Sects and Heresies of the Christian Church.

NO. 2.-ARIANISM.

BY WILLIAM STOKES, OF MANCHESTER.
Author of "The History of Baptists," "Imputed Righteousness," &c.

(Continued from page 173.)

ARIANISM first appeared in a systematic form about the year 315 A.D., when Arius, a presbyter or elder of the Christian church at Alexandria in Egypt, denied, with great plausibility and earnestness, the proper and essential divinity of the Lord Jesus Christ. The heresy itself wandered about from a much earlier period, but this man reduced it to system, and without intending it, also gave it a name.

It first made its entry into the world," says the learned John Whitaker, "from that accursed spirit of opposition to heaven, for which the Jews changed situation with the Gentiles; for which they were cast off by God as the Gentiles had been before; have continued cast off, for nearly the same period of time that the Gentiles were; and will continue, we know, till they return to their first faith, return to Messiah their Prince, and prostrate themselves in an agony of repentance, before their crucified Lord and God. Arianism thus began to flow among the Jews, in the days of our Saviour. But the stream had then no regular channel. It moved only in secret rills. It strayed under sunless thickets, or through subterraneous passages.

The same writer proceeds to remark that, eventually, through the contracted mode of interpreting those Scripture passages that refer to the Messiah, which was adopted by the scribes, "the whole nation of the Jews became Arians." This fact accounts for their fury against the Saviour, whom they sought to kill, because He had said that "God was His Father, making himself equal with God." John v. 18.

It also appears historically certain that the first known Arians under the Christian dispensation, were two Jews named Ebion and Cerinthus, both of whom secured some followers who went by the names of Ebionites and Cerinthians. The former sect rejected the authority of the Apostle Paul, retained circumcision, and, according to Eusebius, had "low and poor ideas concerning Christ himself, whom they regarded as a mere man." The Cerinthians were equally self-willed, having been taught by their sceptical leader, that "Christ was a man only, the son of Joseph, and without DIVINITY." These two men lived in the days of the Apostle John, if not earlier, and several passages in his Gospel and first epistle, we believe to have been directed against these men who robbed his Lord of his true and proper godhead.

This dangerous doctrine floated about under various disguises until the inflated Arius took it under his equivocal patronage, and gave it shape and name. He and his followers taught the startling fable, that the Son of God, and the Eternal Spirit, were mere creatures; the creature Son being made by the Father; and the Holy Spirit as another creature being made by theSon, by whom also the angels were made. Photius, an ancient writer, says that,

As even Arius determined concerning the Son, so he determined also

concerning the Ever-holy Spirit; and reduced the lordly and supreme Sovereignty of God, into two servants and ministers.' "The Arians," says Epiphanius, confess the angels to have been made by the Son; and even dare to say blasphemously of the very Spirit, that he was created by the Son."

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This most pernicious and destructive heresy, being congenial to the corrupt taste of unregenerate man, spread extensively in the fourth century, and was embraced with great cordiality by numbers who were unwilling to admit that Christ was "all and in all." Yet the church as a whole denounced the heresy as fatal to hope in the world to come, and in order to prevent if possible, its continuance, the first General Council was called by the Emperor Constantine, at Nice, in Bithynia, A.D. 325. Athanasius, who was present, reports that pastors from all parts of the Christian world, attended that Council, to the number of three hundred and eighteen, of whom twenty-two, (but some authorities say fewer,) were favourable to Arius. Besides these pastors, an equal number of presbyters and elders attended, so that the whole assembly numbered not fewer than six hundred persons. The travelling and other expenses of the members of the Council, appear have been borne by the Emperor, who presided in person, and who exhorted the assembly to peace and unanimity. The most learned, eloquent, and grave men of the age were there; some even who carried in their persons "the dying of the Lord Jesus," having been tortured to near dying themselves for the faith of their divine Master. The Council sat about two months and ten days, having met on June 19th, and closed at near the end of August, A.D. 325.

In this Council, after a full debate, the doctrines of Arius received a severe condemnation, and that great assembly issued a creed, or statement of doctrine directly the reverse of the loose and dangerous tenets of Arius. That doctrinal statement is known at this day as the NICENE CREED, and it originally ran thus →→→

We believe in one God, the Father Almighty, maker of all things visible and invisible; and in one Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the only begotten of the Father, that is of the substance of the Father, God of God, and Light of Light, very God of God; begotten, not made, being con-substantial, or, of one substance with the Father, by whom all things were made, both in heaven and earth: who for us men, and for our salvation came down from heaven, and was incarnate, and was made man: He suffered, and rose again the third day; ascended into heaven, and shall come again to judge the quick and the dead. And in the Holy Ghost. But for those that say, there was a time when He was not and, that He was not before He was made; or, that He was made out of things that were not, or that He is of any y other substance or essence, or that He is obnoxious to change or alteration; all such the Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church does anathematize and reject. 50

This confession of orthodox faith was drawn up by Hosius, the pastor of the church at Corbuda, and the Council adopted it with but few dissentients. The Emperor heartily approved of it, and ordered its circulation among all the churches. He did more than this, and in his zeal for orthodoxy issued the following bill of "pains and penalties" against all who might continue to entertain the sentiments of Arius.

