WESLEYAN-METHODIST MAGAZINE.

JULY, 1865.

ATHANASIUS.

IV. FAITHFULNESS UNTO THE END.

SEVERELY as Athanasius has been tried, we have not yet seen him subjected to the final test. Many a confessor, having withstood bravely for a time, has failed when the weight of trial exceeded his power of endurance; but the constancy of this prince of confessors never failed. We are entering on the closing period of a memorable struggle. Constans, Emperor of the West, who protected Athanasius, being himself orthodox, and under whose reign the Western Church professed adherence to the Catholic faith, is dead. Julius, orthodox Bishop of the metropolis of the West, the Pope, or universal Bishop, being not yet known,--is also dead. Constantius does not at first allow himself to betray how insincere his conduct was when he restored Athanasius to Alexandria, only to satisfy his brother Constantine; but he soon casts. off the mask. One by one, many of the most faithful advocates of the truth in the first General Council have died. The Arians of the East have broken silence and renewed the calumnious attacks on their great antagonist. Constantius, after overcoming some obstacles, has made himself undisputed master of Italy, and once more affords undisguised patronage to the Arians. There is therefore every reason to apprehend a fresh outburst of persecution.

Matters being in such a state, a messenger arrived at Alexandria with a short letter from Constantius, who affected to believe that Athanasius bad requested permission to come to him at Rome, in order to transact some business relating to the church, and graciously granted him permission so to do. But as no such request had been so much as whispered, the letter awakened suspicion, and Athanasius wisely remained at home. This was treated as a contempt of the Emperor's indulgence; open persecution was forthwith renewed, and no effort of guile or intimidation spared that might make Arianism be acknowledged as the religion of the empire. Two Councils were convened by the Arian Casar for this single purpose. One at Arles, where the legates of Libe rius, Bishop of Rome, who were sent to maintain the innocence of Athanstrangely induced to subscribe a sentence of the Council for his excommunication. Such power had Constantius over the servile clergy, that, orthodox though they were, they could almost have been VOL. XI.-FIFTH SERIES.

asius, were

2 P

brought to give him the title which he is said to have profanely assumed about that time, signing himself," My Eternity." And Athanasius certainly did not conciliate his persecutor when he solemnly rebuked the Arian flatterers for calling him Eternal King, while they denied the Son of God to be eternal; and ironically remarked that the blame should not be laid on them exclusively, since Constantius himself had given occasion for the blasphemy.* Two years later (A.D. 355) a very numerously attended Council was assembled under the imperial command in Milan. This Council was held in the palace. Constantius himself presided, and controlled. His manner was most barbarously imperious and violent, while he pronounced vehement invectives against Athanasius, on whom, a few years before, he had lavished the most flattering expressions of reverence; but whom he now accused of sacrilege, and commanded the assembly to condemn, threatening to banish any member who should not concur in the sentence.

Not content with a recorded sentence on one man, he issued orders throughout the empire for a general persecution. Secretaries and officers of court were seen everywhere bearing letters to bishops and to magistrates, requiring the former to sign the condemnation of Athanasius, under penalty of banishment, and ordering the latter to enforce the penalty in every case of disobedience. Troops of vile ecclesiastics attended the officers in capacity of preachers, excited the multitude by their harangues, and intimidated the magistrates and clergy. Many of the latter were arrested, and brought into the presence of Constantius, whose threatenings were dreadful. Multitudes forsook their homes in terror, and few indeed of those who remained had courage to disobey the tyrant. Liberius, indeed, the Bishop of Rome, did withstand him openly for a long time, but at length he shamefully gave way. Even that eminently good man, Hosius, the venerable Bishop of Cordova, the same who had guided the deliberations of the Council of Nice, yielded at last. They say that he was then more than a hundred years old, and we must charitably hope that his late apostasy was the effect of an extreme dotage. Athanasius himself made no submission, nor betrayed the least symptom of irresolution or fear. Nothing remained, therefore, but to silence him by force, and on him all the fury of Constantius and the Arians was now to be concentrated. The church could not resist the torrent, and for a time seemed as if it would fail to answer to its title of "pillar and ground of the truth;"-a title which one man only appeared worthy to sustain amidst the general apostasy of old and young.

Every human protector being removed, the sky blackened with the

* Αὐτὸς γὰρ ἦν ὁ τὴν δυναστείαν τῆς ἀσεβείας αὐτοῖς παρέχων. Athanasii de Synodis Epistola, sub initio. This confirms the statement of Ammianus Marcellinus, which we have repeated; and as this writer was a pagan, and a military officer under Constantius himself, hi evidence can scarcely be rejected.

tempest which was to burst upon this faithful confessor of Christ. Letters from the Emperor to the Prefect at Alexandria directed the grant of wheat which Constantine the Great made to the Bishop and his flock to be taken from him, and distributed among the followers of Arius. The same letters intimated that the adherents of Athanasius might be insulted, and required the magistrates of the city to hold communion with the heretics. Next came a new Governor to Alexandria, one Syrianus, attended by officers of the palace, who were commissioned to enforce the instructions written, and to persuade the Catholic Bishop and clergy to quit the city, which the latter did; but Athanasius, resisting all their threatenings, refused to abandon his charge until he should see an order with the signature of Constantius, under whose authority, conveyed in writing, he had returned from banishment, and resumed possession of the see. No such a document was produced, and, for the present, the Governor said no more; but the clergy had fled, and the people were filled with apprehensions of impending violence. Their fear was justified when, after a few days of deceitful quiet, a large congregation being assembled in a church, at night, to keep a vigil, and listening to a lesson of Holy Scripture, five thousand soldiers suddenly surrounded the sacred edifice, and closed up every way of escape. No sooner was their presence known to the congregation, than cries of terror drowned the voice of the reader; but Athanasius, rising from his chair, with great calmness, besought them to trust in God, and to join in chanting the psalm, "O give thanks unto the Lord, for He is good: for His mercy endureth for ever." A few voices in the choir attempted to respond, but already the people were trampling on each other in mad efforts to escape. The church was closely shut. The soldiers broke open the doors; some discharged arrows on the people; others entered with drawn swords, and killed several; and then followed a scene of horrible confusion, which Athanasius vainly endeavoured to appease, by exhorting the congregation to disperse. A circle of his friends at the same time entreated him to flee, and, when he refused, carried him away amidst the confusion, and concealed him in a chamber behind the church. Syrianus, disappointed at not finding him either alive or dead, at the very moment when he thought himself sure of his prey, little thought that this faithful servant of God was close at hand, and devoutly returning thanks for his deliverance. Well said the prophet, "Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on Thee: because he trusteth in Thee."

Having thus escaped from death, Athanasius fled into the desert. Syrianus hunted in vain for him in the city. The soldiers, as it would seem, broke into his house, but too late to make him their prisoner. The Catholics of Alexandria complained to Constantius of the violence of the Prefect, but only got for answer that this assault upon the defenceless congregation had been made in obedience to orders. Then