Pieces of Gold the whole Mass or by Derivation as Children from their Parents or by Eruption as a Branch from the Root But seeing that the Son of God could by none of these Ways be from the Father they cou'd not therefore give Consent to this Draught of the Creed in which the Word Homoousios was used Great and tedious were the Cavils and Debates about this one Word Homoousios which Eusebius and his Party would by no Means admit of and because it was not eras'd out of the Creed they refused to subscribe the Degradation of Arius which Obstinacy of theirs mov'd the Synod to anathematize Arius and all of his Opinion forbidding Arius in particular to enter into Alexandria The Emperour also by his Edict banish'd Arius Eusebius and Theognis But the two latter soon after their Exile repented of their Contumacy and sent their penitentiary Libels to the most eminent Bishops and in these Libels they declared their Assent to the Word Homoousios and their Belief of it as it was used in the Creed and in every thing agreed to the Exposition of the Faith And upon their doing this they were by Imperial Order recalled from Banishment and restored to their own Churches At the same time Eusebius sirnamed Pamphilus Bishop of Caesarea in Palestine having made some Hesitancy in the Synod whether he might safely admit of this Form of Faith having taken time maturely to consider what in this Case he might with a safe Conscience and a satisfied Reason conclude he at length gave his Assent and subscribed And lest any of the People of his Diocess shou'd be offended at his Backwardness in subscribing the Creed and have an Ill Opinion of him for scrupling the Use of the Word Homoousios he sent a Letter unto them wherein he explained that Term and apologiz'd for his Hesitancy Eusebius Pamphilus 's Letter to those of his Diocess IT is very probable Beloved that you may have heard what hath been done concerning the Ecclesiastick Faith in the great Council conven'd at Nice and in Regard that Report doth usually out-run an accurate Narrative of the Matters transacted lest by such a bare Report the Matter might be represented to you otherwise than really it is we thought it requisite to send to you first the Form of Faith which we our selves proposed to the Council and likewise that other published by the Bishops who made some Additions to ours That Form of Faith drawn up by us we read in the Presence of our most pious Emperour and it appeared to all to be sound and Orthodox and is as follows WE believe in one God the Father Almighcy Maker of all things visible and invisible and in one Lord Iesus Christ the Word of God God of God Light of Light Life of Life the only begotten Son the first born of every Creature begotten of God the Father before all Worlds by whom also all things were move who for our Salvation was incarnate and convers'd among Men who suffered and rose again the third Day he ascended unto the Father and shall come again in Glory to judge the Quick and the Dead VVe also believe in the Holy Ghost we believe that each of these Persons is and doth subsist That the Father is truly the Father the Son really the Son and the Holy Ghost really the Holy Ghost As our Lord also when he sent his Disciples out to preach said Go ye and teach all Nations baptizing them in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost Concerning which Articles we do averr that we thus maintain and hold them that these are our Sentiments of them that this was our Opinion formerly that this Opinion we will retain till Death that we we will persevere in this Belief and anathematize every impious Heresie VVe call God Almighty and Iesus Christ our Lord to VVitness that these were sincerely and heartily our Sentiments ever since we were capable of knowing our selves And that we do now speak and think what is most true and we are ready to demonstrate to you by most infallible Proofs and to persuade you that both in times past we thus believed and likewise thus preached Eusebius Pamphilus having given the People of his Diocess this Account of the Creed which he proposed to the Council he farther tells 'em That there was no body could oppose it That the Emperour did attest its Truth protesting that he was of the same Opinion and exhorted all to assent to and subscribe it and unanimously to agree in the Profession of it Only he desired that the Word Homoousios might be inserted tho' others with greater Probability affirm that that Word was added by the Bishops and that the Emperour explained it saying that he supposed that the Word Homoousios was not to be taken in such a Sense as is agreeable to the Affections of the Body and therefore that the Son had not his Subsistence from the Father either by Division or Abscission For it is impossible saith he that an immaterial intellectual and incorporeal Nature shou'd be subject to any corporeal Affection But that our Sentiments of such things should be expressed in Divine and Mysterious Terms The Emperour having thus Philosophized upon the Word Homoousios the Bishops drew up another Form of Belief in which they inserted that Word but in all other things it was the same with the first Now that the Form of Faith was agreed upon by the Bishops Eusebius Caesarienses gravely and maturely enquired of them What they meant by these Words Of the Substance of the Father and of the same Substance with the Father Which gave Occasion to many Questions and Answers and to an accurate Examination of the Importance of the Words And at last it was acknowledg'd by the Bishops that these Words To be of the Substance did only signifie thus much That the Son is of the Father but not as a Part of the Father To which Sense of the Words Eusebius Caesariensis thought it both reasonable and safe to give his Assent And having Peace before his Eyes as the Mark at which he aim'd and being cautious lest he should fall from a right Apprehension of the Faith he also admitted of the Words Begotten not made For Made said the Fathers is a common Term attributed to all other Creatures which were made by the Son of whom the Son hath no Resemblance Wherefore he is no Creature like those which were created by him but he is of a far more excellent Substance than any Creature Which Substance is begotten of the Father but in such a Manner of Generation as is ineffable and inexpressible by any created Being For his Generation who shall be able to declare Who can express how he was eternally begotten Who can explain of set forth his Divine Extraction No Man knoweth the Son but the Father That Light that shone before the World that Intellectual and Essential Wisdom that was before all Ages the living
Calumny against our selves for this we declare to you that we have unanimously agreed to the Determination about the Faith And also after we had made Researches into the Notion of Homoousios with our utmost Earnestness labour'd for Peace having never been Followers of any Heresie And when we had suggested whatever came into our Minds upon the Account of the Churches Security and had fully satisfied those that ought to be persuaded by us we subscrib'd the Faith but have not subscrib'd the Anathematism Not that we had any thing to object against the Faith but because we did not believe the Person accused to be such a one as he was represented having been fully satisfied that he was no such Person partly by the private Letters that he wrote us and partly by the Discourse that he made in our Presence But if your Holy Council was then satisfied we now make no Resistance but agree to what you have determined And by this Libel we do fully declare and confirm our Consent which we are induc'd to do not because we look upon our Exile to be tedious and burthensome but that we might avoid the Suspicion of Heresie For if you shall now vouchsafe to let us return to your Presence you shall find us to be of the same Opinion with you in all Points and quietly adhere to what you have determin'd And since it hath seem'd to your Piety to treat with great Gentleness even Arius who is accus'd for these things and to recall him from Banishment Seeing that he who seem'd guilty is recall'd and has made his Defence in Reference to those things laid to his Charge upon this Consideration it may justly seem absurd that we should be silent and by that Means yield an Argument against our selves Do you therefore as befits the Piety of such as love Christ Remind the Emperour of us and to offer up our Supplications to him and speedily to determine concerning us as shall be most agreeable to your Prudence By this Libel it appears that Eusebius Bishop of Nicomedia and Theognis Bishop of Nice did subscribe the Faith which had been published but wou'd not give their Consent to the deposing of Arius It likewise appears by the same Libel that Arius was recall'd from Banishment before the two Bishops which was done by the Emperour and not the Fathers But tho' he was recall'd yet he was forbid to enter Alexandria And this Socrates concludes from the Way he afterwards invented for his own Return into that Church and City which was saith Socrates his making use of a counterfeit Repentance 'T is certain Eusebius of Nicomedia and his Confederates made it their Business to bring Arius back again to Alexandria But how they prevail'd in their Design and after what Manner the Emperour was wrought upon to admit Arius and Euzoius into his Presence comes now to be succinctly reported The Emperour Constantine had a Sister call'd Constantia who had been married to Licinius once Collegue with him in the Empire This Constantia had a Priest for her Confident who was