Section 512
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30 COUNCIL OF NICE. ever, from what cause so general an ebullition of indignant feel ing proceeded. Was it not that their ears were wounded by language which they considered as blasphemous, and that senti ments were avowed which they regarded as alien from the belief of every part of the globe enlightened by the gospel, and contrary to the uniform and uninterrupted tradition every where received from the times of the apostles ; a tradition to which, as well as to the scriptures, they solemnly appealed ; while, on the other hand, although the Arians alleged passages from the sacred writings in support of their opinion, they did not even pretend that it was sanctioned by the ancient and universal faith of the Christian Church? It will only be added, that the greater part of the protestant community believe that the doctrine of our Saviour's divinity is satisfactorily proved by the Scriptures alone, independently of any foreign aid, on a fair application to the sacred text of the legitimate rules of interpretation. But if, on a view of what has been advanced from the words of scripture for and against that doctrine, any doubt on the subject should remain, would not the historical evidence afforded by the result of the synod of Nice, (evidence which, in secular concerns, would be esteemed of great importance in determining a question of fact,) go far to remove it, without assuming, with the Church of Rome, the infallible autho rity of that venerable convocation, or believing, with Constantine, that its decision was guided by divine inspiration ? The opinions of the "disputatious presbyter" of Alexandria, whose followers were soon divided into several sects, long con tinued to be the occasion of angry contentions and mutual perse cutions, by no means becoming such as " profess and call them selves Christians." The Arians flourished, at one period, in the sunshine of imperial favor, and were involved, at another, in dis grace and calamity. But their internal dissensions hastened their decline. The faith established at Nice prevailed at length, and " the consubstantiality of the Father and the Son," says a modern historian,* "has been unanimously received as a fundamental article of the Christian faith, by the consent of the Greek, the Latin, the Oriental, and the Protestant Churches." * Gibbon, Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, Vol. III. p. 334.