Church-history of the government of bishops and their councils abbreviated including the chief part…

§. 46. XXV. Next a Roman Council is mentioned by Binnius p. 279. for a Conference with Jews before Constantine, but he saith the Acts that now are extant are full of falsehoods.

§. 46. XXV. Next a Roman Council is mentioned by Binnius p. 279. for a Conference with Iews before Constantine, but he saith the Acts that now are extant are full of falsehoods.

§. 47. XXVI. An. 315. They place us a Council at Alexandria in which Alexander, with many Bishops, condemned Eusebius Nicomed▪ with Arius and that the rest adhered to them, especially as holding that Christ was not Eternal, but was a Creature that had a beginning, and that the Wisdom and Word of God was not the Son, but made the Son.

§. 48. XXVII. Another Council at Alexand. they tell us of, against the Arians, and the Meletian Schismatics: but the Acts are not known. To this is annexed an Epistle of Constantine to Alexander and Arius, recorded by Euseb. C•sar in vitâ Constant. in which Constantine chideth them both for their Contention, and seemeth to take the Question for unsearchable and to be disputed, saying, I understand that the foundation of the Controversy ⟨p. 42⟩was hence laid, that thou Alexander didst ask questions of the Presbyters about a certain Text of Scripture; yea, about a certain idle Particle of a Question •idst enquire, what every one of them thought? And thou Arius didst inconsiderately blurt out that which thou hadst not before thought of, or if thou hadst thought of it, thou oughtest to have past by in silence: Whence discord was stirred up among you, and the meeting hindered which is wont to be made in the Church, and the most holy people distracted into several parts, is divided from the compagination of the whole body of the Church. Therefore both of you, forgiving one another, approve of that which your fellow-servant doth not without cause exhort you to: And what is that? That to such Questions you neither Ask, nor Answer, if asked: For such Questions as no Law or Ecclesiastic Canon doth necessarily prescribe, but the vain strife of dissolute idleness doth propose, though they may serve to exercise acuteness of wit, yet we ought to contemn them in the inner thought of the mind, and neither rashly to bring them out into the public Assemblies of the People, nor unadvisedly to trust them to the Ears of the Vulgar. For how few are they that can accurately enough perceive the force of things so weighty, and so involved in obscurity? But if there be some one that is confident that he can easily do and reach this, yet I pray you, how small a part of the multitude is it, that he can make to understand him? Or who is there, that in the curious search of such Questions, is not in danger of a fall?