.XXI. CHAP. naged his correspondence, and dexterously concealed from the eye of suspicion, this familiar and solitary intercourse between a saint whose character required the most unblemished chastity, and a female whose charms might excite the most dangerous emotions. During the six years of persecution and exile, Athanasius repeated his visits to his fair and faithful companion; and the formal declaration, that he saw the councils of Rimini and Seleucia, forces us to believe that he was secretly present at the time and place of their convocation. The advantage of personally negociating with his friends, and of observing and improving the divisions of his enemies, might justify, in a prudent statesman, so bold and dangerous an enterprise; and Alexandria was con nected by trade and navigation with every seaport of the Mediterranean. From the depth of his inaccessible retreat, the intrepid primate waged an incessant and offensive war against the protector of the arians; and his seasonable writings, which were diligently circulated and eagerly perused, contributed to unite and animate the orthodox party. In his public apologies, which he addressed to the emperor himself, he sometimes 4 Palladius (Hist. Lausiac. c. 136, in Vit. Patrum, p. 776), the original author of this anecdote, had conversed with the damsel, who, in her old age, remembered with pleasure so pious and honourable a connection. I cannot indulge the delicacy of Baronius, Valesius, Tillemont, &c. who almost reject a story so unworthy, as they deem it, of the gravity of ecclesiastical history. * Athanas. tom. i, p. 869. I agree with Tillemont (tom. viii, p. 1197) that his expressions imply a personal, though perhaps secret, visit to the synods. XXI. affected the praise of moderation; whilst at the CHAP. same time, in secret and vehement invectives, he exposed Constantius as a weak and wicked prince, the executioner of his family, the tyrant of the republic, and the antichrist of the church. In the height of his prosperity, the victorious monarch, who had chastised the rashness of Gallus, and suppressed the revolt of Sylvanus, who had taken the diadem from the head of Vetranio, and vanquished in the field the legions of Magnentius, received from an invisible hand a wound, which he could neither heal nor revenge; and the son of Constantine was the first of the christian princes who experienced the strength of those principles, which, in the cause of religion, could resist the most violent exertions of the civil power. The persecution of Athanasius, and of so many Arian respectable bishops, who suffered for the truth of bishops. their opinions, or at least for the integrity of their conscience, was a just subject of indignation and discontent to all christians, except those who were blindly devoted to the arian faction. The people regretted the loss of their faithful pastors, whose banishment was usually followed by the in f The epistle of Athanasius to the monks is filled with reproaches, which the public must feel to be true (vol. i, p. 834-856); and, in compliment to his readers, he has introduced the comparisons of Pharaoh, Ahab, Belshazzar, &c. The boldness of Hilary was attended with less danger, if he published his invective in Gaul after the revolt of Julian; but Lucifer sent his libels to Constantius, and almost challenged the reward of martyrdom. See Tillemont, tem, vii, p.905. XXI. CHAP. trusion of a strangers into the episcopal chair; and loudly complained that the right of election was violated, and that they were condemned to obey a mercenary usurper, whose person was unknown, and whose principles were suspected. The catholics might prove to the world, that they were not involved in the guilt and heresy of their ecclesiastical governor, by publicly testifying their Divisions. dissent, or by totally separating themselves from his communion. The first of these methods was invented at Antioch, and practised with such success, that it was soon diffused over the christian world. The doxology, or sacred hymn, which celebrates the glory of the trinity, is susceptible of very nice, but material, inflexions; and the substance of an orthodox, or an heretical creed, may be expressed by the difference of a disjunctive, or a copulative particle. Alternate responses, and a more regular psalmody," were introduced into the public service by Flavianus and Diodorus, two devout and active laymen, who were attached to the nicene faith. Under their conduct, a swarm of monks issued from the adjacent desert, bands of well-disciplined singers were stationed in the cathedral of Antioch, the glory to the Father, Athanasius (tom. i, p. 811) complains in general of this prac tice, which he afterwards exemplifies (p. 861) in the pretended election of Fælix. Three eunuchs represented the Roman people, and three prelates, who followed the court, assumed the functions of the bishops of the Suburbicarian provinces. Thomassin (Discipline de l'Eglise, tom. i, 1. ií, c. 72, 73, p. 966– 984) has collected many curious facts concerning the origin and pro gress of church-singing, both in the East and West. XXI. and the Son, and the Holy Ghost, was tri- CHAP. umphantly chanted by a full chorus of voices; and the catholics insulted, by the purity of their doctrine, the arian prelate, who had usurped the throne of the venerable Eustathius. The same zeal which inspired their songs, prompted the more scrupulous members of the orthodox party to form separate assemblies, which were governed by the presbyters till the death of their exiled bishop allowed the election and consecration of a new episcopal pastor. The revolutions of the court multiplied the number of pretenders; and the same city was often disputed, under the reign of Constantius, by two, or three, or even four bishops, who exercised their spiritual jurisdiction over their respective followers, and alternately lost and regained the temporal possessions of the church. The abuse of christianity introduced into the Roman government new causes of tyranny and sedition; the bands of civil society were torn asunder by the fury of religious factions; and the obscure citizen, who might calmly have suryeyed the elevation and fall of successive em Philostorgius, 1. iii, c. 13. Godefroy has examined this subject with singular accuracy (p. 147, &c.) There were three heterodox forms: "To the Father by the Son, and in the Holy Ghost." "To the Father, and the Son, in the Holy Ghost ;" and "To the Father in the Son and the Holy Ghost." After the exile of Eustathius, under the reign of Constantine, the rigid party of the orthodox formed a separation which afterwards degenerated into a schism, and lasted above fourscore years. See Tillemont, Mem. Eccles. tom. vii, p. 35-54, 1137-1158, tom. viii, p. 537 -632, 1314-1332. In many churches the arians and homoousians, who had renounced each other's communion, continued for some time to join in prayer. Philostorgius, 1. iii, c. 14. CHAP. perors, imagined and experienced, that his own XXI. life and fortune were connected with the inte rests of a popular ecclesiastic. The example of the two capitals, Rome and Constantinople, may serve to represent the state of the empire, and the temper of mankind, under the reign of the sons of Constantine. 1. The Roman pontiff, as long as he maintained his station and his principles, was guarded by the warm attachment of a great people; and could reject with scorn, the prayers, the menaces, and the oblations of an heretical prince. When the eunuchs had secretly pronounced the exile of Liberius, the well-grounded apprehension of a tumult engaged them to use the utmost precautions in the execution of the sentence. The capital was invested on every side, and the prefect was commanded to seize the person of the bishop, either by stratagem, or by open force. The order was obeyed, and Liberius, with the greatest difficulty, at the hour of midnight, was swiftly conveyed beyond the reach of the Roman people, before their consternation was turned into rage. As soon as they were informed of his banishment into Thrace, a general assembly was convened, and the clergy of Rome bound themselves, by a public and solemn oath, never to desert their bishop, never to acknowledge the usurper Fælix, who, by the influence of the eunuchs, had been irregularly chosen and consecrated within the walls of a profane palace. At the end of two years, their pious obstinacy subsisted entire and unshaken; and when Constan |