Though the ranks of its once multitudinous
congregations were now perceptibly thinned, though the new churches
swarmed with converts, though the edicts from Rome denounced it as a
blot on the face of the earth, its gloomy and solitary grandeur was
still preserved. No unhallowed foot trod its secret recesses; no
destroying hand was raised as yet against its ancient and glorious
walls.
Indignation, but not despondency, filled the heart of Ulpius as he
surveyed the situation of the Pagan world. A determination nourished as
his had been by the reflections of years, and matured by incessant
industry of deliberation, is above all those shocks which affect a hasty
decision or destroy a wavering intention. Impervious to failure,
disasters urge it into action, but never depress it to repose. Its
existence is the air that preserves the vitality of the mind--the spring
that moves the action of the thoughts. Never for a moment did Ulpius
waver in his devotion to his great design, or despair of its ultimate
execution and success.
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