1. Distinct. XI. Durand. Ration. l. 4. c. 25. n. 9. p. 251.  P. Lombard and others speaking of it under that Title. 'tis obvious likewise that herein is wanting, what our Creed asserts concerning the holy ghosts Proceeding both from the Father, AND THE SON, this being added afterwards. The precise time when this so much controverted addition was made, is not easy to be adjusted. In a Provincial Synod( whether the VIIIth. or Xth. it matters not) holden at Toledo Ann. DCLIII. we find the Creed with this Addition set down in the first Canon of that Council 
Conc. T. VI. col. 398. . But this was only the particular Act of that Synod, nor did the Creed thus enlarged generally obtain in the Spanish Churches for a long time after. About the beginning of the next Age but one, the question 
Annal. incert Auct. a Pith. ed. p. 20. vit. Car. M. per Monach. Egolism. ib. p. 274.  about the Procession being started by one John a Monk of Jerusalem, began to be disputed in France, and a Synod about this matter convened at Aix An. DCCCIX. By which several Bishops were dispatched 
Ext. Relat. ap. Baron. ad An. 809. N. LXVIII.& conc. T. VII. col. 1194.  to Rome to treat with Pope lo the IIId. about this controversy, who earnestly pressed him that the Addition of FILIOQUE might be inserted into the Creed. After long debate the Pope declared he liked the Doctrine well enough, but could not allow that the thing should be added to the Creed; nay, to prevent all mistake or fraud, he caused the Creed without that addition to be engraven both in Greek and Latin upon two Silver Tables, and to be hung up behind S. Peter's Altar, there to remain as a standing Monument. About four years after this, the Fathers in the Synod 
Ib. col. 1234.  at Arles, published a Confession of their Faith with this Clause, proceeding from the Father and the Son. Which yet was no more than their private Confession. It seems not to have gained any public place in the Creed, till the time of Pope Nicolaus the I. who entred upon that See Ann. DCCCLVIII. and to have been discovered when the Quarrel broken out between him and Photius Patriarch of Constantinople. For so we find Photius 
Epist. Encycl.( N. 11.) ad Orient. Patriarch. p. 51.  severely charging it upon the Latins, as {αβγδ}, the height and crown of all their Impieties, that with an unmeasurable boldness they had taken upon them to adulterate the holy Creed, ratified by the Decrees of general Councils, {αβγδ}, with false sences, and new invented terms: {αβγδ}, Oh the inventions of the Devil; and then tells us what he meant by all this, that these Addition-makers made the holy Ghost to proceed not only from the Father, but from the Son also. And so goes on to exclaim against the Fact, and to argue against the Doctrine. And this he speaks of as newly done, and brought by some Western Bishops,( whom amongst other hard words, he calls the new Fore-runners and Ministers of the Antichristian apostasy) who had been sent to scatter this and some other Doctrines among the Bulgarians, but two years before converted to the Faith of Christ. And henceforward the difference between the Greeks and Latins widened every day, the thing being so much resented by the Eastern Churches, that they thereupon broken off Communion with the Western, and it became one of the unhappy occasions of continuing the breach to this day. I cannot pass by the uncharitable Censures of the Writers 
Bellarm. de Christ. l. 2. c. 30, col. 374.& in Chronol. ad calc. lib. de Script. p. 563 Grets. D●fens. B●ll. aliique plures.  of the Roman Church, who say that for their obstinate refufal to comply with this Addition, God presently after suffered them, their Churches, Wives, Children, and Estates to fall under the miserable Slavery of the Turkish Yoke, and at last Constantinople( the Seat of this Church and Empire) to be taken by Mahomet the second on the very Festival of Witsuntide, the time peculiarly dedicated to the honor of the holy Ghost. So partial are men to their own Cause, so ready to make Heaven look asquint upon their Enemies, and the actions of divine Providence Minister to the Designs of their own spite and malice.  
III. THE Fathers according to the Custom used in Synods, 
Can. 1.  proceeded next to the Anathematisms, in general condemning all Heresies contrary to the Nicene Faith, but more especially the Sabellian, Marcellian, Photinian, Eunomian, Apollinarian, and Macedonian Heresies; concerning each of which we shall give some short account, as what will reflect no small light upon the Story of those times. The Sabellian was set on foot by Sabellius 
Epiph. Haeres. LXII. p. 222. Theod. haer. fab. l. 2 c. 9. p. 223. Eus. H. E. l. 7. c. 6. p. 252. Aug. de haeres. c. 41. col. 19.  a Libyan, Bishop of Ptolemais in Pentapolis, who began to broach it about the declining part of the foregoing Saeculum, under the Reign of the Emperor Gallienus. He had been Scholar to Noetus of Ephesus, from whom he sucked the main ingredients of his poisonous Principles, which having digested, he vomited up in these impious. Assertions, that the Father, Son, and holy Ghost, are but one and the same Person, distinguished only by three several names; as in Man there is Body, Soul, and Spirit; the Father answerable to the Body, the Son to the Soul, and the Spirit to the holy Ghost; or as the Sun, which is but one, but has three Powers, Light, Heat, and its circular Form; the Father the subsisting Form, the holy Ghost the Heat, and the Son the Light, who as a Beam was in time  shed upon the World, by whom all things were wrought, and then again taken up into Heaven, as a Beam into the body of the Sun; that by virtue of this oneness of Persons, the Father might be said to suffer, whence they are sometimes styled Patripassians, though that was a name of some more ancient heretics, that commenced with the very apostolic Age. Besides the Scriptures, they traded much in Apocryphal Writings, especially a Book which they called the Egyptian Gospel, out of which they borrowed much of their mystical nonsense and Blasphemy. Marcellus( who is next) was Bishop of Ancyra in Galatia, concerning whom and the rise of his Dogmata, we have elsewhere 
Life of Eusib. N. XIX.  given an account. The main Point of his heresy lay in this 
Vid. Epist. Orient. apud Socr. l. 2. c. 19. p. 99. Cyril. Hieros. Catech. XV. p. 390. Euseb. contr. marcel. l. 1. p. 6. Theod. ibid. c. 10. p. 224. , that Christ began to be the Son of God at his Incarnation, that his Kingdom shall continue till the day of judgement and the end of the World, and then cease, and the Word that came forth, be again resolved into the Father, and be no more. And in opposition to this, the Council particularly leveled that clause in the Creed, whose Kingdom shall have no end. Nicetas Choniates 
Thes. Orthod. fi●. l. 4. Heres. 29. p. 338.  explains his opinions thus; that the Son was a kind of branch springing forth from the Father, and this he called {αβγδ}, or the Extension of the Father's Divinity into the Son, whom he styled God the Word, which after the Consummation of all things, should be drawn back again into the Father out of whom it had shot forth. The holy Ghost he styled {αβγδ}, the Extension of the Extension, which came upon the Apostles: in fine, that the holy Trinity was extended or contracted according to the difference of the Dispensation. Disciple to Marcellus was Photinus, born at Sirmium, and afterwards advanced to be Bishop of that See. A man of acute Parts, and a voluble Tongue, he trod in part in his Master's steps, and revived the long-since condemned Errors of Paulus Samosatenus, confounding the holy Trinity, and denying our Lord's eternal Existence, he affirmed the Word to be not essential, but prolatitious, and that God made use of it in the production of things {αβγδ} 
balls. in Can. 1. conc. C. P. , as a kind of mechanic Instrument: that Christ that received this Word was but a mere Man, and received the beginning of his existence from the Virgin Mary. For these blasphemous opinions he was often sentenced and deposed; and died about the year CCCLXXV.  
IV. THE next that follows in the List of the Council is the Eunomian heresy. The first Author and Founder of this Sect was Aetius 
Philost. l. 3. c. 15. l. 3. c. 17. l. 5. c. 1. 2. l. 6. c. 7. l. 7. c. 6. l. 8. c. 4. l. 9. c. 6. Nicet. Thes. Orth. Fid. l. 5. c. 30. p. 479.  He was born at Antioch in Coelosyria, and being left poor by his Father, who was a soldier, maintained himself and his Mother at the Goldsmiths Trade: But having a genius for higher things, he applied himself to the study of Philosophy, and especially logic, wherein he became excellent. Divinity he studied first under Paulinus Bishop of Antioch, then under Athanasius of Anazarbus, next under Antonius at Tarsus, then lastly under Leontius a Presbyter of Antioch. Being expelled Antioch, he fled to Alexandria, where under Sopolis a famous Doctor he studied physic, which he practised gratis, maintaining himself in the mean time by working at night at his Goldsmiths Trade. He was made Deacon by Leontius of Antioch, and for his Heterodox notions, especially in asserting the Anomaean Doctrine, deposed by the Synod at Constantinople, and banished by Constantius Ann. CCCLIX. recalled, honoured, and rewarded by Julian, and made Bishop during his Reign. Under Valens he left Constantinople, and sailed to Lesbos, and at Mitylene settled himself in a Farm, which Julian had bestowed upon him. But upon Procopius's usurping the Empire, he was forced to return to Constantinople, where he died( as is probable) the year after. Scholar and Amanuensis to him was Eunomius, who became more famous than his Master, and from him the Sect took its denomination. 
Philost. l. 10. c. 6. l. 3. c. 20. l. 4. c. 5. l. 5. c. 3. l. 9. c. 4. l. 10. c. 6. l. 11. c. 5.  He was born at Dacora a small Village near Caesarea in Cappadocia. awakened with the famed of Aetius he went to Antioch, where by the means of Secundus a Libyan Bishop, he was recommended to Aetius, then at Alexandria, who took him into his Family, read Lectures to him, and made him his Secretary. Having sufficiently furnished himself with his Masters Instructions, he was made Deacon by eudoxus Bishop of Antioch, and being sent to Court to solicit the Cause of his Party, was intercepted by means of Basil of Ancyra, and banished to Midaium, a Town in Phrygia. For the main he ran the same fortune with his Master, and was banished with him by the Synod at Constantinople. He was by eudoxus ordained Bishop of Cyzicum, which he would not accept of, till eudoxus had sworn to him, to recall the Sentence of Deposition passed against Aetius. Nor did he continue long at his See, the People there not enduring his impious Doctrine. In the reign of Valens the Party at Constantinople falling out, he went over to Chalcedon, where he had Gardens of his own, and there settled, entertaining all that came to him, being upon all occasions consulted as the Oracle of his Sect: upon a Charge of High Treason in being privy to Procopius his Usurpation, he was banished into Mauritania, but was recalled at Mursa in Illyricum. By Theodosius( into whose Family some of his Gang had crept, whereat that good Emperor was highly offended) he was banished to Halmyris, a place situate upon the banks of the Danow, which being soon after taken by the Barbarians, he was transported to Caesarea in Cappadocia. But his Company was distasteful to that People, his lewd Principles being known, and he having writ against, and reflected upon their beloved Bishop S. Basil, for whom they had a dear regard. So he was suffered to dwell at his own Estate at Dacora, not far from that City, where he lived some years, dying about Ann. CCCXCIV. whose body when his Followers would have removed, to have butted it with his Master Aetius at Constantinople, Eutropius the Eunuch, at that time Patricius, and Lord Chamberlain would not suffer it, but commanded Caesarius the Praetorian Praefect, to translate and bury it at Tyana, and commit the Guardianship of it to the Monks of that place. He procured likewise an Edict, for the burning of his Books, and all those of his Party, as containing the sum of all impious Doctrine, making it Capital for any to conceal them. Such were the men, that appeared in the Head of the most spiteful and inveterate Enemies to the Divinity of the Son of God. As to the Principles which Eunomius derived from Aetius, and afterwards improved, we may in the general observe, that he corrupted the Arian dogmata( poison itself may be made worse) which he advanced to a pitch beyond any other Branch that sprung from that bitter Root, so that at last his Followers refused to admit the Arian Baptism and Ordination; in particular, he held 
Theod. ib. l. 4. c. 3. balls.& Zonar. in Can. 1. Conc. C P. Philost. l. 6. c. 2. p. 501. Sozom. l. 6. c. 26. p. 673. &c.  that the Son was made by the Father, and was to be placed only in the most eminent rank of Creatures; that he was a Servant, and obvious to change and alteration, and altogether unlike in Nature and Substance to the Father; and that as the Son is the Servant and Minister of the Father, so is the Spirit the Work and Minister of the Son. And though in the account 
Ext. ap. Vales. Annot. in Socr. p. 61. vid. Socr. l. 5. c. 10. p. 269.  of his Faith, which he presented to the Emperor Theodosius, he endeavours to smooth over his Opinions, and to conceal them under odd expressions( confessing that the Son is only like the Father after an extraordinary manner of similitude, and in a proper and peculiar signification, that is, as he explains himself, as he is the Image and Seal of his Fathers Power and Operation, the Seal of all his Words and Councils) yet does he therein expressly assert, that he is {αβγδ}, not uncreated, nor without beginning, but that he is the Beginning of the ways and works of God; that he received Glory from the Father, but did not partake or share with him in his Essence, Kingdom and Glory, and that the Father alone is God over all. Besides all this he is charged 
Philost. loc. cit.  with asserting, that Joseph did in a conjugal way correspond with the Blessed Virgin after her being delivered of our Saviour; which indeed was the peculiar Tenet of the Antidicomarianitae in the Eastern, as it was of the Helvidians in the Western Church. He is further said by the Greek Canonists to have denied that there was really any such place as Hell, or the Torments of the damned; and affirmed, that these were only Fables invented to fright the World. But this I must confess is not charged upon him by any Author of his own time. In opposition to other Sects that dissented from him, he baptized those whom he Proselyted to his Party in a way by himself, using only single Immersion( because he said, he baptized into Christ's death, which he underwent for us, not twice or thrice, but once only) and turning the Heads of the Persons to the bottom of the Water, with their Heels mounted up into the Air. Whether he borrowed any of his Principles from eudoxus, who was successively Bishop of Germanicia, Antioch, and Constantinople, and by whom he had been preferred to the See of Cyzicum, or whether eudoxus learnt them of him, is uncertain, 'tis evident, that in the main they held the same Opinions, and therefore the Council here condemns them as the same sort of heretics, under the Title of Eunomians, or Eudoxians, and indeed looked upon them as such deep-died heretics, as wholly to have forfeited the name of Christians: And therefore whereas in their last Canon, they allow other heretics to come over to the catholic Party upon their bare Subscription, and renunciation of all kind of heresy, and Confirmation by Unction; the Eunomians with some few others are to be treated as Pagans, and not to be admitted to Baptism, but by the same Methods and Degrees, that Catechumens were, who first came over from Gentilism to Christianity.  
V. THE fifth rank of heretics are the Apollinarists, they were the Followers of Apollinaris, sometimes Bishop of Laodicea. A man( as we observed before) of incomparable Parts and Learning, but rash and opinionative, and who by being unduly excommunicated, was first tempted to start aside from the catholic Faith. His Master Error 
Rufin. l. 2. c. 20. p. 253.  was, that our Lord assumed a Body without an human Soul, his Divinity immediately supplying the room of that; which he afterwards mollified, by granting that he had a Soul, but without any mind or understanding. But what were his Opinions, none can tell us better than Nazianzen, who in an Oration, 
Orat. XLVI. p. 721. vid. Or. XIV. p. 221.  or rather Letter to Nectarius his Successor in the See of Constantinople, out of a Book of Apollinaris, gives him this account. That he affirmed, that the Flesh which the Son of God took upon him to carry through the Work of our Restauration, was not ascititious, but what he had from the Beginning, which he thought warranted from that of our Saviour, No man hath ascended up to Heaven, but he that came down from Heaven, even the Son of Man, which is in Heaven: Whence he inferred, that he was the Son of man before his coming down from Heaven, and that when he came, he brought his Flesh along with him, which he had in Heaven, essentially united to him before all time: That in this sense he was the second man that is from Heaven, and that in that Capacity {αβγδ}, he had no mind, but that his Deity supplied the place of his understanding; that in his Humanity he had both Soul and Body, but that the mind was supplied by the Divinity of the Word: that beyond all this he maintained, that God the only begotten Son, who is Lord of Life, and the destroyer of Death, was himself mortal, and truly suffered in his Godhead, and that during his three days continuance in the state of the dead, his Divinity died also with his Body, and was by the Father restored to life again. These were some of his monstrous and extravagant Opinions, which our learned Bishop does at large confute, with all his Arguments and Objections, in his two Epistles 
O● LI. p. 737. LII p. 745.  to Cledonius, written about this very time, while he was yet Bishop of Constantinople. There remains now but one sort of heretics censured by the Council, viz. that of the Macedonians, whom the Canon calls Pneumatomachi, or opposers of the holy Spirit. Now because the Synod was principally convened with respect to these( as is affirmed on all hands 
Socr. l. 5. c. 8. Soz. l. 7. c 7. Phot. de Synod. Nilus lib. de Synod. &c. Conc. T. 2. col. 975, &c. balls.& Zon. in Conc. C P. ) I shall a little more particularly inquire into the Rise and Original of this Sect.  
VI. WHEN the Arian Notions began first to prevail in the World, they were chiefly levelled against the Divinity of the Son of God, he being the only Person that was struck at. And therefore in the Nicene Creed, though all imaginable care was taken to secure the Article of his Deity, by stating it in such Terms, as might countermine all the Subtleties and Sophistical Evasions of its Adversaries, yet is no more said in it concerning the Spirit, than we believe in the Holy Ghost; no doubt 
Vid Epiph Haeres. LXXIV.. p 384 Zonar. Annal. Tom. III. p. 9.  being as yet started concerning that matter. But afterwards when the Arian Party began to subdivide, and break into different Tribes, and one Error like Circles in the Water begot another, every bold Fellow set up to be the Head of a Party, and started some new Notion, as the distinctive Character of his little Sect. And having wiredrawn the Article concerning the Son of God into infinite Controversies and Disputes, they fell next upon that of the Holy Ghost, whose Divinity was first questioned, then denied, at last he was quiter banished out of the Trinity, and peremptorily affirmed to be no other than a Creature. The first that openly broached and asserted this Opinion was Macedonius: He had been Deacon 
So●r. l. 2. c. 6. p. 83.  under Alexander the Reverend Bishop of Byzantium( soon after called Constantinople) who upon his death-bed nominated two Competitors for the place; Paul, young, but wise and prudent, and Macedonius, aged, but crafty, and of an affencted Gravity. Paul, was chosen, and under him Macedonius commenced Presbyter; who took in with the Arians. Upon Paul's banishment, Eusebius of Nicomedia was translated thither, upon whose 
Ib. c. 12. 13. p. 89.  decease Paul was fetched back, while the Arians ordained Macedonius for their Bishop, which was managed with so much fury and disorder, that Hermogenes Commander of the Army was among others slain in the Tumult, whereupon Paul was again banished, and the Emperor refused to Confirm Macedonius, who yet not long after sent 
Ib. c. 16. p. 92.  Philip the Praetorian Praefect to remove Paul( who was it seems return'd to his See) and to invest Macedonius in the Episcopal Throne: Which he did accordingly, but with a very unhappy Accident. For the Souldiers meeting with an extreme Crowd, in a place where there was no room left to make way, and taking it for a premeditated resistance and opposition, fell violently upon the People, MMMCL whereof were killed, either slain out-right by the Souldiers, or trampled to death with the Crowd. About the time of the Sardican Council Paul was restored 
Ib. c. 23. p. 112. ( the necessity of Constantius's Affairs then requiring it) and Macedonius forced to keep his Party together in an obscure private Church. But this held not long, for Paul being dispatched out of the way, transported to, and strangled at Cucusus in armoniac, Macedonius presently leaped into the Chair, 
Ib c. 27. p. 117. c. 38. p. 141.  and being now rid of his Competitor, shew'd himself what he was, prosecuting all that dissented from him with the most incredible cruelty, instances whereof are too many, and too tragical to be here related. This course he held till the latter end of the Reign of Constantius, when in the Synod at Constantinople, immediately following that of Seleucia, he was by the prevalency of Acacius and his Party at Court( besides that the Emperor hated him for his Cruelties, and some other Misdemeanours) deposed, 
Ib. c. 42. p. 155.  and eudoxus translated from Antioch to that See. Enraged with this Affront, he began more openly to declare his Sentiments than he had done before. He had hitherto 
Ib. c. 45. p. 158. Sozom. l. 4. c. 27. p. 585.  gone along with the deepest of the Arian Faction, who held the Dissimilitude Opinion, these he now deserted, and closed with the most moderate Party, who asserted the {αβγδ}, or that the Son was in all things of a like Substance with the Father. As for the Holy Ghost, he plainly denied it to have the same Honour and privilege, affirming it to be but a Servant and Minister, only a little more exalted than the Angelical Order. In defending and propagating these Principles, his chief Agents and Assistants were Eustathius Bishop of Sebastea( who publicly cried out, that for his part he would not call the Holy Ghost either a God, or a Creature) Eleusius of Cyzicum, and Marathonius, who of a Treasurer to the Army( where he had sufficiently enriched himself) had been made by him Presbyter of Constantinople, and afterwards Bishop of Nicomedia, a man so privy to all his inward Councils, that he was said by some to have been the first Contriver of his Opinions touching the Holy Ghost. By the help of these and some others, he held several Synods 
Socr. l. 3. c. 10. p. 182.  of his Party under the Reign of Julian, wherein he endeavoured to draw his Followers into a more close and distinct Body, separate from all the other Clanns of the Arian Tribe; particularly they anathematized the Acacians, rejecting the Confession of Ariminum, and ratifying that which had been agreed upon in the Synod of Seleucia. And when asked why, if they differed in Opinion from the Acacians, they had hitherto communicated with them? Sophronius Bishop of Pompeiopolis in Paph●agonia, answered in the name of the rest, that among the several Dissenting Parties in christendom, they of the West were over-run with the Consubstantial Error; in the East Aetius had corrupted the Faith, by introducing the An●maean Doctrine, of the Sons being of an unlike Nature with the Father. Both Opinions were erroneous and impious; the one rashly confounded the distinct Persons of Father and Son; the other separated their nature quiter from each other. These were wide extremes, and therefore they judged it most agreeable both to Truth and Piety, to take the middle way between both, and to assert the Son to be like the Father {αβγδ}, in Person, And that therefore it was no wonder, if they had communicated with the Acacians, who had sometimes held the same thing. Some years after viz. Ann. CCCLXV. they procured leave from the Emperor Valens, to hold a Synod 
Socr. l. 4. c. 2. 4, 5, 6, 7. p. 211. &c.  at Lampsacum in the Hellespont, where they again condemned the Ariminum Confession, and confirmed that of Antioch and Seleucia, and restored those Bishops to their Sees, who had been deposed by them of the Dissimilitude Faction. eudoxus Bishop of Constantinople was sufficiently nettled at these Proeeedings, and complained of them to the Emperor: But he being entangled at that time with the Rebellion and Usurpation of Procopius, was not at leisure to assist him; till shortly after having suppressed that dangerous Rebellion, he sent for Eleusius Bishop of Cyzicum, who had been the Prime dictatory of the Macedonian Party in the Council of Lampsacum, to come to him to Nicomedia, where he had assembled a Synod of Arian Bishops, and where he threatened and forced him to subscribe to their Creed. But at his return home, he publicly retracted his Subscription, Protesting he did it for fear, and under force, however advising the People to procure another Bishop to be placed over them, he himself having, though through Compulsion, denied the Faith. The Citizens heard his request, but loved the man too well to part with him upon any terms. But what they would not, eudoxus of Constantinople did for him, who having obtained a Warrant from the Emperor, came to Cyzicum, deposed and banished Eleusius, and promoted Eunomius, Aetius's Scribe and Scholar, into his room; who yet did not long enjoy that Place. For the People being exasperated by him, mutinied, and drove him out of the City, who thereupon fled to Constantinople, and lived with his dear Friend eudoxus. But I digress too far. Macedonius after his being deposed, settled himself in a place over against Constantinople called Pylae; the time of his death is not known: Sozomen 
Ib. c. 28. p. 584.  places it under Constantius, but Nicephorus 
l. 9. c. 46. p. 798.  says he lived a long time after his Deposition, which indeed was not made till within less than two years before Constantius's death, eudoxus his Successor entering upon that See, Ann. CCCLX.  
VII. AFTER his death his Followers suffered not his Opinions to die. In the Article of Christ's Divinity they held a middle 
Epiph. Haeres. LXXII. p. 371& p. 360. Theod. l. 2. c. 6. p. 73.  course between the catholics, and high-flown Arians.( Though Nazianzen 
Orat. XLIV. p. 710.  and some others say, that they were sound in the Doctrine concerning the Son of God, which yet I must confess I see no Evidence to affirm) in the catholic Doctrine they rejected the word {αβγδ}, or Consubstantial as unscriptural, and anathematized the Anomaeans or Eunomians, who asserted him to be unlike the Father, joining herein with the Semiarians, in maintaining the Son to be {αβγδ} of a like Substance with his Father; and accordingly in the first Canon of our present Council are styled Pneumatomachi, or Semiarians; as Semiarians they allowed not Christ to be Consubstantial, as Pneumatomachi they denied the Deity of the Holy Ghost. Their Sect increased 
Soz. l. 4. c. 27. p. 586.  greatly, not only at Constantinople, but in Thrace, Hellespont, Bithynia, and the Neighbouring Provinces: And indeed the men were Masters at the art of Insinuation; their behaviour was grave and mortified, their Life 
Vi●. Ni●. ib. p. 711.  severe and Monastical, their Address smooth and plausible, and accommadate to the humour of the Persons that they had to deal with, and when at any time put to a pinch, 
Vid. Socr. l. 7. c. 3. p. 340.  by shifting and juggling, and professing themselves catholics, they knew how to secure their Reputation and their Interest. By these ways they successfully propagated their Opinions, and were become so considerable in those parts, that Theodosius 
Socr. l. 5. c. 8. p. 264. S●z. l. 7. c. 7. p. 711.  for this and some other reasons thought fit to convene a General Council, to which he summoned the Bishops of that Party, hoping to reconcile them to the catholic Church, from the Doctrine whereof they seemed not much to differ. And there was the more reason to think so, because they had more than once and again subscribed the Nicene Creed; so they did at A●●i h●, 
Socr. l. 3. c. 25. p. 203.  so at Rome 
l. 4. c. 12. p. 220. &c. , and in several Synods of the West, and by that means procured the Letters Testimonial of Pope Liberius, and several of the Western Prelates, and were thereupon received by the catholic Party, though upon every occasion they return'd to their old Principles; as was evident, in that when Gratian the Emperor published a Law 
Socr. l. 5. c. 4. p. 261.  to licence all Sects to act according to their own way, though for some years before they had freely communicated with the catholics, they then flew off, and Synodically assembling at Antioch, decreed against the Consubstantial Doctrine, and that no●e should hold Communion with the Professors of the Nic●n● Faith. Thirty six of their Bishops came to the Council, the Heads whereof were Eleusius Bishop of Cyzicum, and Marcianus of Lampsacum. The good Emperor and the Fathers of the Synod took infinite pains with them to bring them over, putting them in mind of their Promises and Protestations made to Liberius, and others in their Western Embassy, and that they had of late voluntarily communicated with the catholics, and that 'twas indecent and imprudent, that they who had once embraced the Faith, should now endeavour to subvert it. But the men were obstinate, not to be wrought upon, either by Arguments or entreaties, and plainly  told them, that whatever they might have heretofore said to the contrary, they were resolved never to subscribe the Consubstantial Faith. With which answer they left the Synod, and went out of Town, and wrote to their Party in all places, that they should not agree to the Nicene Creed. For which Contumacy they were together with others condemned by the Council, and with these Anathematisms they ended their Determinations about matters of Faith. I observe no more concerning this part of the Council, than that no sooner was the Synod broken up, but the good Emperor Theodosius by a Law 
C. Th. lib 16. Tit. V. l. 8.  bearing date the first of August, ratified what they had decried against these heretics, commanding that the Arians, Eunomians, and Aetians, should have no leave to build Churches in any place, and that if they did, such ground should be immediately confiscated, as also all places where they held their Conventicles, or where their Ministers should be entertained. Nay to expose them yet further, he caused the Images 
Co. ●in. de Orig. CP. p. 64. D. monstr. Chron gr. l. a Comb. ●●i●. p. 17.  of Arius, Sabellius, Macedonius, and Eunomius, to be cut in Marble, and placed near the ground in the public Forum, not far from the Chamber of the Senate( the very place where Arius made his shameful and miserable end) that so all that passed by might spit, or throw dirt upon them, or treat them with the most ignominious expressions of scorn and detestation, and these Images my Author assures us were still standing in his time.  
VIII. THE third thing that fell under the Consideration of the Synod, was the providing some Rules relating to the external Polity and Discipline of the Church. A thing usual in all great Synods. And of the seven Canons that the Council passed, four of them are of this nature, whereof two most considerable, the Second and Third. By the Second they six and state the bounds and limits of the greater Eastern Churches according to the Constitution of the then Roman Empire. There were under the Government of the Praetorian Praefect of the East five Dioces●s 
Vid. notit. Imper. Orient. fol. 3. p. 2. , the East especially so called, egypt, Asiana, Pontica, and Thrace, each of which contained several Provinces under it, the East fifteen, egypt six, Asiana ten, Pontica eleven, and Thrace six. According to this form the Fathers settled the Jurisdiction of the Churches in the Eastern Empire, that the Bishop of Alexandria should govern egypt, that is, all the Churches within the Political diocese of egypt; the Bishops of the East those of the Eastern diocese, reserving all the Privileges granted to the See of Antioch by the Nicaene Canon, they of Asiana within Asiana, of Pontica within Pontica, of Thrace within that diocese; that is, that the primates, or the Bishops of the chief Metropolis within these several Dioceses, with the assistance of the Bishops that were under them, should manage and direct all common affairs within those bounds, and which could not be conveniently managed by the Bishops of every single Province. Socrates 
L. 5. c. 8. p. 265.  speaking of this Canon, says, that having divided the Provinces, they constituted patriarches. Whether by these he meant patriarches properly so called, and whether they owed their original to the Constitution of this Council, is not easily determinable; 'tis affirmed by some, and denied by others. It seems to be some prejudice to the affirmative, that the Canon itself gives not the least hint of any such matter. Perhaps 
Vales. Annot. in Socr. p. 60.  Valesius his conjecture is not improbable, that by patriarches Socrates means some persons peculiarly deputed, if not by the Synod, at least by the Emperor, to exercise for the present an extraordinary ecclesiastic power within those several Dioceses, for the settling of Affairs of late much disturbed and out of order. Thus besides Nectarius of Constantinople, who had Thrace, and Timotheus of Alexandria, who had egypt, the Patriarchate of the Pontican diocese( says Socrates) was committed to Helladius Bishop of Caesarea, Basil's Successor, Gregory Nyssen, and Otreius of Meletina in armoniac; that of Asiana to Amphilochius of Iconium, and Optimus of Antioch in Pisidia; that of the Eastern diocese to Pelagius of Laodicea, and to Diodorus of Tarsus: where we may observe, that he of Antioch, though the first Bishop of that diocese, is not mentioned, probably because Meletius Bishop of that See was newly dead, and though Flavian was immediately thrust up into his Room, yet his election was hotly disputed and contested; upon which account 'tis like the Emperor forbore to nominate him in the Constitution which he published about this matter. However, that the See might not suffer any prejudice, both the Emperor and the Canon make particular provision, that the Rights and privileges granted to the Church of Antioch by the Canons of the Council of Nice, should be reserved entire. And I am the more inclined to think this to have been Socrates his meaning, because Sozomen 
L. 7. c. 9. p. 715.  who wrote after him, relates it thus, that the Persons mentioned were appointed as Standards of the catholic Communion within those several Districts, by whom as by proper Judges, Persons professing the catholic Consubstantial Doctrine were to be tried, and thereupon be admitted to their Churches. This will be beyond all Dispute; if we consider, that upon the passing this Canon, and the rising of the Council, Theodosius put out an Imperial Edict, 
C. Th. lib. 16. Tit. 1. l. 3. p. 9.  commanding the Churches in these several Dioceses to be delivered to as many as confessed the true Faith of the holy Trinity, and held Communion with the Persons abovementioned. The truth is, this matter has been not a little obscured by Socrates and Sozomen, who 'tis plain, have confounded the Canon and the Law of Theodosius, and patched up one out of both, when as they were widely different. The Canon is General, and states the constant bounds of those Eastern Jurisdictions, that each of those five divisions should be of equal extent with the Civil diocese, and that the Bishops of one diocese, should not ordinarily intermeddle in another. The Edict which was grounded upon, and published immediately after the Canon, was particular, and only temporary, nominating what Persons within those five Dioceses should manage and transact Church-affairs, for the present greatly out of order, and judge who were fit after so many disturbances and irregularities as had lately over-run the Church to be admitted to Communion. This being done, that Edict was of no more force; and is therefore omitted in the Code of Justinian, the Power it conveyed being personal, and accordingly long since expired. In short, whatever becomes of the Patriarchal controversy, whereof more perhaps in another place, the meaning of the Canon is evidently this, that those five Dioceses should be the ordinary division of the Eastern Churches, and that the Bishops of one diocese should not interfere with, nor ordain, or exercise any act of Authority and Jurisdiction in another, and that this being observed, the Affairs of every Province should be decided by the Synod of that Province, according to the Nicene Constitutions. And 'twas but time to provide for this, there having been of late some uncanonical proceedings; thus Peter of Alexandria took upon him by the three Bishops he sent to ordain Maximus of Constantinople, as Meletius of Antioch and some others to translate Nazianzen to the same See.  
IX. THE other Canon concerns the Dignity and Precedence of the See of Constantinople, which for the Honour of the Imperial Court, they advance above all others but Rome. The Canon is drawn up in these words.  

{αβγδ}.  Let the Bishop of Constantinople have the precedence or privilege of Honour after the Bishop of Rome, forasmuch as Constantinople is new Rome.  
THIS Canon laid the first step of that Ascent, whereby the Bishop of Constantinople mounted up to rival Rome, giving him the next place of Honour; which the Council of Chalcedon 
Can. 28.  afterwards enlarged into an equality, establishing him {αβγδ} equal privileges with the See of Rome, nay, gave him Power as well as Honour, subjecting to his See the three great Dioceses of Pontica, Asiana, and Thrace, together with the Bishops that were in the barbarous Countries, that is( say the Scholiasts upon that Canon) the Alani and the Russi, the one belonging to Pontica, the other to Thrace. Nay some 
Al. Arist. in h. l. vid atiam comment. Ra●s.& Zon. ibid.  have so far stretched the meaning of our present Canon, as to tell us, that the Preposition {αβγδ} ( After,) implies not any inferior degree of privilege to Rome, but only a Posteriority in point of time, which must be confessed to savour of a critical Nicety. Though it cannot be denied, but that the Fathers at Chalcedon so understood it, that by virtue of this Canon, the same Honours and privileges were conferred upon the Bishops of new, as had been upon them of old Rome, and as such they ratified it with their Sanction. And as in the first Ages of Christianity, scarce any thing more advanced the Grandeur and Reputation of the Church of Rome, than its being the Seat of the Empire, which privileges being granted by the Fathers upon that account( as they of Chalcedon expressly affirm) so they conceived it but reasonable, that Constantinople being now made the Seat of the Imperial Throne, the Church there should bear some proportion to the dignity of the Civil State, and the Bishops enjoy as much privilege as they did at Rome. And indeed the best way to let in light, both upon this and the preceding Canon, and to find what privileges were granted to the See of Constantinople by this Canon, as also by that of Chalcedon and some following Councils, were to inquire what Precedence and Power the Roman Bishops anciently had, and what they usurped. To which purpose I had once thought to have ventured the Readers patience upon a digression concerning the ancient Power and Jurisdiction of the Bishop of Rome, and the gradual encroachments of that See over other Bishops, especially them of Constantinople. But because this would be too great an interruption in the Course of the Story, I have choose rather to refer it to a discourse by itself, where the Reader may peruse, or pass it by at pleasure.   

SECT. VI. Particular Transactions of the Council relating to Nazianzen. His resignation and departure.  
dissensions arising in the Synod about the See of Antioch. Nazianzen's proposal in favour of Paulinus ill resented, and Combinations made against him. His free discourse to them upon that occasion. The People troubled at the bare report of his readiness to resign. The Confederacy against him increased by the arrival of the egyptian Bishops. Their Opposition to him, whence. His admirable Oration to them concerning Peace. His Address to the Emperor for leave to resign his See. This very difficultly obtained. His eloquent Oration to the Synod at his taking leave. Some passages of that Oration laid before the Reader. The time of his departure, and universal sorrow for it. Nectarius elected to be his Successor. The Occasion of his Name being proposed among the rest. The Emperor pitches upon him, and persists in his Resolution. The dissolution of the Council.  
I. HITHERTO things had gone on smoothly in the Council, when they fell into disturbance and confusion, which began upon this occasion. Meletius 
Naz. de vit. sua. p. 25. Gr. Presb. p. 29, 30.  the good Bishop of Antioch died during the sitting of the Council, whose Funeral( as became a Person of his Age and Merits) was attended with an universal confluence of the City, and on several dayes honoured with Orations by the most eloquent Persons in the Council. And now great Heats arose among them about choosing a Successor in his room, a strong Party being made for Flavianus Presbyter of Antioch, for whom at last they carried it. Nazianzen hoping to reconcile the Differences, propounded a pious and peaceable Expedient,( though his appearing in it, and thereby seeming to espouse the Cause of the Western Prelates, as was that of Paulinus against them of the East, conjured up a Spirit, which all his Art and Interest could not lay, the opposite Party in the Synod fermenting into Heat and Passion, who hence took occasion to fall upon him, till nothing would satisfy them, but the throwing up his place; he propounded) that Paulinus, whom Lucifer Calaritanus had ordained Bishop of Antioch, might continue so for the short remainder of his Life, after whose death( which could not be far off) all Competitions ceasing, they might then choose whom they pleased, and so a Period be put to the unhappy long-continued Schism of that Church. He  told them further, that as to himself, he had unwillingly entred upon the See of Constantinople, and though he had spent, and that not unsuccessfully, infinite pains and labours in that place, yet he expected no other reward but from above; that after the Importunities of the People, and their own free Votes had forced the thing upon him, it seemed strange that any of them should go about to undo their own Act, and endeavour to supplant and undermine him; not that he cared for Riches or Honor, or prided himself in the Title of Bishop of the imperial City, but that he had a tender regard to the necessities of the People, and that it must needs east an Imputation either of envy or levity upon themselves to run counter to their own late Determinations. However if they had a mind to take that course, he was ready freely to resign his bishopric; they might consult and resolve upon what they pleased, solitude had never been unwelcome to him, and 'twas his comfort, that though they might separate him from his See, they could never part between him and God. Having ended his Speech, he perceived the Faction to grow strong against him, and the Ancients ready▪ to side with the younger and more heady part of the Council; so he left them, and retired to a remote part of the City, purposely to avoid the noise and crowd. But no sooner what had passed was rumoured abroad, but a crowd of People thronged about him, and passionately besought him to pity the miserable Flock, which with so much care and pains he had hither fed and governed. What, would he now throw up the Crop which he had sown, and had brought from so small a handful, to so much maturity and plenty? To whom would he leave his Sheep? He had hitherto spent his strength amongst them, let him give God and them the remainder of his Life, and lay his bones amongst them. He could not but be greatly affencted with their Prayers and Tears, yet suffered not himself to be moved from his Resolution, which he every day found more reason to put into Execution.  
II. FOR about this time arrived Timotheus Bishop of Alexandria, with his Prelates and others out of Macedonia, who mindful of the old Quarrel, and meeting with this happy opportunity, remonstrated against Nazianzen's being elected to that See, not out of any dislike to him( as they privately  told him) but opposition to the rest who had settled him in it without their consent, and to cover their spite with some specious pretext, charged them with an irregular procedure in that Affair, especially in allowing Translations from one See to another, condemned by the Canons of the Church. Factions thus increasing, he endeavours, if possible, to compose them by an Oration 
Orat. XIV. p. 213.  concerning Peace, which he purposely preached upon this occasion, wherein he lays before them with all the advantages of his rhetoric, the great blessings and benefits of Peace, the infinite mischiefs of Divisions and Animosities amongst Christians, how contrary they are to the Principles of our Faith, and how dishonourable to God and to Religion, and what advantages they give to the Enemies of our Faith. What a disgrace is it( said he 
de vit. s●a, p. 29. G●. Presbyt. p. 31. ) and how unbecoming such sage and reverend Prelates, that you who press others to Peace, should fiercely contend with mutual Animosities; no matter what becomes of me, so this great Assembly may but be united. Let this be your prime care and business; I am content to sacrifice my Reputation, and to be accounted rude, blunt, or ignorant, so you may agree. Nay, though I have been far enough from raising the Storm, yet if it may save the Ship, I am not better than the Prophet Jonah; throw me into the Sea, and let these Storms and Tempests cease, I can be willing to be condemned to an Hospital, or to suffer any thing you shall think fit to inflict, if by that means I may but give being to your Concord. I do not desire any Laws should be violated for my sake; I herein give a Law to myself, not to account any thing hard or uneasy. I unwillingly accepted this Throne, and I now willingly quit it. The craziness of my body minds me of it. Death is a Debt which I owe, and it must once be paid, and 'tis in God's hand when he please to call for it. Adieu dear Brethren, and preserve a just memory of my pains and labours. And because where other artifices of malice sailed, some of them had given out, that 'twas not the patronage and defence of Truth, but pride and an ambitious Affectation of that honourable See had brought him thither; he vindicated himself in a particular Oration 
Or. XXVII. p. 464. vid. p. 465, 467, 468. , where in he appealed to the People, whether he had not with all earnestness and obstinacy declined the place, till he had been with a violent and irresistible importunity seated upon that Throne, which he knew not {αβγδ}, whether to style a Tyrannical, or an Archiepiscopal Dignity; that had he been guilty of so much vanity and folly, especially in his Circumstances, an infirm old man broken with Age and Sickness, he should blushy to look up to Heaven, or to show his face in that sacred Assembly, and his former pains and labours, his course habit, and empty Table, not much better furnished than that of the Fowls of Heaven; his accustomend retirements and private Life would rise up against him: but there could be little reason to charge him with invading anothers See, who had rejected one of his own. But alas where passion and anger, malice and interest govern, it makes men deaf to the fairest reasonings. These courses therefore not succeeding, he resolved to be no longer a bone of Contention, and to that end went strait to Court, where upon his knees kissing the Emperor's hand, he  told him; I am come, Sir, to beg a request of you, not Riches or Treasure for myself, or eostly Ornaments for the Church, or Honors or Offices for my Relations; these are little things fit for narrow and contracted minds, they are greater Matters I design for myself; this only I beg, that I may have leave to be gone, and to give way to the envious and ill-minded; if I like bishoprics any where, 'tis a great way off; here I disgust my very Friends, only because I value nothing but God; I beseech you, amongst all the Trophies and Triumphs of your Reign, let this be the greatest, your reducing them to Unity and Concord, whom if the fear of God will not, let your Authority compel them to lay down their Arms; this is the last request of him, whom your Majesty knows you placed against his will upon this Episcopal Throne. The Emperor and those that stood by, admired the Temper of the man, and was at last drawn, not without some difficulty, to consent to his Petition; whose leave being obtained, he had now nothing to do, but to take his farewell. To which end in the great Church before the CL. Fathers of the Synod, and as many of the People as the Church could hold, he made his last Oration 
Or. XXXII. p. 510. ; the whole is admirably worth the Reader's perusal, but to avoid tediousness, I shall select only such passages as are most material. After he had acquainted them in what a woeful case he found the Church at his first coming to Constantinople, what miserable Devastations the late Persecutions had every where made of the catholic Church, and had given them an account what Reformation he had wrought in his charge, and what Doctrine he had preached to them, he comes to apologize for himself: Have we( says he 
Ibid. p. 522. ) circumvented this People through covetousness, or as I see many do, sacrificed their interest to my own private gain? Have we at any time disturbed the Church? Whose ox, ●or whose Ass have I taken, as the price of your Souls, and have not kept my Ministry pure and uncorrupt? If I have affencted Domination, or a sublime See, or have haunted Princes Courts, let that be my only Portion; or if it were, I would soon rid my hands on't: Let me have this as the reward of all my labours, to be delivered from my burden, and to enjoy my ease; look upon my gray hairs, and have respect to me as a Stranger; substitute another in my room, who may undergo trouble for you, a man strict and eloquent, and who may at once be fit to gratify you, and able to go through with the Affairs of the Church, for such the necessities of this time do call for. You see in what a case I am, my body worn out with Age, Labour, and Sickness, little need have you of such a timorous and feeble old man as I am, dying daily through care and weakness, and who at this time am scarce able to speak to you. Believe your Guide, whom you were never wont to disbelieve; I am weary, while my mildness and moderation is charged upon me for a fault; I am weary, while I am forced to encounter with rumors and envy, and not only with Enemies, but Friends, who wound more deeply and securely— 
Ibid. p. 526, 527.  I beseech you by all that's dear and sacred, do me this kindness to dismiss me with your Prayers, let that be the reward of my conflicts and trials; grant me a Warrant for my discharge, as Generals are wont to do to their old worn out Souldiers; and let it be, if you please, with an honourable Acclamation at my Exit; if not, do your pleasure, 'tis a thing which I will not contend about, 'tis enough that God beholds and will regard my Cause. And as for a Successor, God will provide himself a Pastor, as once he did a Lamb for a burnt-offering. I only beg this of you, that you would choose such a one as may be the object rather of mens envy, than their pity, who may not be ready basely to comply with every one upon all occasions, but willing to venture the favour and the frowns of men in the doing of what's just and true. The one course may be sweet at present, but the other will turn to account another day. Having discoursed thus, he comes in the close to take a particular farewell, which he does in this elegant and pathetical Apostrophe.  
Farewell Anastasia, whose very name speaks Piety, thou that gavest a new life to the catholic Doctrine, when butted under ignominy and contempt; farewell, I say, thou seat of common Victory, thou Shilo, into which we brought and fixed the Ark of God, after it had wandered up and down in the desert for Forty years together. And thou great and venerable Temple, the new Inheritance, who owest the magnificence thou now enjoyest to the orthodox Faith, and whom of a Jebus we made a Jerusalem. And all the rest of you Churches, that approach to it in splendour and beauty, and that like Chains compass about, and connect the several parts of the City, which we in the midst of all our weakness, enabled by Divine assistance, as contemptible as we were made, were wont to fill in our circular Visitations. Farewell Apostles, the noble Colony transplanted hither, the Leaders of my conflicts and sufferings, though I must confess I have not so frequently celebrated your Solemnities, perhaps because I carried your S. Paul's Satans about with me in the body( a thing conducive to my advantage) the reason why I now depart from you. farewell my Episcopal Chair, thou dangerous and envied Throne; farewell thou assembly of Bishops, Persons venerable for your Age and Gravity, and all the rest of you that officiate at the holy Table, and Minister before God, who is nigh to them that draw nigh to him. farewell the Quires of Nazarites, the harmonious Psalmodies, nocturnal Stations, the modest Virgins, grave Matrons, the crowds of Widows and Orphans, the eyes of the Poor, always intent upon God and us. farewell Hospitals, lovers of Christ, and helpers of mine Infirmities. farewell the affectionate Frequenters 
De hac re vid. Or. XXVII. in init. p. 464.  of my Sermons, the crowds thronging to the Church, the swift-handed Notaries, and these rails so often pressed upon by my greedy Auditors. Farewell Emperors, with your Courts and Courtiers, perhaps not more faithful to the Emperor than to God. Clasp your hands, and with your shrill voice cry out, exalt your Orator. The busy and insolent Tongue,( as you account it) has been silent towards you, but shall not be always so, but shall fight against you with Hand and Pen, though for the present we have held our Peace. farewell great City, thou lover of Christ and his Religion; for I'll bear thee Record, that thou hast a Zeal, but not according to knowledge: parting has rendered us more mutually kind. Embrace the Truth, and at length change for the better, worship God oftener than you used to do; 'tis no dishonour to alter for the better, but to persist in a bad course, is pernicious and deadly. farewell East and West, for whom and by whom we are opposed and troubled, witness he that can make us quiet, if a few would but give way, and imitate my Resignation. A thing that may be done without any considerable disadvantage; for they lose not God, who desert their Thrones, but secure to themselves a Throne above, much more sublime and safe. But above and beyond all other things, I'll cry, farewell Angels, the Tutelar Guardians of this Church, and both of my company and departure, so long as my Affairs are in the hands of God. farewell Trinity, my Meditation, and my Ornament; mayst thou be secured to them, and do thou secure and keep safe this my People( mine I call them, though we are now under another management of Affairs) and let me hear the news of it every day, how much thou art increased and advanced both by the Doctrine and the Life of thy Professors. Little Children, keep that which I have committed to you, remember my being stoned. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all, Amen.  
We may imagine what impression so passionate an Oration from so dearly beloved a Prelate made upon the minds of the People; Rich and Poor 
de vit. sua. p. 30. , the Honourable and Ignoble, Strangers and Citizens were equally affencted with it, and could not with patience hear of their Pastors being ravished from them, insomuch that he himself was forced to persuade them, and ply them with such Considerations as were proper to sweeten and alloy their grief. Nay very many of the Bishops themselves detesting the rash and violent Proceedings of the Council, shaked their Heads, and went away. The exact time of his Resignation is not transmitted to us. If the date of his Will( which we shall produce hereafter) be true, it must be some time after the last of December Ann. CCCLXXXI. seeing he therein writes himself Bishop of Constantinople. But this cannot be, the Council itself not sitting so long by several Months. So that there's a necessity with Baronius 
ad Ann. 337.  to assert, that instead of {αβγδ} crept into the date by the earelesness of Transcribers, and that the Will was made the day before the Calends of June, that is, the last of May, during the sitting of the Council. And that it must be so, we have this further evidence, it being plain by a Law 
C. Th. lib 16. Tit. 1. l. 3.  of Theodosius bearing date July the XXXth. of this year, that Nectarius was then Bishop of Constantinople. Thus after three years stay( Gregorius Presbyter 
vit. Naz. p. 32  by a prodigious error makes it twelve) Nazianzen left Constantinople, and return'd into his own Country, where he reposed himself at Arianzum, his paternal Estate, where we leave him for a little time, while we return to Constantinople, and see what passed there.  
III. THE See thus vacated by Resignation, the next thing to be done, was the choosing of a Successor; and what to the Reader will seem strange and admirable, in so great a number of grave venerable Prelates there assembled, not one was picked out, but the Election was cast upon a Lay-man, which happened thus 
Soz. l. 7. c. 8. p. 713. . There was at Constantinople at that time one Nectarius a Senator, a Person of a comely presence, and of a sober and unblameable Conversation, which together with his Gray-haires( never more a Crown of honor, than when found in the way of righteousness) procured him an universal reverence and regard. Being about this time to go for Tarsus, the place of his Nativity; he came to Diodorus Bishop of that See, then one of the Council, to know what Services he would command him into his own Country, and whether he had any Letters to sand thither. Diodorus, who was just then taken up with the profound consideration of a fit Person for that place, about which there was so ambitious a Competition, beholded the man, secretly liked him, and resolved to put in for him. Without discovering any thing of his purpose, he carried him to the Bishop of Antioch, to whom he propounded the matter, and begged his vote. The good Bishop considering how many excellent Persons stood Candidates, smiled at the motion, however wished Nectarius not suddenly to depart the City. Upon the day of Election when every Bishop wrote down in a scroll the names of those Persons whom he thought fit to be presented to the Emperor; the Bishop of Antioch set down his, and to gratify his Friend, put down N●ctarius at the bottom; The Roll being presented, the Emperor once and again run over the names from top to bortom, and after all, to the amazement of the Synod, pitched upon Nectarius, a Person unknown to most of them, and upon enquiry found( what still increased their admiration) to be not only a Lay-man, but unbaptiz'd. Whereat yet the Emperor's judgement was no whit shaken, though several of the Synod took Exceptions at it; at last by general consent he was baptized, and passed through the ecclesiastic Orders, and was consecrated to that See. Some few other things of no great moment were transacted in the Synod, after which having addressed 
E●t. Epist. Conc. Tom. 2. col. 945.  themselves to the Emperor, that by his imperial Edict he would ratify the Acts of the Council, and as by his Letters he had given beginning, so by the same way he would seal up the Conclusion of it; and having prayed to Heaven for his long Life, prosperous Reign, and future happiness, they broke up, and departed into their own Countries.   

SECT. VII. His Acts from his Resignation to his death.  
He is invited to the re-assembling of the Synod at Constantinople; but refuses to come, and why. His excuse sent to the Emperor. His refusal to take upon him the charge of Nazianzum. The slanders raised upon him upon that account. Another Synod at Constantinople. The activity of the catholic Bishops against the prevalency of the Arians. The bold Address of Amphilochius to the Emperor. Theodosius ratifies the Consubstantial Doctrine, and rejects all sorts of heretics. Nazianzen's care and solicitude for the peace of the Church. The employment and Diversions of his retired Life. His frequent Infirmities. His last Will and Testament exemplified at large. This Will when made. His Age, and the time of his death. The Description of his P rson and outward shape. His Image whether set up, and worshipped in his Church. His Divine Temper of mind. His great Piety and Love to God, contempt of the World, unbias'd carriage, mortification and s lfdenial, kindness and charity, concernment for the Peace of the Church, calmness and Patience, and immovable Zeal for the catholic Faith. His natural Parts. Great famed for Learning; accuracy in Theology. honoured with the title of THE DIVINE. His way of writing. The excellency and sublimity of his style. His imitation of Isocrates. Basil, he, and Apollinaris, compared. His too much indulging the vein of Oratory, gave hint to the practise of invocating Saints. His excellent skill in Poetry. Why none of his works epitomized or mentioned by Photius. An account of his Writings.  
I. THE following year many of these Bishops re-assembled 
Theod. l. 5. c. 8. p. 207.  at Constantinople, at what time they received Letters from the Prelates of the West, attended with others from the Emperor, desiring them to come to a Synod then summoned at Rome. They excused themselves from the Journey for several reasons, which they represented by Legates with Letters 
Ext. Ep. ibid. c. 9. p. 208.  directed to Pope Damasus, S. Ambrose, and the rest of the Bishops convened at Rome, wherein they also acquaint them with the Sufferings and Persecutions of the Eastern Churches, the Faith they professed, and which the year before they had ratified in a General Council, and what provision they had made for the greater Churches, of Constantinople, Antioch, and Jerusalem. To add the gteater Reputation to their meeting, they had among others caused Nazianzen to be summoned to this second Convention at Constantinople, but he plainly refused to come to this, or indeed any other Synodical Assembly; experience( he tells 
Naz. Ep. L.V. p. 814. vid. Ep. LXVIII. p. 828.& seq. Epist. Ep. LXXXIV. p. 842.  them) had sufficiently taught him how little good was to be expected from Synods, which usually more widen, than heal up differences, where very often they clash and quarrel, wrangle and make a noise, more like a Flock of goose and Cranes, 

{αβγδ}  
{αβγδ}.  
{αβγδ}  
{αβγδ}.  
Naz. de divers. vit. gener. Car●n. X. T. 2 p. 82.   than an Assembly of wise and grave Prelates: at such meetings Strife and Contention, Pride and Ambition are wont to bear the greatest sway; and a man that interposes as a Judge, shall sooner corrupt himself, than correct and reform another. That for this reason he had retired within himself, and accounted the only safety to lie in privacy and solitude. Besides, he was at this time Prisoner to an heavy Sickness 
vid. etiam Ep. LXXVI. p. 830. , which pressed so hard upon him, that he was unable to help himself, and expected every day to breath out his last. This he desired his Friend Procopius( to whom he wrote about this matter) to intimate to the Emperor, and to beg his excuse, which he doubted not would be easily granted, the Emperor having not long since upon this very account, granted him leave to retire. And indeed he was better employed at home. At his return he found the See of Nazianzum still vacant 
Greg. Presb. ib. p. 32. . and by that means over run with error, especially the late heresy of Apollinaris. And though he was earnestly entreated to take that charge upon him, yet did he obstinately refuse it. This his Enemies took advantage of, to traduce and scandalise him, some charging him with Pride 
Naz. de reb. suis Carm. I. vid. Ep. 222. p. 909. , that he scorned the Cure of so mean a place; whereof he acquits himself by a solemn appeal to Heaven, that 'twas only Age and Infirmity, and the desire of a quiet life made him decline it; others reported 
Nazian. Ep. XLII. p. 803. vid. Ep. LIV. p. 813. , that he could not have it, though he would, and that Helladius Arch-bishop of Caesarea had laid him aside, and against his will ordained another to that place; the falsehood whereof he lays open in a letter to Gregory Nyssen, purposely written on that occasion. And indeed 'twas by his recommendation and effectual intercession 
Vid. Epist. CCXXV. p. 912.  that care was taken in it, and that the Bishops of the Province met, who ordained his good Friend Eulalius to that See. And whereas 'twas objected, that he having been Bishop of Nazianzum, it was not lawful by the Canons, to create another during his Life; he answered, that 'twas notoriously known, that though he had been made Bishop of Sasima, yet he had never been of Nazianzum, where out of reverence to his aged Father, and at the mighty importunity of the People, he had only sojourned a little while, and taken upon him the vicarious administration of that Office.  
II. IF we look back a little upon the late Transactions at Constantinople, we shall find, that notwithstanding all the pains which the good Emperor had been at to heal the Churches wounds, yet the breaches continued, and grew wider than before. However he resolved to try once more to make them up, and to that end to convene another Synod 
Socr. l. 5. c. 10 p. 267. Soz. l. 7. c. 12. p. 718. Theod. l. 5 c. 16. p. 218. , whether the heads of the several Parties should be summoned; and advising with Nectarius about it, he gave him order to prepare the most material Points then in difference, that they might be debated with all possible accuracy, and the Faith of the Church reduced to one common Standard by mutual consent. And the better to sweeten the humours of the several Parties, he endeavoured to oblige them by acts of Grace, receiving them with Caresses, and conniving at the Exercises of their Religion. The catholic Bishops were greatly troubled at this liberty indulged to heretics, not knowing how far those subtle Agents might work upon the good nature of the Emperor. Whereupon Amphilochias Bishop of I●●ti●m went to him, and in the name of the rest requested, that the Arian Conventicles might be suppressed, and they dismissed the City. But the Address being rejected, the good Bishop to convince him of his error by a more sensible demonstration, came a second time to Court, and having paid the usual reverence to the Emperor, took little or no notice of the young Prince Arcadius, whom Theod●sius had but a little before made his Colleague in the Empire. The Emperor quickly discerned the slightingness of his carriage, and thinking it had proceeded from forgetfulness, called to him, and commanded him to pay the accustomend respects to his Son. The Bishop replied, the honor he had given him was enough. Whereat the Emperor began to storm, and  told him he looked upon a contempt done to his Son, as offered to himself. You see then, Sir,( replied the Bishop) how little you can bear an affront offered to your Son, and how angry you are with them that do it; think now with yourself, and be assured, that God the great King of the World, does much more resent and detest th s● that blaspheme his only begotten Son, as Persons extremely ingrateful to their Saviour and best Benefactor. The Emperor was quickly sensible of the rebuk, and needed no more Application to dispose him to a compliance with the Petition of the catholic Bishops. However that things might be carried in the fairest manner, the Synod met in June Ann. CCCLXXXIII. But the Emperor having altered his Resolution, of having things canvased in a way of public Disputation, commanded the Principals of every Sect to present an account of their Faith in writing, which they did accordingly. These being brought in, he took the Papers, and retiring into his Closet, earnestly begged of God his assistance and direction in the search of Truth. This done, he red over the several Confessions, and only approved and set his Seal to that which contained the Consubstantial Doctrine, the rest he tore in pieces, the Authors of them returning home with shane and sorrow. All which Theodosius a few dayes after ratified by two very strict Constitutions 
L. 11.& 12. C. Th. lib. 16. Tit. V.  against all sorts of heretics, especially the Eunomians, Arians, Macedonians, and some others particularly name, prohibiting them under severe Penalties, to meet either in public or private, either in City or Country, or so much as to ordain any Bishops of their several Parties. But these Laws met with a very slacken and gentle Execution.  
III. THOUGH Nazianzen refused to be present at this, or indeed any other Synodal Convention, yet how much he was concerned for the happy issue and success of it, viz. the Peace of the Church, appears from two Letters of his written upon this occasion: one 
Epist. LXXI. p. 828.  to Posthumianus, the Praetorian perfect, to whom also the Emperor had directed the two Laws we mentioned; the other to Saturninus 
Ep. LXXII. ibid. , the same, probably, who was Consul this year; assuring them, that though he had withdrawn himself from public Affairs, it was not, as some imagined, from any discontent for the loss of the great place he had quitted, and that he could not abandon the common interests of Religion; that his retirement was a matter of choice more than necessity, and was to him a most welcome and happy opportunity, wherein he took as great a pleasure, as a man that has been tossed in a long storm at Sea, does in a safe and a quiet harbour. And indeed being now freed from all external cares and troubles, he entirely gave up himself to solitude and Contemplation, and to the exercises of a strict and devout life. At vacant hours he would refresh the wearinesses of old Age with his poetic Studies 
Gr. Prisb. p. 33. , which he generally spent upon Divine Subjects, and serious Reflections upon the former passages of his Life, an account whereof he drew up in iambics, whence we have derived no inconsiderable parts of our Story. And thus he passed the remainder of his dayes, till death overtook him, which he had long expected. Indeed his frequent Infirmities( for though naturally of an healthful Constitution, hard Study, and an over-rigid abstinence had greatly impaired his health, and subjected him to many severe Distempers, whereof he complains at every turn, especially in his Epistles, these, I say) had kept awake in him a constant sense of his Mortality, and he entertained every Sickness as a Messenger of death. He had some years since made his Will, a Copy whereof is still extant, said in the Title to have been transcribed from the Original, subscribed with his, and the Witnesses own hands. That it is genuine, there appears no just cause to doubt, the Exceptions to it being weak and trifling, and the thing itself not much controverted by the most nice and critical Censors 
Rivet. Crit. Sac. l. 3. c. 22. p. 343.  of the Fathers Writings, which therefore we shall here insert as a Monument of ancient Piety, and a Record of this good man's Humility and Charity.  

The most excellent Flavius Eucherius, and Fl. Evagrius being Consuls, the day before the Calends of January,[ that is, December the last.]  
I Gregory Bishop of the catholic Church of Constantinople, being alive and considerate, of a sound Iudgment, and perfect understanding, have made this my last Will and Testament, which I will and command to be firm and valid in all Courts and upon all occasions. For I have now declared my mind, and have consecrated my whole Estate to the catholic Church at Nazianzum, for the relief of the Poor belonging to the said Church. For which purpose, according to this determination, I have appointed three Over-seers for the Poor, Marcellus Deacon and Monk, Gregory the Deacon, and Eustathius the Monk, who both of them were of my Family. And having still the same affection towards the holy Church of Nazianzum, I continue in the same purpose and Resolution. Whensoever therefore I shall happen to depart this life, let the abovesaid Gregory Deacon and Monk, who was of my Family, and whom heretofore I manumitted, be Heir to all my Estate movable and immovable, wheresoever it be( all other Heirs I renounce) upon condition, that he restore my whole Estate, movable and immovable to the holy catholic Church of Nazianzum, deducting nothing, but what in this my Will either by way of trust, or Legacy I have privately bequeathed to some few Persons; but that all the rest be intireiy reserved to the said Church, as becomes one that has the fear of God before his eyes, and knows that I have ordained and disposed my whole Estate to the use of the Poor of that Church, and have appointed him Heir for this very end, that by his means it may be kept safe and without fraud for the Church aforesaid.  
The Servants whom I have manumitted either out of my own good will, or according to the command of my Parents of blessed memory, my will is, that they shall still enjoy their freedom, and all their own proper Goods without disturbance or molestation.  
Item, I will, that Gregory the Deacon, my Heir, together with Eustathius the Monk, both of them heretofore of my Family, shall possess my Mannor of Arianzum, which came to our Family as part of Reginus's Estate. As for the breed-Mares, and the Sheep, which when I was there, I commanded to be delivered to them, the full and absolute disposal whereof, I committed to them; I Will that they enjoy them undisturbed by the right of Lordship and Dominion. Moreover it is especially my Will, that Gregory the Deacon, and my Heir, who has so faithfully ministered to me, shall by a peculiar right of Dominion have fifty pieces of Gold.  
To the venerable Virgin Russiana, my Kinswoman, I have commanded a certain yearly allowance to be paid for her liberal maintenance, which my will is, shall according to the Form of settlement, be duly and without delay paid her every year. And whereas hitherto I could determine nothing concerning her Habitation, not knowing in what place she had most mind to settle; now my Will is, that wheresoever she shall choose, an House be provided for her, suitable to her quality, and to the modest and honest Conversation of a Virgin, which she shall have to her use without any molestation during her life, but after her decease it shall return to the Church. I Will also that she have two Maidens, such as she shall choose, who shall stay with her while she lives; and whom, if they desire it, she shall have power to make free, otherwise they also shall belong to the Church.  
Theophilus my Servant, who now waits upon me, I have manumitted, and Will that a Legacy of five Nomismata be paid him. I also set at liberty his Brother Eupraxius, to whom I bequeath five pieces of Gold. I Will likewise that Theodosius my Notary and Amanuensis have his Freedom, and that a Legacy of five pieces of Gold be given him also.  
My will is, that pardon be begged of my dear Niece 
{αβγδ}.  Alypiana;( for the other two, Eugenia and Nonna, their Conversation is such, as not to challenge any great regard from me) that I could leave her nothing, having already settled all upon the Poor, or rather herein performed the Will of my blessed Parents, who so designed it, to defeat whose intentions were neither just nor safe. Whatever remains of my Brother Caesarius's Wardrobe, either Silk, linen, or Woollen, or Horse-trappings and Ornaments, I will that they be bestowed upon my said Nieces Children, and that neither she, nor her Sisters, do upon that or any other account create any trouble either to my Heir, or to the Church.  
As for my Kinsman( {αβγδ}) Meletius, let him know that he holds the Farm at Apenzinsum, which was Euphemius's, by an unjust Title. Concerning which, I have heretofore often written to Euphemius, charging him with carelessness and cowardice, if he did not recover it. And by these presents I testify to all Magistrates and People, that Euphemius is greatly wronged, and that the Farm ought to be restored to him.  
I Will that the Purchase of the Farm at Canotala be delivered up to my Son the most reverend Bishop Amphilochius. For it appears from my Papers, and 'tis what every one knows, that the Contract was discharged, and that I received the Money, and long since gave him up the Propriety and right of Possession.  
To Evagrius the Deacon, who has been partaker with me in my many Labours and Sufferings, and who in so many instances has endeared his kindness to me, I return hearty thanks before God and men, and for greater things God reward them into his bosom. But that I may not leave him without some small Testimony of my respect and love, my Will is, that he have given him one Friez Coat, one Tunick, two Cloaks, and thirty pieces of Gold. Item, I give to our dear Brother and Fellow-Deacon Theodulus, one course Friez Garment, two of our Country-Coats, and twenty pieces of Gold according to the rate of our own Country. Item, Tu Elaphius the Notary, a good man, and who while he attended my service, was very diligent and useful to me, I bequeath one Friez Garment, two Coats, three Cloaks, one single unlin'd Garment, and twenty pieces of Gold of the Money of our own Country.  
This my Testament I Will shall stand firm and valid in all Courts, and before all Tribunals; or if it take not place as a Testament, yet as my last Will, or as a Codicel, I require that it take place. And whoever shall attempt to overthrow it, shall give an account for it at the day of Iudgment, and receive his reward.  
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the holy Ghost; I Gregory Bishop of the catholic Church at Constantinople, have reviewed this my Will and Testament, and having approved all things in it, have subscribed it with my own hand, and do Will and Command that it be of full force and Power.  
I Amphilochius Bishop of the catholic Church at Iconium, was present at the making the Will of the most venerable Bishop Gregory, and being requested by him, have subscribed it with my own hand.  
I Optimus Bishop of the catholic Church at Antioch( in Pisidia) was present when the most reverend Bishop Gregory made the above-written Testament, and at his request have subscribed it with mine own hand.  
I Theodosius Bishop of the catholic Church at Ida was present at the Testament of the most venerable Bishop Gregory, and at his request subscribed with my own hand.  
I Theodosius Bishop of the catholic Church at Apamea was present, &c.  
I Hilary Bishop of the catholic Church at Isauria was present, &c.  
I Themistius Bishop of the catholic Church at Hadrianople was present, &c.  
I Cledonius Presbyter of the catholic Church at Iconium was present, &c.  
I John Reader and Notary of the most holy Church at Nazianzum, have transcribed and published the Copy of the sacred Will and Testament of Gregory the holy and famous Divine, which was recorded and laid up in the venerable Church committed to my Charge.   
IV. THIS Will( as appears from the date of the Consuls, and some other passages in the Instrument itself) was made not long before his Resignation of the See of Constantinople, probably upon occasion of that weak sickly condition he was then in. Though whether the Month mentioned in the date be not mistaken, and January put for June, we have before observed cause enough to suspect, and indeed to conclude in the Affirmative. Several of the Legacies bequeathed in it, immediately relate to the Habits and Customs of his own Country of Cappadocia, and the places where his Relations were, and his Estate lay, without the knowledge whereof, 'tis no easy matter readily to understand them. And it is no small justification of the truth and sincerity of this Record, that he so oft elsewhere mentions his divesting himself of his Estate, and settling it upon the Poor. Eight years he lived after his making of this Will, and died in his own Country, and( probably) where he was born, at his own House at Arianzum. S. Jerom, who finished his Catalogue Ann. CCCXCII. says, that he died three years before that time, that is, Ann. CCCLXXXIX. At what time he was arrived, says Gregorius the Presbyter, at a very great Age. And it must needs be so, if it be true what Suidas reports, that he lived above ninety years, and died in the XIIIth. of Theodosius, Ann. CCCXCI. But how this can be reconciled with his being but thirty years old,( which himself affirms) when he was at Athens, Ann. CCCLIV. I see not. It remains then according to this account, and the date of his death assigned by S. Jerom, that he was LXV. years of Age at the time of his death.  
V. AS to his Person, he( as 
Inter testimonia veter. Oper. Naz. Praefix.  Simeon Metaphrastes tells us) was of a middle Stature, of a sweet and pleasant Countenance, somewhat pale, but withall of a graceful and amiable look, his Nose a little flat and low, his eye-brows grew upright, his right eye, which a Scar had contracted, looked a little heavy, his Beard short, but thick, and black in the upper part of it. He was in a great measure bald, what hair he had being Milk-white. His Image made to the Life, was after his death( though not till some Ages after) set up in the Church, where 'twas worshipped( they say) with great Veneration, and became famous for working Miracles, particularly that of Constantine 
Cidren. compend. in vit. Mich. Balb. p. 497.  the Son of lo Armenus the Emperor, who being struck dumb, by the help of it recovered his Speech. But the best on't is, we are not to be taught at this time of day, what credit to give to reports of that nature, started in the middle and latter Ages of the Church, and what Artifices were used after the time of the second Nicene Council to justify the Doctrine, and to buoy up the Reputation of Image-worship. Nor does Cedrenus( whatever Baronius 
ad Ann. 389.  affirms in this Case) say, that Constantine worshipped the Image, but that he prayed to God and S. Gregory, whose Image was in that place. But whatever he might do after his death, we are sure he did great things while he was alive. His Soul was seasoned with an early sense of Religion, and the Seeds of Piety which his good Mother sowed betimes, grew up, and produced answerable Fruits, and the whole course of his life was but an accomplishment of that solemn Vow which she made to God before he was born, that she would entirely resign him up to him. There was nothing too hard which he could not cheerfully suffer, no interest too dear, which he could not freely part with for God; and though he had excellencies and endowments that render a man great in the eye of the World, Estate, Honour, Health and Learning, yet he profess d 
Orat. l. p. 32.  this was the greatest advantage he reaped by them, that he had something that he could contemn, and by which he could show how infinitely he valued Christ before them. Never was any less a Slave 
vid. Orat. XXVII. p. 4●8& Carm. de reb. s●is, p. 32.  to the World, whose Frowns and Charms he equally despised and shunned; never any more truly observed the just measures of strictness and abstinence, of mortification and self denial. He was of a Temper extremely averse 
Or. XXVII. p. 465 vid. Ep. CXCI. p. 889.  to flattery and servility, and of the two, choose rather to be censured for a Clown than a Courtier, sparing none, but smartly reproving his best Friends when they did amiss. And therefore when some of them expected thanks for the mighty Zeal they had shew'd for his advancement to the See of Constantinople, he treated them with so much sharpness for that unkind piece of friendship, that they afterwards flew off, and became his Enemies. His Charity was boundless, and he cared not within how narrow Circumstances he confined himself, so he might but enlarge those of the Poor, whom he plentifully relieved all his life, and at his death settled a very considerable Estate upon them. He loved his Enemies( whom his Zeal, and the stiffness and bluntness of his Temper had raised up to him in no small numbers) and treated them with all softness and gentleness, and could more easily forgive an injury, than another man commit it. He passionately studied 
vid. Or. XIV p. 214.  the Peace of the Church, and Unity amongst Christians, which with all his interest and eloquence he endeavoured to promote wherever he came; and he glories 
Or. XII. p. 196 XIX. p. 297.  in it as the ancient and honourable Temper of his Church at Nazianzum, that it was not rent in pieces by Schisms and Factions, and was therefore frequently called Noah's Ark, because they had kept alive among themselves the Seeds of true Peace and Piety, and had alone escaped that universal Deluge of dissension and Disorder, that had overflowed the Christian World. Nothing troubled him so much as to see Christians clashing with one another, for whose re union he professed he could willingly fall a common Sacrifice; and therefore when he considered the admirable Lives of the Macedonian Party, in a mighty transport of Zeal he wished 
Orat. XLIV. p. 711.  himself accursed from Christ, and ready to undergo the most direful sentence, so they might but close with the Consubstantial Faith, and be re-united to the catholic Church. While engaged in the Disputes( as he all along was) of that quarrelsome and contentious Age, he managed himself with all imaginable calmness and Patience, and over-came 
Or. XXXII. p. 518.  his Adversaries not more by the goodness of his Cause and the strength of his Reasons, than by the sweetness and the mildness of his Temper. He did not encounter them with fierce Clamours, and virulent Revilings, like many who instead of Reason and Argument, vomit up nothing but bitter Calumnies and Reproaches, and hid a bad Cause under noise and scuffle; just( says he) like the Fish Sepia, which being in danger to be taken by the Fisherman, throws out abundance of black Matter, which discolouring the Water all about, it safely escapes under that Covert. No, he made it appear 'twas the Cause of Christ he contended for, while he closely imitated him, who was so meek and peaceable, and endured the contradiction of Sinners against himself. Though it cannot be denied, but that sometimes, especially in his Invectives against Julian, his vein of Oratory( which he indulges upon all occasions) meeting with a mighty Zeal and concernment for Religion, transported him now and then to passionate Aggravations, and to treat the memory of that great Prince with less decency and respect, than what a calmer and more unprejudiced consideration of things would have obliged him to. But that was a Case extraordinary, nor do I question but that had he foreseen the ill consequences of such rash and warm transports, he would as readily have retracted them, as he gave vent to them. However, even in ordinary Cases, his love to Peace did not prejudice his Zeal for Truth 
vid. Orat. I. p. 34. , from which no Considerations were strong enough to draw him; in defence of the catholic Doctrine he prayed and preached, wrote and disputed upon all Occasions, and was not scared either with the malice, or number, or greatness of his Enemies. He wanted neither fair Proposals on the one hand, nor threatenings, and the most severe and rugged usage on the other, but he equally defied both, and made good what he so earnestly desired 
Orat. VI. p. 141. , that he might be able with all freedom and impartiality to maintain that Confession of Faith, which the ancient Fathers had committed as a noble Depositum to the Church, to the last minute of his Life. He was( to say no more than what one 
Basil. Epist. CXLI. p. 163.  who best knew him, says of him) {αβγδ} a chosen Vessel, a profound Treasure, and the mouth of Christ; and justly deserved the Character Rufinus 
prologue. in op. Naz. p. 776.  gives of him, that he was in all things an incomparable Person, eminent both for his Doctrine and his Life, the greatest light of the Church, who taught what he practised, and practised what he taught.  
VI. THESE Divine and excellent Qualities were attended with the natural Graces of a sublime Wit, subtle Apprehension, clear judgement, an easy and ready Elocution, and all these set off with as great a stock and furniture of human Learning, as the Schools of the East, as Alexandria or Athens itself was able to afford. At his being there he had grown up into so universal an Esteem and Reputation, that he was become the Glory of the University, and the talk of the Town and Country, and even in that eye of the World had the Professors Chair forced upon him. And afterwards when he applied himself to the Study of Theology, and did {αβγδ}, as himself speaks 
Or. XXVII. p. 466. , ennoble his Tongue with Divine Learning, and Eloquence, which he had enriched before with human Ornaments, he attained to so great accuracy and perfection in it, that his judgement was in a manner, made the Standard and Rule of Orthodoxy, he being the only 
Rufin. ubi supra.  Person, whose Faith even the dissenting Parties among themselves could not call in question, having obtained this honor both with God and Man, that whoever presumed to oppose his Doctrine, was for that very reason judged an heretic, it being accounted a plain evidence of a man's unsoundness in the Faith, who in any thing materially differed from him. So even and well-poiz'd his judgement in the weightiest Cases, so sublime his Speculations in the abstrusest Articles, so exact and critical his Determinations in the nicest Controversies, so ready and apposite his Citations out of the holy Scriptures, so accurate and eloquent his Sermons, that he seemed born for this as his peculiar Province 
{αβγδ}. Philoth. Patr. C P. enc●n. S. Pp. B●●. Greg.& Chrys. Biblioth. Pp. g●. l●t. Tom. II. p. 330. , and hence had the Title of {αβγδ}, THE DIVINE, by unanimous consent fixed upon him, a Title besides himself never communicated to any but S. John the Evangelist; a Title which he has worldly born through all Ages to this day. In all his discourses there breaths a singular vein of seriousness and Devotion, and 'tis hard to say which a man ought to admire most, his Eloquence or his Piety. There s a strange smartness and briskness in his Periods, his Sentences are short and quick, and comprehend a vast deal of incomparable sense in a few words, and yet neither does the shortness of his Periods prejudice the excellency of his Argument, nor the sublimeness of his Argument make his discourse obscure and unintelligible. Whatever the subject be he takes in hand, whether in the persuasive, encomiastic, or Forinsick way, he always manages it to the utmost perfection of its kind, seldom or never descending below the accustomend majesty and sublimity of his Discourses. 'tis this renders his Tracts so incapable of being translated with any Proportion of accuracy to the Original, and Erasmus to whom the Western Church is so much indebted for his Emendations and Versions of the ancient Fathers, confesses 
Lib 26 Epist. 33. col. 1446. , he was altogether affrighted and discouraged from attempting the Translation of Nazianzen, from the acumen and smartness of his style, the grandeur and sublimity of his Matter, and those somewhat obscure Allusions that are frequently interspersed among his Writings. In the Vein and Character of his speaking he much imitated 
Hieron. de Script. Suid. in v. {αβγδ}.  Polemon of Laodicea, Professor of rhetoric at Smyrna, and Tutor to Aristides the famous Orator, and one who was long before them both, Isocrates of Athens, whom he seems peculiarly to have propounded for his imitation. He was perhaps the only Person( as a learned Patriarch 
Philoth. loc. citat.  has observed) that attained to the true temper of the grecian Eloquence, the Fucus, and the affencted and trifling part whereof he slighted, digesting only what was pure and simplo, grave and chast, and thereby gave new Laws to Eloquence, and introduced a better Idea and Form of speaking than the World had generally known before. Philostorgius( who lived partly at that time, and who, as he was able to judge, so cannot be suspected partial in his censure, being no great Friend to any of the catholic side) comparing together that triumvirate of learned Homoousiasts, Basil, Gregory, and Apollinaris, who all flourished at the same time, makes no scruple to give sentence for Nazianzen. Apollinaris( says he 
H. Eccl. l. 8. c. 11. p 514.& ap. Suid. in V. {αβγδ}. ) being advantaged by his skill in Hebrew, was sitter for Commentaries upon the Scripture; Basil excelled in the panegyric way, but with respect to both, Nazianzen must be allowed to have a more noble and excellent style, being more fluent and copious than Apollinaris, and more firm and solid than Basil. I do not deny but S. Basil's style is more smooth and easy, more unforced and natural; but withall Nazianzen's is more lofty and Masculine, more sententious and periodical; and upon the whole matter, considering the profoundness of his Learning, the grandeur of his Eloquence, the smartness of his Wit, the gravity and substantialness of his sense, I doubt not to affirm, that as he lived in the most learned Age of the Church, so he was the best Scholar of that Age. Indeed it cannot be denied, but that now and then he too far indulges the vein of Oratory, especially in his encomiastics, wherein he sometimes takes a liberty of making 
Vid. Or. III. p. 50. XIX. p. 288. 314. XX p. 372. XXII. p. 397. XI. p. 189. XVIII. p. 286.  addresses to the dead, which succeeding times, when Superstition began to advance with a quicker peace, improved into formal Invocations, and downright Prayers to departed Saints. But then 'tis to be considered, that as he does not assert this dogmatically, but expresses himself with doubtfulness and hesitancy( {αβγδ}, if there be any sense in departed Souls of things here below) so 'tis done more Oratorio, according to the liberty which Orators are wont to take, who tie not up themselves to strict nice rules, especially his great Master Isocrates, who more than once 
Vid. Iso●r. Evag. in ●nit. p. 189.  uses such Schemes of Speech, and from him probably he borrowed them, as his own Greek Scholiast 
In {αβγδ}. p. 2.  long since noted in this very Case. Besides his skill in Theology, Philology, Philosophy, and rhetoric, he was, says Suidas, {αβγδ}, eminent in Poetry, wherein he wisely employed his Talent to the common use and benefit of Christians; witness his incomparable Poems in all kinds of Verse, and upon all serious and useful Arguments, composed to the envy and admiration of the best men among the Heathens: So that it was not untruly said of him, that though he had arrived to no considerable eminency in his other Writings, yet his very Poems, so much above those of the Ancients, would have proclaimed him to have been a great and an extraordinary Person. His Works have in all Ages met with a just Esteem and Veneration, and by all men of Wisdom and judgement have been admired and magnified, and held inimitable, and especially his Theological Orations have been accounted( says Philotheus 
Ibid. p. 331. ) Nectar or Ambrosia, and in the holy Language, divine Manna and the Bread of Angels. And it seems not a little strange to me, that the great and the learned Photius, whom nothing escaped that fell within the ordinary Road of Learning, should have noted nothing out of the Writings of this venerable Father; nor do I believe any other account of it can be given, than that he did it in some part of that Work that has miscarried, or at least in those private Conferences, wherein he was wont to recite to his Brother, and some select friends, the summary recapitulation of what Books he had red( as he tells us in his Letter 
Ep. Praefix. Biblioth. col. 1.  to his Brother Tarasius) the present Bibliotheca being but an account of what Authors he had recited at those meetings, when Tarasius was absent. Two considerable advantages Nazianzen has had beyond most of the ancient Fathers; one, that few supposititious Tracts have been entitled to him, and those few not worthy of his great name; the other, that not many of his Books are lost, most( if not all) of what he wrote, being( for any thing we know) still extant. Whereof in the last place we proceed to present the Reader with this following account.   

His WORKS.  

Genuine.  
Apologeticus de fuga sua.  
Oratio, postquam factus est Presbyter.  
In Julianum Imper. Invectivae II.  
Oratio post reditum ex fuga.  
Oratio ad Gregorium Nyssenum.  
Apologeticum cum Sasimorum Episcoporum factus est.  
Oratio, cum cura Eccles. Nazianz. ei commissa est.  
Oratio de suis sermonibus,& ad Julianum exaequatorem.  
Oratio funebris in laudem Caesarii fratris.  
Oratio funebris in laud. sororis suae Gorgoniae.  
De place Orationes III.  
Oratio in plagam Grandinis.  
Oratio de pauperum amore.  
Ad cives Nazianz. gravi timore perculsos,& praefectum irascentem.  
Oratio in laudem Cypriani Martyris.  
Oratio funebris in laudem patris sui.  
Oratio funebris in laud. Basilii magni.  
Oratio in laudem magni Athanasii.  
Oratio in Machabaeorum laudem.  
Oratio in laudem Heronis, revera, Maximi Cynici.  
Oratio in Aegyptiorum adventum.  
Oratio ad Arianos,& de seipso.  
Oratio de moderatione in Disputationibus servanda.  
Ad eos, qui ipsum Cathedram C P. affectare, dicebant.  
Oratio, post reditum in urbem.  
Oratio de dogmate,& constitutione Episcoporum.  
Oratio habita in electione Eulalii Doarensium Episcopi.  
In illud, cum consummasset Iesus hos sermons, &c.  
Oratio in praesentia CL. Episcoporum habita.  
De Theologia Orationes V.  
Oratio Panegyrica in Christi nativitatem.  
Orat. Panegyrica in S. Lumina.  
In Sanctum Baptisma.  
In Pascha,& in tarditatem.  
Orat. secunda in pascha.  
In novam Dominicam.  
In Sanctam Pentecosten.  
Orat. seu Epistola ad Nectarium C P. Episcopum.  
In laudem Martyrum,& adv. Arianos.  
Tractatus de fide. Lat.  
Ad Cledonium Presbyterum Orat. seu Epistolae II. Epistolae aliae CCXLII.  
Testamentum.  
De vita sua carmine Iambico.  
Poemata LXIV. varii argumenti carmine Heroico.  
Alia LXXVIII. varii argumenti,& diverso metrorum genere.  
De Episcopis,& de hominum ingratitudine Quaerela. latin.   

Doubtful.  
Orat. seu Epistola ad Evagrium monachum de Divinitate.  
Significatio in Ezechielem.   

Supposititious.  
Metaphrasis seu Translatio in Ecclesiastem, quam Gregorii Thaumaturgi opus esse constat.  
Christus patience, Tragaedia: quam ab Apollinare Laodiceno scriptam esse verisimile est.     

THE LIFE OF S. CYRIL, BISHOP OF JERUSALEM. 
S. CYRILLUS HIEROSOLYM   portrait of Cyril of Jerusalem  
His Original uncertain. The first mention of him. The Renown of Maximus Bishop of Jerusalem. Cyril ordained Presbyter of that Church. Made Catechist. His Catechistick Lectures when red. The perplexed account of his Succession to that See. The Relation of it by S. Jerom. Imputations of Arianism unjustly charged upon him. cleared by Theodorit and the Synod at Constantinople. Another Cyril in those dayes Bishop of Jerusalem mistaken for ours. What contributed to the mistake. The time of his entrance upon that bishopric. The miraculous appearance of the sign of the across in the Heavens stretching over Jerusalem. Cyrils Letter to the Emperor, giving an Account of that Apparition. Some Remarks upon that Letter. His quarrel with Acacius Bishop of Caesarea, about the Metropolitick Rights. The great Reputation of the Church of Jerusalem. Recriminations passing between Cyril and Acacius. Acacius in a Palestine Synod deposes Cyril. Strange Confusion about the Persons succeeding in that See during the Arian Prevalency. The different Accounts given of this matter represented. A Reconciliation of Writers in this Case impossible. Cyril mortally hated and undermined by Eutychius. The Arian intruders wholly omitted by Theodorit. Cyril's Anti-remonstrance to Acacius's Sentence, and Appeal to the Emperor. His retirement to Sylvanus Bishop of Tarsus, and constant Preaching there. His appearing at the Synod at Seleucia, and referring his Cause to the judgement of that Council. His refusal to withdraw out of the Synod as a Person deposed. Acquitted and restored by the Council. Acacius his Complaint against him to the Emperor. The Crimes charged upon him, and aggravated by Acacius. He is again deposed, and banished. His return to the See under the reign of Julian. Julian's great kindness and favour to the Jews, and resolution to repair their Temple, and restore their Worship, upon what account. His Letter to them to that purpose. His Conference with their Chiefs about this matter. What he propounded to himself in this design. Preparations made for the undertaking. expenses allowed, and Overseers appointed by the Emperor. The Vanity of this attempt declared to them by Cyril. Their endeavours in building frustrated by extraordinary storms, earthquakes, and fire from Heaven. Black Crosses impressed upon the clothes of the Jews. Many converted by these miraculous appearances and attestations. The Jews finding S. John's Gospel in a Cave at the clearing the Foundations reported by Philostorgius. The truth of the other particulars abundantly attested. Julian's Command for the building an amphitheatre at Jerusalem. The elegant reflections which S. Chrysostom makes upon this disappointment of the Jews. Cyril's flight, and return a little before the death of Valens. He prefers his Nephew Gelasius to the See of Caesarea. Gelasius who. Cyril's presiding with others in the second General Council. His public Vindication by the Testimony of that Synod. The time of his death. The description of his Person. His Character. The Catechetick Lectures his only remaining works. The genuineness of them unjustly questioned. Some exceptions against them considered. Abatements to be made for the plainness and rawness of them, and the unaccuracy of some Expressions. The main design of them to explain the Creed. What that Creed was then used in the Church of Jerusalem. His writings.  
I. IT has been no small unhappiness to the Church that the Acts of so many great and illustrious Persons have been either wholly butted in silence, or that very short and imperfect notices have been transmitted to us. Such among others has been the Portion of this excellent Bishop, concerning whom the Records of the ancient Church have preserved few memorable Passages, and a great part of those too so intricate and confused, that I should not have thought it worth either my Pains, or the Readers Patience, to pick them up, had I not hoped by collecting the scattered parcels of his Story to reflect some light upon them, and to free his Name from some gross Imputations, which ignorance or mistake have laid upon it. Who his Parents were, or what his Country is not known, though there can be no incongruity to suppose him born in Palestine, and perhaps at Jerusalem, which I find positively asserted by a late Writer 
Alegr. de vir. illustr. O. Carmelit. ad An. 386. p. 180. , lead thereunto, I believe, by no other Authority than bare conjecture. The first time we meet with him is under Macarius, the venerable Bishop of Jerusalem, a man of prime note in the Council of Nice, highly honoured by Constantine the Great, and particularly employed by him in his magnificent structures at Jerusalem. By him Cyril is said 
Soz. l. 4. c. 20. p. 570. vid. Vales. Annot. p. 126.  to have received his first Ordination, that is, probably, to the Office of a Deacon; though I must confess, the passage in Sozomen( as now extant in the Greek) as 'tis miserable transposed, so being tolerably restored, seems more naturally to refer to Maximus's than Cyril's Ordination. Macarius dying, Maximus succeeded in that See about the year CCCXXXI. A man of great Name, and deserved reputation, having been a Confessor 
Theod. l 2. c. 27. p. 109.  under the Maximian Persecution, where, according to the cruel usage of those times, he had lost his right eye, and been disabled in his right leg, the Nerves of it being cut asunder. Nor was he a more resolute defender of the Christian Faith against the Heathens, than he was of the catholic truth against the Arians, for which he was not a little maligned, and opposed by that busy and potent Faction. By him Cyril was ordained Presbyter 
Hieron. Chr. ad An. Chr. CCCXLIX. , and under him he exercised the Office of Catechist in that Church: A place of great trust, and which he discharged with answerable care and diligence, preaching, in Lent especially, almost every day. And here it was, that he red those Catechetick Lectures of his that are still extant, which S. Jerom says 
De script. in Cyril.  he composed in his younger years, and though he tells us not the just time, yet Cyril himself gives us an hint, by which we may make a very near Conjecture. For speaking 
Cyr. Catech. VI. p. 141.  concerning the rise of the Manichean heresy, he says, it began just LXX. years before, under the Reign of Probus, and that there were some then alive, who had seen the heretic. Now supposing, what Eusebius 
Chron. ad An. MMCCXCIII.  plainly asserts, and justifies by the concurrent Computation of the several Eastern Epocha's, that Manes began to broach his heresy in the second year of the Emperor Probus, that is, Ann. Chr. CCLXXVII. the LXX. years will fall in exactly with Ann. CCCXLVII. at what time he preached those Lectures to the Catechumens.  
II. THIS Exercise he, probably, continued till his Promotion to the bishopric, which happened about three years after, upon Maximus's being deposed by the Arians, as some say; upon his death, say others, and perhaps more truly. And here we must encounter with the most perplexed and intricate part of his story, I mean his succession to that See, together with the several vicissitudes and alterations that depend upon it, so brokenly and imperfectly represented by the Writers of that, and the following age, that little certainty can be picked up about it. The Account is confusedly hinted by others, but most consistently delivered by S. Jerom 
Chron. ubi supra.  to this effect; that upon Maximus's death, Acacius Bishop of Caesarea, and some others of the Arians, offered Cyril the See of Jerusalem, upon condition, that he should renounce the Ordination that he had received of Maximus, which he did accordingly, and served in that Church in the Capacity of a Deacon, and for this was rewarded with that bishopric, who thereupon subtly circumvented Heraclius, whom Maximus upon his death-bed had made his Successor, whom he divested of his Episcopal Dignity, and reduced to the station of a Presbyter. To this others add, that in order to this Design he was guilty of strange compliances with the Arians, that he sometimes varied 
Rufin. l. 1. c. 23. p. 235.  in matters of Faith, and often in point of Communion; that he was infected 
Soz. l. 7. c. 7. p 711. vid. Socr. l. 5. c. 8. p. 264.  with the Macedonian heresy, which he afterwards recanted; nay, that he was as zealous 
Script. vitae Ath. gr. l. ap. Ath. T. 2. p. 535.  for the Arian Impieties, as his Predecessor had been for the catholic truth. These are the most material parts of his Charge, to which I must needs enter my dissent, and doubt not to affirm, that as they are fastened upon him, they are built upon ignorance or mistake. Were there nothing else, 'tis enough, that he is vindicated by the Deposition of those, who were as capable to know the true state of things, as S. Jerom or any of the rest. Theodorit 
L. 2. c. 26. p. 110.  speaking of his entering upon the See of Jerusalem, says, he was a most stout and vigorous defender of the apostolic Doctrine; and the Fathers of the great Council at Constantinople in their Synodical Letter 
Ap. Theod. l. 5. c. 9. p. 211.  to Pope Damasus, style him the most reverend, and most religious Bishop Cyril, and assure us, that he had been rightly and canonically ordained by the Bishops of that Province, and had in several places suffered many very hard things from the Arian Party. Than which what could have been spoken more plain and pertinent in his justification? One such authentic and unquestionable Testimony, given by so many, and such venerable Persons, all catholic Bishops, who lived at the same time, and could not be ignorant of his Affairs; who had then his Company with them, and his Cause before them, weighs more with me, than an hundred Reports taken up at second hand, and at a peradventure by Persons at a distance, who neither accounted it their Interest, nor made it their Business nicely to inquire into things, whether they were true or false. Not that I think the things we have mentioned to have been purely fictitious, but rather to have been blended together by a careless confounding of Names and Persons. Baronius 
Ad Ann. 351. N. XXVI.  from S. Jerom tells us of four several Cyrils about this time successively Bishops of Jerusalem; but 'tis plain, the Cardinal mistook S. Jerom, who speaks but of one and the same Person, succeeding four times during the Interruptions made by the prevalency of the Arian Faction. However Epiphanius comes in seasonably to our relief, who besides ours, tell us 
Haeres. LXVI. p. 275.  of another Cyril about the same time Bishop of that See, succeeding Herennius, as he did our Cyril. And upon him, I doubt not, a great part, if not the whole, of the ill things we speak of must be discharged, the identity of Names, conformity of Times, and relation to the same Place, laying an easy Foundation of mistaking the one for the other. And perhaps it might not a little contribute to the mistake, not only that Acacius of Caesarea being Metropolitan of that Province, Cyril could not canonically be ordained without his consent, but that Cyril himself was sometimes forced by the necessity of those times, to hold some kind of correspondence with Basil of Ancyra, and other Heads of the Homoiousian or Semiarian Party, and that only in point of mutual assistance, not in joining with them in their Sentiments and Opinions, for of that, not the least footstep appears in story, nay in that famous Confession of Faith, 
Ext. ap. Epiph. Haeres. LXXIII. p. 371, 372.  offered by them to the Synod at Seleucia( where he was present, and had a great trial to come on, and did most openly side with the Semiarians) though it was subscribed by XLIII. Bishops, and several of them of Syria and Palestine, yet is not his name to be found amongst them, nor any intimation of his consenting with them. I add no more, than that S. Jerom himself 
Descript. c. 112.  elsewhere speaking unquestionably of our Cyril, says no worse of him than this, that he was oft driven out of his Church( understand him by the Arian interest) and restored again; and Nicephorus Patriarch of Constantinople in his Catalogue 
Chronograph. ap. Scal. chron. p. 308.  of Bishops, places him next to Maximus, and says, that he was banished by the Arians, and then mentions those that were set up in opposition to him.  
III. HAVING thus cleared the way to his Episcopal Throne, upon which he entred Ann. CCCXLIX. according to S. Jerom; CCCLI. according to Baronius's computation, he had not sate long in it, when a memorable accident happened, that made a great noise at that time throughout the World. About the time of Constantius his expedition against Magnentius the usurper, there appeared 
Soz. l. 4. c. 5. p. 541. Philost. l. 3. c. 26. p. 490. Naz. Orat. IV. p. 112 Niceph. l. 9. c. 32. p. 756. P. Diac. Hist. miscell. l. 11. p. 322. Chron. Alex. ad Ann. Constant. XIV. p. 678.  at Jerusalem in the Heavens the sign of the across, not streaming forth like a Comet, but in a solid and condensed body of Light, in splendour exceeding the brightness of the Sun, and being encircled with a Rainbow, which in form of a Crown compassed it round about. In length it reached from Mount Calvary to Mount Olivet, for the space of about XV. Stadia, or near two miles, and its breadth proportionable to the length. The sight was very terrible and surprising, and at once filled men with Admiration and Amazement, insomuch that the beholders came out of their Houses, threw aside their work, and fled with their Wives and Children into the great Cathedral, unanimously offering up their Prayers and Praises to Christ, and readily acknowledging this a great indication of his Divinity. Nor did it want its due effect, both upon Jews and Gentiles, many of whom it brought over to the Christian Faith. Philostorgius and some others report, that it was seen by both Armies( lying then in the Plains of Pannonia) to the great consternation of Magnentius and his Party, and the no less encouragement of Constantius and his Souldiers. But in this I must suspend my Belief, both because Sozomen says, the Emperor heard of it but by Report, and because the battle with, and Victory over Magnentius was not till the latter end of the year, many months after this Apparition. It happened on the VII. day of May about nine of the Clock in the morning, it being then the whitsun Festival, the year after the Consulship of Sergius and Nigronianus( say the Fasti Consulares of Idatius, but mistake the day which they make to be Jan. XXX.) that is, Ann. CCCLI. with whom agree all those who place it at the time of the Magnentian exp●dition, and Gall●● his going unto Antioch. The news of this wonderful and extraordinary Phaenom●non by means of strangers, who at that time had repaired thither out of Devotion to those holy places, was soon conveyed into all Parts, but especially Cyril was careful to give notice of it to the Emperor, to whom he presently dispatched a Letter, mentioned by Sozomen and others wherein he gave him an Account of the thing itself, with some Remarks of his own upon it, the whole whereof we shall here insert. 
Ext. in ca●●. Catechis. p. 549   
To the most divinely-favoured and Religious Prince, CONSTANTIUS the AUGUST. CYRIL Bishop of Jerusalem sendeth greeting.  
IV. THESE first Fruits of my Letters from Jerusalem, I sand to Your sacred Majesty, being such as may become both you to receive, and me to give: Letters, not stuffed with flattering Expressi●ns, but which give Account of divine and heavenly Visions, not which insinuate themselves by Rhetorical persuasives, but contain holy Evangelical Predictions, justifying their truth by the event of things. Others indeed of such things whence they derive their lustre, may bring golden Crowns, curiously beset with Precious Stones, wherewith they oft adorn your honourable Temples: But we Crown you not with earthly Presents, things that arising from, are confined within the verge of this lower World, but we carefully convey to your notice, the divine Efficacy of those heavenly appearances, which have happened at Jerusalem in your Reign. Not that by this means you may be brought out of a state of ignorance, and receive the first Principles of the knowledge of God( for such your improvements in Piety, that you seem able to instruct others in matters of Religion) but that you may be the firmlier established in those things, which you are wont to discourse of, and that learning hence how much God has crowned your Empire, derived to you as a paternal Inheritance, with greater Honours, and more divine and heavenly Blessings, you may be the stronglier incited to offer up, at this time especially, the highest Praises to the supreme sovereign of the World, and be inspired with a greater Vigour and Courage against your Enemies, being assured by these miraculous Attestations, that God takes a particular care of your Empire and Government. In the time of your Father Constantine, a Prince beloved of Heaven, and of blessed memory, the wholesome wood of the across was found at Jerusalem, the divine goodness granting it as a peculiar favour to him, who set himself to embrace the true Religion, that he should make discovery of the most concealed holy Places. But in your time, Sir, who have so far outgone in Devotion and Piety, God is pleased to grant Prodigies, not any longer upon Earth, but from Heaven; I mean, the blessed across of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, the only begotten Son of God, the Trophy of his Victory and Triumph over death, which shining with extraordinary beams of light, was seen lately at Jerusalem. For upon these Holy and Festival dayes of Pentecost, May the VIIth. about nine in the Morning, a vast and miraculous across formed of light appeared in the Heavens, just over the holy Golgotha, extending itself to the sacred Mount of Olaves; seen not by one or two, but clearly and evidently by the whole City; nor, as some may suspect, passing by only in a transient glance of fancy, but plainly visible to us below for very many hours together, by its lustre out-dazling the bright beams of the Sun; for otherwise being overcome, it must have been obscured by them, had it not darted out more powerful and refulgent rays of light to the Eyes of the b●holders, so that the whole City struck with fear at the amazing accident, not without a mixture of joy and gladness, instantly repaired to the Church, where you might see Persons of all Ages, young and old, men and women, yea the newly-married leaving their bridal Chambers to come thither; Christians both Inhabitants and Strangers, yea and great numbers of Gentiles from other Parts; all of them with one mouth and one accord glorifying our Lord Jesus Christ, the only begotten Son of God, and the Author of these miraculous Operations, being convinced by real experience, that the most holy Christian Religion lies not in the enticing words of man's wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of Power, and was not merely revealed by men, b●t witnessed to by God from Heaven. Wherefore we the Inhabitants of Jerusalem having beholden this miraculous Prodigy with our eyes, with all thankfulness, as becomes us, do and will adore the great God, and his only begotten Son, and both have done, and still will in this holy place offer up our continual Prayers for your Government, so dear to Heaven. I thought it not good therefore to suppress these heavenly Visions in silence, but have made it my care to convey them to you as good tidings, and instances of the Divine Benignity; that so upon the good Foundation of the Faith already embraced, building a further knowledge of what has thus strangely and supernaturally come to pass, you may have a firmer assurance in our Lord Jesus Christ; being confident according to your wonted trust, you may, as one that has God himself for your Assistant, advance the Banner of the across, the greatest ground of rejoicing, and cheerfully produce the sign that was shewed in Heaven; a Representation, at whose appearance the Heavens did greatly rejoice and triumph. This wonderful Prodigy, most religious Emperor, pursuant to the Predictions of the Prophets, and to the words of Christ recorded in the Gospel, is now fulfilled, and will hereafter be yet farther fulfilled. For when our Saviour in S. Matthew's Gospel communicated to his blessed Apostles the notices of future things, and by them imparted them to others that conversed with them, he most evidently foretold it, saying, And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in Heaven. This holy Book of the Gospels, when, as you are wont, you take into your hands, you will find these Predictions and Testimonies written there; to which I beseech you, Sir, attend with the greater care and diligence, by reason of those other things there described, and foretold by our Saviour, and which it concerns us with all fear, narrowly to observe, lest we suffer damage from those adverse Powers that watch against us. These first Fruits of my discourses, Sir, I offer to you, being the first Messages I sand from Jerusalem, to you I offer them, the sincere and most holy worshipper, together with us of Christ, the only begotten Son of God, who upon his across at Jerusalem, did according to the holy Scriptures, work out the Salvation of all mankind, where he overcame death, and by his own precious blood expiated the sins of men, and gave Spiritual Life and Immortality, and heavenly Grace to all them that believed on him. preserved by whose power and goodness, and daily blessed with greater and more eminent advances in Piety, and enriched with the Royal stem of a numerous Issue; let God the great King of the World, and the giver of all goodness, grant you a long, peaceable, and a prosperous Reign, and watch over you, as a glory to Christians, and a blessing to the whole World; let him strengthen and adorn you with all virtue, that you may still show your accustomend love and kindness both to the holy Churches, and to the Roman Empire, and enrich you with larger rewards of Piety. God Almighty grant you to us, most August and Religious Emperor, for many Periods of peaceable years, and continue you happy and prosperous, a constant Prais●r and Professor of the holy and Consubstantial Trinity, to whom, as is most due, be all Glory for ever and ever, Amen.  
From this Letter, besides the account it gives of the Prodigy, and the Reflections he makes upon it, we may observe three things with respect to Cyril himself. First, that this Epistle was written not long after his entrance upon the bishopric of Jerusalem, being the first Fruits of his Addresses to the Emperor after his promotion to it. And indeed it must be penned not many months after, if Baronius has rightly fixed the time of his Consecration to that See, which he places Ann. CCCLI. this Letter being written about the Month of May in that year. Secondly, that in the close of it he gives an evident intimation of his firm adherence to the Nicene Faith, while he so earnestly prays that the Emperor may ever own and honour {αβγδ}, the sacred and coessential Trinity. A plain confutation of those Arian Compliances, which about this very time are charged upon him. And yet far stranger is the prejudice and partiality of some late Writers 
Riv. Crits. l. 3. c. 11. p. 296, 297. , who from this very Epistle infer, either that Cyril was not the Author of it, or if so, that he was an Arian heretic. Thirdly, that notwithstanding his Declaration against Flattery, yet he prudently uses very soft words, and smooth Insinuations to the Emperor, the better to sweeten his exasperated humour against the catholics, which by the Artifices of the Arians, seldom failed to have a keen edge set upon it. And this was a course which many wise and good men made use of in their Addresses to that Emperor, who passionately loved commendation, and was above other men, a fond admirer of himself. But to return.  
V. CYRIL was going securely on in the discharge of his Pastoral Cares, when great troubles and disturbances overtook him, the spring and first mover whereof was Acacius Bishop of Caesar●a 
Soz. l. 4. c. 25. p. 583. Theod. l. 2. c. 26. p. 110 , the main Stickler for the Arian Cause, who beholded Cyril not only as his Adversary in point of opinion, but as a Competitor in point of Dignity. The truth is, Cyril looking upon his own as an apostolic See, thought himself qualified to dispute with Acac●us for the Metropolitick Rights. And herein it must be confessed he went beyond his line; for though all Antiquity had paid a mighty Reverence to the Church of Jerusalem, as a Church immediately instituted by our blessed Saviour, and that in a place which he had honoured with his Birth, Life, Sermons, and Miracles, and had made the Stage of his bloody death, a See founded by the Apostles, and from whence they issued out to propagate Christianity through the World( in which respect 'tis styled the Mother of all Churches by the Fathers 
Ap. Theo●. l. 5. c. 9. p. 211.  of the second General Council) a Church frequented by Persons of the highest Rank in all Ages, either out of Curiosity or Devotion; though upon all these accounts it had a singular Reputation, and the Bishops of it an honourable Character fixed upon them, and this particularly ratified by the Council of Nice 
Can. 7. , as a thing derived from Custom and ancient Tradition, yet was not this honour granted to it by that Council, but with a Salvo to the Rights of its own Metropolis. Acacius therefore being a man of a daring and haughty Spirit, could not brook the least Competition, but fell upon Cyril with great heat and fury. And hence commenced that quarrel, which every day ripened into a wider breach. And now Recriminations are passed on both sides, Cyril charging Acacius with Arianism, while he himself( says Sozomen) was suspected of joining with the Homoiousians, who held the Son to be of like substance with the Father; though Nicephorus, who follows Sozomen in this passage, says 
Lib 9. c. 46. p. 797.  expressly it was for that he addicted himself {αβγδ}, to those that maintained the {αβγδ}, or Consubstantial Doctrine. And this seems most probable, for why should Acacius quarrel with Cyril, for siding with the Homoiousians, when he himself at every turn appeared in the Head of that Party, though upon every new occasion he again deserted them, and joined with the high-slown Arians? And that he might yet further expose him, Acacius charged him, that in a time of raging Famine at Jerusalem, when the poor People flocked to him for relief, after all the moneys were spent, he had sold the Vessels, Utensils, Vestments, and consecrated Hangings of the Church, and that one of the Vestments had been found upon a Womans back that belonged to the Play-house by the very Person that gave it, who examining where she had it, was directed to the Merchant that had sold it, who confessed he bought it of the Bishop. Which whether true or false, served well enough for a pretence to expose the good man to popular Odium, and to make their Proceedings against him pass more smooth and currant.  
VI. UPON these pretences( little and trifling Causes they were, says Theodorit 
Ubi supr. p. 110. ) Acacius in a Convention of palestine Bishops of his own Party deposed Cyril, and driven him from Jer●salem. Who they immediately substituted in his room, is not agreed on all hands, some saying 'twas Eutychius, others Heraclius, others Herennius, or Erennis, or Ars●nius, as 'tis diversely written. The truth is, there's a woeful confusion and disturbance in the Succession of Bishops in that See, from the time of Cyril's first Deposition, till his final Restitution, some creeping in as opportunity offered, others being thrust in by the power and interest of the Arian Party. We shall here once for all present the Reader at one view, with the different accounts given in by the Writers of that, and the following Ages.  

