Constantius, having thus gained over to the Heterodox Party the celebrated Bishop of Cordoua, and sent those into Exile, whom he apprehended most capable of traversing his Design, resolved to assemble a Council, not doubting but he should be able, by some means or other, to prevail upon the Members, that composed it, to approve and embrace the Doctrine, which he was labouring with indefatigable Pains to establish. Accordingly he writ to the chief Bishops of each Province, injoining them to meet in the Name of the rest, at an appointed Time, in the City of Nicomedia^[863]. |which City is destroyed by an Earthquake.| In Compliance with his Orders the Bishops immediately set out; but, while they were on the Road, they were stopped by the News that was brought them of the utter Destruction of the City of Nicomedia by a sudden and most dreadful Earthquake. This public Calamity happened on the 24th of August 358^[864]. and the Arians, in the Account which they transmitted of it to Court, assured the Emperor, that several Bishops, who were for Consubstantiality, had been buried under the Ruins of the great Church^[865]. It was probably, by this Account, that Philostorgius was deceived and misled, when he writ, that Fifteen Bishops, who were all Defenders of Consubstantiality, were crushed to Pieces by the Fall of the Church, together with Cecrops Bishop of the City^[866]. But Sozomen assures us, that, when the Church fell, there was not a single Person in it; and that Two Bishops only perished in the Earthquake, viz. Cecrops, who was an Arian, and a Bishop of Bosporus^[867]. |The Council ap-
pointed to meet at Nice.| This Misfortune obliged the Emperor to change the Place of the Council; and accordingly Letters were immediately dispatched to all the Bishops, ordering them to repair to Nice, which City was suggested to him by Basilius, the Semi-Arian Bishop of Ancyra, with a Design, says Theodoret^[868], to eclipse the Glory and Authority of the First Council by the Confusion of Two. Be that as it will, the Bishops were ordered to meet there early in the Summer of the Year 359. Such as were not in a Condition to undertake such a Journey, on account of their Age or Infirmities, were to send Priests or Deacons, as their Deputies, to vote and act in their Name; and the Council was strictly injoined to transmit to the Emperor such Decrees as they should enact, that he might examine them, and see whether they were agreeable to Scripture: for this Purpose Ten Deputies were to be appointed by the Bishops of the East, and the like Number by those of the West^[869]. |Two Councils
appointed to meet
instead of one.| But while the World was expecting to see a second Oecumenical Council assembled at Nice, the Emperor all on a sudden changed his Mind, and instead of one, resolved to convene Two, the one in the East, and the other in the West^[870]. This Change was owing to the Intrigues of the Anomeans, or Pure Arians, who, finding the far greater Part of the Bishops either for the Orthodox Faith of Nice, or, the Semi-Arian, as established in a Council at Antioch, concluded, that there would be no Means to divert them, when assembled together, from condemning their Doctrine; whereas if they were divided, they did not despair of being able to manage both Assemblies, or at least one of the Two^[871]. This Design of dividing the Council they privately imparted to the Eunuch Eusebius, their great Friend, and the Emperor’s chief Favourite, who, highly applauding the Scheme, took upon him to get it approved by Constantius. |The Occasion of this
Change.| And this he easily effected, by representing, that a General Council would put the Bishops to greater Trouble and Inconveniences than most of them could well bear, and, at the same time, the Treasury to an immense Charge; for on such Occasions their Expences were defrayed by the Emperor^[872]. He therefore advised him to assemble Two Councils at the same time, one in the East, and the other in the West, which, he said, would be less troublesome to the Bishops, and less expensive to the Exchequer. To these Reasons Constantius acquiesced; but, as he was a zealous Semi-Arian, Eusebius kept him in the Dark, as to the true Motive of such a Change. Thus was Constantius, and thus have many Princes been, since his Time, led, as it were, hoodwinked, by some in whom they reposed an intire Confidence, into Measures tending to promote Designs quite opposite to their own.

