don, till such time as the persecution was over, and the church's peace restored. He carried his zeal in this matter so far, that he broke off all his communion with Peter, the bishop of Alexandria, who opposed the rigour of his doctrines; and thus, even while he was detained in prison, he not only defended the faith, but likewise broached opinions contrary to it. Soon after this, a synod was held at Alexandria, in which the opinions of Melecius were condemned, and this sentence was confirmed by all the neigh. bouring bishops. The Melecians hung little bells to the bottom of their garments, and sung their prayers dancing all the time; and this they considered as the only means to appease the wrath of God. They persisted in rejecting all such Christians as had apostatized; and they are said to have been notorious hvocrites under the mask of piety. Another sect of heretics were called Sabbathians, from their leader Sabbathus, a Jew, who was baptized at Constantinople, towards the latter end of the fourth century, and ordained a priest by the Novatians; but finding himself as little esteemed by the heretics whom he had joined, as by the Jews whom he had deserted, he forsook their assemblies, and resolved to become the head of a party. As he had still some remains of Judaism in him, he affirmed, that Easter should be kept on the same day with the Jewish passover; and the better to confirm his disciples in that opinion, he made use of the following stratagem: In reading Luke xxii, when he came to the words, "the feast of unleavened bread drew nigh, which is called the passover," he raised his voice on a sudden, and cried, "Woe unto him that keeps the passover, but on the day of unleavened bread." He joined those words so artfully to the text, that his ignorant hearers imagined them to be the words of Jesus Christ himself. Sissinnius, a Novatian bishop, set himself up to oppose Sabbathus, and one day, while the latter was in a certain church, a report was spread, that Sissinius was coming with a band of armed men, to destroy him and his followers. The Sabbathians, seized with terror, endeavoured to make their escape, but as they pressed to get out of the church, they fell one upon another, and the number of those who were trampled to death was so great, that the rest abandoned their leader, out of fear of Sissinus, and thus the whole sect was entirely dispersed. Saturninians, the last sect of these ancient heretics whom we shall mention, took their rise about the beginning of the second century, and had for founder, one Saturninius, a philosopher of Antioch. This man having embraced Christianity, became a member of the church of Antioch; but not relishing the simplicity of the gospel, he resolved to set up a new religion of his own." He had a particular system of his own, concerning the creation of the world; for he taught, that God created seven angels, and these seven angels created the world, with two kinds of men, the one good and the other bad; the good, he said, were the elect chosen to glory; and the bad were the reprobate, who were to be condemned. He taught many other ridiculous notions, such as, that man lives by the breath of God alone, but when he withdraws that breath he dies. To these he added, that the angels having long admired the beautics of God, resolved to make something to resemble him; and having laboured a great while, they made a kind of animal which could not stand upright, but crawled on the carth like a serpent; that God suffered their work to remain some time in this low condition, to convince them of the rashness of the project. At last, God being touched with compassion, bestowed some share of his own perfection on this creature, who immediately raised himself upon his feet, and lifted up his head towards heaven. Saturninius pretended, that the Jews had been long under the government of a bad angel, as a punishment for their sins; but that at last, the eternal Father, taking pity on them, sent him (Saturninus) into the world, to take them out of the power of the angel of discord; that he himself was the true Messiah, and that Jesus Christ was a mere apparition, and not a real man. This impostor had a great number of followers, who spread their notions throughout most of the capital towns in Syria; and to support his pretences, he forged a book, containing a great number of false oracles, all which he said had been dictated by a good angel, and were of equal authority with the word of God. These were all the heretics of any note in the primitive church; for although there were some of lesser note, yet they were only branches of the above, and little more has been transmitted to us concerning them, besides their names. Taking their absurdities, their errors, their impieties, and their blasphemies all into one point of view, we are presented with a most horrid picture of human nature. Here all the vices that can take place in the heart, are collected together; so tuly were the words fulfilled, that the child Jesus should be sent for the rise and fall of many. Having given an account of all that is necessary to be known, concerning the ancient heretics and schismatics, schismatics, we shall conclude this article with a definition of the terms so often made use of, viz. schism, heresy, and blasphemy. And first of schism, which is to divide the church and disturb its peace. The pious Mr. Nelson has given us a definition of schism, in the following words: "Schism (says he) is a causeless separation from such governors in the church, as have received their authority and commission from Jesus Christ. If there be a sufficient cause, then there may be a separation, but it is not a schism. But if there be no sufficient ground for