325.]

CONSTANTINE IN THE COUNCIL.

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be guarded by faith and good works.' The Assembly was struck by the happy application of this pious and sensible lesson; and after hearing this plain truth' gave the more earnest heed' to Athanasius, as he appealed to the 'Law and to the Testimony,' to the Word of God and not the word of man, to establish the grand central doctrine of Christianitythe Divinity of CHRIST.

By the Emperor's direction-proving how completely the Council was under his control-the Assembly transferred its sessions to the great hall in the palace, where he made his appearance, and his towering stature, his strong-built frame, his broad shoulders, his handsome features were worthy of his magnificent position. There was a brightness in his look, and a mingled expression of fierceness and gentleness in his eagle-eye which well became one, who, as Augustus before him, had fancied, and perhaps still fancied, himself to be a favourite of the sun-god Apollo. The vast Assembly was further struck by the dazzling, perhaps barbaric magnificence of his dress. Always careful of his appearance he was so on this occasion in an eminent degree. His long hair, false or real, was crowned with the Imperial diadem of pearls. His purple or scarlet Imperial robe blazed with precious stones and gold embroidery. He was shod in the scarlet shoes and hose then confined to the Roman Emperors, now perpetuated alone in the Roman Pope and Cardinals. He had a habit of tossing back his head and casting bright keen looks about him which terrified-his flatterers said dazzled like the sun-all around him, but his voice was wonderfully gentle and soft. It was observed that, as the Emperor took his seat on his low golden throne, and looked round on the venerable Assembly, he seemed awe-struck, and his face was crimsoned with a blush. How far more innocent was Constantine's blush than that

which became

memorable eleven hundred years afterwards in the greatest Council of the Papal Church-'the blush of Sigismund,' observed at Constance, remembered at Worms!

Constantine took an active part in the discussions, not as a theologian but as a statesman desirous of peace; his sweet gentle voice was raised, in such broken Greek as he possessed, to obtain a patient hearing for both sides, that unanimity might be re-established. Two long months wore on in this memorable discussion, during which, as Neander observes, Athanasius contended for the Divinity of CHRIST as he did for half-a-century afterwards, not as for a mere speculative doctrine and interest, but, as it was in reality, for a vital Christian interest; for on holding fast this truth he knew and felt, depended the whole unity of the Christian consciousness of GOD, the completion of the Revelation of GOD in CHRIST, the reality of the redemption which CHRIST wrought, and of the Communion with GOD restored by HIM to believing man.'

A very providential discovery thoroughly disconcerted the persevering and unscrupulous tactics of the caviller Arius. A letter of Eusebius of Nicomedia was produced in the Council, declaring that to assert the SON to be uncreated would be to say that He was of one substance (Homoousion) with the FATHER. 'So,' says Ambrose, 'the weapon with with which they had been seeking to cut off the head of their enemy, was suddenly drawn from their own scabbard against themselves.' Origen had given that title to the SAVIOUR near a century before, and all the honours which Arius was willing to concede to Him faded away like stars before the returning sun, when that true and Scriptural title of oneness in essence with the FATHER, which He Himself had claimed as His due (John, x. 30; xvii. 11, 22) was applied to Him by the Council.

325.]

DISCOMFITURE OF ARIUS.

287

The flight of Arius from the Council was precipitated by the reading of the infamous songs which he had written under the name of Thalia, in the low, licentious metre of the heathen ballad-writer Sotodes, and set to tunes used in the low revels of Alexandria, for decrying the Divinity of the SAVIOUR. All the bishops, on hearing the songs, raised their hands in horror, and, after the manner of Orientals when wishing to show their disgust at blasphemous words, kept their ears fast closed, and their eyes fast shut. The ancient creed of the Church in Palestine, with the insertion of the grand title now recognized as the SAVIOUR's due, was then adopted; and it is pleasing to know that it is the basis of the Nicene Creed, which we profess as our own faith on every LORD's Day. It contains the famous title now given by the whole Church to the Saviour, and, with the small alterations made at the Council of Constantinople, fiftysix years after, is nearly the same now that it was at Nice. One sentence, which was omitted as peculiar to its original locality, must have had a touching sound, repeated among the hills and valleys of the Holy Land, 'Who for our salvation wast incarnate, and lived amongst men.'

