ence of three hundred and fifty bishops. The acts of this synod have
been preserved, and they are stated by Gibbon to be "a curious monument of
superstition and ignorance, of falsehood and folly." I am afraid that
there is but too much truth in this severe judgment of Gibbon; and the
following passage relating to the same council, which I have extracted,
not from Gibbon, or any writer of the school to which he belonged, but
from the celebrated Roman Catholic historian of the church, Abbe Fleury,
will enable the reader to form his own judgment on this subject.

After describing the confession of faith signed by that council, which
declared that the images of the saints are to be worshipped, because they
remind us of those whom they represent, and make us participators in their
merits, he says:--

"The last passages showed that God was making miracles by means of images;
and in order to confirm it, a discourse, ascribed to St Athanasius, was
read. It contained the account of a pretended miracle, which happened at
Beryt, with an image of Christ, which, having been pierced by the Jews,
emitted blood, which healed many sick persons. The fathers of the council
were so much moved by this account that they shed tears. It is, however,
certain, that this discourse is not by St Athanasius, and it is even very
doubtful whether the story which it contains is true. Thus it appears that
amongst all the bishops present at this council, there was not a single
one versed in the science of criticism, because many other false documents
were produced in that assembly. This proves nothing against the decision
of the council, because it is sufficiently supported by true documents. It
only proves the ignorance of the times, as well as the necessity of
knowing history, chronology, the difference of manners and styles, in
order to discern real documents from spurious ones."(59)

Thus, according to the authority of one of the most eminent writers of the
Roman Catholic Church, the second Council of Nice, the first synod which
has given an explicit and solemn sanction to one of the most important
tenets of the Western and the Eastern churches, was composed of such
ignorant and silly prelates, that an absurd fable, contained in a forged
paper, could sway their minds and hearts in such a manner as to make them
shed tears of emotion, and that there was not a single individual amongst
these venerable fathers sufficiently informed to be able to discover