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
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
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