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.