THBODORRT'S HISTORY OP THE CHURCH.

Tuts volume appears to form part of a new series, of the Greek Ecclesiastical Historians of the first six centuries : the Eccle- siastical History and the Life of CONSTANTINE by EUSEBIUS, the "Narrative" of SOZOMEN, and the "History" of SocaKrEs, would seem to have been already published, though they have not reached us. The design is worthy of encouragement, as furnishing a ready reference in a compact form to those who do not wish to be at the labour of consulting the originals, and a help to those who do. The execution of the only volume before us exhibits both judgment and ability. The translation is English in its idiom, whilst the character and style of the original author are preserved, so far as style depends upon the cast of mind without regard to the struc- ture of language. The time in which THEODORET lived was after the Church had conquered its Pagan foes and succeeded in a great measure to the Pagan connexion with the State, to dispute and wrangle in a manner unknown to Paganism. He was born at Antioch, about the year 387, during the reign of THEODOSIUS the Great ; and died about the middle of the fifth century, when the Western Empire was in the agony of dissolution, and LEO the Thracian, on the throne of Constantinople, vainly meditated to avert its downfal. It is said that the future Bishop and Historian of the Church was marked out for religion before his birth. " His parents had long been childless, and much prayer was offered, especially by Mace- donius, a hermit, that a son might be born unto them. Hence, when at length, in answer to prayer, this child was granted, the name ecoUpgros was conferred upon him, signifying given by God." He was early designed for the church, and is reported to have studied under CHRYSOSTOM : he entered the ministry very young, having been appointed when a child as a reader of Scripture; and his parents dying as he approached manhood, he divided his rich patrimony among the poor, retaining nothing for himself but some clothes of inferior quality, and retired to a monastery about thirty leagues from Antioch. From this retirement he was compelled to emerge in 423, to take upon himself the office of Bishop of Cyrus, a diocese with eight hundred villages in Syria Bupbratensis. In this post he greatly exerted himself, both for the spiritual and

temporal benefit of his flock ; but becoming involved in the con- troversies of the times, he was more than once deposed from his dignity on charges of heresy, and as often reinstated. He is sup- posed to have died about 458. His works are various and voluminous,—a commentary on the Bible ; many controversies ; a book called " Philotheus," being the

lives, austerities, and miracles of about thirty anchorites, with many of whom he was personally acquainted ; and the History of the Church, before us. The period this work embraces is from the

time when CONSTANTINE began to favour the Church, about 320, to the persecution of the Christians in Persia, 414-424: but its principal subject is the Arian controversy, with the heresies that sprung out of it, and the troubles those disunions brought upon the Church. As preserving isolated facts and many epistles from Emperors and Bishops, it is very useful ; it is also valuable for its incidental pictures of the times, and its notice of the practices of the Church : but it cannot properly be called a history. The arrangement and chronological order are admitted to be bad: these faults influence the narrative, which is incomplete and incoherent ;

and by bringing distant occurrences unskilfully together, makes the actions told look unlikely, when the fault is the narrator's. There is also a fundamental defect in the plan : the work is not a general history of the Eastern Church; nor is it a history of any parti-

cular part of it, such as the Arian controversy, for this is told im- perfectly, and other things are introduced which do not belong to

It. The History of THEODORET is in reality a species of memoirs—

a collection of documents, which he strung together by an account of the principal events that caused them to be written, or a loose

narrative of particular events that had interested him, often, very probably, from his own knowledge of the actions or the actors. His characters, however, are well drawn, and fair, allowing for his prejudices ; and his exhibition of the practices of the church- men are always graphic and sometimes startling. The good Bishop was a raconteur ; and if any thing miraculous attached to the story, so much the better.

