ever shew the Copies out of which they transcrib'd their pretended Corrections But this was not all for the old Hereticks who denied Christ to be God were not content only to corrupt the Scriptures to make them speak in Favour of their Heresie but some of them quite rejected both the Law and the Prophets under a Pretence of the Grace given by the Gospel This is the Account which Eusebius gives of the first Impugners of the Divinity of our Lord And they appear to have been bold crafty assuming Men Men of that Impudence as to affirm the first Christians even the Apostles themselves to have been of their Opinion tho' they can't be ignorant how that both the Inspired Scriptures and the first and best Christian Writers attested the quite contrary And had we no other Proof hereof than the Psalms and Hymns composed and sung by the first Christians in Praise of Christ even these wou'd sufficiently demonstrate that they did own him to be true God or else we must conclude them to have been Idolaters who sang those Hymns to him as God But the Villany and Poison of these Hereticks was most signally display'd in those Corruptions of the Scriptures which they called Corrections For this was to envenome the Spring and to keep both themselves and others from ever coming to the Knowledge of the Truth But their Devices and Councils were all disappointed in their Disagreement about that which they called the Corrections of Scripture For they cou'd never hit of any Harmony in their Copies nor determine which of their correct Copies of Scripture shou'd be the Conon After the Heresie of Artemon had been condemned and refuted by the Writers of those Times we hear no more of it till about the middle of the third Century when it began again to be revived by Paul of Samosata This Paul was Bishop of Antioch and notorious for the abject mean Opinion which he had of our Saviour denying that the Word was ever truly united to the Humanity in the Person of Christ and that he was ever any more but a meer Man For the Suppressing of which Heresie and Censure of its Reviver a Council was held at Antioch where all the Pastors of the Churches did assemble only Dionysius Bishop of Alexandria was not there which he excus'd by reason of his Age and Infirmity of Body But he declar'd by Letter his Sense and Opinion concerning the Matter in Debate At this Council there was assembled the most eminent Bishops of those Times such as Firmilianus Bishop of Caesaria in Cappadocia Gregory and his Brother Athenodorus Bishops of the Churches of Pontus There were also present Helenus Bishop of Tarsus Nichomas Bishop of Iconium Hymenaeus Bishop of Jerusalem Theotecnus Bishop of Caesaria on the Confines of Jerusalem Maximus of Bostra together with many eminent Priests and Deacons All these being assembled in the same Place Disputations and Questions were raised about the Heresie of Paul In all which he was observed to use great Art in concealing his heterodox Opinions whilst others were as diligent in finding them out and exposing them At last the Synod which consisted of a very great Number of Bishops convicted Paul and unanimously condemn'd him of false Doctrine and by Excommunication cast him out of the Catholick Church The deepest Wound the Heretick received in this Council was from Malchio a Presbyter of the Church of Antioch an eloquent Man and one very famous for teaching the Grecian Philosophy He was also much taken Notice of for his surpassing Sincerity in the Christian Faith This Malchio having undertaken to dispute against Paul wonderfully detected and confuted the Frauds and Sophistries of that crafty Heretick by which and his Excellent Virtues Malchion gained such a Credit and Renown that he was thought worthy to be canoniz'd in the Greek Menology at 28th of October The Prelates being assembled in Council at Antioch they agreed upon sending a Letter to Dionysius Bishop of Rome and to Maximus who succeeded Dionysius in the Bishoprick of Alexandria and having done this they sent the same Letter over all the Provinces wherein they set down the pernicious and obstinate Heterodoxy of Paul the Confutations and Disputes that had been held against him together with a Narrative of his Life and Carriage A Copy of which Epistle as it stands entire in Eusebius and translated at Cambridge I have thought not improper here to insert The Synodical Epistle of the Antiochian Fathers concerning Paul of Samosata Bishop of Antioch excommunicated by them for denying the Divinity of Christ To Dionysius and Maximus and to all our Fellow-Ministers over the whole World Bishops Presbyters and Deacons and to the whole Catholick Church under Heaven Helenus Hymenaeus Theophilus Theotecnus Maximus Proclus Nichomas Aâ—lianus Paul Bolanus Protogenes Hierax Eutychius Theodorus Malchion Lucius and all the Bishops of the Neighbouring Cities and Provinces which are with us the Presbyters and Deacons and the Churches of God to the beloved Bretheren in the Lord Health WE have written to and entreated many of the Bishops far remote that they would come to assist in the curing of this pestilent Doctrine For we wrote to Dionysius Bishop of Alexandria and to Firmilianus Bishop of Capadocia Men of blessed Memory The first of them wrote to Antioch but did â—oâ— so much as vouchsafe the