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A 
 
 
 HISTORY OF ALL RELIGIONS: 
 
 WITH ACCOUNTS OF THE 
 
 CEREMONIES AND CUSTOMS, 
 
 OR 
 
 THE FORMS OF WORSHIP 
 
 PRACTISED BY THE SEVERAL NATIONS OF THE KNOWN WORLD, FROM 
 THE EARLIEST RECORDS TO THE YEAR 1S72. 
 
 By WILLIAM BURDER, B.A. 
 
 WITH 
 
 A FULL ACCOUNT, HISTORICAL, DOCTRINAL AND STATISTICAL, 
 
 OF ALL THE 
 
 REIHG-IOTJS 
 
 PHILADELPHIA: 
 
 WILLIAM W. HARDING 
 
 630 CHESTNUT STREET. 
 

TO THE READER 
 
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 Religion, from the Latin, religo, to bind anew, literally means the binding 
 back of souls to God, from whom they hate been separated by reason of sin. It 
 is the struggle of the creature, conscious of its loss of the favor and fellowship 
 of the Creator, to recover its forfeited relations to the Source of light, law, liberty 
 and life. In a comprehensive sense, it includes a belief in the being and perfec- 
 tions of God, in the revelation of His will to man, in man’s obligation to obey 
 His commands, in a state of reward and punishment, and in man’s accountable- 
 ness to God, and also true godliness or piety of life, with the practice of all moral 
 duties. It therefore comprehends theology as a system of doctrines, or principles, 
 as well as practical piety, for the practice of moral duties without a belief in a 
 divine lawgiver, and without reference to His will or commands, is not religion. 
 
 There is but one religion. It is, in the nature of things, impossible that there 
 should be more than one. If any specific proposition or set of propositions with 
 reference to our unseen relations be true, any other proposition or set of proposi- 
 tions covering the same ground, must be fals9. If Christianity be true, it is not 
 a religion, as it is sometimes called, but religion. If Judaism also be true, it is 
 so, not as distinct from, but as coincident with, Christianity — the one religion to 
 which it can bear only the relation borne by the part to the whole. If there be 
 portions of truth in other religious systems, they are not portions of other relig- 
 ions, but portions of the one religion, which somehow became incorporated with 
 fables and falsities. 
 
 The Bible is the basis of religion. It is the only infallible rule of faith and 
 practice. And how marvelous, in this view, has been it3 preservation ! Many a 
 volume that once bid fair for immortality, is now utterly forgotten. Of the 
 unnumbered thousands that have been written since the dawn of literature, how 
 few, even of those that once filled the trump of fame and were ranked among the 
 chief productions of human genius, have escaped the ravages of the ages and the 
 forgetfulness of man ! Though the shelves of mighty libraries groan with the 
 learned labors of the past, yet of the vast majority of the works therein 
 deposited it may be said that, “ like the bodies of Egyptian kings in their pyra- 
 mids, they retain only a grim semblance of life, amidst neglect, darkness, and 
 decay.” Not so the Bible, All along its course it has had to struggle against 
 opposition, visible and latent, artful and violent. It has had to contend with tho 
 prevalence of error, the tyranny of passion, and the cruelty of persecution. To 
 the labored arguments of Celsus and Porphyry against it, we need only refer, as 
 well as to the bitter opposition which, in modern times, it has had to encounter in 
 the philosophy of Hobbes, the skeptic doubts of Boyle, the polished sarcasm of 
 Bolingbroke, the subtlety of Hume, the learning of Gibbon, the mockery of Vol- 
 taire, the vulgarity of Paine, the empty cavilling of Strauss, and the shallow 
 sophistry of Renan. But from all these assaults God’s Word has been preserved. 
 
 (iii) 
 
IV 
 
 TO THE READER. 
 
 The book at which kings, emperors, generals, philosophers, statesmen and legisla- 
 tors have all aimed in vain, still holds its enemies in derision. It has flourished, 
 while its adversaries have been blasted one after another, and never did the Old 
 Book, the Book of our Redeemer’s gift and our fathers’ faith, bid so fair as at 
 present to be the book of the whole family of mankind. It has spread open its 
 page in almost every land — it is printed in Chinese camps, pondered in the red 
 man’s wigwam, sought after in Benares, a school-book in Feejee, eagerly bought 
 in Constantinople, loved in the kloofs of Kaffir-land, while the voices of the dead 
 from Assyria to Egypt have been lifted up to bear it witness. No book has taken 
 such a hold on the world. As has been truthfully and eloquently said, it is read 
 on each Sabbath in all the ten thousand pulpits of our land, in all the temples of 
 Christendom is its voice lifted up week by week, the sun never sets on its gleam- 
 ing page ; it goes equally to the plain man and the palace of the king. It goes 
 into the literature of the scholar, and colors the talk of the street. The bark of 
 the merchant cannot sail the sea without it, no ship of war goes to the conflict 
 but the Bible is there. It enters men’s closets and mingles in all the grief and 
 cheerfulness of life. The affianced maiden prays to God in Scripture for strength 
 in her new duties, men are married by Scripture. The Bible attends to them in 
 their sickness when the fever of the world is on them, the aching head finds a 
 softer pillow when the Bible lies underneath. The mariner, escaping from ship- 
 wreck, clutches this first of his treasures, and keeps it sacred to God. It goes with 
 the pedlar in the crowded pack, cheers him at eventide, when he sits down dusty 
 and fatigued, and brightens the freshness of his morning face. It blesses us when 
 we are born, gives names to half Christendom, rejeices with us, has sympathy for 
 our mourning, tempers our grief to final issues. It is the better part of our ser- 
 mons, it lifts man above himself Our best of uttered prayers are in its storied 
 speech, wherewith our fathers and the patriarchs prayed. The timid man, about 
 awaking from this dream of life, looks through the glass of Scripture, and his eye 
 grows bright; he does not fear to stand alone, to tread the unknown distant, to 
 take the death angel by the hand, and bid farewell to wife, and babes, and home. 
 Men rest on this their fears and hopes ; it tells them of God, of His blessed Son, 
 of earthly duties, and of heavenly rest. 
 
 It is beyond question that the Bible is characterized by oneness. All the doc- 
 trines which it inculcates agree with each other. They have a mutual depend- 
 ence and connection, they give one another a reciprocal support and influence, 
 they grow out of each other, and all hang together, alike deriving their ripeness, 
 freshness, and flavor from the same parent stock. Let a diligent student take up 
 a copy of the Scriptures with copious marginal references, and undertake to col- 
 late their instructions upon any one doctrine or moral duty, and he will be sur- 
 prised at the uniformity of their teaching. They never speak for, and against, 
 the same doctrine, they never bear witness on both sides of any question, nor is 
 there an instance in which they affirm and deny the same thing. That which in 
 reality has any Scripture in its favor, has all Scripture in its favor. The early 
 patriarch, who assembled his family around some rude altar, built at God’s com- 
 mand, on the mountain, or in the valley, and there offered the firstlings of his 
 flock — the Jew in Egypt, sprinkling his door-posts with the blood of the Paschal 
 lamb, or in the wilderness, following the pillar of fire and cloud, his children 
 settled in Canaan, thronging to a magnificent temple, with the blast of silver 
 trumpets and the floating of incense, and the pomp of a splendid priesthood 
 
TO THE READER. 
 
 v 
 
 these were all, notwithstanding the striking differences in external circumstances; 
 seeking the salvation of the soul through the same channel as ourselves, to whom 
 the Gospel is preached in its beauty and fulness. Thus true is it, that the Bible 
 is persuaded by unity. The sacred penmen, of both economies, all struck one 
 grand key-note — Christ, and Him crucified. As in Beethoven’s matchless music, 
 there runs one idea, worked out through all the changes of measure and of key — 
 now almost hidden, now breaking out in rich, natural melody, whispered in the 
 treble, murmured in the bass, dimly suggested in the prelude, but growing clearer 
 and clearer as the work proceeds, winding gradually back until it ends in the key 
 in which it began, and closes in triumphant harmony — so, throughout the whole 
 Word of God, there runs one grand idea: man’s ruin by sin, and his redemption 
 by grace, in a word, Jesus Christ, the Saviour. From the dim promise at the 
 fall, to the “Lamb in the midst of the throne,” which the Apostle saw from the 
 rocky and barren isle of Patmos, Jesus is set forth as the burden of the promises, 
 the medium of blessings, and the object of saving faith. 
 
 It is not necessary here to inquire how it has come to psss, that with a Bible 
 thus one, the Church should be so much divided. It is enough for our present 
 purpose to know, that in the best and purest age, the Church was One. It was 
 “one fold under one Shepherd.” It is true that, at the beginning, there were a 
 great number of Churches, but each was distinguished by a name descriptive of 
 its locality. There was a Church of Jerusalem, of Antioch, of Ephesus, of Smyrna, 
 of Corinth, and of Rome, besides many others. There was not a church con- 
 sisting of the followers and defenders in doctrine of Paul, and another of those of 
 John, and another of those of Peter. There were then no such sects as Luther- 
 ans, Calvinists, and Wesleyans, nor such names as Congregationalist, Presbyte- 
 rian, Methodist, Episcopalian, or Baptist. Agreement in fundamentals was the 
 only doctrinal unity then demanded, and the united band of Christ’s disciples, 
 assembled around the same table, declared by their actions, “we, being many, are 
 one bread and one body, for we are all partakers of that one bread.” Christians 
 was their grand distinctive name (Acts ix. 26.) Nor did any one of the Apostles, 
 or their fellow-laborers, establish any sects in the Christian Church. The bare 
 supposition of the contrary is absurd and revolting to every mind acquainted 
 with the inspired record. So far, indeed, were they from forming sects, that they 
 firmly resisted the introduction of different denominations. Thus, for example, 
 when in the Corinthian Church (1 Cor. 1, 10,) there was an attempt to introduce 
 different sects or religious denominations into the Church of Christ, ranged under 
 different leaders, such as Paul, Apollos, Peter, Luther, Calvin, Zuingli, or Wesley, 
 we find the Apostle saying, “Now I beseech you, brethren, by the name of our 
 Lord Jesus Christ, that ye all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions 
 among you, but that ye be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the 
 same judgment' 1 (see also verses 11-17.) Thus evident is it, that the church is one. 
 God, her God, is one, Christ, her Redeemer, is one, the Holy Spirit, her Sanctifier, 
 is one, the Holy Scriptures, the rule of her faith, and worship, and obedience, are 
 one, the faith of her true members is one precious faith, and their privileges, inter- 
 ests, objects, and destination, are one. “There is,” says the Apostle, “one body 
 and one spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling : one Lord, one 
 faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, 
 and in you all.” 
 
 Looked at in the light of the truths just stated, the “ History of all Religious 
 
 I 
 
VI 
 
 TO THE HEADER. 
 
 Denominations ” cannot possibly fail to interest and instruct the thoughtful mind. 
 It will be especially useful as a book of reference, both because the statistical 
 information which it contains in respect to the religious denominations in our 
 country, is recent, and because it is presented in a compact form. It may also be 
 hoped that the knowledge which it furnishes of th e differences prevailing among 
 different branches of the Christian church, and the sad errors which obtain in 
 many quarters, will aid in the promotion of that general charity which will at 
 length cause all the teachers of Christianity to “see eye to eye,” and will stimu- 
 late all who have received the truth as God has revealed it, to strive to extend its 
 healing radiance to those who are yielding to perilous delusions, or sitting in the 
 region and shadow of spiritual death. This is a great desideratum of the age. 
 The lines of Cowper are applicable now, as well as when they were written : — 
 
 “ Were love, in these the world’s last doting years, 
 
 As frequent as the want of it appears, 
 
 The churches warmed, they would no longer hold 
 Such frozen figures, stiff as they are cold ; 
 
 Relenting forms would lose their power, or ceas9, 
 
 And e’en the dipped and sprinkled live in peace • 
 
 Each heart would quit its prison in the breast, 
 
 And flow in free communion with the rest.” 
 
 The English work has been followed, almost entirely, in this volume, with the 
 exception of the “ Brief View of Minor Sects,” added by Mr. Burder, which was 
 superseded by the denominations there referred to being more fully described in 
 the newly inserted portion of the volume, and the treatises on Calvinists and 
 Arminians, which are theological rather than ecclesiastical distinctions, and are 
 sufficiently treated under the doctrinal characteristics of various churches. The 
 articles on the Religious Denominations in the United States, have been expressly 
 written for this edition of the work, and will be recognized and appreciated at 
 once as having been prepared with much care, accuracy, and ability. 
 
 A. N. 
 
ALPHABETICAL INDEX 
 
 PAGE 
 
 INTRODUCTION 7 
 
 AFRICAN TRIBES, RELIGIOUS CEREMONIES AND CUSTOMS OF.. 786 
 
 ASSYRIANS, “ " “ “ “ .. 614 
 
 BABYLONIANS, CEREMONIES AND CUSTOMS OF 618 
 
 BAPTISTS, AMERICAN 480 
 
 BAPTISTS, CAMPBELLITE OR DISCIPLES 502 
 
 BAPTISTS, MINOR DENOMINATIONS, WINEBRENNARIANS, DUNK- 
 ARDS, SABBATARIANS OR SEVENTH-DAY BAPTISTS, SIX 
 
 PRINCIPLE BAPTISTS 506-507 
 
 BAPTISTS OF ENGLAND AND CONTINENTAL EUROPE 405 
 
 BAPTISTS, ENGLISH 408 
 
 CARTHAGINIANS, RELIGIOUS BELIEF AND CEREMONIES OF 613 
 
 CELTS, “ “ “ *' “ 627 
 
 CHINESE, RELIGIOUS CEREMONIES AND CUSTOMS OF 678 
 
 CHURCH OF ENGLAND, CUSTOMS AND CEREMONIES OF 365 
 
 CONGREGATIONALISTS 544 
 
 DRUIDS, RELIGIOUS BELIEF AND CEREMONIES OF 627 
 
 ECCLESIASTICAL STATISTICS 602-607 
 
 EGYPTIANS, ANCIENT, RELIGIOUS BELIEF AND CEREMONIES OF 608 
 
 EPISCOPAL CHURCH, PROTESTANT 508 
 
 FRIENDS, SOCIETY OF 573 
 
 GREEK CHURCH, TENETS, CEREMONIES, AND CUSTOMS OF 139 
 
 GREEKS, ANCIENT, RELIGIOUS BELIEF, CEREMONIES, AND 
 
 CUSTOMS 630 
 
 HINDOOS, RELIGIOUS DOCTRINES, CEREMONIES, AND CUSTOMS 
 
 OF 737 
 
 INDIAN TRIBES, RELIGIOUS CEREMONIES AND CUSTOMS OF 778 
 
 JAPANESE 700 
 
 JEWS, HISTORY OF 17 
 
 (vii) 
 
 j 
 
ALPHABETICAL INDEX. 
 
 viii 
 
 » PAGE 
 
 JEWS OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA 581 
 
 KIRK OF SCOTLAND, CUSTOMS AND CEREMONIES OF 399 
 
 LAPLANDERS, RELIGIOUS CEREMONIES AND CUSTOMS OF 773 
 
 LUTHERANS, CUSTOMS AND CEREMONIES OF 354 
 
 LUTHERAN CHURCH, EVANGELICAL 52 i 
 
 MALAGASY, RELIGIOUS CEREMONIES AND CUSTOMS OF 790 
 
 MEDES, CEREMONIES AND CUSTOMS OF 622 
 
 METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH OF AMERICA 531 
 
 METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH (SOUTH) 543 
 
 METHODIST PROTESTANT CHURCH 541 
 
 MOHAMMEDANS, THE HISTORY AND RELIGIOUS CUSTOMS OF.. 85 
 
 MORAVIAN 553 
 
 MORMONISM 587 
 
 PERSIANS, CEREMONIES AND CUSTOMS OF 622 
 
 POLYNESIANS, RELIGIOUS CEREMONIES AND CUSTOMS OF 797 
 
 PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH IN THE UNITED STATES 460 
 
 PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH, ASSOCIATE 476 
 
 PRESBYTERIANS, CUMBERLAND 559 
 
 PRESBYTERIANS, ENGLISH 494 
 
 PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH OF NORTH AMERICA., UNITED 48 6 
 
 PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH, REFORMED 482 
 
 QUAKERS 432 
 
 REFORMED CHURCH IN AMERICA (LATE DUTCH) 473 
 
 REFORMED CHURCH, ASSOCIATE 480 
 
 ROMANS, ANCIENT, RELIGIOUS BELIEF, CEREMONIES, AND 
 
 CUSTOMS OF 630 
 
 ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH, TENETS, CUSTOMS, CEREMONIES, 
 
 Ac., OF 216 
 
 ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH IN THE UNITED STATES 567 
 
 SCANDINAVIANS, RELIGIOUS BELIEF AND CEREMONIES OF 627 
 
 SCYTHIANS, “ “ “ “ “ 627 
 
 SHAKERS 577 
 
 SWEDENBORGIANS (NEW TESTAMENT CHURCH) 563 
 
 TARTARS, RELIGIOUS TENETS, CEREMONIES, AND CUSTOMS OF 720 
 THIBETIANS, “ “ “ « “ “ 720 
 
 TYRIANS, " “ “ " “ “ 613 
 
 UNITARIANS 554 
 
 UNIVERSALISM 559 
 
CONTRIBUTORS 
 
 TO TH*B 
 
 HISTORY OF ALL RELIGIOUS DEHOIIMTMS 
 
 IN THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 REV. C. M. BUTLER, D. D., 
 
 “ W. H. H. MARSH, 
 
 “ EDWIN H. NEVINS, D. D., 
 W. CHANNING NEVIN, Esq., 
 REV. J. L. GRACEY, 
 
 “ J. M. STURDEVANT, Je., 
 ALBERT L. RAWSON, Esq,, 
 
 REV. ALFRED NEVIN, D. D., 
 
 “ JOSEPH OSGOOD, 
 
 “ DR. E. G. BROOKS, 
 
 “ WILLARD H. HINKLEY, 
 
 “ S. MORAIS. 
 
 (ix.) 
 
RELIGIOUS CEREMONIES AND 
 CUSTOMS. 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 It is a fact which we learn from history, that religion of some kind has 
 existed , in every period of time , and among all nations. It can be traced 
 Religion of some up to the infancy of the world, and among the fathers of 
 
 kind has always ° 
 
 existed. the human race. The earliest account that has reached 
 
 ns, which is that of our sacred Scriptures, informs us of its existence 
 even before the origin of nations, while as yet the inhabitants of the globe 
 were one entire community. 
 
 Some few notices appear in holy writ of the religious rites of the ante- 
 diluvian world ; as the offerings of Cain and Abel, the practice of prayer, 
 in the antediiu- or the profession of religion ; mention is also made of the 
 pious character of the descendants of Seth ; the brief but 
 touching story of Enoch’s faith is given ; and the family of Noah is par- 
 ticularly introduced in connection with the religion of this period. 
 
 After the origin of nations, consequent on the dispersion at Babel, we 
 learn something from the Bible of the fate of divine institutions among 
 After the origin the separate portions of mankind, so far as these are 
 brought into view in the sacred narrative. In confirmation 
 of the Bible, the earliest fabulous accounts, as they are called, all refer 
 to some kind of religion promulgated by the founders of nations, and 
 held and practised by the latter. Profane history abounds in represent- 
 ations of this nature ; and we learn from its pages how the Egyptians, 
 Babylonians, Greeks, and other ancient nations, were accustomed to the 
 observation of certain religious rites and ceremonies. Their notions and 
 tenets also on this subject have been occasionally transmitted to us ; and 
 although these, in most instances, are extremely vague and absurd, they 
 
 7 
 
 L 
 
8 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 evidently betray a common origin. Thus the universality of religion of 
 some sort, in the earliest ages, is a matter of history : and the same im 
 Through every partial guide introduces us to an acquaintance with the 
 varying creeds, forms, and observances of nations since, 
 whether in their rude or civilized condition. All seem to have obeyed 
 that law of the human mind, which bids it to seek repose in some sort of 
 religion. 
 
 Our knowledge of the different communities of men at the present 
 time which, by means of improvements in navigation and facilities in 
 And at the pre- travelling, is nearly universal, confirms the same import- 
 ant truth. Scarcely a tribe, however unenlightened, is 
 found, that possesses no kind of religious faith. Perhaps, strictly speak- 
 ing, no one is found without the notion of God, and an invisible or future 
 world ; for although some two or three savage communities may have 
 been reported by travellers to be thus destitute, there is reason to believe 
 that further inquiry would show the fact to be otherwise. On the whole, 
 it may be safely asserted to be a condition of mankind, which is essentially 
 universal. 
 
 If the representations above made are correct, religion may be sup- 
 posed to be , in some sense, natural to the human species . This is an 
 Hence religion inference which must readily suggest itself to every reflect- 
 
 is in some sense . . , , 1 r . 
 
 natural to man. ing mind. It could not rationally be accounted lor, that 
 
 in every period of the world, and among all nations and tribes of men, some 
 
 notion of God and human accountableness, and certain modes of worship 
 
 should prevail, without referring religion to a settled law or principle of 
 
 our common nature. A want surely exists in the human mind, which 
 
 can be supplied only by some kind of religion. It is a confirmation of 
 
 This is con- the view here taken, that a survey of man as a rational 
 
 firmed by a moral . . . 
 
 survey of man. creature of God, must lead us to believe that, in some 
 
 sense, religion is natural to him. “Whoever,” says a writer, “seriously 
 
 reflects on the powers and capacities of the human mind, regarding them 
 
 as the work of Him that doeth nothing in vain, and comparing them with 
 
 those of the inferior creatures, will readily perceive that man alone was 
 
 created to be religious. Of all the inhabitants of this earth, none else are 
 
 capable of attaining any knowledge of their Creator, or of rendering him 
 
 any worship or praise. Man alone possesses the capacity of distinguishing 
 
 between truth and falsehood, — between moral good and evil, — and of 
 
 receiving instruction in social and relative duties, with the obligation 
 
 under which he lies to perform them, and the advantages of doing it. 
 
 He alone is capable of being governed by a law, and of being influenced 
 
 by the proposal of rewards and punishments; of acting as under the eye 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 9 
 
 of an invisible Observer, and with reference to the future season of retri- 
 bution.” 
 
 But although religion may be said to be thus natural to man, it does 
 not follow that the truth will always be chosen. The want before spoken 
 But the right re- of is a general want, and it may seem to be satisfied, 
 
 ligiou is not always . , . , , . . . .. . , . . 
 
 chosen. though it should not be so in reality, with any and with 
 
 every form of religion. We say with every form of religion ; for one 
 people at least, viz., the Athenians, always imported the deities and 
 superstitions of every nation with whom they became acquainted, and 
 mingled them with their own creed. The tendencies of nature to some 
 system of faith and worship are not a specific and unerring direction to 
 any one system in particular. If they were such a direction, a perfect 
 uniformity would have existed in the theology of all nations. 
 
 But this, we now have occasion to remark, is not the case. Notwith- 
 standing religion, in the above respect, is natural to man, a great 
 We find a great diversity of religious opinions has prevailed in the world , 
 gions m the world, and different forms and ceremonies have been and still are 
 observed. The religious notions and practices of mankind early diverged 
 from one another, — the sons of men were soon distinguished from the 
 sons of God, the impious from the holy, — and notwithstanding the 
 purgation of the world by a flood, and the subsequent re-establishment 
 of one common faith, no sooner did the earth begin to be peopled again, 
 than a diversity of religions took place, each nation and tribe embrac- 
 ing some peculiarity of its own. Such has been the fact, through all the 
 intervening periods of history, to the present day. Each distinct portion 
 of the human family, especially its larger divisions, has had its separate 
 religious dogmas and practices, ranging from pure theism to the grossest 
 idolatry. At the present time, there are at least four general forms or 
 departments of religious belief among mankind : viz., the Christian, the 
 Jewish, the Mohammedan, and the Pagan, which, for the most part, are 
 subdivided into many others. In regard to Paganism, it may be remarked, 
 that it is as various as the separate portions of people that constitute the 
 Gentile world. 
 
 The causes of this diversity cannot but form an interesting subject of 
 inquiry. The inquisitive mind of man very naturally desires to know, 
 it is interest- h° w t ^ ie same being, with the same essential wants, should 
 causes ofMhis di- h ave fallen upon religions so unlike, and often so opposed 
 verslty * to one another. What is there in the circumstances of 
 
 human nature that can afford a clue to this surprising fact ? 
 
 1. Does the variance spoken of arise merely from chance ? We are 
 
10 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 not believers in this phantom, as furnishing a solution of any pheno- 
 
 it does not spring menon. We do not think that it is the cause of any thing 
 from chance. j n existence, much less do we suppose that it can account 
 for the variety and difference in the religion of mankind. If accident 
 operated here, it might indeed give a diversity to this propensity of 
 nature, or it might give to it a uniformity. It were just as likely to effect 
 the one as the other, only it would not be apt to produce a uniformity in 
 variety. It would be infinitely unapt to do this. Yet such seems to be 
 literally the case in the religions of the human species. They uniformly 
 differ from one another, and most of them essentially from the truth. It 
 concerns those who believe in chance as the cause of any thing, or the 
 cause of such a moral phenomenon, to make out the proof. There seems 
 to us to be something extremely absurd in referring to contingency merely, 
 as the cause of an effect, when, by the nature of the word, it neither is, 
 nor can be known as such a cause. 
 
 2. Does the above diversity arise from circumstances foreign or exter- 
 
 Nor from exter- nal to the mind, such as time, location, climate, or coun- 
 nal circumstances. ^ j ^ unnatura } SU pp 0 se that Such cirCUm- 
 
 stances might modify, in a small degree, the religions of mankind ; but 
 they could not well produce such essential and irreconcilable differences 
 as prevail. Religions exist in perfect diversity, or contrariety in situations 
 where we might suppose they would be the same, or nearly the same, so 
 far as the operation of these extraneous causes is concerned. At the same 
 period, in the same climate, under the same government, among a people 
 speaking the same language, there are often found the most dissimilar 
 religions, creeds, and practices. What one class esteems as divine, another 
 abhors as sacrilegious. Where there is little diversity in other respects 
 such as the features of nature, the form of government, or the civil habits, 
 there is often a wide difference in religion. A Mohammedan, whether in 
 Asia or Africa, invokes the impostor ; and his credulity flourishes equally 
 well on the table-lands of the one, as amid the deserts of the other. A Jew 
 is found the same all the world over, and, in religion, owns no communion 
 with his Christian neighbours. Creeds are believed and ceremonies are 
 observed, both of the most opposite kinds, under the same physical and 
 social circumstances. 
 
 3. Does again the diversity spoken of proceed from any necessary 
 tendencies of the human mind to difference or opposition ? It would be 
 Nor from any more than could be expected from human nature, as we 
 mind SS1 for "differ- now find that mankind should think and act exactly 
 ence - alike on this subject. On no subject is there a perfect 
 
 coincidence of views and practices. On this account some differences 
 are to be looked for, at least, as mankind are at present situated. But in 
 most things, especially those of a practical nature, thpse differences need 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 11 
 
 not be essential. They are not so necessary as that mankind cannot act 
 together, and realize the important ends of civil society. Certain advan- 
 tages as to information seem to bring most men into a reasonable measure 
 of conformity to one another. It cannot be thought, therefore, that there 
 is any more necessity in the mind itself for diversity in religion, than there 
 is as to the other great interests of life. The mind is not changed in its 
 attributes when it acts in respect to religion ; and the diversity is not, in 
 fact, to be traced to such a source. There is no irreversible fate here. 
 Besides, we can hardly suppose, from the nature of the case itself, that 
 there could be a necessary tendency in the mind to difference or opposition 
 in the affair of religion, or the intercourse of the soul with God. None 
 could seriously maintain that in such a concern he would have made 
 mankind with any invincible tendency to difference, or with so strong a 
 tendency as that it would be next to miraculous that they should agree. 
 On so vital a subject, he certainly would be apt to give them freedom of 
 choice, either to agree or disagree. He would be most unapt to bind them 
 to the dire necessity only of disagreeing. 
 
 4. Does the diversity in question spring from the want of a divine 
 revelation ? As believers in such a revelation, we must answer in the 
 
 Nor from the negative. Abundant proof could be presented, were it 
 
 want of a revela- . r 
 
 tion. necessary, that mankind are in possession of a revela- 
 
 tion from God. That revelation is found in the Bible ; but we shall 
 here take for granted the authenticity and divine authority of that sacred 
 book. Its claims to be considered as containing the revealed will of God 
 have been too often admitted, to be denied at this day — a day when its 
 prophecies are being so amply fulfilled, and its effects on the heart and 
 life, wherever received, are so decidedly excellent. Varying human faiths 
 are not, then, owing to the want of a divine revelation — a revelation 
 directing all men how they should believe, feel, and act in respect to God 
 and invisible realities. Such is the nature of the revelation which is 
 given to us in the Bible. Its truths are clearly announced ; the object, 
 mode, and obligations of religious worship, are distinctly pointed out. 
 The only true religion, in its different dispensations, is communicated to us 
 in full and satisfactory details. Had God left men without the light of 
 his word, it might be expected that they would wander in darkness. If 
 he had not informed them respecting the only divine system of religion, a 
 reason might be found in that circumstance, for the almost endless diversity 
 which exists in creeds, and in the objects and modes of worship. But, 
 now, this cannot be the cause of that diversity, since a divine revelation is 
 possessed, given to mankind in the first ages of the world, continued for 
 a long period by tradition, and at length committed to writing, as its por- 
 tions were completed from time to time. 
 
 5. Passing by the aforenamed, as inadequate causes of the variety of 
 
12 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 religious professions among men, is not the proper explanation to be 
 
 But it arises found in the radical depravity of the human heart ? Is 
 
 from human depr a- . . „ _ . . , 
 
 vity. not that the true cause ? It seems to us that it can be 
 
 resolved into no other. Of the depravity of the human heart we are not 
 permitted to doubt, in view of the decisions of the Bible, and the results 
 of observation. This existing and reigning in all men by nature, would 
 readily dispose them to a diversity of religious views and practices, or 
 rather to irreligion under various names. It would readily dispose them 
 to depart from the true belief, and to cast off the restraints of the divine 
 authority. They would be prone to invent many schemes and devices 
 with a view to appease an upbraiding conscience, and to gratify that 
 ceaseless love of novelty, which characterizes the human mind. Except 
 in those in whom the effects of depravity are counteracted by divine grace, 
 there would exist a continual propensity to depart from God and his insti- 
 tutions — to lose sight of religious truth, and become involved in gross 
 darkness and superstition. In such a state, the mind is prepared for 
 every absurdity. 
 
 “ Nations ignorant of God, contrive 
 A wooden one.” 
 
 Hence have arisen the altars and demons of heathen antiquity, their 
 Hence have ari- extravagant fictions, and abominable orgies. Hence we 
 tfons th of heathen find among the Babylonians and Arabians the adoration 
 worship. 0 f the heavenly bodies, the earliest form of idolatry ; 
 
 among the Canaanites and Syrians, the worship of Baal, Tammuz, Magog 
 and Astarte; among the Phoenicians, the immolation of children to Mo- 
 loch ; among the Egyptians, divine honours bestowed on animals, birds, 
 insects, leeks, and onions ; among the Persians, religious reverence offered 
 to fire ; and among the polished Greeks, the recognition in their system 
 of faith of thirty thousand gods. Hence, moreover, we find at the pre- 
 sent time among most Pagan tribes, the deadliest superstitions, the most 
 cruel and bloody rites, and the most shocking licentiousness and vice 
 practised under the name of religion. From the darkened views and evil 
 imaginings inspired by the depraved heart proceed all those fatal mistakes 
 about God, the way of acceptance with him, and the realities of the future 
 w r orld ; all those departures from a consistent belief and worship, which 
 distinguish every nation, and every portion of the world, except where the 
 Bible is strictly received as the rule of life. 
 
 So obvious is it that the depravity of the heart has dictated the various 
 false religions that prevail in the world, that even the infirmities remain- 
 ing in pious persons have given rise to minor differences among the evan- 
 gelical sects of Christians. Every wrong and perverted feeling of the 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 13 
 
 The corruptions heart is likely to engender a degree of deviation from 
 have Occasioned the truth. Hence those unhappy, though not fatal, 
 
 smaller differen- . , . , , . , . 
 
 ces. separations which take place among persons who, on the 
 
 whole, adhere to the same great fundamental principles. Christian integ- 
 rity secures a substantial, though not literal, agreement in the truths and 
 observances of religion. If that integrity were perfect in this world, or 
 more nearly perfect than it now is, there might literally be but one creed, 
 and one mode of worship. 
 
 An acquaintance with these different systems of religion , while it is 
 calculated to furnish no small entertainment , will convey several highly 
 The diversity of important reflections to the reader. We should not and 
 6ome° nS important cannot well contemplate such a scene, without learning 
 lessons. some useful lessons from it, especially as it is connected 
 
 with glorious purposes, which God evidently intends to subserve. 
 
 1. A view of these religions will present to us a melancholy account 
 of the apostasy of the human species. It will evince the nature and the 
 
 Presents a me- effects of that apostasy, and thus confirm the scriptural 
 
 lancholy account . . .. T ... „ 
 
 of the apostasy. narrative on the subject. It will exemplify the great fact 
 of human degeneracy in a form and manner calculated to convince every 
 candid reader, that original, deep, and wide-spread corruption, in which 
 the fall of man consists, appears in dark lines, in the history of the 
 various religions which mankind have embraced. Indeed, the most dis- 
 gusting exhibitions of man’s apostasy are found in many of the religions 
 which he has contrived, with a view to supersede the religion derived from 
 heaven. The awful consequences of the apostasy will here be presented 
 in a medium, in which they will appear in their undisguised and most 
 hateful character. The lust, impurity, pride, ambition, revenge, malignity, 
 rebellion, unbelief, selfishness, in which this primitive defection is mani- 
 fested, constitute the leading features of those superstitions, to which mil- 
 lions in every age have bowed. 
 
 2. A view of these religions, so far as they are departures from the 
 truth, will furnish a sad detail of the extent and power of Satan’s 
 
 Shows the ex- empire, in the world. Mankind having apostatized from 
 
 tent and power , . . . . - . 
 
 of Satan’s empire. God, have, in every nation, and in every period of time, 
 
 been successively brought under the dominion of Satan. They have 
 
 been subject to his influence, obeyed his laws, and in their religious 
 
 rites often directly paid him homage. In fine, they have been his slaves, 
 
 and he has claimed them as his property. The wickedness in which 
 
 he delights they have, in innumerable instances, practised. We may 
 
 form some idea of the extent and power of Satan’s empire, from the fact, 
 
 that all the nations of antiquity, except the Israelites, were idolaters by 
 
 profession, and even the latter were, practically, idolaters, at times. That 
 2 
 
14 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 system of religion was called Polytheism, as acknowledging a plurality 
 of gods, who, according to the poet, were no other than the chiefs of the 
 fallen spirits, that 
 
 “ durst fix 
 
 Their seats long after, next the seat of God, 
 
 Their altars by his altar, gods adored, 
 
 Among the nations round.” 
 
 All these nations worshipped divinities or devils by various representa- 
 tions, called idols. Forsaking the service of the only living and true God, 
 they paid that homage which is due to him, to those beings that are infi- 
 nitely unlike him in character. 
 
 3. A view of the absurd religions which mankind have embraced 
 shows the necessity of a divine revelation — that revelation with which 
 
 Evinces the ne- the nations are favoured in the Holy Scriptures. This 
 
 cessity of a divine . .. . , . 
 
 revelation. exhibits to us the true system of religion, and is the umpire 
 
 to which appeal must ever be made on this subject. “ To the law and 
 to the testimony, if they speak not according to this word, it is because 
 there is no light in them.” The necessity of a divine revelation is appa- 
 rent amidst diverse and opposing faiths, since nothing but such a revela- 
 tion could enable men to know the truth. They would be lost in an 
 endless labyrinth of conjectures. Reason alone could not be appealed to 
 with a view to determine what is right and what is wrong in human belief. 
 But a revelation from God, properly authenticated, as it must be, would 
 prove an unerring guide. It would direct mankind to itself, and throw a 
 clear light over all the field of moral and religious truth. Without such a 
 revelation, so far as man on earth is concerned, it would be to him an 
 endless scene of darkness, doubt, and perplexity. 
 
 4. A knowledge of the opposing religious systems among mankind 
 will evince the necessity not only of a divine revelation, but also of 
 
 Evinces the ne- the direct influences of the Supreme Agent, in causing 
 
 cessity of direct . . . i ..... ... 
 
 divine influence, mankind to harmonize m their views. As it is appa- 
 duceharinony. Pr ° rent that their disagreement, on points so vital, proceeds 
 from depravity of heart, it would seem that light alone is not suffi- 
 cient to produce union, though it is important as an auxiliary, or means 
 to this result. That wrong state of the heart must be rectified, — that 
 depravity must be subdued, and this cannot be done except by the Spirit 
 of God. He only can directly influence the spirit that is in man, and 
 form it to truth and to rectitude. His operations, by removing the grounds 
 of opposition and error, will restore harmony of views, as a natural con- 
 sequence. Accordingly, divine influences are promised, and have been 
 imparted, in a degree, hitherto to the children of men. Hence is found 
 that measure of agreement, on all essential points, which characterizes all 
 evangelical Christians, or those who submit to the Bible, in its plain and 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 15 
 
 simple communications. A view, then, of the various religions of the 
 world will show the necessity of direct divine operations, in producing a 
 uniformity of opinions on the subject of religion. 
 
 5. An account of the clashing and absurd religions that have controlled 
 such numbers of mankind, will impart an exalted idea of the mercy of 
 
 Manifests the di- God in the promulgation of Christianity. As the only true 
 promulgation 11 religion — the great centre of divine communications — the 
 
 Christianity. point where all the rays of revelation meet, (the Jewish 
 system being only preparatory to it, though very important in that view,) 
 it will manifest God’s benevolent desire to guide and influence mankind 
 aright, in respect both to their present and future welfare. When we 
 learn the spirit and the requirements of Christianity ; when we become 
 acquainted with its practical tendencies ; how it prepares men in the 
 temper of their minds, not only for a better world, but to enjoy greater 
 happiness in this ; how it elevates their understanding, and improves 
 their social condition, we cannot but be impressed with a sense of the 
 divine mercy, in the invaluable gift. Indeed, no finite mind can fully 
 conceive the importance of the gospel, as the instrument in God’s hand 
 of effecting the salvation of souls. But we might entertain something 
 like an adequate conception of the temporal blessings conferred by this 
 system on a fallen race. There has been, however, even among those 
 who have largely participated in these blessings, a remarkable failure duly 
 to appreciate the benignant influence of Christianity in this world. Very 
 incorrect ideas on this subject are entertained among the mass of mankind 
 in Christian lands. The error, however, is inexcusable. We believe the 
 time is coming, when a very different, and much higher estimate of the 
 gospel will be formed, in its effects not only on the spiritual, but on the 
 temporal and social condition of man. It will be felt how much we are 
 indebted to it for all the real blessings we enjoy in this life. 
 
 6. A consideration of the kind we speak of, will furnish Christians with 
 a powerful incentive to unite in diffusing a knowledge of Christianity. 
 
 Affords a strong Judging from their own experience of its power, they 
 Ing to spread Chris- can but y i ew this religion as the only corrective of a false 
 tiamty ‘ faith and a wicked practice ; and such indeed is the fact. 
 
 It is the only religion which, by a moral influence, can displace others. 
 It acknowledges no true religion except its own, and never tolerates 
 any other. Indeed, in its principles, it is hostile to every other religion, 
 and makes a war of extermination against all superstition, idolatry, false 
 worship, unbelief, and vice. In early times, it extinguished the religion 
 of pagan Rome, because it would have no competitor — because it would 
 own no associate. And it has since extended itself only by displacing 
 other religions, through a moral influence. The peaceful exertions of 
 its friends and subjects have been the means of its triumphs hitherto, 
 
16 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 and will doubtless continue so to be, if those triumphs are continued. 
 Christians reading the sad story of the debasing superstitions and idola- 
 tries that still spread over the world, must feel powerfully prompted to 
 unite their energies in the wide and universal dissemination of their 
 religion. And it is a pleasing reflection, constituting the great encourage- 
 ment of their labours, that the divine light of Christianity will one day 
 dispel all the deep moral darkness which still covers a large portion of the 
 earth. That darkness will vanish, as fast as the Sun of righteousness 
 shall arise upon the world, with healing in his wings. 
 
 Finally ; it is delightful to go forward in our contemplations to the time 
 when there shall be one religion among men, and but one. That time 
 
 There will, at is destined to arrive. The voice of prophecy has declared 
 ligion. but one re «j n t h e ] ast d a y S fae mountain of the Lord’s house 
 
 shall be established on the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted 
 above the hills, and all nations shall flow unto it.” And he -who founded 
 this religion said, in the days of his humanity, “And other sheep I have, 
 which are not of this fold : them also I must bring, and they shall hear 
 
 my voice: and there shall be one fold and one shepherd.” After all the 
 
 conflicting views of mankind on the subject of religion ; after all the 
 
 diversified forms of error, there shall come a period of blessed unani- 
 
 mity, and of the universal prevalence of the truth. There will be but 
 one religion, and that one the glorious gospel of our salvation. 
 
 It is not, however, to be inferred that there may not be different evan- 
 gelical denominations of Christians since we are by no means permitted 
 to believe that there will ever be sinless perfection on earth. The exist- 
 ence of these denominations, all “holding the head” — the same great 
 distinguishing principles, and exercising a mutual liberality of feeling in 
 respect to the less important parts of the system, is not inconsistent with 
 unanimity in the sense here understood. In this case, one religion may 
 be said to prevail, and only one, throughout the earth, and among all 
 nations. It will be one in its essential peculiar features, and one in the 
 spirit and in the practices which will characterize the human family. In 
 different sections, in different divisions, supposing that all are not to co- 
 alesce in one particular denomination, will the church universal move on 
 in her bright career, each harmonizing essentially with the other, and 
 all conspiring to advance the common object of the believer’s high calling 
 in Christ Jesus. 
 
PAET I. 
 
 HISTORY AND RELIGIOUS CEREMONIES OF THE JEWS. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 HISTORY OP THE JEWS. 
 
 An account of the religion of the Jews may, with great propriety, be 
 preceded by a succinct history of that people. A recent interesting his- 
 torian* has pronounced them, without reference to their religious belief, 
 as “among the most remarkable people in the annals of mankind.” Con- 
 templated in connection with their religion, and as a means of undei- 
 The history of standing it more fully, their history claims our attention 
 
 the Jews peculiar- . . r . T 
 
 ly instructive. more than that oi any other nation. It instructs us in a 
 different manner from that of any other, because it brings directly into 
 view the divine dealings with them. 
 
 Their name. 
 
 The Jews, in the early periods of their history, are known under the 
 more general name of Hebrews or Israelites, who constituted a commu- 
 nity of which the Jews, as they were afterwards deno- 
 minated, were only a part. The origin of their name, 
 and the circumstances of their separation from the associated tribes, will 
 appear in the course of our narrative. This distinguished race, commonly 
 Descended from called the people of God, was derived from Abraham, 
 lineally descended in the tenth generation from Shem, the 
 eldest son of Noah. His calling of God, which took place 1921 years 
 b. c., is a remarkable event in history, and deserves a brief notice. 
 
 In obedience to the command of God, Abraham, who was a son of 
 Terah, the head of a pastoral family, left Ur in Chaldea, his native coun- 
 Abraham called tr y> an d dwelt with his father in Haran. Ur was a dis- 
 out of Chaldea. trict to the north-east of that region which lies above the 
 confluence of the Tigris and Euphrates, and became afterwards the seat 
 of the great Babylonian monarchy. Haran was a city situated in the 
 north-west part of Mesopotamia. The former place, from the significa- 
 tion of the name, was supposed to be particularly infected with idolatry, 
 and hence the reason of the command, connected with the purpose of 
 
 * Rev. H. H. Milman. 
 
 17 
 
18 
 
 HISTORY OF THE JEWS. 
 
 God to make Abraham the father of a great and peculiar nation. By the 
 i ^ c same command, after Terah’s death, he went into the land 
 
 of Canaan, which God promised to his posterity. They 
 were to be included within the boundaries of that country. 
 
 The divine design, in thus setting apart one family from the rest of 
 mankind, was to preserve the true religion in the world, the existence of 
 God’s design which became endangered by the prevalence of poly- 
 serve^he^rue reil- theism, and to prepare the way fer the great work of re- 
 demption by Jesus Christ. God promised to protect, bless, 
 and multiply his posterity in an extraordinary manner, and made the sig- 
 nificant and cheering declaration, applicable to the Saviour, who, according 
 to the flesh, descended in the line of Abraham, that in his seed all the 
 families of the earth should be blessed. 
 
 Abraham having acquired a name by his wealth and piety, and having 
 passed through various scenes of prosperity and trial, died at an ad- 
 Leaves Isaac as vanced age, leaving behind him several sons, of whom 
 
 the child of pro- & ° 
 
 mise. Isaac only was the child of promise. Ishmael, by Hagar, 
 
 the maid of Abraham’s wife, became the progenitor of a distinct tribe or 
 nation. The Arabs, to this day, claim to be descended from the son of 
 The sons^ of Hagar. Two sons were the progeny of Isaac, viz., Esau 
 and Jacob. " and Jacob, the former of whom sold his birth-right to 
 Jacob, who also, by artifice, obtained his father’s blessing. Esau was the 
 The Israelites ancestor of the Edomites or Idumeans. In the line of 
 
 descended in the T , , i i t i i 
 
 line of Jacob. Jacob, whose name was changed to Israel, were the 
 Israelites descended. His twelve sons gave the names to the twelve 
 tribes, of which the nation was composed. Jacob closed an eventful life 
 1689 years b. c., in making a prophetic declaration of the future state 
 of his descendants, and the period of the coming of the Messiah. He 
 had previously been brought out of Canaan into Egypt, by means of his 
 son Joseph, whom his brethren, through envy and malice, sold into that 
 country. 
 
 The different occurrences by which Joseph became minister to the king 
 of Egypt speak the immediate interposition of divine providence, which 
 was preparing for the accomplishment of the promises made to the patri- 
 arch Abraham. Of these occurrences, which carry on the history of the 
 Hebrews for a period, the following summary is given. 
 
 Joseph, who was much loved by his father, and hated by his brethren, 
 upon a certain occasion which was presented, fell into the power of the 
 Occurrences in latter, who sought to slay him. This horrid design, how- 
 the lite of Joseph. everj b e j n .g providentially prevented, they availed them- 
 selves of the opportunity of selling him to a company of Ishmaelite slave- 
 merchants, who carried him into Egypt, where he was bought by Poti- 
 pfoar, an officer of the court. Here, at length, he was wrongfully thrown 
 
HISTORY OF THE JEWS. 
 
 ID 
 
 into prison, by a false accusation of Potiphar’s wife ; but being proved 
 to be an interpreter of dreams, he was released from his confinement, 
 and introduced to the notice of Pharaoh, the Egyptian king, who, on 
 a certain occasion, wanted his services in this capacity. His success 
 in interpreting the king’s dreams, and his subsequent conduct, procured 
 for him the highest distinction ; and he became the administrator of 
 the government. During the famine which he had predicted in inter- 
 preting those dreams, and which reached the land of Canaan, all his 
 brethren, except Benjamin, came to him to buy corn. Joseph know 
 them , although they did not know him ; and, by an innocent contrivance, 
 having brought them into Egypt the second time with their brother 
 Benjamin, he declared to them that he "was Joseph, whom they had 
 persecuted and sold. Their surprise, mortification, and terror, were at 
 first overwhelming ; but their distressing apprehensions were, in due 
 The family of ja- time, alleviated by his assurances of pardon and kind- 
 vited into Egypt, ness ; and inviting his father, and the whole family into 
 Egypt, he allotted them a portion of the territory. Here he protected 
 them ; and under his auspices they became flourishing and happy. 
 
 Joseph continued to rule over Egypt after the death of Jacob, who had 
 sojourned in that country seventeen years. His own decease, which 
 occurred 1635 years b. c., left the Israelites without a protector. In less 
 The Israelites op- ^ an f° r ty years from this event, they found a cruel tyrant 
 pressed in Egypt. and oppressor in another king who knew not Joseph. This 
 king, perceiving that the Hebrews had become numerous and mighty, 
 resolved to enfeeble them : and, therefore, condemned them to slavery, 
 and ordered that every new-born son among them should be cast into the 
 river. The object in view was defeated; for the people increased in an 
 unexampled manner. 
 
 The history of the Israelites now assumed a very marked character. 
 Oppressed by the Egyptian monarch, they cried unto God for deliver- 
 ance, and a divine deliverance they experienced. Moses, a Hebrew by 
 birth, whose life was preserved in an extraordinary manner, notwithstand- 
 ing the edict of the king, was selected as the instrument of saving his 
 countrymen. He was in due time called to his work, and after a series 
 Delivered from of miracles, which he performed by the divine assistance, 
 that 1 iand? da ° e m he led the people out from before Pharaoh, into the region 
 bordering on the promised land. The consequence to many of the Egyptians 
 was their destruction ; for Pharaoh and his army, pursuing the Israelites 
 through the Red Sea, were overwhelmed with its waters. 
 
 The people were no sooner delivered from the Egyptians, than they 
 murmured against Moses, on account of the want of food ; to satisfy them 
 They murmur God sent first a great quantity of quails, and the next 
 
 after their deliver- . , . , r n . , . 
 
 once. morning, manna, which lell regularly every day except on 
 
20 
 
 HISTORY OF THE JEWS. 
 
 Sabbath-days, during the time in which they remained in the wiiderness. 
 Again, the people murmured for water, and Moses, by the Lord’s com* 
 mand, caused a supply to issue from a rock. At this juncture the Ama- 
 lekites attacked Israel, and were defeated by Joshua, who afterwards 
 . , became their leader. The people soon after arrived at 
 
 law at Sinai. Mount Sinai, from which God gave them his law. During, 
 however, the absence of Moses in the mount, they were guilty of an act 
 of idolatry, in consequence of which three thousand of them were put to 
 death. 
 
 In the course of the second year after the retreat from Egypt, Moses 
 numbered the children of Israel, from twenty years old and upwards, and 
 . there were found six hundred and three thousand five hun- 
 
 The people num- 
 bered the second d re d and fifty men, able to go to war, besides the Levites. 
 
 treat - About this time, twelve men were sent to spy the land of 
 
 Canaan, who, with the exception of Joshua and Caleb, reported unfavour- 
 ably; a circumstance which caused the people to murmur. Upon this 
 offence, God condemned all those who were twenty years and upwards 
 when they came out of Egypt, to die in the wilderness, except Joshua 
 and Caleb. As a punishment for their murmurs, the Israelites began to 
 They wander 40 travel in the wilderness, 1489 years b. c. At this junc- 
 derness. n lhe W1 * ture, Korah, Dathan, and Abiram, revolting against Moses, 
 were swallowed by the earth with two hundred and fifty of their asso- 
 ciates. After wandering in the wilderness forty years, and frequently 
 rebelling against God, this people were conducted by the hand of Moses 
 „ . in sight of Canaan, when he died, without entering it him- 
 
 Mount Nebo. se lf. His death occurred on Mount Nebo, in the land of 
 Moab, after he had first taken a view of the promised resting-place of 
 Israel. 
 
 The successor of Moses was Joshua, who conducted the people at last 
 into Canaan. Having led them to the banks of the Jordan, whose waters 
 Joshua conduct- divided to afford them a passage, he brought them safely 
 into CanaaiL Jellleb over it into their fair inheritance. He conquered thirty -one 
 cities in the course of seven years. 
 
 The people, though they 'had been highly favoured, were perpetually 
 inclined to forsake the worship of Jehovah, and to pollute themselves with 
 the abominations of the heathen, who dwelt among and around them. 
 For these sins they were repeatedly brought into bondage and consequent 
 distress. With a view to their deliverance at such times, certain leaders, 
 _ _ , called Judges, were divinely appointed, who directed the 
 
 for them. people, with some intermission, during the space of three 
 
 hundred and fifty years. Occasions arose in which these leaders per- 
 formed the most meritorious services. They defeated the enemies of their 
 country, and contributed much to establish the nation in its possessions. 
 
HISTORY OF THE JEWS. 
 
 21 
 
 The people paid a high respect to these officers, and also to the priests, 
 but they acknowledged no other king than God. 
 
 As this state of things, so long continued, became irksome to the Israel- 
 ites, and they desired a king, so as to be like the nations around them, a 
 The community king was granted to them, but with the expressed disappro- 
 of the Israelites Nation of their great spiritual Ruler. Saul, the son of Kish, 
 ch y> was the first king of Israel. Having been privately anointed 
 
 by Samuel, he was afterwards publicly proclaimed, 1079 years b. o. 
 The nomination of Saul took place by divine instruction, but may be ad- 
 Saui the first m ^ re( ^ on ^e plainest principles of human policy. He 
 king of Israel. was selected from a tribe which could not well be an object 
 of jealousy, like the great rival tribes of Judah and Ephraim, and he 
 belonged to a part of the country which was most exposed to enemies, 
 and which of course felt most interested in repelling them. Besides, 
 nature had marked him out as no common man. He possessed a tall and 
 striking person — an eminent distinction in the East — and he proved him- 
 self, at times, capable of lofty aims. His reign was prosperous at first ; 
 he gained important victories over his enemies, particularly the Ammo- 
 nites, Philistines, and Amalekites ; but his evil propensities, at length, 
 obtaining the mastery over him, he spent the last part of his life in a most 
 unhappy manner, and met with signal disasters and ill success in the 
 , management of his kingdom. He perished miserably. 
 
 bl y- Being at war with the Philistines, his army was routed, 
 
 three of his sons were slain, and he himself having received a wound, 
 and fearing to fall into the hands of his enemies, took a sword and fell 
 upon it. 
 
 He was succeeded by David, who had been previously anointed king. 
 This prince reigned at first only over the tribe of Judah : but after the 
 David succeeds death of Ishbosheth, a son of Saul, who had assumed the 
 SauL government of the tribes, he reigned over the whole of 
 
 Israel. He spent a very active and perilous life, and among the people 
 whom he conquered were the Philistines, the Moabites, the Ammonites, 
 and the Syrians. By his wise and vigorous administration he raised his 
 people to the highest pitch of national prosperity and happiness. He had, 
 towards the latter part of his reign, some domestic troubles, and was in 
 danger from an insurrection of his subjects, a portion of whom had at- 
 tached themselves to his ambitious son Absalom ; but he lived to see his 
 enemies destroyed — and he left a rich and flourishing realm to his suc- 
 His character, cessor. David, though he greatly erred in some instances, 
 was a man of distinguished talents, bravery, and piety. As a composer 
 of sacred poetry for the use of the church, he will be remembered and 
 admired to the end of the world. 
 
 The wise and rich Solomon was his son and successor. From the ac- 
 
HISTORY OF THE JEWS. 
 
 cession of this prince to the throne of the Israelites, a period of profound 
 Solomon kin«- 0 f P eace an d prosperity was enjoyed by that people through- 
 lEraeJ - out his reign. The most important undertaking of Solomon 
 
 was the building and dedication of the temple of the Lord at Jerusalem. 
 
 Ba lds the tem- This temple was completed in seven years. It was a most 
 P le - magnificent, sumptuous, and costly edifice. The value of 
 
 the materials, and the perfection of the workmanship, rank it among the 
 most celebrated structures of antiquity. It was not very large, being little 
 more than ninety feet in length, thirty in breadth, and forty-five in height ; 
 but was finely proportioned, and, together with a grand porch, was splen- 
 didly ornamented. 
 
 As soon as Solomon had finished this noble structure, he employed his 
 artificers upon three other buildings, two for himself, and a third for 
 ... . Pharaoh’s daughter. He was occupied almost thirteen 
 
 tures. years in erecting them ; so that he finished three famous 
 
 edifices, with all their costly furniture, utensils, and ornaments, within the 
 space of twenty years. To supply all these, and his other vast expenses, 
 Sources of his k e huilt a navy upon the coast of the Red Sea, and put it 
 wealth - under the care of some expert Tyrian sailors, who, with his 
 
 own men, went with it to Ophir, which was probably situated on some 
 part of the eastern coast of Africa, and in about three years brought back 
 an immense weight of gold and silver, besides several kinds of precious 
 stones, spices, ebony, and other rarities. Besides these, there was the 
 traffic of the Mediterranean, carried on through the Tyrian merchants, and 
 the inland commerce of Egypt, Arabia, and Assyria, all of which were 
 highly important. From these various sources it was, that the precious 
 metals, and all other valuable commodities, were in such abundance that, 
 in the figurative language of the sacred historian, “ silver was in Jerusalem 
 as stones, and cedar trees as sycamores.” 
 
 Besides the works already mentioned, Solomon built some fortresses in 
 Lebanon, probably to secure a free communication between his kingdom 
 Builds the cities and that of Syria. He built two cities, as stations, to pro- 
 Baaiath/ 1 ° r anu tect his inland commerce ; these were Tadmor and Baalath, 
 the one the celebrated Palmyra, and the other Baalbec. These, and many 
 others, which time forbids us to particularize, were the works by which his 
 peaceful reign was distinguished. No wars occurred, except in the in- 
 stance of bringing under his yoke the remainder of the Canaanites, and 
 making them tributary. 
 
 Solomon exceeded in wisdom all who went before him ; but in his old 
 age he took many wives and concubines out of the idolatrous nations 
 His character, around him, who corrupted his heart. The Lord, there- 
 fore, declared by the prophet Abijah, that he would divide the kingdom 
 after his death, and give ten tribes to Jeroboam, one of his domestics. As 
 
1 
 
 HISTORY OF THE JEWS. 
 
 23 
 
 an immediate punishment of his effeminacy and idolatry, the Lord stirred 
 up certain adversaries against him ; and though the principal evil threat* 
 ened against Israel was not to occur in his day, yet he had the mortifica- 
 tion of knowing that it would be inflicted under the administration of his 
 son, and that his own conduct was the procuring cause. We cannot but 
 think that he repented of his awful defection from duty, though nothing is 
 recorded in the Bible on this subject ; and it is certain that all ought to be 
 profited by the memorials which he has left of his wisdom, and by his 
 sound religious maxims. He died after a reign of forty years, and with 
 him expired the glory and the power of the Hebrew monarchy. 
 
 Rehoboam, the son of Solomon, began to reign over the Israelites 975 
 years b. c. Having refused to lighten the yoke his father had imposed 
 on his subjects, ten tribes revolted, and followed Jeroboam, 
 ceeds Solomon. as had been denounced by the prophet. The tribes of 
 Judah and Benjamin alone remained faithful to Rehoboam. Thus the 
 , national union was dissolved, and the Hebrew' kingdom 
 union dissolved, never recovered this fatal blow. From this time Judah and 
 Israel are separate kingdoms. Although Rehoboam, at first, thought of 
 having recourse to arms to compel, if possible, the revolted portion of his 
 people to submission, he thought better of the subject, and turned his at- 
 tention w r holly to the fortifying of his own dominions. 
 
 The kingdom of the Ten Tribes , or the Israelites, was governed by a 
 succession of vicious and idolatrous monarchs; and wars and feuds, trea- 
 T , . . cherv and murder, marked their history in a shocking 
 
 Jeroboam king J j o 
 
 of the ten tribes, manner. Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, of the tribe of 
 Ephraim, was their first king. It is emphatically said of him in Scrip- 
 ture, that he made Israel to sin. To prevent his subjects from going to 
 _ . , Jerusalem to sacrifice, W’hich place he feared might become 
 
 Bin * again the centre of the national union, he set up two golden 
 
 calves, the one in Bethel and the other in Dan, w'hich the people wor- 
 shipped. Concerning these calves it has been observed, that they w'ere 
 not, strictly speaking, idols, but were speciously contrived as symbolical 
 representations, probably preserving some resemblance to the cherubim, 
 of w'hich the ox was one of the four constituent parts. Still, they w'ere 
 set up in no less flagrant violation of the law, than if they had been the 
 deities of Egypt, to which they bore a great likeness. For this conduct 
 God declared that his whole house should be cut off. In a conflict with 
 
 Defeated in war Abijah, the king of Judah, Jeroboam was totally defeated, 
 judah. 6 kmg ° f w r ith the loss of five hundred thousand men. The disaster 
 preyed on his mind, and he never after recovered his power or enterprise. 
 
 He was succeeded by Nadab, his son, who had for his successors Baasha, 
 Elah, and Zimri. The wickedness of these kings is the most remarkable 
 circumstance in their reigns. Zimri enjoyed the crown only seven days. 
 
 L 
 
24 
 
 HISTORY OF THE JEWS. 
 
 , , The beautiful city Tirzah, in which he was besieged by 
 
 Several other J & J 
 
 wicked kings sue- Omri, being taken, he burned himself to death in his pa- 
 cked ; as Nadab, . 1 
 
 Baasha, Eiah, &c. lace. Omri then occupied the throne ; he built Samaria, or 
 transferred the royal residence to that place, which thenceforth became the 
 capital of his kingdom, and was so long the hated rival of Jerusalem. 
 
 The apostasy of the ten tribes, and the wickedness of their kings, did 
 wot reach their height till the accession of Ahab, the son of Omri, b. c. 919. 
 
 , . This prince married Jezebel, the fierce and cruel daughter of 
 
 Ahab king of \ # 6 
 
 Israel. the king of Sidon. Under her influence the Sidonian wor- 
 
 ship of Baal, the sun, was introduced ; his temples were openly built and con- 
 secrated ; and this cruel and persecuting idolatry threatened 
 
 Establishes ldo- _ . r . . & J 
 
 latry. to exterminate the ancient religion. The prophets were 
 
 put to death, one hundred only having escaped by lying concealed in a 
 The prophets re- cave ; yet these intrepid defenders of the God of their 
 Se^Sednes^^of fathers still arose to remonstrate against these impious inno- 
 hiswife! J Jezebel> vations ; till, at length, Elijah, the greatest of the whole, 
 took up the contest, and defied and triumphed over the cruelty both of the 
 king and his blood-thirsty consort. They each perished miserably ; their 
 death happening by God’s avenging on them the blood of Naboth, whom 
 they had killed, because he refused, as the law of Moses enjoined him, 
 to sell them the fee of the inheritance of his father. Ahab was slain in 
 battle by a random shot, as had been foretold by Micaiah the prophet ; 
 Jezebel perished at Jehu’s command, by being precipitated from a window, 
 according to the prophecies of Elijah. 
 
 Ahaziah, Jehoram, Jehu, Jehoahaz, and Jehoash, were the successors, 
 in turn, of Ahab ; but they heard and saw, unconcerned, the miracles of 
 Elijah and Elisha, whom God made use of in endeavours 
 to bring the Israelites to repentance. It is unnecessary to 
 notice each of these kings in the separate acts of his reign. 
 Of Jehu it may be observed, that he was a captain under 
 Jehoram ; was anointed king by the prophet Elisha ; and, though a wicked 
 man, was the instrument of executing the Lord’s vengeance upon his im- 
 pious contemporaries. He killed Jehoram and the seventy sons of Ahab ; 
 and after having slain all the priests of Baal, he destroyed the images and 
 the house of their god. Cpncerning Jehoash it must be remarked that he 
 was successful as a warrior. He defeated Benhadad, king of Syria, in 
 three battles. In a war against Amaziah, king of Judah, he took him pri- 
 soner, broke down the wall of Jerusalem, plundered the temple and the 
 king’s palace, and carried away the spoil to Samaria. 
 
 The kingdom of Israel now began to recover its strength, after having 
 been brought low, under its latter kings, by the power of Syria. Jeroboam 
 Israel recovers II., an able prince, had succeeded Jehoash, b. C. 822, and 
 pursuing his father’s successes, re-established the whole 
 
 Ahab is suc- 
 ceeded by Aha- 
 ziah, Jehoram, 
 Jehu, &c., kings 
 of a similar cha- 
 racter. 
 
 recovers 
 its strength under 
 Jeroboam. 
 
HISTORY OF THE JEWS. 
 
 5*5 
 
 Zachariah 
 others succeed. 
 
 frontier, from Hamath to the Dead Sea ; even Damascus, the Syrian capi- 
 tal, surrendered to his forces. But the kingdom, which was to remain in 
 the line of Jehu to the fourth generation, at the death of Jeroboam fell into 
 , a frightful state of anarchy. At length, after eleven years 
 chy follows. 0 f tumult, his son Zachariah obtained the sceptre, but was 
 speedily put to death by Shallum ; Shallum in his turn, by Menahem ; Mena- 
 and hem, a sanguinary prince, reigned ten years, during which 
 the fatal power of the great Assyrian empire was rapidly 
 advancing to universal conquest. Pul, the monarch who ruled at Nineveh, 
 was now pushing his victories over Syria, and began to threaten the inde- 
 pendence of Israel. Menahem only delayed the final servitude by sub- 
 mission and tribute, which he wrung from his people by heavy exactions. 
 This prince was succeeded by his son, Pekahiah, who, in ten years after, 
 was put to death by a new usurper, Pekah, the son of Remaliah. 
 
 The dissensions between Israel and Judah, which had all along existed, 
 now arose to a great height. Pekah was the last able or powerful king 
 Pekah the last °* ten tr ^ es * 1° conjunction with Rezin, king of Syria, 
 able king of Israel. j ie ma de war against Judah. In one of the engagements 
 Judah lost one hundred and twenty thousand men, and many more were 
 carried into captivity. These latter, however, were soon restored to their 
 homes. The kingdom of Israel was now fast hastening to its end. Pekah 
 was assassinated ; another period of anarchy lasted for several years, till 
 at length the sceptre fell into the feeble hands of Hoshea, who had insti- 
 gated the murder of Pekah. A new and still more ambitious monarch, 
 Shalmaneser, now wielded the power of Assyria. Hoshea attempted to 
 avert the final subjugation of his kingdom by the payment of a tribute, 
 The kingdom of ^ ut ^eing detected in a secret correspondence with the 
 Assyrian ld powe h r e king ^gypt, ca Hed So, the Assyrian marched into the 
 and exists no more, kingdom, besieged Samaria, which, after an obstinate resist- 
 ance of three years, surrendered, — and thus terminated for ever the inde- 
 pendent kingdom of Israel. 
 
 Pul and Tiglath-Pileser had already swept away a great part of the 
 population from Syria, and the Transjordanic tribes : and Shalmaneser, 
 it is not known a ^ ter the capture of Samaria, carried off vast numbers of 
 what became of the remaining tribes to a mountainous region between 
 were 1 euried^a- Assyria an d Media. From this period, history loses sight 
 wa y- of the ten tribes as a distinct people. A few remained in 
 
 their native country, and became intermixed with strangers. The descend- 
 ants of these mingled races were afterwards known by the name of Sama- 
 ritans. What became of those who were carried away, is a matter of 
 conjecture to this day. Some suppose that they were totally lost and 
 absorDt d in the nations among whom they settled. The learned Prideaux 
 is of this opinion. Others find reason to believe that they still exist in 
 
26 
 
 HISTORY OF THE JEWS. 
 
 some unknown and inaccessible regions, where they await the final resto- 
 ration of the twelve tribes to their native land. Others even trace the 
 Jewish features, language, and religion, in different tribes, such as the 
 Afghans of India, or, with still more improbability, the aborigines of 
 America. 
 
 To return to the period when the nation of Israel was separated into 
 two great communities, we have to observe, that Rehoboam, whose sceptre 
 Rchoboam. king was confined to the tribes of Judah and Benjamin, had 
 idolatry. ’ scarce continued three years in the service of the true God, 
 
 before he fell into the idolatry of the bordering nations. For this enor- 
 mity, God stirred up a potent adversary against him, Shishak, king of 
 Egypt, who took many of his fenced cities, and plundered the treasures 
 of the temple, and palace of Solomon. 
 
 Concerning the kings of Judah after this time, it may be remarked in 
 general, that several of them were good and pious men, and adhered to 
 the worship of Jehovah. Others of them imitated the 
 dah called Jews, profligate kings of Israel. The people whom they go- 
 verned, and who have survived to the present time, are called Jews , in 
 distinction from Israelites, the name once applied to the whole twelve 
 tribes. 
 
 The successor of Rehoboam was Abijah, who assumed the government 
 B. c. 958, and reigned three years. His reign was signalized by his vic- 
 Abijah, the sue- tory over Jeroboam, as already related. Asa, his son, next 
 am. ° r ° e ° ° ascended the throne, who proved to be a prudent and reli- 
 gious prince. The first ten years of his reign were blessed vrith peace. 
 At the expiration of that time, he saw his kingdom attacked by a prodi- 
 gious number of Cushites, with Zerah, the Ethiopian, at their head. 
 
 a ' a repelled the ^ sa ’ re ty in o on God of armies, repelled them with 
 Cushites. success. He pursued the wise policy of establishing the 
 
 national religion in all its splendour and influence, and he had the pleasure 
 of seeing multitudes flock to him from several of the revolted tribes, whom 
 his zeal drew away from the king of Israel. 
 
 After a reign of forty-one years, Asa was succeeded, b. c. 918, by his 
 son, Jehoshaphat. This prince is honourably spoken of in Scripture, for 
 jeho haphat is piety an( ^ justice. In the third year of his reign, he 
 king sent some of the principal officers of his court, with a 
 
 competent number of priests and Levites, with copies of the Pentateuch, 
 to instruct his people, throughout his kingdom, in the true religion. At 
 the same time, he fortified all the considerable places of the land, and 
 put garrisons in them, as well as in those which his father had taken from 
 The nation is the kings of Israel. His kingdom was in a high state of 
 pr °jchoram and prosperity ; both the Philistines and Arabs were reduced 
 Abakan kings. ^ necess ity of paying tribute. Jehoshaphat -was sue- 
 
HISTORY OF THE JEWS. 
 
 27 
 
 ceeded by his son, Jehoram, and his grandson, Ahaziah, who had for his 
 successor the princess Athaliah, in whose reign the affairs of Judah altered 
 for the worse. Jehoram having married Athaliah, daughter of Ahab, was 
 seduced into the idolatry of that wicked family, which drew upon him 
 the vengeance of heaven. Jehoram and Ahaziah, with the greater part 
 of the royal family, were slain about the same time with those of Israel, 
 by Jehu, who imagined them to be friends and allies of the house of Ahab. 
 
 The kingdom Athaliah showed herself a worthy descendant of that 
 aiiah. wicked stock, and the most bloody scenes defiled the royal 
 
 palace of Jerusalem. She seized the vacant throne, massacred all the 
 seed royal, excepting one child, Joash, who was secreted in the temple 
 by his father’s sister, the wife of the high-priest. Athaliah maintained 
 her oppressive government for six years, during which the temple was 
 plundered, and the worship of Baal established. She met with a deserved 
 fate. 
 
 Joash succeeded Athaliah. He reigned with justice as long as Jehoiada 
 the high-priest lived. After his death, having fallen into idolatry, Zecha- 
 , . . riah, the son of Jehoiada, reproved him for this sin, and 
 
 Athaliah. was stoned by the king’s order. God then raised against 
 
 him the king of Syria, who plundered Jerusalem. His own servants 
 also conspired against him, and slew him in his bed, in the fortieth year 
 Amaziah reigned of his reign. The first act of Amaziah, the son and suc- 
 cess. cessor of Joash, was to do justice on the murderers of 
 
 his father; but with merciful conformity to the law, unusual in such 
 times, he did not involve the children in the treason of their fathers. 
 This prince was prospered in the early part of his reign, but his success 
 „ „ . in war filled his heart with pride and vanity. His subjects 
 
 spiracy. having become disaffected towards him, he fell a victim 
 
 to a conspiracy within the walls of his palace : he fled to Lachish,but was 
 , ,. slain there. His son Azariah, or Uzziah, assumed the 
 
 Azariah his suc- 
 
 cessor - royal power, 809 b. c., and commenced a long, religious, 
 
 and, therefore, prosperous reign of fifty-one years. He made successful 
 wars against the Philistines and Arabians. Intoxicated, however, with 
 prosperity, he went into the temple to bum incense upon the altar, and the 
 Lord struck him with leprosy, for his presumption. Jotham 
 took the reins of government, during the lifetime of his 
 j&CAsr Uzziah, and proved to be a wise and pious prince. 
 
 The son and successor of Jotham was Ahaz, whose impieties made his 
 reign peculiarly unfortunate and inglorious. He was scarcely seated on 
 his throne, when his kingdom was invaded by the joint forces of Pekah, 
 king of Israel, and Rezin, king of Syria. In his extremity, he had re- 
 course to the king of Assyria, whose assistance he purchased with all the 
 gold and silver he could find in the temple and city, and with the pro- 
 
 Jotham kins 
 
1 
 
 X8 HISTORY OF THE JEWS. 
 
 mise of a yearly tribute. Delivered, by the assistance of Tiglath-pileser, 
 Ahaz established from his enemies, he forgot his danger, and, instead of 
 ship." >n<xU vv ° r adoring Jehovah, shut up his temple, while he reared 
 others in every corner of Jerusalem, and, throughout the land, offered 
 sacrifices to the Syrian gods. In this manner, he finished his impious 
 Hezekiah re- reign, and was succeeded by his son Hezekiah. The first 
 
 formed the na- „ , . . hit . , 
 
 t> a. act of the new king was to restore all the branches ol the 
 
 worship of God, which were entirely neglected in the former reign. 
 While thus employed, he was blessed with success equal to his piety. 
 Finding himself strong enough to assert his independence, he refused to 
 pay the tribute which the Assyrians had exacted from his predecessor; 
 and taking the field against the Philistines, his arms were attended with 
 such success, that, in a short time, he regained all that had been lost dur- 
 ing the unfortunate reign of Ahaz. Sennacherib, the king of Assyria, 
 upon the refusal of Hezekiah to comply with the stipulation of Ahaz, 
 invaded his country with a large army. They had just returned from 
 Ethiopia, flushed with victory, and breathing destruction against the whole 
 kingdom ; but Hezekiah trusted in God, and thus was released from dan- 
 
 T . .. ger. Before Sennacherib had committed any act of hos- 
 ts delivered from & J 
 
 Sennacherib. tility against Judah, the best part of his army was smitten 
 by an angel in one night. This dreadful judgment alarmed the proud 
 Assyrian monarch, and caused him to retire, with the utmost confusion, 
 into his capital, where he was soon after assassinated by his two sons. 
 Hezekiah died in peace, in the twenty-ninth year of his reign. 
 
 He was succeeded by his son Manasseh, a king to whose crimes and 
 irreligion the Jews mainly attribute the dreadful evils which shortly after 
 .. , consigned them to ruin and slavery. Abandoned of God for 
 
 ceeds Hezekiah. a time, he was allowed to fall into the hands of Esar-had- 
 
 don, the new sovereign of Assyria. In the dungeons of Babylon he learned 
 wisdom and piety. Upon his sincere repentance, he was permitted to 
 regain not only his liberty, but his kingdom. His son Amon, who suc- 
 ceeded, following the early career of his father, fell a victim to a conspi- 
 After Amon, Jo- rac y among his own officers. His successor, Josiah, proved 
 throneandreforms to be one of the most pious of all the princes of Judah, and 
 the people. quite reformed the Jewish nation, a circumstance which, for 
 
 a time, suspended the judgments of heaven against that people. He 
 reigned thirty-one years in profound peace. He afterwards engaged in 
 battle with the king of Egypt, in the valley of Megiddo, where he received 
 a wound which occasioned his death. 
 
 The Egyptian king, who was Pharaoh-Necho, on his return to Egypt 
 took Jehoahaz, a son of Josiah, prisoner, whom the people had elected king 
 of Judah, and placing his elder brother on the throne, whose name he 
 changed from Eliakim into Jehoiakim, compelled him to pay a hundred 
 
HISTOHY OF THE JEWS. 
 
 29 
 
 talents of silver, and one talent of gold, as an acknowledgment of vassal- 
 
 Jehoiakim king, 
 
 age. Jehoiakim, although warned by the writings of several 
 and does wickedly, prophets to conduct himself uprightly, added every wicked- 
 ness which invention could suggest, to the horrible abominations of his 
 __ , , , ancestors. At last God gave him and his city into the hands 
 
 Nebuchadnezzar & # J 
 
 took Jerusalem. 0 f Nebuchadnezzar, who was just returned from the con- 
 quest of Egypt. This event happened in the fourth year of Jehoiakim’s 
 reign. Jerusalem was pillaged, and all the most beautiful youths of the 
 palace were sent captives to Babylon. Jehoiakim was at first put into 
 bonds, and intended to be sent away also, but upon his submission and pro- 
 mise to pay a yearly tribute, the victor left him as kind of viceroy over 
 his kingdom. But, whilst Nebuchadnezzar was employed in other con- 
 quests, the king of Judah renounced his subjection, and refused to pay 
 the tribute. The Babylonian monarch, exasperated at this conduct, sent 
 an army into Judea, which laid waste the whole kingdom. This army 
 carried away three thousand and twenty prisoners, took, and murdered 
 the king, and dragged his carcass out of the city gates, where they left it 
 unburied. 
 
 His son Jehoiachin was made king ; but, not gaining the approbation of 
 the king of Babylon, was, after a reign of three months, with his wives, 
 
 Jehoiachin is mother, and the chief officers of the realm, led captive to 
 fnTo g Babyion arried Babylon by Nebuchadnezzar, who placed on the throne the 
 nineteenth and last king of Judah, Zedekiah, another son of Josiah. But 
 Zedekiah the last ^is prince, contrary to the advice of the prophet Jeremiah, 
 king of Judah. rebelling against his benefactor, was, in the eleventh year 
 of his reign, conquered by the king of Babylon. The king, in an attempt 
 to break through the besieging forces, was seized, his children slain before 
 his face, his eyes put out ; and thus the last of the royal house of David, 
 blind and childless, was led away into a foreign prison. Jerusalem was 
 The people car destroyed, the temple demolished, and the people were car- 
 ried away captive, captive to Babylon, where they continued seventy years , 
 captivity 70 years. i n fulfilment of prophecy. 
 
 From the books of Ezekiel and Daniel, we learn what the captives 
 endured on their way to Babylon ; and it seems from the event, that adver- 
 sity had a favourable influence on numbers of this people. It brought 
 them to repentance, and engaged them in the worship and ordinances of 
 their religion. Having remained in captivity during the appointed period, 
 Restored by Cy- ^ey were permitted by Cyrus, the Persian king, who had 
 rus - conquered Babylon, to return to their native land, 536 
 
 years b. c. This was accomplished under the direction of Zerubbabel and 
 Joshua, their leaders. They soon began the rebuilding of the temple, but 
 Rebuild the tem- ^eir enemies prevented them from making any progress. 
 P le * Several years afterwards they commenced the work anew, 
 
 3 
 
 j 
 
30 
 
 HISTORY OF THE JEWS. 
 
 rind completed it in the space of four years, 516 b. c. Upon this event 
 vhey celebrated the first passover. 
 
 The Jews, in their dependent state, continued to enjoy a degree of pros- 
 perity under the sovereigns of Persia, after the time of Cyrus. His suc- 
 cessors, down to the era of Alexander, had, in general, treated them with 
 much kindness. Darius, son of Cyrus, favoured the Jews during his long 
 Favoured by the reign. Xerxes confirmed their privileges. Under Arta- 
 successors of c> xerxes they were s till more favoured, through the influence 
 
 of his queen, Esther, a Jewess. From this prince, who is styled in Scripture 
 Ahasuerus, Ezra, a man of priestly descent, obtained very liberal presents 
 among the Jews remaining in Babylonia, to be applied to the service of the 
 temple, and authority to re-establish the government according to the divine 
 constitution, 480 b. c. Several years afterwards, under the same prince, 
 The walls of Je- Nehemiah, his cup-bearer, obtained leave to go to Jerusalem 
 rusaiem rebuilt. and rebuild its walls. He and Joiada, the high-priest, re- 
 formed many abuses respecting tithes, the observation of the Sabbath, and 
 the marrying of strange wives. 
 
 The Jewish people being again settled by Nehemiah, were governed by 
 their high-priests, and the council of the elders called the Sanhedrin. 
 Under Alexander the Great they continued to enjoy these immunities and 
 privileges, and he even exempted them from paying tribute every seventh 
 year. His death proved a calamity to the Jews. From this time, 323 b. c., 
 Judea mvaded Judea was successively invaded and subdued by the Egyp- 
 & c . the Eg>ptians ’ tians and Syrians, and the inhabitants were reduced to bond- 
 age. Under the priesthood of Onias I., Ptolemy, governor of Egypt, taking 
 advantage of the circumstance that the Jews would not fight on the Sab- 
 bath, captured Jerusalem on that day, and carried off 100,000 persons, 
 whom, however, he afterwards treated kindly. When Eleazer was high- 
 priest, he sent to Ptolemy Philadelphus six men of every tribe to translate 
 the sacred Scriptures into Greek This translation is the celebrated one 
 called the Septuagint , 277 b. c. 
 
 In 170 b. c., Jason, the brother of the high-priest, on false reports of tjie 
 death of Antiochus Epiphanes, who at this time held the Jews in subjec- 
 Aniiochus, who tion, raised great disturbances in Jerusalem, with a view to 
 
 held the Jews in , . , , . . . , , , 
 
 subjection, pun- secure the high-priesthood. Antiochus, irritated by the 
 lion. frequent revolts of the Jews, marched to Jerusalem, slew 
 
 80,000 people, took 40,000 captives, and then entered the temple and 
 ' plundered the treasures. This prince having commanded the Jews to 
 observe the rites of the heathen, and to eat of the sacrifices, some of the 
 more conscientious among them chose rather to suffer death, among whom 
 were a mother and her seven sons, who expired in dreadful tortures. The 
 same year the king’s commissioner, who had been intrusted with this 
 iniquitous business, was killed by Matathias and his five sons, who there- 
 
HISTORY OF THE JEWS. 
 
 31 
 
 upon fled into the wilderness. This was the commencement of that noble 
 resistance which was made against the Syrian power, under the Maccabees, 
 and which terminated in the independence of the nation. 
 
 Judas Maccabeeus, the bravest of the sons of Matathias, having been 
 chosen by the Jews for their prince and governor, made war against Antio- 
 The Maccabees chus, and defeated several of his generals. The monarch, 
 power. th * S)riaa hearing of the defeat of his troops in Judea, took an oath 
 that he would destroy the whole nation. As he hastened to Jerusalem, he 
 fell from his chariot, and died miserably. In a battle with a general of one 
 of his successors, Judas was killed. He was succeeded by his brother, 
 Jonathan, who, after many signal services rendered to his country, was 
 basely murdered by Tryphon, an officer of the young Antiochus, who 
 aspired at the same time to the crown of Syria. Jonathan was succeeded 
 by Simon his brother, who subdued the cities of Gaza and Joppa, and 
 cleared Judea of many of the Syrians. He was murdered in the midst of 
 his conquests by his son-in-law, Ptolemy Physcon. 
 
 John Hyrcanus, son of Simon Maccabaeus, uniting in his person the 
 offices of high-priest and generalissimo of the army, subdued the enemies 
 • John Hyrcanus of his country, ceased to pay homage to the kings of Syria, 
 liber ate s his coun £ rm jy established his government, and is celebrated for his 
 many valuable qualities. He not only delivered his nation from the oppres- 
 sion of Syria, but he made some conquests both in Arabia and Phoenicia, 
 turned his victorious arms against the Samaritans, and subdued Idumea. 
 At the time of his death he*had raised the Jewish nation to a very consi- 
 derable degree of wealth, prosperity, and happiness. He reigned twenty- 
 eight years. His sons assumed the title, as well as the power of kings ; 
 and the high-priesthood remained in his family, though not in the person 
 of the monarch. His descendants are distinguished in the history of the 
 Jewish nation by the appellation of the Asmonean dynasty, which con- 
 tinued about 120 years. His son Aristobulus was his immediate successor. 
 This prince caused himself to be crowned king of Judah, and was the first 
 His son Aris- who assumed that title after the Babylonish captivity. It 
 that was called is recorded that he caused his brother Antigonus to be killed 
 
 kin" after the cap- . . « , , . . . , 1 • • . , 
 
 tivity. on suspicion of disloyalty ; that his mother, claiming a right 
 
 to the sovereignty by virtue of the will of Hyrcanus, was barbarously 
 starved to death ; that his other brothers were kept in close confinement. 
 He was fortunate in war; but his successes were soon interrupted by sick- 
 ness ; and the deep remorse he felt on account of the treatment of his 
 mother, produced a vomiting of blood, which speedily closed his wicked 
 life and reign. 
 
 Alexander Jannseus, brother to the late king, succeeded ; he considerably 
 Alexander Jan- extended the kingdom of Judea, by the conquest of all 
 
 nseus his succes- T . _ 0 . , , . . . , 
 
 tor. lturea and some parts of byna ; but the many services which 
 
32 
 
 HISTORY OF THE JEWS. 
 
 he rendered his country were quite overlooked, in consequence of his 
 cruelty to his subjects. Although he left two sons, he was immediately 
 Alexandra and succeeded by his wife Alexandra, who gave the throne to 
 others succeed e pj egt son? name d Hyrcanus, a very weak and indolent 
 
 prince. His younger brother, Aristobulus, at first disturbed his succes- 
 sion ; but he was finally established on his throne by Pompey, who carried 
 Aristobulus and his family captives to Rome. Alexander, one of the sons 
 of Aristobulus, escaping from that city, disturbed the peace of Judea, until 
 he was surprised and slain by the Scipios, two captains under Pompey. 
 Antigonus, a son of Alexander, assisted by the Parthians, dethroned 
 Hyrcanus, and cut off his ears; but this cruelty was revenged, Antigonus 
 being soon after slain by Mark Antony. His brother, Aristobulus, who 
 was retained prisoner with the Parthians, returned to Palestine, where he 
 lived contented under the government of Herod, who had been nominated 
 as the successor of Antigonus by the Romans. 
 
 Herod I. was an Ascalonite, and was surnamed the Great. Created 
 king of Judea (37 b. c.) by Antony, he was afterwards confirmed in the 
 Herod I. reigns, regal possession by Augustus. His reign was splendid, but 
 His wickedness, distinguished by a singular degree of profligacy. Some 
 time after his establishment on the throne, in order to please Mariamne, 
 the daughter of Hyrcanus, whom he had married, he appointed her 
 brother, Aristobulus, high-priest; but perceiving that he was much beloved 
 by the Jews, he caused him to be drowned while bathing. After the battle 
 of Actium, he went to Rhodes to meet Augustus, between whom there 
 existed a peculiar friendship. Upon his return, he condemned to death 
 his wife, Mariamne, and her mother, Alexandra. From this hour his life 
 was a continual scene of misery and ferocity. At the instigation of his 
 third son, he sentenced to death Aristobulus and Alexander, his children 
 by Mariamne, and the next year Antipater himself experienced the same 
 fate. In his reign, the sceptre being, as prophesied, departed from Judah, 
 Jesus Christ was born, according to the vulgar era, a. m. 4004, but really 
 Jesus Christ is f° ur y ears sooner. His birth greatly troubled Herod and 
 born - the principal Jews, who became apprehensive of new wars. 
 
 After ascertaining the place of his nativity, Herod determined on his death, 
 and supposed he had effected it ; but, by the providence of God, the child 
 was removed out of his reach. By this time, Judea was fast sinking into 
 a Roman province, and Herod, instead of being head of the Hebrew reli- 
 gious public, became more and more on a level with the other vassal kings 
 of Rome. He died of a most loathsome and painful disease, or complica- 
 tion of diseases, which we are authorized to believe was the direct judg- 
 ment of God upon him, for his enormous wickedness. 
 
 Herod was succeeded by his eldest son, Archelaus, who had the title of 
 king, but possessed only a tetrarchy, or fourth part of the kingdom of 
 
HISTORY OF THE JEWS. 
 
 33 
 
 ArcheJaus sue- Judea. The rest of the country was divided into three 
 Seat. Her ° d the more tetrarchies, which were those of Galilee and Perea, 
 that of Iturea, and that of Abilene. Archelaus governed with great injus- 
 tice and cruelty, and on this account was condemned, after a solemn hear- 
 ing before Augustus. He was banished to Vienne, in Gaul, his estates 
 Judea reduced to confiscated, and Judea reduced in form to a Roman pro- 
 a Roman province. v ; nce> fiis succe ssor in the government of this country 
 rci-gns. was Herod II., named Antipas, who married his brother 
 
 Philip’s wife. This was the incestuous marriage on account of Which 
 John the Baptist reproved Herod, as mentioned in the New Testament. 
 It was in the time of this Herod that our Saviour’s crucifixion, resurrec- 
 tion, and ascension, occurred. Herod II. enjoyed only the tetrarchy of 
 Galilee and Perea. He was succeeded by Herod Agrippa, the son of 
 . Aristobulus, grandson of Herod the Great. Caligula, the 
 on the throne. Roman emperor, invested him with the tetrarchy of his 
 uncle Philip, and conferred on him the title of king. The other tetrar- 
 chies fell to his possession shortly afterwards. It was this Herod who 
 caused the apostle James to be martyred, the apostle Peter to be impri- 
 soned, and was himself smitten by an angel and devoured by worms. His 
 son, Agrippa Minor, succeeded, and was the last king of the Jews. He. 
 of course, received his title and authority from the Roman emperors. 
 Suspicion attached to him of having lived in incest with his sister Bere- 
 nice ; in other respects he bore a good character, being equitable in his 
 administration, of a generous disposition, and paying a strict attention to 
 the externals of religion. It was before this Agrippa that Paul pleaded in 
 defence of the gospel. 
 
 All things, however, tended to a rupture between the Romans and the 
 Jews, their subjects. From the time of Herod Agrippa, Judea had been 
 The Jews arm the theatre of many cruelties, rapines, and oppressions, 
 
 against the Ro- • ■ r • , T • i i 
 
 mans. arising from contentions between the Jewish priests; the 
 
 robberies of numerous bands of banditti, which infested the country; but 
 more than all, from the rapacious and flagitious conduct of the Roman 
 governors. The last of these governors was Gessius Fiorus, whom his- 
 tory represents as a monster of cruelty and wickedness, and whom the 
 Jews regarded rather as a bloody executioner sent to torture, than as a 
 magistrate to govern them. During the government of Felix, his prede- 
 cessor, a dispute arising between the Jews and Syrians, about the city of 
 Cesarea, their respective claims were referred to the Emperor Nero, at 
 Rome. The decision being made in favour of the Syrians, the Jews 
 immediately took up arms to avenge their cause. Fiorus, regarding the 
 growing insurrection with inhuman pleasure, took only inefficient means to 
 Vespasian quell it. In this state of things, Nero gave orders to 
 them. es against Vespasian, his general, to march into Judea with a powerful 
 
34 
 
 HISTORY OF THE JEWS. 
 
 army. Accordingly, accompanied by his son Titus, at the head of 60,000 
 well-disciplined troops, he passed into Galilee, the conquest of which 
 country was not long after achieved. While Vespasian was thus spread- 
 ing the victories of the Roman arms, and was preparing more effectually 
 to curb the still unbroken spirit of the Jews, the intelligence of his elec- 
 tion to the imperial throne induced him to depart for Rome ; but he left the 
 best of his troops with his son, ordering him to besiege Jerusalem, and 
 utterly to destroy it. 
 
 Titus prosecuted the enterprise with diligence, and besieging the city 
 he took it within a few months, after the most obstinate resistance of 
 which history perhaps gives an account. Twice during 
 the enterprise. the siege he offered them very favourable terms, but they 
 were so infatuated that they not only refused his offers, but insulted his 
 messenger, Flavius Josephus, in the most wanton and virulent manner. 
 After this conduct there remained no more mercy for the Jews. Titus 
 caused the hands of those who had voluntarily sought shelter in the Roman 
 camp to be cut off, and sent them back to the city, and others he crucified 
 in the sight of their countrymen. Famine, in the mean time, was per- 
 forming its dreadful work within the walls ; and pestilence, its attendant, 
 raged beyond control. Thousands died daily, and were carried out of the 
 gates to be buried at the public expense ; until, being unable to hurry the 
 wretched victims to the grave so fast as they fell, they filled whole houses 
 with them and shut them up. When Titus entered the city, he gave it 
 up to be plundered by the soldiers, and most of the inhabitants were put 
 to the sword. In pursuance of this general order, the city was destroyed 
 
 T ... to its foundations, and even the rums of the temple were 
 
 Jerusalem is de- 1 
 
 stroyed. demolished. Josephus says, that the number of the pri- 
 
 soners taken during the whole time of the Avar Avas ninety-seven thousand, 
 and the number killed in the city during the same period amounted to one* 
 million. The Jews, who remained in the country, now paid tribute to the 
 Romans, and were entirely subject to their laws. 
 
 After this event Jerusalem was partially rebuilt, and in 118 a. c. the 
 inhabitants again attempted to rebel, but were speedily overcome. Adrian, 
 
 , . „ the emperor, incensed at the conduct of this stubborn 
 
 Is partially re- 1 
 
 people, resolved to level the city with the earth, that is to 
 say those neAV buildings which had been erected by the Jews, and to sow 
 salt in the ground on which the place had stood. Thus was fulfilled a 
 prophecy of our Saviour, Avho foretold that neither in the city nor in the 
 temple should one stone be left upon another. This, therefore, may be 
 called the final destruction of Jerusalem, which took place forty-seven years 
 after that effected by Titus. Adrian, however, saw fit, from some cause, 
 to build the city over anew, to which he gave the name AElia Capitolina. 
 It was a short-lived change, for when the Empress Helena, the mother of 
 
 built. 
 
HISTORY OF THE JEWS. 
 
 35 
 
 Constantine the Great, visited the city, she found it in a forlorn and ruin- 
 ous state. 
 
 The national existence of the Jews may be considered as having termi- 
 nated with the destruction of Jerusalem by Titus. They were no longer 
 The Jews exist one people, or in a situation to preserve their institutions as 
 
 tion, m but are^cat- a body. Though numbers remained in their native land, 
 eanll. ° ver tne yet vast multitudes were dispersed over the face of the 
 earth, on which they have ever since been wanderers. The reader of the 
 Bible will see in these events a remarkable fulfilment of the predictions of 
 the ancient prophets, and of our Saviour; and he will also learn the evil 
 and danger of despising divine admonitions, and abusing religious privi- 
 leges. When we meet with one of the descendants of Abraham, (and in 
 what place are they not to be met with ?) we see a miracle — a living con- 
 firmation of the divine veracity — a proof that the Bible is true, and an in- 
 dubitable testimony that there is a God who judgeth in the earth. 
 
 It is not our design, neither is it compatible with the brevity of this 
 sketch, to trace continuously the history of the Jews, in their wide disper- 
 
 in the history s ^ ons » or the various countries in which they have existed, 
 mains oniiySo 1 del s ^ nce g reat event above recorded. All the purpose that 
 scribe their condi- remains to be answered, in regard to this division of our 
 dem times. subject, is to furnish the reader with a brief account of the 
 
 condition of this remarkable people, in later times, chiefly within the last 
 and present centuries. Their residences and numbers, as recently ascer- 
 tained, will also be given. Abating the circumstance, that the state of most 
 nations has ameliorated since the era of their dispersion, it will be naturally 
 inferred that such as their condition now is, such it has substantially been 
 for centuries. They have, in most instances, reaped the fruits of the com- 
 They have suf mon i m P rovement 5 and those persecutions to which they 
 fered less from per- ar8 known to have been exposed in past ages, have, in some 
 
 sedition than for- r 1 o’ 1 
 
 merl y- measure at least, ceased with the spirit which gave birth to 
 
 these and other instances of bigoted and revengeful feelings. Still it is not 
 to be denied that the Jews, from certain peculiarities in their character and 
 manner of life, seem likely to be the last people who, throughout the world, 
 will enjoy the happiness of perfect equality in rights and privileges with 
 the rest of their fellow-men. 
 
 The Jews, though widely scattered over the earth, and constituting a 
 portion of almost, every nation, present the singular phenomenon of a peo- 
 The Jews have pie subsisting for ages, without their civil and religious 
 
 survived their po- .. . . . . , ..... 
 
 liticai existence, policy, and thus surviving even their political existence. 
 Unlike other conquered nations, they have never mingled with their con- 
 querors, and lost their separate name and character, but they invariably 
 constitute a distinct people in every country in which they live. This fact 
 enables us to point out their present state with a degree of accuracy, and 
 
36 
 
 HISTORY OF THE JEWS. 
 
 affords a strong reason for doing it ; since, doubtless, important designs are 
 to be answered by the providence of God in preserving this people in so 
 extraordinary a manner. 
 
 In our brief account of their more modern history, we have to remark, 
 that, at the beginning of the eighteenth century, Poland and the adjacent pro- 
 Poland the head- v ^ nces ’ f° r some time, been the head-quarters of the Jews, 
 quarters of the j n that kingdom they formed the only middle order between 
 a ? es the nobles and the serfs. Almost every branch of traffic was 
 
 in their hands. They were the corn-merchants, shop-keepers, and inn- 
 keepers ; in some towns they formed the greater part of the population, 
 and in some villages almost the whole. In the west of Europe, in the mean 
 time, those great changes were slowly preparing, which, before the close 
 of the century, were to disorganize the whole frame-work of society. The 
 new opinions not merely altered the political condition of the Jews, as well 
 as that of almost all orders of men ; but they penetrated into the very sanc- 
 tuary of Judaism, and threatened to shake the dominion of the rabbins, as 
 they had that of the Christian priesthood, to its basis. The Jews "were 
 hated as the religious ancestors of the Christians, and it became the accus- 
 tomed mode of warfare to wound Christianity through the sides of Judaism. 
 The legislation of Frederick the Great almost, as it were, throws us back 
 into the middle ages. In 1750, appeared an edict for the general regula- 
 tion of the Jews in the Prussian dominions. It limited the number of the 
 T Jews in the kingdom, divided them into those who held an 
 
 Prussia subjected ordinary, or an extraordinary protection from the crown. 
 
 to many taxes and J J 1 
 
 disabilities. The ordinary protection descended to one child, the extra- 
 
 ordinary was limited to the life of the bearer. Foreign Jews were pro- 
 hibited from settling in Prussia ; exceptions were obtained only at an 
 exorbitant price. Widows who married foreign Jews must leave the king- 
 dom. The protected Jews were liable to enormous and especial burdens. 
 They paid, besides the common taxes of the kingdom, for their patent of 
 protection, for every election of an ^lder in their community, and for every 
 marriage. But though thus heavily taxed, they were excluded from all 
 civil functions, and from many of the most profitable branches of trade, from 
 agriculture, from breweries and distilleries, from manufactures, from inn- 
 keeping, from victualling, from physic and surgery. 
 
 Nor in more enlightened countries was the public mind prepared for 
 any essential innovations in the relative condition of the Jews. In Eng- 
 land, at the beginning of the eighteenth century, their cause was brought 
 forward under the unpopular auspices of Toland the Freethinker. In 
 in England in 1^53, a more important measure was attempted. A bill 
 the isth century, was introduced into parliament for the naturalization of all 
 
 laws at one time 1 
 
 passed to favour Jews who had resided three years in the kingdom, with- 
 tne Jews were soon J D 
 
 abolished. out being absent more than three months at a time. It 
 
HISTORY OF THE JEWS. 
 
 37 
 
 excluded them from all civil offices, but in other respects bestowed all the 
 privileges of British subjects. The bill passed both houses, and received 
 the royal assent. But the old jealousies only slumbered, they were not 
 extinguished. So much clamour was raised by various classes of the 
 people, that the ministry, and the houses of parliament, found it necessary 
 to repeal the obnoxious statutes. 
 
 In Italy, till the French revolution, the Jews enjoyed their quiet freedom, 
 
 . In Rome they were confined to their Ghetto, and still corn- 
 
 Their state more J 
 
 f-n gi .u le J n I u aly ’ strained to listen to periodical sermons. In the maritime 
 
 lill the French re- r 
 
 volution. towns they continued to prosper. 
 
 In Germany, among the first measures which Joseph II., when he 
 ascended the throne in 1780, saw fit to adopt, was a plan for the ameliora. 
 tion of the condition of the Jews. In Vienna, they had been barely 
 tolerated since their expulsion by Leopold the First. After a period they 
 were permitted to return. Under Maria Theresa the Jews were suffered 
 to reside in Vienna, and enjoyed a certain sort of protection. In the other 
 provinces of the empire they had lived unmolested, unless, perhaps, by 
 seme vexatious local regulations, or popular commotions in the different 
 cities. Joseph II. published his edict of toleration, by which he opened 
 
 in Germany they to the Jews the schools, and the universities of the empire, 
 
 were tolerated by , , .... _ , . , , 
 
 Joseph ii. and gave them the privilege of taking degrees as doctors in 
 
 medicine, philosophy, and the civil law. He conferred upon them other 
 important privileges, which it is not necessary here to name. Still, though 
 they were governed by the same laws with the Christians, they were liable 
 to a toleration-tax, and certain other contributions. 
 
 That terrible epoch, the Revolution, found some Jews in France; after 
 their final expulsion, a few Portuguese fugitives had been permitted to take 
 up their abode in Bordeaux and Bayonne. There were a certain number 
 in the old papal dominions in Avignon. The conquest of the city of Metz, 
 and afterwards of Alsace, included some considerable communities under 
 the dominion of France. The Jews of this latter province presented a 
 remarkable petition in 1780 to the king in council. They complained of 
 great oppressions, particularly of a capitation-tax, which in addition to the 
 royal patent of protection, the lords of the soil exacted, for the right of 
 residence within their domains, from which not even the aged, nor infirm, 
 
 in France their nor children, nor even the Rabbins and officers of the syna- 
 fed^esse^in^pan g°© ue » were exempt. The appeal to the equity of Louis 
 by Louis xvi. XVI. was not in vain — the capitation-tax was abolished in 
 1784 ; and in 1788, a commission was appointed to devise means for re- 
 modelling, on principles of justice, all laws relating to the Jews. This 
 plan, however, was anticipated or set aside by the revolutionary tribunals, 
 who were more rapid in their movements than the cautious justice of the 
 sovereign. In 1790, this class of people, who had watched their oppor- 
 
58 
 
 HISTORY OF THE JEWS. 
 
 tunity, sent in a petition, claiming equal rights as citizens. The measure 
 TT , , was not passed without considerable discussion ; but Mira- 
 
 Under the revo- r 
 
 lution they were b eau an( j Rabaut St. Etienne declared themselves their 
 
 acknowledged as 
 
 free citizens. advocates, and the Jews were recognised as free citizens of 
 the great republic. 
 
 In the year 1800, Napoleon summoned a grand Sanhedrin of the Jews 
 to assemble at Paris. We are more inclined to look for motives of policy 
 in isos, Napo- in the acts of this extraordinary man, than of vanity or phi- 
 
 leon summoned a , . , . 
 
 Sannedrin. lanthropy ; nor does it seem unlikely that in this singular 
 
 transaction he contemplated remotely, if not immediately, both commercial 
 and military objects. He might hope to turn to his own advantage, by a 
 cheap sacrifice to the national vanity, the wide extended and rapid corre- 
 spondence of the Jews throughout the world, which notoriously outstripped 
 his own couriers, and the secret ramifications of their trade, which not 
 only commanded the supply of the precious metals, but much of the internal 
 traffic of Europe, and probably made great inroads on the Continental 
 Twelve ques System. It must, however, be acknowledged, that the 
 tions submitted to twelve questions submitted to the Sanhedrin seem to refer 
 
 the Sanhedrin, * 
 
 with the answers, to the Jews strictly as subjects and citizens of the empire. 
 They were briefly as follows : — I. Is polygamy allowed among the Jews ? 
 II. Is divorce recognised by the Jewish Law ? III. Can Jews inter- 
 marry with Christians? IV. Will the French people be esteemed by the 
 Jews as strangers or as brethren ? V. In what relation, according to the 
 Jewish Law, would the Jews stand towards the French? VI. Do Jews 
 born in France consider it their native country ? Are they bound to obey 
 the laws and customs of the land? VII. Who elect the Rabbins? VIII. 
 What are the legal powers of the Rabbins ? IX. Is the election and 
 authority of the Rabbins grounded on law or custom? X. Is there any 
 kind of business in which Jews may not be engaged ? XI. Is usury to 
 their brethren forbidden by the Law ? XII. Is it permitted or forbidden 
 to practise usury with strangers ? — The answers of the deputies were clear 
 and precise : as they throw much light on the opinions of the more en- 
 lightened Jews, they are subjoined with as much conciseness as possible, 
 though we suspect that they are not universally recognised as the authori- 
 tative sentence of the nation. I. Polygamy is forbidden, according to a 
 decree of the Synod of Worms, in 1030. II. Divorce is allowed, but in 
 this respect the Jews recognise the authority of the civil law of the land 
 m which they live. III. Intermarriages with Christians are not forbidden, 
 though difficulties arise from the different forms of marriage. IV. The 
 Jews of France recognise in the fullest sense the French people as their 
 brethren. V. The relation of the Jew to the Frenchman is the same as 
 of Jew to Jew. The only distinction is in their religion. VI. The Jews 
 acknowledged France as their country, when oppressed, — how much more 
 
HISTORY OR THE JEWS. 
 
 39 
 
 must they when admitted to civil rights ? VII. The election of the Rab- 
 bins is neither defined nor uniform. It usually rests with the heads of each 
 family in the community. VIII. The Rabbins have no judicial power; 
 the Sanhedrin is the only legal tribunal. The Jews of France and Italy 
 being subject to the equal laws of the land, whatever power they might 
 otherwise exercise is annulled. IX. The election and powers of the Rab- 
 bins rest solely on usage. X. All business is permitted to the Jews. The 
 Talmud enjoins that every Jew be taught some trade. XI. XII. The 
 Mosaic institute forbids unlawful interest ; but this was the law of an agri- 
 cultural people. The Talmud allows interest to be taken from brethren 
 and strangers ; it forbids usury. 
 
 The laws of France relating to the Jews have remained unaltered : in 
 Italy, excepting in the Tuscan dominions, they have become again subject 
 
 The condition of to the ancient regulations. In Germany, some hostility is 
 ing in 6 Germany 0 at yet lurking in the popular feeling, not so much from reli- 
 
 present, particu- . . _ .... . 
 
 lariy in Prussia. gious animosity as from commercial jealousy, in the great 
 trading towns, Hamburgh, Bremen, Lubeck, and particularly Frankfort, 
 where they are still liable to an oppressive tax for the right of residence. 
 Nor did the ancient nobility behold, without sentiments of animosity, their 
 prgud patrimonial estates falling, during the great political changes, into 
 the hands of the more prosperous Israelites. Nevertheless, their condition, 
 both political and intellectual, has been rapidly improving. Before the fall 
 of Napoleon, besides many of the smaller states, the grand-duke of Baden, 
 in 1809, the king of Prussia, in 1812, the duke of Mecklenburgh-Schwerin, 
 in 1812, the king of Bavaria, in 1813, issued ordinances admitting the 
 Jews to civil rights, exempting them from particular imposts, and opening 
 to them all trades and professions. The act for the federative constitution 
 of Germany, passed at the congress of Vienna, in 1815, pledges the diet to 
 turn its attention to the amelioration of the civil state of the Jews through- 
 out the empire. The king of Prussia had, before this, given security that 
 he would nobly redeem his pledge ; he had long paid great attention to the 
 encouragement of education among the Jews ; and in his rapidly improving 
 dominions, the Jews are said to be by no means the last in the career of 
 advancement. Nor has his benevolence been wasted on an ungrateful 
 race : they are reported to be attached with patriotic zeal to their native 
 land ; many Jews are stated to have fallen in the Prussian ranks at 
 Waterloo. 
 
 The policy of the Russian government seems to have been to endea- 
 vour to overthrow the Rabbinical authority, and to relieve the crowded 
 
 They are re- Polish provinces by transferring the Jews to less densely 
 sia. peopled parts of their dominions, where it was hoped they 
 
 might be induced or compelled to become an agricultural race. A ukase 
 of the Emperor Alexander, in 1803-4, prohibited the practice of small 
 
 L 
 
40 
 
 HISTORY OF THE JEWS. 
 
 trades to the Jews of Poland, and proposed to transport numbers of them 
 to agricultural settlements. He transferred, likewise, the management 
 of the revenue of the communities from the Rabbins, who were accused 
 of malversation, to the elders. A recent decree of the Emperor Nicholas 
 appears to be aimed partly at the Rabbins, who are to be immediately 
 excluded by the police from any town they may enter, and at the petty 
 traffickers, who are entirely prohibited in the Russian dominions ; though 
 the higher order of merchants, such as bill-brokers and contractors, are 
 admitted, on receiving an express permission from government : artisans 
 and handicraftsmen are encouraged, though they are subject to rigorous 
 police regulations, and must be attached to some guild or fraternity. They 
 cannot move without a passport. 
 
 It only remains to give the best estimate we can afford of the number 
 of the Jews now dispersed throughout the four quarters of the world. 
 
 Numbers of the Such statements must of necessity be extremely loose and 
 
 Jews ill various . . „ . „ , , , , • *y\ , 
 
 parts of the world, imperfect. Even in Europe it would be difficult to approxi- 
 mate closely to the truth ; how much more so in Africa and Asia, where 
 our data depend on no statistic returns, and where the habits of the people 
 are probably less stationary ! 
 
 It is calculated that there exist between four and five millions* of this 
 people, descended in a direct line from, and maintaining the same laws 
 with, their forefathers, who, above 3000 years ago, retreated from Egypt 
 under the guidance of their inspired lawgiver. 
 
 In Africa, we know little more of their numbers than that they are 
 found along the whole coast, from Morocco to Egypt ; they travel with the 
 caravans into the interior: nor is there probably a region undiscovered by 
 Christian enterprise, which has not been visited by the Jewish trafficker. 
 In Morocco, they are said to be held in low estimation, and treated with 
 great indignity by the Moors. 
 
 In Egypt, 150 families alone inhabit that great city, Alexandria, which 
 has so often flowed with torrents of Jewish blood, and where, in the splen- 
 did days of the Macedonian city, their still recruited wealth excited the 
 rapacious jealousy of the hostile populace or oppressive government. 
 
 In Cairo, the number of Jews is stated at 2000, including, it should 
 seem, sixty Karaite families. The Falashes, or Jewish tribe named by 
 Bruce, inhabit the borders of Abyssinia; and it is probable that in that 
 singular kingdom, many Jews either dwell or make their periodical 
 visits.! 
 
 * A statement has just been published from the Weimar Geographical Ephemerides, 
 which gives the whole number of Jews at little more than three millions. We should con- 
 ceive the Asiatic, and perhaps the Russian, stated too low; but we subjoin their numbers. 
 
 f In the Weimar statement, the Jews of Africa stand as follows: Morocco and Fea 
 300,000; Tunis, 130,000; Algiers 30,000; Gabes or Habesh, 20,000; Tripoli, 12 000; 
 Egypt, 12,000. Total, 504,000 
 
HISTORY OF THE JEWS. 
 
 41 
 
 In Asia,* the Jews still, most likely, might be found in considerable 
 numbers on the verge of the continent ; in China, where we are not aware 
 that their communities have ceased to exist, and on the coast of Malabar, 
 in Cochin, where two distinct races, called black and white Jews, were 
 visited by Dr. Buchanan. The traditions of the latter averred that they 
 had found their way to that region after the fall of Jerusalem, but the date 
 they assigned for their migration singularly coincided with that of a per- 
 secution in Persia, about a. c. 508, from whence, it is probable, they found 
 their way to India. The origin of the black Jews is more obscure ; it is 
 not impossible that they may have been converts of the more civilized 
 whites ; or, perhaps, they are descendants of black slaves. The Malabar 
 Jews were about 1000 ; they possessed a copy of the Old Testament. 
 Many are found in other parts of the East Indies. 
 
 In Bokhara reside 2000 families of Jews ; in Balkh, 150. 
 
 In Persia, they have deeply partaken of the desolation which has fallen 
 on the fair provinces of that land ; their numbers were variously stated to 
 Mr. Wooltf, at 2974 and 3590 families. Their chief communities are at 
 Shiraz and Ispahan, Kashaan and Yazd. They are subject to the heaviest 
 exactions, and to the capricious despotism of the governors. “I have 
 travelled far,” said a Jew to Mr. WoolfF; “the Jews are everywhere 
 princes in comparison with those in the land of Persia. Heavy is our 
 captivity, heavy is our burden, heavy is our slavery ; anxiously we wait 
 for redemption.” 
 
 In Mesopotamia and Assyria, the ancient seats of the Babylonian Jews 
 are still occupied by 5270 families, exclusive of those in Bagdad and Bas- 
 sora. The latter are described as a fine race, both in form and intellect ; 
 in the provinces they are broken in mind and body by the heavy exactions 
 of the pashas, and by long ages of sluggish ignorance. At Bagdad, the 
 ancient title of Prince of the Captivity, so long, according to the accounts 
 of the Jews, entirely suppressed, was borne by an ancient Jew named 
 Isaac. He paid dear for his honour ; he was suddenly summoned to Con- 
 stantinople and imprisoned. 
 
 At Damascus, there are seven synagogues and four colleges. 
 
 In Arabia, whether or not entirely expelled by Mohammed, or having 
 returned to their ancient dwellings in later periods, the Beni-Khaibr still 
 retain their Jewish descent and faith. In Yemen reside 2658 families, 
 18,000 souls. 
 
 In Palestine, of late years, their numbers have greatly increased ; it is 
 said, but we are inclined to doubt the numbers, that 10,000 inhabit Safet 
 and Jerusalem. They are partly Karaites. Some very pathetic hymns 
 
 •Asia: — Asiatic Turkey, 330,000; Arabia, 200,000; Hindostan, 100,000; China, 
 60,000; Turkistan, 40,000; Province of Iran, 35,000; Russia in Asia, 3000. Total, 
 768,000. — Weimar Statement. 
 
42 
 
 HISTORY OF THE JEWS. 
 
 of this interesting Israelitish race have been published in the Journals of 
 Mr. Woolff, which must have a singularly affecting sound when heard 
 from children of Israel, bewailing, upon the very ruins of Jerusalem, the 
 fallen city, and the suffering people. 
 
 In the Turkish dominions, not including the Barbary states, the Israelites 
 are calculated at 800,000. In Asia Minor they are numerous, in general 
 unenlightened, rapacious, warred on, and at war with mankind. 
 
 In Constantinople, they are described as the most fierce and fanatical 
 race which inhabit the city. Hated by and hating the Greeks with the 
 unmitigated animosity of ages, they lend themselves to every atrocity for 
 which the government may demand unrelenting executioners. They were 
 employed in the barbarous murder and maltreatment of the body of the 
 Patriarch; on the other hand, the old rumours of their crucifying Christian 
 children are still revived : the body of a youth was found pierced with 
 many wounds ; the murder was, with one voice, charged upon the Jews. 
 Their numbers are stated at 40,000. 
 
 At Adrianople reside 800 families, with thirteen synagogues. 
 
 In Salonichi, 30,000 possess thirty synagogues ; and in this city, the 
 ancient Thessalonica, the most learned of the Eastern Rabbins are reported 
 to teach in their schools, with great diligence, the old Talmudic learning. 
 
 In the Crimea, the Karaites still possess their wild and picturesque 
 mountain fortress, so beautifully described by Dr. Clarke, with its cemetery 
 reposing under its ancient and peaceful grove, and the simple manners of 
 its industrious and blameless people, who are proverbial elsewhere, as in 
 this settlement, for their honesty. Their numbers amount to about 1200. 
 
 In the Russian Asiatic dominions, about Caucasus and in Georgia, their 
 numbers are considerable. In Georgia some of them are serfs attached to 
 the soil; some, among the wild tribes about Caucasus, are bold and 
 marauding horsemen like their Tartar compatriots. 
 
 But the ancient kingdom of Poland, with the adjacent provinces of 
 Moravia, Moldavia, and Wallachia, is still the great seat ol the modem 
 Jewish population. Three millions have been stated to exist in these 
 regions ; but probably this is a great exaggeration. In Poland, they form 
 the intermediate class between the haughty nobles and the miserable 
 agricultural villeins of that kingdom.* The rapid increase of their popu- 
 lation, beyond all possible maintenance by trade, embarrasses the govern- 
 ment. They cannot ascend or descend ; they may not become possessors, 
 they are averse to becoming cultivators of the soil ; they swarm in all the 
 towns. In some districts, as in Volhynia, they are described by Bishop 
 James as a fine race, with the lively, expressive eye of the Jew, and forms 
 though not robust, active and well-proportioned. Of late years much 
 
 • A Jewish free corps served under Kosciusko during the insurrection in Poland. 
 
HISTORY OF THE JEWS. 
 
 43 
 
 attention, under the sanction of the government, has been paid to their 
 education, and a great institution established for this purpose at Warsaw. 
 
 The number of Jews in the Austrian dominions is estimated, including 
 Gallicia, at 650,000. In the Prussian dominions at 135,000. In the rest 
 of Germany, 138,000. The Emperor of Austria has afforded to Europe 
 the novel sight of a Jew created a baron, and invested with a patent of 
 nobility. 
 
 In Denmark and Sweden the Jews are in considerable numbers ; those 
 resident in Copenhagen were stated, in 1819, at 1,491. They enjoy free- 
 dom of trade and the protection of the government. 
 
 The Netherlands contain 80,000. 
 
 In France, now deprived of the German and Italian provinces of the 
 empire, the Israelites are reckoned at about 40 or 50,000. 
 
 In Spain, the iron edict of Ferdinand and Isabella still excludes the 
 Israelite. At the extremity of the land, in Gibraltar, 3 or 4,000 are found 
 under the equitable protection of Great Britain. 
 
 In Portugal they have been tolerated since the time of the late king, 
 John VI., who remunerated their services in introducing large cargoes of 
 corn during a famine, by the recognition of their right to inhabit Lisbon.* 
 
 In Italy their numbers are considerable. It is said that many have taken 
 refuge in Tuscany from the sterner government of Sardinia ; where, under 
 the French dominion, among a Jewish population of 5,543, there were 182 
 landed proprietors, 402 children attended the public schools : 7,000 is 
 given as their number in the Austrian territories in Italy. 
 
 In Great Britain, the number of Jews is variously stated from 12 to 
 25,000. They are entitled to every privilege of British subjects, except 
 certain corporate offices and seats in parliament, from which they are 
 excluded by the recent act, which requires an oath to be taken on the faith 
 of a Christian. In the city of London they were prevented by municipal 
 regulations from taking out their freedom ; a restriction which subjected 
 them to occasional embarrassment and vexation. By recent acts of parlia- 
 ment, however, all disabilities have been removed. 
 
 The Jews in the United States, in 1871, are estimated at 250,000. The few 
 in the former dominions of Spain and Portugal, are descendants of those who, 
 
 * Europe: — In Russia and Poland, 608,800; Austria, 453,524; European Turkey, 
 321,000; States of the German Confederation, 138,000; Prussia, 134,000; Netherlands, 
 80,000; France, 60,000; Italy, 36,000; Great Britain, 12,000 ; Cracow, 7300 ; Ionian 
 Isles, 7000; Denmark, 6000 ; Switzerland, 1970; Sweden, 450. Total number of Jews 
 in Europe, 1,918,053; or a proportion of about a 113th part of the population, calculated 
 at 227 millions. — Weimar Statement. 
 
1 
 
 44 FUNDAMENTAL DOCTRINES. 
 
 under the assumed name of Chiistians, fled from the Inquisition ; m Suri 
 nam a prosperous community is settled under the protection of the Dutch ; 
 they were originally established at Cayenne : there are some in Jamaica. 
 In the United States, their principal settlements are at New York, Phila- 
 delphia, and Charleston. 
 
 Such, according to the best authorities to which we have access, is the 
 number and distribution of the children of Israel ; they are still found in 
 every quarter of the world, under every climate, in every region, under 
 every form of government, wearing the indelible national stamp on their 
 features, united by the close moral affinity of habits and feelings, and, at 
 least the mass of the community, treasuring in their hearts the same reli- 
 ance on their national privileges, the same trust in the promises of their 
 God, and the same conscientious attachment to the institutions of their 
 fathers. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 RELIGIOUS CUSTOMS AND CEREMONIES OF THE JEWS. 
 
 The religious customs of the Jews of modern times are not all of equal 
 authority ; neither are they observed by all alike ; for this reason they are 
 Three classes of divided into three classes. The first contains the injunc- 
 moderT/ews" 0 the tions of the written law , viz. those included in the Penta- 
 teuch, or five books of Moses. The second class relates to the oral 
 law, or that which was delivered by word of mouth. It comprehends 
 those comments which the rabbins and doctors made in their days upon 
 the Pentateuch, and an infinite variety of ordinances. These were col- 
 lected into one large volume, called the Talmud. The third class includes 
 such things as custom has sanctioned in different times and places, or which 
 have been lately introduced among them. These are properly termed 
 customs. Of these three classes the first and second are received by all 
 Jews, wheresoever dispersed ; but in regard to the third, they differ greatly 
 from each other ; because sojourning in various parts of the world, many 
 of them have adopted the names, and fallen into the manners of the nations 
 among whom they dwell. In this respect the greatest difference lies 
 between the Eastern, German, and Italian Jews. 
 
 SECTION I. FUNDAMENTAL DOCTRINES. 
 
 We shall here transcribe the thirteen articles of the Jewish creed, which 
 contain all that they believe, according to what rabbi Moses, or Maimonides , 
 
FUNDAMENTAL DOCTRINES. 
 
 45 
 
 Articles of be- Egyptian, has said of it, in his commentaries on the 
 ief - Misna , in the discourse Sanhedrin, chap. Helec ; which the 
 
 Jews have received without any opposition, and from which they are never 
 permitted to swerve. 
 
 I. I believe with a strong and lively faith, that there is one God, the 
 Creator of all things, and first principle of all beings, who is self-sufficient 
 and independent, and without whom no created being can subsist. 
 
 II. I believe, &c., that God is one and indivisible, but of an unity pecu- 
 liar to himself alone : that he has been, is, and shall for ever be, the only 
 God, blessed for evermore. 
 
 III. I believe, &c., that God is an incorporeal being ; he has no bodily 
 quality of any kind whatever, which either is possible, or can any ways be 
 imagined. 
 
 IV. I believe, &c., that God is eternal, and all beings, except himself, 
 had once a beginning ; for God is the beginning and end of all things. 
 
 V. I believe, &c., that none but God is the object of divine adora- 
 tion ; and no created being ought to be worshipped as a mediator or inter- 
 cessor. 
 
 VI. I believe, &c., that whatever is written in the books of the prophets 
 is true ; for there have been, and still may be, prophets qualified to receive 
 the inspirations of the Supreme Being. 
 
 VII. I believe, &c., in the truth of the prophecies of our master Moses, 
 (peace be 'with him ;) for Moses was a prophet superior to all others ; and 
 God Almighty honoured him with a peculiar gift of prophecy which was 
 never granted to any of the rest. 
 
 VIII. I believe, &c., that the law left by Moses (peace be with him) 
 was the pifre dictate of God himself ; and consequently, the explication of 
 those commandments, which were handed down by tradition, came entirely 
 from the mouth of God, who delivered it to our master Moses, as we have 
 it at the present day. 
 
 IX. I believe, &c., that this law is unchangeable, and that God will 
 never give another ; nor can there be the least addition to, or diminution 
 from it. 
 
 X. I believe, &c., that God perfectly knows the most secret thoughts, 
 and governs all the actions of mankind. 
 
 XI. I believe, &c., that God will reward those who observe this law, 
 and will severely punish such as are guilty of the least violation of it. 
 Eternal life is the best and greatest leward, and damnation of the soul 
 the most severe punishment. 
 
 XII. I believe, &c., that a Messiah shall come more deserving than all 
 the kings that have ever lived. Although he thinks proper to delay his 
 coming, no one ought on that account to question the truth of it, or set an 
 
 appointed time for it, much less produce Scripture for the proof of it ; since 
 4 
 
46 
 
 FUNDAMENTAL DOCTRINES. 
 
 Israel will never have any king to rule over it but one that shall be of the 
 line of David and Solomon. 
 
 XIII. I believe, &c., that God will raise the dead, and although I know 
 not when, yet it will be when he sees most convenient. — Hallowed be his 
 name for ever and ever. Amen. 
 
 There are other articles besides these fundamental ones, which, though 
 not universally received, are not absolutely rejected. 
 
 The Jews go to prayers three times every day in their synagogues, 
 and when they enter, they bow towards the Hechal, or Ark, repeating 
 „ , some verses from the Psalms, in an humble tone. The 
 
 Prayers and 
 
 thanksgivings. first f our hours after sun-rise are appointed for the morning 
 service, which is called Shachrith : the second service is in the afternoon, 
 and called Mincha : the third, at the close of the evening, which they 
 call Arbith. But in several places, on such days as are not festivals, the 
 afternoon and evening prayers, for convenience sake, are said together, at 
 sun-set. 
 
 The prayers which they use at present may be called a supplement to 
 their ancient sacrifices ; and for this reason they have given the title, or 
 name, of small temples to their synagogues. And as two sacrifices were 
 offered every day in the temple of Jerusalem, one in the morning, and the 
 other in the evening, so they have morning and evening service in their 
 synagogues, to correspond with those two sacrifices. 
 
 Besides these, there was another sacrifice offered up on holidays, for the 
 solemnity of the festival ; and for this reason they add a new prayer on 
 feast-days, called Musaph, that is, addition. 
 
 They must not eat, drink, or do any kind of thing, or salute even a 
 friend, till they have been at morning prayers : — they are obliged, however, 
 to wash their hands before they enter the synagogue. 
 
 At their first entrance into the synagogue, having put on a devout and 
 humble demeanour, they cover themselves with a white embroidered 
 linen cloth, of an oblong figure, called theTALiTH,and then 
 
 Divine service# 
 
 pronounce the benediction contained in Numbers, chapter x. : 
 “ Blessed be thou,” &c. Some Jews only cover their heads with the 
 Taled^ but others bring it close about their necks, that no object may divert 
 their thoughts, and that their attention to the prayers may in no ways be 
 interrupted. 
 
 In the next place they put on the armlets and forehead-pieces, called 
 Tbphilin, or Phylacteries ; — meaning that which is worn during the time 
 of prayer. 
 
 The Tephilim are made as follows : — they take two slips of parchment, 
 and write on them with great accuracy, and with ink made for that parti- 
 cular purpose, these four passages, in square letters, from Exodus, chapter 
 xiii. 1—3, 5—6, S— 10, 11—13. 
 
FUNDAMENTAL DOCTRINES. 
 
 47 
 
 These two slips of parchment are rolled up together, and wrapped in a 
 piece of black calf-skin : — after which, the latter is fixed upon a thick 
 square piece of the same skin, leaving a sl.p thereof fastened to it, of about 
 a finger’s breadth, and nearly a cubit and a half long. One of these 
 Tephilim is placed on the bending of the left arm ; and after they have 
 made a small knot in the slip, they wind it round the arm in a spiral line, 
 till the end thereof reaches the end of the middle finger ; as for the head 
 Tephila, they write the four passages before mentioned, upon four distinct 
 pieces of vellum, which, when stitched together, make a square : upon 
 this they write the letter Scin, and over it they put a square piece of hard 
 calf-skin, as thick as the other, from which proceed two slips of the same 
 length and breadth as the former. They put this square piece upon the 
 middle of their forehead. The slips going round their heads, form a knot 
 behind, in the shape of the letter Daleth, and then hang down before 
 upon the breast. The forehead-pieces are usually put on in the morning 
 only, with the Taled. Some, indeed, wear them at their noon prayers 
 too : but there are very few who wear even the Taled at those prayers, 
 excepting the Reader. 
 
 David Levi says, that “all Jews, every morning, during the reading of 
 the Shema, and while saying the nineteen prayers, must have on the Phy- 
 lacteries ; because it is a sign of their acknowledging the Almighty to be 
 the Creator of all things, and that he has power to do as he pleases. On 
 the Sabbath and other festivals, we do not put on the Phylacteries, because 
 the due observation of these days is a sufficient sign of itself, as expressed 
 in Exodus, chapter xxxi. verse 13.” 
 
 God is said to enter the synagogue as soon as the door is opened, and 
 when ten are assembled together, and each of them thirteen years and a 
 day old, at least, (for otherwise certain prayers cannot be sung after a solemn 
 manner,) then he is said to be in the midst of them, and the Chazan, or 
 Reader, goes up to the table, or altar, or stands before the Ark, and begins 
 to sing prayers aloud, in which the rest of the congregation join, but in a 
 softer and less audible voice. 
 
 The form and mode of prayer is not uniform among the Jewish nations. 
 The Germans sing in a louder tone than the rest. The Eastern and Spa- 
 nish Jews sing much after the same manner as the Turks; and the Italians 
 soft and slow. Their prayers are longer or shorter, according as the days 
 are, or are not, festival. In this particular, too, the several nations differ 
 greatly. 
 
 The Jews, in their prayers, rely on two things, viz., on the mercy and 
 goodness of God, and on the innocence and piety of their forefathers. For 
 which reason, they mention Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and some others, both 
 patriarchs and prophets. “Do thou, O God,” say they, “vouchsafe to hear 
 us, and grant us such and such a favour, through the merits of all those 
 
48 
 
 FUNDAMENTAL DOCTRINES. 
 
 just and holy men who have sprung up in every generation among the 
 Israelites.” . 
 
 In regard to their posture during divine service, they are to stand with- 
 out leaning, as much as possibly they can : their heads are to be covered, 
 and their bodies girt with a belt, to separate the heart from the lower parts, 
 which are impure. Their hands and faces are to be carefully washed 
 before they presume to enter into the synagogue. They must not touch 
 any thing while they are at their prayers, which is foul and nasty, and 
 their minds must be prepared, at least an hour, for their prayers, before 
 they repeat them. 
 
 The person who prays must turn towards Jerusalem, join his feet 
 straight, lay his hands on his heart, and fix his eyes on the ground. 
 He must avoid gaping, spitting, blowing his nose, with the utmost pre- 
 caution. 
 
 They may pray aloud, when at home, for the edification and improve- 
 ment of their servants and family ; but at the synagogue it is sufficient to 
 say their prayers as softly as they please, if they do but move their lips ; 
 for it is requisite that the congregation should be well satisfied that they 
 do pray. 
 
 When they depart from the synagogue, they must never turn their 
 backs upon the Hechal, which contains the sacred books of the law. 
 They must go out slowly, in conformity to those words in Job, the 14th 
 chapter, and 16th verse, “Thou hast counted my steps.” They must 
 refrain likewise from casting their eyes upon any beautiful objects that 
 may raise their inordinate affections. Whenever they pass the gate of the 
 synagogue, they are obliged to put up an ejaculatory prayer. 
 
 Even when upon a journey, let a Jew be ever so far from the place 
 where he set out, he must say a prayer with his face turned that way, 
 and repeat some passages out of the Scriptures which relate to travellers. 
 
 The rabbins have divided the five books of Moses into forty-eight or 
 fifty-two lessons, called Parushioth, or divisions ; and one of them is read 
 every week in their synagogues : so that in the compass 
 of a year, whether it consists of twelve or thirteen months, 
 they read the whole book through. On Mondays and Thursdays, after 
 having said their penitential prayers, they take the Sepher Tora, or book 
 of the law , out of the Ark before mentioned, and while that verse of the 
 34th Psalm, “O praise the Lord with me,” &c., and some others are 
 repeating, they place it on the desk ; where, being opened and unrolled, 
 they desire three persons to read the beginning of the Parascia, which 
 means section or chapter , in the same place with them. And the whole 
 congregation repeat some words of it, which are preceded and followed 
 with a blessing. After this, the Reader gives them his benediction, and 
 they all promise either to bestow something on the poor, or to contribute 
 
CUSTOMS AND LAWS. 
 
 49 
 
 towards the necessities of the synagogue. Then the Sefer Tora is held 
 up wide open, and the Reader, showing the writing thereof, says to the 
 congregation, according to Deuteronomy, chapter iv. verse 44, “ This is 
 the law which Moses set before,” &c. The Portuguese Jews perform this 
 ceremony first of all. After this declaration, the book is rolled up and 
 covered, and then shut up in the ark. Besides this, no day must pass 
 without reading some portion of the law at home. 
 
 This manner of reading the five books of Moses in the synagogue, and 
 inviting a greater or smaller number of the congregation to read it with 
 them, was ordered by Esdras, and is observed on all fasts and festivals. 
 
 As some men, out of a zeal for religion, are fond of being employed in 
 certain ceremonies, such as taking the book out of the ark, and laying it 
 up again, &c., &c., that indulgence is generally granted to such as are 
 most generous and free of their money. Whatever is so collected, is dis- 
 tributed either among the poor, or employed towards furnishing the neces- 
 saries of the synagogue. 
 
 An epitome of the tenets, ordinances, and traditions of all the rabbins up 
 to the time of Rabbi Juda, about 120 years after the destruction of Jeru- 
 _ salem, called the Mishna, was divided into six parts ; the 
 
 Talmud. first treats of agriculture ; the second of festivals ; the third 
 
 of marriages, and every thing relating to women ; the fourth of law-suits, 
 and of the disputes which arise from loss or interest, and of all manner of 
 civil affairs ; the fifth, of sacrifices ; and the sixth, of things clean and 
 unclean. This being very concise, occasioned various disputes ; a circum- 
 stance which prompted two rabbins of Babylon to the compilation of all 
 the interpretations, controversies, and additions which had been written 
 upon the Mishna, together with other supplementary matter. Thus they 
 placed the Mishna as the text, and the rest as an exposition ; the whole 
 forming the book called the Talmud Babli, the Talmud of Babylon, or 
 Ghemara, which signifies the book of completion. 
 
 SEC. II. CUSTOMS AND LAWS OF THE ANCIENT JEWS. 
 
 Soon after the Jews, or the children of Israel , were delivered from 
 Egyptian slavery, Moses, their leader, delivered them a body of laws 
 Customs and which he declared to them he received from God, whom he. 
 cient Jews. au had conversed with, face to face, on Mount Sinai. These 
 laws consisted of precepts which related both to the worship of God, and 
 their duty to each other: but such was their attachment to their former 
 customs and religion, that while Moses was absent in procuring the divine 
 law, the people made a golden calf which they danced round, and wor- 
 shipped as the true God. This was done in imitation of what they had 
 seen in Egypt. 
 
50 
 
 CUSTOMS AND LAWS 
 
 Circumcision. 
 
 Sacrifices. 
 
 The most distinguishing of all the Jewish ceremonies, before their recep- 
 tion of the Mosaic law , was that of circumcision. This, from the time 
 of Abraham, was always performed on the eighth A ay after 
 the birth of the child, in order to distinguish them from the 
 surrounding tribes, who made it a fixed rule to circumcise their children 
 in the thirteenth year. 
 
 By the Mosaic law, the seventh day of the week -was to be kept sacred ; 
 but this was no more than the revival of an ancient institution, as appears 
 from Genesis, chap. ii. Sacrifices were enjoined, and a dis- 
 tinction was made between clean and unclean animals. 
 This distinction seems to have been rather political than religious ; for had 
 swine’s flesh been eaten in the wilderness, or even in the land of Canaan, 
 it might have been prejudicial to their health. Another reason has been 
 assigned for this prohibition ; namely, to make a distinction between them 
 and all other nations in the universe. 
 
 At the celebration of their grand solemnities and sacrifices, persons were 
 to bring the victim to the priest, who laid his hand upon its head, and 
 then read over to the congregation aloud all the sins which 
 the parties confessed. The victim was then slain, and when 
 all the blood was extracted from the body, the fat was burned to ashes, and 
 the other parts remained the property of the priests. During the time the 
 children of Israel remained in the wilderness they had no temple, because 
 they had no fixed place of residence ; but, to supply that deficiency, Moses 
 and Aaron made an Ark or Tabernacle, wdiich was carried by the Levites 
 from place to place. 
 
 Of all the ceremonies imposed on the Jews, ncne serves more to point 
 out the notion of an atonement for sin, than that of the “Scape-Goat.” 
 This ceremony was performed once in every year, and in the following 
 manner : — 
 
 The goat was taken to the Tabernacle, and, in the hearing of all the 
 people, the priest read a list of the sins which had been confessed. The 
 people acknowledged their guilt. Then taking the scroll, the priest fixed 
 it upon the goat, which was immediately conducted to the wilderness, and 
 never more heard of. This being over, the messengers returned and then 
 the people received absolution. The law delivered by Moses to the Jews 
 contained not only directions for the manner in which sacrifices were to 
 be offered, and, indeed, the whole service, first of the tabernacle and then 
 of the temple, — but, likewise, a system of moral precepts. The distinc- 
 tions of persons, according to the different ranks in life, were pointed out. 
 Women were not permitted to wear the same habit as the men. Young 
 persons were commanded to stand up in a reverent manner before the 
 aged, and to treat them with every mark of respect. The same justice 
 was to be done to strangers as to free-born subjects. No stranger was to 
 
OF THE ANCIENT JEWS. 
 
 51 
 
 be chosen king over them ; for, as they were surrounded by heathen 
 nations, a stranger, having the civil power in his hands, might have led 
 them into idolatry. They were commanded not to abhor, nor to treat 
 with contempt, the Edomites ; because they were the descendants of Esau, 
 the elder brother of Jacob : nor were they to treat the Egyptians with 
 cruelty. 
 
 Slavery was permitted by the law of Moses, but slaves or bondmen 
 were not to be treated with cruelty; and the reason assigned was, that the 
 children of Israel had themselves been slaves in the land of Egypt. Every 
 widow and orphan were to be considered as objects of compassion ; and 
 those who treated them with cruelty were to be considered as objects of 
 the Divine displeasure. Nay, it was further threatened in this law, that 
 those who oppressed the widow and the fatherless should die an ignomini- 
 ous death; that their widows should be exposed to want, and their children 
 subjected to hardships. 
 
 The duty of charity was strongly inculcated by the Mosaic economy ; 
 for whatever was left of the fruits of the earth in the field, they were not 
 to go back to gather ; it was for the poor and needy ; the slaves were to 
 enjoy it, and so were the widows and fatherless. The tribe of Levi, to 
 whom the priesthood was confined by law, were not to have any local 
 inheritance, but they were to dwell in the presence of their brethren, and 
 one-tenth part of the fruits of the earth was to be set aside for their sub 
 sistence. These Levites, however, were commanded to relieve the widow 
 and the fatherless. 
 
 In every city, town, or village, some of the most respectable of the inha- 
 bitants, or elders of the people, were to be appointed judges; and in the 
 administration of justice they were strictly commanded to 
 act impartially. No respect was to be paid to the characters 
 or rank of persons ; and a dreadful curse was pronounced against such as 
 should take bribes. These judges sat in the gates of the cities ; which prac- 
 tice still prevails in many of the Eastern nations. The origin of this custom 
 is of great antiquity ; but the end and design of it has never been properly 
 accounted for, which is the more surprising, because the custom itself is 
 very emblematical and expressive. 
 
 There was, however, an appeal from these inferior courts, whether 
 relating to matters of a civil or a criminal nature: and this appeal was 
 very solemn. The party w T ho thought himself injured, entered his appeal 
 before the supreme judge or the king, who called to his assistance the 
 whole body of priests and Levites; and the majority of votes determined 
 the affair. If either of the contending parties refused to abide by the final 
 decision, he was condemned to suffer death ; for not to acknowledge such 
 a solemn judgment, was to deny the authority of God himself, who had 
 delegated his authority to the judges, priests, and Levites. 
 
 UNIVERSE of 1LUNOl! * 
 LIBRARY 
 
52 
 
 CUSTOMS AND LAWS 
 
 The person who spoke disrespectfully of a judge, was considered as a 
 blasphemer ; and if he was found guilty by the evidence of two or three 
 witnesses, then he was to be put to death; for to revile a judge was to 
 revile God, he being considered as his representative on earth. 
 
