and the very Apostles themselves received and taught the same things that they asserted and that the same was taught till the Times of Victor who from Peter was the thirteenth Bishop of Rome but that when Zephyrinus was made Pope the same Opinion began to be adulterated which saith Eusebius out of the Little Labyrinth might seem probable if it were not contradicted by the sacred Scriptures and the Writings of some Christians ancienter than the Times of Victor who lived in the End of the second Century For Justin who died about the Year 166 and Tatianus who lived about the same time as also Clemens wrote in the Defence of the Truth against the Gentiles and the Heresies of their own Times and these in all their Books have maintained the Divinity of Christ And who is he that is ignorant of the Books of Irenaeus Melito the Sardian Bishop and others which declare Christ to be God and Man Pliny in his Epistle to Trajan tells him how it was the Custom of the Christians to compose Psalms and Hymns in Honour of Christ in which they attributed Divinity to him and sang forth his Praises as God These very Psalms and Hymns written at the Beginning of Christianity by its faithful Professors yield an undeniable Attestation of their believing Christ to be God So that the Hereticks who first held the contrary had no reason to say that their Opinion was the Creed of the Primitive Christians And it is a shameless Falsity to affirm that Victor Bishop of Rome was of their Judgment For Victor was so far from abetting those who held Christ to be a meer Man that he condignly punished them as was evident in the Case of Theodotus the Tanner the Founder of this Apostacy whom Victor excommunicated and proscrib'd Which certainly he would not have done had he been of the same Judgment with him Thus stood Affairs in the Times of Victor and in what Posture they were in the Days of his Successor Zephyrinus who was made Bishop of Rome about the ninth Year of Severus's Empire comes now to be recounted The Person that compil'd the Book concerning the execrable Heresie now treated of relates a very remarkable Passage that happened in the Days of Zephyrinus concerning one Natalis who as Valesius conjectures was that Caecilius Natalis who by a Dispute of Octavius Januarius's before Minucius Felix at Rome was converted to the Christian Faith as Minucius Felix relates in his Dialogue and the Name the Time and the Profession of this Person do all agree to make this probable This Natalis was a Confessor and lived at the Time when the Little Labyrinth was composed but by the Craft of Asclepiodotus and Theodotus the Banker both Disciples of Theodotus the Tanner he was seduced to their Opinion and persuaded by them to be elected a Bishop of their Heresie And the most prevailing Argument with Natalis to accept of this Office was the Consideration of a monthly Salary amounting to an hundred and fifty Pence which they promised duly to pay him Natalis being thus made a Bishop turned a vehement Assertor of the Heresie of Theodotus but he did not long therein continue with any Sedateness or Complacency For by Visions in his Sleep he was frequently admonished by our Lord whose Compassion towards him was so great that he would not let him who had been a Witness of his own Sufferings to perish in his Heresie and under Excommunication But Natalis being bewitch'd with the Bait of Primacy among those of his Sect and with the Lucre he got by being their Bishop he regarded not the Visions he had in his Sleep but continu'd as zealous in the Defence of his Opinion as if he had never been warned from Heaven to reject it Whereupon it pleased the compassionate God to send his holy Angels to chastize him who for a whole Night having loaded him with severe Stripes he was therewith so far awaken'd that he thought of nothing but a speedy Recantation and Repentance And rising very early the next Morning he put on Sackcloth and besprinkled himself with Ashes and with Tears in his Eyes prostrated himself before Zephyrinus the Bishop and fell down not only at the Feet of the Clergy but of the Laity also and with Tears mov'd the Compassion of the Church which having view'd the print of the Stripes he had received and observed his sorrowful Carriage and other Tokens of his Repentance at last tho' with great Difficulty she admitted him into her Communion But besides the Little Labyrinth out of which Eusebius transcribed this Story of Natalis he takes notice of other Books written against the Hereticks that denied Christ to be God which Books represent them to have been Persons of the vilest Impiousness and Immorality And such as impudently adulterated the sacred Scriptures rejected the Canon of the primitive Faith and were ignorant of Christ For they neglected the holy Bible and instead of enquiring into its Meaning they laboured to obscure the Light thereof bestowing their Pains in finding out such Schemes of Argumentation as might confirm the System of their Impiety If any propos'd unto them a Text of the divine Scriptures they examined whether a connex or a disjunctive Proposition might be made out of it and instead of studying the Word of God they applied themselves to Geometry and to the reading of Euclid Aristotle Theophrastus and Galen admiring the Books the last had written concerning the Forms of Syllogisms and the whole Body of Philosophy They made use also of the Arts of Infidels for the Confirmation