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"the unsleeping worm, and is never extinguished, but " is continual and everlasting for the punishment of wick"ed men. It is the nature of all these, to ruin, to "destroy; unless, however, one may suppose that the 66 fire, in this case also, is to be understood more mod"erately, and as is worthy, indeed, of the God who "punishes"." In another passage, speaking of the Novatians, an heretical sect, he says, "perhaps they "will be baptized, in the next world, with fire, which is "the last baptism, and is not only keen, but of great "duration, and which shall feed on the dull matter, as

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on hay, till it shall have consumed all their sins2 ." Such is the indecision of Gregory upon this subject, that it is of little consequence to mention his repeated application of the word everlasting to future punish

ment.

XVI. It has been said, by one of the best critics on ecclesiastical history, that of all the fathers of the fourth century, there was not a more moderate nor worthier man, than Gregory Nazianzen. Uniting a quick and deep sensibility with a lofty imagination, he was too contemplative, too fond of retirement, to engage willingly in the perpetual contentions of his age, or even to relish the tumults of a public life. He condemned the captiousness of the zealous bigots upon doctrinal points; though one would suppose that he himself was, in this respect, fastidious enough. The clergy of that day, he boldly, and it appears justly, represented as a body of

y Greg. Nazianz. Oratio xl, pp. 664, 665, Tom. i, -Oratio xxxix, p, 636, Tom, i, marks on Eccl. Hist, vol. iv, p、 95.

z Ditto,

a Le Clerc. See Jortin's ReLondon, 1773.

men avaricious, quarrelsome, licentious, and in one word, unprincipled; and of the frequent councils which then disturbed the peace of the church, he declared that he was afraid of them, bacause he had never seen the end of one that was happy and pleasant, or that did not rather increase than diminish the evil. Nothing can more strikingly evince the intolerant maxims and spirit of the age, than that one of its most pacific men approved, and sometimes urged, the persecution of heretics, and openly lamented that the apostate emperor Julian had not been put to death by his predecessor.

His intimacy with Basil the Great, began in early life, amidst the schools of Athens. Having already studied both in Palestine, and at Alexandria, Gregory repaired to this seat of Grecian literature about the year 344; and was, not long afterwards, joined by his young companion. Here they became acquainted with Julian, the future emperor, then a youth like themselves. Gregory at length returned home to Nazianzum, a small city in the southwestern part of Cappadocia, of which his father was bishop. But when Basil, on his return from the monasteries of Egypt, retired to a solitude in Pontus, he followed him to that retreat, assisted him in establishing the monastic institutions there, and, as it seems, remained awhile after his friend had engaged in a more public and distinguished sphere. The latter was ordained bishop of Cappadocia, in A. D, 370; and wishing to pre-occupy against the attempts of a rival, the small and obscure village of Sasima, on the confines of

b Greg. Nazianz. Epist. Iv.

his jurisdiction, he recalled Gregory from his retirement, and appointed him bishop of the contested place. Gregory resented this heartless conduct in his friend; and refusing to accept the unworthy appointment, took up his residence again at Nazianzum, assisting his aged father in the care of the church. After the death of his venerable parent, he went to Seleucia, and thence, at the urgent request of the bishops, to Constantinople, where he arrived about A. D. 378. He found the city full of Arians, who occupied all the churches; the orthodox few, dispirited, and destitute of a place for public worship. After preaching awhile in private houses, his eloquence and austere life drew into his flock a number sufficiently large to erect a spacious church, which they called The Anastasia, or Resurrection, to intimate the revival of the Consubstantial faith. The attention of the whole city was roused: the triumphant orthodox, the heretics of all kinds, and even the heathens, crowded in a mingled mass to the Anastasia, to feast on his doctrine, or to admire the enchantment of his eloquence; and such was the pressure of the throng, as sometimes to crush down the railing which enclosed the pulpit.

In the midst of his success, however, he was deeply wounded by the ingratitude of an unprincipled but sanctimonious wretch, whom he had cherished. This impostor, named Maximus, formed a faction among the orthodox themselves, at Alexandria and other places, to usurp the bishopric of Constantinople; came with his partisans, and forcibly entered Gregory's own church; and when driven out by the alarmed multitude, appealed, though in vain, to the emperor Theodosius. He

finally succeeded, however, in prevailing on the Italian bishops to countenance his project; and he found too many among the eastern clergy, who, out of envy, favored his cause. Few men, perhaps, were less fitted than Gregory, to act amidst such circumstances. Though bold, vehement and resolute when surrounded by avowed enemies to his faith, opposition from his own party withered his heart, and sickened him of life. He sought to retire from Constantinople to solitude. But the anxious entreaties of his people so far prevailed that he deferred his resolution; and the new emperor Theodosius, making his first entry into Constantinople towards the end of the year 380, drove the Arians from all the churches in the city, banished their bishop, and introduced Gregory to the possession, and to the revenues, of their Great or Cathedral Church. This new state of things seemed to afford him a space of quiet; and in the General Council which assembled the next year, at Constantinople, he was confirmed in his bishopric. Before the close of the session however, or perhaps in another session held at the same place in A. D. 382, new difficulties broke out: Gregory's stern integrity gave offence to some, as it thwarted their intrigues; and his popularity aroused the jealousy of others. Sinking under premature old age, wearied with contention, and disgusted with the vices of the bishops, he resolved, notwithstanding the bitter lamentations of his friends, to resign a post that continually exposed him to the abuse of clerical envy and ambition. In the Great Church of

e It stood on the spot now occupied by the great mosque of St. Sophia.

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Constantinople, so lately wrested from the Arians, he ascended the pulpit for the last time, surrounded by the members of the General Council, by his own beloved people, and by the wonted crowd. He repeated the history of his success in that city, described the doctrine he had preached, besought the bishops by forsaking their contentious practices to heal the divisions of the church, and concluded by taking leave of public life and of the scenes of his labors. "Farewell, Anasta"sia!" said he; "thou that sawest our doctrine raised 'up from its low despised estate; dear seats of our com"mon victory, our new Siloam, where first the ark of our "God rested, after its hopeless wanderings in the desert. "Farewell, too, this great and august temple, where we "meet! our new heritage; thou that wast a Jebus be"fore, now converted to a Jerusalem. And ye other "sacred edifices also scattered over the whole city and "its suburbs, farewell! the grace of God, and not our "feeble exertions, hath now filled you with the faithful. "Thou envied and dangerous pre-eminence, episcopal "throne, farewell. Farewell, pontifical palace, vener"able for thine age and the majesty of the priesthood. "Farewell ye choirs of Nazareans! whose strains of " psalmody I shall no more hear, whose nocturnal cele"brations of our Lord's resurrection, I shall no more "attend. Ye holy virgins, ye widows and orphans, ye "eyes of the poor, turned alternately to heaven and to"wards the preacher, farewell. Farewell, ye hospita"ble domes, devoted to Christ, which have so often as"sisted my infirmity. Ye mingling throngs that crowd"ed to my sermons, ye swift-handed notaries, ye rails

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