THE LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA IN MEMORY OF JACOB VOORSANGER Engraved by A.L. Walter. n a m.a- n C/^L RELIGIOUS DENOMINATIONS WORLD: GENERAL VIEW OP THE ORIGIN, HISTORY, AND CONDITION OF TUB TARIOUS SECTS OF CHRISTIANS, THE JEWS, AND MAHOMETANS, AS WELL AS THE PAGAN FORMS OF RELIGION EXISTING IN THE DIFFERENT COUNTRIES OF THE EARTH: SIittcl]cs 0f % Jfffffi&irs of Vmtrn ^itligi0us Sitfe, FROM THE BEST AUTHORITIES. BY VINCENT L. MILNER. \\ A NEW AND IMPROVED EDITION, WITH AN APPENDIX BROUGHT UP TO THE PRESENT TIME, BY J. NEWTON,: EDITOR OF " ENCTCI.OPEBIA SOLD OXLY BY SUBSCRIPTION. BRADLEY, GARRETSOX & CO., PHILADELPHIA, 66 NORTH FOURTH STREET. WILLIAM GARRETSOX & CO., GALESBURG, ILL.: COLUMBUS, OHIO: NASHVILLE, TENN.: HOUSTON, TEXAS. 1872. fotered according to Act of Cong res*, in the year 1871, by BRADLEY & CO., la th Office of the Librarian of Congress, at -Wasningtoa. PREFACE. THE following new of the religious denominations of the woi Id has been carefully compiled from the best authorities on the sub- ject. In order to render it as complete as the limits of the volume would permit, the method has been followed of present- ing summaries of the doctrines of each sect or religion without in general adducing the arguments by which they are sustained. The latter course would have led into too wide a field of contro- versy. In order to preserve the degree of impartiality which the reader is entitled to expect in a work of this kind, the com- piler has confined himself to authorities in which the doctrines of the several sects are drawn from the published works of their founders or leading writers. The subject is full of instruction. It forms a part of the his- tory of the human intellect, as it has been exercised in different ages of the world, on topics the -most interesting that can possibly claim the attention of mankind. In reviewing the various forms ol faith and shades of opinion on religion which have prevailed (iii) 4-36337 !V PREFACE. in different ages and various parts of the world, we may learn the influence of external circiimstances on internal belief; and that ot speculative opinions on the actual conduct of life. We per- ceive also the first effect of freedom of religious inquiry, in multi- plying sects and dividing extensive religious organizations into numerous branches. Above all, we may learn from this general survey of religious sects, the lesson of charity and forbearance tow- ard those who may entertain theological opinions different from our own. This volume will also show the gratifying truth, that while the first effect of religious freedom may be to multiply divisions, its final effect is to heal them. Some of the most scandalous divisions in all ages have grown out of the attempts of governments, civil and ecclesiastical, to stifle freedom of inquiry and suppress its manifestations ; and while such despotism continues, no restorative process is possible. Whereas, the natural growth of Christian feeling under free institutions, tends to bring together bodies long divided and alienated, whether in the Old World or in the New. This happy effect of perfect religious freedom is most manifest in oar own country at the present time. As in the beginning, Chris- tians were " of one heart and of one soul," so it may be hoped, they will here become, through the unfettered study of the Scrip- tures and the influence of the same Spirit which then guided them into all truth : " for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord." Sects will disappear in the overflowing fulness of faith and love. Despotism in Church and State may produce hypocriti- cal UNIFORMITY, but perfect religious freedom is the primary condi- tion of CHRISTIAN UNITY. ALPHABETICAL INDEX. PAOH ABYSSINIAN CHUECH 365 ADAMITES 366 AFRICAN METHODISTS 107 AGNOETAE 408 ALBANENSES 409 ALBIGENSES 36? AMERICAN PRESBYTERIANS 117 ANABAPTISTS 356 ANTI-SABBATARIANS.... 464 ANTINOMIANS 359 ARIANS 243 ARMENIANS 245 ARMINIANS 246 ASSOCIATE PRESBYTERIANS 130 ASSOCIATE REFORMED 133 ATHEISTS 464 "' BAPTISTS 35 ^ BASILIDIANS 461 BAXTERIANS 249 BEREANS 403 BRAMINS 486 BROWNISTS 203 BUDDHISTS , 489^ CALVINISTS 344' CARMATHITES 439 CERINTHIANS 442 CHRISTIANS 164 ^ CHRISTIANS OF ST. JOHN W i * c Vi ALPHABETICAL INDEX. RAM CHRISTIANS OF ST. THOMAS 463 CIRCONCELLIONES 457 COCCEIANS 401 COLLEGIANS 403 COLORED METHODIST EPISCOPAL 107 CONGREGATIONALISTS 183 *-' CONGREGATIONAL METHODISTS 107 COPHTS 459 CUMBERLAND PRESBYTERIANS 138 DANCERS 400 DAVIDISTS 400 DEISTS i 428 DISCIPLES OF CHRIST 145 DONATISTS 426 DUTCH REFORMED 53 EBIONITES 424 ENGLISH PRESBYTERIANS 116 EPHRATA BAPTISTS 159 EPISCOPALIANS 46 ERASTIANS 399 EUCHITES 423 EUNOMIANS 422 EUTYCHIANS 330 EVANGELICAL ASSOCIATION 106 EVANGELICAL LUTHERANS 63 FIFTH MONARCHY MEN .*. 333 FLAGELLANTS 352 FRATRICELLI 334 FREE-WILL BAPTISTS 144 ' FRENCH PROPHETS 455 GALILEANS 444 GERMAN REFORMED CHURCH 58 GNOSTICS 256 GREEK CHURCH 278 GUEBERS 467 HATTEMISTS 421 HOPKINSIANS 393 HUGUENOTS 221 . .. 260 ALPHABETICAL INDEX. Vll PAG a IIUTCHINSONIANS , 263 ICONOCLASTES 268 INDEPENDENTS 206 INGHAMITEb 420 JACOBITES 450 JANSENISTS 451 JESUITS 384 JEWS 311 JUMPERS 360 KIRK OF SCOTLAND 108 LABATISTS 361 LAMAISTS , 483 LATITUDINARIANS 410 LIBERTINES 418 LOLLARDS 382 LUCIANISTS 442 LUCIFERIANS 443 LUTHERANS 63 MAHOMETANISM 282 MANICHJ2ANS 336 MARCIONITES v 340 MARONITES 341 MATERIALISTS 445 MELCHITES 441 MENNONITES 160 METHODISTS 80 METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH 99 METHODIST PROTESTANTS 105 METHODIST SOCIETY 104 MINOR DENOMINATIONS OF BAPTISTS 155 MOLINISTS 348 MONOPHYSITES 437 MONOTHELITES 439 MONTANISTS '. 350 MORAVIANS 142 MORMONS 195 MUGGLETONIANS 351 MYSTICS ~ 362 NECESSARIANS..., 379 Viii ALPHABETICAL INDEX. PAUB NEONOMIANS 214 NESTORIANS 468 NONCONFORMISTS 217 L ORIGENISTS 411 PAGANS 473 PAGANS OF AFRICA 492 PAGANS OF CHINA 475 PAGANS OF JAPAN 478 PAGANS OF LAPLAND 513 PAGANS OF MADAGASCAR 496 PAGANS OF MEXICO 519 PAGANS OF NORTH AMERICA 515 PAGANS OF PERU 525 PAGANS OF POLYNESIA 508 PANTHEISTS 369 PAULICIANS 416 PAULIANISTS 415 PELAGIANS 329 PETROBRUSSIANS 414 PIETISTS 336 PURITANS 200 QUAKERS 228 REFORMED METHODISTS 104 REFORMED PRESBYTERIANS 124 RELLYANISTS 435 ROMAN CATHOLICS 527 SABELLIANS 444 SADDUCEES 440 SAMARITANS 440 SANDEMANIANS 375 SEVENTH-DAY BAPTISTS... 155 SHAKERS 251 SIX-PRINCIPLE BAPTISTS 166 SOCINIANS : 373 SECOND ADVENTISTS 370 SPIRITUALISTS 543 SUBLAPSARIANS 431 SUPRALAPSARIANS 432 SWEDENBORGIANS 174 THEOPHILANTHROPISTS ,. 253 ALPHABETICAL IJNDEX. IX PAGE TUNKEES ]62 UNITAEIANS 168 UNITED BEETHEEN IN CHEIST 327 UNITED PEESBYTEEIANS 136 UNIVEBSALISTS 170 WALDENSES 274 WICKLIFFITES 272 VVINEBEENNAEIANS , 167 WESLEYAN METHODISTS 106 WILKINSONIANS... .. 273 IJ^DEX TO APPENDIX. AMEEICAN PEESBYTEEIANS 555 ANA BAPTISTS 564 AEMENIANS 559 BAPTISTS 583 BEAMINS: BUDDHISTS 568 CHRISTIANS 557 CHEISTIANITY 584 CONGEEGATIONALISTS 558 DUTCH EEFOEMED CHUECH 551 EPISCOPALIANS 550 FEEE CHUECH 555 FEES-WILL BAPTISTS 557 GEEMAN EEFOEMED CHUECH 551 GNOSTICS 559 GEEEK CHUECH 563 KIEK OF SCOTLAND 554 LOLLAEDS 568 LUTHEEANS 551 MAHOMETANISM 563 MANICHAEANS 564 METHODISTS 553 MOEMONS.... .. 559 X ALPHABETICAL INDEX. PAG* MONOPHYSITES :. 568 PAGANS 5G8 PAGANS OF AFRICA 569 PAGANS OF AMERICA 570 PAGANS OF CHINA 569 PAGANS OF JAPAN 569 PAGANS OF MADAGASCAR 569 PAGANS OF POLYNESIA 570 PAULICIANS 568 PETROBRUSSIANS 568 PROGRESSIVE FRIENDS 557 RATIONALISTS 559 ROMAN CATHOLICS 570 SPIRITUALISTS.. 548 UNITED PRESBYTERIANS 555 UNITARIANS 558 UNIVERSALISTS 558 WALDENSES 573 WICKLIFFITES 561 WINEBRENNARIANS 557 EE-UNION OF THE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH 592 FREE METHODIST CHURCH 606 THE SOUTHERN PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH... .. Cv9 INTRODUCTION. SECTION I. STATE OP THE WORLD IN GENERAL, AT THE BIRTH OJ JESUS CHRIST. WHEN Jesus Christ made his appearance on earth, a great part of the world was subject to the Roman Empire. This empire was much the largest temporal monarchy that had ever existed, so that it was called all the world (Luke ii. 1). The time when the Romans first subjugated the land of Judea, was between sixty and seventy years before Christ was born; and soon after this the Roman Empire rose to its greatest extent and splendor. To this government the world continued subject till Christ came, and many hundred years afterwards. The remoter nations, that had submitted to the yoke of this mighty empire, were ruled either by Roman governors, invested with temporary commissions, or by their own princes and laws, in subordination to the republic, whose sovereignty was acknowledged, and to which the conquered kings, who were continued in their own dominions, owed their borrowed majesty. At the same time, the Roman people, and their venerable Senate, though they had not lost all shadow of liberty, were yet in reality reduced to a state of servile submission to Augustus Csesar, who, by artifice, per- fidy, and bloodshed, attained an enormous degree of power, and Xll INTRODUCTION. united in his own person the pompous titles of Emperor, Pon- tiff, Censor, Tribune of the People; in a word, all the great offices of the State. At this period, the Romans, according to Daniel's prophetic description, had trodden down the kingdoms, and by their ex- ceeding strength devoured the whole earth. However, by en- slaving the world, they civilized it; and whilst they oppressed mankind, they united them together. The same laws were everywhere established, and the same languages understood Men approached nearer to one another in sentiments and man- ners ; and the intercourse between the most distant regions of the earth was rendered secure and agreeable. 'Hence, the benign influence of letters and philosophy was spread abroad in coun- tries which had been before enveloped in the darkest ignorance. Just before Christ was born, the Roman empire not only rose to its greatest height, but was also settled in peace. Augustus Cassar had been for many years establishing the state of the Roman Empire, and subduing his enemies, till the very year that Christ was born : then, all his enemies being reduced to subjection, his dominion over the world appeared to be settled in its greatest glory. This remarkable peace, after so many ages of tumult and war, was a fit prelude to the ushering of the glorious Prince of Peace into the world. The tranquillity which then reigned was necessary to enable the ministers of Christ to execute with success their sublime commission to the human pace. In the situation into which the providence of God had brought the world, the gospel in a few years reached those remote corners of the earth into which it could not otherwise have pen.-' trated for many ages. All the heathen nations, at the time of Christ's appearance on earth, worshipped a multiplicity of gods and demons, whose favor they courted by obscene and ridiculous ceremonies, and whose anger they endeavored to appease by the most abominable cruelties. Every nation had its respective gods, over which one, more excellent than the rest, presided; yot in such a manner, that the supreme deity wixa himself controlled by the rigid decrees of INTRODUCTION. Xlll fate, or by what the philosophers called eternal necessity. The gods of the East were different from those of the Gauls, the Germans, and other northern nations. The Grecian divinities differed from those of the Egyptians, who deified plants, and a great variety of the productions both of nature and art. Each people had also their peculiar manner of worshipping and ap- peasing its respective deities In process of time, however, the Greeks and Romans grew as ambitious in their religious preten- sions, as in their political claims. They maintained that their gods, though under different appellations, were the objects of religious worship in all nations j and therefore they gave the names of their deities to those of other countries. The deities of almost all nations were either ancient heroes, renowned for noble exploits and worthy deeds, or kings and generals, who had founded empires, or women who had become illustrious by remarkable actions or useful inventions. The merit of those eminent persons,' contemplated by their posterity with enthusiastic gratitude, was the cause of their exaltation to celes- tial honors. The natural world furnished another kind of dei- ties; and as the sun, moon, and stars shine with a lustre superior to that of all other material beings, they received religious homage from almost all the nations of the world. From those beings of a nobler kind, idolatry descended into an enormous multiplication of inferior powers ; so that, in many countries, mountains, trees, and rivers, the earth, the sea, and wind, nay, even virtues, and vices, and diseases, had their shrines' attended by devout and zealous worshippers. These deities were honored with rites and sacrifices of various kinds, according to their respective nature and offices. Most nations offered animals, and human sacrifices were universal in ancient times. They were in use among the Egyptians till the reign of Amasis. They were never so common among the Greeks and Romans ; yet they were practised by them on extraordinary occasions. Porphyry says " that the Greeks were wont to sacri- fice men when they went to war." He relates, also, "that human sacrifices were offered at Rome till the reign of Adrian, who or- dered them to be abolished in most places." a Xiv INTRODUCTION". Pontiffs, priests, and ministers, distributed into several classes, presided over the Pagan worship, and were appointed to prevent disorder in the performance of religious rites. The sacerdotal order, which was supposed to be distinguished by an immediate intercourse and friendship with the gods, abused its authority in the basest manner, to deceive an ignorant and wretched people. The religious worship of the Pagans was confined to certain times and places. The statues, and other representations of the gods, were placed in the temples, and supposed to be animated in an incomprehensible manner for they carefully avoided the imputation of worshipping inanimate beings and therefore pre- tended that the divinity, represented by the statue, was really present in it, if the dedication was truly and properly made. Besides the public worship of the gods, to which all, without exception, were admitted, there were certain religious rites cele- brated in secret by the Greeks, and several eastern countries, to which a small number was allowed access. These were called mysteries ; and persons who desired an initiation, were obliged previously to exhibit satisfactory proofs of their fidelity and patience, by passing through various trials and ceremonies of the most disagreeable kind. The secret of these mysteries was kept in the strictest manner, as the initiated could not reveal anything that passed in them, without exposing their lives to the most imminent danger. These secret doctrines were taught in the mysteries of Eleusis, and in those of Bacchus and other divinities. But the reigning religion was totally external. It held out no body of doctrines, no public instruction to participate on stated days in the esta- blished worship. The only faith required, was to believe that the gods exist, and reward virtue, either in this life or in that to come; the only practice, to perform at intervals some religious acts, such as appearing in the solemn festivals, and sacrificing at the public altars The spirit and genius of the Pagan religion was not calculated to promote moral virtue. Stately temples, expensive sacrifices, pompous ceremonies, and magnificent festivals, were the objects INTKODUCTION. XV presented to its votaries. But just notions of God, obedience to Uis moral laws, purity of heart, and sanctity of life, were not once mentioned as ingredients in religious service. No repent- ance of past crimes, and no future amendment of conduct, were evsr prescribed by the Pagans, as proper means of appeasing their offended deities. Sacrifice a chosen victim, bow down before an hallowed image, be initiated in the sacred mysteries, and the wrath of the gods shall be averted, and the thunder shall drop from their hands. The gods and goddesses, to whom public worship was paid, exhibited to their adorers examples of egregious crimes, rather than of useful and illustrious virtues. It was permitted to con- sider Jupiter, the father of the gods, as an usurper, who expelled his father from the throne of the universe, and is, in his turn, to be one day driven from it by his son. The priests were little solicitous to animate the people to .virtuous conduct, either by precept or example. They plainly enough declared, that all which was essential to the true