reckon'd among her Domesticks and a great Favourer of Arianism This Man prompted thereunto by Eusebius and those of his Faction did in his familiar Discourse with Constantia let fall some Words concerning Arius saying That the Synod had done him Wrong and that his Sentiments were not as they represented Constantia was easily induc'd to believe what was told her by the Presbyter But she wanted Confidence to declare it to the Emperour It happen'd that Constantia fell dangerously sick and was daily visited by the Emperour and finding her Distemper to grow mortal and expecting nothing but immediate Death she recommended the Presbyter to his Royal Favour praising his Diligence and Piety assuring the Emperour of his good Affection to his Government Constantia dying her Brother made the same Presbyter one of his greatest Confidents who having by Degrees got a Liberty of speaking to the Emperour took his Opportunity to tell him many things concerning Arius affirming he had no other Sentiments than what were agreeable to the Synod's Determination and that if the Emperour would admit him to his Presence he would give Consent unto what the Synod had decreed He told him also that Arius without all Reason had been falsly accus'd The Emperour seem'd much surpriz'd with what the Presbyter told him and said that if Arius would consent to the Synod's Determination and declare that he was of the same Judgment with the Nicene Fathers he would admit him to his Presence and also send him back to Alexandria with Repute and Honour And the Emperour having said thus he immediately wrote to Arius after this Manner Victor Constantinus Maximus Augustus to Arius IT has sometime since been made known to your Gravity that you should repair to our Court in order to your being admitted to the Enjoyment of our Presence And we much admire that you have not forthwith perform'd this Wherefore immediately take a publick Chariot and come with speed to our Court that having experienc'd our Care and good Will you may return to your own Country God preserve you Beloved Brother Dated before the first of the Calends of December Arius upon receiving this Letter instantly repair'd to Constantinople being accompanied with Euzoius whom Alexander had divested of his Deaconship when he depos'd Arius and his Associates The Emperour admits them both into his Presence and ask'd them whether they would agree to the Nicene Faith and they readily giving their Assent the Emperour commanded them to deliver in a Libel containing their Faith Whereupon they drew up a Libel of Repentance which they presented to the Emperour and was as follows Arius and Euzoius to our most Religious and most Pious Lord Constantine the Emperour ACcording to the Order of your Piety most acceptable to God our Lord the Emperour we declare our Faith and in Writing profess in the Presence of God that we and all our Adherents do believe as follows WE believe in one God the Father Almighty and in the Lord Iesus Christ who was made before all VVorlds God the VVord by whom all things were made that are in Heaven and that are in Earth VVho came down from Heaven and was incarnate and suffered and rose again and ascended into the Heavens who also shall come again to judge the Quick and the Dead VVe also believe in the Holy Ghost and in the Resurrection of the Flesh and in the Life of the VVorld to come and in the Kingdom of Heaven and one Catholick Church of God which is spread from one God of the VVorld to the other This Faith we have received from the Holy Gospels the Lord saying to his Disciples Go ye and teach all Nations baptizing them in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost If we do not believe these things and if we do not admit of the Father the Son and the Holy Ghost in such Manner as the Holy Catholick
times of the Apostles as we may conclude from the Mention Eusebius makes of the Throne of James Brother of the Lord yet this Throne was no more than the Bishop's Chair which was but little higher than the rest of the Clergies But Paul erected a Tribunal in the Church for himself and sate on a Seat higher than it was before For though the Bishops ever sate somewhat higher than the rest of the People yet we find not that they had a Tribunal This Piece of State was the peculiar Invention of Paul the Apostate as was also the Secretum or Place railed about in the inner Court and hung with Curtains where none sate but the Judices majores or Judges of Life and Death or such as heard Trials of Criminals And when Paul chose to have such a Secretum it shewed he was of an ambitious Spirit and that he immoderately affected secular Grandeur having rejected not only the Divinity of Christ but also his Doctrine and Practice concerning Lowliness and Humility For Vanity swell'd him so much that on all Occasions he courted Applause and expected that those who were Auditors of his Homilies should express their Praise and Commendation of what he said by shaking their Oraria or Handkerchiefs as Spectators did at Theatres to declare their Approbation of what was acted And to manifest yet further his insatiable Thirst of Praise he privily excited the Chorepiscopi or Vicar-Bishops to make publick Discourses and Harangues in his Commendation and to extol his Merits and Government in their Popular Meetings But the infamous Carriage of this haughty Heretick was not bounded with filthy Lucre and vain Ostentation but it went on to a vehement Suspicion of Incontinency with those Women whom the Antiochians called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of which he had always with him those that were young and beautiful with whom he liv'd in great sensual Delights as Feasting Drinking and indulging himself in the common Incentives of Lust This sort of Women are neither Wives nor Concubines but such as were kept by the Clergy upon a Pretence of Piety Valesius says they were by some called Sisters and by others Commanentes because they constantly abode with those Presbyters and Deacons who chose them as was pretended not upon the Account of Lust but for Religion And the Clergy of those Times gave it out they did this in Imitation of the Apostles who carried Women along with them whither ever they went to preach the Gospel Which Practice was founded upon those Words of St. Paul 1 Cor. 9.5 But this Custom of superinduced Women was condemned by the Synod and it is warmly inveighed against by Jerom. in his Ep. to Eustochius And notwithstanding that the least of the mention'd Crimes was in the purer Days of Christian Discipline Ground enough to cast any guilty thereof much more a Bishop out of the Communion of the Church yet Paul tho' he deserv'd to be was not censur'd for his Manners but his Heresie in denying Christ to be God And for a further Proof of the Pride and Obstinacy of this ill Man he slighted even Excommunication and was so far from being humbled thereby that he grew more insolent For being Canonically excommunicated and deprived by the Antiochian Fathers he would not quit the Possession of his Church but kept it for some Years after the Sentence of being deposed was pass'd against him and would not obey the Decree of the Synod But the better to fortifie his Contumacy he put himself under the Protection of Zenobia an Eastern Queen into whose Favour by servile Flatteries he had slily insin uated himself But when Zenobia was conquer'd the Christian Prelates petitioned Aurelianus that this Paul who had formerly conspired with Zenobia against the Romans might be removed from the See of Antioch And Aurelianus was at that time so well affected toward the Christians that he granted their Request and gave Command that the Bishop's Palace should be resigned to whom the Christian Bishops should assign it by their Letters Thus was the Heretick with great Disgrace thrust out of the Church by the secular Power in the third Year of Aurelianus It is remarkable that in the first Council at Antioch Paul seem'd to have recanted his Heresie but returning to it again as a Dog to his Vomit he was deprived by the Second which was held on Purpose to examine and censure his Doctrine concerning Christ which saith the Council was no other than what Annas and Caiphas taught concerning the Messias namely that he was to be the Son of God no otherwise than by Favour and the divine Grace that accompanied him after God had made choice of him to be the Saviour of Mankind Paul of Samosata being now suppress'd his Heresie was no more heard of till the Reign of Constantine who having vanquished his Collegue Licinius and after put him to death upon his new Revolt had Command over the whole Roman Empire and being proclaim'd Emperor and Augustus he endeavoured to augment the Affairs of the Christians who by his Means enjoyed a profound and secure Peace which in all Probability might have continu'd had not the Christians fallen into intestine Wars among themselves which broke forth first in the Churches of Alexandria occasioned by a private Dispute in the College there But in a very short Space as Socrates observes over-ran all Aegypt Lybia and Thebais and the rest of the Cities and Provinces The Quarrel began thus Alexander who succeeded Achilles in the See of Alexandria discoursing one Day in the Presence of his Presbyters and the rest of his Clergy too curiously concerning the Mystery of the Holy Trinity he asserted this Point of Divinity That there was an Unity in the Trinity But Arius one of Alexander's Presbyters being skilful in the Faculty of Reasoning supposed that the Bishop designed to introduce the Opinion of Sabellius who affirmed the Father Son and Holy Ghost to be but one Substance one Person under three several Names Which in the Time of the old Testament gave the Law under the Notion of the Father In the New Testament was made Man in the Capacity of the Son and descended afterwards upon the Apostles in Quality of the Holy Ghost which Opinion Dionysius opposed with so much Eagerness and Warmth of Disputation that he bent it too much the contrary Way asserting not only a Distinction of of Persons in the Trinity but also a Difference of Essence an Inequality of Power and Glory For which Dionysius was severely censured as one of those who in great Measure opened a Gap to those Arian Impieties which afterwards broke into the Church Arius as Socrates observes fell into an Opinion wholly opposite to that of Sabellius not out of any Dislike to Sabellianism but only to oppose the Bishop He was of a perverse and contentious Humour and one that had too good an Opinion of his own Abilities When Alexander gravely taught his Clergy that there was an Unity in the Trinity
