d vain. But the distinctions of the Trinity, which
Arius sought to sweep away, are essential to the unity and completeness
of the whole scheme of salvation, as held by the Church to have been
revealed in the Scriptures; for if Christ is a mere creature of God,--a
creation, and not one with Him in essence,--then his death would avail
nothing for the efficacy of salvation; or,--to use the language of
theologians, who have ever unfortunately blended the declarations and
facts of Scripture with dialectical formularies, which are deductions
made by reason and logic from accepted truths, yet not so binding as the
plain truths themselves,--Christ's death would be insufficient for an
infinite redemption. No propitiation of a created being could atone for
the sins of all other creatures. Thus by the Arian theory the Christ of
the orthodox church was blotted out, and a man was substituted, who was
divine only in the matchless purity of his life and the transcendent
wisdom of his utterances; so that Christ, logically, was a pattern and
teacher, and not a redeemer. Now, historically, everybody knows that for
three hundred years Christ was viewed and worshipped as the Son of
God,--a divine, uncreated being, who assumed a mortal form to make an
atonement or propitiation for the sins of the world. Hence the doctrines
of Arius undermined, so far as they were received, the whole theology of
the early Church, and obscured the light of faith itself. I am compelled
to say this, if I speak at all of the Arians, which I do historically
rather than controversially. If I eliminated theology and political
theories and changes from my Lectures altogether, there would be nothing
left but commonplace matter.

But Ambrose had powerful enemies to contend with in his defence of the
received doctrines of the Church. The Empress Faustina was herself an
Arian, and the patroness of the sect. Milan was filled with its
defenders, turbulent and insolent under the shield of the court. It was
the headquarters of the sect at that time. Arianism was fashionable; and
the empress had caused an edict to be passed, in the name of her son
Valentinian, by which liberty of conscience and worship was granted to
the Arians. She also caused a bishop of her nomination and creed to
challenge Ambrose to a public disputation in her palace on the points in
question. Now what course did Ambrose pursue? Nothing could be fairer,
apparently, than the proposal of the empress,--noth