CENT.4.] Prifcillianifts. 209 flesh, performed the offices of an intelligent foul in Jefus Chrift, and received the impreffion which the foul of man receives. Many of the followers of Apollinaris refined upon this, and affirmed, that one nature only exifted in Jefus Chrift, and that the flesh was of the fame nature with the di- ' vinity. Others affirmed, that Jefus Chrift had taken his body from heaven, and that it was impaffive and immortal; and his birth, passion, death, burial, and refurrection, only illufive appearances. The Council of Conftantinople condemned these opinions, and many by whom they were profeffed were reunited to the communion of the Church. The Prifcillianifts derived their denomination from Prifcillian, a man of rank and fortune in Spain, who was afterwards bishop of Abila. A confiderable mixture of Gnofticism and Unitarianifm appears to have been united in this fect, with the tenets of both which, however, they were but imperfectly acquainted. They thought that the Devil was not made by God, but arose from chaos and darkness *; faid that the bodies of men were made by the Devil; condemned marriage, and denied the refurrection of the body; afferted that the foul was of a divine fubftance, which having offended in heaven, was fent into the body as a place of punishment; that men are fubject to ne VOL. I. Leo, Opera, p. 167. P ceffity, 210 Antidicomaranites, [CENT. 4. ceffity, to fin, and to the power of the ftars; and our bodies compounded according to the order of the twelve figns of the Zodiac *. They agreed that the Son is inferior to the Father, and that there was a time when the Son was not. The rule of manners prefcribed by this feet was remarkably auftere. Prifcillian, their leader, was accused by the other Spanish bishops, in confe-. quence of the increase of his followers; and he was banished by the emperor Gratian from Spain. He was again, however, permitted to return; but was once more accused by his implacable enemies, and put to death at Treves, in the year 384, by the perfidious Maximus, at the instigation of Ithacius, bishop of Soffuba; who, whatever might be the profeffed purity of his faith, was deficient in every amiable quality of the human heart. The opinions of the Prifcillianifts did not end with the death of their erroneous and unfortunate leader, but extended their influence, and continued during feveral fucceeding centuries. The recorder of folly, if he be poffeffed of humanity, can find little enjoyment in his task, and it is equally unneceffary and unpleasant to dwell upon the opinions and conduct of thofe fects who differed from the Church only in one or two points of perhaps little importance, or whofe errors were * Aug. de Hæref. cap. 70. received CENT. 4.] Collyridians, &c. 211 received by few, and foon terminated. Amongst these smaller fects were the Antidicomaranites, who contended, that after the birth of Chrift the Virgin Mary did not continue in her immaculate ftate, but affociated with her husband Jofeph; and the Collyridians, who, falling into the oppofite extreme, fuperftitiously worshipped the Virgin, and made an offering to her, upon certain appointed days, of a particular kind of bread. These errors were confined to a few; thofe of Lucifer, bishop of Cagliari in Sardinia, were rather more diffused. This prelate had been a zealous opposer of Arianifm; he had feparated himself not only from communion with all of that fect, but even from all who acknowledged as bishops those who had figned the Ariminum confeffion of faith, and had written against the Arians with great vehemence; but the purity of his own faith did not continue uncorrupted, and he is accused of afferting, that the foul was transfufed from the parents to the children, and that it was of a fleshly fubftance. Amidst the tide of fuperftition which had almost overflowed the Church, many lamented its devaftations, and fome were fo confident as to attempt to stop the torrent; but their courage was not rewarded either with applaufe or fuccefs; and, independent of the doctrinal errors into which they fell, they were, on account of their oppofition to the corrupt and prevailing opinions of the age, loaded with calumny and regarded with abhor Audeus, Etius, &¢: [CENT. 4. rence. One of the principal of these hardy champions for the truth was Audeus, a Syrian, of uncommon virtue, whose zeal against the profligacy of the clergy procured his excommunication from the Church, Unmoved by the cenfures which he had incurred, Audeus affociated himfelf with a fociety of Chriftians, who were distinguished not only by their abhorrence of clerical depravity, but by their attachment to the Jewish time of celebrating Eafter; and their belief that the resemblance between God and man confifted in the body, whence they have been charged with believing that the Supreme Being was corporeal. He was banished by the Emperor into Scythia, where he continued to make feveral converts, and established feveral monafteries. His zeal against superstition and depravity was feconded by Etius, one of the leaders of the Semi-Arians; and Jovinian, an Ita lian monk. The principal point on which and his adherents differed from the other SemiArians, appears to have been their belief that there was ho diftinction founded in Scripture between a prefbyter and a bishop. He earnestly condemned prayers for the dead, and feveral other rites, and attempted to restore the difcipline of the Church to its primitive fimplicity and excellence, Jovi nian, though himself a monk, and continuing in a ftate of celibacy, took the utmost pains to expose the peculiar doctrines of monachifm, though, unlike the other reformers of this time, he continued tius |