levation; and each, on being elevated, changed it for a life
of extraordinary penance and saintly devotion. Each was promoted to his
high place by the act, direct or concurrent, of his sovereign; and each
showed to that sovereign in the most emphatic way that a bishop was the
servant, not of man, but of the Lord of heaven and earth. Each boldly
confronted his sovereign in a great religious quarrel, and staked his
life on its issue;--but then comes the contrast, for Becket's earthly
master was as resolute in his opposition to the Church as Becket was in
its behalf, and made him a martyr; whereas the Imperial Power of Rome
quailed and gave way before the dauntless bearing and the grave and
gracious presence of the great prelate of Milan. Indeed, the whole
Pontificate of Ambrose is a history of successive victories of the
Church over the State; but I shall limit myself to a bare outline of one
of them.

2.

Ambrose had presided in his see about eleven years at the time when the
events took place which are here to be related. Valentinian was dead, as
well as his eldest son Gratian. His second son, who bore his own name,
was Emperor of the West, under the tutelage of Justina, his second wife.

Justina was an Arian, and brought up her son in her own heretical views.
This was about the time when the heresy was finally subdued in the
Eastern Churches; the Ecumenical Council of Constantinople had lately
been held, many Arian bishops had conformed, and laws had been passed by
Theodosius against those who held out. It was natural under such
circumstances that a number of the latter should flock to the court of
Milan for protection and patronage. The Gothic officers of the palace
were Arians also, as might be supposed, after the creed of their nation.
At length they obtained a bishop of their persuasion from the East; and
having now the form of an ecclesiastical body, they used the influence
of Valentinian, or rather of his mother, to extort from Ambrose one of
the churches of Milan for their worship.

The bishop was summoned to the palace before the assembled Court, and
was formally asked to relinquish St. Victor's Church, then called the
Portian Basilica, which was without the walls, for the Arian worship.
His duty was plain; the churches were the property of Christ; he was the
representative of Christ, and was therefore bound not to cede what was
committed to him in trust. This is the account of the matter given by
himself