According to S. Jerom. 
In Chron. ubi supr.  

Cyrillus.  
Eutychius.  
Cyrillus 2do.  
Irenaeus.  
Cyrillus 3tio.  
Hilarius.  
Cyrillus 4to.    
According to Epiphanius 
Haeres. LXVI. p. 275.  


Lib. 2. c. 45. p. 160.  Cyrillus.  
Erennis.  
Cyrillus alius.  
Hilarionus.    
According to Socrates 
Lib. 4. c. 30. p. 589.  

Cyrillus.  
Heraclius.  
Hilarius.  
Cyrillus iterum.    
According to Sozomen 
Lib. 4. c. 3●. p 589. ita& Nice●h. Call. l. 11. c. 2. p. 112  

Cyrillus.  
Herennius.  
Heraclius.  
Hilarius.  
Cyrillus iterum.    
According to Nicephorus 
Chron●gr. ap. Sea.. p. 308.  Patr. Cp. 

Cyrillus.  
Arsenius.  
Heraclius.  
Hilarius.     
In such confusion and variety 'twere a vain attempt to undertake a Reconciliation, either to adjust the Differences of the Persons, or to fix the times of their several Successions. A thing not possible in such a confusion of accounts, and where the Records of the Church have preserved little more than the bare names of the Persons. The Eutychius( who in S. Jerom's account succeeds next to Cyril) was doubtless the same with him mentioned by Epiphanius 
Haeres. LXXIII. p. 370, 371, 372. , and who was Bishop of Eleuth●ropolis. He had been brought up under Maximus, Cyril's Predecessor, and by him instructed in the right catholic Faith. An eye he had upon the See of Jerusalem, and looked upon Cyril as the only Person standing in his way, and though he did not openly discard the orthodox Doctrine, yet he was content to conceal and dissemble it for a time, as a means to procure Acacius's favour in his advancement to that See. To him therefore he applied himself, and took part with him in his Proceedings against Cyril, whom he mortally envied and maligned, opposing not only him, but all that stood by him and assisted him. And how they succeeded in their attempts, we shall see hereafter. I shall observe no more about this matter, but that Theodorit 
Lib. 5. c. 40. in fin. p. 249.  enumerating the Bishops that sat in the five great Patriarchal Sees from the time of Constantine, in his List of them of Jerusalem wholly omits all these interloping Bishops, and only puts down Cyril between Maximus, who went before him, and John who succeeded him in that See.  
VI. TWO whole years 
Socr. l. 2. c. 40 p. 152.  Acacius continued to city Cyril to appear; but he well knowing what Quarter he must expect from professed open Enemies, refused the Summons, whereupon the Sentence was finally denounced against him. Immediately he published an Anti-remonstrance, wherein he appealed from their judgement, to that of a greater and more solemn Judicature; and his appeal it seems was allowed by the Emperor. And though Socrates says, he was the first and the only Person that by such an appeal transgressed the Custom of the ecclesiastic Law( meaning I suppose the Nicene Canons, that require all Episcopal Causes to be determined by the Metropolitan, and the Bishops of the Province) yet was it no more than what the necessity of those times driven him to, and what had been heretofore allowed and practised in important Cases. Being by this means forced to quit Jerusulem, he went first to Antioch 
Theod. l. 2. c. 26. p. 110. , but finding that Church destitute of a Bishop, he went thence to Tarsus, where he fixed his abode with Sylvanus the venerable Bishop of that place. Nor did he here indulge himself in ease and idleness, but preached constantly to the People. But malice like the Grave, is endless and insatiable; Acacius no sooner understood where Cyril was, and of his kind Reception, but he wrote presently to Sylvanus, and gave him an account of his being deposed, and thereby rendered incapable of Communion. But he had too great a Reverence for the man to entertain slight Suggestions against him, and besides was unwilling to disoblige the People, who liked his Doctrine, and were infinitely pleased with his eloquent Sermons. So he continued in this Station till the year CCCLIX. when Constantius summoned a Synod at Seleucia. And now he thought he had a fit opportunity to bring his Cause upon the public Stage, wherefore he appeared at the Synod, and resolved to refer his Case entirely to them. The main question at the opening of the Council was, what should first come under debate, whether Matters of Faith, or the Causes of the Bishops who had been deposed, particularly of Cyril and some others, whose Cases had been peculiarly recommended by the Emperor. But it was carri●d for the former, that Doctrinal Controversies should be handled in the first place, and what the Proceedings of the Council were in that Matter, we have elsewhere related. The issue was, that no composure being to be hoped for between the dissenting Parties, Leonas the Imperial Commissioner, who favoured the Acacian Faction, after four several Sessions, broken up and dissolved the Synod. However the catholic Bishops( who were but few) together with Basil of Ancyra, Sylvanus of Tarsus, and the rest that opposed Acacius and his Party, continued sitting, and cited Acacius and his Followers to the Synod, to make good their charge against Cyril and others, but they refused to come. Indeed Acacius at the very beginning of the Council had refused to take his place, unless Cyril, as a Person deposed, were excluded the Synod. And when some, out of an eager desire of Peace, persuaded him to withdraw, assuring him, that as soon as they had discussed Matters of Faith, they would proceed to the Examination of his Case, he refused, not knowing but his retiring might be interpnted an Argument of his guilt, at least give his Enemies too great an advantage against him. After several Summons to no purpose, the Synod proceeded against the absent Bishops; some they suspended from Communion, till they had given satisfaction in the Crimes charged upon them, among whom were Asterius, Eusebius, Eutyohius, &c. others they deposed, especially Acacius, the head of the Party, George of Alexandria, Uranius of Tyre, and many more; nor is any doubt to be made( though the Acts of that Synod mention it not) but they restored Cyril and the rest that had been deposed by the Acacian Party.  
VII. THINGS being thus managed in the Council at Seleucia, while Legates were preparing to carry an Account to the Emperor at Constantinople, Acacius 
Socr. l. 2. c. 41 p. 153. &c. Soz. l. 4. c. 24. p. 579. c. 25. p. 583.  was got thither before them, who having made his Interest at Court, and represented the Seleucian Synod under a Character bad enough, procured a little Convention of neighbour Bishops to be summoned to Constantinople, wherein he proceeded against the chief of the Seleucian Fathers, but especially against Cyril. It was laid to his Charge, that he had holden Communion with Eustathius and Elpidius, who had endeavoured to subvert the Decrees of the Synod of Melitina, whereof he himself had been a principal Member; that after his being deposed by the Palestine Bishops, he had communicated with Basil of Ancyra, and George of Laod●c●a; that he had contested with Acacius of Caesar●a about the Power and Rights of the Metropolitanship, pretending Jerusalem to be an apostolic See. But that which most exasperated 
T●●od. ib. c. 27. p. 111.  the Emperor against him, was the story of his selling the dedicated Vestments of the Church, and their being by that means exposed to profane uses. For now the story was again dressed up, and set off with fresh Aggravations; the Emperor being  told, that it was a rich Cope▪ all wrought with Gold, given by his Father Constantin● the Great, when he built that Church, to Macarius the Bishop, to be worn upon the greater Festivals, when he celebrated the Baptismal O●fice; that this Cope Cyril had exposed to sale, and that it had been bought by a common Player, who dancing in it upon the public Theatre, had fallen down, and with the fall bruised himself, and died. And now, S●r, said Acacius, See how fit those men are to judge and p●ss Sentence upon others, that have such an Assessor to join with them. Having laid this load upon him, they proceeded next to censure and deprive him, and twelve others with him, whom they deposed and banished. Ten of the Assembly refused to subscribe the Decree for deposing these Prelates, who for their Obstinacy were presently suspended from all Episcopal acts, either of ministry or Jurisdiction, with further provision, that unless within six months, they complied with the Sentence and Proceedings of the Synod, they also should be deposed, and the Bishops of the respective Provinces choose others in their room. Notice whereof they immediately dispatched to all places, with command, that the Synodal Orders should be observed and put into execution.  
VIII. IN this state of banishment, Cyril continued during the short remainder of Constantius's Life, who dyed within less than two years after. Julian, who succeeded, among other acts of grace and favour, whereby he sought to recommend himself and his Government to the People, restored 
Id. l. 3. c. 4. p. 127.  the Bishops that had been banished in the time of his Predecessor. An opportunity, which Cyril, I doubt not, made use of to return to his own See. And indeed there we find him sitting in this Emperors Reign, and that upon an occasion as memorable, as any perhaps that the History of the Church presents us with, which because I presume it may not be unacceptable to the Reader, I shall here relate at large. Among the various methods whereby Julian designed to stifle, and if possible, extirpate Christianity, he resolved once more to set up and advance the Jewish Nation, not out of any kindness to them or their Religion, but because he knew them to be of all others the most spiteful and inveterate Enemies to Christians. He seemed to compassionate their hard fate, and unhappy Circumstances, and promised them all encouragement and assistance in restoring of their Worship, and retrieving the ancient splendour of their Religion. To which purpose he sent them the following Letter. 
Jul. Epist. XXV. p. 152.   
JULIAN to the Community of the JEWS.  
THE heavy Taxes that have been unwarrantly laid upon you, and those vast sums of Gold you have been forced to bring into the Exchequer, have far exceeded those other Oppressions and Slaveries which in the times foregoing you have undergone. A great part of which I have seen with mine own Eyes, and have discovered more from the Writs that have been directed and issued out against you. And at this time another assessment is prepared for you, which I have stopped and prohibited, and out of a detestation of so unrighteous an act, have burned the Warrants that lay ready among my Records to be sent out against you; so that none may henceforth be able so much as to affright you with the Report of such a piece of injustice. The Cause of all which injuries is not so much to be attributed to my Brother Constantius of worthy memory, as to some men of barbarous Principles, and Atheistical Tempers, that stood about him, and were fed at his Table; whom I took with mine own hands, and threw them headlong into a deep pit, where they irrecoverably perished, that so the least monument might not remain of them. For my part being resolved to show you all the favour and kindness I can, I have advised your Brother Julus the venerable Patriarch, to stop the Tribute that's said to be imposed upon you, and that no man henceforth shall abuse your Nation with such intolerable exactions, but that you may to all intents live peaceably and securely under my Reign, and being free from farther trouble, may recommend the prosperity of my Empire in your more vigorous and hearty Prayers to God, the great Creator, and best of Beings, who has been pleased with his most holy right hand to place the Crown upon my head. A Service which I cannot otherwise expect from you. For they who are oppressed with solicitudes and Cares, are wont to be Persons of narrow and contracted minds, and cannot with that freedom lift up their hands to God in Prayer, while those who are wholly freed from anxious Cares, and enjoy a calm and composed state of Soul, are sittest to intercede for the happiness of the Empire, and to offer up their Devotions to the great God, who alone is able to order and dispose my Reign to the best advantage, and to the most excellent purposes, which I hope and pray he will do. This is that which you ought principally to attend, that so having successfully managed my Persian expedition, and the holy City of Jerusalem( which you have so long and so earnestly desired to see reinhabited) being rebuilt by my endeavours, I may dwell in it, and together with you there offer up our joint Prayers to the supreme Being of the World.  
IX. THIS done, he sent 
Socr. l. 3. c. 20. p. 192. Soz. l. 5. c. 22. p. 631. Theod. l. 3. c. 20. p. 142. Philost. l. 7 c. 9. p. 506. Rufin. l. 1. c. 37. 38, 39. p. 240. Am. Marcel. lib. 23. in init. Naz. Orat. IV. p. 111. Chrys. Hom. IV. in Matth. p. 35.& Hom. XLI. in Act. p. 361.  for the Heads of the Jewish Nation, of whom he inquired, why, since the Law of Moses obliged them to offer Sacrifices, they had laid aside that Custom. They  told him, the Sacrifices of their Law were determined to a particular place, and might not be offered up any where but at Jerusalem, where their Temple was ruined, and whence they themselves had been long since banished. Hereupon he commanded them forthwith to go and repair the Temple, to retrieve the Customs of their Ancestors, and to Worship God according to the Laws and Rites of their Religion. Herein he driven on a double design, first to draw over the Jews to the Pagan Superstition, which he the rather hoped for, because both agreed in Oblations and Sacrifices, and that he observed the main body of the Jews took up in the Letter and outside of their Law, and understood little of the spiritual and mystical sense; and next he hoped to give a fatal wound to Christianity, and by restoring the Temple and the Jewish Worship, against which Christ had pronounced so flat a doom, to prove our Saviour a false Prophet and Impostor. The Jews, though they had had near CC. years sad experience of the truth of our Lord's prediction, yet received the Warrant with a joy inexpressible, it being an opportunity which they had often wished, but could never hope for, and were so elated with it, that they began insolently to Scorn and Triumph over Christians, threatening to make them feel as direful effects of their severity, as ever themselves had heretofore done from the Roman Powers. No sooner was the news spread abroad, but Contributions came in from all hands, yea the very Women sold their Jewels and Ornaments to advance the Work, and what was wanting, the Emperor commanded should be allowed out of his own Exchequer, appointing Alypius of Antioch( who had sometimes been Propraefect of britain) overseer of the work, with Power to call in the governor of the Province to his assistance. And now all things were in readiness, the most exquisite Artists drawn together from all Parts, ston, Bricks, and Timber prepared, and all other necessary Materials and Instruments, nay they are said to have made Spades, Mattocks, and Baskets of Silver for the greater Honour to the Work. In short, no help was wanting, even the softer and the weaker sex laid their hands to the Work, and carried out the Rubbish in their Laps, yea the very Gentiles refused not their assistance, merely out of opposition to the Christians. Cyril the Bishop beholded all this, and calling to mind Daniel's prophesy concerning it, and how plainly it had been ratified by our Saviour, openly  told them that even now the time was come, that not one ston should be left upon another in that Temple, but that the doom which our Lord had so peremptorily pronounced against it should be accomplished. And the Event justified his Prediction. For having digged and cleared the Foundation, on the next day towards night a sudden Storm arose, that carried away those vast heaps of Rubbish which they had thrown into a neighbouring Valley, and dispersed many thousand Bushels of Lime and Sands which they had prepared for the Building. This was followed with a dreadful Earth-quake, which cast up Stones from the Foundation, and slay many, and overturned some adjoining Houses that slay more, and those that escaped were drawn out with broken legs and Arms, bruised and almost wounded to death. And when notwithstanding all this they still attempted to proceed, Balls of Fire broken as 'twere from under the Foundation, and not only burnt their Tools and Instruments, but seized upon and consumed the Workmen and Spectators. The fright was great, and every man fled to save himself, and the main Crowd driven towards a little Church hard by, wherein they were wont to bestow their Tools, but when they came to it, they found it suddenly shut and barred against them( though there was no Person within) and when they attempted to break open the Doors, a Fire rushed out upon them, that destroyed many, and miserable scorched the rest, running up and down the streets a great part of that day. At night the clothes of all the Jews had black Crosses with Stars between them impress d upon them, which when the Infidels perceived in the morning, they endeavoured, but in vain, to wash them out, and thereupon partly afraid, partly ashamed, desisted and ran away. And though these strange and miraculous interposals of the Divine Power and Providence brought over some, who being baptizd, sought by Prayers and Praises to atone him, whom heretofore they had blasphemed and affronted, yet the greatest part continued still in their ancient obstinacy and unbelief. Of so little force are miracles themselves to convert a People, without the concurrent efficacy of the Divine Grace to recommend them.  
X. ONE thing more is related to this purpose. 
Philost. l. 7. c. 14. p. 508.& ex eo Niceph. l. 10. p. ●6.  At the clearing the Foundation, a ston was taken up that covered the mouth of a deep foursquare Cave, cut out in the Rock, into which one of the Labourers being let down by a Rope, found it full of Water to the middle of the Leg, and in the midst a Pillar reaching a little above the Water, whereon lay a Book wrapped up in a fine and clean linen Cloath. Being drawn up, the linen was observed to be fresh and unperished, and the Book being unfolded, was found to the admiration of all, but especially the amazement of Jews and Gentiles to contain the Gospel of S. John, with the first words in the Front written in great Capital Letters, IN THE BEGINNING WAS THE WORD, AND THE WORD WAS WITH GOD, AND THE WORD WAS GOD. This last passage I must confess stands upon the single Authority of Philostorgius, but he ancient enough, being born within five years after the thing was done. But whatever becomes of this, we are sure the rest of the Story is reported by Persons of unquestionable credit and integrity, some of whom lived at that time, and the rest not long after, nay the substance of it related by Ammianus Marcellinus, Julian's own Historian, and what is yet more, confessed by the great Chronologer 
Zemach David. P. II. p. 36. vid. Hotting. H. Eccl. c. 4.§. 3. p. 207.  of the Jewish Nation. Let me add what Orosius 
Hist. l. 7. c. 30. fol. 324.  reports, that Julian( probably finding himself defeated in his main design) commanded an amphitheatre to be built at Jerusalem( out of the materials it is like prepared for the Temple) wherein at his return from his Persian expedition, he might publicly expose the Bishops, Monks, and all the holy men of that place, and throw them to be devoured by wild Beasts, prepared by art to greater degrees of rage and fierceness, than nature had endowed them with. But the Divine goodness cut him off, and he fell into that Pit which he had prepared for others.  
XI. I cannot dismiss this Story( wherein yet I have been too long already) without some of those Reflections which S. Chrysostome 
Orat. III. adv. Jud. Tom. 1. p. 434. &c.  makes upon it, who thus improves the Argument against the Jews. Having pressed them home with Daniel's prophesy concerning the final and irrevocable destruction of their City and Temple, he tells them he would make it good from matter of fact. And because ( says he) had the Jews never attempted to rebuild the Temple, they might pretend, that they could have done it, had they set about it, they attempted it no less than three several times; once under Adrian the Emperor, when they brought a greater Desolation upon themselves; next under Constantin● the Great, who not only dispersed them, but cut off their ears, and branded them with marks of Rebellion upon their Bodies; a thing which the more aged among them might yet remember. But, adds he, that which I am now going to urge them with, is what's plain and evident to the younger sort of them, not being done under Adrian or Constantin●, but in an Emperor's reign in our own time, not above twenty years ago. For when Julian, who in impiety out went all before him, out of a design to pervert them to his Idolatrous Worship, put them in mind of their ancient Rites and Sacrifices, thus and thus was God Worshipped by your ancestors, they ingenuously confess d, they could not do it out of Jerusalem, without offering an immediate violence to their Religion; Give us our City, restore the Temple, let's se● the Holy of Holies, let's have an Altar, and then you shall quickly see us offer Sacrific●s, as our fore-Fathers did of old. The Wretches neither blushing to accept these things from a Pagan, nor considering that they attempted what was impossible. Had man only destroyed them, man might have restored them; but when 'twas God that laid wast their City, what human Power was able to reverse the Divine Decree. For the Lord of Hosts hath purposed, 
Isai. 14.27.  and who shall disannul it; and when his hand is stretched out, who shall turn it back? But grant, Sirs, the Emperor should have restored the Temple, and rebuilt the Altar, as you vainly hoped he could; could he also have brought down fire from Heaven, without which your Sacrifices would have been impious and unacceptable. However the blind and obstinate Wretches persisted in their Supplications to the Emperor, to join with them in the Restauration of the Temple; who accordingly furnished them with Money, sent them men of Authority for Overseers, and skilful Artists from all parts, and left no ston unturned, that he might at once lay a Foundation to seduce them over to Idolatrous Worship, and defeat the Prediction of our Saviour. But he who taketh the wis● in their own craftin●ss, soon let him see that the Divine Oracles are impregnable, and that nothing can undermine or overturn the Decrees of God. For no sooner had they set upon this impious Project, and began to carry out the Rubbish, and clear the Foundations, and things were now ready for the Work, but a fire immediately broken out from under the Foundations, that consumed the Materials, together with the Workmen, and the Jews that beholded it, which when Julian heard of, fearing to pull down Vengeance upon his own head, he left off the Attempt. And if you go now to Jerus●lem, you will see the Foundations lying bare and naked, and if you ask the reason, you'l meet with no other Account than what I have given. And hereof we are all Witnesses; for these things happened not long since in our own time; and consider what a firm and unshaken Triumph they give to our Cause. For they happened not in the Reign of Pious and Christian Emperors, lest any should pretend that Christians came with armed Violence, and hindered the re-edification of the Temple; no 'twas then when our Religion was under Hatches, when we stood in danger of our Lives, when all Liberty so much as of speaking was taken from us, when Paganism flourished, when Christians were forced to hid themselves in their own Houses, and others to fly into Deserts and Wildernesses, this was the time when these things happened, that so impudence itself might not have the least shadow of pretence. And after all this dost thou yet doubt, O thou Jew, when thou seest the Prediction of Christ, and the Testimony of the Prophets, and the event of things plainly demonstrating, and giving Sentence against thee? But 'tis no wonder, for such has ever been the G●nius and temper of thy Nation, shameless and contumacious, and always ready to oppose the most clear and evident Demonstrations.  
XII. NOTHING further memorable concerning Cyril appears during Julian's Reign, more than that the Son of a gentle Flamen 
Theod. l. 3. c. 14. p. 137.  at Antioch, having embraced Christianity, for which he was treated by his Father with all imaginable severity, made a hard shift to escape in Womans habit, and being first sheltered by Meletius of Antioch, was by him conveyed by night into Palestine, to Cyril of Jerusalem, who securely harboured him while Julian lived, after whose death he became the means of converting his own Father. How long Cyril sat quietly under the Reign of Valens, when the Arian Interest carried all before it, is uncertain. Probable it is, that towards the latter end of it he repossessed himself, and perhaps took hold of the Edict which Val n● published not long before his death, whereby he recalled the catholic Bishops out of banishment; and about that time we find him there. For Sozomen speaking of Theodosius's entering upon the Government of the Eastern Empire, tells us 
L. 7. c. 2. p. 705. , that the Arians at that time had possessed themselves of all the Churches of the East, except Jerusalem; at which time( says Socrates 
L. 5. c. 3. p. 260. ) Cyril did yet Govern that Church. About this time the See of Caesarea in Palestine being invaded by several Competitors, Cyril advanced 
Epiph. Haeres. LXXXIII. p. 376.  his Nephew G●lasius to that See. A man( says Theodorit 
L. 5. c. 8. p. 207. ) eminent both for his Life and Doctrine. This was that Gelasius 
Phot. Cod. LXXXIX. Col. 209. , that translated Rufinus's two Books of Ecclesiastical History, written as a supplement to Eus●bius, into Greek, with a large preface of his own. But when 'tis added, that he undertook this Work at the request of his Uncle, and especially what some report, that it was carried on by their joint endeavours, this is plainly impossible, Rufinus himself not writing that History till several years after Cyril's death.  
XIII. IN the third year of his Reign, Theodosius summoned the famous Council at Constantinople, one of the Chiefs or Presidents whereof( {αβγδ} and {αβγδ}) was our Cyril. The Acts of that Synod we have related in the Life of Nazianzen; that which is here proper to remark, is the Care they took of the three great Sees; Antioch, Constantinople, and Jerusalem. In the most ancient and holy apostolic Church of Antioch( as they call it 
Vid. Theod. l. 5. c. 9. p. 211. ) they placed Flavianus, as Successor to Meletius, who dyed during the sitting of the Council. At Constantinople they substituted N●ctarius, in the room of Nazianzen, who at the same time resigned that See. And then for the Mother-Church of Jerusalem( so they style it) they confirmed Cyril's right to that place, whom they honour with the Title of a most reverend and Religious Bishop. They knew he had been for many years opposed and persecuted, disgraced and deposed by the Arian Faction, and therefore thought it but just to do him right, and whatever malicious insinuations had been spread abroad to the contrary, to declare to all the World, that from the first he had been Canonically ordained to that See, and had all along been a stout Champion against the Arian Cause. An account of all which the year following( when the greatest part of them again met in Council at Constantinople) they sent in a Letter to Pope Damasus, that so the Western Bishops might be acquainted with the true state of things, and see that in all these Affairs they had proceeded according to the Rules and Canons of the Church. I give no heed to the Arabian Writers 
Vu●ych. Annal. l. 1. p. 314. Joseph. egypt. Praes. in Conc. C P. p. 702. , who tell us, that in this Synod, the See of Jerusalem was erected into a Patriarch●te, and the fifth and last place in the Patriarchal Dignity allotted to him. A thing not done till many years after. Five years he lived after that Council, dying in the eighth year of Theodosius 
Hieron. de script. c. 112. , Ann. CCCLXXXVI. in a good old Age, and in a time of great tranquillity and Peace. For though the former part of his Life was stormy and troublesone, yet God was pleased to grant him a calm and undisturbed repose during the last eight years of his Life. It being sometimes true in a Civil, no less than a Spiritual sense, Mark the perfect, and behold the upright, for the end of that man is Peace.  
XIV. IN the Greek Menaeon 
{αβγδ}. sub. lit. μ. , he is described to have been a man of a middle size, of a pale Complexion, very Hairy, somewhat flat nosed, and of a full Visage; his Eyebrows growing upright, his Cheeks well covered with white Hair, his Beard forked, and his whole mien and carriage importing an unpolished kind of rusticity. As to his outward Life, he was a man that underwent great changes and varieties of Fortune, passing through Honour and dishonour, evil Report and good Report: Sometimes shining in a place of great Dignity and Eminency in the Church, otherwhiles deposed and banished and followed with all the rage and fierceness of implacable Enemies, and yet going off the Stage at last in a bright and serene Evening. A man of no inconsiderable Learning and Eloquence, of an exquisite Piety, of an unwearied Patience, and quick Zeal and Resolution against the Adversaries of the catholic Faith. Whose Books, even those of the worst of heretics, he red 
Catech. VI. p. 154.  in his younger years, on purpose that he might fortify and confirm the minds of his Auditors against the pernicious insinuation of their false Doctrines. And though he has been accused, or suspected at least, of leaning to the Arians, yet how unjustly, we have shown before. And indeed he not only acknowledges the {αβγδ} or Consubstantial Doctrine( as we see in the close of his Letter to the Emperor) but clearly condemns 
Catech. XV. p. 369. XI. p. 234.  the Arian dogmata, as the great apostasy of that Age, and the forerunner of Anti-christ, men being( says he) betrayed by itching ears, and by smooth words, and soft insinuations seduced over into a departure from the truth. His Writings( which the Ancients called Cyrillia) were many, whereof few now remain but his Catechetick Lectures, the fruit of his younger years. The whole( besides the {αβγδ} or preparatory Lecture) consists of XXIII Sermons, whereof XVIII were preached to the Competentes, or those who stood Candidates for Baptism; the other five are Mystagogical, preached to those who had lately been baptized 
Vid. Catech. XVIII. p. 503. , wherein he fully and accurately explains to them the several Parts, together with the particular Rites and Ceremonies( then used in the Church) of the two great Mysteries or Sacraments of the Gospel. To question whether they be his( as some have done) is foolish and trifling, when they are not only quoted by Damascen, but expressly mentioned by S. Jerom, and cited by Theodorit, the one contemporary with him, the other flourishing but a few years after him; besides that the date he fixes from the rise of the Manichaean heresy can agree to no other but himself. As for that passage, so much urged by some 
Riv. Crit. S. l. 3. c. 8. p. 283, 284. aliq. , where he says, 
Catech. X. p. 217.  that the across( which was found in the time of Constantine, the year after the Nicene Council) is extant with us {αβγδ} even to this very day, as if this must import the Author lived at a vast distance of time from the finding of it; to this it might be enough to say, that there were at least twenty years between the discovery of the across, and this expression, time enough to justify such a Speech at large. But Cyril speaks not concerning the discovery of our Saviour's across, but that it had lasted several Ages, and was still in being among them 
Ad eund. sensum vid. quae habet Catech. XIII. p. 322. XIV. p. 349. , ready to be produced as a monument of the truth of our Lord's dying at Jerusalem. Which is evidently his meaning in that place. And besides this, nothing can be plainer than that Cyril oft uses that Phrase to imply no more, than now, or at this time. Thus speaking of the Emperors having submitted themselves to Christianity, we see( says he 
Catech. XVII, p. 441. ) the Princes of the World directed and taught by ecclesiastic Persons {αβγδ}, at this day; which just before he had explained by {αβγδ}, at this present time. And yet it was not then above XL. years, since Constantine first embraced the Christian Faith. That now and then a passage should be less accurately expressed, is not to be wondered at by him, that considers, that they were Sermons preached in his younger dayes, and then too delivered without any curious Art, any exquisite study or deliberation. In those Lectures that he preached ad Illuminatos, he admirably trains up Persons for Baptism, by instructing them in all the main grounds and Principles of the Christian Faith. Wherein like a wise and good man he accommodates 
Vid. Catech. IV. p. 70.  himself to the genius and understanding of his Hearers, expressing himself in a plain and familiar style, without any pompous strains of Eloquence, any profound Arguments, or philosophic Reasonings, delivering his mind in easy and simplo terms, backed with frequent Texts out of the holy Scriptures, studiously avoiding all elaborate Compositions, and speaking for the most without any great premeditation, whence they are styled {αβγδ}, extempore Lectures. But above all the Preparatory Parts of the Christian Doctrine, he is careful to explain to them the several Articles of the Creed, into which they were to be baptized. He had in the fourth catechize given a short cursory explication of all the important Articles that concern the three Persons in the Trinity, which he afterwards runs over again, and insists upon at large in his Explication of the Creed. And because perhaps it may be both a pleasure and an advantage to the Reader to know what Creed it was, that was used of old in the Church of Jerusalem( where the Christian Faith had been first planted, and by whom it had been preserved through several ages) this being the ancient Oriental Creed mentioned by Rufinus, neither exactly the same with that settled by the Synod of Nice, nor with that afterwards agreed upon in the Council of Constantinople, we shall here for a Conclusion pick up and put together the several Articles of it according to the order, wherein he expounds it, only premising, that the Constantinopolitan Creed seems entirely to have been made up out of this and the Nicene, there being several expressions in this, which were afterwards adopted into that Creed.  

The Creed anciently used in the Church of Jerusalem.  
I Believe in one God 
Catech. VI. p. 118. , the Father 
VII. p. 158. , Almighty 
VIII. p. 173. , maker of Heaven and Earth, and of all things visible and invisible 
IX. p. 181, 182. ; 
X. p. 197.  And in one Lord Iesus Christ, 
XI. p. 218, 230, 238.  the only begotten Son of God, begotten of the Father before all Worlds, true God, by whom all things are made; 
XII. p. 245, 254.  who was incarnate, and made man 
XIII. p. 281. , he was crucified and butted, 
XIV. p. 325.  and the third day he rose again from the dead, and ascended into Heaven, and sits at the right hand of the Father; 
XV. p. 358, 361, 391.  and shall come again with Glory to judge the quick and the dead, whose Kingdom shall have no end: 
XVI. p. 397.  And in the Holy Ghost, the Comforter, who spake by the Prophets; 
XVIII. p. 470. 490.  in one Baptism for the Remission of sins, and in one holy catholic Church, and in the Resurrection of the flesh, and the Life everlasting.   

His WRITINGS.  

Genuine.  
Catecheses ad Illuminatos XVIII.  
Catecheses Mystagogicae V.  
Epistola ad Constantium Imp. de Apparitione crucis.   

Supposititious.  
Oratio de occursu Domini.  
Epistola ad Augustinum de miraculis Hieronymi, Lat.    
The end of S. Cyril's Life.   

THE LIFE OF S. AMBROSE, BISHOP OF MILAN. 
S. AMBROSIUS.   portrait of Saint Ambrose  

SECT. I. His Acts from his birth till the Synod at Aquileia.  
The time and place of his Nativity, and nobility of his Descent. A swarm of Bees settling about his mouth as he lay in the Cradle. A sportive presage of his future bishopric. The care of his Education. His pleading Causes. His Commission to be Governor of Insubria, &c. with consular Dignity. The greatness of the City of Milan. The death of Auxentius Bishop of that See. The providing a fit Successor recommended by the Emperor to the Provincial Bishops. Ambrose his Exhortation upon that occasion. The choice unanimously cast upon him. His positive refusal, and artifices used to decline it. His flight: forced to come in upon the Emperor's Proclamation. The general joy and satisfaction at his Consecration. His Ordination, how far justifiable according to the Canons. Communicatory Letters to him from all Parts. S. Basil's friendly Letter to him. His ordering his domestic Affairs for the better discharge of his Episcopal Office. His Theological Studies under the assistance of Simplician. His diligence in reforming his diocese, and the exercises of his private Life. The irruption of the Northern Nations into Italy. His flight into Illyricum, and visiting Rome. The cure of a paralytic Woman, said to be done there by his Prayers. His Books de Fide upon what occasion written. The trouble created him by the Arian Empress Justina. His impartial advice, and resolute carriage towards the young Emperor Valentinian. His consecrating Anemmius Bishop of Sirmium, and what happened there. Euthymius his design to surprise him, requited with the same punishment upon himself.  
I. ST. Ambrose, though by discent a Citizen of Rome, and of a noble Family, was yet born in France, and in all probability at Arles, the Metropolis of Gallia Narbonensis, that being the ordinary residence of the Praetorian perfect. Indeed Arles was a place of great renown, and as 'twas at this time the Court of the Imperial Lieutenant, so 'twas afterwards the Seat Royal of a Kingdom. A City of that splendour and magnificence, that it is styled by Ausonius 
Clar. urb. carm. 8. p. 239. , Gallula Roma, the gallic Rome, as well for the greatness of the place, as for its being a Roman Colony. Here then we presume to place his Nativity, which happened about the year CCCXXXIII. at what time his Father 
Paulin. vit. Ambr. oper. Ambr. Praes. p. 1 ( whose name also was Ambrose) was Praefectus Praetorio Galliarum, or the Emperor's Lieutenant in France, and the other Western Provinces under his jurisdiction, one of the highest places of trust and honour in the Roman Empire. The youngest he was of three Children, Marcellina and Satyrus being born before him. He was nursed in the Praetorium, or Governours Palace, and sleeping one day in his Cradle in the open Court, a swarm of Bees settled about his face, and gently crept in and out of his open mouth without doing him the least harm. Which his Father, who was then walking hard by, perceiving, charged the Maid that attended him, not to disturb or drive them away, who soon after mounted up aloft into the Air, till they quiter vanished out of sight. surprised with the accident, he  told those that were about him( and 'twas a true Presage) this Boy, if he lives, will prove a great man. How long his Father lived after this, is not known, 'tis probable he died during his Government in those Parts. After whose decease his Mother with the whole Family return'd to Rome, and the place is still shew'd where their House stood, turned at this day into a Convent of Benedictine Monks. Amongst the sportive Passages of his Childhood, this is not the least memorable, that when he espied his Mother and Sister kissing the Bishop's hand,( according to the pious Reverence which in those dayes they paid to the Governours of the Church) he merrily offered them his hand to kiss, which he  told them they ought to do, for that he was sure he should be a Bishop. His Education was suitable to his Birth, liberal and ingenuous, and as he grew up, he made himself Master of all the Learning that Rome or Greece could afford: and for Religion, he was formed to that, especially by the Care and Councils of his Sister Marcellina, who having devoted her self to a state of Celibacy, spent her time in the Exercises of Piety and Devotion, and by her converse and example, trained him up to a life of virtue, and secured him from those snares and vices, which a place of so many Charms and Temptations as Rome was, must have betrayed him to.  
II. HE was now grown up to years of maturity, and being accomplished with all secular Learning, thought it time to enter upon the public Stage, and to that end betook himself to practise in the Court of the Praetorian perfect, where he pleaded Causes with so much smartness and dexterity, that he was soon taken notice of by Anicius Probus lately made Praetorian perfect of Italy, a Person of great eminency and Authority, who made choice of him to be of his Council. To this Anicius Probus we find a Rescript 
Lib. 1. Cod. Th. Tit. VII. de office. Rect. prov. l. 5.  of the Emperor Valentinian dated at Triers Ann. CCCLXIX. in which year, probably, he was advanced to that Office. And being to sand out Governours into the several Provinces of his jurisdiction, he had an especial eye upon Ambrose 
Paulin. ib. p. 2. , to whom he committed the Provinces of Insubria, Aemylia, and Liguria, containing a good part of Gallia Cisalpina, investing him with Consular Power and Dignity, and dispatching him with this short instruction, intimating the mildness and clemency of his Government, go thy way( said he) and govern more like a Bishop than a Judge, little dreaming of what happened afterwards. Thus commissioned, he entered upon his Charge, taking up his residence at Milan, the capital City of the Province, indeed the Metropolis of the whole italic diocese, the usual Seat of the Western Emperors, or their prime Ministers; being reckoned one of the four prime Cities of Italy, and one of the ten greatest Cities in Europe, a place renowned for the Antiquity of its standing,( being built( they say) CCCXXXIX. before our Saviour's Incarnation,) for the pleasantness of its Situation, the largeness of its Circuit,( its very Suburbs equalling many great Cities) the Beauty and Elegancy of its Churches, neatness and stateliness of its Buildings, the famed of its University, ingenuity and dexterity of its Artificers, the temperature of its Air, fertility of soil, plenty of Provisions, richness of traffic, and populousness of its Inhabitants; upon all which, and many more accounts it deservedly bears the title of Milano grande, Milan the great: But in nothing greater than in its honourable relation to that great person, of whom we writ, in whom it prides itself, as in its noblest Ornament. Five years he had continued in his Government, which he managed with admirable prudence and justice, when an unexpected accident made a great alteration in his fortunes, and engaged him in a quiter different course of life.  
III. AUXENTIUS Bishop of Milan, the chief supporter of Arianism in the Western World, had been more than once Synodically deposed: But being a man hardy and confident, still kept his ground, and by his sly insinuation at Court, sometimes plausibly colluding, otherwhiles peremptory denying the things charged upon him, had baffled all attempts against him, till death at last put the Sentence into full execution, the man dying Anno CCCLXXIV, whose death was no sooner spread abroad, but the Bishops of the Province met together about the election of a Successor 
Theod. l. 4. c. 6, 7. p. 156. &c. Vid. Socr. l. 4. c. 30. p. 247. Soz. l. 6. c. 24. p. 669. Paulin. ubi supr. Rufin. l. 2. c. 11. p. 250. , whom the Emperor sent for, and  told them, that they whose business it was to be peculiarly conversant in the Divine Volumes, best understood the qualifications of a fit person for that place, that he should be one, who might instruct his people not only by his doctrine but his Life, set forth himself as an Exemplar of universal goodness and virtue, and make his Conversation give testimony to the Doctrine that he preached. Choose such a one( said he) and place him upon the Episcopal Throne, and we ourselves will readily submit our Crowns and sceptres to his councils and direction, and as men obnoxious to human frailties, will receive his reproofs and admonitions as the most wholesome physic. The Bishops humbly besought his Majesty, that as one capable enough to judge, he would please to nominate the Person. But he modestly declined it, telling them 'twas too great an affair for him to meddle in, and that they themselves were upon all accounts fitter to make a wiser and better choice. With that they took their leave, and went to the Cathedral to consult about it. And now different Interests began to show themselves: though Auxentius was dead, his Party was yet alive, and vigorously contended for a man of their Communion, and big words were spoken of what they would do, if they were rejected; the catholics on the other hand labouring as hard for an Orthodox Bishop. Factions grew strong, and the whole City was divided, and things openly tended to a Tumult and Insurrection: which Ambrose hearing, and being ready according to the duty of his place to prevent all public disorder, hastened immediately to the Church, where in a grave and pathetical Oration he exhorted the people to peace and concord, and to a quiet submission to the Laws. His Speech ended, the voice of a Child was heard from amid the Crowd, Ambrose is Bishop. The hint was soon taken, and as if it had been a voice from heaven the whole Company unanimously cried out, that Ambrose should be the man: And herein both catholics and Arians did the more readily consent, in that neither Party seemed to have got the better of the other.  
IV. AMBROSE was infinitely surprised at the passage, and the joyful Acclamations of the people, and peremptorily refused to comply with them. And to let them see how unfit he was to make a Bishop, he put on a rough merciless humour: for going out of the Church, he sat down on the Bench of Justice, and sending for some Malefactors to be brought before him, commanded them to be racked with great rigor and severity, hoping by this means to take off the edge of the peoples inclination towards him, who yet nothing discouraged, cried out, your sin be upon us. This artifice failing, he tried another, contriving it, that Women of lewd and common famed should be seen publicly going into, and about his house, which he doubted not would be looked upon as highly unbecoming a person designed for the Episcopal Office. But the people quickly smelled it out to be a piece of pageantry, and with redoubled importunity cried out, your sin be upon us. No remedy was now left, but directly to run away. Accordingly at mid-night he stolen out of the City, and designed for Ticinum a neighbouring City, but missed his way; and having wandered up and down all night, found himself in the morning again at Milan at the Roman Gate. He is presently laid hold on, and a Guard set about him, till the Emperors pleasure might be known in the case, without whose leave no public Officer might be admitted to holy Orders; but in that they met with no opposition, for the Emperor knowing him to be a man of singular integrity easily gave his consent. Ambrose in the mean while had again made his escape, and withdrawn himself to the Country-house of one Laurentius, a great man, and his intimate friend, with whom he had hide himself. And now they were wholly at a loss how to retrieve him. But the Emperor had given order to the Vicarius or lieutenant of the Civil diocese to see the thing effectually done; and he had published an Edict that none under peril of his head, and confiscation of his Estate should dare to conceal him. Laurentius hereupon was forced to break up his Sanctuary, and brought him back to Milan; and now seeing 'twas to no purpose any longer to resist the pleasure of the Divine Providence, he yielded to lay down the public Rods and Axes, and to take up the Crosier, only demanding that he might be baptized by a catholic Bishop, for as yet was only a Catechumen. So he was baptized, and eight days after with the universal acclamation of the people solemnly consecrated to that See, the Emperor himself( who was present at the Ordination) concluding the Solemnity with his short gratulatory Address to heaven, I thank thee, O Lord Almighty, and our Saviour, that thou hast made choice of this person to whom I had committed the power over m●ns bodies, to be entrusted with the Souls of men, and thereby hast declared my Choice to be sit and just. And indeed the Emperor highly honoured him, and hearkned to his admonitions with a just submission and reverence. And therefore when not long after he complained to him of the Misdemeanours of some in Authority, aggravating their faults with great freedom and impartiality, the good Emperor answered, I was heretofore no stranger to this liberty you take, and yet was so far from opposing, that I freely consented to your Ordination: go on therefore as the Divine Law commands, and cure the distempers and maladi●s, which we are apt to fall into.  
V. HOW far his Ordination was justifiable by the ecclesiastic Laws of those times might be disputed. 'tis certain, it was not strictly regular according to the stated Customs and Canons of the Church, which disallow tumultuary Elections, especially of unbaptised Laymen, and require 
Vid. Conc. Nicaen. Can II▪& Can. Apost. Can. LXXX▪  gradual approaches, and due distances of time both for Baptism and Ordination. But in this case 'tis evident, there were extraordinary appearances of Gods immediate approbation, so that the Bishops that were met about the Ordination judged it to proceed {αβγδ} from a Divine appointment, and the Emperor and the whole City were satisfied it was {αβγδ},( as Socrates has it) Gods own peculiar Work, {αβγδ}( as 'tis in Theodorit) a Divine Election. And thus the apostolic Canons 
Loc. cit. ubi vi●. B●ls.& Zonar.  expressly prohibit any new baptized Person to be made Bishop, {αβγδ}, unless it be done according to the Divine Grace and Favour, that is, say the Scholiasts, {αβγδ}, unless it be some way revealed that he ought to be the man. Besides, the Canons in this case were sometimes suspended, either when the minds of the People could not be otherwise quieted, or when the Person elected being of extraordinary Quality, was supposed to be highly useful to the Church, and that the necessity of Affairs would not admit the returns and Formalities of customary Ordination: Two instances whereof the Reader may remember we have already noted, the one that of Eus●bius S. B●sil's Predecessor in the See of Caesarea, the other of Nectarius Bishop of Constantinople. The news of his Consecration being dispersed abroad, especially by his own Epistles sent as the custom was to the most eminent Prelates, Communicatory Letters arrived from all Parts, the Western Bishops frankly testifying their approbation of his Ordination. He wrote likewise into the East, and among others to S. Basil, who was highly pleased with his Epistle, and return'd an Answer, 
Basil. Epist. LV. p. 84.  wherein he congratulates his Promotion to that See, and that God had made choice of so considerable a Person, a man selected out of the imperial City, and entrusted with the Government of Provinces, a Person eminent for his Wisdom, and the Nobility of his House, for the exemplary virtue and integrity of his Life, the powerfulness of his rhetoric, and his wise conduct of Secular Affairs, and that he had brought him over to the care and oversight of Christ's Flock: Concluding with this pious Council, go on therefore, O thou man of God, and since thou hast not received or learnt the Gospel of Christ from man, but that our Lord himself has taken thee from among the Secular Judges, and translated thee to an apostolic Chair, fight the good fight, correct and reform the Distempers of the People, if any be infected with the Arian Contagion; revive the ancient Tracts and Footsteps of the Fathers, and by frequent intercourse of Letters build up that Foundation of love and kindness thou hast now laid between us; that how far distant soever we be otherwise in our Habitations, our minds and spirits may be near at hand to converse together.  
VI. THAT he might with less distraction attend the cares of his Pastoral Charge, his first work was to divest himself of his Estate: His Money 
Paulin ib. p. 8  and Goods he presently bestowed upon the Poor, his Lands he settled upon the Church, only making his Sister Marcellina Tenant for Life; the care of his House and Family he committed entirely to his Brother Satyrus, that so he might have nothing to hinder him from the immediate duties of his place. And because the course and manner of his Life had hitherto kept him from conversing much with Theologick studies, he contracted an intimate Friendship with Simplician 
Aug. Confess. l. 8. c. 2. col. 136. Ambr. Ep. II. p. 62.  a Presbyter of Rome, a man of good learning, and a pious Life, and who had accomplished himself both by Foreign Travels, and domestic Studies. Him he drew over to Milan, and to his Tutorage he resigned himself, by which means he soon arrived to a very exact knowledge of the Mysteries and Controversies of the Christian Faith. For which he ever after treated Simplician as a Friend, revered him as a Master, and loved him as a Father. Nay God himself seems to have rewarded the pains he took with this good man, so that though at this time he was of a great Age, yet he lived to succeed S. Ambrose in the See of Milan. With infinite diligence did our new Bishop apply himself to the Reformation of his diocese, he restored the Discipline of the Church, revived the almost decayed Rites and Solemnities of Divine Worship, composed Differences among Neighbours, purged mens minds from errors, and plucked up those Arian Tares which for many years had been sown amongst them, so that his Church now enjoyed a happy Calm. And this opportunity he took of employing his vacant hours in writing; for a little more than two years 
Vid. l. 2. de Virgin. p. 83.  after his entrance upon that See he wrote his three Books de Virginibus, dedicated to his Sister Marcellina, wherein he describes the excellency of that state of Life, and lays down Rules for the better conduct and management of it. About this time also, or not long after, he set upon his Commentaries upon Luke, and perhaps his three Books of Offices, composed in imitation of those written by the great Roman Orator.  
VII. But these calm Sunshine-dayes lasted not long. About the year CCCLXXVII. the Goths, H●ns, Alani, Taifali, Sarmatae, and other barbarous Northern Nations broken in upon several Parts of the Roman Empire, and in the issue fell foul upon one another. We find a Tribe of them settling in Italy, 
Am. Marcel. l. 31. p. 1851. videsis Idat. Fast. Consul. p. 59.  in some parts not far from Milan. The approach of such fierce and merciless Enemies set the whole Country under a mighty Consternation, to avoid whose fury S. Ambrose, and several others fled into Illyricum, there to shelter themselves in a miserable banishment, Nos quoque in Illyrico exules patria, Gothorum exili● fecerunt, as his own Words 
Comm. in luke. l. 10. c. 21. Tom. 5. p. 148. Paulin. ubi supr.  are. This opportunity( if I conjecture right, for my Author fixes no other date, than that it was some years after his Ordination) he took to visit Rome, the Seat of his Ancestors, and the place of his Education. Coming thither, he found his Mother dead, and his Sister with her Virgin-Companion, who for many years had joined with her in the same Profession, cohabiting together, as he had left them, who kissing his hand at the first Salutation, he smiled, see now( said he) you kiss a Bishops hand, as I formerly  told you, referring to a passage in his Childhood▪ which we noted before. While he continued at Rome, he was invited by a noble Matron that dwelled in the Transtiberine Region, to celebrate the holy Eucharist in her House( probably the common Confusions, and great Power of the Gentiles at that time at Rome had made the public Congregations less safe or convenient:) which being noised in the Neighbourhood, a Woman that kept a public Bath, but who then lay bed-rid of a palsy, caused her self to be conveyed thither in a Chair, and importuned the holy Bishop to intercede with Heaven for her. And while he was praying over, and laying his hands upon her, she caught fast hold of his Garments, which she embraced and kissed, which was no sooner done, but she found her strength return, and forthwith rose up and walked. Long he continued not in exile, before the Providence of God made way for his return. For Frigerid the Emperor's General having totally vanquished 
Am. marcel. loc. cit.  that swarm of barbarous People, slay Farnobius their Commander, and a great part of the Army, and the rest that escaped the Sword, he driven quiter out of Italy.  
VIII. THE Eastern Empire was in the mean while miserable infested with these North●rn inro●ds, for whose relief( Val ns being then in the remote Eastern parts) Gratian( Son of the late deceased Emperor Val●ntinian) raised an Army, but hearing that some of the Germans had invaded France, was forced for the present to turn his Forces against them. But before he marched, he wrote to S. Ambrose, to come to him, and more accurately to instruct him in the so much controverted Articles of the Christian Faith, and that both by Word and Writing. Which he did, and upon that occasion wrote his Books de Fid●, dedicated to the Emperor, which he enlarged to five, therein fully discussing the Questions which the Arians had started concerning the Son of God, and the Doctrine of the Trinity; to which as an Appendage he afterwards added( which the Emperor by Letter 
Ext. ap. Ambr. l. 2 p. 3●.  particularly desired of him) his three Books de Spiritu Sancto, to prove the Divinity of the Holy Ghost. And now began those Troubles that exercised him the greatest part of his Life. Justina, the Empress Dowager, relict of the elder Valentinian, had by means of his Uncle Cerealis advanced her young Son Valentian, Gratian's half-Brother, to be his Colleague in the Empire. A great Patroness she was of the Arian Party 
Theod l. 5. c. 13 p. 216. , but had cunningly dissembled her Inclinations that way during the Life of her Husband. Who being now dead, she began openly to season her Son with those impious Principles, and to instill into him a dislike of Ambrose, whom yet she resolved first to attempt by fair means, and to that end set her Son upon him. The good Bishop gravely put him in mind of the Faith and Religion of his Father, advising him to keep the Portion that he had received, inviolable; he shew'd him the difference between the Arian and the catholic Doctrine, that the one had been immediately derived from the mouth of our Lord and his Apostles, the other quiter contrary, being plainly repugnant to the Divine Revelation. The young Prince impatient of Contradiction, grew into Choler, and commanded his Guards to surround the Church: Which yet nothing dismayed the holy man, who smiled at it as a vain scarecrow. Whereat the Emperor being more exasperated, openly commanded him to come out of the Church. That, replied the Bishop, I can never willingly consent to, I will not betray the Sheepfold to the Wolves, nor deliver up the holy Church to such impious intruders. If you have a mind to dispatch me, you have Swords and Spears within, do't here. Such a death I am ready most willingly to undergo. But of this more afterwards.  
IX. It happened about this time, Ann. CCCLXXX. that the See of Sirmium was vacant. Justina that had a quick eye upon all advantages, took care presently to make a Party there for the Promotion of an Arian Bishop. To oppose whose Designs Ambrose 
Paulin. p. 23  immediately hastened thither,( and a learned man 
Ph. Berter. Pithan. p. II. c. 4. p. 177.  observes, and urges it as an evidence that Illyricum was then under the Jurisdiction of the See of Milan) and being sat down in the Episcopal Chair, a Maid of the Arian Party confidently came up to him, and taking hold of his Garment, endeavoured to pull him down to a Party of Women, who stood ready to have murdered, and thrown him out of the Church; but he  told her, though I be unworthy of so venerable an Office, yet it becomes neither you nor your Profession, to lay violent hands upon the meanest Bishop. For which you have reason to fear the judgement of God, lest some mischief do befall you. And so indeed it came to pass. For the next day she dyed, and was butted, whose Funeral( to let the World see how easily he could return good for evil) he attended to her Grave. An Accident that struck a mighty Terror into the whole Party, and made them for that time desist. So having peaceably ordained Anemmius to that See, he return'd to Milan, where he found the evil Spirit of Arian Malice and Revenge still haunting him. Justina laid Snares for him in every place, and made as many against him, as she could by any Arts get over to her Party. Some she corrupted with Bribes, others she attempted by promising them Places of Honour and Dignity, if they would seize him in the Church, and forcibly carry him into Banishment. This several attempted, but in vain, God still Protecting him: Nay Euthymius more zealous than the rest had taken a House adjoining to the Church, and thereinto privately conveyed a Chariot, into which he designed suddenly to clap him, and then hurry him away. But his Mischief return'd upon his own head. For the next year on that very day that he intended to surprise Ambrose, he was himself put into the same Chariot, and carried into Banishment. So visibly many times is the Lord known by the judgement which he executeth, while the wicked is snared in the work of his own hands, while they sink down into the Pit that they make, and in the Net which they hid, is their own foot taken. However either by misinformation or importunity they had so far prevailed upon the Emperor Gratian, that he seized 
Ambr. de Sp. S. l. 1. c. 1. p. 117.  one of the Churches, which they had sued for, but kept it in his hand, and upon better thoughts without any solicitation soon restored it to S. Ambrose back again.   

SECT. II. His Acts from the meeting of the Synod at Aquileia, till the death of Gratian.  
The Arians Petition the Emperor for a public hearing. A Synod indicted at Aquileia. The time of meeting, and number of Bishops. The proceedings of the Synod against Palladius and Secundianus, two Arian Bishops. The Charge pressed by Ambrose, and the shuffling replies of Palladius. His exceptions against his Judges, and the manner of Procedure. His Sentence passed by particular Votes. The Condemnation of Secundianus, as also of Attalus and Valens, two Arian Presbyters. Synodal Letters written to the Emperors. The truth of the Acts of this Council defended against Chiffletius. Another Synod at Aquileia about the case of Ursicinus. Synodal Epistles to Theodosius about the Union of the Eastern and Western Churches, the Schism at Antioch, and the case of Nazianzen and Maximus at Constantinople. Ambrose his Book de Incarnationis Dominicae Sacramento written upon what occasion. The rise of the Priscillian heresy. The Author of it vigorously opposed by Ambrose. The Quarrel between him and Macedonius a great Officer upon that account. His undaunted interceding for the Pardon of a condemned Nobleman. The Rebellion of Maximus, governor of the Army in britain. His murdering the Emperor Gratian, and usurpation of the Empire. S. Ambrose his Embassy to him. The death of his Brother Satyrus, and his Funeral Oration for him.  
I. NOTWITHSTANDING the vigorous endeavours of the Empress Justina, the Arian Cause lost ground in the West, and being pressed hard upon by the catholics, they appealed to a more public hearing, pretending they were misrepresented, and that they would stand or fall by the Confession made some years since in the Synod at Ariminum. In order hereunto Palladius and Secundianus, two Arian Bishops, and the only chief sticklers for the Cause, petitioned 
Vid. Gratian. Epist. inter gesta Synod. Aquil. Conc. T. II. col. 979.& Epist Synod. ib. col. 993.  Gratian at his coming to Sirmium for a general Council, to be convened out of all parts of the Roman Empire, hoping that if they could effect this, whatever they might want in the West, the Eastern Prelates( among whom lay the strength of their Party) would turn the Scale. And the Emperor it seems had granted their Request. Which when S. Ambrose understood, he represented to him the inconvenience of the thing, that a General Council was wholly needless in this Case, the adverse Party being inconsiderable, and that himself, and some of the Neighbour Bishops were abundantly enough for their Confutation, that it was unreasonable for the sake of two rotten heretics( as the Council Styles them) to trouble the Governors of the Church through the whole Empire, many of whom were upon the Account of distance, age, infirmity, or poverty, altogether unable to take so long a Journey, or to be absent from their Cures. Hereupon a Synod out of Italy and the Neighbouring Provinces was indicted at Aquileia, where met of Italian, Dalmatian and French Bishops with the Legates from afric and France to the number of XXXII. S. Ambrose, I conceive, as Metropolitan was President of the Council, to whom the 
A Papp. edit▪ p. 46.  Synodicon without any warrant joins Ascholius Bishop of Thessalonica, his name neither appearing among the rest, nor so much as once mentioned in all the Transactions of the Synod. Several private and preliminary Conferences the Fathers had with the two Arian Bishops, but no good being done, they met in a Synodal Assembly Septemb. V. Ann. CCCLXXXI. and the President having proposed that for the clearer justification of their actions, the Proceedings of the Synod might be entred upon Record, the Emperor's Letter was first red, whereby they were summoned, and constituted Judges of the Cause before them. Then was red an Epistle of Arius, containing the chief points of his dogmata, and Palladius required to declare what he thought concerning it. Palladius answered, that by the Emperor's Letters which they had red, it was evident, that they had been the Cause, why there had not been a full and general Council, that the Bishops of their Party( meaning the Orientalists) were absent, and therefore they could not answer. Ambrose replied, that this was done in compliance with the Custom of former times, whereby the Oriental Bishops were wont to assemble in the East, and at the same time the Western in the West. However to take away all pretence of cavilling, the perfect of Italy had sent a Summons to them of the East, that if they pleased, they might convene with them; but they keeping to their old course, had stayed at home. The other pleaded, that it was a fraud, and that they had herein circumvented and imposed upon the Emperor, and therefore he was not obliged to answer. But Ambrose setting aside the Case of the Eastern Prelates, pressed hard for a positive answer: You have heard ( said he) Arius's Epistle red, you are wont when challenged, to deny yourself to be an Arian, either now condemn him, or defend his Cause. But the crafty heretic would not be drawn out of his old reserve; he  told them, they were an incompetent Judicatory, that he had promised indeed to make good his Cause, but in a lawful trial, that he was come thither in expectation to have found a General Council, whose decision he would not anticipate by answering there, where those of his own Party were wanting. After a great deal of wrangling about this matter, they debated the Letter of Arius from point to point, wherein the main disputing Part lay upon Ambrose, who took up, and retorted the broken answers which Palladius gave to the several Interrogatories, the Fathers at the end of each denouncing an Anathema against the maintainers of every Point, as may be seen in the Acts of the Council, extant 
Con●● T. II. col. 979. &c▪  at large. In which 'tis not unpleasant to observe what Artifices the man makes use of to save himself; sometimes he endeavours to escape by subtle and sly Evasions, as when he owns our Lord to be the true Son of God, but when pressed to it, would not acknowledge him to be true God; and to be good, but would not say; he was a good God, refusing to express himself in any other terms than these, a good Father begot a good Son. Sometimes he pleaded he could not answer, in that he had not Notaries of his own to take what passed, pretending partiality on their side, and therefore required that his own Notaries might be admitted. Which being granted, he flew off from that. Otherwhiles he required, that the People might be indifferently let in as Spectators and Judges of what passed on either side; which though 'twas not absolutely denied, yet S. Ambrose  told him, that in those matters 'twas the place of Bishops to Judge the Laity, and not the Laity to Judge the Bishops. In short, throughout the whole Procedure, whenever he was pinched with a Question or an Argument which he could not evade, he presently retired to his common Refuge, that they were not a General Council, and to such a one only he was obliged and resolved to answer: Particularly he excepted against the President as an incompetent Judge, charging him with impiety and injustice; and when Sabinus Bishop of Placentia asked him what impieties he had to object against Ambrose, he gave them no other reply than before, that he would answer in a full Council, when all Persons concerned were present, S. Ambrose answered, I desire to be charged and convicted in the presence of my Brethren, if I, who strenuously assert the Faith, seem impious to you, speak out and say, what are those impious assertions I am guilty of. But the bold man thought fit to let that Accusation fall, which he was not able to make good. After near seven Hours dispute( for so long the Session lasted) S. Ambrose passed Sentence upon him, pronouncing him unworthy of the Episcopal Office, and that a catholic should be ordained to his See; which was ratified by an universal Anathema of the Synod denounced against him. After which at the Presidents motion all the Bishops did in order one by one give their particular Votes for his Condemnation. Next they proceeded to Secundianus, and having for some time disputed the case with him, could drive him to no other resolution, than that he confessed our Lord to be the true only begotten Son of God, but would not explicitly assert, that he was the true God, whereupon the like Sentence was passed upon him. With them also the Synod censured and condemned Attalus a revolted Presbyter, a man it seems of great age, having been present with Agrippinus his Bishop in the Nicene Council, the determinations whereof he had together with his Bishop subscribed, but afterwards recanted, and sheltered himself under Valens the intruding Bishop of Petavio, a City in Pannonia, who being for his misdemeanours publicly thrust out by the People, had betrayed the country to the Goths, in whose barbarous Habit he dressed himself, and appeared in the Head of them against the Roman Army, and now went up and down the Country, which he filled with unwarrantable Ordinations, and though summoned to the Council, and himself not far off( having taken up his Station at this time at Milan) yet refused to appear. Attalus being urged with his Subscription, refused to give any answer, and so suffered judgement to pass against him. All which being dispatched, the Council arose, having deputed Legates to the Emperors, and by them a Letter 
Ext. ib. col. 993. , wherein they give them an account of what had been transacted in the Synod, praying in the close that they would cause the Synodal Sentence to be executed, and prohibit the followers of Photinus( who notwithstanding the imperial Edict to the contrary, still kept up their meetings at Sirmium) any longer to hold their unlawful Conventicles. It must not here be forgotten, that a learned man 
P. Fr. Chifflet. Vindic. Vigil. Taps.§. 4. ●. 33. &c.  has not long since called the Acts of this Council into Question, which he conceives to be a pure fictitious Scene, composed by Vigilius Bishop of Tapsus, a City in the Province of Byzacium in afric. He grants there was such a Synod, and such proceedings in it against Palladius, but that the genuine Acts of it are lost, or have not yet seen the light, and that Vigilius writing against the Arians took up this way, and feigned this formal story purely out of his own head. His Arguments, though many, are very weak and trifling, and do not deserve an operose Confutation, being such as may be leveled against almost against any ancient writing; nor is there any more just reason to question these, than the Acts of most ancient Councils. The whole stress of his bold conjecture rests upon no firmer a bottom than this, that Vigilius affirms that he had written against Palladius( who had answered S. Ambrose) and immediately without any other Warrant he concludes, that the proceedings of this Synod were part of that Book, and as such he has published them in his Collection of Vigilius's works. Nor does he produce ono Syllable of any Writer, either of those or the following ages to justify what he says, or any ancient Copy, that ascribes these acts to Vigilius. And if such a Liberty may be taken, what can be safe? farewell all ancient Monuments, when a confident conjecture may dispose of them, how, and to what use it please. And whereas he urges, that Vigilius wrote the Acts and Disputations of Arius and Athanasius before Probus, appointed by the Emperor to be Judge and Moderator, and that in the way of a formal historical Account, when as all was but a feigned Scheme; 'tis granted he did so. But then withal, 'tis evident both that ancient Manuscripts entitle that piece to Vigilius, and which is more, Vigilius himself elsewhere 
Contr. Eutych. l. 5. c. 2. p. 58.  expressly owns that he did draw up those Discourses, which he did not intend as a real History, but only as personated Acts and Disputations. Of either of which there is not the least tittle in our case. But enough of this matter.  
II. About this time, either in this, or in some other Synod presently after assembled at Aquileia, they debated the case of Ursicinus, who had lately made a miserable Schism in the Church of Rome, and besought the Emperor Gratian 
Ext. Epist. ib. col. 998.  not to harken to his Petitions, or be overcome with the importunities of that bold man. And perhaps in the same Synod it was( wherein also S. Ambrose presided) that they wrote 
Ext. ibid. col. 1006.  to the Emperor Theodosius, to let him know in how fair a way things were towards an union, between the Eastern and the Western Churches, and what advances they had made towards it, and that they had lately condemned the errors and the followers of Apollinaris. By a second Letter 
Ibid. col. 1007 ( if at least it was in the same Convention) they gave him thanks for restoring the catholic Bishops to their Sees, praying him to interpose in the business of Antioch, where though Paulinus was survivor to Metelius, yet another had been put in; and this done by consent of Nectarius of Constantinople, whose succession to that See they conceived irregular, Nazianzen himself being placed in it to the exclusion of Maximus( by whose false Suggestions they had been so far imposed upon, as to espouse his Cause, and to admit him to Communion) And therefore they besought him, either that Maximus might be put into Possession of that See, or that the Cause might be debated and adjusted in a General Council at Rome. In answer whereunto the Synod at Constantinople re-assembling the following year, sent them word that they could not assent to a General Council in the West, but thought good to give them an Account both of the Faith they had agreed in, and the care they had taken in providing for the Sees of Antioch, Constantinople and Jerusalem, which elsewhere we have more particularly related.  
III. AMBROSE being return'd to Milan, found his Enemies a little more calm for the present, though what they could not effect by open attempts, they sought to do by secret snares, and by putting affronts upon him. Amongst the rest, two Gentlemen 
Paulin. ubi supr. p. 4.  of the Bed-chamber to the Emperor Gratian, being of the Arian Party, came to him, and gave him a Subject to discourse upon, the Mystery of our Lord's Incarnation, promising that they would be at the Church called Portiana the next day to hear him. The expectation was great, and the Congregation full; when the two Courtiers, who designed nothing but a Scene of ridicule and scorn, took their Horses and rid out of Town. But God, who will not be mocked, no not in his Servants and Ministers, met with them. They had not gone far, when their Horses threw them, and both miserable perished. The Congregation in the mean while grew impatient, and would stay no longer, so that the Bishop was forced to go up into the Pulpit, and discourse upon the Argument that had been propounded to him, telling the Auditory, that he was come thither to pay his Debt, but he found not there his alleys Creditors to receive it, and then went on to explain that Mystery, which he published in a just discourse 
Ext. Tom. II. p. 177. , de incarnationis Dominicae Sacramento. Much about this time Priscillian a noble Spaniard, Rich, Learned, Eloquent and Witty, set up for an heretic, and formed a Sect out of the very dregs of the Gnostic and Manichean Errors and Impurities, with a few Rites and Principles borrowed from others. For which he was with some of his Party banished 
Sulp. S●v. Hist. S. l. 2. p. 168, 169.  his own Country, and fled to Rome, where endeavouring to vindicate himself, he was rejected by Pope Damasus, who refused to see him. Then he came to Milan, where he found as could entertainment from S. Ambrose. Being thus disappointed in his hopes of Patronage from these two great men, he began to turn his Projects, and try what he could do at Court in procuring an Edict for his Restitution; which he effected by bribing and corrupting Macedonius, Master of the Offices( as he was called) a place of great Power and Authority about the Palace. S. Ambrose opposed it we may be sure what lay in his power, for which Macedonius bore him a grudge ever after, insomuch that when he came 
Paulin. ib. p. 8.  one day to the Praetorium to intercede with him on the behalf of another; Macedonius, who had some intimation of his coming, commanded the Gates to be shut up against him, so that being denied all entrance, left this message for him, tell him ( said he) the time will come, when he himself shall sly to the Church, and shall not be able to enter, though the Doors be not shut against him. Which came to pass after Gratian's death, when a Warrant being sent to seize him, he fled for Sanctuary to the Church, but could not find his way into it, although the Doors stood wide open, and so was apprehended. Nor was it all the contempt which great men at Court cast upon him, could discourage him from improving his interest there for all pious Offices, whereof one instance especially shows both his Courage and his Charity. A Pagan Gentleman 
Sozom. l. 7. c. 25. p. 747.  of some Authority had spoken disparagingly of the Emperor Gratian, as a Son unworthy of so great a Father; for which he was arraigned and condemned to die. And being lead forth to Execution, S. Ambrose pitying the man's Case, went to Court to intercede for his life. The Emperor at that time was diverting himself with private Hunting in the amphitheatre, so that he stood for some time amongst the Guards at the Gate. But none offering to go in and acquaint the Emperor, he betook himself to the Postern, whereat the wild Beasts used to be let in, and crowding in along with the Keepers, went directly to the Emperor, whom he never left soliciting, together with the Courtiers that were about him, till he had procured the man's Pardon, and saved his Life.  
IV. and. CCCLXXXIII. a great Revolution happened in the civil State. Maximus, a Spaniard by birth, say some, but a britain, say others,( I conceive him of Spanish Extract, but born in britain, deriving his Pedigree from Constantine the Great) had been Commander in britain, Colleague with Theodosius. And finding his Companion advanced to the Empire, and himself neglected, he made a Party in the Army, who proclaimed him Emperor. Immediately he conveyed his Forces 
Socr. l. 5. c. 11. p. 270, Soz. l. 7. c. 13. p. 720. Hier. Epitaph. Nepot. p. 26. vid. Zosim. Hist. l. 4. p. 760. qui paulo aliter habet.  over into France and Germany, where, by the assistance of the barbarous People, he quickly secured all these Western Parts to his Obedience. The news whereof arriving at Court, Gratian advanced with an Army to encounter him, and met him not far from Lyon● in France. Five several dayes the fight continued more or less, till Gratian observing a part of his Army to desert him, began to retire with three hundred Horse. But the other Party adding Treachery to Rebellion, stuck at nothing to secure their Victory. For Andragathius, Maximus's General of the Horse, conveying himself into a close Horse-litter, gave out, that the Empress was come thither to her Husband. Gratian suspecting nothing, passed the rouen to meet her, and was no sooner come near, but Andragathius suddenly leaped out of the Litter, and stabbed him. A Prince of great Virtues, and singular Piety, but unhappily cut off in the very flower of his age. And now Maximus raged at pleasure, and having treated all those of Gratian's Party that fell into his hands with exquisite cruelty, prepared to march for Italy. To prevent which Valentinian dispatched S. Ambrose upon an Embassy to him, who by the gravity of his Person, the authority of his Office, his humble Address, and eloquent Insinuations stopped his journey at that time, and kept him on the other side the Alpes. A work of equal danger, difficulty, and success, considering the Circumstances of affairs at that time; though Paulinus who was afterwards his Secretary, by a strange mistake confounds it with a second Embassy some years after. This year he butted his dear Brother Satyrus, a Person eminent for his Virtues, and Employments. He had lately been in afric and Sicily, and though advised by his Friends not to return home, where all things were running headlong into extreme confusion, he could not be persuaded, resolving not to desert his Brother in such an evil time, and impatient of delay, put himself on Board an old rotten Ship, which yet brought him safe to shore, where Landing, he went home and died, much about the time that his Brother was to take his journey for France, who bewailed his death, and described his virtues in a large and eloquent Oration 
Ext. Tom. III. p. 13.  at his Funeral, comforting himself under so severe a stroke, with the consideration, that he was taken away from the evil to come, and that his eyes did not see those Calamities and Devastations that were begun elsewhere, and then hung directly over Italy.   

SECT. III. His Acts from the death of Gratian, till the end of the Contest between him and Symmachus.  
The confidence of the Gentiles at Rome upon the usurpation of Maximus. The Party headed by Symmachus Provost of the City. Their former Petition in the name of the Senate countermined by an Anti-remonstrance. Symmachus employed again to petition the Emperor for the restoring the Altar of Victory. S. Ambrose his elegant and passionate dissuasive sent to the Emperor about this matter. A Copy of the Petition sent him by the Emperor. Symmachus's Address to the Emperor in behalf of Paganism and the Altar of Victory, and S. Ambrose his excellent Reply to that Address exemplified at large. Symmachus accused to the Emperor. Another Petition of his in behalf of the Gentiles. banished Rome, and why. His recantation, and re-admission into favour.  
I. THE Confusions that threatened the Roman Empire by the death of Gratian, and the prosperous Usurpation of Maximus, who was attended with vast numbers of the barbarous People, and the timorous nature of Valentinian, a Prince young, and unexperienced in the World, and frighted at this time with the daily news of the Invasion of Italy, gave some kind of new Life to declining Paganism, the Gentiles at Rome hoping now to recover the abolished Rites of their Religion. The Party was headed by Q. Aurelius Symmachus, a Person of more than ordinary Note and Eminency, an admirable Scholar, expert Statesman, and the most accomplished Orator of that age; he was some years after made Consul, and was at this time Provost of Rome, but withal a great Bigot for Paganism, passionately addicted to the gentle Rites. About two years since 
Ambr. Ep. XXX. p. 114.  an attempt had been made this way: Some few of the Senate assuming to themselves the name of the whole, had petitioned the Emperor in behalf of their Religion, which when the rest, who were Christians understood, they immediately published an Anti-remonstrance, wherein they declared, that this had been done without either their Privity, or Consent, that they absolutely disowned any such request, protesting both publicly and privately, they would never come to the Senate, if this was granted; a Copy of which Remonstrance Pope Damasus sent to Ambrose. But finding now a more favourable season, it was again set on foot, and Symmachus, as the most considerable Person, employed in the name of the Senate, to prefer a Petition and Remonstrance to the Emperor,( for though pro forma it was inscribed to all of them, yet was it presented only to Valentinian) to beseech them to re-settle their ancient Religion. Particularly that the Altar of Victory( which stood, as some will have it, in the Capitol, but in truth was generally placed in the Senate-House, and being movable, was carried to any place where the Senate assembled, and had been more than once quiter taken away by preceding Emperors) might be restored, the Salary heretofore allowed to the Vestal Virgins,( whose number at this time at Rome was seven, all Persons of noble and honourable Extract, who according to ancient usage officiated in the Worship of the Gods for the public safety and prosperity of the City, as a Pagan Geographer 
yet. orb. descript. gr. l. a Gothofred. edit. p. 34.  that wrote under Constantius informs us) and lately taken from them, might be restored, together with the Revenues in Land formerly bequeathed to the Vestal college, and that it might be lawful for any to bestow what Legacies he pleased upon them. A Cause which he insinuated with great smoothness and subtlety, and managed with all the Advantages that could be given it by the Zeal of a Pagan, and the Eloquence of an Orator. No sooner did S. Ambrose hear of this, but he wrote 
Epist. XXX. ibid.  to the Emperor Valentinian to put a stop to it, representing to him, that as the Empire was under them, so they themselves were accountable unto God, from whom they could not expect Protection and Security, unless they sincerely worshipped him the only true God, the supreme sovereign of the World, and gave no way to Superstition and Idolatry; that his Majesty having so openly declared his devotion for the Christian Religion, 'twas a wonder how any could hope to make use of his Authority to establish the gentle Rites, or his Exchequer to defray the Charges of their Sacrifices, especially they who had never been sparing of the blood of Christians, who had pulled down their Churches, and had denied them the common Liberty of teaching Children; that the things they petitioned for had been long since taken away by the Edicts of former Emperors, and lately by his own Brother Gratian of famous memory, whose pious Constitutions he ought not to violate, and though they had been wanting herein, yet he himself ought to have done it, that he should take care that no man should impose upon his tender unexperienced years, much less an Idolatrous gentle; great men were to be regarded, but God to be preferred before all, whose Cause here was nearly concerned, and to whom to give precedence, could be no injury to any. Was it fit that Christians should be forced to come to the Senate, and take their Oaths before a profane impious Altar? should this be allowed in his Reign? What was this but to acknowledge an Idol to be an Almighty Being? could men have the face to beg of him to command the Altar to be erected, and to bear the Charge of their profane Sacrifices? A thing not to be done without plain sacrilege and impiety. That therefore he besought him not to sign any such Warrant, and as a Bishop conjured him by the Faith that he professed, wherein all the Bishops had joined with him, but that it was looked upon as a thing incredible, that such a thing should ever have been moved in his Consistory, or petitioned for by the Senate; as indeed it was not, but only by a small inconsiderable Party, that assumed to themselves that august venerable name, the far greater number being Christians. That he should do well herein to advice with his Colleague and Parent the Emperor Theodosius, whom in all other cases he was wont to consult, and much more ought in this, no Cause being greater and more important than that of Religion; that were it a matter of civil cognizance, he should leave it to others to undertake, but being that of Religion, 'twas proper for him as a Bishop to meddle in it; to which end he desired his Majesty to sand him a Copy of the Petition, and he would return a full answer to it, that so his Colleague being perfectly informed of all things, might take order in the Case: That if he acted contrary to this Advice, they that were Bishops must declare that they knew not how to bear with it; his Majesty might come to Church, if he pleased, but he would either find there no Bishop to minister to him, or one that would oppose him, and let him know, that the Church of God takes no gifts from him, that restores and beautifies Pagan Temples, that Christs Altar rejects his Offerings, who erects Altars to Idols. What would he answer to his deceased Brother, who must needs repent that ever he made him a Copartner in the Empire, which by his care of Religion he had left secure and firm, and by this means would receive a more fatal Blow, than that deaths-wound that had been given him by his Enemies. Nay what would he answer his Father, whose Piety this course must needs reproach, who could never have believed so great a wickedness should be attempted, that Gentiles should sacrifice in that public Court, that is, that Pagans should insult and triumph, while Christians were by, and against their wills forced to be present at those Heathen Solemnities. That therefore he humbly besought his Majesty, that reflecting how great an injury the passing such an Edict would be first to God, and then both to his Father and his Brother, he would take that course that should appear to be most acceptable to God, and most advantageous to himself.  
II. Upon the receipt of this Letter Valentinian sent him a Copy of the Petition, which he thoroughly canvased, and fully answered in every part. And because perhaps it may be no unpleasant entertainment to the Reader to see these two great Persons entering the Lists, and arguing the case at large, I shall here( though it be somewhat prolix) present him both with Symmachus's Address, and S. Ambrose his Reply; entreating the learned Readers Pardon, if the Translation be not exactly to his mind, it being perhaps a far more difficult task, than at first sight it may appear, satisfactorily to render either the one, or the other into English. The Address runs in this form 
Symmach. L. 10. Epist. LIV. .  

To my Lords the Emperors, VALENTINIAN, THEODOSIUS, ARCADIUS; SYMMACHUS Praefect of the City.  
AS soon as the most illustrious, and your ever loyal Senate, had taken cognizance, that the Vices of the times were subdued by the Laws, and the infamy of the past ages expiated by the piety of our present Princes, they, following so good an Example, have thought fit to improve the present occasion to express their grief, and again to constitute me the messenger and manager of their Complaints, who find themselves denied the privilege of access to their venerable Prince by the arts of bad men, because they foresee, that, when he knows their grievances, he will do them justice. I therefore in a double Capacity, both as your Deputy do promote the public good, and as the Envoy of the Citizens of Rome recommend their desires; in this we are all agreed, because at length men are grown so wise as not to espouse the factions of Courtiers, when they manage their private feuds. For to be respected, to be honoured, to be loved is a more welcome piece of Grandeur, than to be an Emperor; for who can endure, that private quarrels should obstruct the happiness of the Commonwealth? The Senate justly prosecutes those men, who prefer the satisfactions of their own Ambition before the reputation of their Prince; while it is the Employment of our time, and industry to be a guard, and security to your Clemency. For when we keep, and defend the Constitutions of our Progenitors, the Laws, and Sanctions, and as it were the fate of our Country, what do we, but advance the glory of the Times? Which is never greater, than when you, that are concerned, think nothing lawful, that thwarts the practices of your forefathers.  
And to that end we humbly request that state of Religion may be restored to us, which for so many ages hath been beneficial to the republic; and certainly if we reckon up the Princes of either persuasion, we shall find that your immediate predecessor was no Enemy to those usages, but he, who went before him, a great admirer, and observer of the Rites, we pled for; if therefore the piety of the ancient Emperors be insufficient to make an Example, let the smooth, and artificial carriage of those, who immediately preceded you, incline you. Who is there so much a Friend to the Barbarians, as not to complain of the loss of the Altar of Victory? We are cautious with respect to Posterity, and are willing to avoid whatever wears the portraiture of ill-luck; l●t us therefore, if we despise the Deity, at least pay respect to the name, for your Majesties are already much, and for the future will be more indebted to Victory. Let those slight this Deity, who have never experimented its favours, but I could wish, that you would not desert a Patronage, that hath been so instrumental to the magnifying of your Triumphs. Every man is a votary to that Goddess; for no man can deny, but that which he professes to pray for, ought to be honoured. But if the fatal Omen will not affright you, yet at least the Altar ought to be left untouched, as an Ornament of the Senate-house, and let me beg you, that what Religion we were brought up in when we were boy●s, we may, now we are old, leave to our posterity. Custom is a second nature, and we cannot but love what has been bread up with us.  
You see, that the design of the August Emperor Constantius, and that deservedly, proved abortive, and all such Patterns are to be avoided by you, which you find by experience to be of no long continuance. By this means we contrive a way how to eternize your famed, and Majesty, that Posterity may find nothing in your management of Affairs fit to be reformed.[ This Altar being taken away] where shall we swear to observe your Laws and Statutes? What Notion of Religion shall affright the profligate from Perjury? It is true, God is every where, and the perfidious Wretch can be in no place safe, but yet the awe of a Deity present with us in such a place, is a mighty instrument to deter men from 'vice. That one Altar preserves the whole People in Unity; that one Altar keeps every private Person from breach of trust, nor does any thing give greater authority and reverence to our Decrees, than that they are made by Senators sworn at these Altars. Shall therefore the Habitation of the Gods be profaned by Perjuries? And will our most venerable Princes think this a likely and probable Course, who are themselves secured in their Persons and Government by the Oaths of their Subjects?  
But you will object, the most August Emperor Constantius did the same. Let us rather imitate the rest of the actions of that Prince, who would never have adventured on such an attempt, had any of his Predecessors so mistook the measures of Government; for the miscarriages of former Princes are lessons of Correction to their Successors, and that man easily amends, who is warned by the ill Example of those that went before him. It happened, that that Prince, your Majesties Predecessor, in attempting so great an innovation, was not ware of the envy and discontent that attended the Action. But will that defence serve your turn, if we wilfully imitate, what we remember hath been formerly disallowed? Let your Majesties take Patterns from the other actions of that Prince, which are fitter to be transcribed; he took away nothing from the privileges of the Vestal Virgins, he conferred the Revenues of the Priesthood on the Nobility, and out of the Exchequer allowed the expenses of the Sacrifices, and other Religious Observances, and being attended in Pomp by the Senate through all the Streets of that immortal City, cast his eyes pleasantly on the Temples, red the names of the gods, to whom they were dedicated, written over their gates, made inquiry into the Original of the Buildings, and admired the piety of the Founders. And whereas himself was of another persuasion, yet he was never willing to abolish, and extirpate this that was the Religion of the Empire; for every man hath his peculiar Rites, and Modes of Worship. The supreme Divinity that governs the World, has assigned several tutelar Guardians to every City: For as every man at his first conception has a distinct Soul, so has every Nation a particular genius allotted to it. To these considerations we may add also the advantage of these Rites, which does especially recommend these Deities to men; for whereas all the Reason that asserts a Divinity, is in a great measure in the dark, whence can we better derive our knowledge of the Gods, than from the remembrance and instances of our former Prosperity? Now if Antiquity be sufficient to render Religion venerable to us, we ought to preserve that Faith, which hath continued for so many ages, and to follow our Parents, who herein happily trod in the steps of their Progenitors. Let us imagine Rome itself now present, and thus pleading her Cause before them.  
O you best of Princes, you Fathers of your Country, reverence my gray hairs, which the Rites of Religion have brought me to, and grant, that I may serve Heaven with the formerly-establish'd Ceremonies, for I do not repent me of them. Let me live according to my ancient Customs, being a free City. 'Twas this way of Worship brought all the World under my Laws, these Rites kept Hannibal from my Walls, and repelled the Gauls from the Capitol; and have I been heretofore so often rescued that I may, now I am grown old, be handled with Severity? Shall I see what new institution this is? Sure I am to reclaim old age, is an unseasonable, fruitless, and dishonourable undertaking. We therefore beg your leave, and in that, security for our country Gods, and for our private Deities. It is but just, that that Divinity which all men adore, should be esteemed but one. We cast our eyes on the same Stars, the Heaven is in common, and the same World encloses us. What matters it, by what methods men make enquiry after truth? One Path does not led to the knowledge of so great a secret.  
But( it may be objected) these are the Discourses of men, who are at too much leisure. We now tender you our Petitions, we do not dispute, or contend. Consider what great Benefit has accrued to your Exchequer, by taking away the privileges and Revenues of the Vestal Virgins? Our most liberal, and munificent Emperors deny that, which the most frugal, and parsimonious freely gave; and which the Vestals regard only as 'tis an honourable stipend and recompense of their Chastity. For as their veil is an Ornament to their heads, so it is one of the Insignia of their Priesthood, that they are exempted from all sort of Offices, it is but the bare name of freedom from Impositions, which they desire, for their Poverty secures them from all great Payments. But perhaps it may be said, those men advance their Reputation, that lessen their Revenue, because those Virgins, who have dedicated themselves for the public safety gain in Merits, what they lose in their Revenues. But let such Methods of filling your Coffers never be practised, the Treasury of good Princes is not to be augmented by the Ruins of the Priests, but by the Spoils of their Enemies; and will the greatest gain make Compensation for the envy which will attend you?  
But because Covetousness is a 'vice, with which you are unacquainted, this makes their Case the more deplorable, who have lost their former subsistence. For whatever is alienated under those Princes, who have conquered the love of Riches, and hate Rapine and Extortion, only turns to the detriment of him who is the loser, but gratifies no appetite of him, that seizes it: The Lands, which were given by the Will of your dying Progenitors to the Vestals and their Officers, are now detained by your Exchequer; but let me beseech you, O you Ministers of Justice, that your City may enjoy the private Legacies bequeathed to holy uses. Let men securely make their last Wills, and be assured they have not to deal with Covetous Princes, but such who will ratify what they have bequeathed. Delight, I beseech you, to make the World thus happy. This one Example creates great disquiets to all dying Persons; doth the Religion of the Romans not come under the Protection of the Roman Laws? By what name shall we call the alienation of the sacred Patrimony, which no Law, no Accident ever made liable to Confiscation. Freed-men receive Legacies, nay Servants are not denied the privilege of having what is bequeathed to them by Will, only the noble Virgins, and the Attendants on these Ceremonies, upon which the fate of the Empire does so much depend, are ejected out of their Estates, which have devolved on them by Inheritance. To what purpose is it to vow Virginity for the safety of the republic, and to call in the assistances of Heaven to eternize your Empire, to assist your Armies, and to second your Troops with unseen, but friendly Powers, and to make ardent and effectual Prayers for the safety of all your Subjects, and at the same time to be denied those common privileges which belong to them, equally with the rest of your People. It is better at this rate to serve men than the Gods. We injure the Commonwealth, which never yet got any thing by being ingrateful. Let no man think, I am now only an Advocate for the Cause of Religion; such attempts as these have been the Source and Original of all the Calamities, that have befallen the World.  
Our Parents testified the honour they had for the Vestal Virgins, and the Priests of the gods by making Laws for their competent maintenance, and honest privileges; and this donation continued in its integrity, till the dayes of our degenerate Bankers, who have converted the Revenues of sacred Chastity into a stipend for the vilest Porters. A fact presently attended with a public Famine, and all the Provinces were deceived in their expectations of a plentiful Harvest; the fault was not in the Earth, nor do we charge it upon the Stars; no rust did eat it, nor was it choked with Darnel. It was the sacrilege that was then committed, that made the year barren; for who could expect to have Bread, when the Religious were robbed of their deuce? Verily if there be any other Example of a like Calamity, let us impute their great Famine only to chance, or to the various seasons of the year; a dry wind was the cause of this barrenness; and now men live upon the buds of Trees, and the poorer sort of Boors are again forced to eat Acorns; did our forefathers ever lie under such astonishing Judgments, when the Ministers of Religion were maintained by an honourable allowance out of the public Treasury? When were men forced to shake the Oak for meat, or to sustain themselves with the roots of Herbs? When ever happened it, that the wants of one place were unsupplyed by the plenty of another as long as the Corn was in common distributed to the People, and to the sacred Virgins; for the provisions made for the Priests were a primary Cause of the fertility of the country, and it was rather a kindness done to your Land, than a piece of Charity to the holy men. Do you make any doubt, whether that was anciently given to procure a General plenty, the taking away of which the present scarcity has sufficiently revenged?  
But some men may say, there is no reason, that the expenses of another Religion should be born by the public; let such a determination never find a place in the minds of our excellent Princes, that what was given to a few Persons to hold in common, should be accounted as if it belonged to the public Revenue; for whereas the whole Commonwealth does consist of single Persons, whatever proceeds from the republic, becomes presently the Propriety of Individuals. You, we acknowledge, superintend, and govern all things, but withal, you are the keepers of every man's Liberties, and Justice sways more with you, than insolent Licentiousness. Do but consult your own munificent thoughts, whether they can esteem those things to belong to the public, which you have already appropriated to other uses. Whatever Profits have been once devoted to the honour of the City, cease from thenceforwards to belong to the donors, and what was in its Original a largesse, by custom and time becomes a debt.  
That man therefore attempts to fill your sacred mind with a vain fear, who affirms, that you are conscious of being accessary, and consenting to the Donation, unless you incur the Envy of canceling such grants. May all the unknown Tutelary Deities of all Sects and Opinions be favourable to your Clemency; but above all, may those Powers which were so propitious to your Ancestors, become your Guardians, may they defend you, and you adore them. We intercede for no other Religion, but that which secured the Empire to your Majesty's sacred Father, which gave that fortunate Prince a legitimate Issue to succeed him; that blessed Prince looks down from Heaven, and beholds the tears of the Priests, and looks upon the breach of their privileges, which he kept inviolable, as an affront put on himself. Afford also this assistance to your Brother of blessed memory, as to rectify what he did by other mens Councils rather than his own; and conceal that action of his, which he was ignorant was so displeasing to the Senate; for it appears now, that therefore the Ambassadors we sent were debarred his presence, lest the public determination might come to his knowledge. It is for the honour of the past transactions, that you make no scruple to abolish that, which we will make appear, was no act of that Princes.   
III. Such was the Plea, which this man of Policy and Eloquence made for his Religion; and 'twas the best the Cause would bear. Whereunto S. Ambrose, much advantaged by the goodness of his Cause, return'd this following Answer.  

