XLVI. CHAP. ing the weakness of the empire; the son of Chof roes abandoned without regret the conquefts of his father; the Perfians who evacuated the cities of Syria and Egypt were honourably conducted to the frontier, and a war which had wounded the vitals of the two monarchies, produced no change in their external and relative fituation. The return of Heraclius from Tauris to Conftantinople, was a perpetual triumph; and after the exploits of fix glorious campaigns, he peaceably enjoyed the fabbath of his toils. After a long impatience, the fenate, the clergy, and the people, went forth to meet their hero, with tears and acclamations, with olive branches and innumerable lamps: he entered the capital in a chariot drawn by four elephants; and as foon as the emperor could difengage himfelf from the tumult of public joy, he tasted more genuine fatisfaction in the embraces of his mother and his fon 110. The fucceeding year was illuftrated by a triumph of a very different kind, the restitution of the true crofs to the holy fepulchre. Heraclius performed in perfon the pilgrimage of Jerufalem, the identity of the relic was verified by the discreet patriarch "", and this auguft ceremony has been commemorated 110 The burthen of Corneille's fong, "Montrez Heraclius au peuple qui l'attend," is much better fuited to the prefent occafion. See his triumph in Theophanes (p. 272, 273.) and Nicephorus (p. 15, 16.). The life of the mother and tenderness of the fon are attefted by George of Pifidia (Bell. Abar. 255, &c. p. 49.). The metaphor of the Sabbath is used, somewhat profanely, by thefe Byzantine Chriftians. I See Baronius (Annal, Ecclef A.D. 628, No 1-4.), Eutychius (Annal. tom. ii. p. 240-248.), Nicephorus (Brev. p. 15.). The feals of 112 XLVI. inemorated by the annual festival of the exaltation CHAP. of the crofs. Before the emperor prefumed to tread the confecrated ground, he was instructed to strip himself of the diadem and purple, the pomp and vanity of the world: but in the judgment of his clergy, the perfecution of the Jews was more eafily reconciled with the precepts of the gofpel. He again ascended his throne to receive the congratulations of the ambaffadors of France and India and the fame of Mofes, Alexander, and Hercules ", was eclipfed, in the popular eftimation, by the superior merit and glory of the great Heraclius. Yet the deliverer of the Eaft was indigent and feeble, Of the Perfian fpoils, the most valuable portion had been expended in the war, distributed to the foldiers, or buried, by an unlucky tempeft, in the waves of the Euxine. The confcience of the emperor was oppreffed by the obligation of restoring the wealth of the clergy, which he had borrowed for their own defence; a perpetual fund was required to fatisfy these inexorable creditors; the provinces, already wafted by the arms and avarice of the Perfians, were compelled to a fecond payment of the fame taxes; and the arrears of a fimple citizen, the treasurer of Damafcus, were commuted to a fine of one hundred thousand pieces of gold, The lofs of two hundred thousand fol of the cafe had never been broken; and this preservation of the cross is afcribed (under God) to the devotion of queen Sira. 112 George of Pifidia, Acroaf. iii. de Expedit. contra Perfas, 415, &c. and Heracleid. Acroaf. i. 65-138. I neglect the meaner parallels of Daniel, Timotheus, &c. Chofroes and the chagan were of courfe compared to Belfhazzar, Pharaoh, the old ferpent, &c. CHAP. diers 3 who had fallen by the fword, was of less XLVI. 113 fatal importance than the decay of arts, agriculture, and population, in this long and destructive war: and although a victorious army had been formed under the standard of Heraclius, the unnatural effort appears to have exhaufted rather than exercifed their strength. While the emperor triumphed at Conftantinople or Jerufalem, an obfcure town on the confines of Syria was pillaged by the Saracens, and they cut in pieces fome troops who advanced to its relief: an ordinary and trifling occurrence, had it not been the prelude of a mighty revolution. These robbers were the apostles of Mahomet; their fanatic valour had emerged from the defert; and in the laft eight years of his reign, Heraclius loft to the Arabs, the fame provinces which he had refcued from the Perfians. 