This Point being settled, to the great Satisfaction of the Anomeans, Ariminum, now Rimini, on the Adriatic Sea, was thought the most proper Place for the Western Bishops to meet at. But the City of Nice, where the General Council was to assemble, having suffered much by the late Earthquake, the Emperor desired the Eastern Bishops might not meet there, but in whatever other Place they should agree among themselves to be the most proper and convenient^[873]. This Theodoret ascribes to a particular Providence, that would not suffer the great Council of Nice to be ever confounded with a Conventicle of Heretics^[874]. |and Seleucia in
Isauria for those of
the East.| As the Bishops could not agree about the Place, and it was not at all probable they should, the Emperor, by the Advice of a few, who were then with him at Sirmium, named the City of Seleucia in Isauria^[875]. And now that the Place was settled for both Councils, Constantius issued an Order, injoining not only the chief Bishops of each Province, as he had done the Year before, but all, without Exception, to repair to one of the Two^[876]; nay, he dispatched Officers into the Provinces, with a strict Charge to see his Order punctually obeyed, and put in Execution^[877]. The Bishops therefore set out from all Parts; the public Carriages, Roads, and Houses, were every-where crouded with them; which gave great Offence to the Catechumens, and no small Diversion to the Pagans, who thought it equally strange and ridiculous, that Men, who had been brought up from their Infancy in the Christian Religion, and whose Business it was to instruct others in that Belief, should be constantly hurrying, in their old Age, from one Place to another, to know what they themselves should believe^[878]. Ammianus Marcellinus complains, that the necessary Funds for the Maintenance of the public Carriages were quite drained and exhausted, by the roaming about of the Christian Bishops^[879]. Their Charges were defrayed by the Emperor, as I have observed above; but the Bishops of Gaul and Britain, that they might be the more independent, insisted upon travelling at their own Expence; only Three of the latter, not having wherewithal to support themselves, chose rather to be obliged to the Emperor than burdensome to their Collegues, who generously offered to contribute to their Maintenance, every one according to his Ability^[880].

The Western Bishops, that is, those of Illyricum, Italy, Africa, Spain, Gaul, and Britain, being assembled at Rimini, in all 400 and upwards^[881], the Emperor writ to Taurus, the Præfectus Prætorio of Italy, charging him to be present at all the Debates, and not to suffer the Bishops to separate, till, in Points of Faith, they had all agreed: if he succeeded therein, he was to be rewarded with the Consular Dignity^[882]. |The Emperor’s Letter
to the Western
Bishops.| At the same time he writ to the Bishops, injoining them to treat only of such Matters as related to the Faith, Unity, and Order of the Church, and forbidding them to meddle, on any Pretence whatsoever, with what concerned the Eastern Bishops, who, he said, would take care to settle their own Affairs, since they were met for that Purpose^[883]. This was to prevent their entering upon the Cause of Athanasius, whom he well knew the Western Bishops would have declared innocent. The Emperor’s Letter is dated the 27th of May 359^[884]. At this Council Restitutus Bishop of Carthage is supposed to have presided, as he was, both for Piety and Learning, the most conspicuous in the Assembly. |The Arians propose
a new Confession
drawn up at
Sirmium;| At their first Meeting, the Two Arian Bishops, Ursacius and Valens, appeared with a Paper in their Hands, containing a new Confession of Faith, composed lately at Sirmium by the Emperor, by a small Number of Arian and Semi-Arian Bishops, and several Presbyters and Deacons, who, after a Debate, which lasted the whole Day, had at length agreed to suppress the Word Consubstantial; and introduce the Word like in its room; so that the Son was no more to be said consubstantial, but like to the Father in all Things; the Three last Words Constantius added, and, by obliging all who were present to sign them, defeated, say the Semi-Arians, the wicked Designs of the Heretics, meaning the Pure Arians^[885]. However, excepting those Words, the whole Confession was thought to favour their Doctrine^[886]; whence the Semi-Arians held out till Night, when the Emperor, well satisfied with the Words like in all things, obliged them to sign it. This Confession of Faith was drawn up, and signed, on the Eve of Pentecost^[887], that is, on the 22d or 23d of May 359^[888]. Easter having fallen that Year on the 4th of April^[889][N17]. Ursacius and Valens read it to the Council, adding, when they had done, that it had been approved of by the Emperor, and therefore that they ought all to be satisfied with it, without recurring to any other