But when he saith, ibid. after Constantine's delivery of the church, _Neque ulterius persecutionem fore credimus, nisi eam quam sub fine jam sæculi antichristus exercebit_, either he was grossly mistaken, or else those are the instruments of antichrist that are not thought so. It is a most notable instance to our purpose which Severus ends his history with, of the mischievous zeal of orthodox Ithacius and Idacius against Priscillian and his gnostics; and worthy of the study of the prelates of the church: _Idacius sine modo et ultra quam oportuit Istantium sociosque ejus lacessens, facem nascenti incendio subdidit: ut exasperaverit malos potius quam compresserit_. In sum, they got the magistrate to interpose and banish the gnostics, who quickly learned, by bribing court officers, to turn the emperor against the orthodox for themselves; till the zeal of Idacius and Ithacius grew so hot as to accuse even the best men, yea, St. Martin himself, of favouring the gnostics: and at last got another tyrannical emperor to put Priscillian and many other gnostics to death, though they withdrew from the accusation, as tending to their own confusion. And Severus saith, _Certe Ithacium nihil pensi, nihil sancti habuisse definio: fuit enim audax, loquax, impudens, sumptuosus, veneri et gulæ plurimum impertiens. Hic stultitiæ eo usque processerat, ut omnes etiam sanctos viros, quibus aut studium inerat iectionis, aut propositum erat certare jejuniis, tanquam Priscilliani socios et discipulos, in crimen arcesseret. Ausus etiam miser est, Martino episcopo, viro plane apostolis conferendo, palam objectare hæresis infamiam:----quia non desinebat increpare Ithacium, ut ab accusatione desisteret._ And when the leaders were put to death, the heresy increased more, and honoured Priscillian as a martyr, and reproached the orthodox as wicked persecutors: and the end was, that the church was filled by it with divisions and manifold mischiefs, and all the most godly made the common scorn. _Inter hæc plebs Dei et optimus quisque, probro atque ludibrio habebatur._ They are the last words of Severus's History; and changing the names are calculated for another meridian, and for later years. [136] Of this subject I have written already, 1. My "Universal Concord." 2. My "Catholic Unity." 3. Of the "True Catholic Church." 4. My "Christian Concord." [137] Read over Sir Francis Bacon's third Essay; and Hales of Schism. [138] In veste Christi varietas sit; scissura non sit. They be two things, unity and uniformity. Lord Bacon, Essay iii. [139] 1 Thess. v. 12, 13. [140] Gal. iii. 20; iv. 5, 6; Eph. iv. 5; 1 Cor. xii. 12, 13; 1 Pet. i. 16; Eph. iv. 11-13; ii. 20, 21, 19; 1 John iii. 11, 14, 23; Psal. cxxii. 2; 1 Pet. ii. 1, 2; John iii. 6; Heb. x. 25; 1 Cor. x. 16, 17; Rom. xii. 1; Eph. ii. 10, 11.