the Son It shall not trouble me whether this Disputation was in the presence of the publick Council or apart Sect. 5. for the more rigid sort of Arians from time to time did assert the same things with Arius and therefore there is the lesse question in the reality of Arius his tenets and that the particulars were debated at the Council may appear by the result so particularly opposite to the Arian opinions For the Council agreed upon a collection of their conclusion into one Summary in the nature of the confession of their faith Athan. Epist ad Solet Vit. Soc. lib. 1. cap. 5. Bosil Epist 60. 78. which also was done by Hossius Bishop of Corduba and published as a Directory to the Doctrine of the Churches for future times The same according to Socrates and with some transposition of words not varying sense is published by Basil in this manner We believe in one God the Father Almighty Creator of all things visible and invisible and in one Lord Jesus Christ Begotten of the Father Onely begotten that is to say of the Substance of the Father God of God Light of Light very God of very God Begotten not made Consubstantial to the Father by whom all things are made both in the Heaven and in the Earth Who for us men and our Salvation descended is incarnate is made man suffered arose again the third day Ascended into Heaven shall come to judge the Living and the Dead And in the Holy Ghost Those therefore that shall affirm that time was when He was not before He was begotten Or that He did come from Nothing Or that He is begotten of other Essence then of the Fathers Substance Or that the Son of God is created Or that He may be altered or changed Unto all such the Church denounceth the Anathema Then the Council proceeded against such as had been criminous Sect. 6. Sozom. lib. 1. cap. 23. Soc. lib. 1. cap. 6. and deprived Meletus from all Episcopal Authority and power yet left to him the Name and Title of Bishop and permitted him to continue still in his City at Lyco For though the Meletians made a matter of fact and male administration in government a Cause sufficient to ground their separation upon yet the Nicene Council determined it to be pertinax inscitia Sozom. lib. 2. cap. 20. a willful ignorance and therefore did not continue or confirm that separation but taking away the Authority of Meletus and his Presbyters until confirmed again by the Alexandrian Churches the people are enjoyned to communicare with the Alexandrians which they did accordingly But as touching Arius they did actually excommunicate and banish him They further proceeded to determine matters concerning the government of the Church Sect. 7. by confirming the government by Provincial Councils under the Pastors of the Mother Churches Bishops Presbyters and Deacons each of them to enjoy the same powers which Customary permission of the Churches had formerly allowed to them Nothing can I find that de nova was granted to them but rather such power which by corruption was encroached was thereby regulated and restrained And thus for the future there seems hereby a door shut and barred against Schisme and heresie so long as Provincial Councils and their members are true to themselves or to the Church of God and the Christian Magistrate will be Christian indeed to execute the Law as he ought to do For before the Council at Nice Sect. 8. the prudential agreement of Churches and Councils in Associations or apart by themselves bound no further then ingenuity or conscience did lead any party or person and under no worse penalty then Separation or if you will Excommunication from this or that Church which some might account a priviledg in those days as well as now and what was the fruit of all but Sects Schismes Heresies and the Spirits of Professors never satisfied but still lingring as now a-days after new opinions and liberty from being under Church Government which they call Liberty of conscience This sore the Nicene Council well eyed and seeing no other way in humane opinion to prevent the worst found it necessary to bind the Government of the Church under the Law of the Christian Magistrate and therefore having finished their conclusions tendred them to be confirmed by the Seal of the Imperial power by which they had assembled themselves and under other penalties besides that of separation And hereby the Christian Magistrates power becomes incorporate into the government of the Church in all cases where the Law of God determines not otherwise to enforce the determinations of the Church as by the Law the Magistrate is enabled to do And therefore if any Congregation will independ or be at liberty from the power of the Christian Magistrate in such cases they do not only outlaw themselves but upon their own principle allow every one of their fellow members to consist with them in no other manner then they did in the Churches before Constantines Conversion under a liberty to separate to any schism or error as they shall please and as it were thrust out the