„ -— >-.-==:=s^^ PRINCETON. N. ® Part of the ^ I ADDISON ALFLXANDER LIBRA IIT ^ |] wliioh was presented by /| l^ MESSiis. R. L. AND A. Rtitabt. (I ^c «c^ --.^«w^ ^^^^ '^^ '■"Sirtiii'OC<^^i>Q^ P26 1854 ^ Palmer, William, 1803-1885. Compendious ecclesiastical history COMPENDIOUS ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY, FROM THK Earliest |^ri0fe t0 t|e ^mmt %mt REV. WILLIAM PALMER, M.A., OF ■WOEOKSTER COLLEGE, OXFOEP, AUTHOR OF " ORIGINES LITtTEGIOiB, ETC., ETC. WITH A SERIES OF QUESTIONS, ADAPTING THE WORK FOR PAROCHIAL INSTRUCTION. SEVENTH S D I T I O H . i^to |0rli: STANFORD AND SWORDS^ r,87, BE AD WAY. ^ 1854. Entered according to Act of Congress, in the Year lS4i By swords, STANFORD k CO. in the Clerks office of the District Court of the Soutliern Disfict ol ) York -^^ PREFACE. It is strange that a work like this should have been so long wanting in English literature. Rich as our lan- guage is in history, it possesses, as yet, no tolerable history of the Church of God. The scholar can in a degree make up this want by a resort to other sources : but those whose reading is confined to their native language, and those v^^hose little leisure affords no time for re- search, or the study of bulky works, have had nothing really worth attention, on this subject, within their reach. Dry abridgments or still drier compends, crowding the memory with names and dates, and little else, are not what is needed foi* general information on the most interesting of all topics that can occupy the attention of a thinking man the rise and progress of the society of which God is the Head, souls bought and washed witli the most precious blood of Christ the members, and eternity the exclusive end and aim. The existence of such a societv amonji men, its continuance, PREFACE. its propagation, and its more or less visible success, are facts, that taken in connection with its claims, have a direct and fearfully important interest for every mem- ber of the human family. It is with reference to that interest that they ought to be treated, at least for popular use. Catalogues of heresies, maps of the extension and contraction of Christendom in successive ages, and schemes of controversies that have raged and waned, all useful in their way, are of little use to the man w^ho is seeking after evidence of the accompHshment of the ends for v/hich the Son of God assumed our nature, and when He had ascended to the right hand of the Majesty on high, sent forth the promise of His Father upon those whom He had sent into the v/orld as He Himself was sent. The eiTectual working of Him who, in the fulness of the power an.d wisdom of the Godhead, dwells invisibly in the visible body that he organised and animates, is not to be learned from the weary and disgustful annals of contests be- tween rival hierarchies, and intrigues of ecclesiastics with or against the civil power ; still less from the re- volting exhibition of human frailty and perversity con- taminating the provisions of infinite Love and Wisdom, an exhibition necessarily prominent in the chronicles of the Church, but most unnecessary to any true and ade- quate estimate of its real efficiency. All analogy and all experience bid us look for that efficiency in unob- trusive quietness and seclusion. " The works of the flesh are manifest," and accordingly attract, wherever sinful man w^orks out the designs of GOD, the super- ficial observer's gaze. " The fruits of the Spirit," mean while, which are the tests of the fulfilment of the Sa- viour's pVomise to be ever with His body, lie hidden be neath the surface of society, and must be diligently PREFACE. Vll, sought for, and painfully dragged forth to view, before their evidence can be appreciated. The many whom the means of God's providing have silently nurtured up in faith and holiness have passed to their reward without leaving a trace behind on the page of history. The few who stand there recorded as exceptions from the mass of brawling strife and base ambition have been drawn from among their fellows by the demands of duty, growing out of official station or extraordinary endowments. Such must always be the minority in the records of the Church ; and it is as strange as lamenta- ble that most of its historians seem to have lost sight of a truth so obvious, and while they either gloat or rave on the corruption of the clergy and the vile degeneracy of the laity, forget that a similar mode of estimation would go far toward the reduction of the past to one vast blot, and the banishment of virtue, peace and hap- piness from memory or belief. This work has been prepared on a different plan. Its truly learned and sound-minded author has set him- self honestly to seek out the results of the system de- vised by heavenly Wisdom and set in operation by God Himself, v/hen He dwelt among us. He does not puzzle himself and his reader with an attempt at a " pragmatical"* investigation of the human motives and propensities that have carried on, while they seemed to thwart and vitiate, the divine counsels for man's sal- vation. Still less does he stoop to flatter the poor pride of human reason by lowering a narrative of God's doings with and in His Church to the tone of secular history, and making all plain and easy for the most un- spiritual comprehension. He writes as a believer of the facts that he narrates ; but not a believer without * Sre Mosheim'a Preface VUl PREFACE. investigation. He writes as one whose own belief makes him in earnest with his reader, and in conse- quence leaves the impression of reality on the mind. Convinced that God did indeed found His Church up- on a rock, immoveable and unconquerable, he looks for it, without fear or shrinking, amid the worst tem- pests of controversial strife or secular oppression, and under the deepest mists of ignorance and error, and not only finds it, signalized by its unvarying tokens of peace, holiness and joy, but makes it obvious to others. We see, Vvith him, that though times have changed, and manners varied, the word and promises of God have endured unchanged and their accomplishment has gone on invariably. In this respect, Mr. Palmer's design is tlio same with that of the pious Milner. But, beside its greater com- pendiousness, so much better suited for popular use, this work has the advantage of much better execution. The decided bias which so often sv^'ays the judgment of Milner is no where discoverable in Mr. Palmer. The scriptural catalogue of " fruits of the Spirit" is his test of that Spirit's presence, not any human scheme of doctrine. The bond of union by which he traces Chris- tian faith and holiness up to their source in Christ, is the real and tangible bond of ordinances and institutions, not the figmentary connection of agreement in certain arbitrary views. He is content to find the fulfihnent of the promise wherever it pleased the Giver to impart it, without questioning His ability or disposition to raise up burning and shining lights even in the midst of dark- ness, and perpetuate vital heat even in a body soiel^ diseased and maimed. A great degree of accuracy in general outline, and in minute detail wherever that is given, is another admira- PREFACE. ble characteristic of Mr. Palmer's work. It has been in- creased, perhaps, by the correction of one or two slips of a hasty pen, in this edition ; and the minute differ- ences, of statement or opinion, in some of the editor's additional notes, will show how thoroughly he shared in the authors anxiety to be really useful — an end to be attained, in a work like this, only by the most scrupu- lous adherence to truth. If error as to fact be found in the book now presented to the reader, it has escaped not only the attention of the learned and indefatigable author, but the close examination of his humble and erateful fellow labourer, W. R. W. Baltimore, December llth, 1840. CONTENTS. CHAPTER I. Pace Introduction ... 1 CHAPTER II. On the early Progress of Christianity, a.d. 30-320. ... •> CHAPTER III. Faith of the Church, a.d. 30-320. ... . . . lO CHAPTER IV. Fruits of Faith, exemplified in the Martyrs, a.d. 30-320. - - 13 CHAPTER V. Fruits of Faith, exemplified in the Lives of Christians, a.d. 30-320. 2JI CHAPTER VI. Communion, Rites, and Discipline, a.d. 30-320. • - - • 24 CHAPTER VII. Faith of the Church defended by the six oecumenical Synods, A.D. 320-6S0. 34 CHAPTER VIII. Fruits of Faith, exemplified in the Saints and Martyrs, a.d. 320-680. 48 CHAPTER IX. Unity and Discipline of the Church, a.d. 320-680. - - - - 63 CHAPTER X. Rise of Abuses and Corruptions, a.d. 320-680. .... 68 CHAPTER XI. Progress of Christianity, a.d. 680-1054. .14 CHAPTER XII Faith of the Church, a.d. 6S0-1054. ..... 77 CHAPTER XIII. Fruitsof Faith, A.D. 680-/ 054. - - - - . • - 8J Xll CONTENTS. CHAPTER XIV. Abuses and Superstitions, a.d. 6S0-1054. .... CHAPTER XV. Divisions of the eastern and western Churches, a.d. 6S0-1054. CHAPTER XVI. Progress-of Christianity, A.D. 1054-1517. • CHAPTER XVII. Faith of the Church, aj). 1054-1517. CHAPTER XVIII. Fruits of Faith, a.d. 1054-1517. CHAPTER XIX. The eastern Church, A.D. 1054-1517. CHAPTER XX. Abuses and Corruptions, a.d. 1054-1517. - CHAPTER XXI. The foreign Reformation, a.d. 1517-1S39. CHAPTER XXII. The British Churches, a.d. 1530-1S39. CHAPTER XXIII. Fruits of Faith in the British Churches, a.d. 1530-1839. CHAPTER XXIV. The Roman Churches, a.d. 1517-1839. CHAPTER XXV. Fruits of Faith in the Roman Churches, a.d. 1530-1660. CHAPTER XXVI. The oriental Churches, a.d. 1517-1839. CHAPTER XXVII. The Rise and Progress of Infidelity. CHAPTER XXVIII. Conclusion Index Explanation of difficult Words. Paere 100 104 ^^'^^OPERTV or '-^ A COMPENDIOUS H S 9 L 6 1 S S: Lf CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTION The history of the world impresses the reflecting mind with the universal tendency of human institutions to decay and dissolution. Whether we contemplate the fate of man himself, or of illustrious empires raised by virtue, cemented by wisdom", but destroyed by luxury and sin, we trace in all the operation of that sentence of death which once passed on all men, and to which all that is merely human must bow. But in the history of the Church we view not only the working of ^ the law of death, but the counteracting tendency of the Spirit of life, sustaining man amidst his infirmities, elevating him above all that is carnal and terrestrial, and im- pressing on his actions and his destinies the stamp of eternity. Empires, superstitions, and philosophies, have faded away, but true religion continues always to exist ; and as it came in the beginning from above, so at the end of all things it shall return thither again. The patriarchs and the prophets, the law and the gospel, preached to mankind the same religion, which was expanded and developed as ihe fullness of time drev on. We now behold the fulfilment of what the patri- archs desired to see ; we enjoy the reality of those things which the law of Moses foreshadowed; we worship the God of Abel and of Abraham, and serve him with their faith. 1 2 ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. And as the true religion has always been essentially the same, so has it ever had to contend with the same inclination of the liuman heart. That inclination was awfully exempli- hed in the days of Noah, when " all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth ;" and that patriarch's family were alone found just. It was still more wonderfully manifested in the rebellions and backslidings of the children of Israel. It is again seen in the description which Scripture gives of the fallen state of Jew and Gentile, when the Son of God came to save a perishing world. ^ And who, that reflects on the exhortations and predictions addressed to Christians by the Lord and his disciples, can fail to perceive that the same evil tendency of the human heart was always to remain, even in the state of grace, and to form the chief danger and trial ot the Church of God ? The life of a true Christian, as described in Scripture, con sists of self-denial, of warfare against the inclinations of na ture, of prayer and watchfulness under the deepestjconscious ness of infirmity, of labour to walk under the guidance of the Spirit of God, with objects, tastes, and desires, altogether dif- ferent from those of the natural man. It was the sovereign will of God, that those who are saved should be fitted for their glorious inheritance by the discipline of this rough 9.nd narrow way ; but few, even of the best men, have passed through it without many grievous failures : all have come short of the glory of God, and all have need of serious and frequent re- pentance. Many, who profess to be disciples, have altoge- ther turned away to the broad and beaten track ; and, as our Lord teaches that some should hear the woi^d with joy, but in time of temptation should fall away ; that others should per- mit it to be snatched from them by the assaults of the devil, or to be choked beneath the cares of this world and the deceit- fulness of riches ; he adds, that in that day many shall begin to say, " We have eaten and drunk in thy presence and thou > RoiK i. ii. CHAP. I. INTRODUCTION. \ 3 nast taught in our streets ;" and that his reply shall b^ « I know you not whence ye are : depart from me, all ye wdj'k- ers of iniquity."^ The kingdom or Church of Christ is, in- deed, compared to a field in which tares grow with the"^ wheat,^ and to a net which was let down into the sea, and gathered of all kinds both bad and good.^ Such was to be the mingled state of the Christian Church, comprising not only evil men, but good men, subject to infirmities, errors, and sins. Nor was the Church only to be tried by inward failings ; it was to pass through the furnace of affliction and persecution from without. The saints in heaven are described as " they that came out of great tribulation ;"* and as the Captain of our salvation was ma''' j perfect through sufferings,' so it was fitting that the Church, which is His Body," should be baptized with the baptism of his afflictions ; and accordingly his pro- mise was, " In the world ye shall have tribulation : but be of good cheer ; I have overcome the world.'"" There was still a subtler, danger in store for the Church, connected indeed with the desires of the natural man, but raised and stimulated by the Author of evil. False Christs and false prophets were to arise, and to show great signs ; in- somuch that, if it were possible, they should deceive the very elect." Damnable heresies v/ere to be secretly introduced :' false teachers and antichrists, carried away by the desire of a godless pre-eminence, were to subvert the faith of the unsta- ble." As the apostle said, " There must be heresies among you, that they which are approved may be made manifest among you."" Such were to be the infirmities, such the dangers of the Church ; and had she been left alone, and unaided amidst them all, " the waters had overwhelmed her, the stream had 1 Luke xiii. 26, 27. 2 Matt. xiii. 24-30, 37-43. ^ MatU xiii. 47-50 * Rev. vii. 14. ^ Heb. ii. 10. e Col. i. 24. ' John xvi. 33. s Tyiatt. xxiii. 24, 9 2 Pet. ii. I. JO Acts, XX. 30 : ' Tim. iv 1 : 2 Tim. iii : 1 John ii. 8, iv. 3. » 1 Cor. xi. 19. 4 ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. gonf over her soul."^ Nothing but the Spirit ol' God within her could have saved her from speedy destruction. But it had been decreed of old, that in the seed of Abraham " all the nations of the earth should be blessed."^ It had been foretold by the Spirit, that He " should be for salvation to the end of the earth ;"^ that He "should have dominion from sea to sea, and from the river to the ends of the earth."* It had been declared that his kingdom should endure " for ever,"^ and that " of the increase of his goverment and peace there should be no end."® And therefore when the Son of God came into the v/orld, he said unto his disciples, " On this rock 1 will build my Church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it :"' and therefore did he console them in the pros- pect of his departure ; " I will not leave you comfortless, I will come unto you :"* "I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever, even the Spirit of truth."' And when about to ascend up on high, he left to them that encouraging and blessed pro- mise, " Lo, I am with you alway, even to the end of the world."" The history of the Church, then, is not like other historitjs, in which the progress and fate of human enterprises is describ- ed ; it is the fulfilment of God's will for the salvation of man, the accomplishment of prophecies, the triumph of grace over the imperfection and sins of nature. The perpetuity of the Church ; its propagation in all nations ; the succession of the true faith ; the manifestations of the Holy Spirit's assistance in the lives of Christians ; the calamities, errors, afflictions, which, in all ages, beset it, — afford new proofs of the truth of Christianity itself, and inspire the devout mind with humility and faith. The principal periods of ecclesiastical history may be ar- ranged under the following divisions. » Ps. cxxiv. 4. 2 Gen. xxii. 18. ' Is. xlix. 6. *Ps. lxxii.8. 6 Danielii, 44. « Isaiah ix. 7. ' Matt. xvi. 18. 9 John xiv. 18. » John xiv. 16. " Matt, xxviii. 20. A.D. 30-320. PROGRESS OF THE CHURCH. 5 First, the ages of persecution, which terminated with the accession of the Emperor Constantino to universal empire, in A. D. 320, and during which the Church was purest. Secondly, the ages, (a.d. 320-680,) when heresies invaded the Church, and v/ere repelled by the six holy oecumenical synods ; and when the ravages of barbarians and heathens were counterbalanced by the conversion of many nations. Thirdly, the period (680-1054) in v/hich ignorance, world- liness, and superstition, began to fall thickly upon the Church, though an earnest spirit of piety still continued to produce evangelists, saints, and martyrs, and to add wide regions to the Church of Christ. Fourthl}^, the times (1054-1517) when the East and West were estranged by the ambition of the Roman pontiffs ; when those bishops, elevated to the summit of temporal and spiritu- al power in the West, introduced numberless corruptions and innovations ; and when their power began to fade av/ay. Fifthly, the epoch (1517-1839) when a reformation being called for, was resisted by those who ought to have promoted it ; when the V/estern Church became divided ; and at length infidelity came to threaten universal destruction. CHAPTER II. ON THE EARLY PROGRESS OF CHRISTIANITY. A.D. 30-320. " Whereunto shall we liken the kingdom of God, or with what comparison shall we compare iti" said the Lord. "It is like a grain of mustard-seed, which, when it is sown in the earth, is less than all the seeds that be in the earth. But when it is sown, it groweth up, and becometh greater than all herbs, and shooteth out great branches, so that the fowls of the air 'nay lodge under the shadow of it."^ The Holy Spirit, by ' M» .t. iv. 30-32. 1* 6 ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. CH. II the mouth of the prophet Daniel, had many ages before pre- dicted the same wonderful origin and diffusion of the king- dom of "Christ, under the figure of "the stone cut out of the mountain without hands," which " became a great mountain, and filled the whole earth. "^ Thus was Christianit}'- destined to spring from a small and obscure beginning, and to over- spread the earth in the luxuriance of its growth. And so it came to pass. From Judea, the least of the nations of the earth, and from twelve of its poorest and most illiterate chil- dren, a " sound went into all the earth, and words unto the ends of the world. "^ The Son of God, when about to de- part, had given to them that lofty commission : "All power is given to me in heaven and on earth. Go ye, therefore, and teach all nations, baptising them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, teaching them to ob- serve all things that I have commanded you :" and they "went forth and preached every where, the Lord working with them, and confirming the word with signs following." The number of the disciples assembled in the upper room at Jerusalem, after our Lord's ascension, was only a hundred and twenty ; but the miracles of the day of Pentecost, and the sermon of St. Peter, added three thousand souls ; and ere long, " the Lord adding to the Church daily such as should be saved," the number of the men was five thousand.' In vain did the priests and their adherents endeavour to prevent the progress of true religion, by inflicting punishments on its preachers. The next account is, that "the word of God increased ; and the number of the disciples multiplied in Jerusa- lem greatly ; and a great company of the priests was obedient to the faith." The Gospel was, as yet, preached at Jerusalem only — in one city of a remote and obscure province of the Roman empire. What mere worldly calculation could then have imagined the triumphs which were in store for it ? Who ' Dan. it. 35, 44, 45. ' Rom. x. 18. =» Acts ii. 47, .D. 30-320. FKOGRESS OF THE CHURCH. 7 could then \vx\e expected that philosophies, idolatries, and su- perstitions, the growth of so many long ages, were to be pros- trated and annihilated before it, and that the kingdoms of the earth were to bow beneath its dominion? The destruction which Satan meditated against the Church in its infancy, was made the means of disseminating it more widely. The great persecution at Jerusalem, in ^ j, g^ which the first martyr, St. Stephen, afforded so noble an instance of the power of faith, dispersed abroad the disciples, who preached throughout Judsea, Samaria, Phoeni- cia, Cyprus, and Syria. The apostles alone remained at Jeru- salem, where they probably continued to preach for several years after this time. Samaria, convinced by the miracles and the doctrine of Philip, with one accord embraced the Gospel : even the sorcerer Simon, deserted by his followers, and amazed at the gifts of the Holy Spirit, received baptism, in the vain hope of obtaining powers so far superior to his own. Tyre and Sidon now stretched forth their hands to the Lord ; and at Antioch was a great multitude of believers. Thus was the first great impulse to the dissemination of Christianity given by the persecution at Jerusalem. The next arose from the preaching of the apostle Paul to the Gentiles, which commenced about fourteen years after our . . Lord's ascension. The result of his first mission with Barnabas was the establishment of Churches in Pamphy- lia, Pisidia, Lycaonia, and Cilicia, constituting the southern portion of Asia Minor. His next circuit, had 40-0 the effect of extending the Church in Phrygia, Galatia, and Troas, or the centre of Asia Minor ; and in Ma- cedonia and Greece. Another journey added the coasts of Asia towards Greece ; and the Church of Ephesus was form- c.d. over which St. Paul presided for several , rn years. Garnecl to Rome, ho found Christi- anity already existing in several parts of Italy; and the Roman Church, which had lately been edified by his epistle, waanow r' pidly extended by his preaching. Released from prison 8 ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. CH. II. at Rome, he seems to have revisited Ephesus, where he left Timothy to exercise the episcopal office ; to have preached in Crete, where Titus v/as invested witii similar povv'ers ; and to have passed through Macedonia, and even into Spain; whence, returning to Rome, he suffered for Christ about A.D. 6S. The other apostles also preached the gospel among the heathen ; though St. Paul declared that " he laboured more^ abundantly than they all." The north of Asia Minor, or Cappadocia, Pontus, and Bithynia, (addressed by St. Peter in his epistle,) probably received the Gospel from that apostle some time after a.d. 52 ; for St. Paul intended in that year to preach in Bithynia,^ which he w^ould not have done, had St. Peter already evangelised that province, as his rule was, never to build on another's foundation.^ The date of St. Pe- ter's epistle from Babylon suggests the probability of his hav- ing preached in Chaldaea ; and St. Thaddacus is said to have taught at Edessa and in Mesopotamia. In Egypt the Church was founded by St. Mark, who constituted Anianus the first bishop of Alexandria. There are also traditions, that Per- sia, Arabia, and Ethiopia, were visited by some of the apostles. Thus, in about thirty years, that little grain of mustard- seed had grown into a mighty tree, the roots of which had struck themselves deep in all parts of the civilised world; and already it extended *' from the river (Euphrates) to the ends of the earth." Nor was the success of its propagation in each locality inferior to the wideness of its dissemination throughout the world. We have seen examples of its rapid increase at Jerusalem, at Samaria, and Antioch. The hea- then historian Tacitus, in describing the persecution which A B 64 68 Christians suffered at Rome in the time of Ne- ro, says, "At first, those only were apprehend- ed who confessed themselves of that sect ; afterwards, a vast multitude discovered by them, all of whom were condemned." ft appears from a letter of Pliny, the Roman governor of Pon ' Acts xvi. 7 s Rom. xv. 2fl. A.D. 30-320. PROGRESS OF THE CJHURCH. 9 tus an I Bithynia, .hat Christianity had near- , , p,-, •^ ' / . about A. D. 10 «. \y caused the heathen worship in those countries to be deserted. Consujting the Emperor Trajan as to the mode of deaUng with Christians, he says, " Therefore, suspending all judicial proceedings, I have recourse to you for advice ; for it has appeared to me a matter highly deserv- ing consideration, especially upon account of the great num- bers of persons who are in danger of suffering; for many of all ages, and every rank, of both sexes likewise, are accused, and will be accused. Nor has the contagion of this super- stition seized cities only, but the lesser towns also, and the open country. Nevertheless it seems to me that it may be re- strained and corrected. It is certain, that the (heathen) tem- ples, which were almost forsaken, begin to be more frequent- ed; and the sacred solemnities, after a long remission, are revived. Victims (for the sacrifices) likewise are every v/here bought up, whereas for some time there were few purchasers." It appears from this remarkable testimony, that Christianity had, in the course of about fifty years, almost subverted idol- atry in those provinces. Little is knov/n of the progress of Christianity for some years after the death of the apostles. The Church was pro- bably engaged chiefly in the labour of converting the popula- tion more immediately around it ; and we hear little of ne-v^ missions to the heathen; yet Justin Martyr f a d150 wrote in his Apology, that " there is no race of men, whether barbarian or Greek, or by v/hatever other name they be designated, whether they wander in wagons, or dwell in tents, amongst whom prayers and thanksgivings are not offered +o the Father and Creator of all, in the name of the crucified Jesus." We learn from Irenseus, , . . r^ itq ^ about A.D. iio. bishop of Lyons, that the light of the Gos- pel had, at that time, been received in Germany, France. Spain, and in Libya : and Tertullian, a few t a d 198 years later, declares that Parthia, Media, A.rmenia, the Getuli and Moors in Africa, all the borders of 10 ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. CH. III. Spain, many nations of Gaul, those parts of Britaii which were inaccessible to the Romans, the Sarmatians, Dacians, Germans, Scythians, and other nations and islands innumera- ble, were then subject to the dominion of Christ. " We are but of yesterday," he said : "yet we have filled your empire, your cities, your islands, your castles, your corporate tov/ns, your assemblies, your very camps, your tribes, your compa- nies, your palace, your senate, your forum ; your temples alone are left to you." "We constitute," he elsewhere says, " almost the majority in every town." In the succeeding century new nations were gathered with- in the fold of Christ. The assiduous labours of Origen con- 214 "^'crted many of the Arabs to Christianity. The Goths of Mysia and Thrace followed their ex- ample ; and a number of pious missionaries successfully dis- . T. oQA seminated the Gospel throucrhout Gaul, and about A.D. 280. „ , , 1 1 1 • r- rounded several churches m Germany. So great v/as the progress of religion, notwithstanding the violent and cruel persecutions to which it was continually ex- posed, that it became no less the interest than tlie duty of the first Christian emperor, Constantino the Great, to relieve the Church from persecution, to act as the defender of its faith, and to distinguish its ministers and members by marks of his fa- vour and generosity. CHAPTER III. ON THE FAITH OF THE CHURCH. A.D. 30-320. ■ The promises of our Lord to his disciples, that the Spirit ';.f truth should lead them into all truth and abide with them far ever, that the gates of hell should not prevail against his Church, and that he would himself be always with his dis- ciples, — imply that the faith revealed by Jesus Christ should, A.D. 30-320. FAITH OF THE CHURCH. 11 in every age, continue to purify and sanctify the hearts and lives of his real followers ; and we may hence infer, that the belief which has, in all ages, been derived by the Church from holy Scripture ; the great truths which Christians have al- ways unanimously iield to be essential to the Christian profes- sion ; which have supported them under the tortures of mar- tyrdom, and transformed them from sin to righteousness ; that such doctrines are, without doubt, the very same which God himself revealed for the salvation of man. What, then, was the belief received by all Christians from the beginning ? Let the martyr Irenseus, the friend of St. John's disciple Polycarp, reply : " The Church," he says, " though disseminated throughout the whole world, even unto the ends of the earth, hath received from the apostles the be- lief in one God, the Father Almighty, who made heaven and earth, and the seas and all that in them is ; and in one Christ Jesus, the Son of God, who was made man for our salva- tion ; and in the Holy Spirit, who, through the prophets, an- nounced the dispensations (of God,) the advent of the beloved Christ Jesus our Lord, his birth of a virgin, his suffering, re- surrection from the dead, and bodily ascension into heaven, and his coming (again) from the heavens in the glory of the Father, to gather together all things in one, and to raise up all flesh of mankind, in order that, according to the invisible Father's will, every knee of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth, may bow to Christ Jesus our Lord, our God, our Saviour, and our King, and every tongue confess unto him ; and that he may exercise righteous judgment on all— ^may send spiritual wickedness, and the an- gels that transgressed and became apostate, and the impious, unrighteous, wicked, and blasphemous among men, into eter- nal fire ; and bestow hfe and immortality and eternal glory on the righteous, the pious, and those who observe his com- mandments, and continue in his love, either from the begin- ning, or from the time of their repentance." '^This preaching, and this faith (as we have said,) the 12 ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. CH. JU Church, though disseminated throughout the whole world, guards as carefully as if she dwelt in one house ; believes as if she had but one soul ; and proclaims, teaches, and delivers, as if she possessed but one mouth." Such was the universal belief of Christians in the secona century, as it still continues in the nineteenth. We here find the most plain assertions of the Godhead of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost ; the incarnation and satisfaction of our Lord ; the resurrection and future judgment ; and the ne- cessity of obedience and the love of God. That Christians v/orshipped our Lord Jesus Christ as God, is attested even by ,p« the heathen writer Pliny. "They affirmed," he says, " that the whole of their fault lay in this, that they were wont to m.eet together on a stated day, before it was light, and sing among themselves, alternately, a hymn to Christ as God.'' The condemnation of heresies in these ages affords an ad- ditional illustration of the belief of the Church. When . (^^ Theodotus and Artemon, heretics, taught at Rome that our Lord Jesus Christ was not God, but a mere man, they were expelled from communion by Victor, bishop of Rome, and by the Roman Church ; and they were universally rejected and abhorred by all Christians. When Paul of Samosata, bishop of Antioch, endeavoured to revive this error, a council or meeting of seventy bishops, from all fy^^ parts of the East, assembled at Antioch, and ex- pelled him from the Church. In their epistle, ad- dressed to all the bishops, priests, and deacons, throughout the whole world, and still extant, they declared that " he re- fused to confess with them that the Son of God came down from heaven ;" that he said, " that Jesus Christ is of the earth ;" and that he had thus " abjured the faith, and gloried in the accursed heresy of Artemon." Nothing can more plainly show the belief of the Church. The error of Praxeas, u 198 258 Noetus, and Sabellius, in the third century, who affirmed that the Father, the Son, and A.D. 30-320. MARTYRDOMS. 13 the Holy Ghost, arc but one person, thus virtually denying thai the Son, or the PIolv Ghost, could have been " sent" by thp Father,^ or "come from,"'' or "be with,"^ or "intercede with,"* the Father, were also universally rejected by the Churchj as contrary to the Christian faith. The belief of Christians in the incarnation and real bodily existence of Je- sus Christ was manifested in their opposition to the Gnostics and Manichseans, who held that our Lord's body was not real, but a mere phantom, and that he did not die on the cross : er- rors destructive at once of the truth of the Gospel history, of the atonement of Christ, and of the great miracle of his resurrection from the dead. CHAPTER IV. FRUITS OF FAITH EXEMPLIFIED IN THE MARTYRS. A.D. 30-320. This may sufiice to show the belief which was unanimous- ly received by the primitive Church. Let us now proceed to observe its fruits. The power of true faith has never been more wonderfully exhibited than in the patience, the courage, ajad magnanimity of the martyrs. Animated by the promises of their Saviour, " whosoever shall confess me before men, him will I confess before my Father in heaven — he that loseth his life for my sake shall find it — rejoice and be exceeding glad, for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you," — they believed, and triumphed in the belief, that their short affliction was to work for them a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory. But the afflictions which they suffered were enough to have broken down the strongest heart. Every thing that malice and ingenuity could devise was employed to shake their reso- » John V. 23. 2 John xv. 26, xvi. 28.. . s Johni. 1. *Heb. viL 25. 14 ECCLESIASTICAL HISTOKY. Cll. IV» lution The rage and insolence of a brutal popi ace, the scourges and tortures of legal barbarity, and the more subtU torment of promises and entreaties to save their lives by com pliance in idolatrous rites, v/ere the portion of innumerable disciples of Christ. The Jews ha.d been the earliest encmie? of the Christian faith ; but their hatred was soon forgolten. in the persecutions which, for three centuries, were inflicted by the Roman emperors. To Nero, a tyrant whose namo became proverbial, even v/ith the heathen, for all that was abominable in impurity and fearful in cruelty, belongs the evil pre-eminence of being the first great persecutor of the fid fi'^ Church. Accused by the popular rumour of having caused a dreadful fire, v/hich had nearly consumed Rome, in order that he might have the honour of rebuilding it with greater magnificence, Nero expended large sums of money in conciliating the populace, in adorning the city, and in sacrifices to his gods. " But," adds the heathen historian Tacitus, " neither human assista^nce, nor the gifts of the emperor, nor the atonements oflTered to the gods, avail- ed ; the infamy of that horrible transaction still adhered to him. To repress, if possible, this common rumour, Nero procured others to be accused, and punished with exquisite tor- tures a race of men detested for their evil practices, who were commonly known by the name of Christians. The author of that sect was Christus, who, in the rein of Tiberius, was punished with death, as a criminal, by the procurator Pontius Pilate. But this pestilent superstition, though checked for a while, broke out afresh, not only in Judsea, where the evil first originated, but even in the city (Rome,) the common sink in- to which every thing filthy and abominable flows from all c^uarters of the world. At first, those only were apprehended vho confessed themselves of that sect ; afterv/ards, a vast Knultitude discovered by them ; all of v/norn were condemned, ^ot so much for the crime of burning the city, as for their en- ittiity to mankind. Their executions v/cre so contrived as to expose them to derision and contempt. Some were covered A.D. 30-320. MARTYRDOMS. 15 over v/ith the skins of wild beasts, that they might be torn to pieces by dogs ; some were crucified ; while others, having been daubed over v/ith combustible materials, were set up as lights in the night-tim.e, and thus burned to death. For these spectacles, Nero gave his own gardens; and at the same time exhibited there the diversions of the circus ; sometimes standing in the crowd as a spectator, in the habit of a chari- oteer, and at other times driving a chariot himself : until at length these men, though really criminal, and deserving ex- emplary punishment, began to be commiserated as people who vv^ere destroyed, not out of regard to the public v/elfare, but only to gratify the cruelty of one man." Such was the dreadful comm.encement of persecution ; such the torments under v/hich Christians steadfastly continued in their profession of Christ. The heathen regarded this stead- fastness as obstinacy and insanity. The rejection of all the gods of the heathen, and all their worship, was stigmatised as atheism and impiety. Abstinence from the vices, the cor- ruptions, and the vile pleasures of the world, was treated as the result of a sour and unsocial temper. But though " hated of all men" for the nam.e of Christ, true religion only multi- plied and increased under persecution. St. Paul Vv^as at this time beheaded at Rome, and St. Peter was crucified vvith his head downwards. The next persecution was under Domitian, dur- f.« . A.D. yd. ing which the apostle John was immersed m a cauldron of boiling oil, at Rome, and miraculously escaping without hurt, was banished to the isle of Patmos, where he oeheld the visions of the Apocalypse ; and from whence he went to Ephesus, and presided over the Churches of Asia. The reigns of Trajan, Aurelius, Severus, Decius, Valerian, Diocletian, and Maximian, were also stained by persecutions of the Christians. The last of these v^^as also the most se- vere ; it continued for ten successsive years, during which innumerable martyrs attested their belief in Jesus Christ. I shall select, as an illustration of the faith of Christians 16 ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORT. CH. IV. under persecution, the following account of the martyrdom of St. Polycarp, who had been made bishop of Smyrna by the apostles, and was a disciple of St. John. The epistle of the Church of Smyrna, in which it occurs, and which was written a.d. 167,* commences as follows : — " The Church of God which is at Smyrna, to that which is at Philomelium,! and to all the Churches of the Holy Catho- lic Church in all parts, mercy, peace, and love, be multiplied from God the Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ." Having described the constancy of mind with which many of the martyrs in that city had borne the most dreadful tor- tures, they proceed thus : — " The admirable Polycarp, when he first heard of these things, remained undisturbed, pre- serving his calmness and serenity ; and he had resolved to remain in the city, but being persuaded by the entreaties and prayers of his friends, he retired to a village not far off, where he continued with a few others, occupied day and night only in continual prayer, supplicating and beseeching peace for the Churches throughout the world ; for this was his con- tinual habit. And, as he was praying, he sav/ a vision, three days before he was taken ; and behold the pillov/ under his head seemed to him on fire. Whereupon, turning to those who were with him, he said, prophetically, that he should be burnt alive." He v/as at length discovered by the persecu- tors. " Arriving in the evening, they found him resting in an upper chamber, whence he might have escaped with ease into another house, but he would not, saying, ' The will of the Lord be done ;' and, having heard of their arrival, he went down and spoke to them with so joyful and mild a coun- tenance, that they who knew him not before thought they be- held somewhat wonderful, v*-hcn they saw his old age, and the gravity and constancy of his demeanour, and they mar- •[Rather, as Mr. Greswell (Suppl. Diss, on Harm, of Gosp. Vol. IV.) has satisfactorily proved, a.d. 164. — Am. Ed.] t [Another copy has " at Philadelphia:" the epistle was no doubt a cir- cular, addressed to several ncishbouring or cogtiate Churches.- -Am. Ed.] A.D. 30-320. MARTYRDOMS. 17 veiled why such diligence was used to take an aged man like this. He immediately offered to them i*efreshment, and re- quested permission from them to pray in freedom for one hour ; which being granted, he arose and prayed, being so full of the grace of God, that those who were present, and heard him pray, were amazed, and many of them repented that they had taken so venerable and holy a man. *' When he had ceased his prayer, in which he made men- tion of all whom he had ever known, whether small or great, eminent or obscure, and of all the Catholic Church through- out the world ; the hour of departure being come, he was placed on an ass, and brought into the city, that being the great Sabbath. Here the Irenarch Herod, and his father Ni- cetas, met him, who placed him in their chariot ; and seated beside him, persuaded him, saying, * What is the harm to say. Lord Csesar, and to sacrifice, and so to save your life V And he at first answered them not ; but when they continu- ed, he said, ' I will not do what you counsel me.' Then hav- ing failed to persuade him, they uttered reproaches, and threw him violently down, so that in falling from the chariot he hurt his thigh-bone. Unmoved, as if he had not thus suf- fered, he went with alacrity and speed to the amphitheatre, whither he was led. And when the tumult there was so great that few could hear, a voice from heaven came to Polycarp, as he entered the amphitheatre, ' Be strong, and quit thee like a man, Polycarp.' No one beheld the speaker, but many of us heard the voice. " "When, therefore, he was brought forth, there was a great tumult among those who heard that he was taken. More- over, the proconsul asked, as he approached, if ' he were Polycarp V and when he had assented, he persuaded him to deny (Ciirist,) saying, ' Have pity on thine old age,' and such other things as are customary with them ; as, ' Swear by the fortune of Caesar; repent; say. Away with the godless!' (Christians.) Then Polycarp, looking constantly on all the crowd in the amphitheatre, stretching forth his hand toward 2* 13 ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. CH. T7 them, groaning, and looking up to heaven, said, ' Away with the godless!' But when the proconsul pressed him, and said, 'Swear, and I will release thee — reproach Christ ;' Poly- carp replied, ' Eighty and six years do I serve him, and never hath he injured me ; and how can I blasphem.e my King and my Saviour V When the proconsul continued to urge him, saying, ' Swear by the fortune of Csesar ;' Polycarp saith, * Since thou art so vainly urgent that I should swear by the fortune of Csesar, and feignest not to know what I am, hear me declare it with boldness, I am a Christian. If thou de- sirest to hear the reasons for our faith, grant me a day, and hear them.' The proconsul said, 'Persuade the people.' Polycarp replied, * Thee I have thought worthy to hear the reasons for our faith, for we are taught to render unto pow- ers and authorities constituted of God the honour which is fitting, and which is not injurious to us ; but for these (people,) I have not thought them worthy to hear my defence.' The proconsul said, * I have wild beasts, and will cast thee unto them, except thou repentest.' He replied, 'Call them ; I cannot change from good to evil ; it is good to change from sin to righteousness.' The proconsul, 'I will cause thee to be devoured by fire, since thou despisest the beasts, unless thou repentest.' Polycarp, ' Thou threatenest fire which burncth but for a time and is then extinguished, for thou knowest not the fire of future judgment and of eternal punish- ment reserved for the wicked. But why tarriest thou? Bring what thou wilt.' Having said this, and much more, he was filled with courage and joy, and his countenance was full of grace ; so that not only he failed not with terror at what was said unto him, but the proconsul was amazed, and sent his crier to proclaim thrice in the midst of the amphitheatre, * Polycarp has confessed himself a Christian.' " When this was proclaimed, all the crowd of Gentiles and Jews at Smyrna cried aloud, with irrepressible fury, ' This is the teacher of Asia, the father of the Christians, the de stroyer of our gods, who teaches many not to sacrifice or ta A..D. 30-320. MARTTRDOJIS. 19 worship.' Thus saying, they called out and requested the asiarch Philip to let loose a lion at Polycarp. He said that it was not lawful for him to do so, as the combats of beasis had closed. They then cried out with one accord that Poly- carp should be burned alive." The account proceeds : " These things were no sooner said than done, the crowd instantly collecting wood and com- bustibles from the workshops and baths ; the Jews especial- ly, as their manner is, lending their willing assistance. But when the fuel wa.s ready, he laid aside his vesture, and loos- ing his zone, endeavoured to take off his under garments. This he had not been accustomed to do, as all the faithful contended who should first touch his skin ; for always, even before his old age, he was universally reverenced for his vir- tue. The materials prepared for the iire were speedily placed around him, and when they would have nailed him to the stake, he said, ' Leave me thus ; for He who hath given me power to endure the iire, will grant me also to remain stead- fast without your nails ;' and they did not do so, but bound him to it. And he, with his hands bound behind him, like a comely ram chosen from the flock to be a whole burnt-offer- ing to God, said, * Father of thy beloved and blessed Son Jesus Christ, through v/hom we have received the knowledge of thee ; God of angels, and povv^ers, and of a,ll the creation, and of all the generation of the righteous who live in thy presence ; I bless thee, because thou hast thought m.e v/orthy of this day and this hour, to take part in the number of thy martyrs, in the cup of Christ, to the resurrection of soul and body in the incorruption of the Holy Spirit, to eternal life. Amongst whom may I be received this day into thy presence as a rich and acceptable sacrifice, as thou hast be- fore ordained and hast now fulfilled ; thou, who art without falsehood, the true God. For this, and for all things T praise thee, I bless thee, I glorify thee ; through the eternal High- Driest Jesua Christ, thy beloved Son ; through whom be glory 20 ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. CH. IV. to thee with him, in the Holy Spirit, both now and unto all ages to come. Amen.' " When he had uttered the amen, and finished his prayer, the executioners lighted the fire; but when a' great flame burst forth, we, to whom it was permitted to behold, and who were retained that we might relate it to the rest, beheld a wondrous thing ; for the fire, afTording the appearance of a vault, like the sail of a ship filled with the wind, surrounded in a circle the body of the martyr ; and he was in tlie midst, not like burn- ing flesh, but like gold and silver in the furnace, and we smelt a savour sweet as incense or some other precious per- fumes. The wicked, observing that his body could not be consumed by fire, commanded the executioner to approach and pierce him with a sword, which being done, a great quan- tity of blood came forth, insomuch that the fire was extin- guished, and the crowd marvelled because the difference was so great between unbelievers and the elect, of whom, this our apostolic and prophetic teacher, the bishop of the Catholic Church in Smyrna, was the most admirable in these our times." The narrative adds, that their enemies endeavoured to pre- vent the Christians from obtaining the remains of the martyr. They urged the proconsul that his body should not be given, "Lest, forsaking the crucified (Jesus,) they should begin to adore this man. And this they said by the suggestion and aid of the Jews, who had watched our endeavours to remove him from tho fire, being ignorant that we can never forsake Christ, who suffered for the salvation of those who are saved out of all the world, nor adore any other. For him, as being the Son of God, we worship; but the martyrs, as being dis- ciples and imitators of the Lord, we love as they deserve, on account of their unconquerable love to their King and Master." Space will not permit me to cite similar examples of faith and Christian heroism from the martyrdoms of the blessed Si- meon, bishop of Jerusalem ; St. Ignatius, bishop of Antioch ; Justin Martj^r ; the martyrs of Lyons ; Perpetuaand Felicitas St. Cyprian, bishop of Carthage ; and others innumerable. l.D. 30.3!J0. SAINTS. 21 CHAPTER V FRUITS OF FAITH EXEMPLIFIED IN THE LIVES OF CHRISTIANS. A.D. 30-320. In these ages the profession of Christianity was attended with such dangers, and involved so perfect a renunciation of this world, that worldly, sinful, insincere, and even irre- solute men, were rarely found in the communion of the Church. The mass of Christians were thoroughly in earnest, full of zeal, and concentrating their hopes and their labours in the service of their Creator and Redeemer. If the Church in latter ages seem less pure and bright, it should be remem- bered that the world had then ceased to persecute ; that it had even attached itself externally to religion ; and thus, that a large number of professing Christians were not in reality fol- lowers of our Lord. For what the apostle says — " He is not a Jew which is one outwardly ; neither is that circumcision which is outward in the flesh : but he is a Jew which is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart"* — may be applied equally to the case of Christians. The number of the real disciples of Christ, who constitute the soul of the Church, its vital and undying members, has perhaps not been less in later ages than in the times of persecution ; out the number of false brethren, and the multitude of scandals, has been greatly increased. The lives of Christians during the first three centuries ex- hibited striking evidence of the power of faith, and fulfilfed the divine precept, " Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven." To the morality and virtue of their conduct, frequent appeal was made by the Christian apologists. " We," says Justin Martyr, " who formerly rejoiced in 11- *■ Rom. ii. 28, 29. 22 ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. CH. V. centiousness, now embrace discretion and chastity ; we who resorted to magical arts, now devote ourselves to the unbe- gotten God, the God of goodness ; we who set our affections on wealth and possessions, now bring to the common stock all our property, and share it with the indigent ; we who, owing to diversity of customs, would not share the same hearth with a different race, nov/, since the appearance of Christ, live together, and pray for our enemies, and endeavour to persuade those who unjustly hate us, that by leading a life conformed to the excellent precepts of Christianity, they may be filled with the good hope of obtaining like happiness with ourselves from that God v/ho is Lord above all things." There were many instances in those times of persons selling their goods, and giving them to the poor, though the prac- tice was not general. It was customary for all Christians to receive the sacrament of the eucharist every Sunday ; in some Churches, indeed, especii:.ily in time of persecution, it was administered every day ; and it was considered a griev- ous offence to forsake the table of the Lord. The manners and duties of Christians are described by Tertullian in his argument that Christian women ought only to marry believ- ers like themselves. A Christian marriage, he says, " is made by the Church, confirmed by the eucharist, sealed by the blessing, carried by angels to the heavenly Father, and ratified by him. Two believers bear the same yoke ; they are but one flesh and one spirit ; they pray together, kneel to- gether, fast together, instruct and exhort each other. They are together in the Church, and at the table of God ; in per- secution and in consolation. They do not conceal their actions from each other, nor inconvenience each other. They may visit the sick, and be present at the sacrifice of prayer with- out inquietude. They sing psalms and hymns together, and excite one another to praise God." Amongst the most illustrious saints and eminent men who adorned the Church in the first three centuries, we may name St. Ignatius, who had been constituted bishop of Antioch by A.D. 31/-320. SAINTS. 23 the apostles, and who, on his being carried to Rome, to suffer martyrdom, addressed many pi- ous epistles to the Christian Churches, exhorting them to con- fess the true faith, and to remain united to their bishops, priests, and deacons ; St. Justin Martyr who de- lencled tne Christian rehgion against mndels and Jews ; St. Polycarp, bishop of Smyrna, and disciple of the apostle John, whose martyrdom has been described above ; St. Irenseus, bishop of Lyons, and disciple of Polycarp, who, having proved triumphantly against the Gnostics that there is but one true God, the Creator of the world, and that his Son, our Lord, was both God and man, was at last crowned with martyrdom ;* the learned defenders of Christianity and moralists, Tertullian and Clement, presbyters of Carthage and Alexandria ; Ori- gen, the most learned writer of his time, a translator of the Bible and commentator ; Narcissus and Gregory, bishops of Jerusalem and Csesarea, who are said to have had the 'gift of miracles ; St. Cyprian, bishop of Carthage and martyr, a man of ardent piety, zeal, and eloquence ; St. Dionysius, bishop of Alexandria, justly celebrated for his piety and wisdom, and an exile for the faith of Christ in the persecu- tion of Decius. We learn from Christian writers that miracles were occa- sionally performed in the second and third centuries for the conversion of the heathen, or*to confirm the faith of Chris- tians. St. John Chrysostom says that in his time (the end of the 'fourth century) they had ceased. It seems by no means improbable, however, that God may have permitted some signs to have been wrought in later ages for the con- version of unbelievers. • [So some think, but without sufficient evidence. — Am. Ed.] 24 ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. CH. VI CHAPTER VI. ON THE COMMUNION, RITES, AND DISCIPLINE OF THE CHURCH A.D. 30-320. No precept is more frequently inculcated in sacred Scrip- ture than that of mutual love and charity between all Chris, tians. "By this," said our Lord, "shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another."^ Br their relation to God as their heavenly Father, they are mac brethren to one another; and therefore the apostolical '.Ji- mand is, "Love as brethren." Such is the dutv ^. Chris, tians ; they are bound to regard all their br*?* ...en as mem- bers of the same spiritual body as themsp'' :;s ; and hence re- sults the obligation of holding commu'' .on in all possible re- spects v/ith all members of the Churc* . of Christ. Our Lord prayed that his disciples might be '-'one;" the apostles ex- horted them to permit no schisms, no contentions among them,' and to avoid those who caused divisions,* whom they characterised as " sensual, not having the Spirit."* This communion of all particular Churches with each other as parts and members of the one great spiritual body or society of believers, existed for some ages in much more per- fection than it subsequently did, when earthly ambition and unchristian feelings were engendered by prosperity, and the tares began to grow thickly among the good wheat. In the time of the apostles it was manifested by the reception and admission to religious communion of Christians who came from other countries ; by contributions for the relief of dis- tressed believers in all pans ; and by the exchange of letters and advice. The same practices continued for many ages to be general. Each bishop then could give to any member of > John xiii. 3. s 1 Cor. i. 10-12. • Rom. xvi. 17. 18. « Jud« 19. A.D. 30-320. COMMUNION. 25 his Church who might visit foreign countries, commendatory letters, which, on being presented to the most remote Churches, secured his immediate admission to all the privi- leges of Christian fellowship, and, in case of necessity, to the kind ofHces of Christian benevolence. We have in the epistle of St. Clement, bishop of Rome, and the Roman Church, addressed to the Church of Corinth, before the end of the first century, on occasion of a schism in the latter Church, an instance of the same fraternal intercourse and solicitude ; and in the following centuries, the epistles of Dionysius, bishop of Corinth, to many t^_ nu u ' V, . n . x J .u . about A.D. 165. Churches m rontus, Crete, oz;c., and that of the Council of Antioch, to all the Churches, 270 are further examples of the same practice. We learn from Dionysius, that even in the second century, the Church of Rome was remarkable for the extent of its chari- ties to the distressed and persecuted Christians at Corinth and in the East ; and Dionysius of Alexandria, in the follow ing century, attests that the same truly Chris- ^47 onr^ tian conduct was still in full exercise, and that its benefits were felt even in the remote regions of Arabia. But, notwithstanding the obligation of Christians to culti- vate brotherly love, the harmony of the Church has but too often been interrupted. Even in the time of St. Paul, the Church of Corinth was full of parties and division, as it af- terwards was in the time of St. Clement. Paul and Barna- bas themselves separated and departed asunder from each other. In the second century a serious division arose be- tween the Roman and the Asiatic . Churches ; for when the latter persisted in retaining their ancient custom of celebrat. Ing Easter rather on the same day with the Jews, than with the rest of the Catholic Church, Victor, bishop of Rome i proceeded to the extent of separating ^'^' them from his communion ; an act which was disapproved by St. Ii*eii2eiis and tJie greater part of the Church. 26 ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. CH. VI. fy-^ In the following century, a difference arose between Stephen, bishop of Rome, and the Afri- can Churches. The latter, headed by St. Cyprian, bishop of Carthage, maintained that baptisms performed by sectarians and heretics were null and void, and that all converts to the Church ought to be baptised; while the Roman Church did not reiterate baptism when it had been administered by here- tics with the proper external form, but received converts into the Church by the imposition of hands in confirmation. The practice of the African Church was approved by many of the Eastern and Egyptian Churches, and seems to have been supported by very strong reasoning ; but Stephen insisted that the custom of the Roman Church should be adopted, and separated the African Churches, on their refusal, from his communion. This act, however, was not approved or re- cognised by the majority of bishops. These dissensions between independent Churches were of a very different character from formal schisms. The former consisted in a temporary withdrawal of the usual marks of intercourse between different Churches ; the latter were sep- arations from the Church ; the establishment of rival wor- ship, rival ministers, different communions in the same place. In the one case charity was chilled ; in the other it was en- tirely destroyed. Novatian, disappointed of the bishopric fjr.^ of Rome, rebelled against his bisKop, Cornelius, and established a rival community at Rome, of which he was constituted the bishop ; but when the case was known, he was condemned by the whole body of the Church throughout the world, and his sect was rejected as schismati- cal. In the following century, the bishops of Numidia, cn- „-, - raged at the election of Ca^cilianus to the see of Carthage in their absence, pretended that he had been ordained by apostates, and having ordained rival bishops at Carthage and elsewhere in Africa, separated from the communion of the universal Church (which supported Csecilianus,) declaring it apostate. These sectarians, called A.D. 30-320. RITES. 27 Donatists, v/ere, after full examination of their cause by councils of bishops, and by the Emperor Constantine, univer- sally rejected and condemned. They continued, however, for two or three centuries to disturb and persecute the Church in Africa. Separations like these, where rival worship was established, were in those ages regarded as most heinous sins, and destructive of salvation. I now proceed to the consideration of the sacraments and rites of the Church. One of the fullest and most interesting details of the celebration of Baptism and the Lord's supper in those days which has been preserved, occurs in , ^.