Chapter 11

CHAPTER X.THE COMMUNION OF THE SAINTS.As soon as the great council assembled on the following day, Eusebius of Cæsarea addressed them, saying: "Brethren, the controversy concerning the nature of Deity provoketh much uncharity, and leadeth to no result. I have, therefore, drawn up, and now offer for your consideration, a Confession of Faith, which is no new form of doctrine, but is the same which I learned in my childhood, and during the time I was a catechumen, and at the time I was baptized, from my predecessors in the bishopric of Nicomedia; and the same which I have taught for many years while I was presbyter and bishop, before this great dispute had arisen. This confession hath been read and approved by the emperor, the beloved of Heaven, and it seemeth to me to be the truth as nearly as divine things can be expressed in human language. I have a hope, therefore, that it may be accepted by all as a sufficient declaration of our Christian faith."It is as follows: 'I believe in one God, the Father Almighty, Maker of all things both visible and invisible, and in one Lord Jesus Christ, the Word of God, God of God, Light of Light, Life of Life, the only-begotten Son, the first-born of every creature; begotten of the Father before all worlds, by whom, also, all things were made; who for our salvation was made flesh and lived among men, and suffered, and rose again on the third day, and ascended to the Father, and shall come in glory to judge the quick and the dead. And we believe in one Holy Ghost. As also our Lord, sending forth his own disciples to preach, said: 'Go and teach all nations, baptizing them into the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.' Concerning which things we affirm that this is so, and that we think so, and that it hath long been so held; and that we remain steadfast to death for this faith, anathematizing every godless heresy; that we have taught these things from our heart and soul, from the time that we have known ourselves; and that we now think and say them in truth, we testify in the name of Almighty God, and of our Lord Jesus Christ, being able to prove even by demonstration, and to persuade you that in past times also this we believed and preached.'"This creed seemed to be acceptable to nearly all the members of the council, and Hosius said unto Arius, "Wilt thou subscribe this creed?"And the heretic answered: "Certainly. I can cheerfully subscribe to all that is contained in this confession of faith; for Eusebius hath only made a formal statement of what I have taught and believed, and what the ancient Church hath held from the beginning. Yet I like not the creed. For the bishops all know that while never before did a council draw up any written confession of faith, yet at every council the bishops did repeat and affirm the creed received from the apostles; and the most important item therein, next to the profession of faith in Christ, was this: 'I believe in the communion of saints'; by which the Church constantly affirmed its faith in the divine wisdom of the communal organization of 'the kingdom of heaven.' Ye have mutilated the confession by omitting this vital article in order to accommodate the faith to the imperial laws regarding war, slavery, and mammon-worship. Let the great article be restored to its proper place, and I will subscribe the creed."Then there was a terrible clamor, greater than all that had preceded it--the partisans of Constantine boldly declaring that "the day had gone by forever for maintaining the communal organization of the Church"; that this "primitive community of rights and property was only a temporary arrangement, not designed to be permanent, and had faded away"; and, finally, that "the emperor would not permit the creed to contain an article which cut off not only the emperor and all his officers, but also every 'rich man,' from admission to the Church." But those who were determined to maintain the apostolic organization which Jesus himself had ordained were equally clamorous in shouting that to omit the article of "communion of the saints" was to adopt the Roman law, and betray the Church into the hands of the enemies of Jesus. Then Constantine ordered in the imperial guards and commanded them to clear the hall, and the bishops adjourned the council in the midst of an uproar in which the struggle was not always confined to words, but some severe blows were given and received upon both sides. The voice of the bishops adjourning the council had failed to designate any day or hour at which it should reassemble, and for some days no session at all was held; and during these days all the weight of the imperial authority was brought to bear upon the unhappy bishops to force them to adopt a creed omitting the article concerning "the communion of saints" which from the very days of Jesus had been the sacred symbol of the social and political organization of the Christian Church. Constantine declared that bishops who made it a matter of conscience to do so might continue to teach and to preach it, but that the article must be omitted from the creed; and gradually all of them were brought over to the making of this kind of a compromise with their consciences. When this result had been attained, the bishops gave out that the council would be reassembled upon the following day.On that evening, Constantine called unto him Hosius, Alexander, Athanasius, and others of his adherents, and said unto them: "It is not expedient for me that Arius, or any other man, should be condemned for refusing to subscribe a confession of faith that omits the article concerning community of the saints. I wish that thing to be forgotten as soon as possible, and that the condemnation of this man should be founded upon some other accusation. I desire ye, therefore, to seek for some scriptural word or other which may not be repugnant to the majority of the council, but which Arius can not subscribe. He is a man that would manifestly die and count it great gain rather than make even the slightest concession in any matter of conscience. Ye must, therefore, insert in the creed some word or phrase that he will not subscribe, but to which the majority shall not make any strenuous objection. It must not appear to the Church that 'the communion of saints' hath caused trouble.""There is no such word or expression in any gospel," answered Hosius, sententiously."Then ye must seek for it elsewhere," said Constantine. "The creed must contain some word which he will refuse to subscribe, and it must appear that the controversy with him is concerning that word, and not concerning the abandonment of the primitive Church polity.""There is a word that hath lately come into use at Alexandria," said Athanasius, "which I feel certain would prevent the presbyter from signing any creed that contains it, but I do not think that either the Latin language or the Latin brain is delicate enough to grasp that peculiar signification of the Greek expression which would make it repugnant to Arius, so that the Western churchmen would not object to the use of it, but it is not exactly a scriptural phrase.""What is the word?" asked the emperor."It is the new compound, 'consubstantial' ([Greek:homoousios]), which admitteth of an interpretation that would shock the fine Egyptian thought of the presbyter, but many might not be subtile enough to perceive it. It suiteth well the majority of the bishops in the sense in which they understand it.""I do well remember the word," said Constantine. "For, when I was upon the study of this controversy, I first heard it; and it occurreth either in some memoranda which I made of a conversation with Eusebius, or in a letter written unto him by his brother of Nicomedia. Let me get those papers."So saying, the emperor opened a drawer in his bureau and took therefrom a bundle of manuscript, and after a short examination he said: "Here is the letter. Eusebius of Nicomedia saith here that 'to assert the Son of God to be of one substance with the Father is a proposition evidently absurd.'"The beautiful eyes of Athanasius sparkled with delight, and he cried out: "That is the very word and letter that we want! It cometh, like all good things, from the emperor, and is like an inspiration to our cause!""Yea," said Hosius. "The majority will receive the word well--holding that it does not necessarily imply the identity of persons; but will Arius certainly reject it?""Yea," replied Athanasius; "I have heard his comments on the word, and I am certain that his stubborn, inflexible spirit will not bend enough to make him subscribe a creed containing it.""Press thou not the matter too vehemently, arch-deacon," said Constantine, "lest thou drive many to support him. Be mild and persuasive, for there is time enough."So, when the council had assembled on the following day, Athanasius said: "The learned and venerable Bishops Alexander and Hosius, and many others with them, have carefully examined the form of the Confession of Faith offered by the learned Bishop Eusebius, and they make no objection thereto: but fear that it may leave open some advantages for entrance of heresy, as is shown by this letter of Eusebius of Nicomedia, wherein he declareth that to say that the Son is consubstantial ([Greek:homoousios]) with the Father is absurd. They therefore desire, in order to cut off all heretical interpretation of the creed, and vindicate the divinity of our Lord, to offer a creed containing the declaration that Son and Father are of one substance."Immediately there was a clamor of the Arians against the use of the word; but they, and many who were undecided, looked to Arius for advice and direction, and Athanasius said, "The bishops desire to know whether the learned presbyter Arius will subscribe the creed containing this word, the bulwark against all heresy?"And Arius arose, and, looking upon Athanasius with a gentle smile, said unto him: "I perceive that thy master Constantine hath at last reached the fulfillment of his desires against the Church and kingdom of my master Christ. Brethren, I have already declared to you that I would subscribe no confession of faith which omitted to set forth the article of the communion of saints; and I perceive well that the insertion of this new ecclesiastical term is resorted to only in order to avoid making notorious the fact that the emperor hath commanded that the primitive organization of the Church shall be abandoned. As to this word 'consubstantial,' I have no objection to it in the only sense in which I can conscientiously use it, as implying that the Father and Son (like every other father and son) are beings of the same nature; yet I would not subscribe a creed containing this word, because it is unscriptural. In the sense in which it will come to be used hereafter (if not, indeed, already), it denies the separate existence of the Son; it will imply an almost physical adhesion of the persons of the Divine Family, and the actual identity of Father and Son. It hath before this time been used by incautious or heretical persons, and hath already been condemned as heretical by councils which no prince or emperor controlled, and whose voice was the free utterance of the unsecularized but persecuted Church. I will never subscribe a creed containing such a word; and have never found it necessary to go outside of the Scriptures to find words wherewith to define the Christian faith."And Athanasius answered: "What if the word, in the exact form of it, is not in the Scriptures? Surely its derivatives and compounds are found therein; nor is it any more unscriptural than the songs of Arius written in his book 'Thalia.' What if it hath been used by heretics and condemned as heretical? That was only because it hath been used in some heretical sense, and not as we use it now. What if the use of the word might be tortured into the support of Sabellianism by some who wrest even the Scriptures to their own destruction? The rejection of it argues far more strongly in favor of polytheism--the ancient paganism from which the Church hath so long suffered; and the word must be used, because it is the only safeguard against the very heresy of which Arius hath been suspected or accused."And the question was long debated by others, and the council adjourned; but there were not many that stood out firmly against the use of this celebrated word.At the next meeting of the council, Hosius of Cordova announced that, following the sentiments of the great majority, they had prepared another declaration of the faith, upon which he hoped all might agree; and thereupon the same was read: "We believe in one God, the Father Almighty, Maker of all things, both visible and invisible. And in one Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, begotten of the Father, only begotten, that is to say, of the substance of the Father, God of God, Light of Light, very God of very God, begotten, not made, being of one substance with the Father, by whom all things were made, both things in heaven and things in earth; who for us men and for our salvation came down and was made man, suffered, and rose again on the third day; went up into the heavens, and is to come again to judge the quick and the dead. And in the Holy Ghost."But those who say, 'There was when he was not,' and 'Before he was begotten he