Christian Magistrate from abiding in the inheritance of the Lord and leave him to serve other Gods as Constantine did before his Conversion which thing no Church or Congregation of Christians though never so schismatical ever did althouth they held their principles of separation in as high account as any in these dayes can pretend unto until of later times the Anabaptists in Germany brought that principle into the Church But forbearing further digression herein I shall proceed with the subject in hand The determinations of the Nicene Council being thus concluded Sect. 9. the Bishops and members are called to subscribe the same and amongst the rest seventeen of them are observed to decline their subscription being somewhat insnared in the Arian Principles and the conclusions of the Council attested are presented to the Emperors consideration who highly applauding the same declared that all such as had refused to subscribe thereto Ruffin lib. 1. cap. 5. should be forthwith banished whereupon eleven of those seventeen who were dissenters do now submit and do subscribe the same though some were more willing then others And thus are the Church decrees now backed not only with the penalty of Ecclesiastical but also with civil excommunication Theod. lib. 1. c. 12. which was accompanied also with loss of habitation and personal estate But nothing will prevail with Arius nor with five others amongst which were Eusebius Bishop of Nicomedia Theogenis Bishop of Nice Euzoius a Deacon of Alexandria who had been formerly excommunicated by the Synod at Alexandria and others are made Bishops in their steads Nevertheless it was not long ere some expedient was found for Arius his stay or speedy return from banishment for he is found acquitted from banishment before Eusebius and Theogenis Soz. lib. 2. cap. 15. but how or upon what
was somewhat more large then the Nicene in the doctrine concerning the Holy Ghost to obviate the Macedonian Heresie which sprang up of later times But whether that Confession of Athanasius had those particulars concerning the Catholick Church the Communion of Saints and the estate after death or whether they were added afterwards I know not but they have been thus received by the Churches and this Church of England to this day Whatever more then this was done at the Antiochian Council Sect. 6. I shall not meddle with but thus far Constantius hath seemed to gain his intentions and yet he gained not his ends For he now had taken up a resolution to bring all the Eastern people into one Religion with himself And Eusebius told him this could never be done so long as Athanasius stood thus in his way which in plainer words is that Athanasius must be put to death before the Emperour can accomplish his work But God had otherwise determined The Antiochian Council could do little more then shew their teeth For Athanasius is now out of their reach and God finds other work for Constantius Soc. lib. 2. cap. 7. The newes comes to him of the falling of the Franks in upon the borders of the Empire and he must look to that and the Eastern parts of the Empire especially the City of Antioch is grievously tossed by Earthquakes successively renuing by the space of a whole year and the Council there assembled must look to that and move and remove and at length give over before they have done what they intended And thus Athanasius is left to stand or fall at the Council at Rome CAP. XII Athanasius acquitted by the Council at Rome Constans the Emperour favoureth the Orthodox Christians THe City of Rome hath now the honour to be an Assylam Sect. 1. or a City of refuge for the persecuted Bishops who are fled from the rage of Constantius his persecution which so afflicted the hearts of the Western Bishops that a Council is called at Rome Athan. Apol. Desuga many of the Eastern Bishops also being movers thereof and upon the Summons no lesse then three hundred Bishops met together And there also Athanasius upon his Summons appeared ready to make his Just Defence And hereof notice is given to them at Antioch Vid. Epist Jul. and that the Council was ready for the hearing of the cause if the cause on their part was ready for them and therefore desired them to send to Rome some with authority from them at Antioch to prosecute the matters in charge against Athanasius This Message from the Roman Council passed also under the shadow of Constans his Imperial Letters to his brother Constantius to the same purpose Soc. lib. 2. cap. 24. Soz. lib. 3. cap. 9. The Antiochian Council hereupon send four of their Members as Delegates who first made their application to the Emperour Constans and endeavoured to vindicate the honour of the Antiochian Council in their proceedings against Athanasius as also as touching their doctrine and as evidence thereof they produced before the Emperour Constans a Confession of Faith which they pretend to be the Confession made by them at the Council at Antioch but in truth framed by the Messengers themselves more