affair; which accordingly met at Ephesus, which the orthodox stigmatized by the name of the thieving council, or Council of Thieves. Dioscorus was president of it, and, after an examination of the affair of Eutyches, his sentence of excommunication and deposition was taken off, and himself restored to his office and dignity; the bishops of Constantinople, Antioch, and others, being deposed in his stead. But the condemned bishops, and the legates from Rome, appealed from this sentence to another council, and prevailed with Theodosius to issue his letters for the assembling one: but as he died before they could meet,[192] the honour of determining this affair was reserved for his successor, Marcian; and when the fathers, in obedience to his summons, were convened at Chalcedon, the emperor favoured them with his presence; and, in a speech to them, told them, “that he had nothing more at heart than to preserve the true and orthodox Christian faith, safe and uncorrupted, and that, therefore, he proposed to them a law, that no one should dare to dispute of the person of Christ, otherwise than as it had been determined by the council of Nice.” After this address of the emperor, the fathers proceeded to their synodical business, and, notwithstanding the synod was divided, some of the fathers piously crying out, “Damn Dioscorus, banish Dioscorus, banish the Egyptian, banish the heretic, Christ hath deposed Dioscorus;” others, on the contrary, “Restore Dioscorus to the council, restore Dioscorus to his churches;” yet, through the authority of the legates of Rome, Dioscorus was deposed for his contempt of the sacred canons, and for his contumacy towards the holy universal synod. After this, they proceeded to settle the faith according to the Nicene creed, the opinions of the fathers, and the doctrine of Athanasius, Cyrill, Cælestine, Hilarius, Basil, Gregory, and Leo; and decreed, that “Christ was truly God, and truly man, consubstantial to the Father as to his deity, and consubstantial to us as to his humanity; and that he was to be confessed as consisting of two natures without mixture, conversion of one into the other, and without division or separation; and that it should not be lawful for any person to utter, or write, or compose, or think, or teach any other faith whatsoever;” and that if any should presume to do it, they should, if bishops or clergymen, be deposed; and if monks or laicks, be anathematized. This procured a loud acclamation: “God bless the emperor, God bless the empress. We believe as pope Leo doth. Damn the dividers and the confounders. We believe as Cyrill did: immortal be the name of Cyrill. Thus the orthodox believe; and cursed be every one that doth not believe so too.” Marcian ratified their decrees,[193] and banished Dioscorus, and put forth an edict, containing very severe penalties against the Eutychians and Apollinarists. By this law the emperor ordained, “that they should not have power of disposing their estates,