( 24 ) fion : Even holy Amhrofe could write to the odious Tyrant Rugenius, [Clementifmo Imperatori Eugenio] concluding [Nam cum privato detulerim corde intimo, quomodo non deferrers Imperatori.] When I honoured thee apri_ vate man from thebottomof my heart, how can I but honour thee being Empe- rour? ] And how far have the RomanBifhops gone in this, even to Phocas, andfuchashe ?) When goodGregory Nazianz. was chofen and fettled Bifhopof Conflan- tinople, and loved and honoured by a good Emperour, yet was he rejefted, (though he eafilyyielded) even by the Synod ofBifhops, in thearrogancy of their minds, becaufe that he came not inby then. Withwhat pride, what fallhood, what turbulency didTheophilus Alexand. carry on all his bufinefswith theMonks, and for the depofing of Chryfoftome ? And how arrogantlyand turbulently did Epiphanies joyn with .him ? and even Hie. rome make himfelf partaker? And how eafily did he get a Synod even where Chryfoflome, lived to fecond them ? fuch lamentable inflames are more eafie thanpleafant tobe cited. And-that Epifcopacywhichwas fetuptoprevent Herefie and Divifions, did afford theHeadsofmoft of the Herefies and Divifions that befell the Churches. How fewof all the Herefies mentioned by Epiphanitis, after that Prelacy was in force, were notHeaded and carried on by Prelates ? And whenthe ArianHerefie fprung up by a Presbyter, the Prelates fo nume- Theadoret róufl received it, that they feemed to be the far greater part, ifnot the xi ft. mainbod of the Imperial Church : W-itnefs the perverting of many Em- t.[..valen. b y Leg.Palen- perours; the many Councils at Sirmium, Ariminum, &c. And themany einiani & new Creeds which Socrates and Hilary fo fhamefully enumerate and de Volentus; claim againft. So that it was faid that the World groaned to find it felf Legem feu turned Arian. Later h eti in And their fewds and inhumane contentions were fo many and odious, ui; È :x=Ji . that it is a flame to read them. Multitudes-of Cities had Bifhops fet up lac7 againft Bithops, and force Cities had,more than two, or three : The peo- Heftor. ple reviling and hating each other, and fometime fighting tumultuoufly .axon- unto blood, for their feveral Prelates. The Chriftian World was made rum, C. g. V Afali- as a Cockpit, and Chriftian Religionmade a fcorn, by the Contentions anorumc. of theBifhops. Conflantines wifdom, confcienceand intereft, engagedhim 1o.cum in- toufe all his skil, hiskindnefs and his power, to reconcile them: And if terpreta- he had not done what he did, how unfpeakablywretched would their o- dious contentions have rendered them ?. And yet he profeffeth his heart almoft broken by their diffenfions; and whilehe chid them bitterly and' de Audio. exhorted them kindly, hecould not prevail. His Sons that fucceeded him laboured to unite the Bifhops, (though in different ways) and could not do' it. yovianus the little time he reigned, declared his hatred oftheir contentions, and howmuch heloved a peaceable man : but thatdid not cure them, even when they came new from under 'a Yuan. I willlook no lower, to themoredegenerate Prelacy; but recite the doleful words of Eefrbius, even of thofe that were not at the, worn, and came but ne olly
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