Author of the Heresie a Salutation neither did he write to him by Name but to the whole Church A Copy of which Letter we have here inserted The other to wit Firmilianus came twice and condemned Paul 's Novelties as we who were then present do attest and many others do also know as well as we But when Paul promised to recant Firmilianus believing him and hoping that the Business might be compos'd without any Reproach to our Religion he deferr'd his Sentence being deceiv'd by him who denyed his God and Lord and who kept not the Faith which he formerly profess'd But Firmilianus was now coming to Antioch and came as far as Tarsus For he had Experience of his malicious Wickedness who denyed his God But in the Interim of our Assembling and whilst we were sending for him and expecting his Coming he died But since that Paul has return'd to forg'd and spurious Opinions departing from the true Rule it is not our Concern to examine the Actions of one who is out of the Church neither how he who was formerly poor and indigent having no Estate of his Parents nor got any thing by any Trade or Profession is now become incredibly rich by his unlawful and sacrilegious Dealings by Extortion and Vexatiousness used towards the Brethren and by taking Bribes from those that were injur'd promising them to help them to their Right for a Reward But he deceiv'd them getting Money for doing nothing through their Willingness who were entangled in Suits to give any thing to be delivered from those Troubles He supposed Gain to be Godliness Neither declare we how proud and insolent this Hertick
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
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
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
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
was being invested with secular Dignities and desiring to be stiled a Ducenarius rather than a Bishop and how he walked through the Forum reading and dictating Letters as he walked in publick with a numerous Guard about him some going before and some following after him Insomuch that there was an ill Opinion and an Odium brought upon the Faith thro' his Pride and Haughtiness Neither does it concern us to examine his vain-glorious Ambition in the Ecclesiastick Conventions which he greedily pursues being desirous of Glory and affected with an imaginary Pomp with such Devices as these terrifying the Minds of the Faithful and Ignorant Besides he â—rected for himself a Tribunal and a lofty Throne not like one of Christ's Disciples but had a place called his Secretum like as the secular Magistrates have He also used to clap his Hands upon his Thigh and stamp upon the Throne with his Feet And such as did not commend him and shake their Oraria as they usually did in the Theatres and did not make loud Acclamations nor leapt up and down in the same manner as his Favourites did which were a Company of silly Men and Women that during their hearkening to him used such Indecencies but were attentive to him with such a seemly Reverence and Decency as becomes the House of God those Persons he rebuk'd and reproach'd In his publick Discourses he reflected upon the Doctors of our Religion that were dead with all imaginable Scorn and Petulancy But he magnified himself not as became a Bishop but rather like a Counterfeit and an Impostor He abolished the Psalms which were usually sung in Honour of our Lord Jesus Christ as a Novel and the Composures of modern Men. On the great Feast of Easter he appointed Women to sing Psalms in his Commendation in the Body of the Church which whosoever heard might justly tremble at He also privately sent the Bishops of the neighbouring Villages and Towns and the Presbyters who were his Flatterers to make Discourses to the People in Commendation of him He will not joyn in a Confession with us that the Son of God came down from Heaven that we may premise some things of what we shall hereafter more at large declare in Writing Neither shall this be affirmed on our bare Word but it is evident in many Places up and down his Acts which we have sent you And more especially where he says that Jesus Christ is of the Earth But those who chant out his Praise and sing his Encomiums amongst the People do say that this their impious Master is an Angel come down from Heaven Nor do's that haughty Fellow prohibit those Expressions but is himself present when they are spoken What need we here mention his and his Presbyters and Deacons subintroduc'd Women as the Antiochians term them in whom he conceals not only this but many other damnable Crimes which he is conscious of and of which he has been convicted they are guilty that by this means he may keep them so obnoxius as not to adventure through a Fear of their own Guilt to accuse him for his impious Words and Practices Moreover he has enrich'd them and for this Reason he is belov'd and admir'd by them who are covetous But why do we write these things We know Beloved that it is the Duty of a Bishop and of the whole Clergy to be Examples of good Works to the People Neither are we ignorant that by introducing Women into their Society some have wholly fallen away from Goodness and others have been suspected And although it should be granted that he committed nothing that was unchaste yet