and the Incarnation and Death of our Saviour, St. Basil writes," If we attempt to reject those practices, as things of little moment, which "rest on no written authority, we shall, by our imprudence, materially injure the gospel itself; even we shall reduce the very preaching of our faith to a mere name. Such (to mention that in the first "place which is most common) is the practice of making the sign of "the cross, by those who put their hope in Christ. In what writing "has this been taught?" Lib. de Spiritu. S. c. xxvii. t. iii. p. 54.

On the doctrine of Fasting, and more particularly on the fast of Lent, which Catholics observe at this day, as a primitive institution of their church, derived by tradition from the apostles, and Protestants deride as superstitious, St. Basil writes, "To them, who willingly un"dertake it, fasting is at all times, profitable-but chiefly now, when a solemn fast is everywhere published. There is no island, no continent, no city, no nation, no corner of the earth, where it is not "heard. Let no one then exclude himself from the number of fasters; " in which number every age, all ranks take their place." Homil. ii. de Jajun. t. ii. p. 11.

On the honour and respect due to the Relics of Saints, which Catholics now practise and Protestants declare to be superstitious and idolatrous, St. Basil writes, "Affection to our departed brethren is refer"red to the Lord, whom they served; and he who honours them that “died for the faith, shews that he is inspired by the same ardour; so "that one and the same action is a proof of many virtues." Ad. Ambros. Mediol. Ep. cxcvii. t. iii. p. 287. "If any one suffer for the name of Christ, his remains are deemed precious. And if any one "touch the bones of a martyr, he becomes partaker, in some degree, "of his holiness, on account of the grace residing in them. "fore, precious in the sight of God is the death of his saints." Serm. in hæc verba Psal. cxv. t. i. p. 375. "I am greatly pleased, that you have “raised an edifice to the name of Christ. And I am desirous, should "I be able to procure some relics of martyrs, to join you in your soli"citude and labour." Ep. ccccviii. Arcadio. Episc. t. iii. p. 142.

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So on the invocation of Angels and Saints, the rejection of which on oath is made a qualification to office in this country, St. Basil and St. Gregory are very explicit. The former, in celebrating the feast of the forty martyrs of Sebaste, in the Lesser Armenia, who suffered under the emperor Licinius, in 320, and whose memory is commemorated to this day by the Catholic church on the 10th of March, thus addresses his hearers, “These are they, who, having taken possession of our country, stand as towers against the incursions of the enemy. Here " is a ready aid to Christians. Often have you endeavoured, often have you toiled, to gain one intercessor. You have now forty, all emitting one common prayer, Who is oppressed by care, flies to their aid, as does he that prospers: the first to seek deliverance; the se"cond that his good fortune may continue. The pious mother is found praying for her children; and the wife for the return and the health "of her husband. O ye guardians of the human race! O ye power"ful messengers before God! let us join our prayers with yours." Homil. xx in. xl. Martyr. t. ii. p. 155, 156. The latter, in his funeral oration on this very saint Basil, his particular friend, says, " and now

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"he, indeed, is in heaven; there, if I mistake not, offering up sacrifices "for us, pouring out prayers for the people: for he has not left us so, "" as to have deserted us. And do thou, sacred and holy spirit, look down, I beseech thee, on us: arrest by thy prayers that sting of the flesh which was given to us for our correction, or teach us how to "bear it with fortitude: guide all our ways to that which is best: and, when we shall depart hence, receive us then into thy society; that "with thee, beholding more clearly that blessed and adorable Trinity, "which now we see in a dark manner, we may put a final close to all our wishes, and receive the reward of the labours which we have borne," Orat. xx. de Laud. S. Basil, t. i. p. 272, 373. In the same language he addresses St. Athanasius, and adds,- He, in a good old age, dying after many conflicts, now regards, I doubt not, our concerns, "and being himself freed from the bonds of the flesh, stretches out his "6 hand to us.' Orat. xxiv. p. 425.

By these quotations from the writings of two great and eminently gifted prelates of the primitive church, it is plain what was then believed by the members of that church. From a comparison too with the extracts we have given from the fathers of the first and second century, it will be seen that the doctrines of ALL of them were ONE AND THE SAME. There is not the slightest deviation to be found, and these same doctrines are still taught by the ministers of the Catholic church, and by them only, at this present day. Now, if Eusebius of Samosata, who opposed the Arian heresy, and who was instrumental in promoting Basil, the teacher of the foregoing doctrines, to the see of Cæsarea, and for which conduct he was called by "Gregory the younger" as Fox styles him, though he happened to be the elder brother, "The pillar of "truth, the light of the world," &c. was deserving of this distinguished character, and it appears that Fox allows him to be so entitled, it necessarily follows that the aforesaid doctrines ARE ORTHODOX TRUTHS; and then what are we to think of those who reject them? Ay, and not only reject them, but absolutely swear that some of them are IDOLATROUS and DAMNABLE!!! We must leave the modern editors of John Fox's Book of Martyrs to explain this manifest piece of inconsistency and impiety.

