outrages; while Arianism, supported by the civil powers, triumphed without control. Nineteen priests and deacons, some very old, were seized by Magnus. Agree, wretches," said the Pagan, "to the sentiments of the Arians. If your religion be true, God will forgive you for yielding to necessity." "Forbear to importune us," they replied, "we do not believe that God is sometimes Father, and sometimes not. Our fathers at Nice confessed, that the Son is consubstantial with the Father." Whips and tortures, the grief of the godly, and the insults of Jews and apostates, altered not their determination they were banished to Heliopolis in Phoenicia. Palladius a Pagan, the governor of Egypt, sent many to prison, who had presumed to weep; and after he had scourged them, sent twenty-three of them, chiefly monks, to work in the mines. Other scenes of savage cruelty are related; it is tedious and unpleasant to enlarge on them: but it is a pleasure to behold the fruits of Athanasius's labours in the faithful sufferings of so many of his followers. Euzoius, having put Lucius and his Arians into the possession of the churches, and left Alexandria in tears, returned to Antioch. What a bishop was this! But the Christian reader will steadily observe with me, that Christ had all along a real church, and that the cross is her mark, but the cross meekly endured and were not Euzoius's conduct connected with this truth, his name would deserve no notice in this history. The monks of Egypt, whose piety moved the common people, were courted by the Arian party; but they offered their necks to the sword, rather than quit the Nicene profession. A number of these were banished, but were afterwards permitted to return *. Peter himself, though imprisoned, found means to escape, and in Europe, where Arianism had no power, he enjoyed a quiet exile. * Sozom. VI. 20. CENT. IV. CHAP. XI. The piety of Terentius, an officer of Valens, deserves to be recorded. The emperor, pleased with his services, bade him ask a favour. The man begged the liberty of a place of worship for the orthodox. Valens in a rage tore his petition. Terentius gathering the fragments of the petition, said, I have received a gift, from you, O Emperor. Let the Judge of all the earth judge between us*. At the same time among the Goths, by the cruelty of their king Athanaric, numbers of godly men were murdered for the sake of their Redeemer. Eusebius of Samosata was expelled by the Arian tyranny from his see. He took particular care to preserve the life of the imperial messenger before his departure, and when desired with floods of tears by his flock not to leave them to the mercy of the wolves, he read to them that passage of the Apostle, which commands obedience to the powers that be t. Excellent servant of Christ! Eusebius of Samosata is one of those bishops, of whom it were to be wished we had a more distinct account. His zeal had exposed him to this persecution. In the disguise of a soldier he had travelled through various parts of the East, to confirm the desolate churches, and to supply them with pastors. When the messenger of his banishment came to him, "Conceal the occasion of your journey," says he, "or you will be thrown into the river, and your death laid to my charge." He himself retired with great secrecy, yet was he followed by the people. The testimony he gave of the primitive duty of passiveness under injuries was much needed in these times, when men had too much forgotten to suffer with meekness. He received from his friends very little for his journey, though their liberality would have supplied him abundantly. He prayed and instructed the people, and then retired in peace. + Rom. xiii. * Cent. Magd. It will be proper to finish here all that I can find concerning Eusebius which is material. In the time of Constantius he had been intrusted with the care of a decree of a council held at Antioch, which the Arian party afterwards persuaded Constantius to order him to deliver up. He justly observed, that what had been delivered by a synod, could only be returned by the authority of the same synod. Even a menace, that he should have his hand cut off, prevailed not with him. Constantius admired his fortitude, and desisted. No wonder that the people of Samosata, after his exile under Valens, admiring a man so firm and sincere, refused to attend the religious instructions of the successor who was forced upon them; who being a man of a meek temper, took much pains to ingratiate himself with them, but in vain. Eunomius (that was his name) left them, because he could not gain their favour. The Arians put in his room one Lucius, who acted with more violence, and encouraged the secular power to persecutet. Eusebius however lived long enough to recover his see of Samosata after the death of Valens, and was at last killed with a tile by a zealous Arian woman in the town of Dolicha, whither he was come to ordain an orthodox pastor, the place being very hostile to the doctrine of the Trinity. He died in a very charitable spirit, insisting with his friends, that the woman should not be brought to justice on his account, and obliged them to swear that they would gratify him in this t CENT. IV. A. D. Some further views of the church under Valens Death of will appear in the lives of Basil and Gregory Nazi- Valens, anzen, whom I studiously pass over for the present. Valens perished in a battle with the Goths in the year 378, after having reigned fourteen years. Valens, however, from whatever cause, a little before his death, recalled the exiled bishops. Lucius Theodoret, B. II. c. 32. + lb. V. c. 4. + Ib. B. IV. c. 15. 378. CHAP. was driven from Alexandria; Peter recovered his see, and Arianism lost its external dominion a little before the death of its benefactor. The Goths, who had settled on the Roman side of the Danube, in the dominions of Valens, were by the advice of Eudoxius, the Arian bishop of Constantinople, brought over to Arianism. Valens proposed that they should agree with him in doctrine; but they declared, that they never would recede from the doctrine of their ancestors. Ulfila, the bishop of the whole nation, of whom more hereafter, was induced, by the presents and complaisance of Eudoxius, to attempt to draw them over to the emperor's doctrine; and his argument, which I suppose he had from Eudoxius, was that it was only a verbal dispute. Hence the Gothic Christians continued to assert, that the Father was greater than the Son, but would not allow the Son to be a creature. Nor yet did they wholly depart from the faith of their ancestors. For Ulfila assured them, that there was no difference of doctrine at all, but that the rupture had arisen from a vain contention *. CHAP. XII. CHAP. XII. THE CHURCH UNDER VALENTINIAN-AMBROSE LET religion. He restrained, however, this general licence soon after, partly by seizing the revenues of the heathen temples, which the emperors annexed to their own patrimony, and partly by the prohibition of divinations and enchantments. On a representation of the governor of Greece, Achaia was allowed still to practise her heathenish follies. Other laws in favour of Christians followed t. One of the supposed oracles of Greece had declared that Christianity should last only 365 years in the world. This period was now expired, and the event had falsified the prediction. In other instances this emperor was very indulgent to the Pagans, who might see themselves, both in the East and West, treated with far more lenity and favour than the Church of Christ was in the East during the whole reign of the two brothers. Themistius, the Pagan philosopher, was struck with the cruelty of Valens; and while he insinuated that perhaps God was delighted with the diversity of sentiments in the world concerning him, he entreated the emperor not to persecute any longer. This is one instance of the illegitimate charity now so common in the world, which founds the principles of moderation on scepticism, instead of that divine love which is the glory of the Christian religion. Auxentius, the Arian bishop of Milan, being opposed by Eusebius of Vercellæ, and by Hilary of Poictiers, imposed on Valentinian by a dexterous use of those ambiguities of speech, in which the Arians all along excelled. Nor is it to be wondered Though the laws of Valentinian run both in his name and that of his brother, I speak of them as his laws exclusively, because it may fairly be presumed, that he was the principal agent. See Cave's Introduction, Sect. IV. I purposely avoid entering into details of the acts of this great man, as well as of some others, because their lives deserve to be considered as distinct articles. |