AMBROSE Bishop to the most blessed Prince, and most Gracious Emperor VALENTINIAN the August.  
WHereas the most excellent Governor of the City, Symmachus, hath made an Address to your Majesty, that the Altar, which hath been removed from the Roman Senate house, might be restored to its pristine place and honour, and you, O Emperor, though of green years, yet of gray-headed Piety have disapproved the Request of the Gentiles; in the same moment, that I heard of the Petition, I offered this Anti-remonstrance, in which although I have taken care to insert whatever might be necessary to answer his Suggestions, yet I demanded a Copy of his Narrative; I do therefore in this Discourse answer all the Reasons of his Relation not out of any distrust of your Constancy in the Faith, but out of a provident Caution, and a strong persuasion, that you will impartially examine the merits of the Cause, presuming to beg this one favour of your Majesty, that you would pass your judgement, not according to the flourish and eloquence of the Expressions, but the weight and moment of the Arguments: For the Tongue of the wise and learned man( as holy Writ informs us) is as choice Gold, which being enameled with the Ornaments of Discourse, and embelish'd with the beautiful structures of Eloquence, as so many pleasing and well-mixt colours in a Picture, by these methods charms the Eyes, and so makes an entry into the mind, and by such representations engages the Passions, but the Gold, if you narrowly inspect it, though in its extrinsic value it be Money, in its intrinsic is but Metal. Examine, I beseech you, and canvas the Religion of the Gentiles; they boast of matters of great value and excellence, but in truth they defend what is enfeebled, and worn out with old age, and incapable to prove truth on its side; they talk of God, but they adore Idols.  
Three things the most excellent perfect of the City hath made use of in his Relation, upon which he lays the greatest stress of his Defence; that Rome, as he says, is an humble suppliant for the retrival of her ancient Rites, that it is injustice to alienate the Patrimony of the Priests, and the Vestal Virgins; and that when the attempt was made, there happened a general Famine. In the first Proposition the Venerable Metropolis of the Empire is introduced, covered with tears, and expressing her griefs in a passionate and persuasive Oration, requiring the Restoration, as he makes her speak of her pristine Ceremonies, for that this was the Religion that exp●ll'd Hannibal from the Walls, and recovered the Capitol out of the hands of the Gauls. By which method of reasoning, while he strives to magnify the pvissance of the gentle Deities, he betrays their impotence; did not Hannibal a long time insult, and trample on the Roman Rites, and though your gods fought against him, did he not so successfully pursue Victory, that he encamped his triumphant Army under the very Walls of the City. Why did they suffer themselves to be Besieged, for whom their gods took up Arms? As for the Gauls to what purpose is it to speak of them, whom the shattered relics of the Roman Forces had never been able to have opposed, had not their Enemies been betrayed by the noise of the affrighted goose? See what Guardians are deputed to the Charge and Tuition of the Roman Temples. Where was your adored Jupiter at that time? Was it he who in the shape of a Goose called Manlius to the rescue of the Capitol? but why should I deny, that the Heathen Rites have given assistance to the Roman Arms? For even Hannibal himself worshipped the same mock-Deities. Let them therefore choose which they will own, if the Heathen Ceremonies were triumphant in the Roman Conquest, they were overcome and baffled in the Carthaginians; if the men of Carthage by the assistance of their gods got the Victory, what advantages did the Inhabitants of the Roman Empire receive from the same tuition? Let therefore that invidious Complaint of the Roman People be stisted, that great City never issued out any such Commission; but with greater reason addresses her self to her Children in a far different harangue.  
To what purpose do you tyre me with your multiplied Sacrifices, and die me with the blood of the innocent Herd? The Trophies and Signs of Victory are not legible in the Fibres of a Beast, but in the courages of the Militia; I used other methods of Discipline, when I put on laurel for the conquest of the World. It was the valour of Camillus, that defeated that triumphant Army, which had taken possession of your Walls and the Fortifications of the Capitol, and retrieved those Standards which the Gods themselves could not defend, and those whom Religion was too weak to affright, his bravery destroyed. Why should I remark the achievements of Attilius Regulus, who conquered for the Romans by dying for them? Scipio Africanus won his glory not by lying prostrate before the Altars in the Capitol, but by charging the Troops of Hannibal, and reaping Triumphs with his Sword. Tell me not that these were the observances of the ancients, I hate those Ceremonies that were used by the Nero's. Why should I mention those Emperors whose Reign was of no longer duration than a month or two, and whose Funerals immediately succeeded their assuming the Royal Purple? Or is that a new thing, that the Barbarians have deserted their own Habitations to make eruptions into the Roman Territories? Were those Emperors Christians, when by an unparalleled but miserable example, the Father wore Chains in Persia, while his Son trampled on the Liberties of the Senate and People, and gave mankind a Specimen, that the promises of Victory which the Augurs made them, were vain and fallacious? Was there not at that time an Altar of Victory? I am ashamed of my former failings, and notwithstanding my gray hairs, these Reflections cover me with blushes. I am not troubled to be with th● rest of the World, a convert in my old Age, and the reason is, because it is never too late to be wise, and to be good. Let those aged Persons blushy, who are past the hopes of amendment. 'Tis not length of years, but Piety of manners that gives an honourable Character; nor is it a disgrace to change at any time for the better. In this only was my condition like that of the Barbarians, that I had no knowledge of the true God.  
The manner of your Sacrifice, is to be sprinkled with the blood of slaughtered cattle; and is it reasonable to expect the Oracles of the living God from the entrails of a dead Beast? Come and learn on Earth the practise of an heavenly Warfare, we reside in this World, but there is the Scene of our engagements. Let me learn the Mysteries of Heaven from that God, who made me, not from man, who cannot give a rational account of himself; who can give an account of God better than himself? And how should I credit you, who confess yourselves, that you understand not what you adore? For, says he, one days Journey will never bring a man to the acq●aintance of such grand Mysteries; but what you are ignorant of, that we un●●rstand by divine Revelation; and what you seek for by conjectures and guess●s, that we are assured of by the Wisdom and Veracity of our God. In ●h s● things therefore there is no agreement between you and us. You are suppliants to the Emperors, that they would be favourable to your Gods, but we are Petitioners to the Son of God, that he would be propitious to the Emperor; you first make a God, and then adore it, but we think it a great injury to the Deity to imagine, that that must be accounted a God, which owes its being to a man. God is not willing to be worshipped in Images cut in ston; nay your very Philosophers make a sport of such ridiculous observances. But if you therefore deny Christ to be God, because you cannot believe that God could die( for you are ignorant that it was only his human Nature that f●ll under the Power of the Grave, while his Dignity was exempted, which hath now rescued all his Followers that believe in him from death) who can betray more imprudence than you, who when you pay your Devotions, affront the Deity, and derogate from his worth, while you pretend to treat him with honor, as you do in making a Block your God, and paying divine Honors to it; a most disgraceful piece of worship. And while you refuse to believe that Christ could die, do you not by this very obstinacy do honor to him?  
But the ancient Altars( as he goes on) ought to be restored to the Images, the ornaments to the Temples. Let them tender such a Petition to an Heathen Prince, a Christian Emperor knows no honor due to any but the Altar of Christ Jesus. Why do they compel the hands and mouths of holy men to administer to the promotion of their sacrilegious Designs? Let the Tongue of our Prince be employed in re-sounding the Praises of his Saviour, and celebrate him only, whose goodness he experiments, because the heart of the King is in the hand of God. Did ever any of the Heathen Emperors erect an Altar to Christ? While therefore they Petition for the Restoration of what was formerly theirs, they give the Christian Emperors an encouragement by their example to consider, what deference they ought to pay to the Religion, which they profess, while the Gentiles postpone all things to their Superstition. While we have begun, let us go on; we( being excluded) glory in our Sufferings, they are troubled at their losses, and what they account an injury, we reckon among our Trophies; they never did us greater honors or favours, than when they past their Edicts, that all the Servants of Christ should be scourged, should be banished, should be martyred; what their infidelity thought a punishment, that Religion turned into a blessing; view those men of invincible courage, and you'll find our belief has been increased and propagated by Injuries, Poverty, and death itself, while they are persuaded, that unless their Religion be maintained by the public, it can no longer continue in being.  
Let, says he, the Vestal Virgins enjoy their Immunities. Let those discourse at that rate, who cannot be convinced, that Virginity may be preserved without a recompense to encourage the undertaking, let those give Money to maintain Chastity, who distrust the strength of their Virtue. And yet what is the number of those Virgins, who are thus hired to maintain their Purity? When you reckon all that are admitted Vestals, you can scarce find seven who have taken the Vows upon them; and yet these are the multitude of Votaries, who are known to be of this Society by the peculiar dress of their heads, by the pompousness of their Purple Robes, by their numerous attendants on each side of their chairs, by their great privileges, and their rich Revenues, and by a set number of years, which they are obliged to consecrate to Virginity; let them but seriously contemplate, and look on our Professors, they may see all Ages, Sexes, and Qualities in love with Modesty, Chastity, and Virginity; the curius fillettings of their hair is far from being an ornament of their heads, let them put on a coarse veil, that may become famous by its serviceableness to the interests of Chastity; a Virgin is then best adorned, not when she strives to augment, but when she sleights the charms of her beauty, 'tis not the richness of their Purple, nor the delicacies of Luxury, but frequent Fastings, and continued Mortifications, that give a lustre to their performances, not their privileges, not their Revenues; to conclude, all the Practices of our Virgins are such, that you would think the design of advancing Chastity is rather hindered and restrained, while the Duties of it are exercised; but on the contrary, while the Offices of Chastity are performed, the study of it is promoted; for Chastity is truly advanced by that, which to you seems to destroy it. She is not a Virgin, who is swayed by profit, not by the Dictates of Virtue to be so, nor is that true purity, which must be purchased for such or such a time, by those that will offer most to maintain it. The first Victory that true Chastity makes, is to subdue the love of Money, for covetousness is the greatest Enemy to, and most potent supplanter of modesty.  
But let us take it for granted, that the Virgins ought to be maintained at the charge of the public; how shall the Christian Votaries be taken care of, what Exchequer shall be sufficient to provide for them? Or if they answer, that these endowments are the peculiar Patrimony of the Vestals, are they not ashamed, who usurped the whole income under the Heathen Emperors, not to permit us to be sharers with them under those who are Christians? They also make complaints that the Priests, and other Officers of Religion are not provided for at the public Charge, and want that Alimony which is their due; and upon this subject what a noise, what a multitude of complaints disturb our ears? While on the contrary by some late made Laws, the Religious among us are denied the privilege of being infeof'd in private Patrimonies, and no man complains, for we never reckon such things as injuries, because we are never troubled at our loss. If any man, being a Priest, pled his privilege, thereby to be exempt from secular Offices, he must upon that account renounce his whole Estate, both what was derived to him from his Ancestors, and what was the product of his own industry.  
Had the Gentiles such an occasion of complaint, with what aggravations would they inveigh against it, that a● Priest could not purchase the Privacy and Exemptions of his Ministry with less than the loss of his whole Patrimony, nor maintain his commerce with Heaven, without the forfeiture of his earthly Possessions, while he that watches and prays for the public Safety, m●st embrace domestic Poverty as his recompense, comfort himself with the Conscience of having gotten praise, but done nothing that might prostitute the honour of his Ministry? And now compare the cases, you are willing to excuse civil Officers, but the Church shall have no power to excuse a Priest. The Offic●rs of the Heathen Temples are not denied the benefit of last Wills and Testaments, the most profane, the most profligate, and the vilest of men are allowed that privilege, only the Clergy are exempted from having a share in that common right, who are the only men that intercede with Heaven by their Supplications for the common good, and by all their actions promote it. They are made uncapable of Legacies and Donatives, even of rich and charitable Matrons; and whereas they lie under no impeachment against their manners, their very office and employment is enough to subject them to this punishment; if a Christian widow should bequeath any thing to a Heathen Temple, that conveyance stands good in Law; but if she gives a Legacy to the Ministers of the true God, 'tis voided and of no effect, which I mention not to vent my passion against the Law, but that they may know, though we have cause, yet we make no complaints, for I had rather our Revenues should be diminished, than our respect. But it is objected, that whatever has been given, or bequeathed to the Church, hath not been violated; and let themselves tell us, whoever robbed and took away such endowments from their Temples, when yet the Christian Church hath been a sufferer in that kind. And if such things had been done to the Gentiles, it had been rather a requital of an old, than a doing of a new injury; and do they now at length complain of their hard usage, and demand Equity? Where was this Equity then, when the poor Christians after they were strip'd of their Estates, were denied also the very privilege of Life, and by a piece of unpractised barbarity, were debarred the benefit of Sepulture, which was every man's birthright? While those whom the Gentiles tumbled headlong into the Sea, the Waves more kind than their Persecutors, brought back again to the shore in order to their Interment. And this also is a new Victory of our Faith, that they themselves now condemn those inhuman Actions of their Ancestors: and( with shane to them be it spoken) what reason is there that they should beg the continuance of their Offices, whose actions they condemn. And yet after all, no man ever yet denied the Temples their Offerings, or the Priests their Legacies; their Lands only are taken away from them, because what they held by the title of Religion, they used only to irreligious purposes. They who pled our example for enjoying such Estates, why do they not also dispose of them to such good ends as we do? The Church hath no Patrimony but her Faith, that is her Rent, that her Income; the Lands of the Church are the Possessions of the Poor.  
Let them tell me what Captives were ever redeemed, what Hospitals maintained, what Exiles provided for by the Incomes of the Temples? The Estate is taken from them, but put to the right use. Behold this is the Crime, this the sacrilege which Heaven is said to be angry for, and nothing less than a public Famine can expiate, because whatever served to advance the interests of the Priests, was the cause of general advantages to the People.  
For this reason, say they, did the languishing multitude rend the shrubs, and then suck the juice of them; and being forced from their better food, were made fellow-Commoners with the Herd, necessity compelling them to feed on Acorns; strange Prodigies forsooth, and such as never happened while the World was enslaved to the gentle Superstition; whereas in truth long before this the covetous Husbandman hath been deceived of his hopes, and his expectations have been blasted like the Corn, on which he depended; and how came it to pass, that the Oaks were accounted Oracular among the Greeks, but because in those dayes they looked on it as an extraordinary savour of the Gods, to direct them to the use of such meat as grew in the Woods? for even such things do they reckon among the largesses of their Gods. Who but the Gentiles ever worshipped the Oaks of Dodona's Grove, while they upon such sorry Food were content to bestow the name of the holy Grove? It's not therefore likely, that their angry Gods did inflict that as a punishment, which the same Gods formerly were accounted to bestow as their peculiar favours; and what Justice is there, that they out of resentment of the injuries done to a few Priests who had lost their livelihood, should take a pet against all mankind, and plague them with a Famine; why should their revenge be more rigorous than the Crime? The provocation therefore was not great enough to ma●● the whole World uneasy, by deceiving it of its hopes in annihilating th● h●ppy Pr●sages of a plentiful Harvest. And in truth long before this had the gentle Temples lost their privileges throughout the W●rld, and was it never in the thoughts of the Gods to revenge the affronts put upon them till now? was it for this cause, that the Nile did not swell according to its wo●ted course? was it to revenge the losses of the Roman Priests, when it never did so, to vindicate the Cause of its own Priests at h●me, who yet were involved in the same Calamities? But let us take it for granted, that the last y●ar the gods appeared to their own Vindication, how comes it to pass that this year they are so impotent and d●spicable? for now the Boars are not necessitated to feed on the Roots of Herbs, nor are their greatest Dainties Berries, or the Fruits that grow on Thorns, but being happy beyond expectation, they admire the plenty of their Harvests, and with this years extraordinary increas●, make Compensation for the last years Fasting; thus has the earth paid what she owed us with Interest.  
What man therefore is so unacquainted with the accidents of human Lif●, to be astonished at the difference of Seasons in point of Fertility? yet o●en the last year in more than a few Provinces the Crop was abundant; what, shall I mention France more fruitful than usual, Pannonia sold the Surplusage of their Corn, which was left after they had sown their ground, and the Country of the Grisons in point of pl●nty became the envy of h●r neighbors, for whereas heretofore it was secured and fenced from in-roads by its barrenness, now by its wonderful Fertility it gave occasion to its enemies to invade it; and all Liguria and the Country of the Venetians lived upon the income of that Harvest; it was not therefore sacrilege, that blasted the former year, nor Religion that caused every thing the next year to flourish; they may also deny, that the Vineyards were prosperous, whereas we know, that the Vintage made us happy with an extraordinary increase, of which we reap the advantages.  
The last, and most cogent Argument is yet left for a reserve, whether you, O Emperor, are not bound in Honour and Conscience to restore those Endowments, which have proved so beneficial to yourselves; for, says he, let the gods be your Guardians, and let us have the liberty to adore them. This is that, O most Christian Princes, which we cannot endure, because they upbraid us with the Sacrifices they offer to their Deities for your welfare, and against your Commands commit the most notorious sacrilege, taking your connivance for consent. Let them keep their titular Deities to themselves, let them, if they be able, defend their own Votaries, and if they want power to protect their bigoted Proselytes, how can it be expected, they should superintend your Affairs, who slight their Worship?  
But, says he, we ought in civility to maintain those Rites, which our fore-fathers established, and why so? is it because all things grow to perfection, as they grow in years? Was not the World at first one confused and indigested Chaos, in which all lay huddled together without form and order, and did it not look beautiful when the hand of God made a separation between Heaven, Earth, and Sea, and confined each within its proper bounds? When the Earth being newly risen out of its moist bed of darkness, wondered to see a bright Sun darting its benign and enlightening Beams upon it. Even in the ordinary course of nature the day is ushered in with an ambiguous light, and by degrees the Sun gets strength enough, both to enlighten and to warm the World. The Moon itself, the properest emblem of the Church in the sacred Oracles, grows by degrees to its fullness, for renewing her light once every Month, at first the shadows of the night are too strong for it, and eclipse its splendour, but when a few dayes have filled her sharp pointed horns, and she lives at a distance from the Sun, she gives the night the assistances of her Beams, which supply the want of the day. The old World was ignorant of Tillage, but when once they began to understand the Art of Husbandry, and saw the face of this Earth coloured with Corn, and the rude soil clad with Vineyards, how easily did they, who observed it could be manured, put off their old brutish manners, and leave them for the civill●r Arts of Conversation and Society? Nay the Spring itself, which inclines mankind to a correspondence with nature, in process of time is covered with Leaves, that are ready to drop from the Trees, and brings forth later Fruits. And is it not so with mankind also, who in our infancy have the thoughts, and pursue the delights of Children, but when we grow to maturity, are ashamed of such impertinencies? If all things therefore must continue as they were at the beginning, then we have reason to be angry, that the Word broken from its dark Prison, to which it was confined, and exerted itself into the Region of Light, and Visibility. And is it not a nobler acquisition to set the understanding free from the night of ignorance, than to rescue the Earth from shadows and obscurity? and do not the Beams of Truth shine more benignly upon the mind, than the rays of the Sun upon the Eyes? All things therefore in nature have suffered their alterations, that your gray-head●d Religion might also follow the Example. For those, who will be yet swayed with the Argument, let them be angry with Autumn, because being one of the latest seasons, it matures our Fruits, let them quarrel with the Vintage, because it happens in the declining part of the year, and let them slight the Olive, because it is the last ripe of Fruits; now our Harvest is the conversion of Souls, that they may be brought into the Church; our Vintage is the service of God, so as to inherit his favours, which service from the beginning of the World was eminent in a few Saints, but in these last ages is made known to the whole World, that all men might take notic●, that the Christian Faith made its way even into the best cultivated minds. For that man cannot expect the Crown of Victory, who has no Adversaries. Whereas the sacred verities justly grew famous by baffling the Opinions that opposed their admittance.  
If only the ancient Ceremonies are pleasing, why did Rome her self change her Rites of Worship? I omit to remark how the History of after ages altered their ancient course manner of living, by changing their homely Cottages into stately and pompous Edifices, why, that I may answer to the point, did they, who were fond in love with every new Religion, admit the gods of their conquered Cities, together with their own triumphant Deities, and their foreign Rites into their Temples? How comes it to pass, that the goddess Cybele washes her Chariots in the River almond, in imitation of what is done by the Priests in Phrygia? Why have we fetched Priests out of that Country to attend her Altars, and enfranchised the Carthaginian Deities who were always looked on as Enemies to our grandeur? The goddess, which the Africans call Urania, the Persians Mitra, but most others worship under the name of Venus, is the same Deity under divers denominations. And so was Victory looked on as a goddess too, which is only a blessing given from above, but has no Empire of her own, and depends more upon the strength of Armies, than on the influences of Religion. That certainly therefore must needs be a venerable and potent goddess, who owes her very Being to the numbers of an Army, and the event of a battle.  
The Altar of this Goddess is petitioned for, that it may be new erected in the Court of the Roman City. i. e. in that very place, where great throngs of Christians daily meet; every Temple hath its Altars, and there is an Altar in the Temple of Victory; because they delight in multiplicity, they every where offer their Sacrifices. What is this therefore but to trample upon the Christian Rites, while they are so earnest to restore the oblations upon this Altar. And can that be suffered, that a Heathen should offer his Sacrifices where a Christian is present? Let all who are present, says he, though against their wills expose their Eyes to be blinded by the fumes, their Ears to be polluted with the profane music, their Throats to be crammed with the Ashes of the burnt-Offerings, their Nostrils infected with the odours, and their Faces, though turned the other way, cov●red with the sparkles that arise from the Flames. Are they not satisfied, that our public Baths, our Portico's and Streets are filled with the Images of their gods? And shall not the condition of every Person that hath a place in that Common-council be equal? Shall that part of the Senate, who have embraced Christianity, have their Consciences imposed upon by the asseverations of those that make Protestations, and the Oaths of those that swore at that Altar? If they oppose such proceedings, they shall appear to betray a lie, and if they acquiesce, they shall countenance the sacrilege. Where, says he, shall we swear to observe your Laws and Sanctions? Must therefore your determinations, which are included in the Laws, want a Confirmation from the Ceremonies of the Gentiles to oblige to fidelity, not only those that are present, but those also that are absent? And what is more, O most sacred Emperors, your own honour is affronted, for you compel, if you command such things.  
The August Emperor Constantius of venerable memory, being not yet made a Christian by Baptism, thought himself polluted, should he but see that Altar; he commanded it to be taken away, not to be restored; that action of his carried its Authority, and Vindication with it; But this hath nothing of imperial Sanction to pled for itself; let no man please himself because this is wanting, for a man may be trulier said to be present, who is conversant with our minds, than he who is the object of our corporeal eyes; for the nearest Union is that of Souls, not of Bodies. The Senate meets only on the Summons of your Writ, and to you they swear fealty, not to the imaginary Deities; your Interests they prefer to their own, and Childrens welfare, but not to their Religion. This is a Charity highly to be desired, and of more value than the Power you enjoy, as long as Religion and Fidelity is preserved, which are the security of your Empire.  
But perhaps it may move some to distrust, that so pious a Prince,[ as Gratian] was so deserted and betrayed, as if the value of mens Merits must be estimated according to his present adverse Fortune; for what wise man is there, who hath not sufficiently experimented, that all human Affairs run round in a circled, and fall under various chances with respect to success, fortune never continuing kind to the same Person? Was there ever a more fortunate man than Cneius Pompey, who went into the World under the Protection of the Roman Deities? And yet at last, when he had worn laurel for the Conquest of three parts of the World, being baffled, routed, and banished beyond the limits of his own Empire, he fell by the hand of an infamous egyptian Eunuch. Could the Eastern part of the World ever boast of a more puissant Prince than Cyrus, and yet he, when he had triumphed over all his Enemies, and yet spared the Subjects of his Victories, lost his life and honor at last by the assaults of a Woman? and that very King, who allowed his conquered Adversaries the liberty of Princes, having his head cut off, and thrown into a Vessel filled with blood, became the scorn of Female Pride, which bid him satiate himself with what he loved. So great a difference and variety is there in the lives and fortunes of such men. Was there ever any man a more exact and punctual Religionist, than the Carthaginian Captain Hamilcar, who in the midst of his Squadron, even during the Engagement, continually made his Oblations, and when he saw his Party routed, threw himself into the fire which he had kindled, that he might with his blood extinguish those flames, which he found too sadly to his cost were no way instrumental to make him victorious? To what purpose shall I mention Julian, who giving too easy credit to the Responses of the Augurs, deprived himself of the opportunity of returning out of Persia. Therefore the same kind of Suffering is not always the effect of the same sort of Crime. For our promises never deceived those that consided in them.  
This answer have I writ to those who provoke us, as one who is no way provoked; for my design in canvasing this Address, was not to expose their Bigotry, but to confute their Arguments. And yet, Sir, this very Address of theirs, may well engage you to more caution; for whereas their Orator relates of your Progenitors, that the remoter of them were admirers of these Rites, the more immediate no enemies to them, and presently adds, If the Piety of the Ancients does not incline you, let the connivance of your nearest Relations encourage you; he plainly instructs you what veneration you owe to the Christian Faith, not to countenance the gentle Rites; and what to Piety, not to violate your Brother's Injunctions. For if th●y think it a sufficient Argument for the promoting their Cause, to pled the connivance of those Princes, who though they were Christians, yet made no alteration in the gentle Ceremonies, how much more are they obliged to think it reasonable that you should pay this respect and kindness to your Brother? that although you did not really like what he had done, yet you should connive at it, that you may not put an affront upon his Laws, but that you should ratify and confirm what you are convinced, is at once a demonstration of your own Piety, and an instance of love and kindness to your Brother.   
IV. THE Emperor was abundantly satisfied with this excellent Reply, and so the Petition fell to the ground; and Symmachus himself was in danger to have done so too, being accused to the Emperor for pulling Christians out of their Churches, and casting them into Prison; yea, that he had apprehended the Bishops of the neighbouring Cities, and had imprisoned them; whereat Valentinian was greatly angry with the Provost, commanding the Persons to be released. All which Symmachus wip d off in a Letter 
sum. l. 10. Ep. XXXIV. p. 500.  to the Emperor, showing, that the whole was a feigned Scene of pure Malice and Envy, founded upon no other pretence, than a strict Inquisition his Majesty had commanded him to make, for some Furniture that had been embezzled; that as to the Charge, he was sufficiently vindicated by the Letter of Pope Damasus, clearing him from any rugged or injurious usage to his Party, by the judicial Acts upon Record, and by the Testimony of the Praetorian Praefect, to whom the Emperor had referred the Examination of the Case. Afterwards upon occasion of a Warrant directed to the Counts Jovinus and Gaudentius to deface the Pagan Temples, Symmachus renewed 
Vid. Prosper. de pr●miss. P. 3. c. 38. p. 60.  his Petition, and that too in the name of the Senate, for the Altar of Victory, in an Address to Theodosius, but with no better success than before. For S. Ambrose( the Court then being at Milan) presently undertook the Cause, and managed it before the Emperor with so much acuteness and dexterity, that the attempt vanished into nothing, and Syminachus himself for his insolent undertaking, was thrust out of the Emperor's presence, and commanded to be put into a naked Coach without any Trimming or Ornaments, and that very day to be carried an hundred Miles out of Town, and there to remain in a kind of Banishment. And what further increased the displeasure against him at Court, was this; When Maximus marched into Italy, Symmachus complemented 
Socr. l. 5. c. 14●. 273.  his arrival in a flattering panegyric, for which he was charged with high Treason, and fearing the extremity of punishment, sled for Sanctuary to the Church, which before he had so much despised and scorned. But Theodosius inclined by the sweetness of his temper, pardonned him, in a grateful sense, whereof he published an apologetic for the satisfaction, and in commendation of the Emperor, and so far wrought himself into favour, that not long after he had the honor of the Consulship conferred upon him. All which though happening at several times, we have here laid together.   

SECT. IV. His Acts from his Contest with Symmachus till his second Embassy.  
Symmachus the means of bringing S. Augustin to Milan. A short account of S. Augustin's first years, Education, Studies, and Religion. His coming to Rome. Sent by Symmachus to teach rhetoric at Milan. Ambrose his kindness to him. Preparatives towards his Conversion. The strange and extraordinary manner of it. His Baptism and preferment to the See of Hippo. A Law published at Milan in favour of the Arians. Benevolus stoutly refuses to draw it up. Attempts upon Ambrose. The Mutiny of the People quieted by him. The great numbers of the Arians at Milan. Ambrose challenged by Auxentius to a Disputation. His defence and answer presented in writing to the Emperor. A Church demanded for the Arians. His answer to the Emperor's Officers. His encouragement given to the People. Antiphonal Hymns introduced by him into the Church of Milan. This quarrelled at by the Arians. The great Confusions in the City. Insolent demands of the Arians. Warrants for the seizing several Persons. Ambrose his answer to the Commanders concerning the Imperial Authority. Guards set upon his Church. His Sermon to the People at that time. The discourse between him and the Emperor's Secretary. His generous answer to Calligonus. The discovery of the Bodies of SS. Protasius and Gervasius, Martyrs in the Reign of the Antonini. Several miraculous Cures effected by them, reported by S. Ambrose, Augustin, &c. then present. The credibility of these Miracles, with respect to the State of things at that time and place. The Translation and entombing of these Remains, and S. Ambrose his Sermon upon that occasion. Several attempts made by the Arian Party upon S. Ambrose his Life.  
I. BUT before we take leave of Symmachus, 'tis but just we should pay a Tribute of thankfulness to his memory for being though undesigningly, the happy occasion of converting the great S. Augustin to the Church, and that by the Ministry of our venerable Prelate. Augustin was a man of a great Wit, excellent Parts, and a complete furniture of polite secular Learning. He was born 
Possid. vit. Aug. c. 1. Tom. 1 col. 860. Aug. Confess. l. 5. c. ●. 8. &c.  at Tagaste a City in afric, of honest Parents, Patricius and Monica, both Christians▪ but his Mother a Woman of incomparable Piety. As he grew up in years, he drank in Learning with a mighty thirst, wherein within few years he attained that eminency, that he taught Grammar in his native Town, and soon after rhetoric at Carthage. For his Religion( though therein all possible care was taken of him by his good Mother) he had very little concernment, and to mend the matter, engaged himself in one of the worst of Sects, that of the Manichees, whereinto he was inveigled by the Insinuations of Faustus Bishop of that Sect, then newly arrived at Carthage. Wearied out with the Wranglings and Contentions of the Schools at Carthage, he laid down his employment, and, contrary to the desires and persuasions of his Mother, resolved for Rome, where he understood he might promise himself more quiet opportunities for his Study, where Scholars lived under a more severe and regular Discipline, and were more tractable and observant of their Masters. But he found not things to answer his Expectations; for having opened his School, he perceived 'twas the custom for Students to flock a place to a new Master, but after a while to desert him, and run to another, and thereby defraud him of his salary. This gave him enough of Rome, and it was not long before divine Providence opened a better way for him. For Orders being come from the Court at Milan to the Provost of Rome, to provide a fit Person to be Professor of rhetoric at Milan, and to sand him thither at the public Charge, Symmachus, who had before particularly taken notice of him, pitched upon Augustin, and sent him thither, where he arrived about the year CCCLXXXIV. Ambrose, who knew how to value a Scholar, quickly cast his eye upon him, and entertained him with singular kindness and humanity, which made no small impression upon him. He duly attended S. Ambrose his Sermons, not out of any desire he had to be instructed in Matters of Faith, but out of curiosity to take the just measures of his Eloquence, whether it answered the Renown which famed had spread abroad concerning it. However he was caught when he least designed it, the holy man's Discourses making their way by continual droppings, till they reduced him to a right mind, and brought him off from all the lewdnesses of his former Life. One of the first steps towards his Conversion, was his renouncing Manichaeism, and having got his foot out of that snare, he went over to the Platonists, entering his name among the academic Sect, a Tribe of Philosophers of greatest vogue at that time. But he found no satisfaction there, and shortly after wrote against them. His Mother impatient of his absence, and passionately desirous of his welfare, was in the mean time come to Milan, where by her Prayers and Tears, by her Devotions both in public and private, she ceased not to solicit Heaven for a happy success, and now she found the good effect of what a grave Bishop had long since  told her, 
Confess. l. 3. c. ult. col. 89.  when she unweariedly importuned him to discourse her Son, in order to the reclaiming of him, go thy way( said he) and compose thyself, for 'tis not possible that a Son of such tears should perish. An answer which she received with a profound reverence, as if it had been an Oracle dropped from Heaven. Great pains S. Ambrose had taken with him, and he had been plied with the Councils of good old Simplician, but still the Crown of this great man's Conversion was reserved for the more immediate hand of Heaven. In a great hurry and distraction of thoughts concerning his condition he retired 
Ib. l. 8. c. 8. 12. col. 143, &c.  one day with his dear Friend Alypius into the Garden, where having spent some time, partly in Conference, partly in silent Meditations, he withdrew himself into a more solitary part to give vent to the Tumults and Agitations of his mind, and throwing himself down under a Fig-tree, began with abundance of tears to bewail that God still remembered against him the Iniquities of his Youth, beseeching him effectually to hasten his Reformation, that he might not put it off( as too long he had done) till to morrow, but that it might commence from that very moment. Immediately he heard a shrill voice in a kind of melody oft echoing to him, take up the Book and red. He did so, and the first place he cast his eye upon, was that of S. Paul; Not in riotting and drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness, not in strife and envy; but put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh to fulfil the Lusts thereof. He red thus far, and shut to the Book, and on a sudden all his dark thoughts vanished, and a light of joy and comfort overspread his mind. And now he resolved to quit his profession of rhetoric, and entirely to devote himself to Christianity, and having continued two years in the state of a Catechumen, he was baptized by S. Ambrose( which he was wont to glory in as no small part of his honour) and together with him his Son Adeodatus( whom he had by a Concubine that he kept) a Youth of fifteen years of Age, but of that prodigious forwardness, that his Father stood amaz d 
Horrori mihi erat illud ingenium,& quis praeter te t●lium miraculorum opis●r? id. ib. l. 9. c. 6. col. 152.  at the greatness and pregnancy of his Parts. But this too early ripe Fruit, God soon after transplanted into Heaven. Being thus baptized, and confirmed in his Religion, he return'd into afric, was made Bishop of Hippo, and became one of the most famous lights for Learning and Piety that ever shined in the Western Church.  
II. LOOKING back to Milan, we find the Arians getting ground. Justina had so plied the young Emperor Valentinian, as to procure a Law 
Ext. lib. 16. C Th. Tit. de Fid Cathol. leg. 4. ( bearing date Ann. CCCLXXXVI.) in favour of the Arian Party, and all that embraced the Faith agreed upon in the Synod of Ariminum, that they might freely hold their public Assemblies without Interruption; and that whoever attempted to hinder the execution of this Edict, should be proceeded against as disturbers of the Churches Peace, Authors of Sedition, and guilty of High Treason. Benevolus 
Soz. l. 7. c. 13. p. 72●.  Master of the Paper-Office, and a zealous catholic, whose place it was to dictate and enrol the Laws that were passed, being sent for to draw up this Edict, refused to do it. The Empress gave him good words, and persuaded him with promises of better preferment; but the man was proof against those Temptations, and taking off his Girdle( which among the Romans was a sign of discharge from their Service) he threw it at her feet, and plainly  told her, he would neither hold his present Office, nor be bribed with any higher Dignity, as the wages of unrighteousness. He being dismissed, others were substituted in his place, and the Law was framed and passed. Justina thus armed with the Royal Authority, began to think of putting it in Execution. And first Ambrose is sent 
Ambr. Orat, in Auxent. ad calcem. Ep. XXXII. p. 127.  for to Court, to try if any thing by fair means could be done upon him, the Emperor encompassed with his great Officers, treating with him in the Consistory about the delivery of the Church according to the Imperial Edict. The People hearing that he was gone to the Palace, flocked after him in such vast numbers, as struck a terror into the whole Court, and when the Commanders and Officers were dispatched with a Party to suppress and stop them, they all offered themselves to Martyrdom. So that they were forced to entreat the good Bishop to use his interest with the People, to quiet their minds, and assure them, that the Church should not be invaded. With which assurance the multitude dispersed, and that done, his Enemies at Court failed not to lay the envy of the Tumult at his door.  
III. THE number of Arians daily increased at Milan, flocking thither from all parts, to shelter themselves under the warm wing of the Empress; and a Bishop they had now got placed over them, Auxentius a Scythian 
abide. p. 126. , who had fled out of the East, and finding the memory of Auxentius, S. Ambrose his Predecessor, still so odious and distasteful to the People, had changed his name into Mercurinus. A bold man he was, and to give some reputation to his Cause, challenged Ambrose to a Disputation before the Emperor, having secretly designed four or five Gentiles as Judges, who he knew would be ready to pronounce any thing on his side, and that the final Decision should be given by the Emperor. This S. Ambrose rejected as an unfit way, and an unecclesiastical method of proceeding, whereupon Auxentius began to triumph, and desired the Emperor, that he might be compelled to dispute with him in the Consistory, in compliance wherewith a day was set, and Dalmatius the Tribune sent to him with a command to appear. The holy Bishop thought it safest to return an answer 
Ib. Ep. XXXII. p. 121.  in writing to the Emperor, wherein he humbly remonstrated, that this proposed method of disputing was contrary to the Laws enacted by his Majesties Father of blessed memory, which commanded that all matters of Faith and ecclesiastic order should be determined by none but competent Judges, and who were of the same Profession, that is, that Bishops only should have the cognizance of Episcopal Causes; that this had always been the Law and practise of the Church, which his Father would never violate, nay had expressly declared, 'twas none of his business to judge between Bishops, and this after many years Profession, and being baptized into the Church: Needs therefore must his Majesty be unfit to assume to himself to decide the nicest Articles of Faith, who was himself unbaptiz'd, and a Catechumen in the Faith, and no doubt he himself would be of that mind, when age and experience had reduced him to a more mature judgement of things: That he knew not who his Adversary was, nor whence he came, but that 'twas a sign he disinherited the goodness of his Cause, when he was ashamed to produce the names of those Persons, whom he had chosen for his Judges; that if the matter must be put to such an Issue, let them come to Church, and upon hearing, let the People indifferently judge for themselves, if they shall like Auxentius better, much good may it do them, let them take him; but the People had already declared their sense, having earnestly petitioned his Father, that they might have him for their Bishop, and that Emperor had promised him all security, if he would but accept it; that he could not so far debase his Office, as to submit the Cause to a Lay-judgment, nor be so unfaithful as to refer it to the arbitrament, perhaps of Jews or Gentiles, that he abhorred the council of Ariminum, and kept close to that of Nice, from which neither torture nor death should make him flinch; if Disputes must be about matters of Faith, let them be in the Church, and managed by Bishops, the Course that had been ever held in the best times, in the Reigns of Constantine and Constantius: If Auxentius in this case appealed to a Synod( though 'twas not fit that so many Bishops should be troubled for the sake of one man, who if he were an Angel from Heaven, ought not to be preferred before the Peace of the Church) he was ready to attend such an Assembly; let the late Law be reversed, and then let them try it; that he was most willing to have obeied his summons to the Consistory, but that both the Bishops that were with him, and the People cried out, that questions of Faith ought not to be treated of but in the Church, and that to do otherwise, were to betray the Church of Christ: He besought him therefore to accept his excuse in not appearing at the Consistory, in which place he had never learnt to stand for any thing but his Majesties Rights, nor could he dispute within the Palace, the secrets whereof he neither did, nor desired to understand. All which he subscribed thus, I Ambrose Bishop have presented this Libel to the most happy and gracious Emperor, Valentinian the August.  
IV. THIS free and impartial dealing let them see at Court, that fair means would never gain the point they aimed at, and therefore they now resolved to proceed by force and cruelty, Auxentius 
Or. in Auxent. p. 125.  moving that a Party of cannoners might be sent to give him Possession of the Church; accordingly Tribunes 
Ib. in init.& p. 124.  were sent to demand the Church, and together with it the Plate and Vessels belonging to it, whereat the Congregation were infinitely amazed and frighted. But the holy Bishop calmly answered the Officers, that had the Emperor sent to demand his House or Land, his Money or his Goods, or any thing within his Power, he would freely have resigned it to him, but the Church of God might not be robbed or spoiled, nor could he deliver that which was committed to him to keep, not to betray; that herein he consulted his Majesties truest Welfare and Interest, the things demanded being neither fit for him to deliver, nor for the Emperor to receive; that for the People, they should be quiet in their minds, his Life in this case was not dear unto him, and that he was secure in the care of the Divine Providence. 'twas not a little observable, that one of the Lessons red 
Ib. p. 125.  that day in the Congregation was the Story of Ahab, demanding Naboth's Vineyard, and the poor mans resolute answer, God forbid it me, that I should give thee the Inheritance of my Fathers. The pious Prelate was mightily animated with the passage, and turned it thus upon the Officers, God forbid, that I should part with Christs Inheritance; if he would not that of his Fathers, shall I betray that of Christ? The Inheritance left us by our Fathers, Dionysius the Martyr, who dyed for the Faith in banishment, Eustorgius the Confessor, Myrocles, and all the rest of the holy Bishops of this Church: I have given an answer as becomes a Bishop, let the Emperor do as becomes an Emperor, I'll sooner lose my Life than the Faith. And then he proceeded to improve the second Lesson, which happened to be no less apposite than the former, being the Story of our Lord's whipping the buyers and sellers out of the Temple. The spirits of the People during this tragical and melancholy scene of things, were kept up and refreshed with Divine Hymns and Psalms 
Paulin. ubi supr. p. 3. Aug. Confess. l. 9. c. 7. col. 153. , at the end of each whereof there was a solemn doxology, to the honour of the holy Trinity, the People answering their part by turns: This way of Antiphonal or Responsory singing was generally practised in the Eastern Church, and had been lately introduced by S. Ambrose into the Church of Milan, being not till then known in the West, though hence soon propagated into all parts. The People were infinitely pleased and delighted with it, and S. Augustine, who lived at this time at Milan, confesses 
Ibid. c. 6.  he was so ravished and transported with the Psalmody of that Church, that it melted down his Soul into divine affections, and the holy Passion quickly vented itself into Rivers of Tears. The Arians, who with the Spider knew how to suck poison out of every Flower, said 
Ambr. ubi s●pr. p. 128. , that this was but a trick of Ambrose to cheat the People, and to tie them faster to his Party: Whereto he replied, That if he did cheat them, 'twas to their own advantage, the People by this means greedily learning, and daily confessing the Belief of the sacred Trinity, and becoming Masters in the knowledge of that, wherein they would otherwise have scarce been Disciples.  
V. FOR some dayes together the City was full of confusion, Parties running up and down from place to place, the Courtiers 
I●. Ep XXXIII p. 128. &c.  and great men coming with Messages to demand the Church, and returning back with answers to Court, nor did they now content themselves with requiring the Portian Church that stood without the Walls, they would have the great Cathedral, newly built within the City. The Provost began calmly to persuade the catholics to quit however the Portian Church, but the People would not hear of it, so he went back to give an Account to the Emperor, S. Ambrose in the mean while entertaining the People with an Oration against Auxentius, wherein he gives them an account of what had passed, and the attempts of Auxentius and his Party. The next day, being Sunday, after Sermon the Catechumens being dismissed, he was gone to the Baptistery to baptize the Competentes that stood Candidates for that Ordinance; when he was  told, that Officers were sent from Court to the Portian Church, that they had hung up Curtains, and that a great many of the People was flocking thither: He nothing moved, went on with the Divine Service, but before he had done, he was acquainted, that the People having met with Castulus an Arian Presbyter in the Street, had in a great rage laid hands upon him, and 'twas to be feared what might be the effect of an intemperate Zeal. Hereat the good man was truly troubled, and with Prayers and Tears besought God, that no mans Blood might be spilled in this quarrel, but that rather his own might be  shed, not only for his Friends, but Enemies; and immediately he dispatched away some Presbyters and Deacons, who recovered the man safe out of the hands of the People. The report of this Accident made a great noise at Court, and the louder we may be sure by being handed by inveterate Enemies. And now Warrants are sent out for apprehending, and arraigning several Persons, which fell first upon the society of Merchants and tradesman, and at this holy time( for 'twas now the great Passion-week) which was wont to be honoured with the release of Prisoners, nothing was heard but the rattling of Chains, and the requiring vast Sums of Money in a little time; which many professed they were ready to pay, and as much more if they pleased, so they might but be suffered to enjoy the Faith. By this time the Prisons were full of tradesman, and the Magistrates and men of Quality severely threatened, if the Church was not presently delivered up: The Persecution grew hot, and had the Church doors been set open, things had run into the utmost extremity of cruelty and confusion. The Commanders and Officers in the mean time treated with S. Ambrose about this Affair, urging him with the Imperial Authority, that the Emperor in whose Power all things were, did but demand his Right: He replied, Did the Emperor demand any thing of mine, my Land or my Money, I would not oppose him, but those things that immediately belong to God are not subject to the Authority of the Emperor: If it be my Patrimony you seek, take it; if my Person, I am here ready for you. Have you a mind to hurry me to Prison, or to death? 'twill be a kindness to me. I will not I assure you engarrison myself within crowds of People, nor fly to the Altar to save my Life, but rather willingly offer it up for the Altars sake. So hearty did the good man desire to prevent the shedding of Blood, and those quarrels and combustions, that were likely not only to ruin Milan, but perhaps Italy itself, which he was freely content to have redeemed with the loss of his own Life. And espying some Officers of the Goths among the rest, he asked them, whether the Roman Empire had taken them in, to be the Incendiaries of the public Peace? If these parts were ruined, whither would they go to find entertainment? Then they required of him to reduce and quiet the Multitude. He  told them, 'twas in his Power not to set them on work, 'twas in God's only to calm and pacify them, but if they looked upon him as the spring of the motion, they ought to proceed against him, either by death or banishment.  
VI. WITH this answer they departed, leaving him in the Church, where he continued all day, and at night went home, that he might be ready, if they came to apprehended him. Early the next morning before break of day, as he was going out of doors, he found the Church guarded by Souldiers, who yet had plainly  told the Emperor, that he might go abroad, if he pleased, they were ready to attend him, if he went to Church with the catholics; if not, they were resolved to go to that place, wheresoever Ambrose kept his Congregation. 'twas a dangerous time, and the Arians wisely kept themselves within doors, having no great Party among the Citizens, but few of the Court, and some Goths; the main body of them following the motion of the Empress. While the Lessons were reading, he was  told, that the People were assembled at the New Church, and that the Congregation was fuller than ever it had been in the most peaceable times, and that a Reader was called for. The Souldiers that were set to guard the Church, understanding the Bishop had ordered them to be excluded all Communion, came into the Church, whereat when the People, especially the weaker sex were affrighted, they bad them not be afraid, they were come thither to pray, not to fight. The People however called upon him to go to the other Church, where the Congregation did earnestly expect and desire his Company. Then taking for his Argument the Lessons that had been red out of Job, he discoursed to them very appositely to the present circumstances of things, with what admirable courage and patience they had discharged themselves, how vigorously he had born up against all the temptations of Satan and his Agents, and the several attempts which the abusers of the Royal Authority had made upon him. Next he proceeded to explain a passage red that morning out of the Psalms, O God the Heathen are come into thine Inheritance, which he applied to the case in hand, especially to the Goths, and some other barbarous Peoples seizing upon the Church. He hoped that in this time by the intercession of the Souldiers and Officers, and by the supplications of the People, the edge of the Emperors zeal might be taken off, when 'twas  told him, that a Notary was come with Orders from the Emperor, with whom he went aside to receive his message, which thus began. What came into your mind ( said he) thus to act contrary to Command? What was commanded ( replied the Bishop) or what has been thus rashly acted, I know not. Why ( said the Notary) did you sand your Presbyters into the Church? I desire to know whether you intend to usurp the Empire, that I may know how to prepare to deal with you. Ambrose answered, that he had done nothing in prejudice of the Church, that when he heard the Souldiers had seized it, he had only entertained the news of it with a sigh, many had urged him to go thither, but he  told them, I cannot deliver up the Church, and I may not fight for it; but that as soon as he understood that the Curtains which had been put up in the Church for the Emperor's apartment were taken down( which in truth the Boyes in wantonness had torn in pieces) he had sent thither his Presbyters, but refused to go himself,( though the People pressed him to it) saying, I hope in Christ, the Emperor himself will be on our side: That if this was Tyranny, he had Arms indeed, but only in Christ's name, power to offer his Body to the Sword; and if he thought him a Tyrant, why did he delay to strike? That 'twas even proverbial, that Emperors were more desirous of the Priesthood, than Priests of Empire; and Christ himself ran away, when they would have made him King; that he had his Tyranny 'tis true, but such as lay in weakness, according to that of the Apostle, when I am weak, then am I strong; that Maximus himself would not accuse him of Tyranny towards Valentinian, while he confessed with some regret, 'twas by the power of his ambassage he had been kept from invading Italy; adding, that Bishops had never played the Tyrants, but had often suffered very hard things from them. The day was spent in mourning and sadness, and the Bishop forced to lodge in the Church all night, the Souldiers guarding it so close, that none was suffered to go out, so they passed the time in singing Psalms. The next day, being Passion-day, the prophesy of Jonah was red in course, several parcels whereof he expounded and applied, and was upon that, that if the Prophet had so much pity on the short-lived Gourd, how much more should God have of so great a City, and that therefore he had removed the judgement from it; when word was brought him, that the Guards were commanded off the Church, and the several sums that had been exacted of the tradesman ordered to be restored. The whole City hereupon put on a new face, and every corner was full of gladness and joyful Acclamations, the Souldiers running up and down with the good News, and going up to the Altar, did by their kisses signify the public peace. S. Ambrose, though sharing in the common joy, had reason to fear, that as to himself the storm was not yet quiter blown over. He knew he was traduced at Court as a Tyrant, and when the great Officers prest the Emperor to comply with the Petition of the Souldiers, and to go to Church, he had answered with some passion, I believe if Ambrose should command it, you would deliver me up to be a Prisoner. Words that presaged no kind intention towards him, but that 'twas evident, who 'twas that blew up the Coals. Nay Calligonus the Eunuch chief Gentleman of the Bed-chamber, than whom none better understood the intrigues at Court,  told Ambrose to his face, dare you presume, while I live, to affront the Emperor? I'll take off your Head. Whereto the holy man replied, God Almighty, if he please, suffer you to make good your threatenings, I'll suffer as becomes a Bishop, do you what becomes an Eunuch: But from such God defend his Church, upon me let them turn all their rage and spleen, and quench their thirst with my blood. And the Divine Vengeance is singularly remarkable in this case. For this impotent Eunuch 
Aug. contr. Julian. l. 6. c. 5. T. 7. col. 1117.  afterwards for attempting to ravish a Woman, was convict, and lost his Head.  
VII. THE People during these confusions attended the public Offices with great vigour and sprightliness of Devotion, flocking after S. Ambrose wherever he went. He had newly finished the Dedication of a Church 
Ambr. Ep. LXXXV. p. 222. Serm. XCI. p. 320. August. Conf●ss. l. 9. c. 7. col. 153. de Civit. D. l. 22. c. 8. col. 1340. Paulin. vit. Amb. p. 3. vid. Martyr. Rom. jun. XIX. p. 376. , and the People called upon him to do the like to the Basilica Romana. He  told them he was ready to do it, could he find any remains of Martyrs, which he might repose and bury under the Altar, which was the Custom 
Vid. Chrysost. Epist. CXXVI. Tom. IV. p. 873.  of dedicating Churches in those dayes. Nor wanted he an opportunity, it being revealed to him in a Vision at night, in what place he might find them. Forthwith taking to him the Officers of the Church, and the Persons that waited there for imposition of hands, he commanded them to dig before the rails that encompassed the Tombs of S. Felix and S. Nabor the Martyrs; nor had they dug far, when apparent signs shew'd themselves, and at last they discovered the bodies of two proper Persons, their bones entire, and both Corps all fresh besprinkled with blood, the head only of one severed from the body. These proved to be the bodies of S. Protasius, and G●rvasius, the one beaten with Cudgels, and then beheaded, the other whipped to death with Plumbatae, or scourges with leaden Bullets at the end of them; they suffered martyrdom( as may be conjectured) under the Reign of the Antonini, and ever since lay obscure as undiscovered, though the more aged Persons upon this occasion called to mind that they had heard the names of these Martyrs, and had red their Inscriptions. For two whole dayes the People crowded to behold the relics of those venerable Martyrs, after which in the evening they removed them first into the Church of S. Fausta, where they watched all night, the next day they translated them into the Ambrosian Church, and God was pleased to honour the Solemnity with very signal Miracles. For one Severus a Butcher, who had been blind for many years, and by reason thereof had been forced to give over his Trade, and was maintained at the charge of several charitable Persons, a man known to the whole City, hearing the bustle made in the Procession, inquired what it was, and being  told, commanded himself to be lead thither, and prayed he might but touch the Bier with his Handkerchief, which being done, he no sooner applied it to his Eyes, but immediately he recovered his sight. Several that were possessed with evil Spirits, upon their touching the Martyrs Bodies, found themselves rid of their Tyrannical Inmates, and return'd home well. Towels and Handkercheifs were brought and laid upon the Bodies, and many who did but touch the clothes wherein the Martyrs were wrapped, were presently cured of their Infirmities and Distempers. The truth of which Miracles are abundantly justified by S. Ambros●, Augustine, and Paulinus, who were all then upon the place, and indeed were notoriously evident to the whole City, and twice the Subject of S. Ambrose's Sermons. And I make no doubt but God suffered these Miracles to be wrought at this time on purpose to confront the Arian impieties, and to give the highest and most uncontrollable attestation to the truth of the catholic Cause, so mightily at this time opposed, traduced, and persecuted. Indeed the Arians were strangely nettled at it, and knowing no better way to evade the force of the Evidence, denied that they were Martyrs, and when that would not do, boldly denied matter of Fact, that ever any such miraculous effects had been wrought, when as the Persons upon whom they had been wrought were at hand, and in the common view of all. A greater piece of infidelity( as S. Ambrose observes) than that of the very Devils that were cast out, who believed and trembled; the Devil confessing, what the Arians did deny. Nay they gave out 
Paulin. ibid. , that Ambrose had hired Persons for Money, to feign themselves possessed, and to say that the evil Spirits were tormented by the Martyrs. But Heaven soon confuted this malicious insinuation. For on a sudden one in the Crowd was seized with an evil Spirit, and cried out, that they were really tormented in the same way that he was, and that this should be the Portion of those that disowned the Martyrs, and disclaimed the catholic Doctrine. The Arians confounded with this Testimony, had no other way but to endeavour to stifle it, to which end they got the man into their hands, privately murdered him, and threw him into a Fish-pond. But to return.  
VIII. THE Corps being brought into the Ambrosian Church, and the famed of the Miracles noys'd abroad, S. Ambrose went into the Pulpit, and preached 
Ext. Serm. ubi supr. Ep. LXXXV.  to them upon that occasion, taking for his Argument the former part of the XIX. Psalm then red; The Heavens declare the Glory of God, &c. which he managed suitable to that Solemnity. The Sermon ended, he would have proceeded to the interment of the Bodies, but the People unanimously besought him, it might be deferred till the next Lord's day; at length it was agreed it should be done the next day, when S. Ambrose preached 
Serm. XCI. ib.  again, and pursued his former Subject, particularly reflecting upon the idle cavils of the Arian Party, and their prodigious obstinacy and incredulity, in rejecting such evident and immediate Testimonies from Heaven against them. So the holy Martyrs were deposited in Triumph, and laid up in expectation of a glorious Resurrection. And though Baronius to justify those relics of these Martyrs, which the Church of Rome shows at this day, says 
Ann. 387. T. 4. p. 546. vid.  more than once, that S. Ambrose reserved part of them both for himself, and for the use and ornament of other Churches. 
Not. ad Mart. Rom. loc. cit.  Yet sure I am, S. Ambrose, who best knew, says the contrary, that they butted them entire, and placed every joint in its right order, condivimus integra, ad ordinem transtulimus, as himself expresses it. The Arians however endeavouring to make head, were so overpowered on all hands with stronger evidence, and a better cause, that they thought it best for the present to let things sleep, and so the persecution ceased. Howbeit Ambrose wanted not Enemies at Court, that sought not only to murder his Reputation, but to take away his Life. Among the rest a desperate assassinate 
Paulin. ib. p. 4.  prest into his Bed-chamber with a drawn Sword, and as he was lifting up his hand to give the stroke, his Arm grew stiff and shrunk up. amazed whereat the man confessed, that he had been set on and sent by the Empress Justina, and upon his penitent Confession had the use of his Arm restored to him. Nor did they cease here, but raised up Hell itself, and set it on work against him. One instance whereof which the same Author reports, may suffice. After Justina's death, Innocentius a Conjurer at his examination and torture before the Judges for the charge of Sorcery, answered not directly to the interrogatories, but cried out, that he was extremely tormented by S. Ambrose his Guardian Angel, for that in the time of Justina to beget an ill opinion of the Bishop in the minds of the People, he had got up to the top of the Church, and there offered Sacrifice at midnight: Notwithstanding which and all the tricks of his black art, the People had still a greater reverence and devotion for him: That he had sent Daemons to kill him, who confessed, that they could not come near him, no nor near the door of his House, which was guarded round with fire, that scorched at a distance, whenever they attempted to approach the place.   

SECT. V. His Acts from his second Embassy, till the death of Valentinian.  
The fears in Italy of Maximus's invasion. Ambrose prevailed with to undertake an Embassy to him. His arrival at Triers, and dispute about his reception. The Discourse that passed between Maximus and him in the Consistory. The great freedom and impartiality of his Discourse. He refuses Communion with the Usurper. His return, and account of his Embassy. Domninus sent in his room deluded by Maximus. Maximus invades Italy, is encountered by the Emperor Theodosius, routed, and put to death. Ambrose his intercession with the Emperor in the case of the Jewish Synagogue. His plain dealing with him, and prevailing to repeal the Edict. The murder of the Emperors General at Thessalonica. Warrants issued out for revenge. The miserable slaughter committed in that City. The Letter of S. Ambrose, and a Synod to the Emperor Theodosius, suspending him from Church-Communion, till public Repentance and satisfaction given. S. Ambrose his impartial discourse to him at the Church-door, denying him admittance. The great sorrow and resentment of the Emperor. His passionate desire of being reconciled. His absolution over confidently undertaken by Rufinus. The Emperor's coming to Church, and public expressions of Sorrow and Repentance. His absolution. admonished by Ambrose to receive the Communion without the Rails. His high commendation of Ambrose his courage and impartiality. Jovinian and his errors condemned by S. Ambrose and a Synod at Milan. Valentinian his expedition into France. Slain there by the treachery of Arbogastes. S. Ambrose his Oration at his Funeral.  
I. WHEN a man's ways please the Lord, he maketh his Enemies to be at peace with him, yea, and sometimes to fly to him for advice and safety: Which eminently happened in this case. News daily came to Milan of Maximus his preparations to invade Italy. They were infinitely surprised and troubled at Court, and being in no capacity of defending themselves, threw themselves upon S. Ambrose, whom they besought to stand in the gap, and as he had successfully managed a former Embassy, so he would now venture a second time, and oppose himself against the Arms of the prosperous Usurper. The good man burying the memory both of public and private injuries, 
Ambr. Epi●t. XXVII ad Valent. imp. p. 105.  readily undertook the journey, and arriving at Triers, where Maximus resided, the next day went to Court. He was met by a French Eunuch, chief Gentleman of the Bed-chamber, of whom he demanded, that he might have audience. The Eunuch asked whether he had any credential Letters, the Bishop replied he had. Whereupon the other acquainted him, that he could not be admitted but in Consistory, or the place of public audience. He answered, that was not the way, wherein Bishops were wont to be treated, and that he had Affairs of importance that were to be privately communicated to his Prince. Then he went in to acquaint his Master, but brought back no other answer, to which the Bishop rejoined, that this way of treatment was unsuitable to the Character that he bore, however he was resolved not to be wanting to the business he had undertaken, and was glad he had an opportunity of making his particular Concerns stoop to the interest both of his living, and his deceased Prince. Maximus being sat in Council, Ambrose was introduced, at whose coming in, the Prince rose up to give him the kiss, according to the usual salutation of Bishops and great men in those times. But Ambrose stood still among the Councellors, who persuaded him to go up nearer to the Throne, telling him the Emperor called him. What Discourse passed between them, was in this ensuing Dialogue. AMBROSE. I wonder you should offer the kiss to one whom you do not own, for if you did, you would not give me Audience in this place. MAXIMUS. Bishop, you seem to be much in passion. AMBR. I am more ashamed than angry, to see myself in so unsuitable a place. MAXIM. At your first Embassy you came into the Consistory. AMBR. That was no fault of mine, 'twas his that summoned me, not mine, that came in. MAX. Why then did you come in at all? AMBR. Because I then came to require peace from you as an inferior, now, it seems, as an equal. MAX. How do you mean equal? AMBR. By the favour of Almighty God, who did not only give, but has preserved the Empire to Valentinian. MAX. You have imposed upon me, and so has Bauto, who under pretence of securing the young Emperor, sought to transfer the Empire to himself, and to that end sent an Army of barbarous People against me, as if I had not Forces enough to oppose against him, having so many thousands of those barbarous Nations constantly under my pay. And had not I then been detained, when you came upon that Embassy, who could have opposed me, or have stopped the course of my Victory? Ambr. Be not angry, Sir, there is no cause for it, but calmly hear my reply. I am come, because you complain, that whilst you hearkned to me at my first Embassy, you were deceived by me. But I account it an honour to undergo all this for the sake of an Orphan Prince. For whom should we that are Bishops defend, if not Orphans? It being commanded by the Law of our Religion, judge the Fatherless, pled for the Widow, and relieve the oppressed: And elsewhere, he is a Father of the Fatherless, and a Judge of the Widows. But I intend not to reproach Valentinian with my good Offices. To come to the point; where did I ever oppose your Army, and hinder your passage into Italy? What Rocks did I throw in your way? What Forces? What Legions did I encounter you with? Did I with my body stop up the Alps, and render them unpassable to you? I would it were in my power so to do, I should not fear any complaints or objections you could make against it. With what promises did I ever delude you, to make you consent to a Peace? Did not you yourself sand Count Victor, whom I met not far from Mentz, to desire Peace? How then did Valentinian deceive you, from whom yourself first prayed Peace, before ever he sent to demand it? In what was it that Bauto beguiled you, while he only testified his care and fidelity to his Master? Was it that he did not betray his Prince? What was it wherein I circumvented you? At my first arrival, when you said that Valentinian ought to come to you as a Son to his Father, I replied, it was not reasonable that an Infant Prince with his Widow Mother should pass the Alps in the extremities of Winter, and to do it without her, was in that juncture of Affairs to run the greatest hazard; that our Embassy was only for Peace, not to undertake for the Emperor's coming, nor could I engage for what was not within my Commission, and sure I am, I never did promise any thing in that matter, so that yourself said, let us wait and see what answer Victor will bring with him, who while I stayed with you, arrived at Milan; where his demands were rejected, and he was  told, Peace was the business sought on both sides, and not the Emperor's journey, who could not stir; and I was present at his return. How then did I hinder Valentinian? After this, ambassadors were dispatched into France to deny them passage, and they met me at Valentia in France, and at my return, I found the passages of the Alps guarded by both Parties. How did I then divert your Armies? What Troops of yours hindered I from going into Italy? What Barbarians did Count Bauto sand against you? Though it had been no wonder if he being by Nation a Barbarian had done it, when you yourself threatened the Roman Empire with your barbarous Forces, whom you keep in pay with the Money that's usually levied upon the Provinces. See now the difference between your fierce threats, and the sweetness of the young Emperor Valentinian? Nothing would satisfy you, but with your Barbarian Troops to break in upon Italy, while Valentinian diverted the Hunns and the Alani, who were coming down through Germany to fall upon gall. And wherein had Bauto been to blame, if he had set the Barbarians together by the ears? For while you made yourself Master of the Roman Forces, and he on the other side prepares on all hands to defend himself, the Juthungi in the mean time wast the Country of the Grizons in the very heart of the Empire, and to suppress these Juthungi are the Hunns called in, who when they were upon their march, and near at hand, were forced to retire, and desert their intended Conquest, that you might not be alarmed and disturbed. Compare the case; you caused the Country of the Grizons to be wasted, Valentinian with his own money purchased your Peace. Behold your own Brother, that stands there at your right hand, whom, when Valentinian might have sacrificed him to his passion, he honourably dismissed back to you: He had him in his power, and yet at the very instant when the news of the bloody assassination of his Brother Gratian was brought him, conquered his just resentment, and generously scorned to repay like for like. Weigh the case, and be yourself judge in this matter. He sent you back your Brother alive and well, do you return him his though dead. Why should you deny him the remains of his Brother, who did not deny you assistances against himself? But you are afraid that at the sight of his body, the grief of his Souldiers should stir afresh; for so you pretend, that they will revenge his death, whom they deserted when alive. Why should you fear him being dead, whom you slay, when 'twas in your power to have preserved him? You'll say 'tis like, I did but kill mine Enemy: No, he was not your Enemy, but you his; he is now incapable of making, or being gratified by any defence that can be made for him. Consider but your own case. Suppose any one in these parts should at this time make Head against you, and usurp the Empire; I desire to know, whether you would account yourself his Enemy, or him yours? If I mistake not, 'tis the Usurper makes the War, the Emperor does but defend his right. And can you deny his ashes, whom you ought not to have put to death? Let Valentinian have his Brothers remains, at least as pledges of the Peace. Can you pretend, you commanded him not to be killed, whom you forbid to be butted? Who can believe but you begrutch'd him his Life, whom you envy the ease and honour of a Grave? But to return. I understand you take it ill, that Valentinian's Friends fled rather to the Emperor Theodosius, than to yourself: And could you ever expect it to be otherwise, when you sent to demand those that fled, that you might bring them to condign punishment, and put to death as many as you got within your power, while Theodosius rewarded and preferred those that sled to him. MAX. Whom did I put to death? AMBR. Bailio, a gallant man, and a brave Commander; and was it cause enough to take away his Life, that he was faithful to his Prince? MAX. I did not command him to be put to death. AMBR. 'twas so reported with us, that he was commanded to be slain. MAX. Indeed had he not laid hands upon himself, I had given order that he should be carried to Cabilonum, and there burnt alive. AMBR. It was not then without ground, that the report went abroad, that you had killed him. And who could hope to escape, when so great a Commander, so stout a soldier, so useful an Officer was put to death?  
II. WITH this freedom and impartiality did the holy man treat the Tyrant, a man would have thought to the immediate peril of his head. But for that time they partend fair, Maximus promising to enter with him into a treaty of Peace. But finding afterwards that he refused Communion with him, and all the Bishops of his Party( who were generally of the Ithacian Sect) he grew angry, and in a passion commanded him forthwith to depart the Court. He wanted not Friends that advised him to look about him, there would be snares and ambushes laid for him, and that the Usurper was too much galled with his freedom and plainness, not to seek revenge. Before he departed, he interceded in the behalf of one Hyginus an aged Bishop, who was then ordered to be banished, that at least he might be furnished with Provisions sit for a Person of his Age and Quality, and not be thrust out without a Garment to cover him, or a Bed to lie on; but was repulsed in his Address, and himself thrust out of doors. So he return'd to Milan, gave the Emperor an account of his Embassy, and withall advised him to be cautious how he treated with Maximus, a concealed Enemy, who pretended Peace, but intended War. And just so he found it. For not satisfied with Ambrose his Legation, he dispatched Domninus 
Z●sin. Hist. l. 4. p. 766. , a prime favourite at Court upon the same errand, whom Maximus entertained with all the obliging Caresses, and demonstrations of Honor and Respect, and as a further instance of his kindness and friendship towards Valentinian, sent back with the ambassador a considerable part of his Army to assist the Emperor against the barbarous People that were then falling in upon Pannonia. Coming to the Alps, the Soldiers on a sudden as they had been commanded, secured all the narrow and difficult passages, which was no sooner done, but Maximus followed after with his whole Army, and finding no opposition, marched directly into Italy, taking up his Quarters at Aquileia. The news of this unexpected surprise carried terror along with it into every place. Valentinian and his Mother fearing to fall into the Enemies hand, immediately took Ship, and sled to Thessalonica, whence they sent to the Emperor Theodosius, to represent the sad Circumstances of their Affairs, and to pray his speedy assistance before all was lost. Maximus in the mean while went on with all the rage and fierceness that could attend a conquering Enemy, filling all those parts with spoils and slaughter 
Vid A●●●r. E●. VIII. p. 75. LVII. p. 159. . And though we red not particularly that Milan suffered any thing in the common Calamity, yet was not S. Ambrose less affencted with the Miseries of his Brethren, multitudes whereof were undone, others taken Captive, for whose Relief and Redemption he set all the Springs of Charity on work, and when all other methods of Contribution were exhausted, he broken in pieces the rich Communion Plate 
I● Offi●. l. 2. c. 28. p. 50.  belonging to his Church, which he caused to be distributed for the Ransom of Captives. The Arians indeed afterwards laid this to his charge( 'twas the same Plate he had denied to them) but he despised their malice, and defended himself from the Piety and seasonableness of the Act. All this while Theodosius, though earnestly solicited, and though he had on purpose removed to Thessalonica, yet moved 
Z●in. i●id. p. 768. &c.  but slowly in the expedition, till falling in Love with Galla, Justina's youngest Daughter, a Princess of incomparable Beauty, he could obtain her upon no other Terms, than an immediate Prosecution of the War against the Usurper. And now the expedition went on apace, and Maximus suspecting that Theodosius would make his Voyage by Sea( as indeed he had put Justina and her Children on board to be shipped for Rome) had made all his Preparations to encounter him there, when as he passed with his Army by Land through Pannonia, and the Straits of the appenine Hills, and so came by surprise upon Aquileia, where a Van-guard of the Army entering the City, seize upon Maximus, pull him off the Throne, divest him of his imperial Robes, and bring him bound to Theodosius, by whose command, after some severe reproaches, but especially at the instance and clamour of the Soldiers, he lost his head. By which means the Fortunes of the Empire were happily resettled, Valentinian restored to his Dominions, and Peace to Italy.  
III. WHILE Theodosius stayed at Milan 
Paulin. vit. Ambr. p. 5. vid. Zonar. Annal. Tom. III. p. 30. , news was brought him of a great violence and injury that had been offered to a Jewish Synagogue in the Eastern parts. For it seems some Christian Monks celebrating the Festival of the Macchabees, had in their Procession as they went about singing Psalms, been affronted by some Jews, and some of the Followers of the old heretic Valentinus, upon which some Christians set on fire the Church belonging to those heretics, together with a neighbouring Synagogue of the Jews. The Comes Orientis presently sent a Relation of it to the Emperor, and the report lost nothing by going. Theodosius was highly exasperated with the Fact, and forthwith gave order, that the Monks should be proceeded against, and that the Synagogue should be re-built at the charges of the Bishop of that place. Ambrose was then at Aquileia, where hearing of the Case, he dispatched a Letter 
E●id. XXIX. p. 108. &c.  to the Emperor, beseeching him to recall his Edict, and to admit his Mediation, telling him, if he were not worthy to be heard in this Petition to the Emperor, there was no reason why he should be heard whenever he petitioned Heaven for the Emperor: he offered to take the Crime upon himself, and if the Emperor pleased, to undergo the punishment. 'twas possible, he said, the Count of the East might make the Case worse than indeed it was; however, that 'twould be an intolerable scandal to Christianity, that Jewish or gentle Temples should be erected out of the Revenues of the Church, and that the Patrimony of Christ should be thrown away upon Pagans and Infidels: the Jews might then justly put up this Inscription in the Front of their Synagogue, TEMPLUM IMPIETATIS FACTUM DE MANUBIIS CHRISTIANORUM; The Temple of Impiety built of the spoils of Christians. But for the present he prevailed nothing, till shortly after returning home, and preaching before the Emperor 
Pauli●. loc. cit. Ambr. Ep. XVII. lib 2. Edit. Paris. 1614. , he discoursed upon the lukewarmness of Sacerdotal Reproof and Admonition, an Argument which he prosecuted with great life and vigour, and to the infinite satisfaction of the Auditory. In his Sermon he brought in our Lord thus speaking to the Emperor. I raised thee from a very mean condition to the Empire, I delivered thine Enemies Army into thine hands, with all his Furniture and Preparation, and brought his Person within thy Power; I have placed thy Son upon the Throne, and caused thee to triumph without any labour or difficulty, and dost thou now cause mine Enemies to triumph over me? He ended his Sermon, and as he was coming down the Stairs, Bishop ( said the Emperor) have you preached this against me to day? No, Sir, replied the Bishop, I have not preached against, but for you. I confess ( answered the Emperor) I decreed hard things against the Bishop, when I commanded that he should repair the Synagogue. The Courtiers that were present  told him, that the Monks however ought to be punished. Which Ambrose overhearing replied, my business at this time is with the Emperor, I shall deal with you at another rate. So he obtained that the Edict should be reversed, nor would he go up to the Altar, till the Emperor had solemnly engaged his Faith that it should be done, which he accordingly did, and then the Bishop went up, and administered the holy Sacrament, and the remaining Offices of Devotion.  
IV. TWO years and longer Theodosius continued in the West, settling Affairs, diverting himself from place to place, and enjoying the Triumphs of his late Victory. During which time a sad accident 
Soz. l. 7 c. 25. p. 743. Theod. l. 5. c. 17, 18. p. 219. &c Paulin. ibid. p. 5. Rufin. l. 2. c 18. p 252. Niceph. l. 12. c. 40, 41. p. 315. &c.  happened at Thessalonica, that created him no small disturbance and inquietude, and which commenced from a small Original. Buthericus( who was Commander of the Horse in Illyricum) had a Coach-man, that burning with an unlawful and unnatural passion towards his Master's Butler, had solicited him to lewd Embraces, for which being accused, he was cast into Prison. It happened not long after, that there was to be a famous Horse-Race in the public Hippodrome, and this Coach-man being peculiarly expert at those kind of Sports, the People earnestly requested he might be set at liberty in order to it. But their Petition was rejected. The People impatient of denial, grew presently into a Tumult, assaulted Buthericus's house, and killed him, knocking others on the head, and draging them up and down the Streets. The news hereof being transmitted to Th●odosius, he fell into a grievous passion, and commanded that the Law of retaliation should be turned upon the City, and the Sword let loose upon them. S. Ambrose immediately stepped in, and vehemently interceded with the Emperor, and so plied the business, that the Emperor promised to pardon the Riot that had been committed. But the Bishop being gone, the great Officers at Court deeply resenting the violence and indignity that had been offered to men in public Authority, and considering what encouragement unpunished villainy might hereafter give to popular fury, prest the Emperor to revenge, and obtained a Warrant for Execution, which was sent accordingly. And that the thing might be done more effectually, the People were invited to the Circus under pretence of public sports, where the Souldiers without any warning broken in upon them, and making no difference slay all that came next to hand; thence they proceeded into the City, which they filled with blood and cruelty. Nor did Strangers fare any better than the rest, all Laws of Nature and Nations being at this time trodden under foot. A Merchant had his two Sons seized, and haled towards Execution, the Father followed, and passionately begged their lives, praying that himself might die in their stead, and offering the Souldiers his whole Estate into the Bargain. The most barbarous nature could not but relent a little at such a request, the Souldiers  told him, their number must be made up, they could not dismiss both his Sons, one they were content to spare, and bid him make his choice. And now nature was divided, and began to contest with itself. The good man equally loved both, he sighed and wept, argued and disputed, but could come to no resolution within himself, not knowing which to part with. And in this conflict of thoughts and passions he continued, till they were both slain before his eyes. In short, the slaughter continued three whole hours, and seven thousand were put to death, without any Trial or Enquiry to distinguish between the guilty and the innocent.  
V. SO barbarous a massacre was infinitely distasteful to all good men, and to none more than S. Ambrose, who was at that time Synodically assembled with several Bishops upon the occasion of some French Prelates newly arrived in those parts. They all bewailed the horridness and inhumanity of the action, highly condemned Theodosius, and committed the prosecution of the case to S. Ambrose, who presently wrote 
Ambr. Ep. XXVIII. p. 106.  to the Emperor, laying before him the aggravations of the Fact, and the violation of the promise he had made to him, exhorting him by a public and a sincere Repentance to reconcile himself to God and the Church; a course indispensably necessary, before he could admit him to the holy Eucharist, or the communion of any of the divine Offices: That this was not the result of any stubborn obstinate humour, it being no more than what had been represented to him in a dream, wherein he had seen his Majesty coming into the Church, at whose approach he had been immediately forbidden from above to consecrate and dispense the holy Communion; that nothing but a hearty repentance could restore him, which, if he gave any credit to him, he would immediately set upon, if not, he would not take it amiss, that he preferred his duty to God before the respect that he owed to the Emperor. Theodosius having red the Letter, began to be troubled, and to be uneasy in his own mind: He was a good man, and though naturally apt to receive quick impressions of anger, was as soon reduced to a just sense of things. He came back to Milan, and as he was wont, went to Church, but the Bishop met him at the Church-porch, and forbid him any further entrance. Perhaps Sir,( said he) you do not rightly apprehended the horribleness of the Massacre lately committed, for though the storm of your fury be blown over, yet reason has not yet recovered its sight, to discern clearly the greatness of the mischief. The Imperial lustre, 'tis like, blinds your eyes that you cannot see your Offence, and your power imposes upon your reason. But you should do well withal to keep an eye to the frail and corruptible condition of human Nature, and to reflect upon that original dust, out of which we were all made, and unto which we must all return. Let not the splendour of your purple Robes hinder you from being acquainted with the infirmities of that body which they cover. You are, Sir, of the same make with those Subjects which you govern, who are not your Subjects only, but in some sense your fellow-servants. For there is one Lord and Emperor of the World, the great Creator of all things. And with what eyes then will you behold the Temple of this common Lord? With what feet will you tread his Sanctuary? How will you stretch forth those hands in prayer, that are still reeking with the blood of the innocent? How will you presume with such hands to receive the most sacred Body of our Lord? How will you lift up his precious Blood to those Lips, which lately uttered so savage a decree for the unjust shedding so much blood? Depart therefore, and seek not by a second Offence to aggravate your former fault, but quietly take the yoke upon you, which our great Lord has from above allotted for you. 'tis sharp, but 'tis Medicinal, and immediately conducive to your health. The great Prince was amazed at so home and severe an entertainment; something he offered by way of extenuation, that even David had been guilty both of Murder and Adultery. The holy man replied, Him whom you followed in th● sin, follow also in his repentance.  
VI. THE Emperor now sufficiently sensible of his case, return'd back to the palace, and testified his grief by all the expressions of tears and sorrow. Eight months he remained in this penitential state, all which time he wore nothing but mourning Garments. The Solemnity of christmas was now near at hand, at the remembrance whereof the Emperor then sitting in the Palace burst out into tears. Rufin, controller of the Palace, a bold man, and familiar with the Emperor, observing it, asked him what was the cause of his grief, whereat he fell into a more violent passion. Rufin( said he) thou dost but make sport and mock me, thou little knowest the troubles I feel: I weep and bewail my hard fate; servants and beggars may freely go into the House of God, and pour out their prayers to Heaven, while the Church doors, and consequently the Gates of Heaven are shut up against me: For I remember what our Lord has peremptorily declared, Whatsoever you shall bind on Earth, shall be bound in Heaven. If that be it( replied Rufinus) if you please, I'll run to the Bishop, and pray him to release the Sentence. No, said the Emperor, you will never be able to persuade Ambrose. I know the justness of the Sentence he has past, and that he will never out of Reverence to the Imperial Dignity betray the Commands of God. Rufin persisted in his confidence that he should prevail, and so the Emperor gave him leave to go, himself soon after following him, lead with the assurance which the other had given him. Ambrose no sooner saw the controller coming towards him, but he abruptly broken out, Rufin( said he) you have put on a shameless impudence: You were the adviser of this Massacre, and now you have laid aside all shane, and neither blushy nor tremble at so great an assault as you have made upon the Image of God. The man fell to entreaties, and  told him the Emperor would be there by and by; if so( said the Bishop) Rufin, I tell you plainly, I shall forbid him to enter the Church-porch: And if he think good to turn his power into force and Tyranny, here I am, most ready to undergo any death he shall allot me. 'twas no time to stand disputing, Rufin knew the Bishops resolution, and therefore dispatched a Message to the Emperor, to let him know what had past, and to persuade him to stay at home. The Message met him just as he was coming over the Market-place, which when he heard, he replied, I'll go however, and undergo the shane I have justly deserved. Being come near the Church he stopped, and addressing himself to the Bishop, who sat in a Room hard by, prayed he might be absolved. Ambrose bluntly  told him, that his coming thither was a forcible and violent invasion, that he fought against God, and trod his Laws under foot. To which the Emperor calmly answered, I do not affront the established Constitutions, nor desire contrary to Law to enter within the holy doors, I only beg to be released from the Excommunicatory Sentence, and that herein you would consider and imitate the compassion and tenderness of our common Lord, and not bar up those Gates against me, which our Lord has set open to all Penitents. What signs of Penitence( said Ambrose) have you given for so foul a Crime? With what Medicines have you cured your Wounds? 'tis your part( replied the Emperor) to prescribe the Remedy, to mix the Ingredients, to apply the plaster; mine, to submit, and comply with the prescriptions. Since then( said the Bishop) you have let the Reins loose to rage and fierceness, and that 'twas not reason, but passion dictated the Warrant, let a Law be drawn up henceforth, to cancel all Decrees past in hast and fury, let all Warrants that touch Life, or forfeiture of Estates be kept thirty dayes after signing, that there may be respite for a more mature and deliberate judgement; which time expired, let them who drew up the Warrant, again present it to you; that so Reason being freed from the fumes and clouds of anger, may impartially weigh the case, and discern whether it be right or wrong; if it appear to be wrong, it is plain, it ought then to reverse it, if right, to confirm and ratify it; and so by this delay, the affair will proceed with most advantage. Theodosius readily embraced the Motion, which he approved as useful and excellent advice, commanding a Law 
Ext. lib. 9. Cod. Th. Tit. 40. leg. 13.& Cod. Just. lib. 9. Tit. 47. leg. 20. in utroque tamen loco nomina Gratiani& Coss. male posita sunt.  to be drawn up to that purpose, which he immediately signed with his own hand. This done, the Bishop pronounced his Absolution, whereupon he went into the Church, and there throwing himself prostrate upon the ground, cried out with David, My Soul cleaveth unto the dust, quicken thou me according to thy word, and with all the expressions of a holy grief, tearing his hair, beating his forehead, and with tears running down his cheeks, begged pardon of God and good men. And when the time of offering came, he went up with tears to the Communion-Table, and having made his Offering, stood still within the Rails, as the Custom was for the Emperors to do in the Eastern Church. Ambrose either not knowing it, or taking no notice of it, asked him what he wanted; he answered, he waited to receive the holy Sacrament; the Bishop sent the chief Deacon to him to let him know, that the places within the rails were reserved only for the Clergy, that therefore he should go and stand with the rest without, for though the purple made men Emperors, it did not make them Priests. A rebuk which the good Emperor took with an even and composed mind, commanding them to acquaint the Bishop, that he had not taken that place out of any pride or arrogance, but because it was the Custom to do so at Constantinople, however that he thanked him for his Correction. And it made such deep impression, that at his return to Constantinople he always went and stood without the rails; and when Nectarius the Bishop asked him why he did so, he answered with a sigh, that he had at length been taught the difference between a Prince and a Bishop, and had with much difficulty found a teacher of truth, and that Ambrose was the only Person he had met with that truly deserved the name of a Bishop. Thus ended the contest between Theodosius and S. Ambrose, wherein how far Ambrose overstrained the string, I shall not now dispute, remembering I here sustain the Person not of a Divine, but an Historian.  
VII. WE mentioned a Synod that assisted S. Ambrose in the Condemnation of Theodosius: It was at that time assembled at Milan upon this occasion. Jovinian, a secret Disciple of Helvidius had lived some years in S. Ambrose his Monastery at Milan, covering ill designs under a veil of Piety. At last he threw off his monastic habit, putting on the most gaudy and splendid Attire, and indulging himself in all the modes and fashions, the pleasures and delicacies of a Secular Life. And because all was nothing unless he set up for the Head of a Sect, he vented such Doctrines as these; that Marriage was a state Caeteris paribus, of equal merit and perfection with Coelebacy; that they who had been duly regenerate by Baptism, could not be undermined and subverted by the Devil; that the abstaining from some sorts of meats was no whit better than an indifferent usage of them, provided they were used with thanksgiving; and that all who were careful to live according to their baptismal Obligation, should have an equal reward in Heaven. And methinks had he taught no worse than this, he had not deserved so loud and severe an out-cry to be made against him. But it seems( as 'tis the fate of Seducers to wax worse and worse) he afterwards maintained, that the Mother of our Lord after the birth of Christ ceased to be a Virgin, and had other Children, and what is yet worse than that, that Christ did not take true flesh upon him. Being forced to quit Milan, he fled to Rome, where he successfully propagated his Opinions, and wrote several Books in vindication of them. Pope Siricius presently convened the Presbytery of that City, and condemned him and his followers, an account whereof he sent by three Presbyters in a Letter 
Ext. Conc. T. II. col. 1023.  directed to the Church of Milan, where upon the arrival of some Prelates out of France, a Synod of the neighbouring Bishops was met about this matter. They red Siricius's Epistle, and then proceeded to a Synodical Censure, condemning the men and their dogmata, and then writ an answer 
Ext. ibid. col. 1024.  to Siricius, wherein they commend his care and solicitude in his Pastoral station, his diligent watching over the Flock against the attempts of Wolves, after which they descend to a particular confutation of Jovinian's Opinions. What became of Jovinian afterwards, and how sharply he was taken up and treated by S. Jerom, but especially by the Emperor Honorius( who ordered 
Vid. lib. 16. C. Th. Tit. V. l. 53.  him to be apprehended, whipped with Plumbatae, or Rods with leaden Bullets, and to be banished into Boas, an iceland belonging to Dalmatia, with severe penalties against his Disciples and followers) lies not within my compass to inquire.  
VIII. TWO years after, viz. Ann. CCCXCII. Theodosius being return'd into the Eastern parts, Valentinian went into France to prepare for an expedition against the barbarous People, that were ready to fall in upon those parts of the Empire. Count Arbogastes 
Zosim. Hist. l. 4. p. 774. videsis Epiph. lib. de Pond.& Mensur. p. 540. , General of the Forces there, a Frank by Nation, a man bold and rich, had by Bribes and other Arts of insinuation mightily endeared himself to the Souldiers, and upon all occasions took too much upon him, even in his converse with the Emperor himself. Princes are very tender of their Liberty, and the Royalties of their Crowns. Valentinian liked not a controller so near him, and had oft attempted, but in vain to shake him off. At length he gave him a Warrant to discharge him of his command. But Arbogastes bluntly  told him, 'twas not he that had given him that Command, nor was it he that could take it away from him, and with that tore the Paper in pieces, threw it upon the ground, and went out; and within few dayes the Emperor was found strangled in the Palace, on Saturday, May the 15th. being then Whitson-eve. While he lay at Vien in France, he greatly desired to be baptized 
Ambr. de obit. Valent. p. 6.  before he engaged with the Enemy, and to that end had sent for S. Ambrose to come to him, whose arrival he passionately expected, thinking every day a year. The Bishop had put himself upon his Journey, and was got on this side the Alps, when he met with the sad news of the Emperor's death, whereat amazed, he returned back with a heavy heart. The report hereof being carried to Theodosius, he wrote to S. Ambrose to take care for an honourable Funeral, who in his answer 
Ambr. Ep. XXXIV. p. 132.  gives him an account what Materials they had in readiness for it. The Body then being conveyed to Milan, was laid up in a Magnificent Monument, at the Interment whereof S. Ambrose preached his Funeral Sermon 
Orat. funebr. de obit. Valent. Imp. Tom. 3. p. 3. , wherein he elegantly bewails the untimely loss of the young Prince, whose hopeful beginnings and excellent virtues he describes, and largely proves that the want of Baptism, which he had so earnestly desired and longed for, should not prejudice his eternal happiness in another World, the merciful God in such cases accepting the will for the dead. Toward the conclusion he introduces his Brother Gratian, welcoming him into the Regions of the blessed, between whom he runs a parallel, and applies to them that of David concerning Saul and Jonathan, they were lovely and pleasant in their lives, and in their death( meaning as to the manner of it) they were not divided.   

SECT. VI. His Acts from the death of Valentinian till his own death.  
Eugenius his usurpation of the Empire. His mean quality, and unsettled principles. His great favours shewed to the Gentiles. His approach to Milan. S. Ambrose his flight thence, and Letter to him. Routed and put to death by Theodosius. Ambrose his intercession in behalf of the conquered. The death of the good Emperor Theodosius at Milan. His Character. Vindicated from the Calumnies of Zosimus. Ambrose his stout defence of the privileges of the Church. Immediate punishment upon the violaters of it. Ambrose sent to by the Queen of the Marcomans for instructions in the Christians Faith. His sickness. An account of his last hours. His death and burial. His Character. The exemplary piety of his private Life. His behaviour in his Episcopal Station. His indefatigable Industry, Zeal, Courage, Impartiality; his Clemency to Penitents, sollicitousness for the Church, managery of public Affairs; his Charity, and Hospitality. Dining on Saturdays contrary to the custom of other places. His learning, and quick Progress in the study of Theology. His phrase and style. His works, consisting of Tracts, Sermons, Epistles, and Commentaries. His making so much use of the Greek Fathers no blemish to him. S. Jerom's Pique against him. His famed and reputation in foreign Countries. A Journey made by some from Persia on purpose to converse with him. An account of his writings.  
I. VALENTINIAN being thus taken off, Eugenius 
Zosim. ubi supr.  usurped the Empire: A Fellow of ignoble birth, and a mean profession, being no better than a Rhetorician, and a School-master; but withal a man of parts and subtlety, and who by Richomer's recommendation had insinuated himself so far into the favour of Arbogastes, that he took him into his most intimate Councils, and finding himself in a straight what to do upon the murder of Valentinian, he advanced him to the Empire. A man he was of no settled Principles in Religion, Philostorgius 
L. II. c. 2. p. 527.  says he was a downright Pagan, and they who speak most favourably, say 
Soz. l 7. c. 22. p. 739.  he did but Hypocritically profess Christianity: So that the Gentiles 
Rufin. l. 2. c. 33. p. 259.  began to conceive hopes of sheltering themselves under his favour and Patronage, and so plied him with their flattering auguries and divinations, that he inclined to them, and as an earnest of his kindness, granted( what they could never hitherto obtain) that the Altar of Victory 
Paulin. ib. p. 6  should be restored, and the Charges of the Solemnities defrai'd out of the public Exchequer. By this time he was advanced into Italy, and marched directly for Milan; but before his arrival S. Ambrose was gone to Bononia, whither he was invited to attend the Translation of S. Agricola the Martyr: Thence he went to Faventia, where having stayed a few dayes, he was invited to Florence; whence he wrote a Letter 
Ambr. l. 2. Epist. XV. Edit. Par. 1614.  to Eugenius, excusing his not staying till his arrival at Milan, and freely expostulating with him for the favour he had shewed the Gentiles, giving him an account how unsuccesfully it had been attempted under all the Preceding Emperors, who had flatly rejected the motion, and that himself had been the great instrument to oppose and overturn it. While he stayed at Florence he dedicated a Church there, burying some of the Martyrs bones under the Altar, which he had brought with him from Bononia. There he remained till Eugenius left Milan, who departed to encounter Theodosius, who was said to be coming with an Army towards him. Strangely puffed up they were with confidence of success, insomuch that Arbogastes, and Flavianus the gentle, and perfect of Rome, threatened at their going out of Milan, that at their return they would turn the Church there into a Stable, and make the Clergy serve in the Wars. But the wise God defeated their impious purposes. For Theodosius coming upon them sooner than they expected, after a bloody fight routed their whole Army 
Theod. l. 5. c. 24. p. 233. , and a Party was dispatched to apprehended Eugenius, who sat on the top of an hill expecting the issue of the battle. Espying the Souldiers come panting up the Hill, and supposing them Messengers of Victory, he asked them, whether as he had given order, they had brought Theodosius bound? They replied no, they had not brought Theodosius to him, but were come to bring him to Theodosius. So they plucked him from the seat where he sat, bound him, and carried him to the Emperor, who having aggravated his Tyrannical Usurpation, commanded him to be put to death. Nor did a better lot attend his dear Friend and Patron Arbogastes 
Socr. l. 5. c. 25. p. 295. Zosim. ib. p. 779. , who flying from the battle, spurred on with the fear of a conquering Enemy, but more haunted with the Conscience of his own villainies, and not being able to flatter himself with any hopes, either of pardon or escape, two dayes after anticipated the public justice, and made his own Sword the instrument of his Execution.  
II. S. Ambrose( than whom none was ever more ready to promote Offices of mercy) being advertised 
Paulin. ib. p. 7.  by the Emperor of the Victory, dispatched Letters to Court to intercede for these that had been engaged in the late Rebellion, such more especially as had fled for Sanctuary into the Church. And to make all sure, himself went to Aquileia for that purpose, where his mediation could not fail of a desired Success, the good Emperor falling down upon his knees before him, and freely owning, 'twas by his prayers and intercession with Heaven he had got the Victory. Ambrose came back to Milan, whom the Emperor followed the next day, whither his Sons Arcadius and Honorius( or one of them atleast) soon after came to him from Constantinople, whom he received publicly in the Church, recommending them to S. Ambrose his care and prayers. He stayed at Milan, and the following year fell sick in the midst of the public joys and triumphs. In his sickness he frequently sent for, and conversed with Ambrose, to whom he expressed a greater concernment for the good of the Church, than for the affairs of the Empire; for the ease of his People, he released the Taxes that were unpaid, for the security of his Enemies, he passed an Act of pardon and indemnity, and for the common settlement divided the Empire between his two Sons, committing them to the care of Count Stilicho, whom he made their Guardian. He dyed January the XVII. Ann. CCCXCV. to the inestimable loss of the whole Roman Empire, and especially of the catholic Church, to which he was ever a true nursing Father. His Corps was afterwards carried to Constantinople, but the Solemnities of his Funeral were kept at Milan on the fortieth day after his death, where S. Ambrose made a large Funeral Oration 
Ext. Tom. III. p. 47. , a just panegyric in his commendation. Indeed he was an excellent Prince, devout and pious, mildred and gentle, humble and affable, compassionate and merciful; he was wise, just, and valiant, and( as a blessing from Heaven upon all his other virtues) in all his undertakings prosperous and successful. I know Zosimus a Pagan Historian( who never speaks well of any Christian Emperor) charges him 
Zosim. l. 4. p. 768. 773.  with luxury and delicacy, effeminacy and love of pleasures, and that in the Prosecution of them he exhausted the Revenues of the Empire. But Aurelius Victor 
epitome. c. 75. 76, 77. p. 121. &c. ( nor is he the only Gentile-writer 
Vid. Themist. Orat. V.( de human. Imp. Theod.) p. 135. &c. Symmach. l. 2. Epist. 13. p. 94.& in Epist. passim.  that does so) gives him a better and a nobler Character, and compares him both in the features of his body, the disposition of his mind, and the course of his actions with Trajan, one of the best Princes in the whole Gentile-succession of the Roman Emperors. He says of him, he was of a mildred and merciful disposition, and one who reckoned himself to differ from others only in the Imperial Garb; kind and courteous to all, but especially good men, one that loved men of the meanest, and admired them that were of great parts and learning, so long as they kept within the rules of decency and virtue; his bounty was unlimited, he Treated Citizens with great respect, with whom he had only a private acquaintance, and heaped upon them Gifts, Honours and Offices, especially where by any difficult Services they had approved their fidelity towards him. Nay, he was free from those Vices, which did somewhat blemish Trajans Person and Government; drunkenness and ambition he perfectly hated, he found Wars rather than began any, and by a Law forbade Minstrels and other Servants of lewdness and wantonness to attend at Feasts and Entertainments, so great a Patron of modesty and chastness, that he prohibited the Marriages of Cousin-germans. Learned he was to a good degree, sagacious and prudent, desirous to know the actions of great men in all ages, whose ambitious, cruel, and injurious attempts he exposed with great resentment; apt to be angry, but withal like a true generous nature, soon appeased; he was, what seldom happens, bettered by his advancement to the Empire, and it never more appeared than after a Victory over his enemies, whom he treated with all imaginable kindness, and would out of his own Exchequer many times repair those damages and losses which his Subjects had sustained by the cruelty and rapaciousness of Usurpers. In his private Life, he was infinitely kind to all his Kindred and Relations; neat, but not costly in his Entertainments, pleasant in his Discourses according to Persons and Things, but never transgressing the Laws of gravity; moderate in his Recreations, and temperate in his Diet. How vastly different this Character is from that of Zosimus, every one sees, and my Author that makes it was much more capable of knowing the truth of things, living under this very Emperor.  
III. HONORIUS, to whose share the Western Empire fell, to gratify the People in the entrance upon his Government, entertained 
Paulin. ib. p. 7.  them at Milan with sports, and fighting with wild Beasts; which being a time of Licence, some Souldiers prompted by Eusebius the governor, and with the leave of Count Stilicho went to the Church to fetch one Cresconius a Malefactor, who had fled thither for shelter? The Bishop, and Clergy that were present endeavoured to defend the privileges of the Church, and to guard the man. But the Party, commanded by Arian Officers, were too strong for them, broken in upon them, and took away the man by force, carrying him in a kind of triumph to the amphitheatre. Ambrose in the mean time threw himself before the Altar, and with tears bewailed the violence that had been offered to the Church of God. And mark the issue. No sooner had they brought Cresconius to the amphitheatre, and that the Leopards were let loose upon him, but immediately they ran to the place where the Persons who had violated the Church sat, leaped upon them, and very grievously rent and tore them. At the sight whereof Stilicho was touched with a quick remorse for what had been done, and by a long Penance satisfied the Bishop, withal restoring the man back, whom they had forcibly taken, who being yet guilty of great enormities, was banished, and soon after pardonned. A Servant 
id. ib. p. 9.  also of Count Stilicho's, a Daemoniac, who had been lately cured, and remained still in the Ambrosian Church, being charged with forging Letters, his Master refused to punish him: But the Bishop commanding him to be brought before him, examined him, and found him guilty, and thereupon  told him, 'twas necessary he should be delivered over to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that hereafter he might not presume to do so any more. Immediately while the words were yet in his mouth, an evil spirit seized upon him, and began to tear and torment him; which struck no little terror and amazement into all that beholded it. The famed of these and other his great actions slay all abroad, and among others came to the ears of Fritigil Queen of the Marcomanni, who sent Presents with a Letter, desiring from him instructions in the Christian Faith. He sent her back an Epistle drawn up in form of a Catechism, advising her to persuade her Husband to preserve peace and friendship with the Roman Empire. She did so, and they both resolved to put themselves under the protection of the Emperor, and upon that errand she came to Milan, but 'twas too late to speak with the holy man.  
IV. FOR being now worn out with cares and labours, he began to sink. A few dayes 
Paulin. ib. p. 8. 9, 10.  before he fell sick, he foretold his death, but said, he should live till Easter. Before he took his bed, he continued his usual studies, and expounded the XLIII. Psalm, which he dictated to Paulinus, who was his amanuensis, and who looking up, on a sudden saw a Globe of fire in form of a shield covering his head, and by degrees creeping in at his mouth, after which his face became white as snow, though soon after it returned to its usual Complexion. Paulinus was sore frighted with the Vision, his pen fell out of his hand, and he could writ no further, till he had recovered himself. 'twas the last time the good Bishop either wrote or dictated any thing, nor did he finish his Exposition upon that Psalm, which accordingly is extant imperfect at this day. Count Stilicho was infinitely troubled at the news of his sickness, and said openly, the day that that great man dies, destruction hangs over Italy: And therefore sending for as many of the Nobility and Magistrates of the City, as he knew had an interest in the Bishops kindness, he partly threatened, partly persuaded them to go to him, and by all means prevail with him to beg his Life of God. They went, and with tears besought him to intercede with Heaven for his own Life, representing the unconceivable loss the Church of God would receive by the death of so excellent a Prelate, to whom he gave no other answer 
Paulin. ib. Possid. in vit. August. cap 27. Tom. 1. col. 877  than this, I have not so behaved myself among them, that I should be ashamed to live, nor am I afraid to die, because I have so good a Master. The day whereon he dyed( which was April the IV. Ann. CCCXCVII) he lay for several hours with his hands expanded in form of a across, his lips moving all the while, though it could not be understood what he said. Honoratus Bishop of Vercellae was there at that time, and being gone into an upper Chamber to take a little rest, heard a voice crying three times to him, arise, and make hast, for he is going to depart. He came down, and gave him the holy Eucharist, which he had no sooner taken, but he expired. His body was early the next morning carried to the great Cathedral, and there remained on Easter-eve: On the Lords day after the public Solemnities, it was removed to the Ambrosian Church, and there interred, his Funeral being attended by Persons of all ranks and Qualities, of all Ages and Conditions, not only Christians, but Jews and Gentiles, many striving to touch his body with Napkins or Handkercheifs, believing they should be able with them to fence off the assaults of evil Spirits. He was succeeded by Simplician, who had sometimes been his Tutor, and whom he seemed to design for his successor before he died. For when he lay sick, Castus, Polemius, Venerius, and Faelix, four of his Deacons watched with him, and being at the other end of the room at a great distance from him, were talking together who should succeed him, but whispered so low, that they could scarce hear one another, and when the name of Simplician was mentioned, he cried out( as if he had been among them) three times together, He's ancient, but he's a good man. At the hearing whereof they were amazed and ran away.  
V. BEHOLD in this good Bishop an admirable exemplar of true Piety and virtue. In his more private Life he was a public Example. His Devotions 
Pa. lin. ib. p. 8.  were constant and fervent, the day for the most part, and sometimes the night he spent in reading, prayer and fasting. His appetites were subdued by a constant course of Mortification, and conducted by very strict measures of abstinence and sobriety, never dining but upon Saturdays, and Lordsdays, and the Festivals of Martyrs. He had a mind exquisitely tender and compassionate, he rejoiced with them that did rejoice, and did weep with them th●t wept. His Charity was as large as the necessities of human nature, he loved, relieved, assisted all, but especially them of the household of Faith. His Estate real and personal he entirely bestowed upon the poor, and for the maintenance of the Church, styling 
Orat in A●●●nt. l. 3. p. 12●.  the poor his Stewards and Treasurers, in whose hands he deposited his Revenues. 'twas his care and practise to do good against evil, of all the affronts and injuries that he met with, he revenged none, nor requited them otherwise than by Offices of kindness. Temptations to Riches or Honour weighed nothing with him, whose mind dwelled above the World, and who had given so pregnant an instance of his contempt of them, in a free renouncing so considerable a share of both. Though he was a Person of great Birth and Fortunes, and had justly acquired a mighty veneration from Persons of all conditions and interests, yet never any took lower and more humble measures of himself. He readily professes 
De Paenit. l 2. c. 7. p. 172, 173 de ●ffi●. l. 1. c. 1. in fin.  upon all occasions his unfitness for his Office, that he was unworthy to be a Bishop, and less than the least of all of that place and order, and that it was by the grace of God that he was what he was. Thus he moved in his private orb. In his Episcopal station he was a common light to all the Bishops of that age. His Province he governed with singular fidelity and care. He administered the holy Eucharist every day, preached 
Aug. Co●f ss. l. 5. c. 3●o. 112.  commonly every Lords day, besides the frequent returns of particular and extraordinary occasions, and spent no small part of his time in instructing 
Paulin. ib. p. 8.  and preparing the Catechumens for Baptism, wherein he took more pains alone, than any five of his Successors could discharge. He was the most undaunted Champion for the catholic Faith, which the Western Church had in those times, and the most strenuous Asserter of ecclesiastic Discipline, the Rites whereof he maintained against all opposition, without respect of Persons, or fear of any dangers that might attend it. Offenders he reproved with a mighty freedom and impartiality, not sparing the highest, nor declining the most fierce and violent. 
{αβγδ}. Phot. Cod. CCXXXI. col. 889.  He had indeed a natural greatness and gallantry of mind, that made him speak freely and boldly upon all occasions, nor was he by any considerations of fear or favour to be moved one hairs breadth, where the cause of God, and Religion lay at stake. And yet none more indulgent to those that were truly penitent, and willing to observe the Rules and Customs of the Church, insomuch that he was blamed for it. When any came to him to Confess 
Paulin. loc. cit.  their Offences, he wept for them, and with them, and by his own set their Tears asloat. Their Faults he was infinitely careful to conceal, never discovering them to any but God, with whom he interceded for their Pardon. He had a very tender sense of the sufferings of the Church, whose necessities he was always most forward to supply. When  told of the death of any Bishop, he was wont to weep most bitterly, and when his Servants endeavoured to comfort him, he  told them, he did not grieve that such a one was dead, but that the good man had got the start of him, and that it would be so hard to find a Worthy Person to succeed him. It was no inconsiderable Portion of his time and pains, that was swallowed up in hearing and determining civil causes, and the differences that arose among neighbours, wherewith he was so crowded, that S. Augustine 
Confess. ubi su●●.  at his first coming to Milan found it a hard matter to get an opportunity of discoursing with him. His Gates were always open, and no man forbidden to have access to him, nor was there any need of an Usher to introduce them. Though none more abstemious in his own Person, yet did he keep Hospitality, wherewith he entertained not the poor only, but Persons of the greatest Rank and Quality, who took it for an honour to have been his Guests, insomuch that Count Arbogastes gloried 
Paulin. ib. p. 6.  in it that he had been familiarly entertained at his Table, and Vincentius perfect of gall proposed 
S. Sever. dialog. 1. c. 17. p. 280.  it as a Pattern to S. Martin, that Ambrose scrupled not to Feast Consuls and Governors at his House. And within those bounds he kept himself, never admitting public treatments abroad; there being three 
Possid. in vit. Aug. c. 27. col. 877.  things he always resolved against, never to make a Match for any ones Marriage, never to persuade a man to be a soldier, and never to go, though invited, to a Feast. Saturday, we observed before, was one of his dining dayes, whereat Monica 
August. Ep. CXVIII. Tom. 2. col. 557.  S▪ Augustin's Mother at her coming to Milan was greatly offended, having observed that day to be kept as a solemn Fast at Rome, and in other places, and wondered why it should be there a Festival. A plain Evidence that the Roman Church did not in those dayes give Laws to the Rites and Customs of other places, no not to those that were next door to it. The See of Rome had not as yet trampled upon the necks of foreign Churches, which preserved their Liberties and Usages entire and independent, without doing obeisance to the Supremacy of S. Peter's Chair. Accordingly S. Ambrose in his resolution of the case, wisely advised Augustine and his Mother to follow his Example, when they were at Rome, to fast on Saturday as they did at Rome, and when at Milan, to Feast, as they did there; and to whatsoever Church they came, to observe the Custom of that place, that so they might neither give, nor take Offence.  
VI. HIS learning was rather polite, than deep. Some insight he had got into the platonic Philosophy in his younger years, being not inconsiderably acquainted, both with the Language and Learning of Greece. When he was made Bishop, he was little versed in Theologick Speculations, in the pursuit whereof he advanced with so quick a place, that he seemed to be inspired from above, became a Preacher to others, while he was but a Scholar himself, docere vos caepi, quod ipse non didici, as himself 
De office. loc. citato;  confesses; he taught and learnt at the same time, informing himself, while he instructed others. Though he traded much in the Writings of some of the Greek Fathers, and those too the most bold and venturous, yet he carefully avoided all unorthodox and suspected dogmata, he let pass the Weeds and gathered only the Flowers, separating the precious from the vile, and handling Divine Matters with a most Religious tenderness of mind, and with a sincere respect to the known and established Doctrine of the Church. His style is various according to the different Subjects that he manages, but in general 'tis concise and smart, much like that of Seneca, but somewhat more soft and mildred. His Discourses are made up of round sentences, argute sayings, quick transitions, and he usually concludes his argument with some smart close at the end of it. The truth is, his style is rather pretty than elegant, the shortness and briskness of his Periods is pleasant, and leaves a picquancy and quick relish in the Readers mind, and something still to be understood, either not at all expressed, or but obscurely intimated. His works( most whereof he wrote all with his own hand 
Vid. Paulin. p. 8. , unless where sickness interposed and took him off) are either Tracts( Books purposely written on some particular Subjects) or Sermons, or Epistles, or Commentaries. Among his Tracts there are some, which are charged to be little better than Translations out of Greek. Thus S. Jerom long since observed of his Books de spiritu sancto, that he borrowed most of them out of a Book of Didymus upon that argument, and in his transferring of them made them worse; that he frequently transcribes the Greek Fathers, and especially Origen. It must be granted, that he makes no little use of the Greek Fathers Writings; nor is it any wonder, that he who came late to the Study of Theology, should make some more than ordinary use of the helps that had been before him, and that he who was peculiarly skilled in the Greek Tongue, should convey the Treasures of the East into the Western World, without always mentioning the particular port, from whence he brought them. No man( as Erasmus well observes in this case) blames Cicero for being so conversant in the Books of Plato, and deriving thence a good part of his Philosophy into his own Writings; 'tis Plato's notions in Tully's dress. And yet this is no dishonest Plagiarism, but a warrantable imitation. It must likewise be remembered that Jerom seems to have had a particular pique at S. Ambrose, of whom he seldom speaks very favourably. Jerom was a man of passions, one that had no mean Opinion of himself, and who seldom gives an over-advantageous Character, where he thinks himself overtop'd. Though elsewhere he makes honourable mention of him, saying, that when he was made Bishop of Milan, all Italy was soon reduced back to the catholic Faith. His Sermons, Homilies, or Orations are generally short, and delivered in a popular way, no great number whereof, considering the frequency of his preaching, have been transmitted to us. Of his Epistles there are still extant eight Books, monuments of great prudence and piety, containing either Historical Occurrences of those times, or Explications of some particular Texts of Scripture, that by Letter had been propounded to him. Lastly, his Commentaries upon the Scripture run much upon the Allegorical strain, and in these it is, that he is chiefly obliged to Origen. His Commentaries upon Luke were the early Fruit of his Episcopal Studies: He wrote also upon S. Paul's Epistles, but those extant at this day, are falsely entitled to his name.  
VII. WE have seen the man, and the Monuments he left behind him. And what wonder now if a man thus accomplished, a Person so venerable for his learning and piety were renowned through the World. Indeed the common Suffrage of all antiquity has assigned him the first place among the four great Doctors of the latin Church. Nay even in his Life time he was not only honoured by the more civil and polite part of the World, but his name was reverenced even among barbarous Nations: Whereof an instance or two shall suffice. When Count Arbogastes 
Paulin. ubi supr. p. 6,  had subdued the Franks( his own Countrymen) and upon the conclusion of a Peace was entertained by the Princes of that Country, he was asked among other things, whether he was acquainted with Ambrose. He  told them he was, that he had a particular interest in the man, and had been frequently treated at his Table. No wonder then( replied the Princes) you carry all before you, when you are favoured and befriended by a man, who says to the Sun, stand, and it stands still. Nor had the Western World only this good Opinion of him, his famed spread into the remoter Regions of the East. Besides his Correspondence with S. Basil, two of the wisest and most honourable men in Persia 
Id. ib. p. 5.  having heard the report of him, undertook a journey on purpose to Milan, as the Queen of Sheba once did to Solomon, to see him, and put hard questions to him. They came, and by an Interpreter disputed with him from morning till night, till they admired and were fully satisfied in his incomparable Wisdom. And that it might appear that they came this chargeable, difficult, and tedious Journey upon no other errand; the very next morning they took their leave of the Emperor, and just passing by Rome, only to salute the illustrious Anicius Probus perfect of Italy, they return'd directly into their own Country.   