the very Suspicion which arises from such a thing ought to be avoided lest it should be offensive to any one and induce others to imitate it For how can he reprove or admonish another not to frequent the Company of Women and to take heed lest he fall who indeed has sent away one but now keeps two that are young and beautiful and carries them along with him wherever he goes and indulges and stuffs himself with Delicacies These are the Reasons that all People sigh and lament privatly But they so dread his Tyranny and Authority that they dare not accuse him Now as before we have said any one would call a Man who professes the Catholick Doctrine and is reckoned of our Communion to an Account for these things But from one who has abjured the Mystery of our Religion and has boasted in that cursed Heresie of Artemon we judge it needful to require an Account of these Things Having therefore excommunicated this contumacious Enemy of God we are necessitated to ordain another Bishop in his stead over the Catholick Church as we are persuaded not without the Providence of God to wit Domnus the Son of Demetrianus of blessed Memory who before him was the eminent Governour of that See a Man adorn'd with all Accomplishments requisite for a Bishop which we have therefore signified to you that you may write to him and receive from him Communicatory Letters But as for this Paul let him go to Artemon if he pleases and let the Followers of Artemon hold Communion with him This is the Circular Epistle which was composed and dispersed by the second Antiochian Synod which Baronius has placed at the Year of Christ 272. Seventy Fathers saith Athanasius were present at this Council besides Presbyters and Deacons who did all unanimously concur in the Excommunication and Devestiture of Paul of Samosata who according to what is intimated in this Synodical Letter was a Man of great Injustice and Avarice and also of great Pride and suspected Chastity His Injustice and Covetousness were but too evident in the Methods which he used to make himself rich His Extortion is particularly taken Notice of Which he might commit either by the Terror of his Authority like Soldiers who fright and plunder Men which was forbidden by our Saviour Or as he exercised Extortion by Deceit and Cunning when under Pretence of favouring and helping Men he took Bribes And to this the Fathers of the Council in all Probability had respect when they say that he did 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 extort the Brethren Next his Pride was evident in his Ambitious affecting to be called a Ducenarius which was an Officer appointed by the Emperour to collect and receive his Revenues who for his Service was allowed a yearly Salary of two hundred SESTERCES and from thence had his Name Ducenarius The Antiochian Fathers take Notice of this Heretick's Pride in his haughty and pompous walking through the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as that Word may signifie any promiscuous or popular Assembly met together either for Traffick as in a Fair or Market or Hall or Court of Judicature Which Places 't is like the vain-glorious Man frequented on purpose to receive the Acclamations of his Flatterers His Pride appeared likewise in erecting of a lofty Throne For although Episcopal Thrones were customary even from the
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
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-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-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
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
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
Church and the Scriptures which we believe in all things do teach God is our Judge both now and in the Judgment to come We therefore beseech your Piety O Emperour most acceptable to God That being Ecclesiastical Persons and holding the Faith and Sense of the Church and the Holy Scriptures we may by your peaceful and religious Piety be united to the Church All Questions and superfluous Disputations being wholly taken away and suppress'd that so both we and the Church enjoying a mutual Peace and Union may joyntly offer up our usual Prayers for the peaceable Reign of your imperial Majesty and for your whole Family Arius having deluded the Emperour with this Libel of Repentance obtain'd Leave to return to Alexandria where Athanasius being made Bishop upon the Death of Alexander denied him Reception whereupon Arius attempted to stir up new Commotions by dispersing his Heresie And albeit that both the Emperour and Eusebius wrote to Athanasius That Arius and his Complices might be admitted into the Church yet Athanasius utterly refused to grant them Admission acquainting the Emperour that it was impossible for those who once had rejected the Faith and were anathematiz'd to be entirely readmitted to their Degrees in the Church at their Return For he held that the Ring-leaders of Heresies are not so easily to be reconcil'd to the Church as their deluded Followers and that the Church had been always wont to punish them with greater and longer Severities Besides Athanasius declar'd that he was not at all satisfied concerning the Sincerity of Arius's Repentance and therefore till further Trial was had of him he would not