worship of the gods, was con- tained in the rites and institutions which the people had received by tradition from their ancestors. Hence the wiser part of man- kind, about the time of Christ's birth, looked upon the whole system of religion as a just object of ridicule and contempt. The consequence of this state of theology was an universal corruption of manners, which discovered itself in the impunity of the most flagitious crimes. When the Romans had subdued the world, they lost their own liberty. Many vices, engendered or nourished by prosperity, delivered them over to the vilest of tyrants that ever afflicted or disgraced human nature. Despotic power was accompanied with all the odious vices which are usually found in its train, and they rapidly grew to an incredible pitch. The colors are not too strong which the apostle employs in drawing the character of that age, in Rom. i. 21, 22, etc., and in Eph. iv. 17-19. At the time of Christ's appearance on earth, the religion of the Romans, as well as their arms, had extended itself through- out a great part of the world. Besides the religious rites, which XVI INTROLUCTION. Nuraa and others had instituted for political views, the Romans added several Italian and Etrurian fictions to the Grecian fables, and gave, also to the Egyptian deities a place among their own. In the provinces subjected to the Roman government, there arose a new kind of religion, formed by a mixture of the ancient rites of the conquered nations with those of the Romans. Those nations, who, before their subjection, had their own gods, and their own particular religious institutions, were persuaded by degrees to admit into their worship a great variety of the sacred rites and customs of the conquerors. When, from the sacred rites of the ancient Romans, we pass to review the other religions which prevailed in the world, it will appear obvious, that the most remarkable may be properly divided into two classes one of which will comprehend the religious systems which owe their existence to political views j and the other, of those which seem to have been formed for military purposes. The religion of most of the eastern nations may be ranked in the former class, especially that of the Per- sians, Egyptians, and Indians, which appears to have been solely calculated for the preservation of the State, the support of the royal authority and grandeur, the maintenance of public peace, and the advancement of civil virtues. The religious system of the northern nations may be comprehended under the. military class j since all the traditions among the Germans, the Bretons, the Celts, and the Goths, concerning their divinities, have a manifest tendency to excite and nourish fortitude, ferocity, an insensibility of danger, and contempt of life. At this time Christianity broke forth from the east like a rising sun, and dispelled the universal religious darkness which obscured every part of the globe. " The noblest people/' says ])r. Robertson, "that ever entered upon the stage of the world, sppear to have been only instruments in the Divine Hand, for the execution of wise purposes concealed from themselves. The Roman ambition and bravery paved the way, and prepared the world, for the reception of the Christian doctrine. They Tou;ht and conquered, that it might triumph with the greater ease (see INTRODUCTION. XV11 tsaiah x. 7). By means of their victories, the overruling pro- vidence of God established an empire, which really possesses that perpetuity and eternal duration which they vainly arrogated to their own. He erected a throne which shall continue foiever, and of the " increase of that government there shall be no end.'* It has been mentioned to the honor of Christianity, that it rose and flourished in a learned, inquiring, and discerning age; and made the most rapid and amazing progress through the im- mense empire of Rome, to its remotest limits, when the world was in its most civilized state, and in an age that was universally distinguished for science and erudition. SECTION II. STATE OF THE JEWISH NATION AT THE BIRTH OF JESUS CHRIST THE state of the Jews was not much better than that of other nations, at the time of Christ's appearance on earth. They were governed by Herod, who was himself tributary to the Roman people. His government was of the most vexatious and oppres- sive kind. By a cruel, suspicious, and overbearing temper, he drew upon himself the aversion of all, not excepting those who lived upon his bounty. Under his administration, and through his influence, the luxury of the Romans was introduced into Palestine, accompa- nied with the vices of that licentious people. In a word, Judea, governed by Herod, groaned under all the corruption which might be expected from the authority and example of a prince who, though a Jew in outward profession, was, in point of uiorals and practice, a contemner of all laws, human and divine. After the death of this tyrant, the Romans divided the go- vernment of Judea between his sons. In this division, one- half the kingdom was given to Archelaus, under the title of Exarch. Archelaus was so corrupt and wicked a prince, that at last both Jews and Samaritans joined in a petition against hira xvrii I N T n o D TT c T I 6 N. to Augustus, who banished him from his dominions, about ten years after the death of Herod the Great. Judea was by this sentence reduced to a Roman province, and ordered to be taxed. The governors ivhom the Romans appointed over Judea, were frequently changed, but seldom for the better. About the six- teenth year of Christ, Pontius Pilate was appointed governor, the whole of whose administration, according to Josephus, was one continual scene of venality, rapine, and of every kind of savage cruelty. Such a governor was ill calculated to appease the ferments occasioned by the late tax. Indeed, Pilate was so far from attempting to appease, that he greatly inflamed them, by taking every occasion of introducing his standards, with images, pictures, and consecrated shields, into their city; and at last by attempting to drain the treasury of the temple, under pretence of bringing an aqueduct into Jerusalem. The most remarkable transaction of his government, however, was his con- demnation of Jesus Christ j seven years after which he was removed from Judea. However severe was the authority which the Romans exercised over the Jews, yet it did not extend to the entire suppression of their civil and religious privileges. The Jews were, in some measure, governed by their own laws, and permitted the enjoy- ment of their religion. The administration of religious ceremo- nies was committed, as before, to the high priest, and to the Sanhedrim ; to the former of whom the order of priests and Levites was in the usual subordination; and the form of outward worship, except in a very few points, had suffered no visible change. But, on the other hand, it is impossible to express the disquietude and disgust, the calamities and vexations, which this unhappy nation suffered from the presence of the Romans, whore their religion obliged them to regard as a polluted and idolatrous people ; in a particular manner, from the avarice and cruelty of the praetors, and the frauds and extortions of the publicans. So that, all things considered, their condition, who lived under the government of the other sons of Herod, was much more sup- portable than the state of those who were immediately subject to the Roman jurisdiction. INTRODUCTION. JIX It was not, however, from the Romans only, that the calami- tier of this miserable people proceeded. Their own rulers mul- tiplied their vexations, and debarred them from enjoying any little comforts, which were left them by the Roman magistrates. The leaders of the people, and the chief priests, were, according to the account of Josephus, profligate wretches, who had pur- chased their places by bribes, or by other acts of iniquity, and who maintained their ill-acquired authority by the most abomi- nable crimes. The inferior priests, and those who possessed any shadow of authority, were become dissolute and abandoned to the highest degree. The multitude, excited by these corrupt examples, ran headlong into every kind of iniquity ; and by their endless seditions, robberies, and extortions, armed against them- selves both the justice of God and vengeance of man. About the time of Christ's appearance, the Jews of that age concluded the period pre-determined by God to be then com- pleted, and that the promised Messiah would suddenly appear. Devout persons waited day and night for the consolation of Israol; and the whole nation, groaning under the Roman yoke, and stimulated by the desire of liberty or of vengeance, expected their deliverer with the most anxious impatience. Nor were these expectations peculiar to the Jews. By their dispersion among so many nations ; by their conversation with the learned men among the heathens ; and by the translations of their inspired writings into a language almost universal, the principles of their religion were spread all over the East. It became the common belief, that a Prince would arise at that time in Judea, who would change the face of the world, and extend his iimpire from one end of the earth to the other. Two religions flourished at this time in Palestine; the Jewish and Samaritan. The Samaritans blended the errors of Paganism with the doctrines of the Jews. The whole body of the people looked for a powerful and warlike deliverer, who, they supposed, would free them from the Roman authority. All considered the whole of religion as consisting in the rites appointed by Moses, and in the performance of some external acts of duty. All were XX INTRODUCTION. unanimous in excluding the other nations of the world from th hopes of eternal life. The learned among the Jews were divided into a great variety of sects. The Pharisees, the Sadducees, and Essenes, eclipsed the other denominations. The most celebrated of the Jewish sects was that of the Pharisees. It is supposed by some, that this denomination sub- . sisted about a century and a half before the appearance of our Saviour. They separated themselves not only from Pagans, but from all such Jews as complied not with their peculiarities. Their separation consisted chiefly in certain distinctions respect- ing food and religious ceremonies. It does not appear to have interrupted the uniformity of religious worship, in which the Jews of every sect seem to have always united. This denomination, by their apparent sanctity of manners, had rendered themselves extremely popular. The multitude, for the most part, espoused their interests; and the great, who feared their artifice, were frequently obliged to court their favor. Hence they obtained the highest offices both in the State and priesthood, and had great weight both in public and private affairs. It appears from the frequent mention which is made by the evangelists of the Scribes and Pharisees in conjunction, that the greatest number of Jewish teachers or doctors of the law, (for those were expressions equivalent to scribe) were, at that time, of the Pharisaical sect. The principal doctrines of the Pharisees are as follows : Tiiit the oral law, which they suppose God delivered to Moses by an archangel on Mount Sinai, and which is preserved by tradition, is of equal authority, with the written law : That, by observing both these laws, a man may not only obtain justification with God, but perform meritorious works of supererogation : That fasting, alms-giving, ablutions, and confessions, are sufficient atonements for sin : That thoughts and desires are not sinful v unless they are carried into action. This denomination acknow- ledged the immortality of the soul, future rewards and punish- ments, the existence of good and evil angels, and the resurrec- tion of the body. They maintained both the freedom of the INTRODUCTION. XXI will and absolute predestination, and adopted the Pythagorean doctrine of the transmigration of souls, excepting the notoriously wicked, whom they supposed consigned to eternal punishment. The peculiar manners of this sect are strongly marked in the writings of the evangelists, and confirmed by the testimony of th.3 Jewish authors. They fasted the second and fifth day of the week, and put thorns at the bottom of their robes, that they might prick their legs as they walked. They lay upon boards covered with flint stones, and tied thick cords about their waists. They paid tithes as the law prescribed, and gave the thirtieth and fiftieth part of their fruits, adding voluntary sacrifices to those which were commanded. They were very exact in per- forming their vows. The Talmudic books mention several distinct classes of Pharisees; among whom were the Truncated Pharisee, who, that he might appear in profound meditation, as if destitute of feet, scarcely lifted them from the ground ; and the Mortar Pharisee, who, that his contemplations might not be disturbed, wore a deep cap in the shape of a mortar, which would only permit him to look upon the ground at his feet Such expedients were used by this denomination to captivate the admiration of the vulgar ; and under the appearance of singular piety, they disguised the most licentious manners. The sect of the Sadducees derived its origin and name from one Sadoc, who flourished in the reign of Ptolemy Philadelphus, about two hundred and sixty-three years before Christ. The chief heads of the Sadducean doctrine are as follows : All laws and traditions, not comprehended in the written law, are to be rejected as merely human inventions. Neither angels nor spirits have a distinct existence, separate from their corporeal vestment. The soul of man, therefore, expires with the body. There will be no resurrection of the dead, nor rewards and punishments after this life. Man is not subject to irresistible fate, but has the framing of his condition chiefly in his power. Polygamy ought to be practised. The practices of the Pharisees and Sadducees were both per- fectly suitable to their sentiments. The former were notorious hypocrites ; the latter, scandalous libertines. XX11 INTRODUCTION. The Essenes were a Jewish sect. Some suppose they took their rise from that dispersion of their nation, which took place after the Babylonian captivity. They maintained that rewards arid punishments extended to the soul alone, and considered the body as a mass of malignant matter, and the prison of the immor- tal spirit. The greatest part of this sect considered the laws of Moses as an allegorical system of spiritual and mysterious truth, and renounced all regard to the outward letter in its explanation. The leading traits in the character of this sect were, that they were sober, abstemious, peaceable lovers of retirement, and had a perfect community of goods. They paid the highest regard to the moral precepts of the law, but neglected the ceremonial, excepting what regarded personal cleanliness, the observation of the Sabbath, and making an annual present to the temple at Jerusalem. They commonly lived in a state of celibacy, and adopted the children of others, to educate them in their own principles and customs. Though they were, in general, averse to swearing, or to requiring an oath, they bound all whom they initiated by the most sacred vows, to observe the duties of piety, justice, fidelity, and modesty; to conceal the secrets of the fra- ternity; to preserve the books of their instructors; and with great care to commemorate the names of the angels. Philo mentions two classes of Essenes ; one of which followed a practical institution. The other professed a theoretical institu- tion. The latter, who were called Theraputae, placed their whole felicity in the contemplation of the Divine nature. Detaching themselves entirely from secular affairs, they transferred their property to their relations and friends, and retired to solitary places, where they devoted themselves to an holy life. The principal society of this kind was formed near Alexandria, where they Jived, not far from each other, in separate cottages, each of which had its own sacred apartments, to which the inhabitants retired for the purposes of devotion. Besides these eminent Jewish sects, there were several of inferior note, at the time of Christ's appearance : the Herodians, mentioned by the sacred writers; and the Gaulonites, bj? Josephus. INTRODUCTION. XX111 The Herodians derived their name from Herod the Great. Their distinguishing tenet appears to be, that it is lawful, when constrained by superiors, to comply with idolatry and with a false religion. Herod seems to have formed this sect on purpose to justify himself in this practice, who, being an Idurnean by nation, was