Councils or Creeds, without demanding any other Confession of the Heretics, or inquiring too narrowly into their Doctrine and Opinions, which would be attended with much Trouble, endless Disputes, and eternal Divisions; that the Catholic Truths, which all Men were bound to believe, ought not to be darkened with Metaphysical Terms, but expressed by Words, which all Men understood; and, lastly, that it was quite idle to quarrel and make so much Noise about a Word (meaning the Word consubstantial) which none of the inspired Writers had thought fit to make use of in explaining the Mysteries of our holy Religion^[890]. What Answer the Council returned, I can find no-where recorded. But a Motion being made soon after to condemn and anathematize the Arian and all other Heresies, Ursacius and his Party opposed it; which alarmed the Orthodox Bishops, concluding from thence, that whatever Expressions they made use of, their Belief was different from that of the Catholic Church. |which is rejected;| They therefore resolved to hearken to them no longer; and accordingly, without the least Regard to their Remonstrances and Protestations, they condemned, with one Consent, all Heresies in general, and that of Arius in particular; declared heretical the Confession of Faith presented by Ursacius and Valens; confirmed that of Nice, and ordered the Word consubstantial to be retained, since the true Meaning of it might be sufficiently gathered from several Passages in Scripture^[891]. |and they condemned
and deposed.| They did not stop here; but, transported with Zeal on the Arians attempting to impose upon them by a Second Confession of Faith, they declared them all, and their Leaders Ursacius, Valens, Germinius, and Caius, by Name, ignorant and deceitful Men, Impostors, Heretics, deposed them in the Council, and signed all to a Man this Declaration on the 21st of July of the present Year 359^[892].

With this Act they put an End to the Sessions, and immediately dispatched Ten Deputies to acquaint the Emperor with what had passed, pursuant to his express Command. The like Number was sent by the Arians, who had assisted at the Council. These, traveling with great Expedition, arrived at Constantinople, where the Court then was, some time before the others; and, being immediately admitted to the Emperor, they prejudiced him to such a Degree against the Orthodox Party, that he would not so much as see their Deputies, pretending to be wholly taken up with the Affairs of the State. They were therefore obliged to deliver the Letter, which the Council had written on this Occasion, to one of his Ministers^[893]. They expected every Day to be admitted to an Audience, or, at least, to receive an Answer, and be dismissed. |who leaves
Constantinople
without seeing them.| But, after they had been thus kept for some time in Expectation, the Emperor all on a sudden left Constantinople, in order to head his Army against the Barbarians, who had broken into the Empire. He was no sooner gone than one of the Ministers came to acquaint them, that it was the Emperor’s Pleasure they should repair forthwith to Adrianople, and there wait his Return^[894]. However, before he set out, he writ to the Council, giving them notice of his sudden Departure from Constantinople; and alleging, by way of Excuse for not having seen or heard their Deputies, the present Situation of public Affairs, which had engrossed his whole Attention, whereas, the discussing and settling of spiritual Affairs required a Mind quite free and disengaged from all worldly Cares. |He endeavours to tire
their Patience with
Delays.| He concluded his short Letter with intreating them not to think of separating till he was at Leisure to settle, in Conjunction with them, Matters of so great Importance to the Church, and the whole Christian World^[895]. The Design of the most wicked Constantius, as Athanasius styles him^[896], was to tire out the Bishops with such Delays, hoping they would, in the End, chuse rather to sign the last Sirmian Confession, which he was bent upon establishing in the room of the Nicene, than to be long kept, as it were, in Exile, at a Distance from their Sees^[897]. But this he could not compass for the present, the Bishops declaring, in their Answer to his Letter, that they could not, and hoped they never should, upon any Consideration whatsoever, depart from what they had so unanimously settled and decreed^[898]. Socrates writes, that the Bishops, after having waited some time in vain for the Emperor’s Answer to their Letter, left Rimini, and retired to their respective Sees^[899]. And here he ends his Account of that Council. It were greatly to be wished, that nothing else could be said of it; but several contemporary and unexceptionable Writers, and Hilarius among the rest^[900], assure us, that Constantius changed at last the Faith of the Western Bishops into Impiety. Of this deplorable Change they give us the following Account.