hear of his Restitution This was presently seiz'd upon by Eusebius Nicomediensis as a fit Handle for his Design who immediately goes to the Emperour and informs him of Athanasius's Carriage complaining that he kept up Discord in the Church meerly to gratifie his private Piques and Animosities And that contrary to his Duty and the Laws of the Church he deny'd Arius Absolution when he desir'd it upon his Repentance The Emperour hearing this was highly incens'd and being instigated by Eusebius he wrote a threatning Letter to Athanasius Part of which was thus HAving receiv'd the Knowledge of our Wills do you grant a free Admission and Entrance into the Church to all such as desire it For if we receive Information that you have prohibited any of those that are desirous to be united to the Church or have hindred their Admission we will immediately send one who shall be empower'd by our Order to depose you and banish you your Country To this sharp Letter Athanasius returned such a soft satisfactory Answer as made the Emperour desist from interposing any further in the Business But Eusebius finding himself defeated in this his Stratagem against Athanasius tampers with the Meletian Schismaticks of Aegypt to form a Plot against him But this with all other Machinations were by the Divine Providence wonderfully disappointed as appears by the History of those Times Arius and his Followers were no sooner return'd to Alexandria but there began new Disturbances The People of that City were much troubled at the Return of them and at the Exile of Athanasius But the Emperour perceiving the perverse and turbulent Nature of Arius he orderd him to be sent for again to Constantinople to give an Account of the Troubles he had laboured to rekindle Alexander who sometime before this had succeeded Metrophanes did now preside over the Church at Alexandria This Man gave sufficient Proof of his Piety and Acceptableness unto God in the Conflict he at this Time had with Arius Upon whose Arrival at that City the People divided in Factions which caus'd an universal Commotion amongst them some of them affirming that the Nicene Creed ought to continue inviolate and without any Alteration and others pertinaciously asserted that Arius's Opinion was consonant to Reason Alexander thereupon was reduced to a great Streight and the more because Eusebius Nicomediensis had sorely threatned him saying that he would forthwith cause him to be deposed unless he would admit Arius and his Followers into Communion But Alexander was not so sollicitous about his own Deposition as he was fearful of weakening the Faith which the Heretick and his Associates endeavoured to subvert For looking upon himself as Guardian and Patron of the Determinations made by the Nicene Synod he made it his Business to prevent the Wresting and depraving of ' em Being therefore reduc'd to signal Extremities he entirely bad farewel to all Humane Assistances and humbly and solely depended upon God whom having made his only Refuge he devoted himself continually to Fasting and Prayer And having shut up himself in the Church Irene he went to the Altar and laying himself prostrate on the Ground under the Holy Table where for many Nights and Days together he poured forth his Prayers and Tears begging of God that if the Opinion of Arius was true he might not live to see the Day appointed to discuss it But if that which he profess'd was true that Arius might receive some visible condign Punishment for his Impiety in opposing it And God was pleased to hear his Prayer For the Emperour saith the History being desirous to make trial of Arius sends for him to the Palace and ask'd him whether he would give his Assent to the Nicene Determinations He without any Hesitation said he would and subscrib'd them in the Presence of the Emperour who admiring at it required him to swear to the Truth of what he had subscrib'd which he also did making use of Artifice and Fraud which was thus Arius having writ down his Opinion in Paper hid it under his Arm-pit and swore that he really thought as he had written That Arius did both swear and subscribe to the Determinations of the Nicene Synod appears by the Emperour 's own Letters but for the Deceit he used in swearing Historians are not positive But the Emperour believing that Arius dealt sincerely in what he swore and subscrib'd presently gave Order to Alexander Bishop of Constantinople to admit him to Communion It was then Saturday and on the next Day he expected to be a Member of the Assembly of Believers But Divine Vengeance follow'd him so closely that he did not live till next Day For when he came out of the Imperial Palace attended by the Eusebian Party like Guards through the midst of the City the Eyes of all People being upon him as he came near the Place call'd Constantine's Forum he was seiz'd with a horrible Terror proceeding from his Guilt which was accompanied with a Loosness Hereupon he enquired for a House of Office and understanding there was one behind Constantine's Forum he went thither whither he was no sooner come but he was seiz'd with a fainting Fit and together with his Excrements his Fundament fell down and a great Flux of Blood his Spleen Liver and Small Guts all gush'd out together So that he immediately expir'd The Suddenness and