They replied that he was deposed and banished The Emperour turning his horse rode on and they followed him and upon occasion of the Emperours stop they tell the Emperour that Athanasius had been banished by Constantine the Great and after by Constantius and after that by Julian Jovinian answered he knew all this and he well knew how and why but all those things are past The Arians moved that they had other matters of late to object against him The Emperour told the Arians that they were many persons he could not hear them all chuse you therefore said he one or two in the name of all the rest and let them attend upon me and I will hear them The Arians thereto replied that they were contented that any one should be their Bishop but Athanasius The Emperour answered And why shall Athanasius be excepted I have heard that he is an honest able learned man and one that teacheth the truth faithfully He will do it said the Arians with his mouth but deceit is in his heart The Emperour said what have you to doe with his heart Let God alone meddle with that do you hear what he saith Then one of them told the Emperour that one of Athanasius his disciples under colour of Athanasius his name had bereaved him of his house The Emperour answered what is that to Athanasius the Law is open A Greek then present told the Emperour that himself had cause to complain against Athanasius The Emperour answered You are a Greek what have you to do with Athanasius Then the Arians brought Lucius to the Emperour and prayed him that Lucius might be their Bishop The Emperour understanding their designe called for Athanasius and commanded him to return to Alexandria and teach and govern the Egyptian Churches as he should find most meet and so the Emperor departed and Athanasius also to Alexandria Athanasius had not been long at Alexandria Sect. 4. before a Letter came to him from the Emperor Jovinian Theod. lib. 4. cap. 3. requiring an account from him concerning the Nicene Faith in relation to the opinion of Arius for answer whereunto Athanasius calls another Council at Alexandria of the Bishops of Egypt and Lybia and Thebais wherein the Emperors Letters are read and they concluded to attend upon the Emperor by special Messengers with their Answer to the Emperor Letters Wherein they possess the Emperor with the true state of the Arian Doctrine and of the state of the Orthodox Churches even as contrarily the Arians had possessed Constantius with their opinions before the Orthodox could make their case known to him And in their Letters they give Jovinian humble thanks for their pre-admittance and his desire to be informed from them of the principles of Religion as touching which they tell him that the true Faith is set down in the Holy Scriptures which is the Word of God and that the Faith confessed by the Nicene Council is contained in the Scriptures Which was unquestioned till of later times Arius and his Disciples had brought into the Church dangerous Errors teaching That the Son of God had his being of nothing and was made and was mutable and that hereby many were seduced from the Orthodox Faith and that for the preventing of further mischief the Nicene Fathers proceeded to condemn such opinions and to condemn and excommunicate the Patrons and Assertors of such doctrines And that for the setling of the Churches in the Truth they had also composed a Form of Confession of Faith to be received and holden by all the Churches whereunto men of corrupt judgements refusing to submit some of them plainly oppose it by denial Others seem to agree in words but in truth by false glosses abuse the sense to the overthrowing of the true Doctrine concerning the Son of God and also concerning the Holy Ghost And therefore the Council at Alexandria judge it most meet to commend to the Imperial consideration to be received and beleeved the Nicene Faith which they publish as followeth We beleeve in one God the Father almighty maker of all things visible and invisible and in one God Christ begotten of God the only begotten of the Father that is of the Fathers substance God of God Light of Light true God of true God begotten not made co-essential with the Father by whom all things celestial and terrestrial are made who descended for us men and for our salvation took flesh and humanity to himself suffered and rose again the third day ascended into Heaven and shall come to judge the living and the dead and in the Holy Ghost Those therefore who affirm that once it was when the Son of God was not and that before he was begotten he was not And that he was made of nothing or of other substance or essence And was made mutable or variable Are excommunicate For the Nicene Council doth not say That the Son is like to the Father nor simply the like of God but that he is true God of true God and that he is co-essential because he is the natural and true Son of the natural and true Father neither did the Council separate the Holy Spirit from the Father and the Son but together with both did glorifie in one Faith of the Holy Trinity because it is one Deity in Holy Trinity This is the substance of the Letter which the Council at Alexandria sent to the Emperor Jovinian and wherewith the Emperor setled his resolution to establish the same by his Authority and to lay aside other Confessions presented to him The Macedonians and Semi-Arians likewise call