indeed half a Jew and half a Pagan. He, during his long reign, studied every artifice to ingratiate himself with the emperor, and to secure the favor of the principal personages in the court of Rome. Josephus informs us, that his ambition, and his entire devotion to Caesar and his court, induced him to depart from the usages of his country, and, in many instances, to violate its institutions. He built temples in the Greek taste, and erected statues for idolatrous worship, apologizing to the Jews that he was absolutely necessitated to this conduct by the superior powers. We find the Sadducees, who denied a future state, readily embraced the tenets of this party : for the same persons, who, in one of the gospels, are called Herodians, are, in another called Sadducees. The G-aulonites were Galileans, who derived their name from v one Judas Theudas, a native of Gaulon in Upper Galilee, who, in the tenth year of Jesus Christ, excited his countrymen, the Galileans, and many other Jews, to take arms, and venture upon all extremities, rather than pay tribute to the Romans. The principles he instilled into his party were, not only that they wero a free nation, and ought riot to be in subjection to any other; but that they were the elect of God ; that he alone was their governor; and that, therefore, they ought not to submit to any ordinance of man. Though Theudas was unsuccessful, and hia party, in their very first attempt, entirely routed and dis- pored, yet, so deeply had he infused his own enthusiasm into the^r hearts, that they never rested, till in their own destruction, they involved the city and temple. Many of the Jews were attached to the oriental philosophy concerning the origin of the world. From this source the doc- trine of the Cabala is supposed to be derived. That considerable numbers of the Jews had imbibed this system, appears evident boi ia fVoui the books of the New Testament, and from the ancient XXIV I N T K D tT C T I N. history of the Christian church. It is also certain that many of the Gnostic sects were founded by Jews. Whilst the learned and sensible part of the Jewish nation was divided into a variety of sects, the multitude was sunk into the most deplorable ignorance of religion, and had no conception of any other method of rendering themselves acceptable to God than by sacrifices, washings, and other external rites and cere- monies of the Mosaic law. Hence proceeded that dissoluteness of manners which prevailed among the Jews during Christ's ministry on earth. Hence also the divine Saviour compares the people to sheep without a shepherd, and their doctors to men who, though deprived of sight, yet pretended to show the way to others. In taking a view of the corruptions both in doctrine and prac- tice, which prevailed among the Jews at the time of Christ's appearance, we find that the external worship of God was dis- figured by human inventions. Many learned men have observed that a great variety of rites was introduced into the service of th< temple, of which no traces are to be found in the sacred writings This was owing to those revolutions, which rendered the Je>w more conversant than they had formerly been, with the neigh- boring nations. They were pleased with several of the ceremonies which the Greeks and Romans used in the worship of the i'agan deities, and did not hesitate to adopt them in the service of the true God, and add them as an ornament to the rites, which thej had received by divine appointment. The Jews multiplied so prodigiously, that the narrow bounds of Palestine were no longer sufficient to contain them. The> poured, therefore, their increasing numbers into the neighboring countries with such rapidity, that, at the time of Christ's birth, there was scarcely a province in the empire where they were noi found carrying on commerce and exercising other lucrative arts. They were defended in foreign countries against injurious treat- ment by the special edicts of the magistrates. This was abso- lutely necessary ; since, in most places, the remarkable difference of their religion and manners from those of other nations, ex- posed them to the hatred and indignation of the ignorant and INTRODUCTION. XX? bigoted multitude. "All this," says Dr. Mosheim, "appears to have been most singularly and wisely directed by the adorable hand of an interposing Providence, to the end, that this people, wiich was the sole depository of the true religion, and of the knowledge of one supreme God, being spread abroad through the whole earth, might be everywhere, by their example, a reproach to superstition, contribute in some measure to check it, arid thus prepare the way for that yet fuller discovery of divine truth, which was to shine upon the world from the ministry and gospel of the Son of God." SECTION III. AN ACCOUNT OF THE PHILOSOPHICAL SYSTEMS WHICH WERE IN VOGUE AT THE TIME OF CHRIST'S APPEARANCE. AT the important era of Christ's appearance in the world, two kinds of philosophy prevailed among the civilized nations. One was the philosophy of the Greeks, adopted also by the Romans ; and the other, that of the Orientals, which had a great number of votaries in Persia, Syria, Chaldea, Egypt, and even among the Jews. The former was distinguished by the simple title of philosophy. The latter was honored by the more pompous appellation of science or knowledge ; since those who adhered to the latter sect pretended to be the restorers of the knowledge of God, which was lost in the world. The followers of both these systems, in consequence of vehement disputes and dissensions about several points, subdivided themselves into a variety of sects. It is, however, to be observed, that all the sects of the Oriental philosophy deduced their various tenets from one fundamental principle, which they held in common ; but the Greeks were much divided about the first principles of science. Amongst the Grecian sects there were some who declaimed openly against religion, and denied the immortality of the soul ; and others, who acknowledged a Deity, and a state of future rewards and punishments. Of the former kind were the Epi- cureans and Academics ; of the latter, the Platonists and Stoics 3 INTRODUCTION. The Epicureans derived their name from Epicurus, who was born in the hundred and ninth olympiad, 242 years before Christ. He accounted for the formation of the world in the following manner: A finite i; umber of that infinite multitude of atoms, which, with infinite space, constitutes the universe, falling for- tuitously into the region of the world, were, in consequence of their innate motion, collected into one rude and indigested mass. All the various parts of nature were formed by those atoms / which were best fitted to produce them. The fiery particles formed themselves into air; and from those which subsided, the earth was produced. The mind or intellect was formed of par- ticles most subtle in their nature, and capable of the most rapid motion. The world is preserved by the same mechanical causes by which it was framed ; and from the same causes it will at last he dissolved. Epicurus admitted that there were in the universe divine natures. But he asserted that these happy and divine beings did not encumber themselves with the government of the world : yet, on account of their excellent nature, they are proper objects of reverence and worship. The science of physics was, in the judgment of Epicurus, subordinate to that of ethics; and his whole doctrine concerning nature was professedly adapted to rescue men from the dominion of troublesome passions, and lay the foundation of a tranquil and happy life. He taught, that man is to do everything for his own sake ; that he is to make his own happiness his chief end, and do all in his power to secure and preserve it. He considered pleasure as the ultimate good of mankind ; but asserts that he does not mean the pleasures of the luxurious, but principally the freedom of the body from pain, and of the mind from anguish and perturbation. The virtue he prescribes is resolved ultimately into our private advantage without regard to the excellence of its own nature, or of its being commanded by the Supreme Being. The followers of Aristotle were another famous Grecian sect. That philosopher was born in the first year of the ninety-ninth olympiad, about 384 years before the birth of Christ. Aristotle supposed the universe to have existed from eternity, INTRODUCTION XXV11 He admitted, however, the existence of a deity, whom he styled the first mover, and whose nature, as explained by him, is some- thing like the principle which gives motion to a machine. It is a nature wholly separated from matter, immutable, and far superior to all other intelligent natures. The celestial sphere, which is the region of his residence, is also immutable ; and residing in his first sphere, he possesses neither immensity nor omnipresence. Happy in the contemplation of himself, he is entirely regardless of human affairs. In producing motion, the deity acts not voluntarily, but necessarily ; not for the sake of other beings, but for his own pleasure. Nothing occurs in the writings of Aristotle which decisively determines whether he supposed the soul of man mortal or immortal. Respecting ethics, he taught that happiness consisted in the yirtuous exercise of the mind, and that virtue consists in pre- serving that mean in all things which reason and prudence describe. It is the middle path between two extremes, one of which is vicious through excess, the other through defect. The Stoics were a sect of heathen philosophers, of which Zeno, who flourished about 350 years before Christ, was the original founder. They received their denomination from a place in which Zeno delivered his lectures, which was a portico at Athens. Their distinguishing tenets were as follows : That God is unde- rived, incorruptible, and eternal ; possessed of intelligence and goodness; the efficient cause of all the qualities and forms of things ', and the constant preserver and governor of the world. That matter is also underived and eternal, and by the powerful energy of the Deity impressed with motion and form : That though God and matter subsisted from eternity, the present regular frame of nature had a beginning, and will have an end. That the element of fire will at last, by an universal conflagration, reduce the world to its pristine state. That at this period all material forms are lost in one chaotic mass, all animated nature ia reunited to the Deity, and matter returns to its original form. That from this chaotic state, however, it again emerges, by the energy of the efficient principle; and gods and men, and all XXvili INTRODUCTION. forms of regulated nature, are renewed, to be dissolved and renewed in endless succession. That at the restoration of all things, the race of men will return to life. Some imagined that each individual would return to its former body; while others supposed that after the revolution of the great year, similar soula would be placed in similar bodies. Those among the Stoics who maintained the existence of the soul after death, supposed it to be removed into the celestial regions of the gods, where it remains, till, at the general confla- gration, all souls, both human and divine, shall be absorbed in the Deity. But many imagined, that before they were admitted among the divinities, they must purge away their inherent vices and imperfections by a temporary residence in the serial regions between the earth and the moon, or in the moon itself. It was supposed that depraved and ignoble souls are agitated after death in the lower region of the air till the fiery parts are separated from the grosser, and rise, by their natural levity, to the orbit of the moon, where they are still further purified and refined. According to the doctrine of the Stoics, all things are subject to an irresistible and irreversible fatality : and there is a necessary chain of causes and effects, arising from the action of a power, which is itself a part of the machine it regulates, and which, equally with the machine, is subject to the immutable laws of necessity. The moral doctrine of the Stoics depends upon the preceding principles. They make virtue to consist in an acquiescence in f,he immutable laws of necessity, by which the world is governed. The resignation they prescribe appears to be part of their scheme to raise mankind to that liberty and self-sufficiency which it is the great end of their philosophy to procure. They assert that rirtue is its own proper reward, and vice its own punishment; that all external things are indifferent; and that a wise man may be happy in the midst of tortures. The ultimate design of their philosophy was to divest human nature of all passions and affections ; and they make the highest attainments and perfection of virtue to consist in a total apathy and insensibility of human evils. INTRODUCTION. XXIX The Platonic philosophy is denominated from Pkto, who was born in the eighty-seventh olympiad, 426 years before the nativity of Jesus Christ. He founded the old academy on the opinions of Heraclitus, Pythagoras, arid Socrates; and by adding the information he had acquired to their discoveries, he estab- lished a sect of philosophers, who were esteemed more perfect than those who had before appeared in the world. The outlines of Plato's philosophical system were as follows: That there is one God, an eternal, immutable, and immaterial being, perfect in wisdom and goodness, omniscient and omnipre- sent. That this all-wise and perfect Being formed the universe out of a mass of pre-existing matter, to which he gave form and arrangement. That there is in matter a necessary, but blind and refractory force, which refits the will of the Supreme Artificer, so that he cannot perfectly execute his designs; and this is the cause of the mixture of good and evil which is found in the material world. That the soul of man was derived by emanation from God ; but that this emanation was not immediate, but through the intervention of the soul of the world, which was itself debased by some material admixture. That the relation which the human soul, in its original constitution, bears to matter, is the source of moral evil. That when God formed the universe, he separated from the soul of the world inferior souls, equal in number to the stars, and assigned to each its proper celestial abode. That these souls were sent down to earth to be imprisoned in mortal bodies; .hence proceed the depravity and misery to which human nature is liable. That the soul is immortal; and by disengaging itself from all animal passions, and rising above sensible objects to the contemplation of the world of intelligence, it may be prepared to return to its original habitation. That matter never suffered annihilation, but that the world will remain forever; but that by the action of its animating principle, accomplishes certain periods, within which everything returns to its ancient place and state. This periodical revolution of nature is called the Platonic or great year. The Platonic system makes the perfection of morality to con- sist in living in conformity to the will of God, the only author y* XXX INTRODUCTION. of true felicity j and teaches that our highest good consists in the contemplation and knowledge of the Supreme Being, whom he emphatically styles favyatfov, the good. The end of this knowledge is to make men resemble the Deity as much as i? compatible with human nature. This likeness consists in the possession and practice of all the moral virtues. After the death of Plato, many of his disciples deviated from his doctrines. His school was then divided into the old, the middle, and the new academy. The old academy strictly adhered to his tenets. The middle academy receded from his system without entirely deserting it. The new academy, founded by Carneades, an African by birth, almost entirely relinquished the original doctrines of Plato, and verged towards the sentiments which were taught by the Skeptic philosophy. The Skeptic or Pyrrhonic sect of philosophers derive their name from Pyrrho, a Grecian philosopher, who flourished at Peloponnesus, in the hundred and ninth olympiad. This deno- mination was in little esteem till the time of the Roman empe- rors ] then it began to increase, and made a considerable figure. Every advance which Pyrrho made in the study of philosophy involved him in fresh uncertainty. Hence he left the school of the dogmatists, and established a school of his own on the principles of universal skepticism. On account of the similarity of the opinions of this sect and those of the Platonic school in the middle and new academy, many of the real followers of