St. PETER (continued 4)

To return to Liberius, he was so sensibly affected with the Fall of Vincentius and his Collegues, that he wished for an Opportunity of losing his Life in so good a Cause, and washing out with his Blood the Stain which the scandalous Conduct of his Legates had brought upon his Character^[732]. Thus he expresses himself in the Letter, which he writ on that Occasion to the great Friend of his See Osius^[733]. However, in the Height of his Affliction, he found great Relief in the Courage and Steadiness of Cæcilianus Bishop of Spoleto, of Eusebius Bishop of Vercelli, and of Lucifer Bishop of Cagliari in Sardinia. The latter advised the Pope to demand of the Emperor another Council, and generously took upon himself to go to Arles, where Constantius then was, and make that Demand. Liberius readily accepted his Offer, and named Pancratius and Hilarius for his Collegues, the one a Presbyter, the other a Deacon of the Church of Rome. |Liberius writes to the Emperor for an- other Council;| By these he writ an excellent Letter to the Emperor, wherein, with the Liberty that became a Catholic Bishop, but at the same time with all the Respect that is due from a Subject to his Sovereign, he justifies his Conduct in the Defence of Athanasius, lays open the Arts and Views of the adverse Party, and begs that a new Council might be assembled, there being no other Means to put a Stop to so many Evils, and restore Peace and Tranquillity to the Catholic Church^[734]. At the same time Liberius writ to Eusebius Bishop of Vercelli, and Fortunatianus 131Bishop of Aquileia, intreating them to assist his Legates with their Advice, and even with their Presence, should it be thought necessary. The Three Legates, on their Arrival at Vercelli, in their Way to Arles, were not only kindly received, but joined by Eusebius, who repaired with them to the Emperor. |which is granted, and assembles at Milan.| As the Arians were no-ways averse to the Proposal, nay, had even solicited the Emperor to convene a new Council, the Request of the Legates met with no Difficulty; so that a Council was appointed to meet at Milan, where it met accordingly in the Beginning of the Year 355^[735]. We are told, that it consisted of Three hundred Western Bishops, and that from the East there came but very few^[736]. But Constantius and his Army may be said to have supplied their room. For the Council no sooner met, than the Emperor absolutely insisted upon their signing the Condemnation of Athænasius, and an Edict, containing the chief Tenets of Arius, which had been published in his Name. But in this Attempt he met with a vigorous Opposition from Dionysius Bishop of Milan, Eusebius of Vercelli, Lucifer of Cagliari, and the Two other Legates, Pancratius and Hilarius; which provoked him to such a Degree, that he was upon the Point of commanding them to be executed upon the Spot as Rebels. |Some Bishops banished.| But, upon second Thoughts, he contented himself with sending them into Exile, Dionysius into Cappadocia, or Armenia, where he died a few Years after, Eusebius to Scythopolis in Palestine, and Lucifer to Germanicia in Syria. To what Place Pancratius and Hilarius were confined, we know not; but the latter was most cruelly whipped before he was banished^[737]. As for the other Bishops, I shall only say, with Ruffinus^[738], that, out of Three hundred, Dionysius, Lucifer, and Eusebius, alone shewed a Firmness and Intrepidity becoming Men of their Rank and Dignity. Among the rest Fortunatianus Bishop of Aquileia signed the Condemnation of Athanasius; which greatly added to the Grief and Concern of Liberius, who, till that Time, had entertained the highest Opinion of him.

And now Constantius had the Satisfaction of seeing Athanasius condemned by the far greater Part of the Western Bishops. But the Bishop of Rome still declared openly in his Favour, and did all that lay in his Power to gain others to his Party. |Constantius endeavours in vain to gain Liber- ius;| To deprive him therefore of so powerful a Protector, the Emperor resolved to spare no Cost nor Labour. With this View he dispatched to Rome the Eunuch Eusebius, 132his great Chamberlain, with rich Presents in one Hand, and a threatening Letter in the other: but with an invincible Firmness Liberius withstood both; so that the Eunuch, who was himself a sworn Enemy to Athanasius, returned to Court baffled and disappointed; and there, by the Account he gave of his unsuccessful Embassy, added new Fuel to the Fire, which burnt already with great Violence. The Emperor, who pretended to govern the Church no less despotically than he did the State, transported with Rage at the stout Opposition he met with from the Bishop of Rome, immediately dispatched an Order to Leoncius, Prefect of that City, injoining him to apprehend Liberius, and send him under a strong Guard to Court. |who is sent Pris- oner to Milan.| Pursuant to this Order, Liberius was seized in the Night-time, lest the People, by whom he was greatly beloved, should attempt his Rescue, and conveyed to Milan, where the Court then resided^[739]. Soon after his Arrival he was brought before the Emperor, when, undaunted and unawed by the Presence of so great a Prince, he spoke with all the Liberty of an Apostle, and with all the Eloquence of a great Orator^[740]. |His Interview with the Emperor.| At this Interview were present Eusebius the Eunuch, and Epictetus Bishop of Centumcellæ, now Civita Vecchia, who, for his ready Compliance with the Emperor’s Will, had been raised by him to great Preferments^[741]. The latter told Liberius, when he had ended the excellent Speech he made before the Emperor, That he had indeed expressed great Zeal for the Purity of the Faith, and the Liberty of Councils; but the Whole was mere Mummery; and that he only wanted to be looked upon by his Party as a Person of some Significancy, and to brag among the Senators, on his Return to Rome, that he had had the Honour to dispute with the Emperor^[742]. The Eunuch too thought he must speak, but it was only to betray his Ignorance; for he reproached Liberius with defending Athanasius, who had been condemned, he said, as an Heretic, by the Council of Nice^[743]. As for Constantius, the only Reply he made to the Reasons alleged by Liberius in favour of Athanasius, and the Faith of Nice, was, That the wicked and impious Athanasius, as he styled him, had been condemned by the whole World; that, by his arrogant Conduct, he had provoked all Mankind, and himself in particular, by constantly stirring up his Brother against him; that therefore he looked upon the Defeat of Magnentius and Sylvanus, 133who had attempted to bereave him of his Crown, as less important to him than the deposing and condemning of a Man, by whom he had been so highly injured^[744]. In answer to this, Liberius begged, that, of all Men, he would not chuse Bishops for the Instruments of his private Revenge. Constantius made no Reply, but only told him, that he must either sign the Condemnation of Athanasius, or be sent into Exile; and that he allowed him Three Days to deliberate which of the Two he would chuse. |His Steadiness.| Liberius answered, with great Intrepidity, that he had already chosen, and was resolved; that in Three Days he should not change his Resolution; and therefore the Emperor might send him that Minute to what Place soever he pleased^[745]. The Three Days were not yet expired when the Emperor sent for him anew to Court, hoping the Fear of Banishment had softened him, as it had done most others, into a Compliance. But he found him unalterably fixed in the same Resolution; and therefore, despairing of being ever able to succeed in his Attempt, he ordered him to be conveyed forthwith to Berœa in Thrace^[746]. |He is banished to Berœa in Thrace.| Liberius had not yet left the Palace, when the Emperor sent him a Present of Five hundred Pieces of Gold to defray his Charges: which he sent back by the same Person who brought them, saying, that the Emperor might want Money to pay his Troops. The like Sum was sent him by the Empress Eusebia; which, with the same Answer, he desired might be conveyed to the Emperor, adding, that if he knew not how to employ that Sum better, he might bestow it on Epictetus, or Auxentius the Arian Bishop of Milan, who would be very thankful for it^[747]. He left Milan Three Days after, and set out for the Place of his Exile. His Fate was no sooner known at Rome, than the Clergy, assembling the People, bound themselves by a solemn Oath, in their Presence, not to acknowlege any other for their Bishop so long as Liberius lived^[748].

Felix is chosen in his room.

Liberius being thus driven from his See, another was placed on it in his room; and the Person, whom the Emperor and the Arian Faction pitched upon, was one Felix, then only Deacon of the Church of Rome^[749]. But the Clergy could not proceed to a new Election, without an open Violation of the Oath they had taken; the People began to mutiny, and, assembling in Crouds, would suffer none of the Arian 134Faction to enter their Churches. The Imperial Palace therefore served instead of a Church; Three of the Emperor’s Eunuchs represented the People; and Three Bishops, Slaves of the Court, viz. Epictetus of Centumcellæ, Acacius of Cæsarea, and Basilius of Ancyra, ordained the new-elected Bishop^[750]. Thus was Felix chosen, and thus ordained. As Liberius was greatly beloved by the People, chiefly on account of his vigorous Opposition to Constantius, the Intrusion of Felix occasioned a great Sedition, in which many lost their Lives^[751]. The Clergy were not so zealous in the Cause as the People; for great Numbers of them, unmindful of the Oath they had taken, were by degrees reconciled to Felix, and communicated with him^[752]; whereas the People continued to abhor and avoid him at least till the Year 357. When Constantius came to Rome^[753]. |Constantius goes to Rome.| For that Prince, being desirous to see the Metropolis of his Empire, undertook a Journey to Rome in the above-mentioned Year, and entered it in Triumph on the 28th of April^[754]. During his short Stay in that City, the Roman Ladies gave a signal Instance of the Zeal and Affection they still retained for their exiled Bishop. They thought a more favourable Opportunity could never offer to solicit the Emperor for his Return; and therefore, by a private Agreement among themselves, they pressed their Husbands, with great Earnestness, to lay hold of it, threatening to abandon them, if they did not, and repairing to their Bishop to share with him the Hardships of his Exile. The Husbands, unmoved by such Menaces, which they well knew would never take place, answered, that by such an Application they might incur the Displeasure of the Prince, which would prove fatal to them, as well as to the Person in whose Behalf they interposed; whereas, should they themselves take such a pious and commendable Office upon them, the Respect due to their Sex would, in all Likelihood, extort from the Prince the desired Favour, at least it would restrain his Resentment, and stifle all Thoughts of Revenge. The Proposal was universally applauded by the Ladies, unwilling to expose their Husbands to the dire Effects of the Emperor’s Indignation. |The Roman Ladies intercede for Liberius.| On an appointed Day therefore, attiring themselves in an Apparel suitable to their Rank, that the Emperor in seeing them might know who they were, and treat them accordingly, they repaired to Court; and being immediately admitted to the Prince’s Presence, they conjured 135him, with Tears in their Eyes, to take Pity of that great City, of that numerous Flock, bereft of its Pastor, and, in his Absence, devoured by ravenous Wolves. This was not at all a courtly Language: however, Constantius, without betraying the least Emotion, said, I thought you had a Pastor. Is not Felix as capable of discharging the Pastoral Office as any other? Felix, replied they, is detested, and avoided by all. |The Emperor promises to recall him.| At these Words the Emperor first looked grave; but, immediately changing his Gravity into a Smile, If so, said he, with great Complaisance, you must have Liberius again: I shall, without Delay, dispatch the proper Orders for his Return. An Edict was accordingly issued the very next Day, recalling Liberius to govern the Church jointly with Felix; for Constantius thought it inconsistent with his Honour, and the Imperial Dignity, to drive Felix from the See, on which he himself had placed him.