a Council Sect. 5. and they move the Emperor to banish the Acasians and others of the highest strain of Arians and under colour thereof would pretend themselves Orthodox But the Emperor knew them and gives them a short Answer He hates such as maintain contention He loves and honours such as are for peace and union The Acasians perceive the Emperors inclination and fearing to be ground to nothing between these two Mill-stones the Semi-Arians and the Orthodox They therefore held a Council at Antioch under Meletus who now is returned and setled Bishop there And in this Council they dis-own their former Opinions and hold forth themselves to be in conjunction with the Nicene Faith and that the Son is consubstantial with the Father and begotten of the Substance of the Father and nevertheless is the same breath glance at a similitude of the Son to the Father as touching his substance and which is yet more they will condemn Arius for saying That Christ is come from nothing and the Eunomians for affirming That the Son is unlike the Father and these being thus represented to the Emperor though herein they worshipped not God but the purple Robe they likewise are restored to their Churches again Opinions taken up upon pretence of Conscience and not substantially grounded on the Word of God and all Schisms upon such foundations are blown away by the breath of a
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
party But the Council at Constantinople seeing the Emperours endeavour unsuccesseful they take up another course and hope to finde out a Confession of Faith that may seem to hold forth the truth and yet not dis-affirm either the Emperours Confession at Syrmium nor that of the Acasians nor of the Semi-Arians but consist with all and this they more easily and readily compose because they make the Emperours Confession their ground-work and over-lay the same with a varnish of other words not apparantly altering the substance but explaining it in manner following Soc. lib. 2. cap. 32. We believe in one God the Father Almighty from whom are all things And in the onely begotten Son of God begotten of God before all ages and before all beginning by whom all things are made visible and invisible the alone onely begotten of the Father alone begotten God of God like to the Father which begat him according to the Scriptures whose generation no man knows but the Father onely which begat him We know this onely begotten Son of God to be sent from the Father to have deseended from Heaven as it is written and conversed with Disciples and having fulfilled all order according to his Fathers will to be crucified dead and buried to have descended into Hell at whom the Devils trembled to have risen from the dead the third day conversed with his Disciples and after forty dayes taken up into Henven to sit on the right hand of the Father That he shall come at the last day of the Resurrection with the glory of his Father that he may render to every one according to his Works And in the Holy Ghost whom the onely begotten Son of God Christ the Lord and our God promised that he would send to Mankind The Comforter as it is written the Spirit of Truth which he sent when He was taken up into Heaven The word Substance we utterly disallow and take away The word Subsistence of the Father Son and Holy Ghost ought likewise not to be mentioned We affirm that the Son is like to the Father And thus the Arians produce many formes contrary to the Nicene Confession Sect. 2. to the end that if they gain not the day for their principles to settle in the minds of men yet at least their minds may be possessed with many notions and unsetled in the Nicene Doctrine And that these notions may seem more solid they are countenanced by Councils whose pride would never suffer them to stoop to the truth nor to the same expressions of one and the same errour And these Councils are holden many of them at the same place or places of the same name where formerly Orthodox Councils were holden as at Nice Sardica and Arminum that the common people might be confounded the more in their right understandings of the determination of their principles Neverthelesse the Arian wound still bleeds fresh Manasse is against Ephraim and both against Judah The Acasians are angry both with the Semi-Arians and Orthodox but the Semi-Arians are stark mad against the Orthodox Soc. lib. 2. cap. 30. Macedonius the Leader of the Semi-Arians spares none that comes within his Ecclesiastical Power and will not communicate with him and where his Ecclesiastical Power falls short the souldiers help him with fire and sword But the Orthodox will not satisfie them Sect. 3. the Novatians also stand in their way though they communicate not with the Orthodox yet they will not communicate with Macedonius and therefore he heaps on them all the insolencies that the souldiers can devise with that extremity that the Novatians can endure no longer but take armes in their own defence and in a plain battel in the field winne a victory with the effusion of much blood both of the Emperours souldiers and their Arian associates Hereat the Emperour is troubled if his souldiers cannot prevail against a tumultuary party how shall they stand against a formed army of enemies but the Arian party is extremely vexed and both Emperour and Arian fall upon Macedonius and banish him from Constantinople