God in that Sense in which the Christians own him to be the second Person in the Holy Trinity For tho' the Jews by many Texts of Scripture prove that the Messiah shall be the Son of God yet they hold he is not to be the Son of God by Nature but only by Deputation So that they deny his Eternal Existence and Deity Now this is an Opinion which was afterwards followed by those Hereticks who held the Kingdom of Christ was not perpetual and eternal and that he was made the Son of God only from the time that he took our Flesh and was born of the Virgin When Christ put that Question to his Disciples Whom do Men say that I the Son of Man am He reflected upon a double Error in his Country-men the Jews concerning the Messiah The first Error respected the Manner of his coming among them which they expected shou'd be in Secular Pomp and Grandeur and attended with the Conquest and subduing of the Nations From which Error he labour'd to withdraw their Minds by recalling them to the original Promise of his Coming and shewing them that the end thereof was not to conquer Kingdoms but to bruise the Serpent's Head and to manifest that he was the Seed of the Woman which was promised to do this he takes upon him no higher Title than that of the SON of MAN A second Error the Jews had imbib'd concerning the Messiah respected his Descent For they were uncertain whether he was to arise from the Living or from the Dead which Doubt Christ also fully cleared when he expresly owned himself to be the Son of Man or the Son that was promised to the first Man who should be born from the Seed of the Woman Christ did not so much enquire whether the Jews thought him to be the Messias as what kind of Person they thought him to be as he was the Messias So that the Question he put to his Disciples did not so much regard his Person as the Quality of his Person and whether the Messias whom they all acknowledg'd shou'd be the Son of Man was not also to be the Son of God not only by Adoption Deputation and Promotion but by Nature And the Disciples returned an Answer to their Master's Question according to the Opinion the Multitude had of him telling him that some took him for John the Baptist some for Elias and some for one of the old Prophets who was either returned to Life or else that the Soul of one of them was transmigrated and come into his Body which Opinion the Pharisees had borrowed of the Pythagoreans And when the Disciples had given Christ this Account of the various Sentiments the Jewish People had of the Quality of his Person he was pleas'd to ask them their Opinion of him But whom do ye my Disciples say that I am To which Demand Simon Peter in the Name of the rest makes this Reply Thou art the Christ the Son of the living God The Answer is not only wonderfully emphatical by reason of the Multitude of Articles that are in it but also because that Peter did not return it of his own Head nor by any Dictate inferiour to that of the Holy Ghost For Flesh and Blood as they signifie meer Man in Opposition to God did not put this Answer in Simon 's Mouth but it was immediately from Heaven For from thence he was inspired to declare that Jesus was the true Messias and by Nature the Son of the living God He needed no Revelation to enable him to confess that the Messias was the Son of God by Deputation Every ordinary Jew could have told him so much For it was generally believed that when ever God should be pleased to send the Messias he would depute him to be his Son but that he was to be his Son by Nature Very God of very God was no Article in the Jewish Creed And this great Truth was not founded on Humane Testimony nor on the Votes and Wishes of Men but on the Testimony of God himself For it was he that put it into Peter's Mind to declare the Divinity of Christ and by that Means to settle the uncertain wavering Thoughts that were on Foot concerning the Quality of the Person of the Messias and that it might be no longer doubted that he was God The Divinity of Christ is indeed the Rock on which the Christian Church is built and that which makes it stand impregnable against the Gates of Hell the greatest Power and Artifice that can possibly be used to destroy it From what has now been intimated we may conclude that the Denial of Christ's Divinity came originally from the Jews and that it is an Opinion which receiv'd its full Confutation from Heaven So that it may justly create our Wonder that after so solemn a Confession as Peter Made of Christ's Divinity and that too by the Dictate of God himself that any