^ the writings of Justin Martyr. "We shall re- late," he says, " the manner in which those who sire renew- ed through Christ, dedicate themselves to God." " As many as are persuaded and believe what is taught and said by us (Christians,) and promise that they will live accordingly, are instructed with prayer and fasting to beseech from God the remission of their sins ; we also fasting and praying along with them. Then we bring them to a place where there is water, and they are regenerated in the same mode of regen- eration as that with which we v/ere ourselves regenerated ; for then they are washed in water, in the name of God the Father and Lord of all, and of our Saviour Jesus Christ, and of the Holy Ghost ; for Christ himself said. Except ye be regenerated, ye cannot enter into the kingdom of heaven." This was the manner in which all converts from heathenism were admitted into the Christian Church, and made par- takers of all its blessed promises and privileges. When in- fants were baptised, the parents or godfathers made the same engagements in their name. The practice of infant baptism was generally established before the time - „^ of Irenseus* and in that of Cyprian the ques- tion v/as only whether they ought to be baptised ♦[Passages in the writings of Hermas (before a.d. 100 ;) of Justin Mar- tyr (A..D. 150 ;) and of Clement of Alexandria (a.d. 200;) show that H must have prevailed, unquestioned, in their several ages.— Am. Ed.J 28 ECCLESIASTICAL HISTOEY. CH. VI. before the eighth day after their birth. As infants had been admitted by circumcision into covenant with God under the older dispensation ; and as our Lord had shown his fa- vour to them by taking them in his arms, blessing them, and saying, that " of such is the kingdom of heaven ;" and as it is related that the apostles baptised whole households of theii con^rts — the Church always believed that the children ot Christians ought not to be left in the condition of heathens, but received at once into the Christian body by holy baptism, and instructed to walk worthy of the high gifts which they had received. The rite of Confirmation followed that of baptism. The apostles had laid their hands on those who were baptised, in order that they might receive additional gifts of the Holy 200 Grhost ; and we find from Tertullian that this cus- tom was still observed by the bishops, the succes- sors of the apostles, as it has always continued to be from that age to the present. Confirmation was generally admin- istered soon after baptism ; and it does not seem that for jcnany centuries the discipline of the Church separated those rites by such an interval as is now customary ; but it must be remembered, that in the first ages baptism was rarely ad- ministered except by the bishop, and at the great festivals of Easter and Pentecost, when numbers of converts from hea- thenism, who had been for months under catechetical instruc- tion, and the children of Christians, were all together bapti- sed with great solemnity, and immediately afterwards were confirmed. " After baptism," says Justin Martyr, " we lead him (the convert) to the place where those who are called brethren are assembled, and prepared to offer earnest prayers both for themselves and for those who have been illuminated (bap- tised,) and for all other people every where, that they may be thought worthy to know the truth, and be found good men, and keepers of the commandments, that they may be saved with an eternal salvation. Having ceased from prayers, we A.D 30-320. RITES. 29 salute each other with a kiss. Then bread, and a cup of wine and water mixed, is brought to the president (bishop*) of the brethren, and he, taking them, offers praise and glory to the Father of all, through the name of the Son and of the Holy- Spirit, and maketh a very long thanksgiving, because He hath thought us worthy of these gifts ; and when he has con- eluded the prayers and thanksgiving, all the people present approve it with acclamation, saying. Amen. Now ' amen' in the Hebrew tongue signifies * so be it.' " " When the president has offered thanksgiving, and all the people responded, those who are called deacons amongst us give to every one present a portion of the bread, and of the wine and water which has been blessed, and carry it to those who are not present. And this food we call the eucharist, of which no one is permitted to partake except he believes in the truth of our doctrine, and has been baptised in the laver for the remission of sins and regeneration, and lives so as Christ has taught : for we do not receive it as common bread or common drink ; but as, by the word of God, our Saviour Jesus Christ was incarnate, and had flesh and blood for our salvation, so also we have been instructed, that the food, blessed by the v/ord of prayer which is from him, through which our flesh and blood by a change are nourished, is (spiritually) the flesh and blood of that incarnate Jesus. For the apostles, in the commentaries written by them, which are called Gospels, have informed us that they were commanded to do so by Jesus, who took bread and gave thanks, and after giving thanks said, * Do this in remembrance of me ; this is my body ;' and in the same manner took the cup, and hav- ing given thanks, said, * This is my blood,' and distributed it to them only" (i. e. only to believers.) " After this," he continues, " we always continually re- mind each other of these things ; and the rich assist the poor, and we are continually with each other. In all our of- • [Or'officiatiusf presbyter'.— Am. Ed.] 3< 30 ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. CH. V. ferings, we bless the Creator of all things, through his Sor: Jesus Christ, and through the Holy Spirit. And on '■he day called Sunday, all who dwell in the city or the countrj' as- semble in one place, and the memorials of the apostles, and the writings of the prophets, are read as the time permits. Then, when the reader ceases, the president in a discourse exhorts and admonishes to the imitation of these excellent precepts. We then all rise together, and send up prayers ; and, as we have said, when the prayers cease, bread is olUn*- ed, and wine and v/atcr." " But those who are wealthy and so disposed contribute each as he pleases ; and the collection is deposited with the president, who assists the orphans and widows, and those who are in want, through sickness or some other cause, also those who are in prison, and guests who are foreigners ; and, in short, he is the guardian of all who are in distress. And on the Sunday we all assemble together, because it is the first day, on which God, changing darkness and matter, created the world, and Jesus Christ our Saviour on the same daj'- rose from the dead." In those early times the creed was used, as it still is, as a confession of faith preparatory to receiving the sacrament of baptism. When the Ethiopian eunuch desired to be baptised, Philip said to him, ^' If thou belicvest witli all thine heart, thou mayest." And he answered and said, " I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God." Here is an instance of a creed, or profession of faith, even in the time of the apostles. In- deed, as our Lord had required faith in his doctrines, as well as baptism, in order to salvation, the Church was bound to ascertain as far as possible that those v/ho desired baptism were believers, and therefore to require from them a profes- sion of their faith. Creeds in this point of view, as summa- ries of the Gospel, are as old cs the time of the apostles ; their length and fulness varied in different Churches, and sometimes new articles were added, in order to assert the truth in opposition to prevalent heresies. The apostles- creed A.-D. 30-320. DISCIPLINE. 31 was the ancient baptismal creed of the Roman and Italian Churches; the Nicene creed was founded on the ancient creeds of the Eastern Churches by the holy synod of 31^ bishops at Nice, and was adopted as the rule of 0.-^5 faith by the universal Church in all subsequent times. This creed was introduced into the liturgy or service of the eucharist in the fifth and sixth centuries. What has been said of the apostolical antiquity of creeds applies also to liturgies. It appears that, in the fourth cen- tury, there were four forms of administering the eucharist in existence, which had continued in different parts of the uni- versal Church from the remotest antiquity. These forms agreed in all their principal parts : their variety consisted chiefly in the different order in which those parts were ar- ranged. One form prevailed in Judsea, Syria, Asia Minor, Macedonia, Greece ; and, in the fifth century, was ascribed by the Church of Jerusalem to James the apostle. Another, which was established by St. Mark, prevailed in Egypt and Ethiopia. A third, which has been attributed, with some probability, to St. John tlie apostle, was used in Ephesus, and afterwards in France, Spain, and probably Britain. A fourth apostolical form existed in Rome, Italy, and Africa. Every Church had and exercised the power of improving its liturgy by the addition of new rites and prayers ; but all adhered to the general order and substance delivered from the begin- ning. The liturgy or service for the holy communion now used in England,* resembles the ancient Galilean in the most essential points. Penitence was regarded as the remedy for sin committed after baptism. It v/as generally taught that confession of se- cret sins to God, with a truly contrite heart and changed life, were sufficient to obtain remission of sins. In the case of sins, however, which were public and caused scandal, a dif- * [And m the Protestant Episcopal Churches of Ireland, Scotland and America, The forms of the last two are more full and primitive than the English. — Am. £d.] 32 ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. ClI. VI. ferent method was pursued. St. Paul had commanded the Corinthian Church to expel from its communion a person who had committed a grievous and scandalous sin, and had en- joined them to receive him again on his sincere repentance. The Church, acting on this principle, excommunicated any of its members who fell into grievous sin, unless they volun- tarily submitted to a lengthened course of penitence. Peni- tence for seven, ten, fifteen, or even twenty years, was re- quired for some sins, in proportion to their enormity or scan- dal. During this period, the penitent first stood outside the Church while divine service was proceeding ; then, in pro- cess of time, was admitted into the Church, but obliged to as- sume the humblest attitude, and forbidden to partake of the eucharist. During all this time, he was obliged further to manifest his grief by fasting, v/eeping, mourning, wearing sack-cloth, and imploring the prayers of the brethren for his soul. Such was the severity of the ancient discipline ; but the bishop had the power of diminishing the time, in cases where repentance was deep and manifest. The Church was at length fully satisfied, and the penitent was then solemnly absolved and blessed, and admitted to the full privileges of Christian fellowship. The same sort of penitence was re- quired from those who had been excommunicated for their 'sins, and desired to return to the Church. Those who committed great sins in secret were recom- mended to disclose their guilt to discreet and judicious min- isters of God, and receive from them directions for the course of private penitence v/hich they ought to pursue. In the lat- ter part of the third century, a penitentiary was appointed in most churches, whose duty it was to hear such voluntary confessions, and to offer spiritual advice to penitents. About a century afterwards, this office was discontinuc^d by Necta- rius, bishop of Constantinople, on occasion of the scandal caused by an imprudent publication of a crime, through the indiscretion of the penitentiary of that Church ; and from A.D. 30.320. DISCIPLINE. 33 this time, private penitents in the Eastern Churches approach- ed the Lord's table at their own discretion. The ministry of the Church instituted by the apostles con- sisted of bishops, priests, and deacons. The apostles re- ^^^ tained the government of all Churches in their ov/n hands at "^^ first, only appointing deacons and bishops, or presbyters (for ^ these two names are indiscriminately used in holy Scripture;) but when about to depart from this world, they constituted ' bishops or chief presbyters "in their own place," as v/e learn from St. Irenagus. Thus Timothy was placed at Ephesus, Titus at Crete, Dionysius the Areopagite at Athens, Linus at Rome, Anianus at Alexandria, as Jam.es had been long be- fore appointed bishop at Jerusalem. Even the opponents of episcopacy admit, that by the middle of the second century all Churches were governed by bishops ; and, in fact, no in- stance of any Church not under episcopal superintendence has ever been pointed out in the course of fifteen centuries after Christ. Amongst Churches, some had pre-eminent dis- tinction from their opulence and magnitude, or the civil dis- tinctions v/hich their cities enjoyed ; and thus, in the second and third centui-ies, the Churches of the principal cities, such as Rome, Alexandria, Antioch, Jerusalem, and Carthage, were much honoured. All bishops and Churches, however, were regarded as perfectly equal in the sight of God ; and all regulated their own affairs, and exercised discipline with per- fect freedom. The rules for the appointment of bishops and clergy were various. In some Churches, the people united with the cler gy in electing their bishop ; in others, the clergy alone ap- pointed him. Ordination followed, in which a priest received imposition of hands from one bishop, v/hile a bishop was or dained by several. Each bishop was aided in his ministry by presbyters, or priests, and deacons, whom he generally con- suited in important matters. The administration of the re venues of the Church was under his direction, and the dea. cons were his almoners. 34 ECCLESIASTICAL IISTORY. CH. VII. Those who were departing from this life v/ere strengthened by receiving the holy communion, which the great council „^.. of Nice commanded not to be refused to any Christian, who might desire it in liis last hour. CHAPTER VII. THE FAITH OF THE CHTRCH DEFENDED BY THE SIX CECITMENICAL SYNODS. • A.D. ^0-680. We now enter on a new period of the Church's history, in which temptations of a diiTerent sort assailed her faith. The times of persecution for tlie name of Christ had now passed away ; but the watchful enemy of man seized the moment when prosperity began to lull the Church into security, to in- troducc errors which were destructive of all true faith, and which led to persecutions, divisions, and innumerable calam- ities. Religion had tasted the sweets of peace for a few years af- ter the persecution of Diocletian had ceased, and her borders had been enlarged by the conversion of the king and people of Armenia by St. Gregory the illuminator, v/hen the most ^^ Q formidable heresy by which she has ever been af- flicted made its appearance. The evil doctrine of Arius, presbyter of Alexandria, disturbed the Christian world for fifty years. Several Roman emperors, deceived by the arts of one of the most crafty and unprincipled parties that ever existed, threw the whole weight of their authority into its scale ; and sometimes it seemed for a moment trium- phant. The doctrine of the Arians was, that our Lcrd Jesus Christ had been created, like all other things, by God ; that he was not truly God, but a creature liable to fall into vice and sin and that there was a time when he did not exist. A.D. 320-539. ARIANIEM. 35 To terminate the dispMtes excited by these blasphemies, the FIRST cECUMENicAL SYNOD, Consisting of three nundred and eighteen holy bisiiops, many of v/hom had been confessors and exiles in the timft of heathen persecution, assembled at Nice, in Bithynia, by order of the Emperor g.^- Constantine the Great, when Ariiis was heard before all the bishops ; and his doctrine having been fidly ex- amined and universally condemned as impious, he was driven from the communion of the Church : and the Christian faith was declared in that celebrated Nicene creed, which has ever since been received as the rule of faith by all Christian Churches. In this creed it was professed that Christ is " of the same substance" (homoiision) with the Father, /. e. of the same real Godhead, This judgment was immediately approved and acted on by the whole Church dispersed throughout the world ; and even the Arian party in the synod, not daring to utter any thing in opposition in the true faith, returned to their Churches acquiescing in the decree. Arius himself at last professed to believe in the Nicene faith ; and it was not till A.D. 341, that the Arians ventured to compose a new creed. In tlie mean time, Eusebius of Nicomedia, and other leaders of the Arians, concealing their real sentiments, proceeded, by the aid of unjust accusations, false witnesses and violence, to depose and persecute the principal champions of ortho- doxy. St. Athanasius^ vv^ho, v/hen a deacon at the synod of Nice, had distinguished himself in opposition to Arius, and who had been soon after ordained patriarch of Alexan- dria, became the chief object of their hostility. The Em- peror Constantino, deceived by Eusebius of Nicom.edia, re- quired the re-admission of Arius to the communion of the Church at Alexandria ; and, on the iirm refusal of Athana- sius, the Arians accused him to the emperor of causing divi* sion, and of other offences. Athanasius showed tliat his ac- cusers were unworthy of belief. The Arians then excited the Meletians (another sect which had separated itself from 36 ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. CH. VII. the Church) to charge him with imposing a tax in Egypt by his own authority ; and, on the faihjre of this accusation, to allege that he had broken a sacred chalice, and put to death one of his clergy. But, on inquiry, this person was found to be still alive, having secreted liimself in consequence of some offence which he had committed. The Emperor Con- stantino then wrote to Atlianasius, expressing his approbation and confidence in him. His enemies, however, were not discouraged. They at length prevailed on the emperor to assemble a synod at Tyre, „o 4 where the Arian bishops alone were present : and when Athanasius had proved that the witnesses against him were unworthy of credit, and demanded time to bring additional proofs of his innocence, the Arians became so violent, that the imperial officers who were present pri. vately removed him, lest his life should fall a sacrifice to their fury ; and he was then condemned, and deprived of his bishopric in his absence. Athanasius besought the emperor to examine the case ; and he accordingly wrote to the bish- ops of the synod, but was at last persuaded by Eusebius of Nicomedia to banish Athanasius to Treves, in Gaul. When Arius was about to be admitted to communion at Constantino- r,nn pie, by command of the emperor, he died in a A.D. 33o. ^ :. -^ - ^ , ^ sudden and terrible manner ; and Constantme himself dying in 337, was succeeded by his sons. Shortly after the death of the emperor, his son Constan- tino, who ruled in Gaul, permitted Athanasius to return to Alexandria, and wrote to the Church of that city, commend, ing their bishop in the highest terms. But Athanasius was ere long again expelled by the Emperor Constantius, at the „ . , request of the Arian synod of Antioch ; and Gre- gory, an Arian, was appointed bishop in his place. A large body of troops accompanied the intruding bishop to Alexandria, to secure his peaceful entrance into the city, and to expel Athanasius. That holy bishop feared lest the people should suffer on his account ; but he commanded A.D. 320-680. ARIANISM; 3'/ divine service to be performed in the church that evening ; and when the soldiers had entered the church to make him a prisoner, he commanded a psahn to be sung ; and as the soldiers waited till the psalm was ended, Athanasius in the mean while escaped through the crowd of singers, and hid iiimself. For a long time he lived in a dark cavern of the 'jarth, which had formerly been a reservoir for water. His habitation was known only to those with whom he dwelt, and to a maid who was thought worthy to minister to him ; but she was tempted by the promises of the Arians, and Athana- sius was about to fall into their hands, when God warned him of his danger, and he escaped. He then went to Rome, where he appealed to the bishop, Jivlius ; and his cause hav- ing been examined in a synod at Rome, he was pronounced innocent, and acknowledged as the lawful bishop of Alex andria. This judgment was soon after renewed by the great synod of Sardica, which at the same time ap- „ .,- proved the Nicene faith, and condemned the Arian party, who had withdrawn from it on perceiving the sentiments of the majority. The cause of orthodoxy now obtained a temporary triumph. The Emperor Constans, who ruled in the West, threatened to declare war against Constantius, if Athanasius was not restored to his see ; and accordingly that bishop, with several other of the persecut- ed orthodox bishops of the East, were restored to their flocks. Athanasius returned in triumph, with letters of the highest recommendation from Julius of Rome, from the Em- peror Constantius, from Maximus of Jerusalem, and the bishops of Palestine. Even the Arian bishops Valens and Ursacius, who had been most active in procuring his condemnation, acknowledged that all their charges had been false, deplored their wickedness, and sought his com- munion. The eastern Church, however, was still troubled by the presence of Arian bishops, though many prelates, and the people generally, h€ld the true faith. The western Church 4 38 ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORl'. CH. VII- was generally orthodox ; and for some time after the synod of Sardica, the ¥/estern and Eastern Churches were sepa- rated from communion on account of St. Athanasius. The favourable prospects of true religion became speedily over- clouded again. The Arians continued their machinations, under the authority of the Emperor Constantius ; and, in 358 and 355, caused synods to be assembled at Aries and at Milan, in which, by force and fraud, the condemnation of St. Athanasius and other orthodox bishops was again obtain- ed. The emperor had twice sent messengers to bring him to Milan ; but the people of Alexandria would not permit him to leave the city, well knowing the dangers which awaited him there. Troops were then marched from Egypt and Li- bya to seize him ; but when they had surrounded the church in which he was, he again disappeared ; and was not to be found. An Arian, named George, was ordained bishop in his place. It was at this time, perhaps, that St. Athanasius again had a remarkable escape from his enemies. While he was sailing up the Nile into the interior of Egypt, his persecutors, hear- ing of it, followed him ; but he, being admonished of God, informed his companions of their danger, and commanded them to return to Alexandria. They accordingly turned about, and coming with the stream, passed the pursuing ship, arrived safe in the city, and remained unobserved in the crowd. On account of these wonderful escapes, he was ac- cused by the Arians and Gentiles of practising magic. When the great object of their dread had been thus re- moved, the Arians began more openly to attempt the de- struction of the Nicene faith. They had already composed several creeds more or less unsound, and capable of Arian interpretations ; but they now framed a new formula, in which the Divinity of Christ was apparently asserted strong- ly, while it really admitted of an interpretation favourable to Arian views ; and having induced the emperor to assem- ble the bishops of the West, to the number of four hundred, A.D. 320-680. ARIANISM. 39 „^Q at Ariininum, in Italy, they proposed it for their adoption. The synod, however, immediately required the Arian bishops to subscribe the Nicene creed, and deposed those who refused to do so ; and it was only af- ter they had been wearied out by a delay of many months, intimidated by the threats of the emperor, and solemnly as- sured by the Arians that they received the creed in the or- thodox sense, that the bishops at last gave way, and, in hopes of securing peace, permitted the omission of the term. homousion (" of the same substance,") which occurred in the Nicene creed. The majority of the bishops, too, either de- ceived or intimidated, subscribed the new creed ; but the deception was soon discovered. The Arians proclaimed every vv^here that the Nicene faith was condemned, and an- nounced their own interpretation of the creed lately adopt- ed. But though heresy seemed for a moment triumphant, it was soon to be overthrown. France and Italy, roused by the celebrated Hilary, bishop of Poictiers, who returned from his exile in the East, declared their adherence „g to the true faith, annulled the proceedings at Ariminum, expelled the Arians from communion, and trans- mitted their resolutions to the orthodox bishops of the East. Egypt was already proclaiming its agreement with their faith ; for on the death of Constantius, Athana- ^^^ sius re-appeared suddenly in the church of Alex- andria, after having entirely disappeared for seven years, during which he had dwelt among the monks in Upper Egypt. When he thus, beyond all expectation, appeared again, the people of Alexandria rejoiced with exceeding joy, and delivered all the churches to him, expelling the Arians. At the same time, Lucifer, bishop of Cagliari, and Eusebius of VercellsB, returned from the Upper Thebais, where Con- stantius had condemned them to perpetual exile for their faith ; and Eusebius was present in the synod of ^ ^ gg^ Alexandria, held by Athanasius to confirm the Nicene creed. When the emperor, Julian the Apostate, 40 ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY CH. VII. heard that St. Athanasius was again in Alexandria, and thai he was converting many of the heathen to Christianity, he commanded him to leave tiie city. When departing from his see, and beholding the people weeping around him, he said, " Take courage ; this is but a little cloud, which shall quickly pass away." And so indeed it proved: for on the „^„ accession of Jovian, Athanasius was restored A.D. 333. , . , .^\ to his see, and testified to that orthodox emperor, that the true faith was then received in all the Churches of Spain, Britain, Gaul, Italy, Dalmatia, Dacia, Mysia, Mace- donia, Greece, Africa, Sardinia, Cyprus, Crete, Pamphylia, Syria, Isauria, Egypt, Libya, Pontus, Cappadocia, and in all the East. Many councils of bishops successively confirmed the orthodox faith ; and even those bishops of the East who were called Semi-Arians from their not adopting the word homoiislon, and who had been deceived by the real Arians, but whose faith differed not from that of the Catholic Church, now united in the universal acceptance of the Nicene faith. Thus the Arian heresy, when it seemed most prosperous, suddenly fell ; and, after lingering for a time under the protec- r>n 1 Q-yo tion of the Emperor Valens, and afterwards A.D. oo-i-o/o. 1 1 1 -1 11 amongst the barbarous nations beyond the Roman empire, it disappeared from the face of the earth. The protection vouchsafed by God to the true faith was never more wonderfully exemplified than in the existence and final triumph of the Nicene creed. Craft and violence alike failed to overthrow the belief of the Church. The truth is, that this heresy had never been able to take deep root in the Church. Arian bishops in the East governed a people whose pious simplicity v/as unable to detect errors veiled under the guise of orthodox language : but when, at length, the real tenets of the Arians began to be more openly developed, and when the multiplication of creeds, and their internal divi- sions, had shown the uncertainty of their faith, and when the patronage of the state was withdrawn from their cause, they fell at once. A.D 320-680. MACEDONIUS. 41 While the Arian impiety was falling, the enemy of man was engaged in drawing forth from it a new temptation for the faith of the Church. All Christians had hitherto belie v- ed that the Holy Ghost was truly the Spirit of God ; but the Arian Macedonius taught that the Holy Ghost was merely a creature made by the Son, contrary to the words of Christ, who described him as the " Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father." This doctrine was condemned as anti- Christian by many councils in Europe and Asia, but especi- ally by the council of one hundred and fifty bishops at Con stantinople, assembled by the Emperor Theodosius, in a.d. 381, and which, having been ever since universally approved by the Church, has been termed the second cecumenical SYNOD. On this occasion the Nicene creed was enlarged, in order to express the belief of Christians that the Holy Ghost is truly God. The Macedonian heresy had not many adherents, and did not long continue to trouble the Church ; but the disputatious and proud spirit of Arianism had engendered a brood of er- rors. Sabellianism re-appeared in the person of Photinus ; while ApoUinaris denied that our Lord possessed a human reasonable soul. These errors were universally condemned, and their authors were numbered with the heretics. Though religion was suffering so grievously from the dis- turbances excited by heresies, it continued to expand itself among the heathen. Ethiopia was now converted by Fru- mentius, who was consecrated the first bishop of the Ethio- pians by St. Athanasius. The natives of Georgia, or Iberia, and the Goths of Thrace, Moesia, and Dacia, also received the light of the Gospel. St. Martin, bishop of Tours, com- pleted the conversion of the Gauls, and is said to have had the gift of miracles. Thus did that grain of mustard-seed sown by Christ continue to increase. The Chur^'i was now threatened with new afflictions and adversities, in the decay of the Roman empire. Attracted by the prospect of an easy spoil, the barbarian nations of the 4* 4S ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. CH. VII. Goths, Heruli, Vandals, Huns, Franks, Saxons, precipitated themselves successively on a luxurious and unwarlike popu- lation ; and scenes of the most dreadful carnage and destruc- tion overspread every province of the falling empire. The greatest portion of its possessions in the West became the prey of the invaders ; and the Churches of Britain, Germany, Italy, Spain, and Africa, groaned beneath the yoke of hea- then or Arian conquerors. In Africa, the Vandals, who were Arians, endeavoured to extirpate the true faith by most cruelly persecuting its defenders, and by prohibiting all or- dinations to the sacred ministry. These savage invaders were gradually converted from their errors ; but the destruction of learning which they caused exercised a permanently evil in- fluence on Christianity. Ignorant themselves, and despising all literature, they were devoted only to war and to the chase ; and even their conversion to Christianity effected no alteration in the national character and tastes. Hence edu- cation was despised, the most ordinary literary attainments neglected, and, as a sure result, superstitions were gradually introduced, and found too ready an acceptance. While Christianity was suffering grievous afflictions and persecutions from the barbarians, the torch of discord was again lighted by the heretic Pelagius, at the end of the fourth century. Pelagius denied that human nature is inclined to evil, or that man needs the assistance of divine grace to lead and assist him to perform good works. This doctrine was most strenuously opposed by the illustrious St. Augustine, bishop of Hippo in Africa, and was condemned by many councils in the East and West, especially by a council of two 417 I'^undred bishops at Carthage, the decrees of which were generally approved by the Church. This council excommunicated all those who taught that Adam was naturally mortal, so that death was not the punishment of sin ; or that it is unnecessary to baptise infants ; or that they do not derive from Adam any original sin which needs to be expiated by regeneration ; or that the words of St. John, A.D. 320-680. NESTORIUS. 43 "If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves," are merely to be understood as an expression of humility, not as the declaration of a real fact : for, as the decree adds, " the following words of the apostle, 'But if we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness,' show sufficiently that they were not mere expressions of humility, but of truth." The heresy of Pelagius was finally condemned in the third oecumenical synod, of which I am about to speak. Nestorius^ a vain and arrogant man,* being ordained to the patriarchal see of Constantinople, declaimed violently against the title of Theotokos, applied by ancient piety to the Virgin Mary, signifying that she was the mother of our God and Saviour Jesus Christ, — and taught that God the Word and the man Christ Jesus were different persons under the same appearance. This was contrary to the Scripture, which said that "the Word was made flesh," and that God " purchased the Church with his own blood ;" implying evi- dently that one and the same person, who was both God and man, had died for the sins of the world. A council of two hundred bishops at Ephesus, and which the .oi Church reckons as the third (ecumenical synod, condemned the errors of Nestorius ; and the decision, though disputed for a short time.by the bishops of Syria under some feelings of jealousy, was speedily adopted by the whole Christian world. f St. Cyril of Alexandria had the honour * [Nestorius hardly has justice done him, by this statement. Fear of the Apollinarian heresy, and a predilection for the peculiar tenets and interpre- tations of the Antiochian school, made him over tenacious in opposition to phraseology adopted by the Alexandrian school: but the most accurate in- vestigations leave little room for doubt that he did not teach the heretical doctrine afterwards put forth by some Vv'ho took part in the dispute, and bore his name. — Am. Ed.] t [The ''decision" of the Council was, more properly speaking, its tesH- mony to the fact that the Church had always held the doctrine of the union of the Divine and human natures in the one person of the Lord Jesus. From \his testimony the Bishops of Syria did not dissent. Their diiTerence was 44 ECCLESIASTIGAL HISTORY. CH. VII. of being the principal opponent of this heresy.* The adhe- rents of Nestorius, being banished from the Roman empire, obtained an establishment from the King of Persia, and have continued to exist as a distinct sect even to the present day. In opposing the errors of Nestorius, some persons fell into the opposite error of confounding the divine and human na- tures of our Lord. Eutyches, an abbot at Constantinople, taught that in Jesus Christ was but one nature, compounded of the divine and human natures ; so that, according to his doctrine, our Lord was not properly either God or man, but a sort of third being between the two, of a mixed and com- pounded nature. Deposed for this heresy by many bishops at Constantinople, he was irregularly restored by a synod a-t Ephesus, which under the direction of Dioscorus, bishop of Alexandria, acted with the most savage violence against the defenders of orthodoxy. Tii?: fourth cecumenical SYNOD of Chalcedon, consisting of six hundred and thirty .^, bishops, finally judged in this cause, and having condemned Dioscorus and Eutyches, established the true and sound doctrine of the Church, derived from holy Scripture, and taught by St. Leo, bishop of Rome, in his celebrated epistle, — i. e. that in our Lord Jesus Chrisi there are two perfect and distinct natures, the Godhead and manhood, united in one person, without mixture, change, or confusion. This doctrine was immediately approved and accepted by the great body of Christians throughout the world, and has so continued to the present day. The adhe- rents of Dioscorus, called Monophysites (z. e. upholders of the one nature,) or Jacobites, abounded in Egypt and Syria and their sect has survived in those countries till the present day. The Church was consoled under these various afflictions on the personal question, whether Nestorius and others did heretically de- part from the doctrine of the Church. — Am. Ed.] ♦ [But not without sullying himself by the use of very unbefitting means. —Am. Ed.] A.D. 320-680. MONOPHYSITES. 45 by the conversion of several heathen nations. The natives of Libanus and of a portion of Arabia were converted by the persuasions and authority of St. Simeon Stylites. The apos- tolical labours of St. Patrick were rewarded by the con- version of the Irish nation to Christianity. Palladius had been previously ordained to the same mission by Ccelestinus, bishop of Rome ;* but dying soon, was succeeded by St. Patrick. The Gospel had indeed already some adherents in that country, but Christianity now ^'^' ^^^* became general, and for the next four or five centuries learn- ing and religion shed a bright lustre on that remote island, when barbarism and ignorance prevailed over the rest of Europe. The Church of Ireland during these ages remain- ed independent, and was not subject to the papal jurisdiction. Clovis, king of the Franks, and founder of the French mon- archy, received baptism, with many of his people, from Re- migius, bishop of Rheims, a.d. 496. The East still remained troubled by the remains of the Eutychian heresy, and the West was subject to the dominion of savage nations, who either rejected Christianity, or were imbued with the Arian heresy, — when a controversy arose in the East concerning certain writings of Theodorus, Ibas, and Theodoret, which supported the Nestorian heresy, and which were used by its adherents to promote their views. A coun- cil of one hundred and sixty bishops, assembled at Constan- tinople by the Emperor Justinian, and which the Church acknowledges as the fifth (ecumenical ^'°* ^^^' SYNOD, condemned these writings and various errors of the Nestorians, and approved all the doctrine of the four preced- ing (ecumenical synods. This synod was thus a sort of sup- plement to the third oecumenical synod. It was immediately ♦ [This is extremely doubtful : or rather, almost certainly untrue. That both Palladius and Patrick preached in Ireland, early in the 5th century, is certain. That neither of them had any direct connexion with Rome, is in the highest degree probable. All else is inextricably involved in doubt.— Am. Kd.1 46 ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. CH. VII. received by the great body of the Church, though some bishops in Africa and Italy for a time did not acknowledge it ; as they supposed, through mistake, that the writings of Theo- dore and Theodoret had been approved by the synod of Chal- cedon. Britain had now been for many years subject to the Saxons, who gradually subdued the Christian inhabitants, and formed settlements among them. These invaders, however, still remained in their heathenism, when St. Gregory the Great, bishop of Rome, commiserating their condition, sent St. Augustine and other pious brethren to preach the Gospel in this country. Arriving about 590, he founded several Christian churches ; but the conversion of the Saxons to the faith was chiefly due to several holy bishops and missionaries from Ireland in the following century. The ancient churches of the Britons which still continued, as well as the Irish churches, were not subject to the jurisdiction of the bishop of Rome ; nor was the Anglo-Saxon Church for several cen- turies, though much reverence was felt for the ancient and celebrated Church of Rome, and much assistance derived from it in the earlier stages of their existence. In the seventh century, a heresy began to be advocated, which, like the Eutychian, endangered the doctrine of the perfect divinity and perfect humanity of our Lord: for it was now asserted, that, after the incarnation, there was but one will in our Lord, — that of the incarnate God. But it is plain, that if we admit the doctrine of two perfect natures, each possessed of all its distinctive capacities and faculties, the doctrine of two wills, the divine and human, immediately follows. If this latter doctrine be denied, then the doctrine of two natures cannot be maintained ; so that the Monothe- lites, who did deny that two wills perfectly united and har- monious, exist in our Lord, were only a branch of the Eu- tychians. After a struggle, which continued for more than half a century, the Monothelite heresy, and its supporters, Theo- dore of Pharan, Sergius, Pyrrhus, Paul and Peter of Con- A.D. 320-680. MONOTHELITES. 47 stantinople, Honorius, bishop of Rome, Cyrus of Alexan- dria, and others, were condemned in the sixth (ecumenical SYNOD of one hundred and seventy bishops, held at Constan- tinople by order of the Emperor Constantino Pogonatus in 680. The circumstance of Honorius of Rome's condemnation for heresy by this synod, which has been clearly established by Bossuet, and many other of the most eminent Romish controversialists, affords an irresistible proof that the bishops of Rome were not infallible in faith ,**and that the universal Church^has never acknowledged them to be so. It is also worthy of remark, that the sixth oecumenical synod was the last which could justly claim the title of universal, or pre tend to represent the judgment of the whole Church. The succeeding synods, which are styled universal by Romanists, have never been acknowledged by the whole Eastern and Western Church, as the early synods were.^ The seventh synod, as it is called, remained rejected by the Western Church up to the fourteenth century. The eighth and fol- lowing synods have been always rejected by the Eastern Churches, even to the present day. Whilst the Monothelite heresy was disturbing the Church, the false prophet Mahomet and his followers were ^ ^ 512 conquering the Asiatic possessions of the eastern empire, and extending their triumphs through Egypt, and along the northern coast of Africa. In Egypt and the East the invaders were assisted by the Eutychian and Nestorian heretics, and their religion received a degree of favour which was denied to the Church. Persecution at length assailed the faith of Christians; and the result was, that in Africa, after four or five centuries, we hear no more of those five hundred episcopal sees which had formerly shed light o 1 that region. In the East, Christianity slowly de- clined .mder oppression and persecution ; but it was always » See Palmer's Treatise on the Church, vol. ii. p. 200-249 48 ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. CH. VIII. preserved; and after the lapse of twelve nundred years, there are still many churches in Asia Minor, Syria, Pales- tine, and Egypt, though they bear but a small proportion to the eight hundred episcopal churches which, in the fifth cen- tury, existed in those countries. The decline of Christianity in the East and Africa was, however, very gradual, and the Church beheld the spread of the Gospel amongst many other nations. Christianity was now subduing the remnants of paganism in England, and exciting there and in Ireland a spirit of apostolical zeal, which disseminated the light of truth among many barba- rous nations in the west of Europe. The Suevi, IBoii, and Franks of Germany were converted by St. Columban, in the early part of the seventh century. St. Gall became the apostle of Switzerland ; St. Kilian, of the eastern Franks ; and St. Willibrord, and his companions, of Batavia, Fries- land, and Westphalia. These holy missionaries were all natives of Ireland, exceot the last, who was an Anglo-Saxon. CHAPTER VIII. FRUITS OF FAITH EXEMPLIFIED IN THE SAINTS AND MARTYRS. A.D. 320-680. We have now seen the oromises of our Saviour verified in the continual existence of his true Church, amidst the ter- rors of persecution and the temptations of heresy. We have seen it expanding itself " from the river to the ends of the earth;" and though in some branches " minished and brought low," yet containing a principle of vitality which enabled it to repair its losses by new and vigorous shoots. We have seen those great truths which Scripture teaches unanimously and firmly maintained during this period. Let A.D. 320-680. FRUITS OF FAITH. 49 US now contemplate the fruits which that faith continued to produce. The holy men of this period may be divided into two classes : those who spent their time in a private religious life, and those who were engaged in the ministry of the Church. I shall mention some of the most remarkable men in each class successively. Many of the most truly pious and holy men whom these ages produced, were among those who lived retired from the world, and who were engaged solely in the service of God. A life entirely devoted to religion, and separated from all do- mestic cares, pleasures, and occupations, had been the cha- racteristic of the ascetics and sacred virgins*- even from the time of the apostles ; but the monastic or solitary life was first exhibited on a broad scale by Antony and his disciples in Egypt, at the latter end of the third and beginning of the fourth century. In the present age it is, perhaps, difficult to appreciate justly the religious character of ascetic religion in the early Church. The monastic system of later ages, with its wealth, its indolence, the spirit of superstition or of worldly intrigue which have too frequently disgraced it, not to speak of still more unworthy and degrading faults, has but too justly ex- cited the strongest feelings of disapprobation. But we should do an injustice to the Christian Church generally, if we ima- gined that such corruptions originally prevailed ; or that the saints and martyrs lent their countenance to institutions, which were either in contradiction to the holy Scripture, or injurious to Christian piety, charity, and devotion. The Christian who best knows his own heart will most deeply feel the continual tendency of the world, with all its busy thoughts and interests, to deaden his sense of religion, and to withdraw him from the love and service of his Crea- * [These certainly did not exist as distinct classes before the end of the second century j nor even then, in any thing resembling the form of monk- ery. — Am. Ed.] 5 5D ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. CH. VIII. tor. He will feel that even the best and purest sympathies of life require the chastening influence of solemn recollec- tions and self-denial, to prevent their becoming hindrances in the way of his salvation. Our Lord has said, " He that loveth father or mother more than me, is not worthy of me ; and ho that loveth son or daughter more than me, is not worthy of me. And he that taketh not up his cross and foUoweth after me, is not worthy of me." It was this that, in those early ages, led many earnest Christians, who felt their own infirmities, and sought for sal- vation, to relinquish the world, its wealth, its pleasures, its business and temptations, and to retire into quiet places, far from the noise of cities and the ordinary haunts of men, where the labour of their own hands procured for them the simplest food on which human life could be sustained, and garments proportioned at once to their poverty and the hu- mility of their spirit. Thus having fulfilled the apostolic precept, to " work," and content with food and raiment, thp simple objects to which Christ limited his disciples' earth wishes, they devoted their lives to repentance, to rigorous self-examination, to prayer and psalmody, to the study of God's word, to the continual reception of the sacrament of Christ's body and blood, to works of charity towards the sick and afflicted ; in a word, to all the parts of a life en- tirely religious, and to continual preparation for death. They literally followed the advice of our Lord to his disciples, *'Sell that ye have, and give to the poor;" and after the example of our Lord and of his apostle St. Paul, and in ac- cordance with their advice to those who were " able to beai it," they refrained from the permitted and honourable state of marriage, that they might " care for the things of the Lord; that they might be holy both in body and in spirit."* And who can be so cold and so uncharitable as to feel no sympathy with this holy zeal, this self-denying love of a>d ? ♦ I Cor. vii. 34. A.D. 320-680. ANTONY. 51 The contemplation of such instances of earnest religion ought rather to provoke us to a godly jealousy, to induce contrition for our own want of zeal, and to stimulate ou^ faith. Those deeds of Christian devotion, the recital of which so deeply affected the eloquent and profound St. Au gustine, and which were made the immediate instrument of his conversion, cannot be unworthy the attention of Chris tians in any age. It may not be difficult to point out instan- ces of enthusiasm, of excessive mortifications, of supersti- tion, and of errors, amongst some of the ancient solitaries ; but it would be hard indeed to rival their religious zeal, their love of God, their ardent pursuit of salvation, and their re- solution in casting aside every weight that could detain them in their Christian course. Antony was born in Egypt, a.d. 251 ; and being left an orphan at an early age, he gave his paternal lands to the in- habitants of the place where he resided, and, having sold the rest of his possessions, he distributed them among the poor. Then associating himself with those who were zeal- ous in religion, he emulated all their virtues, and finding a religious life delightful in practice, though difficult at the commencement, he continually devised new methods of de- votion, self-denial, and temperance. His food was bread and salt, and water for drink ; and he frequently remained fasting for two or three entire days. He sometimes passed the night without sleep, engaged in continual prayer, in which a large part of the night was always spent. His couch was a mat, or more commonly the bare ground. After fif- teen years thus spent, he retired to a ruined castle in the desert, where he remained in perfect solitude for twenty years, and where his existence only was known by those of his friends who approached and heard him singing psalms. At length he was prevailed on to come forth from his retreat, and it was then seen that he was indeed a holy man. His soul was calm, unshaken by sadness or joy ; he was neither troubled to see the multitudes who came to visit him, nor 5S ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. CH. VIII. pleased with their applause. He was exceedingly meek, most benevolent, agreeable, and inoffensive to those whom he met and conversed with, even though they should differ from him. The sanctity of his life influenced many persons to follow his example, and place themselves under his guidance, and thus the monastic institution com.menced in Egypt. St. Antony died in 356, at the age of 105. Amongst other in- structions, he advised those who were desirous of avoiding sin, to occupy themselves with some employment ; " and let each of us," he said, " remark and write down the actions and movements of his soul, as if we ought to render an account of ourselves to each other. Be assured, . that the shame of being known, will cause us to cease from sin, and from evil thoughts : our own writing will supply the place of our brethren's eyes." St. Antony is said to have cured many sick persons by his prayers. His humility and rever- ence for the clergy was very great. He was so humble, that he bowed himself before bishops and presbyters ; and, when consulted by deacons, he gave them his advice, but did not offer prayer before them. He knew no other language but the Egyptian, and was not able to read ; but, by continual attention, he had perfectly learned the Scriptures. He was never ashamed to learn, — listenc-d to every one, — and if any person made a useful remark, he acknowledged his obliga- tion. His countenance was so pure and calm, so undisturbed by any passion, and so full of a holy joy, that they who had never seen him were able immediately to distinguish him amongst many other brethren. St. Antony supported him- self by the labour of his hands, and whatever he possessed beyond his immediate necessities he gave to the poor. He rarely left his retirement, except to plead the cause of those who were oppressed ; for many persons brought their com- plaints to him, and urged his intercession in their favour with the magistrates. St. Athanasius was on terms of friend- ship with this venerable man ; he induced him to come to Alexandria, for the purpose of declaring publicly his con- A.D. 320-680. EGYPTIAN MONKS. ' 53 demnation of the Arian heresy ; a circumstance which was of very great service to the cause of orthodoxy. When about to depart from this Hfe, he called his disciples, and said, " I enter, as it is written, the path of my fathers ; for I see that the Lord calleth me." Then recommendvig them to abstain from all communion with the Arians, and not to per- mit his body to be carried into Egypt, lest it should be em- balmed and preserved in houses, he continued, "Bury it yourselves, and cover it with earth, in some place known only to you. At the day of resurrection I shall receive it incorruptible from the hands of the Saviour. Farewell, my children. Antony departs, and is no more with you." Hav- ing thus spoken and embraced them, he died. Next to Antony, tlje chief founders of monasteries in Egypt were Ammon and Pachomius. By the rule of the lat- ter, his disciples were permitted to eat, drink, labour, and fast, as they pleased ; but those who eat more abundantly were expected to perform more laborious works. On the first and last days of the week, all received the holy eucha- rist. They prayed twelve times in the day ; and. when about to take food, they sang Psalms. Ecclesiastical history has preserved several interesting an- ecdotes of these virtuous men. Pior was accustomed to take his food walking about ; and when asked wherefore he did so, he said, " I wish not to regard my eating as a serious occupation, but as a superfluity." To another person, who made the same inquiry, he said, " It was in order that he might not be affected by any bodily enjoyment, even in eat- ing." Pambos, not knowing letters, went to some one to be taught a psalm, but having heard the first verse of the thir- ty-ninth psalm ("I said, I will take heed unto my ways, that I offend not with my tongue,") he would not hear the second verse, but departed, saying, that this one verse was sufficient for him, if he could learn it practically. And when he who taught him the verse afterwards reproved him, because he had not for some months visited him, Pambos replied, that he 5* 54 ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. CH. V^-l had not yet learned the verse practically : and many yea.rs« after, being asked by an acquaintance whether he had yet learned that verse, "In nineteen years," he said, "I have scarcely learned to practice it." Pambos, by the invitation of St. Athanasius, came from the desert to Alexandria, and seeing there a public dancer, who was a sinner, he wept. When asked wherefore he wept, he said, " Two things have moved me ; first, the end of that woman ; the other, that I do not use such diligence to please God, as she does to please wicked men." Another brother, named Pitirus, was skilled in the physical sciences, and continually explained va- rious scientific questions to those who met him, but with each of his explanations he offered up prayer. A certain disciple was informed of the death of his father, but he said to the messenger, " Cease to blaspheme, for my father is immor- tal." One of the brethren being possessed of nothing but the book of the Gospels, sold it, and gave the money to feed the poor, saying, " I have sold that same word, which saith, Sell all that ye have, and give to the poor." „^^ Hilarion was the ereat founder of the about A.D. 320. . . • o • a o:. vt ^^ monastic state m byria ; and bt. Basil carried this discipline into Pontus. It also spread rapidly in Persia, Asia Minor, Mesopotamia, and all the East. It was introduced at Milan by St. Ambrose ; in Africa, by St. Augustine ; in France, by St. Martin. The number of such religious men and virgins in the fourth and fifth centuries was exceedingly great. The spirit of earnest religion in those days very commonly took this form. The worship of God and self-discipline were not their only employments. Manual labour was strictly enforced, and all the offices of Christian charity were discharged. In particular, the instruction of the ignorant, and the conversion of the heathen, occupied their attention. Valentinus was at the head of a great con- gregation in Coelesyria, where he, with many of his breth- ren, lived to a very old age ; and " it appears to me," says an ancient historian, "that God prolonged the livis of these A.D 320-680. SIMEON STYLITES. ' 55 men for the benefit of religion ; for they brought over the Syrians in general, and many of the Saracens and Persians, from heathenism to Christianity." The principles of self-denial received in the monastic fra- ternities, however laudable when taught and practised in moderation, were occasionally pushed to excess and error. Eustathius, bishop of Sebaste in Armenia, gave rules to the societies in that country ; but he is said, through too great strictness, to have fallen into strange observances and prac- tices, contrary to the laws of the Church. His disciples blamed marriage ; refused to pray in the houses of married persons ; despised the married clergy ; fasted even on the Lord's day ; held meetings for worship in private houses ; and condemned those who eat flesh. For this reason, the leighbouring bishops assembled at Gangra, a.d. 370,* and declared them separated from the Catholic Church, unless they should forsake their errors. An example of want of moderation in self-denial and /fortifications is frequently pointed out in the case of St. Si- * meon Stylites, who lived in the fiftj^ century. Yet it is im- ^ possible not to admit that, with some excesses in these respects, there was much to admire and venerate in his piety.f He was, at first, a monk in Syria, where he became so remark- able by his extreme austerity, that his superiors and com- panions judged it excessive, and he was obliged to leave the society. He then established himself as an anchorite, or perfect solitary, on a mountain near Antioch, where he is said to have fasted forty days and forty nights, and to have used a degree of mortification which some of the bishops * [Others date this council a.d. 324 ; others 340 ; others 364 : the second f these dates is probably the true one. — Am. Ed.] f [The " excesses" of Simeon were more reprehensible than mere want of moderation in self-denial and mortifications." His multiplied bow- mgs, protracted watchings, constrained postures, and pillar-isolation, be- long to a low class of superstitions, and furnish a melancholy proof of the degenerating t mdencies of his age. — Am. Ed.] 56 ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY, CH. VIII blamed. But the fame of his sanctity spieading far an^ wide, he was followed by so great a multitude of people from Arabia, Persia, Armenia, and all the East and West, who came to him to see him and touch his garments, that, in or- der to avoid their importunity, he constructed a pillar, on the top of which he remained for many years, even till his death. He was engaged in perpetual prayer and fasting ; he believed himself to be the last and lowest of men ; was humble, obliging, and kind to all who approached him ; anc his exhortations were not unblessed by God, for he convert- i'd a great number of unbelieving Iberians, Armenians, Per- sians, aiiJ Arabians, who came to see him in troops of two or tlirec hundred, or even a thousand, renounced their idolsj received baptism, and learned Christianity from his mouth. Tneodoret, bishop of Cyrus, speaks of this as an eye-witness of the fact. His piety was held in much reverence by the king and queen of Persia, and by the emperors Theodosius and Marcian ; the latter of whom went to visit him in dis- guise. St. Simeon was a firm and resolute defender of the orthodox faith against the Eutychian heresy, and died A.D. 461. I now turn to the other class of holy men who adorned the Church in these ages. I have already spoken of St. Athana- 298 3"'^ ^^^^^ ^^^ ^^^^^ renowned champion of the true faith against Arianism. He was sup- ported by many holy confessors, especially by Hilary, bishop „-^ of Poictiers, in France, and Eusebius, of Vercel- ^rr Joe in Italy, who both suffered exile and bonds for their faith ; as did Lucifer, bishop of Cagliari, who, however, afterwards showed an unreasonable degree of severity in refusing pardon to those who had fallen in the time of the Arian persecution ; and even went so far as to separate from the communion of the Church, which general- A D 270 340 ^^ adopted a milder course. The learned Eusebius, bishop of Csesarea, though at first connected with the Arian party, condemned their errors, and A.D. 320-680. MARTIN. 