Pyrrho chose to screen themselves from the reproach of universal skepticism by calling themselves Academics. Pyrrho and his followers rather endeavored to demolish every other philosophical structure than to erect one of their own They asserted nothing, but proposed positions merely by way of enunciation, without deciding on which side, in any disputed question, the truth lay, or even presuming to assert that one proposition was more probable than another. On the subject of morals the Skeptics suspended their judgment concerning the ground of the distinction admitted by the Stoics and others, n things in their nature good, evil ; or indifferent. INTRODUCTION. XXXI The chief points of difference between the Pyrrhonists and Academics are these ; The Academics laid it down as an axiom, that nothing can be known with certainty; the Pyrrhonists maintained that even this ought not to be positively asserted. The Academics admitted the real existence of good and evilj the Pyrrhonists suspended their judgment on this point. The Academics, especially the followers of Carneades, allowed different degrees of probability in opinion; but the Skeptics rejected all speculative conclusions, drawn either from the testimony of the senses, or from reasoning; and concluded that we can have no good ground for affirming or denying any proposition, or em- bracing any one opinion rather than another. The Eclectic philosophy was in a flourishing state at Alexandria when our Saviour was upon earth. Its founders formed the design of selecting from the doctrines of all former philosophers such opinions as seemed to approach nearest the truth, and of combining them into one system. They held Plato in the highest esteem ; but they did not scruple to join with his doctrines whatever they thought conformable to reason in the tenets of other philosophers. Potamo, a Platonist, appears to have been the first projector of this plan. The Eclectic system was brought to perfection by Ammonias Saccas, who blended Christianity with the tenets of philosophy. The moral doctrine of the Alexandrian school was as follows The mind of man, originally a portion of the Divine Being, having fallen into a state of darkness and defilement by its union with the body, is to be gradually emancipated from the chain of matter, and rise by contemplation to the knowledge and vision of God. The end of philosophy, therefore, is the liberation of the soul from its corporeal imprisonment. For this purpose the Eclectic philosophy recommends abstinence, with other voluntary mortifications and religious exercises. In the infancy of the Alexandrian school, not a few of the professors of Christianity were led, by the pretensions of the Eclectic sect, to imagine that a coalition might, with great advantage, be formed between its system and that of Christianity This union appeared the more de-sirable, as several philosojhers XXXli INTRODUCTION. of this sect became converts to the Christian faith. The conse- quence was, that Pagan ideas and opinions were by degrees mixed with the pure and simple doctrines of the gospel. The Oriental philosophy was popular in several nations at the time of Christ's appearance. Before the commencement of the Christian era it was taught in the East, whence it gradually spread through the Alexandrian, Jewish, and Christian schools. The Oriental philosophers endeavored to explain the nature and origin of all things by the principle of emanation from an eternal fountain of being. The forming of the leading doctrines of this philosophy into a regular system has been attributed to Zoroaster, an ancient Persian philosopher. He adopted the principle generally held by the ancients, that from nothing, nothing can be produced. He supposed spirit and matter, light and darkness, to be emanations from one eternal source. The active and passive principles he conceived to be perpetually at variance ; the former tending to produce good ; the latter, evil ; but that, through the intervention of the Supreme Being, the contest would at last terminate in favor of the good principle. According to Zoroaster, various orders of spiritual beings, gods, or demons, have proceeded from the Deity, which are more or less perfect, as they are at a greater or less distance in the course of emanation from the eternal fountain of intelligence, among which the human soul is a particle of divine light, which will return to its source and partake of its immortality; and matter is the last or most distant emanation from the first source of being, which, on account of its distance from the fountain of light, becomes opaque and inert, and whilst it remains in that state, is the cause of evil; but, being gradually refined, it will at length return to the fountain from whence it flowed. Those who professed to believe the Oriental philosophy were divided into three leading sects, which were subdivided into various factions. Some imagined two eternal principles, from whence all things proceeded ; the one presiding over light, the other over matter, and, by their perpetual conflict, explaining the mixture of good and evil that appears in the universe. Others maintained that the being which presided over mutter INTRODUCTION, nas not an eternal principle, but a subordinate intelligence, one of those whom the supreme Grod produced from himself. They supposed that this being was moved by a sudden impulse to reduce to order the rude mass of matter which lay excluded from the mansions of the Deity, and also to create the human race. A third sect entertained the idea of a triumvirate of beings, in which the supreme deity was distinguished both from the material evil principle, and from the Creator of this sub- lunary world. That these divisions did really subsist, is erident from the history of the Christian sects which embraced this philosophy. From blending the doctrines of the Oriental philosophy with Christianity, the Gnostic sects, which were so numerous in the first centuries, derive their origin. Other denominations arose, which aimed to unite Judaism with Christianity. Many of the Pagan philosophers, who were converted to the Christian religion, exerted all their art and ingenuity to accommodate the doctrines of the gospel to their own schemes of philosophy. In each age of the church new systems were introduced, till, in process of time, we find the Christian world divided into that prodigious variety of sentiment which is exhibited in the following pages.* * For the above introduction, we are indebted to Miss Haixab Adam* '* Vi*w of Relig^na." ED. HISTORY OF RELIGIONS. BAPTISTS. THE members of this denomination are distinguished from all other professing Christians, by their opinions re- specting the ordinance of Christian Baptism. Conceiving that positive institutions cannot be established by analogi- cal reasoning, but depend on the will of the Saviour, re- vealed in express precepts, and that apostolical example illustrative of this is the rule of duty, they differ from their Christian brethren with regard both to the subjects and the mode of baptism. With respect to the subjects, from the command which Christ save after his resurrection, and in which baptism is mentioned as consequent to faith in the gospel, they con- ceive them to be those, $nd those only, who believe what the apostles were then enjoined to preach. With respect to the mode, they affirm that, instead of sprinkling or pouring, the person ought to be immersed in the water, referring to the primitive practice, and observ- ing that the baptizer as well as the baptized having gone down into the water, the latter is baptized in it, and both come up out of it. They say that John baptized in the Jordan, and that Jesus, after being baptized, came up out (35) ; iv A i; T< T s T s . of it. Believers are also said to be buried with Christ by baptism into death, wherein also they are raised with him ' a doctrinal allusion, incompatible with any other mode. Rom. vi. 4, Col. ii, 12. For baptism here appears as an appointed and expressive emblem of the death of Christ, through which our sins are remitted or washed away, and of the resurrection of Christ, through which the Holy Spirit confers upon us a new spiritual life, in which every true believer enters into fellowship with him. In other words, Christian baptism is a figurative representation of that, which the Gospel of Christ is in testimony. To this, therefore, the mind of the baptized believer is naturally led, and every spectator in like manner is impressed with the gospel, not only as truth, but life, derived by faith from the crucified and glorified Redeemer. The Baptists, therefore, think that none ought to be baptized, but such as with all their-heart believe the gospel, and that immer- sion is not properly a mode of baptism, but baptism itself. Holding convictions at once so clear and sacred, drawn from the very fountain of truth, the Baptists, while differ- ing from other Christians, disclaim the spirit of schism. Feeling the authority of the Great Commission, which re- mains unchanged to the end of the world, they aim to carry out all its parts in the prescribed order, with the fidelity of a good conscience, as under law to Christ, and responsible alone to Him, on whose promised presence and aid they humbly rely. Matt, xxviii: 19,20. They pro fess to love all Christians as brethren ; but they own no other Master than Christ ; no other law in religion than his word ; no baptism but that which is hallowed by faith ; no church, but that which is the living body of Christ,*per- vaded and animated by his Spirit. Neither birth, nor age, nor sex, nor nation, nor condition, in their view, can qualify for Christian ordinances, but ike faith that worJceth by love, BAPTISTS. 37 and which naturally unfolds in obedience to all things whatsoever Christ has commanded. As to Church organization and government, Baptists believe in the spiritual Unity of the Church, the collective body of believers, of which Christ is the head. This unity it is a duty to preserve and cherish, by subjection to Him in all things. Local churches, composed of believers in. a particular place, who, being duly baptized, are em- bodied by mutual consent, under the law of Christ, for extending his kingdom, are the first scriptural means of manifesting this spiritual unity. The government of these churches is congregational; that is to say, being immediately dependent on Christ, they are severally in- dependent of all other authority as churches ; though as citizens, individually subject to the civil power, and loyal in its support. Each church is completely competent tc manage its internal affairs, such as the choice of officers reception, dismission, or discipline of members. Here ia the only tribunal in which Christ presides, ratifying in heaven what is done according to his will on earth. But this principle of local church independence is not held by Baj itists as a law of isolation, for it is balanced by the principle of intercommunion between the churches, which binds them into one. This intercommunion is the highest form of visible unity, and is never without necessity to be interrupted. On this principle, Baptist churches associate for the accomplishment of all common ends, and especially for diffusing the gospel throughout the world. Councils also are called to advise and assist in the formation of churches, the ordination of ministers, and the settlement of any serious difficulties ; but' these councils are strictly such, having no judicial or appellate powers. They are composed of both ministers and laymen ; between whom there is no distinction, but that of office. Ministers are 4 38 BAPTISTS. ordained, both as evangelists and pastors, and deacons also, after due examination, by prayer and the laying on of hands in solemn benediction. There are no higher officers recognized than these no prelacy, no hierarchy- all pastors are equally bishops, in their sacred charge of the flock of Christ. The Baptists are zealous friends of ministerial educa- tion, as their numerous Colleges and Theological Semina- ries show ; but they do not regard such education as in- dispensable to the Christian ministry, where all the scrip- tural qualifications are found ; as in John Bunyan and Andrew Fuller, who are among their brightest ornaments. Dr. Sprague's volume on the "Baptist Pulpit," is a monument of their eminent men, from the foundation of this country. Dr. Baird, also, in his great work on "Religion in America," has said: " The ministry of the Baptists comprehends a body of men, who in point' of talent, learning, and eloquence, as well as in devoted piety, have no superiors in the country." Through their labors, accompanied by the Divine blessing, the Baptists are now, with a single exception, the largest denomination of Christians in the United States, being spread through every State and Territory, and growing at a rate which outstrips the rapid growth of population. This fact is the more remarkable, as they are less indebted to emigration from Europe than most other denominations ; discard on principle infant baptise and birth-right membership, as incompatible with the genius of Christianity, and depend on the power of truth and the Holy Spirit alono for the vital increase of their churches. It is the more remarkable still, because on all sides they are reproached for their strictness of practice on Church communion ; as they think, reproached wrongfully. A few words there- fore may be necessary on this point. BAPTISTS. 39 Baptists believe that, according to the scriptures, the Holy Supper is a church ordinance, intended to express their common fellowship with Christ, as the source and support of spiritual life; and that each church must therefore judge for itself on its responsibility to Christ, of the scriptural qualifications of all who apply for admission, In requiring baptism and church fellowship among these qualifications, they agree with almost all Christians in every age and country ; they differ only in their views of baptism. If their views of baptism are correct, they are bound to apply them impartially to all who apply for admission to communion. The very fact that it is the Lord's table, and not their own, forbids them, even if they would, from changing at their pleasure the divine laws of approaching it. All who agree with them are wel- come to come ; those who do not, and cannot with a good conscience, are at perfect liberty to join elsewhere. Hard cases may arise with individuals, but the churches are not responsible. The right of private judgment is sacred, but it is equally so on both sides ; and the conscience of the individual cannot over-ride the conscience of the church ; for the fellowship of the Spirit cannot be forced. These views, so far from being narrow and bigoted, as some suppose, the Baptists believe to present the only true solution of this question of conscience, when viewed in its broadest aspect, and in the spirit of brotherly love. The strictest Baptists therefore claim, that their commu- nion, in any proper use of the term, is free. A laxer and less consistent view obtains to some extent among Bap- tists in England ; but as it rests on no scriptural precept or practice, it is regarded by Baptists in the United States as a perilous anomaly, to be avoided rather than imitated. Not one of their twelve thousand churches indorses it not because they do not love and esteem other Christians 40 BAPTISTS. but because love to their brethren must be regulated in its manifestations by the word of God. By this we know that we love the children of Q-od, when we love God and keep his commandments. 1 John v. 2. It is this clear conviction of the truth and equity of their principles, that has made the Baptists the pioneers of re- ligious liberty in its full extent, both in the Old World and in the New. Before William Penn, before Lord Baltimore, before Jeremy Taylor, Milton, or Locke, even before William I. of Orange, in the sixteenth century, their clear testimony is on record. And theirs is the high honor of establishing in the little colony of Ehode Island, in 1636, the first civil government in modern times which declared that conscience should be free ; in which noble declaration, fifty years later, they were followed by the Friends, of Pennsylvania ; and since the Kevolution of 1776, by all the United States. This honor history now awards them. But how few know what toils and sacrifices, what vigilance, patience, prayers, tears and blood, it cost the Baptists to win this boon of freedom for all mankind. As will be evident from the above exposition of their principles, the Baptists claim their origin from the minis- try of Christ and his Apostles. They further claim, that all the Christian churches of the first two centuries after Christ, were founded and built up upon these principles ; in proof of which they appeal to the highest authorities in church history, such as Mosheim and Neander. Amid the growing defection of later times, they claim to be able to trace their history in a succession of pure churches, under various names, down to the Eeformation of the six teenth century. From the fifth and sixth centuries, these churches became the objects of relentless persecution but though persecuted, they were not forsaken ; though scattered, not destroyed ; a bush forever burning, but un- BAPTISTS. 