the separation, it is schism; that is a culpable separation, which was always reckoned a sin of a very heinous nature. For St. Paul charges the Ephesians to keep the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace, because there is but one God, one faith, one baptism, and one body of Christ." The same doctrine is taught in the writings of the first fathers of the church, particularly St. Ignatius and St. Cyprian; and schism was reputed a great sin by them, even before the church and state were united, and when the meetings of the schismatics were as much tolerated as those of the orthodox. For toleration does not alter the nature of schism. Such laws only exempt the persons of schismatics from persecution. Donatism and Novatinism were counted as damnable schisms, under the reigns of those emperors who granted toleration to them; as under the reigns of those who made laws against them. So according to these authors, it is not separation from a church that creates schism, but it is a causeless separation; but then it must be added, that there may appear sufficient cause to one, when another does not see any; so that in judging of those who separate, we should be cautious and cha ritable. It is every way different with heretics, who not content with disturbing the peace of the church in the non-essentials of religion, boldly proceed to attack one or all of those fun lamentals upon which our salvation depends. Thus one will deny the divinity of Christ; another the necessity of his merits to procure our acceptance with God; a third, the use of the outward means; and a fourth, the resurrection of the body, and a future state of rewards and punishments. Such errors as these justly deserve the name of heresy, because the teaching of them strikes at the root of our holy religion, by representing the sufferings of Christ as both useless and unnecessary. Secondly, heresy, which is very different from schism; the latter being only a separation for groundless causes from the established church of the country where we live; whereas heresy is a total deviation from the principles of the Christian faith, and the setting up something in opposition thereunto, which has no foundation in the sacred scriptures. People sound in the faith may differ in their sentiments, concerning the exterior non-essentials of religion, without injuring the peace of the church, although in the heat of unnecessary controversy; the violence of unguarded passions may induce them to abuse each other; but while they agree in the essentials of religion, and live as become the disciples of Christ, all such opprobrious names should cease. No. 8 Thirdly, blasphemy, which consists in ascribing any thing to the deity, unbecoming the perfections of his godhead, or by derogating from the nature of his attributes, by saying that he is neither holy, just, nor good. This by the law of Moses was a capital offence, and the criminal was to be led without the camp and stoned to death by the whole congregation, but the witnesses, upon whose evidence he had been convicted, were first to lay their hands upon his head, and throw the first stones at him, in testimony that they had not perjured themselves. Our Saviour takes notice of the sin and blasphemy against the Holy Ghost, which was never to be forgiven, either in this world, or in that which is to come; and this passage of sacred scripture has been a stumbling-block in the way of many pious wellmeaning Christians. If we consider the passage aright, nothing can be plainer than that it is to be imputed to the Pharisees, who declared that the miracles Christ wrought by the power of the Holy Ghost, were performed by the assistance of the devil. Our Lord had just healed one possessed of a devil; and the Pharisees gave this malicious turn to the miracle: "This fellow doth not cast out devils, but by Beelzebub, the prince of devils." This led our Saviour to discourse concerning the sin or blasphemy against the Holy Ghost, and to tell his disciples, "Wherefore I say unto you, all manner of sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven unto men, but the sin against the Holy Ghost shall not be forgiven unto them.-See Matth. xii. 22. 31. The Pharisees therefore were the persons charged with this sin, which consisted in ascribing what was done by the power of God to the agency of the devil. And the reason why our Lord pronounced it unpardonable is plain, because the Jews, and particularly their leaders the Pharisees, by withstanding the evidence of miracles, resisted the strongest means of their conviction. From all which it will naturally follow, that no person can now be guilty of the sin against the Holy Ghost, in the sense in which our Saviour intended it, although there may be sins which bear a near resemblance to it. By the common law of England, blasphemy is defined to consist in a denial of the being and providence of God, and a reproaching of the name of Jesus Christ, for which the delinquent is to suffer imprisonment, the pillory, or to be fined at the discretion of the court where the offence is tried; and for this crime, one Anne Taylor paid a fine of one thousand pounds, and stood in the pillory three times, 1676.