The Edict recalling him to govern jointly with Felix, raillied by the Roman People.

When this Edict was read, in the Presence of the Emperor, to the People assembled in the Circus, they applauded it at first, by way of Raillery, saying, That since the Spectators, at the public Sports, were divided into Two Parties, it was just and reasonable there should be Two Bishops to head them. The Multitude, not satisfied with thus pleasantly expressing their Dissatisfaction, cried out, immediately after, with one Voice, There is but One God, One Christ, One Bishop^[755]. And yet the Emperor was rather delighted than displeased with the Humour of the People, and the Liberty they took; for to what happened on this Occasion Ammianus Marcellinus probably alludes, where he writes, that Constantius, in exhibiting public Sports at Rome, was pleased with the Liberty they took to railly him, knowing it did not proceed from Pride or Ill-nature^[756]. Theodoret tells us, that to Acclamations so worthy of the Roman Piety the Emperor granted the Return of Liberius^[757]; and with him agree Sulpitius Severus^[758], and Ruffinus^[759]. But Sozomen^[760], and all the Writers of those Times, assure us, that his Return did not happen this, but the following Year 358. when he bought it dear, by signing the Condemnation of Athanasius, and the Symbol or Creed, composed by the Semi-Arians at Sirmium, now Sirmish in Sclavonia. Constantius, at the Request of the Roman Ladies and People, promised to recall him, as I have related; but it was on Condition, says Sozomen^[761], that he should agree with the Bishops of the Court, that is, with the Semi-Arians. 136The Firmness which Liberius had hitherto shewn, left no room to doubt of his rejecting such a Proposal with the greatest Indignation. But he now felt what before he had only beheld at a Distance: he began to compare the Ease and Plenty in which he had lived at Rome, with the Inconveniencies and Hardships of his present Exile. Besides, from the Menaces thrown out against him by the Emperor’s Officers, he apprehended his Life to be in Danger^[762]. 'Tis true, he had wished for an Opportunity of shedding his Blood in so good a Cause, as I have related above. But who is not brave at a Distance from Danger? The Jealousy he had of Felix, who, sitting in his Chair, acted the High Pontiff at Rome, was the Dalila, says Baronius^[763], speaking of his signing the Condemnation of Athanasius, who bereft this Samson of all his Strength and Courage. |Liberius signs the Condemnation of Athanasius, and embraces the Doct- rine of Sirmium.| However that be, it is certain, that the Strength and Courage, which he had with great Glory exerted on other Occasions, vanished at once. For he not only signed the Condemnation of Athanasius, but moreover approved and received as Catholic, the Confession or Symbol of Sirmium^[764]. Thus, to ingratiate himself with the Emperor, and return to Rome, did Liberius abandon, at last, his persecuted Friend, renounce the Catholic Faith, and solemnly promise to maintain inviolable the Doctrine of Sirmium^[765]. As he was impatient to be reinstated in his See, he took care immediately to acquaint the Emperor with the Steps he had taken. With this Letter he dispatched Fortunatianus Bishop of Aquileia, charging him to solicit Constantius for his Return, since he had done all he had required of him^[766]. Constantius took no Notice of, nor returned any Answer to, this Letter. On the other hand, Liberius was heartily sick of his Exile, heartily sick of suffering for the sake of Justice. |His Letter to the Eastern Bishops.| In Hopes therefore of putting a speedy End to his Exile, and the Hardships attending it, he writ in a most submissive and cringing Style to the Eastern Bishops, assuring them, that it was merely out of Respect to his Predecessor Julius, and to maintain his Judgment, that he had undertaken the Defence of Athanasius; that as soon as it had pleased God to open his Eyes, and discover to him how justly he had been condemned, he had separated himself from his Communion, and joined them; that all their Decrees concerning him should be inviolably observed by the Apostolic See, as indeed they ought to be; 137that he sincerely and willingly received the true Catholic and Orthodox Faith, as it had been expounded and defined by several of his Brethren and Collegues at Sirmium, and had been proposed to him by his Collegue Demophilus; that he received every Article of that Symbol, and had nothing to object against any. This remarkable Letter he concludes thus: And now that I agree with you in every Point, let me earnestly intreat your Holinesses to employ your joint Interest in my Behalf, that I may be recalled from Banishment, and suffered to return to the See, which God has been pleased to commit to my Care^[767]. |He is anathematized by Hilarius. His Letter to the Bishops at Court;| This Letter has been conveyed to us by the great Hilarius, Bishop of Poitiers, who, in relating it, not able to restrain the just Indignation it kindled in his Breast, interrupts the Recital Three times, to anathematize the Author of it, the prevaricating Liberius, as he styles him^[768]. He writ likewise to Ursacius, Valens, and Germinius, who bore great Sway at Court, and were at the Head of the Arian Faction in the West, to acquaint them, that he communicated with them, and also with Auxentius and Epictetus, Two of the most inveterate Enemies the Orthodox had; and that whoever did not communicate with them, that is, every Catholic Bishop, was cut off from his Communion. These Words Hilarius cannot repeat without anathematizing anew Liberius, and all the Arians with him. In the same Letter he lets them know, that he has separated himself from the Communion of Athanasius, late Bishop of Alexandria, acknowleging him, by that Expression, lawfully deposed. He declares, in the Beginning of his Letter, and calls God to witness, that it is not by Compulsion, but merely for the sake of Peace and Charity, far preferable to Martyrdom itself, that he writes to them. He conjures them, by the omnipotent God, by his Son Jesus, by the Holy Ghost, to intercede for him with the Emperor, that, by his Return, Peace and Tranquillity may be restored to the Church committed to his Care; assuring them, that the Zeal they exert in so pious, so just a Cause, will meet with a proportionable Reward in Heaven^[769].

As the Emperor had not yet taken the least Notice of his Letter; as the Eastern Bishops, as well as the Bishops at Court, did not act, as he thought, with all the Zeal and Expedition he expected, and his ready Compliance well deserved; |and to Vincentius, Bishop of Capua.| he writ a Third Letter, directed to Vincentius, Bishop of Capua, acquainting him, that he had abandoned the Defence of Athanasius, and desiring him to give Notice 138thereof to all the Bishops of Campania; and, at the same time, to use his utmost Endeavours to persuade them to dispatch some of their Body with a Letter, in their common Name, to the Emperor, begging Constantius to deliver him, without further Delay, from his present most melancholy and deplorable Situation. To this Letter he adds the following Paragraph, in his own Hand: We live in Peace with all the Bishops of the East, and with you. As for me, I have discharged my Conscience before God. Will you suffer me to perish in my present Exile? The same God will judge us both^[770]. The Bishop of Capua had been formerly sent by Liberius to the Council of Arles, with the Character of his Legate, as I have observed above, and had there signed the Condemnation of Athanasius; on which Occasion Liberius wished for an Opportunity of washing out, with his own Blood, the Stain which the Conduct of his Legate had brought upon his Character. But his only Wish now was to see himself delivered from his painful Exile, and restored to his former State, upon any Terms. Vincentius, touched with his Complaints, prevailed upon the Bishops of Campania to send a solemn Deputation to the Emperor in his Behalf; which Constantius complied with, so far as to recall him from the Place of his Exile to Sirmium, where the Court then was^[771]. |He is recalled from his Banishment to Sirmium.| Upon his Arrival there, Constantius, who had lately embraced the Doctrine of the Semi-Arians, taking Advantage of his Weakness, and of the eager Desire he had betrayed of returning to his See, obliged him, as well as the Bishops of the Court, and Four African Bishops, who happened to be then at Sirmium, to sign the same Doctrine^[772]. |He signs the Doctrine of the Semi-Arians.| Thus did the infallible Liberius sign, and embrace, at least in Appearance, both the Arian and Semi-Arian Heresy; the Arian at Berœa, the Place of his Exile, and the Semi-Arian at Sirmium. That the Confession he signed at Berœa was Arian, cannot be doubted; for it was the Second of Sirmium, which all agree to have been Arian^[N16]. Besides, it was proposed to him 139by Demophilus Bishop of Berœa, who was a most zealous Stickler for Arianism, and greatly attached to Ursacius and Valens, the Two leading Men among the Arians in the West; and it is not at all probable, that he would have required Liberius to sign a Doctrine different from that which he himself held.

The Advocates for the Pope’s Infallibility are here quite at a Loss what to say in Defence of that Prerogative. That Liberius signed the Condemnation of Athanasius, that he communicated with the Arians, and, what above all galls them, that he received the Sirmian Confession of Faith as Catholic and Orthodox, are undeniable Matters of Fact. To reconcile them with Infallibility, is what they have been long drudging at: and to what pitiful Shifts, what eluding and unmeaning Distinctions, have they not been obliged to recur! Like a Man struggling for Life in deep Water, and catching at every Twig to save it, they flounce from Quibble to Quibble, from one Subterfuge to another, but all in vain; sink they must, and their Infallibility with them. To shew their Distress, I shall briefly transcribe what I find offered on this Occasion, by the most learned among them, in Defence of the Cause they have undertaken. |What alleged by Baronius in his Defence;| Baronius^[773], after relating and owning the above-mentioned Facts, addresses his Readers thus: We have hitherto sailed among dangerous Rocks, among treacherous Sholes; but fear not, I shall at last pilot you safe into the Port of Truth. Then, dropping his Allegory, he makes a long Descant to prove, that the Sirmian Confession of Faith, signed by Liberius, was, in every Article, Catholic and Orthodox. A rare Pilot indeed! If this (to pursue his Allegory) is the Port of Truth, who can help pitying Jerom, Hilarius, Athanasius, and in short all the Antients? for they certainly missed it, and, falling in among those dangerous 140Rocks, those treacherous Sholes, which Baronius had the Skill and good Luck to avoid, were there unfortunately shipwrecked. For Jerom says, in express Terms, and in Two Places^[774], that Liberius signed an Heresy; Hilarius, that he approved of the Arian Perfidy^[775]; Athanasius, that he joined the Arians^[776]; and all the Antients, that he apostatized from the Faith: nay, Liberius himself, in his Letter to the Orientals, which is still to be seen, under his own Hand, in the Vatican Library, gives them Notice, that in all things he agrees with Demophilus, a most zealous Arian, and with them; which Words Hilarius could not repeat without anathematizing him. It is therefore manifest, beyond all Dispute, that the Confession of Faith, signed by Liberius, was not Catholic, but Arian. Of this Baronius himself was, without doubt, well apprised, and into this Port he had piloted his Reader, had Truth alone been his Land-mark. |and by Bellarmine.| Bellarmine, the other great Stickler for Infallibility, pursues a different Method, but with worse Success, in my Opinion, than his Fellow-Champion Baronius; for, by striving to support that chimerical Prerogative, he evidently oversets it. The Pope, according to him, may sign and receive heretical Opinions, as Liberius did, without prejudicing in the least his Infallibility, provided he does not internally assent to them^[777]; so that the so much boasted Infallibility is by him reduced at last to this; that the Pope cannot internally assent to an Error: which is confining his Infallibility to himself, and consequently disqualifying him for the Office of a Teacher. Infallibility, even thus curtailed, is, no doubt, a most valuable Treasure to the Owner, but of no more Use to the rest of Mankind than a Treasure concealed under-ground; and, on that very Account, it ought in common Sense to be exploded. But it is scarce worth the while to quarrel with Bellarmine about it, since he cannot be so unreasonable as to require us, in virtue of such a Prerogative, to pay any Regard to the Decisions of the Pope, till such time, at least, as we know them to be agreeable to his private Opinion: and this is what we can never know, since every Pope may, like Liberius, externally admit an Opinion as true; and, at the same time, internally reject it as false.