Before we take leave of the persecutions carried on by the Arians, we must be allowed to record a fact, which, though of the most astonishing nature, is nevertheless so clearly authenticated that none but a sceptic can reject it. About the year 484, Hunnericus, king of the Goths, persecuted the Catholics with the most barbarous and unrelenting fury, The tortures inflicted upon these bold confessors of the divinity of Christ exceeded, if possible, those exercised upon the Christians by the Pagan emperors. All Africa abounded with martyrs, and wooden horses, iron hooks, fire, flaming blades, wild beasts, and other instruments of cruelty, were put in requisition to shake the constancy of the Catholics. Cyrola, a notary and the false patriarch of the Arians, having invaded the bishopric of Typasus in Mauritania, the inhabitants of that city refused to submit to his jurisdiction, and many of them quitted the country to avoid him. By art and persuasion, however, he induced some of them to stay, and endeavoured by prayers and threatenings to induce them to embrace Arianism; but he found them all

steadfast, which threw him into the highest rage. The impious in-. truder made his complaints to Hunnericus, charging the Catholics with meeting to celebrate the holy mysteries, and sing openly the praises of Jesus Christ, consubstantial with his Father. This representation highly incensed the tyrant, and he immediately sent his officers to Typasus, with orders to cut out the tongues even to the root of all those who would not become Arians. This bloody order was executed with more than ordinary barbarity on persons of all distinctions, who nevertheless continued to proclaim aloud that Jesus Christ was true God. Nor was this the impulse of the moment, for it is recorded that these wonderful confessors of Christ's godhead continued to speak, during the rest of their lives on all subjects, as before their tongues were plucked out, with the exception of two, who falling into the sin of incontinency, were deprived of this grace, and became utterly dumb.

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Such an illustrious miracle as this we are aware is not generally known, even among Catholics, and is sufficient to stagger the credibility of many of our readers. Some of them will probably exclaim, Such a tale as this might do for the dark ages, but in these enlightened days who will believe it? We do not give it as an article of faith, but we state it as a recorded fact, attested by living witnesses, and therefore though wonderful and incomprehensible, yet not to be discredited by a rational mind, for in this case there can be no rule for giving credence to any circumstance recorded in history. We have now before us Maimbourg's History of Arianism, translated into English by Wm. Webster, A. M. Curate of St. Dunstan's in the West, from which we take the following extract.-Speaking of the forementioned miracle, the author says,Now this is not one of those imaginary wonders, or fables, nor any of those deceits, or subtle illusions which your too eredulous people are apt to take for miracles. For there are so many unde"niable witnesses who assure it, not only upon the credit of those that saw it, as hath done St. Gregory the great, (Dialog. 1. 2, c. 32,) but upon having seen it themselves, and inquired into the matter with all the "strictness imaginable at Constantinople, where several of those saints "had retired, that it is impossible to disown it without purposely and "impudently belying those men whose veracity is incontestible. Vic"tor of Utica, who was then on the place, wrote some time after concerning it, wherein he says, that if any one cannot easily believe it, "he desires him to take a journey to Constantinople in order to be con"firmed in it by his own eyes, because he may there see the deacon "Reparatus, who speaks perfectly well, without his tongue, and is for "that reason in great honour at the court of Zeno, and particularly es"teemed by the empress Ariadne, (Constitut de Offic. P. Præt. Afric. Niceph. 1. 17. c. 11.) who even pays him a kind of religious veneration. "The emperor Justinian, who was then at court, declares that he him"self saw those venerable men, who gave a plain account of their mar"trydom without any tongue. Procopius, the historian, (Lib. 1. de bell. "Vand. c. 8.) who was a man of undeniable honour, and who served in "that emperor's army with great reputation, says, that in his time he saw "several of them at Constantinople, who could talk with a great deal "of freedom. Æneas of Gaza, a Platonic philosopher, (Tom. 5, Bibl. P. P.) who has given us an excellent dialogue upon the immortality

"of the soul, and who floulirhed in those days, says, in this work which was written under the name of Axitheus, that being invited thither by the report of so wonderful a thing, he was resolved to see with "his own eyes, and examine these miraculous men, and having caused "them to open their mouths, he found that their tongues were cut out "to the root, and that nevertheless they talked freely and distinctly, "and gave him a perfect account of the whole affair. So many great "men all agreeing in the same thing, and giving testimony of it in "their public writings, undoubtedly would have been convicted of fal"sity by a prodigious number of the inhabitants of Constantinople, had they been so impudent as to aver publicly that they had seen a thing "in that city which had never happened. Now after this I cannot "well conceive that any man of common sense would say that he did "not give credit to it."

