it is not necessary to settle, and which, though a good exercise for the
understanding, only breed ill-will, and should be kept by each man in
his own breast. He regrets the religious madness which has seized all
Egypt; and lastly he orders the bishop not to question the priest as
to his belief, and orders the priest, if questioned, not to return an
answer. But this wise letter had no weight with the Alexandrian divines.
The quarrel gained in importance from being noticed by the emperor; the
civil government of the country was clogged; and Constantine, after
having once interfered, was persuaded to call a council of bishops to
settle the Christian faith for the future. Nicaea in Bithynia was chosen
as the spot most convenient for Eastern Christendom to meet in; and two
hundred and fifty bishops, followed by crowds of priests, there met
in council from Greece, Thrace, Asia Minor, Syria, Arabia, Egypt, and
Libya, with one or two from Western Europe.

At this synod, held in the year 325, Athanasius, a young deacon in the
Alexandrian church, came for the first time into notice as the champion
of Alexander against Arius, who was then placed upon his trial. All the
authority, eloquence, and charity of the emperor were needed to quell
the tumultuous passions of the assembly. It ended its stormy labours by
voting what was called the Homoousian doctrine, that Jesus was of one
substance with God. They put forth to the world the celebrated creed,
named, from the city in which they met, the Nicene creed, and they
excommunicated Arius and his followers, who were then all banished by
the emperor. The meeting had afterwards less difficulty in coming to
an agreement about the true time of Easter, and in excommunicating the
Jews; and all except the Egyptians returned home with a wish that the
quarrel should be forgotten and forgiven.

This first attempt among the Christians at settling the true faith by
putting fetters on the mind, by drawing up a creed and punishing those
that disbelieved it, was but the beginning of theological difficulties.
These in Egypt arose as much from the difference of blood and language
of the races that inhabited the country as from their religious belief;
and Constantine must soon have seen that if as a theologian he had
decided right, yet as a statesman he had been helping the Egyptians
against the friends of his own Greek government in Alexandria.

After a reasonable delay, Arius addressed to the empero