A bishop named Vigilius, of Tapse in Africa, is reputed to be its author or compiler. At the Council of Ayton, held in the year 670, we find mention first made of it. Ayton, Bishop of Bayle, toward the year 800 enjoined it upon the clergy at Prime. Ratherius, Bishop of Veronne, toward the year 930, expressed the wish that the priests of his diocese should learn it by heart in conjunction with the symbol of the apostles and the Nicene Creed. At the present day the clergy of Holy Mother Church recite the Symbol of St. Athanasius in the Roman Breviary as often as the Office of the Sunday occurs. The Symbol touching on the point of the present subject runs in this fashion:—"The Holy Ghost from the Father and the Son, not made, not created, nor begotten, but proceeding." The Greek heretics were so cut up with such serious historic evidences being brought to bear against their cause that they broke forth into an avalanche of vituperation and vitriolic calumny. They even went so far as to allege that the author of the Symbol must have been beside himself with potent beverage when he quilled such words. The old story again. Abuse and wrath are the resources of the insincere, when argument offers no further hope; it is the weapon of the lost cause; it is the delirium or fever spasm, when reason's flame is quenched. Is it not a noticeable thing how some persons—I allude to non Catholics—otherwise solemnly — at least to all appearances, —diligent and earnest in the matter of religion will fail to have the most elementary idea of the obligations of charity and the good offices of courtesy? The true Church has to contend with this kind of thing repeatedly. This, it seems to me, should be a matter of self-examination on the part of those who differ from the Church. A christian love of truth is not a. source of passionate feud, of cankerous antipathy; and, yet, on the other hand, this I suppose cannot be otherwise in view of the fact that truth disturbs men's passions and upsets the triumph of their own personal will and selfish independence. It sends home akeen thrust to their stubborn hearts and opposes a permanent barrier, and an insurmountable one, to its worst form, namely, fanaticism and false religions, that have no root in the Son of Man and no approbation on the part of the love of God. It arraigns before a just tribunal voluptuous, dishonest and proud men. As long as such disorders are possible, the truth will have to struggle. If one be well disposed I fail to see how the truth should not be welcome to him. Far from hating it, if one is sincere, he will fall upon its neck, embrace it with love and gratitude and bestow upon it the kiss of peace. Let those who so bitterly oppose the pillar and ground of truth, which is the Church of Jesus Christ, suppose for a moment that the Church does not teach the truth, where do they find in Holy Scripture justification, or such a thing as a model, approved by God, for bitterness and a system of the sword, whether it be of a social or of a business kind? At root there is perhaps more religious animosity toward the truth than sincere enthusiasm for a right cause. Its tone and methods and principles stamp it as not of God. Peace, love, benignity, turning the other cheek in a profuse consideration for one's enemies —patience, ah! these are the qualities and elements that must attend when the Holy Ghost inspires a thing.