The Arians, taking Occasion from the last Letter of the Bishops at Rimini to incense Constantius against them, prevailed upon him to order their Deputies to a City in Thrace, known at that Time by the Name of Nice, but formerly called Ostudizus, and placed by Sanson a few Leagues to the East of Adrianople. This Place they chose, that the Symbol, which they designed to impose upon them, might be confounded by the ignorant People with that of the great Council of Nice in Bithynia^[901]. The Deputies no sooner arrived there, than a Confession of Faith was proposed to them intirely agreeable to the last made at Sirmium, except that in this new Creed the Son was declared like to the Father, without the Addition of the Words in all Things. This they rejected at first with great Resolution and Intrepidity; but the Arians were no less resolute, and therefore left nothing unattempted they could think of to carry their Point^[902]. But finding Hope and Fear, Threats and Promises, equally ineffectual, they proceeded at last to open Force and Violence^[903]. What Kind of Violence was employed against them, the Author does not tell us; but Marcellinus and Faustinus ascribe their retracting what they had declared to be holy, and approving what they had condemned as impious, to the Love of their Sees, and the Dread they were in of being driven from them^[904]. |where they sign the
Sirmian Confession.| Be that as it will, it is certain, that they yielded at last; that they accepted and signed, without the least Limitation or Restriction, the above-mentioned Confession of Faith; consented to the Suppression of the Word Consubstantial; declared void and null all the Acts and Proceedings of the Council of Rimini; anathematized, as heretical, all Opinions contrary to the Doctrine contained in the said Confession; and, finally, admitted to their Communion Ursacius, Valens, Germinius, and Caius, whom they had not long before deposed as Heretics^[905]. Restitutus, Bishop of Carthage, and one of the most eminent Prelates at that Time in the Church, signed the first, and the other Deputies after him, according to the Dignity of their Sees. The Emperor, transported with Joy at the News of their Compliance, which he looked upon as a signal Victory, gave them immediately Leave to return to Rimini. At the same time he wrote to Taurus, charging him anew not to suffer the Bishops to depart till they had all signed the same Confession of Faith, and impowering him to send into Exile such as by their Obstinacy should distinguish themselves above the rest, provided they were not above Fifteen in Number^[906]. |Constantius orders
the Bishops at Rimini
to suppress the Words
Substance and
Consubstantial.| He likewise writ to the Bishops, commanding them, on Pain of incurring his Indignation, to suppress for ever the Words Substance and Consubstantial, severely reprimanding them for presuming to depose Ursacius and his Collegues, and assuring them, that they should not be allowed to return to their Sees, till they had intitled themselves to his Favour by an intire and unreserved Compliance with his Will^[907]. To this Letter the Arians, who had assisted at the Council, to the Number of Eighty, returned a most submissive Answer, and even thanked the Emperor for the great Pains he took to establish the true Doctrine^[908]. However, Taurus declared that he could by no means suffer them to depart till the rest had agreed with them, and the whole Assembly was of one Mind. The orthodox Bishops shewed at first some Resolution, and even refused to communicate with their own Deputies. But this Resolution soon vanished; they were eager to return to their Sees; the Emperor was inflexible; Taurus took care to render the Place both inconvenient and disagreeable to them. |The greater Part
