But, to return to Liberius; he was at last, in regard of his ready Compliance with the Will of the Emperor, allowed to return to Rome; but on Condition, that he should govern jointly with Felix^[778]. Letters were accordingly dispatched both to Felix, and the Roman Clergy, to acquaint them therewith. Sozomen seems to insinuate, that they both governed thus for some time^[779]. |Felix is driven out.| But, according to St. Jerom, and the Two Presbyters Marcellinus and Faustinus, who lived then at Rome, and were Eye-witnesses of what they relate, Felix was driven not only from the See, but out of the City, as soon as Liberius entered it; which he did on the 2d of August 358. in a kind of Triumph, being met and received by the whole People, with loud Acclamations of Joy^[780]. Felix returned soon after, at the Instigation of a few of the Ecclesiastics, who had, contrary to their Oath, adhered to him; and even attempted to perform Divine Service in the Basilic of Julius, beyond the Tiber; but the enraged Multitude drove him out a second time, and, with him, all the Ecclesiastics, who had acknowleged him^[781]. Socrates writes, that the Emperor himself was in the End obliged to give him up, and consent to his Expulsion^[782]. Mention is made in the Pontificals of a bloody Persecution, raised in Rome by Liberius, and his Party, against the Partisans of Felix, who, it is said, were inhumanly murdered in the Streets, in the Baths, in all public Places, and even in the Churches^[783]. But as none of the Antients take the least Notice of such Cruelties, I will not charge Liberius with them, upon the bare Authority of such Records. Felix, being driven from Rome, withdrew to a small Estate he had on the Road to Porto, and there spent the remaining Part of his Life in Retirement^[784]. Sozomen supposes him to have died soon after^[785]. But the Two Presbyters Marcellinus and Faustinus, who must have been better informed, assure us, that he lived Seven Years after the Return of Liberius, and died on the 22d of November 365^[786].

Concerning Felix, all the Antients agree, that he was unlawfully elected and ordained; that he communicated with the Arians; that, to ingratiate himself with them, and the Emperor, he signed the Condemnation of Athanasius; that he was guilty of Perjury in accepting the Episcopal Dignity, having bound himself, with the rest of the Clergy, by a solemn Oath, to acknowlege no other Bishop while Liberius lived; and, lastly, that he strove to keep Possession of the Roman See, after the Return of the lawful Bishop, and to sit in it, together with him, in open Defiance of the Canons of the Church. Socrates adds, that he not only communicated with the Arians, but was infected with the Arian Heresy^[787]. Athanasius styles him a Monster, raised to the See of Rome by the Malice of Antichrist, one worthy of those who raised him, and in every respect well qualified for the Execution of their wicked Designs^[788]. |He is honoured by
the Church of Rome
as a Saint and a
Martyr.| And yet this Heretic, this Monster, this Intruder, or Antipope, is honoured (the Reader will be surprised to hear it, is honoured) by the Church of Rome as a Saint; nay, as a Martyr; and his Festival is kept to this Day, on the 29th of July. This Honour was conferred on him in the Ages of Darkness and Ignorance, upon the Authority of his fabulous Acts, and a more fabulous Pontifical, from which his Acts seem to have been copied. In the Pontifical it is said, that Felix declared Constantius, who had been twice baptized, an Heretic; and was therefore, by an Order from the incensed Emperor, apprehended, and privately beheaded, with many Ecclesiastics and Laymen, under the Walls of Rome, on the 11th of November. It is added, that the Presbyter Damasus privately conveyed his Body to a Church, which Felix had built, and there interred it; and that, upon his Death, the See remained vacant for the Space of Thirty-eight Days^[789]. |His fabulous Acts.