pagan heroes and patriots; announced, though not the splendid genius, yet the man of sound understanding, and promised to the world a wise and pious government. It is impossible that Ammianus could have had a mean opinion of him, since, when he speaks of his faults, he owns that he might have lived to correct them. He seems to have been a character of the solid, not the shining kind; the wickedness of the times, I fear, was unworthy of him. He was soon removed, and so very suddenly, that it was suspected, he had not died a natural death; though of this no proof was given. The Christians sincerely wept, the Pagans in general spake well of him; the Arians soon endeavoured to take advantage of his decease, and the Church was once more involved in persecution. CENT. IV. THE СНАР. XI. DEATH, CHURCH UNDER VALENS. THE CHARACTER, AND WRITINGS OF ATHANASIUS. JOVIAN was succeeded by two brothers, Valentinian and Valens; the former governed in the West, the latter in the East. Valentinian followed the plan of Jovian, in the affairs of the church. Valens, a man of weak capacity himself, had not been yet baptized, and seemed as little qualified to judge of matters of religion as of government. Valentinian, whom fraternal affection induced to make him his colleague in the empire, had been in vain advised to choose another person. The Arians, who, under Eudoxius bishop of Constantinople, had ruled the capital in all ecclesiastical affairs, in the time of Constantius, rejoiced to find Valens equally supple and ductile as that emperor. Even the party of CHAP. XI. CHAP. Macedonius, a sort of Semi-Arians, who allowed XI. the Son of God to be like the Father, though not of the same substance, and who were likewise enemies to the Divinity of the Holy Ghost, could not gain the favour of the emperor, but were persecuted as well as the orthodox; while Eudoxius with the complete Arians, who would not allow the similarity of the Son to the Father, engrossed all the churches. The Semi-Arians, induced by these circumstances, entered into connexions with Liberius bishop of Rome, and reunited themselves with the orthodox churches of the West: yet one can have no great idea of the sincerity of this sect, as they would have probably persisted in their heresy, if Valens had favoured their notion; many of them, however, might be perverted by the subtilties of disputation, and be more orthodox in their hearts than in their expressions. Valens ordered all the followers of the Nicene faith to be expelled from Constantinople. In this persecution were included the Novatians: their churches were ordered to be shut up, as well as their persons to be banished. For the orthodox of the general church had no places of worship from the days of Constantius; and Jovian their friend had not lived to come to his capital. One Agelius, the Novatian bishop, was exiled, a man of admirable sanctity and virtue, and remarkable for his perfect contempt of money. Yet was he restored not long after, and he recovered the churches of his communion. He owed this, under Providence, to one Marcian, a man of learning and piety, a Novatian presbyter, who tutored two daughters of the emperor. On this account the Novatians were at length tolerated; while the general church suffered the rigour of banishment, and was silent by compulsion, and while the Arians tyrannized over all the Christian world in the East. Yet the Novatians were still infested by the Arians, because they * Soz. C. IX. IV. Valens, A. D. 367. cherished and loved in a tender manner their brethren CENT. of the general church *. We must once more see Athanasius attacked by Edict of the enemies of Christian piety. About the beginning of the year 367, Valens, at the solicitation of Eudoxius, ordered the bishops who had been deposed in the reign of Constantius, and were afterwards restored, to be expelled from their churches. By virtue of this order, Tatian, governor of Alexandria, attempted to drive Athanasius out of that city. The prelate had the hearts of his people. Long experience of his integrity and virtue, respect for his talents, and compassion for his sufferings, had secured him this the most reasonable and the most glorious of all empires. The prefect was so sensible of this, that for some time he dared not proceed to execute his orders. At length, he brake one night with an armed force into his church, where he generally lodged, and sought for his person in every place, but in vain. Athanasius, probably warned beforehand Athanasius of the danger, had retired, and remained for four Alexandria months concealed in his father's sepulchre. This the fourth was the fourth time that he had fled from Alexandria. Valens, however, from the dread he seems to have had of the people, ordered him to be recalled; nor