We cannot take leave of this extraordinary supernatural event, without laying before our readers the reasoning of a living author, whose arguments we consider completely decisive on the subject. A work has lately been published in the united states of America, where the greatest freedom prevails on religious matters, in defence of the divinity of Jesus Christ. The author is the Rev. A. Kohlman, superior of the Catholic seminary of Washington city, and the work is entitled, "Unitarianism Philosophically and Theologically Examined, in a series of "periodical numbers; comprising a Complete Refutation of the Leading "Principles of the Unitarian System." Speaking of this astonishing miracle at Typasus in confirmation of the divinity of Christ, and arguing very strongly in its favour, the author observes,- "It may still be objected, that it is an undeniable fact, that church history is replete "with false legends, and spurious miracles, and that from the impos" sibility of discerning true and genuine miracles from such as are false, "it would be wise to reject them all indiscriminately. To this objection I thus reply, and ask, will sound logic sanction this strange 66 way of reasoning: there is a false and spurious coin, therefore "there is no genuine coin: there are errors among men, therefore

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there is no truth: the testimony of the senses and the testimony "of men, have at times deceived men, therefore they always de"ceive men. Philosophy frowns at such conclusions, and directs us "to argue with an ancient keen philosopher, (Tertullian,) in a quite contrary way: there exists a spurious coin, therefore there exists a genuine one, because the spurious is but an imitation of the genuine one. There exists error among men, therefore there exists likewise 66 truth: for error, being nothing but a mimic imitation of truth, necessarily presupposes truth. At times, our senses and men deceive us; "therefore they always do so; if this conclusion be true, then it will be absolutely impossible to be sure of any thing that surrounds us, or "that has come to pass before us, and it will be very easy for any one to prove to you, that Alexander and Cæsar are nothing but empty names "of imaginary beings that never existed, and that this universe itself " is nothing more than an empty dream. Such reasoning, therefore, is "not philosophical. How, therefore, shall we arrive at the certain knowledge of both historical and physical truths? By listening to the "immutable principles imprinted in our souls by the hand of our Creator,

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"which dictate to us to keep equally aloof from opposite extremes, "and to admit as unquestionable, no testimony, either of our senses, or of men, but such as is accompanied with all the characteristics of "truth and veracity. In conformity with this principle, we shall reject, or at least look with suspicion, upon any fact that is not sufficiently attested, either by our senses, or by men; and we shall, on "the contrary, admit as indubitable, any public, solemn, and interesting fact, that comes recommended to us by a constant and uniform " evidence of our senses, when sound and duly applied, or of men, es"pecially of most unquestionable probity and veracity. A fact thus "attested, is so absolutely certain, that we feel our mind irresistibly impelled to give it, in spite of us, our assent. Now, any one acquainted with church history, must acknowledge, that a considerable portion of the wonders which, for the space of these eighteen hun"dred years, occur in the annals of Christianity, are of this character, "and are attested to the highest degree of moral certitude. They were "sensible facts, perfectly within the reach of our senses; they were "public facts, wrought in the midst of the most populous cities, they were interesting facts, as relating to the great concerns of salvation, "than which Christians have nothing dearer in this world: they were "facts recorded at the time they happened, and when those on whose persons they were wrought, were still living; they were facts attested by friends and enemies, when these would have had the greatest in"terest to deny them, if it had been in their power to do so. Of this description, were numbers of miracles related in the annals of the "church; of this character was the very miraculous fact of men speaking "without tongues, which has been quoted above. This fact, therefore, "has been unanswerably proved, and of course, it alone, at once de"cides the famous controversy between Christians and Unitarians: for "it undeniably proves, that the consubstantiality of the Son with the Father, which the primitive Christians defended, is a divine doctrine, "and Arianism was, and still is, an impiety. For it is manifest, that "God in no way can sanction a religion or doctrine more solemnly, "than by stamping upon it, in a most authentic manner, the seal of his "supreme authority and approbation, that is to say, by working an unquestionable miracle in its confirmation. Do you, in fine, deny the "the existence of miracles, because church history relates none, and "keeps a deep silence on this subject? But can you possibly open any "monument of antiquity, where your eyes will not meet with some prodigy, wrought on the most important and public occasions, and may we not here well apply the well known passage of the Roman 66 orator, 'Plenæ sunt omnes sapientum voces, pleni sapientum libri, plena exem rorum vetustas;' expunge from the annals of the church the stupendeous wonders, with which the Lord has been pleased to illustrate "his holy church, and to recommend her as his own work to all nations, "and you will strip the monuments of venerable antiquity of at least "one-third of their contents, of one-third, too, the most interesting of "all that they contain in the scriptures."

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In closing the account of the horrible excesses of the Arian persecutors, we will briefly detail the progress and duration of this heresy, in order to shew the mutability and diversity of error, contrasted with