His WORKS.  

Genuine.  
Hexaemerom, seu de Oper. sex dierum Lib. VI.  
De dignitate humanae conditionis, Libellus.  
De Paradiso, Liber.  
De Cain& Abel, Lib. II.  
De Noe& Arca, Liber.  
De Abraham Patriarcha, Lib. II.  
De Isaac& Anima, Liber.  
De bono mortis, Liber.  
De Jacob& beata vita, Lib. II.  
De Esau sieve de fuga saeculi, Liber.  
De Joseph Patriarcha, Liber.  
De benedictionibus Patriarcharum, Liber.  
De Arbore interdicta.  
In Exod. cap. 8.16, 24, 30, 32. Annotationes.  
In Levit. cap. 10.12, 26.  
In number. cap. 23.& 33. de Mansionibus.  
In Deuteron. cap. 22.  
Apologia pro David, prior.  
Apologia pro David, posterior.  
De Elia& jejunio.  
De Nabathe Jezraelita.  
In cap. 6. lib. 4. Regum, sermons II.  
De Tobia, seu adv. Faeneratores.  
De Job.  
Sermo in cap. VII. Job.  
In Psalmos David, Argumentum.  
Enarrationes in Psalmos. 1, 21, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 45, 47, 48, 50, 61, 67.  
Tractatus in Psalm. 104.  
Sermo in Psalm. 109. alter in Psal. 117. in Psalm. 118. Enarrationes XXII.  
Se Salomone, Liber.  
In cap. 30. Proverb. fragmentum.  
In cap. 31. prov. seu, de muliere forti.  
In cap. 4. Ecclesiastis, ad Clericos exhort.  
In cap. 3. Ecclesiastic.  
In cap. 1.& 52 Esaiae. sermons II.  
In Hieremiae cap. 16. Enarratio.  
In Daniel. 13. sermons II.  
In cap. 3& 4. Jonae Enarrationes II.  
In Michaeam observationes II.  
In cap. 1& 2. Aggaei observatio.  
In Malachiae cap. 1. Sermo.  
Commentar. in S. Lucam. Lib. X.  
De Officiis Lib. III.  
Tractatus in Symbolum Apostolorum.  
De fide ad Gratianum Imp. Lib. V.  
Ad eundem de Spiritu sancto.  
De incarnationis Dominicae Sacramento.  
De mysterio Paschae.  
De Paschalis celebritatis ratione.  
De fide resurrectionis.  
De initiandis. Liber.  
De Sacramentis Lib. VI.  
De Sacerdotali dignitate.  
De Poenitentia Lib. II.  
De Virginibus, Lib. III.  
De Virginis institutione.  
De hortatione ad Virginitatem.  
Epistolarum Libri VIII.   

Doubtful.  
De Virginis forma vivendi.  
De Virginis lapsu.  
Hymni aliquot.  
De viduis. Liber.   

Supposititious.  
sermons de Tempore,& de Sanctis.  
Conciones breves.  
Sermo de purificatione B. Virginis.  
Precationes ad missam II.  
De Vocatione omnium gentium. Lib. II.  
De Filii divinitate& Consubstantialitate adv. Arianos.  
In Epistolas D. Pauli commentaria.  
In Apocalypsim B. Joannis comment.  
De vitiorum virtutumque conflictu.  
Expositio fidei secundum symbolum Nicaenum.  
De Spiritu sancto Libelli fragmentum.  
De Concordia Matthaei& Lucae in Genealogia Christi.  
De Poenitentia, Liber.  
De origine& moribus Brachmanorum.  
Expositio in Cantica can●●orum.  
Epistola ad Demetriadem.   

Not extant.  
In Esaiam Commentarii.  
Comment. adv. nonnullos Platonicos.  
Elucidationes& Homiliae in Sapientiam.  
Expositio in omnes D Pauli Epistolas.  
Sermo de judicio Salomonis.  
Catechismus Epistolaris ad Fritigildem.  
De puerilis aetatis institutione ad Pansophiam.    
The end of S. Ambrose's Life.   

THE LIFE OF S. EPIPHANIUS, BISHOP OF SALAMIS in CYPRUS. 
S. EPIPHANIUS.   portrait of Epiphanius of Salamis  
His birth-place. The Condition and Religion of his Parents. Reports of some of the former parts of his Life uncertain. His Travels into; and abode in egypt. The danger of his being seduced into the Sect of the Ghosticks. Temptations adapted to that purpose. The lewdness and horrible villainies of that Sect. His discovering that accursed fraternity to the Bishop of the place. His converse with, and imitation of the devout Asceticks in egypt. His return into Palestine, and living under the Discipline of Hilarion, the founder of Monachism in those parts. His presiding over a Monastery of his own erecting. Promoted to the bishopric of Salamis in Cyprus, when, and by whom. The manner of it related by an uncertain Author. Salamis famous upon what accounts. The great famed and reputation of Epiphanius. The occasion of writing his Ancyrat. This Book why so called, and what the Subject of it. His work against Heresies when written, and upon what occasion. Why styled Panarium. The Anacephalaeosis or Epitome of it. His Journey to Rome, to a Synod there about the controverted See of Antioch. His joyful entertainment at that place. His Contests with John Bishop of Jerusalem, and the first occasion of them. John suspected by Epiphanius of retaining his old kindn●ss for the Origenian Opinions. The many affronts he put upon Epiphanius upon that account. The quarrel enlarged by Epiphanius's ordaining a Presbyter to Officiate in his own Monastery. John's loud complaints of h●m upon this and many other accounts. Epiphanius's calm and mildred reply. This matter cleared by a further account of it from S. Jerom. Epiphanius charged with violence and injury. The story of his rending the Curtain that had a Picture on it in the Church of Anablatha. The vain shifts of the Romish Writers to evade this Testimony against Image-worship. This not the only Evidence of Epiphanius's sense in that point. Attempts to make Peace between John and Epiphanius in vain. John's Letter to Theophilus of Alexandria, who interposes by his Legate, but without effect. John's Apology to Theophilus, and faint Vindication of himself. Epiphanius his Letters to Rome and other places. A more particular account of the controversy sent by S. Jerom to Pammachius. A fresh controversy of the Anthropomorphites started among the Monks of Mount Nitria in egypt. The Original of it. Theophilus how engaged in it. His quarrel with the four Brethren called Longi, whence. Their interposal in the behalf of Isidore, and ill treatment by Theophilus. His design to beget an ill opinion of them among the Monks. His Synodical Condemnation of them as guilty of Origenism. His subtle actings in that matter. His cruel and violent proceedings against the four Longi. They and some others forced to fly first into Palestine, then to Constantinople. The truth of this story undeservedly questioned. Epiphanius engaged by Theophilus in this quarrel. A Synod summoned in Cyprus, which condemns the reading Origen's Books. Epiphanius's Letter to Chrysostom to do the like. His Journey to Constantinople in pursuance of this design, and refusal of Chrysostom's kind invitations of sojourning with him. His drawing in Bishops to subscribe his Decrees. opposed by Theotimus Bishop of Scythia. The great advantage given to Chrysostom's Enemies by his Proceedings. Severely rebuked by a Message from Chrysostom. His ill entertainment at Court from the Empress Eudoxia, whence. The four Longi sent to wait upon him, and their discourse with him. The odd parting between him and Chrysostom. His going Aboard in order to his return. His last discourse and admonitions to those about him. His death, and burial. His great age. His mighty Zeal against heresy. His admirable piety and strictness of Life. His singular Charity and beneficent temper. The veneration which his very Enemies had for him. His learning and skill in Languages. The weakness of his judgement, and his over-great Credulity noted. The flatness of his style. The general parts and divisions of his Book against Heresies. What advantages he had in compiling that work. His Writings.  
I. ST. Epiphanius was born in Palestine, at Besanduce 
Sozom. l. 6. c. 32. p. 689. , an obscure Village, not far distant from Eleutheropolis, a City frequently mentioned by Eusebius 
Lib. {αβγδ}.  and S. Jerom 
Lib. de loc. Hebr. , and from them may probably be conjectured to have been situate near the Western border of the Tribe of Judah: By some supposed to have been the same with Hebron, but herein greatly mistaken, mine Authors no less plainly, than commonly distinguishing those Cities. But much farther are they wide of truth, who place it in Phoenicia, and entitle that Country to the honour of his nativity. His Parents( if we may believe one 
Vit. Epiph. per Joan. discip& Polib. exit. gr. lat. ap. Epiph. Tom. 2.& lat. ap. Sur● Maij. XII.  who pretends to have been his Scholar, and the Companion of his Life) were Jews, Persons of a mean fortune, his Father an Husbandman, his Mother traded in the making of wisheth; two Children they had, Epiphanius, and a Daughter called Callitropes. My Author adds, that at ten years of age he lost his Father, when their Family was reduced to great extremity; that not long after he was adopted by Tryphon a rich Jewish Lawyer, who gave him all the advantages of Education according to the Jewish mode, designing to mary him to his only Daughter, but she dying soon after, and her Father following, Epiphanius remained sole Heir of that great Estate, who taking his Sister home to him( his Mother being by this time dead) they lived together in great plenty, and with mutual satisfaction; that going one day to the place of his Nativity, where part of the Estate which Triphon had left him lay, he met by the way one Lucian, a devout charitable Monk, and being surprised with an act of unusual Charity, which he saw him do to a poor man, he fell into his acquaintance, and was by him converted to Christianity, instructed in the Christian Doctrine, and at length baptized, when having sold his Estate, and settled it upon the poor, at sixteen years of Age he betook himself to a monastic Life. All which he relates at large, with infinite other particulars of his Life. But I dare not treat my Reader at his cost, being an Author of something more than suspected Credit, and therefore plainly discarded by Baronius 
Ad Ann. 372. p. 347.  himself, who is not always over-shie of doubtful and supposititious Writings; though a late learned Writer 
Huet. Origen. l. 2. c. 4.§ 2. n. 1. 14.  more than once quotes him without any scruple, and lays some stress upon his Authority. However I cannot but remark with what confidence Possevin 
App. Sac. in Epiph.  the Jesuit imposes upon his Readers, when having cashiered this Author as absurd and fabulous, and pretending instead thereof to present a short, but true Abstract of Epiphanius's Life, after all derives his Materials out of this very Author, whom just before he had so much decried. Omitting therefore these spurious, at least uncertain accounts of things, we shall content our selves to pick up such passages of his Life, as are secured to us by better and more unquestionable Authority.  
II. 'tis probable enough that he was born of Jewish Parents, the place of his Nativity, and his skill in the Language and Customs of the Jews, above the ordinary rate of learned men in those times, giving susfrage to the Conjecture. His Education( whatever the condition of his Parents was) seems to have been ingenuous and liberal, polished by Study both at home, and in foreign parts. In his youth he traveled into egypt, where we may suppose him ordinarily residing at Alexandria, the Athens of those parts of the World, flocked to, and frequented by men of learning from all Quarters. He was but young at his arrival there, and his want of experience, and perhaps the rawness of his years, and the unfixtness of his Principles made him liable to become a Prey, to the slight of men, and the cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive. Insomuch, that he was in danger of being drawn over to the very worst of Sects, that of the Gnostics 
Epiph. Heres. XXVI.( ●i●. G●ost) p. 48. , the common-sewer of all ancient Heresies, into which, the filth of all their lewdest Principles and Practices did vent itself. The Temptation was adapted to his age, the Women of that Sect( who at the time of their initiation were wont to put off all shane and modesty) endeavouring by the most subtle insinuations, and by all the Arts of wantonness to bring him over to their Party. By their means he had the opportunity( which his curiosity made him willing to take hold of) of reading the senseless Books of their Religion, and of being acquainted with all the secret Rites, and abominable Mysteries of that Sect, which they freely disclosed to him. This could not but startle him, and awaken in him all the powers of Reason and natural Conscience; and indeed he was sufficiently apprehensive of his danger, and therefore earnestly implored the Divine assistance, and( as he thankfully owns the mercy) God who stood by Joseph, and delivered him from the importunities of his wanton Mistress, kept his foot from being taken in the snare of the Fowler. The Women were vexed that he had thus escaped their hands, and therefore turned their solicitations into scorn and derision, let him go( said they to one another) we could not save the young man, but we have left him to perish in the hands of our Prince: Meaning one of those sovereign Powers( CCCLXV. they had in all) which presided over the Acts of their lewd and beastly Mysteries, and( probably) they particularly intended Sacla 
Id. ib. p. 44. , the Prince of Whoredom, whom they placed in their second Heaven. And indeed they looked upon it as a Reproach to them to prove unsuccesful in their attempts. For it was their Custom, for the more handsome Women to prostitute themselves for the gaining Proselytes( which they called saving of them) and having done so, were wont profanely to insult and triumph over those of their number, whom nature had less befriended, in such Language as this, I am a chosen Vessel, able to save those whom I have seduced, which you for your part could not do. Into so deep a degeneracy is human nature capable of falling, as not only to be vile to the utmost degree of wickedness, but when they have been so, to glory in their shane, and after all, gilled it over with the pretence and colour of religion.  
III. EPIPHANIUS having thus broken loose from the Snare of the Devil, thought himself obliged in gratitude to God, and for the good of the World to discover this damnable and accursed crew. There were no less than fourscore of them in the place where he then lived, who sheltered themselves under the common profession of Christians, whose names he presented to the Bishops and Governors of the Church, and by that means routed them and their pernicious Sect quiter out of the City. After this he betook himself 
Soz●m. ubi supr. vid. arg●ment. li●. Ancorat. praefix. p 468.  to an accurate observation and imitation of the Lives of those pious and devout Ascetics, for which egypt was then so famous through the Christian World, to whose strict and philosophic manners he conformed himself. And in this course he continued some years, till the twentieth year of his age, at what time he return'd back into his own country, and put himself under the Discipline of Hilarion, the Father and Founder of Monachism in those parts. This Hilarion was born 
Hieron. vit. Hilarion. Er●mi●. Tom. 1. p. 241. Sozom. l. 5. c. 10. p. 607.  at Tabatha a Village within five miles of Gaza in the South of Palestine, and had been sometimes Pupil to S. Antony, the great egyptian Hermit, by whose institution and example he set up the monastic Life in his own country, planting himself in the Deserts towards the Sea seven miles from Maiuma, the port belonging to Gaza. In the reign of Julian he was forced to quit his own country, and fled into egypt, thence he set sail for Sicily, where he lived some time, and maintained himself by cutting wood in the Mountains, which he carried on his back, and sold in the Neighbouring City; thence he went into Dalmatia, and returning in the latter part of his Life sixth his abode in Cyprus, where he dyed. Epiphanius out of gratitude to his Master, wrote his Life in a short encomiastic Letter, as S. Jerom did afterwards more at large, wherein he gives a full account of his piety and his miracles. Under him Monachism began to thrive apace, and the solitudes of Judea were soon replenished with devout Inhabitants, among whom two were more remarkable, Hesychius and Epiphanius; Hesychius resided in the same place with Hilarion, and was his most intimate Companion; Epiphanius settled himself near the place of his Nativity, where he erected a Monastery, over which he presided with great care and piety many years, nor indeed did he ever wholly lay aside the Superintendency and Administration of it.  
IV. IT was now about the Reign of Valens( for till then, Sozomen 
L. 6. C. 32. p. 689.  expressly says he remained at his Charge in Palestine) when he was promoted to the See of Salamis in Cyprus. How, or upon what occasion he came to be chosen to that place, is uncertain: Unless we take the account that's given us by the forementioned Writer 
Vit. Epiph. ap. Sur. Num. XXXII. XXXIII. &c.  of his Life, who tells us, that having heard that Hilarion had taken up his residence in Cyprus, he went thither to salute him and receive his blessing. Hilarion kindly entertained him, and after two dayes stay, advised him to go to Salamis, where he should find a settled Habitation. It happened, that the See of Salamis was then vacant, and the Bishops of the iceland met together about a new Election, by whom the particular determination of the Person was referred to Pappus, an aged Confessor, and who had been fifty years Bishop of Cytria, who going out into the Forum, laid hold upon Epiphanius, and that( as he affirmed) by Divine Revelation, and taking him along with him into the Church, ordained him first Deacon, then Presbyter, and last of all, Bishop of that place. If this account be true( as there's nothing in it but what's probable enough) then his Ordination to that See must happen some time between Ann. CCCLXVI.( when Hilarion first arrived in Cyprus, where he continued but seven 
Vid. Hieron. ibid. p. 251.  years in all, two at Paphus, and five in his retirement among the Mountains) and Ann. CCCLXXII. which was the last year of Hilarion's Life; nay, the Author I mentioned plainly intimates, 'twas while Hilarion abode at Paphus, that is, Ann. CCCLXVI. And this agrees exactly with the Relation of Palladius 
Dial. de vit. Chrysost. c. 16. p. 151. Edit. Paris. gr. lat. 4o. 1680. , who seems to make his six and thirty years Government of that Church concurrent with the Popedoms of Damasus and Siricius, the former of whom entred upon the See of Rome, Ann. CCCLXVI. Salamis, called afterwards Constantia, was an ancient City, situate upon one of the Eastern Promontories of the iceland, built by Teucer Son of Telamon King of Salamis( thence it had its name) one of the Aegaean Islands. 'twas famous of old for a Temple dedicated to Jupiter, as Paphus was for one to Venus, renowned for being the Birth-place of Asclepiades the Poet, and Solon, the great Athenian Law-giver. That which first raised it to a reputation in the Christian World, was the preaching and Martyrdom of S. Barnabas, a Cypriot by birth, who preached the Christian Faith, and sealed it with his Blood in this place. Upon which account it became the seat of the Primate, or Metropolitan of the iceland, and what honours were in after-times conferred upon it, we have noted elsewhere. But alas, the ruins of its ancient greatness are scarce visible in a poor contemptible Village at this day, about two Miles distant from Famagust●, the now Capital City of the country. Epiphanius being thus advantageously planted 
Sozom. ib. p. 689. , the famed of the man soon spread itself throughout the World. For Salamis being a Port-town, and by that means a place of great Commerce and traffic, he quickly grew into the notice and veneration of Strangers from all parts, as on the other side his diligence in his Office, and the Piety and Charity of his Conversation, and the skill and fidelity wherewith he managed even Civil and Secular Affairs, rendered him no less dear and acceptable to his own People at home.  
V. INDEED so great was his Reputation and Renown abroad, that Addresses were made to him from all parts as the common Arbiter of controverted questions in Religion, and one that was best able to explain the sense of the catholic Faith. Ann. CCCLXXIII. or the beginning of the following year came Letters 
Ext. ap. Epiph. Ancorat. praefix. p. 468.  to him from Matidius and Tarsinus in the name of themselves and the other Presbyters at Suedra a City in Pamphylia, entreating him to sand them an accurate account of the catholic Doctrine concerning the blessed Trinity, and especially the Divinity of the Holy Ghost. For it seems the Macedonian heresy( which Sozomen 
L. 4. c. 27. p. 586.  tells us, diffused itself through Bithynia, Hellespont, and the neighbouring Provinces) had rambled hither, and infected many in this country, so that neglecting the stale Controversies about the Son of God( as men are naturally fond of novel errors) they greedily caught up the new-started Blasphemies against the holy Spirit, whose Deity and Divine Dominion they denied, and whom they degraded into the Class and Ministry of a Servant and Messenger. And though by the Letters which Athanasius and some others had heretofore written to them about this matter, several had been reclaimed from these pernicious Sentiments, yet the Tares were not wholly rooted up, the minds of many continuing still leavened with this Impiety. They besought him therefore to give them a full account what was the Orthodox Belief in this case, they having none near at hand able accurately to discuss those subtle and perplexed questions, that had been set on foot amongst them. This Request was accompanied likewise with a Letter 
Ext. ubi supr.  from Palladius, Governor of that City, upon the same errand, and to the very same effect. In answer to both he wrote {αβγδ}( as 'tis called) a large Responsive, wherein he particularly opens the Doctrine of the catholic Church in the Articles relating to the several Persons in the Trinity, which he explains and confirms from Scripture, and vindicates from the most specious Cavils and Pretences which the heretics usually made against it, together with an account of the Resurrection, and the consequent Articles that depend upon it. This Tract he styled the Ancorat 
Vid. Epiph. Haeres. LXIX. p. 321.& Argum. lib. anchor. p. 468. , because Anchor-like it served to fix and confirm instable minds in the knowledge of the Truth, and to keep them from being tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of Doctrine. In this Book he had among other things accidentally inserted a Catalogue of the names and numbers of several Heresies, which had infested the Church in all ages. The notice whereof being got abroad, awakened the curiosity of many, and particularly of Acacius and Paulus, two Archimandrits, or Prefects of Monasteries in the parts about Chalcedon, and Beraea in Caelesyria, who wrote 
Ext. Epist. ante Panar.  to him the next year by Marcellus, who being newly instructed in the Faith, was desirous to be more fully Principled and confirmed by Epiphanius; by him they excuse their not waiting Personally upon him, which they intended, had not weakness and infirmity constrained them to keep at home, assuring him, they looked upon him as a second S. John, one whom God had extraordinarily raised up to be a new Apostle and Preacher to the Church. But the main business of the Letter was to beg of him to give them an account of the Opinions and practices of the several Heresies that had disturbed the Church; a task which could not but be infinitely acceptable to them and all good men. Hereupon he composed his larger Work against Heresies, wherein besides the Historical part, he makes a particular Confutation of every heresy, amounting in all to the number of LXXX. which he draws down through the several ages of the World to his own time, that is, till the eleventh 
Vid. adv. Haeres. p. 7.  year of Valens and Valentinian, Ann. CCCLXXIV. From this date Baronius 
Ad Ann. 375. p. 370.  conceives he began this work a year before he received the Letter from the Monks of Syria, the Inscription whereof makes it not written till the following year. But either there's an error in the date of that Inscription( which being none of Epiphanius his own might easily happen) or else by that date of the XI. of Valens, Epiphanius intended, not that he then began, but only brought down his account to that time. It being otherwise certain both from the Preface, and the beginning of the Work itself, that he set upon it at the request of those Syrian Archimandrites. And whereas in their Letter they tell him, they had heard he had drawn out and ascertained the names of the several Heresies, that plainly refers to the passage in his Ancorat 
Pag. 474. , where( as we observed before) he sets down their names and numbers, and that in the very same method, wherein he treats of them afterwards. To this work he gave the Title of Panarium, the Store-house, designing it he tells us 
Praesat. p. 2.& A●●●eph. p. 519. , to be a {αβγδ} Physick-chest, or Apothecaries shop, replenished with Antidotes adapted to those several poisons, and venomous Wounds, which error had made upon the minds of men. But the largeness of the Work, and the subtlety of the Controversies debated in it, rendered it less useful to unlearned and undiscerning Readers, for whose sakes he afterwards contracted it into an Anacaephalaeosis, or epitome, that it might become more familiar and accommodate to ordinary use. Nor was it enough, that he was thus employed at home the necessities of the Church called for his assistance abroad. Ann. CCCLXXXII. Gratian and Theod●sius summoned a Council to meet at Rome to compose the controversy that had raised so much dust in the East, about the See of Antioch, possessed by Paulinus, and challenged by Flavian, whose cause was espoused and asserted by a Synod at this time sitting at Constantinople. Besides the Western Bishops, there arrived at Rom● some out of the East 
Hieron. Epi●aph. P●ulae. p. 171. , especially Paulinus of Antioch, and our Epiphanius. He lodged in the House of the Lady Paula, Relict of Toxotius, a Gentleman of Rome, who entertained him with all possible kindness, happy that she had got such a Guest under her Roof. The Acts of this Synod are lost, but by the event it appears, that the Cause was adjudged for Paulinus. And now having done his errand, and seen Rome, and conversed with all the great Persons there, the next Spring he return'd back to Cyprus.  
VI. HE had now for many years peaceably governed the Cyprian Churches; when by means of John( who Ann. CCCLXXXVI. succeeded Cyril in the See of Jerusalem) he was unhappily involved in Troubles and Controversies, that devoured the latter part of his life. For the understanding of which we are to know, that he still retained a Relation to the Monastery, called Old Ad, which he had heretofore erected and constituted near Eleutheropolis in Palestine, for the better administration whereof he was forced sometimes to repair thither, and by that means maintain a nearer and more frequent intercourse with the Bishop of Jerusalem. John was a man proud and passionate, and besides of wavering and inconstant Principles: He had herded 
Vid. Hieron. ad Pammach. p. 163, 165.  with the Arian and Macedonian Party during the late Persecutions in the Reign of Valens, and though he had deserted them upon his promotion to that See, yet he still retained some kindness for the old Opinions, especially was a secret friend to the Doctrines of Origen, whereto Epiphanius was a professed Antagonist. This begot mutual jealousies, which at last burst out into an open flamme. It happened that Epiphanius preaching 
Id. ib p. 166.  in the Cathedral at Jerusalem, directed his Discourse against the Origenian dogmata. The Bishop thought himself touched with the Sermon, and together with his Clergy sometimes by signs of anger, sometimes by expressions of scorn and derision shew'd that he sat uneasy, and pitied the doting old man, till not able to hold longer, he sent up his archdeacon to him, commanding him to cease preaching about those matters. And when after Sermon, as they were going from the place of the Resurrection to that of the across, People of all sorts flocked after Epiphanius in such Crowds, and with such expressions of reverence and devotion, that there was no passing forward, the others envy began to boil, and he could not forbear telling him to his Face, that he purposely contrived and caused these stops. And when at another time the Congregation was born in hand that they should again hear Epiphanius, John himself stepped into the Pulpit, and thundered out nothing but sharp invectives against the heresy of the Anthropomorphites, who affirm, that God has human parts and shape, turning himself all the while towards Epiphanius, to insinuate a suspicion into the Peoples minds, that he was guilty of that impious and absurd Opinion. Sermon being ended, the good old Bishop stood up, and  told the Congregation, that what his Brother had spoken against the Anthropomorphite-Heresie was very well, and that he himself hearty condemned it; but that withal it was but just, that as they condemned this heresy, they should condemn likewise the perverse Doctrines of Origen. A motion which the Congregation entertained with laughter and acclamations to the equal shane and vexation of their Bishop.  
VII. HITHERTO they had stood on some tolerable Terms, when John laid hold on an opportunity of openly venting his spleen, and that upon this occasion. Epiphanius's Monastery 
Epiph. Epist. ad Joan. ap. Hieron. p. 156, 157.  was destitute of a Priest, who might constantly officiate the Divine Services amongst them, a task which S. Jerom and Vincentius, both Presbyters, who lived near at hand in the Monastery at Bethlehem, out of modesty refused to undertake. Complaint hereof being made to Epiphanius by the Brethren of the Monastery, a fit man was sought for, and Paulinianus S. Jerom's younger Brother was the Person pitched on for this purpose: But he out of humility did not only decline it, but refused to come near any Bishop lest he should lay hands upon him. At length going along with others to wait upon Epiphanius, then in those parts, about some business of the Monastery, the Bishop commanded the Deacons that were present to apprehended him, and so overpowered him with the weight of his Authority and persuasion, that he unwillingly submitted to be ordained Deacon; which Epiphanius presently performed in the Parish-church next to the Monastery, as after some convenient time, though with the same difficulty, he advanced him to the order of Presbyter, dessgning him as domestic Chaplain to that Monastery. The Report hereof was soon carried to John of Jerusalem, who was not a little glad of the opportunity. He now filled every corner with loud Declamations against Epiphanius, that he had violated the Canons of the Church, by taking upon him to Ordain out of his own diocese, that the Person ordained 
Hier. ad Pammach. in sin. Epist. ad Theoph. p. 186.  was little better than a Boy, and if any of his Clergy owned his Ordination, they should lose their place in the Church; that Epiphanius had traduced him for an heretic 
Epiph. Epist. p. 157. , and in his public Devotions had prayed for him in these words, Grant, Lord, to John, that he may believe aright; that therefore he was resolved to make him know himself, and to acquaint all parts of the Christian World with his unwarrantable uncanonical Proceedings, and that if men would not do him right, he summoned him to a trial before the Divine Tribunal. To all this bluster Epiphanius return'd him a gentle Letter, wherein he mildly reproves him for his passionate and unchristian carriage in this matter, and lays before him the true state of what had passed; assuring him, he might rather have expected thanks for what he had done, than that it should be made the Foundation of a Quarrel; that he had done nothing herein, but what in like cases had been customary in his country, where catholic Bishops ordained Presbyters within his Province, yea, that he had desired some( particularly Philo and Theoprobus) that because his diocese was wide and large, therefore in those Churches of it that lay next to theirs, they would Ordain Presbyters, as occasion required, and provide for the necessities of the Church; that he of all others had least reason to complain, the Ordination being done not in his, but in the diocese of Eleutheropolis, and that if any found themselves aggrieved, it must be, as S. Jerom observes, the Bishop of Caesarea, who was Metropolitan of the whole Province. For the age of the Person ordained, S. Jerom adds, that he was not much under thirty, and that John himself was not much above, when he was made Bishop, and had ordained others at that very age, whereat Paulinianus was made Presbyter. But the truth was, as Epiphanius tells 
Loc. supr. c. tat.  him, it was not so much the business of Paulinianus that had moved his Choler, the root of the matter lay deeper, 'twas that he had rubbed him sometimes with his Affection to Origen and his Opinions; whom he had charged as the Parent of Arianism, and other dangerous errors; 'twas the touching this tender string had offended his ears, and put him into such an angry ferment: for the Charge of traducing him in his Devotions, 'twas a great mistake, he might be confident he was not guilty of so much rudeness, but bore a greater Reverence towards him and his Office, than so to vilisie him before the People, that he had done but what was usual in the conclusion of the public Prayers, to pray for him as he did for all other Bishops, that God would keep him, and grant him to Preach the word of Truth: That therefore he passionately besought him especially to renounce all Communion with Origens, or any other Heretical Opinions, to which end he lays before him eight several Principles asserted by Origen, which he desires him as a Sp●cimen to consider, and to come off roundly in those points, and to desert all those that pertinaciously adhered to them.  
VIII. BUT John has not yet done with his Charge, he further accuses 
Epiph. Epist. ib. in sin.  him of injury and violence, and that he had in a manner robbed one of the Churches in his diocese. The truth of which case was thus. Epiphanius in his way to Bethel came to a Village called Anablatha, where espying a Church, he turned in to offer up his Prayers. entering into the Church, he beholded a Curtain hanging over the door, whereon was painted the Image of Christ, or some Saint. Detesting such Innovations in the Church, expressly contrary to the Authority of the holy Scriptures( as himself tells us) he tore the Curtain, and advised the Churchwardens to make use of it rather as a shrowded to bury the dead. They  told him that since he had torn that, 'twas but reasonable he should give them another, that was not obnoxious. This he immediately promised, and after some time sent the best he could get, desiring the Bishop to convey it to the Presbyters of that place, and that he would henceforward take care, that such painted Curtains being against our Religion, should not be hung up in the Church of Christ, it being much more his duty to be watchful and solicitous, to remove an occasion of scruple that was unworthy of the Church of Christ, and the People committed to his Charge. A passage so clearly expressive of the Doctrine and practise of the Church in the point of Images n that age, that the Champions of the Church of Rome are at infinite loss about it. Some of them say, that the good Bishop treated the Picture with that resentment, because he supposed it to have been the Image of some infamous Person, usurping the place of a Saint; others that this Epistle is spurious, and falsely Fathered upon Epiphanius; others that this latter part of it only is Supposititious, added by a later hand; and this way go Baronius, Bellarmin, and the most, without any Authority, or just pretence of reason. And therefore Baronius after all the pains he had taken to make it seem an imposture, dares not yet be very confident of his own Conjecture. Wherefore others discerning these Shifts and Artifices to be weak and desperate, allow the Story, but withal decry Epiphanius as a downright Icon●●last, an enemy to Image Worship, and therefore to be little regarded in this case. And if they put it upon that Issue, we are content. Nor indeed is this the only Testimony Epiphanius has given in this matter: The Fathers 
〈…〉 II. ●. VI. Tom. 7. C●●t. p. 473.  of the second Nicene Council, the great Patrons of Image-worship, have recorded another to our hand. Take heed( says Epiphanius) to yourselves, and hold fast the Traditions which you have received, turning neither to the right hand, nor to the left; and keep this continually in mind, never to introduce Images into Churches, n●r into the Churchyards of the Saints; but have God always in your minds and memories. After which 'tis added, that the same Father published other Discourses in confutation of Images, which they that are curious and inquisitive might easily meet with. And though 'tis true, the good Fathers of the Synod question the validity of that Testimony, yet upon what weak and frivolous pretences they do it, any man may at first sight discern, that will but be at the pains to look into the wise Proceedings of that Council. But I return.  
IX. The Spirit of the man was too far exulcerated, to be healed with any Lenitives, or calm replies which Epiphanius could return: His Choler still boiled against him, and the Monks of Palestine that sided with him, especially S. Jerom, who took part with Epiphanius, and so galled the other with his tart Reflections, that he suspended 
Hier. ad Pam. p. 179.  him the Execution of his Ministry, and Communion with his Church, and endeavoured 
Id. ad Theoph. p. 186.  to drive him out of the country, though his attempt that way took no effect. Good men were much troubled at these unhappy dissensions, and hearty wished a Composure. Among the rest Count Archelaus 
Ad Pamm. ib. p. 180.  interposed, and prevailed with the Parties concerned to meet in order to it. Time and place were appointed, and a great number of Monks and others repaired thither to see what would be the issue of this Conference, when after all, John the Bishop did not appear, but sent a trifling excuse, that a certain Matron, whom he could not leave, was sick, which hindered his coming at that time. The Count sent him word, that they would stay a day or two longer, if he would then come. But all in vain, the Woman was still sick, and the same Excuse must serve the turn. By this 'twas evident to all impartial Observers, that he disinherited his Cause, and durst not abide a trial, so that refusing to give Epiphanius any answer, either by word or Letter, the good old Bishop wrote to the Monks, not to Communicate with him, till he had given satisfaction in those points of heresy, whereof he stood impeached. But so far was he from that, that he set himself to make a wider breach, and what he had formerly threatened, that the World should ring of Epiphanius's actings, he now put in Execution, writing Letters into all parts, and among the rest, probably, to Theophilus of Alexandria, who either at his invitation, or of his own accord, sent Isidore 
Ibid. p. 179.  his Presbyter with Letters into Palestine, if possible, to Umpire and Compose the difference. But Isidore was underhand too good a Friend to Origenism, to do any thing that might prejudice the Cause of the Bishop of Jerusalem, to whom and his Party he wrote beforehand, that they should stand their ground, and not be frighted with any terrors or threatenings, that he would come directly to Jerusalem, and at his arrival, make the attempts of their Adversaries sly before him, as Smoke is dispersed in the Air, or as Wax melts at the presence of the fire. And when he did come, he took no care to pursue the ends of his Legation: Thrice indeed he gave meeting to the other Party, and entertained them with the Commands of his Master, and a parcel of smooth words tending to Peace, but concealed the Letters which Theophilus had sent to them. And when S. Jerom once and again demanded them, he refused to deliver them, confessing he had been engaged to do so by the Bishop of Jerusalem. And so his Legation came to nothing. At his departure John gave him an Apology 
Ibid.& p. 178 ( penned by Isidores's own Council and Contrivance) to be delivered to Theophilus, wherein after he had complemented him with some flattering insinuations, that as a man of God, adorned with apostolic grace, he did even in the midst of all his Affairs at home sustain the care of all the Churches, and especially the Church of Jerusalem( though as S. Jerom notes, this had been a fitter Address to the Bishop of Caesarea) he proceeded to make an odious representation of his Adversaries; and because he had been charged with Origenian Errors 
Ibid. p. 164. , eight whereof Epiphanius had objected to him, he thought himself obliged to offer somewhat in his own Vindication; but passing by all the greater points, he touched only upon three of the less material, and that too in so loose and careless a manner, as if there were no doubts concerning them, or that they did not deserve a more close and accurate discussion. However his Letter having as good a Friend as Isidore for its Interpreter, we may be sure would be made to speak fair for him at Alexandria.  
X. THREE years 
Ibid. p. 167.  Epiphanius had waited for satisfaction, and had patiently born the injuries which John had thrown upon him, hoping that at last he would clear his Reputation, and do right to Truth. But he found the man incurable, and that the only use he made of his silence, was to fill the World with clamours against him. He resolved therefore to be no longer wanting to himself, but dispatched away Letters 
Ib. p. 189. in sin.  to all the most considerable Churches, to the Bishops of Palestine, to Alexandria, and especially to Pope Siricius at Rome, where John's Complaints had made the loudest noise. But because the controversy was not clearly understood there, Pammachius a learned Gentleman of Rome, who upon the death of his Wife Paulina had taken the monastic Rule upon him, wrote to S. Jerom, desiring from him a full account of this matter; which he accordingly gave him in a very large learned and eloquent Epistle, wherein he truly represents matter of Fact, vindicates Epiphanius and himself, and describes John in his proper colours. This Letter was written Ann. CCCXCIII. shortly after which he sent another much to the same effect to Theophilus of Alexandria, to undeceive him in those things, wherein John and Isidore might have misinformed him; the aspersions which had been thrown upon himself, he wipes off with an elegant defence, and assures him, that notwithstanding all the spiteful attempts which John had made against him and his Party, yet they were hearty disposed to Peace, if he would but give the World satisfaction in the business of his Faith. The Epiphanius Cause being thus brought into open light, John saw 'twas in vain to bear up against the Stream, and so fairly let it fall, never after, that I find, appearing in it. By which means the good old man gained a present respite. But it lasted not long. For the Origenian controversy being soon after revived, though upon another occasion, involved him in fresh troubles, that ended not but with his Life. An account whereof, as being necessary to clear the remainder of this, and some parts of the following Life, we shall a little more particularly relate.  
XI. THE broaching of the Arian tenants about the beginning of this Saeculum, had a little awakened the long butted Cause of Origen; but it came not to any considerable height till about the close of it, when a Question was started 
Socr. l. 6. c. 7. p. 309. S●zom. l. 8. c. 11. p. 77●.  among the Monks in egypt, especially those of Mount Nitria( where were the most frequent and celebrated Convents) whether God was a purely incorporeal Being, or had the Parts and Figure of a man? Upon this the Monasteries were divided, many defending the Orthodox Notion, while others of the simpler sort understanding those places of Scripture( which ascribe Eyes, Face, Hands, &c. to God) in a strict literal sense, fiercely espoused the latter part of the Question, and because Origen's Writings were chiefly made use of to beat down their Opinion, they wholly rejected them, and quarreled with all that did approve and own them. Theophilus was at this time Bishop of Alexandria, a man subtle and politic, and one that knew how at any time to put a good Colour upon a bad Cause, and to sail with every Wind, by which he might reach the point he aimed at. He had in his Paschal Letters sufficiently declared himself for the incorporeal Opinion, and in his Sermons smartly inveighed against those of the opposite Party. This quickly came to the Monks at Nitria, who alarmed with it, flocked in a great Body to Alexandria, intending to make him redeem his impiety( as they called it) with the price of his Head. He was ware of their coming, and going forth to meet them, entertained them with a pleasant look, addressing to them in the words of Jacob to his Brother Esau, I have seen you, as though I had seen the Face of God. With this crafty and ambiguous answer the deep pated Monks were well pleased and satisfied, supposing he meant, that God had a Face like to theirs; but added withal, if you mean really what you say, condemn the Books of Origen, by which many are seduced into the contrary Opinion, and enabled to fight against us; and unless you do this, we are resolved to treat you as an impious Person, and an Enemy to God. The Bishop replied, be not angry, Sirs, I am ready to do what you have a mind to, I for my part detest the Books of Origen, and condemn all those that admit them. And with that assurance they departed, confident that they had got the day.  
XII. And here the controversy might have slept and dyed, had not Theophilus thought good to awaken it, to minister to his private malice and revenge. Four Brothers there were, from the talness of their Stature called Longi, who presided over the egyptian Monasteries, Dioscurus, Ammonius, Eusebius and Euthymius, all of them renowned for their learning and pious Lives, in great favour with Theophilus, who received them with all imaginable kindness and respect. Dioscurus, though unwilling, he consecrated Bishop of Hermopolis, and two others of them he in a manner forced to live with him at Alexandria, and made them Stewards of the Revenues of his Church. But they weary of the cares of a Secular Life, as too great an entrenchment upon their Pious and philosophic genius, and much more weary of Theophilus's gripping and covetous practices, who put them upon ill courses to advance his Projects, resolved to return back to their beloved Solitudes. The Bishop did what he could to dissuade them from it, but when he perceived their Resolution unalterable, and much more the Reason that made them desert him, he began to storm, and threaten he would be even with them, which they little regarding went back to the Monasteries. At the same time he fell out with Isidore, 
Soz. ib. c. 12. p. 772.  who had not long since also been his Favourite, partly because he refused to be Witness to a Will pretending that Theophilus's Sister was left Heiress to a certain Estate, partly because being Treasurer for the poor, he had denied Theophilus a Sum of Money towards his magnificent Buildings, telling him, 'twas much better to cloath the Backs, and refresh the Bowels of the poor, which are the true Temples of God, than to lay it out upon Roofs and Walls. Theophilus vexed to be thus defeated and reproached, set himself to ruin him, Palladius 
Dial. de vit. Chrys. c. 6. p. 52.  adds, that in a solemn Consistory he arraigned him of no less than Sodomy upon a forged Writing, and when baffled in that, suborned a young man to swear the Charge, whose Mother discovered the Plot, and produced the Money that had been given her Son. However putting the best face he could upon it, he excommunicated and ejected Isidore, who not knowing how far it might be safe for him to stay longer there, fled to Mount Nitria, where he had been brought up in his younger years, whom Theophilus followed with Letters to the Bishops of those parts, commanding them to cast him and his partisans out of those solitary Recesses: The Monks hearing what was done, and pitying the hard case of Isidore, resolved that a Committee of their number, and Ammonius in the Head of them should go to Alexandria to treat with the Bishop about this matter. Theophilus at first promised to restore Isidore to Communion, and being oft urged with his Promise, to discourage any more such Addresses threw one of the Monks into Prison: Nay, we are  told, that he threw the Tippet that he had about him over Ammonius's neck with his own hands, and beating him about the Face, till he was all bloody, with a stern angry Voice, heretic, said he, Anathematize Origen, though not the least occasion for any such Discourse was offered at that time. But Ammonius and his Company voluntarily went to their Fellow in Prison, and refused to come out thence, till Theophilus himself came and should fetch them out. Afterwards they yielded to go to him, who having asked their pardon for what had been done, quietly dismissed and sent them home.  
XIII. BUT how smooth soever he might appear without, his Passion boiled up within. He had not forgot his former quarrel to Dioscurus and his Brethren, and though in his late rude treatment of Ammonius he had given him a taste of his kindness, yet he resolved now to pay them home all together; which yet he could not effect, but by creating a difference between them and the other Monks; who held them in a mighty esteem and veneration. And no way could he think of so proper for this, as again to set on foot among them the late butted controversy. He knew Ammonius and his Brethren were stiff Ass●rters of the Incorporeal Opinion, which the maintainers of were wont to make good among other ways by the reasons and authority of Origen. This he spread abroad by Letters in the Monasteries, advising them to beware of Dioscurus and his Brethren, who following the Doctrine of Origen, sought to introduce an impious opinion, that God was Incorporeal, and had not according to the Testimony of Scripture either Eyes, Ears, Hands or Feet. The design quickly took, and the far greater part of the Monks being simplo and illiterate, were for the gross and absurd part of the question: But what they wanted in learning, they made up in Zeal, bandying the case not with accurate Disputings, but with noise and clamour. The dissensions ran high, and grew irreconcilable, and names of reproach were sixth upon each Party, the asserters of Corporcity scornfully styling the others Origenists, as they on the contrary branded them with the Title of Anthropomorphites. And that he might yet cast a further mist before mens eyes, he convened a Synod 
Posthum. ap. Sulp. Sev. dialog. 1. c. 3. p. 247.  at Alexandria, where in frequent Sessions the Cause of Origen was ventilated, and many dangerous propositions gathered out of his Writings were produced, which his friends not daring to defend, cried out, that the places had been corrupted, and the things fraudulently inserted by heretics, a thing not to be wondered at, when they had not scrupled to offer violence to the Gospel itself; that therefore the body of his Works was not to be thrown away because of some adulterated passages, which a wise Reader would easily distinguish, and might reject what was corrupt, but retain what was catholic truth. But this plea was over-ruled, it being replied, that there were Books enough, which the Church received, that the reading those Books was not to be allowed, which would do more mischief to the simplo and unwary, than they could do good to the Wise and Learned, and therefore good and bad were to be rejected, and the Tares and Wheat to be thrown out together. The issue was, that no man should red, or keep by him the Books of Origen. And though this was nothing to the case of Dioscurus and his Brethren, whom Theophilus knew to be far enough from patronizing any of Origen's obnoxious opinions, they only using his authority to refel a pernicious and senseless Impiety, yet it served his turn to raise a dust, and to clap a bad name upon them, and then expose them to the censure and hatred of the People, who perhaps would never inquire how they came to have that name put upon them.  
XIV. AND this 'tis like the Synod had been  told, had the Monks been there: But it seems they were never summoned 
Pallad. ubi supr. c. 7. p. 55. , Theophilus wisely foreseing, that had they been called, his actions must have been rifled into, and his fraud and ill arts would have been brought to light. And therefore he never proceeded against the body of the Monks, but only against Ammonius and his Brothers, against whom he procured a Synodal Sentence. Nay, if we may credit what Palladius further relates, he procured five persons, men of no authority or account amongst the Monks, and therefore more likely to be pliable to his designs, one of whom he consecrated Bishop( though but of a little Village, there being no City to set him over) a second Presbyter, the three others Deacons. To these Confidents of his he delivered Libels of accusation against the Brethren, which himself had framed, and which they subscribed, and afterwards delivered to him in the face of the Church. He, as if he had known nothing of the matter, took the Libels at their hands, which he immediately presented to the Augustal Praefect, or Vice-Roy of Egypt, entreating his Warrant and assistance, that those infamous persons might be expelled the Country. His request was soon granted, and being now armed with the Civil Power and attended by a company that would do his work, whom to that end he had well warmed with Wine, away he goes at night for Mount Nitria; and first he seizeth upon Dioscurus, whom he deposed, and committed to his Aethiopian Slaves, taking into his own possession his Episcopal See, though of as great antiquity as any in those parts; 
Soz. l. 5. c. 21. p. 630.  it having been the place 
Vid. etiam Socr. ubi supr. p. 312. Sulp. S. ibid. p. 249.  where Joseph and the blessed Virgin restend with our Infant-Saviour, when they fled into Egypt. Next he goes to the Monasteries, the plunder whereof he permitted to the Souldiers, but not finding the persons he sought for, he first set fire to their Cells, and burnt their Books, and among them their Bibles, and the very portions of the Eucharist, and as those who were eye-witnesses affirmed, a little youth into the Bargain, and then return'd back in Triumph. The truth is, the three Brothers upon the first news of his approach had hide themselves in a Well, the mouth whereof being covered over with a mat proved a safe shelter to them. The danger being over, and they well knowing those parts would afford them no protection, left the Country, and with Dioscurus( who had made his escape) fled into Palestine, first to Jerusalem, and then to Scythopolis( anciently called Bethsan, situate in the half Tribe of Manasses on this side Jordan) where, as being best furnished with Palmtrees, the leaves whereof the Monks made great use of in their ordinary mechanical operations, they seated themselves. Hither repaired to them great numbers of their old company, about LXXX. say some; CXXVI. nay CCC. say others. But Theophilus his malice stopped not here, he wrote to the Bishops in Palestine in a strain lordly enough, that they ought not without his advice to have received these Fugitives, but in that their ignorance might excuse them, and he would pass it by, but that for the time to come they should not in any way of Converse either Civil or Sacred, entertain them. However here they continued, till hearing that Theophilus designed Messengers to Constantinople, to complain against them at Court, they conceived it best to be beforehand; so Dioscurus and several others repaired thither, where Chrysostom, then Arch-bishop of the Imperial See, received them with all due kindness and respect. By the whole carriage of this affair and what follows in relation to Chrysostom, it evidently appears that Theophilus indulged passion and prejudice beyond what became a good man. I know an attempt has lately been made to vindicate and relieve his memory, and to that end the whole story of his Transactions with these Egyptian Monks, has been called in question, and represented as a piece of Forgery, contrived by the Origenian Monks to impose upon the World. But this is a liberty which I confess I dare not take. The story is not only related by Socrates and Sozomen, men of credit enough in other matters, and who had no particular interest to serve in this, who lived, if not in, very near that time, and were acquainted with some of the persons concerned in it, but it is very minutely related by Palladius,( or whatever was the Author of that Dialogue) who with Chrysostom was concerned in some part of the story, and was very familiarly acquainted both with the Persons themselves, and the whole management of the business. I do not deny but those that favoured the Origenian way might set out Theophilus in his worst light, and might put a keener edge upon some of his Actions, than perhaps they deserved. But to say that the whole Story is feigned, because Sozomen says his Friend, whom he could trust, had one particular passage in it from the Monks themselves( for what Sozomen says 
Vid. Soz. l 8. c. 12. p. 772.  of that, refers only to the Causes of Theophilus his displeasure against Isidore) is too hard, and would open too wide a gap. For suppose he had had the whole Relation from them: Is no man to be believed in his own Cause? Or can any man be so fit to tell the particular Circumstances of his Case, as he that suffers them? And indeed if the credit of a Story so particularly related, so well attested, must be destroyed merely for a few surmises, which a witty man may start in any matters of Fact, I scarce know what parts of Church-story can be secure.  
XV. THUS far we have deduced the general Story, we shall now bring it home particularly to Epiphanius. Theophilus having Synodically condemned Origenism, wrote an Encyclical Epistle to the Churches abroad, to give them an account of what he had done: And because Epiphanius by reason of his age, and his singular piety and learning, was a Person of greatest Authority at that time, he was desirous 
Socr. l. 6. c. 10 p. 315. Sozom. l. 8. c. 14. p. 775.  to gain him to his Party. Not that heretofore he had quarreled with him for being an Anthropomorphite, and to gain his Friendship, did now dissemble himself to be of that Opinion( as Socrates and Sozomen represent it) for though John of Jerusalem did once insinuate such a suspicion,( and Ruffinus 
Hier. Apol. adv. ruffian. p. 240.  it seems took it up, and gave countenance to it) yet Epiphanius did immediately disown and protest against it: But he knew well it would be of mighty advantage to his Cause, to have so near a Neighbour, and so considerable a Person on his side. To him therefore besides the general Epistle, he wrote 
Ext. ap. Hieron. Tom. II. p. 309.  more particularly, to let him know that with the Sword of the Gospel he had cut in pieces those Origenian Serpents, that had crept out of their holes, and had cleared Mount Nitria of that pestilent Contagion; that now 'twas his part, who had been an old soldier in these Conflicts, to support and relieve those that were fighting, and in order thereunto to summon together all the Bishops of his iceland, and to sand their Synodical Letters to Constantinople and elsewhere, that both Origen and his heresy might by name be condemned by common consent; that he should also give notice hereof to the bishops of Isauria, Pamphylia, and the neighbouring Provinces, that they also might do the like. And that the business might meet with no delay, he advised him to sand a special Messenger, one of his Clergy with the Letters to Constantinople( as he himself had sent the Heads of the Nitrian Monasteries, with other very considerable Persons on the same errand) who might be able to give a satisfactory account of what had passed. Epiphanius like a good-natured man was easily drawn into the engagement, especially being acted by a great Zeal against Origenism. Forthwith he sends Theophilus's Epistle with a Letter 
Ext. ap. Hier. i●. p. 311.  of his own to his old Friend S. Jerom, telling him in Triumph, that Amal●ch was now utterly destroyed, and the trophies of the across erected upon Mount Rephidim, and that as Israel overcame by Moses lifting up his hand, so by the endeavours of Theophilus a Banner had been set up against Origen upon the Altar at Al●xandria. That done, he convocated 
Socr.& Soz. loc. cita●.  all the Bishops of Cyprus, and in a Synodical way condemned and prohibited the reading of Origen's works. An account of all which he sent in a Letter to Chrysostom to Constantinople, desiring, that both he himself would abstain from reading Origen's Writings, and that calling a Synod of his Bishops, he would pass the same Decree, as they had done in Cyprus. But Chrysostom seeing further into the business than he did, refused to meddle in it, being nothing moved either with his importunity, or the Message he had received from Alexandria.  
XVI. EPIPHANIUS finding this Affair neglected above, resolved himself, though at that age, to go to Constantinople, and solicit the Cause in his own Person, no doubt prompted herein and spurred on by Theophilus his instigation. So taking with him a Copy of the Synodal Sentence he went Aboard, and setting sail, he arrived at a place called Hebdomon, seven miles from Constantinople. Here he landed, and entering into a Church, which the late Emperor Theodosius had erected there, and dedicated to the honour of S. John the Baptist, he celebrated the Divine Offices; and this being one of the Churches that at the Empresses Charge stood out against the Bishop, they complained they wanted one to bear part in the public solemn Service, so he ordained a Deacon for them. Nor need Baronius 
Ad Ann. 402. p. 147.  wonder at this, and suppose the Historian mistaken in it, it being no more than what Epiphanius had done heretofore in another man's diocese in Palestine, nor is it likely the Historian should be mistaken in a thing of that nature done not full forty years before he wrote; but to put the Case past all Dispute, we find Chrysostom objecting it to Epiphanius afterwards. This done, he set forward for the City. Chrysostom hearing of his approach, went out attended with the whole body of his Clergy to receive him with all due honour and respect, and kindly invited him to take up his residence with him in the Episcopal palace. But he plainly shewed he came with a preconceived prejudice, for refusing the civility of the Invitation, he took up his Lodgings in a private House, where gathering together what Bishops were then in Town, he shewed them what Decrees had been made against Origen's works, both in Cyprus and at Alexandria, but without exhibiting any material Charge against them. Some of the Bishops out of reverence to the man complied with his persuasions, and subscribed the Decrees, but the greatest number refused, and among them Theotimus the Scythian Bishop according to the plain manner of his country bluntly  told him, for my part, Epiphanius, I shall not take upon me to dishonour a Person dead so long since, and who dyed with so fair a Reputation for learning and piety, nor shall I presume to condemn what our Ancestors never rejected, especially since I know of no ill Doctrine in Origen's works. And with that he plucked out one of Origen's Books, which he red before the Company, and shewed to contain Expositions agreeable to the sense of the Church. Adding, that this was an absurd and dangerous Course, and that they that condemned these Expositions, were not ware that they condemned the Subjects upon which those Books were written.  
XVII. BY all that had been done Chrysostom was not yet discouraged from treating Epiphanius with that respect that was due to his age and place. He still urged 
Socr. ib. c. 14. p. 320. Sozom. ib. c. 14. p. 776.  him to come and reside in his House, and that they might not only eat, but pray and serve God together. To which he return'd this answer, That he would neither eat nor pray with him, till he had banished Dioscurus and his Party out of the City, and had subscribed the Decree against Origen's Writings; whereto the other replied, that it were a piece of unreasonable rashness and folly to do any thing in this matter, before it had come under a public Debate and Examination. S. Chrysostom's Enemies were not to be  told what use to make of this Difference, for finding Epiphanius forward enough, they pushed him on to all rash and unadvised attempts, and this among the rest. There was to be the next day a great Assembly in the Church dedicated to the Apostles; hither they agreed Epiphanius should go, and standing up, should before the whole Congregation first condemn Origen's Writings, next Excommunicate Dioscurus and his Company, and lastly reflect upon Chrysostom as siding with them: By which means they did not doubt but they should expose him to the Censure, if not hatred of the People. This Design was discovered to Chrysostom, who the next morning just as Epiphanius was going into the Church, sent him this Message by Serapion his Deacon, that he had strangely violated the Canons of the Church, first in that he had taken upon him to Ordain in his diocese, then that by his own Authority without any leave from him he had celebrated the Divine Service in his Churches, lastly that being once and again invited, he had refused to come at him, and still indulged himself in this Liberty; that he had best therefore take heed, lest raising a Tumult and Sedition among the People, the danger should finally return upon his own head. The timorous old man was startled at the Message, and immediately retired, and not long after left the City.  
XVIII. NOR had he much better success at Court. It happened 
Sozom. ib. c. 15. p. 777.  that the young Prince, Arcadius his Son, lay at this time dangerously sick; the Empress Eudoxia was infinitely concerned for him, and sent for Epiphanius( the famed of whose Piety and Miracles had filled all places) to desire him to intercede with Heaven for the Princes Life. He  told her the Child would recover, if she would but turn off and discard Dioscurus and his Heretical Company. The Empress replied, if God please to take away my Son from me, his Will be done, the Lord gave, and 'tis he that takes away again: And for yourself, were you able to raise the dead, your own archdeacon surely had not dyed: Meaning Crispion, one of his domestic Attendants, whom he had made his archdeacon, and who was lately dead. She perceived what it was that stuck with him, and therefore advised Ammonius and his Brothers to go and wait upon Epiphanius. They did so, and when he inquired who they were, Ammonius  told him, they were the Longi, that came out of egypt, and desired to know, Whether he had red any Books, or conversed with any Disciples of theirs? He answered, no; upon what account then, replied Ammonius, have you judged them to be heretics, whose Opinion you are a Stranger to, and whom you have never Convicted. Epiphanius answered, he had heard so of them. But we, said Ammonius, take a quiter contrary Course; we have oft met with your Scholars, and have red your Books, that especially called the Ancorate; and when many have bespattered and called you heretic, we, as became us towards so venerable a Father, have stood up for you, and taken your part, and defended your Cause against all Opposition. Wherefore neither ought you by mere hearsay to have condemned the absent, and charge them with things▪ whereof you had no just Arguments to Convince them▪ nor thus to requited those, who had spoken so well of you. The good man was a little ashamed with the rebuk, and af●e●wards treated them with more calmness, and then dismissed them. Soon after he prepared for his return, being either weary of the errand he had undertaken, or warned by God of his approaching dissolution.  
XIX. THE report went, that at parting Chrysostom and he took leave of each other, with this odd Farewell, I hope, said he to Chrysostom, that you shall not die a Bishop; whereto the other replied, I hope you will never come safe into your own Country. This if so, shows that as wise and good men may fall out, and be transported by impotent and unreasonable Passions, so God sometimes takes men at their Word, whips them with their own Rods, and suffers them to reap the Fruits of those rash and ill-advised Wishes, which a calm and composed Reason would have prevented; as in this Case it came to pass, Chrysostom dying in Exile, and the other never coming home alive. As he was going to take Ship, he turr'd to the Bishops that waited upon him to the shore, I leave you( said he) the City, the Court, and the Scene. I am going, for I hasten away, and that apace. The Ship was quickly under sail, and carried him out of sight, a fit Monitor of that sudden departure that now attended him, for he dyed on Shipboard during the Voyage. Polybius 
Vit. Epiph. ap. Sur. n. LXIII. &c.  that pretends to have been his Companion in this very Voyage, gives us a particular account of his last hours, and though I cannot recommend this with the same assurance, I have done the rest, yet it containing nothing but what's probable enough, I shall briefly set it down. Being sat down in his apartment, he held, as his Custom was, the New Testament in his hand, and with sighs and tears opened the Book, and then folded it up, and wept again; then he arose and prayed, and after sat down, and turning to his two Attendants, Isaac and Polybius, began with tears to Discourse to them to this effect. That if they loved him, they should keep his Commandments, and then the love of God should abide in them; they knew through how many Afflictions he had passed in his time, which yet he did not think burdensome, but was always cheerful in any thing wherein God was concerned, who had never sorsaken him, but delivered him out of all dangers, as all things work together for good to them that love God: That the Devil had oft assaulted and set upon him, especially by his Agents in all places, the Simonians in Phoenicia, the gnostics in egypt, the Valentinians and other heretics in Cyprus; that they should do well to harken to his last Councils: Be not covetous, and you shall have enough; hate no man, and God will love you, speak not against a Brother, and the affection of the Devil shall not rule in you; detest all Heresies, as wild Beasts full of deadly poison, whereof I have given you an account in my Panarion; turn away from worldly pleasure, that's always ready to charm both Body and Soul, you'l find 'tis the way by which Satan makes his approach, nay, and that many times when no external temptation is present, yet the minds of the unwary entertain themselves with impure Contemplations; but when the mind is kept chast and sober, and has God always within view and prospect, we shall be easily able to rout the Enemy. Having discoursed to this purpose, he commanded the whole Ships company to be called, and  told them, it highly concerned them all earnestly to solicit the Divine mercy, that God would preserve and save them, for that there would be a mighty Storm, but withal, bad them be of good cheer, for that none of them should be cast away. After having given some private directions to Polybius and Isaac, he sent for the Seamen, and bad them not be troubled at the Storm, but fly to God, and he would help them. At night the Storm began to arise, which continued two dayes and nights, the next day he prayed, embraced his two Disciples, saying, God preserve you, my Sons, for Epiphanius shall see you no more in this World, and with that expired, and immediately the Tempest ceased. Being arrived at Salamis, the news of his death filled the whole City and country with an universal Lamentation, and flocking to the Shore, they took his Body out of the Ship, and honourably accompanied it to the Church, where it was embalmed, put up, and at length interred. He dyed about the latter end of Ann. CCCCII. or rather the beginning of the following year, being of a great age. Polybius says 
Ib. Num. cit. , that the day that he went on ship-board being asked by the Emperor Arcadius, how old he was, he  told him, he was CXV. years old, and three months; which he thus computed, that he was LX. years of age, when he was made Bishop, and that he had been Bishop LV. years, and three months. But that is uncertain, and in part false. This only we can safely rely on, that Ann. CCCXCII. at what time S. Jerom finished his Catalogue, he was in an extreme old age 
Hier. de scrip. in Epiph. , and that he sat Bishop of Salamis XXXVI. years 
Pallad. loc. s●perius citat▪ , so that we cannot suppose him to have been much under an hundred years old at the time of his death.  
XX. THUS died this good man, who came to his Grave in a full age, like as a shock of Corn cometh in his Season. A man in whose Soul there breathed a great Zeal for God, and for the interests of catholic truth. He had searched into the Principles, and rifled the intrigues of all ancient and modern Heresies, and that filled his mind with a brisk generous hatred both of their Doctrines and practices, and made him contend earnestly for the Faith that was once d●livered to the Saints, and vigorously oppose whatever did but entrench upon the confines of it; as was manifest in his hearty attempts against Origenism, the desire of suppressing which, put new life into his old age, and made him willing to comply with any pains or troubles, at a time when his Body was sinking under the decays of nature. Nor did he by a clamorous Zeal seek to cover any ill designs, his virtue and piety were conspicuous to the World. The greatest part of his time was spent under the exact Laws and Discipline of the monastic State, a quiter different course of life from what Monachism is in these latter Ages. And when removed to the Episcopal Station, he maintained the same strictness, abstinence, and devotion, insomuch that his example and encouragement drew 
Hierom. Epitaph. Paul. p. 171.  Ascetics from all parts, and Cyprus was full of Monasteries, which the Lady Paula visited with great Piety, and liberally relieved when she passed that way into the Holy Land. But among all his virtues none more eminent than his charity. He kept, in effect, an open house, and took care of all that needed, and as the place 
Sozom. l. 7. c. 27. p. 749.  where he lived, besides ordinary poor presented him with frequent objects ruined by Shiprack and losses at Sea, so his Doors and his Purse were shut to none. He had long since expended his own Estate upon charitable uses, and he now as freely dispersed the Revenues of his Church, which indeed had a considerable stock. For Persons from all parts sent in vast sums of Money to him as to a common Treasurer, and at their death bequeathed great Legacies and Endowments, being confident that he would dispose of them according to their pious intentions and designs. And so he did with a very liberal hand, till his stock failing, Heaven became his immediate Paymaster. His Steward one day finding his bank run low,  told him of it with some resentment, challenging him with an over-profuse Liberality. Which notwithstanding, he remitted nothing of his accustomend Charity. And when all was gone, a Stranger came suddenly into the Stewards Lodging, and delivered into his hand a large bag of Gold, none knowing who he was, or whence he came. This free and beneficent temper made his Charity sometimes liable to be abused, the bad effect of a good Cause. The story being known of two beggars that agreed to put a trick upon him, the one feigning himself dead, the other standing by passionately bewailed the loss of his Fellow, and begged of Epiphanius, who passed that way, a Charity to provide necessaries for his Funeral. Epiphanius gave it, and went on, and when the beggar jogged his Fellow to rise and make merry with what they had got, the man was dead in good earnest. To lesson men to beware how they mock God, and sport with life and death. Epiphanius in the mean time was loved and admired by all, his very Enemies 
H●er. ad Pammac●. p. 163.  holding him in such Veneration, that in the hottest of all the Arian Persecutions under Valens he lived secure and undisturbed at home, the worst of heretics then in power thinking it would fix an indelible reproach and infamy upon their Cause, to persecute so great and good a man.  
XXI. HIS Learning was not contemptible in respect either of profane or sacred Writers, especially he had traversed the paths of ecclesiastic Learing. He had some competent Skill in all the most useful Languages 
Id. A●ol. I. adv. R●ss. l. 2. p. 222.& Apol. II. p. 233. , especially the Hebrew, Syriac, Aegyptick, Greek and latin, thence styled by S. Jerom {αβγδ}, though a little of the Eastern Tongues went a great way in those dayes. The truth is, his learning was much more considerable than his judgement, and his reading more diffuse, than his reasonings acute and nervous. Sometimes( as Photius 
Cod. CXXII. col. 304.  observes) he attempts an Adversary with some smartness, but for the most part his discourses are weak and flat. But his greatest fault was his too much Credulity, generally taking his Accounts of things upon trust, suffering himself to be imposed upon by those Narratives which the several parties had published of the Proceedings either of their own, or their Adversaries side, without due search and Examination, which run him upon infinite mistakes, inconsistences, and confusions, as is notoriously evident( to name no other) in his Relations concerning the Arians, and the several under-branches of that Stock. His Style is mean and insipid, and approaches not the borders of Eloquence, it being the Character, which his good Friend S. Jerom long since gave of his Writings, that learned men red them for the matter and substance, and the simplo only for the sake of the style. The chiefest of his Books now extant is his Panarion, or work against Heresies, wherein besides the main design, he has preserved many considerable fragments of ancient ecclesiastic Authors, no where else to be found, and no small part of the History of the Church lies in that Book. The whole design is divided into two Periods, that before, and that since the coming of Christ. The work itself digested into three Books. The first contains three Tomes( as he calls them) or Sections; the first comprehending XX. Heresies, the second XIII. and the third as many. The second Book comprises two Tomes, in the first XVIII. in the second V. Heresies are treated of. The third Book consists likewise of two Tomes; the first has VII. Heresies, and the second IV. In all LXXX. concluding with the Massalians, who start up in the time of Constantius. In compiling this excellent and useful work he had no small assistance from some of the Ancients, who in this kind had gone before him, Justin Martyr, Irenaeus, Hippolytus, and some others, whose discourses and relations he improved and enlarged, and entirely added the account of those Heresies that arose in his own time, the most active and busy age of the Church.  

His WRITINGS.  

Genuine.  
Panarium, sieve adversus Haereses LXXX.  
Ancoratus, seu de side Sermo.  
Anacephalaeosis, seu Panarij Epitome.  
De Ponderibus& mensuris Liber.  
Epistola ad Joannem Hierosolymitanum. Lat.  
Ad Hieronymum Epistola brevis. Lat.   

Supposititious.  
Physiologus.  
De vita& interitu prophetarum.  
De duodecim gemmis in vest Aaronis.  
Ejusdem Libri Epitome.   

Orationes VIII.  
I. In Festum Palmarum.  
II. In Christi Sepulturam.  
III. In Christi Resurrectionem.  
IV. In Christi Assumptionem.  
V. De laudibus B. Mariae Virginis.  
VI. In Festo Palmarum.  
VII. De Numerorum mysteriis.  
VIII. De Christi Resurrectione.   

Not extant.  
De Lapidibus.  
S. Hilarionis encomium.  
Epistolae plures.    
The End of S. Epiphanius's Life.   

THE LIFE OF S. CHRYSOSTOM, BISHOP OF CONSTANTINOPLE. 
S. CHRYSOSTOMUS.   portrait of Saint Chrysostom  

SECT. I. His Acts from his birth, till his being made Bishop of Constantinople.  
The greatness of the City of Antioch, the place of his Nativity. His Parents. The singular virtues of his Mother. His Sister. His Education under Libanius. His pleading Causes. Under what Masters he studied Theology. His recovery of Theodorus to an Ascetic Life. His dear and intimate Friendship with Basil. Basil who. Their joynt-resolution for a monastic course. The elegant and passionate dissuasive of his Mother from engaging in that state of Life. His declining a bishopric, and cheating Basil into that Office. The occasion of his Books de Sacerdotio. His retirement into the Wilderness, employment, and time of stay there. His entering upon the Order of Reader. Made Deacon. The Books he wrote in that Station. ordained Presbyter. His first Sermon on that occasion. The care of preaching committed to him. The troubles at Antioch, whence. Pulling down and disgracing the Imperial Statues. Revenge resolved on at Court. Commissioners sent thence about it. The miserable consternation, and sad face of things at Antioch. Chrysostom's Sermons ad Populum Antiochenum. Flavian their Bishop prevailed with to undertake an Embassy to Court. Libanius sent by the Gentile-part of the City. His Oration to Theodosius. The Activity of the Monks at Antioch, and their supplications to the Magistrates and Commissioners. The humble address and expostulation of Macedonius. The Commissioners rigorously execute their Orders. Chrysostom's melancholy visitation and survey of the City at that time. Flavian's arrival at Court. The Emperors expostulation with him. His eloquent and pathetical discourse to the Emperor. Pardon obtained for the City. Theodosius his great tenderness and concernment for them. Flavian's joyful welcome home. The death of Paulinus the old Bishop. Flavian's prudent carriage. A period put to the long schism in that Church.  
I. ANTIOCH, seated upon the River Orontes, was the Metropolis of Syria, and the Capital City of the East, that is, of the Eastern diocese. For the Oriental part of the Roman Empire consisting of seven Dioceses, five of them were under the jurisdiction of the Praetorian perfect of the East, whereof the diocese of the East( strictly and properly so called, comprehending Syria and the neighbouring Countries) was chief, and Antioch the prime City of it, and the ordinary residence of the Imperial Lieutenant, and very often of the Emperors themselves; upon which account 'tis styled by an ancient Geographer 
D●s●ript. orb. gr. l. a Gothosred. edit. p. 10.  {αβγδ} the Royal or Imperial City. Josephus 
d● h●ll. Jud. l. 3. {αβγδ}. p 832.  without any scruple makes it the third City for greatness, pleasure, and plenty in the whole Roman World, intending I suppose by the other two, Rome and Alexandria: And when Geta divided the Roman Government with his Brother Antonine, he pitched either upon Antioch 
Herod. Hist. l. 4. p. 159.  or Alexandria for the seat of his Empire, looking upon them as Cities not much inferior in greatness to Rome itself. Indeed 'twas a place large and populous, splendid and magnificent, rich and pleasant, renowned for its Professors both of Learning and Religion. But enough has been said in its Commendation, and that in set Discourses, by two of the greatest Orators of that time in their several Professions, the one a Pagan, the other a Christian, the one the Master, the other the Scholar, and both natives of this place, Libanius 
Orat. Antiochicus dict. exit. p. 332.  I mean, the standard of Eloquence in those dayes, and he whose Life we now attempt to writ, S. John 
Enco●. Antio●●. vid. ●tiam Hom. 17. ad pop. An●ioch.& alibi. , who from the fluency and sweetness of his eloquence derived the surname of Chrysostom, who was born here about the year CCCLIV. if we may rely upon the account of his age at the time of his death, generally agreed to be somewhat more, than two and fifty years. I confess there are some Circumstances of his Life, that tempt me to think him born some years before. But the thing not being warranted by any express Authorities of the Ancients, I shall not take upon me to control the common account. Descended 
Pallad. Dialo●. de vit. Corys. c. 5. p. 40 So●r l. 6. c. 3. p. 301. S●●. ●. 8. c. 2. p. 75●.  he was of Parents considerable for their Birth and Quality. His Father Secundus was a Person of prime note and dignity, a great Officer and chief Commander of the Army in Syria, but dyed it seems soon after Chrys●stom was born, as appears, in that when he attended 
〈◇〉 Chrys. ●. ad vid. 〈◇〉. T 4 p. 522.  the School of his gentle Master, perhaps Libanius( at what time he could be very little turned of twenty) his Mother had been twenty years a Widow. Nay, the her self puts it out of all question, expressly affirming it to have been so, in the discourse which she had with her Son, of which afterwards. Her name was Secunda, the Daughter of an honourable Family in the City, a woman prudent, grave, chast and pious; lest a Widow at twenty years of age, and so she continued, to the great honour of her Sex, and of her Religion too, even in the jud●ment of the wiser Gentiles of that place. Besides him, 
{αβγδ}( 〈◇〉 ●rar.) 〈◇〉 23●. ●. 4 p. 948.  they had one only Daughter, a good Woman, but not over happily married: And had not Palladius  told us, that she was the eldest, I should have guessed from Chrysostom's own words, that they had been Twins and had come into the World at the same Birth.  
II. HAVING past through the useless and unactive stage of infancy, together with the exercises of his reason there were discovered in him great appearances 
Pallad. ubi supr.  of very pregnant parts, which his tender Mother took care should be cultivated with all due improvements of Education. Accordingly as years made him capable, he was committed to Masters in all Arts and Faculties. Nature it seems had more particularly formed him to the Study of Oratory, and to that end he put himself under the conduct of Libanius 
So●r.& Soz. loc. cit. , the celebrated Professor of eloquence at Antioch, as he studied Philosophy under Andragathius. Libanius quickly found he had a mighty genius for that faculty, and seemed born to be an Orator, and therefore particularly delighted in him, and held him in that esteem, that when upon his death-bed 
Sozom. ibid.  his Friends asked him who should succeed him in his School, John( said he) had not the Christians stolen him from us. After this, we are  told 
Geo. Alex. v●t. Chrys. c. 4. p. 161. exit. gr. T. 8. Edit. Savil. Lat ap. star. ad Jan. 27 , he went to Athens( which indeed was the fashionable mode and course of study in those times) what vast proficiencies he made there, how far he outstripped the most accomplished Scholars of that place, what mischiefs envy and malice conjured up against him, how he came off in triumph, to the conviction, and conversion, not of others only, but of his fiercest Enemies, to the Christian Faith. But this being supported by no Authority ancienter than that of George Patriarch of Alexandria, I can give my Reader no encouragement to rely upon it. In the School of Libanius he continued a close Student for some time, till being fully prepared and furnished out, he entred upon the practic part of Oratory, and for some little time served the Forum 
Ch●ys. de sac●r●. l. 1. ●. 1. p. 2. T 4. ●id. S●●r. ● S z. ubi s●pr. , and pleaded Causes. And now it was,( if at all) that he made that eloquent Oration in praise of the Emperor and his two Colleague sons( supposed by Baronius 
Ad Ann. 382. T. 4. p. 476.  to be the elder Valentinian, and his Sons Gratian and Valentinian) so much extolled and cried up by Libanius, and all that heard or red it, as he tells him in a Letter 
Ext. ap. Isid. P●●. l. 2. Epist. 42. p. 116.  written to him upon this occasion. But a learned man 
Va●●s. Annot. ad S●●r. l. 6. p. ●5.  not improbably conjectures the John mentioned by Libanius to have been another Person, an Advocate who then lived at Constantinople, and that he made that panegyric to Theodosius at what time he assumed his Sons into a Partnership of the Empire. However that be, he soon grew weary of this course of life, as not agreeing with the strictness and severity of his temper, he retired therefore to red the holy Scriptures, and gave himself to the Study of Theology, not a little encouraged herein by the Example of evagrius, his Towns-man and School fellow▪ who had sometime since betaken himself to this way of Life. The Masters, to whose precepts and instructions he submitted himself, were Cart●rius and Diodorus, Prefects of the famous Monasteries in the Suburbs of Antioch. This Diodorus was afterwards made Bishop of Tarsus, a man of sense and learning, he wrote several Commentaries upon the Scripture, wherein he generally kept himself to the Letter, discharging the mystical and allegorical sense. And from him no doubt Chrysostom derived his excellent Vein( so peculiar to him above most of the Ancient Fathers) of explaining Scripture in the literal and Historical way. Nor was he content himself to enjoy the benefit of such admirable Tutors, but by his influence and persuasion prevailed with some of his fellow Students in Libanius's School to come over to them, especially Maximus, afterwards Bishop of S●leu●ia in Isauria, and Theodorus 
Vid S●z. lo. p. 757. , a man exquisitely learned and eloquent, but who after a strict profession of the Ascetic way, returned back to the Secular Life, and designed to mary. Which Chrysostom no sooner heard of, but he pursued him with two set Discourses 
Ad Theod. 〈…〉. H●rt. Tom. 4. , wherein he plied him with such powerful Reasons and pathetical Insinuations, that he soon broken the measures he had taken, and reduced him to his former state of Life, wherein he continued, till he was advanced to the bishopric of Mopsuestia in Cilicia.  
III. BUT among all Chrysostom's acquaintance, none was so dear and familiar to him as Basil, supposed by Socrates 
Ibid p. 3●2. , and those who follow him, to have been the great S. Basil of Caesarea, by Photius 
P●nt. Cod. CXLVIII. co●. 377.  and others, the Basil that was Bishop of Seleucia, but perhaps neither the one nor the other, the first being almost impossible, the latter highly improbable, and therefore must be a third person between both. Between him and this Basil, whoever he was, there was an entire league of Friendship, founded 
Chrys. de sa●erd. l. 1. c. 1. p. 1.  upon a more than ordinary conformity of tempers, manners, studies, and education under the same Masters, and in the same paths of learning. They had now past through the whole circled of the Sciences, and were deliberating what course of life were best to steer, both of them inclining to the monastic course. Basil, who had little to stake him down to the World, quickly conquered all difficulties. But Chrysostom had an Estate, and external Affairs had taken some hold of him, and he could not easily, and on a sudden break loose. And in this perplexed and wavering condition he continued till Basil, by his daily arguments and solicitations had baffled all Objections, and fixed his Resolutions, and now 'twas concluded, that they should quit their present stations, and immediately retire to spend their lives together in some solitary place. But this Resolution was not so closely carried, but Chrysostom's Mother 
Ibid. c. 2. p. 3.  smelled it out. The good Woman unwilling to be deprived of the company and assistance of such a Son, was strangely startled at it, and taking him one day by the hand, lead him into her own apartment, where setting him down by her upon that very bed, whereon she had brought him forth, that what she had to say might make the more sensible impression, she burst out into some passion, and with tears in her eyes began to discourse to him in this manner. Son, said she, it was but a little time( so God was pleased to order it) that I had the happiness to enjoy the virtuous and excellent conversation of your Father, whose death soon followed those pains I endured at your birth, and the same unseasonable stroke made you an Orphan, and me a Widow, and brought upon me those troubles and miseries of a Widowed state, which none can rightly understand, but they who feel them. For no Language can sufficiently represent what disturbances and inquietudes necessary attend a young Woman, newly taken from under her Fathers roof, wholly unexperienced in the management of Affairs, and thrown into the midst of griefs and sorrows, too big to be born either by her strength, sex, or years. forced she must be to contend with, and correct the laziness, and to watch the miscarriages of Servants, to countermine and prevent the treacherous Councils and Designs of Relations, to bear with the clamorous importunity, rude incivilities, and cruel usages of Collectors and Officers: Her Husband dies, and leaves a Child; if it be a Daughter, it creates the Mother no little care, though withal her education at home is both less expensive and dangerous; but if a Son, it fills her with a thousand cares and fears every day, not to speak of the Charges she must be at, that intends him a liberal Education. And yet none of these considerations have once prevailed with me to alter my Condition, and bring a second Husband into your Fathers House: I have been content to be tossed in the Storm and Tempest, and being assisted by a Power from above, have not declined the hardships of this Iron-furnace; it not being the least support to me amid all these Sufferings, that I could daily behold your Face, and thereby had continually before my eyes the lively Image, the perfect character and resemblance of your deceased Father. 'twas this, that while you were yet a tender Infant, and before you could speak( at what time Parents take the greatest pleasure in their Children) made me look upon you with a perpetual satisfaction and delight. Nor can you lay it to my charge, that though I have generously born up under the cares of Widowhood, yet to relieve the necessities of that state I have wasted your paternal Inheritance( which yet I know in several instances has been the hard fate and case of Orphans) no, I have preserved it untouched and entire; and yet have not spared any cost, to give you such an Education, as might raise you to a just esteem and reputation in the World; the Charges whereof I have defrayed out of my own Estate, and which I brought with me as my proper Portion. Think not I say this to upbraid you, the only kind requital I ask for all I have done, is, that you would not involve me in a second Widowhood, nor revive my butted grief; stay but till I am gone, 'tis like it will not be long. For those that are young, there's some hope, they may arrive at an old age; but for us that are already in years, nothing remains but a continual expectation of death. When therefore you have committed me to the ground, and laid mine besides your Fathers bones, then travail whither you please, and across what Seas you have a mind to, there will be none to hinder you. But while I live, be content that one House should hold us; don't so far provoke God against you, as thus miserable to afflict a Mother, that has not deserved it at your hands. If you think you have this against me, that I have put you upon Secular Affairs, and forced you to look after your own concerns; regard not the Laws of Nature, let not education, converse, or any thing else sway with you, but account me as an Enemy, and an underminer of your happiness. But if it shall appear, that I have so transacted all Affairs, as that you in the mean time may enjoy the most easy and undisturbed course of life, though there were nothing else, let this prevail with you to stay with me. For although you may pretend there are a thousand love your Company, yet there can be none that can so much minister to your ease and freedom, nor can there be any, to whom your Credit and Reputation can be equally dear, as it is to me.  
IV. THIS and much more to the same purpose the indulgent Mother 
Ibid. c. 3. p. 5. &c.  laid before him, with all which he failed not immediately to acquaint his Friend, who was so far from yielding that he should acquiesce in those Counsels, that he prest him so much the more to adhere to his former Resolutions. They spent some time in these debates, the one importuning, the other suspending his Consent, when on a sudden a rumour was spread abroad, that they were both to be made Bishops. Chrysostom was strangely surprised at the report, and equally divided between fear and admiration; afraid he was left the rumour should be so far true, as that the sacred Function should be forced upon him; but wondered withal, how such a design should be taken up by any, especially considering his own unworthiness and unsitness for it.( I might add, considering also the incompetency of his years for so grave and solemn an Office: For according to the commonly-receiv'd account of his age he could not at this time be much more than twenty one years old.) He was entertaining himself with these reflections, when in comes Basil, who supposing him ignorant of what was talked abroad, took him privately aside and  told him the whole matter, desiring, that as always hitherto, so now they might steer the same Course, protesting he was most ready to follow his Conduct, either in declining, or accepting the proposal. Chrysostom resolved not to engage in that weighty Office, but being unwilling that his refusal should deprive the Church of the others excellent assistance, for once concealed his intentions from him, putting him off with a general answer, that there was time enough to consult, and no need to come to a present conclusion in this matter, but withal giving him some ground to believe, that if the business should go on, he would go the same way with him. The day for their Consecration being come, Basil supposing his Colleague would be there, or, as some would persuade him, that he had been before him, was taken hold of, and the holy hands laid upon him. The Solemnity being over, and Chrys●stom never appearing, his first business was to find him out, which having done, with a look divided betwixt grief and anger, he sat down by him, but was not presently able to vent his mind. Chrysostom perceived his passion too hard for him, but smiled upon him, and taking him by the hand, offered to kiss it, thanking God, that he had so successfully accomplished his desires. Basil at length mastering the discomposure of his thoughts, fell into a long harangue, wherein he expostulated with him for his unfaithfulness and unkindness, and that though he had had no regard to the Laws of Friendship, yet he should have had some tenderness for his own Reputation, which by this means he had exposed to the censures of every Company, that he could go no where, but it was cast as a reproach upon him, and that now in a time of most need he had drawn back his hand, and cut off the aids of their mutual assistance. Chrysostom replied, he had done nothing but what was justifiable, he had deceived him 'tis true, but for his own advantage, and much more for the good of the Church, and in such cases he shewed from several instances, 'twas not unlawful by little Arts to over-reach another. After some contest in these light Skirmishes, they next enter into the merits of the Cause, and discourse at large concerning the nature and necessity, the burden and difficulty, the danger and the reward of the Pastoral and Episcopal Office, the qualification and demeanour of the Persons, and the great charity of the undertaking. All which afterwards in the time of his recess he drew up into those six excellent Books de Sacerdotio, extant at this day.  
V. HE was now at liberty, and away he goes to the neighbouring Mountains 
Pallad. ib. c. 5. p. 41. , which were full of Monasteries, where he fell into converse with an aged Hermit of that country, whose strictness and abstinence he set before him, enuring himself to study and hardship. Four years he continued in his Company, when he betook himself to a more solitary part, where he dwelled alone, and shutting himself up in his Cell, allowed himself little or no rest, not going to Bed, nor so much as lying upon the ground day or night for two years together, perpetually intent upon his Devotions, and the study of the holy Scriptures: Till finding all irregular appetites wholly subdued, and through his continual standing, watching, and abstinence, infirmities growing fast upon him, and no body near at hand to give him any assistance, he came back to Antioch. Where he was ordained 
Socr. ubi supr.  Reader of that Church by Zeno( who return'd that way from Jerusalem) Meletius Bishop of Antioch being at that time probably from home, or else deputing Zeno to that service; this Palladius 
Ibid.& p 40.  expressly says, 'twas done before Chrysostom's retirement into the Wilderness, and that for three years before that he had remained in Meletius's Family, who being taken with the quickness of his parts, and the honesty of his temper, had perfectly instructed him in the Faith, and first baptized, and then ordained him. About the beginning of the year CCCLXXXI. if not the year before, Meletius, some time before his going to the Synod at Constantinople, made him Deacon, after whose death( for he dyed that year) the Church of Antioch was again miserable distracted by the pretensions of Paulinus and Flavianus to that See. Chrysostom thought it his prudence to side with neither, but pursued his Studies with unwearied diligence, composing at this time several useful and excellent discourses, his Books against the Jews, that against the Gentiles, and the five against the Anomaean heretics, besides those de Sacerdotio( which he had begun, if not perfected, during his retirement in the Mountains) and a vindication of providence in three Books, written to his dear Friend, Stagirius, a Monk, who laboured under a deep-rooted Melancholy, and contested with the fierce and frequent assaults and conflicts of the Devil; and some others. ●ive 
Pallad. loc. citat.  years he served in the Diaconate, when having given a sufficient Testimony of his great abilities, and excellent life, Flavianus( for surely Socrates mistakes, when he says it was evagrius) promoted him, though not without great relactancy on his part, to the order of Presbyter. And the first Sermon 
Ext. Tom. 4. p. 953.  he preached was on that occasion, the Bishop himself being present, where in a very elegant discourse he declaims against the unfitness of the Choice, and wonders that in so great and eminent a City the burden of such a work should be devolved upon such young feeble Shoulders, begging however that they would own what was done, and assist him by their prayers to Heaven, that he might be able to go through with it, and to acquit himself of the trust, that God had committed to his Charge, at the great day of accounts. And indeed the People were so charmed with his eloquent Sermons, that the Bishop for the most part committed that Province to him, who managed it with equal modesty and diligence, and to the no less content and satisfaction of his Auditors.  
VI. and. CCCLXXXVII, as some will have it, but more truly the following year( for he entred upon the Empire January the XVIth. CCCLXXIX.) the Emperor Theodosius prepared to celebrate his Decennalia, as also the Quinquennalia of his Son Arcadius. But his Coffers were low, sufficiently drained by his late Wars, not to mention the expedition he had now in hand. To supply these Charges new ways must be thought of, and an extraordinary Tax 
Sozom. l. 7. c. 23. p. 740. Theod. l. 5. c. 20. p. 224. Niceph. l. 12. c. 43. p. 324. Zosin. Hi●l. Rom. l. 4. p. 765. 766. Liban. de vit. sua p. 75.& Orat. XII. p. 394. Orat. XIII. p. 406, 407. XX p. 516. XXI. p. 526.  is agreed to be levied. The Warrant for which, coming to Antioch, was executed with great rigour and severity, those that refused payment, being some of them thrown into Prison, others put to the torture, and some hanged up. The Assessment itself gave no small discontent, but more the manner of its Execution, and the People of Antioch being naturally of a turbulent and unquiet temper, things tended apace to an open tumult. The night before it broken out, a Spectrum( they say) in the shape of a Woman, of an immense bigness, and a terrible aspect was seen flying up and down with a swift motion through the streets of the City, lashing the air with a whip that made a dreadful noise. The next day the People gathering together, the Boyes began the rout, then the youth, and last of all the body of the People came in, who inflamed and encouraged one another to that height, that casting off all reverence to Law and Government, they pulled down the brazen Statues of the Emperor, and his Lady Placcilla dead some time before, together with those of his Father and Mother, and the two young Princes, Arcadius and Honorius, and tying Ropes to their feet, dragged them some broken, some whole, in contempt up and down the Streets, and treated them with that insolent rudeness, and those bitter Sarcasms and Reflections, that are incident to all popular commotions, but more peculiar to the genius and temper of that City. News hereof was soon carried to Court, whereat Theodosius stormed, and vowed revenge, that he would take away their Charter, abrogate their privileges, and bestow the Metropolitan honour upon Laodicea their neighbour rival-City, that he would fire their Town, and reduce it to a petty Village, and by exemplary punishment upon the Citizens make them for ever tremble to think of the like attempts. And that they might see he was in good earnest, he appointed Ellchichus Master of the Horse, and Caesarius controller of the palace to go Commissioners to inquire into the Fact, and to proceed according to Law and Justice; and to take sufficient Forces along with them, to put their Orders into execution.  
VII. SAD 
Vid. Chrys. Homil. II. ad pop. Antioch. p. 23, 24. Hom. VI. p. 82. XII. p. 137. XIII. p. 148. XVI. in init. XVII. p. 192.& alibi. Liban. Orat. XXI. p. 527.  in the mean time was the face of things at Antioch. The Riot being over, and their rage cooling, they began to consider what they had done, and apprehending the Consequences of Majesty so desperately provoked, nothing but flight and fear, amazement and consternation filled every corner. Those that conveniently could, fled the City, those that were taken, were hurried to Prison, the greatest part kept their Houses and durst not stir abr●●d, and only by whispers dared to inquire of one another who was caught, or who had been punished that day? The Forum that a little before was so thronged and crowded, was now naked and empty, one or two perhaps seen run creeping or skulking over it, and that with a dejected or a frightful look. Those that stayed lived Cain's life, full of fear and trembling, hourly expecting when an Army should arrive to lay wast the City, confiscate their Estates, and take away their Lives. The Images of death, and the most barbarous cruelty were perpetually before their eyes, flight, imprisonment, violence, beating, were familiar objects, and worse was yet behind, and what was worse than mere dying, the dreadful apprehension and expectation of it. In this sad and doleful juncture of A●●airs, Chrysostom behaved himself with a truly generous and Christian Resolution. A week being now past, and mens minds somewhat more composed and settled, he summoned his Auditory into the Old Church, and it being now the Lent-season preached to them every day, persuading them to a more than ordinary Repentance, and endeavouring to support their minds under that black and dismal Storm that hung over their heads. And now it was that he preached those XXI. famous Homilies, styled {αβγδ}, or, concerning the Statues, to the People of Antioch, all which, two or three excepted, were peculiarly preached upon this occasion. The truth is, the unhappy Circumstances they were under had this good effect 
Vid. Hom. IV. p. 57. VI. p. 81. XVII. p. 192. , that it startled all sorts of men into sober thoughts, retrencht 'vice and lewdness, and made men more servant and serious in religious duties. Many who had never been within the Church doors, but spent their whole time at the theatre, now fled to the Church, as a common Sanctuary, and there stayed from morning till night. You could sc●rce he●r any thing but weeping and mourning, prayers and tears. And peculiar L●●●●●s 
Vi●. S●zom. ubi ●●r. p. 741.  were framed on purpose, and Hymns of Lamentation to solicit Heaven, that God would dispose the heart of the Emperor to clemency and compassion towards them.  
VIII. NOR did they think it enough to Fast and petition Heaven, but that 'twas necessary also that an humble Address should be made at Court, if possible, to appease the Emperor: And none so fit for such an Errand, an Embassy of Peace and Mercy, as their Bishop Flavianus. The good man wanted not arguments 
Chris. ●om III. p. 38.  to pled for his excuse, 'twas an unwelcome Errand, himself greatly in years, and under many Infirmities, 'twas a long way, and a Winters-journey, the holy time of East●r drawing on that would require his Presence, and his only Sister at this time lying at the point of death. But the public Welfare conquered all private Considerations, and without delay he put himself upon his Journey, and was now got half way 
Homil. XX. p. 226. , when he met the Judges that were coming from the Emperor. From them he understood how highly the matter was resented at Court, and what severe things they had in Charge against the City. The news whereof almost broken the good man's heart, and melted him into tears, and it added no little accent to his sorrow, that all this was like to befall it, while he was absent from them. His grief whetted his devotions, and he spent whole nights in prayer, that God would spare the City, soften the Emperor's spirit, and let him see the happy success of his undertaking. I know Zo●●mus 
Histor. l. 4. p. 766.  reports, that Libanius the Sophist, and Hilary, a person of note for his Quality and Learning, and soon after made governor of Pal●st●ne, were dispatched by the Senate as their ambassadors to Court, who by their power and eloquence might charm Th●odosius's passion, and set all strait. That they were sent as Delegates on behalf of the Gentile-part of the City, I readily grant. That Libanius went, is evident from the Oration 
Orat. XII. p. 389.  he made at Constantinople before the Emperor upon this very argument, wherein he represents this Sedition as the effect of Frenzy and Madness, and the instigation of some malignant Daemon; pressing the Emperor to mercy and forgiveness, as the most Divine God-like quality; he lays before him matter of Fact, deplores the sad state of Affairs at Antioch, and by many elegant and pathetical insinuations prepares his mind to Commiseration, begging in the clos● of his Discourse, that the Emperor would do this honour and favour to his old age, to grant his request, and return him with a joyful and welcome Message back to Ant●●ch. But though Libanius and some few others of that Party might bestir themselves in behalf of the public, yet 'tis certain, the greatest part of them concerned themselves only how to provide for their own safety, Chrysostom expressly assuring 
Hom. XVII. p. 194.  us, that in that great and general Consternation that over spread the City, the Heathen-Philosophers with all their Ensigns of Gravity and Ostentation fled out of the City, and hide themselves in holes and corners, notwithstanding all their pretences to virtue and Courage, not a man of them staying to interpose by his Authority and Council, and to assist in the common danger. Which he there presses as a notable disparagement to their cause, and a plain evidence of the excellent spirit of Christianity, that when things were thus, even the solitary Monks left their Cells, and flocked into the City, setting themselves with one common shoulder to oppose that inundation of misery that was slowing in upon it. They boldly addressed 
Ib. p. 195.  themselves to the Judges and Magistrates, beseeching them to use their Authority with lenity and moderation, and when  told, that they were bound up by their places, and that 'twas a thing of dangerous Consequence to pass over Persons guilty of high Treason, the Monks urged, that they would make use however of what power they had, that when any Persons were convicted of the Fact, they would intercede with the Commissioners not to pass Sentence of Condemnation upon them, but to refer the final Issue to the Emperor's own determination, promising themselves to undertake an Embassy to Court, and to deal effectually with the Emperor about this matter. The Magistrates  told them, 'twas too long a Journey for them to undertake, and that it should suffice, if they committed their Petitions to Writings, which they promised to convey to Court, which was afterwards done accordingly. And when the Imperial Commissioners were arrived, they came 
Ibid. p. 193.  undauntedly to them, and begged pardon for the guilty, and offered themselves to become a ransom for them, protesting, they would not leave them, till they had either passed an Act of indemnity to the City, or should sand them together with the Malefactors to the Emperor. His Majesty ( said they) is a pious and a gracious Prince, whom we will undertake to pacify; nor will we suffer the Sword of Justice to be dyed in any man's blood; and if this be not granted us, we are here ready to suffer and die with them. heinous we confess, and not to be justified are the things that have been committed, but the greatness of the Crimes does not exceed the mercy and clemency of the Emperor. This was the intercession of them all: More particularly Macedonius 
Theod. l. 5. c. 20. p. 22●. vid. Chrysost. ib. p. 194. , a man of no learning, but of incomparable strictness and sanctity of Life, catching one of the Commissioners by the Cloak, as they road through the City, commanded them to alight. They seeing him to be a little old man in coarse tattered Garments, at first despised him. But being acquainted by some of their train with the famed and virtues of the man, they dismounted, and embracing his knees, asked his pardon, and to know his mind. Friends, replied he, Communicate this Message to the Emperor. You are, Sir, not only an Emperor, but a man, look not therefore merely on the height of your Majesty, but regard the nature you are of, and remember that being a man, you govern men like yourself. The human nature is made in the Image and likeness of God, don't you give command cruelly to destroy this Image; lest you provoke the Artist, by defacing of his Image; which you may reasonably think you shall do, when you consider to what height of passion you yourself are transported only for the sake of a brazen Statue. And what a vast difference there is between a senseless Image, and one that's endowed with Motion, Life, and Reason, is obvious I suppose at first sight. Let it be further considered, that it's easy with us for one Statue of Brass, to erect a thousand, but it's beyond all the Power of Empire and Majesty, to create but one single hair of the head of any of those Persons, whom he shall put to death. The gravity of the man, and the weight of his reasonings made them listen to his discourse with great attention, which afterwards they transmitted to the Emperor.  
IX. THE Commissioners in the mean while applied themselves to the Execution of their Commission, they disfranchis'd the City, abolished their Charters and immunities, shut up all places of public commerce, their Baths, Market-places, and theatres, seized suspected Persons, especially the Nobility and those of the better sort, who had been either Authors or Aiders in the late Commotions, whom they imprisoned, and summoned before the Courts of Judicature. Guards are set in every place, Tables of proscription affixed and published, and instruments of Execution made ready. Thus it was, and little better had it been even before the Commissioners arrived, the ordinary Magistrates bestirring themselves in their several places, so that the whole City appeared but one continued Scene of misery and sorrow. Chrysostom to gratify his curiosity, went one day up and down the City to take a melancholy survey of the state of things. Coming 
Hom. XIII. p. 148. &c.  towards the Courts of Justice, he saw the little remainders of the City standing at the Gates, but in a profound sadness and silence, none daring to ask a Question, lest he should be the next that should be picked out, every one with dumb signs of devotion making his address to Heaven, that God would assist the afflicted, and dispose the Judges to clemency and favour. entering within the Court, he beholded nothing but armed Guards, Souldiers standing with Swords and Spears, to keep out the press of Women and Children, who with the most lamentable cries and tears came to solicit the Bench for mercy to their Husbands and Fathers, and other near Relations, who within were in the mean time condemned, scourged and punished. They threw themselves upon the ground, and with all the passionate expressions that might move pity, besought favour for their Relatives; but all in vain; the hard-hearted Souldiers driven them back, and treated them with great savageness and inhumanity. 'twas a melancholy sight, the good man sighed, and as he went home, entertained himself with this meditation," What would be the state of things at the great day, if human Tribunals be so inexorable, that not a Mother, a Sister, a Father, though themselves innocent and unguilty of the Fact, can prevail for the Pardon of their nearest Relatives, who shall be able to stand by us before the dreadful judgement Seat of Christ? Who shall pled for us at that Bar? Or be able to deliver us, when haled away to those everlasting punishments? The Persons here judged were no common Persons, but the prime Nobility of the City, and yet they would have accounted it a fair bargain, to have partend with their Estates, and their Liberties too, to have saved their Lives. The People daily prayed to Heaven to incline the hearts of the Magistrates to put a present stop to these Proceedings, but the Judges went on in their trials and Examinations, till by the importunity and intercession of the Monks and Clergy, a respite was granted, and that no further execution should be made, till the whole Affair had been laid before the Emperor, and his Sentence were given in the case. The news whereof filled the City with joy and triumph, and greatly quieted mens fears, as appears by the Sermons, which S. Chrys●stom immediately preached upon it.  
X. BUT we must leave Antioch for a while, that we may follow after and overtake Flavianus, whom we left 
Hom. XX. p. 226.  upon his Journey to Constantinople. Arriving at Court, he came into the presence, but kept himself at a distance, and stood with a dejected look, and tears in his eyes, as if ashamed to be seen, or taken notice of. Whom Theodosius espying in this mournful posture, came towards him, and without any transports of passion began calmly to expostulate with him about the ingratitude of the City of Antioch, upon which throughout the whole course of his Reign he had heaped so many Graces and Benefits, at the mention of each of which he added, and must I be thus requited for all my kindness? What evil have I done them, that they should take such a revenge? What heinous matter have they to charge upon me, that they should disgrace not only me, but the deceased? Could not their spleen and passion be satisfied with the living? Or did they think it nothing, unless they did reproach and affront the dead? Admit I had done as much injury, as they suppose, yet they ought to have spared the deceased, who had done them none, nor can they pretend to charge her with it. Did I not ever highly value and esteem that City above any other, yea beyond my own native country, and was it not my constant wish, and that to whom upon all occasions I had obliged myself by the most solemn engagements, that I would make a personal visit to it. The good Bishop stood by, and wept plentifully, and when the Emperor had done, summoned his reason, and began in this manner. We acknowledge, Sir, with all readiness your Majesties great favour towards our City, and 'tis this that puts us into mourning, that at the envious Instigation of the Devil, we have appeared so ingrateful to our great Benefactor, and have so much exasperated a Person, who had so immense an affection for us. Though you should demolish, or burn our Houses, or kill our Persons, or do any other acts of severity, you would not take a sufficient revenge upon us. We ourselves have before-hand adjudged ourselves to what's worse than a thousand deaths. For what can be more bitter, than that when we have unjustly provoked so kind a Benefactor, the World should ring of it, and reproach us with our monstrous ingratitude? Had the Barbarians besieged our City, pulled down our Walls, or fired our Houses, and carried our Citizens into Captivity, this had been a far less evil: Because so long as you live, and continue such a generous kindness towards us, there would be hope that these miseries would have an end, and that we might again repair and enlarge our broken Fortunes. But having now forfeited your favour, and violated your gracious protection, which was a defence to us beyond all our Walls and Bulwarks, whither shall we now fly for shelter? So benign a Lord, so indulgent a Father being disobliged, whence can we look for help? The things they have done are intolerable, but they have heavily punished themselves, having brought themselves to that pass, that they are ashamed to look any man in the face, or so much as to lift up their eyes to behold the Sun: They have lost their Liberty, and are become more despicable than the vilest Slaves: And reflecting upon the evil Circumstances into which they have brought themselves, they are ready to sink under a sense of that dishonour which the concurrent judgement of the whole World must needs cast upon them. But yet, Sir, if you please, this wound may be healed, and these evils are yet capable of a Remedy. Then he proceeds to show, that great Offences have oft given occasion to the exercise of a noble and a generous Charity; that the broken Statues might be repaired, but to pardon so great Crimes in this case, was the way to erect a better, more noble, and durable representation of himself in the minds of men, and to set up as many several Images of his great Compassion and goodness, as there were, or ever should be Persons in the World: He urged him with the Example of the great Constantine, who when some about him persuaded him to be revenged on those that had abused his Statue, saying they had miserable battered his Face, felt with his hand about his Face, and smiling, said, I don't at all find myself bruised or broken, but that Head and Face are both sound and whole. An answer that rendered him famous to all Posterity beyond the Trophies of his greatness, and all the Monuments of his Victories. He put him in mind of his own Edicts, sent into all parts for the pardoning and releasing of Prisoners in the Paschal Solemnities, wherein he had testified so heroic a Charity, that for those already executed, he wished he were able to bring them back to life again: That the honour of his Religion was greatly concerned in the humanity of his Resolution, seeing the eyes of Jew and gentle were upon him, and would thence take the measures of it: That there was no fear others should by this Clemency be encouraged to Rebellion, this being an act of Grace, not of weakness and want of Power, with which he was sufficiently furnished to call any to Account: That this was the way to oblige all mankind to him, and to entitle him to greater Blessings from Heaven; and that it would be an honour to him in future ages, that when he would do it at no other instance, yet he would do it for God's sake, at the Petition of a poor aged Bishop, who came with this Authority to tell him from his great Master, If ye forgive men their Trespasses, your Heavenly Father will also forgive you. And then concluded thus, Remember that day, when we shall all give an account of our actions, and that by this mildred and merciful Sentence you may easily make way to the pardon of your Transgressions. Others may present you with Gold and Silver, I am come to your presence with Divine Laws and Precepts, which I offer instead of all other Gifts; beseeching you to imitate your great sovereign, who though daily affronted by us, ceases not to do us good. Do not disappoint our hopes, nor shane our expectations; for I freely declare before your Majesty and the World, that if you please to remit your displeasure, and be reconciled to us, and restore the City to its former place in your grace and favour, I'll go back with cheerfulness and rejoicing; if not, I am resolved never to see or own it more, but to fix my abode somewhere else. For may it never be my Portion to have that place for my country, with which so merciful a Prince, the mildest and best of men, refuses to be reconciled.  
XI. THE Bishop ended his Discourse, and 'twas hard to say who was most transported, he that spake, or he that heard it, though for the present the Emperor made a shift to stifle and conceal his passion. Sozomen 
L. 7. c. 23. p. 741.  adds, that besides his eloquent Oration Flavian made use of another Artifice, which was to persuade the Pages who were wont to sing to the Emperor, while he was at dinner, to sing to him those mourning Hymns and Litanies, that had been composed and sung at Antioch, with which he was so affencted, that he wept over the Cup which he then held in his hand. He  told 
Chrys. ib. p. 233.  the Bishop, what great matter ( said he) is it, that we should pardon those that have affronted us, that we that are men should forgive those that are so, especially when 'tis considered, that the great Lord of the World came down upon earth, and for our sakes became a Servant, and though Crucified by those to whom he had done the highest favours, yet prayed for the pardon of his very Crucifiers, Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do. What wonder then, if we forgive our Fellow-servants? Flavian having thus far happily dispatched his errand, was willing to have restend a while, and to have kept his Easter with the Emperor. But the good Prince ordered him immediately to hasten his return. I know, said he, the minds of the Citizens must needs be uneasy; and hang between hopes and fears, and that the trouble and danger is not yet quiter over, go and carry them the comfortable tidings. When they shall see their Pilot, they'l forget the present storm and tempest, and the memory of all past Calamities. The Bishop insisted, that 
Vid. quae habet Liban. Orat. XIII. p. 418.  as the greatest Evidence and Declaration of his perfectly reconciled favour, his Majesty would please to sand the Prince, his Son, along with him. Pray to God( replied the Emperor) that the present rubs may be thrown out of the way, the Wars wherein I am engaged, happily accomplished, and that done, I assure you I will come myself. Nor did his care end here, but when the Bishop had taken his leave, and had crost the Sea in order to his return, not knowing what delays he might make, or what interruptions he might meet with, he sent Messengers after him to expedite his departure. And indeed so desirous was Flavian that the City should be revived with the joyful news, that not being able to travail himself fast enough, he sent the Emperor's welcome Letters by the Post, that so all Clouds of fears and sadness might be immediately dispelled and scattered. However himself made such dispatch, that he got home before Easter, and made his entry into Antioch in Triumph, the Forum being crowned with Garlands, replenished with Lights, the Doors and Shop windows set off with Flowers and green Branches, and all other expressions of the most Festival Solemnity. And to consummate all, they went to Church, and Chrysostom welcomed his return in a gratulatory Oration for the prosperous success of his undertaking.  
XII. THUS ended the Troubles of Antioch: About or not long before which time died 
Socr. l. 5. c. 15. p. 273. Sozom. l. 7. c. 11. p. 717. T●eod. l. 5. c. 23. p. 2●9.  Paulinus one of the catholic Bishops of that Church. He had been consecrated Bishop of Antioch by Lucifer Calaritanus in the Reign of Julian, and had been a means to continue the unhappy dissensions in that Church, part of the catholics adhering to him, as others did to Flavian, who succeeded Meletius. Paulinus's Cause was espoused by Pope Damasus, and his Successor Siricius, and the Western Bishops; as that of Flavian generally was by them of the East, he being some years since confirmed in that See by the great Council at Constantinople. Upon the death of Paulinus he well hoped the Schism would have expired, but it proved to the contrary. For Paulinus his Party refused to join with Flavian, and procured evagrius, a Presbyter of that place, to be ordained their Bishop. Great Complaints were made to the Emperor, who more than once sent for Flavian, commanding him to go, and have his Cause judged in a Synod at Rome, who replied, if, Sir, said he, any one can charge me with unsoundness in point of Faith, or can challenge my Life as unworthy the Episcopal Station, I refuse not to accept my very Accusers for my Judges, and shall willingly acquiesce in whatever Sentence they shall pronounce upon me. But if the quarrel be only about Dignity, and the precedency of my See, I shall not contend, nor oppose them that would invade it, but am ready to quit and throw it up; bestow it, Sir, upon whom you please. The Emperor admired the wisdom, and even temper of the man, and dismissed him home without further trouble, and by his mediation in the West reconciled at length all Parties to him. Though most probable it is what Socrates reports, that evagrius dying not long after his Consecration, Flavian by his prudent care prevented any further Succession, and in a little time brought over the other Party to him, and thereby put a Period to the long-continued Schism in that Church.   

