man soul, were derived from the Gnostic and Manichaean
system; and this vain philosophy, which had been transported from
Egypt to Spain, was ill adapted to the grosser spirits of the West.
The obscure disciples of Priscillian suffered languished, and gradually
disappeared: his tenets were rejected by the clergy and people, but his
death was the subject of a long and vehement controversy; while some
arraigned, and others applauded, the justice of his sentence. It is
with pleasure that we can observe the humane inconsistency of the most
illustrious saints and bishops, Ambrose of Milan, and Martin of Tours,
who, on this occasion, asserted the cause of toleration. They pitied
the unhappy men, who had been executed at Treves; they refused to hold
communion with their episcopal murderers; and if Martin deviated from
that generous resolution, his motives were laudable, and his repentance
was exemplary. The bishops of Tours and Milan pronounced, without
hesitation, the eternal damnation of heretics; but they were surprised,
and shocked, by the bloody image of their temporal death, and the honest
feelings of nature resisted the artificial prejudices of theology.
The humanity of Ambrose and Martin was confirmed by the scandalous
irregularity of the proceedings against Priscillian and his adherents.
The civil and ecclesiastical ministers had transgressed the limits of
their respective provinces. The secular judge had presumed to receive
an appeal, and to pronounce a definitive sentence, in a matter of faith,
and episcopal jurisdiction. The bishops had disgraced themselves, by
exercising the functions of accusers in a criminal prosecution. The
cruelty of Ithacius, who beheld the tortures, and solicited the death,
of the heretics, provoked the just indignation of mankind; and the vices
of that profligate bishop were admitted as a proof, that his zeal
was instigated by the sordid motives of interest. Since the death of
Priscillian, the rude attempts of persecution have been refined and
methodized in the holy office, which assigns their distinct parts to
the ecclesiastical and secular powers. The devoted victim is regularly
delivered by the priest to the magistrate, and by the magistrate to the
executioner; and the inexorable sentence of the church, which declares
the spiritual guilt of the offender, is expressed in the mild language
of pity and intercession.

Chapter XXVII: Civil Wars, Reign Of Theodosius.--Part III.

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