suitable to their present purpose For by their principles of tendernesse and liberty of conscience as the Council did alter their Confession according to the occasion so it seems might these their representatives do the like so as might best serve their own turn This Confession which they thus produced though the value thereof be small in regard of the contrivers thereof and their aimes in contriving the same yet seeing by comparing of the one with the other the truth of their design though not their design of truth will the better appear I shall set down the same We believe in one God the Father Almighty Maker and Worker of all things from whom all fatherhood of Heaven and Earth is named And in his one begotten Son Our Lord Jesus Christ before all ages begotten of the Father God of God Light of Light By whom all things are made Visible and Invisible Who is the Word Wisdom Vertue Life true Light Who in the last dayes is inearnate for us born of the Holy Virgin Crucified dead and buried On the third day he arose again Ascended into Heaven sitteth at the right hand of the Father And at the end of ages shall come to judge both the Quick and the Dead and to render to every one according to his works of whose Kingdom shall be no end but it shall remain for ever For he shall sit at the right hand of the Father to the end of this World and in the future And in the Holy Ghost that is the Comforter whom the Father promised to the Apostles and after His ascention into Heaven sent that he should teach and inform them all things by whom all Believers souls shall be sanctified who truly believe in Him And the Church determ nes all those to be faln from it who do say that the Son of God is of nothing or of other substance then the Father Or that time was when He was not So as these men will have the Emperour believe that the Council at Antioch do adhere to the Nicene Faith Sect. 2. whiles they affirm that the Son is of no other substance then the Father and yet will not hold forth that he is coeternal with the Father But the Emperour Constans being fully informed in all particulars and observing the unconstancy and unsetled conclusions and principles of the Antiochian Council that they first agree upon one Confession of Faith and then fall from that and take up a second and that their Delegates now wave that also and hold forth a third he dismissed them with their Faith to the Council at Rome where when they arrived pretending to prosecute their charge against Athanasius and finding him prepared with his witnesses and that the Emperour had none there to represent his person as President but that the Council was left to regular proceedings Athan. Epist ad Solit. Vit. The Delegates failed in their prosecution and pretending frivolous excuses departed home Neverthelesse the Council expected the return of them or some others in their stead to prosecute their complaints but after a years waiting finding their expectation vain Soz. lib. â— cap. 7. they proceeded to examine the defence made by Athanasius and upon perusal of the Letters from the Alexandrian Churches and hearing of Witnesses produced the Council acquit Athanasius and restore him to his Church again The like they did also with others by vertue whereof they repaired to their several places and possessed them again Niceph. Hist lib. 9. cap. 8. Tripart Hist lib. 4. cap. 17. Soz. lib. 4. cap 8. And some Writers affirm that Athanasius did return to Alexandria again upon that account also which if he did it was not long ere
Sect. 1. Soc. lib. 2. cap. 24 25.26 Soz. lib. 4. cap. 5. when as Photinus began to act his part and it incensed him not a little that such innovations durst put up head in his own presence and therefore he is easily induced to call a Council there whereas Photinns was at that time Bishop The Arians furthered him also therein being as earnest therein as himself and procured the Emperour also to send for Hossius whom once gained they hoped to gain many more and he came though unwillingly as he had cause In the transaction thereof the Arians dealt cunningly For they made a Confession of Faith that on the one side aimed to strike Photinus in the right vein and which also on the other side may go down with Hossius and others of his way and yet must be safe for the Arians to approve For the Council consisted most of such And this Confession is thus framed We believe in one God Father Almighty the Maker and Framer of all things of whom all the Father-hood in Heaven and Earth is named And in his onely begotten Son our Lord Jesus Christ before all ages begotten of the Father God of God Light of Light by whom all things are made which are in Heaven and in Earth visible and invisible Who is the Word Wisdom True Light and Life Who in these last dayes is made Man for us born of the Holy Virgin crucified dead and who arose from the dead the third day and ascended into Heaven sits at the right hand of God the Father and shall come at the end of the World to judge