of their Heretical Opinion and by the Craft of some Atheists they adulterated the sincere Authority of the divine Scriptures on which they impudently laid their Hands saying that it ought to be corrected They put out several Copies of the Bible which Copies upon Examination and comparing them one with another were found to be very disagreeing For the Copies of Asclepiodotus were much different from those of Theodotus and the Disciples of each of them laboured diligently to amend the Corrections of their Masters The Copies of Hermophilus differed from those of Asclepiodotus and those Copies of Scripture written by Apollonides differed one from another But all the Copies agree in an audacious wresting and deforming the Word of God And we may well imagine that these Hereticks were not ignorant of their wicked Acting in depraving the divine Scriptures For either they did not believe the divine Scriptures to have been dictated by the Holy Spirit and then they were Infidels Or if they did believe this and yet went about to correct them then they must think themselves wiser than the Holy Ghost and what were they then but mad Men For they cannot deny this their bold Fact in correcting the Scriptures to have been done by them because the Copies were written by their own Hands And they did never pretend to have received such Copies as they produc'd from those who were their Instructers nor could they
God in that Sense in which the Christians own him to be the second Person in the Holy Trinity For tho' the Jews by many Texts of Scripture prove that the Messiah shall be the Son of God yet they hold he is not to be the Son of God by Nature but only by Deputation So that they deny his Eternal Existence and Deity Now this is an Opinion which was afterwards followed by those Hereticks who held the Kingdom of Christ was not perpetual and eternal and that he was made the Son of God only from the time that he took our Flesh and was born of the Virgin When Christ put that Question to his Disciples Whom do Men say that I the Son of Man am He reflected upon a double Error in his Country-men the Jews concerning the Messiah The first Error respected the Manner of his coming among them which they expected shou'd be in Secular Pomp and Grandeur and attended with the Conquest and subduing of the Nations From which Error he labour'd to withdraw their Minds by recalling them to the original Promise of his Coming and shewing them that the end thereof was not to conquer Kingdoms but to bruise the Serpent's Head and to manifest that he was the Seed of the Woman which was promised to do this he takes upon him no higher Title than that of the SON of MAN A second Error the Jews had imbib'd concerning the Messiah respected his Descent For they were uncertain whether he was to arise from the Living or from the Dead which Doubt Christ also fully cleared when he expresly owned himself to be the Son of Man or the Son that was promised to the first Man who should be born from the Seed of the Woman Christ did not so much enquire whether the Jews thought him to be the Messias as what kind of Person they thought him to be as he was the Messias So that the Question he put to his Disciples did not so much regard his Person as the Quality of his Person and whether the Messias whom they all acknowledg'd shou'd be the Son of Man was not also to be the Son of God not only by Adoption Deputation and Promotion but by Nature And the Disciples returned an Answer to their Master's Question according to the Opinion the Multitude had of him telling him that some took him for John the Baptist some for Elias and some for one of the old Prophets who was either returned to Life or else that the Soul of one of them was transmigrated and come into his Body which Opinion the Pharisees had borrowed of the Pythagoreans And when the Disciples had given Christ this Account of the various Sentiments the Jewish People had of the Quality of his Person he was pleas'd to ask them their Opinion of him But whom do ye my Disciples say that I am To which Demand Simon Peter in the Name of the rest makes this Reply Thou art the Christ the Son of the living God The Answer is not only wonderfully emphatical by reason of the Multitude of Articles that are in it but also because that Peter did not return it of his own Head nor by any Dictate inferiour to that of the Holy Ghost For Flesh and Blood as they signifie meer Man in Opposition to God did not put this Answer in Simon 's Mouth but it was immediately from Heaven For from thence he was inspired to declare that Jesus was the true Messias and by Nature the Son of the living God He needed no Revelation to enable him to confess that the Messias was the Son of God by Deputation Every ordinary Jew could have told him so much For it was generally believed that when ever God should be pleased to send the Messias he would depute him to be his Son but that he was to be his Son by Nature Very God of very God was no Article in the Jewish Creed And this great Truth was not founded on Humane Testimony nor on the Votes and Wishes of Men but on the Testimony of God himself For it was he that put it into Peter's Mind to declare the Divinity of Christ and by that Means to settle the uncertain wavering Thoughts that were on Foot concerning the Quality of the Person of the Messias and that it might be no longer doubted that he was God The Divinity of Christ is indeed the Rock on which