| In the Acts of Felix we read, that Constantius was rebaptized by Eusebius Bishop of Nicomedia; that Felix having, on that Account, declared him an Heretic, he was driven from the See of Rome, and Liberius replaced on it; that Felix thereupon retired into the Country, but was brought back by the Emperor’s Orders, and beheaded on the 10th of November; that his Body was interred on the 20th of the same Month in a Church, which he had built while he was a Presbyter: And we keep his Festival, adds the Author, on the 29th of July^[790]. Anastasius has copied the Pontifical Word for Word, except that he pretends Felix to have been beheaded at Cora, in the Campagna of Rome^[791]; though he has told us, in the foregoing Page, that he died in Peace, a Phrase never used in speaking of Martyrs, on the 29th of July, at his Estate on the Road to Porto^[792]. The City of Cere, now Cerventera, in Tuscany, honours Felix to this Day, as their chief Patron or Protector. In those dark Times Legends alone were in request, and all other Books, even the Scripture itself, quite out of Date, and neglected. |How he came to be
honoured as a Saint.| No Wonder therefore that such Absurdities, however inconsistent with History, were swallowed without straining; and Felix, for his pretended Zeal and Constancy, ranked among the holy Martyrs. For I may venture to affirm, that the most learned Men, at that time, in the Church, knew nothing of Felix but what they had learned from his fabulous Acts, and from the above-mentioned Pontifical. That I may not be thought to exaggerate, I shall allege one Instance of the Ignorance of past Times: Gulielmus a Sancto Amore, one of the most learned Men of the 13th Century, knew that, in the Time of Hilarius Bishop of Poitiers, a Pope, with most of the Bishops, had fallen into Heresy. He did not even pretend to be so well versed in History as to know for certain who the Pope was; but, indulging a Conjecture, which he thought probable enough, he named Anastasius II. who died in 498. about 150 Years after the Time of Hilarius: so that he was an utter Stranger to the History of Pope Liberius, and consequently to that of the Antipope Felix. Had it not been for the like Ignorance in more early Times, the Apotheosis of our pretended Martyr had never taken place. |His Sanctity called in
question;| Be that as it will, during the Ages of Darkness he held undisturbed the Rank, to which he had been thus raised: but when the Dawn of Knowlege began to appear, and it was discovered at last from contemporary and unexceptionable Writers, who Felix was, the Church of Rome was ashamed to own him among her Saints. On the other hand, to degrade him had been giving a fatal Blow to the Pope’s Authority, and rendering it for ever precarious, in so material a Point as that of Canonization. Felix therefore was, at all Events, to keep his Place in Heaven; his Sanctity was to be confirmed, and the World imposed upon by some Contrivance or other, capable of utterly defeating the Testimony of the Antients.

This Point being settled, to prevent all Suspicion of Deceit, or underhand Dealings, Pope Gregory XIII. declared, in 1582. his Intention of having the Cause of Felix impartially examined. |and his Cause re-
examined.| In order to ?? this, he appointed Baronius, employed at that Time in reforming the Roman Martyrology, to put in Writing whatever could be objected against Felix, and Cardinal Santorio to answer his Objections, and collect likewise in Writing all that could be said in favour of his new Client, that the Pope might be thoroughly acquainted with the Merits of the Cause before he came to a final Decision. This Conduct in Gregory has been censured by some over-zealous Divines of the Church of Rome, as if he had thereby given the World Occasion to think that he questioned the Infallibility of his Predecessors, who had honoured Felix as a Saint^[793]. But Gregory well knew what he was doing, and how the Whole would end. In Compliance with his Orders, Baronius writ a Dissertation, which he himself calls a Volume, and not a short one^[794], to prove that Felix was neither a Saint nor a Martyr. As he had Truth on his Side, Cardinal Santorio, though a Man of Learning, could neither answer his Arguments, nor offer any thing in so desperate a Cause worthy of himself. He often addressed himself in his Prayers to his Client, intreating him to undertake his own Cause, by suggesting to him what might be alleged in his Defence. But the Client was no less at a Stand than the Advocate. Some other Person therefore must interpose: And whom did the carrying or losing such a Cause more nearly concern than the Pope, since his Authority in a most essential Point was at Stake? This was a nice Affair, and to be managed with great Art and Dexterity. Gregory, therefore, having often heard both Sides, in a full Congregation of Cardinals, without betraying the least Partiality for Felix, appointed them to meet for the last time on the 28th of July, the Eve of the pretended Saint’s Festival, judging that the most proper Time to play off with good Success the Trick, which he had kept the whole Time in petto. |His Sanctity and