 The Jewish slavery was two-fold, and arose from a variety of circum- 
 stances. When men were reduced to poverty, it was in the power of their 
 creditors to sell them : but they were not to be treated as 
 siaverj . strangers ; they were to be treated in the same manner as wa 
 do hired servants ; and when the year of jubilee took place, they, and their 
 wives, with their children, were to be set at liberty, and they were to return 
 to the possessions of their ancestors. These persons who were purchased, or 
 in other words, taken into a state of servitude, were not to be sold by their 
 masters, nor were they to be treated with any sort of severity. When a 
 servant was discharged, his master was to give him as much corn, wine, 
 oil, and other necessaries, as he and his wife and children could carry home 
 to their houses. 
 
 In the patriarchal age, the power of masters over their servants was 
 unlimited, for they had a right to put them to death whenever they pleased; 
 but after the children of Israel had returned from Egypt, this power was 
 confined within proper bounds. Such as engaged for a limited time were 
 to have leave to go out at the expiration of it; and if a man was married 
 when he entered into servitude, his wife and children were to be set at 
 liberty ; but if his master gave him a wife, both she and the children were 
 to remain the property of the master. This circumstance, however, seldom 
 took place, for the law had provided a remedy. 
 
 It frequently happened, that when the term of servitude expired, the 
 servant, having no prospect of procuring a subsistence, and, at the same 
 time, unwilling to part with his wife and children, told his master that he 
 would serve him during the remainder of his life. In such cases the 
 master took him before the elders, or judges, and in their presence an awl 
 was bored through his ear and fixed to a post in the gate of the city ; sig- 
 nifying that he and his wife and children were to serve the master till 
 death. 
 
 It was the same with women servants, who were bound by the same 
 obligations. With respect to strangers, they were, at all times, permitted 
 to redeem themselves, and this was to be done in an equitable manner 
 before the judges. All the arrears due to them were to be paid ; and if the 
 time of their servitude was not expired, then they were to make a proper 
 deduction, so that the master should not receive the least injury. 
 
 When a master struck his servant, and the wound proved mortal, so 
 that the servant died within a day or two, then the crime was to be con- 
 sidered as capital, and the master was to suffer death for it ; but if he lived 
 beyond that time, then the master was to be discharged, because the slave 
 
OF THE ANCIENT JEWS. 
 
 53 
 
 was his property. When a master struck out the eye or the tooth of his 
 servant, then he was obliged to let him go free ; because, in such an in- 
 stance, the master exceeded the bounds prescribed by the law. 
 
 It was in the power of parents to sell their daughters ; a practice which 
 has been followed in the Eastern nations from the most early ages. When 
 . , a master seduced a female slave, he was not permitted to 
 
 Power of a fa- 1 
 
 ther - sell her, because he had not acted towards her consistently 
 
 with the nature of moral obligation. If the master betrothed the young 
 ■woman to his son, she was to be treated as a free-born subject ; but if the 
 young man took another wife, then he was to deliver up every thing 
 belonging to the slave, and she was to be free to act in what manner she 
 pleased. It is singular, that when a slave ran away from his master, he 
 was not to be reclaimed by him, but was to remain with the person where 
 he chose to settle. 
 
 The power that fathers had over their children was great. If a son 
 refused to obey his father or mother, or treated them with indignity, they 
 were to chastise him ; and if no reformation took place in his conduct, then 
 he was to be taken before the elders, or judges of the city, who, upon 
 hearing such evidence as served to prove his guilt, delivered him over 
 to the common executioners, who immediately stoned him to death. None 
 of the children of Israel were permitted to sell their daughters as common 
 prostitutes, because purity was enjoined by the Mosaic law. It was the 
 custom of the surrounding nations to boil kids in the milk of their dam ; 
 but by the Mosaic law this was forbidden, as an unnatural practice, so that 
 it was utterly prohibited for any person to seethe a kid in its mother’s 
 milk. 
 
 Many of the heathen nations lived in an incestuous manner; but this 
 practice was not tolerated under the law of Moses. The degrees of con- 
 T . sanguinity were so strictly attended to, that no person was 
 
 marriage. to break through them ; and a table of those degrees has 
 
 always been affixed to the English translation of the Bible. A man was 
 not to marry two sisters, lest it should create family dissensions. 
 
 If a man died without having children, and if he had a brother alive 
 unmarried, then the bachelor was to espouse the widow; that by descend- 
 ants the name of the family might be kept up ; but the first-born child 
 was to succeed to the name and estate of the first husband. 
 
 As nothing was more odious among the Jews, than for men or women to 
 live unmarried, so if the brother-in-law refused to marry the sister-in-law, 
 to preserve the name of his family, the widow was to go before the judges 
 in the gate of the city, and there exhibit her complaint. This being done, 
 the brother-in-law was called before the judges, and examined concerning 
 the nature of his objections ; and when it was found that he absolutely 
 refused to marry the woman, then she was called in, and the refusal inti 
 
54 
 
 CUSTOMS AND LAWS 
 
 mated to her ; the judges then were to tell her to act according as the law 
 of Moses directed ; and she, stooping down, unloosened the shoe from off 
 his right foot, and, spitting in his face, declared her abhorrence of the man 
 who refused to perpetuate the name of his family, and the name of his 
 brother ; and from that time forward he was called “ The man whose shoe 
 was loosed in Israel.” 
 
 A woman was not to marry into any tribe but that to which her father 
 belonged ; this seems to have been done to keep up the grand distinctions 
 among the twelve tribes, especially that of Judah; from whom the Mes- 
 siah was to be descended. 
 
 Moses permitted a man to put away his wife, and both parties were 
 allowed to marry again. But if a husband divorced his wife, and she mar- 
 ried a second husband, who afterwards died, then the first husband was not 
 to take the woman again. This was done to discourage divorces. 
 
 Every man was exempted from going to war, and from all public busi- 
 ness, during the first year of his marriage ; and the reason was, that there 
 might not be too many young widows or fatherless children among them. 
 The law of Moses allowed a man to make a vow, and to give for the ser- 
 vice of the tabernacle any part of his goods or money, but so as not to 
 injure his family. 
 
 It is evident, from several passages in the Old Testament, that women 
 were permitted to make vows, on condition of obtaining the consent of their 
 fathers and husbands. If the fathers or husbands were present when the 
 vow was made, and did not object to it, then the woman was bound to the 
 performance. On the other hand, if either the father or husband objected 
 to the vow, then it could not stand good, and the priests were commanded 
 to see that it was not performed. But all the widows, and such women as 
 had been divorced, and lived single, were obliged to perform their vows, 
 otherwise they were to be treated as persons guilty of sacrilege. 
 
 In military affairs, the law of Moses was well calculated to promote the 
 interests of the commonwealth, and was altogether suitable to the genius, 
 times, and circumstances of the people. Every family was 
 Military law. 0 b]ig ec { to return to the chiefs of the tribes a list of all the 
 males upwards of twenty years of age, fit to carry arms. When the return 
 was made, the males of each tribe were called together, and the following 
 questions were asked them, one by one : “ Has any man built a house, and 
 has not had time to dedicate it ? Has any man planted a vineyard, and 
 not yet eaten of the fruit of it ? Has any man betrothed a wife, and not 
 yet married her? Is any man fearful or faint-hearted to go against the 
 enemy ? Then let all those return home, and attend to their domestic 
 duties.” 
 
 According to the Jewish law, when they attacked a city they were to 
 offer terms of peace to the inhabitants, upon condition of surrendering them- 
 
OF THE ANCIENT JEWS. 
 
 55 
 
 selves up prisoners of war, and submitting to the will of the conqueror ; 
 which was, that they should pay a certain tribute. But if the citizens 
 refused to accept of the proffered terms, then the place was to be attacked, 
 and if taken, all the males were to be put to the sword. The women and 
 children were to be sold as slaves ; the cattle, and all the goods were to be 
 taken and distributed equally among the soldiers, after which the city was 
 to be reduced to ashes. 
 
 They were permitted to eat the fruits of the trees which they found in 
 the land of an enemy ; and the trees were to be cut down in order to raise 
 bulwarks against the next city which they should have occasion to besiege. 
 
 A1 the lands taken by conquest were to be divided, by lot, among the 
 soldiers, but each was to have his share, according to the rank he bore in 
 the army. The Levites, also, had their share, although, being obliged to 
 attend the service of the tabernacle, they were exempted from every duty 
 of a civil or military nature. This exemption was appointed to exist 
 throughout all generations ; although we meet with many deviations from 
 it in the latter times of their history, particularly after they returned from 
 the Babylonish captivity. 
 
 If a man died without leaving a son, then the inheritance was to pass to 
 his daughter; and if there was no daughter, then it was to go to the bro- 
 thers ; and if there w r ere no brethren, then it was to ascend upwards to the 
 brothers of the grandfather, and to all the collateral branches, according to 
 their consanguinity. 
 
 As polygamy was permitted among the Jews, great care was taken that 
 no abuses should happen, in consequence of partiality in favour of the 
 children of the second or third wife, in preference to those 
 
 Polygamy. # 1 
 
 of the first. It was ordered, that although the first wife 
 should be despised, or even hated by her husband, yet her first-born son 
 should succeed to the inheritance ; and the judges were under the most 
 solemn obligations to see this part of the law properly executed. Provi- 
 sion, however, was made for the rest of the children, and amongst them 
 the personal estate was divided without any partial respect; but if there 
 was no personal estate, then two-thirds of the real estate were given to the 
 first-born, and the third divided equally among the rest. 
 
 The Jews were permitted to lend money upon usury , to strangers, but 
 
 Laws relating to not to an y own brethren, nor were they to sleep one 
 
 property. night with their brother’s pledge. 
 
 If an estate was mortgaged, the person who held it was obliged to restore 
 it at the end of seven years, upon condition of receiving the money he had 
 advanced, but he was not under the same obligation to strangers. And if 
 a man borrowed a beast of his neighbour, and an accident happened to it, 
 so that it received an injury, then he was to make good the loss, unless the 
 owner happened to be present. 
 
 L_ 
 
56 
 
 CUSTOMS AND LAWS 
 
 If a man delivered any thing to another to keep, and it was stolen, the 
 thief, if found, was to pay double ; but if the thief was not found, then the 
 person to whom it was intrusted was to he brought before the judges, to 
 declare upon oath, whether he had injured his neighbour by making away 
 with his goods, or had been privy to any transaction of that nature. 
 The oath of the suspected person was to be supported by such evidence as 
 he could produce ; and that was to be opposed by what the prosecutor 
 could advance. 
 
 The matter having been heard with calmness, the judges were to con 
 sider on it in a deliberate manner ; and if it appeared that the accused 
 person was innocent, then he was acquitted ; but, if through his own neg 
 iect the goods were stolen, then he was to return double to the owner. 
 If there was no evidence produced by the person accused, nor any to sup- 
 port the accusation, then the judges were to decide, according to their own 
 w T isdom and discretion. 
 
 Among the Jews, there were several things exempted from being 
 pledged ; among which were mill-stones ; for such things were necessary 
 towards preserving the lives of men, because wheat would have been of 
 little use unless ground into flour.- When a pledge was deposited, the 
 person who advanced the money was not to go into the debtor’s house to 
 demand it, but he was to stand without the door until it was brought to 
 him. This was ordered to prevent family disputes, and to keep peace 
 among a body of people who were commanded to live together as brethren. 
 The clothes of widows were not to be taken in pledge, and the same 
 degree of humanity was to extend to strangers, to the fatherless, and to 
 the slaves. Great regard was paid to the standard weights and measures; 
 so that, in their common dealings, justice should be equally distributed. 
 
 Every sale, or bargain, relating to the conveyance of estates, was of a 
 conditional nature ; and if any of the descendants or relations of those who 
 assigned it away, produced the money advanced for it, at the end of forty- 
 nine years, then it was to be restored ; for the possession of it during that 
 time was considered as an ample recompense to the purchaser. 
 
 On such occasions, trumpets were to be sounded in all the towns and 
 villages, that the people might have proper notice that the jubilee was 
 approaching. Then, during the fiftieth year, all servants or slaves were to 
 be set at liberty ; and an opportunity was offered for persons to redeem 
 such estates as had been sold. In the redemption of estates, an account 
 was taken before the judges concerning the nature of the improved rent, 
 during the time they had been in the possession of the purchaser, and the 
 overplus was delivered up, either to the person who sold them, or to his 
 relations who made the claim. 
 
 All houses in walled cities, namely, such as were fortified, could be 
 redeemed within the compass of one year, but they could never be re- 
 
OF THE ANCIENT JEWS. 
 
 57 
 
 deemed afterwards, not even in the year of jubilee ; because the person in 
 possession was under obligation to lay down his life in support of its rights 
 and privileges. It was different with respect to the villages which were 
 not walled round, because they were considered as part of the country at 
 large, so that they were permitted to be redeemed in the year of jubilee. 
 However, the houses of the Levites were not to be sold without redemp- 
 tion, whether they were in cities or villages. 
 
 When servants were hired by the day, they were to receive their wages 
 before sunset ; and the reason assigned for it was, that because the poor 
 man wanted his hire ; hunger, and the regard he had for his wife and 
 children, would make him unwilling to return home. 
 
 By the Mosaic law, the ox, who contributed towards cultivating the 
 fruits of the earth, and who assisted in treading out the corn, was not 
 muzzled, but suffered to eat as much as he could, while he was em- 
 ployed. 
 
 Covetousness was forbidden by the Mosaic law. Cattle being stolen 
 and disposed of, so as to be isrecoverable, the thief, on conviction, was to 
 make fivefold restitution ; but if the cattle were found alive with him, 
 then he was to restore them, and pay double. Every person was em- 
 powered to kill a housebreaker, if he was found in the fact during the 
 night ; but if in the day, then he was either to make restitution, or to be 
 sold for a slave. 
 
 In walking through a vineyard, every stranger was permitted to pull 
 what fruit he chose to eat, but he was not to carry any away. It was the 
 same with respect to fields of corn, where every man was permitted to 
 pull as much as he could eat, but he was not to put in a sickle, or cut 
 down as much as one of the stalks. 
 
 It was ordained in their law, that nuisances, by which men’s lives or 
 properties could be injured, should be removed ; or if an accident hap- 
 pened in consequence of neglect, a proper recompense was to be made to 
 the loser. Thus, if a man left a pit uncovered, and his neighbour’s beast 
 fell into it, and was killed, or in any way disabled, then the person guilty 
 of the neglect was to make up the loss. In the same manner, if any man 
 killed the beast of his neighbour, he was either to restore another equal in 
 value, or pay the price. 
 
 All those who found cattle wandering astray, were to take them k o their 
 own folds, and keep them till they were claimed by the owners. It was 
 the same with respect to every thing lost ; for, whoever found it, and did 
 not embrace the first opportunity of restoring it, was considered as a thief, 
 and punished as such. 
 
 If fire happened through negligence, the person who neglected to take 
 proper care was to make restitution to the injured person ; and the same 
 was to be done where a man suffered his beast to eat the corn in the field 
 
58 
 
 CUSTOMS AND LAAVS 
 
 of his neighbour. If a man or woman happened to be killed by an ox, 
 then the ox was to be stoned to death, and his flesh was not to be eaten ; 
 but if sufficient evidence appeared to the judges, that the ox was a vicious 
 animal, accustomed to push at every person who came in his way, and the 
 owner did not take proper measures to restrain him, then the ox was to be 
 stoned, and the owner was to be put to death. It was, however, permitted 
 for the owner of the ox to redeem his own life, by paying a certain sum 
 of money to the widow or children of the deceased. 
 
 When an ox killed a slave, his owner was to pay to the master of the 
 slave thirty shekels of silver ; and if it happened that one ox hurt or killed 
 another, the live ox was to be sold along with the dead one, and the money 
 equally divided between the proprietors. 
 
 Wilful murder was to be punished with death ; for thus 
 
 Murder. . . . . . 
 
 it was written in the Mosaic law : — 
 
 “And if he smite him with an instrument of iron, (so that he die,) he is 
 a murderer : the murderer shall surely be put to death. And if he smite 
 him with throwing a stone, (wherewith he may die,) and he die, he is a 
 murderer.” In the same manner, if he smote him with an instrument of 
 wood, so that he died, he was a murderer; but still no crime could be 
 called murder, unless there was malice in the offending party. In all such 
 cases, the nearest of kin had a right to put the murderer to death with his 
 own hands. 
 
 The difference between murder and manslaughter was pointed out, and 
 a straight line of distinction drawn. Thus, if there had been no malice 
 between the contending parties, and it happened that one of them killed 
 the other suddenly, then the aggressor was to flee to the city of refuge , 
 where he was kept in a state of safety, until the judges had inquired into 
 the affair. This was done in a very solemn manner, and, what is remark- 
 able, the evidence was delivered in the hearing of all those who lived in 
 the district where the affair happened. 
 
 When a solemn inquiry was made, and it was found that the aggressor 
 entertained malice against the deceased, then he was delivered up to the 
 avenger of blood to be put to death. But if it was found that no malice 
 had existed between the parties, then the judges were to see the offender 
 safely conducted to the city of refuge, where he was to remain as an inha- 
 bitant till the death of the high-priest. During that time, if he ventured 
 to go out of the city of refuge, the avenger of blood had a right to put him 
 to death ; but when the high-priest died, he was restored to the peaceable 
 enjoyment of his temporal possessions. 
 
 When it happened that a pregnant woman was injured so as to occasion 
 her miscarrying, then the husband was to demand a fine from the offending 
 party, and the judges were to determine how much was equitable. It 
 ^as common in the Eastern countries to steal children, and sell them to be 
 
OF THE ANCIENT JEWS. 
 
 5y 
 
 How punished. 
 
 brought up as slaves ; but the law of Moses absolutely prohibited this 
 practice, and the offender was to be put to death. 
 
 In some cases, offenders were permitted to take shelter on the horns of 
 the altar, the place to which the victim was bound ; but if he was a mur- 
 derer, and found guilty by the judges, then the executioners had a right to 
 drag him from the altar and put him to death. 
 
 As the Jewish state was that of a theocracy , so every vio.ation of the 
 law, delivered by Moses, was punished as high-treason to God. The 
 people were to be considered as guilty of high-treason when 
 Hi D h Treason. wors hipped any of the idols in the heathen nations 
 
 It was high-treason, likewise, to set up an image of God. 
 
 In particular, they were strictly commanded not to worship the sun, 
 moon, or stars. 
 
 What the English law calls misprision of treason , was punished 
 capitally among the Jews. Thus, if one man saw another go to wor 
 ship in a heathen temple, and did not reveal it to the judges, then he 
 was to be put to death; for? to conceal treason was considered as approving 
 of it. 
 
 In all cases the traitor was punished by stoning , and the witnesses were 
 obliged to perform the execution. Nay, so strict was the law with respect 
 to treason, that if one person advised another to idolatry, 
 then the person advised had a right to kill him. If all the 
 inhabitants of a city became idolaters, then that city was to be razed to the 
 ground, the people were all to be put to death, and the place was to re- 
 main a heap of ruins for ever. 
 
 It frequently happened that impostors rose up under the character of 
 prophets ; but if such enticed the people to commit idolatry, then they 
 were to be stoned to death ; nor were their highest* pretensions to inspira- 
 tion to screen them from punishment. 
 
 All those who pretended to be wizards, who had familiar spirits, and 
 who could reveal the knowledge of future events, were considered as 
 traitors, and were put to death. Every one, whether male or female, who 
 spoke irreverently of the name of God, was also to be put to death. 
 
 If a man and woman were taken in the act of adultery, both were to 
 be stoned to death ; and the same punishment was inflicted on the man 
 who seduced a betrothed virgin, previous to her marriage ; the virgin 
 herself was to die along with the seducer; but this was only done when 
 the crime was committed in a city, for when it happened in the fieMs, 
 then the man alone was to suffer, because it was presumed he had ra- 
 vished her. 
 
 When the punishment was such as permitted a power in the judge to 
 order a criminal to be scourged, then he was to command him to lie down 
 in open court, and forty stripes were to be given him, but he was not to 
 
1 
 
 60 
 
 CUSTOMS AND LAWS. 
 
 exceed that number ; but, according to the practice, they seldom exceeded 
 the number of thirty-nine. If more than forty stripes had been inflicted 
 on the offending party, he would have been considered as infamous ever 
 after, and by only inflicting thirty-nine, it was done from motives of huma- 
 nity, lest the party should be in danger of losing his life. 
 
 If a man lay with a woman who was a slave and betrothed, the woman 
 was to be scourged, and the man was to offer a ram as a trespass-offering; 
 neither of them were to be put to death, because the woman was not free. 
 Bastards were not permitted to enjoy the same privileges as those who 
 were born in wedlock ; and, that incontinency might be discouraged as 
 much as possible, this prohibition was to extend even to the tenth gene- 
 ration. 
 
 This order or statute, however, did not prohibit bastards from worship- 
 ping either in the tabernacle or temple ; for they were treated in the same 
 manner as the heathens who renounced idolatry ; namely, as proselytes 
 w T ho worshipped God without the veil of the temple. In many civil 
 respects, likewise, they were not considered as members of the Jewish 
 community. 
 
 That no injury should be done to young women, it was ordered, that if 
 a man lay with a virgin who was not betrothed, then he was to pay to her 
 father fifty shekels of silver as part of the composition for the injury, and 
 at the same time he was obliged to marry her, nor could he, on any ac- 
 count whatever, obtain a divorce from her ; because in the act of seduction 
 he had first set her a bad example. 
 
 With respect to a witness giving evidence in a court of justice, the law 
 of Moses provided against perjury. It was absolutely necessary that there 
 should be either two or three witnesses to prove the truth 
 Perjury. 0 f ever y criminal accusation, because two individuals can 
 swear to a single fact. In case a man, who appeared as a witness against 
 an accused person, should have been suspected of delivering false evidence, 
 then both parties were to appear in the tabernacle before the judges and 
 the priests, and they were to consider of the matter in the most deliberate 
 manner. If it appeared to the judges that the witness had perjured him- 
 self, then they were to order that the same punishment should be inflicted 
 upon him, as would have been inflicted upon the accused person, had he 
 been legally convicted. 
 
 The practice of making witnesses the executioners of the criminal had 
 something in it remarkably solemn ; for a man may swear falsely in a 
 court of justice, from interested or sinister motives, but if he has the least 
 spark of conscience remaining, he must shudder at the thoughts of becom- 
 ing the executioner of the man, who, by his evidence, was illegally con- 
 demned. 
 
 Retaliation made a great part of the Jewish law ; thus, he who put out 
 
RELIGIOUS RITES. 
 
 61 
 
 the eye of another was to have his own put out ; he who struck out the 
 tooth of another was to have his own tooth struck out ; he who disabled 
 another was himself to be disabled ; and whoever burned down the house 
 of his neighbour was to have his own house reduced to ashes. 
 
 To what has already been advanced, we may add, that all punishments 
 among the Jews were considered as adequate to the crimes with which the 
 offending prisoners were charged. 
 
 If a man was found guilty of a capital offence, and condemned to be 
 hanged, his body was not to remain after sun-set on the tree ; but (says 
 the Mosaic law) “ Thou shalt bury him that day , that thy land be not 
 defiled: for he that is hanged is accursed of God” 
 
 SEC. III. RELIGIOUS RITES. 
 
 Every Jew is under an indispensable obligation to marry, the time 
 appointed for it by their rabbins being at eighteen years of age ; and he 
 who lives single till he is twenty is reckoned to live in the 
 Marriage. actua [ commission of a known sin. This is grounded on 
 the duty of procreation, in obedience to that command which God gave to 
 Adam and Eve, as related in the first chapter of Genesis, “ Be fruitful, and 
 multiply, and replenish the earth.” On the other hand, as a single man is 
 often subject to commit fornication, they think it a duty incumbent on him 
 to marry, and remove the temptation. 
 
 There are several passages in the Old Testament which might be adduced 
 to justify a plurality of wives; and the Eastern Jews frequently practise it ; 
 but the Germans do not allow it at all ; nor do the Italians approve, though 
 they sometimes comply with it, when, after many years of cohabitation, they 
 have had no issue by a first wife. — The laws of the greater part of Europe 
 are, however, quite averse to polygamy. 
 
 They are allowed to marry their nieces, that is, their brother’s or sister’s 
 daughters, and likewise their first cousins ; but a nephew must not inter- 
 marry with his aunt, that the law of nature may not be reversed : for when 
 the uncle marries his niece, the same person remains as the head who was 
 so before ; but when the nephew marries his aunt, he becomes, as it were, 
 her head, and she must pay homage to him ; by which means the law is 
 reversed. The other degrees of consanguinity which are forbidden, may 
 be seen in the 18 th chapter of Leviticus. 
 
 Some are very cautious how they marry a woman who has buried two 
 or more husbands ; branding her with the ignominious title of a husband- 
 killer : but this is not prohibited, and is less to be understood of a man who 
 may have had two or more wives. 
 
 A widow, or a woman divorced from her husband, cannot marry again 
 
 till ninety days after the death of the one, or separation of the other, that 
 5 
 
62 
 
 RELIGIOUS RITES. 
 
 it may thereby be certainly known whether the first husband is father of 
 the child which may afterwards be born. 
 
 If a man dies, and leaves behind him an infant that sucks, the widow 
 cannot marry again till the child be two years old ; the rabbis having 
 limited that time, for the better maintenance and education of the orphan. 
 
 The Jews often marry their children very young, though the marriage 
 is not consummated till they are of a proper age ; therefore, when a child 
 who is under ten years of age (whether her father be alive or dead) 
 becomes a widow, and afterwards marries with the consent of her mother, 
 or brothers, a man whom she does not approve of, she may have a divorce 
 at any time till she attains the age of twelve years and one day, at which 
 period she is deemed a woman. If she declares that she will not have 
 such a man, it is sufficient ; and when she has taken two witnesses to set 
 down her refusal in writing, she may obtain a divorce, and marry again 
 with whom she pleases. 
 
 When the Jews have settled the terms of accommodation, the marriage 
 articles are signed by the husband, and the relations of the wife ; after 
 Betroihings and w hich the former pays a formal visit to the latter, and, 
 weddings. before witnesses, takes her by the hand, saying, “ Be thou 
 
 my spouse .” In some countries the bridegroom presents the bride with a 
 ring at the same time, and then marries her. But this is not the usual 
 practice in England, Italy, or Germany. They are often solemnly engaged 
 for six or twelve months, and sometimes two years, according to the con- 
 venience of the parties, or the agreement made between them ; during 
 which time the young lover pays frequent visits to his mistress, and spends 
 his time in her company with the utmost familiarity, but w r ith a strict regard 
 to decency and good manners. 
 
 In a part of the marriage articles, the bridegroom covenants to give his 
 wife, by way of jointure, the sum of fifty crowns ; all his effects, even to 
 his cloak , being engaged for the due performance of this agreement. The 
 sum is moderate, to render the marriage of poor maidens easy : but the 
 wife must deliver into her husband’s hands all the effects which she may 
 afterwards inherit. 
 
 When the marriage-day is appointed, (which is usually at the time the 
 moon changes, and in case the bride be a maid, on a Wednesday or Friday, 
 but if a widow, on a Thursday,) the bride, if she be free from her terms, 
 goes the first night into a bath, in the presence of other women, and there 
 washes herself. But if she be not free from her terms, all carnal conver- 
 sation with her is prohibited, till she can wash. However, the nuptial 
 solemnities are seldom delayed upon that account. 
 
 The eight days which precede the marriage are usually grand-days ; the 
 betrothed couple and their friends, giving a loose to pleasure, laugh, sing, 
 dance, and cast away care. 
 
RELIGIOUS RITES. 
 
 6'J 
 
 Some insist that the young couple should fast on the wedding-day, til! 
 the blessing be over. 
 
 On the wedding-day, the bride and bridegroom dress in all the grandeur 
 and magnificence their circumstances will admit of, and the bride is con 
 ducted in pomp to the house intended for the celebration of the nuptials, 
 by several married women and maidens, who are her friends and acquaint- 
 ance. She is first bare-headed, and her hair all loose and in disorder. 
 After this, she is seated between two venerable matrons, and her friends 
 flock round about her, comb her head, curl her hair, dress her, and put on her 
 veil : for virgin modesty forbids her to look her intended husband in the 
 face. In this she imitates the chaste Rebecca, who covered her face when 
 Isaac cast his eyes upon her. At Venice, the bride wears a sort of wig, or 
 bundle of curls, called favourites, which the Jews call Benetes ; in imita- 
 tion of those which God himself, according to the rabbins, adorned Eve’s 
 head with when he married her to Adam. 
 
 For the solemnization of the marriage, the lovers who are betrothed meet, 
 at an hour appointed for that purpose, in a kind of state-room. The bride- 
 groom is conducted thither by the bridemen, friends, &c., and the bride by 
 her train — the whole company crying out, “ Blessed be the man that 
 cometh .” They now sit on a nuptial throne, under a canopy, whilst a 
 select band of music plays before them ; or whilst children, as is the cus- 
 tom in some places, move in solemn order round them, having torches in 
 their hands, and singing some appropriate epithalamium. All those who 
 are of their synagogue being assembled, (that is, ten men at least, — else the 
 marriage is null and void,) a Taled is put upon the heads of the bride- 
 groom and bride ; it has the tufts hanging down at the corners, in imitation 
 of Boaz, who threw the skirts of his robe over Ruth. In many cases, a 
 velvet canopy, supported by four poles, is held over the bride and bride- 
 groom. After this, the rabbins of the place, or the reader *of the synagogue, 
 or some near relation, takes a glass, or any other vessel filled with wine, 
 and, having blessed God “/or the creation of man and woman, and the 
 institution of matrimony ,” says as follows : “ Blessed art thou, O Lord, 
 our God ! king of the universe, the creator of the fruit of the vine. 
 Blessed art thou, O Lord, our God ! king of the universe, who hath sanc- 
 tified us with his commandments, and hath forbid us fornication, and hath 
 prohibited unto us the betrothed, but hath allowed unto us those that are 
 married unto us by the means of the canopy and the wedding-ring : blessed . 
 art thou, O Lord ! the sanctifier of his people Israel, by the means of the 
 canopy, and wedlock.” 
 
 Then the bridegroom and bride drink of the wine. The bride now 
 walks three times round the bridegroom, and he does the same twice round 
 her. This ceremony is said to be grounded on Jeremiah, chapteT xxxi. 
 verse 22, “ A woman shall compass a man,” &c. Then the bridegroom. 
 
64 
 
 RELIGIOUS RITES. 
 
 putting a ring upon the finger of his bride, who stands on his right hand, 
 before two, or more, credible witnesses, who are commonly rabbins, says, 
 “Thou art my wife, according to the ceremonies of Moses and Israel.” In 
 Germany, the guests throw some grains of corn at them, and say at the 
 same time, “Increase and multiply.” After this, the marriage articles are 
 read, wherein the bridegroom acknowledges the receipt of the consideration 
 money, the obligation he is under to make his wife a jointure, and to main- 
 tain, honour, and cherish her, and live peaceably with her all the days of his 
 life. For the due performance of all the articles above-mentioned, he gives 
 a duplicate to his wife’s relations. After this, more wine is brought in a 
 new vessel, and having sung six more benedictions, the bride and bride- 
 groom drink a second time, and the residue of the wine is thrown upon 
 the ground as a declaration of their joy. Every thing being mystical with 
 the Jews, it is to be observed, that if the bride be a maid, the glass is nar- 
 row ; but if she be a widow, a wide-mouthed goblet is used. The glass 
 or vessel being empty, the bridegroom throws it on the ground, and breaks 
 it to pieces. This ceremony is performed, they say, that their mirth may 
 give them an idea of death, who dashes them to pieces like brittle glass, 
 and teaches them not to be proud or self-conceited. Others say, that the 
 breaking of the glass indicates the impossibility of the marriage ties being 
 dissolved ; the signification being, that when the atoms of the glass shall be 
 re-united, the bride and bridegroom may separate, — but not till then. In 
 the mean time, all persons present cry out, Mazal tou, “ May it prove 
 propitious ,” and then withdraw. 
 
 In the evening they make a grand entertainment for their friends and 
 relations ; and in some places, all the guests who were invited present the 
 bride with a piece of plate — some before, and some after supper is over. 
 Then follow the seven benedictions before mentioned, and after this they 
 all rise from table. 
 
 Fowls of some kind are always a part of the wedding-supper. The 
 first dish presented to the bride is a hen with an egg, and after she has 
 been served the guests help themselves to the remainder. The hen is em- 
 blematical, and denotes the future fruitfulness of the bride. 
 
 On the Sabbath-day morning, after the consummation of their marriage, 
 the bridegroom and the bride go to the synagogue together. The bride is 
 attended by all the women that were present at the wedding. At the les- 
 # sons of the Pentateuch, the bridegroom is desired to read: he then promises 
 to give liberally to the poor, and all who come with him follow his example. 
 When prayers are over, the men wait on the bridegroom home, and the 
 women on the bride ; after which they part, with abundance of courtesy 
 and complaisance. The bridegroom, in some places, lives during the first 
 week with his wife’s relations, where he amuses himself, and entertains 
 his friends and acquaintance. 
 
RELIGIOUS RITES. 
 
 65 
 
 These are the general practices in all Jewish weddings, though there 
 are some little variations observed according to the various countries in 
 which they live. 
 
 If the wife dies, and has no issue, they are obliged to act according to 
 the customs of the country they live in, which vary almost in every nation. 
 
 Among the Jews, the father lies under an indispensable obligation to 
 have his son circumcised on the eighth day, in obedience to the command 
 in the 17th chapter of Genesis, 10th — 14th verses. This 
 cannot be done till the expiration of the eight days ; but in 
 case the child be sick or infirm, it may be deferred till he is perfectly 
 recovered. Anciently, by the fulfilment of this rite, it was consecrated to 
 the service of God. This, no doubt, was then the principal end of circum- 
 cision, but there do not appear to have been wanting other subsidiary 
 objects. Were it necessary, we might demonstrate, both by quotations 
 from the ancients, and reasons drawn from the nature of the member on 
 which circumcision is performed, that this operation is really conducive to 
 cleanliness and health among those who practise it in southern climates. 
 It was a preventive of the disease called the anthrax or carbuncle. It has 
 also been considered as having a beneficial tendency in increasing the 
 population in such a climate as that of Palestine. 
 
 The Jews look upon it as a very laudable action, and a bounden duty, 
 c . . , to visit the sick, and to assist them in the time of their 
 
 dea,h - distress. 
 
 When any one is apprehensive that his life is in danger, he sends for 
 about ten persons, more or less, as he thinks convenient ; one of whom, 
 at least, must be a rabbi. Then, in a solemn manner, he repeats the 
 general alphabetical confession, and utters a prayer, in which he “humbly 
 begs of God, if it be his blessed will, to restore him to his former state of 
 health or, if this may not be granted, he then recommends his soul to 
 him, and prays that his death may be accepted as an expiation for his sins. 
 If his conscience is overcharged with any sin, or if he has any secret which 
 he would reveal, he declares it to the rabbi. After all this he begs pardon 
 of God, and of ah such as he has at any time offended, and forgives, like- 
 wise, all such as have offended him, and even his most inveterate enemies. 
 In case he has any children, or domestics, he calls them to his bedside and 
 gives them his benediction ; and if his own father or mother be present, 
 lie receives their blessing. If he has an inclination to make his will, and 
 *o dispose of his worldly estate, he has free liberty to execute it in such a 
 manner as he thinks most convenient. 
 
 There are some who take care to have a public prayer put up for tnem 
 in the synagogue, and change their names, as an indication of their change 
 of life ; and, as it is said, to cheat the devil. At such times, they promise 
 and bestow their charity on the synagogues, as well as on the poor. 
 
C6 
 
 RELIGIOUS RITES. 
 
 When the person who is ill is in danger of death, or just expiring, they 
 never leave him alone, hut watch with him day and night. They salute 
 him, and take their last farewell, just at the moment when the soul la 
 separating from the body. To be present at the separation of the soul 
 fronl the body, especially if the person be a learned or pious man, in their 
 opinion, is not only a laudable, but a meritorious action. The person who 
 is present when the sick man gives up the ghost, according to ancient 
 custom, tears some part of his own garments. This rent is generally made 
 on the right side of the forepart of the clothes, and must be the eighth of 
 a yard in length. When they mourn for a father or mother, all the clothes 
 must be rent on the right side; whereas the left side of the outward gar- 
 ment only is torn, if it be for a distant relation. The rent is always from 
 top to bottom ; whereas that of the ancient priests was, formerly, from 
 bottom to top. In Holland the Jews make it on the top, near the buttons, 
 and at the expiration of seven or eight days have it sewn up again. In 
 some parts of Germany the Jewish women who lose their husbands usually 
 tear their head-dress. It is said, that if the widow intends to marry again, 
 she is only to pretend to do it ; for if she actually tears them, it is a certain 
 sign that she intends to remain a widow. 
 
 There are some who, at such a time, will throw into the street all the 
 water which they have in the house, or can find in the neighbourhood. 
 This, which is accounted an ancient custom, is intended to denote that 
 somebody lies dead not far from the place. 
 
 As soon as any one is dead, his eyes and mouth are closed, his body is 
 laid upon the ground in a sheet, his face is covered, and a 
 lighted taper is set by his head. 
 
 A pair of linen drawers is immediately provided, and some women are 
 sent for to sew them ; who, for the most part, perform this friendly office 
 out of charity and good-will. After this, the corpse is thoroughly washed 
 with warm water, in which camomile and dried roses have been boiled. 
 In the next place, a shirt and drawers are put on, and over them some put 
 a kind of surplice of fine linen, a Taled, or square cloak, and a white cap 
 on the head. 
 
 They now bend his thumb close to the palm of the hand, and tie it with 
 the strings of his Taled ; for he goes to the other world with his veil on. 
 The thumb thus bent stands in the form of Shaddai, which is one of God’s 
 attributes; this is the reason which the Jews give for a custom that secures 
 the body from the devil’s clutches. The deceased, in all other respects, 
 has his hand open, as a testimony that he relinquishes all his worldly 
 goods. The washing of the body is intended to denote that the deceased 
 purified himself from the pollutions of this life by a sincere repentance, and 
 was ready and prepared to receive a better from the hands of the Almighty, 
 Buxtorf says, that they burn wine and put an egg in it, and therewith 
 
■RELIGIOUS RITES. 
 
 07 
 
 anoint the head of the corpse. Some perform this unction at their own 
 houses, and others at the house of the living ; that is, in the Hebrew 
 dialect, the church-yard. He adds, that after this ablution all the apertures 
 of the body are stopped up. 
 
 When dressed, he is laid on his back in a coffin made on purpose, with 
 one linen cloth under, and another over him. If the party deceased be a 
 person of considerable note, his coffin is made in some places with a 
 pointed top ; and if a rabbi, a considerable number of books is laid upon it. 
 Then the coffin is covered with black, and a small bag of earth is deposited 
 under tne head of the defunct. The coffin is now nailed up, and conveyed 
 to a grave as near the place as possible where the family of the deceased 
 are interred. 
 
 All the people now crowd round about it ; and since the attendance on 
 a corpse, and the conveyance of it to the grave, is looked upon as a very 
 meritorious action, they all carry it upon their shoulders by turns some 
 part of the way. In some places the mourners follow the corpse with 
 lighted flambeaux in their hands, singing some melancholy anthem as they 
 march along. In others, this ceremony is omitted ; the relations, however, 
 who are in mourning, accompany the corpse in tears to the grave. 
 
 In this solemn manner the dead are carried to the burial-place, which is 
 most commonly a field set apart for that purpose, called Beth Hachaim, 
 or u House of the living the dead being looked upon as living, on ac- 
 count of their immortal souls. When the deceased is laid in his grave, if 
 he has been a person of any extraordinary merit, there is generally a 
 proper person present, who makes his funeral oration. As soon as this 
 eulogium is over, they repeat the prayer called Zidduc Haddin, “the jus - 
 tice of the judgment ,” which begins with these words of Deuteronomy, 
 chapter xxxii. verse 4, “ He is the rock, his work is perfect ; for all his 
 ways are judgment,” &c. 
 
 In some countries, when a coffin is brought within a short space of the 
 grave, or before it is taken out of the house, ten men go in a solemn man- 
 ner seven times round it, repeating a prayer for his soul ; this is the 
 practice in Holland: but in other parts this ceremony is not observed. 
 The nearest relation now rends some part of his garments, and then the 
 corpse is put into the grave, and covered with earth ; each friend throwing 
 a handful or spadeful in, till the grave is filled up. The coffin must be so 
 placed in the grave, as not to touch another coffin. 
 
 The Jews account it a sin, either in man or woman, to tear their flesh, 
 or their hair, on this melancholy occasion, either when they weep over the 
 deceased, or at any time afterwards ; for, in Deuteronomy, chapter xiv., it 
 is written, “ Ye shall not cut yourselves,” &c. But as soon as the coffin 
 is conveyed out of the house for sepulture, then follow the male portion 
 of the family and, among some, the females. Those who, during 
 
09 
 
 RELIGIOUS RITES. 
 
 the lifetime of the deceased, neglected to be reconciled with him, must 
 “touch his great toe, and beg his pardon, in order that the deceased may 
 not accuse him at God’s tribunal, on the day of the resurrection. 
 
 At their departure from the grave, every one tears up two or three 
 handfuls of grass, and throws it behind him, repeating, at the same time, 
 these words of the 72d Psalm, verse 6, “They of the city shall flourish 
 like the grass of the earth.” This they do by way of acknowledgment of 
 the resurrection. They then wash their hands, sit down, and rise again 
 nine times successively, repeating the 91st Psalm, “He that dwelleth in 
 the secret place of the Most High.” After this, they return to their re- 
 spective places of abode. 
 
 When the nearest relations of the party deceased are returned home 
 from the burial, be they father, mother, child, husband, wife, brother, or 
 sister, they directly seat themselves on the ground ; and 
 having pulled off their shoes, refresh themselves with bread 
 wine, and hard eggs, which are placed before them; according as it 
 is written in the 31st chapter of Proverbs, verse 6, “Give strong drink 
 unto him that is ready to perish, and wine to those that be heavy of 
 heart,” &c. He whose usual place it is to crave a blessing on their meals 
 now introduces appropriate words of consolation. In the Levant, and in 
 several other places, the friends of the deceased send in provisions for ten 
 days successively, morning and night, to some of the nearest relatives, for 
 the entertainment of such guests as they think proper to invite ; and on 
 a day appointed, they themselves partake of the feast, and condole with 
 them. 
 
 When the dead body is conveyed from the house, his coverlet is folded 
 double, his blankets are rolled up and laid upon a mat ; afterwards, a lamp 
 is lighted up at the bed’s head, which burns for a week without inter- 
 mission. 
 
 Such as are related to the deceased reside in the house for ten days 
 together, and during all that time sit and eat upon the ground, except on 
 the Sabbath day, on which they go with a select company of their friends 
 and acquaintance to the synagogue, where they are more generally con- 
 doled with than at any other place. During these ten days, they are not 
 allowed to do any manner of business ; neither can the husband lie with 
 his wife. Ten persons, at least, go every night and morning to pray with 
 them under their confinement. Some add to their devotions, on this solemn 
 occasion, the 49th Psalm, “ Hear this all ye people,” &c., and afterwards 
 pray for the soul of their deceased friend. 
 
 The Jews dress themselves in such mourning as is the fashion of the 
 country in which they live, there being no divine direction relating there- 
 unto. For full thirty days the mourner is not permitted to bathe, perfume, 
 or shave his beard. Indeed, tattered clothes, sprinkled with ashes, and 
 
ECCLESIASTICAL DISCIPLINE, ETC. 
 
 69 
 
 a general slovenly appearance, point out the mourning Jew during this 
 period. # 
 
 After the expiration of the ten days, they leave the house, and go to 
 the synagogue, where several of them order lamps to be lighted on each 
 side of the Hechal or Ark, procure prayers to be said, and offer chari- 
 table contributions for the soul of the deceased. This ceremony is repeated 
 at the close of each month, and likewise of the year : and if the person 
 who is dead be a rabbi, or a man of worth and distinction, they make his 
 Esped upon those days ; that is, a funeral harangue in commendation of 
 his virtues. 
 
 A son goes daily to the synagogue, morning and night, and there repeats 
 the prayer called Cadish, that is Holy, for the soul of his mother or father, 
 for eleven months successively ; in order to deliver him from purgatory ; 
 and some of them fast annually on the day of the death of their respective 
 relatives. 
 
 In some places, they set a monument over the grave, and carve the 
 name of the deceased upon it ; also the day, month, and year of his de- 
 cease, and a line or two by way of encomium. — Some Jews go, from time 
 to time, to the tombs of their acquaintances and relatives, to say their 
 prayers. 
 
 They seldom mourn for such as are suicides, or who die under excom- 
 munication. So far, indeed, are they from regretting the loss of them that 
 they set a stone over the coffin, to signify that they ought to be stoned to 
 death, if they had their deserts. 
 
 SEC. IV. ECCLESIASTICAL DISCIPLINE WORSHIP FESTIVALS, ETC.’ 
 
 The Sanhedrin, the supreme judicial authority, formerly existing among 
 the Jews, was instituted in the time of the Maccabees, (some ascribe to it 
 an earlier origin,) and was composed of seventy-two mem- 
 
 The Sanhedrin. „ . , , “ c 
 
 bers. I he high-priest generally sustained the office of pre- 
 sident in this tribunal. The next officers in authority were the first and 
 second vice-presidents. The members who were admitted to a seat in the 
 Sanhedrin were as follows : — 1 . Chief priests, who are often mentioned in 
 the New Testament and in Josephus, as if they were many in number. 
 They consisted partly of priests who had previously exercised the high- 
 priesthood, and partly of the heads of the twenty-four classes of priests, 
 who were called in an honorary way, high or chief priests. 2. Elders, 
 that is to say, the princes of the tribes, and the heads of family associa- 
 tions. 3. The Scribes , or learned men. Not all the scribes and elders 
 were members, but only those who were chosen or nominated by the pro- 
 per authority. 
 
 The Talmudists assert that this tribunal had secretaries and apparitors. 
 
70 
 
 ECCLESIASTICAL DISCIPLINE, ETC. 
 
 and the very nature of the case forbids us to doubt the truth of the asser- 
 tion. The place of their sitting, however, is a question on which there is 
 more difference of opinion. The Talmudists state that it was in the tem- 
 ple, but Josephus mentions the place of assembling, and also the archives, 
 as being not far from the temple, on Mount Zion. But in the trial of 
 Jesus, it appears they were assembled, and that very hastily, in the palace 
 of the high-priest. 
 
 When they met, they took their seats in such a way as to form a semi- 
 circle, and the presidents and two vice-presidents occupied the centre. At 
 each end was a secretary; one registered the votes of acquittal — the other 
 of condemnation. The proper period of sitting was all the time between 
 the morning and evening service. 
 
 The Sanhedrin was the great court of judicature : it judged of all capi- 
 tal offences against the law : it had the power of inflicting punishment by 
 scourging and by death. Its power had been limited in the time of Christ, 
 by the interference of the Romans, and the consistory itself terminated its 
 functions upon the destruction of Jerusalem. They were never able to 
 re-establish themselves since, — nor is any thing related of them in the his- 
 tory of our own times, except the council which the Jews held in Hungary 
 in the 17th century, and the convocation held at Paris, under the auspices 
 of Napoleon, in 1806. 
 
 The worship of the synagogue, with its appendant school or law-court, 
 where lectures were given, and knotty points of the law debated, became 
 The worship of great bond of national union, and has continued, though 
 the synagogue. the monarchical centre of unity in Tiberias disappeared in 
 a few centuries, to hold together the scattered nation in the closest unifor- 
 mity. The worship of the synagogue is extremely simple. Wherever 
 ten Jews were found, there a synagogue ought to be formed. The Divine 
 Presence, the invisible Shechinah, descends not but where ten are met 
 together ; if fewer, the Divine Visitant was supposed to say, “Wherefore 
 come I, and no one is here ?” It was a custom, therefore, in some of the 
 more numerous communities, to appoint ten “men of leisure,” whose 
 business it was to form a congregation.* The buildings were plain ; in 
 their days of freedom it was thought right that the house of prayer to 
 God, from its situation or its form, should overtop the common dwellings 
 of man ; but in their days of humiliation, in strange countries, the lowly 
 synagogue, the type of their condition, was content to lurk undisturDed in 
 less conspicuous situations. Even in Palestine the synagogues must have 
 been small, for Jerusalem was said to contain 460 or 480 ; the foreign 
 Jews, from the different quarters of the world, seem each to have had their 
 separate building, where they communicated in prayer with their neigh- 
 
 * Such seems to be the solution of a question on which learned volumes have been 
 written. 
 
ECCLESIASTICAL DISCIPLINE, ETC. 
 
 71 
 
 hours and kindred. Such were the synagogues of the Alexandrians, the 
 Cyrenians, and others. Besides the regular synagogues, which were 
 roofed, in some places they had chapels or oratories, open to the air, chiefly 
 perhaps where their worship was not so secure of protection from the au- 
 thorities ; these were usually in retired and picturesque situations, in 
 grove3, or on the sea-shore. In the distribution of the synagogue some 
 remote resemblance to the fallen Temple was kept up. The entrance was 
 from the east ; and in the centre stood an elevated tribune or rostrum, from 
 which prayer was constantly offered, and the book of the Law read. At 
 the west end stood a chest, in which the book was laid up, making the 
 place, as it were, the humble Holy of Holies, though now no longer sepa- 
 rated by a veil, nor protected by the Cherubim and Mercy-Seat. Parti- 
 cular seats, usually galleries, were railed off for the women. 
 
 The chief religious functionary in the synagogue was called the angel, 
 or bishop. He ascended the tribune, repeated or chaunted the prayers, 
 his head during the ceremony being covered with a veil. He called the 
 reader from his place, opened the book before him, pointed out the passage, 
 and overlooked him that he read correctly. The readers, who were three 
 in number on the ordinary days, seven on the morning of the Sabbath, five 
 on festivals, were selected from the body of the people. The Law of 
 course was read, and the prayers likewise repeated, in the Hebrew lan- 
 guage. The days of public service in the synagogue were the Sabbath, 
 the second and fifth days of the week, Monday and Thursday. There 
 was an officer in the synagogues out of Palestine, and probably even within 
 its borders, called an interpreter, who translated the Law into the verna- 
 cular tongue, usually Greek in the first case, or Syro-Chaldaic in the 
 latter. Besides the bishop, there were three elders, or rulers of the syna- 
 gogue, who likewise formed a court or consistory for the judgment of all 
 offences. They had the power of inflicting punishment by scourging; 
 from Origen’s account, the Patriarch of Tiberias had assumed the power 
 of life and death. But the great control over the public mind lay in the 
 awful sentence of excommunication. The anathema of the synagogue 
 cut off the offender from the Israel of God ; he became an outcast of 
 society. 
 
 At present the Jews select for the site of their synagogues some emi- 
 nences, in those cities where the exercise of Judaism is allowed. The 
 fabric must be higher than the common houses, for they say, “ The house 
 of our God must be magnificent.” The Jews are obliged religiously to 
 observe the respect due to the synagogue, and to forbear talking of busi- 
 ness there, or even thinking on any worldly advantages. They must 
 likewise avoid sleeping there ; and looking round about, &c. They must 
 continue in a modest posture, and not suffer themselves to run into any 
 indecency. 
 
 L. 
 
72 
 
 ECCLESIASTICAL DISCIPLINE, ETC. 
 
 The title or denomination of rabbi is very ancient ; for in the Jewish 
 scriptures both the words rabbi and rabboni are to be found, which are 
 
 Rabbins and synonymous terms. The Pharisees of old assumed this 
 doctors. to themselves, with abundance of pride and arrogance, 
 
 pretending to be the sole masters and doctors of the people ; and they 
 carried this pretension to such a pitch as to make the law subject to their 
 traditions. Jesus Christ very severely reprimanded them for this their 
 insolent deportment. 
 
 The rabbins, besides the privilege of preaching, and instructing their 
 pupils, have that of binding and loosing, that is, of determining whether a 
 thing be forbidden or allowed. When this power is conferred upon them, 
 they have the five books of Moses, and a key , put into their hands. They 
 create new doctors, and ordain them by imposition of hands, as Moses, just 
 before his death, laid his hands on Joshua, his successor, and gave him his 
 benediction ; but they limit and restrain their power as they see most 
 convenient : one being confined to interpret the law, or such questions only 
 as relate thereunto ; and another to judge of controversies arising upon 
 those questions. 
 
 At present, according to Buxtorf, the rabbins are elected with very little 
 ceremony. He who is to ordain the new rabbi publishes aloud to all the 
 congregation, either on the Sabbath, or some other solemn festival, that 
 such a one deserves to be admitted among the rabbins, for his religious 
 education, sound learning, and knowledge of the Oral Law ; and exhorts 
 the people to own and reverence him as such, denouncing excommunica- 
 tion against all those who neglect his admonitions. He then gives the 
 candidate the certificate of his merit and ability, as a Doctor , or Hacham $ 
 and the ceremony is often concluded with an elegant entertainment given 
 to the old rabbins, and to the rest of his friends and acquaintance. 
 
 The Hacham Rau, who are generally much respected, determine all 
 manner of debates ; settle what things are lawful and unlawful ; and pass 
 judgment upon religious and civil affairs. These men perform all nuptial 
 ceremonies, and issue out divorces. They preach the practice of virtue 
 and integrity, they interpret the laws when qualified, and are the princi- 
 pals of the academies. They have the uppermost seats in the synagogues 
 and assemblies ; and have a power to punish the disobedient, and to 
 excommunicate them when they are obstinate or perverse. 
 
 The privileges of this office are, to be free from all taxes and imposi- 
 tions. If a rabbi has any goods, he has a right to sell them first, and 
 before all others, that the time he spends in negotiating his affairs may be 
 no impediment to his studies; his business is the first, likewise, to be de- 
 spatched in all proceedings at law ; and he is allowed to sit upon the bench 
 with the judges, &c. Some of these privileges, however, are abolished ; 
 the Jews having at present no sovereign authority. 
 
ECCLESIASTICAL DISCIPLINE, ETC. 
 
 73 
 
 There is no festival which the Jews have so great a veneration for as the 
 Sabbath day ; because they say it was instituted immediately after the 
 
 creation of the world, and is mentioned in various places. 
 
 The Sabbath. , 1 ... ... , , ' 
 
 and at sundry times in their sacred writings ; particularly 
 
 in the decalogue, wherein the performance of the least thing upon that day 
 
 is forbidden, and a general rest from all labours is commanded. 
 
 They must not either kindle fire, nor extinguish it, upon this day ; in 
 compliance with what is written in the 35th chapter of Exodus, verse 3,— 
 “ Ye shall kindle no fire throughout your habitations upon the Sabbath 
 day.” Nay, they are not allowed to touch it ; not even to stir it up. They 
 are not suffered even to light up or extinguish a lamp ; they may employ, 
 however, any servant that is not a Jew to kindle their fire ; if they do 
 not, they either dispose it so that it lights of itself, or else they sit in the 
 cold. — This the Jews do, even in Russia, or any other cold country. 
 
 They dress no meat upon the Sabbath ; neither are they allowed to 
 taste any thing that has been dressed, or that grew, or was gathered on 
 that day. 
 
 They are not allowed to carry any burden on that day ; so that they 
 wear no more clothes than what is absolutely necessary to cover them. 
 Their exactness extends even to the garb of their women, children, and 
 servants, and to the loading of their beasts. 
 
 They are forbidden on this day to talk of any worldly affairs ; to make 
 any bargain with respect to buying and selling ; or, to give or take any- 
 thing by way of payment. 
 
 Neither must they handle or touch any of the tools of their trade, or any 
 other things, the use whereof is prohibited on the Sabbath day. 
 
 They are not allowed to walk above a mile, that is to say, two thousand 
 cubits, out of any market-town or village. But they can walk as long as 
 they please on the Sabbath da)’-, provided they go not out of the suburbs of 
 the town wherein they live. They always regard the suburbs as a part 
 of the town ; and when they have a mind to go out of town upon this day, 
 they invariably measure the distance allowed for walking, from the end of 
 the suburb. 
 
 They never engage in any work on the Friday, but what they can 
 accomplish with ease before the evening; and whatever is necessary for 
 the Sabbath is prepared beforehand. About an hour before sunset, they 
 take the provision which is intended for the next day, and deposit it in a 
 warm place ; after which all manner of work is over. In some towns, a 
 man is appointed on purpose to give notice about half an hour before the 
 Sabbath begins, that every one may cease from their labours in convenient 
 and due time. 
 
 The Jewish Sabbath begins half an hour before sunset ; and, conse- 
 quently, from that instant all prohibitions are strictly observed. For this 
 
74 
 
 ECCLESIASTICAL DISCIPLINE, ETC. 
 
 reason the women, even the most necessitous, are obliged, previously, to 
 light up a lamp, which has seven lights, emblematical of the seven days 
 of the week. This lamp burns the greatest part of the night. 
 
 In order to begin the Sabbath well, many of them put on clean linen, 
 wash their hands and face, and go to the synagogue, where they say the 
 92d Psalm, “ It is a good thing to give thanks to the Lord,” &c., with their 
 common prayers. They also thank God that, by his separation of them 
 from the rest of mankind, he has reserved and chosen their nation from all 
 others, as his only favourites. To these prayers and thanksgivings, they 
 add a commemoration of the Sabbath in these words, from the 2d Genesis, 
 “Thus the Heavens were finished,” &c. — “And God blessed the seventh 
 day,” &c. 
 
 They go directly home from the synagogue ; and their usual salutation 
 to each other afterwards, is, “ a good Sabbath to you,” and not “ good 
 night,” or “good morrow.” Moreover, the fathers bless their children, 
 and the doctors their pupils, on that day ; others add to these benedictions 
 several portions of their sacred writings, in commemoration of the Sabbath ; 
 some before meat, and some after, according to the custom of the place 
 w r h.ere they sojourn. 
 
 When the whole family is seated at supper, the master of the house 
 holds a glass of wine in his hand, and pronounces these words, out of the 
 2d of Genesis, “Thus the heavens were finished,” &c. He then returns 
 God thanks for having instituted and appointed the strict observance of the 
 Sabbath, and blesses the wine ; he now drinks some part of it himself, 
 looking steadfastly on the Sabbath lamps, and then gives a small quantity 
 to such as sit at the table with him. After this, he repeats the 23d Psalm, 
 “The Lord is my shepherd,” &c. Then he blesses the bread, holding it 
 up on high with both his hands whilst he pronounces the name of the 
 Lord. He now distributes it all round, and the family eat and amuse 
 themselves that evening and the next day as agreeably as they can. Supper 
 being over they wash their hands, and some Jews, after they have eaten, 
 repeat the 104th Psalm, “Bless the Lord, O my soul,” &c. 
 
 They preach sometimes in the forenoon, and sometimes in the afternoon, 
 in their synagogues, or other places appointed for divine worship, and take 
 their text from the Pentateuch, out of the lessons for the day. They preach 
 in the vulgar tongue, and in their sermons they recommend virtue, and dis- 
 courage vice, illustrating their notions with passages from the Pentateuch, 
 and from their most celebrated rabbins. These quotations are always 
 delivered in the Hebrew language. 
 
 In the evening they go to the synagogue again, and join the remem- 
 brance of the Sabbath with their common prayers ; and three persons read 
 out of the Pentateuch the beginning of the section for the week following. 
 
 o O O 
 
 They have likewise a commemoration of the dead, and sometimes a prayer 
 
ECCLESIASTICAL DISCIPLINE, ETC. 
 
 75 
 
 for them on the Sabbath, after which, those who can afford it are very 
 charitable and beneficent to the poor. 
 
 They usually make three meals in the twenty-four hours of the Sabbath; 
 the first is on the Friday, after evening service ; the other two on the day 
 following. The cloth is never removed during the whole time. 
 
 As soon as night comes on, and they can discover three stars in the hea- 
 vens of any considerable magnitude, the Sabbath is over, and they are 
 allowed to go to work ; because the evening prayer, which they rather 
 delay than hasten, is then begun. 
 
 To the usual prayer for the evening, they add a remembrance of the 
 Sabbath, which is distinguished from the other days of the week ; also the 
 91st Psalm, “ He that dwelleth in the secret place of the Most High,” &c. 
 To this, several portions of their scripture, and several benedictions and 
 good wishes, are likewise added. 
 
 As before observed, they make the Sabbath last as long as they can, by 
 prolonging their hymns and prayers ; since it is a received opinion among 
 them, that the souls of' the damned, as well as those in purgatory, endure 
 no torments upon that day. 
 
 The new moon is a festival, because it is instituted and appointed in 
 the book of Numbers ; and because there was a new and grand sacrifice 
 offered on that day. This festival is sometimes part of two 
 The new moon. gevera i d a y S> that is, the end of one day and the beginning 
 of another. They are not debarred from working or trading upon this 
 day ; the women only, who are exempted from all labour during the festi- 
 val, lay aside their work, and they all indulge themselves a little more 
 than usual in the way of living. 
 
 The Jews say that the new moon is in a peculiar manner the women’s 
 festival, in commemoration of their liberality in parting with their most 
 valuable jewels, to contribute to the magnificence of divine service. This' 
 action, so singular in a sex whose pride, principally, consists in dress and 
 appearance, and to whom nothing is more dear, was performed on the new 
 moon of the month of March. 
 
 In their prayers they make mention of the first day of the month, and 
 repeat from the 113th to the 118th Psalm, on that day. They bring out 
 the Pentateuch, and four persons read it, to which is added the prayer 
 called Mussaf, or addition. They also read the institution of the sacrifice, 
 which was formerly offered on this day. 
 
 Some Jewish devotees fast on the vigil of this festival, and beg of God 
 that the new moon may prove propitious to their wishes. 
 
 Some few days after, the Jews, being assembled by night on a terrace, 
 or in an open court, consecrate this planet by praising God, “who hath 
 been pleased to renew the moon, and who will, in the same manner, renew 
 the Jews, his elect people,” &c. — The prayer concludes with a blessing 
 
76 
 
 ECCLESIASTICAL DISCIPLINE, ETC. 
 
 addressed to God, through the moon, the work of his hands. Three leaps, 
 which are to be regarded as the transports of a holy joy, attend this bene* 
 diction; immediately after which, they say to the moon, “May it he as 
 impossible for my enemies to hurt me, as it is for me to touch thee.”— 
 These words are succeeded by several imprecations against their enemies. 
 They now join in a particular prayer to God, in which they style him the 
 Creator of the planets, and the restorer of the new moon. Then, with 
 their hands devoutly lifted up towards heaven, they beg of God to deliver 
 them from all evil ; and having remembered King David, they salute each 
 other, and depart. Eclipses of the sun and moon are looked on by some 
 Jews as ill omens. 
 
 The Talmudists do not agree in fixing the time when the world began. 
 Some insist that it was in the spring, that is, in the month Nisan, which 
 is our March; others, that it was in autumn, that is to say, 
 New year s day. t ISRI) which answers to our September. This 
 
 last notion has so far prevailed, that they begin their year from that time. 
 And notwithstanding it is written in the 12th chapter of Exodus, of the 
 month Nisan, “This month shall be unto you the beginning of months,’ 
 yet afterwards they altered it, and began their year with the month Tisri 
 or September. 
 
 From thence came the feast Roch Hasana, or New-year's Day , which 
 is kept on the two first days of Tisri ; for, in Leviticus, chapter xxiii. 
 verse 24, it is written, “ In the seventh month, in the seventh day of the 
 month, shall ye have a Sabbath,” &c. During this festival all manual 
 operations and transactions in trade are entirely laid aside. 
 
 They hold, from tradition, that on this day particularly God Almighty 
 judges the actions of the past year, and orders all things that shall happen 
 for the year to come. From the first day of the month Elul, or August, 
 therefore, they begin their penance ; which consists in plunging them- 
 selves into cold water, and in confessing themselves, scourging and beat- 
 ing their breasts with their fists, while in the water. In some places, 
 they wash themselves before it^ is day, say their prayers, and acknow- 
 ledge their manifold sins and iniquities, and repeat some penitential 
 psalms. There are many who give alms without ceasing until the day 
 of absolution. This they continue forty days, and sound a horn on the 
 beginning of the month Elul. On New-year’s Eve they say all their 
 prayers fasting. 
 
 These religious ceremonies are generally observed a week, at least, 
 before the feast ; and on the eve thereof they generally employ their time 
 in washing, and procuring, by way of discipline, thirty-nine stripes to be 
 given them ; as it is written in Deuteronomy, chapter xxv., “Forty stripes 
 he may give him, and not exceed,” &c. This flagellation is called Mal- 
 
 EUTH. 
 
ECCLESIASTICAL DISCIPLINE, ETC. 
 
 77 
 
 The ancient Jews formerly laid all their sins upon a he-goat, which 
 afterwards they drove into the desert ; but the modern Jews, instead of a 
 goat, now throw them upon the fish. After dinner, they repair to the 
 brink of a pond or river, and shake their clothes over it with all their 
 force. This practice is taken from a passage of the prophet Micah, chap- 
 ter vii verse 19, “He will have compassion on us ; he will subdue oui 
 iniquities, and cast all our sins into the depths of the sea.” 
 
 After these two holy days are over, the Jews still continue to rise before 
 day to say their prayers, fast, and do penance, until the 10th of the. month 
 _ . , Tisri, which is the fast, or day of expiation, and called Jom 
 
 piation. Hachipur ; for they consider that the Supreme Being is 
 
 employed in examining the actions of mankind during the first nine days, 
 and that he pronounces sentence on the tenth. In the 23d chapter of 
 Leviticus it is said, “On the tenth of the seventh month, there shall be a 
 day of atonement,” &c., and during that day all manner of work is laid 
 aside, as on the Sabbath. They observe this fast with such strictness, 
 that they neither eat nor drink anything; thinking, by this abstinence, 
 that their names will be enrolled in the Book of Life, and blotted out of 
 the Book of Death, wherein they would assuredly be found without due 
 repentance. 
 
 They indulge themselves in eating on the eve of this festival, because 
 the next day is a fast. Many of them wash, and have thirty-nine stripes 
 given them, called Maleuth: and such as are possessed at that time of 
 other people’s effects, are commanded to make restitution. They likewise 
 ask pardon of such as they have injured, and forgive those that have 
 injured them. Nay, they seek them out, and sue for peace and recon- 
 ciliation ; and if this be refused, they protest against such an implacable, 
 spirit before three witnesses, and thrice return to the charge ; after which 
 the penitent’s conscience is entirely discharged from all animosity and 
 hatred. They likewise give alms, and show all the demonstrations of a 
 sincere repentance. 
 
 Two or three hours before the sun sets they go to prayers, and then to 
 supper ; but all must be over before sunset. They now dress themselves 
 in new robes, or put on their funeral clothes, and thus attired, each with 
 a taper in his hand, they go without their shoes to the synagogue, which, 
 on this night, is splendidly illuminated with lamps and candles. There 
 each man lights his taper, and repeats several prayers and confessions in 
 a loud, but melancholy tone, as a demonstration of the sincerity of his 
 repentance. The confession of each penitent is alphabetically digested, 
 each sin having its proper letter, so as to be recollected with the greatest 
 ease. The external signs of godly sorrow, at once conspicuous in a re- 
 pentant Jew, who condemns himself before God, by a long account of his 
 transgressions, is certainly very remarkable. These signs are dirty tattered 
 
78 
 
 ECCLESIASTICAL DISCIPLINE, ETC. 
 
 clothes, mourning, or shrouds ; a melancholy and dejected countenance, a 
 long beard ; down-cast eyes, made languid by penance, and disposed to 
 weeping; a holy eagerness determining the penitent to press through the 
 crowd of devotees, and be foremost in the synagogue ; and so perfect a 
 distraction as to deprive him of the use of his senses, whilst he is running 
 over the alphabet of his sins. In short, he appears to have just strength 
 enough to support his body during the meditation of the soul. This lasts 
 three hours at least ; after which they go home to bed. Some, indeed, 
 stay all night long, and all the next day in the synagogue, saying their 
 prayers and repeating psalms. In the mean time, the women light up 
 candles and lamps at home, and according as the light burns, prognosticate 
 good or evil fortune. 
 
 It ought to be remarked, that those who have led a scandalous and dis- 
 solute life, are not only admitted, but invited , into the congregation, on the 
 first evening of the festival. Two rabbis, who stand on each side of the 
 chaunter, perform this solemn invitation, and declare to the congregation, 
 “That they are allowed to pray with the wicked.” — After which, the 
 chaunter opens the Hechal, and sings a prayer of moderate length, which 
 the congregation repeat after him, but not so loud as to be heard. This 
 cancels all rash vows, oaths, and resolutions, of the preceding year, in case 
 they were made voluntarily, without any compulsion. 
 
 The next morning, such as went home repair again by day-break to the 
 synagogue, dressed as before, and there stay till night, standing all the 
 time, saying their prayers without intermission, repeating psalms and con 
 fessions, and beseeching God to pardon all their transgressions. 
 
 In the course of the service, various portions of Scripture are read, par- 
 ticularly part of Leviticus, chapter xxvi., Numbers, chapter xxix., and 
 Isaiah, chapter lvii. They mention in their prayers the additional sacri- 
 fice of the day, and entreat God to build their sanctuary, to gather their 
 dispersions among the Gentiles, and conduct them to Jerusalem, where 
 they may offer the sacrifice of atonement, agreeably to the Mosaic law. In 
 the afternoon service, besides portions of the law and prophets, the greatest 
 part of the book of Jonah is read. 
 
 Some Jews prepare their tents for the Feast of Tabernacles, immediately 
 after the Expiation. 
 
 On the fifteenth day of the same month, Tisri, is the Feast of Tents, 
 Tabernacles, or Booths ; which is called Succoth, in commemoration of 
 
 The feast of Ta ^eir encampment in the wilderness, when they departed 
 bemacies. out. of Egypt; and under which they were preserved as a 
 
 nation for forty years together, in the midst of frightful and barren deserts. 
 In the 23d chapter of Leviticus, it is written, “In the 15th day of the 
 seventh month, when ye have gathered in the fr lit of the land, ye shall 
 keep a feast to the Lord seven days ; on the first day shall be a Sabbath, 
 
ECCLESIASTICAL DISCIPLINE, ETC. 
 
 79 
 
 and on the eighth day shall be a Sabbath. And ye shall take you 
 on the first day the boughs of goodly trees, branches of palm-trees, and 
 the boughs of thick trees, and willows of the brook ; and ye shall rejoice 
 before the Lord your God seven days. Ye shall dwell in booths seven 
 days ; all that are Israelites born shall dwell in booths : that your genera- 
 tions may know that I made the children of Israel to dwell in booths, when 
 I brought them out of the land of Egypt.” 
 
 Every one, therefore, makes a booth, or tent, in some place near his 
 house, which he covers with leaves, and adorns in the best manner that 
 he can. The rabbins have been very punctual as to the fashion and 
 nature of these booths, as well as their dimensions. No tent must be more 
 than twenty cubits high, nor less than ten spans. Such as are rich adorn 
 them with tapestry, over which they hang boughs of trees laden with 
 fruit, as oranges, lemons, and grapes. These tents must be neither set up 
 under a house nor tree. They eat and drink in these tents, and some lie 
 all night in them, or at least spend in them so much time of the night and 
 day as they used to pass at home, during the eight days that the festival 
 lasts. 
 
 It continues nine days in reality, although the law instituted and com- 
 manded seven ; but ancient custom has added one ; and another day was 
 ordained over and above for the solemn assembly, in Numbers, chap. xxix. 
 verse 35. The two first and the two last days of this festival, like those 
 of the Passover, are very solemn ; but the other five are not so strictly 
 observed. 
 
 This festival of Tents, or Tabernacles, begins at home, with some parti- 
 cular benedictions, and is succeeded by a supper. Private devotion now 
 succeeds the public, and the father of the family never begins to conse- 
 crate the festival till he has been first at prayers in the synagogue till 
 night. They leave their tents at the end of the eighth day, as soon as 
 night draws on. 
 
 On the 14th of the month Adar, which is our March or February, the 
 feast of Purim is observed, in commemoration of Esther, who upon that 
 The feast of ^ a y preserved the people of Israel from a total extirpation 
 Chances. by th e conspiracy of Hainan, who was hanged, with all his 
 
 children. This feast was called Purim, because it was written in the 9th 
 chapter of Esther, “Therefore they called those days Purim,” &c. ; the 
 word signifying Lots or Chances ; for Haman, their enemy, had cast lots 
 to destroy them on those two days. 
 
 The first only, however, is strictly and solemnly observed. They fast 
 on the eve, but during these two days they may traffic, or do any manner 
 of work ; yet on the first day, though under no obligation, they voluntarily 
 abstain from both. 
 
 On the first night, they go to the synagogue, where, after their ordinary 
 
80 
 
 prayers, they commemorate their happy deliverance from that fatal conspi- 
 racy, and the Chazan reads and explains the whole book of Esther, which 
 is written on vellum, and rolled up like the Pentateuch. They also call it 
 Meghilla, or volume. The Chazan, or Reader , is allowed to sit at this 
 lesson, whereas he must stand while he reads the law. After he has un- 
 rolled the volume, he pronounces three prayers, and returns thanks to 
 Almighty God, for calling them together to share this ceremony, and for 
 delivering them out of the merciless hands of Haman. He then reads 
 the history of Haman and Esther. 
 
 The Jews observe similar ceremonies in the service of the next morning, 
 and read on this day out of the Pentateuch, the 17th chapter of Exodus, 
 verse 8, “ Then came Amalek,” &c. They have, likewise, particular 
 prayers and blessings for this happy occasion. 
 
 On this feast they bestow public alms upon the pcor, and all relations 
 and friends visit, and send each other presents of such things as are good 
 to eat. Scholars make presents to their tutors, masters to their servants, 
 and persons of distinction to their inferiors. In short, the whole day is 
 spent in cheerfulness and gayety, as it is written in the 9th chapter of 
 Esther, “ That they should make them days of feasting and joy, and of 
 sending portions one to another, and gifts to the poor,” &c. 
 
 When the year consists of two Adars, the Jews call the 14th day of the 
 first Adar the little Purim; but it is merely nominal, for none of the above 
 ceremonies are observed thereon. 
 
 The 15th day of the month Nisan, which often answers to our April, is 
 the first day of the Passover, which is called Pesach, or the passage over , 
 The feast of the in commemora ^ on of the departure of the Jews from Egypt. 
 Passover. ft continues a whole week ; but such as live out of Jerusa- 
 
 lem and its territories make it hold eight days, according to the ancient 
 custom, when the new moon, by the Sanhedrin’s order, was proclaimed, 
 without any computation. This festival is ordained in the 12th chapter of 
 Exodus, and in several other parts of the Bible. The Sabbath which pre- 
 cedes the Passover is called the Grand Sabbath ; on which day the rab- 
 bins preach a sermon on the Paschal Lamb. 
 
 The two first and two last days of the Passover are solemn festivals, on 
 which no person is permitted either to work, or do any manner of busi- 
 ness ; nay, they keep them as strictly as the Sabbath ; only that they make 
 a fire, dress their meat, and carry what things they want from place to 
 place. On the four middle days they are only obliged to refrain from 
 work, but are permitted to touch money. 
 
 During these eight days they must neither eat, nor have, any leavened 
 bread, or any leaven in their houses, nor even in their custody; so that 
 they eat none but unleavened bread all that time : according to Exodus, 
 chapter xii., verses 15, 16, 17. This bread they call Matzos. 
 
ECCLESIASTICAL DISCIPLINE, ETC. 
 
 81 
 
 In order to obey this precept as punctually as possible, the master takes 
 a wax candle, and searches the house over with the utmost care, to clear 
 n of every thing that is fermented, prying into every corner, and even into 
 all the trunks and cupboards. He now beseeches God to make up the 
 defects of his search, “ that all the leavened bread which is in the house 
 may become like the dust of the earth, and be reduced to nothing.” 
 When the house is well scoured, they whitewash it, and supply it with a 
 new table and kitchen furniture, or with such as is reserved for the service 
 of this day only. If they have been used before, and are of metal, they 
 must be first heated in a forge, and newly polished before they can be 
 used ; because nothing which has touched leavened bread may be made 
 use of during those eight days. About eleven o’clock on the next day 
 they burn a bit of bread, to give notice that the prohibition against lea- 
 vened bread is then begun ; and this ceremony is attended with a particu- 
 lar declaration, that the head of the family has no leaven in his custody ; 
 that if he has, it is unknown to him, and that he hath done to the utmost 
 of his power to prevent it. 
 
 They go to prayers in the evening ; and at their return home, the 
 master, with his family and other domestics, after washing their hands, sit 
 down to a table which is duly prepared for their entertainment in the day- 
 time, and set off with all the elegance and grandeur that the circum- 
 stances of each person will admit of. Instead of the ceremony which was 
 formerly observed, in conformity to the 12th chapter of Exodus, viz., “ To 
 eat the lamb with unleavened bread, and bitter herbs,” &c., they have 
 some small pieces of lamb or kid, dressed with unleavened bread. Some- 
 times they have a plate covered, in which there are three mysterious 
 cakes, one for the high-priest, one for the Levites, and a third for the 
 people ; also the blade-bone of a shoulder of lamb, or, at least, some part 
 of it. The Portuguese Jews have the bone on the table during the whole 
 eight days of the Passover. When the shoulder is served up whole, at 
 this ceremony, they have a hard egg with it. To this they add a dish 
 representing the bricks which their ancestors were formerly forced to 
 make in Egypt. This meat is a thick paste, composed of apples, almonds, 
 nuts, figs, &c., which they dress in wine, and season with cinnamon, 
 broke only into pieces, to represent the straw that they made use of in 
 the making of their bricks. In another dish they have celery, lettuce, 
 chervil, cresses, wild succory, and parsley. These are their bitter herbs. 
 A cruet full of vinegar, and another of oil, are set on the table, near the 
 salad. 
 
 The Jews make a great difference between the ancient and modern way 
 of celebrating the Passover. Formerly they used to eat the lamb roasted 
 whole ; but ever since their sacrifices have been abolished, which could be 
 offered nowhere but at Jerusalem, they roast one part of it, and boil 
 
ECCLESIASTICAL DISCIPLINE, ETC. 
 
 S3 
 
 another; nay, sometimes cut it in pieces, which is enough to prevent its 
 being sacrificed. The want of their sacrifices, likewise, obliges them at 
 present to suppress several hymns, which relate to the Paschal Lamb ; and 
 their dispersion obliges them, also, to beg of God to re-establish Jerusalem, 
 the temple, and its sacrifices, and to deliver them at this day, as he formerly 
 did their forefathers, from the tyranny of the Egyptians. The modern 
 Jews conclude their meal with the unleavened bread, but in former times 
 they ended it with the lamb ; and they now omit girding their loins, taking 
 a staff in their hands, and pulling off their shoes when they eat the lamb; 
 all which was practised under the ancient law ; but they take care, how- 
 ever, to preserve that humility and attention which are due to this religious 
 ceremony. They decline their heads all the time they are eating; and 
 such Jews as are eminent for their piety put nothing into their mouths 
 without meditating on the several mysteries with the utmost respect and 
 veneration. 
 
 From the day after the Passover to the thirty-third day following, they 
 spend their time in a kind of mourning ; they neither marry nor dress 
 themselves in any new clothes, neither do they cut their hair, nor show 
 any demonstrations of public joy ; because at that time, that is, from the 
 day after the Passover until the thirty -third day after,. there was once a 
 great mortality amongst the pupils of Rabbi Hachiba, who was one of 
 their most celebrated doctors. After the death of some thousands, the sick- 
 ness ceased on the thirty-third day of the Homer. This day is therefore 
 kept with general rejoicings, and puts an end to all appearance of sorrow 
 or concern. 
 
 The Jews call the fifty days which intervene between the Passover and 
 the feast of Pentecost, Homer-days. On the fiftieth day of the Homer, 
 which is the sixth of Sivan, is celebrated the festival 
 Shavuoth, or of Weeks ; which is so named, because it is 
 kept at the end of the seven weeks, which they compute from the Pass- 
 over. At present it is observed for two days together. 
 
 These two days are observed almost as strictly as the Passover holidays ; 
 for no work is allowed to be done upon them, neither can the Jews transact 
 any business, nor, in short, do anything more than on the Sabbath: except- 
 ing that they are allowed to kindle their fire, dress their victuals, and carry 
 whatever they want from place to place. 
 
 At the feast of Pentecost five persons read the sacrifice ot the day, and 
 likewise the history of Ruth, because frequent mention is made there of 
 the harvest At this time they regale themselves with all sorts of dainties 
 made of milk, which, in their opinion, is a symbol of the law, both on 
 account of its sweetness and its whiteness ; and as the Jews take a pride 
 in having, as far as possible, the most express and lively images of the 
 most remarkable circumstances that occurred at the birth of their religion. 
 
ECCLESIASTICAL DISCIPLINE, ETC. 
 
 83 
 
 they never forget to serve up at table on this day a cake made moderately 
 thick, which they call the Cake of Sinai. This is to remind them of 
 Mount Sinai, on which God gave them the law. 
 
 The Jews formerly called Pentecost the feast of the Harvest, and day 
 of First Fruits, because the first of their corn and fruit was at that time 
 offered in the temple, which was the close of this solemnity ; but this can 
 never be in Europe, harvest falling always much later than Whitsuntide, 
 It might, however, bear this name in the land of Canaan, Arabia, and in 
 the neighbourhood of the Red Sea. 
 
 Upon this day their tradition assures us that the law was given on Mount 
 Sinai ; for which reason they adorn their synagogues, the Hechal, or 
 Ark, the reading-desk — also their lamps and candlesticks, and even their 
 houses, with roses and other gay and odoriferous flowers and herbs, beauti- 
 fully wreathed in the form of crowns and festoons. Of these decorations 
 they are very profuse. 
 
 Their prayers are adapted to the feast, and they read the account of 
 the sacrifice made on that day out of the Pentateuch ; also the Aftara, out 
 of the Prophets, and the benediction for their prince. In the afternoon 
 there is a sermon preached, in commemoration of the law. When the 
 second day of the feast is over, the ceremony of the Habdalla is performed 
 in the evening, as at the close of the Passover, to denote that the feast is 
 concluded. 
 
 A TABLE OF OFFICES AND CONDITIONS OF MEN. 
 
 Patriarchs, or Fathers of Families — Such as Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, and his sons. 
 Judges — Temporary Supreme Governors, immediately appointed by God over the children 
 of Israel. 
 
 Kings — And they either of the whole nation, or, after the falling off of the ten tribes, of 
 
 Judah or Israel. 
 
 Elders — Senators, the LXX., or Sanhedrin. 
 
 Judges — Inferior Rulers, such as determine controversies in particular cities. 
 
 Israelites — Hebrews, descendants from Jacob. 
 
 An Hebrew of Hebrews — An Israelite by original extraction. 
 
 A Proselyte of the Covenant. — Who was circumcised, and submitted to the whole law. 
 
 A Proselyte of the Gale — Or stranger, who worshipped one God, but remained uncir- 
 cumcised. 
 
 OFFICERS UNDER THE ASSYRIAN OR PERSIAN MONARCHS. 
 Tirshatha — Or Governor appointed by the kings of Assyria or Persia. 
 
 Heads of the Captivity — The chief of each tribe or family, who exercised a precarious 
 government during the Captivity. 
 
84 
 
 ECCLESIASTICAL DISCIPLINE, ETC. 
 
 UNDER THE GRECIAN MONARCHS. 
 
 SUPERIOR OFFICERS. 
 
 Maccabees — The successors of Judas Maccabeus , high-priests, who presided with kingly 
 power. 
 
 UNDER THE ROMAN EMPEROR. 
 
 Presidents , or Governors — Sent from Rome with imperial power. 
 
 Tetrarchs — Who had kingly power in four provinces. 
 
 Proconsuls — Or Deputies of Provinces. 
 
 INFERIOR OFFICERS. 
 
 Publicans — Or tax-gatherers. 
 
 Centurions — Captains of an hundred men. 
 
 ECCLESIASTICAL OFFICERS, OR SECTS OF MEN. 
 
 High-Priests — Who only might enter the Holy of Holies. 
 
 Second Priests , or Sagan, who supplied the high-priest’s office, in Gase he were disabled. 
 High-Priests for the War — Set apart for the occasion of an expedition. 
 
 Pnests — Levites of the son of Aaron, divided into twenty-four ranks, each rank serving 
 weekly in the temple. 
 
 Levites — Of the tribe of Levi, but not of Aaron's family : of these were three orders,— 
 Gershonites, Kohathites, Merarites, several sons of Levi. 
 
 Nethinims — Inferior servants to the priests and Levites, not of their tribe, to draw water 
 and cleave wood, &c. 
 
 Prophets — Anciently called Seers, who foretold future events, and denounced God’s judg- 
 ments. 
 
 Children of the Prophets — Their disciples or scholars. 
 
 Wise Men — So called in imitation of the Eastern Magi, or Gentile Philosophers. 
 
 Scribes — Writers and expounders of the law. 
 
 Disputers — That raised and determined questions out of the law. 
 
 Rabbins or Doctors — Teachers of Israel. 
 
 JAbertines — Freedmen of Rome, who, being Jews or proselytes, had a synagogue or oratory 
 for themselves. 
 
 Gaulonites , or Galileans — Who pretended it unlawful to obey a heathen magistrate. 
 Herodians — Who shaped their religion to the times, and particularly flattered Herod. 
 Epicureans — Who placed all happiness in pleasure. 
 
 Stoics — Who denied the liberty of the will, and pretended all events were determined by 
 fatal necessity. 
 
 Simon Magus — Author of the heresy of the Gnostics , who taught that men, however 
 vicious their practice was, should be saved by their knowledge. 
 
 Nicolaitans — The disciples of Nicolas, one of the first seven Deacons who taught the com- 
 munity of wives. 
 
 Nazarites — Who, under a vow, abstained from wine, &c. 
 
 Nazarenes — Jews professing Christianity. 
 
 Zelots, Sicarii, or murderers — W.ho, under pretence of the law, thought themselves autho- 
 rized to commit any outrage. 
 
 Pharisees — Separatists, who, upon the opinion of their own godliness, despised all others. 
 Sadducees — Who denied the resurrection of the dead, angels, and spirits. 
 
 Samaritans — Mongrel professors, partly heathen, and partly Jews, the offspring of the 
 Assyrians sent to Samaria. 
 
 Apostles — Missionaries, or persons sent ; they who were sent by our Saviour from their 
 number were called The Twelve. 
 
 Bishops — Successors of the Apostles in the government of the Church 
 Deacons — Officers chosen by the Apostles to take care of the poor. 
 
PART II. 
 
 HISTORY AND RELIGIOUS CUSTOMS OF THE MOHAM- 
 MEDANS. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 LIFE OF MOHAMMED, 
 
 Mohammedism. 
 
 It is an often-repeated, but just remark, that “Great effects frequently 
 proceed from little causes.” This is pre-eminently true when applied to 
 Mohammedism ; since there appears to be scarcely any 
 ground of comparison between its author and the changes 
 which his system has wrought in the world ; changes by far greater than 
 any others introduced into the civilized world by a single cause, if we 
 except those wrought by Christianity. 
 
 Mohammedism has now existed for more than twelve hundred years 
 It has spread its delusions over some of the fairest portions of the globe 
 Countries where t ^ ie P resent time, it may be found holding an almost un- 
 it exists. disputed sway throughout the Turkish dominions in Eu- 
 
 rope, Asia, and Africa ; in the Barbary states, in the interior of Africa ; 
 the eastern coast of Africa, and the island of Madagascar ; in Arabia ; the 
 Persian states ; the Russian states of Little Tartary, Astrachan, Kazan, 
 Kirghis, Kazaks, &c. ; among the independent Tartars ; in a great part 
 of Hindoostan ; many of the Eastern inlands, as Malay, Sumatra, Java, 
 &c. &c. ; and may be traced in different parts even of the vast empire of 
 China. Its blinded and deluded votaries are estimated at from one hun- 
 dred to one hundred and twenty millions. 
 
 That Mohammed was a remarkable man in many respects must be 
 
 admitted. He had doubtless native talents of a superior order, and an 
 
 The success of ambition for power and authority which scarcely knew any 
 Mohammedism not , ■ , , . . r . , . 
 
 to be attributed en- bounds; but these are insufficient to account for the reh- 
 
 tirely to the genius . i 1 • • i i , . , , . . 
 
 of its author. gious and political ascendency which he gained, or the 
 wide diffusion and enduring permanence of that system of imposture 
 which he palmed upon the world. The means employed by him were 
 entirely disproportioned to the success which crowned his efforts. 
 
 How then shall the problem of his success be resolved? The state of 
 the Eastern world, where this imposture began, was indeed favourable to 
 
 85 
 
86 
 
 LIFE OF MOHAMMED. 
 
 Not to the state its spread. For several centuries following the apostolic 
 world, although age, the Christian religion subsisted in a great degree in its 
 bie. tVvaS original purity and simplicity. But a gradual decline of 
 
 the spirit of Christianity took place. Ignorance, superstition, and corrup- 
 tion prevailed to an alarming extent ; and by the commencement of the 
 seventh century, the state of the Christian world had become gloomy and 
 appalling. In the eastern parts of the Roman empire, especially Syria 
 and the countries bordering upon Arabia, as well as in some parts of Arabia 
 itself, these evils were aggravated by the numerous sects and heresies that 
 prevailed, and by the incessant controversial wars which they waged with 
 each other. The church was torn to pieces by the furious disputes of the 
 Arians, Sabellians, Nestorians, Eutychians, and Collyridians, by whom the 
 great doctrines of Christianity were so confounded with metaphysical 
 subtleties and the jargon of schools, that they ceased, in great measure, to 
 be regarded as a rule of life, or as pointing out the only way of salvation. 
 The religion of the gospel, the blessed source of peace, love, and unity 
 among men, became, by the perverseness of sectaries, a firebrand of burn- 
 ing contention. Council after council was called — canon after canon was 
 enacted — prelates were traversing the country in every direction in the 
 prosecution of party purposes, resorting to every base art, to obtain the 
 authoritative establishment of their own peculiar tenets, and the condem- 
 nation and suppression of those of their adversaries. The contests also 
 for the episcopal office ran so high, particularly in the West, that the 
 opposing parties repeatedly had recourse to violence, and, in one memora- 
 ble instance, the interior of a Christian church w*as stained by the blood 
 of a number of the adherents of the rival bishops, who fell victims to 
 their fierce contentions. Yet it is little to be wondered at, that these 
 places of preferment should have been so greedily sought after by men of 
 coirupt minds, when we learn that they opened the direct road to wealth, 
 luxury, and priestly power. Ancient historians represent the bishops of 
 that day as enriched by the presents of the opulent, as riding abroad in 
 pompous state in chariots and sedans, and surpassing in the’ extravagance 
 of their feasts the sumptuousness of princes ; while, at the same time, the 
 most barbarous ignorance was fast overspreading the nations of Christen- 
 dom, the ecclesiastical orders themselves not excepted. Among the bishops, 
 the legitimate instructors and defenders of the church, numbers were to be 
 found incapable of composing the poor discourses which their office re- 
 quired them to deliver to the people, or of subscribing the decrees which 
 they passed in their councils. The little learning in vogue was chiefly 
 confined to the monks. But they, instead of cultivating science, or diffus- 
 ing any kind of useful knowledge, squandered their time in the study of 
 the fabulous legends of pretended saints and martyrs, or in composing his- 
 tories equally fabulous. 
 
 j 
 
LIFE OF MOHAMMED. 
 
 87 
 
 This woful corruption of doctrine and morals in the clergy was foilowed, 
 as might be expecied, by a very general depravity of the common people; 
 and though we cannot suppose that God left himself altogether without 
 witnesses in this dark period, yet the number of the truly faithful had 
 dwindled down to a mere remnant, and the wide-spreading defection 
 seemed to call aloud for the judgments of heaven.* 
 
 Although the state of the Christian world was thus favourable to the 
 spread of the Mohammedan imposture, this is by no means sufficient to 
 account for its mighty results, and especially for its continuance, through 
 But to the spe- such a lapse of time. We are forced, therefore, to look for 
 God. Pr ° Vldence ° f a more adequate cause, and that cause can be nothing less 
 than the special providence of God. Indeed, the appearance of the Ara- 
 bian prophet in the world, and the rise, progress, and results of his im- 
 posture, are clearly foretold in the sacred volume, as the reader may 
 _ , see, Daniel vii. 8 — 26; Revelation ix. 1 — 19. All the rea- 
 
 The rise and pro- 
 gress of Moham- sons which the Infinite Mind may have had in permitting 
 
 medism foretold J 1 0 
 
 in the Scriptures, this arch-heresy to find a dwelling-place on earth — to 
 spread its branches so widely — to take such deep root — to bear such 
 deadly fruit for so long a period — all the moral ends in view may be un- 
 known ; but the wisdom of God, in this as well as every other dispen- 
 sation of his providence, will ultimately stand forth as clearly as if the 
 sunbeams shone upon it, and the now inscrutable mystery will be justified 
 by all his children. 
 
 We shall conclude these introductory remarks with the following quo- 
 tation from Dr. Prideaux, on the moral ends of Providence, in suffering 
 The moral ends this desolating scourge to arise at that particular period of 
 Dr!V?ideaux! g l ° the world which gave birth to it. “At length,” says he, 
 “ having wearied the patience and long-suffering of God, he raised up the 
 Saracens to be the instruments of his wrath to punish them for it ; who, 
 taking advantage of the weakness of their power, and the distraction of 
 counsels which their divisions had caused among them, over-ran, with a 
 terrible devastation, all the eastern provinces of the Roman empire ; and, 
 having fixed that tyranny over them which hath ever since afflicted those 
 parts of the world, turned everywhere their churches into mosques, and 
 their worship into a horrid superstition ; and> instead of that holy religion 
 which they had abused, forced on them the abominable imposture of 
 Mohammed. Thus, those once glorious and most flourishing churches, 
 for a punishment of their wickedness, being given up to the insult, ravage 
 and scorn of the worst of enemies, were, on a sudden, ovei whelmed with 
 so terrible a destruction as hath reduced them to that low and miserable 
 condition under which they have ever since groaned ; the all- wise provi- 
 
 * Bush’s Life of Mohammed. 
 
88 
 
 LIFE OF MOHAMMED. 
 
 dence of God seeming to continue them thus unto this day undei the pride 
 and persecution of Mohammedan tyranny, for no other end but to be an 
 example and warning unto others against the wickedness of separation 
 and division.” 
 
 Mohammed, the founder of the Moslem* or Mohammedan religion, was 
 
 All from the same root, Aslam; signifying, to yield up , dedicate , conse - 
 crate entirely to the service of religion . 
 
 * The following list of names and titles, some of which it will be convenient for us to use 
 in the present article, and all of which frequently occur in accounts relating to the East, 
 together with their etymological import, is taken from a highly celebrated work, “Bush’s 
 Life of Mohammed.” 
 
 Mahomet, 
 
 Mohammed, !> From Hamed ; praised, highly celebrated, illustrious, glorious. 
 
 Ahmed. 
 
 Moslem, 
 
 Mussulman, 
 
 Islam, 
 
 Islamism, 
 
 Koran. — From Kara, to read ; the reading, legend, or that which ought to be read. 
 
 Caliph. — A successor ; from the Hebrew Chalaph ; to be changed, to succeed, to pass 
 round, in a revolution. 
 
 Sultan. — Originally from the Chaldaic Soltan ; signifying, authority, dominion, princi- 
 pality. 
 
 Vizier. — An assistant. 
 
 Hadj. — Pilgrimage ; Hadji; one who makes the pilgrimage to Mecca. 
 
 Saracen. — Etymology doubtful ; supposed to be from Sarak, to steal ; a plunderer , a 
 robber. 
 
 Hejira 1 The Flight ; applied emphatically to Mohammed’s flight from Mecca to 
 
 He,h " / Medina - 
 
 Mufti. — The principal head of the Mohammedan religion, and the resolver of all doubtful 
 points of the law. An office of great dignity in the Turkish empire. 
 
 Iman — A kind of priest attached to the mosques, whose duty it is occasionally to expound 
 a passage »i the Koran. They, at the same time, usually follow some more lucra- 
 tive employment. 
 
 Moollah. — The Moollahs form what is called the Ulema, or body of doctors, in theology 
 and jurisprudence, who are intrusted with the guardianship of the laws of the em- 
 pire, and from whose number the Mufti is chosen. 
 
 Emir. — Lineal descendants of the Prophet himself, distinguished by wearing turbans of 
 deep sea-green, the colour peculiar to all the race of Mohammed. They have spe- 
 cial immunities on the score of their descent, and one of them carries the green 
 standard of the Prophet when the Grand Seignior appears in any public solemnity. 
 
 Pasha. — The title given to the provincial governors. A Pasha is to a province or pashalic, 
 what the Sultan is to the empire, except that the judicial power is in the hands of 
 the cadis, the provincial magistrates. The tails of a Pasha are the standards which 
 he is allowed to carry ; one of three tails is one of three standards, which number 
 gives the power of life and death. 
 
 Reis Eftendi. — This officer may be termed the High Chancellor of the Ottoman empire 
 He is at the head of a class of attorneys, which, at this time, contains the best- 
 informed men of the nation. 
 
 Seraglio. — This word is derived from Serai, a term of Persian origin, signifying a palace. 
 It is, therefore, improperly used as synonymous with Harem', the apartments of the 
 women. The Seraglio is, in strictness of speech, the place where the court of the 
 Grand Seignior is held ; but it so happens that at Constantinople this building in- 
 cludes the imperial Harem within its walls. 
 
 Crescent. — The national ensign of the Turks, surmounting the domes and minarets at- 
 tached to their mosques, as the cross does the churches of the Roman Catholics in 
 Christian countries. This peculiar and universal use of the Crescent is said to 
 have owed its origin to the fact, that at the time of Mohammed’s flight from Mecca 
 
LIFE OF MOHAMMED. 
 
 89 
 
 born at Mecca, a city of Arabia, a. d. 569, or according to others, a. d. 571. 
 
 Birth of Moham- P arents were themselves poor, but his connections 
 
 med, a. i>. 369 were rich and respectable, belonging to the tribe of the 
 Koreish, reckoned the most noble in all that part of Arabia. 
 
 “ The Moslem writers,” says the author already quoted, “ in order to 
 represent the birth of their pretended prophet as equally marvellous with 
 
 Prodigies said that of Moses or of Christ, the ancient messengers of God 
 tins event. who preceded him, have reported a tissue ot astonishing 
 
 prodigies said to have occurred in connection with that event. If the 
 reader will receive their statements with the same implicit faith with 
 which they seem to be delivered, he must acknowledge, that at the mo- 
 ment when the favoured infant was ushered into the world, a flood of light 
 burst forth with him and illuminated every part of Syria ; that the waters 
 of the Lake Sawa were entirely dried up, so that a city was built upon its 
 bottom; that an earthquake threw down fourteen towers of the king of 
 Persia’s palace ; that the sacred fire of the Persians was extinguished, 
 and all the evil spirits which had inhabited the moon and stars were 
 expelled together from their celestial abodes, nor could they ever after ani- 
 mate idols or deliver oracles on earth. The child also, if we may trust to 
 the same authorities, discovered the most wonderful presages.. He was no 
 sooner born than he fell prostrate, in a posture of humble adoration, pray- 
 ing devoutly to his Creator, and saying, ‘ God is great ! There is no God 
 but God, and I am his prophet !’ By these and many other supernatural 
 signs, equally astounding, is the prophet’s nativity said to have been 
 marked.” 
 
 At the early age of two years, Mohammed lost his farther ; and four 
 years after, his mother. Being, now, a dependent orphan, he was received 
 
 Mohammed into the family of his grandfather, under whose guardian- 
 uThis uncle!* 1 atge ship he continued two years, when the venerable Abdol 
 Motalleb himself was called to give up the ghost. On his dying bed, 
 he summoned Abu Taleb, the eldest of his sons, whom he is said to have 
 addressed as follows : “ My dearest, best-beloved son, to thy charge I 
 leave Mohammed, the son of thine own brother, strictly recommended, 
 whose natural father the Lord hath been pleased to take to himself, with 
 the intent that this dear child should become ours by adoption ; and much 
 dearer ought he to be unto us than merely an adopted son. Receive him, 
 therefore, at my dying hands, with the same sincere love and tender 
 
 to Medina, the moon was new. Hence, the half-moon is commemorative of that 
 event. 
 
 Sublime Porte. — This title, which is frequently applied to the court, cabinet, or execu 
 tive department of the Ottoman empire, is derived, as the words import, from a 
 lofty arched gateway of splendid construction, forming the principal entrance to the 
 Seraglio or palace. It is a phrase equivalent to “ Court of St. James,” <■ Court of 
 St. Cloud,” &c. 
 
90 
 
 LIFE OF MOHAMMED. 
 
 bowels with which I deliver him to thy care. Honour, love, and cherish 
 him as much, or even more, than if he had sprung from thine own loins; 
 for all the honour thou showest unto him shall be trebled unto thee. Be 
 more than ordinarily careful in thy treatment towards him, for it will be 
 repaid thee with interest. Give him the preference before thine own chil- 
 dren, for he exceedeth them and all mankind in excellency and perfection. 
 Take notice, that whensoever he calleth upon thee, thou answer him not 
 as an infant, as his tender age may require, but as thou wouldst reply to 
 the most aged and venerable person when he asketh thee any question. 
 Sit not down to thy repasts of any sort soever, either alone or in com- 
 pany, till thy worthy nephew Mohammed is seated at the table before 
 thee ; neither do thou ever offer to taste of any kind of viands, or even 
 to stretch forth thine hand towards the same, until he hath tasted thereof. 
 If thou observest these my injunctions, thy goods shall always increase, 
 and in nowise be diminished.”* 
 
 Abu Taleb having received the above solemn charge, took the young 
 prophet under his care, and instructed him in the business of a merchant. 
 
 Educated as a When was about twelve or thirteen years of age, in 
 merchant. order to perfect him in his employment, Abu Taleb took 
 
 him with him into Syria, whither he found himself obliged to go on com- 
 mercial affairs. Arriving at Bosra, an ancient city of Syria Damaceria, 
 he visited a monastery, where he found a Nestorian monk, named Felix, 
 and surnamed Boheira, who treated them with great marks of distinction, 
 and owned him as God’s apostle. Another monk, called, by the Christians, 
 Sergius, entered into a confederacy with Boheira to propagate the new 
 fanaticism, and lent a helping hand in composing the Koran. On Moham- 
 med’s first approach to Boheira, the monk observed, or said he observed, a 
 sort of luminous or transparent cloud round his head, which preserved 
 him from the heat of the solar rays ; also, that the dry trees under which 
 he sat were everywhere instantly covered with green leaves, which 
 served him for a shade — all certain signs that the prophetic dignity resided 
 in him. He likewise discovered the seal of prophecy impressed betweer. 
 his shoulders, while he kissed the hinder part of his garment. Turning 
 one day to the uncle, Abu Taleb, he said, “Depart with this child, ana 
 take great care that he does not fall into the hands of the Jews ; for your 
 nephew will one day become a very extraordinary person ; he will per- 
 form great things by the appointment of God.” Abu Taleb, hereupon, 
 immediately returned to Mecca, and gave an account to the Koreish of the 
 discoveries that had been made. 
 
 In the mean time, Mohammed, as he advanced towards the years of 
 puberty, grew extremely popular. He was the most handsome and the 
 
 • Morgan’s Mohammedism Explained, vol. i. p. 50. 
 
LIFE OF MOHAMMED. 
 
 91 
 
 best-made man of all the Arabs of his time ; and he was not only famed 
 for his beauty, but he likewise surpassed all his contemporaries in sagacity 
 and good sense ; so much so, indeed, as to acquire the name of Al-Amin , 
 or the Faithful. This is the favourable portrait given us of him, at the 
 age of fourteen, by some of the Moslem historians. 
 
 Mohammed made his first campaign when he was about twenty years 
 of age, under his uncle Abu Taleb, who commanded the Koreish against 
 the tribes of Kenan and Havvazan. Of the cause of this war no tradi- 
 tionary account is on record ; but, as it was carried on with great violence 
 through the course of the four sacred months, it was termed the “impious 
 war.” During these months it was held unlawful to wage war; the Arabs 
 then taking off the heads of their spears, and ceasing from incursions and 
 other hostilities. However, the Koreish were victorious in this war, which 
 could not fail of rendering the people of their tribe still more devoted to 
 Abu Taleb and the young Mohammed. 
 
 Mohammed continued in the employment of his uncle until he had 
 attained his twenty-fifth year. About that time died one of the chief men 
 Enters the ser- of the city, leaving a widow of the name of Cadijah ; who 
 whom°he marries! requiring a factor to manage her stock, Mohammed entered 
 ner service, and traded for her some years, to Damascus and other places. 
 In this service Mohammed conducted himself with so much propriety, 
 that he not only merited the respect, but actually won the affections 
 of his mistress, who was twelve years older than himself, he being 
 then only twenty-eight years of age. Cadijah having married him, he 
 became suddenly exalted to an equality with some of the richest men of 
 the city. 
 
 Whether this unlooked-for elevation had inspired Mohammed with an 
 extraordinary ambition, or whatever other motive prompted him, he soon 
 began to manifest symptoms of wishing to appear a man of no common 
 character, and as one divinely commissioned to reform the world by the 
 introduction of a new system of religion, which should embrace whatever 
 was excellent in the Pagan morality, and the Jewish and Christian dispen- 
 sations. His commercial transactions in Egypt, Palestine, and Syria, 
 having brought him acquainted with the numerous Christians and Jews 
 residing in those countries, he soon discovered that the task of creating a 
 new religion would not be very difficult. He proceeded, however, with 
 much caution and care ; and it was not till he had attained his tlyrty-eighth 
 Retires to the y ear ’ that ret ired from the business of the world, repair- 
 where he manures daily to a certain cave in the vicinity of Mecca, called 
 his plan, a. d. 607. th e cave 0 f Hera, for the ostensible purpose of spending his 
 time in fasting, prayer, and meditation. 
 
 Having, at length, matured his plan, he opened the subject of the super- 
 natural visions, with which he had been favoured in the cave, to his wife 
 
"! 
 
 92 LIFE OF MOHAMMED. 
 
 t,. . . . Cadijah. At first she treated his visions as the dreams of 
 
 Discloses it to J 
 
 Odijah, who be- a disturbed imagination, or as the delusions of the devil. 
 
 comes his con- ° 
 
 vert - Mohammed, however, persisted in assuring her of the re- 
 
 ality of these communications, and rising still higher in his demands upon 
 her credulity, at length repeated a passage which he affirmed to he a part 
 of a divine revelation, recently conveyed to him by the ministry of the 
 angel Gabriel. The memorable night on which this visit was made by the 
 heavenly messenger is called the “ night of A1 Kadr,” or the night of the 
 divine decree , and is greatly celebrated, as it was the same night on which 
 the entire Koran descended from the seventh to the lowest heaven, to be 
 thence revealed by Gabriel in successive portions as occasion might require. 
 The Koran has a whole chapter devoted to the commemoration of this 
 event, entitled Al Kadr . It is as follows: “ In the name of the most mer- 
 ciful God. Verily, we sent down the Koran in the night of Al Kadr. 
 And what shall make thee understand how excellent the night of Al Kadr 
 is ? This night is better than a thousand months. Therein do the angels 
 descend, and the spirit Gabriel also, by the permission of their Lord, with 
 his decrees concerning every matter. It is peace until the rising of the 
 morn.”* On this favoured night, between the 23d and 24th of Ramadan , 
 according to the prophet, the angel appeared to him, in glorious form, to 
 communicate the happy tidings of his mission. The light issuing from 
 his body, if the apostle-elect may be believed, was too dazzling for mortal 
 eyes to behold ; he fainted under the splendour ; nor was it till Gabriel 
 had assumed a human form, that he could venture to approach or look 
 upon him. The angel then cried aloud, “O, Mohammed, thou art the 
 apostle of God, and I am the angel Gabriel !” “ Read !” continued 
 
 the angel; the prophet declared that he was unable to read. “Read!” 
 Gabriel again exclaimed, “read, in the name of thy Lord, who hath 
 created all things ; who hath created man of congealed blood. Read, by 
 thy most beneficent Lord, who hath taught the use of the pen ; who 
 teacheth man that which he knoweth not.”f The prophet, who professed, 
 hitherto, to have been illiterate, then read the joyful tidings respecting his 
 ministry on earth ; when the angel, having accomplished his mission, 
 majestically ascended to heaven, and disappeared from his view. When 
 the story of this surprising interview with a celestial visitant was related 
 to Cadijah in connection with the passage repeated, her unbelief, as tradi- 
 tion avers, , was wholly overcome, and not only so, but she was wrought by 
 it into a kind of ecstasy, declaring, “By him in whose hands her soul 
 was, that she trusted her husband would indeed one day become the pro- 
 phet of his nation.” In the height of her joy, she immediately imparted 
 what she had heard to one Waraka, her cousin, who is supposed by some 
 
 • Koran, ch. xcvii. 
 
 j- Ch. xcviii. 
 
LIFE OF MOHAMMED. 
 
 93 
 
 to have been in the secret, and who, being a Christian, had learned to 
 write in the Hebrew character, and was tolerably well versed in the Jewish 
 and Christian Scriptures. He unhesitatingly assented to her opinion 
 respecting the divine designation of her husband, and even affirmed, that 
 Mohammed was no other than the great prophet foretold by Moses, the 
 son of Amram. This belief, that both the prophet and his spurious reli- 
 gion were subjects of inspired prediction in the Old Testament scriptures, 
 is studiously inculcated in the Koran. “ Thy Lord is the mighty, the 
 merciful. This book is certainly a revelation from the Lord of all crea- 
 tures, which the faithful spirit (Gabriel) hath caused to descend upon thy 
 heart, that thou mightest be a preacher to thy people in the perspicuous 
 Arabic tongue ; and it is borne witness to in the scriptures of former ages. 
 Was it not a sign unto them that the wise men among the children of Israel 
 knew it?”* 
 
 Having made a convert of his wife, his next object was to gain other 
 proselytes. Among the first, who gave in his adhesion to the prophet, 
 
 „ . . was his servant Zeid Ebn Hareth, whom he rewarded for 
 
 Crains other pro- 
 
 firn tC with difficuU ^is belief and attachment, by granting him his freedom. 
 *y- Ali, the son of Abu Taleb, Mohammed’s cousin, was his 
 
 next convert ; but the impetuous youth, disregarding the other two as per- 
 sons of comparatively little note, used to style himself the first of believers. 
 His fourth and most important convert was Abubeker, a powerful citizen 
 of Mecca, by whose influence a number of persons possessed of rank and 
 authority were induced to profess the religion of Islam. These were 
 Othman, Zobair, Saad, Abdorrahman, and Abu Obeidah, who afterwards 
 became the principal leaders in his armies, and his main instruments in 
 the establishment both of his imposture and of his empire. Four years 
 were spent in the arduous task of winning over these nine individuals to 
 the faith, some of whom were the principal men of the city, and who 
 composed the whole party of his proselytes previously to his beginning to 
 proclaim his mission in public. He was now forty-four years of age. 
 
 Hitherto the efforts of Mohammed had been confined to the conversion 
 of a few individuals; but now the time having come for spreading his 
 
 Proclaims bis doctrines abroad, he directed Aii to prepare a generous en- 
 miiy ri frferwis iS and terta i nment > to which the sons and descendants of Abdol 
 tum 1 them 0 in to^r i- Motalleb were invited. These having assembled, the pro- 
 3icule - phet arose and addressed them as follows fc< I know no 
 
 man in the whole peninsula of the Arabs who can propose any thing more 
 excellent to his relations than what I now do to you; I offer you happiness 
 both in this life and in that which is to come ; God Almighty hath com- 
 manded me to call you unto him ; who therefore among you will be my 
 
 7 
 
 * Koran, ch. xxiii 
 
94 
 
 LIFE OF MOHAMMED. 
 
 vizier (assistant) and will become my brother and vicegerent ?” General 
 astonishment kept the assembly silent ; none offered to accept the proffered 
 office, till the fiery Ali burst forth, and declared that he would be the 
 brother and assistant of the prophet. “ I,” said he, “ O prophet of God, 
 will be thy vizier ; I myself will beat out the teeth, pull out the eyes, rip 
 open the bellies, and cut off the legs, of all those who shall dare to oppose 
 thee.” The prophet caught the young proselyte in his arms, exclaiming, 
 “ This is my brother, my deputy, my successor ; show yourselves obedient 
 unto him.” At this apparently extravagant command, the whole company 
 burst into laughter, telling Abu Taleb that he must now pay obedience 
 and submission to his own son ! As words were multiplied, surprise began 
 to give way to indignation, the serious pretensions of the prophet were 
 seriously resented, and in the issue the assembly broke up in confusion, 
 affording the ardent apostle but slender prospects of success among his 
 kinsmen. 
 
 Notwithstanding his above ill success with his tribe, he was so far fron 
 being discouraged, that he continued to preach to the people, who still 
 Preaches in pub- heard him with some patience, till he came to upbraid them 
 of Mecca. cmzens with the idolatry, obstinacy, and perverseness, not only of 
 themselves, but of their fathers. This so highly provoked them, that they 
 openly declared themselves his enemies, some few only excepted, who 
 were converted to Mohammedism. Nor could he have escaped their re- 
 sentment, had he not been protected by Abu Taleb, his uncle, who was 
 very active in his favour. However, the chief of the Koreish, and even 
 many of his own relations, warmly solicited him to desert his nephew ; 
 but all their endeavours proving ineffectual, they at length threatened 
 Abu Taleb with an open rupture, if he did not prevail on Mohammed to 
 desist. Abu Taleb was so far moved at this threat, that he earnestly dis- 
 suaded his nephew from pursuing the affair any further ; representing the 
 great danger he and his friends must otherwise run ; but Mohammed was 
 not to be intimidated, telling his uncle plainly, “that if they set the sun 
 against him on his right hand, and the moon on his left, he would not 
 relinquish his enterprise.” Abu Taleb, therefore, finding him so firmly 
 resolved to proceed, used no further arguments, but promised to stand by 
 him against all his enemies : so that notwithstanding the people of his 
 tribe came to a determination to expel both him and his followers, he found 
 a powerful support in his uncle against all their machinations. 
 
 In the eighth year of his pretended mission, his party growing formidable 
 at Mecca, the city passed a decree, by which they forbade any more to 
 
 is obliged to re- join themselves with him. This, however, did not much 
 but retums Mecca ’ affect him, while his uncle Abu Taleb lived to protect him ; 
 but he dying two years after, and the government of the city then falling 
 into the hands of his enemies, a fresh opposition was renewed against him, 
 
LIFE OF MOHAMMED. 
 
 95 
 
 and a stop soon put to the further progress of his designs at Mecca. Mo- 
 hammed, therefore, seeing all his hopes in a manner crushed here, began 
 to think of settling elsewhere ; and as his uncle Abbas lived for the most 
 part at Tayif, a town sixty miles distant from Mecca, towards the east, and 
 was a man of power and interest, he took a journey thither, under his 
 protection, in order to propagate his imposture there. But, after a month ,s 
 stay, finding himself unable to gain even one proselyte, he retired to 
 Mecca, with a resolution to wait for such further advantages as time and 
 opportunity might offer. His wife Cadijah being now dead, after living 
 with him twenty-two years, he took two other wives in her stead,— Ayesha, 
 the daughter of Abubeker,and Lewda, the daughter of Zama ; .adding a white 
 after to them a third, named Haphsa, the daughter of Omar ; and by thus 
 making himself son-in-law to three of the principal men of his party, he 
 strengthened, his interest considerably. Ayesha is said to have been then 
 only six years old ; on which account the completion of that marriage was 
 deferred, though not for many years, the Eastern women being very early 
 marriageable. 
 
 In the twelfth year of his mission is placed the mesra, that is, his 
 famous night-journey from Mecca to Jerusalem, and thence to heaven, of 
 Makes a famous h e te ^ s US ’ i* 1 the seventeenth chapter of the Koran : 
 
 from ]\iecc£uo Je- ^ or P eo P^ e calling on him for miracles to prove his mis- 
 pany Cm with c °the s ^ on ’ anc ^ Ending himself unable, or being unwilling, to feign 
 a ise be£t br ^aiied an 7’ t0 so ^ ve th e matter, he invented this story of his journey 
 Aiborak. to heaven. The story, as related in the Koran, and believed 
 
 by the Mohammedans, is this : At night, as he lay in his bed with his best- 
 beloved wife Ayesha, he heard a knocking at his door ; upon which, 
 arising, he found there the angel Gabriel, with seventy pairs of wings, 
 expanded from his sides, whiter than snow, and clearer than crystal, and 
 the beast Aiborak standing by him ; which, they say, is the beast on which 
 the prophets used to ride, when they were carried from one place to another, 
 upon the execution of any divine command. Mohammed describes it to be 
 a beast as white as milk, and of a mixed nature, between an ass and a mule, 
 and also of a size between both ; but of such extraordinary swiftness as to 
 equal even lightning itself. 
 
 As soon as Mohammed appeared at the door, the angel Gabriel kindly 
 embraced him, saluted him in the name of God, and told him, that he was 
 sent to bring him unto God into heaven; where he should see strange 
 mysteries, which were not lawful to be seen by any other man. He prayed 
 him then to get upon Aiborak ; but the beast, having lain idle and unem- 
 ployed from the time of Christ to Mohammed, was grown so mettlesome and 
 skittish, that he would not stand still for Mohammed to mount him, till at 
 length he was forced to bribe him to it, by promising him a place in Para- 
 dise. When he was firmly seated on him, the angel Gabriel led the way 
 
 l 
 
96 
 
 LIFE OF MOHAMMED. 
 
 with the bridle of the beast in his hand, and carried the prophet from 
 Mecca to Jerusalem in the twinkling of an eye. On his coming thither, 
 all the departed prophets and saints appeared at the gate of the temple to 
 salute him ; and thence attending him into the chief oratory, desired him 
 to pray for them, and then withdrew. After this Mohammed went out of the 
 temple with the angel Gabriel, and found a ladder of light ready fixed for 
 them, which they immediately ascended, leaving Alborak tied to a rock 
 till their return. 
 
 On their arrival at the first heaven, the angel knocked at the gate ; and 
 informing the porter who he was, and that he had brought Mohammed, the 
 friend of God, he was immediately admitted. This first heaven, he tells 
 us, was all of pure silver ; from whence he saw the stars hanging from it 
 by chains of gold, each as big as Mount Noho, near Mecca, in Arabia. On 
 his entrance he met a decrepit old man, who it seems was our first father 
 Adam ; and, as he advanced, he saw a multitude of angels in all manner 
 of shapes, — in the shape of birds, beasts, and men. We must not forget 
 to observe, that Adam had the piety immediately to embrace the prophet, 
 giving God thanks for so great a son ; and then recommended himself to 
 his prayers. From this first heaven, he tells us, that he ascended into ihe 
 second, which was at the distance of five hundred years’ journey above it; 
 and this he makes to be the distance of every one of the seven heavens, 
 each above the other. Here the gates being opened to him as before, at 
 his entrance he met Noah, who, rejoicing much at the sight of him, re- 
 commended himself to his prayers. This heaven was all of pure gold, 
 and there were twice as many angels in it as in the former ; for he tells 
 us that the number of angels in every heaven increased as he advanced. 
 From this second heaven he ascended into the third, which was made of 
 precious stones, where he met Abraham, who also recommended himself 
 to his prayers ; Joseph, the son of Jacob, did the same in the fourth 
 heaven, which was all of emerald ; Moses in the fifth, which was all of 
 adamant ; and John the Baptist in the sixth, which was all of carbuncle ; 
 whence he ascended into the seventh, which was all of divine light, and 
 here he found Jesus Christ. However, it is observed, that here he alters 
 his style ; for he does not say that Jesus Christ recommended himself to 
 his prayers, but that he recommended himself to the prayers of Jesus 
 Christ. 
 
 The angel Gabriel, having brought him thus far, told him that he was 
 not permitted to attend him any further ; and therefore directed him to 
 ascend the rest of the way to the throne of God by himself. This he per- 
 formed with great difficulty, passing through rough and dangerous places, 
 till he came where he heard a voice, saying unto him, “ O Mohammed, salute 
 thy Creator whence ascending higher, he came into a place where he 
 saw a vast expansion of light, so exceedingly bright that his eyes could 
 
LIFE OF MOHAMMED. 
 
 97 
 
 not hear it. This, it seems, was the habitation of the Almighty, where hi3 
 throne was placed ; on the right side of which, he says, God’s name and 
 his own were written in these Arabic words : “ La ellah ellallah Mohammed 
 refill ollah that is, “There is no God but God, and Mohammed is his 
 Prophet which is at this day the creed of the Mohammedans. Being 
 
 approached to the divine presence, he tells us, that God entered into a 
 familiar converse with him, revealed to him many hidden mysteries, made 
 him understand the whole of his law, gave him many things in charge, 
 concerning his instructing men in the knowledge of it ; and, in conclusion, 
 bestowed on him several privileges above the rest of mankind. He then 
 returned, and found the angel Gabriel waiting for him in the place where 
 he left him. The angel led him back along the seven heavens, through 
 which he had brought him : and set him again upon the beast Alborak, 
 which stood tied to the rock near Jerusalem. Then he conducted him 
 back to Mecca, in the same manner as he brought him thence ; and all this 
 within the space of the tenth part of one night. 
 
 On his relating this story to the people the next morning after he pre- 
 tended the thing to have happened, it was received by them with a general 
 The story not outcry ; and the imposture was never in a greater danger 
 people, and the of being totally blasted, than by this ridiculous fable. But, 
 
 prophet’s religion . jii 
 
 in danger. how ridiculous soever the story may appear, Mohammed had 
 
 a further design in it than barely telling such a miraculous adventure of 
 himself to the people. Hitherto he had only given them the Koran, 
 which was his written law ; and had pretended to be nothing more than 
 barely the messenger of God, in publishing it as it was delivered to him by 
 the angel Gabriel. But now, learning from his friend Abdallah, that the 
 Jews, besides the written law dictated by God himself, had also another 
 law, called the oral law, given with it, as they pretend, to Moses himself 
 while in the mount; and understanding that this law, which had its whole 
 foundation in the sayings and dictates of Moses, was in as great venera- 
 tion with them as the other ; he had a mind for the future to advance his 
 authority to the same pitch, and to make all his sayings and dictates pass 
 for oracles among the Mussulmans, as those which were pretended to pro- 
 ceed from Moses did among the Jews ; and for this end chiefly it was that 
 lie invented this story of his journey to heaven. 
 
 The story, however, whatever advantages he might and did gain by it 
 when his religion became more firmly established, was deemed, at first, 
 Retires to Me- so g ross ty ridiculous, that it occasioned the revolt of many 
 dina * of his disciples, and made his stay at Mecca no longer prac- 
 
 ticable. But what he lost at Mecca, he gained at Medina, then called 
 Yathreb, a city lying 270 miles north-west from Mecca : which was inha- 
 bited, the one part by Jews, and the other by heretical Christians. These 
 wo parties did not agree at all and feuds and factione rose at length so 
 
LIFE OF MOHAMMED. 
 
 ' 98 ' 
 
 high among them, that one party, exasperated against the other, went over 
 to Mohammed. Thus, we are told, that in the thirteenth year of his mis- 
 sion, there came to him from thence, seventy -three men and two women. 
 Twelve of these he retained awhile with him, at Mecca, to instruct them 
 in his new religion; then sent them back to Yathreb, as his twelve apos- 
 tles, there to propagate it in that town. In this, they laboured abundantly 
 and with such success, that in a short time they drew over the greatest 
 part of the inhabitants ; of which, Mohammed receiving an account, 
 resolved to go thither immediately, finding it unsafe to continue any longer 
 at Mecca. 
 
 On the 12th day of the month, which the Arabs call the Former Rabia 
 *hat is, on the 24th of our September, he came to Yathreb, and was re- 
 The Hejira, or ceived with great acclamations by the party which called 
 Era °f F1 ig ht , A - d. thither. He first lodged in the house»of Chalid Abu 
 
 Job, one of the chief men of the party, till he had built a house for him- 
 self. This he immediately undertook, and erected a mosque at the same 
 time for the exercise of his religion; and having thus settled himself in 
 this town, he continued there even after, to the time of his death. From 
 this flight of Mohammed, the Hejira, which is the era of the Mohamme- 
 dans, begins its computation : Hejira, in the Arabic language, signifying 
 “ flight.” It was first appointed by Omar, the third emperor of the Saracens, 
 and takes its beginning from the. 16th of July, in the year 622. Indeed, 
 the day that Mohammed left Mecca was on the first of the Former Rabia; 
 and he came to Medina on the 12th of the same month, that is, on the 
 24th of our September ; but the Hejira begins two months before, from 
 the first of Moharram : for that being the. first month of the Arabian year, 
 Omar would make no alteration as to that, but anticipated the computation 
 fifty-nine days, that he might commence his era from the beginning of 
 that year, in which the flight of the impostor happened, from which it 
 took its name.* 
 
 From the time Mohammed entered Medina, he found himself in reality 
 a monarch, at the head of an army devoted to his person, obedient to his 
 will, and blind believers in his holy office. Finding him- 
 Bdtlle of Beder ' self in a condition not only to defend himself against the 
 insults of his enemies, but even to attack them, he began to send out 
 parties to make reprisals on the Koreish. One of these, consisting of no 
 more than nine men, intercepted and plundered a caravan belonging to 
 that tribe. This small advantage animated the Moslems, and induced the 
 Prophet to think he should gain as much reputation by his arms as by 
 his revelations ; but what mostly established his affairs at this juncture, 
 and was the foundation on which he built all his succeeding greatness, 
 
 * Nightingale’s « All Religions.” 
 
LIFE OF MOHAMMED. 
 
 99 
 
 was the gaining of the battle of Beder, a well on the confines of Arabia, 
 which was fought in the second year of the Hejira, and is so famous in 
 the Mohammedan history. This victory was an invincible proof to the 
 Arabians of the truth of Mohammedism. Having been informed by his 
 spies, that the Koreish had a large quantity of valuable merchandise, car- 
 ried on the backs of 1000 camels, coming from Syria, and escorted only 
 by thirty or forty men, he resolved to advance at the head of a small 
 detachment of his troops, to intercept it. But Abu Sofian, the conductor 
 of the caravan, having notice of his designs and motions, immediately de- 
 spatched a courier to Mecca, requesting his countrymen to send him speedy 
 succours, upon which all the principal men of the city marched to defend 
 the caravan, with a body of 950 men. Mohammed had no sooner received 
 advice of this, than he drew together all his forces, which amounted to no 
 more than 313 men, with which he advanced against the enemy. In the 
 mean time, he took care to leave a proper garrison in Medina, to defend 
 it in case of any disaster. Before the beginning of the battle, feigning 
 himself in a trance, he pretended that God had promised him certain vic- 
 tory. After which, throwing a handful of dust towards the enemy, he 
 said, May the faces of them be confounded ! and then, exhorting his men 
 to behave valiantly, he commanded them to fall upon the Koreish. They 
 charged them with such bravery, that they soon put them to flight, having 
 killed seventy of the principal of them on the spot, and taken as many 
 prisoners, with the loss of only fourteen men. In imitation of Moses, 
 Mohammed sat in a tent, and prayed for those that fought, for Gabriel 
 would not permit him to engage. The Prophet pretends in the Koran, 
 that not he, but God, by the ministry of his angel, threw the gravel 
 towards the unbelievers ; that the Moslem troops seemed to the infidels to 
 be twice as numerous as themselves, which greatly discouraged them ; 
 and that God had sent down to their assistance, first 1000, and afterwards 
 3000 angels, led by Gabriel, mounted on his horse Haizum ; and, according 
 to the Koran, these celestial auxiliaries did all the execution, though Mo- 
 hammed’s troops could not perceive them. The battle was fought on a 
 Friday, and on the 17th of the month Ramadan. 
 
 At the commencement of the second year of the Hejira, Mohammed 
 altered the Kebla for his disciples, or the part of the world to which the 
 
 Mohammed ai- Mohammedans are to turn their faces in prayer. At first, 
 ters the Kebla. Mohammed declared it to be perfectly indifferent ; after- 
 wards, when he fled to Medina, he directed his followers to turn towards 
 the temple of Jerusalem, (probably to ingratiate himself with the Jews,) 
 which continued to be their Kebla for seventeen or eighteen months ; but, 
 either finding the Jews too intractable, or despairing otherwise to gain the 
 Pagan Arabs, who could not forget their respect to the temple of Mecca, 
 he ordered that prayers, for the future, should be towards the east ; that 
 
JOO 
 
 LIFE OF MOHAMMED. 
 
 is, towards the Caaba, or temple of Mecca. This change occasioned 
 many to fall from him, taking offence at his inconstancy. Again, he 
 ordered that the Faithful should be called to prayers with a loud voice 
 from the top of the mosques ; whereas before, he was, out of policy, in- 
 clined to the Jewish horn, and had actually made use of rattles, as Chris- 
 tians did. He likewise ordained the grand fast of Ramadan, in which 
 month the Koran came from heaven, and made several regulations about 
 alms, things lawful and unlawful, policy, &c.; all which were either 
 inspired or confirmed by miracles. 
 
 It does not belong to the plan of this work to give an account of the 
 military expeditions, by which, in successive years, the prophet succeeded 
 in establishing his religion in almost every part of his own country. One 
 or two expeditions, however, are too important in the Prophet’s history to 
 be passed over without notice. 
 
 In the sixth year of the Hejira, with fourteen hundred men, he under- 
 took a pilgrimage to the holy temple of Mecca. But the inhabitants of 
 
 Concludes a ^at city* being jealous of his intentions, despatched a mes- 
 treaty with the S enger to the Prophet, while he halted several days at 
 years. Hodeibiya, saying, that if he entered the city, it must be at 
 
 the point of the sword. Upon this, the Prophet summoned his men to 
 attack the city; but, before this could be effected, the Meccans sent an am- 
 bassador to him to confer upon terms of peace. Finding it to be for their 
 mutual advantage to enter into a treaty, one was formed, which stipulated 
 that the Prophet and his followers should have free access to the city and 
 temple, after one year, whenever they pleased, during the space of ten 
 years, provided they came unarmed, as befitted pilgrims, and remained not 
 more than three days at a time. 
 
 During the same year the Prophet led his army against Chaibar, a city 
 inhabited by Arab Jews, who offered him a manly resistance ; he laid siege 
 
 Attacks Chaibar to P^ ace an d carried it by storm. A great miracle is 
 a city of Arab b ere have been performed by Ali, surnamed “ The 
 
 Jews, where he is r j 
 
 poisoned. Lion 0 f God.” A ponderous gate, which eight men after- 
 
 wards tried in vain to lift from the ground, was torn by him from its hinges, 
 and used as a buckler during the assault ! Mohammed, on entering the 
 town, took up his quarters at the house of Hareth, one of the principal 
 inhabitants, and here met with a reception which eventually cost him his 
 life. Zeinab, the daughter of Hareth, while preparing a meal for the 
 conqueror and his attendants, inserted a quantity of poison into a shoulder 
 of mutton which was served up at the table. Bashar, a companion of 
 Mohammed, had scarcely begun to eat of it, before he was seized with 
 convulsions, and died upon the spot. Mohammed, by spitting out the 
 greatest part of what he had taken into his mouth, escaped immediate 
 death, but the effects of the fatal drug had entered his system, and, resist- 
 
LIFE OF MOHAMMED. 
 
 101 
 
 ing every effort of medicine to expel or counteract it, in somewhat more 
 than three years afterward it brought him to his end. If, as the reporters 
 of Mohammed’s miracles affirm, the shoulder of mutton informed the Pro- 
 phet of its being poisoned, it is certain that the intelligence came too late. 
 The seeds of death were henceforth effectually sown in his constitution ; 
 and his own decline ever after kept pace with his growing power. When 
 Zeinab was asked, how she had dared to perpetrate a deed of such unpa- 
 ralleled enormity, she is said to have answered, “ that she was determined 
 to make trial of his powers as a prophet ; if he were a true prophet,” said 
 she, “ he would know that the meat was poisoned ; if not, it would be a 
 favour to the world to rid it of such a tyrant.” It is not agreed among the 
 Mohammedan writers what was the punishment inflicted upon this second 
 Jael, or whether she suffered any. Some affirm that she was pardoned ; 
 others, that she was put to death.* 
 
 In the seventh year of the Hejira, the year stipulated in the before- 
 mentioned treaty being elapsed, Mohammed and his followers made the 
 Al-Kadha , or visit of consummation or accomplishment , and pilgrimage 
 of Mecca. At the distance of six miles from that town, they all took an 
 oath to perform religiously all the ceremonies and rites prescribed in that 
 visit. Being come nearer, they left their arms and baggage, and entered 
 the holy city in triumph, devoutly kissed and embraced the black stone 
 of the Caaba, and went seven times round the temple. They performed 
 the first three rounds by running, jumping, and shaking their shoulders, 
 to show their vigour after the fatigue of the journey ; the other four, by 
 walking gravely, not to over-tire themselves ; and this custom is kept up 
 to this day. Then prayer was proclaimed, and the Prophet, mounted on a 
 camel, ran seven times between two hills, on which were to be seen, at 
 that time, tw r o idols of the Koreish. The Mussulmans were shocked at it ; 
 but their scruples were quieted by a passage of the Koran sent from 
 heaven, in which God declared that those two hills were a memorial of 
 him, and that the pilgrims who should visit them ought not to be looked 
 upon as guilty of any sin. This same custom is still in use among the 
 Arabians, who pretend that it is as ancient as their patriarch Ishmael, and 
 look upon it as part of the religious worship practised by Abraham. The 
 whole concluded with a sacrifice of seventy camels, and the Mussulmans 
 shaved themselves. 
 
 The following year, Mohammed, accusing the Meccans of a violation of 
 the treaty, summoned an army of ten thousand men, with a design to 
 make himself master of the city. As he advanced towards it, he found all 
 in consternation, increased his army with those who daily flocked to him ; 
 and by force, threats, or persuasion, he brought over to his party many 
 
 Bush’s Life of Mohammed. 
 
102 
 
 LIFE OF MOHAMMED. 
 
 proselytes of note, who were likely to procure the conversion of others. 
 Then he attacked the Koreish, not like an apostle, but as a conqueror, and 
 gave the signal, saying, “This is a day of slaughter, in which, if requisite, 
 the most sacred place of refuge may be violated.” His orders were 
 obeyed ; they entered Mecca sword in hand, and killed all the Koreishites 
 they could find ; but Mohammed pretended this barbarous execution was 
 made against his intentions. 
 
 The apostle made his public entry next morning at sunrise, repeating 
 aloud, with an affected humility, the chapter of the Koran called Victory , 
 which came down from heaven at Hodaiba ; he went directly to the Caaba, 
 and, 'w ithout alighting from his camel, devoutly performed the seven rounds, 
 and touched the black stone with his staff ; then he dismounted, went in, 
 and pulled down all the statues, among others that of Ibrahim or Abraham, 
 in the hands of which were the arrows or rods used by Arabian idolaters 
 in their divinations by casting lots. On entering, he often repeated the 
 words God is great , &c. ; and turning to every side of the temple, he 
 said prayers with various inclinations of the body, and fixed the Kebla; 
 the 360 idols which were round the Caaba, and that which was on the top, 
 underwent, according to Arabian writers, the same fate in a wonderful 
 manner ; Mohammed only touched them with his cane, saying, Truth is 
 come , let falsehood disappear , lying is mere vanity and down they fell. 
 He then went in and preached in a pulpit, made for that purpose, which 
 the Khalifs, who succeeded him, used likewise. The seven rounds were 
 now repeated ; after which he went to the well of Zem-Zem , made a stop 
 at Ibrahim’s footstep, drank large draughts of the sacred water, and washed 
 himself : the Mussulmans then followed his example. This well had been 
 long reputed to have the virtues of restoring health, of strengthening the 
 memory, and of blotting out sin. 
 
 Mohammed now made a speech to the inhabitants of Mecca on the 
 favour which God bestowed upon them, by his means, in freeing them 
 from idolatry ; he also let them know that they were become his slaves ; 
 but he restored to them that liberty which by the right of conquest they 
 had lost. 
 
 Many wonders and heavenly oracles are said to have accompanied this 
 ceremony ; the apostle disposed of the several offices of the temple, re- 
 newed the oath to the believers, and they mutually took an oath to bind 
 themselves to him. 
 
 In the tenth year of the Hejira, Mohammed made his famous pilgrimage 
 to Mecca, called the pilgrimage of Valediction. He was attended on 
 
 Pilgrimage of ^is occasion by 90,000 men, some say, 114,000, or, as 
 valediction. others will have it, a still greater number. Nor is this to 
 be wondered at, when it is considered that the people came in vast 
 crowds from all parts of Arabia, of which he was now absolute master 
 
LIFE OF MOHAMMED. 
 
 103 
 
 to accompany him in this peregrination. He took all his wives, enclosed 
 in their pavilions on the backs of camels, with him ; together with an 
 infinite number of camels, intended for victims, which were crowned with 
 garlands and ribands. 
 
 It is well known, that the pilgrimage to Mecca is looked upon by the 
 Mussulmans to be of such importance, that whoever is able to undertake 
 it, and does not perform it once, at least, in his lifetime, is reputed an infi- 
 del. This custom was complied with long before Mohammed : and the 
 Arabians say it is as ancient as the patriarchal age. Mohammed had 
 visited the Caaba twice before, as we have related, but in this year he 
 vowed and performed it in a most magnificent manner. During the journey, 
 he often said prayers with the usual reverences. He entered the holy city 
 at the same place as when he took it, and the religious ceremonies were 
 the same, in respect to going seven times round the Caaba and kissing the 
 black stone twice. From a neighbouring hill he now pronounced this 
 form of the profession of the unity of God: God is great; there is no 
 God but he only ; he has no companion ; the power of governing belongs 
 to him ; praise be given to him alone ; he is powerful above all ; he only 
 is strong. The sun being nearly setting, he instructed the people, and 
 taught them the rites to be observed in the pilgrimage, and stood till the 
 close of the day. He then said vespers, or evening prayers, — lay on the 
 ground, slept till the break of day, and said morning prayers a few 
 minutes before the rising of the sun. He now ran through the valley of 
 Mohasser to that of Mina, in which are pebble stones ; he took up seven 
 of them, and threw them one by one against Satan, repeating each time 
 the said form of unity. At the place of sacrifice he made a discourse, to 
 let the people know the ceremonies of it. He then killed with his own 
 hands and offered sixty-three camels ; that is, as many as he was years 
 old. Ali killed thirty-seven to make up the hundred. Then these 
 words, which are the ratification of the Koran, were heard from heaven : — 
 Wo be this day to those who have denied your religion. I have this day 
 brought it to its perfection , and have fulfilled my grace upon you. It is 
 my good-will and pleasure , that Islamism be henceforth your religion . 
 The Mussulman doctors say, that the word religion comprehends ali the 
 decisions, statutes, and precepts of the law ; and that, since that time, no 
 positive nor negative command has come down from heaven. This being 
 completed, Mohammed shaved his head, the right side first, then the left, 
 threw away the hair, of which, Khaled, one of his officers, tied part to his 
 turban, and was powerfully helped by this precious relic, in all the battles 
 in which he was afterwards engaged. The whole concluded with a holy 
 repast, in which they ate what remained of the sacrificed camels ; the pro- 
 phet »then said a prayer, drank some Zem-Zem water, and once more 
 made the seven rounds. Within a mile of Mecca is Mount Araa, a place 
 
104 
 
 LIFE OF MOHAMMED. 
 
 much respected by the Mussulmans, because, according to their tradition, 
 Adam and Eve, after their sin, were condemned to a separation for one 
 hundred and twenty years, which having expired, they met by God’s 
 appointment on the top of this hill, and complied with the so long inter- 
 rupted conjugal duty. In memory of which, the place is dedicated to 
 penance and retirement ; of both which duties Mohammed acquitted him- & 
 self, prayed for his own sins, and for those of his followers, and recom- 
 mended the same acts of devotion in the Koran. 
 
