XXI.

CHAP. heretics and the demons lurked in ambush to surprise and devour the unhappy wanderer. But as the degrees of theological hatred depend on the spirit of the war, rather than on the importance of the controversy, the heretics who degraded, were treated with more severity than those who annihilated, the person of the Son. The life of Athanasius was consumed in irreconcilable opposition to the impious madness of the arians; but he defended above twenty years the sabellianism of Marcellus of Ancyra; and when at last he was compelled to withdraw himself from his communion, he continued to mention, with an ambiguous smile, the venial errors of his respectable friend.a

Arian

creeds.

The authority of a general council, to which the arians themselves had been compelled to submit, inscribed on the banners of the orthodox party the mysterious characters of the word Homoousion, which essentially contributed, notwithstanding some obscure disputes, some nocturnal combats, to maintain and perpetuate the uniformity of faith, or at least of language. The consubstantialists, who by their success have deserved and obtained the title of catholics, gloried in the simplicity and steadiness of their own creed,

P The ordinary appellation with which Athanasius and his followers chose to compliment the arians, was that of ariomanites.

Epiphanius, tom. i. Hæres 1xxii, 4, p. 837. See the adventures of Marcellus, in Tillemont (Mem. Eccles. tom. vii, p. 880-899). His work in one book, of the unity of God, was answered in the three books, which are still extant, of Eusebius. After a long and careful examination, Petavius (tom. ii, 1. i, c. 14, p. 78) has reluctantly pro nounced the condemnation of Marcellus.

XXI.

and insulted the repeated variations of their adver- CHAP. saries, who were destitute of any certain rule of faith. The sincerity or the cunning of the arian chiefs, the fear of the laws of the people, their reverence for Christ, their hatred of Athanasius, all the causes, human and divine, that influence and disturb the counsels of a theological faction, introduced among the sectaries a spirit of discord and inconstancy, which, in the course of a few years, erected eighteen different models of religion," and avenged the violated dignity of the church. The zealous Hilary, who, from the pe culiar hardships of his situation, 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 preserved the knowledge of the true God. The oppression which he had felt, the disorders of which he was the spectator and the victim, appeased, during a short interval,

Athanasius in his epistle concerning the synods of Seleucia and Rimini (tom. 1, p. 886–905), has given an ample list of arian creeds, which has been enlarged and improved by the labours of the indefatigable Tillemont (Mem. Eccles. tom. vi, p. 477).

• Erasmus, with admirable sense and freedom, has delineated the just character of Hilary. To revise his text, to compose the annals of his life, and to justify his sentiments and conduct, is the province of the benedictine editors. \

t Absque episcopo eleusio et paucis cum eo, ex majore parte Asi. anæ decem provinciæ, inter quas consisto, vere Deum nesciunt. Atque utinam penitus nescirent! cum procliviore enim veniâ ignorarent quam obtrectarent. Hilar. de Synodis, sive de Fide Orientalium, c. 63, p. 1186, edit. Benedict. In the celebrated parallel between atheism and superstition, the bishop of Poitiers would have been sur prised in the philosophic society of Bayle and Plutarch.

XXI.

66

66

66

CHAP. the angry passions of his soul; and in the following passage, of which I shall transcribe a few lines, the bishop of Poitiers unwarily deviates into the style of a christian philosopher. "It is a thing," says Hilary, "equally deplorable and dangerous, "that there are as many creeds as opinions among men, as many doctrines as inclinations, and as many sources of blasphemy as there are faults among us; because we make creeds arbitrarily, "and explain them as arbitrarily. The homo"ousion is rejected, and received, and explained away by successive synods. The partial or "total resemblance of the father and of the son, " is a subject of dispute for these unhappy times. Every year, nay every moon, we make new creeds "to describe invisible mysteries. We repent of "what we have done, we defend those who re66 pent, we anathematise those whom we defend"ed. We condemn either the doctrine of others "in ourselves, or our own in that of others; and "reciprocally tearing one another to pieces, we "have been the cause of each other's ruin.""

Arian sects.

66

66

It will not be expected, it would not perhaps be endured, that I should swell this theological digression, by a minute examination of the eighteen creeds, the authors of which, for the most part, disclaimed the odious name of their parent Arius. It is amusing enough to delineate the form, and to trace the vegetation, of a singular plant; but

" Hilarius ad Constantium, l. ii, c. 4, 5, p. 1227, 1228. This remarkable passage deserved the attention of Mr. Locke, who has transcribed it (vol. iii, p. 470) into the model of his new common place book.

XXI.

the tedious detail of leaves without flowers, and CHAP. of branches without fruit, would soon exhaust the patience, and disappoint the curiosity, of the laborious student. One question which gradually arose from the arian controversy may, however, be noticed, as it served to produce and discriminate the three sects, who were united only by their common aversion to the homoousion of the Nicene synod. 1, If they were asked, whether the son was like unto the father, the question was resolutely answered in the negative, by the heretics who adhered to the principles of Arius, or indeed to those of philosophy; which seem to establish an infinite difference between the creator and the most excellent of his creatures. This obvious consequence was maintained by Ætius, on whom the zeal of his adversaries bestowed the surname of the atheist. His restless and aspiring spirit urged him to try almost every profession of human life. He was successively a slave, or at least a husbandman, a travelling tinker, a goldsmith, a physician, a schoolmaster, a theologian, and at last the apostle of a new church, which was propagated by the abilities of his disciple, Eunomius. Armed with texts of scripture, and with

* In Philostorgius (1. iii, c. 15), the character and adventures of Etius appear singular enough, though they are carefully softened 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 circumstances which his various adversaries have preserved or invented.:

According to the judgment of a man who respected both those sectaries, Etius had been endowed with a stronger understanding,

and

CHAP. captious syllogisms from the logic of Aristotle, the XXI. subtle Ætius had acquired the fame of an invin

cible disputant, whom it was impossible either to silence or to convince. Such talents engaged the friendship of the arian bishops, till they were forced to renounce, and even to persecute, a dangerous ally, who, by the accuracy of his reasoning, had prejudiced their cause in the popular opinion, and offended the piety of their most devoted fol lowers. 2, The omnipotence of the creator suggested a specious and respectful solution of the likeness of the father and the son; and faith might humbly receive what reason could not presume to deny, that the supreme God might communicate his infinite perfections, and create a being similar only to himself. These arians were powerfully supported by the weight and abilities of their leaders, who had succeeded to the management of the eusebian interest, and who occupied the principal thrones of the East. They detested, perhaps with some affectation, the impiety of Etius; they professed to believe, either without réserve, or according to the scriptures, that the son was different from all other creatures, and similar only to the father. But they denied that

and Eunomius had acquired more art and learning (Philostorgius, hviii, 18). The confession and apology of Eunomius (Fabricius, Bibliot. Græc. tom. viii, p. 258-305) is one of the few heretical pieces which have escaped.

* Yet, according to the opinion of Estius and Ball (p. 297), there is one power, that of creation, which God cannot communicate to a creature. Estius, who so accurately defined the limits of omnis poterice, was a Dutchman by birth, and by trade a scholastic divine. Dupin, Bibliot. Eccles. tom. xvii, p. 45.