Nicene Council

As a matter of fact, we find from the institution of the Christian Church—that is, the entrance of Christ’s Person into the world—a spiritual war commence, which runs through all the ages, and of which the time from the Day of Pentecost to the convocation of the Nicene Council is only the first period.

Nicene Council, occasion of its convocation, 289;Constantine recognised therein the Church as a divine kingdom, 290;and the solidarity of the Episcopate, 292;compared with the Roman Senate, 293;its force as to the relation between Church and State, 294;its sixth Canon, 297;Constantine, acknowledging its sentence as the decision of God, recognised the kingdom of Christ in the world, 463.

Now, I will take as an exponent of this whole belief one who came forth into active life just at the time of the Nicene Council, and whose name has been ever since identified with the defence of that especial doctrine upon which the whole fabric of the Christian faith rested, namely, the Godhead of Christ.

Thus, if any will not accept the Church at the Nicene Council as an evidence of what the Church was in preceding times as to its constitution, principles of action, and faith, it is possible, through the mere absence of written proof, to make denials of those very things without which the Nicene Council could never have come together.

But the Church which met in representation at the great Nicene Council offers a perfect picture of what that order was, working itself out in absolute independence of the Civil Power through three centuries from the Day of Pentecost.