SECT. II. His Acts from his being made Bishop, till the trial of Antoninus Bishop of Ephesus.  
The death of Nectarius. Chrysostom recommended to be his Successor. The Emperor's Warrant to Antioch for his removal. His private conveyance to Constantinople. Theophilus of Alexandria against his Consecration, and why. His zealous and impartial reformation of his Church. His Revenues employed to build and endow Hospitals. His correcting the abuses of all ranks and conditions. The spite and ill-will the corrupt Clergy bore him. A Woman of the Macedonian Sect miraculously converted. His free reproving Eutropius the Emperor's Favourite, and upon what account. The fall of that man, and his taking Sanctuary in the Church. Chrysostom's Sermon upon that occasion. The disgrace, banishment and death of Eutropius. Chrysostom's obstinate refusal to grant a Church to the Arians at the request of Gainas. Their quarrel upon that account. Chrysostom's bold address to the Emperor. Gainas his Treason and Rebellion. Chrysostom sent on an Embassy to him. Gainas slain. The arrival of the Egyptian Monks at Constantinople. Chrysostom makes provision for them, but denies to admit them to Communion. Messengers from Theophilus to Chrysostom about this matter. Chrysostom's intercession in their behalf. His second Letter. Theophilus's last answer to him.  
I. IT happened towards the declining part of Ann. CCCXCVII. viz. Septemb. XXVII. that Nectarius 
Pallad. c. 5. p. 42. Socr. l. 6. c. 2. p. 300. Sozom. l. 8. c. 2. p. 756. 758. Theod. l. 5. c. 27. p. 235. Niceph. l. 13. c. 2▪ p. 348.  Bishop of Constantinople departed this Life. Great expectations there were who should succeed in the Imperial See. Many Candidates and Competitors appeared for it, and as in such cases it too often happens, the unworthiest Persons, who had nothing else to recommend them, sought by Bribes and ill Arts of insinuation to oblige the great men at Court, the People in the mean time earnestly petitioning the Emperor, that they might have a worthy Prelate placed over them. The man that was then most in favour at Court was Eutropius the Eunuch, chief Chamberlain of the palace. He had in pursuance of the Emperor's Affairs resided for some time in the East, where he had been acquainted with Chrysostom: Him he very hearty recommended to the Emperor, as a Person for his Life, Learning and Eloquence of all others fittest for that place, but that withal, that the Affair should be secretly managed, it being otherwise no easy matter to get him thence. The motion pleased Arcadius, and was as well resented among the People. So Letters were written to Asterius Governor of the East, to take care about this matter, who knowing the turbulent temper of that People, and how impossible it was to persuade them to part with their admired eloquent Preacher, kept the Letters to himself, and pretending some private business with Chrys●stom, desired him to accompany him a little way out of Town as far as the Martyria beyond the Roman Gate. So taking him up into his Chariot, he driven in all hast to Pagrae, the next Stage to Antioch, where he delivered him to the Officers whom the Emperor had sent to receive him, who forthwith conveyed him to Constantinople. The Emperor that he might render both his Arrival, and his Consecration more august and venerable, and that it might be performed with the utmost Solemnity, had summoned a convention of the most eminent Bishops to assist at it. Theophilus Bishop of Alexandria strenuously opposed his Ordination, by his looks he guest him to be a man of an inflexible temper, and one that would certainly thwart his humour and interest: Besides he was desirous to advance Isidore his own beloved Presbyter to that See, and thereby to have made so great and powerful a part of the Eastern Church sure to him. Upon these accounts he stood off, till seeing that he swam against the stream, he consented and concurred with the rest, especially after Eutropius had threatened him, that unless he ratified the common choice, he should be himself presently brought to trial, there being several in Town ready to exhibit to the Synod a Charge of many Crimes and Enormities committed by him. Hereupon he struck Sail, and Chrysostom was consecrated and enthroned, February the XXVI. Ann. CCCXCVIII. But though Theophilus thus complied, it was with no little uneasiness to his mind, and it heightened his prejudice against Chrysostom into an inveterate and irreconcilable spleen against him to his dying day.  
II. NO sooner was he entred upon his Charge, but he discovered the mighty Zeal 
S●●r. ib. c. 4. p. 3●3. Sozom. c. 3 p. 759. Theod. c. 28.  and impartiality of his temper. He found the state of the Church within his Province through the too much facility of his Predecessor lapst into a strange degeneracy, which he resolved to reduce to the strictness of ancient Discipline. And first he began to inspect the manners of the Clergy 
Pallad. ib. p. 45. &c. , and all other ecclesiastic Persons. A corrupt Custom had crept in amongst them to keep in their Houses Maids or Matrons, whom the Writers of the Church usually style {αβγδ} subintroduc'd or Associated Women, not under pretence of Marriage, or to gratify any unlawful appetite, but out of spiritual Affection, or greater Edification, or to conduct the necessary Affairs of the Family. This he utterly disliked, and inveighed against as an ordinary means of temptation, or however that which furnished out matter for an intolerable scandal, and accordingly in two Discourses made on purpose, decries and pleads against it, not giving it over till he had quiter reformed it. Next he set upon their covetousness, and the ill arts by which they were wont to fill their Purses. He lashed their nice and intemperate Palates, their slighting their own mean Provisions, and haunting great mens Tables, where full Bellies would make way for wanton Inclinations, and not fail to bring them under the suspicion of Pick-thanks and Parasites. The Stewards of his Church he took under a strict Examination, and retrencht all unnecessary Charges, inquired diligently into the expenses of his Family, and finding a most profuse way of living had crept in in the time of his Predecessor, he cut it short, ordering the Surplusage for the maintenance of the infirm and needy. And when a considerable stock was yet remaining, he built some Hospitals for the reception of the infirm and sick; over these he made two of his own Presbyters Overseers, appointing Physicians, Cooks, and other Officers to attend them, but withal taking care that they should be unmarried persons, lest the distractions or necessities of a Family should tempt them to neglect or abuse their trust. From these he proceeded to take account of the Widows, which the Church maintained, whose Conversations he enquired into, and those of them whom he found addicted to the modes and pleasures of the age, he admonished either to subdue their Inclinations by Fasting and Prayer, and to abstain from the Baths, and all nice and modish Garbs, or else presently to mary, lest by their loose way of living, Religion should be exposed to Censure and Contempt. The Laity he pressed to a more exemplary devotion, that the men whose employments would not suffer them to attend the Church in the day time, would come at night, and there exercise themselves in Prayer and Fasting. No very welcome news to those of the Clergy, who had for some time indulged themselves in ease, and left off those night-offices of devotion. In this way he proceeded without fear or favour, those who complied and took up, were encouraged and commended, those who continued obstinate, he suspended, and suffered not to exercise their Offices in the Church, saying, 'twas unreasonable they should enjoy the honour and the privilege, who would not live the lives of true Priests and Ministers.  
III. BUT in a sick state of Affairs he that will reform all at once, is more like to exasperate the humours, than to calm or purge them. Where there is a plethory of peccant humours, Nature must be relieved by easy and gentle methods, and the Cure not be attempted by one evacuation. Chrysostom's Zeal transported him to too quick and violent Remedies, considering the condition wherein he found things at his first coming to the Episcopal Throne. The Clergy thus suddenly alarmed and powerfully enraged, combined against him, and all their corrupt interests flowed into one common Channel. They openly traduced and misrepresented him to the People, and where there was but any umbrage of suspicion, they improved it into a formal charge and calumny. But he despised their malice, nor did the People give any great heed to it, being infinitely delighted with the honesty of his designs, and his excellent Preaching. His Life was unblamable, his Zeal impartial, his Doctrine sound, his Sermons eloquent. So that the People flocked after him in great numbers, yea, the Dissenters themselves that were of another persuasion, would attend upon his Preaching, and that not without success, many of them being brought over to the catholic Faith; amongst which we are  told this memorable instance. A certain man 
Sozom. l. 8. c. 5. p. 764.  of the Macedonian Sect heard him Preach concerning the holy Trinity, and was so fully convinced by him of the truth of that Doctrine, as not only himself to renounce his Errors, and embrace the catholic Belief, but to urge his Wife likewise to do the same. She was a great Bigot in her way, and being encouraged by her Female Companions, plainly refused to comply with his persuasions; till at last he threatened he would leave her, if she would not go with him to Church, and receive the holy Communion with him. In this straight she advised with a Maid that waited on her, what was to be done, and between them 'twas agreed to put a trick upon him. She went along with him, and at the time of the Communion, when she received the Sacramental Bread, stooping down her head, as if with an intent to betake her self to Prayer, she kept the Bread she had taken of the Bishop, and secretly took another piece, which her Maid, who stood by, had brought from home: Which she had no sooner put into her mouth, but it immediately became hard as a ston. The Woman was strangely surprised and confounded at the accident, and her Conscience being now thoroughly awakened, she goes presently to the Bishop, confesses her wickedness, and shows him the ston, bearing the impression of her teeth, and being both of an odd substance, and an unusual colour; and having with abundance of tears begged pardon for her fault, she ever after persevered with her Husband in the catholic Communion. As an evidence of all which, my Author( who lived and wrote there but a few years after) tells us, this very ston was preserved among the Rarities in the Archives of the Church of Constantinople. But to return. It was not all the malice and artifice of the Clergy, who were stung and vexed with his zealous Proceedings, could lessen Chrysostom's esteem and reputation with the People, who liked him never the less for it. Indeed so long as his Reproofs and Corrections went no further than the Clergy, it made no great noise; but he stayed not here, but let fly at the wealthy and the honourable, whose pride and luxury, whose tyranny and oppression he reproved with the same freedom and impartiality, that he did those of the meanest tradesman. This touched to the quick, and soon conjured up a turbulent spirit against him, that haunted him to his dying day. Among others he fell into Contest with Eutropius 
sore. l. 6. c. 5. p. 304. Sozom. l. 8. c. 7. p. 766. Philost. l. 11. c. 4. p. 528. , the great Favourite of that time, who had gained so absolute an ascendant upon the Emperor, that though an Eunuch, he was made Consul, and had the honourable Title of Patricius, or Father to the Emperor conferred upon him. A piece of Honour next to that of the Empire. But not being able to bear the weight of so much power and greatness with an even and composed mind, he let himself loose to cruelty and oppression, and abused his Court-interest to extravagant designs. He bore hard upon Persons of all ranks and qualities, and when to avoid the effects of his Tyranny, they fled( as was usual) to take Sanctuary in the Church, privileged to this purpose by the Laws of all Christian Emperors, he without any scruple violated the immunities of that holy place, and by force drew them thence. Which that he might do with some shadow of Authority, he procured Arcadius to pass a Law, taking away the benefit of the Churches Asylums, and giving leave to Officers to take Persons thence, who had fled thither for shelter. Chrysostom disliked the man, and opposed his Proceedings, though the others Interest was too big for him. But see how signally the Divine Justice return'd upon him. For not long after being undermined at Court, and charged with affronts offered to the Empress, whom he had insolently threatened to expel the Court, and especially being petitioned against by some great ones, whose powerful demands the Emperor knew not well how to decline, he was sent for, and strip'd of all his Honours and Offices, and not daring to trust the mercy of his Enemies, was forced to fly for protection to that Church, which he had so lately dispoyl'd of its immunities. And now his hated villainies raised a common out-cry, and both the displeasure of the Prince, and the odium of the People conspired his ruin, and the Officers had not failed according to the tenor of his own Law to have fetched him by violence out of the Church, had not Chrysostom interposed and hindered it, who finding him prostrate at the foot of the Altar, and the multitude ready to crowd into the Church, stepped up into the Pulpit, and in a very elegant Oration 
Ext. Tom. 4. p. 549.  represented the vanity of all worldly honour and greatness, putting the Wretch in mind how oft he had dealt plainly with him in the time of his prosperity, when flattery and outward splendour made him deaf to all wise and sober Counsels, and slight the evils then foretold him, and which he now felt to his cost; he might now see the ingrateful returns he met with from his most passionate admirers; the multitude that had lately thronged to behold the magnificence of his Train, that had cried him up with such loud Acclamations, and whose applause he had courted with such vast expenses, were now come out with drawn Swords against him; the Circus and the theatres, whose sports he had so oft honoured with his presence, and maintained at his Charge, and for whose sake he had so oft been angry with Chrysostom, were now become his violent Persecutors: While the Church, whose privileges he had openly invaded, stretched out her Arms, and kindly received him into her Bosom, and sent Agents all about, to endeavour his rescue out of those miserable Circumstances, into which he had plunged himself: That if he had affronted and wronged the Church, and by Law destroyed its immunities, dear-bought experience had sufficiently rebuked his folly, and taught him what he had done, and himself by his practise was the first that had abolished his own Law. Not that in saying all this he insulted over the man, but warned them to be cautious by his Example, who was become the great instance of human calamity, and change of Fortune: That he was desirous to alloy the sharpness of that fury, wherewith they were set against him, and however it might seem a thankless Office to protect and pled for a Person, that had so lewdly trampled upon the rights of the Church, yet 'twas our duty to pardon injuries, and to be kind to the unthankful and to the evil; that therefore they should all join in a Petition for mercy, and the Emperor having sufficiently testified his readiness to compassion, they in imitation of his Example should lay aside all Offences, and practise their own Prayers, to forgive, as they would be forgiven. The Discourse had its due effects upon the Auditory, the People becoming more calm and gentle, nor would the Bishop consent to deliver him up to the Emperor's Officers, till provision was made for the saving of his life. By which 'tis evident with how little pretence to truth he is reported 
Socr.& Soz. loc. cit.  by a scornful and petulant invective to have triumphed over a man in misery, when as the far greatest part of the Discourse breaths nothing but a noble and truly Christian tenderness and compassion. The issue was that Eutropius was banished into Cyprus 
Philost. l. XI. c. 6. p. 529. Niceph. l. 13. c. 4. p. 352. , from whence not long after he was brought back, and a fresh Indictment commenced against him, especially for that in the time of his Consulship he had usurped the imperial Ornaments, and at Pantichium, a Stage Town between Chalcedon and Nicomedia, was brought to his trial before Aurelian the Praetorian Praefect, and other illustrious Persons constituted Judges for that purpose, where he was condemned of high Treason, and lost his Head. Zosimus 
Hist. l. 5. p. 794.  says, that having sworn at the time of their taking him out of the Church, not to take away his life, they evaded it thus, that they would not kill him so long as he continued at Constantinople, so they brought him to Chalcedon, and there put him to death. His name was razed out of the Fasti Consulares, and the Law that he had procured for the violation of church-privileges taken out of the Records, that no memory of it might remain.  
IV. Chrysostom had not well got over this but the same year, viz. Ann. CCCXCIX. he was engaged in a fresh rencontre with a man more potent than the other. Gainas 
Socr. ib. c. 6. p. 305. Sozom. c. 4. p. 760. Theod. l. 5. c. 32. p. 237. Zosim. l. 5. p. 794.  a Goth, born in Scythia not far from the River Ister, had fled over to the Romans, where from a common soldier he by degrees arrived to be General of the Army. And being a man of a proud aspiring humour had the Empire in his eye. In order whereunto he called in his countrymen the Goths, and preferred his Kindred to the chief places of Trust and Command in the Army. And having thus strengthened himself, committed wasts in several parts of the Empire, and struck a terror into the whole Court, which by many unreasonable Concessions sought to oblige and gain him by fair means. At length an interview was appointed between him and the Emperor, they met at Chalcedon in the Church of S. Euphemia the Martyr, where having given their oaths for mutual security, they began to treat, and Gainas seeming to comply with the Emperor, went over with him to Constantinople, where finding his Affairs to succeed prosperously enough, he proceeded to more insolent demands. He was by his Religion, as all the Christian Goths were, an Arian, and being instigated by his own Ambition, and prompted by the Churchmen of his party, required of the Emperor, that one of the City Churches might be given to him, and the men of his Communion, it being unfit, he said, that so great a man as the General should be forced to go out of Town to his Devotions. The Emperor, a man of a soft and cowardly temper, promised he would advice upon it, and do what he could to gratify him in it, who thereupon sent for Chrysostom, and acquainted him with the General's request, telling him withal, that he was an over-powerful Person, and a man of dangerous designs, and therefore desired that by granting his request, he would sweeten and alloy his fury. The Bishop replied, Sir, I beseech you promise no such matter, nor command holy things to be given to dogs: For I will never yield, that those who preach and magnify God the Son should be cast out, and the holy Church be delivered up to those who disparaged and blaspheme him. And be not, Sir, afraid of this Barbarian, but call us both before you, and while you sit silent by, I will so stop his mouth, that thenceforth he shall make no more such unreasonable demands. The Emperor was glad of this expedient, and the next day sent for both of them to Court, Chrysostom coming attended with all the Bishops that were then in Town. as soon as they were come into the presence, Gainas began to claim his promise; but this, the Bishop  told him, an Emperor that professed Religion, could not grant, nor might take upon him thus to intermeddle in the things of God. The General answered, 'twas but fit he should be allowed a Church for his Devotions. For that, said the Bishop, all the Church-doors are open for you, and no man hinders you from praying where you please. But I, replied Gainas, am of another way, and desire but one Church for me and my Party to assemble in: A request which I may reasonably make, who have fought so many Battels, and undergone so many dangers for the safety of the Roman Empire. True, said Chrysostom, but you have had Rewards far beyond your Services. You are General of the Army, and have the privilege to be clothed with Consular Ornaments. You should do well to remember what you once was, and what you are now, your former poverty, and your present plenty, how you were clad, when you first passed the River Ister, and what you have now upon your back. Remember how inconsiderable are your Services, compared with the largeness of your Rewards, and be not ingrateful to those that have thus honoured and advanced you. He put him in mind of his Oaths 
Sozom. ib. p. 761.  and Engagements, the fealty he had sworn to the Empire, and the obedience he had promised to those Laws, which he now so insolently attempted to trample under foot. And to strike the matter dead at once, he plucked out a Law of Theodosius, prohibiting heretics to hold their Assemblies within the City. And then turning to the Emperor, persuaded him to ratify and execute this Law against all other heretics, advising rather to lay down the Empire, than impiously to betray the Church of God.  
V. BUT Gainas though baffled, was not satisfied. For seeing himself defeated of his ends, he was no longer able to master his revenge, but broken out into open Rebellion. And first he intended to seize the shops of the Bankers, but they upon intimation, had withdrawn and hide their Money. Then he sent some of his Goths by night to set fire to the palace, but they frighted with the Apparition of an Army of tall Souldiers, fled back, and he went himself the next night along with them, and found it so. With that he left the City, and endeavoured privately to convey away great numbers of Arms, which being seized and searched at the Gates, brought the whole Conspiracy to light. Hereupon a Proclamation is issued out, denouncing Gainas a traitor, and commanding the Goths whom he had left behind him in the City, to be put to death. Seven thousand of them fled for Sanctuary into the great Church that stood next the palace, where the Emperor commanded them to be killed, not thinking it reasonable that any place should protect such notorious Rebels from the stroke of Justice. But none durst attempt either to attack them there, or to pluck them thence, not knowing to what outrageous effects so hopeless and forlorn a condition might drive desperate Persons. Whereupon Persons were employed to untile that part of the Church that was over the Communion Table, whence they threw down upon them pieces of Wood set on fire, till they had destroyed them, to the no little profanation of that holy place in the judgement of all sober and pious Christians, as the Heathen Historian 
Zosim. l. 5. p. 796.  himself animadverts upon this occasion. The news whereof coming to Gainas, he fled into Thrace, where gathering his Army together, he committed miserable devastations wherever he came, which struck such a terror into all Persons, that the whole country fled before him, no man daring to make Head against him. And in this general Consternation 
Theo l. ib. c. 33. p. 238.  when every man else declined the Service, they persuaded Chrysostom to undertake the Embassy, and to treat with the Tyrant. He well understood the fierceness and brutishness of the man's temper, and how highly he himself had but a few days since exasperated and provoked him. But in so good a Cause he feared no danger, and without any demur, betook himself to his Journey. The Barbarian hearing of his Arrival, went forth a great way to meet him, and received him with great demonstrations of reverence, taking him by the right hand according to the mode of his country, and putting it upon his eyes, and causing his Sons to fall down and embrace his knees. We are  told, that in this Embassy Chrysostom concluded a Peace between him and Arcadius, but the more ancient Historians are silent in that point. 'tis certain that not long after he fell upon part of the Roman Forces, which gave him battle, routed his whole Army, and cut off the greatest part of them, Gainas himself being slain; Zosimus and others say 
Ibid. p. 798. Philost. l. 11. c. 8. p. 531. , 'twas in an engagement with Huldes Prince of the Hunns, who prosecuted him both as an ill Neighbour to himself, and as an Enemy to the Romans, whose Head he salted and sent in Triumph to Constantinople.  
VI. ABOUT this time came Ammonius and the rest of the Egyptian Monks 
Socr l. 6. c. 9. p. 314. Sozom. l. 8. c. 13. p. 774.  to Constantinople. They had been harassed out of their own country by Theophilus of Alexandria, and had for some time settled themselves at Scythopolis in Palestine, where hearing that Theophilus still intended to proceed against them, they removed to Constantinople, to present their Complaints before the Emperor and the Bishop, and to be ready to answer to any Charge that might be exhibited against them. Being come to Town, they waited 
Pallad. c. 7. p. 58.  immediately upon the Bishop, and kneeling before him, begged the interposal of his Authority, that he would stand by a company of innocent Persons, unjustly oppressed by those, who designed nothing but their ruin. The Bishop beholding a company of grave venerable Persons, to the number of fifty, thus before him, rose up, and with tears in his eyes asked them, what hard fate had driven them thither. They requesting him to take his Chair,  told him, that they had been wounded by the fury and malice of Theophilus, and desired his help to cure them, unless he also should refuse to mediate on their behalf: Which if he should, as other Bishops had done, either out of fear or favour to Theophilus, they had no other way left them, but to address to the Emperor, where they must be forced to publish his vile and unwarrantable doings to the scandal of the Church: If therefore he had any regard to the Churches Reputation, he should persuade him to suffer them to return, and dwell quietly in their own country, they having neither offended him, nor violated the Laws of their Religion. Chrysostom willingly undertook in due time to intercede for them, and in the mean time assigned them lodgings adjoining to the Church called Anastasia, where partly by their own hand-labour, partly by the Charity of others, and especially Olympias, they were supplied with all necessary Provisions and Accommodations. But though Chrysostom treated them with great humanity, and permitted them to come to the public prayers, yet would he not communicate with them, till their Cause had been heard and tried. Nor did they want favour and assistance at Court 
Soz. loc. supr. cit. ; for having made known their case to the Empress, she entertained them with singular respect, and espying them as she passed through the Street, commanded the Chariot to stop, and looking out bowed to them, and desired their blessing, and that they would pray for the Emperor, for her self and Children, and for the happiness of the Empire, assuring them she would take care, that a Synod should be shortly called, and that Theophilus should be summoned to it.  
VII. By this time Messengers were arrived from Alexandria, whom Theophilus had sent to manage his Cause, and to make an interest for him with the Governors that were to be sent into egypt. Chrysostom sent for them to come to him, inquiring of them whether they knew the Monks that were then in Town: They replied, they did, and confessed they had had hard measure, but prayed that whatever kindness else he might show them, he would not out of respect to Theophilus admit them to Communion. Hereupon he wrote in their behalf to Theophilus, that he would recall the men, and receive them into favour. This Theophilus refused, and sent back Messengers furnished with Libels of accusation against them, and who might insinuate at Court ill suspicions of them. The Monks perceived now all hopes of reconciliation desperate, and therefore taking some Persons of Quality along with them, they went to the Bishop, and having with an Anathema renounced the Origenian heresy, delivered into his hands a Libel, containing an account of Theophilus his Tyrannical proceedings, with other Articles of impeachment which they gave in against him. Chrysostom both by himself and other Bishops dissuaded them from this way, advising them to suppress their Charge, and wrote a second time to Theophilus, to let him know what the Monks had done, desiring him to writ back what he thought best to be done in this matter, for that he could not prevail with the Monks to lay down their charge, or keep them from exhibiting their complaints at Court. The man was nettled to the quick, and though he made a shift to stifle the height of his resentment, could not forbear to give a taste of it in this tart Letter, which he sent back to Chrysostom. I suppose you are not ignorant of the Canons of the Nicene Council, which provide, that no Bishop shall judge Causes out of his own Jurisdiction. If you know not this, then learn it, and cease to receive Libels against me. For if I must be judged, it's much fitter it should be done by Bishops in egypt, than by them, who are LXXV. days Journey distant from us. Chrysostom received the Letter, and laid it by, and persuaded both Parties to agree, who yet, as it commonly happens in such cases, went both of them away dissatisfied and discontented. All which passages relating to these Origenist-Monks, were transacted Ann. CCCC. and the following year, what further ensued upon it, shall be related in its due time and place.   

SECT. III. His Acts from the trial of Antoninus till the Combination made against him by Antiochus and others.  
The impeachment of Antoninus in a Convention of Bishops at Constantinople. The Articles exhibited against him. Chrysostom's endeavour to compose the business. Antonine's denial of the Charge. Chrysostom's resolution to go and judge the Cause at Ephesus, countermanded by an order from Court. Commissioners sent into Asia to examine matters. The foul shilliings of Eusebius the Plaintiff and Prosecutor. The death of Antonine. Chrysostom desired by the Clergy of Ephesus to come thither, and settle their Affairs. His Journey to Ephesus, and the Synod holden there. The Examination of the Case of Antonine, and others concerned with him. The Synodal determination of this matter. Heraclides ordained by Chrysostom to the See of Ephesus. Gerontius of Nicomedia deposed, and why. What number of Bishops deposed by Chrysostom in this Visitation. The insolence of the Arians at Constantinople. Chrysostom's introducing Antiphonal Hymns, and solemn Processions in opposition to them. The tumult raised by the Arians. Their meetings prohibited by Proclamation. Chrysostom's endeavour to reduce the Goths to the catholic Faith. His care to plant the Gospel in Scythia, and to rout Paganism in Phoenicia.  
I. WHILE Chrysostom was thus taken up, an Accident happened, that engaged him in a Journey as far as Ephesus, the occasion whereof must be fetched from the foregoing year. Ann. CCCXCIX. about the time of Gainas his insurrection at Constantinople, several Asian Bishops 
Pallad. c. 13. p. 125.  came to Town, where they met with Theotimus of Scythia, Ammon of Thrace, and Arabianus of Galatia, in all to the number of XXII. They frequently convened about several important Affairs of the Church, when Eusebius Bishop of Valentinople start up, and delivered a Libel of accusation superscribed to Chrysostom and the Synod, against Antoninus Bishop of Ephesus, the Charge consisting of seven Articles. I. That he had melted down the Church-plate, and put out the Money in his Son's name. II. That he had taken away a piece of Marble from the door of the Baptisterium, and had placed it in his own Bath. III. That he had made use of some Columns, that had lain several years for the use of the Church, and had set them up in his own Dining-room. IV. That a Youth whom he kept had killed a man, and yet he retained him in his Service, as if he had been blameless and innocent. V. That he had sold the Farms which Basilina the Emperor Julian's Mother had bestowed upon that Church, and kept the Money to himself. VI. That after he had put away his Wife, he lived with her again, and had Children by her. VII. That it had been his Rule and Custom, to sell the Ordination of Bishops at a set rate, as men sell their Lands. And that both he that ordained, and they who had been thus ordained, were present; and that he was ready to make proof of all the Articles he had given in. Chrysostom unwilling the matter should be blown abroad,  told Eusebius, that such hot and hasty Charges very often wanted sufficient proof, and therefore he entreated him to desist, and what real grievances there were, they would take care to remove them. But the man was not so to be taken off, he stormed the more against the Bishop of Ephesus, and resolved to pursue his Charge. Whereupon Chrysostom besought Paul Bishop of Heraclia, who seemed to take Antoninus his part, to endeavour to make them Friends. And so rising up, the Assembly went to Church, it being the time of the public devotions. Chrysostom having blessed the People, sat down with the other Bishops, when Eus●bius coming in, delivered him another Libel of the same charge before the whole Congregation, conjuring him by all that was dear and sacred, and by the life and safety of the Prince, that he would proceed in it, which he urged with that extreme vehemency, that the People thought he had been importuning the Bishop to intercede with the Emperor for his Life. Chrysostom to prevent any further disturbance, took the Libel, and the Lessons being red, he was not willing in such a hurry and disturbance of thoughts to approach the holy Mysteries, and therefore desired Pans●phius Bishop of Pisidia to finish the remainder of the Service, while he and the rest of the Bishops went out.  
II. THE People were now dismissed, and Chrysostom and the rest taking their places in the Baptistery, called for Eusebius, and renewed to him his former motion, adding, that if he did know things whereof he might accuse him( for as they would not reject him, if he desired it, so neither would they force him to it, if he had not a mind to it) he should consider what was most fit to be done before the Accusation was red; for after it was once published, and spread abroad, and entered upon the Register, he could not then recede or be discharged. But he persisting in his Resolution, the Libel was red in every Article. Which done, the signior Bishops moved the President, that though all the Articles were bad enough, yet that for the gaining of time, they might insist only upon the most Capital, the Charge of Simony, and if that was made good, there would be little reason to dispute the other. This was agreed to, so the trial began, and Chrysostom asked Antoninus, what he could say for himself? He stoutly denied the Charge, and the Bishops that were challenged so to have procured their Consecration, being likewise interrogated, denied the Fact. Eight hours were spent in canvasing the case pro and con, when at last the Witnesses were called for, who were pretended to have been present when the Money was paid. But the most material Evidences were not there. Chrysostom therefore finding it would be a difficult matter to determine it at this distance, resolved upon a Journey thither, that he might with more advantage examine things upon the place. Antoninus was startled at this, he knew Chrysostom to be a man of resolution, and of a most equal and unbiast temper, and had no other way to prevent it, but by addressing himself to a great man at Court, whose Estate in Asia he managed for him, beseeching him to procure Chrysostom's Journey to be stopped, engaging that the Witnesses should be brought to Town. Immediately came an Order from Court, to let Chrysostom know, that in this distracted state of Affairs, his presence could not well be spared, and that' was needless to take so long a Journey, when Witnesses might be easily brought to Town. Glad was Antoninus he had gained this point, knowing of what huge importance to his Affairs the least delay would be, as furnishing him with an opportunity to tamper with the Witnesses, whom he doubted not either by his power or interest to take off. This Chrysostom was ware of, and therefore presently summoning a Synod, they ordered three of their number to go out of hand into Asia, to take the Examination of Witnesses. Syncletius Metropolitan of Trajanople, Hesychius Bishop of Parium, and Palladius of Helenople were the Persons pitched on for this errand; but Hesychius secretly favouring Antoninus, excused himself upon pretence of sickness. Hypaepae a City of Asia was the place appointed for the Commissioners sitting, as being nearest to those Persons that were to appear, and a power was given them, that whosoever upon summons should not appear within two months, should stand excommunicate. The Commissioners being dispatched, went to Smyrna, and issued out their Warrants to signify their arrival, citing all Persons concerned of either party to appear at the place appointed. But they found fraud and foul dealing on all hands; for the Prosecutors had been bribed off, and engaged by Oaths not to Prosecute, and hoped to weary out the Judges by delaying the Evidence, pretending they were not presently to be found. The Commissioners called for Eus●bius, and asked him how long it would be before his Witnesses were ready, and they would stay for them. He supposing they would not be able long to endure the extreme heat of the season, answered he would produce them within forty days, or be content to undergo the penalty inflicted by the Canons. So they waited, while he pretending to go seek his Witnesses, fled directly to Constantinople, and there concealed himself, and not appearing at the time prefixed, the Commissioners wrote to the Bishops of Asia, and denounced him Excommunicate. After which they stayed thirty days longer, and none appearing, they returned back to Constantinople, where they met Eusebius, whom when they challenged with his persidious dealings, he pretended indisposition and want of health, but promised that he would still produce his Witnesses.  
III. THE controversy was thus bandied up and down, when Antoninus the subject of the quarrel, departed this Life, after whose death the Church of Ephesus was in a more deplorable case than before, whereof the Clergy of that Church, and the neighbouring Bishops certified Chrysostom, and besought him to lay to his helping hand, which they did by this address. Forasmuch as heretofore we have been governed disorderly, and contrary to the Rules and Canons made by the ancient Fathers, we beseech your reverence, that you would come down hither, and settle this so long afflicted and distracted Church; the Arians infesting us on the one side, and the covetousness and ambition of some of our own no less disturbing us on the other. For there are a great many that like ravenous Wolves lie at catch, and greedily endeavour by Bribes to invade and usurp this See. This Letter found Chrysostom in no good state of health, and the Winter-season( for such it now was, it being the latter end of the year. CCCXCIX.) rendered him yet less unfit for such a Journey. But resolving to make all private and personal Considerations stoop to the public Interest, he took shipping, and after a very dangerous passage came to Apamia, where Palladius, Cyrinus and Paulus, whom he had chosen for the Companions of his Journey, waited his arrival. Hence they went on foot to Ephesus, whither he sent for the Bishops of Lydia, Caria, and the proconsular Asia, though there little needed any formal Summons, several flocking thither merely to enjoy the Company and Conversation of this great man. There met to the number of LXX. Bishops, with whom he entered into consultation about the state of those Churches. To this Synod came Eusebius of Valentinople, the late fierce accuser of Antoninus, humbly petitioning, that he might be restored to Communion. Many of the Synod were against it, pleading, that he had been thrown out for calumny and detraction. But he pressed his svit, and  told them, that for as much as the Cause had been under debate for almost two years, and that the delay of the Witnesses had been the only reason that had hindered it from coming to a final issue, he besought them now to examine the Witnesses, who were ready to appear. And although Antoninus, who had taken the Bribes was dead, yet the Persons that had given them, and been ordained upon it, were still alive. The Synod agreed to take the business under consideration, and the Registers were produced, and the whole Proceedings red before them. Then the Witnesses were brought in, and the Persons charged with Simony cited, who at first denied it, till the Witnesses( who were not only Lay-men and Women, but Presbyters, their own Friends and Confidents) deposing as to time and place, and the Sums paid, and the very speci●s of the Money, their consciences would suffer them to stand out no longer; they confessed they had given such sums, but pleaded, that they took it to be the Custom so to do, and that they must do it to be free from the proceedings of the Courts; that if it might be granted, they desired to be continued in the Service of the Church; if not, that they might at least have their Money return'd them, some of them having partend with the Money and Furniture that belonged to their Wives and Family. As to their being discharged in Court Chrysostom undertook it, promising the Synod he would intercede with the Emperor, whereupon the Council ordered that Antoninus his Heirs should make Restitution: And as for themselves, they should have liberty to Communicate within the Chancel, but should be, and be looked upon only as Persons that had once been Bishops. They being deposed, others who were men of parts and integrity were planted in their rooms, who yet about four years after, when Chrysostom's Affairs went down the wind, were ejected, and the former brought in again. In the See of Ephesus they placed Heraclides, by birth a Cypriot, who had been heretofore a Monk at Mount Nitria in egypt, and Chrysostom's archdeacon at Constantinople ever since he came thither, a man of approved learning, and a most strict life, but who upon the turn of Affairs was ejected, and imprisoned, and a servile Eunuch belonging to Victor the Tribun●, a man of bad Principles, and worse Morals, being of a most debauched dissolute Life, thrust into his room. He deposed 
Sozom. l. 8. c. 6. p. 765.  likewise Gerontius Bishop of Nicomedia, who had strangely bewitched the affections of that People. This Gerontius had some time been Deacon under S. Ambrose at Milan, where studying or pretending to study the Art magic, upon a frivolous story he  told of his encounter with an Emp●sa or Spectrum, he was confined by S. Ambrose, till he had given satisfaction. He slighting the Bishop, left Milan, and went to Constantinople, and being a man of parts, witty, eloquent, and admirably skilled in physic, quickly wrought himself so far in with some at Court, that he was preferred Bishop of Nicomedia. S. Ambrose wrote to Nectarius Bishop of Constantinople about the man, but he could do nothing in it, the People not enduring any other; nor could any thing be effected in it, till Chrysostom being in these parts deposed him, and ordained Pansophius, who had been Tutor to the Empress, a meek and pious man, Bishop of that place. But the People were horribly discontented at it, even to rage and madness, they did nothing but recount his praises, and the benefits they had received by him, and as men are wont to do in some dreadful Calamity, ran up and down the streets both there and at Constantinople, singing Hymns, and Supplications, that they might have him for their Bishop. The Synod being dissolved, Chrysostom left these parts, having deposed in all six Bishops, which the malice of his Enemies afterwards improved to sixteen; and though Sozomen says there were thirteen, yet 'tis much more reasonable to believe Palladius, who was present at the whole transaction from first to last, and appeals to the public Records for the truth of it.  
IV. CHRYSOSTOM at his return to Constantinople, was received with great demonstrations of rejoicing by the People, which he acknowledged the next day in an Oration 
Ext. Lat. in Append. Tom. II. p. 43.  to them, wherein he commends their constancy and perseverance, and the quick eye they had kept upon the attempts of heretics during his absence. And indeed the Arians about this time, and for some years before, were grown to a strange height of insolence. They kept their Conventicles 
Socr. l. 6. c. 8. p. 312. Soz. l. 8. c. 8. p. 767.  out of Town, but were wont upon Saturdays and Sundays, which were constant times for the public Assemblies, to come within the City, and dividing themselves into Companies, walked about the public Portico's, singing as they went along Hymns composed in defence of their own Principles, one part responding to the other; and not content to do this, they added several Clauses, petulantly reflecting upon those that maintained the Doctrine of the holy Trinity; thus they did the greatest part of the night, and early the next morning they marched through the heart of the City, singing their Antiphonal Hymns, and so went out to their own Meeting-house. Chrysostom was very sensible of the affront given to the catholic Faith, and the established Religion, and feared withal, lest the minds of weak and undiscerning People might by these specious Artifices be drawn over to them. He resolved therefore to countermine them in their own way, and to that end composed certain Hymns containing the catholic Doctrine, which he delivered to his People to be sung the same night. And that the business might be managed with the greater Pomp and Solemnity, Crosses of Silver were made at the Empresses Charge, and lighted Torches born before them, and Briso the Empresses own Eunuch as Praecentor walked before the Company. A good design, but it had a bad effect. For the Arians finding themselves thus out-done both in number and splendour, fell upon the catholics in their Procession, in which conflict some were slain on both sides, and Briso himself dangerously wounded in the Forehead. To prevent which disorders, Arcadius forbade the Arians to assemble in this manner, and lest the catholics in the sole possession of this way of Antiphonal Procession, a custom which continued many years after. The Arians had been restrained herein some years before, as appears by a Law 
Ext. lib. 16. C. Th. Tit. 5. l. 30.  of Arcadius, made Ann. CCCXCVI. to seize upon all places of Religious Assemblies held by all sorts of heretics, and to adjudge them to the Exchequer, that none of their Clergy should inhabit within the City, nor any of themselves assemble either by night or day to make their public litanies or Supplications; and this under the penalty of an hundred pounds of Gold to be inflicted upon the City-provost, if he permitted it. But this Law being general, the Arians it seems reckoned not themselves so particularly concerned in it, but that they soon after revived their Custom, till it was now put down by a particular Prohibition.  
V. NOR did Chrysostom's pious care herein stop here. He found the Nation of the Goths 
Theod. l. 5. c. 30. p. 236.& ap Phat. C d. CCLXXIII col. 1517.  miserable overcome with Arianism, which he endeavoured to cure by this method. He ordained some of that Country Readers, Deacons and Presbyters, and assigned them a Church within the City, by whose industry he reclaimed many to the catholic Church. And that his design might succeed better, he himself went often and preached there, making use of an Interpreter to convey his Discourse to the People, and prevailed with the most eloquent Preachers about the Town to do the like. And understanding that the Scythian Nomadae that dwelled beyond Ister were greatly disposed to entertain the Gospel, but were destitute of any to preach it to them, he procured Persons to undertake that work, and wrote to the Bishops that bordered upon those parts to assist in it, and furnish out fit Persons, who might carry on the Conversion of those Countries. It grieved him not a little, when he was  told that even in Phoenicia, a country that lay within the heart of the Empire, Pagan Idolatry was still the Paramount Religion. For the Reformation whereof he engaged a Company of zealous Monks, whom he sent into those parts, and that they might not go without the Royal Authority, he procured an Edict from the Emperor, overpowering them to pull down and destroy all the Pagan Temples. And because 'twas a matter of Charge as well as Difficulty, he did not think fit to burden the Exchequer with it, but persuaded several rich and pious Matrons to furnish out the expenses at their own Charge. But though for the present things succeeded well, yet not long after the Gentiles made Head against them, defended their Temples, and slay many of the Monks, and wounded more. The exact time of his setting on foot this excellent design I cannot precisely fix; though whether it was done Ann. CCCC. or immediately upon his advancement to the See of Constantinople, is not very material to inquire.   

SECT. IV. His Acts from the Combination of Antiochus, Severian, &c. till his being deposed by Theophilus.  
Antiochus and Severianus who. Chrysostom's great kindness to, and confidence in Severianus. Quarrels between Severianus and Serapio Chrysostom's archdeacon. The Case heard in a Synod. Contests between Chrysostom and Severianus upon this account. Severianus dismissed Constantinople. Reconciled to Chrysostom by the means of the Empress. Severianus, Antiochus, Acacius of Beroca, and Isaac combine against Chrysostom. Their consult how to manage their Plot. Their engaging Theophilus of Alexandria in the Confederacy. The suitableness of Circumstances to bring him in. Theophilus summoned to Constantinople. The Empress Eudoxia's displeasure against Chrysostom, whence. The temper of that Princess. Theophilus's arrival. His shunning all Converse with Chrysostom. His first actings, and procuring fit Instruments for the prosecution of his designs. The Synod at the Oak holden by Theophilus. The Persons chiefly active in that Synod. A Charge of XXIX. Articles given in against Chrysostom. A Convention of Chrysostom with the Bishops of his Party. His excellent discourse to them. A Summons to him to appear at the Synod. The several Answers return'd by him and his Bishops to that Summons. Another Summons. Chrysostom's answer. Which of the Articles insisted on by the Synod. XVII. Additional Articles delivered in. The most material of them represented. judgement demanded and passed against Chrysostom. An account of it sent the Emperor, who ratifies the Sentence. Theophilus reconciled to the egyptian Monks. An account of the death and burial of Dioscorus and Ammonius. Theophilus's conversing with Origen's works, notwithstanding his clamours against them.  
I. HITHERTO the good man had gone on without any considerable opposition. But now the storm began to gather, which at last poured down upon him. It happened 
Socr. l. 6. c. 11. p. 316. Sozom. l. 8. c. 10. p. 770.  that two Syrian Bishops resided for some time at Constantinople, Antiochus Bishop of Ptolemais in Phoenicia, and Severianus of Gabala a Port-town in Coelosyria not far from Laodicea, both of them learned and eloquent men. Antiochus had a very nimble and voluble tongue, and preached with singular applause in the City, and had made no little advantage by it to himself. Encouraged by his example came Severianus, who though he wanted the others soft and nimble pronunciation( for his Syriac Dialect added a kind of unpleasing harshness to his Speech) yet he made it up in the gravity of his Sentences, and his profound exposition of Scripture. He was welcome to Chrysostom( whom he courted even to flattery) and by the constancy and accuracy of his Sermons, recommended himself to all the Grandees about Court and City, and to the Emperor himself, and taking the opportunity of Chrysostom's absence, when he was at Ephesus, endeavoured much more to strengthen and secure his Interest, though Chrysostom had admitted him to that degree of Friendship, as to entrust him with the care and inspection of his Church during his absence, which the other was wise enough to improve to his own advantage. Serapio Deacon of the Church at Constantinople, watched all his motions, and failed not to advertise Chrysostom of every passage, but being a man proud and passionate, and bearing himself high upon the Bishop's favour, he helped to bring his Enemies faster upon him, as it happened in this very Case. For not long after Chrysostom's return 
Soz. ib. Socr. loc. cit.& Append. ad lib. 6. p. 333, 334.  Severian accidentally passing by, Serapio sat still, and refused to give him the respect usually paid to Bishops, intending it as a public affront to him. Severian resented it accordingly, and without further deliberation took upon him to depose him from his Deaconship, and expel him out of the Church, and in his passion, said, if Serapio die a Christian, then Christ never became man. Of this Serapio immediately complained to Chrysostom, who thereupon convened a meeting of his Bishops and Clergy; where the case was brought under examination. As to the irreverence, Serapio excused himself, protesting he did not see Severian, and produced Witnesses to attest it. Whereupon he was acquitted by the Assembly, who also interceded with Severian for a reconciliation, and Chrysostom that he might show how ready he was to give any reasonable satisfaction, suspended Serapio from his Office for the space of a Week. As for the words spoken by Severian, which Serapio proved before the Assembly, some of his Friends pleaded for him, that his Enemies mangled his words, and suppressing the former part, charged him with asserting, that Christ was never made man; but Chrysostom answered, that taking the whole together, 'twas bad enough, for though Serapio should, or should not die a Christian, yet it followed not thence, that Christ was not made man. After all, the meeting came to no conclusion, Severian was obstinate, and would comply with nothing, unless Serapio were not only put from his Office, but excluded all Communion. Whereupon Chrysostom rose up in some heat, and bad the Bishops judge the Cause, for that for his part he would meddle no further in it. But with him they all rose up, and went away, and so the Consistory broken up, with some reflection upon Severian, for his unreasonable obstinacy and perverseness. Soon after Chrysostom advised him to be gone home, sending him this Message, that it was not fit that he should so notoriously neglect his Charge, and that the Church committed to him should for so long a time be destitute of the care and presence of its Bishop; that therefore he should immediately return thither, and improve the Talents and Abilities God had given him in his own Sphere and Station. With which smart admonition he left Constantinople. The Empress Eudoxia was angry at what was done, and sent for Severian, who was retired to Chalcedon, to come back, but Chrysostom refused any converse with him, till the Empress being resolved to make Peace, took up the young Prince Theodosius, Chrysostom's God-son, and carrying him in her Arms into the Church, laid him down at the Bishop's feet, and for his sake besought him to be Friends with Severian, which at last she obtained. Chrysostom hereupon made an Oration 
Ext. Lat. ubi s●pr. in App. p. 47.  to the People to dispose their minds towards Severian, and the next day Severian himself made another 
Ext. Lat. ib. p. 48.  in commendation of Peace, and particularly that Reconciliation that was now made between them.  
II. BUT whatever Severian might do to serve a present Interest, 'tis plain his Friendship was but pretended. For soon after he entred 
Pallad. c. 6. p. 48.  into a Combination with Antiochus, and Isaac, a turbulent and ill natured Archimandrite against Chrysostom. With them joined Acacius Bishop of Beraea, on no other provocation, than that coming to Constantinople, and wanting a convenient Lodging, he was angry that Chrysostom had slighted him, and not given him entertainment, and he could not forbear to express his resentment to some of Chrysostom's own Clergy, telling them in Language proper enough to the occasion, I will season his pot for him. These four laid their heads together how to manage their designs against him. And first they sent Spies to Antioch, to hunt after the miscarriages of his younger days, but finding nothing there upon the strictest scrutiny they could make, they bethought themselves of Theophilus at Alexandria, who they knew bore no good will to Chrysostom, and who had a head fitted to contrive and carry on such designs. To him they writ about it, who received the message with both hands, as an opportunity he had long wished for of venting his spleen against him, increased of late by the favour Chrysostom had shew'd to the Monks whom he had driven out of egypt, and whom it was reported Chrysostom had not only been otherwise very kind to, but that he had admitted them to Communion. And as if there had been a conspiracy of Accidents as well as Persons, his affairs at this time seemed to lie fair for such a purpose. For having Synodically condemned the Origenian heresy( as they then called it) and procured Epiphanius to do the like in a Council in Cyprus, he had engaged that good old man to carry the Decrees to Constantinople, and to solicit Chrysostom to enter into this quarrel, and to prosecute the egyptian Monks( whom they unjustly charged with Origenism) but with what success, has been related in its proper place. Chrysostom had in vain mediated with Theophilus on their behalf, whereupon they had impeached him, and he recriminated upon them, and had sent his Legates to Constantinople to manage his Cause against them. The Origenian Monks growing weary of delays, petitioned the Empress, that the Libels which the adverse Party had preferred against them to the Provost of the City might be examined, that Theophilus might be summoned, and undergo his trial, and that his Messengers might either prove their Charge, or suffer the Penalties in that case provided against false Accusers. This request was thought reasonable, and in pursuance of it Elaphius a great Officer at Court was dispatched with Orders to Alexandria to bring up Theophilus. The Judges in the mean time proceeded in the Cause of his Legates, who had accused the Monks, and the Legates being found guilty of Calumny and Subornation, and seeing themselves exposed to the present lash of the Laws, threw the whole blame upon Theophilus as the sole Author and Contriver of it, and were thereupon cast into Prison, where some of them dyed, others after his arrival were by his interest banished into Preconessus.  
III. WHILE these things were transacting, Chrysostom began to lose ground at Court, especially with the Empress Eudoxia 
Vid. Zosim. l. 5. p. 799. , who in a manner entirely swayed Arcadius. Daughter she was to Bauto, who was a Frank by birth, and General under Gratian in the West, and Consul together with Arcadius, Ann. CCCLXXXV. she inherited the spirit of her country, having( as Historians particularly note) a great deal of {αβγδ} in her temper; haughty, fierce, cruel, and revengeful, a Woman of a quiter different make from the soft and easy temper of her Husband; the sad effects whereof fell heavy upon our good Bishop. By some 
Niceph. l. 13. c. 14. p. 381.  she is said to have taken Offence at his over-free reproving her unjust dispossessing the Widow Callitrope of her Vineyard, which yet he left not off, till she had restored it. By others 
Socr. l. 6. c. 15. p. 321. vid. Soz. l. 8. c. 16. p. 779. , that resenting a Plot which he supposed she had laid with Epiphanius against him, he soon after made a very sharp Invective against Women, and, if it be true what some add, dropped some tart reflections upon Jezabel, and the Priests whom she fed at her Table. There were those at Church that took Notes, which they carried to the Empress, who presently applied them to her self, and complained to the Emperor of the public affront offered to her. Besides, the main of the discourse being general, most of the great Ladies about the Town reckoned themselves concerned in it. They had a pique against him before for the severe and impartial reproofs, which he was wont upon all occasions to scatter amongst them. For 'twas his custom 
Pallad. c. 8. p. 66.  both publicly, and in his private visits from House to House, smartly to chide the more aged Widows and Matrons for their light airy dresses, as an unseemly and meretricious Garb, and a vain attempt to make themselves seem young again. Nor were Severian and his Party backward to blow up the Coals, knowing how powerfully these Ladies would draw on their Husbands. An easy way was by this means made for the reception of Theophilus, who now stood fair to appear more like a Judge than a Criminal. He was at this time upon his Journey, and though the Emperor's command at first( which 'tis probable he might afterwards alter) was, that he should come alone 
Chrys. Epist. ad Innoc. T. 4. p. 677. , yet did he all the way both by speeches and messages solicit as many Bishops as he could to go with him to Constantinople, designing from the very first to pack a Synod, and depose Chrysostom. Arriving at the City,( whither after many delays he came Ann. CCCCIII.) he went 
Ext. ibid. Pallad. ubi supr. Socr. ib, Soz. c. 17.  on shore, the greatest part of his retinue being made up of Mariners, who were come with the Corn-fleet from Alexandria, who came to meet him, and welcomed his arrival with joyful shouts and acclamations. Landing, he went not, as the Custom was, into the Church to pay his Devotions to God, nor to wait upon the Bishop, and though Chrysostom had prepared Lodgings for him and his Company in the Bishops palace, and did more than once and again invite him thither, as he had done those that arrived before him, yet he refused it, and passing by the very Church-door, went into the Suburbs, and had his apartment in one of the Emperor's Houses called Placidiana, prepared it seems on purpose for him.  
IV. HERE he remained three weeks 
Pallad. p. 6●.& Chrysost. loc. cit. , in all which time he vouchsafed not so much as once to honour Chrysostom with any act of common Civility, much less Christian Communion. His whole time he spent in forming his design, and making Parties, which he did by accommodating himself to mens different humours and interests. Some he bribed by liberal Presents, others that were more inclined to Epicurism, he treated at a plentiful Table, others he courted by flatteries and commendations, others he tempted with hopes of higher Preferments. And without taking any notice of Chrysostom( as if the See had been actually voided) he sent for his archdeacon, and by him endeavoured to bring over the Clergy to him. So that the City Churches began to be empty, and the Clergy were brought daily to him, and persuaded to accuse their Bishop, and exhibit Libels against him. Two more especially he met with, fit instruments for his purpose, who had been turned out by Chrysostom for the most enormous Offences, the one for Murder, the other for Adultery; these he instructed how to bring in their Charge, promising them( and he was as good as his word) that he would in due time restore them to their Station in the Ministry. All this while Chrysostom was at a stand what to do, he treated him with mildred and obliging Messages, and desired to know what he meant by these turbulent courses, but in vain: On the other hand he was mightily importuned by Theophilus his Accusers, to proceed judicially against him, the Emperor himself sending for him, and commanding him to go to Theophilus, and there to examine the Causes, and hear the most heavy Crimes that were charged upon him. But he remembered the Canons, which Theophilus's Letters had also put him in mind of, that Ecclesiastical matters were to be judged within their own Provinces, and were not to be drawn before a foreign Judicature, and was therefore unwilling to meddle in it.  
V. THEOPHILUS had now ripened his design, and having got a competent number of Bishops about him, XLV. in all( though others say but XXXVI.) whereof XXIX. came out of egypt, the rest from other places, and among them especially those Asian Bishops whom Chrysostom had deposed, they resolved to enter immediately upon a Synodal Convention. The place 
Socr. Soz. Pall. ib. Phot. Cod. LIX. col. 53, &c. exit. etiam Acta Synod. in jare Graec. Rom. T. 1. l. 9. p. 554.  appointed for the Synod was over the Water at Chalcedon, a country House( famous for a remarkable Oak, thence 'tis called the Synod ad Quercum) belonging to Rufinus, a man of Consular Dignity, who had built here a noble Palace, a large Church dedicated to S. Peter and S. Paul,( thence styled Apostolëum) and a Monastery adjoining, the Monks whereof were to attend the service of the Church. Here they met, the chief of them being Theophilus, Acacius of Beroea, Antiochus of Ptolemais, Severianus of Gabala, and Cyrinus of Chalcedon, all professed Enemies to Chrysostom. The principal Person that managed the Charge against Chrysostom was John, who had sometimes been his Deacon, besides whom there came in as Witnesses Arsacius Arch-Presbyter, Atticus, Elpidius, Acacius, Presbyters, Eudemon and Onesimus. The Synod being opened, the Charge against Chrysostom was exhibited and red, consisting of no less than XXIX Articles as they are summed up by Photius, whereby the Reader will see what an equal mixture of malice and folly there was in this Accusation. I. That he had disgraced and ejected the forementioned John for no other reason, than because he had beaten his own Servant Eulalius. II. That by his Command one John a Monk had been beaten, and hurried away, and treated like a mad-man, being loaded with Irons. III. That he had sold a great part of the rich Furniture and Ornaments belonging to the Church. IV. That he had made Money of some pieces of Marble, which his Predecessor Nectarius had provided to beautify the Church of S. Anastasia. V. That he spoken contemptibly of the Clergy, calling them vile, corrupt, trifling Persons, and good for nothing but themselves. VI. That he had called S. Epiphanius a doting man, and a little Fiend. VII. That he had devised mischief against Severian, and had set up the Decani, or Sextons against him. VIII. That he had written a whole Book stuffed with nothing but Falshoods and Calumnies against the Clergy. IX. That calling a Convention of his whole Clergy, he had Indicted three of his Deacons, Acacius, Edaphius, and John, and had charged them with stealing the Pall that he used to wear about his shoulders, insinuating as if they had taken it to some unlawful use. X. That he had ordained one Antonius Bishop, who yet stood convict of violating the Tombs and Monuments of the dead. XI. That in a mutiny of the Souldiers he had discovered and betrayed Count John. XII. That he was not wont to make his prayers either as he went to, nor at his entrance into the Church. XIII. That he Ordained Deacons and Presbyters in other places, and not within the Chancel. XIV. That he made four several Bishops at one Ordination. XV. That he entertained Women, and conversed with them alone, all others being shut out of the Room. XVI. That by the hand of Theodulus he had sold the Patrimony, which Thecla had left to the Church. XVII. That the Revenues of the Church were disposed of, and no man knew which way they went. XVIII. That he had Ordained Serapion Presbyter, though at that time under a Charge and Accusation. XIX. That he had taken Persons whom all the rest of the World admitted to Communion, and at his arbitrary pleasure had thrown them into Prison, and when they dyed there, had neglected them, and not taken so much care as that their Bodies should be interred. XX. That he had calunniated the most holy Bishop Acacius, without so much as admitting him to converse, or giving a reason for it. XXI. That he committed Porphyrius a Presbyter to Eutropius to be banished. XXII. That he had likewise delivered up Verenius a Presbyter with all imaginable contempt and disgrace. XXIII. That the Bath is prepared for him alone, and after he has done, Serapion causes the Bath to be shut up, so that none else may go in. XXIV. That he has Ordained several without Witnesses or Testimonials. XXV. That he uses to eat and dine alone, and after the fashion of the Cyclops leads a luxurious and intemperate Life. XXVI. That he himself is both Accuser, Witness and Judge, as is evident in what they say he did in the Case of Martyrius the archdeacon, and of Prohaeresius Bishop of Lycia. XXVII. That he struck Mamnon with his Fist in the Church of the Apostles, so that blood gushed out of his mouth, and yet went on to Consecrate the holy Eucharist. XXVIII. That he was wont to be dressed and undressed upon the Bishop's Throne, and there used to eat the little Cake( this was to prevent spitting after the reception of the Sacrament.) XXIX. That it was his custom to give Money to new-ordained Bishops, to oblige them by hard usage to oppress the Clergy. Some other 
Vid. Chrys. Epist. CXXV. p. 868.& Serm. ante iret in Exil. p. 996.  things there were which they commonly charged him with, as that he had administered the Sacrament after meals, and that he had slept with Women by his side, but whether these were insisted on in the Council, does not appear. The Articles being red, they resolved next that Chrysostom should be cited to answer to his Charge, whose carriage in this affair we come next to inquire into.  
VI. CHRYSOSTOM foreseing how things were like to go, had gathered about him all the Bishops 
Pallad. ib. p. 67.  of his Party that were about the Town, XL. in all, who were assembled in the great dining room of his palace, to whom he thus addressed himself, Brethren, be earnest in prayer, and since you love our Lord Jesus, let none of you for my sake desert his Charge: For, as 'twas in S. Paul's case, I am ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand. Many hardships I see I must undergo, and then quit this troublesone life. For I know the subtlety of Satan, who cannot endure to be daily tormented with my Preaching. Hereby you will find mercy yourselves at the hands of God, only be mindful of me in your Prayers. The whole Company was troubled at his discourse, some burst into tears, others who were not able to confine their passion within tears and silence, humbly kissed him, and went out to give a freer vent to their sorrow. The Assembly was much disturbed, till calling them to their places, Brethren, said he, sit down, and cease to weep, lest you add more Affliction to my Grief: For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain( this he said upon occasion of the rumour then spread abroad, that for his obstinacy and inflexibility he was to lose his Head) if your memories serve you, call to mind how I always  told you, that this life is a way, wherein both joys and sorrow march away with a quick place. The Scene of things before our eyes is like a Fair, where we buy, and sell, and sometimes recreate and divert ourselves. Are we better than the patriarches? Do we excel the Prophets, and Apostles, that we should live here for ever? And when one of the Company with some passion  told him, that they could not but bewail their sad condition, and the desolation that attended them, who should be left like Pupils and Orphans, the Church a Widow, the Laws trodden down, and all things exposed to the pride and covetousness of ungodly men, and to the Ambition of such as would boldly invade the Government of the Church, that the poor would want their Guardian, and the catholic Doctrine be deserted; the good Bishop striking more than once with the point of his right fore-finger upon the Palm of his left hand( as he was wont to do, when intent upon any serious matter) replied, 'tis enough, Brother, pursue the Argument no further, however, as I requested, desert not your Churches. And for the Doctrine of Christ, it began not with me, nor shall it die with me. Did not Moses die? And did not Joshua succeed him? Did not Samuel die? And was not David anointed in his stead? Jeremy departed this Life, and did he not leave Baruch behind him? Elias was taken up into Heaven, and did not the prophetic Spirit rest on Elisha? Paul was beheaded, and left he not Timothy, Titus, Apollo, and many more behind him? Eulysius Bishop of Apam●a answered, But if we keep our Churches, we shall be compelled to communicate and subscribe; to which he replied, communicate you may, that you make not a Schism in the Church, but subscribe not the Decrees; for I am not conscious to myself of having done any thing, for which I deserve to be deposed, or turned out.  
VII. IN the midst of these discourses word was brought, there were Messengers at the door from Theophilus and the Synod, they were Dioscorus, and Paulus, two young men, lately made Bishops in Libya, who being brought in, and upon enquiry known to be Bishops, Chrysostom entreated them to sit down, and declare what errand they came upon. They  told him, they had only a brief Citation, which they desired might be red. It was directed to Chrysostom without so much as giving him the Title of Bishop, and being delivered to Theophilus's Clerk, was red in this form. The holy Synod assembled at the Oak to John. We have received Libels of Accusation against you, charging you with innumerable Crimes. Make hast therefore to come hither, and bring along with you Sarapion and Tigrius, Presbyters, for whom there will be occasion. This Summons being red, the whole Company were offended at it, but  told the Bishops that brought it, they would return an answer to Theophilus by Messengers of their own, to whom they accordingly wrote to this effect. Presume not to entrench upon and disturb the Churches affairs, nor to confounded Order; rend not the Church, for which Christ came down from Heaven. But if you will be so rash and hasty, as to lay aside the Canons of the Nicene Council, and take upon you to hear Causes without your own Jurisdiction, come hither to us into this well-regulated City, and provoke us not as Cain did Abel to go into the Field, that we may in the first place hear what you have to say for yourself. For we have Libels against you, containing no less than LXX. Articles, and those charged with the most open and scandalous Offences. And for number, we that are here assembled by the grace of God for the peace, not the destruction of the Church, are more than you. For your Synod consists but of XXXVI. Bishops, most whereof come out of one Province, whereas we are forty, met out of several Provinces, and seven of that number Metropolitans. And 'tis agreeable both to Reason and Custom, that in matters of this nature the lesser number should be concluded by the mayor, and by the more eminent part. We have also your own Letter, wherein you admonish our Colleague John not to meddle with Judging a Bishop out of his own Province. Wherefore submit yourselves to the Canons of the Church, and rather intercede with your Accusers, to let fall the Charge they have brought against you, or at least take them off from troubling Chrysostom with their Complaints. This answer being drawn up, Chrysostom  told them, that they might sand what Message they thought good, but for his own part he was resolved to return a particular answer to Theophilus, which was in substance this 
Chrys. Ep. ad Innoc. p. 678. , That he did not decline being brought to trial, but only refused to be judged by a professed and declared Enemy. For he who before ever he had received any Libels, had from the very first given such plain evident instances of partiality and dissatisfaction, abstained from the Prayers and Communion of the Church, suborned Accusers, drawn over the Clergy to him, and made the Church desolate, how was he ever like to prove a fair and equal Judge, and sit to ascend a Tribunal, no ways agreeable to him. For 'tis not reasonable, that a man that lives in egypt should judge those that dwyll in Thrace, and this man too himself lying under an Accusation, and withal an open Adversary to those whom he is judge: that for his own part he openly declared, that as he was innocent, so he was most ready to assert his innocency, and to answer the Allegations brought against him before an hundred, or a thousand Bishops; that 
Pallad. p. 72.  he stood not upon the place, where he should be tried, though he thought it most fit to be within the City; they were the Persons of the Judges he excepted against, particularly against Theophilus himself, who had said both at Alexandria and in Lycia, that he was going to Court to depose Chrysostom, which he demonstrated at his arrival by refusing all manner of Familiarity or Communion with him. And he who shew'd himself an Enemy before the Trial, what would he be at, and after it? He excepted likewise against Acacius, who had threatened, that he would season his pot for him: That for Severian and Antiochus, 'twas needless to say any thing, their misdemeanours being exposed upon the public theatres, and no doubt Divine Vengeance would quickly overtake them. If therefore, said he, you be really desirous that I should appear, discharge these four from being Judges; if they be only Accusers, let them be brought in, that I may know in what Circumstances I am like to be, and whether I am to appear before them as Adversaries, or as Judges, and then I am most willing to appear not before them only, but before a General Council. And take notice, that though you should sand me a thousand Summons, I am resolved to return no other answer.  
VIII. WITH these answers they dispatched away Demetrius Bishop of Pisinus, Eleusius of Apamea, and Lupinus of Apiaria, with whom they joined two Presbyters, Germanus and Severus. As they were going out, in came a Notary with an Edict from the Emperor, granting power according to their request to force the Persons concerned to appear, which he pressed them to. No sooner was he dispatched, but two Presbyters of Chrysostom's own Clergy, Eugenius, who for his zeal in this affair was made Bishop of Heradia, and Isaac the Monk, who from the beginning had confederated with Severian and Antiochus, came, and addressing themselves to Chrysostom. The Synod ( said they) commands, that you come over to them, to answer to the Crimes objected to you. In answer whereunto he sent some others of his Bishops to expostulate with them to this purpose, with what reason or order they could pretend to judge him, who would not dismiss his Enemies from amongst them, and who took upon them to city him by those of his own Clergy. But so far were his answers from being satisfactory, that the Bishops who carried them were treated with an uncommon savageness and inhumanity, one beaten, another pulled and torn, a third had those very Irons clapped upon his Neck, which they had prepared for Chrysostom, to have loaded him with as he was to be sent on Shipboard, and transmitted to some obscure corner of the World. Which the good Bishop hearing of, kept close where he was. But it's time we now return back to the Synod.  
IX. CHRYSOSTOM not appearing after four several Summons( for so often Sozomen and Photius say he was cited) they proceeded to the examination of the Articles alleged against him, though of the whole XXIX. exhibited by John the Deacon, they insisted 
Phot. ibid. col. 56, 57.  only upon four; the two first, the IXth. and the XXVIIth. After which Isaacius( whom Photius styles a Bshop, but probably was no other but Isaac the Monk whom we lately mentioned, though he as well as his fellow-presbyter Eugenius might for his good Services be afterwards made a Bishop) gave in another Charge against Chrysostom, containing XVII. Articles, many of them the same with those that had been exhibited before, those that were any thing different, were as follows. I. That Epiphanius since departed had refused to hold Communion with him upon the account of his favouring the Orig●nian Monks, Ammonius, Euthymius, Eusebius, and the rest. II. That he affirmed, that in the Church there was a Table full of Furies. III. That he was wont to vaunt himself in the Church in such terms as these, {αβγδ}, I am desperately in love, I rave, and am transported; and that he ought to have explained his meani●● what Furies he meant, and what those other words imported, being such as the Church was not acquainted with. IV. That he gave liberty, and encouraged men to sin, by venting such Doctrines as these 
Vid. quae ● le bac re habet Socr. l. 6. c. 21. p. 330. ; If thou sinnest again, repent again; and as oft as thou sinnest, come to me, and I will heal thee. V. That he had taught this blasphemous Doctrine in the Church, that Christ when he prayed was not heard, for that he did not pray right. VI. That he stirred up the People to Sedition, and to Mutiny against the Synod. VII. That he entertained Gentiles, who had done innumerable mischiefs to Christians, and kept them in the Church, and there protected them. VIII. That he went into other mens Provinces, and there ordained Bishops. IX. That he had ordained without convening, nay against the Opinion of his Clergy. X. That he had taken other mens Servants before they were emancipated, while they lay under Accusations, and had made them Bishops. XI. That he had oft misused Isaacius himself, who preferred this Charge. But of this last Charge, they discussed no more than the first and the fourth Articles; from whence they went back to the third Article of the former Charge, which concerned the sale of the Church-Jewels and Ornaments, and for the proof of this they produced Arsacius, Atticus, and Elpidius, who also together with Acacius deposed to the fourth Article. And to add yet the more weight, Gerontius, Faustinus, and Eugnomonius, three of the Asian Bishops stood up and delivered in their Libels, complaining, that Chrysostom had unjustly deposed them from their bishoprics.  
X. IN these Proceedings they spent twelve Synodical Sessions, when the managers demanded judgement against the Person accused. Whereupon Paul Bishop of Heraclea( who by his place was Chief President of the Synod, the Bishops of Constantinople being obliged to receive their Ordination from the hands of the Metropolitan of Heraclea) commanded every one to deliver his Opinion, which they did, beginning with Gymnasius, and ending with Theophilus, all of them concluding, that he ought to be deposed from his See. Which done, they wrote an account of it to the Clergy of Constantinople, and sent also the Emperor this following relation 
Pallad. p. 74▪ . Forasmuch as John has been accused of certain Crimes, of which being conscious to himself, he would not appear, the Laws in that case depose him, which is the Sentence now passed upon him. The Libels contained also a Charge of Sedition, wherefore your piety will please to give Order, that whether he submit or no, he be expelled, and made to undergo the Penalty of high Treason; it not being a matter that lay within our Cognizance. By this high Treason, meaning the affront they pretended he had offered the Empress, whom they reported he had styled Jezabel. A Warrant was hereupon procured for Execution of the Sentence, which was sent 
Phot. ib. col. 60.  to, and red in the Synod. In the XIIIth. and last Session, they proceeded against some others of his Party, Palladius Bishop of Helenopolis 
Id. ib. col. 56. , but especially against Heraclides Bishop of Ephesus, Macarius Bishop of the Magnetes appearing against him, and John the Monk exhibiting a Libel, wherein he charged him with being an Origenist, and that he had been guilty of theft at Caesarea in Palestine, having stolen the clothes of Aquilinus the Deacon, and had been taken in the act, and that notwithstanding all this, Chrysostom had ordained him Bishop of Eph●sus. But it seems he found Friends in the Synod, who stood by him, and would not suffer the Sentence of Deposition to pass against him.  
XI. Amongst all the Transactions of this Synod, the Reader will wonder perhaps that he hears nothing of that which was the first and main spring of the Motion, and about which Theophilus had made so many clamorous outcries, viz. the Condemnation of Origen's works 
Sozom. l 8. c. 17. p. 780. . But Theophilus had caught the Fish he aimed at, and the Bait was now laid aside. And he was willing to be at peace with the Egyptian Monks, could they but be brought to any show of sorrow and submission, that might seem to justify his fierce Zeal against them. To this purpose Agents were set on work, who represented to them how ready Theophilus was to pardon what was past, if they would but sue for it, and that the Synod did intercede for them. alured with these smooth Pretences, and desirous after all to sit down in quiet, they yielded to say, what they were wont to do when they received the greatest injuries, Forgive us. Upon which easy terms Theophilus readily received them into favour, and readmitted them to Communion. Which perhaps had not been so tamely assented to, had the two Brothers, Dioscorus and Ammonius, the prime sticklers of the Party been alive. For Dioscorus dyed a little before the Synod, having earnestly prayed 
Pallad. c. 17. p. 159.  God, either that he might see the peace of the Church, or be himself translated into a better World. He was butted in the Church of S. Mocius at Constantinople( not in that of the Oak at Chalcedon, as some 
Socr. l. 6. c. 17. p. 326.  relate) where his memory was so venerable, that several who before-time were wont to swear by the Martyr, took their Oaths henceforward upon the Prayers of Dioscorus. Ammonius fell sick about the time that things were preparing for the Synod, and accordingly caused himself to be carried over to Rufinus's Village at Chalcedon, where his Disease growing upon him, he dyed soon after, foretelling 
Pallad. ib. p. 157.  upon his deathbed, that there would be a mighty Schism and Persecution in the Church, after which the Authors of it would come to a very ill end, and then a blessed Peace and Union should succeed. As it accordingly came to pass. He was butted in the Apostoleum, or Church of the Apostles, and his Tomb was famous for the curing Fevers, as my Author 
Id. p. 159.  who lived at that time reports. A man he was, 
Soz. ib. p. 781.  at the news of whose death Theophilus x himself could not but weep, and openly say of him, That none of the Monks of that time was comparable to him, though he had created him no little trouble. Thus ended the long and fierce Contention between Theophilus and the Monks about the Origenian controversy, started at first upon unwarrantable designs, and carried on by worse Principles and Practices. And indeed that Theophilus herein was acted more by sinister ends, than Zeal against the thing itself, is evident in that after all the noise he had made about it, he familiarly studied 
Socr. ubi. supr. p. 325.  Origen's works. And being challenged by one for so doing, he replied, Origen's Books are like a Meadow beset with all sorts of Herbs and Flowers; where I find any thing that's good and wholesome, I take it to my own use: Where I meet with that that's prickly and useless, I pass it by.   