4i consumed. The seeds of their principles had long been sown throughout Europe ; the Waldenses had held them fast ; the Paterines suffered for them ; the Lollards dif- fused them ; Wickliffe embraced them. At the first v dawn of the Reformation, they emerged on all sides, and after fifty years of unparalleled suffering, from Eomanists and Protestants alike, at last found protection under the Prince of Orange, the founder of the Dutch Eepublic. They were called indiscriminately Anabaptists, (or Re- baptizers, ). but they of course disowned the name, as in- compatible with their principles, and still more, as dis- graced by a small party of fanatics in Minister, with whom they had not the slightest identity or connection, What the main body really were, and how they bore their terrible sufferings, let Cardinal Hosius, President of the Council of Trent, testify : "If you behold their cheer- fulness in suffering persecution, the Anabaptists run before all the heretics, (i. e. Protestants.) If you have re- gard to the number, it is likely that they would swarm above all others, if they were not grievously plagued and cut off by the knife of persecution. If you have an eye to the outward appearance of godliness, both the Luthe- rans and the Zuinglians must needs grant that they faf pass them. If you will be moved by the boasting of the word of God, these be no less bold than Calvin to preach ; and their doctrine must stand aloft above all the glory of the world, must stand invincible above all power, because it is not their word, but the word of the living God." If there be a tinge of irony in the last sentence, there is certainly none in the honorable testimony to the an- tiquity of the Baptists, in the following passage from the " History of the Eeformed Church of the Netherlands," by Drs. Ypeig and Dermout, clergymen of the high- est standing in that church, and published in Breda, 42 BAPTISTS. in 1819. " "We Lave now seen that the Baptists, who were formerly called Anabaptists, and in later times Mennonites, were the original Waldenses, and have long, in the history of the church received the honor of that origin. On this account the Baptists may be considered as the only Chris- tian community which has stood since the days of the Apostles ; and as a Christian society which has preserved pure the doctrines of the Gospel through all ages." In regard to the value of religious forms, this body of Christians seem to hold a middle place between the Eo- man Catholics, who multiply them at will, and magnify their efficacy to salvation, and the Friends, or Quakers, who discard them altogether as inconsistent with a spirit- ual religion. In opposition to the first view, the Baptists hold that no forms but those of scriptural institution are valid, thus repudiating all traditions of men ; and in refer- ence to those of Divine institution, the sacraments of Baptism and the Lord's Sapper, that they have no inhe- rent virtue, or saving efficacy of the Holy Spirit, inde- pendent of the receiver's faith. In opposition to the Quaker view, the Baptists hold that the reception of the Holy Spirit, though essential to spiritual religion, does not make void the authority of Baptism and the Lord's Supper, or supersede their value as the appointed expres- sions and auxiliaries of faith ; and they particularly point to the conversion of the Gentiles in the house of Cornelius, at Cesarea, in proof; where Peter, full of the Holy Ghost himself, said, Can any man forbid water, that these should not be baptized, who have received the Holy Ghost as well as we ? And he commanded them to be baptized in the name of the Lord. (Acts x. 47, 48.) Instead of magnifying the efficacy of Baptism and making it a saving ordinance, the Baptists affirm that they make less of it than most religious denominations j BAPTISTS. 43 ^for they believe that" infants are saved without it; in proof of which, they adduce the fact that Christ blessed little children, without baptizing them. Baptism (mean- ing immersion) is in their view but the symbol of faith, and it saves us, as Peter says, only in a figure, or so fai only as it is the answer of a good conscience toward God. In their doctrine, the Baptists are in a high degree evangelical, holding the views commonly called Calvinis- tic, as set forth in the writings of Bunyan, Gill, and Fuller. The Confessions of 1613,1689, 1742, and 1833, are all in harmony, differing only in the choice of lan- guage and fulness of exposition. These Confessions are never regarded as binding creeds. There is a close affinity between the Baptists and the Congregationalists, and they are divided only on the point of baptism. The late Dr. Woods, of Andover, Mass., in 1854, thus expresses his views of this affinity : " For my- self, I entertain feelings of the most cordial esteem, love and confidence, toward the Baptists as a denomination. I have had the freest intercourse and the sincerest friend- ship with Baptist ministers, theological students, and pri- vate Christians. And I have wished that our denomina- tion was as free from erratic speculations, and as well grounded in the doctrines and experimental principles of the Puritans as the Baptists. It seems to me that they are the Christians who are likely to maintain pure Chris- tianity, and to hold fast the form of sound words ; while many of our denomination are rather loose in their opinions, and are trying to introduce innovations into the system of evangelical doctrines. And I think that Congregationalists in general regard the Baptists much as I do, though it may be that my better acquaintance with them has led me to esteem them more highly than some of my brethren do." See CONGREGATIONALISTS. 44: BAPTISTS. The Baptist " Missionary Union," from its origin m Dr. Judson's change of views on baptism, as well as from the common aim of its endeavors, is in cor- dial sympathy with the "American Board of Commis- sioners for Foreign Missions" established by the Congre gationalists in 1810. The following comparative tablo of their successful operations, drawn up from the reports of the two societies in 1866, will be found of great value and interest. It should be observed that the figures of the American Board, except in the item of schools and scholars, include the returns from the Sandwich Islands ; and the figures of the Missionary Union include all 'their European missions, from which no schools are reported. American Missionary Board'. Union. Date of organization June, 1810 May, 1814. Income the past year $446,942 44 $175,354 32 Expenditures 440,27547 .... 173,48457 Missions now maintained 20 .... 19 Stations and out-stations 526 .... 1700 Missionaries, male and female. . 312 .... 84 Native helpers 815 700 Churches ' 194 .... 487 Members added last year 1119 .... 2672 Total present members 23,240 36,000 Schools of all kinds 428 .... 157 Total number of scholars 10,901 3295 Printing establishments 2 .... 1 Pages printed last year 13,659,826 4,375,950 The strength of the American Board in its resources, its missionary force, its vigorous schools, of which sixteen are theological and training schools, and its multiplica- tion of books, is very manifest from this table. The Mis- sionary Union's more exclusive attention to simple evan- gelization, with much less income and fewer missionaries, is also evident in its appropriate fruits. God's blessing has rested richly upon both. A like blessing has at- BAPTISTS. 45 tended their labors in Home Missions, as might be shown if the figures were at hand. The Baptists have indeed spread far more widely, and gathered converts more rap- idly ; from a much smaller beginning, now outnumbering the Congrcgationalists in this country fourfold. But, on the other hand, the Congregationalists, with a narrower field, have cultivated it more richly. At present there is a sort of interchange in the character of their home labors, the Baptists devoting themselves to a higher cul- ture, and their Congregational brethren to a more ener- getic effort of expansion. Their history, too, both in England and in this country, has flowed on in parallel streams, and the waters have often intermingled. The great names that adorn them are alike dear to both, and it may be hoped time will cement and perfect the union. The unity of the Baptist denomination, which is almost equally spread over all the United States, does not consist in any external bond of authority distinct from the Bible, but in the internal fellowship of the churches and mem- bers in " one Lord, one faith, and one baptism." (Epb. iv. 6.) It was formerly expressed also by free co-opera tion in the same general missionary and benevolent socie- ties. This was gradually interrupted, as in other de- nominations, by the different position of the North and the South on the questions of slavery and of secession, which culminated in the civil war of 1861. As early as 1845, the Southern Baptists, partly from the wish to avoid agitation, and partly from the desire to engage their members more fully in the missionary enterprise by con- centrated action, withdrew, and organized separate gen- eral societies for the South, which still continue in opera- tion, though greatly crippled by the war. The general societies for benevolent effort at the North were never so energetic; so well sustained, or so successful, as at the 46 EPISCOPALIANS. present. Since secession and slavery have now passed away, it is to be hoped that time will restore a more per- fect internal fellowship than before, on the New Testa- ment principles of equity, loyalty, and love. The changes created by the war in the Southern States make it impossible to obtain complete returns of Bap- tist communicants. The Baptist Year Book gives the total North and South for 1870 as 799 Associations, 17,745 Churches, 10,818 ordained ministers; 77,795 bap- tized within the year, and 1,419,493 communicants. Grand total for North America, including the British colonies, 1,464,638. If the minor sects of Baptists, of all sorts, are added, the whole amounts to 2,075,000. Popula- tion about 10,500,000. Baptist Colleges, 29; Theological Seminaries, 9 ; Academies and high schools for both sexes about 100 ; periodical organs, 48. EPISCOPALIANS; OR, PROTESTANT EPISCOPAL CHURCH. THE denomination of Christians called the Protestant Episcopal Church had its origin in England, where it is called the Church of England. The king is the supreme head ; by this authority he convenes and prorogues the convocations of the clergy. The church is governed by two archbishops and twenty- five bishops. The Archbishop of Canterbury is styled the Primate of all England, and to him belongs the privilege of crown ing the kings and queens of England. The province of Bis ft op 0ftktPrvtest&itpisc0peLl Church EPISCOPALIANS. 41 Canterbury comprehends twenty-one bishoprics. In the province of the Archbishop of York, who is called the Primate of England, there are four bishoprics. Archbishops and bishops are appointed by the king, by what is called a conge d'elire, or leave to elect, which is sent to the dean and chapter, naming the person to be chosen. The bishop of London, as presiding over the capita], has the precedence of all the others. The Bishop of Dur- ham has certain prerogatives, as presiding over a see that constitutes a county palatine ; the Bishop of Winchester is third in dignity; the others take rank according to seniority of consecration. The archbishops and bishopa (except the Bishop of Sodor and Man) have seats in the House of Lords, and are styled the spiritual lords. The archbishops have the title of grace, and most reve- rend father in God, ly divine providence; bishops are addressed by the title of lord, and right reverend father in Grod, by divine permission. The former are said to be enthroned, the latter installed. To every cathedral belong several prebendaries and a dean, who form the dean and chapter, or council of the bishop. The next order of the clergy is that of arch- deacons ; their number is sixty ; their office is to reform abuses, and to induct into benefices. The most numerous and laborious order of the clergy are the deacons, curates, vicars, and rectors. The office of the deacon is confined to baptism, reading in the church, and assisting the priest at the communion. A parson is one who has full possession of all the rights of a parish church ; if the great tithes are improprtdted, the priest is called a vicar ; if not, a rector : a curate is One who is not instituted to the cure of souls, but exercises the spiritual office in a parish under a rector or vicar. 18 EPISCOPALIANS. The convocation of the clergy, which is the highest ecclesiastical court, has not been permitted by government to do any business since 1717, and is merely convened as a matter of form. The doctrines of the Church of England are contained in the thirty-nine articles ; the form of wor- ship is directed by a liturgy. The first steps to the establishment of the English Church were slow. It retained at first mnny of the fea- tures of the Roman Church, both in regard to doctrine and rites. After the parliament had declared Henry VIII. the only supreme head of the Church, and the convocation of the clergy had voted that the Bishop of Home had no more jurisdiction in England than any other foreign bishop, the articles of faith of the new Church were declared to con- sist in the Scriptures and tue three creeds, the Apostolic, the Nicene, and the Athanasiari; the real presence, the use of images, the invocation of saints, &c., wero still maintained. Under Edward the new liturgy was composed in English, and took the place of the old mass ; the doctrines were also stated in forty-two articles. With the reign of Mary, the old religion was re-established; and it was not till that of Elizabeth that the Church of England was finally insti- tuted. As no change was made in the episcopal form of government, and some rites and ceremonies were retained which many of the Reformed considered as superstitious, this circumstance gave rise to many future dissensions. The controversy concerning the ceremonial part of divine worship commenced with those exiles who, in 1554, fled from the persecutions of Queen Mary, an^ took refuge in Germany. On the accession of Elizabeth they returned, and renewed the contest at home which had begun abroad. ATiAJsrs. 