the Living and the Dead and to render to every man according to his works of whose Kingdome there is no end but remaineth for ever For He shall sit at the right hand of the Father not onely whilst this World last but also in the World to come And in the Holy Ghost that is the Comforter whom the Lord promised to send after his Ascention unto his Disciples that He might teach them and mind them all things and did send Him by whom the souls of such as sincerely believe in Him are sanctified 1. Those therefore that affirm that the Son is of things which are not or of any other substance then of God the Father Or that there was time or age when He was not are accursed 2. So if any man affirm that the Father and the Son are two Gods 3. Or that Christ was God before all ages and therewith doth not confesse that the Son of God with the Father made all things 4. Or that the Son of God or any part of Him is begotten of Mary 5. Or that the Son is born of Mary according to fore-knowledge and not before all ages begotten of the Father and was with God and that by Him all things were made 6. Or that the substance of God may be dilated or contracted 7. Or that the essence of God dilated makes the Son or shall call the Son as it were the dildting of His Essence 8. Or shall call the Son the Word of God in the mind of the Father seated or the Word brought forth 9. Or that God Man is begotten of the Virgin Mary understanding thereby that God is begotten 10. Or that shall expound these words besides Me there is no God to exclude thereby the onely begotten who is God from everlasting 11. Or shall expound those words the Word was made Flesh to be transmutation into Flesh 12. Or by crucifying the onely begotten Son of God shall understand that the Son of God did undergo passion destruction change diminution or annihilation 13. Or that shall expound these words Let us make man c. as spoken from God the Father to himself and not to God the Son 14. Or that shall affirm that Jacob wrastled with God as God or with God the Father and not with the Son as Man 15. Or shall expound those words the Lord gained from the Lord not of the Father and the Son but the Father rained from Himself 16. Or that shall expound those forms of speech God the Father or God the Son or God of God to determine two Gods thereby 17. Or when he saith Lord of Lords shall thereby understand two Gods For we do not place the Son in the same degree with the Father but we make Him subject to the Father 18. Or shall affirm the Father Son and Holy Spirit to be one Person 19. Or that calling the Holy Ghost the Comforter shall intend thereby God begotten 20. Or that shall call any the Comforter besides whom the Son of God hath so called 21. Or that shall affirm the Holy Ghost to be part of the Father and the Son 22. Or that the Son as one of the Creatures is made by the will of the Father 23. Or that the Son is begotten without the will of the Father 24. Or that Jesus Christ the Son of God is not from Eternity but to be the Son and Christ onely when he was born of Mary and began then to be God as Samosetanus said This Confession thus framed as on the one side it doth not assert that the Son is consubstantial with the Father so on the other side it saith not in so many words that he is like to the Father So being as it were silent in the point of similitude they hoped both the Orthodox and the Arian would subscribe thereto and agree in the condemning of Photinus if he should prove obstinate Besides this Confession thus framed Sect. 2. there were two other Confessions offered which were suffered to passe abroad but which of all these was offered to Photinus to subscribe appeareth not by the History but it appeareth that Photinus resused to subscribe and unde took to desend his opinions by dispute yet not satisfying the Council they declared him excommunicated and banished him and accordingly he retired himself all his dayes Neverthelesse he published a discourse against all Heresies For even Hereticks will condemne Heresies Of these two other Confessions one is wholy concealed by the Historians Sect. 3. onely they say that therein that the words Substance and Consubstantial were not onely omitted but expresly forbidden to be used either in teaching or disputation For the way to bring in Heresie is to do it by degrees they first conceal the words that do difference truth from crrour and then afterwards foist in words that may lead in their errours But this is not all for in the same Confession thus concealed they affirm That the Father is greater then the Son in Honour Dignity and Deity and in the Name Father And that the Father is without beginning and that the Generation of the Son is known onely to the Father But as touching the third Confession although it be not concealed yet it seems it was reserved to be owned by another Council as not so fitting for the present purpose where such divers Confessions were propounded and the members each of