was not,' and that 'He came into existence from what was not,' or who profess that the Son of God is a different 'person' or 'substance,' or that he is created, or changeable, or variable, are anathematized by the Catholic Church."A great many members refused to sign the creed, and especially the anathema with which it concluded; because they thought that the presbyter Arius, at whom it was aimed, neither taught nor held the views thereby imputed to him. Eusebius of Cæsarea asked for time to consider the matter, and "to consult with the emperor who had imposed it upon them"--a course which others also followed.Constantine professed to believe that this last creed was delivered by an inspiration of the bishops directly given from heaven; and he at once issued a decree of banishment against all who might refuse to subscribe to it. "He denounced Arius and his disciples as impious, and ordered that he and his books should follow the fate of the pagan Porphyry; and that he and his school should be called Porphyrians, and his books burned under penalty of death to any one who perused them." But he gave them time to reflect upon the matter; and on the next day many stood resolved not to sign, notwithstanding the terrible threats of the emperor. In this state of fear and perplexity, when no man knew to what extremities his brutal threats to extort their compliance might be carried, and when a moody silence, born of their terror and distress, had settled upon the council, to the surprise of all, Arius the Libyan arose and addressed them as follows: "Brethren, I am well persuaded that no other opportunity will ever be given unto me to address any assembly of Christians; being persuaded that the condemnation denounced against me ariseth not from any mistaken zeal on the part of the unbaptized emperor concerning religion, but only from a political necessity that springeth from his godless and insatiable thirst for universal and unhindered power; for verily I think he knoweth little, and careth less, for any confession of faith, except as it affecteth his imperial ambition. As a man, therefore, already doomed, and soon, perhaps, to die, I desire to stir up your pure minds by way of remembrance concerning the primitive Church, which now fadeth out of the world, as it hath already faded out of the Western Empire. Brethren, centuries ago, the great Greek philosopher, Plato, in his 'Republic,' did declare that 'any ordinary city is in fact two cities, one the city of the rich, the other that of the poor, at war with one another'; and this statement is verily true everywhere on earth. For the religion of mankind hath been, in some shape, the worship of mammon, and the warfare, of which Plato speaketh, a warfare for property--for property in offices, prerogatives, lands, houses, wealth, slaves, and every shape that property can take. Ye know that the law was a schoolmaster to lead us to Christ; and that, to prevent the universal and hopeless oppression of the poor, God by Moses did ordain the statute of the year of jubilee, and the statute of the seventh year; and ye know that the prophet Isaiah did make these statutes, which secured a certain blessing for the poor every 'seventh year' and every 'fiftieth year,' typical of the continuous state of believers, in the kingdom of heaven, declaring it to be the gospel preached to the poor; and ye know that our Lord did solemnly declare that this prophecy was fulfilled in him, wherefore the wealthy and aristocratic Scribes and Pharisees, who were 'covetous,' persecuted him even unto death; even as the ruling classes at Rome, and throughout the world, have done until the triumph of Constantine over Maxentius at the Milvian Bridge. Ye know that our Lord set up a kingdom that was good news, a gospel, to the poor of the earth, because its purpose and effect were to abolish war, slavery, polygamy, and all unjust distinctions between men and classes of men, based upon the idolatry of mammon. Ye know that all of these parables were spoken with reference to this kingdom in which communion of saints, partnership of all believers, should secure liberty, equality, fraternity, for all Christians. Ye know that, while the apostles remained on earth, the believers had all things common, except wives and children, disowned all government except that of Jesus, obeyed all laws for the sake of peace except such as conflicted with conscience, and so builded up the Christian communes that governed themselves by the laws of Christ alone, inflicting no temporal punishment except that they refused to fellowship the obdurately wicked. Ye know that they commonly wrought miracles to prove the divinity of Jesus and the right of the Church to preach and to teach in his name. We learn from Philo the Egyptian, and from many others, that 'those who entered upon the Christian life divested themselves of their property, and gave it to those legally entitled thereto or to the common Church,' and that 'the disciples of that time, animated by more ardent love of the divine word, first fulfilled the Saviour's precept by distributing their substance to the needy; and that the Holy Spirit wrought many wonders through them, so that, as soon as the gospel was heard, men voluntarily and in crowds eagerly embraced the true faith.' Ye know that three bishops were ordained by the apostles, even Lucius, Evodius, and Polycarp, all of whom consecrated their property to the common Church, as did the apostolical fathers Clemens, Ignatius, Barnabas, Hermas, as also did Paulinas, Cyprian, Hilary, and countless other well-known and notable Christians; and ye know that such were the law and the practice of the Church until very recent times! Ye know that thaumaturgy remained with the Church until this divine ordinance was neglected. Ye know, brethren, that there were no slaves, no war, no rich, no poor, no kings, no rulers, in the kingdom of our Lord, but liberty, fraternity, equality for all; and that war, slavery, mammon-worship, which had ever been the curse of human life, were abolished by the gospel of Christ. Brethren, already in the Western Empire (and from this day in the East) all this is changed. 'The kingdom of heaven' is utterly subverted. Even the bishops came hither with slaves; many of you are 'rich men,' that could not enter into the kingdom of heaven. The Church conformeth in all things to the imperial laws: for that man Constantine hath such unbounded ambition and unbelief that he suffereth not the Church of Christ to exist in the world, and hath so founded the Church of Constantine, subverting all of Christianity except its spiritual truth. But ye can plainly see what things shall come to pass. That man whom ye love because it hath suited the purposes of his atheistic ambition to protect the Church against other tyrants, hath established an imperial legal religion for the world, and declares that he will persecute all who conform not thereto. So did the Scribes and Pharisees; so did Tiberius Cæsar, Nero, Diocletian, and the rest of his predecessors; but so Jesus and his apostles never did. I know not whether that man who doeth these things, and hath begun to found his capital, called by his own name of blasphemy, upon seven hills above the sea, be he of whom John in the Apocalypse did speak, but he suiteth well in many respects with what John did prophesy."Hear me yet a little further. Ye will all, or nearly all, subscribe this creed! Ye will be forced so to do! For the Holy Spirit cometh upon no council of an earthly emperor, but only of Christ's Church. Henceforth, therefore, thaumaturgy shall be lost unto the Church! Henceforth, therefore, Christianity shall be a human institution! And the faith of Christians will be first one thing, then another, as successive emperors may determine to be best. Those who now are orthodox will be proscribed as heretics, and those who now are heretics will be called orthodox; and Christian emperors will seek to exterminate Christian heretics with fire and sword throughout the world. For the millions of Armenia, and many more throughout Egypt, Syria, and Africa, and the whole nation of the Goths, are as I am--what ye call Arian. So is the brave, the successful, the popular Crispus Cæsar. So is Ulfilas, whom Constantine calleth the Moses of the Goths, whom he now proposes to ordain a bishop over the people whom he converted, and upon whom Constantine made war to force them to accommodate their religion to imperial law. So is Constantia, the sister of the emperor, the widow of Licinius; and so is the young Licinius, her son, and others perhaps of the same imperial family, concerning whom I do not know. See ye not that when Constantine shall die, and his sons shall succeed to empire, the faith of Christ which is now condemned shall be established by the imperial law as true?--And even thou, Athanasius, next Bishop of Alexandria, mayst find thyself a fugitive from thine episcopal palace (which the emperor shall give unto thee), a vagabond upon the friendless earth, a martyr for, or a renegade from, what thou now maintainest to be true!"Brethren, I go hence to death, or banishment, or both. I care not for it. For I live in the steadfast faith and hope that, although the kingdom of heaven be now subverted by the man of sin, yet again some time, somehow, somewhere, it shall be re-established upon the foundation of faith and communism which our Lord did lay, and shall prevail; and war, slavery, and mammon-worship, shall all cease to curse the world; for all people that love liberty and hate tyrants shall be Arians, and mankind shall yet realize the promise of our Lord which he confirmed by his life, by his miracles and parables, and by his death and resurrection, of universal liberty, equality, and fraternity. Brethren, farewell! and the peace of God be with you!"Then the gaunt, sad, immovable, and irreconcilable heretic walked calmly out of the hall. During the utterance of this terrible oration, many seemed awed by the solemn grandeur and prophetic earnestness of the speaker; many were terrified at his fearless denunciation of the plans, atheism, and hypocrisy of the emperor; and some secretly rejoiced because they supposed that his boldness irrevocably sealed his doom. Constantine himself, convulsed with suppressed wrath, grew pale with passion, and bit his lips to restrain some indiscreet expression of his jealousy, doubt, and fear, as Arius declared the numbers and strength of the Arian party in Armenia, Egypt, Syria, and among the Goths, and eulogized the gallant Crispus Cæsar, his popular and splendid son.CHAPTER XI.ONE JOT THAT PASSED FROM THE LAW.On that very night the grand, lonely, immovable presbyter disappeared, and in that council was seen no more. But the next day came the emperor's sister Constantia, the widow of Licinius, and Licinius, her son, and Crispus Cæsar, the eldest son of Constantine, born of his first wife Minervina, and the emperor's mother, Helena, and all, casting themselves at the feet of Constantine, with tears and supplications besought him that the great, learned, and holy Arius might not be put to death. And they so vehemently urged this petition that Constantine finally seemed to give way thereto, and promised, confirming his promise with an awful oath, that he would spare the life of the presbyter. In truth, he supposed that to execute Arius would be impolitic, because it would forever alienate a very large number of his subjects, and he wished to avoid it, and also to win praises for his clemency. He therefore ordered that Arius be banished to, and closely guarded in, a strong fortress in the wildest portion of Illyricum, until, "in the opinion of the emperor, the Arians of Armenia, Egypt, and Syria, and the Goths, might have become reconciled unto the creed of Nicea."Crispus Cæsar boldly declared that he indorsed the opinions of Arius, and regarded the great heretic with larger love and reverence than any other man had ever gained from him; and the emperor heard this declaration with gloom and hatred, but in ominous silence.And one by one, under the influence of the threats of Constantine, who still held the bishops together, determined to extort the unanimous consent of all to the acts of the council, under the specious and continuous arguments and forced interpretations of the creed, used by his partisans both lay and clerical, and under the benumbing and stupefying effects of protracted weariness and hopelessness all of them finally subscribed the creed, except Arius and six others--Eusebius of Cæsarea, Eusebius of Nicomedia, Theonas, Bishop of Marmarica, Secundus, Bishop of Theuchira, Euzoius the deacon, Achillas the reader, and Saras, a presbyter--against all of whom the emperor made a decree of perpetual banishment, but gave not orders for the enforcement thereof. He was not satisfied; especially he was dissatisfied because he was unable to extort the signatures of the Eusebii; and he still waited, determined in some way to obtain these signatures. Finally, he caused Eusebius of Cæsarea to be brought before him, and, assuming an air of great friendliness and concern toward him, he said: "Dear bishop, I did tell thee long ago that our differences about the Arian heresy must never be a cause of quarrel between thee and me. I wish to know what difficulty thou hast (and thy