and so that See void once more of Macedonius Eudoxius gets into his room after his wonted manner no man knows how for the Emperour disowned his election Neverthelesse once in Soz. lib. 4. cap. 25. he seeks the peoples approbation and to shew his deep reach into matters of divinity strained his wit into a higher pitch of blasphemy then any formerly had attained he tells the people what they never heard before Namely That God the Father is impious and that God the Son is pious and whiles men are wondring at the strangenesse of the doctrine he opens the riddle and tells them That God the Father did not worship any one but God the Son worshipped the Father Hereat saith the Writer the people laughed which is no lesse strange but They that feed upon Heresie will make no bones of Blasphemy Otherwise both Bishop and people had more cause to weep However the Emperour is so well satisfied in him as he did not onely not depose him but shewed so much respect either to him or others of his perswasion as to condescend that they of Arius his highest forme should hold another Council at Antioch But the Novatians having approved themselves thus good souldiers against the Macedonian party Sect. 4 bethink of strengthening themselves by growing in amity with the Orthodox as they were now baptised in enmity with the Semi-Arians For though they still hold to their principles concerning the observation of Easter and non-communion with such as had relapsed and such as after Baptisme had committed mortal sin as they termed it in all which they were in the negative yet in other points more fundamemal Soc. lib. 2. cap. 30. Soz. lib. 4. cap. 19. they were so grounded that they loved the Orthodox above all others they would joyn in prayer with them they would pray for them and would even die for them and were requited with the like observance from the Orthodox to them again yet could not these come full home to one another in all the Publick Ordinances to communicate together The Acasians or Eudoxians also labour to fortifie their party Sect. 5. and therefore as unanimously as they can they assemble at the Council now called at Antioch yet the Semi-Arians come thither also more in number but inferiour to the other Arians in power who being more potent at the Court and the other discountenanced did rule all at this Council and put in and out as they pleased Eudoxius is confirmed Bishop of Constantinople and Meletus made Bishop of Antioch although in him as well as others they were mistaken Soc. lib. 2. cap. 34. Theod. lib. 2. c. 31. Soz. lib. 4. cap. 27. For Meletus was Bishop of Sebastia one of excellent parts of learning eloquence and prudence and of an excellent plausible carriage which added a lustre to all the rest On this man the Eudoxians look as one
with the differences concerning these opinions and that concerning Easter-Day although as yet they held communion together have now gotten the ball on their foot and resolve to carry the same some upon grounds of judgment or opinion others out of faction so as now no course is left but to endeavour to settle the minds of men by way of a general Council of the Churches throughout the whole Empire For as by the conviction of teachers the errors of the learners will soon pine away so the joynt conclusions of many of such teachers assembled in Council will soon put to naught the private opinions of several single persons because every one single wise man will think the conclusions of many such joyned in Council more wisely determined then he alone can do his own private opinion CAP. IV. The Council of Nice and the banishment of Arius BUt the Devil and pride was more predominant then reason in this case Sect. 1. as the event shewed For Constantine the Emperour though he knew it would cost him vast expences yet not regarding that he did call a Council of all the Churches and appointed the same to be holden at Nice a City of Bithinia unto which place assembled all the Bishops of the Empire who had no reasonable cause of absenting themselves besides the Presbyters and other learned men The number of the Bishops were three hundred and eighteen unto all of whom the Emperour gave entertainment at his own cost Euseb Vit Const cap 47. and unto this Council by special message Arius is injoyned to come This entertainment was much for the Emperours honour being of so many and for so long a time for some Writers report that the Council lasted three years others lesse but doubtlesse it did hold for a long time And it was much more for the honour of the Emperor and the Council that there were so many holy men amongst them most or many of whom carried about them the marks of their Religion scars and mutilation of members and dismembrings Trophies of their Profession every one of which carried efficacy with their determinations and brought honour to their persons even in the eyes of the Emperor himself when he beheld them in their Assembly The Emperor at the first entry upon their work Sect. 2. Sec. lib. 1. cap. 5. Enseb Vit. Const cap. 12. made a short Speech testifying his thankfulnesse to God for his victory over all his enemies and for the publick peace of his Empire and for the joyful sight of them in their meeting and exhorting them to preserve peace and unity in the Church of God and purity of Doctrine and holinesse of life And especially he commendeth two things