the Christian Church is built and that which makes it stand impregnable against the Gates of Hell the greatest Power and Artifice that can possibly be used to destroy it From what has now been intimated we may conclude that the Denial of Christ's Divinity came originally from the Jews and that it is an Opinion which receiv'd its full Confutation from Heaven So that it may justly create our Wonder that after so solemn a Confession as Peter Made of Christ's Divinity and that too by the Dictate of God himself that any who believe the Scripture shou'd be so hardly as to gainsay it But seeing it has happened to be otherwise and that among the Professors of Christianity some have so far Judaiz'd in this Particular as sacrilegiously to rob our Lord of his Divinity We are next to consider who and what sort of Persons they were that first did thus Eusebius upon whose Authority I depend in this Point writes how that one Theodotus was the Inventer of this Atheistical Opinion and that he was a Man of mean Education being by Profession a Tanner This Man drew into his Heresie another of his own Name who was a Banker and both together proselyted Asclepiodotus of whose Quality and Condition the Historian makes no mention This Asclepiodotus gained to his Opinion Natalis a Confessour a Man of Piety and good Meaning who being afterwards convinced of his Error recanted it This Heresie was no sooner heard of but it was exploded and writ against and Enquiry made after those who maintained it And one Artemon being found a zealous Stickler in Defence of this blasphemous Heresie it was called the Heresie of Artemon In Confutation of which several Pieces were composed by the Ancients evincing that the Opinion which asserted our Saviour to be meer Man was an Innovation of late Date amongst the Christians Of those Tracts that were written on this Argument none was so elaborate as that called the Little Labyrinth whose Author according to Nicephorus is unknown And Theodoret who mentions the Story of Theodotus the Tanner and Natalis the Bishop attests that he had taken it out of the Book called the Little Labyrinth Photinus relates that Caius a Roman Presbyter living in the Time of the Pope's Victor and Zephyrin in the Year 199 wrote a Book against the Heresie of Artemon but says that it was not the same with the Little Labyrinth But to proceed out of the Little Labyrinth Eusebius tells us that those who affirmed our Saviour to be a meer Man boasted much of the Antiquity of their Opinion and how that all the Ancients
firm and inviolable amongst them that they would return to mutual Amity and Charity and to restore to the whole Body of the People their mutual amicable Embraces that the Contenders would purifie their own Souls be again acquainted and renew their Familiarity one with another and to revolve with themselves how that Friendship is often more sweet and pleasant after the Occasion of the Enmity is laid aside and Men return again to Reconciliation The Emperour having thus press'd Alexander and Arius to mutual Friendship and to put away their Contentions as being hurtful to themselves and the Church he likewise exhorts them to do this for the Emperor's Sake that his Days thereby might be peaceable and his Nights void of Solicitude that during the Residue of his Life he might have the Pleasure of a pure Light and the Joy of a quiet Life reserved for him and that if he miss'd of this he must necessarily be griev'd and testifie the same with Tears For whilst he beheld the People rent asunder by the pernicious and indiscreet Dissention of a Bishop and a Presbyter and engag'd in their undecent and untimely Quarrel he tells them he could not continue in a sedate Temper of Mind nor finish his Life without great Disquietude And that they might be the more sensible of his great Sorrow and deep Resentment for their Divisions he further tells them that it had put by his Journey which upon his coming to Nicomedia he had resolved to make into the East And that whilst he was hastening towards them and had perform'd above half his Journey the News of their Discord quite alter'd his Resolution lest he should be a Spectator of those things which he could not endure so much as to hear of And the pious Constantine closes his Letter to Alexander and Arius in these affectionate Words Do you by your Unanimity for the future open a Way for us into the East which by your Discord you have stopt up Give me Leave with Joy speedily to see you and all the rest of the People and that with an unanimous Consent of Praises we may offer up 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to God Thanks for publick Unity Agreement Liberty and Concord Victor Constantinus Maximus Augustus having sent this Letter to Alexander and Arius when the Contents of it came to be fully considered it was shrewdly suspected that Eusebius of Nicomedia had a Hand in the Contrivance of it if it was not wholly compil'd by him And the Circumstances favouring this Conjecture were first the great Credit Eusebius gain'd with the Emperor now residing at Nicomedia by Means of which he was able as he did to impose upon him in this whole Affair Next the Scope of the Letter is exactly agreeable with the Carriage of Eusebius in this Controversie which was not to have it determined either Way but only silenc'd as an over-curious Speculation And as for those Lessenings which through the whole Letter are given of this