Liberius returns to Rome.

But, to return to Liberius; he was at last, in regard of his ready Compliance with the Will of the Emperor, allowed to return to 141Rome; but on Condition, that he should govern jointly with Felix^[778]. Letters were accordingly dispatched both to Felix, and the Roman Clergy, to acquaint them therewith. Sozomen seems to insinuate, that they both governed thus for some time^[779]. |Felix is driven out.| But, according to St. Jerom, and the Two Presbyters Marcellinus and Faustinus, who lived then at Rome, and were Eye-witnesses of what they relate, Felix was driven not only from the See, but out of the City, as soon as Liberius entered it; which he did on the 2d of August 358. in a kind of Triumph, being met and received by the whole People, with loud Acclamations of Joy^[780]. Felix returned soon after, at the Instigation of a few of the Ecclesiastics, who had, contrary to their Oath, adhered to him; and even attempted to perform Divine Service in the Basilic of Julius, beyond the Tiber; but the enraged Multitude drove him out a second time, and, with him, all the Ecclesiastics, who had acknowleged him^[781]. Socrates writes, that the Emperor himself was in the End obliged to give him up, and consent to his Expulsion^[782]. Mention is made in the Pontificals of a bloody Persecution, raised in Rome by Liberius, and his Party, against the Partisans of Felix, who, it is said, were inhumanly murdered in the Streets, in the Baths, in all public Places, and even in the Churches^[783]. But as none of the Antients take the least Notice of such Cruelties, I will not charge Liberius with them, upon the bare Authority of such Records. Felix, being driven from Rome, withdrew to a small Estate he had on the Road to Porto, and there spent the remaining Part of his Life in Retirement^[784]. Sozomen supposes him to have died soon after^[785]. But the Two Presbyters Marcellinus and Faustinus, who must have been better informed, assure us, that he lived Seven Years after the Return of Liberius, and died on the 22d of November 365^[786].

The Judgment of the Antients concerning Felix.

Concerning Felix, all the Antients agree, that he was unlawfully elected and ordained; that he communicated with the Arians; that, to ingratiate himself with them, and the Emperor, he signed the Condemnation of Athanasius; that he was guilty of Perjury in accepting the Episcopal Dignity, having bound himself, with the rest of the Clergy, by a solemn Oath, to acknowlege no other Bishop while Liberius lived; and, lastly, that he strove to keep Possession of the 142Roman See, after the Return of the lawful Bishop, and to sit in it, together with him, in open Defiance of the Canons of the Church. Socrates adds, that he not only communicated with the Arians, but was infected with the Arian Heresy^[787]. Athanasius styles him a Monster, raised to the See of Rome by the Malice of Antichrist, one worthy of those who raised him, and in every respect well qualified for the Execution of their wicked Designs^[788]. |He is honoured by the Church of Rome as a Saint and a Martyr.| And yet this Heretic, this Monster, this Intruder, or Antipope, is honoured (the Reader will be surprised to hear it, is honoured) by the Church of Rome as a Saint; nay, as a Martyr; and his Festival is kept to this Day, on the 29th of July. This Honour was conferred on him in the Ages of Darkness and Ignorance, upon the Authority of his fabulous Acts, and a more fabulous Pontifical, from which his Acts seem to have been copied. In the Pontifical it is said, that Felix declared Constantius, who had been twice baptized, an Heretic; and was therefore, by an Order from the incensed Emperor, apprehended, and privately beheaded, with many Ecclesiastics and Laymen, under the Walls of Rome, on the 11th of November. It is added, that the Presbyter Damasus privately conveyed his Body to a Church, which Felix had built, and there interred it; and that, upon his Death, the See remained vacant for the Space of Thirty-eight Days^[789]. |His fabulous Acts.| In the Acts of Felix we read, that Constantius was rebaptized by Eusebius Bishop of Nicomedia; that Felix having, on that Account, declared him an Heretic, he was driven from the See of Rome, and Liberius replaced on it; that Felix thereupon retired into the Country, but was brought back by the Emperor’s Orders, and beheaded on the 10th of November; that his Body was interred on the 20th of the same Month in a Church, which he had built while he was a Presbyter: And we keep his Festival, adds the Author, on the 29th of July^[790]. Anastasius has copied the Pontifical Word for Word, except that he pretends Felix to have been beheaded at Cora, in the Campagna of Rome^[791]; though he has told us, in the foregoing Page, that he died in Peace, a Phrase never used in speaking of Martyrs, on the 29th of July, at his Estate on the Road to Porto^[792]. The City of Cere, now Cerventera, in Tuscany, honours Felix to this Day, as their chief Patron or Protector. In those dark Times Legends alone were in request, and all other Books, even the Scripture itself, quite out of 143Date, and neglected. |How he came to be honoured as a Saint.| No Wonder therefore that such Absurdities, however inconsistent with History, were swallowed without straining; and Felix, for his pretended Zeal and Constancy, ranked among the holy Martyrs. For I may venture to affirm, that the most learned Men, at that time, in the Church, knew nothing of Felix but what they had learned from his fabulous Acts, and from the above-mentioned Pontifical. That I may not be thought to exaggerate, I shall allege one Instance of the Ignorance of past Times: Gulielmus a Sancto Amore, one of the most learned Men of the 13th Century, knew that, in the Time of Hilarius Bishop of Poitiers, a Pope, with most of the Bishops, had fallen into Heresy. He did not even pretend to be so well versed in History as to know for certain who the Pope was; but, indulging a Conjecture, which he thought probable enough, he named Anastasius II. who died in 498. about 150 Years after the Time of Hilarius: so that he was an utter Stranger to the History of Pope Liberius, and consequently to that of the Antipope Felix. Had it not been for the like Ignorance in more early Times, the Apotheosis of our pretended Martyr had never taken place. |His Sanctity called in question;| Be that as it will, during the Ages of Darkness he held undisturbed the Rank, to which he had been thus raised: but when the Dawn of Knowlege began to appear, and it was discovered at last from contemporary and unexceptionable Writers, who Felix was, the Church of Rome was ashamed to own him among her Saints. On the other hand, to degrade him had been giving a fatal Blow to the Pope’s Authority, and rendering it for ever precarious, in so material a Point as that of Canonization. Felix therefore was, at all Events, to keep his Place in Heaven; his Sanctity was to be confirmed, and the World imposed upon by some Contrivance or other, capable of utterly defeating the Testimony of the Antients.

This Point being settled, to prevent all Suspicion of Deceit, or underhand Dealings, Pope Gregory XIII. declared, in 1582. his Intention of having the Cause of Felix impartially examined. |and his Cause re- examined.| In order to ?? this, he appointed Baronius, employed at that Time in reforming the Roman Martyrology, to put in Writing whatever could be objected against Felix, and Cardinal Santorio to answer his Objections, and collect likewise in Writing all that could be said in favour of his new Client, that the Pope might be thoroughly acquainted with the Merits of the Cause before he came to a final Decision. This Conduct in Gregory has been censured by some over-zealous Divines of the Church 144of Rome, as if he had thereby given the World Occasion to think that he questioned the Infallibility of his Predecessors, who had honoured Felix as a Saint^[793]. But Gregory well knew what he was doing, and how the Whole would end. In Compliance with his Orders, Baronius writ a Dissertation, which he himself calls a Volume, and not a short one^[794], to prove that Felix was neither a Saint nor a Martyr. As he had Truth on his Side, Cardinal Santorio, though a Man of Learning, could neither answer his Arguments, nor offer any thing in so desperate a Cause worthy of himself. He often addressed himself in his Prayers to his Client, intreating him to undertake his own Cause, by suggesting to him what might be alleged in his Defence. But the Client was no less at a Stand than the Advocate. Some other Person therefore must interpose: And whom did the carrying or losing such a Cause more nearly concern than the Pope, since his Authority in a most essential Point was at Stake? This was a nice Affair, and to be managed with great Art and Dexterity. Gregory, therefore, having often heard both Sides, in a full Congregation of Cardinals, without betraying the least Partiality for Felix, appointed them to meet for the last time on the 28th of July, the Eve of the pretended Saint’s Festival, judging that the most proper Time to play off with good Success the Trick, which he had kept the whole Time in petto. |His Sanctity and Martyrdom confirmed by the Discovery of his Body.| The Cardinals met on the Day appointed; Baronius quite silenced his Adversary; the whole Assembly was fully convinced, that Felix was no Saint, no Martyr; the Pope himself seemed to fall in with the rest, and accordingly rose up to declare, as was thought, the unhappy Felix fallen from Heaven; when a great Noise was all on a sudden heard at the Door, and immediately a Messenger entered, who, after uttering these Words, Holy Felix, pray for us, acquainted the Pope and the Cardinals, that the Body of Felix was just discovered. Hereupon they all repaired in great Haste to the Church of Cosmas and Damianus, where the miraculous Discovery had been made; and there saw, in a Marble Coffin of an extraordinary Size, on one Side the Bodies of Mark, Marcellianus, and Tranquillinus; and on the other that of Felix, with this Inscription on a Stone that lay by it, The Body of Saint Felix, who condemned Constantius^[795]. Hereupon the Te Deum was sung with great Solemnity for the Triumph of Truth: Felix was declared worthy of the Veneration and Worship that had till then been 145paid him, and a Place was allowed him among the other Saints in the Roman Martyrology, where it is said, that he was driven from his See for defending the Catholic Faith, by Constantius an Arian Emperor, and privately put to Death at Cere, now Cervetera, in Tuscany. Baronius, transported with Joy, as he himself declares^[796], at so miraculous and seasonable a Discovery, immediately yielded, not to his Antagonist Santorio, but to Felix, who had evidently interposed; and, taking that Interposition for a satisfactory Answer to all his Arguments, he immediately retracted whatever he had said, and consigned to the Flames whatever he had written in Opposition to Felix^[797]. Thus, to maintain a chimerical Prerogative, they sport with Truth; betray into Error those who confide in them; and, turning the worst of Men into Saints, honour Vice with the greatest Reward they can bestow on Virtue.