brother) in subscribing the creed?"And Eusebius answered: "The difficulty truly is not a very large one; it is just the size and shape of an 'iota' of the Greek alphabet.""If it is as insignificant as that," answered the emperor, "let us quietly remove it and be friends again. Tell me, therefore, what thou dost mean.""Hast thou here the creed?" asked Eusebius.Constantine handed the parchment to him, and Eusebius said: "This word [Greek:homoousios] is one which Arius condemneth as implying the identity of Father and Son, and my conscience suffereth not me to sign it; but the word [Greek:homoiousios], which differeth therefrom only by the one small [Greek:iota] therein, expresses exactly what I believe, that Father and Son are of like divine nature.""And wouldst thou sign it if this letter had been written therein? and thy brother? and the others who are sentenced to banishment?""Assuredly!""It shall never be said," laughed Constantine, "that I have lost my friend and bishop for such a trifle!"Then he pointed out the fact that a small "[Greek:i]" had been dexterously inserted between "[Greek:homo]" and "[Greek:ousios]" in both the places where the word occurred in the creed, making it the Arian [Greek:homoiousios], instead of the Trinitarian [Greek:homoousios]."Now, bishop, give me thy signature, and communicate this arrangement confidentially unto the others, and let them come and sign also, that the creed may be unanimously signed, and all of these unseemly dissensions banished out of the established Church."The bishop laughed lightly, but signed the confession of faith, and not long afterward all the others did so, except Arius, who was already far upon the road to the heart of Illyricum.Constantine had now completed his long-cherished design of subverting the social and political organization of the primitive Church, and establishing a state religion, of which he might be the head in place of Jesus Christ, in whose name he founded a system that was in open rebellion against the Saviour's whole life and teachings.It remained only for him to have the action of the OEcumenical Council confirmed by some miraculous circumstances, and the imperial ingenuity was fully equal to the occasion; for two members of the council had died at Nicea during its protracted session, and were buried in the church: With a grand and ostentatious procession by torch-light, the sacred roll of parchment was taken to their tomb and left there through the night, the emperor himself having prayed publicly that, if the departed bishops approved the action of the council, they might in some way signify their assent to the decrees and creed thereof; and early the next morning the signatures of the dead bishops were found upon the parchment! Their endorsement was unequivocal: "We, Chrysanthus and Mysonius, fully concurring with the first Holy and OEcumenical Synod, although removed from earth, have signed the volume with our own hands."Still, the emperor did not dissolve the assembly, and, in order to gain over the personal affection even of those who had most stubbornly resisted his sacrilegious domination of the council, he provided a magnificent banquet for the members thereof, and lavished upon them every mark of love and honor. He lodged the one-eyed, hamstrung old Paphnutius in his own palace, "and often sent for him to hear the story of his persecutions; and now it was remarked how he would throw his arms round the old man, and put his lips to his eyeless socket as if to suck out with his reverential kiss the blessing which, as it were, lurked in the sacred cavity, and stroked down with his imperial hand the frightful wound; how he pressed his legs and arms, and the royal purple, to the paralyzed limbs, and put his own eyeball into the socket." And, because those maimed and tortured members of the council who had been "confessors" enjoyed the reputation of especial sanctity and honor throughout the Church, Constantine used the same disgusting demagogy in his dealings with them all, and fawned upon and flattered them in the name of Jesus, until he believed he had stolen for himself their influence in aiding him to eradicate primitive Christianity out of the East, as he had already done in the West, and so banishing the kingdom of heaven from the face of the earth; and so nourishing in the very bosom of the Church, maintained and governed by imperial authority, the ancient crimes of war, slavery, and mammon-worship, perpetuating the bondage of the people unto the ruling classes, and giving the sanction of religion to class distinctions between men and families, based upon this idolatry, which had been always the curse of human life.And for a whole year Constantine pursued his purpose quietly, unceasingly, intelligently, by the use of a thousand different means and agencies, to reduce the East to a condition of ecclesiastical serfdom to his authority, and to confirm, popularize, and consolidate his power. But the slow, doubtful, hesitating adoption of the imperial church by the Christians of Armenia, and to a less degree by those of Syria, Egypt, and the Gothic provinces along the Danube, to whom he had sent back their teacher Ulfilas after ordaining him to be a royal bishop, inspired the emperor with misgivings of the future, and with an almost unreasoning jealousy and hatred of Crispus Cæsar, his son, who was the favorite of all those regions, and of Licinius, who represented the family of the legitimate sovereign thereof, whom Constantine had dethroned and destroyed.And the next year the emperor went to Rome to celebrate the Ides of Quintilis, the anniversary of the battle of Lake Regillus, in which, according to the chronicles of pagan Rome, the twin-gods Castor and Pollux had fought in defense of the Eternal City, and brought thereto the welcome news of victory. It was esteemed to be the most sacred ceremony known to the Roman people. During the grand festival, Constantine, believing that after the Council of Nicea his own ecclesiastical system was so powerful and so securely established that he need not longer patronize the heathen, refused to take his proper place in the ancient ritual appropriate to the occasion, and even exhibited his contempt for the empty pageantry of a legion of knights passing in solemn procession, by commenting upon their appearance with that caustic, epigrammatic wit of which few men were more thoroughly master. That large portion of the Romans who yet openly adhered to the ancient religion were insulted and furious at the conduct of the emperor, and there was a fierce riot in the streets, during which stones were hurled at the statues of the emperor, and attempts made to overthrow them.His wife Fausta, the daughter of the fierce old emperor Maximian, inherited much of her father's cruel nature and imperious ambition. She and Constantine had three sons--Constantine, Constantius, and Constans. She had always envied Crispus Cæsar the superiority which his primogenial rights gave to him as the first-born of Constantine over her own sons, and especially had her jealousy been inflamed by the splendid reputation which young Cæsar had gained by the skill and courage wherewith he had defeated the vastly superior navy of Licinius in the straits of the Hellespont. Next to the great emperor himself stood Crispus Cæsar, not only in official station, but in the love and admiration of the world; and her own sons occupied a far less conspicuous position, which was rendered more galling to her pride by the very prominence derived from the fact that they also were the sons of the emperor. Fausta had remarked with secret joy the open aid and friendship showed by Crispus Cæsar for Arius, which fact had aroused the suspicions, as much as the victory of Crispus had excited the jealousy, of the emperor. She failed not, also, to perceive that the devotion of Constantia, the widow of Licinius, and of the Empress Helena, Constantine's mother, to this same Arius, had created a common interest and friendship between Cæsar, Helena, and Constantia, while Eusebius of Nicomedia was the trusted friend and adviser of all of them, and the tutor of young Licinius. Fausta herself, the daughter of a pagan and the wife of an atheist, was as nearly devoid of religious sentiment as it was ever possible for a woman to become; and, like her husband, thought that all faith is only superstition, which may be advantageously used by a wise ruler for the government of men; and understanding better than any one else that Constantine regarded the free Arian spirit as the most dangerous element in the political future of the empire, she had cunningly employed every artifice and innuendo that could tend to inflame his personal hatred of these religious dissenters. She affected to regard the riot in the streets of Rome as arising from the machinations of the Arian recusants. Knowing that Constantine had only once visited Rome since the overthrow of Maxentius, and that he disliked the place, she pretended to desire that he should fix his imperial residence at Rome, on the ground that Milan was inconveniently situated, and that both Nicomedia and Constantinople, being in the midst of vast Arian communities, were unsafe for him.She thought that the rioting in Rome gave her the opportunity to take some decisive step in accomplishing her long-cherished designs, and began more vehemently to press her insidious suggestions upon the gloomy soul of the atheist whom she knew to worship only himself."If the stone wherewith these Arian strangers who are in the city marred the head of thy statue on the Via Sacra had smitten thee, thou wouldst have been slain at once.""But," said the emperor, dryly, passing his hand over his forehead, "I feel not the slightest pain from the blow.""The undirected mob is powerless against thee," she said; "but this infamous act is but the unguarded expression of a sentiment common to the millions of Armenia, and to large numbers of the Egyptians and Syrians, and to nearly all of the Goths.""What hath caused thee so much uneasiness from such a trifle as the throwing of a stone or two? The royal blood should despise such visionary fears.""But the guardsman, Pilus, who hath lately come from Illyricum, informeth me that in the garrison it is commonly reported that the heretic Arius saith that, if Christians could lawfully bear arms, the Arians of Armenia and the Goths alone could seat Licinius upon the throne of his father, and Crispus Cæsar upon thine.""But neither Licinius, nor Crispus, nor the Arians, cherish any such treasonable designs," said Constantine."I fear lest thou art lulled into a false security. Ever anxious for thy safety and for thy glory, I have consulted auguries and oracles, and, although these things have no great weight with thee or with me as matters of religious faith, the oracles were always valuable portents to show the drift of popular opinion and desire; and no great statesman can afford to despise them, for that which the multitude long after doth sooner or later come to pass; and all the divinations portend calamity to thee and thy house from the Arians.""But Licinius is a boy, and Crispus Cæsar is quiet, modest, temperate, and unostentatious. He hath neither vices nor ambitions that require him to aspire higher than he already standeth.""Thou wouldst rather cease to be than cease to rule the empire. Dominion is the dominant passion of thy lofty soul. It is the marked characteristic of thy race. There are other men mastered by similar ambition. The quiet, orderly life of Cæsar may blind the eyes of mankind to an ambition that would hesitate at nothing. Thy father was such a temperate youth that he sacrificed all common lusts and appetites to win the sovereignty of Rome, and he would not have been contented long with that if he had lived. Thou didst inherit his nature with his military genius, and thou hast lived moderately in order to gain the sovereignty of the world. Crispus hath inherited from thee the great abilities which enabled him to triumph on the Hellespont and share thy glory, or rather take to himself the greater share. He would not forego the pleasures of youth and the advantages of his great position unless he were constantly meditating upon some great design. Look to thyself, Augustus."Such insidious counsels she constantly offered to the jealous and cruel emperor, and they bore a deadly fruit. Suddenly the gallant young Cæsar was seized, transported to the gloomy fortress of Pola, imprisoned, and then murdered, by order of "the most Christian Emperor Constantine," "the favorite of God," "the defender of the faith," his father! Almost immediately the young Licinius was snatched from the arms of his mother, and put to death by the order of his uncle, Constantine, "the first Christian Emperor of Rome.""I have fortified my throne against all danger from Crispus Cæsar and the Arians," said Constantine unto himself."The road to royal favor and to future power is opened for my splendid brood of Cæsars," murmured Fausta under her breath."The Empress Fausta hath plotted against and murdered my gallant son Crispus, and my grandson Licinius, whom I loved. I will be revenged upon the cruel murderess or die!" was the unuttered comment of the Empress-mother Helena; and from that hour, with the slow, settled, and deliberate hatred of old age and