 We are now come to the last period of Mohammed’s life: the last em- 
 bassy he received was from the Arabians of Yemen, in the month of 
 Moharram, the eleventh year of the Hejira ; and the last expedition which 
 he ordered was in the following month of Safar. Two days after, he fell 
 into a sickness, accompanied by a most violent pain in the head ; these 
 were occasioned by the poison which he had taken, three years before, at 
 Chaibar ; and which poison, at certain intervals, had greatly disordered 
 him, ever since the reduction of that place. Having now called his wives 
 together, he entertained them, chiefly the most beloved of them, and his 
 daughter Fatima, with such discourses as showed his fanatical enthu- 
 siasm, or which were the result of the senseless fancies of a brain distem- 
 pered by the violence of the fever. But to be able to speak more sensibly 
 to his followers, he ordered seven large skins, or measures, full of cold 
 water, to be thrown upon him, in order to recall his wandering spirits. 
 Then, being carried to the mosque and set in the pulpit, he recited aloud 
 the before-mentioned form of unity ; begged God’s pardon ; proffered to 
 make a public reparation for all the injuries he might have done to any- 
 body ; and actually paid to a particular person the principal and interest 
 of a small sum of money which he pretended was due to him ; saying, at 
 the same time, It is much more easy to bear shame in this world than in- 
 the next. He then said the prayers for noon ; and likewise prayed for the 
 dead, according to the agreement and communion which subsist between 
 the living and the dead. These and other devout actions he performed as 
 long as he had any strength left. 
 
 We shall only mention the Mohammedan fables concerning Gabriel’s 
 being often sent by God to inquire how the Prophet did ; his introduction of 
 Azrael, the angel of death, to the apostle just before his dissolution, having 
 first obtained his leave ; and the pious discourses of all three. Gabriel 
 assured him he could not take his life without his express permission : nay, 
 he gave him, as they tell us, his option of life or death ; which the Moslem 
 doctors look upon as one of the most singular and illustrious prerogatives 
 of the Prophet. Whereupon Mohammed, continue these authors, having 
 chosen death, and desired the aforesaid angel Azrael to execute his office, 
 he was immediately thrown into agonies, that terminated with his* life. 
 
 Thus Mohammed died at noon, on a Monday, the twelfth of the month called 
 
LIFE OF MOHAMMED. 
 
 105 
 
 Rabbi the First, in the eleventh year of the Hejira; being about sixty-three 
 years old. Historians take notice that he was born on a Monday ; began 
 his apostolical functions on a Monday ; fled from Mecca on a Monday ; 
 made his entry into Medina on a Monday ; took Mecca on a Monday ; 
 and at last died on a Monday. His death was thought so extraordinary 
 that it was called an assumption. Some said, He is not dead , he is 
 only taken up into heaven, like Jesus in an ecstasy. Others said, He is 
 gone to his Lord, as Moses, who left his people for forty days and came 
 again. Their disputes ran high respecting his death ; but Abu-Beker, 
 who succeeded him, put an end to those quarrels by giving a final sentence, 
 that Mohammed was dead, like all other apostles and prophets w T ho had gone 
 before him. This decision being unanimously received, his body was 
 washed and perfumed, especially those parts which touched the ground at 
 the adoration paid to God, viz. the feet, the hands, the knees, and the fore- 
 head. The ablution called Wodhu was also performed on the face, the 
 arms, the palms of the hands, and soles of the feet. Lastly, the whole 
 body was embalmed by Ali, whom Mohammed had ordered to do it ; and 
 those who helped him were hoodwinked, because, the Prophet had foretold 
 that blindness would be the fate of any other person who should see him 
 naked. Strange wonders and sweet odours accompanied this ceremony; at 
 least so say the Mussulman writers. Ali dipped some cloths in the water 
 with which he had been washed ; they imbibed the virtues of it, and Ali, 
 who kept them and wore them, became a partaker of those virtues. 
 
 Prayers were now said for him and his family by all the faithful in order. 
 Gagnier asserts, that his body was not hung up in an iron chest, as is 
 generally reported. 
 
 In relation to the place where the Prophet’s remains were to be depo- 
 sited, there happened some disputes among his followers. The Mohajerins 
 insisted upon his being buried at Mecca, the place of his nativity ; and the 
 Ansars, at Medina, the place of his residence during the last ten years of 
 his life. Others were for transporting him to Jerusalem, and erecting a 
 monument for him there among the sepulchres of the prophets. But his 
 successor, Abu-Beker, decided the whole affair at once, by declaring that a 
 prophet ought to be interred in the place where he died ; and that he had 
 heard Mohammed, in his lifetime, own himself to be of this opinion. 
 Whereupon the body was buried in a grave dug under the bed on which 
 he died, in the apartment of Ayesha, his best-beloved wife, at Medina, 
 where it remains to this day, in a magnificent building, covered with a 
 cupola, and adjoining to the east side of the great temple, which is built in 
 the midst of the city. 
 
 The sorrow and doleful complaints of the Mussulmans on this occasion 
 were no doubt very great ; but we shall omit the enthusiastic description 
 of them given by Arabian historians, to give the true character of thi3 
 
106 
 
 LIFE OF MOHAMMED. 
 
 prophet. As to his person and outward appearance, he was of a middle 
 stature, neither endowed with extraordinary beauty, nor in any way de- 
 formed. The Arabians, indeed, assert that the prophetic light, which 
 descended lineally from Adam to him, made his face as bright as the sun. 
 Nor must we omit what they say of his spittle, viz. that it was so sweet 
 and of so good a taste, that children might have been fed with it. A wen 
 which he had between his shoulders, and which disappeared at his death, 
 was, they say, the seal of prophecy ; to which they add, that flies and 
 other insects were never troublesome to him, and that, consequently, his 
 skin was always soft and shining. 
 
 Those authors are likewise as extravagant in their description of his 
 mind. We may easily believe, however, that he was far more ingenious 
 than others of his countrymen, upon whom he prevailed by his subtle 
 devices, natural eloquence, and remarkable affability: the latter quality 
 was, however, sometimes assumed, not without a mixture of severity. He 
 affected likewise to be thought a great lover of justice and truth. He was 
 so liberal to the poor as to be called their father, never refused to give alms 
 to them, and maintained constantly forty at his own charge. It is said, 
 too, that though he was master of an immense estate, yet he often had 
 nothing left but what was absolutely necessary for the support of his family. 
 He was very sparing in his diet, and ate only some dates and drank no- 
 thing but water for several months of the year. The Arabians likewise 
 say of him, that he took his meals standing, or in an uneasy situation, with 
 his servant; made his own shoes, his clothes ; sw T ept the house, and even 
 prepared the victuals for his men ! So far the austerity of his life seemed 
 to imitate the severity of the anchorites and solitaries of Egypt and the 
 neighbourhood of Arabia. This mortification was no doubt practised in 
 order to dazzle the common people, and inspire them with the highest 
 opinion of, and veneration for, his sanctity. 
 
 But with all these hardships, he indulged himself in a seraglio of twenty- 
 one, and even twenty-five wives : women, it seems, to use his own expres- 
 sion, rejoiced his sight and raised his fervour at his prayers. Five of his 
 wives died before him ; from six he was divorced, and ten remained in a 
 state of widowhood after the Prophet’s death. 
 
 Mohammed had four sons and four daughters by his first wife, and none 
 by any of his other wives or concubines, except Mary the Copt. All his 
 sons died in their infancy. Such was the life, such the death, and such 
 the character of Mohammed. That the desire of satisfying his sensuality 
 was one of the principal motives of his undertaking, seems indisputably 
 clear, from the great number of wives and concubines he maintained, as 
 well as from the wicked and unjustifiable methods he was obliged to make 
 use of, in order to obtain possession of some of them. 
 
 Before the death of Mohammed, he had become master of all Arabia ; 
 
RELIGIOUS TENETS, ETC. 
 
 107 
 
 had extended his conquest to the borders of the Greek and Persian era 
 
 , J pires ; had rendered his name formidable to those once 
 
 Mohammedan 1 
 
 conquests. mighty kingdoms ; had tried his arms against the disci- 
 
 plined troops of the former, and defeated them in a desperate encounter at 
 Muta. His throne was now firmly established ; and an impulse given to 
 the Arabian nations, which induced them to invade, and enabled them to 
 conquer, a large portion of the globe. India, Persia, the Greek empire, 
 the whole of Asia Minor, Egypt, Barbary, and Spain, were eventually 
 reduced by their victorious arms. Mohammed himself did not indeed live 
 to see such mighty conquests achieved, but he commenced the train whicl 
 resulted in this wide-spread dominion ; and before his death, had esta- 
 blished over the whole of Arabia, and some parts of Asia, the religion 
 which he had devised. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 RELIGIOUS TENETS, CEREMONIES, AND CUSTOMS OF THE MOHAM- 
 MEDANS. 
 
 All Mussulmans look upon the pilgrimage to the tomb of Mohammed 
 as one of the chief duties of their religion. The Arabian doctors say that 
 Pilgrimage to the Mohammed enjoined it, and it is well known that supersti- 
 med. tion lays a great stress on such ceremonies. Whoever un- 
 
 dertakes to perform it must often, even upon the road, turn himself towards 
 Medina to pray ; as soon as he sees the tops of the trees about the town, 
 he ought to renew his devotion, and repeat without intermission the ap- 
 pointed form of prayers, to beg of God that this visit to the holy sanctuary 
 of the prophet may be acceptable, and may deliver him from hell. Before 
 he enters the city, he is enjoined to wash himself, to use perfumes, put on 
 his best apparel, and to give alms. Having entered, he says a prayer, and 
 another when he comes into the mosque : this latter is for Mohammed and 
 his family. The pilgrim then goes towards the tomb, stays some time at 
 the place where the Prophet prayed, and also at some other places, accord- 
 ingly as his devotion suggests to him. Being at last arrived near the holy 
 place, he first prostrates himself on the ground, pays his adoration to God, 
 gives him thanks for having conducted him safely thither ; then standing 
 up, with his face turned towards Mecca, he prays for the Prophet and his 
 two successors, Abu-Beker and Omar : he does not, while praying, even 
 lean against the wall which encloses the monument, as that would be con- 
 sidered indecent and a profanation. Gagnier says, that “ the pilgrim looks 
 on the ground, and there fixing his eyes, salutes the Prophet, with the 
 
108 
 
 RELIGIOUS TENETS, ETC. 
 
 utmost veneration and respect ; at the same time withdrawing his thoughts 
 and affections from all worldly concerns, as becomes one who is in the 
 presence of God and his apostle,” &c. On the Friday following, he goes 
 to a burying-ground, called Al-Baki , where several of the companions of 
 Mohammed lie interred, and visits the tombs of the chief ladies and others 
 of his family, servants, and successors; as well as of Fatima his daughter, 
 Ibrahim his son, and the Mussulman martyrs, &c. Then he washes him- 
 self in and drinks some of the water of the well called Aris , into which 
 the Prophet had spitten ; and performs several prostrations at other 
 mosques, oratories, and wells in Medina, &c. Mohammed himself said, 
 that one prayer in his own mosque is better than a thousand anywhere 
 else ; and that he would intercede for all those who die at Medina. 
 
 The Caaba is a stone edifice in the temple of Mecca, which has been 
 revered with superior sanctity by the Arabians from the remotest antiquity, 
 The Caaba or an d to which every Mohammedan is required by the Koran 
 Temple of Mecca. to di re ct himself in prayer. 
 
 Among the variety of fabulous traditions which have been propagated 
 by the followers of Mohammed concerning the origin of this building, we 
 find it asserted, that its existence is coeval with our first parents, and that 
 it was built by Adam, after his expulsion from Paradise, from a represen- 
 tation of the celestial temple, which the Almighty let down from heaven 
 in curtains of light, and placed in Mecca, perpendicular under the original. 
 To this the patriarch was commanded to turn his face when he prayed, 
 and to compass it by way of devotion, as the angels did the heavenly one. 
 After the destruction of this temple by the Deluge, it was rebuilt by Abra- 
 ham and his son Ishmael on the same spot, and after the same model, 
 according to directions which they received by revelation ; and since that 
 time, it has continued to be the object of veneration to Ishmael’s descend- 
 ants. Whatever discredit we may give to these and other ravings of the 
 Moslem impostor concerning the Caaba, its high antiquity cannot be dis- 
 puted ; and the most probable account is, that it was built and used for 
 religious purposes by some of the early patriarchs, and after the intro- 
 duction of idols, it came to be appropriated to the reception of the Pagan 
 divinities. Diodorus Siculus, in his description of the coast of the Red 
 Sea,, mentions this temple as being, in his time, held in great veneration 
 by all the Arabians ; and Pococke informs us, that the linen or silken veil 
 with which it is covered was first offered by a pious king of the Hamyar- 
 ites, seven hundred years before the time of Mohammed. It had been 
 frequently repaired, and was rebuilt a few years after the birth of this pro- 
 phet by the tribe of Koreish, who had acquired the possession of it either 
 by fraud or violence from the Khozaites. The Caaba then contained three 
 hundred and sixty images of men, lions, eagles, &c., the objects of idola- 
 trous worship, which were all destroyed by Mohammed after the taking 
 
OF THE MOHAMMEDANS. 
 
 109 
 
 of Mecca, when it was purified and adorned, and consecrated to the service 
 of Islam. It received several reparations after his death, and was rebuilt 
 by one of his successors, with some alterations, in the form in which it 
 now stands. 
 
 As no European is permitted to visit Mecca, the only knowledge we 
 have of the present appearance of the Caaba is derived from the descrip- 
 tion and draughts of the Mohammedans, who indeed speak of it in terms 
 of high admiration. It would appear, however, even from their designs, 
 that it is an awkward and shapeless building. It consists of a sort of 
 square tower, 24 cubits by 23, and 27 high, covered on the top with rich 
 blrck damask, bordered with an embroidery of gold, which was formerly 
 renewed every year by the Mohammedan Caliphs, afterwards by the Sul- 
 tans of Egypt, and which is now annually provided by the Ottoman 
 Porte. The floor is raised six feet from the ground ; and a door and 
 window admit the light. Its double roof is supported by three octagonal 
 pillars of aloes wood, between which are suspended several silver lamps ; 
 and the gutters on the top are made of pure gold. At a small distance 
 from this tower, on the east side, is the station of Abraham, where is a 
 stone upon which the patriarch is supposed to have stood when he built 
 the Caaba, and which, they pretend, still bears the traces of his footsteps. 
 It is enclosed in an iron chest ; and here the sect of A1 Shafei meet for 
 religious purposes. On the north of the Caaba is the white stone , within 
 a semicircular enclosure, 50 cubits long, which is said to be the sepulchre 
 of Ishmael, and which receives the rain-water that falls from the Caaba by 
 a golden spout. This stone is of considerable antiquity, and w T as even 
 held in great veneration by the Pagan Arabs. Towards the south-east is 
 the well Zem-Zem, remarkable for the excellence and medicinal quality 
 of its waters, as well as its miraculous origin. It is affirmed to be the 
 same spring which, miraculously bursting out of the ground, supplied 
 Ishmael and his mother Hagar when overcome with thirst in the wilder- 
 ness of Beersheba ; and is celebrated by the Mohammedans not only for 
 curing many bodily diseases, but also, if taken copiously, for healing all 
 spiritual disorders, and procuring an absolute remission of sins. The 
 well is protected by a dome or cupola ; and its water is drunk with much 
 devotion by the pilgrims, and conveyed in bottles to the most distant quar- 
 ters of the Mohammedan dominions. But the most singular relic, regarded 
 with extreme veneration, is the famous black stone, which the Mohamme- 
 dans pretend was one of the precious stones of Paradise, brought down 
 from heaven by the angel Gabriel. According to the received tradition, 
 derived from Mohammed himself, it was originally of such a bright white 
 colour as to dazzle the eyes at the distance of four days’ journey ; but that 
 it wept so long and so abundantly for the sins of mankind, that it became at 
 length opaque, and at last absolutely black. When the Carmathians took 
 8 
 
110 
 
 RELIGIOUS TENETS, ETC. 
 
 Mecca, they pillaged the Caaba, and carried off the black stone in triumph 
 to their capital. The Meccans made every effort to recover it, both by 
 entreaties and the offer of 5000 pieces of gold, but without effect. The 
 Carmathians, however, after having kept it twenty-two years, sent it back 
 of their own accord. It is now set in silver, and fixed in the south-east 
 corner of the Caaba, looking towards Basra, about three feet and a half 
 from the ground. It is called by the Mohammedans “the right hand of 
 God,” and is kissed by the pilgrims with great devotion. 
 
 The Caaba is almost surrounded with a circular enclosure of pillars, 
 connected at the top by bars of silver, and towards the bottom by a low 
 balustrade. Without this enclosure, on the south, north, and west, are 
 three oratories, where three of the Mohammedan sects assemble to perform 
 their devotion. The whole is enclosed at a, considerable distance by a 
 square colonnade, or great piazza, covered with small cupolas, and consist- 
 ing of 448 pillars, from which hang numerous lamps, and 38 gates ; and 
 from each corner rises a minaret or steeple, adorned with a gilded spire 
 and crescent. This enclosure was built by the Caliph Omar, to prevent 
 the court of the Caaba from being encroached upon by private buildings. 
 It was at first merely a low wall, but has since been raised by the liberal- 
 ity of succeeding princes to its present magnificent state. The whole 
 structure of the Caaba is in a peculiar manner styled A1 Masjad A1 Haram, 
 “ the sacred or inviolable place which appellation, however, is sometimes 
 extended to the whole territory of Mecca. 
 
 According to the command of Mohammed, every Mussulman must, 
 once in his life, visit the Caaba, and perform the customary acts of devo- 
 tion in the sacred places. But could the Prophet have foreseen to what 
 distant regions his religion was to be introduced by the arms of his fol- 
 lowers, he would soon have perceived the absurdity of such an injunction. 
 Few, in comparison with the immense numbers who have embraced the 
 doctrines of Islam, can be supposed able to discharge this duty ; and we pre- 
 sume, that it is only such as are more than ordinarily devout that are ever 
 induced to visit the Caaba from religious motives. Many pilgrims, how- 
 ever, resort to the city of Mecca ; but commercial ideas mingle with those 
 of devotion, and the arcades of the temple are often filled with the richest 
 merchandise from every quarter of the world. This duty may be dis- 
 charged by proxy ; but the pilgrim, in such a character, can act only for 
 one person at a time ; and, to prevent all imposture, he must carry back 
 with him a certificate from the Iman of Mecca, of his having actually 
 performed all the devotional exercises or ceremonies appointed by the law, 
 in the name of his principal.* 
 
 In connection with the foregoing account of the temple of Mecca, we 
 
 New Edinburgh Encyclop., art. Caaba. 
 
OF THE MOHAMMEDANS. 
 
 11? 
 
 shall here give an account of the pilgrimage to Mecca, which, as stated 
 . above, Mohammed enjoined upon all his faithful followers 
 
 Mecca. to perform, at least, once in his life. As soon as the devo- 
 
 tees arrive at the consecrated district of Mecca, they perform a general 
 ablution with water and sand ; repeat a prayer, after stripping off their 
 garments ; and put on the sacred habit of colourless woollen cloth, with 
 sandals, which only defend the soles of their feet. They are now de- 
 voted to spiritual meditation, and must not even remove any vermin from 
 their bodies. After reaching the city of Mecca, they encircle the Caaba 
 seven times, like their pagan predecessors ; repeat certain prayers ; drink 
 copiously of the well Zem-Zem ; and kiss, with all their ardour, the 
 sacred black stone. On the first and second of the three days, (the period 
 for which the Caaba is open every six weeks,) the men and women offer 
 their devotions alternately ; and on the last day, the Sheriff of Mecca, the 
 chiefs of the tribes, and the illustrious strangers present in the city, pro- 
 ceed to wash and sweep the temple. The foul water is caught and drunk 
 by the multitude ; the besoms of palm-leaves are treasured up as precious 
 relics ; and the black cloth which surrounds the door and bottom of the 
 building is cut off and divided among the pilgrims. The next part of the 
 duty is to visit the mountain of Arafal, for the offering up of various 
 prayers at certain times and places ; and thence to Mina, where every 
 individual must cast a few small stones (always an uneven number) at the 
 devil’s house there, to show their detestation of the owner. A sacrifice is 
 finally made of a goat, camel, or cpw, in commemoration of Abraham’s 
 willingness to offer up his son ; and after spending three days in this val- 
 ley, the pilgrims return to Mecca, previous to their departure to their 
 respective countries. As they are all allowed to trade on this pilgrimage, 
 the holy city is crowded on these occasions with such merchandise of 
 every country as is most easy of carriage and best adapted for sale ; and 
 in t . former times, the fair of Mecca was accounted the greatest on the face 
 of the faith. 
 
 The wierd Koran comes from the Hebrew word cara , to read : Al signi- 
 fies the, and koran , reading ; so the Jews call the Bible Micra . Other 
 Koran of'ai- Arabian doctors say it is derived from caara, to gather; 
 Koran. , 3 ... because having been given in portions, it was afterwards 
 put ; into one. The Mohammedans have as great a veneration for the 
 Koran,- as *. Christians profess for the Bible. Both these words equally 
 $J$ni fyl the \ Book, by way of preference to any other; that is, the Book of 
 Boate, j 
 
 One hundred: and fourteen chapters, some longer, some shorter, make up 
 thdjj^hole book $ these are called by the French surates, from the Arabic 
 wo^l sua , in the; plural sowar , which signifies order , or a series , or a file; 
 and answers to what the Jews call seder , of which they reckon fifty-three 
 
112 
 
 RELIGIOUS TENETS, ETC. 
 
 in the Pentateuch. Each chapter of the Koran has a particular denomi- 
 nation, taken from the subject of which it treats, or from some person men- 
 tioned in it ; hut more frequently from the first word which those who have 
 put it in order have thought worthy of notice, though it occurs sometimes 
 only toward the end of the chapter. 
 
 The Koran is also divided into sixty equal parts, each of which is sub- 
 divided into four, in imitation of the Jews. “ These sixty portions,” says 
 Herbelot, “are a kind of public service performed in the mosques, on va- 
 rious occasions, by persons hired for that purpose.” 
 
 The Mussulmans know no bounds to the praises which they bestow upon 
 this book : — it is written with the greatest elegance of style, in the purest 
 Arabic dialect used by the Koreish, but intermixed now and then with 
 other dialects. This was not an effect of neglect, nor of a lazy disposition, 
 but in order to give the discourse a greater and more lively strength of 
 expression, or to make it more harmonious. Indeed, all those who are 
 versed in the Arabic language unanimously agree, that the Koran cannot 
 be the production of an idle and lazy author. Although it be written in 
 prose, the energy and harmony of its style must have cost the writer great 
 labour and industry, and raises the work to the sublime character of 
 poetry; yet the difficulty of finding out certain witty turns often interrupts 
 the thread of the discourse, and consequently renders it obscure, which 
 has obliged Mohammed not to be concise and short, but to use frequent 
 repetitions. His figures are bold, in the oriental taste ; his expression 
 strong and pithy; the turn of his phrases, in imitation of the prophets of 
 the Old Testament, is full of interruptions ; and it appears throughout the 
 whole, that all the heart and eloquence of which Mohammed was master 
 have been employed in the most proper places. The mention of God, and 
 the description of his attributes, are always lofty and majestic : oracles are 
 pronounced with a raised and elevated style, proportioned to t*he dignity 
 of the subject. In short, the Arabians are so charmed with the beauties of 
 the Koran, that in all their writings they endeavour to copy thisj; perfect 
 original; and without a competent knowledge of this one book, all other? 
 become unintelligible. 
 
 It is a remark of Sir William Jones, that the Koran shines with. a-.Wr- 
 rowed light, since most of its beauties are taken from our Scriptures. Of 
 
 The Koran ^ trut h of this remark, every reader wouldibe satisfied 
 fo e thJ Christian w ^° s ^ ou ^ compare the two. He would find/fbf'fexample. 
 Scriptures. many of the historical details of the Christian | Scriptures in 
 
 the Koran ; such as the creation of the world, the fall of Ada.m, thfc'Tj^- 
 luge, the deliverance of Noah and his family in the ark, the calhof Abra- 
 ham, the stories of Isaac and Ishmael, &c. &c. At the s :itfl'e Sim^ve 
 would find these subjects interspersed with extra vagantifabtas atjd Mon- 
 strous perversions of truth. He would also perceive tSf^m^Iv?ran is 
 
OF THE MOHAMMEDANS. 
 
 113 
 
 indebted to the Scriptures for not a few of its sentiments, but that their 
 very imagery and phraseology have in hundreds of instances been adopted. 
 The following may serve as an example of the correspondence to which 
 we have alluded : — 
 
 BIBLE. 
 
 Take heed that ye do not your 
 alms before men to be seen of them ; 
 otherwise ye have no reward of your 
 Father which is in heaven. 
 
 Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved 
 of God among you by miracles and 
 wonders, and signs which God did by 
 him. 
 
 Thou shalt give life for life, tooth 
 for tooth, foot for foot, burning for 
 burning, wound for wound, stripe for 
 stripe. 
 
 But their minds were blinded : for 
 until this day remaineth the same veil 
 untaken away in the reading of the 
 Old Testament. But even unto this 
 day when Moses is read, the veil is 
 upon their heart. 
 
 They said therefore unto him, 
 What sign showest thou then, that 
 we may see and believe thee ? 
 
 In the beginning God created the 
 heaven and the earth. And God said, 
 Let there be light, and there was 
 light. 
 
 And when he (Moses) was full 
 forty years old, it came into his heart 
 t© visit his brethren, the children of 
 Israel. 
 
 And in the latter time of their 
 kingdom, when the transgressors 
 are come to the full, a king of fierce 
 countenance, and understanding 
 dark sentences, shall stand up. 
 
 KORAN. 
 
 Make not your alms of none effect, 
 by reproaching or mischief ; as he 
 that layeth out what he hath, to ap- 
 pear unto men to give alms. 
 
 We gave unto Jesus, the son of 
 Mary, manifest signs, and strength- 
 ened him with the Holy Spirit. 
 
 We have therein commanded them 
 that they should give life for life, and 
 eye for eye, and nose for nose, and 
 ear for ear, and tooth for tooth, and 
 that wounds should be punished by 
 retaliation. 
 
 There is of them who hearkeneth 
 unto thee when thou readest the 
 Koran ; but we have cast veils over 
 their hearts, that they should not un- 
 derstand it, and deafness in their 
 ears. 
 
 The infidels say, Unless some sign 
 be sent down unto him from his Lord, 
 we will not believe. 
 
 It is he who hath created the hea- 
 vens and the earth : And whenever 
 he sayeth unto a thing, Be, it is. 
 
 I have already dwelt among you 
 to the age of forty years before I re- 
 ceived it (the Koran.) Do ye there- 
 fore not understand ? 
 
 According to thy dream shall thy 
 Lord choose thee and teach thee the 
 interpretation of dark sayings. 
 
 We taught him the interpretation 
 of dark sayings, but the greater part 
 of men do not understand. 
 
114 
 
 RELIGIOUS TENETS, ETC. 
 
 BIBLE. 
 
 I will open my mouth in parables ; 
 I will utter things which have been 
 kept secret from the foundation of 
 the world. 
 
 And the seventh angel sounded ; 
 and there were great voices in hea- 
 ven, saying, The kingdoms of this 
 world are become the kingdoms of 
 our Lord and of his Christ. 
 
 For behold, I created new heavens 
 and a new earth. We look for new 
 heavens and a new earth. I will 
 cause you to come up out of your 
 graves. And every man shall receive 
 his own reward according to his own 
 labour. 
 
 KORAN. 
 
 O Lord, thou hast given me a part 
 of the kingdom, and hast taught me 
 the interpretation of dark sayings. 
 
 And his will be the kingdom on 
 the day whereon the trumpet shall 
 be sounded. 
 
 The day will come when the earth 
 shall be changed into another earth, 
 and the heavens into other heavens ; 
 and men shall come forth from their 
 graves to appear before the only, the 
 mighty God. That God may reward 
 every soul according to what it shall 
 have deserved. 
 
 As to the true origin of the Koran, a difference of opinion has existed 
 among writers. The majority, however, have agreed in supposing that in 
 
 _ . . , , the construction of the Koran, Mohammed was indebted to 
 
 Koran - the assistance of one or more accomplices. That this opi- 
 
 nion prevailed in the time of the Prophet is certain, since in the Koran it 
 is said, “We also know that they say, Verily a certain man teacheth him 
 to compose the Koran.” “And the unbelievers say, This Koran is no 
 other than a forgery, which he hath contrived: and other people have 
 assisted him therein : but they utter an unjust thing and a falsehood.” 
 But notwithstanding this emphatic denial on the part of the Prophet of 
 assistance, writers have still believed that he had aid, especially from a 
 Nestorian monk named Sergius, supposed to be the same person as the 
 Boheira, with whom he became acquainted at an early period of his life at 
 Bosra, in Syria. Still, however, it must be admitted, that there is no cer- 
 tain evidence in the case, and it will probably remain an unsolved pro- 
 blem to the end of time what was the precise origin of this remarkable 
 book, although in respect to its human and uninspired composition there 
 exists not a doubt. 
 
 Mohammedan The art i c ^ es °f faith which every good Mussulman is 
 piofession of faith, bound to believe and receive with an entire assurance are 
 
 thirteen in number, of which the first and principal is as follows : 
 
 To believe from the heart, to confess with the tongue, and with a volun- 
 tary and steadfast mind to affirm, that there is but one only God, Lord 
 and Governor of the universe, who produced all things from nothing, of 
 
OF THE MOHAMMEDANS. 
 
 115 
 
 whom there is neither image nor resemblance, who never 
 God s existence, an y p erson whatsoever, as he himself was begotten by 
 
 none ; who, as he never was a son, so he never hath been a father. It is 
 this Lord and Sovereign Arbiter of all things whom we Mussulmans are 
 bound to serve and adore ; so that none among us may deviate from this 
 article, but every one must imprint it deeply in his heart; for it is unques- 
 tionable. 
 
 We must believe from our hearts and confess with our mouths that the 
 Most High God, after having revealed himself to mankind by his ancient 
 Prophet Moham- prophets, sent us at length his Elected, the blessed Moham- 
 med and the Ko- mec ^ t h e sacrec i an d divine law, which through his 
 
 grace he had created, the which is contained in the venerable Koran, that 
 hath been from him remitted unto us. By this holy law it is that God 
 hath abolished all the preceding ones, and hath withdrawn from their 
 doubts and errors all nations and people, in order to guide them to a firm 
 and lasting state of happiness. Wherefore we are obliged exactly to follow 
 the precepts, rites, and ceremonies thereof, and to abandon every other sect 
 or religion whatsoever, whether instituted before or since this final revela- 
 tion, By this article we are distinguished and separated from all sorts of 
 idolatry, lying rhapsodies, and false prophecies, and from all those sects, 
 societies, and religions different from ours, which are either erroneous, 
 abrogated, or exaggerated, void of faith, and without truth. 
 
 We must firmly believe and hold as a certainty, that, except God him- 
 self, who always was, and always shall 'be, every thing shall one day be 
 „ .. . annihilated, and that the angel of death shall take to him- 
 
 predestination. self the souls of mortals destined to a total and universal 
 extinction,* by the command of God, our powerful Lord and Master, who 
 was able and hath vouchsafed to produce out of nothing, and in fine to set 
 in form this universal world, with all things therein contained, both good 
 and, evil, sweet and bitter; and hath been pleased to appoint two angels, 
 the one on the right, and the other on the left, to register the actions of 
 everyone of us, as well the good as the bad, to the end that judicial cogni- 
 sance may be taken thereof, and sentence pronounced thereupon, at the 
 great day of judgment. It is therefore necessary to believe predestina* 
 tion: but it is not permitted to discourse thereof to any whomsoever, till 
 after being perfectly well versed in the study of our written law, viz. the 
 Koran, and of our Sonnah, which is our oral law. Seeing then all things 
 are to have an end, let us do good works, and deport ourselves so that we 
 may live for ever. 
 
 We must truly and firmly believe, and hold as certain and assured, the 
 
 • Notwithstanding this annihilation, it is taught in the Koran that all intelligent crea- 
 tures will be reproduced again at the resurrection. 
 
118 
 
 RELIGIOUS TENETS, ETC. 
 
 interrogation of the sepulchre, which will after death be administered to 
 
 The interroo’a- ever y one °f us by two angels upon these four important 
 tion in the grave, questions : — 1. Who was our Lord and our God ? 2. Who 
 
 was our prophet ? 3. Which was our religion ? 4. On what side was 
 
 our Keblah ? He who shall be in a condition to make answer, that God 
 was his only Lord, and Mohammed his prophet, shall find a great illumi- 
 nation in his tomb, and shall himself rest in glory. But he who shall not 
 make a proper answer to these questions, shall be involved in darkness 
 until the day of judgment. 
 
 We must heartily believe, and hold as certain, that not only shall all 
 hings one day perish and be annihilated, — viz. angels, men, and devils, — 
 
 The future dis- but bkewise this shall come to pass at the end of the world, 
 solution. when the angel Israfil shall blow the trumpet in such 
 
 sort — that, except the sovereign God, none of the universal creation shall 
 remain alive immediately after the dreadful noise, which shall cause the 
 mountains to tremble, the earth to sink, and the sea to be changed to the 
 colour of blood. In this total extinction, the last who shall die will be 
 Azrael, the angel of death ; and the power of the Most High God will be 
 evidently manifested. 
 
 We are obliged cordially to believe, and to hold for certain, that the first 
 before all others whom God shall revive in heaven shall be the angel of 
 
 ™ r . death ; and that he will at that time recall all the souls in 
 
 The future re- 7 
 
 surrection. general, and reunite them to the respective bodies to which 
 
 each belonged ; some of which shall be destined to glory, and others to 
 torment. But, upon earth, the first whom God will raise shall be our 
 blessed prophet Mohammed. As for the earth itself, it shall open on all 
 sides, and shall be changed in a moment ; and by God’s command fire 
 shall be kindled in every part thereof, which shall be extended to its utmost 
 extremities. God will then prepare a vast plain, perfectly level, and of 
 sufficient extent to contain all creatures summoned to give an account of 
 their past conduct. May this solemn, definite, and irrevocable judgment 
 awaken us from our security ; for to nothing that hath been created shall 
 favour be showed. Every soul shall be judged there by the same rule, 
 and without exception of persons. 
 
 We must believe from our hearts, and hold for certain, that there shall 
 be a day of judgment, whereon God shall ordain all nations to appear in a 
 
 The day of judg- P^ ace appointed for this great trial, of sufficient vastness 
 nieIlt * that His Majesty may there be evident in splendour. It is 
 
 in this magnificent and spacious station that the universal assembly of ali 
 creatures shall be made, about the middle of the day, and in the bright- 
 ness of noon : and then it is that, accompanied by his prophet, (Mo- 
 hammed,) and in the presence of all mankind, God shall with justice and 
 equity judge all nations of the earth in general, and every person in par- 
 
OF THE MOHAMMEDANS. 
 
 117 
 
 ticular. To this effect, every one of us shall have a book or catalogue of 
 our actions delivered to us ; that of the good in such wise that it shall be 
 received and held in the right hand ; that of the wicked, so that it shall be 
 received and held in the left hand. As to the duration of that day, it 
 shell be as long as the continuance of the present age. This shall be a 
 d,ny of sighs and griefs, a day of tribulation and anguish, when the cup 
 of sorrow and misery must be drunk up, even the very dregs thereof. 
 But this is what shall be particularly experienced by the ungodly and the 
 perverse ; every thing shall present to them ideas of sorrow and affliction. 
 To them every thing shall become aloes and bitterness. They shall not 
 obtain one moment of repose. They shall behold nothing that is agree- 
 able, nor hear one voice that shall delight them : their eyes shall see 
 nothing but the torments of hell ; their ears shall hear nothing but the 
 cries and howlings of devils; and their terrified imaginations shall repre- 
 sent unto them nothing but spectres and tortures. 
 
 We are bound to believe, and hold as certain, that our venerable prophet 
 Mohammed shall with success intercede for his people at the great day 
 „ , . of examination. This will be the first intercession ; but at 
 
 tercession. the second, God will be entirely relented, and all the faith- 
 
 ful Mussulmans shall be transported into a state of glory, while not one 
 excuse or supplication in behalf of other nations shall be accepted. As to 
 the greatness of pain which those among us are to undergo who have been 
 offenders by transgressing the precepts of the Koran, it is known to God 
 alone, as there is none but Him who exactly knoweth how long the 
 same is to continue, whether its duration shall be more' or less than that 
 of the examination or judgment. But to us it belongeth to shorten its 
 continuance by good works, by our charity, and by all the endeavours we 
 are capable of. 
 
 We must sincerely believe, and hold as a certainty, that we must, every 
 one of us, give up our accounts before God, concerning the good and evil 
 The future com- we have transacted in this world. All who have been 
 fas^judgment. the followers of Mohammed shall be before all others sum- 
 moned to this examination, because they it will be who shall bear witness 
 against all other strange nations. It shall come to pass on that day, that 
 God will take away out of the balance of him who has slandered his 
 brother some of the good works, and put them unto that of him who 
 hath been slandered ; and if the slanderer is found to have no good 
 works, he will then deduct from the punishment of the slandered, to in- 
 clude them in the list of those of the slanderer, insomuch that his great 
 justice will be fully manifest. At least, then, that we may not run the 
 hazard of this terrible compensation, let us not think of wronging others, 
 or of diminishing their substance, their honour, or their good name. 
 
 We must believe from the heart, and confess with the mouth, that all 
 
118 
 
 RELIGIOUS TENETS, ETC. 
 
 our actions, good and bad, shall one day be weighed in the balance, the 
 , , . one against the other, insomuch that those whose good 
 
 and of purgatory. WO rks outweigh their bad shall enter into paradise; and 
 that, on the contrary, they whose bad works shall outweigh their good, 
 shall be condemned to the flames of hell. And for those whose scales 
 shall be equally poised, because the good they have done is equivalent to 
 the evil, they shall be detained in a station situate m the middle, between 
 paradise and hell, where consideration will be made both of their merits 
 and of their demerits ; since, besides their being confined in that place, 
 they shall have no punishment inflicted on them, nor shall they enjoy any 
 part of the glory ordained for the beatified righteous. It is true, that all 
 those among that number who are Mussulmans shall be at length released 
 from their captivity, and shall be introduced into paradise at the second 
 intercession of our blessed prophet Mohammed, whose great compassion 
 will be signalized by his engaging, in order to our redemption, to suppli- 
 cate the power and the mercy of the Most High, as well as his justice, 
 already satisfied by the long captivity of the criminals. Wherefore, let us 
 from henceforward weigh our good works, to the end that we may assidu- 
 ously strive to increase their weight, and that they may have the advantage 
 over the bad. 
 
 We are obliged to believe from our hearts, and to hold as assured, that 
 all mankind in the world must pass, one day, over the Sharp-edged Bridge, 
 
 The sharp- w ^ ose length shall be equal to that of this w^orld, whose 
 edged Bridge and breadth shall not exceed that of one single thread of a spi- 
 passage thereof. der’s web, and whose height shall be proportionable to its 
 extent. The righteous shall pass over it swifter than a flash of lightning : 
 but the impious and the ungodly shall not, in as much time as tne pre- 
 sent age shall endure, be able to surmount the difficulties thereof, and 
 that through the want of good works. For which reason, they shall fall 
 and precipitate themselves into hell-fire, in company with the infidels and 
 blasphemers, with those of little faith and bad conscience, who have done 
 few deeds of charity, because they were void of virtue. There shall be 
 some among the good, notwithstanding, whose passage shall be lighter 
 and swifter than that of many others, who shall therein meet with temp- 
 tations and obstructions from every precept which they shall have ill ob- 
 served in this life. Good God ! how dreadful to our sight will this 
 formidable bridge appear! What virtue, what secret grace from the Most 
 High, shall we not need to be enabled to pass over it ! 
 
 We are to believe, and to hold for a certainty, that God did create a 
 paradise, which he prepared for the blessed, from among the number of 
 the faithful, by which are meant the followers of the true 
 religion and of our holy prophet Mohammed ; where, with 
 him, they shall be placed in perpetual light, and in the enjoyment of hea- 
 
OF THE MOHAMMEDANS. 
 
 119 
 
 venly delights ; for ever beautiful in the vigour of their age, and brighter 
 than the sun ; and where they shall be found worthy to contemplate and 
 adore the face of the Most High God. As for those who shall be detained 
 in the tortures of hell, — to wit, the sinners and transgressors, who have 
 nevertheless believed in one only God, — they shall be released at the 
 second intercession of the Prophet, by w’hom they shall immediately be 
 washed in the sacred laver, from whence being come forth whiter than 
 snow, and more refulgent than the sun, they shall, with the rest of the 
 blessed, behold themselves seated in paradise, there to enjoy all the glory 
 they can desire. This is what shall befall the body composed of clay : 
 and what then shall be the state of our souls? To the which it shall be 
 granted eternally to behold tjie light and brightness of the divine majesty. 
 Let us, then, endeavour to do works of such a character, that we may 
 have no cause to fear hell-fire. Let us, I say, chiefly apply ourselves to 
 good works, — let us not refuse to exert our utmost strength in the exact 
 observation thereof, and of the fast of our venerable month of Ramadan 
 with the prayers and ceremonies which are ordained ; and let us not 
 defraud the poor of a tenth of all our goods. 
 
 We must sincerely believe, and hold for certain, that there is a hell pre- 
 pared for the unrighteous, the refractory transgressors of the divine law, 
 accursed of God for their evil works, and for whom it 
 would have been better had they never been born, and t<? 
 have never seen the light of day. It is for such as those that a place of 
 torment is appointed, or rather a fire which burneth without touching 
 them, a fire of ice and north winds, where there shall be nothing but 
 snakes and serpents, with other venomous and ravenous creatures, which 
 shall bite them without destroying them, and shall cause them to feel 
 grievous pains. That place shall be the abode of the impious and of the 
 devils, where these shall, with all sorts of cruelty and rage, incessantly 
 torture those : and lest the sense of their pain should cause them to relent, 
 a new skin shall continually succeed in the stead of that which has been 
 burnt or mortified. It is for us Mussulmans to conceive and entertain a 
 just horror of this detestable place ; such reflections are the duty of all 
 God’s servants. As for those others who have declared war against our 
 religion, they shall one day feel the torments of hell. Let us all dread 
 this punishment and these frightful terrors. Let us confirm our faith by 
 the sentiments of our hearts and by the confession of our tongues, and 
 let us engrave it in the bottom of our souls. 
 
 It belongs in this place to give some account of the Mohammedan Lit- 
 
 Mohammedan ur gy- The following abstract is from the Turkish Cate- 
 Liturgy. chism. 
 
 The religion of the Islamites contains six chief principles : — 
 
 The first is the confession of the true God, and consists in believing 
 
120 
 
 RELIGIOUS TENETS, ETC. 
 
 The second 
 The third is 
 
 body : — First, 
 Secondly, all 
 Thirdly, the 
 
 that there is but one true and eternal God, and that Mohammed is his 
 apostle. 
 
 The second is the regular practice of ablution and purification. 
 
 The third is a regular observation, of the prayers, as prescribed. 
 
 The fourth is giving alms. 
 
 The fifth is the fast of the month of Ramadan. 
 
 The sixth is the pilgrimage of Mecca, from which no Mussulman can. 
 be dispensed, if able to perform it. 
 
 As to the purifications which are prescribed, seven different sorts of 
 water may be used in them : viz. rain-water, sea, river. 
 
 Ablutions. 
 
 well, spring, snow, and hail-water. 
 
 There are three sorts of ablutions and purifications. 
 
 The first, which is called Gasl, is a kind of immersion, 
 named Wodou, concerns particularly the hands and feet, 
 made with earth or gravel, instead of water. 
 
 Three rules are to be observed in this ablution of the 
 
 ... . .. , those who do it must resolve to please God. 
 
 Ablution called r 
 
 Gasl - the dirt of the body must be washed off. 
 
 water must touch the whole skin, and all the hair of the body. 
 
 The Sonna , which is the Oral Law of the Mohammedans, requires 
 five things more: — First, that the usual form, “In the name of God,” 
 &c., be recited. Second, that we should wash the palms of our hands 
 before the jugs be emptied into the washing-place. Third, that before 
 the prayers, some expiatory lustration should be made, with peculiar 
 ceremonies. Fourth, that to take off all dirt, the skin should be rubbed 
 with the hand. Fifth, that all this be continued to the end of the ablu- 
 tion. 
 
 Six things are to be considered in this kind of purification : — 1. It must 
 
 „ , c . be performed with an intention to please God. 2. The 
 called wodou. whole face is to be washed. 3. The hands and arms up to 
 the elbow. 4. The head, or some parts, must be rubbed. 5. The feet 
 and heels are to be made clean. 6. The ceremonies prescribed must be 
 exactly complied with. 
 
 Besides which, the ten institutions of the Sonna must be followed : — 
 1. The form, “In the name of God,” &c., must be used. 2. The palms 
 of the hands washed before the jugs be emptied into the washing-place. 
 3. The face cleaned. 4. Some of the water drawn up the nostrils 
 5. The whole head and ears rubbed. 6. Thick and long beards must be 
 parted, to be better cleaned. 7. The toes washed one after the other, each 
 singly. 8. The right hand and foot to be washed before the left. 9. All 
 these things must be repeated thrice. 10. There must be no intermission 
 in this performance. 
 
 Four rules are prescribed in this purification: — 1. It must be per- 
 
I 
 
 OF THE MOHAMMEDANS. 
 
 121 
 
 Purification with 
 Earth or Gravel, arms, and elbows, 
 
 Prayers. 
 
 formed with an intention to please God. 2. The face ought to be well 
 rubbed. 3. The same is to be done to the hands and 
 and to the feet. 4. The said order 
 
 must be exactly kept. 
 
 Add to this the precepts of the Sonna: — 1. The form, “In the name 
 of God,” &c., must be recited. 2. The right hand must be rubbed 
 before the left, and so of the feet. 3. There must be no intermission in 
 this rite. 
 
 I. Thirteen rules are prescribed concerning prayers: — 1. The inten- 
 tion. 2. The greatness of the names of God. 3. The form of the unity 
 
 of God, God is great , fyc. 4. The right, or straight posi- 
 tion of the body ; which is, the feet are close together, the 
 hands raised up to the head, or joined and laid upon the breast, or each 
 apart upon the knees, bending the body. The adoration is made with the 
 face to the ground, sitting with their hands upon their thighs ; they say, 
 Lord , accept of our standing , bending, adoring, and sitting. 5. Read- 
 ing the first chapter of the Koran, which is as highly valued by Mussul- 
 mans as the Lord’s Prayer by Christians. 6. Bowing the body towards 
 the earth. 7. Raising from that first bowing. 8. A second adoration or 
 prostrating with the face to the ground. 9. Sitting down. 10. A second 
 sitting down. 11. The second form about Mohammed ; the first was about 
 God himself. 12. The words of it, which are to be repeated. 13. The 
 observing punctually each of these in their order. 
 
 II. The Sonna requires four things more: — 1. That the people be 
 invited to prayers. 2. That this invitation be repeated with a form not 
 much different. 3. The first confession about God. 4. The words or form 
 of prayer of that confession. 
 
 III. Five dispositions are necessary for prayer: — 1. The body must be 
 entirely clean. 2. It must be decently clad. 3. In a clean place, so as to 
 contract no uncleanness. 4. At the exact time appointed. 5. Not forget- 
 ting the Kebla, which is turned towards Mecca. 
 
 IV. There are also five sorts of prayers to be said daily. 1. At noon, 
 with four inclinations of the body. 2. In the afternoon, with four also. 
 3. In the evening, with three. 4. In the night, with four. 5. In the 
 morning, with two only. In all, seventeen for the whole day. Travellers 
 may without sin reduce them to eleven. 
 
 Some alms are left to the free choice of every individual ; others 
 are prescribed by the law. We shall now treat of the 
 
 Alms. . r J 
 
 latter. 
 
 I. Alms are given out of five sorts of goods: — 1. Of cattle, camels, 
 oxen, sheep. 2. Of money. 3. Of corn. 4. Of other fruits of the earth. 
 5. Of goods in trade. 
 
 II. Six conditions are required in the giver: — 1. He must be a Mussul- 
 
122 
 
 RELIGIOUS TENETS, ETC. 
 
 man, that is, a true believer. 2. A freeman. 3. The lawiul possessor of 
 what he is to give away ; for it is an injustice, and not charity, to give 
 what does not belong to us. 4. His patrimony must be increased. As 
 riches increase, aims should increase at two and a half per cent. Those 
 who have not twenty pieces of gold, nor two hundred in silver, nor five 
 camels, nor thirty oxen, nor thirty sheep, are not obliged to give alms. 
 5. He must have been in possession about a year, at least eleven months, 
 without pawning it. 6. He must not give his working cattle, but one of 
 those which are at grass, because alms are to be given from that which is 
 not necessary. 
 
 III. The same conditions are required for alms of money, corn, other 
 
 fruits of the earth, &c. ; only about corn and fruits it is to be observed, 
 1. That they must grow from our labour, as sowing, &c. 2. They must 
 
 have been laid up in our store-rooms or barns. 3. There must be a con- 
 venient quantity left, so that the giver may not be reduced to want. 
 
 IV. But we must chiefly take notice, that in the aforesaid alms given by 
 those who are easy in their circumstances, and in other alms, (if that name 
 can be given to a tax annually levied by a capitation at the end of the fast 
 of Ramadan,) the first and best principle ought to be the intention of giving 
 this or that alms as a debt which we are obliged to pay. 
 
 The chief fast of the Mohammedans is that of Ramadan. After it, is 
 kept the feast of the Great Beiram. The little Beiram is kept on the 
 tenth of the month Dilhazja, in memory of Abraham’s 
 sacrifice. 
 
 I. Three things are required in the person who fasts, to make it accept- 
 able to God : — 1. He must be a Mussulman. 2. At the age of ripeness ; 
 fourteen in men, twelve in women. 3. In his, or her, right senses. 
 
 II. The conditions of the fast are five : — 1. An intention of the heart to 
 please God. 2. To eat nothing in the day, from sunrise to sunset. 3. To 
 drink nothing of any sort. 4. To have no commerce with women, not even 
 by kisses. 5. Not to throw up what has been eaten ; which supposes both 
 that the stomach is good, and that no excess is committed, or at least no- 
 thing taken which may give a disgust. 
 
 In performing this devout ceremony, five things are commanded by 
 divine institution: — 1. The intention and religious vow of going to Mecca. 
 
 Pilgrimage of Spending a day on Mount Arafat, which is done on the 
 Mecca - ninth day of the month. 3. Shaving the head in the 
 
 Valley of Mina. They throw seven stones one after the other in the 
 Valley of Mina ; after which the men (not the women) offer sheep, goats, 
 oxen, or camels, in sacrifice, — then shave and pare their nails. The hair 
 and parings are buried in that valley. 4. To go seven times round the 
 Caaba. 5. To run seven times between Safa and Merva, two holy pJaces, 
 one hundred and eighty cubits distant from each other. At first they 
 
OF THE MOHAMMEDANS. 
 
 123 
 
 walk slow, then run faster between two pillars ; then walk again, looking 
 on all sides as if seeking something lost. This is to represent the anxiety 
 of Hagar, when she endeavoured to find water in the desert for her 
 son Ishmael. All these ceremonies were in use long before Mohammed, 
 who made them an essential part of his religion, both in order to draw in 
 the superstitious inhabitants, and to make this law seem venerable for its 
 antiquity. 
 
 We shall now enter upon the manners and customs of civil life, 01 
 which have some relation to the religion of Mohammed. We must in the 
 
 Precepts, du- first place take notice, that the Koran contains some nega- 
 tes, &c. enjoined . , . , , 
 
 by the Koran. tive precepts, concerning things that become evil or scan- 
 dalous only by the abuse of them: such as the forbidding of wine, and 
 other intoxicating liquors, which seems enforced in several passages of the 
 Koran ; for instance, in the second chapter, where Mohammed says ex- 
 pressly, “that the sin committed by drinking wine is much greater than 
 the advantage reaped from the use of it and in the fifth chapter, he 
 reckons wine among the “abominations which are the works of Satan.” 
 Some have pretended that the excess only is forbidden; but the general 
 opinion is, that it is not lawful to drink any of those liquors, and that who- 
 ever drinks even the smallest quantity commits a sin. Those who have 
 performed the pilgrimage of Mecca are the most scrupulous on this point, 
 and will neither drink any wine nor make it, buy nor sell it, nor the 
 implements to make it, in order to live by the profits of such a traffic. 
 Yet all the Mohammedans are not so exact in observing this law ; and 
 when reproached with the breach of it by Christians, they have recourse 
 to recrimination, and upbraid us with our violation of the Gospel pre- 
 cepts. 
 
 Some Mussulmans have doubted whether coffee be not comprehended 
 under the general denomination of intoxicating liquors ; because, they say, 
 it disturbs the imagination of those who use it. It is, however, undoubted, 
 that coffee, though now universally allowed in Mohammedan countries, 
 has been heretofore forbidden, and is now used by mere toleration, not by 
 religious permission ; nevertheless, very few abstain from the use of it. 
 The scrupulous Mohammedans are still more averse from tobacco, both 
 because it has the same effect as wine and brandy, and also on account of 
 a pretended prophecy of Mohammed, that, “in the latter days some shall 
 call themselves Mussulmans, without being really such, who will suck in 
 through a pipe, and blow out, the smoke of a plant called tobacco.” This 
 qualification of false brethren could not but render tobacco odious to scru- 
 pulous people ; yet the constant practice is to introduce coffee and tobacco, 
 without which no entertainment is thought completely polite in the East ; 
 and the Persians, in particular, say, that tobacco is to coffee what salt is to 
 meat. 
 
1 
 
 124 
 
 The same rigorists condemn also the use of opium, or heng, or treacle, 
 although nothing be more common. The Koran does not mention tobacco, 
 nor opium, nor heng ; but as they produce the same effects as wine, they 
 are apt to cause quarrels, neglect of duty, several irregularities, and 
 shameful disorders : all these reasons prove the necessity of abstaining 
 from all such liquors or drugs. Upon the same account, the Jews, from 
 whom, and from the ancient Arabians, the Magi, and the Christians, Mo- 
 hammed has borrowed many of his religious precepts, did not allow the 
 priests to drink wine when they were to officiate in their turn. 
 
 The second and fifth chapters of the Koran forbid also games of hazard, 
 under the general denomination of Al Maisair , which strictly means the 
 „ , art of divination by arrows. We must observe that this 
 
 forbidden. kind of witchcraft is very like Rhabdomancy , that is, the 
 
 art of divination by rods, and is mentioned in the Prophecy of Ezekiel, 
 chap. xxi. verse 26, which is an evident proof that both the Arabians and 
 their neighbours undertook no affair of moment without consulting their 
 arrows. Mohammed forbade all these customs, with an intent, as he said, 
 to take away all superstition ; but others have been substituted for them. 
 
 The Mohammedans were likewise prohibited from games of hazard, 
 under the name of superstition, that all occasions of quarrels and cheating, 
 which generally accompany such games, might be removed. However, in 
 this instance, the civil law enforces the authority of Mohammed and of the 
 Koran, insomuch that games of hazard are in disrepute, and the testimony 
 of those who are addicted to them is of no force in courts of justice ; at 
 least, it is pretended that such witnesses may be rejected. 
 
 The majority of the Mohammedan doctors allow the game of chess, as 
 depending wholly upon industry and skill ; but they forbid playing too 
 long at it, or for money, or laying wagers about it, or at the 
 
 Chess allowed. . . r m , . • 
 
 hours appointed for prayer. Xhese restrictions are ob- 
 served more exactly by the Turks than by the Persians or Moguls. Some 
 are of opinion that Mohammed forbids chess, under the name of images, 
 because, among the Arabians, as with us, most of the pieces represent 
 men, elephants, ffiorses, camels, &c.; others think that Mohammed put that 
 restraint only upon the pawns, which, in Turkey, are made quite plain. 
 The Mohammedans, however, generally abstain from gaming more easily 
 than from wine, and chiefly in Persia, where drunkenness prevails as 
 much as in some European countries. 
 
 This subject naturally leads us to give an account of the diversions and 
 exercises used by the Mohammedans ; but we shall only mention those 
 
 Puppet-shows, which have some relation to religion, according to the good 
 ioweu^’ c ‘ a or bad use made of them, or which even are admitted as a 
 part of their religious ceremonies. Among these are puppet-shows, with 
 which the Turks entertain their guests in private after their meals, not- 
 
OF THE MOHAMMEDANS. 
 
 125 
 
 withstanding Mohammed’s prohibition of images. This diversion's pub- 
 licly exhibited in the Ramadan when the hour of fasting is past ; for then 
 they allow themselves as much sensual pleasure as the Christians do in 
 the Carnival, or the Heathens did during the solemnity of their Satur- 
 nalia, the last two days of which were spent in puppet-shows. 
 
 They have also jugglers, quacks, and public dancers, of both sexes, 
 called tchinguis ; and although the Turks, Persians, and Moguls look 
 upon dancers by profession as people of loose lives and morals, yet it must 
 be owned, that those disorders are not always the consequence of dancing, 
 and several nations have made use of it in their religious worship. No- 
 thing, therefore, but the abuse has rendered dancing contemptible among 
 the Mohammedans, who, nevertheless, admit it in their religion, as appears 
 by the turnings of their dervises, which the majority of travellers repre- 
 sent as a solemn act of worship performed every Tuesday and Friday. 
 The superior of these dervises preaches a sermon on some text of the 
 Koran, which is followed by some prayers out of the same book, sung by 
 all of them together; then, having made a low bow to the superior, they 
 begin to dance, or turn about, while some play on the flute or other instru- 
 ments. This ceremony was invented by one Mewlana, whom the der- 
 vises honour as a great saint ; and we are assured by Ricault, that this 
 man, whom he calls Mevelava , by a miracle, turned fourteen days toge- 
 ther without resting or taking any nourishment, while another dervise 
 named Hamze, his companion, played on the flute ; after which he fell 
 into an ecstasy, and received wonderful revelations, and was very instru- 
 mental in founding the order of dervises. The flute is, they think, a 
 sacred instrument of music, sanctified by Jacob and other holy shepherds 
 of the Old Testament, who made use of it ; yet the rigorists condemn both 
 the dance and instruments of music, as contrary to religion. 
 
 As to the distinction of meats, we shall only add, that the Koran in 
 several places forbids blood, and the flesh of beasts which have been either 
 offered to idols, or which have died naturally ; and some Mussulmans are 
 so cautious in that point, that unless the butcher pronounces the prayer 
 BismilVah , or “ In the name of God,” &c., while he kills any beast, they 
 do not think it lawful to eat of it. 
 
 Usury is also condemned in the second chapter of the Koran, and ranked 
 among the most enormous sins. Mohammed does not allow it, as the Jews 
 do, even towards infidels. Yet there are some Mussulmans 
 who are usurers and extortioners, and give what interpreta- 
 tion they think fit, in order to elude the precepts of the Koran, as too 
 many Christians do with respect to the Gospel. The same chapter which 
 forbids usury, enjoins mercy and forbearance with a debtor who is not able 
 to pay without depriving himself of the necessary means for the subsist- 
 ence of himself and family ; in which case, Mohammed orders his fol- 
 
 Usury 
 
 condemned. 
 
126 
 
 RELIGIOUS TENETS, ETC. 
 
 lowers *not to begin any prosecutions for such debts, but to reckon them as 
 an alms given to the debtor. He may have borrowed this from the law 
 of Moses and of Christ ; and the dictates of humanity may also havtr 
 inspired him to make that law, both to avoid merciless and extortionate law- 
 suits, and to prevent his subjects from being ruined. Thus we see the 
 Romans, who lived before the Gospel, and were but little, if at all, ac- 
 quainted with the law of Moses, had such an abhorrence of usury, that 
 they obliged usurers to restore four times as much as they had thus un- 
 justly gained ; whereas thieves were only condemned to pay double what 
 they had stolen. Prudence and equity convinced them that a usurer was 
 more pernicious to society than a thief. 
 
 The same sentiments of humanity, and the common good of society, 
 prompted Mohammed to abolish the barbarous custom of the Koreishites 
 and other Arabians, of burying girls alive ; which they pretended was in 
 order to prevent the shame which they might cause to their parents by 
 evil conduct, and the slavery and miseries to which they were exposed. 
 Moreover, they had no regard for women but upon account of propa- 
 gation and pleasure, and looked on their birth as a misfortune, their 
 death a happiness ; therefore, when a woman was in labour, she was 
 led to a grave, and if delivered of a female child, it was thrown in and 
 buried. 
 
 The ceremony of marriage is in high esteem among the Mohammedans; 
 yet it is not celebrated in the presence of the priests, nor is it considered 
 an act of religion, as with the Jews and Christians, and 
 monies. formerly with the Romans and Grecians. The Cadi, of 
 
 civil judge, gives it a sanction; “as to an act purely relating to society, 
 which is not valid without his presence. The husband acknowledges that 
 he has obliged himself to marry such a woman, to give her such a dowry, 
 and to dispose of her at pleasure in case of divorce.” The woman is not 
 present at this acknowledgment ; but the father, or some of the relations, 
 assist at it ; which being done, the husband takes possession of his wife; 
 who is brought to him veiled under a canopy, accompanied by friends, 
 relations, slaves, and music. 
 
 Ricault says, that “ wives are not jealous of concubines, if they be not 
 deprived of the right which they claim, and the law gives them, to be 
 admitted once a week to their husbands’ beds. On failure of this, they 
 may demand it on the Thursday night of the following week, and even go 
 to law with their husbands if they do not grant it. If any be so bashful 
 as to neglect this public way of obtaining justice, they endeavour to find 
 out some other way of recompensing themselves for their loss.” 
 
 The majority of travellers affirm that the Turks have a kind of half 
 marriage, called Cabin ; which consists in taking a wife for a time limited. 
 This agreement is made before the judge, who, in the presence of the con- 
 
OF THE MOHAMMEDANS. 
 
 1 21 
 
 trading parties, wiites it down, and the stipulated sum of money is paid 
 to the woman when the time is elapsed. 
 
 The Mohammedans are allowed to make use of their female slaves: and 
 here we must take notice, first, that Mussulmans may marry women of 
 any religion the tenets of which are written ; and secondly, that all the 
 children, whether by wives or slaves, equally inherit their father’s pro- 
 perty, if hy will or otherwise the father has declared them free ; in default 
 of which, the children of a slave still remain slaves to the eldest son of the 
 family. 
 
 Thevenot says, “ that the Turks never marry their relations, unless they 
 are more distant than eight generations ; and that the Mohammedan wo- 
 men study to embellish themselves by all the arts in use among our Euro- 
 pean ladies, — false hair, paint, rich clothes, often to the ruin of their hus- 
 bands and families.” 
 
 The Koran inveighs strongly against adultery, and orders that a husband 
 who accuses his wife of that crime, and does not prove it, shall be basti- 
 nadoed. When there are no proofs nor witnesses, the husband swears 
 five times that what he alleges is true, and to the last oath adds a curse, 
 wishing he may be cursed by God and men if he lies; on the other side, 
 the woman is believed if she also swears five times, and adds to the last 
 cath a prayer, desiring God to destroy her if her husband speaks truth. 
 However, if the adultery be fully proved, the husband has her life in his 
 power, and, if revengeful, puts her in a sack full of stones and drowns 
 her. But then, Tournefort adds, that “ they are so cautious in their 
 amours, that few die in the water : and if the husband spares their lives, 
 they are happier than before, because she is obliged to marry her gallant, 
 who, if a Christian, must embrace Mohammedism or die.” As to the 
 adulterer, he is often condemned to ride an ass, with his face towards the 
 tail, which he holds as a bridle. Fie is crowned with tripe and guts, and 
 has a neckcloth of the same, and at last is bastinadoed upon the reins and 
 the soles of his feet. 
 
 We must not omit the curious particularities related by Ricault, when 
 the princesses of the Ottoman empire are married to some great and 
 powerful man : this pretended honour is the effect of the jealousy which 
 the emperors of Turkey conceive of their power, and is generally the fore- 
 runner of theft* ruin. “ When the Grand Seignior is apprehensive of the 
 great power of a bashaw, he makes him marry one of his sisters, or rela- 
 tions, under pretence of conferring upon him a greater honour; but instead 
 of being greater, he becomes the most abject slave to the pride and tyranny 
 of a woman, who treats him like a footman : yet he dares not refuse, nor 
 seem to undervalue this token of his master’s favour: he must resolve to 
 devote himself wholly to her, and renounce all his other wives or slaves, 
 who might lay claim to any part of his love : if he has already an amiable 
 
' 
 
 129 RELIGIOUS TENETS, ETC. 
 
 wife, and children by her, who engages his most tender affection, he is 
 obliged to turn her out of his house, and also every other person who 
 might be displeasing to this Sultana, although unknown to him. If, before 
 the wedding, she sends to ask of him money, jewels, or rich furs, he must 
 send them to her with an expression of pleasure and thanks ; this is called 
 Aghirlic. He is moreover obliged to settle upon her what dowry the 
 match-makers are pleased to appoint. This dowry or cabin being stipu- 
 lated before a judge, he is led by a black eunuch to the Sultana’s chamber, 
 to give her thanks. When he enters the room, she draws her dagger, 
 and haughtily demands, who made him so bold as to approach her? He 
 answers with a profound respect, and shows to her the Emmery Padschah , 
 or the Grand Seignior’s order for the wedding. She then rises, receives 
 him with mildness, and allows him to entertain her with more familiarity; 
 then a eunuch takes his slippers, and places them at the door, as a token 
 of his meeting with a kind reception. A few minutes after, the bashaw 
 makes a low bow down to the ground, and drawing back, makes a speech, 
 to testify how happy he thinks himself for the honour she intends to confer 
 upon him. This being over, he stands silent, in an humble posture, with 
 his hands across his breast, till she orders him to bring her some water. 
 He obeys readily, and kneeling, presents to her a water-cup prepared for 
 that ceremony: she raises a red veil embroidered with gold and silver 
 flowers, which covered her face, and drinks : her women immediately 
 bring in a low table, on which are set two roasted pigeons, and some can- 
 died sugar on a plate, or a plate of sweetmeats. The gallant desires her 
 to eat, which she refuses till he has made her some rich present. This 
 calms her anger, overcomes her modesty; she sits down to the table, 
 graciously receives from his hand the leg of a pigeon, and having eaten 
 some, puts into his mouth a piece of sugar, then rises, and goes back to 
 her place : all the company withdraw, and leave the newly-married couple 
 alone for the space of an hour, that he maj r freely converse with her 
 Then his friends come with instruments of music playing; they invite 
 him to come to the ante-chamber, where he spends the night with them in 
 drinking and diversion : the Sultana does the same in her room with her 
 ladies. At last, the princess being tired, goes at break of day to lie down 
 in a bed exquisitely rich, well perfumed, and every way fit for the cere- 
 mony. A eunuch gives notice to her husband by a sign, and introduces 
 him without noise into the bed-chamber. He puts off his upper garments, 
 kneels for some time at the foot of the bed, then growing bolder, raises 
 softly the covering, gently touches and kisses the feet of the princess, and 
 places himself by her side. In the morning, his friends come again to con- 
 duct him to the bath, and his spouse presents him with all the linen requisite 
 in that place. After this, they live more familiarly within doors; but in 
 public, she is more reserved, and shows her superiority. She wears a 
 
 J 
 
OF THE MOHAMMEDANS. 
 
 129 
 
 changiar or dagger by her side, and requires of him so many presents, that 
 sooner or later she empties his coffers.” 
 
 Mohammed, in order to hinder his followers from putting their wives 
 away too often, expressly forbids the taking of them again, after a third 
 repudiation, unless they have been married and repudiated 
 by another man. This, they say, has had so good an effect, 
 that very few Mohammedans are divorced from their wives, and the number 
 of those who take them again is still less. 
 
 The third divorce is called Ouch-talac ; which Bespier explains three , 
 or the third separation ; of which the Turks have three different sorts 
 made before the Cadi, and registered by him. By the first the husband 
 and wife are parted from bed and board ; she receiving from him a main- 
 tenance. The second is a total separation of body and goods ; the husband 
 must then give her the stipulated dowry ; after which, she has no claim to 
 his person or goods, and may marry another, three lunar months after the 
 divorce, for fear she should be with child; in which case, she cannot marry 
 and may even remain in her husband’s house, and be maintained at his 
 cost, till she be delivered. The Ouch-talac is the most solemn divorce, but 
 not practised by the Persians. 
 
 The women do not enjoy the same privilege of parting with their hus- 
 bands, unless for want of necessaries, as rice, coffee, wood, money to go to 
 the bagnio, flax to spin their clothes, which the law supposes they are 
 industrious enough to make. 
 
 Children come next under our consideration, as being the fruits of mat- 
 rimony. They become members of Mohammedism by circumcision, 
 which they derive from the Ishmaelites, who, as well as the Jews, are 
 descended from Abraham, to whom God gave a particular command for 
 the performance of it. 
 
 The Turks do not circumcise their children till they are full seven years 
 old ; and when they are beyond that age, they do it when they think fit. 
 Chardin assures us, that the Persians perform this ceremony when the 
 boys are five or six years old ; but the Mohammedan doctors say, it should 
 be done according to the rules, at thirteen, because Ishmael was circum- 
 cised at that age ; or at nine, because children begin then to discern good 
 from evil. However, this is not performed in the same manner as by the 
 Jews ; it is done by a surgeon, not by a priest; God ordained it as a sign 
 or seal of the justice obtained by faith. 
 
 The day of circumcision is a day of joy for all the relations of the child. 
 He is carried on horseback, with kettle-drums and tabors sounding, dressed 
 in his best attire, followed by his school-companions, who pronounce aloud 
 some passages of the Koran. Being brought home, he is directed to repeat 
 the profession of faith, “There is no other God but God,” &c., holding up 
 one finger and then he is circumcised. 
 
RELIGIOUS TENETS, ETC. 
 
 130 
 
 When a grown-up person embraces Mohammedism, he is led on horse- 
 back, carrying in his left hand a dart, with the point turned towards 
 his heart, to testify that he will rather suffer himself to be pierced 
 through the heart than renounce his new religion ; but Tournefort says, 
 they only make their new converts lift up a finger, probably out of con- 
 tempt for those persons who leave the religion in which they were 
 brought up. 
 
 Boys have a name given them on the day of their circumcision, but this 
 custom is also subject to some variations. Tournefort says, the father 
 gives what name he pleases to his child as soon as it is born, holding him 
 in his arms, and lifting him up to offer it to God ; after which, he puts salt 
 into his mouth, and gives him a name with a blessing. Superstition creeps 
 in ; for in Persia, several names taken out of the Koran are huddled 
 together, one of which, drawn by an infant, is given to the child. 
 
 Some Mohammedans do not look upon circumcision as an indispensable 
 act of religion, nor is it necessary to salvation ; while others think that this 
 ceremony confers inward faith, and that God will not hear the prayers of 
 an uncircumcised man. Some Mussulmans are of opinion that the circum- 
 cision of the father has an influence on his children, and that it contributes 
 to their salvation. 
 
 We shall conclude this subject with a few remarks on the birth and 
 education of children. When the children of princes and great lords are 
 born, the moment of their birth is kept very secret, in order to avoid all 
 charms and witchcraft, and to prevent astrologers from casting their na- 
 tivity, and foretelling sinister events. The Mohammedans, like other 
 nations, admit of adopted children ; and it is very common among the 
 Turks. The manner of doing it, is to make the adopted person put on 
 and go through the shirt of the person who adopts him. This adoption is 
 called Jlkhrat . Next to the chief points of religion, beauty and strength 
 of body are in the greatest estimation with Mussulmans, who are persuaded 
 a deformed body can but cover a base soul. The Indians even pretend that 
 such bodies are prisons, into which souls are cast for great crimes com- 
 mitted in a former life. 
 
 The mourning for the dead begins with such loud cries and lamentations 
 made by the women, that the death soon becomes published to the most 
 _ , distant neighbours. The custom of making loud cries and 
 
 Funeral ceremo- e ° 
 
 nie9 - noisy lamentations for departed friends — of rolling in the 
 
 dust, or covering one’s self with ashes, &c., is very ancient in the East; 
 nor is it much altered among the modern inhabitants of those countries. 
 Thevenot informs us, that these Turkish women give over crying when 
 there are no witnesses of their tears, being hired for that purpose, which 
 lasts several days, and is renewed at the end of the year. Previously to 
 the burial, the corpse is washed and shaved, frankincense is burnt about ifc, 
 
OF THE MOHAMMEDANS. 
 
 131 
 
 to expel the devil and other evil spirits, which, as the Mohammedans and 
 several other nations believe, rove about the dead, no less than about the 
 living. This ceremony being over, the body is put into a burial-dress 
 without a seam, that it may, as they pretend, kneel with less difficulty 
 when it is to be examined in the grave. The coffin is covered with a pall, 
 preceded by imans, who pray, and followed by the relations and friends 
 of the deceased, with the women, who lament and shed tears. At the 
 grave the corpse is taken out of the coffin, and put into the ground. The 
 women stay there to cry. 
 
 The difference between the graves of the Turks and of the Christians in 
 those countries consists in a board, which the Turks put over the corpse 
 slanting, so that one end of it touches the bottom of the grave, and the 
 other leans against the top of the grave. But neither the Turks nor the 
 Christians of the East bury their dead in coffins. Moreover, the Turks 
 place a stone at the head of the corpse, for the convenience of the angels 
 who are to examine the deceased. This civility which is paid to them 
 will, as the Mohammedans superstitiously believe, make them more 
 indulgent. 
 
 The palls are different, and the tombs variously adorned, according to 
 the condition and state of life of the deceased, soldiers or churchmen, 
 rich or poor. The burying-places of the Mohammedans are by the high- 
 road, “in order,” as Thevenot says, “to put travellers in mind to offer 
 their prayers to God for the dead, and to obtain his blessing.” For which 
 reason, those who build a bridge, or some other public fabric, from an act 
 of charity, are likewise buried in or near them. The large stones which 
 are erected in the churchyards are so numerous, that a town might be built 
 with them. After the funeral, the relations and friends of the deceased 
 come several days successively to pray on his tomb, beseeching God to 
 rescue him from the torments inflicted by the black angels ; and calling 
 the deceased by his name, they say to him, Fear not , but answer them 
 bravely. On the Friday following, victuals and drink are brought to the 
 grave, of which whoever passes by ma^ freely partake. 
 
 The Persian Mohammedans have a strange notion, that the angel who 
 presides at the birth of children mixes some earth with the matter of which 
 they are made, and introduces it into the mother’s womb at the instant of 
 the conception ; whence they conclude that every one must, endeavour to 
 die in the same place from which the angel took that earth. They have a 
 more rational custom, grounded on principles of humanity ; which is, that 
 whoever meets a funeral must accompany the corpse, and even help to 
 carry it, if their help be wanted. 
 
 The same Persians have retained in their mournings the old ceremony 
 of tearing their clothes to testify their grief ; and, what is much more com- 
 mendable, they give alms during seven days. But, for the satisfaction of 
 
132 
 
 RELIGIOUS TENETS, ETC. 
 
 our readers, we shall present them with an abstract of the account which 
 Chardin gives of the customs of the Persian Mohammedans from the death 
 of the sick person to the end of the mourning for him. 
 
 “At the first signs of an approaching death, small lamps are lighted on 
 the terrace or flat roof of the house : this puts the neighbours and passen- 
 gers in mind to pray for the sick person. Mollas , or priests, are sent for; 
 they preach repentance to him, mentioning all the sins of which he may 
 have been guilty. He answers Tube , that is, I repent, to each sin that is 
 mentioned ; and when he has lost his speech, the Koran is read by his 
 bed-side, till he gives up the ghost. This is soon notified to the whole 
 neighbourhood by excessive outcries and lamentations. The relations and 
 other friends rend their clothes from the neck to the girdle, tear off their 
 hair, scratch their faces, strike their breasts, and manifest every sign of 
 sorrow and despair; but the women exceed all bounds of moderation in 
 their grief, not without a mixture of long complaints, tender and moving 
 speeches, addressed to the deceased. 
 
 “The cazy, or judge, is now acquainted with the death. They inform 
 his porter, such a one is dead; he answers, May your head be sound ; 
 and then goes to the judge to get from him a sealed piece of paper, by 
 which he gives permission to have the body washed. The permission 
 costs nothing ; but the porter who delivers it has some perquisite, greater 
 or smaller according to the rank and abilities of those who desire it. This 
 paper is carried to the Mordichour , or body-washer, which is an office he 
 alone, or those whom he appoints, can perform, in order that the number 
 of the dead may be known, and the particular distemper of which they 
 died. The said mordichour sends men to wash the corpses of men, and 
 women to wash the corpses of women. The washer takes off the clothes 
 from the corpse, they being his perquisites, for no one can touch a dead 
 person without being defiled, and he carries it to the washing-place. There 
 are such places in every town, situated in a retired and covered part of it. 
 Ispahan, for instance, being divided into two parts, has two mordichours ; 
 and, among other washing-places^ there is a very large one in a back 
 court of the Old Mosque, twenty steps under ground. This is done only 
 to the poor, for the rich are washed at home in a basin covered with a tent, 
 lest any one should see the corpse. When it is washed, all the openings 
 are stopped up closely with cotton, to keep in the foul humours, which 
 might defile it. 
 
 “This being over, the body is put into a new linen cloth, on which 
 those who can afford it cause some passages of their holy books to be 
 written. Some contain the Youchen, a book concerning the attributes of 
 God, to the number of a thousand and one ; which odd reckoning is to 
 show the infinite perfections of God, which are not to be comprehended 
 by a thousand ideas, more than by one. The linen about the corpse of 
 
OF THE MOHAMMEDANS. 
 
 133 
 
 Saroutaky, a eunuch grand vizier, who was murdered in the reign of 
 Abas II., contained the whole Koran, written with holy earth steeped in 
 water and gum. They call holy earth, that of those places of Arabia 
 which the Mohammedans look upon as consecrated by the bodies of the 
 saints who died there. 
 
 “In this condition, the corpse is placed in a remote part of the house ; 
 and if it is to be carried to some distant burying-place, they put it in a 
 wooden coffin, filled with salt, lime, and perfumes, to preserve it. No 
 other embalming is used in the East. They do not take out the bowels, 
 a practice apparently to them uncleanly and wicked. Persia being a hot, 
 dry country, the bodies are soon put into their coffins, otherwise it would 
 not be possible to accomplish it, because they swell immoderately in eight 
 or ten hours. The funerals are not accompanied in the East with much 
 pomp. A molla comes with the coffin of the next mosque, an ill-contrived, 
 rough, unhewn, and ill-jointed box, made up of three boards, with a cover 
 which turns by a peg ; the corpse is put into it, and, if the deceased were 
 poor, carried off without any further ceremony ; only the bearers go with 
 it very fast, and almost running, and pronouncing slowly the words Alla , 
 Alla! that is God , God! 
 
 “At the funeral of a person of quality, or one who is rich, the ensigns 
 or banners of the mosque are carried before the corpse : they are long pikes 
 of different sorts ; some have at the end a hand of brass or copper, which 
 is called the hand of Ali ; others a half moon ; others, the names of Mo- 
 hammed, of his daughters, and of his first twelve lawful successors, done in 
 ciphers ; the latter are called Tcharde Massoum , that is, the fourteen pure 
 and holy ones. More poles are still carried, at the top of which are put 
 some brass or iron plates, three fingers broad, and three or four feet long, 
 but so thin that the least motion makes them bend ; to them are tied long 
 slips of taffety, which hang down to the ground. These banners are fol- 
 lowed by five or six led-horses, with the arms and turban of the deceased ; 
 next to them comes the Sirpare , or the Koran, divided into thirty guisve 
 or parts, written in large characters 4 each letter being an inch in size. 
 The chief mosques have a similar one ; thirty talebelme, or students, carry 
 each one part, and read it, so that the whole is read over, before the body 
 be put into the grave. At the burial of a woman, the tcharchadour , 
 that is, a pall supported on four long sticks, is placed over the coffin. 
 This is the greatest funeral pomp, which the friends ' and relations cannot 
 exceed, unless by an addition of each sort of standards, &c. 
 
 “The neighbours or servants of the deceased carry the corpse, no 
 bearers being appointed to perform that last duty ; but the Mohammedan 
 law teaches its followers to grant their assistance, and carry the coffin at 
 least ten steps. Persons of note alight when they meet a funeral, comply 
 with that pious custom, and then remount and proceed on their journey. 
 
134 
 
 RELIGIOUS TENETS, ETC. 
 
 They do not bury any one in their mosques, because, though the corpse be 
 purified, yet whatever it touches, or the place in which it is put, is looked 
 upon as defiled. 
 
 “In small towns, the burying-places are on the road-side, without the 
 gates, as a moral instruction to the living : but in great towns, which are 
 situate in a dry air, several churchyards are to be seen. The graves are 
 smaller in Persia than in other countries, only two feet broad, six in 
 length, and four in depth. On that side of them which is towards Mecca, 
 they dig a slanting vault, which is as long and broad as the first grave ; 
 they thrust the corpse into it without a coffin, the face towards Mecca, and 
 place two tiles to cover the head from the earth, when the grave is filled 
 up. If the deceased were rich, or a warrior, his turban, sword, bow, and 
 quiver full of arrows, are set by him, and the vault is plastered up with 
 tiles. The Sahieds , who pretend to be the descendants of Mohammed, 
 have no earth thrown upon them ; their grave is covered only with a stone 
 or brick, or that sort of hard, brown marble which is common in Persia. 
 
 “Stones are erected at the end of each tomb, with a turban, if it be a 
 man’s grave ; but plain, if a woman’s. These tombstones ought not to 
 exceed the height of four feet ; commonly they are but two feet high ; 
 the inscription on them does not declare the name nor praises of the de- 
 ceased — it only contains some passages of the Koran. The common peo- 
 ple begin to visit the grave at the end of eight or ten days ; the women 
 particularly never fail; the churchyards are full of them, morning and 
 evening, and on some particular festivals; they bring their children with 
 them, and lament the loss of their friends with tears and cries, beating 
 their breasts, tearing their hair, scratching their faces, repeating the seve- 
 ral dialogues and . long discourses which they heretofore held with the 
 deceased ; every now and then, saying, Rouh, JRouh , soul, spirit , whither 
 are you gone ? TVhy do you not animate this body ? And you , corpse , 
 what occasion had you to die ? Did you want gold, silver, clothes, plea- 
 sures, or tender treatment? They are then comforted, and led away by 
 their friends: sometimes they leave behind them cakes, fruits, sweetmeats, 
 as an offering to the angels, guardians of the grave, to engage them to be 
 favourable to the deceased. 
 
 “ People of quality generally order their corpse to be buried near some 
 great saint of their sect. They are seldom carried to Mecca or Medina, 
 these places being at too great a distance ; but either to Negef, a town in 
 the country, called Kerbela, where Ali, the great saint of Persia, lies in- 
 terred ; or to Metched, near the grave of Iman Reza, or to Com near 
 Fatime, (both were descendants of Ali,) or to Ardevil, near Cheik Sephy, 
 at the distance of two or three months’ journey. While they prepare 
 themselves for this long voyage, the coffin is put in some great mosque, 
 where vaults are made for that purpose, which are walled up to keep the 
 
OF THE MOHAMMEDANS. 
 
 135 
 
 body from being seen ; and they do not take it out till every thing be 
 ready to carry it off. The Persians fancy that corpses, under these cir- 
 cumstances, suffer no alteration ; for, they say, before they putrify, they 
 must give an account to the angels, who stay at the grave to examine them. 
 The funeral convoy never goes through a town ; this, as they think, would 
 be a bad omen ; the dead must go out but not come in, is a common say- 
 ing among the Persians. 
 
 “The mourning lasts forty days at most ; it does not consist in wearing 
 black clothes, (that colour is looked upon in the East as the devil’s colour, 
 and a hellish dress,) but in loud cries and lamentations, in sitting without 
 motion, half-clad with a brown gown or one of a pale colour ; in fasting 
 for eight days, as if they were resolved to live no longer. Other friends 
 send or come themselves to comfort the mourners. On the ninth day, the 
 men go to the bagnio, have their head and beard shaved, put on new 
 clothes, return their visits, and the mourning ceases abroad ; but at home 
 the cries are renewed now and then, twice or thrice a week, chiefly at the 
 hour of the death. These cries diminish gradually till the fortieth day ; 
 after which, no further mention is made of the deceased. The women are 
 not so easily comforted, for the state of widowhood is generally for life in 
 the East. 
 
 “ The motives of consolation alleged in Persia on the death of friends 
 and relations are rational, and grounded on solid philosophy. They com- 
 pare this life to a caravan, or a company of travellers; all come at last to 
 the caravansary or inn ; yet some arrive sooner, some later.” 
 
 Friday is kept w r holly by Mohammedans, as the Saturday is by the 
 Jews, and Sunday by the Christians ; either upon account of the entry of 
 Mohammed into Medina, or because God completed the 
 creation on that day, or rather out of policy ; this being the 
 day on which the ancient Arabians held their public and solemn meetings. 
 Whatever may have been the cause of the sanctification of that day, it is 
 certain that Mohammed always kept it holy; for, as Abulpharage observes, 
 the real motive of establishing festivals was in order, by public assemblies, 
 to render the people more united, and to have some rest from their labours. 
 The Mohammedans are, however, very profuse in their praises on that day, 
 which they call the “chief and most excellent of all days,” for on it is 
 supposed that the last judgment will take place. 
 
 Their months are twelve, alternately of thirty and twenty-nine days, in 
 ail 354: according to which computation, their year is eleven days shorter 
 than ours ; which inconvenience is remedied by adding a month at proper 
 periods. We shall here observe, that by the most exact computation, the 
 Mohammedan Hejira began July the 16th, in the year of Christ 622. The 
 names of the months are, 1. Moharram. 2. Saphar. 3. Rabia the First. 
 4. A Second Rabia. 5. Sjumada the First. 6. A Second Sjumada. 
 
136 
 
 RELIGIOUS TENETS, ETC. 
 
 7. Resjeb. 8. Siaban. 9. Rhamadan. 10. Sjewal. 11. Dulkadha. 
 12. Dsulkassja, or Dulhaggia. 
 
 Four of them, viz. Moharram, Resjeb, Dulkadha, and Dulhaggia, were 
 looked upon as sacred by the ancient Arabians. No war nor hostility was 
 lawful, if begun or carried on in these months ; and the majority of the 
 Arabian tribes observed this law so punctually, that even the murderer of 
 their father or brother was not to be punished, nor % any violence offered to 
 him, at that time. Dulhaggia was sanctified by the pilgrimage of Mecca, 
 Dulkadha as a preparation to it, and Moharram as coming from it ; Resjeb 
 was held still in greater veneration, being kept as a fast by the Arabian 
 idolaters, who, on the contrary, spent the month Rhamadan in debauchery 
 and drunkenness. Mohammed seems to approve of this institution of the 
 sacred months in his Koran, in which he blames those Arabians who, 
 being tired with living so long without robbing, deferred of their own au- 
 thority the sanctification of Moharram to the month following. To defeat 
 the artful proceedings of these men, he enforces the keeping of the said 
 three months, except in case of a war against infidels. 
 
 The first Feast of which we shall take notice is the Moon, of the month 
 Sjewal, because the Bairam celebrated in that month has some affinity 
 Feast to the our new year, by the good wishes and congratulations 
 
 Moon - then in use with the Mohammedans. This Bairam follows 
 
 the Rhamadan Fast, as Easter does that of Lent, and the Mussulmans 
 begin it by a solemn and general reconciliation, as our Easter is remarka- 
 ble by the Paschal Communion. They have two Bairams, the greater one, 
 which we are now describing, and the less, which takes place seventy 
 days afterwards, viz. on the 10th of Dulhaggia. The latter is called the 
 Feast of Sacrifices, on account of the victims offered during the pilgrimage 
 of Mecca. The Bairam is published at the first sight of the moon of 
 Sjewal, or, if the weather be so cloudy that the moon cannot be seen, as 
 expected, the feast begins on the following day ; for in that case, they sup- 
 pose the moon is changed. Among the numerous diversions then in use, 
 seats are set in the streets, and contrived in such a manner that those who 
 sit in them may swing in the air, accordingly as they are pushed faster or 
 slower. These seats are adorned with several festoons. They have also 
 wheels, on which people are alternately at the top, middle, and bottom. 
 The night betwixt the 4th and 5th day of Resjeb is solemnized, on account 
 of the Rhamadan Fast, though it happens two whole months afterwards. 
 The night from the 26th to the 27th of the second Rabia is sacred, because 
 Mohammed went then to heaven upon the Borak, in the same manner as 
 the birth of the Prophet has occasioned the keeping holy the night of the 
 11th to the 12th of Rabia the First. The Rhamadan is, according to 
 travellers, a mixture of devotion and debauchery. It begins with a kind 
 of carnival, which Thevenot, who was an eye-witness, describes in the 
 
 1 
 
OF THE MOHAMMEDANS. 
 
 1?7 
 
 following words: — “ The 12th of June, 1G57, was the Turks’ carnival, or 
 beginning of their fast. It is called Laylet el Kouvat , that is, the Night 
 of Power , because the Mohammedans believe that the Koran then came 
 down from heaven. After sunset, lamps are lighted in all the streets, 
 chiefly in that called Bazaar, a long, broad, and straight street, through 
 which the procession passes. Ropes are hung every ten steps, to which 
 are tied iron hoops and baskets, each holding several lamps, thirty at the 
 Least. All these, being in a direct line, furnish a fine prospect, and give a 
 great light. Besides these several figures, the towers or minarets of the 
 mosques are likewise illuminated. An infinite number of people crowd 
 the streets, and with the Santons, &c., who make part of the ceremony, 
 repair to the Cadilesquer , who informs them whether the Ramesan is to 
 be kept that evening. Being informed that the moon has been seen, and 
 that this is the night appointed for the solemnity, about two hours in the 
 night, the Santons on foot, and armed with clubs, begin the march, each 
 of them holding a taper in his hand, accompanied with other men carry- 
 ing cresset-lights. They dance, sing, bawl, and howl ; in the midst of 
 them Scheik-el-Arsat, that is, * the Prince of the Cornutos,’ rides upon a 
 mule ; as he passes them, the people make loud acclamations. After him 
 several men come upon camels, with drums, kettle-drums, &c., followed 
 by others in masquerade-dress, on foot, carrying cresset-lights, or long 
 poles, at the end of which are large iron hoops filled with squibs and fire- 
 works, which are thrown among the mob. Next to these the men of the 
 bejrs proceed on horseback, with their hand-guns, &c. ; and the procession 
 is closed by other Santons, who celebrate by their songs the beginning of 
 Ramesan. The whole assembly is composed of scoundrels met together, 
 yet it is on the whole comical and diverting.” Their fast continues the 
 whole moon, and while it lasts, eating, drinking, even smoking, and putting 
 any thing into their mouths, is absolutely forbidden from sunrise to sunset ; 
 but in recompense, they are allowed, during the whole of the night, to eat 
 and drink whatever they please without any restraint, with the exception 
 of wine. Formerly, the law punished those who were convicted of drink- 
 ing wine, by pouring melted lead into their throats. 
 
 The Persians have three feasts peculiar to themselves, viz. the next day 
 after their Lent, the sacrifice of Abraham, and the martyrdom of the 
 children of their great prophet, Ali. To these religious 
 festivals, a fourth must be added, which is a civil ceremony, 
 at the beginning of the new year, and usually lasts three days ; but at 
 court it is kept eight days successively. On the first day of the month 
 Zilaje, (Dulhaggia,) at the moment of the sun’s entering into Aries, this 
 festival is proclaimed. It is called the Royal or Imperial New Year, to 
 distinguish it from the real new year, which the Persians begin on the 
 day of Mohammed’s flight from Mecca. Chardin gives a full account of 
 
138 RELIGIOUS TENETS, ETC. 
 
 this feast ; but we shall merely notice, that it had grown into disuse for 
 many years, but was re-established from a principle of policy or supersti- 
 tion, or from the interested views of some astronomers, who were very 
 powerful at court, and who pretended that the beginning of a solar year 
 was a better omen than that of a lunar year, especially considering that 
 the first ten days of it, and of the month Moharram, are days of mourning, 
 in memory of the martyrdom of Ali’s children. 
 
 This last-mentioned solemnity is better known by the name of Hussein, 
 or Hossein’s feast. He was the son of Ali and of Fatima, daughter to 
 Mohammed, and was killed in a battle, which, he lost, dis- 
 Hussem s feast. p Ut j n g. f or t h e dignity 0 f Khalif. Hassein, his brother, lost 
 his life with him. The death of these Mohammedan prophets, or heroes, 
 is still mourned for, where some are seen half-naked, and daubed over with 
 blood, in memory of their tragical end ; others black their faces and loll 
 out their tongue, with convulsive motions of the body and rolling their 
 eyes, because these two brothers, as the Persian legend relates, suffered 
 so much by drought, that they became black, and their tongues came out 
 of their mouths. In the intervals of those pious contortions, they call 
 aloud with ali their might, Hussein! Hassein! Hassein! Hussein! 
 
 The present state and extent of the Mohammedan religion is most amply 
 delineated by Mr. Mills, in the last chapter of his excellent book ; in 
 which he traces it through the extensive regions of Tartary ; 
 the vast empire of China; the various districts of Hindoo- 
 stan ; from the southernmost point of which this religion is traced through 
 the Eastern Islands ; along the coasts of the Malayan Peninsula, Sumatra, 
 Java, Borneo, the Manillas, and the Celebezean Islands. The little isle of 
 Goram, one of the Spice Islands, (between Ceram and Papua,) is the east- 
 ern boundary of the Mohammedan world. 
 
 The sword of the Mohammedans has for ages ceased to alarm the world, 
 and the fire of their fanaticism has been spent; but their religion has suf- 
 fered no visible diminution of followers : for although the Christians have 
 triumphed over the Moors in Spain, and checked the advancement of 
 Islamism in Siberia, yet in the middle and lower Asia, and also in Africa, 
 the professors of the Moslems’ creed have gradually increased. It is im- 
 possible to estimate, with any approach to accuracy, the number either 
 of Mussulmans or of Christians ; but, considering for a moment the sub- 
 ject of religion in a geographical sense, it may be generally remarked, that 
 as Christianity has unlimited influence in Europe, so Islamism is the 
 dominant religion in Asia ; and that, as the Christian faith has consider- 
 able weight in America, Mohammedism has its proportionate sway in 
 Africa. 
 
PART III. 
 
 RELIGIOUS TENETS, CEREMONIES, AND CUSTOMS OF 
 THE GREEK AND ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCHES. 
 
 CHAPTER I— GREEK CHURCH. 
 
 SECTION I. GREEK CHURCH PROPER. 
 
 The Greek Church may be considered, in regard to its antiquity, as 
 coeval with the Roman or Latin Church ; and for the first eight centuries, 
 Greek Church the two churches were assimilated, not only in regard to 
 Latin church. the peculiar doctrines of their faith, but also to their ac- 
 knowledgment of the supremacy of the Roman pontiff. The schism of 
 these two churches is a most memorable epoch in ecclesiastical history, as 
 it forms the most distinguishing picture of the two religions at the present 
 day. The members of the Greek or Eastern Church, as contra-distin- 
 guished to the Roman or Western Church, are to be found in various parts 
 of Europe, Asia, and Africa, and are again subdivided into three distinct 
 classes : — 1st, those who agree on all points of worship and doctrine with 
 the Patriarch of Constantinople, and reject the supremacy of the Roman 
 pontiff ; 2d, those who adopt the doctrines and ceremonies of the Greek 
 church, and are entirely independent of the patriarch of Constantinople ; 
 and 3d, those who are still subject to the see of Rome, though not con- 
 forming in all points to the worship of that church. 
 
 The Greek church is considered as a separation from the Latin. In 
 the middle of the ninth century, the controversy relating to the procession 
 Rise and sepa- Holy Ghost (which had been started in the sixth 
 
 ration of. century) became a point of great importance, on account 
 
 of the jealousy and ambition which at that time were blended with it. 
 Photius, the Patriarch of Jerusalem, having been advanced to that see in 
 the room of Ignatius, whom he procured to be deposed, was solemnly 
 excommunicated by Pope Nicholas, in a council held at Rome, and his 
 ordination declared null and void. The Greek emperor resented this 
 conduct of the pope, who defended himself with great spirit and resolu- 
 
 139 
 
140 
 
 GREEK CHURCH PROPER. 
 
 tion. Photius, in his turn, convened what he called an oecumenical coun- 
 cil, in which he punounced sentence of excommunication and deposition 
 against the pope, and got it subscribed by twenty-one bishops and others, 
 amounting in number to a thousand. This occasioned a wide breach 
 between the sees of Rome and Constantinople. However, the death of 
 the Emperor Michael, and the deposition of Photius subsequent there- 
 upon, seem to have restored peace ; for the Emperor Basil held a council 
 at Constantinople, in the year 869, in which entire satisfaction was given 
 to Pope Adrian : but the schism was only smothered and suppressed for a 
 while. The Greek church had several complaints against the Latin ; 
 particularly it was thought a great hardship for the Greeks to subscribe 
 to the definition of a council according to the Roman form, prescribed by 
 the pope, since it made the church of Constantinople dependent on that 
 of Rome, and set the pope above an oecumenical council : but, above all, 
 the pride and haughtiness of the Roman court gave the Greeks a great 
 distaste ; and, as their deportment seemed to insult his Imperial Majesty, 
 it entirely alienated the affections of the Emperor Basil. Towards the 
 middle of the eleventh century, Michael Cerularius, Patriarch of Constan- 
 tinople, opposed the Latins with respect to their making use of unleavened 
 bread in the eucharist, their observation of the Sabbath, and fasting on 
 Saturdays, charging them with living in communion with the Jews. To 
 this Pope Leo IX. replied ; and in his apology for the Latins, declaimed 
 very warmly against the false doctrine of the Greeks, and interposed, at 
 the same time, the authority of his see. He likewise, by his legates, 
 excommunicated the patriarch in the church of Santa Sophia, which gave 
 the last shock to the reconciliation attempted a long time after, but to no 
 purpose ; for, from that time, the hatred of the Greeks to the Latins, and 
 of the Latins to the Greeks, became insuperable, insomuch that they have 
 continued ever since separated from each other’s communion.* 
 
 As the numerous sects which are now subsisting in the Levant are of 
 Greek origin, and as their principles and ceremonies, except in some few 
 State of the particular points, are nearly the same, it will be necessary 
 Greek church. to treat on the religion of the Greeks (properly so called) 
 before we descend to the different branches that have issued from it. 
 
 The Greek church, which is now dependent on the Patriarch of Con- 
 stantinople, was not formerly so extensive as it has been since the emperors 
 of the East thought proper to lessen or reduce the other patriarchates, in 
 order to aggrandize that of Constantinople ; a task which they accom- 
 plished with the greater ease, as they were much more powerful than the 
 emperors of the West, and had little or no regard to the consent of the 
 patriarchs, in order to create new bishoprics, or to confer new titles and 
 
 Buck’s Theolog. Die.: art. Greek Church. 
 
GREEK CHURCH PROPER. 
 
 141 
 
 privileges. Whereas, in the western church, the popes, by slow degrees, 
 made themselves the sole arbiters in all ecclesiastical concerns ; insomuch 
 that princes themselves at length became obliged to have recourse to them, 
 and were subservient to their directions, on every momentous occasion. 
 
 There are several catalogues or lists now extant of the churches which 
 are dependent on that of Constantinople ; but as most of them are very 
 ancient, and do not sufficiently illustrate the vast extent of which that 
 church at present boasts, we shall not quote any of them in this place ; 
 but merely state, that the number of metropolitans amounts to upwards of 
 one hundred bishoprics. 
 
 The Greek churches, at present, deserve not even the name of the 
 shadow of what they were in their former flourishing state, when they 
 were so remarkably distinguished for the learned and worthy pastors who 
 presided over them ; but now nothing but wretchedness, ignorance, and 
 poverty are visible among them. “I have seen churches,” says Ricaut, 
 “which were more like caverns or sepulchres than places set apart for 
 divine worship ; the tops thereof being almost level with the ground. 
 They are erected after this humble manner for fear they should be sus- 
 pected, if they raised them any considerable height, of an evil inten- 
 tion to rival the Turkish mosques. It is, indeed, very surprising that, 
 in the abject state to which the Greeks at present are reduced, the 
 Christian religion should maintain the least footing among them. Their 
 notions of Christianity are principally confined to the traditions of their 
 forefathers, and their own received customs ; and, among other things, 
 they are much addicted to external acts of piety and devotion, such as tne 
 observance of fasts, festivals, and penances : they revere and dread the 
 censures of their clergy ; and are bigoted slaves to their religious customs, 
 which have been irrefutably proved to be absurd and ridiculous ; and yet 
 it must be acknowledged, that although these errors reflect a considerable 
 degree of scandal and reproach upon the holy religion they profess, they 
 nevertheless prevent it from being entirely lost and abolished among 
 them. A fire which lies for a time concealed under a heap of embers, 
 may revive and burn again as bright as ever ; and the same hope may 
 be conceived of truth, when obscured by the dark clouds of ignorance and 
 error.” 
 
 Tenets of the ■*■* ^hey rebaptize all those Latins who are admitted into 
 Greek church. their communion. 
 
 II. They do not baptize their children till they are three, four, five, six, 
 ten, and even sometimes eighteen years of age. 
 
 III. They exclude Confirmation and Extreme Unction out of the Seven 
 Sacraments. 
 
 IV. They deny there is any such place as Purgatory, notwithstanding 
 they pray for the dead. 
 
 10 
 
M2 
 
 GREEK CHURCH PROPER. 
 
 V. They do not absolutely acknowledge the pope’s supremacy, nor that 
 of the Church of Rome, which they look upon as fallen from her supremacy, 
 because, as a Greek schismatic historian expresses himself, she had aban- 
 doned the doctrines of her fathers. 
 
 VI. They deny, by consequence, that the Church of Rome is the true 
 Catholic Mother Church. They even prefer their own to that of Rome ; 
 and on Holy Thursday excommunicate the pope and all the Latin pre- 
 lates, as heretics and schismatics, praying that all those who offer up 
 unleavened bread in the celebration of the Sacrament maybe covered with 
 confusion. 
 
 VII. They deny that the Holy Ghost proceeds from the Father and the 
 Son. 
 
 VIII. They refuse to worship the Host consecrated by Latin priests 
 with unleavened bread, according to the ancient custom of the Church of 
 Rome, confirmed by the Council of Florence. They likewise wash the 
 altars on which the Latins have celebrated mass ; and will not suffer a 
 Latin priest to officiate at their altars, pretending that the sacrifice ought to 
 be performed with leavened bread. 
 
 IX. They assert that the usual form of words, wherein the Consecra- 
 tion, according to the Latins, wholly consists, is not sufficient to change 
 the bread and wine into the body and blood of Christ, without the use of 
 some additional prayers and benedictions of the fathers. 
 
 X. They insist that the Sacrament of the Lord’s Supper ought to be 
 administered in both kinds to infants, even before they are capable of dis- 
 tinguishing this spiritual food from any other, because it is a divine institu- 
 tion. For which reason they give the Sacrament to infants immediately 
 after baptism, and look upon the Latins as heretics for not observing the 
 same custom. 
 
 XI. They hold that the laity are under an indispensable obligation, by 
 the law of God, to receive the Communion in both kinds, and look on the 
 Latins as heretics who maintain the contrary. 
 
 XII. They assert that no members of the Church, when they have 
 attained to years of discretion, ought to be compelled to receive the Com- 
 munion every Easter, but should have free liberty to act according to the 
 dictates of their own conscience. 
 
 XIII. They show no respect, no religious homage, nor veneration for 
 the Holy Sacrament of the Eucharist, even at the celebration of their own 
 priests ; and use no lighted tapers when they administer it to the sick. 
 Moreover, they keep it in a little bag or box, without any further cere- 
 mony than fixing it to the wall, where they light up lamps before theif 
 images. 
 
 XIV. They are of opinion that such Hosts as are consecrated on Holy 
 Thursday are much more efficacious than those consecrated at other times 
 
GKEEK CHURCH PROPER. 
 
 143 
 
 XV. They maintain that the Sacrament of Matrimony is a union which 
 may be dissolved. For which reason, they charge the Church of Rome 
 with being guilty of an error, in asserting that the bonds of marriage can 
 never be broken, even in case of adultery, and that no person upon any 
 provocation whatsoever can lawfully marry again. But the Greeks preach 
 up a wholly different doctrine, and practise it daily. 
 
 XVI. They condemn all fourth marriages. 
 
 XVII. They refuse to celebrate the solemnities instituted by the church 
 and the primitive Fathers, in honour of the Virgin Mary and the Apostles ; 
 and, independently of their different manner of celebrating them, they 
 wholly neglect and despise the observance of several Saints’ days which 
 are of ancient institution. They reject likewise the religious use of 
 graven images and statues, although they admit of pictures in their 
 churches. 
 
 XVIII. They insist that the canon of the mass of the Latins ought to be 
 abolished, as being full of errors. 
 
 XIX. They deny that usury is a mortal sin. 
 
 XX. They deny that the subdeaconry is at present a holy order. 
 
 XXI. Of all the general councils that have been held in the Catholic 
 Church by the popes at different times, they pay no regard to any aftei 
 the sixth, and reject not only the seventh, which was the second held at 
 Nice, for the express purpose of condemning those who rejected the use 
 of images in their divine worship, but all those which have succeeded it, 
 by which they refuse to submit to any of their institutions. 
 
 XXII. They deny auricular confession to be a divine precept, and pre- 
 tend it is only a positive injunction of the Church. 
 
 XXIII. They insist that the confession of the laity ought to be free and 
 voluntary ; for which reason they are not compelled to confess themselves 
 annually, nor are they excommunicated for the neglect of it. 
 
 XXIV. They insist that in confession there is no divine law which en- 
 joins the acknowledgment of every individual sin, or a discovery of all the 
 circumstances that attend it, which alter its nature and property. 
 
 XXV. They administer the sacrament to their laity both in sickness 
 and in health, though they hqve never applied themselves to their con- 
 fessors ; and the reason of which is, that they are persuaded all confes- 
 sions should be free and voluntary, and that a lively faith is all the prepa- 
 ration that is requisite for the worthy receiving of the Sacrament of the 
 Lord’s Supper. 
 
 XXVI. They look down with an eye of disdain on the Latins for their 
 observance of the vigils before the nativity of our Blessed Saviour, and 
 the festivals of the Virgin Mary and the Apostles, as well as for their fast- 
 ing in Ember-weeK. They even affect to eat meat more plentifully at 
 those times than at any other, to testify their contempt of the Latin cus- 
 
1 
 
 144 
 
 GREEK CHURCH PROPER. 
 
 toms. They prohibit likewise all fasting on Saturdays, that preceding 
 Easter only excepted. 
 
 XXVII. They condemn the Latins as heretics, for eating such things 
 as have been strangled, and such other meats as are prohibited in the 
 Old Testament. 
 
 XXVIII. They deny that simple fornication is a mortal sin. 
 
 XXIX. They insist that it is lawful to deceive an enemy, and that it is 
 no sin to injure and oppress him. 
 
 XXX. They are of opinion that, in order to be saved, there is no neces- 
 sity to make restitution of such goods as have been stolen or fraudulently 
 obtained. 
 
 XXXI. To conclude : they hold that such as have been admitted into 
 holy orders may become laymen at pleasure. From whence it plainly 
 appears that they do not allow the character of the priesthood to be inde- 
 lible. To which it may be added, that they approve of the marriage of 
 their priests, provided they enter into that state before their admission into 
 holy orders, though they are never indulged in that respect after their 
 ordination. 
 
 The Patriarch of Constantinople assumes the honourable title of Univer - 
 sal or (Ecumenical Patriarch . As he purchases his commission of the 
 
 of Grand Seignior, it may be easily supposed that he makes a 
 tyrannical and simoniacal use of a privilege which he holds 
 himself by simony. The patriarch and bishops are always single men; 
 but the priests are indulged in marriage before ordination ; and this custom, 
 which is generally practised all over the Levant, is very ancient. Should 
 a priest happen to marry after ordination, he can officiate no longer as 
 priest, which is conformable to the injunctions of the council of Neocesa- 
 rea ; the marriage, however, is not looked upon as invalid; whereas, in 
 the Latin church, such marriages are pronounced void and of no effect, 
 because the priesthood is looked upon as a lawful bar or impediment. 
 
 Their Pappas , or secular priests, not having any settled and competent 
 livings, are obliged to subsist by simoniacal practices. “ The clergy,” says 
 Ricaut, “ are almost compelled to sell those divine mysteries 
 which are intrusted to theij care. No one, therefore, can 
 procure absolution, be admitted to confession, have his children baptized, 
 be married or divorced, or obtain an excommunication against his adver- 
 sary, or the communion in time of sickness, without first paying down a 
 valuable consideration. The priests make the best market they can, and 
 fix a price on their spiritual commodities in proportion to the devotion or 
 abilities of their respective customers added to which, they are so ava- 
 ricious and rigid with their parishioners, that they will scarcely part with 
 a single drop of holy water without being paid for it beforehand. 
 
 The Greek church has no established fund for the maintenance of their 
 
 Patriarch 
 Constantinople. 
 
 Pappas or 
 Priests. 
 
 J 
 
GREEK CHURCH PROPER. 
 
 145 
 
 clergy; they subsist therefore by. the levying of some certain duties, and 
 by the charity and benevolence of well-disposed Christians. Each parish 
 is obliged to maintain its own curate. Every house is assessed at a cer- 
 tain annual sum, which must be paid in money or effects. Each diocese 
 is likewise taxed for the more honourable support of its bishop, &c. ; 
 but the avarice and illegal practices of the collectors countenance and 
 encourage the petty shifts and evasions which are daily practised to elude 
 them. Regarding the charity of the people, it is so very cold and lan- 
 guid, that it seems almost a sufficient plea for the simoniacal practices of 
 the clergy. 
 
 A monastic life is held in great veneration among the Greeks ; and 
 Monastic life although there are monks of different orders among them, 
 nerationf reat ve yet all of them owe their origin to St. Basil, who was the 
 sole founder of the monastic state. 
 
 The two principal are styled the Grand and Angelical Habit , and the 
 Lesser Habit . Those belonging to the former are persons of worth and 
 „ . . , _ distinction, and who prefer to lead a more righteous life 
 ders - than the rest. Monks of the Lesser Habit are inferior per- 
 
 sons, who do not pretend to lead such sanctified lives. The latter live 
 uncontrolled, and are left to their own discretion ; for which reason, before 
 they take up the habit*, they deposit a certain sum of money for a cell or 
 small apartment, and other accommodations, belonging to the convent. 
 The procurator or steward, indeed, supplies them with bread and wine, 
 in the same manner as the rest; but in every other respect they provide 
 for themselves ; and, being thus free from all the encumbrances of a con- 
 vent, each one pursues his own particular affairs. 
 
 There is a third order, who are known and distinguished by the name 
 of Anchorets ; and, though they do not choose to work, nor to perform the 
 other duties of the convent, they are still very desirous of 
 passing their lives in solitude and retirement. They pur- 
 chase, therefore, a cell, or a little commodious apartment exterior to the 
 convent, with a small spot of ground contiguous to it, sufficient to maintain 
 them ; and they never attend the convent but on solemn festivals, on which 
 days they assist at the celebration of divine service. As soon as their 
 public devotions are over, they return to their cells, and spend their time 
 in the pursuit of their customary avocations, without being confined to any 
 set time for their prayers, or other acts of private devotion. There are 
 some of these anchorets, however, who retire altogether from the convent, 
 with the license and approbation of their abbot, in order to live still more 
 retired and to apply themselves more closely to prayer and contemplation. 
 Having no grounds nor vineyards of their own to improve, the convent sends 
 them once at least, if not twice, a month, a stated allowance. Those, how- 
 ever, who decline being dependent on, or pensioners to, the abbot, rent 
 
146 
 
 GREEK CHURCH PROPER. 
 
 some small vineyards situate near their cells, and maintain themselves out 
 of the profits and product of them. Some live upon figs, some upon 
 cherries, and others upon such wholesome fruits of a similar nature which 
 they can most commodiously procure. Some sow beans in their proper 
 season ; and others earn their bread by transcribing books or manuscripts. 
 
 Besides these monks, there are likewise nuns, who form themselves into 
 communities. They are confined in convents, and live subject to the rule 
 of St. Basil. They are in no degree inferior to the monks 
 with respect to their abstemious course of life, their pe- 
 nances, fasts, prayers, and other acts of devotion which are in general 
 practised by recluses. 
 
 These nuns in general wear the same habit, which is black, with a 
 woollen gown of the same colour. Their arms and hands are covered to 
 their very fingers’ ends. Their heads are all shaved close ; and each of 
 them has a separate residence, with a commodious room above and below. 
 Those who are in good circumstances are allowed to keep a servant ; and 
 sometimes they entertain young ladies in their society, and train them up 
 in the practice of piety. After the customary duties are over, their leisure 
 hours are advantageously spent in all manner of curious needlework. 
 
 The fasts of the Greeks are quite different from those of the Latins ; 
 for those of the latter are festival days when compared with the former; 
 
 inasmuch as they not only abstain from eating the flesh 
 of animals, and their produce, such as butter and cheese ; 
 but they eat no manner of fish, and content themselves with fruits and 
 herbs, to which they put a drop or two of oil; allowing themselves but a 
 very small quantity of wine. The monks are still more rigorous ; for they 
 never taste a drop of wine nor oil, except on Saturdays and Sundays. 
 
 The Greek monks, according to Angelus, are obliged to fast three days, 
 that is, Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, in every week. On which 
 days, about two in the afternoon, they go to prayers ; after that, they take 
 some small refreshment, which principally consists of a few beans, with a 
 little broth, without either oil or butter, or some other relished roots, with 
 a small quantity of vinegar. In the evening, they resume their prayers, 
 when service is over, they seat themselves round about the church, and the 
 procurator distributes to each man a slice of bread and a glass of water 
 This indulgence, however, is shown only to the junior monks ; the seniors 
 have no share in this distribution. ' After a short interval they return to 
 their public devotions, which last about half an hour, and sometimes an 
 hour. On going out of the church, they pass in review before their 
 superior or principal, who stands at the churcn-door, and ask his blessing, 
 which he gives to each of them in the following terms, God be propitious 
 to thee , my son! After this benediction, each retires to his own cell, 
 without speaking a single word upon any occasion By their rule they 
 
GREEK CHURCH PROPER. 
 
 147 
 
 are enjoined, after this, to spend a whole hour on their knees in private 
 prayer. This exercise of devotion is followed by a very short repose ; for 
 about midnight, or soon after, they rise again, and attend their public 
 prayers, which are not over till break of day ; at which time every one 
 withdraws to his particular avocations, till some short interval before 
 dinner, which is spent again at church in public devotions. As soon as 
 dinner is served, the monks beg their abbot or superior’s blessing, who 
 stands at the upper end of the table. If any monk has had the misfortune 
 to oversleep himself, and comes too late to church in the morning, as a 
 penance for his indolence and neglect he is ordered to stand at the lower 
 end of the table, and there repeat over and over, with an audible voice, 
 but with an humble and contrite heart, these words, Have compassion , O 
 Lord , on thy unworthy servant , according to thy infinite goodness and 
 mercy! till the monks are risen from table, and are ready to go away. 
 Then the penitent prostrates himself, with his face to the very ground, 
 imploring forgiveness in this humble posture, and crying out, Oh! holy 
 fathers , pray for me , who am a poor sinful sluggard! whereupon they 
 with one voice reply, God forgive you , my brother! After which they 
 all depart, except the poor penitent, who stays behind and dines by 
 himself. None are exempted from this penance, from the highest to the 
 lowest. 
 
 The Moscovites, however, having neither wine nor oil, are indulged in 
 eating flesh. They abstain from eating flesh, butter, and cheese, on Wed- 
 nesdays and Fridays, but have the free use of fish. The Greeks and 
 other Eastern nations censure the Latins very severely for fasting on 
 Saturdays ; since that day, in their opinion, is a festival, as well as Sunday; 
 and this they endeavour to prove from their ancient canons and the prac- 
 tice of the primitive Christians. In short, with respect to ceremonies, it 
 maybe said in general, that they observe a much greater number than any 
 other Christian country whatsoever. The veneration which they pay to 
 images is boundless and extravagant. Upon a solemn festival they plant 
 the image of the saint to whom that day is devoted in the centre of the 
 church ; which statue, or picture, is always an historical representation 
 of some remarkable transaction which they then commemorate, as, for 
 instance, the nativity, or resurrection of our Blessed Saviour; at which 
 time every devotee then present salutes the image ; and this religious 
 adoration is not performed by failing down on their knees, prostration, or 
 any other particular gesticulations of the body ; but by barely kissing the 
 image. If it happens to be a representation of our Blessed Lord, they 
 kiss his feet; if of the Virgin Mary, they salute her hands; and if it be 
 only the image of some memorable saint, they approach him with more 
 familiarity, and kiss his cheek. 
 
 The supreme head of the Greek church is the Patriarch of Constants 
 
148 
 
 GREEK CHURCH PROPER. 
 
 nople, whom they style the 13th Apostle; and whose usual title, when he 
 Head of the subscribes any letter or missive, is, “ By the mercy of God , 
 
 Greek church. Archbishop of Constantinople , the New Borne , and (Ecu- 
 
 menical Patriarch .” The right of electing him is vested in the twelve 
 bishops who reside nearest that famous capital; but the right of confirming 
 the election, and of enabling the new chosen patriarch to exercise his 
 spiritual functions, belongs only to the Turkish emperor. 
 
 A patriarch of Constantinople formerly paid but ten thousand crowns 
 for his instalment ; but subsequently the price was advanced to twenty-five 
 thousand. Even fifty and sixty thousand have been given by different 
 patriarchs. Independently of this charge, which is so exceedingly heavy, 
 the ministers of state often exact other fees, so very enormous, that the 
 patriarch becomes always encumbered with debts, and is forced to study 
 incessantly new ways and means to satisfy the avarice of his creditors. If 
 he once proves deficient in his payments, he is presently deposed. And 
 these may be considered as the genuine causes of those revolutions which 
 so frequently occur in the Greek church, and which tend to support the 
 tyrannical power of the Turks in the election of the clergy. 
 
 The revenues of the Patriarch of Constantinople are very precarious, 
 and increase or decrease in value according to the degree of oppression 
 which he suffers from the Turks, or to the character which 
 ev n ’ he himself bears, of being a virtuous or a dishonest man. 
 The following are the sources from which his revenues arise. As soon as 
 the patriarch is elected, he disposes of the vacant bishoprics and other 
 benefices to the best purchaser ; and, independently of the advantage of 
 these sales, each bishopric, benefice, living, and convent, within his juris- 
 diction, is assessed at a certain annual sum. Every priest in Constanti- 
 nople pays him annually a crown. The bishops, following the laudable 
 example of their patriarch, exact the utmost from those persons whom they 
 admit into holy orders ; and the priests, again, obtain a supply for their 
 pecuniary necessities, by the sale of the blessed Sacraments to the people. 
 They likewise make them pay for their holy water, their consecrated 
 bread, and the very seats in their churches. Several bishoprics are as- 
 sessed after the rate of a thousand crowns per annum, and the convents in 
 proportion. There are about one hundred and fifty bishops and arch- 
 bishops who are dependent on the patriarch; and he receives a fee from 
 every one whom he ordains in Constantinople, whether he be priest or 
 deacon ; and those who are constituted bishops or archbishops make him 
 a present in proportion to their quality. For every marriage that is 
 solemnized in Constantinople, or within the jurisdiction thereof, he has a 
 crown. This perquisite at one time amounted to a very considerable sum, 
 on account of the vast number of Greeks who settled in Constantinople. 
 The fee upon a second marriage is double ; and for the third and last he 
 
GREEK CHURCH PROPER. 
 
 149 
 
 receives a triple gratuity, no fourth marriage being allowed according to 
 the tenets of the Greek church. 
 
 'One of the principal branches of the patriarch’s revenues arises from 
 particular patrimonies, or estates of inheritance. In case a priest dies 
 without issue, the patriarch has a just claim to all his effects, as the spi- 
 ritual father and common heir of the clergy ; and those Greeks who die 
 possessed of very large estates generally remember the patriarch in their 
 wills, and leave him either lands, houses, or ready money. Once in three 
 years, he collects a penny per head of every parishioner in his patriarch- 
 ate ; to which are added the contributions raised for him during Lent in 
 the churches of Constantinople and Galata. Finally, the Czar of Mus- 
 covy himself makes him a very handsome present as a mark of his pecu- 
 liar friendship and respect ; and, on the other hand, the Greeks testify an 
 extraordinary regard for the Russian nation, on account of some particular 
 prophecies, which intimate that the Russians will one day deliver the 
 Greeks from the tyranny and oppression of the Turks. 
 
 After the Patriarch of Constantinople, the richest is that of Jerusalem, 
 on account of the large sums of money arising from his profits by conse- 
 crated fires. The Patriarch of Antioch is the poorest of 
 Other patriarchs. t k em a ||. That of Alexandria is very powerful, with re- 
 spect to the ecclesiastical government ; and he makes himself formidable 
 by the execution of his penal laws. He assumes the grand title of Judge 
 of the whole World, as well as that of Pope. But what distinguishes him 
 in a particular manner from the Patriarch of Constantinople is, the advan- 
 tage which he enjoys of being less exposed to the avarice and resent- 
 ments of the Turks. His election is carried on without those artifices and 
 intrigues which are practised in that of the former, and the votes of the 
 electors are much more free. 
 
 As to the revenues of the archbishops and bishops, they consist, in like 
 manner, in the moneys arising from their respective ordinations. They 
 
 Revenues of the ^ave a ^ ee a crown upon all marriages; and every house * 
 other clergy. in their particular diocese supplies them with a certain 
 quantity of corn, fruits, wine, and oil. The priests live on the revenues of 
 the churches, or on the voluntary bounty and benevolence of their parish- 
 ioners, and their public collections on solemn festivals. Every time a 
 priest says mass, either on a holyday or Sunday, each house pays him 
 two-thirds of a farthing ; and, as a grateful acknowledgment, the priest on 
 his part is obliged, before the sacrifice is offered up, to say a prayer, and 
 beg of God to bless each of his benefactors for this small gratuity. It is, 
 however, a custom among the Greeks to enjoy themselves, and to have an 
 elegant entertainment on all solemn festivals, at which the priests always 
 attend, and give their blessing as soon as the first course comes upon the 
 table. This short religious service entities them to some bread, meat, 
 
150 
 
 GREEK CHURCH PROPER. 
 
 wine, and a small sum of money. As their whole maintenance, however, 
 depends upon the good circumstances and liberality of their parishioners, 
 their income is very uncertain and precarious, which naturally tends to 
 make them avaricious and anxious in mind, abject and submissive in theii 
 behaviour, and lukewarm in their devotion. If any religious services be 
 required of them, whether it be absolution, confession, baptism, marriage, 
 divorce, excommunication, or administration of the sacraments to the sick, 
 the price of each individual service must be first settled and adjusted. 
 The priests make the best bargain they possibly can, always proportioning 
 their fees to the zeal and circumstances of the devotees with whom they 
 hold this religious commerce. 
 
 The patriarch is elected by the archbishops and bishops, by a majority 
 of votes ; but this formality carries with it no weight nor importance, 
 Election of the consent and approbation of the Grand Seignior, 
 
 patriarch. Before the election begins, it is customary to address the 
 
 Grand Vizier for his license and permission to proceed with it ; and this 
 minister summons the archbishops, and inquires of them, whether they be 
 fully determined to proceed to the election of a new patriarch. He repeats 
 the question a second time, and grants his consent, together with the baratz. 
 His highness then presents the patriarch with a white horse, a black 
 capuch, a crosier, and an embroidered caftan. In this ceremony, the Turk 
 retains the ancient custom of the Grecian emperors. After this, the patri- 
 arch, attended by a long train of Turkish officers, his own clergy, and a 
 great concourse of people, repairs to his patriarchal see with all imaginable 
 pomp and solemnity. The principal archbishops, and the remainder of 
 the clergy, with wax tapers in their hands, receive him at the church door; 
 and the Bishop of Heraclea, as chief archbishop, having a right to conse- 
 crate him, being dressed in his pontifical robes, takes the patriarch by the 
 hand, and conducts hin to the throne. Previously to this ceremony, how- 
 ever, he makes a short harangue to the people, and informs them, that 
 such a person has been elected patriarch by the general suffrage of the 
 archbishops and bishops, according to the canons of the church ; and then 
 invites the patriarch to take possession of the important trust reposed in 
 him, who with gravity professes to decline it, as not considering himself 
 worthy of so great an honour : however, as it is conferred upon him by 
 the will of Heaven, he submits at last to the decisions of the clergy. This 
 ceremony being accomplished, he receives the cross, the mitre, and the 
 other pontifical ornaments, from the hands of the Archbishop of Heraclea. 
 He seats himself on his throne ; and the bishops, inferior clergy, and the 
 populace, pay him the usual compliments, exclaiming, Ad multos annos 
 Domine . The celebration of the mass, with the usual ceremonies observed 
 on solemn festivals, immediately succeed, and close the ceremony. 
 
 According to ancient custom, the patriarch, bishops, and other dignified 
 
GREEK CHURCH PROPER. 
 
 151 
 
 clergy, ought to hare none but monks for their ministers, and no secular 
 Order of as assistants. Before the conquest of Constantinople they 
 Bistants. were ecclesiastics, but at present they are all seculars, four 
 
 only excepted ; and this arrangement augments, on the one hand, the 
 revenues of the patriarch, and, on the other, gratifies the ambition of the 
 seculars. The following are the several officers, ranged in their proper 
 order, in regard to their respective functions, both ecclesiastical and civil: — 
 
 At the patriarch’s right hand stands his grand (economist, or high 
 steward, whose peculiar province it is to collect the revenues, and discharge 
 the necessary disbursements, of the patriarchate. He delivers in his ac- 
 counts twice a year, and assists at the patriarchal tribunal whenever the 
 court sits. When a bishop dies, he likewise superintends the affairs of 
 the vacant see, and has the first vote in every new election. 
 
 The grand sacellarius , or high-master of the chapel, assists the patriarch 
 in the administration of all his judicial affairs, and in the regular perform- 
 ance of the several ceremonies enjoined by the church. It is a part of 
 his office, likewise, to present all candidates to be ordained ; and not only 
 the monasteries of the monks, but the convents of the nuns, are subject to 
 his inspection. 
 
 The high treasurer , who is keeper of the sacred vessels and pontifical 
 ornaments belonging to the church, stands at the door of the vestry, in 
 which they are always deposited, and not only delivers out the proper ha- 
 biliments to the officiating prelate, but takes care that every article be regu- 
 larly placed upon the altar. W T hen any bishopric is vacant, it is his pro- 
 vince likewise to take care of the revenues belonging to it. 
 
 The grand official takes cognisance of all affairs relating to benefices, 
 and the impediments which obstruct marriages : he likewise introduces all 
 those priests who come to receive the Sacrament on solemn festivals. 
 
 The grand logothetes , or high chancellor. He is the speaker, has the 
 patriarch’s signet in his custody, and seals all his letters. 
 
 The grand referendary despatches all the patriarch’s orders, is his de- 
 puty to persons of distinction, and is one of the ecclesiastical judges. He 
 was distinguished by the title of the Palatine in the time of the Greek 
 emperors. 
 
 The grand prothonotary sits directly opposite to the patriarch, to tran- 
 scribe and deliver out all his briefs, mandamuses, orders, and decrees. It 
 is his province, also, to examine, twice a year, all the professors of the 
 canon law. All contracts, and last wills or testaments, are under his in- 
 spection. Finally, he attends the patriarch in the sanctuary, and brings 
 him water to wash his hands during the celebration of divine service. 
 
 All the above-named officers, as well as those who follow, though their 
 office be inferior, still preserve their ancient dignity, and stand at the pa- 
 triarch’s right hand at all public solemnities. 
 
152 
 
 GREEK CHURCH PROPER. 
 
 The thuroferary , or incense-bearer, independently of the duty implied 
 in his name, covers the consecrated vessels or implements with a veil 
 during the anthem to the sacred Trinity, and assists the celebrant in put- 
 ting on his sacerdotal vestments. 
 
 The next officer is employed in noting down the votes of the bishops, 
 and receiving petitions and remonstrances. The protecdice , or advocate, 
 determines all petty causes, and his court is held in the church porch. 
 The hieromnemon is intrusted with the care of the ritual, which is called 
 conlacium , and other church books. It is his province likewise to conse- 
 crate any new church in the bishop’s absence, and to ordain the readers. 
 There is another officer, who takes care of the supergenual of the patriarch, 
 and one who has the title of doctor. 
 
 On the left hand of the patriarch attend the protopapas, or high-priest, 
 the deutereuon, or second visitor, the prefect of the churches, the ecdices, 
 or lateral judges, the exarch, the two domestics, the two laosynactes, the 
 two deans, the protopsaltes, or chief singer, the deputy, the grand arch- 
 deacon, and the secondary deacon. The protopapas, whose dignity is 
 entirely ecclesiastical, administers the Holy Sacrament to the patriarch at 
 ail high and solemn masses, and receives it from him. He is the head 
 ecclesiastical dignitary, not only with respect to his peculiar privileges, but 
 to his right and title to precedence. The deutereuon, when the protopapas 
 happens to be absent, officiates in his stead. The visitor, among several 
 other prerogatives belonging to his office, enjoys the privilege of examining 
 into all ecclesiastical debates, and all impediments in matrimonial cases. 
 The sacred oil, and what the Greeks call the antimensium, which is a port- 
 able altar, are intrusted to the sole direction and management of the pre- 
 fect, or superintendent. He has the honour to erect the cross on such spot 
 of ground as is marked out, and set apart for a new church, when the 
 patriarch cannot perform this ceremony himself. The exarch revises all 
 causes in which sentence has been already passed. The domestics, as also 
 the two deans, who sit above the deacons, are ranged on each side of the 
 protopsaltes, or master of the choir, and sing with him. The laosynactes 
 assemble the deacons and people together. The deputy introduces 
 strangers into the presence of the patriarch, and clears the way to and 
 from his audience. He may be styled, with propriety, the master of the 
 ceremonies. Those who stand on the left hand of the patriarch are the 
 catechist, who instructs and prepares all those persons for the Sacrament 
 of Baptism who renounce their heretical tenets, and desire to be admitted 
 into the pale of the church. The periodeutes goes likewise from one place 
 to another, to instruct those that are intended to be baptized : the prefect, 
 or master of the ceremonies, an office distinct from that of the deputy, 
 assigns every person his proper place. 
 
 The proto syncellus is, properly speaking, inspector general of the patri- 
 
GREEK CHURCH PROPER. 
 
 153 
 
 arch himself. He has a right and title to an apartment in his palace, 
 and resides there at night with several other syncelli, who are under his 
 direction. His apartment joins the patriarch’s ; and, in fine, he is not only 
 the patriarch’s vicar and assistant, but his ghostly father. 
 
 The service of the Greeks consists of nine parts ; viz. the nocturns, or 
 night service ; the morning service, or matins; the laudes, prime, tierce. 
 Service Liturgy sexte ’ none > vespers, and complin. After the nocturnal, 
 &c - they sing the trisagium, or Holy God, Holy and Omnipo- 
 
 tent, Holy and Eternal ; and repeat the Gloria Patri three times succes- 
 sively, &c. ; and, at all the hours, perform the same service. 
 
 The Greeks have four distinct liturgies; the first is that of St. James, 
 which has met with a universal reception throughout the Greek church. 
 As this particular service is very long, and requires five hours at least for 
 the celebration of it, it is read but once a year, that is, on the 23d of 
 October, which is St. James’s day. The second is that of St. Basil. 
 This Father distinctly perceived, that the unmerciful length of St. James’s 
 liturgy tired the people, and damped their devotion ; and therefore deter- 
 mined to abridge it. The liturgy of Basil is read every Sunday in Lent, 
 Palm Sunday excepted ; on Holy Saturday, on the vigils or eves of Christ- 
 mas, the Epiphany, and the festival of St. Basil. The third liturgy is that 
 of St. Chrysostom ; who ascertained that the liturgy of St. Basil, though 
 an abridgment, was still too tedious, and that he did not make sufficient 
 allowance for the weakness and frailty of the faithful, who are unable 
 to support a close attention to the duties of religion for several consecutive 
 hours. St. Chrysostom, therefore, made a new reduction of this liturgy, 
 or rather extracted the most essential parts from St. Basil’s abridgment, 
 and inserted them in his own. This liturgy of St. Chrysostom is used 
 during the whole year, except on the days above particularly specified. 
 The fourth, which is that of St. Gregory, is called the preconsecrated 
 liturgy, because it always follows that of St. Chrysostom or St. Basil. 
 The last liturgy of St. Gregory is no more than a collection of prayers 
 peculiarly adapted to inspire both the priest and the people with that 
 ardent zeal and devotion which are requisite for the Lord’s Supper. 
 
 During divine service the Greeks observe several distinct postures, 
 which are considered as actually essential, and of the greatest moment in 
 the performance of their religious duties ; in general, when they pray, 
 they stand upright, and turn their faces to the east; but they may lean, or 
 even sit down to rest themselves, when they find it convenient. The laity 
 sit, while the priest reads his exhortation to them ; but stand, when they 
 pray to God or sing an anthem. On reaching their respective places they 
 uncover their heads, and make the sign of the cross, by joining the three 
 first fingers of their right hand, by which it is implied, that there are 
 three persons in the sacred Godhead. In this sign of the cross, the three 
 
154 
 
 GREEK CHURCH PROPER. 
 
 fingers placed on the forehead denote, that the three persons in the sacred 
 Godhead reside in the kingdom of heaven; when brought below the 
 breast, they point out four great mysteries at once, viz. Christ’s incarna- 
 tion, crucifixion, burial, and descent into hell. When placed on the right 
 shoulder, they imply that Jesus Christ, being risen, sits at the right 
 hand of God. In short, as the left shoulder is a type or figure of the 
 reprobation of the wicked, the Greek devotee, by placing his three 
 fingers there, begs of God that he may not be reckoned among the 
 number of those abandoned wretches ; but be delivered from the power 
 of the devil. 
 
 The whole devotion of the Greeks is comprised in the sign of the cross, 
 and the collection of prayers, commonly called the Horologium , which are 
 much the same as the Hours of the Latins. By this Horologium, it is 
 manifest they pray to the saints and the Virgin Mary. The latter is 
 therein called the Mother of God , the Queen of the Universe , and the 
 Glory of the Orthodox. In one particular prayer of the nocturnal service 
 they implore the Blessed Virgin to frustrate the counsels of the ungodly, 
 to fight for their rightful sovereign, and intercede for the peace and tran- 
 quillity of the whole world, &c. 
 
 It is remarkable, that their women, in some certain cases, are not allowed 
 to enter their churches; but are obliged to stand at the door, as if their 
 breath were infectious ; and they never presume either to approach the 
 communion table, or to kiss their images. 
 
 The Greeks celebrate mass, which consists of a round of ceremonies 
 somewhat similar to those of the Catholic mass. The laity, as well as the 
 clergy, however, among the Greeks, take the sacrament in 
 both kinds, and receive from the hands of the priest the 
 consecrated bread and wine in the same spoon, which the Greeks caJl 
 Labis. The laity receive the sacrament standing at the door of the sanc- 
 tuary ; the men first, and then the women. Those who presume to par- 
 take of this holy banquet must stand in a modest and reverential posture ; 
 their eyes must be fixed on the ground, and their head bowed down, as 
 persons in the act of adoration, and their arms must be laid across. The 
 Greeks follow the example of the Catholics, carry the communion to the 
 sick, but with less pomp or grandeur, it being contained in a little box, 
 enclosed in a bag, which the priest bears under his arm. This is a small 
 parcel or portion of the blessed bread, which they also carry to those whose 
 business confines them at home. The Bishop of Vabres says, that they 
 take a small portion of consecrated bread, about an inch square, cut in the 
 form of a cross and sprinkled with a little blood, (that is, transubstantiated 
 wine,) and administer it to the sick, after having moistened it with a little 
 water, or a little wine, and this is their viaticum which they give to sick 
 and dying persons. 
 
GREEK CHURCH PROPER. 
 
 155 
 
 It is a custom among the Greeks, when the foundation of any church is 
 to be laid, for the patriarch, or bishop, dressed in all his pontifical robes, to 
 repair to the place, and to bless it in the following manner. 
 
 Churches. pj e thurifies or incenses every individual part of the whole 
 foundation ; during which ceremony, the clergy sing anthems in honour to 
 the particular saint to whom the church is to be devoted. As soon as he 
 arrives at the place appointed for the high altar, he says a prayer, in which 
 he begs that the Lord will be pleased to bless and prosper the intended 
 edifice. After that, the bishop who consecrates it takes a stone, makes a 
 cross with it, and lays it on the foundation, saying, The Lord hath laid 
 the foundation of this house ; it shall never be shaken. This office 
 properly belongs to the bishop, or such other person as the patriarch shall 
 think fit to nominate or appoint ; as well as another office which the 
 Greeks call Stauropegium , i. e. the consecration or dedication of the 
 church. A wooden cross is erected behind the communion table, and in 
 order the better to certify and assure the faithful that this cross will be able 
 to dispel and keep the infernal powers at a distance, a particular prayer is 
 repeated, in which the miraculous rod of Moses is said to be an antecedent 
 type of that of our Lord Jesus Christ ; as the cross at the consecration is 
 its subsequent figure or representation. 
 
 When the Greeks lay the foundation of any edifice, the priest blesses 
 both the work and the workmen ; and as soon as the priest has retired, the 
 following ceremony is observed : the labourers kill a cock or a sheep, and 
 bury the blood of it under the foundation-stone, they being of opinion, 
 that there is a kind of magic, or charm, in this ceremony, of singular ser- 
 vice and importance to the building. This ceremony is called Thusia , 
 that is, sacrifice. 
 
 There is, however, a still more remarkable ceremony prevalent among 
 the Greeks, and which may be adduced as a strong proof of the gross 
 superstition in which they are unhappily immersed. When they enter- 
 tain any resentment against a particular person, in order to satisfy their 
 malice and revenge, they take an exact measure of the height and circum- 
 ference of his body. This measure they carry to one of the workmen 
 employed in laying the foundation of an edifice, who, for a small gratuity, 
 buries it under one of the first stones. They flatter themselves, that their 
 enemy will die soon after, or languish and fall away by degrees, in the 
 same manner as this secret instrument of their revenge perishes and 
 decays. 
 
 The churches of Constantinople are generally built in the form of the 
 Greek cross, that is, an equilateral square. The choir always fronts the 
 east. Some ancient churches, which are still extant, have two naves, 
 either sharp roofed, or vaulted ; and their steeples, which are not of the 
 least service, there being no bells in them, are erected in the middle of the 
 
156 
 
 GREEK CHURCH PROPER. 
 
 two roofs. The Greeks are prohibited by the Turks from making use of 
 bells, alleging, that the sound of them interrupts and disturbs the repose 
 of departed souls. 
 
 Tht Greeks have four solemn feasts, or Lents. The first commences on 
 the 15th of November , or forty days before Christmas. The second is our 
 Fasts and Festi ^ent, w ^ich immediately precedes Easter, which they keep 
 vais. according to the old style, the Eastern Christians not having 
 
 admitted the Gregorian Reformation of the Calendar. Their third is dis- 
 tinguished by the title of the Fast of the Holy Apostles , which they ob- 
 serve upon the supposition, that the apostles then prepared themselves by 
 prayer and fasting for the promulgation of the Gospel. This fast com- 
 mences the week after Whit-Sunday, and continues till the festival of 
 St. Peter and St. Paul. The number of days therefore comprised in this 
 Lent is not settled nor determined ; but consists of more or less, according 
 as Whit-Sunday falls sooner or later. Their fourth fast commences the 
 1st of August , and lasts only until the 15th. It is by this fast that they 
 prepare themselves for the celebration of the festival called the Assump- 
 tion of the Blessed Virgin. This fast is observed so strictly, that the 
 Greek monks are not allowed to touch one drop of oil during the continu- 
 ance of it; and it is looked upon as a duty incumbent on all persons in 
 general, except on the 6th of August, which is the festival of the Transfi- 
 guration, at which time they are indulged in the eating both of oil and 
 fish ; but on the following day they are obliged to observe the same rules 
 of abstinence as were before prescribed to them. 
 