where order should be taken for Athanasius his appearing And accordingly Eusebius and the Antiochian Council in their reply to Julius his Letters did agree thereto and promised to send to Rome their charge against Athanasius with their Delegates to proceed against him And this might be a ground for the Bishop of Rome to send to Athanasius to come to Rome and for the Bishop of Rome at the Council there to hear the Cause and for the Council at Antioch to send their delegates thither and yet no Supremacy hereby vested in the Bishop of Rome over the Asian or Affrican Churches Thus escaped Athanasius to Rome Sect. 3. where he finds Paulus the banished Constantinopolitan Bishop waiting there also for relief as well as himself But as yet whatever the Antiochian Councils letters mention concerning Athanasius his Trial at Rome they proceeded nevertheless to banish him the Emperour also confirming the same This was one illegality Soc. lib. 2. cap. 8. But a second ensued much worse which was their sudden election of Gregory Bishop of Alexandria in the room of Athanasius who was a man altogether unknown both to the Church and Province of Alexandria and yet which was worst of all they being a Council did send him and settle him with a force that brought him in by bloud And all this done by a Vote procured as ill as all the rest Athan. Apol. 2. Epist Jul. Ibid. For whereas their Council consisted of one hundred Votes well nigh yet they could not find forty to agree in this Vote Onely the Emperours Vote concurring put all the rest to silence But such as the work such was the issue for Gregory continued there not long before not onely the Orthodox Christians but even the Arians also were weary of him and for his cruel and bloody entrance and his imperious government Soc. lib. 2. cap. 10. Soz. lib 3. cap. 6. and gluttonish indulgence thrust him out of his government and put in George of Capadocia in his place and yet he also nor St. George neither as will hereafter appear The Council at Antioch having thus done what they can against Athanasius Sect. 4. have one thing more to do For the Bishop of Rome had sorely taxed this Council for siding with the Arians against the Nicene Council unto which neverthelesse all the several members of this Council or the most part of them had subscribed This the Antiochian Council fear will stick upon them for their consciences told them that they had done somewhat that might deserve such imputation and that it would be a shame for so many learned men to be relapsed in a Council and so many reverend Bishops to be reputed disciples to Arius who was but a Presbyter defamed in his doctrine life and death They bethink themselves therefore of a declaration to the Churches Soc. lib. 2. cap. 7. wherein they set forth That they are not faln from the Nicene Faith neither are they disciples of Arius and in witnesse thereof they there make Confession of their Faith A company of fickle hearted Bishops they were They are not faln from the Nicene Faith nor will they own it They will have a Confession of their own and yet will own none They frame a Confession and publish it and then like it not By that time that they are warm in their work of Confession they repent of what they have confessed and confesse anew to this purpose Soc lib. 2. cap. 7. We believe in one God the Father Almighty Maker of All things And in one Lord Jesus Christ His Onely begotten Son God by whom all things are made Begotten before all things of the Father God of God Whole of Whole Onely of Onely Perfect of Perfect King of King Lord of Lord The Living Word Wisdom Life True Light Way of Truth Resurrection Power Door That He cannot be converted nor changed The Expresse Image of the Deity Essence Virtue Council and Glory of the Father The First Begotten of every Creature Who was in the beginning with God The Word by whom all things are made and in whom all things consist Who in the last dayes came from Heaven is born of the Virgin Made Man and the Mediator of God and Man The Apostle of our Faith and Lord of Life who suffered for us arose for us the third day and ascended to Heaven And sitteth at the right hand of the Father And shall come with glory and power to judg the Quick and the Dead And in the Holy Ghost which giveth comfort sanctification and perfection to Believers And the words Father Son and Holy Ghost do exactly expresse the proper Person Order and Glory of every of them so named That they are three in persons but in consent one If any man shall teach ought against the right and sound Faith of the Scriptures or that there is or was a time or age before the Son of God was made Let him be accursed And if any man shall call the Son a creature as one of the creatures or a branch as one of the branches Let him be accursed Many more words they are then in the Nicene Confession and yet not enough They will seem to allow to Christ all that can be desired and heap up many of his titles and might have out of the Text heaped many more And for all this they will