who believe the Scripture shou'd be so hardly as to gainsay it But seeing it has happened to be otherwise and that among the Professors of Christianity some have so far Judaiz'd in this Particular as sacrilegiously to rob our Lord of his Divinity We are next to consider who and what sort of Persons they were that first did thus Eusebius upon whose Authority I depend in this Point writes how that one Theodotus was the Inventer of this Atheistical Opinion and that he was a Man of mean Education being by Profession a Tanner This Man drew into his Heresie another of his own Name who was a Banker and both together proselyted Asclepiodotus of whose Quality and Condition the Historian makes no mention This Asclepiodotus gained to his Opinion Natalis a Confessour a Man of Piety and good Meaning who being afterwards convinced of his Error recanted it This Heresie was no sooner heard of but it was exploded and writ against and Enquiry made after those who maintained it And one Artemon being found a zealous Stickler in Defence of this blasphemous Heresie it was called the Heresie of Artemon In Confutation of which several Pieces were composed by the Ancients evincing that the Opinion which asserted our Saviour to be meer Man was an Innovation of late Date amongst the Christians Of those Tracts that were written on this Argument none was so elaborate as that called the Little Labyrinth whose Author according to Nicephorus is unknown And Theodoret who mentions the Story of Theodotus the Tanner and Natalis the Bishop attests that he had taken it out of the Book called the Little Labyrinth Photinus relates that Caius a Roman Presbyter living in the Time of the Pope's Victor and Zephyrin in the Year 199 wrote a Book against the Heresie of Artemon but says that it was not the same with the Little Labyrinth But to proceed out of the Little Labyrinth Eusebius tells us that those who affirmed our Saviour to be a meer Man boasted much of the Antiquity of their Opinion and how that all the Ancients
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
ΧΡΙΣΤΟΣ ' ΑΥΤΟ'ΘΕΟΣ OR AN Historical Account OF THE HERESIE Denying the GODHEAD OF CHRIST LONDON Printed by Tho. Hodgkin for Robert Clavell at the Sign of the Peacoak in St. Paul's Church-Yard 1696. TO THE READER AFter the Heresie denying the Divinity of Christ had been long silenced by Argument and Discipline it was again brought upon the Stage by Arius whose Character makes not much for its Credit For tho' in holy Orders he was proud and aspiring subtle witted and an excellent Proficient in the Art of Flattery Besides he was one that had such an overweaning Conceit of his own Abilities that he thought all to be his Inferiours in Desert And through this his vain unhappy Temper he became impatient of Contradiction full of Envy and Stomach and bold to broach Heresie And it was observed That Discipline and good Counsel which usually make others better made Arius the worse and the more his Heresie was condemned the more he labour'd to propagate and defend it Sulpitius lib. 2. observes that the Arian Heresie receiv'd no small Advantage from the Quality of the Persons chosen to be its publick Managers Who as he tells us were Senes callidi old stanch Disputants who had been long vers'd in Controversie Whereas the Managers chosen by the Orthodox were Young Men parùm docti parùm cauti fuller of Warmth than of Learning And this had a great Influence upon the Cause all Men concluding of the rest on either side by the Quality of the Managers Besides the Orthodox dealt plainly argued with Openness and Simplicity and in their Forms of Confession were clear and ingenuous Whereas the Hereticks wrought with great Subtilty declining no Artifice that might advantage their Cause and in their Confessions they loved Ambiguity and Equivocation and which did not a little turn to their Advantage they always laboured to beget in the several Emperours their Favourites a good liking of their Doctrine and either to gain them to it or not greatly to disapprove it But according to an Ancient Writer it may justly create our Wonder Phrob contna Ar. that notwithstanding the Authors of this Venom are long since dead and gone the wicked Doctrine shou'd still remain and that after so many Confutations and Censures thereof any shou'd be found to maintain and diffuse it But our Wonder will cease when we consider with judicious Hooker That the Weeds of Heresie being grown up to Ripeness do even in cutting down sometimes scatter those Seeds which for a while lie unseen and buried