hopeless sorrow, she sought for the life of Fausta.The world held its breath in horror at these fearful crimes, and hardly did the historians of that age dare to commit any account thereof unto posterity. But it was impossible for the officers of the Illyrian fortress, where Arius was imprisoned, to speak of such atrocities without some knowledge thereof coming to their quiet, intelligent prisoner. When he heard of the assassination of Crispus Cæsar and of Licinius, the only comment made by the stern, inflexible, incorruptible old heretic was this: "A council of Christ's Church ought not to be oecumenical and barren; and the first one already beareth terrible but legitimate fruits."The empress-mother, old Helena, continually and skillfully directed the suspicions of her dark-souled, bloody son against the Empress Fausta herself; and, when she had prepared her vengeance so that she thought it could not fail, she accused Fausta of infidelity to the emperor, with that same Pilus, of the imperial guardsmen. Many craftily prepared circumstances corroborated the infamous and degrading accusation, and quickly and secretly the emperor put his wife to death."Small recompense for my great wrong," murmured Helena, "but all that I can take; for the woman's beautiful sons are also mine own grandchildren.""I have no friend on earth," mused Constantine, "except my mother and Eusebius of Cæsarea."When the gloomy old prisoner of the Illyrian fortress heard of the murder of Fausta, upon this disgraceful charge of adultery with a guardsman, he said: "The grand name of Constantine is soaked with domestic blood and draggled in domestic filth. The royal oecumenical council beareth such strange and deadly fruit."The officers of the fortress were held to be accountable with their lives for the heretic's safe-keeping, and vigilant spies reported to Constantine almost every word he uttered, and stole and transmitted to the emperor almost every line he wrote, and the old man's gloomy comments upon the condition of the Church, and his strange and seemingly inspired interpretations of prophecy, which he supposed to relate to Constantine and his new city of Constantinople, built upon seven hills, above the narrow straits whereto the commerce of the world resorted, doubtless aided Fausta's and Helena's conspiracies to lead him into the commission of those horrible crimes which shocked the moral sense of the world, and justified the pagans in breathless wonder as to what new atrocities would follow the legal establishment of the Christian faith--atrocities that perhaps afterward drove Julian the Apostate to struggle for the restoration of paganism. And doubtless Arius himself would long ago have perished, if the emperor had not hoped to obtain from his manuscripts and prophecies warning of every coming danger.CHAPTER XII.AN IMPERIAL REPENTANCE.But, although these secret horrors, which degraded the noblest family of the empire, were kept as still as private crimes, and men dared scarcely speak of them except in terrified whispers, the knowledge thereof spread abroad, until enough was known to fill the Christian world with detestation of the emperor; and he whose governing passion had been to rule mankind, and to command their respect and reverence at any cost, found himself to be held by the popular verdict as an outcast from virtue and decency. His iron soul was proof against every shaft except this, but the wound it inflicted upon his boundless self-love was bitter and incurable. Realizing that he had outraged the moral sentiment of Christendom by these atrocious crimes, the emperor determined to overthrow what he called Christianity, and re-establish the pagan religion, charging his crimes to the blinding influences of the superstition and strong magic of the Church, and thereby win for himself the love and confidence of that large portion of his subjects who still adhered to the ancient idolatries. In pursuance of this design, Constantine applied to the flamens at Rome for purification from his domestic crimes, as the first step toward the rehabilitation of his moral nakedness and deformity; but the priests, who knew his crafty, unscrupulous, cruel, and atheistic nature, and who already had in training the young and gifted Julian, seized this opportunity to gratify their theological hate, by boldly declaring that the ancient rituals of paganism did not know any form of expiation for such fearful and unnecessary crimes as his.Then Constantine turned away forever from heathenism, and sent for Hosius, Bishop of Cordova, who assured him that "in Christianity all sin, however great, may find forgiveness: for He saveth unto the uttermost all that come unto God by him.""And what method must I use to secure this forgiveness?" asked the emperor."Only true repentance toward God, and humble, sincere faith in Jesus Christ," said the bishop.Then, with a singular smile, Constantine looked at the bishop and answered: "Bishop, thou dost forget that thou art not now talking to a woman taken in adultery, nor to a thief upon the cross. Farewell!"And with a wave of the hand the emperor contemptuously dismissed him.But Constantine could not endure the popular detestation of which he knew himself to be justly the object, and as a last resort he sent for Eusebius of Cæsarea. Eusebius knew the emperor fully as well as the emperor knew him, and, of course, knew that he might as well chant psalms to a deaf ass as to recommend faith and repentance to the imperial atheist, as Hosius of Cordova had innocently endeavored to do. When Eusebius came before the emperor, Constantine spoke to him in a light, bantering tone, saying: "Bishop, Crispus Cæsar became infatuated with the idea that he was great enough to wear my sandals and to wield my spear even while I live; and the young man met with a fatal accident. The youth Licinius, and the woman Fausta, exposed themselves to some unwholesome atmosphere, and the results of their indiscretion were deleterious to their health. These events have happened unfortunately for me, and I require thine unfailing aid in avoiding further inconvenience from them. What canst thou do for me?""Could not the flamens of Jupiter give thy burdened conscience rest?" said the bishop, quietly, but with malicious pleasure."No," answered Constantine, laughing. "The priests are good haters--somewhat too demonstrative, perhaps, but steady and reliable in their antipathies; and so they took out their spite upon me the first time Fate gave them an opportunity.""Could not the most learned and holy Hosius point out to thee the road to peace?""No, indeed. That respectable idiot began some sort of mummery concerning faith and repentance; but I cut him short. Bishop, thou wert not wont to be so difficult. I confess that, since the Council of Nicea, I have not done justice to thy superior merit, and have even felt somewhat estranged from thee. Forget all that, and let us once more be friends.""Augustus," said the bishop, "I have keenly felt the withdrawal of thy favor, although I have complained to no one. I think that, if it had been otherwise, I could have showed thee sufficient reasons for avoiding some terrible mistakes. What is the exact difficulty which these mistakes have led thee upon?""The Arians are rejoiced by any occurrence that gives them a pretext for railing at me; the orthodox Christians have the unblushing impudence to attempt to sit in judgment upon the actions of the emperor that rescued them from persecutions, and affect to be shocked thereby, just as if they were fit to judge his deeds or comprehend his policy; the implacable flamens hope to make such use of these accidents as to lead the world back to paganism without my aid. The Arians hate me because I would not permit them to establish a kingdom in the empire of which I was not to be the king. Thou must find some way to conciliate the fools, for the hearts of all men are estranged from me; and, as thou hast always known, I would rather rule by love than by terror. But rule I will, while I shall live. Now, how can I regain my former hold upon either the pagan or the Christian world?""Thou must first of all definitely abandon the idea that the empire can ever return to paganism," said Eusebius. "The amazing progress of Christianity among the people and the rapid decline of heathenism demonstrate that the old religion hath almost ceased to be a political force, and any emperor who would seek to re-establish it is foredoomed to certain failure.""Let that pass. Ye bishops always regard the Church as the first thing to be considered. I concede that thou art right. What then?""Thou must also understand," said Eusebius, with malicious pleasure, "that, while the will of the emperor is the law of the land, it is no longer the standard of right and wrong for Christians. Thy statutes may control political life, and prescribe the external forms of worship for the Church: its conscience hath passed even beyond thy control."Constantine turned white with wrath."The impudent beggars!" he cried, "whom I redeemed from tortures and from death! Where, then, was their 'conscience' when the council subverted the kingdom of heaven upon earth, and they all signed the decree which abolished the earthly sovereignty of Christ? But," checking his furious anger with a mighty effort, "what next?""If a man hath done a crime," said Eusebius, "no matter how cruel and unnatural, the Christians understand that he may obtain forgiveness for his sin by repentance and faith, even as King David did in the matter of Bath-sheba.""Well!" said Constantine, impatiently."The Christian world will never pardon thee without this repentance and faith, or the appearance of it," said Eusebius, and he uttered the last few words in a low, peculiar tone."And what shape might 'the appearance of it' assume?" asked the emperor, with a laugh."Thou mightst go in sackcloth and ashes unto the church and publicly pray to God and man for pardon!""And I might far sooner hang up a bishop and exterminate a sect that would seriously insist upon any such degrading terms!""So I supposed," said Eusebius, "and even then such a course would only be 'the appearance' of faith and repentance, not the things themselves. But thou mightst build a church and dedicate it unto the memory of Cæsar; or set up his statue, with an inscription intimating that he was the victim of a mistake, and the object of affectionate and sorrowful remembrance. Either of these 'appearances of it' might be sufficient.""That will answer," cried Constantine. "Crispus Cæsar was a handsome man, and an excellent subject for a statue. The statue shall be of gold, and the inscription shall be, 'To Crispus, mine injured and innocent son.' Will that, think you, reconcile the orthodox? Or what else dost thou advise?""The Empress-mother Helena should exhibit some similar token of repentance for her hatred of the Empress Fausta.""And what 'appearance of it' should her faith and repentance assume?" said Constantine, laughing merrily."Recently," replied Eusebius, "a lively interest hath sprung up throughout the Church in the 'holy places' in Palestine. If the empress should make a pilgrimage to the Holy Land, and found there a handsome church and some sacred shrines, she would cease to annoy thee, amuse herself, and do a great work toward restoring the love and confidence of Christians to thyself and her.""Thou art a true and glorious bishop," laughed the emperor, "and thou dost never forget the welfare of the Church. The empress-mother shall go quickly on her sacred pilgrimage, and all the holy places shall rejoice. Is not that enough? Or is there yet something more?""This would suffice for the orthodox," said Eusebius; "but years have passed since the Council of Nicea. Time hath assuaged the bitterness of former days, which would, perhaps, have faded out altogether but that the banishment of Arius keepeth it alive. If thou wouldst reconcile the whole Church unto thyself, recall and even show some special honor to the Libyan.""Thou hast reserved thy bitterest medicine for the last!""But it is necessary, Augustus. For days past thy sister Constantia, who is even now upon the bed of death, hath entreated me that I would come unto thee and ask thee to visit her, that she might make it her dying request that thou recall Arius and restore his church to him. Of course I could not come till thou didst order it." And then the bishop, fixing his eyes firmly upon the face of Constantine, with his right hand extended, said with inexpressible dignity: "Augustus, thy sister's husband, Licinius, the Emperor of the East, and her only son, Licinius, both perished by thine own order; yet her devotion unto thee hath never faltered. Surely thou canst not refuse her dying supplications!"Constantine's face for once grew soft with a genuine emotion of humanity, and he replied: "Surely not, bishop! I always loved Constantia. I will visit her, and do whatever she desires.""Go to-day, then," said Eusebius, "for she hath but few hours more to live."And Constantine went; and the long and sorely tried and deeply injured, but still faithful and loving sister, with her dying breath besought him to recall the great and holy Arius, and restore the peace and unity of the Church and of the empire; and with a mighty oath (as usual) he promised so to do.