Martyrdom confirmed
by the Discovery of
his Body.| The Cardinals met on the Day appointed; Baronius quite silenced his Adversary; the whole Assembly was fully convinced, that Felix was no Saint, no Martyr; the Pope himself seemed to fall in with the rest, and accordingly rose up to declare, as was thought, the unhappy Felix fallen from Heaven; when a great Noise was all on a sudden heard at the Door, and immediately a Messenger entered, who, after uttering these Words, Holy Felix, pray for us, acquainted the Pope and the Cardinals, that the Body of Felix was just discovered. Hereupon they all repaired in great Haste to the Church of Cosmas and Damianus, where the miraculous Discovery had been made; and there saw, in a Marble Coffin of an extraordinary Size, on one Side the Bodies of Mark, Marcellianus, and Tranquillinus; and on the other that of Felix, with this Inscription on a Stone that lay by it, The Body of Saint Felix, who condemned Constantius^[795]. Hereupon the Te Deum was sung with great Solemnity for the Triumph of Truth: Felix was declared worthy of the Veneration and Worship that had till then been paid him, and a Place was allowed him among the other Saints in the Roman Martyrology, where it is said, that he was driven from his See for defending the Catholic Faith, by Constantius an Arian Emperor, and privately put to Death at Cere, now Cervetera, in Tuscany. Baronius, transported with Joy, as he himself declares^[796], at so miraculous and seasonable a Discovery, immediately yielded, not to his Antagonist Santorio, but to Felix, who had evidently interposed; and, taking that Interposition for a satisfactory Answer to all his Arguments, he immediately retracted whatever he had said, and consigned to the Flames whatever he had written in Opposition to Felix^[797]. Thus, to maintain a chimerical Prerogative, they sport with Truth; betray into Error those who confide in them; and, turning the worst of Men into Saints, honour Vice with the greatest Reward they can bestow on Virtue.

That this pretended Discovery was nothing but a Contrivance to confirm the Martyrdom of Felix, and impose upon the World, is manifest; and that the Pontifical, and his Acts, on which his Martyrdom was originally founded, were a no less palpable and gross Imposition, may be easily demonstrated. For, in the first place, Marcellinus and Faustinus, who lived in the Time of Felix and Liberius at Rome, tell us, in express Terms, that Felix, who had been substituted to Liberius, died on the 22d of November 365^[798]. that is, Four Years after the Death of Constantius, by whom he is said, in his Acts, and in the Pontifical, to have been martyred. Athanasius assures us^[799], and with him agree Philostorgius^[800], and the Chronicle of Alexandria^[801], that Constantius was not baptized till at the Point of Death, when he received that Sacrament at the Hands of Euzoius, the Arian Bishop of Antioch. And yet both the Acts of Felix, and the Pontifical, will have him to have been twice baptized before his Death; for it was on this Account that Felix is said to have declared him an Heretic. This Declaration Baronius improves into a solemn Excommunication; and, being become, after the above-mentioned Discovery, a most zealous Advocate for Felix, tells us, that the holy Martyr was no sooner placed on the Throne of St. Peter, than, changing his Conduct, he separated himself from the Communion of those by whom he had been raised, and boldly thundered an Anathema against the Emperor himself^[802]. |He did not excom-
municate Constantius.| What a Pity that Athanasius was not better acquainted with the Conduct of Felix! for if he had, he would never have styled him a Monster placed on the See of Rome by the Malice of Antichrist. Such an Attempt, unheard of till that Time, must have made a great Noise; and yet I find it was heard by none but Baronius, who lived at so great a Distance. I may add, that there was no room for an Excommunication against Constantius, who was still a Catechumen, and consequently did not partake of the sacred Mysteries.