God the Word who was in the the Beginning with the Father who but the Father alone can clearly and perfectly comprehend The Proposition that saith The Son is of the same Substance with the Father being also discuss'd Eusebius Caes declared that it was not to be understood according to the manner of Bodies nor in a Sense agreeable to mortal Creatures For this Constantiality said he cannot be either by the Division of Substance or Abscission or Change of the paternal Essence and Power For all these things are inconsistent with the uncreated Nature of the Father But this Proposition To be of the same Substance with the Father signifies no more than that the Son of God hath no Community with nor Resemblance to created Beings but that in every Respect he is like to the Father only who hath begotten him and that he does exist of no other Substance or Essence but of the Father To this Opinion thus explained Eusebius gave his Assent And he was the more inclinable to do this because that he knew some of the Ancient Learned and Eminent Bishops and Writers had used the Term Homoousios in their Explanations of the Divinity of the Father and of the Son And Eusebius Pamphilus having said thus much concerning the Creed published at Nice the Historian observes that the Bishops did not hastily but with deep Consideration and mature Examining agree unto it and that every Man's Sense was fairly discuss'd before the Emperour and that their Consents to what was concluded was free and unanimous As to the Anathematism published by the Fathers after the Creed the same was lik'd by Eusebius in regard it did prohibit the Use of Terms that occur not in the Scriptures From the use of which Terms came almost all the Confusion and Disturbance that had been raised in the Church And since no Part of the Scripture given by Divine Inspiration has made use of these Arian Terms viz. of Things which exist not And there was a time when he was not It was concluded as a thing agreeable to Reason that these things should neither be mentioned nor taught which Eusebius calls a good and sound Determination and saith that in former Times no such Expressions were made use of so that they were the Invention of the Heretick Arius and first used by him Eusebius having given the People of his Diocess this Account of his Backwardness in consenting to the Creed drawn up and formed by the Nicene Fathers and of his final Agreement with them All things were happily concluded and the Holy Synod decreed to send an Epistle to the Church of Alexandria and to the Inhabitants of Aegypt Libya and Pentapolis and therein to acquaint them with the Matters determined by the Synod and how they had degraded Arius and all those who embraced his Opinion A Copy of which Letter is as now follows The Synodical Epistle To the Holy and great Church of the Alexandrians and to our Beloved Brethren the Inhabitants of Aegypt Libya and Pentapolis the Bishops assembled at Nice who fill up that Great and Holy Synod send Greeting in the Lord. FOrasmuch as by the Grace of God and the Summons of the pious Emperour Constantine who has call'd us together out of divers Cities and Provinces a Great and Holy Synod has been conven'd at Nice it seem'd altogether necessary that a Letter should be written unto you in the Name of the Sacred Synod whereby you might understand what things were there proposed and what taken into Examination as also what were decreed and establish'd First of all therefore the Impiety and Iniquity of Arius and his Complices was enquir'd into in the Presence of the most pious Emperour Constantine and the Council's Determination which was confirm'd by the Suffrages of all was that his impious Opinion and execrable Terms and Names should be anathematiz'd which he blasphemously used affirming that the Son of God had his Being of Nothing and that there was a time when he was not as also saying that the Son of God had a Freedom of Will whereby he was capable of Vertue or Vice and calls him a Creature and a Work All these Tenets the Holy Synod hath anathematiz'd not enduring so much as patiently to hear this impious Opinion or rather Madness and these blasphemous Expressions But what Issue these Proceedings against them are arriv'd at you have either heard already or will hear lest we should insult over a Man who hath receiv'd a condign Recompence for his own Wickedness But his Impiety was grown so prevalent that he drew into the same Pit of Perdition Theonas Bishop of Marmarica and Secundus Bishop of Ptolemais For the same Sentence that had been given against him was pronounc'd against them Thus far the Synodical Letter respects the Synod's Proceeding against Arius The Residue of the Letter concerns Melitus and those that by him had been admitted into Holy Orders It pleased the Synod to use Gentleness toward Melitus and not to treat him according to the strictest Sense and Rigour of the Law For they suffered him to continue in the City but to have no Jurisdiction nor to ordain nor to propose the Names of those that were to be ordained or to appear in any Village or City upon this Pretence but that he should barely enjoy his Appellation and Title But to return to the Synodical Epistle Wherein it evidently appears that the Nicene Fathers did not only anathematize Arius and his Followers but also the very Terms of his Opinion They also condemned his Book entitled Thalia which he writ in Defence of his Heresie The Doctrine contain'd in that Book was loose and dissolute much resembling saith Socrates Scholasticus the Songs and Verses of Sotades the Maronite an obscene Greek Poet. This Thalia written by Arius Athanasius takes Notice of in his Second Oration against the Arians Nor was the Synod only sollicitous about writing Letters concerning the Peace restored to the Church but also the Emperour Constantine signified the same as appears by his Epistles extant in Socrates one of which was written to the People of Alexandria and is as follows Constantinus Augustus to the Catholick Church of Alexander GOd save you Beloved Brethren We have received this great Blessing from the Divine Providence that being releas'd from all Errour we now embrace and profess one and the same Faith The Devil hath no longer Dominion over us For all the Machinations he design'd against us are now totally destroyed The bright Lustre of Truth has defeated and expell'd all Dissentions Schisms Tumults and if I may so term them all fatal Poysons of Discord We all adore one God in Name and we believe that he is And that this might be effected by the Wisdom and Goodness of God we conven'd a great Number of Bishops at the City of Nice and we our self made one of the Number and it is our singular Joy that we are your Fellow-Servant and have undertook the Disquisition of the Truth
ΧΡΙΣΤΟΣ ' ΑΥΤΟ'ΘΕΟΣ OR AN Historical Account OF THE HERESIE Denying the GODHEAD OF CHRIST LONDON Printed by Tho. Hodgkin for Robert Clavell at the Sign of the Peacoak in St. Paul's Church-Yard 1696. TO THE READER AFter the Heresie denying the Divinity of Christ had been long silenced by Argument and Discipline it was again brought upon the Stage by Arius whose Character makes not much for its Credit For tho' in holy Orders he was proud and aspiring subtle witted and an excellent Proficient in the Art of Flattery Besides he was one that had such an overweaning Conceit of his own Abilities that he thought all to be his Inferiours in Desert And through this his vain unhappy Temper he became impatient of Contradiction full of Envy and Stomach and bold to broach Heresie And it was observed That Discipline and good Counsel which usually make others better made Arius the worse and the more his Heresie was condemned the more he labour'd to propagate and defend it Sulpitius lib. 2. observes that the Arian Heresie receiv'd no small Advantage from the Quality of the Persons chosen to be its publick Managers Who as he tells us were Senes callidi old stanch Disputants who had been long vers'd in Controversie Whereas the Managers chosen by the Orthodox were Young Men parùm docti parùm cauti fuller of Warmth than of Learning And this had a great Influence upon the Cause all Men concluding of the rest on either side by the Quality of the Managers Besides the Orthodox dealt plainly argued with Openness and Simplicity and in their Forms of Confession were clear and ingenuous Whereas the Hereticks wrought with great Subtilty declining no Artifice that might advantage their Cause and in their Confessions they loved Ambiguity and Equivocation and which did not a little turn to their Advantage they always laboured to