The style in a certain sense corresponds with the matter : it is easy, with an elegant though rather feeble prolixity, and impresses us as reflecting the character of an amiable, perhaps an humble:- minded man, though not devoid of the professional prejudices of a priest or the mild-spoken malignity of a theologian. To the church historian, or the student of church history, every part of the book will have its value; nor can a passage be safely passed. For such purposes, a translation is of great utility, by faci- litating the general knowledge of the whole work, and limiting in- tentness, in the original, to those passages that are intended to be used. To the reader, even if a studious reader, the attraction will be confined to such parts as exhibit the manners or superstitions of the age; though these are often so intermixed with the narrative as not to permit of easy separation. One of the most striking scenes is a church-brawl at Alexandria, consequent upon the triumphant return of the Arian party, which was made a pretext by a (sus- pected) Pagan governor to persecute the orthodox Athanasians. The account is by PETER the then Bishop of Alexandria : but it must be received perhaps with allowance for its accusations, though doubtless true enough in its traits of the times.

"The people entered the church of Theonas singing the praises of the idols, instead of reciting words suitable to the place. Instead of reading the Holy Scriptures, they clapped their hands, shouting obscene words, and uttering in- sults against the Christian virgins, which my tongue refuses to repeat. Every man of correct feeling, on hearing these expressions, endeavoured to shut his ears, and wished to have been deaf rather than to have heard such obscenity. Would that they bad confined themselves to words, without carrying out into action the lewdness of their expressions! But the most insulting taunts are easily borne by those who have received the wisdom and doctrines of Christ. These people, who were vessels of wrath reserved for perdition, made loud and impudent noises through the nose, which might be compared to the gushing firth of a torrent ; and at the same time tore the garments of the virgins of Ohrist, whose purity rendered them like the angels. They dragged them in a complete state of nudity about the city, and treated them in the most wanton and insulting manner, and with unheard-of cruelty. When any one, touched with compassion, addressed a few words of remonstrance to them, they irnme- ffiately attacked and wounded him. But what is still more painful to relate, Many virgins were ravished; others were struck on the head with clubs, and ex- pire d beneath the blows ; and their bodies were not permitted to be interred. Many of the corpses, even to this day, cannot, to the grief of the parents, be found. But why should comparatively small incidents be placed by the side of far greater atrocities ? Why should 1 dwell upon such facts, and not proceed to the relation of what is still more important, and which will strike you with attonishment and amazement at the clemency of God that he did not destroy the whole universe ! The impious people did that upon the altar which, as the Scripture says, was not done nor heard of in the days of our fathers. A young man who had abjured his own sex, and had assumed the dress of a female, danced upon the holy altar, where we invoke the Holy Ghost, as though it had been a public theatre, making various gestures and grimaces, to the diversion of the others, who laughed immoderately, and uttered many impious exclamations. Br addition to disorders which they had already committed, as if they thought that what they had done was rather commendable than the contrary, one of their number, noted for his wickedness, stripped himself at once of his clothes, and of every remnant of modesty, and seated himself, as naked as when he was born, in the episcopal chair belonging to the church. All the others saluted ham as an orator about to commence a discourse against Christ. He repre- sented iniquity as superior to Scriptural doctrines, placed licentiousness above decorum, impiety above piety; and instead of inculcating temperance, taught that fornication, adultery, sodomitism, theft, gluttony, and drunkenness, are the most profitable pursuits in life. When these acts of impiety bad been per- petrated, I left the church ? for how could I have remained there while the soldiery were attacking it, while the people who had been bribed for the pur- pose were committing disorders, and while the idolaters had by means of great promises been assembled together in crowds ? Our successor, [Lucius, an Arian,] who had purchased the episcopal office with gold, as though it had been a secular dignity, was a wolt in disposition, and acted accordingly. He had not been elected by a Synod of Bishops, by the votes of the clergy, or by the request of the people, according to the regulations of the church. He did not ca into the city alone ; but he was not accompanied by Bishops, Presbyters, or Deacons, nor yet by the people; neither did monks walk before him, singing hymns selected from the Scriptures : but he was attended by Euzoins, who was once a Deacon of the city of Alexandria, who was deposed with Arius at the holy and general Council of Nice, and who is now reducing the city of Antioch to ruin. He was also accompanied by Magnus, the Royal Treasurer, who headed an immense body of soldiery. This Magnus was noted for his readiness in every work of impiety: he had during the reign of Julian burned a church in Berytus, a celebrated city of Pixel:tick, and was in the reign of Jovian, of blessed memory, sentenced to reerect it at his own expense."