"Constantine the Great, the August, the Conqueror, to the Bishops and People.

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"Since Arius has taken upon him to imitate impious and bad men, it is but just he should undergo the same punishment with them. As therefore Porphyry, the enemy of true religion, for the pernicious volumes he wrote against Christianity met with a reward due to so great a villainy, to become infamous to all posterity, to be loaded with reproaches and execrations, and to have his impious books quite banished out of the world; so now it seems good to us, that Arius and his adherents be called 'PORPHYRIANS,' that they may bear this his title whose manners they imitate and resemble. Farther, if any book written by Arius be found, we command it to be burnt, that so not only his vile doctrines may be utterly extirpated, but that not the least monument of him may remain. Declaring also, that if any man shall be found to conceal any such book of Arius, and not presently offer it to be burnt, as soon as ever he shall be apprehended, he shall be put to death. God have you in His keeping."

It is most manifest from this imperial mandate, that Constantine, and the whole Council with him, overlooked entirely the great truth that "the weapons of our warfare are not carnal." It is not the province of man, be he whom he may, whether king or priest, to punish any other man for errors of creed. Conduct belongs to the jurisdiction of Cæsar, but conscience belongs alone to God. Constantine as a Christian man had a right to unite with other Christian men to condemn Arianism, "but as an Emperor he had no right whatever to command that a man who secreted an Arian book, "should be put to death." He did not understand his own duties, and in an ignorant zeal for the truth, he became a Pope, and a heartless persecutor. The spirit he displayed was that of rank Popery before the name of Pope was known.

This imperial decree produced the exclusion of Arius and his partizans not only from ecclesiastical, but also from civil rights. For three and more they were doomed to banishment, from which, years however, at the end of that period, they were recalled by the relenting Emperor. But the bitter hostility of Athanasius still kept Arius and his party from all office; until, having recovered influence at court, the Arians became the persecutors, and in their turn obtained the banishment of Athanasius. Thus the orthodox and heterodox alike exhibited passions that disgrace the religion of the meek and lowly Jesus.

For three hundred years at least, this heresy disputed the superiority with the orthodox faith. It was long the reigning religion of Spain, and prevailed extensively in Italy, France, Hungary, and Africa. It reached Britain about the fourth century, and "fatal as a serpent," Icaused serious mischief among the English churches. In the seventh and eighth centuries it began to decline, and soon shrunk away into obscure corners. In 1531, Servetus gained for it a footing in Geneva, from whence it wandered into Poland, where it was swallowed up by a deadly Socinianism. It re-appeared in England in the last century, and it may even yet be found among the Presbyterians in the north of Ireland, where however it appears to have heard the final mandate, “Set thine house in order, for thou shalt die and not live."

The pernicious nature of this heresy may be seen in the following momentous particulars.

1st-In the denial of the true and proper divinity of the Son of God. Arius taught that Christ was not of the same nature with the Father, but of a like nature. He conceded divinity to the Father, but

he never admitted it in the like nature of the Son. He thus robbed the blessed Saviour of His true and proper Godhead.

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2nd. This heresy equally destroys the divinity of the Eternal Spirit. The common doxology of the Arians was not the majestic one of “ Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost," but the scanty and evasive one of "Glory to the Father, by the Son, and in the Holy Ghost." Thus the noble doctrine of Jehovah, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, was overthrown; and while they ascribed godhead to the Father, they reduced the Son and Holy Spirit to the low level of created agencies, and nothing more.

3rd. As a consequence, this heresy, if it can admit of salvation at all, makes it dependent on a mere creature, and wickedly degrades it to the inferior standard of a creature work alone. Nor can it possibly be otherwise, where salvation is made dependent upon a created Saviour. Equally so with the Holy Spirit. According to this appalling system, He can lay no claim to be called the "Eternal Spirit" (Heb ix. 14,) or to exercise divine power in quickening to life the "dead in trespasses and sins." Creatures, though of the highest rank, can never do more than creature work, and to this contemptible condition Arianism reduces the Gospel of Him who is "over all, God blessed for evermore.”