beget in the several Emperours their Favourites a good liking of their Doctrine and either to gain them to it or not greatly to disapprove it But according to an Ancient Writer it may justly create our Wonder Phrob contna Ar. that notwithstanding the Authors of this Venom are long since dead and gone the wicked Doctrine shou'd still remain and that after so many Confutations and Censures thereof any shou'd be found to maintain and diffuse it But our Wonder will cease when we consider with judicious Hooker That the Weeds of Heresie being grown up to Ripeness do even in cutting down sometimes scatter those Seeds which for a while lie unseen and buried in the Earth but afterwards freshly spring up again no less pernicious than at the first And the same learned Author observes that the Heresies concerning the Holy Trinity have of later Years grown up no where so fast as where the Athanasian Creed and the Gloria Patri have not been made use of And no Wonder that Heresies should thrive in those Places where the best Preservatives against them have been neglected For as to the Creed of Athanasius what is it else but a Divine Explication of the chief Articles of the Christian Faith Which Creed was so highly valued by the Church that she made it part of her Liturgy And as for the Gloria or the Hymns and Sentences of Glory they were a Part of the Liturgy long before the Athanasian Belief And they were ever look'd upon as an heavenly Acclamation of joyful Applause to his Praise in whom we believe And from the beginning the Church of Christ by a secret universal Impulse of God's Spirit always ty'd it self to end neither Sermon nor almost any special Matter wherein the Things of God were concerned without some peculiar Words of Honour and Glory to the Trinity which all true Christians believe and worship And whoever omitted to do this was suspected to want a right Faith of the Trinity and to doubt of the Equality of the Persons For if we really believe The Godhead of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost to be all one the Glory Equal and the Majesty Coeternal why do we not publickly own it by ascribing equal Glory to each of them And where can we do this with more Solemnity than at the Close of those Homilies and Discourses which we make unto the People The Use of the Gloria was never quarrell'd at or omitted by any till Arius who being press'd with this Usage of the Church as an Argument against the Heresie which makes the Son inferiour to the Father labour'd to corrupt this Hymn saying Glory be to the Father by the Son in the Holy Ghost But the Church was careful to maintain the ancient Usage Con. Va. c. 7. adding on Purpose against Arius As it was in the Beginning is now and ever shall be The Gloria Patri it has ever been esteem'd the Christians Creed and Hymn For the Summ of the Christians Faith is the Mystery of the Trinity by which he declares against all Hereticks in the World And it is also the Christians Hymn wherewith he ought to close all his Religious Services Praises Prayers Thanksgivings Confession of Faith and Sins And as to the great Mystery contain'd in the Gloria it was well with Christianity when Men went no farther therein than the Scripture led them and when they rested in such Discoveries of the Trinity as God has been pleas'd to give in his Word By which Word if we wou'd once guide our Sentiments and submit them to it we might hope to see all those Disputes buried in silence which now make so great a Noise Ridente Turcâ non dolente Judaeo And if those very Men who are at present so keenly engag'd in Debates about the Trinity wou'd speak out they wou'd tell us That Trinity in Unity and Unity in Trinity is a Mystery surpassing their Abilities to explain and that it surmounts the Power of humane Nature to give a satisfactory Answer to all the Doubts Cavils and Questions which bold Men may raise about it Let the Mysteries of Christianity continue at that Distance where God has set them to be believ'd and ador'd and then Peace and Truth will meet and embrace 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 OR AN Historical Account OF THE HERESIE Denying the GODHEAD of CHRIST WE may know the better how to determine of the Opinion which denies the Divinity of our Saviour if we pursue it through its whole History and consider where it first took Root when it began to spread and how in time it over-ran so great a Part of the Christian Church Now in doing this we must look beyond the Annals of Christianity For long before that Christianity was known by Name in the World its Author was robb'd of his Godhead by that very People which hop'd for the largest Benefits from him For at least ever since the Schools of the Rabbins gain'd Authority among the Jews that infatuated Nation have been of Opinion that the Messiah whom they still expect is not to be the Son of
or that the same numerical Godhead was in every one of three Persons of the Holy Trinity what Lover of Truth and Peace would have excepted against it And yet Arius a nimble sharp Disputant flew in the Face of the Bishop and meerly out of a Spirit of Opposition confronts his Assertion of an Unity in the Trinity And from thence draws a Conclusion that was very remote and unnatural For according to Socrates Arius argued thus If the Father begot the Son he that was begotten hath a Beginning of his Existence And there was a time when the Son was not and by necessary Consequence he must derive his Existence from nothing This was the Form and Matter of Arius's Argumentation as Socrates relates it which I leave the Logician to examine only to observe that this was no extempere or occasional Objection brought by Arius against what had been discoursed by the Bishop but the very Judgment and Thoughts which he had concerning the second Person in the Trinity whom he held was not from Eternity but took his being in Time and was made of nothing as will appear in the Sequel of this Discourse Now to shew that Arius did not draw his Conclusion only by way of Argument but that it was his fix'd and resolute Opinion he presently began to make Proselytes and to excite many to be of his Judgment Among whom some think the first and chief was Eusebius who had formerly been Bishop of the Church of Berytus but was surreptitiously crept into the Bishoprick of Nicomedia in Bithynia And from this Spark saith the Historian was kindled a great Fire many patronizing Arius's Heresie and appearing in its Maintenance and Defence Alexander hearing and seeing what was done became highly incens'd and having conven'd a Council of many Bishops he degraded Arius as an Heretick and those that embrac'd his Opinion and gave the Bishops of every City an Account of his Proceedings in a circular Letter a Copy whereof as it stands in Socrates now follows A Copy of the Letter written by Alexander Bishop of Alexandria to his Fellow-Bishops concerning the degrading of Arius To our well-beloved and dearest Fellow-Ministers of the Catholick Church in all Places Alexander wishes Health in the Lord. WHereas there is one Body of the Catholick Church and it is commanded in the holy Scriptures that we should keep the Bond of Peace and Concord it is requisite that we should write and inform one another of what things are done among us to the end that if one Member suffer or rejoyce we may either joyntly rejoyce or suffer together In our Diocess therefore there are lately started up Men that are impious and Enemies of Christ who teach such Apostacy as one may judge and justly term the Fore-runner of Antichrist which I would most gladly have buried in Silence that the Mischief might have been consumed by being included among the Apostates only lest haply by its further Progress into other Places it should have infected the 〈◊〉 of the Simple But because Eusebius now Bishop of Nicomedia supposing that the Affairs are wholly at his Dispose in Regard that having deserted the Church of Berytus he has sordidly coveted that of Nicomedia and has not been prosecuted by any does patronize even these Apostates and has boldly attempted to write Letters up and down in Commendation of them that thereby he might seduce some Ignorant Persons into this worst Heresie and most displeasing to Christ I thought it therefore necessary being sensible of what is written in the Law to be no longer silent but to give you all Notice that you might know who are the Apostates and likewise the detestable Expressions of their Heresie and that if Eusebius write to you you should give no Heed to him For he is now desirous to renew his former Malevolence which seem'd to have been silenced and forgot by Length of Time and pretends to write Letters in their Behalf But in Reality he declares that he uses his Utmost to do this upon his own Account Now the Names of those that are turned Apostates are these Arius Achilles Aithales Carpones Another Arius Sarmates Euzoius Lucius Julianus Menas Helladius Gaius Secundus also and Theonas who were sometimes Bishops And the Tenets which they have invented and maintain'd contrary to the Authority of Scripture are these following viz. God they say was not alway a Father but there was a Time when God was not a Father The Word of God was not from everlasting but had his Beginning from Nothing For God who is made him who was not of Nothing Therefore there was a Time when he was not For the Son is a Creature and Work Neither is like to the Father as to his Essence nor is he by Nature the genuine Word of the Father nor his true Wisdom But he is one of his Works and one of his Creatures and is only improperly stiled The Word and the Wisdom For