in the Earth but afterwards freshly spring up again no less pernicious than at the first And the same learned Author observes that the Heresies concerning the Holy Trinity have of later Years grown up no where so fast as where the Athanasian Creed and the Gloria Patri have not been made use of And no Wonder that Heresies should thrive in those Places where the best Preservatives against them have been neglected For as to the Creed of Athanasius what is it else but a Divine Explication of the chief Articles of the Christian Faith Which Creed was so highly valued by the Church that she made it part of her Liturgy And as for the Gloria or the Hymns and Sentences of Glory they were a Part of the Liturgy long before the Athanasian Belief And they were ever look'd upon as an heavenly Acclamation of joyful Applause to his Praise in whom we believe And from the beginning the Church of Christ by a secret universal Impulse of God's Spirit always ty'd it self to end neither Sermon nor almost any special Matter wherein the Things of God were concerned without some peculiar Words of Honour and Glory to the Trinity which all true Christians believe and worship And whoever omitted to do this was suspected to want a right Faith of the Trinity and to doubt of the Equality of the Persons For if we really believe The Godhead of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost to be all one the Glory Equal and the Majesty Coeternal why do we not publickly own it by ascribing equal Glory to each of them And where can we do this with more Solemnity than at the Close of those Homilies and Discourses which we make unto the People The Use of the Gloria was never quarrell'd at or omitted by any till Arius who being press'd with this Usage of the Church as an Argument against the Heresie which makes the Son inferiour to the Father labour'd to corrupt this Hymn saying Glory be to the Father by the Son in the Holy Ghost But the Church was careful to maintain the ancient Usage Con. Va. c. 7. adding on Purpose against Arius As it was in the Beginning is now and ever shall be The Gloria Patri it has ever been esteem'd the Christians Creed and Hymn For the Summ of the Christians Faith is the Mystery of the Trinity by which he declares against all Hereticks in the World And it is also the Christians Hymn wherewith he ought to close all his Religious Services Praises Prayers Thanksgivings Confession of Faith and Sins And as to the great Mystery contain'd in the Gloria it was well with Christianity when Men went no farther therein than the Scripture led them and when they rested in such Discoveries of the Trinity as God has been pleas'd to give in his Word By which Word if we wou'd once guide our Sentiments and submit them to it we might hope to see all those Disputes buried in silence which now make so great a Noise Ridente Turcâ non dolente Judaeo And if those very Men who are at present so keenly engag'd in Debates about the Trinity wou'd speak out they wou'd tell us That Trinity in Unity and Unity in Trinity is a Mystery surpassing their Abilities to explain and that it surmounts the Power of humane Nature to give a satisfactory Answer to all the Doubts Cavils and Questions which bold Men may raise about it Let the Mysteries of Christianity continue at that Distance where God has set them to be believ'd and ador'd and then Peace and Truth will meet and embrace 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 OR AN Historical Account OF THE HERESIE Denying the GODHEAD of CHRIST WE may know the better how to determine of the Opinion which denies the Divinity of our Saviour if we pursue it through its whole History and consider where it first took Root when it began to spread and how in time it over-ran so great a Part of the Christian Church Now in doing this we must look beyond the Annals of Christianity For long before that Christianity was known by Name in the World its Author was robb'd of his Godhead by that very People which hop'd for the largest Benefits from him For at least ever since the Schools of the Rabbins gain'd Authority among the Jews that infatuated Nation have been of Opinion that the Messiah whom they still expect is not to be the Son of
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
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-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