Besides its indication of the credulous character of belief in those times, the following passage has a further interest; for it in reality contains all the evidence which exists to identify the Holy Sepulchre at Jerusalem.

THE DISCOVERY OF THE TRUE CROSS.

When she [the Empress Helena, the mother of Constantine) arrived at the place where the Saviour suffered, she immediately ordered the idolatrous tem- ple which had been there erected to be destroyed, and the very materials to be removed. The tomb, which had been so long concealed, was discovered; and three crosses, the memorials of the Lord, were perceived near it. All were of opinion that one of these crosses was that of our Lord Jesus Christ, and that the other two were those of the thieves who were crucified with him. Yet they could not discern upon which one the body of the Lord had been nailed, and upon which his blood had fallen. But the wise and holy Macarius, the Bishop of the city, succeeded in resolving this question. After engaging in prayer, he induced a lady of rank, who had been long suffering from disease, to touch each of the crosses; and the efficacious power residing in that of the Saviour manifested its identity. In fact, it had scarcely been brought near the lady, when the inveterate disease left her, and she was healed. The mother of the Emperor, on being informed of the accomplishment of what she had most desired, gave orders that some of the nails should be driven into the royal helmet, in order that the head of her child might be preserved from the darts of his enemies ; and she ordered some of the other nails to be fixed is the bridle of his horse, not only to insure the safety of the Emperor, but also to fulfil an ancient prophecy, for Zechariah the prophet predicted that "what is upon the bridles of the horses shall be holiness unto the Lord Al- mighty." She had part of the cross of our Saviour conveyed to the palace; and the rest was enclosed in a covering of silver, and committed to the care of the Bishop of the city, whom she exhorted to preserve it carefully, in order that it might be transmitted uninjured to posterity.

SINGING AT JULIAN THE APOSTATE.

A certain woman, named Publia, had about this time acquired great celebrity by her eminent virtues. She had been married a short time, and had had a child, which she had offered to God. This child, whose name was John, was afterwards enrolled among the Presbytery at Antioch, and was several times elected to the Bishopric of Antioch ; but he has often, from modesty, declined the dignity. She had at her house an assembly of young women who had vowed perpetual virginity, and who continually sang the praises of the Creator and Saviour. When the Emperor was passing, they sang loader than usual, to show the contempt with which they regarded his profanity : they chiefly sang those psalms in which the weakness of idols is derided ; and they exclaimed, with David, " The idols of the nations are but silver and gold, the works of men's hands." And after having described the senselessness of idols, they said, "Let those who made them, and all those who trust in them, be come like unto them." When Julian heard them singing, he was much vexed, and commanded them to be silent whenever he should pass that way. Fen from obeying this mandate, Publia directed the virgins to sing still louder than before, and to repeat this verse, "Let God arise, and let his enemies be scattered." Julian, more enraged than ever, desired that the leader of the choir should be brought before him. He showed no respect for her age or virtue; but called one of the soldiers, and commanded him to give her a blow on each side of her face. Publia esteemed this insult as the highest honour. She returned to her house, and continued to harass the Emperor with spiritual songs, in the same way as he who wrote the Psalms repressed the evil spirit which agitated Saul.

The following piece of impudence and folly is scarcely credible, measured by our notions; but something not greatly unlike it still takes place in Oriental countries, with a weak Prince and an inso- lent Faquir.

FOOLISH FAITH IN THEODOSIUS THE YOUNGER.

A man of bold and audacious character, who had embraced an ascetic life, went to the Emperor to make some request. After he had reiterated his de- mand several times without obtaining it, he ejected the Emperor from com- munion with the church, and retired after imposing this restriction. The faithful Emperor returned to his palace, where some guests had been invited to a banquet. On their arrival, he said that he would not sit down to table until he bad received absolution. He sent to the Bishop, beseeching him to request him who had imposed the restriction to remove it. The Bishop replied, that he ought not so readily to submit to such restrictions, and that none, in fact, existed. But the Emperor was not content with this absolution until he who had excommunicated him had been found, which was not effected great trouble, and had restored him to communion; so strong was the Emperor's faith in the holy laws.