The Roman Catholic Writers, to save the Credit of Felix, maintain him to have been, at least for some time, lawful Pope. But, to confute whatever has been or can be said by them in his Favour, without entering into a Detail of the many sophistical and unconclusive Arguments, false Assertions, and groundless Suppositions, with which they endeavour to disguise the Truth, and confound their Readers, I argue thus: That Liberius was lawfully chosen, and Felix unlawfully, is past all Dispute. Now, upon the Fall of Liberius, either there was, or there was not, a new Election: if there was not, Liberius continued to be lawful Bishop; or if by his Fall he forfeited his Dignity, as some think he did, the See became vacant; for nothing subsequent to the unlawful Election of Felix could render it lawful. If there was a new Election, and Felix was lawfully chosen, Liberius from that Minute either ceased to be Pope, or there were two lawful Popes at a time. The latter they will not admit, lest they should turn the Church into a Monster with Two Heads. They must therefore allow Felix to have been lawful Pope, and Liberius an Antipope, till the See became vacant by the Death of the former. |Felix an Antipope.| But on the other hand, this new Election is quite groundless, highly improbable, and absolutely repugnant to what we read in the antient and contemporary Writers. It is quite groundless; for though Bellarmine speaks of a new Election with as much Confidence as if he had been one of the Electors^[803], yet we find not the least Hint of it in any of the Writers of those Times, who would not have passed over in Silence so remarkable an Event, had it come to their Knowlege. It is highly improbable; for Liberius was greatly beloved by the whole People, and the far greater Part of the Clergy, and Felix hated to such a Degree, that of all the Inhabitants of Rome, not one ever appeared in the Church while he was in it^[804]; nay, he was by all avoided, even in the Streets and other public Places, as if he had carried about with him a Contagion^[805]. Is it not therefore altogether improbable, that the People and Clergy should depose the Man, whom in a manner they adored, for communicating with the Arians, and appoint one in his room, who likewise communicated with them, and was universally detested, avoided, and abhorred? And yet all this is gravely supposed by Bellarmine^[806]. Lastly, the Election of Felix is repugnant to what we read in the antient Writers, who all speak of him as an Antipope, and an Intruder. Optatus, who lived at that very Time, and St. Austin, who flourished soon after, have not allowed him a Place in their Catalogues of the Bishops of Rome. Theodoret takes no notice of him in his Catalogue of the Bishops of the chief Cities. St. Jerom and Prosper count Liberius the Thirty-fourth Bishop of Rome, and Damasus, who succeeded him, the Thirty-fifth; a plain Indication that they did not look upon Felix as lawful Bishop. Among the Moderns, Onuphrius Panvinius, in his Lives of the Popes, printed in 1557. some Years before the Discovery of Felix’s Body, calls Novatian the First Antipope, and Felix the Second. But his Book was prohibited in 1583. the Year after the Second Canonization of Felix. The Writers, who came after, took Warning; and such of them as thought it base to concur in deceiving Mankind, since it was not safe to undeceive them, chose to wave this Subject, but not without giving some broad Hints of what they believed in their Hearts. Thus F. Labbé^[807], and Cardinal Bona^[808], take no notice of this Felix, but call Pope Felix, who was raised to the See of Rome in 485. the Second Pope of that Name. Felix I. was martyred under Aurelian in 274. as we have related elsewhere^[809]. F. Labbé, at the Death of Felix II. which happened in 492. adds, that he was the Third of that Name, according to Baronius^[810]. |Acknowleged as such
by some Roman
Catholic Writers.| Had Felix never been canonized, no Man would have been so regardless of his own Reputation as to undertake his Defence; but Gregory having declared him a Saint, and, by such a Declaration, linked his Cause with Infallibility in a most essential Point, the hired Champions of that See found themselves under an indispensable Obligation of entering the Lists; which I need not say they have done to no Purpose.