not allow Christ all his excellencies He shall be allowed to be before all time Soz. lib. 2. cap. 5. but not coeternal with the Father he shall be Lord of Lord but not consubstantial with the Father If their meaning then be one and the same with the Nicene Confession why then do they differ in words unlesse they intend thereby that people should stick to no one form but to take up any that shall come to hand and thereby swallow down errour more unsensibly Like to many in these late Parliaments wherein much endeavour hath been for a form of Articles of Faith that might be established by Law but little or nothing could be effected The consciences of men have been so tender that they cannot endure any form of wholesome words but like this Antiochian Council they like the Nicene Faith and yet will have liberty to differ from it they will publish one so as they be not bound thereto but be at liberty to change The newes of this new Antiochian Confession coming to Athanasius Sect. 5. made him the more earnest to assert the Nicene Confession and being now to make his defence before the Council at Rome he as was usual in such cases declared the substance of his Faith before the Council so compendiously and with such apt expressions that the Council caused the same to be published for the further clearing forth of the Nicene Faith which formerly had passed abroad variously in regard of the losse of the Original Copy of the Acts of the Nicene Council Basil Epist yet it seems that Athanasius his Confession
even thither the Earthquake comes and interposed their meeting to the amazement of the Bishops who knew not whither to go At last Thood lib. 2. c. 26. A han Epist de Synod Soz. lib. 3. cap. 19. Seleucia a Citie of Isanria is thought upon and so at last these two Councils are setled about the two and and twentieth year of Constantius his Reign although some make it to be two years later Whether the Eastern Bishops were intertained at the Emperors charge I finde not but it s said that the Western Bishops at Arminum refused the Emperors entertainment and served at their own charges all of them saving two Bishops that came from Brittain Bin. 479. who were poor and therefore had the Emperors allowance The Councils being both of them thus setled to their work Sect. 2. the Emperour prescribes them rules for the ordering of their proceedings amongst which these espcially are mentioned That they should from time to time certifie the Emperour their proceedings by ten of the members of each Council Secondly that neither of the said Councils should intermeddle with the proceedings of each other Lastly that they should first proceed concerning the setling of the Doctrine and Faith and then against criminal offenders The Council met at Arminum begins accordingly with the Doctrine And first Vsatius and Valeus Acasius and Eudoxius with the rest of the Ariah party propound to the consideration of the Synod to agree in one Confession of Faith Athan. Epist de Synod which once done would facilitate a way to all other their proceedings and in order thereto they produce a Confession of Faith formerly framed at the Council at Syrmium and which they reserved to be considered and confirmed by another Council and then established by the Imperial power This Confession thus produced they said was already concluded at Syrmium but it was now produced to be by this Council affirmed without any debate And that then this Council at Arminum should do well to disanul all other Forms or Confession of Faith and make them void This Confession thus produced I shall recite it as I find it in Socrates because it more suiteth in the Preface to the Copy that Athanasius had then doth that mentioned by Baronius This Catholick Faith in the presence of Our Lord Constantius Flavius Eusebius and Hyratus being Consuls at Syrmium the eleventh of the Calends of June was published We believe in one onely and true God the Father Almighty Maker and Worker of all things And in one onely begotten Son of God who was before all ages and before all beginning and before all time which can be conceived and before all intelligible Notion begotten of God the Father without all passion by whom as well all generations as all things are made the one begotten alone of the Father alone begotten God of God like to the Father who begat Him according to the Scriptures Whose generation none knows but the Father alone who begat Him This his onely begotten Son we know by the will of the Father came from Heaven to take away sinne He was born of the Virgin Mary conversed with disciples according to His Fathers will fulfilled all order was crucified suffered death descended to Hell fulfilled all things there at whose preserce the porters of Hell trembled the third day he arose again and again conversed with His disciples and after forty dayes ascended to Heaven to sit on the right hand of the Father And shall come at the last day in the Fathers glory to render to every one according to his works