ts is a proof that it is more
ancient than their schism.]

[Footnote 112: In the account of the Monophysites and Nestorians, I am
deeply indebted to the Bibliotheca Orientalis Clementino-Vaticana of
Joseph Simon Assemannus. That learned Maronite was despatched, in the
year 1715, by Pope Clement XI. to visit the monasteries of Egypt and
Syria, in search of Mss. His four folio volumes, published at Rome
1719--1728, contain a part only, though perhaps the most valuable, of
his extensive project. As a native and as a scholar, he possessed the
Syriac literature; and though a dependent of Rome, he wishes to be
moderate and candid.]

Chapter XLVII: Ecclesiastical Discord.--Part V.

I. Both in his native and his episcopal province, the heresy of the
unfortunate Nestorius was speedily obliterated. The Oriental bishops,
who at Ephesus had resisted to his face the arrogance of Cyril,
were mollified by his tardy concessions. The same prelates, or their
successors, subscribed, not without a murmur, the decrees of Chalcedon;
the power of the Monophysites reconciled them with the Catholics in
the conformity of passion, of interest, and, insensibly, of belief;
and their last reluctant sigh was breathed in the defence of the three
chapters. Their dissenting brethren, less moderate, or more sincere,
were crushed by the penal laws; and, as early as the reign of Justinian,
it became difficult to find a church of Nestorians within the limits of
the Roman empire. Beyond those limits they had discovered a new world,
in which they might hope for liberty, and aspire to conquest. In Persia,
notwithstanding the resistance of the Magi, Christianity had struck a
deep root, and the nations of the East reposed under its salutary shade.
The catholic, or primate, resided in the capital: in his synods, and in
their dioceses, his metropolitans, bishops, and clergy, represented the
pomp and order of a regular hierarchy: they rejoiced in the increase of
proselytes, who were converted from the Zendavesta to the gospel, from
the secular to the monastic life; and their zeal was stimulated by the
presence of an artful and formidable enemy. The Persian church had been
founded by the missionaries of Syria; and their language, discipline,
and doctrine, were closely interwoven with its original frame. The
catholics were elected and ordained by their own suffragans; but their
filial dependence on the patriarchs of Antioch is attested by the canons
of the