Selected quad for the lemma: truth_n
Text snippets containing the quad
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A26363
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Christos autotheos, or, An historical account of the heresie denying the Godhead of Christ
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Addison, Lancelot, 1632-1703.
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1696
(1696)
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Wing A516; ESTC R11751
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46,659
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120
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of his Country-men sate in the Council The Prelate of the Imperial City was absent by reason of his Age but his Presbyters were there and supply'd his Place The Emperour saith the Historiographer was the only Person of all the Princes since the Foundation of the World who having platted such a Crown as this with the Bond of Peace dedicated it to Christ his Saviour as a Divine Present and Acknowledgment of the Victories he had obtained over his Enemies And he intended the Synod shou'd be constituted to be a lively Representation of an Apostolical Quire That it might be now as it was in the Days of the Apostles when devout Men of all Nations under Heaven were gathered together In this Council the Number of the Bishops exceeded Three Hundred But the Presbyters Deacons Acoluthi and the many other Persons that accompanied them were almost innumerable Of these Ministers of God some were eminent for their Wisdom and Eloquence others for their sober and discreet Lives others for their patient Sufferings and others were adorned with Modesty and courteous Behaviour Some of them were highly respected for their great Age others were eminent for their youthful Vigour both of Body and Mind some were newly initiated into the Order of the Ministry To all these the Emperour commanded a plentiful Provision of Food to be daily allowed Paphnutius and Spiridion were the most eminent among the Bishops There were also present a great many Laicks Men skill'd in Logick ready to assist each their own Party Eusebius of Nicomedia Theognis Bishop of Nice and Maris Bishop of Chalcedon in Bithynia were the chief that favoured Arius against whom Athanasius contended vigourously and express'd a signal Zeal and Depth in his Disputes which brought upon him the implacable Hatred of Eusebius of Nicomedia A little before the Bishops were met together in one Place the Logicians exercised themselves in some skirmishing Disputes and seeming therewith to be over-much delighted a Laick one that was a Confessour an honest well-meaning Man opposed these Disputants and told 'em That neither Christ nor his Apostles taught or used the Art of Disputing nor vain Subtilties or Fallacies but a plain Doctrin which is to be defended by Faith and good Works All that stood by hearing him speak these Words admired him and approved of what he said And the Logicians themselves hearing this honest and plain Declaration of the Truth did patiently acquiesce and the Tumult raised by Disputation was composed The next Day after the Logick Disputes were so happily concluded all the Bishops were conven'd after whom came the Emperour whose Respect and Reverence was so great to the Clergy that he stood in the midst of them and wou'd not take his Seat till such time as the Bishops signified that it was their Desire that he wou'd sit down and take the Chair of State which he did and from thence spoke to the Synod in kind persuasive Words exhorting 'em to Unanimity and Concord and to suppress all private Piques and Animosities and those Accusations which they had fram'd one against another For many the Day before had presented Libels to the Emperour containing several Articles of Personal Miscarriges savouring more of a Desire of Revenge than of Reformation These accusatory Libels the Emperour commanded to be burn'd and advis'd them to consider and obey what Christ had enjoyn'd concerning forgiving one another And having largely discoursed of the Nature and Advantages of Concord and Peace he bid 'em proceed to the Business before 'em for which they were conven'd leaving it to their Power and Arbitrement accurately to inspect the Points in Controversie Upon this the Council entred upon the Affair and many Questions were proposed by both Parties which caused great Stirs and Heats before they came to the main Debate Constantine all the while heard 'em very patiently and with an intent Mind received their proposed Questions and by turns assisted the Assertions of both Parties and by Degrees he reduced them who pertinaciously opposed each other to a more sedate Temper of Mind and by his gracious Speeches to each Person he rendred himself pleasing and delightful Some he brought to be of his Opinion by the Force of his Arguments others he gained over to him by Condescentions and Entreaties He commended those that spoke well and whom he observed to be less peaceably enclined he excited to Quietness and conjur'd all to an Agreement And by his prudent and temperate Manage he at length made 'em all of the same Mind in the Matters concerning which they had before disagreed So that after many Debates upon the Subject before 'em Three Hundred and Eighteen Bishops concurr'd in a Creed which with loud Acclamations they published and approv'd of A Copy of which Creed as it stands recorded by Socrates Scholasticus Lib. 1. C. 8. Hist Eccles now follows WE believe in one God the Father Almighty Maker of all things visible and invisible and one Lord Iesus Christ the Son of God begotten of the Father the only Begotten that is of the Substance of the Father God of God and Light of Light very God of very God begotten not made of the same Substance with the Father by whom all things were made that are in Heaven and in Earth VVho for the sake of us Men and for our Salvation descended and was incarnate and was made Man and he suffered and rose again the third Day ascended into the Heavens he shall come to judge the Dick and the Dead VVe also believe in the Holy Ghost But the holy Catholick and Apostolick Church doth anathematize those that averr That there was a time when the Son of God was not and that he was not before he was begotten and that he was made of Nothing Or that say he was made of another Substance or Essence Or that he is either created or convertible or mutable This Creed as Valesius observes is wanting in all the Mss. he had met with and saith that Christopherson did very well in placing it here in Socrates For it is plain both from Epiphanius Scholasticus as also by those following Words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that it was placed here by the Historian himself But all the MSS. did omit it in this Place because it 's repeated a little after in Eusebius Pamphilus's Epistle 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Then this very Creed above repeated was subscribed by Three Hundred and Eighteen Bishops who were all unanimous in their Suffrages and Sentiments concerning it Socrates writes that Five Bishops refus'd to allow of it But Theodoret and before him Hierom in his Dialogue against the Luciferians affirm that Secundus and Theonas were the only two Bishops that were Diffenters refusing to subscribe to the Nicene Creed Eusebius of Nicomedia with four Bishops more dislik'd the Word Homoousios which they did upon Supposal that only that can be said to be Homoousion of the same Substance which is from another either by Partition as two or three