in particular to their care One for establishing one practice of the Church in the observation of the Feast of Easter Euseb Vit. Const cap. 16 17 18. upon one certain day The other concerned the Arian doctrine The first of which the Council happily determined and the same was confirmed by the Emperours edict although the acts of the Council now published make little mention thereof But the second concerning Arian doctrine required much dispute For Arius appeared in the maintenance of his opinions And Alexander the Alexandrian Bishop principally opposed him and with him Athanasius then his Deacon And they produced against him divers of his blasphemous assertions which he had uttered at the Council at Alexandria which also are mentioned by Athanasius The most general whereof comprehending others are as followeth Athan. Disâ—ut cont A an That God was not alwayes the Father That the Son was not alwayes the Son That the Son was made by God of nothing That he was made God by participation of the Deity That He is not the Natural Son of God but his Son by Grace That God foreknowing his Son to be good gave Him that Glory which the Son afterward merited That the Son is not properly that wisdom or word in which God created the World but there is another Word and wisdome in which He made the Son and another proper wisdom or word in which God oreated the World That Christ is not the power of God otherwise then as worms are said so to be That the Father cannot be known perfectly by the Son That the Son doth not perfectly know his own essence That God made not us for Christ but Christ for us Athan. Epist ad Synod That the Holy Ghost is a creature made and renaoves from place to place That the Substances of the Father Son and Holy Ghost are incommunicable each to other That the Trinity is not equal one with another in majesty and glory but one insinitely exceeds the other Some of these the Council of Nice observed out of Arius his book called Thalia Sect. 3. upon the reading thereof at the Council Yet it may be observed that Arius waved his opinion concerning the Holy Ghost because the Nicene Council in the Confession on of their Faith as it was first published so far as appeareth did not enlarge their sence concerning it and besides we find not that the most rigid Arians did assert the same but rather oppose them when as afterward the Macedonians took them up Upon these points therefore that principally concerned the Second Person was the principal debate and as touching them Athanasius was ingaged against Arius in a solemn disputation which is published in Athanasius his Works wherewith I shall not meddle further then to set down the points in controversie Athan. Disput cont Arian as I find them set down by Athanasius wherein first Athanasius delivers to Arius his own judgment in nature of a formal confession of his faith in these words I believe in One God the Father Almighty God alwayes Father and in God the Word the Onely begotten Son of God and that He doth coexist with the Father and is of the same Substance of the Father and is equal to the Father as touching His Deity that He is alwayes present with the Father in all places and contains all things in His Essence and is contained of none as also God His Father is And I believe in the Holy Spirit that He is of the Substance of the Father and coeternal with the Father and the Son and I affirm the Word was in the Flesh This Athanasius wrote in opposition to the Arian Doctrine Sect. 4. and to offer to Arius occasion of declaring his full faith in writing as to each particular which he did accordingly in manner following I believe in God Eternal and in his Son whom before all ages He as God created and made Him His Son and whatsoever things the Son hath those when He had them not He received of God and therefore He is not equal to the Father nor of the same dignity but remaineth a creature and is inferiour to the Glory of God and inferiour to Him as touching the Power of God I believe in the Holy Ghost begotten of
even thither the Earthquake comes and interposed their meeting to the amazement of the Bishops who knew not whither to go At last Thood lib. 2. c. 26. A han Epist de Synod Soz. lib. 3. cap. 19. Seleucia a Citie of Isanria is thought upon and so at last these two Councils are setled about the two and and twentieth year of Constantius his Reign although some make it to be two years later Whether the Eastern Bishops were intertained at the Emperors charge I finde not but it s said that the Western Bishops at Arminum refused the Emperors entertainment and served at their own charges all of them saving two Bishops that came from Brittain Bin. 479. who were poor and therefore had the Emperors allowance The Councils being both of them thus setled to their work Sect. 2. the Emperour prescribes them rules for the ordering of their proceedings amongst which these espcially are mentioned That they should from time to time certifie the Emperour their proceedings by ten of the members of each Council Secondly that neither of the said Councils should intermeddle with the proceedings of each other Lastly that they should first proceed concerning the setling of the Doctrine and Faith and then against criminal offenders The Council met at Arminum begins accordingly with the Doctrine And first Vsatius and Valeus Acasius and Eudoxius with the rest