A XXI. the tedious detail of leaves without flowers, and CHA P. of branches without fruit, would foon exhaust the patience, and disappoint the curiofity, of the laborious ftudent. One question which gradually arofe from the Arian controverfy, may however be noticed, as it ferved to produce and difcriminate the three fects, who were united only by their common averfion to the Homooufion of the Nicene fynod. 1. If they were afked, whether the fon was like unto the Father; the question was refolutely answered in the negative, by the heretics who adhered to the principles of Arius, or indeed to thofe of philofophy; which feem to establish an infinite difference between the Creator and the moft excellent of his creatures. This obvious confequence was maintained by Etius 67, on whom the zeal of his adverfaries bestowed the furname of the Atheist. His reftlefs and aspiring fpirit. urged him to try almost every profeffion of human life. He was fucceffively a flave, or at least a husbandman, a travelling tinker, a goldfmith, a phyfician, a fchoolmafter, a theologian, and at last the apoftle of a new church, which was propagated by the abilities of his disciple Eunomius 69 Armed with texts of fcripture, and with captious 67 In Philoftorgius (1. iii. c. 15.) the character and adventures of tius appear fingular enough, though they are carefully foftened by the hand of a friend. The editor Godefroy (p. 153.), who was more attached to his principles than to his author, has collected the odious circumftances which his various adverfaries have preferved or invented. 68 According to the judgment of a man who respected both those fectaries, Etius had been endowed with a stronger understanding, Z z and CHAP. captious fyllogifms from the logic of Ariftotle, the XXI. fubtle Etius had acquired the fame of an invincible difputant, whom it was impoffible either to filence or to convince. Such talents engaged the friendship of the Arian bishops, till they were forced to renounce and even to perfecute, a dangerous ally, who, by the accuracy of his reafoning, had prejudiced their cause in the popular opinion, and offended the piety of their most devoted fol. łowers. 2. The omnipotence of the Creator fuggefted a fpecious and refpectful folution of the likeness of the Father and the Son; and faith might humbly receive what reafon could not prefume to deny, that the fupreme God might communicate his infinite perfections, and create a being fimilar only to himself 69. Thefe Arians were powerfully fupported by the weight and abilities of their leaders, who had fucceeded to the management of the Eufebian intereft, and who occupied the principal thrones of the Eaft. They detefted perhaps with fome affectation, the impiety of Etius; they profeffed to believe, either without referve, or according to the fcriptures, that the Son was different from all other creatures, and fimilar only to the Father. But they denied, that and Eunomius had acquired more art and learning (Philoftorgius, 1. vii. c. 18.). The confeffion and apology of Eunomius (Fabricius, Bibl. Græc. tom. viii. p. 258—395.) is one of the few heretical pieces which have escaped. 69 Yet, according to the opinion of Eftius and Bull (p. 297.), there is one power, that of creation, which God cannot communi. cate to a creature. Eftius, who fo accurately defined the limits of Omnipotence, was a Dutchman by birth, and by trade a fcholaftic divine. Dupin, Bibliot. Ecclef. tom, xvii. P. 45. 70 XXI. he was either of the fame, or of a fimilar fubftance; CHA P. 70 Sabinus (ap. Socrat. I. ii. c. 39.) had copied the acts; Atha. nanfius and Hilary have explained the divifions of this Arian fynod; the other circumstances which are relative to it are carefully col lected by Baronius and Tillemont. 71 Fideli et piâ intelligentiâ... De Synod. c. 77. p. 1193. In his fhort apologetical notes (first published by the Benedictines from a CHAP. reduced to a confubftantial fenfe. Yet he confeffes XXI. that the word has a dark and fufpicious afpect; and, as if darkness were congenial to theological disputes, the Semi-Arians, who advanced to the doors of the church, affailed them with the most unrelenting fury. Faith of the Weft The provinces of Egypt and Afia, which culern or La. tivated the language and manners of the Greeks tin church. had deeply imbibed the venom of the Arian con 1 troverfy. The familiar ftudy of the Platonic fyftem, a vain and argumentative difpofition, a copious and flexible idiom, fupplied the clergy and people of the Eaft with an inexhauftible flow of words and diftinctions; and, in the midft of their fierce contentions, they eafily forgot the doubt which is recommended by philofophy, and the fubmiffion which is enjoined by religion. The inhabitants of the Weft were of a lefs inquifitive fpirit; their paffions were not fo forcibly moved by invifible objects, their minds were lefs frequently exercifed by the habits of dispute and fuch was the happy ignorance of the Gallican church, that Hilary himfelf, above thirty years after the first general council, was ftill a ftranger to the Nicene creed 72. The Latins had received MS. of Charters) he obferves, that he ufed this cautious expreffion qui intelligerem et impiam, p. 1206. See p. 1146. Philoftorgius, who faw thofe objects through a different medium, is inclined to forget the difference of the important dipthong. See in particular. viii. 17. and Godefroy, p. 352. 72 Teftor Deum coeli atque terræ mecum neutrum audiffem, femper tamen utrumque fenfiffe. Regeneratus pridem & in epifcopatu aliquantifper manens fidem Nicenam nunquam nifi exfulatu ... rus audivi. Hilar. de Synodis, c. xci. p. 1205. The Benedictines are perfuaded that he governed the diocefe of Poitiers feveral years before his exile. 73 the rays of divine knowledge through the dark cHAP. and doubtful medium of a tranflation. The XXI. poverty and ftubbornnefs of their native tongue was not always capable of affording just equivalents for the Greek terms, for the technical words of the Platonic philofophy "3, which had been confecrated by the gofpel or by the church, to express the myfteries of the Chriftian faith; and a verbal defect might introduce into the Latin theology, a long train of error or perplexity 74. But as the western provincials had the good fortune of deriving their religion from an orthodox. fource, they preferved with steadiness the doctrine which they had accepted with docility; and when the Arian peftilence approached their frontiers they were fupplied with the feasonable prefervative of the Homooufion, by the paternal care of the Roman pontiff. Their fentiments and their Council of temper were displayed in the memorable fynod of Rimini, A.D. 360, Rimini, which furpaffed in numbers the council of Nice, fince it was compofed of above four hundred bishops of Italy, Africa, Spain, Gaul, Britain, and Illyricum. From the firft debates it appeared, that only fourfcore prelates adhered to the party, though they affected to anathematife the name and memory, of Arius. But this inferiority was compenfated by the advantages of fkill, of experience, 73 Seneca (Epift. lviii.) complains that even the To oy of the Pla tonifts (the ens of the bolder fchoolmen) could not be expreffed by a Latin noun. 74 The preference which the fourth council of the Lateran at length gave to a numerical rather than a generical unity (see Petav. ii. l. iv. c. 13. p. 424.) was favoured by the Latin language: Tgias feems to excite the idea of substance, trinitas of qualities, tom. |