I shall further add, that if we give credit to Epiphanius, Constantine after he had written to Alexander bishop of Alexandria and to Arius without effect, summoned the latter to appear before him previous to the meeting of the Council of Nice, when a Conference took place that appears not to have been pleasing to Constantine; for he afterwards wrote a severe letter respecting Arius, addressed to all his subjects. Dr. Priestley mentions, that Baronius says, he found a copy of this letter, in Latin, in the Vatican library, and published it, and that the letter was addressed to Arius and his friends, but circulated through the empire. If this account can be depended upon, it will appear that Constantine met the Council of Nice with hostile intentions against Arius. We need not therefore wonder at the result of the Council.
But what is still more surprising, Constantine, some years after the Council of Nice recalled Arius from banishment, became reconciled to him, and even, it is said, towards the end of his reign, was somewhat inclined to Arianism. And it is a certain fact, that his son and successor Constantius gave his Countenance to the Semi-Arian party all his time. The Emperor Valens, who succeeded sometime after, was a zealous Arian. The Council of Ariminum, and some others, held in the fourth Century, decided in favour of the Arian or Semi-Arian Doctrine; and there can be no manner of doubt, that if the succession of Arian Emperors had continued, some modification of Arianism would have been generally adopted and established, and accounted the standard of Orthodoxy at the present day.
But unfortunately for the Arians, Theodosius, who succeeded Valens, embraced with eagerness and firmness the tenets of the homousian party; and by his authority and influence the Creed of the Council of Nice was confirmed and enlarged in the Council of Constantinople, called by the Orthodox (with gross impropriety) the second general Council, and held in the year 381. In this Council, the divinity and personality of the holy Spirit was first established, and the doctrine of a co-equal and consubstantial Trinity properly formed.
Dissertations on the Unity of God, by William Christie (1828).
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