SECT. V. His Acts from his departure till the Order for his second Banishment.  
The Peoples disturbance at the news of his being deposed. Chrysostom privately conveyed into Bithynia. The great distractions in the City. Chrysostom recalled. The Empress excuses her self to him. His refusal to enter the City, till publicly cleared. forced to come in, to quiet the People. His triumphant return, and Oration to the People upon that occasion. The quarrel between the followers of Theophilus, and the Citizens. Theophilus privately returns back to Alexandria. A Synod at Constantinople to reverse the Acts of the former Synod against Chrysostom. He falls again under the displeasure of the Empress. His smart Invective against her Statue, and the dissolute sports used at that place. His bold Sermon preached at that time. His Enemies furnished with secret instructions from Theophilus. A second Synod holden against Chrysostom at Constantinople. A Canon of the Council of Antioch urged against him, with his exception to it. The true state of that matter. Elpidius's stout pleading for Chrysostom before the Emperor. The Emperor overperswaded by Chrysostom's Enemies. All interposals in his behalf vain. The violence used towards Chrysostom's Clergy and their People assembled in Constantius's Baptisterium. The abuses and injuries offered to those that fled to assemble in the Fields and Woods. Theophilus's Message and Representation of the Case at Rome. Chrysostom's Letter to Pope Innocent, and other Western Bishops. Innocent's Letter to Theophilus, that the whole Cause might be fairly heard in an impartial Synod.  
I. THE news of what had passed in the Synod soon flew abroad among the People, who were infinitely troubled at it, and gathering together guarded 
Socr. ib. c. 15. p. 323. Soz. l. 8. c. 18. p. 782. Pallad. c. 8. p. 75. Chrys. Ep. ad Inn. p. 679. Theod. l. 5. c. 34. p. 239. vid. Zosim. l. 5. p. 800.  the Church night and day, lest he should be taken thence, crying out, that his Cause ought to be heard before a greater, and a more equal and indifferent Assembly. But he fearing a popular Insurrection, did on the third day about noon, unknown to the People, deliver up himself to the Commander, that came with a Party of Souldiers to receive him, who in the evening carried him through the City, put him on ship-board, and sailed away that night to Hieron a Port in the mouth of the Euxin Sea, where he landed, and was carried to some Farms that were at Praenetum in Bithynia. Where we leave him for a while, and return back to see what passed after his departure at Constantinople. No sooner was it known that he was gone, but the whole City was in an uproar, many blamed the Emperor, more the Synod, but the whole load was cast upon Theophilus: those who till then had been his Enemies, were now moved with Compassion towards him, and many who but just before had wished him deposed, cried out now 'twas malice and injustice. In this general tumult the Monks who were Chrysostom's fast Friends, bore not the least share, they shut up the Churches, and suffered not the People to frequent public Prayers, till it grew up to that height of Confusion that if Zosimus 
Loc. supr. citat.  say true, the People and Souldiers fell upon the Monks, great numbers of whom they killed in the Church, and pursued those that escaped, sparing none whom they found in black( which was the common habit of the Monks) insomuch that many who were then in mourning, or upon some other occasions wore black at that time, were without the least distinction put to death. Severian hoping to quiet mens minds by justifying what had been done, went up and preached, and in his Sermon  told the People, that though Chrysostom had been condemned for nothing else, yet his pride and insolence were enough to deserve the punishment that had been put upon him. For though all other sins may be pardonned, yet the Scripture plainly testifies, that God resisteth the proud. But this made it worse, and blew up the People into a greater rage, so that there was little hope to alloy the Tumult. It added not a little to the general Consternation, that at night happened a terrible Earthquake, which was looked upon as a signification of the displeasure of Heaven against the late Transactions. All which extremely affrighted them at Court, and the next morning they immediately dispatched away the Emperor's Secretary to bring him back; and the Empress Eudoxia, knowing how much she had promoted the designs against him, and seeing the stream of the People run violently that way, had upon her knees begged of the Emperor to recall him, and withal, sent away Brison her Eunuch with Letters 
Chrys. Serm. post r●d. ab. Exil. I. 4. p. 973.& Soz. loc. cit.  to him, desiring him not to think that she was any ways conscious to, or had ●he least hand in the troubles that had come upon him, wherein she protested she was innocent. They were corrupt and wicked men, she said, that had framed this whole Scene and Contrivance of his sufferings; calling God to witness that her tears and protestations were sincere and real, and that she honoured him as Bishop, and particularly as the Person that had with his own hands regenerated and baptized her Children. After this, other Messengers were sent to hasten his return, insomuch, that the Bosphorus was crowded with them. Nor were the People backward to bear a part in this triumph, they covered the mouth of the Propontis with their Boats, and when they met him; carried lighted Torches before him.  
II. CHRYSOSTOM in his return landed at a Village called Marianae belonging to the Empress, lying near the Anaplus on the mouth of the Pontus about four miles distant from the City. Here he took up his Quarters, protesting he would not go into the City, till he could vindicate his innocency before a greater Synod, than that wherein he had been condemned. But the People were impatient of delays, and began to murmur openly, and throw the fault upon the Court, which therefore used all its Artifices to bring him home, to which he had no sooner yielded, but the Empress sent 
Serm. ubi supr. p. 974,  to compliment him, that now her Prayers were heard, and the Reformation accomplished which she had so passionately begged for; that she looked upon it as a greater Glory than the Crown she wore, that she had recovered her Bishop, that she had restored the Head to the Body, the Pilot to the Ship, the Pastor to his Flock, and the Bridegroom to his nuptial Bed; that those that had invaded and defiled it, were ashamed; and that now she had done this, she cared not much whether she lived or dyed. He was met on the way by crowds of People, who sung Hymns prepared on purpose for this Solemnity, others carried lighted Torches in their hands, and in this joyful and splendid Equipage they brought him to his Cathedral, where they importuned him to ascend the Episcopal Throne, and give them his Blessing. He  told them he was disabled, being under a Censure, that the Judges that had condemned him must reverse their Sentence, and restore him to his See. This denial did but the more sharpen the Peoples unsatisfied desires, who prest him to it with greater vehemency, till finding that nothing else would quiet them, went up, and in the accustomend form pronounced the Peace to the People. And seeing them still desirous of something more, he made an extempore Oration 
Ext. ubi supr. p. 969.& ap. george. Alex. in vit. Chrysost.  to them, wherein taking for his Theme the Story of Pharo King of Aegypt's forcible taking away Sarah, Abraham's Wife, intending her for his own Bed, he shows that Theophilus the egyptian had offered the same violence to his Church and Spouse, which with force and armed followers he had seized upon. A Case which he draws out into a very elegant Comparison. And taking occasion, as he had good reason, to commend the kindness and forwardness both of Prince and People, he so inflamed the affections of his Auditors, that bursting out into shouts and acclamations in honour of the Emperor and his Lady Eudoxia, they forced him somewhat abruptly to break off his Sermon. A very eloquent discourse, which though Baronius bewails as lost, yet is it still extant, being together with his former preserved by George Patriarch of Alexandria, in the account he has given of Chrysostom's Life, being the most considerable and valuable piece of that Life.  
III. THEOPHILUS we may imagine was sorely vexed at these Proceedings. A great mind he had to charge Chrysostom publicly with acting contrary to the Canons, in exercising his Episcopal Office, after he had been deposed. But he was afraid to disoblige the Emperor and the great ones at Court, who he saw were forced to humour the People. Therefore he resolved to begin with Heraclides Bishop of Ephesus, whose Accusers he cited, and formed a Process against him. His Friends pleaded, that it was not consonant to the Laws either of Church or State, to sit upon and condemn a man that was absent, and unable to speak for or defend himself. But Theophilus and his Party resolved to proceed, as the others did to oppose his Proceedings, and the Contest grew so high between the Egyptians that sided with Theophilus, and the People of Constantinople, that it came to blows, and some were wounded, and others slain in the quarrel. Affrighted with this riot, Severian and the rest of the Bishops of that gang fled out of Town, and Theophilus himself not knowing to what this might grow, and understanding that a Council was suddenly to be called to recanvass and discuss matters, took shipping at midnight, and set sail for home. And it was time for him to be gone, for the People enraged at his wicked and malicious attempts, searched 
Pallad. ib. p 75.  for him, with a resolution to have thrown him into the Sea. Chrysostom in the mean time earnestly urged 
●pist. ad Inn. i●id.  the Emperor, that a Council might be summoned to clear his innocency, and to re-examine the unrighteous Sentence they had passed upon him. The same he  told the Syrian Bishops that stayed behind, desiring them to deliver up the Libels of Accusation, and the Acts of the Synod, or at least to specify the Crimes he had been charged with, and to nominate his Accusers. But they refused to meddle. The Emperor hereupon sent to Theophilus, commanding him and his Bishops to come again, and render an account of what they had done, and that they should not think it enough that one Party had condemned the other, when the other was absent, and when they had so plainly acted against all Laws and Canons. But he had no mind to it, and accordingly excused himself upon pretence he was afraid of a Tumult in his absence, as indeed the People even before the Emperor's Letters came, had entertained him with a thousand Sarcasms and Reproaches. However there assembled at Constantinople LX. odd Bishops, who took the Proceedings of the former Synod under a review, reversed the Acts of it, and entirely restored Chrysostom to his See, who about the same time preferred his Presbyter Serapion to the bishopric of Heraclea.  
IV. BUT this calm season lasted not long, the Clouds returning after Rain. He had not been long at home, when a Silver Statue 
Socr. l. 6. c. 18 p. 326. So●. l. 8 c 20. p. 785.  of the Empress Eudoxia was to be solemnly erected. It was put upon a column of Porphyry, and that set upon a high Basis, and placed not far from the Church of S. Sophia, in the Street just before it. It was dedicated, as was usual in such cases, with many wild and ludicrous rites, which were so much the more at this time, the Provost of the City being a Semipagan and a Manichee, who encouraged the People to shoutings, and dancings, and all manner of exorbitant extravagances. Indeed it was the usual place where the People met to perform their loose sports and pastimes, to the great disturbance and distraction of the Congregation in their Divine Assemblies. This Chrysostom could not bear, but upon all occasions reproved it smartly in his Sermons, blaming both them that did it, and those who patronized and encouraged it. And when he understood that the Empress thought her self deeply concerned in these reflections, and intended to have him called again to an account, instead of pursuing the softer and gentler methods of persuasion and insinuation, he gave way to his old bluntness and impartiality, and taking occasion from the Story of John the Baptist, and his treatment by H●rod and Herodias( red 'tis like as the Lesson for that day) he began his Sermon 
Ext. Tom. 6. p. 280. de hac tamen orat. vid quae habet Phot. Cod. CCLXXIV. col. 1521.  in this manner( Though Photius much questions the genuiness of it, as now extant.) Now again Herodias raves and is vexed, again she dances, again she seeks to have John Baptist's Head in a Charger. Again Jezabel goes up and down, trying how she may ravish away Naboth's Vineyard, and drive holy Elias into the Wilderness. And then he proceeds to lay down the Character of an ill Woman, affirming that no Beast in the World, no not the lion or the Dragon, is comparable to a bad Woman, which he illustrates from the Acts of several ill Women that are upon Record in Scripture. And then that he might not quiter discourage that part of his Auditory, he turns the Tables, and discourses of the nature, qualities, and actions of good Women, whose examples he propounds and recommends to them. His Adversaries now thought themselves furnished with advantage enough against him, and all the Rooms in the palace are made to ring of the Sermon, and though the latter part might seem to compound for the former, yet the first part only was talked of, and lost nothing in the aggravation. Eudoxia stormed to be thus traduced, and, as she thought, be-libelled in public Sermons, and therefore began to give a more open vent to her resentment, which Chrysostom's Enemies were not backward to improve. And first they writ 
Pallad. ubi supra.  to Theophilus, desiring him, either to come himself and Head the Party, or at least to sand them directions how to proceed in it. The wary man was not willing to venture his Person, but sent three Bishops, Paulus, Poem●n, and a third whom he had newly made, furnished with instructions, and certain Canons, which having been heretofore made against Athanasius, would now equally conclude against Chrysostom.  
VI. TOWARDS the expiring of the year CCCCIII. several Bishops 
Socr.& Soz. loc. cit. Pallad. p. 76.  out of Syria, Cappadocia, Pontus, and Phrygia were convened at Constantinople, the chief whereof were Leontius of Ancyra, and Ammonius of Laodicea in Pisidia. They remembered Theophilus had run himself into an inconvenience by rejecting all manner of Communion with Chrysostom, before he had been Judicially tried. Wherefore at their first coming to Town they scrupled not to communicate with him, till they found how things stood at Court, where his interest went more visibly down the Wind every day. For Christmas-day now approaching, the Emperor( easily managed by Eudoxia, and others about him) came not as he was wont to Church, but sent Chrysostom word, that he could not communicate with him, till he had cleared himself of the Crimes that had been objected to him. Chrysostom desired nothing more, and publicly challenged his Accusers to make good their Charge. But they had not the hardiness to venture upon it. And therefore Leontius and Ammonius privately acquainted Acacius and Antiochus, that the best way was to let go the old Charge, and to insist only upon this, that being Synodically deposed, he had of his own head without sufficient Authority repossessed himself of his See. Chrysostom replied, that at his return he had been reinstated by the Votes of LXV. Bishops. But they were a greater number, answered Leontius, that condemned them in the Synod. By which he must necessary mean all those who consented to that Synodal Decree, though not present at it, there being otherwise no more than XXXVI. or( if we should take Photius his account) XLV. Bishops present in that Synod. Then they betook themselves to the Canons 
Pallad. p. 78. &c.  which Theophilus had sent them, especially the IVth. Canon of the Council of Antioch, holden and Chr. CCCXLI. whereby it is provided, that if any Bishop or Presbyter be deposed( {αβγδ} right or wrong, this they added to the Canon) and shall of himself without the Authority of a Synod return to his Church, or as the Canon itself has it, shall presume to celebrate the Divine Offices, such a one shall be left destitute of all hopes of being restored, and shall have no place of excuse or defence afforded to him; and that all who after that knowingly Communicate with him, shall be cast out of the Church. And by the XIIth. Canon of that Council it is provided, that whoever in this case shall solicit the Emperor, when he ought to appeal to a greater Synod, than that by which he was deposed, and refer his case to their judgement and Determination, shall be incapable of Absolution, nor shall he be admitted to his defence, or have any hopes of being restored to his See. Against these Canons Chrysostom excepted as being contrived by the Arians, and framed on purpose by men who designed to run down Athanasius, and to overthrow the catholic Faith. And indeed it must be confessed, that though the mayor part of Bishops in that Council were catholics, and the Council itself be received into the Code of the universal Church, yet was there an active Party in that Synod, who were either professed Arians, or such as favoured that Cause, and who got some Canons so framed, as might best serve their turn, promote their Designs, and warrant their Proceedings against Athanasius. But still this must be acknowledged to have been only an answer ad hominem, which he might the freelier make use of, the Canons of Antioch not being as yet admitted into the ecclesiastic Code, though they were soon after. The truth is, he was not really within the Charge of the Antiochian Canons, having according to them been Canonically examined, acquitted, and re-admitted, and had accordingly before truly  told them, that he had been restored, by a far greater Synod, than that whereby he had been deposed and banished.  
VII. LEONTIUS and the rest found they should do little good by disputing the Case, and therefore went to persuade the Emperor to call ten of the Bishop's of Chrysostom's Party, and to prevail with them to give their Suffrage for the Authority of the Canons of Antioch, some affirming them to have been made by catholics, others by Arians. But Elpidius the aged Bishop of Laodicea in Syria, and Tranquilinus went to Court, and begged of the Emperor that without a sufficient Cause given, Chrysostom might not be ejected out of his See. For neither before had he been rightly deposed, but forcibly carried away by the Imperial Officer; nor did he come back of his own head, but by his Majesties express Command, brought to him by the Secretary. And for the Canons which they now produce, we have shown them to have been the Artifice of heretics. The adverse Party raised a mighty noise, as if they intended to carry the Cause by Clamour and Confusion, till a little silence being made, Elpidius mildly addressed himself to the Emperor, Sir,( said he) We will no longer vex and tyre your patience, but will put it upon this issue. Let Antiochus, Acacius, and the rest of our Brethren, subscribe these Canons which they pretend to be made by catholics, and let them declare that they are of the same Faith with those that made them, and the controversy will be at an end. The Emperor apprehending the honesty of the proposal, smiled upon Antiochus, and  told him, that nothing could be more fit and reasonable. This struck them dumb, but not knowing how otherwise to come of, they at length though with evident reluctancy promised they would subscribe, which as they never meant, so they never performed.  
VIII. IT was now nine or ten months 
Pallad. ib. p. 80.  since Chrysostom's return, and the holy time of Lent was come, when Antiochus went privately to the Emperor, and  told him that Chrysostom had been utterly baffled, and had lost the day, and therefore entreated him that Easter being at hand, he would give order for his expulsion. Arcadius was easily imposed upon, and thought that in matters of this nature he might securely rely on a Bishop's word, and being wearied with importunities, sent Chrysostom order to quit his Church. The good Bishop returned this plain answer, I have received this Church from God my Saviour, and am entrusted with the care of this Peoples Souls, and I cannot desert this Charge. But if you be resolved upon it, the Civil Power is yours, throw me out by force, that I may at least pled your Authority for the non-performance of my Office. This somewhat mitigated the rigour that would have been otherwise used, and Officers were sent from Court, who peacibly turned him out of the Church, and confined him to his own House, intending thereby to try what success their attempts were like to have against him. If they found the People would not bear it, 'twas but bringing him back from his own House to the Church; if they took it quietly, they might then proceed to further Severities. But this notwithstanding he still frequented the Church, and the Divine Assemblies, though he stirred not much abroad at the time. And thus things continued till the Passion-week, when on the very day of our Lord's Crucifixion he received fresh Orders to leave the Church, whereto he returned such an answer as he thought most convenient. The Emperor out of reverence to the Solemnity of the sacred time, and fear of putting the City into an uproar, called for Acacius and Antiochus, and asked them what was best to be done? Advising them to beware lest they took wrong measures. They replied, Sir, trouble not yourself, let the deposing of Chrysostom lie at our door, we are ready to answer it with the peril of our Heads. Notice hereof immediately got abroad, whereupon forty Bishops, who kept Lent with Chrysostom, went to the Emperor and the Empress, who were at that time in the Martyria, with tears beseeching them to spare the Church of Christ, that it might not be deprived of its Bishop, especially at this time of Easter, when the Catechumens, who had been instructed and prepared in order to it, were to receive their Baptism. But their address was rejected, which so moved Paul Bishop of Croatia, that turning to the Empress, Eudoxia, said he, fear God, and have compassion upon your own Children, and do not by shedding blood profane Christ's holy Festival. Which said, the Bishops with weeping eyes, and sad hearts return'd back again.  
IX. WHILE these things were in agitation, Chrysostom's Presbyters with some of the Bishops of his Party 
Id. ib. p. 83.  had assembled the People in Constantius's Baptistery, where they watched, and spent their time, some in reading the holy Scriptures, others in preparing the Catechumens against the approaching Solemnity. This Antiochus and his Party beholded with an evil eye, and solicited their Patrons at Court, that this Assembly might be dispersed. But the Magister Officiorum, who was the chief Officer of the palace, refused to meddle, he  told them 'twas night, and the Congregation numerous, and that care must be had that nothing should be done rashly. They replied the Churches were empty, and that if the Emperor should go thither, and find no body there, he would plainly perceive that the Peoples love to Chrysostom had drawn them thence, and would reproach them with envy and ill will, who had suggested to him, that there were none that willingly adhered to him. To gratify their importunity, having first protested against the ill events of the attempt, he ordered Lucius, a gentle, as was reported, Captain of the Band of the Scutarii, to go quietly to the Church, and see if he could bring back the People to assemble there. He went, and came back with this account, that no good was to be done in it, such were the numbers, such the zeal and fervency of the People. Not satisfied herewith, they prevailed with him to try once more, and either by fair means reduce the People to the Church, or by force to hinder them from celebrating the Solemnity. And that he might not want fit guides and directors, they lent him some of their Clergy to go along with him, who accompanied him to the place of meeting 
Id. p. 84. Chrys. Epist. ad Innoc. p. 680. , whereinto they no sooner entered, but all Corners were full of horror and confusion, the Clergy were seized, beaten, wounded, imprisoned, and treated with all manner of indignities, the Catechumens dispersed, the Women who had stripped themselves in order to their Baptism, fled away naked, and many of them wounded, and the very Water in the Baptistery dyed with the Blood that was  shed there. Thence breaking into the Chancel, they profanely handled the sacred Mysteries, the very Souldiers spilling the consecrated Wine upon their clothes. The villainies committed were inexpressible, and the Confusion infinite, People running up and down all parts of the City, and filling every place they came to with sighs, and groans, and tears, and tragical stories. And Edicts were every where published one upon the back of another, severely threatening all that refused to renounce Communion with Chrysostom. As soon as 'twas day the greatest part of the City fled, and betook themselves to Trees or Woods, or Fields, or any places that might but afford a tolerable shelter, where they might keep the Festival. It happened that the Emperor went out that day to divert himself in a Meadow adjoining to the City, where he espied a Field covered all over with white. These were the Catechumens who had been baptized the night before, and had then( as the Custom was in the Primitive Church) their white Garments upon them, and were in number near three thousand; the dangerous posture of Affairs, and the fears of losing their Bishop having, probably, increased the number of baptismal Candidates at that time. The Emperor was strangely surprised at the sight, and asked his Guards who they were; who the more to exasperate him against them,  told him, they were a Conventicle of heretics. A Party of Souldiers were immediately drawn out, and ordered to go and disperse the Assembly. Which they did, apprehending some few of the Clergy, but more of the People, whom they put under Custody. Several Women of noble Quality were laid hold on, from some of which they took their Vails, from others their Pendants, plucking away part of the Ear for hast; others to secure themselves from an immodest rudeness and violence, changed clothes with their waiting Women, and in that disguise made their escapes. Vast numbers were seized, so that the Prisons were turned into Churches, where Hymns were sung, and the holy Eucharist administered, while Churches were turned into Prisons, where nothing was seen or heard but Whips and Scourges, Oaths and Execrations to force the People to renounce and disown their Bishop.  
X. IN this forlorn and hopeless condition of Affairs at home, Chrysostom bethought himself of calling in some assistance from abroad, which, if it had no other success, would at least let the World understand the true state of his case, in order whereunto he had some while since resolved upon a dispatch to Rome, to make known his case to Pope Innocent, and the Western Bishops. But craft and malice are up and at work betimes, and careful by all Arts to support its Interests, while truth and innocency is secure in the goodness of its Cause. Theophilus knowing of what importance it would be to him to prepossess the World with first impressions, had sent his Reader 
Pallad. c. 2. p. 9.  with Letters to Rome, to let them know he had deposed Chrysostom. At the reading whereof Innocent was not a little startled, and began to suspect Theophilus of foul play, both because none had written but he, and because he gave but a blind account, neither informing him why, nor with what assistants he had done it. And Eusebius Deacon of Constantinople, who resided at that time at Rome as Agent for that Church, came to him, and begged of him to suspend his belief of things but a little while, and he should see the whole Scene unravelled and laid open to his view. Accordingly three days after arrived four Bishops from Constantinople, Pansophius of Pisidia, Pappus of Syria, Demetrius of Galatia secunda, and Eugenius of Phrygia, with two Deacons, Paulus and Cyriacus to attend them, who brought three Letters, one from Chrysostom, another subscribed by the forty Bishops of his Communion, the third from the Clergy of Constantinople. In that 
Ext. Tom. 4. p. 677.& ap. Pallad. loc. cit.  from Chrysostom he gives him a short account of the whole matter, and especially of the late Cruelties acted in the Passion-week; entreating him to lend his helping hand towards the suppressing so powerful and desperate a Faction, and that he would by his Letters declare those Proceedings unjust and invalid: Engaging for himself, that if his Adversaries had a mind still to go on, and would deliver in Copies of their Acts, and produce his Accusers, he was most ready to join Issue with them before any unprejudiced and unbiased Judicature, and would justify his innocency against all those Crimes that had been objected to him. The same Letters mutatis mutandis were written also to Venerius Bishop of Milan, and to Chromatius of Aquileia.  
XI. INNOCENT not yet thoroughly apprehending the true state of things, gave equal Letters 
Pallad. c. 3. p. 22.  of Communion both to Chrysostom and Theophilus, though withal expressing his dislike of the Synodal Determination, and affirming that a more indifferent and unexceptionable Synod ought to be held both of Eastern and Western Bishops, wherein neither Friends nor Foes should have any place, as from whom no fair and right judgement of things was ordinarily to be expected. Within a few days after came Peter Presbyter of Alexandria, and Martyrius Deacon of Constantinople with other Letters from Theophilus, and the Acts of the Synod that had condemned and deposed Chrysostom. Upon the reading whereof, Innocent perceived upon what slight and weak Accusations they had proceeded, and that Chrysostom was not present, nor had been charged face to face, and was now much more confirmed in his opinion of Theophilus's folly, in passing so rash and unadvised a Sentence against an absent Person, which he acquainted him with in this following Reply. Brother Theophilus, we hold Communion both with yourself, and our Brother Chrysostom, as we gave you to understand in our former Letters, and do still continue in the same Opinion and Resolution, now again plainly declaring to you( and so we shall as oft as you sand) that unless a more just and equal determination be made about these things that have been so childishly and ridiculously managed, we cannot with any reason or justice withdraw ourselves from Chrysostom's Communion. If therefore you dare abide by the judgement you have made, make your appearance before a Synod to be assembled according to the Laws of Christ, and there unfold your Accusations, and prosecute the charge according to the Canons of the Nicene Council ( for no other rule does the Church of Rome allow of) and then you will gain unquestionable strength and security to your cause.   

SECT. VI. His Acts from the signing of the Warrant, till his being carried into Banishment.  
Several attempts upon Chrysostom's Life. The Warrant signed for his Banishment. His ready compliance with it. His taking leave of the Bishops; and the Deaconesses in the Baptistery. His contrivance to escape being stayed by the People. The encouraging considerations which he suggested to himself at that time. A Fire breaking out in S. Chrysostom's Church. The mighty rage and violence of it, there, and in the parts adjoining. This spitefully charged upon his Party. Several imprisoned and ill treated upon that account. Arsacius placed in the See of Constantinople. Chrysostom's Followers keep separate Assemblies, and pass under the name of Joannites. An Edict for holding communion with Arsacius, Theophilus, &c. The violent proceedings against the Joannites. The great sufferings of Olympias, one of Chrysostom's Deaconesses. Abrief account of her, and her singular Piety and Devotion. Porphyry a notable stickler against Chrysostom. An account of his evil temper, and the manner of his advancement to the See of Antioch. Several dispatches sent by the Joannites to Rome to solicit assistance. The Emperor Honorius's Letter to Arcadius about this affair. Innocent's Letter to Chrysostom, Another to the Clergy and People of Constantinople.  
I. AT Constantinople we left Chrysostom's Affairs in a very deplorable posture, his Friends and Followers dispersed, rifled, killed, or imprisoned: himself suspended and confined, and not safe within his own walls, his life being every day in danger. A man 
Soz. l. 8. c● 21. p. 787.  pretending himself distracted was taken with a Dagger about him, upon suspicion of murdering Chrysostom; the people supposing him hired to do the Fact, carried him to the Provost of the City, which Chrysostom hearing, presently dispatched away some of his Bishops, who procured his Release before he was put to the Rack. This not succeeding, one that was Servant 
Soz. ib.& Pallad. c. 20; p. 197.  to Elpidius a Presbyter, one of Chrysostom's mortal Enemies, was hired for Fifty pieces of Gold to dispatch him, which he undertook, and having furnished himself with three Swords, ran in all hast to the Episcopal Palace, where he was stopped by one that knew him, and asked the reason of his hast, to whom the Villain return'd no other answer but a mortal wound. And when an out-cry was made, and the Assassinate pursued, he wounded seven one after another, four whereof died out-right, and the other three recovered with great difficulty. Apprehended at length, he was brought to the Palace, where the people clamor'd for Justice both against the man, and those that had set him on, whom to appease for the present, the Provost made a show of bringing him to a formal Trial, but when the Hubub was over, set him at liberty. By these instances the people saw what danger their good Bishop was exposed to, to prevent which they kept watch by turns, and guarded his house night and day. And thus stood things till about a week after Whitsuntide 
Pallad. c. 10. p. 88. , when Acacius, Severianus, and the rest of the Party f●nding all attempts unsuccessful, resolved to push hard for his Banishment, and to drive it to an issue. Their Address they introduc't with the most soft and flattering insinuations, that his Majesty being immediately constituted by Heaven, was subject and accountable to none, but had all under him, and might make his Will the Law and Measure of his Actions; that they hoped he would not be more mildred than Priests, nor more holy than Bishops; they had often publicly  told him, that they would take Chrysostom's Deposition upon their own heads, and therefore begged of him, that he would not spare one Man to the ruin of them all. Partly wearied, partly persuaded by their importunity, he signed the Warrant, which he sent by Patricius his Secretary, and 'twas in this form: Acacius, Antiochus, Severianus, Cyrinus, and their Party, have taken your condemnation upon themselves: as soon therefore as you have disposed, and commended your Affairs to God, depart the Church. Chrysostom having now received a plain positive Order, resolved to comply, and leaving his House, Come, said he to the Bishops, and the rest that were with him, let us go to pray, and join Forces with the Guardian Angel of this Church. But as they were going, a Courtier that was his Friend, privately sent him this Message, that Lucius, a Man fierce and bold, was ready with his Soldiers at Constantius his Baptistery, to wait for him, who if he either opposed or made delays, was to apprehended and carry him away by force, which might endanger the putting the City into a Tumult; that therefore with all Trust and Privacy he should withdraw, lest the People attempting to rescue him, they and the Soldiers should fall together by the ears. In compliance with which prudent and safe advice, he took his leave of the Bishops, and kist as many of them as Tears and Passion would give him leave, and leaving the rest within the Chancel, he  told them he must retire a little. Thence he went to the Baptist●ry, where calling for Olympias and the other Deaconesses, he discoursed to them in this manner: Come hither Daughters, and harken to what I say. The things that concern me, have, I perceive, an end. I have finished my course, and perhaps ye shall see my face no more. This is that which I earnestly beg of you, that none of you would lay aside your accustomend care and diligence towards the Church. If any one that is unwilling, shall be ordained to this place, and shall be chosen by common consent, and not ambitiously seek it, submit to him, as if it were myself. For the Church cannot be without a Bishop, so shall you obtain mercy from God: Be mindf●l of me in your Prayers. Overcome with grief, they threw themselves at his feet, whom he commanded one of his Presbyters to remove, lest it should raise a disturbance among the People. And with that he went towards the East part of the Church. And to blind the People, who he knew would never consent to part with him, he had given order that his Horse, which he was wont to Ride on, should stand ready for him at the West-door of the Church, that it might draw the Peoples expectation thither, while he in the mean time went out at another door, and with a Mind erect above the fears of danger, entertained himself( as he tells us 
Epist. Cxxv. p. 867. ) with such thoughts as these. Will the Empress banish me, let her banish me, the earth is the Lords, and the fullness thereof. If she command that I be cut in pieces, let me be saw'n asunder, the Prophet Esay was served so before me. Will she throw me into the Sea, I remember 'twas the fate of Jonas; Or into a fi●ry Furnace, I shall have the three children for my Fellow-sufferers. If she will cast me to wild Beasts, I think how Daniel went the same way to the lions. If she command that I should be stoned, let it be so, I have Stephen the Protomartyr on my side. Will she have my head, let her take it, John the Baptist lost his. Has she a mind to my Estate, let her have it, Naked came I out of my Mothers Womb, and naked shall I return thither. This was done about the xxth of June Ann. Cccciv.  
II. THE People in the mean time grew impatient, a great part whereof were gone into the Church to seek for him, to prevent whose Pursuit and Rescue, the adverse Party commanded the Church-doors 
So●om. lo●. ●itato vid. S●cr. l. 6. c. 18 p. 327.  to be shut up upon them. They that were without, ran up and down the street in a frantic manner, some making towards the Sea in chase of his conductor, others not knowing whither these things might tend, sled out of the City to secure themselves. They within the Church were as desirous to be out, and the main Crowd pressing towards the door, hindered all means of opening it; till yielding a little, with much ado, they broken it open. In this great hurry and confusion a Fire 
Id.& Pallad. p. 91.  on a sudden broken out in the Church, it began under the Pulpit, and slaming up, reached the Roof, and thence spread itself all over that stately Fabric, leaving no part of it unconsum'd, but the Vestry only, where the Communion Plate and Holy Vessels were laid up. Nor stayed it here, the conquering and triumphant flames rolling themselves through the Air, seized upon the Senate-house, a noble and magnificent piece of Architecture, which stood at a good distance on the South-side of the Church; and which was most wonderful, the Fire seized not the hither part that was next the Church, but the most remote which stood nearest to the Imperial Palace. The flames from both Buildings met together in the midst like the Arch of a Bridge, the People passing safe underneath, and indeed 'twas remarkable that in this whole dreadful Conflagration, neither Man nor Beast was known to lose its life. Together with this Structure perished many noble and exquisite pieces of Antiquity 
Zosim. l. 5, p. 801. , especially the Statues of the Nine M●s●s, anciently erected to them at Helicon, and by Constantin brought hither. Only the Images of Jupiter and Minerva, which stood upon wooden Pedestals before the door of a chapel belonging to the Senate escaped, though the melted led ran down upon them, and the Stones fell thick upon them, and when the Rubbish was cleared, were afterwards found, contrary to all mens expectation, whole and sound. This my Author according to his humour and principles, reports as a Miracle and says 'twas looked upon by all the more discerning persons as a good omen of the future happiness and prosperity of the City, which these Deities would take into their immediate care and protection. The Fire began in the evening, and raged all night, and some part of the next morning, though the main of the Church was destroyed in three hours space. Various were mens discourses about this dismal Fire: Chrysostom's Adversaries, without any scruple, charged it upon his Party, as the effect of an insatiable Revenge; they, on the other hand, protested against so villainous an Insinuation, and threw it upon the others, who, they said, had a design to have burnt them and the Church together: while a third sort more calmly considering the unaccountable rise, the strange progress and manner of the Conflagration, conceived it sent from Heaven, to punish the Enormities of that time, and the unjust banishment of so useful and excellent a Pastor, and so entirely beloved by his People. Whatever the cause was, great Troubles and Confusion ensued upon it, infinite numbers of Persons being apprehended and imprisoned, and very severely dealt with. But the matter not being like to be suddenly found out, Arcadius by an Edict 
C. Ib. lib. 16. Tit. ii. l. 37.  directed to Studius Provost of the City, commanded all Bishops and Clergymen that were Strangers to be released, and to be shipped away, and sent to their own Countries, and that if after the Publication of this Law they should stay still, the Houses where they remained, as also those Houses where any Citizens kept private Conventicles, should be confiscated. The year following Optatus succeeded in that office, who resolving to bring the matter to a more strict and public examination, and being himself a gentle, was glad of this opportunity, to reek his spleen upon the Christians; and as the weakest are sure to suffer most, he prest with great Cruelty upon Chrysostom's Followers, whom he treated with all imaginable fierceness and severity.  
III. THE See of Constantinople being thus made vacant, their next work was to clap one immediately into the Chair, that they might prevent all hopes of Chrysostom's return, and this they did within a week after his departure. The man that was most likely to be pliable to their purpose, and whom they accordingly pitched upon, was Arsacius 
Socr. ib. c. 1●. p. 328. Soz. ib. c. ●3. ●. 789. Pallad. p. 94. , Brother to Nectarius, who had been St. Chrysostom's Predecessor, and upon that account they hoped would be not unacceptable to the People. His Brother in his life-time had procured him the Bishopric of Tarsus, which he refused, either out of real humility and contempt of the World, or as reserving him for a better place. And when Nectarius reproach't him with his obstinate denial, he ratified it with, an Oath, That he would never meddle with a Bishopric as long as he lived; though now he thought fit to dispense with his Oath. He was very old, being Fourscore years of age, in his own nature of a quiet disposition, and an unactive temper, which made him liable to be abused by subtle and designing men; who put him upon pernicious counsels, and justified the most cruel and infamous actions with his authority. A sad sight this was to Chrysostom's Friends and Followers, who could not endure to behold, not so much a Corrival, as an Usurper in his Throne, whom therefore they separated from, and rejected all communion with him, keeping their Religious Assemblies in several Outparts of the City; and from their constant adherence to John their Bishop, were by an appropriate title styled Joannites. It vexed old Arsacius to be thus slighted, and to find so considerable a part of the People turn their backs upon him, of which he complained to the Emperor, who presently published the following Edicts. And first to begin at home, he had in the beginning of the year commanded 
C. Th. ib Tit. iv. l. 4.  all the Palatin-Officers to abstain from those disorderly and tumultuous Conventicles,( as he calls them) under pain of forfeiting their Places, and confiscation of Estate. But what effect soever this wrought at Court, in the City the Joannites still continued their private Meetings, to prevent which he published a Law 
Ibid. l. 5. , commanding all Masters to restrain their Servants from going to those Conventicles, every Master, besides the Punishment of the Servant, being for each Neglect to pay three Pounds of Gold: and that if the Bankers, or any other of the City-Companies should be tardy herein, they should for their Members so offending, be fined in a Penalty of Fifty Pounds of Gold. This was dated September the xith; and that the Countries might fare no better than the City, he directed the following Edict 
Ibid. l. 6.& Pallad. c. 3. p. 26.  to Eutychian the Praetorian Praefect, to be by him transmitted to the Governors of Provinces, to suppress these unlawful Conventicles: Whosoever does not communicate with Theophilus, Arsacius, and Porphyrius,( who was then newly invested in the See of Antioch) let him be deposed from his Bishopric; and withal let him forfeit whatever Estate he has either in money or land. Which being particularly restrained to Bishops, was soon after followed with another of a more general extent: Whoever shall conceal a Bishop or a Clergy-man, or so much as entertain in his house any one that communicates with Chrysostom, let his house be forfeited, and exposed to Sale. Nor wanted these Laws a quick and sharp execution, a Tribune being sent with a Party of Soldiers to break up their Meetings, who fell upon them with Clubs and Stones, stripping some, and imprisoning others, which struck such a terror into them, that they durst scarce stir out of their Houses, and many not daring to trust themselves there, betook themselves to a voluntary banishment. And to make their case yet more calamitous, Optatus the Governor, under pretence of searching after those that were guilty of the late Fire, exercised all manner of severity upon them. Upon this Pretence Eutropius the Reader was apprehended, and brought to Trial, where to extort a Confession from him, he was cruelly beaten with Thongs and Clubs, the flesh raked off his sides and cheeks, with tormenting Irons, and burning Torches put to several parts of his Body, and after all he was sent to Prison, where soon after he died. Nor much better usage did Tigrius meet with. He was originally a Barbarian, and a Slave, but upon his liberty, which for his faithful and diligent service had been bestowed upon him, was in time advanced to be one of the Presbyters of the Church of Constantinople. An humble and good man, and admirably courteous and charitable to the Poor, to Strangers, whom these merciless Wretches took, stripped naked, whipped with Scourges▪ and tying his Hands and Feet, put him upon the Rack, and distended him, till all his parts were out of joint.  
IV. NOR did the weaker Sex go without their share in the common misery: Witness the Sufferings and exemplary Carriages of Nicarete, Pentadia, Salvina, and Procula upon this account. But none more memorable than Olympias, who being a Person peculiarly dear to Chrysostom, who infinitely delighted in the Piety of her Conversation, and wrote no less than seventeen Letters to her in the time of his Banishment, some more particular account must be given of her. She was born 
Pallad. c. 15. p. 150, 162. Soz. l. 8. c. 9. p. 768. c. 24. p. 291. Niceph. l. 15. c. 24. p. 400.  of illustrious Parents, and being a Person of exquisite beauty, and bringing a vast Fortune along with her, was married to Nebridius who had been sometimes Governor, who died within less than two years after, or rather for some pretended mal-administration, was taken off by the Emperor. So accomplished a Lady, and then too in the Prime of her Age, could not, we may be sure, want solicitation to a second Marriage; nay, the Emperor Theodosius designed her for a match for his own Kinsman Elpidius. The Gentleman followed the svit with an unwearied importunity, but in vain; she plainly  told him, If the Emperor had had a mind I should have had an Husband, he would not have taken him away from me. But knowing me unfit for a married life, and uncapable of pleasing a Husband, he at once freed him from the Prison of the Body, and me from the Yoke of Marriage, and put upon me the gentle and easy yoke of Celibacy. The Emperor was nettled with such a stinging Answer, and commanded the Provost of the City to take her whole Estate into his custody, till she should come to be Thirty years of age. The Provost treated her unkindly enough, not giving her liberty so much as to go to Church, or to converse with any Bishop, Elpidius urging him to this severity, in hopes that by this means he might bring her to his Bow. But she was so much the more cheerful and thankful to God for all her Sufferings, and sent the Emperor this Message: You have done, Sir, like a Prince, nay, have carried yourself towards such a poor Wretch as I am, with a care worthy of a Bishop, having commanded that heavy charge to be taken care of, the burden whereof lay upon my shoulders. Though you will do a much greater and nobler Service, if you please to give Order that it be distributed to the Poor, and to the necessities of the Church. For I have been long time weary of the applause of such distributions, and have been afraid lest while conversant in these affairs below, I should in the mean time neglect the better and more durable riches of the Soul. Theodosius could not but admire her virtue, and the gallantry of her Mind, and after his return from his expedition against Maximus, commanded her whole Estate to be restored to her. And to prevent all such unwelcome addresses for the future, she procured Nectarius, then Bishop, to make her Deaconess of the Church of Constantinople, where she entirely spent her Time as well as her Estate in Acts of Piety and Charity, seldom departing from the Church day or night. Money or Lands she disposed of with a liberal hand, as occasion offered; relieved the Poor, made provision for Strangers, attended upon, and ministered to the Bishops, and those that were within the Holy Order. Nay Theophilus himself, as much as he afterwards hated and persecuted her for her entertaining the Egyptian Monks, did once court her at the highest rate, with the most flattering insinuations, while he felt the stream of her beauty flowing towards him. And indeed so great a reputation had her wisdom and virtue given her, that Nectarius dispatched few ecclesiastic matters without her counsel and advice. But she had a more particular honour and respect for Chrysostom, upon whom she personally waited for the most part, superintending the affairs of his Family, even to the care of his clothes, and the provision of his Diet, that it might be such as was agreeable to his weak and languishing stomach. Being thus generally known for so zealous an admirer of the Bishop, and for her almost constant residence about the Church, she was charged with having a hand in the late Fire, which the Provost taking for granted, asked her why she had done it? She replied, This has not been the course and manner of my life; no, I have expended the great Estate God gave me in repairing the Church. The Provost  told her, He knew very well what had been the manner of her life: If so, said she, take then the Accusers place, and let another sit Judge upon us. Finding nothing to prove the Charge, he fell to another method, representing to them what madness it was to refuse communion with their Bishop, when they might so easily take up, and free themselves from all the troubles that were come upon them. And when some yielded to his promises, Olympias answered, It is not just, that I who have there been publicly traduced and slandered, and judicially convicted of not one of those things whereof I have been accused, should yet be forced to make my defence for things not laid to my Charge. Grant me therefore this liberty, that I may have Council and Advocates to pled my Cause against the former Charge. For if I should be compelled, contrary to Law and Right, to communicate with those with whom I ought not, I will never consent to do what no pious and good Christian can warrantably do. The Provost saw no good was to be done upon her, so for that time he dismissed her, ordering her to get her Advocates ready. But sending for her not long after, he fined her in a great Sum of Gold, thinking that argument would prevail. But her Mind was got too much above the World, to be swayed with such considerations, whereupon they proceeded to a Sentence of Banishment, which she readily submitted to, leaving Constantinople, and fixing her abode at Cyzicum, a City upon the Hellespont, whence she was afterwards banished to Nicomedia in Bithynia, and from thence supplied Chrysostom with Money and other Necessaries in the time of his Exile. Here she lived many years, where after all her sufferings and well-spent Life, she resigned her pious Soul to God.  
V. ABOUT this time, if not a little before, Chrysostom's Enemies gained another considerable Stickler to their Party. By the death of Flavian, the See of Antioch became voided this year Ann. Cccciv. The Person universally desired for Successor, was Constantius 
Pallad. c. 15. p. 144. , Presbyter of that Church, who had been first Secretary, and then Reader and Deacon; a Man of quick and acute parts, but withall thoughtful and considerate; of a most strict and severe life, of a mildred, gentle, and quiet temper. There was also at this time Presbyter of the same Church one Porphyry 
Id. p. 141, 145, &c. , who had a long time covered himself with the veil of hypocrisy, but finding now an opportunity fit for his turn, he threw it off. He was in his private Life a Man of most debauched Manners, so given to Wantonness, that he was commonly charged with Sodomy, and for the most part kept company with jugglers, and Jesters, and Coach-racers, and such lewd Society, for which his Name was more than once upon Record in the Civil Judicatories. He endeavoured by all subtle and crafty Methods to insinuate himself into Bishops, and Magistrates; nay, after he had got what he aimed at, is said to have melted down the Church-Plate, and given it to the Magistrates, to stand his Friends upon all occasions. The See being now vacant, he sets up for himself, and his first business was to undermine Constantius. In order fireship he sent Dispatches to Court, and to all the Bishops that were in power, and so solicited his Cause, that he procured an Edict for Constantius's Banishment to Oasis, a desolate part of Egypt, which the good Man hearing of, made an Escape, and got to Cyprus. Next he imprisoned Cyriacus and Diophantus, Presbyters, and the rest of the Clergy, whom he knew true to Constantius. Then taking the opportunity of the Olympiack Games, celebrated every fourth year, and staying till in a manner the whole City was gone out to the Daphne, to behold those famous Sports, he, with Acacius, Severian, and Antiochus,( whom he had privately conveyed thither, and kept there) and some few of the Clergy whom he had gained to his Party, went into the Church, and shut the doors close upon them, where they ordained him, but in such hast and disorder, that they durst not stay to make an end of Prayers. This done, Severian and the rest being well rewarded, fled away by the most private and unfrequented ways. The People returning from the Games, and understanding what had past, were surprised into an astonishment, which held them till the next Morning, when they ran together in a Body to Porphyry's house, intending to burn him and his house together, which he suspecting, had betaken himself to Valentinus the Commander of the Army, then ready to march against the Isauri, whom by Bribes he prevailed with to stay for his security. With this armed Guard he entred into the Church, where they made havoc of what they met with, and trampled the across under foot. Not long after he sent to Court, where by his Agents he procured a peevish, fierce and ill-natured old Man to be made Captain of the Night-guards, that so under the shadow of his Authority, he might the more securely prosecute his malicious designs. The People were forced to come to Church for fear, and those who could, privately assembled for the discharge of their joint devotions. Porphyry in the mean time plagued all that favoured Chrysostom, and struck in with Antiochus and that Party, who followed the Chase with all imaginable Cruelty, especially at Constantinople, where they found the strongest opposition made against them.  
VI. THESE severe Proceedings against the Joannites at Constantinople, sorc'd them to seek shelter and assistance in the West. A Letter 
Pallad. c. 3. p. 24.  subscribed by about XXV Bishops, was written to Rome, to give them an account of what had past, and was sent by Theoteonus Presbyter of Constantinople. Pope Innocent could afford them but little relief at that time,( some great Men of the other party throwing rubs in the way) but did what he could, giving Theotecnus communicatory Letters both to Chrysostom himself, and to all the other Bishops that communicated with him. Soon after him came one Paternus, who also styled himself Presbyter of Constantinople, a Fellow of a deformed Aspect, a Look that betrayed the Rancour of his Mind, and the Malice of his Errand, which indeed was to asperse and calumniate Chrysostom, bringing along with him Letters from Acacius, Paulus, Antiochus, Severian, and some others, wherein they charged the firing of the Church upon him. But they found little welcome, Innocent not vouchsafing to answer them. Not many days after arrived Cyriacus Bishop of Sinnada, who had fled from Constantinople, upon the prosecution of the Edicts against Chrysostom's Followers; and soon after Eulysius Bishop of Apamea in Bithynia, who brought Letters signed by 15 Bishops, and among them by Anysius the aged Bishop of Thessalonica, containing an account both of the former and later Transactions at Constantinople. Within a Month came Palladius Bishop of Hellenople, who had deserted the City, to avoid the Fury of the Edicts; he more particularly acquainted them with the state of things, and shew'd them a Copy of the Edict that had been published last. He was followed by Germanus a Presbyter, and Cassian a Deacon of Chrysostom's, who brought Letters in the name of all Chrysostom's Clergy, representing the Tyranny that had been practised, and the Malice of that potent Faction, by which it had been brought about. And to show the falsehood of the Charge that had been laid upon Chrysostom, that he had sold and embezell'd the Church-Plate and Furniture, they produced an Inventory of the Plate both Gold and Silver, and the costly Ornaments which they had under their Custody, and delivered up before Studius Provost of the City, Eutychian the praetorian Praefect, John Lord Treasurer, Eustathius Receiver, and the Clerks and accountants belonging to that Office. The next that came was Demetrius, Bishop of Pisynus, who had traveled up and down the Eastern Parts, to let them know that they at Rome held communion with Chrysostom, showing Innocent's Letters to that purpose. He brought with him Letters from the Bishops of Caria, testifying their communion with Chrysostom, and others from the Presbytery of Antioch, wherein they declared their agreement with the Church of Rome in this matter, and heavily bewailed the Usurpation of Porphyrius, who had invaded that See. The last that came to Rome at this time, and upon this Errand were Domitian a Presbyter, and Steward of the Church of Constantinople, and Vallagas a Presbyter of Nisibis a City in Mesopotamia, setting forth the miserable estate of the Monasteries in that country, and bringing with them the Acts and Records of Optatus his public Proceedings against the honourable Women at Constantinople, which were Deaconesses of that Church, whom he either forced to communicate with Arsacius, or fined Two hundred Pounds of Gold to be paid into the Exchequer.  
VII. AWAKENED with so many several Messages, which all brought sad and uncomfortable tidings, Innocent began to stir in the business, and thought no course so effectual as to engage the Emperor Honorius in it, who accordingly writ 
Ext. Epist. ap. Baron. ad Ann. 404. ex Cod. Vat.& Conc. T. ii. col. 1311.  to Arcadius about this matter, wherein deducing the thing from the first occasion of it, the offence given by the Empresses Statue, he recounts the great Mischiefs and Miseries which had ensued in the progress of this unhappy Affair, the mention whereof he unwillingly made, advising and entreating him, that these Irregularities might be amended, and by a sincere Reformation of what was amiss, the Divine Displeasure appeased and pacified; that he could no longer keep silence herein, without giving the world too just grounds of suspecting, that he was of the Party, or at least approved those Proceedings; that this was a Matter that did not so properly lye within their cognizance, but belonged to a Council of Bishops to examine and decide, and in order thereunto both Parties had sent their legates to Rome, and to the Bishops of the West, and desired to stand to their determination; and that till this had been made, nothing ought to have been done in it, much less rashly to have run so high, as to proceed to Confiscation and Banishment, especially when the Persons appealed to for Umpiring the controversy, had afforded Chrysostom the Peace of the Church; and concluded, that till judgement was given in the Case, neither side should be excluded their Communion. As for Innocent himself he wrote two Letters, the one to Chrysostom, the other to his Clergy and People at Constantinople. That 
Ext. ap. Sozom. l. 8. c. 26. p. 794.  to Chrysostom was in this manner:  
To our dear Brother JOHN, INNOCENT sendeth greeting.  
ALthough an innocent Person may expect all Prosperity and Success, and ought to seek Mercy and Compassion from God, yet We thought it became Us to writ these Letters as persuasives to Patience, which We have sent by Cyriacus the Deacon; lest otherwise the Malice of Enemies should be more powerful to oppress, than a good Conscience to animate and confirm your hope. For you who are the Pastor and Teacher of so great a Charge, are not to be taught, that in all Ages the best of Men are very often tried, whether they will keep up the strength and vigour of their Patience, or tamely sink under the Evils and Hardships that befall them. And Conscience certainly is the firmest Pillar to support our Minds under all the Miseries and Oppressions that are unjustly laid upon us, which unless we subdue by an invincible Patience, we give to others too just suspicion of a bad Cause. That man ought to bear with any thing, that can in the first place repose his trust in God, and in the next securely acquiesce in the satisfaction of his own Conscience. A good man may be exercised and trained up to Patience, but he cannot be overcome, having the holy Scriptures at hand as Fortresses to defend and preserve him. For the Divine Lessons which we expound to the People, abound with Examples to this purpose, and set before us almost all the Saints that ever were as subject to manifold Afflictions, and approved as 'twere in a School of Trial, before they arrived at the Crown and recompense of their Patience. Let therefore, dear Brother, the Conscience of your Innocency, which under all Calamities is never destitute of the Consolations that naturally slow from virtue, comfort and stay your Mind; for so long as our great Lord and Master has his Eye upon us, a pure and unspotted Conscience will land us in the Haven of tranquillity and Peace.  
In the Letter 
Ext. etiam loc. citat.  directed to the Clergy and People of Constantinople, he lets them know with what infinite trouble he had red the sad account of their Sufferings, represented in their Letters by Germanus and Cassianus; that a little patience would be the best and only Cure; that God would shortly put a period to these Calamities: and that the very bearing of them would in the mean time be useful and advantageous; that he hearty sympathiz'd with them in their Sufferings, and would have administered proper Consolations to them, but th●t their own Letters had prevented it; that in the proceedings against Chrysostom, there had been a violation of all Right and Law, of all Justice and Equity, and such as had not been acted in the days of their Forefathers; that for the Canons so much talked of, they should keep only to those of the Synod of Nice, which was the duty of the Catholic Church to observe and own; and if any others were produced disagreeing with these, and were found to have been contrived and composed by Heretics, they should be rejected by all Catholic Bishops, it having been the constant attempt of Heretics to undermine and subvert the great Nicene Council: that as a remedy to all these Evils he had long since thought it necessary that a Synod should be convened, the only way to alloy these boisterous Storms and Tempests, an effect which through God's blessing they might expect, and 'twas now under their consideration, by what means a general Council might be best assembled, that might bring things to this happy issue. They should therefore endure a while, and fortify themselves within the bulwarks of patience, and hope that by the Divine Assistance all things would be restored, and set in joint again. What further help Innocent afforded these afflicted Wretches, shall be related in its proper place, in the mean while we return to Chrysostom.   

SECT VII. His Acts from his going into banishment till the death of Arsacius.  
Chrysostom denied liberty to clear himself of the imputation of burning the Church. Conveyed into Bithynia. The places designed for his exile; first Sebastea, then Cucusus in armoniac. The misery and disconsolateness of that place. The civility of the Commander appointed to conduct him. His arrival at Caesarea, and recovery from his fever. The treachery and rudeness of Pharetrius Bishop of that place. Chrysostom forced to quit that place at a dangerous season. The kindness of the People, and noble Civilities done him by the Lady Seleucia. Pursued by the malice of Pharetrius. The danger and trouble of his Journey. The infinite kindness shewed him in his passage. His coming to Cucusus. The obligingness of his entertainment there, and the Provisions made for his accommodation. His recovery into a good degree of health. The Isauri who; their dangerous neighbourhood. The flocking of his Friends to him. His employments there. His care for the Propagation of Christianity in Phoenicia, and among the Goths. His last Tract, Quod nemo laeditur nisi a seipso. His Letters to those that suffered for his cause. Frequent Distempers return upon him. The fears he daily lived in of the Isaurian inroads.  
I. NO sooner had Chrysostom retired out of the great Church at Constantinople, and delivered up himself to the Officers that were to take him into Custody, but he was forthwith clapped aboard 
Sozom. l. 8. c. 22. p. 788.  a small Vessel, and together with Cyriacus and Eulysius 
Pallad. c. 10. p. 93.  was carried to a place in Bithynia, where they were kept a while, till the business of the fire could be searched into. Cyriacus and Eulysius and the other Clergy were shortly after called to their trial, cleared and discharged; but Chrysostom was not permitted the favour of a trial, though he earnestly begged it, Although in other things( said he) you will not give me liberty so much as to defend myself, yet let me be heard in matters that concern the Church, whether I have been the Author of the fire, as you give out. But this being denied him, he was constrained to prepare for his Journey. The place that was first appointed for his exile was Sebastea 
Chrys. Epist. CXXI. p. 862. CCXXI. p. 935. , but this being it seems thought too good a place for him, he was ordered to be carried to Cucusus, a Town in the lesser armoniac, but situate upon the Confines of Cilicia, and therefore sometimes 
Vid. Epist. CXXV. p. 871.  reckoned as belonging to that country. A City which had little besides sharp Air, and a barren Soil to recommend it, hunger and hardship being the ordinary entertainments of that place, and which was worse than all that, 'twas perpetually exposed to the inroads of merciless Robbers, who never failed to infest it. And perhaps 'tis no uncharitableness to suppose, his Enemies designed this Town on purpose, because it had been a place 
Vid. Athan. Apol. pro fug. p. 547.  whither his Predecessor Paulus in the reign of Constantius, after much such usage as he had met with, had been banished, and where he was strangled and made away by Philip the Governor, a sworn slave to the Arian Faction. This they knew could not but afford him an uncomfortable prospect, and if neither the coldness of the Climate ruined his weak tottering Body, nor the barbarity of Thieves and Robbers dispatched him out of the way, yet the melancholy reflections he must needs make on so fatal a place might break his heart, and sooner at least put an end to his Life. The Commander to whose care and conduct he was committed, was Theodorus 
Epist. CXV. p. 855. X. p. 769. , who treated him with singular humanity and kindness not only above his expectation, but beyond his desire, for he suffered him to want nothing that might administer to his ease or conveniency, and seemed to make the care of his Person his only business. And indeed he had occasion for all the civility and assistance which his Friends could show him, for besides 
Epist. CXX. p. 860. XIII. p. 771.  his accustomend weakness and the sickness of his Stomach, he had through the inconveniencies of a tedious and troublesone Journey contracted many other Distempers, especially frequent fevers, which held him for a whole month together, not a little increased by continual traveling, the heats of the day, and want of rest at night, and those necessary accommodations for a man in his condition, which these Countries did not afford, so that he looked upon his Condition as in effect more miserable than that of slaves that labour in the Mines.  
II. AT Nice( whence on the 3d of July he wrote to Olympias 
Epist. X. p. 769. , and on the 4th. which was the day of his departure, to Constantius 
Ep. CCXXI. p. 931. ) he found himself somewhat better than ordinary, the air of that place agreeing with him: But he soon relapsed, and was worse than ever. And in this uncomfortable case he continued till he came to Caesarea in Cappadocia, his fever still raging upon him. He lodged in the outparts of the City, where he might be freest from noise and crowd. And now his Circumstances being so much bettered, his Distemper began to abate; he was no longer tied to moldy Bread, and stinking Water, had the liberty to keep his Bed, and sometimes the conveniency of a Bath to go into, and especially had the help of the most skilful and eminent Physicians 
Epist. XII. p. 770. , who constantly attended his Cure, and treated him with so generous a Compassion, that one of them engaged to accompany him the remainder of his Journey. He was indeed beholded with Pity and Commiseration by Persons of all ranks, and visited 
Ep. XIII. p. 779.  every day, not only by the common People, but by the Magistrates, and Persons of the highest Place and Quality, who came to offer their Services, and to pay him all demonstrations of honour and respect. But these kind Offices served only in the end to create him so much the more envy and trouble from some, who ought to have been most active and exemplary in kindness to him. Pharetrius was at this time Bishop of that See, a man of a timorous and sordid disposition, ready to comply with any Party that was uppermost, and that might save his Stake. When Theophilus and his Synod had deposed 
Pallad. c. 8. p. 77.  Chrysostom at Constantinople, without either Summons or Provocation he wrote a Letter to them, testifying his Concurrence with their Proceedings. Great expectations there were of the entertainment he would give to Chrysostom, who upon his very first arrival upon the Borders of Cappadocia was  told 
Ep. XIV. p. 775. , that Pharetrius expected him, and which way soever he went was resolved to meet him, and give him a most welcome and kind reception, and that he had prepared and excited the Monasteries to do the like. But Chrysostom knew the man too well to give any credit to the report, and found things no otherwise than he expected at his coming to Caesarea. Where Phar●trius was so far from waiting upon him, or showing him the least respect, that he set all his Engines on work to hasten his departure thence. The disfavour Chrysostom was under at Court, and the displeasure of a powerful Faction, which all they were liable to that shewed him any kindness, and the envy he conceived at the unusual honours that were done him under his very nose, made him resolve to rid the City of his Company. Indeed Chrysostom having recovered some measures of his health, had of himself determined to go onwards with his Journey, when a sudden accident put a stop to it. For news was brought that the Isauri were fallen into these parts with a great Army, and had already burnt a considerable Town, and wasted all places as they came. This created no small alarm at Caesarea, every one supposing they would forthwith besiege that place. Whereupon the Tribune with what Forces he could on the sudden get together, went out to meet them, leaving the City under such apprehensions of dangers, that the very aged men were forced to watch and defend the Walls. This for the present stopped his Journey, and now Pharetrius thought he had a fit opportunity to vent his spleen, and having engaged the Monks to his Party, made use of them as instruments to effect it, which he managed thus. In the midst of this general Confusion a Troop of Monks came early in the morning to Chrys●stom's door, threatening to fire the House, and proceed to the utmost extremities, unless he immediately left the Town. The weakness of his Condition, and the almost inevitable danger of the Isaur●● Army, might, one would think have pleaded for him with any that had but the least sense of the necessities of human nature; but rage and passion is deaf to all the importunities either of Reason or Religion. Nothing would satisfy, but he must be gone, and when the Magistrates came to interpose, they threatened to cudgel them, and bravingly put them in mind, that this was not the first time they had done so. The Magistrates were startled, and besought Chrysostom rather to throw himself into the arms of the Isaurians, than to expose them to the mercy of these fierce wild Beasts. By this time the governor of the City had notice of the Riot, who came presently to the place to assist in his rescue, but they regarded neither his Commands nor entreaties any more than they had done those of the inferior Magistracy, so that not knowing what to do in the case, he sent to Pharetrius, to desire him to take off the Monks, and that by reason of Chrysostom's sickness, and the imminent peril of the War, a few days further respite might be granted him. But neither this way did he prevail, the Monks coming again the next day with more fierceness and violence, and though the Presbyters and the rest of the Clergy had a good mind to help him, and at his first coming had declared their readiness to Communicate with him, and to have nothing to do with his Adversaries, yet durst they not now appear, but like men ashamed hide their heads, when Chrysostom sent to speak with them.  
III. NO importunities prevailing, though danger presented itself with an open face, and the very remains of his fever were not yet worn off, about noon he went into his Horse-litter, and departed the Town, the People generally flocking after him with cries and lamentations, and cursing him that had been the Author of such tragical Proceedings. And when some cried out, whither is it you carry him, into the very Jaws of ruin? Another replied, go I beseech you, fall among the Isaurians, so you leave but us; for into what place soever you shall fall, you may expect to be safe, if once you get but out of our hands. Among the rest of the Company was Seleucia, a pious and noble Lady, Wife to Ruffinus, and a great honourer of Chrysostom, who observing the danger he was in, requested him to stay a while and divert himself at a covetous she had five miles out of Town, sending some of her Servants along with him. Pharetrius heard of it, and sent her threatening Messages about it, which she generously slighted, and gave order to her Steward to see that no care and diligence should be wanting, and that if the Monks should come thither, and make any disturbance, he should summon the Inhabitants of the neighbouring Villages, and repel them by force. Soon after she entreated him that for his greater security against the attempts of the Bishop and the Monks, he would remove into a Castle of hers hard by, that was fortified against any assault. But this he declined, choosing to remain where he was, till Seleucia wearied out with Pharetrius's threatenings and incessant solicitations, was unwillingly constrained to part with her Guest, which yet she concealed from him, making use of this Stratagem. She caused an Alaram to be raised at midnight, that the Isaurian Forces were at hand, whereupon Euethius his Presbyter went into his Chamber, and hastily awaking him,  told him in great amazement, he must rise immediately and be gone, for that the Barbarians were just upon them. The good man was we may imagine, at his wits end, retire back into the City he durst not, to go forward seemed to run into the mouth of destruction. But as the least of the two evils he choose the latter. So in the midst of a very dark, dismal, and tempestuous night he set out, without any considerable Guides or Guards, for upon the first alarm most of the Company had fled to save themselves. To help what might be in this case, he commanded Torches to be lighted, but these Euethius would have put out again, saying, they were the ready way to give direction to the Barbarians where to find them and fall upon them. Thus they passed along in a dark night, and a most rugged and stony way, till Chrysostom's Mule stumbling, and throwing him and the Litter to the ground, had like there to have put a period to all his sorrows. But being lifted up, and supported by Euethius, he grop'd his way, and crept rather than walked along the remainder of the night: In the morning they put themselves into the best posture they could, and proceeded in their Journey. And certainly he had sunk under the burden of so many dangers and hardships, had he not been born up by the Conscience of his innocency, and the goodness of his Cause, and that kind reception he generally met with in his passage, Persons 
Epist. VIII. p. 766. IX. p. 768.  of all ages, sexes, and qualities coming out to meet him, and testifying their deep resentment of his case by the most bitter and passionate lamentations. At his entrance upon the Frontiers of Cappadocia 
Ep. CXXV. p. 871. , and so in Taurocilicia, he was met by great Companies of Bishops, Monks, and holy Virgins, who reflecting upon his hard fate, and the Churches infelicity to be deprived of so excellent a Prelate, burst into tears, and cried out to one another, 'twere better the Sun should not shine in the Firmament, than that John[ Chrysostom] should be silenced. And though it could not but affect him, to see his Friends thus infinitely concerned for him, yet was it at the same time a secret alleviation and satisfaction to his mind.  
IV. ABOVE two months 
Epist. CCXXXIV. p. 944.  he had now been on his Journey, and had grappled with inexpressible hardships and troubles, when at last he arrived at Cucusus, the seat of his exile. Where whatever disadvantages might naturally attend the place, or how dismal soever he might have painted it in his imagination, he found it a better and more delightful Scene 
Epist. XI. p. 769. XIII. p. 772. XIV. p. 779. LXXXIV. p. 830. , than he had any reason to expect, God's Providence disposing things for his best conveniency. The People were exceeding kind and obliging to him, and readily attended all his occasions, so that he found no want of those many Servants which he had formerly had to wait upon him, nay 'twas a thing they contended for, which should be most officious to him; they guarded his Person against all attempts of danger, and every man was proud to be employed in that Service. The barrenness of the soil did not hinder, but that he was plentifully furnished with all necessary Provisions, and happy they that could entertain him. Dioscorus, a Person of Quality, understanding that he was upon his Journey, sent his man on purpose as far as Caesarea to meet him, and desire that he would think of no other Lodgings than at his House. And the same invitation he had from several others; but he accepted of that from Dioscorus, who left the place where he then dwelled, and came thither on purpose to wait upon him, and that he might provide against the severities of that Climate, he built an House on purpose for him, so contrived and ordered as might best secure him from the inconveniencies of the approaching Winter, and crowded his Civilities so thick upon him, that Chrysostom was forced sometimes to chide, and almost fall out with him. Nor was Dioscorus the only kind Person, several other great men writ to their Stewards and Tenants, commanding them to furnish him with any thing that he stood in need of. The Bishop 
Epist. XIV. p. 774. CXV. p. 871. CCXXXVII. p. 947.  of the place was not the last in his Addresses, he supplied whatever might seem defective, if any thing could be wanting after such large and bountiful Provisions, and indeed treated Chrysostom with that incomparable Charity and endearment, that if he would have admitted it, he would have quitted his See, and resigned it up to him. The Climate which he had so much dreaded, agreed well with him, the clearness and purity of the Air, and its temperature at that season adding not a little to his recovery, his health returned apace, and within two days after his arrival he had perfectly worn off all the trouble and weariness of his Journey. The danger of the Isauri, whom both he and his Friends were so afraid of, was for that time over: For besides that the Town was well garrisoned, the Isauri were retired upon the approach of Winter, not likely to return at soonest till the next Summer. These Isauri were a hardy People that inhabited the country next Mount Taurus, between Lycaonia and Cilicia. Infamous they were for robbery and stealing, all the Villages in the country being( as Strabo notes 
Geogr. l. 12. p. 568. vid. vit. orb. descript. Gothofred. p. 26. ) {αβγδ}, nothing else but nests of Thieves and Robbers. And though the Romans under the Conduct of P. Servilius( who hence derived the Title of Isauricus) pretty well scoured the country, yet they recovered again, and went on still in the same lewd course and manner of Life, being upon all occasions troublesone to the Government, and destructive to their Neighbours, upon whom they made continual inroads, spoiling and plundering whatever came to hand. It was this good man's ill Fortune, or rather the cruel policy of his Enemies, to be planted near such desperate and inhuman Neighbours, though at his first arrival the cost was clear, and there was no present fear of any sudden irruption to disturb his entertainment. It added not a little to his contentment, to find some of his dearest Friends at this place. The Lady Sabiniana, one of his Deaconesses at Constantinople, came to Cucusus the very same day that he arrived, and though she was of a great age, and unfit for travail, especially in those rough and uneasy Countries, yet she conquered all difficulties with a masculine spirit, and the eager desire she had to see and attend Chrysostom, and  told him further, that she came with an intention to have gone with him into Scythia, whither it was confidently reported he was to be sent, and that she had fixed her Resolution, to await his motions, and never to desert him. Constantius also, one of his most intimate Presbyters, having got his leave, was come thither to assist and serve him; not to mention those many Bishops and Presbyters, who came thither to salute, and converse with him. In short, so well was he pleased with the conveniencies of this place, that he was afraid he should not be suffered to enjoy them, especially after Olympias and some others of his Friends began to make an interest at Court, that he might be removed to some other place. He desires her therefore not to press this too far; if so much favour might be obtained, that it might be left to him to choose the place of his exile, and when he had done so, be permitted to continue there, or if the design was to transfer him to Cyzicum, or some Port town, or any place about Nicomedia, she should thankfully accept the grant; but if she perceived they intended to remove him to a place of the same, or a remoter distance, she should immediately obstruct it. He lived here in some tolerable ease and quiet, and was surrounded with the kindness and company of his Friends, and was fearful he might be designed for some more remote and desolate place, and dreaded the trouble and hardships of a Journey( which he had so lately smarted under, and which had brought him even to deaths door) worse than a thousand banishments.  
V. SO active a piety, as his Soul was inspired with, would not suffer him to be idle, wherever he was. He preached 
Pallad. c. 10. p. 96.  frequently, and to a People that greedily entertained his Instructions. Nor did he feed the poor by his Doctrine only, but by his Charity. A grievous dearth and scarcity raged at that time in those parts, and the poor found him a common Father, whose necessities he was enabled to relieve by the liberal supplies he received as from others, so especially from his dear Friend Olympias. Many that had been taken Captive by the Isauri, he paid their Ransom, and redeemed from a slavery worse than death itself. Nor did he confine his care and charge to any one place. He had heretofore set on foot a design of driving Paganism out of Phoenicia, and by his endeavours a considerable Progress had been made in it: But now to his no little grief he understood that it went down the wind, and that the Gentiles had made Insurrection, and fallen foul upon the Persons employed in it. This sad news set him again on work 
Vid. Epist. XXI. p. 786. LI. LIII LIV. LV. p. 808 &c. LXIX. p. 822. CXXIII. p. 863. CCXXI. p. 935. , some he sent thither, to others he earnestly wrote about it, that either in their Persons, or by their Letters they would excite and encourage fit Persons to undertake it, and support the Spirits of the Monks, who had met with such ill success in that employment. And that the work might not stand still for want of Money to carry it on, he took order that Charges should be allowed both for the building of Churches, and defraying the expenses of those who laboured in so good a work, and at every turn pressed others to be liberal upon this occasion. Nor did he forget his design of converting 
Epist. XIV. p. 781.  the Goths to Christianity, having formerly ordained Unilas, that Countryman, Bishop, and sent him thither, who had attempted the thing with mighty success. After whose death he now understood that Moduarius his Deacon was come to Constantinople with Letters from the King of the Goths, requesting that another Bishop might be sent amongst them. Afraid he was that the Schismatical Bishops at Constantinople would lay hold upon this occasion, and not only take upon them to Consecrate a Person, but such a one as should be wholly unfit for that Affair. He wrote therefore in all hast to Olympias, that she would use all her Interest to hinder, or at least delay it for the present, and if possible, sand Moduarius privately to him, with whom he would easily adjust that matter. What leisure hours he could spare from more public business he employed in writing Books 
Niceph. l. 13. c. 37. p. 417. , especially that, whick was the last Tract he wrote, and which he dedicated to Olympias, upon this Subject, that no man is hurt but by himself, intending it with respect both to her and himself, as an uncontrollable Argument to submission and patience, and for that purpose wished her to peruse it every day. Nor was it a small Portion of his time that was swallowed up in writing Letters, the greatest part of his Epistles now extant being written from this place, and sometime after his remove. But above all others he thought it necessary for him to writ 
Ep. CLXXIV. p. 908.  to the Bishops and Clergy, that for his sake were in Prison at Chalcedon, whom he commends for their undaunted behaviour under Sufferings, beseeching them still to maintain a greatness and presence of mind suitable to the miseries they endured, and in the midst of all to concern themselves for the good of the Church, assuring them that though their care and study herein might want success, it should not want its reward at the hands of God. To the same effect he wrote a more general Epistle 
Ext. T. 4. p. 685.  to all the Bishops, Presbyters and Deacons that were imprisoned upon this account, that their Sufferings had made them renowned and eminent through the whole World, which should not be in vain, that if their Suffering were so great, what would be their Reward? That they should rejoice and be glad, and quit themselves like men, and remember how many their exemplary courage and constancy had armed with patience, how many that were wavering it had confirmed, and revived their drooping Spirits, the importance of it reaching beyond those who had the happiness to behold it; and that they should sustain them by a continual reflection upon that apostolic Truth, that the sufferings of this present tim● are not worthy to be ●●●par'● with the Glory which shall be revealed in us.  
VI. BUT how pleasant soever an entertainment Cucusus might afford this good man at his first arrival, it was not long before it appeared in its own Colours, and things put on another face. The Winter grew upon him 
Epist. VI. p. 755. ●i●. ●p. IV. p. 743. , and proved more piercing and sharp than ordinary, and though he made the best Provision that warm Clo●ths, good ●ires, and a close Room could make against it, yet c●●ld not all this secure him from the extremity of the could, which 〈…〉 upon him rheums, Coughs, and the old Infirmities of 〈…〉 Vomitings, headache, a nauseating of Meats, and all these attended with want of Rest, not getting any sleep for some nights together. These Distempers brought him very low, and made him oft keep his Bed, and live within a constant prospect of death, and look upon his Condition for at least two months as far worse than that of a dying Person. But the Spring coming on, and the return of the Sun clearing and warming the Air with its gentle and benign Beams, his sickness abated, and by degrees he retriv'd his health, but was still forced to observe a most strict regularity in his Diet, and to deal only in such sorts, and in such proportions, as his Stomach was best able to digest. But alas the Spring that restored his health, brought along with it another mischief, not much inferior to a mortal sickness. The Isauri finding the time of the year fit for a march, made a general inroad 
〈◇〉. LXVIII. LXIX.LXX. p. ●21, 〈◇〉. CXXXV. p. 882. CXL. p. 885.  into that country; all ways and passages were filled with these merciless free-booters, and all Fish that came to Net, Men, Women, and Children were either killed, or made Slaves, you could scarce go any way, but you might behold miserable spectacles of desolation, Cities sacked, Houses demolished, Fields loaded with heaps of slaughtered Carcases, and Rivers more than dyed with Blood. At Cucusus they expected to be besieged every day, a party of three hundred came suddenly upon them in a very stormy night, and passed through the City, and had they not been accidentally diverted, had seized Chrysostom, who knew nothing of the danger till the next morning. These continual frights and alarms made both him and many more oft leave the Town, and betake themselves to Rocks and Woods, or any place that might afford a present Shelter. And though he was sometimes carried into the Castle, where he seemed more secure from danger, yet the tragical Stories that were daily  told, and the dreadful expectations of a violent storm or siege, took away the comfort of that security, which constrained them towards the following Winter to remove him to a place of greater safety.   

SECT. VIII. His Acts from the Death of Arsacius, till his own Death.  
The Death of Arsacius, and Succession of Atticus. Atticus who. An Edict commanding all to communicate with him. A fierce Persecution of the Joannites at Constantinople, and elsewhere. Several Instances of the Sufferings of particular Persons. A Synod convened at Rome upon Chrysostom's account. Honorius's Letters to Arcadius, in his behals. legates sent by the Synod to Constantinople. Their ill Voyage thither, and barbarous Usage there. Chrysostom's Letters to them. Chrysostom forced to shelter himself in Woods and Mountains. The place of his Abode shew'd there at this day. His removal to Arabissus, and equal dangers and inconveniencies in that place. The time of his continuance here. His last Letter to Pope Innocent. His Enemies at Court procure an Order for his removal to Pityus upon the Pontic Sea, and why. The great Cruelties used towards him by the Soldiers in this journey. His coming to Comana-Pontica. admonished of his approaching d●ssolution, by the Vision of S. Basiliscus the Martyr. His preparation for death. His last Prayer, Doxology, and Death. The Solemnity of his Funeral. His Age, and the time of his sitting in that See.  
I. SIXTEEN Months and some odd Days Arsacius 
Socr. l. ●. ●. 20. p. 3●●. l. 7. c. ●. ●. 339. 〈…〉. 8. c. 27. p. 797.  had now sat in his usurped See of Constantinople, when he departed this Life November the xith Ann. CCCCV. The See remained vacant( in their sense, for they looked upon Chrysostom as deposed) four Months, all which time strong Competitions were set on foot, and Interests made for several persons, which at length centred in Atticus, a Presbyter of that Church. He was born at Sebastea in armoniac, and in his younger years had been educated among the Monks of the Macedonian-way, Followers of Eustathius, and very numerous in that country, whom he afterwards deserted, and went over to the Catholics. A Man rather subtle than learned, and fitter to lay a crafty Plot, than to dispute for and defend the Faith. His Sermons were m●●n and sapless, and though he studied hard, and continually red the ●ncient Orators, yet he never attained any degrees of Eloquence. In his Conversation he was smooth and plausible, and knew how to adapt himself to the persons that he had to deal with, and to be either mildred or stern, as occasion called for it, and in his highest Rant could on a sudden put on the contrary humour. He was a professed enemy to Chrysostom, and had been one of his prime Accusers in the Synod at the Oak, yea, {αβγδ} 
Pall●d. c. xi. p. 95. , the Man that had contrived and laid the whole Plot and Design against him. Which, perhaps, was one of the best qualifications that recommended him to this place: which he was no sooner possessed of, but he endeavoured to reduce the Joannites to a compliance with him. But finding that not only the Bishops, but the People generally stood at a distance from him, he fled to the usual refuge in such cases, the secular Arm, and knowing if the Bishops were once brought in, the People would follow of course, he first procured the following Edict: If any Bishop do not communicate with Theophilus, Porphyry, and Atticus, let him be deposed from his See, and deprived of all his Estate. And to strike a terror into all sorts of persons, and that the Laity might not think themselves exempted, another Edict was published, commanding that Persons of Place, and Dignity, should forfeit their Honours and Offices, Commanders and Soldiers be cashiered, tradesman and common People fined in considerable Sums, and banished. To prevent the severity of these Laws, some that were Rich complied to save their Estates, others that were Poor, or that saw not far into the state of things, were by large promises drawn into communion with him. But the far greatest part stood off, and preferred the goodness of their Cause before Riches or Honour, Kindred, or country, and choose rather to fly to the Mountains, or to hid themselves in the remotest Monasteries, or to betake themselves into Foreign Parts; and those that did stay, were forced to assemble in the Fields, and to offer up their Devotions under the open Canopy of Heaven.  
II. NOR was it thus only at Constantinople, but almost in all other places of the East, where several Bishops 
Pallad. c. 18. p. 194.  were banished into the most barbarous Countries, and kept in common Jayls; Cyriacus Bishop of Emesa was carried Fourscore Miles from his own country, and kept Prisoner in a Castle at Palmyra in Persia. Eulysius Bishop of Bostra in Arabia, was sent three days journey to Misphas, a Castle of the Arabs, adjoining to the Saracens. Palladius to Syene, a Town near the Blemmyes, or Ethiopians. Demetrius farther into that part of Oasis that lies next to the Mazices. Serapion, after he had undergone several Accusations without any manner of proof, and by the command of his Judges had been shamefully abused and beaten, even to the dashing out his teeth, was commanded into his own country. Hilary, a person venerable for his Age and Piety, one who for Eighteen years together had not eaten one bit of Bread, feeding only upon Roots and Herbs; after he had been severely scourged by the Clergy, was banished into the most disconsolate Parts of Pontus. Antonius was forced to conceal himself among the Rocks in Palestin. Timotheus Bishop of Maronea, and John Bishop of Lydia, fled into Macedonia, Rodon a Bishop in Asia to Mitylene, Gregory a Lydian Bishop into Phrygia: Brisso, Palladius's Brother, voluntarily quitted his Church, and retiring to a Farm of his own, cultivated it with his own hands. Elpidius, the great Bishop of Laodicea in Syria, kept himself, together with Pappus, three years together in a Garret, where they gave themselves entirely to Prayer. Heraclides Bishop of Ephesus was imprisoned at Nicomedia, where he continued many years, and perhaps died there. Stephen a Monk, for no other cause but bringing Letters from Rome, was kept Ten Months Prisoner at Constantinople, where he was unmercifully handled, and after all refusing communion, had the flesh raked off his breast and sides, which my Author assures us he saw with his own eyes; and when with much difficulty cured, he was Ten Months after banished to Pelusium. A Provincial Soldier that belonged to the Scholae Palatinae, for being but suspected to favour Chrysostom, was subjected to various torments, and after the most bloody and barbarous raking off his flesh, was sent Prisoner to Petrae. I pass by many others mentioned by my Author, and only add what he relates from the Deacon that attended them, the cruel and spiteful usage that the Bishops met with from the Officers appointed to convey them to the several places of their Exile, who treated them with that Rigor and Inhumanity, that made them weary of living, and to choose Death rather than Life. The Money they carried along with them to defray the Charges of their Journey, they took from them, and shared it among themselves; they set them upon the most starved and lean Jades that could be gotten, and then forced them to go two days journey in one day, brought them into their Inns late at night, and hurried them thence early the next morning, so that they had scarce time to eat, and that little they did, their stomach was not able to retain. Their Ears they grated with filthy and obscene discourses, and when they came near any Church, suffered them not to go into it, but drove them either into Inns and Bawdy-houses, or into the Synagogues of Jews or Samaritans, as they more particularly did at Tarsus. The Bishops of the opposite Faction were all the way so far from showing them the least Humanity, that they hired the Guards to hurry them away, and partly by Bribes, partly by threatenings, spurred them on to more Ruggedness and Severity; and when the Laity would have entertained them, they would not permit it. By this means Men were frighted from all offices of kindness, though there wanted not some, who durst own their Cause in that evil time, especially the Bishops of the second Cappadocia, who wept with them and for them, and resented their Case with a generous Sympathy, in which number they who deserved most honourable mention, were Theodore Bishop of Tyana, Serapion of Ostracina, who had been Bishop XLV, and Bosporius of Colonia, who had been Bishop XLVIII years.  
III. WHILE these things were acted in the East, the Bishops were not idle in the West. Pope Innocent made a Breviate of the several Messages and Dispatches that had come, which he sent 
Pallad. c. 3. p. 28.  to Honorius, who thereupon commanded a Synod should be called, and the result of it sent to him. The Bishops of Italy met accordingly, and agreed upon an Address to the Emperor, that he would writ to his Brother Arcadius, that a Council might be convened at Thessalonica, where both the Eastern and Western Bishops might conveniently meet, and constitute a Synod that might nicely determine the Case, not so much by the number of persons, as the quality of the Sentence that should be passed. The Emperor consented, and desiring the Synod to sand by Messengers of their own, wrote the following Letter to Arcadius.  
This is the third time that I have written to your Clemency, requesting that the Proceedings which by a malicious Combination have been carried on against John Bishop of Constantinople, might be rectified: which it seems is not yet done. Wherefore being greatly solicitous about the peace of the Church, whereby our Empire is preserved quiet and peaceable, I have once more written by these Bishops and Presbyters, that you would please to order the Bishops of the East to meet at Thessalonica. In order whereunto our Western Bishops have made choice of persons of unbiast Truth and Integrity, five Bishops, two Presbyters, and one Deacon of the Roman Church, to come upon this Errand, whom I desire you to receive with all Honour and Respect; that if they be satisfied that John was duly and justly deposed, I also upon their information may withdraw from Communion with him: or if they can convince the Eastern Bishops, that they have been knowingly guilty of evil Practices in this matter, they may prevail with you to desert their Communion. What opinion the Western Bishops have concerning John, is evident from all the Epistles that have been sent me, whereof I have annexed two, of the same importance with the rest, one from the Bishop of Rome, the other from him of Aquileia. But above all things I beseech you to take care, that Theophilus of Alexandria, who is reported to be the chief Author of all these mischiefs, may whether he will or no be forced to appear, that so the Council meeting with no Obstruction, may establish such a Peace, as may become the tranquillity of our Reign.  
This Letter 
Id. c. 4. p. 30. , together with others from Innocent, Chromatius of Aquileia, Venerius of Milan, and the rest, were delivered to Aemilius Bishop of Beneventum, Cythegius, and Gaudentius Bishops, and to Valentinian and Boniface Presbyters, with whom went Cyriacus, Demetrius, Palladius, and Eulysius, all Eastern Bishops. They received likewise a Memorial from the Synod, which was to this effect; That Chrysostom should not be admitted to sit in Council, till he was restored to Communion, and the possession of his See, that so all pretence of Calumny being removed, he might of his own accord come in, and take his place. Thus furnished with authority and instructions, they set forward at the Public Charge in their Journey to Constantinople, but the Malice of their Enemies was too quick for them; for as they past by Athens, they were detained by the Tribune that commanded in those Parts, who sent a Centurion with them, but would not suffer them to go to Thessalonica, where they intended to deliver their Letter to Anysius Bishop of the place. He divided their Company, and put them aboard two small Vessels, and after a very tempestuous Passage, wherein they ate nothing for three days, on the third day about Noon they came before Constantinople, at a place near Victor's covetous. Here they were stopped by the Officers of the Custom-house, who forced them back, and sent them Prisoners to Athyra, a Castle on the cost of Thrace, where they were kept asunder, the Italians in an Apartment by themselves, and Cyriacus and his Company separated from one another, and that with so much strictness, that they were not permitted to have a Servant to attend them. Next, their Letters were demanded, which they refused to part with, saying, How can we that are ambassadors, deliver the Emperors, and the Bishops Letters, to any other but the Emperor? Patricius the Secretary, and several others, were sent upon this Errand, but to no purpose, till at length came Valerian, a sturdy Cappadocian, a Military Commander, who rudely pressing upon them, broken the Thumb of Marianus, one of the Bishops then present, in the Scuffle, and took away the Letters by force from them. The next day came Messengers from Court, or at least from Atticus, who brought them three thousand pieces of money, persuading them to communicate with Atticus, and not to mention the proceedings about Chrysostom. But they rejected the Motion, and finding by their barbarous treatment, that they were like to do little good, desired, that since they could do nothing in order to Peace, they might at least be suffered safely to return home. While they continued here, Chrysostom wrote no less than three several Letters 
Epist. Clvii, Clviii, Clix. p. 898, &c. vid. Ep. Clx.  to them, with all due thankfulness, acknowledging their pious Care, and generous Charity, in undertaking fo tedious and dangerous a Voyage upon this account, a kindness for which not he only, but all the Eastern Bishops were obliged to them. And to the very same purpose, and the same manner of Epistles 
Ep. Clxv, Clxvi, Clxvil, p. 902, &c. vid. Ep. Cxlviii. p. 891. , he wrote to the Bishops that came along with them, that is, to Cyriacus and his colleagues. At length, when no Arts could prevail upon them, and they still persisted in their desires to be gone, Valerian was sent to them, who clapped them aboard a rotten Ship, with twenty Soldiers drawn out of several Regiments, and as the report went, agreed with the Master of the Ship to cast the Bishops away in the Voyage. Having sailed a great way, they were upon the very brink of ruin, when they arrived at Lampsacus, where they changed their Ship, and on the twentieth day after their setting out, reached Hydruns, a City in Calabria, whence they got to Rome, and four Months after their first setting out, ended their fruitless and unfortunate Embassy, not being able so much as to give an account, where, or in what condition Chrysostom was. As for Cyriacus Bishop of Emesa, Demetrius, Palladius, and Eulysius, the Companions both of their Voyage and their Sufferings, and whom they left behind them in Prison at Athyra, they were soon after sent into Banishment, Cyriacus to Palmyra in Persia, and the rest to other places, as we have before related.  
IV. THE dangers to which Chrysostom was continually exposed at Cucusus,( where he had now sojourned a full year) made him sufficiently weary of that place. The following Winter he spent in shifting up and down from place to place, as they could administer to his shelter and safety, the Woods and the Rocks, next to God's Providence, being his best security. And here I cannot but mention the Relation of a Modern Traveller 
J. B. Tavern, Travels. Part I. c. 2. p. 6. , who describing his Journey through those Parts, tells us, They came to Charliqueu a famous Town in armoniac, about two Miles from which, in the midst of a Plain, arises a vast Rock, upon the North-side whereof you ascend about nine or ten steps into a Chamber, with a Bed, a Table, and a Cupboard in it, all hewn out of the Rock. Upon the West-side, you ascend other five or six steps that led to a little Gallery about five or six foot long, and three broad, cut also out of the Rock, though of extraordinary hardness. The Tradition of the Christians of that place affirms, that S. Chrysostom made this Rock his retiring place, where they show you the print of a Man's Body. Upon which account the Caravans of Christian Merchants pay their Devotions at this Rock, the Bishop of the place, attended by some Priests, who have every one a Taper in his hand, going and saying Prayers. But I return: The holy Man having shifted for himself as well as he could in the Parts about Cucusus, he was removed to Arabissus 
Epist. Lxvli. p. 821. Cxxxi. p. 877. Pallad. c. 10. p. 96. , a City also of the Lesser armoniac, as a place of greater safety against the Isaurian Inroads. But though he changed the Stage, the Scene continued much-what the same. The barbarous People still forrag'd the country, and came up hither, who forced him to quit the Town, and retire for Sanctuary into the Castle, which yet proved more sad and dismal than a Prison. Without were fightings, within were fears; without nothing but Danger threatened them at the Gates, and the dreadful Prospect of a wasted, burnt, and desolated Country was round about them; within famine began to rage, caused by the straightness of the place, and the multitudes of People that had fled thither. And yet his own case still much worse: for besides his share in the common Calamity, he laboured under a long and dangerous sickness, which the late hard Winter, and his being forced to seek protection from Woods and Caverns, had brought upon him; and all this aggravated with the want of his Friends, whom the infested Roads, and the dangers of the Passage would not suffer to come at him. In these Parts he continued all the Summer, and the greatest part, I guess, if not the whole, of the following Winter, taking all opportunities of preaching about the neighbouring country, and reducing the rude and untaught People both to Civility and Religion. Towards the conclusion of his stay here, he wrote a Letter 
Ext. Tom. 4. p. 683.  to Pope Innocent, which being very elegant,( could it be rendered agreeable to its native Language) and one of the last that ever he wrote, we shall here insert.  
To INNOCENT Bishop of Rome, JOHN in our LORD greeting.  
THis Body of ours is indeed confined to one place, but the Mind mounted upon the wings of Love ranges throughout the World, so that though kept asunder at so vast a distance, yet are we near your Piety, and converse with you every day; while with the eyes of the Soul we behold the braveness of your Spirit, your sincere Affection, im●utable Constancy, and the abundant and never-failing Consolation you ad●●nister to us. For the higher the Waves are carried up, the more the R●●●s and Quick-sa●●s that lurk underneath, the more blustering and tempestuous the Stor●●re, so much the greater is your Care and Vigilance; which neither the g eatness of the way, nor length of time, nor perplexity of affairs, have mad any whit more remiss or slacken: but you continue to imitate the most exce lent Pilots, who are the most wa●chful, when they see the Waves mounted aloft, the Sea begin to rage and sw●●l, the Water to flow amain into the Ship, and the Day hurled into a Midni●●t-darkness. For which we return you many thanks, and desire nothing mo e, then what to us would be the greatest pleasure and contentment, frequent● to sand whole packets of Letters to you. But since the solitariness of this place denies us that happiness,( for not only those that come from you, but not so much as those that dwell in these Parts can come at us, both because we are shut up in a most blind and remote corner of the World, and because Thieves and Robbers every where way-lay and infest the passages) we beg, that our long continued silence may rather move your Pity, than provoke you to charge us with Neglect. For be assured 'tis no Contempt has made us so, and therefore laying hold of an opportunity we have long waited for, the Journey of the Reverend and Beloved Presbyter, John, and Paul the Deacon, we have writ to you, and think we cannot thank you enough for that kindness and compassion you have shew'd us, beyond the tenderest bowels of a Father. For what in you lies, you have taken care, that all things be duly reformed and rectified, all scandals and disorders removed, the Churches settled in Peace, and a pleasant serenity, that all things run in a proper Channel, and neither the Laws be subjected to contempt or force, nor the Constitutions of the ancient Fathers violated. But there are those that have hindered these designs from taking any effect, and not content with what they have done heretofore, by their late attempts they have out-done the villainy of their former Practices. I shall not venture to set them down, the particular account whereof would exceed the limits not of an Epistle only, but an History. But although they have so entangled and confounded all things, that they seem incurably disordered, and uncapable of a Reformation, yet I beseech you still endeavour to reclaim them, and not give the affair over in despair, considering of what mighty importance it would be to bring it to an happy issue, and indeed in some measure the whole world is interested and concerned in this matter. The Churches are wasted and brought low, the People dispersed, the Clergy subdued and trampled on, the Bishops banished, and the ecclesiastic Canons trodden down. Once therefore and again, yea and again I beseech you to use your utmost care and diligence, and the greater the storm is, let your study and endeavour be so much the more. For I have yet some hope, that things may be brought to some good success. But if not, the merciful God will however prepare a Crown for the reward of your labours, and the suffering Parties will receive no small comfort from the abundance of your charity. I am now in the third year of my Banishment, exposed to Famine, Pestilence, War, continual Sieges, to an incredible solitude and desolation, to death every day, and to the points of the Isaurian Swords. In the midst of all which Evils, 'tis no little support and comfort, that we have an interest in your constant and immutable affection, and freedom of addressing to you, and that we are refreshed so much by your ready and sincere Charity. This is our Fortress, this our Security, this our calm and quiet Haven, this the treasury of a thousand good things, this is our rejoicing, and the spring of infinite pleasure and delight. And if after all, we should be driven into a more desolate corner, then that wherein we now are, 'tis this would make us depart with a mighty consolation under all our Sufferings.  
This Letter he delivered to the Presbyter and Deacon, whom he mentions in it, whom by a short Epistle 
Ep. Clxviii. p. 904.  he recommended to Proba, a noble Lady at Rome, to take care of them, as by another 
Ep. Clxix. p. 905.  afterwards( if it be meant of the same dispatch) he return'd thanks to Juliana and the rest of her company, for the kindness and civility of their entertainment.  
V. IN the close of his Letter to the Bishop of Rome, he intimated a suspicion of a design to remove him to a worse place. And herein he proved too true a Prophet. His Enemies 
Pallad. c. 11. p. 96. vid. So●. l. 8. c. 28. p. 798. Socr. l. 6. c. 21. p. 329. Theod. l. 5. c. 34 p. 240. Niceph. l. 13. c. 37. p. 428.  beholded with an evil eye the great respect he met with in all places, it vexed them to see so many flocking after him, so that Antioch seemed to be translated into armoniac, and his excellent Doctrine and Christian Philosophy to be brought back to Antioch. They, above all things, wished him out of the world, and because his frequent distempers, and the uncomfortableness of his abode did not make hast enough, they resolved to try whether another place would not do it. To this end Severian of Gabala, Porphyry of Antioch, and others of that Party, by their Friends at Court procured an Order from the Emperor, commanding under Penalty, that without delay he should be removed to Pityus, the more barren and desolate place of the whole Region of Tzana, and situate upon the very shore of the Pontic Sea. The Praetorian Soldiers appointed for his Guard, used him by the way with more than ordinary ruggedness and severity, saying, They had Orders so to do, plainly declaring, That if they could weary him out of his Life in the Journey, they expected preferment for their pains. One indeed had more regard to common humanity, than his own interest, and privately did him all the kind offices he could. But what Cruelty was wanting in him, there was another made up, a Man of so ill a Nature, that when Addresses were made to him by the way to be kind to the holy Bishop, he took them as so many Injuries offered to himself, his main business being to hasten him to an untimely End. When it rained with the greatest violence, he would go on, though himself was wet to the very skin; 'twas a pleasure to him to travail in the extreme heat of the day, because he knew how much it would afflict the good Man. When they came to any Town where there was the conveniency of a Bath for his refreshment, he would not suffer him to stay a minute. In this troublesome way of journeying,( more cruel to him than death, and by which his body was tanned, like an Apple redded in the Sun, as my Author expresses it) they had now spent a considerable time, and were come to Comana Pontica,( not the Comana in armoniac, as Sozomen by Mistake makes it) a City of Cappadocia at the foot of the Antitaurus, where they would not suffer him to lodge, but carried him to a place five or six Miles off, the Martyrium or Oratory of S. Basiliscus, who had been sometime Bishop of Comana, and in the Persecution under Maximian, suffered Martyrdom at Nicomedia in Bithynia. We are  told that in the Night the Martyr appeared to him, and said, Be of good comfort, Brother, for to morrow we shall be together; and that he had foretold his arrival to the Presbyter that attended that place, and had bid him provide a place for our Brother John, for he is coming. In confidence of, and compliance with the warning he had received, Chrysostom the next day requested of his Guard, that he might stay there till eleven of the clock, which they churlishly denied, and hurried him out. But they had not gone four Miles, when finding him extremely ill, they brought him back to the Oratory. When he was come in, he called for white clothes, which he put on fasting, having stripped himself from head to foot, and bestowed those he put off upon them that attended him. Then he received the holy Eucharist, and before them all made his last Prayer, and having concluded with his usual Doxology, Glory be to God for all things that happen, and sealed up all with his last Amen, he stretched out himself, and gently resigned up his Soul to Christ. It happened that there was at this time thereabouts a mighty confluence of Monks, holy Virgins, and other pious persons from Syria, Cilicia, Pontus, and armoniac, as if they had been purposely summoned thither, all which were great Mourners at his Funeral. The Corps being prepared for its Interment, the day was kept Festival, and like another victorious Champion, he was brought to his Grave, and butted in the same Tomb with S. Basiliscus. He died on the day of the Exaltation of the Holy across,( which himself had so cheerfully born for many years) Septemb. xiv. Ann. Chr. CCCCVII. in the LIId year, and eighth Month of his age, the third Year, and third Month of his Exile, and after he had been Bishop of Constantinople nine years, six months, and sixteen days.   

SECT. IX. The Character of his Person, Temper, and Endowments.  
The description of his outward shape. His natural temper choleric; how increased. His mighty Zeal for God, and passionate concernment for the Truth and Honour of Religion. His unwearied diligence and fidelity in his Episcopal Charge. His impartial, resolute, and undaunted carriage towards all. His contempt of the World. His Charity, and earnest pressing others to it. The Charge of his not keeping Hospitality considered, and answered. His humility. accused of pride, and why. The reasons of his dining alone. His natural abilities. Great learning. His Talent in preaching, and peculiar excellency in expounding Scripture. His expositions accounted the rule of Orthodoxy. His little ostentation of Secular Learning. The many excellent Scholars bread under him. His incomparable style, and mastery in eloquence. The Character given of it by the Ancients. Spurious pieces fathered upon him. The opus imperfectum, the issue of a latin Pen. The case of his Liturgy.  
I. HE was in his outward shape( if we may credit the description the Greek Menologies give of him) low of stature, his Head big, but bald( whence Palladius says 
c. 10. p. 99.  of him, that he had {αβγδ}, a bald-pate like Elisha) his forehead large, but full of wrinkles, his eyes sunk deep inwards, but withal quick and amiable, his Cheeks lank and hollow, his Beard short and thin. 'twas the look of a man truly mortified to the World, one that by the admirable strictness of his life, had subdued the Flesh to the Spirit, and had brought the appetites of sense in subjection to the Laws of Reason. He was naturally inclined to Choler, which as it was greatly increased by an over-rigorous abstinence, so it infused a more than ordinary briskness and activity into his temper, and made him fearlessly attempt, and resolutely go on with any undertaking, wherein his Duty or the interest of Religion was concerned. His Zeal for God always transported him beyond all considerations of conveniency or danger, he was himself true to the rules of piety, and he endeavoured to make others so. The truth and honour of the Christian Religion he strenuously defended against the attempts of Gentiles on the one hand, and heretics on the other. He wrote against them, and where Arguments would not do, implored the help of the civil Authority to assist in it. He was startled to find that in that broad daylight of Christianity, Phoenicia, a neighbouring country, was still overspread with the darkness of Paganism and Idolatry: For the Conversion whereof he formed a society of zealous Persons, whom he prevailed with to undertake it, and procured Imperial Edicts to back them, and by his own, and the Charity of others furnished out a Stock to carry it on, and when the work not only stood still, but went backward, he ceased not even in the time of his exile to reinforce it, and make provision for the Charges of it. He frequently silenced the Blasphemies, and suppressed the insolences of the Arians, Anomaeans, Marcionites, and other home-enemies to the Faith, and used all kindly and probable methods to reduce them from the errors of their ways.  
II. THE Affairs of his Episcopal Cure he followed with all imaginable solicitude and fidelity, he constantly attended public Prayers, preached frequently, and some parts of the year, especially in Lent, every day. And when at any time detained by sickness 
Vid. Phot. Cod. CLXXII. col. 385. Vid. Chrys. Homil. 1. de div. loc. N. T. Tom. 5. p. 1. , was wont to account this forced silence, and absence from his People, worse than the Disease itself. And no sooner was he restored to any measures of strength, but he return'd to the Pulpit with a kind of Triumph and rejoicing, declaring he looked upon this opportunity of conversing with his beloved Auditory as the sweetest accent of his health, and was as much affencted and delighted with it, as men are wont to be, that after a tedious absence, and a long Journey are come home safe. The irregularities of his Clergy, grown more loose through the incircumspection of a mildred and easy Predecessor, he corrected sharply, and though it created him no little envy and opposition, he went thorough with it, suspending and discharging those, whom persuasion and admonition would not reclaim. His Reproofs were severe and impartial, he neither feared or spared the greatest, nor despised and overlooked the meanest. His generous mind was too big to be awed from the discharge of his duty, in this no Interest could oblige him, from this no terrors or threatenings could affright him, wherever he espied a real and material fault, he let sly at it, and if private admonition would do no good, they were sure to hear of it in public, and that many times with tart reflections, the chief occasions that engaged the Empress, and the great Ministers at Court in so fierce and violent a Persecution of him. Sometimes he would set himself to jeer 
Pallad. c. 19. p. 187.  men out of 'vice, and ironically salute them by contrary names, the Drunkard he would call a Water-drinker, the Covetous, Poor; and the Thief gentle and merciful. virtue, wherever it was, was sure to have its just Commendation and Encouragement from him, he ever valued a sober Youth before an aged but intemperate Person, and an old Man desirous of instruction, before a conceited and illiterate Youth, a poor idiot before an unlearned Worldling, and a virtuous lay-man before an idle and lazy Monk. The World he despised, and rejected all its allurements and charms, the temptation to riches had no hold upon him, he declined all Preferments, and when that great Dignity was cast upon him, touched 
I●. c. 17. p. 166.  not one penny of the large Revenues of that Church, nor took any more of it to his own use, than what barely served for a very spare and thrifty Diet. And though he stood as fair as any man to be the darling both of Court, City, and country, and a little courtliness and compliance in his temper might have rendered him perhaps one of the greatest Favourites of his age, yet would he not take one step out of his way to gain the highest honours or interests, no not to secure his bishopric, nor to save his Life.  
III. His Charity kept place with, if not rather exceeded his other virtues. His own Estate, which was very considerable, he partend with in his younger days to the uses of the Poor, and the exigences of the Church at Antioch, and when advanced to the See of Constantinople, he took a strict account of those great Revenues, and the expenses of his Family, and whatever could be spared from Charges absolutely necessary, he set apart for pious and charitable Uses, founding and endowing a large Hospital, which he furnished with all necessary Officers and Attendants, and provided with all proper Accommodations. The Rich he was continually exciting 
Geo. Alex. vit. Chrys. c 2●. p. 188. E●i●. Gra●.  to Mercy and Liberality, and to lay aside part of their superfluous Incomes, to cover the naked backs, and to refresh the hungry bowels of the Poor, putting them in mind what a mighty influence this would have upon their future Accounts, and be resented by our great Lord as a kindness to himself, which he oft inculcated by repeating that Sentence, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my Brethren, ye have done it unto me. By which means he softened the hard hearts of many, and melted down their Purses into the Laps of those that needed them. Indeed he was so powerful an Advocate for the Poor, and pleaded their Cause with so much success, that he was commonly called, {αβγδ}, John the Almoner. I know he stands charged for not keeping Hospitality, but this was a way 
Vid. Pallad. c. 12. p. 102, 106.  of living plainly repugnant to his temper, and, as he thought, undecent both for his place and person, he could not gorge and drink, and droll, and laugh, as they must ordinarily do that keep an open Table; he conceived nothing more unreasonable, than for? person devoted to the ministries of Religion, to lay aside the immediate duties of his Office, and employ himself in overlooking the Cooks Bills of Fare, and examining how things went in the kitchen, which was for a Doctor to commence Cook, and therefore when blamed for it, answered, It is not reason that we should leave the Word of God, and serve Tables, who are to give ourselves continually to Prayer, and to the ministry of the Word. Such kind of expenses he thought were much fitlier placed upon the Poor, and that 'twas a kind of Sacrilege to withdraw it from that use, and throw it away upon Trencher Guests, and Luxurious Companions. Besides, Constantinople was infinitely populous, and a place given to Feasts and Entertainments,( a thing frequently laid to their charge by Pagan Writers 
Liban. de templ. p. 22. de vit. sua. p. 6●. E●●op. in Aedes p. 36. aliiqus. ) and he could not entertain some, without giving way to all, a thing which he could not reflect upon without amazement and horror. But for a fuller Apology herein, I refer the Reader to Palladius. But though he disliked this kind of Hospitality, yet was he very ready to entertain Strangers, such especially as were devoted to the severer Exercises of Religion. To this he earnestly pressed others, minding them who had said, I was a stranger, and ye took me in; and that by this kind of Hospitality, some had entertained Angels unawares. His Humility was exemplary in the midst of his incomparable accomplishments, and the Honours and Dignities he enjoyed; he was a perfect Enemy to all unn●cessary Pomp and Vanity, insomuch that many who were wont to come to Church, or to go to the Bath or the Forum with a vast and pompous Retinue, by his example and persuasion were brought to go attended with no more than one or two Servants. He loved not the very shadow of Flattery and Applause. When the People many times entertained his eloquent Sermons with shouts and acclamations, with stamping, and other expressions of delight and satiffaction,( according to the humour of that and all foregoing Ages) he would stop and check 
Hom. II. ad Antioch. p. 27. v. p. 66. vii. p. 99. de Incompr●h. Dei. not. Hom. 4. p. 326. Hom. xvii. in Math. p. 222.& alibi saepiu.  them, that this was to turn the Church into a Theatre, that he utterly disliked such Commendations, that the best praise they could give him, was to do as he taught them, and not to applaud his Sermons, but to practise them. 'tis true he was commonly challenged for being proud 
Pallad. c. 19. p. 182. c. 12. p. 102. Socr. l. 6. c. 4. p. 303. , for besides the natural gravity and austerity of his temper, he always used to dine alone, which was looked upon as no mean instance of his pride and haughtiness, when as in truth he did it upon these accounts. First, because by reason of his customary headache, he drank no wine, which, in those Parts especially, rendered him less fit for Table-converse and Company. Sec●n●ly, his stomach was extremely weak, and so infirm and out of order, that the very smell and sight of some meats was offensive to him, and oft-times he could not bear the Dishes provided for him, but was forced to stay till others could be made ready. Which proceeded not from the vicious niceness of his palate, but the incurable infirmity of his stomach. Thirdly, when engaged hard at his studies, or wrapped up in Divine Contemplation, or taken up with Ecclesiastic Affairs, he would many times lapse the usual times of dining, and eat nothing till the evening: which were the true causes, why he choose to eat alone. The truth is, his whole Life was in effect a continued Fast, he having from his younger years so accustomend himself to the utmost severities of Abstinence and Mortification, that he had irreparably wasted his stomach, and rendered it almost irreconcilable to any ordinary food, and so far weakened nature, that no Arts of Physic were able to retrieve his health, having thereby laid the foundation of those frequent infirmities and distempers, that haunted him to his dying day.  
IV. NATURE had enriched him with very exquisite Abilities and Endowments, a clear Apprehension, prompt Wit, acute Reasoning, pregnant Invention, and all these attended with a nimble and ready utterance, and an apt way of expressing his Conceptions. Notions flowed quick into his imagination, and found words ready to cloath and dress them up in their proper shapes; as will be very evident to any that shall peruse his Extempore-Orations, where there could be no place for Premeditation. His Juvenile Education under the best Masters of that Age, had laid in a sufficient stock of Learning and Philosophy, though he had not occasion to make much use of it. For after he had a very little time served the Forum, he went early over to the study of Theology, to which he applied himself under the conduct of Miletius Bishop of Antioch, Eusebius and Diodorus, who governed the Monasteries in those Parts, and were both Bishops afterwards. He set himself with all possible seriousness and industry to red and understand the holy Scriptures, which he afterwards so largely and accurately explained, and above all peculiarly studied S. Paul's Epistles, which he seldom laid out of his hand: and indeed there seems to have been a more peculiar conformity of genius and temper between that great Apostle, and this excellent Prelate. Having thus ransacked the Sacred Treasuries, and carried away a noble Furniture of Divine Learning, he gave up himself almost entirely to preaching and instructing others. A Province he managed, with that clearness and perspicuity, that force and evidence, that freedom and smartness, and yet with that temper and sweetness, that in the whole Train of ancient Fathers none went beyond him, and few came near him. The Scriptures he expounded very naturally, and in the obvious and literal sense; a happy Talent almost peculiar to him, the main humour of those Ages being to wire-draw Scripture into Allegories, and to make witty Allusions, and pick out mystical and far-fetched Expositions, which were never intended, and when found out, served to little or no use or purpose. In all his Expository Homilies he takes the plain sense that naturally offers itself, which he opens, and illustrates with some short and pithy Remarks and then( which is his Application) concludes with a {αβγδ}, some general Exhortation, not always adapted to his preceding discourse, but prosecuted upon some moral argument of great advantage to his Auditory. And indeed so happy a Talent had he in expounding Scripture, that an ancient Writer 
{αβγδ} ap. Sivil. Tom. 8. p. 318.  assures us, That his judgement herein was accounted the common standard of the Church, insomuch that although all the rest of the Fathers unanimously concurred in the Exposition of any one place, yet if his sense differed from it, his Exposition was immediately chosen, and preferred before, yea, against all the rest. And this he tells us had been, and still was the custom and practise of the Church in his time. He reproves 'vice with great impartiality, and with severe Censures, and yet conveys his Reproofs with that sweetness and tenderness, those soft and elegant insinuations, that they made their way without any difficulty into the Minds of his Hearers, and the most obstinate Offenders could not but love and kiss the hand that chastised them, his discourses at once administering both profit and delight. Though Master of a great deal of secular Learning, he makes no ostentation of it; but though it be not ordinarily discernible, yet it gave his discourses a better relish, like generous Wine mixed with water,( as Erasmus wittily represents it) where though the taste and colour of the water cannot be distinguished, yet it makes the Wine drink more pleasant and delightful. It adds not a little to the reputation of his Learning, that he bread such a Race of excellent Men, who were his Scholars, Men famous both for the contemplative and practical Philosophy of Christianity: such were Palladius Bishop of H●ll●nopl●, Isidore the Pelusiote, Nilus, mark, and Theodorit Bishop of Cyrus, and many more, who accounted it their honour, as it was their interest, to have been brought up under such a Tutor.  
V. THE vein of Oratory, which he learnt in the School of Libanius, he brought with him into the Church; where he employed it to the use of the present, and the admiration of all future Ages. His style is clear, chased, easy, and elegant; his conceptions slow in the most apt, familiar, and intelligible expressions, though whenever his Argument required it, or his Leisure permitted it, he could cloath his Mind with a more accurate Eloquence, witness his elaborate compositions while he was at Antioch, where he enjoyed ease, and more calm and retired thoughts, than he did afterwards. If to him it was, that the Epistle 
Ap. Isid. Pel. l. 2. Ep. 42. p. 116.  of Libanius was written, how highly did the great Man admire but one of his Orations, and that too one of his very first Attempts, reading it before some Master-Orators who entertained it with Shouts, and Leaping, and Acclamations, and all other demonstrations of Astonishment and Admiration. And Isidore of Pelusium infers from it, that according to Plutarch's Rule, who makes Facility and Perspicuity the Standards of true Attic Eloquence, Chrysostom must needs carry the Crown from all the rest, who in the purity of Attic words, and in the clearness and perspicuity of his expressions excels all others. Suidas 
In voc. {αβγδ}.  says, That no Man in any Age was Master of such a copiousness and plenty of words, which ran from him with a fluency beyond the Cataracts of Nile. And one of his Successors 
Philoth. Orat. in Bas. Gregor.& Chrys. Tom. II. Biblioth. Pp. gr. l. p. 329.  in the See of Constantinople infinitely commends the sweetness of his Eloquence, the profoundness of his Notions, the height, clearness, and inexpressible lusciousness of his Discourses, the power and perswasiveness of his Rhetoric, the strange impetus and nervous efficacy that attends his Reasonings, in comparison whereof the most celebrated Orators of Greece were but Children to him: His admirable explanation of Scripture, moral Discourses and Exhortations, Explications of the Rites of the venerable Sacraments, panegyrics in celebration of the memory of holy Fathers and Martyrs: to give a particular account of each of which, he tells us, were as vain an Attempt, as to try to crowd the atlantic Ocean into a Cup, or to measure the Nile by a Pint-pot, or to unlade and exhaust Euphrates. 'twas this admirable Faculty endeared him to those, and has since rendered him venerable to all succeeding times, and first fixed the Title of Chrysostom, or the golden-mouthed Father upon him; though it does not appear, that that Title was given to him till an Age or two after his death. His Books and Discourses, whether penned by him, or taken from his mouth by Notaries, are as numerous as they are excellent. Nicephorus tells 
L. 13. c. 2. p. 350.  us, he had red above a thousand of them, having been trained up in them from his Childhood, and that what Learning he had, he owed it entirely to them. Among them Suidas gives the first place for Learning, Sublimeness and Elegancy to his six Books de Sacerdotio, next these to his Exposition of the Psalms, and his Commentaries upon the four Evangelists. The rest, he tells us, are sans number, and that to recount them is not the work of a man, but of an Omniscient Being. Indeed there are still extant more of his Writings, than any two of the Greek Fathers put together. And yet time has robbed us of many others, for he entirely 
C●ssio l. div. L●●t. pr●ef. p. 421. Suid. loc. cit.  explained the holy Scriptures, many of which Commentaries are wanting at this day. And among other of his Writings that have miscarried, no doubt are many of his Epistles, the greatest part of those that remain( they are in all to the number of about CCLV) being written in the time of his Exile, during the three last years of his Life. One famous Epistle of his there is, but as yet shamefully suppressed we may be sure out of no good design. I mean his Epistle to Caesarius the Monk( cited by some of the Ancients) against the heresy of Apollinaris, wherein is a most express and irrefragable testimony against the Doctrine of Transubstantiation. A very old Version of this Epistle( for the Greek, 'tis much doubted whether it be any where extant) was first produced in these latter Ages by Peter Martyr, and by him laid up in the Library of Archbishop Cranmer, upon whose Apprehension and Martyrdom it was seized upon together with the rest of his Study, and dispatched out of the way. And thus the thing slept, till within these few years, when monsieur Bigotius, a learned Gentleman of Paris, met with the old Copy( being the same whence Peter Martyr had taken his) in a Library belonging to a Convent at Florence; transcribed, and printed it together with a Preface, intending to publish it at the end of Palladius his Life of Chrysostom. But the Zealots of that Church were ware of it, and dreading the consequence of so home an Authority against one of their most beloved and important Articles, arrested both the Preface and Epistle, and clapped them under hatches, just when ready to come abroad. So natural is it for every one that doth evil, to hate the light, and not to come to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved. Against so dishonest and fraudulent a piece of Artifice a learned French Protestant has exhibited a just Complaint to the world, 
Edit. land. 1682. 4o.  in a late Expostulatory Preface to a piece of Anastasius Sinaita. But enough of that. The famed of so illustrious a person has brought upon him the common Fate, to have many spurious Pieces, considerably more than any of the Fathers of the Greek Church, fathered upon him, among which I especially reckon the Opus imperfectum upon S. Matthe●: an ancient Piece I grant, and done by a learned hand, but plainly insected with a tang of Arianism, and some other Heresies; so far from being Chrysostoms, that 'tis probably thought to have been done by some Writer of the Latin Church. Nor have any footsteps of the Greek ever yet been heard of, so strangely was Possevin 
Appar. Sac, in Jo. Chrys. p. 855.  out, when he affirms, that it has been often published in Greek and Latin. The case of his Liturgy I conceive to be much the same with that of S. Basil, 'twas composed by him for the use of the Church of Constantinople, and contracted into somewhat a narrower compass than that of S. Basil, but has undergone the same lot, to be enlarged and interpolated according to the humour of the Ages and Persons, whose hands it has passed through, and thence have proceeded the various Readings, and very different Copies of it still extant. However it is highly honoured by the Eastern Christians, and is the Liturgy ordinarily used by the Greek Church at this day.   

