310 



ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 



the Tl^Wftl 



et Nic*. 



The council 

 ' Nice. 



schoolmen, in the (lark agm, may have been violent, 

 H>iory. but i| u .y nm-i have exceeded all common measures of 

 V" asperity, if they surpassed, in malignant zeal nn<l lit 



recrimination, the dispute which now rent and dis- 

 honoured tin- rliurch. 



In these, circumstance*, Constantine, with n laudable 

 concern, but pcrhajw with little knowledge of human 

 nature, wrote first of all to the bishop <if Alexandria, and 

 afterwards to Arius himself, reprimanding them for 

 their indecent hostility, and exhorting them to )>eace. 

 But it soon appeared, that the paternal advice of the 

 emperor might have been spared. Neither of the par- 

 tie, M.I- willing to yield, because each of them, of 

 course, believed his antagonist in the wrong. The sub- 

 ordinate agent- likewise in the dispute, had their vic- 

 tories to gain, their enemies to crush, and their inte- 

 reats to serve. In reality, the letter of the emperor had 

 no other effect than that of magnifying the controversy 

 in the public estimation, and of inducing those, who, 

 from indolence or prudence, had hitherto been silent, 

 to range themselves with the one party or with the 

 other : to resist the heretic, or to abandon the church. 

 Something more deci-i\e, therefore, was to be done. 

 Accordingly the ini]iorial summons was issued, and an 

 acumenical or general council convoked : And in the 

 year 325, the representatives of the whole Christian 

 world assembled at Nice in Bithynia, to ascertain the 

 Catholic doctrine, and provide for the tranquillity of 

 future generations. 



The appearance of the assembly was venerable in 

 the highe-t degree. No fewer than two thousand eccle- 

 siastics, according to some accounts, had risen from 

 their retirements in obedience to the imperial summons, 

 and of these three hundred and eighteen were bishops. 

 The emperor himself presided in the council, " ex- 

 ceeding," as Eusebius says, " all his attendants in sta- 

 ture, gracefulness, and strength, and daxzliiig even 

 eye with the splendour of his apparel." And the qnc-,- 

 tion to be decided related to nothing less than the pe- 

 culiar distinctions which may be predicated of the di- 

 vine essence, and the honour which belongs to the Son 

 of God. Impartiality, however, obliges us to declare, 

 that the conduct and deportment of the fathers did not 

 exactly correspond, either with the respectability of 

 their appearance, or the solemnity of the occasion. 

 They seemed to think, that they had met together, ra- 

 ther with a view to settle their private disputes, than 

 to ascertain the Catholic faith. Numerous complaints 

 were made, and loads of memorials transmitted to the 

 emperor. These memorials were little else than accu- 

 sations of parties or of individuals, each man libelling 

 his antagonist, and representing him as an enemy to 

 the church. It is said that the emperor, having col- 

 lected the libels in question, threw the whole of them 

 into the fire ; advising the fathers, according to the 

 precept of our Saviour, to forgive one another as they 

 themselves expected to be forgiven, and modestly hint- 

 ing, (as Sozomen observes,) that it did not belong to 

 him to decide the differences of ( 'hristian bishops. Ha- 

 ving proceeded so far, he requested the immediate at- 

 tention of the council to the weighty matter which lay 

 before them. Upon this subject, however, there was a 

 very great and unexpected unanimity. The doctrine 

 of the church appears to have been so completely se- 

 parated from the heresy of Arius, that no private dis- 

 sensions, or remaining rancour among the member- n!' 

 the synod, could prevent them from agreeing upon the 

 question at i ue. The tenets of the disputations pres- 

 byter, as he was called, were solemnly condemned; and, 



by the order of the emperor, he was banished into Illyria. 

 The HomiMiu-i.m diK-trine, or the doctrine of Con-ub- 

 stantinlity, was pronounced to be the faith of the church ; 

 and though there were certain differences of opinion 

 with regard to the correct meaning of the term 'vrtrtiirit, 

 and though it was for scum- time disputed, whether this 

 term applied to the itnlnrf of the Gixlhe;ul, or to the prr- 

 tons (n-Mwirml) in the ble--ed Trinity, still it WHS finally 

 declared, with scarcely a diwntin. : hat Jesus 



( 'hrist, tin- Son of ( Iod, was not, in substance or essi ' 

 distinct from the Father. Arius himself was present in Fate of 

 this assembly, the most numerous which the Christian Ar "u- 

 world had ever witnessed before. 1 1 e was supported 

 by Lusebius of N'icomcdia, Maris of Chalcedou, and 

 Theognis of Nice. The-e ecclesiastics, who seem to 

 have been persons of con-iderable ability, attempted to 

 explain or to qualify the heretical opinions; but I'.usebius 

 alone persisted in refusing to subscribe the sentence of 

 the council. Among the ortluxlox, the chief' sj>eaker 

 was the famous Atlian i-ius, then only a deacon in the 

 church of Alexandria. 



The following may be considered as a summary of The Nicene 

 the Catholic laith. as it relates to the second person in creed. 

 the Heavenly Trinity, at the period to which our obser- 

 vations refer. It is a ver-ion of the \icenecreed, as it 

 appears in the Epistle of Eusebius to the Ca?sareans, iVe. 

 " We Ix-lievc in one ( lod, the Father Almighty, maker of 

 all things, visible and invisible. And in one Lord Jesus 

 Christ, the Son of (iod. the only begotten : begotten of 

 the Father, that is, of the substance of the Father. God 

 of God, Light of Light, true (iod of true God ; begot- 

 ten, not made; consuhstanti::l with the Father, by whom 

 all things were made, both things in heaven and things 

 on earth: who, for us men, and for our salvation, came 

 down, and was incarnate, and became man, suffered 

 and rose again the third day, and ascended into the 

 heavens, and comes to judge the quick and the dead: 

 and in the Holy Ghost. And the Catholic and Aposto- 

 lical church doth anathematize those persons, who say, 

 that there was a time when the Son of God was not ; 

 that lie was not before lie was born ; that he was made 

 of nothing, or of another substance or being, or that 

 he is created, changeable, or convertible." 



To the Arian controversy succeeded the Pelagian, T] U . ] 

 in which St Augustine distinguished himself; but as pun ron- 

 the heresy of I'elagius i* neovlv (\lli*><l t<. tli:it of Armi- troversy. 

 nius, we shall afterwards have occasion to treat of it, 

 in giving our account of the Synod of Dort. 



Our attention must now be directed to another quar- Mahomet, 

 ter. About the commencement of the seventli century, a 

 new religion began to spread itself in Arabia ; and Chris- 

 tianity received a blow, nearly fatal, from the doctrines 

 and the conquests of Mahomet. In whatever light we 

 view the prophet of Mecca, we cannot hesitate to pro- 

 nounce him an extraordinary man. Without that learn- 

 ing which is to be derived from books, he was far from 

 Iving ignorant ; of great natural acuteness, he employ, 

 cd that talent in distinguishing between human diame- 

 ters, anil in ascertaining the motives by which they are 

 influenced or formed; mid prudent and dextrous, he 

 rarelv let slip an opportunity of increasing his know- 

 ledge, or establishing his reputation. While yet in the 

 service of Cadijah. a rich widow, whom he afterwards 

 married, he travelled into Egypt, Syria, and Palestine; 

 comparing the manners of the jx-oplc, noting their ge- 

 nius, and marking the defects or the excellencies of the 

 governments under which they lived. Though origi- 

 nally poor, he was born of an illustrious race. His 

 person was beautiful, his forehead large and lilx-ral, and 