And in the Holy Spirit which ' the onely begotten Son of God Jesus Christ promised to send to man the Comforter The word Substance when we speak of God we take away and forbid to be used yet we affirm the Son in all things to be like the Father This is first time that I finde that point concerning our Saviour Christ descending to Hell to be mentioned in the publike Confession of the Faith Sect. 3. the credit whereof as also of other points of this Confession which were in controverfie in those times doth not a little depend upon the patrons of this Confession Vrsatius and Valens they not onely being Arians but relapsed Arians and had entertainment by the Council at Arminum accordingly for the Orthodox Bishops there assembled exceeding the Arians in number by much did according as the Arians propounded they would neither debate the particulars therof not the whole but told the Arians that they came not thither to seek a nev faith but to assert the old faith determined and agreed by the Council at Nice and to convince all gain-sayers and all such as would innovate as was evident they who produced this new Confession intended to do They further told the Ariam that themselves resolved to adhere to the Nicene Faith which they had received and would agree to nothing more or lesse then that And that they would hold to the very words Substance and Consubstantial And thereupon the Council at Arminum proceeded to depose and banish the Atian Bishops who had produced and insisted upon this new Confession and then they framed a Narrative of what they had done and sent it by ten Bishops members of their Assembly to Constantius wherein they told the Emperour plainly that they would not recede from the Nicene Faith no not a nails breadth But the Arian Messengers more swift of foot first gained into Constantius his presence and possessed him with prejudice so as the other Messengers could gain no admittance nor audience whom I must leave in expectation till something from the Council at Seleucia come up in equal front with those from Arminum The Council at Seleucia did meet to the number of about one hundred and fifty Bishops Sect. 4. where though no earthquake was as at Nice and Nicomedia yet there befel that which was as ill for the Arian party or rather much worse For though they were generally Arians and not very spiritual yet were men of spirit and such as the Emperour thought would want an Overseer to keep them in peace And therefore he appointed Leonas and Laurentius two Commanders of the Army to see to the maintaining of the peace and these men having both authority and power did what they were authorised to do and more also as it afterwards proved For upon the meeting of the Council at Seleucia it soon appeared that as Arian as they were yet they were not all alike Arian some differed from others Bin. Conc. and in this Council contrary to one another Some were Arians some Semi-Arians these were in principles like to Arius but could not ondure to be reputed Arius his disciples And they did acknowledg the divine substance in the Son of God yet would not retain the word Consubstantial and therefore rejected the Nicene Faith for the onely sake of that word Soc. lib. 2. cap. 31. And of this sort was
They replied that he was deposed and banished The Emperour turning his horse rode on and they followed him and upon occasion of the Emperours stop they tell the Emperour that Athanasius had been banished by Constantine the Great and after by Constantius and after that by Julian Jovinian answered he knew all this and he well knew how and why but all those things are past The Arians moved that they had other matters of late to object against him The Emperour told the Arians that they were many persons he could not hear them all chuse you therefore said he one or two in the name of all the rest and let them attend upon me and I will hear them The Arians thereto replied that they were contented that any one should be their Bishop but Athanasius The Emperour answered And why shall Athanasius be excepted I have heard that he is an honest able learned man and one that teacheth the truth faithfully He will do it said the Arians with his mouth but deceit is in his heart The Emperour said what have you to doe with his heart Let God alone meddle with that do you hear what he saith Then one of them told the Emperour that one of Athanasius his disciples under colour of Athanasius his name had bereaved him of his house The Emperour answered what is that to Athanasius the Law is open A Greek then present told the Emperour that himself had cause to complain against Athanasius The Emperour answered You are a Greek what have you to do with Athanasius Then the Arians brought Lucius to the Emperour and prayed him that Lucius might be their Bishop The Emperour understanding their designe called for Athanasius and commanded him to return to Alexandria and teach and govern the Egyptian Churches as he should find most meet and so the Emperor