CHAPTER X.

THE COMMUNION OF THE SAINTS.

As soon as the great council assembled on the following day, Eusebius of Cæsarea addressed them, saying: "Brethren, the controversy concerning the nature of Deity provoketh much uncharity, and leadeth to no result. I have, therefore, drawn up, and now offer for your consideration, a Confession of Faith, which is no new form of doctrine, but is the same which I learned in my childhood, and during the time I was a catechumen, and at the time I was baptized, from my predecessors in the bishopric of Nicomedia; and the same which I have taught for many years while I was presbyter and bishop, before this great dispute had arisen. This confession hath been read and approved by the emperor, the beloved of Heaven, and it seemeth to me to be the truth as nearly as divine things can be expressed in human language. I have a hope, therefore, that it may be accepted by all as a sufficient declaration of our Christian faith.

"It is as follows: 'I believe in one God, the Father Almighty, Maker of all things both visible and invisible, and in one Lord Jesus Christ, the Word of God, God of God, Light of Light, Life of Life, the only-begotten Son, the first-born of every creature; begotten of the Father before all worlds, by whom, also, all things were made; who for our salvation was made flesh and lived among men, and suffered, and rose again on the third day, and ascended to the Father, and shall come in glory to judge the quick and the dead. And we believe in one Holy Ghost. As also our Lord, sending forth his own disciples to preach, said: 'Go and teach all nations, baptizing them into the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.' Concerning which things we affirm that this is so, and that we think so, and that it hath long been so held; and that we remain steadfast to death for this faith, anathematizing every godless heresy; that we have taught these things from our heart and soul, from the time that we have known ourselves; and that we now think and say them in truth, we testify in the name of Almighty God, and of our Lord Jesus Christ, being able to prove even by demonstration, and to persuade you that in past times also this we believed and preached.'"

This creed seemed to be acceptable to nearly all the members of the council, and Hosius said unto Arius, "Wilt thou subscribe this creed?"

And the heretic answered: "Certainly. I can cheerfully subscribe to all that is contained in this confession of faith; for Eusebius hath only made a formal statement of what I have taught and believed, and what the ancient Church hath held from the beginning. Yet I like not the creed. For the bishops all know that while never before did a council draw up any written confession of faith, yet at every council the bishops did repeat and affirm the creed received from the apostles; and the most important item therein, next to the profession of faith in Christ, was this: 'I believe in the communion of saints'; by which the Church constantly affirmed its faith in the divine wisdom of the communal organization of 'the kingdom of heaven.' Ye have mutilated the confession by omitting this vital article in order to accommodate the faith to the imperial laws regarding war, slavery, and mammon-worship. Let the great article be restored to its proper place, and I will subscribe the creed."

Then there was a terrible clamor, greater than all that had preceded it--the partisans of Constantine boldly declaring that "the day had gone by forever for maintaining the communal organization of the Church"; that this "primitive community of rights and property was only a temporary arrangement, not designed to be permanent, and had faded away"; and, finally, that "the emperor would not permit the creed to contain an article which cut off not only the emperor and all his officers, but also every 'rich man,' from admission to the Church." But those who were determined to maintain the apostolic organization which Jesus himself had ordained were equally clamorous in shouting that to omit the article of "communion of the saints" was to adopt the Roman law, and betray the Church into the hands of the enemies of Jesus. Then Constantine ordered in the imperial guards and commanded them to clear the hall, and the bishops adjourned the council in the midst of an uproar in which the struggle was not always confined to words, but some severe blows were given and received upon both sides. The voice of the bishops adjourning the council had failed to designate any day or hour at which it should reassemble, and for some days no session at all was held; and during these days all the weight of the imperial authority was brought to bear upon the unhappy bishops to force them to adopt a creed omitting the article concerning "the communion of saints" which from the very days of Jesus had been the sacred symbol of the social and political organization of the Christian Church. Constantine declared that bishops who made it a matter of conscience to do so might continue to teach and to preach it, but that the article must be omitted from the creed; and gradually all of them were brought over to the making of this kind of a compromise with their consciences. When this result had been attained, the bishops gave out that the council would be reassembled upon the following day.

On that evening, Constantine called unto him Hosius, Alexander, Athanasius, and others of his adherents, and said unto them: "It is not expedient for me that Arius, or any other man, should be condemned for refusing to subscribe a confession of faith that omits the article concerning community of the saints. I wish that thing to be forgotten as soon as possible, and that the condemnation of this man should be founded upon some other accusation. I desire ye, therefore, to seek for some scriptural word or other which may not be repugnant to the majority of the council, but which Arius can not subscribe. He is a man that would manifestly die and count it great gain rather than make even the slightest concession in any matter of conscience. Ye must, therefore, insert in the creed some word or phrase that he will not subscribe, but to which the majority shall not make any strenuous objection. It must not appear to the Church that 'the communion of saints' hath caused trouble."

"There is no such word or expression in any gospel," answered Hosius, sententiously.

"Then ye must seek for it elsewhere," said Constantine. "The creed must contain some word which he will refuse to subscribe, and it must appear that the controversy with him is concerning that word, and not concerning the abandonment of the primitive Church polity."

"There is a word that hath lately come into use at Alexandria," said Athanasius, "which I feel certain would prevent the presbyter from signing any creed that contains it, but I do not think that either the Latin language or the Latin brain is delicate enough to grasp that peculiar signification of the Greek expression which would make it repugnant to Arius, so that the Western churchmen would not object to the use of it, but it is not exactly a scriptural phrase."

"What is the word?" asked the emperor.

"It is the new compound, 'consubstantial' ([Greek:homoousios]), which admitteth of an interpretation that would shock the fine Egyptian thought of the presbyter, but many might not be subtile enough to perceive it. It suiteth well the majority of the bishops in the sense in which they understand it."

"I do well remember the word," said Constantine. "For, when I was upon the study of this controversy, I first heard it; and it occurreth either in some memoranda which I made of a conversation with Eusebius, or in a letter written unto him by his brother of Nicomedia. Let me get those papers."

So saying, the emperor opened a drawer in his bureau and took therefrom a bundle of manuscript, and after a short examination he said: "Here is the letter. Eusebius of Nicomedia saith here that 'to assert the Son of God to be of one substance with the Father is a proposition evidently absurd.'"

The beautiful eyes of Athanasius sparkled with delight, and he cried out: "That is the very word and letter that we want! It cometh, like all good things, from the emperor, and is like an inspiration to our cause!"

"Yea," said Hosius. "The majority will receive the word well--holding that it does not necessarily imply the identity of persons; but will Arius certainly reject it?"

"Yea," replied Athanasius; "I have heard his comments on the word, and I am certain that his stubborn, inflexible spirit will not bend enough to make him subscribe a creed containing it."

"Press thou not the matter too vehemently, arch-deacon," said Constantine, "lest thou drive many to support him. Be mild and persuasive, for there is time enough."

So, when the council had assembled on the following day, Athanasius said: "The learned and venerable Bishops Alexander and Hosius, and many others with them, have carefully examined the form of the Confession of Faith offered by the learned Bishop Eusebius, and they make no objection thereto: but fear that it may leave open some advantages for entrance of heresy, as is shown by this letter of Eusebius of Nicomedia, wherein he declareth that to say that the Son is consubstantial ([Greek:homoousios]) with the Father is absurd. They therefore desire, in order to cut off all heretical interpretation of the creed, and vindicate the divinity of our Lord, to offer a creed containing the declaration that Son and Father are of one substance."

Immediately there was a clamor of the Arians against the use of the word; but they, and many who were undecided, looked to Arius for advice and direction, and Athanasius said, "The bishops desire to know whether the learned presbyter Arius will subscribe the creed containing this word, the bulwark against all heresy?"

And Arius arose, and, looking upon Athanasius with a gentle smile, said unto him: "I perceive that thy master Constantine hath at last reached the fulfillment of his desires against the Church and kingdom of my master Christ. Brethren, I have already declared to you that I would subscribe no confession of faith which omitted to set forth the article of the communion of saints; and I perceive well that the insertion of this new ecclesiastical term is resorted to only in order to avoid making notorious the fact that the emperor hath commanded that the primitive organization of the Church shall be abandoned. As to this word 'consubstantial,' I have no objection to it in the only sense in which I can conscientiously use it, as implying that the Father and Son (like every other father and son) are beings of the same nature; yet I would not subscribe a creed containing this word, because it is unscriptural. In the sense in which it will come to be used hereafter (if not, indeed, already), it denies the separate existence of the Son; it will imply an almost physical adhesion of the persons of the Divine Family, and the actual identity of Father and Son. It hath before this time been used by incautious or heretical persons, and hath already been condemned as heretical by councils which no prince or emperor controlled, and whose voice was the free utterance of the unsecularized but persecuted Church. I will never subscribe a creed containing such a word; and have never found it necessary to go outside of the Scriptures to find words wherewith to define the Christian faith."

And Athanasius answered: "What if the word, in the exact form of it, is not in the Scriptures? Surely its derivatives and compounds are found therein; nor is it any more unscriptural than the songs of Arius written in his book 'Thalia.' What if it hath been used by heretics and condemned as heretical? That was only because it hath been used in some heretical sense, and not as we use it now. What if the use of the word might be tortured into the support of Sabellianism by some who wrest even the Scriptures to their own destruction? The rejection of it argues far more strongly in favor of polytheism--the ancient paganism from which the Church hath so long suffered; and the word must be used, because it is the only safeguard against the very heresy of which Arius hath been suspected or accused."

And the question was long debated by others, and the council adjourned; but there were not many that stood out firmly against the use of this celebrated word.

At the next meeting of the council, Hosius of Cordova announced that, following the sentiments of the great majority, they had prepared another declaration of the faith, upon which he hoped all might agree; and thereupon the same was read: "We believe in one God, the Father Almighty, Maker of all things, both visible and invisible. And in one Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, begotten of the Father, only begotten, that is to say, of the substance of the Father, God of God, Light of Light, very God of very God, begotten, not made, being of one substance with the Father, by whom all things were made, both things in heaven and things in earth; who for us men and for our salvation came down and was made man, suffered, and rose again on the third day; went up into the heavens, and is to come again to judge the quick and the dead. And in the Holy Ghost.

"But those who say, 'There was when he was not,' and 'Before he was begotten he was not,' and that 'He came into existence from what was not,' or who profess that the Son of God is a different 'person' or 'substance,' or that he is created, or changeable, or variable, are anathematized by the Catholic Church."

A great many members refused to sign the creed, and especially the anathema with which it concluded; because they thought that the presbyter Arius, at whom it was aimed, neither taught nor held the views thereby imputed to him. Eusebius of Cæsarea asked for time to consider the matter, and "to consult with the emperor who had imposed it upon them"--a course which others also followed.