113 Suidas (in Excerpt. Hift. Byzant. p. 46.) gives this number; but either the Perfian must be read for the Ifaurian war, or this paífage does not belong to the emperor Heraclius. CHAP. XLVII. Theological Hiftory of the Doctrine of the Incarnation.-The Human and Divine Nature of Chrift. -Enmity of the Patriarchs of Alexandria and Conftantinople.-St. Syril and Neftorius.-Third General Council of Ephefus.-Herefy of Eutyches. -Fourth General Council of Chalcedon.-Civil and Ecclefiafiical Difcord.-Intolerance of Juftinian.-The Three Chapters.-The Monothelite Controverfy.-State of the Oriental Sects :I. The Neftorians.-II. The Jacobites.-III. The Maronites.-IV. The Armenians.-V. The Copts and Abyffinians. A XLVII. nation of Chrit. FTER the extinction of paganifm, the CHAP. Christians in peace and piety might have enjoyed their folitary triumph. But the principle The incar of discord was alive in their bofom, and they were more folicitous to explore the nature, than to practife the laws of their founder. I have already observed, that the difputes of the TRINITY were fucceeded by thofe of the INCARNATION; alike fcandalous to the church, alike pernicious to the state, still more minute in their origin, ftill more durable in their effects. It is my design to comprife in the present chapter, a religious war of two hundred and fifty years, to represent the ecclefiaftical and political fchifm of the Oriental fects, and to introduce their clamorous or fanguinary contests, by S 2 a modeft CHAP. a modeft inquiry into the doctrines of the primitive XLVII. church'. I. A • By what means fhall I authenticate this previous inquiry, which I have studied to circumfcribe and comprefs?—If I perfift in fupporting each factor reflection by its proper and special evidence, every line would demand a string of `teftimonies, and every note would fwell to a critical differtation. But the numberless passages of antiquity which I have feen with my own eyes, are compiled, digested, and illuftrated, by Petavius and Le Clerc, by Beaufobre and Mofheim. I shall be content to fortify my narrative by the names and characters of these respectable guides; and in the contemplation of a minute or remote object, I am not ashamed to borrow the aid of the strongest glaffes: 1. The Dogmata Theologica of Petavius, are, a work of incredible labour and compass; the volumes which relate folely to the incarnation (two folios, vth and vith, of 837 pages) are divided into xvi books the first of history, the remainder of controversy and doctrine. The Jefuit's learning is copious and correct; his latinity is pure, his method clear, his argument profound and well connected: but he is the flave of the fathers, the scourge of heretics, and the enemy of truth and candcur, as often as they are inimical to the Catholic cause. 2. The Armenian Le Clerc, who has compofed in a quarto volume (Amsterdam 1716) the ecclefiaftical history of the two first centuries, was free both in his temper and fituation; his fenfe is clear, but his thoughts are narrow; he reduces the reason or folly of ages to the standard of his private judgment, and his impartiality is fometimes quickened, and sometimes tainted, by his oppofition to the fathers. See the heretics (Corinthians, lxxx. Ebionites, ciii. Carpocratians, cxx. Valentinians, cxxi. Bafilidians, cxxiii. Marcionites, cxli, &c.) under their proper dates. 3. The Hiftoire Critique du Manicheisme (Amsterdam, 1734, 1739, in two vols. in 4to, with a pofthumous differtation fur les Nazarenes, Laufanne, 1745) of M. de Beaufobre, is a treasure of ancient philofophy and theology. The learned hiftorian spins with incomparable art the fyltematic thread of opinion, and transforms himself by turns into the perfon of a faint, a fage, or an heretic. Yet his refinement is sometimes exceffive: he betrays an amiable partiality in favour of the weaker fide, and, while he guards against calumny, he does not allow fufficient scope for fuperftition and fanaticism. A copious table of contents will direct the reader to any point that he wishes to exa. mine. 4. Lefs profound than Patavius, lefs independent than Le Clerc, lefs ingenious than Beaufobre, the historian Mofheim is full, rational, correct, and moderate. In his learned work, De Rebus Christianis ante Constantinum (Helmftadt, 1753, in 4to) fee the N2、 zarenes |