could Lucius, the Arian bishop of Alexandria, prevail on him to give Athanasius any more disturbance. Ηγαπων και εξεργον. B. IV. c. 9. Socrates. This historian baving himself a particular acquaintance with the Novatians, we learn something from him concerning this people. I wish he had given us more information. But their charity and tenderness toward the general church in its distress, while they themselves were indulged with toleration, and their suffering some molestation from the reigning party, because of their affection for those who endured persecution for righteousness sake, reflects an amiable lustre on the character of these Dissenters. And I wish the lesson it is calculated to teach were well attended to at this day. Let men who love the faith of the Gospel, and are content to suffer for it in the world, adorn it by brotherly love, and leave political contentious and the arts of ambition to the enemies of the Gospel. flies from time. CHAP. XI. About this time Valens himself received baptism from Eudoxius, who had such an ascendant over the weak emperor, as to induce him to swear, that he would never depart from the Arian creed*. A council was held at Laodicea in Phrygia about this time. A few of its canons shall be mentioned, as they will throw some light on the spirit of religion. One of them prohibits the ordination of men lately baptized; and so far agrees with the sacred rule f. The choice of those appointed to the priesthood was not to be left to the people, but the bishops were to be chosen by the metropolitans, after a long probation of their faith and morals. In this, an alteration was doubtless made from the customs, which had obtained before the time of Constantine, and the metropolitans now exercised the same power which the Apostles had done, who doubtless ordained pastors in all the churches by their own authority. The council orders clergymen not to lend money upon usury, nor to visit taverns and houses of entertainment, nor to assist at the public shows exhibited at marriages and festivals. A proof, I fear, that their manners were grown more lax and dissolute. The invocation of angels is also solemnly forbidden; a proof that this species of idolatry had already crept into the church, and a condemnation of the practice of the Romanists. Presbyters are forbidden also to practise magic and enchantment; pity, that there should be occasion to make such a canon! On the whole, this council, though it appears seriously bent on the support of good discipline and manners, evidences a great and deep corruption to have taken place in the church of Christ. Valens himself, being at Tomi, a city of Scythia, near the mouth of the Danube, ordered Brettannio the bishop to meet and communicate with him and his Arian attendants, who came to the bishop's † 1 Tim. iii. 6. Theod. IV. c. 12. Fleury, B. 16. 8. CENT. IV. church for that purpose. Brettannio firmly refused, professing his regard for the Nicene faith, and leaving the emperor he went to another church, and all his congregation followed him. Valens with his attendants being left alone, was so enraged, that he ordered the bishop to be banished, though political reasons induced him soon after to permit his return. The Scythians were indignant at the banishment of their bishop, a man renowned among them* for piety and integrity, and Valens dreaded their revolt. Of the conduct of Basil and Gregory Nazianzen in these times, it will be more proper to speak in the course of their story, as they are men, who deserve to be held out to the more distinct attention of the reader. Antioch was sorely shaken with the conflicts of this persecution. There Arianism triumphed, both in numbers and in power, though the influence of the two orthodox bishops, Meletius and Paulinus, under God, preserved a considerable remnant. For wherever men of firm piety ruled in the churches, they were enabled to check the torrent. On the Death of death of Eudoxius in 370, the Arians chose De- Eudoxius, mophilus in his room, and Valens approved of the election. The orthodox elected at the same time Evagrius bishop of Constantinople. Valens, incensed, banished both him and the bishop who had dared to ordain him. On this occasion eighty ecclesiastics were sent to the emperor at Nicomedia, to complain of his conduct. Enraged at their presumption, and yet afraid of a sedition, he gave private orders to Modestus, his prefect, to murder them secretly. The execution of this order deserves to be known in all ages. The prefect pretended that he would send them into banishment, with which they cheerfully acquiesced. But he directed the mariners to set the ship on fire as soon as they were gone to sea. The mariners did so, and going into a boat which * Soz. B. VI. 21. A. D. 370. |