His Legend proved to be fabulous.

That this pretended Discovery was nothing but a Contrivance to confirm the Martyrdom of Felix, and impose upon the World, is manifest; and that the Pontifical, and his Acts, on which his Martyrdom was originally founded, were a no less palpable and gross Imposition, may be easily demonstrated. For, in the first place, Marcellinus and Faustinus, who lived in the Time of Felix and Liberius at Rome, tell us, in express Terms, that Felix, who had been substituted to Liberius, died on the 22d of November 365^[798]. that is, Four Years after the Death of Constantius, by whom he is said, in his Acts, and in the Pontifical, to have been martyred. Athanasius assures us^[799], and with him agree Philostorgius^[800], and the Chronicle of Alexandria^[801], that Constantius was not baptized till at the Point of Death, when he received that Sacrament at the Hands of Euzoius, the Arian Bishop of Antioch. And yet both the Acts of Felix, and the Pontifical, will have him to have been twice baptized before his Death; for it was on this Account that Felix is said to have declared him an Heretic. This Declaration Baronius improves into a solemn Excommunication; and, being become, after the above-mentioned Discovery, a most zealous Advocate for Felix, tells us, that the holy Martyr was no sooner placed on the Throne of St. Peter, than, changing his Conduct, he separated himself from the Communion of those by whom he had been raised, and boldly thundered an Anathema against the Emperor himself^[802]. 146|He did not excom- municate Constantius.| What a Pity that Athanasius was not better acquainted with the Conduct of Felix! for if he had, he would never have styled him a Monster placed on the See of Rome by the Malice of Antichrist. Such an Attempt, unheard of till that Time, must have made a great Noise; and yet I find it was heard by none but Baronius, who lived at so great a Distance. I may add, that there was no room for an Excommunication against Constantius, who was still a Catechumen, and consequently did not partake of the sacred Mysteries.

Whether a lawful Pope or an Antipope.

The Roman Catholic Writers, to save the Credit of Felix, maintain him to have been, at least for some time, lawful Pope. But, to confute whatever has been or can be said by them in his Favour, without entering into a Detail of the many sophistical and unconclusive Arguments, false Assertions, and groundless Suppositions, with which they endeavour to disguise the Truth, and confound their Readers, I argue thus: That Liberius was lawfully chosen, and Felix unlawfully, is past all Dispute. Now, upon the Fall of Liberius, either there was, or there was not, a new Election: if there was not, Liberius continued to be lawful Bishop; or if by his Fall he forfeited his Dignity, as some think he did, the See became vacant; for nothing subsequent to the unlawful Election of Felix could render it lawful. If there was a new Election, and Felix was lawfully chosen, Liberius from that Minute either ceased to be Pope, or there were two lawful Popes at a time. The latter they will not admit, lest they should turn the Church into a Monster with Two Heads. They must therefore allow Felix to have been lawful Pope, and Liberius an Antipope, till the See became vacant by the Death of the former. |Felix an Antipope.| But on the other hand, this new Election is quite groundless, highly improbable, and absolutely repugnant to what we read in the antient and contemporary Writers. It is quite groundless; for though Bellarmine speaks of a new Election with as much Confidence as if he had been one of the Electors^[803], yet we find not the least Hint of it in any of the Writers of those Times, who would not have passed over in Silence so remarkable an Event, had it come to their Knowlege. It is highly improbable; for Liberius was greatly beloved by the whole People, and the far greater Part of the Clergy, and Felix hated to such a Degree, that of all the Inhabitants of Rome, not one ever 147appeared in the Church while he was in it^[804]; nay, he was by all avoided, even in the Streets and other public Places, as if he had carried about with him a Contagion^[805]. Is it not therefore altogether improbable, that the People and Clergy should depose the Man, whom in a manner they adored, for communicating with the Arians, and appoint one in his room, who likewise communicated with them, and was universally detested, avoided, and abhorred? And yet all this is gravely supposed by Bellarmine^[806]. Lastly, the Election of Felix is repugnant to what we read in the antient Writers, who all speak of him as an Antipope, and an Intruder. Optatus, who lived at that very Time, and St. Austin, who flourished soon after, have not allowed him a Place in their Catalogues of the Bishops of Rome. Theodoret takes no notice of him in his Catalogue of the Bishops of the chief Cities. St. Jerom and Prosper count Liberius the Thirty-fourth Bishop of Rome, and Damasus, who succeeded him, the Thirty-fifth; a plain Indication that they did not look upon Felix as lawful Bishop. Among the Moderns, Onuphrius Panvinius, in his Lives of the Popes, printed in 1557. some Years before the Discovery of Felix’s Body, calls Novatian the First Antipope, and Felix the Second. But his Book was prohibited in 1583. the Year after the Second Canonization of Felix. The Writers, who came after, took Warning; and such of them as thought it base to concur in deceiving Mankind, since it was not safe to undeceive them, chose to wave this Subject, but not without giving some broad Hints of what they believed in their Hearts. Thus F. Labbé^[807], and Cardinal Bona^[808], take no notice of this Felix, but call Pope Felix, who was raised to the See of Rome in 485. the Second Pope of that Name. Felix I. was martyred under Aurelian in 274. as we have related elsewhere^[809]. F. Labbé, at the Death of Felix II. which happened in 492. adds, that he was the Third of that Name, according to Baronius^[810]. |Acknowleged as such by some Roman Catholic Writers.| Had Felix never been canonized, no Man would have been so regardless of his own Reputation as to undertake his Defence; but Gregory having declared him a Saint, and, by such a Declaration, linked his Cause with Infallibility in a most essential Point, the hired Champions of that See found themselves under an indispensable Obligation of entering the Lists; which I need not say they have done to no Purpose.

The Emperor under- takes the establishing of Arianism.

148The Fall of the Bishop of Rome, who was at the Head of the Orthodox Party, inspired the Emperor with great Hopes of succeeding in the Design he had formed of utterly abolishing the Orthodox Faith: he found there were but few Bishops whose Virtue was Proof against the Frowns and Resentment of the Court. In the Council held at Arles in 353. they had all to a Man chosen rather to communicate with the Arians, than be driven from their Sees: in that which was convened Two Years after, at Milan, only Three Bishops were found, viz. Dionysius Bishop of that City, Lucifer of Cagliari, and Eusebius of Vercelli, who, equally unmoved by Threats and Promises, had maintained the Truth with the Loss of their Dignity. The Example of the Bishop of Rome had been followed by the far greater Part of the Bishops of Italy. But what above all encouraged the Emperor to pursue the Scheme he had so much at heart, was the Fall of the celebrated Osius Bishop of Cordoua, in the Hundredth Year of his Age, and Sixty-second of his Episcopacy. As the Name of Osius is one of the most famous in the Ecclesiastical History of those Times, and his Fall is alleged by the Antients as a memorable Instance of the Weakness of human Nature, however strengthened and improved by a long Practice of the most eminent Virtues, a succinct Account of so remarkable an Event will not, I hope, be unacceptable to the Reader, or thought foreign to the Subject in hand.

A succinct Account of the Life of Osius Bishop of Cordoua.

