4B NIC 
relates to the Arlan, controverfy; and the Nicene Creed 
was compoled and efiabliflied as a proper fummary of the 
Chriftian faith againft the Arians. This is alfo called the 
Conjlantinopolitan Creed, becaufe it was confirmed, with 
fome few alterations, by the council of Conftantinople, 
A.D. 381. (See our book of Common Prayer.) The 
greater part of this creed, viz. as far as the words “ Holy 
Ghoft,” was formed and fettled by the council of Nice ; 
which council alfo added the following claufe: “The 
holy catholic and apoftolic church anathematizes thofe 
who fay there was a time when the Son of God was not, 
and that before he was begotten he was not, and that he 
was made out of nothing, or out of another fubftance or 
dfence, and is created, or changeable, or alterable.” 
(Socrat. Ecc. Hift. i 8.) Ourchurch has dropped the ana¬ 
thematizing claufes at the end ; and one cannot help 
wifhing, fays Dr. Jortin, that the Nicene fathers had done 
the fame. The reft of this creed, after “ Holy Ghoft," 
was added at the council of Conftantinople, except the 
■words “and the Son,” which follow the words “who pro- 
ceedeth from the Father;" and they were inlerted A.D. 
447. The addition made at Conftantinople was occafion- 
ed by the denial of the divinity of the Holy Ghoft by 
Macedonius and his followers; and the Creed, thus en¬ 
larged, was immediately received by all orthodox Chrif- 
tians. The infertion of the words “and the Son” was 
made by the Spanilh bifhops, and they were foon after 
adopted by the Chriftians in France. The bilhops of 
Rome for fome time refilled to admit thefe words into 
the creed; but at laft, in the year 883, when Nicholas I. 
was pope, they were allowed, and from that time they 
haveftood in the Nicene Creed in all the weftern churches; 
but the Greek church has never received them. 
NICE, adj. [Goth, hnafquia, loft; hnefc, neyc Sax. 
tender, effeminate, from hneycian, to foften; neifche, 
old Engl, effeminate, Gloff.to Wickliffe; nice, old Fr. filly, 
weak, fimple.] Accurate in judgment to minute exaft- 
nefs: fuperfluoufly exaft. It is often ufed to exprefs a 
culpable delicacy.—She is fo nice and critical in her 
judgement, fo fenfible of the fmalleft errour, that the 
maid is often forced to drefs and undrefs her daughters 
three or four times a-day. Law. 
Our author, happy in a judge fo nice, 
Produc’d his play, and begg’d the knight’s advice. Pope. 
Delicate; fcrupuloufly and minutely cautious.—Having 
been compiled by Gratian, in an ignorant age, we ought 
not to be too nice in examining it. Baker. 
Of honour men at firft, like women, nice, 
Raife maiden fcruples at unpra&is'd vice. Ld. Halifax. 
Faftidious; fqueamifli: 
God hath here 
Varied his bounty fo with new delights, 
As may compare with heaven ; and to tafte 
Think not I (hall be' nice. Milton's P. L. 
Eafdy injured; delicate: 
With how much eafe is a young mufe betray’d ? 
How nice the reputation of the maid ? RoJ'cominqn. 
Formed with minute exadlnefs : 
Indulge me but in love, my other pafiions 
Shall rife and fall by virtue’s nicejl rules. Addfon's Cato. 
Requiring fcrupulous exadtnefs.—Suppofing an injury 
done, it is a nice point to proportion the reparation to the 
degree of the indignity. L'EJlrange. —Refined : 
A nice and fubtle happinefs I fee 
Thou to thyfelf propofeft in the choice 
Of thy aflociates, Adam. Milton's P. L. 
Having lucky hits; as in the following paflage of 
Shakefpeare; a fignification not in ufe, Dr. Johnfon fays. 
It is here ufed by Shakefpeare rather in the fenfe of trifling, 
toying, wanton; and fo in the Mirror for Magiftraies. 
N I C 
When my hours 
Were nice and lucky, men did ranfom lives 
Of meforjefts. Shakefpeare's Ant. and Cleop. 
Shore’s wife was my nice cheat. 
The holy whore, and eke the wily peat. Mir. for Mag. 
Foolifli; weak; effeminate.—Men wax nice and effemi¬ 
nate. Barret's Alv. 1580. 
A ni/ce heart! fie for fhame! 
A coward heart, of love unlered. 
Whereof art thou fo foreafered ? Gower Conf. Am. 
Trivial; unimportant: 
The letter was not nice, but full of charge. 
Of dear import. Shakefpeare's Rom. and Jul. 
Delicious.—Look, how nice he makes it! Barret's Alv. 
—Handfome ; pleafing: a colloquial expreflion in feve- 
ral parts of England. 
To make Nice. To be fcrupulous: perhapsfrom/«ire 
le delicat, Fr. 
He that ftands upon a flippery place, 
Makes nice01 no vile hold to flay him up. Skakefp. K John. 
NI'CELY, adv Accurately; minutely; fcrupuloufly. 
•—He ought to ftudy the grammar of his own tongue, 
that he may underhand his own country-fpeech nicely, 
and fpeak it properly. Locke. —The next thing, of which 
the doles ought to be nicely determined, are opiates. Ar- 
butknot on Coins. 
Knaves in this plainnefs 
Harbour more craft, and more corrupter ends. 
Than twenty filly ducking obfervants, 
That ftretch their duties nicely. Shakefpeare's K. Lear. 
What mean thofe ladies which, as though 
They were to take a clock to pieces, go 
So nicely about the bride ? Doime. 
Delicately.—The inconveniences attending the beft of 
governments we quickly feel, and are nicely fenfible of 
the fliare that we bear in them. Atterbury. 
NI'CENESS, J'. Accuracy; minute exaftnefs. 
Where’s now that labour’d nicenefs in thy drefs, 
And all thofe arts that did the lpark exprefs ? Dryden. 
Superfluous delicacy or exadlnefs.—A ftrangenfeene/s were 
it in me to refrain that from the ears of a perfon' repre- 
fenting fo much worthinefs, which I am glad even to rocks 
and woods to utter. Sidney. 
Only fome little boats from Gaul that did her feed 
With trifles, which fhe took for nicenefs more than need. 
Drayton. 
NICEPHO'RIA, f [from the Gr. nnri, a victory, and 
tptpu, to bear.] A rejoicing or triumph on account of a 
vidtory. Scott. 
NICEPHO'RIUM, in ancient geography, a town of 
Afia, in Mefopotamia, according to Ptolemy, who places 
it between Maube and Maguda. Pliny fays, that Alex¬ 
ander availed himfelfof the advantageous fituation of this 
place for building a town ; and Steph. Byz. fays, that it 
was afterwards re-eftablilhed by the emperor Conftantine. 
It was fituated on the eaftern bank of the Euphrates, near 
the place where the Billicha difeharged into this river. 
M. d’Anville conceives it to have been the place which 
was called Callinicum or Callinicus, and, under the em¬ 
peror Leon, Leontopolis ; now Racca. —Alfo a town of 
Afia Minor, near the Propontide, which, according to 
Arrian, was a fortified place, in which were temples. 
NICEPHO'RIUS, a river of Armenia, which, according 
to Tacitus, watered and guarded the town of Tigrano- 
certa, and difeharged itfelf into the Tigris. 
NICEPH'ORUS, the name of three Emperors of the 
Eaft. See the article Rome. 
NICEPH'ORUS, patriarch of Conftantinople in the 
early part of the ninth century, was a native of that city, 
and 
