Section 501
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COUNCIL OF NICE. 19 of having betrayed the truth.* The council wishing to set aside the terms employed by the Arians, and to use words authorized by scripture, said that our Lord was by nature the only Son of God, the alone Word, power and wisdom of the Father, true God, according to St. John ; the splendor of the glory, and the image of the substance of the Father, as St. Paul writes. The parti- / sans of Eusebius said among themselves,! let us consent to this, for we also are of God, since it is written, " there is one God, from whom aU things proceed." And in another place, " old things have passed away, and all things are new, but all things are of God." The bishops, however, who comprehended their design, explained more clearly the words " of God," by saying that the Son was of the substance of God. It is true, they remarked, that creatures are said to be from God, because they exist not of them selves, nor without a cause ; but the Son alone is properly of the substance of the Father. For this is peculiar to the only begot ten and true Word of the Father, and therefore the expression " of the substance of the Father" has been employed. The prelates having again asked the Arians, who seemed to be few in number, if they allowed that the Son was not a creature, but the alone power, wisdom and image of the Father, and in no respect whatever different from him, and that he is true God, it was observed, that Eusebius and his adherents made signs to one another that all these particulars might agree to men, for we too, said they, are called the image and glory of God. There are many powers, for it is written, " all the powers of God went out of Egypt." The caterpillars and locusts too are called the great power. " The God of powers is with us, the God of Jacob, our protector." We are not merely the children of God, since the Son of God himself calls us his brethren. And as to their de nominating the Son true God, that occasions us, they said, no embarrassment, for he is so truly, because he has been made so. But the bishops perceiving their sophistry and dissimulation, pro duced a collection of passages from the sacred writings, where the * Theodoret, I. 7. t Athan. de decret. p. 367, et epist. ad Africanos, as reported by Theodoret. 1.8.