67 collected the history of the Church. St. g^^ „og Cyril, bishop of Jerusalem, and Meletius of Antioch, though ordaincfd by the Arians, confessed and suffered for the true faith. St. Martin, bishop of Tours, was at first „.. ^ «q„ a sokiier, and was so remarkable for his charity, that once, in the midst of winter, when the severi- ty of the cold was so extreme that many persons died of it, having met a poor man at the gate of the city, and having nothing else to bestow, he divided his cloak with his sword, and gave half of it to the beggar. But the next night he saw in a dream his Saviour arrayed in the half of his garment, and surrounded by the angels ; and he was so deeply im- pressed by his dream, that he gave ^ap the military life and was baptised. When he was returning to his native land, he was taken prisoner by robbers in the Alps ; but in the midst of the greatest dangers, he evinced such magnanimity, and so piously exhorted the lawless men by whom he was sur- rounded, that one of them believed, and besought Martin to pray for him, and afterwards became a religious man. In his own country, Illyria, he so strongly opposed the Arians, that he was beaten with rods, and compelled to escape. He then fled to the island of Gfellinaria, on the coast of Italy, with a religious presbyter, where they lived for some time on herbs. He was a friend of St. Hilary of Poictiers; and passing into France, founded a monastery , ^ „^„ ^ ^ , ^ , / about A.D. 360. near Poictiers, but was afterwards made bishop of Tours by the unanimous choice of the people, though he was most reluctant to undertake the office. After his consecration, he still retained the same habits of life, the same humility of heart, and the same poverty of attire, which had always distinguished him ; but to this was united all the authority and gravity of a bishop. He for some time lived in a little cell attached to the church ; but being disturbed by the nuip.ber of visitors, he founded a monastery two miles off, in a desert place, where he lived like all the other monks. 58 ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. CH. VIII. The employment of the younger brethren in this society con- sisted in transcribing books ; the elders were devoted only to prayer and meditation. St. Martin obtained so powerful an ascendency over the minds of the people, that he was en- abled to overthrow the heathen temples, and build churches in their place. When he was invited by the Emperor Maxi- mus to dine at his table, he refused, saying that he could not partake of the table of a man who had deprived one emperor of his throne, and another of his life. When the emperor excused himself, alleging that he had been compelled to re- ceive the crown, and that he had not done so voluntarily, Martin accepted his invitation ; but, to the surprise of every one, he gave the cup to his presbyter to drink before the em- peror and his relatives. The empress, sitting at his feet, listened day and night to his discourses ; and having obtained the emperor's permission to entertain him at her own house, she attended him at table, performed the humblest offices, and preserved the very crumbs which he had left as precious relics. St. Martin is said to have been enabled to work mira- cles for the conversion of the heathen.* St. Basil of Caesarea, and St. Gregory of Nazianzum, were united by intimate friendship in their youth, whilst they studied at Athens under the most celebrated teachers of the age ; and when their studies were completed, Basil returned to Csesarea, and from thence went to the monasteries of Egypt, Mesopotamia, and Syria, in order to see the reli- gious life in its perfection, and to derive spiritual instruction from the pious men who dwelt there. Returning to Pontus, he retired to the desert to practice the religious life. Here he was soon joined by his friend Gregory Nazianzen ; and they continued there for a long time, engaged in prayer, and the study of the holy Scripture, which they read with the assistance of ancient commentators, especially Origen. * [Much that is told of him is of a very questionable character. Yet through all the difficulties that surround his history he appears plainly to be a great and holy man. — Am. Ed.] 4..D. 320-680. BASIL AND GREGORY. 59 They also laboured with their hands, carrying wood, cutting stones, planting and watering trees, and cultivating their garden. Nevertheless, they lived in the utmost poverty, and on the hardest fare. A great number of other persons imi- tated their example, amongst whom was Gregory, afterwards bishop of Nyssa, brother of Basil ; and Basil gave rules for the monastic life, which are still followed by the monks of the order of St. Basil, in the eastern Church. About a.d. 362, Basil and Gregory Nazianzen were ordained priests, but still continued to reside in the desert till 370, when Basil came forth to assist Eusebius, bishop of Csesarea, against the heretics ; and being skilled in the writings of Origen, he and Gregory confuted the Arians, v/ho adduced those writings in proof of their errors : and though they, with their leader Eunomius, had been famed for learning, they appeared per- fectly ignorant when they encountered these champions of the truth. Basil was soon after elected bishop of Csesarea, in Cappadocia ; and fearing lest heresy should prevail in Pontus, he passed through the Churches, preaching the true faith, and confirming the wavering. When this came to the ears of the Arian Emperor Valens, he caused Basil to be brought be- fore the tribunal of the Prefect Modestus ; and when the latter demanded why He did not embrace the creed of the emperor, Basil boldly reproved the Arian heresy ; and when the pre- fect threatened death, he replied, " Death will be a favour to me, since it will send me unto God, for whom I live, and whom I have long sought." The emperor was at last over- come by his firmness, and Basil was released. Gregory Nazianzen was, against his will, ordained bishop of Sasima by Basil. He continued, however, to govern the Church of Nazianzum during the lifetime of his father, who was the bishop of that see ; and, like Basil, he went through the cities and strengthened those who were feeble in the faith. Afterwards he resided at Constantinople, where the Arians were in great force, and possessed the churches ; and by his eloquence he raised the Church there to great prosperity. He A.D. 374. 60 ' ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. CH. VIU. was at length installed bishop of Constantinople by the second oecumenical synod ; but soon after resigned his see, in con- sequence of some divisions which had arisen, and retired to Cappadocia, where he died, at the age of more than ninety years. St. Basil had died in 379, reverenced by all the Christian world. AmonfTst the most illustrious defenders of the true faith at this time was Ambrose, archbishop of Milan. He had been made governor of that city by the Emperor Valen- tinian ; when, the see becoming vacant by the death of an Arian bishop, and the people being violently disturbed as to the choice of a successor, Ambrose exhorted them to peace and concord, when all demanded at once that he should be their bishop. He in vain resisted, and attempted to fly. The emperor's commands arrived, and he was consecrated bishop. He sold all his goods and gave them to the poor, and applied with the utmost diligence to the study of holy Scripture. In order to redeem captives from the hands of the Goths, he even sold the plate of the church, merely reserving what was absolutely necessary. His firmness was soon evinced by his resistance to the will of the Empress Justina, mother of Valentinian, who pre vailed on the emperor to demand one of the churches ii. Milan for the Arians. St. Ambrose firmly and successfully opposed this attempt, though at the peril of his life. The Emperor Theodosius having put to death a great multitude of people at Thessalonica, in consequence of a tumult hav- ing arisen, in which one of his ofiicers was killed, Am- brose would not permit his entrance to the church until he had performed public penance, and made a law commanding all executions to be suspended for thirty days. St. Ambrose composed many eloquent and pious books, and died a.d. 397. St. John, called Chrysostom (the golden-mouthed) for his eloquence, was originally at the bar ; but forsaking the path of worldly honour, he retired from the world to devote himself to prayer and the study of Scripture; and after- A.D. 320-680. CHRYSOSTOM. 61 wards, being appointed presbyter of Antioch, he became the most celebrated preacher of his age, so that oq« when the see of Constantinople was vacant, the Emperor Honorius sent for him, and caused him to be or dained bishop by a great synod of bishops. The sanctity and severity of doctrine and practice which had made him so remarkable at Antioch, led him to exercise a vigilant and un- popular strictness of discipline in the imperial city : and his zeal displayed itself further in visiting the neighbouring provinces and removing unworthy bishops. - The people of Constantinople heard his sermons eagerly and insatiably, and the crowds were so great that their lives were endangered by the multitude, all endeavouring to press nearer to him, that they might hear more accurately, while he himself, sit- ting in the midst of the church, taught them from the desk of the reader. But the severity of his discipline, and his con- demnation of vice, raised against him many enemies ; and having taken the part of some monks who had been oppressed by Theophilus, bishop of Alexandria, that prelate, availing himself of the assistance of the empress, whom Chrysostom had offended by a sermon, in which he spoke of women with but little respect, came to Constantinople and held a synod, in which Chrysostom was deposed by his enemies. But when the people heard it, they assembled in the church, required a larger synod to be held ; resisted the imperial officers who were sent to take their bishop into exile ; and when, at length, he was removed, they broke into insurrection, and surrounded the palace with cries and lamentations, demand- ing the recall of Chrysostom, which the emperor was obliged to grant. Restored to his see by a synod of sixty bishops, Chrysostom again, ere long, fell under the imperial dis- pleasure in consequence of his objections to the erection of a statue of the Empress Eudoxia. He was then driven forth into exile in Armenia, where he died; and the .^^ eastern and western Churches were lor some time divided on his account, as the former maintained the 6 62 ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. TH. VIII. lawfulness of his expulsion, while the latter regarded him as a saint. St. Jerome and St. Augustine, the most learned of all the fathers, now adorned the Church. The former spent the greater part of his life in the monastic state, in Palestine, and died in 420. St. Augustine was born in Africa, and in his early life fell into vices, and adopted the Manichcean heresy ; but being at Milan, he became an attendant on the ministry of Ambrose, while his pious mother Monica prayed continually for his conversion. One day, a Christian, named Pontitian, coming to visit him, saw on his table the epistles of St. Paul, and learned, to his great joy, that Augustine devoted much of his time to the study of Scripture. The conversation gradually turned on the life of St. Antony and the Egyptian and eastern monks, of whom Augustine had never heard before. When Pontitian had described all their piety, and self-denial, and zeal, and also mentioned the ef- fect which the recital had produced on two officers of the emperor at Treves, who, on hearing it had forsaken the world, and embraced a religious life, St. Augustine was deeply moved by the comparison of his own life and conduct with what he had heard, and went forth into the garden in the greatest agitation and compunction, where, having wept a long time, and prayed to God, he heard from a neighbouring house the voice of a child often repeating these words, — " Take — read ;" and, regarding it as a sort of heavenly admonition, he returned to the house, and took up the epistles of St. Paul, when the first verse he read was, " Let us walk honestly, as in the day ; not in rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness, not in strife and envying. But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts there- of." His mind was now completely changed : he received oQ« baptism from St. Ambrose, and returned to Afri- ca, where he gave himself up to retirement, prayer, meditation, and the composition of books against A.D. 320-680. ROMAN CHtJRCH. 63 the Manichsean heresy. He sold all his possessions and gave them to the poor, and was made presbyter, and after- wards bishop of Hippo, where he lived in the monastic state. His life was devoted to the maintenance of the truth against heathens, heretics, and schismatics ; and his various writings made him celebrated in all parts of the world. When seized with fever, and lying on his death-bed, this eminent saint caused the seven penitential psalms to be recited ; and hav- ing desired them to be fixed up before him, he read them continually with many tears. He commanded that he should never be disturbed, and spent his whole remaining time in prayer, until at length he calmly and peacefully expired in the presence of all his friends, a.d. 430. I have already spoken of St. Cyril of Alexandria, and St. Leo the Great bishop of Rome, as the great opponents of the Nestorian and Eutychian heresies in the fifth century : both of these eminent prelates left many writings, which are still extant. St. Benedict, a man of eminent piety and zeal, in 529 founded the monastery of Mount Casino, in Italy; and his rule was adopted, for many centuries, by all the monasteries in the western Church ; but they very soon relaxed the strictness of its observance, and the conduct of the monks too frequently reflected disgrace on their pro- fession. CHAPTER IX. UNITY AND DISCIPLINE OF THE CHURCH. A.D. 320-680. Amongst the Christian Churches throughout the world, the Church of the imperial city of Rome had obtained an early distinction. Seated in the capital of the world, abounding in wealth and in numbers, remarkable for a munificence M ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. CH. IX which was felt by the distressed and afflicted in all parts, en dowed with a firmness of faith which opposed a steady and formidable resistance to every heresy, and founded by the holy apostles Peter and Paul, the Roman Church stood con- spicuous amongst Christian communities ; and, even in the third century, the neighbouring Churches in Italy, Sicily, and the adjoining islands, placed themselves under its jurisdic- tion. The first oecumenical synod of Nice approved of this jui'isdiction, which constituted the patriarchate of Rome; but the bishop of Rome had no ordinary jurisdiction beyond his patriarchate. The appeals of St. Athanasius and the other orthodox bishops, when persecuted by the Arians, to Julius of Rome, and the support which they received from that bishop, led the great synod of Sardica to give tlie Roman bishop the power of ordering the causes of bishops to be re-heard in cases where it appear- ed to him they were unjustly condemned. This, decree was indeed never received in the eastern or the African Church ; and only, after the lapse of some centuries, in the western Church ; but it laid a foundation, on which the Roman see began to build its pretensions. In the latter part of the fourth century, the spirit of encroachment began to work in Uiat Church ; its bishops now extended their jurisdiction be- yond the ancient limits approved by the synod of Nice, and invested the bishop of Thessalonica with the title of " Vicar of the Apostolical See" in Illyricum, with the view of bring- ing, by this means, that province and Greece under their ecclesiastical sway. In the following century, the bishops of Aries and of Seville were declared vicars for Gaul and Spain : in the sixth, Augustine was made vicar for Britain. The principal bishops in each country were thus engaged in the interests of Rome, and were encouraged gradually to make inroads on the liberties of the Churches. These vicars were appointed chiefly under the pretence that the Roman bishop was bound by his station to see that the ancient discipline of the Church and the law of Christ were duly A.D. 320-680. ROMAN CHURCH. 65 observed ; and this notion was confirmed, if not created, by the habit of many bishops in all parts of the world, of con suiting tke Roman Church on difficult cases of discipline, and frequently adopting its advice. It is true that they mere- ly sought the advice of a Church of apostolical antiquity and of strict discipline ; but that advice was often given in a tone of authority ; and the decretal epistles of the popes, which we possess from the time of Siricius (the latter part of the fourth century,) formed gradually a body of precedents, which led the bishops of Rome and the western bishops to ascribe to the former a sort of legislative power in the Church, which was in the event productive of the most inju- rious consequences. But, during the period now before us, the authority of the Roman see, however encroaching, was almost always virtuously exercised ; and if it excited some- v/hat of a spirit of ambition .and encroachment on the part of other great sees, the evil was, in some degree, counter- balanced by the effective resistance which it was enabled to give to heresy, and to the ecclesiastical disorders and cor- ruptions introduced by the invasions of the barbarous nations. Its efforts were chiefly limited to procure the observation of the canons or laws of discipline, made by the oecumenical synods ; to encourage the spread of Christianity in heathen nations ; and to provide for the necessities and peculiar cir cumstances of newly founded Churches. The Church, however, felt that an authority which arose, in any degree, from a spirit of encroachment, could not fail to be ultimately injurious ; and accordingly the third oecu- menical synod, expressly forbad any patriarch to .^1 assume jurisdiction over Churches which had not ^ from the beginning been subject to his see ; lest, as they said, under the guise of religion, the swelling of worldly pride should find an entrance, the canons of the fathers be violated, and we imperceptibly lose that liberty which Christ purchased for us by his blood. According to this canon, is was un- .awful for the Roman see to assume any ordinary jurisdiction 6* 66 ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. CH. IX. in Britain ; though, when religion had been oppressed by the heathen Saxons in that country, Pope Gregory acted most laudably in sending missionaries there to convert the barbari- ans. But this was only an act of charity, such as any Chris- tian bishop might have done ; and could not give his succes- sors any right of jurisdiction in England, in opposition te the law of the oecumenical synod. Happy, indeed, had it been for religion, if the Roman Church had adhered to the spirit of this decree, and refrained from adding to its original and lawful jurisdiction. The rival see of Constantinople now rose suddenly to dig- nity and power. When Constantine the Great removed the «„p. seat of empire from Rome to Constantinople, the bishop of that city soon obtained jurisdiction over the surrounding bishops of Thrace. The second cecu- „Q- menical synod declared him second in dignity ' -_ ^ * only to the bishop of Rome ; and the fourth made them equal in dignity and authority, while it sanctioned the jurisdiction which St. Chrysostom and his successors had acquired over Asia Minor. The other patriarchs were those of Alexandria, Antioch, and Jerusa- lem ; but the patriarch of Constantinople, who was given the title of "cBCumenical, or universal patriarch" by the Roman emperors in the sixth century, became, and has al- ways since continued, the head of the eastern Church. The communion of Churches received several interrup- „., tions durinfT this period. After the council of A.D. 341. „ ,. ° * bardica, the eastern and western bishops re- mained for some years estranged from mutual communion, in coifeequence of their contentions about St. Athanasius. A similar division was caused in the latter part of the same 362 century by the ordination of two patriarchs of Antioch by different parties, one of whom was recognised by the eastern, and the other by the western Church. This division was healed by the pious care of St. Chrysostom. The deposition of that great man, and the A.D. 320-680. ROMAN CHURCH. 67 ordination of another in his place to the see of .^. Constantinople, led to a division between the East and West, which continued for many years, until jus- tice was done by the Churches of the East to the memory of that illustrious bishop. Another division arose, .q^ when Acacius, bishop of Constantinople, having caused the re-union of the Monophysites to the Church, on principles which left the authority of the fourth oecumenical synod in doubt, and thus compromised the truth, was depos- ed and excommunicated by Felix, bishop of Rome. The great body of the eastern bishops, though orthodox them- selves, did not admit the propriety of this act ; and the re- sult was, that the eastern and western Churches were again estranged from mutual communion for twenty-five years. In the following century the Churches of Africa, Tuscany, Illyricum, and some others, refused for a time to admit the fifth oecumenical synod, and were out of communion with the rest of the Church ; but on full inquiry, they adopted the general decision: The ancient British and Irish Churches, in the sixth and seventh centuries, were treated as schisma- tics by the Roman Church, in consequence of their adherence to their ancient customs,* and for not submitting to the authority of the papal see ; but they were acknowledged as Christians by many Churches. . These divisions, however much they diminished the glory of the Church, did not altogether destroy the principle of Christian charity. It was still universally held that the Church formed but one spiritual fraternity ; that all Chris- tians were members of the same body ; and that it was their duty to hold communion w^th each other. When divisions arose, excommunication consisted generally in a simple with- drawal of communion, without any sentence of anathema, or of total separation from Christianity. These withdrawals of communion were intended to procure the reformation of * [For which they truly pleaded apostolical warrant, in the practice of St. John, derived to them through the churches of Gaul. Am. Ed.] . C8 ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. CH. X. the offending party ; and the divided Churches always retained the same principle of veneration for Scripture, as interpreted by the doctrine of the universal Church in all past ages, and sincerely endeavoured to be re-united to their brethren in Christ. CHAPTER X. ON THE RISE OF ABUSES AND CORRUPTIONS. A.D. 320-680. The strong faith of the early Christians in some instances degenerated into credulity. Accustomed to the contempla- tion of the miracles recorded in the holy Scriptures, and still continuing to hear of occasional miracles wrought for the conversion of the heathen, they received with too ready a credence many tales of wonders and signs which superstitior or imposture spread abroad. In western Europe, the igno- rance of a long night of political barbarism and warfare ren- dered the multitude prone to the reception of such errors. Men of eminent sanctity were supposed to have the power of working miracles by their prayers ; and the veneration which attached to their persons when living followed them beyond the grave. The Church has not always been gifted with a spirit of wisdom and foreknowledge to discern the future abuses of opinions and practices, which it originally permitted without reproof Could the pious fathers of the fourth century, who in their orations apostrophised the departed saints and mar- tyrs, and called for their prayers to God, have foreseen the abuses to which this practice was to lead ; could they have known that these expressions of an ardent, though somewhat unregulated feeling, were to induce others, in process of time, to adopt such invocations as a stated portion of theii daily worship — to lead in later ages to actual prayers ad- A.D 320-680. ABUSES. $9 dressed to the saints themselves, and to cause such prayers and invocations almost to supplant the worship of Go-d among the ignorant or superstitious, — they would have carefully avoided the introduction of a practice so dangerous to true religion. Yet during the period before us, the invocation of saints, however superfluous and unwise, neither usurped so large a portion of the worship of Christians, nor was in itself so censurable, as it became in after-ages. It consisted simply in addresses to the saints to pray to God for us ; nor is there any evidence that it was a universal practice. The invocation of angels was directly prohibited by the council of Laodicea, in the fourth century ; yet in the seventh it was introduced into some litanies of the western Church. The invocation of saints also appeared for the first time in public worship in these formularies. The same affection, the same veneration, with which the spirits of the saints and martyrs were regarded by the early Christians, attended their earthly remains; and the same credulity of individuals led to the circulation of an opinion that even their inanimate relics could procure blessings for those who touched them with faith, since the dead bones of the prophet Elisha, the hem of our Lord's garment, and the handkerchiefs from St. Paul's body, had wrought miracles. Hence the relics of martyrs and saints were, in the fourth and following centuries, regarded with very great veneration in many parts of the Church ; and they gradually even be- came temptations to the ignorant and enthusiastic, who too willingly received the tales of marvels which they were said to have worked, and sometimes seemed inclined to forget the Author and Giver of all good things, in their admiration of the gifts which they attributed to his creatures. The de- sire of possessing such relics became so great in the fifth and following centuries, that it led dishonest men to produce a number of spurious relics ; so that, after the lapse of some ages, it became almost impossible to distinguish the true from the false. The custom of placing relics in churches, which 70 ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. CH. X. began in the fourth or fifth century, and became universal in the seventh, also contributed to swell the number of false relics. No one will deny that the remains of martyrs and holy men ought to be treated with honour and respect ; but when this assumes the character of superstitious or idolatrous worship, the Church is bound to remove the cause of such abuses. It was this that led the Church of England, in the sixteenth century, to remove the alleged relics of saints, — -a measure which was justified by a strong necessity. It was a pious and natural feeling of love, which led many Christians, in the fourth and following centuries, to make pilgrimages to visit the scenes of our Saviour's life and death, and the tombs of the martyrs and saints whose virtues had adorned Christianity. But this custom led to serious abuses : it led clergy as well as laity to forsake the sphere of their appointed duties, and to consume their time in wandering over the earth. After the period of which I am now speak- ing, the evil increased much ; and St. Boniface, about 750, complained of the disgrace which religion suffered from the sinful lives of many persons who had undertaken such jour. neys. This practice even became one means by which the ancient penitential discipline was subverted ; for it was cus- tomary with some bishops, after the period now before us, to commute the lengthened canonical penances for pilgrimages to Jerusalem or to some other holy place. The use of pictures or sculptures representing our Sa- viour, the chief events of sacred history, or the saints, was not unfrequent in the fifth and sixth centuries. These pic- tures were only intended for ornament, for the information of the ignorant, or to excite pious recollections : all worship .^rt to them was forbidden. St. Epiphanius, tore the A.D. 400. ., , , , , . , , . vail of a church on which the picture ot a saint was embroidered. Serenus, bishop of Marseilles, about 600, destroyed images which the people worshipped ; and Pope Gregory the Great, while he questioned the propriety A.D. 320-680. ABUSES. 71 of the act, yet equally disapproved of the abuse it was de signed to prevent. The evils of which I have been speaking were all engraft- ed on opinions or practices in themselves blameless or excusa- ble ; and it was frequently difficult to distinguish precisely between right and wrong ; to trace the boundary between pie- ty and superstition. But as the Scriptures were still under- stood by many of the people, we have reason to believe that such evils could not yet have been of a very serious character or wide prevalence. Another evil was slowly growing, at the close of the period now under consideration. When Christianity was first dis- seminated, the earliest gift of the Holy Spirit was that of tongues, in order that every nation might hear in its own language the wonderful v/orks of God, and that every tongue might confess that Jesus is the Lord. Accordingly, at first, every nation employed its own language in the worship of God ; for, as St. Paul said to those who celebrated the eu- charist in a language unknown to their hearers, " When thou shalt bless with the spirit, how shall he that occupieth the room of the unlearned say Amen, at thy giving of thanks, seeing he understandeth not what thou sayest ?"* Guided by these apostolical instructions, the Greeks used their own language in divine service. The Churches of Syria and Mesopotamia used the Syriac language ; the native Egyptians Coptic ; the Grecian colonies at Alexan- dria, and in Sicily and Naples, prayed in Greek. The Ethiopic was used in Abyssinia, the Armenian in Arine- nia, Sclavonic in Russia, and Illyric in Illyria. The Latin was vernacular in Italy, Africa, Spain, Gaul, and was em- ployed in the liturgy of those Churches. Even after the Goths and other barbarous nations had invaded the West, the mass of the Christian population still spoke the Latin language ; and for several ages it did not become so corrupt- ed by the admixture of foreign words as to be unintelligible ' 1 Cor. xiv. 16. 72 ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. CH. X. to the people. The same observation may be appHed gene, rally to the eastern Churches, in which the language of the liturgy long continued to be more or less understood by the people. The period in which it ceased to be so, must be placed after the ages now under consideration ; but an un- wisely-applied reverence for the ancient liturgies of the Church led, in the sixth and following centuries, to the adoption of Latir* services in the newly-founded Churches of England, Germany, and the northern nations ; a measure which wa3 certainly much less excusable than the retention of the an- cient language in the other parts of the West. It is true, indeed, that the validity of the sacraments was not vitally affected by their being administered in a language understood only by the minister, provided that the recipients were instructed in the meaning of the essential rites and prayers, and taught to unite their supplications with those of the Church : but this could only be an indifferent substitute for that united worship in voice and heart, v/hich the Church had universally receiv- ed from the apostles ; and it had a tendency to cause, in the less informed part of the community, a blind and superstitious dependence on the effects of the sacraments, to the neglect of all preparation on their own parts, instead of an enlightened and spiritual apprehension of those sacred mysteries and graces which are conveyed by the sacraments only to the penitent and believing soul. The discipline of the Church with regard to the marriage of the clergy was different in the East and the West. In the-former, the clergy were generally married, though it was not permitted them to contract marriage after ordination. It was only in 692 that a different rule was adopted with regard to the oriental bishops, who were then obliged to observe celibacy : the remainder of the clergy have continued to fol- low the ancient practice even to the present day. The dis- cipline of the western Church generally, from the fifth cen- tury, prohibited married clergy, as it was supposed that they could less perfectly devote themselves to the office of tho A.D. 320-680. ABUSES. 73 ministry. But the experience of ages showed that this dis- cipHne was very inexpedient, as it was plainly not enjoined by any Divine command ; and from the tenth to the twelfth century considerable numbers of the western clergy were married ; but the Roman pontiffs after that enforced celibacy with extreme severity. The great majority of the early Christians, if we may judge by the writers of the first four centuries, held that immediately after this life the righteous were admitted to a region of peace and happiness : but as they believed that the soul would be re-united to the body at the last day, before ascending into heaven, and therefore that it was not yet in a state of such perfect blessedness as admitted of no increase ; ajid as it was the opinion of many, that the saints were to rise from the dead before the rest of mankind, and to share in the glory of the millennium, — it was customary in the Church, from the remotest antiquity, to offer prayers for the perfect peace and joy of the departed believers, and for iheir participation in the first resurrection. It was also the opinion of Origen, and of several other fathers, that at the 'ast day, all believers, without exception, shall pass through ciome fire, which shall purge away all traces of sin and im- perfection, and render them meet for the presence of God. This opinion, however, was not received by Christians as an article of faith. St. Augustine, in the fifth century, re- garded it only as " not incredible" that some of the faithful may after this life be saved by a sort of purifying fire. Gre- gory the Great, first maintained the doctrine that ^^„ there is a purgatory fire, before the day of judg- ment, for slight faults not repented of in this life : this doc- tiine he founded chiefly on certain alleged visions of souls in torment for their sins. Thus began the doctrine of pur- gatory, which, however, was never received by the eastern Church, and was only gradually adopted in the West. Even in the twelfth century, as we learn from Otto of Frisingen, it was only held by -* som? " writers ; and it was never de- 7 74 ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. CH. XI. Glared an article of faith till 1438, in the council of Florence, the authority of which has always been doubtful even among Romanists. CHAPTER XL PROGRESS OF CHRISTIANITY. A.D. 680-1054. The period on which we now enter presents many painful features in the history of the Church. The temptations of heresy had indeed now been almost exhausted ; and the hu- man mind, wearied with novelties and dissensions, reposed itself more implicitly on the authority of the Church : but ignorance and barbarism were fast overspreading the traces of ancient civilization, and religion too often became ming- led with superstition. The perpetual state of warfare be- tween rival princes, the feebleness of governments, unable to control their powerful and turbulent subjects, caused a general lawlessness and disorder, destructive of those habits which are most congenial to Christianity. Add to this the incursions and ravages of Saracens, Danes, and Normans, which threw all the west of Europe into confusion ; the in- surrections and inroads of Saxons, Sclavonians, Hungari- ans, and Turks, which equally disturbed the east and the north ; and we may then see the difficulties under which re- ligion laboured, and which were in many respects most in- jurious to her. But even in these ages we continue to see the fulfilment of our Saviour's promises to his Church. The kingdom of Christ was still expanding itself from the river to the ends of the earth ; the tree sprung from a grain of mustard-seed still showed the vigour of its constitution by putting forth new and flourishing branches ; and the fruits of the Holy Spirit's influence, the pledge of our Lord's per- A.D. 680-1054. PROGRESS or THE CHURCH. 75 petual presence with his body the Church, were abundantly manifested in the midstof many scandals and sins. It may be said with truth, I believe, that the progress of Christianity in the world during these dark ages was scarcely less thar during the first three centuries of its existence. In the eighth century, the Saracens crossed from Africa into Spain, and having subdued the forces of ^^^ Roderic, the last king of the Goths, in a pitched battle, made themselves masters of the whole country. They even threatened France, but were defeated with dreadful slaughter by Charles Martel, and compelled to ^go retire within the limits of Spain. They subdued Sardinia, and ravaged Italy and Sicily (of which g^y last they afterwards took possession) so terribly, that in many places the number of towns was reduced by one half. Christianity, however, subsisted under the do- minion of the Saracens in the West, as well as in the East, though much oppression was experienced by believers, and some were even delivered to death for the name of Jesus Christ. But the losses of the Church under the Saracen do- minion were counterbalanced by numerous conversions in the north of Europe. Christianity was still spreading amongst the Anglo-Saxons ; it was carried far and wide amongst the Thuringians, Frieslanders, and Hessians, in Ger- many, by St. Boniface, or Winfrid, a monk „^ _ „_ of the order of St. Benedict, and a native of ' * England. Rupert and Corbinian, two French bishops, were invited by Theodo, duke of Bavaria, early in the eighth cen- tury, to preach the Gospel in his dominions ; and the former baptised that prince, with a large number of his people. Christianity was then established and bishoprics were found- ed in Bavaria. Firmin preached the Gospel with great zeal in Alsatia, Bavaria, and Switzerland ; and Lebuin, a native of England, laboured amongst the Saxons. Carinthia re- ceived Christianity from Bavaria, the duke of „„^ ^^rx ^ . , . , . 1 -rr. .1. 1-1 ^•^* '00-780. Carmthia havmg requested Vir^ihus, bishop 76 ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. CH. XI. of Saltzburg, to send clergy to instruct his people. St. Vir- gilius, who was a native of Ireland, and remarkable for his learning and piety, afterwards visited Carinthia, and con- firmed the new Christians in the faith. In the latter part of the eighth century, the Emperor Charlemagne having con- quered the greater part of Germany and Hungary, establish- ed churches throughout his dominions, and obliged his sub- jects to adopt the Christian religion. In the early part of the ninth century, St. Anschar, a monk of Corby in West- phalia, laid the foundations of the Church in Cimbria, Den- mark, and Sweden, in which he was assisted by Anthbert, Ebbo, and many other pious missionaries. The eastern Church was now also engaging in the same holy work. Methodius and Cyril, t^yo Greek monks, con- verted to Christianity the Mcesians, Bulgarians, Gazarians, Bohemians, and Moravians, about the middle of this cen- tury; and the Sclavonians, Aretani, and other nations of Q^« Dalmatia, having expressed a wish to embrace * the Christian religion, they were instructed and baptised by missionaries from the eastern Church. The vast, nations of Russia were also added to the Christian Church in this and the following century; first by the per- suasions of the missionaries sent by Ignatius, patriarch of Constantinople, and afterwards by the example of Wlodimir, the sovereign of Russia, who was baptised in 987. The savage Normans, who had invaded and seized a portion of * T> Q19 France, now followed the example of their duke Rollo, and embraced the faith ; while the con- version of Sweden was completed by Sigfrid ; and that of V X nnn Norway hy Guthebald, who went forth on about A.D. 990. ,.,,.. ^ , ^, , ,. ^^ this holy mission from the Church of Eng- land. Micislaus, duke of Poland, adopted the Christian re- ligion in 995 ; and his example so wrought on his subjects, that in a few years they professed the faith, and many epis- copal sees were founded in that country. Some of the Hun- garians were converted and baptised by Hierotheus, a bishop A.D. 680-1054. FAITH OF THE CHURCH. 77 who was sent to them from Constantinople ; v, ♦ a d 950 but the conversion of that nation is chiefly attributable to the pious zeal of their king Stephen, who hav- ing been educated a Christian, resolved to cause his subjects to embrace the true religion ; and having subdued a revolt Df his pagan subjects, soon after his accession to gg«- the throne, he devoted himself to the propaga- tion of the Gospel with earnest prayer and almsgiving ; and sending for Christian teachers from the adjoining countries, he encouraged and assisted them so effectually, that idolatry was entirely banished from his dominions, and ten bishops were ordained for the superintendence of the new Churches. CHAPTER XII. ON THE FAITH OF THE CHURCH. A.D. 680-1054. That the faith of Christians during this piriod did not vary from what it had formerly been, is proved by the universal adoption of the Nicene creed as the rule of faith, and by the veneration felt by all believers for the decrees of the six holy oecumenical synods. The Trinity, incarnation, atone- ment, the necessity of Divine grace, original sin, the need of good works, and all the other doctrines taught from the beginning by the Church, were still universally believed. We hear little indeed in these ages, comparatively speaking, of heresies : those which did appear seem not to have had much influence. The errors concerning our Lord's nature, which were taught by Elipandus in Spain in the eighth cen- tury, and which were connected with the Nestorian heresy, were condemned by the great council of Frankfort in 794, and they disappeared soon afterwards. The doc- trines of the Pauliciai s in the ninth century, and of Be- 7* 78 ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. CH. XII. rengarius* in the eleventh, seem to have obtained but few adherents ; and we can scarcely point to any other errors in faith, which were at this time sustained by bodies of men. The same great truths of religion were universally adopted ; the same Scriptures were diligently studied by all who had the means of doing so, — for in those days, before the inven- tion of printing, when all books were transcribed by manual labour, they were both scarce and expensive ; and an univer- sal appeal was made to the sentiments of the ancient fathers and councils in the interpretation of the Bible. The grand controversy of the eighth century was on a point of Christian morality — the use of images. It is ad- mitted, even by those who approve most highly of their use, that it is no part of Christian duty to possess such memorials ; that there is no injunction to that effect in holy Scripture ; and that it would be idolatrous to offer them any adoration, as if they were deities, or to attribute to them any peculiar power in themselves. Yet experience informs us that the use of images cannot long continue without the danger of such errors. We have already seen instances of a tendency to super- stition with regard to images. This was carried still further in the East in the course of the seventh and eighth centuries ; so that the people in order to do honour to the saints and martyrs, bowed, lighted candles, and offered incense before their pictures. It is true that, in acting thus, it was in- tended rather to honour the saints themselves than their pictures; but the tendency of such customs to cause su- perstition and even idolatry amongst the ignorant, is too ob- vious to be overlooked. The Greek emperors; Leo, Con- * [It is very questionable whether Berengar is chargeable with any error : indeed, there is hardly room for doiibt that his troubles grew out of his firm adherence to the doctrine of the Church concerning the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist in its simple form, in opposition to the novel and heretical explanations of Paschasius Ratbert and others, since adopted by the Church of Rome. — Am. Ed.] A.D. 680-1054. IMAGES. 79 stantine Caballinus, and several of their successors in the eighth and ninth centuries, seeing these abuses, and desirous to r^ee the Church from them, commenced reformation by breaking d^wn all images, and persecuting those who wished lo '•otain them. To accomplish their object, originally good, tb^ Iconoclasts did not hesitate to condemn the use of any pictures, as absolutely contrary to the word of God, and thus «laced themselves in the attitude of arraigning the practice of the universal Church for some centuries as anti-Christian ; 1 line of argument which was as inconsistent with trust in the Divine promises as it was with Christian charity. The western Church at this time generally permitted the use of pictures or images, but forbade any sort of religious honour or worship to be paid to them ; and hence, when the bishops of the East, to the number of 338, assembled in „q. synod at Constantinople, and condemned the use of images as idolatrous, the western Churches disapproved of the decree. After many years, the party in favour of images obtained a temporary triumph in the East, on a change of govern- ment. A synod of 3.50 bishops at Nice, reversed ^^^ the decision formerly made at Constantinople, and decreed the lawfulness of images, and the propriety of paying to them a certain honour, by bowing, lighting candles, and offering incense before them, which honour was sup- posed to pass to the person represented, and to be altogether different from the worship which is due to God only. But this synod was soon afterwards rejected by the eastern Church, and so remained till the year 842 ; while the bishops of the West, to the number of 300, in the great synod ^p . of Frankfort, annulled the decrees of the synod of Nice, which they f n-bade to be numbered amongst the oecumenical synods, anJ rejected all worship of images. The western Churches re oained for several centuries in the sam.e sentiments. The his orians and other writers, from the eighth to the fourteenth century, almost always term the 90 ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. CH. XII. synod of Nice a "pseudo-synod," or "false synod," and condemn its doctrine. It was observed by a Greek writer in the time of the crusades (the twelfth century) that the Ger- mans did not permit the use of images. However,«at length, superstition in this respect became very common in the West, — an evil which was very much caused by the support always given by the bishops of Rome to the decisions of the Nicene synod. It appears plainly, from a review of the whole history, that it was always the wish and intention of the universal Church, to prevent any idolatrous or divine worship of images, and to direct the veneration of Christians to the persons whom they represent. But this intention could not be realised in the case of the ignorant and superstitious, who must always form a great portion of the community ; they were placed in most imminent danger of worshipping the images themselves with divine honours ; and we know that in later times the abuses in this respect were most lamentable. The removal of images at the Reformation was, in fact, only carrying out the intention of the universal Church in the eighth and fol- lowing centuries, when experience had amply proved that they could not generally be used whhout danger of idolatiy. It had been held by Agobard, archbishop of Lyons, even in the ninth century, that images ought to be destroyed when they gave rise to idolatrous abuses; as Hezekiah had broken the brazen serpent when it was worshipped by the people. In the ninth century the doctrine of the holy eucharist be- came the subject of discussion. It had never b#en denied by the Catholic Church, that this sacrament, when consecrated, continues to be bread and wine, according to the words of the apostle, " The bread which we break, is it not the commu- nion of the body of Christ?" and of our Lord, " I will drink no more of this fruit of the vine,^' &;c. But Paschasius Ratbert, a French monk, in the ninth century, attempted to prove that the sacrament is no longer bread and wine after A.D. 680-1054. PRIVATE CONFESSION. 81 the consecration, but only the real body and blood of Christ, the same in all respects with that which was born of the Vir gin. This doctrine, which has been ternied the doctrine of transubstantiation in later ages, gradually obtained many adherents in the western Churches, though it was opposed at first by several of the most eminent divines. Scotus, in op- posing it, fell into serious errors, as he declared theeucharist to be a bare sign of the body and bl-ood of Christ, contrary to the universal belief of the Church ;^ and in this error he was followed by Berengarius in the eleventh century,* whose doctrine was justly condemned by several councils ; though it is to be regretted, that his opponents occasionally used ex- pressions with reference to the eucharist, which were incon- sistent with the spiritual character of that holy mystery. This controversy only existed in the western Churches ; the eastern Churches continued to retain their ancient doctrines undisturbed. During these ages, the practice of private confession to a priest was not held generally to be a matter of necessity. We have already seen this custom abolished (as a pre-requi- site to the reception of the eucharist) in the East, by Necta- rius, patriarch of Constantinople in the fourth century, and by the majority of the eastern Church. It was still practised in many parts of the West, but was not regarded as an es- sential of religion. Bede and Alcuin recommended Chris- tians to confess to the ministers of God all the grievous sins which they could remember. But others, as we learn from Alcuin and Haymo, would not confess their sins to the priest ; J The Calechism of the Church of England declares that " the body and blood of Christ" are " verily and indeed taken and received by the faith- ful in the Lord's supper." And the twenty-seventh Homily says that "in the supper of the Lord there is no vain ceremony, no bare sign, no untrue figure of a thing absent." * [This was long held to be the case ; yet not without doubt. See Mo- sheim. But it has lately been disproved, by the publication of a treatise of Berengar, fuller and later than any before known, which plainly shows his view of the sacrament to have been diffesent from that of Scotus. See above, p*78^ iinte. — Am. Ed.] 82 ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. CH. Xlh but said, "it was sufficient for them to confess their sins to God alone, provided that they ceased from those sins for the „^„ time to come." The council of Cavaillon,in the time of the Emperor Charlemagne, aknowledged that it was still a matter of doubt whether confession to the priests was necessary, in addition to confession before God ; and they attributed the pardon of sins to the latter. " Some persons say that they ought to confess their sins only to God, and some think that they are to be confessed unto the priests ; both of which, not without great fruit, is practised within the holy Church. Namely, thus ; that we both confess our sins unto God, who is the forgiver of sins, (saying with David, * I acknowledge my sins unto thee, and mine iniquity have I not hid.' ' I said, I will confess against myself, my trans- gressions unto the Lord ; and -thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin ;) and, according to the institution of the apostle, con- fess our sins one unto another, and pray one for another, that we may be healed. The confession therefore which is made unto God purgeth sins ; but that which is made unto the priest teacheth in what sort those sins should be purged." It may perhaps be advisable to carry our view of this sub- ject beyond the period now under consideration, and to no- tice the difference of opinions in the western Church pre- viously to the Reformation. Gratian, about 1130, collected the opposite decisions of the ancients as to the necessity of external confession, and concluded thus : " Upon what au thorities, or upon what strength of reasons, both these opinions are grounded, I have briefly laid open. But whether of them we should rather cleave to, is reserved to the judg- ment of the reader. For both of them have for their fa- ^ „^ _ vourers both wise and religious men." The coun- cil of Lateran directed the faithful to confess their sins to a priest once a-year ; but, notwithstanding this, the necessity of such a confession was not generally admitted. Semeca, the earliest commentator on the canon law ; Michael of Bononia, prior general of the Carmelites ; Panormitanus, A.D. 680-1054. FRUITS OF FAITH. 63 and a number of eminent writers, asserted that confession to a priest was not instituted by God, but introduced solely by the authority of the Church, and that it was not necessary for the pardon of sin. And this difference of opinion existed in all Churches of the Roman communion, until the coun- cil of Trent, when the divine institution and absolute neces- sity of confession to a priest were declared to be articles of faith, which no one should deny on pain of anathema. CHAPTER Xlir. ON THE FRUITS OF FAITH. A.D. 660-1054. I HAVE already adverted to the great difficulties under which religion now laboured from the disorganization of tem- poral governments, and the ravages of barbarians. During these ages, nothing was more frequent than the usurpation of ecclesiastical revenues by kings and feudal lords, or their desecration by the appointment of clergy who were incapa- citated by youth or ignorance for the discharge of their du- ties, and who had nothing to recommend them but nobility of birth. These abuses occurred particularly within the dominions of the emperors in Italy, France, and Germany, where it had been the policy of Charlemagne and his succes- sors to invest the bishops and monasteries with great territo- ries and princely dignities, in the hope that these ecclesias- tics would prove more faithful and obedient subjects than the temporal barons, whose turbulence they had found it so diffi- cult to repress. Churches and monasteries were frequent- ly burned or pillaged by the feudal chieftains, or by Saracens, Normans, and Danes. Thus the schools of learning were extinguished, discipline became relaxed amidst the general confusion; and while the clerg}' were in many places insuf- 84 ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. CH. XIII. ficiently educated, the laity fell into extreme ignorance and degradation. We find grievous lamentations over such evils amongst the writers of these ages ; yet there is every reason to believe that there was a spirit of repentance at work which could not fail to produce very salutary efiects. Those bishops who, when assembled in solemn council, had the courage to proclaim before the world their own remissness, and to confess their sins, with resolution of amendment, could neither have been deficient in a knowledge of their duty, nor in a spirit of Christian humility and repentance. Hervey, archbishop of Rheimo, and eleven olhef bishops QOQ assembled at Trosle in France, spoke thus : " As the first men lived without law and without fear, given up to their passions, so every one now doeth as ho pleases, despising all laws human and divine, and the direc- tions of the bishops. The powerful oppress the weak : vio- lence against the poor, and the plunder of ecclesiastical pos- sessions, are universal. And that it may not be imagined that we spare ourselves — we who ought to correct others : we have indeed the name, but we do not fulfil the duties of bishops. We neglect preaching ; we see those who are committed to our care abandon God and fall into sin, with- out addressing them and stretching forth our hands ; and if we wish to reprove them, they say as in the gospel, that we bind on them heavy burdens, and will not touch them our- selves with the end of our fingers. Thus the Lord's flock perishes through our silence. Let us think what sinner has ever been converted by our discourses, or who has renounced debauchery, avarice, pride. Yet we shall render an account without ceasing of this business, which has been intrusted to us, in order that we may gain profit by it." " It has hap- pened through our negligence, our ignorance, and that of our brethren, that there are found in the Church an innumer- able multitude of people of every sex and condition, who ar- rive at old age without ever being instructed in the faith, so that they are ignorant even of the words of the Creed and A.D. 680-1054. VENERABLE iJEDE. 85 Lord's Prayer. It" there should seem to be any thing good in their lives, yet how can they do good works without the foun- dation of faith?'' These expressions, and the earnest exhor- tations of the synod, show that there was still a spirit of real repentance in this part of the Church, notwithstanding the multitude of evils and sins. Nor lias there ever been a period in the history of the Church, when the spirit of religion, where it existed, was more ardent and earnest. The religion of these times was less learned, less accomplished, less free from superstition, than that of earlier ages ; but it can scarcely be said to have been less zealous, less productive of good works. Its char- acteristics were, the deepest humility, renouncement of self, denial of the passions, and even the enjoyments and pleasures of the world ; the concentration of all wishes and desires in the glory of God, and the promotion of practical religion; boundless charity to the poor ; the foundation of churches, schools, and religious houses ; diligent study of the Scrip- ture, singing of psalms, and much prayer. We see not mere- ly one or two, but hundreds of men forsaking all their earth- ly prospects, the resorts of their youth and the paths of am- bition, to devote themselves to the conversion of the heathen. We see them desiring and rejoicing to die for Christ ; and by their patience, piety, and wisdom, bringing multitudes of heathen into the way of salvation. We sec many of the most powerful monarchs engaged in all the exercises of con- tinual devotion and charity, or descending from the summit of earthly grandeur to spend the remainder of their days in penitence and prayer. However sad may have been the calamities of tiie Church, and however great the faults of Christians, yet when we see such things as these, we cannot refrain from the conviction that the Spirit of God v/asstill in- fluencing the hearts of many people; nor fail to perceive that the Lord was still, according to his promise, always with his Church. Beda, the most learned and celebrated writer of the eighth 8 ■ 86 ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. CH. XIII. century, lived and died an humble recluse ii. the monastery of Yarrow in England. All his life was devoted to the attain- ment of various knowledge, diversified only by the monastic exercises of psalmody, prayer, and manual labour. His earlier years were applied to the acquisition of Latin, Greek, versification, astronomy, arithmetic, music, and other sci- ences, as well as to the study of holy Scripture, to which last he gave himself more entirely when he was ordained a presbyter. His works, which consist of commentaries on Scripture, homilies, lives of saints, an admirable history of the Church of England from the earliest period, and other treatises, fill eight folio volumes. Bede was eminently dis- tinguished for piety, humility, and all the graces of the Christian character ; he was diligent as a preacher, as an in- structor of the ignorant, and as a spiritual adviser of those who sought his aid. Amongst his friends was a bishop named Egbert, to whom Bede addressed an excellent letter of ad- vice. "Before all things," he said, " avoid useless conversa- tions, and apply yourself to meditate on the holy Scriptures, especially the Epistles of St. Paul to Timothy and Titus, and also on the Pastoral of St. Gregory, and his homilies on the Gospel. As it is not fitting to employ the sacred vessels in profane uses, it is not less unbecoming that he who is consecrated to minister at the altar should, on leaving the church, discourse or act in a manner unbecoming his sta- tion." He urged the bishop to establish presbyters in every village to instruct and administer the sacraments, and that they ought to take especial care that all people knew by heart the Creed and Lord's Prayer ; and that those who did not understand Latin ought to repeat them in their own language, whether they were laity, clergy, or monks. Bede had al- ready translated them into English, for the use of many ig- norant clergy. He also exhorted the bishop to teach the benefits of frequent communion, as practised in Italy, France, Africa, Greece, and the East ; for even the most pious per- sons in England, as he says, only communicated at Christ- A.D. 680-1054. VENERABLE BEDE. 87 mas, Epiphany, and Easter ; though there were iniinite mul- titudes of people who could easily communicate on all Sundays and feast-days, as was the custom at Rome. Bede died in 735, aged sixty-three. About a fortnight be- fore Easter, he experienced a difficulty of breathing ; but he spent the remainder of his time, till Ascension-day, in joy and thanksgiving, instructing his disciples by day, and spend- ing much of his time, even at night, in singing psalms. He frequently repeated parts of Scripture appropriate to his state, some of which he had translated into English verse. He was still engaged in dictating to Cuthbert a translation of St. John's Gospel into English, and was thus employed on Ascension-day, when feeling his end approach, he sent hasti- ly for the presbyters of the monastery, and having presented to them some small memorials of his regard, he bespoke their religious assistance and prayers for him, and then, extended on the pavement of his cell, full of confidence and joy, and singing Gloria Patri, he departed to his eternal reward. Such virtues were not confined to the cloister in these ages ; they sometimes adorned the throne. Luitprand, king of the Lombards, in the early part of the eighth century, affords an example of this. He v/as pious, chaste, good, valiant, and wise, though he was ignorant of letters. He applied himself to prayer and almsgiving ; caused an oratory to be built in his palace, and established clergy to chaunt di- vine service for him every day : he built churches at every place where he resided. Carloman, prince of the Franks, was celebrated for his victories over the „^. „-^ Germans, Bavarians, and Saxons. He for * * a long time protected and encouraged the missionary labours of St. Boniface, and showed many indications of a religious mind. At length, finding himself a widower, and being penitent for the severities he had formerly exercised on some of his rebellious subjects, he resolved to retire from the world, and to devote himself to the worship of God. He accordingly resigned his throne, and passed the remainder 88 ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. CH. XIII. of his days in the monastery founded by St. Benedict at Mount Casino, where he exercised every sort of self-denial, and, like the other brethren, undertook the humble offices of keeping the sheep, labouring in the garden, and even serving in the kitchen. Religion was deeply indebted to the Emperor Charle- ^no 01 A mao;ne. He devoted himself with the great- A.D. /68-814. ° , . . , °, est zeal to its propagation amongst the hea- then nations subject to his dominion ; and endeavoured to correct the disorders into which the Churches of France and Germany had fallen. His last days, after the coronation of his son Louis, were occupied in correcting the text of the four Evangelists, in which he was assisted by Greeks and Sy- rians. Charlemagne had long shown a great zeal for re- ligion ; he never failed, while his health permitted, to attend divine service daily, morning and evening. He took great care that the service should be conducted with decorum and propriety; supplied his chapels with abundance of vestments and ornaments ; and being perfectly instructed in the best manner of reading and singing, he corrected the mode of performing both ; but he himself never read publicly in church, but contented himself with singing in a low tone and with others. His alms were not only liberally bestowed in his own dominions, but on all the poor and distressed Chris- tians in Syria, Egypt, Africa, Jerusalem, Alexandria, and Carthage ; and he cultivated the friendship of unbelieving princes, with a view to assuage the sufferings of the Christians under their dominion. He died a.d. 814. The Emperor Louis, his son, who died in 840, usually spent the whole time of Lent in singing psalms, prayer, attendance on divine service, distributing alms, and other works of piety ; so that he scarcely took more than a day or two to mount his horse for the purpose of exercise. But I must now turn to some of the eminent missionaries who adorned the Church in the eighth and ninth centuries. St. Bo'iface, or Winfrid, was a native of England, whera 4.D. 680-1054. BONIFACE. 