Section 491
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COUNCIL OF NICE. 9 to be reconciled, by Hosius, bishop of Corduba, a city of Spain, who was a man of approved fidelity, and greatly beloved by the emperor. He had reached the age of seventy, had been a bishop thirty years, was a confessor in the persecution of Maximian, and celebrated throughout the Church. This letter, however well in tended, produced but little effect. The disorder indeed, had ac quired such a degree of virulence, that neither the endeavors of the emperor, nor the influence and authority of his messenger, were of any avail. Both Alexander and Arius remained inflexi ble, the people disputed with still greater acrimony, and tumults became more frequent. J But there was another subject which occasioned considerable uneasiness in the Church, viz. the difference which arose among the orientals with respect to the proper day of keeping Easter, some celebrating that festival in the manner of the Jews, and others following the custom of Christians throughout the rest of the world. This diversity of practice, however, with regard to the day of observing that important solemnity, did not hinder reli gious fellowship, although it might cast a shade of gloom over the joyful anniversary of our Saviour's resurrection. The empe ror, therefore, finding that the quiet of the Church was not a little disturbed by these two evils, assembled (by the advice of some of the prelates, according to Rufinus,) a/ general council, inviting, by letter, all the bishops to meet at Nice/ in Bithynia, and furnishing them with the means of conveyance. In consequence, a great number of them, not less than thyee hundred and eighteen,* ar rived from various cities and territories, attended by a vast con* The early historians of the church differ considerably as to the number of bishops assembled on this occasion. Athanasius mentions about three hundred, and in one passage of his work expressly says that there were three hundred and eighteen. Eusebius speaks of more than two hundred and fifty. Eustathius, of Antioch, who was present, as well as the two already named, and was an active member of the synod, declares that there wore about two hundred and seventy, but that he cannot give the exact number, on account of the great mul titude who attended ; nor indeed does he profess to have been very solicitous to ascertain it. Sozomen reckons about three hundred and twenty. The number mentioned in the text was at length generally admitted as the correct one. See Cave, Hist. Eccles. Lit. p. 223.