of the Ariah party propound to the consideration of the Synod to agree in one Confession of Faith Athan. Epist de Synod which once done would facilitate a way to all other their proceedings and in order thereto they produce a Confession of Faith formerly framed at the Council at Syrmium and which they reserved to be considered and confirmed by another Council and then established by the Imperial power This Confession thus produced they said was already concluded at Syrmium but it was now produced to be by this Council affirmed without any debate And that then this Council at Arminum should do well to disanul all other Forms or Confession of Faith and make them void This Confession thus produced I shall recite it as I find it in Socrates because it more suiteth in the Preface to the Copy that Athanasius had then doth that mentioned by Baronius This Catholick Faith in the presence of Our Lord Constantius Flavius Eusebius and Hyratus being Consuls at Syrmium the eleventh of the Calends of June was published We believe in one onely and true God the Father Almighty Maker and Worker of all things And in one onely begotten Son of God who was before all ages and before all beginning and before all time which can be conceived and before all intelligible Notion begotten of God the Father without all passion by whom as well all generations as all things are made the one begotten alone of the Father alone begotten God of God like to the Father who begat Him according to the Scriptures Whose generation none knows but the Father alone who begat Him This his onely begotten Son we know by the will of the Father came from Heaven to take away sinne He was born of the Virgin Mary conversed with disciples according to His Fathers will fulfilled all order was crucified suffered death descended to Hell fulfilled all things there at whose preserce the porters of Hell trembled the third day he arose again and again conversed with His disciples and after forty dayes ascended to Heaven to sit on the right hand of the Father And shall come at the last day in the Fathers glory to render to every one according to his works And in the Holy Spirit which ' the onely begotten Son of God Jesus Christ promised to send to man the Comforter The word Substance when we speak of God we take away and forbid to be used yet we affirm the Son in all things to be like the Father This is first time that I finde that point concerning our Saviour Christ descending to Hell to be mentioned in the publike Confession of the Faith Sect. 3. the credit whereof as also of other points of this Confession which were in controverfie in those times doth not a little depend upon the patrons of this Confession Vrsatius and Valens they not onely being Arians but relapsed Arians and had entertainment by the Council at Arminum accordingly for the Orthodox Bishops there assembled exceeding the Arians in number by much did according as the Arians propounded they would neither debate the particulars therof not the whole but told the Arians that they came not thither to seek a nev faith but to assert the old faith determined and agreed by the Council at Nice and to convince all gain-sayers and all such as would innovate as was evident they who produced this new Confession intended to do They further told the Ariam that themselves resolved to adhere to the Nicene Faith which they had received and would agree to nothing more or lesse then that And that they would hold to the very words Substance and Consubstantial And thereupon the Council at Arminum proceeded to depose and banish the Atian Bishops who had produced and insisted upon this new Confession and then they framed a Narrative of what they had done and sent it by ten Bishops members of their Assembly to Constantius wherein they told the Emperour plainly that they would not recede from the Nicene Faith no not a nails breadth But the Arian Messengers more swift of foot first gained into Constantius his presence and possessed him with prejudice so as the other Messengers could gain no admittance nor audience whom I must leave in expectation till something from the Council at Seleucia come up in equal front with those from Arminum The Council at Seleucia did meet to the number of about one hundred and fifty Bishops Sect. 4. where though no earthquake was as at Nice and Nicomedia yet there befel that which was as ill for the Arian party or rather much worse For though they were generally Arians and not very spiritual yet were men of spirit and such as the Emperour thought would want an Overseer to keep them in peace And therefore he appointed Leonas and Laurentius two Commanders of the Army to see to the maintaining of the peace and these men having both authority and power did what they were authorised to do and more also as it afterwards proved For upon the meeting of the Council at Seleucia it soon appeared that as Arian as they were yet they were not all alike Arian some differed from others Bin. Conc. and in this Council contrary to one another Some were Arians some Semi-Arians these were in principles like to Arius but could not ondure to be reputed Arius his disciples And they did acknowledg the divine substance in the Son of God yet would not retain the word Consubstantial and therefore rejected the Nicene Faith for the onely sake of that word Soc. lib. 2. cap. 31. And of this sort was