89 he embraced the monastic life at an early age, and was or- dained presbyter, by desire of his abbot, in 710 ; after which he devoted himself to the instruction of the people, and la- boured for the salvation of souls. When he was held in most high esteem in his own country, he resolved to forsake all the worldly prospects which were opening on him, and to de- vote himself to the conversion of the heathen. Accom- panied by some monks, he embarked, and passed over into Friesland and Hesse, where, after some time, he converted and baptised many thousands of the people, and founded a monastery. Whilst he was thus occupied, Boniface and his companions were frequently reduced to great difficulty, from the extreme poverty of the people. They were obliged to live by the labour of their own hands, and were exposed to continual danger from the inroads of the pagan Saxons. At length Boniface went to Rome, by desire of Pope Gregory II., who ordained him bishop for the mission among the hea- then east of the Rhine. Returning to the scene of his labours, he confirmed those whom he had baptised, and having boldly cut down a tree of immense size, called the oak of Jupiter, which was held in superstitious veneration by the people, he gained a large increase of converts. Boniface felt himself much impeded in the work of preaching the Gospel by the sinful lives and errors of the neighbouring bishops and cler- gy ; and consulted Gregory and other bishops, whether he ought to hold any communion with such men. He corres- ponded frequently with Daniel, bishop of Winchester, and re- ceived from him very judicious advice, as to the best method of arguing with the heathen. Boniface was a diligent student of the Scriptures. In a letter to his friend Daniel, _,»-, he says, " I pray you to send me the book of the prophets, which the abbot Winbert, formerly my master, left me when dying, in which six prophets are comprised in the same volume, written in very distinct letters. You can- not send me a greater consolation in my old age ; for I can- not find a book like it in this country; and my sight being 90 ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. CH. XIU. feei)]e, I cannot easily distinguish small and contracted letters." The fame of St. Boniface now attracted a great number of religious men from England, who assisted him in his apostolic labours, and converted multitudes of people in Hesse and Thuringia, so that in 732 he was made archbishop (his see being fixed at Mayence,) and empowered to consti- tute bishops to assist him, which he accordingly did in Bava ria, and other parts of Germany. In 742 he held a council under the protection of Carloman, prince of the Franks, foi the reformation of the Church in the west of France, where there had been no metropolitan for eighty years, no councils had been held, and the sees had been filled either with lay- men, or with bishops altogether unworthy of the name. In this council it was resolved that the metropolitans should in future request the pall from the bishop of Rome. The views of St. Boniface, with regard to the duties of his station, ap- pear in a letter to Cuthbert, archbishop of Canterbury, writ* ten about this time, in which, after complaining of the dif- ficulties which beset him, he says, " Let us combat for the Lord ; for we are in days of affliction and anguish. Let us die, if it be the will of God, for the holy laws of our fcthers, that with them we may arrive at an eternal inheritance. Let us not be dumb dogs, sentinels asleep, or hirelings who flee at the sight of the wolf; let us be careful and vigilant shep- herds, preaching to great and small, to rich and poor, to every age and every condition, as God shall give us power, in sea- son and out of season." In 752 he crowned Pepin king of France ; and though now full of years, of honours, and of fame, he continued to act as a missionary to the end of his life. We find him in 754 returning from Friesland, where he had been for a long time preaching to the heathen. In the following year, having or- dained Lullus to be his successor, and resigned his see to him, as he was about to depart to Friesland, he said to the nrw archbishop, " The time of my death draws near : com- A.D. 680-1054. BONIFACE. 91 plete, my son, the building of the churches I have begun in Thuriiigia : apply thee earnestly to the conversion of the people : finish the church of Fulda, and bury me there. Prepare all that is necessary for my journey ; and place with my books a winding sheet to bury me." At these words, LuUus wept. St. Boniface then exhorted the abbess Lioba, his old friend, to remain still in that foreign country, and to observe her profession, looking for an eternal reward ; and he commanded that she should be buried in his tomb. He then departed by the Rhine to Friesland, where he converted and baptised thousands of the heathen, overthrew their tem- ples, and raised churches. He was assisted by the bishop of Utrecht, and many priests, deacons, and monks. He had fixed a day for the confirmation of his converts, and was encamped with his brethren on the banks of a river ; when on the day appointed, they were surrounded by a furious band of heathens. The attendants of St. Boniface went forth to oppose them by force ; but he called his clergy together, and said to his attendants, " My children, cease to combat ; the Scripture instructs us not to render evil for evil. The day which I have long expected is come ; put your hope in God, and he shall save your souls." He then exhorted his clergy and companions to prepare themselves courageously for mar- tyrdom, and soon after fell beneath the swords of the heathen, in the seventy-fifth year of his age. Gregory, a disciple of Boniface, governed the church newly founded at Utrecht, where he collected, with great trouble and expense, many volumes of the holy Scriptures ; and he also preached to the heathen in Friesland. Two of his brothers having been murdered by robbers, the murderers were arrested, and sent bound to him, to suffer death in whatever manner he should please ; for by the laws of that barbarous people, the nearest relative of a murdered person was invested with this power. Gregory ordered them to be washed, clothed, and fed ; then he said to them, " Go in peace ; never again commit such a deed, lest a worse thing 92 ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. CH. XIII. happen to you ; and beware of the other relations of the de- ceased." Gregory was simple in his habits ; pretended not to hear what was unkindly said of him ; and treated his ca- lumniators as if they were his best friends. Whenever he received any money, he immediately distributed it amongst the poor, keeping no valuables whatsoever, except the sacred vessels of the church. When this holy man felt his end ap- proaching, he caused himself to be carried into the church, and there, having made his prayer, and received the body and blood of our Saviour, he died — his last look fixed on the altar. Lebuin, an Anglo-Saxon, and a disciple of Gregory, PQO '^ 10 pi"eachcd among the Saxons in Germany ; and on one occasion, hearing that a great assembly of the nation was to take place, he presented him- self on the day appointed, arrayed in his vestments, with the Gospel and the cross in his hands. The assembly commenced by sacrificing to their false gods; in the midst of which, Lebuin began with a loud voice to preach the Gospel, and exhorted the people to turn from those superstitions to the v/or- ship of the true God ; for that otherwise, he predicted, they would suffer most grievous calamities, and be reduced to cap- tivity by a neighbouring prince. When the Saxons were about to deprive him of life for this boldness, one of them named Buto, who was generally respected, said, "Listen to me, ye that are wise : the ambassadors of the neighbouring people have often come to us, and we have received them peaceably, listened to their proposals, and sent them away with gifts. Here is an ambassador of the great God, who brings to you salutary promises from Him ; and you reject, and wish to slay him : ye ought to fear God's anger." This dis- course had such an effect on the Saxons, that Lebuin departed in safety, and continued his missionary labours. There were several instances in these ages, of martyrdoms for the name of Christ. A remarkable example of this oc- curs in the history of the ninth century. The chief of the A.D. 680-1054. MARTYRS OF AMORIUM. 93 Saracens having taken the town of Amorium in ggg Asia Minor, sent the principal men and the mili- tary officers to Bagdad, where they underwent a long and rigorous imprisonment ; and when it was supposed that their patience was exhausted, every possible effort was made to induce them to change their religion. But in vain did the most learned Mahomedan doctors assail their faith with ar- guments, promises, and threats : all were alike fruitless. At the end of seven years of imprisonment, they were again offered liberty and life, on condition of joining in the Moslem worship. The renegade who made this offer exhorted them, to give an external submission, for that God would surely pardon them, on account of the necessity in which they were placed. This insidious advice was rejected. On the follow- ing day the Christians were brought forth from their prison ; and the caliph's officer, after inquiring their resolution, said, " You will not then pray with the caliph ? I know that there are some of you who desire to do so ; when the remainder shall see how these are honoured, they will deplore their own evil fate." The Christians replied with one voice, " We pray the only true God, that not only the caliph, but the whole nation of the Arabs, may renounce the errors of Mahomet, and adore Jesus Christ, who was announced by the prophets and the apostles. So far are we from renouncing light for darkness." "Beware," replied the officer, " of what ye say, lest ye repent it. Your disobedience will bring grievous torments upon you." They answered, " We commend our souls to God, and hope that, even to our last breath, he will give us strength not to renounce this faith." The officer said, " At the day of judgment ye shall be reproved for leaving your children orphans, and your wives widowed. The wealth of Egypt might enrich your descendants, even to the tenth generation." The Christians cried, " Anathema to Mahomet, and to all who acknowledge him as a prophet !" Then their hands were bound behind them, and they were 04 ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. CH. XIII brought to the banks of the river Tigris, where they were al executed, according to their rank. We have already seen, that the study of Scripture was frequent in these ages. Lupus, abbot of Ferrieres, in the 828 861 ^^^'^^ century, writing to Godeschalch, a man of a vain and inquisitive turn of mind, speaks thus : " I exhort you, my venerable brother, not to fatigue your mind with such questions, lest in occupying your- self too much therewith, you may be unable to examine or to teach what is more useful. Why inquire so much into that which it may be unfit for us to know ? Let us exercise ourselves in the vast field of the holy Scriptures ; apply our- selves entirely to study them, and unite prayer with study. It will be worthy of the goodness of God to manifest him- self to us in the manner most suitable to us, when we do not inquire into what is above us." The Council of Pavia in 850, in giving instructions with regard to the life and con- duct of a bishop, said, " He shall meditate continually on holy Scripture, in order to instruct his clergy accurately, and to preach to the people according to their understand- ing." The instruction of the people was carried on chiefly by catechising and sermons, which were delivered in the QOQ language of each countr}'. Jonas, bishop of Or- leans, in writing on the duties of the laity, re- commends to parents and godfathers the instruction of chil- dren, and complains that the ancient penitential discipline was much relaxed, and that most of the laity received the eucharist only three times a-year. Several bishops were very active in the discharge of their sacred duties. Thus it is said that Wolfgang, bishop of Ratisbon, who died in 994, preached often to his people, who came to hear him with great eagerness. His discourses were simple and intelligi- ble, but strong and touching. He penetrated to the depths of their hearts, and caused floods of tears to flow. When he visited the clergy of his diocese, he carefully instructed A.D. 680-1054. KING ALFRED. 95 them in their duties, and particularly urged them to purity of life. St. Fidus, bishop of Meissen in Germany, who died in 1015, afforded another example of zeal in the performance of his duties. Brought up in a religious community at Magdeburgh, he only accepted the episcopal office that he might win souls to God. His self-denial was very great: He was continually occupied for the remaining twenty-three years of his life in preaching, baptising, confirming, not only in his own, but in many other dioceses. The continual tears, which expressed his penitence and humility, are said to have weakened his sight. He often went with bare feet on his journeys ; and when provision failed him, or he found himself suffering some other difficulty or hardship, he re- turned thanks to God, and desired his companions to do the ^ame. England produced many religious princes in these ages, the most conspicuous of whom was King q„^ p^^ Alfred, whose undaunted courage in adver- sity, and wisdom in prosperity, justly gained for him the re- putation of being the greatest monarch of his age. The piety of his private life was truly remarkable. He divided his revenue into two equal parts, one of which he applied entirely to works of charity, in the proportions of one quarter to the poor generally ; another to two monasteries he had founded ; a third to the schools he had established ; and a fourth to the monasteries in general, not only in England, but abroad. His time was also divided into two equal parts, one of which was given to religion. He attended the cele- bration of the eucharist eveiy day ; joined in divine service seven other times in the course of the day ; and even went to the church secretly at night to pray. He devoted time to reading and meditation, and always carried with him the Psalter and Prayer book, and a sheet of paper, on which he wrote every day the passages of Scripture which touched him the most ; then having collected these sheets, he made a 06 ECCLESIASTICAL niSTORT. CH. XIIl. manual, which he used to read with singular pleasure. King Alfred found the education of the clergy and people reduced to the lowest ebb when he ascended the throne : this effect had been produced by the dreadful ravages of the Danes, and the almost total destruction of monasteries, which were at that time the only schools of learning. As soon as pub- lie tranquillity was restored, Alfred applied himself to the re- vival of literature and learning ; and for this purpose he sent for the most learned men who could be found in the neigh- bouring countries, and afforded every possible encourage- ment to the instruction of the clergy and people. At this period there was a celebrated school at Oxford, which seems to have existed for some time, and which was in after-ages known as the University of Oxford. Alfred brought Grim- bald and other doctors to Oxford ; but a division arose be- tween these new teachers and the ancient doctors, which the king had much difficulty in terminating. He was more than twelve years old before he learned to read, and had not leisure, for many years, to apply himself to study. When peace was restored, he devoted himself, with the aid of learned men, to translate such books into English as he judged would be most useful to the people : amongst others, the Psalms of David, St. Gregory's Pastoral and Dialogues, the histories of Orosius and Bede, and the Consolations of Boetius. In the preface to the Pastoral he says, that in his time but few of the English at this side of the Humber un- derstood their commonest prayers, or could translate any Latin writing into English. He did not recollect to have met any one south of the Thames who could do so when he be- gan to reign, though at the time he was writing there were many persons who were able to teach. " I remember," he says, " before these last ravages (of the Danes,) I have seen the churches of England full of ornaments and books ; but the clergy did not derive much benefit from them, be- cause they did not understand them ; and our ancestors did not translate them into the vernacular tongue, because they A.D. 680-1054. KILUS Of CALABRIA. 97 did not imagine that we should ever fall into such ignorance." He therefore thought it very advisable to translate the most necessary books into English ; and that all the English youth, especially the free-born, should learn to read.* This excellent prince was grievously afflicted with bodily pains all his life ; but his piety never failed. He would par- don a heathen any crime that he might have committed, on condition of his becoming a .Christian. All the leisure h© had from war and business was devoted to study, and to in- quiring how he might do good to others, and improve him- self in virtue. He died in peace, a.d. 901. I now turn to an instance of piety in a very different sphere of life. St. Nilus was born in Calabria, of Greek parentage, in the tenth century. His natural abilities were carefully cultivated by study in his youth. He read holy Scripture continually, and delighted in the lives of the fa- thers : but when he was in the flower of his youth he fell in- to sins, from which he was after a time delivered by the grace of God operating on his conscience during his recovery from a violent fever. He then resolved to devote himself wholly to the worship and service of God, and to all the exercises of a religious life ; and with this mind he entered a monastery in Calabria, where he was joyfully received ; but wishing for more quiet than he found there, he retired to a cavern near at hand, where he spent his days between prayer, copy- ing psalters and other religious books, singing the psalms, and studying holy Scripture and the fathers. In the evening he left his cell to walk abroad and refresh himself, and medi- tate on some passages of the fathers, without ever forgetting God, whom he contemplated in all the works of creation. A-fter sun-set he took his frugal meal, and in the night he slept but for a short time, and then recited the psalms till day-light. His fasts were frequent and long. One of the brethren, having obtained his permission to live • [See Sir Francis Palgrave's admirable little work on the history of the Anglo-Saxons. — Am. Ed.] 9 ii ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. CH. XllI along with him, said to him, " My father, I have three pieces of silver ; what wilt thou that I should do with them ?" Ni- lus replied, •' Give them to the poor, and keep only your psal- ter." He did so ; but some time after, being wearied of such a life, he sought to quarrel with Nilus, and demanded the money which he had given to the poor. " My brother," said the holy man, " write on a piece of paper that I shall receive the reward of it in heaven, and place it on the altar." Then he departed, borrowed the money, which he gave to the man, and in twelve days copied three psalters, with which he paid his debt. Nilus afterwards refused to be made abbot of the neighbouring convent. One of the principal in- habitants of that part of the country having resolved to live a religious life, and desiring to place himself under his di- rection, and imitate his mode of living, Nilus dissuaded him from it, saying, " My brother, it is not for our virtue that we live in this desert, but it is because we cannot bear the rule of common life, that we have separated ourselves from men, like lepers. You do well to seek your salvation. Go to some community where you will find repose of body and mind." As the Saracens were making many inroads into that country, Nilus departed to another place, where several dis- ciples joined him, and a monastery was formed. Some brethren in the neighbourhood spoke evil of him as a hypo- crite and impostor, but he returned it only by giving them bless- ings and praise ; and one day, when they had extremely mal- treated him, he came to- them as they were eating, placed himself on his knees, and asked their pardon. By this con- duct he entirely subdued them, and gained their friendship. He would not allow any member of his c^ommunity to possess any thing but what was barely necessary, saying that any thing more was avarice. When the society increased, he would never assume the title of abbot or hegumenus. One day, the metropolitan of Calabria, accompanied by severajf great men, magistrates, clergy, and a number of people^ came to visit him out of curiosity. He caused one of them A.D. 680-1054. NILTTS. 99 to read part of a book in which it was written, " that of ten thousand souls, scarcely one at the present time departs into the angel's hands." Many began to say, " God forbid : this is heresy. Where then is the use of baptism, adoring the cross of Christ, receiving the communion, and bearing the name of Christians ?" Nilus replied, " What if I show you that the fathers, St. Paul, and the Gospel, say the same thing ? God is under no obligation to you for what you speak of. You would not dare to profess any heresy : the people would stone you. But know ye, that if ye be not virtuous, yea, ex- ceedingly virtuous, ye shall not escape eternal punishment." Being asked of what tree Adam eat in Paradise, he said, " How should we speak of what Scripture has not revealed to us ? Instead of thinking how ye were created ; how ye were placed in Paradise ; of the commandments ye have received, and have not kept ; of what has driven you from Paradise, and how ye may enter it again ; instead of all this, ye in- quire the name of a tree !" Many great officers offerea bim large sums of money for the benefit of his community ; but he said to them, " My brethren will be happy, according to the psalm, if they live of the labour of their hands; and the poor will cry against you for retaining their goods." When the archbishop of Rossano died, the magistrates and principal clergy came to seek for St. Nilus, to offer him the see ; but, having heard of their intentions, he retired in- to the recesses of the mountains, and could not be found ; so that they were obliged to elect another person to that see. The incursions of the Saracens at length became so fre- quent, that Nilus was obliged to take refuge at the monas- tery of Mount Casino, which St. Benedict had founded. On his way thither, he passed through Capua, and his fame was so great, that he was offered the bishopric of that city. Ni lus lived near Mount Casino for fifteen years with his com- munity. In 997, when very aged, he went to Rome to be- seech the emperor and the pope to have mercy on the anti- pope Philagathus, whom he had known formerly. The em* 100 ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. CH. XIV. peror and Pope Gregory, having heard of his arrival, went to meet him, and each taking him by a hand, led him to the patriarchal palace, and seated him between them, each kiss- ing his hand. The old man groaned at receiving these honours ; yet he endured them, in the hope of obtaining what he desired. He then said to them, "Spare me, for the sake of God. I am the greatest sinner of all men ; an old man, half dead, and unworthy of these honours : it is rather my part to prostrate myself before you, and to honour your supreme dignities." Finding at length that his community at Valdeluce had become seriously relaxed in discipline by the wealth, num- bers, and renown, which his sanctity had given to it, he de- parted and went to a place near Gaeta. " The monks of these times," he said, "do not employ their leisure in prayer, meditation, and reading of Scripture, but in vain discourse, evil thoughts, and useless curiosity. These and many other evils are removed by labour, which distracts the attention from them ; and there is nothing equal to eating our bread in the sweat of our countenance." The princess of Gaeta came to visit him, out of reverence for his piety, and he discoursed to her on purity, almsgiving, and the fear of God. It was always unpleasant to him to meet the great : he avoided it carefully, as a source of vani- ty and danger, and had no intercourse with them even by letter, except to assist them in their necessities and their misfortunes. Nilus died soon after, in 1002, aged ninety-five. CHAPTER XIV. ON THE ABUSES AND SUPERSTITIONS OF THIS PERIOD. A.D. 680-1054. The ignorance caused by the disorganised condition of society during these ages could not fail to produce many ir- A.JD. 680-1054. MONASTIC ABUSES. 101 regularities, abuses and superstitions. 1 have already aliud- ed to the mischiefs resulting from the use of images, which were of the most afflicting character. The invocation of saints was also frequent, though we do not find that direct prayers were, as yet, addressed to them, or their aid sought, except with a desire for their prayers to God. The litanies of the western Churches began to include such invocations ; but they did not find their way into the usual services of the Church. We have seen, in the last chapter, the lamentable want of information on religion which existed in some coun- tries, where the Scriptures and the offices of religion were unintelligible even to the clergy. It was a mistaken rever- ence for antiquity which led Augustine and Boniface to em- ploy the ancient Latin liturgies in the Churches which they founded amongst the heathen. They had not calculated that the knowledge of that language would be so limited, or that the people would be so badly instructed. Succeeding generations wanted ability or courage to correct a mistake sanctioned by such respectable authority. Still some means of instruction existed, though these were not universally found. Such were the sermons of the bishops and presby- ters ; the exhortations of the monks ; the discipline of pen- ance, which still continued, though much impaired ; the sys- tem of catechising the young ; and the instruction which was conveyed by parents and godfathers, who were also reminded of their duties. And if, as we have reason to believe, a large portion of the community were accustomed to receive the holy eucharist three times a year, we may trust that the state of religion was in those ages not so bad as it has been sometimes represented ; and the present age, with all its ad- vantages of civilization, peace, and education, would per- haps scarcely be able to prove its greater attention to known duties, or its more conscientious obedience to the impulse of conscience. As time advanced, indeed, we see the words of our Lord verified. The tares began to grow thickly in the field of the Church, and the wheat was oppressed by their 0* 102 ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. CH. XIV. multitude. The pure gold of the early times, tried seven times in the fire, was now mingled with the alloy of this earth ; and the human heart betrayed daily its tendency to fall away from the service of its Creator. The very chosen resorts of religious zeal and self-denying piety exemplified most lamentably this tendency to decay. The way of life in which an Antony and a Benedict had shown such eminent virtues was now filled with lukewarm professors. The sim- ple piety, the poverty, and the industry of St. Benedict's rule, gradually gave way before the influence of too ample endowments. Abuses of all kinds arose. The cupidity of barbarians was attracted by the wealth of monasteries and the splendour of their ornaments. Powerful barons usurped their territories or intruded into their precincts, spreading disorder and licentiousness amongst those former seats of religion and learning. When Odo, about 920, was de- sirous to devote himself to the monastic life, he went him- self or sent messengers to all the celebrated monasteries of France ; but he could not find a single house in which sufli- cent regularity and order were observed. He then founded the monastery and order of Clugny, in which the strictness of ancient discipline was revived. Indeed, the observance of St. Benedict's rule had, even in the preceding century, become so much relaxed, that Benedict of Anianum was employed to reform a number of monasteries in France and Italy.- The vast possessions which were bestowed on the Church by the sovereigns of the West, and which were held by feu- dal tenure, obliged bishops and abbots to attend the courts of princes, to absent themselves from their dioceses, and to mingle in scenes of war and civil commotion, which were little consistent with their sacred characters. Hence too arose that mutual interference of Church and State, of which these ages furnished several examples. Princes seiz- ed on the temporalities of churches, kept them vacant to enjoy their revenues, or insisted on the appointment of A.D. 680-1054. FORGED CREDENTIALS. 103 bishops who were altogether unworthy. On the other hand, the bishops began to assume temporal authority.* The council of Toledo deposed Wamba, king of the «c), Visigoths, because, as they pretended, he had taken the monastic habit. The emperor Louis coo le Debonnaire was deposed, and restored again by councils of bishops. When the patriarchs of Rome had obtained from Pepin, Charlemagne, and their successors, con- siderable grants of territory in Italy, those powerful prelates assumed a still loftier tone of authority, and began to inter- fere in the disputes and other affairs of princes. Thus Ad- rian II. forbade the emperor Charles the Bald to possess himself of the dominions of king Lothaire, under pain of excommunication, but in this he was resisted by the bishops of France ; and when Gregory IV., about 830, had taken part with Lothaire against his father the emperor Louis, and threatened to excommunicate the latter, the bishops of France informed that prelate, that if he came to excommu- nicate the emperor, he should return home excommunicated himself. Another evil in these times was the facility with which ex- communications were denounced. A sentence, which ought only to be passed on those who have been guilty of most se- rious offences against God or their brethren, was* used on many trifling and unworthy occasions ; and hence we need not wonder at the complaints frequently made in those times, that excommunication was disregarded. The power of the Roman see in the western Church was greatly augmented in the ninth century, by the fabrication of a large body of decretal epistles or ecclesiastical laws, which purported to have been written by the popes during the * [It was clearly through these usurpations of the bishops that the unho- ly tyranny of Rome grew into being. The episcopal claims were gradual- ly concentered in the one apostolical see of the West ; and all the power that the weakness and wickedness of temporal princes had thrown into the hands of the spiritual rulers, was thus drawn to a single focus. — Am Ed.] 104 ECCLESIASTICA L niSTOEY. CH. rv . first three centuries, and in which the judgment of all bish- ops, the holding of all councils, and a right to hear appeals from all ecclesiastical judgments, were claimed for the Ro- man pontiffs. These epistles, which had been forged in the preceding century, and which are now acknowledged by the most learned Romanists to be mere fabrications, exagrcje- rated to the highest degree the powers and privileges of the popes ; and the ignorance of the ninth century prevented any discovery of their falsehood. The bishops of Rome assert- ^ ed their genuineness, and carried their principles A.D. 862. ^^^^ practice ; though the bishops, especially those of France, offered much opposition. Thus the liberties of Churches were gradually invaded, while their discipline was injured by the obstacles thrown in the way of assembling synods and condemning offenders, and by the facility of appeals to a foreign and too favourable tribunal. CHAPTER XV. ON THE DIVISIONS OF THE EASTERN AND WESTERN CHURCHES. A.D. 680-1054. During the period now before us the rival Churches of Rome and Constantinople had several disputes. When the controversy about images broke out in the eighth century, 726 TS'^ Gregory II. and Gregory III. of Rome, excommunicated the emperors of the East, and forbade the payment of tribute to them, in consequence of their opposition to images. The emperors in return con- fiscated the possessions of the Roman see in their dominions, and withdrawing the various Churches of Illyricum, Mace- donia, Greece, as well as those of Sicily, Apulia, and Cala- bria, from the jurisdiction of Rome, subjected them to the A.D. 880-1054. DIVISIONS OF THE CIIITRCHES. 105 see of Constantinople. The three former provinces had been under the see of Rome for about 350 years ; the latter for a much longer time : however, the eastern Church offered no objection to this arrangement, nor was communion inter- rupted between the East and West on this account, though the bishops of Rome made frequent efforts to obtain a resto- ration of their authority. Their requests were fruitless, as long as they were addressed to the eastern emperors or Churches ; but when the Normans subdued Sicily and Na- ples, in the eleventh century, those provinces, after an inter- val of three centuries, again became subject , ^q^ to the Roman jurisdiction. During the disputes on image-worship, the Roman see was for some time sepa- rated from the communion of the Church of Constantinople ; but it does not appear that the western Church generally re- garded either party as heretical, or refused communion with them. In the ninth century a dispute arose between the bishops of Rome and Constantinople about the province of Bulgaria, which each claimed. This was heightened by the contro- versy in the case of Photius, who had been made patriarch of Constantinople when Ignatius, the last patriarch, was expelled from his see by the emperor, and deposed by a ^^^ synod of 318 bishops, by whom Photius was ac- knowledged patriarch. The Roman see took part with Igna- tius, and deposed Photius, who retaliated by deposing the bishop of Rome : but after a time he was expelled, and Ig- natius restored by another emperor. The majority of the eastern Church, however, adhered to Photius ; and on the death of his rival Tgnatius, he was again placed in his see by a synod of 383 bishops, with the approbation ^ ^ g-,g of pope John VIII. The latter consented to his restoration, on condition that Bulgaria should be transferred to the Roman jurisdiction ; but this transfer was opposed by Photius and his successors ; and though he became, in con- sequence, very obnoxious to the popes, who withdrew their 106 ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. CH. XVI. communion from him, the communion of the universal Church was not seriously affected, and the two rival Churches afterwards remained in communion till 1054. In this year, however, a division began between the eastern and western Churches, which has never yet been en- tirely healed. For when Cerularius, bishop of Constantino- ple, wrote to the bishop of Trani, in Italy, condemning several of the rites and ceremonies of the Roman Church, and shut up the Latin churches and monasteries at Constan- tinople, the legate of the Roman see, Cardinal Humbert, insisted on his implicit submission to the pope ; and, on his refusal, left an excommunication on the altar of his patriar- chal church of St. Sophia at Constantinople. And as the eastern Churches adhered to Cerularius, and the western to the Roman see, they gradually became estranged from each other, though for many ages some communion still existed between them. I have thus endeavoured to trace briefly the principal fea- tures in ecclesiastical history from the beginning to the divi- sion of the eastern and western Churches, and to show that in every age the Church of God still existed, notwithstanding all the temptations of the devil, the world, and the flesh. It will next be my endeavour to carry on the same plan from the division of the East and West to the Reformation. CHAPTER XVI. ON THE PROGRESS OF CHRISTIANHY. A.D. 1054-1517. The period under consideration is chiefly remarkable as exhibiting the progress of the division between the eastern and western Churches, and the rise and increase of the pro- digious spiritual and temporal power of the popes. It was the unreasonable claims of this power which separated the A.D. 1054-1517. PROGRESS OF CHRISTIANITY. 10/ eastern from the western Church, and which still continues to be the great obstacle to their re-union. The spirit of worldliness, of craft, cruelty, and avarice, which so often disgraced professing Christians, and even ministers of Christ, in these ages, was but too faithfully copied from the example of the pretended heads of the universal Church ; while the ancient laws and liberties of churches, the rights of kings, and the sound discipline of the Church, were without scruj ie invaded and subverted by these imperious pontiffs. But we should remember that the visible Church was now becoming co-extensive with the world, and therefore that " it was im- possible but that offences should come." The good seed was now mingled thickly with tares, and the love of many waxed faint : but still there was a remnant left ; still the Church, however afflicted, might point to new evangelists and saints, and behold the verification of our Saviour's promises. The great work of evangelising the heathen was continu- , 1 1 . ,. , . /. „. about A.D. 1320. who refuted the doctrme of the mfalh- bility of the pope ; Nicholas de Lyra, who wrote a com- mentary on Scripture, which was much lono loon valued by the Reformers ; Gerson ; and Peter D'Ailly, who, in the fifteenth century, argued against the papal pretensions, and ably defended the rights of the Church. Gerson was a man of eminent ,o^o % Ann A.D. ltJod-1429. piety, and wrote many devotional trea- tises. The celebrated book " Of the Imitation of Christ," which was written in the fifteenth century by Thomas a Kem- pis, a canon in Germany, is a sufficient proof that Chris- tian faith and devotion of the highest order were still existing in the Church. There cannot be a stronger exemplification of this con- solatory truth than in the life of Laurence Justiniani, bishop and patriarch of Venice. This venerable man, whose excellent piety and abundant ♦ [That is, to hold the sees; the spiritual functions were performed, if attended to at all, by vicars, consecrated bishops inpartibus infidelium, as Ranish coadjutor-bishops now are. — Am. Ed.] 11* 126 ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. CH. XVIII. good works were worthy of the brightest ages of the Church, was born in Venice in 1389, of a noble and ancient family ; and at nineteen years of age devoted himself to the monastic life in his native place, where he was remarkable for prayer, fasting, and vigils, and for the fervour and zeal of his piety. He was endued with a remarkable spirit of Christian forti- tude ; and being afflicted with an illness which rendered a surgical operation indispensable, he said to his surgeons, who trembled at the danger to which his life was exposed, " What do you fear? Let the razors and the burning irons be brought in. Cannot He grant me constancy, who not only supported but even preserved from the flames the three chil- dren?" On another similar occasion he said to a sur- geon, " Your razor cannot exceed the burning irons of the martyrs." While he resided in the monastery, he was remarkable for his humility : b'^' willingly undertook the lowest and most menial offices in his community, and evinced a spirit of poverty and self-denial which the most eminent ascetics might have applauded. After some time, he was ordained priest and became general, or superior of his order, which he re- formed and regulated with so much strictness, that he was afterwards regarded as its second founder. The saying of our Lord, that " out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh," was verified in this holy man. All his conversa- tion was replete with a spirit of piety, which melted the hearts of those with whom he discoursed. His confidence in the infinite power and goodness of God kept pace with a per- fect humility and distrust of himself; and assiduous prayer was his continual support. In 1433 he was made bishop of Venice, which was after- wards, in honour to his transcendent merits, made a patri- archal see by the pope. He endeavoured ineffectually to decline this appointment ; and being exceedingly averse to pomp and ostentation, he took possession of his church so A..D. 1054-1517. LAURENCE JUSTINIANI. 127 privately that his friends knew nothing of the matter till the ceremony was over. When he was placed at the heard of so great a church, his manners and habits of life experienced no alteration. His household was placed on the most moderate scale ; it consist- ed only of five persons. He had no plate in his house, but used only earthen ware, lay on a straw bed, and wore no rich clothing. His example, his severity towards himself, and his affability and kindnes-s to others, won the hearts of all, and enabled him to introduce most important reforms in discipline. Great multitudes of people resorted every day to his palace for advice, comfort, or alms. His gate, provi- sions, and purse, were always open to the poor. His alms were carefully and judiciously distributed; provisions and clothing were more frequently given to applicants than money. With a feeling of the most considerate sympathy, he employed pious matrons to find out and relieve those poor whose modesty prevented them from soliciting alms, and to assist persons of family in decayed circumstances. These abundant charities were but the result of a spirit of divine love, which influenced all his conduct. Nothing could ex- ceed his zeal for the glory of God ; and he was rewarded by the gift of wisdom, which enabled him to pacify most violent dissensions in the state, and to govern his diocese in most dif- ficult times with perfect ease. In his last illness, his servants were preparing a bed for him, at which this self-denying man was troubled, and said to them, " Are you laying a feather-bed for me ? No, that shall not be ; my Lord was stretched on a hard and pain- ful tree. Do not you remember what St. Martin said in his agony, that a Christian ought to die on sack-cloth and ashes '?" He forbade his friends to weep for him ; and as his strength failed, often exclaimed, with rapture, " Behold the Bridegroom; let us go forth and meet him." He added, with his eyes raised towards heaven, " Good Jesus, behold, I come." When it was remarked to him, that he might go 128 SeCtlSIABTICAL HISTORY. CH. XVIII. joyfully to his crown, he was much disturbed, and said, '' The crown is for valiant soldiers, not for base cowards such as I am." During the two last days of his life,' all the city came in turn, according to their ranks, to receive his blessing. He commanded even the beggars to be admitted ; and addressed to every class some short pathetic instructions ; after which he departed in peace, in the year 1455. Such examples suffice to show, that even when the Church was most in need of reformation, the grace of God still continued tO produce saving faith, and to sanctify his people. That serious corruptions in practice, and even in doctrine, had now become common among Christians, is indeed but too evident. Learned and godly men were longing for a refor- mation of the many evils by which religion was afflicted: but amidst much of human infirmity and sin, we still cannot avoid recognizing the continued fulfilment of the promises of God to his Church. The following expressions of Luther on this subject are well worthy of attention. "In this Church," he says, " God miraculously and powerfully pre- served baptism ; moreover, in the public pulpits, and the Lord's day sermons, he preserved the text of the Gospel in the language of every nation, besides remission of sins, and absolution as well in confession as in public. Again, the sa- crament of the altar, which at Easter, and twice or three times in the year, they ofTered to Christians, although they administered only one kind (z. e. the bread.) Again, calling and ordination to parishes, and the ministry of the word, the keys to bind and loose, and to comfort in the agony of death. For amongst many it was customary to show the image of Christ crucified to those who were dying, and admonish them of his death and blood. Then, by a Divine miracle, there remained in the Church the Psalter, the Lord's Prayer, the Creed, the Ten Commandments. Likewise many pious and excellent hymns, which were left to posterity by truly Chris- tian and spiritual men, though oppressed with tyranny. Wherever were these truly sacred relics — the relics of holy A.D. 1054-1517. EASTERN CHTTRCH. 129 men — there was and is the true holy Church of Christ, for all these are ordinances and fruits of Christ ; except the forcible removal of one part of the sacrament from Chris- tians. In this Church of Christ, therefore, the Spirit of Christ was certainly present, and preserved trije knowledge and true faith in his elect." CHAPTER XIX. ON THE EASTERN CHURCH. A.D. 1054.1517. The eastern or Greek Church existed under the Greek em- perors, in the country now called Turkey in Europe and Asia Minor, and also in Russia, Poland, Bulgaria, Moravia, Sclavonia, Georgia, Mingrelia, Circassia, Syria, Palestine, and Egypt. It was governed by the patriarchs of Constan- tinople, Alexandria, Antioch, and Jerusalem. After the division between the Churches of Rome and Con- 1054 stantinople, the eastern and western Churches did not immediately withdraw from mutual communion. In 1155, Basil, archbishop of Thessalonica, in an epistle to Adrian IV., allowed that the Latin Churches held the ortho- dox faith, and formed part of the universal Church, while he denied that the Greek Church was guilty of schism : and in 1203, Demetrius, archbishop of Bulgaria, denied that the Latins were heretics. On the other hand, Peter, abbot of Clugny, and William of Tyre, in the twelfth century, ad- mitled the Greeks to form part of the Catholic Church; and several modes of intercourse existed between the Churches. The popes, however, being full of the notion of their own supremacy over the whole Church, always treated the Greeks as schismatics; and though they entered into many negotia- tions with the Greek emperors, for the re-union of East and 130 ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. CH. XIX. West, the first article always insisted on was, that the Greek Church should ohey the pope. Had the popes merely desired to restore the communion of the Churches, leaving the Greeks their ancient indeperxlence and equality, there would have been no difficulty ; but they refused, and rightly re- fused, to place their religion, their discipline, the-ir property and persons, at the feet of pontiffs who pretended to infal- libility, and who refused to be bound by any laws or canons.* The views of the eastern Church on this subject are ex- emplified by the words of Nechites, archbishop of Nicome- ^ , „« dia, in his conference with a Latin bishop : " We * do not refuse the Roman Church," he said, " the first rank among her sisters the patriarchal Churches, and we acknowledge that she presides in a general council ; but she separated from us by her pride, when, exceeding her power, she divided the empire and the Churches of the East and West. When she holds a council of western bishops with- out us, it is well that they should observe their own decrees ; but how can we be expected to obey decrees made without our knowledge 1 If the pope pretends to send us his orders, fulminating from his lofty throne, and to dispose of us and our churches at his own discretion, without advising with us, what paternity or what fraternity is there in that? We should be only slaves, not children of the Church. The Roman Church alone would enjoy liberty, and give laws to all others, without being subject to any herself. We do not find in any creed, that we are bound to confess the Roman Church in particular, but one holy, catholic, and apostolic Church. This is what I say of the Roman Church, which I revere with you ; but I do not with you believe it a duty to follow her necessarily in all things, nor that we ought to relinquish our • [It ought not to be overlooked, how the providence of God thus made the Roman attempts at usurpation provide an insuperable bar to the subse- quent claim of catholicity for Romish corruptions in doctrine and practice. The latter mighi have become universal, but for the jealous hostility a-wakened by the former. — Am. Ed.] A.D. 1054-1517. EASTERN CHUKCH. 131 rites, arid adopt her mode of performing the sacraments, with- out examining it by reason and the Scriptures." The crusades which the popes set on foot for the recovery of the Holy Land, but which led to the subjugation of Con- stantinople, Cyprus, and a great part of the Greek empire, by Latin chieftains, tended much to promote unfriendly feelings between the Churches. Latin bishops were institut- ed in Jerusalem, Antloch, Constantinople, Greece, Cyprus, although there were already Greek bishops in those sees ; and the Crusaders in many places profaned the Greek Churches, expelted their clergy, or forced them, on pain of death, to become obedient to Rome. The Greeks retaliated v/hen they were able ; and the Churches became much more estranged from each other. In the year 1261, the Greek emperor Michael Paleologus recovered Constantinople from the Latins ; and fearing that the pope would proclaim a crusade against him, he entered into negociations for the union of the Clvjrches, and com- pelled some of the Greek bishops to write to the pope and the council of Lyons, admitting the primacy of in-y,, the Roman see, and expressmg their wi-^h for union. A letter from the emperor was also read in the council, in which he professed his belief in the Roman pri- macy, in purgatory, transubstantiation, and seven sacra- ments, as the pope had com.manded. The council then per- mitted the re-union of the Greek Church to the Latin, and did not require any alteration in their form of worship. But in 1280 the pope again excommunicated the Greeks for not obeying his commands, and the temporary union came to an end. When Constantinople was threatened by the Turks, in the fifteenth century, the Greek emperor John Paleologus, desirous of obtaining the pope's assistance for his falling em- pire, came with several Greek bishops to the synod of Florence, where, after much disputation, those , .„„ prelates were compelled to subscribe to the doc- tTiine of purgatory, the papal primacy, and the procession ef 132 ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. CH. XX. the Holy Spirit as held by the Roman Church : but on their return to Greece, they were condemned by the eastern Church, and the proposed union fell to the ground. Constan- tinople was taken by the Turks in 1453 ; and the Christians of those countries have been ever since much oppressed by these infidels: but the popes discovered that the attempt to reduce the Greek Church beneath their sway was a hope- less one. CHAPTER XX. ABUSES AND OORRUPTIONS. A.D. 1054-1517. The grand and crying evil of these ages was the position of the Roman pontiffs, who were now exalted in the western Church to such a height of power, and invested by them- selves and their adherents with such extravagant privileges, that the temporal as well as spiritual governments through- out Europe were every where agitated and enslaved, and the rights of sovereigns, the liberties of Churches, the holiest discipline of antiquity, were ruthlessly invaded and subverted. The spirit of the world discovered itself in the proceedings of the court of Rome ; and ambition, cupidity, and pride, were but too frequently the characteristics of the Roman pon- tiffs. These evils were the result of false maxims. The flatterers of the popes had, for several ages before those now under consideration, attributed too extensive powers to them. It had become a settled notion in the western Churches, that the bishops of Rome were the successors of St. Peter in the primacy of the Church by divine appointment. The spurious decretals, already alluded to, represented them as, even from the time of the apostles, claiming and exercising an extend- ed jurisdiction over all Churches. Hence it followed neces- A.D. 1054-1517. PAPAL POWER. 133 sarily that it was the duty of every Church and every Chris, tian to be in communion with, and to be subject to, the pope ; and tiierefore that those who were out of his commu- nion, or disobedient to him, were not Christian. This was, in fact, to invest the Roman pontiff with absolute power in temporal as well as spiritual matters ; for if, as it was main- tained, it was absolutely necessary for every Christian to be in his communion, the only thing requisite to obtain obe- dience, whether from kings or bishops, was to threaten or inflict excommunication upon them. Sooner or later this formidable sentence was pretty sure to weigh upon the con- sciences of those who were disobedient to the papal com- mands, or on those of their adherents ; so that these prelates had little to do except to wait for the issue of events, and al- ways, in fine, to receive the most humble apologies and entreaties for pardon, together with the whole, or at least some part, of their demands, hov/ever unreasonable or ex- travagant. The papal power was first developed in all its extent by the celebrated Hildebrand, or Gregory VII., who ascended the throne in 1073.* He was a man of undaunted courage and energy, and deeply embued with notions of the extent of the papal supremacy. He accordingly excommunicated and deposed the Emperor Henry IV. of Germany, for dis- obedience to his mandates, and compelled him 1077 at last to sue for absolution with the greatest humility. On further symptoms of disobedience, he again deposed and excommunicated him, gave his dominions to another prince, and excited a rebellion against him. He claimed, and in many instances succeeded in obtaining, the acknow ledgment of his feudal superiority, or temporal juris- diction, over France, England, Hungary, Denmark, Poland, Russia, Norway, Dalmatia, Italy, Sicily, Sardinia, Corsica, ♦ [He had prepared the way for his own undertakings, by the virtual ex- ercise of the papal power under his immediate predecessors, from A.D. 1049. —Am. Ed.] 13 134 ECCLESIASTICAL HiSTORY. CH. XX. &c. France and England for the present resisted these claims successfully; but in the reign of Pope Innocent III., John, king of England, was oblig- ed to declare himself a subject of the Roman see, and to pay tribute to it. As for the affairs of the Church in every country, Gregory disposed of them as if the whole world were his diocese, and the bishops were merely his assistants or deputies. This, indeed, was a notion which in the following centuries was boldly avowed and acted on by the popes. Legates, or papal viceroys, were continually going from Rome into all countries, and enforcing the new mandates or exactions of their masters, to the infinite trouble, expense, and annoyance of kings, prelates, and people ; but it was in yain that they protested, petitioned, complained, and threat- ened, ol' offered resistance. Their own notions of the papal authority were a chain round their necks, which never failed to bring them ultimately into subjection. The history of Europe, from this period, for two or three centuries, is little more than a history of the popes ; of their contests with emperors and kings ; their deposal of some monarchs, their creation of others ; of armies which they commanded to be fitted out for the recovery of the Holy Land, for the extermination of heretics, for the subjugation of heathen, or for the dethronement of their own enemies ; of the taxes which they levied from all churches and states, either for the crusades, for their own wars with princes, or for their pleasure ; of the controversies and wars which their disputed elections excited. All this was done on principle There were good men among the popes and among thei' adherents ; but the false maxims, to which I have before ad verted, were so deeply engrained in their minds, that it wa? a matter of conscience with them to act as they did. Thf history of these ages is alone sufHcient to show that there were some great mistakes abroad with regard to the papal authority ; it occupies far too large a space in the transac tions of the period before us. Even St. Bernard was obliged A.D. 1054-1517. PAFAL POWER. 1^ to expend a great portion of his energy, zeal, and piety, for many years, in maintaining the disputed election of a pope. The world and tiie Church were disturbed with controversies of this kind, to the neglect of the practical duties and elevat- ed contemplations of true religion. No part of the Church smarted more severely under the papal tyranny (for such it became) than the Church of Eng- land. Let us dwell a moment on some particulars of its his tory in the thirteenth century. In 1240, Cardinal Otho, one of those legates v/ith whom the popes were continually troub- ling tlie Churches, published at London a mandate, in which permission was given to all persons who had taken the cross (?'. e. vowed to fight for the recovery of the Holy Land,) to obtain*absolution from their vow, on condition of paying to the pope the sum which they would have expended in their journey. This was a frequent practice of the popes by which they much injured these expeditions. The money went into their coffers, with the understanding that it was to be applied to the use of the Crusaders actually engaged in Palestine ; but it was frequently diverted to other purposes. The cler- gy of England shortly after assembled at Reading, when Cardinal Otho represented that the pope was sorely pressed for money, in his dispute with the Emperor Frederick, and de- manded instantly a fifth part of their revenues. The bishops objected, but at length paid the exaction. Some time after, a mandate came from the pope to the archbishop of Canter- bury, the bishops of Lincoln and Salisbury, to appoint three hundred Roman subjects to the next vacant benefices, on pain of being suspended from conferring all benefices! In 1244 the pope sent an emissary into England, with a let- ter to the abbots of the diocese of Canterbury, stating that the sums drawn by the late pope from England and other states had been insufficient to discharge his debts contracted for the defence of iiis patrimony and the liberties of the Church. He therefore ordered them to aid him with the sums of money which his agent should mention within a given 136 ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. Cfl. XX. time. The nuncio was supplied with many bulls, in order to bestow the best benefices, or their revenues, on the pope's relatives. The pope soon after wrote to the -clergy of Eng- land, commanding them to give liberally to the king. In 1245 the ambassadors of the king of England, in the coun- cil of Lyons, read a letter, addressed by the kingdom of Eng- land to the pope, complaining that his predecessors, wishing to enrich the Italians, who had become excessively numerous, had given them such a multitude of benefices in England, that their income amounted to 60,000 marks of silver, a greater revenue than the king possessed; that these Italians, indifferent to the souls intrusted to them, and only desirous of the revenues of their benefices, lived abroad ; that the nuncio had recently conferred all vacant benefices* worth thirty marks on Italians, and provided that on their death, C'thers should succeed, to the destruction of the rights of patrons. Many other abuses were mentioned : but the pope, having heard the letter, would make no reply further than that an affair of so much consequence deserved full con- sideration. In the following year another vigorous attempt was made. It was resolved by the parliament of England that an embassy should carry to the pope^re letters, from the bishops, the abbots, the lords and commons, and the king, respectfully demanding redress, and threatening, in case of not obtaining it, no longer to obey the Church of Rome. While these letters were on their way, the pope, having learned that many rich English ecclesiastics died intestate, decreed that the possessions of all who should hereafter die intestate should revert to himself; and commissioned the Franciscan and Dominican friars to see to the execution of this mandate. The pope was enraged when he heard of the opposition offered to his exactions, and resolved, to place England under an interdict ; but he was appeased by the am- bassadors, who assured him that the king would speedily yield what he desired. The next year he sent over a man. date that all the resident clergy of England should pay one- A.D. 1054-1517. PAPAL POWER. 