SECT. X. Passages relating to Chrysostom, that happened after his Death.  
Pope Innocent's Letter to Arcadius, and susp●nsion of him from Communion. Honorius's severe Letter to Arcadius. Arcadius his Repentance, Humiliation, and Absolution. Vengeance overtaking S. Chrysostom's Adversaries. The miserable end of the Empress Eudoxia. The death of Arcadius in the flower of his Age. The pains, torm●nts, and deaths of many others of his Persecutors. The death of Theophilus of Alexandria, when and how. Chrysostom's Name first restored to the Dyptichs by Alexander Bishop of Antioch. The like done afterwards by Atticus at Constantinople. Atticus's Letter to Cyril of Alexandria about that matter. Cyril's sharp Answer to Atticus. Cyril's Prejudices against Chrysostom how taken off. He is reconciled to his memory. St. Chrysostom's Remains when and by whom removed from Comana to Constantinople. The great Pomp and Solemnity of that Translation. S. Chrysostom's Writings enumerated.  
I. THE News of S. Chrysostom's Death was carried to Rome, to the unspeakable grief of Pope Innocent, and all good Men that heard of it. And now Innocent gave over all hopes of doing any good by fair means, and resolved to proceed to Censures, and to separate both the Emperor and his Lady from all Christian Communion, which he did by a Letter 
Ext. ap. Glyc. Annal. P. tv. p. 259. Edit. Par. Niceph. l. 13. c. 34. p. 419.& in jure Graec. Rom. T I l. 9. p. 557.  to Arcadius,( recorded by the middle, and later Writers of the Church) wherein he tells him, That the Voice of his Brother John's Blood cried to God against him, as once that of righteous Abel did against his murdered Brother Cain, and should be certainly required; that he had not only done this, but in a time of Peace had raised a Persecution against the Church and Ministers of God, and had, without any legal Process, deposed the great Doctor of the World, and in him had persecuted Christ himself. Which he complained of not for his sake, who was happy, but in compassion to them who were engaged in it, and those who suffered in so great loss, not only the Church of Constantinople, but all the Churches in the world being hereby deprived of so divine and eloquent a Person, and that by the insinuations of a Woman, who should shortly receive a deserved vengeance, a second Dalilah, who had ruined his strength, and made this weighty addition to all his other guilts. For all which causes he separated him and her from all communion of the holy and undefiled Mysteries, and all Bishops and Clergymen that should presume to administer the Sacrament to them; that he abrogated Arsacius's Authority, though dead and gone, whose name he forbade to be entred into the holy Diptychs, together with all the Bishops that had communicated with him. And for Theophilus, besides his Deposition, he added his Excommunication, and utter Alienation from the Christian Religion. Honorius the Emperor wrote 
Ext. ejus litirae in jure Graec. Rom. ib.  likewise to Arcadius, to let him know, he wondered what wicked and diabolical power had prevailed with him to resign up himself to a Woman, and to act such things, which no Religious Christian Emperor had ever done before him. Then he puts him in mind of what had been done, concluding, That he should not study by words, but actions, and the real Reformation of what was amiss to give satisfaction to God and men, being assured that the prayers of the Priests were the best direction and security to the Empire. Arcadius awakened with these home-admonitions, his Conscience brought him to Repentance, which he testified in a Letter 
Ext. lo●is s●●●a ●●ati●.  in answer to that of Pope Innocent( handed to us by the same Authority, for indeed the more ancient Writers make no mention of them) wherein he pleads, That he was not conscious to what had been done, but the guilt must lye at the door of those wretched Bishops, who under pretence of Ecclesiastical Canons had done it, and taken the blame upon their own heads, whose unjust suggestions he confesses he had assented to. That for Acacius, Severian, Theophilus, and the rest, they should be brought to account; and for the Empress, he had already sufficiently chastised her, the grief whereof had brought her into a dangerous sickness, which she now lay under: he desired him therefore not to proceed further in the Sentence, God himself never punishing twice for one fault. It's added 
Vi●. Gly●. ib. p. 26●.  to make the Story complete, that upon the Receipt of this Letter, Innocent accepted Arcadius his ingenuous Confession, and sent him a Sentence of Absolution.  
II. BUT whether Arcadius's Repentance were sincere or not, it was not long before the Divine Justice overtook those who had been the chief Authors and Actors in this fatal Tragedy. And first the Empress Eudoxia, who, like the Master-wheel, had put all the springs in motion, within three months 
Z●●ar. Annal. Tom. III. p. 32.  after Chrysostom's death, sell in Labour, but the Child being dead in the womb, putrefied there, and put her to infinite torment, which soon after ended her miserable Life. There are that add 
Niceph. ib. c. 36. p. 427. , that she was eaten up of Worms, and that the Urn whereinto she was put, was seen to stir. I know Socrates 
L. 6. c. 19. p. 328. , and out of him Marcellinus 
Chron. p. 13. , places her death Ann. CCCCIV. three years before this; but besides the Authority of the forementioned Letters, which speak her alive when they were written, Zonaras, Cedr●nus, and the Greek Writers, generally tell us, she died not till near three Months after Chrysostom's decease. Nor is it contemptible what Baronius observes to this purpose, that had she died so long before Chrysostom, Palladius would not have failed to have mentioned it, where he speaks of the remarkable Punishments inflicted upon Chrysostom's Persecutors. But whatever becomes of the time of Eudoxia's death( the manner whereof, if as above related, seems to carry some more immediate signatures of a Divine Vengeance along with it) 'tis certain, that not many Months after Chrysostom's decease, died Arcadius himself, cut off in the prime and strength of his Age, being then but XXXI years old. Arsacius, the immediate Intruder, was taken away within fourteen Months. Cyrinus, Bishop of Chalcedon, upon no greater an Accident then Maruthas his treading on his Foot, fell mortally sick, his Foot gangrened, and was forced to be cut off, and after that, the other, which not stoping the spreading Malignity of the Distemper, he died under the most acute Misery and Torment. Antiochus and Severian came to ill and untimely Ends. Others 
Pallad. c. 17. p. 157.  were seized with lingering fevers, or intolerable Calentures, or pains in their Bowels. Some died of the dropsy, or the Gout arrested and tortured those very Fingers, that had subscribed his Condemnation. Some were taken with tumours or inflammations in the Bowels, and a stinking putrefaction breaking out of their Bodies, bread Worms and Vermin; others with a difficulty of breathing, and a distension of all their parts, while others haunted at Night with dreadful imaginations, ran out and howled, fancying themselves Dogs; or ran out with drawn Swords in their hands, as if going to encounter an Enemy. One of them falling from his Horse, broken his right Leg, and died immediately. Another having lost his Speech, kept his Bed in a languishing condition eight Months together, not able all the time to lift his hand to his Mouth. Another had his Tongue swelled within his Mouth through the violence of a fever, which not being able to discharge the office of Nature, he called for a Table-Book, and writ a Confession with his own hand. So remarkable many times so public and exemplary are the Scenes of Divine Justice, that every one that runs may red it, So that a man shall say, Verily there is a God that judges in the earth.  
III. Nor did Theophilus of Alexandria survive Chrysostom above five years, dying of a kind of Lethargic distemper, or, as others say, of the ston, Ann. CCCCXII. And if what Damascen then 
De Imag. Orat. III. p. 784.  out of a Book of Isid●re the Deacon reports, be true, though he lay at the point of death, yet could he not expire, till he had caused Chrysostom's Picture to be brought, and had done reverence to it. After his decease, Chrysostom's Cause revived, and gained ground apace. It had indeed been set on foot soon after his death: For Porphyry, Bishop of Antioch, one of his mortal Adversaries, dying the year after, Alexander succeeded in that See, an eloquent Man, and of a severe Life, having been educated in the Monastic way. Upon his Consecration he sent for Letters 
Innocent. Ep. Xiv. Conc. T. 2. col. 1265. Xvi.( as Alex. Antioch.) col. 1268.  of Communion to Rome,( as the custom then was to sand to all the great Churches upon a new Bishops Ordination) which Pope Innocent promised to grant, provided he would restore Chrysostom's Name to the Diptychs( these were Ecclesiastic Tables, consisting usually of two Folds, on the one side the Names of the Living, on the other side those of the Dead were written, out of which they were red, and solemnly commemorated at their Public Prayers, to show the great respect they had for them, and the communion they held with them.) Alexander readily complied 
Niceph. l. 14. c. 25. p. 490.  with the Proposal, and inserted his Name into the Church-Tables; and not only so, but wrote to other Bishops, and especially to Atticus of Constantinople, and to the Emperor himself, to do the like. But he dying a few years after, the People compelled 
Vid. Attic. Ep. ad cyril. ap. Niceph. ib. c. 26. p. 492.  Theodotus, who succeeded, to do as his Predecessor had done before him. Of this violence Acacius, Bishop of Beroea, who had been a prime stickler against Chrysostom,( though he had lately born Innocent 
Vid. Innoc. Ep. Xix.( ad Acac.) ib. col. 1270.  in hand with compliance in this matter) complained to Atticus, and desired he would pass by what was done only through force and necessity. The Presbyter that carried the Letter, talked openly at Constantinople concerning the importance of his Message, whereat the People began to grow in a Rage, and Atticus fearing an Uproar might ensue, went to Court to advice with the Emperor about it. The Emperor  told him, He saw no great inconvenience, if for peace and quietness sake a dead Man's name was put into the Catalogue; so he did it accordingly. An account whereof he sent in a Letter to Cyril, who had lately succeeded his Uncle Theophilus in the See of Alexandria, wherein he laid before him a relation of what had past in this matter, and the reason that had induced him to it, having inserted his Name not as one that died a Bishop, but as one that sometimes had been so, and whose Name challenged a commemoration in order to Peace and Unity, assuring him, he had done nothing herein contrary to the Ecclesiastic Canons, and desiring him for Uniformity to take order that it should be so done through all the Churches in Egypt. He wrote 
Ext. Epist. ap. Niceph. ib. p. 493.  likewise at the same time to Peter, and Aedesius, Deacons of Alexandria, who had been lately resident at Constantinople, and knew what had past, and were able to give a satisfactory account of it, whose prudent management of things he liked so well beyond those who had been sent in their room, that he requested to hasten their return thither. But Cyril, by means of his education under Theophilus, had drunk in too deep a prejudice against Chrysostom, to be easily reconciled to this affair, and besides thought the credit of his Uncle highly concerned in it. He wrote therefore a large and sharp Answer 
Ext. ib. c. 27. p. 494.  to Atticus, wherein he remonstrated the great imprudence and inconvenience of what had been done; that whatever might be pretended, he was certainly informed, that he had inserted Chrysostom's Name not in the Lay, but Episcopal part of the Diptychs; and had violated the honor and authority of the Nicene Council, according to which the other had been deposed, and was fallen from his Episcopal place and station, and could not be restored without a mighty injury to all Bishops in the world, who must needs reckon themselves affronted by it, and it became a wise and good man to prevent such inconveniencies; that he had gained little or nothing by it, the greatest and best part of the Church were his already, and herein he only obliged to his prejudice a perverse inconsiderable Party, who would never take the just measures of themselves: now whom was it most reasonable to gratify in this matter, the best and greatest, or the worst and smallest number? If therefore he would preserve peace, and do right, he must undo what he had done, and strike the Name out of the Episcopal Roll; and however this might displease a few, yet being perverse and obstinate, they were better lost than kept, to level the Episcopal with the Laical Dignity, being the ready way not to establish Union, but to introduce Confusion into the Church: that though some of the Eastern Bishops might have been imposed on by Alexander's confident persuasion, yet that was a fault that needed reformation, and he should rather imitate Theodotus, who was troubled at the force that had been used to him in this case, and begged advice which way he might be freed from it. It seemed strange to him, that when Alexander with all his Eloquence could prevail with but a few, that one obscure Messenger should be able to blow up a whole Multitude at once, and that in a Cause so long laid asleep. That he said all this, not to triumph over a dead Man, or that he took pleasure in the evils that befell another, but his compassion was to be over-ruled for the good of the Church, whose Canons he held in the first place of esteem and value; and since these two Cases could not stand together, the Ecclesiastic Constitutions should take place, and he who was no Bishop, should be thrown out of the Episcopal Diptychs. This was the way to unite the Church, to settle Concord and Unanimity, and for all others to preserve a pure and unspotted communion with him; that therefore he should not value a single Man, and adhere to such a person, before so many yet alive, and especially before his submission to the Rules and Constitutions of the Church.  
IV. WHAT Atticus thought of this Letter, does not appear. 'tis plain what a mighty prejudice Cyril had conceived against the Memory of this good Man; nay, by some he is said to have proceeded so far, as to burn and destroy Chrysostom's Writings. But these Heats held not long. Cyril 
Niceph. ib. c. 28. p. 499.  though a man of like passions with others, was yet of an honest mind. Several dealt with him about this controversy, but none more effectually than Isidore the Pelusiot, who plied him sometimes with powerful Arguments, sometimes with Reproofs and Admonitions, till he gave up the Cause. We are  told moreover, that he had a Dream or Vision, wherein Chrysostom attended with a celestial Guard, and glorious Retinue, seemed to drive him out of the Church, while the Blessed Virgin importuned Chrysostom that he might continue there. But this, no doubt, was the addition of After-ages, when Superstition began to govern all. However Cyril repented of his rash and imprudent zeal against Chrysostom, and was hearty reconciled to his memory. To which end he summoned a Provincial Synod, by whose authority Chrysostom's name was unanimously restored to the Diptychs, whose example herein was followed by the Prelates of all the greater Churches, and his Name after this Cloud broke out with a far brighter Lustre.  
V. BUT although matters seemed now wholly composed and quieted, yet the Joannites still kept up their separate Assemblies, till Proclus being advanced to the See of Constantinople, put a final period to the Schism. It was now the entrance of the year 
Socr. l. 7. c. 45. p. 388. Theod. l. 5. c. 36. p. 242. Niceph. l. 14. c. 43. p. 536. Cos●n. Vestiar. Orat. de translat. S. Chrysostom. ap. B●ron. ad Ann. 438. T.v. ●id. Theod. Lect. H. Eccl. l. 2. p. 568.  Ccccxxxviii, and the Xxxvth from Chrysostom's being deposed, when upon his Anniversary Commemoration, Proclus made a Panegyric to his Memory, wherewith his Auditors were so inflamed, that they besought the Bishop, that he would forthwith intercede with the Emperor, that the good Man's Remains might at length be brought home with a pomp suitable to the merits of so great a person. Theodosius the younger was then Emperor, a Prince of incomparable sweetness and piety, who was Chrysostom's God-son, and with that Argument, among others, Proclus urged him. The Petition was soon granted, and persons of Quality were sent to Comana in Cappadocia, who took up the Coffin, which they carried to the mouth of the Propontis, where the Emperor's galley was ready to receive it, attended with such vast numbers of Boats and Vessels, that the Sea seemed once more to be covered with them. No sooner was the Corps brought aboard, but a terrible storm arose, that dispersed the Fleet, and drove the galley just over ●gainst the Widows Vineyard, which had been the first occasion of Chrysostom's falling under the disfavor of the Empress Eudoxia. Here( says the story) it stopped, and the Tempest ceased, and the Fleet again getting together, pursued their Voyage, till they arrived at the City. The Body they first landed at S. Thomas his Church, then removed it to that of S. Irene, whence attended with an infinite throng, and all possible demonstrations of Pomp and Honour, it was in the Emperor's own Chariot carried to the place of its Repose, the Church of the Apostles. Here the good Emperor, accompanied by his Virgin Sisters, Persons of admirable strictness and devotion came to the Corps, and covering the Coffin with his Imperial Cloak, put his Eyes and Forehead to it, and heavily bewailed the wrong that his Parents had done the Holy Man. The Divine Offices being completed, they proceeded to his interment at the Foot of the Communion-Table, the Bishops then present helping him into the Grave with their own hands. This Ceremony was performed Jan. Xxvii. Ann. Ccccxxxviii, and has been ever since kept sacred to his Memory. Thus after all the envy and malice of Men against him, God brought forth his righteousness as the light, and his judgement as noon-day; and shew'd that however oppressed for a while, the memory of the just shall be blessed, and his name be had in everlasting remembrance.   

HIS WRITINGS.  

TOM. I.  
Ad populum Antiochenum de statuis Homil. XXI.  
De simultate, sieve ira, Homilia.  
In eos, qui novilunia observant.  
De Christi baptismo.  
De diabolo tentatore.  
De Incomprehensibili dei natura adv. Anomaeos. Homil. VI.  
De beato Philogonio.  
De Consubstantiali.  
De petitione filiorum Zebedaei.  
Adversus Judaeos Lib. VI.  
De SS. Juventino& Maximo.  
De S. Pelagia virgin.  
In S. Ignatium Episcopum Antioch. Oratio.  
De S. Romano martyr. Orat. II.  
De nativitate Machabaeorum. Orat. II.  
De S. Meletio Antiocheno.  
De S. Luciano martyr.  
De S. Juliano martyr.  
De SS. Berenice& Prosdoce.  
De S. Eustathio Antiocheno.  
De paenitentia Homil. VI.  
De S. Babyla martyr.  
Contra Gentiles, seu de vita Babylae. Lib. I.  
Catechesis ad Illuminandos.  
De Fato& providentia. Orat. VI.  
De Precatione, Homil. II.  
In SS. Petrum Apostolum,& Eliam prophetam.  
Encomium martyrum Aegyptiorum.  
De S. Phoca martyr.  
De S. Thecla virgin& protomartyre.  
De S. Barlaam martyr.  
De SS. Martyribus totius Orbis.  
De beato Abraham.  
De Anathemate.  
De Poenitentia& continentia.   

TOM II.  
In Genesim Homil. LXVII. 
In enumerandis D. Chrysostomi scriptis ordinem Editionis Parisiens. Morellianae sequuti sumus.   
In varia Geneseos loca sermons IX.  
De Anna master Samuelis Serm. V.  
De Davide& Saule Homil. III.  
Contra ignaviam.  
Sermo in Joseph de continentia. Lat.  
Homilia in regressu Johannis de Asia.  
Hom. Quum Saturninus& Aurelianus acti essent in exilium,& Gainas egressus est de civitate.  
De recipiendo Severiano.  
Homilia post reditum a priori exilio.  
De Canticis Davidicis.  
Ad Neophytos Homilia.   

TOM. III.  
Collectio expositionum in sexaginta Psalmos Davidicos.  
In Esaiam prophetam Enarratio.  
In locum Psalmi XLIV. Astitit Regina, &c.  
In locum Psalmi XLVIII. Ne timueris cum dives, &c.  
In eundem locum,& de eleemosyna.  
In loc. Psalmi CXLV. Lauda Anima mea, &c.  
In loc. Esaiae, vidi Dominum sedentem. Homil. V.  
In Seraphim.  
De verbis Esaiae, Ego Dominus feci lumen.  
In loc. Hieremiae, Non est in homine via.  
De prophetiarum& V. Test. obscuritate Homil. II.  
In Psalmum XIII. Homilia.  
In Psalmum L. Homil. II.  
In Psalm. LI.  
In Psalmum XCV.  
In Psalmum C.   

TOM. IV.  
De Sacerdotio Libri VI.  
De compunctione cordis ad Demetrium.  
Ad Stelechium de eodem argumento.  
De providentia Dei, ad Stagirium monachum, Lib. III.  
Quod regulares faeminae viris cohabitare non debent.  
In eos qui sorores adoptivas habent.  
De Virginitate.  
Adv. vitae Monasticae vituperatores Libri III.  
Comparatio Regis& monachi.  
Ad viduam juniorem Libri II.  
In Eutropium Eunuchum Sermo.  
Quod nemo laeditur nisi a seipso. Liber.  
Liturgia: said interpolata.  
De poenitentia.  
Ad Theodorum lapsum Paraeneses II.  
Ad Innocentium Epistolae II.  
Ad Episcopos in carcere inclusos, Epistola.  
Ad Olympiadem Epistolae XVII.  
Ad diversos Epistolae CCXXXV.  
Sermo cum esset presbyter designatus.  
Antequam iret in exilium Sermo.  
Sermo post reditum ab exilio.   

TOM. V.  
In parabolam decem millium debitoris.  
De Lazaro sermons VI.  
In paralyticum 38 Annorum.  
In illud, Pater si possibile est.  
In illud, Intrate per angustam, &c. Homil. II.  
In inscriptionem Actorum.  
De ferendis reprehensionibus,& in Acta.  
In varia loca in Epist. ad Rom. Homil. V.  
In varia loca in Epist. 1. ad Corinth. Homil. V.  
In illud, 2 Cor. 4. habentes eundem spiritum. Hom. III.  
In illud, 2 Cor. 11. utinam sustineretis.  
In illud, Philip. 1. sieve occasione, sieve veritate.  
Laus Maximi,& quails ducendae Uxores.  
In illud, 1 Thes. 4. de dormientibus nolo vos.  
In illud, 1 Tim. 5. vidua eligatur non minus.  
De proditione Judae,& paschate.  
In Christi natalem.  
In coemiterii appellationem& crucem.  
De cruce& confessione Latronis.  
De resurrectione mortuorum.  
De resurrectione Christi.  
De Ascentione Christi.  
De S. pentecoste Homil. II.  
De paenitentia& Eucharistia.  
De Laudibus. S. Pauli.  
De mensuetudine.  
In illud Act. 9. Paulus spirans.  
In inscriptionem Altaris Act. 17.  
In illud 1 Cor. 1. Paulus vocatus.  
Utilem esse lectionem scripturae.  
De precibus Christi in miraculis.  
In eos qui pascha jejununt.  
In Eliam& viduam.  
De futurae vitae deliciis.  
Non esse desperandum.  
Peccata fratrum non evulganda.  
Non esse ad gratiam concionandum.  
De sanctis martyribus, Hom. II.  
daemons non gubernare mundum.  
In illud, Gal. 2. in faciem ei restiti.  
Demonstratio, quod Christus sit deus.  
Ad eos, qui scandalizati sunt.  
In paralyticum per tectum demissum.  
Cur in Pentecoste legantur Acta.  
De mutatione nominum in scriptura.  
De S. Basso martyr.  
De S. Droside martyr.  
De poenitentia& maestitia Achaab.   

TOM. VI.  
Unum& eundem esse legislatorem utriusque Test.  
In illud, Gen. 1. vidit deus.  
In illud Gen. 1. Faciamus hominem.  
In illud Gen. 24.10. pone manum tuam.  
De serpent aeneo.  
De justo& beato Job sermons IV.  
In illud, Psal. 38. veruntamen frustra.  
In Psalm. 83. Et turtur nidum.  
In Eliam prophetam.  
De Joseph& Castitate.  
De Susanna.  
De tribus pueris.  
De figillis librorum, Esa. 46.3.  
De fide& lege naturae.  
De sancta& individua Trinitate.  
De sancto& adorando spiritu.  
De sancta pentecoste.  
In illud, Joan. 1. in principio erat verbum.  
De occursu& Simeone.  
In sancta Theophania Domini.  
De nuptiis joan. 2.& contra Judaeos.  
De Christo Pastore& Ove, Joan. 10.  
In decollationem Baptistae,& de Herodiade. Homil. II.  
In venerabilem crucem,& de transgressione Adami.  
In dimissionem Chananeae.  
In praecursorem Domini Joannem.  
In SS. Apostolos Petrum& Paulum.  
In SS. XII. Apostolos.  
In. S. Thomam Apostolum.  
In S. Stephanum Protomart.  
In illud, 2 Cor. 12. sufficit tibi gratia.  
In Annuntiationem S. Deiparae.  
In sancta Theophania,& S. Joannem.  
In parabolam de filio prodigo.  
In illud Matth. 13. collegerunt Judaei concilium.  
In Decem Virgines, Matth. 25.  
In Meretricem& Pharisaeum. luke. 7.  
In sancta& magna parasceue.  
In Samaritanam Joan. 4.  
De Caeco a nativitate Joan. 9.  
In triduanam Christi resurrectionem.  
In Christi Ascentionem sermons. IV.  
Bonum Christi discipulum benignum esse.  
De Pseudo-prophetis& falsis Doctoribus.  
De Circo, Oratio.  
In Salvatoris nostri nativitatem.  
In illud luke. 2. Exiit Edictum.  
In Oraculum Zachariae redditum luke. 1.  
In conceptionem Joannis.  
In illud, Matth. 6. Attendite, ne eleemosynam.  
De fugienda simulata specie.  
De muliere fluxum sanguinis passa.  
De patrefamilias& operariis, Matth. 20.  
In Parabolam de sicu arefacta, Matth. 21.  
De Pharisaeo& convivio luke. 11.  
De Lazaro& divite, luke. 16.  
De publicano& pharisaeo, luke. 18.  
De Caeco& Zachaeo, luke. 18.  
Religiosum facetiis uti non debere.  
De S. Joanne Theologo.  
De adoratione S. Crucis.  
De confessione S. Crucis.  
De negatione Petri, Matth. 26.  
De jejunio& eleemosyna.  
In sacrum pascha.  
In secundum Domini adventum.  
Florilegia XXX. ex homiliis Chrysostomi decerpta per Theodorum Magistrum.   

TOM. VII.  
Commentariorum in Matthaeum Homiliae XCI.   

TOM VIII.  
Operis imperfecti in Matthaeum Hom. LIV. Lat.  
Commentariorum in Evangelium Joannis Homil. LXXXVII.   

TOM. IX.  
In Acta Apostolorum Homiliae LI.  
In Epistolam Pauli ad Romanos Homil. XXXI.   

TOM. X.  
In Pauli Epistolam I. ad Corinth. Homil. XLIV.  
In II. ad Corinth. Homil. XXX.  
In Epistolam ad Galatas commentarius perpetuus.  
In Epistolam ad Ephesios Homil. XXIV.   

TOM. XI.  
In Epistolam ad Philippenses Homil. XV.  
In Epist. ad Colossenses Hom. XII.  
In I. ad Thessalonicenses Hom. XI.  
In II. ad Thess. Homil. V.  
In I. ad Timotheum Homiliae XVIII.  
In II. ad Timotheum Homil. X.  
In Epistolam ad Titum Homil. VI.  
In Epistolam ad Philemonem Homil. III.  
In Epistolam ad Hebraeos Homil. XXXIV.  
De operibus D. Chrysostomi dubiis, vel falsò ascriptis paucula Lector monendus est. 

I.  
Sixtus Senensis, Ant. Possevinus, aliique vulgares Critici Scriptorum D. Chrysostomi dubiorum& supposititiorum catalogum satis amplum dederunt, quem per otium Lector consulere potest: in quo praeter Opus imperfectum in Matth. &c. habentur Expositio in Evangelium D. Marci, Homiliae 59. ad Pop. Antioch. aliaque partim ex variis Chrysostomi Sermonibus consarcinata, partim aliunde accepta, quae a Chrysostomi operibus jam penitus abjudicantur.   

II.  
Fronto Ducaeus opera suppositia( quae tamenab auctoribus Chrysostomo coaevis, vel abejus saltem aetatenon long remotis scripta esse existimat) praeter paucos sermons in Psalmos ad calcem Tomi III. omnia in Tomum VI. conjecit, prouta nobis supra recensentur.   

III.  
Editioni suae omnium optimae,& castigatissimae indicem operum Chrysostimianorum praemisit nobilis& eruditissimus vir D. Henricus Savilius, tum eorum quae pro veris ac germanis, tum quae pro ambiguis& falsis habuit. Ambigua& supposititia ind seligam,& in Lectoris gratiam, servato cujusvis Tomi ordine, hic subjiciam.     

Dubiae fidei scripta.  


TOM. I.  
Expositio in Psalm. LI.  
Exposit. in Psalm. XCII.    


TOM. V.  
In illud, vidit Deus omnia.  
Demonstratio, quod imaginem ad similitudinem dei factam &c.  
Quomodo Adam acceperit animam &c.  
In B. Abraham.  
In Joseph,& de temperantia.  
De serpent Mosis.  
In prophetam Eliam.  
Protheoria in Psalmos.  
In illud, Dominus regnavit &c.  
In sigilla Librorum, &c.  
In trees pueros.  
In Susannam.  
In Orationem Dominicam.  
Orat. Catechetica in illud, simile est regnum, &c.  
In illud, Exiit decretum a caesar, &c.  
In Prodigum filium, &c.  
In Divitem& Lazarum.  
In Caecum, quem Christus sanavit.  
In Mulieres, quae unguenta attulerunt, &c.  
In illud, in principio erat verbum.  
In illud, Quomodo novit literas, &c.  
In Caecum a nativitate.  
In Chananaeam,& in pharaoh, &c.  
In secundum adventum Domini, &c.  
In illud, non quod volo, hoc facio, &c.  
In illud, sufficit tibi gratia mea, &c.  
In illud, Sponte peccantibus nobis post acceptam cognitionem veritatis, &c.  
Sermo in principium indictionis.  
In principium indictionis novi Anni.  
In pretiosam Crucem.  
In exaltationem pretiosae crucis.  
In S. Martyrem Phocam, &c.  
In conceptionem S. Johannis praecursoris.  
Encomium in S. Protomartyrem Theclam.  
In S. Apostolum Thomam.  
In S. Martyrem Romanum.  
In Christi nativitatem.  
In nativitatem Christi,& quod unicuique Climati, &c.  
In S. Stephanum protomartyrem.  
In occursum salvatoris& Deiparae, &c.  
In mediam Hebdomada jejuniorum.  
In adorationem pretiosae crucis.  
In media hebdomade jejuniorum.  
In Festum Palmarum.  
In S. Virginem Deiparam.  
In S. Deiparam.  
In proditionem salvatoris, &c.  
In pretiosam& vivificam crucem, &c.  
In die S.& magnae parasceves.  
In Latronem,& proditionem salvatoris.  
In salutiferam sepulturam,& triduanam, &c.  
Oratio Catechetica in S. Pascha.  
In Pascha Orationes VII.  
in B. Job Orat. IV.  
In Ascentionem Domini Orat. II.  
In Penticostem Orat. III.  
In memoriam Martyrum,& quod Pastor, &c.  
In principes Appostolorum Petrum& Paulum, &c.  
In sanctos duodecim apostles.  
In synaxim Archangelorum.    


TOM. VI.  
Veteris& N. Testamenti eundem esse legislatorem, &c.  
De fide,& in legem naturae,& de spiritu S.  
Quod oporteat Christi discipulum clementem esse.  
Oratio exhortatoria ad paenitentiam, &c.  
De paenitentia& Eleemosyna.  
De paenitentia.  
De Eleemosyna.  
De jejunio Orationes VII.  
De patientia,& mortuis non amare deflendis.  
De patientia.  
De S.& Consubstantiali Trinitate.  
Quod non oporteat monachum facetiis, &c.  
De salute ainae.  
Ad Catechumenos.  
Orat. in Circum.  
Deploratio eorum qui Christi virgines corrumpunt.  
Contra Haereticos.  
Liturgia.  
Precationes duae.    


TOM. VII.  
In illud Abrahae, pone manum tuam sub femur meum, &c.  
In Dominicam novam,& in Apostolum Thomam.  
In sanctum Stephanum Orat. III.  
In S. Pentecostem.    


Scripta Supposititia. TOM. I.  
Expositio in Psalm. 100, 101, 102, 103, 104, 105, 106, 107.  
Expositio in Psalmi CXVIII. stationem primam.  
— In secundam.  
— In tertiam.    


TOM. VII.  
Hom. in expulsionem Adam,& de malis mulieribus.  
In sacrificia Cain, &c.  
In Abraham& Isaac.  
In serpentem aeneum, &c.  
In illud, in tribulatione dilatasti mihi, &c.  
In illud, frustra conturbatur omnis homo vivens, &c.  
In illud, vovete& reddite Domino deo nostro.  
In Turturem.  
In illud, sustulerunt flumina vocem, &c.  
In illud, venite& exultemus.  
In illud, Eripe me Domine ab homine malo.  
In Rachel& in infantes.  
In Herodem& in infantes.  
In Jordanem fluvium.  
In illud, si filius dei es, projice, &c.  
In illud, Cavete, ne eleemosynam vestram, &c.  
In illud, Egressi Pharisaei concilium ceperunt.  
In decollationem Johannis,& in Herodiadem.  
In saltationem Herodiadis, &c.  
In Metamorphosim Domini nostri Orat. III.  
In illud, Quaecunque ligaveritis in terra, &c.  
In Ficum arefactam.  
In parabolam decem virginum.  
In illud, pater, si possibile est.  
In abnegationem Petri, &c.  
In Meretricem& Pharisaeum Orat. II.  
In mulierem peccatricem, &c.  
In meretricem& Pharisaeum.  
In Visionem Zachariae, &c.  
In Filium viduae.  
In Centurionem.  
In illud, Exiit seminans seminare.  
In Parab. Homo quidam descendit,& incidit in Latrones. Orat. II.  
In Pharisaeum.  
In illud, ignem veni mittere in terram, &c.  
In illud Lucae de Didrachma.  
In Parabolam de Filio prodigo.  
In Parabolam Oeconomi injusti, &c.  
In publicanum& Pharisaeum Orat. II.  
In Zachaeum publicanum.  
In Samaritanum.  
In Samaritanam,& interpretatio Messiae.  
In Paralyticum,& in illud, nolite judicare secundum aspectum.  
In illud, Daemonium habes, &c.  
In illud, cum ascenderit Dominus in Templum.  
In Martham, Mariam,& Lazarum;& Eliam prophetam.  
In Lazarum redivivum Orat. III.  
In illud, Cogerunt Judaei concilium, &c.  
Sermo in Nativitatem Domini nostri Jesu Christi.  
In Christi Nativitatem.  
In Nativitatem Domini nostri.  
In S. Johannem Theologum.  
In S. Johannem Theologum, Apostolum& Evangelistam.  
In S. Theophania Orat. II.  
In adorationem pretiosi ligni.  
In Annunciationem Deiparae,& adv. Arium.  
In Annunciationem.  
In Annunciationem SS. Deiparae.  
In Festum Palmarum.  
In proditionem Judae, &c.  
In crucem,& de transgressione primorum parentum.  
In S. passionem Domini.  
In Resurrectionem Domini.  
In Resurrectionem Domini Orat. III.  
In Mesopentecosten.  
In Nativitatem S. Joannis praecursoris.  
In Praecursorem Orat. II.  
De jejunio.  
In principium sacrorum jejuniorum. De jejunio Orat. II.  
In principium jejuniorum.  
De jejunio.  
De jejunio,& in David.  
De paenitentia.  
Contra Judaeos, gentiles,& haereticos.  
De fide.  
De spe.  
De Charitate Orat. II.  
Quod Charitas secundam deum sit opus divinum.  
De patientia& Consummatione saeculi.  
De Oratione.  
De eleemosyna.  
De pseudo-prophetis, &c.  
Epistola ad Monachos.  
Comparatio Regiae potentiae, &c.  
Quod mores assimulatos fugere oporteat.  
De siccitate.  
In secundum adventum Domini nostri.  
Quod oporteat eum, qui habeat gratiam quamcunque Communicare ei, &c.  
Admonitiones Spirituales.  
De singulis hisce Tractatibus D. Chrysostomo ascriptis qui censuram exactiorem desiderat, is adeat notas Savilii, Boisii, Halesii,& Dounaei in Edit. Eton.    


IV.  
Franc. Combefis Ann. 1656. sub nomine Chrysostomi sex sequentes Homilias gr.& lat. edidit.  
De inani gloria,& educandis a parentibus liberis.  
In S. Christi nativitatem.  
In S. Lumina.  
In recens baptizatos,& de Paschate.  
In S. Bassi Episcopi& Martyris memoriam, &c.  
Post terrae motum.  
Homilia de morali politia, in Praecursoris decollationem, atque mulierem peccatricem, edita est ab eod. Combef. 1645.  
J. B. Cotelerius, socius Sorbonicus, Ann. 1661. S. Jo. Chrysostomi Homilias quatuor in Psalmos Gr.& Lat. edidit, quas genuinas esse agnoscit.  
Item in Danielem prophetam interpretat. quae vel non esse Chrysostomi, vel fusioris saltem commentarii Ecloga& Epitome ab eodem Cotelerio meritò judicatur.     
The End of S. Chrysostom's Life.   
FINIS.   

AN APPENDIX: Containing a BRIEF ACCOUNT Of some other Eminent FATHERS That flourished in this Fourth Century.  
LONDON, Printed by A. GODBID and J. PLAYFORD, 1682.   

THE LIFE OF ARNOBIUS.  
His Country, Education, and opening a School for Rhetoric. His bigotry for Paganism. Converted to Christianity, when, and how. forced to writ Adversus Gentes, to give satisfaction of the truth of his Conversion. His great joy for his being rescued from Gentilism. His Learning. Abatements to be made for his want of skill in Christian Theology. His style, method, and way of Writing. The Commentaries upon the Psalms under his name, whose. The time of his Death inquired into.  
THAT Arnobius was by birth an African, there can be no cause to doubt, especially when, as they said of S. Peter, his speech agreeth thereto. He was educated in all the gentle Learning of that Age, wherein he became so great a Master, that in the Reign of Diocletian he opened a School of Rhetoric 
Hieron. de Script. c. 79.& Chron. ad Ann. Chr. CCCXXVII.  at Sicca, an Inland Town in Afric, and a Roman Colony. Here as he wanted no Scholars, so he taught with great famed and Reputation. He was a fierce Bigot for Paganism, which he maintained with all the advantages of his Wit and Parts. And thus he continued till the Diocletian Persecution, which broke out Ann. Chr. CCCIII. when the great severity which he saw used towards the innocent Christians, and their incomparable patience, meekness, and constancy under their heaviest Sufferings, awakened his mind to a more serious and impartial enquiry into things. And as Heaven is never wanting to the honest designs of Men, especially where they are like to be more than ordinarily useful to the Church, he was often warned by divine Admonitions in his Dreams to turn Christian. This he now resolved upon, and accordingly presented himself to the Bishop of the place in order to it. But the Flock is naturally afraid of the Wolf. The Christians at Jerusalem were not at first more shy of S. Paul, than the Bishop of Sicca and the Christians were of Arnobius, not imagining that so hot a Zeal for Paganism should cool all on a sudden, but rather suspected 'twas but a trick to trepan and circumvent them, especially in those times, and therefore refused to admit him, till he had given some signal Evidence of the reality of his Conversion. Hereupon he set himself to vindicate the cause of Christianity against the Gentiles, which he did in seven Books, wherein he vigorously asserted the truth and excellency of the Christian Religion, and so wittily exposed the follies of Pagan Worship, so shamefully baffled all their specious and popular Insinuations, that a Man might wonder with what con●●dence they could ever lift up their Heads again. He gives us also some hint of the date of his Conversion, when he tells us, 
Adv. gent. l. 1. p. 5.  'twas then about three hundred years more or less since Christianity first set out into the World. By this uncontrollable Demonstration he removed all possibility of jealousy and suspicion, and was joyfully entertained, and received to Baptism. And now how thankfully did he own the goodness of Heaven every time he reflected upon his former state. Miserable Blindness and Ignorance( said he 
Lib. cit. p. 11. ) wherein I was shut up! With what Veneration did I lately prostrate myself before Statues, but just before taken out of the Furnace? Gods hammered out upon the Anvil, or the Bones of Elephants: If I chanced to spy painted Garlands hanging upon an old consecrated three, or a polished ston daubed over with oil, immediately as if a divine Power had been present in it, I began to address myself to it, to court its favour, and to beg Blessings of it, the senseless Stock in the mean time knowing nothing of what was said or done to it. And thus I shamefully dishonoured what I persuaded myself were Gods, while I believed them to be Wood, or Stones, or Bones, or such-like Materials. But being now by the Institution of so great a Master brought into the ways of Truth, I understand all these things what they are, I have Notions becoming the nature of things, nor do I offer any contempt to the name of God, but give what respect is due to every thing or person according to the different degrees or ranks of Being. In his Contests with the Gentiles he shows himself a much abler Champion at the offensive, than the defensive Weapon. His Learning lay most that way, and he has accordingly miserable mauled the Pagan Cause. It does not appear, that at the time of his writing he had red any considerable part of the Bible, more than the obvious passages of the Evangelical Story, or that he had accurately considered the Doctrines and Principles of Christianity. He was not then so much as a Catechumen, instructed in the first Rudiments of the Faith, and therefore 'tis not to be charged as a fault upon his Memory, if some few passages occur in his Writings not so strictly conformable to Catholic Doctrine; 'tis rather to be wondered, that he ran not into more and greater Errors. He was furnished with a mighty stock of Secular Learning, and had quick natural Parts to set it o●f. His Style, tho censured by S. Jerom 
Epist. ad Paulin. p. 104.  of old to be loose and unequal, is yet sufficiently elegant; it retains indeed sometimes a tang of the African Dialect, but keeps a middle way between the roughness of Tertullian, and the smoothness and sweetness of Cyprian: Nor is his Work so confused and immethodical, as that Father seems to insinuate, as is evident to any that will be at the pains attentively to red it, and observe how his Design is laid, his Argument prosecuted, and how the several parts of it do naturally enough one depend upon another. He wrote with an impartial freedom, and as most Writers of that Country, with an unusual ardour and fervency of Spirit, with brisk Periods, a nervous smartness and strength of Reasoning, and with great pleasantness of Wit, wherein the Argument he managed gave him scope enough. Besides these Books, certain Commentaries upon the Psalms went a long time under his name, and Erasmus 
Praef. in Arnob. come. in Psal. inter Epist. l. 28. Epist. 9.  takes a great deal of pains in asserting them to be his, and in reconciling the difference and inequality of the Style. But had that Learned Man a little more narrowly considered things, or lived to see the Books against the Gentiles published( which he concluded to be lost) he would have spared that labour. It being long since agreed on all hands, that those Commentaries are the Work of a Junior Arnobius, who dedicated them to Leontius Bishop of Arles, and Rusticus of Narbon, both contemporary with S. Augustine in his latter times: Not to say that there are passages in them that concern the Photinian, and the Pelagian Controversies, started long since Arnobius's time. What became of Arnobius after his conversion, and whether he took upon him the Ecclesiastic Orders, or when he died, we have no account. If S. Jerom intended right order of time, when he placed him in the front of his continuation of the Eusebian Chronicon, he was alive Ann. Chr. CCCXXVII. two years after the Council of Nice: But whither then, or how much longer, is to me unknown.  

His WRITINGS.  

Genuine.  
Adversus Gentes, Lib. VII.   

Supposititious.  
Commentarii breves in Psalmos C L.     

THE LIFE OF LACTANTIUS.  
His Birth-place. His Education under Arnobius. The first essay of his Parts and Learning. Diocletian's study to advance Nicomedia. Lactantius sent for thither to profess Rhetoric. The Books he wrote at his first coming thither. The design of his Book De opificio Dei. The original and progress of the Persecution raised by Diocletian against the Christians, and by whom contrived and carried on. Two learned Men at Nicomedia undertake to writ against Christianity. The account Lactantius gives of the former. The latter, Hierocles. The main design of his Book. These two undertaken by Lactantius. His Defence of the Christian Religion in his seven Books of Institutions. The particular design and sum of each of these Books. These Books, when written: Not originally dedicated to Constantine the Great. Lactantius preferred to be Tutor to Crispus, Constantine's eldest Son. His Book De mortibus persecutorum, when written. The excellency of that Tract. His Death, and Poverty. His great Parts and Learning. His odd or ambiguous expressions upon what accounts excusable. His excellent Style. His Writings.  
I. LUCIUS COELIUS LACTANTIUS was in all probability born at Firmium, a Town in the Country of Picenum in Italy, situate near the Adriatic Sea, and thence borrowed the name of Firmianus. His Parents seem to have been Gentiles, and to have trained him up in that Religion; but how or upon what occasion he was brought over to Christianity, no intimations are left upon Record. His Education was liberal, and it met with a pregnant and capacious Mind. In his younger years he was sent over into 
Hieron. de ●cript. c. 80.  Afric, and put under the tutorage of Arnobius, the famous Professor of Rhetoric at Sicca, where he so plied his Studies, that in a short time he overtook and outwent his Master; and tho as yet but a very Youth, gave an early Specimen of his mature Parts and Learning in a Treatise, which he called Symposium, composed perhaps in imitation of that of Plato, or the other of Xenophon, or the Deipnosophists, written by Athenaeus. By this time his famed was spread all abroad, and he was called up to a more eminent Station, and placed in the Eye of the World.  
II. THE Emperour Diocletian had fixed his Court at Nicomedia, the Metropolis of Bithynia, which he beautified 
Lact. de mort. whereout. c. 7. p. 15.  and adorned with Temples, Palaces, Circusses, Magazines, Courts of Justice, and all manner of stately and magnificent Buildings, resolving to make it equal to Rome itself; and if he espied the least fault in any Structure, when finished, he immediately caused it to be pulled down again, and set up anew, to the utter ruin and undoing of the Country, the Rich in their Purses, and the Poor in their Persons. And what was yet worse, wherever he espied a convenient piece of Ground, or a more elegant Building fit for his turn, he was not content barely to take it away, but the Owner must be arraigned, and executed for Treason, that so it might escheat to the Crown, under a pretence of Justice. By this means he rendered that City very splendid and magnificent. And because Learning has been ever accounted the chief Glory of any place, his next care was to furnish it with the most eminent Professors. Among whom, Lactantius is pitched on, and sent 
Hieron. ubi supr.  for out of Afric to profess Rhetoric at Nicomedia. At his arrival there, he betook himself to his Professors place; but Latin Eloquence found little entertainment: For Greek being the common Language of that place, he had few Scholars, so that in a short time he was forced to shut up his School, and betook himself to writing Books. His first essay was an Hodoeporicon in Heroic Verse, wherein he described his Voyage from Afric to Nicomedia; and next, a Book which he called Grammaticus. After this, he set upon his Book De Opificio Dei, 
Vid. Institut. l. 2 c. 10. p. 199.  wherein, from the admirable creation and composition of Men, he elegantly argues a Divine Providence, and that both from the frame of his Body, and the nature of his Soul. This he dedicated to Demetrian,( as he did also two Books of Epistles) who had been his Scholar, whom he tells in the close, 
De Opific. Dei. c. 20. p. 892.  that he intended hereafter to discourse these matters more at large, especially what concerned the state of another Life, and partly from the Principles of his own Religion, partly from their disagreement among themselves, would show that the Philosophers were quiter out of the way, who, notwithstanding all their plausible pretences, were the greatest Enemies to Truth: And that for his own part, he desired to live for no other end, than to compose what might be useful to human Life; and he should then think he had lived long enough, and to purposes good enough, when what he writ might serve to recover any from Error, and to set them in the right way to Heaven. And indeed it was not long before he was engaged in the Defence of Christianity against the attempts of the Gentile-Philosophers, tho God knows upon too sad an occasion, I mean the fierce Persecution raised by Diocletian. The first springs and motions whereof being particularly discovered by no other Author but Lactantius, who was then upon the place, and his Accounts too being but very lately retriv'd and recovered to the World, it can be no unacceptable entertainment to the Reader to be briefly acquainted with them.  
III. DIOCLETIAN was a Man infinitely superstitious, 
Lact. de mort. persec. c. 10, 11.& seqq. p. 20. &c.  extremely fearful and jealous of future Events, and upon that account miserable devoted to soothsaying and Divination, for which reason there never wanted enough of that divining Tribe to attend the Court. It happened, that while they were busy one day at their divinatory Sacrifices, certain Christian Priests crept in among the crowd, who secretly making the sign of the across upon their Foreheads, the Daemons immediately vanished, and all was left in disturbance and confusion. The Aruspices trembled, not being able to discern any of the wonted signs in the Entrails of the Sacrifices, and, as if they had mistaken or failed in some Punctilio's, began anew, and frequently repeated them, but to as little purpose as before. Whereupon Tages, Master of the Ceremonies, either seeing the persons, or suspecting them, cried out, that the reason why the Sacrifices did not give their wonted significations, was, because profane persons had mixed themselves with the holy Solemnities. The Emperour enraged hereat, commanded all present to do Sacrifice, and all that were in the Palace, under pain of Stripes and Violence; and by a Warrant to the Commanders, ordered all the Soldiers in the Army to do the like, or immediately be discharged. Not long after came Galerius Maximianus, whom Diocletian some years since had created Caesar, a zealous Pagan, who set himself to blow up the Emperour into a violent persecution of the Christians. But none plied him harder than his Mother, a Woman superstitious beyond measure, and who had a most inveterate spite against Christianity. These three held private Cabals all the Winter, and while 'twas believed abroad, that they were in deep Consults about State-affairs, they were only hammering out a Persecution against the Christians. Diocletian was old, and loved his ease, and therefore did not readily listen to violent Councils; he urged how dangerous a thing it was to disquiet the Empire, and to hurry the World into confusion and blood; that such severities would be ineffectual, the Christians desiring nothing more than Death and Martyrdom; and that it would be enough, if the Court and the Army were purged from the Men of that Religion. Finding this would not do, he betook himself to his old King-craft, which was in all great and generous acts to resolve upon them without taking any advice, that so the honour of them might reflect upon himself alone; but where the thing was like to prove mischievous and distasteful, he was wont to take several Officers into Council, that so the blame might fall upon them. This he practised in this case; he declares he will hear the opinion of his Friends and Confidents, whereupon some Judges and Military Commanders are taken in, who all comply with the council of the Empress and Maximian. The Emperour not yet satisfied, sends to consult the Oracle of Apollo Milesius, who, we may be sure, return'd an answer home to the purpose. And now all excuses being removed, he yields, but still persuades the more moderate course, that it might be done without Blood, while Maximian insists, that they may be burnt alive. The time prefixed to begin this tragic Scene, was the seventh of the Calends of March, when the Terminalia were usually celebrated among the Romans, and this chosen as an auspicious Omen, that they should put a term and period to that Religion. The day being come,( 'twas the xxiii of February, Ann. Chr. CCCIII.) early in the Morning the Emperour with his Guards and Officers goes to the Church of the Christians, and having broken open the Doors, sought for the Image of the God they worshipped; but finding none, took the Bibles, and other things at hand, and threw them into the Fire, filling all places with force and violence. It held some Debate, whether they should set the Church on fire, but the Emperour over-ruled that, as what might be of fatal consequence to the City; whereupon Officers were set on work, who pulled it down to the ground. The next day an Edict was published to strip the Christians of all Honours, Offices, privileges, and that no quality or condition should exempt them from the Rack and Torture, and that they should have no power at Law in any case to vindicate and right themselves, and to that end Altars were set up in the Courts of Judicature, and every one was to offer Sacrifice, before he could have liberty to pled his Cause. And now Maximian to strike home, secretly causes the Imperial Palace to be set on fire,( but so, that it might be easily quenched) and then charges it upon the Christians, who, he tells the Emperour, had done it out of envy, and had conspired with the Eunuchs to murder the Emperour, and that they had been in great danger of being both burnt alive. This put Diocletian into a passion beyond all the restraints of Reason, or giving himself a respite for cool and impartial Considerations. Orders are issued out to proceed against Christians without mercy, and he himself sits and sees them executed in part, the rest was done by his Judges and Officers, and all the emulation was, who should be most bloody and cruel. No regard is had to Sex, Age, or Order, and not content with single Executions, whole House-fulls are burnt at once, and Droves tied together with Ropes are thrown into the Sea: Prisons are crowded, and new instruments of Torture are invented, and Letters written to the Western Emperours to pursue the same methods in those Parts. By which means the Persecution became universal, and unless where Constantius governed, was carried on with almost equal cruelty in all Parts. The particulars whereof it is not my business here to relate.  
IV. I MAKE no apology for this Digression, the account being uncommon, and not altogether foreign to my purpose, will pled for itself. But the Sword and the Axe were not the only engines made use of in the Persecution, the Pen was taken up to introduce and justify the other, and Christianity at once exposed to the scorn and cruelty of its Adversaries. Lactantius 
Instit. l. 5. c. 2. p. 460.  tells us of two at this time at Nicomedia, tho he conceals their names, who took upon them by Writing to insult over, and refute the persecuted and despised Religion, the one a Philosopher, the other a Judge. By the Philosopher Baronius 
Ad Ann. 302, N, LI. LVII.  will needs understand Porphyry, the famous and known Enemy of Christians. But the Character Lactantius gives him, no way suits, either with Porphyries, Age, or Temper. Porphyry was a Man of a most strict, severe, and mortified Life; Lactantius's Philosopher servile, covetous, voluptuous, and every way debauched and vicious. And tho we could suppose Porphyry to have been a Man of this humour, yet his great Age( being at this time near seventy Years old) would have rendered him incapable of those loose Extravagancies which Lactantius charges upon his Philosopher: Not to mention that Porphyry wrote no less than thirty Books against the Christians, this no more than three. By the other, the Judge, we are doubtless to understand Hierocles,( and so indeed elsewhere 
De mort. persec. c. 16. p. 30.  he expressly tells us) who from a Vicarius had been made President, and had been one of the prime councellors and promoters of the Persecution. A Man of greater Parts, and better Manners, but an irreconcilable Enemy to the Christian name, against which he wrote with great salt and sharpness. Two Books he published, which he styled {αβγδ}, and to mollify the Odium of the thing, entitled them not against, but to the Christians. The main design of them was to expose the Holy Scriptures( which he seemed to have red with some care for that very end) as a bundle of Inconsistences and Self-contradictions, picking up all passages which he could make look that way, besides those infinitely false and scurrilous reflections which he liberally threw upon our Saviour and his Apostles. In short, so ready and dexterous was he at quoting the Holy Writings, that my Author was almost tempted to think he had once been a Christian. And did other circumstances concur, his spite and zeal would be no small arguments to strengthen the conjecture, Apostates being ever the most bitter and virulent opposers of that Religion which they have deserted.  
V. THESE two undertakers red 
Inst. l. 5. c. 4. p. 470.  their Discourses in the presence of Lactantius, who was not a little troubled to see the best Religion in the World thus openly and insolently affronted; and being as 'twere thus boldly challenged, and armed with the advantages of so good a Cause, he resolved to put Pen to Paper, not so much to encounter these trifling Antagonists,( whose strength, he tells us, he could have routed in a few words) as to undertake the general defence of Christianity against all aggressors of that kind, and at once to disable all their attempts against it. Accordingly as his Master Arnobius did just about the same time in seven Books stoutly defend the Christian Cause against the Pagans, so he composed seven Books of Divine Institutions; in the first whereof he treats concerning the false Religion, and having assigned several Causes of his undertaking, he proceeds to assert and prove a Providence, and next that there is but one God that made and governs the World, which he evinces both by Arguments and Authorities, the testimonies of Prophets, Poets, Philosophers, Sibyls, and Oracles, and rationally refutes the Religion of the Gentile-World, especially that which obtained in the Roman Empire, showing that the Deities which they worshipped were altogether unworthy of the title and place of Gods. In the second Book he discourses concerning the Origine of Error, demonstrates at large the vanity of the Pagan Religion, and inquires how the Romans came to fall under so many absurd Errors and Mistakes, and indeed how Mankind came to lapse under so prodigious a degeneracy in matters of Divine Worship, which he charges chiefly upon the great corruption and apostasy of Noah's Posterity, and the subtle snares and stratagems of the Devil. The third is concerning false Wisdom, wherein the vanity of Philosophy and Philosophers, and their false pretences to true Wisdom, are admirably represented. As in the fourth he treats of the true Wisdom, and having first complained of the prevalency of Pagan Impiety, and enquired why their great Masters of Philosophy never found true Wisdom, because they sought it not in its right place, there being an inseparable union between true Wisdom and Religion, no where to be met with but among Christians; he next displays the true Knowledge of Christ, both as to his Person, Name, Birth, Nature, and that both divine and human, Miracles, Sufferings, and Crucifixion; inquiring likewise how our owning both Father and Son to be God, can consist with the Unity of the Deity; lastly, what are the usual causes of Heresy, which he shows to be Pride, Covetousness, ignorance of Scripture, and an over-fond valuation of false Teachers and Prophets. The fifth Book treats of Justice, wherein he gives an account why he set upon this whole Work, then shows that Justice and Righteousness how much soever boasted of by Philosophers, was possessed only by Christians, that it was an unreasonable Cruelty in the Pagans to persecute these just and righteous Persons, however God for wise and good ends thought fit to suffer it. In the sixth he discourses concerning true Worship, both inward, as it respects the temper and disposition of the Mind, and outward, as it relates to the carriage of the Life; and rectifies the mistakes of the Philosophers and great Men among the Heathens about the several virtues of a good Life. The seventh and last part is De vita beata, or the happiness of the Life to come; wherein he shows, that the true Summum bonum, or reward of Virtue, consists in a state of future Immortality, that the Souls of Men are thus immortal, notwithstanding what some of the Philosophers have said to the contrary, and what it is that capacitates a Man for this Eternal State: Then he discourses concerning the end of the World, and the Signs that shall precede it, concerning the Day of judgement, and the Reign of a thousand Years, and the consequent state that shall ensue upon it. And having thus dispatched his main Argument, he shuts up the whole with a pathetical Exhortation to call off our Minds from things present and sensible, and hearty to entertain and comply with this excellent Religion, as the only way to attain to this happy and immortal Life. This is the sum of his several Dissertations, which being finished, he is generally said to have dedicated them to Constantine the Great, and both towards the beginning and the conclusion of the Book, there are particular and formal Addresses and Dedications to him. But the case is somewhat more than suspicious. In the first Address he is said to have begun this Work under Constantine, whereas Lactantius himself assures us, he set upon it not long after the beginning of the Diocletian Persecution, the cruelty and universality whereof he more than once and again complains of, but the Persecution of Licinius( under which they suppose he wrote it) was only topical, confined to some places in the East, and never reached the Western Parts: He farther tells us, he engaged in it, when he taught Oratory at Nicomedia, and when Hierocles, who was then one of the Judges there, wrote against Christianity; now Hierocles was soon after removed to the Government of Egypt to carry on the Persecution there. So that it's plain, these Addresses must be of a later Date, and inserted by some other hand, and accordingly( which puts the case past all dispute) are wanting not only in some of the first Editions, but in most, if not all, of the best and most ancient Copies of these Institutions. This Work he afterwards abridged into an Epitome for the more ease and advantage of common Readers, some part whereof, viz. of the three last Books, is still extant, tho perhaps as much as was in S. Jerom's time, when it was {αβγδ}, as he tells us, defective in the first part of it.  
VI. NEAR ten years the Persecution had now continued, with all imaginable fierceness and violence, when Constantine the Great, some years since advanced to the Empire, having embraced the Christian Faith, began to put a stop to it. He had by his Lady Minervina, supposed generally to be his Concubine, but one Son called Crispus, a Prince of hopeful Virtues, and whom he then entirely loved, and took all possible care of his Education. Constantine had himself lived some years in the Court of Diocletian, at the same time that Lactantius was at Nicomedia, with whom no doubt he had some acquaintance, and having taken notice of the Learning and Honesty of the Man, sent for him into France to be Tutor to the young Prince, and to instruct him particularly in the Learning and Eloquence of the Latin Tongue. The Prince at that time lay at Triers, as some conjecture, or as others, 
P. Fr. C● ffiet. dissert. de converse. Const. M. c. 4. p. 181.  at Bezanson the chief City of Burgundy, where my Author will have him to reside with his Grandmother Helena, and that from his being there that City derived the name of Crispolis or Crispopolis, it being styled Civitas Crispolinorum in a very ancient Notitia, supposed to be coeval to the Reign of Honorius. But whether so or no, I intend not to interpose. And now Lactantius enjoyed ease and a happy leisure, and the better to raise his own and other Mens gratitude to God for his infinite Deliverances and Blessings to the Church, he began to reflect upon the darkness and tempestuousness of the late miserable Times, and how fatal such courses had always proved to the Authors of them. To which end he drew up a Discourse De persecutione, or De mortibus persecutorum, wherein from the very beginnings of Christianity he briefly traces that signal and remarkable Vengeance from Heaven that had pursued the most eminent Persecutors of the Church, which he draws down to the times of Diocletian, and there enlarges himself as to the rise, cruelty, and extent of that Persecution, and those dreadful Punishments which God inflicted upon that Emperour, and all his colleagues and Partners, Maximianus Herculius, Galerius Maximianus, Severus, Maximinus Daza, Maxentius, and Licinius, and how after all attempts God crowned the Piety of the great Constantine with Victory and Success, the Church with Ease and Plenty, and the World with Peace. This Book( as he did also that De Ira Dei) he dedicated to his dear friend Donatus, who had been an eminent Confessor 
Vid. ejusd. ib. c. 16. p. 30.  at Nicomedia under three several Governours, Flaccinus, Hierocles, and his Successor Priscillian, where he had been nine times put to several sorts of Torture, Whips, Hooks to rak off the flesh, Pincers, Fire, and what not; in all which he came off a conqueror, and stirred not one inch from the testimony of the Faith and a good Conscience. A short Tract this is, but an invaluable Treasure, not mentioned by any but only once by S. Jerom, and never after heard of, till somewhat more than two years since it was happily recovered, and published by the Learned Baluzius, for which Posterity will stand indebted to his memory. We find not what became of Lactantius after this, or how long he lived. Baronius 
Ann. 316. N. LVII.  conceives he died Ann. CCCXVI. but without any other authority than conjecture. He was indeed in extremâ senectute,( as S. Jerom informs 
De script. ubi supr.  us) very aged, when he taught Crispus in France, but yet might survive some considerable time. And what was a miserable aggravation of old Age, was so poor, 
Euseb. Chron. a● Ann. Chr. ● ccxviii.  that he wanted even necessary conveniencies for the support of Life. Which as it shows his great contempt of the World,( for how easily might he have made a fortune, had he made that his business) so might perhaps be occasioned by the unfortunate Death of the Prince his Pupil,( if at least we can suppose he outlived him) after whose decease 'tis like little notice was taken of him. No account is given either of the time, place, or manner of his Death, unless we will rely upon the authority of Fl. Dexter's 
Dext. Chron. p. 370.  Chronicon, which tells us, that he died very poor at Nice, whither the Commentator upon that Chronicon supposes he had been called by Constantine to be present at the great Council there.  
VII. HE was a Man of a serious temper, and a severe Life, zealous for the honour of his Religion, and unwearied in vindicating it against all opposers. He set himself strenuously against Jews and Gentiles, and upon occasion against those within that did corrupt the Faith, and designed 
Vid. l. de ira Dei. c. 2. p. 767.  to writ at large against all Sects and Heresies. His Parts were prompt and quick, his judgement sagacious; whatever Argument he takes in hand, he manages with that strength and clearness, that he always with ease carries the day. His Learning in foreign and external Studies( wherein he was chiefly conversant) was exquisite, perhaps not equalled by any of the Latins of that Age he lived in, which rendered him capable so successfully to beat the Gentiles at their own Weapons, and made S. Jerom say 
Epist. ad Paulin. p. 104.  of him, that with much greater dexterity he destroyed their Cause, than he confirmed and built up his own. If there be some obscure, or uncatholic Dogmata in his Writings, what Garden is there wherein there are no Weeds? especially when cultivated by one newly crept out of the Woods and Thickets, and bread up in the foreste and the Wilderness. Besides, many things are clear to us, which to them were in the dark, not yet sufficiently beaten out; many Questions intricate and disputable, as wherein the Church had then made no precise and dogmatical determination. Some Errors are the fault of the Age, rather than the Person, and many things are to be pardoned to human Weakness, and want of sufficient Light. His Chiliastic notions were common to him with several of the greatest note for Learning and Piety in the Church, as we have shown elsewhere. 
Life of S. Just. M. N. XXII. p. 156.  As for his other unwary Expressions, and unorthodox Assertions, I shall not insist upon particulars, most of them have been considered and discussed to satisfaction by another hand. 
A. S. Remarks upon the state of the Church, &c. p. 372. &c.  His Style is admirable, Eloquence was his Masterpiece; by the concurrent judgement of all, from S. Jerom to this day, he has been accounted the most eloquent Man of his Age, or of any since, the character of the Christian Cicero being no less commonly, than deservedly bestowed upon him; nay, some have adventured to affirm, that in some cases he has out-done the great Roman Orator. However, this I think may be safely said, that for the sublimeness of his Matter, the frequent pithiness of his Sentences, the sweetness and pleasantness of his Periods, the clearness and evenness of his Style,( whose greatest fault it may be is, that 'tis too smooth and fine) he has since the Ciceronian Age had few equal, and perhaps none superior to him.  

His WRITINGS.  

Genuine.  
Institutionum Lib. VII. 

I. De falsa Religione.  
II. De Origine Erroris.  
III. De falsa Sapientia.  
IV. De vera Sapientia.  
V. De Justitia.  
VI. De vero Cultu.  
VII. De vita Beata.     

Genuine.  
Institutionum Epitome.  
De ira Dei.  
De opificio Dei.  
De mortibus persecutorum.  
Fragmentum parvum de extremo Judicio.   

Not extant.  
Symposium.  
Grammaticus.  
{αβγδ}.  
Ad Asclepiadem, Libri dvo.  
Ad Probum Epistolarum, Libri IV.  
Ad Severum Epist. Libri II.  
Ad Demetrianum Epist. Libri II.   

Supposititious.  
Carmen de Phoenice.  
Carmen de Pascha.  
Carmen de passione Domini.     

THE LIFE OF PAUL BISHOP OF CONSTANTINOPLE.  
His Ancestors, whence. His sustaining the inferior Ecclesiastic Orders under Metrophanes and Alexander. His succeeding in that See, when. His subscribing in the Synod of Tyre, questioned. The Arians conspire, and prefer Articles against him. His first Banishment under Constantine. His return. Eusebius of Nicomedia his ambitious intrusion into his See. Paul's flight to Rome, and courteous reception by Pope Julius. Eusebius his Death. Macedonius thrust up into that See. A great hubub and sedition at Constantinople about that matter. Constantius his speedy return, suspension of Macedonius, and banishment of Paulus. His releasement in order to the Synod at Sardica, but not permitted by his People to go thither. His last banishment, and private conveyance to Cucusus in armoniac. Messengers sent after to dispatch him. Close imprisoned, starved and strangled. Remarkable punishment of Philip the governor, the manager of his murder. The honourable translation of his Remains under Theodosius the Great.  
I. ANTIQUITY has recorded nothing certain, either concerning the Kindred or Country of this worthy Prelate, more than that his 
Soz. l. 3. c. 9. p. 509.  Ancestors came from Thessalonica, a famous City of Macedonia. After a preparatory Education, he was entered among the Clergy of Constantinople, and if credit may be given to the Acts 
Act. Metroph.& Alex. ap. Phot. Cod. CCLVI. Col. 1413-1412.  in Photius, he was Reader under Metrophanes Bishop of that Church, who a little before his Death foretold his advancement to that See. They say further, that after the Nicene Council, when Alexander was sent with the Decrees of that Synod into the neighbouring Parts, he took Paul, then Reader and Register of that Church, along with him, with whom he travelled over Thrace, Macedonia, Thessalia, Achaia, Greece, and the adjacent Islands and Countries, quieting and composing those unhappy Controversies, with the Determinations which that great Council had made in matters of Faith. But when they tell us, that Paul was at that time but 12 years of Age, 'tis what will very hardly gain belief. Under Alexander, who succeeded Metrophanes, he was advanced to the order, first of Deacon, then of Presbyter, and by him thoroughly seasoned and settled in the Catholic Faith.  
II. ALEXANDER broken with extreme Age, 
Socr. l. 2. c. 6. p. 83. Soz. l. 3. c. 3. p. 500. ( being XCVIII. years old) and worn out with three and twenty years cares of his Episcopal Office, was now drawing his last breath. And being asked by his Clergy, whom he would recommend to be his Successor, answered, There were two especially whom they might have their Eyes upon; Paul, young, but prudent beyond his years, a good Preacher, and a Man of an excellent and exemplary Conversation; and Macedonius, an aged Deacon, of a grave Deportment, and fit to transact Secular Affairs. After the good Bishop's death, Factions ran high, the Arians stickling hard for Macedonius, but the Catholic Party carried it, and Paul was ordained in the old Church of S. Irene, whereof, while Presbyter, he had had the particular care and charge. The time of his promotion to this See, is clogged with considerable difficulties. And indeed the Ecclesiastical Historians have woefully perplexed and confounded his Affairs, which the Learned Valesius. has taken great pains to disentangle, whose adjustment of times we shall for the main steer by, tho as to the time of Paul's Succession, we can by no means agree with him. He places 
Obs. Eccles. l. 2. c. 3. p. 184.  the Death of Alexander, whom Paul succeeded, Ann. Chr. CCCXXXI. when as 'tis plain by the uncontradicted testimony of all ancient Writers, that Alexander was alive at the death of Arius, which happened not till Ann. CCCXXXVI. but being extraordinary aged, we may suppose died soon after, and that Paul succeeded that year. If Athanasius says 
Epist. ad Solit. p. 630.  he was Bishop, and Macedonius a Presbyter under him, at the time of his being at Constantinople, there's no necessity to understand it of Athanasius his first being there soon after the Council of Tyre, Ann. CCCXXXV. He might be there afterwards, perhaps in his return from his German Exile, or at some other time before Macedonius usurped the Chair. As for Paul's being present in the Synod of Tyre, and there subscribing the deposition and condemnation of Athanasius( with which he is expressly charged by the Eastern Bishops in their Synodal Epistle 
Ap. Hilar. in fragm. col. 440.  from Sardica) if true, he acted there as Alexander's Delegate and Representative. But I confess I am apt to suspect the story, and that a person, who was all along so brisk a stickler, and so deep a sufferer for the Catholic Cause, could not easily be guilty of so foul a Crime, especially when not the least hint of any such thing is to be found in Athanasius,( who had reason enough to know who were his Friends, and who his Enemies in that Council) no, nor in any History of that time. And for the Arian Faction, what Artifices they made use of to support their Cause, or to defame their Adversaries, cannot be unknown to any that have but looked into the accounts of this Age. This being cleared, we proceed.  
III. SCARCE was Paul warm in his Seat, when his Adversaries began to heave him out. The Arians had been pretty well kept under during Alexander's Life, whose Age and Authority they revered, and the late fatal Vengeance that had overtaken Arius had cast no little damp upon them. But the Scene being now changed, and a younger Man stepped into the Chair, and especially being vexed at the disappointment of their designs for Macedonius, they resume their courage, and prefer Articles against him: Sometimes he is charged 
Soz. ubi supr. p. 499.  with having unduly procured that See to himself, without the consent of Eusebius of Nicomedia, and Theodore Bishop of Heraclea, to whom, as the next Bishops of note and eminency, it was pretended his Ordination did belong. But this not being strong enough, they down-right accuse him of Immorality, of having lead a debauched and licentious course of Life. These, and some other Calumnies, are spread abroad, and being dressed up and aggravated by the Chieftains of their Party, are buzzed into Constantine's ears, who either wearied with their importunities, or over-credulously giving heed to their false suggestions, yields, as just before he had done in the case of Athanasius, and so by his order( for to him Athanasius expressly ascribes his first Exile) he is banished into Pontus, which we may conceive was done about the latter end of Ann. CCCXXXVI. or the beginning of the following year. Here he continued till the Death of that great Prince, whose three Sons and Succes●ors, 
Athan. ib. p. 31.  at their very first entrance upon their Government, published Letters and Edicts for the recalling the banished Bishops, and among them our present Bishop return'd, and repossessed himself of his See of Constantinople.  
IV. BUT he was not suffered to enjoy any long ease or quiet: For Eusebius Bishop of Nicomedia, a Man of a proud and aspiring temper, had cast an eye upon the See of Constantinople. He had heretofore procured himself to be translated from Berytus to Nicomedia, as a place of greater honour and importance, it having for many years been the seat and residence of the Emperours. But seeing the Imperial Court fixed at Constantinople, and finding Constantius( to whose share the Eastern part of the Empire was fallen) a Prince inclinable enough to be swayed by his Councils, he revives the Accusations against Paul, with which he found it no hard matter to possess the mind of that credulous Prince, who no sooner came to the Government, but had declared himself in favour of the Arians. Hereupon a Synod of their own Party is convened, 
Socr. l. 2. c. 7. p. 84.  by whom Paul is condemned and deposed. Whether he was formally banished, is not said: Probable it is, that finding Constantinople not safe for his stay there, he conceived it his prudence and interest to retire, and so voluntarily travelled into the Western Parts; the first place we find him at is Thessalonica, 
Id. ib. c. 16. p. 93. c. 17. p. 95.  which, if not his own, was the birth-place of his Ancestors, thence pretending to go to Corinth( perhaps to avoid some attempts of his Enemies) he took Ship, and sailed into Italy, and went to Rome, 
Ibid. c. 15. p. 91.  whither about the same time came Athanasius, Asclepas Bishop of Gaza, Marcellus of Ancyra, and Lucius of Hadrianople. They were courteously entertained by Pope Julius, who being satisfied in the goodness of their Cause, and the injustice of their Sufferings, did what in him lay to restore them to their several Sees, gave them Letters of Communion to that end, and wrote in their behalf to the Bishops of the East. After this, it seems, he went to the Court of the Emperour Constans,( for there we find 
Socr. l. 2. c. 22. p. 106.  him and Athanasius) who wrote sharply in their behalf to his Brother Constantius, threatening, that unless he speedily restored them to their Churches, he would himself come and do it, whether he would or no, which, if at any time, was done now, tho Socrates misplaces it some years after, about the time of the Sardican Council.  
V. BUT leave we him for a while, and return to Constantinople, where the same Synod that deposed him, promoted Eusebius to that See, who being thus advantageously seated, managed the Affairs of the Arian Party to their great satisfaction. He continued in this eminent Station till the Council of Antioch, called under pretence of dedicating the great Church there, soon after which, he departed this Life about the year CCCXLII. Eusebius thus dead, and the place become vacant, the People call home 
Socr. ib. c. 12. p. 89. c. 13. p. 90.  their Bishop, who return'd and took his place. But the Arians did not think fit to slip this opportunity, and therefore resolved now speedily to set up for Macedonius, whom in S. Paul's Church they ordained Bishop of Constantinople. The people, who had a mighty kindness for their old Bishop, were enraged at what was done, and both Parties being exasperated, the thing broken out into open Tumult and Sedition, which was followed with Violence, Blood, and Slaughter. Constantius at this time lay at Antioch, being engaged in a War with Persia, where hearing of what had happened, he ordered Hermogenes Master of the Horse, then going for Thrace, to pass through Constantinople, and to eject Paul out of the possession of his Church. The Commander coming into the City, and attempting to execute his Orders, found hotter service on't than he expected: For the people rose up in Arms to defend their Bishop, and when Hermogenes sent a Party of Soldiers to force Obedience, it did but blow them up into a greater rage; so that forgetting all measures of Duty and Allegiance, they ran to Hermogenes his House, set it on fire, and draging him out by the heels, and drawing him through the Streets, put him to death. The news of this barbarous and unjustifiable action was soon carried to the Emperour, 
Vid. Liban. Orat. III. Basil. dict. p. 127, 128.  who was so horribly offended at it, that tho then taken up with the affairs of his Persian War, tho it was the depth of Winter, and the weather extremely foul and tempestuous, yet by Post-horses laid for that purpose, he came with incredible speed to Constantinople, where having examined the matter, he banished Paul, and tho at the intercession of the Senate he put none to death, yet he punished the City, by taking away one moiety of that daily allowance of Corn( the whole was fourscore thousand Bushels) which his Father Constantine had bestowed upon it. Nor did Macedonius himself escape without a brand of the Emperour's Displeasure, who was offended at him, both because he had presumed to be made Bishop without his leave, and because he had been part-cause of the late Tumults and Murders that had happened, and therefore suspended the execution of his place, and confined him only to officiate in the Church wherein he had received his Ordination.  
VI. PAUL loaded with Iron-Chains 
Athan. loc. supra citat.  was sent to Singara, a Garrison in Mesopotamia, standing near the River Tigris upon the borders of Persia: A dangerous and disconsolate place, where he was perpetually liable to be invaded by barbarous Enemies from without, and from within could expect no other Treatment but what is usual to Prisoners from merciless and mercenary Souldiers. But here he stayed not long, for the place lying too open to the Enemy, he was removed to Emisa a City of Syria, seated upon the River Orontes, where he remained, for any thing we find to the contrary, several years, till a little before the time of the Sardican Council, when Constantius to comply with the importunity of his Brother, had consented to the summoning of a Synod, and released Paul in order to it, as a Person immediately concerned in it. Coming to Constantinople, he intended to have gone on to Sardica, to be there at the opening of the Council, but his People not thinking 
Theod. l. 2. c. 5. p. 72.  it safe to expose him to the malice and treachery of his Enemies, would not let him go. And indeed that he was not present at that Synod, what e're Socrates and Sozomen say to the contrary, is further evident from the Letters both of the Eastern and Western Bishops, who not only give no intimation of his being there, but plainly imply the contrary. However his Cause was judged as well as the rest; and as the Orientalists condemned and despised him as a ring-leader of mischief, a Person guilty of horrid Crimes, so the Western Prelates, who were the true Sardican Council, by their Synodal Sentence acquitted and dischargd him of those accusations, and restored him to his See.  
VII. AND now one would have thought he should have ended his days in peace, and restend quietly in the harbour after so many storms and shipwrecks: But no human happiness is to last long. The Emperour Constans, the great Patron and Prop of the Catholic Cause, was basely murdered, February the xvth, Ann. CCCL. After whose death the Catholic interest lost ground apace, and the Arians now carry all before them. And first they begin with Paul, whom the next year they traduce a fresh to the Emperour, and easily persuade him to espouse the quarrel. So command 
Socr. l. 2. c. 16. p 92. conf. cum c. 26 p. 117. Theod. ubi supr. Athan. loc cit.& apol. pro. fug. p. ●47.  is sent to Philip, the Praetorian perfect of the East, one true to their interest, and of greatest power and authority next the Emperour, to eject Paul, and give Macedonius possession of his See. Philip had seen too much of the sad effects of putting things upon force and violence by the dear experience of Hermogenes, and therefore resolved more closely and cunningly to go to work. He sends for the Bishop to come to him to Zeuxippus his Bath, under pretence of business that did greatly import and concern the public, and therefore commanded his speedy attendance. Paul obeys, and being come into the house, the governor shows him the Emperours Warrant, whereat the good Bishop was nothing daunted, though he thought it hard measure to be condemned without any cause shown, or being admitted to answer for himself. Philip dared not to trust the multitude, who suspecting some ill design against their Bishop, had flocked to the gates, and therefore ordered a back door of the Bath to be opened, by which Paul was conveyed into the palace, and thence immediately put a Ship-board, and sent into Banishment. The place appointed was Cucusus, a disconsolate and miserable Town in Cappadocia, but afterwards laid to the second armoniac, where there was nothing but Rocks and Wildness, could and Hunger to entertain him. But this it seems they thought too good for him, and that while they afforded him breath, they could never account themselves secure enough. Therefore to make sure the work, they dispatch messengers after him, who coming to the place, shut him up in a close and dark dungeon, without permitting any one to come near him, or the least bit of food to be given him. After six days they came into the room, expecting to have found him starved to death, but observing him yet to draw his breath, they strangled him with his own clothes, and then to colour the murder, gave it out that he died of a disease, though the whole Vicenage knew the contrary, and Philagrius who was Vicarius or governor of that Province, and Servant enough to the Arian faction,  told it with some wonder and amazement to several, and among the rest to Sarapion an Egyptian Bishop, from whose mouth Athanasius reports it. But see how remarkably the Divine Justice overtook Philip, the prime agent, that plotted, contrived, and executed this whole scheme of villainy. Scarce had twelve months gone over his head, when he was disgracefully turned out of all his honours and offices, and made a scorn and reproach to all his enemies. Which made so deep an impression upon his mind, that as if he inherited Cains curse he went up and down like a Vagabond and a Wanderer, ran from place to place, but was still pursued by his guilty conscience, and expected that every one that found him, should slay him, till no longer able to hold up his head, he ended his miserable Life, far both from his Friends and Country.  
VIII. BUT how barbarously soever God suffered our Bishop to be sent out of the World; how obscurely soever his body was thrown into the Earth, yet God not long after raised up his name with honour. For the Emperour Theodosius in the great Council at Constantinople, Ann. CCCLXXXI. understanding the hard fate of this good man, gave order 
Vit. Pauli ap. Phot. Cod. CCLVII. Col. 1428. Socr. l. 5. c. 9. p. 266.  before the assembly was dispersed for the translating his Remains to the Imperial City. Nectarius accompanied with as many Bishops as were left, went out as far as beyond Chalcedon to meet the Corps, which with singing Psalms, and other solemn Rites, they brought through the streets of the City into the Church of S. Irene, whereof he himself had sometimes had the Cure. The night was spent in Hymns and Psalms, and next morning, the whole City with all the Prelates and Clergy, and the Emperour assembled, and with all honourable solemnity laid him in his Tomb. This Church was afterwards enlarged and beautified, and from him took the name of S. Paul, 
Niceph. l. 12. c. 14. p. 246.  which ignorance and the multitude mistaking, begot the tradition in after-times, that S. Paul the Apostle was butted there. And Baronius tells us, 
Not ad. Martyr. Rom Jun. VII.  that some Ages after, the Head of this Martyr was taken up, and sent by the Greeks for an inestimable Present to the Queen of France, as the Head of that great Apostle. But she not knowing what to say to it, sent to Rome to consult the Apostolic Chair, and by the answer of Pope Clement the IV. was shew'd the mistake, and convinced that the Head of the Apostle was only preserved at Rome, the place of his Martyrdom and Interment. But whatever became of our Martyrs Bones, they were the only remains he left behind him, having consigned gnothing that we know of to writing to preserve his memory; his peculiar talent lay in Preaching, and by that he infinitely endeared himself to the people. And indeed his frequent banishments, and constant sufferings gave him little leisure, and perhaps less stomach to writ Books, whose mind was continually disquieted with his own personal sufferings, but much more with the evils and troubles that befell the Church of God.   

THE LIFE OF JULIUS BISHOP OF ROME.  
His Birth-place and Kindred. His advancement to the See of Rome when. His zeal for the Catholic Cause; his kindness to, and concernment for Athanasius and others. His citing the Eusebian faction to a public hearing. Athanasius acquitted by him in a Synod at Rome. Julius's Letter to the Synod at Antioch. Gregory of Alexandria his Agents rejected at Rome. The Libel of satisfaction, presented by Valens and Ursacius to Julius. Julius deposed by the Eastern Bishops at Sardica. The Canons for Appeals to Rome passed in the Synod at Sardica, shew'd to be not standing rules, but only personal and provisionary, and suited to that time. Julius's Letter to congratulate the return of Athanasius, his public Buildings at Rome. The time of his death. Supposititious Epistles entitled to him. His writings.  
I. JULIUS was by Birth a Roman, the Son of Rusticus a Citizen of Rome: upon the death of Pope Marcus, who sat not above nine months, he was advanced to the Apostolic Chair( as the ancient Catalogue of the Bishops of that See, put out first by Cuspinian, and then by Bucherius, 
Comment. in Vict. Can. pasch. c. 15. p. 273.  informs us) on the sixth of February, Ann. Chr. CCCXXXVII. He was a stiff and strenuous asserter of the Nicene Faith, and a vigorous opposer of the Arian Faction, and to that end gave Athanasius( whose Cause was then looked on as the common Cause of Religion) all the protection and assistance, which the eminency of his station rendered him capable to afford. No sooner by the death of Constantine was that great man released from his Banishment at Triers, and resettled in his See at Alexandria, but the Arians began a new to combine and make head against him. And the better to ruin his interest and reputation abroad, they wrote 
Ath. Apol. II. p. 562. &c.  to the new Emperours, the Three Sons of Constantine, whom they endeavoured to possess with all the prejudices and villainous insinuations, which either heretofore they had, or of late they could invent. But especially they wrote to Pope Julius, whom they hoped to make of their party, at least to assent to and ratify the Act that had past against Athanasius in the Synod at Tyre. This was no sooner understood at Alexandria, but Athanasius convened a Synod of his own Bishops, who wrote a Circular Epistle in his behalf, wherein by a plain account of things they vindicate him at large from those gross and scandalous aspersions which had been cast upon him. This Letter he sent by his Presbyters to Rome, where they so confounded 
Ibid p. 577.  Macarius, Martyrius, and Hesychius, the legates of Eusebius and the Eastern Bishops, that they were forced to request Julius, that a general Synod being had, the cause on both sides might be fully and impartially heard, and they have leave to maintain and make good their charge. Notice hereof Julius presently sent 
Ath. ad solit. p. 631.  to Athanasius, leaving it to his choice, to appoint time and place for the meeting of the Council.  
II. WHILE matters were thus depending, Eusebius and his party resolve upon a Synod at Antioch, wherein among other things they depose Athanasius, and ordain one Gregory a Cappadocian, in his room, who prepares with great force and violence to make his way unto that See. Upon the first rumour of this, Athanasius prudently retires, 
Ath. ibid. p. 632. Theod. l. 2. c. 4. p. 71.  and according to the invitation Julius, had sent him, goes to Rome, where he was welcome to Pope Julius, who in the interim had sent Elpidius and Philoxenus with Letters into the East, to city the Eusebians to appear, telling them withall, that unless they surceased their innovations, some other course should be taken. The Council sitting at Antioch, and having no mind after all to come to a fair and equal Trial, delai'd the business beyond the appointed time, and then dismissed Julius his legates with sharp Letters 
Soz. l. 3. c. 8. p. 507. 508.  to him, letting him know, that tho he had the greater See, they were not otherwise inferior to him, that they took it ill, that he had communicated with Athanasius, an accused and condemned Person, whose cause to espouse, was to affront their Synod, and in effect to null their sentence, which they looked upon to be highly unjust, and contrary to the rule of the Church; that in short, if he would reject those whom they had deposed, and receive them whom they had substituted in their places, they were ready to hold Peace and Communion with him; if not, they renounced him and his Communion. Upon the receipt of this Letter, Pope Julius called a Synod at Rome, where the Epistle being red, Athanasius's Cause was heard, and he acquitted, and restored to Communion, and Julius desired in the name of the Synod to writ back to the Eastern Bishops, which he accordingly did, complaining 
Socr. l. 2. c. 1●. p. 94.  of the bitterness and tartness of their Letters, and that contrary to the Canons of the Church they had not invited him to their Synod, whereas Ecclesiastic Rule and Custom had made the Bishops of Rome to be concerned in all important determinations; that they had slily and secretly corrupted the Faith; that for the Acts done heretofore at the Synod of Tyre( about which they raised so much noise and clamour) they had been obtained by surprise and fraud; and for the memorials of what were done in the Province of Maraeotis, they had been drawn up only by one party; and as for the Murder of Arsenius, it had been openly proved to be a pure cheat and fiction. But the Letter itself is extant at large in Athanasius, 
Apol II. p. 575.  whither the capable reader may have recourse for his satisfaction.  
III. GREGORY the Cappadocian, had by this time stormed the See of Alexandria, and taken possession, and if possible to put a good colour upon a bad cause, had sent 
Ibid p. 578.  away Carpones a Presbyter to Rome, to manage and make the best of his cause, but Julius refused to see him, much more to give him Audience. Several years Athanasius continued in these Western parts, though no fair means were omitted for his restitution. Ann. CCCXLVII. a Convention of Bishops was held at Milan, whither Pope Julius sent his legates, where the confession and requests of the Eastern Prelates were rejected, and Urascius and Valens two Arian Bishops, and the common tools and instruments of that faction, were upon their public recantation, admitted to Communion. The like penitential Libel 
Ext. ap. Ath. ubi supr. p. 602.& Soz. l. 3. c. 23. p. 536.  they soon after presented to Pope Julius, wherein they aclowledge the ill things they had falsely said against Athanasius, and that though Julius had often warned them to make good the charge, yet they had not done it, that they now solemnly professed 'twas all scene and fiction, and of no force, in evidence whereof they were most ready to embrace Athanasius's Communion, especially since Julius had given them assurance that their former misdemeanours should be pardonned; protesting, that they would henceforth have nothing to do with the Eastern Bishops in these matters, that they did most solemnly anathematize Arius as an Heritic, and all his followers, who denied the Divinity and Eternity of the Son of God, that they did now renew and would always stick to the Libel they had lately given in to the Synod at Milan, which by this writing under their own hands they did ratify, and that they did once more, and for ever condemn the Arian heresy, and all its authors and partakers. This Declaration they subscribed, but according to the guise of the men, who were wont to change with every wind, afterwards retracted it, and went again over to the Arians.  
IV. SOON after the Assembly at Milan, by the great instance and importunity which Pope Julius used with the Emperour Constans, and he with his Brother Constantius, a more general Synod was holden at Sardica, where the Eastern Bishops refused to join with them of the West, unless Athanasius and his fellow-sufferers were first expelled their company: Which not being yielded to, the Synod was kept in separate meetings; the Orientalists in their Assembly confirmed what had been heretofore done against Athanasius and his partners, depose 
Vid. Epist. Orient. ap. Hisar. in fragm. Col. 446.  several of the most eminent Bishops of the other side, and among them especially Julius Bishop of Rome, ut principem& ducem malorum( as they style him) as the Captain and Ring-leader of the whole mischief, as he that had first set open the door to Communion with wicked and condemned Persons, and had chalked out the way for others to trample upon the Laws of Religion and the Church, and had boldly presumed to defend Athanasius, a person whose neither witnesses nor accusers he had heard. In the Catholic Synod Athanasius and the rest were heard, absolved and restored, and the Nicene Creed confirmed, and a Letter written to Julius, to let him know what was done, and to desire him to disperse the Synodal Decrees about those parts. Among the Canons past in this Council, the III. IV. and V. are in favour of Pope Julius, granting him power to receive appeals out of other Provinces, where, if Bishops were aggrieved at home, or unjustly deposed, or that their Case could not conveniently be determined, that they might have recourse to Julius of Rome, who should have power to appoint Commissioners to hear and decide those Causes. Which yet did not invest the Roman Bishops with any standing supereminent Prerogative over the rest of the Church, but only made provisionary Decrees to comply with the present exigences and necessities of the Church. As is evident to any one that considers the state of the Church at that time, when the Arians having filled all corners, and possessed themselves of all eminent bishoprics, bore hard upon the Catholic Bishops in all places, who were thrust out and banished, nor could they have any right done them at home, as was plain in the Case of Athanasius, Asclepas, &c. who were then in Council, and were the only occasion of the calling of it: Which made it necessary to have some certain person to recur to upon such occasions; and who could be so proper for that purpose as the Bishop of Rome, which as it was the most eminent and illustrious See, so were its Bishops in those days most renowned, for their integrity and firm adherence to the catholic Cause. And indeed the Canons seem to entail this privilege rather upon the person of Pope Julius, than upon the See of Rome, as not designing it for a standing, and unalterable Law, but which was to expire with the occasion of it. In short, as the Sardican Council was never accounted any other than a particular Synod, so neither were the Decrees of it held in any great reverence and estimation, as appeared in the beginning of the following Saeculum in the known Case of Appeals in the African Church, whereof more in another place. The Council at Sardica being dissolved, Athanasius not long after was recalled by Letters from Constantius, and accordingly went to Rome to take his leave of his dear Friend Julius, who hearty rejoiced in his good success, and wrote 
Ecl. Epist. ap. Ath. Apol. II.  by him to the Clergy and People of Alexandria, to Congratulate the return of their excellent Bishop, whom he highly commends as for other things, so for his constant and courageous suffering for the cause of Christ.  
V. THUS far we have viewed him in his more public actings, nor was he less careful and industrious in his private station. Besides the welfare of his charge, he studied to add to the external beauty and magnificence of his See. Two new Churches he erected at Rome, one near the Forum Romanum, the other in the Via Flaminia within the Transtiberine Region; he Built three Coemiteries or Burying-places, one in the Flaminian way, another in the Aurelian, and the third in the Via Portuensis. He ordained that no Clergy-man should try his Cause any where but in the Ecclesiastical Court, and that Notaries should make Acts and Registers of all that was done, the care whereof was to lye upon the Protonotary, who was to superintend those Records. He died the XII. of April, Ann. CCCLII. after he had satin in the Chair Fifteen years, one month, and eleven days,( according to the Ancient Catalogue mentioned before, but to make up the time exact from February the VI. to the XII. of April almost a month more must be allowed) and was butted in the Coemitery of Calepodius in the Aurelian way. He left nothing in writing behind him besides a few Epistles, and some of them too, as now extant, spurious. And indeed they began this trade with his name betimes. Not long after his death an Epistle was produced as if written by him to Dionysius Bishop of Corinth concerning the incarnation of our Lord, favouring some of the heretical principles of those times, which therefore so puzzled Gennadius, 
De script. Eccles. c. 2. p. 44.  that he knew not what to make of it, affirming, that though it might be useful at first, yet that then it was pernicious and heretical. But Leontius 
Lib. de sect. Act. VIII. p. 526  the learned advocate of Constantinople has long since sufficiently discovered the imposture, and proved it to have been the Epistle not of Pope Julius, but Apollinaris, whose dogmata it did plainly assert. He tells us likewise of another inserted under his name into the Acts of the Council of Ephesus, but written truly by Timotheus, one of the main sticklers for the Doctrine of Apollinaris.  