Heresie they seem to have been the crafty Insinuations of Alexander's Want of Temper and Prudence in raising so great a Dust and making so much ado in so trivial and light a Matter Eusebius as all observe of him was a Man of a prou'd Spirit impatient of Contradiction very vindictive and cou'd not brook Alexander's Carriage towards him And the Hatred he bore him for his reproachful naming him in his circular Letter made him favour Arius as he was Alexander's Enemy and not out of any good Liking he had for his Heresie For tho' Eusebius is on all Hands represented as a Ring-Leader of the Arian Faction yet this is a Mistake that has brought Confusion upon the whole History and made the Arian Heresie to seem of much greater Extent than it was Whereas Eusebius and his Party were no less adverse to the Arians than to the Orthodox and yet it was they that all along made the greatest Shew and Noise in the Contest All which seems to have had no other Source than meerly their Hatred to Alexander and the Delight they took to oppose him The Emperour having as he thought by this Letter made Provision for the ending of the Controversie and reconciling those to each other by whom it was first raised and the good Man Hosius who carried it having used likewise his utmost Diligence that the same Letter shou'd take Effect yet all was to no Purpose For the Contention of the disagreeing Parties was so far from being compromis'd that it daily encreas'd and grew up so fast that in a short time it over-ran all the Eastern Provinces For Envy and the malicious Devil being vex'd at the Prosperity of the Church invented these things for our Destruction as Eusebius writes de Vitâ Const B. 3. Ch. 73. But neither Alexander nor Arius were in the least mollified either by the Emperour's Letter or the excellent Arguments for their mutual Agreement urged by the holy Man that brought it At the time when this Epistle was sent the Disputes about the Feast of Easter were very warm and the Division arising thereupon very threatning Some contended that the Celebration of that Festival shou'd be kept after the Jewish Manner others in their Solemnization thereof imitated the Custom of the Christians all over the World But it was very happy this Controversie happened only in the East and that it created no Separation but that the adverse Parties still continu'd united in the same Communion For tho' the Joy and Glory of the Festival was much clouded and impaired by the Controvesies held about it yet mutual Communion was still preserved But Constantine observing the great Disturbance that the Church suffered by Reason of this and the other Controversie began to think of a Remedy for them both He had already seen that his Letters were ineffectual to this Purpose and that the Minds of the Contenders were so imbittered one against another that Exhortations to mutual Peace and good Will had little other Effect than to enrage and enflame them the more He therefore thought of a general Council as the likeliest Cure for such Distempers Nice a City of Bithynia was the Place where he determined the Council shou'd be held And hither by his Letters he requests the Bishops to repair who readily comply'd with his royal Request For as Eusebius in the third Book of Constantine writes the most eminent amongst God's Ministers of the Churches in Europe Lybia and Asia were conven'd And one sacred Oratory enlarged as it were by God included at the same time within its Walls Sirians Silesians Phoenicians Arabians Palestinians Aegyptians Thebaeans Lybians and those that came out of Mesopotamia There was also at the Synod a Persian and a Scythian Pontus also and Galatia Pamphilia Cappadocia Asia and Phrygia afforded their most select Divines Moreover there appeared at Nice Thracians Macedonians Achaians and Epirots And many who dwelt far beyond these were there also present Hosius the Spaniard famous for his Piety together with many
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
We did therefore enquire into and accurately discuss all things which seem'd to yield the least Occasion of Ambiguity or Dissention But how great and horrid were the Blasphemies concerning our great Saviour concerning our Hope and Life How have some openly spoken and profess'd that they believe things which are contrary to the Divinely inspired Scriptures and to the sacred Faith After that no fewer than three hundred Bishops and upwards admirable both for Moderation and Acuteness of Understanding have unanimously confirmed one and the same Faith which according to the Verity and accurate Disquisition of the Divine Law can only be the Faith Arius possess'd with a Diabolical Spirit was found to be the only Person who with an impious Mind disseminated this Mischief first amongst you and afterwards amongst others Let us embrace that Opinion which God has delivered Let us return to our beloved Brethren from whom this impudent Servant of the Devil has separated us Let us with Diligence hasten to the common Body and to our own genuine Members For it becomes our Prudence Faith and Sanctity that since his Error who hath been evidently prov'd to be an Enemy of the Truth is confuted we should return to the Divine Grace For that which was approved of by three hundred Bishops can be judged nothing else but the Determination of God For doubtless the Holy Ghost residing in the Minds of such great and worthy Persons hath disclosed to them the