things ineffable, and to explain that which we are not permitted to examine. And inftead of performing with a fincere faith that which is commanded us, (which were otherwise fufficient) namely, to worship the Father and the Son, and to be filled with the Spirit, we are obliged to employ our weak reasonings in explaining things incomprehenfible." Every fincere believer, in every age, has had occafion to make the fame remark, when called to contend earnestly for the faith once delivered to the faints.

His views of the Three Perfons in the Trinity are remarkably perfpicuous and fcriptural. In speaking of the Holy Spirit, he fays, that he enlightens our understandings and warms our hearts*, that he is the author of all grace, and will be with us to the end of the world; that he is our comforter here while we live in expectation of a future life, the earneit of our hopes, the light of our minds, and the warmth of our fouls. He directs us to pray for this Holy Spirit, to enable us to do good, and to perfevere in faith and obedience.

There will be no occafion to take any farther notice of his writings, unlefs it be to mention his addreffes to the emperor on the fame fubject. Two he wrote with decency and moderation; in the third, he appears, evidently, to fmart under the wounds of perfecution, and treats the prince with an unchriftian afperity, for which no other apology can be made, than the fame which must be made for Athanafius, namely, "that oppreffion maketh a wife man mad." In general, there is a proportion preferved in the church between doctrinal light and holy

Thus owning his influence on the two leading powers of the human mind, the understanding, and the will; not on one alone, but on both, agreeably to the views of the best and wisest in all ages.

holy practice. Sanctification is carried on by the knowledge of the truth. And the superior degree of that knowledge, in the first and fecond century, will account for the fuperior degree of Chriftian meekness and charity, in those, who fuffered for the Gofpel, compared with the practice of the faints of the fourth century.

Hilary, after his converfion, was fingularly exemplary in his attachment to the Gofpel, avoiding any appearance of countenancing the fashionable herefies, and employing himself in recommending his religion to others. He was married, and had by his wife a daughter called Abra, whofe education he fuperintended with great exactness. The gradual progrefs of fuperftition may be remarked from his cafe. He certainly cohabited with his wife after he was appointed bishop of Poitiers, and yet he ftrongly recommended his daughter to devote herself wholly to the fervice of Chrift by a state of virginity. To relate his active employment in the Arian controverfy, would be again to introduce a fubject, with which the reader has been already fatiated. Suffice it to fay, that he spent fome time in banishment, in Phrygia, for the fake of a good confcience, that he was at length reftored to his See, and that by his lenity on the one hand, which provoked the Luciferians, and by his conftancy on the other, which offended the Arian emperor, he was yet enabled to be of fignal service to the church, and was to the Weft, what Athanafius was to the Eaft, the pillar of orthodoxy. The Latin church indeed was never fo much infefted with Arianifm as the Greek; and France, in particular, was through him preferved from the reigning herefy. He died at Poitiers A.D. about the year 368. To him the great church at 368. Poitiers is dedicated, and in the midst of the city,

is a column erected to him with an inscription, at once expreffive of the admiration of his virtues, and of the fuperftition of those who wrote it *.

* Divo Hilario, Urbis propugnatori, fideliffimo, affiduiffimo, certiffimo, Pictavorum Epifcopo.

To Saint Hilary, the defender of the city, moft faithful, affidų. ous, and certain, the bishop of Poitiers.

CHAP.

CHAP. XXIII.

BASIL OF CESAREA*.

BASIL,, firmamed the Great, on account of his learning and piety, was defcended from Chriftian ancestors, who fuffered much during the Dioclefian perfecution. His grandmother Macrina, herself a Confeffor for the faith of Christ, and a difciple of Gregory Thaumaturgus, was eminently ufeful to him, in fuperintending his education, and fixing his principles. After a ftrict domeftic education in Cappadocia, his native country, he travelled for improvement in knowledge, according to the custom of thofe, whofe circumftances enabled them to bear the expence, and came to Athens. Here he met with Gregory Nazianzen, with whom he had a very cordial intimacy. At length, leaving him there, he came to Conftantinople, and put himself under the care of the famous Libanius. It is certain, that he was poffeffed of all the fecular learning of the age, and if he had chofen to give himself wholly to the world, he might have shone as much, as fuperior parts, ftrong understanding, and indefatigable industry, united, can effect. But his mind was under a fpiritual influence; he found an emptinefs in the most refined enjoyments of literature; even Athens itself, he called a vain felicity. He was led to feek for food for his foul, and in conjunction with Gregory, he ftudied the works of Ori

The epiftles of Bafil ftill extant, with the writings of his friend Gregory Nazianzen, and the two hiftorians, Socrates and Sozomen, afford materials fufficiently ample for his life. Cave has given us a connected view of his actions, and Du Pin has reviewed his letters,

Origen; and fome monuments of their veneration for that learned father are ftill extant *.

It will scarce be needful to add, that, by this means, he contracted a taste for expofition, neither the most evangelical nor the moft perfpicuous. In his travels into Egypt, he converfed with monks and hermits, and prepared himself for that exceffive attachment to the fpirit of Afcetics, which afterwards made him the great fupporter and encourager of those superstitions.

It is my duty, however, to look for the spouse of Chrift, wherever I can find her, although the may be disguised by an unfuitable and foreign garb. Julian the apoftate had known him, when they ftudied together at Athens, and being now advanced to the empire, he invited Bafil to his court. But the fear of God, and the love of heavenly things, which undoubtedly predominated in the latter, fuffered him not to give way to the temptation for a moment. He wrote with Chriftian fincerity to the emperor, and provoked him by his faithful rebukes; choofing rather to live in Cæfarea a despised Chriftian, than to fhare in the honours and riches of the court, to which his uncommon endowments and abilities would have advanced him.

After fome time, he lived in retirement at Neocæfarea in Pontus, and by his example, concurring with the fpirit of the times, he not only drew over his friend Gregory, but also great numbers, to embrace a retired life, and to employ themselves in prayer, finging of pfalms, and devotional exercises. And here, these two friends formed the rules of monaftic difcipline, which were the basis of all those fuperftitious inftitutions, which afterwards overran

the

Viz. The Philocalia of Origen, confifting of Scriptural Queftions, and Origen's Comments, which these two friends compiled.