49 These were called Puritans, and at one time comprised many distinguished members of the English clergy. On the accession of James, the Puritans hoped for some relief; but an Episcopal hierarchy was more favorable to his views than the Presbyterian form of government, and he publicly adopted the maxim, " No bishop, no king." When the English divines returned from the Synod of Dort, the king and the majority of the Episcopal clergy discovered an inclination to the sentiments of Arminius, which have since prevailed over Calvinism among the English clergy. Under Charles I., the attempts made, through the in- strumentality of Laud, to reduce all the churches of Great Britain under the jurisdiction of bishops, and the suppres- sion of the opinions and institutions that were peculiar to Calvinism, cost the Archbishop of Canterbury his head, and had no little effect in imbittering the civil contest between the throne and the parliament. After the death of Laud, the parliament abolished the Episcopal govern- ment, and condemned everything in the ecclesiastical esta- blishment that was contrary to the doctrine, worship, and discipline of the Church of Geneva. As soon as Charles II. was restored to the throne, the ancient forms of ecclesiastical government and public wor- ship were restored ; and, in 1662, a public law, entitled tJie act of uniformity, was enacted, by which all who re- fused to observe the rites and subscribe the doctrines of the Church of England, were entirely excluded from its dominion. In the reign of William III., and particularly in 1689, the divisions among the friends of Episcopacy gave rise to the two parties called the high-churchmen, or non- jurors, and low-churchmen. The former maintained the doctrine of passive obedience, or non-resistance to the 5 D 50 EPISCOPALIANS. sovereign under any circumstance whatever ; that the hereditary succession to the throne is of divine institution, and cannot be interrupted : that the Church is subject to the jurisdiction of God alone ; and, consequently, that certain bishops deposed by King William remained, not- withstanding, true bishops ; and that those who had been appointed in their places were rebels and schismatics, and all who held communion with them were guilty of rebellion and schism. The gradual progress of civil and religious liberty during the last one hundred and fifty years, has settled practically many such controversies. The great increase of the dis- senters in recent times (they are estimated to be more numerous than the members of the established Church) has led to new concessions in their favor ; the repeal of the corporation and test acts, and the Catholic emancipa- tion, as it is called, are among the important events of the late reign. We have said that the doctrines of the Church of Eng- land are contained in the thirty-nine articles ; we are riot ignorant that the most eminent English divines hare doubted whether they are Calvinistic or Lutheran, that some have denominated them articles of peace, and that not a few have written in direct opposition to them. But they are the established confession of the English Church, *nd, as such, deserve a short analysis. The five first arti- cles contain a profession of faith in the Trinity; the incar- nation of Jesus Christ, his descent to hell, and his resur- rection; the divinity of the Holy Ghost. The three following relate to the canon of the Scripture. The eighth article declares a belief in the Apostles', Nicene, and Athanasian creeds. The ninth and following articles con- tain the doctrines of original sin, of justification by faith ulone, of pedesti nation, c. The nineteenth, twentieth, EPISCOPALIANS. 51 and twenty-first declare the Church to be the assembly of the faithful ; that it can decide nothing except by the Scriptures. The twenty-second rejects the doctrine of purgatory, indulgences, the adoration of images, and tho invocation of saints. The twenty-third decides that only those lawfully called shall preach or administer the sacra- ments. The twenty-fourth requires the liturgy to be in English. The twenty-fifth and twenty-sixth declare tho sacraments effectual signs of grace (though administered by evil men), by which God excites and confirms our faith. They are two ; baptism and the Lord's Supper. Baptism, according to the twenty-seventh article, is a sign of regene- ration, the seal of our adoption, by which faith is con- firmed and grace increased. In the Lord's Supper, ac- cording to article twenty-eighth, the bread is the commu- nion of the body of Christ, the wine the communion of his blood, but only through faith (art. twenty-ninth) ; and the communion must be administered in both kinds (art. thirty). The twenty-eighth article condemns the doctrine of transubstantiation, and the elevation and adoration of the host ; the thirty-first rejects the sacrifice of the mass as blasphemous ; the thirty-second permits the marriage of the clergy ; the thirty-third maintains the efficacy of excommunication. The remaining articles relate to tho supremacy of the king, the condemnation of Anabap- tists, &c. In the United States, the members of the Church of England, or Episcopalians, form a large and respectable denomination. When the Revolutionary War began, there were only about eighty parochial clergymen of this Church to the northward and eastward of Maryland; and they derived the greater part of their subsistence from the English Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts. In Maryland and Virginia, the EpiscopaJ J>2 EPISCOPALIANS. Church was much more numerous, and had legal establish- ments for its support. The inconvenience of depending on the mother Church for ordination, and the want of an internal Episcopacy, was long severely felt by the Ameri- can Episcopalians. But their petitions for an Episcopate of their own were long resisted by their superiors in Eng land ; and their opponents in the United States objected to the measure from an apprehension that bishops from England would bring with them an authority which would interfere with the civil institutions of this country, and be prejudicial to the members of other communions. After the United States had become independent of Great Britain, a new difficulty arose on the part of the English bishops : they could not consistently depart from their own stated forms of ordination, and these contained politi- cal tests improper for American citizens to subscribe. Dr. Lowth, then Bishop of London, obtained an act of Parliament allowing him to dispense with these political requisitions. Before this act was passed, Dr. Seabury was consecrated at Aberdeen by the non-juring bishops of Scotland ; and, not long after, Dr. W. White, of Philadel- phia, Dr. Provoost, of New York, and Dr. James Madison, of Virginia, were consecrated by the English archbishops. In 1792 there were four bishops and about 200 clergy. In 1832 there were fifteen bishops and 583 clergy. In 1855 the number of bishops had increased to thirty-eight, and the clergy to 1714, while the communicants were re- ported to be 105,350. In 1859 there were 1422 churches, with accommodations for 625,213 persons. The total value of church property was $11,261,970. Some changes in the liturgy of the American branch of the Episcopal Church were early made, in accommoda- tion to the American clergy, and the difference in the political condition of the two countries. DUTCH REFORMED CHURCH. 53 The three orders of bishops, priests, and deacons, are retained. The churches choose their pastors, hut their installation or induction requires the consent of the bishop of the diocese. The churchwardens are chosen by the communicants, the vestry by the parish. Each diocese holds an Annual Convention, composed of clergy and lay delegates elected by the people, in which the bishop presides. Every three years a General Convention is held, com- posed of the bishops, who form the House of Bishops ; and clerical and lay delegates from each diocese, who form the House of Delegates : and the Episcopal Church through- out the United States is governed by the canons of the General Convention. DUTCH REFORMED CHURCH. THE colony of New Amsterdam, now New York, was settled in 1612 by the Dutch. Missionaries and pious immigrants arrived here in the very beginning of the colony, but it is not known at what time a church was first organized. The Collegiate Church is supposed to have been formed in 1619. The Dutch Reformed Church is by many years earlier than any other Presbyterian church in this country. It differs but slightly from the other Ameri- can Presbyterian churches. Unfortunately, the names used for its officers and ecclesiastical bodies, and the name of the church itself, do not impart to the English reader a clear view of the things represented. It should be re- membered, then, that the Dutch Reformed Church is no longer a Dutch church. Its services are all performed in 5* 54 DUTCH REFOBMED CHUKCH. English, and all its modes of action are naturalized to our country ; so that no church among us is more perfectly American, or better adapted to make an effectual move- ment in the propagation of religion among our varied population. If its name were changed, and its dominie were called a minister, its consistory a session, its classis a presbytery, and its general synod a general assembly, there would be little remaining to distinguish it from the American Pres- byterian Church. From the commencement of the Dutch Reformed Church in this country, it was subordinate to the classis of Am- sterdam till 1737. In this year a movement was made to throw off dependence on the parent classis. TMs occa- sioned a violent contest, which was not terminated till 1771 ; when the Eev. Dr. Livingston, having previously convinced the classis of Amsterdam of the desirableness of the mensure, and having prepared the way by concili- ating wise men of both parties, induced the consistory of Lis church to call a convention. The convention met in New York in October, and resulted in a harmonious ar- rangement for a complete organization of the Dutch Re- formed Church in this country as an independent body. It receives the confession of faith, as adopted by the na- tional synod of the Council of Dort in the years 1618 and 1619, with the Heidelberg Catechism, the Cornpend of the Christian religion, and the canons of the Council of Dort on the famous five points, It is strictly Calvinistic. Th<* Dutch Reformed Church has a limited liturgy, Tfhich is allowed to be used by those who, through a defec- tive education or inexperience, need such helps. The only part which is enjoined is the reading of the Ten Com- mandmenjs in the opening of the morning service, the form of baptism, the short prayer before the vows taken DUTCH REFORMED CHURCH. 55 by parents hi the baptism of infants, and the formula of the holy communion of the Lord's Supper. This last is read by the minister, while all the members carefully and devoutly follow him, with the book open before them. There is a single point in which their government differs from other branches of the Presbyterian Church. The ruling elders, instead of being elected for life, are appointed for two years. If acceptable to the church, they may be appointed again after having been out of office for one year. The government of the Dutch Reformed Church is Presbyterian. It is fully described in the article on Presbyterians. They only .use a different nomenclature, in some respects, in speaking of ecclesiastical affairs. The consistory, or session, is composed of the minister, or bishop, ruling elders, and deacons. The pastor and elders meet as a spiritual court to transact the spiritual concerns, such as the admission of members, and the exercise of dis- cipline. The deacons are charged with the care of the poor. The consistory, including the deacons, meet as a board of trustees, for the transaction of the secular busi- ness of the church. On great occasions, such as the call- ing of a minister, what is termed the grand consistory is called together. This is composed of the acting session, and all who have previously belonged to that body. The next court is the classis, or presbytery ; the next, the par- ticular si/nod, which, like the classis, is a representative body. It consists of two ministers and two elders from each classis within its bounds. The highest court, from which there is no appeal, is the general synod. This is composed of three ministers and three elders from each classis of the whole church. . It holds its sessions annu- ally, and conducts its affairs much in the same method with the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church. >8 DUTCH REFORMED CHURCIJ The college and theological seminary at New Brunswick, N. J., are an honor to the Dutch Church. Amply en- dowed, and furnished with able professors, they exert their full share of influence in raising up a learned and able ministry. This church reports in the Minutes of the Gen- eral Synod for 1847 particular synods, 2; classes, 24; ministers, 289; churches, 276; communicants, '32,840 , members of congregations, 110,977. In the American Almanac for 1859, the Dutch Re- formed Church is stated to have 824 churches, accommo- dations for 181,986 worshippers, and church property to the amount of $4,096,730. The sessions of the General Synod held during the war were marked by weighty and earnest declarations of sym- pathy with the government in its struggle to maintain the integrity of the nation, and by more guarded yet suffi- ciently clear utterances in favor of the removal of slavery as the source of our troubles. No Church has a more honorable record in the work of Foreign Missions than this, and no names in this depart- ment are more favorably known to the Christian world than her Abeel, Pohlman, and above all her Scudders, father and sons. In 1817 the General Synod united with the Presbyterian and the Associate Eeformed churches in forming the United Foreign Missionary So- ciety. In 1826 this was merged in the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions. In 1857 an amicable separation from the Board took place, when the Eeformed Dutch Church undertook the foreign mission- ary work through the ordinary denominational channels. In the separation, the Amoy mission in China and the Arcot mission in India, which had been founded and carried on by ministers of the Dutch Church exclusively, were set over to that denomination, and they have been DUTCH REFORMED CHURCH. 57 among the most prosperous missions in that part of the world. At the time of the separation, the General Synod re- quested the ministers and churches in China, after the example of those in India, to form themselves into a classis, according to the order of the Dutch Church. This they declined doing, preferring to form, with the flourishing congregations of the English Presbyterian Mission, a separate organization, called " The Great Pres- byterial or Classical Council of Amoy." In 1863 missionaries were sent to Japan. In 1866 Rev. S. R. Bowen, missionary at Yokohama, sent a cir- cular of great interest to Christians in all parts of the world, showing the marvellous preparation for the en- trance of the Gospel in that country. He asked the co- operation of Christendom in the work of evangelizing Japan. Four of the foremost princes have requested a missionary to superintend their educational interests. Two governors consulted with the missionary on the same subject, and large numbers of Christian books in Chinese have been purchased or distributed among the natives. In 1866, a committee of the General Classis was ap- pointed to inquire into the expediency and propriety of dropping the word " Dutch " from the name of the de- nomination. Next year the General Synod, by 102 to 7, voted in favor of the change, and on submitting the ques- tion to the classes, 25 voted in favor and 6 against it. The adjourned meeting of the General Synod in Novem- ber ratified the action of the classes by a vote of 112 to 7. By this action, the name and style of the Church became "The Reformed Church in America/' The charter of the Church was amended to conform to this change by the Legislature of New York. 58 GERMAN REFORMED CHURCH. Statistics for 1870: 33 classes, 464 churches, 493 ministers, 61,444 communicants. Contributions to gen- eral benevolence $281,647.36 ; to congregational pur* poses $906,034.27. GERMAN REFORMED CHURCH. THE German Reformed Church in the United States dates its origin in ahout 1740, and was formed by immi- grants from Germany and Switzerland. It commenced its existence in this country in the eastern portion of Penn- sylvania, and is almost entirely confined to the German population. At an early period, however, congregations were formed in Virginia, the Carolinas, Maryland, New Jersey, and New York. The German Reformed Church consists, at this time, of two independent synods. They are bound together by a triennial convention. But this convention at first was not a court of appeal, and possessed none of the power of a general synod. In 1810 or 1812, the Rev. Jacob William Dechaut was sent out as a missionary to the State of Ohio. He was stationed at Miamisburg, Montgomery County. The Rev. Messrs. Winters and Weis joined him ; and their labors were attended with so much success that a classis was organized in 1819 ; and in 1823 or 1824 the majority of the classes separated from the parent body, and became an independent judicatory, calling themselves the Synod of Ohio. In 1836 the classis of Western Pennsylvania obtained permission to unite with the Synod of Ohio, which now bore the title of " The Synod of Ohio and the adjoining States;" and by a late act, this synod, which GERMAN REFORMED CHURCH. 