he himself exists by the proper Word of God and by the Wisdom that is in God by which God made all things and him also Wherefore he is by Nature mutable and subject to Change as well as all other rationable Beings So that the Word is different disagreeable and separate from the Essence of God and the Father cannot be declared or set forth by the Son and is invisible to him For the Son does not perfectly and accurately know the Father neither can he perfectly behold him For the Son knows not his own Essence what it is For our sakes he was made that God might make use of him as an Instrument in order to our Creation nor had he ever existed had it not pleased God to create us In this Heap of Blasphemies are summ'd up the Dogmata of Arius and his Sectaries And when one ask'd them if the Word of God could be chang'd as the Devil was they were not afraid to answer that he might because he is said they of a Nature subject to Change in that he is begotten and created We therefore with the Bishops of Egypt and Lybia near an hundred in Number being met together have Excommunicated Arius for these his Principles and for his impudent Assertion of them together with all his Adherents But Eusebius has given them Entertainment endeavouring to mix Falshood with Truth and Impiety with Godliness But he shall not prevail For Truth getteth the Victory and Light has no Communion with Darkness nor hath Christ any Agreemont with Belial For who ever heard the like or what Man if he should now hear them would not be amaz'd thereat and stop his Ears lest the Filth of those Doctrines should penetrate and infect them What Man is he who when he hears these Words of Saint John In the Beginning was the Word will not condemn those that affirm There was a Time when the Word was not Or who is the Man that hears these Words of the Gospel The only begotten Son and by him all things were made will
not abominate these Men that say the Son is one of the Creatures But how can he be one of those Things that were made by him Or how can he be term'd The only Begotten who according to the Sentiments of Arius is reckon'd among all the other Creatures How can he be made of Nothing when as the Father himself saith my Heart hath indited a good Matter And before the Morning I have begotten thee in the Morning Or how can he be unlike the Father in Essence when as he is the perfect Image and the Brightness of the Father and when as he himself testifieth he that hath seen me hath seen the Father Now if the Son be the Word and Wisdom of the Father how can there be a Time when he was not For it is the same Absurdity as if they should say There was a Time when God was without both his Word and Wisdom How can he be mutable and subject to Change who says concerning himself I am in the Father and the Father in me and I and the Father are one I spake also by the Prophet behold me for I am the Lord and am not changed And tho' some may say that this was spoken in Reference to the Father yet it will be more accommodate to understand it now to be spoken in Relation to the Word because altho' he became Man yet was he not chang'd but as the Apostle says Jesus Christ the same Yesterday and to Day and for ever But what Motive could they have to say that he was made for us when as Paul saith for him are all things and by him are all things But concerning their Blasphemy in affirming that the Son doth not perfectly know the Father it ought not to be wondred at For having once resolv'd to fight against Christ they despise even the Words of the Lord himself who says as the Father knoweth me even so know I the Father If therefore the Father knoweth the Son only in Part it is manifest that the Son also knoweth the Father only in part But if it be impious to assert this and if the Father knoweth the Son perfectly it is perspicuous that as the Father knoweth his own Word so doth the Word know his own Father whose Word he is By asserting of these things and explaining the sacred Scriptures we have frequently confuted them But they like Chamaelions have again been chang'd pertinaciously contending to appropriate to themselves this that is written When the Impious is arrived at the very Extreams of Wickedness he despiseth There have indeed been many Heresies before these Persons which by their too much Audaciousness have fallen into Imprudence and Folly But these Men who by all their Discourses attempt nothing less than the Subversion of the Divinity of the Word have to the utmost of their Power made those preceding Heresies to be accounted just in regard they approach nearer to Antichrist Wherefore they are expell'd out of the Church and anathematiz'd We are really troubl'd at the Destruction of these Men and the rather because they were heretofore instructed in the Doctrine of the Church but have now renounc'd it Yet we do not look upon this as so strange a Thing For the same befell Hymenaeus and Philetus and before them Judas who tho' he had been our Saviour's Disciple yet was afterwards his Betrayer and an Apostate Neither have we continu'd unadvis'd of these very Persons For our Lord hath foretold Take heed that no Man deceive you For many shall come in my Name saying I am Christ And the time draweth near and they shall deceive many Go ye not therefore after them And Paul having learn'd these things from our Saviour wrote thus That in the latter Days some shall depart from the sound Faith giving heed to seducing Spirits and Doctrines of Devils who detest the Truth Since therefore our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ hath himself commanded this and also by his Apostle has given us Intimation concerning these we being Eye-witnesses of their Impiety have deservedly anathematiz'd them as we said before and openly declar'd them estrang'd from the Catholick Church and Faith Moreover we have signified thus much to your Piety Beloved and dearest Fellow-Ministers that if any of them should have the Confidence to come to you you might not entertain them and that you should not be persuaded to believe Eusebius or any one else that shall write to you concerning them For it is our Duty as we are Christians to detest all those that speak or devise any thing against Christ and to look upon them as the Enemies of God and the Corrupters of Souls and not to say to such Men so much as God speed lest we become Partakers of their Iniquities as St. John has commanded us salute the Brethren that are with you they that are with us salute you Alexander having writ after this Manner to all the Bishops in every City the Acceptance of his Letters was very different Those of his Opinion receiv'd them with great Respect and readily subscrib'd to their Contents praising his Zeal and Conduct in so important an Affair But others did the quite contrary scoffing at and ridiculing what he writ and instead of being thereby stir'd up to Peace they began to be enflam'd with a pertinacious Desire of Contention So that as Socrates observes the Mischief grew worse and the Disease was encreas'd by the Misapplication of the Remedy design'd to cure it Eusebius of Nicomedia appear'd most concerned at Alexander's Letter as finding himself therein mention'd by Name and not without a particular Mark of Reproach Constantine at the same time kept his Residence at Nicomedia in the Palace which Dioclesian had built there which gave Eusebius an Opportunity of making an Interest in him And being a smooth subtle Courtier he quickly gain'd his Point and grew very gracious with the Emperour which the Court-Bishops observing they became very obsequious to Eusebius who writ frequently to Alexander advising him to suppress the Controversie and to restore Arius and his Adherents to the Peace of the Church He wrote likewise to Bishops of every particular City that they should not consent to Alexander This occasion'd great Animosities and fill'd all Places with Tumults and Disturbances and not only the Prelates of the Church but the Populace also were miserably divided some inclining to one Party and some to another and the Matter at length came to that Height of Indignity and Insolence that the Christian Religion was made the Ridicule in the publick Theatres Eusebius still press'd Alexander to abrogate the Sentence of Excommunication that had been pronounc'd against Arius and his Party and to re-admit them into the Church alledging that they asserted nothing that was perverse and impious On the other Hand those who look'd upon the Opinion of Arius as absurd and blasphemous approv'd of Alexander's Proceedings maintaining the Condemnation of Arius and of all that favoured his Heresie to be just and equitable
