Communion_.] In virtue of this Confession, whereof the Original was carefully lodged in the Archives of the Church of _Rome_, _Liberius_ admitted the Deputies to his Communion; and, upon their Departure, writ, in the Name of all the Bishops of _Italy_, and the West, to the _Macedonian_ Bishops, of whom he names 59, signifying the great Joy, which their Letters, and the Confession of Faith, signed by their Deputies, had occasioned at _Rome_, and in all the Western Churches, since by such a Confession they were all again happily united in one Faith. In this Letter _Liberius_ assures them, that all the Bishops, who had assisted at the Council of _Rimini_, had retracted the Doctrine, which they had been forced to sign there; and were more than ever incensed against the _Arians_, on account of the Violence, which, at their Instigation, had been offered them[964]. The _Macedonians_ admitted the Divinity of the Son, but denied that of the Holy Ghost; nay, this was their favourite Doctrine, and, as it were, the Characteristic of their Sect; but _Liberius_, and the other Western Bishops, not suspecting them of such an Error, which in all Likelihood they had not yet publicly owned, admitted them to their Communion, without examining them on that Head. [Sidenote: Liberius _dies_.] _Liberius_ died soon after, that is, on the 23d or 24th of _September_, of the present Year 366. as we are told by _Marcellinus_ and _Faustinus_, whose Authority is preferable to that of any other, since, at this very time, they lived at _Rome_[965]. He had been chosen on the 22d of _May_ 352. so that he governed the Church of _Rome_ Fourteen Years, Four Months, and a Day or Two. [Sidenote: _The deplorable Condition of the Church in his Time._] _Liberius_ lived in troublesome Times, the worst the Church had ever yet seen. She had Two dangerous Enemies to contend with at the same time, the Power of the Prince then on the Imperial Throne, and the Craft of a most subtle and deceitful Party. The Prince employed all his Power to overcome, with Oppression, those whom the Party could not over-reach with their Craft; and the Party to over-reach with their Craft such as the Prince could not overcome with Oppression. On the other hand, the Prelates, even some who were reputed the Pillars of the Church, seemed to have lost that Zeal, Firmness, and Intrepidity, which they had so gloriously exerted under the Pagan Princes, and few were found among them, whose Virtue was proof against the Loss of their Dignity, or Exile. Hence the Defection became general, and the Orthodox Party was brought so low, that it must have been utterly quashed, had _Constantius_ lived a few Years longer. But Providence interposed; _Constantius_ died while he was pursuing his Scheme with the greatest Success; and _Julian_, his Successor, by betraying an equal Hatred and Aversion to Christians of all Denominations, obliged them to forget their Quarrels among themselves, to lay aside their Animosity against