 The Greeks testify a peculiar veneration for the Blessed Virgin ; and the 
 expressions which they make use of in the prayers particularly addressed 
 to her are exceedingly extravagant, and border strongly upon the ridicu- 
 lous. It is the custom of the most zealous devotees to dedicate to her, after 
 their meals, a small piece of bread, which they cut in a triangular form, 
 and, after thurification, elevate it to her honour. 
 
 To these four general fasts must be added that of the 28th of August, 
 in commemoration of the martyrdom of St. John the Baptist. They pre- 
 pare themselves by a fourteen days’ fast for the festival of the Exaltation 
 of the Cross ; during which time the monks preach, and endeavour to 
 affect the people with a long and pathetic history of our Saviour’s Passion ; 
 few, however, excepting the monks, observe the latter fast ; they being 
 the persons who peculiarly devote themselves to exercises of devotion, and 
 the mortification of the flesh : accordingly, they not only abstain from all 
 flesh, butter, cheese, and milk, but from all fish that have either shells, fins, 
 or blood. They are allowed, however, to eat any kind of fish during that 
 Lent which begins the 15th of November; as well as on their ordinary 
 fast-days of Wednesdays and Fridays; which days are in general fast- 
 days throughout the year, except a few particular ones ; and among the 
 
GREEK CHURCH PROPER. 
 
 157 
 
 rest, those in the eleventh week before Easter, which they call Jlrtzeburst , 
 which, in the Armenian language, signifies messenger ; and the cause of 
 this exception is at once curious and entertaining. A favourite dog, that 
 served in the capacity of carrier or messenger to some particular heretics, 
 having died, they immediately accused the orthodox with being the con- 
 trivers and promoters of his death ; and in commemoration of the good 
 services of the dog, and as a public testimony of their unfeigned sorrow at 
 his untimely end, the heretics set apart two days of this eleventh week to 
 be observed as a fast. These two days were Wednesday and Friday, and 
 the orthodox were absolved by the Greek church from fasting on those two 
 days, lest they should act in conformity to an erroneous practice established 
 by the heretics. The Greeks likewise abstain from all kinds of meats on 
 Whit-Monday; on which day the people repair to church early in the 
 morning, in order to pray to God for that communication of the Holy 
 Ghost which he formerly conferred on the blessed apostles. On the 25th 
 of March, which is the festival of the Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin 
 Mary, they are allowed to eat what fish they please, notwithstanding this 
 holyday falls in Lent. They are permitted, likewise, to eat meat from Christ- 
 mas till the Epiphany, or festival of the Three Kings, not excluding Wed- 
 nesdays and Fridays, which, among the Greeks, are accounted fast days 
 throughout the whole year. The Greeks select Wednesdays, because 
 Judas on that day took the nine pieces of silver to betray his Master ; and 
 Friday, on account of Christ’s Passion. 
 
 Lent, with the Greeks, commences on a Monday, and their strict ob- 
 servance of all their fasts can only be equalled by their superstition. They 
 look upon those persons who, without an absolute necessity, violate the 
 laws of abstinence, and, consequently, the constitutions of their church, to 
 be as infamous and as criminal, in all respects, as those who are guilty of 
 theft or adultery. They entertain such an exalted and extravagant idea 
 of these fasts, that they imagine Christianity cannot possibly subsist with- 
 out them, and they hesitate not to suspect the sincerity of those professors 
 who presume to neglect or infringe the strict observance of them. This 
 partial and more than common regard for fasts induces the Eastern nations 
 to believe that the Protestant churches are all heterodox, as they observe no 
 days of penance ; to which may be added, their total want of a profound 
 veneration for the sign of the cross. 
 
 The Greeks are so superstitious and extravagant in the observance of 
 their fasts, that they will not admit of any cases of sufficient urgency to 
 justify the grant of any dispensations ; and the patriarch himself, accord- 
 ing to their ideas, cannot authorize or empower any person to eat meat 
 when the church has enjoined the contrary. They think it their duty 
 rather to let a sick man die, than restore him to health, if they could, by 
 such an abominable prescription as a mess of broth ; it is true, neverthe- 
 11 
 
 j 
 
158 
 
 GREEK CHURCH PROPER. 
 
 less, that a father confessor will sometimes, when he entertains a particular 
 love and respect for a person that is indisposed, order and advise him to 
 eat meat, and promise him his absolution from the sin, upon his coming 
 to confession. Upon a general computation, there are only about one hun- 
 dred and thirty days in the year on which meat is allowed ; and neither 
 old nor young, sick nor weak, are excused from the strict observance of 
 all their fasts. 
 
 In regard to their feasts, Easter is accounted by the Greek church the 
 most solemn festival in the year. It is customary for them at this time, 
 upon meeting with their friends, to greet them with this formal salutation, 
 Jesus Christ is risen from the dead ; to which the person accosted replies, 
 He is risen indeed: at the same time, they kiss each other three times — 
 once on each cheek, and once upon their lips, and then part. This cere- 
 mony is observed on Good Friday, Easter Sunday, and the three subse- 
 quent days ; and every week till Whitsuntide. According to some 
 historians, two priests on Good Friday, in order to commemorate the 
 sacred sepulchre, carry in procession at night upon their shoulders the 
 picture or representation of a tomb, in which the crucified Jesus, painted 
 on a board, is deposited. On Easter Sunday, this sepulchre is carried out 
 of the church, and exposed to the public view ; when the priest begins to 
 sing, Jesus Christ is risen from the dead ; he has triumphed over death , 
 and given life to all such as mere laid in their graves. After which, it is 
 carried back to the church, and there thurified, or incensed, and the ser- 
 vice is continued. The priest and the congregation repeat almost every 
 moment this form of words : Jesus Christ is risen from the dead. In the 
 next place, the celebrant, or officiating priest, makes three signs of the 
 cross, kisses the Gospel and the image of Jesus Christ. Then the picture 
 is turned on the other side, on which Jesus Christ is represented as rising 
 out of his sepulchre. The priest kisses it, and in a more elevated strain 
 pronounces the same form, Jesus Christ is risen from the dead. The 
 whole congregation embrace and make their peace with each other, and 
 in their transports of joy at the sight of this rough sketch of the resur- 
 rection, fire their pistols, which frequently singe the hair and beards of 
 the reverend Pappas. The ceremony concludes with the benediction, 
 pronounced by the officiating priest. The women observe much the 
 same ceremony among themselves, in that part of the church which is 
 appropriated to their peculiar service, with the exception of the firing of 
 the pistols. 
 
 On Holy Thursday, some of the most zealous bishops wash the feet of 
 twelve priests, and the following is a description of this solemnity. 
 Twelve of the most venerable priests attend the archbishop to church, 
 where he is dressed in a purple robe. As soon as one part of the service 
 is concluded, he enters into the sanctuary, divests himself of his purple 
 
GREEK CHURCH PROPER. 
 
 vestment, -and puts on another of much greater pomp and splendour. The 
 priests, who in this ceremony represent the twelve apostles, have each of 
 them a robe of a different colour. The eldest and most venerable father 
 is selected to personate St. Peter, and takes the first place on the right 
 hand. One of them, who is obliged to have a red beard, in order to ren- 
 der the ceremony more lively and natural, has the misfortune to supply 
 the place of Judas. All these priests being thus regularly placed, the 
 prelate goes out to change his habiliments, and returns with a napkin tied 
 round his waist, and a basin of water in his hand to wash the feet of these 
 twelve apostles. He who personates St. Peter refuses at first the honour 
 intended him, saying, Master , thou slialt never wash my feet. But the 
 prelate answers him, Unless I wash thee , thou shalt have no part in me. 
 Upon which, the priest makes no further resistance, but permits him to 
 wash his feet. When the prelate comes to the unhappy representative 
 of Judas, he makes a kind of pause, as if to give him time to recollect 
 himself, but at last washes his feet also ; and the ceremony closes with 
 several anthems. 
 
 On the 2d of September, the monks alone celebrate the festival of St. 
 John the Baptist, whom they have dignified with the character of tem- 
 perate and abstemious, as setting the first and glorious example of fasting. 
 The 26th is consecrated in commemoration of St. John the Evangelist, of 
 whom it is a received notion among the Greeks, that he was snatched up 
 to heaven like Enoch and Elias. 
 
 According to Christopher Angelus, there are six-and-thirty solemn fes- 
 tivals in the Greek calendar, twelve of which are devoted to the honour 
 and service of the Lord Jesus and the Blessed Virgin ; the remaining 
 twenty-four are appropriated to St. John the Baptist, the Apostles and the 
 Holy Martyrs. 
 
 The first sacrament of the Greek church is that of baptism, and the 
 Greeks take care to bring the children as soon as they are eight days old 
 to the church door. This religious custom is very ancient 
 among them, and may be regarded as an imitation or sub- 
 sequent figure of the presentation of Jesus Christ in the temple of Jeru- 
 salem. If an infant, however, be in any apparent danger of death, he 
 is baptized immediately, for fear he should die in darkness, or, as they 
 express it, out of the light. The priest goes to ;the church door, in order 
 to receive the infant, and to give him his benediction, as St. Simon for- 
 merly did to our blessed Saviour. At the same time he marks him with 
 the sign of the cross on his forehead, his mouth, and his breast. These 
 are the preliminary ceremonies to the sacrament of Baptism, and are 
 styled putting the seal upon an infant. The initial ceremony is followed 
 by a prayer repeated by the priest ; after which he takes the infant and 
 raises him in his arms, either before the church door oi the image of the 
 
 Baptism, 
 
 1 
 
1G0 
 
 GREEK CHURCH PROPER. 
 
 Blessed Virgin, making several signs of the cross upon him. This bap- 
 tism is performed by a threefold immersion ; but before he administers this 
 sacrament, the priest breathes three times on the infant, which is looked 
 upon as an exorcism, and deliverance from the power and malice of the 
 devil ; afterwards he plunges him three times all over in the baptismal 
 font, and at each immersion names one of the three personages of ths 
 Sacred Trinity. The relations, who bring the child to be baptized, take 
 care to have the baptismal water warmed, throwing into it a collection of 
 the most odoriferous flowers ; and while the water is warming the priest 
 sanctifies it by a prayer, breathes upon it, and then pours oil into it, and, 
 with the same oil, anoints the infant in the form of a cross. The oil is a 
 symbol or figure of man’s reconciliation with his Maker, and this unction 
 is performed by the priest upon the child’s forehead and breast, all round 
 about his ears, and upon his loins, during which he pronounces the fol- 
 lowing forms of words, in anointing the forehead, The servant of the Lord 
 is anointed ; in anointing his breast, For the cure of his soul and body ; 
 and at the unction of his ears he adds, that the faith may be received by 
 hearing. 
 
 After the last prayer in the office of baptism, the infant is confirmed by 
 the priest, who, on .applying the chrism, in the form of a cross, to the 
 forehead, eyes, nose, mouth, ears, breast, hands, and feet of the infant, says, 
 Behold the seal of the gift of the Holy Ghost. 
 
 Seven days after baptism, the infant is brought to church in order to be 
 washed. The priest, pronouncing the prayers directed in their ritual, not 
 only w r ashes the infant’s shirt, but cleans his body with a new sponge, or 
 a linen cloth prepared for that purpose, and dismisses him with the follow- 
 ing words : Thou art now baptized , surrounded with a celestial light , 
 fortified with the Sacrament of Confirmation , and sanctified and washed 
 in the name of the Father , of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. 
 
 Excommunication excludes the offender from the pale of the Church ; 
 deprives him of all communion with the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost ; 
 
 _ cuts him off* from all communion with the three hundred 
 
 Excommunica- 
 tion- and eighteen fathers of the first council of Nice, and with 
 
 the saints; consigns him over to the devil and the traitor Judas; and, in 
 short, condemns his body to remain after death as hard as a flint or piece 
 of steel, unless he humbles himself, and makes atonement for his sins by a 
 sincere repentance. The whole form of excommunication abounds with 
 the most direful imprecations ; and if it does not absolutely deprive the 
 delinquent of the enjoyment of the four elements, it calls down more curses 
 on his head than are requisite to render that enjoyment insupportable. It 
 even prohibits his interment after his decease ; and the awful apprehen- 
 sion of such appalling misfortunes contributes very much, beyond all doubt, 
 towards imprinting on the minds of the Greeks a lively sense of their 
 
GREEK CHURCH PROPER. 
 
 161 
 
 duty; to which maybe added, their belief respecting those excommuni- 
 cated persons, who die in impenitence, that their bodies will never dissolve 
 nor moulder away, until such excommunication be taken off. The devil, 
 according to a received notion among the Greeks, enters into their lifeless 
 corpses, and makes them subservient to his wayward will and pleasure. 
 
 The particular ceremonies and preliminaries of the marriage rites of the 
 Greeks are as singular and remarkable as those of other countries, and we 
 shall, in the first place, describe those which may, with pro- 
 Marrmge. p r i e ty, be termed religious. In the office of matrimony 
 there is a prayer for the bride, who is to be muffled up either in a veil or 
 a hood. Those who are inclined to be joined together in the bands of wed- 
 lock, make their applications to the priest as soon as mass is over for the 
 solemnization of their nuptials. The bridegroom stands on the right hand, 
 and the bride on the left. Two rings, one gold, the other silver, are depo- 
 sited near to each other on the right side of the communion table, the latter 
 pointing to the right hand, and the former to the left. The priest who 
 performs the ceremony, makes several crosses upon the bride and bride- 
 groom; puts lighted wax-tapers in their hands, thurifies, or incenses them, 
 in the form of a cross, and accompanies them to the temple. The choir 
 and the deacon pray alternately that the bridegroom and the bride may 
 prosper in all their undertakings, and be blessed with a numerous and 
 hopeful issue. When these prayers are over, the priest gives the gold 
 ring to the bridegroom, and the silver one to his spouse, saying three times 
 successively, 1 join (or I tie) N. and N. these servants of the Almighty 
 here present , in the name of the Father , &c. Having pronounced this 
 form of words, he makes the sign of the cross with the rings over their 
 heads, before he puts them on the proper finger of the right hand. Then 
 the paranymph, or brideman, exchanges these two rings, and the priest 
 reads a long prayer, in which the virtue and dignity of the nuptial ring 
 are typically compared to Joseph's ring, and that of Daniel and of Thamar . 
 
 While the bride and bridegroom are crowned, the same priest accom- 
 panies the ceremony with several benedictions, and other emphatical 
 prayers, which being completed, the bridegroom and his spouse enter the 
 ch arch with their wax-tapers lighted in their hands ; the priest marches 
 in procession before them, with his incense-pot, singing, as he proceeds, 
 the 128th Psalm, which consists of a promise to the faithful Jews of a 
 prosperous and fruitful marriage. At the close of every verse the congre- 
 gation repeat the Doxology or the Gloria Patri. The deacon, as soon as 
 the psalms are over, resumes the prayers, and the choir makes the usual 
 responses. 
 
 These prayers being concluded, the priest places the crown on the bride- 
 groom’s head, saying, This man , the servant of the Lord , is crowned , in 
 order to be married to this woman , &c. After which, he crowns the 
 
162 
 
 GREEK CHURCH PROPER. 
 
 bride, and repeats the same form, which is followed by a triple benediction, 
 the proper lessons, and prayers. The priest, in the next place, presents 
 the bridegroom and the bride with a gob-let, or large glass, full of wine, 
 ready blest for that purpose ; after which he takes off their crowns. An- 
 other prayer, accompanied with a proper benediction, and several compli- 
 ments paid to the newly-married couple, conclude the solemnity. 
 
 The observance of the following particular customs is looked upon 
 among the Greeks as an indispensable obligation, and, in short, a funda- 
 mental article of their religion. If a priest, after the decease of his first 
 wife, marries again, he forfeits his title to the priesthood, and is looked 
 upon as a layman. If a layman marries a fourth wife, he is excluded 
 from all communion with the Church. When a man has buried his third 
 wife, there is no medium for him ; he must either continue a lay-widower, 
 or enter himself a member of some convent. The general reason assigned 
 for this severe prohibition is, that fourth marriages are absolute polygamy. 
 The Greeks do not entertain the same idea of three subsequent marriages, 
 because, by a most refined subterfuge and evasion, which is scarcely intel- 
 ligible, they insist that polygamy consists of two copulatives, and that three 
 marriages consist but of one plurality and a unity. A much better reason 
 for it is, however, assigned by Ricaut, which is, that this custom of the 
 modern Greeks is grounded on the rigour of the ancient church, which 
 checked and censured (in all probability too austerely) all those w T ho in- 
 dulged themselves in any sensual enjoyments. Some of the primitive 
 fathers were so strict, as not to make allowance for the natural constitution 
 of man and the climate in which he lived, nor would they admit of any 
 other circumstance as a sufficient plea for indulgence. 
 
 The following are some preliminary marriage-ceremonies observed by 
 the Greeks at Athens. The young virgins never stir out of their houses 
 before their wedding-day, and their gallants make love by proxy, or a third 
 person, who has free access to them, and is some relation or particular 
 acquaintance, in whose fidelity and friendship they can properly confide. 
 The lover does not therefore so much as see his intended bride till the day 
 appointed for the solemnization of their nuptials. On that day, the bride 
 is handed about in public for a long time, moving in a very slow and 
 solemn pace. The procession between the church and the bridegroom’s 
 house occupies at least two hours, and is preceded by a select band of 
 hautboys, tabors, and other musical instruments. During this ceremony 
 and the procession, the young virgins carry a large crown on their heads, 
 composed of filagree-work, decked with costly pearls, wffiich is so cumbrous 
 and troublesome, that they are obliged to walk as upright as an arrow. 
 This public wedding would be looked upon with an eye of contempt if the 
 parties were not painted, or rather daubed over in a very rude and inele- 
 gant manner. 
 
GREEK CHURCH PROPER. 
 
 163 
 
 Extreme TJ ne- 
 on. 
 
 A striking difference exists between the Greeks and the Latins, in 
 regard to the manner of administering the extreme unction , and there are 
 several ceremonies which belong peculiarly to the two unc- 
 tions of the Greeks. The archbishop, or, in his absence, 
 the bishop, consecrates, on Wednesday in holy week, the oil of unction 
 for the whole year ; and on Maundy-Thursday, the patriarch, or bishop, 
 administers the unction publicly to all the faithful. The prelate is 
 anointed first by the (Economist , after which he himself anoints the whole 
 congregation. 
 
 The other circumstances relating to the unction and extreme unction of 
 the Greeks, which are peculiar to themselves, are, that the priest, after he 
 has dipped his cotton, which is fastened to the end of a stick, into the 
 sacred oils, anoints the penitent or the sick person, in the form of a cross 
 upon the forehead, chin, cheeks, the upper side, and palms of the hands 
 After which he pronounces a short praye»r. The seven assisting priests 
 anoint all the sick persons, one after another. The principal lays the gospel 
 upon his head, while the others lay their hands upon him. 
 
 The differences which have been observed between the unction of the 
 Latins and that of the Greeks maybe thus explained. By the laws of the 
 Latin church one person alone may administer the Sacrament of extreme 
 unction; whereas the administration of it, in the opinion of the Greeks, is 
 irregular, unless three at least assist at the celebration of it. By the Latin 
 ritual the bishop only has authority to consecrate the oil ; but the Grecian 
 priests, as well as their prelates, are invested with that power. Independ- 
 ently of the parts of the body of their sick which are differently anointed, 
 it is customary with the Greeks to anoint their houses also, and to imprint 
 upon them at the same time several signs of the cross. 
 
 On the decease of any person, the whole family appear like so many 
 actors at the representation of a deep tragedy ; all are in tears, and at the 
 „ . , same time utter forth the most dismal groans. The body 
 
 nities - of the deceased, whether male or female, is dressed in its 
 
 best apparel, and afterwards extended upon a bier, with one wax taper at 
 the head, and another at the feet. The wife, if the husband be the object 
 of their sorrow, the children, servants, relations, and acquaintance, enter 
 the apartment in which the deceased is thus laid out, with their clothes 
 rent, tearing their hair, beating their breast, and disfiguring their faces 
 with their nails. When the body of the deceased is completely dressed, 
 and decently extended on the bier, for the regular performance of his last 
 obsequies, and the hour is arrived for his interment, the crucifix is carried 
 in procession at the head of the funeral train. The priests and deacons 
 who accompany them, reciting the prayers appointed by the church, bum 
 incense, and implore the Divine Majesty to receive the soul of the deceased 
 into his heavenly mansions. The wife follows his dear remains, drowned 
 
f 64 
 
 GREEK CHURCH PROPER. 
 
 in a flood of tears, and so disconsolate, that, if we might form a judgment 
 from her tears and the excess of her cries and lamentations, one would 
 imagine that she would instantly set her soul at liberty to fly after, and 
 overtake her husband’s. There are some women, however, to be met with, 
 who have no taste for these extravagant testimonies of their grief and 
 anguish, and yet their mourning is not less solemn than that of their neigh- 
 bours. It is rather singular that the Greeks have women who are mourners 
 by profession, who weep in the widow’s stead for a certain sum, and by 
 frequent practice of their art, can represent to the life all the violent emo- 
 tions and gesticulations that naturally result from the most pungent and 
 unfeigned sorrow. 
 
 As soon as the funeral service is over, they kiss the crucifix, and after- 
 wards salute the mouth and forehead of the deceased. After that, each of 
 them eats a small bit of bread, and drinks a glass of wine in the church, 
 wishing the soul of the deceased a good repose, and the afflicted family all 
 the consolation they can wish for. A widow who has lost her husband, a 
 child who has lost his father or mother — in short, all persons who are in 
 deep mourning, dress no victuals at their own houses. The friends and 
 relations of the deceased send them in provisions for the first eight days ; 
 at the end of which they pay the disconsolate family a charitable visit, in 
 order to condole with and comfort them under their unhappy loss, and to 
 wait on them to the church, where prayers are read for the repose of the 
 soul of the deceased. The men again eat and drink in the church, while 
 the women renew their cries and lamentations. But those who can 
 afford to hire professed mourners never undergo this second fatigue, but 
 substitute proper persons in their stead, to weep over their husbands’ 
 tombs three days after their interment ; at which time prayers are always 
 read for the repose of his soul. After the ninth day, masses and prayers 
 are again read upon the same occasion, which are repeated at the expira- 
 tion of forty days ; as, also, at the close of six months, and on the last day 
 of the year. After the ceremony is concluded, they make their friends a 
 present of some corn, boiled rice, wine, and some sweetmeats. This 
 custom, which is generally called by the Greeks Ta Sperna, is looked 
 upon by them as very ancient. They renew it with increased solemnity 
 and devotion on the Friday immediately preceding their Lent, that before 
 Christmas, on Good Friday, and the Friday before Whitsuntide ; which 
 days the Greek church have devoted to the service of the dead, not only 
 of those who have departed this life according to the common course of 
 nature, but those likewise who have unfortunately met with a sudden and 
 untimely death. 
 
 There is no mass said for the dead on the days of their interment ; but 
 forty are said in every parish on the following day, at sevenpence per 
 mass. As soon as they arrive in the church, the priests read aloud the 
 
GREEK CHURCH PROPER. 
 
 1G5 
 
 service for the dead, while a young clerk repeats some particular psalms 
 of David at the foot of the bier. When the service is concluded, twelve 
 loaves, and as many bottles of wine, are distributed among the poor at the 
 church door. Every priest has ten gazettas or Venetian pence, and the 
 bishop who accompanies the corpse three half-crowns. The grand vicar, 
 treasuier, and keeper of the archives, who are next to the prelate in 
 point of dignity, have three crowns, or a double fee. After this distribu- 
 tion, one of the priests lays a large piece of broken pot upon the breast 
 of the deceased, on which a cross, and the usual characters I. N. R. I., 
 being the initials of four Greek words, signifying, Jesus of Nazareth, King 
 of the Jews, are engraved with the point of a penknife, or some other 
 tool or instrument proper for that occasion. After that, they withdraw 
 and take their leave of the deceased. The relations kiss th« lips ; and 
 this is looked upon as a duty so very imperative that the neglect of it 
 cannot be dispensed with, although the person died with the most infec- 
 tious distemper. 
 
 Nine days afterwards, the colyva is sent to church ; which, according 
 .0 the Greeks, is a large dish of boiled wheat, garnished with blanched 
 almonds, raisins, pomegranates, sesame, and strewed round with sweet 
 basil, and other odoriferous herbs. The middle of the dish is raised in a 
 pyramidical form, adorned at top with a large bunch of Venetian arti- 
 ficial flowers ; large lumps of sugar or dried sweetmeats are ranged, like 
 Maltese crosses, all round the borders ; and this is what the Greeks call the 
 oblation of the colyva , which is established among them in order that the 
 true believer may commemorate the resurrection of the dead, according 
 to those words of our blessed Saviour, recorded in St. John — Except a 
 grain of wheat fall into the ground and die , it abideth alone ; but if it die , 
 it bringeth forth much fruit. It must be acknowledged that true piety 
 and devotion have contributed very much towards the establishment of 
 this kind of ceremony: but it must be also allowed, that by a kind of 
 fatality, which too frequently attends the most pious institutions, this, as 
 well as other ceremonies of a similar nature, has degenerated into super- 
 stition. It is worthy of remark, that this ceremony of the Grecian colyva , 
 which is peculiar to their funeral solemnities, their ninth day’s devotion, 
 their quarantains, their anniversaries, and the days appointed for the com- 
 memoration of their dead, is also observed on their most solemn festivals. 
 The comfits, or sweetmeats, and other fruits, are added merely to render 
 their boiled wheat a little more palatable. The sexton or grave-digger 
 carries this dish of colyva upon his head, preceded by an attendant with 
 two large flambeaux made of wood, and gilt, embellished with several 
 rows of large ribands, and edged with lace, six inches deep. This grave- 
 digger is followed by three other attendants, or waiters, one with two large 
 bottles of wine in hi? hands, another loaded with two baskets full of 
 
166 
 
 GREEK CHURCH PROPER. 
 
 fruits, and the third carrying a Turkish carpet, which is to be spread over 
 the tomb of the deceased, and made use of as a table-cloth for their colyva, 
 and their funeral entertainment. 
 
 The priest reads the service of the dead, during the time that this cus- 
 tomary oblation is carried to the church, and he is afterwards complimented 
 with a large proportion of it : wine is abundantly served to every person 
 of tolerable credit or repute, and the remainder is distributed among the 
 poor. As soon as the oblation is carried out of doors, the hired mourners 
 repeat their hideous outcries, the same as on the day of the interment, 
 find the relations, friends, and acquaintance likewise express their sorrow 
 by a thousand ridiculous grimaces. The whole recompense which the 
 hired mourners receive for their flood of tears, is five loaves, two quarts 
 of wine, haif a cheese, a quarter of mutton, and fifteen pence in money. 
 The relations are obliged, consistently with the custom of some particular 
 places, to pay several visits to the tomb of the deceased, to weep over it, 
 and, as an incontestable testimony of their unfeigned sorrow, they never 
 change their clothes during the time of their mourning ; the husbands 
 never shave themselves, and the widows suffer themselves to be overrun 
 with vermin. In some particular islands, the natives mourn constantly 
 at home, and the widowers and widows never go to church, nor frequent 
 the sacraments, while they are in mourning. The bishqps and priests are 
 sometimes obliged to compel them to attend church, under pain of excom- 
 munication, of which the Greeks have a more awful apprehension than 
 of fire and sword. 
 
 Thfc idea which the Greeks entertain of purgatory is very dark and 
 confused, and in general they leave the decision of eternal salvation or 
 condemnation to the day of judgment. They are at a loss to fix and 
 determine the place where the souls of the deceased reside till the final 
 day of resurrection, and in this state of incertitude, they never omit to 
 pray for them, hoping that God, in his infinite goodness, will incline his 
 ear to their supplications. 
 
 The first, or lowest order of their priesthood, is the lecturer, whose 
 peculiar province is to read the sacred Scriptures to the people on solemn 
 Order and ordi- festivals : from this station he is gradually advanced, first, 
 priests. to be a chorister or chanter, then sub-deacon, whose office it 
 
 is at mass to sing the epistle ; and then he is ordained deacon, and sings 
 the gospel. The last order is that of the priests, who are either seculars 
 or regulars. 
 
 According to the orders in the pontifical, when a person is to be ordained 
 a priest, two deacons accompany him to the sacred doors, and there deliver 
 him into the hands of the priests. The protopapas, and he who is next in 
 dignity to him, lead him three times round the altar, singing the hymn of 
 the martyrs. The candidate for the priesthood then kneels down, and the 
 
GREEK CHURCH PROPER. 
 
 1G7 
 
 ordinant makes three times over his head the sign of the cross, repeats the 
 prayers adapted to that particular occasion, and lays his hands upon him. 
 In one of the prayers in particular, the ordinant enumerates the principal 
 functions of a priest, — viz. those of sacrificing, preaching the gospel, and 
 administering the sacrament of baptism, &c. These prayers being con- 
 cluded, be orders the new priest to rise, and puts the band of the horary, 
 which hung down behind, over his right shoulder. Pie then presents 
 him with the epitrachelium, or the stole ; and the plielonium , or the sur* 
 plice ; the choir singing during the whole of the time this ceremony is 
 performing. A deacon afterwards pronounces the following exhortation, 
 Let us love one another. Then the patriarch kisses the altar, and each 
 priest approaches the sacred table in regular order, according to his rank 
 and dignity, and not only kisses it, but also the patriarch’s hand, which 
 lies upon it, and then his cheek. The priests salute each other, and the 
 deacons follow their example. 
 
 The priests wear a white woollen fillet behind their hats or caps, which 
 hangs down upon their shoulders, and is called “ peristera,” that is to say, 
 a dove ; and is looked upon as an emblem or figure of the innocence and 
 purity of the priesthood. The bishop moves this dove from any priest 
 under his jurisdiction, who is proved guilty of any enormous offence; and 
 the majority of then\ are so notoriously vicious, that very few can hpast of 
 wearing this badge of innocence for any long period of time. 
 
 At the ordination of a bishop, the priests deliver him into the hands of 
 two prelates, who oblige him to make a formal procession round the altar, 
 as in the preceding ordinations. After these preliminary ceremonies, the 
 chartophylax, or archivist, delivers the contacium, which is a small collec- 
 tion of degrees, forms, &c., relating to the election of a bishop, to the 
 patriarch, who takes it in his left hand, and lays his right on the candidate 
 for the bishopric, in order to read the form of his election ; after this lesson, 
 he opens the book of the gospels, and lays it on the head of the candidate, 
 ail the assistant bishops laying their hands on the book at the same time : 
 all these ceremonies are accompanied with several prayers which are suita- 
 ble to the solemn occasion. # 
 
 The prayers being over, the ordinant takes the book from the head of 
 the bishop elect, and having deposited it on the altar, presents him with the 
 pallium: this ceremony is accompanied with singing and with holy kisses. 
 
 The Greeks are, in general, an ignorant and superstitious people. 
 
 Superstitious Among their superstitious customs, the following may be 
 customs. included, as some of the most extraordinary : — 
 
 They attach a particular sanctity to some fountains, which they look 
 upon as miraculous waters, especially when they are devoted to the service 
 of any celebrated saint. This superstitious notion appears to be a true 
 copy of a pagan original. 
 
163 
 
 GREEK CHURCH PROPER. 
 
 They think it a duty incumbent upon them to refrain from blood, and all 
 meats that have been strangled ; but notwithstanding this scruple of con- 
 science, they are not very nice in regard to the kind of provisions which 
 ar« set before them. If they be strict, however, in the observance of this 
 custom, they are in that respect very nearly allied to the Jews. 
 
 They call the Nile the Monarch of the Floods ; and are of opinion, that 
 the overflowing of this river is 'a peculiar blessing, and an indulgence of 
 the Almighty to Egypt, on account of our Saviour and the Blessed Virgin 
 having been sheltered and protected in that country from the persecutions 
 of Herod. 
 
 Their art of physic, which is generally practised by empirics and igno- 
 rant pretenders, is accompanied by innumerable superstitions. The follow- 
 ing may be adduced as a striking instance of the extent of their medical 
 knowledge. When their patients’ heads are so very much disordered as 
 to cause delirium, they use the same means for their recovery as for a 
 demoniac, or one possessed with the devil. The physician in this case 
 ceases to prescribe for him ; but his friends make an immediate application 
 io an exorcist ; that is, to one of their papas, who approaches the patient’s 
 bed-side, and not only reads several prayers over him, but sprinkles him 
 with holy water. He pours likewise a plentiful quantity of it into the bed 
 in which the patient lies, and, in short, sprinkles the room all over. The 
 exorcisms ensue, and the papas in the most solemn manner expel the ima- 
 ginary demons. Conceit effects a cure which was supposed to be beyond 
 the skill of the most able physician. 
 
 The Greeks are extremely fond of visiting their churches and chapels, 
 especially such as are on precipices, and places very difficult of access ; 
 and, indeed, the principal part of their devotion consists in voluntary 
 fatigue, which is, in their eyes, a kind of mortification of the flesh. On 
 their first arrival at the church or chapel, they repeatedly cross themselves, 
 and make numerous genuflexions and profound bows. They kiss the 
 image which is erected in it, and present it with three or four grains of the 
 choicest frankincense ; recommending themselves to the protection of the 
 Blessed Virgin, or to the saint whom the image represents ; but in case 
 the saint does not incline his ear, and hearken to their vows, they soon 
 make him sensible of their resentment. 
 
 One of the greatest frauds engendered by superstition is the urn of 
 Amorgos, which is looked upon as the oracle of the Archipelago. It has 
 this in common with the ancient oracles of Greece, that it is indebted to 
 the artifice and roguery of the priests for the fame of its predictions. This 
 urn, which stands near a chapel consecrated to St. George, fills and dis- 
 embogues itself several times in the course of a day, and sometimes within 
 so small a period as half an hour, which is looked upon as a miracle, and 
 ascribed to the prevailing influence and power of St. George. This is the 
 
GREEK CHURCH PROPER. 
 
 169 
 
 very same St. George who, at Scyros, flies at and seizes upon those impious 
 persons who neglect to perform their vows. His image, according to tra- 
 ditionary report, lays violent hands on the delinquents, jumps upon their 
 shoulders, and gives them many severe blows on the head and back, till 
 they have discharged the duty incumbent on them. They see him sailing 
 in the air, and frisking about from one place to another, till at last he settles 
 upon the back of a blind monk, who carries him he knows not whither. 
 Those who consult the urn of Amorgos before they engage in any affair 
 of the last importance, are sure to prove unsuccessful if, upon their first 
 approach, they find the water lower than ordinary. Father Richard 
 assures us, that the islanders annually, at Easter, consult this urn of 
 Amorgos, which, from its fulness or emptiness, presages a plentiful or a 
 bad harvest. 
 
 There is a very particular custom observed in the island of Andros, the 
 origin of which, however, has hitherto baffled the most rigid inquiry. At 
 the procession on the festival of Corpus Christi, the bishop of the Romish 
 church, who carries the body of our blessed Saviour, tramples under foot 
 all the Christians, of whatever sect they may be, who lie prostrate before 
 him in the streets. The same custom is observed at Naxos, and the 
 missionary who relates the story adds, that such as have any sick persons 
 in their family bring them out in order to lie in the way of the blessed 
 Sacrament ; and the more they are trodden, the nearer they approach to 
 convalescence. 
 
 The inhabitants of some part of the island of Chios are of opinion that 
 a corpse, which is not corrupted in forty days, is transformed into a familiar 
 spirit, or hobgoblin, which is very troublesome and impertinent, knocks at 
 people’s doors, and even calls them distinctly by their names. If any person 
 presumes to answer to his call, they think he will most assuredly die in two 
 or three days at furthest. 
 
 At Nicaria, near Samos, the inhabitants, who are all swimmers, will not 
 marry their daughters to any but such young fellows who can dive eight 
 fathoms deep at least. They are obliged to produce a certificate of 
 their diving ability, and when a papa, or some substantial islander, is 
 determined to dispose of his daughter in marriage, he appoints a day 
 when the best swimmer is to bear away the prize. As soon as the candi- 
 dates are all stripped naked, the young lady makes her personal appear- 
 ance, and in they jump. He who continues longest under water is the 
 fortunate bridegroom. 
 
 The Greeks of the Holy Land assert, and firmly believe it to be a real 
 fact, that the birds which fly round about Jerusalem never sing during 
 passion week ; but stand motionless and confounded almost all the time, 
 testifying a sympathetic sorrow and compassion for the sufferings of our 
 Saviour. 
 
r 
 
 170 GREEK CHURCH PROPER. 
 
 The sacred fire of the Greeks is a ceremony more superstitious than 
 religious; a whimsical, merry custom, which is very justly a stumbling- 
 block and rock of offence to several serious Mohammedans, instilling into 
 their minds a most contemptible idea of the Eastern Christians. In short, 
 it is nothing but a piece of priestcraft, to cheat the too credulous pilgrims 
 out of their money, by making them believe that, on Easter-eve, a fire 
 descends from heaven into the sacred sepulchre. The Turks are no stran- 
 gers to this pious fraud, but connive at it, because it is very advantageous 
 to them ; and the patriarchs on their part declare that they could never 
 pay their taxes, nor their tributes, if this stratagem, however unbecoming 
 the practice of a Christian, should be discovered and exposed. Thevenot 
 has given us the following description of this religious farce. “About 
 eight in the morning the Greeks extinguish all their lamps, and those in 
 the sacred sepulchre. Then they run about, staring like persons distracted, 
 bawling and making a hideous howling, without any regard or reverence 
 to the sacred place. Every time they passed the holy sepulchre, they 
 cried out Eleyson! that is, ‘Have mercy upon us!’ It was very diverting 
 to see them afterwards jump upon one another’s backs, kicking one 
 another’s shins, and flogging each other on the shoulders with knotted 
 cords. A whole crowd of them got together, and taking up some of their 
 comrades in their arms, ran for some time with them round the sepulchre, 
 until, at last, they threw them down in the dirt, and laughed till they hal- 
 looed again at their own unlucky gambols. Those, on the other hand, 
 who had thus been made the laughing-stocks of the crowd, ran in their 
 turn after the others, in order to be equally mischievous, and to revenge 
 themselves for the affront which they had received ; in short, they all acted 
 like a set of idle fools and merry-andrews. Every now and then they 
 would lift up their eyes to heaven, and hold up their wax-tapers, with out- 
 stretched arms, as if they implored the Almighty to send down his celestial 
 fire to light them. After this folly and extravagance had continued till 
 about three o’clock in the evening, two archbishops and two Greek bishops, 
 dressed in their patriarchal robes and coifs, marched out of the choir, 
 attended by the clergy, and began their procession round the sepulchre : 
 the Armenians likewise attended, with their clergy, followed by the Coptan 
 bishop. After they had taken three solemn tours around the sepulchre, a 
 Greek bishop came out of the Chapel of the Angel, which is at the 
 entrance of the sepulchre, and informed the individual who personated the 
 Patriarch of Jerusalem, that the sacred fire had descended from heaven. 
 He then entered the holy sepulchre with a large bundle of wax tapers in 
 each hand, and after him the prelate, who represented the Armenian 
 patriarch, and the bishop of the Copti. Some short time afterwards, the 
 Greek archbishop came out in a very whimsical posture, marching with 
 his eyes cast upon the ground, and both his hands full of lighted wax* 
 
GREEK CHURCH PROPER. 
 
 171 
 
 lapers. As soon as he appeared, the mob crowded upon one another’s 
 shoulders, kicking and boxing one another, to reach the prelate, for the 
 purpose of lighting their tapers by that which he held in his hand ; because 
 that fire which comes immediately from his, is looked upon to be the 
 purest and most holy. In the mean time the Janizaries, who were the 
 guards of the sepulchre, dealt their blows indiscriminately about them, to 
 make room for the archbishop, who used his utmost endeavours to get 
 clear of the crowd. At last he came to a stone altar, which stood before 
 th 2 door of the choir, and opposite that of the holy sepulchre. Immediately 
 the populace flocked round about him for some of his sacred fire; but 
 those who had lighted their tapers, in their endeavours to retreat, w T ere 
 overpowered by others, who very devoutly struck them with their fists, 
 and took away the fire that had cost them so much labour and fatigue to 
 procure : in short, the gravest of them all threw down and trampled their 
 neighbours under foot, to get close to the prelate. At last, the Greek arch- 
 bishop withdrew’; the Armenian bishop retired to the church of the 
 Armenians, and the Coptan bishop to that of the Copti. In the mean 
 time, the Turks, who kept the door of the holy sepulchre, permitted none 
 to enter but those who paid for lighting their wax-tapers at the lamps of 
 that, sanctuary, as those lamps are the first that are touched by the sacred 
 fire. In a few minutes after, the church was illuminated w’ith above 
 two thousand branches of blazing torches, while the numerous congie- 
 gation, hooting like madmen, began to repeat their former frolics. A 
 man, with a drum at his back, ran with all imaginable speed round the 
 sacred sepulchre, and another ran after him, and drummed upon it with 
 two sticks ; when he was tired, a third supplied his place. Devotion, or 
 rather custom, enjoins the Greeks not to eat nor drink that day, till they 
 have received the sacred fire.” 
 
 Some ascribe the origin of this superstition to a real miracle, which they 
 pretend w r as formerly wrought in the presence of the whole congregation 
 on Easter-eve, in the church belonging to the holy sepulchre. The Al- 
 mighty sent dowrn celestial flame into this divine monument, which kindled 
 or lighted again all the lamps, which by the orders of the Church are 
 extinguished in passion week, and thereby indulged them with new fire. 
 Every one was an eye-w T itness of the descent of this new flame from hea- 
 ven, which darted from one place to another, and kindled every lamp and 
 taper that was extinguished. It is added, also, that the Almighty, being 
 provoked at the irregularities and disorders of the Christian Crusades, 
 refused to work this miracle one Easter-eve, when they were assembled 
 together in the most solemn manner, to be spectators of the descent of his 
 celestial fire ; but that, at last, he vouchsafed to have mercy on them, and 
 incline his ear to their fervent prayers and repeated supplications. The 
 descent of this holy fire continued for seven hundred and fifty years after 
 
172 
 
 GREEK CHURCH PROPER. 
 
 ihe time of St. Jerome ; but since that period, it has, owing to some reason 
 not easily defined, been wholly discontinued : the most probable conjecture 
 is, that the whole fraud was discovered, and an end was consequently put 
 to the enactment of this religious farce. 
 
 This ceremony of the sacred fire, which is so whimsical and extrava- 
 gant, and so unbecoming the practice of a Christian, has introduced another 
 superstitious custom very conformable to its romantic original. In this 
 same church of the holy sepulchre, there are some men and women who 
 have several pieces of linen cloth lying before them, which they mark from 
 one end to the other with a cross, made by the tapers kindled at the sacred 
 fire. Thus marked, they serve for the shrouds or winding-sheets of these 
 good devotees, and are reserved for that solemn purpose as the most sacred 
 relics. 
 
 Among the superstitious customs of the Greeks, may be included the 
 marks which the pilgrims imprint upon their arms, and which they take 
 care to produce as a certificate of their pilgrimage to Jerusalem. These 
 marks are made with some particular wooden moulds, filled with charcoal- 
 dust, and afterwards pressed hard upon the arm. As soon as the part is 
 thus stamped, it is pricked with an instrument full of needles ; it is then 
 bound up, and a scurf or scab generally rises upon the place, which falls oft' 
 again in about two or three days ; but the blue impression remains ever after. 
 
 There is a stone still to be seen not far from Bethlehem which is per- 
 fectly white, and which colour we are told is owing to the extraordinary 
 virtue of the Blessed Virgin’s milk. The Greeks assure us, that this 
 stone will infallibly fill a woman’s breast with milk ; and even the Turks 
 themselves, and the Arabians, are so strongly riveted to the same belief, 
 that they oblige their wives, who have sucking infants at their breasts, 
 to take a little of the powder of this stone infused in water, in order that 
 the above-mentioned desirable effect may be produced. Mount Sinai, 
 Mount Horeb, the frontiers of the Holy Land, the Holy Land itself, in 
 short, all the countries from the Red Sea to Jerusalem, are, as it were, 
 so many sources which have immemorially supplied the Greeks with 
 fictions, and their bigots with superstition. Upon Mount Horeb the 
 Greeks pretend to show the place in which the prophet Jeremiah con- 
 cealed the tables of the law, and a particular stone, on which are several 
 Hebrew characters, carved by the prophet himself. According to this 
 idea, they pay to this stone a superstitious homage, which consists of a 
 number of prayers and innumerable signs of the cross, performed with 
 the utmost hurry and precipitation, and consequently with very little zeal 
 or devotion. 
 
 The Greeks ascribe to the waters of Jordan, and almost all the foun- 
 tains of the Holy Land, the supernatural virtue of healings several dis- 
 tempers,, The plant generally known by the name of the Rose of Jericho , 
 

 is, in their opinion, a sure defence against thunder and lightning, and a 
 speedy relief for a woman in the time of her travail. A certain traveller, 
 Morison , assures us, with an extraordinary air of piety and devotion, that 
 this last quality is owing to the Blessed Virgin, of whom that vegetable is 
 the figure or representation. 
 
 SEC. II. RELIGIOUS PRINCIPLES AND CUSTOMS OF THE RUSSIAN GREEK 
 
 CHURCH. 
 
 It is impossible perhaps to settle with any certainty at what period, or 
 by whom, Christianity was first introduced into Russia. What we Jearn 
 
 introduction of with most appearance of probability is, that the Grand- 
 Russiaf mty int ° duchess Olga , or, as her name is pronounced, Olha , grand' 
 mother to Wladimir, was the first person of distinction converted to Chris- 
 tianity in Russia, about the year 955, and that she assumed the name of 
 Helena at her conversion ; under which name she still stands as a saint in 
 the Russian calendar. Methodius, and Cyril the philosopher, travelled 
 from Greece into Moravia, about the year 900, to plant the gospel ; where 
 they translated the service of the church, or some parts of it, from the 
 Greek into the Sclavonian language, the common language at that time of 
 Moravia and Russia ; and thus it is thought that this princess imbibed the 
 first principles of Christianity. And, being herself fully persuaded of its 
 truth, she was very earnest with her son, the Grand-duke Sviatoslav, to 
 embrace it also ; but this, from political motives, he declined to do. In the 
 course, however, of a few years, Christianity is said to have made consi- 
 derable progress in that nation. 
 
 It is fully ascertained that, about the end of the tenth century, the 
 Christian religion was introduced into Russia, chiefly through their con- 
 nection with Greece ; and coming from this quarter, it was very natural 
 that the doctrine and discipline of the church of Constantinople should 
 become at first the pattern of the church of Russia, which it still continues 
 to follow in the greatest part of its offices. Hence likewise the Patriarch 
 of Constantinople formerly enjoyed the privilege of a spiritual supremacy 
 over the Russians, to whom he sent a metropolitan whenever a vacancy 
 happened. 
 
 Little occurred in the ecclesiastical history of Russia, except, perhaps, 
 the rise of the sect of the Raskolniki, which excited considerable tumults 
 and commotions in that kingdom, till Peter the Great ascended the throne 
 of Russia ; who, in the beginning of the eighteenth century, made some 
 remarkable changes in the form and administration both of its civil and 
 ecclesiastical government. 
 
 This great prince made no change in the articles of faith received 
 among his countrymen, which contain the doctrine of the Greek church; 
 
 12 
 
174 
 
 RUSSIAN GREEK CHURCH. 
 
 but he took the utmost pains to have this doctrine explained in a manner 
 conformable to the dictates of right reason, and the spirit of the gospel ; 
 and he used the most effectual methods to destroy, on the one hand, the 
 influence of that hideous superstition that sat brooding over the whole 
 nation ; and, on the other, to dispel the ignorance of the clergy, which was 
 incredible, and that of the people, which would have surpassed it had that 
 been possible. 
 
 To crown these noble attempts, he extinguished the spirit of persecu- 
 tion, and renewed and confirmed to Christians, of all denominations, liberty 
 of conscience, and the privilege of performing divine worship in the man- 
 ner prescribed by their respective liturgies and institutions. This liberty, 
 however, was modified in such a manner, as to restrain and defeat any 
 attempts that might be made by the Jesuits and other members of the 
 church of Rome to promote the interests of Popery in Russia, or to 
 extend the jurisdiction of the Roman pontiff beyond the chapels of that 
 communion that were tolerated by law ; and particular charge was given 
 to the council, to which belonged the cognisance of ecclesiastical affairs, 
 to use their utmost care and vigilance to prevent the propagation of 
 Romish tenets among the people. All this caution had, no doubt, arisen 
 from the repeated efforts of the designing pontiffs of Rome and their mis- 
 sionaries to extend the papal empire over the Greek churches, under the 
 pretence of uniting the two communions; and, with this view, a negotiation 
 was entered into in 1580, under Jo hn Basilides , Grand-duke of Russia, 
 who seems to have had political ends to answer in pretending to favour 
 this union. But, although the professed object of this negotiation failed, 
 the ministry of Possevin , the learned and artful Jesuit, who was charged 
 with the mission on the part of the Roman pontiff, was not without 
 fruit among the Russians, especially among those residing in the Polish 
 dominions. 
 
 Proposals for uniting the two communions have been made by different 
 popes, as Honorius III., Gregory IX., Innocent IV., Gregory XIII., and 
 last of all, by the Academy of Sorbonne in 1718; but the Russian sove- 
 reigns and the nation have always remained firm and true to their religion ; 
 at the same time, all religions, without exception, are tolerated in Russia. 
 In the year 1581, in the reign of Czar John Vasilievitz, Pope Gregory 
 XIII. proposed to that sovereign that the Lutheran clergy should be ban- 
 ished from Russia ; but he was answered, that in that country all nations 
 have a free exercise of their religions; and now in Russia there are 
 Lutherans, Calvinists, Hernhutters, Armenians, Jews, Mohammedans, 
 Pagans, Hindoos, &c. &c. &c. Roman Catholics are to be met with in 
 almost every government, particularly in those conquered from the Polish 
 dominions: their ciergy are governed by their own rulers, and are totally 
 independent of the Russian ecclesiastical jurisdiction. 
 
RUSSIAN GREEK CHURCH. 
 
 175 
 
 Peter likewise introduced a considerable change into the manner of 
 governing the church. The splendid dignity of patriarch, which ap- 
 proached too near the lustre and prerogatives of majesty not to be offensive 
 to the emperor and burdensome to the people, was suppressed, in 1721, by 
 this spirited monarch, who declared himself (and thus became like the 
 British monarch) head of the national church. 
 
 The functions of this high and important office were intrusted wi 
 council assembled at St. Petersburg, which was called the Holy Synod; 
 and one of the archbishops, the most distinguished for integrity and p 
 dence, was appointed as president of it. 
 
 The other orders of the clergy continued in their respective rank a 
 offices ; but both their revenues and their authority were considerably 
 diminished. It was resolved at first, in this general reformation, to abolish 
 all monasteries and convents, as prejudicial to the public, and unfriendly 
 to population ; but this resolution was not put in execution ; on the con- 
 trary, the emperor himself erected a magnificent monastery in honour of 
 Alexander Newsky , whom the Russians place in the list of their heroes 
 and saints.* 
 
 In her doctrines, the Russian Church agrees with the Greek Church ; 
 like her, she receives the seven sacraments or mysteries ; allows no 
 statues or graven images, but admits, pictures and invoca- 
 
 Doctrines. . - 
 
 tion of saints. 
 
 During the celebration of the mass, the laity, not excepting the prince 
 himself, are obliged either to stand or to kneel, and be uncovered; and to 
 observe the same position during the performance of all the 
 Divine Service. ot ij er p arts 0 f dj v j ne service. Bergius , in his State of the 
 Russian Church, assures us, however, that “The ancient Russians always 
 pray either standing, or prostrate upon the ground ; carefully avoiding the 
 posture of kneeling, for fear they should be thought to imitate those soldiers 
 who mocked the Lord Jesus Christ.” The grand-duke, who sat on the 
 throne in the time of Olearius, always prostrated himself to the ground 
 when he attended public worship. For this reason there are no stools or 
 benches made use of in the Russian churches, except when there happens 
 to be a homily read, or a sermon preached. No dogs are suffered to enter 
 the church door ; and every thing which has the least tendenc}*' to interrupt 
 their devotions is prohibited. None but those who officiate at the altar are 
 admitted into the sanctuary. The czar, however, is allowed to enter it at 
 the ceremony of his coronation, and when he receives the communion ; 
 some others of the laity, who are persons of distinction, are likewise 
 admitted into it, provided they take care to keep at a great distance from 
 the altar. 
 
 The Russian mass is always performed in the ancient Sclavonian lan- 
 
 All Religions. 
 
176 
 
 RUSSIAN GREEK CHURCH. 
 
 guage ; and a great part of it is said in a low voice. Like the Greeks, 
 the Russians bow down before the host, and adore it. From the preface 
 of the mass to the communion, the doors of the sanctuary are shut, ana a 
 curtain is drawn before it, which covers the altar: in Easter-week, how- 
 ever, the sanctuary doors are always open, even during mass. To the other 
 ceremonies observed at the communion, in conformity with those of the 
 Greeks, we must add, according to Olearius, that the Muscovites administer 
 the sacrament to those who are deprived of their reason, by touching their 
 lips only with the bread dipped in the wine ; that they are not allowed to 
 give the communion to a woman who lies in, in the room where she was 
 brought to bed ; — those who have taken a false oath before a court of judi- 
 cature, or have been guilty of any notorious crime, cannot receive this 
 sacrament of the eucharist till they are at the point of death ; and that it 
 is customary to give those who are sick, some water or some brandy, in 
 which several of their sacred relics have been first infused, before they 
 give them the communion. 
 
 Their Bible is translated into the Sclavonian language from the Greek 
 Septuagint ; but they never suffer it to be carried into church, for fear of 
 profaning it by the several immodest passages that are to be met with in 
 the Old Testament. It is the New Testament only, and some particular 
 passages extracted from the Psalms and the Prophets, which are read in 
 their churches ; they are, however, allowed to read the whole Scriptures 
 at home in private. 
 
 In Father Le Brun’s Collection of Liturgies, we find the contents of a 
 small Muscovite ritual, in which directions are down for the obser- 
 vance of the following customs : — 1. Several prayers to be read on the day 
 that a woman is delivered of a male infant. 2. On the eighth day after 
 the birth of such infant, being the day on which he is to receive his name. 
 3. On the fortieth day after her lying-in. 4. For a woman that has mis- 
 carried. 5. At an exorcism. 6. At a reconciliation in church. 7. On 
 a divorce. 8. When the communion is to be administered to the sick- 
 9. Prayers to Jesus Christ, and the Blessed Virgin, for a true believer 
 at the point of death. 10. The order or method to be observed at the 
 burial of such persons who die during the festival of Easter, or in Holy 
 Week. 11. For a priest after his decease. 12. For the burial of an in- 
 fant. 13. Prayers for a blessing on the provisions made for Easter ; for 
 their cheese and eggs ; for their first-fruits, and those who offer them ; 
 for the consecration of a house, and the entering into possession of it ; for 
 sinking a well, and the purification of it when any filth has fallen into it. 
 14. Prayers for those who have eaten any unclean meats. 15. Prayer? 
 for the purification of an unclean vessel. 16. For all sorts of grain ; for 
 seed-time, &c. It is presumed that the foregoing will be sufficient to give 
 the reader a tolerable idea of the several customs which are observed t>y 
 
RUSSIAN GREEK CHURCH. 
 
 177 
 
 the Russians on particular occasions, and the observance of which is espe- 
 cially enjoined by their ritual. 
 
 One peculiar custom, however, we cannot omit : viz. that when they 
 take possession of a house, they consecrate it at the same time with salt. 
 Cornelius le Brun, in his Travels to Muscovy, gives us the following ac- 
 count of the consecration of the czar’s palace in 1702 : — “ The floor was 
 strewed all over with hay, and on the right hand a table was placed, gar- 
 nished out w r ith abundance of large and little loaves ; over some of them 
 was thrown a handful of salt, and a silver salt-cellar, full of salt, set upon 
 others.” This custom of consecrating with salt, which is attended by all 
 friends and relatives, is repeated for several days together, and is an 
 emblem or token of that prosperity and success which they wish may 
 attend them, and of their friendly hope that they may never afterwards 
 want any of the necessaries of life. When they quit their habitations, 
 they leave some hay and bread upon the floor, which are symbols of those 
 blessings which they wish may attend those w r ho take the house after their 
 departure. 
 
 The constitution of the Russian monks, their fasts, and their profound 
 ignorance, are much the same as those of the Greek monks. Peter the 
 Great w r as the first who attempted to lay a duty or tax upon the convents ; 
 he commanded that no persons should be admitted into them but those who 
 w r ere fifty years of age, or upwards, he having observed that a considerable 
 number of able young fellows were shut up in them, and thereby rendered 
 useless to the state. 
 
 The Russians have a peculiar regard for relics, images, and pictures of 
 saints ; for the invocation of saints, the crucifix, and the sign of the cross ; 
 
 Relics images f° r an infinite number of inclinations, genuflexions, and 
 &c - prostrations, not only before those objects which are adora- 
 
 ble, but those likewise which demand only a common reverence and es- 
 teem ; and also for numberless processions and pilgrimages. The cathe- 
 dral church at Moscow is in possession of the garment of Jesus Christ, and 
 a picture of the Blessed Virgin, drawn by St. Luke ! The Russians look 
 upon this picture as the palladium of their state. Other churches boast 
 of being possessed of the bodies of several Russian saints ; and thirty-six 
 gold and silver shrines, full of very valuable relics, are to be seen in the 
 churc h of the Annunciation. These shrines, or boxes, are said to con- 
 tain, among other things, some of the precious blood of the Lord Jesus 
 Christ, one of the hands of St. Mark, and some of the bones of the prophet 
 Daniel, &c. 
 
 Their images or pictures, which are generally painted in oil upon wood, 
 must be made by some Muscovite, and are sold, or, according to their pre- 
 varicating phraseology, exchanged or bartered for a certain sum of money. 
 To sell them is looked upon as a sin ; but in the time of Olearius, the 
 
178 
 
 RUSSIAN GREEK CHURCH. 
 
 patriarch would not suffer any foreigners to have them in their houses for 
 fear they would profane them. This precaution was carried to so high a 
 pitch, that a Dutchman having purchased a house that was built with 
 stone, the Russian who sold it scraped the wall on which the picture of a 
 saint had been painted, and carried the rubbish off the premises. 
 
 Every Russian, whether his condition be high or low, has his own titu- 
 lar saint, to whom he offers up his morning and evening prayers, and 
 whom he neglects not to consult on all occasions of a doubtful or hazardous 
 nature. In the shops at St. Petersburg, an image of this titular saint is 
 always placed in a conspicuous position, and 3mu cannot possibly pay a 
 higher compliment to a Russian when you enter his shop than to make 
 your obeisance to his favourite saint. A Russian shopkeeper is a notorious 
 cheat, but if you have paid a becoming respect to his saint, it is supposed 
 that you are immediately admitted into his good graces ; and although the 
 majority of the saints were themselves the most consummate cheats and 
 impostors, yet it is believed that they do not sanction similar practices in 
 others. For this reason, a familiar nod or a polite bow to a Russian image 
 becomes, in many instances, a positive act of good policy, for you thereby 
 stand a good chance of escaping from the cheating and exorbitant demands 
 of the Russian trader. 
 
 The walls of their churches are all covered with pictures, which are not 
 only representations of Jesus Christ and the Blessed Virgin, but of St. 
 Nicholas and several other saints, whom the Russians have made choice 
 of for their patrons and protectors. In all their houses, a picture, of some 
 favourite saint is hung near one of the windows, with a wax-taper before 
 it: several are likewise hung up in the streets, as objects of public devo- 
 tion ; but the majority of the latter, according to Carlisle, are secured in 
 glass-cases, and exposed to public view, either on the city-gates or the 
 church-doors ; or they are suspended on some cross-road. If a Russian 
 be in the greatest haste, he must pay his respects to the pictures of these 
 saints ; not in a transient, careless manner, but he must stop a minute or 
 two, to put up a short ejaculation; standing bare-headed, making half a 
 dozen profound bows, and as many crosses. The first thing that must 
 be done when any one enters a Russian’s apartment, is to take notice of 
 the picture of his saint, making the sign of the cross, at the same time 
 repeating the Hospodi, ( Lord have mercy upon us ,) and bowing before it ; 
 after that he pays his compliments to the master of the house. Among 
 the poorer sort, with whom the pictures of their saints are generally 
 situated in some dark hole or corner, without any wax-taper, or the least 
 outward appearance of distinction or respect ; the devout Russian, for fear 
 he should be in any way deficient in the discharge of his duty, never 
 fails to ask where the God is, that is to say, the picture of the saint. This 
 religious respect is grounded on that divinity which the Russians ascribe 
 
RUSSIAN GREEK CHURCH. 
 
 179 
 
 to their images, and on the numberless miracles which they believe to 
 have been wrought by them. However, this supernatural power does not 
 hinder these images from falling to decay ; and in such cases they inter 
 them in their churchyards, or in their gardens ; sometimes indeed they 
 put them, with much care and reverence, into some rapid stream, that the 
 current may carry them away ; for to throw them in would be looked upon 
 as an act of disrespect. 
 
 The invocation of saints constitutes a considerable part of the religious 
 worship of the Russians ; but greater demonstrations of respect are shown 
 to St Nicholas than to any of the rest. It is customary, in Russia, to 
 mention God and the czar at the same time when they have any affair of 
 importance to transact; thus they frequently say, God is powerful as well 
 as the czar. With God and the czar's permission. But they often 
 substitute St. Nicholas in the room of Providence ; as for instance, when 
 any one asks them how long they intend to be on a journey, they will 
 answer, As long as St. Nicholas shall think convenient. Their devotees 
 go in pilgrimage, for the most part, to those places where their saints have 
 especially distinguished themselves. The czars themselves are not excused 
 or exempted from these religious peregrinations ; at least they were per- 
 formed by the predecessors of Peter the Great. 
 
 The number of ceremonies and superstitious customs among the Russians 
 nearly equals that of the Romish Church. A few of these we shall notice ; 
 
 . and first we will describe a singular festival which the 
 Waters. Russians call the Benediction of the Waters. This solem- 
 
 nity is celebrated at the beginning of the year at Petersburg, in the follow- 
 ing manner : — On the river Neva , upon the ice, which is then strong in 
 that country, there is erected for this ceremony a kind of temple,, of wood, 
 usually of an* octagonal figure, painted and richly gilt, having the inside 
 decorated with various sacred pictures, representing the baptism of our 
 Saviour, his transfiguration, and some other parts of his life, and on the top 
 a picture of St. John the Baptist. This is called the Jordan , which name 
 used to signify the baptistry or font, or any basin in which holy water is 
 consecrated. There the attention of the spectators is drawn to a larg£ 
 emblem o the Holy Ghost , appearing to descend from heaven, a decora- 
 tion common to almost all Greek churches, in which a peristerion or dove, 
 as a symbol of the Holy Ghost, is usually suspended from four small 
 columns which support a canopy over the Holy Table. The Jordan is 
 surrounded by a temporary hedge of the boughs of fir-trees ; and, in the 
 middle of the sanctuary or chancel is a square space, where the broken ice 
 leaves a communication with the water running below, and the rest is 
 ornamented with rich tapestry. Around this temple a kind of gallery is 
 erected, and a platform of boards, covered with red cloth, is laid for the 
 procession to go upon, guarded also by a fence of boughs. The gallery 
 
180 
 
 RUSSIAN GREEK CHURCH. 
 
 communicates with one of the windows of the imperial palace, at which 
 the emperor and his family come out to attend the ceremony, which begins 
 as soon as the liturgy is finished in the chapel of the imperial palace, 
 and the regiments of guards have taken post on the river. Then, at the 
 sound of the bells, and of the artillery of the fortress, the clerks, the 
 deacons, the priests, the archimandrites, and the bishops, dressed in their 
 richest robes, carrying in their hands lighted tapers, the censer, the Gospel, 
 and the sacred pictures and banners, proceed from the chapel to the Jordan, 
 singing the hymns appointed in the office, and followed by the emperor, 
 the grand-duke, the senators, and the whole court. 
 
 When arrived at the place where the ice is broken, the Archbishop of 
 Moscow, or other officiating bishop, descends, by means of a ladder, to the 
 side of the water. There he reads the prayers appointed in the office,— 
 dips his cross three times, and ends the ceremony by an exhortation appro- 
 priate to it ; and the waters are then thought to be blessed. As soon as 
 the service is finished, the artillery and soldiers fire ; after which the pre- 
 late sprinkles the water on the company around him, and on the colours of 
 all the regiments that happen to be at Petersburg, which are planted round 
 the Jordan. He then retires, when the people crowd towards the hole, 
 and drink of the waters with a holy avidity. “Notwithstanding the cold, 
 the mothers plunge their infants and the old men their heads into them. 
 Everybody makes it a duty to carry away some for the purification of their 
 houses, and curing certain distempers, against which the good Russians 
 pretend this holy water is a powerful specific.” 
 
 No people observe Lent with more scrupulous and excessive rigour than 
 the Russians. Travelling the road from Petersburg to Moscow, says Dr. 
 
 Clarke, in his Travels, if at any time, in poor cottages, 
 where the peasants appeared starving, I offered them a part 
 of our dinn'er, they would shudder at the sight of it, and cast it to the 
 dogs; dashing out of their children’s hands, as an abomination, any food 
 given to them ; and removing every particle that might be left entirely 
 from their sight. In drinking tea with a Cossack, he not only refused to 
 have milk in his cup, but would not use a spoon that had been in the tea 
 offered him with milk, although wiped carefully in a napkin, until it had 
 passed through scalding water. The same privation prevails among the 
 higher ranks ; but, in proportion as this rigour has been observed, so much 
 the more excessive is the degree of gluttony and relaxation when the im- 
 portant intelligence that “ Christ is risen ” has issued from the mouth of the 
 archbishop. During Easter, they run into every kind of excess, rolling about 
 drunk the whole week ; as if rioting, debauchery, extravagance, gambling, 
 drinking, and fornication, were as much a religious observance as starving 
 had been before ; and that the same superstition which kept them fasting 
 during Lent, had afterwards instigated them to the most beastly excesses. 
 
RUSSIAN GREEK CHURCH. 
 
 181 
 
 Even their religious customs are perfectly adapted to their climate and 
 manners. Nothing can be contrived with more ingenious policy to suit tho 
 habits of the Russians. When Lent fasting begins, their stock of frozen 
 provisions is either exhausted, or unfit for use ; and the interval which 
 takes place allows sufficient time for procuring, killing, and storing the 
 fresh provisions of the spring. The night before the famous ceremony of 
 the resurrection, all the markets and shops of Moscow are seen filled with 
 flesh, butter, eggs, poultry, pigs, and every kind of viand. The crowd of 
 purchasers is immense. You hardly meet a foot passenger who has not 
 his hands, nay his arms, filled with provisions ; or a single droski that is 
 not ready to break down beneath their weight. 
 
 The first ceremony which took place, previous to all this feasting, was 
 that of the Paque fleuries , or Palm Sunday. On the eve of this day, ail 
 the inhabitants of Moscow resort, in carriages, on horseback, or on foot, to 
 the Kremlin, for the purchase of palm-branches, to place before their 
 boghs, and to decorate the sacred pictures in the streets, or elsewhere. It 
 is one of the gayest promenades of the year. The governor, attended by 
 the maitre de police , the commandant, and a train of nobility, go in pro- 
 cession mounted on fine horses. The streets are lined with spectators : 
 and cavalry are stationed on each side, to preserve order. Arriving in the 
 Kremlin, a vast assembly, bearing artificial bouquets and boughs, are Seen 
 moving here and there, forming the novel and striking spectacle of a gay 
 and moving forest. The boughs consist of artificial flowers with fruit. 
 Beautiful representations of oranges and lemons in wax are sold for a few 
 copeeks * each, and offer a proof of the surprising ingenuity of this people 
 in the arts of imitation. Upon this occasion, every person who visits the 
 Kremlin, and would be thought a true Christian, purchases one or more 
 of the boughs, called Palm-branches ; and in returning, the streets are 
 crowded with droskis , and all kinds of vehicles, filled with devotees, hold- 
 ing in their hands one or more palm-branches, according to the degree of 
 their piety, or the number of boghs in their houses. 
 
 The description often given of the splendour of the equipages in Mos- 
 cow but ill agrees with their appearance during Lent. A stranger, who 
 arrives with his head full of notions of Asiatic pomp and Eastern magni- 
 ficence, would be surprised to find narrow streets, execrably paved, covered 
 with mud or dust. ; wretched-looking houses on each side ; carriages, drawn 
 it is true by six horses, but such cattle ! blind, lame, old, out of condition, 
 of all sizes and all colours, connected by rotten ropes and old cords, full of 
 knots and splices : on the leaders and on the box, figures that seem to have 
 escaped from the galleys ; behind, a lousy, ragged lackey, or perhaps 
 two, with countenances exciting more pity than derision ; and the carriage 
 
 * The copeek equals in value an English halfpenny. 
 
182 
 
 RUSSIAN GREEK CHURCH. 
 
 itself like the worst of the night-coaches in London. But this external 
 wretchedness, as far as it concerns the equipages of the nobles, admits of 
 some explanation. The fact is, that a dirty, tattered livery, a rotten har- 
 ness, bad horses, and a shabby vehicle, constitute one part of the privation 
 of the season. On Easter Monday, the most gaudy but fantastic buf- 
 foonery of splendour fills every street in the city. The emperor, it is 
 true, in his high consideration for the welfare and happiness of his sub- 
 jects, deemed it expedient to adapt the appearance to the reality of their 
 wretchedness ; and in restraining the excessive extravagance of the people 
 of Moscow, evinced more wisdom than the world have given him credit 
 for possessing. 
 
 The second grand ceremony of this season takes place on Thursday 
 before Easter at noon, when the archbishop washes the feet of the apostles. 
 This we also witnessed. The priests appeared in their most gorgeous 
 apparel. Twelve monks, designed to represent the twelve apostles, were 
 placed in a semicircle before the archbishop. The ceremony is performed 
 in the cathedral, which is crowded with spectators. The archbishop, per- 
 forming all, and much more than is related of our Saviour in the thirteenth 
 chapter of St. John, takes off his robes, girds up his loins with a towel, 
 and proceeds to wash the feet of them all, until he comes to the represen- 
 tative of Peter, who rises ; and the same interlocution takes place between 
 him and the archbishop, which is said to have taken place between our 
 Saviour and that apostle. 
 
 The third, and most magnificent ceremony of all, is celebrated two hours 
 after midnight, in the morning of Easter Sunday. It is called the cere- 
 mony of the resurrection, and certainly exceeded every thing of the kind 
 celebrated at Rome, or anywhere else. I have not seen so splendid a sight 
 in any Roman Catholic country; not even that of the benediction by the 
 pope during the holy week. 
 
 At midnight the great bell of the cathedral tolled. Its vibrations seemed 
 the rolling of distant thunder ; and they were instantly accompanied by the 
 noise of all the bells in Moscow. Every inhabitant was stirring, and the 
 rattling of carriages in the streets was greater than at noonday. The 
 whole city was in a blaze ; for lights were seen in all the windows, and 
 innumerable torches in the streets. The tower of the cathedral was illu- 
 minated from its foundation to its cross. The same ceremony takes place 
 in all the churches ; and, what is truly surprising, considering their num- 
 bei, it is said they are all equally crowded. 
 
 We hastened to the cathedral, which was filled with a prodigious as- 
 sembly of all ranks and sexes, bearing lighted wax-tapers, to be afterwards 
 heaped as vows on the different shrines. The walls, ceilings, and every 
 part of this building, are covered with the pictures of saints and martyrs. 
 In the moment of our arrival the doors were shut ; and on the outside 
 
RUSSIAN GREEK CHURCH. 
 
 183 
 
 appeared Plato, the archbishop, preceded by banners and torches, and 
 followed by all his train of priests with crucifixes and censers, who were 
 making three times, in procession, the tour of the cathedral ; chanting 
 with loud voices, and glittering in sumptuous vestments, covered with gold, 
 silver, and precious stones. The snow had not melted so rapidly in the 
 Kremlin as in the streets of the city ; and this magnificent procession was 
 therefore constrained to move upon planks over the deep mud which sur- 
 rounded the cathedral. After completing the third circuit, they all halted 
 opposite the great doors, which were shut ; and the archbishop, with a 
 censer, scattered incense against the doors, and over the priests. Suddenly 
 those doors were opened and the effect was great beyond description. 
 
 The immense throng of spectators within, bearing innumerable tapers, 
 formed two lines, through which the archbishop entered, advancing witti • 
 his train to a throne near the centre. The profusion of lights in all parts 
 of the cathedral, and, among others, of the enormous chandelier which 
 hung from the centre, the richness of the dresses, and the vastness of the 
 assembly, filled us with astonishment. Having joined the suite of the 
 archbishop, we accompanied the procession, and passed even to the 
 throne, on which the police officers permitted us to stand, among the 
 priests, near an embroidered stool of satin, placed for the archbishop. 
 
 The loud chorus, which burst forth at the entrance to the church, con- 
 tinued as the procession moved towards the throne, and after the arch- 
 bishop had taken his seat ; when my attention was, for a moment, called 
 off, by seeing one of the Russians earnestly crossing himself with his right 
 hand, while his left was employed in picking my companion’s pocket of 
 his handkerchief. 
 
 Soon after, the archbishop descended, and went all round the cathedral ; 
 first offering incense to the priests, and then to the people as he passed 
 along. When he had returned to his seat, the priests, two by two, per- 
 formed the same ceremony ; beginning with the archbishop, who rose and 
 made obeisance with a lighted taper in his hand. From the moment tho 
 church-doors were opened, the spectators had continued bowing their heads 
 and crossing themselves ; insomuch that some of the people seemed really 
 exhausted, by the constant motion of the head and hands. 
 
 I had now leisure to examine the dresses and figures of the priests, 
 which were, certainly, the most striking I ever saw. Their long dark hair, 
 without powder, fell down in ringlets, or straight and thick, far over their 
 rich robes and shoulders. Their dark thick beards also entirely covered 
 their breasts. On the heads of the archbishop and bishops were high caps, 
 covered with gems, and adorned with miniature paintings, set in jewels, of 
 the crucifixion, the virgin, and the saints. Their robes of various-coloured 
 satin were of the most costly embroidery, and even on these were miniature 
 pictures set with precious stones. 
 
184 
 
 RUSSIAN GREEK CHURCH. 
 
 Such, according to the consecrated legend of ancient days, was the 
 appearance of the high-priests of old, Aaron and his sons, holy men stand* 
 ing by the temple of the congregation in fine raiments, the workmanship 
 of “ Bezaleel, the son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah.” It 
 is said there is a convent in Moscow where the women are entirely em- 
 ployed in working dresses for the priests. 
 
 After two hours had been spent in various ceremonies, the archbishop 
 advanced, holding forth a cross, which all the people crowded to embrace, 
 squeezing each other nearly to suffocation. As soon, however, as their 
 eagerness had been somewhat satisfied, he retired to the sacristy ; where 
 putting on a plain purple robe, he again advanced, exclaiming three times, 
 in a very loud voice — Christ is risen ! 
 
 The most remarkable part of the solemnity now followed. The arch- 
 bishop, descending into the body of the church, concluded the whole cere- 
 mony by crawling round the pavement on his hands and knees, kissing the 
 consecrated pictures, whether on the pillars, the walls, the altars, or the 
 tombs ; the priests and all the people imitating his example. Sepulchres 
 were opened, and the mummied bodies of incorruptible saints exhibited, 
 all of which underwent the same general kissing. 
 
 Thus was Easter proclaimed ; and riot and debauchery instantly broke 
 loose. The inn in which we lodged became a pandemonium. Drinking, 
 dancing, and singing continued through the night and day. But in the 
 midst of all these excesses, quarrels hardly ever took place. The wild, 
 rude riot of a Russian populace is full of humanity. Few disputes are 
 heard ; no blows are given ; no lives endangered but by drinking. No 
 meetings take place of any kind without repeating the expressions of peace 
 and joy, Christos voscress ! Christ is risen ! — to which the answer is always 
 the same, Vo istiney voscress ! He is risen indeed ! 
 
 On Easter Monday begins the presentation of the paschal eggs : lovers 
 to their mistresses, relatives to each other, servants to their masters — all 
 bring ornamented eggs. Every offering, at this season, is called a paschal 
 egg. The meanest pauper in the street, presenting an egg, and repeating 
 the words Christos voscress , may demand a salute, even of the empress. 
 All business is laid aside : the upper ranks are engaged in visiting, balls, 
 dinners, suppers, and masquerades ; while boors fill the air with their songs, 
 or roll drunk about the streets. Servants appear in new and tawdry live- 
 ries ; and carriages in the most sumptuous parade.* 
 
 The form of baptism among the Russians is so singular, that we must 
 give a particular description of it. As soon as an infant comes into the 
 world, the parents send immediately for a priest to purify 
 ' him. This purification extends to all those who are present 
 
 Clarke’s*Travel«. 
 
RUSSIAN GREEK CHURCH. 
 
 1S5 
 
 at the ceremony. They baptize their infants, according to Olearius, as 
 soon as they are born ; but according to other historians, those who are in 
 good circumstances are not so strict, but defer the ceremony for some time. 
 The godfathers and godmothers of the first child must stand sureties for 
 all the other children in that family, however great may he the number. 
 After entering the church, these godfathers deliver nine wax-tapers into 
 the hands of the priest, who illumines them all, and sticks them in the 
 form of a cross about the font or vessel in which the infant is to be 
 baptized. The priest then thurifies the godfathers, and consecrates the 
 water ; and after that he and the godfathers go thrice in procession round 
 it. The clerk, who marches in the front, carries the picture of St. John. 
 After this, they all arrange themselves in such a manner that their backs 
 are turned towards the font, as a testimony, says Olearius, of their aversion 
 to the three questions which the priest proposes to the godfathers ; that is 
 to say, — 1st, “Whether the child renounces the devil ?” 2dly, “Whether 
 he abjures his angels ■?” and 3dly, “ Whether he abhors and detests their 
 impious works ?” — At each question, the godfathers answer yes , and spit 
 upon the ground. The exorcism follows, which is performed out of the 
 church, lest the devil, as he comes out of the infant, should pollute or pro- 
 fane it. 
 
 After the exorcism is over, the priest cuts some hair ofF the child’s head 
 in the form of a cross, and puts it into a book, or wraps it up in wax, and 
 deposits it in some particular place belonging to the church appropriated for 
 that purpose. The baptism which ensues is performed by a triple immer- 
 sion, as we have before observed with respect to the Greeks. The priest, 
 Having now put a grain of salt into the infant’s mouth, anoints him several 
 times in the form of a cross, which may properly enough be called his 
 confirmation ; and as he puts on him a clean shirt, he says, Thou art now 
 ds clean as this shirt , and purified from the stain of original sin. To 
 conclude this ceremony, a little gold or silver cross, or one of inferior value, 
 according to the circumstances of the parent, is hung about the infant’s 
 neck, which is the badge or token of his baptism. He must wear this not 
 only as long as he lives, but carry it with him to his grave. To this cross 
 must be added some saint, appointed by the priest to be his guardian and 
 protector, the picture of whom he delivers into the godfathers’ hands, and 
 in express terms charges them to instruct the child in what manner he may 
 pay a peculiar respect and veneration to his patron saint. After the bap- 
 tism is over, the priest salutes the infant and his sponsors. 
 
 It is to be observed, that all matrimonial alliances between godfathers 
 and the children for whom they are thus solemnly engaged, are prohibited 
 among the Russians ; also, that the water in the font or cistern is changed 
 every new baptism ; because they are of opinion that it is defiled or 
 tainted with the original sin of those who were previously baptized in it. 
 
186 
 
 RUSSIAN GREEK CHURCH. 
 
 Those who become proselytes to the Russian religion are baptized in some 
 rapid stream, or some adjacent river, in which they are plunged three 
 times successively; and if it happens in the winter season, there is a 
 hole broken in the ice for the performance of that ordinance. If, however, 
 the person should be of too weak a constitution to undergo such a violent 
 initiation , a barrel full of water is poured over his head three times suc- 
 cessively. 
 
 After the baptism is over, the priest takes the infant newly baptized, and 
 with his head makes a cross upon the church-door, at which he knocks 
 three times with a hammer; each stroke must be so loud that those who 
 were eye-witnesses of the baptism shall hear the sound of it ; for otherwise 
 they do not look upon the infant as duly baptized. 
 
 In the evening of their wedding-day, the bridegroom, accompanied by a 
 numerous train of his nearest relations and acquaintance, proceeds to wait 
 on his mistress ; the priest who is to solemnize their nup- 
 ° ' tials riding on horseback before them. After the congratu- 
 lations, and other compliments, customary on such joyful occasions in all 
 countries, the company sit down to table. “ But notwithstanding there are 
 three elegant dishes instantly served up,” says Olearius, “no one takes 
 the freedom to taste of them.” At the upper end of the table is a vacant 
 seat intended for the bridegroom. While he is in earnest discourse with 
 the bride’s relations, some young gentleman takes possession of his chair, 
 and does not resign it without some valuable consideration. As soon as 
 the bridegroom has thus redeemed his seat, the bride is introduced into the 
 room, dressed as gayly as possible, but covered with a veil. A curtain of 
 crimson taffeta, supported by two young gentlemen, now parts the lovers, 
 and prevents them from stealing any amorous glances from each other’s 
 eyes. In the next place, the bride’s Suacha, or agent, wreathes her hair, 
 and after she has turned up her tresses, puts a crown upon her head, 
 which is either of gold or silver gilt, and lined with silk, and of greater or 
 less value, in proportion to the quality or circumstances of the person for 
 whom it is intended. The other Suacha is employed in setting the bride- 
 groom off to the best -advantage. During this interval, some women that 
 are present sing a number of little merry catches to divert them, while 
 the bridemaids strew hops upon the heads of the company. Two lads 
 after this bring in a large cheese, and several rolls or little loaves, in a 
 hand-basket, with curious sable tassels to it. Two of the bride’s attend- 
 ants bring in another cheese, and the same quantity of bread, upon her 
 particular account. All these provisions, after the priest has blessed them, 
 are carried to the church. At last there is a large silver basin set upon 
 the table, full of small remnants of satin and taffeta, with several small 
 square pieces of silver, hops, barley, and oats, all mingled together. The 
 Suacha, after she has put the bride’s veil over her face again, takes several 
 
RUSSIAN GREEK CHURCH. 
 
 187 
 
 handfuls of this medley out of the basin, and strews it over the heads of 
 all the company. The next ceremony is the exchange of their respective 
 rings, which is performed by the parents of the newly-married couple. The 
 Suacha now conducts the bride to church, and the bridegroom follows with 
 the priest, who, for the most part, indulges himself in drinking to that 
 excess, that he is obliged to have two attendants to support him, not only 
 while he rides on horseback to the church, but all the time he is there 
 performing the matrimonial service. 
 
 One part of the pavement of the church, where the ceremony is per- 
 formed, is covered with crimson taffeta, and another piece of the same silk 
 is spread over it, where the bride and bridegroom are appointed to stand. 
 The priest, before he enters upon his office, demands their oblations, which 
 consists in fish, pastry, &c. Then he gives them his benediction, and 
 holds over their heads the pictures of those saints who weie made choice 
 of to be their patrons. After which, taking the right hand of the bride- 
 groom and the left of the bride within his own hands, he asks them three 
 times, “ whether they sincerely consent to and approve of their marriage, 
 and whether they will love each other for the future as is their bounden 
 duty so to do ?” When they have answered Fes, all the company in 
 general take hands and join in a solemn dance, while the priest sings the 
 128th Psalm, (according to the Hebrew computation,) in which almost all 
 the blessings that attend the married state are enumerated. The priest, as 
 soon as the psalm is finished, puts a garland of rue upon their heads ; but 
 if the man be a widower, or the woman a widow, then he lays it upon 
 their shoulders. The blessing attendant on this ceremony begins with 
 these words, Increase and multiply ; and concludes with that other solemn 
 direction, which the Russians never understand in a rigorous sense — 
 Whom God hath joined, let no man put asunder. As soon as this form 
 of words is pronounced, all the company light their wax-tapers, and one 
 of them presents the priest with a glass of wine, which he drinks, and 
 the newly-married couple pledge him. This is done thrice, and then the 
 bride and bridegroom dash their glasses down upon the floor, and tread the 
 pieces under their feet, denouncing several maledictions on all those who 
 shall hereafter endeavour to set them at variance. At the same time, 
 several women strew linseed and hempseed upon their heads. 
 
 After this ceremony is over, the usual congratulations are repeated, with 
 such other demonstrations of gayety and rejoicing as generally accompany 
 the nuptial rites in other countries. We must not omit one circumstance, 
 however, which is merry and innocent enough : the women before-men- 
 tioned take fast hold of the bride’s gown, in order to compel her, as A 
 were, to forsake her husband ; but the bride usually maintains so strong a 
 hoici of him, that all their endeavours prove ineffectual. 
 
 Their nuptial ceremonies thus far concluded, the bride goes home in a 
 
1S8 
 
 RUSSIAN GREEK CHURCH. 
 
 Russian car or sledge, attended by six flambeaux, and the bridegroom on 
 horseback. The company come after them. As soon as they are ail 
 within doors, the bridegroom sits down at the table with hk friends ; bu. 
 the women conduct the bride to her bed-chamber, and put her to bed. 
 Afterwards some young gentlemen wait on the bridegroom with their wax- 
 tapers in their hands, and conduct him to his lady’s apartment. As 300*1 
 as they are within the chamber, they deposit their lights upon the hogs 
 heads that surround the nuptial bed. The bride, wrapped up in her night- 
 gown, now jumps out of bed, approaches her husband with much respect, 
 and makes him a very submissive and respectful obeisance. This is the 
 first moment, according to Olearius, that the husband has any opportunity 
 of seeing his wife unveiled. They then sit down to table, and sup toge- 
 ther. Among other dishes, there is a roast fowl set before them, which 
 the husband tears to pieces, throwing that part which he holds in his hands, 
 whether it be the leg or the wing, over his shoulder, and eating the re- 
 mainder. Here the ceremony ends. 
 
 The spectators now withdraw', and the newly-married couple go to bed, 
 after crossing themselves, and addressing a short prayer to the pictures of 
 their patron saints. An old domestic servant stands sentinel at the cham- 
 ber-door, while some of the company, who are more superstitious than the 
 rest, spend the interval in using enchantments for a happy consummation 
 of this love adventure. The following days are spent in all imaginable 
 demonstrations of joy and rejoicing. The men indulge themselves in 
 drinking to excess, while the husband carouses with his friends, and 
 drowns his senses in intoxicating liquors. 
 
 The Russian funeral solemnities are as remarkable in all respects as 
 their nuptial ceremonies. As soon as a sick person has expired, they send 
 „ . e . for the relations and friends of the deceased, who place 
 
 nities - themselves about the corpse, and weep over it if they can. 
 
 There are women likewise who attend as mourners, and ask the deceased, 
 “ What was the cause of his death? Were his circumstances narrow and 
 perplexed ? Did he want either the necessaries or conveniences of life ?” 
 &c. The relatives of the deceased now make the priest a present of some 
 strong beer, brandy, and metheglin, that he may pray for the repose of the 
 soul of the deceased. In the next place, the corpse is well washed, dressed 
 in clean linen, or wrapped in a shroud, and shod with Russia leather, and 
 put into a coffin, the arms being laid over the stomach, in the form of a 
 cross. The Russians make their coffins of the trunks of hollowed trees, 
 and cover them with cloth, or at least with the great-coat of the deceased. 
 The corpse is not carried, however, to church, till it has been kept eight 
 or ten days at home, if the season or circumstances of the deceased will 
 admit of such a delay ; for it is a received opinion, that the longer they 
 stay in this world v the better reception they will meet with in the next 
 
RUSSIAN GREEK CHURCH. 
 
 1S9 
 
 The priest thurifies the corpse, and sprinkles it with holy water, till the 
 very day of its interment. 
 
 The funeral procession is ranged or disposed in the following manner:— 
 A priest marches in the front, carrying the image of the particular saint 
 who was made choice of as patron of the deceased at the time he was 
 baptized. Four young virgins, who are the nearest relations to the de 
 ceased, and the chief mourners, follow him ; or, for want of such female 
 friends, the same number of women are hired to attend, and to perform 
 that melancholy office. After them comes the corpse, carried on the 
 shoulders of six bearers. If the party deceased be a monk or a nun, the 
 brothers or sisters of the convent to which they belonged perform this last 
 friendly office for them. Several friends march on either side of the corpse, 
 thurifying it, and singing as they go along, to drive away the evil spirits, 
 and to prevent them from hovering round about it. The relations and 
 friends bring up the rear, each having a wax-taper in his hand. As soon 
 as they are arrived at the grave, the coffin is uncovered, and the image of 
 the deceased’s favourite saint is laid over him, while the priest repeats 
 some prayers suitable to the solemn occasion, or reads some particu- 
 lar passages out of the liturgy. After that, the relations and friends bid 
 their last sad adieu, either by saluting the deceased himself, or the coffin 
 in which he is interred. The priest, in the next place, comes close to his 
 side, and puts his passport or certificate into his hand, which is signed by 
 the archbishop, and likewise by his father confessor, who sell it at a dearer 
 or cheaper rate, according to the circumstances or quality of those who 
 purchase it. This billet is a testimonial of the virtue and good actions of 
 the deceased, or, at least, of his sincere repentance of all his sins. When 
 a person at the point of expiring is so happy as to have the benediction of 
 his priest, and after his decease his passport in his hand, his immediate 
 reception into heaven is, in their opinion, infallibly secured. The priest 
 always recommends the deceased to the favour and protection of St. Nicho- 
 las. To conclude, the coffin is nailed up and let down into the grave, the 
 face of the deceased being turned towards the east. The friends and rela- 
 tions now take their last farewell in unfeigned tears, or at least in seeming 
 sorrow and concern, which are expressed by mourners who are hired for 
 that purpose 
 
 The Russians frequently distribute money and provisions among the poor 
 who hover round the grave ; but it is a very common custom among them, 
 according to Olearius, “ to drown their sorrow and affliction in metheglin 
 and in brandy and it too often happens that they get drunk on these 
 occasions, in commemoration of their deceased friends. 
 
 During their mourning, which continues forty days, they make three 
 funeral entertainments, that is to say, on the third, the ninth, and the 
 
 twentieth day after the interment. A priest, who is contracted with for 
 13 
 
190 
 
 RUSSIAN GREEK CHURCH. 
 
 that purpose, must spend some time in prayer for the consolation and re- 
 pose of the soul of the deceased every night and morning, for forty days 
 successively in a tent, which is erected on that occasion over the gra^? of 
 the deceased. They commemorate their dead, likewise, once a yea^ : tftis 
 ceremony consists, principally, in mourning over their tombs, and m 
 taking care that they be duly perfumed with incense by some of their 
 mercenary priests, who, besides the fee or gratuity which they receive 
 for their incense, (or more properly the small quantity of wax with which 
 they thurify the tombs,) make an advantage likewise of the various 
 provisions which are frequently brought to such places, or of the alma 
 w T hich are left there, and intended by the donors for the relief and main- 
 tenance of the poor ; for the Russian nobility and gentry hope to atone, 
 by 1 heir charitable donations, for their manifold and inhuman acts of op- 
 pression. 
 
 We shall add in this place an interesting account of the burial of Prince 
 Galitzin, in Moscow, taken from Dr. Clarke’s Travels, w r ho was an eye- 
 Bnriai of Prince w ^ tness °f ceremony. This ceremony was performed 
 Galitzin. in a small church near the Mareschal bridge. The body 
 
 was laid in a superb crimson coffin, richly embossed with silver and % 
 placed beneath the dome of the church. On a throne, raised at the head 
 of the coffin, stood the archbishop, "who read the service. On each side 
 ■were ranged the inferior clergy, clothed, as usual, in the most costly robes, 
 bearing in their hands wax-tapers, and burning incense. The ceremony 
 began at ten in the morning. Having obtained admission to the church, 
 we placed ourselves among the spectators, immediately behind his grace. 
 The chanting had a solemn and sublime effect. It seemed as if choristers 
 were placed in the upper part of the dome, Avhich, perhaps, was really the 
 case. The words uttered were only a constant repetition of “ Lord have 
 mercy upon us 1” or, in Russian, “ Ghospodi pomilui /” When the arch- 
 bishop turned to give his benediction to all the people, he observed us, and 
 added in Latin, “Pax vobiscum /” to the astonishment of the Russians; 
 who, not comprehending the new wrnrds introduced into the service, mut- 
 tered among themselves. Incense was then offered to the pictures and tc 
 the people ; and that ceremony ended, the archbishop read aloud a decla- 
 ration, purporting that the deceased died in the true faith ; that he had 
 repented of his errors, and that his sins w T ere absolved. Then turning to 
 us, as the paper was placed in the coffin, he said again in Latin, “This is 
 what all you foreigners call the passport ; and you relate, in books 
 of travels, that w r e believe no soul can go to heaven without it. Now I 
 wish you to understand what it really is ; and to explain to your country- 
 men upon my authority, that it is nothing more than a declaration, or cer- 
 tificate concerning the death of the deceased.” Then laughing, he added, 
 “I suppose you commit all this to paper; and one day I shall see an 
 
 L 
 
RUSSIAN GREEK CHURCH. 
 
 1 91 
 
 engraving of this ceremony, with an old archbishop giving a passport to 
 St. Peter.” 
 
 The lid of the coffin being now removed, the body of the prince was 
 exposed to view ; and all the relatives, servants, slaves, and other attend- 
 ants, began their loud lamentations, as is the custom among the Russians ; 
 and each person, walking round the corpse, made prostration before it, and 
 kissed the lips of the deceased. The venerable figure of an old slave pre- 
 sented a most affecting spectacle. He threw himself flat on the pavement, 
 with a degree of violence which might have cost him his life and, quite 
 stunned by the blow, remained a few seconds insensible ; afterwards, his 
 loud sobs were heard; and we saw him tearing off and scattering his white 
 hairs. He had, according to the custom of the country, received his 
 liberty upon the de^h of the prince ; but choosing rather to consign him- 
 self for the remain k * nt his days to a convent, he retired for ever from 
 the world, saying, ‘'‘since his dear old master was dead, there was no one 
 living who cared for him.” 
 
 A plate was handed about, containing boiled rice and raisins ; a cere- 
 mony I am unable to explain. The face of the deceased was covered by 
 linen, and the archbishop poured consecrated oil, and threw a white 
 powder, probably lime, several times upon it, pronouncing some words 
 in the Russian language ; which, supposing us not to understand, he 
 repeated aloud in Latin: “ Rust thou art ; and unto dust thou art 
 returned The lid of the coffin was then replaced ; and, after a re- 
 quiem, “sweet as from blest voices,” a procession began from the church 
 to a convent in the vicinity of the city, where the body was to be interred. 
 There was nothing solemn in this part of the ceremony. It began by the 
 slaves of the deceased on foot, all of whom were in mourning. Next came 
 the priests, bearing tapers ; then followed the body on a common droski ; 
 the whip of the driver being bound with crape ; and afterwards a line of 
 carriages, of the miserable description before observed. But, instead of 
 that slow movement usually characteristic of funeral processions, the 
 priests and the people ran as fast as they could ; and the body was jolted 
 along in an uncouth manner. Far behind the last rumbling vehicle were 
 seen persons following, out of breath, unable to keep up with their com- 
 panions. 
 
 Sect of Raskolniki , or Ibraniki. — This is the only sect that has sepa- 
 rated from the established church in Russia. They are supposed to 
 amount to about one million. The date of their separation was about the 
 year 1666. They pretend to be ardent lovers of the Holy Scriptures, and 
 distinguished for their piety. Its members assume the name of Ibraniki , 
 that is, the multitude of the elect ; or, according to others, Straoivertsi, 
 that is, believers in the ancient faith ; but the name given them by their 
 adversaries, and that by which they are generally known, is Raskolniki , 
 
 i 
 
192 
 
 OTHER BRANCHES OF 
 
 lhat is, schismatics, or the seditious faction. In defence of their separa- 
 tion, they allege the corruptions, in both doctrine and discipline, that have 
 been introduced into the Russian church. They profess a rigorous zeal 
 for the letter of the Holy Scripture, which they do not understand ; and 
 the transposition of a single word in a new edition of the Russian Bible, 
 though this transposition was intended to correct an uncouth phrase in 
 the translation commonly received, threw them into the greatest tumult. 
 They will not allow a priest to administer baptism after having tasted 
 spirituous liquors ; and in this, perhaps, they act rightly, since it is said, 
 “that the Russian priests seldom touch the flask without drinking deep.” 
 They hold that there is no subordination of rank, no superior or inferior 
 among the faithful ; that a Christian may kill himself for the love of 
 Christ ; that Hallelujah must be only twice pronounced, that it is a great 
 sin to repeat it thrice ; and that a priest must never give a blessing except 
 with three fingers. They are regular, even to austerity, in their man- 
 ners ; but, as they have always refused to admit Christians of other deno- 
 minations into their religious assemblies, they have been suspected of com- 
 mitting in them various abominations ; this, however, ought not to be 
 believed without the strongest demonstrative proof. They have suffered 
 much persecution; and various means have been used to bring them back 
 into the bosom of the church, but in vain ; and arguments, promises, 
 threatenings, dragoonings, *he authority of synods and councils, seconded 
 by racks and gibbets — in a word, all the methods that artifice or barbarity 
 could suggest, have been practised ; but these, instead of lessening, have 
 increased their numbers, and, instead of closing, have widened the breach. 
 Some wealthy merchants and great lords are attached to this sect ; and it 
 is widely diffused among the peasants. It ought to be added, that the 
 members of this sect consider the worship of images as gross idolatry ; 
 and, perhaps, this practice, real or supposed, in the Russian church, was 
 one reason of their separating from it. 
 
 SEC. III. OTHER BRANCHES OF THE GREEK CHURCH. 
 
 Besides the Greek Church Proper, of which the Russian Church may 
 be considered an independent branch, there are several other branches of 
 the same church, which are scattered over a great extent of country in the 
 East, embracing an unknown, but large number of members. Those which 
 we shall briefly notice are, the Georgian and Mingrelian Greek Churches , 
 the Nestorians, Christians of St. Thomas , Jacobites, Copts , Abyssinians, 
 and Armenians. It may be remarked, however, of these several com- 
 munions, that they are in a miserable state of ignorance, superstition, and 
 wretchedness. The Holy Scriptures are but little known among them; 
 but the British and Foreign Bible Society has, within a few years, directed 
 
THE GREEK CHURCH. 
 
 193 
 
 considerable attention to their necessities ; and has circulated nearly two 
 hundred thousand copies of the Bible, for their use, in their several 
 languages. 
 
 Sec. 1. — Georgian and Mingrelian Churches. 
 
 • Georgia and Mingrelia are two countries of Asia. The former of which 
 lies between the Black and Caspian seas ; and the latter between Circassia 
 
 Situation of on the north, and Guriel on the south. The former was 
 greiia. 111 &nd Mm " the ancient Iberia, the latter in part the ancient Colchis. 
 The inhabitants of both these countries are sunk in poverty, ignorance, 
 and semi-barbarism. Yet an interest attaches to them on account of their 
 religion, which was once more flourishing than at present. They are a 
 branch of the Greek Church. These two people are said to profess the 
 same faith, with this difference, however, that the Mingrelians, residing in 
 the mountains and woods, are more vicious and depraved in morals than 
 the Georgians. 
 
 Each of these nations has a pontiff at its head, whom they call Catholicos , 
 or the Catholic — who is obliged to pay a certain tribute to the Patriarch 
 of Constantinople — but is, in every other respect, inde- 
 pendent of any foreign jurisdiction. They have bishops 
 and priests, who are not only ignorant, but exceedingly dissolute and cor- 
 rupt. Some of their bishops are able neither to read nor write, and in 
 order to discharge their duty learn to say mass by heart; which, how- 
 ever, they are never inclined to do without being very well paid for their 
 trouble. 
 
 The priests are allowed not only to marry, according to the custom of 
 the Greek Church, before ordination, but also to enter into second mar- 
 riages at the expense only of a dispensation from the bishop, 
 which amounts to about a pistole. In short, they may marry 
 a third or fourth time upon paying double fees for every new indulgence. 
 The patriarch, likewise, never ordains^ bishop without being first paid the 
 sum of five hundred crowns. 
 
 Whi n any person is very much indisposed among them, he sends for a 
 priest, who attends him rather in the capacity of a physician than as a 
 father-confessor; for he never mentions one word of confession to his 
 patient. Turning over the leaves of a particular book, which he carries 
 about him for that purpose, with an extraordinary display of fictitious 
 gravity and circumspection, he pretends to find therein the real cause of 
 the distemper, which he usually ascribes to the high displeasure of some 
 of their images ; for it is a received notion among them, that their images 
 are capable of gratifying their resentments on those who have offended 
 them. The cause of the disorder being thus decidedly ascertained, the 
 priestly physician enjoins his patient to make atonement for his sins by 
 
194 
 
 OTHER BRANCHES OF 
 
 some acceptable rblation to the incensed image, — that is to say, some valu- 
 able present in money or effects, which he always takes care to apply to 
 his own private advantage. 
 
 In regard to their baptismal ceremonies, — as soon as an infant is born, 
 the papas, or priest, makes the sign of the cross on his forehead, and eight 
 Baptismal Cere ^ a Y s afterwards anoints him with the Myrone — that is, then* 
 monies - consecrated oil ; but he never baptizes him till two years 
 
 after ; and the following form is observed : — The child is brought to the 
 church, and presented to the papas, who immediately asks his name, and 
 lights a little wax-taper ; after which he reads a long lesson, and repeats 
 several prayers suitable to the occasion. After that, the godfather un- 
 dresses the infant, and plunges him naked into a kind of font or bathing- 
 vessel, full of lukewarm water, mixed with walnut-oil, and washes his 
 body all over, the papas taking no share in this part of the ceremony, nor 
 pronouncing a single syllable during the whole of the time. After this 
 general ablution, however, he advances towards the water-vessel, and gives 
 the Myrone to the godfather, to anoint the infant. The godfather accord- 
 ingly anoints his forehead, nose, eyes, ears, breast, navel, knees, soles of 
 the feet, heels, hams, loins, shoulders, and the crown of his head. After 
 this ceremony is over, he plunges him again into the font, or water-vessel, 
 and offers him a bit of blessed bread to eat, and a small portion of sacred 
 wine to drink. If the child swallows them, it is looked upon as a happy 
 omen. In conclusion, the godfather returns the infant to its mother, saying 
 three times, “You delivered him into my hands a Jew , and I return him 
 to you a Christian .” 
 
 We shall now proceed to the nuptial ceremonies of the Georgians, 
 which are, in fact, nothing more than a mere contract, by way of bargain 
 Nuptial Ceremo anc ^ sa ^ e * The P arents bring their daughters to market, 
 mes - and agree with the purchasers for a particular sum, which is 
 
 greater or smaller, according to the value of the living commodities. A 
 female who has never been married commands a much higher price than 
 a widow, and a virgin in her bloom more than an antiquated maid. As 
 soon as the purchase-money is raised and ready, the father of the bride- 
 groom gives an entertainment, at which the son attends with his cash in 
 hand, and deposits it on the table before he offers to sit down : at the same 
 time, the relations of the bride provide an equivalent, which is generally 
 as near the value of his money as possible, consisting, of all manner of 
 necessary household goods, cattle, clothes, slaves, &c. This custom appears 
 to be very ancient ; and after the entertainment is over, the bride repairs to 
 the bridegroom’s house, attended by her relations, friends, and acquaint- 
 ance. The procession is enlivened by a concert of instrumental music; 
 the contractors going before, to inform the family that the newly-married 
 couple will arrive soon at home. These messengers, on their first arrival, 
 
THK GREEK CHURCH. 
 
 195 
 
 are presented with bread, wine, and meat ; without offering to enter the 
 house, however, they take the flagon of wine, and pour it lavishly round 
 about it. This libation is consecrated by their hearty wishes for the health, 
 prosperity, and peace of the newly-married couple. After this they return 
 to the bride, and conduct her home to her husband’s apartment, in which 
 the other relations and friends are all assembled. In the middle of the room 
 a carpet is spread upon the floor ; and a pitcher of wine, with a kettle-full 
 of dough, called Gom, with which they make their bread, are set upon it. 
 Soon after her entrance, the bride kicks down the pitcher, and scatters the 
 paste with both her hands all over the room. We are at a loss to deter- 
 mine the mystical design of this practice, unless it be emblematical of the 
 plenty and fruitfulness of the marriage state. The ceremony is attended 
 with the usual pastimes and demonstrations of joy which are customary on 
 such public occasions. 
 
 The essential part of the nuptial mystery, however, is not solemnized 
 here, but in a private apartment, for fear the sorcerers should cast a spell 
 upon the newly-married couple. The bridegroom and his bride stand 
 with their godfather before a priest, who reads over the marriage words 
 by the light of a wax-taper ; and two garlands of flowers, either natural 
 or artificial, are set close to each other on an adjoining table, with tufts of 
 various colours ; a tavaiole, that is, a veil ; a glass of wine, a piece of 
 bread, and a needle and thread. The godfather now throws a veil over 
 the bridegroom’s head, and, while the priest is reading the ceremony, 
 sews the garments of the bride and bridegroom together. This godfather 
 likewise puts crowns upon their heads, changing them three or four 
 times, successively, according to the tenor of the prayers repeated on the 
 occasion. After this, he takes the glass and the pieces of bread into his 
 hands, and gives the bridegroom one bit, and the bride another: this he 
 repeats three times, and eats what is left himself. He now gives them the 
 glass three times a piece, and then drinks the remainder, W’hich concludes 
 the ceremony. 
 
 The veil made use of on this occasion, is the emblem or image of the 
 nuptial bed : and the thread, with which the bridegroom and bride are 
 sewed together, the symbol of the conjugal knot; but as the Georgians 
 and Mingrelians are addicted to divorce and to discard their wives, and a3 
 they are frequently guilty of fornication and polygamy, the fragility of the 
 thread is looked upon as a lively representation of the precarious and un- 
 certain duration of this happy union. The bread and wine denote their 
 community, or having things in common together. The godfather eats 
 and drinks the remains, to intimate that he has contracted a kind of 
 relationship with them, and that he ought to be an impartial judge, or to 
 be the arbitrator, in any controversies that may afterwards arise betweea 
 them. 
 
196 
 
 OTHER BRANCHES OF 
 
 The mourning of the Mingrelians, according to the accounts of several 
 travellers, is like that of persons in the very depth of despair, and consists 
 
 Funeral Cere not or ^y wee P in g» or rather howling, in honour of their 
 k 101 ™ 53 dead, but also in shaving their beards and eyebrows. More- 
 
 over, when a wife loses her husband, or some other near relation, she rends 
 her clothes, strips herself naked to the waist, tears her hair, scarifies her 
 body, and scratches her face all over. The men likewise behave nearly 
 in the same manner, and are more or less violent, as necessity, inclination, 
 or the circumstances of their mourning prompt them. This continues 
 forty days, with a gradual diminution of their sorrow, as that term draws 
 near to its expiration. 
 
 On the first ten days, the relations and intimate friends and acquaint- 
 ance meet constantly to weep over the deceased. Their cries and howl- 
 ings, their transports of sorrow, and their silence and serenity of mind, 
 alternately succeed each other. On the last day they inter the corpse, on 
 which occasion the catholicos puts upon the breasts of those who die in the 
 faith a letter or petition, in which he humbly beseeches St. Peter to open 
 the gate of heaven for them, and to admit of their entrance. This cere- 
 mony is sometimes performed even before they put them in their shrouds. 
 On the fortieth day of their mourning, the Georgians have a funeral enter- 
 tainment for the relations, friends, and acquaintance of the deceased, at 
 which the men sit at one table, and the women at another. The bishop 
 now reads a mass for the dead, and takes, for his fee or gratuity, every 
 thing that was allotted to the service of the deceased. 
 
 Sec. 2 . — Nestorian Churches. 
 
 There are several sects of Christians in the Levant, who are known and 
 distinguished by the name of Chaldeans or Syrians: but the most consi- 
 derable part of them are those who pass under the denomi- 
 nation of Nestorians , and in reality revere Nestorius, who 
 was Patriarch of Constantinople in the beginning of the fifth century, by 
 invoking him in their prayers. 
 
 The occasion of the fatal controversy in which Nestorius involved the 
 church, was furnished by Anastasius, who was honoured with his friend- 
 ship. 
 
 This presbyter, in a public discourse, delivered in 424, declaimed 
 warmly against the title of Mother of God , which was then frequently 
 attributed to the Virgin Mary in the controversy with the Arians, giving 
 it as his opinion, that the Holy Virgin was rather to be called Mother of 
 Christ , since the Deity can neither be born nor die, and, of consequence, 
 the Son of man alone could derive his birth from an earthly parent. Nes- 
 torius applauded these sentiments, and explained and defended them in 
 several discourses. 
 
 Rise. 
 
THE GREEK CHURCH. 
 
 19? 
 
 In opposition to him, Eutyches, an ahbot at Constantinople, declared that 
 these natures were so united in Christ, as to form but one nature, that of 
 the Incarnate word. It was an age when men were fast losing sight of the 
 Gospel, and contending about modes and forms ; and these opposite opi- 
 nions threw the whole Eastern world into bitter contention, and gave rise 
 to that great division which continues to this day among the miserable 
 remnant of the Eastern churches. The followers of the former are called 
 Nestorians ; the latter, Monophysites. 
 
 The Nestorians early became the chief propagators of the Gospel in the 
 East. They enjoyed the patronage of the Persian monarch, Pherazes, by 
 whom their opponents were expelled from his kingdom, and their patriarch 
 was established at Seleucia. They established a school at Nisibis under 
 Barsumas, a discipline of Nestorius, from whence proceeded, in the fifth 
 and sixth centuries, a band of missionaries, who spread abroad their tenets, 
 through Egypt, Syria, Arabia, India, Tartary, and China. In the twelfth 
 century, they won over to their faith the Prince of Tartary, who was 
 baptized John ; and because he exercised the office of presbyter, was, with 
 his successors, called Prester John. They made converts, also, of the 
 Christians on the coast of Malabar, who, it is supposed, received the 
 Christian faith from the Syrian Mar Thomas, in the fourth or fffth cen- 
 tury. 
 
 They formed, at one time, an immense body, but dwindled away before 
 the Saracen power, and the exasperated heathen priests and jealous 
 Chinese emperors. They acknowledged but one patriarch until 1551, 
 who resided first at Bagdad, and afterwards at Mousul. But at this 
 period, the Papists succeeded in dividing them, and a new patriarch was 
 consecrated by Pope Julius III., and established over the adherents to the 
 pope, in the city of Ormus. The great patriarch at Mousul, called Elias, 
 has continued, however, to be acknowledged to this day by the greater 
 part of the Nestorians, who are scattered over Asia. 
 
 Throughout this long period, they have maintained considerable purity 
 of doctrine and worship, and kept free from the ridiculous ceremonies of 
 the Greek and Latin churches. Of their present number and religious 
 character we know but little. Probably they are very ignorant, debased, 
 and corrupt.* 
 
 We shall now proceed to such religious customs among the Nestorians, 
 as may be more properly thought an essential part of this history. Before 
 ... the sixth century, the Patriarch of the Nestorians was dig 
 Cler gy- nified and distinguished by the title of Catholic, which he 
 
 has retained ever since. His clergy, as well as those of the Greeks in 
 Constantinople, consist of married and monastic priests. The latter, in 
 
 * Marsh’s Ecc. History. 
 
198 
 
 OTHER BRANCHES OF 
 
 Syria and Mesopotamia, are dressed in black, with a capuche, or hood, 
 which covers the crown of their head like a calot, and hangs down upon 
 the shoulders like a veil. Over this they wear a turban, the cap and the 
 linen cloth of which are of a deep blue. The patriarch and the bishops 
 are not distinguished from the priests by any particular dress, but by their 
 pastoral staff and a cross, which they carry in their hands, and hold out 
 for the devotees to kiss. The head of the former is made either like a 
 crutch or a crosier. Ti.e vestments of their married priests are all black 
 likewise, or at least dark .gray; but, instead of wearing a capuche upon 
 their heads, they have a round cap with a large button upon the top of it, 
 
 Besides the regular monastic priests there are several convents in Meso- 
 potamia, the monks of which are not priests, but style themselves monks 
 of the order of St. Anthony. The habit of these Nestorian monks is an 
 open black cassock, which is girt round them with a leathern surcingle, 
 and a gown over it, the sleeves of which are very large. They wear no 
 capuche, but a purple turban instead of it. At midnight, morning, and 
 evening, they repeat the church service, but spend the remainder of the 
 day in tilling their grounds. 
 
 The churches belonging to the Nestorians are divided by balustrades, 
 or rails ;* and one part of them is always allotted for the peculiar service 
 of the women. The font is erected on the south side. 
 When they say their prayers and pay their adoration to the 
 Supreme Being, they always turn their faces towards the east. Before the 
 entrance into these churches, there is, generally, a large court, with a very 
 small door. This court was originally the place appointed for the recep- 
 tion of penitents, and was made use of as a bar to the profane, in order to 
 prevent them hearing and seeing the different proceedings and ceremonies 
 of the Christian assemblies. 
 
 Independently of the fasts which are generally observed by the Chris- 
 tians of the Greek church, the Nestorians keep one in particular, which 
 
 „ . , _ T . continues three days; it is called the Fast of Nineveh, 
 veh - because they therein imitate the repenting Ninevites, who 
 
 did penance for their sins for three days after the preaching of the prophet 
 Jonas. This fast is the introduction to their Lent. 
 
 The Christians of Syria and Mesopotamia have added to their calen- 
 dar one festival in commemoration of the penitent thief, which is not 
 observed by the Roman Catholic church ; it is called by them Lass-al- 
 jemin, that is, the Thief on the right hand. This falls upon the octave of 
 Easter. 
 
 The bathing of the Svrian Christians in the river Jordan must be 
 reckoned among their religious customs, but the ceremony itself is very 
 
 Religious Bath' 
 ing. 
 
 idle and ridiculous. These people, however, practise it as 
 an act of devotion, and Christians of all denominations, as 
 
 J 
 
THE GREEK CHURCH. 
 
 1^9 
 
 Greeks, Nestorians, Copts, &c., wash themselves naked in the river with 
 great solemnity, in commemoration of Jesus Christ and his baptism. In 
 this instance, they concern themselves as little in regard to the difference 
 of the sexes, as of the sects ; for men and women jump promiscuously 
 into the river, and plunge down to the bottom. Some of the most zealous 
 devotees dip their handkerchiefs in the sacred stream ; others carry a 
 quantity of the water away with them in bottles ; and the very dirt, sand, 
 and grass that grows upon the banks, are all looked upon as sacred 
 relics. 
 
 The nuptial ceremonies of the Syrians are very singular and remark- 
 able. The bridegroom is conducted to the house of the bride on horse- 
 
 Nuptial Cere- back, between two drawn swords, which are carried by two 
 monies - men, one before and the other behind him. The relations, 
 
 friends, and acquaintance of the bride receive him with their flambeaux 
 lighted, and music preceding them, accompanied with songs, acclamations, 
 and other testimonies of general joy. On the wedding-night the bride- 
 groom gives his spouse an uncourteous kick, and commands her to pull 
 off his shoes, as a token of her submission and obedience. 
 
 When a Christian dies at Bagdad, the neighbours assemble, in order to 
 perform his funeral obsequies. At their return from the place of inter- 
 Funerai Obse- ment > a handsome collation is always prepared for their 
 < i uies - refreshment at the house of the deceased, where every one 
 
 is welcome without distinction, insomuch that sometimes a hundred and 
 fifty, or more, appear at these funeral entertainments. The next day, the 
 company meet in order to pray together over the grave of the deceased, 
 which is likewise repeated on the third day; when there is another public 
 entertainment provided for them, and in general the same welcome is given 
 to all as before. These ceremonies are repeated on the seventh day, the 
 fifteenth, the thirtieth, and the fortieth, after the decease. 
 
 At Damas, the Christian women sing and weep over their dead. The- 
 venot saw a company of these female mourners, accompanied by two men 
 with lighted candles in their hands, howling over the dead, and beating 
 their breasts to express their sorrow. Every now and then they made a 
 halt ; then fell into a ring, and snapping their fingers, as if they were 
 playing with castanets, danced and sung to the sound, while others kept 
 time in hideous howlings. The ceremony concluded with mutual testimo- 
 nies of respect ; after which they departed, dancing and snapping their 
 fingers as before. Nearly the same ceremonies are observed at Rama on 
 similar occasions. Father Le Brun says, “that they weep for about half 
 an hour over the grave of their deceased friends ; then rise and fall into a 
 ring, as if they were going to dance to the brawls .” — Two of them after 
 this quit the ring, and planting themselves in the middle, there make a 
 thousand grimaces, howling and clapping their hands After this frightful 
 
200 
 
 OTHER BRANCHES OF 
 
 noise, they sit down to drown their sorrow in tears. All the female 
 mourners that Le Brun saw, relieved each other. Those who had finished 
 went home, and others supplied their place. When these women stood 
 up in order to form themselves into a ring, they covered their heads with a 
 black veil. 
 
 Sec. 3. — Christians of St. Thomas. 
 
 With regard to the origin of the Christians of St. Thomas, who inhabit 
 the coast of Malabar and Travancore, there exists much difference of opi- 
 nion. The Portuguese, who first opened the navigation 
 of India, in the fifteenth century, and found them seated 
 there for ages, assert that St. Thomas, the apostle, preached the gospel in 
 India, and that these are the descendants of his proselytes. 
 
 The Christians of St. Thomas declare themselves descendants of one 
 Mar Thomas or Thomas Cana, an Armenian merchant, who settled at 
 Opinion of the Congranor. Mar Thomas married two wives, and had 
 Thomas. ’ issue by each. The children by the former were heirs to 
 all his effects and lands, which were situate in the southern part of the 
 kingdom of Congranor ; and those of the latter, who was a negro slave 
 converted to the Christian faith, inherited the settlement of w r hich their 
 father died possessed in the north. In process of time, his descendants 
 became very numerous, and constituted two considerable branches, which 
 were never united nor allied to each other. The issue of his first wife, 
 from whom the nobility are descended, look down with disdain on the 
 Christians of the other branch, and carry their aversion to so high a pitch 
 as to separate themselves from their communion, and to contemn the mi- 
 nistry of their priests. Mar Thomas , whom these Christians look upon 
 as their common parent, flourished, according to the general notion, in the 
 tenth century; but M. la Croza thinks that he lived in the sixth. These 
 Christians enjoyed so many valuable privileges under the sovereigns of the 
 country, and grew so powerful, that they at length elected kings out of 
 their own nation and religion. They continued in this state of independ- 
 ence till the death of one of their sovereigns, who leaving no heir to the 
 throne, they adopted a young idolatrous prince who was his neighbour, and 
 appointed him to be his successor. 
 
 The Rev. Dr. Buchanan, vice-provost of the college of Fort William, 
 who visited these Christians in 1806, and counts fifty-five churches in 
 Dr Buchanan’s Malay ala ,* denies that they are Nestorians, and observes 
 accouut. that their doctrines “are contained in a very lew articles, 
 
 and are not at variance in essentials with the doctrines of the church of 
 
 * Malay ala comprehends the mountains and the whole region within them, from Cape 
 Cormorin to Cape Illi : whereas the province of Malabar, commonly so called, contains only 
 the northern districts, not including the country of Travancore . 
 
THE GREEK CHURCH. 
 
 201 
 
 England. They are usually denominated Jacobitse ,* but they differ in 
 ceremonial from the church of that name in Syria, and indeed from any 
 existing church in the world. Their proper designation, and that which 
 is sanctioned by their own use, is Syrian Christians or The Syrian 
 Church of Malayala .” Yet the Doctor remarks, that they acknowledge 
 “the Patriarch of Antioch,” and that they are connected with certain 
 churches in Mesopotamia and Syria, 215 in number, and labouring under 
 circumstances of discouragement and distress ; but he does not say whe- 
 ther it is to the Greek or the Jacobite Patriarch of Antioch that they are 
 subject.f 
 
 In respect to their religious ceremonies they observe at Easter a kind 
 of public collation, which bears some affinity with the Agapse of the pri- 
 
 D .. . _ mitive Christians. This feast or entertainment consists 
 
 Religious Cus- 
 
 loms - generally of nothing but a few herbs, fruits, and rice ; and 
 
 is made in the fore-court before the church-porch. The priests at those 
 times have a double, and the bishop a triple portion of what is provided. 
 To these Agapse , we must add another ceremony, called by the Christians 
 of St. Thomas their Casture, which is said to be an emblem, or symbol, 
 of brotherly love. During the time they are in the church, they take hold 
 of the hands of one of their most ancient Cacanares, or priests, and in 
 that posture receive his benediction. 
 
 These Christians have holy water placed at their church-doors, with 
 which they make the sign of the cross, repeating at the same time a prayer 
 m commemoration of Nestorius. It is merely a little common water mixed 
 with a small quantity of mould, taken out of the road through which St. 
 Thomas had travelled. In case they have no such mould, they throw a 
 few grains of frankincense into it. We have before observed, that they 
 have not only crosses, but pictures or representations of them, hung up in 
 their churches ; and the priests likewise carry a crucifix in procession, 
 obliging the devotees who assist to salute it. This act of devotion has 
 been embraced even by the Pagans. There are also crosses erected not 
 only in their streets and high roads, but in the most solitary places. They 
 are erected on a pedestal, in which there is a hole or cavity, large enough 
 to contain a burning lamp ; and the Indians frequently contribute towards 
 the oil that is spent to support these lamps. 
 
 The use of bells is prohibited among those Chaldeans who live under 
 the authority and jurisdiction of the Indians; because the sound of those 
 instruments, in their opinion, is offensive and incommodious to their idols: 
 the ancient Pagans were no strangers to this idle notion. 
 
 * Their Liturgy, Dr. B. tells us, is derived from that of the early church of Antioch, 
 called “ Liturgia Jacobi J/postoli” — And, according to Mr. Gibbon, the “ Jacobites them- 
 selves had rather deduce their name and pedigree from St. James the Apostle,” 
 
 •f All Religions. 
 
202 
 
 OTHER BRANCHES OF 
 
 It is a common practice among the Indian Christians, out of devotion, to 
 lie all night in their churches ; and the same custom was frequently ob- 
 served by the ancient idolaters. The posture of these Indians, when they 
 say their prayers, is prostration with their faces to the ground. 
 
 A description of their dances may be properly enough introduced in this 
 place. The men dance by themselves, and the maidens and married 
 women also by themselves, with all imaginable modesty and decorum. 
 Before they begin, they not only make the sign of the cross, but sing the 
 Lord’s Prayer, with a hymn in commemoration of St. Thomas. The 
 Indians, likewise, among whom these Christians live, make dancing a part 
 of their divine worship : and it is well known that it was a principal orna- 
 ment, and an essential act of devotion, at the festivals of the ancient 
 Pagans. With regard to their songs, the subject of them is always either 
 the virtues of their saints, or the heroic actions of their ancestors. 
 
 Sec. 4. — Religious Ceremonies and Customs of the Jacobites. 
 
 Were we to include under the denomination of Jacobites all the Mono- 
 fhysites of the Levant, — that is, all those who are charged with the 
 „ , heresy of acknowledging but one nature in Jesus Christ, — . 
 
 count - it must be acknowledged that their sect would be very 
 
 extensive ; for then we must reckon the Armenians , Cophti , and the Abys- 
 sinians , among the number. But there are very few who can strictly 
 and justly be termed Jacobites , and they, for the most part, reside in Syria 
 and Mesopotamia. There are not above 40 or 45,000 families of their per- 
 suasion ; and even they themselves are divided in point of principle ; 
 some of them being reconciled to the Church of Rome, and others con- 
 tinuing in a state of separation. The latter have two patriarchs, who 
 generally act in direct opposition to each other : one of them resides at 
 Caremit, and the other at Derzapharam ; independently of whom, there is 
 another patriarch attached to the Church of Rome, who resides at Aleppo, 
 and is dependent on, and absolutely under the jurisdiction of the court of 
 Rome. 
 
 As to the articles of their belief, the Monophysites, in general, (whether 
 Armenians, Cophti, or Abyssinians,) maintain the doctrine 
 of Dioscorus, with respect to the unity of the nature and 
 person of Jesus Christ, and to that degree of exactness, that, in order the 
 more clearly to express their belief, they make the sign of the cross, 
 according to Brerewood, with one finger only , whereas the other Easterns 
 make use of two : for this reason, they are looked upon and treated as 
 heretics, though in reality there is no other difference but in point of terms 
 between them and the divines of the Latin church. This is readily acknow- 
 ledged by the most learned men among them at this very day ; and is evident 
 from the conferences which Father Christopher Roderic , the pope’s legate 
 
THE GREEK CHURCH. 
 
 203 
 
 in Egypt, had with the Cophti, on the subject of reconciliation between 
 the two churches. They ingeniously confessed, that the only reason of 
 their making use of such terms, was purely to testify their abhorrence and 
 detestation of the Nestorians ; for that, in reality, they were of the same 
 opinion with the Latin church, and freely owned the two natures of Jesus 
 Christ. They further insisted that the mystery of the Incarnation was 
 more clearly explained by their asserting the unity of Christ's nature: 
 necause there is but one Jesus Christ, who is both God and man. On 
 the contrary, the Latins speak of these two natures as if they were severed 
 from one another, and did not constitute one real whole. 
 
 It is in this sense, likewise, that Dioscorus, who softened some of the 
 harsh terms which were made use of by Eutyches, declared his opinion 
 that Jesus Christ was a compound of two natures: although he was not 
 in himself two distinct natures, “which,” says Father Simon, “appears 
 an orthodox notion for they w T ill not acknowledge that there were two 
 distinct natures in Jesus Christ, for fear of establishing two Christs. 
 The whole of this mighty disagreement arises, however, from the different 
 construction which each party puts on those two terms, nature and j oerson. 
 To which may be added, the ambition of not swerving in the least from a 
 position once laid down, and which was the principal reason why Euty- 
 ches maintained his opinion with so much obstinacy : from which it ap- 
 pears, that the terms he uses ought not to be understood in their most strict 
 and rigorous sense, but be construed and restrained to that idea which he 
 entertained of admitting but one Christ, and consequently but one nature, 
 after the union of the two natures, the divine and human, in such a man- 
 ner as is incomprehensible to our weak understandings. 
 
 In regard to all other points, relating either to the faith or ceremonies 
 of the Jacobites, the accounts which Brerewood has given us of them are 
 
 not always strictly just. For instance, they neither deny a 
 
 Ceremonies. r . r . , , , 
 
 state oi purgatory , nor reject prayers lor the dead, as he 
 peremptorily asserts upon the authority of Thomas the Jesuit; but their 
 notions in those particulars are the same as those of the Greeks and other 
 oriental nations. Neither is it true that they consecrate the sacrament 
 with unleavened bread ; the Armenians, and, according to Alvares, the 
 Ethiopians, only excepted ; for the true Jacobites, of whom we are speak- 
 ing, make use of leavened bread. Gregory XIII., who purposed to found 
 a college at Rome for the Jacobites, there being one antecedently erected 
 for the encouragement of the Maronites, would no doubt have indulged 
 them, as well as the Greeks, with the administration of the sacrament with 
 leavened bread ; but in regard to confession , the assertion that it is not 
 practised among them, is likewise a gross mistake ; for as it is not looked 
 upon by them as of divine institution, it is consequently very much neg 
 lected. Brerewood says, that they confess their sins to God alcne, and not 
 
1 
 
 204 OTHER BRANCHES OF 
 
 to a priest, except upon some extraordinary occasion. His assertion, how- 
 ever, about circumcision, must be false, unless he means to refer to a few 
 among the Cophti and the Abyssinians ; and even they look on it rather 
 as an ancient custom than a religious ceremony. 
 
 A great distinction ought, however, to be made between the Jacobites, 
 when the Cophti, Abyssinians, and Armenians are included under that 
 denomination, and those who are strictly and properly so called ; for 
 though they are all followers of that St. James, from whom they derive 
 their title, yet, they do not all observe the same ceremonies. James was 
 the disciple of Severus, Patriarch of Antioch, in the sixth century. He is 
 revered as a saint by the Jacobites, as well as Dioscorus, who was his con- 
 temporary. Abrahamus Ecchellensis insists that the Jacobites, as well as 
 the Latins, acknowledge that the Holy Ghost proceeds from the Father 
 and the Son ; but Father Simon says, that “he is very much mistaken in 
 this particular, as well as in several others relating to the customs and 
 tenets of the Eastern Christians.” 
 
 Before baptism the Jacobites imprint the sign of the cross, not only 
 on the arm, but on the face of the infant to be baptized. It is like- 
 wise a received notion among them, that the souls of the righteous re- 
 side on earth till the day of judgment, waiting for the second coming 
 of Jesus Christ ; also, that the angels consist of two substances, fire and 
 light. 
 
 The Jacobites, who are scattered throughout Syria and the parts adjacent, 
 are computed to amount to more than fifty thousand families. There is a 
 quotation in Brerewood, in which the number was then said to be advanced 
 to a hundred and sixty thousand. 
 
 Sec. 5 . — Religious Ceremonies and Customs of the Copts . 
 
 The Copts , according to Scaliger and Father Simon, derive their name 
 from Coptos, once a celebrated town of Egypt, and the metropolis of The- 
 baid ; but Volney and others are of opinion, that the name 
 General account. Q 0 p ts - g on ]y an abbreviation of the Greek word Aigouptios, 
 
 an Egyptian. The Copts have a patriarch, whose jurisdiction extends 
 over both Egypts, Nubia, and Abyssinia, who resides at Cairo, but who 
 takes his title from Alexandria. He has under him eleven or twelve 
 bishops, besides the abuna, or bishop of the Abyssinians, whom he appoints 
 and consecrates. The rest of the clergy, whether secular or regular, are 
 composed of the orders of St. Anthony, St. Paul, and St. Macarius, who 
 have each their monasteries. Their arch-priests are next in degree to 
 bishops, and their deacons are said to be numerous ; and they often confer 
 the order of deacon even on children. Next to the patriarch is the bishop 
 or titular patriarch of Jerusalem, who also resides at Cairo, because there 
 are only few Copts at Jerusalem : he is, in reality, little more than bishop 
 
 t 1 
 
THE GREEK CHURCH. 
 
 SS05 
 
 of Cairo, except that he goes to Jerusalem every Easter, and visits some 
 other places in Palestine, within his own jurisdiction. To him belongs 
 the government of the Coptic church, during the vacancy of the patri- 
 archal see. The ecclesiastics are said to be in general of the lowest rank 
 of the people ; and hence that great degree of ignorance which prevails 
 among them. 
 
 They have seven sacraments ; baptism, the eucharist, confirmation, 
 ordination, faith, fasting, and prayer. They admit only three oecumenical 
 Rites and Cere- counc ^ s 5 those of Nice, Constantinople, and Ephesus, 
 monies. They observe four Lents, as do the Greeks and most 
 
 Eastern Christians ; but it is said by Brerewood and Ross, that they do 
 not keep the Lord’s-day. There are three Coptic liturgies ; one attributed 
 to St. Basil, another to St. Gregory, and the third to St. Cyril. These are 
 translated into Arabic for the use of the clergy and the people. The 
 Copts are fond of rites and ceremonies. During the time of service, they 
 are always in motion. In particular, the officiating priest is in continual 
 motion, incensing the saints, pictures, books, &c. every moment. They 
 have many monasteries, in which the monks bury themselves from society 
 in remote solitudes. Their nunneries are properly hospitals ; and few 
 enter them except widows reduced to beggary. During the first three 
 ages of the church, no country exhibited more sincere or greater Christian 
 piety than Egypt, and the north of Africa in general. At present, how- 
 ever, little more than the mere shadow of Christianity can be seen in 
 Egypt ; and in point of numbers, not more than fifty thousand Christians 
 in all can be found in this country. There are not more than three Christian 
 churches at Cairo. 
 
 In respect to this people, we shall only add a brief account of their 
 nuptial ceremonies, which, however, do not essentially differ from those 
 Nuptial Cere- Practised by the Greeks. After midnight service, or, as the 
 monies. Romans would express it, after matins, the bridegroom in 
 
 the first place, and then the bride, were conducted from their own apart- 
 ments to church, accompanied by a long train of attendants with wax- 
 tapers, and other lights. During the procession several hymns were sung 
 in the Coptic language, aud the performers beat time, or accompanied the 
 vocal with instrumental music, by striking little wooden hammers upon 
 small ebony rulers. The bridegroom was conducted into the inner choir 
 of the church, and the bride to the place appointed for the women. Then 
 the priests and the people began several prayers, interspersed with 
 hymns, within the choir. This ceremony was very long. At the con- 
 clusion, the priest who solemnized the nuptials went up to the bridegroom, 
 and read three or four prayers, making the sign of the cross both at the 
 beginning and at the conclusion of each prayer. After that, he made him 
 Bit down upon the ground, with his face towards the Heikel. The priest 
 
 14 
 
206 
 
 OTHER BRANCHES OF 
 
 who stood behind him held a silver cross over his head, and in that posture 
 continued praying. 
 
 Whilst this ceremony was performing in the inner choir, the sacristan 
 had placed a form or bench at the door of the outer choir, for the bride to 
 sit on with one of her relations. The priest having finished in the inner 
 choir what the Copts call the Prayer of the Conjugal Knot, the other 
 priest, who solemnized the nuptials, dressed the bridegroom in^an alb, tied 
 it with a surcingle about his waist, and threw a white napkin over his head. 
 The bridegroom thus equipped was conducted to his spouse. The priest then 
 made him sit down by her side, and laid the napkin, which before covered 
 the bridegroom’s head, over them both. After this, he anointed each of 
 them on the forehead, and above the wrist. To conclude the ceremony, 
 he read over to them, after their hands were joined, an exhortation, which 
 principally turned on the duties incumbent on all those who enter into the 
 holy state of matrimony. Then followed sundry prayers ; and after them 
 the mass, at which the bridegroom and the bride received the blessed sacra- 
 ment, and then departed. 
 
 Sec. 6 . — Doctrines and Customs of the Abyssinians and Ethiopians. 
 
 Having treated of the religion of the Copts, and as there is little or no 
 „ . difference between them and the Abyssinians in point of 
 
 General ac- J r 
 
 counU principle, we shall say but little on that topic. 
 
 The country known to the ancients by the name of Ethiopia, is now 
 called Abyssinia, and the natives thereof are distinguished by the name of 
 Abyssinians. They are subservient only to the power and authority of 
 one bishop, 'who is the metropolitan, or archbishop of all Ethiopia, and is 
 dignified and distinguished by the title of JPbuna , that is to say, Our Father. 
 This bishop is sent by the Patriarch of Alexandria to preside over them, 
 and his place of residence is at Cairo; so that they resemble the Copts in 
 all their ecclesiastical concerns, except in some few ceremonies which are 
 peculiar to themselves. They have likewise a language of their own, 
 which they, call the Chaldaic, because they are of opinion that it was ori- 
 ginally spoken in Chaldea, though very different from the vulgar Chaldaic. 
 For this reason, it is likewise called the Ethiopic tongue, and they always 
 make use of it in their liturgies, and other religious offices. Such as are 
 versed in the Hebrew language may easily attain a competent knowledge 
 of the Ethiopic, because there are many words which are the same in 
 both languages : they have characters, however, peculiar to themselves ; 
 and in the Hebrew language the points which supply the place of vowels 
 aie never joined to the consonants ; while on the other hand, in the Ethio* 
 pic language, there is no consonant, but w r hat at the same time includes its 
 own vowel. 
 
 The Abyssinians are dependent on the Patriarch of Alexandria, who 
 
THE GREEK CHURCH. 
 
 207 
 
 makes choice of, constitutes, and appoints that person to be Metropolitan 
 _ . , , of Abyssinia whom he thinks most able to fill the office ; 
 
 Abyssima. which ability is generally estimated according to the extent 
 
 of the douceur which he is enabled to give. It is for this reason, that the 
 Abyssinian priests mention in their prayers the Patriarch of Alexandria 
 before their own metropolitan ; who, after his election, is always accounta- 
 ble to that patriarch for his conduct, and the due administration of his 
 office. This metropolitan must not be a native of Abyssinia, neither has 
 he power to constitute or establish any other metropolitans ; so that, 
 although lie has the honour to be called their patriarch, he has neither 
 the authority nor the power belonging to that august character. He 
 alone, however, issues out dispensations, and is possessed of very consi- 
 derable revenues, which pay very little, if any, duty or contribution to the 
 government. 
 
 There are both canons, or prebendaries, and monks, in Abyssinia ; and 
 among the latter there are two sorts of hermits. The canons are allowed 
 Orders of t0 marr y’ an d their canonships frequently descend to their 
 Clergy. children : this custom is the more remarkable, for there is 
 
 no other religion, except that of the Jews, which can produce any instances 
 of hereditary succession to any ecclesiastical dignities. The homos , or 
 hegumene, is reputed the first dignitary, or principal person in the order 
 of priesthood, after the archbishops and bishops, both by the Copts and 
 the Abyssinians. Their monks never marry. Of these there are two 
 kinds ; one, that have a General , and form a regular body ; the other, 
 who live under one common rule ; but their convents are independent of 
 each other. These monks are men of credit and reputation, and are fre- 
 quently intrusted with the most important affairs of state. None but the 
 priests and deacons have any right to enter into the sanctuary where the 
 altar stands; the emperor himself is denied that privilege, unless he has 
 been before admitted into holy orders ; for this reason their monarchs are 
 frequently ordained, and take either deacon’s or priests orders on the day 
 of their coronation. 
 
 The Ethiopian princes insist that they are descendants of Solomon by 
 the Queen of Sheba ; and this royal extraction, whether true or false, is 
 supported by several historical testimonies, interspersed with 
 a thousand extravagant fictions. But if this really be so, it 
 readily accounts for that Judaism which is so universally blended with the 
 Christianity of this empire, and which seems to be originally derived from 
 this royal race of the Abyssinian monarchs. Indeed, the Abyssinians are 
 so confirmed, beyond all contradiction, in this belief, that their monarchs 
 assume the title of Kings of Israel. The people are divided into tribes, as 
 were the ancient Hebrews, and they preserve many Jewish names ; indeed, 
 their very singers boast that they are descended from the ancient Scribes 
 
 Origin. 
 
 I 
 
208 
 
 OTHER BRANCHES OF 
 
 We shall next notice some of their rites and ceremonies; and first, in 
 respect to baptism ; the mother being dressed with great neatness and 
 , _ decency, attends with her infant in her arms at the church- 
 monies. door. There the priest who officiates, pronounces several 
 
 long prayers for a blessing on them both, beginning with those peculiarly 
 appropriated to the mother. Afterwards, he conducts them into the 
 church, and anoints the infant six several times with the oil consecrated 
 for their exorcisms. These first unctions are accompanied with thirty-six 
 others, administered with galilseum, each on a distinct part of the infant’s 
 body. After this, he blesses the font, pouring consecrated oil into it twice, 
 and making, each time, three different signs of the cross with meiron ; all 
 which ceremonies are accompanied with several long prayers. As soon 
 as the benediction of the font is over, he plunges the infant into it three 
 times successively. At the first, he dips one-third part of the infant’s 
 body into the water, saying, I baptize thee in the name of the Father ; he 
 then dips him lower, about two-thirds, adding, I baptize thee in the name 
 of the Son ; at the third operation, he plunges him all over, saying, 1 
 baptize thee in the name of the Holy Ghost. The sacraments of Confir- 
 mation and of the blessed Eucharist are administered after this baptism 
 which is solemnized before mass ; and the Communion is administered to 
 the infant towards the end. 
 
