The following
is among the records of transactions rehearsed at Chalcedon:
"He, Eutyches, professed that he followed the expositions of the
holy and blessed Fathers who formed the Councils of Nicaea and
Ephesus, and was ready to subscribe to them. But if any where it
might chance, as he said, that our fathers were deceived and led
astray, that as for himself he neither accepted nor accused
those things, but he only on such points investigated the divine
Scriptures as more to be depended upon [Greek: os
bebaioteras]."]
The grand question then agitated with too much asperity, and too little
charity, was, whether by the incarnation our blessed Saviour became
possessed of two natures, the divine and human. Subordinate to this, and
necessary for its decision, was involved the question, What part of his
nature, if any, Christ derived from the Virgin Mary? Again and again
does this question bring the name, the office, the circumstances, and
the nature of that holy and blessed mother of our Lord before these
Councils. The name of Mary is continually in the mouth of the accusers,
the accused, the judges, and the witnesses; and had Christian pastors
then entertained the same feelings of devotion towards her; had they
professed the same belief as to her assumption into heaven, and her
influence and authority in directing the destinies of man, and in
protecting the Church on earth; had they habitually appealed to her with
the same prayers for her intercession and good offices, and placed the
same confidence in her as we find now exhibited in the authorized
services of the Roman Ritual, it is impossible to conceive that no
signs, no intimation of such views and feelings, would, either directly
or incidentally, have shown themselves, somewhere or other, among the
manifold and protracted proceedings of these Councils.
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