Pieces of Gold the whole Mass or by Derivation as Children from their Parents or by Eruption as a Branch from the Root But seeing that the Son of God could by none of these Ways be from the Father they cou'd not therefore give Consent to this Draught of the Creed in which the Word Homoousios was used Great and tedious were the Cavils and Debates about this one Word Homoousios which Eusebius and his Party would by no Means admit of and because it was not eras'd out of the Creed they refused to subscribe the Degradation of Arius which Obstinacy of theirs mov'd the Synod to anathematize Arius and all of his Opinion forbidding Arius in particular to enter into Alexandria The Emperour also by his Edict banish'd Arius Eusebius and Theognis But the two latter soon after their Exile repented of their Contumacy and sent their penitentiary Libels to the most eminent Bishops and in these Libels they declared their Assent to the Word Homoousios and their Belief of it as it was used in the Creed and in every thing agreed to the Exposition of the Faith And upon their doing this they were by Imperial Order recalled from Banishment and restored to their own Churches At the same time Eusebius sirnamed Pamphilus Bishop of Caesarea in Palestine having made some Hesitancy in the Synod whether he might safely admit of this Form of Faith having taken time maturely to consider what in this Case he might with a safe Conscience and a satisfied Reason conclude he at length gave his Assent and subscribed And lest any of the People of his Diocess shou'd be offended at his Backwardness in subscribing the Creed and have an Ill Opinion of him for scrupling the Use of the Word Homoousios he sent a Letter unto them wherein he explained that Term and apologiz'd for his Hesitancy Eusebius Pamphilus 's Letter to those of his Diocess IT is very probable Beloved that you may have heard what hath been done concerning the Ecclesiastick Faith in the great Council conven'd at Nice and in Regard that Report doth usually out-run an accurate Narrative of the Matters transacted lest by such a bare Report the Matter might be represented to you otherwise than really it is we thought it requisite to send to you first the Form of Faith which we our selves proposed to the Council and likewise that other published by the Bishops who made some Additions to ours That Form of Faith drawn up by us we read in the Presence of our most pious Emperour and it appeared to all to be sound and Orthodox and is as follows WE believe in one God the Father Almighcy Maker of all things visible and invisible and in one Lord Iesus Christ the Word of God God of God Light of Light Life of Life the only begotten Son the first born of every Creature begotten of God the Father before all Worlds by whom also all things were move who for our Salvation was incarnate and convers'd among Men who suffered and rose again the third Day he ascended unto the Father and shall come again in Glory to judge the Quick and the Dead VVe also believe in the Holy Ghost we believe that each of these Persons is and doth subsist That the Father is truly the Father the Son really the Son and the Holy Ghost really the Holy Ghost As our Lord also when he sent his Disciples out to preach said Go ye and teach all Nations baptizing them in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost Concerning which Articles we do averr that we thus maintain and hold them that these are our Sentiments of them that this was our Opinion formerly that this Opinion we will retain till Death that we we will persevere in this Belief and anathematize every impious Heresie VVe call God Almighty and Iesus Christ our Lord to VVitness that these were sincerely and heartily our Sentiments ever since we were capable of knowing our selves And that we do now speak and think what is most true and we are ready to demonstrate to you by most infallible Proofs and to persuade you that both in times past we thus believed and likewise thus preached Eusebius Pamphilus having given the People of his Diocess this Account of the Creed which he proposed to the Council he farther tells 'em That there was no body could oppose it That the Emperour did attest its Truth protesting that he was of the same Opinion and exhorted all to assent to and subscribe it and unanimously to agree in the Profession of it Only he desired that the Word Homoousios might be inserted tho' others with greater Probability affirm that that Word was added by the Bishops and that the Emperour explained it saying that he supposed that the Word Homoousios was not to be taken in such a Sense as is agreeable to the Affections of the Body and therefore that the Son had not his Subsistence from the Father either by Division or Abscission For it is impossible saith he that an immaterial intellectual and incorporeal Nature shou'd be subject to any corporeal Affection But that our Sentiments of such things should be expressed in Divine and Mysterious Terms The Emperour having thus Philosophized upon the Word Homoousios the Bishops drew up another Form of Belief in which they inserted that Word but in all other things it was the same with the first Now that the Form of Faith was agreed upon by the Bishops Eusebius Caesarienses gravely and maturely enquired of them What they meant by these Words Of the Substance of the Father and of the same Substance with the Father Which gave Occasion to many Questions and Answers and to an accurate Examination of the Importance of the Words And at last it was acknowledg'd by the Bishops that these Words To be of the Substance did only signifie thus much That the Son is of the Father but not as a Part of the Father To which Sense of the Words Eusebius Caesariensis thought it both reasonable and safe to give his Assent And having Peace before his Eyes as the Mark at which he aim'd and being cautious lest he should fall from a right Apprehension of the Faith he also admitted of the Words Begotten not made For Made said the Fathers is a common Term attributed to all other Creatures which were made by the Son of whom the Son hath no Resemblance Wherefore he is no Creature like those which were created by him but he is of a far more excellent Substance than any Creature Which Substance is begotten of the Father but in such a Manner of Generation as is ineffable and inexpressible by any created Being For his Generation who shall be able to declare Who can express how he was eternally begotten Who can explain of set forth his Divine Extraction No Man knoweth the Son but the Father That Light that shone before the World that Intellectual and Essential Wisdom that was before all Ages the living