 The confirmation of the Copts consists in several long prayers, and re- 
 peating the unctions on the infant, the same as after baptism. The priests 
 among the Abyssinians perform their unction with chrism 
 in the form of a cross, upon the forehead of the baptized 
 infant, saying, May this be the unction of the grace of the Holy Ghost; 
 Amen. When he anoints the infant’s nose and lips, he says, This is the 
 pledge of the kingdom of heaven. At the application of the ointment to 
 
 his ears, he uses this form, The sacred unction of our Lord Jesus Christ; 
 in anointing the arms, knees, and legs, I anoint thee, says he, with this 
 sacred unction, in the name of the Father , fyc. To conclude, the priest 
 repeats a prayer over the infants that have been baptized, and afterwards 
 confirmed, in the form of a benediction, puts crowns upon their heads, and 
 then gives them the communion. 
 
 When the Abyssinians celebrate the eucharist, the sacramental bread is 
 prepared in a convenient place, contiguous to the church, but no woman is 
 permitted to touch the flour from which it is made. The 
 Eucharist. b rea d j s brought from the vestry to the altar by proper 
 officers, who go in solemn procession before it, with crosses, censers, and 
 little bells. During the celebration of mass, a curtain is drawn, to conceai 
 what is done at the altar from the eyes of the congregation. 
 
 They administer the communion in both kinds ; but with these restric- 
 tions according to Father le Brun : — that in the Ethiopian, as well as 
 
 Confirmation. 
 
THE GREEK CHURCH. 
 
 209 
 
 Churches. 
 
 in all other Eastern churches, the celebrant gives the blood or wine, in 
 the chalice, to none but the priests ; he administers it to the deacons, in a 
 small spoon ; and the laity receive only some particles of the body dipped 
 in the blood ; the king excepted, who receives the communion in both 
 
 kinds. 
 
 The Abyssinian churches are all situated directly from west to east, that 
 tke people, when they pray, may turn their faces eastward. The altar 
 stands by itself, within the sanctuary, under a kind of dome, 
 supported by four pilasters; and is called, by the Ethiopians, 
 their ark, the form or figure of it being, according to their tradition, the 
 same as that of the Jews, which they pretend is actually in existence, and 
 is to be seen at this very time in the church of Axuma. There are two 
 curtains before the sanctuary, with little bells at the bottom of them, on 
 which account nobody can go in, nor come out, without making them 
 ring. As the congregation always stand during the performance of divine 
 service, they have no seats in their churches ; they are allowed, however, 
 to rest themselves upon supporters or crutches, a great number of which 
 are provided for that purpose, and deposited on the outside of the churches. 
 The people always go into the church barefooted ; and for this reason the 
 pavement is covered with tapestry. No person presumes to talk, blow 
 his nose, nor so much as to turn his head aside, whilst at church. The 
 men are separated from the women, and the latter are placed as far distant 
 as possible from the sanctuary. They have lamps burning in their churches 
 even in the day-time, and they frequently illumine a great number of wax- 
 tapers. 
 
 They are very strict and severe in the observance of their fasts. During 
 their Lent, they eat but once a day, and that after sunset. On Wednesdays 
 and Fridays they sit down to table at three o’clock ; and, in 
 order not to be in the least mistaken in point of time, they 
 measure their shadows, which when they are just seven feet in length is 
 the critical minute. The Abyssinian priests are so precise, that they defer 
 the celebration of the mass until the evening, upop a fast-day, for fear of 
 transgressing the injunction of fasting, by receiving even the elements. 
 They do not think themselves obliged, however, to fast, till they have 
 cliildren of a marriageable age ; but as the heat of the climate soon brings 
 the natives to maturity, there are but very few at twenty -five who are 
 exempt from this penance. 
 
 Among the Abyssinians, the particular person for whose spiritual com- 
 fort this benediction of the lamp is pronounced, is obliged, according to 
 Benediction of direction of the ritual, if his strength will permit him, 
 the Lamp. to d raw near to the celebrant, who places him in a con- 
 
 venient seat, with his face towards the east. The priests then hold the book 
 of the Gospels and a cross over his head, and lay their hands upon him. 
 
 Fasts. 
 
210 
 
 OTHER BRANCHES OF 
 
 The senior priest then reads the prayers appointed for that particular occa- 
 sion ; after which they raise the sick person up, give him a blessing with 
 the Book of the Gospels, and rehearse the Lord’s Prayer, the Creed, &c. 
 Then they raise the cross above his head, and at the same time pronounce 
 the general absolution over him which is inserted in their liturgy. If time 
 will permit, there are several other prayers added, and a formal procession 
 is made all round the church, with the sacred lamp, and several lighted 
 wax-tapers, to beg of God that he would graciously vouchsafe to heal the 
 person for whom their prayers are desired. $If the patient happens to be 
 so far indisposed as to be incapable of approaching the altar himself, some 
 friend is substituted in his room. When the procession is over, the priests 
 perform the usual unctions upon the sick person, and afterwards a single 
 unction upon one another. 
 
 A writer gives the following description of one of their weddings, at 
 which he was personally present. The bridegroom and the bride attended 
 . T . . „ at the church-door, where a kind of nuptial-bed, or couch, 
 nies - was erected for that purpose. The abuna , or patriarch, 
 
 seated them both upon it, and then went in procession round them 
 with the cross and censer. After that he laid his hands upon their 
 heads, and said, As ye this day become one flesh , ye must be both of one 
 heart and one will. After a short harangue, suitable to the foregoing 
 words, he proceeded to the celebration of the mass, at which the newly- 
 married couple attended, and, after it was over, he pronounced the nuptial 
 benediction. 
 
 Gaia has furnished us with some other ceremonies observed by them 
 in their nuptials among which the following are the most remarkable : — 
 “The celebrant, after he has cut a lock of hair from the heads of the 
 bridegroom and the bride, and dipped them into wine mingled with honey, 
 exchanges the locks, and places that which belonged to the former on the 
 head of the latter, and so vice versa , in the very same place from whence 
 they were taken, sprinkling them at the same time with holy water. 
 After this ceremony is over, the newly married couple, attended by 
 their friends, go home, and never stir abroad fora month. When the 
 bride goes out, she wears a black veil over her face, which she never 
 turns up till after the expiration of six months, except she proves with 
 child.” We have before taken particular notice of the nuptial crowns 
 among the ceremonies of the Greeks; and among the Abyssinians, these 
 crowns are put upon the heads of the newly-married couple, and they 
 wear them for the first eight days: after which, the priest who put 
 them on takes them off again, with much formality, and pronounces several 
 prayers. 
 
 Each monastery has two churches, one for the men and the other for 
 women. Their musical instruments are little drums, which they han s 
 
THE GREEK CHURCH. 
 
 2!l 
 
 about their necks, and beat with both hands. The gravest ecclesiastic 
 among them looks upon this drum as an ornament, and always wears one. 
 They have, likewise, pilgrim’s staffs, which they strike upon the ground, 
 regulating the motion of their bodies to the cadence. They always begin 
 with a beat of the foot, and, then, play gently on these drums ; after which, 
 they lay them aside in order to clap hands, jump, dance, and bawl as loud 
 as their power will permit them. These acclamations are intended as an 
 act of devotion, the merit of which is grounded on a passage in the Psalms 
 of David, in which he invites all nations to cry aloud, and clap their hands 
 for joy ! 
 
 To conclude, the Abyssinians commemorate their deceased friends, and 
 have proper prayers for them. The collection of canons which they make 
 use of, enjoins them to offer the sacrifice of the mass, and to pray for the 
 dead, on the third and seventh day, at the month’s end, and at the conclu- 
 sion of the year. They have prayers, likewise, for the invocation of the 
 saints, as well as legends, relics, and miracles, without number. 
 
 Sec. 7 . — Religious Tenets and Customs of the Armenians. 
 
 The Armenians , from Armenia, a province of Asia, consisting of the 
 modern Turcomania, and part of Persia, were formerly a branch of the 
 
 „ . Greek church. They professed the same faith, and ac- 
 
 count - knowledged the same subjection to the see of Constanti- 
 
 nople, till nearly the middle of the sixth century, when the supposed 
 heresy of the Monophysites spread through Africa and Asia, and compre- 
 hended the Armenians among its votaries. But, though the members of 
 this church still agree with the other Monophysites in the principal doc- 
 trine of that sect, respecting the unity of the divine and human nature in 
 Christ, they differ from them in so many points of faith, worship and 
 discipline, that they hold no communion with that branch of the Mono- 
 physites # who are Jacobites in the more limited sense of that term, nor with 
 the Copts or the Abvssinians. 
 
 The Armenians allow and accept the articles of faith according to the 
 council of Nice, and use the Apostles’ Creed. With respect to the Tri- 
 nity, they agree with the Greeks in acknowledging three 
 persons in one divine nature, and that the Holy Ghost pro- 
 ceeds only from the Father. They believe that Christ descended into 
 hell, and liberated thence all the souls of the damned, by the grace and 
 favour of his glorious presence ; that this liberation was not for ever, nor 
 by a plenary pardon or remission, but only till the end of the world, 
 when the souls of the damned shall again be returned into eternal 
 flames. 
 
 The Armenians believe, that neither the souls nor the bodies of any 
 saints or prophets, departed this life, are in heaven, except the blessed 
 
*212 
 
 OTHER BRANCHES OF 
 
 Virgin and the prophet Elias. Yet, notwithstanding their opinion, that 
 the saints shall not be admitted into heaven till the day of judgment, by 
 a certain imitation of the Greek and Latin churches, they invoke those 
 saints with prayers, reverence and adore their pictures and images, and 
 burn to them lamps and candles. The saints commonly invoked by 
 them are all the prophets and apostles, and also St. Silvester, St. Savo- 
 tich, &c. 
 
 Worship 
 
 They worship after the Eastern manner, by prostrating their bodies, 
 and kissing the ground three times. When they first enter the church, 
 they uncover their heads, and cross themselves three times; 
 but afterwards they cover their heads, and sit cross-legged 
 on carpets. The greatest part of their public divine service is performed 
 in the morning, before it is light. They are very devout on vigils to feasts, 
 and on Saturday evenings, when they ail go to church, and, after their 
 return home, perfume their houses with incense, and adorn their little 
 
 pictures with lamps. In their monasteries, the whole Psalter of David 
 
 is read over every twenty-four hours ; but in the cities and parochial 
 churches, the Psalter is divided into eight portions, and each portion into 
 eight parts, at the end of each of which is said the Gloria Patri, &c. 
 
 The rites and ceremonies of the Armenian church greatly resemble 
 those of the Greeks. Their liturgies also are essentially the same, or at 
 , least ascribed to the same authors. The fasts, which they 
 
 monies. observe annually, are not only more numerous, but kept 
 
 with greater rigour and mortification than is usual in any other Christian 
 community. They mingle the whole course of the year with fasting ; 
 and there is not a single day which is not appointed either for a fast or a 
 festival. They commemorate our Lord’s nativity on the 6th of January, 
 and thus celebrate in one festival his birth, epiphany, and baptism. 
 
 The Armenians practise the trine immersion, which they consider as 
 essential to baptism. After baptism, they apply the enyrop or chrism , and 
 anoint the forehead, eyes, ears, breast, palms of the hands, and soles of 
 the feet, with consecrated oil, in the form of a cross. Then they admi- 
 nister to the child the eucharist, with which they only rub its lips. The 
 eucharist is celebrated only on Sundays and festivals. They do not mix 
 the wine with w T ater, nor put leaven into their bread, as do the Greeks. 
 They steep the bread in the wine, and thus the communicant receives both 
 kinds together, — a form different from that of the Latin and Greek, and 
 Reformed churches. They differ from the Greeks in administering bread 
 unleavened, made like a wafer; and from the Romans, in giving both 
 kinds to the laity. 
 
 Before any persons, whether men or women, presume to enter their 
 churches, they pull their shoes off at the church-door, wdiere there are 
 chests to lock them up in, during the time of divine service. On entering, 
 
THE GREEK CHURCH. 
 
 213 
 
 they cross themselves three times, but after the same form, according to 
 Father le Brun, as is observed in the Latin church. The men are all 
 uncovered. The clergy themselves are without shoes in the choir; but 
 those who officiate in the sanctuary put on black slippers. During the 
 celebration of the mass and other parts of divine service, all the commu« 
 nicants either stand, or sit upon the ground, the men cross-legged, and 
 the women upon their heels. Many of the people stay a long time in the 
 church, and are often there by break of day. Father Monier relates, that 
 he w'as very much affected with the modest deportment observed in the 
 exercise of their devotion ; and Ricault says, his heart was melted with the 
 warmth and ardency of their piety, which is considerably augmented at 
 certain seasons, particularly in the Holy Week. 
 
 In their fasts they are much more rigorous than the Greeks, and no dis- 
 pensation is allowed on any account. During the forty days of their 
 Lent, which precedes their Easter, they must eat nothing 
 but herbs, roots, beans, peas, and the like, and no greater 
 quantity of them than is just sufficient to support nature. The Arme- 
 nians, however, according to Tournefort, are allowed to eat fish on Sun- 
 days. To these acts of self-denial, we must add another, which is the 
 natural result of an habitual practice of such long and severe fasts, viz. — 
 their abstinence from women. Their most rigid devotees look upon a 
 breach of this mode of mortification as a crime of the most enormous 
 nature. They have an established custom of having no mass on fast-days 
 and during their Lent; but on Sundays only there is a kind of spiritual 
 humiliation. This mass is celebrated at noon, and is called low-mass ; 
 because there is a curtain drawn before the altar, and the priest, who is 
 unseen, pronounces nothing with an audible voice, but the gospel and the 
 creed. All their fasts in general are observed with the same strictness 
 and austerity as their grand Lent. 
 
 Their churches have the front towards the east, in order that the priest, 
 who celebrates mass, and the whole congregation, may stand with their 
 faces directly to that quarter. The church is divided gene- 
 rally into four parts — that is to say, the sanctuary, the choir, 
 the space peculiarly allotted for the laymen, and that appropriated to the 
 service of the women, which is always the nearest to the door. The choir 
 is divided from the place allotted for the men by rails about six feet high. 
 The sanctuary is five or six steps higher than the choir. In the centre of 
 the sanctuary stands the altar, which is small and insulated, in order that 
 the priest may thurify and go round it. The majority of the churches 
 have a dome, with several windows in it, to give light to the sanctuary. 
 There are no seats in that part of the church, because both the celebrant 
 and his assistants are obliged to stand all the time of divine service in that 
 holy place- According to the directions, however, in their liturgy, the 
 
214 
 
 OTHER BRANCHES OF 
 
 priest is ordered to sit down during the lesson out of the prophets and the 
 epistle, and then, in case the celebrant should be a bishop, or a priest well 
 stricken in years, he is indulged with a chair. Generally there are small 
 rails between the two staircases leading from the sanctuary to the choir; 
 and those who serve at the altar are allowed to lean against or rest them- 
 selves upon them. The vestry stands on the left side of the sanctuary on 
 entering the church ; and on the right side opposite to it there is, in all 
 great churches, another vestry, which is made use of as a treasury. There 
 is but one altar generally in each church. The choir is the place pecu- 
 liarly appropriated to the service of the clergy ; and the laity are never 
 admitted into that division. There is no seat but the bishop’s, which is 
 erected on the left-hand side of the door ; but when there are several 
 bishops present, there are stools brought for them, and set on each side of 
 the episcopal chair : — the others either stand all the time of divine service, 
 or sit cross-legged on the ground, according to the custom of the country. 
 The choristers have neither stool nor desk, but when the lessons are to be 
 read, there is a folding-desk brought out, and set in the centre, which is 
 covered with an embroidered veil. Neither is there any fixed pulpit 
 erected for the preacher ; but when there is a sermon a movable pulpit is 
 generally placed at the door of the choir : the patriarch, however, preaches 
 in the sanctuary. As to the third and fourth divisions of the church, there 
 is nothing worthy of notice in either of them. Such churches as are poor 
 have their pavements cohered with matting, but those which are rich, with 
 fine carpets ; and to prevent the people from soiling them, a sufficient 
 number of spitting-pots are provided. A similar reason may be assigned 
 for pulling off their shoes at the church-door. 
 
 In those cities where the Armenian merchants carry on a great trade, 
 the churches are embellished with beautiful pictures and rich tapestry; 
 particularly the sanctuary, which, at all times, when there is no celebration 
 of the mass, is concealed by a fine curtain. The sacred vessels and vest- 
 ments are equally grand and magnificent ; and while the Greeks have 
 only two insignificant lights, scarcely sufficient to enable the priest to read 
 mass, the Armenian churches are surrounded with illuminations in great 
 abundance. 
 
 The altar is uncovered at all times, when there is no divine service ; but 
 always covered during the celebration of their mass. The altars are but 
 small, and without relics : formerly the cross, and the book of the gospels 
 only, were placed upon them. The Armenians, in imitation of the Latins, 
 have for many years past placed their candlesticks there, and very fre- 
 quently a great number of them; and fill up the steps with crosses. A 
 number of lamps are always burning during the celebration of mass ; and 
 one particularly in the centre of the sanctuary, which is never extin- 
 guished. The faithful offer wax-tapers to be burnt in mass-time. Accord- 
 
THE GREEK CHURCH. 
 
 215 
 
 .ing to Father Monier, two masses are very seldom said in one day at the 
 same church, or if there should, there is but one at each altar. Nothing 
 but high mass is celebrated among them, and that at break of day, except 
 on the vigil of the Epiphany and Easter-eve, when it is celebrated in the 
 evening. 
 
 Children generally leave the choice of the person whom they are to 
 marry, as well as the settlement of the marriage articles, to their parents 
 Nuptial Cere- or nearest relations. Their marriages, according to Tourne- 
 monies - fort, are the result of the mother’s choice, who very seldom 
 
 advises with any persons upon the subject except her husband; and even 
 that deference is paid with no small reluctance. After the terms of 
 accommodation are settled and adjusted, the mother of the young man 
 pays a visit to the young lady, accompanied by a priest and two venerable 
 matrons, and presents her with a ring, as the first tacit promise of her 
 intended husband. He generally makes his appearance at the same time, 
 with all the seriousness he is able to assume, or perhaps with all the per- 
 plexity of one who has not the liberty to make his own choice. Tourne- 
 fort assures us, that this serious deportment is carried to such a pitch, that 
 at the first interview even a smile would be looked upon as indecent, and 
 even the young virgin at that time conceals either her charms or defects 
 under an impenetrable veil. The priest who attends on this occasion is 
 always treated with a glass of good liquor. The Armenians never publish 
 the banns of matrimony, as is customary with other Christian churches. 
 The evening before the wedding, the bridegroom and the bride send each 
 other some presents. On the wedding-day, there is a procession on horse- 
 back, and the bridegroom rides in the front, from his mistress’s house, 
 having on his head a gold or silver network, or a flesh-coloured gauze veil, 
 according to his quality. This network hangs down to his waist. In his 
 right hand he holds one end of a girdle, whilst the bride, who follows him 
 on horseback, covered with a white veil, which reaches down to her horse’s 
 legs, has hold of the other. Two attendants walk on each side of her horse, 
 and hold the reins. The bride is sometimes conducted to church between 
 two matrons, and the bridegroom walks on foot accompanied by a friend, 
 who carries his sabre. 
 
 The relations and friends, (generally young men and maids,) either on 
 horseback or on foot, accompany them to the church with great order and 
 decorum in the procession, having wax-tapers in their hands, and a 
 band of music marching before them. They alight at the church-door, 
 and the bridegroom and bride walk up to the very steps of the sanctuary, 
 still holding the ends of the girdle in their hands. They there stand 
 side by side, and the priest having put the Bible upon their heads, pro- 
 nounces the sacramental form; he then performs the ceremony of the 
 ting, and says mass. The nuptial benediction is expressed in the follow- 
 
213 
 
 ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH. 
 
 mg terms. Bless , O Lord! this marriage with thy everlasting bene- 
 
 diction ; grant that this man and this woman may live in the constant 
 practice of faith , hope, and charity ; endow them with sobriety ; inspire 
 them with holy thoughts , and secure their bed from all manner of pollu- 
 tion, 4’^* 
 
 When an infant dies under nine years of age, the father, or his nearest 
 relation, provides prayers to Almighty God, eight days successively, for 
 Funeral Cere- ^ sou ^ deceased ; and during all that time pays the 
 
 monies. expenses of the priest to whose care that act of devotion is 
 
 intrusted. On the ninth day the solemn service for the soul is performed. 
 Those who are pious and in good circumstances have a particular day set 
 apart for the commemoration of their relations, and for the due celebration 
 of all the requisite offices. Father Monier assures us also, that it is a 
 received custom among them to visit the monuments of the dead upon 
 Easter Monday ; at which time the men sigh and groan, but the women 
 actually howl ; and this they call the visible testimonies of their sorrow 
 and concern. These sighs and groans of the men, and these howlings of 
 the women, however, are soon over ; and a more agreeable scene imme- 
 diately succeeds; they all withdraw under the refreshing shade of some 
 luxuriant tree, where an elegant entertainment erases the idea of affliction; 
 sorrow is now drowned in liquors, and the diversions of the afternoon are 
 altogether as extravagant and excessive as their morning lamentations 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 RELIGIOUS TENETS, CUSTOMS, CEREMONIES, ETC., OF THE ROMAN 
 CATHOLIC CHURCH. 
 
 SEC. I. TENETS, CUSTOMS, ETC. 
 
 The Roman Catholics hold all the fundamental tenets of the Christian 
 religion. They worship one God in three persons ; viz. the Father, Son, 
 
 Roman Catho- an< ^ Holy Ghost : and they maintain that they are to put 
 Ucs - their confidence in God alone, through the merits of his 
 
 incarnate Son, who was crucified and rose from the dead for our justi- 
 fication . They receive with the same certainty all the other articles of 
 the Apostles’ creed. The Protestants do not differ with them in relation 
 to the fundamentals of this belief ; but object that the Catholics have made 
 a great number of additions, some of which are repugnant to the Apostles 
 
ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH. 
 
 217 
 
 creed, and tend very much to weaken the fundamental tenets. They 
 further affirm that the Roman Catholics are too indulgent in their tolera- 
 tion of an infinite number of customs, which deviate from the spirit of 
 Christianity. 
 
 The following is a summary of the tenets held by the Roman Catholic 
 church, according to Mr. Bossuet’s Exposition of the Catholic Catechism, 
 Tenets of the anc ^ which on g°°d authority is alleged to be conformable to 
 Roman Catholics. the decrees of the famous Council of Trent. 
 
 “To begin,” says he, “with the adoration which is due to God, the 
 Catholic Church teaches, that it principally consists in believing that he is 
 the Creator and Lord of all things ; and that it is the duty 
 Worship of God. Q^jjQjjgg t0 a( Jh ere to him with all the faculties of their 
 
 souls, through faith, hope, and charity, as being the sole object that can 
 make them happy by the communication of that sovereign good, which is 
 himself. 
 
 “This internal adoration which they render unto God in spirit and in 
 truth, is attended with its external signs, of which sacrifice is the principal, 
 and can be offered to God alone ; because sacrifice was ordained to make a 
 public and solemn acknowledgment of God’s sovereignty over us, and of 
 our absolute dependence upon him. 
 
 “ The same Church teaches, that all religious worship ought to terminate 
 in God, as its necessary end ; and that if the veneration which is paid to 
 . . . . the Blessed Virgin and the saints may be termed religious, 
 
 Blessed virgin. R is because it relates of necessity to God. 
 
 “The Catholic Church, in telling us that it is beneficial to pray to the 
 saints, teaches us to pray to them in that spirit of charity, and according to 
 „ . that order of brotherly love, which inclines us to request the 
 
 Sainls - assistance of our brethren living upon earth ; and the cate- 
 
 chism of the Council of Trent concludes from this doctrine, that if the 
 quality of Mediator, which the Holy Scriptures attribute to Jesus Christ, 
 received the least prejudice from the intercession of the saints who dwell 
 with God, it would receive no less an injury from the mediation of the 
 faithful, who live with us upon earth. 
 
 “This catechism demonstrates the great difference there is between the 
 manner of imploring God’s aid and assistance, and that of the saints ; for 
 it expressly declares, that the Catholics pray to God either to bestow on 
 them some blessing , or to deliver them 'from some misfortune ; but since 
 the saints are more acceptable in his sight than they are , they beg of them 
 to be their advocates only , and to procure for them such things as they 
 want. For which reason , the Catholics make use of two forms of prayer 
 widely different from each other, for when they make their applications to 
 God himself, they say, ‘ Have mercy on us, hear us !’ But when they 
 address themselves to the saints, they only say, ‘Pray for us !’ By which 
 
F 
 
 v!8 
 
 ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH. 
 
 we are to understand, that in whatever terms those prayers which are 
 directed to the saints are conceived, the intention of the church and of her 
 faithful servants always reduces them to that form.” 
 
 Considering, however, that this honour which the Catholic Church pays 
 Reverence for to the saints principally appears before their images and 
 crecf Relics. " sacred relics, it will be proper to explain the belief of the 
 
 church in both these particulars. 
 
 In regard to images, the Catholics are expressly forbidden by the 
 Council of Trent to believe there is any virtue in them, of so heavenly 
 a nature as to prove an inducement to pay divine adoration to them: and 
 they are enjoined to ask no favours of them , to put no trust nor confidence 
 in them , but to reverence them only in honour of the originals which they 
 represent. 
 
 The respect which is paid to relics, in imitation of the primitive Church, 
 must be understood in the same manner.' They look upon the bodies of 
 the saints as having been victims offered up to God by martyrdom or 
 penance, without in any way diminishing that duty and respect which 
 they owe to God himself, &c. 
 
 As to the point of justification, they believe That their sins are freely 
 remitted by the divine mercy , for the sake of Jesus Christ ; and that they 
 Justification of are f ree ty justified, because neither faith nor good works , 
 Sinners. which precede their justification, can merit that favour. 
 
 As to . the merit of good works, the Catholic Church teaches, that 
 .eternal life ought to be proposed to the children of God , both as a grace 
 ... mercifully promised them by the means and mercies of our 
 
 grace opposed Lord Jesus Christ, and as a reward faithfully bestowed 
 
 to good works j j u 
 
 and free will. on them for their good works and merits, in consequence 
 of that promise. These are the express terms of the Council of Trent. 
 But that the pride of mankind should not flatter itself with the idea of a 
 presumptuous merit, the same Council teaches, that the whole worth and 
 value of Christian works arise from a sanctifying grace, which is freely 
 granted us in the name of Jesus Christ, and is the result of that constant 
 influence which this divine Head has upon his members. 
 
 The Catholics openly declare, that they cannot be acceptable to God, 
 but in and through Jesus Christ; nor do they apprehend how any other 
 Salvation sense can be imputed to their belief. They place all the 
 
 Christ 'only? 118 hopes of their salvation so perfectly in him alone, that they 
 daily direct the following petition to God in the sacrifice: Vouchsafe , O 
 God! to grant unto us sinners, thy servants who trust in the multitude 
 of thy mercies , some share and society with thy blessed apostles and 
 martyrs , into the number of whom we beseech thee to receive us, having 
 no regard to our own merit ; but pardoning w? through thy grace in the 
 name of Jusrs Christ our Lord. 
 
ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH. 
 
 Penance and 
 Indulgences. 
 
 The Catholics, without exception, teach that Jesus Christ only, who 
 was both God and man, was able, by the infinite dignity of his person, to 
 „ , , offer up a sufficient satisfaction to God for our sins ; but 
 
 Atonement. having made an abundant recompense for them, he had 
 
 power to apply that infinite satisfaction to us in two several ways ; either 
 by an absolute remission, without the least reserve of any penalty ; or by 
 exchanging a greater for a less, that is to say, an eternal for a temporal 
 punishment. As the first is the most perfect and conformable to his divine 
 goodness, he makes use of that, first of all, in the sacrament of baptism ; 
 and they believe that he uses the second in the forgiveness which he grants 
 to those who after baptism relapse into sin, he being in some measure 
 compelled thereto, through the ingratitude of those who have abused his 
 first favours ; for which reason they are to suffer some temporal punish- 
 ment, though the eternal be taken off. 
 
 In order to satisfy the duties imposed upon them by their religion, the 
 Catholics are subject to certain penances, which ought to be performed on 
 their parts with repentance and humiliation ; and it is the 
 necessity of these works of expiation, which obliged the 
 primitive Church to inflict those punishments upon penitents, that are 
 termed canonical. 
 
 When the church, therefore, imposes those painful and laborious pen- 
 ances upon sinners, and they undergo them with patience and humility, 
 it is called satisfaction ; and when the church shows any regard either to 
 the ardent devotion of the penitents, or to other good works which she 
 prescribes, and remits any part of the punishment due to them, it is termed 
 indulgence. 
 
 The Council of Trent proposes nothing more relating to indulgences, 
 than that the Church had the power of granting them from Jesus Christ, 
 and that the practice of them is wholesome: which custom, that Council adds, 
 ought still to be preserved, though with moderation , lest ecclesiastical disci - 
 pline should be weakened by too great a toleration : from whence it is mani- 
 fest that the articles of indulgences only regard discipline. Certain it is, 
 however, that indulgences have been, and still are, carried to a length 
 of extravagance and sin in the Roman Catholic community. 
 
 It is the belief of the Catholics, that those who depart this life in peace 
 and charity, and are, notwithstanding, subject to those temporal punish- 
 ments which divine justice has reserved for them, must 
 ur D atory. su ff er them in the other world ; and for that reason the whole 
 Christian church in the earliest ages offered up both prayers, alms, and 
 sacrifices for the faithful who have died in peace, and in the communion of 
 the church, with a lively hope and expectation of their being relieved by 
 those acts of devotion. This is what the Council of Trent proposes that 
 the Catholics should believe with respect to souls confined in purgatory, 
 
290 
 
 ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH. 
 
 without determining either the nature of their punishments, or several other 
 things of the like kind ; in regard to which that holy council exacts con- 
 siderable precaution, and particularly condemns those who say any thing 
 that is uncertain and precarious. 
 
 The sacraments of the New Testament are not only in the creed of the 
 Catholics sacred tokens of grace, or seals by which it is confirmed to them, 
 The seven but *bey are a ^ s0 i nstruments of the Holy Ghost, which 
 Sacraments. apply and confer it on them by virtue of the words pro- 
 nounced, and the outward action performed on their behalf, provided they 
 do not prevent the effects of it by their own evil dispositions. 
 
 When God annexes so high a prerogative to external signs, which in 
 their nature bear no proportion to such excellect effects, he plainly signifies, 
 say the Catholics, that, independently of all that the Catholics can do 
 inwardly through their good inclinations, a special operation of the Holy 
 Ghost, and a particular application of the merits of our blessed Saviour, 
 represented to us by the sacraments, must still intervene to sanctify them. 
 This doctrine, therefore, cannot be rejected without offering an indignity to 
 the merit of Jesus Christ; and to the influence of the divine power in 
 their regeneration. 
 
 Baptism. 
 
 They acknowledge seven signs or sacraments, ordained by Jesus Christ 
 as the ordinary means by which the new man is sanctified and made perfect. 
 Their divine institution, they say, appears from the sacred Scriptures, either 
 by the express words of Jesus Christ himself, or by grace, which is ac- 
 cordingly annexed to them, and necessarily denotes an order from God. 
 
 As infants cannot supply the defects of baptism, by acts of faith, hope, 
 and charity, or by any vow hereafter to receive that sacrament, the Catho- 
 lics believe, that if they do not actually receive it, they are 
 in nowise partakers of the grace of redemption ; and so 
 dying in the guilt of Adam, have no share at all in Jesus Christ. 
 
 The Catholics say that imposition of hands, practised by the blessed 
 apostles for the confirmation of the faithful against persecutions, having its 
 chief effect in the internal descent of the Holy Ghost, and 
 the infusion of bis gracious gifts, ought not to have been 
 rejected by their adversaries on pretence that the Holy Ghost does not at 
 present descend visibly upon them. Indeed, all Christian churches, 
 from the time of the apostles, have religiously preserved that practice, 
 making use likewise of the sacred ointment in baptism, to show the virtue 
 of that sacrament by a more express representation of the unction of the 
 Holy Ghost. 
 
 They believe that it was the will of Jesus Christ, that those who have 
 submitted themselves to the authority of the Church by baptism, and have 
 rwession and a f tenvar ds violated the laws of the Gospel, shall be subject 
 Absolution. to the decision of the same Church in the tribunal of 
 
 Confirmation. 
 
ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH. 
 
 221 
 
 penance, at which it exercises the full power granted to it of absolution 
 and remission of sins. 
 
 The terms of the commission which is given to the ministers of the 
 Church to forgive sins are so general, that it would be presumptuous to 
 reduce it only to public sins, and as, when they pronounce absolution in 
 the name of Jesus Christ, they only observe the express terms of that 
 commission, so the sentence is looked upon as passed by Jesus Christ 
 himself, in whose name they are appointed judges. He is the invisible 
 high priest, who absolves the penitent inwardly, whilst the priest performs 
 the same office externally. 
 
 The Holy Ghost having annexed to extreme unction, an express pro- 
 mise of remission of sins, and the relief of the sick, nothing more can be 
 
 „ TT required to make this sacred ceremony a real sacrament. 
 tion - It is to be observed, however, that the sick person, accord- 
 
 ing to the doctrine of the Council of Trent, receives more consolation and 
 relief in soul than in body; and as spiritual benefit is ever the principal 
 object of the new law, it is that which the Catholics chiefly expect from 
 this holy unction, in case they are duly prepared for it ; whereas corporeal 
 relief in sickness is only granted unto them with respect to their eternal 
 salvation, according to the secret designs of Divine Providence, and the 
 different degrees of preparation and faith, which are to be met with in the 
 faithful. 
 
 Upon considering that Jesus Christ has given a new turn to the holy 
 state of marriage, {see Matthew , xix. 5,) by reducing it to the constant 
 and indissoluble union of two persons only; and likewise 
 reflecting that this inseparable union is a mark or token of 
 his eternal union with his church, it will be very easy to comprehend that 
 the marriage of the faithful is attended by the Holy Ghost and the Grace 
 of God. 
 
 The imposition of hands, which the Catholic spiritual ministers receive 
 at their ordination, being attended, according to their belief, with so 
 
 r . immediate an influence from the Holy Ghost, {see 1 Timo - 
 
 Hands - thy iv. and 2 Timothy i.,) and with so perfect an infu- 
 
 sion of grace, ought to be reckoned also among the number of sacra- 
 ments. 
 
 Catholics believe in the real presence of the body and blood of Jesus 
 Christ in the sacrament of the Eucharist , for they maintain that there is 
 not any thing in the words which Jesus Christ makes use 
 of in the institution of this mystery, that induces them to 
 take them figuratively ; and this reason is sufficient, in their opinion, to 
 determine them in favour of the former. 
 
 The ceremony of the Eucharist maybe considered as one of the funda- 
 mental pillars of the Catholic religion, and we shall therefore give the 
 15 
 
 Matrimony. 
 
 The Eucharist. 
 
222 
 
 ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH. 
 
 exposition of it, as laid down by the Romish ritual. “It is evident,” say 
 the Catholics, “that these words of our Saviour, Take , eat, this is my 
 body which is given for you , show us, that as the ancient Jews were not 
 only united in spirit at the sacrifice of the victims which were offered up 
 for them, but were also partakers of the flesh which was sacrificed, and 
 which was also a sign to them of the share they had in that oblation ; so 
 Jesus Christ having offered up himself a sacrifice for us, it was his plea- 
 sure that we should, in reality, partake of the flesh of that adorable victim; 
 in order that the actual communication of it might be a lasting testimony to 
 each of us in particular, that he had not only assumed his body, but made 
 a sacrifice of it for us. 
 
 “ Thus the eating of the body, and drinking of the blood of the Son of 
 God, is as real at the holy communion, as grace, expiation of sins, and par- 
 ticipation of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, is actual and effectual under the 
 new covenant. 
 
 “As he was willing, however, to try our faith in this mystery, and free 
 us at the same time from the horror of eating his flesh, and drinking his 
 blood, under their proper species, it was necessary for him to give them to 
 us disguised under a species of another nature ; and if these considerations 
 induced him to let us eat the flesh of our sacrifice, in a manner different 
 from the Jews, yet he was not for that reason obliged to subtract any thing 
 from its reality and substance. 
 
 “It appears, therefore, that for the accomplishment of the ancient types, 
 and in order to put us in the actual possession of the sacrifice that was 
 offered up for our sins, it was the intention of Jesus Christ to give us, in 
 reality, his body and blood, and this does not admit of any denial. We 
 can never agree that these words should be received only in a figurative 
 sense, because the Son of God, who was so careful to explain every thing 
 to his apostles which he taught them under parables and figures, said no- 
 thing of that kind to explain this matter ; and it is thence evident that he 
 left these words in their natural signification. It is as easy for the Son of 
 God to cause his body to be in the Eucharist, by saying, This is my body , 
 as to cure a woman of her disease by saying, Woman , be thou free from 
 thine infirmity ; or to preserve a young man’s life by saying to his father, 
 Thy son liveth ; or, in short, to pardon the sins of him who was sick of 
 the palsy, hy saying to him, Thy sins are forgiven thee." 
 
 Having thus laid down the tenets of the Church relating to these words 
 of Jesus Christ, This is my body , the following is the opinion of the 
 Catholics concerning those which he added to them, This do in remem- 
 brance of me. “It is evident,” they say, “that it was the design of the 
 Son of Gcd to oblige us thereby to commemorate the death which he suf- 
 fered for our salvation ; and St. Paul concludes from this passage, that we 
 exhibit the death of the Lord in that m) T stery. Now we must not persuade 
 
ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH. 
 
 
 ourselves that this commemoration of our Lord’s death excludes the real 
 presence of his body; on the contrary, if we reflect on what we have just 
 explained, it will evidently appear, that this remembrance is grounded upon 
 the real presence; for as the Jews, at the eating of their peace-offerings, 
 remembered that they had been sacrificed for them ; so likewise when we 
 eat the flesh of Jesus Christ, our victim, we ought to remember that he 
 died for us. It is the same flesh, therefore, eaten by the faithful, which 
 not only revives in us the memory of his being offered up for us, but con- 
 firms us in the truth of it ; and from being able to say that this solemn 
 confirmation which Jesus Christ enjoins us to make, excludes the real pre- 
 sence of his flesh, we find, on the contrary, that this affectionate remem- 
 brance of him, required of us at the holy table, as being offered up for us, 
 is grounded upon that same flesh being really taken there ; since, in reality, 
 we cannot possibly forget that he gave his body as a sacrifice for us, when 
 we see that he still gives us daily the same to eat.” 
 
 On this head the Catholics say, “As it was not meet and just that our 
 senses should perceive any thing in this mystery of faith, so neither was 
 
 „ , it convenient that any thing should be changed, with regard 
 
 I ransubstantia- jo o o 
 
 tion - to them, in the bread and wine of the Eucharist. Upon 
 
 which account, as we perceive the same species, and feel the same effects 
 as before, in that sacrament, we ought not to be in any way surprised, if 
 sometimes, and in some sense, it should go under the same denomination, 
 jifet our faith acknowledges no other substances on this occasion, than that 
 which is meant by those very words ; that is to say, the very body and 
 blood of Christ, into which the bread and wine are changed ; and this is 
 what we call Transubstantiation. 
 
 “It is to be observed, that there are two actions in this mysterious sacra- 
 ment, really distinct, though relative to each other. The one is the conse- 
 cration of the bread and wine, which are thereby changed into the body 
 and blood ; and the other is the manducation , whereby we are made par- 
 takers of that heavenly food. 
 
 “Thus, the Son of God is set on the sacred table, by virtue of those 
 words, clothed in the signs which represent his death ; and this is wrought 
 by the consecration. This religious action, moreover, carries with it an 
 acknowledgment of the divine sovereignty, inasmuch as Jesus Christ 
 who is actually present, renews and perpetuates the memory of his obedi- 
 ence, even to his dying on the cross ; for which reason nothing can be 
 wanting to make it a true sacrifice. 
 
 “When we consider what Jesus Christ performs in this mystery, and 
 that we see him, through faith, actually present on the holy table under 
 these signs of death, we unite ourselves to him in this condition ; we pre- 
 sent him to God as our only oblation, and our only propitiator through his 
 blood, protesting that we have nothing to offer up to him, but Jesus Christ 
 
224 
 
 ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH. 
 
 and the infinite merit of his death. We consecrate all our prayers through 
 that divine sacrifice, and when we offer up Jesus Christ to God, we are 
 at the same time instructed to offer up ourselves as living sacrifices to the 
 Divine Majesty, in and through him. 
 
 “The Church being instituted by God to be the guardian of the Scrip 
 
 . , r . tures and of tradition, from her it is that we receive the 
 
 Authority of the 
 
 Church. canonical writings. 
 
 “Being thus inseparably united to the sacred authority of the Church 
 by means of the Scriptures, which we receive from her ; so from her like- 
 wise we do receive our tradition, and by means thereof are taught the 
 true sense of the Scriptures. Whence it comes to pass that the church 
 professes to teach nothing as coming from herself, nor to invent any new 
 doctrine, but only follows and declares divine Revelation by the inward 
 direction of the Holy Ghost, graciously given to her for her guide and 
 instructor. 
 
 “ The dissension which arose, relating to the ceremonies of the law, in 
 the Apostles’ time, demonstrates that the Holy Ghost makes the Church 
 his interpreter ; and their acts have taught all a*ges to come, by the manner 
 of deciding that controversy, the authority by which all dissensions of that 
 kind are to be concluded. So that, whenever there shall arise any dis- 
 putes, which may create a division among the faithful, the Church shall 
 always interpose her authority; and her bishops being assembled, shall say 
 after the Apostles, It seemed good to the Holy Ghost , and to us ; and 
 when she hath once spoken, her children shall be taught not to make new 
 inquiries into the articles she hath resolved, but humbly to submit to her 
 decisions. In complying herewith, we shall imitate St. Paul and Silas, 
 who delivered that first decree of the Apostles to the faithful, and who, 
 far from suffering them to re-examine what had been determined upon, 
 went from town to town, and charged them to keep the institutions of the 
 Apostles. 
 
 “ This is the manner in which the children of God submit to the deci- 
 sion of the Church, believing they hear the oracles of the Holy Ghost 
 from her mouth ; for which reason in the creed, after we have repeated. 
 I believe in the Holy Ghost, we immediately after add, the holy Catholic 
 Church. By which article we oblige ourselves to acknowledge a perpetua' 
 and infallible truth in the universal Church, since that very Church, ir 
 which we believe at all times, would cease so to be, should she cease to teach 
 that truth which God was pleased to reveal. Whoever, therefoie, suspects 
 that the Church makes an ill use of her authority, to establish the spirit 
 of untruth, has no faith in him by whom the Church is governed.” 
 
 According to the Catechism of the Council of Trent, the Roman Catho- 
 lic Church is one, visible, holy, and catholic, or universal, established by 
 the hand of God, on a solid basis, who has bestowed on it the power of 
 
ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH. 
 
 225 
 
 _ - opening the gates of heaven to all true believers, and shut- 
 
 die Pope. ting them to all heretics and infidels. It likewise has the 
 
 power of pardoning and absolving sins, and excommunicating all those 
 who are disobedient. This church is both triumphant and militant. The 
 former portion is the illustrious society of those blessed spirits and saints , 
 who, having triumphed over the world , the flesh, and the devil, enjoy 
 everlasting happiness in peace and security. The latter is the congrega- 
 tion of all true believers upon earth, who are constantly obliged, during 
 their whole lives, to resist the world, the flesh, and the devil. Jesus Christ 
 is the immediate governor of that part of the church which is triumphant 
 in the heavens ; but, as the church militant required a visible head or di- 
 rector, he has substituted one in his room, who is accounted by all Catholics 
 as the sole and sovereign depository of the faith, and perpetual director of 
 the belief of all true Christians. 
 
 This visible head is called the pope; but the Catholics are divided in 
 their notions with regard to his power : some considering him to be inferior 
 ■ .. to a general council. The pope takes place of all Christian 
 
 him by Emperors, princes, as the vicar of Jesus Christ here upon earth. The 
 emperors, who in former times were the first princes in the Christian world, 
 went to Rome to receive the imperial diadem from the hands of his holi 
 ness, and there solemnly promised and bound themselves by the Trinity, 
 by the wood of the cross, and by the relics of the saints, to exalt and sup- 
 port the church and its head to the utmost of their power. The emperors, 
 before their entrance into the city of Rome, took the oath ; the form of 
 which the ceremonial cf the Roman church has preserved and transmitted 
 to us. At length, after the church and its head had perfectly secured their 
 own rights and privileges, the emperor was admitted ; upon which occa- 
 sion the clergy went out to meet him in their ceremonial habits, and 
 tendered him the cross to kiss. His holiness, sitting on a throne, received 
 him before the first portico of the church of the Apostles. There his 
 imperial majesty uncovered himself, and knelt down as soon as he saw 
 the pope, who styled himself the Vicar of Jesus Christ. Afterwards he 
 approached him gradually, with one knee always on the ground ; and, 
 lastly, he kissed the feet of his holiness in a very devout manner, as a 
 testimony of his respect to the Saviour of the World. But before his 
 imperial majesty could be crowned, he was obliged to take a new oath, in 
 which nothing was omitted that could establish the pope’s prerogative, and 
 the security of the church’s domains. After the coronation there was a 
 solemn procession, in which his imperial majesty appeared, for the first 
 time, with his crown on his head, his sceptre in one hand, and a globe in 
 the other; but as he went out of the basilica, he put all his regalia into the 
 hands of one of his officers, in order to hold the stirrup, while the pope 
 mounted his horse ; he even took the bridle, and for some time led the 
 
226 
 
 ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH. 
 
 horse of the servant of the servants of Jesus Christ ; who, to testify his 
 humility, pretended he could not admit of so extraordinary a submission ; 
 nor did he consent till after several compliments on both sides, to receive, 
 for the sake of Jesus Christ, the honour which his imperial majesty con- 
 ferred upon him. 
 
 We may here observe, that after the emperor had taken the oath to his 
 holiness, he was usually clothed in the amice and surplice. The canons 
 of St. Peter did him the honour to admit him as a brother, and to look on 
 him as a subject of the pope, to whom all preferments belonging to the 
 hierarchy of the church are subject. Whenever it pleased his holiness to 
 be carried on his servants’ shoulders, the emperor was to be one of the 
 assistants ; he was to pour out water to wash the hands of his holiness 
 before he sat down to table, and to give him his first plate, &c. 
 
 The Holy Father, being, in the opinion of the Roman Catholics, far 
 above all kings, is accounted the vicegerent of God, and regent of the 
 
 , . , universe. Under this denomination he divided the new 
 
 Vicegerent of God W orld between Spain and Portugal; he has a right to St. 
 Paul’s sword, and with it to give apostolical chastisement to those who 
 despise of disregard his decisions relating to the Christian faith. Pie never 
 rises from his pontifical throne, nor uncovers himself to any person whom- 
 soever ; nor does he ever condescend to honour any one with a salute, by 
 the least inclination of his head. To his imperial majesty, however, ho 
 rises a little on his admittance to the kiss of peace, after he has paid his 
 respects to the pope’s feet. His holiness, however, sometimes salutes those 
 princes who have the honour of an audience of him, with a slight inclina- 
 tion of his head ; but then he is not in his pontifical robes ; and although 
 he may condescend to be courteous and complaisant, yet he is under no 
 obligation to adopt that mode of conduct. The pope’s nuncio and legates 
 take place of the ambassadors of all crowned heads. 
 
 An oecumenical council is an assembly which represents the whole body 
 of the universal church. The name of council is given, likewise, to pro- 
 
 (Ecumenicai vincial and national assemblies of the clergy, who, at such 
 Council. time's, however, represent only a part of the church. (Ecu- 
 
 menical councils are composed of ecclesiastical deputies from the sovereign 
 powers of Christendom, who represent their .respective nations, and also 
 of other prelates, doctors, &c. of particular churches, all assembled in a 
 free place, where, without constraint, they may apply themselves to the 
 reformation not only of manners and of doctrine, but also to the regulation 
 and establishment of church discipline, &c. Thus assembled, they have 
 authority to censure bishops, cardinals, and even his holiness himself, if 
 his conduct be blameworthy ; they also possess power to depose any of 
 them, when the good of religion requires it. In short, they form an 
 assembly, which by its superiority, being able to check the unjust pro- 
 
ROMAN CATHOLIC CHIjRCH. 
 
 227 
 
 ceedings of popes, by subjecting them to the church in points of faith, and 
 declaring them schismatics and heretics whenever they deviate from it, 
 has more than once proved fatal to the see of Rome. The assemblies of 
 Pisa, of Constance, and Basle, are incontestable instances of the truth of 
 this assertion. 
 
 In regard to the ceremonies observed at the calling of a council, as there 
 has not been one since that of Trent, we shall describe them as they are 
 Ceremonies ob- found in Father Paul’s history of that council, who assures 
 ingofa councSr 11 " us that there was not less debate nor less embarrassment in 
 settling the rank and precedency of the bishops, than if they had been 
 convened to arrange affairs of the last importance to the state, &c. The 
 fathers of the council also insisted upon having the assembly-room hung 
 with tapestry, without which they were apprehensive that the council 
 might be deemed a body of tradesmen and mechanics. Pope Paul III. 
 issued out one bull for calling the council, and a second for opening it; 
 both of which were read and registered the first session. After a fast of 
 three days, the legates and bishops, dressed in their pontifical robes, 
 accompanied by their divines, the clergy of Trent, and all the people, 
 went in solemn procession to the cathedral, where the first legate sung the 
 mass of the Holy Ghost. Then the legates, in the pope’s name, made an 
 harangue, in which, after speaking of the occasion of that august assembly, 
 they exhorted the fathers to lay aside all passion and prejudice, to judge 
 righteously, to have no other view but the glory of God and the good of 
 the church. After this exhortation they all knelt down, prayed awhile to 
 themselves, and then the president recited the prayer which begins with 
 Jldsumus Domine, Sancte Spiritus. By this comprehensive and devout 
 prayer, immediate aid is asked of the Holy Ghost, that he would please 
 to guide and direct the council, to inspire the fathers with just judgments, 
 to banish the spirit of disorder and discord far from them, and not to suffer 
 them through ignorance to fall into error, or to be biassed by bribes, or to 
 be surprised by outward appearances. The litanies were now sung; the 
 deacon then read the gospel, Si peccaverit frater tuns ; and after this the 
 Veni Creator was likewise sung, and then the fathers seated themselves 
 according to their respective ranks. The president having read the decree 
 with an audible voice and asked them if it was their pleasure to order and 
 direct that the General and Holy Council of Trent should be opened to the 
 glory of God, &c., each of the fathers, in his turn, answered Placet ; the 
 legates first, then the bishops, and the rest of the fathers ; of the whole of 
 which the notaries drew up a public act. Lastly, the Te Deum was sung, 
 and the legates returned home after the first session, the cross being carried 
 before them, and attended by the fathers, who had laid aside their pontifical 
 habits. The ceremonies were almost the same at all the other sessions. 
 In case the pope appears in person at the council, he and the fathers of 
 
228 
 
 ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH. 
 
 the council, with the clergy of the city, go in procession to the hall of the 
 assembly in their pontifical robes. The pope, at the opening of the first 
 session, sings the mass of the Holy Ghost ; after which, the cardinals, and 
 the fathers of the council, clothed in their robes of ceremony, salute his 
 holiness in their turns. High mass is seldom sung at the other sessions. 
 His holiness for the most part hears a private mass, and afterwards goes 
 to the council in his scarlet cope, and with the mitre on his head ; where, 
 before the altar, he makes an harangue to the assembly, and then goes to 
 his throne ; the cardinals after that put on his sandals, and quarn di'lecta , a 
 verse of one of the psalms is recited. 
 
 The pope’s throne must be erected at the upper end of the assembly- 
 room, and due care must be taken that there be two seats on the right and 
 left side of the throne for the deacon’s assistants. If the emperor appears 
 in person at the council, he is to be seated next the pope, and at his right 
 hand, but to be so situated as to acknowledge the superiority of his holi- 
 ness ; for the emperor’s seat reaches no higher than the pope’s footstool, 
 and even this honour is reserved only for his imperial majesty, for there is 
 but very little difference between the seats of kings and those of cardinals. 
 In this hall or assembly-room, there must be an altar for mass, with a cross 
 upon it, also the Eucharist, and the relics of the saints. 
 
 The Roman ceremonial exhibits the order and rank of those who have a 
 deliberative vote in council: — 1. The pope, as head of the Christian 
 Church. 2. The college of cardinals. 3. The patriarchs. 4. The pri- 
 Order and rank mates. 5. The archbishops. 6. The bishops. 7. The 
 
 CounciL berS ° f 3 abbots. 8. The generals of religious orders. These, 
 
 properly speaking, compose the council : the doctors, divines, &c., making 
 their appearance only to assist or direct the fathers by their learning and 
 their advice. 
 
 Four cardinals of several orders, who are the dean, or first cardinal- 
 bishop, the first cardinal-priest, the first cardinal-deacon, and the cardinal 
 Ceremonies ob- camerlengo , or chamberlain, conjointly share the adminis- 
 
 tion of a Pope. tration of affairs during the vacancy of the Holy See and 
 
 the holding of the conclave. The three former are intrusted with the 
 administration of justice, and all affairs relating to civil government. The 
 latter breaks the seal of the church, called the fisherman’s ring, in the 
 presence of three cardinals; and the vice-chancellor breaks open the seal 
 of the chancery, in the presence of the chief officers who belong to that 
 court. The impression of the fisherman’s ring is St. Peter holding a line 
 with a bait to it in the water, and is made use of for those briefs which are 
 sealed with red wax. The seal for bulls has the figure of St. Peter and 
 St. Paul, with a cross on one side, and a bust with the name of the reign- 
 ing pope on the other: when a pope dies, the bust and name are defaced, 
 without damaging the rest of the seal ; this last is only used for bulls 
 
HOMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH. 
 
 2Q9 
 
 sealed with lead. The camerlengo now orders money to be oined in his 
 own name, with the device of the vacant see, which is that of two keys in 
 the form of a cross, under the flag of the church ; with this motto, Sede 
 vacante. 
 
 Policy exerts all her arts, and sets every spring in motion, at the elec- 
 tion of a pope ; nor do the electors always wait for the death of the pre- 
 sent chief or head of the church, to begin those cabals and intrigues which 
 are proper for advancing him whom they esteem a fit person to succeed to 
 the pontifical throne; and although the college invariably and unanimously 
 invoke the aid and assistance of the Holy Ghost, to direct them in the 
 choice of a Vicar of Jesus Christ, yet their eminences use all the precau- 
 tions imaginable to prevent him from being in any way concerned in the 
 election. The cardinals are obliged to enter the conclave ten days after 
 the death of the pope ; but before that time they hear the Mass of the 
 Holy Ghost in the Gregorian Chapel, and some bishop makes a Latin 
 harangue, exhorting them to make choice of a person who is worthy to fill 
 the chair of the prince of the apostles. After this, their eminences march 
 in procession to the conclave, two by two, according to their rank, attended 
 by the Swiss Guards and a vast crowd of people, the chorus all the while 
 singing the “ Veni Creator .” Being arrived at the conclave, they take 
 possession of their cells by lot, after which they all go to the Paulin 
 Chapel, where the bulls for the election of the pope are read, and the dean 
 of the sacred college exhorts the assembly to act in conformity to them. 
 When this is over, the cardinals are allowed to go home to dine, but must 
 return to the conclave before three at night ; at which time the master of 
 the ceremonies acquaints them that they ought not to shut themselves up, 
 unless they are determined to continue there as long as the conclave shall 
 last, consistently with the order and direction of the bulls, in which it is 
 regulated that those who go out shall not be permitted to return. The 
 governor and marshal of the conclave now post their soldiers in such order 
 and in such places as they judge most requisite for the safety of the elec- 
 tion. The ambassadors of princes, and all those who have any interest in 
 the election of a future pope, are allowed to continue in the conclave for 
 the first twenty-four hours. When the clock strikes three, the master of 
 the ceremonies rings the bell, after which all, except the electors, retire : 
 the doors are then shut, the conclave is walled up, and guards are posted 
 at all the avenues. The cardinal-dean, and cardinal-camerlengo, now visit 
 the conclave, to see if it be well shut, and an act thereof is drawn up by 
 an apostolical notary. 
 
 None but the cardinals, and two conclavists for each, (one an ecclesiastic, 
 and the other a soldier,) remain in the conclave. Those cardinals who are 
 princes, or who are old, or infirm, are sometimes allowed three. The ether 
 persons appointed for the service of the conclave are the sacristan, the under- 
 
230 
 
 ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH. 
 
 sacristan, a secretary, an under secretary, a confessor, who is always a 
 Jesuit, two physicians, a surgeon, two barbers, an apothecary, and their 
 apprentices, five masters of the ceremonies, a bricklayer, a carpenter, and 
 sixteen porters or valets, for hard labour. 
 
 Though the office of a conclavist be incommodious and uneasy, yet on 
 account of its privileges it is very much sought after ; for a conclavist is 
 sometime? the secret agent of the ministers of crowned heads. Every 
 officer, however, of the conclave takes an oath not to reveal any of its 
 secrets. He must be shut up in a little corner of his master’s cell, and do 
 every menial office for him. He must fetch his victuals and drink, which 
 the cardinal’s officers give him from without, twice every day, through an 
 inlet that communicates with his cell; he waits on his master at table; 
 keeps every thing very clean ; and when he has done, serves himself. • 
 
 According to the order of Innocent III., there are three several methods 
 of electing a pope, viz. by scrutiny, compromise, and inspiration. The 
 Different modes e ^ ec ^ on by scrutiny, which is the only way that has been 
 of electing a pope. use d f or a ] on g while, contains all the formality that appears 
 most essential for making the election canonical. Still it is no more than 
 a mere ceremony, as the several factions of the cardinals have united be- 
 forehand in the choice of the person. This harmony is brought about by 
 the most refined and delicate strokes of policy, and for the most part comes 
 on after their eminences have found out, by several scrutinies, the disposi- 
 tion of the sacred college. Then, if the votes for any of the candidates 
 come near the number required, it is a very common practice for the other 
 factions to fall off and coalesce with the others, and thereby contribute tG 
 the pope’s election, fearing to draw on them his hatred by a fruitless and 
 unseasonable opposition. 
 
 The scrutiny consists in collecting and examining votes, given in by 
 printed billets, which the cardinals put into a chalice that stands on the 
 altar of the chapel, at which they have met to choose the 
 pope. These billets are prepared by the masters of the 
 ceremonies, who put them into two golden basins, placed at each end of a 
 
 Election by 
 scrutiny. 
 
 long table, which stands on the side of the 
 
 high altar. 
 
 Each of these 
 
 billets is a span or palm long, and half a span broad, and are divided into 
 eight equal parts, by parallel lines taking up the whole length of each 
 billet, as w*ell on the inside as the out ; that is, the reverse of the billet 
 when rolled up. On the first space, rolled inward, these two words, “ Ego 
 Cardinalis ,” stand at a small distance from each other to make room for 
 the proper name. The second is a blank, in which the cardinal writes his 
 surname and titles. The third has two O’s at each end, for the cardinal's 
 seal, which is generally made on purpose ; for he never uses his coat of 
 arms on this occasion. The fourth is filled up with “ £ligo,” &c. The 
 fifth is for the surname and titles of the cardinal proposed to be pope. The 
 
 j. 
 
] 
 
 ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH. 231 
 
 sixth is as the third. The seventh continues a blank, and the eighth is 
 filled up with a motto, which the cardinal, whose name the billet bears, 
 makes choice of out of the sacred Scriptures. The reverse of each billet is 
 divided likewise into eight equal parts, and almost all of them are filled up 
 with flourishes, that the writing on the other side may not appear through. 
 Before the scrutiny begins, little bills, having the names of all the cardi- 
 nals on them, are put into a bag, with an intent to draw, thence, three scru- 
 tineers, three overseers of the sick, and three revisors. 
 
 The cardinals use all the art imaginable to disguise their hands. They 
 write what we have just mentioned on the scrutiny billets ; or, if they 
 have not skill enough to conceal their hands, they make use of an unknown 
 hand, that it may not be known for whom they vote. These billets are 
 wrapped up with all possible dexterity and address, that it may be a secret 
 to whom they belong; after which they close them in their hands and 
 take their places; and then the scrutiny begins in the following manner: 
 — Each cardinal takes the billet, thus written and folded up, between the 
 thumb and the forefinger of his right hand, and holding it up to the view 
 of the other members of the sacred college, carries it to the high altar, 
 kneeling down upon the first step, where he repeats an ejaculatory prayer. 
 He then goes up to the altar, and takes the oath aloud ; after which he 
 puts his billet upon the paten which covers the chalice, and from thence 
 slides it into the chalice ; he then returns to his place. This office is 
 performed by the overseers of the sick for those cardinals who are indis- 
 posed. They present the scrutiny billets to such cardinals, together with 
 a box in the form of an urn, with a very small hole in it, at which the 
 sick man puts in his billet. The billet cannot be got out again but by 
 opening the box, which is carried to the chapel, opened before all the car- 
 dinals present, and then the billet is put into the chalice in the manner al- 
 ready described. 
 
 Before the scrutiny begins, the sacristan, who is always an Augustine 
 friar, says the mass of the Holy Ghost. The scrutineers then stand near 
 the great altar, to mix and open the billets in the chalice, and to see that 
 the scrutiny proceeds in due form. The last scrutineer takes these billets 
 one after another, and first showing them to the cardinals, puts them into 
 another chalice. If there be a greater or less number of billets than there 
 are cardinals, the scrutineer burns all he finds in the two chalices, and 
 each cardinal makes a new one, till the scrutiny comes right. When the 
 billets are equal to the number of cardinals, the scrutiny is published in 
 the following manner : — The heads of the three orders of cardinals go up 
 to the high altar, take the chalice in which the billets are put, carry it to 
 the table beforementioned, and then retire, and the three scrutineers 
 come and seat themselves at the table, with their faces towards the cardi- 
 nals. The first scrutineer turns the chalice upside down upon the table. 
 
 L. 
 
232 
 
 ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH. 
 
 opens each billet in the place where the vote is written, and looks upon 
 the name of the cardinal who is therein voted for; and still, as he opens 
 them, he puts them into the hands of the second scrutineer, who looks 
 likewise on the name, and gives it to the third, who reads the name aloud. 
 Meanwhile, the cardinals mark each name upon a sheet of paper, on which 
 all their names are printed. Those who are named set down also the votes 
 given them, to see if they have a sufficient number to be elected. This 
 number must be at least two-thirds. 
 
 The last scrutineer files all these billets, that none of them may be lost 
 and the file is kept in view till he has put it into a chalice set apart for 
 that purpose. When the scrutiny is over, the billets are again told over, 
 and three revisors examine them. They are burned when the election 
 has been approved as canonical. If the votes do not rise to a sufficient 
 number, billets are taken in order to choose the pope by way of accessus ; 
 and there is scarcely ever a scrutiny without this accessus. The accessus 
 is intended to correct the scrutiny. In this, they give their votes by other 
 billets, on which is written “ Accedo Domino ,” &c., when they join their 
 vote to another’s; or, “ Accedo Nemini ,” when they adhere to their first 
 vote. The accessus is performed in the same manner as the scrutiny, 
 only they do not take the oath again. The scrutineers examine the bil- 
 lets of the accessus, as they did those of the scrutiny, and the cardinals, 
 after the same manner, set down the votes which are gained thereby to 
 any of the candidates. 
 
 After the revisors have very accurately examined the votes of the acces- 
 sus, and find the election to be perfectly canonical, they send for three 
 apostolical notaries into the chapel where the election was made, who, 
 upon inspecting the billets and other pieces which the scrutineers and 
 revisors lay before them, draw up a memorandum of the election. All 
 the cardinals who have assisted at the conclave, sign and seal this record ; 
 after which, the scrutineers burn all the billets, both of the scrutiny and 
 the accessus, in the presence of all the cardinals. 
 
 The pope is elected by compromise , when the cardinals, disagreeing in 
 their choice, engage by mutual compromise to refer the election to some 
 Election by com P art i cu l ar cardinals of probity, and to acknowledge him 
 promise, &c. whom they shall nominate as duly elected, by virtue of the 
 power given to them for that purpose. The election by way of inspira • 
 tion is in some measure riotous and tumultuary. A select number of car- 
 dinals of different factions, who have determined to put every thing to the 
 last push, begin to cry out, “such a one is pope,” as it were by inspira- 
 tion. Adoration is the same as inspiration, which is, when two-thirds of 
 the conclave, being agreed in the person, go in a body and adore and 
 acknowledge the pope they approve of, as head of the church. The 
 elections by way of compromise , inspiration , and adoration , but sel- 
 
ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH. 
 
 233 
 
 dom happen. The scrutiny and accessus are the methods generally ob 
 served. 
 
 As soon as the pope is elected, it is customary for his domestics and the 
 populace to plunder his cell in the conclave, and the palace in which he 
 resided. 
 
 As soon as the pope is elected, the cardinals who are the heads of their 
 respective orders, ask the consent of his holiness, and the name which he 
 
 . , is determined to assume, in this alteration of his state. 
 
 Adoration paid 
 
 to the pope elect. This alteration of his name is perhaps the most singular 
 act which takes place in the election of the supreme pontiff. Sergius the 
 Fourth, who was before called “ Os Porci ,” that is Swine’s face , was the 
 first pope who thought proper to change his name on his exaltation to the 
 pontificate; and this custom has been invariably followed by his successors. 
 The elected pontiff’s new appellation being made known, the fisherman’s 
 ring is immediately given him. After which, the masters of the ceremonies 
 draw up a formal instrument of his declaration, and deliver in a duplicate 
 of it to the college. The two first cardinal-deacons then conduct the 
 new pope behind the altar, where, with the assistance of the masters of 
 the ceremonies and the sacristan, (who is always an Augustine monk,) 
 they take off his cardinal’s habit to put on the pontifical, which is a white 
 taffeta cassoc ; a linen rochet; a camail, and a cap, both of red satin; 
 with shoes made of red cloth embroidered with gold, and a golden cross 
 on the upper part. Thus pompously dressed, the pope is carried on his 
 chair before the altar of the chapel appointed for the election, and there 
 the cardinal-dean, first, and after him, the remainder of the cardinals, 
 adore his holiness upon their knees, kissing his foot, and his right hand ; 
 after which the holy father takes them up, and gives them the salute of 
 peace on the right cheek. After this, the first cardinal-deacon, preceded 
 by the master of the ceremonies, w T ho carries the cross, and by a choir 
 of musicians who sing the anthem, Ecce sacerdos magnus, $*c . — Behold 
 the high-priest so acceptable to God , and so just — goes to the great lodge 
 of St. Peter, where the master mason takes care to have the door opened, 
 that the cardinal may pass into the balcony, to acquaint the people of the 
 pope’s election, crying with an audible voice, JLnnuntio vobis gaudinm 
 magnum , habemus papam , fyc. — I bring you glad tidings , we have a 
 pope, SfC. Then one of the large culverins of St. Peter’s is discharged, 
 to give the governor of the castle of St. Angelo notice to discharge all 
 his artillery : all the bells of the city begin to ring at the same time, and 
 the air resounds with the cheerful sounds of drums, trumpets, and kettle- 
 drums. 
 
 During the roar of the artillery, the sound of the bells, and the melody 
 both of vocal and instrumental music, the Romans incessantly break out 
 into solemn vows and loud acclamations for the new pope. The same day. 
 
234 
 
 ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH. 
 
 about two hours before night, the pope, having his cope and his mitre on, 
 is carried and set upon the altar of Sixtus’s chapel, where the cardinals, 
 in their purple copes, come, and a second time adore the new pontiff, who 
 is seated upon the relics of the altar stone. This adoration is celebrated 
 in the same manner as the former, the musicians all the time singing 
 anthems suitable to the solemn occasion. 
 
 In the mean time, the enclosures of the conclave are broken, or taken 
 down, and the cardinals, preceded by music, descend into the middle of 
 St. Peter’s church. The pope follows them, carried in his pontifical chair 
 under a red canopy embellished with gold fringe. His bearers now seat 
 him on the great altar of St. Peter, where the cardinals pay their adora- 
 tion to him a third time, and the foreign ambassadors after them, before a 
 prodigious number of spectators, with whom this spacious church is gene- 
 rally crowded to the utmost extent of the very porch. Te Deum is then 
 sung, and the cardinal-dean, who is on the epistle-side, reads the verses 
 and prayers appointed for that purpose in the Roman ceremonial. After 
 this, his holiness is set down on the highest step of the altar. A cardinal- 
 dean takes off his mitre, and then he solemnly blesses the people. His 
 pontificalia are then taken off, and twelve chairmen, in long scarlet cloaks 
 hanging down to the ground, place him in his chair, and convey him on 
 their shoulders into his apartment. 
 
 Stephen II. is said to be the first pope who was carried on men’s 
 shoulders after his election : but, as we know that the illustrious men of 
 Rome were carried on litters by their slaves, we may conclude that this 
 custom is merely a remnant of the habits of the ancient Romans. 
 
 In regard to the kis&ing of the feet of his holiness, it is doubtless a very 
 ancient custom. Baronius gives an instance of it in the year 204; and it 
 appears that after that time, the Emperor Justin I., Pepin, king of France, 
 Frederic Barbarossa, and others, all kissed the pope’s feet. The time, 
 however, when this custom became constantly practised is not exactly 
 known ; although we may justly suspect, that it was only the same mark 
 of respect which was formerly paid to the ancient Roman emperors, who 
 were, at the same time, the supreme pontiffs of the religion of the Romans, 
 and the sovereigns of the state. Though this ceremony be considered, in 
 the opinion of the vulgar, as an instance of the veneration and esteem 
 which Christians entertain for the pope, it will appear, upon the whole, 
 that it is to Jesus Christ alone. For we are to observe, that the pope’s 
 slipper has a cross upon it, which is the emblem of Christ crucified. 
 The successors of St. Peter have invariably ordered that their sandals 
 should have this cross on the upper-leathers : so that it is not the feet of 
 his holiness, but the cross of Jesus Christ cruciried, that is kissed. Faithful 
 Catholics affirm that the pontiff’s feet ought to be kissed after the same man- 
 ner, and with the same respect, as the cross and other holy images are kissed 
 
ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH. 
 
 285 
 
 The pope being the head of the Catholic or universal Church, wears the 
 keys as a sign of the power with which he is invested, to open the gates 
 , of heaven to all true believers ; and the triple crown, to 
 
 The pope’s co- 1 
 
 ronation. instruct and inform the Christian world, that he is both high- 
 
 priest, emperor, and king. 
 
 The preparations for his coronation are in no degree inferior to those of 
 the most august princes of the universe. If he be a deacon only, the 
 cardinal-dean, after his election, constitutes him both priest and bishop in 
 Sextus’s chapel, to which, on the day of his coronation, he repairs in his 
 cardinal’s habit ; that is, the white cassoc, the rochet, the short mantle, or 
 cope of red satin, and the red capuch, supported by two prelates, who are 
 the gentlemen of his bed-chamber and his cup-bearer, who are dressed in 
 a red cope, with a capuch lined with red taffeta. The pages of the privy 
 chamber, and the pages of honour, also the chaplains to the pope, who 
 walk with his holiness, are preceded by those who are called the pages 
 extra muros , (that is, without the walls,) and the squires of the deceased 
 pope. The ambassadors, the general of the church, the princes of the 
 throne, the governor of Rome, the captains of the light horse, of the Swiss, 
 and the ancepesados, all make their appearance, and assist at this cere- 
 mony, as well as the cardinals, who are clothed in red, that is, in their 
 cassocs, rochets, their copes of red satin, which the Romans call mozette , 
 and their red calottes on their heads. The procession having arrived at 
 Sextus’s chapel, the cardinals, at the entrance, put on their red copes. 
 Two cardinal-deacons now give the pope his pontificalia ; the ceremony 
 of which is as follows : — the first master of the ceremonies girds on the 
 falda of taffeta under the rochet, and puts upon his head the red satin 
 berretla. His holiness then goes into the chapel ; where the cardinals 
 rise up, and at his first appearance make* him a most profound bow, the 
 holy father receiving the submission of his spiritual children like an in- 
 dulgent parent. The gentlemen who attend on their eminences, are at 
 this time on their knees, and his holiness stands with his back against the 
 altar. 
 
 Afterwards, one of the two cardinal-deacons takes off his berretta, and 
 his companion puts on another of white taffeta : they likewise take off his 
 red mozette , and dress him in the amict, the albe, the girdle, the stole, and 
 the red chasuble, embroidered all over with gold. The first cardinal- 
 deacon now puts the mitre upon his head, while the master of the ceremo- 
 nies sings the extra with an audible voice. After this, one of the apostolic 
 sub-deacons takes up the cross that is carried before the pope ; and the 
 cardinals pull off their berrettas in honour of the sacred wood. 
 
 The cross is carried in the following order: the pope’s gentlemen go 
 before it, two by two, followed by the courtiers of the new successor of 
 St. Peter, dressed in their ceremonial habits. The pages ext 'a mines 
 
236 
 
 ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH. 
 
 march next, and after them the consistorial advocates, the gentlemen of the 
 privy chamber, the referendary prelates, the bishops, archbishops, and 
 patriarchs, and then the pope’s chaplains, who carry the triple crown and 
 the mitre. The cross comes after these chaplains, and is followed by the 
 cardinal-deacons, two and two abreast, and they are followed by the cardi- 
 nals, priests, and bishops, in the same order. Their eminences are followed 
 by the Roman conservators, the caporions, &c. The holy father is carried 
 to church on a chair in the midst of this solemn procession, surrounded by 
 his guards, and an infinite number of people. The knights of St. Peter 
 and St. Paul support the canopy under which his holiness is carried ; and 
 in this order, the procession proceeds to St. Peter’s church. 
 
 Under the portico of St. Peter, near the holy gate, a throne is erected 
 for the pope, where he sits under a canopy; around which benches are 
 railed in for the cardinals. The canons, and all those who enjoy any bene- 
 fice in St. Peter’s, with their cardinal high-priest at the head of them, now 
 come and kiss the feet of the holy father. After which, he is carried to 
 the foot of the high altar, attended by a number of people making loud 
 acclamations : he then kneels down and prays bareheaded before the holy 
 sacrament; and is immediately carried from thence to the Gregorian 
 chapel. There he seats himself on a throne, surrounded by the foreign 
 ambassadors, the princes of the throne, and other persons of rank and dis- 
 tinction. The cardinals in their red copes, the prelates, &c., then pay their 
 homage to him ; the former kissing his hand, and the others his knee. 
 His holiness then gives the people his benediction ; and they return him 
 their thanks by extraordinary acclamations, and other testimonies of general 
 
 j°y- 
 
 This ceremony being concluded, the cardinals, bishops, and other pre- 
 lates, put on their white robes, while the canons of St. Peter sing an an- 
 them in the choir. The pope washes his hands four times. The first 
 time, the water is presented him by the first Roman conservator ; the se- 
 cond in time of mass, by the general of the Church ; the third by the am- 
 bassador of the Most Christian King; and the last, by the ambassador of his 
 Imperial Majesty. They are, if present at the solemnity, indispensably 
 obliged to the performance of this religious duty, as a proof of their sub* 
 mission to the holy See. 
 
 The holy father in the next place is undressed, in order to put on other 
 robes, the colour of which is a type or symbol of his purity and innocence. 
 The acolytes present these new vestments to the cardinal-deacon, who 
 clothes his holiness in a white garment; in order that, according to the 
 language of scripture, he may be fitted to preside in the temple of the 
 Lord. The dress of his holiness now consists of the cassoc, amict, albe, 
 girdle, dalmatica, stole, gloves, and mitre, embroidered with gold, and set 
 ivi f h jewels. The procession is then resumed, during which, the first 
 
ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH. 237 
 
 ♦ — 
 
 master of the ceremonies carries a lighted wax taper in one hand, and a 
 basin in the other, in which the pomps and vanities of this world are 
 exhibited to the holy father, under the representation of castles and palaces 
 made of flax , to which the master of the ceremonies sets fire three succes- 
 sive times, saying to his holiness each time, Pater Sancte , sic transit 
 gloria mundiJ Behold , holy father, how the glory of this world passes 
 away! — This ceremony seems to owe its birth to that which was practised 
 at the coronation of the Greek emperors ; for, in the midst of all the pomp 
 and splendour of their coronation, they were on one hand presented with a 
 vase filled with ashes and dead men’s bones, and on the other with flax, 
 which was set on fire ; by this double emblem reminding them of their 
 mortality, and of the fate of their worldly honours. 
 
 The whole procession having arrived at the foot of the altar, on which 
 stand seven large silver gilt candlesticks with large lighted wax-tapers in 
 them, similar to those which are carried by the seven acolytes before the 
 cross, the pope makes a short prayer on a desk, and then rising, begins the 
 Introibo of the mass, having the cardinal-dean on his right hand, as assistant 
 bishop in his cope ; and the cardinal-deacon of the gospel on his left, and 
 behind him two cardinal-deacons assistants. 
 
 After his holiness has made the solemn confession, the dean of the rota, 
 who holds his mitre, gives it to the two cardinal-deacons assistants, to 
 set it upon his head. His holiness, in the next place, sits down on his 
 throne, before which each of the three first cardinal priests reads a prayer 
 for his coronation. After which, the holy father descends from the throne, 
 his mitre is taken off, and the first cardinal-deacon, assisted by the second, 
 dresses him in the pallium, saying to him, Receive the pallium which re- 
 presents to you the duties and perfections of the pontifical function : may 
 you discharge it to the glory of God , and of his most Holy Mother the 
 blessed Virgin Mary ; of the blessed apostles St. Peter and St. Paul ; 
 and of the holy Roman Church. 
 
 The cardinal-deacon of the gospel having put three diamond buttons 
 on the three crosses of the pallium, the holy father ascends the altar, with 
 the pallium on his shoulders, but without his mitre, kisses the book of 
 the holy evangelist, puts incense into the thurible, and thurifies or per- 
 fumes the altar. After this, the mitre is again set on his holiness’s head, 
 and the first cardinal-deacon thurifies him three times successively. The 
 ceremony closes with a salute, which that cardinal gives him on his left 
 cheek and his stomach, which ceremony is also performed by the other 
 two cardinals. 
 
 This ceremony being over, the pope returns to his throne, whither all 
 the cardinals repair, and after taking off their mitres, pay him their adora- 
 tions. All the clergy come likewise, and adore him, each according to his 
 
 quality, and all in their ceremonial habits. The patriarchs, archbishops, 
 16 
 
238 
 
 ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH. 
 
 « 
 
 and bishops, kiss his foot and his knee ; the abbots and penitentiaries of St. 
 Peter, his knee only. 
 
 Afterwards, the pope rises, lays down his mitre, ascends the altar, sings 
 or reads the Introite and the Kyrie , fyc., sings the Gloria in excelsis with an 
 audible voice, and, as soon as the prayer of mass is said, resumes his place. 
 Then the first cardinal-deacon descends into the confessional of St. Peter, 
 which is a place under the altar where the relics of the martyrs lie, attended 
 by the apostolical sub-deacons, the auditors of the rota, the consistorial advo- 
 cates, &c., who walk in two ranks, with their white copes, and their purple 
 amices over them. The cardinal-deacon sings there with a low voice, the 
 Exaudi Christe! ( Hear , O Christ!) to which the clergy who follow him 
 answer, Domino nostro a Deo decreto summo Pontifici et Papse, fyc. ( Our 
 lord, the Pope , sovereign Pontiff, instituted and ordained by God, 8fc.) The 
 Exaudi, 4'C. are three times repeated as well as the Salvator inundi, which 
 is afterwards added by the same cardinal, and to which the clergy answer, 
 Tu ilium adjuva , — that is, O Saviour of the world assist him! Then follow 
 the litanies of the saints. The Latin epistle follows those litanies, and the 
 Greek after the Latin ; the one is sung by the Greek sub-deacon, and the 
 other by the Latin. The musicians in the choir now sing the gradual; a 
 cardinal-deacon sings the gospel in Latin, another the same in Greek, and 
 the mass closes with some particular ceremonies. As soon as mass is over, 
 the holy father goes into his chair again, without pulling off’ those robes 
 ’which he had worn during the celebration of it. Then the cardinal-arch- 
 priest of St. Peter, attended by two canons, presents the pope with a white 
 damask purse, in which are twenty-five Julios, old Roman money. The 
 chapter and canons of St. Peter make him this present as a testimony that 
 he has sung mass well. This money the holy father gives to the cardinal- 
 deacons, who sang the two gospels, and they bestow it on their train-bearers. 
 
 To conclude, the pope is carried to the benediction-pew, accompanied by 
 his cardinals and prelates. The canopy under which he is carried, is sup- 
 ported by the Roman conservators and the caparions ; two of the grooms, 
 in red liveries, carrying fans of peacocks’ feathers on each side of the 
 chair. The cardinals and prelates all stand, whilst the first two cardinal- 
 deacons, in quality of assistants, help his holiness to ascend the throne, 
 which is always set up by the sacred college, on the preceding day, in the 
 middle of the pew. As soon as the pope is seated, the choir sing the 
 anthem, Corona aurea super caput, fyc . — that is, A croivn of gold shall be on 
 his head, fyc., with the responses; after which the dean reads the coronation 
 prayer. The second cardinal-deacon now takes off the mitre of his holiness, 
 and the first puts the triple crown on his head, saying, Receive this tiara 
 embellished with three crowns , and never forget, when you have it on, that 
 you are the father of princes and kings, the supreme judge of the universe , 
 and on the earth Hear of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Saviour, 
 
ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH. 
 
 239 
 
 Immediately after being crowned, the pope blesses the people three 
 times, and two cardinals publish a plenary indulgence both in Latin and 
 Italian. After this, his holiness withdraws to his apartment in the Vati- 
 can, and on his way through Sixtus’s chapel, the cardinal-deacons take off 
 his pontificalia. The first cardinal-priest, in the name of the whole sacred 
 college, now makes him the compliment ad multos annos, that is, wishes 
 he may enjoy his pontificate for many years. 
 
 The popeffiolds consistories when he receives princes, or their ambassa- 
 dors ; when he canonizes any saint, or promotes cardinals ; or treats of 
 _ . any important affair, either civil or ecclesiastical. When a 
 
 8erve . d . , when a consistory is to be held, the pope’s throne is erected 
 sistor y- in the great hall of the apostolic palace. This throne is 
 
 almost square, and about twelve palms, or six feet, wide, to which he 
 ascends by three steps. His holiness sits down on a seat adorned with 
 cloth of gold, under a canopy of the same; both equal to each other in 
 point of magnificence ; the foot of the throne is covered with red cloth. 
 The cardinal-bishops and priests sit on his right hand, below the throne ; 
 the deacons on his left ; but in such a position as to have their faces 
 towards the holy father. Between the seats of the cardinal-bishops and 
 priests, and those of the deacons, there is a considerable space left for the 
 people to pass and repass. 
 
 When his holiness goes to hold a public consistory, he walks with the 
 mitre on his head, and is dressed in his amict, albe, stole, and red chasu- 
 ble, the cross and cardinals preceding him. The procession having arrived 
 at the consistory chamber, the holy father takes his place, and then the 
 cardinals, having first made him a profound obeisance, repair to their 
 respective seats. The archbishops, bishops, prothonotaries, and other 
 prelates, sit on the steps of the throne ; the sub-deacons, auditors, clerks 
 of the chamber, and acolytes, with their woollen copes, on the lowest step; 
 and the ecclesiastical officers of the pope’s court on the ground, between 
 the cardinal seats. The pages of the chamber, and the secretaries, sit also 
 on the ground, between the prelates and ecclesiastical officers. The 
 nephews of the reigning pope, in case he has any, and some other Roman 
 princes, sit on each side of the throne, and are for that reason called 
 Princes of the Throne . Ambassadors, and other foreign ministers, are 
 seated -on the right-hand of the throne, between the steps and the wall, 
 which is the place for the highest nobility ; the other gentlemen are on 
 the left, among the pope’s domestic officers ; the consistorial advocates sit 
 behind the cardinal-deacons, and the proctors of princes, with the fiscal 
 proctor, who takes place of the other proctors, behind the cardinal-bishops. 
 The entrance of the passage leading to the throne is filled up by the 
 pope’s guard. The master of the Sacro Hospitio stands between the 
 guard, and the bottom of the rank of cardinal-priests. The clerks of the 
 
240 
 
 ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH. 
 
 ceremonies are at the head of the chief of the deacons, for the greater con- 
 venience of executing the pope’s orders. When the pope holds a con- 
 sistory for judicial causes, each advocate, who has any motion to make, 
 stands behind the cardinal-priests, opposite to the pope ; and having 
 opened his cause, he throws his petition to the ecclesiastical officers, who 
 take and present it to the vice-chancellor. Lastly, when the consistory is 
 concluded, the two eldest cardinal-deacons come forward to support the 
 pope, and then the whole assembly return in the same order as they came. 
 
 Private consistories have not so many ceremonies, and are held in some 
 private apartment, at a distance from the sacred palace. There are no 
 „ . . steps to the pontifical seat, only a kind of open bench, with- 
 
 tories - out an alcove, and another of a smaller size, which serves 
 
 as a footstool to ascend the largest one. Each of the cardinal-bishops and 
 priests is seated according to his rank ; the eldest cardinal sits next the 
 pope, on his right hand, and the eldest cardinal-deacon next him on his 
 left. There are benches before their seats, on which their eminences set 
 their feet ; and the assembly is so arranged or disposed, that the last car- 
 dinal-deacon is next the last cardinal-priest, w’ho has a bell in his hand, to 
 call the attendants in waiting to receive their orders. The pope’s seat is 
 covered with red cloth ; but those of the cardinals are only painted red, 
 and have the pope’s arms upon them. The space which lies between his 
 holiness and their eminences, is covered with a large carpet. When this 
 ecclesiastical senate has any state affairs, or any matters relating to the 
 Church, under deliberation, everybody but the cardinals goes out, and 
 •when their eminences come to give their votes, they are obliged to do it 
 standing and bareheaded. 
 
 The service of the Catholic Church consists of prayers and holy lessons, 
 which the Church has appointed to be read every day by the clergy, at 
 „ ... particular hours. This service is called the canonical 
 
 for divine service, hours , because it was ordained by the canons of the Church, 
 which not only prescribed the hours in which it is to be said, but likewise 
 every particular circumstance which bears any relation to it. These cir- 
 cumstances. however, are not absolutely the same in all churches. This 
 office, or order of divine service, is likewise called the breviary , by a 
 modern term, which some are of opinion was not introduced till after its 
 abridgment ; for it was much longer formerly than at present. 
 
 There are instances of canonical hours to be met with in the Hebrew 
 Scriptures. The matins in Psalm cxviii., or, according to the Hebrew , 
 cxix. ; prime , in Psalm xcii. ; tierce, in Acts, chap. ii. ; sexte in chap. x. 
 of the same book; none, in chap. iii. ; and vespers , in our Lord’s last 
 supper. The Heathens had likewise their matins ; and the Egyptians 
 saluted their gods every morning : they had their primes, seconds, and 
 tierces , which the Catholics call prime, tierce, sexte, &c. 
 
ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH. 
 
 241 
 
 The clergy being ordained and established for the edification of Chris- 
 tians, their first obligation is constantly to repeat their breviary, that is, to 
 pray to God for the Church, to sing the divine office with devotion, to 
 maintain a taste for piety in Christian souls, and to administer ghostly 
 comfort and consolation to the respective flocks intrusted to their care. 
 
 The divine service, or office, is to be said in a standing posture, pursuant 
 to the ancient custom of the Church, and upon the knees in days of pen- 
 ance only. It is said, by those who treat on Church ceremonies, that 
 genuflection is a mark of sorrow and contrition ; but standing is not only 
 a type of joy, and of raising the mind with cheerfulness to God, but of the 
 Resurrection, too, which is the object of the Christian faith. 
 
 The divine service consists of seven hours, if matins and lauds be 
 •reckoned as one service, but eight, in case they be divided. In the primi- 
 tive ages of the Church, it was composed but of six parts, which were 
 tierce, sexte, and none, for the day; and for night, the evening, midnight, 
 and morning prayers. At present they are divided into seven or eight : 
 matins for night; lauds for the morning; prime, tierce, sexte, none, for 
 the day ; vespers for the evening ; and complin for the beginning of the 
 night. Certain writers on ceremonies likewise insist that matins repre- 
 sent the occurrences of the passion-night ; that lauds are appointed to 
 commemorate Christ’s resurrection ; prime, to contemplate the ignominious 
 treatment which he met with at the house of Caiaphas, and to humble our- 
 selves at the sight of those indignities and affronts : that tierce is principally 
 designed to return God thanks for the sanctification of his Church by the 
 Holy Ghost ; sexte, to honour the crucifixion of our Lord ; and none, to 
 bring to our remembrance the mystery of his death, which happened at 
 that hour; that vespers were ordained to commemorate his coming, which, 
 according to a hymn of the Church, was towards the Night of the World ; 
 and the hour of com.plin, to implore the protection of the Almighty during 
 the night, in the same manner as had been done at prime for the day. 
 The proper hour for saying matins is the night ; but lauds, which are 
 now, as it were, incorporated into matins, were formerly said at break of 
 day. Both these offices being called without distinction matins, are now 
 said towards the close of the night. The hour of saying prime is directly 
 after sunrise, for which reason it is called prime, because the ancients 
 began their day at that time, and divided it into twelve hours, which 
 were unequal, as the days were longer or shorter; and by the same 
 rule tierce is fixed at the third hour of the day, and answers to nine 
 o’clock at the Equinoxes ; sexte at the sixth, which is always noon ; 
 none, at the ninth hour, or about three o’clock in the afternoon ; vespers, 
 towards the evening; and complin, after sunset. Due care is generally 
 taken that these services are all carefully performed at, or very near, the 
 appointed times here specified. 
 
ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH. 
 
 242 
 
 During Lent, however, vespers are said before dinner, on account of 
 those who cannot keep fast according to the prescription of the church, 
 till the usual hour of vespers. In winter, that is, from All-Saints to 
 Easter, vespers are sung at two o’clock, and the rest of the year at three. 
 After vespers, the curates or vicars ought to catechise youths, unless it has 
 been already done at mass, after the prone , or sermon. The evening 
 prayer follows. 
 
 Not only those ecclesiastics w r ho are in holy orders, but every nun and 
 friar likewise, who has entered into solemn vows, and all who hold bene- 
 fices, are under an obligation to perform this service ; insomuch, that who- 
 ever neglects this duty is reckoned to be guilty of a mortal sin, and is con- 
 sidered to be liable to restore the revenues of his benefice. 
 
 The Catholics look upon the sacrifice of the mass as the most acceptable 
 of all adorations, and the most effectual of all prayers. The church not 
 
 n . only prays herself at this sacrifice, which the priest offers 
 
 the mass. up to God the m0 st so lemn and majestic manner ; but 
 
 Jesus Christ also, by the sacrifice of his own body, is said to offer up to 
 his Father the most perfect adoration that can possibly be paid to him, 
 since it is offered by a God. In short, it is Jesus Christ who alone, and 
 always, acts in this sacrifice. The priest is but his minister, his instru- 
 ment, his terrestrial organ; it is Christ who leads and directs him, and 
 makes the action of the priest effectual, who offers him as propitiation 
 for the sins of men ; however corrupt, therefore, the priest may be in his 
 morals, it is held that the sacrifice is equally salutary to the church — a 
 tenet which redounds considerably to the immaculate character of the holy 
 Roman Catholic Church. 
 
 The holy water is made on Sundays before high mass, after which fol- 
 lows a procession. The faithful (for by this term the Catholics generally 
 distinguish themselves) ought to be present at mass with a conscience 
 void of offence ; and in order to show them the necessity of such internal 
 purity, they are sprinkled with a water sanctified for that purpose by a 
 solemn benediction. The procession is a preparation of the hearts of the 
 congregation, for the holy sacrifice of the mass; and the priest and clergy 
 make this preparation by their spiritual hymns and the elevation of the 
 cross, which is carried before the clergy, while they move in a solemn 
 manner round the church, or the places adjacent to it. 
 
 The mass consists of two principal parts, viz., the first from the begin- 
 ning to the offering, which was formerly called the Mass of the Catechu- 
 mens; and the second , from the offering to the conclusion, called the Mass 
 of the Faithful . Every person, without any distinction, was required to 
 be present at it, till the offering ; because, in this first part, the lessons 
 from Scripture, and the preaching of the Gospel, were included, from 
 which none were to be excluded. But after the sermon, none were per- 
 
ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH. 
 
 243 
 
 mitted to have a share in the sacrifice, but those of the faithful who were 
 duly qualified to partake of it; the catechumens were ordered to depart 
 and the penitents were not only shut out and kept from the communion, but 
 even from the sight of the mysteries ; for which reason the deacon cried 
 out, Holy things are for such as are holy : let the profane depart hence ! 
 
 The various actions of the pries* at mass may be included under thirty- 
 five distinct heads ; and devotion has discovered in all his actions a com- 
 . . r , plete allegory of the passion of Jesus Christ. These 
 priest at mass. several actions are briefly as follows : — 1. The priest goes 
 to the altar, in allusion to our Lord’s retreat with his apostles to the Gar- 
 den of Olives. 2. Before he begins mass, he says a preparatory prayer. 
 The priest is then to look on himself as one abandoned of God, and 
 driven out of Paradise for the sin of Adam. 3. The priest makes con- 
 fession for himself, and for the people, in which it is required that he be 
 free from mortal and from venial sin. 4. The priest kisses the altar, as a 
 token of our reconciliation with God, and our Lord’s being betrayed by 
 a kiss.* 5. The priest goes to the epistle-side of the altar, and thurifies or 
 perfumes it. Jesus Christ is now supposed to be taken and bound. 
 
 6. The Introite, said or sung, i. e., a psalm or hymn, applicable to the 
 circumstance of our Lord’s being carried before Caiaphas the high-priest. 
 
 7. The priest says the Kyrie Eleison , which signifies, Lord have mercy 
 upon us, three times, in allusion to Peter’s denying our Lord thrice. 
 
 8. The priest, turning towards the altar, says, Dominus vobiscum, i. e., 
 the Lord be with you ; the people return this salutation, cum Spiritu tuo , 
 and with thy Spirit, Jesus Christ looking at Peter. 9. The priest reads 
 the epistle relating to Jesus being accused before Pilate. 10. The priest, 
 bowing before the altar, says, Munda cor , i. e., cleanser our hearts. The 
 gradual is sung. This psalm is varied according as it is the time of Lent or 
 not. The devotion is now directed to our Saviour’s being accused before 
 Herod, and making no reply. 11. The priest reads the gospel wherein 
 Jesus Christ is sent from Herod to Pilate. The gospel is carried from 
 the right side of the altar to the left, to denote the tender of the gospel to 
 the Gentiles, after refusal by the Jews. 12. The priest uncovers the 
 chalice, hereby to represent our Lord was stripped in order to be scourged. ' 
 13. The oblation to the host, the creed is sung by the congregation. The 
 priest then kisses the altar, then the priest offers up the host, which is to 
 represent or import the scourging of Jesus Christ, which was introductory 
 to his other sufferings. 14. The priest elevates the chalice, then covers 
 it. Here Jesus being crowned with thorns, is supposed to be figured to 
 the mind, showing that he was going to be elevated a victim ; and it 13 
 well known the victims of the Pagans were crowned before they were 
 sacrificed to their idols. 15. The priest washes his fingers, as Pilate 
 washed his hands, and declares Jesus innocent, blesses the bread and the 
 
244 
 
 ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH. 
 
 wine, blesses the frankincense, and perfumes the bread and wine, praying 
 that the smell of this sacrifice may be more acceptable to him than the 
 smoke of victims. 16. The priest, turning to the people, says, Oremus 
 Fratres , i. e., let us pray. He then bows himself to the altar, addresses 
 himself to the Trinity, and prays in a very low voice. This is one of the 
 secretums of the mass, and the imagination of the devout Christian is to 
 find out the conformity between this and Christ being clothed with a 
 purple robe: but we shall be cautious of adding more on this head, that 
 we may not lose ourselves in the boundless ocean of allusions. 17. The 
 priest says the preface at the close of the Secretum. This part of the 
 mass is in affinity to Jesus Christ being crucified. The priest uses a 
 prayer to God the Father, which is followed by the Sanctus , Holy, holy, 
 hoJy is the Lord, &c., which the people sing. 18. The priest, joining his 
 nands, prays for the faithful that are living. This is said to be in allusion 
 \o Jesus Christ bearing the cross to die upon, that we might live. 19. The 
 priest covers with a cloth the host and chalice, St. Veronica offering her 
 Handkerchief to Jesus Christ. 20. The priest makes the sign of th^ cross 
 upon the host and chalice, to signify that Jesus Christ is nailed to the 
 cross. 21. The priest adores the host before elevated, and then he raises 
 't up, in the best manner to represent our Saviour lifted up upon the cross. 
 He repeats the Lord’s prayer, with his arms extended, that his body might 
 represent the figure of a cross, which is the ensign of Christianity. 
 22. The priest likewise consecrates the chalice, and elevates it, to repre- 
 sent the blood of Jesus Christ shed upon the cross. 23. The priest says 
 the Memento for the faithful that are in purgatory. This prayer is in 
 allusion to that which our Lord made for his enemies ; but this allusion 
 would be forced and unnatural, unless the devotees looked upon themselves 
 as his enemies. 24. The priest then raises his voice, smiting his breast, 
 begs God’s blessing on himself and congregation, for the sake of such 
 saints as he enumerates, and implores the Divine Majesty for a place in 
 Paradise, to imitate the thief upon the cross. 25. The priest elevates the 
 host and cup, and says the per omnia , then the Lord’s prayer. The sign 
 of the cross, which he makes on the host, the chalice, and the altar, is to 
 represent to God that bleeding sacrifice which his Son offered up to him 
 of himself ; then the devout Christian becomes the child of God ; and all 
 this is an allusion to the Virgin Mary’s being bid to look on St. John as 
 her son. 26. After the Lord’s prayer, the priest says a private one to 
 God, to procure his peace by the mediation of the Virgin Mary and the 
 saints, then puts the sacred host upon the paten, and breaks it, to repre- 
 sent Jesus Christ giving up the ghost. 27. The priest puts a little bit of 
 the host into the chalice. — The true Christian is now with an eye of faith 
 to behold Jesus Christ descending into Limbo , i. e., hell. 28. Then the 
 priest says, and the people sing, Agnus Dei , &c., thrice over, and the 
 
ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH. 
 
 245 
 
 priest smites his breast. This action is an allusion to those who, having seen 
 our Lord’s sufferings, returned home smiting their breasts. 29. After the 
 Agnus Dei is sung, the priest says a private prayer for the peace of the 
 church. He then kisses the altar, and the instrument of peace called the 
 paxis, which being received at his hands by the deacon, it is handed 
 about to the people to be kissed, and passed from each other with these 
 words, peace be with you ; and while the paxis is kissing, the priest pre- 
 pares himself for the communion by two other prayers, when he adores 
 the host, and then says, with a low voice, I will eat of the celestial bread ; 
 and smiting his breast, says, lam not worthy that thou shouldest enter into 
 my house , three times, after eating of the bread. He uncovers the chalice, 
 repeating verse 1 of 115th Psalm, according to the Vulgate. When the 
 priest has received the communion, he administers it to the people. The 
 application of these ceremonies is to the death and burial of Jesus Christ, 
 and his descent into hell. 30. After this, the priest putting the wine into 
 the chalice, in order to take what is called the ablution, repeats a short 
 prayer ; then he causes wine and water to be poured out for the second 
 ablution, accompanied with another short prayer, and then salutes the con 
 gregation. These ablutions allegorically represent the washing and em- 
 balming the body of Jesus Christ, &c. 31. The priest sings the post- 
 
 communion, or prayer for the good effect of the sacrament then received, 
 expressed by the glorious resurrection of the regenerate Christians, and is 
 to be looked upon as the representation of our Lord’s resurrection. 
 
 32. The priest, turning to the people, says, Dominus vobiscum , salutes 
 the congregation, as the ambassador of Christ, with the message of peace. 
 
 33. The priest reads the beginning of St. John’s gospel, and particularly 
 of Jesus’s appearing to his mother and disciples, and uses some short 
 prayers. 34. The priest dismisses the people with these words, Ite missa 
 est, — Depart, the mass is concluded ; to which they answer, God be 
 thanked. This, they say, points to the ascension of Jesus Christ, where 
 he receives the eternal reward of that sacrifice, both as priest and victim. 
 35. The people receive the benediction of the priest, or bishop if he is 
 present, to represent the blessings promised and poured down upon the 
 apostles by the Holy Ghost. 
 
 This benediction must be given after kissing, with the eyes erected to 
 heaven, and arms stretched out, and then gently brought back to the sto- 
 mach, that the hands may join in an affectionate manner for the congre- 
 gation of the faithful. 
 
 The extension of the arms and the joining of the hands are both mys- 
 terious, and show the charity with which the priest calls his spiritual 
 brethren to God. 
 
 When he pronounces the benediction, he must lean in an engaging 
 posture towards the altar. 
 
248 
 
 ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH. 
 
 Masses among the Catholics are exceedingly numerous ; hut our limits 
 
 distant from the church, the whole chapter, who wait at the church-gate, 
 
 he draws near to the church, the bells are rung to give the people notice 
 of it, and the moment he sets his foot within the church, the organ begins 
 
 his sacred hand. His lordship first sprinkles himself, and then the canons, 
 with it, in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost ; and then pro- 
 ceeds to say a prayer at a desk prepared for that particular purpose, before 
 the altar, on which stands the Holy Sacrament. He performs the same 
 ceremony at the high altar; and thence he withdraws into the vestry, and 
 there puts on such ornaments as are suitable to the solemnity of the mass, 
 in the following manner. 
 
 The sub-deacon goes to a little closet contiguous to the altar, and takes 
 from it the episcopal sandals and stockings, which he elevates and presents 
 to the bishop. Then he kneels down, takes off his lordship’s shoes and 
 stockings ; the bishop, meanwhile, is in the midst of seven or eight acolytes, 
 all upon their knees, and dressed in their robes, who, as well as the deacon, 
 spread the prelate’s robes, in order that nothing indelicate maybe discerned 
 in putting on his stockings. Two acolytes, after they have washed their 
 hands, now take the sacred habiliments, hold them up, and give them to the 
 two deacon-assistants, to put upon the bishop, as soon as he has washed his 
 hands. The deacon salutes the bishop, takes off his upper garment, and 
 puts on his amict, the cross of which he kisses; then they give him the 
 albe, the girdle, the cross for his breast, the stole, and the pluvial. He 
 kisses the cross that is upon each of them, one after another, and thereby 
 testifies the extraordinary veneration which he has, or ought to have, for 
 the cross of Christ. The deacon-assistants likewise most devoutly kiss 
 those sacred vestments. As soon as the bishop is seated, they put his mitre 
 cn, and a priest presents him with the pastoral ring. The deacon then 
 g ves him his right glove, and the sub-deacon his left, which each of them 
 kisses, as also the hand he has the honour to serve. Ejaculatory prayers 
 have been adapted to each individual piece of the episcopal robes, and the 
 devotion of this ceremony is supported and confirmed by singing the office 
 
 bishop’s ornaments : the stole represents the yoke of the gospel : the 
 
 admit of a description of but two — high or solemn mass, 
 and the mass for the dead. 
 
 When there is to be a solemn mass, if it be a bishop who officiates, he is 
 attended to church by the canons and other officers of the church, who go 
 and wait upon him in state at his palace ; but if it happens to be too far 
 
 advance to meet him as soon as his lordship appears in sight ; and when 
 
 to play. The master of the ceremonies now gives the sprinkler to the 
 head canon, who presents it to the bishop, after he has kissed both that and 
 
 of tierce. 
 
 According to Casalius and others, there is some mystery in each of the 
 
 J 
 
ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH. 
 
 247 
 
 bishop’s shoes are taken off by virtue of what God said to Moses, Put off 
 thy shoes from off thy feet, ? the dalmatica, which is in the form of a 
 cross, intimates to the deacon, that he must be crucified to the world • the 
 albe represents the purity of the priest’s soul ; the pastoral ring points out 
 the bishop’s spiritual marriage with the church ; his gloves signify that he 
 is to be insensible of his good works, or that he must direct them to a 
 spiritual end ; the girdle, that he is to be girded with justice and virtue ; 
 the sandals, that he ought from thenceforth to walk in the paths of the 
 Lord ; the two horns of the mitre represent the Old and New Testament ; 
 the shepherd’s crook, his correction and paternal authority. The pluvial , 
 which, in former times, was a dress for travelling and fatigue, from whence 
 it manifestly took its name, signifying a protection against rain and storms, 
 shows the miseries of this life, which is ever exposed to temptations and 
 human infirmities. 
 
 The bishop being dressed in all his habiliments, his clergy range them- 
 selves round about him. Two deacons, who are canons, place themselves 
 on each side of him, both in their dalmaticas ; and after them, a deacon and 
 a sub-deacon. The incense-bearer appears with the censer, and a priest 
 with the navet, out of which the bishop takes incense, puts it into the 
 censer, and gives it his benediction. After this he kisses the cross, which 
 is upon the vestry-altar, and goes in procession to the other altar, where? 
 he is to celebrate mass. The incense-bearer walks at the head of the pro- 
 cession ; two wax-candle bearers, with lighted tapers in their hands, march 
 next, on each side of him who bears the cross : all the clergy follow them. 
 The sub-deacon who is to sing the epistle carries before his breast the book 
 of the New Testament, which is shut, and in which is the bishop’s maniple. 
 A deacon and a priest, with their pluvials on, march before the bishop, who 
 leans humbly on his two deacon-assistants, with the shepherd’s crook in 
 his left hand, and his right somewhat raised, ready to give his benediction 
 to those Christians whom he meets with in his way. 
 
 The bishop being now advanced to the altar, salutes his clergy with one 
 single bow of the head. When he is on the lowest step, he delivers his 
 crook to the sub-deacon, and the deacon takes off his mitre. Then the 
 prelate and his officiating clergy make a profound bow to the cross on the 
 altar; after which the clergy all withdraw, except the sub-deacon, who has 
 the charge of the episcopal crook, the incense-bearer, two deacon-assistants, 
 one priest-assistant, who stands at the bishop’s right hand, one deacon at 
 his left, and one more behind him. The bishop says the Confiteor, and 
 the choir sing the Introite. 
 
 At the end of the confession, the sub-deacon takes the maniple, which 
 was in the book of the New Testament, kisses it, and presents it to the 
 bishop for the same purpose ; then kisses his lordship’s hand, and puts it 
 on his left arm : in the mean time the canons, dressed in their robes, repeat 
 
 J 
 
248 
 
 ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH. 
 
 the confession. After this the bishop goes up to the altar, and continuing 
 his prayer, he leans towards the altar, extending his arms upon the table 
 of it, and kissing it with affection in the middle, whilst he makes mention 
 of the sacred relics which are placed therein. The sub-deacon now pre- 
 sents him with the book of the New Testament, which he kisses. The 
 incense-bearer then comes forward with the censer and navet, which he 
 delivers to the deacon, and the bishop receives them from him, in order to 
 bless the incense. The person who officiates then takes the censer, per- 
 fumes the altar, gives it back to the deacon, takes the mitre from another 
 deacon, goes to the epistle side, and is thrice perfumed there by the deacon 
 who holds the censer. 
 
 After this ceremony is over, the bishop kisses the holy cross, takes the 
 crosier in his left hand, and leaning upon his two deacon-assistants, whilst 
 the deacon and sub-deacon continue at the altar, goes to his episcopal 
 throne. There, laying aside his mitre, and making the sign of the cross, 
 from the forehead down to the breast, he reads the Introite out of a mass- 
 book, which the assistant priest holds for him, while another has a wax- 
 taper in his hand to light his lordship. The two deacon-assistants point 
 with their finger to the place where he is to read ; then ail sing the Kyrie 
 together; after which the bishop puts on his mitre and his gremial, which 
 is a sort of sacerdotal apron, and sits down. The two deacon-assistants now 
 seat themselves on each side of him, and the assistant-priest sits down on a 
 stool. They all rise when the choir concludes the Kyrie: then the bishop, 
 turning towards the altar, gives out the Gloria in excelsis with an audible 
 voice, which he continues saying with his ministers. 
 
 There is nothing very remarkable relating to the gradual , the hallelu- 
 jah , and the gospel , unless it be that the last is ushered in by a kind of 
 procession. The master of the ceremonies walks first, after him the 
 incense-bearer, and then the light-bearers, each with a burning taper. A 
 sub-deacon follows, with his hands joined, as if he were saying his prayers. 
 The deacon comes next, with the New Testament borne upon his breast. 
 This devout assembly, passing in review before the altar, salute it with 
 bended knees as they pass' along; and when they are arrived at the place 
 for reading the gospel, the deacon, who then stands between the two 
 taper-bearers, turns to the right of the altar, opens the book, and begins 
 the lesson out of the gospel. When the deacon says, Dominus vobiscum , 
 the bishop rises, and lays aside his mitre and his gremial. When he 
 comes to these words, Here begins the holy gospel , he makes the sign of 
 the cross ; and, to conclude, blesses himself by another cross ; after which 
 the prelate resumes his crosier, then makes the sign of the cross again, and 
 nil his ministers follow his example. 
 
 The gospel being read, he who officiates kisses the book, and all of 
 
ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH. 
 
 249 
 
 them return in the same order as they came ; — the assistant-priest incens- 
 ing the bishop. 
 
 In the next place, the bishop preaches, or some canon, who is a priest, 
 performs that office for him. After the sermon, the deacon, who sings the 
 gospel, goes to the left hand of the bishop, and, leaning a little forward, 
 says the Confiteor before him. 
 
 After this confession is over, the assistant-priest publishes the indulg- 
 ences, and the bishop gives the absolution. If there be no sermon, they 
 go on from the gospel to the creed, which is repeated in form like all the 
 rest. 
 
 The offertory follows the creed. The bishop reads it standing and bare- 
 headed. When he has done, he returns to his seat, and puts on his mitre. 
 One deacon takes off his pastoral ring, another his gloves, and some sub- 
 stantial layman presents him with a basin to wash his hands. The arch- 
 deacon, whom the ceremonial constantly calls the assistant-priest, gives 
 him the napkin. His lordship goes up again to the altar, supported by 
 his two assistants ; the sub-deacon goes to the credence-table, and by the 
 help of two acolytes puts on his shoulders the veil which covered the 
 sacred vessels, in such a manner that it hangs a little lower on the righ. 
 side than on the left. Then with his left hand he takes the chalice and 
 paten, on -which are two hosts, duly prepared, and covered with a pall 
 The right hand lies lightly over the veil, the longest side of which is 
 made use of to cover the chalice. An acolyte follows the sub-deacon to 
 the altar with wine and water. The deacon presents the paten to the per- 
 son who officiates ; all this part of the mass, which is celebrated in a 
 solemn manner by the bishop, is performed as in common masses. 
 
 The assistant-priest must take care that the prelate who officiates fol- 
 lows exactly the rubric of the mass ; and some of the ministers must stand 
 on each side the altar with lighted tapers, to honour the elevation of the 
 sacrament. 
 
 W r hen the bishop elevates the host, the deacon who kneels on his right 
 side takes up the border of the celebrant’s planet. He observes likewise 
 the same ceremony at the elevation of the chalice. It must be observed, 
 that an acolyte incenses the body and blood of our Lord, during the eleva- 
 tion of both one and the other, three times successively. After that, the 
 ministers who attend the mysteries of the sacrifice with their lighted 
 tapers, withdraw to the outside of the presbyterium to extinguish them, 
 unless they assist in the administration of the sacrament. 
 
 After the Agnus Dei , the assistant-priest places himself at the bishop’s 
 right hand, and a deacon on his left. The former kneels, while the cele- 
 brant says a short prayer, then rises again immediately, and both of them 
 kiss the altar. The celebrant gives the kiss of peace to the priest, who 
 turns his left cheek to receive it. After this mutual greeting, the assist- 
 
250 
 
 ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH. 
 
 ant-priest distributes the kiss which he has received, among the clioir, 
 beginning with the clergy of the highest quality in all the congregation. 
 The laity kiss the paxis, or instrument of peace, which, at less solemn 
 masses, is constantly made use of instead of an immediate kiss. There 
 is no variation in what follows, from the ceremonies observed at common 
 masses. 
 
 The most solemn mass for the dead is that which the bishop himself 
 celebrates. The melancholy occasion of the ceremony does not admit of 
 
 Mass for the an y P om P ous decorations on the altar. All the flowers, 
 deacl - festoons, relics and images are removed. Six yellow wax- 
 
 lights, and a cross in the middle, are the only ornaments. Two other 
 tapers of the same kind give light to the credence-table, which is covered 
 with a very plain, small table-cloth, and on which there is no other orna- 
 ment than what is absolutely necessary .for so mournful an occasion ; 
 such as a mass-book, a holy water-pot, a sprinkler, a thurible, a navet, 
 and a black cloth for absolution. The acolytes spread a black cloth upon 
 the altar, and the bishop officiates, likewise, in black. As soon as mass 
 is over, he puts on a pluvial of the same colour ; the dress of his minis- 
 ters, the episcopal chair, and the pontifical books, are all black. The 
 bishop who celebrates this melancholy mass has no crosier in his hand, no 
 gloves on, nor his sandals upon his feet ; nor does he say the Judica , the 
 Reminis caris, the Quam dilecta, nor several prayers which are said at 
 other masses. After the Confiteor , he kisses the altar, but not the book ; 
 nor do the ministers kiss any thing whatever during the celebration of it ; 
 for kisse's on such melancholy occasions are forbidden. They do not cross 
 themselves at the Introite, nor is the altar perfumed with frankincense at 
 the beginning of this mass. In short, not to mention several other differ- 
 ences which are of less moment to the laity than the clergy, we shall 
 only observe, that the person who officiates does not smite his breast at 
 the Agnus ; that he does not give the kiss of peace ; that he concludes 
 the mass without the usual blessing ; that no indulgences are published ; 
 and that the deacon, if it be a general mass for many, says the Requiescant 
 in pace , in the plural number, for the repose of the dead. 
 
 The homily follows, and the pulpit, for that purpose, is hung with black ; 
 and if it be a particular mass for any private person, remarkable for his 
 quality or virtues, his fortune and charitable endowments, the mass for the 
 rest and tranquillity of his soul in the other world, is followed by a funeral 
 panegyric. 
 
 A Chapelle Ardente , or a pompous representation of the deceased, is in 
 the mean time erected, and adorned .with branches, and illuminated with 
 yellow wax-lights, in the middle of, or some other part of the church, or 
 round the monuments of persons of distinction. If the deceased be not 
 buried in that church, this chapel may be placed in the nave, if he be a 
 
ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH. 
 
 251 
 
 layman ; or, if a clergyman, in the choir, in case it be separated from the 
 presbyterium, for it is never allowed to be placed there. The head of a 
 priest and the feet of a layman are turned towards the altar. After the 
 homily, they proceed to the absolution of the deceased, after the following- 
 manner : — The gospel of St. John being read, the person who officiates, 
 with the deacon and sub-deacon, returns to the middle of the altar, from 
 whence, after one genuflection, or one profound bow, in case there be no 
 tabernacle, they go to the epistle-side. The sub-deacon, when at the bot- 
 tom of the steps, takes the cross, and after he and the deacon have laid 
 aside their maniples, all of them proceed to the place where the Chapelle 
 Ardente , or representation, is erected, in the same order as if to the inter- 
 ment of the corpse. The incense-bearer, and he who carries the holy 
 water, walk first; the sub-deacon follows, between the two light-bearers, 
 with the cross.; after them come the choir, with yellow tapers in their 
 hands. The person who officiates, with the deacon on his left hand, walks 
 last, and no one except himself is covered, unless they go out of the 
 church, and then all are covered alike. 
 
 Being arrived at the Chapelle Ardente , w r here the celebrant is to give 
 absolution to the deceased, the incense-bearer, and the acolyte, who is the 
 holy-water bearer, place themselves in that part of the chapel which fronts 
 the altar, but somewhat inclining to the epistle-side, and behind the person 
 who officiates, who has the deacon on his right hand. The sub-deacon 
 who carries the cross, and two light-bearers, stand at the other end, at the 
 head of the corpse, a little towards the gospel-side. When they are all 
 placed, the person who officiates uncovers himself, and, taking the ritual 
 out of the deacon’s hands, begins the absolution of the deceased by a 
 prayer, the first words of which are, Non intres in judicium , fyc. Enter 
 not into judgment , fyc. We shall omit some of the responses that come 
 afterwards, such as the Libera nos, Domine, fyc., to come to the benedic- 
 tion of the incense, after which the celebrant walks round the representa- 
 tion, sprinkling it with holy-water, perfuming it on both sides, and making 
 many bows and genuflections. When he has performed the great work 
 of absolution, he says the Pater , and thereupon turns to the cross, repeat- 
 ing several verses and prayers, which are inserted in the rituals. Lastly , 
 lie makes the sign of the cross on the representation, and says the 
 Requiem for the deceased, to which the choir answer, Requiescat in pace , 
 — Let him rest in peace . After the absolution, the celebrant and his 
 attendants return in the same order as they came. 
 
 About the beginning of the fourth century, great attention began to be 
 paid to the cross, on account of St. Helena’s good fortune, who was the 
 
 „ mother of the Emperor Constantine the Great. She is said 
 
 Devotion paid to 1 
 
 t?u Cross. have found the true cross in her voyage to the Holy 
 
 Land. The son, who was as religious as his mother, painted the cross on 
 
252 ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH. 
 
 his standards ; or rather, ordered them to be made in that form. It is 
 reported, however, that the cross was not introduced into churches till the 
 beginning of the fifth century, notwithstanding it had appeared upon the 
 coins, colours, shields, helmets, and crowns of the emperors, long before 
 that time. The sixth Universal Council, held at Constantinople, about the 
 close of the seventh century, decreed that Jesus Christ should be painted 
 in a human form upon the cross, in order to represent in the most lively 
 manner imaginable, to all Christians, the death and passion of our blessed 
 Saviour; but emblematic figures of him had been in use for many preced- 
 ing ages. Christ was frequently delineated in the form of a lamb, at the 
 foot of the cross, and the Holy Ghost in that of a dove. Sometimes a 
 crown was set over the cross, to intimate to the faithful that the crown of 
 everlasting glory would be the reward of their sufferings for the cross of 
 Christ. A stag likewise was sometimes painted at the foot of this sacred 
 wood, because that beast, being an enemy to serpents, is the symbol of 
 Christ, who is the enemy of the devil. But all these emblematical figures 
 were laid aside, at the sight of Jesus Christ represented on the cross in 
 the human form, by a decree of the sixth (Ecumenical Council. This was 
 the origin of crucifixes. 
 
 The cross which Christ suffered on, as some have affirmed, was made 
 of oak. This was, it is said, fortunately found by St. Helena, together 
 with the inscription written over it. Pope Sergius, about the year 690, 
 found another large piece of the cross, which is carefully preserved at 
 Rome ; and in 1492, the inscription was found again in a church that was 
 repairing in the same city. It was said to have been concealed in a waif 
 and the troubles of the times had occasioned it to lie there forgotten. 
 Upon this occasion, Pope Alexander VI. issued a bull, promising a yearly 
 pardon of all their sins to all such devout Christians as should annually, 
 on the last Sunday in January, visit the church where that inscription had 
 been discovered. A large part of the same inscription upon the cross was 
 likewise to be seen at Toulouse, among the Benedictine monks, until the 
 close of the eighteenth century. It was publicly exposed twice a year, 
 viz., the third of May and the fourteenth of September ; and at such times 
 it was steeped in a certain quantity of water, which was afterwards given 
 to the sick, whose faith led them to believe that they derived great benefit 
 from it. In order to reconcile this relic with that at Rome, the same argu- 
 ments must be made use of as a certain monk does with respect to tho 
 nails of the cross. Two of those nails which fastened our Saviour to the 
 cross were found in the time of Constantine, who adorned his helmet and 
 horse’s bridle with them. Rome, Milan, and Treves, boast of having one 
 of those nails in their possession ; that at Rome is to be seen in the Church 
 of the Holy Cross of Jerusalem, and is annually exposed to the veneration 
 of the people ; that at Milan has equal respect paid to it, and as there 
 
ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH. 
 
 253 
 
 is some reason to believe this to be the same with Constantine’s, it is very 
 happily applied to one of the prophecies of the Prophet Zacharias, viz., 
 chap. xiv. verse 20. That of Treves is not quite so much regarded ; 
 but, however, it deserves no less the adoration of the devout. These 
 are tne three remarkable nails which pierced Christ’s hands and feet. 
 The others, to which it has been thought proper to ascribe the melan- 
 choly honour of having been instrumental to our Saviour’s sufferings, 
 are either those which have been rubbed against the former, in order to 
 receive the same divine and miraculous qualities ; or they are only little 
 parts of the true and genuine ones, like that, for instance, at Aix-la-Cha- 
 pelle, which is the point only of that shown at Rome ; or they are 
 only such as have fastened the various pieces of the cross together. 
 Some of them are likewise supposed to be nails of crosses to which seve- 
 ral holy martyrs were formerly fixed ; and as martyrs are the members of 
 Christ, there is some authority for maintaining them to be the nails of 
 our Saviour’s cross. Pope Innocent VI., in 1353, appointed a festival for 
 these sacred nails. 
 
 In regard to the genuineness of the cross found by St. Helena, we sus- 
 pect some difficulty would present itself in establishing that important 
 point, for there is a great number of Catholic churches which boast of 
 being in possession of the genuine cross, and consequently declare St. 
 Helena to be an impostor. It is, however, of no great moment, since all 
 the crosses possess the same power of performing the most extraordinary 
 miracles. This is, however, positively denied by the true believers in the 
 St. Helena cross, and, in order to substantiate this faith, they affirm that 
 she was puzzled how to distinguish our Saviour’s cross from two others 
 which she found near it ; viz., the crosses of the two thieves ; but St. 
 Macarius, however, very kindly and opportunely stepped in to solve the 
 important problem: he directed the people to join with him in player, and 
 begged of God that he would vouchsafe to discover to him which was the 
 true cross: and God heard him. A woman at the point of death was 
 brought to the crosses of the two thieves, and made to touch them one 
 after another, but to no manner of purpose : after this, she was brought 
 to our Saviour’s, and was immediately conscious that her distemper was 
 removed ; whereas, till that time, the most artful medicines had proved 
 ineffectual. 
 
 The cross of the good thief was long after found, and carried to Rome. 
 It is at the Church of the Holy Cross of Jerusalem. 
 
 Loretto is famous for the image of our Lady. There is likewise a 
 
 „ , , , . miraculous image made by St. Luke, in the borough of 
 cifixes. Cirolo, on the road to that city. 
 
 The Santissimo Crocifisso in the church of St. Dominic the Great, at 
 Naples, is composed of wood ; nor does the coarseness of the stuff in the 
 17 
 
251 
 
 ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH. 
 
 least diminish its value; the gratitude it showed to St. Thomas Aquinas, 
 by thanking him in an eloquent speech, for his beautiful and instructive 
 writings, no doubt redoubles the zeal of all those devout Christians who 
 visit the chapel. 
 
 The Santo Volto at Lucca is made of cypress, and dressed in a very 
 pompous vestment ; its shoes are silver, covered with plates of gold ; and 
 its head is adorned with a crown, set all round with jewels. It is said 
 that Nicodemus was the artificer who made it ; but it is the general belief, 
 that the face is the only part for which we are indebted to the said Nico- 
 demus ; nor ought this belief to be questioned, except by those stubborn, 
 stiff-necked heretics, who presume to impugn the veracity of the following 
 narrative. The bold undertaking having drawn down certain angels from 
 heaven, out of curiosity, to see how Nicodemus could accomplish so im- 
 portant a task, they were soon tired with the slow progress which he 
 made ; and, being moved with compassion for a man whose zeal had 
 prompted him to undertake a more than human work, they, in a truly an- 
 gelic manner, gave it the finishing stroke themselves ; and on that account 
 the crucifix took the name of Santo Volto. How this wonderful crucifix 
 came to Lucca we acknowledge ourselves at a loss to determine. At first, 
 it was carried, or rather went of itself, and took up its abode at St. Fre- 
 dianus’s Church; but either finding itself there too much confined, or 
 having particular reasons for removing its quarters, it fled to the cathedral 
 of Lucca, and remained suspended in the air, until an altar was erected 
 for it, on the spot where it was found. This charitable crucifix, one day, 
 according to Curtius, was determined to bestow one of its shoes upon a 
 poor man, who begged its charitable assistance. This gift was made 
 known, the shoe was redeemed, and the poor man had the value of it 
 given him in gold. 
 
 The crucifix at Loretto is famous for divers miracles. The angels trans- 
 ported it with the Santa Casa from Palestine to Italy. A crucifix of St. 
 Mary Transpontina, at Rome, frequently conversed in the most familiar 
 manner with St. Peter and St. Paul. 
 
 The sacred crucifix at Trent is remarkable for the approbation which 
 it gave to the decrees of the council held in that city in the sixteenth 
 century. 
 
 In the church of the Beguine nuns, at Ghent, there is a crucifix with 
 its mouth always open. One of the Beguines, affronted at being excluded 
 from a party of pleasure which had been made one day in the carnival, 
 complained to the crucifix of it, which, at the same time that it exhorted 
 her not to disturb herself, nor to be vexed at the disappointment, invited 
 her to be its wedded bride, and she died the next day ! Ever since that 
 time, the crucifix has remained wfith its mouth open ! 
 
 Wf must not omit the crucifix at Bavaria, which w f as discovered by a 
 
ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH. 
 
 255 
 
 stag that was hunted by some dogs. The stag showed it to the huntsmen 
 with his foot, and never attempted to make his escape, till he had disco- 
 vered the crucifix to them. This miracle happened in the reign of Char- 
 lemagne, and gave the name to the Convent of Pollingen, the first syllable 
 of which seems to express the barking of dogs. A fair was established 
 at Pollingen, by which means the crucifix, convent, and church, which 
 St. Boniface erected there, soon grew famous, and drew upon Pollingen 
 the jealousy of Weilhaum, a small adjacent village. They procured the 
 fair to be removed thither, which slackened the devotion of the Bavarians, 
 and soon occasioned the crucifix to be forgotten ; but it soon revenged itself, 
 by becoming an incendiary, and laying the little town of Weilhaum in ashes. 
 Notwithstanding this public calamity, that town could not agree to part 
 with the treasure which it had so unjustly obtained ; but a second fire, 
 which once more destroyed it, obliged the unhappy town to restore what 
 it had so sacrilegiously usurped. 
 
 In a church at Cologne there is a crucifix, the head of which is covered 
 with a peruke. The date of this head-dress is not known ; but all that 
 can be said of it is, that it cannot be of any long standing, since the use of 
 perukes is pretty modern. This peruke is very marvellous, for the hair is 
 never diminished, although the devotees who visit it never take their leave 
 without carrying away one or two locks of it. 
 
 We shall not enter into the history of an infinite number of crucifixes, 
 dispersed over various parts of the Catholic countries, some of which have 
 shed tears, others sweated blood, and others, again, have discovered sacri- 
 leges, and struck the malefactors either blind or lame. Some have even 
 restored life to the dead, and others health to the diseased, and all have 
 distinguished themselves by some miraculous events. Neither shall we 
 mention any domestic crucifixes, since their favours seldom reach farther 
 than the families which they protect ; we cannot, however, in justice to 
 the latter, omit to mention the crucifix which obliged F. Bencius with 
 several nocturnal visits, and at last made him determine to assume the 
 Jesuit’s habit. 
 
 From the adoration of. wooden crosses, the Catholics proceed to that of 
 metal objects, among which bells maintain a very exalted rank, at the same 
 Custom of time that they are invested with qualifications of which, for 
 churches. some particular reason, the Protestant bells are wholly des- 
 
 titute. Among other incomparable properties of the Roman Catholic bells, 
 they are said to represent the duration of the Gospel, whose glorious sound 
 has been carried throughout the whole earth. They likewise represent 
 the Church encouraging the faithful to praise the Lord, and the pastors 
 of the Gospel preaching the word of God. They have, besides, several 
 other mysterious significations, which are to be met with in the rituals. 
 And as a further proof of the miraculous power of the Catholic bells, it is 
 
25G 
 
 
 
 ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH. 
 
 stated that in a church at Rome there was, formerly, preserved a part cf 
 the sound of the bells of Jerusalem. 
 
 The ceremony of blessing hells is by the people called christening them, 
 because the name of some of the saints is ascribed to them, by virtue of 
 „ . whose invocation they are presented to God, in order that 
 
 Bells - they may obtain his favour and protection. The benediction 
 
 devotes them to God’s service, that he may confer on them the power, not 
 of basely striking the ear, but of touching the heart by the influence of the 
 Holy Ghost. When they are thus blessed and rung out, they contribute 
 very much towards the priest’s success in exorcisms, &c. 
 
 It is the bishop’s peculiar province to perform this ceremonjr, which 
 consists, chiefly, in washing the bell inwardly and outwardly with salt and 
 water, and anointing it with oil. It is, afterwards, in a manner baptized 
 with holy chrism, upon which it is consecrated in the name of the sacred 
 Trinity; and the saint who stands its godfather is then nominated. The 
 bell thus christened, or consecrated, is then perfumed. 
 
 Pope John XIII. was the first who baptized bells, by giving his own 
 name to that of St. John de Lateran in 965. As the consecration of bells 
 represents, according to the rituals, the consecration of pastors, so the in- 
 ward and outward ablution, succeeded by the anointing with oil, denotes 
 the sanctification of their baptism ; the seven unctions in the form of a * 
 cross, show that pastors should excel all other Christians in the graces of 
 the Holy Ghost, and possess the fulness thereof typified by the seven gifts ; 
 the anointing the inside with the chrism signifies a complete fulness of the 
 Holy Ghost, with which the bishop finds himself endowed by his ordina- 
 tion. The perfuming includes mysteries of no less importance. As the 
 smoke of the perfumes arises in the bell, and fills it, so a pastor who is 
 adorned with the fulness of God’s Spirit receives the perfume of the solemn 
 vows and supplications of the faithful. 
 
 Durant, in his treatise De Ritibus, says, that “ The metal of a bell 
 denotes the strength of a preacher’s understanding, and the clapper his 
 tongue ; the stroke of the clapper, the censure of the latter against immo- 
 rality and profaneness ; the part that holds the clapper signifies the mode- 
 ration of the tongue. The wood on which the bell hangs represents the 
 wood of the cross ; the pieces to which the wood is fixed, the oracles of 
 the prophets. The cramp-iron, fixing the bell to the wood, expresses the 
 preacher’s attachment to the cross of Christ. The bell-rope likewise in- 
 cludes considerable mysteries; the three^ cords, for instance, of which it is 
 made, are the three senses of the Scripture, viz. the historical, the moral, 
 and the allegorical: they are likewise emblematical of the three persons 
 of the Holy Trinity.” 
 
 Images were early introduced into churches, and were designed to 
 heighten the devotion of the people by such objects as strike the senses. 
 
ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH. 
 
 25/ 
 
 „ , . God is painted in churches like a venerable old man, he 
 
 images. having styled himself the “ Ancient of Days;" the Son is 
 
 represented likewise as a man, he having put on a human form ; and the 
 Holy Ghost, in the form of a dove, the hieroglyphic of simplicity and 
 integrity. The angels are painted as young boys, with wings on their 
 shoulders ; their character and industry, as ministers of God, being de- 
 scribed by nothing more aptly than the youth of man, and the agility of 
 birds. Jesus Christ was formerly represented in the form of a lamb, with 
 one foot before the cross ; and sometimes as a shepherd with a lamb on 
 his shoulders. The manner of painting the Holy Ghost like a dove is 
 very ancient, and even the Eucharist was formerly kept in a box, made in 
 the shape of that bird. 
 
 There are few Christians who are strangers to the pretended miracles 
 and wondrous effects of the images of the Catholic saints. We shall give 
 , , the reader some instances. The image of Jesus Christ, 
 
 Miracles wrought ° 
 
 by images. which an impious wretch had stabbed with his dagger, on 
 
 feeling the blow, laid its hand upon the wound : this image is famous at 
 Naples. But that of “ Our Lady,” now at Rome, in the Pauline Chapel, 
 made by St. Luke, the celebrated painter and evangelist, is no less remark- 
 able. It is reported that the angels have frequently sung the litanies round 
 her. The image of St. Catharine of Sienna has often driven away devils, 
 and wrought several other extraordinary miracles. Our Lady of Lucca, 
 being treated in a very insolent manner by a soldier, who threw stones at 
 her, and had nearly broken the head of the young Jesus, whom she held 
 in her right arm, placed the child in a moment on her left ! and the child 
 liked that situation so well, that since that accident he has never changed 
 it ! It would be tedious here to give the history of several other miracu- 
 lous images, there being entire books written upon the subject, to which 
 we must refer the curious reader. 
 
 By the sacred or holy shroud, is meant that in which the body of the 
 Redeemer was wrapped in the sepulchre, while the soul descended into 
 The holy to triumph over death and the grave. There are two 
 
 shrouds. celebrated shrouds in Europe ; that of Besan^on, and that 
 
 of Turin. Both of these were brought from Palestine in the time of the 
 Crusades, about the beginning of the twelfth century. 
 
 The shroud of Besancon is famous for the miracles it has wrought. It 
 * © 
 
 has even raised the dead ; and this resurrection, which happened in the 
 
 Shroud of Be- f° urteent h century, considerably increased its reputation. 
 
 sm§on. The Church of St. Stephen, where this sacred relic was 
 
 once kept, was soon found too small. The vast crowd of devotees who 
 
 docked in from all quarters to see it, obliged them to erect a wooden 
 
 theatre before the church, and afterwards a stone one, from whence it is 
 
 exposed to public view twice a year, viz. on Easter-day and on the Sun- 
 
258 
 
 ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH. 
 
 day after Ascension. Chifflet, in his Dissertation, has preserved the 
 memory of the miracles which were performed by this relic. It has seve- 
 ral times cured desperate distempers, restored the blind to sight, put a stop 
 to the plague ; nay, the very images of this holy relic have wrought mi- 
 raculous cures. 
 
 The holy shroud of Turin falls nothing short of the other : this, like- 
 wise, was brought from Jerusalem, and we are informed by Chifflet, that 
 after two or three times changing its situation, it fixed itself 
 
 Shroud of Turin. ^ j ast at Turin, in the Chapel of the Holy Shroud , which 
 
 is within the cathedral. This relic is noted equally with the other for 
 its surprising miracles. In 1534, its very presence only delivered some 
 that were possessed of devils ; and if the father of a certain child, who 
 saw his son drowning, bad not invoked its aid and assistance, the youth 
 would have been inevitably lost. It is exposed to public view on the 
 fourth of May, being its festival, which was instituted by Julius II. in 
 1506. According to Chifflet, the shroud was then at Chamberg. The 
 plague which raged in Italy, in 1578, was the cause of its being brought 
 to Turin. Duke Emanuel Philibert, who had it translated, promised to 
 restore it to the people of Chamberg ; but neither he nor his successors 
 ever performed that promise ; and the Savoyards complain that their 
 country has been exposed to great calamities ever since it has been re- 
 moved. The mule which carried the sacred relic, and would not stir 
 one step beyond the gate of Chamberg, is a manifest proof of the right 
 which the inhabitants possess to such an invaluable property. Pope 
 Julius established a society in honour of this sacred relic, to comply with 
 the devotion of Duke Charles and Claude his mother. He added indulg- 
 ences for those who visited its chapel and paid their devotions there on 
 stated days. 
 
 Besides these two shrouds, there is one deposited in the church of St 
 Cornelius, at Compiegne. There are three others at Rome ; one at Milan ; 
 one at Lisbon ; and one at Aix-la-Chapelle : most of them are known by 
 the name of Veronica. There are likewise two others in the latter city; 
 one called the Holy Garment in which Joseph of Jlrimathca wrapped the 
 body of Our Blessed Saviour, when he put him into the sepulchre ; the 
 other, which they particularly call the Holy Handkerchief is that with 
 which the face of Christ was covered, and which St. Peter found in a 
 separate place from the other vestments , as an infallible testimony that 
 Christ was risen. 
 
 No layman is permitted to make use of any sacred utensils whatsoever. 
 
 Sacred Vessels, It is the privilege of the clergy alone to handle them : this 
 die ’aitar? ngin ° l ° custom is borrowed from the Jews. 
 
 The Chalice must be made either of gold or silver : in the infancy of 
 the church, the chalices were all wood ; but in process of time they were 
 
ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH. 
 
 259 
 
 The Pix. 
 
 made of glass or marble, and at last of silver or gold. The 
 
 The Chahce, j^jg^op j s obliged to consecrate the chalices, as well as the 
 patens, both within and without. Small chalices, generally, are nine 
 inches in height, and large ones eleven or twelve. 
 
 The Paten must be made of the same metal as the chalice, arid the use 
 of it is to hold the consecrated host; it must likewise be answerable to 
 the size of the chalice, that is, about six or eight inches in 
 
 The Paten. , . 
 
 diameter. 
 
 The Pix, in which the Holy Sacrament is deposited, must be, at least, 
 of silver, gilt within, and its foot must be half a span high. The height 
 of the cup must be proportioned to its breadth, and the bot- 
 tom must have a gentle rising, in order the more commo- 
 diously to take out the wafers when there are bat few in it, and to cleanse 
 it when there is occasion. The wafers are not to lie above eight days at 
 most in the pix, without the latter being cleansed, lest they should happen 
 to grow mouldy. A veil in the form of a tent made of a rich white stuff, 
 with a fringe round it, must cover this precious repository of the wafers. 
 
 There must likewise be a box to car.ry the communion to the sick, made 
 of silver, gilt within ; and it must be put into a white silk purse, and hung 
 about the neck, in such places as are difficult of access. The box and pix 
 must be blessed. — There must be another box for large wafers, which are 
 round, and rather larger than the others; and this may be made of silver, 
 tin, pasteboard, &c., lined with white taffeta within, and adorned with some 
 rich silk without: a round leaden plate, covered with taffeta, must be put 
 into the box, that the wafers may be always ready. These wafers must 
 neither be kept in too dry, nor too moist a place. Such as are too stale 
 must never be made use of. 
 
 The Sun for exposing the Holy Sacrament must be made of silver: the 
 foot of the smallest must be a span in height. This sun must have two 
 crystals, one third of a span in diameter, or more, that a 
 large wafer may the more commodiously be put between ; 
 and this must be set in a little half-moon made of silver, and gilt. One of 
 the crystals must be fastened to the sun by a small chain, like the case of 
 a watch : there must be a cross, likewise, over the sun. 
 
 The Thurible may be made of silver or pewter, but there should be four 
 chains to it. Two thuribles are used in processions of the Holy Sacra- 
 ment, but at no other times. The navet must be of the 
 
 The Thurible. , . , , , ... 
 
 same metal with the thurible. 
 
 Germanus, of Constantinople, says, that the thurible represents the hu- 
 man nature of Christ. The burning of the perfume is his divine nature; 
 the perfume itself, the Holy Ghost : the incense is the emblem of penance, 
 of preaching the gospel, and the prayers of the faithful. It also repre- 
 sents the virtues and good works of the saints. The thurible, according 
 
 The Sun. 
 
2G0 
 
 HOMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH. 
 
 to St. Austin, is likewise the image of Christ’s body. St. Ambrose very 
 gravely observes, that an angel appears at this ceremony. 
 
 The Incense , which is made use of at church, must be of an odoriferous 
 smell, and be a little broken before it is put into the navet, but not reduced 
 to powder. 
 