Osius was a Native of Spain^[811], born, according to some, in Cordoua, about the Year 256. and raised, in regard of his extraordinary Merit, to the See of that City in 295^[812]. He was even then conspicuous for the Firmness of his Faith, and the Purity of his Life, says Sozomen^[813]. Athanasius, who was well acquainted with him, speaks of him with the greatest Respect and Esteem, calling him a Man truly holy, according to the Greek Signification of his Name; one in whose Conduct even his most inveterate Enemies could discover nothing that was not commendable, his Life being irreprehensible, and his Reputation unspotted^[814]. Theodoret^[815], and Eusebius^[816], extol him on Account of his extraordinary Prudence, Wisdom, and Learning, which gave great Weight to his Opinion in the many Councils at which he assisted, and often presided. In the Year 300. he was present at the Council of Eliberis, or Illeberis, in Spain, famous for the Severity of its Canons; and, in all Likelihood, made even then a 149considerable Figure; since, in the Acts of that Council, he is named in the Second Place after Felix of Acci, now Guadix, in Andalusia, who probably presided^[817]. |He is imprisoned under Maximian for the Confession of the Faith.| Three Years after broke out the Persecution of Maximian Hercules, in which Osius distinguished himself by his Zeal, his Constancy, and his Sufferings; for, having with great Intrepidity confessed his Faith before the Pagan Magistrates, he was by them imprisoned, and kept under a very close and painful Confinement for the Space of Two Years, that is, from the Year 303. to 305. when, upon the Abdication of Maximian and Dioclesian, he was set at Liberty by Constantius Chlorus, the Father of Constantine the Great^[818]. He is honoured by Athanasius^[819], by the Council of Sardica, and by most of the Antients, with the Title of Confessor, which was given to such as had suffered Imprisonment, Torments, or Exile, but had not died, for the Confession of the Faith. He was highly esteemed and revered by Constantine, not only as a Confessor, but as a Person of extraordinary Wisdom and Probity^[820]; whence he is thought to have been one of the Prelates whom that Prince consulted in 311^[821]. and kept with him to instruct him in the Mysteries of the Christian Religion. |He instructs Constantine.| Some think that Osius was meant by the Egyptian Priest come from Spain, to whom Zosimus ascribes the Change made by Constantine in point of Religion^[822]. The Church of Cordoua was, out of Regard to him, enriched by Constantine with many valuable Presents, whence he is said to have been very rich^[823]. But what Use he made of his Wealth we may learn from Athanasius, who assures us, that no one in Want ever applied to him without being relieved, and receiving the Supply he demanded^[824]. In the famous Dispute, which I have taken notice of in its proper Place, between Cæcilianus and the Donatists of Africa, Osius undertook, with great Zeal, the Defence of the former, and prevailed in the End upon Constantine to espouse his Cause, and declare against the Donatists^[825], whom he thenceforth punished with great Severity, taking their Churches from them, and sending the most obstinate among them into Exile. Constantine being become Master of the East in the Year 323. his first Care was to put an End to the unhappy Divisions that reigned in those Churches about the Celebration of Easter, and some other controverted Points. |He is sent by him to compose some Disputes there.| With 150this View he dispatched Osius into the East, who, upon his Arrival there, summoned a Council to meet at Alexandria, which, under his Influence, condemned the Heresy of Sabellius, put a Stop to the Schism of one Colluthus, and greatly allayed the Animosity of the contending Parties about the Day on which Easter was to be kept^[826]. On his Return to Court, the Account he gave of the Arians, whose Heresy he had endeavoured in vain to suppress, made so deep an Impression in the Mind of the Emperor, that, for a long time, he continued highly prejudiced against them^[827]. It was at the Suggestion of Osius that Constantine assembled the Council of Nice in 325. at which he assisted, and distinguished himself above the rest^[828]; for of all Councils he was the Head and Leader, as Athanasius styles him^[829]. |He assists at the Council of Nice and draws up the Nicene Creed.| By him was worded and drawn up the famous Nicene Symbol or Creed, as we are told in express Terms by Athanasius^[830]. He presided at the Council of Sardica, which, at his Request, was assembled by the Emperor Constans in 347^[831]. From that Council he retired to his Bishoprick, and continued there undisturbed till the Year 355. when Constantius seeing himself Master of the West, as well as of the East, undertook to oblige all the Bishops to condemn Athanasius, whose Cause was looked upon as inseparable from that of the Orthodox Faith. As Osius had on all Occasions declared highly in his Favour, and the Example of a Prelate so venerable for his Age, for the glorious Title of Confessor, and the Figure he had made for many Years in the Church, greatly prejudiced the World against the Enemies of the persecuted Bishop, the Emperor resolved to deprive, if possible, the Orthodox Party of so powerful a Support. |Constantius attempts in vain to gain him over to the Arian Party.| With this View he ordered Osius to repair to Milan, where the Court then was, well knowing that he was not, like most other Bishops, to be terrified with threatening Letters. Osius, in Compliance with the Emperor’s Orders, set out without Delay from Cordoua, notwithstanding his great Age; and, arriving at Milan, was there received by the Emperor with all the Respect that was due to the Father of Bishops, as he was styled. Constantius entertained him for some Days with the utmost Civility, hoping by that means to bring him into his Views; but he no sooner named Athanasius to him, than the zealous Prelate, well knowing the Drift of his Discourse, and armed against all Temptations, interrupted 151him with declaring, that he was ready to sacrifice not one, but a Thousand Lives, in so just a Cause; nay, he even reprimanded the Emperor with great Freedom, who, out of an awful Reverence for a Prelate of his Years, Authority, and Figure, heard him with great Patience, and not only forbore offering him any Violence, but gave him Leave to return unmolested to his See^[832].

His second Attempt to gain him.

The mild Treatment Osius met with gave great Uneasiness to the Arian Party, especially to the Two Bishops, Ursacius and Valens, who thereupon never ceased soliciting the Emperor to proceed with Vigour against the only Man, who, they said, was capable of obstructing his great and pious Designs. They were powerfully seconded by the Eunuchs, who prevailed in the End upon the Emperor, as they bore a great Sway at Court, to try anew the Firmness and Constancy of so celebrated a Champion. Constantius therefore writ several Letters to him, treating him in some with great Respect, and styling him his Father, but menacing him in others, and naming to him the Bishops, whom he had banished for refusing to condemn a Man whom most Bishops, and several Councils, had already condemned^[833]. |His Letter to the Emperor.| Osius, inflexible and unmoved, answered the Emperor by a Letter worthy of himself, and the great Reputation he had acquired. It has been conveyed to us by Athanasius, and nothing can be said stronger in that Bishop’s Defence; for he there shews unanswerably, that, whatever Crimes might be alleged against him, his only Guilt was a steady Adherence to the Faith of Nice^[834]. |He is sent to Sirmium.| But Constantius, without hearkening to the Reasons he urged in Justification of his own and Athanasius’s Conduct, without paying the least Regard to the earnest Prayers and Intreaties, to the paternal Exhortations and Admonitions, of so venerable a Prelate, ordered him to quit his See forthwith, and repair to Sirmium, where he was kept a whole Year in a kind of Exile. But, unaffected with the many Hardships he suffered there, with the Loss of his Dignity, with the inhuman Treatment of his Relations, who were all persecuted, stripped of their Estates, and reduced to Beggary on his Account, Osius still stood up in Defence of Athanasius, still rejected with Indignation the Proposals of his Enemies^[835], striving to induce him at least to communicate with them. They therefore resolved to proceed to open Force, and either to gain over to their Party a Man of his Figure and Rank, or, by removing him out of the 152Way, to deprive the Orthodox of their main Support^[836]. |Confined and racked.| Accordingly, with the Emperor’s Consent and Approbation, they caused him first to be closely confined, and afterwards to be cruelly beaten; and lastly to be put to the Rack, and most inhumanly tortured, as if he had been the worst of Criminals^[837]. |He yields at last.| Even against such exquisite Torments the Firmness of his Mind was proof for some time; but the Weakness of his Body obliged him in a manner to yield at last, and communicate with Ursacius and Valens^[838]. Athanasius seems to insinuate in some Places, that he signed his Condemnation^[839]; but in another he expresly denies it^[840]. Sulpitius Severus thinks he was guilty of no other Crime but that of communicating with the Arians^[841]. Athanasius only says, that he consented to communicate with Ursacius and Valens^[842]. |He signs the Sirmian Confession of Faith.| However, that he did not stop there, but signed the Arian Confession of Sirmium, is but too manifest from several unexceptionable and contemporary Writers. Phœbadius Bishop of Agen, in France, in his Answer written at this very Time to the Arians, bragging that their Doctrine had been approved and embraced by the great Osius, allows the Fact; but adds, that he was induced thereunto by Force, and not Conviction^[843]. Marcellinus and Faustinus, who writ at the same time, say, that Osius set his Hand, but never yielded his Heart, to the Arian Impiety^[844]. Nay, Hilarius Bishop of Poitiers supposes the Sirmian Confession of Faith to have been drawn up by Osius and Potamus; for he often calls it, The Heresy, the Blasphemies, the wild and mad Conceits of Osius and Potamus^[845]. Vigilius Tapsensis ranks Osius with Ursacius, and the other wicked Men, who composed the sacrilegious Confession of Sirmium^[846]. Socrates writes, that he signed the Sirmian Symbol^[847]; Sozomen, that he consented to the Suppression of the Words Omoousion, and Omoiousion^[848]; and Eusebius of Vercelli bestows high Encomiums on Gregory Bishop of Elvira, for opposing the great Transgressor Osius^[849]. Potamus, whom I have mentioned above, was Bishop of Lisbone, and a most sanguine Stickler for the Orthodox Party; but upon the Emperor’s yielding to him some Lands of the Imperial Demesne, that lay very convenient for him, he changed Sides, and became a most zealous 153Champion of the Arian Doctrine^[850]; insomuch that he is ranked by Phœbadius with Ursacius and Valens, the Two great Apostles of the Arians^[851].

The Arians Triumph.

The Fall of the great Osius, whom the Orthodox Party looked upon as their invincible Hero, surprised the whole World^[852]. Some could not believe it; others ascribed it to his great Age, which might have weakened his Judgment^[853]. It was immediately published all over the East, and great Rejoicings were made on the Occasion, by the Bishops in those Parts, who looked upon such a Conquest as a signal Victory over the Orthodox^[854]. Phœbadius tells us, that the chief Argument alleged by the Arians, in favour of their Doctrine, against the Bishops of Gaul, was the Conversion of Osius, as they styled it^[855]. Here Davidius pleases himself with ridiculing, and indeed very justly, this and several other Conversions, greatly boasted by the Arians; but he must give me Leave to put him in mind, that he ridicules, at the same time, the many Conversions which his Church is constantly boasting, since most of them, especially those thus made in the new World, have been owing to Arguments of the same Nature as that of Osius, and other Arian Proselytes, and were not perhaps at all more sincere. |Hilarius not well informed as to the Circumstances of his Fall.| Hilarius, Bishop of Poitiers, who lived at this time in Exile, amidst the Arians in Phrygia, seems not to be well informed as to the Circumstances of the Fall of Osius; else he had made some Allowance for the barbarous and inhuman Treatment the unhappy Prelate met with, and not reflected on him with so much Bitterness and Severity, saying, that it had pleased God to prolong his Life till he fell, that the World might know what he had been before he fell^[856]. That a Man in the Hundredth Year of his Age should yield to most exquisite and repeated Torments, is not at all to be wondered at; and therefore had Hilarius been better informed, he had rather pitied than reproached him. But the Arians, among whom he lived, took care to conceal whatever could any ways depreciate their boasted Victory: at least that Hilarius was a Stranger to what Osius had suffered, is manifest, from his ascribing the Fall of that great Prelate not to the Cruelty of his Enemies, but to the too great Love he had for his Sepulchre^[857], meaning, I suppose, the Desire he had of dying in his native Country, and not in Exile.

He is restored to his See.

154Osius having thus gratified the Emperor, by communicating with the Arians, and signing the Sirmian Confession of Faith, he was immediately reinstated in his See, and suffered to return to his native Country, where he gave some Trouble, it seems, to the Orthodox Bishops; for Gregory Bishop of Elvira is highly commended by Eusebius of Vercelli, who lived then in Exile, for opposing the Transgressor Osius, as I have observed above. The unfortunate Prelate did not live long after his Fall, but died in the Latter-end of the same Year 357. according to the most probable Opinion. He did not forget the Crime he had committed, says Athanasius^[858]; but grievously complained, at the Point of Death, of the Violence that had been offered him, anathematized the Heresy of Arius, and exhorted, as by his last Will, all Mankind to reject it^[859]. To his Repentance Athanasius, no doubt, alludes, where he writes, that Osius yielded only for a time^[860]; which he says of no other, not even of Liberius. As for the Account, which some Writers give of his tragical End^[861], it is not worthy of Notice. The Greek Church honours him as a Saint, and his Festival is kept on the 27th of August^[862]; but they are certainly mistaken in supposing him to have died in Banishment. The Case of Osius deserves, without all Doubt, to be greatly pitied. But it would be still more worthy of our Pity and Compassion, had he been himself an Enemy to all Persecution. But it must be observed, that he was the Author and Promoter of the First Christian Persecution. For it was he who first stirred up Constantine against the Donatists; many of whom were sent into Exile, and some even sentenced to Death, nay, and led to the Place of Execution. I dare not interpret the very severe Treatment he met with, or his Fall and Apostasy, as a Judgment; but cannot help thinking him, on that Consideration, less worthy of our Compassion and Concern, than a Man of his Years and Merit would otherwise have been.

