54

were made. The incarnation of the Logos is reduced to a mere infpiration of the Divine Wisdom, which filled the foul, and directed all the actions of the man Jefus. Thus, after revolving round the theological circle, we are furprised to find that the Sabellian ends where the Ebionite had begun ; and that the incomprehenfible mystery which excites our adoration, eludes our enquiry' If the bishops of the council of Nice" had been permitted to follow the unbiaffed dictates of their confcience, Arius and his affociates could scarcely have flattered themselves with the hopes of obtaining a majority of votes, in favour of an hypothefis fo directly adverse to the two most popular opinions of the Catholic world. The Arians foon perceived the danger of their fitua-tion, and prudently affumed thofe modeft virtues, which, in the fury of civil and religious diffentions, are feldom practifed, or even praised, except by the weaker party. They recommended the exercise of Chriftian charity and moderation; urged the incomprehenfible nature of the contro. verfy; difclaimed the use of any terms or defini tions which could not be found in the fcriptures; and offered, by very liberal conceffions, to fatisfy their adverfaries, without renouncing the integrity of their own principles. The victorious faction received all their proposals with haughty fufpicion; and anxiously fought for fome irreconcileable mark of distinction, the rejection of which might involve the Arians in the guilt and confequences of herefy. A letter was publicly read, and ignomi

CHAP

XXI.

Council

of Nice,

A. D. 324.

XXI.

The Homooufion.

CHAP. niously torn, in which their patron, Eufebius of Nicomedia, ingenuously confeffed, that the admiffion of the HOMOOUSION, or Confubftantial, a word already familiar to the Platonifts, was incompatible with the principles of their theological fyftem. The fortunate opportunity was eagerly embraced by the bishops, who governed the refolutions of the fynod; and according to the lively expreffion of Ambrofe", they ufed the fword, which herefy itself had drawn from the scabbard, to cut off the head of the hated monfter. The confubftantiality of the Father and the Son was eftablished by the council of Nice, and has been unanimously received as a fundamental article of the Chriftian faith, by the confent of the Greek, the Latin, the Oriental, and the Proteftant churches. But if the fame word had not ferved to ftigmatize the heretics, and to unite the Catholics, it would have been inadequate to the purpose of the majority, by whom it was introduced into the orthodox creed. This majority was divided into two parties, diftinguished by a contrary tendency to the fentiments of the Tritheifts and of the Sabellians. But as those oppofite extremes feemed to overthrow the foundations either of natural, or revealed, religion, they mutually agreed to qualify the rigour of their principles: and to disavow the juft, but invidious, confequences, which might be urged by their antagonists. The intereft of the common cause inclined them to join their numbers, and to conceal their differences; their animofity was foftened

57

XXI.

by the healing counfels of toleration, and their CHAP, disputes were suspended by the use of the myfterious Homooufion, which either party was free to interpret according to their peculiar tenets. The Sabellian fenfe, which, about fifty years before, had obliged the council of Antioch to prohibit this celebrated term, had endeared it to thofe theologians who entertained a fecret but partial affection for a nominal Trinity. But the more fashionable faints of the Arian times, the intrepid Athanafius, the learned Gregory Nazianzen, and the other pillars of the church, who fupported with ability and fuccefs the Nicene doctrine, appeared to confider the expreffion of fubftance, as if it had been fynonimous with that of nature; and they ventured to illuftrate their meaning, by affirming that three men, as they belong to the fame common fpecies, are confubftantial or homooufian to each other ". This pure and diftinct equality was tempered, on the one hand, by the internal connection, and fpiritual penetration, which indiffolubly unites the divine perfons"; and on the other, by the pre-eminence of the Father, which was acknowledged as far as it is compatible with the independence of the Son". Within the fe

limits the almost invisible and tremulous ball of orthodoxy was allowed fecurely to vibrate. On either fide, beyond this confecrated ground, the heretics and the dæmons lurked in ambush to furprise and devour the unhappy wanderer. But as the degrees of theological hatred depend on the spirit of the war, rather than on the importance

СНАР.

XXI.

Arian

creeds.

61

of the controverfy, the heretics who degraded, were treated with more feverity than those who annihilated, the person of the Son. The life of Athanafius was confumed in irreconcileable oppofition to the impious madness of the Arians ; but he defended above twenty years the Sabellianifm of Marcellus of Ancyra; and when at laft he was compelled to withdraw himself from his communion, he continued to mention, with an ambiguous fmile, the venial errors of his refpectable friend".

The authority of a general council, to which the Arians themselves had been compelled to fubmit, infcribed on the banners of the orthodox party the myfterious characters of the word Homooufion, which effentially contributed, notwithstanding some obfcure difputes, fome nocturnal combats, to maintain and perpetuate the uniformity of faith, or at least of language. The Confubftantialifts, who, by their fuccefs have deferved and obtained the title of Catholics, gloried in the fimplicity and fteadiness of their own creed, and infulted the repeated variations of their adverfaries, who were deftitute of any certain rule of faith. The fincerity or the cunning of the Arian chiefs, the fear of the laws or of the people, their reverence for Chrift, their hatred of Athanafius, all the caufes, human and divine, that influence and disturb the counfels of a theological faction, introduced among the fectaries a fpirit of difcord and inconftancy, which, in the course of a few years, erected eighteen different models of reli

63

gion and avenged the violated dignity of the church. The zealous Hilary ", who, from the peculiar hardships of his fituation, was inclined to extenuate rather than to aggravate the errors of the oriental clergy, declares, that in the wide extent of the ten provinces of Asia, to which he had been banished, there could be found very few prelates who had preferved the knowledge of the true God". The oppreffion which he had felt, the diforders of which he was the spectator and the victim, appeased, during a short interval, the angry paffions of his foul; and in the following paffage, of which I shall tranfcribe a few lines, the bishop of Poitiers unwarily deviates into the ftyle of a Chriftian philofopher. "It is a thing, fays Hilary," equally deplorable and dangerous, „ that there are as many creeds as opinions among » men, as many doctrines as inclinations, and as

"

many fources of blafphemy as there are faults » among us; because we make creeds arbitrarily, and explain them as arbitrarily. The Homo» oufion is rejected, and received, and explained » away by fucceffive fynods. The partial or total resemblance of the Father and of the Son, is a fubject of difpute for thefe unhappy times. » Every year, nay every moon, we make new creeds to defcribe invifible myfteries. We re» pent of what we have done, we defend those » who repent, we anathematife thofe whom we

defended. We condemn either the doctrine of » others in ourselves, or our own in that of » others; and reciprocally tearing one another to

CHAP.

XXI.