Constantine was the first Christian Emperour and is commended to posterity by the example of so worthy a man as Athanasius was who was the first lèader herein Nor was the Emperour scrupulous in admitting the appeal however himself was interested in the act of the Council by the Presidency of his Lievtenant there but did appoint the matter to be heard before himself at Constantinople Neither did the Arian Bishops now in Council at Tyrus disclaim the trial before the Emperour for though they were the first president of a schism in a general Council yet they did not independ upon the supream Christian Magistrate but sent their Procters to appear before the Emperour to justifie their proceedings as well as they could Soz. lib. 2. cap. 27. But I must leave the appeal depending till I glance upon some passages between the Emperour and Arius which preceded the appearance of Athanasius before the Council and had their influence upon Athanasius afterward The Arian Party under the conduct of Eusebius Sect. 2. had made it their design ever since the Council at Nice to gain back Arius to Alexandria and to restore him to communion with the Church there for which purpose a Presbyter of their own sect was made become familiarly acquainted with Constantia the Emperours sister Soz. lib. 2 cap. 26. and having gained her favour told her that it was much for the Emperours dishonour that Arius should so long remain secluded from his Church at Alexandria upon such mistake and by information of some that envied him for the great opinion that the people have of him all which will be made apparent if the Emperour would but admit him to speak for himself and therefore he prayed her to move the Emperour therein It is supposed that Constantia did this accordingly soon after but it might be left out of mind For afterward Constantia falling sick of her last sickness and the Emperour coming to visit her amongst other things she glanced upon the matter concerning Arius and therein spake much in commendation of her Presbyter and commended him to the Emperors favour telling him that her Presbyter was a man of parts zealous of the Emperours honour and a very godly man The Emperour taking this as her last request for she died soon after did accordingly for he sent for the Presbyter and commanded him to wait upon him This act of the Emperour though but an act of love to his sister and might seem of small importance yet as the times then stood proved the great hinge upon which the affairs of the Empire in relation to the Church did turn So dangerous a thing it is for them in authority to intrust their favour unto any private relation especially to a woman whose affections many times are strong and predominate and in the general are more skilfull at making of fires then men are This new favourite that Constantine had so easily gained crept up by degrees into his bosome Sect. 3. Soc. lib 1. cap. 19 20. Soz. lib 2. cap. 26. and after that he found that he had gained possession within his Buttons he also adventured to tell the the Emperour how much he was wounded in his repute by the long restraint of Arius from Alexandria where he was in so great esteem especially upon mistaking grounds concerning his opinion which is commonly known to be in no manner contrary to the Nicene Faith as was reported And he further told the Emperour that if he would please to admit Arius into his presence Arius was very desirous to give the Emperour full satisfaction therein The Emperour was well pleased herewith and told the Presbyter That if Arius be of the same judgment with the Nicene Council the Emperour would not only admit him into his presence but he would restore him to his Church at Alexandria and for further assurance herein the Emperour wrote his Letters to Arius signifying his pleasure that Arius should come and speak with the Emperour Hereupon Arius with Eusebius come to Constantinople Epiphan and being admitted into the Emperours presence he asked Arius if he did agree to the Nicene Faith and they both answered that they did agree thereto The Emperour then required them to set down their faith in writing which thing they after also did and presented the same as the faith of them and their followers to this purpose Soz. lib. 2 cap. 26. We believe in one God the Father Almighty and in one Lord Jesus Christ his Son begotten of him before all ages True God by whom all things are made in Heaven and in Earth who descended and is incarnate and suffered and rose again and ascended into Heaven and shall come again to judg both the quick and the dead And in the Holy Ghost in the resurrection of the flesh in eternal life in the Kingdom of Heaven In one Catholick Church of God extending throughout all the Earth This Faith they said they received from the Gospel the Lord Jesus Christ saying to his Disciples Go and teach all nations sanctifying them in the Name of the Father Son and Holy Ghost as the whole Catholick Church