-See Hawkins's pleas of the crown, chap. 89. throned. He was convicted of high treason, and at | the place of execution, repeated the following prayer: "Eternal God, thou knowest me to be the true Messiah, whom thou hast sent: shew some miracle from the clouds to convince those unbelievers, and free me from the power of my enemies. If thou refusest to do this, I will set fire to the heavens, and pulling thee from thy throne, will tear thee to pieces with my hands." And turning to the execu tioner, said, Dost thou, wretch, presume to hang thy king?". Then lifting up his eyes to heaven, he cried, "Thou repayest me well for a kingdom bestowed, I come to take vengeance on thee.' Such a wretch as this should have been whipped By the statute of the ninth of William III. chap. 32, it is enacted, that if any person shall, by writ-twenty times at the cart's tail, instead of sending ing, or speaking, deny any of the persons of the him into eternity, uttering the most horrid blasholy trinity to be God, or assert there are more phemies. Gods than one, or shall deny the Christian religion to be true, or the old and new testament to be of divine authority, he shall be incapable of any office or employment, and for the second offence shall be disabled to sue in any action to be executor. By the law of Scotland, blasphemy is, and always has been, a capital offence, and it takes place before high treason. The last person that suffered for this crime at Edinburgh, was one Aikenhead, in the year 1696. He denied the being of a God, and A most remarkable instance of blasphemy hap- mocked at all religion, whether natural or revealed. Fened in the reign of queen Elizabeth, for the truth He belonged to a society of young men, who of which we have the testimony of all the writers of usually met together at a tavern, where they made . that time, as well as the records of the courts of it a rule, that each in his turn should burn the bible, justice.-One Hacket affirmed himself to be the and blaspheme the name of God. At last the club anointed king of the earth by the Holy Ghost, and was dispersed, and this man was burnt alive; but commanded his two disciples, Arthington and Cop- some of his companions still continued to dissemipinzer, to proclaim through the streets of London, nate their sentiments; among whom was one Hunthat Christ was come to judge the world, and that ter, a young student in divinity, who was hung in he might be seen at the house where Hacket lodg-chains at Broughton, near Edinburgh, for murdered, and that all who refused to obey him should de-ing two young gentlemen, the sons of one Mr. stroy each other, and that the queen should be de- Gordon, whose tutor he was. The Of the state of the CHRISTIAN RELIGION, from its receiving a civil establishment under Conftantine the great, 314, till the beginning of the REFORMATION, 1517. WE E come now to the third article proposed concerning the Christian religion, and it is of such an important nature, that according to the regular manner we have hitherto proceeded, we shall consider it under the following heads: I. An abstract of the history of the church, from the time of the emperor Constantine the great, till the Reformation. II. The origin of the monastic life, with an account of all the religious orders, by whom founded, and for what purposes. propagated by spiritual means, and the more it was opposed the more it flourished; but now we must draw the line between human and divine power. III. The origin, progress, and present state of all the ceremonies made use of by the Romantized till within a short time before his death. He catholics. Lastly, an account of the inquisition; and in writing on those subjects, we shall be directed by the best authors: whether popish or protestant, we shall be guided by a candid attention to the truth, being willing to find it in any party whatever. To begin with the first, namely, the state of Christianity during the space of eleven hundred years. It will be necessary, however, to observe, that as we have already given an account of all the ancient heresies, and as there was no necessity for others springing up after this period, seeing the church became daily more and more corrupted, so the reader must attend to the general thread of the narrative; it being our intention, when any innovation presents itself to us, to treat of it as collaterally connected with the whole, by way of digression. Constantine, justly called the Great, took posession of the Roman empire partly by force, and partly by election, and it must be acknowledged, that at that time, the Christians were so numerous, it would have been consistent with true policy, to have granted them a free toleration, supposing the emperor himself had continued in heathenism. The emperor, however, embraced the Christian religion, in the year 314, although he was not bapissued an order, that all the revenues, appropriated for the support of the heathen temples, should be bestowed on the Christian clergy, and being no stranger to the tricks practised by the pagan priests, he ordered their idols to be exposed to the populace, that they might see in what manner they had been deceived by designing men, and this occasioned multitudes of people to embrace the Christian religion, although it is probable that many of them did so, without being properly instructed in its principles, but rather that they might acquire emoluments, by complying with the orders of the emperor. This circumstance is the more necessary to be attended to, because it will throw a considerable light on the remaining part of this narrative, and point out how great the difference must always be between human and divine power. During the three We have already considered the religion of our first centuries the Christians were a distressed people, Divine Redeemer, as propagated among the heathens, but they were in many respects pure and innoccnt. by no other means besides the assistance of Almighty Whether they imagined that temporal power would power, and although opposed by the Roman empe-interpose in their favour, cannot now be certainly rors, by the pagan priests, and the superstitious Jews; yet the tender plant grew up, and was nourished, and an inumerable company of people