s of the
city--a law, which, in the present exasperated state of the Christians,
might be a measure of security of mercy, rather than of oppression.
Milman, Hist. of the Jews, iii. 242.--M.]

[Footnote 112: George of Pisidia, Acroas. iii. de Expedit. contra
Persas, 415, &c., and Heracleid. Acroas. i. 65--138. I neglect the
meaner parallels of Daniel, Timotheus, &c.; Chosroes and the chagan were
of course compared to Belshazzar, Pharaoh, the old serpent, &c.]

[Footnote 13: Suidas (in Excerpt. Hist. Byzant. p. 46) gives this
number; but either the Persian must be read for the Isaurian war, or
this passage does not belong to the emperor Heraclius.]

Chapter XLVII: Ecclesiastical Discord.--Part I.

Theological History Of The Doctrine Of The Incarnation.--The
Human And Divine Nature Of Christ.--Enmity Of The Patriarchs
Of Alexandria And Constantinople.--St. Cyril And Nestorius.
--Third General Council Of Ephesus.--Heresy Of Eutyches.--
Fourth General Council Of Chalcedon.--Civil And
Ecclesiastical Discord.--Intolerance Of Justinian.--The
Three Chapters.--The Monothelite Controversy.--State Of The
Oriental Sects:--I. The Nestorians.--II. The Jacobites.--
III. The Maronites.--IV. The Armenians.--V. The Copts And
Abyssinians.

After the extinction of paganism, the Christians in peace and piety
might have enjoyed their solitary triumph. But the principle of discord
was alive in their bosom, and they were more solicitous to explore the
nature, than to practice the laws, of their founder. I have already
observed, that the disputes of the Trinity were succeeded by those of
the Incarnation; alike scandalous to the church, alike pernicious to the
state, still more minute in their origin, still more durable in their
effects.

It is my design to comprise in the present chapter a religious war
of two hundred and fifty years, to represent the ecclesiastical and
political schism of the Oriental sects, and to introduce their clamorous
or sanguinary contests, by a modest inquiry into the doctrines of the
primitive church. [1]

[Footnote 1: By what means shall I authenticate this previous inquiry,
which I have studied to circumscribe and compress?--If I persist in
supporting each fact or reflection by its proper and special evidence,
every line would demand a string of testimonies, and every note would
swell to a critical dissertation. But the numberless passages of
ant