His WRITINGS.  

Genuine.  
Epistola ad Orientales. gr. l. ap. Athan.& council. T. II.  
Epistola ad Alexandrinos. gr. l. locis citat.  
Fragmenta Epistolarum apud Gratianum, &c.   

Spurious.  
Epistola ad Orientales increpatoria.  
Epistola II. contra Orientales.  
De incarnatione Domini, Epistola. N. E.     

THE LIFE OF EUSEBIUS BISHOP OF EMISA.  
The place of his Nativity. His early Education in the knowledge of the Scriptures. His instruction in Divine and human Learning under what Masters. His declining the offer of a bishopric. The improvement of his Studies at Alexandria. His peremptory refusal of the See of Alexandria, then vacated by the Council of Antioch; and why. Ordained Bishop of Emisa, but excepted against by the People, upon what account. His retirement, and return back to that charge. His death. The great esteem had of him. The charge of Arianism and Sabellianism, by different Parties fastened upon him. His Parts and Learning. Homilies falsely fathered on him. An enquiry whether any of his Writings be now extant.  
I. EUSEBIUS was born 
Socr. l. 2. c. 9. p 85. Soz. l. 3. c. 6. p. 503.  of an ancient and noble Family at Edessa, a chief City in Mesopotamia, where Christianity had been early planted by Thaddaeus one of the Seventy, and cultivated by the after endeavours of St. judas the Apostle; and had taken such deep root, that it flourished in all succeeding times, and no City in all the Eastern Parts became so famous for its zealous and resolute Profession of the Christian Faith. He was like a second Timothy, from his Childhood acquainted with the holy Scriptures, according to the pious custom of that place; where one of the first things they did, was to instil the Rudiments of the Faith into their Children, that so their Reason and Religion might grow up together. Next he was committed to the ablest Masters of human Learning in that City, by whom he was instructed in all the Eloquence, Wisdom and Philosophy of the Greeks, wherein he became one of the greatest Masters of that age. But still he thought he wanted the accomplishment of that more divine Philosophy, which Christianity had taught the World. For which end he put himself under the Discipline of two of the most Learned Scholars of those times; Eusebius Bishop of Caesarea, and Patrophilus of Scythopolis; under whom he studied Theology, and the Exposition of the sacred Scriptures: and from them, 'tis like he borrowed some notions, that made him afterwards suspect d of an inclination towards Arianism.  
II. THUS furnished, he came and settled himself at Antioch, the most eminent City of the East, at the time when Eustathius the venerable Bishop of that See, was accused by Cyrus Bishop of Beraea, as a favourer of Sabellianism, for which he was deposed; though there was something else that lay at the bottom. He lived sometime with Euphronius, one of them that succeeded Eustathius, and that with so great famed and reputation, that he was pressed to accept a bishopric; and that with so much earnestness, that to avoid the importunity, he resolved to quit that place. Indeed his vast and capacious Soul was not yet satisfied with those great attainments he had already made; but was still roving after farther measures and degrees of knowledge, and to that purpose he went to Alexandria, where there were the most famous Professors of all the more abstruse and mysterious parts of Learning. Here he perfected himself in the utmost improvements of Philosophy; after which, he returned back to Antioch, and lived familiarly with Flaccillus, Euphronius's Successor in that See.  
III. A N. CCCXLI. Eusebius Bishop of Constantinople conspiring with the chief of the Arian Party, held a great Council at Antioch; wherein among other things, having condemned and deposed Athanasius, their next work was to fill up his See. And for that, none appeared every ways so fitly qualified as our Eusebius; a man of a strict life and eloquent tongue, whereby they hoped he would be able to charm the people of Alexandria, and bring them off from their unreasonable fondness of Athanasius. But he prudently declined the offer, wisely considering how uneasy that Chair must be to any man, out of which Athanasius had been turned; for whom he knew the People had a most dear regard, and that they would not endure any to be thrust up into his room. But though the Synod could not prevail with him in this matter, yet were they loth the Church should lose so useful and excellent a Person; and therefore persuaded him to accept the bishopric of Emisa, a City in Phaenicia, near Mount Libanus, not many Miles distant from Laodicea. Thither he went to receive his Consecration, but the People informed of his incomparable skill in Astronomy and the mathematics, cried out against him as a Conjurer, and mutined against his Ordination; so that foreseing how little quiet he was to expect among them, he left them, and went to Laodicea, to his dear and intimate Friend George Bishop of that place, who survived him, and wrote his Life. George brought him back to Antioch, where upon consultation with Flaccillus and Narcissus, it was resolved that he should return to his charge at Emisa; which he did accordingly, and where 'tis probable he continued till his death, which happened about the year CCCLX, not long before that of the Emperour Constantius; he died and was butted at Antioch, the place where he had spent a considerable portion of his Life.  
HE was of great esteem in the age he lived in, highly honoured by Constantius himself; who was so exceedingly delighted in his Company, that he used to take him along with him in his Persian Expeditions; and if George of Laodicea may be credited, he was famous for many miracles which he wrought. He passes under a very different character; by some he is said to have been an Arian, and by S. Jerom 
Chron. An. CCCXLVIII.  to have been Arianae signifer factionis( a Title which he claps upon more than one Eusebius) though when he speaks of him elsewhere 
De Script. c. 91.  more fully, he says no such matter. By others he was directly charged with Sabellianism, but it was by such says Sozomen, who were enviously tormented with the virtues of others. Were his Writings Extant, they would enable us to judge more critically and certainly in this matter. All that we can now guess is, that from his ordinary corresponding with the Arians, he leaned towards that side; and perhaps was of the moderate or Homoiousian Party. He was a man says St. Jerom, Elegantis& rhetorici ingenit, of neat and eloquent parts, and wrote many Books and Discourses; and those in a popular and familiar strain: in his expounding Scripture, he kept most commonly to the Literal sense, as the truest and most immediate way to understand its meaning. He employed his Pen against Jews and Gentiles, Novatians, and such like; and in writing brief Notes and Strictures upon the Gospels. Vast numbers of Homilies have been heretofore published under his Name; which 'tis plain were the works of Eucherius of Lions, and several others. Nothing genuine of his, has yet been brought to light; though it may perhaps deserve the Readers enquiry, whether those XIII Books or Homilies confidently published by Sirmond, under the name of Eusebius Caesariensis, be not rather the work of this Eusebius who was his Scholar; and who it may be, composed the two first, which are against Sabellius, to clear himself from the charge of that Heresy. Certain it is, that they favour not the vein and way of Writing used by the Caesarean Eusebius. Nor has Sirmond any argument or authority to support his confidence, more than that he found it so inscribed in the ancient Copy. And who knows not how easy it was for Transcribers, when they met with a work entitled to Eusebius, to clap Pamphilus to it, as supposing it to belong to Eusebius of Caesarea, as the person best known among the Writers of the Latin Church. But in this I leave every one to his own conjecture.  

His WORKS.  

Not Extant.  
{αβγδ}, Lib. X.  
In Evangelia Homiliae breves, said plurimae.   

Supposititious.  
In Evangelia totius Anni Homiliae breves.  
Homiliae L. varii argumenti.     

THE LIFE OF EPHRAIM THE Syrian, Deacon OF EDESSA.  
His Birth place. The care taken of his Education. The great pregnancy and strictness of his early age. His eloquent Speech presignified to him by a vision. His vast attainments in Learning. His retired life. His changing that Course, and fixing at Edessa. What happened to him at his first coming thither. His sober and abstemious course of life. His feigning himself distracted, to avoid the offer of a bishopric. His journey to Caesarea to converse with S. Basil, and the satisfaction he reaped by that intercourse. His return to Edessa. The extraordinary care he took of the Poor in a common Famine. His charge to his Friends upon his Death-bed. What happened to one that complied not with that charge. His dying reflections upon the integrity of his life; and last exhortation. The time of his death. His exemplary piety, and love to God, purity of mind, devotion, abstinence, contempt of the World, Charity and Humility. His hearty and immovable zeal for the Catholic faith. His memorable device to shane and confounded Apollinaris. His natural and acquired accomplishments. The great advantages of his natural eloquence. The elegancy of his discourses, though translated into other Languages. His composing Hymns for the use of the Syrian Churches, in imitation of Bardesanes. The vast number of his Writings. None of these extant, but what are translated into Latin.  
I. SAINT EPHRAIM was born( as the Greeks will have it) at Edessa, but as Sozomen tells us 
L. 3. c. 16. p. 525.  at Nisibis( at least thereabouts) a well-known City of Mesopotamia, standing upon the River Tigris; which I am the rather inclined to believe, because Gregory Nyssene 
Enc. S. Ephr. p. 1036. Tom. 2.  comparing his case to that of Abraham, plainly opposes Edessa to the place of his Nativity. His Parents were Christians, who took all due care of his Education, his recreation as well as his employment was to red, study, and meditate upon the Holy Scriptures, which was at tended with an honesty and piety of mind far above his childish years, and from which he suffered not the familiarity of his equals to divert him: whose vain or vicious company and conversation he did studiously avoid. By which means, he attained to a vast comprehension of divine knowledge, which with a mighty grace and eloquence flowed naturally from him. And this Heaven was pleased to signify to him by a vision 
Nyss. ib. p. 1037.  in his early years( which he was wont oft to speak of) he thought he saw a most fruitful Vine growing from the root of his tongue, which did so spread and enlarge itself, that it filled the whole earth, and all the Fowls of Heaven came and eat of the fruit of it; while the Vine, the more it was plucked, and its fruit devoured, did so much the farther increase, and was loaded with more and heavier clusters. A clear representation of that plentiful portion of divine and excellent gifts, wherewith Heaven was resolved to crown his Studies. And it fell out accordingly, for while he yet understood little( if any thing) more than the Language 
Sozom. loc. clt.  of his own country, besides his profound skill in Theology, he attained to a vast proficiency in foreign Learning; so as to be able to master the hardest and most difficult Theorems in Philosophy, and by the wisdom, clearness, and eloquency of his discourses out-went the wisest sages of Greece.  
II. THE former part of his age, he spent in solitudes, 
Myss. ib. p. 1036.  and the exercises of a retired life; where being free from the noise and crowd, he might quietly converse with Angels, and entertain himself with pious and divine contemplations. But God seasonably brought it into his mind, that we were not born merely for ourselves, but were obliged to help forward the welfare and happiness of others. This made him resolve to quit his solitary recess, and betake himself to the great City of Edessa, both that he might partake in the benefit of their public and solemn Assemblies, and meet with some wise and good man, unto whose conduct and instruction he might commit himself, and from whom he might receive further knowledge himself, or at least might have an opportunity to impart it unto others. At his entrance 
Vid. etiam Soz. ubi supr,  into the gate of the City, instead of the wise man he had so much wished for, he met with a common Strumpet, who earnestly fixed her eyes upon him, while he ashamed to fall so short of his expectation, turned his face from her. Woman, said he, tell me why dost thee so wishly behold me? I do, replied the Woman, and not without reason; for what can be more fit and proper, than to look up to thee, out of whom, as the Man, was I formed and made, whereas thou oughtest to look not to me, but to the ground, out of which thou wast created. An answer which he did not expect, and he inwardly blessed the Divine providence, that had turned the chance to so good advantage; and was so greatly delighted with the remembrance of it, that he wrote a Book particularly upon that occasion; esteemed one of the best he ever wrote.  
III. AT Edessa he fixed his station, where though he was in the midst of a Populous City, he kept to the strictness of a monastic life, by the severities whereof, he perfectly conquered all extravagant passions; so that though naturally extremely inclined to choler, he so entirely subdued it, that he was never after seen to be angry in all his life. When he espied his man under some terror and consternation for having spilled the dinner he was bringing to him, after he had fasted several days together( as he often did) he pleasantly  told him, don't be troubled, let us go to the meat, since the meat will not come to us, and so went and sat down, and took his repast of the fragments that were left upon the broken shivers of the Pot. Besides the constant returns of private Devotion, he preached frequently and with infinite satisfaction to the People. Scholars he had in great numbers, that diligently attended upon his Lectures, who became famous in those parts of the World; such as abbess, Zenobius, Habraam, Maras, Symeones, Paulonas, and Aranad, though the two last turned aside to the Errors of Apollinaris. He attained no higher degree than that of Deacon in the Church of Edessa; not that he might not, but that he would not. He was elected to a bishopric( probably the See of Edessa) and the Order was bringing to him, and persons sent to conduct him to his Ordination. Which he no sooner got notice of, but in a frantic manner, and with his garments hanging loose, and draging after him, he ran into the Forum; where he fell to his victuals, and by uncouth and fantastic gestures put on the habit of a Mad man. Which when they who were sent to apprehended him, found, they dismissed him as a man distracted; by which means he gained an opportunity to escape, and concealed himself, till another person was ordained to the place.  
IV. ABOUT the year CCCLXX, he took a journey, and that as himself tells us, 
Eph. Orat. de Laud. Basil. Tom. 3. p. 534.  by a divine admonition, to Caesarea in Cappadocia; where he saw and with admiration heard the great S. Basil preaching to the People of that place; and remarked the order and comeliness, the ardour and piety of their devotions: and wha's more, we are  told, 
Nyss. ubi supr. p. 1037.  that he beholded a bright shining Dove sitting upon Basils right Shoulder, prompting him with words of heavenly wisdom, which he immediately scattered among the people. Basil had it made known to him, who this great man was; and calling him to him, asked him by an interpreter, whether he was not Ephraim; upon whose confession, he saluted him with the most endeared embraces, entred into mutual Conferences and Discourses; the venerable Bishop imparting to him at his request, the most excellent Rules for the Government of the Divine Life. Loaded with the satisfaction of a well spent journey, Ephraim returns to Edessa; where he improved the small remainder of his life, to the most public and useful purposes. Not long before his death, a severe famine 
Sozom. ib. p. 527.  raged in the City, and the helpless died in great multitudes unregarded. He waited some time to see what care would be taken in the common calamity; but finding little or none, he left his Cell, and sharply reproved the rich and the wealthy, for suffering their poor Neighbours to starve; while they hoarded up their stores to the ruin of their own souls, which he shewed them were of infinitely more value than all their riches, or whatever else concerned the body, how much soever they slighted and neglected them. The men were ashamed, and turned it off by telling him, they did not stand so much upon their money, but the world was so bad, so full of fraud and self-interest, that they knew not where to find a man in whose hands they might safely trust this affair. He asked them what they thought of him? they all confessed they looked upon him as a good man, a very honest and faithful person; why then, said he, I will undertake it. So receiving their Charity, he caused three hundred beds to be brought into the public Cloisters of the City; and those whom want and languishment had made weak and impotent, to be placed in them; whom he provided both of Food and Physic. He took care also of Strangers, and those whom necessity had driven out of the neighbouring country; and furnished them with all necessary accommodations. And thus he continued till the dearth abated, and then he returned back to his Cell again; and within few days after, was arrested with his last sickness. Lying upon his Death-bed 
Nyss. ib. p. 1039. , he strictly charged his attendants to abstain from any pompous solemnity at his Funeral, that they should sing no funeral Hymns, nor have any encomiastic Oration at his Burial, provide no costly shrouds to inwrap him, nor any peculiar Monument to receive him; that he desired nothing but the portion of a Pilgrim, for that he accounted himself but as a Stranger and Sojourner as all his Fathers were; that if any person out of respect to him, had designed any such chargeable kindness, they should divert the cost, and bestow it upon the poor. There happened to be present a Person of Quality, 
Id. ibid. p. 1●45.  who had provided a very rich and costly shrowded for his interment; which he thought too good to give to the Poor, and resolved rather to give its value in Money. Whereupon( says mine Author, a Person of unquestionable credit, who lived at that time, and in those parts of the World) he was immediately taken after the manner of a possessed Person; and fell down at the Bed-side, foaming and tearing like the most wild Demoniac. The good man espying the sad spectacle, asked him what he had done to bring this upon him, who presently confessed the truth; whereupon Ephraim laid his hands upon him, and having prayed for him, restored him to his health and senses, and dismissed him with this charge, go thy way Friend, and perform what thou hast long since proposed and promised to thyself. After this, reflecting upon the course of his own life, he  told the Company, Never in my whole life( said he) 
Ibid. p. 1039.  did I any ways willingly reproach or dishonour God; nor has foolish and vain talk, at any time gone out of my lips: I have cursed or miscalled no man, nor have I ever had the least contentious quarrel with any honest man in all my life. So long as his breath served, he most earnestly prest all about him to a vigorous emulation in the practise of goodness and virtue, as his last Discourse( says Nyssene 
Ibid. p. 1046. ) does sufficiently show. And indeed there is still extant a dying Speech, or his last Will and Testament( as 'tis called) wherein there is an excellent vein of piety, and very pathetical exhortations, and admirable councils and rules for an holy life; but 'tis too large to be inserted in this place. He died, as may probably be conjectured, about the year CCCLXXVIII,( not long after the death of S. Basil, January the xxviii, as the Greeks observe it, or the first of February, according to the account of the Western Church. In an ancient Monastery 
Vid. Possec. Appar. T. 1. p. 〈◇〉.  at Constantinople called Sula, vulgarly the Six Marbles, heretofore the palace of the Patriarch, but now inhabited by Armenians, his Effigies, being an Original, is yet preserved, with this Sentence at his right hand, {αβγδ}, Charity and Continency purify the Soul.  
V. A MAN he was of as Religious a temper, and as strict a life, as that or perhaps any age has produced; he had all the virtues that can render a man great and excellent, and this that crowned all the rest, that he would not know it, nor cared to hear of it; being desirous, as Nyssene tells 
Ib. p. 1028. vid. p. 1033. &c.  us, {αβγδ}, not to seem, but to be really good. He loved God above all things, conversed with him by divine Meditations, and the constant returns of duty. The scriptures he red continually, considered and thought upon them; and while he was musing, the fire kindled, and his Soul was inflamed with love and mounted up nearer unto Heaven. He refined his faculties from all gross and sensual passions; and did as absolutely govern his appetites, as the Master does the Horse he rides on. He fasted, and prayed, and wept a great part of his time; and his frequent reflections upon the public or private state of things seldom left him dry eyes. When he had done preaching, 
Ibid. p. 1038. C.  he went to Prayer, and then fell to discoursing afresh, and then would burst into tears, and after that to prayer again; and this was {αβγδ}, the very life and spirit of his Sermons. He had so kept under his body by abstinence and spirit severities, that he seemed insensible of pleasure; he indulged himself no more sleep than what was just necessary to keep him alive, and that too taken upon the bare ground. No man with greater generosity despised 
Vid. p. 1030,& 1039.  the World, with all the riches, honours, pomps, and pleasures of it. He spoken it with some kind of triumph when he lay a dying; Ephraim has had neither Purse, Staff nor Scrip; Gold or Silver, or any thing else have I not possessed. I harkened to our Lord in the Gospel, who said, ye shall possess nothing upon earth; which suppressed all greedy and inordinate desires after these things. He thought most modestly of himself, and that every thing was too high and good for him; he looked upon commendations, as so many abuses put upon him, and when at any time he could not avoid them, would cast his eyes down to the ground, and vent himself in silent tears. His Bowels were acted with a very quick compassion, and he had a common concernment for the Poor, and when his voluntary relinquishing of the World had left him nothing to give himself, he thought himself obliged the more strongly to move others to acts of mercy and charity, which he never did but with great success; for who was able to resist the force of his Arguments, and that mighty {αβγδ}, that hearty and most affectionate spirit and temper, with which he was wont to set it home upon them.  
VI. HE lived in an age of strife and bustle, wherein the several contending Parties in Religion sought to undermine each other, and every one to establish their particular sentiments and opinions, as the Doctrines of the Church. But he always kept on the Catholic side, 
Vid ib. p. 1031.  and steered the middle way between Sabellianism on the one hand, and Arianism on the other. His great zeal for truth, made him readily encounter with any error, which he refuted with no little warmth and briskness, both by discourse and writing. He thought he could not do better service to the Church, than to recover men back to truth, to stop the infection that spreads like a Cancer, and to shane and put to silence the boldness and subtlety of those that lye in wait to deceive. Whereof one passage must not be forgotten; 
Id. ibid. p. 1040.  his countryman Apollinaris had filled those parts with the venom of his poisonous Principles, and for his own as well as other mens conveniency, had drawn up the state of his notions, and the strength of his arguments into two Books, which he had left with a woman; a prime intimado and zealous confident of his Party. Ephraim hearing of it, goes to the woman, and pretending himself desirous of further confirmation in those Principles, begs of her to lend him the Books a while, which might be of great advantage to enable him to refute the contrary errors. The woman assents, and he takes the Books along with him; and having brought them home, glues all the Leaves fast to one another; and so carries them back, without any visible sign of what had been done to them. Not long after he put some of the Catholic Party upon the challenging Apollinaris to a Dispute; the day is set, and Apollinaris appears, and desires of the Company, that by reason of his great age he might not be prest to dispute verbally, but might be suffered to argue or answer out of his Book. So taking one of the Books from his Companion, he began to open it, but it would not stir; he tried in the middle, but 'twas as fast there as before. Then he took the other Book, but found both alike, not one Leaf parting from another; which did so amaze and confounded the man, that like one forsaken of his reason, rose he up and ran out of the Meeting, and was so unable to sustain the shane and ignominy, that it brought a Disease upon him, that had like to have cost his life.  
VII. BUT though Religion and Piety was his greatest glory, he wanted not the inferior Ornaments of Parts and Learning. He had ravell'd into the secrets of gentle learning, 
Vid. Sozom. ubi supr.& Nyss. ib. p. 1034.  and well understood what Treasures they were masters of; the Chaff and Rubbish he left behind, and retained only so much as he could make useful to Religion, and the Service of the Sanctuary. He had the advantage of a strange natural Eloquence, wherewith he poured forth his conceptions with so much perspicuity, politeness, sententiousness and plenty, that he easily captivated and charmed his Auditors wherever he came. And his Discourses had this peculiar excellency, that contrary to the fate of all other versions, being translated out of the Syriac( for he always spoken and wrote in his mother tongue) into Greek, they lost nothing of their native grace and elegancy; but what was admired in its own proper garb, was little less admirable when clothed in a foreign Dress. S. Jerom 
De script. c. 115.  confirms this observation by that one Book of his, De Spiritu sancto, which he had red; where he tells us, even under a Translation he met with the acumen of a sublime and excellent wit. None knew better how to accommodate himself to what he was about; in his Homilies 
Vid. Phot. Cod. CXCVI. Col. 513.  and popular Discourses, he used an easy and unaffected style, but which yet made its way with such powerful persuasives, insinuated itself with so much sweetness, and came recommended with so pathetical a vehemency, that nothing was able to stand before it. The tropes and sohemes of Speech so familiar to the Syrian Language, being added to the height and solidity of his notions, set off his way of speaking with an uncommon force and beauty. He had no unhappy genius for poetry, though he traded that way more to please others than himself. Harmonius 
Sozom. ib p. 526.  the Son of Bardesanes( who flourished under the Reign of the Emperour Antoninus) was the first that had introduced Poetical numbers and measures into the Language of that Country, and had therein composed many ●oems. Ephraim observed his countrymen infinitely delighted with such Poetical composures, and that he might restrain them from reading those of Harmonius, who had every where intersperst his corrupt sentiments and opinions, he set himself to compose Syriac Hymns and Songs containing Catholic Doctrines and Principles, especially Encomiastics of the Martyrs and other excellent and holy-men, in all to the number of thirty hundred thousand Verses. Indeed the Books he wrote were almost innumerable, above a Thousand Discourses, as Photius reports from the People of that Country; which for their Piety, Gravity, Orthodoxy, and Elegancy, were held in such estimation and authority, that in many places they were publicly red 
Hieron. ubi supr.  in the Church next to the holy Scriptures. Many of them were in his life time translated into Greek, and the rest afterwards; and were greedily red by all with equal admiration and delight. And pity it is, that as yet we have nothing of him publicly extant, but at the third hand, the translation of Translations; when almost with the same care and trouble the Greek might have seen the World. Perhaps posterity may be more happy.  

His WRITINGS.  

Singuli uniuscujusque Tom. Tractatus à Labbaeo sigillatim recencentur. De Scrip. Tom. 1. vid. S. Ephraim opera à Ger. Voss. edit. Rom. 1593. vel Antw. 1619.  Opera S. Ephraim III. Tomis latin edita.  

Tomus I. continet Homilias& Tractatus LXXXIX.  
II. Libros& Tractatus XVIII.  
III. sermons& Orationes XXVII.     

THE LIFE OF DAMASUS BISHOP OF ROME.  
His Country. Contest about the particular place of his Nativity. Presbyter of Rome under Liberius. His siding with Faelix during Liberius his Exile. restored by Liberius. The Competition between him and Ursicinus about the See of Rome. The mischiefs happening during these dissensions. The bloody and violent Proceedings of Damasus against Ursicinus and his Party related by Marcellinus and Faustinus. What credibility in their reports. His Synodical condemning the transactions of the Council of Ariminium. S. Basils resentment of his coldness and indifferency in the cause of the Catholic Churches, of the East. Consulted by S. Jerom, with whom to Communicate at Antioch. The Apollinarian heresy condemned in a Synod at Rome. Vitalis head of the Party, abjures his errors there. A large confession of faith sent by Damasus to Paulinus. The 2d. general Council not holden by his authority. A Canon of his asserting the supremacy of the Church of Rome against the Decree of Constantinople, pretended by Baronius. The {αβγδ} in the Constantinopolitan Canon what. The great age and death of Pope Damasus. His public Buildings. His intimate correspondence with S. Jerom. The Liber Pontificalis falsely ascribed to him. His skill in Poetry. His Writings.  
I. DAMASUS was a Spaniard, the Son of one Antonius, of a considerable Family, and born not long after the beginning of this Saeculum. There is some contention among the Spanish Writers about the place of his Nativity. Some 
Vas. Chron. Hisp. An. 369. Hisp. Illustr. T. 1. p. 653. vid. Marian. de reb. Hisp. l. 4. c. 19. ib. T. 2.  will have him born in Portugal at Egita or Igaedita, called at this day Juimaranes, a Town situate between the Rivers Minius and Durius, three leagues from Bracara Augusta: others at Tarraco, 
P. Ant. Beuter. ap Vas. ib. An. 387.  an ancient City and of great note in Spain. But that which pleads most strongly for the honour of his Birth is Madrid 
Vid. Fl. Dextr. Chron. An. 366.& Comment. ib.& L. Marin. sic. de reb. Hisp. l. 2. p. 309. ( supposed to be the Mantua Carpetanorum of the Ancients) the Seat of the present Kings of Spain; and we are  told of an Inscription upon Marble in antic Letters in one of the Parish Churches of that Place, importing that Damasus was baptized in that Church. Where or what his Education was, doth not appear, no mention being made of him, till we find him among the Deacons and Presbyters of the Roman Church under the Government of Pope Liberius, who seems to have had a peculiar kindness for him, and whom he succeeded in that See; though his first arrival at it was very tragical and tempestuous. There was at this time a woeful schism in that Church, which happened upon this occasion. Liberius being banished by the Emperor Constantius for his constancy to the Catholic interest, the Clergy of that Church, obliged 
Marcel.& Faustin. prefat. ad libel. precum.  themselves by oath before all the People never to admit another Bishop while Liberius lived; and Damasus, we are  told, purposed to accompany Liberius into Exile; but having gone part of the journey, left him, and return'd back to Rome, where by the prevalency of the Arian faction, Faelix the Archdeacon was ordained Bishop, one otherways sound in the faith. With him the Clergy notwithstanding their former oath complied, and Damasus among the rest; though the people were generally offended at it, and refused to go the wonted Procession with the new-made Pope. Three years after, viz. An. CCCLVIII, Liberius upon his subscribing the Arian cause, was released from Banishment; upon whose return Faelix was driven out of the City; and when a little after he came back, and held his Assemblies in the Julian Church beyond Tiber; the people rose up a 2d. time and thrust him out, Liberius in the mean time doing all he could to compose affairs, and to reconcile the Clergy, who had taken part with Faelix, whom he restored to their former places. Liberius survived his restitution eight years, dying September the xxivth, Anno CCCLXVI.  
II. UPON his Decease appeared two Competitors for the Chair, Damasus, and Ursicinus or Ursinus, a Deacon of that Church, who with some few more, had kept strictly to their engagement, and had all along refused to own Faelix for their Bishop. Damasus and his Party appeared in Lucinis say mine Authors, though where that was, I am yet to seek; where they demanded him for their Bishop, and who was accordingly consecrated in the Lateran Church: while Ursicinus and his Followers made their procession in the Church of Julius, and required him who had never been defiled with the Arian Commuion for Bishop, and in the Church of Sicinius, or rather {αβγδ}( as Socrates tells us 
L. 4. c. 29. p. 247. ) in the Vestry, or some obscure chapel belonging to that Church, he was ordained by Paul Bishop of Tibur. These contrary proceedings quickly filled the City with tumult and confusion 
Am. marcel. lib. 27. , factions grew high on both sides, from words they fell to blows, and thence to blood and slaughter, and nothing was seen but Swords and instruments of fury; and the holy places filled with dead or mangled Bodies. Viventius the Provost endeavoured what in him lay to put a stop to the torrent, but finding the stream swelled too high, and that he was neither able to sweeten nor control the exasperated humour, he was forced to retire out of the City for his own security. But Damasus his party, at length prevailed, the other being beaten out of sight, and that with so considerable a loss, that only in the Church of Sisinius, there were killed in one day no less then CXXXVII persons; to the infinite scandal of Religion, and the resentment of all sober and good men.  
III. THIS is the account, bad enough at best, that's agreed on all hands: But Marcellinus and Faustinus two Presbyters, who lived at that time, in the preface of their Petition to the Emperor Theodosius represent a much more tragical face of things, with a heavy charge upon the memory of Pope Damasus. They tell us, that Damasus hearing of Ursicinus his Ordination, hired a mighty crew of Charioteers, Sword-players, and the infamous rabble, and marched with them to the Julian Church, which they broken open and murdered all they met with for three days together; and having by bribes made Viventius the Provost, and Julian perfect of the Granary of his side, procured Ursicinus with Amantius and Lupus his two Deacons to be banished, beating or killing those of the people that refused to come over to him. And understanding that the people had secured seven Presbyters, and had placed them in Liberius his Church, he came thither with his armed multitude; and October the xxvith beset the Church, broken open the Doors, and put fire to the place, where they were secured, that there might be no passage to escape, while others until'd the roof and threw down the tiles upon the people within, and then rushing in killed men and women to the number of CLX, wounding many more, of whom several died afterwards; while Damasus lost not one of his party: that the people earnestly petitioned God and the Emperour( while Damasus raised a fresh, and as they call it, a fifth persesecution against them) that the cause might be heard in a convention of Bishops, and things fairly tried; whose Petitions being presented to Valentinian, he the year following released them that had been banished: so Ursicinus and his Deacons return'd October the xvith, and were joyfully wellcom'd by their people: That Damasus having made those at Court his Friends, kept the Emperour from being acquainted with the true state of things, who accordingly commands that Ursicinus should create no farther trouble; and he now finding that no good was to be done, for peace sake surrendered himself to the mercy of his Enemies, and by order from the Emperor on the xviith of December went again and into banishment, after whose departure his people destitute of all their Ministers kept their stations in the Caemiteries of the Martyrs; and being assembled on a time in S. Agnes Church, were again set upon by Damasus, who slay many of them. After which he invited the Neighbour Bishops of Italy( as the custom was) to solemnize his Birth-day, whom he endeavoured to persuade to join with him in the condemnation of Ursicinus, but received no other answer, then that they came to celebrate his nativity, not to condemn a person unheard, and before they knew what he had to say for himself.  
IV. THIS is the sum of that account, which those two Presbyters give of this matter. They were 'tis true of the Luciferian separation, that is, those that rejected all communion with any that had communicated with the Arians; which perhaps might make them writ a little more tartly. But whether this be sufficient to destroy their evidence, and enervate the force of their testimony in matters of fact within their knowledge, is left to the Reader to judge: if so, 'twill be some abatement to S. Jerom's testimony( upon which Baronius lays so much stress, though he says nothing very material to the purpose) his dear friendship and kindness to Pope Damasus bringing him within the suspicion of partiality. To me it seems scarce credible that persons of their character in so solemn an address to the Emperor should usher it in with nothing but pure lies and falsehoods; and those too gross and palbable, the things done being still fresh in memory, and Damasus himself yet alive. And methinks what pains soever Baronius takes to put a gloss upon the Story, it looks a little odd, the account which their own Pontifical Book 
In vit. Damas. Con. cil. T. 11. col. 859.  gives of this affair, that Damasus was constituted Bishop, because he had the greater and the stronger party. But let the Reader weigh the whole matter in an impartial balance, and then incline to which side he please. Certain it is, that what ever irregularities might happen in Damasus his election; or what ill things he or his party might be guilty of, he sufficiently recovered his credit, and for his prudence piety and zeal against Arianism purchased a great and just reverence throughout the whole Christian World.  
V. BEING at length settled and confirmed, he began to act in his public station. About the year CCCLXIX, he convened a Synod, whereat met ninety Bishops out of Italy and some parts of France; who considering how much the Arian Artifices still prevailed, and how many were misled by false apprehensions and misrepresentations of things, condemned the transactions of the Council of Ariminum, and particularly Auxentius Bishop of Milan, the great stickler for Arianism in those parts, confirmed and reinforc't the Nicaene faith, an account of all which Pope Damasus and the rest gave in a Synodical Epistle 
Ext. ap. Theod. l. 2. c. 22. p. 102.  to the Bishops of Illyricum, wherein they recommend the Catholic Doctrine, and what they had done in it to them, and to desire them by an answer to signify their consent and concurrence with them. Sad in the mean time was the case of the Catholics in the Eastern Church, where by the favour and passionate concernment of the Emperor Valens, the Arians bore all the sway, and almost in every place carried all before them. Of which S. Basil makes a lamentable representation in his Epistles, who wrote likewise, and sent legates to Damasus and the Western Bishops to implore their aid and help in this common cause. And to speed more effectually, he engaged the great Athanasius( whose authority was then enough to give reputation to any request) to writ to Damasus in their behalf. But whatever answer Damasus return'd( for his Letters are not now extant) 'tis plain he was very could and indifferent in this affair; as appears from the many complaints and sometimes tart reflections which Basil makes upon this occasion, as elsewhere we have related more at large.  
VI. BUT the Catholic interest in the East did not only suffer from the malice and cruelty of the Arians, but from their intestine quarrels and divisions among themselves; as appeared especially in the Church of Antioch, where besides eudoxus the Arian Bishop, and Vitalis the Lay-Ringleader of the Apollinarian party there were Meletius and Paulinus both Catholic Prelates in that Church, some taking part with the one, and some with the other; and the Church by this means rent asunder into a miserable schism. Damasus espoused the cause of Paulinus, who had been consecrated by Lucifer Calaritanus a Western Bishop: and when S. Jerom then residing at Antioch knew not well whom to join with, he sent to Rome to consult with Pope Damasus, who advised him to hold communion with Paulinus: Nay after the death of Meletius, and that another was chosen in his room, he still persistted in abetting and patronizing Paulinus, thereby giving no little life to the pernicious divisions of that Church. About the year CCCLXXIII.( if Baronius 
Baron. eod. An.  compute it right) a Synod was holden at Rome, whereat was present Peter Bishop of Alexandria, Successor to Athanasius, who forced away by the barbarous cruelties of the Arians, had fled hither for shelter. The chief thing transacted in this Synod, was the condemnation of the Apollinarian heresy, then newly sprung up in the World, asserting our Lord to have assumed human flesh without any rational mind or understanding, his Deity supplying the room of that: Apollinaris himself, together with his prime disciple Timotheus being deposed and censured. Vitalis the head of that Sect at Antioch( though a Lay-man, as the Alexandrian Chronicon 
Ad An. Julian, 1. p. 688.  assures us, and that his Followers were called the Sect of the Vitalians) was at this time at Rome; where he solemnly retracted and abjured his errors before the Council, subscribed the Catholic faith, and was received to Communion, and by him Damasus wrote to Paulinus, referring the man to him for a farther trial and discussion of his case. Of the proceedings of this Synod in the cause of Apollinaris, Damasus afterwards wrote 
Ext. Epist. ap Theod. l. 5. c. 10. p. 212.  an account to the Eastern Bishops, who it seems had desired his concurrence in the deposition of Timotheus, which he certifies them he had synodically done some time before. At the same time, and by assistance of the same Synod, he published a large confession of faith 
Ext. ib. c. 11. p. 213. &c. , wherein he denounces particular anathemas against all the heretical Dogmata of every Sect, which then infested the Church, and spake Defiance to the Faith of Nice; and this he directed to Paulinus( no doubt him of Antioch) then lying at Thessalonica in Macedonia.  
VII. THE distracted state of the Church, and the care and piety of the good Emperour Theodosius, brought together the great Synod at Constantinople, An. CCCLXXXI, which ever had the title and authority of a General Council; though Pope Damasus was neither himself, nor by his legates present there. However Baronius 
Ad An. 381.  according to his custom to secure the Papal prorogative, would persuade us that Damasus afterwards confirmed this Council; but withall is forced to strain so hard for a trifling pretence or two to give colour to it, that any man may plainly see 'tis more than the cause will naturally bear. Though if he had confirmed it, this had implied no superiority, confirmation in this sense signifying no more than a consent and approbation, a thing usually done by all Bishops, but especially those of the greater Sees. In the third Canon of this Council, the Fathers advanced the Bishopric of Constantinople to the next degree of honour and privilege to the Roman See. This vexed them at Rome, and therefore the next year to chastise the folly and presumption of the Council( as Baronius speaks 
Ad An. 382. ) Damasus in a Synod at Rome made a Canon, extant in the Cresconian Collection, wherein having briefly prefac'd something concerning the Prerogative of S. Peter, he adjusts the precedence and privileges of the three great Sees, giving the first place to that of S. Peter, or the Roman Church, that has neither spot nor wrinkle; the second, to the See of Alexandria, founded by S. mark in S. Peter's name, and by his authority; the third, to that of Antioch, immediately constituted by S. Peter himself. But the mischief is, what ever Cresconius pleasantly dreamed of, Damasus and his Council past no such Canon, and therefore the last Publishers of the Councils wisely refer it to the Roman Synod held many years after under Pope Gelasius, An. CCCCLXIV. But to proceed with the Constantinopolitan Council; in the fifth Canon the Synod agrees to receive all those at Antioch, that confessed the Deity of all the three Persons of the Trinity, according to the {αβγδ}, the Tome or Volume of the Western Bishops. What this Tome was, is not agreed on; the Greek Scholiasts, Zonaras, &c, widely and without any pretence of reason refer it to a definition of the Sardican Council. Baronius 
An. 381. p. 429.  will have it to be the confession of faith sent by Damasus to Paulinus Bishop of Antioch, which we mentioned before: Valesius 
Annot. adSoz. p. 143.  to be an exposition of the faith drawn up by Damasus in a Synod at Rome, An. CCCLXXVII, or the year after, sent to Antioch and confirmed in a convention of Eastern Bishops there. But a Learned 
Bevereg. Annot. ad ●an. V. Conc. Cp.  man of our own not improbably conjectures, that it's meant of the Synodal Epistle which Damasus and his Council at Rome sent Ann. CCCLXXXII. to the remainder of that of Constantinople, and that this fifth Canon, as also the two following were not made in the General Synod, but in that part of it that re-assembled the year following. Certain it is, from the answer 
Ap. Theod. l. 5. c. 9. p. 211.  of those Eastern Bishops, that a Tome, or Definition of faith, especially concerning the Doctrine of the Holy Trinity, had been lately drawn up in a Synod at Antioch, and another in the late ecumenical Council at Constantinople, which being sent to Rome, probably produced that {αβγδ}, or Conciliary Letter, from Damasus and his Synod about that matter, and which the Fathers style the Western Tome, or Volume, in that Canon. In the same Letter he desired the Eastern Bishops to come to a general Council at Rome( about which it seems he had been dealing with the Emperor) especially to adjust and decide the case of the See of Antioch, still as much divided as ever, between Paulinus, and Flavian, Meletius his Successor, whose election had been ratified by the Constantinopolitan Synod the year before. To this Epistle the Fathers( many of whom met again at Constantinople the next year) return'd an answer; as for the journey to Rome, they excused themselves; as for the faith, they agreed with him; and for other proceedings, they gave him an account of what they had done both in the business of Antioch, and in that of other Sees.  
VIII. IT was not long that Damasus lived after this. He was full of days, near fourscore years of age, dying, as Baronius reckons, December the xith, An. CCCLXXXIV. after he had satin Bishop of Rome seventeen years, and near three months. As for the miracles reported to have been done by him, they that can believe the Acts of Damasus, may find them there. The works of Magnificence attributed to him by the Writers of the Roman Church, are two Churches, one near Pompey's theatre, the other in the Via Ardeatina, where he was butted in the Catacumbae near the bodies of S. Peter and Paul, the floor whereof he had beautified with a Pavement of variegated Marble. He diligently sought out the graves of many Martyrs, whose Tombs he adorned with suitable Epitaphs, ennobled the Church of S. Laurentius, and enriched it with many exquisite and costly gifts, and hither his body was translated from the place of its first interment. In his life time he held an intimate correspondence with S. Jerom; whom he oft consulted about the sense of obscure and difficult places of Scripture; S. Jeroms great skill in Hebrew enabling him to return very satisfactory resolutions. What his parts and learning were, we can make no certain guess, little of his being extant. His Tracts de Virginitate, both in Prose and Verse( mentioned by S. Jerom 
De Custod. Virgin. ad Eustoch. p. 141. ) are lost. The Liber Pontificalis, or short account of the Bishops of Rome, so often ascribed to him, is notoriously known and granted to be the work of Anastasius the Roman Library-keeper, who flourished several ages after, the style as well as the matter savouring of the rudeness and barbarism of those later times; tho it must be something elder than Anastasius, if what Labbee 
De scrip. Tom. 1. p. 252.  says be true, that he saw a Copy of it written in the time of Charles the great, wherein those lives were ascribed to Damasus, and this before Anastasius was born, to be sure before capable of writing Books, but withal he strongly concludes 'twas none of Damasus his work. S. Jerom, who knew him best, says 
De script. c. 103.  he had an elegant wit, especially for Poetry( which perhaps he owed in some measure to the Genius of his Country, heretofore famous for some excellent Poets) and composed very many short Poems, viz. Epitaplis, Inscriptions, &c. Some whereof are extant at this day.  

His WORKS.  

Epistola ad Episcopos Orientis. gr.& lat.  
Epistola Synodalis ad Episcopos Illyrici. gr.& lat.  
Confessio fidei Catholicae ad Paulinum. gr.& lat.  
Epistola ad Paulinum Antiochenum de Vitali.  
Epitaphia, inscriptiones, carmina Numero XL.  
Fragmenta quaedam apud Gratianum.   

Not Extant.  
De Virginitate,& prosa& versu.   

Supposititious.  
Liber Pontificalis.  
Ad Hieronimum Epistolae II.  
Epistola ad Stephanum& Episcopos Mauritaniae.  
Epist. ad Prosperum& Episcopos Numidiae.  
Epist. ad Episcopos Italiae.  
Epist. ad Aurelium Carthaginensem.     

THE LIFE OF AMPHILOCHIUS BISHOP OF ICONIUM.  
His originals obscure. His monastic life: Companion therein to Basil and Nazianzen. Fabulous reports concerning the manner of his being consecrated Bishop of Iconium. S. Basils Letter to him to congratulate his election to that See. Appointed one of the Commissioners for admitting Persons to communion by the council at Constantinople. His vigorous opposing the Arians and other Heretics, especially the Massalians. The rise and Principles of that Sect. Its condemnation in a Synod at Sida, wherein he presided. Present in a Synod at Constantinople to determine a controversy about the See of Bostra. His great age. The time of his death uncertain. The high esteem S. Basil had of him, and the excellent Character he gives him. Several Spuious or doubtful pieces entitled to him. His writings.  
I. THE Originals of this Holy man are altogether obscure, no Writer having given any intimation either where he was born, or how descended. If I might guess, I should conjecture from one of S. Basils Letters to him, that he was born in Cappadocia, and am farther confirmed in it by S. Jerom, 
Epist. ad magn. Tom. II. p. 327.  who speaking of that noble Triumvirate, Basil, Gregory and Amphilochius, stiles them all Cappadocians. In his younger years, he was brought up in all excellent and useful Learning, and became an accomplished Scholar. After which he gave up himself to the severities of a monastic Life, and was Companion to S. Basil and Gregory Nazianzen in their Pontic Solitudes. And this it seems Basil and he had agreed 
Vid. Basil. Epist. CCCXCII.( ad Amphil.) p. 398, 399.  upon long before; but the infirmities of his aged Father then kept Amphilochius at home, and that so close, that he could not spare so much time, as to wait upon the Bishop of Caesarea, whose excellent company and conversation Basil earnestly recommended to him. Freed from Domestic cares he betook himself to the deserts, and the pleasures as well as the hardship of a contemplative life. The place, if I conjecture aright, where he resided, was called Ozizalis, a place destitute of Grain, but abounding in Fruits, Herbs, and especially Coleworts, a parcel whereof Nazianzen in two witty Epistles 
Epist. XII. XIII. p. 776.  begged of him, when he was to treat S. Basil one night at Supper. Simeon the Metaphrast, or whoever 'twas wrote that trifling account of him, reports, 
Gest. S. Amphil gr.& lat. a Combef. edita.  that he lived forty years in a Cell underground, without any other sustenance then hard Bread and Water; and that the Bishopric of Iconium, the Metropolis of Lycaonia, being vacant, an Angel appeared to him, and three nights together bad him go into the City; and at last having prayed together, the Angel took him by the right hand, and lead him into the Church, which was full of Lights, and innumerable Persons in shining Garments, who conducted him up to the Altar, and delivered the Book of the Gospel into his hand; and having  told him, that the divine grace made him Bishop of that place, and having prayed for, and blessed him, immediately disappeared. After whose departure came several Bishops into the Church, with an intention to have proceeded to his Consecration; but he  told them, they might spare their pains, for the Angels had already done that office for him. Whereat as we may suppose, they were greatly astonished, and having given him the peace, went their way. This is the sum of the idle Story of his Ordination, for I would not abuse the Readers patience to set it down at large. However it may serve to give us a taste how fruitful the Greek as well as the Latin Church is of Legends and fabulous reports.  
II. 'tis hard to six the particular time of his promotion to the See of Iconium, more then what the Greek Menaeon tells us 
{αβγδ}; ●ub lit. {αβγδ}. , that it was in the reign of Valentinian and Valens, and perhaps not long after S. Basil's advancement to the See of Caesarea. He soon gave his dear Friend S. Basil an account of what had passed, and how unwillingly he had suffered this burden to be laid upon him. Basil wrote 
Ep. CCCXCIII p. 400.  back to him to congratulate his happy election to that place, and to persuade and press him to go on in a vigorous and successful discharge of it. The same of the man increased every day, and his learning and zeal for the Catholic faith advanced him to the first rank of Worthies in all those parts; insomuch that in the great Synod at Constantinople, An. CCCLXXXI, when persons were to be appointed as Judges of Catholic Communion who were fit to be taken in, he and Optimus of the Pisidian Antioch, had the whole Asian diocese committed to them. And when about two years after, the Emperor called another Synod for composing the distractions of the Church; he went boldly to the Emperour, and desired the suppression of the Arian Conventicles, then grown to a great height of insolence; and upon the neglect of his Petition, convinced the Emperor how great his offence was to God, by putting a notorious slight upon his Son, the young prince Arcadius before his face. An account of which passage we have related in another place. About the same time he appeared briskly against the Massalian Haeretics. These were a sort of primitive Enthusiasts 
will Ep 〈◇〉; LXXX. p. 450, 451. Theod. Haret. f●h. l. 4. c. 11. p. 242, 243. T. 4. Aug. de har●, c. 57. col. 26. Dama●c. de hares. p. 694. , who placed all Religion in praying, neglecting not only the duties of common life, but all other parts of devotion, affirming that they were to do nothing else but pray. And when filled with Enthusiastic heats, and diabolical raptures, they were wont to cry out, 'twas the impulse and presence of the holy Ghost. And as most heresies tend to, or end in sensuality, so they fell into the trade of promiscuous mixtures in their irreligious Assemblies. These cattle abounded most in Syria, and being driven thence, spread into Pamphilia, and the Neighbour Provinces. Against whom a Synod 
Phot. Cod. Lll. col. 37.  was called at Sida, a City in Pamphilia, in the Confines of Cilicia, where met six and twenty Bishops. Amphilochius was President of the Council, who as Theodorit informs us 
ubi supra. , wrote a particular Book against them: in the Synod the case was considered, and the heresy condemned, and a Synodical Epistle giving an account of what they had done, sent to Flavian Bishop of Antioch, who convened a Synod of his Bishops about the same matter, where Adelphius a Laic, and head of the Sect offered to recant and abjure his errors, but was not admitted, the Synod looking upon his repentance as feigned and hypocrital.  
III. WE meet with no more concerning Amphilochius, till the year CCCXCIV, when we find him in a Synod 
Ext. Act. Syn. l. 4. Jur. Gr. Rom. p. 247.& Conc. T. 2. col. 1151.  at Constantinople, with Nectarius of that Church, Theophilus of Alexandria, Flavian of Antioch, and many others determining the controversy between Bagadius and Agapius, who contended about the Bishopric of Bostra, Bagadius having been deposed only by two Bishops, contrary to the Canon, which required three at least; to prevent which, for the time to come, they decreed that such Depositions should not be made but by the sentence of provincial Synods. Soon after this Synod we may suppose he died, being of a great age; the Greek Ritual 
Loc. supra citat.  assuring us, that he lived till the time of Theodosius and his Children; the XXIIId of November is sacred to his memory. He was a man of singular worth, held in great veneration by all the persons of that age. He held an inward friendship with those two great men Nazianzen and Basil, the latter of whom had so high a value for him, that( as he oft intimates in his Epistles) he was never well but when he was either conversing with him, or writing to him. To him he had recourse upon all occasions, to him he communicated all his affairs and transactions, so that he tells 
Epist. CCCXCV. p. 405.  him his daily Letters to him might serve {αβγδ}, for the Calendar of his life. To him he dedicated his Book De Spiritu Sancto, and at his request wrote to him his three caconical Epistles, containing LXXXV Canons about Ecclesiastical discipline, in answer to several cases, which Amphilochius had put to him. He frequently commends 
Vid. de Sp. S. c. 1. p. 291. Epist. Can. I. p. 17. 11. p. 27.  his vast industry in the pursuit of knowledge, his unwearied inquries after truth, the clearness of his apprehensions, the firmness and solidity of his judgement, his admirable humility in so oft condescending to learn of others who was so incomparably able to teach himself. Books he wrote many in vindication of the Catholic Faith, though the Ancients have not so much as consigned the names of them to us. S. Jerom 
De script. c. 133.  only mentions his Book De Spiritu Sancto, which he says Amphilochius himself red to him. Several Tracts were some years since published under his name, but most of them spurious, at least uncertain, and we are the more at a loss in this matter, because we have none of his Books unquestionably genuine left us as Standards to judge of these.  

His WRITINGS.  

Doubtful.  
Oratio in Christi Natalem. 

In Christi Circumcisionem,& de Basilio.  
De occursu Domini.  
In Lazarum Quatriduanum.  
In mulierem peccatricem, &c.  
In diem Sabbati Sancti.  
De paenitentia,& quod non sit desperandum.  
Iambica ad Seleucum.     

Genuine.  
Excerpta varia ex Libris Amphilochii, quae apud veteres extant.   

Supposititious.  
Oratio in S. Deiparam,& Symeonem.  
Vita S. Basilii.     

THE LIFE OF GREGORY BISHOP OF NYSSA.  
His Country, Parents, and Kindred. Education, and love of Rhetoric. Hardly drawn off to the study of Theology. His Preferment to the See of Nyssa. His Zeal for the Catholic Interest. banished by the Arian Faction, and hardly used. Delegated by a Synod at Antioch to visit the Eastern Churches. His journey into Arabia; thence to Jerusalem. His entertainment there, and survey of that place. His return, and large Letter against making Pilgrimages to Jerusalem. The unanswerable Reasons he offers in that matter. His visiting his Sister Macrina, and assisting at her Death. His Book De Anima& Resurrectione, on what occasion penned. His going to the Council at Constantinople. His Books against Eunomius. His Funeral Sermons for the Empress Placcilla, and her Daughter Pulcheria. When we meet with the last mention of him. His singular Learning and Eloquence. His Writings enumerated.  
I. GREGORY was born in Ponti●, the Son of Basil and Emmelia, persons renowned for their Piety, Charity, and all other Christian virtues throughout all Pontus and Cappadocia. He was their third Son, S. Basil being the eldest Brother,( so heedlessly do they 
Auct. prefat. praefix. Ed. Lat. Oper. Nyss.&. ind Cent. madge. Cent. IV. Col. 532.  writ, that make our Gregory the eldest) tho he had an equal care taken of his Education. He was brought up in all the polite and fashionable modes of Learning, but specially applied himself to that of Rhetoric, wherein he became more than ordinarily eminent, and so great a power had it gained over him, that Nazianzen was forced to writ 
Epist. xliii. p. 804.  to him, to persuade him to lay that fond course aside, to get above that {αβγδ}( as he call it) that unworthy kind of Glory, with which he was vainly tickled, and to apply himself close to Divine Studies, and to the service of the Church, severely chiding him for taking more pride to be accounted an Orator than a Christian. Having broken loose from the study of Oratory and Eloquence, he betook himself to Solitude, and the Monastic Discipline, and had now leisure to put Nazianzen's Counsel into practise, and accordingly applied himself strictly to the study of Theology, and the holy Scriptures, and to inquire into the Controversies of the Age, in the knowledge whereof he became as eminent, as he had been before in the course of more smooth and pleasant Studies.  
II. HE was preferred to the See of Nyssa, a City situate in the Borders of Cappadocia, and by some reckoned to the lesser armoniac. Stephanus 
De Urb. in p. {αβγδ}. p. 500.  reckons up no less than ten Cities of this name, the eighth whereof he places upon Mount Caucasus, but whether he means this of ours, is to me uncertain. The exact time of his promotion to this Bishopric cannot be recovered: that he was Bishop when Basil created Nazianzen Bishop of Sasima, is plain from the Oration with which that eloquent Man the day after his Consecration entertained him when he came to visit him. But however it was, he proved in that station a stout Champion of the Nicene Faith, and so vigorously opposed the Arian Party, that soon after he was banished 
Basil. Epist. cclxiv. p. 263. Nyss. vit. Macrin. p. 188, 192.  by command of the Emperour Valens, the execution whereof was committed to the Vicarius of those Parts, who calling a Synod of Galatian Bishops of that side in the depth of Winter, deposed and condemned him to Banishment at the suggestion only of one mean and inconsiderable fellow; and afterwards removing to Nyssa, summoned thither a Convention of the Bishops of Pontus and Galatia, and there thrust in an unworthy Successor in his room. By his Brother's Letter 
Bas. Epist. ccclviii. p. 351.  to Abyrtius in his behalf, as well as by his own complaints, it appears, that he met with very hard usage, was tossed and hurried up and down, heavily fined, and exposed to the rage and petulancy of the people, all which fell the heavier upon him, as being both unused to trouble, and naturally unapt to bear it. In this condition he remained for seven or eight years together, comforted by his Friends, and especially by the Letters 
Vid. Naz. Epist. xxxiv, xxxv.  of Gregory of Nazianzum; all which time he went about doing good, countermining the Stratagems of the Enemy, and strengthening others in the Faith. In the Council held at Antioch about nine Months after the death of Basil, which happened Ann. CCCLXXVIII. he was among others delegated to visit the Eastern Churches, miserable harassed by the late Arian Persecution, and upon that Errand not long after went into Arabia, 
Vid. Nyss. Epist. de euntib. Hieros. T. 2. p. 1086.  the expenses of his Journey being furnished out at the public Charge, by the immediate allowance of the most religious Emperour( as himself tells us,) that is, I suppose the Emperour Theodosius, who about that time had been assumed into a Partnership in the Empire, and whom we find soon after publishing a Law, 
Ext. C. Th. lib. 16. Tit. II. l. 25.  bearing date Feb. 27. Ann. CCCLXXX. to require of Bishops to take heed that they betrayed not the Faith either through ignorance or carelessness; several such unskilful or unfaithful Guides having, 'tis like, to serve bad ends, been promoted in the time of his Predecessor. Having dispatched the Affairs of the Arabian Churches, he resolved for Jerusalem, having engaged to confer with the Bishops of those Parts, and to assist in their Reformation. Coming thither he was most kindly entertained by three pious Ladies, Eustathia, Ambrosia, and Basilissa, persons of considerable note and account there. He was not a little delighted to 
Vid. Epist. ad Eustath. &c. p. ●●88.& p. 1093.  contemplate those venerable places, where the Son of God had conversed upon Earth, but much more to behold those pious Souls, that were the Spiritual Monuments of his Birth, Life, Death, and Resurrection. But th●se, alas! were thin sowed there, the place he found for the most part over-run with 'vice, Schism, and Faction, some that shunned his Communion, and set up Altars in opposition to him. This soon gave him enough of that place, and with an heavy heart he return'd to the Metropolis,( I suppose he means Antioch, the Metropolis of the East, where he met 
De vit. Macrin init.  with Olympius the Monk, then going to visit the Holy places at Jerusalem) whence he wrote back to the three Ladies at Jerusalem, to let them know his sense of things, and to caution them not to be seduced by those that sought to make a prey of them. Upon occasion of this Journey he was afterwards consulted 
Vid. Epist. de cunt. Hieros. in init.  by a Friend, whether( what it seems was the opinion of some monastic Disciplinarians of that time) it was any essential part of Religion to make Pilgrimages to Jerusalem. In answer whereunto he freely declares himself in the Negative, that our Lord had not by any Precept bound this Duty upon us, nor made it any of the necessary qualifications to Eternal Salvation, that such Journeys could not be accomplished without manifest inconveniencies both to the Body and the Soul, that the grace of God and his favour were not confined to Golgotha or Mount Olivet, or our Lord now corporally present in those places; that they had more reason to expect his Spirit in Cappadocia, where God was more frequently and sincerely worshipped, than at Jerusalem, where all sorts of Vices and Immoralities did so much abound; that if he himself had been there, it was not so much to gratify himself, as to comply with the necessities of the Church, he being sufficiently satisfied in the truth of our Lord's Life and Death before ever he saw Bethlehem or Calvary, and this was the only advantage he had reaped, to find that Piety flourished much more at home; that 'tis not the change of places makes us nearer to Heaven, but wherever we are, God will come to us, if the Soul be but a fit Habitation for God to dwell in; but if it be defiled with Lust and Sin, tho thou shouldst dwell at Golgotha, or upon the Mount of Olaves, thou wouldst be as far from his Presence and Company, as if thou hadst never once heard of him. A Discourse that so mortally wounds the Doctrine and practise of the Church of Rome in point of Pilgrimages, that after all their vain attempts to evade the blow, they are forced to run away, and give up the Cause. But my business now is not to insist upon that. Being return'd home, he went to visit his dear Sister Macrina, whom by reason of his Troubles he had not seen of many years. His visit was most opportune, for he found her in a dying condition, he prayed with her, blessed her, and assisted her in her last hours, and saw her decently brought to her Grave: All which he relates at large in the account he has given of her Life. And upon this occasion he penned his excellent Book De Anima& Resurrectione,( wherein if some later hand have intersperst some few Origenian Dogmata, 'tis no more than what they have done to some few other of his Tracts) to give his Thoughts vent upon those noble Arguments.  
III. IT was not long after his Arabian progress, when he was summoned to the great Council at Constantinople, whither he brought along with him the Twelve,( or as others divide them, XIII.) Books which in vindication of his Brother Basil he had written against Eunomius, who had pretended to answer what Basil had written against his Sect and Principles, but durst never publish his Book while that great Man lived. After his Death he suffered them to creep abroad, against which Nyssen took up the controversy, and at once defended the Truth, and the Memory of his Brother. These Books he red to Nazianzen, and Jerom, 
Hieron. de Script. c. 133.  who at that time resided at Constantinople under that good Man's tutorage. He made no inconsiderable Figure in the Synod, his advice being chiefly relied upon in the most important cases, and therefore when it was thought necessary to make an explanatory Confession of Faith, especially in the Article of the Holy Ghost, the drawing it up was committed 
Niceph. l. 12. c. 13. p. 245.  to his care, and this is the Constantinopolitan, or as among us 'tis called the Nicene Creed. And when Meletius the aged Bishop of Antioch died, during the sitting of the Council, he entertained 
Soc. l. 4. c. 26. p. 244. id. I. 5. c. 8. p. 265.  that grave Assembly with an Oration at his Funeral, and was appointed one of the two Commissioners for admitting persons to Catholic Communion within the whole Pontic diocese. Some few years after he preached the Funeral Oration 
Ext. Op. T. 2. p. 956.  of the Empress Placcilla, as he had done a little before for her Daughter the Princess Pulcheria, 
Ext. ib. p. 946.  a little Infant that died not long before her. And here we must take leave of the Historical part of his Life, nothing memorable appearing afterwards.  
IV. HE was a married Man, 
Vid. l. ejus de Virgin. c. 3. p. 548, 549. Niceph. l. 11. c. 19. p. 137.  and lived with his Wife Theosebia even after he was Bishop, upon whose Death Nazianzen wrote him a Consolatory Letter, 
Epist. xcv. p. 846.  wherein he gives her more than ordinary Commendations. He lived to a great Age, and was alive when S. Jerom wrote his Catalogue of Ecclesiastical Writers, Ann. CCCXCII. and two years after that was present in the Synod at Constantinople, at the adjusting the controversy between Agapius and Bagadius, as appears by the Acts of that Council. No notices are to be met with concerning his Death, more than that the memory of it is celebrated in the Western Martyrologies March the ixth, in the Greek on January the x. A Man equally venerable for the clearness and elegancy of his Style, the quickness of his Parts, and the piety of his Life. Photius 
Cod. vi, vii. col. 9.  has passed this censure upon his Books in defence of Basil against Eunomius, that his phrase above that of any other Rhetorician, is perspicuous, elegant, and very pleasant, and that however he did not equal Theodorus of Antioch( who had laboured in the same Work, and upon the same occasion) in the length of his Discourses, yet he far outwent him in the beauty and sweetness of his Eloquence, and in the plenty and copiousness of his Arguments, beating down his Adversary by main force, and overturning the very Foundations of his impious Principles. The Hexameron, or Discourse upon the History of the Creation, which Basil left imperfect, he filled up with an accuracy that became the Brother of the great S. Basil. Many other excellent Works he left behind him, the lasting Monuments of his Learning and Eloquence, the greatest part whereof are extant at this day.  

His WORKS.  

Genuine.  
Hexaemeron, seu de opere sex dierum.  
De hoins opificio, Liber.  
De vita Mosis, seu de vita perfecta.  
In Psalmorum inscriptiones Tractatus II.  
In Psalmum sextum de Octava.  
In Ecclesiastem Conciones VIII.  
In Cantica can●●orum, explanatio.  
De Oratione Dominica, Homiliae V.  
De vita beata comparanda Orationes VIII.  
In illud Apostoli, 1 Cor. 15. Quando sibi subjecerit, &c.  
De imagine Dei in homine, libellus.  
Epistola de Ventriloqua seu Pythonissa.  
Oratio in suam ordinationem.  
Contra Apollinarem.  
Contra Fatum.  
Tractatus de communibus notionibus adv. graecoes.  
De Anima.  
Epistola Canonica ad S. Letoium.  
In eos qui differunt baptisma.  
De fugienda fornicatione in 1 Cor. 6.18.  
In mulierem peccatricem,& eos qui durius alios judicant.  
De pauperibus amandis.  
In Pentecostem, Oratio, Lat.  
Contra Eunomium Libri XIII.  
trees Deos dici non o●ortere.  
De fide ad simpliciem Tribunum.  
Catechetica Magna, Oratio.  
De Virginitate vera& incorrupta.  
Contra Manichaeos Syllogismi X.  
De Anima& Resurrectione, Dialogus.  
Adv. Apollinarem, ad Theophilum.  
Quid nomen professiove Christiani sibi velit.  
De perfectione Christiani, ad Olympium.  
De proposito secundum Deum.  
In eos qui aegrè ferunt reprehensiones.  
De infantibus, qui praemature abripiuntur.  
In diem natalem Christi.  
De S. Stephano protomartyre, Oratio.  
De sancto Christi baptismate.  
De sancto Paschae festo,& resurrectioni Domini Orat. V.  
De Ascensione Domini.  
De occursu Domini,& Simeone.  
De Deitate Filii,& Spiritus S.& de Abraham.  
In laudem Basilii M. fratris, Oratio.  
In laudem SS. XL. Martyrum, Orationes III.  
In funere Pulcheriae Oratio consolatoria.  
De Placilla Augusta, Oratio funebris.  
Vita S. Gregorii Thaumaturgi.  
De laudibus S. viri ac Martyris Theodori.  
De magno Meletio Oratio funebris.  
Encomium S. Patris Ephraim Syri.  
Non esse dolendum ob eorum obitum qui in fide &c.  
Epistola ad Flavianum.  
Oratio de iis qui adeunt Hierosolymam.  
Epistola ad Eustathiam, Ambrosiam,& Basilissam.  
Vita S. Macrinae, sororis.  
In principium jejuniorum, Oratio.   

Supposititious.  
In hoins creationem Orationes II.  
De Trinitate adversus Judaeos ex V. T. Testimonia, Lat.  
De differentia substantiae& hypostaseωs ad Petrum fratrem.  
De Philosophia Libri VIII,[ sunt Nemesii.]     

A Chronological Table, Relating to the affairs of the CHURCH IN THE Fourth Century.  
Ann. Chr. Roman Emperours. Consuls. Ecclesiastical Affairs. 300 
Diocl. à Sept. 17. 16  
17  
Constantius Chlorus Caesar III.  
Galerius Armentarius Caesar III.  Peter made Bishop of Alexandria upon the death of Theonas. 301 
17  
18  
Posthumius Titianus II.  
Fl. Popilius Nepotianus.  
Diocletian triumphs at Rome for his victory over the Persians.  
The Christians at Rome severely treated.  302 
18  
19  
Constantius Chlorus Caesar IV.  
Galerius Caesar IV.  Diocletian returns to Nicomedia, and consults with Galerius about persecuting the Christians. 303 
19  
20  
Diocletianus Imp. VIII.  
Maximianus Herculius Aug. VII.  The Dioeletian persecution set on foot at Nicomedia, Febr. 23d, and soon after in all other places. 304 
20  
Constant.& Galer. 1  
Diocletianus IX.  
Maximian. Herculius VIII.  The Persecution carried on with great severity in the East. 305 
1  
2  
Constantius Imp. V.  
Galerius Maximianus Arment. Aug. V.  Diocletian and Herculius Maximian lay down the Empire. Galerius succeeds in the East, and continues the Persecution. 306 
2  
3  

Tho there be, that place the death of Constantius, and Constantines Succession, An. 305, yet we have chosen to follow the general computation, as built upon firmer and more certain grounds.  Constan. M. Im. à Jul. 25.  
1  
Constantius Imp. VI.  
Imp. Galerius VI.  Constantine the Great succeeds his Father Constantius in the Empire; and Maxentius sets up for himself at Rome. 307 
1  
2  
Constantinus M. Aug.  
Maximianus Herculius IX.  Licinius created Caesar by Galerius the Emperour. 308 
2  
3  
Maximianus Herculius X.  
Galerius Maximianus VII.  A Convention of 270 schismatical Bishops and Traditores in Afric. vid. Aug. Epist. 48. ad Vincent. 309 
3  
4  
Coss. incerti.  
aliis  
Maxentius II.  
Romulus II.  
The martyrdom of Pamphilus, Eusebius his dear friend.  
A whole City in Phrygia suffers martyrdom.  310 
4  
5  
Coss. incerti.  
aliis  
Maxentius III. Solus.  About the end of this, or the beginning of the following year, the Persecution ceased in Palestine, and the Eastern Parts. 311 
5  
6  
Galerius Maximianus VIII.  
Licinius Augustus.  
aliis  
Rufinus& Eusebius.  
Peter Bishop of Alexandria suffers Martyrdom Novemb. 24, or as others, 26.  
Lucian suffers at Nicomedia.  312 
6  
7  
Imp. Constantinus II.  
Imp. Licinius II.  
Constantine beholds the vision of the across, and overcomes Maxentius.  
Towards the end of the year the Persecution ceases.  313 
7  
8  
Imp. Constantinus III.  
Licinius Aug. 3.  
Several Laws published by Constantine in favour of the Church, Clergy, and Christians.  
Maximinus his last Edict in their behalf.  314 
8  
9  
Ceionius R. Volusianus.  
Annianus.  
A Synod holden at Arles about the cause of Caecilian and Donatus.  
The Councils of Ancyra and Neocaesarea holden this, or as others think the year following.  315 
9  
10  
Constantinus M. IV.  
Licinius Aug. IV.  
Several privileges and Immunities conferred by Constantine upon the Church.  
About this time Arius began more openly to broach his heresy.  316 
10  
11  
Ruf. Ceionius Sabinus.  
Rufinus. Proculus.  
Licinius renews the Persecution against the Christians.  
Diocletian dyes at Salona, December 3d.  317 
11  
12  
Ovinius Gallicanus.  
Septimius Bassus.  
Crispus and Constantine junior created Caesars.  
Peace made between Constantine and Licinius.  318 
12  
13  
Imp. Licinius V.  
Crispus Caesar.  Arius quits Alexandria, and flies into palestine, where he courts the Bishops to espouse his cause. 319 
13  
14  
Constantinus M. V.  
Licinius jun. Caesar.  
Private Auguries and divinations forbidden.  
The Christian Clergy exempted from public Offices.  320 
14  
15  
Constantinus M. VI.  
Constantinus jun. Caesar.  Great Reformation of manners made at Rome, as appears by several Laws in the Theodosian Code. 321 
15  
16  
Crispus Caesar II.  
Constantinus jun. II.  
A Law published for the observation of the Lords day.  
Several others in favour of the Church, and against Pagan superstitions.  322 
16  
17  
Petronius Probianus.  
Anicius Julianus.  A famine raging in Afric; a Rescript is sent to relieve the Poor out of the public Exchequer. 323 
17  
18  
Acilius Severus.  
Junius Rufinus.  Licinius finally routed by Constantine, whose Laws and Edicts he abrogated part this year, and part the next. 324 
18  
19  
Crispus Caesar III.  
Constantinus jun. III.  Hosius Bishop of Corduba dispatched by Constantine with Letters to Alexandria, to compose the controversy between Alexander and Arius; but in vain. 325 
19  
20  
Paulinus.  
Julianus.  The first general Council Assembled at Nice, wherein Arius and his Principles are confuted and condemned. 326 
20  
21  
Constantinus M. VII.  
Constantius Caesar.  

Athanasius at the time of his advancement to that See, was probably in the 28th year current of his Age. See his Life, Sect. IV. Num. I.  Athanasius chosen to the See of Alexandria.  
Command given by Constantine for the erecting a stately Church at Jerusalem.  327 
21  
22  
Fl. Valerius Constantinus.  
Maximus.  
The death of the pious Helena mother to the Emperor Constantine.  
Christianity propagated in the Barbarous Countries.  328 
22  
23  
Januarius.  
Justus.  Eusebius and Theognis return from banishment( as Arius had done not long before) upon a pretended compliance with the Nicene faith. 329 
23  
24  
Constantinus M. VIII.  
Constantinus Caesar IV.  The Arians and Meletians jointly accuse Athanasius to the Emperour, who discovers their malice. 330 
24  
25  
Gallicanus.  
Symmachus.  Constantinople, begun two years since, finished, and solemnly dedicated, May the 11th. 331 
25  
26  
Annius Bassus.  
Ablavius Aegyptius.  Macarius Bishop of Jerusalem dyes about this time, Maximus succeeds. 332 
26  
27  
Pacatianus.  
Hilarianus.  Athanasius commanded to clear himself of the death of Arsenius, inquires out the man. 333 
27  
28  
Dalmatius.  
Xenophilus.  Heathen superstitions abolished, their Temples demolished, or shut up, and the rents and revenues belonging to them taken away. 334 
28  
29  
Optatus.  
Paulinus.  
A Law to free Widows, Orphans, the Poor and Infirm, from being compelled to follow the Court in suits at Law.  
A Synod at Caesarea, whereat Athanasius refuses to appear.  335 
29  
30  
Constantius.  
Albinus.  
A Synod holden by the Arians at Tyre in August and September, where they try, condemn and depose Athanasius.  
The great Church at Jerusalem d●dicated.  336 
30  
31  
Nepotianus.  
Facundus.  
The Arians at Constantinople charge Athanasius afresh; he is banished by the Emperour to Triers.  
The Death of Arius.  337 
31  
Constan. cum fratribus. à Maii. 22.  
1  
Felicianus.  
Titianus.  
Constantine the Great dyes May the 22d.  

This was done, as appears from that Emperours Letter, June the 17th of that year.  Athanasius released from banishment by the younger Constantine.  338 
1  
2  
Ursus.  
Polemius.  Nisibis miraculously defended against the siege of the King of Persia by the prayers of James Bishop of that place. 339 
2  
3  
Constantius Aug. II.  
Constans Aug.  The Arians by Letters accuse Athanasius to the three Brother-Emperours. 340 
3  
Occisus Const. jun. 4  
Acyndinus.  
Proculus.  The younger Constantine slain at Aquileia about the beginning of April 341 
4  
5  
Marcellinus.  
Probinus.  
The Synod at Antioch( called Synodus in Encaeniis) deposes Athanasius, and ordains Gregory the Cappadocian in his room.  
Athanasius flies to Rome.  342 
5  
6  
Constantius Aug. III.  
Constans Aug. II.  
Athanasius acquitted in a Synod at Rome.  
A tumult at Constantinople about Paulus their Bishop.  343 
6  
7  
Placidus.  
Romulus.  
The death of Paul the aged Hermit.  
Some immunities granted by Constantius to the Clergy.  344 
7  
8  
Leontius.  
salustius.  The persecution against the Christians in Persia begun the foregoing year, carried on with great severity. 345 
8  
9  
Amantius.  
Albinus.  A second Synod holden at Antioch, wherein the large confession of faith is drawn up, and sent into the West. 346 
9  
10  
Post. C. Amantii& Alb.  
aliis  
Constantius IV.  
Constans III.  A Synod assembled at Milan, which rejects the Message and Confession of the Eastern Bishops. 347 
10  
11  
Rufinus.  
Eusebius.  The Synod at Sardica, where the Eastern Bishops refuse to join with them of the West, notwithstanding which, Athanasius is heard, absolved, and restored. 348 
11  
12  
Philippus.  
Salias.  This year dies Gregory Bishop of Alexandria, ten months after the Sardican Council. 349 
12  
13  
Ulpius Limenius.  
Aco Catullinus.  
In a Synod at Sirmium, Photinus is deposed, but retained by the People.  
Athanasius being recalled, in his return waits upon Constantius at Antioch.  350 
13  
Constans occisus in Gallia  
14  
Sergius.  
Nigrinianus.  
The good Emperour Constans treacherously slain by Magnentius.  
Athanasius is received with joy at Alexandria.  351 
14  
15  
Post C. Serg.& Nigr.  
aliis  
Magnentius Imp.  
Gaiso.  
A across appears in the Heavens over Jerusalem at Whitsuntide.  
A Synod holden at Sirmium against Photinus.  352 
15  
16  
Constantius Aug. V.  
Constantius Gallus Caesar.  
Constantius's severe proceedings against the Jews in Palestine for their rebellion.  
The death of Pope Julius April 12th. Liberius succeeds May the 8th.  353 
16  
17  
Constantius Aug. VI.  
Constant. Gallus II.  Athanasius condemned by the Arians in a Synod at Arles: the Popes own legates drawn into the confederacy. Paulinus of Triers banished for his refusal. 354 
17  
18  
Constantius Aug. VII.  
Const. Gallus III.  Gallus put to death. Julian comes to Athens, and there converses with Basil and Nazianzen. 355 
18  
19  
Arbetio.  
Mavortius Lollianus.  
At, or about the time of this Synod, Pope Liberius was banished by the Emperour into Thrace.  A Council assembled by Constantius at Milan, wherein Athanasius is deposed, and several catholic Bishops banished for not subscribing to it. 356 
19  
20  
Constantius Aug. VIII.  
Julianus Caesar.  
George the Cappadocian in a Convention at Antioch is made Bishop of Alexandria: the cruel proceedings there at his arrival.  
Athanasius his flight thence.  357 
20  
21  
Constantius Aug. IX.  
Julianus Caesar II.  An Arian Synod holden at Sirmium, which draws up a Confession of faith. Hosius compelled to subscribe it. 358 
21  
22  
T. Fab. Datianus.  
Neratius Cerealis.  A new confession composed in another Synod at Sirmium, which Pope Liberius subscribing, is released from banishment, and restored to his See. 359 
22  
23  
Eusebius.  
Hypatius.  

Tho Valesius and some others make but four Synods holden at Sirmium under Constantius, viz. Ann. 349, 351, 357, 358.( vid. Vales. Annot. in Sozom. p. 125.) yet very evident it is, that there was one more there this year, as is plain from the Confession there drawn up with the date of the Consuls affixed to it.  Another confession drawn up at Sirmium May 22, with the date of the Consuls affixed to it.  
A Council at Ariminum by the Western Bishops, another at the same time at Seleucia for the East.  360 
23  
24  
Constantius Aug. X.  
Julianus Caesar III.  A Synodal convention of Arians at Constantinople Januar. 27th, wherein the several parties fall out. The Ariminum confession ratified. 361 
24  
25  
Julianus à Novemb. 3.  
1  
Taurus.  
Florentius.  
Constantius dies at Mopsucrenae in Cilicia, Octob. the 5th as some will; but as most others, Novemb. the 3d.  
Julian begins openly to delare for Paganism.  362 
1  
2  
Mamertinus.  
Nevita.  
Several methods set on foot by Julian to extirpate Christianity. He winters at Antioch.  
Athanasius forced to fly from Alexandria.  363 
2  
Jovianus à 27 Junii.  
1  
Julianus Aug. IV.  
Sec. Salustius Promotus.  
Julian slain in the battle with the Persians.  
Jovian succeeds, and favours Athanasius, and the Catholic side.  364 
1  
Valentinian.( cum Val.) à Febr. 25.  
1  
Jovianus Aug.  
Varronianus ejus F.  Valens the Eastern Emperor begins to take part with the Arians against the catholics. 365 2 
Valentinianus Augg.  
Valens. Augg.  A Synod holden at Lampsacus by the Macedonian and Semiarian Party, who confirm the old Antioch confession of faith. 366 3 
Gratianus Nobiliss.  
Diglaiphus.  Valens shuts up the Churches belonging to the Novatians, and forces the Semiarians to subscribe the Arian confession. 367 4 
Lupicinus.  
Jovinus.  Eustathius, Sylvanus and Theophilus appointed Legates by the Synod at Lampsacus, about this time take their journey, and impose upon Pope Damasus and the Western Bishops. 368 5 
Valentinianus Aug. II.  
Valens Aug. II.  
The Macedonian Legates returning are received and restored by a Synod at Tyana.  
Basil returns from his solitud●s, and is active at Caesarea.  369 6 
Valentinianus Nobiliss.  
Sex. Aurelius Victor.  S. Hilary goes to Milan to confute Auxentius the Arian Bishop, returns home, and dies. 370 7 
Valentinianus Aug. III.  
Valens Aug. III.  
The catholics severely persecuted by Valens.  
Basil made Bishop of Caesarea in Cappadocia.  371 8 
Gratianus Aug. II.  
Sex. Anicius Probus.  
S. Jerom arrives in the East, and places himself in the deserts of Syria.  
Nazianzen about this time made Bishop of Sasima.  372 9 
Modestus.  
Arintheus.  The death of S. Athanasius. He is succeeded by Peter. Lucius made Bishop by the Arians. A grievous persecution thereupon at Alexandria. 373 10 
Valentinianus Aug. IV.  
Valens Aug. IV.  
The Apollinarian heresy condemned by Damasus in a Synod at Rome.  
S. Austin falls into Manichaeism.  374 11 
Gratianus Aug. III.  
Fl. Equitius.  
S. Chrysostom retires into the Monasteries near Antioch.  
S. Ambrose made Bishop of Milan Decemb. 7.  375 
12  
Obit Valentinianus Aug.  Post c. Gratiani III.& Equitii. 
S. Ambrose studies Theology under Simplician.  
The death of Photinus the Haeresiarch.  376 13 
Valens Aug. V.  
Valentinianus jun. Aug.  
The Gentiles greatly restrained at Rome.  
Gratian forbids the Conventicles of heretics, and makes the places forfeitable to the Exchequer.  377 14 
Gratianus Aug. IV.  
Fl. Merobaudes.  
Valens afflicted by the invasion of the Goths, recalls the Catholiks from banishment.  
Symmachus at Rome appears in favour of the Gentile-rites.  378 
15  
Valens occisus.  
Valens Aug. VI.  
Valentinianus jun. Aug. II.  
S. Basil dies; and not long after him, Ephraim Deacon of Edessa.  
A Synod at Antioch for composing the distractions of the Eastern Church.  379 
Theodosius à Januar. 16.  
1  
Ausonius Poeta.  
Hermogen. Olybrius.  Greg. Nazianzen comes to Constantinople and settles there. Jerom comes thither and studies under him. 380 2 
Gratianus Aug V.  
Imp. Theodosius.  
Theodosius baptized at Thessalonica. He strenuously promotes and patronizes the catholic faith.  
Chrysostom made Deacon at Antioch.  381 3 
Syagrius.  
Eucherius.  
The second general Council, holden at Constantinople, begun in May, and dissolved in July.  
Nazianzen resigns the See of C. P. and retires.  382 4 
Antonius.  
Afranius Syagrius.  
A Synod assembled at Rome about the See of Antioch, at which were present Paulinus and Epiphanius.  
Some part of the general Council reassembled at Constantinople.  383 5 
Merobaudes II.  
Saturninus.  
S. Austin teaches Rhetoric at Rome.  
Another Synod holden at Constantinople against heretics.  384 6 
Ricimer.  
Clearchus.  
S. Austin sent to be Professor at Milan.  
Symmachus presents his address in behalf of the Altar of victory, but is opposed by S. Ambrose.  385 7 
Arcadius Aug.  
Bauto.  
Siricius made Bishop of Rome, January 12th.  
S. Austin converted at Milan.  
S. Chrysostom made Priest at Antioch.  386 8 
Honorius Nobiliss.  
Fl. Euodius.  
The death of Cyril Bishop of Jerusalem.  
S. Jerom travels to Alexandria, and hears Didymus.  387 9 
Imp. Valentinianus III.  
Eutropius.  
S. Ambrose sent upon an Embassy to Maximus.  
The tumult at Antioch against the Imperial Statues, which others refer to the next year.  388 10 
Imp. Theodosius II.  
Cynegius.  
The death of Cynegius the Praefect, the great suppressor of Paganism in the East.  
S. Austin is baptized at Milan by S. Ambrose.  389 11 
Timasius.  
Promotus.  
Jovinian condemned by Pope Siricius, and the next year by a Synod at Milan.  
The death of S. Gregory Nazianzen.  390 12 
Imp. Valentinianus IV.  
Neoterius.  The sedition at Thessalonica against the Emperors Officer. The miserable slaughter of Citizens there by the Emperors command. 391 13 
L. Aur. Avianus Symmachus.  
T. Fabius Titianus.  
Laws made against Pagan Sacrifices.  
S. Austin ordained Presbyter at Hippo.  392 14 
Arcadius Aug. II.  
Fl. Rufinus.  
S. Jerom finished his Catalogue of Ecclesiastic Writers.  
Epiphanius writes to John of Jerusalem about the quarrel between them: and soon after Jerom writes to Pammachius adv. errores Joan. Hierosolym.  393 15 
Theodosius Aug. III.  
Abundantius.  
A Synod at Hippo for the reformation of discipline in the African Churches.  
S. Jerom's Epistle ad Nepotianum.  394 16 
Arcadius Aug. III.  
Honorius Aug. II.  
A convention of 310 Donatist Bishops at Bagaia in Numidia to alloy the schism risen amongst them.  
A Synod at Constantinople about the bishopric of Bostra.  395 
Arcadius in orient.  
Honorius in occident à Januar. 17.  
1  
Sex. Anicius Olybrius.  
Sex. Anicius Probinus.  
S. Austin ordained Bishop, and made coadjutor with Valerius at Hippo.  
Severe Laws made against Heathens and Heretics.  396 2 
Arcadius Aug. IV.  
Honorius Aug. III.  
S. Ambrose by Letter instructs Fritigil Queen of the Marcomanni in the Christian faith.  
S. Jerom writes his Epitaphium Nepotiani to Heliodorus.  397 3 
Fl. Caesarius.  
Nonius Atticus.  
The third Council at Carthage.  
S. Ambrose dies April the 4th, it being then the passion-week.  
The death of Nectarius Bishop of Constantinople.  398 4 
Imp. Honorius IV.  
Eutychianus.  
Chrysostom consecrated Bishop of Constantinople, Februar. 26.  
The fourth Council of Carthage.  399 5 
Manilius Theodorus.  
Eutropius.  Chrysostom reforms his Clergy, opposes Gainas, Synodically examines the cause of Antonin Bishop of Ephesus, and goes into Asia about mid-winter. 400 6 
Fl. Stilicho.  
Aurelianus.  
In a Synod of 70 Bishops at Ephesus, Chrysostom places Heraclides in that See, and deposes six Asian Bishops.  
The Origenist-Monks come to Constantinople.  401 7 
Ragonius Vincentius Celsus.  
Fl. Fravita.  
The Monks reinforce their complaints against Theophilus of Alexandria.  
Two Councils at Carthage, one Provincial, May 27, the other general, Septemb. 13.  402 8 
Arcadius Augg. V.  
Honorius. Augg. V.  Epiphanius comes to Constantinople to prosecute the Origenist-Monks , refuses communion with Chrysostom, returns back, and dies in the passage. 403 9 
Theodosius jun. Aug.  
Rumoridus.  Theophilus summoned to Constantinople. He condemns and deposes Chrysostom in the Synod at the Oak; who is banished, but soon after recalled, and acquitted in another Synod. 404 10 
Imp. Honorius VI.  
Aristinetus.  
Chrysostom again condemned, and by order from the Emperor banished to Cucusus in armoniac, whither he arrived after 70 days journey.  
Arsacius made Bishop of Constantinople, June 28th.  405 11 
Fl. Stilicho II.  
Anthemius.  
Chrysostom after a years stay at Cucusus, is removed to Arabissus.  
Arsacius dies Novemb. 11th after he had sat somewhat more than one year and four months.  406 12 
Imp. Arcadius VI.  
Sex. Anicius Petronius Probus.  After four months vacancy, Atticus a Monk is promoted to the See of Constantinople. 407 13 
Imp. Honorius VII.  
Theodosius jun. Aug. II.  Chrysostom ordered to be removed to Pityus a Town in Pontus, but dies by the way at Comana Pontica, Septemb. 14th, and is butted there in the Tomb of S. Basiliscus the Martyr. We have carried this Chronological Table seven years into the following Saeculum, to comply with the story of S. Chrysostom, whose death happened not till Anno 407.   

Books Printed for, and Sold by Richard Chiswell.  

FOLIO.  
SPeed's Maps and Geography of Great Britain and Ireland, and of Foreign Parts.  
Dr. Cave's Lives of the Primitive Fathers, in 2. Vol.  
Dr. Cary's Chronological Account of Ancient Time.  
Wanley's Wonders of the little World, or Hist. of Man.  
Sir Tho. Herbert's Travels into Persia, &c.  
Holyoak's large Dictionary, latin and English.  
Sir Rich. Baker's Chronicle of England.  
Wilson's complete Christian Dictionary.  
B. Wilkin's real Character, or Philosophical Language.  
Pharmacopoeia Regalis Collegii Medicorum Londinensis.  
Judge Jones's Reports in Common Law.  
Cave Tabulae Ecclesiasticorum Scriptorum.  
Hobbs's Leviathan.  
Lord Bacon's Advancement of Learning.  
Sir Will. Dugdale's Baronage of England in two Vol.  
Hooker's Ecclesiastical Polity.  
Winch's Book of Entries.  
Isaac Ambrose's Works.  
Guillim's Display of Heraldry with large additions.  
Dr. Burnet's History of the Reformation of the Church of England, in 2. Vol.  
— Account of the Confessions and Prayers of the Murtherers of Esquire thin.  
Burlace's History of the Irish Rebellion.  
Herodoti Historia Gr. Lat. cum variis Lect.  
Rushworth's Historical Collections the 2d. Part in 2. vol.  
— Large account of the trial of the Earl of Strafford, with all the circumstances relating thereunto.  
Bishop Sanderson's Sermons, with his Life.  
Fowlis's History of Romish Conspir. Treas.& Usurpat.  
Dalton's Office of Sheriffs with Additions.  
— Office of a Justice of Peace with additions.  
Keeble's Collection of Statutes.  
Lord Cook's Reports in English.  
Sir Walter Raleigh's History of the World.  
Edmunds on Caesars Commentaries.  
Sir John Davis's Reports.  
Judge Yelverton's Reports.  
The Laws of this Realm concerning jesuits, Seminary Priests, Recusants, the Oaths of Supremacy and Allegiance explained by divers Judgments, and resolutions of the Judges; with other Observations thereupon, by Will. Cawley Esq;.  
William's impartial consideration of the Speeches of the five Jesuits executed for Treason. 1680.  
Josephus's Antiquities and Wars of the Jews with Fig.   

QUARTO.  
DR. Littleton's Dictionary, latin and English.  
Bishop Nicholson on the Church Catechism.  
The complete Clerk: Precedents of all sorts.  
History of the late Wars of New-England.  
Dr. Outram de Sacrisiciis.  
Bishop Taylor's dissuasive from Popery.  
Spanhemii Dubia Evangelica, 2 Vol.  
Dr. Gibbs's Sermons.  
Parkeri Disputationes de Deo.  
History of the future state of Europe.  
Dr. Fowler's Defence of the Design of Christianity, against John Bunnyan.  
Dr. Sherlock's Visitation-Sermon at Warrington.  
Dr. West's Assize Sermon at Dorchester 1671.  
Lord Hollis's Relation of the Unjust Accusation of certain French Gentlemen charged with a Robbery 1671.  
The Magistrates Authority asserted, in a Sermon, By James Paston.  
Cole's latin and English Dictionary.  
Mr. James Brome's two Fast-Sermons.  
Dr. Jane's Fast-Sermon before the Commons. 1679.  
Mr. John James's Visitation Sermon April. 9. 1671.  
Mr. John Cave's Fast-Sermon on 30. of Jan. 1679.  
— Assize Sermon at Leicester July 31. 1679.  
Dr. Parker's Demonstration of the Divine Authori●… of the Law of Nature and the Christian Religion▪  
Mr. William's Sermon before the Lord Mayor 1679.  
— History of the Powder Treason with a vindicati●… of the proceedings relating thereunto, from t●… Exceptions made against it by the catholic Ap●…gist and others; and a Parallel betwixt that and t●… present Popish Plot.  
Speculum Baxterianum, or Baxter against Baxter.  
Mr. Hook's new Philosophical Collections.  
Dr. Burnet's Relation of the Massacre of the Pro●…stants in France.  
— Conversion and Persecutions of Eve Cohan a Je●…ess of Quality lately Baptized Christian.  
— Letter written upon Discov. of the late Popish Pl●…  
— Impiety of Popery being a second Letter writ: on the same occasion.  
— Sermon before the Lord Mayor upon the Fast 〈…〉 the Fire, 1680.  
— Fast Serm. before the House of come. Dec. 22. 8●…  
— Sermon on the 30. of January 1681.  
— Sermon at the Election of the L. Mayor. 1681▪  
— Sermon at the Funeral of Mr. Houblon. 1682.  
— Answer to the Animadversions on his History the Rights of Princes, 1682.  
— Decree made at Rome 1679. condemning so●… Opinions of the jesuits and other Casuists. P●…lished by Dr. Burnet, with a Preface.  
— A Letter giving a Relation of the present state the difference between the French K. and the Co●… of Rome.  
Bibliotheca Norfolciana, sieve Catalogus Libr. Manuscr●…& impress. in omni Arte& Lingua, quos Hen. Dux N●… folciae Regiae Societati Londinensi pro scientia naturali p●… movenda donavit.   

OCTAVO.  
ELborow's Rationale upon the English Service.  
Bishop Wilkin's Natural Religion.  
Hardcastle's Christian Geography and arithmetic.  
Dr. Ashton's Apology for the Honours and Reven●… of the Clergy.  
Lord Hollis's Vindication of the Judicature of 〈…〉 House of Peers in the case of Skinner.  
— Jurisdiction of the H. of Peers in case of Appe●…  
— Jurisdiction of the H. of Peers in case of Impositio●…  
— Letters about the Bishops Votes in Capital Cas●… Duporti Versio Psalmorum Graeca.  
Dr. Grew's Idea of Philological History continued Roots.  
Spaniards Conspiracy against the State of Venice.  
Dr. Brown's Religio Medici: with Digbies Observatio●…  
Dr. Salmon upon the London Dispensatory.  
Brinsley's Posing of the Accidence.  
Several Tracts of Mr. Hales of eton.  
Bishop Sanderson's Life.  
Dr. Tillotson's Rule of Faith.  
Dr. Simpson's chemical Anatomy of the York-sh●… Spaws; with a Discourse of the Original of H●… Springs and other Fountains.  
— His Hydrological Essays, with an Account of the Allum-works at Whitby, and some Observations about the Jaundice. 1 s. 6. d.  
●… r. Cox's Discourse of the Interest of the Patient, in reference to physic and Physicians.  
●… ganon Salutis: or an Instrument to cleanse the Stomach.  
With divers New Experiments of the virtue of Tabaco and Coffee: with a Preface of Sir Hen. Blunt.  
●… r. Cave's Primitive Christianity, in three Parts.  
Discourse of the Nature, Ends, and difference of the two Covenants, 1672. 2 s.  
●… atius Fuller's Sermons of Peace and Holiness. 1 s. 6d. free Conference-touching the present State of England, at home and abroad, in order to the designs of France. 1 s.  
●… ystery of Jesuitism, Third and Fourth Parts.  
●… octor Sanway's Unreasonableness of the Romanists.  
●… cord of Urines.  
●… octor Ashton's Cases of Scandal and Persecution.  
●… le's Latin and English Dictionary.  
●… he trials of the Regicides in 1660.  
●… ertain genuine Remains of the Lord Bacon in Arguments Civil, Moral, Natural, &c. with a large account of all his Works, by Dr. Tho. Tennison.  
●… r. Puller's ●iscourse of the Moderation of the Church of England.  
●… r. Saywel's Original of all the Plots in Christendom.  
●… r John Munsons discourse of supreme Power and Common Right  
●… r. Henry Bagshaw's ●iscourses on select Texts.  
●r. Seller's Remarks relating to the State of the Church in the three first Centuries.  
●… he Country-mans Physician; for the use of such as live far from Cities or Market-Towns.  
●… r. Burnet's account of the Life and Death of the Earl of Rochester.  
— Vindic. of the Ordinations of the Church of Engl.  
— History of the Rights of Princes in the Disposing of Ecclesiastical benefice and Church-Lands.  
— Life of God in the Soul of man.  
●arkam's Perfect Horseman.  
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— Defence of Dr. Stillingfleet's Unreasonableness of Separation.  
— A Vindication of the defence of Dr. Stillingfleet in Answer to Mr. Baxter and Mr. job about catholic Communion.  
●… he History of the House of Estée, the Family of the duchess of York, Octavo.  
●… r Rob. Filmer's Patriarcha, or Natural Power of Kings.  
●… r. John Cave's Gospel to the Romans.  
●… r. Outram's 20. Serm. preached on several occasions.  
●… r. Salmon's new London Dispensatory.  
●… awrence's interest of Ireland in its trade& wealth stated.   

DUODECIMO.  
HOdder's arithmetic.  
Grotius de Veritate Religionis Christianae.  
●… ishop Hacket's Christian Consolations.  
●… he Mothers Blessing.  
〈…〉 Help to Discourse.  
●… ew-Englands Psalms.  
●n Apology for a Treatise of Human Reason, written by M. Clifford Esq;  
●… he Queen-like Closet, both parts.   

VICESIMO QUARTO.  
VAlentine's Devotions.  
Guide to Heaven.  
Pharmacopoeia Collegii Londinensis reformata.   

Books lately Printed for Richard Chiswell.  
AN Historical Relation of the iceland of CEYLON in the East Indies: Together with an Account of the detaining in Captivity the Author, and divers other English-men now living there, and of the Author's miraculous Escape: Illustrated with fifteen Copper Figures, and an exact Map of the iceland. By Capt. Robert Knox, a Captive there near 20 years, Fol.  
Mr. Camfield's two Discourses of Episcopal Confirmation, Octavo.  
Bishop Wilkin's Fifteen Sermons never before extant.  
Mr. John Cave's two Sermons of the duty and benefit of submission to the Will of God in Afflictions, Quar.  
Dr. Crawford's serious expostulation with the Whiggs in Scotland, Quarto.  
A Letter giving a Relation of the present state of the Difference between the French King and the Court of Rome; to which is added, The Popes Brief to the Assembly of the Clergy, and their Protestation. Published by Dr. Burnet.  
Alphonsus Borellus de motu Animalium, in 2 Vol. Quarto.  
Dr. Salmon's Doron Medicum, or supplement to his new London Dispensatory, Octavo.  
Sir James Turner's Pallas Armata, or Military essays of the Ancient, graecian, Roman and Modern Art of War, Fol.  
Mr. Tanner's Primordia: or the Rise and Growth of the first Church of God described, Octavo.  
A Letter writ by the last Assembly General of the Clergy of France to the Protestants, inviting them to return to their Communion; together with the Methods proposed by them for their Conviction Translated into English and Examined by Dr. Gilb. Burnet, Octavo.  
Dr. Cave's Dissertation concerning the Government of the Ancient Church by Bishops, Metropolitans, and patriarches: more particularly concerning the ancient Power and Jurisdiction of the Bishops of Rome, and the encroachments of that upon other Sees, especially Constantinople, Octavo.  
— His History of the Lives, Acts, Death, and Writings of the most eminent Fathers of the Church that flourished in the fourth Century:( being a Second volume) wherein amongst other things is an Account of Arianism, and all other Sects of that Age. With an Introduction containing an Historical account of the state of Paganism under the First Christian Emperours, Folio.   

Books in the Press.  
DOctor John Lightfoot's Works in English, Fol.  
Mr. Selden's Janus Anglorum Englished, with Notes: To which is added his Epinomis, concerning the Ancient Government and Laws of this Kingdom never before extant. Also two other Treatises written by the same Author: One of the Original of Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction of Testaments; the other of the Disposition or Administration of Intestates Goods; now the first time Published, Fol.  
Mezeray's History of France, rendered into Engl. Fol.  
gull. Ten-Rhyne Med. Doct. Dissertat. de Arthritide, Mantyssa Schematica,& de Acupunctura. Item Orationes trees de Chemiae ac Botaniae Antiquitate& Dignitate. De Physiognomia& de Monstris. Cum Figuris& Authoris notis illustratae, Octavo.  
D. Spenceri Dissertationes de Ratione Rituum Judaicorum, &c. Fol.   
FINIS.