137 third of their revenue, and the non-resident one-half^ to the see of Rome. The clergy, however, were prevented from paying this exaction by the king. In 1252 we find that the king had obtained from the pope a tenth of the incomes of the clergy and people of England for three years, under pretence of a crusade. In 1255 a papal nuncio came to levy a tenth in England, Scotland, and Ireland, for the pope or the king. The nuncio then preached a crusade against Mainfroy, king of Sicily, an enemy of the pope, and demanded immense sums from the English bishops for this object. The proceedings of these few years will afford a sufficient specimen of the servitude to which the prevalence of false maxims had reduced the Church. Some princes resisted such claims more effectually than others ; but they were con- tinually liable to recur ; and the papal power was always encroaching and usurping the rights of the Church and State. During the period now under consideration, the evil of ap- peals to the popes came to its height. No cause could oc- cur in spiritual matters which might not be carried by appeal directly before the tribunal at Rome, to the delay of justice, the impoverishment of suitors, and the subversion of the authority of bishops and metropolitans. Vast sums of money were in this way continually draining out of England ; and it should be remembered too, that by custom, or the con- cession of princes, the jurisdiction of the Church extended in those ages to a great number of temporal causes, besides those of wills, matrimony, tithes, and ecclesiastical property, the right of patronage, and the correction of morals, to which it is now chiefly limited. It is admitted, even by the most learned Romanists, that appeals to the papal see are of mere human institution. About the twelfth century it became customary with the popes to give dispensations or exemptions from the laws of the Church. They would, either for money or favour, per- mit one person to hold several benefices or even bishoprics. 12* 138 ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. CH. XX. They would dispense with a bishop elect remaining without ordination for years,* or would permit children or other im- proper persons to be nominated to benefices. They would give dispensations for non-residence ; for irregularities of all sorts. In short, there was scarcely any law or rule of the Church which they did not continually dispense with. The consequence was, that ecclesiastical discipline became most grievously relaxed. The bishops and clergy were too fre- quently infected by such evil examples ; and a spirit of world- liness, self-indulgence, and habitual neglect of duties, began largely to prevail. About the same time the popes began to claim the ap- pointment to archbishoprics, bishoprics, and all other bene- fices. The appointment to the former was first seized on. The ancient custom of sending a pall to the bishop of the principal see in each country, was made the pretext for first exacting an oath of obedience to the pope, then prohibiting the discharge of any metropolitical powers without it. At length the popes began to issue bulls, appointing the metro- politan to his see ; and afterwards, especially during the great western schism, from 1370 to 1414, when rival popes divided the whole of Europe into two or three different communions, the appointment to bishoprics, and to all other benefices, was usurped. The plenary indulgences which the popes issued, first to the Crusaders, but afterwards to many other persons, com- pleted the ruin of the penitential discipline of the Church. These indulgences or pardons were the remission of the lengthened works of penitence imposed by the ancient can- ons. All that was necessary to obtain them, was to confess to a priest all past sins, to go to the crusade in Palestine or in some other country, or to perform some other work assigned by the pope. Such were some of the principal evils under which the * [During which his episcopal functions were discharged, if at all, b) Ticars, in episcopal orders. — Am. Ed.] A.D. 1054-1517. MONASTIC ABTTSES. 139 western Churches suffered from the papal supremacy. That supremacy was chiefly sustained by the monks and the beg- ging friars. The former now gradually became extremely relaxed in discipline, and fell into contempt. In the tiiir. teenth century they received incomes from their monasteries, and their situations became so many good benefices. They went out without permission, accepted invitations from lay- men, and remained out of their cloister. They had proper- ty of their own, borrowed money, went security for others, and partook of all the indulgences of ordinary life. Labour was now commonly discontinued, the time of fasting very much abbreviated, on the pretence that human nature had less strength than in ancient times. The monks were now no longer in deserts, apart from society, and devoted to medita- tion and silence. They studied at the universities, mingled in the affairs of Church and State, undertook the care of parishes, indulged in recreations. They were generally exempt from the visitations of bishops, by the favour of the Roman pontiffs, and left entirely to their own management. All this was widely different from the manners of the an- cient monks, who were religious in deed, as a learned wri- ter has said, and not merely in name. There was little thought of following the example of the venerable St. Colum- ban. When Sigebert, king of France, had offered him large possessions in that country, in the hope of retaining him there, the holy man replied : " We who have forsaken our own, that according to the commandment of the Gospel, we might follow the Lord, ought not to em.brace other men's riches, lest paradventure we should prove transgressors of the divine commandment." The rule universally adopted by the primitive ascetics was, that " they which live in monas- leries should work in silence, and eat their own hread.''^ The begging friars, who were instituted in the thirteenth century, exhibited for a time a very ardent zeal, and a spirit of poverty and self-denial, which in some degree resembled that of the ancient ascetics. Their great boast was, to pos- HO ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. CH. XX. sess no property whatever, either personally or as a commu- nity. This, however, did not prevent them from having large funds at their disposal ; for while they would have es- teemed it an unpardonable offence to receive any thing for themselves directly, they had no scruple in receiving dona- tions and benefactions to any amount " for the pope and the Roman Church," to be applied, however, to their own par- ticular uses. This ingenious distinction enabled them to pro- fess their own utter poverty, to beg with the utmost importu- nity, and to be at once theoretically the poorest, and practi- cally the vv^ealthiest orders in Europe. Richard Fitz-Ralph, archbishop of Armagh, in the four- 1S40 I'iCO teenth century, who was a strong oppo- nent of the begging friars, objected against them, in the presence of the pope and cardinals, that in his time " scarce could any great or mean man of the clergy or the laity eat his meat, but such kind of beggars would be at his elbow ; not like other poor folks, humbly craving alms at the gate or the door, (as St. Francis did command and teach them in his testament,) by begging, but without shame in- truding themselves into courts or houses, and lodging there, where, without any invitation at all, they eat and drink what they find among them ; and not content with that, carry away with them either wheat, or meal, or bread, or flesh, or cheeses, although there were but two in a house, in a kind of extorting manner, there being none that can deny them, unless he should cast away natural modesty." Religion was degraded by this mean and sordid system, which clothed it- self with the character of superior piety and perfection, while it disgusted every pious mind by its habits of grasping extortion. The spirit of secularity and of luxury soon found an entrance amongst these begging friars ; they became still more engaged in the affairs of the world than the monks, and fixed their residences in the midst of populous cities and of the world. What might naturally be expected, followed. The monaa- A.D. 1054-1517. PENITENCE. 141 teries, which had been originally intended to afford examples of perfect purity, devotion towards God, and deadness to the world, were polluted by gross sins ; and having ceased to be advantageous to Christianity, — though even in the worst times they were useful to a certain extent in preserving ancient books and monuments, and in affording education, — they had become an incumbrance to the Church, which it was neces- sary to remove. The bishops and clergy themselves shared but too often in the evils of the times. We read of archbishops and bishops engaged in wars, crusades, and other temporal avocations. They were chancellors, chief-justiciaries, ministers, regents, embassadors. Hunting and hawking were their not unfre- quent amusements. They were engaged more in temporal than spiritual affairs. The clergy were still ignorant, though less so than in former ages. They too much neglected preaching ; and the mendicant friars, by permission of the popes, half superseded them in their offices, — preached, ad- ministered the sacraments, and became spiritual directors of their parishioners. The bishops and clergy were often ex- ceedingly unpopular amongst the laity, and bitter complaints were made of their ambition and exactions. Let me now notice a few of the corruptions introduced in these ages. In the eleventh century it was supposed that for every particular sin it was necessary to fulfil the time of peni- tence prescribed by the ancient canons ; so that if ten years had been appointed for homicide, a man who had committed that sin twenty times was bound to discharge two hundred years of penance. This led ingenious men to discover ways of paying the debt. Peter Damian, in the twelfth century, affirmed that the * ' repetition of the Psalter twenty times, accompanied by discipline (that is, scourging,) was equal to a hundred years of penitence. A friend of his requested him, at the begin- ning of Lent, to impose on him a thousand years of peni- tence, and he nearly finished his satisfaction before the end 142 ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. CH. XX of Lent ! Another invention was the discharge of penitence by one person for another. These strange doctrines obtain- ed much popularity, though many persons disapproved of them. A distinct office in honour of the Virgin was used by some persons in the tenth century; it became common in the eleventh ; and the monks, about the same time, added the office of the dead to their daily devotions. In these ages, persons not unfrequently, on the approach of death, caused themselves to be arrayed in the garments of monks, imagin- ing that these holy vestments would protect them against the devil. In the thirteenth century, a new devotion for the laity was invented by Dominic. Men were taught to repeat the angel's salutation to the Virgin 150 times, and the Lord's Prayer fifteen times, that is, once after each decade of Aves. The prayers were reckoned by beads ; and the whole cere- mony obtained the name of Rosary. Dominic invented some other devotions to the Virgin Mary. The scapulary, a por- tion of the monk's dress, was now worn by some persons as a sort of charm : the Carmelites were loud in their as- surances of the blessings which might be expected by its possessors. Several persons wore sackcloth or haircloth next their skin, by way of voluntary mortification. The mendicant friars introduced a custom which was extremely prejudicial in its effects. They granted absolution imme- diately to those who confessed their sins, without waiting for the accomplishment of the penitence which they assigned them. This led men to think they might sin without dan- ger ; as a simple confession, with promise of amendment was sufficient to procure the priests' remission of their sins In the thirteenth century also, the eucharist began to be ele. vated afler consecration, and the people were taught to bo\t or prostrate themselves at the same time. Hence many per- sons were in danger of offering worship to the bread and wine. It became customary in this age to administer the sa- crament to the laity only in one kind, that is, the bread. A.D. 1054-1517. SCHOLASTIC THEOLOGY. 145 This custom was inconsistent with the institution of our Lord, and the practice of the whole Church for more than a thousand years; but it was nevertheless sanctioned by the councils of Constance in 1414, and. Basil in 1438. I have not spoken of the invocation of saints, the veneration for relics and images, which in these ages continued to be ex cessive, nor of many other minor superstitions and errors. These will sufficiently show the great necessity for reforma- tion in the Church. It is true, indeed, that many persons were more or less free from superstitions ; but a great change was imperatively called for. Few things needed reformation more than the system of theological instruction in universi- ties, commonly called the scholastic theology. Schools for the instruction of the clergy and laity had ex- isted generally in cathedral churches and monasteries from the remotest antiquity ; but, about the twelfth century, the schools in some cities became very celebrated and extensive^ and were known under the name of Universities. The prin- cipal universities, during the middle ages, were those of Paris, Oxford, Bologna, and Salamanca. They were en- dowed with revenues, and granted many privileges, by princes and popes. Instruction was given to students in the four faculties of t"heology, law, medicine, and the arts, by the doctors in those faculties. Peter Lombard, bishop of Paris, a celebrated doctor of theology, published ,,,.v^ A.D. 1172 a treatise entitled the The Book of Sentences^ in which the various doctrines of revelation were collected and explained from the writings of the fathers. This work formed the basis of the scholastic theology ; it became the text-book on which all the subsequent theologians commented, and to which they added all the subtilties of the Aristotelic philosopliy. The ablest of the scholastic writers were Tho- mas Aquinas and Scotus. The text-book of the canonists, or students of canon law, was the work of Gratian, a Benedictine monk, entitled De- cretum, and written about a.d. 1130, in which the ancient 144 ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. CH. X*'. canons of councils were collected, and reconciled with each other and with the decretals of the popes. In this collection all the spurious decretals of the early popes, fabricated in the eighth and ninth centuries, were introduced ; and as Gratian entertained very exaggerated notions of the papal authority, this book, which was immediately received as of the highest authority in all the schools of Europe, tended greatly to in- crease the influence of the popes. The study of canon law became so popular, and led so certainly to advancement in the Church, that theology and the arts were much neglected ; and more than one pope felt himself bound to discourage this exclusive application. From the twelfth century, the writers of the early fathers and the decrees of councils were little known in the schools, except through the medium of The Book of Sentences or the Decretiim. This is allowed by a learned Roman Catholic historian, the Abbe Fleury, who says, that ^' it was the mis. fortune of the doctors of the thirteenth and fourteenth cen- turies to know but little of the writings of the fathers, espe- cially the more ancient, and to be deficient in the aids requi- site for well understanding them. It is not that their books were lost ; they existed, for we have them still ; but the copies were scarce, and hidden in the libraries of the ancient monasteries, where little use was made of them." He adds, that King Louis IX. of France, in the thirteenth century, caused many of them to be transcribed ; and that Vincent IcfQQ of Beauvais made extracts from them, and ,,«^ ,,^^ John of Salisbury cited them frequent. A.D. 1130-1182. , ,,,,„, .• ,,.,. ly: " but, he contmues, " this was mere- ly the curiosity of some individuals. The generality of stu- dents, and even of doctors, limited themselves to a few books, chiefly those of modern authors, which they understood bet- ter than the ancients." " I do not cease to wonder," he con- tinues, " that in such calamitous times, and with such small aid, the doctors so faithfully preserved to us the deposit of tradition with regard to doctrine." The Abbe Goujet, an- A.D. 1054-1517. SCHOLASTIC THEOLOGT. 145 Other Roman Catholic divine, confirms this; and observes also, that the study of Scripture " had been extremely neg- lected" in these ages. " They did not study it even in the schools of theology but with lukewarmness ; and often con- tented themselves with such extracts from it as were found in the writings of some superficial theologian. Hence arose the ignorance of tlie clergy, and the few defenders which the Church found against heresies At length the study of holy Scripture caused men to escape from this lethargy ; men then perceived the crowd of errors and false opinions which had inundated the whole Church, and had nearly choked the good seed." The fallen state of theolo- gical study at the time of the Reformation may be collected from the complaints of the faculty of arts in the university of Paris in 1530. " The study of sacred Scripture," they said, " is neglected. The holy Gospels are no longer cited. The authority of St. Chrysostom, St. Cyprian, St. Augus- tine, and the other fathers, is not employed. Theology has become nothing but a sophistical science." Under such circumstances it was to be expected that erroneous opinions would become more or less prevalent in the Church. The holy Scriptures had been undoubtedly given by God, that " the man of God might be perfect, thoroughly furnished un- to all good works ;" and when this divine means of grace and wisdom was neglected, as it certainly was to a considerable degree in these times, it could not be supposed that the same purity of doctrine or of practice should exist as in the primi- tive ages of the Church. la 148 ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. CH. XXL CHAPTER XXI. THE FOREIGN REFORMATION. A.D. 1517-1839. The enormous power usurped by the popes, and the* abuses in its exercise, at length paved the way for its own subversion, and for the Reformation. Never were its exac- tions and abuses so excessive as in the time of what is called the great schism, from 1369 to 1414, when Europe was di- vided under the domination of rival popes. The papacy was greatly lowered in public estimation by this division ; and France, on one occasion, withdrew itself from the obedience of both popes. The contests which arose between the coun- cils of Pisa, Constance, and Basil, in the early part of the fifteenth century, and the popes, in which each party assert- ed its own infallibility, and its superiority to the other, excit- ed a spirit of inquiry. " The reformation of the Church, in its head and members," was now one of the objects avowed by every considerable council that assembled. Wickliffe had, nnc)A iQQA ^" ^^^ preceding century, declaimed against the popes and against several abuses ;* Burnt A.D. and ho was closely followed by Huss, and 1415 &. 1416. Jerome of Prague: but their opinions were mingled with much that was exceptionable ; and they seem to have been unfitted rightly to conduct the mighty work of reformation. The revival of learning, in the fifteenth cen- tury, was the great forerunner of improvement. Men now began to study the writings of the fathers, which had only been known at second-hand, from the books of Lombard and Gratian. The introduction of the Greek and Hebrew lan- guages (entirely unknown during the middle ages) rendered * [More ought to have been said of this great precursor of the Reforma- lioD. See his very interesting and able Life, bj' Mr. Le Bas. — Am. Ed.] A.D. 1517-1839. LUTHER. 147 the study of Scripture in the originals possible ; the scholas- tic writers began to lose their credit with men of education. At length the Reformation began ; but not as it could have been desired ; not promoted by the heads of the Church, not regulated by the decrees of councils. An individual monk in Saxony was made the involuntary instrument by which this great work was set on foot. Martin Luther, an Augus- tinian friar, when he declaimed against the scandalous sale of indulgences by the papal agent Tetzel, had Til 7 little notion of opposing the papal supremacy, or reforming the Church. He simply rejected with indigna- tion the notion, that by purchasing certain indulgences, the soul was to be freed from torments after death ; and remind- ed men that indulgences were originally nothing more than the remission of canonical penance in this life. When as- sailed by Eckius and many others with the most furious vio- lence, he was led to further investigation ; and he showed, in his conference with Eckius, at Leipsic, that the i f^i q Roman Church had not originally any suprema- cy over the universal Church. He, however, testified to the pope his earnest desire for peace, and submitted himself en- tirely to him : but when Luther declined to retract, without any discussion, whatever Cardinal Cajetan might censure in his doctrine, the pope, notwithstanding his submissive tone, and protestations that he did not intend any separation from the Church, excommunicated him and his favourers, in 1521. Luther, and his friends Melancthon, Carlostadt, and all who were of the same sentiments, were thus separated from the communion of the pope, and of his adherents in Ger- many, not voluntarily, or by their own act. They were now, however, able to examine and to speak more freely ; and a strong controversy immediately arose, in which the prevalent errors and superstitions were assailed unsparingly ; while every effort was made by the Romish party to procure the extirpation and destruction of their opponents. The Lu- 148 ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. CH. XXI* theran party were protected by the electors of Saxony and Brandenburg, and many other princes and states in Ger- many ; and they continually called for the assembling of a free and general council, to whose decision they offered to submit themselves. In the meantime, various abuses were corrected in the churches of those states, and a temporary system of Church government was established by the Luther- ans, which they intended to be replaced by the ordinary epis- copal government, when the council had arranged their dis- putes, and they should be united again to the Church. But Providence forbade the accomplishment of their wishes : an arrangement, which the contending parties had come to in the diet or parliament of Spires, in 1526, and which left the Lutheran states free to regulate their own ecclesiastical affairs until the general council could be called together, was set 1^2Q aside by a new diet at the same place, in which * all alterations were prohibited by a majority of votes. The Lutheran princes and states entered a protest against this edict, and from this they were termed Pro- testants. The term Protestant, therefore, does not proper- ly signify a protest against the errors of the Church of Rome, but against the edict of Spires. It belongs properly to the Lutherans, by whom in fact it is claimed, as being peculiar- ly their own ; while the Church of England has never ap- plied the term to herself, nor ever used it in any of her for- - _o^ mularies. In the following year a diet was con- vened at Augsburg, by the Emperor Charles v., with the intent of terminating these differences. The Lutheran party here presented their confession of faith, which has since been called the Confession of Augsburg ; and which contains a brief summary of the Christian doctrine, together with their objections to the chief errors and super- stitions ihen prevalent. The Confession of Augsburg pro- fesses that there is nothing in it " which differs from the Scriptures or the Roman Church.^* It declares that they "differ concerning no article of faith from the Catholic l.D. 1517-1839. LUTHERANS. 149 Church, but only omit some abuses." " There is no design," they said, " to deprive tlie bishops of their authority ; but this only is sought, that the Gospel be permitted to be purely taught, and a (e\v observances be relaxed." Notwithstanding this moderation, the diet, by order of the emperor, condemned the Protestants, and ordered them to submit themselves to the pope. They were then obliged to confederate in their ov/n defence, in the league of Smalcald, and by this means they obtained toleration from the emperor. Various controversies and conferences afterwards took place between the opposed parties, especially in 1541, at Ratisbon, when many of the points of difference were removed, and both parties, including the papal nuncio, were in great hopes of an entire as^reement. o The Protestants had continued their appeal to a free general council from the year 1520 ; but the pope, who had usurped for some centuries past the privilege of assembling such councils, refused to do so in the present instance, except in places where there was no security for the safety of the Pro- testants. The pope at length fixed on Trent as the place of meeting ; and when the Protestants objected to it, on various grounds, the emperor and pope conspired to crush them by force. Accordingly, Charles V. declared war against them, and overthrew them in the battle of Muhlberg. tsa? In the mean time, the council of Trent had met in 1545 ; and having decided several points in controversy in the absence of the Protestants, had been prorogued in 1547. The emperor, therefore, being unable to compel the Protest- ants to send deputies, was obliged to be satisfied with issuing a formulary of faith and discipline, called The Interim; in which the chief points permitted to the Lutherans were the marr/age of the clergy, and the use of the cup in the sacra- ment. When the council again assembled, the ,__, „ f 1 , . A.D. 1551. Protestants were compelled to send deputies there ; but when they required that the articles already de- cided by forty or fifty bishops at Trent should be re-examin- 13* Ibb ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. CH. XXI. ed, they were not listened to. They were consequently oblicred to withdraw from the council, and to retain their own observances, without any hope of reconciliation with the Church. They were enabled to mantaiQ their religious liber- ty by the advantages gained over the emperor by the Elector -.r-cf Maurice of Saxony, which led to the pacifica- tion of Passau, by which the religion and liberties of the Protestants were secured from further molest- ation. In the mean time, the Reformation, as established by Lu- ther and Melancthon, spread itself widely. Denmark, Nor- way, and Sweden, together with a great part of Germany, embraced it. Monasteries were suppressed ; purgatory, in- dulgences, invocation of saints, worship of pictures and re- lics, flagellations, communion in one kind only, rosaries, scap- ularies, and a number of other errors and superstitions, dis- appeared. The Scriptures Avere translated afresh, and read by all the people. Divine service was celebrated in a known language, and sermons were frequently delivered. Episco- pacy was never rejected by the Lutherans; they even retain the form of that ecclesiastical government in several coun- tries, and it is said that their bishops in Sweden are validly ordained. It is to be lamented, however, that the Lutherans after a time forgot that their system was merely provisional, and de- signed only to last till a general council could be lawfully assembled. They then began to pretend that their ancestors had separated voluntarily from the western Church, and jus- tified this act by reasons which sanctioned schism and separa- tion generally. In the seventeenth century there were many learned men amongst them ; but they were much troubled by religious parties, and were threatened with destruction in the war which was waged against them for thirty years by the emperors and the Romish party, and which was at length ifidR terminated by the peace of Westphalia. In the middle of the following century, a spirit of false A.D. 1517-1839. REFORMED. 151 liberality and scepticism began to infect the Lutheran commu- nities. The Confession of Augsburg, and other formularies of the sixteenth century, to which their ministers had sub- scribed, lost their authority, and an unbounded freedom of opinion on all points was encouraged. The result was, the rise of a party headed by the notorious i-'^^ 17Q1 Semler, who, under the mask of Chris- tianity, explained away all the doctrines of revelation, de- nied the miracles and other facts of sacred history, and sub- verted the genuineness and authenticity of the Bible. This infidelity became dreadfully prevalent among the Protestants of Germany and Denmark in the course of the last and pre- sent centuries ; the universities were full of it, the ministers of religion tainted with it ; and the Lutheran faith seems under an eclipse, from whence we fervently pray that it may be de- livered. It is now time to consider the Reformation in Switzerland, France, and the United Provinces. Zuingle, a clergyman in Switzerland, from the year 1519 preached in the church at Zurich against the corruptions of that period ;* but after some time he was treated as a heretic by the adherents of the pope ; and had he not been protected by the magistrates, would have fallen a sacrifice to their rage. A reformation then took place in Switzerland, which was carried too far in some respects ; and on the subject of the sacraments especial- ly, Zuingle was severely condemned by Luther for consider- ing the eucharist a mere sign of our Lord's body. His views on baptism were also very defective. Some years after his death, Calvin, a man of abilities and learning, obtained a vast influence among the reformed in Switzerland, France, Holland, Germany, &c. He was called to ...^ ^ ,,.,,. ^1 . . A.D. 1541. Geneva by the mhabitants of that city, and became their pastor. His well known doctrinal system * [Zuing c's stand, as a Scriptural teacher, in opposition to the prevalent errors both of doctrine and practice, had been taken before Luther's open hostilities ; even as early -is 1510. — Am. Ed.] 152 ECCLESIASTICAL HISTOEY. CH» XXI. of irrespective election and irresistible grace obtained a wide currenc3\ His views on the eucharist were apparently very much more sound than those of Zuingle. He was the foun. der of the Presbyterian system of Church government. In France, the doctrines of Luther obtained adherents very early; but their professors were most bitterly perse- cuted for a long series of years. They were favoured by many of the nobility, and headed by the Queen of Navarre, and afterwards by her son Henry IV. of France. A league was formed for their extirpation by the powerful family of the Guises; and, in 1572, the massacre of St. Bartholomew, com- manded by Charles IX., destroyed many of their leaders and a vast multitude of the people. At length, after much cruel ^>Qj^ persecution, they obtained toleration by the edict of Nantes. The reformed party in France at that time followed the doctrines of Calvin, and Beza his coadjutor. They continued to exist during the seventeenth century ; but in the year 1685, Louis XIV. revoked the edict of Nantes, and they were then compelled either to emigrate, to conform to the Church of France, or to conceal themselves. They have latterly become a small and feeble party. The persecutions of the Spanish government for the sake of religion, obliged the seven United Provinces of Holland to arm in their own defence in the latter part of the sixteenth century ; and after a desperate struggle, they succeeded in obtaining civil and religious freedom. They also adopted the doctrines of Calvin ; but in the following century they were torn by controversies between his followers and those of Ar- minius. It may be observed in general of the reformed commu- nities in Switzerland, France, and the United Provinces, that they have too generally fallen away from the doctrines originally believed by them, into the Socinian or Arian heresies. It remains now to notice briefly a few of the principal leaders of the Reformation on the continenL A.D. 1517-1839. LUTHER. 153 Martin Luther was born in Saxony, in 1483 ; and having been early instructed in letters, he went to the university of Erfurt, where he studied the classics, the Aristotelic philo- sophy, and the civil law, with the intent of advancing him- self at the bar ; but he was diverted from this intention by the following accident. As he was walking with a friend one day in the fields, he was struck by lightning, which threw him to the ground, and which killed his companion at his side. This circumstance so profoundly affected him, that, without communicating his design to his friends, he imme- diately entered the order of Augustinian friars. Here he applied himself closely to the study of the scholastic writers, and afterwards to that of the Bible ; and was ordained priest in 1507, after which he was chosen by the elector of Saxony to a professorship in his new university of Wittemburg. " In 1510 he was appointed by his order to go to Rome to plead their cause, on occasion of a dispute with their general ; and this afforded him an opportunity to see and condemn the gross corruptions and scandals of all sorts in that city ; but it was not till Tetzcl began the scandalous sale of indulgences in Germany, and promised remission of all past and future sins for money, that Luther was led to examine deeply into the existing abuses. He had, however, no intention of separating from the communion of the Church ; he repeatedly, in the course of four years, between 1517 and 1521, declared that he was ready to be silent and to submit himself to the judg- ment of bishops, or of the Roman see, provided that his adversaries were also commanded to be silent. Even when he found that the pope was under the influence of his personal enemies, he did not reject the jurisdiction of the Church, but appealed to the next general council ; and, in fine, he and his friends were expelled from the communion of the Roman Church in a very unjustifiable manner, and did not volun- tarily forsake it. In 1521 Luther was called to the diet of Worms by the emperor, to ascertain whether he really held the errors im- 154 ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. Cfl. XXI. puted to him. His friends were very reluctant that he should attend the diet, fearing that, in spite of the emperor's safe conduct, he might be seized and put to death by his enemies ; but Luther said, " I am lawfully called to appear in that city, and thither will I go, in the name of the Lord, though as many devils as there are tiles on the houses were there combined against me." In this diet Luther firmly refused to retract his doctrines, unless they were proved contrary to the word of God ; and being dismissed unhurt, he was presently seized and hid in the castle of Wartburg by his friend the elector of Saxony ; fo# a severe edict had been issued against him by the diet immediately after he had departed. In this solitude Luther began the translation of the Bible into the vernacular language, and composed several books in de- fence of his doctrines. In 1522 he returned to Wittemburg to check the excesses of Carlostadt, who had broken the images of saints, and was proceeding with reforms indis- creetly and irregularly. Soon after, great part of the Bible was published, and had much effect in promoting the progress of the Reformation throughout Germany. From this time Luther continued to reside at Wittemburg, and was the head of the Reformation in Germany. He composed com- mentaries on the Bible ; was always vehemently opposed to the papal authority, which he regarded as an anti-christian usurpation ; and died in 1546, in the sixty-second year of his age. Philip Melancthon, a friend of Luther, and who suc- ceeded at his death to the chief influence amongst the Pro- testant party in Germany, was born in 1495, and was distin- guished at an early age by his attainments in every sort of literature ; so that, in 1518, when only twenty-three years of age, he was appointed professor of Greek at Wittemburg, where he contracted a close intimacy with Luther, and was -^.Q converted to his opinions by the disputation wliich took place betwen Luther and Eckius. Melancthon, in 1520, read lectures on St. Paul's epistles, A.D. 1517-1839. CALVIN. 155 which were highly approved by Luther, and printed. He afterwards drew up the Confession of Augsburg, and the Apology or defence of that confession, which became the standards of doctrine among the Lutheran party. He was remarkable for his moderation; was always most desirous that the Church should be re-united ; and was ready to make considerable sacrifices in order to attain so desirable an ob- ject. He wished the authority of bishops to be preserved, and would even have been contented to allow some authority to the see of Rome : but his views were far too moderate to satisfy the papal party; and the Lutherans had been too se» verely persecuted to regard them with much favour. Me<- lancthon wrote much in defence of Luther, and against the Romish errors ; and died in 1560. John Ca-lvin was born in France, in 1509, and studied at the university of Paris. The discipline of the Church at that time was so relaxed, that although he was not in sacred orders, he had been presented successively to three benefices when he was but twenty years old. Having studied the Scriptures, and becoming alive to the errors and superstitions then prevalent, he resolved to relinquish the design of taking holy orders, and to apply himself to the law ; on which he resigned his benefices. His studies led him to embrace the doctrines of the Reformation ; and a violent persecution aris- ing against all who " were of that way" in France, he was compelled to fly for his life into Switzerland, where, in 1535, he published his Institution,* as an apology for those who were burned for their religion in France. The next year, as he passed through Geneva, the citizens of that town com- pelled him to be their pastor and professor of divinity; but, in consequence of his resolution to put a stop to the immo- ralities and factions of that place, by enforcing a rigorous discipline, he was banished from Geneva. He was again re., called in 1541, when he established a form of Church disci- * [Namely, a systematic exhibition of religious truth, according to th« views of those who were persecuted as heretics. — Am. Ed.] 156 ECCLESIASTICAL mSTORT. CH. XXI. pline, and a consistory, invested with power to inflict canom- cal censures and excommunications, to which the magis- trates and people of Geneva promised obedience. Calvin was a vigorous opponent of the common errors and super- stitions, and caused Servetus, who bhisphemed against the Holy Trinity, to be put to death. He wrote many commen- taries on Scripture. His influence was widely extended throughout the reformed communities by his correspondence. Calvin was a man of great genius^ considerable learning, and of irreproachable private character ; but of a zeal which was too little under the guidance of charity. His position, as the minister of the people at Geneva, was certainly an irregu- larity and anomaly, as he had never received holy orders. It was only excusable under the difficulties of the times, when the bishops of the Continent were too generally under the influence of the pope, and the adherents of the Reforma- tion were unjustly cast out of the Church, and treated as heretics. It seems to have been held by many persons, and not without some grounds of probability, that in such an ex- treme case, a Christian community might constitute pastors ; although we cannot feel certain that divine grace accompa- nies such ministrations. It was, perhaps, a reliance on the uncovenanted mercies of God, which consoled many pious men in the unavoidable absence of that lawful ordinary ministry, which was instituted by Jesus Christ, and which has continued by successive ordinations in all ages. Calvin died in 1564. Ulric Zuingle was born in Switzerland, in 1484, and studied at Basil and Vienna; after which he received holy orders, and became successively pastor of Glaris, and preach- er at the abbey of Einsidlen. Having diligently studied Scripture, the fathers, and schoolmen, he began to see the cor- ruptions so generally prevalent; and he addressed himself, in the first instance, to the bishop of Constance, and the cardi- nal bishop of Sion, urging them to reform the Swiss churches. Being appointed, in 1519, to the principal church in Zurich, h. D. 1530-1839. zuiNGLE. 157 he declaimed ygainst the sale of* indulgences, and against other common errors. Controversies ensued between Zuin- gle and the vicar-general of the bishop of Constance, who accused him of heresy and sedition to the magistrates of Zurich. Zuingle and his friends declared " that they did not, either in act or intention, separate from the Church." Zuingle was again accused, in 1522 and 1523, by the Romish party, as a heretic ; but he overcame his adversaries in con- troversy ; and the magistrates of Zurich decreed that he should not be molested, and that the clergy should preach nothing except what could be proved from holy Scripture. After this, Zuingle and his friends being entirely separated from communion by the Romish party, they effected various reforms and changes in rites ; and they became involved in controversy with Luther on the subject of the holy eucharist. Zuingle seems to have fallen into the error of Berengar* on this point ; but it was hoped for a long time, that he and his adherents might be brought to a sounder mind. Conferences with this object continued long after his death, which took place in 1531. CHAPTER XXII. ON THE BRITISH CHURCHES. A.D. 1530-1839. The Churches of Britain or England had now existed for .lore than thirteen hundred years. Originally (for six bun- Jred years) independent of the Roman see, as being beyond die limits of that patriarchate, they had gradually become subject to its jurisdiction. The invasion of Britain by the Saxons, and the subsequent mission of St. Augustine, by Pope Gregory, afforded the opportunity for extending the Roman [* See notes ou pasres 78, aud 81. — Am. Ed.] "14 158 ECCLESIASTICAL HISTOKY . CH. XXII. power; and Augustine was sent the pall, the embiem of au- thority, as vicar of the holy see. For many ages, however, we hear little of any exercise of jurisdiction by the popes in 680 England : the English bishops and kings did not permit appeals to Rome. When Wilfrid, bishop of York, appealed against an English synod which had de- posed him from his diocese, and obtained a decree in his fa- A D 1073 ^'^^^ ^^°^^ ^''^ P"P^» ^hat decree was disregarded in England. At length, from the time of Gregory VII., the papal jurisdiction was pushed into England, as it was into other countries; legates made frequent visits, held councils, exacted subsidies. Appeals, dispensations, man- dates, reserves, annates, bulls, and all the other inconvenien- ces of papal usurpation, followed each other in rapid suc- cession ; and for four centuries, no country in Europe suf- fered more, and with greater reluctance, than England. But the popes and the kings of England had, after much disputa- tion, made their agreement, and the Church was their prey. Religion had become deteriorated in England, as well as in the remainder of the western Church. A spirit of oppo- sition to prevailing errors had been excited by Wickliffe ; but he and his followers, the Lollards, advocated several erroneous and seditious opinions : they were condemned by the clergy, and persecuted by the state. The Scriptures, however, were translated by Wickliffe; and thus the way was prepared for religious improvement. The scruples of Henry VIII. as to the lawfulness of his marriage with Catharine, the widow of his elder brother, led ultimately to the removal of the papal power in England, and to the Reformation. Henry in 1526 commenced nego- tiations with the pope, for the dissolution of his marriage, requesting that the papal dispensation by which it had been contracted might be examined, or declared invalid. But the pope, under the influence of the Emperor Charles V., the nephew of Catharine, protracted the affair, by various expe- dients, for six years. At length Henry, wearied by the arts A.D. 1530-1839. BRITISH REFORMATION. 159 and chicanery of the court of Rome, had recourse to an ex- pedient, first suggested by Cranmer, a learned doctor of Cam- bridge, who was soon after made archbishop of Canterbury, namely, to consult all the universities of Europe on the ques- tion, "whether the papal dispensation for such a marriage was valid ;" and to act on their decision without further ap- peal to the pope. The question was accordingly put, and decided in the negative by the universities of Oxford, Cam- bridge, Paris, Bologna, Padua, Orleans, Anglers, Bourges, Toulouse, 6z;c., and by a multitude of theologians and can- onists. Henry now being satisfied that his marriage with Catharine had been null and void from the beginning, pri- vately married Anna Boleyn ; and the convo- ^-„2 cation of the Church of England immediately afterwards declared his former marriage null, and approved that recently contracted. In 1532 and 1533 the king and parliament of England suppressed by law various usurped or superfluous privileges of the popes. First-fruits, tenths, pensions, annuities, pay- ments for bulls, palls, &c., censes, portions, Peter's-pence, and all the other pecuniary exactions of the court of Rome, were abolished. Bulls of institution to bishoprics or arch- bishoprics, and palls, were no longer to be sought from Rome. The prelates were, as formerly, to be elected and ordained in England. All appeals to Rome in ecclesiastical causes were suppressed ; and every cause was to be determined finally in England, according to ancient custom. All that great multiplicity of licenses, dispensations, compositions, fa- culties, grants, rescripts, delegacies, dec, by which the pon- tiffs had so grievously enervated the discipline of the Church and enriched themselves, was put an end to. Dispensations were in future only to be issued by the primate of England. Thus the various branches of the papal jurisdiction, most of which had been usurped within the four preceding centu- ries, were removed. The Church of England acquiesced in these proceedings, well knowing that no principle of justice 150 ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. CH. XXII. or of right was infringed by them ; and in fine, the question being proposed to the bishops and clergy assembled in the _„ provincial synods of Canterbury and York, " whether the bishop of Rome has, in the word of God, any greater jurisdiction in the realm of England than any other foreign bishop;" it was determined in the negative. The universities, chapters, monks, friars, 6zc., throughout the kingdom, declared their assent; one bishop only (Fisher) refused to unite in this general decision of the Church of England ; and thus the ordinary jurisdiction of the pope over England was regularly and lawfully suppressed. The door was now open for gradual improvement ; and though the king remained attached to some errors and abu- ses, several valuable reforms were made during the remainder of his reign. In 1537 and 1543, the convocation published two formularies of doctrine, entitled the Institution of a Christian Man, and the Necessary Doctrine and Erudition; 'n which the doctrine of purgatory was disclaimed. Indul- gences were rejected by the same authority, together with all kneeling, bowing, and offering to images, and all worship before them was to be directed to God only, not to the image or the saint represented. Images abused by pilgrimages, and other special honours, were removed ; prayer to saints was prohibited, and their invocation only permitted under certain limitations. The superstitious use of relics was discouraged ; and various other superstitions, such as using gospels for charms, drinking holy water for the cure of diseases, die, were prohibited. These were great advances and improve- ments ; but the king opposed a full reformation, and in the parliament of 1539 made penal laws against any who re- jected the doctrine of transubstantiation, the celibacy of the clergy, and some other points. The convocation of the cler- gy in 1531 had acknowledged the king to be " head of the Church of England, as far as it is allowable by the law of Christ." In virtue of this office, which Henry seems to have understood in a different sense from that of the convocation, A.9. 1530-1839. BRITISH REFORMATION. 161 he appointed Lord Cromwell his vicar-general, and visitor of monasteries ; and a visitation of these institutions having been set on foot, they were found to be so generally corrupt and fallen from their rule, that they were all suppressed, and their enormous revenues were given to the king, with a portion of which he founded six new bishoprics in England. On the death of Henry VIII. in 1547, and the accession of Edward VI., the work of reformation proceeded freely. The communion was now given in both kinds to the laity, according to our Lord's institution and the practice of the Catholic Church ; images and relics, so long abused to su- perstition, were removed ; the clergy were permitted to marry ; and the public prayers were translated from the old Latin offices of the English Church, with various improvements from the Greek and Oriental liturgies. These reforms were made by the united authority of the bishops, or convocation, and the parliament. The popes had thought proper to consider England in a state of schism and separation from the Church, as soon as their own usurped jurisdiction was abolished. The Church and realm of England repeatedly disclaimed any intention of separating from the communion of the Roman, French, Span- ish, and other western Churches, subject to the pope ; they never thought of refusing communion to the members of those Churches : but the popes and their party in the West still adhered obstinately to the mistaken notion, that the bishop of Rome was, by divine right, head of the universal Church ; and therefore they looked on the conduct of the English Church, in removing his power, as sinful ; and when the pope deposed and excommunicated Henry VIII. and his adherents, they considered England as out of the pale of the Church. There was a party in England which secretly held the same views, and were attached to the old superstitions, though they did not venture to separate from the Church. On the death of Edward in 1553, and the accession of Mary, who was a devoted adherent of the pope, the popish 14* 162 ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. CH. IXII, pai'ty obtained the ascendant for a time, and involved the Church in confusion and misery. No fewer ih^n fourteen of the bishops, who were favourable to the Reformation, were expelled from their sees, by intimidation, by commissions ir- regularly appointed by the crown, or by mere intrusion of persons who had been schismatically appointed. They were replaced by others, Avho were constituted by the pope, in op- position to the laws and regulations approved by the Church of England during the two preceding reigns, and in violation of its liberties. Independently of which, the pope acted without any right of jurisdiction whatever ; for his jurisdic- tion had been many years before regularly and validly sup- pressed by the Church of England, by whose permission alone it was at any time lawful ; and the Church had never, by any decree of its convocations, revised or created again that jurisdiction ; but the popish party merely implored the papal absolution for their schism. Consequently, all acts performed by the pope or his authority at this time were un- authorised and null. At the same time, an obsequious par- liament repealed all the laws in favour of the Reformation ; and at their humble request the pope granted his absolution to the English nation for the schism of which it had been guilty. A most savage persecution assailed all who were in favour of reformation, and who rejected the papal supremacy. The venerable Cranmer, archbishop of Canterbury, Bishops Rid- ley, Latimer, Hooper, and hundreds of others, bishops, pres- byters, and pious men and women, fell victims to the ferocity of the papists, and attested with their last breath their ad- herence to the cause of pure religion. Three thousand of the clergy were expelled from their churches ; multitudes of confessors were driven into exile, where they lived till the death of this persecuting queen in 1558. The accession of the illustrious Queen Elizabeth was fol- lowed by the restoration of the Church to its former state. The laws which had been formerly made, with the full con- currence of the Church, in the reign of Henry and Edward, A.D 1530-1839. ENGLISH CHURCHES. 163 and which always remained in their spiritual obligation, hav- ing never been condemned by the Church of England, were now restored. The popish intruders into English bishoprics were expelled by the civil power, and their places were filled by orthodox prelates, who were ordained by some of the bishops who had been persecuted by Mary and driven into exile. The clergy generally approved of the return to pure religion, and retained their benefices, administering the sacra- ments and rites according to the English ritual. In 1562, the synod or convocation of England, published a formulary of doctrine, divided into thirty-nine articles, in which the doc- trines of the Catholic faith were briefly stated, and various errors and superstitions of the Romanists and others were rejected. This formulary was again approved by the convo- cation in 1571, and ordered to be subscribed by all the clergy. There was no schism for many years in England : all the people worshipped in the same churches, and acknowledged the same pastors. It is true that persons were to be found, who secretly cherished a love for the old superstitions and abuses, and for the Roman sway. This was not to be won- dered at. Men's minds will differ on almost every subject ; but more information would have probably removed in the end any such tendency. The pope was much annoyed at these proceedings in Eng- land ; he took no decided steps, however, for some time. At last, in 1569, Pius V. issued a bull, in which he excom- municated Queen Elizabeth and her supporters, absolved her subjects from their oaths of allegiance, and bestowed her dominions on the king of Spain. This bull caused the schism in England ; for the popish part}^, which had continued in communion with the Church of England up to that time, during the eleven past years of Elizabeth's reign, now began to separate themselves. Bedingfield, Cornwallis, and Sil- yarde, were the first popish recusants; and the date of the Romanists in England, as a distinct sect or community, may be fixed in the year 1570. This separation was also fomented 164 ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. CH. XXII. by priests and Jesuits, who were sent from abroad to pervert the people : but they did not succeed to any great extent. It may be here added, that, with the exception of about six years, when a titular bishop, sent by the pope, resided in England, the Romanists had no bishops till 1685. The same year which witnessed the separation of the Ro- manists, was also the commencement of the Puritan separa- tion. The origin of this sect, which at last acquired such power, may be traced to some of the exiles in the reign of Mary, who in foreign lands imbibed a taste for the doctrines and discipline of Calvin and Zuingle, and who, on their return, endeavoured vainly to reform the Church of England according to those models. When they beheld the Reformation re-estab- lished according to the forms adopted in the reign of King Ed- ward, they became dissatisfied ; and after much fruitless agita- tion to alter the Church, they at length began to declaim against her as infected with popish errors and superstitions ; and affirm- ing episcopacy to be anti-Christian, they separated from the Church and formed conventicles, about 1570. The Church of England continued to be defended by the state till the great rebellion in 1640, when the king and par- liament being at variance, the Puritans, and a number of other sects, were permitted to increase. Of these sects, the prin- cipal were the Brownists or Independents, and the Anabap- tists, which had been set on foot in England a few years be- fore. The parliament, under the influence of the Puritans, abolished episcopacy as anti-Christian, rejected the Liturgy, and expelled several thousands of the clergy who adhered to the regulations of the Church of England, intruding in their place Puritans and other sectarians. In 1660, on the restoration of King Charles II. to the throne of his ancestors, the Puritans were expelled, and the Church was delivered from persecution, and prospered ex- ceedingly for many years. Many learned and great men were now appointed to preside over the Church, and the various sects of separatists or dissenters diminished. James A.D. 1530-1839. ENGLISH CHURCH. 165 11. attempted, by many arbitrary and illegal proceedings, to establish popery, which excited the indignation of his subjects so strongly, that he was compelled to abdicate his throne in 1689, and William III. of Orange, and Mary, were declared king and queen. On the refusal of Sancroft, archbishop of Canterbury, and some other bishops and clergy, from con- scientious scruples, to take the oaths of allegiance to the new government, they were deprived of their sees and benefices by the civil power, and they, with their adherents, obtained the name of Non-jurors. Bishops were ordained in their places, and accepted by the great body of the Church of Eng- land ; but a warm controversy ensued, which, however, ter- minated in the gradual return of the Non-jurors to the Church. In 1717 a controversy arose on occasion of the writings of Hoadly, bishop of Bangor, in which he maintained that it was needless to believe any particular creed, or to be united to any particular Church ; and that sincerity, or our own per- suasion of the correctness of our opinions (whether well or ill founded,) is sufficient. These doctrines were evidently calculated to subvert the necessity of believing the articles of the Christian faith, and to justify all classes of schismatics or separatists from the Church. The convocation deemed these opinions so mischievous, that a committee was appoint- ed to select propositions from Hoadly's books, and to procure their censure ; but before his trial could take place, the con- vocation was prorogued by an arbitrary exercise of the royal authority, and has not been permitted to deliberate since. The temporal government, influenced by the schismatics, protected and advanced Hoadly and several persons of similar principles. In 1766, Archdeacon Blackburn, who was sup- posed to be an Arian, anonymously assailed the practice of subscribing the Articles ; and in 1772 a body of clergy and laymen petitioned Parliament to put an end to it ; but their request was refused. Many of these petitioners were secret disbelievers in some of the Christian doctrines. 