Section 499
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COUNCIL OF NICE. 17 faction to see you assembled together. But I shall consider the object of my prayers and labors as fully obtained, when I shall behold you united in the purpose of promoting harmony and con cord ; which, as persons consecrated to God, it is your duty to preach, and to inculcate on others. Endeavor then, my friends, ministers of God, and faithful servants of a common master and Saviour, that, the causes of your disagreement being removed, all the asperities of controversy may be smoothed by the dictates of peace. By pursuing this course, you will not only do that, which is pleasing to God, who is exalted above all, but will con fer an important benefit on myself, your fellow servant." The emperor also remarked,* that the power of the enemy being de stroyed, and no one remaining to make any resistance, it would be deplorable indeed, if they should now molest one another, and give occasion to those, who regarded them with no friendly as pect, to turn their quarrels into ridicule. Their business, he said, was with matters of theology, the decision of which depended on the instructions which the Holy Spirit had left them. The gos pel, the letters of the apostles, and the works of the ancient pro phets, teach us, with sufficient clearness, what we are obliged to believe concerning the divine nature. Let us then renounce all angry contentions, and seek in the books which the Holy Ghost has dictated, the solution of our doubts. The oration of Constantine was pronounced in Latin, which was his vernacular tongue. Another person translated it into Greek, which was better understood by most of the fathers, as it was generally diffused in all parts of the East. The emperor then gave those who presided in the council an opportunity of speaking, and permitted the members to examine matters of doc trine and religious differences. The opinions of Arius were first examined in the presence of the emperor. He repeated what he had said on former occasions. The Eusebians, anxious to defend him, entered into the dispute. The other bishops, who were beyond comparison the greater number, mildly required them to give an account of their doo* Theodoret, I. 7. 2