The Fall of the Bishop of Rome, who was at the Head of the Orthodox Party, inspired the Emperor with great Hopes of succeeding in the Design he had formed of utterly abolishing the Orthodox Faith: he found there were but few Bishops whose Virtue was Proof against the Frowns and Resentment of the Court. In the Council held at Arles in 353. they had all to a Man chosen rather to communicate with the Arians, than be driven from their Sees: in that which was convened Two Years after, at Milan, only Three Bishops were found, viz. Dionysius Bishop of that City, Lucifer of Cagliari, and Eusebius of Vercelli, who, equally unmoved by Threats and Promises, had maintained the Truth with the Loss of their Dignity. The Example of the Bishop of Rome had been followed by the far greater Part of the Bishops of Italy. But what above all encouraged the Emperor to pursue the Scheme he had so much at heart, was the Fall of the celebrated Osius Bishop of Cordoua, in the Hundredth Year of his Age, and Sixty-second of his Episcopacy. As the Name of Osius is one of the most famous in the Ecclesiastical History of those Times, and his Fall is alleged by the Antients as a memorable Instance of the Weakness of human Nature, however strengthened and improved by a long Practice of the most eminent Virtues, a succinct Account of so remarkable an Event will not, I hope, be unacceptable to the Reader, or thought foreign to the Subject in hand.

Osius was a Native of Spain^[811], born, according to some, in Cordoua, about the Year 256. and raised, in regard of his extraordinary Merit, to the See of that City in 295^[812]. He was even then conspicuous for the Firmness of his Faith, and the Purity of his Life, says Sozomen^[813]. Athanasius, who was well acquainted with him, speaks of him with the greatest Respect and Esteem, calling him a Man truly holy, according to the Greek Signification of his Name; one in whose Conduct even his most inveterate Enemies could discover nothing that was not commendable, his Life being irreprehensible, and his Reputation unspotted^[814]. Theodoret^[815], and Eusebius^[816], extol him on Account of his extraordinary Prudence, Wisdom, and Learning, which gave great Weight to his Opinion in the many Councils at which he assisted, and often presided. In the Year 300. he was present at the Council of Eliberis, or Illeberis, in Spain, famous for the Severity of its Canons; and, in all Likelihood, made even then a considerable Figure; since, in the Acts of that Council, he is named in the Second Place after Felix of Acci, now Guadix, in Andalusia, who probably presided^[817]. |He is imprisoned
under Maximian for
the Confession of
the Faith.| Three Years after broke out the Persecution of Maximian Hercules, in which Osius distinguished himself by his Zeal, his Constancy, and his Sufferings; for, having with great Intrepidity confessed his Faith before the Pagan Magistrates, he was by them imprisoned, and kept under a very close and painful Confinement for the Space of Two Years, that is, from the Year 303. to 305. when, upon the Abdication of Maximian and Dioclesian, he was set at Liberty by Constantius Chlorus, the Father of Constantine the Great^[818]. He is honoured by Athanasius^[819], by the Council of Sardica, and by most of the Antients, with the Title of Confessor, which was given to such as had suffered Imprisonment, Torments, or Exile, but had not died, for the Confession of the Faith. He was highly esteemed and revered by Constantine, not only as a Confessor, but as a Person of extraordinary Wisdom and Probity^[820]; whence he is thought to have been one of the Prelates whom that Prince consulted in 311^[821]. and kept with him to instruct him in the Mysteries of the Christian Religion. |He instructs
