allus, and suppressed the revolt of Sylvanus, who had taken
the diadem from the head of Vetranio, and vanquished in the field the
legions of Magnentius, received from an invisible hand a wound, which he
could neither heal nor revenge; and the son of Constantine was the
first of the Christian princes who experienced the strength of those
principles, which, in the cause of religion, could resist the most
violent exertions of the civil power.

The persecution of Athanasius, and of so many respectable bishops, who
suffered for the truth of their opinions, or at least for the integrity
of their conscience, was a just subject of indignation and discontent
to all Christians, except those who were blindly devoted to the Arian
faction. The people regretted the loss of their faithful pastors, whose
banishment was usually followed by the intrusion of a stranger into the
episcopal chair; and loudly complained, that the right of election was
violated, and that they were condemned to obey a mercenary usurper,
whose person was unknown, and whose principles were suspected. The
Catholics might prove to the world, that they were not involved in
the guilt and heresy of their ecclesiastical governor, by publicly
testifying their dissent, or by totally separating themselves from
his communion. The first of these methods was invented at Antioch,
and practised with such success, that it was soon diffused over the
Christian world. The doxology or sacred hymn, which celebrates the glory
of the Trinity, is susceptible of very nice, but material, inflections;
and the substance of an orthodox, or an heretical, creed, may be
expressed by the difference of a disjunctive, or a copulative, particle.
Alternate responses, and a more regular psalmody, were introduced into
the public service by Flavianus and Diodorus, two devout and active
laymen, who were attached to the Nicene faith. Under their conduct
a swarm of monks issued from the adjacent desert, bands of
well-disciplined singers were stationed in the cathedral of Antioch, the
Glory to the Father, And the Son, And the Holy Ghost, was triumphantly
chanted by a full chorus of voices; and the Catholics insulted, by the
purity of their doctrine, the Arian prelate, who had usurped the throne
of the venerable Eustathius. The same zeal which inspired their songs
prompted the more scrupulous members of the orthodox party to form
separate assemblies, which were governed by the presbyters, till the
death of