59 nad previously been subdivided into three district synods, received a new organization agreeably to the plan of the constitution of the eastern church. The western church is low divided into classes, and its synod is a delegated body composed of the representatives of the classes. The government of the Gerrrdn Reformed Church is strictly Presbyterian. While fiere was no general synod, appeals could not be carried so far by one court as in the Dutch Reformed and American Presbyterian churches. For an explanation of the terms consistory, classes, etc., see the preceding article. An appeal could be taken from the consistory to the classes, and from the classes to the synod, whose decision was final. The German Reformed Church in this country is now spread qver the whole of Pennsylvania and Ohio, and over portions of Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, Missouri, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, and New York. There is a church in the city of New Orleans ; others formerly sub- sisted in New Jersey, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Ken- tucky ; and some members are still scattered over the several States of the Union. The eastern portion of the church is the original and parent body ; and its synod, existing before the other, bears the title of " The Synod of the German Reformed Church in the United States." Its territory extends in Pennsylvania westward to the Alleghany Mountains ; northward it includes portions of New York ; and on the south, Maryland, Virginia, and Carolina. It has under its jurisdiction ten classes, viz. : Philadelphia, Goshenhoppen, East Pennsylvania, Lebanon, Susquehanna, Zion, Mercers- burg. Maryland, Virginia, and North Carolina. The doctrines of this church are Calvinistic ; that is to GO GERMAN REFORMED CHURCH. say, the Heidelberg Catechism is their symbol, though a large portion of the laity lean to Arminian doctrines touching the subject of predestination. They practise the rite of confirmation ; which is, however, little else than a ceremony admitting candidates, who give evidence of rege- neration, to full commi'nion. They have a theological seminary founded in 182~ raised against him because he called his view of sanctification by the word perfection ; but he often explained what he meant by this term. He meant by the word perfection} such a degree of the love of God, and the love of man ; such a degree of the love of justice, truth, holiness, and purity, as will remove from the heart every contrary disposition towards God or man ; and that this should be our state of mind in every situation, and in every circumstance of life. He maintained that God is a God of love, not to a part of his creatures only, but to all ; that He who is the Father of all, who made all, who stands in the same relation to all his creatures, loves them all; that He loved the world, and gave his Son a ransom for all without distinction of persons. It appeared to him, that to represent God as partial, as confining his love to a few, was unworthy oui notions of the Deity: He maintained that Christ died for all men ; that he is to be offered to all ; that all are to be invited to come to him ; and that whosoever comes in the way which God has appointed, may partake of his bless- ings. He supposed that sufficient grace is given to all, in that way and manner which is best adapted to influence the mind. He did not believe salvation was by works. So far was he from putting works in the place of the blood of 8 ($6 METHODISTS. Christ, that he only gave them their just value : lie consi- dered them as the fruits of a living, operative faith, and as the measure of our future reward ; for every man will be rewarded not for his works, but according to the mea- sure of them. He gave the whole glory of salvation to God from first to last. He believed that man would never turn to God, if God did not begin the work : he often said that the first approaches of grace to the mind are irresist- ible ; that is, that a man cannot avoid being convinced that he is a sinner ; that God, by various means, awakens his conscience ; and, whether the man will or no, these convictions approach him." In order that we may form still clearer ideas respecting Mr. Wesley's opinions, we shall here quote a few questions and answers as laid down in the Minutes of Conference. Q. " In what sense ia Adam's sin imputed to all mankind ? " A. " In Adam all die, i. e., 1. Our bodies then became mortal. 2. Our souls died, i. e., were disunited from God. And hence, 3. We are all born with a sinful, devilish nature ; by reason whereof, 4. We are children of wrath, liable to death eternal," Rom. v. 18; Eph. ii. 8. Q. "In what sense is the righteousness of Christ imputed to all mankind, or to believers ? " A. " We do not find it expressly affirmed in Scripture that God imparts the righteousness of Christ to any, although we do find that faith is imputed for right eousness. That text, 'As by one man's disobedience all men were made sinners, so by the obedience of one all were made righteous,' we conceive, means by the merits of Christ all men are cleared from the guilt of Adam's actual sin." Q. " Can faith be lost but through disobedience ? ' A. " It cannot. A believer first inwardly disobeys ; in- clines to sin with his heart ; then his intercourse with God is cut off, i. e. his faith is lost ; and after this he may fall into outward sin, being now weak, and like another man." METHODISTS. 87 Q. " What is implied in being & perfect Christian?" A. " The loving the Lord our God with all our heart, and with all our mind, and soul, and strength." Q. " Does this imply that all inward sin is taken away?" A. "Without doubt; or how could we be said to be saved from all our un cleanness ?" Ezek. xxxvi. 29. Q. "How much is al- lowed by our brethren who differ from us with regard to entire sanctification f" A. " They grant, 1. That every- one must be entirely sanctified in the article of death. 2. That till then a believer daily grows in grace, comes nearer and nearer to perfection. 3. That we ought to be conti- nually pressing after this, and to exhort all others to d> BO." Q. " What do we allow them ?" A. " We grant, 1 . That many of those who have died in the faith, yea, the greater part of those we have known, were not sanctified throughout, not made perfect in love, till a little before death. 2. That the term sanctified is continually applied by St. Paul to all that were justified, that were true be- lievers. 3. That by this term alone he rarely (if ever) means saved from all sin. 4. That consequently it is not proper to use it in this sense, without adding the word 'wholly, entirely,' or the like. 5. That the inspired wri- ters almost continually speak of or to those who were just- ified, but very rarely either of or to those who were sanc- tified. 6. That it consequently behoves us to speak in public almost continually of the state of justification ; but more rarely in full and explicit terms concerning entire sanctification." Q. "What, then, is the point wherein we divide?" A. " It is this : Whether we should expect to be saved from all sin before the article of death." Q. "Is there any clear Scripture promise of this, that God will save us from all sin ? " A. " There is. Ps. cxxx. 8 : * He shall redeem Israel from all his iniquities.' This is more largely expressed in Ezek. xxxvi. 25, 29 ; 2 Cor. vii. 1 ; 88 METHODISTS. Dent. xxx. 6; 1 John Hi. 8; Eph. v. 25, 27; John xvii, 20, 23 ; 1 John iv. 17." These are the tenets of the Wesleyan Methodists, given in their own words, in order to prevent misrepresentation. The doctrine of the Calvinistic Methodists are those of Calvin. A considerable number both of the Calvinist and Ar- minian Methodists approve of the discipline of the Church of England, while many, it is said, are dissenters in prin- ciple. Mr. Wesley and Mr. Whitfield were both brought up in, and paid peculiar respect to that Church. They did not, however, as it is well known, confine themselves to her laws in all respects as it related to discipline. Mr. Wesley having formed numerous societies in different parts, he, with his brother Charles, drew up certain rules, by which they were, and it seems in many respects still are, governed. They state the nature and design of a Methodist society in the following words : " Such a society is no other than a company of men having the form and seeking the power of godliness ; united in order to pray together, to receive the word of exhortation, and to watch over one another in love, that they may help each other to work out their own salvation. " That it may the more easily be discerned whether they are indeed working out their own salvation, each society is divided into smaller companies, called classes, according to their respective places of abode. There are about twelve persons (sometimes fifteen, twenty, or even more) in each class ; one of whom is styled their leader. It is his business, 1. To see each person in his class once a week, at least, in order to inquire how their souls pros- per; to advise, reprove, comfort, or exhort, as occasion may require ; to receive what they are willing to give to the poor or toward the gospel 2. To meet the minister METHODISTS. 89 and the stewards of the society once a week, in order to inform the minister of any that are sick, or of any that walk disorderly and will not be reproved ; to pay to the stewards what they have received of their several classes in the week preceding ; and to show their account of what each person has contributed. " There is only one condition previously required of those who desire admission into these societies : namely, a desire to flee from the wrath to come; to be saved from their sins: but wherever this is really fixed in the soul, it will be shown by its fruits. It is, therefore, expected of all who continue therein, that they should continue to evi- dence their desire of salvation. " First, By doing no harm ; by avoiding evil in every kind ; especially that which is most generally practised, such as the taking the name of God in vain ; the profaning the day of the Lord, either by doing ordinary work there- on, or by buying or selling ; drunkenness ; buying or sell- ing spirituous liquors, or drinking them, unless in cases of extreme necessity ; fighting, quarrelling, brawling ; brother going to law with brother ; returning evil for evil, or railing for railing ; the using many words in buying or selling; the buying or selling uncustomed goods; the giving or taking things on usury, i. e. unlawful interest. "Uncharitable or unprofitable conversation; particu- larly, speaking evil of magistrates or of ministers. " Doing to others as we would not they should do unto us. " Doing what we know is not for the glory of God ; aa the putting on gold or costly apparel; the taking such diversions as cannot be used in the name of the Lord Jesus. " The singing those songs, or reading those books, which do not tend to the knowledge or love of God ; softness and 8 90 METHODISTS. needless ^elf-indulgence ; laying up treasure npou earth ; borrowing without a probability of paying ; or taking up goods without a probability of paying for them. u It is expected of all who continue in these societie i that they should continue to evidence their desire of salvation, Secondly, By doing good ; by being in every kind mer- ciful after their power, as they have opportunity ; doing good of every possible sort, and as far as possible to all men : to their bodies, of the ability which God giveth ; by giving food to the hungry, by clothing the naked, by visit- ing or helping them that are sick, or in prison ; to their souls, by instructing, reproving, or exhorting all we have any intercourse with ; trampling under foot that enthusi- astic doctrine of devils, that ' We are not to do good, unless our hearts be free to it. 1 " By doing good, especially to them that are of the household of faith, or groaning so to be ; employing them preferably to others ; buying one of another ; helping each other in business ; and so much the more, because the world will love its own, and them only ; by all possible diligence and frugality, that the gospel be not blamed ; by running with patience the race set before them, denying themselves and taking up their cross daily ; submitting to bear the reproach of Christ ; to be as the filth and off- scouring of the world, and looking that men should say all manner of evil of them falsely for the Lord's sake. " It is expected of all who desire to continue in these societies, that they should continue to evidence their desire of salvation. " Thirdly, By attending on all the ordinances of God : such are The public worship of God ; the ministry of the word, either read or expounded; the supper of tho METHODISTS. Ui Lord ; family and private prayer ; searching the Scrip- tures ; and fasting and abstinence. " These are the general rules of our societies, all which we are taught of God to observe, even in his written word : the only true rule, and the sufficient rule, both of our faith and practice ; and all these we know his Spirit writes on every truly awakened heart. If there be any among us who observe them not, who habitually break any of them, let it be made known unto them who watch over that soul, as they who must give an account. We will admonish him of the error of his ways ; we will bear with him for a season ; but then, if he repent not, he hath no more place among us : we have delivered our own souls. "May 1, 1743. JOHN WESLEY. CHARLES WESLEY." In Mr. Wesley's connection, they have circuits and conferences, which we find were thus formed : When the preachers at first went out to exhort and preach, it was by Mr. Wesley's permission and direction ; some from one part of the kingdom, and some from another ; and, though frequently strangers to each other, and those to whom they were sent, yet on his credit and sanction alone they were received and provided for as friends by the societies wherever they came. But having little or no communica- tion or intercourse with one another, nor any subordination among themselves, they must have been under the neces- sity of recurring to Mr. Wesley for directions how and where they were to labor. To remedy this inconvenience, he conceived the design of calling them together to an annual conference ; by this means he brought them into closer union with each other, and made them sensible of the utility of acting in concert and harmony. He soon found it necessary, also, to bring their itinerancy under 92 METHODISTS. certain regulations, and reduce it to some fixed order, both to prevent confusion, and for his own ease ; he therefore took fifteen or twenty societies, more or less, which lay round some principal society in those parts, and which were so situated that the greatest distance from one to another was not much more than twenty miles, and united them into what was called a circuit. At the yearly con- ference, he appointed two, three, or four preachers to one of these circuits, according to its extent, which at first was very often considerable, sometimes taking in a part of three or four counties. Here, and here only, were they to labor for one year, that is, until the next conference. One of the preachers on every circuit was called the assistant, because he assisted Mr. Wesley in superintending the societies and other preachers ; he took charge of the socie- ties within the limits assigned him ; he enforced the rules everywhere, and directed the labors of the preachers asso- ciated with him. Having received a list of the societies forming his circuit, he took his own station in it, gave to the other preachers a plan of it, and pointed out the day when each should be at the place fixed for him, to begin a progressive motion round it, in such order as the plan directed. They now followed one another through all the societies belonging to that circuit, at stated distances of time, all being governed by the same rules, and under- going the same labor. By this plan every preacher's daily work was appointed beforehand ; each knew, every day, where the others were, and each society when to expect the preacher, and how long he would stay with them. It may be observed, however, that Mr. Wesley's design in calling the preachers together annually, was not merely for the regulation of the circuits, but also for the review of their doctrines and discipline, and for the examination of their moral conduct ; that those who were to administer METHODISTS. 93 with him in holy things might be thoroughly furnished for ever?/ good work. The first conference was held in June, 1744, at which Mr. Wesley met his brother, two or three other clergymen, and a few of the preachers whom he had appointed to come from various parts to confer with them on the affairs of the societies. "Monday, June 25," observes Mr. Wesley, "and the five following days, we spent in conference with oui preachers, seriously considering by what means we might the most effectually save our own souls, and them that heard us ; and the result of our consultations we set down to be the rule, of our future practice." Since that time a conference has been held annually, Mr. Wesley himself having presided at forty-seven. The subjects of their deliberations were proposed in the form of questions, which were amply discussed, and the ques- tions with the answers, agreed upon, were afterwards printed under the title of " Minutes of several Conversa- tions between the Rev. Mr. Wesley and others," commonly called Minutes of Conference. As to their preachers, the following extract from the above-mentioned Minutes of Conference will show us in what manner they are chosen and designated : Q. " How shall we try those who think they are moved by the Holy Ghost to preach ?" A. " Inquire, 1. Do they know God as a pardoning God ? Have they the love of God abiding in them? Do they desire and seek nothing but God? And are they holy in all manner of conversation? 