Page:History of Heresies (Liguori).djvu/68

60 one another, and, by their very answers, showed the inconsistency of their opinions.

14. The Arians were asked by the Catholics: If they admitted that the Son of God was in everything like the Father—if he was his image—if he always existed—if he was unchangeable—if he was subsistent in the Father—if he was the power of God—if he was true God. At first the Arian party were undecided, whether they should admit all or only part of these terms; but the Eusebians, having whispered a while among themselves, agreed to admit them all. They could grant he was like the Father, they argued, and his image, since it is written in St. Paul (1 Cor. ii. 7), "that man is the image and glory of God;" they might say he was subsistent in the Father, since, in the Acts, xvii. 28, it is written, "in him we live, we move, and be;" that he always existed, since it is written of us (2 Cor. iv. 11), "For we who live are always delivered unto death for Jesus's sake," so that even we have always existed in the power and mind of God; that he was immutable, since it is written that nothing could separate us from the charity of God, "Nor life nor death shall be able to separate us from the love of God"—the power of God, for even soothsayers are called the power of God—the true God, for the Son of God, by his merits, he was made God, a name sometimes given unto men: "I said you are Gods" (John, x. 34).

15. The Fathers of the Council, seeing how they thus distorted the Scriptures, and gave their own meaning to the texts, judged it necessary to avail themselves of a word which would remove all doubts, and could not be explained away by their adversaries, and this word was "consubstantial," which they considered as necessary to be introduced into the profession of faith, using the Greek word "omousion," the meaning of which is that the Son is not only like, but is the very thing, the very substance, with the Father, as our Saviour himself says—"I and the Father are one" (John, x. 30). The Arians stoutly refused to admit this expression, for that one word did away with all subterfuges, and knocked away the last prop on which this heresy rested; they made, therefore, many objections, but all were overruled. We shall treat more fully of this in the third part of the work, The Theological Refutation of Errors.

16. The Emperor, Cardinal Orsi says, was anxious to be present at the last session of this synod, and wished it to be held in his palace, and came from Nicomedia to Nice for that purpose. When he entered the assembly, some discontented bishops handed him memorials, accusing their colleagues, and appealing to his judgment; but he ordered them to be burnt, making use of those remarkable expressions quoted by Noel Alexander, "God has made you priests, and has given you power even to judge ourselves,