yield.| Some therefore fell off, others followed their Example, the rest began to waver, and, being so far got the better of, yielded soon after, and went over to the Arian Party in such Crouds, that in a very short time the Number of the orthodox Bishops, who continued steady, was reduced to 20^[909]. At the Head of these was Phœbadius, the celebrated Bishop of Agen, who seemed invincible; but nevertheless was overcome in the End, not by the Menaces of the Emperor, or his Prefect, but by the Craft and Subtilty of Ursacius and Valens, who, finding they could by no other Means prevail upon him to accept the Sirmian Confession, declared, that to put an End to the unhappy Divisions that had so long rent the Church, they had at last resolved to agree to such Alterations and Additions as should be judged proper and necessary by him and his Collegues. This Declaration was received by all with great Joy: Phœbadius triumphed, thinking he had carried his Point, and saved the Reputation of the Council. |The others imposed
upon by the Arians.| To the Symbol were immediately added several Anathemas against the Arian Heresy, and an Article declaring the Son equal to the Father, without Beginning, and before all Time. When this Article was read, Valens desired, that, in order to leave no room for new Disputes or Chicanery, they would add, that the Son was not a Creature like other Creatures^[910]. This was evidently supposing the Son to be a Creature only exalted above all other Creatures; so that by admitting such an Article they condemned the Doctrine which they designed to establish, and established that which they designed to condemn. And yet of this neither was Phœbadius aware, nor any of his Party, as they afterwards solemnly declared^[911]. A most unaccountable Oversight, and hardly credible! But Theodoret^[912], Ambrose^[913], Sulpitius Severus^[914], and Fulgentius^[915], took it upon their Word, and so must we. Neither Party could brag of the Victory; for the Arians had anathematized the Heresy of Arius; and on the other hand the orthodox Bishops had deliberately agreed to the suppressing of the Words Substance and Consubstantial, and inadvertently acknowleged the Son to be a Creature; which was all the Arians aimed at, or could desire. The Council being thus ended, new Deputies were sent to acquaint the Emperor with what had passed, who being highly pleased with the Report made by Ursacius and Valens (for they were at the Head of the Deputation) immediately granted the Bishops Leave to return to their respective Sees, after they had been about Four Months at Rimini.

The Council no sooner broke up than the Arians began to proclaim aloud the Victory they had gained, bragging, that it had not been defined in the Council of Rimini, that the Son was not a Creature, but only that he was not like other Creatures; and declaring it was, and had always been their Opinion, that the Son was no more like the Father, than a Piece of Glass was like an Emerald^[916]. |They discover their
Mistake.| Phœbadius, and the other Bishops who had adhered to him, were returned to their Sees with great Joy, flattering themselves that they had sufficiently established the Catholic Doctrine, and prevented all future Disputes: but, finding that the Arians pretended their Tenets had been confirmed by this very Council, and seriously reflecting on the Articles, which they themselves had agreed to, they discovered at last how grosly they had been imposed upon, and publicly retracted all they had said, done, or signed, repugnant to the Truths of the Catholic Church^[917]. However, Gregory Bishop of Elvira refused to communicate with any of the Bishops who had assisted at the Council of Rimini, and was on that account commended by Eusebius of Vercelli^[918]. |Are judged Guilty by
the exiled Bishops.| The exiled Bishops, and those who lay concealed, agreed among themselves by Letters, to declare them for ever incapable of performing any Episcopal or Sacerdotal Functions, and to admit them to the Communion of the Church only in the Capacity of Laymen^[919]. When Peace was restored to the Church by the Death of Constantius in 361. most of the orthodox Bishops were for deposing all those of the Council of Rimini, and placing others in their room. But this Sentence the People would not suffer to be put in Execution, rising every-where in Defence of their Pastors, and in some Places insulting, beating, and even killing, those who came to depose them^[920].