166 ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. CH. XXIJ The sect of Methodists had now become numerous. It about A D 1740 ^^^ founded by Wesley and Whitfield, in the early part of this century. Originally, they designed only to assist the clergy in preaching to the poor in populous places ; but they were gradually urged on to establish a sect. It was not, however, till after the death of A D 1791 Wesley that they pretended to administer the sacraments in their communities, and became absolutely separated from the Church. The Church had been suffering much for a long time from appointments to its offices made from unworthy motives. The bishoprics, and other dignities, were bestowed by the ministers of the crown on men distinguished only by birth or connexions. Patronage, in general, was distributed on low and worldly considerations. Theological learning received no encouragement ; and active zeal was viewed with jealousy, as an approximation to Methodism. Prosperity had begun to inspire confidence, security, and sloth. The dangers of religion, arising from the French Revolution in 1789, which let loose an atheistic spirit throughout the world, stimu- lated the Church to renewed exertions. At the beginning of the present century, a great revival of religious zeal took place ; numerous societies for various purposes connected with religion were instituted, and vigorously supported, though not always on principles accordant with those of the Church, as several of them evinced too great an intimacy with Dis- senters. The aspect of the times has since contributed to stimulate the activity of the Church. The weakness of the temporal government, and the influence which parties hostile to the Church have for the last twenty years exercised over it, have taught the Church to depend less on the protection of the state than on the Divine blessing on a zealous discharge of pastoral duties, especially by the inculcation of her own sound principles. The violent hostility which Dissenters and Romanists have for some time exhibited towards the Church A.D. 1530-1839. IRISH CHURCH. 16T^ of England, and their avowed, though fruitless, intention and -endeavours to destroy her, have likewise produced most salu- tary effects in promoting union, zeal, and attachment to her doctrines. The Churches of Ireland have been suffering severely from the persecution of Romanists for many years past. Let us now turn to the history of these Churches. I have al- ready noticed the early independence of the Church of Ire- land, which continued from the time of St. Patrick, in the fifth century, till the twelfth century, when a papal legate was appointed in Ireland, and the archbishops of Ireland for the first time received the pall from Rome in 1152. This Church shared the fate of others : it became infected with the prevalent superstitions. Henry VIII. caused the papal jurisdiction to be abolished in 1537 by the parliament. The bishops and clergy generally assented, and several reforms took place during this and the next reign. In the time of Mary, five of the bishops favourable to the Reformation were irregularly expelled from their sees; and the laws made against the pope were repealed. When Elizabeth succeeded, the former laws were revived, the papal power again reject- ed, and the royal supremac}'' and the English ritual again in- troduced. These regulations \\%ere approved by seventeen out of nineteen Irish bishops in the parliament of 1560, and by the rest of the bishops and clergy, who took the oath of supremacy, and remained in the possession of their benefices. The people also generally acquiesced, and continued to at- tend on divine service for several years. Two bishops only, out of about twenty-six, refused to acquiesce in the Reforma- tion, and were driven from their sees, into which they had been intruded in the time of Mary, while the rightful bishops were still living. It may be here added, that in 1615 the Church of Ireland framed a formulary closely resembling the Articles of the Church of England ; which last, however, were adopted as the confession of the Church of Ireland in the synod of Dublin, 1634, where also a bod> of canors was enacted. iBH ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. CH. X3CII. The pope, of course, regarded these proceedings as highly «inful ; and considering the Church of Ireland as schisma- tical, he resolved to induce the people to separate from it. Accordingly, he ordained Creagh, who had shown some dili- gence in exhorting the people to forsake the obedience of their bishops and the service of the Church, to the archbi- shopric of Armagh, although that see was already filled by the legitimate primate, Loftus. Creagh, who is styled by the Romish historians, " the principal propagator or restorer of the Catholic faith in Ireland," came over and perverted some of the people. The pope sent some other emissaries, and, in conjunction with the king of Spain, to whom he had given the dominions of Queen Elizabeth, excited the Irish chieftains and people to insurrection. In consequence, Ireland became the scene of war for thirty years, in which the bishops, Jesuits, and other priests sent by the pope, took a most active and leading part. In this war, numbers of the ignorant and savage people were exposed to the arts of the popish emis- saries, and persuaded or forced to forsake the Church, as be- ing favoured by the queen. Let me mention a {ew facts in corroboration of these statements. In 1575, one of the Irish lords, being engaged in plotting an insurrection against his sovereign Queen Elizabeth, went to Philip II., king of Spain, on whom Pope Pius V. had conferred the dominions of the queen, and sought assistance from him for the Irish Roman- ists. He then went to Rome, where, after some time, he obtained from the pope a pardon for all the bands of robbers who then infested Italy, on condition that they should under- take an expedition to Ireland for the exaltation of the see of Rome. An army thus composed was headed by a titular popish bishop of Killaloe in Ireland, and by the Jesuit San- ders ; and they landed in Ireland not long after, bringing a bull from Pope Gregory XIII., in which all who should unite in rebellion against Queen Elizabeth were promised a plenary pardon of their sins. This expedition, however, entirely failed : but the same titular bishop, a few years afterwards, A.D. 1530-1839. IRISH CHURCH. 169 is found introducing supplies of men, money, and arms from Spain for the relief of the insurgents. Another schismatic, assuming the title of archbishop of Armagh, came with orders from the King of Spain that the Irish should revolt ; and having excited a rebellion, he fell in battle with the royal troops. Ohely, called archbishop of Tuam, Was sent after- wards, by one of the Irish chieftains, to the King of Spain, whom he exhorted to invade and subdue Ireland. When the next insurrection broke out, we find Maceogan, a titular bishop and vicar of the Roman pontiff, issuing an excom- munication against all who should give quarter to the prison- ers taken from the queen's army. Maceogan caused all such persons to be put to death in his presence ; and he himself at last fell in battle against the royal army, leading a troop of horse, with his sword in one hand, and his breviary and beads in the other ! The ignorance and superstition of the lower orders of the Irish at this time made them unhappily an easy prey to the emissaries of Rome, who came from Spain, Italy, and Flan- ders, and vehemently declaimed against the Churches of Eng- land and Ireland as heretical. Amongst the arguments used to delude this unhappy people, we find many lying wonders, visions, and miracles. It was said that on one occasion St. Columbkill took the form of a wolf, and carried a torch into the powder-magazine of a garrison of English "heretics," who were of course all destroyed. Another tale was, that a certain *' heretic" converted a priest's vestment into a pair of trousers ; but as soon as he had drawn them on, he took fire and was burned to ashes. An English governor, veiy much hated by the popish party, was said to have been heard conversing with the devil ; presently after, an explosion was heard, and he was found lying frightfully distorted and in- sane, and soon after died. By such arguments were the Irish taught to hate their pastors, and to separate from their na- tional Church. But all would have been insufficient, if the country had remained in peaceable subjection to its sove* 15 170 ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. OH. XXII. reign ; and therefore the Popes Pius V. and Gregory XIII. promoted insurrections in Ireland against the royal authority ; and the people were compelled by their chiefs to forsake the communion of their legitimate bishops, and to become obe- dient to the usurpers whom the popes sent over to occupy their places. It was only by a long series of rebellions that the schism in Ireland was consolidated and became so widely ex- tended. The reign of Queen Elizabeth sufficed for this lamentable catastrophe. King James I. wisely discouraged the Roman schism, and forbade the residence of its bishops, priests, and Jesuits, in his dominions ; but under his successor, Charles I., a relaxa- tion of this wholesome severity encouraged the schismatics to insult and disturb the Church, and ultimately, in 1641, to massacre in cold blood a hundred and fifty thousand of its adherents, and to break into insurrection. The Church was now dreadfully persecuted by papists and by the English parliament; but on the return of Charles II. resumed its rights. Persecution was renewed under James II., in 1690, when the Romish party obtained power; and in the rebellion of 1798. From that period, the Romish party has acquired great political power, and the Church has been almost continually persecuted, especially within the last few years, in which the clergy have been reduced nearly to star- vation ; some have been murdered, and many placed in peril of their lives. To add to their afflictions, the government, in 1833, suppressed ten of the bishoprics, on pretence of requir- ing their revenues for the support of ecclesiastical buildings; although the bishops of Ireland, in a body, protested against such an act, and offered to pay the amount required from the incomes of their sees, provided that so great an injury were not done to the cause of religion. Scotland, had also become subject to the pope about the twelfth century ; but the Reformation was not so soon or so happily introduced there as in England. There is room for censure of both parties in that country during the sixteenth A.D. 1530-1839. SCOTLAND. AMERICA. 171 century. The Romish party exercised cruelties on their op- ponents, which led to their own downfall. The reformed, headed by Knox, were turbulent and irregular in their pro- ceedings. They at first adopted a temporary 1500 church government, which resembled the epis- £opal, and in 1572 agreed that bishops should be constituted ; but soon afterwards, under the influence of Mel- 1580 ville, who had imbibed a taste for the Genevan discipline, they rejected episcopacy, and established pres- byterianism. In the beginning of the following century, these disorders ceased ; and in 1612 the Church of Scotland was provided with lawful bishops and pastors, who were con- secrated in England. In 163S the presbyterian party again became predominant, and took an oath or covenant to exterminate episcopal gov- ernme«it. When Charles II. was restored, the 1660 Church again was protected by the state, and bishops were consecrated in England for all the vacant sees. A party of Covenanters, however, separated from the Church, esteeming episcopacy anti-Christian, and set up con- venticles ; and the Scottish bishops having scrupled to take the oaths of allegiance to King William, this monarch caused the bishops to be expelled from their sees, and 1690 episcopacy to be abolished by act of parliament ; and recognised the sectarians as the established Church. From this time the bishops, and the rest of the Scottish Church, were most sorely and cruelly persecuted by the Presbyterians, till 1788, when the penal laws were repeal- ed ; but during this period they had been much reduced in numbers. A flourishing branch of the Catholic Church, derived from England, exists in America. When Virginia, and other provinces of North America, were settled by the English, early in the seventeenth century, the Church took root there, and for a long time was supported by the Society for Propa- gating the Gospel in Foreign Parts. Efforts were often made 172 ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. CH. XXIIi. to obtain bishops for America, but they failed through the in- fluence exerted by sectaries over the government. At length, after the United States had been declared independ- A D 1784 ^"^' ^^* ^^^^"^T ^^'^s ordained bishop of Con- necticut, by the primus and bishops of Scot- land ; and other prelates were ordained for America, in Eng- land, in 1787 and 1790.* The American Church is now governed by twenty bishops, and is rapidly increasing. Bish- ops have also been consecrated for many of the British pos- sessions in India, North America, and the West Indies ; and the limits of those Churches are continually enlarging. Many of the heathen have been converted in India and North America. CHAPTER XXIII. FRUITS OF FAITH IN THE BRITISH CHURCHES. A.D. 1530-1839. Amongst that noble army of martyrs, who in the sixteenth century contended even to death for Christian truth, against Romish errors and superstitions, none merits a more con- spicuous place than Nicholas Ridley, bishop of London. He was born in Northumberland, in the beginning of tho sixteenth century, and studied at the University of Cambridge, where he was distinguished for learning and piety. He after- wards pursued his studies in theology at Paris and Louvain ; and returning back again, was senior proctor of the Uni- versity of Cambridge in 1533, when the decree was made by ♦[The Romish episcopacy was introduced into the United States in 1789. The Methodists in America have a spurious episcopacy, derived from tho pretended ordination of Dr. Thomas Coke, a presbyter, by John Wesley, another presbyter, in 1784. The United Brethren have also bishops residing in America. — Am. Ed."] A.D. 1530-1839. BISHOP RIDLEY. 173 that university, as well as by all the Church of England, " that the bishop of Rome has not, by the word of God, any jurisdiction in this realm." He also became a celebrated preacher, and was remarkable for his knowledge of Scrip- ture and the fathers; so that in 1537 Thomas Cranmer, archbishop of Canterbury, appointed him one of his chap- lains, and associated him with his family. Soon after, being made vicar of Heme, he diligently instructed his flock in the doctrines of the Gospel, and his preaching attracted multi- tudes of people from all the surrounding country. In 1540 he was elected master of Pembroke Hall, Cambridge, where he had been educated, and where he had been a most diligent student of the Scriptures, as we may collect from the follow* ing words of his Farewell ; where, apostrophising his college, he says, •' In thy orchard (the walls, butts, and trees, if they could speak, would bear me witness,) I learned without book almost all Paul's epistles, and the canonical epistles too, save only the Apocalypse : of which study, although in time a great part did depart from me, yet the sv/eet smell thereof, I trust, I shall carry with me into heaven ; for the profit there- of I think I have felt in all my lifa-time ever after." About 1545 Ridley, by reading the book of Bertram,* a presbyter of the ninth century, was induced to forsake the erroneous opinion of transubstantiation ; and he was instru- mental in bringing Archbishop Cranmer and Bishop Latimer to the same mind. In 1547 he was consecrated bishop of Rochester, and was most zealous in promoting the reformation of abuser ; but he evinced great firmness in resisting such mea- sures as he judged injurious to the cause of justice or religion. When he w;as appointed, without his knowledge, on a royal commission, for the suppression of Clare Hall at Cambridge, and found, on examination, that this society would not dis- solve itself, he wrote to the lord protector, declaring that his conscience would not permit him to act further in the com- mission ; 9-Md thus incurred the risk of offending most griev- • Or Ratramn. — Am. Ed.] 15* 174 ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. CH. XXIII. ously the chief ruler of England. Such resolution was an earnest of that firmness and piety with which he afterwards faced death for his conscience towards God. On the deposal of Bonner for contumacy, Ridley was in- stalled bishop of London in his place. In this high station he behaved with great dignity, benevolence, mildness, and goodness. He v/as of a mortified spirit, given to prayer and contemplation, and useful and instructive to all his family. His day was divided between private prayers : family devo- tions, in which he every day gave a lecture on the New Tes- tament, beginning with the Acts of the Apostles, and giving to every one who could read a copy of the Scriptures ; the despatch of business; study in his private chamber; and useful discourse. He applied himself with all his power to reform the abuses in the disposal of Church patronage by the crown, and others which arose from a spirit of covetousness. Beholding with grief the distress of the poor in his city, who, in consequence of the suppression of monasteries, from which they had received much alms, were reduced to a state of sad destitution, he supplicated the king for a gift of the royal house at Bridewell as lodgings for these afflicted people, and succeeded in his application. When that most pious young king, Edward VI., was af- flicted with his last illness. Bishop Ridley was appointed to preach before him one day; and in his sermon much recom- mended charity as a duty incumbent on all men, but especial- ly on those who are in high place and dignity, as well in respect to their great abilities, as because they were bound to give examples of goodness to others. The same day, the king sent for him, caused him to sit in a chair beside him, and would not permit him to remain uncovered. Then, after courteous thanks, he recapitulated the principal points of the sermon, and continued thus: "I took myself to be especially touched by your sermon, as well in regard to the abilities which God hath given me, as in regard of the example which of me he will require. For as in the kingdom I am next un- A.D. 1530-1839. BISHOP RIDLEY. 175 der God, so must I most nearly approach him in goodness and mercy : for as our miseries stand most in need of help from him, so are we the greatest debtors, debtors to all that are miserable, and shall be the greatest accountants of our dispensation therein. And therefore, my lord, as you have given me (I thank you) this general exhortation, so direct me, I entreat you, by what particular actions I may this way best discharge my duties." The bishop remained silent for some time ; and then weeping for joy, he besought his majesty for time to answer such a question ; and having consulted the citizens of London, he returned again to the king, who gave the Grey-friars as an hospital for the support of infants, the aged, idiots, and cripples ; St. Bartholomew's for wounded soldiers and sick persons; and Bridewell for the correction of idle and disorderly persons. These, with the hospital of St. Thomas, he richly endowed ; and when he had signed the instrument to that effect, he, with reverent gesture and speech, thanked God for prolonging his life to finish that business. Ridley's days of peace were now at an end. On the ac- cession of the persecutor Mary, he was expelled from his bishopric, and committed to the Tower, where he spent his time in pious exercises and conference with his fellow prison- ers, exhorting them to remain steadfast in maintaining the truth. "Resist the devil," he said, " and he will flee from you. Let us, therefore, resist him manfully ; and, taking the cross upon our shoulders, let us follow our Captain Christ, who, by his own blood, hath dedicated and hallowed the way which leadeth unto the Father, that is, to the light which no man can attain, — the fountain of everlasting joys. Let us follow, I say, whither he calleth and allureth us, that after all these afflictions — which last but for a moment — whereby he trieth our faith as gold by the fire, we may everlastingly reign and triumph with him in the glory of his Father ; and that through the same our Lord Jesus Christ, to whom with the Father and the Holy Ghost be all honour and glory now 176 ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. CH. XXITI. and for ever. Amen. Amen." Such were the resolutions and the hopes of this venerable martyr in the contemplation of the sufferings which were preparing for him. His con- stancy was unshaken by any terrors, or by the instances of weakness which surrounded him. One of his own chaplains who then fell away, wrote to Ridley with a view to shake his resolution, and induce him to conform to the Romish errors. His reply affords a noble example of Christian faith and of apostolical admonition. " Sir, how nigh the day of my dis- solution and departure out of this world is at hand, I cannot tell: the Lord's will be fulfilled, how soon soever it shall come. I know the Lord's words must be verified in me, that I shall appear before the incorrupt Judge, and be ac- countable to him for all my former life. And although the hope of his mercy is my sheet-anchor of eternal salvation, yet am I persuaded that whosoever wittingly neglecteth, and regardeth not to clear his conscience, he cannot have peace with God, nor a lively faith in his mercy. Conscience, there- fore, moveth me, considering you were one of my family and one of my household, of whom then I think I had a special care ; but, alas, now when the trial doth separate the chaff from the corn, how small a deal it is, God knoweth, which the wind doth not blow away ; — this conscience, I say, doth move me to fear lest the lightness of my family should be laid to my charge, for lack of more earnest and diligent instruc- tion which should have been done. But blessed be God, which hath given me grace to see this my default, and to la- ment from the bottom of my heart before my departing hence. This conscience doth move me also now to require both you and my friend Dr. Harvey to remember your promises made to me in times past, of the pure setting forth and preaching of God's word and his truth. These promises, although you shall not need to fear to be charged with them of me hereaf- ter before the world, yet look for none other (I exhort you as my friends) but to be charged with them at God's hand. This conscience, and the love that I bear unto you, biddeth A.D. 1530-1839. BISHOP RIDLEY. 177 me now say unto you both, in God's name, ' Fear God, and love not the world ;' for God is able to cast both body and soul into hell fire ; ' when his wrath shall suddenly be kindled, blessed are all they that put their trust in him.' And the saying of St. John is true, 'AH that is in the world, as the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eye, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but of the world ; and the world passeth away, and the lust thereof; but he that doeth the will of God abidethfor ever.'" This admonition, so calm, so solemn, so affecting, produced such a powei'ful effect on the unhappy person to whom it was addressed, that he pined away with grief and remorse, and soon after died. Ridley had been removed to Oxford, with his venerable fellow-prisoners Bishops Cranmer and Latimer, before he wrote this letter. In 1555 he and Latimer were examined by the papal delegates ; and on their refusal to submit to the pope, were degraded from their orders ; Ridley steadily re- fusing to move his cap, or show the least sign of submission or reverence to the usurped authority of the papal delegates. He, with Latimer, was then delivered to the temporal magis- trates to be burned to death. The evening before his mar- tyrdom, Ridley prepared himself for his departure with joy and triumph. He washed himself, and invited his friends and relations to be present at his " marriage" in the morn- ing. His discourse melted into tears one of his most ob- durate enemies who was present. Ridley said, " You love me not now, I see well enough; for in that you weep, it doth appear you will not be at my marriage, neither be con- tent therewith. But quiet yourself; though my breakfast shall be somewhat sharp and painful, yet I am sure my sup- per shall be more pleasant and sweet," In the morning, he approached the place of execution ar- rayed in a handsome black gown; and as he passed the prison of Bocardo, he looked to the chamber where Arch- bishop Cranmer was imprisoned, hoping to have seen and spoken to him ; but he was engaged in disputing with Friar Soto 178 ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. CH. XXIII. and others: but shortly behind him he saw and spoke to Lati- mer, who came clad in his shroud to be ready for *he fire. When they came to the spot, he ran to Latimer, with a joyful countenance, embraced and kissed him, and comforted him, saying, "Be of good heart, brother; for God will either assuage the fury of the flame, oi else strengthen us to abide it." Then turning to the stake, he kissed it, and kneeling down, prayed earnestly, as did Latimer likewise. Then rising, they conferred together for a little while. Dr. Smith preached the sermon usual on such occasions, to which the martyrs besought permission to reply ; but were informed, that unless they recanted, they should not speak. " Well," re- plied the illustrious martyr, " so long as the breath is in my body, I will never deny my Lord Christ and his known truth ; God's will be done in me." He then said, with a loud voice, " I commit my cause to Almighty God, who will judge all in- differently." They were then ordered to make ready for burning, which they mildly obeyed. Ridley gave away several small things to persons standing by, many of whom were v/eeping. Lati- mer now stood in his shroud; and he who before, in an old coat and cap, seemed a withered and crooked old man, now roused to play the man, stood upright, and appeared a venera- ble and comely person. Ridley, standing in his shirt at the stake, lifted up his hands toward heaven, and prayed, " O heavenly Father, I give unto thee most hearty thanks, for that thou hast called me to be a professor of thee even unto death. I beseech thee, Lord God, take mercy upon the realm of England, and deliver the same from all her enemies.'* Then the smith fastened an iron chain round the bodies of both the martyrs, tying them to the stake. A faggot was now lighted and laid at Ridley's feet, when Latimer said, "Be of good comfort, master Ridley, and play the man. We shall this day light such a candle by God's grace in England, as, I trust, shall never be put out." When Ridley saw the fire flaming towards him, he cried with an exceeding loud voice- A.D. 1530-1839. HOOKER. 179 " Into thy hands, O Lord, I commend my spirit ; O Lord, re- ceive my spirit." Latimer, on the other side, exclaimed, " O Father of heaven, receive my soul." Then he received the flame as if he were embracing it, and soon died, with but little appearance of pain. But Ridley had to undergo dreadful and lingering tortures ; for the fire on his side was so smothered by the quantity of faggots, that his legs were slowly consumed, while he cried to his tormentors to " let the fire come at him." But in all his agony, he still called on God, " Lord, have mercy upon me." At length the faggots were removed by one of the by-standers; and when the tortured martyr saw the fire flaming up, he wrenched himself to that side. • And when the flame reached a bag of gunpowder which hung round his neck, he was seen to stir no more, but burned on the other side ; and either from the chain loosing, or by the overpoise of his body after his legs were consumed, he fell over the chain down at Latimer's feet. Thus died this illustrious martyr — or rather, thus did he enter eternal life ; and it may be said with truth, that never, since the days of the apostles, was there a nobler mani- festation of Christian faith and heroism. It was worthy of the brightest days of the primitive church ; and not even Polycarp, in the amphitheatre of Smyrna, exceeded the glory of Nicholas Ridley. Let us now pass to days when the righteous were no longer persecuted, and learning and piety were exposed to none but the ordinary trials. Richard Hooker (usually called "judicious Hooker") was born near Exeter, about 1553, of parents remarkable for virtue arid industry. From his childhood he was grave, de- sirous of learning ; modest, and of so sv/eet and serene a quietness and meekness of nature, that many believed him to have an inward and blessed divine light. The seeds of sin- cere piety which his parents early instilled into his mind were so continually watered with the dews of God's bias 180 ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. CH. XXIII sed Spirit, that his infant virtues grew into such holy habits, as made him daily more in favour both with God and man. About 1567, when Dr. Jewel, that celebrated opponent of Romish errors, v/as bishop of Salisbury, the parents of Hooker being unable to defray the expense of an university educa- tion for their son, this learned bisiiop, being made acquainted with the circumstance, and having examined and observed the boy's knowledge and behaviour, procured for him a mainte- nance at Corpus Christi College, in the University of Oxford. Here he continued for several years, still increasing in learn- ing and prudence, and so much in humility and piety, that he seemed to be filled with the Holy Ghost. In 1571 he expe- rienced the loss of his kind friend and patron, Bishop Jewel, who died, as he had lived, in devout meditation and prayer ; but soon after, Edwin Sandys, bishop of London, v»^ho had heard from Jewel of Hooker's great merits and learning, placed his son under his tuition. While Hooker was a stu- dent in the university, so great was his devotion, that in four years he was but twice absent from the chapel -prayers. His behaviour there was such as showed an awful reverence of that God whom he there worshipped, giving all outward tes- timonies that his affections were set on heavenly things. He was never known to be angry, passionate, or extreme in his desires; never heard to repine or dispute with Provi- dence ; but by a quiet, gentle submission of his will to the wisdom of his Creator, bore the burden of the day with pa- tience. He was never heard to utter an uncomely word ; and by this, and his grave behaviour, he caused a reverence towards his person even from those that elsewhere cast off all strictness of behaviour. In 1577 he became a fellow of his college ; and two years after was appointed by the chancellor of the university to read the Hebrew lecture. In 1584 he was appointed to the parsonage of Drayton Beauchamp, in Buckinghamshire; and in the next year, through the recom- mendation of his friend Sandys, archbishop of York, was made master of the Temple in London. A.D. 1530-1839. HOOKER. 181 At this time t!ie Chuicii had been for some years exceed- ingly troubkxl by the schismatical proceedings of the Puri- tans, who declaimed against all her rites and ceremonies as popish and anti-Christian. Of this party was one Travers, who had been irregularly ordained abroad by some persons who were not of the degree of bishops, and who now minis- tered as lecturer of the Temple, though the law of the Eng- lish Church prohibited such persons from acting as ministers. Travers, who had himself aspired to be master of the Tem- ple, opposed Hooker's doctrines in the pulpit, and afterwards petitioned the privy council, charging him with many errors, especially for his charitable opinion, that many of our fore- fathers, who lived in the times of superstition, were saved ; but Archbishop Whitgift, whom Queen 158S 1604 Elizabeth intrusted with the entire man- agement of ecclesiastical affairs, had such good testimonies of Hookeii"'s principles, learning, and moderation, that all so- licitations against him v/ere of no effect. Though Travers was obliged to leave the Temple, he had several supporters there, who rendered Hooker's position very uneasy. To bring them to a better mind, he resolved to write his celebrated books on the Laws of Ecclesiastical Polity ; and finding that his situation did not afford sufficient leisure, he left it for the parish of Boscum, near Salisbury, where the first four books were written, and made public in 1594. Another book was published in 1597. It is recorded that when a part of this celebrated work had been translated for the pope, he said, " There is no learning that this man hath not Bearched into; nothing too hard for his understanding. This man indeed deserves the name of an author : his books win get reverence by age, for there are in them such seeds of eter- nity, that if the rest be like this, they shall last till the last fire fthall consume all learning." In 1595 he was appointed to the vicarage of Bishopsborne, in Kent, in which place he continued his customary rules of mortification and self-denial, fasted often, was frequent in 16 182 ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. CH. XXIII. meditation and prayer, enjoying those blessed returns which only such men feel and know. Before long, his writings, and the innocency and sanctity of his life, became so remarkable, that many persons came from all parts to see him. His habit was usually coarse and mean ; his appearance lowly, and accordant with the humility of his soul ; his body was wast- ed, not with age, but with study and holy mortifications. He here forsook all the pleasures and allurements of the world, possessing his soul in a virtuous quietness, which he main- tained by constant study, prayer, and meditation. He preach- ed every Sunday morning, and in the evening catechised his parishioners. His sermons were not long, but delivered with a grave zeal; they were addressed to the reason, and abound- ed in apt illustrations. He fasted strictly in Ember-week, when he usually retired into the church for many hours, and did the same on most Fridays and other days of fasting. He was most diligent in visiting the sick, exhorting them to con- fession of their sins and repentance. While Hooker was thus engaged in all the exercises of piety, and was also preparing the last books of his Ecclesias- tical Polity, he fell into a long and sharp illness, and began to fail. A few days before his death, the pious Dr. Saravia, prebendary of Canterbury, who knew the very secrets of his soul, (for they were supposed to confess their sins to each other,) came to him, and after a conference on the safety and benefit of the Church's absolution, it was resolved that Sara- via should administer that and the holy eucharist the follow- ing day. When the time came, they retired for a short while Trom the company, and then returned, when Hooker received the blessed sacrament of the body and blood of Christ ; which being performed, Saravia thought he saw a reverend gaiety and joy in his face ; but it lasted not long, for his bodily infirmities returned with violence. The next day he found Hooker better in appearance, but deep in contemplation, and not inclined to converse. When he was asked the subject of his thoughts, he replied, '' that he was meditating the number A.D. 1530-1839. FERRAR. 183 and nature of angels, and their blessed obedience and order, without which peace could not be in heaven; and O that it might be so on earth !" After which he said, "I have lived to see this world is made up of perturbations, and I have been long preparing to leave it, and gathering comfort for the dreadful hour of making my account with God, which I now apprehend to be near ; and though I have, by his grace, loved him in my youth, and feared him in my age, and laboured to have a conscience void of offence to him and to all men, yet if thou. Lord, be extreme to mark what I have done amiss, who can abide it ? And therefore, where I have failed, Lord, show mercy unto me ; for I plead not my righteousness, but the forgiveness of my unrighteousness, for His merits who died, to purchase pardon for penitent sinners ; and since I owe thee a death. Lord, let it not be terrible, and then take thine own time, I submit to it : let not mine, O Lord, but let thy will be done." He then fell into a dangerous slumber, and awaking once more said, " God hath heard my daily peti- tions, for I am at peace with all men, and he is at peace with me ; and from that blessed assurance I feel that inward joy which this world can neither give nor take from me ; my con- science beareth me this witness, and this witness makes the thoughts of death joyful. I could wish to live to do the Church more service, but cannot hope it ; for my days are pastas a shadow that returns not." Thus speak- 1600 ing, his spirit failed, and the holy man slept in Jesus Christ. Nicholas Ferrak, a holy deacon of the Church, was de- scended from an ancient and noble family, and was born in London in 1592. His parents educated him in the paths of piety and virtue, and his progress in learning was rapid. His disposition was grave, and he early showed a dislike of any thing that savoured of worldly vanity. In his apparel he wished to be neat, but refused any thing that was not simple and plain. He was good-natured and tender-hearted in the highest degree, and so fearful of offending any one, that ho 184 ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. CH. XXIII. would weep abundantly on the least apprehension of having done so. In his fourteenth year he went to study at the University of Cambridge, and was eminently distinguished there by his abilities and learning ; so that his tutor used to say of him, " May God keep him in a right mind ! for if he should turn schismatic or heretic, he would make work for all the world." His health becoming much impaired, he was advised to travel, and in 1612 went abroad in the train of the Princess Elizabeth and the Palsgrave. He then studied at the Univer- sities of Leipsic and Padua. After visiting Rome and many parts of the continent, he returned to England in 1618; and soon after became actively engaged in the affairs of a great company for colonising Virginia in America, of which he was chosen deputy-governor ; and in this situation he dis- played the greatest ability in defending the company from the intrigues of Gondomar, the Spanish ambassador. While he was thus engaged, the excellence of his conduct induced an opulent merchant of London to offer him in marriage his only daughter, a young lady of great beauty and accomplish- ments, with a large fortune : but Ferrar replied with many thanks, declining so honourable an offer; " for if God," said he, " will give me grace to keep a resolution long since form- ed, I have determined to lead a single life; and after having discharged to the best of my ability my duty to the com- pany and to my family as to worldly concerns, I seriously purpose to devote myself to God, and to go into a religious retirement." On the dissolution of the Virginia company, he was elect- ed a member of parliament, where he was highly distinguish- ed for eloquence and ability, and was appointed to draw up the charge against the Earl of Middlesex, lord treasurer, for his conduct in the affairs of the Virginia company. Nicholas Ferrar was now at leisure to carry into execution his plan of a religious life. He accordingly retired to Little Gidding, in Huntingdonshire, accompanied by his mother and breth- A.D. 1530-1839. FERRAR. 185 ren, whom he had persuaded to follow his example, and several friends, to the number altogether of near forty. He was now twenty-seven years of age ; and in order to carry on his re- ligious plans by his own personal assistance, he resolved to become a deacon. This wish was communicated by a friend to Laud, bishop of St. David's, afterwards archbishop of Can- terbury, who ordained him a deacon in 1626 ; after which he signed a vow, that since God had so often heard his most hum- ble petitions, and delivered him out of many dangers, and in many desperate calamities had extended his mercy to him, he would therefore now give himself up continually to serve God to the utmost of his power in the office of a deacon, into which office he had that morning been regularly ordained ; that he had long ago seen enough of the manners and of the vanities of the world, and that he did hold them all in so low esteem, that he was resolved to spend the remainder of his life in mortifications, in devotion and charity, and in a con- stant preparation for death. Some high nobles at court, who knew his virtues, hearing that he had been ordained, immediately offered him some ec- clesiastical benefices of great value ; but these he refused with steadiness and humility, saying that he did not think himself worthy. He added, that his fixed determination was to rise no higher in the Church than the place and office which he now possessed, and which he had undertaken only with the view to be legally authorised to give spiritual as- sistance, according to his abilities, to his family and others with whom he might be concerned ; that as to temporal af- fairs, he had now parted with all his worldly estate, and di- vided it amongst his family ; that he earnestly besought his honoured friends to accept his sincere thanks for their good opinion of him, for whose prosperity, both in this world and a better, he would never cease to pray. The parish church, which was close to the manor-house of Gidding, had fallen into decay, and divine service had been discontinued in consequence of the depopulation o.f the par- 16* 186 ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. CH. XXIII. ish ; it was now repaired and beautified at the expense of Ferrar's mother, a pious and holy woman. The house itself was very large, and Ferrar allotted one room as an oratory for the devotions of the whole famil}'-, besides two separate oratories for the men and women at night. His own lodg- ings were so contrived, that he could conveniently see that every thing was conducted with decency and order. He established a school close to the house, and provided masters for the free instruction of all the children who came from the neighbouring towns. He was very diligent in catechising the children of the neighbourhood, and caused them to learn the Psalter by heart. Every Sunday, after morning service, these children, more than one hundred in number, were hos- pitably entertained by the religious society at Gidding. Whilst dinner was serving, they sang a hymn to the organ ; then grace was said by the clergyman of the parish; and during dinner a chapter in the Bible, together with some his- tories of the saints and martyrs, were read. After evening service, all the society went into their oratory, when select portions of the Psalms were repeated. After this, they were at liberty till eight o'clock, when the bell again summoned them to the oratory, where they sang a hymn to the organ and went to prayers ; and then all retired to their private apartments. On the first Sunday in every month they re- ceived the holy communion. On week-days they rose at four in the morning ; at five went to prayers in the oratory ; at six said the Psalms of the hour, — for every hour had its appointed Psalm, with some portion of the Gospel ; then they sang a hymn, repeated some passages of Scripture, and at half-past six went to church to matins. At seven they said the Psalms of the hour, sang a hymn, and went to breakfast. At ten they went to church to litany; at eleven to dinner, during which Scripture and pious books were read aloud. They went to evening prayers in the church at four ; after which came supper and recreations till eight, at which time they prayed in their ora- A.D. 1530-1839. FERRAR. 187 tory. During the night there was a continual vigil or watching, in which several of the men and women, in their respective oratories, repeated the whole Psalter, together- with prayers for the life of the king and his sons, from nine at night till one in the mormng. The time of this watch being ended, they awoke Nicholas Ferrar, who constantly rose at one o'clock, and betook himself to religious meditation, ac- cording to these words, " At midnight will I rise and give thanks." Ferrar himself lay upon a skin stretched on the floor, arrayed in a loose frieze gown ; and he watched in the oratory or the church three nights in the week. Several religious persons, both from the neighbourhood and from 'iistant parts of the country, attended these vigils, and prac- tised them elsewhere. The leisure hours of this holy society were devoted to the instruction of the poor, the dispensation of alms and medicines to the sick, and the composition of a harmony of the Gospels. Ferrar himself wrote several valuable religious treatises, and compiled lives of saints. In 1631, Dr. Williams, bishop of Lincoln, the diocesan, came to visit Ferrar, when he had an opportunity of seeing his way of serving God, and of examining the rules for watching, fasting, praymg, psalmody, readings, almsgiving, and all other points established in this society ; all of which he highly approved, and bade them in God's name to proceed. Some years after, he again visited Gidding; and, to honour the society, gave notice that he would preach in their church, where an immense multitude of people assembled to hear him. In his sermon he enlarged most on what it was to " die unto the world :" all tended to approve the dutiful and severe life of the Ferrars, and of the Church that was in their house. King Charles I. held Nicholas Ferrar in great reverence, and came more than once to visit this religious society ; and having perused the Harmony of the Gospels which they had compiled, he was so much pleased with it, that he requested them to prepare a copy for his own peculiar use. 188 ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORV. CH. XXIII. In 1637 the strength of Fevrar began rapidly to fail ; but he experienced no bodily pam. He conversed with hh friends, exhorting them to persevere in the way he had point- ed out to them ; and after expressing his conviction that sad times were coming on the Church, and lamenting the suffer- ings which they woidd have to endure, lie received the holy ''ucharist; and as the clock struck one at night, the houi- :• wiiich for so many years he had constantly risen to worsiiii) God, he departed this life in a rapturous ecstacy of devotion. The society over which he had presided was persecuted and dispersed during the great rebellion, which shortly afterwards broke out, and in which the King and the Archbishop of Can- terbury, the friends of this holy man, were put to death by the Presbyterians and Independents. Henry Hammond was born in 1605, at Chertsey in Surrey ; and was so early blessed with the grace of piety, that, even while he was a boy at Eton, he would retire from his play- fellows into places of privacy to pray to God. He was re- markable for sweetness of disposition, and early proficiency in learning ; so that, when only thirteen years of age, he was sent to the University of Oxford, where he became a fel low of Magdalen College, and studied thirteen hours a day In a few years he had read most of the classic writers fathers, councils, and schoolmen, besides the holy Scriptures In 1629 he was elevated to the holy order of priesthood ; an in 1633 he was appointed rector of Penshurst in Kent. H > now devoted himself to his parochial duties, preaching di- ligently, offering up the daily sacrifice of prayer for his peo- ple, administering the sacraments, relieving the poor, keeping hospitality, reconciling differences among neighbours, visit- ing the sick, and catechising youth. He was also frequently called to preach at Paul's Cross in London; was a member of convocation, archdeacon of Chichester ; and was engaged in every holy and good work of his ministry, when the rebel- 164*^ lion broke out; and an attempt having been n;ade in favour of the king in that neighbour A.D. 1530-1839. HAMMOND. 189 hood, which Hammond was supposed to have encouraged, he was obliged to escape to Oxford, where he lay concealed for some time, and wrote many excellent works in defence of true religion and the discipline of the Church, against the heresies and schisms then so prevalent. He afterwards dis- puted publicly against the sectarians, and was made canon of Christ Church, and chaplain to his majesty King Charles I. Hammond attended the king during his imprisonment until 1647, when all his majesty's attendants were removed from about his person. After this Hammond was himself cast into prison by the Parliamentarians, where he commenced his Commentary on the New Testament, and his famous work in Defence of Episcopacy against Blondel. He was never married, though he had some intentions of entering into that state ; but was deterred by the aspect of the times, and by recollecting the apostle's advice (1 Cor. vii. 26.) His habits of chastity and modesty at all times were remarkable. His self-denial was so great, that he sel- dom eat more than once in twenty-four hours. He was per- fectly indifferent as to the quality of his food. In sleep he was so temperate that he rarely slept more than four or five hours in the night. He was never idle, but always engaged in something useful. In devotion he has rarely been exceed- ed : besides occasional and supernumerary addresses, his cer- tain perpetual returns of prayer exceeded David's "seven times a day;" and even the night was not without its office, the fifty-first Psalm being his designed midnight entertain- ment. In his prayers, his attention was not only fixed and steady, but his fervour was so great, that frequently his trans- port threw him prostrate upon the earth. His tears also would interrupt his words ; and this not merely in his private prayers, but in the common service of the Church. So great was his spirit of forgiveness, that, having been most cruelly and maliciously treated by some persons, he had a peculiar daily prayer purposely for them. From his friends he par- ticularly sought to learn his faults and offences, and even his 190 ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY, CH. XXIII. failings in discretion and wisdom. His alms, even when he was reduced to the greatest distress, were very abundant. He not only sought for the neighbouring poor, but assisted students at the universities, and the clergy who had been ex- pelled from their parishes, or driven into exile, by the sectaries. Though he was very unwilling to be interrupted in his studies by any concerns of his own, he never kept any one waiting, but would immediately come to any visitor, more especially when he was informed that a poor man wished to speak to him. After he was released from prison, he retired to Worces- tershire, where he continued his labours in the cause of re- ioan liffion: and, when Kinaj Charles II. wa* restored A.D. 1660. ^ ', ,. , . to the throne of his ancestors, Hammond was designed to fill the vacant see of Worcester ; but as he was on his way to London, he was seized with illness, and rfter suf- fering dreadful pains with all the patience, submission, ind piety which might have been expected from so holy and useful a life, he departed to his eternal reward in the fifty-fiftii year of his age. Thomas Wilson, bishop of Sodor and Man, was born in Cheshire, in 1663, and educated at the University of Dublin, where he intended to practise medicine, but was persuaded by a pious archdeacon to undertake the sacred ministry. In 1686 he was ordained deacon, and appointed to a curacy in Lancashire; and in 1689 he was raised to the priesthood, on which solemn occasion he again dedicated himself to the ser- vice of his Lord and Master, and formed the most solemn re- solutions of living more than ever to the glory of that Saviour " who loved him, and gave himself for him." In confcrmity with these resolutions, he discharged his sacred duties with indefatigable zeal ; "holiness to the Lord" was inscribed on every part of his conduct. The lustre of such a character lfiQ2 could not long be concealed ; and he was select- ' ed by the Earl of Derby to be his chaplain, and the preceptor of his son. After some time, observing with A.D. 1530-1839. BISHOP WILSON. 191 deep regret the embarrassed state of his patron's affairs, caused by habits of profusion and inattention to domestic economy, he felt it his duty to remonstrate with the earl on his conduct ; and he so judiciously and wisely managed this delicate affair, that ere long he had the great satisfaction of seeing his noble friend relieved from his embarrassments, and a train of distressed tradesmen and dependents effectually relieved. The bishopric of Sodor and Man had been vacant from the year 1693, and Lord Derby, to whom the appointment be- longed as lord of the Isle of Man, offered it to his chaplain. He thankfully acknowledged the honour intended him, but declared himself unworthy of so high an office, and incapa- ble of so arduous an undertaking ; and it was only after the see had been vacant for four years, and the metropolitan had complained to the king on the subject, that Wilson was at last " forced into the see." He was consecrated in 1697. Bishop Wilson now devoted himself most zealously to the duties of the episcopate. He felt that he had been called by Divine appointment to this arduous station, and was persuaded that every necessary help would be afforded him. He was fre- quent* in prayer, and thence derived the skill and grace which appeared in his ministry. His life, indeed, was a life of prayer. By his frequent intercourse with Heaven, he be- came heavenly in his temper, his views, and his whole con- versation. The temporal and spiritual state of his diocese called for most vigorous exertions. He was obliged to rebuild the epis- copal mansion, which had fallen into decay, and to effect many other expensive repairs. He lamented that this forced him in some degree to intermit his charity to the poor. His attention was directed to whatever could in any degree pro- mote the spiritual and temporal welfare of the country. He was seen in every quarter of his diocese, counselling, guid- ing, and directing. His charity was always most abundant. Whon he possessed, early in life, only 30Z. per annum, he de- 192 ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. CH. XXIII. voted one tenth of this income to the poor. As his income gradually increased, a greater share was distributed in alms. He always laid aside the proportion destined for the poor in a certain place. In this treasury, which he named "the poor's drawer," was deposited at first a tenth, then a fifth, afterwards a third, and at last half his income. Every deposit there was converted into an act both of charity and devotion ; prayers and alms were incessantly united. At his house every kind of distress found relief. Whether the hungry or the naked applied, their claims were certain to be duly considered and liberally answered. In his barn was always a provision of corn and meal for the indigent; and the good bishop gave orders to his steward when corn was measured to the poor never to stroke it, as was usual, but to give heaped measure. His demesne contained several manufactories of different sorts, where artisans were engaged in preparing gar- ments for the poor. The bishop attended even to the small- est circumstances which could benefit his people. He would purchase quantities of spectacles, and distribute them amongst the aged poor, that they might be enabled to read their Bibles. Bishop Wilson was unwearied in his endeavours to im- prove the parochial schools. He was a constant and earnest preacher, and during the fifty-eight years of his episcopate he never failed every Sunday to preach or celebrate the holy rites of the Church, except when prevented by illness. No- thing could exceed his care and diligence in obtaining an ef- fective and pious clergy. From the moment that any student declared his intention of entering the sacred ministry, the bishop formed a close connection with him, watched over his conduct, and guided his studies and pursuits. After his en- trance on the sacred ministry, the bishop made him reside with him for a whole year, that he might exercise a more minute inspection, and administer daily instruction and ad- vice. He held many synods of the clergy, in which several wise constitutions and canons of discipline were made and enforced. He frequently addressed his clergy in pastoral A.D. 1530-1839. BISHOP WILSON. 198 letters full of piety and wisdom ; and so great was the ven- eration in which they held him, that half a century after his decease, aged clergy have been heard to recount the virtues of Bishop Wilson with tears of affection trembling in their eyes. Bishop Wilson acquired a knowledge of the Manks language, into which he translated several pious books, and procured the Gospels and Acts of the Apostles to be translat- ed into that language. Bishop Wilson was a man of prayer. He not only prayed every morning at six o'clock with his family, and also in the evening, but he retired three times every day to his private devotions. Even in the night he might be heard engaged in prayer. Sometimes the words of the Psalmist were indis- tinctly heard by his attendants. " I will arise at midnight, and give thanks unto thee. Praise the Lord, O, my soul ; and all that is within me, praise his holy name." Sometimes parts of the Te Deum were recognised. Such were the night- ly orisons of this holy man. Words of instruction and con- solation were continually flowing from his lips ; so that it was scarcely possible to enjoy his society even for a short time without growing wiser and better. His actions, how- ever, spoke more forcibly than language ; the beauty of holiness shone forth in all his conversation, irradiated his countenance, and gave a peculiar charm to every thing he said or did. In 1722, the bishop, in the discharge of his duty as the guar- dian of the sacraments, forbade the governor's wife to ap- proach the holy table, as a punishment for a very scandalous calumny which she had disseminated. A clergyman having disobeyed this injunction of the bishop, he was suspended ; and the result was, that the bishop was illegally seized and imprisoned, with his two vicars-general. During this afflic- tion, the bishop was occupied in prayer and meditation, and in plans for the advancement of his Master's Kingdom. The poor were loud in their lamentations ; and being indignant at the inj istice practised towardc their beloved pastor, they were 17 194 ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. CH. XXIH. about to level the governor's house to the ground, when they were restrained by the voice of their bishop, who spoke to them from his prison, and exhorted them to peace and submission. At length he was released on appeal to the king. The day of his release was one of universal rejoicing. The multi- tudes extended for three miles in length, scattering flowers beneath his feet, to the sound of music and loud rejoicings. Bishop Wilson's strictness in observing ecclesiastical disci- pline may be collected from the circumstances alrealy al- luded to. At length he was to be called away to his reward in heaven. He beheld the approach of death with peace and calmness, but with the deepest humility. Shortly before his death, a crowd of poor people were assembled in the hall to receive his blessing and alms, when he was overheard say- ing " God, be merciful to me a sinner, a vile sinner, a miserable sinner !" He fell into delirium some weeks be- fore his decease, but his dreams were filled with visions of angels. He died in 1755, in the ninety-third year of his age. It would be easy to add many other instances of Christian piety from the records of the Church in the period now be- fore us. The learning and sanctity of Usher, of Bedel, Andrews, Beveridge, Bull, would have done honour to the best days of Christianity. In recent times, the spirit of mis- sionary zeal has again revived, and the venerable Societies for the Propagation of the Gospel, and for Promoting Chris- tian Knowledge, have enlarged the spheres of their opera- tions. The foundation of these societies is chiefly to be at- tributed to the pious zeal of Dr. Thomas Bray, who, at the end of the seventeenth century, was appointed by the Bishop of London as his commissary in Maryland, America ; and who, A n 1'*'01 °" ^^^ return, established the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts. This excellent Society has for a long series of years devoted itself to the mamtenance of Christian mission.'? in North A.D. 1530-1839. ROMAN CHURCHES. 195 America, and other possessions of the British crown. The Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge had been estab- lished in 1698; and from that period to the present time it has laboured for the benefit Df the Church, in circulating the Scriptures and religious books, in contributing to the assist- ance of distressed churches, and in maintaining missions to the heathen, especially in India. Nor would it be just, in this place, to omit all mention of the Church Missionary Society, which has been formed within the present cen- ^ .