divine majesty
of Christ; and, as we are always prone to impute our own sentiments and
passions to the Deity, it would be deemed more prudent and respectful to
exaggerate, than to circumscribe, the adorable perfections of the Son of
God. The disciple of Athanasius exulted in the proud confidence, that
he had entitled himself to the divine favor; while the follower of Arius
must have been tormented by the secret apprehension, that he was
guilty, perhaps, of an unpardonable offence, by the scanty praise, and
parsimonious honors, which he bestowed on the Judge of the World. The
opinions of Arianism might satisfy a cold and speculative mind: but the
doctrine of the Nicene creed, most powerfully recommended by the merits
of faith and devotion, was much better adapted to become popular and
successful in a believing age.

[Footnote 37: Socrates (l. v. c. 7) and Sozomen (l. vii. c. 5) relate
the evangelical words and actions of Damophilus without a word of
approbation. He considered, says Socrates, that it is difficult to
resist the powerful, but it was easy, and would have been profitable, to
submit.]

[Footnote 38: See Gregory Nazianzen, tom. ii. de Vita sua, p. 21,
22. For the sake of posterity, the bishop of Constantinople records a
stupendous prodigy. In the month of November, it was a cloudy morning,
but the sun broke forth when the procession entered the church.]

[Footnote 39: Of the three ecclesiastical historians, Theodoret alone
(l. v. c. 2) has mentioned this important commission of Sapor, which
Tillemont (Hist. des Empereurs, tom. v. p. 728) judiciously removes from
the reign of Gratian to that of Theodosius.]

[Footnote 40: I do not reckon Philostorgius, though he mentions (l.
ix. c. 19) the explosion of Damophilus. The Eunomian historian has been
carefully strained through an orthodox sieve.]

The hope, that truth and wisdom would be found in the assemblies of the
orthodox clergy, induced the emperor to convene, at Constantinople,
a synod of one hundred and fifty bishops, who proceeded, without much
difficulty or delay, to complete the theological system which had been
established in the council of Nice. The vehement disputes of the fourth
century had been chiefly employed on the nature of the Son of God; and
the various opinions which were embraced, concerning the Second, were
extended and transferred, by a natural analogy, to the Third person of
the Trinity. [41] Yet it was found, or it was thought, neces