of his Country-men sate in the Council The Prelate of the Imperial City was absent by reason of his Age but his Presbyters were there and supply'd his Place The Emperour saith the Historiographer was the only Person of all the Princes since the Foundation of the World who having platted such a Crown as this with the Bond of Peace dedicated it to Christ his Saviour as a Divine Present and Acknowledgment of the Victories he had obtained over his Enemies And he intended the Synod shou'd be constituted to be a lively Representation of an Apostolical Quire That it might be now as it was in the Days of the Apostles when devout Men of all Nations under Heaven were gathered together In this Council the Number of the Bishops exceeded Three Hundred But the Presbyters Deacons Acoluthi and the many other Persons that accompanied them were almost innumerable Of these Ministers of God some were eminent for their Wisdom and Eloquence others for their sober and discreet Lives others for their patient Sufferings and others were adorned with Modesty and courteous Behaviour Some of them were highly respected for their great Age others were eminent for their youthful Vigour both of Body and Mind some were newly initiated into the Order of the Ministry To all these the Emperour commanded a plentiful Provision of Food to be daily allowed Paphnutius and Spiridion were the most eminent among the Bishops There were also present a great many Laicks Men skill'd in Logick ready to assist each their own Party Eusebius of Nicomedia Theognis Bishop of Nice and Maris Bishop of Chalcedon in Bithynia were the chief that favoured Arius against whom Athanasius contended vigourously and express'd a signal Zeal and Depth in his Disputes which brought upon him the implacable Hatred of Eusebius of Nicomedia A little before the Bishops were met together in one Place the Logicians exercised themselves in some skirmishing Disputes and seeming therewith to be over-much delighted a Laick one that was a Confessour an honest well-meaning Man opposed these Disputants and told 'em That neither Christ nor his Apostles taught or used the Art of Disputing nor vain Subtilties or Fallacies but a plain Doctrin which is to be defended by Faith and good Works All that stood by hearing him speak these Words admired him and approved of what he said And the Logicians themselves hearing this honest and plain Declaration of the Truth did patiently acquiesce and the Tumult raised by Disputation was composed The next Day after the Logick Disputes were so happily concluded all the Bishops were conven'd after whom came the Emperour whose Respect and Reverence was so great to the Clergy that he stood in the midst of them and wou'd not take his Seat till such time as the Bishops signified that it was their Desire that he wou'd sit down and take the Chair of State which he did and from thence spoke to the Synod in kind persuasive Words exhorting 'em to Unanimity and Concord and to suppress all private Piques and Animosities and those Accusations which they had fram'd one against another For many the Day before had presented Libels to the Emperour containing several Articles of Personal Miscarriges savouring more of a Desire of Revenge than of Reformation These accusatory Libels the Emperour commanded to be burn'd and advis'd them to consider and obey what Christ had enjoyn'd concerning forgiving one another And having largely discoursed of the Nature and Advantages of Concord and Peace he bid 'em proceed to the Business before 'em for which they were conven'd leaving it to their Power and Arbitrement accurately to inspect the Points in Controversie Upon this the Council entred upon the Affair and many Questions were proposed by both Parties which caused great Stirs and Heats before they came to the main Debate Constantine all the while heard 'em very patiently and with an intent Mind received their proposed Questions and by turns assisted the Assertions of both Parties and by Degrees he reduced them who pertinaciously opposed each other to a more sedate Temper of Mind and by his gracious Speeches to each Person he rendred himself pleasing and delightful Some he brought to be of his Opinion by the Force of his Arguments others he gained over to him by Condescentions and Entreaties He commended those that spoke well and whom he observed to be less peaceably enclined he excited to Quietness and conjur'd all to an Agreement And by his prudent and temperate Manage he at length made 'em all of the same Mind in the Matters concerning which they had before disagreed So that after many Debates upon the Subject before 'em Three Hundred and Eighteen Bishops concurr'd in a Creed which with loud Acclamations they published and approv'd of A Copy of which Creed as it stands recorded by Socrates Scholasticus Lib. 1. C. 8. Hist Eccles now follows WE believe in one God the Father Almighty Maker of all things visible and invisible and one Lord Iesus Christ the Son of God begotten of the Father the only Begotten that is of the Substance of the Father God of God and Light of Light very God of very God begotten not made of the same Substance with the Father by whom all things were made that are in Heaven and in Earth VVho for the sake of us Men and for our Salvation descended and was incarnate and was made Man and he suffered and rose again the third Day ascended into the Heavens he shall come to judge the Dick and the Dead VVe also believe in the Holy Ghost But the holy Catholick and Apostolick Church doth anathematize those that averr That there was a time when the Son of God was not and that he was not before he was begotten and that he was made of Nothing Or that say he was made of another Substance or Essence Or that he is either created or convertible or mutable This Creed as Valesius observes is wanting in all the Mss. he had met with and saith that Christopherson did very well in placing it here in Socrates For it is plain both from Epiphanius Scholasticus as also by those following Words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that it was placed here by the Historian himself But all the MSS. did omit it in this Place because it 's repeated a little after in Eusebius Pamphilus's Epistle 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Then this very Creed above repeated was subscribed by Three Hundred and Eighteen Bishops who were all unanimous in their Suffrages and Sentiments concerning it Socrates writes that Five Bishops refus'd to allow of it But Theodoret and before him Hierom in his Dialogue against the Luciferians affirm that Secundus and Theonas were the only two Bishops that were Diffenters refusing to subscribe to the Nicene Creed Eusebius of Nicomedia with four Bishops more dislik'd the Word Homoousios which they did upon Supposal that only that can be said to be Homoousion of the same Substance which is from another either by Partition as two or three
Manner of Arius's Death occasion'd a great Fear and Anxiety amongst those of the Faction and it mov'd the Emperour to say that God himself had confirm'd the Nicene Faith But contrary to all Expectation the Heresie surviv'd the Heretick it being kept alive by Eusebius Who tho' he had no great Kindness for Arianism yet he could not endure the Word Homoousios nor those who defend-it And it is very observable that after the Nicene Council the Eusebians never appeared bare-fac'd in the Behalf of the Arian Doctrine and yet they were still angry with the Nicene Creed meerly for the sake of the Term Homoousios Eusebius by the Interest he had got in Constantine's Court had great Opportunity of doing much Mischief to the Church And where his Malice and Revenge were concern'd he was never wanting to do his worst It appears by what is related of his Carriage that he was a proud Man of an implacable Spirit and one who could not brook any thing that he apprehended to be an Injury or an Affront which unhappy Temper put him upon studying nothing so much as Revenge And Athanasius appear'd on all Occasions to be the main and peculiar Object of his Malice For he could never forget how that excellent Person had born down him and his whole Party in the Synod of Nice Now for so powerful a Prelate as Eusebius to be top'd by so mean a Person as Athanasius who had attain'd no higher Degree in the Church than that of a Deacon For Eusebius I say by so mean a Person to be brought on his Knees and forc'd to publick Submission was an Indignity so intolerable to the proud Spirit of Eusebius that neither the Blood of Athanasius nor of all his Friends was sufficient to satiate his unquenchable Revenge And all the Accusations forg'd against Athanasius were of such Crimes for which nothing less than capital Punishments could be inflicted For they laid to his Charge no Sin inferiour to Murther Rapes and Treason as is to be seen in Athanasius's second Apology Another Pique Eusebius had against Athanasius was his not restoring Arius at his Request And as Socrates informs us Eusebius set all his Wit at Work to undo Athanasius and to root out the Doctrine of Consubstantiality and that for no other Reason but because he was not the Author of it himself and that it was brought into the Creed by Athanasius and others whom he hated But not only Eusebius but also several others either by his Example or by his Instigation had their Minds much disturbed about the same Point And it appears saith Socrates by several Letters which the Bishops wrote to one another after the Synod of Nice that they were not all well pleas'd with the Term Homoousios which prov'd of ill Consequence For whilst they were busie about this Word making but too curious Enquiries into its Importance and Meaning they rais'd an intestine War amongst themselves And what was done herein was not unlike a Fight in the Dark For neither Side seemed to see perfectly what they fell out about or why they reviled one another They that had an Aversion for the Term Homoousios look'd upon them that embrac'd it as Introducers of Sabellianism and of the Opinion of the Followers of Montanus who denied the three Persons of the Godhead saying that the Father Son and Holy Ghost are one and the same Person On the other hand they that were for the Word Homoousios abominated those that were against it looking upon them as bringers in of Polytheism And tho' both sides asserted that the Son of God had a proper real and peculiar Person and Existence yet how it came to pass I know not they could in no wise agree among themselves nor endure to be quiet But the Bishops wrote one against another with as much Bitterness as if they had