Arius himself slunk away before the close of the Council; his book was burnt, and he himself prohibited from returning to Alexandria, where a singular custom commemorated his prohibition. There, alone, in Christendom, no presbyter was allowed to preach. Arianism, indeed, lingered long, both in the Empire and the surrounding nations, being vigorously disseminated by the exiled Arians; but the noble creed, so simple, moderate, and comprehensive, remained a bulwark of the truth, in all its pathos and solemnity. One of the closing days of the Council was marked by one of its most interesting scenes. A decree was proposed by the Ascetic party, that all the married clergy were to separate from their wives!

From

The opposition came from a very unexpected quarter. amongst the Egyptian bishops, stepped out into the midst, looking angrily out of his one remaining eye, and halting violently on his paralyzed leg, the old confessor of CHRIST Paphnutius. With a roar of indignation rather than with a speech, he broke into the debate:-'Lay not this heavy yoke upon the clergy. "Marriage is honourable in all." By exaggerated strictness, you will do the Church more harm than good. All cannot bear such an Ascetic rule. The wives themselves will suffer from it. Marriage itself is continence. It is enough for a man to be kept from marriage after he has been ordained according to the ancient custom; but do not separate him from the wife whom once for all he married when he was still a layman.' His speech produced a proHis own austere life of celibacy gave force

found sensation.

to every word that he uttered; he showed that rare excellence of appreciating difficulties, which he himself did not feel, and of honouring a state of life which was not his own. He has been rewarded, by the gratitude of the whole Eastern Church, which still, according to his advice now almost enjoins marriage upon all her clergy as a qualification for admission to the ministry, without permitting it afterwards. Bishop Paphnutius was highly honoured by the Emperor, who lodged him in his own palace, often listened to his story of the frightful scenes of the Diocletian persecution, and reverently touched his wounds. It is also noteworthy that Neander, the noblest of all the advocates for the Christian Minister's Family as the model family of his people, lived all his own long studious life, 'a single man and yet true father,' like several of our noble Reformers, and yet he says that the first upholders of clerical celibacy, 'failed of a full view of Divine Love, which instead of destroying the natural affections, should ennoble and refine them.' All but two or

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five of the bishops signed the decrees of the Council; set their seal to their noble Nicene Creed; agreed upon a pastoral letter to all the Churches upholding the SAVIOUR'S Divinity and repudiating the novel and impious opinions of Arius; and finally passed a decree giving to the bishops of Alexandria, Rome, and Antioch, severally, the same preeminence over their respective surrounding bishops, so they had no idea of any supremacy in the chair of Peter.'

Bishop Hosius first signed the decrees, and the Roman presbyters then affixed the signature of the bishop of Rome, who in no other way took any part in this the most momentous and memorable Council that ever sat in Christendom. Constantine entertained them at a sumptuous banquet when their labours were finished; and his parting address, urging them to win over the pagans, with the art of the physician who mingles sweets with his disagreeable medicines, but too clearly shows the mischievous bribery which he himself adopted, instead of allowing Christianity to make its way by its own heaven-supplied powers.

After the Council had separated, Constantine visited Rome to celebrate the twentieth year of his reign with solemn games and festivals, in remembrance of the modest acceptance of the Imperial power by Augustus, on condition of the trust being renewed after every ten years. 'This comedy,' says Gibbon, 'was preserved to the latest ages of the Empire, and in the case of Constantine it was characteristically blended with the events following his conversion.' But two events of this fatal visit turned this comedy into a tragedy. The first was the celebration of the great pagan festival held on the Ides of Quintilis (15th of July), in memory of the battle of the Lake Regillus, when the twin-gods Castor and Pollux were fabled to have fought for Rome, and brought the glad tidings of the victory to the city. On this day a grand muster and in