Constantius appoints a Council to meet at Nicomedia;

Constantius, having thus gained over to the Heterodox Party the celebrated Bishop of Cordoua, and sent those into Exile, whom he apprehended most capable of traversing his Design, resolved to assemble a Council, not doubting but he should be able, by some means or other, to prevail upon the Members, that composed it, to approve and embrace the Doctrine, which he was labouring with indefatigable Pains to establish. Accordingly he writ to the chief Bishops of each 155Province, injoining them to meet in the Name of the rest, at an appointed Time, in the City of Nicomedia^[863]. |which City is destroyed by an Earthquake.| In Compliance with his Orders the Bishops immediately set out; but, while they were on the Road, they were stopped by the News that was brought them of the utter Destruction of the City of Nicomedia by a sudden and most dreadful Earthquake. This public Calamity happened on the 24th of August 358^[864]. and the Arians, in the Account which they transmitted of it to Court, assured the Emperor, that several Bishops, who were for Consubstantiality, had been buried under the Ruins of the great Church^[865]. It was probably, by this Account, that Philostorgius was deceived and misled, when he writ, that Fifteen Bishops, who were all Defenders of Consubstantiality, were crushed to Pieces by the Fall of the Church, together with Cecrops Bishop of the City^[866]. But Sozomen assures us, that, when the Church fell, there was not a single Person in it; and that Two Bishops only perished in the Earthquake, viz. Cecrops, who was an Arian, and a Bishop of Bosporus^[867]. |The Council ap- pointed to meet at Nice.| This Misfortune obliged the Emperor to change the Place of the Council; and accordingly Letters were immediately dispatched to all the Bishops, ordering them to repair to Nice, which City was suggested to him by Basilius, the Semi-Arian Bishop of Ancyra, with a Design, says Theodoret^[868], to eclipse the Glory and Authority of the First Council by the Confusion of Two. Be that as it will, the Bishops were ordered to meet there early in the Summer of the Year 359. Such as were not in a Condition to undertake such a Journey, on account of their Age or Infirmities, were to send Priests or Deacons, as their Deputies, to vote and act in their Name; and the Council was strictly injoined to transmit to the Emperor such Decrees as they should enact, that he might examine them, and see whether they were agreeable to Scripture: for this Purpose Ten Deputies were to be appointed by the Bishops of the East, and the like Number by those of the West^[869]. |Two Councils appointed to meet instead of one.| But while the World was expecting to see a second Oecumenical Council assembled at Nice, the Emperor all on a sudden changed his Mind, and instead of one, resolved to convene Two, the one in the East, and the other in the West^[870]. This Change was owing to the Intrigues of the Anomeans, or Pure Arians, who, finding the far greater Part of the Bishops either for the Orthodox 156Faith of Nice, or, the Semi-Arian, as established in a Council at Antioch, concluded, that there would be no Means to divert them, when assembled together, from condemning their Doctrine; whereas if they were divided, they did not despair of being able to manage both Assemblies, or at least one of the Two^[871]. This Design of dividing the Council they privately imparted to the Eunuch Eusebius, their great Friend, and the Emperor’s chief Favourite, who, highly applauding the Scheme, took upon him to get it approved by Constantius. |The Occasion of this Change.| And this he easily effected, by representing, that a General Council would put the Bishops to greater Trouble and Inconveniences than most of them could well bear, and, at the same time, the Treasury to an immense Charge; for on such Occasions their Expences were defrayed by the Emperor^[872]. He therefore advised him to assemble Two Councils at the same time, one in the East, and the other in the West, which, he said, would be less troublesome to the Bishops, and less expensive to the Exchequer. To these Reasons Constantius acquiesced; but, as he was a zealous Semi-Arian, Eusebius kept him in the Dark, as to the true Motive of such a Change. Thus was Constantius, and thus have many Princes been, since his Time, led, as it were, hoodwinked, by some in whom they reposed an intire Confidence, into Measures tending to promote Designs quite opposite to their own.

Rimini chosen for the Western Bishops;

This Point being settled, to the great Satisfaction of the Anomeans, Ariminum, now Rimini, on the Adriatic Sea, was thought the most proper Place for the Western Bishops to meet at. But the City of Nice, where the General Council was to assemble, having suffered much by the late Earthquake, the Emperor desired the Eastern Bishops might not meet there, but in whatever other Place they should agree among themselves to be the most proper and convenient^[873]. This Theodoret ascribes to a particular Providence, that would not suffer the great Council of Nice to be ever confounded with a Conventicle of Heretics^[874]. |and Seleucia in Isauria for those of the East.| As the Bishops could not agree about the Place, and it was not at all probable they should, the Emperor, by the Advice of a few, who were then with him at Sirmium, named the City of Seleucia in Isauria^[875]. And now that the Place was settled for both Councils, Constantius issued an Order, injoining not only the chief Bishops of each Province, as he had done the Year before, but all, 157without Exception, to repair to one of the Two^[876]; nay, he dispatched Officers into the Provinces, with a strict Charge to see his Order punctually obeyed, and put in Execution^[877]. The Bishops therefore set out from all Parts; the public Carriages, Roads, and Houses, were every-where crouded with them; which gave great Offence to the Catechumens, and no small Diversion to the Pagans, who thought it equally strange and ridiculous, that Men, who had been brought up from their Infancy in the Christian Religion, and whose Business it was to instruct others in that Belief, should be constantly hurrying, in their old Age, from one Place to another, to know what they themselves should believe^[878]. Ammianus Marcellinus complains, that the necessary Funds for the Maintenance of the public Carriages were quite drained and exhausted, by the roaming about of the Christian Bishops^[879]. Their Charges were defrayed by the Emperor, as I have observed above; but the Bishops of Gaul and Britain, that they might be the more independent, insisted upon travelling at their own Expence; only Three of the latter, not having wherewithal to support themselves, chose rather to be obliged to the Emperor than burdensome to their Collegues, who generously offered to contribute to their Maintenance, every one according to his Ability^[880].

The Western Bishops, that is, those of Illyricum, Italy, Africa, Spain, Gaul, and Britain, being assembled at Rimini, in all 400 and upwards^[881], the Emperor writ to Taurus, the Præfectus Prætorio of Italy, charging him to be present at all the Debates, and not to suffer the Bishops to separate, till, in Points of Faith, they had all agreed: if he succeeded therein, he was to be rewarded with the Consular Dignity^[882]. |The Emperor’s Letter to the Western Bishops.| At the same time he writ to the Bishops, injoining them to treat only of such Matters as related to the Faith, Unity, and Order of the Church, and forbidding them to meddle, on any Pretence whatsoever, with what concerned the Eastern Bishops, who, he said, would take care to settle their own Affairs, since they were met for that Purpose^[883]. This was to prevent their entering upon the Cause of Athanasius, whom he well knew the Western Bishops would have declared innocent. The Emperor’s Letter is dated the 27th of May 359^[884]. At this Council Restitutus Bishop 158of Carthage is supposed to have presided, as he was, both for Piety and Learning, the most conspicuous in the Assembly. |The Arians propose a new Confession drawn up at Sirmium;| At their first Meeting, the Two Arian Bishops, Ursacius and Valens, appeared with a Paper in their Hands, containing a new Confession of Faith, composed lately at Sirmium by the Emperor, by a small Number of Arian and Semi-Arian Bishops, and several Presbyters and Deacons, who, after a Debate, which lasted the whole Day, had at length agreed to suppress the Word Consubstantial; and introduce the Word like in its room; so that the Son was no more to be said consubstantial, but like to the Father in all Things; the Three last Words Constantius added, and, by obliging all who were present to sign them, defeated, say the Semi-Arians, the wicked Designs of the Heretics, meaning the Pure Arians^[885]. However, excepting those Words, the whole Confession was thought to favour their Doctrine^[886]; whence the Semi-Arians held out till Night, when the Emperor, well satisfied with the Words like in all things, obliged them to sign it. This Confession of Faith was drawn up, and signed, on the Eve of Pentecost^[887], that is, on the 22d or 23d of May 359^[888]. Easter having fallen that Year on the 4th of April^[889][N17]. Ursacius and Valens read 159it to the Council, adding, when they had done, that it had been approved of by the Emperor, and therefore that they ought all to be satisfied with it, without recurring to any other Councils or Creeds, without demanding any other Confession of the Heretics, or inquiring too narrowly into their Doctrine and Opinions, which would be attended with much Trouble, endless Disputes, and eternal Divisions; that the Catholic Truths, which all Men were bound to believe, ought not to be darkened with Metaphysical Terms, but expressed by Words, which all Men understood; and, lastly, that it was quite idle to quarrel and make so much Noise about a Word (meaning the Word consubstantial) which none of the inspired Writers had thought fit to make use of in explaining the Mysteries of our holy Religion^[890]. What Answer the Council returned, I can find no-where recorded. But a Motion being made soon after to condemn and anathematize the Arian and all other Heresies, Ursacius and his Party opposed it; which alarmed the Orthodox Bishops, concluding from thence, that whatever Expressions they made use of, their Belief was different from that of the Catholic Church. |which is rejected;| They therefore resolved to hearken to them no longer; and accordingly, without the least Regard to their Remonstrances and Protestations, they condemned, with one Consent, all Heresies in general, and that of Arius in particular; declared heretical the Confession of Faith presented by Ursacius and Valens; confirmed that of Nice, and ordered the Word consubstantial to be retained, since the true Meaning of it might be sufficiently gathered from several Passages in Scripture^[891]. |and they condemned and deposed.| They did not stop here; but, transported with Zeal on the Arians attempting to impose upon them by a Second Confession of Faith, they declared them all, and their Leaders Ursacius, Valens, Germinius, and Caius, by Name, ignorant and deceitful Men, Impostors, Heretics, deposed them in the Council, and signed all to a Man this Declaration on the 21st of July of the present Year 359^[892].