departed and Athanasius also to Alexandria Athanasius had not been long at Alexandria Sect. 4. before a Letter came to him from the Emperor Jovinian Theod. lib. 4. cap. 3. requiring an account from him concerning the Nicene Faith in relation to the opinion of Arius for answer whereunto Athanasius calls another Council at Alexandria of the Bishops of Egypt and Lybia and Thebais wherein the Emperors Letters are read and they concluded to attend upon the Emperor by special Messengers with their Answer to the Emperor Letters Wherein they possess the Emperor with the true state of the Arian Doctrine and of the state of the Orthodox Churches even as contrarily the Arians had possessed Constantius with their opinions before the Orthodox could make their case known to him And in their Letters they give Jovinian humble thanks for their pre-admittance and his desire to be informed from them of the principles of Religion as touching which they tell him that the true Faith is set down in the Holy Scriptures which is the Word of God and that the Faith confessed by the Nicene Council is contained in the Scriptures Which was unquestioned till of later times Arius and his Disciples had brought into the Church dangerous Errors teaching That the Son of God had his being of nothing and was made and was mutable and that hereby many were seduced from the Orthodox Faith and that for the preventing of further mischief the Nicene Fathers proceeded to condemn such opinions and to condemn and excommunicate the Patrons and Assertors of such doctrines And that for the setling of the Churches in the Truth they had also composed a Form of Confession of Faith to be received and holden by all the Churches whereunto men of corrupt judgements refusing to submit some of them plainly oppose it by denial Others seem to agree in words but in truth by false glosses abuse the sense to the overthrowing of the true Doctrine concerning the Son of God and also concerning the Holy Ghost And therefore the Council at Alexandria judge it most meet to commend to the Imperial consideration to be received and beleeved the Nicene Faith which they publish as followeth We beleeve in one God the Father almighty maker of all things visible and invisible and in one God Christ begotten of God the only begotten of the Father that is of the Fathers substance God of God Light of Light true God of true God begotten not made co-essential with the Father by whom all things celestial and terrestrial are made who descended for us men and for our salvation took flesh and humanity to himself suffered and rose again the third day ascended into Heaven and shall come to judge the living and the dead and in the Holy Ghost Those therefore who affirm that once it was when the Son of God was not and that before he was begotten he was not And that he was made of nothing or of other substance or essence And was made mutable or variable Are excommunicate For the Nicene Council doth not say That the Son is like to the Father nor simply the like of God but that he is true God of true God and that he is co-essential because he is the natural and true Son of the natural and true Father neither did the Council separate the Holy Spirit from the Father and the Son but together with both did glorifie in one Faith of the Holy Trinity because it is one Deity in Holy Trinity This is the substance of the Letter which the Council at Alexandria sent to the Emperor Jovinian and wherewith the Emperor setled his resolution to establish the same by his Authority and to lay aside other Confessions presented to him The Macedonians and Semi-Arians likewise call a Council Sect. 5. and they move the Emperor to banish the Acasians and others of the highest strain of Arians and under colour thereof would pretend themselves Orthodox But the Emperor knew them and gives them a short Answer He hates such as maintain contention He loves and honours such as are for peace and union The Acasians perceive the Emperors inclination and fearing to be ground to nothing between these two Mill-stones the Semi-Arians and the Orthodox They therefore held a Council at Antioch under Meletus who now is returned and setled Bishop there And in this Council they dis-own their former Opinions and hold forth themselves to be in conjunction with the Nicene Faith and that the Son is consubstantial with the Father and begotten of the Substance of the Father and nevertheless is the same breath glance at a similitude of the Son to the Father as touching his substance and which is yet more they will condemn Arius for saying That Christ is come from nothing and the Eunomians for affirming That the Son is unlike the Father and these being thus represented to the Emperor though herein they worshipped not God but the purple Robe they likewise are restored to their Churches again Opinions taken up upon pretence of Conscience and not substantially grounded on the Word of God and all Schisms upon such foundations are blown away by the breath of a