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faith, or doctrine of Consubstantiality, was opposed by CONSTANTINE. Eusebius, who after three months of wavering assented to it. The council settled the Paschal controversy by deciding in favour of the custom of the Western Church; and it condemned the Meletian schism.*

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154. Eusebiust has been called

Life and Works "the Father of Ecclesiastical History," of Eusebius.

and to him we are indebted for the chief part of the information we possess upon that subject with respect to the first three centuries. He was born at Cæsarea in Palestine, about the year 270: and after the martyrdom of his friend Pamphilus in 309 he fled to Tyre, and afterwards to Egypt, where he lived till the persecution subsided. Upon his return to Cæsarea, about the year 315, he was made bishop of that place. At an early period he was accused of favouring the Arians: and indeed when Arius came into Palestine he gave him a favourable reception, and there is still extant a letter of his in favour of Arius written to Alexander, Bishop of Alexandria: we have also seen that he declined at first to subscribe to the term "consubstantial," as applied to our Saviour, when Arius was condemned by the council at Nice. Afterwards Eusebius appeared to belong to a moderate party, which discountenanced the excesses of both sides. About the

*The creed called the Nicene Creed is in reality the creed set forth by the Council of Constantinople, in the year 381. It is fuller than the original Nicene Creed.

+ Surnamed Pamphilus, from his intimacy with the martyr Pamphilus, a presbyter of Casarea, who suffered about the year 309.

Which was the first general Councii? *[Note.] When was the Nicene Creed set forth ?

154. Give some account of Eusebius and his writings. What proposition has he put forward which diminishes his authority?

CONSTANTINE. year 330 he was offered the patriarchal see of Antioch, which he refused; and in the year 340 he finished his career as Bishop of Cæsarea. Eusebius was a voluminous writer, and a man of great learning. He composed an Ecclesiastical History in ten books, being a collection of memorable things which happened in the Church from its foundation till the cessation of outward persecution in 324 ; a Chronicon, or chronicle of the principal events from the beginning of the world till his own time; An Evangelical Preparation, in fifteen books, intended to prepare the minds of pagans to embrace the true faith by showing the absurdity of paganism, and the superior worthiness of Christianity; An Evangelical Demonstration, in twenty books, an attempt to demonstrate to the Jews the truth of the Christian religion by arguments drawn from the Old Testament; treatises Against Hierocles and Against Marcellus; a History of the Life of Constantine, which is rather a continued panegyric than a history; various Commentaries and Expositions; and a great number of other publications. It is proper to add that Eusebius has advanced certain propositions which somewhat diminish his authority as a historian. He declares, when speaking of the last persecution, that "it does not agree with his plan to relate the dissensions and wickedness of the Christians before the persecution;" and subsequently he asserts that events most suitable to a "History of Martyrs" are those which redound to their honour. Moreover, Book xii., c. 31, of his Evangelical Preparation has this proposition for its title "How it may be lawful and fitting to use falsehood as a medicine, for the advantage of those who require such a method." Principles such as these, it must be confessed, have a tendency to shake our confidence in a writer who adopts them.

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The Apologists (all of whom flourished in the second century) were Quadratus (125), Aristides (125), Justin Martyr (148), Melito (166), Athenagoras (167), Miltiades, Apollinarius, Theophilus of Antioch, and Tatian.

PERSECUTIONS.

Historians generally reckon ten Persecutions of the Christians under Roman Emperors, namely,

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second journey.

Third Persecution-Ignatius martyred at Rome. Pliny's letter to Trajan. Basilides and Saturninus

broach their heresies.

HADRIAN, A.D. 117. Fourth Persecution. Jerusalem rebuilt by Hadrian, and called Elia Capitolina. Apologies of Quadratus and Aristides presented to Hadrian.

50. Paul sets out on his third 126. Hadrian's decree, addres

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and Paul at Rome.

their doctrines at Rome.

67 or 68. Martyrdom of Peter 148. Justin Martyr's first Apo

GALBA, A.D. 68-OTHO, VITEL-
LIUS and VESPASIAN, A.D. 69.
72. Jerusalem destroyed
Titus.

logy.

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by

Rome.

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