was much admired for it. Piniano juncta erat, juveni nobilissimo, quem duorum filiorum patrem fecerat. Tantum eam cœpit odium matrimonii, ut dixerit marito sno Piniano, filio Severi, qui erat ex præfectis, si volueris quidem habitare mecum ut ratio dictat, te dominum agnosco. Sin autem hoc tibi grave videtur, utpote juveni, res omnes meas tibi habe, et solum sine me esse corpore liberam. Deus postea misertus adolescentis, ei zelum pietatis immisit. Cum ergo nupsisset viro, tredecim annos nata, septem vero cum eo vixisset, vigesimo ætatis suæ anno mundo renunciat. Pallad. Laus. Omnia sua serica. integumenta dedit altaribus, parteque prædiorum longe maximâ distractâ, collectam pecuniam in Palæstinam, Ægyptum, aliasque regiones pauperibus monachisque distribuendam misit.' S. Basnage Ann. iii. 228. This was A. D. 403. Ambrose was one of the violent declaimers in favour of virginity, and in a treatise on that subject he exhorts girls to enter into nunneries, though against the will of their parents; which was highly indiscreet, to say no more, and which gave great offence to many Christians, even in those days. De Virgin. See Barbeyrac. Du Pin. t. ii. p. 246. In CONSTANTINE had a great desire to accomplish two very laudable designs; the first was to propagate Christianity, and to convert unbelievers; the other was to reunite Christians, and to compose their differences. the first attempt he succeeded in some measure; but along with those who were sincere in their profession, there came a multitude of hypocrites and nominal Christians: the latter project he soon found to be impracti cable. In the persecution A. D. 303. Christians were required to give up their sacred books. They who complied were called Traditores.' Mensurius, bishop of Carthage, was suspected of this fault; for which, and for other reasons, Donatus and his partisans refused to hold communion with him; and thus began the schism of the Donatists, which continued three hundred years, and overspread the pro vinces of Afric. Constantine took fruitless pains to settle this affair by councils and hearings; and finding the Donatists extremely refractory, he was provoked to use rough methods, and to banish their ringleaders; but afterwards he recalled them, and gave them up, as he said, like incorrigible fools, to their own madness. Those schismatics who wrangle in good earnest about trifles, have an incurable understanding, and are unpersuadeable, and would fall out with themselves, if they had none else to oppose. ABOUT the same time brake out the Arian controversy, which made more noise, and did more mischief. It was the occasion of innumerable lies, slanders, forgeries, pretended miracles, persecutions, banishments, seditions, and murders, of many false and partial histories, and of a multitude of councils, which produced only confusion and discord. An evil dæmon, says Eusebius, who envied peace and prosperity of the church set us at variance. the At sæva e speculis tempus Dea nacta nocendi Here also Constantine laboured in vain to bring things to an accommodation: the most probable way to effect it was not put in execution. Alexander, bishop of Alexandria, and Arius, who was a presbyter in his diocese, disputed together about the nature of Christ; and the bishop being displeased at the notions of Arius, and finding that they were adopted by other persons, was very angry,' says Socrates, pos ógynν ékáπ τεται. Virg. Æn. vii. 511. εξάπα iSi ulla pars est Theologiæ, in qua facile est aut errare aut accusari, est illa de Trinitate. Grotius. He commanded Arius to come over to his sentiments, and to quit his own: as if a man could change his opinions as easily as he can change his coat! τὸν "Αρειον ὁμοίως φρονεῖν ἐκέλευσε. Soz. He then called a council of war, consisting of near a hundred bishops, and deposed, excommunicated, and anathematized Arius, and with him several ecclesiastics, two of whom were bishops. Ille dies primus leti primusque malorum The Benedictin editors of Athanasius tell us that Alexander was as mild as a lamb, vir mitis et pacis amans." Others will think, perhaps, that he and his assessors were too expeditious in passing sentence, and ready to turn a brother out of doors without much ceremony. Collige sarcinulas, exclamat Præsul, et exi Alexander then wrote a circular letter to all bishops, in which he represents Arius and his partisans as heretics, apostates, blasphemers, enemies of God, full of impudence and impiety, forerunners of Antichrist, imitators of Judas, and men whom it was not lawful to salute, or to bid God speed. Yet Sozomen acknowledges that they were learned men, and, in all appearance, good men. 