As for the Council of Seleucia, it met on the 27th of September 359. and consisted only of One hundred and Sixty Bishops, all Arians, or Semi-Arians, except Twelve or Thirteen orthodox Bishops from Egypt^[921]. This Assembly Gregory Nazianzen calls the Tower of Calane, or Babel, the Council of Caiaphas^[922]. And indeed with a great deal of Reason; for nothing was there seen but Tumult, Confusion, and Disorder. The Anomeans and Semi-Arians appeared so irreconcilably incensed against each other, and carried on their Debates with so much Animosity and Bitterness, that the Quæstor Leonas, whom the Emperor had appointed to assist at the Council, thinking it impossible they should ever agree in any one Point, rose up at their Fourth Meeting, while they were in the Heat of the Dispute, and, withdrawing abruptly, put an End to that Session, nay, and to the Council; for, being invited the next Day, the First of October, to the Assembly, he refused to go, saying, that he did not conceive his Presence to be at all necessary, since they might quarrel and scold as much as they pleased without him^[923]. This he did, says Sozomen, to favour the Anomeans, who thence took Occasion to absent themselves from the Council, which, as it was chiefly composed of Semi-Arians, seemed determined to condemn their Doctrine^[924]. |The Semi-Arians
condemn and depose
the Arians.| However, the Semi-Arians met by themselves; and, finding they could by no means prevail upon the Anomeans to return to the Council, they condemned their Doctrine as heretical and blasphemous, excommunicated and deposed the leading Men of their Party, appointed others in their room, and gave Notice thereof to their respective Churches^[925]. Before they broke up, they dispatched Ten Deputies to acquaint the Emperor with the Transactions of the Council. But the Bishops whom they had deposed, arriving at Court before them, and being by their Friends there immediately introduced to Constantius, they prejudiced him against the Council of Seleucia to such a Degree, that it was some time before he could prevail upon himself to hear the Deputies. |They sign the last
Confession of Sirmium.| However, he heard them at last, and, by threatening them with Exile if they did not comply, obliged them to sign the last Confession of Sirmium, which had been rejected by the Council as Arian^[926]. In this he spent the whole Day, and great Part of the Night, preceding the First of January, though he was obliged to make the necessary Preparations for entering on that Day his Tenth Consulate with the usual Pomp and Solemnity^[927].

In the Beginning of the Year 360. the Anomeans assembling by themselves at Constantinople as the Semi-Arians had done at Seleucia, in order to ingratiate themselves with the Emperor, not only received the last Sirmian Confession, but condemned all other Confessions or Symbols that had been made till then, or should be made for the future. They then declared all the Acts of the Council of Seleucia void and null; and, to be even with the Semi-Arians, deposed, under various Pretences, such of their Party as had most contributed to the deposing of them, and even prevailed upon the Emperor to send them into Exile^[928].

They did not stop here, but obtained of Constantius an Order, which was published throughout the Empire, commanding all Bishops to sign the Sirmian Confession, on pain of forfeiting their Dignity, and being sent into Exile^[929][N18]. This Order was executed with the utmost Rigour in all the Provinces of the Empire, and very few were found, who did not sign with their Hands what they condemned in their Hearts^[930]. Many, who till then had been thought invincible, were overcome, and complied with the Times; and such as did not, were driven, without Distinction, from their Sees, into Exile, and others appointed in their room, the signing of that Confession being a Qualification indispensably requisite both for obtaining and keeping the Episcopal Dignity^[931]. Thus were all the Sees throughout the Empire filled with Arians, insomuch that in the whole East not one orthodox Bishop was left, and in the West but one, viz. Gregory Bishop of Elvira in Andalusia, and he, in all Likelihood, obliged to absent himself from his Flock, and lie concealed, as were probably Pope Liberius, and Vincentius of Capua, if what Theodoret relates of them be true, viz. that they never consented to the Decrees of Rimini^[932], and thereby retrieved the Reputation they had lost, the former by signing the Sirmian Confession of the Year 357. and the other by communicating with the Arians in 353. as I have related above. |It was probably
signed by Liberius.| But what Theodoret writes may be justly called in question; for it is not at all probable, that the Emperor, and the Arian Party, so warmly bent on establishing that Confession throughout the Empire, would have suffered the Bishop of the Imperial City, of the first See, to reject it, without deposing him, as they had done the Bishops of all the other great Sees, and appointing another more compliant in his room. This could not be prevented by his concealing himself in the Caverns and Cœmeteries about Rome, as he is said to have done in his Acts quoted by Baronius^[933], though he might by that means have escaped being sent into Exile. Besides, had he, instead of complying with the Emperor’s express Command, withdrawn and absconded, I cannot think that his Antagonist Felix, who was still alive, and had done nothing we know of to disoblige the Emperor, and the Arian Party, by whom he had been formerly raised to that See, would have neglected so favourable an Opportunity of recovering his antient Dignity. If what Theodoret says be true, Gregory Nazianzen is highly to blame for not excepting Liberius; when he writ, that the Bishops either all complied, or were driven into Exile, excepting a few, who were too insignificant to be taken notice of by the Emperor, or his Ministers^[934]. |Arianism universally
obtains.| Be that as it will, it is certain, that at this time the Arian Doctrine universally obtained; that the Face of the Church appeared quite deformed and disfigured^[935], that the whole World saw itself, with Astonishment, all on a sudden become Arian^[936]; that the Boat of St. Peter, to use St. Jerom’s Expression, tossed by furious Winds, by violent Storms, was upon the Point of sinking, and no Hopes of Safety seemed to be left^[937].

