tulation was rejected with difdain and abhorrence: and the Homooufian standard, which had been shaken but not overthrown, was more firmly replanted in all the churches of the Weft ". CHAP. of the em perors in contro verfy. Such was the rife and progress, and such were Conduct the natural revolutions of thofe theological dif putes, which disturbed the peace of Christianity the Arian under the reigns of Conftantine and of his fons. But as those princes prefumed to extend their defpotifm over the faith, as well as over the lives and fortunes, of their fubjects; the weight of their fuffrage fometimes inclined the ecclefiaftical balance and the prerogatives of the King of Heaven were fettled, or changed, or modified, in the cabinet of an earthly monarch. rence of A. D. 324. The unhappy fpirit of difcord which pervaded Indiffethe provinces of the Eaft, interrupted the triumph Conftanof Conftantine; but the emperor continued for tine, fome time to view, with cool and carelefs indifference, the object of the difpute. As he was yet ignorant of the difficulty of appeafing the quarrels of theologians, he addreffed to the contending parties, to Alexander and to Arius, a moderating epiftle"; which may be afcribed, with far greater reafon, to the untutored fenfe of a foldier and statesman, than to the dictates of any of his epifcopal counsellors. He attributes the origin of the whole controversy to a trifling and fubtle question, concerning an incomprehenfible point of the law, which was foolishly asked by the bishop, and imprudently refolved by the presbyter. He laments that the Chriftian people, who had the XXI. СНАР. fame God, the fame religion, and the fame wor ship, should be divided by fuch inconfiderable diftinctions; and he feriously recommends to the clergy of Alexandria the example of the Greek philofophers; who could maintain their arguments without lofing their temper, and affert their freedom without violating their friendship. The indifference and contempt of the fovereign would have been, perhaps, the most effectual method of filencing the difpute: if the popular current had been lefs rapid and impetuous; and if Conftantine himself, in the midst of faction and fanaticifm, could have preferved the calm poffeffion of his own mind. But his ecclefiaftical minifters foon contrived to feduce the impartiality of the magistrate, and to awaken the zeal of the profelyte. He was provoked by the infults which had A. D. 325. been offered to his ftatues; he was alarmed by the real, as well as the imaginary, magnitude of the fpreading mischief; and he extinguished the hope of peace and toleration, from the moment that he affembled three hundred bishops within the walls of the fame palace. The prefence of the monarch fwelled the importance of the debate; his attention multiplied the arguments; and he exposed his person with a patient intrepidity, which ani. mated the valour of the combatants. Notwithstanding the applause which has been beftow d on the eloquence and fag city of Conftantine". ; a Roman general, whofe religion might be still a fubject of doubt, and whose mind had not been enlightened either by ftudy or by infpiration, was indifferently His zeal. СНА Р. XXI. indifferently qualified to difcufs, in the Greek language, a metaphyfical queftion, or an article of faith. But the credit of his favourite Ofius, who appears to have prefided in the council of Nice, might difpofe the emperor in favour of the orthodox party; and a well-timed infinuation, that the fame Eufebius of Nicomedia, who now protected the heretic, had lately affifted the tyrant", might exafperate him against their adverfaries. The Nicene creed was ratified by Conftantine; and his firm declaration, that those who refifted the divine judgment of the fynod, must prepare themselves for an immediate exile, annihilated the murmurs of a feeble oppofition; which from feventeen, was almoft inftantly reduced to two, protesting bishops. Eufebius of Cæfarea yielded a reluctant and ambiguous confent to the Homooufion"; and the wavering conduct of the Nicomedian Eufebius ferved only to delay, about three months, his difgrace and exile ". The im- He perfe pious Arius was banished into one of the remote provinces of Illyricum; his perfon and difciples were branded by law, with the odious name of Porphyrians; his writings were condemned to the flames; and a capital, punishment was denounced against those in whofe poffeffion they should be found. The emperor had now imbibed the fpirit of controversy, and the angry farcaftic ftyle of his edicts was defigned to infpire his fubjects with the hatred which he had conceived against the enemies of Chrift". cutes the Arian CHAP. thodox party, A. D. 328-337. But, as if the conduct of the emperor had been guided by paffion instead of principle, three years and the or- from the council of Nice were fcarcely elapfed, before he discovered fome fymptoms of mercy, and even of indulgence, towards the profcribed fect, which was fecretly protected by his favourite fifter. The exiles were recalled; and Eufebius, who gradually refumed his influence over the mind of Conftantine, was restored to the epifcopal throne, from which he had been ignominiously degraded. Arius himself was treated by the whole court with the refpect which would have been due to an innocent and oppreffed man. His faith was approved by the fynod of Jerufalem; and the emperor feemed impatient to repair his injustice, by iffuing an abfolute command, that he should be folemnly admitted to the communion in the cathedral of Conftantinople. On the fame day, which had been fixed for the triumph of Arius, he expired; and the ftrange and horrid circumftances of his death might excite a fufpicion, that the orthodox faints had contributed, more efficaciously than by their prayers, to deliver the church from the most formidable of her enemies ". three principal leaders of the Catholics, Athanafius of Alexandria, Euftathius of Antioch, and Paul of Conftantinople, were depofed on various accufations, by the fentence of numerous councils; and were afterwards banished into diftant provinces by the first of the Christian emperors, who, in the last moments of his life, received the rites of baptifm from the Arian bishop of Nicomedia. The The ecclefiaftical government of Conftantine cannot be juftified from the reproach of levity and weakness. But the credulous monarch, unskilled in the ftratagems of theological warfare, might be deceived by the modeft and fpecious profeffions of the heretics, whofe fentiments he never perfectly understood; and while he protected Arius, and perfecuted Athanafius, he ftill confidered the council of Nice as the bulwark of the Chriftian faith, and the peculiar glory of his own reign CHAP. XXI. tius fa vours the A. D. 337-361 The fons of Conftantine must have been admit. Conftanted from their childhood into the rank of catechumens, but they imitated, in the delay of their Arians, baptifm, the example of their father. Like him, they prefumed to pronounce their judgment on myfteries into which they had never been regularly initiated" and the fate of the Trinitarian controverfy depended, in a great measure, on the fentiments of Conftantius; who inherited the provinces of the Eaft, and acquired the poffeffion of the whole empire. The Arian presbyter or bishop, who had fecreted for his ufe the teftament of the deceased emperor, improved the .fortunate occafion which had introduced him to the familiarity of a prince, whofe public counfels were always fwayed by his domeftic favourites. The eunuchs and slaves diffufed the fpiritual poifon through the palace, and the dangerous infection was communicated by the female attendants to the guards, and by the emprefs to her unfufpicious husband ". The partiality which Conftantius always expreffed towards the Eufebian faction, was infenfibly forti |