Deputies sent by the Council to the Emperor;

With this Act they put an End to the Sessions, and immediately dispatched Ten Deputies to acquaint the Emperor with what had passed, pursuant to his express Command. The like Number was sent by the Arians, who had assisted at the Council. These, traveling with great Expedition, arrived at Constantinople, where the Court then was, some time before the others; and, being immediately admitted to the 160Emperor, they prejudiced him to such a Degree against the Orthodox Party, that he would not so much as see their Deputies, pretending to be wholly taken up with the Affairs of the State. They were therefore obliged to deliver the Letter, which the Council had written on this Occasion, to one of his Ministers^[893]. They expected every Day to be admitted to an Audience, or, at least, to receive an Answer, and be dismissed. |who leaves Constantinople without seeing them.| But, after they had been thus kept for some time in Expectation, the Emperor all on a sudden left Constantinople, in order to head his Army against the Barbarians, who had broken into the Empire. He was no sooner gone than one of the Ministers came to acquaint them, that it was the Emperor’s Pleasure they should repair forthwith to Adrianople, and there wait his Return^[894]. However, before he set out, he writ to the Council, giving them notice of his sudden Departure from Constantinople; and alleging, by way of Excuse for not having seen or heard their Deputies, the present Situation of public Affairs, which had engrossed his whole Attention, whereas, the discussing and settling of spiritual Affairs required a Mind quite free and disengaged from all worldly Cares. |He endeavours to tire their Patience with Delays.| He concluded his short Letter with intreating them not to think of separating till he was at Leisure to settle, in Conjunction with them, Matters of so great Importance to the Church, and the whole Christian World^[895]. The Design of the most wicked Constantius, as Athanasius styles him^[896], was to tire out the Bishops with such Delays, hoping they would, in the End, chuse rather to sign the last Sirmian Confession, which he was bent upon establishing in the room of the Nicene, than to be long kept, as it were, in Exile, at a Distance from their Sees^[897]. But this he could not compass for the present, the Bishops declaring, in their Answer to his Letter, that they could not, and hoped they never should, upon any Consideration whatsoever, depart from what they had so unanimously settled and decreed^[898]. Socrates writes, that the Bishops, after having waited some time in vain for the Emperor’s Answer to their Letter, left Rimini, and retired to their respective Sees^[899]. And here he ends his Account of that Council. It were greatly to be wished, that nothing else could be said of it; but several contemporary and unexceptionable Writers, and Hilarius among the rest^[900], assure us, that Constantius 161changed at last the Faith of the Western Bishops into Impiety. Of this deplorable Change they give us the following Account.

Their Deputies ordered to Nice in Thrace;

The Arians, taking Occasion from the last Letter of the Bishops at Rimini to incense Constantius against them, prevailed upon him to order their Deputies to a City in Thrace, known at that Time by the Name of Nice, but formerly called Ostudizus, and placed by Sanson a few Leagues to the East of Adrianople. This Place they chose, that the Symbol, which they designed to impose upon them, might be confounded by the ignorant People with that of the great Council of Nice in Bithynia^[901]. The Deputies no sooner arrived there, than a Confession of Faith was proposed to them intirely agreeable to the last made at Sirmium, except that in this new Creed the Son was declared like to the Father, without the Addition of the Words in all Things. This they rejected at first with great Resolution and Intrepidity; but the Arians were no less resolute, and therefore left nothing unattempted they could think of to carry their Point^[902]. But finding Hope and Fear, Threats and Promises, equally ineffectual, they proceeded at last to open Force and Violence^[903]. What Kind of Violence was employed against them, the Author does not tell us; but Marcellinus and Faustinus ascribe their retracting what they had declared to be holy, and approving what they had condemned as impious, to the Love of their Sees, and the Dread they were in of being driven from them^[904]. |where they sign the Sirmian Confession.| Be that as it will, it is certain, that they yielded at last; that they accepted and signed, without the least Limitation or Restriction, the above-mentioned Confession of Faith; consented to the Suppression of the Word Consubstantial; declared void and null all the Acts and Proceedings of the Council of Rimini; anathematized, as heretical, all Opinions contrary to the Doctrine contained in the said Confession; and, finally, admitted to their Communion Ursacius, Valens, Germinius, and Caius, whom they had not long before deposed as Heretics^[905]. Restitutus, Bishop of Carthage, and one of the most eminent Prelates at that Time in the Church, signed the first, and the other Deputies after him, according to the Dignity of their Sees. The Emperor, transported with Joy at the News of their Compliance, which he looked upon as a signal Victory, gave them immediately Leave to return to Rimini. At the same time he wrote to Taurus, charging him anew not to suffer the Bishops to depart till 162they had all signed the same Confession of Faith, and impowering him to send into Exile such as by their Obstinacy should distinguish themselves above the rest, provided they were not above Fifteen in Number^[906]. |Constantius orders the Bishops at Rimini to suppress the Words Substance and Consubstantial.| He likewise writ to the Bishops, commanding them, on Pain of incurring his Indignation, to suppress for ever the Words Substance and Consubstantial, severely reprimanding them for presuming to depose Ursacius and his Collegues, and assuring them, that they should not be allowed to return to their Sees, till they had intitled themselves to his Favour by an intire and unreserved Compliance with his Will^[907]. To this Letter the Arians, who had assisted at the Council, to the Number of Eighty, returned a most submissive Answer, and even thanked the Emperor for the great Pains he took to establish the true Doctrine^[908]. However, Taurus declared that he could by no means suffer them to depart till the rest had agreed with them, and the whole Assembly was of one Mind. The orthodox Bishops shewed at first some Resolution, and even refused to communicate with their own Deputies. But this Resolution soon vanished; they were eager to return to their Sees; the Emperor was inflexible; Taurus took care to render the Place both inconvenient and disagreeable to them. |The greater Part yield.| Some therefore fell off, others followed their Example, the rest began to waver, and, being so far got the better of, yielded soon after, and went over to the Arian Party in such Crouds, that in a very short time the Number of the orthodox Bishops, who continued steady, was reduced to 20^[909]. At the Head of these was Phœbadius, the celebrated Bishop of Agen, who seemed invincible; but nevertheless was overcome in the End, not by the Menaces of the Emperor, or his Prefect, but by the Craft and Subtilty of Ursacius and Valens, who, finding they could by no other Means prevail upon him to accept the Sirmian Confession, declared, that to put an End to the unhappy Divisions that had so long rent the Church, they had at last resolved to agree to such Alterations and Additions as should be judged proper and necessary by him and his Collegues. This Declaration was received by all with great Joy: Phœbadius triumphed, thinking he had carried his Point, and saved the Reputation of the Council. |The others imposed upon by the Arians.| To the Symbol were immediately added several Anathemas against the Arian Heresy, and an Article declaring the Son equal to the Father, without Beginning, 163and before all Time. When this Article was read, Valens desired, that, in order to leave no room for new Disputes or Chicanery, they would add, that the Son was not a Creature like other Creatures^[910]. This was evidently supposing the Son to be a Creature only exalted above all other Creatures; so that by admitting such an Article they condemned the Doctrine which they designed to establish, and established that which they designed to condemn. And yet of this neither was Phœbadius aware, nor any of his Party, as they afterwards solemnly declared^[911]. A most unaccountable Oversight, and hardly credible! But Theodoret^[912], Ambrose^[913], Sulpitius Severus^[914], and Fulgentius^[915], took it upon their Word, and so must we. Neither Party could brag of the Victory; for the Arians had anathematized the Heresy of Arius; and on the other hand the orthodox Bishops had deliberately agreed to the suppressing of the Words Substance and Consubstantial, and inadvertently acknowleged the Son to be a Creature; which was all the Arians aimed at, or could desire. The Council being thus ended, new Deputies were sent to acquaint the Emperor with what had passed, who being highly pleased with the Report made by Ursacius and Valens (for they were at the Head of the Deputation) immediately granted the Bishops Leave to return to their respective Sees, after they had been about Four Months at Rimini.

The Council no sooner broke up than the Arians began to proclaim aloud the Victory they had gained, bragging, that it had not been defined in the Council of Rimini, that the Son was not a Creature, but only that he was not like other Creatures; and declaring it was, and had always been their Opinion, that the Son was no more like the Father, than a Piece of Glass was like an Emerald^[916]. |They discover their Mistake.| Phœbadius, and the other Bishops who had adhered to him, were returned to their Sees with great Joy, flattering themselves that they had sufficiently established the Catholic Doctrine, and prevented all future Disputes: but, finding that the Arians pretended their Tenets had been confirmed by this very Council, and seriously reflecting on the Articles, which they themselves had agreed to, they discovered at last how grosly they had been imposed upon, and publicly retracted all they had said, done, or signed, repugnant to the Truths of the Catholic Church^[917]. However, Gregory Bishop of Elvira refused to communicate with any of the 164Bishops who had assisted at the Council of Rimini, and was on that account commended by Eusebius of Vercelli^[918]. |Are judged Guilty by the exiled Bishops.| The exiled Bishops, and those who lay concealed, agreed among themselves by Letters, to declare them for ever incapable of performing any Episcopal or Sacerdotal Functions, and to admit them to the Communion of the Church only in the Capacity of Laymen^[919]. When Peace was restored to the Church by the Death of Constantius in 361. most of the orthodox Bishops were for deposing all those of the Council of Rimini, and placing others in their room. But this Sentence the People would not suffer to be put in Execution, rising every-where in Defence of their Pastors, and in some Places insulting, beating, and even killing, those who came to depose them^[920].

Great Disagreement in the Council of Seleucia.

As for the Council of Seleucia, it met on the 27th of September 359. and consisted only of One hundred and Sixty Bishops, all Arians, or Semi-Arians, except Twelve or Thirteen orthodox Bishops from Egypt^[921]. This Assembly Gregory Nazianzen calls the Tower of Calane, or Babel, the Council of Caiaphas^[922]. And indeed with a great deal of Reason; for nothing was there seen but Tumult, Confusion, and Disorder. The Anomeans and Semi-Arians appeared so irreconcilably incensed against each other, and carried on their Debates with so much Animosity and Bitterness, that the Quæstor Leonas, whom the Emperor had appointed to assist at the Council, thinking it impossible they should ever agree in any one Point, rose up at their Fourth Meeting, while they were in the Heat of the Dispute, and, withdrawing abruptly, put an End to that Session, nay, and to the Council; for, being invited the next Day, the First of October, to the Assembly, he refused to go, saying, that he did not conceive his Presence to be at all necessary, since they might quarrel and scold as much as they pleased without him^[923]. This he did, says Sozomen, to favour the Anomeans, who thence took Occasion to absent themselves from the Council, which, as it was chiefly composed of Semi-Arians, seemed determined to condemn their Doctrine^[924]. |The Semi-Arians condemn and depose the Arians.| However, the Semi-Arians met by themselves; and, finding they could by no means prevail upon the Anomeans to return to the Council, they condemned their Doctrine as heretical and blasphemous, excommunicated and deposed the leading Men of their Party, appointed others in their room, 165and gave Notice thereof to their respective Churches^[925]. Before they broke up, they dispatched Ten Deputies to acquaint the Emperor with the Transactions of the Council. But the Bishops whom they had deposed, arriving at Court before them, and being by their Friends there immediately introduced to Constantius, they prejudiced him against the Council of Seleucia to such a Degree, that it was some time before he could prevail upon himself to hear the Deputies. |They sign the last Confession of Sirmium.| However, he heard them at last, and, by threatening them with Exile if they did not comply, obliged them to sign the last Confession of Sirmium, which had been rejected by the Council as Arian^[926]. In this he spent the whole Day, and great Part of the Night, preceding the First of January, though he was obliged to make the necessary Preparations for entering on that Day his Tenth Consulate with the usual Pomp and Solemnity^[927].

