in the course of the dispute:--

"Do not," he says, "O Emperor, embarrass yourself with the thought
that you have an Emperor's right over sacred things. Exalt not
yourself, but, as you would enjoy a continuance of power, be God's
subject. It is written, God's to God, and Caesar's to Caesar. The
palace is the Emperor's, the churches are the bishop's."--_Ep._ 20.

This argument, which is true at all times, was much more convincing in
an age like the primitive, before men had begun to deny that Christ had
left a visible representative of Himself in His Church. If there was a
body to whom the concerns of religion were intrusted, there could be no
doubt it was that over which Ambrose presided. It had been there planted
ever since Milan became Christian, its ministers were descended from the
Apostles, and it was the legitimate trustee of the sacred property. But
in our day men have been taught to doubt whether there _is_ one
Apostolic Church, though it is mentioned in the Creed: nay, it is
grievous to say, clergymen have sometimes forgotten, sometimes made
light of their own privileges. Accordingly, when a question arises now
about the spoliation of the Church, we are obliged to betake ourselves
to the rules of _national_ law; we appeal to precedents, or we urge the
civil consequences of the measure, or we use other arguments, which,
good as they may be, are too refined to be very popular. Ambrose rested
his resistance on grounds which the people understood at once, and
recognized as irrefragable. They felt that he was only refusing to
surrender a trust. They rose in a body, and thronged the palace gates. A
company of soldiers was sent to disperse them; and a riot was on the
point of ensuing, when the ministers of the Court became alarmed, and
despatched Ambrose to appease the tumult, with the pledge that no
further attempt should be made on the possessions of the Church.

Now some reader will here interrupt the narrative, perhaps, with
something of an indignant burst about connecting the cause of religion
with mobs and outbreaks. To whom I would reply, that the multitude of
men is always rude and intemperate, and needs restraint,--religion does
not make them so. But being so, it is better they should be zealous
about religion, and repressed by religion, as in this case, than flow
and ebb again under the irrational influences of this world. A mob,
indeed, is always wayward and faithless; but it is a