been utter Enemies But the Controversie being long continued between the Eusebians and the Assertors of the Nicene Faith the Arian Heresie as if it had taken the Opportunity of this Contrast began again to appear upon the Stage with a little Alteration in the Dress For Photinus Bishop of Sirmium in Illyricum reviv'd the old exploded Opinion of Paul of Samosata which differ'd from Arianism but in this one Circumstance viz. That it affirms the Son of God was created but not before his Nativity Whereas Arius will have him to have been created the first of the Creatures So that they differ only as to the time of his being created both agreeing in the Poyson of the Heresie Namely that Christ was created But yet Arius was not altogether so degrading of the Messias as Photinus The Former allow'd him a great Share in the Creation of the Universe and an Eminency Power and Dignity over all other Creatures But the Latter brought Christ down into the same Rank with every ordinary Man This bold Heresie alarm'd both the Catholicks and Eusebians and both agree to have a Council call'd at Sirmium about it where the Bishops being assembled they condemn'd the Photinian Heresie and compos'd a large Explication of the Faith which they sent to the Bishops of Italy In which Explication they take Notice that Photinus and his Followers deriv'd their Heresie from the Jews who deny the eternal Existence and Godhead of Christ holding that the Messias whom they still expect shall be by Nature a meer Man and be Deified only by Promotion Which Jewish Blasphemy being defended by Photinus he was justly depos'd by a Synod of Bishops which the Emperour conven'd at Sirmium But notwithstanding that he was Synodically deposed yet the Sentence of Deposition was not irrevocable For we find that Photinus might have been restor'd to his Bishoprick if he would have alter'd his Mind and anathematiz'd his Opinion and consented to the Sentiments of the Council But he was so far from doing this that he challeng'd the Bishops to a Dispute and to vindicate what he held Basilius at that time presiding over the Church of Ancyra accepted the Challenge and enter'd Disputation with Photinus and an Account of their Dispute was taken by Notaries appointed for that Purpose The Combat was on both sides manag'd with Warmth Photinus in the End was overcome and condemn'd to Exile in which he spent the Residue of his Life in writing against Heresies But the Mischief ended not in the Deposition and Banishment of Photinus For at Antioch in Syria there arose another Arch-Heretick one Aetius Sirnamed Atheus He was of the same Opinion with Arius but yet separated from the Arians because they had admitted Arius into Communion whom he detested for his Dissimulation in holding one Opinion in his Mind and making Profession of the contrary with his Mouth as all knew he did in his Subscription made before the Emperour to the Form of the Creed drawn up by the Nicene Fathers For tho' Aetius was a zealous Assertor of the Arian Doctrine yet he would not joyn in Communion with those who profess'd it
Because when they knew the Hypocrisie of Arius they admitted him into their Fellowship This Aetius by what we find recorded of him appears to have been a Man of little Learning unskilful in the Scriptures and of a wonderful contentious and disputing Humour He was not at all studious in the Perusal of those ancient Writers who had explain'd the sacred Books of the Christian Religion And tho' he was of the same Opinion with the Arians yet he was so obstruse in his Arguments for it and his Sentiments were so perplex'd that the Arians themselves not being able to understand 'em judg'd him to be an Heretick And as such he was driven from their Communion But to conclude all I have to say at present on this Subject There happen'd at last such an happy Agreement amongst the Bishops as thro' the Blessing of God turn'd to the casting out of that evil Spirit of Arianism which had so long tormented the Church For the Bishops being by the Death of Constantius freed from that Violence and Oppression which that Emperour and his Officers had put upon the Discipline of the Church and being at Liberty to exert that Authority wherewith Christ himself had vested them They restor'd that Peace and Concord to the Church which they could never compass under Constantius and put an End to the Arian Heresie and establish'd the Nicene Faith over the Christian World Which wonderful Felicity was by God's Providence chiefly procur'd by the Zeal Piety and wise Conduct of Athanasius who being restored by the Synod of Sardica returned to Alexandria Where he presently call'd a Council for the Resettlement of the Catholick Church which by the furious and long Oppression of Constantius had been miserably harass'd and disturb'd The Bishops being assembled they luckily hit upon several healing Conclusions As 1. That those Bishops who had joyn'd with the Hereticks either out of Ignorance Surprize or Violence upon their Return to the Catholick Church should be receiv'd without Deprivation of Dignity because their Compliance with the Arians was to be look'd upon as Want of Prudence and not as an Apostacy from the Orthodox Faith For tho' for Peace sake some of the Bishops that were restor'd had consented to have the Word Hoomousios or Consubstantial left out of the Nicene Creed yet they anathematiz'd all the Points of the Arian Heresie and shew'd that they were not tainted therewith But as to those Bishops who had been the Ring-leaders of Heresie they were so depriv'd as never to rise Lay-Communion Which was agreeable to the standing Discipline of the Church 2. The Synod adjusted the Controversie which had lately happen'd between the Greeks and Latins concerning the Words Hypostasis and Persona For Hypostasis being the same with Ousia signifying Substance the Latins thought that the Greeks own'd three distinct Substances when they profess'd the Belief of three Hypostases And the Greeks finding that the Latins rejected the Word Hypostasis and in Lieu thereof used the Word Persona they thought that they asserted nothing real but a meer relative Distinction The word Persona generally denoting not the Man himself but his Office and Relation And the Contest about these Words ran so high that it had like to have produc'd a Breach between the Greek and Latin Churches Which being foreseen by Athanasius he prudently to accommodate the Dispute propounded to the Synod That both Words should indifferently be made use of in both Churches And the Proposition being agreed unto by the Synod all Suspicion on both sides was remov'd the present Controversie silenced and so continues to this Day 3. Athanasius finding that the Confession of Faith which the Eusebian Party had presented in the Council of Sardica was by some mightily cry'd up as if it had been approv'd of by that Council the Alexandrian Fathers took Care to undeceive the People in this important Affair which they did by proving that the Eusebian Confession was utterly rejected by the Council of Sardica and that that Synod refused to alter any thing of the Nicene Faith And the Council having thus adjusted all Matters and finished their Decrees they drew them up in a Circular Letter which they sent to the Bishops of the CHRISTIAN WORLD And as Athansius took much Pains for settling the Church in Africa so Hilarius did the like to restore the Church in France And in order to this he got a Council to be call'd at Paris wherein the Proceedings at Ariminum were condemned and the ancient Liberties restored to the Church which she enjoyed till they were invaded by Constantius In this Council those that had subscribed the Creed of Ariminum confess'd their Fault in leaving out the Word Ousia or Substance frankly owning that they had been over-reacht and they took the Sacrament that they meant no harm in what they did and that they abhorr'd the Consequence that all Men made out of it and so begg'd Pardon for what through Ignorance and Surprize had been done by them This Council was so unanimous in their Opinions that there was but one Dissenter Namely Saturninus Bishop of Arles who for his disagreeing from the Synod was deposed by it And thus by the pious and discreet Care of Athanasius in the East and of Hilary in France the Church was settled in Peace and Truth and a good Correspondence maintain'd betwixt the Oriental and French Bishops which occasioned no small Regret to the Enemies of Christianity especially to Julian the Emperour who used all imaginable Artifice to root it out and to replant Paganism in its Room This Apostate now put off his Visor of pretended Kindness to the Christians And this happy Settlement of the Church so heightend his Malice that as both Sozomen and Socrates observed he out-did all his Ancestors in Fury and Rage against the Christians who likewise out-did all their Ancestors in Patience and Obedience Julian famously known by the Stigma of Apostate being dead Jovian succeeded him in the Empire He found the Affairs of the Christians in a very unsedate Condition partly by reason of the malicious Industry his Predecessour had used totally to suppress them and partly by the Divisions that were among the Christians themselves The last Stratagem invented by Julian to extirpate the Christians was the Law he made That Christians should not be allow'd an Education in Humane Literature lest said he when they have therewith sharpen'd their Tongues they shou'd with greater Readiness answer the Heathen Disputants This Law occasion'd the two Apollinaris's Father and Son to write with good Success in Behalf of the Christians The one was famous for Grammar and the other for Rhetorick But Divivisions among the Christians were most obstructive of their Peace At Jovian's Entrance upon his Reign the Principal Heads of every Party made their 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Addresses to the Emperour in hopes they shou'd obtain from him Power and Authority against those whom they reputed their Adversaries Basilius Bishop of Ancyra with six