Constantine professed to believe that this last creed was delivered by an inspiration of the bishops directly given from heaven; and he at once issued a decree of banishment against all who might refuse to subscribe to it. "He denounced Arius and his disciples as impious, and ordered that he and his books should follow the fate of the pagan Porphyry; and that he and his school should be called Porphyrians, and his books burned under penalty of death to any one who perused them." But he gave them time to reflect upon the matter; and on the next day many stood resolved not to sign, notwithstanding the terrible threats of the emperor. In this state of fear and perplexity, when no man knew to what extremities his brutal threats to extort their compliance might be carried, and when a moody silence, born of their terror and distress, had settled upon the council, to the surprise of all, Arius the Libyan arose and addressed them as follows: "Brethren, I am well persuaded that no other opportunity will ever be given unto me to address any assembly of Christians; being persuaded that the condemnation denounced against me ariseth not from any mistaken zeal on the part of the unbaptized emperor concerning religion, but only from a political necessity that springeth from his godless and insatiable thirst for universal and unhindered power; for verily I think he knoweth little, and careth less, for any confession of faith, except as it affecteth his imperial ambition. As a man, therefore, already doomed, and soon, perhaps, to die, I desire to stir up your pure minds by way of remembrance concerning the primitive Church, which now fadeth out of the world, as it hath already faded out of the Western Empire. Brethren, centuries ago, the great Greek philosopher, Plato, in his 'Republic,' did declare that 'any ordinary city is in fact two cities, one the city of the rich, the other that of the poor, at war with one another'; and this statement is verily true everywhere on earth. For the religion of mankind hath been, in some shape, the worship of mammon, and the warfare, of which Plato speaketh, a warfare for property--for property in offices, prerogatives, lands, houses, wealth, slaves, and every shape that property can take. Ye know that the law was a schoolmaster to lead us to Christ; and that, to prevent the universal and hopeless oppression of the poor, God by Moses did ordain the statute of the year of jubilee, and the statute of the seventh year; and ye know that the prophet Isaiah did make these statutes, which secured a certain blessing for the poor every 'seventh year' and every 'fiftieth year,' typical of the continuous state of believers, in the kingdom of heaven, declaring it to be the gospel preached to the poor; and ye know that our Lord did solemnly declare that this prophecy was fulfilled in him, wherefore the wealthy and aristocratic Scribes and Pharisees, who were 'covetous,' persecuted him even unto death; even as the ruling classes at Rome, and throughout the world, have done until the triumph of Constantine over Maxentius at the Milvian Bridge. Ye know that our Lord set up a kingdom that was good news, a gospel, to the poor of the earth, because its purpose and effect were to abolish war, slavery, polygamy, and all unjust distinctions between men and classes of men, based upon the idolatry of mammon. Ye know that all of these parables were spoken with reference to this kingdom in which communion of saints, partnership of all believers, should secure liberty, equality, fraternity, for all Christians. Ye know that, while the apostles remained on earth, the believers had all things common, except wives and children, disowned all government except that of Jesus, obeyed all laws for the sake of peace except such as conflicted with conscience, and so builded up the Christian communes that governed themselves by the laws of Christ alone, inflicting no temporal punishment except that they refused to fellowship the obdurately wicked. Ye know that they commonly wrought miracles to prove the divinity of Jesus and the right of the Church to preach and to teach in his name. We learn from Philo the Egyptian, and from many others, that 'those who entered upon the Christian life divested themselves of their property, and gave it to those legally entitled thereto or to the common Church,' and that 'the disciples of that time, animated by more ardent love of the divine word, first fulfilled the Saviour's precept by distributing their substance to the needy; and that the Holy Spirit wrought many wonders through them, so that, as soon as the gospel was heard, men voluntarily and in crowds eagerly embraced the true faith.' Ye know that three bishops were ordained by the apostles, even Lucius, Evodius, and Polycarp, all of whom consecrated their property to the common Church, as did the apostolical fathers Clemens, Ignatius, Barnabas, Hermas, as also did Paulinas, Cyprian, Hilary, and countless other well-known and notable Christians; and ye know that such were the law and the practice of the Church until very recent times! Ye know that thaumaturgy remained with the Church until this divine ordinance was neglected. Ye know, brethren, that there were no slaves, no war, no rich, no poor, no kings, no rulers, in the kingdom of our Lord, but liberty, fraternity, equality for all; and that war, slavery, mammon-worship, which had ever been the curse of human life, were abolished by the gospel of Christ. Brethren, already in the Western Empire (and from this day in the East) all this is changed. 'The kingdom of heaven' is utterly subverted. Even the bishops came hither with slaves; many of you are 'rich men,' that could not enter into the kingdom of heaven. The Church conformeth in all things to the imperial laws: for that man Constantine hath such unbounded ambition and unbelief that he suffereth not the Church of Christ to exist in the world, and hath so founded the Church of Constantine, subverting all of Christianity except its spiritual truth. But ye can plainly see what things shall come to pass. That man whom ye love because it hath suited the purposes of his atheistic ambition to protect the Church against other tyrants, hath established an imperial legal religion for the world, and declares that he will persecute all who conform not thereto. So did the Scribes and Pharisees; so did Tiberius Cæsar, Nero, Diocletian, and the rest of his predecessors; but so Jesus and his apostles never did. I know not whether that man who doeth these things, and hath begun to found his capital, called by his own name of blasphemy, upon seven hills above the sea, be he of whom John in the Apocalypse did speak, but he suiteth well in many respects with what John did prophesy.

"Hear me yet a little further. Ye will all, or nearly all, subscribe this creed! Ye will be forced so to do! For the Holy Spirit cometh upon no council of an earthly emperor, but only of Christ's Church. Henceforth, therefore, thaumaturgy shall be lost unto the Church! Henceforth, therefore, Christianity shall be a human institution! And the faith of Christians will be first one thing, then another, as successive emperors may determine to be best. Those who now are orthodox will be proscribed as heretics, and those who now are heretics will be called orthodox; and Christian emperors will seek to exterminate Christian heretics with fire and sword throughout the world. For the millions of Armenia, and many more throughout Egypt, Syria, and Africa, and the whole nation of the Goths, are as I am--what ye call Arian. So is the brave, the successful, the popular Crispus Cæsar. So is Ulfilas, whom Constantine calleth the Moses of the Goths, whom he now proposes to ordain a bishop over the people whom he converted, and upon whom Constantine made war to force them to accommodate their religion to imperial law. So is Constantia, the sister of the emperor, the widow of Licinius; and so is the young Licinius, her son, and others perhaps of the same imperial family, concerning whom I do not know. See ye not that when Constantine shall die, and his sons shall succeed to empire, the faith of Christ which is now condemned shall be established by the imperial law as true?--And even thou, Athanasius, next Bishop of Alexandria, mayst find thyself a fugitive from thine episcopal palace (which the emperor shall give unto thee), a vagabond upon the friendless earth, a martyr for, or a renegade from, what thou now maintainest to be true!

"Brethren, I go hence to death, or banishment, or both. I care not for it. For I live in the steadfast faith and hope that, although the kingdom of heaven be now subverted by the man of sin, yet again some time, somehow, somewhere, it shall be re-established upon the foundation of faith and communism which our Lord did lay, and shall prevail; and war, slavery, and mammon-worship, shall all cease to curse the world; for all people that love liberty and hate tyrants shall be Arians, and mankind shall yet realize the promise of our Lord which he confirmed by his life, by his miracles and parables, and by his death and resurrection, of universal liberty, equality, and fraternity. Brethren, farewell! and the peace of God be with you!"

Then the gaunt, sad, immovable, and irreconcilable heretic walked calmly out of the hall. During the utterance of this terrible oration, many seemed awed by the solemn grandeur and prophetic earnestness of the speaker; many were terrified at his fearless denunciation of the plans, atheism, and hypocrisy of the emperor; and some secretly rejoiced because they supposed that his boldness irrevocably sealed his doom. Constantine himself, convulsed with suppressed wrath, grew pale with passion, and bit his lips to restrain some indiscreet expression of his jealousy, doubt, and fear, as Arius declared the numbers and strength of the Arian party in Armenia, Egypt, Syria, and among the Goths, and eulogized the gallant Crispus Cæsar, his popular and splendid son.

CHAPTER XI.

ONE JOT THAT PASSED FROM THE LAW.

On that very night the grand, lonely, immovable presbyter disappeared, and in that council was seen no more. But the next day came the emperor's sister Constantia, the widow of Licinius, and Licinius, her son, and Crispus Cæsar, the eldest son of Constantine, born of his first wife Minervina, and the emperor's mother, Helena, and all, casting themselves at the feet of Constantine, with tears and supplications besought him that the great, learned, and holy Arius might not be put to death. And they so vehemently urged this petition that Constantine finally seemed to give way thereto, and promised, confirming his promise with an awful oath, that he would spare the life of the presbyter. In truth, he supposed that to execute Arius would be impolitic, because it would forever alienate a very large number of his subjects, and he wished to avoid it, and also to win praises for his clemency. He therefore ordered that Arius be banished to, and closely guarded in, a strong fortress in the wildest portion of Illyricum, until, "in the opinion of the emperor, the Arians of Armenia, Egypt, and Syria, and the Goths, might have become reconciled unto the creed of Nicea."

Crispus Cæsar boldly declared that he indorsed the opinions of Arius, and regarded the great heretic with larger love and reverence than any other man had ever gained from him; and the emperor heard this declaration with gloom and hatred, but in ominous silence.

And one by one, under the influence of the threats of Constantine, who still held the bishops together, determined to extort the unanimous consent of all to the acts of the council, under the specious and continuous arguments and forced interpretations of the creed, used by his partisans both lay and clerical, and under the benumbing and stupefying effects of protracted weariness and hopelessness all of them finally subscribed the creed, except Arius and six others--Eusebius of Cæsarea, Eusebius of Nicomedia, Theonas, Bishop of Marmarica, Secundus, Bishop of Theuchira, Euzoius the deacon, Achillas the reader, and Saras, a presbyter--against all of whom the emperor made a decree of perpetual banishment, but gave not orders for the enforcement thereof. He was not satisfied; especially he was dissatisfied because he was unable to extort the signatures of the Eusebii; and he still waited, determined in some way to obtain these signatures. Finally, he caused Eusebius of Cæsarea to be brought before him, and, assuming an air of great friendliness and concern toward him, he said: "Dear bishop, I did tell thee long ago that our differences about the Arian heresy must never be a cause of quarrel between thee and me. I wish to know what difficulty thou hast (and thy brother) in subscribing the creed?"

And Eusebius answered: "The difficulty truly is not a very large one; it is just the size and shape of an 'iota' of the Greek alphabet."

"If it is as insignificant as that," answered the emperor, "let us quietly remove it and be friends again. Tell me, therefore, what thou dost mean."

"Hast thou here the creed?" asked Eusebius.