^ 1800. tury, and which has contributed much to the spread of the Christian faith amongst the heathen, especially in the islands of the Southern Ocean. CHAPTER XXIV. ON THE ROMAN CHURCHES. A.D. 1517-1839. The Churches which either voluntarily or by compulsion remained under the papal jurisdiction, and rejected the Re- formation, were those of Italy, Spain, Austria, Poland, Hun- gary, Bohemia, France, and part of Germany and Switzer- land. The conduct of the pope towards the Lutheran and Reformed has already been noticed, together with the assem- bling of the council of Trent. This famous synod, which in many of its sessions consisted of about forty or fifty bishops, had at last nearly two hundred. It closed in 1563, having decided in favour of purgatory, transubstantiation, and some other erro-neous opinions, which it declared articles of faith; and approved of invocation of saints, honouring of relics, communion in one kind, the celibacy of the clergy, &c. Certain opinions, universally prevalent at that time in the Roman Churches, obliged their members to receive all 196 ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. CH. XXIV. the decrees of this synod implicitly and without any discus- sion or examination. One great party believed the pope in- fallible ; the remainder held that a general council was infal- lible ; consequently, both agreed that a general council, ap- proved by a pope, (as the council of Trent was) must be in- fallible, and that whoever differed from it must be a heretic. All this was widely different from the notions and the practice of primitive times, when the decrees of councils were exam- ined and judged by the universal Church, and derived their full authority only from universal consent. And hence it appears that the decrees of Trent were only those of the bishops assembled there, not the deliberate judgments of the whole Roman Church, and still less the judgments of the whole catholic or universal Church. Under the same erro- neous opinions alluded to above, the Roman Churches refrain- ed from communicating with the Reformed Churches and communities, and engaged in vehement controversies with them, which have not yet ceased. These controversies were for a long time chiefly managed by a learned and artful socie- - -„« ty, called the Jesuits, who were founded by a Spaniard, named Ignatius Loyola, and who soon became the principal agents of the popes, and the chief support of their power. The Roman Churches, soon after the council of Trent, became much divided amongst themselves on the questions of Divine grace, of the authority of councils compared with that of popes, and of the immaculate conception of the Vir- gin. In these disputes the different parties went so far as to charge their adversaries with heresy. It would occupy too large a space to detail these disputes and divisions ; but the doctrines of Jansenius, bishop of Ipres, which were made pub- lic in 1640, led to infinite divisions and uneasiness in the Ro- man Churches. These doctrines, which approximated to those of Calvin, were assailed with vehemence by the Jesuits ^aAn i^io and the popes. But it was in vain that Ur- A.D. 1642-1713. , ,„^i. ^^ V » , , -TTTT ban VIII., Innocent X., Alexander VII., A.D. 1517-1839. ROMAN CHURCHES. 197 and Clement XL, fulminated censures, excommunications, bulls, rescripts, briefs, &c., against the Jansenists. In vain were subscriptions required to formularies condemning their doctrines, and every ingenious device put in force to get rid of this party. All was fruitless — the Jansenists continued to hold their benefices in the Roman Churches, and in the earlier half of last century a number of the French bishops were of that party. Jansenism has ever since more or less disturbed the Roman communion. With Jansenism a reforming spirit arose, which produced a variety of innovations. In Germany, about 1760, many theologians decried the papal authority, which they wished to reduce within the narrowest limits ; and taught that several of the common practices and opinions were superstitious. The Emperor Joseph II., who began to reign in 1781, acted on these principles, suppressed monasteries, forbade papal dis- pensations, regulated ceremonies, favoured the Jansenists, removed images from the churches, suppressed some episco- pal sees, anS assumed the patronage of all the bishoprics in Lombardy which had belonged to the popes. Pius VI. in vain opposed these proceedings ; they became embodied in the laws of Austria ; and the churches within that empire, in Germany and Italy, are more under the temporal power than under the pope. In various parts of Germany the Romish clergy condemn the celibacy of the clergy and communion in one kind, and celebrate divine service in German. The conduct of Joseph II. was imitated in Tuscany by the Arch- duke Leopold,* (who forbade all appeal to the popes,) and in Naples, Parma, Portug.al. A number of monasteries were suppressed by the King of Sicily in 1776. In Holland the Jansenists have had bishops of their own since 1723, who claim to be members of the Roman Church, though the popes will not recognise them as such. The most vehement opponents of the Jansenists were the • [With the advice and aid of the learned and pious Scipio de Ricci, bishop of Pistoia. nephew of the last Gererul of the Order of Jesuits. — Am. Ed.] 17* 198 ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. CH. XXIV. Jesuits, already alluded to, who ch'^fly engaged in the defence of the Roman Church against its opponents, in the education of youth, and in the dissemination of Christianity in heathen lands. The leading members of this society were bound by an oath to go wherever the pope should think fit to send them. Their perfect internal discipline ; their entire obedience to their general (thus the head of the order was termed;) the art with which they adapted their instructions to every class of people ; the consummate ability, learning, and judgment which they displayed ; soon rendered them the most powerful and opulent of the monastic orders. They became the grand bulwark of the papacy, supporting all its claims with un- wearied assiduity. The facility with which they relaxed the moral system of Christianity, and accommodated it to the propensities of mankind, rendered them exceedingly popular as spiritual advisers and confessors in the courts of princes, and amongst the wealthy and noble. They soon obtained exclusive dominion in these high places. For a century af- ter the foundation of this society, all the most eminent theolo- gians of the Roman communion were found amongst its mem- bers. The names of Salmeron, Lainez, Bellarmine, Vas- quez, Petavius, and many others, might be mentioned in illus- tration of this. The characteristics of the Jesuits were craft and subtilty. They were perfectly unscrupulous in the use of means for the accomplishment of their ends. Evasions, mental reserva- tions, equivocations, were openly defended and unblushingly practised ; even direct falsehood was employed, whenever it was imagined to be necessary for the interests of theii cause. These dangerous principles and practices of Jesuit- ism were most ably exposed by the celebrated Pascal, in the Provincial Letters, about the middle of the seventeenth cen- tury. This powerful and wealthy society, however, was at last destined to fall. About the year 1760, their evil practices and political in- trigues having excited universal jealousy the French parlia- A.D. 1517-1839. JESUITS. 199 ment supressed the order of Jesuits, in spite of the remon- strances of the pope and bishops. They were soon after suppressed by the civil power in Spain, Portugal, Italy, &;c. ; and, in fine, the order was extinguished by Pope 1773 Clement XIV. This was a grievous blow to the papacy, of which the Jesuits v/ere most devoted par- tisans. In the course of the present century, this dangerous order has been revived by Pope Pius VII., and ^g^ . is beginning again to trouble the Church.* A spirit of infidelity had long been spreading itself in France and other parts of the continent, under the influence of Voltaire, D'Alembert, and others. Many of these infi- dels were members, and even clergy, of the Roman churches. In 1789 the French Revolution broke out, and led to the im- mediate suppression of monasteries, and the destruction of Church property. The Galilean Church was then re-or- ganised by the power of the republic ; all the bishops were driven from their sees, in consequence of their refusing to acquiesce in this alteration, by which the num- 1790 ber of bishoprics was reduced more than one half, and the papal power suppressed. A body of new bishops were then appointed, and consecrated by Talleyrand, bishop of Autun. Before long, several of these Galilean bishops declared themselves atheists, and renounced the wor- ship of God. All religion was then proscribed. When Buonaparte became first consul, he negotiated ^ 1801 for the restoration of the Church with Pope Pi- us VII., and the latter, in consequence, insisted on all the old royalist bishops and the constitutional prelates resigning their sees. On the refusal of many of the former, he declared their consejit needless, annihilated 159 bishoprics, and created in their place 60 new ones. Buonaparte then enacted laws, * [It is spreading itself both openly and secretly in the United States of America, and with its wonted policy seeming to adapt itself to the institu- tions of the country, while by getting the control of education, it prepares to modify and direct those in ;titutions at its will. — Am. Ed.] 200 ECCLESIASTICAr. HISTORl CH. XXIV. placing the new Galilean Church entirely under the control of government, as it continues to be to the present day. The adherents of the deprived bishops declared these acts s^his- malical, and they form a distinct communion from the rest of the Roman Church. Some years afterwards, Buonaparte ex- tinguished the temporal power of the pope ; which, however, was restored again at the peace in 1814. The monasteries were also suppressed in France, Italy, Germany ; and in the course of the last few years, they have been suppressed in Spain and Portugal by the temporal rulers in those countries. The pope has now entirely lost that tem- poral power over the princes of Europe, which in the middle ages filled the world with confusion. The recent acts of the King of Prussia, in imprisoning some bishops who had vio- lated the laws, and their own engagements, with reference to marriages between persons of different communions, would a few centuries since have been followed by his depo- sition from the throne, and the proclamation of a crusade against him. The limits of the Roman Churches were much enlarged about the time of the Reformation by the conquests of the Portuguese and Spanish in the east and west. A great number of converts from heathenism in the east were made by the pious ,_.f^ zeal of Francis Xavier, who sailed for the A.D. 1542. „ , . T 1. 1 . Portuguese settlements m India, and in a very short time succeeded in spreading the Christian religion throughout that vast country and the adjoining islands. In 1549 he went to Japan, and established there numerous churches, which continued to flourish for many years, until they were brought into persecution, and destroyed by the intrigues of the Jesuits. He died in 1552, as he was about to attempt the conversion of the Chinese ; but after his death, Matthew Ricci, and other Jesuits, penetrated into that empire; and having made themselves very acceptable to the emperor by their skill in science, they were permitted to instruct the peo- ple in the Christian religjion ; and thus the foundation of the A.D. 1517-1839. ROMAN CHURCHES. 801 church was laid amungst the Chinese,> which still continues, under much persecution, to exist among them. The Nesto- rians of St. Thomas wei'e also forced to unite , ^-qq themselves with the Roman Church by Mene- zes, archbishop of Goa. Christianity, wHich was now intro- duced into South America by the Spanish and Portuguese, obtained numerous converts there, and took deep and perma- nent root. The synod of Trent reformed some of the grosser abuses in discipline ; but its canons of discipline were not universal- ly received. The controversies with the advocates of refor- mation led to some amelioration of doctrine amongst the well- informed members of the Roman Church. In the seven- teenth century it became their object to represent their doc- trines in the form which was most moderate, most conforma- ble to Scripture, and most approximating to the tenets of the Reformation. One object in this new system of argument was to convict the Protestants of schism in voluntarily for- saking the communion of the Church, — an offence which was imputed to them by their antagonists, and too often admitted by themselves, in direct opposition to the facts of history. This mode of argument, however — in the hands of the cele- brated Roman theologians Bossuet and Veron — had the effect of producing sounder and more moderate views on many subjects in the Romish Church itself, though it is unhappily but too certain that the great mass of that community are still involved in superstitions and errors very injurious to true religion. The principles of moraHty have also become very much relaxed amongst them by the influence of the Jesuits ; and the S3^,stem of questioning adopted at confession seems calculated for the dissemination of vice. ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. CH. XXV. CHAPTER XXV. FRUITS OF FAITH IN THE ROMAN CHURCHES. A.D. 1530-1660. However deeply we may deplore the abuses and corrup- tions which exist in the Roman Churches, and however cer- tain it be that many errors injurious to Christian piety, and many offences against Christian morality, are found in that communion, still it would argue a prejudiced and uncharitable mind to close our eyes on several bright examples of Chris- tian holiness which have adorned the Roman communion in the latter ages, and to refuse to recognise the impress of Divine grace on lives adorned by every virtue which can flow from a lively faith and charity. The contemplation of such examples will tend to remove any feelings of spiritual pride which might arise from imagining that virtue and goodness are restrained to some particular branch of the Church of Christ, while the great mass of Christendom is given over entirely to darkness and to sin. Francis Xavier, the apostle of the Indies, was born in 1506, in Navarre, of an illustrious family, and was pursuing his studies at the University of Paris, when he became the friend, and ultimately one of the disciples of Ignatius Loyola, the founder of the order of Jesuits, a man of an enthusiastic turn of mind, and of a piety which was deeply tinged with su- perstition. In 1537 Xavier was ordained priest, and took the vows as a member of the new order. The following year, while Ignatius and his disciples were at Rome, whither they had gone to place themselves under the directions of the pope as to their future destination, an application was made by the King of Portugal for the assistance of some of these zealous men to preach the Gospel in the East Indies. In compli- A.D. 1530-1660. XAVIER. 203 ance with this request, Francis Xavier was sent ^^.^ to Portugal, whence, in the following year, he sailed for India, with various powers and recommendations from the pope. During the voyage, he considered the crew of the vessel in which he sailed as intrusted to his peculiar care. He instructed the sailors in their catechism, preached every Sunday before the main-mast, visited the sick, con- verted his own cabin into an infirmary, while he himself lay on the deck ; and, with the ascetic spirit of his order at that time, subsisted entirely on charity, being possessed of nothing himself. In short, during the whole voyage, he evinced a spirit of zeal and piety which afforded a pledge of the success of that great work which he v/as about to under- take. In 1542 he landed at Goa; and having obtained the sanc- tion of the bishop, he commenced his mission. The state of religion amongst professing Christians in that place was most lamentable. The Portuguese inhabitants were full of revenge, ambition, avarice, and every description of wicked- ness ; all sentiments of religion seemed extinguished in them. The sacraments were neglected ; there were scarcely any preachers ; and the heathen, immersed in every sin, were neither led by precept nor example to forsake their errors and superstitions. Xavier beheld with grief the scandalous example of the nominal Christians around him ; and he re- solved to labour for their conversion and reformation in the first instance. He began by instructing them in the principles of religion, and by forming the youth in the practice of piety. Having spent the morning of each day in the hospitals and prisons, assisting and comforting the distressed, he walked through the streets of Goa, with a bell in his hand, summoning all masters, for the love of God, to send their children and slaves to be catechised. The children gathered in crowds around him r. he led them to church, taught them the creed and prac- tices of devotion, and impressed on thena strong sentiments 204 iiCCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. CH. XXV. of piety and religion. The effect produced on the youth soon became manifest ; the example began to spread ; the whole town was influenced to turn from sin. After a time, Xavier preached in public, and visited the people in their houses ; and a nK)st extraordinary and universal reformation in their morals and habits ensued. After six months spent in these successful labours, Xavier. hearing that many of the Paravas, a people on the eastern coast of India, near Cape Comorin, had some years before permitted themselves to be baptised, in order to gratify the Portuguese; and having gained some knowledge of their language, went thither with two young clergy who under- stood the language sufficiently well. Here Xavier preached the Gospel with such success, that these people were convert- ed in thousands ; and so great were the multitudes whom he baptised, that sometimes, from the fatigue of administering that sacrament, he could hardly move his arm. It is said, that he was enabled to work several remarkable cures of sick persons; and a belief in such wonders, whether well or ill- founded, seems to have had much influence in contributing to the extraordinary success of his ministry. His labours, in- deed, were incredible: while he lived only on rice and water, like the very pooresi of the people, he was able to de- vote his whole day and night, except three hours of sleep, to the exercise of his ministry and the duties of devotion. Xavier had laboured for more than a year in the conver- sion of these people, when he was obliged to return to Goa for assistance. He came back in 1.544 with several mission- aries, some of whom he stationed in different towns, to con- tinue the instruction of his converts ; the others he brought with him to the adjoining kingdom of Travancore, where he baptised ten thousand Indians in one month; and in a very few months, almost the whole kingdom of Travancore em- braced Christianity. He afterwards visited several other parts of India, where he founded churches. Xavier th«n sailed to Malacca, a famous mart for merchandise, where he A.D. 1530-1660. XAViER. 205 arrived in 1545; and by the irresistible ardour of his zeal, reformed the Christians in that place, and converted many- pagans and Mahommedans. He next preached in the Spice Islands, Amboyna, the Moluccas, and Ceylon, in all of which he brought great numbers to the faith. In this mission he experienced many sufferings and dangers ; but his zeal for .God caused him rather to rejoice in those things. " The 'dangers to which I am exposed," said he, " and the toils 1 undergo for the interest of God only, are an inexhaustible spring of spiritual joys, insomuch that these islands, bare as they are of all worldly necessaries, are the very places in the world for a man to lose his sight through the excess of weeping; but they are tears of joy. I never remember to have tasted such inward delights; and these consolations of the soul are so pure, so exquisite, so constant, that they take from me all sense of my corporeal sufferings.'' Having returned again to Goa, Xavier soon after sailed on a mission to Japan, wliere he arrived in 1549, and was re- ceived favourably by the king, who allowed him to preach the Gospel ; and he applied himself with such extreme dili- gence to the study of the language, that in a few weeks he was able to translate the creed, and an exposition of it, to- gether with a life of our Saviour compiled from the Gospels, and to preach in public. He made many converts, amongst whom he distributed the translations he had made. He con- tinued to preach amongst the islands with various success : at Fuceo vast multitudes of people desired to be instructed and baptised ; and the king himself was convinced of the truth of the Gospel. Having laid the foundations of the Christian Dhurch throughout Japan, he again embarked for India in 1551 ; and after a short stay there, was once more on his way ,0 preach the Gospel in China, when it pleased .. --^ God to call away this great missionary, after ten years of labours and successes almost unparalleled since the days of the apostles. Charles Borromeo, archbishop of Milan, and cardinal of 18 206 fiCCLESIASTICi.L HISTORY. VH. XXV ^„^ the Roman Church, was born of a noble famil} * at Arena, in the duchy of Milan. His father, a man of exemplary piety, gave him an education proportioned to the great prospects of promotion which his family connec- tions presented : and he gave early signs of a strong attach- ment to literary pursuits. His uncle, Pope Pius IV., on his election to the Roman see, invited him to Rome, and created him cardinal and archbishop of Milan, when he was only, twenty-two years of age. The pope intrusted to him the chief management of ecclesiastical affairs, in which \\3 evinced an ability and discretion which would have done credit to the most experienced ecclesiastic. The Romans were remarkable for indolence and ignorance : to induce them to aspire to a more honourable character, Borromeo in- stituted an academy, consisting of ecclesiastics and laymen, whom his munificence and example incited to study and ani mated to virtue. But in the midst of a luxurious court, the young cardinal was carried away by the torrent: his palace, furniture, equipage, and table, were splendid and sumptuous ; and his uncle, in order to enable him to support such ex- penses, heaped on him a number of high and lucrative ap- poinlments, in addition to several rich abbeys and other bene- fices, of which he was possessed. In 1562, Borromeo's eldest brother died; and notwithstanding his high station in the Church, he was now urged by the pope, and by all his friends, to resign his ecclesiastical dignities, and marry, in order to support his family name; but he refused their solicitations, and was ordained priest the same year. The council of Trent re-assembled about this time, and the reformation of the clergy became the subject of much dis- cussion. Cardinal Borromeo was not content to urge that reformation on others ; he adopted it himself. He dismissed at once above eighty officers of his household ; laid aside his robes of silk ; and submitted once in every week to a day of voluntary fasting on bread and water. In 1566, on the death of his uncle, he retired tx) Milan, and engaged earnest A.D. 1530-1660. BORROMEO. 207 ly in the reformation of his diocese. He began by the regu- lation of his own family, which consisted of about a hundred persons, chiefly clergy ; considering that his task would be easier, when all he wished to prescribe to others was exem- plified in his own house. He soon brought all his household to a most regular, orderly, and religious life. His own hab- its of piety and self-denial were very remarkable. He re- moved from his palace all the fine sculpture, paintings, hang- ings, and even the armorial bearings of his family; wore the coarsest vestments under his robes ; and avoided, as much as possible, being served or attended on by any others. In order to inspire his clergy with a contempt for earthly possessions, he would severely reprove those who discovered an interested or covetous spirit ; even bishops were not exempt from his reproofs. He himself exemplified most remarkably the vir- tues of charity and disinterestedness. When he came to reside at Milan, he voluntarily resigned benefices and estates to the value of 80,000 crowns per annum, reserving only an income of 20,000 crowns. The principality of Oria, which had become his property by the death of his brother*, he sold for 40,000 crowns, which he commanded his almoners to dis- tribute among the poor and the hospitals. When the list which the almoners showed him for the distribution amounted, by mistake, to 2000 crowns more, Borromeo said the mistake was too much to the advantage of the poor to be corrected, and the whole was accordingly distributed in one day. When his brother died, he also caused all the rich furniture and jewels of the family to be sold, and gave the price, which amounted to 30,000 crowns, to the poor. Several other cases of charity, on an equally large scale, might be added. His chief almoner was ordered to distribute among the poor of Milan, of whom he kept an exact list, 200 crowns every month. Borromeo would never permit any beggar to be dis- missed without some alms, whatever he was. He was exceedingly hospitable and liberal in entertaining princes, prelates, and strangers of all ranks, but always with- 208 ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. CH. XXV. out dainties or luxury ; and he endeavoured as much as pos- sible to conceal his own abstemiousness. His religious foun- dations, repairs of churches, of the dwellings of the clergy, and of the seminaries of learning, not only at Milan, but at Bologna, Rome, and many other places, were on the most magnificent scale of liberality. Borromeo found his diocese in the greatest disorder. The great truths of salvation were little known or understood ; and religious practices were profaned by the grossest abuses, and disfigured by superstitions. The sacraments were neg- lected ; the clergy seem scarcely to have known how to ad- minister them, and were slothful, ignorant, and depraved; the monasteries were full of disorders. Borromeo instituted seminaries for the instruction of the clergy; appointed a number of vicars, or rural deans, who exercised a vigilant superintendence over every part of his diocese; and held many provincial and diocesan synods, in which the most ex- cellent and judicious regulations were made, and enforced with inflexible firmness. In the course of his proceedings, he frequently encountered the most violent opposition from those who were unwilling to be corrected. The order of monks called Humiliati were particularly irritated by his la- hours for their reform, and excited against him one of their members, who actually fired a musket at the archbishop, as he was one evening at prayers with his family. Borromeo calmly finished his prayer, though the ball had struck his robe (happily without wounding him,) and then, with truly Christian charity, forgave the assassin, and even solicited his pardon. But justice took its course, and the order was sup- pressed by the pope. Borromeo divided the revenue of his see into three parts, one of which was appropriated to his household, another to the poor, and a third to the repairs of churches: and it was his custom to lay before the provincial councils the ac- counts of his revenues to the last farthing, saying that he was no more than an administrator or steward. He employed A.D. 1530-1660. BORROMEO. 209 no clergy of his own kindred in the government of his dio- cese ; nor did he resign to them any of the benefices which had been conferred on him. It was one of his greatest pleasures to converse with, and catechise, the poor ; and he would often visit them in the wild- est and most mountainous parts of his diocese. On one oc- casion, while he was engaged in his visitation, the bishop of Ferrara coming to meet him, found him lying under a fit of the ague on a coarse bed, and in a very poor cottage. Bor- romeo, observing his surprise, rengarked " that he was treat- ed very well, and much better than he deserved." During the dreadful ravages of a pestilence, this excellent man en- couraged his clergy to administer the consolations of religion to the sick and dying, and he was himself assiduous in the performance of this dangerous duty. On this occasion he sold all his furniture to procure medicine and nourishment for the unhappy sufferers. He was careful not to lose a mo- ment of his time : even at table he listened to some pious book, or dictated letters or instructions. When he fasted on bread and water, and dined in private, he read at the same time, and on his knees when the Bible was before him. After dinner, instead of conversing, he gave audience to his rural deans and clergy. He allowed himself no time for recrea- tion ; finding in the different employments of his office both corporal exercise and relaxation of mind sufficient for main taining the vigour of his mind and health of his body. When he was put in mind of any fault, he expressed the most sincere gratitude ; and he gave a commission to two prudent and religious clergy of his household to remind him of any thing they saw amiss in his actions ; and he frequent- h'' requested the^same favour of strangers. He was remarka- ble for sincerity : it appeared in all his words and actions ; and his promises were inviolable. He delighted in prayer, to which he gave a large part of his time; and he never said any prayer, or performed any religious office, with precipita- fion, whatever business of importance might be on his hands, 18* 2l0 ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. CH. XXV- or however he might be pressed for time. In giving audience, and in the greatest hurry of business, his countenance, his modesty, and all his words, showed that he was full of the recollection of God. His spirit of prayer, and the love of God which filled his heart, gave to him remarkably the power of exciting and encouraging others to religion. A short ad- dress, even a single word or action, sometimes produced the most powerful effects in animating his clergy to repentance and to virtue. This great and good man died in 1584, in the forty-seventh year of his age; with the same piety and sanctity which adorned his short but admirable life. Francis de Sales was born of noble parents in Savoy, and was remarkable for a spirit of piety and meekness fronr* his earliest years. His mother taught him to venerate the Church and religion : she read to him the lives of holy men; brought him with her to visit the poor, and made him distri. bute her alms to them. Having studied theology and law al the Universities of Paris and Padua, his parents intended thai he should follow the legal profession, and they had already obtained a lucrative and important office from the Duke of Savoy for him ; but Francis had resolved to devote himself to the sacred ministry, and declined so advantageous an es- tablishment. Through the intervention and entreaties of a relative, his parents were at length, with much difficulty, per- suaded to accede to his wishes, and he then was appointed to a dignity in the Church, and was ordained deacon. His diocesan, the bishop of Annecy, immediately employed him in preaching, in which he was eminently successful, as his sermons were always the result of fervent prayer. He was observed to decline whatever might gain the applause of the world; and he preferred resorting to the habitations of the poor, and to the rural districts, rather than preaching before the great and opulent. In 1591, the first year of his ministry, he instituted a society at Annecy, the associates of which were obliged to instruct the ignorant, to comfort A.D. 1530-1660. FRANCIS DE SALES. 211 and exhort the sick and prisoners, and to abstain from all lawsuits. In 1594 the Duke of Savoy having conquered Geneva, and some of the adjoining parts of Switzerland, Francis de Sales was commissioned to preach in those parts to the re- formed. Impressed, like the rest of his communion, with the mistaken notion that the Roman Pontiff is, by Divine appoint- ment, the centre of catholic unity, he of course viewed the reformed as separated from the true Church, and he laboured for their conversion for several years. He was much re- spected by Beza, and the rest of the reformed in Switzer- land ; and the excellence of his own character, and the piety and meekness which he always evinced, probably did much more for his cause than any other arguments by which it was sustained. The plague at one time raged violently in the place where he resided, but this did not deter him from as sisting the sick in their last moments by day and night ; and he was wonderfully preserved in the pestilence, which carried off several of the clergy who aided him. In 1599 he became coadjutor of the bishop of Annecy, with the right of succes- sion to that see ; and soon after was obliged to go to France, where he was received by all ranks and classes with the ut- most distinction. He preached before the king, who en- deavoured to detain him in France by promises of a large pension, and of the first vacant bishopric : but Francis de Sales declined all these offers; and returning to the poor bishopric of Annecy, was soon after, on the death of his pre- deccssor, consecrated its pastor in 1602. He now laid down a plan of life, to which he ever after rigorously adhered. He resolved to wear no expensive clothing; to have nopaint- incrs except of a devotional character in his house ; to possess no splendid furniture ; to use no coach or carriage, but make his visitations on foot. His family was to consist of two priests, one to act as his chaplain, the other to superintend his servants and temporalities; his table to be plain and frugal. He resolved to be present at all religious and devotional meet- 212 ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. CH. XXV. ings and festivals in the churches; to distribute abundant alms ; to visit the sick and poor in person ; to rise every day at four, meditate for an hour, read private service, then prayers with his family; then to read the Scripture; celebrate the holy eucharist; and afterwards apply to busines-s till dinner. He then gave an hour to conversation, and spent the remain- der of the afternoon in business and prayer. After supper he read a pious book to his family for an hour ; then prayed with them, and retired to his private devotions, and to rest. Such was the general mode of life of this excellent man. Immediately after he became bishop, he applied himself to preaching, and to all the other duties of his station. He was very cautious in conferring holy orders, ordaining but few clergy, and only after a most rigid examination of their qualifications. He was also exceedingly diligent in promot- ing the instruction of the ignorant by catechising on Sundays and holydays; and his personal labours in this respect had a very great influence in persuading the clergy of his diocese to follow so good an example. He still continued to delight in preaching in small villages, and to the poorest people, whom he regarded as the special objects of his care. He had a very wide correspondence on religious subjects ; and composed several books full of piety and devotion, but of course not altogether free from the superstitions of his age and communion. His compassion was so excited by the un- happy condition of a poor deaf and dumb man, that he re- ceived him into his own family, taught him by signs, and in- structed him in religion. He founded a new order of nuns, in which few bodily austerities were practised, and no great burdens of religious observances were imposed ; his object being to render it suitable even for the sickly and weak. The same disinterested spirit which he had early manifest ed always continued. When l^e was solicited by Henry IV. king of France, to accept an abbey of large income, he rt fused it, saying, " that he dreaded riches as much as othei desired them; and that the less he had of them, the lees b ik.D. 1530-1660 FRANCIS DE SALES. 218 should have to answer for." The same prince offered to name him to the dignity of cardinal at the next promotion ; but he replied, that though he did not despise the proffered dignity, he was persuaded that great titles did not suit him, and might raise new obstacles to his salvation. His consci- entious firmness was also remarkable. On one occasion the parliament of Chambery in Savoy seized his temporalities for refusing, at its desire, to publish an ecclesiastical censure which he thought uncoiled for by the circumstances of the case. When he heard of the seizure of his possessions, he said that he thanked God for teaching him by it, "that a bishop is altogether spiritual." He did not desist from preaching, or apply to the sovereign for redress ; but behav- ed in so kind and friendly a manner to those who had insult. ed him most grossly, that at length the parliament became ashamed of its proceedings, and restored his temporalities. In 1619 he accompanied the Cardinal of Savoy to Paris, to demand the sister of King Louis XIII. in marriage for the prince of Piedmont. While he was in that city he preached a course of Lent sermons, which, aided by his conferences, the example of his holy life, and the sweetness of his di.s- cour'se, most powerfully moved, not only the devout, but even libertines and atheists. He was entreated, for the sake of his health, not to preach twice in the day. He re|)lied, with a smile, " that it cost him much less to preach a sermon than to find an excuse for himself when invited to perform that office. God had appointed him to be a pastor and a preacher, and ought not every one to follow his profession?" Amongst his common sayings was this, *' That truth must be always charitable, for bitter zeal does harm rather than good. Re- prehensions are a food of hard digestion, and ought to be dressed on a fire of burning charity so well, that all harsh- ness be taken away; otherwise, like unripe fruit, they will only produce pains. Charity seeks not itself nor its own in- terests, but purely the honour and interest of God. Pride, yanity, aud passion, cause bitterness and harshness. A re- 214 ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. CH. XXV medy injudiciously applied may be a poison. A judicious si- lence is always better than a truth spoken without charity." On one occasion, seeing a vicious and scandalous priest thrown into prison, he fell at his feet, and, with tears, conjur- ed him to have compassion on him his pastor, on religion which he scandalized, and on his own soul. The man was so deeply impressed by this conduct, that he was entirely con- verted, and became a virtuous man from that moment. In 1622 this holy bishop fell into sfn apoplexy; and as his illness slowly increased, he poured forth his soul in supplica- tion to God, and in all those expressions of devotion and hu- mility which might have been anticipated at the close of so Christian a life. He then peacefully expired, in the fifty-sixth year of his age. Vincent de Paul was born near the Pyrenees in France, of poor parentage, in 1576; and even from his childhood showed a seriousness and a love of prayer remarkable for his years. His father was determined, by the strong inclina- tions of his child for piety and study, and by the quickness of his parts, to give him a school-education ; and for this purpose placed him at a monastery of Franciscan friars. He afterwards studied at the University of Toulouse, where he was admitted to the order of priesthood in 1600. Vincent was already endowed with many virtues ; but he was now to experience trials which were calculated to make the deepest demands on his self-denial, his humility, and his submission to the will of God. He was on a voyage from Narbonne to Marseilles, on some affairs, in 1605, when the vessel in which he was sailing was captured by pirates from Africa, who wounded him with an arrow, laid him in chains, and sailed for the coast of Barbary. At Tunis, Vincent was sold as a slave to a physician, who was a humane man, but who used his utmost efforts to induce his slave to embrace the Mahom- medan law, promising, on that condition, to leave him all his riches, and communicate to him the secrets of his science. The result need scarcely be toH . Vincent remained firm in h.»l> 1530-1660. VINCENT DE PAUL. 215 his faith ; and on his master's death was sold to another Ma- hommedan, who treated him with extreme harshness and cruelty. He, however, learned to bear all his afflictions with comfort and joy, by remembering his blessed Redeemer, and studying to imitate his perfect meekness, patience, si- lence, and charity. At last he was sold again to a renegade (one who had apostatised from Christianity.) This man had several Turkish wives, one of whom frequently went to the field where Vincent was digging, and, out of curiosity, would ask him to sing the praises of God. He used to sing to her, with tears in his eyes, the Psalm, " By the waters of Babylon we sat down and wept," and several Christian hymns. She gradually became so much captivated with the excellence of .he Christian religion, though still unconverted and professing the Mahommedan cy*eed, that she continually reproached her husband for hisapostacy from so excellent a religion; and at length his conscience was so awakened, that he repented of his sin, and resolved to return to his country and his faith. In 1607 he made his escape to France, accompanied by Vin- cent de Paul. They afterwards went to Rome, where the enegade was received again into the Church. On Vincent's return to Paris, he served as curate at a neighbouring village, and afterwards became preceptor and spiritual director in a noble family; and here his remarkable success in awakening the sleeping conscience of a dying sin- ner to a full sense of his guilt, led to his employment in the mission of preaching repentance; for which purpose he be- came the founder of a congregation or society of clergy, who were bound to devote themselves to the conversion of sin- ners, and the training up of clergy for the holy ministry. They traversed every part of France, and engaged in the sacred office wherever their assistance, in aid of the ordinary minis- try, was particularly called for. Vincent lived to see this in- stitution become very extensive, and highly approved by the Church and State. He was also the founder of many other religious and char- 216 ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORV. CH. XXVI. itable societies, especially of the Society of Charity, for at- tending on all the poor sick persons in each parish; and of other societies for visiting the sick in hospitals, and for the education of girls. He also procured the foundation of many great hospitals. He instituted spiritual exercises for those who were about to receive holy orders, and ecclesiastical con- ferences on the duties of the clerical office. During the wars in Lorraine, hearing of the misery to which the people of that province were reduced, he collected alms amongst pious and charitable people at Paris to the amount of 100,000/. He was in the highest favour with King Louis XIIL and Queen Anne of Austria, who consulted him on all ecclesiasti- cal affairs, and on the collation of benefices. Amidst such a multiplicity of important affairs, his soul was always set on God. He was remarkable for self-denial, for profound humility, and for a spirit of prayer. He laid it down as a rule of humility, that, if possible, a man ought never to talk of his own concerns; such discourse usually proceeding from, and nourishing in the heart, the spirit of pride. At length, at the advanced age of eighty-four, this pious and profitable servant of God was called to his ever- lasting reward, amidst the veneration and love of all men. He died in 1660, and was buried in the church of St. Laza- ru3 at Paris. CHAPTER XXVI. ON THE ORIENTAL CHURCHES. A.D. 1517-1839. The faith and discipline of the eastern or Greek Churches in Russia, Turkey, Greece, Asia, Syria, and Egypt, have re- mained with scarcely any variation during the whole of this period. In the sixteenth century, the Lutherans souj^ht a A.D. 1517 1839. ORIENTAL CHURCHES. 217 union with the Constantinopolitan Church, but were prevented by various differences from accompHshing their wish. In the seventeenth century some intercourse toolc place between **le Constantinopolitan and English Churches. Cyril Luca- ris, patriarch of Constantinople, dedicated his work on the faith of the Eastern Church to King Charles I., and present- ed to him the celebrated Alexandrian manuscript of the Bible. And in 1653 Dr. Basire, archdeacon of Northum- berland, when travelling in Greece, was invited twice by the metropolitan of Achaia to preach before the bishops and cler- gy ; and he received from Paisius, patriarch of J-erusalem, his patriarchal seal, to express his desire of communion with the Church of England. The communion of our Churches and those of the East has not, however, yet been restored. In the seventeenth century, also, the doctrine of transubstantiation was first embraced by a portion of the Greek Church, though many persons still only make use of the term, without believ ing the Roman doctrine on the subject. In the latter part of the sixteenth century the Russian Church, which had previously always been subject to the see of Constantinople, became independent ; for, at the desire of the Russians, a patriarch of Moscow was ere- ^^■r.r. 1 , , . , T^ , A.D. 1589. ated by the eastern patriarchs. reter the Great, in the last century, suppressed this office, and appoint- ed a synod to conduct the affairs of the Rus- -,^_ sian Church. He also reformed several abuses and corruptions in that Church ; but these improvements were not relished by some of the clergy and people, who were at- tached to the old superstitions and abuses, and who, like the Romanists in England and Ireland, separated -^„P from the Church, and are termed Roskolniks, or schismatics. Within the last few years the Church in the newly created kingdom of Greece has also been withdrawn from the jurisdiction of the see of Constantinople, and placed under the direction of a synod of bishops : but this has not led to any division in the eastern Church ; for, unlike the 19 218 ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. CH. XXVIl popes, the patriarchs of Constantinople do not treat as here- tics or schismatics every one who is not subject to their juris- diction. The Greek Church has also recently gained a con- siderable addition, by the reunion of those Churches in Po. land who held the Greek rites, and which had been for some time obedient to the pope. CHAPTER XXVII. ON THE RISE AND PROGRESS OF INiTDELITY. I HAVE already alluded to the spread of infidelity in the last century ; but a circumstance so deeply affecting the Chris- tian Church deserves a more detailed notice. It is fearful to contemplate the excess of wickedness to which God some- times permits his enemies to proceed. One can hardly ima- gine that any human being in his senses, who was born in a Christian land, and who had been baptised and educated in a Christian Church, could be so far transported by his passions as to declare himself the enemy of Jesus Chri-st ! The heart trembles at the very notion of such blasphemy. But that a man should, for nearly seventy years, devote himself to the extirpation of Christianity ; to the destruction of that faith which alone consoles man amidst his afflictions and his fears ; to the extinction of every principle of virtue and morality, and the inculcation of general depravity, — this opens to our view a deeper gulf of human guilt than even the records of Scrip- ture supply, or the imagination could have conceived. Such was Voltaire; a man whose private life was defiled by the grossest immorality, and whose heart burned with such a de- moniacal hatred of Him who came down from heaven and voluntarily sacrificed himself on the cross for the salvation of sinners, that he adopted afi his watchword on all occa- sions those awful words, " Ecrasez Pinfame !" — Crush the CH. XXVII. INFIDELITY. 219 wretch! that is, "Crush Christ; crush the Christian reli- gion !" Such was the language and the feeling of that or- ganized band of infidels, who in the earlier part of last century associated in the impious attempt to subvert Chris tianity. England had been already disgraced by the writings of some unbelievers; but the works of Herbert and Boling- broke, of Collins and Tindal, had produced little effect on the good sense and religious principles of the English nation. The clergy effectually exposed their errors, and they became the objects of popular hatred ; but they were unhappily des- tined to find a more congenial soil in France. Voltaire was born in Paris in 1694, and lived to the age of eighty-four, dying in the year 1778. He was endowed with great natural abilities, quickness, versatility, wit ; with a re- markable power of sarcasm ; and a pointed, easy, and fluent style, which was unrestrained by any principles of truth or decency. While he was at college, he manifested so scepti- cal a spirit, that his preceptor one day said to him, *' Unfor- tunate young man, at some future time you will become the standard bearer of infidelity." After he had left college, he associated only with persons of infamous morals ; and having published some infidel opinions, which gave offence to the ruling powers of France, he retired to England, where he be- came acquainted with several unbelievers like himself. Here he formed his resolution to destroy Christianity; and on his return to Paris, in 1730, he made no secret of his design and his hopes. " I am weary," he would say, " of hearing peo- ple repeat that twelve men were sufficient to establish Chris- tianity. I will prove that one may suffice to overthrow it." In order to accomplish his design, Voltaire found it neces- sary to obtain the assistance of several coadjutors : of these D'Alembert was the chief. He was remarkable for his crafty cunning, which enabled him to insinuate infidelity in the most plausible and least offensive manner. His expressions were generally moderate ; while Voltaire used to express his wish 220 ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. CH. XXVTI. that he might " die on a heap of Cliristians immolated at his feet." Another associate was Frederick II., king of Prussia, a great general and statesman, but a shallow philosopher. He was in continual correspondence with Voltaire ; compliment- ed him on being the " scourge of religion ;" and plotted for its destruction. Diderot was another coadjutor of Voltaire, who with D' Alembert devoted themselves even till death to the pursuit of their unhallowed design. I have already spoken of the watchword of this associa- tion, the object of which was the overthrow of every altar where Christ was worshipped. It was not merely the Galli- can or Roman doctrine which was marked out for destruc- tion. In the latter part of his career, Voltaire exulted at the dissemination of Hume's infidel principles in England, and at the prospect of the fall of the Church of England, exclaim- ing with delight, that " in London Christ wa§ spurned.^^ On another occasion, he rejoiced that " in Geneva, Calvin's own town," but few believers remained. Voltaire invited men to forsake their religion by promising them liberty of thought. He declared, that *' nothing was so contemptible and miserable in his eyes, as to see one man have recourse to another in matters of faith, or to ask what he ought to believe." Reason, liberty, and philosophy, were continually in the mouths of Voltaire and D'Alembert. Their adherents represented them as " devoutly waiting for those days when the sun should shine only on free men, ac- knowledging no other master but their own reason.'^ Voltaire had but little of the spirit of martyrdom : his continual exhor- tation to the conspirators was, to " strike, but conceal their hands;" that is, to write anonymously. " The monster" (Christianity,) he said, " must fall, pierced by a hundred in- visible hands; yes, let it fall beneath a thousand repeated blows." In accordance with this advice, the press swarmed with anonymous publications of the most impious character. The principal mode of propagating infidelity was the publica- tion of the celebrated Encyclopedia, of which D'Alembert CH. XXVII. INFII>ELITT. 221 was the editor, and which was to contain so perfect an assem- blage of all the arts and sciences, as to render all other books superfluous. The utmost caution was used in insinuating infidel principles, lest the design should be detected, and crushed by the hand of power. All the principal articles on religion were written in such a manner as to avoid offence ; while by means of references a-t the conclusion of each, the reader was directed to places where open infidelity was taught, [rreligion and atheism were inculcated even in articles on chemistry, or other sciences, where their existence could not be suspected. When this work was completed, it obtained an immense circulation. Numberless editions were printed, in each of which, under pretence of correction, more impiety was intro- duced. In one of these, a respectable and learned divine, M. Bergier, was persuaded into writing the part which treat- ed of religion, lest it should fall into the hands of unbeliev- ers ; but it was easy to foresee what actually happened : his name conferred respectability on the book, while all its other articles teemed with the most dreadful impiety and blas- phemy. Infidelity now rapidly spread through France, and through every part of the continent of Europe ; several of the crown- ed heads were more or less favourable. The Empress of Russia, the Kings of Prussia, Denmark, Poland, Sweden, and all the princes of Germany, were either admirers of Voltaire or avowed infidels. The abominable licentiousness of the court of France assisted the conspiracy : the French ministry, tainted with infidelity, refused to put the laws in force for the suppression of blasphemous, infidel, and immoral publica- tions, which now issued in a flood from the press. The most eminent scientific men, and the most popular writers of France, such as Buffbn, Lalande, Marmontel, Rousseau, were unbelievers. It is awful to contemplate the excess of wicked- ness at which these men had arrived. The history of this tirn^ relates, that " above all the adepts did a fiend named Con 19* 222 ECCLESIASTICAL mSTORY. CH. XXYII. dorcet hate the Son of God. At the very name of the Dei- ty the monster raged ! And it appeared as if he wished to revenge on Heaven the heart it had given him." Infidelity had widely spread among the higher orders ; it was now to be disseminated amongst the lowest. Infidel and blasphemous tracts were printed in myriads, and circulated profusely in all parts. Diderot and D'Alembert disputed on Christianity in the coffee-rooms of Paris; and the pretended advocate of Christianity took care always to be defeated. It is lamentable to add, that the clergy of the Roman com munion were not universally to be found on the side of Chris- tianity. The ecclesiastical patronage of the state, indeed, was too often exercised for the subversion of religion. The Abbe Barruel observes, with reference to France, that " the enemies of the Church possessed themselves of its avenues, to prevent the preferment of those whose virtues or learning they dreaded. When the bishops wished to repel an unwor- thy member, Choiseul, the infidel minister, replied, * such are the men we want and will have.'" Cardinal de Brienne, archbishop of Toulouse, was a friend of D'Alembert, and became an open apostate from religion. He was followed by the bishops of Autun, Viviers, Orleans, Lydda, Babylon, &c. In the infidel association of the " Illuminati" were many priests, and even a high dignitary of the German Church. The names of the Abbes Raynal, De Prades, Condillac, De Leire, Morrelet, Terray, Marsy, &c., are unhappily but too well known as connected with infidelity. Numbers of Jaco- bin and infidel priests were also found in Italy, Spain, and other parts of the Continent. The majority, however, of the Roman clergy throughout Europe retained their faith, and, under the most grievous afflictions and persecutions for the name of Christ, evinced an increased measure of zeal and piety. Voltaire was received with a sort of popular triumph at Paris in 1778 ; but very shortly after, this enemy of God and man expired in the most dreadful torments of agony and re- CH. XXVII. INFIDELITY. 223 morse. His associates did not long survive him; but the seed which they had sown was now to produce its bitter fruit. All religious and all moral principle being now extinguish- ed, and every passion of man's nature being left without con- trol, human society perished amidst the horrors of the French Revolution of 1789. Amidst rebellion, anarchy, plunder, desolation, famine, massacre, and every imaginable evil, the reign of infidelity commenced. The worship and ministry of Christianity were proscribed, and God was no longer acknowledged. Then was beheld the woful spectacle of bishops and priests hastening to the infidel assembly of France, casting from them the ensigns of their ministry, and proclaiming themselves no longer believers in God. The Roman Church, scourged for her sins, and especially for that spirit of pride which resists all efforts for the removal of superstitions, beheld her pope despoiled of his territories, and the captive of Buonaparte ; her revenues plundered in France and Italy; her monasteries suppressed; her bishops driven from their sees into exile, or dying beneath the guillotine ; her clergy perishing by the hand of the executioner, or by more wholesale massacre. She beheld faith vanishing away, and a generation of men arising without religion. Although the return of peace and order has been favoura- ble to the restoration of Christianity, and though additional fervour may have been added to faith so sorely tried and af- flicted, yet it is certain that the effects of the infidel conspiracy of last century have been deep and lasting. It is true, indeed,' that Christianity has for many years past been less directly assailed; that infidelity may have been less industriously pro- pagated; but still an infidel and perverse generation lives without God in the world ; and in France, more especially, the prevalence of this deadly evil is so great, that an eloquent ecclesiastic of that nation (La Mennais) some years since declared, that " the state to which we are approaching is one of the signs by which will be recognised that last war an- oounced by Jesus Christ : ' nevertheless, when the Son of 224 ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. CH. XXVIl. man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth?' " " What," said he, " do you perceive every where but a profound indif- ference as to duties and creeds, with an unbridled love of pleasure and of gold, by means of which any thing can be obtained ? All is bought, for all is sold ; conscience, honour, religion, opinions, dignities, power, consideration, even re spect : a vast shipwreck of all truths and all virtues." In difference, total indifference to religion ; the uttermost neg lect and contempt of Christianity, as a thing unworthy of examination, are the characteristics of modern infidelity in France. In Germany the spirit of unbelief assumes the name of Rationalism, and pretends to respect the character of Christ ; while, under the guise of Christianity, it boldly subjects the revelation of God to the judgment and criticisms of man's reason, rejects all that is incomprehensible by our limited faculties, deprives the Gospel of all its peculiar and divinely revealed doctrines, tramples in contempt on the universal belief of all Christians from the beginning, arraigns the Scriptures themselves falsehood and folly ; and leaves the mind at last without one particle of Christian faith or hope- This destructive system arose among the Protestants of Ger- many after the middle of the last century. It has unhappily become almost universally prevalent amongst them. Though England has, through the infinite mercy of God, been comparatively unvisited by the scourges which have so terribly afflicted the nations of the Continent, and though open infidelity has been always met, confronted, and subdued by the energy of religious zeal, it cannot but inspire alarm to behold the wide dissemination of principles which tend, by a very short descent, to the overthrow of all faith. Such ap- pears to be the character of that most erroneous notion, that sincerity is the only test of religion ; so that he who per- suades himself that he is right in his faith, believes all that is necessary for his salvation : for if this be true, it cannot be necessary to believe any particular doctrine of Christianity ; CH. XXVIII. CONCLUSION. 225 it cannot be necessary to prefer Christ to Mahomet ; and be- lief in Christ cannot be (as the Gospel says it is) the condi- tion on which men shall be saved. How true is it that the Evil one clothes himself as an angel of light ! In the last century infidelity appeared under the specious garb of philoso- phy and freedom of thought : it is now insinuating itself un- der the disguise of charity, kindness, and liberality. All modes of faith are treated with impartial favour, all are re- garded as equally true; and the hour may be at hand, when the necessary conclusion will be drawn, that they are all equally false. There is much in the spirit of the age to threaten such lamentable results ; — a spirit of insatiable in- quiry, not always accompanied by modesty or patience; a thirst for novelty; a superficial information; the adoration of intellect and of knowledge ; and the exclusive devotion of men to sciences which relate to merely material objects. All combine to show the dangers to which belief is exposed ; and to warn the Church of God that renewed watchfulness, and humility, and zeal, are more than ever imperatively called for. CHAPTER XXVIII. CONCLUSION. We have now briefly traced the progress of the Church of Christ through eighteen centuries of its varied existence. In the midst of temptations and dangers, the ark of eternal truth has still been preserved by an x\lmighty hand. That '•city set on an hill," that "ensign" which was once "set up to the Gentiles," has never been concealed. The Church has always continued to preach "Christ crucified" as the Sa- viour of the world, and to urge the necessity of believing and obeying his words; and amidst the existing diversities of re. ligious doctrine it will be found, that all those churches which 226 ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. CH. XXVIII. have not arisen from schism or voluntary separation from the universal Church, agree to a very great extent in their be- lief. In proof of this, it may be observed, that the three creeds, called the Apostles', the Nicene, and the Athanasian, are accepted and approved equally by the Greek or Oriental, the British, and the Roman Churches, as well as by the re- lics of the foreign reformation. The same doctrines which were universally received in the second century are still so in the nineteenth. All Churches believe, and with one mouth confess, one God, who created the world by his only-begotten Son, Our Lord Jesus Christ, who being co-eternal with the Father, and of equal glory, and power, and majesty, came down from heaven and became man for our salvation, and in his human nature suffered death on the cross, and as- cended into heaven, making an eternal and all-sufficient atone- ment and intercession for us. All believe that the condition of man by nature is such, that he is unable without the aid cf Divine grace to turn to God and become pleasing and ac- ceptable to him ; that to sinful man Divine grace is given by the free and unmerited mercy of God ; and that he is enabled by the sanctifying influences of the eternal Spirit of God, the third person in the most blessed Trinity, to triumph over the sins and infirmities of his nature, and to become sanctified by faith and the love of God, bringing forth the fruits of obe- dience. All believe that we shall give an account of our works at the last judgment, when the righteous shall be re- warded with life eternal, and the wicked consigned to ever- lasting fire. The holy Scriptures of the Old and New Tes- tament are universally acknowledged to be the word of God, given by inspiration of the Holy Ghost. The sacraments instituted by Christ are celebrated amongst all nations ; and the same Christian ministry has descended by successive or- dinations of bishops from the time of the apostles to the pre- sent day. Such is the substantial and real agreement in doctrine which exists between Churches which are in some respects dissentient ^rom each other. Their differences CH. XXVIII. CONCLUSION. 