(Opera, tom. i. p. 623.) Spanheim's Apology for the Synod of
Constantinople (p. 171, &c.) is worked up with truth and
ingenuity, from such materials as he could find in the Nicene
Acts, (p. 1046, &c.) The witty John of Damascus converts it into
slaves of their belly, &c. Opera, tom. i. p. 806]

[Footnote 20: He is accused of proscribing the title of saint;
styling the Virgin, Mother of Christ; comparing her after her
delivery to an empty purse of Arianism, Nestorianism, &c. In his
defence, Spanheim (c. iv. p. 207) is somewhat embarrassed between
the interest of a Protestant and the duty of an orthodox divine.]

The scandal of an abstract heresy can be only proclaimed to
the people by the blast of the ecclesiastical trumpet; but the
most ignorant can perceive, the most torpid must feel, the
profanation and downfall of their visible deities. The first
hostilities of Leo were directed against a lofty Christ on the
vestibule, and above the gate, of the palace. A ladder had been
planted for the assault, but it was furiously shaken by a crowd
of zealots and women: they beheld, with pious transport, the
ministers of sacrilege tumbling from on high and dashed against
the pavement: and the honors of the ancient martyrs were
prostituted to these criminals, who justly suffered for murder
and rebellion. ^21 The execution of the Imperial edicts was
resisted by frequent tumults in Constantinople and the provinces:
the person of Leo was endangered, his officers were massacred,
and the popular enthusiasm was quelled by the strongest efforts
of the civil and military power. Of the Archipelago, or Holy
Sea, the numerous islands were filled with images and monks:
their votaries abjured, without scruple, the enemy of Christ, his