eager competitors for earthly or celestial favor anticipated and
flattered the judgment of their sovereign; and the promotion of
her secretary Tarasius gave Irene the patriarch of
Constantinople, and the command of the Oriental church. But the
decrees of a general council could only be repealed by a similar
assembly: ^78 the Iconoclasts whom she convened were bold in
possession, and averse to debate; and the feeble voice of the
bishops was reechoed by the more formidable clamor of the
soldiers and people of Constantinople. The delay and intrigues of
a year, the separation of the disaffected troops, and the choice
of Nice for a second orthodox synod, removed these obstacles; and
the episcopal conscience was again, after the Greek fashion, in
the hands of the prince. No more than eighteen days were allowed
for the consummation of this important work: the Iconoclasts
appeared, not as judges, but as criminals or penitents: the scene
was decorated by the legates of Pope Adrian and the Eastern
patriarchs, ^79 the decrees were framed by the president
Taracius, and ratified by the acclamations and subscriptions of
three hundred and fifty bishops. They unanimously pronounced,
that the worship of images is agreeable to Scripture and reason,
to the fathers and councils of the church: but they hesitate
whether that worship be relative or direct; whether the Godhead,
and the figure of Christ, be entitled to the same mode of
adoration. Of this second Nicene council the acts are still
extant; a curious monument of superstition and ignorance, of
falsehood and folly. I shall only notice the judgment of the
bishops on the comparative merit of image-worship and morality.
A monk had concluded a truce with the daemon of fornication, on
condition of interrupting his daily prayers to a picture that
hung in his cell. His scruples prompted him to consult the