 The Holy-water pot ought to be made of silver, pewter, or tin ; the 
 sprinkler of the same, or else of wood, with hog’s bristles or wolf’s hair 
 ri , twisted round about it ; and at the end of it there must be a 
 
 Tie Holy, water 7 
 
 P° u hollow knob with holes, in which a small sponge is enclosed. 
 
 There must be two vessels of pewter, delf, or earthenware, for washing 
 the corporals, pales, purificatories, and chalices. In the place where the 
 wafers are made, there must be another pewter or earthenware vessel, to 
 be appropriated to this use, and no other. 
 
 The Peace-utensil must be made of gold, silver, or embroidery, with 
 some pious image of the crucifix, or other mystery, upon it. It must be 
 The Peace uten ^alf a s P an high, not q u i te an inch broad, and end in a 
 
 sil - semicircle at top. There must be a small handle to hold 
 
 it by, to which a veil must be fastened, of the colour of the service of the 
 day to wipe it with. 
 
 The Corporals must be made of fine white linen ; not too thin, nor 
 
 stitched, and without lace ; but if there be any lace, it must be very nar- 
 
 row, and not more than two fingers broad at the projecting 
 edge. In that part where the priest most commonly kisses 
 the altar, a small cross must be placed, and made of white silk, or thread, 
 in this formal. The corporals must be folded in such a manner, that all 
 the ends may be inside, and not seen. 
 
 The use of corporals is said to have been appointed by Pope Eusebius, 
 or by Sylvester I. This represents the sheet in which our Saviour’s body 
 was wrapped after his death, and for that reason can be made of nothing 
 but linen. 
 
 The Pales must be made of the same linen as the corporals, and lined 
 with stiffening pasteboard. Upon these there must be neither embroidery, 
 cross or image, nor any lace round them ; but four small 
 tassels only at the four corners to hold them by. They 
 must be blessed with the corporals, and no person under a sub-deacon may 
 presume to touch them. 
 
 The Purificatories are made of linen, and are two spans in length : 
 The Purifieato- l h e y are folded three times double, and there must be a 
 ries - small cross of blue thread in the middle of them. 
 
 The outside of the Purses for the corporals is made of the same kind 
 of stuff as the other decorations, but the inside is lined with fine white 
 linen, with a strong pasteboard between. These purses are 
 about a span wide, are fastened by a button and loop, and 
 
 The Corporals. 
 
 The Pales. 
 
 The Purses. 
 
ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH. 
 
 20 1 
 
 have a cross embroidered on the outside, of about three-quarters of a span 
 in length. 
 
 ^The Veil of the Chalice is made of silk, and of the same colour as the 
 
 The Veil of the rest ^ decorations ; it is three spans square, and has no 
 Chalice. cross, or any other figure whatever. 
 
 In those churches in which the solemn service is performed, the sub- 
 deacon must have veils of ten spans long and as wide as the silk, of four 
 colours, viz. white, red, green, and purple, wherewith to hold up the paten 
 at high mass. Black veils are never made use of, not even at masses for 
 the dead, nor even on Good Friday. They must be made, therefore, of 
 white silk, and be edged with lace. Alet's Ritual adds, “that in the most 
 celebrated churches, there must be another white veil of the same size, 
 but more costly, to throw over the shoulders of the celebrant, when he 
 carries the host in procession ; and in the parish-church there must be a 
 canopy likewise of white silk, for the holy viaticum , when it is carried to 
 the sick, of five or six spans long, and four wide, or rather more. The 
 valla nee, with the fringe, must be a span and a half deep, and both must 
 be made of white silk. It must be carried with two poles of five or six 
 spans long, which are covered with the same silk as the canopy, if they 
 are neither painted nor gilt.” He who carries the Holy Sacrament to the 
 sick is inferior to him who carries it in procession. 
 
 There must be veils, likewise, or covers, to the crosses and images in 
 Passion-week, which must be made of camlet, or some other stuff of purple 
 colour, but without any figure, image, cross, or other implements of the 
 Passion. 
 
 In every parish-church there ought to be a standard, about nine or ten 
 spans high, and six long, of a colour suitable to its patron ; and in the 
 middle of it the patron must be represented in embroidery. This stand- 
 ard must be of satin, damask, taffeta, or camlet, lined with linen, or alight 
 stuff, and have a silk border, and a fringe all round it. The pole of it 
 must be about three yards long. 
 
 The pope performs the ceremony of baptizing and giving his benedic- 
 tion to the Agnus Dei's in the first year of his pontificate, and repeats it 
 
 The Benediction on eve] T seventh year. These Agnuses are a sort of pas- 
 of the Agnus Dei. tils, made of wax, in the form of an oval medal, upon which 
 Jesus Christ is represented under the appearance of a lamb, holding a 
 cross ; for which reason they are called Agnuses. The wax was formerly 
 provided by one of the gentlemen of his holiness’s chamber, who held his 
 office from the master or chamberlain of the sacred palace. Those who 
 were desirous to have any Agnuses , laid some wax upon the altar of St. 
 Peter and an apostolic sub-deacon fetched it thence, and carried it to an 
 npartment in the pontiff’s palace. The sub-deacon and his colleagues, 
 assisted by some of the acolytes, moulded the wax, and with great devotion 
 
282 
 
 ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH. 
 
 and neatness made it up into Agnuses, according to the directions of tne 
 Reman ceremonial. These sacred pastils are now provided at the expense 
 of the apostolic chamber. The wax, which is the ground-work or sub- 
 stance of them, is melted in a quantity of sacred oil or chrism of the pre- 
 ceding year. When the materials are completely prepared, the Jlgnuses 
 are presented to the pontiff in one or more basins, and he gives them his 
 benediction. 
 
 On Easter Tuesday the sacristan performs the benediction over the 
 water used for baptizing the Agnuses; and the next day, as soon as the 
 pontifical mass is ended, his holiness, dressed in his arriict, his albe, his 
 stole of white damask with a silver lace, and having a mitre of cloth of 
 gold upon his head, consecrates the water which was blessed by the 
 sacristan on the preceding day. This water is put into a large silver 
 basin ; the consecration consists of the usual blessings, to which the holy 
 father adds a prayer to. Almighty God, that he would vouchsafe to sanctify 
 those things which wash away the sins of mankind, &c., after which he 
 takes some balm, and pours it into the water, adding thereto the holy 
 chrism, which he likewise pours into it, in the form of a cross. He offers 
 up several prayers to" God during the performance of this ceremony ; then 
 he turns to the Jlgnuses, blesses and incenses them, imploring God to 
 shower down upon them all the virtues generally ascribed to them. A 
 second and third prayer follow ; after which, his holiness, seated in an 
 easy chair, prepared purposely for him, having a napkin girt about him 
 and his mitre on, takes the Agnuses , which the gentlemen of the cham- 
 ber present him in silver gilt basins, one after another, and throws them 
 into the holy water. 
 
 The cardinals, in their fine linen albes, take them out the next moment, 
 with a spoon made use of for no other purpose. Their eminences after- 
 wards lay them on a table covered with a clean white cloth, and there 
 wipe them with a napkin, which they likewise wear in the form of an 
 apron, and the assistant prelates range them upon the table, where they 
 are left till they are thoroughly dry. After this baptism is over, the holy 
 father rises, and in a prayer addresses himself to the Holy Ghost, beseech- 
 ing him to bless them ; and then makes his application to Jesus Christ : 
 after this, they are put into the basins again, and his holiness invites all the 
 cardinals who have assisted him in this office to dine with him. This 
 work is resumed on the Thursday following, and continued till the Friday, 
 when they are all blessed. This ceremony is performed in the presence 
 of several ambassadors, and a multitude of strangers, whom curiosity brings 
 thither to be spectators. 
 
 On the following Saturday, being the day on which the Agnuses are 
 distributed, a chapel is held, and a mass is sung by a cardinal-priesi, at 
 which his holiness assists in pontificalibus. As soon as the Agnus Dei is 
 
ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH. 
 
 2G3 
 
 sung, an apostolic sub-deacon, dressed in his robes, with a cross-bearer, 
 two wax-taper bearers, and the thuriferary before him, goes to the pon- 
 tiff’s sacristan, and takes from him a basin-full of the Agnus Dei’s , lately 
 blessed, and wrapped up in parti-coloured China cotton. The sub-deacon 
 is followed by a clerk of the ceremonies, and two chaplains in their sur- 
 plices. When these arrive at the door of the chapel, they all kneel, and 
 the sub-deacon, with an audible voice, sings these words in Latin : — “Holy 
 father, these are the new lambs, who have sung their hallelujahs to you. 
 They drank, not long ago, at the fountain of holy water. They are now 
 very much enlightened. — Praise the Lord !” To which the music in the 
 choir answers, “God be praised: hallelujah!” — After this, the sub-deacon 
 rises and walks forward. As soon as he gets to the entrance of the balus- 
 trade in the chapel, he repeats the. words just before mentioned. When 
 he approaches the pontifical throne, he repeats them a third time, and 
 prostrates himself at the feet of his holiness, who receives him sitting, 
 with his mitre on. When the cross enters, however, he and the whole 
 congregation rise ; but the holy father sits down again immediately, though 
 the sub-deacon remains kneeling at his feet, while he distributes the Ag- 
 nuses in the following manner : — 
 
 Two auditors take a fine white napkin, and present it to two cardinal- 
 deacons assistants, who lay it, in a decent manner, on the knees of his 
 holiness; and the two former hold the two ends of the napkin, while the 
 sacred college partake of the holy father’s munificence. Their eminences, 
 after their usual testimonies of respect and veneration, present their mitres, 
 with the horns downwards, to his holiness, who puts as many Agnuses 
 as he thinks proper into them. Formerly, he bestowed no more than 
 three to each of the sacred college, two to the other prelates, and one to 
 the clergy, &c. Their eminences, in return, kiss his holiness’s hand and 
 knee. After they and the clergy have received their share, several am- 
 bassadors, and other persons of distinction, come forward with white 
 napkins, to partake in their turn, but not so liberally, of these spiritual 
 benefits. 
 
 The distribution thus made, the pope washes his hands, the sacred col- 
 lege unrobe, the celebrant returns to the altar, mass concludes with a 
 double hallelujah, and his holiness bestows his benediction on his children, 
 with a great many indulgences, which are published by the celebrant. 
 The popes, as we find by the Roman Ceremonial , had, formerly, a basin- 
 ful of Agnuses brought to the table after dinner, which they had distri- 
 buted among the apostolic court. 
 
 All the Agnus Deis which remain out of the prodigious number that 
 have been blessed, are left in the prelate’s custody, who is master of the 
 pope’s wardrobe ; and he distributes them every day, at certain hours, 
 among the pilgrims and other foreigners who go and ask for them. By 
 
264 
 
 ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH. 
 
 one of the constitutions of Pope Gregory the Thirteenth, made in 1572, 
 all those who w r ere not in holy orders were forbidden to touch these Agnus 
 DeVs, unless on some emergent occasion; and as a still further precaution, 
 all laymen were directed to have them set in glass, or crystal ; and that 
 those who had the means of wrapping them up in some rich embroidery 
 should so order it, that the Agnus might appear on one side as in a reli- 
 quary. Painting them w T as likewise prohibited by the same constitution, 
 upon pain of excommunication ; the whiteness of the wax, in which these 
 figures in relievo were formed, being esteemed by Pope Gregory more 
 suitable than any other colour whatsoever to represent the immaculate 
 Lamb of God; which are the wmrds made use of by all the popes, from 
 Gregory the Thirteenth to this day, in speaking of the miraculous effects 
 of Agnuses. 
 
 Before the person to be canonized is registered among the number of 
 the saints, his holiness holds four consistories. The first two are private, 
 _ . . . the third public, and the fourth between both. In the first, 
 
 rhe Saints. he causes the petition of those who demand to have their 
 
 saint universally acknowledged as such in the Catholic Church, to be 
 examined by three auditors of the rota, and directs the cardinals to revise 
 all the instruments relating thereunto. In the second, the cardinals make 
 their report. The third being held in public, the cardinals pay their 
 adoration to his holiness ; after which, one of the consistorial advocates 
 makes the eulogium of the person who is to be proclaimed a saint, and 
 gives a long and particular account of the life and miracles of this faithful 
 servant of God. The fourth consistory is held in the ducal hall, where his 
 holiness assists in his plain mitre and pluvial, at which no adoration is 
 paid to him. Patriarchs, archbishops, bishops, prothonotaries, and audi- 
 tors of the rota, are admitted at this consistory, and the train-bearers per- 
 form their office dressed in purple ; but after the extra, everybody goes 
 out but the prelates before mentioned. This consistory is held for taking 
 the votes of those prelates wffio are for and against the canonization, and 
 as soon as it is resolved upon by a plurality of voices, the pope intimates 
 the day appointed for the ceremony. 
 
 On the canonization-day the pope officiates m white, and the cardinals 
 are dressed in the same colour. St. Peter’s church is hung with rich 
 tapestry, upon which appear the arms of his holiness, or of that prince or 
 state which requires the canonization, embroidered with gold and silver, 
 and the church is most pompously illuminated. 
 
 Canonization is attended with immense expense to those princes who are 
 desirous of the glory of procuring it for some favourite Christian. Beati- 
 fication is in some measure the forerunner of it ; for beatitude naturally 
 leads to sanctity, and to a supposition that he that is accounted blessed 
 here below ought to be acknowledged as such in heaven. 
 
I 
 
 ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH. 2G5 
 
 Tae surprising virtues which were discovered in the relics of saints, for 
 the cure of those who were diseased, and for the salvation of men’s souls, 
 gave birth to their translation. It was likewise the received opinion, that 
 the bodies of the saints were able to draw down the blessings of heaven on 
 cities and states ; accordingly nations put themselves under their protec- 
 tion. The numberless miracles which are related in the legends, as well 
 ancient as modern, convinced the populace that the protection of saints was 
 a circumstance of the first importance. Their images were erected in their 
 churches, and their names included in their litanies. To that time canoni- 
 zations were made by a tacit consent of the clergy, without the least for- 
 mality ; but the use of registers, known by the name of Diptics, had ob- 
 tained long before that, in which were set down the names of martyrs, and 
 those who died in a reputation for holiness, after having distinguished them- 
 selves by a virtuous life. 
 
 There is no instance of a solemn canonization before that of St. Sibert, 
 whom Pope Leo III. canonized about the beginning cf the ninth century; 
 though some attribute the first solemn canonization to Pope Adrian, and 
 others are of opinion that St. Ulric, who was canonized by Pope John XIV. 
 or XV. in 993, was the first saint canonized in form ; and some again 
 ascribe the glory of this institution to Pope Alexander III. 
 
 A magnificent theatre is always erected in St. Peter’s church for the 
 ceremony of canonization. On the day the ceremony is to he performed, 
 the entrance to the theatre is lined by the Swiss guards, who are likewise 
 posted at the doors of the basilica; a detachment of the horse-guards is 
 drawn up in St. Peter’s square, another of the cuirassiers in that of the 
 Vatican, and a third in all the streets through which the procession passes. 
 These guards, together with those which are posted in the other quarters 
 of Rome, and the garrison of St. Angelo, make a general discharge of their 
 artillery when the signal is given that the ceremony is begun, and all the 
 hells of the city are rung at the same time. Te, Deum likewise is sung to 
 instrumental music, &c. 
 
 The following is a description of the honours which Pope Clement XI. 
 paid, in 1712, to those saints who were publicly acknowledged by his holi- 
 ness as the mediators of all Christians with Jesus Christ. 
 
 All the avenues of St. Peter’s were lined with troops on the twenty- 
 second of May, and the whole force was scarcely sufficient to withstand 
 the impetuous movements of the vast concourse of people, of all ages and 
 sexes, whom devotion and curiosity had brought thither to see the cere- 
 mony. This prodigious concourse of all ranks and degrees flocked from 
 every part of Rome to St. Peter’s by break of day; while the clergy, both 
 secular and regular, according to the order issued to them, assembled at the 
 Vatican. The cardinal-deacons then robed the pope in his proper orna- 
 ments ; after which his holiness set out for Sixtus’s chapel, with the cress 
 
r 
 
 266 
 
 ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH. 
 
 before, and the clergy behind him. As soon as he arrived there, he made 
 the sign of the cross over his devout retinue, took off his triple crown, and 
 kneeling down, prayed before the altar. Afterwards he gave out the 
 hymn, which begins with these words, Ave Maria Stella , &c., and then 
 kneeled down again, till the music of the chapel had concluded. The 
 holy father now arose, put on his mitre, returned to his chair, and there 
 received from Cardinal Albani, who was his nephew, and petitioner for the 
 canonization, two large painted tapers, and a small one, with the arms of 
 his holiness and the images of the candidate saints upon them. His emi- 
 nence, at presenting them, kissed the hand and knee of. the pontiff. One 
 of these large tapers was, by the directions of his holiness, given to the 
 constable Colonna, in order to carry it in the procession before him, and to 
 hold it in his hand during the ceremony of canonization. The other was 
 not disposed of, there being no person present of suitable quality to walk 
 abreast with the constable on this solemn occasion. The small taper was 
 given to the cup-bearer, first chamberlain to his holiness, but a general 
 distribution of tapers was first made among the clergy, each of them being 
 distinguished according to his rank and dignity. 
 
 It is related of St. Raymond of Pennaforte, that, after having long cen- 
 sured the dissolute deportment of a king of Spain, without being able to 
 wean him from his criminal engagements, he determined to 
 leave him to his own wicked inclinations, and to embark 
 for Barcelona. But his majesty having charged all persons not to take 
 him on board, St. Raymond revived the miracle of our Saviour’s walking 
 upon the water ; he threw his cloak into the sea, and taking his staff in 
 his hand, embarked in this new kind of boat, and arrived safe in Catalonia. 
 The very gate of the convent to which he belonged, opened of itself at the 
 saint’s approach. 
 
 St. Peter of Nola, who styled himself an unprofitable servant , — that off- 
 scouring of the earth , and mere nothing , — had very frequent and familiar 
 discourses with God and the Blessed Virgin. The apostle St. Peter one 
 day honoured him with a visit, in the same posture in which he was cru- 
 cified, that is, with his heels upwards. 
 
 St. Francis silenced the swallows who interrupted him in his sermon, so 
 that they stood still and mute with awe and wonder, while he expounded 
 the truths of the gospel. 
 
 St. Anthony of Padua likewise, being unable to gain the attention of the 
 heretics, desired them to go to the sea-side, in order to convince them of the 
 tractable disposition of the fishes, which immediately left their streams to 
 hearken to his preaching, and stood erect on their tails, enraptured with his 
 pious discourses. 
 
 St. Francis of Paula was endowed with a supernatural strength. He 
 carried away, without any assistance, a prodigious large rock, which ob- 
 
 Power of the 
 modern saints. 
 
ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH. 
 
 267 
 
 structed the foundation of the dormitory of a monastery which he was 
 building. He likewise hung up in the air a piece of rock which broke 
 from a mountain, and threatened to demolish his new edifice and to dash 
 in pieces a great number of his workmen. He afterwards supported it 
 with his staff, and left it for a long time in that position, exposed to public 
 view, to the edification of a multitude of people, who resorted thither in 
 crowds to see such a miracle. This rock was afterwards made use of in 
 finishing his new monastery. 
 
 Manna has been often seen to fall on St. Agnes of Monte Pulciano in 
 the form of a cross. The Blessed Virgin appeared to her on one of the 
 festivals of the Assumption, with the child Jesus in her arms, whom she 
 permitted to embrace and press to her breast. At her departure , she left 
 the saint a cross , which the child Jesus wore about his neck. We shall 
 take no notice of the rose that appeared in the middle of winter, in a little 
 dish which this female saint served up to two hermits ; but we cannot for- 
 bear mentioning the advances, in point of complaisance, which she made 
 after her decease to St. Catherine of Sienna, who went to pay her a visit 
 at her sepulchre : while the living saint was stooping down to kiss the feet 
 of the dead one, the latter, through an excess of humility, lifted up her 
 foot, and touched the other’s lips. 
 
 St. Bonaventure, the celebrated author of the “Psalter of Our Lady,” 
 which was printed in 1665, not being able to take the sacrament in the 
 usual way, through a violent indisposition in his stomach, had the holy pyx 
 placed upon his breast, and the sacred wafer instantly penetrated that way 
 into his very bowels, in order to become the life of his soul. 
 
 St. Ignatius, who was given over by the physicians, was visited by St. 
 Peter, who, by a touch with his hands, wrought on him a miraculous cure. 
 After that the Blessed Virgin paid him a visit, and made him a present 
 at the same time of a celestial ointment called the “ Balm of Chastity.” 
 When he was upon his pilgrimage to Jerusalem, he determined to visit 
 the Mount of Olives, and Christ himself condescended to be his guide. 
 He cured persons afflicted with the falling sickness, cast the devils out 
 of such as were possessed, and recovered several by permitting them 
 to touch the hem of his garment. To conclude, the number of miracles 
 which are said to be wrought by him amount to two hundred, or there- 
 abouts. 
 
 St. Clare was in such esteem with God , that without the least difficulty 
 she obtained whatever she asked. From her very infancy there appeared 
 in her surprising signs of her future sanctity : instead of playing like other 
 children, she did nothing but pray, fast, and give alms, in her early years. 
 All the saints indeed, as appears by their lives, have begun with these 
 general practices of devotion ; but from her very infancy St. Clare went 
 farther, and wore a hair-cloth to mortify the flesh, and to put a stop to all 
 
1 
 
 268 ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH. 
 
 irregular passions. She was very seldom alone in the heat of her pious 
 exercises. A very beautiful child, with two radiant wings, flew into her 
 lap one day, and clasping her with them, caressed her with many fond 
 endearments. At another time, although she was indisposed and unable 
 to go to matins, yet she* heard distinctly the office, which was sung at a 
 church some considerable distance from the monastery, and what is most 
 surprising , she was so happy as to see the young child Jesus lying in his 
 manger. In her dying moments, Jesus was seen near her, accompanied 
 by several virgins crowned with flowers. One of them in particular, who 
 wore a close crown more radiant than the sun , drew near and embraced 
 her ; the rest spread a carpet of inestimable vcdue over her body. The 
 daughters of this holy mother, especially the nuns of the 'Jive Maria , 
 inherited her austerities and virtues, though they did not attain the gift of 
 miracles. 
 
 St. Barbara, accompanied by two angels, gave the communion to the 
 little blessed Stanislaus Kostca , who lay dangerously ill in a family who 
 were heretics, and would not permit the holy sacrament to come into their 
 house. He held many conversations with the Virgin Mary, “his lady, his 
 mistress, and his good mother and a great number of miracles were 
 wrought by his mediation after his death. When he died, the Virgin 
 Mary, accompanied by several other blessed virgins, came to conduct him 
 to heaven. Devils quitted the bodies they had been tormenting at the very 
 name of Stanislaus. He restored as many persons to life as he was j^ears 
 old, though he lived to the age of ninety, and this extraordinary miracle 
 was thought so easy for him to perform, that it grew into a proverb in Poland : 
 “Let us go,” said the people, “to the blessed Stanislaus, who raises the 
 dead.” The application of this young saint’s image cured a young Jesuit 
 of fourteen years of age at Lima, in the year 1673, but upon this condition, 
 that he should say a Pater Noster , and an Jive Maria , every day of his 
 life, in honour of the little Polish saint; and that, on the eve of his festival, 
 he should live upon bread and water, and once perform the spiritual exer- 
 cises of Saint Ignatius, to the honour and glory of his blessed son Stanislaus. 
 All such as were afflicted with palpitations, swellings, broken limbs, sore 
 eyes, fevers, &c., were confidently assured that a little wine in which one 
 of the saint’s bones had been steeped, was an infallible remedy for such 
 distempers and accidents. 
 
 St. Roche, the patron and protector of such as are infected with the 
 plague, distinguished himself by several remarkable cures. The dog that 
 is usually painted lying by him, charitably fed the saint, at a time when 
 the pestilence was outrageous. 
 
 The blessed St. Clare of Montefalco had the figure of Christ upon the 
 cross, and all the instruments of his passion, engraved upon her heart. 
 Her repeated declarations of this miracle to the nuns of her convent made 
 
ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH. 
 
 2G9 
 
 them curious to see if it were true, and after her death they divided her 
 heart, and were convinced of the truth of her assertion. 
 
 St. Bridget raised ten persons, that were dead, to life. St. Theresa 
 .appeared, after her death, (which Was occasioned by an excess of divine 
 love,) to several persons, to inform them of the high degree of glory to 
 which she was exalted. We shall omit her wondrous visions, and the 
 love-wound made in her heart by a seraph, with a golden arrow pointed 
 with red-hot steel. 
 
 St. Didacus cured several diseased persons with the oil of a lamp which 
 burned before an image of “Our Lady.” One day, having no provisions 
 on a journey he was making with one of his companions to his convent, he 
 prayed to God to support them in their distress, and instantly they found 
 a table spread before them upon the grass, and the entertainment, “though 
 not elegant, was very wholesome and refreshing!” 
 
 St. Xaverius raised several to life during his mission in the East Indies. 
 Being in the neighbourhood of Amboyna, he calmed a raging tempest by 
 plunging his crucifix into the sea. In the eagerness of the action, his 
 crucifix slipped out of his hand, but an officious fish miraculously restored 
 it to him in a moment, and on giving it, took care to hold it upright, to 
 denote the triumph of the cross over the infidels ! 
 
 St. Thomas a Becket, Archbishop of Canterbury, was amply rewarded 
 for the violent death he suffered, by the numerous miracles he wrought 
 afterwards, and which, if we may believe Father Giry, he still continues 
 to perform : no sooner was this saint buried, than he declared himself the 
 physician of a multitude of sick persons. It is very remarkable that the 
 saints of the latter ages go far beyond those of the apostle’s days in raising 
 the dead to life. 
 
 The blessed St. Rosa was under five years old when she consecrated 
 herself to God. Father Oliva observes, in his eulogium on this saint, that 
 mankind had an infinite loss in God’s not creating Rosa in the terrestrial 
 paradise instead of Eve! — Her ambition to suffer made her ingenious in 
 searching out the means of mortifying herself. This pious maid would 
 frequently rub her cheeks and eyes with the bark and powder of Indian 
 pepper, to prevent her from going to balls, or appearing in company; for 
 the sharpness of the pepper made her face all bloated and full of ulcers. 
 Rosa had the glory, moreover, of finding out fresh methods of mortification 
 every day, and of reproaching nature perpetually with the enormous crime 
 of having made her so handsome. It is certain, that nothing is so shock- 
 ing and insupportable to saints of a mystical constitution' as corporeal 
 beauty, which they relinquish to the devil, together with all other sensual 
 enjoyments. 
 
 The blessed Rosa, like Jesus Christ, multiplied loaves, and she miracu- 
 lously replenished an empty vessel to comfort her mother, who was sick 
 18 
 
2T0 
 
 ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH. 
 
 with celestial honey. Her vocation, or call, has no parallel instance in the 
 history of the saints. As she was passing by the church of St. Dominic, 
 for whom she ever had a particular esteem, she found herself inspired to 
 go in, and pay her last respects to the image of Our Lady of the Rosary. 
 No sooner was she on her knees, than she remained immovable, and 
 nailed, as it were, to the ground. Astonished at so extraordinarj’ a pro- 
 digy, she promised the Blessed Virgin to become a nun of the third order 
 of St. Dominic; and, as soon as she had finished her prayer, she, without 
 the least difficulty, accomplished that in a moment, which she had not been 
 able to do in several hours before with great and repeated efforts. 
 
 Rosa, at her commencing a new life, thought it a duty incumbent upon 
 her to invent new austerities. She tied a great chain thrice round her 
 waist ; and having put a padlock upon it, she threw the key into a well. 
 She long bore with patience the pains which this chain gave her, but at 
 length was obliged to seek relief, and human means failing, she made her 
 application to the Blessed Virgin, who immediately opened the lock. The 
 blessed Rosa, thinking her lodgings at her mother’s too commodious, deter- 
 mined to build herself a sorry hut at the end of the garden. She was soon 
 attacked by a whole army of gnats ; and, as they interrupted her contem- 
 plations, she thought proper to make a truce with them upon the following 
 conditions : — The gnats were allowed to shelter themselves in the cell during 
 excessive heat or cold ; and they stipulated on their side never to incom- 
 mode her more, and even to withdraw, whenever she found them in any 
 way offensive. We cannot forbear observing, that the largest trees in the 
 garden, when Rosa passed by them to her cell, bent down their branches, 
 and their trunks also, as a testimony of their profound veneration. 
 
 The Church calls the Holy Virgin in her litanies the Mother of God, 
 the Queen of Angels, the Refuge of Sinners, the Mother of Mercy, the 
 Gate of Heaven, the Mystic Rose, the Virgin of Virgins, &c. 
 
 Devotion paid to J 
 
 the Blessed Virgin. There is no title of honour which some divines of the Church, 
 and particularly modern ones, have not bestowed on the Virgin Mary. 
 Having robbed paganism of every thing that was most magnificent and 
 glaring, to bestow it on the mother of Jesus Christ, they have continued 
 to invent such splendid names as even the most fruitful imagination of the 
 poets was never capable of devising. The heresies against her insensibly 
 produced an excess of reverence and devotion to her. In the earliest agea 
 of the Church, she was called Queen of Angels, and Mother of God ; 
 afterwards, the controversies which arose on her account made her advo- 
 cates advance every thing they could think of to make her considerable 
 against heretics. She has been looked upon as the disposer and depository 
 of God’s favours, the Treasurer, and even Queen of Heaven, the Spring 
 and Fountain of Salvation and Life, the Gate of Paradise, the Mother of 
 Light, and Intercessor between God and Man ; the Hope of Mankind, and 
 
ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH. 
 
 2 * { 
 
 the Ocean of the Deitj T . Some authors have styled her “Goddess;” and 
 Father Salazar, about the end of the sixteenth century, declared her the 
 Accomplishment of the Trinity. The Psalter, and indeed the whole Bible, 
 had been applied to her long before that declaration ; and it has been 
 proved, both by miracles and apparitions, that the Blessed Virgin appeases 
 the wrath of Christ against sinners ; and that she has the power of absolv- 
 ing, binding, and loosening. 
 
 Whoever hopes to draw down the blessings of the Virgin upon him, 
 must salute her every day, both at his going out and coming in. The 
 legends have transmitted to us several remarkable instances of the advan- 
 tages arising from the Jive Maria ; not to mention the thousand days’ 
 indulgences granted by several popes, particularly Leo X. and Paul V., 
 to all those who shall repeat it at the hour of the Angelus. Christians, 
 however, are not so exact in the practice of this sort of devotion as to imi- 
 tate St. Marguerite of Hungary, who said an Jive kneeling, before every 
 • image of the Virgin which she met with on her way; nor St. Catherine 
 of Sienna, who repeated as many Jives as she went up steps to her house. 
 Fasting on Saturday, in honour of the Virgin Mary, is still looked upon, in 
 Catholic countries, as a treasure of indulgences and delights, and as an 
 excellent preservative against eternal damnation. 
 
 The greatest part of the holy and immaculate Virgin's hair has been 
 preserved ; and as to her milk, the good Catholics tell us that not one 
 . . drop of it was ever lost ; innumerable relics having been 
 Blessed Virgin, made of it immediately after our Saviour’s nativity. A 
 portion of it is to be seen in different parts of Christendom ; and that church 
 or monastery which is in possession of such an invaluable relic, considers 
 itself as peculiarly blessed. Our Lady’s wedding-ring is preserved with 
 *the utmost respect at Perouse ; the fate and miracles of which are all 
 described in a book published in the beginning of the seventeenth century, 
 entitled, De Jlnnulo Pronubo Deiparse Virginis , autore J. Bapt. Lauro. 
 Colon. 1626. The Blessed Virgin’s clothes are to be seen at Rome, and 
 several other places ; her shifts at Chartres and Aix-la-Chapelle ; one of 
 her handkerchiefs at Treves ; her girdles at Our Lady of Montserrat at 
 Prato, &c. ; one of her combs at Rome, another at Besanqon ; her shoes at 
 Our Lady of Puy and St. Flour ; and one of her slippers in Britlany. 
 The measure of her foot is in the custody of the Spaniards. To conclude, 
 it is not to be questioned, but that all the various pieces of her goods, 
 kitchen-furniture, toilette, and implements of household, have been care- 
 fully preserved ; her gloves, head-clothes, veils, bed, chair, and the stones 
 on which she washed our Lord’s swaddling-clothes — her candles, the oil 
 for her lamp, and all her earthen-ware, are still exposed to public view. It 
 is true, indeed, that these things were lost for several ages ; but the monks 
 have had the good fortune to find them one after another. No relic of her 
 
272 
 
 HOMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH. 
 
 sacred body has been left upon earth ; it having been taken up to heaven 
 in its perfect form, without injury or mutilation. 
 
 The jubilee, as to its origin, is half Jewish, half Pagan. That joyfui 
 season procured liberty among the Jews to those who were slaves ; an 
 acquittance from their debts to those who were poor, and 
 the recovery of their effects to those who, through necessity, 
 had been obliged to pawn them. The ground itself was not cultivated 
 during the year of the Jewish jubilee. The pope, by the Catholic jubilee, 
 of which the former was but a type, grants the like privileges to Christians. 
 It is a year of rest to them ; for his holiness absolves them from sin, 
 relieves the spiritual poverty of the penitent, by opening the treasures of 
 the divine mercy to him, remits his debts, and restores him to the posses- 
 sion of his celestial effects. 
 
 Pope Boniface VIII., upon his institution of the grand jubilee, expressly 
 declared by his Bull, that “ Those who should visit the basilicas of St. 
 Peter and St. Paul in the year 1300, and every hundred years afterwards, 
 after a free confession and sincere repentance of their sins, should obtain a 
 full remission, together with several indulgences, as extensive as it was 
 possible to grant them to repenting sinners.” “It does not appear,” says 
 M. Turtin, “that his holiness had any regard to the Jubilee of the Jews, 
 since he not only declined the name of jubilee, but, on the contrary, dou- 
 bled the time prescribed to them.” But with Clement VI. the case was 
 different. This pope called that institution “the Jubilee,” and ordered it 
 to be celebrated every fifty years. 
 
 Several Roman Catholic writers are of opinion that the jubilee of the 
 Christians bears a very near affinity to the secular games of the ancient 
 Romans. 
 
 Clement VI. ordered the jubilee to be celebrated twice in a hundred 
 years. Urban VI. reduced the term to thirty-three years. Boniface IX. 
 solemnized it in nine years after ; and in process of time, a bull ol Sixtus 
 IV. established it once in twenty-five years. His predecessor Paul II. had 
 before fixed it, by a decree of the year 1470, to the same time. Sixtus 
 IV., however, celebrated a jubilee in 1475 ; and Alexander VI., not con- 
 tented with a solemnization of it in 1498, revived it in 1500. 
 
 The decrees of Paul II. and Sixtus IV., however, do not hinder the 
 popes from declaring a universal jubilee on their exaltation to the pontifi- 
 cate, as well as on some other extraordinary occasions. The holy gates, 
 however, are never opened but for the twenty-fifth year’s jubilee, which, 
 if we may be allowed the expression, brings with it a universal indulgence ; 
 for “ the hearts of the faithful are comforted thereby, and joy entereth into 
 the house of the Lord.” 
 
 The jubilee grants to those confessors who are approved by their supe- 
 riors, a power to absolve in all reserved cases, also from all censures and 
 
ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH. 
 
 273 
 
 the greater excommunication; to annul all suspensions relating both to 
 benefices and ecclesiastical offices, and to take off interdicts. It permits 
 them likewise to alter vows, in case they have no relation to religion or to 
 * chastity ; or that they are not of the nature of those which engage to per- 
 form certain pilgrimages, such as those to Rome, Jerusalem, and St. James 
 of Galicia. 
 
 When his holiness has appointed the jubilee, he gives notice of it, by 
 his apostolic letters, to all the prelates throughout Christendom ; and these 
 cause it to be published in their respective dioceses, with proper exhorta- 
 tions, in order that the faithful may put themselves into a condition of 
 obtaining those advantages which attend it. The intentions of the holy 
 father are explained ; those churches which are to be visited are nomi- 
 nated ; certain acts of devotion, which are always attended with proper 
 indulgences, are prescribed ; and proper litanies, and prayers peculiar to 
 the solemn occasion of the jubilee, and to the subject which procures it, 
 are caused to be printed. No society, no religious order, must absent 
 itself from the processions which are ordered for celebrating this act of 
 devotion. The people, with their magistrates, and the rest of their supe- 
 riors, are invited to attend it with all the modesty required by an act of 
 religion. On those days which are set apart for fasting and repentance, 
 the bishop and his clergy are enjoined to appear overwhelmed with sor- 
 row, and filled with sentiments of humiliation. They are to pray with 
 heart and mouth to the Almighty, and to offer him the fruits of a sincere 
 contrition, which consists in the renunciation of all those engagements by 
 which men are in general devoted to the world, and in a strong resolution 
 to instruct the people by their own pious example. 
 
 The pope notifies the universal jubilee, by a bull which he causes to be 
 published the preceding year, on Ascension-day, at the time of his giving 
 the solemn benediction. An apostolical sub-deacon begins the publication, 
 in the presence of the whole Court of Rome, reading a bull in Latin; and 
 after him, another sub-deacon reads it with an audible voice to the people 
 in Italian. As soon as he has finished, the pope’s twelve trumpets in 
 ordinary begin to sound, and, immediately after them, twelve huntsmen 
 sound their silver horns, by way of concert, at the same time that the 
 whole of the artillery of the castle of St. Angelo are discharged. 
 
 On the fourth Sunday in Advent, the apostolical sub-deacons publish 
 the bull for the jubilee a second time, and, on the three days which imme- 
 diately precede Christmas-day, the bells throughout the whole city pro- 
 claim the solemnity, which is to commence the next day. 
 
 On the twenty-fourth day of December, of the holy year, all the secular 
 and regular clergy assemble together at the apostolic palace, and thence 
 march in procession to St. Peter’s at the Vatican. When the clergy come 
 into the great square before St. Peter’s, they find the doors of the church 
 
274 
 
 ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH. 
 
 shut, and all the entrances of the portico lined with guards, to hinder the 
 mob from getting in. The pope, the cardinals, and bishops, dressed in 
 their white damask robes, having their mitres on, now meet in Sixtus’s 
 Chapel, at which place his holiness sings the Veni Creator, with a lighted 
 taper in his hand. All the cardinals, having each of them likewise a taper 
 in their hands, come out, according to their respective rank, and repair to 
 the Swiss portico, where the holy father nominates three of them as In's 
 legates a latere , to go and open the gates of St. John de Lateran, St. Mary 
 Major, and St. Paul without the walls. Their eminences, having received 
 the orders of his holiness on their knees, repair to the appointed churches, 
 preceded by trumpets, hautboys, and a troop of men, half in warlike, and 
 half in religious armour. Their march begins as soon as the pope has 
 opened the holy gate at St. Peter’s. 
 
 The chief of the Roman soldiery has the charge of this holy gate, which 
 is always opened by his holiness himself, unless the infirmities of age, or 
 some other particular indisposition, renders him incapable ; in which case, 
 the cardinal-dean officiates for him. 
 
 The Vicar of Jesus Christ, being seated on a throne, which is raised 
 before the great gate, and in the middle of the great portico of St. Peter’s, 
 „ . rests himself for a short time there ; after which the prince 
 
 Sacred Gate. 0 f the throne presents him with a golden hammer, which 
 the holy father takes into his right hand ; then, rising from his throne, he 
 goes and knocks at the sacred gate. The sacred gates are representations 
 of God’s grace. The passage of the pilgrims through them denotes the 
 Christian’s passage from the state of sin to that of grace. All those who 
 perform the duties appointed by his holiness, in the four basilicas at Rome, 
 must pass through these holy gates. It is likewise pretended, that the 
 opening of these gates represents the opening of the Church unto all men, 
 provided they go to it after a sincere conversion. The holy father opens 
 the gate, which signifies his having the key of the celestial treasures. The 
 three blows upon the gate represent the three quarters of the world, Europe, 
 Africa, and Asia, to which his holiness offers the treasures which are in his 
 disposal ; or it may be said, that the three strokes with the hammer are an 
 excellent representation of that joy, which the jubilee gives to the faithful 
 in heaven, on earth, and in purgatory 
 
 The pope is followed by his clergy with tapers in their hands, and 
 knocking thrice against the gate, says with an audible voice, Aperite mihi 
 portas justitise, — Open unto me these gates of justice ; to which the choir 
 add, “This is the gate of the eternal, the just shall enter therein,” &c. 
 In the mean time, the head masons break down the wall which closes up 
 the sacred gate, and the rubbish of it is distributed among the devotees, 
 who pick it up with all imaginable zeal and eagerness, in order to rank it 
 among their precious relics. This wall is erected, on purpose, in such a 
 
ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH. 
 
 275 
 
 manner as to hold but very slightly by its four sides. The stones are not 
 fastened with cement, on which account, as soon as the holy father knocks 
 at the sacred gate, it falls without any resistance. 
 
 When the wall is demolished, the penitentiaries of St. Peter take their 
 brooms, clear the gate, and sweep the bricks and the lime that remain, out 
 of the passage. The mouldings, as well as other decorations round the 
 gate, are now washed with holy water. When this operation is over, his 
 holiness descends from his throne, and begins this anthem, “Hsec dies 
 yuam fecit Dominies , — This is the day which the Lord hath made , fyc., 
 which the choir repeats after him. Being arrived at the sacred gate, the 
 holy father repeats several prayers, takes the cross, kneels down before the 
 gate, begins the Te Deum , rises up, and passes through it, still singing as 
 he goes along. His clergy follow him. Everybody now hurries into the 
 church, either to witness the magnificent ceremony, or to assist at the 
 vespers in the pope’s chapel. After vespers, the cardinals pull off their 
 white robes, put on their red copes, attend his holiness to the door of his 
 apartment, and then withdraw. On Christmas-day, after the mass of the 
 day, the holy father goes to the benediction-pew, and blesses the faithful 
 by way of jubilee. 
 
 The jubilee, having lasted a year, concludes with shutting up the sacred 
 gates, which is done on Christmas-Eve, twelve months after they were 
 ^huttino- of the ^ rst °P ene ^* O n t ^ lat day the pope, his cardinals, the 
 Sacred Gate. clergy, and the persons of the highest distinction in the 
 court of Rome, go to St. Peter’s in their robes of state. Vespers are said ; 
 after which the clergy, having lighted tapers in their hands, offer their 
 obeisance to the holy face , which is known by the name of Veronica. 
 Then his holiness sings an anthem, which begins with these words, Cum 
 jucunditate exhibitis , — Ye shall go with joy. As soon as it is begun, 
 every one uses the utmost expedition to get through the holy gate. The 
 holy father, when everybody has gone through it, goes up to it, and turn- 
 ing towards it, says, Adjutorium , fyc. — Our help , fyc., together with some 
 other prayers, in which he blesses the stones and mortar which are in 
 tended to shut the gate, which the jubilee had opened. The pope himself 
 lays the first stone, under which several medals are concealed, which serve 
 to transmit the memory of this pious ceremony to future times. 
 
 The holy father, having laid the stone, washes his hands, and retuins to 
 his throne ; then Salvum fac populum, — Lord save thy people , 4*c., is 
 sung. In the mean time, the masons complete the walling up of the gate, 
 in the midst of which they set a copper cross, while his holiness repeats 
 some particular prayers, which he continues till the breach is perfectly 
 repaired. The benediction given by the Vicar of Jesus Christ from the 
 pew (which thence takes its name of the Benediction Pew) to the faithful 
 assembled to receive it, concludes this piece of devotion. The cardinals 
 
276 
 
 ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH. 
 
 and clergy then throw off their robes of state, return with the pope to his 
 apartment, and his holiness entertains them with an elegant supper. 
 
 Indulgences are the surest touchstones, of which his holiness can make 
 use, to try the faith of true believers ; for a great number of devotees 
 imagine that they infallibly secure the attainment of Para- 
 
 Indulgences. .. .. ; 
 
 dise. 1 he origin oi indulgences is hinted at in a passage 
 of St. Cyprian ; but the release from torments was not known by the name 
 of indulgence till a long time after. It was common enough, however, in 
 the seventh and eighth centuries. Pope Sergius, in the year 884, gave 
 three indulgences of forty days each, to those who should visit the church 
 of St. Martin on the Hills, on the festival peculiarly devoted to the service 
 of that saint. 
 
 Indulgences were originally no more than the softening of pains im- 
 posed upon sinners condemned to penance, which in the primitive ages of 
 Christianity were very severe. The church had regard to the infirmities 
 of penitents, who could not undergo the rigour of them ; but they were at 
 the same time to discover a real contrition, and with a perfect sincerity 
 endeavour to purify themselves from their crimes, according to their 
 strength. A relaxation from ecclesiastical pains gradually introduced into 
 devotion certain practices, seemingly difficult, but yet much easier than 
 spiritual worship ; and nothing gave a greater scope to the abuse of indul- 
 gences than the commutation of pains into pecuniary fines, which were 
 greatly advantageous to the priests, and showed them the way of selling 
 the remission of sins. St. Bernard, while preaching up the indulgences 
 of Pope Eugenius III., at once inflamed the hearts of the believers of his 
 age with a spirit of war and contrition, and showed them that the atone- 
 ment of their crimes, and the remission of their torments, were annexed to 
 those crosses and swords wherewith he persuaded them to arm themselves 
 against the infidels. 
 
 St. Bridget declares, in her Revelations, that, in a vision which sh^ had 
 of the Lord Jesus Christ, he informed her, “That the most infallible way 
 to atone for all her sins, was to procure indulgences ; that, with respect to 
 himself, whenever he was inclined to treat any soul with tenderness and 
 affection, he would advise it to reside constantly at Rome, there being no 
 place in the world where so many indulgences could be procured.” Indeed, 
 there is no city more commodious than Rome for devotees who would turn 
 their piety towards this object ; for its basilicas have indulgences for every 
 day in the year; and on festivals they are redoubled. 
 
 Indulgences were at one time granted for all kinds of sins and crimes, 
 the prices of which were rated, and the remission often set up to auction. 
 A malefactor in Italy might, for ninety livres , compound for a crime, for 
 which, on the other side of the Alps, he would be hanged or burnt. The 
 application for indulgences was either by the payment of ready money, or 
 
ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH. 
 
 27? 
 
 by saying, or causing to be said, certain masses ; by assisting at certain 
 offices and certain processions ; by confessing and receiving the Eucha- 
 rist ; by alms-giving, or wearing particular habits, crosses, chaplets, crowns, 
 beads, &c. 
 
 Pope Leo X. having undertaken to complete the magnificent edifice of 
 the basilica of St. Peter, according to the example of Pope Julius, had 
 recourse to indulgences, which he everywhere published; and all those 
 who should contribute what was demanded of them towards the erection 
 of St. Peter’s, were permitted to eat eggs and cheese in Lent, and to make 
 choice of their own confessor. In order to come into possession of ready' 
 money, the sums arising from these indulgences were farmed out to the 
 highest bidders, who, not only for the purpose of reimbursing, but likewise 
 of enriching themselves, chose such preachers of indulgences, and col- 
 lectors, as they thought most proper. These were well paid to induce the 
 people, in order to procure pardon, to contribute whatever such covetous 
 and sacrilegious wretches insisted upon. Some of these preachers of 
 indulgences raised the price and value of them to such an exorbitant 
 pitch as to induce the people to imagine that they were secure of salva- 
 tion, and of delivering souls out of purgatory, as soon as they had paid 
 the money demanded for the letters testifying they had procured the indul- 
 gence. The clerks of the farmers, likewise, who had purchased the profits 
 of these indulgences, were seen daily in the taverns and brothels, carousing, 
 and spending part of that money in all manner of licentiousness, which the 
 poor insisted was barbarously extorted from them. 
 
 We shall now treat of beads, chaplets, rosaries, and other accessaries to 
 devotion. The historians of the Crusade wars say that Peter the Hermit 
 „ . T first taught the soldiers to count their prayers by the 
 
 ments of piety. chaplet; the use of which soon grew very common. But 
 
 Father Giry gives some instances of prayers being said by tale or compu- 
 tation, long before the invention of the chaplet ; and Ryckle, in his life ol 
 Gertrude, gives us an account of a rosary which this saint made use of at 
 her devotions, in the seventh century. Saint Dominic, the founder of the 
 order which bears his name, and of the holy office of the Inquisition, 
 greatly advanced the credit of this instrument of devotion, by declaring, 
 that the Blessed Virgin had brought him one from heaven, after a miracu- 
 lous manner, composed of a certain number of beads, which he called the 
 rosary. It is still looked upon as one of the most valuable exercises of 
 devotion by a great number of Catholics ; with regard to the chaplet, it is 
 not to be questioned but that it came from the Mohammedans. Peter the 
 Hermit borrowed it from them, in favour of those soldiers of the Holy Wars 
 who were not able to read, nor to make use of a prayer-book. 
 
 These and other instruments, or assistants to devotion, were the founda- 
 tion of four considerable societies. That of the rosary owes its birth to the 
 
278 
 
 ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH. 
 
 rosary of St. Dominic. The rosary is a large chaplet, con- 
 sisting of one hundred and fifty beads, which make so many 
 Aves. Every ten beads, divided by one something larger, make a Pater. 
 The fifteen large beads are the symbols of fifteen mysteries, which are so 
 many lively images, as it were, in which are to be discerned the intentions 
 of the “Eternal Father in the temporal birth of his son, the casualties that 
 befell him in his infancy, and not only in the private and unknown part of 
 his life, but also in the glorious and immortal part of it.” The common 
 chaplets contain only fifty Ave Marias and five Paternosters. Before the 
 person begins to repeat his rosary, he must take it, and cross himself. He 
 must in the next place repeat the Apostles’ Creed, to put himself into a 
 proper disposition for prayer ; after which he must say a Pater and three 
 Aves, on account of the three relations which the Blessed Virgin bears to 
 the three Persons in the sacred Trinity. 
 
 After these preliminaries, he passes on to the fifteen large beads, con- 
 taining ten courses. The Christian devotee must observe to admit himself 
 into the mysteries of each ten courses, by a prayer, which is to be found 
 in those books which treat of the method of devotion with the rosary. The 
 fifteen mysteries are divided into three classes: the first includes the five 
 mysteries of joy ; the next five are those of sorrow , as turning upon our 
 Saviour’s Passion ; and the last five, those of glory , as being destined to 
 his resurrection, ascension, &c. After the rosary, the brethren who have 
 the honour to bear the name of it, must say the litanies and prayers for 
 those who are afflicted in mind, body, or estate, &c. They must lift up 
 their hearts to the Virgin, who is the Queen of the Rosary, Empress of 
 Heaven and Earth, High Treasurer of the Spiritual Finances and 
 Celestial Riches : and as the true believers ought not only to pray for each 
 other, but likewise for an increase of the worship of w r hich they make pro- 
 fession, the brethren and sisters of the rosary must never omit this last 
 article, but use their utmost endeavours to make proselytes to the faitbgpf 
 St. Dominic. 
 
 The legendaries of the order of St. Dominic, and several others, assure 
 us, that the society was appointed by an order from the Blessed Virgin, 
 when St. Dominic was labouring to reduce the Albigenses, and extirpate 
 heretics. After the saint’s decease, the devotion of the rosary was totally 
 neglected ; but Alanus de Rupe, in 1460, or thereabouts, revived it with 
 great improvements, and, for fourteen years together, used his utmost 
 endeavours to procure devotees to it. The society is divided into two 
 branches, one of the common, and the other of the perpetual rosary : the 
 former are obliged, every week, to say the fifteen divisions of ten beads 
 each, to confess, and receive the Sacrament every first Sunday in the 
 month ; and, moreover, to appear at all the processions of the society. 
 The faithful of the latter are under very strong obligations. The t rst 
 
ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH. 
 
 duty incumbent on them is, to repeat the rosary without intermission ; that 
 is, there is always some one of them who is actually saluting the Blessed 
 Virgin in the name of the whole society. 
 
 The solemnity of the rosary is celebrated on the first Sunday in Octo- 
 ber. This festival is owing to the piety of Pope Gregory XIII. Several 
 popes have confirmed the way of praying with the rosary by their bulls, 
 and granted to those who shall devoutly repeat it, all suitable indulgences, 
 not only plenary, but particular. 
 
 The devotion of the scapulary is, in every respect, as exact as that 
 which we have already described. After divers prayers and pious solici- 
 tations, the Blessed Virgin granted the scapulary to Simon 
 Scapulary. commander of the Carmelites, in the same century 
 
 and much about the same time that she gave the rosary to St. Dominic. 
 She assured the devotee of her protection, promised to be propitious to all 
 those who should join in the devotion of the scapulary, and to look upon 
 them as her children. She also engaged to save all those who at the hour 
 of death should be found provided with so precious a badge. 
 
 The scapulary of the Carmelites is a small woollen garment, of a dark 
 brown, or tawny colour, which goes over the stomach, back, and shoulders. 
 It consists likewise of two small pieces of cloth, three or four inches square, 
 tied together with two ribands. This is what the brethren of the Order 
 of the Scapulary wear. i 
 
 The devotees of the scapulary celebrate the 16th of July as their festival, 
 which day is likewise devoted to the service of Our Lady of Mount Carmel. 
 
 There is nothing which flatters the heart of man more than what is 
 called good works , since they are looked on by him as a formal contract, 
 „ .. . „ or, as it were, a truce between his passions and the duties 
 
 dation - of his religion. A certain satirist has observed, “that a 
 
 devotee refuses to pay his debts, though he says his prayers ; that he 
 plunders his neighbour, though he gives the tenth to the poor ; that he 
 ruins honest families, while he is building hospitals; in short, that religion, 
 with the devotee, is the counterpoise of justice.” The clergy have 
 always taken advantage of this vanity and self-love, under the specious 
 pretence of showing Christians the road to heaven ; but, above all, they 
 have attempted to pave the way to it by foundations, which began in the 
 fourth or fifth century, but the mode of which was not entirely established 
 till the sixth. Nothing was at that time to be seen, but people of all ages, 
 sexes, and conditions, renouncing their worldly possessions for the endow- 
 ment of churches and convents. New practices of humility sprang up on 
 all sides ; for the devotees grew dissatisfied with vigils, which to them 
 appeared too weak. The priests and monks had visions, which enabled 
 them to enter into an immediate correspondence with the saints of Para- 
 dise. Measures of a more strong and strenuous kind were taken against 
 
980 
 
 ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH. 
 
 the devil, who then began to grow formidable. Several crosses were dug 
 up, and relics were found, which, till that time, had never been known or 
 heard of ; even some of the mouths of hell, and two or three of the doors 
 of purgatory, were likewise discovered. The maps of the monks pre- 
 cisely pointed out their height and depth. Nor was this discovery the 
 least valuable and important of the age ; a prodigious number of souls got 
 out of purgatory, and some of the damned escaped out of hell. Those 
 who had any regard for their relations immediately took care of them, and 
 new methods were in consequence invented, for alleviating the sorrows of 
 those deceased persons who had their friends to appear for them. 
 
 Masses were multiplied, and one sacrifice being now insufficient, a neces- 
 sity arose not only for ten, twenty, or thirty, but sometimes for thirty thou- 
 sand. The sovereigns of the church created new patrons. Altars and 
 churches were founded without number. Swarms of monks and friars 
 overspread the face of the whole earth ; and this, they asserted, was all 
 the work of God. Habitations were assigned, and revenues appointed 
 them, which were very largely augmented by the benefactions of pious 
 individuals. We may easily conceive that convents increased with devo- 
 tion, and that those who had devoted their patrimonies to the service of the 
 church found no other refuge than that of the cassoc or the veil : in short, 
 a strong persuasion at that time prevailed, that God could not be served 
 with decorum and propriety but by priests and friars; and nothing, indeed, 
 was to be seen but cassocs, cowls, tonsures, crowns, vows of continence 
 and chastity ; voluntary divorces between husband and wife, upon a motive 
 of piety, and with the intent to retire from the world, that they might pray 
 to God at their ease in the society of monks and hermits. 
 
 Independently of the foundations of churches, convents, and masses, 
 others were instituted for exposing or carrying the holy sacrament in pro- 
 cession on those days which are not set apart by the church for such a 
 purpose ; also, for making some particular day more famous than it origin- 
 ally was, according to the institution of the church. Such is the founda- 
 tion on which the holy sacrament is exposed on the festival of th^ patron 
 of a parish, or on the festival-day of the saint whose name any person 
 bears, or for whom he has a peculiar respect and veneration. There are 
 likewise other foundations for offices and prayers in honour of the saints, 
 at such times as their devotees have received any extraordinary mercies 
 and favours from them. 
 
 The faithful, throughout all the ages of the church, have paid great 
 veneration to the relics of saints, and are said frequently to have received 
 great advantages from them. Ignorant devotees imagine 
 that they need only to be devout to some particular relics, to 
 carry them about with them, or to frequent places where they are depo- 
 sited, in order to die free from sin. 
 
 I 
 
ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH. 
 
 281 
 
 The antiquity of the respect for relics has been attempted to be proved 
 from the translation of Joseph’s hones, when the Jews went out of Egypt. 
 It is certain, that under the Old Testament, it was thought, as it is now, 
 that whatever has touched the body of a saint acquires extraordinary virtues. 
 This was the opinion of the primitive Christians, and instances of it are to 
 be met with in the Gospels and the Acts of the Apostles ; from whence 
 we may infer, that the real body of any saint is capable of producing much 
 more miraculous effects. In process of time the consequences of this no- 
 tion of virtue and holiness were carried to a greater extent. Some pre- 
 tended that it was necessary to collect all those things which had been 
 made use of by the saints, to dig up their bodies, and to search after their 
 hones and ashes. Then, temples, chapels, and altars were devoted to their 
 service. The very angels concerned themselves in this important affair ; 
 for they are said to have collected the bones of St. Catherine, and buried 
 them upon Mount Sinai. Translations of the relics from one place to an- 
 other began to be made in the fourth century with extraordinary solemnity, 
 and the use of shrines for relics began at the same time. 
 
 The Church always took care to have the shrines in which relics were 
 deposited solemnly blessed. The purport of the prayer was, that God 
 would grant his protection to those who reverenced the merits of the saints, 
 and embraced their relics with humility, in order that these faithful sup- 
 plicants might be guarded from the power of Satan, from thunder, plague, 
 infectious air, wild beasts, and the malicious devices of wicked men. 
 
 Oaths were often taken on the relics of the saints ; and the oath of the 
 king of the Romans on the blood of St. Stephen at Aix-la-Chapelle, upon 
 his coronation-day, is an instance of this religious custom. 
 
 The faithful who visit relics out of devotion must touch the sacred 
 limbs of the saints with more than common faith. There is a stated time 
 for the public exposition of them to the devout. The relics of the church 
 of Notre-Dame at Aix-la-Chapelle are exposed once in seven years with 
 proclamations, one of which we shall here transcribe, that the reader may 
 have a more adequate idea of the ceremony. It is as follows : 
 
 “ The head and right arm of St. Cornelius are to be exposed ; by whose 
 mediation may the Lord Jesus preserve you from the falling-sickness, and 
 after this life bestow on you the kingdom of heaven. Amen. Paternoster . 
 Ave Maria. Credo . 11 
 
 The blood of martyrs is preserved in various parts of Christendom. 
 Italy and Rome, in particular, are grown famous for the vast quantity that 
 ... . „ is found in them ; nor is this to be wondered at, considering 
 
 lics - the persecutions of the primitive Christians under the Ro- 
 
 man emperors. The earth at Rome is said to be stained with the blood of 
 the faithful. His holiness makes presents of some of this sacred earth to 
 foreigners, thereby endeavouring to gratify those good Christians who come 
 
r 
 
 23*2 ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH. 
 
 to Rome upon a religious motive, and are unwilling to return home with- 
 cut some salutary testimonial of their travels. 
 
 As to the miraculous manner in which the blood of martj'rs, according 
 to report, has been seen to melt and run, the devout flatter themselves that 
 God has been pleased to give this satisfaction to all pious persons for their 
 consolation, and as a reward of their virtue. There are now at the present 
 da}^ several liquefactions of this nature, particularly in Italy. On the fes- 
 tival of St. Eustace, that saint’s blood is seen to boil at Rome. The blood 
 of St. John the Baptist does as much, if not more, at Naples, and extends 
 to three different churches. It puts itself in this violent ferment in honour 
 of Jesus Christ, and seemingly endeavours once more to proclaim the 
 coming of our blessed Saviour. At Naples, too, St. Bartholomew’s blood 
 is in as great a heat as that of St. John the Baptist ; and so likewise is the 
 blood of St. Stephen, which never fails running on the day on which the 
 finding of his body is commemorated. 
 
 On the eighteenth of September is celebrated the ceremony of exposing 
 the head and blood of St. Januarius, patron of the city^ of Naples, to public 
 view. A solemn procession is made, likewise, in honour of the saint, at 
 which the martyr’s head and blood are carried in all imaginable pomp and 
 grandeur. It is so contrived, that these two relics meet together; and as 
 soon as they are within reach of each other, the blood is seen to liquefy, to 
 boil, and to rise to the very rim of the glass in which it is kept. This 
 miracle is wrought every year, never deceiving the expectations of the 
 people, who are always ready to attest the truth of it. 
 
 The liquefaction of St. Vitus’s blood is to be seen in one of the abbeys 
 of the diocese of Tarentum ; and that of the blood of St. Pantaleon, St. 
 Ursula, St. Laurence, and others, in the several monasteries and churches 
 throughout Italy. 
 
 In 1672, Rome raised a recruit of relics from the catacombs of four hun- 
 dred and twenty-eight saints, most of them anonymous and unknown ; 
 which, however, afforded abundance of new relics. Other recruits of the 
 same sort had been made before that time. 
 
 In regard to the manner of distinguishing the relics dug out of the cata- 
 combs to be genuine, — the apostolic chamber hires diggers to work in the 
 catacombs, or subterraneous places, in which sacred bodies, as they are 
 called at Rome, are commonly found. This holy employment is carried on 
 in spring and winter. As soon as the sepulchres are opened, an apostolic 
 commissary examines the marks whereby the bodies of martyrs are to be 
 known. If there be only the name of Christ (thus >B) over these sepul- 
 chres, or a single cross, a dove, a crown, an olive-branch, without a palm- 
 branch, or without a vase of wood, or other vessel, in which the blood of 
 the martyrs was usually put, they are looked upon merely as so many 
 Christian sepulchres, and in such a case are never opened. The vessel 
 
ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH. 
 
 283 
 
 for holding blood is, in a particular manner, an evident sign of martyrdom, 
 and consequently of holiness. When the necessary tokens, here men- 
 tioned, have been observed, they proceed to open the tombs with all the 
 precaution which so religious an operation requires. 
 
 As the bones are dug up, they are put into little cases, which are after- 
 wards corded up, and sealed with the grand vicar’s seal; and then the 
 diggers carry them into the chambers appropriated for relics. The bones 
 are laid upon tables at some distance one from the other, in order that, as 
 they dry, the air may restore them in some measure to their primitive 
 hardness. After this, the cardinal-vicar and the chief sacristan of his holi- 
 ness expose these relics to the veneration of the faithful, distributing them 
 as they see proper, and arming them with the necessary attestations : relics 
 of the larger size are bestowed on none but crowned heads and persons of 
 the first distinction in the church. 
 
 The custom of wearing holy relics by way of devotion, or in order to be 
 preserved against casualties, diseases, calamities, &c., is very ancient in 
 the church ; since St. Gregory Nyssens takes particular notice of a 
 small piece of wood of the true cross, which his sister wore on her finger 
 in a ring. 
 
 It is to St. Helena, however, that relics owe the beginning of their high 
 reputation ; and yet the cross was at that time the only relic really in 
 fashion. That devout princess, foreseeing that the finding of the cross 
 would inflame the devotion of all Christians, took but a part of it away 
 with her, and left the remainder at Jerusalem to be an object of the pil- 
 grims’ devotion. This sacred wood would, by degrees, have -been all lost, 
 on account of the constant distributions which were made of it to devotees ; 
 but St. Paulinus assures us, that in his time it remained in the same con- 
 dition — that the faithful were taking away some of it without intermission, 
 but yet they always found it whole and entire. 
 
 In process of time, relics of all sorts were worn, but more particularly 
 about the neck and on the breast. 
 
 St. Charles Borromeo wore about his neck a tooth of St. Satina. 
 Gregory XII. wore one of St. Catharine of Sienna. Some ages before 
 that, St. Dunstan, having broke his cane upon the devil, who appeared to 
 him in the form of a bear, had another made much stronger, in which he 
 set a tooth of the apostle St. Andrew. 
 
 Relics were formerly carried in military expeditions, and this was an 
 established custom in the time of Theodosius the Great. The knio-ht- 
 
 o 
 
 templars, and soldiers in the crusades, carried them a long time after in 
 their expeditions against the enemy of the Christian name. Christian 
 kings, when they went to war, armed themselves with St. Martin’s cope, 
 and caused the shrines of saints to be carried at the head of their armies. 
 Du Yal de Cernay, the monk, assures us, that, on a dangerous expedition, 
 
234 
 
 ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH. 
 
 a body of priests and friars, having the cross before them, and being sup- 
 ported by relics, after singing the Veni Creator , which was their signal, 
 advanced against the Albigenses ; and that, at the third repetition of a 
 particular verse of the hymn, the rebels of the church fled from the field 
 of battle ! Nor did the Bishop of Cominges show less bravery and resolu- 
 tion ; for, notwithstanding the small number of the faithful who were 
 facing above one hundred thousand Albigenses, he armed himself with the 
 wood of the cross, and, getting upon an eminence therewith, blessed the 
 soldiers of the Catholic army, who, becoming thereby enlivened and in- 
 spired, defeated the King of Arragon and his whole army. 
 
 Catholic devotion ordains that recourse shall be had to holy relics in 
 case of any public calamity. The blood of St. Januarius, set before the 
 flames of Mount Vesuvius, has never failed to extinguish them. The 
 miracles wrought by St. Genevieve, whenever it has been thought proper 
 to carry her in procession, are well known at Paris ; and if we may credit 
 the devotees at Rheims, St. Remi’s handkerchief has had no less virtue, at 
 those times when it has been found requisite to produce it in order to allay 
 or remove public calamities. 
 
 At Venice a leg of St. Lawrence extinguishes fires. In a church of that 
 city, holy water of great virtue is made with the bone of St. Liberalis. In 
 Sicily, St. Agatha’s veil, carried in procession by the clergy of Catanea, 
 puts a stop to the deluges of fire of Mount Gibel; and a piece of cotton 
 rubbed against this veil has the same effect. 
 
 The Carthusians at Cologne have the hem of Christ’s garment, which 
 the woman afflicted with the loss of blood touched in order to be cured. 
 The ladies of that place send wine to the Carthusians, to have the relic 
 steeped in it, and drink of it upon any emergent occasion. 
 
 Festivals are holidays, or are certain days which the Catholic Church 
 has set apart for the peculiar service of God, in commemo- 
 
 Festivals. . r . c • 
 
 ration of some mystery, or in honour of some saint. 
 
 In the Catholic Church there are movable feasts, double feasts, half- 
 double , and single: but the chief difference between the several classes, is 
 the greater or less solemnity which is used in them. The churches are 
 embellished, and the altars adorned, according to the solemnity of the day, 
 and to the rank which each saint holds in the church. On solemn double 
 feasts, the bishop, and even the pope himself, performs divine service in 
 the cathedral ; and the abbot, the prior, or dean of the chapter, in colle- 
 giate churches. According to the rituals of Italy, the churches, on these 
 high festivals, must be hung with tapestry, and adorned with beautiful 
 and holy images of those whom the church acknowledges as saints. The 
 doors of the churches must be adorned with festoons ; and the image of 
 the saint whose feast is solemnized must be decorated with flowers, and 
 the church strewed with them. The church must, likewise, be open to 
 
ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH. 
 
 285 
 
 all during the sacred days ; wax-tapers must burn on the altar ; the orna- 
 ments of the officiating priest must be as rich as possible ; and the tapers 
 which stand on the high altar must be thicker than the rest. In short, 
 each parish displays its zeal, in proportion to its riches. 
 
 Whenever the feast of the titular saint or patron is celebrated, his stand- 
 ard and image must be fixed on the top of the church spire, and the bells 
 set a ringing to his honour. In some places it is customary to have illu- 
 minations on the eve and feast of the saint, as a testimony of the love and 
 reverence of the priests and people. 
 
 All the high festivals have an octave. This custom was first borrowed 
 from the Jewish religion ; it being usual among the ancient Jews to allow 
 eight days to their solemn festivals, in which they are imitated by the 
 moderns to this day. The octave therefore consists of the feast itself and 
 the seven days which succeed it, though the name of octave is particularly 
 given to the last day of those eight, which answers to the solemn day of 
 the feast. The rituals say, that when two octaves meet, the most distin- 
 guished of them shall have the preference, not forgetting, at the same time, 
 to commemorate the saint whose octave gave way to the other. In this 
 manner the octave of St. John the Baptist gives precedence to that of the 
 holy sacrament, whenever they happen to meet : but if the octave of a 
 saint who is patron of a place should fall out at the same time with that 
 of another saint, who had been either a bishop, an archbishop, or cardinal, 
 the patron would be obliged to yield to the prelate. 
 
 Our limits forbid us attempting any thing like a detailed account of the 
 festivals prescribed by The Roman Calendar of Feasts and Stations 
 throughout the year. According to this calendar, it may be perceived that 
 the Holy City has not left even one day throughout the whole year uncon- 
 secrated either by festivals or stations ; indeed, that many days are there 
 held sacred to the memory of more than half-a-dozen saints ; that the 
 inexhaustible treasure of indulgences is always open to the faithful, and 
 furnishes them continually with materials to repair the breaches which 
 Satan may have made in their virtue ; and that the clergy of Rome are 
 always in readiness to countermine his works. 
 
 We shall select a few days which are sacred to distinguished saints, or 
 on which remarkable festivals are observed ; and these will serve as exam- 
 ples of numerous others, which might be mentioned. 
 
 This day is sacred for several saints, among whom is St. Macarius, who 
 died a. d. 394. Macarius was a confectioner of Alexandria, but spent 
 Jan 2 Ma u P warc ^ s °f sixty years in the deserts in labour, penance, 
 
 carius - and contemplation. “ Our saint,” says Butler, “ happened 
 
 one day inadvertently to kill a gnat that was biting him in his cell ; reflect- 
 ing that he had lost the opportunity of suffering that mortification, he 
 hastened from his cell to the marshes of Scete, which abound with great 
 19 
 
ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH. 
 
 236 
 
 flies, whose stings pierce even wild boars. There he continued six months, 
 exposed to those ravaging insects ; and to such a degree was his whole 
 body disfigured by them, with sores and swellings, that when he returned 
 he was only to be known by his voice.” 
 
 The Golden Legend relates of him, that he took a dead Pagan out of his 
 sepulchre, and put him under his head for a pillow ; whereupon certain 
 devils came to affright the saint, and called the dead Pagan to go with them ; 
 but the body under the saint said he could not, because a pilgrim lay upon 
 him, so that he could not move ; then Macarius, nothing afraid, beat the 
 body with his fist, and told him to go if he would, wffiich caused the devils 
 to declare that Macarius had vanquished them. Another time the devil 
 came with a great scythe on his shoulder, to smite the saint ; but he could 
 not prevail against him, on account of his virtues. 
 
 Macarius, at another time, being tempted, filled a sack with stones, and 
 bore it many journeys through the desert. Seeing a devil before him in 
 the shape of a man, dressed like a “ herawde,” with his clothing full of 
 holes, *and in every hole a vial, he demanded of this devil whither he went, 
 and why he had so many vials ? The devil answered, to give drink to the 
 hermits; and that the vials contained a variety of liquors, that they might 
 have a choice, and so fall into temptation. On the devil’s return, the saint 
 inquired how he had sped; and the devil answered, “ Very ill, for they 
 were so holy that only one, Theodistus, would drink.” On this informa- 
 tion, Macarius found Theodistus under the influence of the vial, and reco- 
 vered him. 
 
 Macarius found the head of a Pagan, and asked, “ where the soul of its 
 body w r as ?” “In hell,” said the head. He asked the head, “if hell was 
 deep ?” The head said, “ Deeper than from heaven to earth.” He de- 
 manded again, “if any were there lower than his own soul?” The head 
 said, “ the Jews were lower than he was.” The saint inquired, “ if there 
 were any lower than the Jews?” The head answered, “ that false Christian- 
 raen were lower than the Jews, and more tormented.” 
 
 Macarius seems, by the Golden Legend, to have been much annoyed by 
 the devil. In a nine days’ journey through a desert, at the end of every 
 mile he set up a reed in the earth, to mark his track against he returned ; 
 but the devil pulled them all up, made a bundle of them, and placed them 
 at Macarius’s head while he lay asleep ; so that the saint with great diffi- 
 culty found his way home again. 
 
 This Macarius is the identical saint who so opportunely assisted St. 
 Helena in the discovery of the genuine cross : and for that one act he 
 certainly deserves to he ranked among the most renowned worthies of the 
 Roman Calendar. 
 
 This day is devoted in Paris to the feast of St. Genevieve, virgin pa- 
 troness of that city. The legendary writers inform us that we cannot pay 
 
ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH. 
 
 287 
 
 _ . _ too great homage to this saint, for the wonders she has per- 
 
 Onevieve. formed for upwards of twelve centuries ; indeed, the angels 
 
 returned thanks to Heaven for the birth of this blessed virgin. Fat er 
 Giry, in the Lives of the Saints , assures us, that the blessed spirits kept 
 “an extraordinary festival at her birth, and that all heaven was filled with 
 joy.” St. Germanus of Auxerre asserted the same to the inhabitants of 
 Nanterre, the first time he saw St. Genevieve, who was born in their city. 
 In the height of her piety, she was seized with so violent a fit of sickness, 
 that she was thought to be dead ; but in the midst of the torments which 
 her body suffered, “ she was ravished in spirit among the angels, where 
 she saw unutterable glories.” 
 
 The Golden Legend relates, that, by the Holy Ghost, she showed many 
 people their secret thoughts ; and that from fifteen years to fifty she fasted 
 every day except Sunday and Thursday, when she ate beans and barley 
 bread of three weeks old. A woman once stole St. Genevieve’s shoes, 
 but as soon as she got home she lost her sight for the theft, and remained 
 blind, till, having restored the shoes, St. Genevieve restored the woman’s 
 sight. 
 
 Desiring the liberation of certain prisoners condemned to death at Paris, 
 she went thither, and found the city gates were shut against her, but they 
 opened without any other key than her own presence. She prayed over 
 twelve men in that city possessed with devils, till the men were suspended 
 in the air, and the devils were expelled. A child of four years old fell 
 into a pit, and was killed ; St. Genevieve only covered her with her man- 
 tle, and prayed over her, and the child came to life, and was baptized at 
 Easter. On a voyage to Spain, she arrived at a port “ where, as of cus- 
 tom, ships were wont to perish.” Her own vessel was likely to strike on 
 a tree in the water, which seems to have caused the wrecks ; she com- 
 manded the tree to be cut down, and began to pray ; w-hen lo ! just as the 
 tree began to fall, “ two wild heads, gray and horrible, issued thereout, 
 which stank so sore, that the people that were there were envenomed by 
 the space of two hours ; and never after perished ship there, thanks be to 
 God and this holy saint !” 
 
 AtMeaux, a master not forgiving his servant his faults, though St. Gene- 
 vieve besought him, she prayed against him. He was immediately seized 
 with a hot ague. “ On the morrow he came to the holy virgin, running 
 with open mouth like a German bear, his tongue hanging out like a boar, 
 and requiring pardon.” She then blessed him, the fever left him, and the 
 servant was pardoned. A girl going by w r ith a bottle, St. Genevieve called 
 to her, and asked what she carried ? She answered, oil, which she had 
 bought; but St. Genevieve, seeing the devil sitting on the bottle, blew upon 
 it, and the bottle broke ; but the saint blessed the oil, and caused her to 
 bear it home safely notwithstanding. The Golden Legend says, that the 
 
2S8 
 
 ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH. 
 
 perple who saw this marvelled that the saint could see the devil, and were 
 greatly edified. Her holiness now shone with greater lustre than ever in 
 the eyes of the Parisians. “She penetrated into the most inward recesses 
 of their consciences, spent all her time in prayer, and shed so great an 
 abundance of tears, that the floor of her chamber was quite wet with them.” 
 Though she had led a life of extraordinary penance, she nevertheless 
 lived to a very advanced age. A great number of miracles were wrought 
 at her tomb, and would undoubtedly have been wrought to the end of the 
 world, had her relics been still there ; now they are wrought only at her 
 shrine. Her shrine of gold and silver, covered with precious stones, the 
 presents of kings and queens, and with a cluster of diamonds on the top, 
 presented by the intriguing Mary de Medicis, was, on calamitous occasions, 
 carried about Paris in procession, accompanied by shrines equally miracu- 
 lous, and by the canons of St. Genevieve, walking barefoot. 
 
 This day is sacred to the memory of St. Simeon Stylites, who astonished 
 all Christendom by his personal mortifications. Simeon went into the 
 January 5 St mona stery of Heliodorus, where the monks ate but once a 
 Simeon Stylites. da.y ; but our saint carried this abstinence to such a pitch, 
 as to eat only once a week. Heliodorus required Simeon to be more pri- 
 vate in his mortifications : with this view, judging the rough rope of 
 the well, made of twisted palm-tree leaves, a proper instrument of pe- 
 nance, Simeon tied it close about his naked body, where it remained 
 unknown both to the community and his superior, till such time as it 
 having ate into his flesh, what he had privately done was discovered by 
 the effluvia proceeding from the wound. It took three days to disengage 
 the saint’s clothes ; and the incisions of the physician, to cut the cord out 
 of his body, were attended with such anguish and pain, that he lay for 
 some time as dead. After this he determined to pass the whole forty days 
 of Lent in total abstinence, and retired to a hermitage for that purpose. 
 Bassus, an abbot, left with him ten loaves and water, and coming to visit 
 him at the end of the forty days, found both loaves and water untouched, 
 and the saint stretched on the ground without signs of life. Bassus dipped 
 a sponge in water, moistened his lips, gave him the Eucharist, and Simeon 
 by degrees swallowed a few lettuce-leaves and other herbs. He passed 
 twenty-six Lents in the same manner. In the first part of a Lent, he 
 prayed standing ; growing weaker, he prayed sitting ; and towards the 
 end, being almost exhausted, he prayed lying on the ground. 
 
 At the end of three years, he left his hermitage for the top of a moun- 
 tain, made an enclosure of loose stones, without a roof, and having resolved 
 to live exposed tc the inclemencies of the weather, he fixed his resolution by 
 fastening his right leg to a rock with a great iron chain. Multitudes 
 flocked to the mountain to receive his benediction, and many of the sick 
 recovered their health ; but a? some were not satisfied unless they touched 
 
ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH. 
 
 28ft 
 
 him in his enclosure, and Simeon desired retirement from the daily con- 
 course, he projected a new and unprecedented manner of life. 
 
 He erected a pillar six cubits high, (each cubit being eighteen inches,) 
 and dwelt on it four years ; on a second, of twelve cubits high, he lived 
 three years; on a third, of twenty-two cubits high, ten years; and on a 
 fourth, of forty cubits, or sixty feet high, which the people built for him, 
 he spent the last twenty years of his life. He was imitated in this folly 
 by several other fanatics ; but none of them had the perseverance or 
 hardness of constitution to earn any degree of immortality to be compared 
 with that of Simeon. This, however, occasioned them to be called stylites , 
 from the Greek word stylos , a pillar. Simeon’s pillar did not exceed three 
 feet in diameter at the top, so that he could not lie extended on it ; he 
 had no seat with him ; he only stooped or leaned to take a little rest, and 
 bowed his body in prayer so often, that a certain person who counted these 
 positions found that he made one thousand two hundred and forty-four 
 reverences in one day ; which, if he began at four o’clock in the morning, 
 and finished at eight o’clock at night, gives a bow to every three-quarters 
 of a minute ; besides which he exhorted the people twice a day. His 
 garments were the skins of beasts, he wore an iron collar round his neck, 
 and had a horrible ulcer in his foot. During his forty days’ abstinence 
 throughout Lent, he tied himself to a pole. He treated himself as the 
 outcast of the world, and the worst of sinners ; worked miracles ; delivered 
 prophecies ; had the sacrament delivered to him on the pillar; and died 
 bowing upon it, in the sixty-ninth year of his age, after having lived upon 
 pillars for seven-and-thirty years ! — His corpse was carried to Antioch, 
 attended by the bishops and the whole country, and worked miracles on its 
 way. 
 
 Without mentioning several of the miracles' in the Golden Legend, which 
 are not fit to be related, it may be observed that it is there said of him, that 
 after his residence on the pillars, one of his thighs rotted a whole year, 
 during which time he stood on one leg only ! Near Simeon’s pillar was 
 the dwelling of a dragon, so very venomous that nothing grew near his 
 cave. This dragon met with an accident ; he had a stake in his eye, and 
 coming all blind to the saint’s pillar, and placing his eye upon it for three 
 days, without doing harm to any one, Simeon ordered earth and water to 
 be placed on the dragon’s eye, which being done, out came the stake, a 
 cubit in length ; when the people saw this miracle, they glorified God, and 
 ran away for fear of the dragon, which arose and adored for two hours, 
 and returned to his cave ! 
 
 A woman swallowed a little serpent, which tormented her for many 
 years, till she came to Simeon, who causing earth and water to be laid on 
 her mouth, the little serpent came out four feet and a half long. It is 
 affirmed, that when Simeon died. Anthony smelt a precious odour pro- 
 
290 
 
 ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH. 
 
 ceeding from his body ; that birds, men, and beasts cried ; that an angel 
 came down in a cloud ; that the Patriarch of Antioch taking Simeon’s beard 
 to put among his relics, his hand withered, and remained so until a multi- 
 tude of prayers were said for him, and it was healed ; and that more mira- 
 cles were worked at and after Simeon’s sepulture, than he had wrought 
 during the whole of his life. 
 
 On the day of the feast of this saint, the pope, cardinals, princes, and 
 even private gentlemen, send their horses and their mules to be blessed by 
 January 17 5 the saddles and harnesses of these beasts are also 
 
 Patriarch "of the carr ^ e( ^ to him. They bless and sprinkle the beasts and 
 Monks - their equipage, in the name and for the sake of the saint, 
 
 upon consideration fora certain sum, viz. two paoli for each beast. Another 
 ceremony in which St. Anthony is applied to, is that of exorcising, conjur- 
 ing, and delivering up to the devil, mice, locusts, or grasshoppers, and all 
 other noxious animals. 
 
 According to St. Athanasius, Anthony was born in 251, at Coma, near 
 Heraclea in Egypt, and in that neighbourhood commenced the life of a 
 hermit ; he was continually assailed by the devil. His only food was 
 bread with a little salt ; he drank nothing but water ; never ate before 
 sunset, sometimes only once in two or four days ; and lay on a rush mat or 
 on the bare floor. For further solitude he left Coma, and hid himself in 
 an old sepulchre, till, in 285, he withdrew into the deserts of the moun- 
 tains, from whence, in 305, he descended, and founded his first monastery. 
 His under garment was sackcloth, with a white sheepskin coat and girdle 
 He was taught to apply himself to manual labour by an angel, who 
 appeared, plaiting mats of palm-tree leaves. Athanasius informs us that 
 Anthony always prayed while he was at work ; and that he detested the 
 Arians ; that he would not speak to a heretic unless to exhort him to the 
 true faith ; and that he drove all such from his mountain, calling them 
 venomous serpents. He was very anxious that after his decease he should 
 not be embalmed, and being one hundred and fifty years old, he died in 
 356, having bequeathed one of his sheepskins, with the coat in which he 
 lay, to his biographer. 
 
 St. Athanasius is very particular in his account of St. Anthony’s war- 
 fare with the infernal powers. He says that hostilities commenced when 
 the saint first determined on hermitizing; “in short, the devil raised a 
 great deal of dust in his thoughts, so that, by bemudding and disordering 
 his intellects, he might make St. Anthony let go his design.” In his fiist 
 conflict with the devil he was victorious, although Satan appeared to him 
 in an alluring shape. Next he came in the form of a black boy, and was 
 again defeated. 
 
 After that, Anthony got into a tomb, and shut down the top, but the 
 devil found him out, and, with a great company of other devils, so beat and 
 
ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH. 
 
 291 
 
 bruised him, that in the morning 1 he was discovered by the person who 
 brought his bread lying like a dead man on the ground ; whereupon 
 he took him up and carried him to the town church, where many of his 
 friends sat by him until midnight. Anthony then coming to himself, and 
 seeing all asleep, caused the person who brought him thither to carry him 
 back privately, and again got into the tomb, shutting down the tomb-top as 
 before. Upon this, the devils being very much exasperated, one night 
 made a noise so dreadful, that the walls shook. They transformed therm- 
 selves into the shapes of all sorts of beasts, lions, bears, leopards, bulls, 
 serpents, asps, scorpions, and wolves ; every one of which moved and 
 acted agreeably to the creatures which they represented — the lion roaring 
 and seeming to make towards him, the bull to butt, the serpent to creep, 
 and the wolf to run at him, and so in short all the rest ; so that Anthony 
 was tortured and mangled by them so grievously that his bodily pain was 
 greater than before. But he taunted them, and the devils gnashed their 
 teeth. This continued till the roof of his cell opened, a beam of light shot 
 down, the devils became speechless, Anthony’s pain ceased, and the roof 
 closed again. 
 
 At one time, the devil laid the semblance of a large piece of plate in his 
 way, but Anthony, perceiving the devil in the dish, chid it, and the plate 
 disappeared. At another time he saw a quantity of real gold on the 
 ground, and, to show the devil “that he did not value money, he leaped 
 over it as a man in a fright over a fire.” 
 
 Having secluded himself in an empty castle, some of his acquaintance 
 came often to see him, but in vain ; he would not Jet them enter, and they 
 remained whole days and nights listening to a tumultuous rout of devils 
 bawling and wailing within. He lived in that state for twenty years, never 
 seeing or being seen by any one, till his friends broke open the door ; and 
 the spectators were in amazement to see his body, that had been so be- 
 laboured by devils, in the same shape in which it was before his retire- 
 ment. By way of a caution to others, he related the practices of the 
 devils, and how they appeared. He said that “to scare us, they will repre- 
 sent themselves so tall as to touch the ceiling, and proportionablv broad ; 
 they often pretend to sing psalms and cite the Scriptures, and sometimes 
 while we are reading they echo what we read ; sometimes they stamp, 
 sometimes they laugh, and sometimes they hiss ; but when one regards 
 them not, then they weep and lament as vanquished. Once, when they 
 came threatening and surrounding me like soldiers, accoutred and horsed, 
 and again when they filled the place with wild beasts and creeping things, 
 I sung Psalm xix. 8, and they were presently routed. Another time, when 
 they appeared with a light in the dark, and said, ‘We are come, 
 Anthony, to lend thee our light,’ I prayed, shutting my eyes, because 
 I disdained to behold their light, and presently their light was put out. 
 
292 
 
 ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH. 
 
 After this they came and hissed and danced ; hut as I prayed and lay 
 along singing, they presently began to wail and weep as though they were 
 spent. 
 
 “Once there came a devil very tall in appearance, that dared to say, 
 ‘What wouldst thou have me bestow upon thee?’ but I spat upon him, 
 and endeavoured to beat him r and, great as he was, he disappeared with 
 the rest of the devils. Once one of them knocked at the door of my cell, 
 and when I opened it I saw a tall figure, and when I asked him, ‘Who 
 art thou V he answered, ‘I am Satan; why do the monks blame and curse 
 me ? I have no longer a place or a city, and now the desert is filled with 
 monks ; let them not curse one to no purpose.’ I said to him, ‘ Thou art 
 a liar,’ &c., and he disappeared.” 
 
 Much more than this he is related to have said by his biographer, who 
 affirms that “having been prevailed upon to go into a vessel and pray 
 with the monks, he, and he only, perceived a wretched and terrible stink ; 
 the company said there was some salt fish in the vessel ; hut he perceived 
 another kind of scent, and while he was speaking, a young man that had 
 a devil, and who had entered before them and hid himself, cried out, and 
 the devil was rebuked by St. Anthony and came out of him, and then they 
 all knew that it was the devil that stunk.” — “Wonderful as these things 
 are, there are stranger things yet ; for once as he w r as going to pray, he 
 was in a rapture, and (which is a paradox) as soon as he stood up, he saw 
 himself without himself, as it were, in the air, and some bitter and terrible 
 beings standing by him in the air too ; but the angels, his guardians, with- 
 stood them.” 
 
 “ He had also another particular favour, for as he was sitting on the 
 mount in a praying posture, and perhaps gravelled with some doubt relat- 
 ing to himself, in the night-time, one called to him, and said, ‘Anthony, 
 arise, go forth and look !’ so he went out and saw a certain terrible deformed 
 personage standing and reaching to the clouds, and winged creatures, and 
 him stretching out his hands ; and some of them he saw were stopped by 
 him, and others were flying beyond him ; whereupon the tall one gnashed 
 his teeth, and Anthony perceived that it was the enemy of souls, who 
 seizes on those who are accountable to him, but cannot reach those who are 
 not persuadable by him.” — His biographer declares that the devils fled at 
 his word, as fast as from a whip. 
 
 The Rev. Alban Butler says, “ there is extant a sermon of St. Anthony’s, 
 wherein he extols the efficacy of the sign of the cross for chasing the- devil, 
 and lays down rules for the discernment of spirits.” There is reason to 
 believe that he could not read ; St. Austin thinks that he did not know 
 the alphabet. He wore his habit to his dying day, neither washing the 
 dirt off his body, nor so much as his feet, unless they were wet by chance 
 when he waded through water on a journey. The Jesuit Ribadeneira 
 
ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH. 
 
 293 
 
 affirms, that “ all the world relented and bemoaned his death, for afterwards 
 there fell no rain from heaven for three years.” 
 
 Though two centuries elapsed before Anthony’s bones were looked for, 
 his grave was not only discovered, but his body was found in the custom- 
 ary preservation. It was brought to Europe through a miracle. One 
 Toceline, who had neglected a pilgrimage to Jerusalem, was, therefore, 
 sorely wounded in battle, and carried for dead into a chapel dedicated to 
 St. Anthony. When he began to revive, a multitude of devils appeared 
 to drag him to hell, and one devil cast a halter about his neck to strangle 
 him, wherefore St. Anthony appeared ; the devils flew from him of course, 
 and he commanded Joceline to perform his pilgrimage, and to convey his 
 body from the East; whereupon Joceline obeyed, and carried it to France. 
 The saint’s beard afterwards was shown at Cologne, with a part of his 
 hand, and another piece of him was shown at Tournay ; two of his relics 
 were at Antwerp ; a church dedicated to him at Rome was famous for his 
 sackcloth and part of his palm-coat ; the other part of it was exhibited at 
 Vienna, and the rest of his body was multiplied about, so that there were 
 limb-bones enough for the remains of half a dozen uncanonized persons. 
 
 St. Anthony’s fire is an inflammatory disease, which, in the eleventh 
 century, raged violently in various parts. According to the legend, the 
 intercession of St. Anthony was prayed for, when it miraculously ceased ; 
 and, therefore, from that time, the complaint has been called St. Anthony’s 
 fire. 
 
 St. David, or, in Welsh, Dewid, the patron of Wales, was son of Xantus, 
 Prince of Cardiganshire, and his birth was prophesied thirty years before 
 March j it happened ; he was brought up a priest, became an ascetic 
 St. David. in th e i s j e 0 f "Wight, afterwards preached to the Britons, 
 
 founded twelve monasteries, ate only bread and vegetables, and drank milk 
 and water. A synod being called at Brevy, in Cardiganshire, a. d. 519, 
 in order to suppress the heresy of Pelagius, “St. David confuted and 
 silenced the infernal monster by his learning, eloquence, and miracles.” 
 After the synod, St. Dubritius, Archbishop of Caerleon, resigned Jiis see 
 to St. David, which see is now called St. David’s. He died in 544 ; 
 St. Kentigern saw his soul borne by angels to heaven ; his body was in 
 the church of St. Andrews. In 962, his relics were translated to Glaston- 
 bury. 
 
 One of the miracles alleged of St. David, by Cressy, is that at the anti- 
 Pelagian synod he restored a child to life, ordered it to spread a napkin 
 under his feet, and made an oration ; that a snow-white dove descended 
 from heaven and sat on his shoulders ; and that the ground whereon ho 
 stood rose under him till it became a hill; “on the top of which hill a 
 church was afterwards built, which remains to this day.” He assembled 
 a provincial synod to confirm the decrees of Brevy ; and wrote the pro- 
 
294 
 
 ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH. 
 
 ceedings of both synods for preservation in his own church, and to be sent 
 to other churches of the province ; but they were lost by age, negligence, 
 and incursions of pirates, who almost every summer came in long boats 
 from the Orkneys, and wasted the coast of Cambria. He invited St. Kined 
 to this synod, who answered that he had grown crooked, distorted, and too 
 weak for the journey; whereupon ensued “a double miracle,” for “St. 
 Kined having been restored to health and straightness by the prayers of 
 St. David, by his own prayers he was reduced again to his former infirmity 
 and crookedness.” After this synod, he journeyed to the monastery of 
 Glastonbury, which he had built and consecrated, with intent to repair it, 
 and consecrated it again; whereupon our Lord appearing to him in his 
 sleep, and forbidding him to profane the sacred ceremony before performed, 
 he in testimony with his finger pierced a hole in the bishop’s hand, which 
 remained open to the view of all men till the end of the next day’s mass. 
 Before his death “ the angel of the Lord appeared to him, and said to him, 
 Prepare thyself.” Again : “ When the hour of his departure was come, 
 our Lord Jesus Christ vouchsafed his presence, to the infinite conso- 
 lation of our holy father, who at the sight of him exulted.” More to 
 the same purpose is alleged by the Catholic writers respecting him, — such 
 as, that at his death, “ being associated to a troop of angels, he with them 
 mounted up to heaven ;” and that the event was known “ by an angel 
 divulging it.” 
 
 According to Porter, St. David was uncle to the famous Prince Arthur, 
 or, strictly speaking, half-uncle, if St. David’s illegitimacy be authentic. 
 The same author relates of him, that on his way from building the church 
 of Glastonbury he went to Bath, cured an infection of the waters, and by 
 his prayers and benediction gave them the perpetual heat they still retain. 
 On the same authority, St. David’s posthumous virtue, in the reign of 
 King Stephen, occasioned the brook above the churchyard of St. David’s 
 church to run wine, by miracle : the well near it, called Pisteldewy, or the 
 Conduit of David, sent forth milk instead of water. Also a boy, that 
 endeavoured to take pigeons from a nest in St. David’s church at Lhan- 
 nons, had his fingers miraculously fastened to the stone, till by his friends’ 
 watching, fasting, and praying before the altar three days and nights, the 
 stone fell from his hand. “Manie thousands .of other miracles have been 
 wrought by the meritts of this holy man, which for brevitie’s sake we 
 omitt. I only desire all true-hearted Welshmen allwaies to honour this 
 their great patrone and protector, and supplicate the Divine Goodness to 
 reduce his sometime beloved countrey out of the blindness of Protestancic , 
 groveling in which it languisheth. Not only in Wales, but all England 
 over, is most famous the memorie of St. David. But in these our un- 
 happie daies the greatest part of his solemnitie consisteth in wearing of a 
 greene leeke,and it is a sufficient theme for a zealous Welshman to ground 
 
ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH. 
 
 295 
 
 a quarrell against him that doeth not honour his capp with the like orna- 
 ment that day.” 
 
 The feast of this saint is celebrated in the church of Minerva, where 
 the cardinals assist solemnly at mass; and in St. Barbara’s feast of the 
 _ T , _ _ booksellers, who have taken St. Thomas Aquinas for their 
 
 Thomas Aquinas, patron. 
 
 It is related in the Golden Legend, that a man who was thought to be 
 starved to death, and who, by a rope cast about his neck, was drawn to the 
 top of a tower, and thrown down from thence, when he came to the ground 
 rose up upon his feet, and gave the following account to those who won- 
 dered at his being alive, since he had continued so long without sustenance, 
 and how it was possible for him to be preserved in his fall ; he assured 
 them, that St. Barbara preserved him in all his dangers, and in his fall from 
 the tower sustained him with her holy hands. 
 
 It is also related, that St. Barbara’s father, who was a heathen, and had 
 shut her up in a tower for fear of being seduced, she being a very great 
 beauty, perceiving by her discourses that she was a Christian, drew out his 
 sword in great indignation, with design to kill her ; but upon her prayers 
 to God, a great stone opening itself, received her into its cavity, and rolled 
 with her to a mountain full of caves, where she thought to have hid her- 
 self, but was discovered by a shepherd, who was punished for it in a miracu- 
 lous manner ; he himself being changed info a marble statue, and all his 
 sheep into locusts, others say beetles ; which, as a perpetual accusation of 
 the crime, continually hover about her grave. 
 
 It is recorded by Surius, that in 1448, at a town called Gorcum in Hol- 
 land, one Henry Knoch, by an accident of the candle’s falling into the 
 straw, had his house set on fire in the night, and he himself hardly escaped 
 in his shirt, which began to burn in two places; but remembering he had 
 left some money in the house, he resolved to return to it, in order to save 
 it; but before he could come to the place where it lay, the house fell upon 
 his naked body ; when apprehending present death, he was more tormented, 
 because he had not been prepared against the terrors of death by the sacra- 
 ments of the church, and in this distress he betook himself to St. Barbara ' 
 for the remedy of his soul, by addressing himself to her in prayer. The 
 saint, being thus invoked, immediately presented herself before him, under 
 such a shape as she is usually represented in churches. With her gar- 
 ments she quickly quenched the globes of fire, and with her white hand 
 brought him through the straw-roof, and setting him in a safe place, told 
 him that his life would be prolonged till the next morning, &c., saying 
 which, she vanished away. All was performed as she had said, though 
 Henry was so burned, that scarcely any flesh was left on his bones uncon- 
 sumed, and what remained of him was as black as a negro, his eyes, heart, 
 and tongue excepted, which remained untouched. 
 
296 
 
 ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH. 
 
 This day is sacred, likewise, to the memory of St. Paul the Anchorite. 
 He was a man of profound ignorance. Butler says he was named “the 
 simple.” He journeyed eight days into the desert to become a disciple of 
 St. Anthony, who told him he was too old, and bade him return home 
 mind his business, and say his prayers : he shut the door upon him. 
 Paul fasted and prayed before the door till Anthonjr opened it, and out of 
 compassion made a monk of him. One day, after he had diligently worked 
 at making mats and hurdles, and prayed without intermission, St. Anthony 
 bid him undo his work, and do it all over again, which he did, without 
 asking for a morsel of bread, though he had been seven days without 
 eating ; this was to try Paul’s obedience. Another day, when some 
 monks came to Anthony for advice, he bade Paul spill a vessel of honey 
 and gather it up without any dust; this was another trial of his obedience. 
 At other times he ordered him to draw water a whole day and pour it out 
 again ; to make baskets and pull them to pieces ; to sew and unsew 
 garments, and the like; these were other trials of his obedience. When 
 Anthony had thus exercised him, he placed him in a cell three miles from 
 his own, proposed him as a model of obedience to his disciples, sent sick 
 persons to him, and others possessed with the devil, whom he could not 
 cure himself. 
 
 The feast of St. Gregory, surnamed the Great, is held in St. Peter’s, 
 where his body is deposited. He was preetor of Rome in 574, under the 
 March 12 St Emperor Justin 5 next year he became a monk, and by fast- 
 Gregory the Pope. j n g and study became so weak, that he swooned if he did 
 not frequently eat. What gave him the greatest affliction was, his not being 
 able to fast on Easter-eve ; a day on which, says St. John the Deacon, every 
 one, not even excepting little children, are used to fast ; whereupon, by 
 praying that he might be enabled to fast, he not only fasted, but quite forgot 
 his illness. He determined to proceed to Britain to propagate the faith ; 
 but the whole city rose in an uproar to prevent his departure, and the pope 
 constrained him to remain. 
 
 Pope Pelagius II. afterwards sent him as nuncio to Constantinople, where 
 Eutychius fell into an error, importing that, after the resurrection, glorified 
 bodies would not be palpable , but of a more subtle texture than air. St. 
 Gregory clearly demonstrated that such bodies would be the same which 
 they had on earth, and Eutychius retracted his error. 
 
 On his return to Rome, he took with him an arm of St. Andrew and the 
 head of St. Luke. Pelagius made him his secretary, after whose death he 
 was elected pope himself. 
 
 To escape from the danger of this elevation, Gregory got himself car- 
 ried out of Rome in a wicker basket, and lay concealed in the woods and 
 caverns for three days. He was afterwards consecrated with great pomp ; 
 and on that occasion sent a synodal epistle to the other patriarchs, wherein 
 
ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH. 
 
 297 
 
 he declared that “ he received the four councils as the four gospels.” 
 Butler says, he extended his charity to the heretics, and “to the very 
 Jews;” yet he afterwards adds, that in Africa “he extirpated the Dona- 
 tists.” He subscribed himself in his letters, Servant of the Servants 
 of God. He sent to the Empress Constantina a veil which had touched 
 the relics of the apostles, and assured her that miracles had been wrought 
 by such relics, and promised her some dust-filings of the chains of St. 
 Paul. He likewise sent to St. Austin and other monks to convert the 
 English. 
 
 He died on the 25th of January, 604. His devotion to the church was 
 constant ; he was learned, enterprising, sincere, and credulous ; and, for 
 the times wherein he lived, charitable and merciful. He was the author 
 of the church-singing called the Gregorian chant. 
 
 Many miracles are related of St. Gregory; as, that going to bless a 
 church in honour of St. Agnes, which had been used by the Arians, he 
 caused the relics to be placed on the altar, whereon a hog went grunting 
 out of the church with a fearful noise ; whence it was averred, that the 
 *devil, who had been se'rved in it by the heretic Arians, was driven out by 
 the relics. Sometimes the lamps were miraculously lighted. One day a 
 bright cloud descended on the altar, with a heavenly odour, so that from 
 reverence no one dared to enter the church. 
 
 At another time, when Gregor}' - was transubstantiating the wafers, a 
 woman laughed; he asked her why she laughed ? to which at length she 
 answered, “ Because you call the bread which I made with my own hands 
 the body of our Lord ;” whereupon he prayed, and the consecrated bread 
 appeared flesh to every one present ; and the woman was converted, and 
 the rest were confirmed. 
 
 At another time, some ambassadors coming to Rome for relics, Gregory 
 took a linen cloth which had been applied to the body of a saint, and en- 
 closing it in a box, gave it to them. While on their journey home, they 
 were curious to see the contents of the box ; and finding nothing within it 
 but the cloth, returned to St. Gregory, complaining that he had deceived 
 them. On this, he took the cloth, laid it on the altar, prayed, pricked it 
 with a knife ; the cloth shed blood, and the astonished ambassadors reve- 
 rently took back the box. 
 
 Another time, one who had been excommunicated by St. Gregory fcr 
 having put away his lawful wife, f bargained with certain sorcerers and 
 witches for revenge ; who, when the holy pope rode through the city, sent 
 the devil into his horse, and made him caper, so that he could not be 
 held : then, with the sign of the cross, the pope cast out the devil ; and 
 the witches, by miracle, becoming blind, were converted, and St. Gregory 
 baptized them ; yet he would not restore their sight, lest they should read 
 their magical books again ; but he maintained them out of the church-rents. 
 
r 
 
 298 ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH. 
 
 After his death there was a famine in Rome, and the people being falsely 
 persuaded that St. Gregory had wasted the church property, gathered his 
 writings to burn them ; wherefore Peter the Deacon, who had been inti- 
 mate with Gregory, affirmed that he had often seen the Holy Ghost in 
 form of a dove upon St. Gregory’s head while he was writing, and that it 
 would be an insufferable affront to burn those books, which had been 
 written by his inspiration ; and to assure them of this, he offered to con- 
 firm it by oath, but stipulated that, if he died immediately after he had 
 taken the oath, they should believe that he had told- them the truth : this 
 being assented to, he took the oath, and thereupon died, and the people 
 believed; and “hence,” says Rabadineira, “the painters came to repre- 
 sent St. Gregory with a dove at his ear, to signify that the Holy Ghost in- 
 spired and dictated -what he wrote.” 
 
 It is also related of St. Gregory, that, when he fled from Rome to avoid 
 the dignity of popedom, and lay hidden, a bright pillar of fire, descending 
 from heaven, glittered above his head, and angels appeared descending and 
 ascending by the same fiery pillar upon him ; wherefore, he was miracu- 
 lously betrayed. * 
 
 Lent is said to be an imitation of the fasting of Jesus Christ. It must 
 be of great antiquity, since it is cited by several ancient fathers. In the 
 T . „ primitive church the Christians did not always fast during 
 ber week. the precise term of forty days ; for we have examples of 
 
 Lent-seasons that were of shorter continuance, and of others that lasted 
 longer. It was sometimes usual to begin Lent at Septuagesima, other 
 times at Sexagesima, and often at Quinquagesima. With some, it held six 
 weeks, with others seven, and some again began it but three weeks before 
 Easter. It was kept very strictly, for they used to abstain not only from 
 wine, flesh, meats, and all kinds of luxury, but to fast till the evening. 
 Lastly, all persons were prohibited from marrying during Lent, which cus- 
 tom is observed to this day. 
 
 The fast of the ember weeks was borrowed originally from the Jews ; 
 for they bear a relation to four fasts which the Jews denominated from the 
 fourth, fifth, seventh, and tenth months. The ember weeks are observed 
 in March, June, September, and December. The humiliation of the ember 
 weeks consists in three days’ strict fasting in each season of the year. 
 By this fast, the faithful are taught that the four parts of the year are to 
 be equally consecrated to God. Some pretend that these fasts were esta- 
 blished as early as the first century of the church, but that they were not 
 absolutely binding ; on the contrary, that a person might transgress them 
 without scandal or offence. It is even said that this cpldness and indiffer- 
 ence were not suppressed but in process of time by councils. Others say, 
 that the ember weeks were not instituted till the year 460, by Pope St. 
 Leo. Moreover that Pope Gelasius commanded that priests and deacons 
 
ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH. 
 
 299 
 
 should be ordained in those seasons. As it was customary -in the apostolic 
 age for fasting and public prayer to precede their ordinations, it was but 
 reasonable that the present ember weeks should be distinguished by the 
 same pious exercises, and that the faithful should employ fasting and 
 prayer “ to implore such officers of God as might be worthy to serve his 
 church,” 
 
 The ceremony of giving ashes is one of the ancient methods of express- 
 ing sorrow, of which mention is often made in the Old Testament. It is 
 
 _ . . also a type of the public penance used among Christians 
 
 Ceremony of giv- J 1 r 1 ° 
 
 ing the Ashes. anciently, during which the penitent was cut off from all 
 communication with the rest of the faithful, and stood at the church-door, 
 covered with sackcloth and ashes. 
 
 The ashes that are made use of on Ash-Wednesday must be made from 
 the branches of olive, or some other trees that have been blessed the fore- 
 going year on Palm-Sunday. The sacristan, or vestry-keeper, gets these 
 ashes ready, and lays them in a small vessel on the altar, on the epistle- 
 side ; after which, the officiating priest blesses them, for which purpose 
 the wax-tapers on the altar are lighted. The officiating priest, his clerks, 
 and his acolytes, put on ornaments suitable to the solemnity of the cere- 
 mony; during which the choir chant none, or the ninth hour; after 
 which, the officiating priest, preceded by the incense-bearer, and other 
 assistants, goes up to the altar, kisses it, and says a prayer, with his face 
 a little turned towards the ashes. He afterwards makes the sign of the 
 cross upon the ashes, and incenses them. The incensing being ended, the 
 priest, having on one side of him the deacon carrying the ashes, and his 
 sub-deacon on the other, goes forward towards the middle of the altar, and 
 turns round to the congregation. Then the chief of the clergy, in whose 
 ch irch the ceremony of giving the ashes is performed, goes up to the altar, 
 and lays the ashes on the head of the officiating priest in the form of a 
 cross, repeating these words, Memento homo quia pulvis es , &c. ; i. e. 
 Remember , man , that thou art dust , &c. After the priest has received the 
 ashes, he gives them to his assistants, to all the clergy then present, and at 
 last to the whole congregation. The women, as well as the men, receive 
 the ashes on their foreheads. 
 
 A bishop, with his mitre off, receives the ashes sitting, from the officiat- 
 ing canon ; after which the prelate, putting on his mitre, and having a 
 white cloth before him, gives the ashes to the officiating canon, who stoops 
 before him. It is the bishop’s province to give the ashes to a churchman 
 of superior dignity, such as an archbishop or patriarch. Princes, ambas- 
 sadors, and other persons of distinction, receive the ashes after the canons. 
 The canons and the superior clergy incline their bodies when they receive 
 them, but all the inferior clergy and the laity take them kneeling. The 
 pope receives them from the officiating cardinal, who does not repeat the 
 
300 
 
 ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH. 
 
 Memento, &c.,to him ; but the cardinal stoops a little when he takes them 
 from the pope. If an emperor were to assist at this ceremony of humilia- 
 tion, he must take them after all the cardinals, for the princes of the church 
 are superior to all temporal ones. 
 
 Pope Urban V. sent, on the fourth Sunday in Lent of the year 1366, a 
 golden rose, to Joan, Queen of Sicily, and made a decree, by which it or- 
 dained, that the popes should consecrate one at that season every year. 
 
 Biessino- the This golden rose is enriched with precious stones, and is 
 
 Golden Rose. often sent by the pope to princesses, or to some church, as a 
 
 mark of his peculiar affection. His holiness blesses the rose in the room 
 in which the ornaments are kept, immediately before he goes to hear mass 
 in his own chapel. This blessing is performed with frankincense, holy 
 water, balm, and musk, mixed together. The benediction being ended, 
 the pope goes out of the room, and one of his privy-chamberlains carries 
 the rose before him, and lays it on a candlestick. Then a cardinal-deacon 
 presents it to his holiness, who, taking it in his left hand, walks on to the 
 chapel, and with his right hand blesses the faithful who line the way. 
 After this, the rose is returned to the cardinal-deacon, and he gives it to a 
 clerk of the chamber, who lays it on the altar. Mass being ended, his 
 holiness gives the rose to whomsoever he thinks proper. We must not 
 omit that the Sunday of the golden rose is called Lsetare, from a lesson 
 ■which is read on that day, beginning at verse 10 of the 66th chapter of 
 Isaiah, and that the sacred college come into the chapel clothed in cassocs 
 of the colour of dried roses. 
 
 The rose is remarkable for three qualities, which are to be applied to the 
 faithful of the Church, viz. for its colour, its fragrance, and taste. The 
 substance of the golden rose, the musk and the balm with which it is 
 blessed, are so mapy emblems of the divine, the spiritual, and human 
 nature of Jesus Christ. 
 
 On Palm-Sunday, palms are prepared at the pope’s chapel ; and when 
 these cannot be procured, olive branches are sometimes used, adorned with 
 
 _ , the leaves of the palm-tree, tied up neatly in the shape of 
 
 Palm-Sunday. a cross : these palm, or olive-branches, are about five feet 
 in length. The pope then goes in procession to the chapel ; and when 
 the prayers and ceremonies which are used in all other benedictions are 
 ended, his holiness sprinkles and incenses the branches. After their con- 
 secration the chief cardinal-bishop presents two of the largest of them to 
 his holiness, who gives them to two persons of distinction, who, according 
 to the Roman ceremonial, must stand on each side of the pope, with the 
 branches in their hands. The above-mentioned cardinal then presents him 
 a third branch, less than the former ; this the pope gives to a chamberlain, 
 and presents the rest to the cardinals, prelates, ambassadors, and noblemen 
 who assist at the ceremony. 
 
ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH. 
 
 SOI 
 
 The branches, which the cardinal-bishop offers to his holiness, are beau- 
 tifully adorned with flowers, and must be kissed by those to whom they 
 are presented. When the chief cardinal-bishop receives them, he has the 
 honour to kiss the hand and knee of his holiness ; the rest of the cardinals 
 also kiss his knee, but the clergy of an inferior order only kiss his foot. 
 The ceremony concludes with distributing the branches among the people ; 
 and during the service of the Passion, all the congregation hold their 
 branches in their hands. 
 
 On Palm-Sunday, the altars, likewise, are adorned with palm or olive- 
 branches. The branches designed to be distributed are laid upon a table 
 near the altar, and remain there covered with a white cloth till the time of 
 blessing them. 
 
 One remarkable custom practised on Palm-Sunday, and which is still 
 observed in several parts of Christendom, is the setting a prisoner at liberty : 
 upon which occasion the bishop and clergy go in procession : the ceremony 
 of this delivery is considered by the Catholics as a type of their spiritual 
 freedom. This ceremony is borrowed from the Jews, who used anciently 
 to set a prisoner at liberty on the day of their passover, in commemoration 
 of their deliverance from the Egyptian bondage. 
 
 After the palms are distributed, the procession begins by the deacon 
 presenting the officiating priest with one of the branches, which he kisses, 
 as also the priest’s hand : this being done, the sub-deacon takes the cross, 
 and occupies a station between the two incense-bearers, at the entrance of 
 the sanctuary, or chancel. Immediately after, the deacon, having knelt 
 down, and turned himself towards the people, repeats to them, Proceda- 
 mus in pace , i. e. Let us go in peace; and the procession is then per- 
 formed round the church. When it is ended, mass is said. During the 
 singing of the Passion, the several members of the congregation hold their 
 branches in their hands, not excepting the officiating priest and the minis- 
 ters of the altar ; none being excepted but the deacons, who repeat the 
 service of the passions, and the acolytes, and their attendants. After mass 
 is ended, every member of the congregation carries home his branch which 
 has been blessed ; and, according to the rituals, a branch thus blessed is 
 a preservative from several diseases, and an instrument of innumerable 
 blessings. 
 
 After various preliminary ceremonies, the procession sets out, each per- 
 son with his taper in his hand, in such order, that the youngest walks first, 
 
 The Procession and the oldest last. The superior clergy walk immediately 
 Sepulchre. alter the priest, who marches under a canopy, and carries 
 
 the host. Being come to the sepulchre, the youngest place themselves 
 near the cross, which is set opposite to the grave, and the oldest place 
 themselves behind them : this being done, they all fall down on their knees, 
 the incense and cross-bearers excepted ; and the choir sings and repeats 
 20 
 
302 
 
 HOMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH. 
 
 the . anthem Tantum ergo sacramentum, till the conclusion of the cere- 
 mony. The priest now incenses the host, and a deacon takes it up and 
 holds it in his hands, till such time as the priest kneels down before it. 
 This being done, the deacon puts it again in the tabernacle, where the 
 priest incenses it thrice ; after which, the deacon locks up the tabernacle, 
 and gives the key of it to the master of the ceremonies. At the return 
 of the procession, all the tapers are put out, with the exception of those 
 of the acolytes, who walk before the cross-bearers. The officiating priest 
 now puts off his white vestments, and puts on purple ones, in order to say 
 the office of the vespers ; his attendants do the same : and after the vespers 
 are ended, they uncover the altars in the following manner: — 
 
 The officiating priest takes from the high altar its coverings, its Pallia, 
 and other ornaments, but does not take off the cross and its lights. They 
 even take away the little table on which the church plate, the carpets, and 
 flowers usually stand ; and they likewise uncover the pulpit and the church- 
 walls, the covering of which the sacristan carries into the vestry. The 
 cross is now covered with a black or purple-coloured veil ; the tabernacle 
 is veiled in the same manner, and is left open, being the house of the living 
 God, who has absented himself from it forsome time. The cross must now 
 be placed before the tabernacle. In order to solemnize the passion ot our 
 Saviour, a black canopy is then set over the high altar, and the walls of 
 the church are hung with the same colour. The whole of this mournful 
 ceremony is ushered in by certain anthems. 
 
 It is stated that the uncovering of the altars represents the ignominious 
 manner in which Jesus Christ was stripped of his garments. 
 
 After the ceremonies above mentioned are ended, the pope is carried to 
 the gallery, where the bull in Cosna Domini is read ; by which his holi- 
 ness excommunicates, in a solemn manner, all heretics and unrepenting 
 sinners ; after which, he gives his blessing to all the people there as- 
 sembled. 
 
 During the publication of the bull in Ccena Domini, which is given out 
 from the gallery of the blessing, the pope is then clothed in a red chasuble, 
 and a stole of the same colour, and stands in a kind of high pulpit, the 
 better to be seen by the people. The sub-deacon, who stands at the left 
 hand of his holiness, reads the bull, which is in Latin ; and the deacon, 
 who stands at his right, reads the same to them in Italian. In the mean 
 time the candles are lighted, and each of them takes one in his hand. When 
 the excommunication is pronounced, the pope and cardinals put out their 
 candles, and throw them among the crowd ; after which, the black cloth 
 that covered the pulpit is taken away. 
 
 Two cardinal-deacons’ assistants now publish the plenary indulgence, — 
 one in Latin, the other in Italian. 
 
 A fter this, his holiness washes the feet of twelve priests in the ducal 
 
ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH. 
 
 303 
 
 hall, and entertains them at dinner in another apartment, himself waiting 
 upon them ; and presents to each of them two medals, the one of gold, the 
 other of silver, as also an apostolical garment, made of white serge. 
 
 This ceremony is considered typical of Jesus Christ washing the feet 
 
 ceremony of of his disciples, and is held in high veneration by the rigid 
 of uiT poor? ee Roman Catholic. A modern writer thus describes the cere- 
 mony : — 
 
 The pope and cardinals having come into the ducal hall, the cardinal- 
 deacon’s assistants clothe his holiness with his purple stole, his red cope, 
 and plain mitre. Their eminences are clothed in purple copes. His holi- 
 ness having put three spoonfuls of odoriferous spices into the thurible, 
 gives his blessing to the cardinal-deacon, who is to sing the gospel, which 
 begins, Ante diem festum Paschse ; after this, one of the apostolical sub- 
 deacons gives the pope a book of the New Testament to kiss, and the 
 cardinal- deacon incenses him thrice ; immediately after which, a chorus of 
 musicians sing the 34th verse of the 13th chapter of St. John, in which 
 are these words, Mandatum novum do vobis: “A new commandment I 
 give unto you.” 
 
 As soon as the pope hears these words sung, he takes off his cope, and 
 putting on a white apron, washes the feet of thirteen poor priests, being 
 strangers, who sit on a high form or bench, clothed in white camelot, with 
 a kind of capouch or cape, that reaches down to the middle of their arms. 
 This, at the pope’s court, is called an apostolical garment. The afore- 
 mentioned priests have their right legs bare, and these are well washed 
 over with soap and water, before they are presented to the pope to wash. 
 When he has done, the treasurer, by his order, gives to each of them two 
 medals, one of gold, the other of silver, weighing an ounce each. The 
 major domo now presents a napkin to the dean of the cardinal college, or 
 one of the most ancient bishops of the apostolic college, who dries their 
 feet. Afterwards, the pope returns to his seat, takes off his apron, washes 
 his hands in water, which a layman of the highest quality then present 
 pours out to him, and afterwards wipes them with a napkin, which is pre- 
 sented to him by the chief cardinal bishop. This being done, the pope 
 again puts on his cope and mitre, and sings the Lord’s prayer and several 
 others in Latin ; after which he goes into the vestry, where he leaves his 
 pontifical vestments, and withdraws to his apartment, accompanied by the 
 cardinals. 
 
 The above ceremony is performed nearly after the same manner in the 
 rest of the churches in Rome, as well as in other places, by the bishops 
 and curates of parishes. The place where the ceremony is performed 
 must be adorned and perfumed with flowers and odoriferous herbs ; and 
 there must be at least one table in form of an altar, neatly covered. The 
 cross must be veiled with white, to denote that purity of which the cere- 
 
 l 
 
304 
 
 ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH. 
 
 mony of washing the feet is a type ; and as every thing must have an allu- 
 sion to that ceremony, the rituals observe, that the candles which are lighted 
 at this solemn act must be made of the whitest wax. The credence-tables, and 
 the basins into which the water is poured, must also be adorned with flowers. 
 
 The thirteen priests whose feet have been washed by the pope, and who 
 are on that day called apostles, are, an hour afterwards, carried into a beauti- 
 ful apartment in the Vatican, in which the thirteen priests are entertained 
 with a most splendid dinner. They are no sooner seated than the pope 
 comes in, and presents to each of them the first dish, and afterwards pours 
 out to each the first glass of wine ; during which he discourses to them 
 with great familiarity, and grants them several privileges. 
 
 When the pope has withdrawn, his preacher in ordinary begins a ser- 
 mon in the above-mentioned apartment, while the thirteen priests are sit- 
 ting at dinner, in lieu of the spiritual lecture usual at meals in all eccle- 
 siastical societies. The preacher who officiates on this occasion, is the 
 same that generally preaches once a week before the pope in his chamber 
 during Lent and Advent. On this occasion the pope sits in a gallery, 
 unseen by any person, and the cardinals sit round it, clothed in purple 
 copes, as in the consistory. The ceremony ends with a sumptuous enter- 
 tainment, which his holiness gives to the cardinals ; and the whole is 
 heightened with a fine concert of music. It is thus that Rome beholds 
 annually renewed the image of the Lord’s Supper with his apostles. 
 
 At Rome, the Holy Oils are blessed on Holy Thursday, at which time 
 those of the preceding year are burnt. The ceremony is performed with 
 Biessino- of the g reat solemnity, after having first reconciled the penitents 
 ° ils - to the Church. After nones, or the ninth hour, the officiat- 
 
 ing priest clothes himself in white, and puts on his sandals, &c. The 
 canons, the several ministers of the altar, seven deacons, seven sub-deacons, 
 and twelve priests, are likewise clothed in white, and all walk in proces- 
 sion to the altar. Omitting the various genuflections, prayers, and anthems, 
 which follow the procession, we shall only observe, that the officiating 
 priest blesses, consecrates, and exorcises three sorts of oil. He first per- 
 forms the ceremony on that of the infirm, or on that which is used in ex- 
 treme unction, exorcisms, &c. ; afterwards on that of the chrism ; and, 
 lastly, on that of the catechumens ; and the whole is closed with a saluta- 
 tion, which the officiating priest and the ministers who assist at the conse- 
 cration make to these sanctified oils, saying, Ave sanctum oleum, — Hail , 
 holy oil , &c. After this, the new-made oils are carried in procession into 
 the sacristy, where the officiating priest washes his hands, then sings mass, 
 and gives the blessing. 
 
 Good Friday is distinguished in various places by cere- 
 
 Good Friday. mon j es 0 f g reat splendour, of which the following may 
 serve as examples : 
 
ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH. 
 
 305 
 
 At Courtray, there is a commemorative procession, on Good Friday, of 
 cur Saviour to Mount Calvary. The city magistrates give five-and-twenty 
 livres to a poor man, who represents the suffering Saviour ; and the monks 
 assure him of certain salvation, in case he happen to die under the blows 
 that are given him in this ceremony. The procession first assembles in the 
 parish-church, and the mock Saviour is brought into the sacristy, where 
 he is clothed with a purple robe, his loins girded with a thick rope, and 
 his head crowned with thorns ; after which he is made to walk barefoot, 
 with a kind of pack-saddle bound around his neck. On each side of this 
 collar six ropes are put, which are to be fastened to a wooden cross of great 
 weight, which the voluntary martyr has now laid upon his shoulders ; and 
 thus equipped, he rambles up and down the whole city. Six Capu- 
 chins, who walk at his right hand, draw the six ropes which are fixed 
 on that side of the pack-saddle ; and the other six are drawn by as many 
 Recollets, or Franciscans so that the poor fellow is so dragged and hauled 
 by the twelve friars, that he is continually stumbling, and is almost pulled 
 to pieces. This poor mock Saviour would have a terrible ordeal to go 
 through, were it not for a sham Simon the Cyrenean, who, very luckily, 
 comes just in time to free him from his torments. The poor wretch, before 
 he gets into the church, is half killed ; however, notwithstanding the kicks 
 and buffetings which the people and the mimic Jews bestow upon him, he 
 is so thoroughly persuaded of the merits of his sufferings, and that they 
 will procure him an eternity of bliss, that he bears all his torments without 
 the least murmur or complaint. 
 
 The procession at Brussels, in which the crucifixion of our Saviour is 
 represented, is no less extraordinary in its circumstances. Both the city 
 and the court endeavour to do honour to this solemnity; and 
 it is performed in the church of the Austin-friars, at the foot 
 of the altar. The persons who form the procession assemble in St. Gu- 
 dula’s, the cathedral church, by eight in the morning, and the Brotherhood 
 of Mercy £ ome thither in their proper habits, barefooted, and their faces 
 masked ; some walking with drums covered with black cloth. After the 
 brotherhood, a great number of prisoners come forward, each of whom 
 drags after him an iron cannon ball, chained to his foot ; next come several 
 Austin-friars, dressed in Jewish habits, in the midst of whom is a man, 
 who is always a criminal, (but pardoned for the part he then acts,) bound 
 and fettered, crowned with thorns, and dressed in a purple robe. Then 
 several trumpets come forward, and after them the prebends, the priests, 
 and a multitude of people. In this equipage, they all crowd into the 
 church, where the concourse is generally so great, that the multitudes are 
 obliged to stand without. 
 
 In the church a large scaffold is erected, and a cross, twenty feet in 
 height, is set upon it : the person who represents the crucified Saviour 
 
 Procession at 
 Brussels. 
 
306 
 
 ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH. 
 
 ascends this scaffold, and is followed by those who represent the Jews, 
 with hammers, nails, and ropes in their hands. The Brotherhood of Mercy 
 crowd round the scaffold, and the ladies have high seats prepared for them ; 
 the common people standing below in the pit. The mock Jews now strip 
 the pretended Christ of his ornaments, lay him along the scaffold, and 
 cast dice for his garments ; which being done, they strip him to his shirt 
 Lastly, he is fixed on the cross, by tying his hands and feet with leathern 
 thongs which are nailed to the cross ; and the better to imitate our Saviour’s 
 sufferings, they put little bladders, filled with blood, under the thongs, 
 which being pierced by the nails, the blood is seen to trickle from his hands 
 and feet! This is the very pathos of this pious farce; for at the sight 
 of the blood, the hearts of the people are moved, and the most devout beat 
 their breasts, while the monks sing anthems suitable to the occasion. 
 
 At Venice, on Good Friday, the Holy Sacrament is carried in proces- 
 sion, about nine or ten at night, with the utmost solemnity: it is laid in a 
 
 coffin, covered with black velvet, and in this manner is car- 
 
 A.t Venice. . ... 
 
 ried round the square of St. Mark. St. Didier informs us, 
 “that there cannot be a finer sight than this square then affords. Two 
 large flambeaux of white wax are set at each window of the palace Della 
 Procuratia, which goes round the square. * This double range of flambeaux, 
 and those which are set over the church gate, are to light the several pro- 
 cessions of the fraternities, and the neighbouring parishes, who go into the 
 square. Here the penitents appear in masquerade, and beat themselves 
 till the blood follows the blows. For this purpose they have scourges 
 made of a great number of little sharp cords, which they hold with both 
 their hands, and dipped in a pot filled with vinegar. They strike them- 
 selves on the back with so much order, and in such exact cadence, that 
 they must necessarily have studied the art very much, to be so very expert 
 in it. 
 
 Here follows the order which is observed in this procession. There are 
 three or four hundred men, all of them holding thick torches of white 
 wax, six feet long, and weighing at least twelve oi fifteen pounds each. 
 These walk two and two, with a like number of persons, each holding a 
 lantern, and walking between the torches in such a manner that the spec- 
 tator sees alternately a flambeau and a lantern. They are all clothed in 
 black or white serge, according to their fraternities, having a large cowl, 
 two feet in length, and terminating in a point, which hangs down on their 
 backs. Their lanterns are very large, and are fixed to the end of sticks ; 
 each has several tapers in it, which gives a great light, the lanterns being 
 made of very clear glass. As there is a great number of glass houses 
 in and about Venice, some of them are made in a very odd shape, and 
 are so heavy that one man is hardly able to carry them. Seme are made 
 in the shape of stars, or like suns, with a great number of rays parting 
 
ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH. 
 
 307 
 
 from them, and are six feet in diameter. The glasses are fixed in with 
 pieces of iron and lead, gilt : others are made in the shape of roses, full 
 and half moons, comets, pyramids, crosses, globes, eagles with extended 
 wings, &c. In the midst of these flambeaux and lanterns, the standard 
 is placed, and afterwards the cross, with a crucifix four feet high, covered 
 with crape ; and a nosegay at the foot of it, as broad as a half-bushel. 
 The several fraternities strive to rival each other in the singularity and 
 beauty of their flowers as well as in the form they give to their nose- 
 gays. The Battuti walk before the cross, scourging themselves by starts, 
 and walking backwards, having their eyes always fixed on the crucified 
 Saviour. After the cross the relics follow, carried on litters covered with 
 flowers and tapers. On both sides of the cross, several persons walk with 
 long flambeaux in their hands, and large silver candlesticks, with several 
 candles in them, fixed on a long pole. Afterwards, a chorus of voices 
 is heard, and the clergy follow ; then come the guardian, the deputy- 
 guardian, and all the brethren of the fraternity, each having a torch in his 
 hand. 
 
 The ceremony of the adoration of the cross is also performed on Good 
 Friday. After nones, the officiating priest goes up to the altar, preceded 
 Adoration of the ^ acolytes, without tapers, and the rest of the ministers 
 
 Closs - of the altar: they first kneel before it, and bow to the cross, 
 
 a duty at all times necessary, but particularly on this day. Immediately 
 after the officiating priest and his ministers have repeated on their knees 
 certain prayers in a low tone, the acolytes cover the table of the altar, and 
 lay the mass-book on a black cushion, on the epistle-side. This done, the 
 master of the ceremonies makes a signal to the officiating priest and his 
 ministers to rise up ; then the acolytes take away the cushions that were 
 knelt upon, and the black cloth, while the choir and the congregation say 
 their prayers upon their knees. The minister who is to officiate now goes 
 up to the altar, kisses it as usual, and afterwards either repeats, or sings 
 with *a low voice, the several lessons of the day, which his ministers 
 repeat after him. Prayers being ended, the officiating priest goes to the 
 epistle-side, the deacon takes the cross, which is veiled, from the altar, 
 and presents it to the officiating priest, who, after he has uncovered the 
 top of the cross, elevates it with both hands, at the same time singing 
 these words : Ecce lignum crucis, — Behold the wood of the cross. Then 
 all the congregation rise up with their heads bare, and the ministers of 
 the altar sing as follows : In quo salus mundi pependit , — On which the 
 Saviour of the world was extended. The choir answers, Venite et adore - 
 mus , — Let us come and adore. Here, every one falls upon his knees, 
 the officiating priest excepted. A moment after, they all rise up ; the 
 officiating priest uncovers the right arm of the crucifix, and the head of 
 Jesus ; shows it, elevates it, and says, Ecce lignum , fyc., but louder 
 
508 
 
 ROMAN CATHOLTC CHURCH. 
 
 than before. Lastly, he goes up towards the middle of the altar, turns 
 towards the congregation, and with a very loud voice repeats the same 
 words, at the same time elevating the crucifix, and showing it quite un- 
 covered. 
 
 The acolytes now spread a purple piece of cloth, or carpet, in the midst 
 of the chancel, and before the steps of the altar. A purple cushion, and a 
 silken veil embroidered with gold, are laid upon the altar. The officiating 
 priest carries the cross thither, and kneeling down, lays it on the cushion, 
 and bows to it. Preceded by his ministers, who attend upon him at this 
 august ceremony, he now returns to his place, where he puts off his sandals 
 and his mitre. He afterwards advances towards the cross, in the midst of 
 his ministers, who are likewise without shoes or sandals ; kneels down 
 thrice, repeats thrice a short prayer, and at last kisses the holy wood, which 
 the ministers do likewise. After this, having bowed to the cross, they all 
 return and put on their sandals. 
 
 The rest of the dignitaries of the church, each in his rank, now perform 
 the same ceremony, and also the people. In those countries where the 
 women do not sit with the men, a priest having a black stole over his sur- 
 plice goes and presents them the crucifix to kiss and adore. 
 
 The same ceremonies are performed at the pope’s chapel. After his 
 holiness has kissed the crucifix, he makes an offering of twenty-five ducats 
 of gold at least, which he puts into a vessel of the same metal, laid near the 
 left arm of the crucifix. After the cardinals, emperors and kings go and 
 worship the cross. 
 
 The ceremony of the adoration being ended, the deacon salutes the cross, 
 elevates it, and in this posture carries it to the altar, where he places it, 
 observing to bow the knee before it. As he walks along, the officiating 
 priest stands up while it passes before him ; but the rest of the ministers of 
 the altar remain upon their knees. 
 
 The ceremonies on Easter Eve are at St. John’s de Lateran : where, 
 after the blessing of the fire and water, the catechumens who are of age 
 are baptized in the Baptisterium of Constantine ; the Pope 
 
 Easter Eve. ass j sts solemnly at the office in the Apostolical chapel, and 
 a cardinal priest sings mass. 
 
 On Easter Eve, the ornaments of the churches and altars are changed ; 
 the black, with which the latter were covered, is taken off, and white put 
 on ; the tabernacle is also uncovered, and covered with white, but so that 
 the purple still appears on the outward side, till the litanies are ended. In 
 like manner, after that part of the service has been celebrated, a carpet, or 
 some rich covering, is laid on the steps of the altar, and the images are 
 unveiled. Then six large tapers are got ready for solemn mass, and like- 
 wise all the lights which are to burn before tne altar. 
 
 On the gospel-side of the altar, a great candlestick is placed, which 
 
ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH. 
 
 S09 
 
 must be made in the shape of an angel, if possible, and very neatly 
 wrought. In this candlestick, the paschal candle is fixed ; it must be 
 made of the whitest wax, and weigh about eight or ten pounds ; five holes 
 are made in it, in the shape of a cross, to be filled with five grains of 
 frankincense, gilt over, and made in the shape of a pine-apple. To con- 
 clude, some edifying subject is painted on the taper, such as the patron of 
 the place, or any other saint. As every thing must correspond with the 
 solemnity of the day, the ritual ordains, that the reed with which the 
 tapers are lighted shall also be gilt and adorned with flowers. The three 
 small candles which are fixed to the top of the reed represent the Trinity in 
 Unity, and must therefore join together at the basis, i. e. at the end which 
 touches the reed. 
 
 It is ordained by the rituals, that baptism is not to be administered for a 
 week before Easter-eve, unless a child’s life be in danger. On this eve is 
 likewise performed the ceremony of blessing the new fire. 
 
 The church being strewed with flowers, at the ninth hour the old fire is 
 put out, and at the same time an acolyte must light the new one on the out- 
 side of the church. 
 
 The officiating priest, dressed in his sacerdotal vestments, and attended 
 by the ministers of the altar and the clergy, now walks out of the church 
 in procession, and goes to the place where the blessing of the fire is to be 
 performed. The holy-water pot is carried thither in great pomp, as also 
 the frankincense, the sub-deacon’s purple maniple, and the mass-book. 
 The sub-deacon walks singly with the cross, and is followed by the clergy. 
 When every one has taken his place, the officiating priest uncovers him- 
 self, and pronounces these words : Dominus vobiscum , — The Lord be with 
 you , #c., as usual. He afterwards repeats the prayer, Deus qui filium 
 tuum , fyc., in the midst of which he makes the sign of the cross over the 
 fire ; he likewise blesses the five grains of frankincense, which are put on 
 a plate, which an acolyte holds lifted up to his breast. In the mean time, 
 the thuriferary puts some coals, after being blessed, into the thurible, into 
 which the officiating priest throws some frankincense and blesses it ; then 
 the deacon gives him the sprinkler, kissing it at the same time. The offi- 
 ciating priest then sprinkles thrice with holy water the fire which he had 
 just before blessed, and as he is sprinkling says these words: Asperges me 
 Domine. He incenses the sacred fire thrice, in the manner above men- 
 tioned. Then one of the acolytes, or a sacristan, takes a small candle, and 
 ligh.s it at the new fire. 
 
 Having gone in procession to the place where the ceremony was per- 
 formed, they return from it in the same order ; but the deacon first puts off 
 his purple ornaments, and puts on white, whereas the sub-deacon takes a 
 purple maniple. The only particular circumstance in the procession is, 
 that the deacon walks in it with the above-mentioned reed in his hand. 
 
3 £0 
 
 ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH. 
 
 and the sub-deacon has a small candle shut up in a lantern. The pro- 
 cession, having arrived at the church-door, makes a halt, when the deacon 
 kisses the reed, and the acolyte lights one of the candles fixed upon the 
 reed with that which is in the lantern. Then they fall all upon their 
 knees, and the deacon elevates the reed, and sings the anthem, which 
 begins as follows: Lumen Christi, fyc.; i. e. The light of Christ. He 
 lights a second candle in the middle of the church with the same so- 
 lemn: iy ; and the third is lighted on the steps of the altar. There they 
 must perform certain acts of devotion, or rather ceremonies, one of which 
 is The Blessing of the Paschal Candle. The deacon, having asked the 
 officiating priest’s blessing, goes to the desk, on which he lays the mass- 
 book, and incenses it thrice, but neither signs himself nor the mass-book 
 with the sign of the cross. The rest of the ministers range themselves 
 round the mass-book in the manner following : — The cross-bearer stands 
 with the cross turned towards the officiating priest ; the thuriferary is 
 at the deacon’s right hand ; the other acolyte, who has the reed in his 
 hand, and he who bears the five grains of incense, are at his left. When 
 the deacon begins to sing the lesson called the Prseconium, which begins 
 Exultet , 4*c., the officiating priest and his ministers uncover themselves ; 
 and in the midst of their chanting, at these words, Curvat Imperiu, he 
 puts the five grains of incense in the form of a cross into the taper. 
 Afterwards, at certain words, Rutilans ignis accendit , fyc., adapted to the 
 mysteries of the ceremony, he lights the paschal taper ; and while he is 
 chanting, an acolyte lights all the rest of the candles with the new fire. 
 
 This ceremony being ended, the deacon returns to the sacristy, where 
 he puts off his white ornaments, and resumes the purple stole and the 
 maniple of the same colour. After the blessing of the tapers, follow the 
 lessons called Prophecies ; and after them a verse is sung by the choristers, 
 called Tractus. Singing of the prayers concludes this ceremony. 
 
 It is considered that the blessing of the paschal candle is of great 
 antiquity in the church, and that Pope Zozimus in the beginning of 
 the fifth century commanded that one should be lighted in every parish. 
 This candle must remain on the gospel-side from Easter-eve to Ascension- 
 day. 
 
 The officiating priest and his ministers now go in procession to bless 
 the baptismal font ; the cross and taper bearers go on one side of it, and 
 Blessing of the ^ minister who officiates stands opposite to them, in 
 Baptismal Font, such a manner that the font stands between him and the 
 cross. The other ecclesiastics range themselves on each side ; an acolyte 
 stands at a little distance behind the officiating priest, at his right hand, 
 holding a napkin to wipe his hands, and a thuriferary stands next in order 
 to him. 
 
 The minister who officiates then uncovers himself, and falls on his knees, 
 
ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH. 
 
 311 
 
 with all the others, the cross and taper bearers excepted. After an anthem 
 is sung suitable to the solemnity, he rises up, and turning towards the font, 
 pronounces the blessing, making the sign of the cross that way. He 
 afterwards exorcises the water, makes a cross in it with his hands, and 
 pours some out of the vessel towards the four cardinal points of the horizon. 
 This done, he wipes his hands with the napkin given him by the acolyte, 
 and repeats a prayer, at the conclusion of which he blows thrice on the 
 water, and in three different places, always observing to do it crosswise. 
 He also plunges a taper thrice into the same water, observing to sink it 
 deeper the second time than the first, and the third more than the second, 
 saying at each immersion the following words: Descendat in hanc plenilu- 
 dinem fontis virtus Spiritus Sancti; i. e. May the Spirit of the Holy 
 Ghost descend into this water. The assistants now sprinkle the people 
 with a little of this water, and they also send a priest or a sacristan to 
 sprinkle the houses therewith. 
 