227 turn chiefly on doctrines and practices not taught by our Lord, but which some men in later ages have imagined to be deducible from revelation, or to be allowable and justifiable. Questions as to the truth and lawfulness of such doctrines and practices divide the Christian Churches; but it will probably be found that no article of the faith, no doctrine clearly and distinctly revealed by our Lord, is denied by any of these Churches. It may be added, that many even of the sectaries or schis- matics, who have voluntarily forsaken the Church, still main- tain the great mass of Christian doctrine, however destitute they may be of Christian charity. The union of the Christian Church, flowing from a common faith, and hope, and charity, was indeed enjoined and urged by our blessed Lord and Saviour ; but no promise was given that the Church should at all times be united in external com- munion. The divisions which have for a long time existed, arose chiefly, if not entirely, from the mistaken notions of the papal authority entertained by the popes and their adherents during the eleventh and following centuries. If it should please God to open the eyes of Romanists to their error on this point, we might have some reason to hope for the ap- proach of those happy days predicted in holy Scripture, when " Ephraim shall not envy Judah, and Judah shall not vex Ephraim." On the doctrine of the papal supremacy the whole mass of superstitions which we deplore to see in the Roman communion essentially depends. It is this doctrine which leads Romanists to view the Oriental and British Churches separated from the true Church; and which renders it equally impos- sible for those Churches to hope for the restoration of general harmony and union. And while we lament the disunion of the Christian Church, we have also to deplore the multitude of abuses and errors which in many parts of the world choke the good seed and make it unfruitful. Superstitions which arose *' while m^n slept," still continue, almost unchecked and unresisted, to 228 ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. CH. XXVIII. prevail. The ignorant are in many Churches left exposed to the danger of honouring the creature instead of the Crea- tor, by the worship of images, and the invocation of saints. On all sides there is much of infirmity, of imperfection, and of sin. Every Church and every age has its temptations and its faults. At one peried there may be a tendency to superstition; at another, a tendency to self-confidence, spirit- ual pride, or irreverence. Those who are ready to reject all usurped authority in religion, may not be altogether free from a spirit of pride, and a disposition to resist even legitimate rule. A fear of bigotry and enthusiasm may sometimes be found united with slothfulness and indifference. To every Church and every individual, the apostolic precept, " Be not high minded, but fear," should be the subject of continual meditation and prayer. It is only in this spirit that we should ever dwell on the faults of others, or on the blessings which the mercy of God has vouchsafed to bestow on ourselves. But, amidst our sorrows for the numerous evils with which the sin and infirmity of human nature have afflicted the Church, we are consoled by the perpetuity of the Church it- self, and by the many examples of Christian sanctity which have in every age adorned our holy faith. Nothing can more powerfully prove to us the presence of God with his Church, than the lives of those men whom Divine grace has trans- formed into the image of Christ. There is in true religion a REALITY which comcs home to the heart of every one ; which stimulates the feeblest faith, and animates the most languid oharity. TUB END. QUESTIONS ON PALMER'S COMPENDIOUS ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTION. Pagb. Question. 1 1. What impressive lesson is derived from the history of the world ? 2. What counteracting tendency is visible in the history of the Church ? 3. How has true religion essentially been always the same? 2 4. With what inclinations has it had to contend? 5. W^hat is the life of a true Christian? 3 6. How is the Church of Christ described in Scripture ? 7. What external trials was it to endure ? 8. What dangers from heretical teachers ? 4 9. What has saved the Church from destruction? 10. What promises have been given by the Saviour? 11. In what respects does the History of the Church differ from other histories, and what proofs of the truth of Christianity are thereby afforded ? 12. Into how many periods may it be divided ? 6 13. Give the limits and character of the 1st period? 14. " " 2nd « 15. " " 3rd " 16. " " 4th " 17. " " 5th « CHAPTER II. — EARLY PROGRESS OF CHRISTIANITY. — A. D. 30 — 320 6 1. To what is the Church compared in Scripture ? 2. How has the event corresponded with the predictions ? 3. What commission did Christ give, and when? 4. How many disciples were assembled after our Lord's ascension.' 5. How was their number increased, and when? 6. To what city was it as yet confined ? 7 7. What good effect had the persecution at Jerusalem? give the date? 8. Whither was Christianity extended ? 9. What effect had the preaching of St. Paul upon the Gentiles? des- cribe his journeys : What is the date of his martyrdom? 8 10. Where did the other apostles labour? 11. To whom does St. Peter address his 1st Epistle? Whence does he date it? 12. What Church did St. Mark found ? 13. What other countries are said to have been visited? 14. What is the testimony of Tacitus, and the date? 9 15. What is the language and the date of the letter of Pliny? 16. Give the testimony of Justin Martyr: of Irenaeus: of TertuUian : and their respective dates? 10 17. What nations were converted during' the next century? 15. Who was the first Christian Emperor? CHAPTER III. OF THE FAITH OF THE CHURCH 10 1. What did the promises of Christ to his disciples imply? 2. What conclusion may we hence derive? 11 3. What weight is due to the confession of Irenaeus? 4. What are the doctrines he sets forth? 6. How does he say they were received by the Church of his day ? 20 230 QUESTIONS ON palmek's compendious Page. Question. 11 6. Show their agreement with the Apostles' and Nicene creed? 12 7. What says Pliny as to the worship of Christ? 8. What does the coiidemnation of heretics illustrate? 9. How were Theodotus and Artemon treated at Rome? the date? 10. How was Paul of Samosata treated at Antioch? the date ? 11. What does the Epistle of the Synod state? 12. What was the error of Praxeas, Noetus, and Sabellius ; and hon was it received by the Church? the date? 13 13. What were the heresies of the Gnostics, and Mauichseans ? CHAPTER IV. — rRTJITS OF TAITH : MARTTRS. 1. How has the power of true faith been especially exhibited ^ 2. What hope encouraged them? 3. What afflictions did they endure? 14 4. Who were their earliest enemies? 5. Who was the first great persecutor ? the date ? 6. What is the description given by Tacitus ? 7. What punishments were inflicted ? 15 8. How did the heathen regard the steadfastness of the suflferers? 9. What Apostles perished in this persecution? 10. Under what emperor was the next persecution? the date? 11. What befell the Apostle St. John? 12. What other persecutions took place ? 13. Which of these was the most severe ? 16 14. What is the date of the martyrdom of Polycarp? 15. What account have we of it ? 16. Did he flee from persecution? 17. How did he behave when arrested ? 18 18. What was the character of his prayer? 19. What was he persuaded to off"er : and how was he treated on refusingf 20. How was he received in the amphitheatre ? 21. What did the proconsul tell him to do? 22. What was his reply? 18 23. How long had he been a Christian? 24. What did he say of future punishment ? 25. How was his confession received by the multitude ' 19 26. To what death was he sentenced? 27. Who especially aided in his execution? 28. For what did he give thanks to God, when at the stake? 29. What confession did he make in this prayer? 20 30. What appearance is said to have been exhibited at his death j and how may it be accounted for? 31. What did his enemies endeavour to prevent ? 32. What does the epistle teach as to the worship of Christ? 33. Name some other martyrs for the truth? CHAPTER V. FRUITS OF FAITH : LIVES OF CHRISTIANS. 21 1. Was the profession of faith easy at this time ? 2. What was the effect on the true followers of Christ ? 3. Whai has been the result of the cessation of persecution? 4. What has increased in later ages? 5. What was evidenced in the lives of the early Christians » 22 6. Give the testimony of Justin Martyr? 7. How did Christians show their charity? ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 231 Paqe QucaTioN 22 8. How often was the Holy Eucharist administered ? 9. What does Tertullian say of christian marriages ? 10. Between whom only ought they to be contracted ? 11. What is said of St. Ignatius ? his date ? 23 12. Of Justin Martyr? of Polycarp ? the dates? 13. Of Irenaeus? his date ? 14. Of Tertullian? Clement of Alexandria ? Origen? Cyprian ? Dionysius? 15. How long are miracles said to have continued? CHAPTER VI. COMMUNION, RITES AND DISCIPLINE. 24 I. What precept is especially inculcated in Scripture 2. What duty hence arises as to Church Commun ion 3. How did the Apostles regard schism? 4. When did Church Communion exist in greatest perfection ? 5. How was it manifested in the days of the AjJostles? 6. Did it continue after their decease? 25 7. What were letters commendatory? 8. Why was the Epistle of St. Clement of Rome Avritten? 9. What other epistles are mentioned ? 10. What does Dionysius say of the Church of Rome in the 2nd century? 1 1 . What is the testimony of Dionysius of Alexandria in the next century? 12. What instances of contention are there even in the times of the Apostles ? 13. State the particulars of the contest concerning Easter ; and when it happened ? 26 14. State the difference between Stephen of Rome and the African Churches ? 15. What was the result of this difference ? 16. What was the difference between these dissensions and formal schisms ? 17. What was the effect of each? 18. What was the Novatian schism and when did it happen ? 19. What was the Donatist schism? when? how long did it last? 37 20. How were these separations regarded in the early church? 21. Of what does Justin Martyr give a full account ? 22. What qualifications does he mention for baptism ? 23. What does he call baptism and those baptized ? 24. What does he say of the mode of baptism? 25. How were all converts made members of the Christian Church? 26. What was done when infants were baptized ? 27. How early at least was the practice of infant baptism? 28. What was the question in Cyprian's time ? 28 29. Were infants admitted to circumcision? 30. What did our Lord do to little children? 31. What is said o( households in the New Testament ? 32. What conclusion did the church draw therefrom? 33. What rite followed baptism ? 34. What did the apostles do to those baptized ? 35. What does Tertullian say of it? 36. Why was confirmation generally administered soon after baptism ? 37. What does Justin say of assemblies for public worship ? 29 38. W^hat is said of the consecration of the bread and wine ? 39. What was done with it when consecrated ? 40. What name was given it, and who only were permitted to receive itf 41. How did the Christians receive and regard it ? 42. What does he say of the institution of this sacrament ? 232 QL'CSTIOXS ON PALMER'S COMPENDIOUS Page Question. 30 43. Whom did they bless in their offerings ? 44. How did they observe Sunday ? 45. What collections did they make, and for what purpose ? 46. Why did they assemble on Sunday ? 47. What confession of faith was made previous to baptism ? 48. What did Philip require of the Eunuch? 49. How ancient are creeds ? the Apostles' ? the Nicene ? 31 50. How many liturgies were there in the 4th century ? 51. Where were they severally employed ? 62. What power had each church ? 53. Which liturgy does the Englishj^and American most resemble ? 64. What was the nature of peni,tence for secret sins ? 65. What penitence did the Church require for public ones ? 32 56. What was the discipline observed? 57. What was done when the time was finished ? 58. What was the office of the penitentiary ? when instituted ? 59. Why was it di«ontinued and when? 33 60. Of what orders did tlie ministry instituted by the Apostles consisl \ 61. What does Irenceus say on the subject? 62. Where was Timothy placed ? where Titus ? 63. For how long jvas episcopal government only recognized ? 64. Which were the chief sees ? 65. How were all bishoprics regarded as to spiritual authority? 66. How were the clergy appointed ? 67. What was ordination ? 68. How was the bishop aided ? what did he administer ? 34 69. What was administered to the dying? CHAPTER VII. THE SIX CECUMENICAL SYNODS. A. D- 320 G80 1. What dangers assailed the Church when persecution ceased ? 2. What arch heretic first arose ? the date ? 3. How long did Arianism disturb the Church? 4. What was the doctrine it taught? 35 5. Of whom did the council at Knee consist? the date? 6. What was the decree pronounced ? » 7. What creed was then established and how was it received? 5. What did the Arians now strive to effect ? 9. Wlio was the chief object of their hostility : of what was he ac- cused ? 10. What did the Meletians allege against him ? 36 11. When was the Synod of Tyre held, and for what purpose? 12. Whither was Athanasius banished ? 13. What was the end of Arius ? 14. What became of Athanasius under Constantius ? 37 15. To whom did he appeal ? 16. When was the council of Sardica held, and what did it decide? 17. Relate the restoration of Athanasius ? 38 IS. Why were the Synods of Aries and Milan held, and where ? 19. What remarkable escape had Athanasius ? 39 20. When was the council of Ariminumheld ? what creed was there proposed ? what temporary triumph was gained ? 21. What did France and Italy declare ? 22. What was done in Egypt about the same time ? 23. What happened under Julian ? 40 24. Describe the final triumph of the Nicene faith? 25. To what was Arianisnj indebte(l»for its temporary power? ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 238 Page Question. 41 26. What heres-y next arose ? 27. In what council was it condemned ? when? 2S. What oilier heresies broke out? 29. Wliat lieatheu countries were converted ? SO. What troubles now arose ? where ? 42 31. Who invaded Africa? 32. What was the influence on learning? 33. What did Pelagius teach? where did he live ? 34. How were his doctrines generally regarded? 35. What did the council of Carthage decree? when ? 43 36. Who was Nestorius? what did he teach? 37. When was the council of Ephesus held? what did it d-ecree ? 44 38. Wheredid the Nestorians establish themselves ? 39. What error did Eutyches teach, who supported him 1 40. When was the council of Chalcedon held : of how many bishops did it consist? 41. What decree did it pass? 42. What name is given to the adherents of Dioscorus? 45 43. What conversions took place about this time ? 44. By whom was Ireland converted ? 45. What Frank monarch received baptism ? when? 46. What controversy now arose in the East? . 47. Where was the olh (Ecumenical Svnod held? 46 48. What mission was sent to Britain ? by whom? when? 49. Did the ancient British Church still subsist? 50. What was the Monothelite heresy? who were its principal sup- porters? 47 51. What was the 6th CEcumenical Synod ? when held ^ 52. What is said of Honorius of Rome ? 53. What is to be observed of subsequent Synods? 54. What impostor now arose in the East? the date ? 55. What became of the Church in Africa ? 56. Has Christianity survived in the East? 48 67. What European nations were converted ? by whom ? CHAPTER VIII. FRUITS OF FAITH. SAINTS AND MARTYRS. 1. How has the promise of Christ been thus far verified ? 49 2. Into what two classes may the holy men of this period be divided? 3. Who first exhibited the monastic life ? 4. Is it easy to appreciate justly the ascetic system of this age ? 5. What influence has the world upon the heart ? 50 6. What was the practice of many of the early Christians ? 7, What was the life they led ? 8. What was their intention in so doing? 51 9. Of what country was Antony? when did he live? 10. Relate some particulars of his life ? 52 11. What is said of his humility and learning? of his charity? 12. How did he regard Arianism ? 53 13. What did he say of his burial? 14. What were the rules of the monasteries ? 54 15. In what E. countries did this institution spread? 16. By whom was it introduced into the W.f 17. What duties were fulfilled by those who entered into it? 55 IS. Into what errors did Eustathius fall? 19. What was the conduct of Simeon Slylites? his character? 56 20 Givr an account of Hilary of Poicliers : of Eusebins of VercellJB 20* 234 QUESTIONS ON PALMER'S COMPENDIOUS Page. Question. 56 20 of Lucifer of Cagliari: Eusebius of Caesarea: Cyril of Jerusalem ! 57 21. What at first was the profession of St. Martin of Tours? 22. How is it said he was converted? 23. How (lid he behave among the robbers ? 24. How did he conduct himself as bishop? 58 25. How did he treat the emperor Maximus? 26. Give some account of Basil: of what place was he bishop? 59 How was he distin2;uished against the Arians? 27. Also of Gregory of Nazianzum: of what places was he bishop? (iO 28. Who was Ambrose ? of what see was he archbishop ? what was his character? how did he resist Theodosius? 61 29. For what was St. John Chrysostom distinguished? of what see was he bishop ? why was he deposed ? where did he die ? 62 30. Give some account of Jerome. 31. Of what country was Augustine a native? what was his early life ? how was he converted ? of what see was he bishop ? for what is 63 he celebrated ? 32. Against what parties did Cyril of Alexandria, and Leo of Rome contend ? 33. Who was St. Benedict? CHAPTER IX. — UNITY AND DISCIPLINE OF THE CHURCH. 1. What christian Church early obtained distinction? why? 64 2. What constituted the patriarchate of Rome ? by whom approved ? 3. What power did the council of Sardica give this see? was it gene- rally approved of? 4. What encroachment was made in the 4th century? in the 5th and in the 6th? 5. What pretence was set up for this claim ? 65 6. How was the asking of its advice interpreted ? 7. Did any good effects result from the influence of this see? 8. What was forbidden in the third general council ? 9. How did this apply to the case of Britain ? 66 10. What rival see now rose into dignity? what were the several steps? 11. Who were the other patriarchs; 12. Was the Communion of the Church interrupted ? in what cases ? 67 Athanasius? Chrysostom? Acacius? 5th Synod? 13. What dispute arose between the British and Roman churches? 14. What effect had these withdrawals of communion? 68 15. What principle was still kept in view? CHAPTER X. — RISE OF ABUSES AND CORRUPTIONS. 68 1. Into what did the faith of the early christians sometimes degenev« ate: the causes? 2. How did the invocation of saints arise ? 69 3. When was it first introduced into litanies ? 4. How were the relics of saints and martyrs regarded ? 5. What abuses hence arose ? 6. When were they placed in churches ? 70 7. What were pilgrimages ? 8. Wliat effect had they on the ancient discipline? 9. What use was made of pictures and sculpture? 10. What did Epiphanius? Serenus? Gregory the great? in relatioato them. ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 335 Page. Question. 71 11. What was the earliest miraculous gift in the Church ? 'Rrhy ? 12 What language did each nation employ in worship ? give examples? 13. Why was the Latin language used in the west ? 72 14. Where was it erroneously used ? 15. What evil effect had its adoption ? 16. What vpas the rule of the E. churches ia relation to the marriage of the clergy? 17. When was it first prohibited in the W. church? and when finally 73 enforced ? J 8. What was the opinion of the early church as to the righteous after death? 19. What prayers did they offer? why ? 20. State the opinion of Origen? of Augustine? 21. What view did Gregory the Great hold ? how was it received? 74 22. When was the doctrine of purgatory declared an article of faith' CHAPTER XI. PROGRESS OF CHRISTIANITY. 680 1054. 1. What was the general state of things during this period ? 2. Was the authority of the laws regarded ? 3. What incursions were made by barbarous nations ? . 4. Are we able to discern the fulfilment of Christ's promise and how i 75 5. What progress did the Saracens make ? 6. Did they extirpate Christianity in the countries conquered ? 7. Where did Boniface labour? 8. How was Bavaria converted ? 9. What other countries received the gospel? 76 10. How did Charlemagne extend it? 11. What N. nations were converted? 12. What missions were carried on by the E. Church? 13. Give some account of the conversion of Russia? 14. — — of the Normans : of Poland ? 77 15. — _ of Hungary? CHAPTER XII. FAITH OF THE CHURCH. 1. What doctrines were still universally believed ? 2. What is said of Elipandus ? 3. Of the Paulicians ? 78 4. Of Berengarius ? 5. How were the Scriptures regarded ? 6. What was the chief controversy? 7. What superstitions prevailed in relation to images ? 8. What Greek emperors opposed them ? 79 9. What synod condemned their use ? 10. How were they used in the W. Church at this time ? 11. What did the synod at Nice decree? 12. How did the E. and W. Churches receive this decree ? 13. How do their historians speak of this synod ? 80 14. What was the course of the bishops of Rome ? 15. What was the intention of the Church in allowing the use of images ? 16. Why were they removed at the Reformation? 17. What was the opinion of Agobard ? 18. What was the doctrine of the Church in relation to the Eucharist 19. What view did Paschasius Ratbert hold ? 61 20. What errors did Scotus fall into ? 236 QUESTIONS ON PALMER S COMPENDIOUS Page. Question. 81 21. To what Churches was this controversy confined ? 22. What was the practice as to private confession ? 23. What views were held concerning its necessity? 82 24. What did the council of Cavaillon acknowledge ? 25. What does Gratian say? 26. What did the council of Lateran direct ? 27. What did many Romish writers still maintain? 83 28. What did the council of Trent decree ? CHAPTER XIII. FRUITS OF FAITH. 1. What difficulties did religion suffer under? 2. What usurpations and desecrations of Church revenues ensued ? 3. With what were bishops and monasteries often invested ? wb^jre ? 4. Were churches and monasteries always respected ? 5. What was the effect on learning? 84 6. Were these evils always regarded with unconcern? 7. What was the language of Hervey and his fellow bishops? v^ha*. does he say of the clergy ? of the laity ? 85 8. WTiat are the characteristics of the religion of this period ? 9. What efforts were made for the heathen ? 10. What was the conduct of many monarchs? 86 11. Who was Beda? state his learning — his works — his virtues — his letter to Egbert — his views as to the communion — his death — 87 what did he translate ? 12. Give an account of Luitprand — 13. — — — Carloman — 88 14. — — — Charlemagne — of his zeal for religion — his cha- rity— 15. — — — the emperor Louis. 89 16. Who was St. Boniface ? where did he labour ? why did he go tr Rome ? what proof is there of his courage ? how did he esteem the Scriptures? 90 17. What was he made afterwards? what council did he hold ? 18. What were his views of his office ? 19. To what country did he afterwards go ? what was his success ? 91 20. Give an account of his death ? 21. — — — of Gregory : how did he treat the robbers ? sho\% 92 his charity ? his faith and devotion ? 22. Give an account of Lebuin ? his boldness for the truth? 93 23. What remarkable instance of martyrdom is related ? 94 24. State the advice of Lupus to Godeschalch ? 25. — the instructions of the council of Pavia? 26. How were the people instructed ? 27. What did Jonas recommend ? 28. For what was Wolfgang distinguished ? 95 29. Who was Fidus ? give some examples of his zeal ? 30. Who was Alfred? show his reputation — his charity — ^his zeal for religion — his study of the Scriptures ? 96 31. How did he restore learning? what school did he encourage ? whal' works did he translate ? 32. What does he say of the ignorance of the people ? 97 33. How was his piety tried ? 34. Give some account of Nilus — his mode of life — 98 35. his humility' — his meekness — his poverty — 99 36. his view of rites — of the proper subjects of inquiry — his freedom from ambition —the honors he received from the pope ? ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 237 Page. Question. 100 37. For what did he censure his monks? 38. Why did he not seek the company of the great ? CHAPTER XIV ABUSES AND CORRUPTIONS. 1. What were the effects of the ignorance and disorder of this period ? 101 2. What is said of the invocation of saints ? 3. To what was the ignorance of religion in a great degree owing' 4. What means of instruction still existed? 5. What attention was paid to the Eucharist ? 6. What parable of our Lord was now illustrated ? 102 7. What was the condition of the monasteries? 8. What is said of Odo ? 9. What effect had the temporal possessions granted to the clergy ? 10. What interference of princes was caused ? 103 11. What authority did the bishops assume ? 12. State the case of Wamba : of Louis le Debonnaire ? 13. Of Adrian IL and Charles the Bald : of Gregory IV.? 14. For what causes were excommunications granted ? 15. What forgery was now devised ? 104 16. What was the purport of these epistles? 17. By whom were they supported ? 18. What injury to the discipline of Churches was occasioned ? CHAPTER XV. — DIVISION OF E. AND W. CHURCHES. 1. What part did the popes take in the image controversy ? 2. What did the E. emperors do ? 105 3. What was the effect ? 4. What was the view of the W. Church generally ? 6. What dispute arose in the 9th century f 6. State the case of Photius ? 7. How was the matter settled ? 106 8. What new controversy arose in the 11th century ? 9. How was it occasioned ? 10. What did the legate of Rome demand? 11. What was the result ? CHAPTER XVI. PROGRESS OF CHRISTIANITY.- -1J54 1517. 1. What are the characteristics of this period ? 107 2. What spirit pervaded the Romish see ? 3. What works were still carried on ? 4. Who was Boleslaus? whom did he invite? 5. What measures did Otto take? 6. Where did he first go ? how was he received ? 108 7. Describe his exhortations . his mode of baptism ? 109 8. What instructions did he give his converts? 10. Whither did he afterwards proceed ? 11. State his boldness at Stetten ? 110 12. Relate the particulars of his second visit? 13. What N. Island was converted? 14. What idol did they worship? 15. What warning do we hence derive ? 111 16. What other N. nation was converted ? 236 QUESTIONS ON PALMER S COMPENDIOUS Page. Question. 111 17. What chasge was effected with the Armenians? 18. — — and the Maronites ? 19. State the introduction of the Gospel into Livonia? 20. — — — — — into Prussia ? 112 21. What checks did the Saracens receive? 22. What efforts were made in Tartary ? and in China ? 23. What Europc-m nation was last converted ? 24. What effect had tiie conquests of the Portugusese ? 25. — — — — and of the Spaniards ? CHAPTER XVII --THE FAITH OF THE CHURCH. 113 1. In what respects did ti >. faith of the E.and W. Churches still agree? 2. What was the chief point of doctrinal differences ? 3. What was held on the subject of purgatory? 4. What doctrines were universally maintained? 114 5. What heretics were condemned? 6. What did the Lateran council decree ? 7. What did the W. Church hold as to the cause of man^s salvation? 8. How is this proved ? 115 9. What error was afterwards introduced ? and by whom? 116 10. What claim of the popes was now made an article of faith? 11. Did the E. Church allow it ? 12. What did the synod of Florence decree as to purgatorv? 117 13. When was the doctrine of transubstantiation established 14. Was the word used by all in the same sense ? 15. What is said of the existence of errors in the Church ? CHAPTER XVIII. FRUITS OF FAITH- 118 1. Give an account of the early days of St. Anselm? 2. What did he afterwards become ? "what were his studies ? 119 3. What promotion did he receive from William Rufus? 4. What is remarkable in his election and consecration ? 5. Why did he retire from his see ? 6. How was he received in Italy ? 120 7. When did he return to England and what was his after courst 8. What was the character of Anselm? 121 9. Give an account of St. Bernard ? 10. How did he study the Scriptures? 122 11. Of what monastery was he made abbot ? its character ? 12. What influence had Bernard ? 123 13. What is said of Homobonus? 14. — — of the Schoolmen? 15. Give an account of St. Francis? 16. — — of Richard of Chichester ? 124 17. — — of Robert Grostesle : what claims did he oppost 125 IS. What abuses did he complain of? 19. Name some other eminent theologians ? 126 20. Who was Justiniani ? show his fortitude ? 21. What virtues did he possess ? 127 22. When was he made bishop ? how did he conduct himself? 23. Give the particulars of his death ? 128 24. What haa now become common in the Church ? 25. What were still preserved ? 129 26. State the testimony of Luther? ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 230 CHAPTER XIX. — THE EASTERN CHURCH. PtOE. QtrE»TION. 129 1. In what countries did this Church exist ? 2. By what patriarchs was it governed ? 3. Was all communion broken off with the W. Church ? give proofs to the contrary ? 4 What was the conduct of the popes? 130 5. What benefits resulted from the resistance of the E. Church ? 6. State the language of the archbishop Nechites ? 131 7. What effect had the crusades ? 8. What efforts did Michael Paleologus make ? 9. What was done at the council of Lyons? the result? 10. What measures were taken at the council of Florence ? 11. Was the union effected? 132 12. When and by whom was Constantinople taken ? CHAPTER XX. ABtJSES AND CORRECTIONS. 1. What was the grand evil of this period ? 2. What was the spirit of the court of Rome ? 3. What were their maxims ? 133 4. What followed from them ? 5. What powerful engine was employed ? 6. Who developed the full extent of the papal power? 7. Over what countries did he extend his jurisdiction? 134 8. How did he manage the affairs of the Church ? 9. Who were legates ? 10. What does the history of Europe present during this period ' 11. What contested elections took place? 135 12. What Church suffered severely in the 13th century ? the partiaularsf 136 13. How were the Italians enriched ? 14. What did the pope claim as to the clergy who died intestate? 15. What taxes did he try to lay on the clergy ? 137 16. Were their claims resisted ? 17. How were appeals to the pope carried on ? the effects ? 18. What dispensations were given? the consequence ? 138 19. What appointments did they claim? 20. What were plenary indulgences? 139 21. By whom was the papal supremacy chiefly sustained. 22. What was the character of the monks ? 23. How had they degenerated from their predecessors ? 24. Who were the begging friars ? 140 25. What does Richard of Armagh say of them? 26. What had the monasteries become ? 141 27. What was the general character of the clergy ? 25. In what way was penitence evaded ? 142 29. What new office was invented ? when ? 30. What was the rosary ? 31. What charms were worn? 32- What mode of absolution was used by the mendicant friars ? 33- What abuses in relation to the eucharist were introduced? 143 34. What was the system of theological instruction? when was it given? 35. What was the Book of Sentences ? 144 36. What was the text book of the canonists? its character? 37. What effect had these works on learning ? 145 38. Was scripture still studied? 39. State the complaints of the university of Pans? 40. What was to be expected from this state of things ? 240 QU£STIt)XS ON PALMER S COMPENJ>IOUS CHAPTER XXI. THE FORKIGN RKFORMATIOX : 1517 &C Page. Questio:^. 146 1. What was the effect of the power of the popes ? 2. What was the great schism ! 3. What councils were assemhled ? their effect ? 4. What reformers existed at this time ? 5. What revived in the 15th centurj-? 147 6. By whom was the Reformation commenced ? the date? 7. What was his intention at first ? 8. Why was he excommunica'ted ? when ? 9. What was the effect of this separation 148 10. What protectors did he find ? 11. What did his piety call forth? 12. What system of church government was established? 13. What was the effect of the 2nd diet at Spires? 14. What is the meaning of the term Protestant? 15. Has the Church of England adopted it? 16. What diet was now convened ? its date ? 17. What was the confession there presented ? 149 18. What was the result of the diett 19. What did the Protestants then do? 20. What conference was held at Ratisbon ? 21. What council was now called? when? by whom attended? 22. What did the emperor do? 23. What was the Interim? 24. When did the council of Trent assemble? its effect? 150 25. Whdt led to a pacification? its result ? 2Q. Whether did the Reformation spread ? 27. What good results followed? 28. What is said of Sweden ? 29. What error did the Lutherans fall into subsequently? 30. What was their condition in the 17th century? 15131. — _ _ _ ISth century? 32. What party now arose? who was its leader? the effects? 33. Where else did a Reformation begin? its author? 34. What were his views and their results ? 152 35. What reformer succeeded him? what system did he inventl 36. What was the progress of the Reformation in France? 37. Whose doctrmes did the party adopt ? 38. What edict was passed ? when revoked? 39. What revolution took place in Holland ? 40. Whose system was adopted ? 41. What is to be observed of the reformed communities? 153 42. State the early life of Luther? what order did he enter? 43. To what studies did he apply himself? 44. Why did he go to Rome? the effect ? 45. What led him to examine deeply into existing abuses ? t 46. How did he at first conduct the controversy ? 47. Did he voluntarily leave the Church of Rome ? 154 48. To what diet was he called ? show his firmness? 49. Whither was he conveyed ? in what did he employ himself? 50. Why did he leave his retreat ? 51. What was his influence ? what works did he compose? 52. Who succeeded Luther ? what were his attainments ? 53. How was he brought over ? 54. Name some of his writings? ce* ^^"^ ^^^'^ ^^'^^ ^^ remarkable ? was he successful ? 56. What is said of the early life of Calvin ? ECCLESIASTICAL ITISTOHY. 241 Page. Questiow. 155 57. To what prolession did he apply himself? 68. What was the consequence ? 69. What work did he publish? 60. In what town did he settle? why? 61. What executions did he make? the result? 156 62. When was he recalled? what did he establish? 63. What did he oppose? state his influence ? 64. What was his character? 65. Was he ever in holy orders ? 66. W^hat excuse is given by his supporters ? 67. Is it safely to be relied on ? 68. Where was Zuiiigle born ? where did he study ? 69. Where was he made pastor? 70. What effect did his studies produce ? 71. To what church was he appointed ? and the consequence? 157 72. What controversies ensued ? the issue ? 73. What reform's did he effect ? 74. What dispute had he with Luther? CHAPTER XXII. OJV THE BRITISH CHURCHES. 1. How long had the church in Britain existed ? 2. How long was it independent of the Romish see ? 3. How was the jurisdiction obtained ; 158 4. Were appeals at first allowed ? 5. When was the papal authority fully established ? 6. What was the state of religion ? 7. What efforts did Wickliffe make? 8. What led to the Reformation in England ? 9. Give the history of the proceedings? 159 10, To what expedient did Henry resort? 11. What was the decision? and the result? 12. What did the convocation declare ? 13. What exactions were abolished ? the date? 14. What was enacted as to the election &c. of bishops ? 15. — — as to the right of appeal? as to licences, &C.&C.? 160 16. Was this agreed to by the Church of England? wheu and where? 17. What work was pubhshed in 1537? what in 1543 ? 18. What doctrine was disclaimed ? what abuses forbidden ? 19. What superstitions were prohibited ? 20. What penal laws were passed ? when ? 21. What was Henry acknowledged to be? 161 22. What did he do in virtue thereof? the result ? 23. Who succeeded Henry ? the date ? 24. What reforms were made ? by whose authority ? 25. What was done with the public prayers ? 26. How did the popes now regard England ? 27. Did the Church in England separate from the communion of the W. Church? 28. What was the opinion of the papal party ? 29. Who succeeded Edward? the date? 162 30. Who became ascendant? 31. How many bishops were expelled? 32. How replaced? 33. Had the pope any right of jurisdiction ? why not? 34. What did the parliament do ? what the pope ? 35. What iierse';ution arose ? relate the particulars? 21 242 QUESTIONS o.\ p.^lmer's COMPFNDIOUS Page. Question. 162 36. Who succeeded Mary ? the date ? 37. What laws were re-enacted ? 163 38. What was done with the popish intruders? 39. What was the view of the clergy generally? 40. What forniulary was published { when ? 41. What state of things now existed ? 42. What was issued by the pope ? when ? 43. What was the effect on the papists ? 44. When was the Romish separation commenced ? 164 45. When did they obtain bishops? 46. What other separation took place? 47. Give an account of the authors? 48. What did they say of the Church? 49. When did their numbers increase ? and why ? 50. What was enacted by the parliament ? 51. Under whom was the Church restored ? 165 52. What was the course of James II. ? his fate? 53. Who were the non-jurors? 64. What controversy was occasioned V 65. Who was Hoadly ? and what did he maintain ? 66. What notice did the convocation take ? the issue? 57. By whom was he protected ? 58. What attacks were made on subscription? 166 59. Who founded the Methodists? the design? the resukf 60. From what causes did the Church suffer ? 61. What dangers aroused it to exertion? 62. What revival ensued? how manifested? 63. What has continued to stimulate the Church? 64. What enemies has she to encounter at the present tirtie? 167 65. How long was the Church of Ireland Independent? 66. When was a legate sent there? and the pall received? 67. When was the papal jurisdiction abolished ? 68. What was done under Mary ? 69. What under Elizabeth? 70. How were the Irish clergy affected ? 71 . What formularies of faith were adopted ? the dates ? 168 72. Whom did the pope send to Ireland ? 73. What was the effect on the people ? 74. What instances are given in the text ? 169 75. What orders did Maceogan give ? 76. What advantage was taken of the superstition of the Irish? 170 77. What was the result of these rebellions ? 78. What did James I. forbid ? 79. What broke out under Charles I. ? 80. By whom was the Church persecuted ? 81. What has been its state recently ? 82. What were lately suppressed ? 83. When did Scotland become subject to the pope? 171 84. By whom was the Reformation introduced ? when? 85. What was established under Melville ? the date ? 86. When did these disorders cease? 87. Who became predominant afterwards? 88. What was done at the restoration ? 89. — — after the accession of William ? why ? 90. How was the Church subsequently treated ? 91. W^hen and how was the Church planted bv England in N. America! 92. What hindered its growth ? 172 93 Who was the first bishop after the independence of the U. States ? ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 243 Page. Question. 172 94. "WTio were afterwards consecrated? 95. What schisniatical and spurious episcopacies exist ? 96. What is the present state of the American Church? 97. In what English possessions have bishoprics been established ? CHAPTER XXIir. — FRUITS OF FAITH IN THE BRITISH CHURCHES 1. Who stands prominent in the list of martyrs ? 2. Where did he study ? 173 3. What is said of his preaching? and knowledge? 4. Why did he change his opinions on the Eucharist ? and when? 6. Of what see was he consecrated bishop ? 6. Show his conscientiousness ? 174 7. To what see was he promoted ? what was his character ? 8. State his devotion : his concern for the poor ? 9. What is said of his sermon on charity and its effects on the king ? 175 10. What institutions were founded in consequence ? 11. What happened on the accession of Mary ? 12. Show his constancy in prison? 176 13. What did his chaplain recommend ? 14. State his reply: and his charge ? 177 15. What was the effect ? 16. Whither was he removed and with whom ? 17. Before whom was he examined ? what was his conduct ? 15. What was the semtence ? 19. How did he behave on the eve of his death ? 178 20. — and on the morn of his execution ? 21. What did he say to Latimer ? what to the sermon? 22. How did he behave at the stake ? 23. What did Latimer say ? 179 24. Was he long in suffering? was Ridley? 25. W^hat may be said of his death ? 26. What is said of Hooker's early days? 180 27. WTio provided for his education? 28. To what college was he sent ? 29. ^Vhat is said of his devotion ? his virtue ? his conduct ? 30. What appointments did he receive? 181 31. By what was the Church troubled ? 32. Who was Hooker's opponent? for what reason? 33. Who supported Hooker ? 34. What great work did Hooker undertake ? where was it writtea f 35. What did the pope say of it ? 182 36. To what parish was he now appointed ? what of his life ? 37. What is said of his attention to his duties ? 38. What friend attended him in his last illness ? 183 39. On what did he profess to rely for justification? 40. What did he say in his last moments ? 41. What is said of the education, &c. of Nicholas Ferrar? 184 42. What did he do while abroad ? 43. What employment did he hold ? 44. What ofter did he decline ? 45. Of what body was he elected a member ? 46. Whither did he retire and with whom ? 47. What was he ordained : and what was his vow? 48. What offers did he refuse ? why ? 186 49. What edifice was repaired ? 60. What did he establish ; in what was he diligent ? 244 QUESTIONS ON PALMER S COMPENDIOUS Page. Question. 186 51. What was the routine on Sundays? 52. What on week days ? 187 53. To what were their leisure hours devoted ? 54. Who visited the Society? what did he say of it? 55. What king also visited them? 188 56. Describe the end of Ferrar ? 57. What is said of the early days of Hammond ? 58. — — of his learning? 59. Where was he settled ? what of his duties ? 60. Why was he obliged to leave ? 189 61. What persecutions did he suffer? 62. What is said of his habits and devotion? 63. — — of his forgiveness and humility? his alms? 190 64. At what time did he die ? 65. What is said of the ordination and resolutions of bishop Wilson? 66. Who was his patron? how did he benefit him ? 191 67. To what see was he appointed? 68. Whence did he obtain aid in his duties ? 69. What was the state of his diocese? 70. To what did he direct his attention ? 71. What is said of his charity ? 192 72. What provision did he make for the poor? 73. What did he improve ? 74. What is said of his diligence in preaching, &c.? 75. How did he attend to the clergy ? 76. What did he address to them f 193 77. What is said of his devotion? of his conversation? 78. What exercise of discipline did he inflict? the result? 194 79. State the particulars of his death? 80. Mention some other worthies ? 81. Which are the oldest Societies in the Church of England for the dif- fusion of the Gospel ? 82. Who was their chief founder ? 83. What is the object of the Society for the propagation of the Gospel? 195 84. — — of that for promoting Christian knowledge? 85. When was the Church Missionary Society formed ? CHAPTER XXIV. — THE ROMAN CHURCHES. 1. What Churches remained under the papal jurisdiction? 2. When did the council of Trent close ? 3. What errors did it establish? 196 4. How were its decrees received ? 5. Was this according to primitive usage ? 6. To what authority is this council entitled ? 7. When was the Society of Jesuits established? 8. What disputes arose in the Romish Church ? 9. What controversy was introduced by Jansenius ? 197 10. Where did his doctrines find their chief support? 11. What partial reformation took place in Germany? 12. What monarch advocated it ? the result? 13. What other countries imitated him? 14. What is said of the Jansenists in Holland ? 15. Who chiefly opposed them ? 198 16. Whence arises their power ? what made them popular? 17. What are their characteristics? who exposed them? 199 18. When were they suppressed ? when revived? ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 245 Page. Question. 199 19. What spirk long existed in France ? 20. What effect had the Revolution? 21. What pretended reorganization took place? the issue? 22. What negotiations did Buonaparte carry on and what was the result ' 200 23., What did he afterwards extinguish? permanently? 24. What was done with the monasteries ? 25. What actual temporal power has the pope now ? 26. Give an account of the labours of Francis Xavier ? 27. — — of the establishment of the Romish Church in China? 20128. — — — among the Syrian Christians of India? 29. — — — in South America ? 30. What abuses did the council of Trent reform ? 31. What mode of argument was adopted in the 17th century ? 32. What effect had it ? 33. What influence have the Jesuits produced on morality? CHAPTER XXV. FRUITS OF FAITH IN THE ROMAl>f CHURCHES. 202 1. What may still be produced in these Churches? 2. What are we hence guarded against? 3. Where was Francis Xavier educated ? when ordained ? 4. What application was made to the pope ? 5. Whither was Xavier sent? how did he employ himself on the voyage 6. Where did he land>? what was the state of the residents? 7. WliHt measures did he adopt ? 204 8. What good effect was produced ? 9 Among whom did he then labour? the result? 10. To what kingdom did he then proceed? 205 11. What other places did he visit ? what islands? 12. What did he say of his dangers? 13. To what countries did he next go? state his quickness in learning 14. Where did he next purpose going? 206 15. Who was Charles Borromeo ? what were his connexions? 16. What was he made ? what did he found ? 17. What is said of his household ? what urged him to reform ? 207 18. Where did he commence? 19. What did he strive to exemplify ? 208 20. How did he show his liberality"? 21. In what condition was his diocese ? 22. What discipline was introduced ? 23. What attempt was made, and by whom? 24. How did he employ his revenues? 209 25. What of his visitations? his habits of pietv? his virtues? 210 26. What of the early life of Francis de Sales"? 27. For what was he "intended ? what profession did he choose ? 28. What is said of his preaching ? 211 29. Where was he appointed to labour? what of his influence? 30. When was he appointed bishop? state his plan of life ? 212 31. Show his attention to his duties ? 213 32. — his disinterestedness, and concientiousness? 33. What was the effect of his preaching at Paris ? 214 34. What is said of his death? 35. What of the early life of Vincent de Paul? 36. Wliat happened to him ? how did he endure his captivity ? 215 37. What effect had he on his owner ? 38. What employment had he on returning to France? •216 39. Wliat Benevolent Societies did he found? 40. What vir'ues did he exhibit ? 21* 246 QUESTIONS ON PALMEr's COMPENDIOUS, kC. CHAPTER XXVI. THE ORIEJVTAL. CHURCHES. Page. Question. 216 1. What of the faith and discipline of the Greek Churches ? 2. What did the Lutherans seek ? 217 3. What intercourse was had with the English Church? 4. What error was embraced by some in the Greek Church ? when? 5. When did the Russian Church become independent? 6. What changes did Peter the Great make ? 7. What change has been made iu Greece ? 8. What accession has the Greek Church gained ? CHAPTER XXVII. RISE AND PROGRESS OF INFIDET^ITY. 218 1. Who was the leader among the infidel party ? to what was his life 2. What was the watchword of the party ? [devoted i 219 3. What unbelievers had England produced ? 4. What natural abilities had Voltaire ? 5. What was his private character ? 6. What design did he form ? whose aid did he obtain ? 220 7. What was the object of this association ? 8. What words did they make use of? 9. What was the principal engine they used ? its character ? 10. What circulation had it? 221 11. What supporters did infidelity obtain? 12. What was th€ state of morals in France ? 222 13. What means were used to disseminate infidelity among the low? 14. Were supporters found among the clergy ? why ? 15. What was the death of Voltaire ? 223 16. What did the seed produce ? 17. What effect had it upon the Church ? 18. Are the evils still experienced in France? 224 19. What form has unbelief assumed in Germany? 20. Describe its characteristics? 21. What error has been widely spread in England ? 225 22. What is the present garb of infidelity? 23. What is the spirit of this age ? 24. What are the duties of the Church ? CHAPTER XXVHI.— CONCLUSION. 1. What truth is clear through the progress of the Church? 2. What great doctrine has been steadily preserved ? 220 3. What creeds are universally accepted ? 4. Whom do all Churches confess ? 5. What do they allow as to the condition of man? 6. What do they believe as to Divine grace ? 7. — — as to the judgment to come ? 8. — — as to the Holy Scriptures? 9. What of the Sacraments and of the Apostolic succession? 10. To what does the differences between them chiefly relate ? 11. What truths do many schismatics retain? 12. What union was enjoined by our Lord ? 13. What has been the main cause of present divisions ? 14. On what way do the Romish superstitions chiefly depend ? 15. What else have we to deplore besides disunions 16. What has every Church and age to fear ? 17. What are opposite evils to the facts of usurpation and bigotry? 18. What Apostolic precept must be constantly remembered f 19. What is there to console us in the historv of the Church? INDEX African Churches, 26. Agobard, 80. Albigenses, heretics, 114. Alexandria, Church of, 8. Alfred, king, 95. Alsatia, converted, 76. Ambrose, 60. America, Church of, 171. Ammon, 53. Amorium, martyrs of, 93. Anabaptists, 164. Anselm, 118-120. Antioch, council of, 12, 25, 36. Antony, 51. Apollinaris, heretic, 41. Arabians, converted, 45. Arianism, 34-40. Ariminum, synod of, 39. Arius, heretic, 34, 35, 36. Armenia, 34, 111. Artemon, 12. Articles of the English Church, 163. Asia Minor, 7, 15-18. Athanasius, 35-40. Augsburg, diet of, 148. Augsburg, confession of, 148, 151. Augustine, 62. Augustine, of Canterbury, 46. Baptism, 27 ; of infants, ibid. Baptists, 164. Basil the Great, 58. Basire, archdeacon, 217. Batavians, converted, 48. Bavaria, converted, 75. Bede, venerable, 85. Benedict, 63. Benedict of Anianum, 102. Berengarius, heretic, 75, 81 Bernard of Clairvaux, 121. Bishops, 33. Bohemia, converted, 75. Boniface, 88-90. Borromeo, cardinal, 205-210. Bossuet, 201. Bray, Dr. 194. Brienne, cardinal de, 222. Bulgaria, converted, 76. Buonaparte, 199. Calvin, 155. Canon law, 143. Carinthia, converted, 75. Carloman, 87. Celibacy of clergy, 72. Chalcedon, synod of, 44. Charlemagne, emperor, 75, 87. Charles I., king, 187, 189, 217. China, Christianity introduced 112. Chrysostom, 60, Clement of Rome, 25. Clement of Alexandria, 23. Columban, 47, 139. Communion in one kind, introduc ed, 142; of the sick, 34. Confession, 32, 81, 142. Confirmation, 28. Congo, converted, 112. Constantino the Great, 10. Constantinople, patriarch of, 64, 104. Constantinople, I. synod of, 41. Constantinople, II. synod of, 45. Constantinople, III. synod of 47. Constantinople, synod of, in 754, 79. Cornelius of Rome, 26 248 Courland, converted, 112. Cranmer, archbishop, 159, 162, 173, 177. Creeds, 30; Apostles', ibid. Nicene, 3). Cyprian, 23, 26. Cj'ril of Alexandria, 43. Cyril of Jerusalem, 57. Cyrillus Lucaris, 217. [)'Alembert, 220. Dalniatia, converted, 76. Dticretals, spurious, 103, 104. Denmark, Christianity introduc- ed, 70. Diocletian, 15. Dionysius of Alexandria, 23. Dionysius of Corinth, 25. Dioscorus, heretic, 44. Discipline of the scourge, intro- duced, 141. Divisions of Churches, 26, 27, 65. 104-105. Domitian, 15. Donalists, 26. Edessa, Church of, 8. Elevation of eucharist, introduc- ed, 142. Elipandus, heretic, 77. Enjrland, Reformation in, 159- ^63. Ephesus, 8, 15. Epiiesus, synod of, 43. Episcopacy, 8, 33. Ethiopia, converted, 41, Eucharist, 22, 29, 80, 142. Eunomius, heretic, 59, Eusebius of Caesarea, 56. Eusebius of Nicomedia, 36. Eutychcs, heretics, 44. Excommunication, abused, 103. Ferrar, Nicholas, 183-187. Fidus of Meissen, 95. P'lorence, synod of, 131. France, Reformation in, 152. Francis of Assisium, 123. Frankfort, synod, against wor- ship of images, 79. Franks, converted, 45, 48. Frederick, II. 220, Friars, begging, 139. Friesland, Christianity introduc- cd, 25. Frumentius, 41. Gallican Church, 199. Gall, 48. Georgia, converted, 41. Germany, Reformation there, 147, &c. Gnostics, 13, 23. Goa, Christianity there, 200, 201, Goths, converted, 41. Gratian, 143. Greece, Church of, 217. Gregory the Grea.t, 46. Gregory the Illuminator, 34. Gregory Nazianzen, 58. Gregory Thavimaturgus, 23. Gregory of Utrecht, 91. Grosteste, bishop, 124. Hammond, 188-190. Henry VIII. 158-161. Hervey, archbishop of Rheims, 84. Hesse,Christianity introduced, 75. Hilary of Poictiers. 39. Hoadly, heretic, 165. Holland, Reformation in, 151. Homobonus, 123. Homoiision, 35. Honorius of Rome, heretics, 47. Hooker, 179-183, Hungary, converted, 76. Inconoclasts, 78. Ignatius, 20. Image-worship, 78-80, Independents or Brownists, 164. India, conversions in, 202, 203. Indulgences, 141. Interim, the, 149. Invocation of saints, 68, 101, 110 Ireland, converted, 45. Ireland, Church of 169; Refor- mation there, 169; schism of Romanists, 170, 171. Irenceus, 9, 11, 23. Jansenists, 196, Japan, Christianity there, 205. Jerome, 62. Jesuits, 196, 193, 199, 200, 202, John, apostle, 15, John Chrysostom, 60. Julius of Rome, 37, 64. Justin Martyr, 9, 23. Justiniani, Laurence, 125-128. INDEX. 249 Kempis, Thomas k, 125. Kilian, 48. Lanfranc, 118. Latimer, bishop, 177-179. Laud, archbishop, 185, 188. Lebuin, 92. Leo the Great, 44, 63. Libaims, converted, 45. Lithuania, converted, 112. Liturg-y, language of, 71, 72, 101. Liturgies, 3L Livonia, converted. 111. Lord's supper. See Eucharist. Lucifer of Cagliari, 39, 56. Luitprand, 87. Luther, 147, 153. his opinion of the Church, 128. Lyra, 125. Macedonius, heretic, 41. Mahomet, 47. Maronites, converted. 111. Marriage, 22; of clergy, 72, 160. Martin of Tours, 41,57. Melancthon, 154. Meletius of Antioch, 57. Mendicants, 139. Menezes, archbishop, 201. Methodists, 166. Monastic life, 4^ ik.c. Monks, their corruptions, 139- 141. Monophy sites, heretics, 44. Monothelites, heretics, 46. Nechites, 130. Nectarius, 32. Nero, 14. Nestorius, heretic, 43. Nice, synod of, 35. Nice, synod for images, 79. Nicene Creed, 35. Nilus of Calabria, 97-99. Noetus, 12. Non-jurors, 165. Normans, converted, 76. Novatians, 26. Ockham, 125. Odo. ofCIugny, 102. Origen, 10, 23. Otto of Bamberg, 108-110. Oxford, University of, 96, 143. Pachomius, 53. Papists, their separation from tha Churches of England and Ire- land, 163, 168-170. Paschasius Radbert, 80. Patrick, 45. Paul, apostle, 8, 15. Paul, Vincent do, 214-216. Paul of Samosata, 12. Paulicians, heretics, 77. Pelagius, heretic, 42. Penitence, 32, 70, 141. Penitentiaries, 32. Peter, apostle, 6, 8, 15. Peter Lombard, 123, 143. Photinus, heretic, 41. Pictures of saints, 70. Pilgrimages, 70. Pliny, 8, 12. Poland, converted, 76. Polycarp, 16-20. Pomerania, converted, 107-110. Popes, temporal power of, 103, 133 —138; taxes imposed by them, 135-138 ; appeals to them, 137 ; dispensations, 137 ; usurpations of patron age, 138. Praxeas, 12. Prayers for the dead, 73, 74. Procession of Holy Spirit, 113. Protestants, origin of the term, 148. Prussia, converted. 111. Purgatory, 73, 113, 114. Puritans, origin of, 164. Rationalism in Germany, 151, 224. Ratisbon, conference of, 149 Relics, 69. Richard of Chicliester, 123. Ridley, martyr, 172-179. Roman Church, 7 ; its charity, 26 Rome, patriarchate of, 64 ; jur)8 diction of, its origin and in crease, 64-66, 1 1 6, 1 30, 1 33, &c Rosary, invented, 142. Rugen, isle of, converted, 110. Russia, converted, 76 ; Church ol 217. Sabellius, 12. Sales, Frances de, 210-214. Saracens, their ravages, 74. 75 Sardica, synod of, 37, 64. 250 INDEX. Scapulary, invented, 142. Scotland, Reformation there, 170 ; Presbyterian schism, 171. Simeon Stylites, 55. Smalcald, league of, 149. Smyrna, 16. Society for promoting Christian Knowledge, 194 ; for propaga- ting the Gospel, 195 ; Church Missionary, 195. Stephen of Rome, 26. Suevi, converted, 48. Switzerland, converted, 48. Switzerland, reformation there, 151. Tacitus, 8, 14. Tartarv, Christianity introduced, 112.' Tertullian, 9, 23. Thaddaeus, apostle, 8. Theodotus, heretic, 12. Thuringia, Christianity introdn ced, 75. Transubstantiation, 81, 116. Travancore, converted, 204. Trent, council of, 162, 196, 201 Trosle, syod of, 84. Tyre, synod of, 36. Universities, 143. Unknown language, in tlie Litur gy. See Liturgy. Victor, 12, 25. Virgin,office in honour of her, I4k' Voltaire, 218-222. Westphalia, converted, 48. Whitgifl, archbishop, 181. Wickliffe, 146, 158. Willibrord, 48. Wilson, bishop, 190-194. Wesley, 166. Xavier, 200, 202-205. Zuingle. 151, id6. EXPLANATION OF DIFFICULT WORDS. Alh, a vestment of the clergy. Almoner, a person who distributes alms. Amphitheatre, a place for public amusements. Anathema, excommunication, the severest censure of the Church. {Annates, the first year's income of a benefice.] Ascetics, devout persons, given up to a life of religion. Asiarch, the principal heathen priest of Asia Minor. Baptistery, a place for administering baptism. Canons, ecclesiastical laws made by synods, also certain of the clergy. Catholic, universal, or universally received. Convocation, an assembly of the clergy. Council, an assembly of bishops. Heresy, an obstinate denial or perversion of some article of the faith. Iconoclasts, image-breakers. Irenarch, a magistrate who watched over the public peace. [Legate, an ambassador of the Pope, generally a cardinal.] [Mandate, a command to the patron of a benefice to bestow it on a par. ticukr person.] Matins, morning service. Metropolitan, a bishop v*rho has the chief authority amongst the bish- ops of a province. [Nuncio, a messenger of the Pope.] Oratory, a private chapel. (Ecumenical Synod, an assembly of bishops from all parts of the world. Orisons, prayers. Pall, an ornament worn originally by Patriarchs, afterwards by m«- tropolitans. Patriarch, a bishop who has authority over metropolitans. Proconsul, a Roman governor. Schis7n, a crimiiJ=>l division in the Church, or a voluntary separation trom it Synod, an assembly of bishops. Temporalities, tlie property of the Church. Vigil, watching at night with prayer. LIST OF WORKS ON CHURCH HISTORY, MOSTLY OF A POPU LAR CHARACTER, WHICH MAY BE PROFITABLY READ B^ THOSE WHO DESIRE FULLER INFORMATION THAN THIS COMPENDIUM AFFORDS. On the EARLY CHURCH. Burton's History of the Church in the Fii-st three Centuries, 12mo. An American edition. R. W. Evans' Biography of the Early Church, 2 vols. 12mf forming part of Rivington's Theological Library, LondoB A delightful book, well worthy of re-publication. Burton's Lectures on the History of the Church in the Firsv Century, 8vo, London. Burton's Lectures on the History of the Church in the Second and Third Centuries, 8vo. London. Addressed to theologi- cal students, and admirably adapted for their use, and that of clergymen. On the ENGLISH CHURCH. T. V. Short's History of the Church of England, second edition, 8vo. London. Carwithen's History of the Church of England, 3 vols. 8>^ London. On the REFORMATION. Le Bas' Life of WicHf, 12mo. Le Bas' Life of Cranmer, 2vols. 12mo. Le Bas' Life of Jewel, 12mo. Le Bas' Life of Laud, 12mo. Of this scries, forming part of Rivington's Theological Li- brary, only tlie first three volumes have been re-published in this country, in Harper's Theological Library. The others, not at all inferior in value, are necessary to complete tho view of the English Reformation in its successive stages. Blunt's Sketch of the Reformation of the Church of England, 12ino. An American edition. On the AMERICAN CHURCH. White's Memoirs of the Protest. ant Episcopal Church, second edition, 8vo. Swords. Chandler's Life of Dr. Samuel Johnson, 12mo. Swords. McVickar's Life of Bisliop Hobart, 12mo. Hawks' Histories of the Church in Virginia and Maryland, 2 vols. 8vo. New- York. DATE DUE "*^ '^^ i^> mmm faaa. GAYLORD PRINTED IN USA. ^o BW901 .P17 A compendious ecclesiastical history, Princeton Theological Seminary-Speer Library 1 1012 00078 0611