o do with
him in religious matters. Thus Arius was obliged to leave Egypt, and he
lived for a while at Nicomedia, with a bishop who was an old friend of
his. And while he was there, he made a set of songs to be sung at meals,
and others for travellers, sailors, and the like. He hoped that people
would learn these songs, without considering what mischief was in them;
and that so his heresy would be spread.

When Constantine first heard of these troubles, he tried to quiet them
by advising Alexander and Arius not to dispute about trifles. But he
soon found that this would not do, and that the question whether our
Lord and Saviour were God or a creature was so far from being a trifle,
that it was one of the most serious of all questions. In order,
therefore, to get this and some other matters settled, he gave orders
for a general council to meet. Councils of bishops within a certain
district had long been common. In many countries they were regularly
held once or twice a year; and, besides these regular meetings, others
were sometimes called together to consider any business which was
particularly pressing. Some of these councils were very great; for
instance, the bishop of Alexander could call together the bishops of all
Egypt, and the bishop of Antioch could call together all the bishops of
Syria and some neighbouring countries. But there was no bishop who could
call a council of the whole Church, because there was no one who had any
power over more than a part of it. But now, Constantine, as he had
become a Christian, thought that he might gather a council from all
quarters of his empire, and this was the first of what are called the
_general_ councils.

It met in the year 325, at Nicaea (or Nice), in Bithynia, and 318 bishops
attended it. A number of clergy and other persons were also present;
even some heathen philosophers went, out of curiosity to see what the
Christians were to do. Many of the bishops were very homely and simple
men, who had not much learning; but their great business was only to say
plainly what their belief had always been, so that it might be known
whether the doctrines of Arius agreed with this or no; and thus the good
bishops might do their part very well, although they were not persons of
any great learning or cleverness. One of these simpler bishops was drawn
into talk by a philosopher, who tried to puzzle him about the truth of
the Gospel. The bishop was not used to argue or to dispute much