Constantine handed the parchment to him, and Eusebius said: "This word [Greek:homoousios] is one which Arius condemneth as implying the identity of Father and Son, and my conscience suffereth not me to sign it; but the word [Greek:homoiousios], which differeth therefrom only by the one small [Greek:iota] therein, expresses exactly what I believe, that Father and Son are of like divine nature."

"And wouldst thou sign it if this letter had been written therein? and thy brother? and the others who are sentenced to banishment?"

"Assuredly!"

"It shall never be said," laughed Constantine, "that I have lost my friend and bishop for such a trifle!"

Then he pointed out the fact that a small "[Greek:i]" had been dexterously inserted between "[Greek:homo]" and "[Greek:ousios]" in both the places where the word occurred in the creed, making it the Arian [Greek:homoiousios], instead of the Trinitarian [Greek:homoousios].

"Now, bishop, give me thy signature, and communicate this arrangement confidentially unto the others, and let them come and sign also, that the creed may be unanimously signed, and all of these unseemly dissensions banished out of the established Church."

The bishop laughed lightly, but signed the confession of faith, and not long afterward all the others did so, except Arius, who was already far upon the road to the heart of Illyricum.

Constantine had now completed his long-cherished design of subverting the social and political organization of the primitive Church, and establishing a state religion, of which he might be the head in place of Jesus Christ, in whose name he founded a system that was in open rebellion against the Saviour's whole life and teachings.

It remained only for him to have the action of the OEcumenical Council confirmed by some miraculous circumstances, and the imperial ingenuity was fully equal to the occasion; for two members of the council had died at Nicea during its protracted session, and were buried in the church: With a grand and ostentatious procession by torch-light, the sacred roll of parchment was taken to their tomb and left there through the night, the emperor himself having prayed publicly that, if the departed bishops approved the action of the council, they might in some way signify their assent to the decrees and creed thereof; and early the next morning the signatures of the dead bishops were found upon the parchment! Their endorsement was unequivocal: "We, Chrysanthus and Mysonius, fully concurring with the first Holy and OEcumenical Synod, although removed from earth, have signed the volume with our own hands."

Still, the emperor did not dissolve the assembly, and, in order to gain over the personal affection even of those who had most stubbornly resisted his sacrilegious domination of the council, he provided a magnificent banquet for the members thereof, and lavished upon them every mark of love and honor. He lodged the one-eyed, hamstrung old Paphnutius in his own palace, "and often sent for him to hear the story of his persecutions; and now it was remarked how he would throw his arms round the old man, and put his lips to his eyeless socket as if to suck out with his reverential kiss the blessing which, as it were, lurked in the sacred cavity, and stroked down with his imperial hand the frightful wound; how he pressed his legs and arms, and the royal purple, to the paralyzed limbs, and put his own eyeball into the socket." And, because those maimed and tortured members of the council who had been "confessors" enjoyed the reputation of especial sanctity and honor throughout the Church, Constantine used the same disgusting demagogy in his dealings with them all, and fawned upon and flattered them in the name of Jesus, until he believed he had stolen for himself their influence in aiding him to eradicate primitive Christianity out of the East, as he had already done in the West, and so banishing the kingdom of heaven from the face of the earth; and so nourishing in the very bosom of the Church, maintained and governed by imperial authority, the ancient crimes of war, slavery, and mammon-worship, perpetuating the bondage of the people unto the ruling classes, and giving the sanction of religion to class distinctions between men and families, based upon this idolatry, which had been always the curse of human life.

And for a whole year Constantine pursued his purpose quietly, unceasingly, intelligently, by the use of a thousand different means and agencies, to reduce the East to a condition of ecclesiastical serfdom to his authority, and to confirm, popularize, and consolidate his power. But the slow, doubtful, hesitating adoption of the imperial church by the Christians of Armenia, and to a less degree by those of Syria, Egypt, and the Gothic provinces along the Danube, to whom he had sent back their teacher Ulfilas after ordaining him to be a royal bishop, inspired the emperor with misgivings of the future, and with an almost unreasoning jealousy and hatred of Crispus Cæsar, his son, who was the favorite of all those regions, and of Licinius, who represented the family of the legitimate sovereign thereof, whom Constantine had dethroned and destroyed.

And the next year the emperor went to Rome to celebrate the Ides of Quintilis, the anniversary of the battle of Lake Regillus, in which, according to the chronicles of pagan Rome, the twin-gods Castor and Pollux had fought in defense of the Eternal City, and brought thereto the welcome news of victory. It was esteemed to be the most sacred ceremony known to the Roman people. During the grand festival, Constantine, believing that after the Council of Nicea his own ecclesiastical system was so powerful and so securely established that he need not longer patronize the heathen, refused to take his proper place in the ancient ritual appropriate to the occasion, and even exhibited his contempt for the empty pageantry of a legion of knights passing in solemn procession, by commenting upon their appearance with that caustic, epigrammatic wit of which few men were more thoroughly master. That large portion of the Romans who yet openly adhered to the ancient religion were insulted and furious at the conduct of the emperor, and there was a fierce riot in the streets, during which stones were hurled at the statues of the emperor, and attempts made to overthrow them.

His wife Fausta, the daughter of the fierce old emperor Maximian, inherited much of her father's cruel nature and imperious ambition. She and Constantine had three sons--Constantine, Constantius, and Constans. She had always envied Crispus Cæsar the superiority which his primogenial rights gave to him as the first-born of Constantine over her own sons, and especially had her jealousy been inflamed by the splendid reputation which young Cæsar had gained by the skill and courage wherewith he had defeated the vastly superior navy of Licinius in the straits of the Hellespont. Next to the great emperor himself stood Crispus Cæsar, not only in official station, but in the love and admiration of the world; and her own sons occupied a far less conspicuous position, which was rendered more galling to her pride by the very prominence derived from the fact that they also were the sons of the emperor. Fausta had remarked with secret joy the open aid and friendship showed by Crispus Cæsar for Arius, which fact had aroused the suspicions, as much as the victory of Crispus had excited the jealousy, of the emperor. She failed not, also, to perceive that the devotion of Constantia, the widow of Licinius, and of the Empress Helena, Constantine's mother, to this same Arius, had created a common interest and friendship between Cæsar, Helena, and Constantia, while Eusebius of Nicomedia was the trusted friend and adviser of all of them, and the tutor of young Licinius. Fausta herself, the daughter of a pagan and the wife of an atheist, was as nearly devoid of religious sentiment as it was ever possible for a woman to become; and, like her husband, thought that all faith is only superstition, which may be advantageously used by a wise ruler for the government of men; and understanding better than any one else that Constantine regarded the free Arian spirit as the most dangerous element in the political future of the empire, she had cunningly employed every artifice and innuendo that could tend to inflame his personal hatred of these religious dissenters. She affected to regard the riot in the streets of Rome as arising from the machinations of the Arian recusants. Knowing that Constantine had only once visited Rome since the overthrow of Maxentius, and that he disliked the place, she pretended to desire that he should fix his imperial residence at Rome, on the ground that Milan was inconveniently situated, and that both Nicomedia and Constantinople, being in the midst of vast Arian communities, were unsafe for him.

She thought that the rioting in Rome gave her the opportunity to take some decisive step in accomplishing her long-cherished designs, and began more vehemently to press her insidious suggestions upon the gloomy soul of the atheist whom she knew to worship only himself.

"If the stone wherewith these Arian strangers who are in the city marred the head of thy statue on the Via Sacra had smitten thee, thou wouldst have been slain at once."

"But," said the emperor, dryly, passing his hand over his forehead, "I feel not the slightest pain from the blow."

"The undirected mob is powerless against thee," she said; "but this infamous act is but the unguarded expression of a sentiment common to the millions of Armenia, and to large numbers of the Egyptians and Syrians, and to nearly all of the Goths."

"What hath caused thee so much uneasiness from such a trifle as the throwing of a stone or two? The royal blood should despise such visionary fears."

"But the guardsman, Pilus, who hath lately come from Illyricum, informeth me that in the garrison it is commonly reported that the heretic Arius saith that, if Christians could lawfully bear arms, the Arians of Armenia and the Goths alone could seat Licinius upon the throne of his father, and Crispus Cæsar upon thine."

"But neither Licinius, nor Crispus, nor the Arians, cherish any such treasonable designs," said Constantine.

"I fear lest thou art lulled into a false security. Ever anxious for thy safety and for thy glory, I have consulted auguries and oracles, and, although these things have no great weight with thee or with me as matters of religious faith, the oracles were always valuable portents to show the drift of popular opinion and desire; and no great statesman can afford to despise them, for that which the multitude long after doth sooner or later come to pass; and all the divinations portend calamity to thee and thy house from the Arians."

"But Licinius is a boy, and Crispus Cæsar is quiet, modest, temperate, and unostentatious. He hath neither vices nor ambitions that require him to aspire higher than he already standeth."

"Thou wouldst rather cease to be than cease to rule the empire. Dominion is the dominant passion of thy lofty soul. It is the marked characteristic of thy race. There are other men mastered by similar ambition. The quiet, orderly life of Cæsar may blind the eyes of mankind to an ambition that would hesitate at nothing. Thy father was such a temperate youth that he sacrificed all common lusts and appetites to win the sovereignty of Rome, and he would not have been contented long with that if he had lived. Thou didst inherit his nature with his military genius, and thou hast lived moderately in order to gain the sovereignty of the world. Crispus hath inherited from thee the great abilities which enabled him to triumph on the Hellespont and share thy glory, or rather take to himself the greater share. He would not forego the pleasures of youth and the advantages of his great position unless he were constantly meditating upon some great design. Look to thyself, Augustus."

Such insidious counsels she constantly offered to the jealous and cruel emperor, and they bore a deadly fruit. Suddenly the gallant young Cæsar was seized, transported to the gloomy fortress of Pola, imprisoned, and then murdered, by order of "the most Christian Emperor Constantine," "the favorite of God," "the defender of the faith," his father! Almost immediately the young Licinius was snatched from the arms of his mother, and put to death by the order of his uncle, Constantine, "the first Christian Emperor of Rome."

"I have fortified my throne against all danger from Crispus Cæsar and the Arians," said Constantine unto himself.

"The road to royal favor and to future power is opened for my splendid brood of Cæsars," murmured Fausta under her breath.

"The Empress Fausta hath plotted against and murdered my gallant son Crispus, and my grandson Licinius, whom I loved. I will be revenged upon the cruel murderess or die!" was the unuttered comment of the Empress-mother Helena; and from that hour, with the slow, settled, and deliberate hatred of old age and hopeless sorrow, she sought for the life of Fausta.

The world held its breath in horror at these fearful crimes, and hardly did the historians of that age dare to commit any account thereof unto posterity. But it was impossible for the officers of the Illyrian fortress, where Arius was imprisoned, to speak of such atrocities without some knowledge thereof coming to their quiet, intelligent prisoner. When he heard of the assassination of Crispus Cæsar and of Licinius, the only comment made by the stern, inflexible, incorruptible old heretic was this: "A council of Christ's Church ought not to be oecumenical and barren; and the first one already beareth terrible but legitimate fruits."