'Cum igitur Alexander multos sanctioris vitæ specie venerabiles, et dicendi arte pollentes Arianis favere animadverteret, ac præcipue Eusebium, qui tunc temporis Nicomediensem ecclesiam gubernabat, virum doctissimum, magnæque in palatio auctoritatis, cunctis ubique episcopis scripsit, ne cum illis communicarent.' Soz. i. 15. 'At vero Eusebius, et alii quidam Orientalium partium episcopi, qui tum doctrinæ tum sanctitatis causa per id tempus celeberrimi habebantur.'-Idem, iii. 18. Theodoret himself says of Basilius Ancyranus and Eustathius Sebastenus, who were Semiarian bishops; Porro ambo familiares erant imperatori (Constantio) et ob eximiam vitæ sanctimoniam summa apud eum auctoritate et fiducia pollebant.' ii. 23. There is no reason to doubt of the probity and sincerity of those who opposed Alexander and the Nicene Fathers; for what did they get by it, besides obloquy and banishment? Many good men were engaged on both sides of the controversy: So it was in the fourth century, and so it hath been ever since. In the same Epistle, Alexander is very severe upon Eusebius of Nicomedia, who afterwards was the head of the Arian party. In defence of the divinity and eternity of the Son, he uses arguments which are not all of them conclusive, and brings texts of Scripture of which some are, and others are not to the purpose. To prove the eternity of the Aoyos, he cites Psalm xlv. 1. My heart is enditing a good matter. In the Greek, Εξερεύξατο ἡ καρδία μου λόγον ἀγαθόν. Το this he adds another proof, which shows that he was a passable Cabbalist: Solomon, says he, declares Prov. xxx. 19. that it is impossible to find out the way of a serpent upon a rock; which rock, as St. Paul tells us, is Christ. How hardened and perverse must those men have been, who could withstand such evidence!' -- He declares that the Son is from all eternity, immutable, and perfectly like the Father in all things, excepting that he is not unbegotten,' or self-existing; that upon this account the Father is greater than the Son,' and that the Son is of a middle nature' between the First Cause of all things, and the creatures which from a state of non-existence were called into being — μόνῳ τῷ ἀγεννήτῳ λειπόμενου ἐκείνου—ὡς αὐτὸς ἐπαίδευσεν ὁ Κύριος· ὁ Πατήρ μου, λέγων, μεíCwv μou εσtív hoc solo inferiorem Patre, quod ingeμείζων μοῦ ἐστίν· nitus non est-sicut ipse Dominus docuit, cum ait, Pater major me est,' &c. And again :μακρὸν ἂν εἴη μεταξὺ Πατρὸς ἀγεννήτου καὶ τῶν κτισθέντων ὑπ ̓ αὐτοῦ ἐξ οὐκ ὄντων τῶν μεσιτεύουσα ΦΥΣΙΣ μονογενής, δι' ἧς τὰ ὅλα ἐξ οὐκ ὄντων ἐποίησεν ὁ Πατὴρ τοῦ Θεοῦ Λόγου, ἡ ἐξ αὐτοῦ τοῦ ὄντος Πατρὸς γεγέννηται multum interest inter Patrem ingenitum et res ab illo creatas ex nihilo.-Inter quæ duo medium obtinens unigenita natura Dei Verbi, per quam Pater universa condidit ex nihilo, ex ipso vero Patre progenita est.' Apud Theodoret, i. p. 17. с N 'Benigne intelligendum est quod ait Alexander,' says Valesius. It is very well observed; for, without benignity and grains of allowance, Alexander himself will not be much better than the Semiarians. Sed vos, Trojugenæ, vobis ignoscitis.' Therefore Valesius, and several besides him, interpret the words of Alexander, so as to express their own scholastic language, and say that Quois means personality, considered abstractedly from entity. See Le Clerc, Art. Crit. vol. i. p. 293, &c. The difference between Alexander and the Semiarians seems not to have been great. Yet Pachomius, the monk, had a revelation, and a voice from heaven, which directed him to follow the doctrine of Alexander. 'Such was the testimony which God gave to the pure and orthodox faith of this holy prelate, who was soon to be attacked by the calumnies of the Arians.' Tillemont H. E. vi. 216. If this be true, a man may be orthodox, without coming fully up to that standard of orthodoxy which was fixed in later ages. Monsieur Jurieu, whose zeal against heresy is well known, assures us that the fundamental articles of Christianity were not understood by the Fathers of the three first centuries; that the true system began to be modelled into some shape by the Nicene bishops, and was afterwards immensely improved and beautified by the following synods and councils; that is, by the Jurieus of the fourth and fifth centuries. Thus did this warm and imprudent writer make concessions as large and liberal as his adversaries could desire, and deliver himself up to be buffeted by the Socinians, whom he had treated as the vilest of all heretics. Philostorgius says, that one Alexander Baucalis was the incendiary who stirred up the unhappy quarrel between Alexander and Arius. He also tells us that Alexander of Alexandria owed his bishopric to Arius, who might have been chosen, but declined it, and preferred Alexander to himself: he also mentions some things which are not to the honour of Athanasius. Philostorgius, indeed, was an Arian; but there is no good reason why we should follow |