2. Have they gifts as well as grace for the work ? Have they, in -some tolerable degree, a clear, sound understand- ing ? Have they a right judgment in the things of God ? Have they a just conception of salvation by faith ? And has God given them any degree of utterance? Do thoy 4 METHODISTS. speak justly, readily, clearly ? 3. Have they fruit ? Are any truly convinced of sin and converted to God by their preaching ? "As long as these three marks concur in any one, we believe he is called of God to preach. These we receive as sufficient proof that he is moved thereto ly the Holy Ghost. Q. "What method may we use in receiving a new helper?" A. U A proper time for doing this is at a con- ference, after solemn fasting and prayer; every person proposed is then to be present, and each of them may be asked, " Have you faith in Christ? Are you going on to per- fection f Do you expect to be perfected in love in this life? Are you groaning after it? Are you resolved to devote yourself wholly to God and to his work ? Have you considered the rules of a helper? Will you keep them for conscience' sake ? Are you determined to em- ploy all your time in the work of God ? Will you preach every morning and evening? Will you diligently instruct the children in every place ? Will you visit from house to house ? Will you recommend fasting both by precept and example ? u We then may receive him as a probationer, by giving him the Minutes of the Conference, inscribed thus : 'To A. B. You think it your duty to call sinners to repent- ance. Make full proof hereof, and we shall rejoice to receive you as a fellow-laborer.' Let him then read and carefully weigh what is contained therein, that if he has any doubt it may be removed." " To the above it may be useful to add," says Mr, Ben- son, " a few remarks on the method pursued in the choice of the itinerant preachers, as many have formed the most erroneous ideas on the subject, imagining they are em- METHODISTS. 95 ployed with hardly any prior preparation. 1. They are received as private members of the society on trial. 2. After a quarter of a year, if they are found deserving, they are admitted as proper members. 3. When their grace and abilities are sufficiently manifest they are ap- pointed leaders of classes. 4. If they then discover talents for more important services, they are employed to exhort occasionally in the smaller congregation, when the preachers cannot attend. 5. If approved in this line of duty, they are allowed to preach. 6. Out of these men who are called local preachers, are selected the itinerant preachers, who 'are first proposed at a quarterly meeting of the stewards and local preachers of the circuit ; then at a meeting of the travelling preachers of the district ; and lastly, in the conference ; and, if accepted, are nominated for a circuit. 7. Their characters and conduct are ex- amined annually in the conference ; and, if they continue faithful for four years of trial, they are received into full connection. At these conferences, also, strict inquiry is made into the conduct and success of every preacher, and those who are found deficient in abilities are no longer employed as itinerants ; while those whose conduct has not been agreeable to the Gospel, are expelled, and thereby deprived of all the privileges even of private members of the society." Since Mr. Wesley's death, his people have been divided ; but this division, it seems, respects discipline more than sentiment. Mr. Wesley professed a strong attachment to the established church of England, and exhorted the societies under his care to attend her service, and receive the Lord's supper from the regular clergy. But in the latter part of his time he thought proper to ordain some bishops and priests for America and Scotland ; but as one or two of the bishops have never been out of England since 96 METHODISTS. their appointment to the office, it is prolable that he intended a regular ordination should take place when tho state of the connection might render it necessary. During his life, some of the societies petitioned to have preaching in their own chapels in church hours, and the Lord's Supper administered by the travelling preachers. This request he generally refused, and where it could be con- veniently done, sent some of the clergymen who officiated at the New Chapel in London, to perform these solemn services. At the first conference after his death, which was held at Manchester, the preachers published a decla- ration, in which they said that they would " take up the Plan as Mr. Wesley had left it." This was by no means satisfactory to many of the preachers and people, who thought that religious liberty ought to be extended to all the societies which desired it. In order to favor this cause, so agreeable to the spirit of Christianity and the rights of Englishmen, several respectable preachers came forward ; and by the writings which they circulated- through the connection, paved the way for a plan of pacification, by which it was stipulated, that in every society where a three-fold majority of class-leaders, stewards, and trustees desired it, the people should have preaching in church hours, and the sacraments of baptism and the Lord's Sup- per administered to them. The spirit of inquiry being roused did not stop here ; for it appeared agreeable both to reason and the customs of the primitive church, that the people should have a voice in the temporal concerns of the societies, vote in the election of church-officers, and give their suffrages in spiritual concerns. This subject produced a variety of arguments on both sides of the question : many of the preachers and people thought that an annual delegation of the general stewards of the cir- cuits, to sit either in the conference or the district meet- METHODISTS. mg3, in order to assist in the disbursement of the yearly collection, the Kingswood School collection, and tlw preachers' fund, and in making new or revising cid laws, would be a bond of union between the conference and connection at large, and do away the rery idea of arbitrary power among the travelling preachers. In order to facili- tate this good work, many societies in various parts of the kingdom sent delegates to the conference held at Leeds in 1797; they were instructed to request that the people might have a voice in the formation of their, own laws, the choice of their own officers, and the distribution of their own property. The preachers proceeded to discuss two motions : Shall delegates from the societies be admitted into the conference? Shall circuit stewards be admitted into the district meetings ? Both motions were negatived, and consequently all hopes of accommodation between the parties were given up. Several friends of religious liberty proposed a plan for a new itinerancy. In order that it might be carried into immediate effect, they foimed them- selves into a regular meeting in Ebenezer Chapel, Mr. William Thorn being chosen president, and Mr. Alexander Killiam, secretary. The meeting proceeded to arrange the plan for supplying the circuits of the new connection with preachers, and desired the president and secretary to draw up the rules of the church government, in order that they might be circulated through the societies for their approbation. Accordingly, a form of church government, suited to an itinerant ministry, was printed by these two brethren, under the title of " Outlines of a Constitution proposed for the Examination, Amendment, and Accept- ance of the Members of the Methodist JSTew Itinerancy." The plan was examined by select committees in the different circuits of the connection, and, with a few altera- tions, was accepted by the conference of preachers and a 08 METHODISTS. delegates. The preachers and people are incorporated in all meetings for business, not by temporary concession, but by the essential principles of their constitution ; for the private members choose the class-leaders; the leaders meeting nominates the stewards ; and the society confirms or rejects the nomination. The quarterly meetings are composed of the general stewards and representatives chosen by the different societies of the circuits, and the fourth quarterly meeting of the year appoints the preacher and delegate of every circuit that shall attend the general conference. For a further account of their principles and discipline, we must refer the reader to a pamphlet, entitled General Rules of the United Societies of Methodists in the New Connection. The Calvinistic Methodists are not incorporated into a body as the Armenians are, but are chiefly under the direction or influence of their ministers or patrons. It is necessary to observe here that there are many con- gregations in London, and elsewhere, who, although they are called Methodists, yet are neither in Mr. Wesley's,, Mr. Whitfield's, nor the new connection. Some of these are supplied by a variety of ministers ; and others, border- ing more upon the congregational plan, have a resident minister. The clergy of the church of England who strenuously preach up her doctrines and articles, are called Methodists. A distinct connection upon Mr. Whitfield's plan was formed and patronized by the late Lady Hun- tingdon, and which still subsists. The term Methodist, also, is applied by way of reproach to almost every one who manifests more than common concern for the interests of religion, and the spiritual good of mankind. Methodism in this country, as in Great Britain, was at first an arm of the Church of England, without an or- dained ministry, and without ordinances. It aimed chiefly METHODISTS. - the House of God. KIRK OF SCOTLAND. 109 tered. When, for example, a clergyman has neen pre- sented to a parish by a patron, and induction and ordination have followed on that presentation, if afterwards it be found that the patron, who had given the presentation, has not that right, and that it belongs to another, the clergyman may be ejected as to all the temporalities of the office ; but quoad sacra, he may continue minister of the parish, and exercise all the sacred functions : and though a new pre- sentee may obtain a right to the civil endowments of the benefice, he can perform none of the sacred duties, while the other chooses to avail himself of his privilege. There are four ecclesiastical judicatories, namely, the Kirk Session, the Presbytery, the Synod, and the General Assembly, from each of which there is a power of appeal to the other ; but the decision of the General Assembly is supreme. The lowest court is the Kirk Session, which is composed of the minister of the parish, who is the moderator or pre- Bident of it, and a number of the most grave and respec- table laymen, members of the congregation. Their number varies in different parishes, five or six being about the average number ; and their services are entirely gratuitous. They are something like churchwardens in England, only they have a spiritual jurisdiction, as it is a part of their duty to visit the sick, &c. The Kirk Session takes cogni- sance of cases of scandal, such as fornication, Sabbath- breaking, profane swearing. It also manages the funds of the poor, a duty in which it formerly was assisted by deacons, a class of men inferior to elders, as they had no spiritual jurisdiction ; but not being found necessary, they are consequently disused. The Presbytery, which is the court next in dignity, is composed of the ministers of a certain district, with an elder from each parish. The number of presbyteries is 10 110 KIRK OF SCOTLAND. seventy-eight. Their chief duty consists in the manage- ment of such matters as concern the church within theii respective bounds. But they may originate any matter, and bring it under the view of the Synod or General As- sembly. They have also the superintendence of education within their bounds, such as the induction of teachers, and the examination of schools. The Synod is the next intermediate court. There are fifteen synods, each consisting of the clergymen of a cer- tain number of presbyteries, with elders, as in presbyteries. Presbyteries meet generally once a month ; synods twice a year, though some remote synods, such as that of Argyle, only once. The General Assembly is the last and supreme court, and meets yearly in the month of May, in Edinburgh, arid continues its sittings for twelve days. The king presides by his representative, who is always a nobleman, and is denominated the Lord High Commissioner. The General Assembly is a representative court, consisting of 200 mem- bers representing presbyteries, and 156 elders representing burghs or presbyteries, and five ministers or elders repre- senting universities, making altogether 361 members. They choose a moderator or president, out of their own number, distinct from the Royal Commissioner, the duty of the latter consisting merely in convening and dissolving the court, and in forming the medium of communication between it and the throne. The moderator is now always a clergyman, though previously to 1688, laymen sometimes held that office. The duties of the Scotch clergy are numerous and labo- rious. They officiate regularly in the public worship of G-od ; and in general, they must go through this duty twice every Sunday (exclusively of other occasional appearances), delivering every Sunday a lecture and a sermon, with KIRK OF SCOTLAND. Ill prayers. It is also expected, throughout Scotland, that tlir? prayers and discourses shall be of the minister's own com- position ; and the -prayers, in all cases, and the discourses, in most instances, are delivered without the use of papers. They are expected to perform the alternate duties of exam- ining their people from the Scriptures and catechisms of the church, and of visiting them from house to house, with prayers and exhortations. This is done commonly once in the year, being omitted only in those cases in which the ministers deem it impracticable, or not acceptable, or at least not necessary. The charge of the poor devolves, in a very particular manner, on the clergy, and in them also is vested the superintendence of all schools within their bounds. Baptism in this church is practised by none but ministers, who do it by sprinkling ; and whether performed in private or in public, it is almost always preceded by a sermon. The Lord's Supper is not administered so frequently in Scotland as in some other places. Some time before this sacrament is dispensed, it is announced from the pulpit. The week before, the Kirk Session meets, and draws up a list of all tLe communicants in the parish, according to the minister's examination-book, and the testimony of the elders and deacons. According to this list, tickets are delivered to each communicant, if desired, and the ministers and elders also give tickets to strangers who bring sufficient testimonials. None are allowed to communicate without such tickets, which are produced at the table. Those who never received are instructed by the minister, and by themselves in the nature of the sacraments, and taught what is the proper preparation thereunto. The Wednes- day or Thursday before, there is a solemn fast, and on the Saturday there are two preparatory sermons. On Sunday morning, after singing and prayer w usual, the minister 112 KIRK OF SCOTLAND. of the parish preaches a suitable sermon ; and when the ordinary worship is ended, he in the name of Jesus Christ forhids the unworthy to approach, and invites the penitent to come and receive the sacrament. Then he goes into the hody of the church, where one or two tables, according to its width, are placed, reaching from one end to the other, covered with a white linen cloth, and seats on both sides for the communicants. The minister places himself at the end or middle of the table. After a short discourse, he reads the institution, and blesses the elements ; then he breaks the bread, and distributes it and the wine to those that are next him, who transmit them to their neighbors ; the elders and deacon attending to serve, and see that the whole is performed with decency and order. While these communicate, the minister discourses