The Arians,in their Turn, condemn and depose the Semi-Arians, and also sign the last Confession of Sirmium.

In the Beginning of the Year 360. the Anomeans assembling by themselves at Constantinople as the Semi-Arians had done at Seleucia, in order to ingratiate themselves with the Emperor, not only received the last Sirmian Confession, but condemned all other Confessions or Symbols that had been made till then, or should be made for the future. They then declared all the Acts of the Council of Seleucia void and null; and, to be even with the Semi-Arians, deposed, under various Pretences, such of their Party as had most contributed to the deposing of them, and even prevailed upon the Emperor to send them into Exile^[928].

An Order from the Emperor injoining all Bishops to sign the Sirmian Confession.

They did not stop here, but obtained of Constantius an Order, which was published throughout the Empire, commanding all Bishops to sign the Sirmian Confession, on pain of forfeiting their Dignity, and being sent into Exile^[929][N18]. This Order was executed with the utmost 166Rigour in all the Provinces of the Empire, and very few were found, who did not sign with their Hands what they condemned in their Hearts^[930]. Many, who till then had been thought invincible, were overcome, and complied with the Times; and such as did not, were driven, without Distinction, from their Sees, into Exile, and others appointed in their room, the signing of that Confession being a Qualification indispensably requisite both for obtaining and keeping the Episcopal Dignity^[931]. Thus were all the Sees throughout the Empire filled with Arians, insomuch that in the whole East not one orthodox Bishop was left, and in the West but one, viz. Gregory Bishop of Elvira in Andalusia, and he, in all Likelihood, obliged to absent himself from his Flock, and lie concealed, as were probably Pope Liberius, and Vincentius of Capua, if what Theodoret relates of them be true, viz. that they never consented to the Decrees of Rimini^[932], and thereby retrieved the Reputation they had lost, the former by signing the Sirmian Confession of the Year 357. and the other by communicating with the Arians in 353. as I have related above. |It was probably signed by Liberius.| But what Theodoret writes may be justly called in question; for it is not at all probable, that the Emperor, and the Arian Party, so warmly bent on establishing that Confession throughout the Empire, would have suffered the Bishop of the Imperial City, of the first See, to reject it, without deposing him, as they had done the Bishops of all the other great Sees, and appointing another more compliant in his room. This could not be prevented by his concealing himself in the Caverns and Cœmeteries about Rome, as he is said to have done in his Acts quoted by Baronius^[933], though he might by that means have escaped being sent into Exile. Besides, had he, instead of complying with the Emperor’s express Command, withdrawn and absconded, I cannot think that his Antagonist Felix, who was still alive, and had done nothing we know of to disoblige the Emperor, and the Arian Party, 167by whom he had been formerly raised to that See, would have neglected so favourable an Opportunity of recovering his antient Dignity. If what Theodoret says be true, Gregory Nazianzen is highly to blame for not excepting Liberius; when he writ, that the Bishops either all complied, or were driven into Exile, excepting a few, who were too insignificant to be taken notice of by the Emperor, or his Ministers^[934]. |Arianism universally obtains.| Be that as it will, it is certain, that at this time the Arian Doctrine universally obtained; that the Face of the Church appeared quite deformed and disfigured^[935], that the whole World saw itself, with Astonishment, all on a sudden become Arian^[936]; that the Boat of St. Peter, to use St. Jerom’s Expression, tossed by furious Winds, by violent Storms, was upon the Point of sinking, and no Hopes of Safety seemed to be left^[937].

The following Year 361. the Anomeans, not fully satisfied with the Confession of Faith, which, at their Suggestion, the Emperor had taken so much Pains to establish throughout the Empire, assembled, with his Leave, at Antioch, and there drew up a new Symbol, or Creed, wherein it was expresly said, that the Son was in every thing unlike to the Father, and that He was made out of nothing. |Constantius designs to establish the Doctrine of the Pure Arians;| Constantius had formerly expressed the greatest Abhorrence to this Doctrine, and had even banished those who held, and refused to anathematize, such impious Blasphemies, as he then styled them^[938]. But, having lately changed his Opinion, which was chiefly owing to the great Influence the Eunuch Eusebius had over him, he was now no less sanguine for the Unlikeness of the Son to the Father, than he had been hitherto for the Likeness^[939]. In order therefore to abolish the antient, and establish this new Creed in its room, he appointed a Council to meet at Nice in Bithynia^[940], which, without all Doubt, he would have treated in the same manner as he had done that of Rimini. |but is prevented by Death.| But, as the Bishops were preparing to set out for the appointed Place, they were stopped by the sudden and unexpected News of the Emperor’s Death, which put an End to all his Councils, and was heard with equal Joy by those of the Orthodox and Semi-Arian Party. He was succeeded by Julian, surnamed the Apostate, who immediately recalled all those who had been banished by Constantius on account of their Religion^[941]. |The exiled Bishops recalled by Julian.| Whatever was his Motive, the 168Church reaped great Advantages from the Return of so many eminent Prelates, who, in the worst of Times, had, with an invincible Firmness and Constancy, stood up in her Defence. Among the rest returned, on this Occasion, the famous Meletius Bishop of Antioch, Eusebius of Vercelli, Lucifer of Cagliari, who had been all Three confined to the most distant Parts of Thebais in Egypt, Cyril of Jerusalem, Pelagius of Laodicea in Phœnicia, and, to the inexpressible Joy of the Orthodox Party, their great Champion Athanasius Bishop of Alexandria^[942], who immediately resumed, undisturbed, his Episcopal Function; George, the Usurper of his See, having been assassinated a little while before by the Pagans of Alexandria, on account of his Avarice and Cruelty^[943]. In other Places the Orthodox Bishops, finding the Arians in Possession of their Sees, contented themselves with being acknowleged by those of their Communion, without attempting to drive out their Antagonists, which would have created great Confusion, and endless Disturbances in the Church. Julian refused to interpose his Authority in favour of either Party, saying, that as he was not so well acquainted with the Nature of their Disputes as a just and impartial Judge ought to be, he hoped they would excuse him, lest he should be guilty of some Injustice, and settle Matters of such Importance among themselves. Athanasius entered Alexandria in a kind of Triumph, which is described in a lively manner by Gregory Nazianzen, who seems to have pleased himself with displaying, in that Description, all the Eloquence he was Master of^[944].

The Council of Alexandria.

The Bishop of Alexandria being thus reinstated, and again at full Liberty to exert his Zeal for the Catholic Cause, his first Care was to retrieve his fallen Brethren, and reunite them to the Church. With this View he assembled, in 362. a Council at Alexandria, composed only of Confessors, that is, of such Bishops as had chosen rather to forfeit their Dignities and Sees, than receive or sign the Arian Confession of Rimini or Sirmium. This was one of the most respectable Councils that was ever held in the Church, not so much in regard of the Numbers (for I find not above Twenty named) as of the Merit, Virtue, and Sanctity of the Members that composed it. The chief Subject of their Debates, or rather Inquiries, was to find out the most proper Means of restoring Tranquillity to the Church, after so 169dreadful a Storm. Some, and among the rest Lucifer Bishop of Cagliari, who did not assist in Person, but by his Deputies, the Two Deacons Herennius and Agapetus, were for deposing all those who had signed the Confession of Rimini, and cutting them off from the Communion of the Church. But this unseasonable Severity was condemned by the far greater Part, as tending to raise a new Storm, and involve the Church in greater Troubles than ever, which the Emperor Julian would take care to improve, to the total Ruin of the Christian Religion. Athanasius therefore was for using Severity only with the Authors, and chief Promoters, of the late general Defection: and his Opinion prevailed; for a Decree was enacted, importing, that the Authors of the late general Prevarication should, even upon their Repentance, be received to the Communion of the Church only in the Capacity of Laymen, but that the rest should be all kept in, or restored to, their Sees, upon their publicly renouncing the Arian Communion, and embracing the Faith of Nice^[945]. |A Schism formed by Lucifer, Bishop of Cagliari.| This Decree was every-where received with the greatest Joy, the Bishop of Cagliari being the only Man, either in the East or West, who opposed it, and that with so much Obstinacy, that, rather than yield, he chose to separate himself from the Communion of the rest, and to form a new Schism, which bore his Name, and soon gained a considerable Footing, especially in the West; several Persons no less distinguished for Piety than Learning, and among the rest Gregory, the famous Bishop of Elvira, having adopted the Sentiments of a Man, who had suffered so much for the Purity of the Faith. As Lucifer is honoured by the Church of Rome as a Saint, and his Festival is kept on the 20th of May^[946], Baronius pretends, that he abandoned his Schism, and returned to the Communion of the Church, before his Death^[947]. |He never returned to the Communion of the Church.| But his Contemporary Ruffinus, who probably knew him, assures us, that he died in the Schism, which he had formed^[948]. Jerom often speaks of his Schism, but no-where gives us the least Hint of his having ever quitted it; which would have afforded him a strong Argument against the Luciferians, and he would not have failed to urge it, in the Book which he wrote to convince them of their Error. That Writer speaks of Lucifer, on all Occasions, with the greatest Respect, even in the Book which he writ against his Followers: he owns, 170that his Intention was pure and upright; that it was not Pride, Thirst after Glory, or a Desire of transmitting his Name to Posterity, but a mistaken Zeal, that led him astray, and made him disapprove what the others approved; he even distinguishes him with the Title of the Blessed Lucifer^[949]. And hence Baronius concludes, that he returned to the Communion of the Church; for otherwise, says the Annalist^[950], St. Jerom had never given him the Title of Blessed, or Saint. But that he did not return, is manifest, from the Silence of St. Jerom on that Head, and from the Authority of a contemporary Writer quoted above: and hence I may draw a Conclusion far better grounded than that of Baronius; viz. that St. Jerom excused him on account of his good Intention; and, consequently, that he did not hold the uncharitable Doctrine of the Church of Rome, excluding from Salvation all who die out of her Communion, let their Intention be never so good. It is to be observed, that the Luciferians not only excluded from their Communion those who had received the Arian Confession, but all who communicated with them, even after they had anathematized that Confession, and publicly embraced the Faith of Nice.