and Scriptures do teach in which said they we wholly believe God is our Judg both now and at the last judgment This writing the Emperour perused and asked Arius if he had ought more to say and whether from his heart he did truly own what he did profess To which Arius answered that he had not ought more to say nor hath he written or said other or otherwise then according to his judgment The Emperor hereto replied If your faith be right you have sworn truly but if otherwise know that God will be revenged on you for your perjury and from Heaven reveal his Justice upon you It seems the Emperour was not yet satisfied with the reality of these men Sect. 4. and therefore will determine nothing herein without Counsel contrary to the determinations of the Council at Tyrus which is in his opinion meet for the purpose But a matter of piety comes in his way he had built a famous Temple upon Mount Calvary nigh to Hierusalem and it being now finished he will repair thither for the dedication of the same And he writes to the Council at Tyrus Theod. lib. 1. c. 30. to adjourn their meeting to Hierusalem to assist him in that work and they are as forward therein as himself For building of Churches and a pompous devotion will solder well enough with Arianism to overlay the same with the gold of seeming holiness And unto this Council at Hierusalem Constantine refers the matter concerning Arius sending him thither with his Confession of Faith by him subscribed requiring them to examine him strictly concerning the same and if they find him and the Confession good then to shew him favour So is Athanasius his appeal deferred till the dedication be past and he gone to Alexandria Sozom. lib. 2. c. 26. But the Council being met at
was somewhat more large then the Nicene in the doctrine concerning the Holy Ghost to obviate the Macedonian Heresie which sprang up of later times But whether that Confession of Athanasius had those particulars concerning the Catholick Church the Communion of Saints and the estate after death or whether they were added afterwards I know not but they have been thus received by the Churches and this Church of England to this day Whatever more then this was done at the Antiochian Council Sect. 6. I shall not meddle with but thus far Constantius hath seemed to gain his intentions and yet he gained not his ends For he now had taken up a resolution to bring all the Eastern people into one Religion with himself And Eusebius told him this could never be done so long as Athanasius stood thus in his way which in plainer words is that Athanasius must be put to death before the Emperour can accomplish his work But God had otherwise determined The Antiochian Council could do little more then shew their teeth For Athanasius is now out of their reach and God finds other work for Constantius Soc. lib. 2. cap. 7. The newes comes to him of the falling of the Franks in upon the borders of the Empire and he must look to that and the Eastern parts of the Empire especially the City of Antioch is grievously tossed by Earthquakes successively renuing by the space of a whole year and the Council there assembled must look to that and move and remove and at length give over before they have done what they intended And thus Athanasius is left to stand or fall at the Council at Rome CAP. XII Athanasius acquitted by the Council at Rome Constans the Emperour favoureth the Orthodox Christians THe City of Rome hath now the honour to be an Assylam Sect. 1. or a City of refuge for the persecuted Bishops who are fled from the rage of Constantius his persecution which so afflicted the hearts of the Western Bishops that a Council is called at Rome Athan. Apol. Desuga many of the Eastern Bishops also being movers thereof and upon the Summons no lesse then three hundred Bishops met together And there also Athanasius upon his Summons appeared ready to make his Just Defence And hereof notice is given to them at Antioch Vid. Epist Jul. and that the Council was ready for the hearing of the cause if the cause on their part was ready for them and therefore desired them to send to Rome some with authority from them at Antioch to prosecute the matters in charge against Athanasius This Message from the Roman Council passed also under the shadow of Constans his Imperial Letters to his brother Constantius to the same purpose Soc. lib. 2. cap. 24. Soz. lib. 3. cap. 9. The Antiochian Council hereupon send four of their Members as Delegates who first made their application to the Emperour Constans and endeavoured to vindicate the honour of the Antiochian Council in their proceedings against Athanasius as also as touching their doctrine and as evidence thereof they produced before the Emperour Constans a Confession of Faith which they pretend to be the Confession made by them at the Council at Antioch but in truth framed by the Messengers themselves more suitable to their present purpose For by their principles of