The empress-mother, old Helena, continually and skillfully directed the suspicions of her dark-souled, bloody son against the Empress Fausta herself; and, when she had prepared her vengeance so that she thought it could not fail, she accused Fausta of infidelity to the emperor, with that same Pilus, of the imperial guardsmen. Many craftily prepared circumstances corroborated the infamous and degrading accusation, and quickly and secretly the emperor put his wife to death.

"Small recompense for my great wrong," murmured Helena, "but all that I can take; for the woman's beautiful sons are also mine own grandchildren."

"I have no friend on earth," mused Constantine, "except my mother and Eusebius of Cæsarea."

When the gloomy old prisoner of the Illyrian fortress heard of the murder of Fausta, upon this disgraceful charge of adultery with a guardsman, he said: "The grand name of Constantine is soaked with domestic blood and draggled in domestic filth. The royal oecumenical council beareth such strange and deadly fruit."

The officers of the fortress were held to be accountable with their lives for the heretic's safe-keeping, and vigilant spies reported to Constantine almost every word he uttered, and stole and transmitted to the emperor almost every line he wrote, and the old man's gloomy comments upon the condition of the Church, and his strange and seemingly inspired interpretations of prophecy, which he supposed to relate to Constantine and his new city of Constantinople, built upon seven hills, above the narrow straits whereto the commerce of the world resorted, doubtless aided Fausta's and Helena's conspiracies to lead him into the commission of those horrible crimes which shocked the moral sense of the world, and justified the pagans in breathless wonder as to what new atrocities would follow the legal establishment of the Christian faith--atrocities that perhaps afterward drove Julian the Apostate to struggle for the restoration of paganism. And doubtless Arius himself would long ago have perished, if the emperor had not hoped to obtain from his manuscripts and prophecies warning of every coming danger.

CHAPTER XII.

AN IMPERIAL REPENTANCE.

But, although these secret horrors, which degraded the noblest family of the empire, were kept as still as private crimes, and men dared scarcely speak of them except in terrified whispers, the knowledge thereof spread abroad, until enough was known to fill the Christian world with detestation of the emperor; and he whose governing passion had been to rule mankind, and to command their respect and reverence at any cost, found himself to be held by the popular verdict as an outcast from virtue and decency. His iron soul was proof against every shaft except this, but the wound it inflicted upon his boundless self-love was bitter and incurable. Realizing that he had outraged the moral sentiment of Christendom by these atrocious crimes, the emperor determined to overthrow what he called Christianity, and re-establish the pagan religion, charging his crimes to the blinding influences of the superstition and strong magic of the Church, and thereby win for himself the love and confidence of that large portion of his subjects who still adhered to the ancient idolatries. In pursuance of this design, Constantine applied to the flamens at Rome for purification from his domestic crimes, as the first step toward the rehabilitation of his moral nakedness and deformity; but the priests, who knew his crafty, unscrupulous, cruel, and atheistic nature, and who already had in training the young and gifted Julian, seized this opportunity to gratify their theological hate, by boldly declaring that the ancient rituals of paganism did not know any form of expiation for such fearful and unnecessary crimes as his.

Then Constantine turned away forever from heathenism, and sent for Hosius, Bishop of Cordova, who assured him that "in Christianity all sin, however great, may find forgiveness: for He saveth unto the uttermost all that come unto God by him."

"And what method must I use to secure this forgiveness?" asked the emperor.

"Only true repentance toward God, and humble, sincere faith in Jesus Christ," said the bishop.

Then, with a singular smile, Constantine looked at the bishop and answered: "Bishop, thou dost forget that thou art not now talking to a woman taken in adultery, nor to a thief upon the cross. Farewell!"

And with a wave of the hand the emperor contemptuously dismissed him.

But Constantine could not endure the popular detestation of which he knew himself to be justly the object, and as a last resort he sent for Eusebius of Cæsarea. Eusebius knew the emperor fully as well as the emperor knew him, and, of course, knew that he might as well chant psalms to a deaf ass as to recommend faith and repentance to the imperial atheist, as Hosius of Cordova had innocently endeavored to do. When Eusebius came before the emperor, Constantine spoke to him in a light, bantering tone, saying: "Bishop, Crispus Cæsar became infatuated with the idea that he was great enough to wear my sandals and to wield my spear even while I live; and the young man met with a fatal accident. The youth Licinius, and the woman Fausta, exposed themselves to some unwholesome atmosphere, and the results of their indiscretion were deleterious to their health. These events have happened unfortunately for me, and I require thine unfailing aid in avoiding further inconvenience from them. What canst thou do for me?"

"Could not the flamens of Jupiter give thy burdened conscience rest?" said the bishop, quietly, but with malicious pleasure.

"No," answered Constantine, laughing. "The priests are good haters--somewhat too demonstrative, perhaps, but steady and reliable in their antipathies; and so they took out their spite upon me the first time Fate gave them an opportunity."

"Could not the most learned and holy Hosius point out to thee the road to peace?"

"No, indeed. That respectable idiot began some sort of mummery concerning faith and repentance; but I cut him short. Bishop, thou wert not wont to be so difficult. I confess that, since the Council of Nicea, I have not done justice to thy superior merit, and have even felt somewhat estranged from thee. Forget all that, and let us once more be friends."

"Augustus," said the bishop, "I have keenly felt the withdrawal of thy favor, although I have complained to no one. I think that, if it had been otherwise, I could have showed thee sufficient reasons for avoiding some terrible mistakes. What is the exact difficulty which these mistakes have led thee upon?"

"The Arians are rejoiced by any occurrence that gives them a pretext for railing at me; the orthodox Christians have the unblushing impudence to attempt to sit in judgment upon the actions of the emperor that rescued them from persecutions, and affect to be shocked thereby, just as if they were fit to judge his deeds or comprehend his policy; the implacable flamens hope to make such use of these accidents as to lead the world back to paganism without my aid. The Arians hate me because I would not permit them to establish a kingdom in the empire of which I was not to be the king. Thou must find some way to conciliate the fools, for the hearts of all men are estranged from me; and, as thou hast always known, I would rather rule by love than by terror. But rule I will, while I shall live. Now, how can I regain my former hold upon either the pagan or the Christian world?"

"Thou must first of all definitely abandon the idea that the empire can ever return to paganism," said Eusebius. "The amazing progress of Christianity among the people and the rapid decline of heathenism demonstrate that the old religion hath almost ceased to be a political force, and any emperor who would seek to re-establish it is foredoomed to certain failure."

"Let that pass. Ye bishops always regard the Church as the first thing to be considered. I concede that thou art right. What then?"

"Thou must also understand," said Eusebius, with malicious pleasure, "that, while the will of the emperor is the law of the land, it is no longer the standard of right and wrong for Christians. Thy statutes may control political life, and prescribe the external forms of worship for the Church: its conscience hath passed even beyond thy control."

Constantine turned white with wrath.

"The impudent beggars!" he cried, "whom I redeemed from tortures and from death! Where, then, was their 'conscience' when the council subverted the kingdom of heaven upon earth, and they all signed the decree which abolished the earthly sovereignty of Christ? But," checking his furious anger with a mighty effort, "what next?"

"If a man hath done a crime," said Eusebius, "no matter how cruel and unnatural, the Christians understand that he may obtain forgiveness for his sin by repentance and faith, even as King David did in the matter of Bath-sheba."

"Well!" said Constantine, impatiently.

"The Christian world will never pardon thee without this repentance and faith, or the appearance of it," said Eusebius, and he uttered the last few words in a low, peculiar tone.

"And what shape might 'the appearance of it' assume?" asked the emperor, with a laugh.

"Thou mightst go in sackcloth and ashes unto the church and publicly pray to God and man for pardon!"

"And I might far sooner hang up a bishop and exterminate a sect that would seriously insist upon any such degrading terms!"

"So I supposed," said Eusebius, "and even then such a course would only be 'the appearance' of faith and repentance, not the things themselves. But thou mightst build a church and dedicate it unto the memory of Cæsar; or set up his statue, with an inscription intimating that he was the victim of a mistake, and the object of affectionate and sorrowful remembrance. Either of these 'appearances of it' might be sufficient."

"That will answer," cried Constantine. "Crispus Cæsar was a handsome man, and an excellent subject for a statue. The statue shall be of gold, and the inscription shall be, 'To Crispus, mine injured and innocent son.' Will that, think you, reconcile the orthodox? Or what else dost thou advise?"

"The Empress-mother Helena should exhibit some similar token of repentance for her hatred of the Empress Fausta."

"And what 'appearance of it' should her faith and repentance assume?" said Constantine, laughing merrily.

"Recently," replied Eusebius, "a lively interest hath sprung up throughout the Church in the 'holy places' in Palestine. If the empress should make a pilgrimage to the Holy Land, and found there a handsome church and some sacred shrines, she would cease to annoy thee, amuse herself, and do a great work toward restoring the love and confidence of Christians to thyself and her."

"Thou art a true and glorious bishop," laughed the emperor, "and thou dost never forget the welfare of the Church. The empress-mother shall go quickly on her sacred pilgrimage, and all the holy places shall rejoice. Is not that enough? Or is there yet something more?"

"This would suffice for the orthodox," said Eusebius; "but years have passed since the Council of Nicea. Time hath assuaged the bitterness of former days, which would, perhaps, have faded out altogether but that the banishment of Arius keepeth it alive. If thou wouldst reconcile the whole Church unto thyself, recall and even show some special honor to the Libyan."

"Thou hast reserved thy bitterest medicine for the last!"

"But it is necessary, Augustus. For days past thy sister Constantia, who is even now upon the bed of death, hath entreated me that I would come unto thee and ask thee to visit her, that she might make it her dying request that thou recall Arius and restore his church to him. Of course I could not come till thou didst order it." And then the bishop, fixing his eyes firmly upon the face of Constantine, with his right hand extended, said with inexpressible dignity: "Augustus, thy sister's husband, Licinius, the Emperor of the East, and her only son, Licinius, both perished by thine own order; yet her devotion unto thee hath never faltered. Surely thou canst not refuse her dying supplications!"

Constantine's face for once grew soft with a genuine emotion of humanity, and he replied: "Surely not, bishop! I always loved Constantia. I will visit her, and do whatever she desires."

"Go to-day, then," said Eusebius, "for she hath but few hours more to live."

And Constantine went; and the long and sorely tried and deeply injured, but still faithful and loving sister, with her dying breath besought him to recall the great and holy Arius, and restore the peace and unity of the Church and of the empire; and with a mighty oath (as usual) he promised so to do.

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