subsist only in the mind which conceives them. The Logos is no longer a
person, but an attribute; and it is only in a figurative sense that the
epithet of Son can be applied to the eternal reason, which was with God
from the beginning, and by which, not by whom, all things were made. The
incarnation of the Logos is reduced to a mere inspiration of the Divine
Wisdom, which filled the soul, and directed all the actions, of the
man Jesus. Thus, after revolving around the theological circle, we are
surprised to find that the Sabellian ends where the Ebionite had begun;
and that the incomprehensible mystery which excites our adoration,
eludes our inquiry.

If the bishops of the council of Nice had been permitted to follow the
unbiased dictates of their conscience, Arius and his associates could
scarcely have flattered themselves with the hopes of obtaining a
majority of votes, in favor of an hypothesis so directly averse to
the two most popular opinions of the Catholic world. The Arians soon
perceived the danger of their situation, and prudently assumed those
modest virtues, which, in the fury of civil and religious dissensions,
are seldom practised, or even praised, except by the weaker party. They
recommended the exercise of Christian charity and moderation; urged the
incomprehensible nature of the controversy, disclaimed the use of any
terms or definitions which could not be found in the Scriptures; and
offered, by very liberal concessions, to satisfy their adversaries
without renouncing the integrity of their own principles. The victorious
faction received all their proposals with haughty suspicion; and
anxiously sought for some irreconcilable mark of distinction,
the rejection of which might involve the Arians in the guilt and
consequences of heresy. A letter was publicly read, and ignominiously
torn, in which their patron, Eusebius of Nicomedia, ingenuously
confessed, that the admission of the Homoousion, or Consubstantial,
a word already familiar to the Platonists, was incompatible with the
principles of their theological system. The fortunate opportunity was
eagerly embraced by the bishops, who governed the resolutions of the
synod; and, according to the lively expression of Ambrose, they used the
sword, which heresy itself had drawn from the scabbard, to cut off the
head of the hated monster. The consubstantiality of the Father and the
Son was established by the council of Nice, and has been unanimously
received as