 After this ceremony, the officiating minister perfumes the font thrice 
 with frankincense ; after which he takes the oil of the catechumens, and 
 pours it on the water crosswise, and does the same with the chrisma. 
 Being poured into the water in equal proportions, and always crosswise, 
 he afterwards mixes them with his right hand in order that they may be 
 diffused equally over every part of the font. 
 
 The font being blessed, the celebrant goes and receives the catechumens 
 at the church-gate ; and clothes himself in white, to perform the ceremony 
 of their baptism. 
 
 The litanies are now sung, and a solemn mass and vespers are said. 
 While the litanies are chanting, the host, which till now was hidden, is 
 taken out and brought to the altar; all the tapers are then lighted, the 
 altar is covered with several ornaments, the images are unveiled, and the 
 seat of the officiating priest is covered. The latter, together with his 
 priests, now resume their white ornaments, and prepare themselves for the 
 celebration of a solemn mass. When the officiating minister begins the 
 Gloria in excelsis, all the bells fall a ringing ; for which purpose a signal 
 is given from the cathedral. 
 
 This procession is singularly imposing, but a minute account of it will 
 altogether exceed the limits of this work. Among others, the procession 
 
 Procession of includes bishops, archbishops, consecrated patriarchs, am- 
 ment. " bassadors, cardinals, &c. &c. The pope, who comes next 
 after the ambassadors, is carried in a vehicle, in which he seems to be 
 on his knees, though he is really seated. He has on a rich cope, and 
 over it a pall made of cloth of silver, which covers his shoulders and arms 
 like a scarf. Before him is set a wooden stool, gilt, with a cushion of red 
 crimson velvet, embroidered with gold lace ; on which is laid the expositor, 
 in which the host is contained, which he bears with his own hands. 
 
312 
 
 ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH. 
 
 The canopy over the pope’s head is carried by the patriarchs, arch- 
 bishops, and bishops, at their first setting out from St. Peter’s ; and after- 
 wards, at their setting out from the portico of the Vatican, by the prime 
 nobility of the neighbouring nations, such as the Florentines and the Sien- 
 nese, who relieve one another till the procession is almost ended ; when 
 the Roman conservators, and the prior of the captains of the several dis- 
 tricts, take it and carry it into church. 
 
 The Swiss, who go on each side of the pope, are cased in iron from head 
 to foot, each man carrying a great two-handed sword unsheathed in his 
 hand. After this guard of cuirassiers, the prelates advance in their several 
 ranks, viz. the apostolical prothonotaries, the auditors, the clerks of the 
 chamber, the generals of the orders, the referendaries, or officers in chan- 
 cery, of the signature of grants, and of justice ; and, lastly, the several 
 companies of light-horse, four in rank, and the horses covered with very 
 rich trappings. These close the march. 
 
 Sometimes his holiness walks on foot in this procession, in order to set 
 an example of greater respect and veneration for the holy sacrament, which 
 he carries in his hands. Urban VIII., and some other popes, formerly 
 carried it on horseback. 
 
 When the consecrated host is not carried by his holiness, the dean of 
 the sacred college, or the eldest cardinal, bears it instead of him, but is 
 on foot. And on these occasions, the princes and ambassadors do not assist 
 at it. 
 
 The procession generally lasts about four hours, although it has not 
 above a mile to go ; but then they walk with the utmost gravity, and 
 extremely slow. While the procession continues, the Castle of St. Angelo 
 makes a triple discharge of all its artillery. The first salvo is made 
 when his holiness goes out of the chapel Paulina, and takes in his hand 
 the expositor, in which the host is contained. The great culverine of 
 St. Peter’s is then fired off to give the signal. The second salvo is made 
 when the pope goes out from the portico of the great square, before the 
 Apostolical Palace : and the third , when he enters into that of St. James. 
 The pope’s guards are all under arms during the procession, and two of 
 the light-horse are posted, with their lances couched, at the corner of 
 every street through which the procession passes, to preserve order. 
 
 During the procession of the Blessed Sacrament, the bells of the cathe- 
 dral, and of the other churches before which it passes, are rung. The 
 streets must be swept, and strewed with flowers and green leaves, and the 
 outsides of the houses and churches must be hung with tapestry. In 
 some parts of Italy, triumphal arches are raised, adorned with emblems 
 and mottoes, in honour of the blessed sacrament. The custom of laying 
 carpets in the streets through which the procession is to pass, was observed 
 by the ancient Romans on these occasions. They likewise had repository 
 
ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH. 
 
 312 
 
 altars, as is now the custom, erected in the streets, as halting-places for 
 their processions. 
 
 The officiating priest consecrates two large hosts, one of which is to be 
 used in the procession. Mass being ended, the tapers are distributed, and 
 a sub-deacon, clothed in vestments suitable to the festival, comes out of the 
 sacristy, preceded by two incense-bearers in surplices, with the thurible 
 in one hand and the navicula in the other. The two incense-bearers join 
 the sub-deacon, and stand by him on the outside of the chancel of the 
 altar, till the march begins. Six clerks in surplices, with lighted torches 
 in their hands, now range themselves on each side of the foot of the altar; 
 and those who are to carry the canopy set themselves at the entrance of 
 the chancel. 
 
 The last Gospel being read, the officiating priest makes his genuflections, 
 having the deacon and sub-deacon on each side of him, and afterwards 
 goes to the epistle-side ; then descends to the bottom of the steps, takes 
 off his maniple and chasuble, and puts on a white cope. The deacon and 
 sub-deacon also put off their maniples, and then they all three go and 
 make a genuflection on both knees, bending their bodies very low in the 
 middle of the last step of the altar, where they continue a little time in 
 prayer ; after which the deacon rises up, and makes another genuflection ; 
 and this is in order to uncover the expositor, and place it on the corporal, 
 or piece of fine linen used at mass. Here follows a third genuflection ; 
 and then he comes back, and stands near the officiating priest, who rises 
 up and withdraws a little towards the gospel-side ; and after having thrice 
 put incense into each thurible, he falls down upon his knees, with the 
 deacon, who is at his right hand, and the sub-deacon at the left. The 
 former gives the thurible to the officiating priest, who incenses the blessed 
 sacrament thrice, making a low bow both before and after. This triple 
 incensing being over, the sub-deacon spreads the veil over the shoulders 
 of the officiating priest, while the deacon goes up to the altar, takes the 
 expositor from thence, which he gives to the officiating priest, and after- 
 wards covers his hands with the extremities of the veil that lies over his 
 shoulders ; after which, the officiating priest having the pix, or expos> 
 tor, in his hands, turns about to the right, and his ministers after him, 
 when they all three continue on one of the steps of the altar, till such 
 time as the whole procession has wheeled off, and they begin the Pangc 
 Lingua. 
 
 As the cross is carried before the pope whenever he appears in public 
 at Rome, so the host goes before him when he is upon a journey ; for the 
 Manner of car- sovere ig n pontiffs have appropriated to themselves, alone, 
 ryingthe Host be- the privilege of having the host carried before them when- 
 
 tore the rope on A 0 ° 
 
 a journey. ever they travel. Several instances of the host going before 
 
 the pope are recorded, but nothing can enter into comparison with the 
 
314 
 
 ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH. 
 
 pomp with which it was carried into Ferrara, in 1598, when Clement VIII. 
 went to take possession of that city after the death of Alphonso of Este. 
 The host was borne in procession out of Rome, in a magnificent taberna- 
 cle, which w r as carried by eight canons of the Vatican, upon a kind of 
 litter, and under a magnificent canopy, embroidered with gold, silk, &c. 
 The Brotherhood of the Blessed Sacrament, with each a torch in his hand, 
 walked before the host. The religious orders, the musicians of St. Peter’s 
 chapel, and the clergy, with our Saviour’s cross carried before them, fol- 
 lowed the brotherhood. Afterwards, the host appeared under the canopy, 
 carried by eight of the private chamberlains of his holiness, and guarded 
 by a body of Swiss, and other soldiers. After the host, his holiness ap- 
 peared, with a torch in hand ; and next to him the sacred college, the pre- 
 lates, and the Roman nobility, all of them holding tapers in their hands, 
 and followed by a body of troops. In this manner the host was transported 
 out of Rome. 
 
 It was carried to Ferrara, on the back of a beautiful horse, which was 
 adorned with the most gaudy trappings. His holiness, before he began 
 the march, bent his knee before the host, and did not rise up till it was 
 out of sight. The mules employed to carry the baggage, and the lackeys 
 of his holiness, carrying his arms, marched at the head ; these were 
 reinforced by several companies of soldiers, with their trumpets sounding 
 as they marched. After this, eight led-horses came forward ; and they 
 were followed by the domestics of the cardinals and prelates, all of them 
 on horseback. 
 
 Next came two couriers belonging to the Apostolic See, the band of 
 music of the pope’s chapel, two esquires, two mace-bearers, followed by 
 the master of the ceremonies and the two clerks of the pontifical chapel. 
 Each of the latter carried a lantern, fixed at the end of a lance, in order 
 to light the host,' which followed immediately after. Two of the grooms 
 of his holiness held the reins of the horse on which he rode, and the host 
 was guarded by a body of armed Swiss. Afterwards came the sacristan, 
 with his white staff in his hand, the badge of his office, and followed by a 
 great number of Roman prelates. 
 
 After these, another band of musicians, and a company of lackeys be- 
 longing to the baggage, appeared, and five hundred horsemen, in very 
 magnificent habits, divided likewise into companies. The barber, tailor, 
 and shoemaker of his holiness joined in the procession, according to their 
 rank. Four chamberlains followed them, carrying four pontifical caps, 
 made of purple, at the end of four pikes. All the nobility of Rome and 
 of Ferrara assisted also in this procession, dressed in a very sumptuous 
 manner; and after these came the acolytes, the chiefs of the apostolical 
 chamber, the auditors of the rota, the sub-deacons, the orators, the bishop 
 of Ferrera with hi? '‘Wgy, his holiness’® key- bearers, his chief master of 
 
ROMAN CATHOLIC «HURCH. 
 
 315 
 
 the ceremonies, his cross-bearer, twenty clerks of the cathedral of Ferrara, 
 each having a lighted torch in his hand. 
 
 The host, when the procession departed from Rome, and during the 
 whole journey, was carried along with the baggage ; but at the entrance 
 into Ferrara, it was placed in the centre of the procession. The pope s 
 chief-treasurer had bags fixed on each side of his saddle, out of wnich he 
 threw money to the people. After the treasurer came thirty youths of 
 the highest quality in Ferrara, walking on foot, bareheaded, dressed m 
 cloth of silver, with little black cloaks, embroidered with silk, and caps in 
 their hands, enriched with golden roses, pearls, and precious stones. After 
 this shining troop came Pope Clement himself, clothed in a robe of very 
 rich silk, and having on his head a crown enriched with jewels of 
 immense value. He was carried on the shoulders of eight tall lackeys, 
 clothed in long scarlet robes, under a canopy of the finest crimson velvet, 
 embroidered with gold, surrounded with a double range of guards, very 
 richly dressed, and followed by his Swiss, and an auditor of the rota , who 
 carried his triple crown after him, having on each side of him the great 
 chamberlain and the chief butler. A great number of coaches and horse- 
 men followed. 
 
 During the whole march, the faithful sung anthems and motets, repeated 
 prayers, made signs of the cross, and gave and received blessings. In a 
 word, they practised all the exterior tokens of devotion. They marched 
 very slowly, and the clergy, both secular and regular, in all the places 
 through which the procession passed in the night-time, advanced to meet 
 them, with a body of the militia at their head. After the clergy came the 
 magistrates and other persons of distinction ; and at the entrance into the 
 city, the trumpets sounded, and the air echoed with spiritual songs, while 
 the people crowded from all parts, to come and adore the host. People of 
 the highest rank, at the same time, strove who should first present his 
 holiness with the canopy. 
 
 On Christmas-eve, before the office of the ensuing festival begins, the 
 sovereign pontiff annually blesses a gold-hilted sword, inlaid with precious 
 . . stones, wrought in the form of a dove ; with the scabbard 
 
 Blessing’ of the ’ & ’ 
 
 r> wo ', d T ld °l ,h ^ and belt enriched in like manner, and a Ducal hat fixed 
 
 Ducal hat fixed 
 
 on its point. on the point of it. This hat is made of purple-coloured 
 silk, furred with ermine, and surrounded with a hatband, made in the 
 form of a crown adorned with jewels : the hat and sword are both sent by 
 his holiness to some potentate for whom he has a peculiar affection, or to 
 a great general, who may have merited such a distinction for his bravery, 
 exerted against the enemies of Christianity. His holiness performs the 
 ceremony of blessing them, clothed with the albe, the amict, and the stole, 
 before he puts on the red cope, which he wears at the office of Christmas- 
 night. A clerk of the chamber presents to him the sword, and the hat 
 
1 
 
 316 ROMAN* CATHOLIC CHURCH. 
 
 fixed on the point of it ; and after having pronounced the blessing, he 
 sprinkles and incenses them both with holy-water. This being done, the 
 pope goes to his chapel, preceded by the same clerk of the chamber, who 
 walks with the sword and the hat before the pontifical cross. If the person 
 for whom these presents are designed happens to be at Rome, he must 
 receive them from the pope’s own hand, observing to kiss both that and his 
 foot. His holiness declares to him that the sword denotes the power of our 
 Saviour, and the victory which he has gained over the devil. While the 
 sword is girding on, his holiness addresses the person so honoured as fol- 
 lows : — “ By this sword we declare you the defender of the Holy Apos- 
 tolical See, and of the pontifical sovereignty ; the protector of the Holy 
 See against the enemies of the faith, and the bulwark of the Church. 
 May your arm, by the virtue of this sword, triumph over the enemies of 
 the Holy See, and of the name of Christ Jesus : may the Holy Ghost, 
 represented by the dove, descend on your head, and protect you against 
 those for whom God prepares his judgments, before the Holy Roman 
 Catholic Church, and the Holy See Apostolic,” &c. Such is the formula 
 appointed by Sixtus IV. for this ceremony. 
 
 Sometimes the person to whom the pope presents the consecrated sword 
 is invited to read one of the lessons of the office ; in which case a clerk of 
 the chamber girds him with the sword over the surplice, clothes him with 
 a white chasuble, and puts the hat upon his head. After this the master 
 of the ceremonies conducts him to the steps of the throne of his holiness, 
 where he bows to the altar, and then to the pope ; and after having returned 
 the consecrated hat to the master of the ceremonies, he draws the conse- 
 crated sword out of the scabbard, touches the ground with the point of it, 
 waves it thrice aloft, and after having brought it back gently over the left 
 arm, puts it again into the scabbard. This ceremony being concluded, he 
 goes to the desk, and sings the fifth lesson of the office, having first re- 
 ceived the pope’s blessing. When the singing is finished, he goes and 
 kisses the feet of his holiness ; which done, his sacerdotal vestments are 
 taken off, and the hat is again fixed on the point of the sword, which a 
 gentleman holds with the point upwards till the office is ended. If the 
 person for whom the sword is consecrated should not be present at Rome, 
 or is not able to read, the Romish ceremonial ordains that a clerk of the 
 chamber must put on the surplice, and sing at the desk in his stead ; and 
 that afterwards (if present) both of them shall go and kiss the feet of his 
 holiness. 
 
 The person to whom the sword has been presented is then conducted 
 back to his house in pomp, by the nobility of the court of Rome. The 
 sword is carried before him, held aloft, with the hat fixed on the point 
 of it. 
 
ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH. 
 
 3’.7 
 
 SEC. II. SACRAMENTS OF THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH. 
 
 The Seven 
 Sacraments. 
 
 The Roman Catholic Church acknowledges seven sacraments, which 
 number, according to the catechism of the Council of Trent, is established 
 by the Scriptures, by the tradition of the fathers, and the 
 authority of councils. 
 
 These sacraments are accompanied with several solemn and public cere- 
 monies, with which the church has thought fit to heighten them, notwith- 
 standing they are not essential, since they can subsist without them : how- 
 ever, they say that it would be a sin to omit them, unless in cases of 
 necessity. Hence it is that the Council of Trent has pronounced anathema 
 against those who say that the ministers of the sacraments may, without 
 sin, despise, or omit, at pleasure, the several ceremonies received in the 
 church. “We are assured,” says the Catechism of the Council of 
 Trent, “ that these ceremonies give us a more strict idea of, and, as it 
 were, set before our eyes the effects which result from these sacraments, 
 and imprint the sanctity which attends them more strongly on the minds 
 of the faithful. They raise the minds of such as observe them re- 
 ligiously, to the contemplation of the most exalted things.” In a word, 
 we are assured that they excite and increase in us a true faith and spirit 
 of charity. 
 
 The sacrament of baptism is defined by the church as one instituted by 
 Jesus Christ, in order to wash away original sin, and all those actual ones 
 which we may have committed ; to communicate to mankind 
 the spiritual regeneration and grace of Jesus Christ ; and to 
 unite them as living members to their head. 
 
 The most essential part of the ceremony of baptism in the Catholic 
 Church is as follows : — At the church-door the priest first asks the god- 
 father and godmother what child they present to the Church ? whether or 
 no they are its true godfather and godmother? if they be resolved to live 
 and die in the true Catholic and Apostolic faith? and what name they 
 intend to give it ? All profane names, as those of the heathens and their 
 gods, must be rejected ; nevertheless, those of Hercules, Hannibal, Achilles, 
 Urania, Diana, &c. are common enough. A Catholic priest is authorized 
 to change the name of a child who had been baptized Abraham, Isaac, or 
 Jacob, by a Protestant minister. After the usual questions have been 
 asked, the priest makes an exhortation to the godfather and godmother, 
 with regard to the devotion which ought to accompany the whole perform- 
 ance. The exhortation being ended, the priest continues the ceremony ; 
 and calling the child by the name that is to be given it, asks it as follows : — 
 TVhat dost thou demand of the church ? To which the godfather answers. 
 Faith. The priest adds, What is the fruit of faith? The godfather 
 
 answers, Eternal life . The priest continues, If you are desirous of obtain- 
 21 
 
 Baptism. 
 
318 
 
 ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH. 
 
 ing eternal life , keep God's commandments : Thou shalt love the Lord 
 thy God with all thy heart , fyc. After which he breathes three times upon 
 the child’s face, but must observe not to let the child breathe upon him : 
 and at the same time says, Come out of this child , thou evil spirit , and 
 make room for the Holy Ghost. 
 
 This being done, with the thumb of his right hand he makes a cross on 
 the child’s forehead, and afterwards another on its breast, pronouncing 
 these words : Receive the sign of the cross on thy forehead , and in thine 
 heart , #c. Whereupon he takes off his cap, repeats a short prayer, and 
 laying his hand gently on the child’s head, prays for him a second time. 
 This second prayer being ended, the priest blesses the salt in case it was 
 net blessed before ; which being done, he takes a little of it, puts it into 
 the child’s mouth, pronouncing these words : Receive the salt of wisdom. 
 He then repeats a third prayer; after which he puts on his cap, and exor- 
 cises the Prince of Darkness, commanding him to come forth out of him 
 who is going to be baptized, &c. At the end of the exorcism, he again 
 makes the sign of the cross on the child’s forehead, lays his hand on its 
 head, and repeats another prayer. 
 
 After this fourth prayer, the priest lays the end of the stole upon the 
 child, and taking hold of his swaddling-clothes by one corner, he brings it 
 into the church ; the godfather and godmother enter at the same time, and 
 repeat with the priest the Apostles’ Creed and the Lord’s Prayer, as they 
 advance towards the font, which having reached, the priest exorcises the 
 devil once again, and after the exorcism, takes the saliva from his mouth 
 with the thumb of his right hand; with this he rubs the child’s ears and 
 nostrils, and, as he touches his right ear, repeats a Hebrew word which 
 signifies Do thou open ; the same which Jesus Christ said to the man 
 who was born deaf and dumb. Lastly, the assistants pull off its swaddling- 
 clothes, or at least strip it below the shoulders ; during which, the priest 
 prepares the holy oils, &c. 
 
 The godfather now takes the child, ready stripped, and holds it directly 
 over the font ; the godmother then takes it by the feet, or the middle ; both 
 observing to turn it towards the east : the priest now asks the child, 
 “Whether he renounces the devil and all his works, the pomps,” &c. 
 The godfather answers in the affirmative. This renunciation used for- 
 merly to be made on the outside of the church. The priest then anoints 
 the child between the shoulders, in the form of a cross, and after that lays 
 aside his purple stole, and puts on a white one ; wffien the child is again 
 questioned with respect to his belief, to which the godfather makes suita- 
 ble answers in his name. These preliminaries being ended, the priest 
 takes some of the baptismal water, which he pours thrice on the child’s 
 head in the form of a cross, and as he pours it, says, “I baptize,” &c., 
 taking care to mention one of the persons in the Trinity every time he 
 
ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH. 
 
 319 
 
 pours it on. This being done, he anoints the top of the child’s head with 
 the chrisma, in form of a cross — lays a piece of white linen upon its head, 
 10 represent the white garment mentioned in Scripture, and puts a lighted 
 taper into the child’s hand, or rather into that of the godfather. Such are 
 the ceremonies of baptism, which the priest concludes with an exhortation : 
 but if the child’s life be in danger, these ceremonies are omitted, upon con- 
 dition that they shall be observed in case he recovers his health ; but if he 
 has all the symptoms of death upon him, the midwife baptizes the child 
 without delay. 
 
 Adult persons must, if possible, be baptized by the bishop himself; and 
 the most proper time for this ceremony is Easter, or Whitsun-eve, which 
 are the days appointed for baptism by the ancient church. The minister 
 who baptizes, and the candidate for baptism, must both be fasting ; but 
 there is but very little difference between the ceremony of the baptism of cate- 
 chumens and that of children. The priest signs the catechumen several 
 times with the sign of the cross; first on the forehead, which implies that 
 he must take upon himself the cross of Christ; on the ears, in order that 
 he may open them to the divine precepts of the gospel ; on the eyes, that 
 he may see the light of God ; on the nostrils, that he may smell the fra- 
 grant odour of Christ; on the mouth, that he may utter the words of life; 
 on the breast, that he may believe ; on the naked shoulders, to the end 
 that he may bear the yoke of the Lord. These signs of the cross are 
 concluded by three more, which the priest makes over the whole person 
 of the catechumen. 
 
 The candidates for confirmation must be fasting, and consequently re- 
 ceive this sacrament in the morning, because it was at that time of the 
 day the Holy Ghost descended on the apostles. The bishop, 
 before he begins the confirmation, proceeds to his private 
 devotions, washes his hands, and puts on the white vestments ; after which 
 he turns himself about to the candidates, who stand in the same order as 
 at baptism, viz. the boys on the right, and the girls on the left. He next 
 repeats a prayer; which being done, he sits down, and the candidates 
 kneel before him. If the candidates for confirmation are very numerous, 
 the bishop stands up, and the candidates stand on the steps of the chancel 
 of the altar ; each being supported under the arm by their godfathers. 
 The bishop now asks the name of each candidate, and has it registered, 
 after which he dips the thumb of his right-hand into the chrisma, and 
 therewith makes the sign of the cross upon the forehead ; at the same 
 time giving a gentle blow on the cheek to the person confirmed, and say- 
 ing, “Peace be with you.” Immediately after, the forehead of the person 
 confirmed is bound with a slip of linen about the breadth of two fingers ; 
 and the bishop says to him, “I confirm you by the chrisma of salvation, 
 in the name of the Father,” &c. The ceremony ends with the blessing 
 
3‘20 
 
 ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH. 
 
 of the persons confirmed, which is done by the bishop, who makes the 
 sign of the cross upon them. 
 
 The priest is the sole minister empowered to consecrate the host, and the 
 rest of the ministers of 'the church are allowed only to prepare the things 
 necessary for this sacrament he also has the privilege of 
 communicating under bofh kinds, that is, of eating the 
 Dread and drinking the wine ; whereas, the laity communicate only under 
 one, viz. the bread ; and it is said that this custom was introduced in order 
 to prevent certain accidents which degraded the dignity of the sacrament. 
 One of these was, the overgrown whiskers and beards of some who re- 
 ceived it, which, as they sometimes reached into the cup in which the 
 blood of Jesus Christ was contained, might by that means make some 
 good Christians sick at the stomach ! 
 
 Every Catholic ought to communicate at Christmas, Easter, Whitsuntide, 
 and Twelfthtide ; but every good one should, besides the seasons above 
 mentioned, receive the sacrament on Corpus Christi day, All-Saints, the 
 Assumption of the Blessed Virgin, the festival of his patron, and the anni- 
 versary of his baptism. They ought to receive fasting, and be dressed in 
 such a manner as best suits the Christian simplicity. 
 
 The priests who present themselves to the communion receive the sacra- 
 ment immediately after the deacon and sub-deacon, before any other per- 
 son ; and these must have a white stole over the surplice. The minis- 
 ters, who serve at the altar, communicate in the habits of their respective 
 orders; but the acolytes, and other clerks, receive the Eucharist in their 
 surplices. After this, the officiating priest goes down to the rails, in order 
 to administer the sacrament to the laity; observing to begin with the per- 
 son who stands first on the epistle-side. He makes the sign of the cross 
 with the host on the person that is to receive, observing not to take his 
 hand away till such time as the host is entirely in the mouth of the person 
 receiving. We shall not take notice of the prayers, or other particulars, 
 mentioned in the rituals. 
 
 If, in administering the host, or consecrated wafer, the smallest bit of it 
 should happen to fall on the ground, it must be taken up in the most re- 
 spectful manner, and the place on which it fell must be covered, for fear of 
 treading upon the least particle of it : they must afterwards scrape the 
 floor, and throw the shavings into the sacristy, and wash the place very 
 clean : if it should happen .to fall upon the napkin, or the veil. &c., such 
 part of it must be washed, and the water thrown into the sacristy ; if it 
 fall on the vestments of the officiating priest, the part must be observed, 
 and afterwards washed. 
 
 The blessed sacrament is administered as a Viaticum, or provision for a 
 journey, to those whose life is in danger. The sick person must receive it 
 fasting, provided he can do so with safety; and if he be not able io swallow 
 
ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH. 
 
 321 
 
 the whole wafer, a piece of it may be given him, and 
 afterwards some liquid ; but the host must not be dipped 
 in any liquid beforehand, on pretence that the sick person will be the better 
 able to swallow it, « 
 
 In case the sick person throws up the wafer, and that the particles of it 
 plainly appear, they must be put into a clean vessel, and carried to the 
 church, and there deposited in some holy and decent place, “till such time 
 as they are corrupted, after which they shall be cast into the Sacrarium , 
 or Piscina ; but if the pieces are not to be distinguished, what he has 
 vomited up must be wiped with pieces of tow, and these must afterwards 
 be burned, and the ashes thrown into the sacrary.” The priest must take 
 care not to give those the viaticum who are troubled with a continual 
 coughing, or are not able to swallow or consume the host, for fear of any 
 accident unsuitable to the dignity of the sacrament. 
 
 Whenever the viaticum is to be carried to any place, care must be taken 
 to make the chamber in which the sick person lies very clean, and also 
 all those parts of the house through which the host is to pass ; and they 
 should likewise be strewed with flowers and odoriferous herbs. The host 
 must be laid on a table very neatly covered, on which two candlesticks, 
 with two lighted tapers in them, shall be set ; also a drinking-glass ; a 
 vessel full of wine or water to purify or wash the fingers, and a white cloth 
 vO lay before the sick person. In case the viaticum be carried in public, 
 as is the custom in Roman Catholic countries, the rector gives notice to his 
 parishioners, by ringing a bell, to prepare themselves to accompany the 
 blessed sacrament with tapers and torches ; to support the canopy, or give 
 ?ome other exterior marks of their devotion and respect. Being assembled, 
 the priest washes his hands, as is usual in the celebration of the divine 
 mysteries, and of such ceremonies as are performed by him in blessings, 
 consecrations, &c. He then puts on the surplice, the stole, the chasuble, 
 and goes up to the altar, accompanied or followed by other priests or 
 clerks. Here he falls upon his knees, repeats a private prayer ; and after- 
 wards rising up, puts a white scarf about his neck, spreads the corporal 
 on the altar, opens the tabernacle ; kneels down a second time at taking 
 out the ciborium or pix, which he lays upon the corporal ; kneels a third 
 time when he has opened it ; and after having viewed the host, covers it 
 with its little oval lid, and takes it in both his hands, which are folded in 
 the ends of the scarf that is about his neck. He then goes under the 
 canopy, and a clerk, with a lighted lantern in his hand, walks foremost ; 
 and two other clerks, the one holding the holy water, the corporals, and 
 the purificatories, and the other the ritual and a little bell, march imme- 
 diately after him. Next come those who carry the torches ; and lastly 
 the priest, walking under the canopy, and carrying the host raised as high 
 as his breast. If the priest carry the viaticum to a considerable distance. 
 
322 
 
 ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH. 
 
 the host must be put in a little silver box, or pix, enclosed in a stuff purse, 
 and hung about his neck. 
 
 The priest, on coming into the sick man’s apartment, bids peace to the 
 house, and goes towards the table, oh which he spreads the corporal, in 
 order to set the pix, or ciborium, upon it. This being done, he and every 
 person present worship the host. He then sprinkles the sick person, and 
 also the room ; during which, anthems are sung, and prayers are repeated 
 suitable to the occasion. After this, he opens the ciborium, takes out a 
 consecrated wafer with the thumb and fore-finger of his right hand, ob- 
 serving to hold it a little aloft over the top of the ciborium, which he holds 
 in his left hand, and, turning about, advances towards the sick man, in 
 order to administer the sacrament to him. 
 
 The communion being ended, the priest places the ciborium upon the 
 table, observing to make a genuflection at the same time ; and afterwards 
 rubs his finger and thumb, with which be took up the host, upon the brim 
 of the ciborium ; so that if any little piece of the wafer should happen to 
 stick to it, he may shake it into it. He afterwards shuts the ciborium, and 
 covers it with a little veil, kneeling at the same time ; then he washes the 
 finger and thumb which touched the host with wine and water, presented 
 him by those of the house. 
 
 This act of devotion concludes with prayers and exhortations. If any 
 consecrated wafers he left in the pix, or ciborium, the priest, after having 
 blessed the sick person, returns to the church, attended by the same per- 
 sons who accompanied him to the sick man’s house. Being come into the 
 church, he pronounces the indulgences granted by the sovereign pontiffs 
 and the bishop of the diocese, and gives them his blessing ; but in case 
 there are no more wafers in the pix, the priest returns without any for- 
 mality, after having repeated the prayers used after the communion of the 
 sick. If the sick person be just expiring, the priest omits all the prayers, 
 &c., and, in giving him the viaticum, repeats two or three words only. 
 
 When the viaticum is given to a priest, he ought to have a surplice on, 
 and, over it, a white stole, disposed crosswise over his breast. 
 
 If a priest be obliged to carry the viaticum to any person infected with 
 the plague, he must go within nine or ten paces of the house, taking care 
 to stand in such a manner that the wind may be at his back He now 
 encloses the consecrated wafer between two common ones ; and, after 
 having wrapped up the whole in a sheet of white paper, lays it on the 
 ground, at a reasonable distance from the place infected, and covers it with 
 a stone, in order to secure it from the wind and rain. This being done, the 
 priest draws back, and the sick person, or his attendant, being instructed 
 by the priest, comes and takes up the wafer, which is the consecrated 
 host. The priest then says the prayers, and performs the ceremonies, 
 which are usually repeated, both before and after the communion. 
 
ROMAN CATHOLTC CHURCH. 
 
 323 
 
 The like precaution is observed in giving extreme unction to persons in- 
 fected with the plague. They take a long wand, or rod, at the end of 
 which a piece of tow, or cotton, dipped in the holy oil, is fixed, with which 
 the sick person is anointed once, and with the usual words. After this, 
 tney run the end of the wand and the cotton into a fire purposely prepared 
 in a chafing-dish. 
 
 The bishops have power to absolve sinners throughout the whole ex- 
 tent of their dioceses, and rectors in their parishes. Other priests and 
 „ , . . monks must have an express approbation from the bishop 
 
 Confession and i r r i 
 
 Penance. before they are allowed to hear confession. However, 
 
 there are certain cases reserved to the pope, the bishops, and their peni- 
 tentiaries. 
 
 Fasting, prayers, alms, abstinence from such pleasures and things as we 
 chiefly delight in, are the general conditions of penance. There are others 
 of a more particular kind ; as, to repeat a certain number of Ave-Marias, 
 Pater-nosters, and Credos ; to kneel, or salute the host a stated number of 
 times ; to give one’s-self a certain number of stripes ; to wear a hair- 
 shirt, or a girdle made of horse-hair, &c., next to the skin. It would be 
 endless, however, to enter into a farther detail of such particulars. Those 
 who cannot hit upon austerities severe enough for their purposes will 
 meet with sufficient instructions in the Lives of the Saints, and the Golden 
 Leo-end. 
 
 The confessor must have a surplice over his cassock, with a purple stole 
 and square cap ; he must hear confession in the church, and at that part 
 of it which is the most distant from the high altar, i. e. at the bottom of the 
 nave, being the most exposed to the view of the people, in the confessional, 
 or confession-chair, which is the tribunal of penance. The confessional 
 must be open before, and have one or two lattice-windows in it. Opposite 
 to the penitent is placed an image of the crucifix, or some mystery of the 
 Passion. Confession must be made in the day-time, and if possible, when 
 there are people in the church. As soon as the penitent is come up to the 
 confessional, he must make the sign of the cross, and ask the confessor's 
 blessing. 
 
 The confessor must then be seated, his body upright, his cap on his 
 head, his face covered, and his ear stooped towards the penitent. The peni- 
 tent should be generally kneeling, and his or her hands clasped. Women 
 and young maidens must not come to confession with their breasts bare, or 
 their arms uncovered. 
 
 Confession being ended, the confessor uncovers himself, in order to 
 absolve the penitent ; and, accordingly, he recommends him to the divino 
 mercy, stretches out his right hand towards him, begging God to remit his 
 sins ; after which, he puts on his square cap, gives him the absolution in 
 the name of Christ Jesus, and adds, holding his right' hand always lifted 
 
324 
 
 ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH. 
 
 up towards the penitent, that he absolves him, by Christ’s authority, in 
 the name of the Father, He then takes off his cap a second time, and 
 prays to God that “Our Saviour’s passion, the merits of the Holy Virgin, 
 and of all the saints, may conspire to remit the penitent’s sins.” 
 
 When the penitent has completed the penance enjoined him, he returns 
 to the bishop or his penitentiary, with a certificate signed by the rector, to 
 Public absoiu P rove he h as fulfilled it ; after which they proceed to 
 t ' on - his reconciliation with the Church. This reconciliation was 
 
 formerly performed on Holy Thursday. But whether it happen on this or 
 any other day of public worship, the penitent must come to the church- 
 door, on the day appointed him for receiving absolution. The Roman 
 pontifical enjoins that he shall be there upon his knees, with an unlighted 
 taper in his hand. He must likewise be in a plain and ordinary dress, 
 without his weapons, if he be a soldier, and bare-headed ; in an humble 
 and contrite manner, and with a dejected countenance : women must be 
 veiled. Immediately before the parochial mass, the priest, clothed in his 
 albe, or surplice, and the purple stole, shall give the people notice that the 
 penitent or penitents are going to be reconciled to the church. He then 
 shall exhort the congregation to pray for them ; shall fall prostrate before 
 the altar, and pronounce some prayers, which are answered by the con- 
 gregation. These prayers are composed of passages from the Scriptures, 
 and selected by the Church. The prayers being ended, the priest goes 
 to the church-door, and makes a pretty long exhortation to the penitents ; 
 which being done, he takes them by the hand and leads them into the 
 church. But in case they have been excommunicated, he then, before he 
 re-unites them to the body of the faithful, sits down, puts on his cap, and 
 repeats the Miserere ; the penitent being at his feet, the congregation 
 upon their knees, and the clergy standing. At every verse of the 
 Miserere, the priest strikes the excommunicated penitent on the shoulder 
 with a little stick, or whip made of cords. The Roman ritual and the 
 pontifical ordain, that the penitent who is absolved in this manner shall 
 be stripped to his shirt, as low as his shoulders. The priest then asks 
 the penitent the occasion of his coming hither, and after that says to him, 
 Receive the sign of the cross of Christ and Christianity, which thou hadst 
 borne before , but renounced by the error into which thou didst unhappily 
 fall. This ceremony, as all the preceding, must be followed by some 
 prayers ; and afterwards the litanies are to be sung, the people being upon 
 their knees. 
 
 The rituals define extreme unction to be a sacrament that gives all such 
 Christians as are afflicted with any dangerous fit of sickness a final remis- 
 F.xtreme Unc- s * on remaining sins, inspires them with grace to 
 
 tloa - suffer with patience the pains and troubles of their infirmity, 
 
 endues them with strength sufficient to die the death of the righteous, and 
 
ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH. 
 
 325 
 
 restores them to health, provided it be for the good of their souls. Thus 
 the Cathoic Church makes extreme unction a sacrament, the indispensable 
 necessity of which is apparent in the above definition. 
 
 The form of the sacrament of extreme unction consists in these words : 
 “ May God, by his holy anointing, and his most pious mercy, grant you 
 the pardon of all the sins you may have committed.” The priest pro- 
 nounces this form of words while he is anointing those parts of the body 
 which are proper for it, because they have been the occasion, or served as 
 so many instruments for sin, whereof \ to use the words of Alet’s Ritual, 
 this sacrament purges the dregs , i. e. those sins which we have not been 
 careful enough to repent of. This sacrament, therefore, compensates for 
 the defects of past repentance. 
 
 The priest is the only minister of this sacrament, which is administered 
 to none but those who are afflicted with some mortal disease, or those who 
 have arrived at a very advanced age, and are likewise extremely infirm. 
 But extreme unction is not administered to criminals condemned to die ; 
 and the reason given for this is, that the criminal is not in a state of death, 
 either by disease or any other infirmity. Extreme unction is likewise 
 refused to those who are impenitent ; and in case a sick person dies while 
 he is anointing, the ceremony must immediately be discontinued. 
 
 As the dissolution of the sick person approaches, the priest must get 
 ready seven balls of cotton, to wipe those parts which are to be anointed 
 with the holy oil, some crumbs of bread to rub his fingers with, water to 
 wash them, a napkin to wipe them, and a taper to light him during the 
 ceremony. Before he goes to the sick person, he must sanctify himself by 
 prayer ; after which he must wash his hands, put on a surplice and the 
 purple stole ; he must take the vessel in which the holy oils are contained, 
 covered with a purple veil, or shut up in a bag of the same colour, and 
 carry it in such a manner as not to let the oil run out. If he go a great 
 distance off, he need not put on his surplice and his stole till he come to 
 the door of the sick person, and in that case he must carry the vessel of 
 oils in a purse, and hang it about his neck, in the same manner as the 
 viaticum is sometimes carried to the sick. The priest must be attended by 
 the clerk, who must carry the cross without a staff, the vessel of holy 
 water, the sprinkler and the ritual. They must not ring the little bell by 
 the way, but the priest must offer up some prayers, with a low voice, in 
 favour of the sick. 
 
 On entering into the sick person’s apartment, he repeats the ordinary 
 form of the words, Pax huic domui , et omnibus habit antibus in ea: i. e. Peace 
 be to this house , fyc. After having taken off his cap, and set the vessels 
 of the holy oils upon the table, he gives the sick person the cross to kiss ; 
 afterwards takes the sprinkler, sprinkles the sick person, the apartment, 
 and the assistants, with holy water in form of a cross, at the same time 
 
326 
 
 ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH. 
 
 repeating the anthem, Asperges me , fyc. He tells the sick person, by way 
 of exhortation, that he would commit the utmost sacrilege, in case he 
 presumed to receive extreme unction without having first settled his 
 conscience ; but in case he is speechless and is not sensible, the priest 
 exhorts him to the best of his power; which exhortation must certainly 
 Lave a wonderful efficacy after the sick person has lost his senses. If the 
 sick person discovers any tokens of contrition, the priest shall pronounce 
 absolution, which must be followed by an exhortation, and that by a prayer. 
 But before absolution, the sick person must either repeat the Confiteor 
 himself, or, in case he be not able to do it, the clerk must pronounce it for 
 him. The priest must then add for the sick person the Misereatur tui , 
 i. e., May the Lord have pity on thee , fyc. Before he begins to perform 
 the ceremony of extreme unction, all the persons present must fall down 
 upon their knees ; and while the anointing is performed, they must repeat 
 the penitential psalms and litanies for the sake of his soul. 
 
 The anointing is performed in this manner : the priest dips the thumb 
 of his right hand into the oils of the infirm ; he anoints in the form of a 
 cross, and pronounces some words suitable to the anointing of each part ; 
 while the clerk lights him with a consecrated taper, and holds a basin in 
 a dish, in which the pieces of cotton are laid. The priest begins by 
 anointing the right eye, observing that the eyelid is shut ; he next anoints 
 the left eye, and in the mean while repeats these words : May God , by 
 this holy anointing, and by his most pious mercy, pardon you the sins you 
 have committed by the eyes. If the priest be accompanied by a clergyman 
 who is in holy orders, he must wipe the part which has been anointed, other* 
 wise the priest must wipe it himself. The eyes being anointed, he pro- 
 ceeds to the ears, observing to repeat the proper form of words. After the 
 ears he anoints the nostrils, but not the tip of the nose. He afterwards 
 proceeds to the mouth, and anoints the lips, the mouth being shut. He 
 anoints the hands in the manner above-mentioned ; then he proceeds to the 
 soles of the feet, and afterwards advances upwards to the reins, but this for 
 men only ; nor are they anointed in this part but when they can be easily 
 turned in their beds, or be laid down in them without danger. The 
 anointing being ended, the priest rubs those fingers which have touched 
 the oil, and afterwards washes his hands. The crumbs of bread with 
 which he rubbed his fingers, and the water with which he washed them 
 must be thrown into the fire. The pieces of cotton that have been em- 
 ployed in anointing are carried into the church, where they are burned, 
 and the ashes are thrown into the sacrarium. 
 
 The anointing being ended, the priest repeats some prayers, which are 
 followed by an exhortation to the sick ; after which the priest goes away, 
 leaving a crucifix with the sick person, in order that the representation of 
 his dying Saviour may administer some consolation to him. 
 
ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH. 
 
 327 
 
 When the sick person has expired, the priest, standing uncovered, says 
 a response, in which the saints and angels are invoked to assist the soul of 
 Ceremonies ob- the deceased : he afterwards repeats a prayer. At the 
 6e[ve at une game t j me or( J ers are sen t f 0 [ 0 }} [h e bell, to give notice of 
 
 the sick person’s death, by which every one is reminded to pray for his 
 soul. 
 
 Then the priest withdraws; and the corpse is thus put in order. They 
 wash some parts of it, close its eyes and mouth, according to the ancient 
 practice ; and, wrapping it in a shroud, or leaving it with the clothes on, 
 as in Italy, they lay it in a decent place, observing to put a little crucifix 
 in its hands, which must lie upon its breast : sometimes the hands are laid 
 crosswise. A vessel full of holy water, and a sprinkler, must be placed at 
 its feet, in order that those who come to pay him their last respects may 
 sprinkle both themselves and the corpse with holy water. In the mean 
 time, some clergyman must stay by the corpse, and pray for the deceased, 
 till such time as he is laid in the earth. If the deceased was a priest, or 
 of any other order in the church, he must have the tonsure according to 
 his order, and his square cap with a little cross on his breast. 
 
 It was anciently the custom, as soon as any person died, to send for some 
 clergyman, who always spent the night with the relations of the deceased, 
 and discoursed with them about the word of God, for their instruction. 
 They used to sing psalms by anthems or verses, the one answering the 
 other. They also recommended the soul of the deceased to God, and be- 
 sought him to preserve it from hell, &c. 
 
 Priests and ecclesiastics, after their decease, are all clothed in habits 
 suitable to their respective ranks ; and the corpse of a clergyman is carried 
 to the grave by the clergy only, in the same manner as that of a layman 
 is carried by the laity. Ecclesiastics do not put on mourning for their 
 relations, nor accompany them to the grave in the same order with lay 
 relations, but walk with the rest of the clergy in their sacerdotal vest- 
 ments. 
 
 Church-yards being the places generally used for the interment of the 
 
 dead, the bishop blesses them solemnly in the manner following: — The 
 
 Ceremony of eve before the day on which the blessing is to be performed, 
 blessing Church- . r , r , 
 
 yards. a wooden cross, of the height of a man, must be set up in 
 
 the middle of the church-yard, and four smaller ones are to be set up at 
 tne corners. Before the cross a piece of wood must be placed, about six- 
 teen inches high, on which wood three tapers are placed, when the bless- 
 ing is performed. The next morning, before the ceremony begins, a carpet 
 must be spread in the church-yard near the cross; and the several things 
 necessary for the blessing of the place must be got ready ; viz. holy water, 
 the thuribles, tapers, &c. Then the priest, being clothed in his sacerdotal 
 vestments, comes out of the sacristy in procession, attended by an exorcist, 
 
 L. 
 
328 
 
 ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH. 
 
 or acolyte, carrying the holy water : another with the thurible ; two clerks, 
 carrying the ritual, and three tapers, made of white wax ; and the whole 
 choir, walking two and two, with the officiating priest in the rear. 
 
 Having arrived at the church-yard, they range themselves round the 
 cross, or crosses, and the officiating priest makes a short discourse to the 
 assistants, on the holiness, the privileges, and immunities of church-yards. 
 After this, three tapers are lighted up before the cross which stands in the 
 middle ; and if there be one at each angle of the church-yard, three are 
 lighted up before these also. The officiating priest now T rises, repeats a 
 prayer, which is followed by the chanting of the litanies ; and at the re- 
 peating of these words, We beseech thee to purify and bless this church - 
 yard , he makes the sign of the cross. He does the same a second time, 
 when he repeats them for the sanctification of the church-yard ; and a 
 third, in repeating them for the consecration. The litanies being ended, 
 the officiating priest sprinkles the middle cross with holy water ; and while 
 an anthem and the Miserere are sung, he goes round the church-yard, and 
 sprinkles it with holy water. He afterwards takes one of the lighted 
 tapers, which stood at the foot of the cross, and sets it on the top of it, and 
 then takes the other two, and sets them on the two arms of the cross. At 
 last, the whole ceremony ends with incensing and sprinkling the crosses 
 thrice with holy water. 
 
 The common custom among Roman Catholics is to keep a corpse four- 
 and-twenty hours above ground ; but in some countries, it is kept five or 
 Funeral Cere s ^ x days, Particularly in Holland, where it is often kept 
 monies - seven. The ceremonies ordained by the rituals to those 
 
 who are allowed Christian burial vary in certain circumstances ; but in 
 general, when the time is come for the corpse to he carried to church, 
 notice thereof must be given by the tolling of a bell to the priests, and 
 other clergymen, whose province it is to assist at the funeral, to assemble 
 in proper order, clothed in their sacerdotal vestments, in the church where 
 they are to pray. After this, the rector puts his black stole and chasuble 
 over his surplice, and they all set out to the house where the corpse lies : 
 the exorcist, carrying the holy water, walks first; next the cross-bearer; 
 afterwards the rest of the clergy ; and last of all, the officiating priest. 
 The corpse of the deceased must be either laid out at the street-door, or in 
 some apartment near it, with his feet turned towards the street ; the coffin 
 being surrounded with four or six lighted tapers of yellow wax, in as many 
 large candlesticks. 
 
 When the clergy are come to the house where the corpse lies, the cross- 
 bearer plants himself, if possible, at the head of it ; the officiating priest 
 over-against him, at the feet ; the person who carries the holy water, a 
 little behind the officiating priest, at his right hand; and the other persons 
 of the choir range themselves on each side, observing to stand nearer or 
 
ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH. 
 
 329 
 
 farther off from the officiating priest, in proportion to their rank or supe- 
 riority in the Church. Every thing must be ordered in this manner, 
 provided there be room for it ; for it often happens, that the cross stands 
 at the door on that side where the funeral is to go, and that the choir are 
 obliged to range themselves on each side, in order to leave room for the 
 officiating priest in the middle. During this interval, the tapers and torches 
 of yellow wax are lighted, and given to those who are appointed to carry 
 them. 
 
 The officiating priest now standing before the cross, with his face turned 
 towards the body, the assistant who carries the holy water presents him 
 with the sprinkler, with which the priest sprinkles the corpse thrice, with- 
 out saying a word. 
 
 Then follow certain other ceremonies, after which the corpse is carried 
 to the church, where the service for the dead is read, and also mass, if the 
 time will permit. 
 
 Prayers now follow ; the corpse is again sprinkled ; after which it is 
 carried to the grave in the same manner in which it was carried to the 
 church. 
 
 Being come to the grave, the whole company pull off their hats, and 
 draw up in much the same order as at church. The bearers lay the corpse 
 near the grave, with its feet turned towards the east, it being affirmed that 
 Jesus Christ was buried in that manner. If the corpse be buried in the 
 church, its feet must be turned towards the altar; but those of priests must 
 nave their heads turned in a contrary direction. 
 
 After the body has been laid on the brink of the grave, the officiating 
 priest blesses it by a prayer, in which he makes the general commemora- 
 tion of the dead who have been interred therein. The prayer being ended, 
 he again sprinkles and incenses the body, and also the grave thrice. He 
 afterwards begins this anthem, Ego sum Resurrectio, &c., Iam the resur- 
 rection and the life , &c., and concludes with the Requiem. Then the 
 officiating priest performs a third time the triple sprinkling of the corpse 
 with holy water, but does not incense it ; which is followed by another 
 prayer, with the anthem, Si iniquitates , and the Ee profundis. The body 
 being laid in the grave, the relations and friends of the deceased come, 
 before the earth is thrown into it, and sprinkle it with holy water, in their 
 turns. When the grave has been filled up, the company condole with the 
 relations of the deceased, and they all return to the church, where, after 
 the mass for the deceased is ended, the funeral sermon is preached. 
 
 Sometimes the funeral happens in a season when mass cannot be said ; 
 in which case, the ceremony is performed with much greater simplicity; 
 for then the corpse is only sprinkled and incensed by a priest clothed in 
 his black chasuble, and accompanied with two clerks, the one carrying the 
 cross, and the other the sprinkler and the thurible. 
 
r 
 
 330 ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH. 
 
 Independently of the age requisite for marriage, the liberty of contract- 
 ing so solemn an engagement, and the publication of the bans, the rituals 
 
 Ceremonies of re( l u * re further, “ That the persons to be joined together in 
 Marriage. matrimony shall be sufficiently instructed in the Christian 
 
 doctrine ; that they should know the nature of the sacrament of marriage, 
 its ends and obligations ; and that they should first confess themselves, and 
 receive the sacrament, before they join themselves together for ever. 
 
 When the priest in his proper vestments goes to the altar, he is preceded 
 by one or two clerks in their surplices, carrying the holy-water pot, the 
 sprinkler, the ritual, and a little basin, in which to put the ring when it is 
 to be blessed. After he has said the usual prayer for the couple, he ad- 
 vances towards them on the last step of the altar ; the man standing on the 
 epistle and the woman on the gospel side, .so that the man stands at the 
 woman’s right hand. The relations and witnesses stand behind them. 
 Then the priest asks the couple their names and surnames ; which is only 
 a formality, their names being already known to him, by the publication 
 of the bans, and by a certificate confirming the same, which the couple are 
 obliged to produce at the time. He afterwards addresses himself to the 
 man and woman separately, in their mother-tongue, calling them both by 
 their proper names, and asks the man whether he will have such a one foi 
 his wife? and the woman whether she will have such a one for her hus- 
 band ? Reciprocal consent is absolutely requisite in this case, and without 
 it the marriage would be null. After mutual consent has been given, by 
 expressly answering “Yes,” the priest, who before was covered, uncovers 
 himself, takes the couple by the hand, and making them join hands, says, 
 Ego jungo vos in matrimonium , &c. ; that is, I join you together in mar- 
 riage , in the name of the Father , &c. At the same time he makes the 
 sign of the cross upon them, and then sprinkles them with holy water. 
 This being done, he blesses the wedding-ring, and sprinkles it also with 
 holy water, in the form of a cross ; after which he gives it to the man, 
 who puts it on the wedding-finger of the woman’s left hand. This ring 
 is the pledge of the conjugal chastity and fidelity which the wife owes 
 the husband. To all this the priest adds some prayers ; after which fol- 
 lows an exhortation to the married couple and to the assembly, and after- 
 wards mass. 
 
 The married couple are blessed in the following manner, when the 
 woman is a virgin, and has always had the reputation of chastity: — The 
 priest, after the offertory, goes to the foot of the altar, and the married 
 couple make what oblation they think proper; the husband first, and the 
 wife afterwards. The priest likewise repeats some prayers ; and the cere- 
 mony ends with an exhortation to the married couple. The subject of this 
 exhortation is on the duties of the conjugal life, the end and design of 
 marriage, reciprocal love, &c. ; after which he sprinkles them with holy 
 
ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH. 
 
 331 
 
 water. Young people are not to inhabit under the same roof, or be in 
 company together, except in the presence of their parents or relations, till 
 such time as they have received the blessing of the Church ; but when 
 this is over, they are at liberty to consummate the marriage, which would 
 be criminal if done without the formalities established by the Church. 
 
 The married couple must now desire the priest to bless the marriage-bed; 
 and among other blessings which are asked by the mediation of the priest 
 when he blesses the marriage-bed, one is, that those who are to lie in it 
 may increase and multiply. The holy water completes the sanctification 
 of the nuptial bed. 
 
 SEC. III. HOLY ORDERS OF THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH. 
 
 The Seven Or- There are seven orders in the Catholic Church, viz. the 
 unchurch. & ° sacristan or door-keeper, the reader, the exorcist, the acolyte , 
 the sub-deacon , the deacon, and the priest. 
 
 The employment of the door-keeper, called sacristan, is to open and shut 
 the church-doors, and also to take care that the bells be rung in due time ; 
 that of the reader , to read aloud the lessons and prophecies which are sung 
 at matins and mass ; that of the exorcist, to cast out devils from the bodies 
 of persons possessed ; that of the acolyte , to bring in the tapers to light 
 them, to take care to put fire into the thurible and frankincense into the 
 navicula, to prepare the wine and water for the sacrifice, and to attend upon 
 the sub-deacon, the deacon, and the priest. 
 
 The duty of the priest is to offer up the sacrifice of the mass, to admi- 
 nister the sacraments, (those of confirmation and orders excepted,) to preacl 
 the word of God, to bless the people, and to watch' over the souls commit 
 wed to his charge. 
 
 Church-benefices or livings, being the appurtenances of holy orders and 
 the ecclesiastical state, can belong to those only who have been ordained, 
 
 Benefices and or who have received the tonsure. Ecclesiastical dignities 
 Church. 3 °‘ the are of much more ancient date than benefices, the latter 
 taking their rise from the latter ages of the Church. 
 
 A person must be full fourteen years of age before he can be entitled to 
 possess a benefice, and must have received the tonsure beforehand. On 
 all incumbents, especially those who have a cure of souls, residence is 
 compulsory ; but they frequently leave that duty to their curates. How- 
 ever, by the laws of the Church they are forbidden to receive any of the 
 fruits of their benefices during the time they may have been absent from 
 them. 
 
 Bishops are considered as the fathers and pastors of the faithful, and the 
 successors of the Apostles ; by virtue of which superiority they are allowed 
 the chief places in the choir, in chapters, and processions. As succes- 
 
1 
 
 332 ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH. 
 
 . . sors to the Apostles, they claim respect and homage from 
 
 Appointment and . ° 
 
 eieciion of Bishops, the laity; and as fathers and pastors, they are obliged to 
 preach God’s holy word to the faithful. This was the custom in the pri- 
 mitive Church ; and there can be no prescription on this head, since, in 
 the consecration of bishops, they are commanded to preach the Gospel to 
 those over whom they are appointed pastors. 
 
 The ceremonial enjoins that bishops shall be clothed in purple, though 
 the regular bishops may continue to wear the habit of their order. During 
 Lent and Advent they must be in black, and always clothed in their sutane ; 
 but they are allowed to wear short clothes when on a journey. 
 
 The pope only has the right of electing bishops. This is a prerogative 
 which the partisans of the Court of Rome carry to a very great height, and 
 to the prejudice of kings and other sovereign princes. Nevertheless, some 
 of these have reserved to themselves the right of nominating to bishoprics ; 
 after which, the pope sends his approbation and the bulls to the new 
 bishop. 
 
 When a person hears that the pope has raised him to the episcopal 
 dignity, he must enlarge his shaven crown, and dress himself in purple. 
 
 If he be in Rome, he must go and salute his holiness, and receive the 
 rochet from him. Three months after being confirmed in his election, he 
 is consecrated in a solemn manner 
 
 The archbishops are superior to bishops, and are distinguished by the 
 • 'pallium, or pall, which the pope sends them. Anciently some bishops 
 were honoured with the pallium, probably because of their 
 
 Archbishops, q ua }ity. The bishop of Bamberg in Germany, and 
 
 those of Lucca and Pavia in Italy, enjoy the same privilege at this time. 
 
 If the person nominated to an archbishop’s see be at Rome, the chief 
 cardinal-deacon performs the ceremony of putting the pall on his shoulders, 
 although it was formerly done by the pope. After mass, the officiating 
 prelate, clothed in his pontifical vestments, receives the oath of the arch- 
 bishop elect ; who is clothed in similar pomp, the gloves and mitre ex- 
 cepted. The officiating prelate then rises up, and putting the pall upon 
 the shoulders of the archbishop elect, says these words to him : “ To the 
 glory of God, of the blessed Virgin, of the Apostles St. Peter and St. Paul, 
 of our Lord the Pope, and of the holy Church of Rome, &c., receive this 
 pall, which is taken from the body of St; Peter, and in which the plenitude • 
 
 or perfection of the function of pontiff, or patriarch, or archbishop, is found ; 
 make use of it on certain days, noted in the privileges which are granted 
 to you by the holy Apostolic See, in the name of the Father,” &c. The 
 archbishop is to wear the pall in the solemnities of the mass, and on high 
 festivals, at the consecration of a church, at ordinations, at the consecration 
 of a bishop, and at giving the veil to nuns. The pope alone has the privi- 
 lege of always wearing the pall. 
 
ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH. 
 
 333 
 
 After the archbishop has received the pall, he goes up tc the altar and 
 blesses the people. The pall consists of certain pieces of white woollen 
 stuff, three fingers in breadth, and is embroidered with red crosses. Be- 
 fore it be given to the archbishop, either at Rome or elsewhere, by proxy, 
 it must be left for one whole night on the altar of St. Peter and St. Paul. 
 The use of the pall is rather ancient in the church, and some footsteps of 
 that ornament are to be found among the Romans. The officers who served 
 at feasts and sacrifices used to wear on the left shoulder a pretty broad 
 piece of woollen stuff, with plaits or folds hanging down from it. This 
 was the badge of their ministerial function ; and after it had been conse- 
 crated to the use of the Christian Church, it received an additional sacred 
 character by being anointed. The pall being made of wool, and worn on 
 the bishop’s shoulders, is said to be the emblem of the lost sheep , which 
 the shepherd lays on his shoulders, and brings back into the sheepfold. 
 
 Every particular pall serves for the use of that archbishop only to whom 
 it was first given ; neither can he make any use of it in case he be trans- 
 lated from one archbishopric to another, nor leave it to his successors. 
 When an archbishop dies, his pall is buried with him ; and if he be buried 
 in his own diocese, it is laid upon his shoulders ; but if out of it, under his 
 head. An archbishop who has been translated to several sees has all his 
 palls buried with him ; that of his last archiepiscopal see being laid upon 
 his shoulders, and the rest under his head. 
 
 The principal functions of the master of the ceremonies are to take care 
 that all those who have lately taken orders observe the ceremonies and 
 Masters of the P ract i ces °f the church, and that every thing be done in the 
 Ceremonies. choir conformably to discipline. He must likewise regulate 
 the order and march in all precessions, assist at all pontifical ceremonies, 
 such as solemn masses, the entry and consecration of bishops, synods, the 
 visitation of a diocese, &c. 
 
 The master of the ceremonies must be in holy orders, and his vestments 
 are of a purple colour; but he must be clothed in a surplice when in the 
 choir, and at the divine offices of the church. On high festivals he carries 
 a wand, which is generally of a purple colour. 
 
 The prebends, or canons, are considered the senators of the church. 
 When a person is promoted to a prebend, he must be presented in a very 
 Prebends and ceremonious manner to the chapter, who assemble in the 
 Canons. cathedral to receive him. He is presented by a deputy of 
 
 the chapter, accompanied by the bishop’s notary and some witnesses. This 
 deputy conducts the person elected to the altar, which the latter kisses 
 thrice ; after which, he goes and takes his seat in the choir, and stays 
 there some time, during which the deputy gives the chapter an account of 
 his promotion ; and afterwards he goes and takes hiir. into the choir, and 
 
 presenting him to the chapter, desires them to receive him as one of their 
 22 
 
334 
 
 ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH. 
 
 Arch-deacon. 
 
 Arch-priest. 
 
 Prothonotaries. 
 
 brethren. The prebend elect then makes his confession of faith aloud, and 
 swears to observe the ordinances of the church, and of our Holy Father the 
 Pope. Being thus solemnly installed, he is empowered to assist at the 
 chapter, and to chant the office in the choir, &c. 
 
 The arch-deacon is superior to deacons and sub-deacons ; his office is to 
 examine the candidates for holy orders, and to present them to the bishop •, 
 and by virtue of this office, the arch-deacon is superior to a 
 priest, notwithstanding that the order itself is inferior to that 
 of the priesthood. 
 
 The arch-priest is superior to other priests. In the absence of his 
 bishop, he celebrates the solemn masses. It is he who, on Ash-Wednesday, 
 leads the penitents out of the church, puts ashes on their 
 heads, and presents them to the bishop on Holy Thursday. 
 
 Pescara assures us, that the office of Prothonotary was instituted by 
 St. Clement, and that at that time, and under the popes, St. Antherus and 
 St. Julius I., their office was to write the acts of the mar- 
 tyrs, and to look after the church-registers, &c. This 
 office being of so great antiquity, greatly heightens the prerogatives 
 of the pope. Prothonotaries are dignified with the title of prelates at 
 Rome, and are empowered to create doctors, and to make bastards legiti- 
 mate. 
 
 The -word Abbot , which is originally Hebrew, or Syriac, signifies 
 father. An abbot is a prelate inferior to a bishop : he is the Lord’s vicar 
 over his monks, their father, and the mystical spouse of 
 his convent; which is said to be an epitome of the church 
 of God. But it must be observed that we are here speaking of regular 
 abbots. 
 
 When an abbess-elect is to be blessed, she first takes the oath of fidelity 
 to her ordinary, and to the church over which she presides ; then the 
 prelate who receives her gives her his blessing. After 
 having laid both his hands on her head, he gives her the 
 rule ; and if she be not already a nun, blesses the white veil, and puts it 
 on her head, in such a manner as to let it hang down over her breast and 
 shoulders. The rest of the ceremony has nothing particular in it; it con- 
 nists only of kissing the pix, and introducing the newly-eiected abbess 
 among the nuns. 
 
 Nuns or abbesses never receive the veil but on solemn days, such as 
 Sundays or high festivals. In general, young women ought not to be 
 allowed to take the veil till five and twenty, nor till after they have passed 
 the strictest examination, and particularly till it has been strongly inculcated 
 to them that they must live in a state of virginity during the remainder of 
 their days ; a vow that may indeed be sincere in the warmth of devotion, 
 or from the effect of pique; but the execution thereof depending upon 
 
 Abbots. 
 
 Nuns. 
 
I 
 
 ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH. 335 
 
 innumerable circumstances, it is exposed to many dreadful temptations- 
 even in the most strict retirement. 
 
 At the profession of a nun, the habit, the veil, and the ring of the can- 
 didate are all carried to the altar, and she herself, dressed in magnificent 
 apparel, and accompanied by her nearest relations, is conducted to the 
 bishop. Two venerable matrons are her bride-women, when the bishop 
 says mass. After the gradual is over, the candidate or candidates for the 
 veil, attended by the same persons as before, and with their faces covered, 
 enter the church, and present themselves before the bishop ; but before this 
 be done, the arch-priest chants an anthem, the subject of which is, That 
 they ought to have their lamps lighted , because the bridegroom is coming 
 to meet them; and while he is singing, they light their lamps. The arch- 
 priest now presents them to the bishop, who calls them thrice in a kind 
 of chanting tone ; and they answer him in the same manner. The first 
 time they advance to the entrance of the choir, the second to the middle, 
 and the third to the chancel of the altar; they kneel down before the 
 bishop, with their faces to the ground, and afterwards rise up, singing this 
 verse, Receive me , O Lord ! according to thy holy word. Being come 
 before the prelate, and on their knees, they attend to the exhortation he 
 makes them concerning the duties of a religious life. After this, they kiss 
 his hand, and then lie prostrate before him while the choir chants the lita- 
 nies. Then the bishop, having the crosier in his left hand, completes the 
 benediction. After they have risen, he blesses the new habits , which 
 denote the contempt of the world , and the humility of their hearts. A 
 sprinkle of holy water concludes the consecration, and then the candidates 
 go and put on their religious habits. 
 
 The veil, the ring, and the crowns, are blessed after the same manner. 
 All these benedictions being ended, they present themselves in the habit 
 of nuns before the bishop, and sing the following words on their knees, 
 Ancilla Christi sum , §c. ; i. e. I am the handmaid or servant of Christ , #c. 
 “In this posture they receive the veil, and afterwards the ring; on deliver- 
 ing which the bishop declares he marries them to Jesus Christ. And 
 lastly, the crown of virginity is given, to which they are called by the 
 chanting of the anthem, Veni sponsa Christi , fyc.; “Come, O spouse of 
 Christ, and receive the crown.” In the first ages of the church, it was 
 usual to set a crown on the heads of those who died virgins, which custom 
 is still observed in several parts of Christendom. Being thus crowned, an 
 anathema is denounced against all who shall attempt to turn them from 
 God, by endeavouring to make them break their vow in what manner 
 soever, or on those who shall sieze upon any part of their wealth. After 
 the offertory, they present lighted tapers to the bishop, who afterwards 
 gives them the communion ; and as it is the custom in several convents 
 for the nuns to read the office and canonical hours, the bishop gives the 
 
338 
 
 ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH. 
 
 breviary to those who are taken into such convents. These ceremonies 
 being ended, the prelate gives them up to the conduct of the abbess, saying 
 to her, Take care to preserve , pure and spotless , these young women , whom 
 God has consecrated to himself, &c. 
 
 The custom of giving the veil to nuns is of great antiquity, and was 
 practised before the age of St. Ambrose and Pope Liberius, as is manifest 
 from the writers of the second and third centuries. 
 
 The cardinals are senators of the church, and counsellors of the suc- 
 cessors of St. Peter. There are now three orders of cardinals, viz., bishops, 
 priests, and deacons ; six of these are bishops, fifty are priests, 
 Cardinals. an( j fourteen deacons. Sixtus V. fixed the number of car- 
 dinals to seventy, in order to imitate the ancient Sanhedrim of the Jews, 
 which was composed of seventy elders, and it is this assembly which is 
 now called the Sacred College. 
 
 When his holiness makes a promotion of cardinals, he gives them the 
 title of priest, or deacon, as he thinks proper ; they afterwards arrive at 
 episcopacy by right of superiority, or by assuming the title of those who 
 die ; and because all cardinals are equal by their dignity, they take place 
 according to the date of their promotion and the quality of their title. 
 
 As cardinals, with regard to spirituals, govern the Church of Rome in 
 all parts of the- Christian world, subjects of the different nations of it are 
 allowed to aspire to this dignity, according to the decisions of the Council 
 of Trent. For this reason the popes often create those persons cardinals 
 who are nominated by crowned heads ; who, it is presumed, propose the 
 most eminent among their subjects for that purpose. Formerly the pope, 
 in promoting cardinals, used to advise with the ancient ones ; but now he 
 creates them without consulting any person. 
 
 Those cardinals who are in greatest credit with the reigning pope have 
 Prerogatives of certain kingdoms, states, republics, and religious orders 
 Cardinals. under their protection. They have the privilege of confer- 
 
 ring the four orders called minor, viz. that of door-keeper , reader, exorcist, 
 and acolyte, on their domestics, and on other persons. They are exempt from 
 the reversion of their church-lands and effects to the Apostolical Chamber, 
 as is customary in Italy, and may bequeath ecclesiastical wealth in the same 
 manner as patrimonial. They have likewise some other very considerable 
 privileges ; such as a jpower of resigning their pensions, by particular 
 grants from popes ; to be exempt from the examination of bishops, when 
 they are put into Sees; to be believed in a court of justice upon their 
 bare words, without being obliged to take an oath ; and their single testi- 
 mony is equal to that of two witnesses. They are considered as citizens 
 of whatever city the pope resides in, and do not pay any taxes. They 
 grant a hundred days’ indulgence to whomsoever they please, and acknow- 
 ledge no one but the pope for their iudge or superior, particularly in criminal 
 
ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH. 
 
 337 
 
 matters ; for as to civil causes, they are always heard before the auditors 
 of the Apostolic Chamber. 
 
 They have several other prerogatives ; such as that of wearing purple 
 habits, a mantle royal with a train of six ells long, a red hat, and an epis- 
 copal mitre, though they be no more than priests, deacons, or clerks. Car- 
 dinals wore only the common vestment of priests, which was like a mo- 
 nastic habit, till the time of Innocent IY. The red hat was given them in 
 1243, in the Council of Lyons. Innocent IV. was desirous of gaining 
 their friendship by this honourable badge, and to win them over to his in- 
 terest, on account of the difference he ha^d with the emperor. Under 
 Boniface IX. they were cfothed in scarlet, and even in purple, and their 
 robes were the same then as at present. According to other writers, they 
 were not clothed in scarlet till the pontificate of Paul II. ; others pretend 
 that their robes were of that colour as early as Innocent III. ; and others 
 again, that they wore the purple under Stephen IV. Paul II. distin- 
 guished them by the embroidered silk mitre, and the red cope and cap, 
 red housings for their mules, and gilt stirrups. Gregory XIY. granted 
 the red cap to the regulars, but ordered that their vestments should be of 
 the colour of their order, and that they should have no rochet, nor wear a 
 doth cassock. Urban VIII., in order to add fresh splendour to the cardi- 
 nalate, ordered that the title of Eminence should be given to them. 
 
 When a cardinal goes to Rome to receive his hat from the pope, a 
 variety of ceremonies are performed, which our limits will not allow us to 
 notice. 
 
 When the pope, by special favour, is pleased to send the hat to an 
 absent cardinal, the following ceremonies are observed: — In the first place, 
 
 Ceremonies ob- it is to be observed, that whenever any person out of Italy 
 served at the crea- . ...... . , . 
 
 tion of a Cardinal, is created cardinal, he is not permitted to put on the scarlet 
 vestments until his holiness has sent him his hat; but he is nevertheless 
 allowed to assume the title of cardinal. The hat is carried by an hono- 
 rary chamberlain, together with a brief directed to the nuncio, or to the 
 sovereign, or bishop of the place where the cardinal elect resides. As 
 soon as the latter hears of the approach of the chamberlain who brings the 
 hat, he sends his household to meet him, with as many of his friends as 
 he can collect together for that purpose, to do him the greater honour; and 
 they all make their entry together in cavalcade, if allowed by the custom 
 of the place. In this procession, the pope’s chamberlain holds the red 
 hat aloft on the mace, in order that it may be seen by all the spectators. • 
 
 The pope’s envoy, and the prelate who is to perform the ceremony, 
 afterwards meet on a Sunday, or on some high festival, at the newly- 
 elected cardinal’s house, with their domestics, and as many friends as they 
 can collect, and go in cavalcade to the principal church of the place, in the 
 following order : — 
 
338 
 
 ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH. 
 
 The march is opened by drums and trumpets ; then come the livery- 
 servants. The soldiers upon guard, in case there be any, or the inhabit- 
 ants of the town under arms, march before the gentlemen ; and afterwards 
 the pope’s chamberlain appears in a purple habit, holding the red hat 
 aloft, and uncovered. Immediately after follows the newly-elected cardi- 
 nal, with his cope on, his capuche on his head, and over all a black hat. 
 On the right hand the prelate marches who is to perform the ceremony, 
 and on his left some other person of quality, such as the king, prince, or 
 chief nobleman of the place ; and behind him the coaches of the cardinal, 
 and of all such persons as are proud of doing Jiim honour, with a great 
 train. When this ceremony is performed in any place where a king or 
 prince resides, their guards always attend on the newly-elected cardinal. 
 
 When the cavalcade is come to the church, mass is sung in it, and it is 
 usual for the king or prince of the place, and likewise the chief lords and 
 ladies of the court, to be present at it. Mass being ended, the prelate 
 who is to perform the ceremony puts on his cope and mitre ; then, being 
 seated on a sort of throne, which stands on the steps of the altar, with his 
 back turned to it, the person who brought the hat lays it on the altar, 
 and presents the pope’s brief to the prelate, who gives it to his secretary, 
 and the latter reads it with an audible voice, so as to be heard by the 
 whole congregation. Immediately after, the prelate makes an oration 
 in praise of the newly-elected cardinal, and at the conclusion declares 
 that he is ready to deliver the hat to him, according to the order of his 
 holiness. 
 
 Then the cardinal-elect advances towards the altar, and, kneeling down, 
 takes the same oath before the prelate which the newly-created cardinals 
 take at Rome before the pope. Then the prelate arises from his seat, and, 
 taking off his mitre, says some prayers over the new cardinal, whose head 
 is covered with the capuche ; after which, the prelate puts his hat on, and 
 at the same time repeats a prayer out of the Roman Pontifical. He after- 
 wards gives him the kiss of peace, upon which the Te Dernn and some 
 prayers are sung, which conclude the ceremony. The newly-created car- 
 dinal returns in cavalcade, with the red hat on his head. 
 
 The newly-elected cardinal is obliged to make the legate, or messenger, 
 a present of one hundred ducats at least, this being the fixed sum ; but it 
 amounts frequently to one, three, five thousand, and sometimes more 
 ducats. The hat is usually handed to the officiating prelate by the pope’s 
 nuncio ; but m case there be no such personage present, this office is per- 
 formed by the emperor, king, archbishop, duke, or other highest person in 
 authority. 
 
 When a cardinal dies, he is immediately embalmed, and the following 
 night is carried into the church where his obsequies are to be solemnized. 
 One of the largest churches is generally made use of for this purpose, 
 
ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH. 
 
 S3 3 
 
 r , in order that the greater concourse of people may assem- 
 
 Interments of ... r . J 
 
 Cardinals. ble jn it. The inside is hung, throughout, with black velvet, 
 
 and adorned with escutcheons, on which the arms of the deceased are re- 
 presented ; and a great number of white tapers are lighted up on both 
 sides of the nave. 
 
 In the middle of the church a very high and large bed of state is 
 set, covered with black brocade, with two pillows of the same colour, 
 which, being put one above another, are laid under the head of the de- 
 ceased cardinal, whose corpse lies in the middle of the bed in such a 
 
 manner that his feet point towards the great gate, and his head towards the 
 high altar. 
 
 The corpse of the deceased cardinal is clothed in pontifical vestments, 
 viz. the mitre ; the cope, if he were a bishop ; the chasuble, if a priest ; 
 and the tunic, if a deacon. The six masters of the ceremonies assist 
 in this church, clothed in cassocks of purple serge, and all the pope’s 
 couriers, in long robes of the same colour, with silver maces in their hands. 
 There are, likewise, two of the deceased’s tall lackeys, each holding a 
 wand, on which are fixed purple taffety streamers, with the arms of the 
 deceased cardinal ; with these they continually fan his face, in order to 
 keep off the flies. 
 
 On the morrow, after vespers, the religious mendicants meet together in 
 a chapel of the same church, where they sing the matins of the dead, each 
 order repeating alternately a Nocturnum , and the pope’s music the Lauds. 
 In the mean time the cardinals arrive, clothed in purple, and at their 
 coming into the church they put on a cope of the same colour. They 
 then advance towards the high altar, where the host is kept, and there 
 offer up their prayers, and adore it upon their knees. They afterwards go, 
 one after another, to the feet of the deceased, and repeat the Pater Noster , 
 fyc. ; to which they add certain verses out of the scripture, and the prayer, 
 Absolve , $-c., from the office of the dead. 
 
 They then make the usual sprinkling with holy water, and go and seat 
 themselves in the choir, where they hear the office of the dead sung by 
 several monks and priests with great solemnity. Others repeat it to them- 
 selves, not stirring out of their places till it be ended ; the cardinals, priests 
 and bishops being on the epistle side, and the rest of the clergy in the 
 lowest, seats, which stand round the choir. The cardinals are always seated 
 on the highest chairs or benches. 
 
 This being done, the congregation return to their respective homes, with- 
 out any farther ceremony. At night, the corpse is stripped, and laid in a 
 leaden coffin, which is put in another of cypress-wood covered with black 
 cloth. The corpse is then carried in a coach, accompanied by the rector 
 ol the parish and the chaplains of the deceased, who go by torch-light to 
 the church where he is to be interred. 
 
340 
 
 ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH. 
 
 The majority of the cardinals who die in Rome are buried in the church 
 of their title, unless they were Romans of exalted condition, and had desired 
 to be interred in the vaults of their ancestors ; or in the case of some foreign 
 cardinal, who chooses to be buried in the church in Rome belonging to the 
 clergy of his nation. 
 
 Four of the cardinals are buried with greater pomp and magnificence 
 than the rest, viz. the dean of the Apostolic College, the grand penitentiary 
 the vice-chancellor, and the camerlingo. 
 
 The Romish rituals enjoin that his holiness, finding himself on his death- 
 bed, must recollect himself, examine his conscience, make his confession, 
 interment of a desire confessor to give him a plenary indulgence, make 
 Po P e - some reparation to those whom he has offended in his life- 
 
 time ; afterwards receive the viaticum, assemble the sacred college, make 
 a profession of faith before them, and beseech his eminences to forgive him 
 for all those things in which he may have offended any of them during his 
 pontificate. The Roman ceremonial, among other particulars, enjoins his 
 holiness, when he finds his last hour approaching, to recommend to the 
 cardinals the choice of a pastor worthy to be his successor. 
 
 When the pope is at the last gasp, his nephews and domestics strip the 
 palace of all its furniture ; for immediately after his holiness has expired, 
 the officers of the Apostolic Chamber come to seize the goods; but the 
 pope’s relations usually take care that they find nothing but bare walls, 
 and the corpse lying on a straw bed with an old wooden candlestick , in 
 which there is only the snuff of a taper burning. 
 
 At the same time, the cardinal camerlingo comes, in purple vestments, 
 accompanied by the clerks of the chamber in mourning, to inspect the 
 pope’s corpse. He calls him thrice by his Christian name; and finding he 
 gives no answer, nor discovers the least sign of life, he causes an instru- 
 ment of his death to be drawn up by the apostolical prothonotaries. He 
 then takes, from the master of the pope’s chamber, the fisherman’s ring, 
 which is the pope’s seal, (made of solid gold, and worth a hundred crowns,) 
 and breaks it to pieces ; giving them to the masters of the ceremonies, 
 whose perquisite they are. The datary and secretaries, who have the rest 
 of the seals of the deceased pope, are obliged to carry them to the cardinal 
 camerlingo, who causes them to be broken in presence of the auditor of the 
 chamber, the treasurer, and the apostolic clerks. 
 
 After this, the cardinal-patron and the pope’s nephews are obliged to 
 leave the palace in which he died, which is generally the Vatican, or 
 Monte Cavallo, unless he happens to die suddenly. The cardinal camer- 
 iingo takes possession of these palaces in the ftame of the'Apostolic Cham- 
 ber ; and after having entered it with the formality above mentioned, he 
 takes a short inventory of the remaining movables; but, as before observed, 
 there is seldom any thing left. 
 
ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH. 
 
 341 
 
 In the mean time, the penitentiaries of St. Peter, and the almoner of the 
 deceased pope, after having caused the corpse to be shaved and washed, 
 have it immediately embalmed. The dead pontiff is then clothed in his 
 pontifical vestments, having his mitre on his head, and the chalice in h s 
 hand. The camerlingo, in the mean time, sends a body of guards to secure 
 the gates of the city, the castle of St. Angelo, and other posts. The capo- 
 rioni,or captains of the districts, likewise patrole night and day with their 
 guards, to prevent those who are caballing for the election of a new pope 
 from raising any sedition. 
 
 After the camerlingo has thus provided for the security of Rome, he comes 
 out of the apostolical palace, and goes round the city in his coach accom- 
 panied by the Swiss guards, and the captain of the guards, who usually 
 attended upon the deceased pope. When this march begins, the great bell 
 of the capitol is rung, which is never heard but at the death of the pontiff, 
 to give notice of it to the citizens. 
 
 At this signal, the rota and all the tribunals of justice are shut up, as 
 likewise the datary, pursuant to the bull of Pius V. in eligendis. No 
 more bulls are now given out ; the ordinary congregations are likewise 
 suspended, insomuch that none but the cardinal camerlingo and the cardinal 
 grand penitentiary continue in their employments. 
 
 As the popes have made choice of St. Peter’s Church for the place of 
 their interment, when they die at Mount duirinal, (now Monte Cavallo,) or 
 in some other of their palaces, they are carried to the Vatican in a large 
 open litter, in the middle of which is a bed of state, on which the corpse of 
 the pope is laid, clothed in his pontifical vestments. 
 
 The litter is preceded by a van-guard of horsemen and trumpeters, W’ho 
 make a mournful sound, their instruments being furled with purple and 
 black crape; these trumpeters march at the head of the first troop, mounted 
 on dapple horses, the housings of which are of the same colour with the 
 streamers fixed to the trumpets ; but those of the van-guard are black 
 velvet, with gold and silver fringe. These horsemen have their lances 
 reversed ; each squadron has a standard before it, surrounded with kettle- 
 drums, muffled, which are beaten in a mournful manner. 
 
 Several battalions of the Swiss guards advance next ; one half having 
 muskets and the other halberds, reversed. These are followed by twenty- 
 four grooms, each leading a horse covered w r ith sable housings that trail 
 upon the ground. Several of the deceased pope’s tali lackeys walk with- 
 out order, between the led horses, with lighted torches of yellow wax in 
 their hands. 
 
 Then the twelve penitentiaries of St. Peter’s advance, with each a flam- 
 beau in his hand, and surrounded with Swiss guards armed with back- 
 swords and halberds, and having the pope’s litter in the midst of them. 
 Immediately before the litter comes the cross-bearer mounted on a tall 
 
342 
 
 ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH. 
 
 horse, with a caparison of wire all in network, like a horse prepared for 
 battle. Behind the bed of state, on which the pope’s body lies, is seen the 
 chief groom on a black horse, whose ears are cropped, and whose harness 
 consists only of several stripes of linen cloth, a piece of white satin, and a 
 grand plume of feathers, in three ranges, one above the other, on his head, 
 and some gaudy tinsel. 
 
 Afterwards, twenty-four more grooms come forward, leading black 
 mules with white housings, and twelve tall lackeys with white horses 
 covered with black velvet. After these, a troop of light horse advance, the 
 men being all clothed in purple. Then come a troop of cuirassiers : and 
 lastly, the remainder of the Swiss guards, whose march is closed by a troop 
 of carabineers, who guard a few pieces of brass cannon gilt, drawn on their 
 carriages. 
 
 In the event of the pope dying in the Vatican, his body is immediately 
 carried, by the back stairs, into Sextus V.’s Chapel. After it has lain 
 there twenty-four hours, it is embalmed, and on the same day is carried to 
 St. Peter’s Church, attended only by the penitentiaries, the almoners, and 
 other ecclesiastics, w T ho follow the pontiff’s corpse as far as the portico of 
 the great church. The canons of the church come and receive it, singing 
 the usual prayers appointed for the dead ; and afterwards carry it into the 
 chapel of the Blessed Trinity, where it is exposed for three days, on a bed 
 of state raised pretty high, to the sight of the people, who crowd to kiss the 
 feet of his holiness through an iron rail by which this chapel is enclosed. 
 
 Three days after, the corpse, being again embalmed with fresh perfumes, 
 is laid in a leaden coffin, at the bottom of which the cardinals, whom he 
 had promoted, lay gold and silver medals, on one side of which is the head 
 of the deceased pope, their benefactor, and on the reverse his most remark- 
 able actions. This coffin is afterwards enclosed in another made of cypress 
 wood, and is deposited within the wall of some chapel, till such time as a 
 mausoleum can be erected to his honour in St. Peter’s, or any other church, 
 in case he himself had not given any orders for the erecting of one during 
 his lifetime, which is frequently the case. But when his holiness declares 
 by his last will, or by word of mouth, that he chooses not to be buried in 
 St. Peter’s, but in some other church which he names, then his body must 
 not be translated till after he has lain a whole year in some of the chapels 
 of that church ; and in this case the corpse cannot be removed till a large 
 sum of money has been paid to the chapter of St. Peter ; it sometimes 
 costs upwards of a million of livres, in case the pope, whose corpse they 
 are desirous of removing, was famous for his piety, and that any grounds 
 exist to presume that he will one day be canonized. 
 
 The Apostolic Chamber defrays the expenses of the pope’s burial, which 
 are fixed at one hundred and fifty thousand livres ; in which sum, not only 
 the expenses of the funeral are included, but also those to be paid for the 
 
ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH 
 
 r43 
 
 erection of a mausoleum in St. Peter’s, and illuminating a chapel of state, 
 where a mass of Requiem is to be sung every morning for a week together, 
 in presence of the sacred college, for the repose of the soul of the deceased 
 pontiff. The funeral obsequies end the ninth day by another solemn mass, 
 which is sung by a cardinal bishop, assisted at the altar by four other car- 
 dinals with their mitres on, who, together with the officiating priest, at the 
 conclusion of the office, incense the representation of the coffin, and sprinkle 
 . it in the manner enjoined in the ritual in presence of four other cardinals, 
 and all the prelates and officers of the late pope’s court, who immediately 
 retire as soon as the last Requiescat in pace is pronounced, to which they 
 answer, Am,en. 
 
 After the pope’s decease, the office of the mass is said according to the 
 circumstances of the times ; and one of the lessons is applied to the sacred 
 college. On the first and last day of the nine days’ devotion, two hundred 
 masses are said for the soul of the deceased pontiff, the solemn mass is 
 sung by a cardinal-bishop, and a hundred masses are sung on the other 
 days. 
 
 SEC. IV. HIERARCHY OF THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH. 
 
 The pope, considered as a bishop, has a diocese subordinate to him. In 
 this quality he appoints for his vicar-general a bishop, who, ever since Pius 
 The Pope’s vi- a ^ wa y s a cardinal. The office of vicar-general is for 
 
 car-general. life. He is, ex officio, the proper judge of ecclesiastics both 
 secular and regular of both sexes, and also of the Jews and courtesans at 
 Rome, and in its dependencies. He confirms and confers all sacred orders. 
 He is empowered to inspect and visit a'l churches, monasteries, hospitals, 
 and other pious houses, those of foreign nations excepted, which are all 
 exempt. He has a vicegerent, who is always a bishop, to assist him in his 
 episcopal functions. He has likewise a lieutenant, who is a prelate, but 
 under the ra,nk of bishop ; a referendary of both signatures, who takes 
 cognisance of all civil causes at his court ; and a judge criminal, who is a 
 layman, to judge all crimes committed by clerks and regulars. But that 
 which makes the post of grand-vicar very considerable and profitable, is the 
 power he has of deciding all differences that arise relating to matrimony. 
 
 The Apostolic Chamber pays him provisionally, exclusive of the profits 
 arising from his courts, twelve hundred crowns of gold annually. He has, 
 besides the above-mentioned officers, for notaries or registrars, a provost, 
 and a company of bailiffs and sergeants. 
 
 The chancellor wrote formerly, in the pope’s name, all the rescripts, 
 doubts, and scruples with respect to faith, which bishops and others pro- 
 The Pope’s posed to him ; insomuch that he executes the office of secre- 
 Vice-Chanceiior. tary of state, of the briefs, and that of chancellor. This 
 
 L. 
 
344 
 
 ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH. 
 
 dignity is purchased, and costs a hundred thousand crowns ; it yields about 
 twelve thousand crowns per annum to the incumbent, and is for life. The 
 jurisdiction of the cardinal vice-chancellor extends to the issuing out all 
 apostolical letters and bulls, and also to all petitions signed by the pope. 
 
 The regent of the apostolic chancery is established by the vice-chan- 
 cellor’s patent, by which he is empowered to commit all appeals to the 
 Regent and Re- referendaries and auditors of the rota ; and these he distri- 
 Pope’s Chancery, butes to them by order, that each of them may be employed, 
 and get money in their turns. There are twelve referendaries, who are 
 all prelates, and are called registrars of the high court ; they are clothed 
 in long purple robes. These employments are purchased, and the vice- 
 chancellor has the nomination of six, the others being in the gift of the 
 pope. The post of regent is purchased at 30,000 crowns, and the annual 
 produce amounts to 3000. The posts of the prelates referendaries, of both 
 signatures, who are registrars of the high court, sell for 13,000 crowns, 
 and produce each 1200 crowns annually. These thirteen prelates have their 
 seats when the pope assists solemnly at the office ; but the regent never 
 appears there in that quality, to prevent any disputes about precedency. 
 
 The registrars of the high court draw up the minutes of all bulls, from 
 the petitions signed by the pope, and collate them after they are written on 
 parchment; they afterwards send them to the registrars of the lower court, 
 who, with the registrars or apostolical writers, tax them. All* these em- 
 ployments would not be worth so much, nor produce ten per cent, profit, 
 were the bulls which collate to, rich benefices issued out gratis ; but no- 
 thing is ever purchased from the apostolical chancery, without paying sums 
 proportionately to the value of the benefices, or other grants. 
 
 The cardinal-nephew, if the pope have any, or another cardinal, is 
 always the pope’s principal secretary of state ; for this post is never given 
 Pope’s «?ecre- to an y P erson under the dignity of cardinal. There are ten 
 tary of State. other secretaries of state, between whom the provinces of 
 the ecclesiastical state are divided ; but they are in such subordination to him, 
 that they do nothing without his participation ; so that, properly speaking, 
 they are no more than under-secretaries of state. 
 
 The cardinal-secretary signs, by the pope’s order, all letters directed to 
 princes, nuncios, vice-legates, governors, and prefects ; and the patents of 
 all those who are appointed for the government and administration of jus- 
 tice, in the whole territory of the ecclesiastical state. But the provisions 
 or patents of governors of cities, and large towns surrounded with walls, 
 those of legates, vice-legates, and presidents, are drawn up by brief, under 
 the fisherman’s ring or seal ; and all those who are raised to these employ- 
 ments, cardinals excepted, take an oath before the cardinal camerlingo, in 
 the presence of a notary of the chamber, and swear on their own briefs. 
 The absent do the same by proxy. 
 
ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH. 
 
 345 
 
 Prefect of the 
 Briefs. 
 
 AH the ambassadors of princes, after having had audience of the pope, 
 come and visit the cardinal-secretary before they wait upon any of the 
 magistrates of Rome ; because the post of superintendent of the ecclesi- 
 astical state is annexed to this particular office. These two posts are for 
 life, and the pope generally bestows them gratis; but sometimes, in case 
 he be in urgent necessity for money, he sells them : they produce 15,000 
 crowns annually. 
 
 The under-secretaries of state are, by their office, obliged to draw up all 
 the minutes which the cardinal-secretary may require, and to make a fair 
 copy of all the letters and patents which he is to sign. 
 
 The prefect of the briefs is always a cardinal, whose post is purchased, 
 and is for life : it costs 20,000 crowns, and produces annually 2500 crowns, 
 exclusive of the extraordinary perquisites which he receives 
 from all those whose briefs he despatches. By his office he 
 is obliged to review all the minutes, and sign all the copies of assessed 
 briefs ; but he is neither empowered nor commissioned to view the secret 
 briefs. He is generally deputed by his holiness, with other prelates, to 
 assist at the signature of grants, which is made in the pontifical palace. 
 His post is very honourable and profitable, for he has a seat in the pope’s 
 palace, near the datary; and when he revises the briefs, he may add or 
 cut off any clauses : on which account, the secretaries, who all in their 
 several turns assess these briefs, rate them either higher or lower, accord- 
 ingly as they are desirous of favouring those who are to have them 
 despatched ; for which reason, all who come on these occasions pay their 
 court assiduously to this prefect, and endeavour to bribe him to their interest 
 by some present, proportionable to the advantages granted by those briefs. 
 
 The office of prefect of the signature of favour is never given to any 
 person under the dignity of cardinal, who receives from the Apostolical 
 The Prefects of Chamber a yearly pension of 1200 crowns, so long as, by 
 both Signatures, the pope’s favour, he enjoys this post, who removes him 
 whenever he pleases. The chief employment of the cardinal-prefect is 
 to preside over all those prelates who assist at the signature of favour, 
 made every Tuesday before the pope. He likewise signs all the petitions 
 which are presented to this assembly, in which twelve cardinals, at least, 
 always meet by the order of his holiness, one of whom is generally the 
 cardinal-prefect of the signature of justice. There are likewise in this 
 assembly twelve prelates-referendaries, who have each their vote in the 
 signature of justice. 
 
 The jurisdiction of the prefect of the signature of justice extends to judge 
 the causes oi those persons who think themselves injured by any sentence 
 given by the ordinary judges. Every Thursday, twelve prelates assemble 
 at his house, and these are the most ancient referendaries of the signature, 
 and have an active voice. 
 
346 
 
 .ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH. 
 
 The Pope’s 
 Datary. 
 
 The college of the prelates referendaries is not limited as to the number, 
 and the employments are not purchased, but are only titles of honour, 
 
 The Prelates W ^ 1C ^ the pope bestows on persons of high birth and learn- 
 Reterendaries. ing, as a step towards the most considerable employments 
 of the court of Rome. A person, before he can be thus promoted, must 
 first have the nomination of the cardinal-patron, and the pope’s consent. 
 The cardinal-prefect of the signature of justice afterwards orders one of his 
 officers to institute the proper inquiries, pursuant to the constitution of 
 Sextus V., by which it is enacted, that every candidate must prove he is 
 doctor of both laws, that he has been an inhabitant of Rome for two years, 
 that he is twenty-five years of age, and that he has wealth sufficient to 
 support the prelature with honour. 
 
 The pope’s datary and the chancery courts were formerly one and the 
 same thing ; but the multitude of affairs to be transacted therein obliged 
 his holiness to divide it into two tribunals, which are so 
 nearly related to one another, that the chancery does no 
 more than despatch all that has passed through the datary court. 
 
 The officer called datary is a prelate, and sometimes a cardinal, deputed 
 by his holiness to receive all such petitions as are presented to him, touch- 
 ing the provisions for benefices. By this post, the datary is empowered 
 to grant all benefices that do not produce upwards of twenty-four ducats 
 annually, without acquainting his holiness therewith ; but for those which 
 amount to more, he is obliged to cause the provisions thereof to be signed 
 by the pope, who admits him to an audience every day. In case there be 
 several candidates for the same benefice, he is at liberty to bestow it on 
 whomsoever of them he thinks proper, provided he has the requisite quali- 
 fications. The datary has a yearly salary of two thousand crowns, exclu- 
 sive of the immense perquisites which he receives from those who address 
 him for any benefice. 
 
 A Dominican friar, of the order commonly called the Preaching Brothers, 
 is always Master of the Pope's Palace , ever since the founder, who was 
 _ T . canonized by the name of St. Dominic, was raised to that 
 officers aU of ^the dignity by Honorius III. in 1216. He preaches once a 
 Pope’s Household. m onth in the public chapel of the palace, or appoints 
 one of his brethren to perform the service for him. He has a seat in 
 the pope’s chapel, next to the deacon, or most ancient auditor of the rota. 
 He has no fixed salary, because, by the statutes of his order, he is not 
 allowed to have any money which he can call his own ; but he is allowed 
 a table at court with his companions and servants, and a coach is kept for 
 him. 
 
 He is the judge in ordinary of all printers, engravers, and booksellers, 
 who are not permitted to publish, or sell, any work w'ithcul his permission 
 being first obtained. All books that come to Rome are examined by him, 
 
ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH. 
 
 3 r 
 
 or his officers, who confiscate all that are prohibited by the index of the 
 Council of Trent. 
 
 The other chief officers that reside in the pontifical palace, and near the 
 person of his holiness, are the major-domo , or master of the household 
 which officers, in the courts of other princes, are called high-stewards. 
 The pope’s master of the household superintends all the domestics of the 
 apostolical palace ; but his holiness employs the chief steward of the hos- 
 pital of the Literate Orphans to furnish him with provisions, and the 
 hospital has proper fees allowed to it. 
 
 There are always two gentlemen near the pope’s person, who have the 
 title of masters of the chamber. The chief cup-bearer , who is called cop - 
 piere, presents the glass to his holiness, with a salver which he holds 
 before him, and kneels on both knees when the pope drinks. The officer 
 whose business it is to see the dishes brought in order to the pope’s 
 table is called in Italian scalco. The carver , who cuts up the meat before 
 the sovereign pontiff — the chief harbinger , who regulates the apartments 
 of the pope’s household, and all the other officers above mentioned, are 
 prelates, w r ho wear purple vestments, and have each two deputies to officiate 
 in their absence. 
 
 There are, likewise, several privy-chamberlains, all prelates, who are 
 clothed in long purple cassocks with sleeves trailing to the ground, but have 
 no cloak. Among these, eight are declared partakers , and divide among 
 themselves whatever presents are made them ; and of these the pope 
 chooses one to be his privy-treasurer, whose business it is to distribute 
 such alms as his holiness bestows privately. 
 
 Another of these privy-chamberlains is appointed master of the ward- 
 robe. He is intrusted with all the plate, whether of gold or silver, all the 
 jewels and shrines for relics, as also the Agnus Dei's , which he distributes 
 daity to pilgrims and strangers at a certain hour. The pope' s physician in 
 ordinary is also a privy-chamberlain, but not the other two, who are phy- 
 sicians of his household. 
 
 The fixed pension of each privy-chamberlain amounts to a thousand 
 crowns annually : and the partakers have at least double that sum, arising 
 from the presents made at the creation and death of every cardinal. The 
 chamberlain who distributes the Agnus Dei's receives more than all the 
 rest, particularly when any extraordinary solemnity induces foreigners to 
 visit Rome ; such as the years of the jubilee, an embassy, a holy canoni- 
 zation that makes a great noise, or any famous miracle. In such cases he 
 has several thousand crowns given him for the little consecrated images 
 of wax. 
 
 The pope’s privy-chaplains have the same salary as the chamberlains. 
 They assist in saying the office of the breviary, and wait upon him at 
 mass, when he celebrates it in private. One of these carries the cross 
 
348 
 
 ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH. 
 
 efore his holiness when he goes abroad, and in case he goes on foot 
 another of them supports his train. 
 
 When the pope assists at solemn ma«, and in processions, his chaplains 
 carry the mitres and triple crowns, enriched with precious stones, which 
 they display in a very pompous manner, holding them aloft with both their 
 hands to show them to the people as his holiness walks along. There are 
 also chaplains belonging to the guards and grooms, who say mass every 
 morning in the guard-room, &c. ; these are called common chaplains ; their 
 yearly salary amounts to no more than fifty crowns, but, then, they are paid 
 besides for whatever masses they celebrate. 
 
 The pope’s assistants and valets-de-chambre have five hundred crowns 
 a year, and several other very considerable profits; not to mention that, as 
 they have a more free access to his holiness than the rest of his domestics, 
 they never fail of benefices. 
 
 There are likewise honorary chamberlains, who are prelates of the first 
 quality, among whom the pope generally makes choice of a Frenchman, a 
 German, and a Spaniard. The chamberlains of the Boussole are so many 
 ushers, because they always keep a guard at his holiness’s chamber-door. 
 The chamberlains without the walls are so called because they follow 
 the pope without the Vatican, and attend upon him in all his public 
 cavalcades, with the chamberlain’s esquires, clothed in red cloth, and 
 covered %ith a large cope of the same colour furred with ermine. Each 
 of these do duty in the apostolical palace, and have their distinct office ; 
 but the honorary chamberlains never mount guard, nor appear in the 
 pope’s ante-chamber but when they please. These are generally em- 
 ployed by the pope to carry the red cap or hat to any newly-elected 
 cardinals who are not in Rome at the time of their being raised to that 
 dignity 
 
 The pope has a master of the household and scalco, in the Vatican as 
 well as on Monte Cavallo ; and another carver, whose office it is to pre- 
 pare the banquet which he gives to the cardinals on certain extraordinary 
 occasions, and on solemn festivals ; another scalco and carver for the am- 
 bassadors, and other distinguished foreigners, whom the pope entertains in 
 a splendid manner; and another, who prepares the dinner given to the 
 thirteen poor pilgrims, serves up the first dish at their table, and treats them 
 in a magnificent manner every day, in imitation of Pope Clement VIII., 
 who restored this custom, first introduced by Gregory the Great. These 
 officers are clothed in purple. 
 
 The pope always makes choice of a native of Rome for the master of his 
 stables. This officer bears the name of cavallerizzo. 
 
 The harbingers above mentioned assign the apartments to the pope’s 
 household, and have deputy harbingers and their assistants, who are in- 
 trusted with the hangings, ornaments, and other furniture of the pontifical 
 
ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH. 
 
 349 
 
 palace. They are likewise employed to adorn the apartments when either 
 consistory, signature of favour, or congregation is held. 
 
 There are likewise footmen, called grooms , who keep guard in the halls 
 of the pope’s palace, and are very numerous, because the pope bestows 
 this place on all those who were his grooms when he was cardinal ; and 
 moreover, he likewise gives those places to all the chiefs of the grooms that 
 are in the service of the cardinals and ambassadors who are present at 
 Rome at the time of his creation. Their clothing is a red flowered satin ; 
 and whenever they go out, they have a blue cloth cloak and a sword, the 
 hilt of which is of silver gilt. 
 
 The pope has twelve *officers, who have each a red wand, and twelve 
 others who carry silver maces, and walk before him in a ceremonial habit, 
 every time he appears in public with his mitre and cope on. When the 
 consistory is held, they guard the door, and wait upon his holiness when 
 he is entering or departing. These twenty-four posts are all purchased 
 for six hundred crowns each, and produce about fifty annually. 
 
 The pope’s sacristan, who takes the title of prefect, is always a friar of 
 the order of the hermits of St. Austin. This prefect is intrusted with all 
 Prefect of the ornaments ? gold and silver vessels, crosses, cups, thuri- 
 
 Pope’s Sacristy. ble S , shrines for enclosing relics, and other valuable things 
 belonging to his holiness’s sacristy. 
 
 It is he that prepares the host, and inspects the bread and wine, when 
 the pope celebrates mass pontifically, or in private. Whenever his holiness 
 assists solemnly at mass, his sacristan places himself among the assisting 
 bishops, above the dean, or the senior auditors of the rota; and observes 
 to take off or put on the pope’s mitre, as often as he is required by the 
 rubric of the Roman Pontifical. 
 
 He distributes the relics and signs the memorials of those indulgences 
 which pilgrims desire for themselves and relations. We shall make two 
 remarks on this head : — First , that indulgences are never granted to any 
 pilgrims but to those who are actually upon a journey, and appear person- 
 ally before the pope’s sacristan. 
 
 Secondly , with regard to those indulgences which persons who go to 
 Rome desire for their relations, they are not to be granted to them but 
 when they are in their. expiring moments : i. e. the pope grants by briefs, 
 addressed to certain persons, for whose names blanks are left , a power of 
 making choice of what confessor they shall think proper, when at the 
 point of death ; and to be absolved by him from all sins in general, and all 
 reserved cases, of what nature soever ; with a full power to this confessor 
 of remitting to the person to whom this brief is given all the punishments 
 which God might otherwise have inflicted on him for his sins, whether in 
 this life or after his death, in hell or in purgatory. 
 
 Formerly, the chancellor superintended the pope’s library : but in latter 
 
350 
 
 ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH. 
 
 Pope’s Libra- 
 rian. 
 
 ages it is an office apart, yielding twelve hundred crowns in gold annually 
 to the possessor. The pope never bestows it on any person 
 under the dignity of a cardinal, who assumes the title of 
 librarian of the Vatican. He has two sub-librarians; the first of whom is 
 generally one of the pope’s domestic prelates, and has six hundred crowns 
 a year, with an allowance of bread and wine for the whole year. The 
 second has four hundred crowns, and the same provision as the former. 
 
 These three places are always filled by persons of great learning, who 
 to the knowledge of other tongues add the Oriental languages in particu- 
 lar. The librarian has the direction of a noble printing-house, where no- 
 thing is printed without his permission. It abounds with types of all the 
 known tongues in which the learned are conversant. 
 
 His holiness has six masters of the ceremonies ; two of- whom are called 
 assistants, and the other four supernumeraries. The two assistants re- 
 Magt f h ceive of every newly-created cardinal 224 crowns of gold, 
 
 Ceremonies. and of the heirs of those who die 100 crowns, which sums 
 
 they equally share. Their employments bring them in altogether about 
 1000 crowns yearly, besides a table in the Vatican. All the chamber- 
 lains have an equal authority to regulate pontifical functions, to acquaint 
 the cardinals with their duty, and to issue orders to all persons belonging 
 to the court. 
 
 They all have admission into the conclave, and, likewise, in the congre 
 gation of rites, but one only goes to the ceremonial congregation. When- 
 ever the pope sends any cardinal a latere out of Rome, he deputes one of 
 the supernumerary masters of the ceremonies to attend upon him. They 
 are clothed in purple cassocks, with black buttons and facings, and sleeves 
 ■trailing on the ground ; in the papal chapel they wear a red cassock, as 
 the rest of the cardinals, and rochets like the prelates. 
 
 The Ruota is one of the most august tribunals of Rome, and is composed 
 of twelve prelates, one of whom must be a German, another a Frenchman, 
 Tribunal of the anc ^ two Spaniards. Each of the sovereigns of these three 
 Ruota - nations names a prelate, who bears the name of his crown. 
 
 The other eight are Italians, three of whom must be Romans, one Bo- 
 lognese, a Ferraran, a Milanese, a Venetian, and a Tuscan. Each auditor 
 has four notaries or registrars, and the senior auditor performs the function 
 of president. 
 
 They meet in the apostolical palace every Monday and Friday, except 
 during vacations ; but when the pope resides in the palace of Mount 
 Quirinal, the assemblies are held in the chancery. 
 
 They take cognisance of all such suits in the territory of the church as 
 are brought in by way of appeal, and also of matters beneficiary and patri- 
 monial. This tribunal does not judge a cause at once, but pronounces as 
 many sentences, called decisions, as there are points contested in a suit 
 
ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH. 
 
 After these sentences are given, the party may get his cause revised again 
 by the pope himself, at the signature of favour, which is a kind of civil 
 petition. The place of these auditors produces but one thousand crowns 
 yearly to each, and they receive no fees ; but then they are generally 
 created cardinals by way of reward for the pains they have taken. 
 
 This council has the direction of all the pope’s demesnes, the finances of 
 which consist in what is called the revenues of the Apostolic Chamber. 
 
 The Apo«toiic ^ consists °f the cardinal great chamberlain, who is at the 
 chamber. head of it ; of the governor of the ruota, who is the vice- 
 
 chamberlain ; of a treasurer-general, an auditor, a president, an advocate- 
 general, a solicitor-general, a commissary, and twelve clerks of the chamber; 
 of whom four are, first, the prefect of the plenty of grain ; a second the 
 prefect of provision, and such like commodities ; the third, the prefect of 
 the prisons; and the fourth, the prefect of the streets. The remaining 
 eight are deputed to take cognisance of various causes, each privately in 
 his chamber. 
 
 Formerly the pope used to depute six clerks of his household for the 
 direction of his revenues, from which those who have the management of 
 them receive their names. Sextus V. ordered that their employments 
 should be purchased, and increased their number to twelve. They meet 
 every Monday and Friday in the pope’s palace, and their jurisdiction 
 extends to all things relating to the pope’s demesnes. 
 
 Each clerk of the chamber takes immediate cognisance of all causes that 
 are sent up from the Apostolical Chamber by appeal. None of the places 
 of clerk of the chamber are purchased for less than 80,000 crowns, nor 
 / yield less than 8000 crowns annually. The posts of treasurer-general 
 and auditor of the Apostolical Chamber are purchased for similar sums, and 
 produce similar revenues. 
 
 The temporal dominions of the pope are at present confined to a territory 
 south of the river Po, in Italy, containing not more than fifteen thousand 
 
 Present state of square miles, and two millions and five hundred thousand 
 n^ChuTch! Cath0 ‘ inhabitants. The ecclesiastical subjects of the pope are 
 variously estimated from eighty to one hundred and twenty millions, who 
 are scattered over the whole world. The countries which are considered 
 entirely papal, are the pope’s dominions in Italy, Spain, Portugal, and 
 South America; France, Austria, Poland, Belgium, Ireland, and Canada, 
 almost entirely. Switzerland has seven hundred thousand ; England more 
 than half a million. Others are found in Russia, Sweden, Denmark, the 
 West India Islands, and the United States. 
 
 As a temporal prince, the political power of the pope is now regarded 
 with absolute contempt by all the European governments ; but it is still 
 supported by them as a matter of policy. 
 
 France, more particularly, appears almost ready to throw off entirely the 
 
352 
 
 ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH. 
 
 trammels of the papal jmke ; for, as the Catholic priesthood has been 
 found uniformly to give its support to an arbitrary form of government, 
 and to neglect the instruction of the people, the Bourbon dynasty has been 
 overthrown by the revolution of 1830, and the Romish Church cut off from 
 being the established religion, and free toleration granted. Still, as the 
 Roman Catholic is the professed religion of the majority in the French 
 nation, its clergy at present continue to receive their usual salaries from the 
 new government. So grossly have the French been deluded with the 
 popish ceremonies and superstitions, that the more intelligent have become 
 infidels. Such, indeed, is the case throughout the Roman Catholic coun- 
 tries, and especially in Italy ; the people, therefore, are ill prepared, at 
 present, to embrace the pure Christianity of the New Testament, of which, 
 indeed, they are almost universally ignorant. Nevertheless, the vigorous 
 efforts of some devoted servants of Christ at Paris, with several agents from 
 the Methodists, Continental, London, and Baptist Missionary Societies in 
 England, and especially with the revival of religion among the Protestants 
 of the South of France, all contributing to the circulation of the Scriptures, 
 and the diffusion of divine knowledge, will, we trust, be blessed of God, to 
 produce an evangelical reformation in that great country. 
 
 Education being vigorously promoted through many parts of Germany, 
 and the Holy Scriptures being extensively circulated, popery will not be 
 able much longer to retain its hold on the millions in Austria and Hungary. 
 Even the Italian States, and Rome itself, have received many copies of the 
 blessed word of God; and it is believed that not a few Catholics, and some of 
 the priests, are sincerely studying the Scriptures of Truth for their internal 
 salvation. Knowledge, by the British system of education, is increasing in 
 South America ; and, with it, the Holy Scriptures are circulated among 
 the superstitious Catholics. * 
 
 In British India and the East, the Roman Catholic Church has an es- 
 tablishment of three archbishops and seventeen bishops, with many priests, 
 besides Romish missionaries ; but scriptural knowledge, as we have seen, 
 is advancing in those populous regions of the earth. Canada has the 
 Roman Catholic system for the established religion ; and efforts are being 
 made to extend the influence of popery in the United States of America, 
 particularly in the wondrous valley of the Mississippi ; but its antidote is 
 provided in the Bible. 
 
 Ireland is chiefly popish ; and in that injured, degraded, and distracted 
 country, there are nearly five thousand Roman Catholic priests. But 
 scriptural light and knowledge are advancing among the people, notwith- 
 standing their prejudices against the Protestants. 
 
 England, at the commencement of this century, it is said, had not 
 quite fifty Roman Catholic chapels: that the number should now exceed 
 live hundred cannot be matter of wonder, when we consider the amazing 
 
ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH. 
 
 353 
 
 increase of its population, the influx of Irish, and the ignorance of 
 multitudes of the lower classes concerning the essentials of religion as 
 taught in the New Testament. 
 
 In 1870 a Council was gathered at Rome to raise to the rank of an 
 article of faith the mediaeval pretension of the Pope to absolute domin- 
 ion over the church, kings, and nations, which Gregory the Great 
 denounced as an abomination and a blasphemy. 
 
 Preparation for this Council was begun several years before by direct- 
 ing bishops in different countries to hold synods and pass decrees dic- 
 tated or revised at Rome, in which Jesuits pretended to see a general 
 and wonderful unanimity in favor of Papal Infallibility as a doctrine 
 already held by all good Catholics. 
 
 The decree was passed July 18th, and it is now a rule of faith that 
 the Pope is supreme judge and director of the consciences of men 
 
 Not one diplomatic person was present, all being absent in obedience 
 to orders from their governments. 
 
 The Pope aimed from the first day to destroy all freedom in the 
 Council by his regulations, and exercised a power over it destructive of 
 the rights of the bishops and the freedom of the church. 
 
 In order to cover up his methods of coercion and insure his hold even 
 on the opposition, the Pope prepared two papers for the signature of 
 every bishop attending the Council, which they were required to sign 
 before leaving Rome : the first was a profession of faith, including the 
 dogma of infallibility ; the second declaring that the Council had been 
 free from restraint throughout its whole course ! 
 
 The official record of the vote on the dogma of infallibility is : the 
 whole number of bishops attending as members 754 ; number present 
 in Rome at the time of the vote 520 ; number voting placet (yes) 283 ; 
 non-placet (no) 85 ; conditional 61 ; declining to vote 91 ; leaving a 
 majority of 26 in favor of the dogma ; or, if those who dodged the vote 
 by absence were against it, the majority against it would stand 208. 
 
 Among the opponents were Dr. Dollinger, of Germany, who was 
 supported by Strossmayer and nearly all of the German bishops ; 
 Dupanloup, of Orleans, and Darboy, of Paris, France; the leading 
 historians and scholars of the Catholic Church in all countries ; the 
 foremost bishops of America; the entire Oriental church, and the 
 Hungarians, and the only real support of the dogma was found in the 
 Italian and Irish branches of the church, led by Bishop Manning, of 
 England. 
 
 This is the most perfect form of absolutism ever yet devised by any 
 man, and Pius IX is himself more than content ; his supreme desire, 
 the crown of his life and work, is attained. 
 
 Almost at the same instant, when the Pope imagined himself elevated 
 to the highest pinnacle of earthly power, as the umpire and arbiter of 
 all rulers, in his assumed character of Vicar of Christ, his temporal 
 dominion crumbled away from under liis' feet, and Victor Immanuel, 
 as the rightful king of united Italy, entered Rome July 4, 1871 as its 
 sovereign, thus restoring to Italy the States of the Church, which have 
 been ruled by the popes for several centuries. 
 
PART IV. 
 
 RELIGIOUS CUSTOMS AND CEREMONIES OF 
 PROTESTANT COMMUNITIES. 
 
 Under the head of Protestant Communities it is proposed, for the sake 
 of convenience, to treat of the principal denominations which, whethei 
 strict or lax, orthodox or otherwise, deny the supremacy of the pope of 
 Rome, and the discipline of that church ; adopting for their profession of 
 faith articles in their estimation more scriptural, and ceremonies and modes 
 of worship varying according to their views of the requirements of the 
 gospel. 
 
 SECTION I.— LUTHERANS. 
 
 The Lutherans derive their name from Martin Luther, a celebrated re- 
 former, who, in the beginning of the sixteenth century, 
 opposed the church of Rome with great zeal and success. 
 
 The system of faith embraced by the Lutherans was drawn up by 
 Luther and Melancthon, and presented to the Emperor Charles V., in 
 1530, at the diet of Augusta or Augsburg, and hence 
 called the Augustan or Augsburg Confession. It is divided 
 into two parts, of which the former , containing twenty-one articles, was 
 designed to represent, with truth and perspicuity, the religious opinions of 
 the reformers ; and the latter , containing seven articles, is employed in 
 pointing out and confuting the seven capital errors which occasioned theii 
 separation from the church of Rome : these were, communion in one kind, 
 the forced celibacy of the clergy, private masses, auricular confession, 
 legendary traditions, monastic vows, and the excessive power of the church. 
 From the time of Luther to the present day, no change has been introduced 
 into the doctrine and discipline received in this church. The method, how- 
 ever, of illustrating, enforcing, and defending the doctrines of Christianity, 
 has undergone several changes in the Lutheran church ; and, though the 
 confessions continue the same, yet some of the doctrined which were 
 warmly maintained by Luther have been, of late, wholly abandoned by his 
 
LUTHERANS. 
 
 355 
 
 followers. The Lutherans are far from allowing that good works are in 
 any wise meritorious with regard to salvation. They acknowledge, gene- 
 rally, that Christ died for all who were partakers of Adam’s transgression ; 
 but that those, only, who should believe in him, and persevere in that faith 
 to their lives’ end, should be saved. The foreknowledge of God from all 
 eternity of this faith is made by them the basis, or foundation, of the elec- 
 tion or predestination of the faithful. They view election in the very 
 same light they do justification. If the instrumental cause of the latter 
 be faith, God’s foreknowledge of that faith of the faithful is their election. 
 As to free-will, the Lutherans deny its power before the conversion of a 
 sinner, and maintain that none are converted but by the prevailing efficacy 
 of grace alone. The Lutherans acknowledge but two sacraments, that is 
 to say, baptism and the Lord’s supper. They deny transubstantiation, 
 the mass, the elevation and adoration of the host, the ceremonies, and 
 ail that external worship which the church of Rome observes with respect 
 to the body and blood of Jesus Christ : but they believe, that the real 
 presence of the humanity of Jesus Christ is with, in, and under the ele- 
 ments of bread and wine in the holy communion, and maintain, in vindica- 
 tion of their ubiquity, that all the perfections of Christ’s divinity were 
 communicated to his humanity. They reject the adoration of saints and 
 relics. Although it be our bounden duty, they say, to imitate the saints, 
 and set them before our eyes as great examples, yet we ought not to invoke 
 them, nor imagine that there are any latent virtues in their relics, &c. 
 They condemn all acts of penance and human expiations, such as solemn 
 vows, pilgrimages, nine days’ devotions, macerations, and other works of 
 supererogation ; that is to say, such mortifications, as, by the laws of 
 Christianity, are no ways imposed upon us, &c. They reject all distinc- 
 tion of meats, and the observance of Lent, all monastic vows and con- 
 vents, the celibacy of the clergy, and the performance of divine service in 
 an unknown tongue ; and, in short, all the ceremonies practised in the 
 Romish church. 
 
 Their pastors, with their several congregations, either meet at the 
 parsonage, or at some convenient place near the church intended to be 
 Consecration of consecrat;e( ^ » and afterwards march in procession two and 
 their Churches. two, once at least, and sometimes thrice, all round it, sing- 
 ing certain divine hymns or canticles all the way. As soon as this previous 
 act of devotion is over, they enter the church, where the service is opened 
 with singing again ; after which some portion of the sacred Scriptures is 
 read to them, and a sermon preached on the solemnity of the day. If the 
 income, or revenue, of the church will admit of it, or the congregation are 
 able and willing to defray the expense, the superintendent of their me- 
 tropolis is requested to assist at the ceremony, to give his benediction to the 
 church, and consecrate it with some proper discourse of his own composing; 
 
356 
 
 PROTESTANT COMMUNITIES. 
 
 Their Ministers. 
 
 which favour is acknowledged, not only by a handsome gratuity, but an 
 elegant entertainment. 
 
 Two divines are generally appointed for the purpose of ordination, who 
 not only inquire into the real merit and natural qualifications of the candi- 
 dates, such, for instance, as a proper stature, a musical voice, 
 health and strength, hut also into their knowledge of the 
 learned languages, and their abilities to argue, on both sides, all contro- 
 versial questions. They inquire likewise into the religious principles and 
 particular tenets of the respective candidates. It is highly requisite and 
 just that they should be sound and orthodox, that is to say, be in all respects 
 conformable to the doctrines which they are intended to maintain and teach, 
 and which the church they are to serve professes ; and that they should 
 be fixed and unalterable during their establishment in that sacred function. 
 After such due inquiries have been made, the candidate is ordered to 
 preach before his examiners on some particular text of their own choosing. 
 Upon the report of his being duly qualified, a church may be offered him ; 
 however, according to the Saxon discipline, he is obliged, before he is 
 absolutely declared minister of any congregatien, to preach several times 
 before them ; and the opinion of the people must afterwards be consulted, 
 and their approbation and consent procured. 
 
 The day of ordination being fixed, the candidate repairs to the church, 
 where, he is to be ordained in the presence of several ministers, ecclesiasti- 
 Ordination of ca ^ j u< % es > an d a num erous congregation of the faithful. 
 
 Ministers. He there makes a confession of his faith, either before or 
 
 some time during the sermon. In the prayer after the sermon, the candi- 
 date is particularly taken notice of, and prayed for by name. As soon as 
 the minister withdraws from the pulpit, the Veni Spiritus Sancte is imme- 
 diately sung, and during the performance the superintendent, who is pri- 
 mate of the Lutheran clergy, repairs to the altar, accompanied by six 
 colleagues, or coadjutors, and followed by the candidate, who falls down on 
 his knees before him. Here the superintendent, addressing himself to his six 
 colleagues, having first communicated the candidate’s request, invites them 
 to join with him in prayer on his behalf; in the next place he reads the 
 formulary of election, which is accompanied with another prayer; and 
 after that, directs his discourse to his six coadjutors, saying, “Dearly 
 beloved brethren in our Lord Jesus, I exhort you to lay your hands on 
 this candidate, who presents himself here before us in order to be admitted 
 a minister of the church of God, according to the ancient apostolical insti- 
 tution, and to concur with me in investing him with that sacred office.” 
 After this formal address, he lays his hands directly on the head of the 
 candidate, and says to him, Sis maneasque consecratus Deo, which literally 
 construed is, Be thou , and so remain to be, devoted to the service of God. 
 The six colleagues repeat, after the superintendents, the ceremony of im- 
 
LUTHERANS. 
 
 357 
 
 position of hands, and make use of the same form of words : after which 
 the superintendent addresses himself to the person thus ordained in the 
 terms following: “Being assembled here with the aid and assistance of 
 the Holy Ghost, we have made our humble supplications to God for you, 
 and hope that he will vouchsafe to hear our prayers. Wherefore, I ordain, 
 confirm, and establish you, in the name of the Lord, pastor and spiritual 
 instructor of the saints belonging to the church, &c. ; govern it in the fear 
 of the Lord, and have a watchful eye over it, as a faithful shepherd over 
 his flock,” &c. These words are, properly speaking, the very essence of 
 ordination. The superintendent, after he has pronounced this exhortation, 
 withdraws from the altar, and the stated minister of the place approaches 
 it, dressed in his sacerdotal vestments, to read the communion service, and 
 to consecrate the bread and wine, which he administers to the new pastor, 
 who receives it upon his knees. Some few hymns, or canticles, and the 
 usual benediction, conclude the ceremony. 
 
 At their first entrance into the church, both men and women put up an 
 ejaculatory prayer, the former holding their hats and the latter their fans 
 Mode of Wor- before their faces. The same ceremony is observed as 
 Bhi P* soon as divine service is over. The prayer generally made 
 
 use of on these occasions is the Lord’s Prayer. When the congregation 
 of the faithful are met in order to apply themselves to any exercise of devo- 
 tion, whether it be preaching, or reading the Scriptures only, or praying, 
 it is always introduced by the singing of some psalms or spiritual hymns 
 suitable to the occasion. 
 
 They have two sermons at least every Sunday, especially if it be a 
 solemn festival, that is to say, one in the morning, and another in the after- 
 noon. There is a catechetical lecture besides, at which their probationers 
 are always examined. Their burials are frequently put off, likewise, till 
 Sunday, for the benefit of a prayer, or, at least, a funeral sermon, which 
 the Lutherans always preach upon the decease of any of their members, 
 whether young or old, rich or poor. Their texts are very seldom taken 
 out of those books which the Lutherans and the Protestants call apocry- 
 phal. The last thing which we shall take notice of in relation to their 
 sermons, is, that of their circular predications, which is the term they 
 make use of to distinguish those sermons which their pastors are obliged 
 to preach at particular times in the metropolitan church, in presence of 
 the superintendent, in order that he himself may form a just judgment of 
 their method, and the progress they make in the ministerial office ; also 
 that he may examine their principles, and prevent them deviating from the 
 orthodox faith. 
 
 After the sermon, the service concludes with some select prayers or 
 supplications to Almighty God, thanksgivings, and publications. In the 
 first, all sick persons, all women labouring of child, or in child-bed, all 
 
358 
 
 PROTESTANT COMMUNITIES. 
 
 that travel by land or by water, all persons any way afflicted or distressed 
 in mind, body, or estate, are recommended to God as proper objects of his 
 succour, comfort, and assistance. In Denmark, all those who are drawing 
 near to the time appointed for the consummation of their marriage are 
 likewise recommended to God in the prayers of the church. In their 
 thanksgivings, those particular persons who had received great mercies 
 desire to return their grateful acknowledgments to Almighty God for the 
 same. In their publications, timely notice was given of such matters as 
 particularly related to the church ; that is to say, of some extraordinary 
 acts of devotion, such as the observance of an ensuing solemn festival, or 
 fast, or the like, &c. In some places, the public orders of the civil magis- 
 trate are read in the pulpit. 
 
 The Lutherans retain the use of the altar for the celebration of the holy 
 communion. They likewise make use of lighted tapers in their churches, 
 of incense, and a crucifix on the altar, of the sign of the cross, and of 
 images, &c. Several of their doctors acknowledge that such materials add 
 a lustre and majesty to divine worship, and fix at the same time the atten- 
 tion of the people. 
 
 The Lutherans retain the observance of several solemn festivals after 
 their reformation. They keep three solemn days of festivity at Christmas. 
 
 In some Lutheran countries, the people go to church on the 
 night of the nativity of our blessed Saviour with lighted 
 candles or wax-tapers in their hands ; and the faithful, who meet in the 
 church, spend the whole night there in singing, and saying their prayers 
 by the light of them. Sometimes they burn such a large quantity of in- 
 cense, that the smoke of it ascends like a whirlwind, and their devotees 
 may properly enough be said to he wrapped up in it. It is customary 
 likewise in Germany to give entertainments at such times to friends and 
 relations, and to send presents to each other, especially to the young people, 
 whom they amuse with very idle and romantic stories, telling them that 
 our blessed Saviour descends from heaven on the night of his nativity, and 
 brings with him all kinds of playthings. 
 
 They have three holidays at Easter, and three at Whitsuntide, as well 
 as those before mentioned at Christmas. These festivals have nothing 
 peculiar in them with respect to the ceremonies observed at those times, 
 but with regard to some particular superstitions, ihey are remarkable 
 enough ; as, for instance, that of the Paschal water, which is Jooked on as 
 a sovereign remedy for sore eyes, and very serviceable in uniting broken 
 limbs. This Paschal water is nothing more than common river water, 
 taken up on Easter-day, before the rising of the sun. They have another 
 superstitious notion with respect to their horses: they imagine that the 
 swimming them in the river on Easter-day, before the sun rises, preserves 
 them from lameness. 
 
LUTHERANS. 
 
 359 
 
 Liturgy. 
 
 The other festivals observed by the Lutherans arc, New-Year’s day, or 
 the Circumcision, a festival not near so ancient as the four above men- 
 tioned ; the festival of the Three Kings, or, otherwise, the Epiphany ; 
 the Purification of the Blessed Virgin, or Candlemas ; and Lady-day, or 
 the Annunciation. There is no public work nor service devoted to the 
 Blessed Virgin, nor are there any processions, or other ceremonies, which 
 are observed by the Roman Catholics on the two latter festivals. The fes- 
 tival of the Sacred Trinity is solemnized on the Sunday after Whit-Sunday ; 
 that of St. John Baptist, on the 24th of June ; and that of the Visitation 
 of the Blessed Virgin, on the 2d of July, as it is by the Roman Catholics. 
 To conclude, the festival of St. Michael the Archangel, or rather the cere- 
 monies observed by the Lutherans on that day, are the remains only of an 
 ancient custom, which has been preserved among them, although some- 
 what extraordinary, as the members of their communion retain no manner 
 of veneration for angels. 
 
 In 1523, Luther drew up a formulary of the mass and communion for 
 the particular service of the church of Wittemberg. Without attempting 
 to particularize the various parts of it, it may be observed 
 that all the churches where Lutheranism prevailed were 
 obliged entirely to conform to it. However, those orders were never punc- 
 tually obeyed. Some Lutheran countries have one ritual, and some an- 
 other. There is a difference, likewise, in their liturgies, though as to the 
 fundamental articles, they all agree. 
 
 On the Sunday when the communion is to be administered, the minister, 
 immediately after the sermon, prays to Almighty God for all those in 
 particular who purpose to receive the holy communion. 
 There is no form of prayer, however, for that purpose ; but 
 the minister is at free liberty to say what he thinks most suitable to that 
 solemn occasion. After the sermon, likewise, they sing a psalm, or some 
 short hymn or hymns, adapted to that particular act of devotion. While 
 they are singing, those of the congregation who are duly prepared for the 
 receiving of the sacrament advance towards the altar, and fall down on 
 their knees ; at least, so many of them as can with convenience approach 
 it at once. As soon as the hymn is over, the minister says, Let us pray ; 
 and sings, at the same time, the Lord’s Prayer; and when the congrega- 
 tion have said Amen, he sings the words of the institution of the Lord’s 
 Supper. In some places the whole congregation sing, with an audible 
 voice, both the prayer and the words of the institution along with the mi- 
 nister, which is a manifest error, since the voice of the whole church, in 
 general, drowns that of the celebrant, or officiating pastor. They have an- 
 other custom, which is not, however, looked on as absolutely essential, and 
 that is, to make the sign of the cross on the host at the time of pronounc- 
 ing these words, This is my body ; and another on the cup, when those 
 
 Communion. 
 
 L_ 
 
560 
 
 PROTESTANT COMMUNITIES. 
 
 other words are repeated, viz. This is my blood, fyc. Though these signs, 
 after all, are only made in commemoration of the cross of Christ, which 
 neither add or diminish, yet it has been observed that, should the minister 
 neglect those signs, some feeble-minded persons would be offended at such 
 omission, and imagine that the sacrament would thereby lose its sacred 
 force and virtue. It is not only this sign of the cross made on the ele- 
 ments of bread and wine that the populace lay such a stress upon as a 
 fundamental article; but they very seldom cut a loaf which has not the 
 sign of a cross first made upon it with a knife. 
 
 In several parts of Saxony, and, indeed, in some of their principal cities, 
 when the minister consecrates the elements, he rings a little bell twice, in 
 a very solemn manner; and in most Lutheran churches, the pastor, before 
 he administers the sacrament, puts on his surplice, and over that a vestment 
 with several crosses fastened on it, which, however, ought not to be con- 
 founded with the stole worn by the Roman Catholic priests, as there is no 
 manner of resemblance between them. In some places, the pastor, after 
 he has read the gospel at the altar, throws the vestment before mentioned 
 over his head, and lays it on the table. After the creed is sung, he goes 
 into the pulpit, and preaches in his surplice. After the sermon is over, he 
 returns to the altar, and resumes his vestment. 
 
 We shall reckon among the number of the ceremonies still preserved 
 among them, that of making use of wafers instead of bread at the com- 
 munion, on each of which there is the figure or impression of a crucifix. 
 When the communicant has received, he falls down on his knees before the 
 altar, in order to return God thanks for his spiritual refreshment: in several 
 places it is customary to congratulate each other on that joyful occasion. 
 Two clerks, or two young choristers, who attend at the altar, generally 
 hold a white linen napkin before the communicants, lest, either through the 
 carelessness of the pastor, who administers the communion, or the com- 
 municant himself, some part of the host should accidentally fall upon the 
 ground, or any part of the wine be spilt. As soon as the communion is 
 over, the pastor sings a verse or two of some psalm suitable to the occasion, 
 with a Hallelujah, to which the choir answers with another. The pastor 
 afterwards continues to read some general thanksgivings, and the congre- 
 gation, joining with the choir, answer, Amen. 
 
 The Lutherans never administer the sacrament to infants ; but it is cus- 
 tomary among them to carry it to those who are sick, or on a death-bed ; 
 
 Communion to an ^ method observed by them on those particular 
 
 the Sick. occasions. In some places they make a kind of altar of the 
 
 table which stands in the sick person’s room, that is to say, they cover it 
 with a piece of tapestry, or clean linen cloth, and set tw'o lighted candles, 
 or wax-tapers, upon it, and a crucifix between them, with a paten and 
 chalice, or utensils, or vessels appropriated to the like service. According 
 
i 
 
 LUTHERANS. 
 
 3f?l 
 
 Confession. 
 
 to the discipline of the Lutherans, the communion ought to be administered 
 in the presence of some of the party’s relations and domestics ; hut if the 
 communicant should happen to have no such friends nor servants near 
 him, then some neighbours ought to be invited to be witnesses to the cele- 
 bration of it. The relations or friends of the sick person are permitted, if 
 they think proper, to partake with him of that holy ordinance, and for that 
 purpose, they must have notice on the previous night, or some few hours at 
 least, that they may be duly prepared to join in that solemn act of devotion. 
 The Lutherans do not only carry this their private communion to those who 
 are sick or dying, but to those persons likewise who are far advanced in 
 years, and incapable of attending the public worship. To these persons 
 the minister who gives the communion to them makes a serious exhortation, 
 which may, with propriety, be called a domestic sermon, adapted to such 
 private or domestic communion. 
 
 Confession is looked on as highly necessary and expedient in all places 
 where Lutheranism prevails. And in the short Lutheran catechism, there 
 are several forms of confession for the peculiar assistance and 
 direction of those, who have not capacity sufficient of them- 
 selves to reflect and contemplate, as they ought, on the nature of their 
 sins : such, for example, are those forms of confession principally intended 
 for the spiritual improvement of masters and servants. In the introduction 
 to these formularies, there is a discourse by way of dialogue between the 
 penitent and the minister who takes his confession, beginning with the fol- 
 lowing address : “ Reverend and dear Sir, I humbly beseech you to take my 
 confession, and for the love of God to pronounce the pardon and remission 
 of my sins.” If the penitent be not conscious to himself of his being guilty 
 of any of the sins particularly specified in the formularies, he must mention 
 such others as his conscience shall at that time accuse him of. If he can 
 think of none, which is morally impossible, let him, says the catechism, 
 mention no one in particular, but receive the pardon and remission of his 
 sins, on making a general confession only. The same catechism informs 
 us, that the confessor asks the penitent the following question, which, 
 beyond all doubt, is introduced between the confession and the absolution : 
 “Do not you firmly believe, that this absolution pronounced by me is an ab- 
 solution from God himself ?” After the penitent has answered in the 
 affirmative, the minister adds, Amen, or, So be it. 
 
 In Denmark and Sweden, their form of excommunication is accompanied 
 with very severe penance. The Danish ritual informs us, that the party ex- 
 
 _ communicated, when he first appears at church, is turned out 
 
 Form of Fxcom- r r 
 
 munication. w ith disgrace by the clerk of the parish, in the presence of 
 
 the whole congregation. However, if the excommunication be of any long 
 continuance, he is not excluded from the privilege ol attending public 
 worship, and joining with the congregation in their sermons, and other acts 
 
3i/2 
 
 PROTESTANT COMMUNITIES. 
 
 of devotion ; but he is obliged to sit in a place appointed, and at some dis- 
 tance from them ; and when the minister comes down from the pulpit, the 
 clerk before mentioned, who admits him, conveys him out of the church 
 again. In regard to the Swedes, their form of excommunication is equally 
 rigid and severe. Their discipline disclaims, in the same manner as that 
 of all the other states in which Lutheranism prevails, every thing which 
 has the least appearance of civil punishment. For, according to the doc- 
 trine of the Lutherans in general, no minister ought to confound eccle- 
 siastical penalties, that is to say, the exclusion of any of their members out 
 of the congregation, and their prohibition, or withholding from them the 
 holy communion, with those punishments which none but the civil magis- 
 trates ought to inflict. 
 
 The Lutherans baptize their children within a day or two after their 
 birth. In case the infant should prove too weak to be carried to church, 
 they baptize him at home, at which ceremony one or two 
 Baptism. godfathers must always attend. The exorcism is a cere- 
 mony still practised in some countries. Where the infant is in apparent 
 danger of death, a layman and a midwife together may baptize it. By 
 the ecclesiastical law of Saxony, a midwife is not permitted to baptize a 
 dying child, till after she has found out some man to assist her. Infants 
 who are illegitimate are not baptized in Denmark at the same time as those 
 who are born in wedlock. When a bastard is baptized, there is no obla- 
 tion made on the altar. As to foundlings, their birth being only precari- 
 ous and uncertain, they are baptized at church as other children ; and 
 although, when they are taken up, there be a billet, or note, to intimate 
 that they have been baptized, yet they are always baptized again, because 
 a testimony of that nature is deemed at best but dubious. Where the 
 infant is not in apparent danger of death, they never baptize it till it be 
 entirely weaned from the mother’s breast. To conclude, they never bap- 
 tize adult fools, nor lunatics, at least, till they are restored to the free exer- 
 cise of their rational faculties, and are capable of being instructed in the 
 principles of the Christian religion. In Sweden, a father is under no obli- 
 gation to attend at the baptism of his child; at least, he is not always 
 required to be present. All legitimate children are baptized before divine 
 service begins, but bastards after it is over. 
 
 There are baptismal fonts in some of the Lutheran churches, but not 
 generally in all of them. In several of the Saxon churches, an angel, 
 with a basin in his hand, descends from the ceiling by a private pulley, or 
 some other secret spring, and presents the basin to the minister who is to 
 baptize the child. In other places, a table is brought out of the vestry, and 
 placed before the altar with a basin upon it. 
 
 The preliminary questions over, which are merely formal, the minister 
 makes a discourse, by way of exhortation; after which, he exorcises the 
 
LUTHERANS. 
 
 363 
 
 Confirmation. 
 
 devil in the form following: “Get thee hence, thou unclean spirit, and 
 make room for the Holy Ghost.” The minister, at the same time, makes 
 the sign of the cross upon the infant, saying unto him, Receive the sign 
 of the cross, &c., and laying his hand upon him, reads the prayers, and 
 repeats the exorcism. At the very instant the child is baptized, the minister 
 asks the sureties for him, If he renounces the devil and all his works, and 
 if he believes in* God the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, &c. After that, 
 he baptizes him by a triple aspersion, in honour of the Sacred Trinity. 
 The whole ceremony concludes with a prayer of thanksgiving, a benedic- 
 tion on the child, and an exhortation to the sureties. 
 
 As to the form of confirmation observed by the Lutherans, a virgin of 
 twelve years of age, or a youth of fourteen, is deemed duly qualified to 
 receive the Lord’s Supper, provided they have had a liberal, 
 education. The first time of their admission to the holy 
 communion is either at Easter or Michaelmas. Their pious intention is 
 published three weeks before from the pulpit, and they are accordingly 
 instructed and examined twice a week during that interval, by way of 
 preparation. Their ministers explain to them the duties incumbent on a 
 communicant, and the spiritual benefits and advantages arising from the 
 participation of that blessed sacrament. In short, they make their con- 
 fession on Easter-Monday, and receive the communion the day following, 
 sometimes in private, and sometimes in public with the whole congregation. 
 Such young communicants range themselves in the form of a semicircle, 
 by degrees, as they rise from the altar. After that act of devotion, the 
 minister reads a prayer, and then addressing himself to the whole congre- 
 gation, acquaints them, that those youths are ready, with an audible voice, 
 to render a satisfactory account of the grounds and principles of the religion 
 which they profess. He examines them accordingly; and after they have 
 fully answered all his queries, he spends some time in a suitable exhorta- 
 tion : the congregation sing a hymn, and then the ceremony concludes with 
 a proper collect, and the general benediction. 
 