other Bishops presented a supplicatory Libel to the Emperour in behalf of the Macedonians who took their Name from Macedonius an Arian Bishop of Constantinople They held that Christ was not of the same Essence with the Father A. D. 343. but only like unto him And that the Holy Ghost was not God but God's Minister and no more eternal than any other Creature These Hereticks were never constant in their Doctrine but sometimes Arians sometimes Semi-Arians and sometimes Orthodox In the Name of these Weather-Cock Hereticks Basilius and his Fellows supplicate the Emperour that all those who Asserted the Son to be more than barely like the Father might be cast out of their Churches and themselves put in their Places The Emperour having received their Address sends them away without any other Answer than that he abominated Contentiousness and loved and honour'd those who were desirous of Unity and Concord Which Words had the good Effect to mollifie their Stissness who were Lovers of Contention Which was the Thing design'd and intendded by the Emperour At this time also the Icacians who held That the Son was a Creature made by the Father and like him in Will but not in Substance began to shew their Disposition to Unpeaceableness They were indeed Notorious Trimmers and ever ready to be of their Judgment who were uppermost and likeliest to promote ' em These meeting with Meletius at Antioch in Syria and entring into Discourse with him and finding that he embraced the Homoousion Doctrine and that he was highly in Favour with the Emperour they made Profession of the same Doctrine and conform'd to the Nicene Greed. And by a general Consent drew up a Libel and presented it to Jovinian which is to be seen in Socrates Book 3. Chap. 25. Eccles Hist In which Libel they in particular declared their Embracing the Term Homoousias as it was with great Caution explain'd by the Nicene Fathers And at the same time publickly declared first That the Generation of the Son was inexplicable 2. That the Term Ousia was not taken by the Nicene Fathers in the usual Signification which the Grecians put upon it but that they made use of it in order to the Subversion of what had been impiously and audaciously held by Arius concerning Christ who affirmed That he existed of things that were not Which Opinion the Upstart Eunomeans maintain'd to the great Disturbance of Ecclesiastick Unity 3. They assur'd the Emperour that in all Points they did agree to the Belief set forth by the Bishops convened at Nicaea And the Bishops who consented to the Libel subscribed their Names Jovian graciously received the said Libel and seem'd not at all concerned what Opinion they were of so long as they kept themselves quiet And it is very observable That by kind Words and Persuasives he mightily suppress'd the contentions Humour then on foot and strangely calm'd their Fury who made it their Business to cavil and contend And by his dextrous Management if Jovian had liv'd both the Civil and Ecclesiastick Assairs of the Roman Empire might in all Probability have been fortunate and succesful But alas a sudden Death depriv'd both Church and State of this excellent Personage Jovianus having ended his Life at Dadastana on the Frontiers of Galatia and Bithynia after the short Reign of seven Months Valentinianus by an unanimous Suffrage of the Soldiers was chosen to succeed him Upon which Choise he straightway made his Brother Valens his Collegue in the Empire They were both Christians but both disagreed about the Faith of the Christian Religion Valentinianus had a Veneration for the Nicene Creed Valens by reason of a Prepossession adhered to the Arian Heresie And this his Pre-possession arose from his being baptized by Eudoxius of Constantinople a Prelate of the Arian Opinion Both the Brothers were very warm in Maintenance of the Sentiments to which they adhered And though they agreed in the Care of the Civil Government yet they differed much about the Christian Religion And were very different in their Carriage towards such as profess'd it For Valentinianus though he much favoured those who were of his Judgment yet he was not in the least troublesome to the Arians But Valens desirous to promote the Arians did most grievously disturb and molest those who differed from them in Opinion Every Sect had their Bishops to preside over them And all but the Orthodox were still striving to mend the Belief of Nice To which Purpose the Macedoniani desire the Emperour Valens to give leave to convene a Synod He supposing that they had been of the same Opinion with Acacius and Eudoxius granted their Request Accordingly a Council met at Lampsacus nigh the Hellespont It was a Synod of Macedonian Hereticks and it