By this the whole face of the Church was changed.

Oecumenical councils--parliaments of Christianity--consisting of delegates from all the churches in the world, were summoned by the authority of the emperor; he presided either personally or nominally in them--composed all differences, and was, in fact, the Pope of Christendom.

Mosheim, the historian, to whom I have more particularly referred above, speaking of these times, remarks that "there was nothing to exclude the ignorant from ecclesiastical preferment; the savage and illiterate party, who looked on all kinds of learning, particularly philosophy, as pernicious to piety, was increasing;" and, accordingly, "the disputes carried on in the Council of Nicea offered a remarkable example of the greatest ignorance and utter confusion of ideas, particularly in the language and explanations of those who approved of the decisions of that council." Vast as its influence has been, "the ancient critics are neither agreed concerning the time nor place in which it was assembled, the number of those who sat in it, nor the bishop who presided.

No authentic acts of its famous sentence have been committed to writing, or, at least, none have been transmitted to our times." The Church had now become what, in the language of modern politicians, would be called "a confederated republic." The will of the council was determined by a majority vote, and, to secure that, all manner of intrigues and impositions were resorted to; the influence of court females, bribery, and violence, were not spared.

The Council of Nicea had scarcely adjourned,--when it was plain to all impartial men that, as a method of establishing a criterion of truth in religious matters, such councils were a total failure.