Will of God Wherefore let none of you continue dubious let none of you make Delays But you all with great Chearfulness return to the right Way that when we come unto you which shall be as soon as possible we may together with you return due Thanks to God who inspects all things because he has revealed the pure Faith and thereby restored to you that mutual Love which was the subject of good Mens Prayers My beloved Brethren God preserve you Thus wrote the Emperour to the People of Alexandria And from his affectionate Letter we may conclude That the Determination of the Faith was not made unadvisedly and in Haste but with a mature Disquisition and diligent Examination of the Matters in Controversie every thing being exactly poiz'd and consider'd by the Council and nothing pass'd by in Silence that was fit to be spoken of every Man having Liberty to produce and urge what he was able in Behalf of his Opinion So that the Controversie was not inconsiderately determined but with great Accuracy first discuss'd Insomuch that all things whatsoever which seem'd to produce Matter of Ambiguity or Dissention were wholly cleared and removed And things being so prudently and piously manag'd and the Disputes carried on with that heavenly Calmness and Temper the Emperour thought the Determination of all those there assembled could be nothing else but the Will of God and he stuck not to affirm That the Unanimity of so many and such eminent Prelates was procur'd by the Holy Ghost But the Conduct of the Synod tho' it was even prudent to a Wonder yet there were those who thought it to be orberwise and who reflected upon the Nicene Bishops as so many Idiots and ignorant Fellows of which Number was Sabinus the Ring-leader of the Macedonian Heresie This Man was not ashamed to asperse even Eusebius Caesariensis with the Imputation of Ignorance and to accuse the whole Synod of Rashness and Indiscretion not considering that altho ' the Fathers in that Synod had been Idiots yet in regard they were illuminated by God and directed by the Holy Ghost they cou'd in no wise err from the Truth The Emperour having writ in particular to the Alexandrians he sent another Lettter to the Bishops and People of other Countries wherein he sets down what had been decreed against Arius and those who embrac'd his Opinion and that seeing he had followed the Practices of wicked and prophane Persons it was but just that he shou'd undergo the same ignominy with them And that as Porphyrus an Enemy of true Piety found a just Recompence for composing impious Volumes against Religion and such a Recompence as had rendred him ignominious to Posterity and cover'd him with Infamy and Reproach So it seemed reasonable to term Arius and those of his Opinion Porphyrians and that they should derive a Name from him whom they so exactly imitated And the Emperour commands that if any Book could be met with that was writ by Arius it should be immediately burnt That by this Means not only his wicked Doctrine might be wholly destroyed but also that not one Monument of him should be left to Posterity And the Emperour in the same Letter further declared that if any Person should be found to conceal any Book compil'd by Arius and did not immediately produce and burn it he should suffer Death immediately upon his being found guilty To this Letter of the Emperour Athanasius alludes in his Epistle ad Solitar and blames him for endeavouring to admit the Arians into the Church seeing that he himself had fixt upon them the ignominious and execrable Name of Porphyrians It is evident this Letter did not concern the Council of Nice For it makes not any Mention of it But it did proceed from the Emperour 's pious Zeal to have the Heretick Arius utterly suppress'd against whom and the Followers of his Opinion he wrote several other Letters which he caus'd to be published in every City according to the Custom of the Roman Emperours which was to propose to publick View those Rescripts they wrote to the Cities And at the Close of every Rescript they added this Word Proponatur let it be published So Constantine when he wrote many Letters against Arius and his Followers commanded they should be propounded to publick View in the Forum And in all his Letters against Arius he represents him as an infamous Person and rebukes him with great Warmth and Sharpness Now Arius his Opinion and all Books and Persons favouring it being censur'd and anathematiz'd Two of his most eminent Abettors namely Eusebius and Theognis began to retract what they had done upon which they sent a Libel of Repentance to the most considerable Bishops declaring their Agreement to the Exposition of the Faith given by the Nicene Fathers Hereupon they were by Imperial Order recall'd from Exile and re-admitted to their Sees This happen'd in the third Year after the Synod that is in the 328th Year of Christ Upon their Restauration those who had been ordain'd in their Places were removed Eusebius put out Amphion and Theognis Crestus The Libel containing the Recantation of Eusebius and Theognis being very remarkable I thought it very proper here to insert it The Libel of Recantation made by Eusebius and Theognis two notorious Sticklers for Arius WE having sometime since been condemned by your Piety without having our Cause declar'd or defended ought quietly to bear what has been determin'd by your holy Discretion But because it is absurd by silence to give Occasion of