Constantine.| Some think that Osius was meant by the Egyptian Priest come from Spain, to whom Zosimus ascribes the Change made by Constantine in point of Religion^[822]. The Church of Cordoua was, out of Regard to him, enriched by Constantine with many valuable Presents, whence he is said to have been very rich^[823]. But what Use he made of his Wealth we may learn from Athanasius, who assures us, that no one in Want ever applied to him without being relieved, and receiving the Supply he demanded^[824]. In the famous Dispute, which I have taken notice of in its proper Place, between Cæcilianus and the Donatists of Africa, Osius undertook, with great Zeal, the Defence of the former, and prevailed in the End upon Constantine to espouse his Cause, and declare against the Donatists^[825], whom he thenceforth punished with great Severity, taking their Churches from them, and sending the most obstinate among them into Exile. Constantine being become Master of the East in the Year 323. his first Care was to put an End to the unhappy Divisions that reigned in those Churches about the Celebration of Easter, and some other controverted Points. |He is sent by him
to compose some
Disputes there.| With this View he dispatched Osius into the East, who, upon his Arrival there, summoned a Council to meet at Alexandria, which, under his Influence, condemned the Heresy of Sabellius, put a Stop to the Schism of one Colluthus, and greatly allayed the Animosity of the contending Parties about the Day on which Easter was to be kept^[826]. On his Return to Court, the Account he gave of the Arians, whose Heresy he had endeavoured in vain to suppress, made so deep an Impression in the Mind of the Emperor, that, for a long time, he continued highly prejudiced against them^[827]. It was at the Suggestion of Osius that Constantine assembled the Council of Nice in 325. at which he assisted, and distinguished himself above the rest^[828]; for of all Councils he was the Head and Leader, as Athanasius styles him^[829]. |He assists at the
Council of Nice and
draws up the Nicene
Creed.| By him was worded and drawn up the famous Nicene Symbol or Creed, as we are told in express Terms by Athanasius^[830]. He presided at the Council of Sardica, which, at his Request, was assembled by the Emperor Constans in 347^[831]. From that Council he retired to his Bishoprick, and continued there undisturbed till the Year 355. when Constantius seeing himself Master of the West, as well as of the East, undertook to oblige all the Bishops to condemn Athanasius, whose Cause was looked upon as inseparable from that of the Orthodox Faith. As Osius had on all Occasions declared highly in his Favour, and the Example of a Prelate so venerable for his Age, for the glorious Title of Confessor, and the Figure he had made for many Years in the Church, greatly prejudiced the World against the Enemies of the persecuted Bishop, the Emperor resolved to deprive, if possible, the Orthodox Party of so powerful a Support. |Constantius attempts
in vain to gain him
over to the Arian
Party.| With this View he ordered Osius to repair to Milan, where the Court then was, well knowing that he was not, like most other Bishops, to be terrified with threatening Letters. Osius, in Compliance with the Emperor’s Orders, set out without Delay from Cordoua, notwithstanding his great Age; and, arriving at Milan, was there received by the Emperor with all the Respect that was due to the Father of Bishops, as he was styled. Constantius entertained him for some Days with the utmost Civility, hoping by that means to bring him into his Views; but he no sooner named Athanasius to him, than the zealous Prelate, well knowing the Drift of his Discourse, and armed against all Temptations, interrupted him with declaring, that he was ready to sacrifice not one, but a Thousand Lives, in so just a Cause; nay, he even reprimanded the Emperor with great Freedom, who, out of an awful Reverence for a Prelate of his Years, Authority, and Figure, heard him with great Patience, and not only forbore offering him any Violence, but gave him Leave to return unmolested to his See^[832].