ratify'd the Council which Seven Years before had been held at Seleucia A. D. 363 and damned that of Constantinople held by the Acacians They also anathematiz'd the Creed that was published at Arimine though they had before declared their Agreement in Opinion with those that held it Valens was much incensed against this Synod both because it had deposed the Arian Bishops and anathematized that Draught of the Creed published at Arimine And the Emperour was resolved to leave no Means unattempted whereby he might win all Persons to Arianism Elusius Bishop of Cizicum was the first he aggressed who for fear of losing his Estate turned Arian And the very Semi-Arians fared no better than the Orthodox but all were the Object of his persecuting Spirit who were not thoroughly Arianized But his Rage was most visibly exercised against the Homocusians whom he persecuted in all those who bore them any Esteem or good Will He was much stirred up to this Cruelty by the Arian Prelate Eudoxius by whose Instigation he turned out the Orthodox Clergy who during the sixteen Years that Valens reigned scarce ever enjoyed the Comfort of one peaceable Day FINIS Books Printed for and Sold by R. Clavel at the Peacock in S. Paul's Church-Yard THE Church History cleared from the Roman Forgeries and Corruptions found in the Councils and Baronius In Four Parts From the Beginning of Christianity to the End of the fifth General Council 553. By Thomas Comber D.D. Dean of Durham Aristophanis Comaediae Duae Plutus Nubes cum Scholiis Graecis Antiquis Quibus adjiciuntur Noctae quaedam simul cum Gemino Indice In usum studiosae Juventutis The Reasons of Praying for the Peace of Jerusalem In a Sermon preach'd before the Queen at White-Hall on the Fast-Day being Wednesday August 29. 1694. By Thomas Comber D. D. Dean of Durham and Chaplain in Ordinary to their Majesties Printed by their Majesties special Command A Daily Office for the Sick Compil'd out of the holy Scriptures and the Liturgy of our Church with occasional Prayers Meditations and Directions The Catechisms of the Church with Proofs from the New Testament and some additional Questions and Answers divided into twelve Sections by Z. I. D. D. Author of the Book lately publish'd Entituled a Daily Office for the Sick with Directions c. A Church-Catechism with a brief and easie Explanation thereof for the Help of the meanest Capacities and weakest Memories in order to the establishing them in the Religion of the Church of England By T. C. Dean of Durham The Pantheon representing the Fabulous Histories of the Heathen Gods and most Illustrious Heroes In a short plain and familiar Method by the way of Dialogue for the Use of Schools Written by Fra. Pomey of the Society of Jesus Author of the French and Latin Dictionary for the Use of the Dauphin Bedae Venerabilis opera quaedam Theologica nunc primùm edita neonon Historica antea semel edita Accesserunt Egberti Archiepiscopi Eboracensis Dialogus de Ecclesiasticâ Institutione Aldhelmi Episcopi Scireburnensis Liber de Virginitate ex codiceantiquissimo emendatus Disquisitio in Hypothesin Baxterianam de Foedere Gratiae ab Initio deinceps semper ubiqueomnibus indulto adhuc apud Ethnicos extra-evangelicos vigente ac valente ad salutem Autore Carolo Robothamo Ecclesiae Anglicanae Presbytero Norfolciensi S. Th. B. Q. Horatii Flacci Opera Interpretatione Notis illustravit Ludovicus Desprez Cardinalitius Socius ac Rhetor Emeritus Jussu Christianissimi Regis in usum Serenissimi Delphini ac Serenissimorum Principum Burgundiae Andium Biturigum Huic Editioni accessere Vita Horatii cum Dacerii Notis ejusdem Chronologia Horatiana Praefatio de Satira Romana L. Annaei Flori rerum Romanarum Epitome Interpretatione Notis illustravit Anna Tanaquilla Fabri Tilia Jussu Christianissimi Regis in usum Serenissimi Delphini Compendium Graecum Novi Testamenti continens ex 7959. Versiculis totius N. Testamenti tantum Versiculos 1900. non tamen integros in quibus omnes universi Novi Test Voces una cum Versione Latina inveniuntur Auctore Johanne Lusden Philos Doctore Linguae Sanctae in Academia Ultrajectina Professore Ordinario Editio Quinta A Second Admonition to the dissenting Inhabitants of the Diocess of Londonderry concerning Mr. Boyse's Vindication of his Remarks on a Discourse concerning the Inventions of Men in the Worship of God with an Appendix containing an Answer to Mr. Boyse's Objections against the Sign of the Cross By William Lord Bishop of Derry The End of the Catalogue
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