other Bishops presented a supplicatory Libel to the Emperour in behalf of the Macedonians who took their Name from Macedonius an Arian Bishop of Constantinople They held that Christ was not of the same Essence with the Father A. D. 343. but only like unto him And that the Holy Ghost was not God but God's Minister and no more eternal than any other Creature These Hereticks were never constant in their Doctrine but sometimes Arians sometimes Semi-Arians and sometimes Orthodox In the Name of these Weather-Cock Hereticks Basilius and his Fellows supplicate the Emperour that all those who Asserted the Son to be more than barely like the Father might be cast out of their Churches and themselves put in their Places The Emperour having received their Address sends them away without any other Answer than that he abominated Contentiousness and loved and honour'd those who were desirous of Unity and Concord Which Words had the good Effect to mollifie their Stissness who were Lovers of Contention Which was the Thing design'd and intendded by the Emperour At this time also the Icacians who held That the Son was a Creature made by the Father and like him in Will but not in Substance began to shew their Disposition to Unpeaceableness They were indeed Notorious Trimmers and ever ready to be of their Judgment who were uppermost and likeliest to promote ' em These meeting with Meletius at Antioch in Syria and entring into Discourse with him and finding that he embraced the Homoousion Doctrine and that he was highly in Favour with the Emperour they made Profession of the same Doctrine and conform'd to the Nicene Greed. And by a general Consent drew up a Libel and presented it to Jovinian which is to be seen in Socrates Book 3. Chap. 25. Eccles Hist In which Libel they in particular declared their Embracing the Term Homoousias as it was with great Caution explain'd by the Nicene Fathers And at the same time publickly declared first That the Generation of the Son was inexplicable 2. That the Term Ousia was not taken by the Nicene Fathers in the usual Signification which the Grecians put upon it but that they made use of it in order to the Subversion of what had been impiously and audaciously held by Arius concerning Christ who affirmed That he existed of things that were not Which Opinion the Upstart Eunomeans maintain'd to the great Disturbance of Ecclesiastick Unity 3. They assur'd the Emperour that in all Points they did agree to the Belief set forth by the Bishops convened at Nicaea And the Bishops who consented to the Libel subscribed their Names Jovian graciously received the said Libel and seem'd not at all concerned what Opinion they were of so long as they kept themselves quiet And it is very observable That by kind Words and Persuasives he mightily suppress'd the contentions Humour then on foot and strangely calm'd their Fury who made it their Business to cavil and contend And by his dextrous Management if Jovian had liv'd both the Civil and Ecclesiastick Assairs of the Roman Empire might in all Probability have been fortunate and succesful But alas a sudden Death depriv'd both Church and State of this excellent Personage Jovianus having ended his Life at Dadastana on the Frontiers of Galatia and Bithynia after the short Reign of seven Months Valentinianus by an unanimous Suffrage of the Soldiers was chosen to succeed him Upon which Choise he straightway made his Brother Valens his Collegue in the Empire They were both Christians but both disagreed about the Faith of the Christian Religion Valentinianus had a Veneration for the Nicene Creed Valens by reason of a Prepossession adhered to the Arian Heresie And this his Pre-possession arose from his being baptized by Eudoxius of Constantinople a Prelate of the Arian Opinion Both the Brothers were very warm in Maintenance of the Sentiments to which they adhered And though they agreed in the Care of the Civil Government yet they differed much about the Christian Religion And were very different in their Carriage towards such as profess'd it For Valentinianus though he much favoured those who were of his Judgment yet he was not in the least troublesome to the Arians But Valens desirous to promote the Arians did most grievously disturb and molest those who differed from them in Opinion Every Sect had their Bishops to preside over them And all but the Orthodox were still striving to mend the Belief of Nice To which Purpose the Macedoniani desire the Emperour Valens to give leave to convene a Synod He supposing that they had been of the same Opinion with Acacius and Eudoxius granted their Request Accordingly a Council met at Lampsacus nigh the Hellespont It was a Synod of Macedonian Hereticks and it ratify'd the Council which Seven Years before had been held at Seleucia A. D. 363 and damned that of Constantinople held by the Acacians They also anathematiz'd the Creed that was published at Arimine though they had before declared their Agreement in Opinion with those that held it Valens was much incensed against this Synod both because it had deposed the Arian Bishops and anathematized that Draught of the Creed published at Arimine And the Emperour was resolved to leave no Means unattempted whereby he might win all Persons to Arianism Elusius Bishop of Cizicum was the first he aggressed who for fear of losing his Estate turned Arian And the very Semi-Arians fared no better than the Orthodox but all were the Object of his persecuting Spirit who were not thoroughly Arianized But his Rage was most visibly exercised against the Homocusians whom he persecuted in all those who bore them any Esteem or good Will He was much stirred up to this Cruelty by the Arian Prelate Eudoxius by whose Instigation he turned out the Orthodox Clergy who during the sixteen Years that Valens reigned scarce ever enjoyed the Comfort of one peaceable Day FINIS Books Printed for and Sold by R. Clavel at the Peacock in S. Paul's Church-Yard THE Church History cleared from the Roman Forgeries and Corruptions found in the Councils and Baronius In Four Parts From the Beginning of Christianity to the End of the fifth General Council 553. By Thomas Comber D.D. Dean of Durham Aristophanis Comaediae Duae Plutus Nubes cum Scholiis Graecis Antiquis Quibus adjiciuntur Noctae quaedam simul cum Gemino Indice In usum studiosae Juventutis The Reasons of Praying for the Peace of Jerusalem In a Sermon preach'd before the Queen at White-Hall on the Fast-Day being Wednesday August 29. 1694. By Thomas Comber D. D. Dean of Durham and Chaplain in Ordinary to their Majesties Printed by their Majesties special Command A Daily Office for the Sick Compil'd out of the holy Scriptures and the Liturgy of our Church with occasional Prayers Meditations and Directions The Catechisms of the Church with Proofs from the New Testament and some additional Questions and Answers divided into twelve Sections by Z. I. D. D. Author of the Book lately publish'd Entituled a Daily Office for the Sick with Directions c. A Church-Catechism with a brief and easie Explanation thereof for the Help of the meanest Capacities and weakest Memories in order to the establishing them in the Religion of the Church of England By T. C. Dean of Durham The Pantheon representing the Fabulous Histories of the Heathen Gods and most Illustrious Heroes In a short plain and familiar Method by the way of Dialogue for the Use of Schools Written by Fra. Pomey of the Society of Jesus Author of the French and Latin Dictionary for the Use of the Dauphin Bedae Venerabilis opera quaedam Theologica nunc primùm edita neonon Historica antea semel edita Accesserunt Egberti Archiepiscopi Eboracensis Dialogus de Ecclesiasticâ Institutione Aldhelmi Episcopi Scireburnensis Liber de Virginitate ex codiceantiquissimo emendatus Disquisitio in Hypothesin Baxterianam de Foedere Gratiae ab Initio deinceps semper ubiqueomnibus indulto adhuc apud Ethnicos extra-evangelicos vigente ac valente ad salutem Autore Carolo Robothamo Ecclesiae Anglicanae Presbytero Norfolciensi S. Th. B. Q. Horatii Flacci Opera Interpretatione Notis illustravit Ludovicus Desprez Cardinalitius Socius ac Rhetor Emeritus Jussu Christianissimi Regis in usum Serenissimi Delphini ac Serenissimorum Principum Burgundiae Andium Biturigum Huic Editioni accessere Vita Horatii cum Dacerii Notis ejusdem Chronologia Horatiana Praefatio de Satira Romana L. Annaei Flori rerum Romanarum Epitome Interpretatione Notis illustravit Anna Tanaquilla Fabri Tilia Jussu Christianissimi Regis in usum Serenissimi Delphini Compendium Graecum Novi Testamenti continens ex 7959. Versiculis totius N. Testamenti tantum Versiculos 1900. non tamen integros in quibus omnes universi Novi Test Voces una cum Versione Latina inveniuntur Auctore Johanne Lusden Philos Doctore Linguae Sanctae in Academia Ultrajectina Professore Ordinario Editio Quinta A Second Admonition to the dissenting Inhabitants of the Diocess of Londonderry concerning Mr. Boyse's Vindication of his Remarks on a Discourse concerning the Inventions of Men in the Worship of God with an Appendix containing an Answer to Mr. Boyse's Objections against the Sign of the Cross By William Lord Bishop of Derry The End of the Catalogue