The following Year 361. the Anomeans, not fully satisfied with the Confession of Faith, which, at their Suggestion, the Emperor had taken so much Pains to establish throughout the Empire, assembled, with his Leave, at Antioch, and there drew up a new Symbol, or Creed, wherein it was expresly said, that the Son was in every thing unlike to the Father, and that He was made out of nothing. |Constantius designs
to establish the
Doctrine of the Pure
Arians;| Constantius had formerly expressed the greatest Abhorrence to this Doctrine, and had even banished those who held, and refused to anathematize, such impious Blasphemies, as he then styled them^[938]. But, having lately changed his Opinion, which was chiefly owing to the great Influence the Eunuch Eusebius had over him, he was now no less sanguine for the Unlikeness of the Son to the Father, than he had been hitherto for the Likeness^[939]. In order therefore to abolish the antient, and establish this new Creed in its room, he appointed a Council to meet at Nice in Bithynia^[940], which, without all Doubt, he would have treated in the same manner as he had done that of Rimini. |but is prevented by
Death.| But, as the Bishops were preparing to set out for the appointed Place, they were stopped by the sudden and unexpected News of the Emperor’s Death, which put an End to all his Councils, and was heard with equal Joy by those of the Orthodox and Semi-Arian Party. He was succeeded by Julian, surnamed the Apostate, who immediately recalled all those who had been banished by Constantius on account of their Religion^[941]. |The exiled Bishops
recalled by Julian.| Whatever was his Motive, the Church reaped great Advantages from the Return of so many eminent Prelates, who, in the worst of Times, had, with an invincible Firmness and Constancy, stood up in her Defence. Among the rest returned, on this Occasion, the famous Meletius Bishop of Antioch, Eusebius of Vercelli, Lucifer of Cagliari, who had been all Three confined to the most distant Parts of Thebais in Egypt, Cyril of Jerusalem, Pelagius of Laodicea in Phœnicia, and, to the inexpressible Joy of the Orthodox Party, their great Champion Athanasius Bishop of Alexandria^[942], who immediately resumed, undisturbed, his Episcopal Function; George, the Usurper of his See, having been assassinated a little while before by the Pagans of Alexandria, on account of his Avarice and Cruelty^[943]. In other Places the Orthodox Bishops, finding the Arians in Possession of their Sees, contented themselves with being acknowleged by those of their Communion, without attempting to drive out their Antagonists, which would have created great Confusion, and endless Disturbances in the Church. Julian refused to interpose his Authority in favour of either Party, saying, that as he was not so well acquainted with the Nature of their Disputes as a just and impartial Judge ought to be, he hoped they would excuse him, lest he should be guilty of some Injustice, and settle Matters of such Importance among themselves. Athanasius entered Alexandria in a kind of Triumph, which is described in a lively manner by Gregory Nazianzen, who seems to have pleased himself with displaying, in that Description, all the Eloquence he was Master of^[944].