OF ThE HOMAN EMPIKF,.

venerable bishop. The experience of Ammianus had convinced him, that the enmity of the Chris-tians towards each other surpassed the fury ofsavage beasts against man ; z and Gregory Nazi-anzen most pathetically laments, that the king-dom of heaven was converted, by discord, intothe image of chaos, of a nocturnal tempest, andof hell itself . 1 The fierce and partial writers ofthe times, ascribing all virtue to themselves, andimputing all guilt to their adversaries, havepainted the battle of the angels and demons.Our calmer reason will reject such pure andperfect monsters of vice or sanctity, and will im-pute an equal, or at least an indiscriminate,measure of good and evil to the hostile secta-ries, who assumed and bestowed the appella-tions of orthodox and heretics. They had beeneducated in the same religion, and the samecivil society. Their hopes and fears in the pre-sent, or in a future life, were balanced in thesame proportion. On either side, the errormight be innocent, the faith sincere, the prac-tice meritorious or corrupt. Their passionswere excited by similar objects; and they mightalternately abuse the favour of the court, or ofthe people. The metaphysical opinions of theathanasians and the arians could not influencetheir moral character; and they were alike ac-tuated by the intolerant spirit, which has been

* Nullas infestas hominibus bestias, ut '&uut sibi ferales pleriqueehri&tianorum expertus. Animian xxii, 5.

* Gregor. Nazianzen , Oral, i, p. 33. See Tillemont, tom. yi, p.50l>quarto edit.

vor.. m. ud

401

CHAP.

XXI.