The mild Treatment Osius met with gave great Uneasiness to the Arian Party, especially to the Two Bishops, Ursacius and Valens, who thereupon never ceased soliciting the Emperor to proceed with Vigour against the only Man, who, they said, was capable of obstructing his great and pious Designs. They were powerfully seconded by the Eunuchs, who prevailed in the End upon the Emperor, as they bore a great Sway at Court, to try anew the Firmness and Constancy of so celebrated a Champion. Constantius therefore writ several Letters to him, treating him in some with great Respect, and styling him his Father, but menacing him in others, and naming to him the Bishops, whom he had banished for refusing to condemn a Man whom most Bishops, and several Councils, had already condemned^[833]. |His Letter to the
Emperor.| Osius, inflexible and unmoved, answered the Emperor by a Letter worthy of himself, and the great Reputation he had acquired. It has been conveyed to us by Athanasius, and nothing can be said stronger in that Bishop’s Defence; for he there shews unanswerably, that, whatever Crimes might be alleged against him, his only Guilt was a steady Adherence to the Faith of Nice^[834]. |He is sent to
Sirmium.| But Constantius, without hearkening to the Reasons he urged in Justification of his own and Athanasius’s Conduct, without paying the least Regard to the earnest Prayers and Intreaties, to the paternal Exhortations and Admonitions, of so venerable a Prelate, ordered him to quit his See forthwith, and repair to Sirmium, where he was kept a whole Year in a kind of Exile. But, unaffected with the many Hardships he suffered there, with the Loss of his Dignity, with the inhuman Treatment of his Relations, who were all persecuted, stripped of their Estates, and reduced to Beggary on his Account, Osius still stood up in Defence of Athanasius, still rejected with Indignation the Proposals of his Enemies^[835], striving to induce him at least to communicate with them. They therefore resolved to proceed to open Force, and either to gain over to their Party a Man of his Figure and Rank, or, by removing him out of the Way, to deprive the Orthodox of their main Support^[836]. |Confined and racked.| Accordingly, with the Emperor’s Consent and Approbation, they caused him first to be closely confined, and afterwards to be cruelly beaten; and lastly to be put to the Rack, and most inhumanly tortured, as if he had been the worst of Criminals^[837]. |He yields at last.| Even against such exquisite Torments the Firmness of his Mind was proof for some time; but the Weakness of his Body obliged him in a manner to yield at last, and communicate with Ursacius and Valens^[838]. Athanasius seems to insinuate in some Places, that he signed his Condemnation^[839]; but in another he expresly denies it^[840]. Sulpitius Severus thinks he was guilty of no other Crime but that of communicating with the Arians^[841]. Athanasius only says, that he consented to communicate with Ursacius and Valens^[842]. |He signs the Sirmian
Confession of Faith.| However, that he did not stop there, but signed the Arian Confession of Sirmium, is but too manifest from several unexceptionable and contemporary Writers. Phœbadius Bishop of Agen, in France, in his Answer written at this very Time to the Arians, bragging that their Doctrine had been approved and embraced by the great Osius, allows the Fact; but adds, that he was induced thereunto by Force, and not Conviction^[843]. Marcellinus and Faustinus, who writ at the same time, say, that Osius set his Hand, but never yielded his Heart, to the Arian Impiety^[844]. Nay, Hilarius Bishop of Poitiers supposes the Sirmian Confession of Faith to have been drawn up by Osius and Potamus; for he often calls it, The Heresy, the Blasphemies, the wild and mad Conceits of Osius and Potamus^[845]. Vigilius Tapsensis ranks Osius with Ursacius, and the other wicked Men, who composed the sacrilegious Confession of Sirmium^[846]. Socrates writes, that he signed the Sirmian Symbol^[847]; Sozomen, that he consented to the Suppression of the Words Omoousion, and Omoiousion^[848]; and Eusebius of Vercelli bestows high Encomiums on Gregory Bishop of Elvira, for opposing the great Transgressor Osius^[849]. Potamus, whom I have mentioned above, was Bishop of Lisbone, and a most sanguine Stickler for the Orthodox Party; but upon the Emperor’s yielding to him some Lands of the Imperial Demesne, that lay very convenient for him, he changed Sides, and became a most zealous Champion of the Arian Doctrine^[850]; insomuch that he is ranked by Phœbadius with Ursacius and Valens, the Two great Apostles of the Arians^[851].