4th. This heresy, in effect, removes divinity from the whole system of Christianity. The Gospel presents us with a Christ in whom dwells "the fulness of the godhead bodily," who also assures us that "be that hath seen Him hath seen the Father." Here is the true divinity, when to see Christ is also to see the Father. And on what other ground but that of divinity can blasphemy against the Holy Ghost be the unpardonable sin? Is it possible that blasphemy against any mere creature can be of blacker wickedness than blasphemy against God? Yet such is Arianism. Originating in Jewish infidelity, and insolently denying the Triune God, it teaches its unhappy victims to idolize the corrupt human intellect, and to deny the sacred claim, that "all men should honour the Son even as they honour the Father." "O my soul, come not thou into their secret; unto their assembly, mine honour, be not thou united !"

(No 3, on "Pelagianism," will appear in our next.)

NEARER HOME.

NEARER, nearer, drawing nearer,

Even as we roam,

To the land that's brighter, dearer,
Our eternal home.

Often rugged, wild and dreary,
Is the uphill road;

And our hearts grow very weary,
Of our sins, a load.

Yet we sometimes have an inkling,
Of the rest above;

And enjoy a blessed sprinkling,
From the sea of love.

Then rejoicing, bounding, leaping,
Singing as we go;

Our glad feet the measure keeping,
Like the bounding roe.
Yet anon the storm clouds gather,
And the shades of night
Hide the smilings of our Father,
From our longing sight.

And we grope and halt and stumble,
Fearing lest we fall;

Till our stubborn hearts grow humble,
And the Lord our all.

Then when we all means have taken,
And with sighs and tears,

We deplore ourselves forsaken,
Dawn once more appears.
Sometimes on the lofty mountain,
On the rugged hill;

Sometimes at the crystal fountain,
Quaff of love our fill.

Sometimes in, the silent valley,
Where deep waters flow;

And faith and hope, twin sisters holy,
In luxuriance grow.

Press we onward still, and nearer
Till the moment come;
When in accents, sweeter, dearer,
Jesus calls us home.
Gravesend.

D. NEWMAN.

The Death of Mr. John Andrews Jones,

OF JIREH CHAPEL, EAST ROAD, CITY ROAD.

WHILE busily engaged in writing, a note came to hand which authorises us to announce that the patriarchal metropolitan Baptist ministerJOHN ANDREWS JONES--has been removed from this world, where for more than eighty-eight years he was an inhabitant. The note referred to, says,

"260, Oxford street, July 15th, 1868. "Mr. C. W. Banks,-It is my painful duty to inform you of the death of Mr. J. A. Jones, which occured this morning at three o'clock. You will not be surprised, knowing he had been so long laid aside. Kindly insert some notice in the VESSEL. I am, dear sir, yours truly, "A. CLARK."

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Thus the oldest head of a long-standing race of Gospel ministers has been laid in quietness and rest; and before another ten years have rolled away, many others will be called to follow those who through faith and patience now inherit the promises.

We can only say at the present, that the aged man's end was peaceful; and without any painful emotions either of a mental or physical kind, he bowed his head in death. Mr. Griffin, the successor in the pastorate to Mr. Jones, was with him on the Monday evening previously, when a kind look and a hearty shake of the hand, bespoke the continuance of every faculty, although even then death had nearly done his work. In this case we certainly are not called upon to sorrow as those who have no hope, because Mr. J. A. Jones was decidedly a firm believer in the New Covenant, of grace, a bold and useful preacher of the Gospel of Christ, and an author of several works, whereby he earnestly contended for the faith once delivered unto the saints. Nearly thirty years have passed away since we first knew the deceased. Those thirty years have been most eventful in the Church's history as regards the departure of those venerable sires whose ministrations helped much to perpetrate in London, and in other large cities, the glorious Gospel of the ever blessed God. A hasty glance over the last quarter of a century will shew the departure of many respecting whom we may say their places have never been filled up. We cannot but think of such godly men as Hawker, Cartwright, Doudney, Triggs, Tanner (of Exeter), Turner (of Sunderland), Chamberlain (of Leicester), Isaac Beeman (of Cranbrook), John Warburton (of Trowbridge), W. Gadsby (of Manchester), Joseph Irons (of Camberwell), John Stevens (of Meard's-court), David Denham, James Nunn, Moody, John Pells, and hosts beside men who lived and died in the faith, leaving behind them not a few whose souls were led to know the Lord through their instrumentality. Of Mr. J. A. Jones's departure we may have further particulars presently.

THE FUNERAL.

On Tuesday afternoon, July 21st, 1868, the mortal remains of JOHN ANDREWS JONES-the oldest Baptist minister in London-were