tendernesse and liberty of conscience as the Council did alter their Confession according to the occasion so it seems might these their representatives do the like so as might best serve their own turn This Confession which they thus produced though the value thereof be small in regard of the contrivers thereof and their aimes in contriving the same yet seeing by comparing of the one with the other the truth of their design though not their design of truth will the better appear I shall set down the same We believe in one God the Father Almighty Maker and Worker of all things from whom all fatherhood of Heaven and Earth is named And in his one begotten Son Our Lord Jesus Christ before all ages begotten of the Father God of God Light of Light By whom all things are made Visible and Invisible Who is the Word Wisdom Vertue Life true Light Who in the last dayes is inearnate for us born of the Holy Virgin Crucified dead and buried On the third day he arose again Ascended into Heaven sitteth at the right hand of the Father And at the end of ages shall come to judge both the Quick and the Dead and to render to every one according to his works of whose Kingdom shall be no end but it shall remain for ever For he shall sit at the right hand of the Father to the end of this World and in the future And in the Holy Ghost that is the Comforter whom the Father promised to the Apostles and after His ascention into Heaven sent that he should teach and inform them all things by whom all Believers souls shall be sanctified who truly believe in Him And the Church determ nes all those to be faln from it who do say that the Son of God is of nothing or of other substance then the Father Or that time was when He was not So as these men will have the Emperour believe that the Council at Antioch do adhere to the Nicene Faith Sect. 2. whiles they affirm that the Son is of no other substance then the Father and yet will not hold forth that he is coeternal with the Father But the Emperour Constans being fully informed in all particulars and observing the unconstancy and unsetled conclusions and principles of the Antiochian Council that they first agree upon one Confession of Faith and then fall from that and take up a second and that their Delegates now wave that also and hold forth a third he dismissed them with their Faith to the Council at Rome where when they arrived pretending to prosecute their charge against Athanasius and finding him prepared with his witnesses and that the Emperour had none there to represent his person as President but that the Council was left to regular proceedings Athan. Epist ad Solit. Vit. The Delegates failed in their prosecution and pretending frivolous excuses departed home Neverthelesse the Council expected the return of them or some others in their stead to prosecute their complaints but after a years waiting finding their expectation vain Soz. lib. â— cap. 7. they proceeded to examine the defence made by Athanasius and upon perusal of the Letters from the Alexandrian Churches and hearing of Witnesses produced the Council acquit Athanasius and restore him to his Church again The like they did also with others by vertue whereof they repaired to their several places and possessed them again Niceph. Hist lib. 9. cap. 8. Tripart Hist lib. 4. cap. 17. Soz. lib. 4. cap 8. And some Writers affirm that Athanasius did return to Alexandria again upon that account also which if he did it was not long ere
Sect. 1. Soc. lib. 2. cap. 24 25.26 Soz. lib. 4. cap. 5. when as Photinus began to act his part and it incensed him not a little that such innovations durst put up head in his own presence and therefore he is easily induced to call a Council there whereas Photinns was at that time Bishop The Arians furthered him also therein being as earnest therein as himself and procured the Emperour also to send for Hossius whom once gained they hoped to gain many more and he came though unwillingly as he had cause In the transaction thereof the Arians dealt cunningly For they made a Confession of Faith that on the one side aimed to strike Photinus in the right vein and which also on the other side may go down with Hossius and others of his way and yet must be safe for the Arians to approve For the Council consisted most of such And this Confession is thus framed We believe in one God Father Almighty the Maker and Framer of all things of whom all the Father-hood in Heaven and Earth is named And in his onely begotten Son our Lord Jesus Christ before all ages begotten of the Father God of God Light of Light by whom all things are made which are in Heaven and in Earth visible and invisible Who is the Word Wisdom True Light and Life Who in these last dayes is made Man for us born of the Holy Virgin crucified dead and who arose from the dead the third day and ascended into Heaven sits at the right hand of God the Father and shall come at the end of the World to judge the Living and