The Fall of the great Osius, whom the Orthodox Party looked upon as their invincible Hero, surprised the whole World^[852]. Some could not believe it; others ascribed it to his great Age, which might have weakened his Judgment^[853]. It was immediately published all over the East, and great Rejoicings were made on the Occasion, by the Bishops in those Parts, who looked upon such a Conquest as a signal Victory over the Orthodox^[854]. Phœbadius tells us, that the chief Argument alleged by the Arians, in favour of their Doctrine, against the Bishops of Gaul, was the Conversion of Osius, as they styled it^[855]. Here Davidius pleases himself with ridiculing, and indeed very justly, this and several other Conversions, greatly boasted by the Arians; but he must give me Leave to put him in mind, that he ridicules, at the same time, the many Conversions which his Church is constantly boasting, since most of them, especially those thus made in the new World, have been owing to Arguments of the same Nature as that of Osius, and other Arian Proselytes, and were not perhaps at all more sincere. |Hilarius not well
informed as to the
Circumstances of his
Fall.| Hilarius, Bishop of Poitiers, who lived at this time in Exile, amidst the Arians in Phrygia, seems not to be well informed as to the Circumstances of the Fall of Osius; else he had made some Allowance for the barbarous and inhuman Treatment the unhappy Prelate met with, and not reflected on him with so much Bitterness and Severity, saying, that it had pleased God to prolong his Life till he fell, that the World might know what he had been before he fell^[856]. That a Man in the Hundredth Year of his Age should yield to most exquisite and repeated Torments, is not at all to be wondered at; and therefore had Hilarius been better informed, he had rather pitied than reproached him. But the Arians, among whom he lived, took care to conceal whatever could any ways depreciate their boasted Victory: at least that Hilarius was a Stranger to what Osius had suffered, is manifest, from his ascribing the Fall of that great Prelate not to the Cruelty of his Enemies, but to the too great Love he had for his Sepulchre^[857], meaning, I suppose, the Desire he had of dying in his native Country, and not in Exile.

Osius having thus gratified the Emperor, by communicating with the Arians, and signing the Sirmian Confession of Faith, he was immediately reinstated in his See, and suffered to return to his native Country, where he gave some Trouble, it seems, to the Orthodox Bishops; for Gregory Bishop of Elvira is highly commended by Eusebius of Vercelli, who lived then in Exile, for opposing the Transgressor Osius, as I have observed above. The unfortunate Prelate did not live long after his Fall, but died in the Latter-end of the same Year 357. according to the most probable Opinion. He did not forget the Crime he had committed, says Athanasius^[858]; but grievously complained, at the Point of Death, of the Violence that had been offered him, anathematized the Heresy of Arius, and exhorted, as by his last Will, all Mankind to reject it^[859]. To his Repentance Athanasius, no doubt, alludes, where he writes, that Osius yielded only for a time^[860]; which he says of no other, not even of Liberius. As for the Account, which some Writers give of his tragical End^[861], it is not worthy of Notice. The Greek Church honours him as a Saint, and his Festival is kept on the 27th of August^[862]; but they are certainly mistaken in supposing him to have died in Banishment. The Case of Osius deserves, without all Doubt, to be greatly pitied. But it would be still more worthy of our Pity and Compassion, had he been himself an Enemy to all Persecution. But it must be observed, that he was the Author and Promoter of the First Christian Persecution. For it was he who first stirred up Constantine against the Donatists; many of whom were sent into Exile, and some even sentenced to Death, nay, and led to the Place of Execution. I dare not interpret the very severe Treatment he met with, or his Fall and Apostasy, as a Judgment; but cannot help thinking him, on that Consideration, less worthy of our Compassion and Concern, than a Man of his Years and Merit would otherwise have been.