of all ranks thought it an honour to inlist themselves as soldiers under the banner of the cross. Neither the malice of devils nor the power of men could stop its progress, for as Christ had declared that his kingdom was not of this world, so his religion was known; probably they did not, for as they waited daily for the second coming of Christ, all their hopes centered in that single principle; and this consideration supported them under all their sufferings. Previous to the reign of the emperor Constantine, the Christians had been persecuted in the most cruel manner; and, bleeding with their wounds, they were taken under the protection of that Christian hero. Happy Happy for the Christian indulgence granted to them; and, instead of stirring up the civil power against the heathens, endeavoured like their Divine Master, to bring them over to the truth, without coercive means. The contrary however took place, and to use the words of the great and good archbishop Leighton, "The world went mad by turns." No sooner had the Christian bishops received the countenance and protection of the civil power, than they resolved to persecute the pagan priests, from whose malice they had suffered so much, and in this they were too much countenanced by those obsequious courtiers, whose mercenary views and self-interests induced them to attend as ministers of state in the emperor's court. But to understand this in a proper manner, we must attend to the state of the Christian church, beginning with the fourth century. CENTURY IV. The Christians, being now established in the peaceable possession of great riches and honours, began to compare their present state with their former suffering, which brought to their remembrance the patience and fortitude of their predecessors. These considerations raised in them a high, and in some measure a just veneration for the martyrs : But it did not stop here, for it ran into excess, and produced the worst effects. Every rumour concerning these saints was received without examination, and represented as meritorious, insomuch that certain monks made a trade of going from place to place selling their bones and relics. This practice was greatly encouraged by the most celebrated preachers of that age, such as Athanasius Gregory Nazianzen, but particularly Chrysostom, whose popular eloquence contributed greatly towards encouraging the superstitious veneration and invocation of saints, the love of monkery, and the belief of miracles wrought by monks and relics; thence arose religious addresses to the martyrs, who were considered as patrons and intercessors, which tended to lessen the reliance and gratitude due to Christ, and to substitute new mediators in the room of him who alone is the mediator between God and man, the Lord our Redeemer. When we Protestants speak of the cross of Christ, we mean thereby the whole of his passive obedience, without paying any regard to the form or shape of a wooden cross; for unless we can be kept in mind of our Lord's sufferings, without such monitors, it shews that our love for him is very cold. Some zealots, under the direction of Helena, the mother ef Constantine the great, pretended to have discovered the real cross on which Christ suffered; many figures of it were made, and distributed all round the empire: These were hung up in churches, and the relics of the saints were deposited in boxes, and placed on the altars; for it was in this age altars were first erected in the Christian churches. St. Chrysostom in preaching on good Friday, in the great church of Constantinople, has given us the following description of the virtues of the cross, which although the whole might be applied to the passive obedience of Christ, yet from the circumstances of the times, the sentiments of the preacher, and the nature of the address, it seems plain that he had directed the people to look at the sign of a cross. He says, 66 "Now, if thou would know, O Christian, the power and praises of the cross, attend to me! "The cross is an anchor to all those who from wavering in the faith, begin to sink! a resurrec"tion of the dead! a leader of the blind! the path "of those who have gone out of the way! the aven"ger of those who have suffered wrong! the staff "of the lame! the comfort of the poor! the curb "of the rich! the overthrow of the proud! the "victory over the devil! the instructor of children! "the supply of council to those who want it! the "pilot of those who are in a sea of troubles! the "haven of those who are tossed about in a storm! "the bulwark of those waging war with sin and the "devil! the father of orphans! the helper of wi"dows! the judge of those who do wrong! the 66 66 pillar of the just! the repose of the afflicted! a light to those who sit in darkness! the magnifi"cence of kings! the teacher of humanity to barba"rians! the freedom of slaves! the wisdom of the "unlearned! the law of the disobedient! the de"claration of the apostles! the preaching of the 66 prophets the glorying of the martyrs! the ex"ercise of the solitary! the foundation of the "church! the safety of the world! the destruction "of the heathen temples! the overthrow of their "altars! the vanishing away of their incense! the "scandal of the Jews! the ruin of the ungodly! "the strength of the weak! the physician of the "diseased! the cleansing of lepers! the strength"ener of the paralytic! the bread of the hungry! "the fountain of the thirsty! and in a word, the "covering of the naked!" Such was the popular eloquence of those times, and when we consider what influence it must have had on the minds of men just brought over in profession from the religion of pagans, we will not be surprized to find that image worship, and a venera |