stantius and Valens, the
feeble remnant of the Homoousians was deprived of the public and private
exercise of their religion; and it has been observed, in pathetic
language, that the scattered flock was left without a shepherd to wander
on the mountains, or to be devoured by rapacious wolves. But, as
their zeal, instead of being subdued, derived strength and vigor from
oppression, they seized the first moments of imperfect freedom, which
they had acquired by the death of Valens, to form themselves into a
regular congregation, under the conduct of an episcopal pastor. Two
natives of Cappadocia, Basil, and Gregory Nazianzen, were distinguished
above all their contemporaries, by the rare union of profane eloquence
and of orthodox piety. These orators, who might sometimes be compared,
by themselves, and by the public, to the most celebrated of the ancient
Greeks, were united by the ties of the strictest friendship. They had
cultivated, with equal ardor, the same liberal studies in the schools of
Athens; they had retired, with equal devotion, to the same solitude in
the deserts of Pontus; and every spark of emulation, or envy, appeared
to be totally extinguished in the holy and ingenuous breasts of Gregory
and Basil. But the exaltation of Basil, from a private life to the
archiepiscopal throne of Caesarea, discovered to the world, and perhaps
to himself, the pride of his character; and the first favor which he
condescended to bestow on his friend, was received, and perhaps was
intended, as a cruel insult. Instead of employing the superior talents
of Gregory in some useful and conspicuous station, the haughty prelate
selected, among the fifty bishoprics of his extensive province, the
wretched village of Sasima, without water, without verdure, without
society, situate at the junction of three highways, and frequented
only by the incessant passage of rude and clamorous wagoners. Gregory
submitted with reluctance to this humiliating exile; he was ordained
bishop of Sasima; but he solemnly protests, that he never consummated
his spiritual marriage with this disgusting bride. He afterwards
consented to undertake the government of his native church of Nazianzus,
of which his father had been bishop above five-and-forty years. But as
he was still conscious that he deserved another audience, and another
theatre, he accepted, with no unworthy ambition, the honorable
invitation, which was addressed to him from the orthodox party of
Const