the Dead and to render to every man according to his works of whose Kingdome there is no end but remaineth for ever For He shall sit at the right hand of the Father not onely whilst this World last but also in the World to come And in the Holy Ghost that is the Comforter whom the Lord promised to send after his Ascention unto his Disciples that He might teach them and mind them all things and did send Him by whom the souls of such as sincerely believe in Him are sanctified 1. Those therefore that affirm that the Son is of things which are not or of any other substance then of God the Father Or that there was time or age when He was not are accursed 2. So if any man affirm that the Father and the Son are two Gods 3. Or that Christ was God before all ages and therewith doth not confesse that the Son of God with the Father made all things 4. Or that the Son of God or any part of Him is begotten of Mary 5. Or that the Son is born of Mary according to fore-knowledge and not before all ages begotten of the Father and was with God and that by Him all things were made 6. Or that the substance of God may be dilated or contracted 7. Or that the essence of God dilated makes the Son or shall call the Son as it were the dildting of His Essence 8. Or shall call the Son the Word of God in the mind of the Father seated or the Word brought forth 9. Or that God Man is begotten of the Virgin Mary understanding thereby that God is begotten 10. Or that shall expound these words besides Me there is no God to exclude thereby the onely begotten who is God from everlasting 11. Or shall expound those words the Word was made Flesh to be transmutation into Flesh 12. Or by crucifying the onely begotten Son of God shall understand that the Son of God did undergo passion destruction change diminution or annihilation 13. Or that shall expound these words Let us make man c. as spoken from God the Father to himself and not to God the Son 14. Or that shall affirm that Jacob wrastled with God as God or with God the Father and not with the Son as Man 15. Or shall expound those words the Lord gained from the Lord not of the Father and the Son but the Father rained from Himself 16. Or that shall expound those forms of speech God the Father or God the Son or God of God to determine two Gods thereby 17. Or when he saith Lord of Lords shall thereby understand two Gods For we do not place the Son in the same degree with the Father but we make Him subject to the Father 18. Or shall affirm the Father Son and Holy Spirit to be one Person 19. Or that calling the Holy Ghost the Comforter shall intend thereby God begotten 20. Or that shall call any the Comforter besides whom the Son of God hath so called 21. Or that shall affirm the Holy Ghost to be part of the Father and the Son 22. Or that the Son as one of the Creatures is made by the will of the Father 23. Or that the Son is begotten without the will of the Father 24. Or that Jesus Christ the Son of God is not from Eternity but to be the Son and Christ onely when he was born of Mary and began then to be God as Samosetanus said This Confession thus framed as on the one side it doth not assert that the Son is consubstantial with the Father so on the other side it saith not in so many words that he is like to the Father So being as it were silent in the point of similitude they hoped both the Orthodox and the Arian would subscribe thereto and agree in the condemning of Photinus if he should prove obstinate Besides this Confession thus framed Sect. 2. there were two other Confessions offered which were suffered to passe abroad but which of all these was offered to Photinus to subscribe appeareth not by the History but it appeareth that Photinus resused to subscribe and unde took to desend his opinions by dispute yet not satisfying the Council they declared him excommunicated and banished him and accordingly he retired himself all his dayes Neverthelesse he published a discourse against all Heresies For even Hereticks will condemne Heresies Of these two other Confessions one is wholy concealed by the Historians Sect. 3. onely they say that therein that the words Substance and Consubstantial were not onely omitted but expresly forbidden to be used either in teaching or disputation For the way to bring in Heresie is to do it by degrees they first conceal the words that do difference truth from crrour and then afterwards foist in words that may lead in their errours But this is not all for in the same Confession thus concealed they affirm That the Father is greater then the Son in Honour Dignity and Deity and in the Name Father And that the Father is without beginning and that the Generation of the Son is known onely to the Father But as touching the third Confession although it be not concealed yet it seems it was reserved to be owned by another Council as not so fitting for the present purpose where such divers Confessions were propounded and the members each of