 The Lutheran discipline, with respect to matrimony, is exceedingly uni- 
 form and regular. Luther composed a formulary at first for that ordinance, 
 from which there has been afterwards no very material 
 
 Marriage cere- J 
 
 monies. deviation. It begins with their banns, and in order to the 
 
 , consummation of a marriage, where there is no lawful impediment, the 
 parties present themselves at church before their pastor, who asks the 
 bridegroom whether they be mutually agreed to enter that holy state, and 
 (hereupon they join their right hands, and make an exchange of their 
 respective rings. Then the pastor proceeds in the words, or to the purport 
 following : A and B being desirous to enter into the holy state of matri- 
 mony, before all this congregation here present, I do hereby declare them 
 man and wife, in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy 
 
' 
 
 361 TROTESTANT COMMUNITIES. 
 
 Ghost, &c. After that, he reads or pronounces extempore at the altar, 
 several texts of Scripture which are serious exhortations to those who are 
 irarried ; and the whole ceremony concludes with a prayer for the blessing 
 of God on their future endeavours. This is the form according to Luther’s 
 direction, and which is still observed to this day, so far as relates to the 
 jurisdiction of the church in that particular. 
 
 In Saxony, the mechanics, and those who may be called the inferior 
 tradesmen, go to church to be married, attended by a long train of their 
 friends and acquaintance, with a band of musicians before them. The 
 same custom is observed, more or less, in several other places ; and a great 
 degree of caprice and extravagance is everywhere blended with their nup- 
 tial ceremonies. In some of the northern provinces, as soon as the proper 
 inquiries have been made with respect to the bridegroom, the father brings 
 his daughter with an air of gravity to her suitor, saying to him at the same 
 time, “I give you my daughter, that she may reverence and obey you, 
 that she may be your wedded wife, that she may lie with you, be the 
 keeper of your keys, and be put into possession of one-third of your 
 money and effects.” In several states of Germany, notwithstanding it is 
 customary for the parents of the new-married couple to defray the whole 
 charges of their nuptials, yet all the guests who are invited thereto make 
 presents to the bride, which, for the most part, are so valuable that the 
 bride’s relations are so far from being at any expense, that they are con- 
 siderable gainers in the end. 
 
 Whenever the married couple have lived in that state for twenty-five 
 years together, their nuptials (at least as to the external form) are revived ; 
 which second marriage is called their silver nuptials. If the parties have 
 cohabited for fifty years, they then solemnize their golden nuptials. In 
 the celebration both of the one and the other, the same gayety and amuse- 
 ments are observed as those at their first marriage. Persons of distinction, 
 and those who are very rich, give medals to their friends at the celebration 
 of the silver and golden nuptials. 
 
 Their burials are always attended with singular testimonies of true piety 
 and devotion ; and sometimes likewise with extraordinary pomp and mag- 
 _ . nificence. Moreover, it is customary among them to make 
 
 monies. a funeral oration over the deceased without distinction, be 
 
 the party rich or poor, of the highest or the meanest extraction. After 
 the sermon is over, an abstract of the life of the deceased is read in public. 
 High encomiums are given of all those who have distinguished themselves 
 by their exemplary piety; and if any of them have led loose and profligate 
 lives, they never fail to publish the misdemeanors of the dead, for the 
 benefit and amendment of their surviving friends and relations. It is cus- 
 tomary, likewise, to make funeral processions, and accompany the corpse 
 to the grave, singing all the time some select hymns, or dirges, suitable to 
 
CHURCH OF ENGLAND. 
 
 3G5 
 
 the solemn occasion. In some places, the principal magistrates, and other 
 persons of respectability in the city, are invited to those processions, espe- 
 cially if the deceased were a person of distinction ; and those who accom- 
 pany the corpse to the grave receive an acknowledgment in proportion to 
 their quality and degree. 
 
 On the day appointed for the interment of the corpse, the relations, 
 friends, and acquaintances of the deceased, meet at his house. One or 
 more Lutheran pastors resort likewise to the same place, attended by a 
 train of young scholars, sometimes greater and sometimes less, with their 
 masters at the head of them. These youth, in the first place, sing two 
 or three hymns, or dirges, before the door of the deceased ; after which 
 they march in the front of the procession ; having a large crucifix, or at 
 least a cross, carried before them. An inferior clerk, or some young 
 scholar appointed for that purpose, marches close by the side of the corpse 
 with a small cross, which is afterwards fixed in that part of the church- 
 yard where the body was interred. The relations and friends of the 
 deceased follow the corpse ; the men first, and the women after them. 
 During the procession, the bells are generally tolled, out of respect and 
 complaisance to the deceased, and several hymns and other dirges are sung 
 as they march along. It is customary likewise to open the coffin at the 
 grave, and to take a last farewell, a last melancholy view, of their departed 
 friend, and afterwards to nail his coffin up, singing at the same time a short 
 hymn suitable to the occasion. After which the minister reads a proper 
 collect, and pronounces the benediction. In the next place, the procession 
 enters the church, where there is generally a funeral sermon, either out 
 of respect to the deceased, at the request of his friends, or by fiis own im- 
 mediate direction. 
 
 As soon as the corpse is let dow r n into the grave, the minister throws a 
 small quantity of earth upon it three times successively : at the first he 
 says, Of the dust of the ground wast thou born : at the second, To dust 
 shalt thou return : and at the third, Out of the dust shalt thou rise again. 
 After that, the bearers fill up the grave. The funeral oration is pro- 
 nounced immediately after the interment, if the relations be willing to 
 defray the expense of it, or if the deceased have left any legacy or devise 
 in his will for that purpose. 
 
 SEC. II.— CHURCH OF ENGLAND. 
 
 The Church of England dates its origin from the time of the Reforma- 
 tion, when Henry VIII. shook off the pope’s authority, and took upon 
 himself the title of “ Head of the Church ,” as he had been 
 previously dignified by his holiness with that of “ Defender 
 
 of the Faith . The last of these titles, which are hereditary in the crown 
 
 24 
 
PROTESTANT COMMUNITIES, 
 
 lub 
 
 of England, was obtained as a reward for a book the king had written on 
 the Seven Sacraments, against Luther’s book “Of the Captivity of Baby- 
 lon.” The first title was an assumed one ; but soon obtained legal sanc- 
 tion by the consent of the nation at large ; taken up because the pope 
 refused to sanction Henry’s divorce from Queen Catherine, his affections 
 having been transferred to Anne Boleyn. The Archbishop of Canterbury, 
 who took upon himself to annul the former marriage, was solemnly con- 
 demned by the pope ; and Henry, out of revenge, annulled his connection 
 with, and threw off his obedience to, the papal see. He became supreme 
 head of the church himself, and he may, in a sense, be said to have been 
 the founder of the church of England. Its principles, however, are 
 grounded on those of the Reformation, having, in many respects, a resem- 
 blance to the Lutheran tenets and practice. 
 
 The religious tenets or doctrines of this church are to be found in the 
 book of Homilies, consisting of short moral and doctrinal 
 discourses, and in the Thirty-Nine Articles, which, with 
 the three Creeds and Catechism, are inserted in the Book of Common 
 Prayer. 
 
 Having given the articles of the Jewish faith, and entered fully into the 
 creed of the Mohammedans, the articles of the Christian faith, as held by 
 the Church of England, cannot be omitted. To these, also, will ]be added 
 a Table of the Constitutions and Canons ecclesiastic. The Royal Decla* 
 ration will first be given. 
 
 ROYAL DECLARATION. 
 
 Being by God’s ordinance, according to our just title, Defender of the Faith , and Su- 
 preme Goverftor of the Church , vrithin these our Dominions , We hold it most agreeable to 
 this our Kingly office, and our own Religious zeal, to conserve and maintain the Church 
 committed to our charge in the unity of true Religion, and in the bond of peace ; and not 
 to suffer unnecessary disputations, altercations, or questions to be raised, which may nou- 
 rish faction both in the Church and Commonwealth. We have, therefore, upon mature 
 deliberation, and with the advice of so many of our Bishops as might conveniently be 
 called together, thought fit to make this Declaration following. 
 
 1 hat the Articles of the Church of England — which have been allowed and authorized 
 heretofore, and which our Clergy generally have subscribed unto— do contain the true 
 doctrine of the Church of England , agreeable to God’s word : which we do therefore 
 ratify and confirm ; requiring all our loving subjects to continue in the uniform profession 
 thereof, and prohibiting the least difference from the said Articles ; which to that end we 
 command to be new printed, and this Our Declaration to be published therewith. 
 
 That we are Supreme Governor of the Church of England: and that if any difference 
 arise about the external policy, concerning the Injunctions, Canons, and other Constitu- 
 tions whatsoever thereunto belonging, the Clergy in their Convocation is to order and 
 settle them, having first obtained leave under our Broad Seal so to do: and We approving 
 their said Ordinances and Constitutions ; providing that none be made contrary to the 
 Laws and Customs of the land. 
 
 That out of our Princely care that the Churchmen may do the work which is proper 
 unto them, the Bishops and Clergy, from time to time in Convocation, upon their humble 
 desire, shall have license under our Broad Seal to deliberate of and to do all such things, 
 as, being made plain by them, and assented unto by Us, shall concern the settled continu- 
 ance of the Doctrine and Discipline of the Church of E?igland, now established ; from 
 which we will not endure any varying or departing in the least degree. 
 
 That for the present, though some differences have been ill-raised, yet We take comfort 
 in this, that all Clergymen within our Realm have always most willingly subscribed to 
 the .Art’cles established ; which is an argument to Us, that they all agree in the true, 
 usual literal meaning of the said Articles; and that even in those curious points, in which 
 
CHURCH OF ENGLAND. 
 
 367 
 
 the present differences lie, men of all sorts take the Articles of the Church of England to 
 he for them ; which is an argument again, that none of them intend any desertion of the 
 Articles established. 
 
 That therefore in these both curious and unhappy differences which have for so many 
 hundred years, in different times and places, exercised the church of Christ , We will that 
 all further curious search be laid aside, and these disputes shut up in God’s promises, a3 
 they be generally set forth to us in the Holy Scriptures, and the general meaning of the 
 Articles of the Church of England according to them. And that no man hereafter shall 
 either print or preach, to draw the Article aside any way, but shall submit to it in the plain 
 and full meaning thereof; and shall not put his own sense or comment to be the meaning 
 of the Article, but shall take it in the literal and grammatical sense. 
 
 That if any public Reader in either of our Universities, or any Head or Master of a Col- 
 lege, or any other person respectively in either of them, shall affix any new sense to any 
 Article, or shall publicly read, determine, or hold any public disputation, or suffer any such 
 to be held either way, in either of the Universities or Colleges respectively ; or if any 
 Divine in the Universities shall preach or print any thing either way, other than is already 
 established in Convocation with our Royal assent ; he or they, the offenders, shall be 
 liable to Our displeasure, and the Church’s censure in our Commission Ecclesiastical, as 
 well as any other : and we will see there shall be due execution upon them. 
 
 THE TABLE OF THE THIRTY-NINE ARTICLES, 
 
 Agreed upon by the Archbishops and Bishops, and the whole Clergy, in the Convocation 
 holden at London , in the year 1562. 
 
 1. Of Faith in the Holy Trinity. 
 
 2. Of Christ the Son of God. 
 
 3. Of his going down into Hell. 
 
 4. Of his Resurrection. 
 
 5. Of the Holy Ghost. 
 
 6. Of the Sufficiency of the Scripture. 
 
 7. Of the Old Testament. 
 
 8. Of the three Creeds. 
 
 9. Of Original or Birth Sin. 
 
 10. . Of Free Will. 
 
 11. Of Justification. 
 
 12. Of Good Works. 
 
 13. Of Works before Justification. 
 
 14. Of Works of Supererogation. 
 
 15. Of Christ alone without Sin. 
 
 16. Of Sin after Baptism. 
 
 17. Of Predestination and Election. 
 
 18. Of obtaining Salvation by Christ. 
 
 19. Of the Church. 
 
 20. Of the Authority of the Church. 
 
 21 . Of the Authority of General Councils. 
 
 22. Of Purgatory. 
 
 23. Of Ministering in the Congregation. 
 
 24. Of Speaking in the Congregation. 
 
 25. Of the Sacraments. 
 
 26. Of the Unworthiness of Ministers. 
 
 27. Of Baptism. 
 
 28. Of the Lord’s Supper. 
 
 29. Of the Wicked, which eat not the Body 
 
 of Christ. 
 
 30. Of both Kinds. 
 
 31. Of Christ’s One Oblation. 
 
 32. Of the Marriage of Priests. 
 
 33. Of excommunicate Persons. 
 
 34. Of the Traditions of th^ Church. 
 
 35. Of Homilies. 
 
 36. Of Consecration of Ministers. 
 
 37. Of Civil Magistrates. 
 
 38. Of Christian Men’s Goods. 
 
 39. Of a Christian Man’s Oath. 
 
 The Ratification. 
 
 ARTICLES OF RELIGION. 
 
 I. — Of Faith in the Holy Trinity . 
 
 There is but one living and true God, everlasting, without body, parts, or passions; of 
 infinite power, wisdom, and goodness ; the Maker and preserver of all things, both visible 
 and invisible. And in unity of this Godhead there be three Persons of one substance, 
 power, and eternity ; the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. 
 
 II- — Of the Word, or Son of God, which was made very Man. 
 
 The Son, which is the Word of the Father, begotten from everlasting of the Father, the 
 very and eternal God, of one substance with the Father, took man’s nature in the womb 
 of the Blessed Virgin, of her substance: so that two whole and perfect natures— that is 
 to say, the Godhead and Manhood — were joined together in one Person, never to be 
 divided; whereof is one Christ very God and very Man; who truly suffered, was cruoi- 
 
368 
 
 PROTESTANT COMMUNITIES. 
 
 fied, dead and buried, to reconcile his father to us, and to be a sacrifice, not only for origi 
 nal guilt, but also for actual sins of men. 
 
 III. — Of the going down of Christ into Hell. 
 
 As Christ died for us, and was buried, so also it is to be believed, that he went down 
 into Hell. 
 
 IV. — Of the Resurrection of Christ. 
 
 Christ did truly rise again from death, and took again his body, with flesh, bones, and 
 all things appertaining to the perfection of Man’s nature, wherewith he ascended into 
 Heaven, and there sitteth, until he return to judge all men at the last day. 
 
 V. — Of the Holy Ghost. 
 
 The Holy Ghost, proceeding from the Father and the Son, is of one substance, majesty 
 and glory, with the Father and the Son, very and eternal God. 
 
 VI. — Of the Sufficiency of the Holy Scriptures for Salvation. 
 
 Holy Scripture containeth all things necessary to salvation : So that whatsoever is not 
 read therein, nor may be proved thereby, is not to be required ofiany man that it should 
 be believed as an article of faith, or be thought requisite or necessary to salvation. In the 
 name of the Holy Scripture, we do understand those canonical Books of the Old and New 
 Testament, of whose authority was never any doubt in the Church. 
 
 OF THE NAMES AND NUMBE 
 
 Genesis. 
 
 Exodus. 
 
 Leviticus. 
 
 Numbers. 
 
 Deuteronomy. 
 
 Joshua. 
 
 Judges. 
 
 Ruth. 
 
 The First Book of Samuel. 
 
 The Second book of Samuel. 
 The First Book of Kings. 
 
 The Second Book of Kings. 
 
 And the other Books, as Hierome saith, 
 instruction of manners, but yet doth it not 
 ure these following 
 
 The Third Book of Esdras. 
 
 The Fourth Book of Esdras. 
 
 The Book of Tobias. 
 
 The Book of Judith. 
 
 The rest of the Book of Esther. 
 The Book of Wisdom. 
 
 Jesus the Son of Sirach. 
 
 OF THE CANONICAL BOOKS. 
 
 The First Book of Chronicles. 
 
 The Second Book of Chronicles. 
 
 The First Book of Esdras. 
 
 The Second Book of Esdras. 
 
 The Book of Esther. 
 
 The Book of Job. 
 
 The Psalms. 
 
 The Proverbs. 
 
 Ecclesiastes, or Preacher. 
 
 Cantica, or Songs of Solomon. 
 
 Four Prophets the greater. 
 
 Twelve Prophets the less. 
 
 e Church doth read for example of life and 
 pply them to establish any doctrine : such 
 
 Baruch the Prophet. 
 
 The Song of the Three Children. 
 
 The Story of Susanna. 
 
 Of Bel and the Dragon. 
 
 The Prayer of Manasses. 
 
 The First Book of Maccabees, 
 
 The Second Book of Maccabees. 
 
 All the Books of the New Testament, as they are commonly received, we do receive, 
 and account them Canonical. 
 
 VII. — Of the Old Testament. 
 
 The Old Testament is not contrary to the New; for both in the New and Old Testa- 
 ment everlasting life is offered to mankind by Christ, who is the only Mediator between 
 God and Man, being both God and Man. Wherefore they are not to be heard, which 
 feign that the old Fathers did look only for transitory promises. Although the Law given 
 from God to Moses, as touching ceremonies and rites, do not bind Christian men, nor the 
 civil precepts thereof ought of necessity to be received in any Commonwealth: yet not- 
 withstanding, no Christian man whatsoever is free from the obedience of the Command- 
 ments which are called moral. 
 
 VIII. — Of the Three Creeds. 
 
 The three Creeds, Nicene Creed, Athanasius’s Creed, and that which is commonly 
 called the Apostle’s Creed, ought thoroughly to be received and believed : for they may be 
 proved by most certain warrants of Holy Scripture. 
 
 IX. — Of Original, or Birth Sin. 
 
 Original sin standeth not in the following of Adam — as the Pelagians do vainly talk — but 
 it is the fault and corruption of the nature of every man, that naturally is engendered of the 
 offspring of Adam ; whereby man is very far gone from original righteousness, and is of his 
 own nature inclined to evil, so that the Flesh lusteth always contrary to the Spirit ; and 
 
CHURCH OF ENGLAND. 
 
 369 
 
 therefore, in every person, born into this world, it deserveth God’s wrath and damnation. 
 And this infection of nature doth remain — yea, in them that are regenerated ; whereby the 
 lust of the flesh, called in Greek phronema sarkos, which some do expound the wisdom, 
 some sensuality, some the affection, some the desire of the flesh, is not subject to the Law 
 of God. And although there is no condemnation for them that believe and are baptized, 
 yet the Apostle doth confess that concupiscence and lust hath of itself the nature of sin. 
 
 X.— Of Free Will. 
 
 The condition of man after the fall of Adam is such, that he cannot turn and prepare 
 himself, by his own natural strength and good works, to faith and calling upon God: 
 Wherefore we have no power to do good works, pleasant and acceptable to God, without 
 the grace of God, by Christ, preventing us, that we may have a good will, and working 
 with us, when we nave that good will. 
 
 XI. — Of the Justification of Man. 
 
 We are accounted righteous before God, only for the merit of our Lord and Saviour 
 Jesus Christ, by faith, and not for our own works or deservings. Wherefore, that we are 
 justified by faith only, is a most wholesome doctrine, and very full of comfort : as more 
 largely is expressed in the Homily of Justification. 
 
 XII. — Of Good Works. 
 
 Albeit that good works, which are the fruits of faith, and follow after justification, 
 cannot put away our sins, and endure the severity of God’s Judgment ; yet are they pleasing 
 and acceptable to God in Christ, and do spring out, necessarily, of a true and lively faith ; 
 insomuch that by them a lively faith may be as evidently known, as a tree discerned by the 
 fruit. 
 
 XIII. — Of Works before Justification. 
 
 Works done before the grace of Christ, and the inspiration of the Spirit, are not pleasant 
 to God, forasmuch as they spring not of faith in Jesus Christ : neither do they make men 
 meet to receive grace, or, as the School Authors say, deserve grace of congruity ; yea 
 rather, for that they are not done as God hath willed and commanded them to be done, we 
 doubt not but they have the nature of sin. 
 
 XIV. — Of Works of Supererogation. 
 
 Voluntary works besides, over and above God’s Commandments, which they call 
 works of supererogation, cannot be taught without arrogancy and impiety. For by them 
 men do declare, that they do not only render unto God as much as they are bound to do, 
 but that they do more for his sake, than of bounden duty is required : whereas Christ 
 saith plainly, When ye have done all that are commanded to you, say, We are unprofitable 
 servants. 
 
 XV. — Of Christ alone without Sin. 
 
 Christ, in the truth of our nature, was made like unto us in all things, sin only except ; 
 from which he was clearly void, both in his flesh and in his spirit. He came to be the 
 Lamb without spot, who, by sacrifice of himself once made, should take away the sins of 
 the world: and sin, as St. John saith, was not in him. But all we the rest, although bap- 
 tized and born again in Christ, yet offend in many things ; and, if we say we have no sin, 
 we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 
 
 XVI. — Of Sin after Baptism. 
 
 Not every deadly sin, willingly committed after Baptism, is sin against the Holy Ghcot, 
 and unpardonable. Wherefore the grant of repentance is not to be denied to sucn as faL 
 into sin after Baptism. After we have received the Holy Ghost, we may depart from 
 grace given, and fall into sin ; and by the grace of God we may arise again, and ai .end our 
 lives. And therefore they are to be condemned, which say, they can no more sin as .ong 
 as they live here, or deny the place of forgiveness to such as truly repent. 
 
 XVII. — Of Predestination and Election. 
 
 Predestination to life is the everlasting purpose of God, whereby, before the foundations 
 of the world were laid, he hath constantly decreed by his counsel, secret to us, to deliver 
 from curse and damnation those whom he hath chosen in Christ out of mankind, and to 
 bring them by Christ to everlasting salvation, as vessels made to honour. Wherefore, they 
 which be endued with so excellent a benefit of God, be called, according to God’s purpose, 
 by his Spirit working in due season : They through grace obey the calling : They be 
 justified freely: They be made sons of God by adoption: They be made like the image 
 of his only begotten Son Jesus Christ: They walk religiously in good works: and, at 
 length, by God’s mercy, they attain to everlasting felicity. 
 
 As the godly consideration of Predestination and our Election in Christ, is full of sweet, 
 pleasant, and unspeakable comfort to godly persons, and such as feel in themselves the 
 working of the Spirit of Christ, mortifying the works of the flesh and their earthly mem- 
 
370 
 
 PROTESTANT COMMUNITIES. 
 
 bers, and drawing up their mind to high and heavenly things ; as well because it doth 
 greatly establish and confirm their faith of eternal salvation to be enjoyed through Christ, 
 as because it doth fervently kindle their love towards God: so, for curious and carnal 
 persons, lacking the Spirit of Christ, to have continually before their eyes the sentence ui 
 God’s Predestination, is a most dangerous downfall, whereby the devil doth thrust them 
 either into desperation, or into wretchlessness of most unclean living, no less perilous thaii 
 desperation. 
 
 Furthermore, we must receive God’s promises in such wise as they be generally set 
 forth to us in Holy Scripture : And in our doings, that will of God is to be followed, which 
 we have expressly declared unto us in the word of God. 
 
 XVIII. — Of obtaining eternal Salvation only by the Name of Christ. 
 
 They also are to be had accursed, that presume to say, that every man shall be saved by 
 the law or sect which he professeth, so that he be diligent to frame his life according to 
 that law, and the light of nature. For Holy Scripture doth set out unto us only the name 
 of Jesus Christ, whereby men must be saved. 
 
 XIX. — Of the Church. 
 
 The visible Church of Christ is a Congregation of faithful men, in the which the pu e 
 word of God is preached, and the Sacraments be duly ministered according to -Christ a 
 ordinance, in all those things that of necessity are requisite to the same. 
 
 As the Church of Jerusalem, Alexandria, and Antioch, have erred, so also the Churen 
 of Rome hath erred, not only in their living and manner of ceremonies, but also in matters 
 of faith. 
 
 XX. — Of the Authority of the Church. 
 
 The Church hath power to decree Rites or Ceremonies, and authority in controversies 
 of faith : And yet it is not lawful for the Church to ordain any thing that is contrary to 
 God’s Word written ; neither may it so expound one place of Scripture, that it be repug- 
 nant to another. Wherefore, although the Church be a witness and a keeper of Holy 
 Writ, yet, as it ought not to decree any thing against the same, so besides the same ought 
 it not to enforce any thing to be believed for necessity of salvation. 
 
 XXI. — Of the Authority of General Councils. 
 
 General Councils may not be gathered together without the commandment and will 
 of Princes; and when they be gathered together — forasmuch as they be an assembly of 
 men, whereof all be not governed with the Spirit and Word of God — they may err, and 
 sometimes have erred, even in things pertaining unto God. Wherefore, things ordained 
 by them as necessary to salvation have neither strength nor authority, unless it may be 
 declared that they be taker out of Holy Scripture. 
 
 XXII . — Of Purgatory. 
 
 The Romish doctrine concerning Purgatory, Pardons, Worshipping, and Adoration, as 
 well of Images as of Reliques, and also Invocation of Saints, is a fond thing, vainly invented, 
 and grounded upon no warranty of Scripture, but rather repugnant to the Word of God. 
 
 XXIII. — Of Ministering in the Congregation- 
 
 It is not lawful for any man to take upon him the office of public preaching, or minis- 
 tering the Sacraments in the Congregation, before he be lawfully called and sent to exe- 
 cute the same. And those we ought to judge lawfully called and sent, which be chosen 
 and called to this work by men who have public authority given unto them in the Congre- 
 gation, to call and send Ministers into the Lord’s vineyard. 
 
 XXIV. — Of Speaking in the Congregation in such a Tongue as the People unders.mdeth. 
 
 It is a thing plainly repugnant to the Word of God, and the custom of the primitive 
 Church, to have public prayer in the Church, or to minister the Sacraments, in a tongue 
 not understanded of the people. 
 
 XXV. — Of the Sacraments. 
 
 Sacraments ordained of Christ, be not only badges or tokens of Christian men’s pro- 
 fession ; but rather they be certain sure witnesses, and effectual signs of grace, and God’s 
 good- will towards us, by the which he doth work invisibly in us, and doth not only quicken, 
 but also strengthen and confirm our faith in him. 
 
 There are two Sacraments ordained of Christ our Lord in the Gospel, that is to say, 
 Baptism, and the Supper of the Lord. 
 
 Those five, commonly called Sacraments, that is to say, Confirmation, Penance, Orders, 
 Matrimony, and Extreme Unction, are not to be counted for Sacraments of the Gospel, 
 being such as have grown partly of the corrupt following of the Apostles, partly are states 
 of life allowed in the Scriptures ; but yet have not like nature of Sacramerts with Bap- 
 
CHURCH OF ENGLAND. 
 
 371 
 
 fism and the Lord’s Supper, for that they have not any visible sign or ceremony ordained 
 of God. 
 
 The Sacraments were not ordained of Christ to be gazed upon, or to be carried about, 
 but that we should duly use them. And in such only as worthily receive the same, they 
 have a wholesome effect or operation; but they that receive them unworthily, purchase to 
 themselves damnation, as St. Paul saith. 
 
 XXVI. — Of the Unworthiness of the Ministers, which hinders not the Effect of the Sacra- 
 ments. 
 
 Although in the visible Church the evil be ever mingled with the good, and sometimes 
 the evil have chief authority in the ministration of the Word and Sacraments; yet foras- 
 much as they do not the same in their own name, but in Christ’s, and do minister bv hie 
 commission and authority, we may use their ministry, both in hearing the Word of God, 
 and in the receiving of the Sacraments. Neither is the effect of Christ’s ordinance taken 
 away by their wickedness, nor the grace of God’s gifts diminished from such as, by faith, 
 and rightly, do receive the Sacraments ministered unto them ; which be effectual, because 
 of Christ’s institution and promise, although they be ministered by evil men. 
 
 Nevertheless, it appertaineth to the discipline of the Church, that inquiry be made of 
 evil Ministers, and that they be accused by those that have knowledge of their offences ; 
 and finally, being found guilty, by just judgment be deposed. 
 
 XXVII .— Of Baptism. 
 
 Baptism is not only a sign of profession, and mark of difference, whereby Christian 
 men are discerned from others that be not christened; but it is also a sign of Regenera- 
 tion, or New Birth; whereby, as by an instrument, they that receive baptism rightly, 
 are grafted into the Church ; the promises of the forgiveness of sin, and of our adoption 
 to be the sons of God by the Holy Ghost, are visibly signed and sealed ; faith is con 
 firmed, and grace increased, by virtue of prayer unto God. The Baptism of young chil 
 dren is in any wise to be retained in the Church, as most agreeable with the institution of 
 Christ. 
 
 XXVIII. — Of the Lord' s Supper. 
 
 The Supper of the Lord is not only a sign of the love that Christians ought to have 
 among themselves one to another; but rather it is a Sacrament of our Redemption by 
 Christ’s death: insomuch that to such as rightly, worthily, and with faith, receive the 
 same, the bread which we break is a partaking of the body of Christ ; and likewise, the 
 cup of blessing is a partaking of the blood of Christ. 
 
 Transubstantiation — or the change of the substance of bread and wine in the Supper 
 of the Lord — cannot be proved by Holy Writ ; but is repugnant to the plain words of 
 Scripture, overthroweth the nature of a Sacrament, and hath given occasion to many su- 
 perstitions. 
 
 The body of Christ is given, taken, and eaten in the Supper, only after an heavenly and 
 spiritual manner. And the mean, whereby the Body of Christ is received and eaten in 
 the Supper, is Faith. 
 
 The Sacrament of the Lord’s Supper was not by Christ’s ordinance reserved, carried 
 about, lifted up, or worshipped. 
 
 XXIX. — Of the Wicked , which eat not the Body of Christ in the Use of the Lord's 
 
 Supper . 
 
 The wicked, and such as be void of a lively faith, although they do carnally and visibly 
 press with their teeth, as St. Augustine saith, the Sacrament of the Body and Blood of 
 Christ ; yet in no wise are they partakers of Christ, but rather, to their condemnation, do 
 eat and drink the sign or sacrament of so great a thing. 
 
 XXX. — Of both Kinds. 
 
 The Cup of the Lord is not to be denied to the Lay-people ; for both the parts of the 
 Lord’s Sacrament, by Christ’s ordinance and commandment, ought to be ministered to all 
 Christian men alike. 
 
 XXXI. — Of the One Oblation of Christ finished upon the Cross. 
 
 The offering of Christ once made, is that perfect Redemption, Propitiation, and Satis- 
 faction for all the sins of the whole world, both original and actual : and there is none other 
 satisfaction for sin but that alone. Wherefore the sacrifices of Masses, in the which it was 
 commonly said, that the Priest did offer Christ for the quick and the dead, to have remis- 
 sion of pain or guilt, were blasphemous fables, and dangerous deceits. 
 
 XXXII. — Of the Marriage of Priests. 
 
 Bishops, Priests, and Deacons, are not' commanded by God’s Law, either to vow the 
 estate of single life, or to abstain from marriage: Therefore it is lawful for their, as for 
 all other Christian men, to marry at their own discretion, as they shall judge the same to 
 serve better to godliness. 
 
?72 
 
 PROTESTANT COMMUNITIES. 
 
 XXXIII. — Of excommunicate Persons, how they are to he avoided. 
 
 That person, which by open denunciation of the Church is rightly cut off from the 
 unity of the Church, and excommunicated, ought to be taken of the whole multitude of 
 the faithful, as an Heathen or Publican, until he be openly reconciled by penance, and 
 received into the Church by a Judge that hath authority thereunto. 
 
 XXXIV. — Of the Traditions of the Church. 
 
 It is not necessary that Traditions and Ceremonies be in all places one, or utterly like ; 
 for at ail times they have been diverse, and may be changed according to the diversity of 
 Countries, Times, and Men’s Manners, so that nothing be ordained against God’s Word. 
 Whosoever, through his private judgment, willingly and purposely doth openly break the 
 traditions and ceremonies of the Church, which be not repugnant to the Word of God, 
 and be ordained and approved by common authority, ought to be rebuked openly — that 
 others may fear to do the like — as he that offendeth against the common order of the 
 Church, and hurteth the authority of the Magistrate, and woundeth the consciences of the 
 weak brethren. 
 
 Every particular or national Church hath authority to ordain, change, and abolish cere- 
 monies or rites of the Church, ordained only by man’s authority, so that all things be done 
 to edifying. 
 
 XXXV.— Of Homilies. 
 
 The Second Book of Homilies, the several titles whereof we have joined under this 
 Article, doth contain a godly and wholesome doctrine, and necessary for rhese times.; as 
 doth the former Book of Homilies, which were set forth in the time of Edward the Sixth ; 
 and therefore we judge them to be read in Churches by the Ministers diligently and dis- 
 tinctly, that they may be understanded of the people. 
 
 OF THE NAMES 
 
 1. Of the right Use of the Church. 
 
 2. Against Peril of Idolatry. 
 
 3. Of Repairing and Keeping clean of 
 
 Churches. 
 
 4. Of Good Works ; first of Fasting. 
 
 5. Against Gluttony and Drunkenness. 
 
 6. Against Excess of Apparel. 
 
 7. Of Prayer. 
 
 8. Of the Place and Time of Prayer. 
 
 9. That Common Prayer and Sacraments 
 
 ought to be administered in a known 
 Tongue. 
 
 10. Of the reverent Estimation of God’sWord. 
 
 ' THE HOMILIES. 
 
 11. Of Alms-doing. 
 
 12. Of the Nativity of Christ. 
 
 13. Of the Passion of Christ. 
 
 14. Of the Resurrection of Christ. 
 
 15. Of the worthy Receiving of the Sa- 
 
 crament of the Body and Bloou ol 
 Christ. 
 
 16. Of the Gifts of the Holy Ghost. 
 
 17. For the Rogation Days. 
 
 18. Of the State of Matrimony. 
 
 19. Of Repentance. 
 
 20. Against Idleness. 
 
 21. Against Rebellion. 
 
 XXXVI. — Of Consecration of Bishops and Ministers. 
 
 The book of Consecration of Archbishops and Bishops, and Ordering of Priests nnd 
 Deacons, lately set forth in the time of Edward the Sixth, and confirmed at the same time 
 by authority of Parliament, doth contain all things necessary to such consecration and 
 ordering; neither hath it any thing that of itself is superstitious and ungodly. And there- 
 fore, whosoever are consecrated or ordered according to the rites of that book since the 
 second year of the fore-named King Edward, unto this time, or hereafter shall be conse- 
 crated or ordered according to the same rites, we decree all such to be rightly, orderly, and 
 lawfully consecrated and ordered. 
 
 XXXVII. — Of the Civil Magistrates. 
 
 The King’s Majesty hath the chief power in this realm of England and other his domi- 
 nions, unto whom the chief government of all estates of this Realm, whether they be 
 ecclesiastical or civil, in all causes doth appertain, and is not, nor ought to be, subject to 
 any foreign jurisdiction. 
 
 Where we attribute to the King’s Majesty the chief government, by which titles we 
 understand the minds of some slanderous folks to be offended, We give not to our Princes 
 the ministering either of God’s Word or of the Sacraments, the which thing the Injunc- 
 tions also, lately set forth by Elizabeth our Queen, do most plainly testify; but that only 
 prerogative which we see to have been given always to all godly Princes in Holy Scrip- 
 tures by God himself; that is, that they should rule all estates and degrees committed to 
 jheir charge by God, whether they be ecclesiastical or temporal, and restrain with the civil 
 sword the stubborn and evil-doers. 
 
 The Bishop of Rome hath no jurisdiction in this Realm of England. 
 
 The law's of the Realm may punish Christian men with death for heinous and grievous 
 offences. 
 
 It is lawful for Christian men, at the commandment of the Magistrate, to wear weapons, 
 ^ud serve in the wars. 
 
CHURCH OF ENGLAND. 
 
 373 
 
 XXXVIII. — Of Christian Men's Goods , which are not common. 
 
 The riches and goods of Christians are not common, as touching the right, title, and 
 possession of the same, as certain Anabaptists do falsely boast. Notwithstanding, every 
 man ought, of such things as he possesseth, liberally to give alms to the poor, according 
 to his ability. 
 
 XXXIX. — Of a Christian Man's Oath. 
 
 As we confess that vain and rash swearing is forbidden Christian men by our Lord 
 Jesus Christ, and James his Apostle; so we judge that Christian religion doth not 
 prohibit but that a man may swear when the Magistrate requireth, in a cause of faith 
 and charity ; so it be done, according to the Prophet’s teaching, in justice, judgment, and 
 truth. 
 
 THE TABLE OF THE CONSTITUTIONS AND CANONS ECCLESIASTIC IS AS 
 
 FOLLOWS : 
 
 Of the Church of England. 
 
 1. The King’s Supremacy over the Church of England, in causes Ecclesiastical, to bo 
 
 maintained. 
 
 2. Impugners of the King’s Supremacy censured. 
 
 3. The Church of England a true and Apostolical Church. 
 
 4. Impugners of the Public Worship of God, established in the Church of England, 
 
 censured. 
 
 5. Impugners of the Articles of Religion, established in the Church of England, 
 
 censured. 
 
 6. Impugners of the Rites and Ceremonies, established in the Church of England 
 
 censured. 
 
 7. Impugners of the Government of the Church of England by Archbishops, Bishops 
 
 &c., censured. 
 
 8. Impugners of the Form of consecrating and ordering Archbishops, Bishops, &c., in 
 
 the Church of England, censured. 
 
 9. Authors of Schism in the Church of England, censured. 
 
 10. Maintainers of Schismatics in the Church of England, censured. 
 
 11. Maintainers of Conventicles, censured. 
 
 12. Maintainers of Constitutions made in Conventicles, censured. 
 
 Of Divine Service and Administration of the Sacraments. 
 
 13. Due celebration of Sundays and Holy-days. 
 
 14. The prescript Form of Divine Service to be used on Sundays and Holy-days. 
 
 15. The Litany to be read on Wednesdays and Fridays. 
 
 16. Colleges to use the prescript Form of Divine Service. 
 
 17. Students in Colleges to wear Surplices in time of Divine Service. 
 
 18. A reverence and attention to be used within the Church in time of Divine Service. 
 
 19. Loiterers not to be suffered near the Church in time of Divine Service. 
 
 20. Bread and Wine to be provided against every Communion. 
 
 21. The Communion to be thrice a year received. 
 
 22. Warnings to be given beforehand for the Communion. 
 
 23. Students in Colleges to receive the communion four times a year. 
 
 24. Copes to be worn in Cathedral Churches by those that administer the Communion. 
 
 25. Surplices and Hoods to be worn in Cathedral Churches, when there is no com- 
 
 munion. 
 
 26. Notorious Offenders not to be admitted to the Communion, 
 
 27. Schismatics not to be admitted to the Communion. 
 
 28. Strangers not to be admitted to the Communion. 
 
 29. Fathers not to be Godfathers in Baptism, and Children not Communicants, 
 
 ?0. The lawful use of the Cross in Baptism explained. 
 
 Ministers, their Ordination, Function, and Charge. 
 
 31. Four solemn times appointed for the making of Ministers. 
 
 32. None to be made Deacon and Minister both in one day. 
 
 33. The Titles of such as are to be made Ministers. 
 
 34. The Quality of such as are to be made Ministers. * 
 
 35. The Examination of such as are to be made Ministers. 
 
 36. Subscription required of such as are to be made Ministers. 
 
 The Articles of Subscription.— 'The Form of Subscription. 
 
 37. Subscription before the Diocesan. 
 
 38 Revo'ters after Subscription, censured. 
 
PROTESTANT COMMUNITIES. 
 
 '*74 
 
 39. Cautions for Institution of Ministers into Benefices. 
 
 40. An Oath 1 against Simony at Institution into Benefices. 
 
 41. Licences for Plurality of Benefices limited, and Residence enjoined. 
 
 42. Residence of Deans in their Churches. 
 
 43. Deans and Prebendaries to Preach during their Residence. 
 
 44. Prebendaries to be resident upon their Benefices. 
 
 45. Beneficed Preachers, being resident upon their Livings, to Preach every Sunday. 
 
 46. Beneficed Men, not Preachers, to procure Monthly Sermons. 
 
 4~. Absence of Beneficed Men to be supplied by Curates that are allowed Preachers. 
 
 48. None to be Curates but allowed by the Bishop. 
 
 49. Ministers, not allowed Preachers, may not expound. 
 
 50. Strangers not admitted to Preach without showing their Licence. 
 
 51. Strangers not admitted to Preach in Cathedral Churches without sufficient authority. 
 
 52. The Names of Strange Preachers to De noted in a book. 
 
 53. No Public Opposition between Preachers. 
 
 54. The Licences of Preachers refusing Conformity to be Void. 
 
 55. The Form of a Prayer to be used by all Preachers before their Sermons. 
 
 56. Preachers and Lecturers to read Divine Service, and administer the Sacraments, 
 
 twice a year at the least. 
 
 57. The Sacraments not to be refused at the hands of unpreaching Ministers. 
 
 58. Ministers reading Divine Service, and administering the Sacraments, to wear -Sur- 
 
 plices, and Graduates therewithal Hoods. 
 
 59. Ministers to Catechise every Sunday. 
 
 60. Confirmation to be performed once in three years. 
 
 61. Ministers to prepare Children for Confirmation. 
 
 62. Ministers not to Marry any Persons without Bans or Licence. 
 
 63. Ministers of exempt Churches not to marry without Bans or Licence. 
 
 64. Ministers solemnly to bid Holy-days. 
 
 65. Ministers solemnly to Denounce Recusants and Excommunicates. 
 
 66. Ministers to Confer with Recusants. 
 
 67. Ministers to Visit the Sick. 
 
 68. Ministers not to refuse to Christen or Bury. 
 
 69. Ministers not to defer Christening if the Child be in danger. 
 
 70. Ministers to keep a Register of Christenings, Weddings, and Burials. 
 
 71. Ministers not to Preach, or administer the Communion, in Private Houses. 
 
 72. Ministers not to appoint Public or Private Fasts, or Prophecies, or to Exorcise, bat 
 
 by authority. 
 
 73. Ministers not to hold Private Conventicles. 
 
 74. Decency in Apparel enjoined to Ministers. 
 
 75. Sober Conversation required in Ministers. 
 
 76. Ministers at no time to forsake their Calling. 
 
 Schoolmasters. 
 
 77. None to teach School without Licence. 
 
 78. Curates desirous to Teach, to be licensed before others. 
 
 79. The Duty of Schoolmasters. 
 
 Things appertaining to Churches. 
 
 80. The Great Bible and Book of Common Prayer, to be had in every Church. 
 
 81. A Font of Stone for Baptism in every Church. 
 
 82. A decent Communion Table in every Church. 
 
 83. A Pulpit to be provided in every Church. 
 
 84. A Chest for Alms in every Church. 
 
 85. Churches to be kept in sufficient Reparations. 
 
 86. Churches to be Surveyed, and the Decays certified to the High Commissioners. 
 
 87. A Terrier of Glebe-lands, and other Possessions belonging to Churches. 
 
 88. Churches not to be profaned. 
 
 Church-wardens , or Quest-men ; and Side-men , or Assistants. 
 
 89. The Choice of Church-wardens, and their Account. 
 
 90 The Choice of Side-men, and their joint office with Church-wardens. 
 
 Parish- Clerks. 
 
 91. Parish-Clerks to be Chosen by the Minister. 
 
 Ecclesiastical Courts belonging to the Archbishop' s Jurisdiction. 
 
 92. None to be Cited into divers Courts for Probate of the same Will. 
 
 93. The Rate of Bona Nofabilia liable to the Prerogative Court. 
 
 94. None to be cited into the Arches or Audiente, but dwellers within the Archbishop’s 
 
 Diocese, or Peculiars. 
 
CHURCH OF ENGLAND. 
 
 375 
 
 95. The Restraint of double Quarrels. 
 
 96. Inhibitions not to be granted without the Subscription of an Advocate. 
 
 97. Inhibitions not to be granted until the Appeal be exhibited to the Judge. 
 
 98. Inhibitions not to be granted to factious Appellants, unless they first Subscribe. 
 
 99 None to marry within the Degrees prohibited. 
 
 IOC. None to marry under Twenty-pne Years, without their Parents’ Consent. 
 
 101 . By whom Licences to marry without^Bans shall be granted, and to what sort of persons. 
 
 102. Security to be taken at the granting of such Licences, and under what Conditions. 
 
 103. Oaths to be taken for the Conditions. 
 
 104. An Exception for those that are in Widowhood. 
 
 105. No Sentence for Divorce to be given upon the sole confession of the parties. 
 
 106. No Sentence for Divorce to be given but in open Court. 
 
 107. In all Sentences for Divorce, Bond to be taken for not marrying during each other’s life- 
 ]J8. The Penalty for Judges offending in the Premises. 
 
 Ecclesiastical Courts belonging to the Jurisdiction of Bishops and Archdeacons , and the 
 Proceedings in them. 
 
 109. Notorious Crimes and Scandals to be certified into Ecclesiastical Courts by Pre- 
 
 sentment. 
 
 110. Schismatics to be presented. 
 
 111. Disturbers of Divine Service to be presented. 
 
 112. Non- Communicants at Easter to be presented. 
 
 113. Ministers may present. 
 
 114. Ministers shall present Recusants. 
 
 115. Ministers and Church-wardens not to be sued for presenting. 
 
 116. Church- wardens not bound to present oftener than twice a year. 
 
 117. Church- wardens not to be troubled for not presenting oftener than twice a year. 
 
 118. The old Church-wardens to make their Presentments before the new r be sworn. 
 
 119. Convenient time to be assigned for framing Presentments. 
 
 120. None to be cited into Ecclesiastical Courts by process of Quorum Nomina. 
 
 121. None to be cited into several Courts for one Crime. 
 
 122. No Sentence of Deprivation or Deposition to be pronounced against a Minister, but by 
 
 the Bishop. 
 
 123. No Act to be sped but in open Court. 
 
 124. No Court to have more than one Seal. 
 
 125. Convenient Places to be chosen for the keeping of Courts. 
 
 126. Peculiar and inferior Courts to exhibit the original Copies of Wills into the Bishop’s 
 
 Registry. 
 
 Judges Ecclesiastical , and their Surrogates. 
 
 127. The Quality and Oath of Judges. 
 
 128. The Quality of Surrogates. 
 
 Proctors. 
 
 129. Proctors not to retain Causes without the lawful Assignment of the Parties. 
 
 130. Proctors not to retain Causes without the counsel of an Advocate. 
 
 131. Proctors not to conclude in any Cause without the knowledge of an Advocate. 
 
 132. Proctors prohibited the Oath, In animam domini sui. 
 
 133. Proctors not to be clamorous in Court. 
 
 Registrars. 
 
 134 Abuses to be reformed in Registrars. 
 
 135. A certain Rate of Fees due to all Ecclesiastical Officers. 
 
 136. A Table of the Rates and Fees to be set up in Courts and Registries. 
 
 137. The whole Fees for showing Letters of Orders, and other Licences, due but once in 
 
 every Bishop’s time. 
 
 Apparitors. 
 
 138. The Number of Apparitors restrained. 
 
 Authority of Synods. 
 
 139. A National Synod the Church Representative. 
 
 140. Synods conclude as well the absent as the present. 
 
 141. Depravers of the Synod, censured. 
 
376 
 
 PROTESTANT COMMUNITIES. 
 
 AN ADMONITION, 
 
 TO ALL SUCH AS SHALL INTEND HEREAFTER TO ENTER THE STATE OF MATRIMONY, 
 GODLY AND AGREEABLE TO LAWS. 
 
 First, —That they contract not with such persons as be hereafter expressed, nor with any 
 of like degree, against the law of God, and the laws of the realm. 
 
 Secondly, — That they make no secret contracts, without consent or counsel of then 
 parents or elders, under whose authority they be, contrary to God’s laws and man’s 
 ordinances. . 
 
 Thirdly, — That they contract not anew with any other upon divorce and separation made 
 by the judge for a time, the laws yet standing to the contrary. 
 
 I. It is to be noted, That those persons which be in the direct line ascendent and descend* 
 
 ent, cannot marry together, although they be never so far asunder in degree. 
 
 II. It is also to be noted, that Consanguinity and Affinity, (letting and dissolving Matri- 
 mony,) is contracted as well in them and by them which be of kindred by the one 
 side, as in and by them which be of kindred by both sides. 
 
 III. Item, That, by the laws, Consanguinity and Affinity, (letting and dissolving Matri- 
 mony,) is contracted as well by unlawful company of man and woman, as by lawful 
 marriage. 
 
 IV. Item, In contracting betwixt persons doubtful, which be not expressed in this Table, 
 it is most sure first to consult with men learned in the laws, to understand what is 
 lawful, what is honest and expedient, before the finishing of their contracts. 
 
 V. Item, That no Parson, Vicar or Curate, shall solemnize Matrimony out of his or their 
 cure, or parish church or chapel, and shall not solemnize the same in private houses, 
 nor lawless and exempt churches, under the pains of the law forbidding the same. 
 And that the Curate have their certificates, when the parties dwell in divers parishes. 
 
 VI. Item, The Bans of Matrimony ought to be openly announced in the Church by the 
 Minister three several Sundays or Festival-days, to the end that who will and can 
 allege any impediment, may be heard, and that stay may be made till further trial, if 
 any exception be made there against it, upon sufficient caution. 
 
 VII. Item, Who shall maliciously object a frivolous impediment against a lawful matri- 
 mony to disturb the same, is subject to the pains of the law. 
 
 VIII. Item, Who shall presume to contract in the degrees prohibited, (though he do it 
 ignorantly,) besides that the fruit of such copulation may be judged unlawful, is also 
 punishable at the Ordinary’s discretion. 
 
 IX. If any Minister shall conjoin any such, or shall be present at such contracts making, 
 he ought to be suspended from his ministry for three years, and otherwise to be 
 punished according to the laws. 
 
 X. Item, It is further ordained, That no Parson, Vicar, nor Curate, do preach, treat, or 
 
 expound, of his own voluntary invention, any matter of controversy in the Scriptures, 
 if he be under the degree of a Master of Arts, except he be licensed by his Ordinary 
 thereunto, but only for the instruction of the people read the Homilies already set 
 forth, and such other form of doctrine as shall be hereafter by authority published; 
 and shall not innovate nor alter any thing in the Church, or use any old rite or cere- 
 mony, which be not set forth by public authority. 
 
CHURCH OF ENGLAND. 
 
 377 
 
 “DEGREES OF MARRIAGE, 
 
 «5ET FORTH BY THE MOST REVEREND FATHER IN GOD, MATTHEW PARKER, ARCHBISHOP Ot 
 CANTERBURY, PRIMATE OF ENGLAND AND METROPOLITAN. 1563 . 
 
 None shall come near to any of the kindred or his flesh to uncover their shame : 
 
 I am the Lord.’ — L evit. xviii. 6. 
 
 “ A Man may not Marry his 
 
 Grandmother, Grandfather’s Wife, Wife’s 
 Grandmother. 
 
 Father’s Sister, Mother’s Sister, Father’s 
 Brother’s Wife, Mother’s Brother’s Wife, 
 Wife’s Father’s Sister, Wife’s Mother’s 
 Sister. 
 
 Mother, Step-Mother, Wife’s Mother, 
 Daughter, Wife’s Daughter, Son’s Wife’s 
 Sister, Wife’s Sister, Brother’s Wife, 
 Son’s Daughter, Daughter’s Daughter, 
 Son’s Son’s Wife. 
 
 Daughter’s Son’s Wife, Wife’s Son’s 
 Daughter, Wife’s Daughter’s Daughter. 
 
 Brother’s Daughter, Sister’s Daughter, 
 Brother’s Son’s Wife, Sister’s Son’s 
 Wife, Wife’s Brother’s Daughter, Wife’s 
 Sister’s Daughter. 
 
 “ A Woman may not Marry with her 
 
 Grandfather, Grandmother’s Husband, Hus- 
 band’s Grandfather. 
 
 Father’s Brother, Mother’s Brother, Father’s 
 Sister’s Husband, Mother’s Sister’s 
 Husband, Husband’s Father’s Brother, 
 Husband’s Mother’s Brother, Father, 
 Step-Father, Husband’s Father, Son, 
 Husband’s Son, Daughter’s Husband, 
 Brother, Husband’s Brother, Sister’s 
 Husband. 
 
 Son’s Son, Daughter’s Son, Son’s Daugh- 
 ter’s Husband, Daughter’s Daughter’s 
 Husband, Husband’s Son’s Son, Hus- 
 band’s Daughter’s Son. 
 
 Brother’s Son, Sister’s Son, Brother’s 
 Daughter’s Husband, Sister’s Daughter’s 
 Husband, Husband’s Brother’s Son, 
 Husband’s Sister’s Son.” 
 
 Concerning some of the doctrines professed by the church of England, 
 her members are not agreed: a very great majority of the clergy insisting 
 upon it that the church is not Calvinistic, in regard to the doctrine of pre- 
 destination, irresistible grace, and the final perseverance of the saints ; 
 while a very respectable and increasing portion of the clergy and laity 
 maintain, with great confidence, that the 17th article roundly and plainly 
 asserts the great and important doctrine of predestination, as taught by 
 Calvin and the first reformers. The warm, not to say acrimonious, dis- 
 putes which this difference of construction put upon the articles has occa- 
 sioned, have tended to increase the number of dissenters. 
 
 Two archbishops are at the head of the English hierarchy ; those of 
 Canterbury and of York both style themselves primates ; and in order to 
 English Hie- reconcile the difference, it was decided, that the Archbishop 
 tarchy. 0 f Canterbury should be called primate of all England, and 
 
 the Archbishop of York on \y primate of England. The oath of supre- 
 macy is taken by the king as head of the church, and as such on the day 
 of his coronation, he puts on a surplice, a stole, and a dalmatic. When a 
 bishopric becomes vacant, the canons of the cathedral give notice of it to 
 the king, and desire his leave to choose another. His majesty, at the same 
 time that he sends the conge-d’elire, recommends the individual whom 
 
378 
 
 PROTESTANT COMMUNITIES. 
 
 it is his will they should elect ; and then the dean and chapter choose 
 the person so named. The bishop so chosen is consecrated, installed, 
 renders homage to the king, takes the oath, and pays the first-fruits. The 
 other prerogatives which the king enjoys, as head of the church, are to 
 make ordinances respecting ceremonies and exterior rites, with the advice 
 of the ecclesiastical commissioners, or of the metropolitan ; to call or pro- 
 rogue the convocation ; and to enact the decrees of synods into laws. But 
 all this still leaves him in the state and condition of a lay head, and the 
 profession of faith says, that the supreme governing of all the states of the 
 kingdom, whether ecclesiastical or spiritual, in all cases whatever, belongs 
 to him, yet so that he is not invested with a power to preach the word of 
 God, or administer the sacraments. 
 
 The bishop is superior to a priest, and a priest to a deacon. The essen- 
 tial office of a deacon is to see that the wants of the poor he supplied, to 
 
 Ordination of ass ^ st t ^ le P r i est ( or minister) at the communion service, to 
 Deacons. bless those who present themselves to be married, to bap- 
 
 tize, to bury the dead, to preach, and to read to the people the Holy Scrip- 
 tures, or the homilies. Their ordination consists first in a sermon or 
 dxhortation preached to them, which being concluded, the archdeacon, or 
 whoever officiates in his stead, presents them to the bishop, who inquires 
 of the said archdeacon, whether he has examined them and found them 
 deserving ; he then directs his speech to the congregation present, both to 
 know if there be any existing impediment to the election, and to recom- 
 mend the candidates to the prayers of the congregation. After some 
 pra 3 mrs and litanies, the third chapter of St. Paul’s first epistle to Timothy, 
 from v. 8 to the end of that chapter, is read to the deacons, or chapter vi. 
 of the Acts of the Apostles, from v. 2 to 8. Then they take the oath of 
 supremacy, and among several questions put to them, the bishop asks 
 them, whether they have m them an interior call from the Holy Ghost to 
 take upon them ♦he office of a deacon. The answer to this question being 
 made in the affirmative, the bishop puts the New Testament into their 
 hands, and gives them authority to read and preach the word of God to the 
 faithful. He receives the communion himself, and gives it to all whom he 
 has ordained. The whole ceremony is concluded with a prayer suitabls 
 to the occasion, and the blessing. 
 
 The ordination of priests consists of prayers, exhortations, and imposi- 
 tion of hands. By the constitutions of the year 1603, the time appointed 
 
 oration G f f° r orders is on those Sundays which follow the 
 
 Pnests - Ember weeks during the service, in the cathedral or paro- 
 
 chial churches where the bishops reside, in the presence of the archdeacon, 
 the dean, and two prebendaries, or at least of four grave persons, who must 
 be masters of arts, and have lawful power to preach. They are only as 
 witnesses to the ordination, which belongs solely to the bishop ; he alone 
 
CHURCH OF ENGLAND. 
 
 379 
 
 has authority to say to those who are ordained, “receive the Holy Ghost:” 
 the other four only pray with the bishops, and lay their hands upon the 
 ordained, with this difference, that, among the English as with the Catho- 
 lics, the imposition of the bishop’s hands denotes his power and authority 
 to ordain, whereas that of the witnesses is only a mark of their approbation 
 and consent to their being admitted to the brotherhood, if that expression 
 may be used. To become a priest, it is necessary to be made first a dea- 
 con ; but both orders may be received on one and the same day. After 
 the examen, and the exhortation which is immediately before the commu- 
 nion service, the epistle is read, Acts, chap. xx. from v. IT to 36, and if 
 both orders be given on the same day, the 3d chap, of the first epistle to 
 Timothy is added. The reading of the gospel follows, out of the last 
 chapter of St. Matthew, from v. 11 to the end of that chapter; or out of 
 St.John, chap. xx. from v. 10 to 24. Then the Yeni Creator is sung or 
 read. The rest differs but little from the deacon’s ordination. The con- 
 gregation is desired to join in mental prayer for the happy success of this 
 ceremony ; silence is maintained for some short time ; then the bishop 
 prays aloud, and immediately lays his hands, and the priests then present 
 lay theirs upon those who are ordained, and who are kneeling. The 
 bishop uses at the same time this form, so much found fault with by the 
 puritans or dissenters: “Receive the Holy Ghost. Sins shall be forgiven 
 to all those to whom you forgive them, &c. Be faithful dispensers of the 
 word of God and of the sacraments,” &c. This being said, he puts the 
 Bible into their hands. 
 
 The bishop is, under Christ, according to the doctrine of the Church of 
 
 Ordination of England, the first pastor of the church. Inferior ministers 
 
 Bishops and Arch- , , . , . , , . . , 
 
 bishops. are only his deputies ; when he is absent, the priest may 
 
 bless the people, but whenever he is present at the divine service, it 
 belongs to him to pronounce the blessing. 
 
 There are two archbishops and twenty-four bishops in England ; they 
 enjoy the dignity of barons, and take place before those of the laity ; so 
 the Bishop of London, being the first bishop, is likewise the first baron ; all 
 are peers of the realm, and sit in the House of Lords, except the Bishop 
 of the Isle of Man, who is named by and holds of a subject. The arch* 
 bishops are called Your Grace, which title is also bestowed on dukes. The 
 bishops are styled Right Reverend Fathers in God. 
 
 At the consecration of bishops or archbishops, the 3d chap, of St. Paul’s 
 first epistle to Timothy, from v. 1 to 8, is read ; then some verses out of 
 chap. x. or xxi. of St. John’s Gospel ; the creed is said ; the bishop elected 
 is presented by two other bishops to the archbishop of the province, or to 
 another bishop officiating for him. “ Right Reverend Father in Christ,” 
 they say, “ we present to you this pious and learned man, to be consecrated 
 bishop.” The king’s order for his consecration is produced and read 
 
1 
 
 380 PROTESTANT COMMUNITIES. 
 
 openly. The bishop elect takes the oath of supremacy, and that of obedi- 
 ence to his metropolitan, which last is omitted at the consecration of an 
 archbishop. The consecrator moves the congregation to pray, saying to 
 them, — Brethren, it is written in the gospel of St. Luke, that our Saviour 
 Christ continued the whole night in prayer, before he did choose and send 
 forth his twelve apostles. It is written also in the Acts of the Apostles, 
 that the disciples did fast and pray before they laid hands on Paul and 
 Barnabas and sent them forth. Let us, therefore, following the example 
 of our Saviour Christ and his Apostles, first fall to prayer, &c. Then the 
 litany is said ; and after this passage, That it may please thee to illumi- 
 nate all bishops, &c., the following prayer is inserted: That it may please 
 thee to bless this our brother elected, and to send thy grace upon him, that 
 he may duly execute the office whereunto he is called, to the edifying of 
 thy church, &c. The people answer. We beseech thee to hear us, &c. 
 The litany ends with a prayer, after which the archbishop, sitting in his 
 chair, says to him that is to be consecrated, “Brother, forasmuch as the 
 holy Scripture and the ancient canons command that we should not be 
 hasty in laying on hands, and admitting any person to government in the 
 church of Christ, which he has purchased with no less price than the 
 effusion of his own blood ; before I admit you to this administration, I will 
 examine you,” &c. The question ends with a prayer, which is followed 
 by the hymn of the Holy Ghost, or the Yeni Creator, said or sung, at the 
 end of which the archbishop says another long prayer. Then the archbi- 
 shop and bishops present lay their hands upon the head of the n'ected 
 bishop, the archbishop saying: Receive the Holy Ghost ; ard romember 
 that thou stir up the grace of God which is given thee by this imposition 
 of our hands, &c. Still keeping one hand on the head of the bishop elect, 
 with the other he delivers him the Bible, saying, Give heed unto reading, 
 exhortation, and doctrine; think upon the things contained in this book, &c. 
 Be to the flock of Christ a shepherd, not a wolf; hold up the weak ; be 
 so merciful ; so minister discipline, &c. Then the archbishop and the new 
 bishops, with others, receive the communion : and the whole ceremony 
 concludes with a prayer by way of collect, to desire Almighty God to pour 
 down his blessing on the new bishop. 
 
 English bishops have their own vicars, and officials, in each diocese ; 
 but the officials are more known in England by the name of chancellors. 
 These are the true and chief officials, but there are some commissioners 
 who are often mistaken for them. Their archdeacons, who in ancient 
 times were only the first among deacons, are now in the English church 
 above priests. Bishops are called reverend, archbishops most reverend, 
 archdeacons venerable : common priests have no title bestowed upon them. 
 The archdeacon’s chief function is to visit the diocese by procuration in 
 default of the bishop or vicar, at least once in three years. 
 
CHURCH OF ENGLAND. 
 
 381 
 
 The chief ornament by which churchmen are distinguished from the 
 laity is the surplice : the ministers of the Church of England are to put it 
 on whenever they administer any sacrament, and on several other occa- 
 sions, the particulars of which we need not mention. Bishops, deans, 
 canons in cathedral churches, wear a cope besides the surplice, and are to 
 put it on at the communion service, administration of sacraments, or any 
 other religious function which is to be performed with solemnity. 
 
 No one can be made a deacon before twenty-three, nor a priest before 
 twenty-four, nor a bishop before thirty. Some pastors, either priests or 
 ministers, have the title of rectors, as belonging to such churches as at 
 the Reformation were independent of any monastery. Others are only 
 vicars, but for life. Lastly, some are barely curates, without any benefice, 
 and receive their scanty salary from the rectors or bishops. 
 
 The convocation of the clergy is a kind of parliament : the archbishops 
 and bishops are the upper house ; the lower is composed of the inferior 
 clergy, viz. twenty-six deans, sixty archdeacons, five hundred and seventy- 
 six canons, besides curates and deacons. They meet upon the concerns of 
 the church, tithes, raising taxes, ecclesiastical laws, which must afterwards 
 be approved by the king and parliament. They hold likewise national 
 synods, which keep an exact correspondence in their deliberations, and 
 make no absolute definition, but with a unanimous consent. 
 
 The customs established in the performance of divine service, and 
 appointed by the English liturgy, are : that all priests and deacons are 
 required to say daily the morning and evening prayers. The 
 ivme ervic . or( j er j s same# They begin with several passages 
 
 of Scripture, which the minister says aloud. These passages are followed 
 by an exhortation to prepare for the general confession of sins, which is 
 said kneeling, by the minister and the whole congregation : this ceremony 
 is as ancient as St. Basil, and was not then peculiar to his diocese, but 
 universally practised in the whole church. The absolution is pronounced 
 by the priest standing, the people still kneeling ; for receiving forgiveness 
 requires an humble posture, but forgiving shows authority. The Church of 
 England uses three different forms of absolution ; one in the morning and 
 evening prayer, another at the visitation of the sick, and a third at the 
 communion service. After the absolution, the priest and congregation, all 
 kneeling, say the Lord’s prayer, which is followed by some responses, a 
 psalm, some lessons out of the Old Testament, as set down in the calendar 
 at the beginning of the liturgy, the singing or reciting the Te Deum or 
 Benedicite omnia; another lesson out of the New Testament, a hymn, or 
 a psalm ; the creed said or sung, to which the people stand ; the Lord’s 
 pra3 r er a second time ; several responses, three collects, a prayer for the 
 king and queen, another for the royal family, a third for the clergy, St. 
 
 Chrysostom’s prayer, and the blessing. The rubric says, that the minister 
 25 
 
382 
 
 PROTESTANT COMMUNITIES. 
 
 must stand when he reads the lessons, and turn himself towards the con- 
 gregation, that he may be heard the better : this is very rational, for those 
 lessons, the decalogue, &c., are an instruction to the people : but when he 
 addresses himself to God by prayer, by saying or singing a psalm, or by 
 confession, he must then turn from the people and look towards the upper 
 end of the chancel, which is the chief and most reverential part of the 
 church. Hymns and psalms are sung or said in a standing posture, as an 
 evident token that the hearts of the people are raised to God with joy : the 
 same situation is kept at the singing or saying the creed, to show how 
 ready they are to make an open profession of their faith, to give an account 
 of it, to justify and defend it. Betwixt the creed and the Lord’s prayer 
 repeated a second time, the priest says, “The Lord be with you.” The 
 people answer, “ And with your spirit.” We shall not trouble our readers 
 with the various expositions of the oremus, the short litany, and the re- 
 sponses ; but we cannot omit, that the collects are said to be so named 
 because the priest said them when the whole assembly was met, or because 
 the devotion of all the faithful was collected or joined to offer that prayer to 
 God, or because the priest unites several petitions into one, or lastly, 
 because it is a collection of several short sentences of Scripture. 
 
 The prayers, collects, and lessons often vary, on some days, as Christ- 
 mas, Epiphany, &c. The Athanasian creed is said or sung instead of that 
 of the Apostles or of Nice* Sunday morning, Wednesday, and Friday, the 
 long litany is said or sung. Particular prayers are said likewise on special 
 occasions, as for rain, for fair weather, for a time of famine, or great dearth, 
 for success in war, against popular commotions, epidemic or contagious 
 distempers ; every day also in Ember weeks, for those who are to be or- 
 dained, for the parliament while it sits ; which prayers are all either to 
 obtain mercy from God, or to give him thanks for favours received. 
 
 Sunday is a day which all Christians keep with great solemnity ; but 
 none more than the English ; the gravity, decency, regularity, and out- 
 ward devotion, which are apparent throughout the kingdom on that day, 
 are worthy of commendation. 
 
 The communion is one of the principal sacraments of the Church of 
 England, for which purpose the altar, for this name is often given by the 
 
 . . . . members of the Church of England to the communion table, 
 
 of Sacraments. ought to have a clean white linen cloth upon it, and to stand 
 
 in the body of the church, or in the chancel, where morning and evening 
 prayers are appointed to be said. At all other times the said table is 
 covered with a silk carpet, and set in a decent place altar-wise. The 
 priest, standing at the north side of the table, says the Lord’s prayer, with 
 a collect, then rehearses distinctly the ten commandments ; after each, the 
 people, kneeling, say, “ Lord have mercy on us, and incline our hearts to 
 keep this law.” This is followed by a collect for the king [or queen 
 
CHURCH OF ENGLAND. 
 
 383 
 
 regnant,] which the priest says standing; the collect of the day, the epistle, 
 and gospel, at which last the people stand, as they do likewise at the sing- 
 ing or reciting the Nicene or Constantinopolitan creed, which is done 
 immediately after the gospel. Then the curate declares unto the people 
 what holidays and fasting days are in the week following to be observed ; 
 and, if occasion be, publishes the bans of matrimony, reads briefs, citations, 
 and excommunications, and nothing is proclaimed or published in the 
 church during the time of divine service but by the minister; nor by him, 
 any thing but what is prescribed in the rules, or enjoined by the king, or 
 by the ordinary of the place. 
 
 Then follows the sermon, which being ended, alms are taken for the 
 poor, or other purposes ; this is followed by prayers and exhortations ; 
 after which, the priest stands up before the table, and having so ordered 
 the bread and wine that he may with the more readiness and decency 
 break the bread before the people, and take the cup into his hands, says 
 the prayer of consecration, which begins the third part of the communion 
 service; the wording of it is very remarkable, and runs thus : — “Hear us, 
 O merciful Father, and grant that we, receiving these thy creatures of 
 bread and wine, according to Jesus Christ’s holy institution, in remem- 
 brance of his death and passion, may be partakers of his most blessed 
 body and blood, who in the same night that he was betrayed took bread, 
 and when he had given thanks, he brake it, and gave it to his disciples, 
 saying, Take, eat, this is my body which is given for you, do this in 
 remembrance of me. Likewise, after supper, he took the cup, and when 
 he had given thanks, he gave it to them, saying, Drink ye all of this, 
 for this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for you, for 
 th^ remission of sins. Do this as oft as ye shall drink it in remembrance 
 of me.” 
 
 The priest first receives the communion in both kinds himself, then 
 proceeds to deliver the same to the bishops, priests, and deacons, (if any be 
 present ;) and after that, to the people also in order into their hands, all 
 meekly kneeling. They receive it in their hands, because the custom of 
 receiving it in their mouths, from the priest’s hand, savours too much of 
 transubstantiation. 
 
 The priest says a prayer when he gives the bread, and another when 
 the cup is given to any one. If the consecrated bread or wine be exhausted 
 before all have communicated, the priest is to consecrate more. If, on the 
 contrary, there remains any when all have communicated, the minister 
 returns to the Lord’s table, and reverently places upon it what remains of 
 the consecrated elements, covering the same with a clean linen cloth. Here 
 begins the fourth and last part of the communion service. The Lord’s 
 praj^er is said by the minister, the people repeating after him every peti- 
 tion ; then follows another form of thanksgiving ; after which, “Glory be t<? 
 
384 
 
 PROTESTANT COMMUNITIES. 
 
 God on high,” a hymn to which antiquity has given the appellation oi 
 angelical. The whole service is concluded by the priest (or bishop, if he 
 be present) dismissing the congregation with a blessing. 
 
 The rubric says, that it is most convenient baptism should not be ad- 
 ministered but upon Sundays, and other holydays, when the greatest number 
 of people are assembled ; as well for that the congrega- 
 tion there present may testify the receiving of them that be 
 newly baptized into the number of Christ’s church ; as also because, in the 
 baptism of infants, every man present may be put in remembrance of his 
 own profession made to God in his baptism, or that made for them by their 
 godfathers or godmothers. Nevertheless, (if necessity so require,) children 
 may be baptized on any other day. Every male child must have two 
 godfathers and one godmother ; and every female one godfather and two 
 godmothers ; who, with the children, must be ready at the font immediately 
 after the last lesson of the morning or evening prayer. The priest coming 
 to the font, which is then to be filled with pure water, and standing there, 
 asks the usual question, exhorts the people to pray, says two prayers for 
 the child, reads a gospel, (Mark x. 13, and following,) explains it, gives 
 God thanks, tells the godfathers and godmothers their duty, receives their 
 renouncing the devil, and repeats with them the profession -of faith ; after 
 which, and a few more prayers, he takes the child into his hands, desires 
 the godfathers and godmothers to name the child; and then, naming it after 
 them, he sprinkles it with the water, saying, N. I baptize thee, &c. The 
 ceremony ends with the minister’s signing the child with the cross, saying 
 the Lord’s prayer, giving thanks to God, and a second charge to the god- 
 fathers and godmothers. 
 
 As to the ministration of baptism to those who are of riper years, and 
 able to answer for themselves : first, they are examined whether they be 
 sufficiently instructed in the principles of the Christian religion ; then, 
 they are exhorted to prepare themselves with prayers and fastings for the 
 receiving of his holy sacrament. If they be found fit, the godfathers and 
 godmothers present them at the font on the day, and at the time appointed 
 The god f ?.thers and godmothers are not to answer, as they did in infant 
 baptism, for the persons christened, in quality of their spiritual fathers or 
 mothers ; they rather are present as witnesses only. The priest directs 
 his discourse and exhortations to the persons baptized, prays for them, and 
 with them ; they themselves renounce the devil and all his works, the vain 
 pomp and glory of this world, with all covetous desires of the same, and 
 the carnal desires of the flesh. They make their profession of faith ; after 
 which, and some few prayers said by the minister, he takes each person 
 to be baptized by the right hand, and placing him conveniently by the 
 font, he dips him in the water, or pours water upon him, saying, N. I bap- 
 tize thee, &c. Then he receives them into the church, signs them with 
 
CHURCH OF ENGLAND. 
 
 335 
 
 Confirmation. 
 
 the cross, gives thanks to God, and ends with a short exhortation, first to 
 the godfathers and godmothers, then to the person baptized, recommending 
 it to him to be confirmed by the bishop so soon after his baptism as conve- 
 niently may be, that so he may be admitted to the holy communion. 
 
 In the Church of England, as among Catholics, the bishops are sole 
 ministers of the religious ceremony of confirmation. The short catechism, 
 which every person is to learn before he is brought to be 
 confirmed by the bishop, is to be seen in the Book of Com- 
 mon Prayer. The Church of England orders, that, for the instruction of 
 the faithful beginners, “The curate of every parish shall diligently upon 
 Sundays and holydays, after the second lesson at evening prayer, openly 
 in the church instruct and examine so many children of his parish sent 
 unto him in the catechism. All fathers, mothers, masters, or mistresses, 
 shall cause their children, servants, and apprentices, who have not learned 
 their catechism, to come to the church at the time appointed, and obedi- 
 ently to hear and be ordered by the curate, until such time as they have 
 learned all that is appointed for them to learn. The children who are 
 sufficiently instructed shall be brought to the bishop, and every one shall 
 have a godfather or a godmother, as a witness of their confirmation. All 
 being placed and standing in order before the bishop, he or some other 
 minister appointed by him shall read what is called the preface of confir- 
 mation, which briefly explains the nature and end of it ; then he makes 
 them renew and confirm the promises which were made for them by their 
 godfathers and godmothers at baptism, and prays for them, that they may 
 receive the gifts of the Holy Ghost; then all of them kneeling in order 
 before the bishop, he lays his hand upon the head of every one severally, 
 says another prayer, the Lord’s prayer, and two collects, and dismisses 
 them by giving his blessing. 
 
 According to the ritual of the Church of England, the bans of all those 
 who are to be married must be published in the, church three several Sun- 
 days or holydays, in the time of divine service, immediately 
 before the sentence of the offertory. The form of asking 
 is too well known to require being set down. If the persons who are to be 
 married dwell in divers parishes, the bans must be asked in both parishes; 
 and the curate of the one parish shall not solemnize matrimony, without a 
 certificate of the bans being thrice asked from the curate of the other 
 parish. At the day and time appointed for the solemnization of matrimony, 
 the persons to be married shall come into the body of the church, with their 
 friends and neighbours, and there standing together, the man on the right 
 hand, and the woman on the left, the priest reads an exhortation on the 
 duty, condition, and chastity of a married state ; then another, particularly 
 directed to the persons who are to be married. At which day of marriage, 
 if any man do allege or declare any impediment, why they may not be 
 
 Marriage. 
 
386 
 
 PROTESTANT COMMUNITIES. 
 
 coupled together in matrimony, by God’s law, or the laws of the realm, 
 and will be bound, and sufficient sureties with him, to the parties, or else 
 put in a caution (to the full value of such charges, as the persons to be 
 married do hereby sustain) to prove his allegation ; then the solemnization 
 must be deferred until such time as the truth be tried. If no impediment 
 be alleged, then the curate asks their mutual consent ; which being de- 
 clared, they give their troth to each other, taking alternately each other by 
 the right hand, and saying, “ I, N. take thee N. to be my wedded wife, (or 
 husband,) to have and to hold, from this day forward, for better for worse, 
 for richer for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish, (the 
 wife says to love, cherish, and obey,) till death us do part, according to 
 God’s holy ordinance, and thereto I plight thee my troth.” Then they 
 again loose their hands, and the man shall give unto the woman a ring, 
 laying the same upon the book, with the accustomed dues to the priest and 
 clerk. And the priest taking the ring, shall deliver it unto the man to put 
 upon the fourth finger of the woman’s left hand, and the man, taught by 
 the priest, shall say, “With this ring I thee wed, with my body I thee 
 worship,” &c. Both kneel down, the minister says a prayer, joins theii 
 hands together, and adds a blessing, then going to the Lord’s table, say oi 
 sing a psalm, which being ended, the man and the woman kneeling before 
 the Lord’s table, the priest, standing at the table, says a litany, followed by 
 some prayers, and an instruction concerning the duties of man and wife, 
 and so concludes. Only the rubric adds, that it is convenient the new- 
 married persons should receive the holy communion at the time of their 
 marriage, or at the first opportunity after their marriage. 
 
 But though the ritual of the Church of England requires the publica- 
 tion of the bans of such persons who are about to marry ; and thoug-h the 
 lower classes always have their marriage bans published, yet it is the cus- 
 tom of the higher, and to a great degree of the middle classes also, to marry 
 by license, dispensing with the publication of bans. A license may be 
 had on application to a surrogate. In the year 1837 a new Marriage Act 
 came into force, which made a very considerable change in the marriage 
 ceremony, to those who were desirous to avail themselves of it, while it 
 left at liberty all who preferred the former course to pursue it as before. 
 Members of the Church of England still marry in the churches by bans, 
 or license, while Dissenters more generally avail themselves of the provi- 
 sions of the new act. 
 
 By the new act, persons desirous to marry may be joined together, 
 either in dissenting meeting-houses, licensed for the purpose ; or in the 
 offices of the superintendent-registrars of the new Poor-Law Unions, in the 
 districts of which the parties may live. The presence of the registrar of 
 the district, and two witnesses, is indispensable to the lawfulness and vali- 
 dity of the ceremony. Before any marriage can be contracted under the 
 
CHURCH OF ENGLAND. 
 
 new act either a license must be purchased of the registrar, on giving full 
 seven days’ notice beforehand ; or three several notices of such intended 
 marriage must be read and published at the Union Workhouse, before the 
 Poor-Law Guardians of the Union, at three of their successive weekly 
 meetings, which may be held within the twenty-one days, which must 
 pass between the day of giving notice to the registrar and the day of mar- 
 riage. A certificate also must be obtained of the registrar, before the 
 marriage can take place, stating that no one has forbidden the marriage. 
 
 One of the provisions of the new Marriage Act sets forth that the 
 parties contracting matrimony shall, in some part of the ceremony, declare, 
 in the presence of the registrar and two witnesses, that they know not of 
 any lawful impediment why they may not be joined together in matri- 
 mony, and that each of the parties shali say to the other, “ I call upon 
 these persons here present to witness that I, A. B., do take thee, C. D., to 
 be my lawful wedded wife, (or husband.”) 
 
 In cases where th-e marriage takes place at the office of the superin- 
 tendent-registrar, he, the superintendent, as well as the registrar of the 
 district, must be present, with the two witnesses, and the ceremony must 
 take place, with open doors, between the hours of eight and twelve in the 
 forenoon. 
 
 A proper office is appointed, called “The General Register Office,” for 
 keeping a register of all births, deaths, and marriages in England, as well 
 as a register-general to discharge the important duties of the same. 
 
 At the churching of women, and the visitation of the sick, thanksgiving 
 and suitable prayers are offered up by the minister, attended with very 
 little ceremony. 
 
 THE 
 
 FORM AND ORDER 
 
 OF THE 
 
 CORONATION OF A KING AND QUEEN. 
 
 This Form and Order consists of— 1. The entrance into the Church. 2. The Recognition 3. The 
 First Oblation. 4. The Litany. 5. The beginning of the Communion Service. 6. The Sermon 
 7. The Oath. 8. The Anointing. 9. The Presenting of the Spurs and Sword, and the Oblation of 
 the said Sword. 10. The investing with the Royal Robe, and the Delivery of the Orb. 11. The 
 Investure per Annulum and Baculum. 12. The putting on of the Crown. 13. The presenting of 
 the Holy Bible. 14: The Benediction, and Te Deum. 15. The Inthronization. 16. The Homage. 
 17. The Queen’s Coronation. 18. The Communion. 19. The final Prayers. 20. The Recess. 
 
 In the Morning upon the Day of the Coronation early, care is to be taken that the Ampulla be filled 
 with Oil. and,' together with the Spoon , be laid ready upon the Altar or Communion Table, in the 
 Abbey-Church. 
 
 Sect. I. — The Entrance into the Church. 
 
 The King and Queen, as soon as They enter at the West Door of the Church, are to be received with 
 the following Anthem, to be sung by the Choir of Westminster. 
 
388 
 
 PROTESTANT COMMUNITIES. 
 
 Anthem. Psal. cxxii. 1, 5, 6, 7. 
 
 I was glad when they said unto me, We will go into the House of the Lord. For there 
 is the Seat of Judgment, even the Seat of the House of David. O pray for the Peace of 
 Jerusalem; They shall prosper that love Thee. Peace be within thy walls, and Prosper- 
 ity within thy Palaces. 
 
 Glory be to the Father, and to the Son: and to the Holy Ghost ; 
 
 As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be : world without end. Amen. 
 
 The King and Queen in the mean time pass up through the Body of the Church, into and through 
 the Choir, and so up the Stairs to the Theatre ; and having passed by Their Thrones, They make 
 Their humble Adoration, and then kneeling at the Faldstools set for Them before Their Chairs, 
 use some short private prayers ; and, after sitting down, (not in Their Thrones, but in Their Chairs 
 before, and below, Their Thrones,) there repose Themselves. 
 
 Sect. II. — The Recognition. 
 
 •The King and Queen being so placed, the Archbishop turneth to the East part of the Theatre, and 
 after, together with the Lord Chancellor, Lord Great Chamberlain, Lord High Constable and Earl 
 Marshal, (Garter King of Arms preceding them,) goes to the other three sides of the Theatre in this 
 Order, South. West, and North, and at every of the four sides, with a loud Voice, speaks to the 
 People : And the King in the mean time standing up by His Chair, turns and shows Himself unto 
 '.lie People at every "of the four sides of the Theatre, as the Archbishop is at every of them, and 
 while He speaks thus to the People: 
 
 Sirs, I here present unto you King , the Undoubted King of this Realm: 
 
 Wherefore all you who are come this Day to do your Homage, Are you willing to do the 
 same ? 
 
 The People signify their Willingness and Jov, by loud and repeated Acclamations, all with one 
 Voice saying out, 
 
 God save King . 
 
 Then the Trumpets sound. 
 
 Sect. III. — The First Ohlation. 
 
 The Archbishop goeth down, and before the Altar puts on his Cope; then goeth and standeth on the 
 North Side of it : And the Bishops, who are to read the Litany, do also vest themselves. And the 
 Officers of the Wardrobe, &c., spread Carpets and Cushions oil the Floor and Steps of the Altar. 
 And here, first the Bible, Paten, and Cup, are to be brought and placed upon the Allar. Which 
 being done, the King, supported by the two Bishops, of Durham , and Bath and Wells , and atl ended, as 
 always, by the Dean of Westminster, the Lords that carry the Regalia going before 
 First Oblation, a ^im, goes down to the Altar, and kneeling upon the Steps of it, makes his First 
 Gold^ e se or Oblation. Uncovered ; Which is a Pall or Altar- Cloth of Gold, delivered by the 
 Master of the Great Wardrobe to the Lord Great Chamberlain, and by Him, 
 kneeling, 1o His Majesty: and an Ingot or Wedge of Gold of a pound weight, which the Treasurei 
 of the Household delivers to the Lord Great Chamberlain, and He to His Majesty, kneeling: Who 
 being uncovered delivers them to the Archbishop, and the Archbishop standing (in which posture 
 he is to receive all other Oblations) receives from Him, one after another, the Pall to be reverently 
 laid upon the Altar, and the Gold to be received into the Basin, and with like Reverence put upon 
 the Altar. 
 
 Then the Queen ariseth from Her Chair, and being likewise supported by two Bishops, and the Lords 
 The Queen’s Obla- which carry Her Regalia going before Her. goeth down to the Altar, and kneel- 
 tion a Pall of Gold. ing upon the Cushions there laid for Her, on the left Hand of the King’s, maketh 
 Her Oblation , which is a Pall, to be received also by the Archbishop, and laid 
 
 upon the Altar. 
 
 Then the Archbishop saith this Prayer, the King and Queen still kneeling. 
 
 0 God, who dwellest in the high and holy Place, with them also who are of an humble 
 
 Spirit, Look down mercifully upon these Thy Servants, our King, and our 
 
 Queen, here humbling themselves before Thee at thy Footstool, and graciously receive 
 tiiese Oblations, which in humble Acknowledgment of Thy Sovereignty over all, and of 
 Thy great Bounty to Them in particular, They have now offered up unto Thee, through 
 J ssus Christ our only Mediator and Advocate. Amen. 
 
 The King and Queen having thus offered, and so fulfilled His Commandment, who said, Thou shalt 
 not appear before the Lord thy God e>npty ; go to Their Chairs set for Them on the South Side of the 
 Altar, where they are to kneel at Their Faldstools when the Litany begins. 
 
 In the mean time, the Lords who carry the Regalia , except those who carry the Swords, come in 
 Order near to the Altar, and present Every One what He carries to the Archbishop, who delivers 
 them to the Dean of Westminster, to be by Him placed upon the Altar, and then retire to the Places 
 and Seats appointed for Them. 
 
 Sect. IV. — The Litany. 
 
 Then followeth the Litany, to be read by two Bishops, vested in Copes, and kneeling at a Faldstool 
 above the Steps of the Theatre, on the middle of the East side thereof, the Choir reading the 
 Responses. 
 
 0 God the Father of heaven; have mercy upon us miserable sinners, &c. 
 
CHURCH OF ENGLAND. 
 
 339 
 
 Sect. V. — The Beginning of the Communion Service. 
 
 A Sanctus. 
 
 Then the Archbisnop beginneth the Communion Service with the Lord’s Prayer, followed by a 
 
 Collect. 
 
 f Then shall the Archbishop, turning to the People, rehearse distinctly all the Ten Commandments 
 and the People still kneeling, shall, after every Commandment, ask of God Mercy for their trans- 
 gression thereof for the time past, and Grace to keep the same f or the time to come, as followeth. 
 
 Archbishop. 
 
 God spake these words, and said, &c. 
 
 IT Then shall follow this Collect for the King, the Archbishop standing as before and saying, 
 
 Let us pray. 
 
 Almighty God, whose kingdom is everlasting, and power infinite : Have mercy upon 
 
 the whole Church, and so rule the heart of thy chosen Servant our King and 
 
 Governor, that he (knowing whose Minister he is) may above all things seek thy honour 
 and glory : and that we and all his subjects (duly considering whose Authority he hath} 
 may faithfully serve, honour, and humbly obey him, in thee, and for thee, according to thy 
 blessed word and ordinance, through Jesus Christ our Lord, who with thee and the Holy 
 Ghost liveth and reigneth ever one God world without end. Amen. 
 
 The Epistle. — 1 Pet. li. 13. 
 
 To be read by one of the Bishops. 
 
 Submit yourselves to every ordinance of man, for the Lord’s sake : whether it be to the 
 King as supreme : or unto Governors, as unto them that are sent by him for the punishment 
 of evil-doers, and for the praise of them that do well. For so is the will of God, that with 
 well-doing ye may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men : As free, and not using your 
 liberty for a cloak of maliciousness, but as the servants of God. Honour all men. Love 
 the brotherhood. Fear God. Honour the King. 
 
 The Gospel. — S. Matth. xxii. 15. 
 
 To be read by another Bishop, the King and Queen with the People standing. 
 
 Then went the Pharisees, and took counsel how they might entangle him in his talk. 
 And they sent out unto him their disciples, with the Herodians, saying, “Master, we 
 know that thou art true, and teachest the way of God in truth, neither carest thou for any 
 man: for thou regardest not the person of men. Tell us therefore. What thinkest thou? 
 Is it lawful to give tribute unto Ctesar, or not?” But Jesus perceived their wickedness, 
 and said, “ Why tempt ye me, ye hypocrites? Shew me the tribute-money.” And they 
 brought unto him a penny. And he saith unto them, “ Whose is this image and super- 
 scription ?” They say unto him, “ Caesar’s.” Then saith he unto them, “ Render there- 
 fore unto Caesar the things which are Caesar’s : and unto God, the things that are God’s.” 
 When they had heard these words, they marvelled, and left him, and went their way. 
 
 Then the Archbishop readeth the Nicene Creed: the King and Queen with the People standing, as 
 
 before. 
 
 Sect. VI. — The Sermon. 
 
 At the end of the Creed one of the Bishops is ready in the Pulpit, placed against the Pillar at the 
 North-East corner of the Theatre, and begins the Sermon, which is to be short, and suitable to the 
 great Occasion: which the King and Queen hear sitting in their respective Chairs on the South 
 side of the Altar, over against the Pulpit. 
 
 And whereas the King was uncovered during the Offering and Service following: when the Sermon 
 begins, He puts on His Cap of Crimson Velvet turned up with Ermins, and so continues to the End 
 of it. 
 
 On His right hand stands the Bishop of Durham , and beyond Him, on the same side, the Lords that 
 carry the Swords: On His left hand the Bishop of Bath and Wells, and the Lord Great Chamberlain. 
 The two Bishops that support the Queen are to stand on either hand of Her. And the Lady that bears 
 up the Tra ; n, and her Assistants, constantly attend Her Majesty during the whole Solemnity. 
 
 On the North side of the Altar sits the Archbishop in a purple Velvet Chair: the Bishops being 
 placed on Forms along the North side of the Wall, betwixt Him and the Pulpit. Near the Arch- 
 bishop stands Garter King at Arms; On the South side. East of the King’s Chair, nearer to the 
 Altar, stand the Dean of Westminster, the rest of the Bishops who bear any part in the Church Ser- 
 vice, and the Prebendaries of Westminster. 
 
 Sect. VII. — The Oath. 
 
 The Sermon being ended, and his Majesty having, in the presence of the Two Houses of Parliament, 
 made and signed the Declaration, the Archbishop goeth to the King, and standing before Him, ad- 
 ministers the Coronation Oath, first asking the King, 
 
 Sir, is your Majesty willing to take the Oath ? 
 
 And the King answering 
 
 I am willing. 
 
 J 
 
390 
 
 PROTESTANT COMMUNITIES. 
 
 The Archbishop ministereth these Questions; and the King, having a Copy of the printed Form and 
 Order of the Coronation Service in His Hands, answers each Question severally, as follows. 
 
 Archb. Will You solemnly promise and swear to govern the People of this United King- 
 dom of Great Britain and Ireland , and the Dominions thereto belonging, according to the 
 Statutes in Parliament agreed on, and the respective Laws and Customs of the same ? 
 King. — I solemnly promise so to do. 
 
 Archb. — Will You to Your Power cause Law and Justice, in Mercy, to be executed in 
 
 all Your Judgments ? 
 
 King. — I will. 
 
 Archb. — Will You to the utmost of Your Power maintain the Laws of God, the true 
 Profession of the Gospel, and the Protestant Reformed Religion established by law ? And 
 will you maintain and preserve inviolably the Settlement of the United Church of England 
 and Ireland, and the Doctrine, Worship, Discipline, and Government thereof, as by Law 
 established within England and Ireland , and the Territories thereunto belonging? And 
 will you preserve unto the Bishops and Clergy of England and Ireland, and to the 
 Churches there committed to their Charge, all such Rights and Privileges, as by Law do, 
 or shall appertain to Them, or any of Them? 
 
 King. — All this I promise to do. 
 
 Then the King arising out of His Chair, supported as before, and assisted by the Lord Great Cham- 
 berlain. the Sword of State being carried before Him, shall go to the Altar, and there being Urt- 
 Tne Bible to be covered, make His Solemn Oath in the sight of all the People, to observe the 
 brought. Premises : Laying His right hand upon the Holy Gospel in the Great Bible, which 
 
 was before carried in the Procession, and is now brought from the Altar by the 
 Archbishop and tendered to Him as he kneels upon the steps, saying these Words : 
 
 The things which I have here before promised, I will perform and keep. So help me God. 
 And a Silver Standish. Then the King kisseth the Book, and signeth the Oath. 
 
 Sect. VIII. — The Anointing. 
 
 The king having thus taken His Oath, returns again to His Chair; and both He and the Queen, kneel- 
 ing at their Faldstools, the Archbishop beginneth the Hymn, Veni, Creator Spiritus, and the Cho»r 
 singeth it out. 
 
 This being ended, the Archbishop saith this Prayer. 
 
 O Lord, Holy Father, who by anointing with Oil didst of old make and consecrate 
 Kings, Priests and Prophets, to teach and govern thy People Israel: Bless and Sanctify 
 
 thy Chosen Servant , who by our Office and Ministry is now' to be 
 
 Here the Arch- anointed with this Oil, and consecrated King of this Realm : Strengthen 
 upon^the^w^puifaf 11 Him, O Lord, with the Holy Ghost the Comforter ; Confirm and Sta- 
 blish Him with thy free and Princely Spirit, the Spirit of Wisdom and 
 Government, the Spirit of Counsel and Ghostly Strength, the Spirit of knowledge and 
 true Godliness, and fill him, 0 Lord, with the Spirit of thy Holy Fear, now and lor 
 ever. Amen. 
 
 This Prayer being ended, the Choir sing : 
 
 Anthem. 1 Kings i. 39, 40. 
 
 Zadok the Priest, and Nathan the Prophet anointed Solomon King; and all the People 
 rejoiced, and said : God save the King, Long live the King, May the King live for ever. 
 Amen. Hallelujah. 
 
 In the mean time, the King rising from His Devotions, having been disrobed of his Crimson Robed, 
 and having taken off his Cap of State, goes before the Altar, supported and attended as before. 
 
 The King sits down in His Chair placed in the midst of the Area over against the Altar, with a Fald- 
 stool before it, wherein He is to be Anointed. Four Knights of the Garter hold over him a rich 
 Pall of Silk, or Cloth of Gold ; the Dean of Westminster taking the Ampulla and Spoon from off the 
 Altar, holdeth them ready, pouring some of the Holy Oil into the Spoon, and with it the Archbishop 
 anointeth the King, in the Form of a Cross: On the Crown of the Head, and on the Palms of both 
 the Hands, saying, 
 
 Be Thou anointed with Holy Oil, as Kings, Priests, and Prophets were anoiuted. 
 
 And as Solomon was anointed King by Zadok the Priest, and Nathan the Prophet, so 
 be you anointed, blessed, and consecrated King over this People, whom the Lord your 
 God hath given you to rule and govern, In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and 
 of the Holy Ghost. Amen. 
 
 Then the Dean of Westminster layet’h the Ampulla and Spoon upon the Altar, and the King kneeleth 
 down at the Faldstool, and the Archbishop standing on the North side of the Altar, saith this 
 Prayer or Blessing over Him: 
 
 Our Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who by his Father was anointed with the Oil 
 of gladness above his fellows, by his Holy Anointing pour down npon your Head and Heart 
 the Blessing of the Holy Ghost, and prosper the Works of your Hands : that by the 
 Assistance of his Heavenly Grace you may preserve the People committed to your chirge 
 in Wealth, Peace, and Godliness; and after a long and glorious Course of ruling this 
 
CHURCH OF ENGLAND. 
 
 39 I 
 
 Temporal Kingdom Wisely, Justly, and Religiously, you may at last be made Partaker 
 t/f an Eternal Kingdom, through the Merits of Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. 
 
 This Praysr being ended, the King arises, and sits down again in his Chair, when the Dean of West- 
 minster will invest His Majesty with the Supertunica. 
 
 Sect. IX. — The presenting of the Spurs and Sword, and the Oblation of the said Sword. 
 
 The Spurs are brought from the Altar by the Dean of Westminster, and delivered 
 The Spurs. to a Nobleman thereto appointed by the King, who, kneeling down, presents 
 them to him, and forthwith sends them back to the Altar. Then the Lord, who 
 The Sword of State carr j e s the Sword of State, returning the said Sword to the Officers of the Jewel 
 returned. House, which is thereupon deposited in the Traverse in King Edward's Chapel, 
 
 Another Sword He receiveth thence, in lieu thereof, another Sword, in a Scabbard of Purple Velvet , 
 brought. provided for the King, which He delivereth to ihe Archbishop; and the Arch- 
 
 bishop laying it on the Altar, saith the following Prayer : 
 
 Hear our Prayers, 0 Lord, we beseech thee, and so direct and support thy Servant, 
 
 King , that he may not bear the Sword in vain ; but may use it as the Minister of 
 
 God for the terror and punishment of Evil-doers, and for the protection and encouragement 
 of those that do well, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. 
 
 Then the Archbishop takes the Sword from off* the Altar, and (the Bishops assisting, and going along 
 Delivered to the with him) delivers it into the King’s Right Hand, and He holding it, the Arch- 
 King. bishop saith: 
 
 Receive this Kingly Sword, brought now from the Altar of God, and delivered to You 
 by the hands of us the Bishops and Servants of God, though Unworthy. With this Sword 
 do Justice, stop the Growth of Iniquity, protect the holy Church of God, help and defend 
 Widows and Orphans, restore the things that are gone to decay, maintain the things that 
 are restored, punish and reform what is amiss, and confirm what is in good Order: that 
 doing these things, You may be glorious in all virtue : and so faithfully serve our Lord 
 Jesus Christ in this life, that you may reign for ever with him in the Life which is to 
 come. Amen. 
 
 Then the King rising up, and going to the Altar, offers the Sword there in the Scabbard, and then 
 returns and sits down in his Chair: And the Chief Peer, or He to whom His 
 Majesty shall vouchsafe that Honour, offereth the Price of it. and having thus 
 redeemed it, receiveth it from off* the Altar by the Dean of Westminster, and 
 draweth it out of the Scabbard, and carries it naked before His Majesty during the rest of the 
 Solemnity. 
 
 Offered and re- 
 deemed. 
 
 Sect. X. — The Investing with the Royal Robe, and the Delivery of the Orb. 
 
 Then the King arising, the Robe Royal or Purple Robe of State , of Cloth of Tissue, 
 The Royal Robe. lined or furred with Ermins, is by the Master of the Great Wardrobe delivered 
 to the Dean of Westminster, and by him put upon the King, standing; the Crimson 
 Robe which He wore before being first taken oft* by the Lord Great Chamberlain : The King 
 having received it, sits down, and then the Orb with the Cross is brought from 
 The Orb. the Altar by the Dean of Westminster, and delivered into the King’s Hand by the 
 Archbishop, pronouncing this Blessing and Exhortation : 
 
 Receive this Imperial Robe, and Orb, and the Lord Your God endue You with Know- 
 ledge and Wisdom, with Majesty and with Power from on High ; The Lord clothe You 
 with the Robe of Righteousness, and with the Garments of Salvation. And when You 
 see this Orb set under the Cross, remember that the whole World is subject to the Power 
 and Empire of Christ our Redeemer. For he is the Prince of the Kings of the Earth ; 
 King of Kings, and Lord of Lords : So that no man can reign happily, who derives not his 
 Authority from Him, and directs not all his Actions according to His Laws. 
 
 The King delivers his Orb to the Dean of Westminster, to be by him laid on the Altar. 
 
 Sect. XI. — The Investiture per Annulum ($• Baculum. 
 
 Then the Master of the Jewel House delivers the King’s Ring 10 the Archbishop, in which a Table 
 
 Jewel is enchased ; the Archbishop puts it on the Fourth Finger of His Majesty’s 
 The R.ng. Right Hand? and gaith . 
 
 Receive this Ring, the Ensign of Kingly Dignity, and of Defence of the Catholic Faith 
 and as You are this day solemnly invested in the Government of this earthly Kingdom, 
 so may You be sealed with that Spirit of Promise, which is the Earnest of an heavenly 
 Inheritance, and reign with Him who is the blessed and only Potentate, to whom be Glory 
 for ever and ever. Amen. 
 
 Then the Dean of Westminster brings the Sceptre and Rod to the Archbishop; and the Lord of the 
 Manour of Worksop (who claims to hold an Estate by the Service of presenting to the King a Right 
 T , srmtrA Hand Glove on the Day of His Coronation, and supporting the King’s Right \rm 
 
 p whilst He holds the Sceptre with the Cross) delivers to the King a Pair or Rich 
 
 Gloves, and upon any Occasion happening afterwards, supports His Majesty’s 
 Right Arm, or holds His Sceptre by Him. 
 
 The Gloves TV > e G,oves being pui on. the Archbishop delivers the Sceptre, with the Cross, into 
 the King’s Right Hand, saying, 
 
 Receive the Royal Sceptre the Ensign of Kingly Power and Justice, 
 
392 
 
 PROTESTANT COMMUNITIES. 
 
 And then he delivers the Rod, with the Dove, into the King’s Left Hand, and saith, 
 
 Receive the Rod of Equity and Mercy ; and God, from whom all holy desires, all good 
 counsels, and all just works do proceed, direct and assist You in the Administration and 
 Exercise of all those Powers which he hath given You. Be so merciful, that You be not 
 too remiss ; so execute Justice, that You forget not Mercy. Judge with Righteousness, 
 and reprove with Equity, and accept no Man’s Person. Abase the Proud, and iift up the 
 Lowly; punish the Wicked, protect and cherish the Just, and lead your People in the way 
 wherein they should go : thus in all things following His great and holy Example, of whom 
 the Prophet David said, “Thou lovest Righteousness, and hatest Iniquity; the Sceptre 
 of thy Kingdom is a right Sceptre ;” even Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. 
 
 Sect. XII. — The Putting on of the Crown. 
 
 tr The Archbishop, standing before the Altar, taketh the Crown into his Hands, and 
 
 laying it again before him upon the Altar, saith, 
 
 O God, who crownest thy faithful Servants with Mercy and loving-kindness. Look 
 
 Here the King’ must down upon this thy servant , our King, who now in lowly devo- 
 
 be put in mind to bow tion boweth His Head to thy Divine Majesty ; and as thou dost this day 
 Kis Head. set a c ro wn of pure Gold upon His Head, so enrich His Royal Heart 
 
 with thy heavenly Grace ; and crown Him with all Princely Virtues, which may adorn 
 the high Station wherein thou hast placed Him, through Jesus Christ our Lord, to whom 
 le Honour and Glory, for ever and ever. Amen. 
 
 Then the King, sitting down in King Edward's Chair, the Archbishop, assisted with other Bishops, 
 comes from the Altar ; the Dean of Westminster brings the Crown, and the Archbishop taking it of 
 him, reverently putteth it upon the King’s Head. At the sight whereof the People, 
 The King crowned. i ou a an( j re p ea ted Shouts, cry God save the King ; and the Trumpets sound, 
 
 and, by a Signal given, the great guns at the Tower are shot off. 
 
 The noise ceasing, the Archbishop goeth on. and saith, 
 
 Be strong and of a good Courage : Observe the Commandments of God, and walk in 
 His Holy ways: Fight the good Fight of Faith, and lay hold on Eternal life ; that in this 
 World You maybe crowned with Success and Honour, and when You have finished.Your 
 Course, receive a Crown of Righteousness, which God the Righteous Judge shall give 
 You in that day. Amen. 
 
 Then the Choir singeth this short Anthem : 
 
 Anthem. Psal. xxi. 1,3. 
 
 The King shall rejoice in Thy Strength, 0 Lord : exceeding glad shall He be of Thy 
 Salvation. Thou hast prevented Him with the Blessings of Goodness, and hast set a 
 Crown of pure Gold upon His Head. Hallelujah. Amen. 
 
 As soon as the King is crowned, the Peers, &c., put on their Coronets and Caps. 
 
 Sect. XIII . — The Presenting of the Holy Bible. 
 
 Then shall the Dean of Westminster take the Holy Bible , which was carried in the procession, from 
 R off the Altar, and deliver it to the Archbishop, who. with the rest of the Bishops 
 
 1 e 1 e ’ going along with him, shall present it to the King, first saying these words to Him ; 
 
 Our Gracious King ; we present You with this Book, the most valuable thing that this 
 world affords. Here is Wisdom ; This is the Royal Law ; These are the lively Oracles 
 of God. Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the Words of this Book; that 
 keep, and do, the things contained in it. For these are the words of Eternal Life, able to 
 make you wise and happy in this world, nay wise unto salvation, and so happy for ever- 
 more, through Faith which is in Christ Jesus ; to whom be Glory fo' ever. Amen. 
 
 Then the King delivers back the Bible to the Archbishop, who gives it to the Dean of Westminster, to 
 be reverently placed again upon the Holy Altar. 
 
 Sect. XIV . — The Benediction and Te Deum. 
 
 And now the King having been thus anointed and crowned, and having received .ill the Ensigns of 
 Royalty, the Archbishop solemnly blesseth Him: and all the Bishops standing about Him, with the 
 rest of the Peers, follow every part of the Benediction with a loud and hearty Amen. 
 
 The Lord bless and keep you ; The Lord make the light of his Countenance to shine 
 The Benediction. f° r ever u P on y° u > an ^ be gracious unto you : the Lord protect you in all 
 your ways, preserve you from every evil thing, and prosper you in every 
 thing good. Amen. 
 
 The Lord give you a faithful Senate, wise and upright Counsellors and Magistrates, a 
 loyal Nobility, and a dutiful Gentry ; a pious and learned and useful Clergy ; ankonest, in- 
 dustrious, and obedient Commonalty. Amen . 
 
 In your days may Mercy and Truth meet together, and Righteousness and Peace kiss 
 each other; May Wisdom and Knowledge be the Stability of your Times, and the Feat 
 of the Lord your Treasure. Amen. 
 
 The Lord make your Days many, your Reign prosperous, your Fleets and Armies vic- 
 torious ; and may you be reverenced and beloved by all your Subjects, and ever increas* 
 in Favour with God and man. Amen. 
 
CHUftCH OF ENGLAND. 
 
 The glorious Majesty of the Lord our God be upon you ; may he bless you with all 
 temporal and spiritual Happiness in this world, and crown you with Glory and Immortality 
 in the world to come. Amen. 
 
 Then the Archbishop turneth to the People, and saith : 
 
 Ajsd the same Lord God Almighty grant, that the Clergy and Nobles assembled here 
 for this great and solemn Service, and together with them all the People of the Land, 
 fearing God, and honouring the King, may by the merciful Superintendency of the Divine 
 Providence, and the vigilant Care of our gracious Sovereign, continually enjoy Peace, 
 Plenty, and Prosperity, through Jesus Christ our Lord, to whom with the Eternal Father, 
 and God the Holy Ghost, be Glory in the Church world without end. Amen. 
 
 Then the Choir begins to sing the Te Deum , and the King goes up to the Theatre on which the Throne 
 Te Deum P* ace( f All the Bishops, Great officers, and other Peers, attending him, every 
 
 one in his place, the Swords being carried before Him; and then he sits down 
 and reposes Himself in His Chair, below the Throne. 
 
 Te Deum. 
 
 We praise thee, O God, &c. 
 
 Sect. XV. — The Inthronization. 
 
 The Te Deum being ended, the King is lifted up into His Throne by the Archbishop and Bishops, and 
 other Peers of the Kingdom, and being Inthronized, or placed therein, all the Great Officers , Those 
 that bear the Swords and the Sceptres , and the rest of the Nobles, stand round about the steps of the 
 Throne ; and the Archbishop standing before the King, saith : 
 
 Stand firm, and hold fast from henceforth the Seat and State of Royal and Imperial 
 Dignity which is this day delivered unto you in the Name, and by the Authority of 
 Almighty God, and by the Hands of Us the Bishops and Servants of God, though un- 
 worthy : And as you see Us to approach nearer to God’s Altar, so vouchsafe the more 
 graciously to continue to Us your Royal Favour and Protection. And the Lord God 
 Almighty, whose Ministers we are, and the Stewards of his Mysteries, establish your 
 Throne in Righteousness, that it may stand fast for evermore, like as the Sun before Him, 
 and as the faithful Witness in Heaven. Amen. 
 
 Sect. XVI. — The Homage. 
 
 The Exhortation being ended, all the Peers then present do their Homage publickly and solemnly 
 T1 H unto the King upon the Theatre; and in the mean time the Treasurer of ihe 
 
 le m ge. Household throws among the People Medals of Gold and Silver, as the King’s 
 Princely Largess, or Donative. 
 
 The Archbishop first kneels down before His Majesty’s Knees, and the rest of the Bishops kneel on 
 Of the Bishops either Hand, and about Him : and they do their Homage together for the shorten- 
 y ‘ ing of the Ceremony, the Archbishop saying : 
 
 I Archbishop of Canterbury [And so every one of the rest, I N. Bishop of 2V. 
 
 repeating the rest audibly after the Archbishop] will be faithful and true, and Faith and 
 Truth will bear unto you our Sovereign Lord, and your Heirs, Kings of the United King- 
 dom of Great Britain and Ireland. And I will do and truly acknowledge the Service of 
 the Lands which I claim to hold of you, as in right of the Church. 
 
 So help me God. 
 
 Then the Archbishop kisseth the King’s left Cheek, and so the rest of the Bishops present after him . 
 After which the other Peers of the Realm do their Homage in like manner, the Dukes first by them- 
 selves, and so the Marquisses, the Earls, the Viscounts, and the Barons, severally; the first of 
 Of the other each Order kneeling before His Majesty, and the rest with and about Him all 
 
 p eers putting off their Coronets, and the first of each Class beginning, and the rest 
 
 saying after him: 
 
 I N. Duke, or Earl, fyc., of N. do become your Liege man of Life and Limb, and of 
 earthly worship, and Faith and Truth I will bear unto you, to live and die, against all 
 manner of Folks. 
 
 So help me God. 
 
 Note , That Copies of this Homage must be provided by the Heralds for every Class of the Nobility. 
 The Peers having done their Homage, stand all together round about the King; and each Class or 
 Degree going by themselves, or (as it was at the Coronation of King Charles the First and Second) 
 every Peer one by one, in Order, putting off their Coronets, singly ascend the Throne again, and 
 stretching forth their hands, to touch the Crown on His Majesty’s Head, as promising by that Ce- 
 remony to be ever ready to support it with all their power, and then every one of them kisseth the 
 King’s Cheek. 
 
 While the Peers are thus doing their Homage, and the Medals thrown about, the King, if He thinks 
 good, delivers His Sceptre with the Cross to the Lord of the Manour of Worlcsop, to hold ; and the 
 other Sceptre, or Rod, with the Dove , to some one near to the Blood Royal, or to the Lord that cariied 
 it in the Procession, or to any other that He pleaseth to assign, to hold it by Him, 
 
 And the Bishops that support the King in the Procession may also ease Him, by supporting the 
 Crown, as there shall be occasion. 
 
 At the same Time the Choir sing this 
 
394 
 
 PROTESTANT COMMUNITIES. 
 
 Anthem. — Psal. Ixi. 6, 7. cxxxii. 19. 
 
 0 Lord, grant the King a long life : that his years may endure throughout all generations. 
 He shall dwell before God for ever : 0 prepare thy loving mercy and faithfulness, that 
 they may preserve him. 
 
 As for his enemies, clothe them with shame : but upon himself let his crown flourish. 
 
 Amen. 
 
 When the Homage of the Lords is ended, the Drums beat, and the Trumpets sound, and all the 
 
 People shout, crying out, 
 
 God save King 
 
 Long live King 
 
 May the King live for ever. 
 
 The Solemnity of the King's Coronation being thus ended, the Archbishop leaves the King in His 
 Throne, goes down to the Altar, and begins, 
 
 Sect. XVII. — The Queen's Coronation. 
 
 The Queen having reposed Herself in Her Chair on the South side of the Altar, while the King was 
 Crowned and Tnthronized. as soon as the Anthem is ended, ariseth and goeth to the Steps of the 
 Altar, supported by Two Bishops, and there kneeleth down, whilst the Archbishop saith the follow- 
 ing Prayer. 
 
 Almighty God, the fountain of all goodness ; Give ear, we beseech thee, to our prayers, 
 and multiply thy blessings upon this thy Servant, whom in thy Name, with all humble 
 devotion, we consecrate our Queen : Defend her evermore from all Dangers, ghostly and 
 bodily. Make her a great Example of Virtue and Piety, and a Blessing to this Kingdom, 
 through Jesus Christ our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee, 0 Father, in the Unity 
 of the Holy Spirit, world without end. Amen. 
 
 This Prayer being ended, the Queen ariseth, and cometh to the Place of Her Anointing : Which is 
 to be at' a Faldstool set for that purpose before the Altar, between the Steps and King Edward's 
 The Anointing. Chair. And standing there, the Chief Lady that attends Her. takes off Her Circle 
 
 a ’ of Gold, and She kneeleth down, and four Peeresses appointed for that Service, 
 
 holding a rich Pall of Silk or Cloth of Gold over Her, the Archbishop pourelh the Holy Oil upon 
 the Crown of Her Head, saying these Words : 
 
 In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost : Let the anointing 
 with this Oil increase your honour, and the grace of God’s Holy Spirit establish you for 
 ever and ever. Amen. 
 
 After the Anointing the Archbishop saith this Prayer : 
 
 0 most merciful God, pour out abundantly thy grace and blessing upon this thy Servant 
 
 Queen , that as by our Office and Ministry she is this day anointed, and solemnly 
 
 consecrated our Queen : so being sanctified by the Holy Spirit, she may continue thy 
 faithful and devout Servant unto her life’s end, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. 
 
 Th R' «• Then the Archbishop receiveth from the Master of the Jewel Office the Queen’s 
 
 e In °’ Ring, and putteth it upon the Fourth Finger of Her Right Hand, saying, 
 
 Receive this Ring, the Seal of a sincere Faith ; and God, to whom belongeth all Power 
 and Dignity, prosper you in this your honour, and grant you therein long to continue 
 fearing him always, and always doing such things as shall please him, through Jesus Christ 
 our Lord. Amen. 
 
 _ c Then the Archbishop taketh the Crown from off the Altar into his hand*, and 
 
 or wn. reverently setteth it upon the Queen’s Head, saying, 
 
 Receive the Crown of glory, honour, and joy ; and God the Crown of the faithful, who 
 by our Episcopal hands (though unworthy) doth this day set a Crown of pure Gold upon 
 your head, enrich your Royal heart with his abundant grace, and crown you with all 
 princely virtues in this life, and with an everlasting Crown of glory in the life which is to 
 come, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. 
 
 The Queen being crowned, all the Peeresses put on their Coronets. 
 
 The Sceptre and 
 Ivory Rod. 
 
 Then the Archbishop putteth the Sceptre into the Queen’s Right Hand, 
 and the Ivory Rod with the Dove into her Left Hand : and sayeth this 
 Prayer : 
 
 O Lord, the giver of all perfection, Grant unto this thy Servant our Queen, that 
 
 by the powerful and mild Influence of her Piety and Virtue, she may adorn the high Dig- 
 nity which she hath obtained, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. 
 
 The Queen being thus Anointed , and Crowned , and having received all Her Ornaments, the Choir 
 sing this following Anthem : 
 
 Anthem. 
 
 Hallelujah ; For the Lord God Omnipotent reigneth. The kingdom of this World 
 is become the kingdom of our Lord, and of his Christ. And he shall reign for ever and 
 ever, King of Kings, and Lord of Lords. Hallelujah. 
 
 As soon as this Anthem begins, the Queen ariseth and goeth from the Altar, supported v y Her two 
 Bishops, and so up to the Theatre. And as She passeth by the King on His Throne, Sne bowetn 
 Herself reverently to His Majesty, and then is conducted to Her Own Throne, and without any 
 further Ceremony taketh Her place in it; Reposing Herself till She comes down, with the King, to 
 receive the Holy Communion. 
 
CHURCH OF ENGLAND. 
 
 395 
 
 Sect. XVIII. — The Communion . 
 
 Then the Offertory begins, the Archbishop reading these Sentences : 
 
 The Offertory Let y° ur 80 shine before men, that they may see your good works, 
 and glorify your Father which is in Heaven. 
 
 Charge them who are rich in this world, that they be ready to give and glad to distri- 
 bute ; laying up in store for themselves a good foundation against the time to come, that 
 they may attain eternal life. 
 
 The King and Queen descend from Their Thrones, supported and attended as before ; and go to the 
 Steps of the Altar, and kneel down there 
 
 At first the King offers Bread and Wine for the Communion, which being bi ought out of King Edward's 
 Chapel, and delivered into His Hands, the Bread upon the Paten by the Bishop 
 The King offers that read the Epistle , and the Wine in the Chalice by the Bishop that read the 
 Bread an me. Gospel, are by the Archbishop received from the King, and reverently placed 
 upon the Altar, and decently covered with a fair linen Cloth, the Archbishop first saying this 
 prayer : 
 
 Bless, O Lord, we beseech thee, these thy Gifts, and sanctify them unto this holy use, 
 that by them we may be made partakers of the Body and Blood of thine only begotten 
 Son Jesus Christ, and fed unto everlasting life of Soul and Body : And that thy Servant 
 
 King may be enabled to the discharge of his weighty Office, whereunto of thy 
 
 great goodness thou hast called and appointed Him. Grant this, O Lord, for Jesus Christ’s 
 sake, our only Mediator and Advocate. Amen. 
 
 Then the King kneeling, as before, makes His second oblation, offering a Mark weight of Gold, which 
 . the Treasurer of the Household delivers to the Lord Great Chamberlain, and he to 
 A. Mark or o . ^ a j est y And t h e Archbishop coming to Him, receives it into the Bason, 
 
 and placeth it upon the Altar. 
 
 The Queen also at the same time maketh Her second Oblation, in like manner as 
 the King: After which the Archbishop says, 
 
 The Queen offers. 
 
 O God, who dwellest in the high and holy place, with them also who are of an humble 
 
 spirit, look down mercifully upon these thy Servants, our King, and our Queen, 
 
 here humbling Themselves before Thee at thy Footstool ; and graciously receive these 
 Oblations , which in humble acknowledgment of thy Sovereignty over all, and of thy 
 great Bounty to them in particular, they have now offered up unto thee, through Jesus 
 Christ, our only Mediator and Advocate. Amen. 
 
 Then the King and Queen return to Their Chairs , and kneeling down at Their Faldstools, the Arch* 
 
 bishop saith : 
 
 Let us pray for the whole state of Christ’s Church militant here on earth. 
 
 Almighty and everliving God, &c. 
 
 The Exhortation. — The General Confession. — The Absolution. 
 
 After which shall be said, 
 
 Hear what comfortable words our Saviour Christ saith unto all that truly turn to him : 
 Come unto me, &c. 
 
 After which the Archbishop shall proceed, saying: 
 
 Archb. Lift up your hearts. 
 
 Answ. We lift them up unto the Lord. 
 
 Archb. Let us give thanks unto our Lord God. 
 
 Ans.w. It is meet and right so to do. 
 
 Then shall the Archbishop turn to the Lord’s Table, and say. 
 
 It is very meet, right, and our bounden dut}’-, that we should at all times, and in all 
 places, give thanks unto thee, O Lord, Holy Father, Almighty, Everlasting God: 
 
 Who hast at this time given us thy Servant our Sovereign, King to be the Defender 
 
 of thy Faith, and the Protector of thy People ; and together with Him hast raised up our 
 
 Gracious Queen to be a great Example and Encourager of true religion and piety 
 
 among us. 
 
 Therefore with Angels and Archangels, &c. 
 
 The Prayer of Address. 
 
 We do not presume, &c. 
 
 The Prayer of Consecration. 
 
 Almighty God, our Heavenly Father, who of thy tender mercy, didst give thine only 
 Son Jesus Christ to suffer death upon the Cross for our redemption, &c. 
 
 When the Archbishop , and Bean of Westminster, with the Bishops Assistants, namely the Preacher , and 
 t p icina- and those who read the Litany , and the Epistle and Gospel , ha\ e communicated m 
 Queen coninunicate both kinds - tbe Archbishop shall administer the Bread, and the Dean of West- 
 minster the Cup, to the King and Queen. 
 
-) 
 
 396 PltOTESTANT COMMUNITIES. 
 
 At the Delivery of the Bread shall be said, 
 
 The Body of our Lord Jesus Christ, &c. 
 
 At the Delivery of the Cup. 
 
 The Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ, &c. 
 
 Post -Communion. Then the Archbishop goeth on to the Post- Communion, saying, 
 
 Our Father, &c. 
 
 Then this prayer : 
 
 O Lord and Heavenly Father, we thy humble servants, &c. 
 
 Then shall be sail 
 Glory be to God on high, &c. 
 
 In the mean time the King and Queen return to their Thrones upon the Theatre, and afterwards 
 the Archbishop reads the final Prayers. 
 
 Sect. XIX. — The Final Prayers. 
 
 Assist us mercifully, 0 Lord, in these our supplications and prayers, and dispose the 
 way of thy servants towards the attainment of everlasting salvation ; that among all the 
 changes and chances of this mortal life, they may ever be defended by thy most gracious 
 and ready help, through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen. 
 
 O Lord our God, who upholdest and governest all things in Heaven and Earth, receive 
 
 our humble prayers, with our thanksgivings, for our Sovereign Lord , set over us by 
 
 thy good providence to be our King: And so together with him bless our gracious Queen 
 
 , and the rest of the Royal Family, that they ever trusting in thy goodness, protected 
 
 by thy power, and crowned with thy favour, may continue before thee in health and peace, 
 in joy and honour, a long and happy life upon earth, and after death may obtain everlasting 
 life and glory, in the kingdom of Heaven, through the merits and mediation of Jesus Christ 
 our Saviour ; who, with thee, O Father and the Holy Spirit, liveth and reigneth ever one 
 God, world without end. Amen. 
 
 Almighty God, who hast promised to hear the petitions of them that ask in thy Son’s 
 Name ; We beseech thee mercifully to incline thine ears to us that have made now our 
 prayers and supplications unto thee, and grant that those things which we have faithfully 
 asked according to thy will, may effectually be obtained, to the relief of our necessity, and 
 to the setting forth of thy Glory, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. 
 
 The peace of God, which passeth all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in the 
 knowledge and love of God, and of his son Jesus Christ our Lord : And the blessing of 
 God Almighty, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, be amongst you, and remain 
 with you always. Amen. 
 
 Sect. XX. — The Recess. 
 
 The whole Coronation Office being thus performed, the King , attended and accompanied as before 
 the four Swords being carried before Him, descends from His Throne Crowned, and carrying His 
 The Proceeding in- ® ce V tre aj id Rod in His Hands, goes into the Area Eastward of the Theatre, and 
 to King Edvfard't P asses 011 through the Door on the South side of the Altar into King Edward's 
 Chapel: Of the King. Chapel; and as they pass by the Altar, the rest of the Regalia lying upon it, are 
 to be delivered by the Dean of Westminster to the Lords that carried them in the 
 Procession, and so they proceed in State into the Chapel, the Organs all the while playing. The 
 nr tho o„PATi Queen at the same time descending, goes in like manner into the same Chapel at 
 1 * the Door on the North side of the Altar , bearing Her Sceptre in Her Right Hand, 
 
 and Her Ivory Rod in Her Left. 
 
 The King and Queen being come into the Chapel, the King standing before the Altar , will deliver the 
 Sceptre with the Dove to the Archbishop , who will lay it upon the Altar there. And the Gold Spurs 
 and St. Edward's Staff \ are given into the hands of the Dean of Westminster, and by him laid there 
 
 St.eO. 
 
 The Archbishop being still vested in his Qope, will then place the Orb in His Majesty’s Left Hand. 
 Which being done, the Archbishop and Bishops will divest themselves of their Copes, and leave them 
 there, proceeding in their usual Habits. 
 
 Then Their Majesties will proceed through the Choir to the West Door of ihe Abbey, in the same 
 manner as They came, wearing Their Crowns. The King bearing in his Right Hand the Sceptre 
 with the Cross, and in His Left the Orb; the Queen bearing in Her Right Hand Her Sceptre with 
 the Cross, and in Her Left the Ivory Rod with the Dove; all Peers wearing their Coronets, and the 
 Archbishops and Bishops their Caps. 
 
 The last religious ceremony of the English Liturgy is the burial of the 
 dead. In the order for that service, it is noted, first, “ That it is not for 
 Burial of the an y die unbaptized, or excommunicated, or have laid 
 0ead - violent hands upon themselves.” The priest and clerk 
 
 meeting the corpse at the entrance of the church-yard, and going before it 
 
CHURCH OF ENGLAND. 
 
 397 
 
 either into the church or towards the grave, say, “ I am the resurrection 
 and the life,” &c. (John, chap. xi. ver. 25), with some other sentences of 
 Scripture. In the church some suitable psalms are read or sung, with a 
 lesson adapted to that ceremony. When they are come to the grave, and 
 are preparing every thing to put the body into the earth, the priest and his 
 clerk say or sing, “ Man that is born of a woman,” &c. Earth is then 
 cast upon the body, and some prayers are said, in one of which God is 
 desired to grant “ that we, with all those that are departed in the true faith, 
 may have our perfect consummation and bliss, both in body and soul, in 
 glory.” 
 
 As soon as any one has breathed his last, the minister of the parish, arid 
 those who have in charge to visit dead bodies, must have notice given 
 civil rites of t ^ lem » this was ordered to be done immediately after the 
 Funerals. great plague which raged in London in the year 1665, that 
 
 it might be found out if any distemper proved contagious, and proper pre- 
 cautions taken to prevent its spreading. This visit is commonly performed 
 by two women ; the clerk of the parish receives their attestation, and an 
 abstract of it is printed every week, by which the public are informed how 
 many died in the week, of what distemper or by what accident. An act 
 of parliament, made for the encouragement of the woollen manufactory, 
 ordains that all corpses shall be buried in flannel, without any allowance for 
 linen, but the flannel may be as fine as they think fit. Those shrouds are 
 either bespoken or bought ready made, and most linen-drapers have some 
 by them of all sizes and prices. The corpse being washed very clean, and 
 shaved, if it be that of a man, they put on it a flannel shirt, the sleeves of 
 which are ruffled and plaited, with another tufted piece of the same stuff 
 which covers the opening of the shirt upon the breast. The shirt must be 
 above half a foot longer than the corpse when extended at full length, that 
 the feet of the deceased may be put into it as in a bag, which when per- 
 formed it is tied with woollen, so as to look like a tuft. They add to this a 
 cap, with a large chin-cloth tied to the cap, a cravat and gloves, all woollen. 
 Some put a large quantity of bran at the bottom of the coffin. Instead of 
 a cap, the women have head-clothes with a forehead-cloth. Some coffins 
 are exceedingly fine. When the corpse is in it, they make a second visit, 
 to see whether it be all in flannel, and no linen or even thread, except 
 woollen, employed about it. The body lies so three or four days, and all 
 that time is allowed to provide mourning and prepare for the funeral. 
 
 The palls are provided by the undertakers ; some of black velvet, some 
 of black cloth, bordered either with white satin, or linen, or taffety, about a 
 foot long. It is so large, that it covers not only the coffin, but likewise the 
 men who carry it upon their shoulders, and still hangs low enough to be 
 supported by the pall-bearers, either men or women, according to the sex 
 of the person who is to be buried, and they have gloves, hat-bands, and 
 26 
 
393 
 
 PROTESTANT COMMUNITIES. 
 
 sometimes scarfs, black or white, given them. When every thing is ready, 
 two men called mutes go first, and they are immediately followed by the 
 corpse and pall-bearers ; the chief mourners and other persons invited, two 
 and two, close the procession. Generally they go into the church, in the 
 middle of which, the body being placed upon two tressels, the service for 
 the dead appointed for that occasion is said. If the body be not buried in 
 the church, they carry it to the church-yard belonging to it, and put it into 
 the ground before the whole company, who seldom depart till the earth be 
 again thrown in. 
 
 Within a few years past a dispute has arisen which has assumed the 
 denomination of the “ Tractarian Controversy.” This name was derived 
 from the circumstance of its commencing with a series of well-written pub- 
 lications entitled “"Tracts for the Times.” The object of the writers seemed 
 to be to revive in the church those usages that had gradually fallen into 
 desuetude by the progressive development -of the reformed religion. In 
 contending for these they asserted, more and more fully, the principles of 
 the Romish church. After several years of controversy, in which the 
 Tractarian writers were successful to a remarkable degree, a reaction has 
 evidently ensued. Several of the leading persons on the Tractarian side 
 have gone over to the Church of Rome. Other circumstances have con- 
 spired to create alarm; and the public mind in England is, evidently, at the 
 present time, setting back again towards the principles of the Reformation. 
 Still, the elements are in so much agitation, and different men of distinction 
 maintain so many different shades of belief, that no estimate can be formed 
 as to the ultimate result of this interesting movement. 
 
KIRK OF SCOTLAND. 
 
 399 
 
 SEC. III.— KIRK OF SCOTLAND.* 
 
 T he conversion of the Scots to the Christian faith began through the 
 ministry of Paladius, about the year 430, and from the first establishment 
 „. . , T . of Christianity in that country till the Reformation in the 
 
 der,s - reign of Mary, mother of James I. and of Mary I. of Eng 
 
 land, their church government was episcopacy ; but the Presbyterian dis- 
 cipline was not finally established in Scotland, until the reign of King 
 William and Mary, a. d. 1689, when episcopacy was totally abolished. 
 The Westminster Confession of Faith was then received as the standard 
 of the national creed ; which all ministers, and principals and professors 
 in universities, are obliged to subscribe as the confession of their faith, 
 before receiving induction into office. 
 
 The Church of Scotland is remarkable for its uncommon simplicity of 
 worship ; it possesses no liturgy, no altar, no instrumental music, no sur- 
 Worship— Minis P^ ce ’ no fi X0, d canonical vestment of any kind. It con 
 teriai parity, &c. demns the worship paid to saints, and observes no festival 
 days. Its ministers enjoy a parity of rank and of authority ; it enforces 
 that all ministers, being ambassadors of Christ, are equal in commission ; 
 that there is no order in the church, as established by the Saviour, superior 
 to presbyters ; and that bishop and presbyter, though different words, are 
 of the same import. It acknowledges no earthly head : its judicatories 
 are quite distinct from, and independent of, any civil judicatory; insomuch, 
 ndeed, that the decisions of the one are often contrary to those of the other, 
 yet both remain unaffected and unaltered. When, for example, a clergy- 
 man has been presented to a parish by a patron, and induction and ordina- 
 tion 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 presentee 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 president of it, and a number of the 
 most grave and respectable laymen, members of the congre- 
 gation. Their number varies in different parishes, five or 
 
 Judicatories. 
 
 * The word Kirk is of Saxon origin, and signifies Church ; or according to others, it is 
 a contraction of the Greek word, meaning the House of God. 
 
400 
 
 PROTESTANT COMMUNITIES. 
 
 six being about the average number; and their services are entirely grata 
 itous. 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 cognisance of cases of scandal, such as for- 
 nication, 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 num- 
 ber of presbyteries is seventy-eight. Their chief duty con- 
 Presbytery. s j gts j n management of such matters as concern the 
 
 church within their respective bounds. But they may originate any mat- 
 ter, and bring it under the view of the Synod or General Assembly. 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 certain 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, and continues its sittings for twelve 
 General Assem days. T 'he king presides by his representative, who is 
 b] y- always a nobleman, and is denominated the Lord High 
 
 Commissioner. The General Assembly is a representative court, consist- 
 ing of 200 members representing presbyteries, and 156 elders representing 
 burghs or presbyteries, and five ministers or elders representing universi- 
 ties, — making altogether 361 member^. They choose a moderator or pre- 
 sident, 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 laborious. They 
 officiate regularly in the public worship of God ; and in general, they must 
 
 Duties of the £° trough this duty twice every Sunday, (exclusively of 
 Scotch Clergy. other occasional appearances,) delivering every Sunday a 
 lecture and a sermon, with prayers. It is also expected, throughout Scot- 
 land, that the prayers and discourses shall be of the minister’s own compo- 
 sition ; 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 examining their people from the Scriptures and 
 
KIRK OF SCOTLAND. 
 
 401 
 
 catechisms of the ctiurch, 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 de- 
 volves, 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 
 Lords Supper. g ess j on mee t s , and draws up a list of all the communicants 
 in the parish, according to the minister’s examination-book, and the testi- 
 mony of the elders and deacons. According to this list, tickets are deli- 
 vered 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 Wednesday or Thursday before, there is a 
 solemn fast, and on the Saturday there are two preparatory sermons. On 
 Sunday morning, after singing and prayer as usual, the minister of the 
 parish preaches a suitable sermon ; and when the ordinary worship is 
 ended, he in the name of Jesus Christ forbids the unworthy to approach, 
 and invites the penitent to come and receive the sacrament. Then he 
 goes into the body 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 
 tread, and distributes it and the wine to those that are next him, who 
 transmit them to their neighbours; the elders and deacon attending to 
 serve, and see that the whole is performed with decency and order. 
 While these communicate, the minister discourses on the nature of the 
 sacrament ; and the whole is concluded with singing and prayer. The 
 minister then returns to the pulpit, and preaches a sermon. The morn- 
 ing-service ended, the congregation are dismissed for an hour ; after which 
 the usual afternoon worship is performed. On the Monday morning, 
 there is public worship, with two sermons ; and these, properly speaking, 
 close the communion-service. No private communions are allowed in 
 Scotland. 
 
 Marriage is solemnized nearly after the manner of the Church of Eng- 
 51 2 L 2 
 
4C2 
 
 PROTESTANT COMMUNITIES. 
 
 Jand, with the exception of the ring, which is deemed a great relic of 
 “popery.” By the Jaws of Scotland, the marringe-knot 
 Marm 0 e. ma y p e tied without any ceremony of a religious nature : a 
 simple promise in the presence of witnesses* or a known previous coha- 
 bitation, being sufficient to bind the obligation. The most ridiculous, often 
 immoral, and almost always injurious practice, of marrying at Gretna- 
 Green, was, till lately, in use ; a person said to have been a blacksmith 
 performed the ceremony at Gretna according to the rites of the church ! 
 
 The Funeral ceremony is performed in total silence. The corpse is 
 carried to the grave, and there interred without a word being spoken on 
 the occasion. 
 
 Dr. Evans, in his usual liberal strain, gives the following account of the 
 Seceders : — 
 
 “Dissenters from the kirk, or church of Scotland, call themselves 
 Seceders ; for, as the term Dissenter comes from the Latin word dissentio, 
 to differ, so the appellation Seceder is derived from another 
 Latin word, secedo, to separate or to withdraw from any 
 body of men with which we may have been united. The secession arose 
 from various circumstances, which were conceived to be great defections 
 from the established church of Scotland. The Seceders are rigid Cal- 
 vinists, rather austere in their manners, and severe in their discipline. 
 Through a difference as to civil matters, they are broken down into 
 Burghers and Anti-burghers. Of these two classes the latter are the 
 most confined in their sentiments, and associate therefore the least with any 
 other body of Christians. The Seceders originated under two brothers, 
 Ralph and Ebenezer Erskine, of Stirling, about the year 1730. It is 
 worthy of observation, that the Rev. George Whitfield, in one of his visits 
 to Scotland, was solemnly reprobated by the Seceders, because he refused 
 to confine his itinerant labours wholly to them. The reason assigned for 
 this monopolization was, that they were exclusively God’s people! Mr. 
 Whitfield smartly replied, that they had, therefore, the less need of his 
 services ; for his aim was to turn sinners from the error and wickedness 
 of their ways, by preaching among them glad tidings of great joy ! 
 
 “The Burgess’ oath, concerning which the Seceders differed, is admi- 
 nistered in several of the royal boroughs of Scotland, and runs thus: ‘ I 
 protest before God and your lordships, that I profess and allow with my 
 heart the true religion presently professed within this realm, and autho- 
 rized by the laws thereof ; I shall abide thereat, and defend the same to 
 my life’s end, renouncing the Roman religion called papistry.’ The 
 Messrs. Erskine and others maintained there was no inconsistency in 
 Seceders taking this oath, because the established religion was still the 
 true religion, in spite of the faults attaching to it, and hence were called 
 Burghers. Messrs. Moncrieff and others thought the swearing to the 
 
KIRK OF SCOTLAND. 
 
 403 
 
 religion, as professed and authorized, was approving the corruptions, 
 therefore the oath was inconsistent and not to be taken ; hence Anti- 
 burghers. The Kirk of Scotland, both parties say, still perseveres in a 
 course of defection from her professed principles, and therefore the seces- 
 sion continues, and is increasing to the present day. (See an Historical 
 Account of the Rise and Progress of the Secession, by the late Rev. John 
 Brown, of Haddington.) The Seceders are strict Presbyterians, having 
 their respective associate synods, and are to be found not only in Scotland, 
 but also in Ireland and in the United States of America. Both classes 
 have had among them ministers of considerable learning and piety. 
 
 “ There is also a species of Dissenters from the Church of Scotland 
 called Relief, whose only difference from the Kirk is, the choosing of their 
 own pastors. They arose in 1752, and are respectable as to numbers and 
 ability. (See a Compendious View of the Religious System maintained 
 by the Synod of Relief, by P. Hutchinson ; and also Historical Sketches 
 of the Relief Church, &c., by J. Smith.) The Relief are Calvinists as 
 well as Presbyterians, but liberal in their views, admitting to their commu- 
 nion pious Christians of every denomination. They revere the union of 
 faith and charity.” 
 
 In 1835, an attempt was made by the Church of Scotland to place itself 
 on a more popular basis, by giving to the heads of families, communicants, 
 a veto upon the nomination of the patron ; but, the ecclesiastical action by 
 which this was sought to be effected, having been declared by the Supreme 
 Court to be a civil act beyond the jurisdiction of the church, and no dis- 
 position being manifested by the parliament to aid in removing the diffi- 
 culty ; a number of its most distinguished members, in 1843, withdrew in a 
 body, and formed the “Free Church of Scotland.” It is probable they anti- 
 cipated that a step so decided would move the legislature to action on their 
 behalf. One of their most dearly cherished and prominent principles was 
 the obligation of the state to provide for the religious instruction of the peo- 
 ple, and the insufficiency of the voluntary principle for this purpose But 
 the state’s declining to act, left them to make a beautiful exemplification of 
 the mistake of their own theory. They seemed to have proved, by logic, 
 that a church could not sustain itself on the voluntary principle ; they are 
 demonstrating, by experiment, that it can do it, not only, but also that it can 
 do it with signal advantage to its spiritual interests. The late eminent 
 Doctor Chalmers, Doctors Candlish, Cunningham, and many others distin- 
 guished for their learning and piety, took part in securing the division, 
 Since the separation, the Free Church has erected 676 churches, 487 
 of which are free from debt. They number now about 600 ministers, and 
 have raised in less than five years 7,500,000 dollars for sustaining their 
 interests. 
 
404 
 
 PROTESTANT COMMUNITIES. 
 
 ENGLISH PRESBYTERIANS. 
 
 The first adherents of this form of church government in England 
 were those Protestants who returned from Frankfort whence they had 
 fled for refuge, in the reign of Queen Mary. In Germany t] lev had 
 become acquainted with the Geneva platform, and on returning to their 
 native country in the time of Elizabeth, they at first met in private 
 houses, and afterwards more publicly, on which occasions worship was 
 conducted according to the forms of the Geneva service-book. 
 
 The first Presbyterian place of worship erected, was at Wandsworth, 
 in Burry, where also a Presbytery was formed. Other Presbyteries 
 were then rapidly constituted in most of the counties of England, and 
 in a short time the number of Presbyterians is said to have amounted 
 to a hundred thousand. In the time of Cromwell they held the famous 
 Westminster Assembly, consisting of a hundred and fifty Ministers, 
 of whom, however, seven were Independents. They now hoped that 
 Presbyterianism would be made the established religion of England 
 by act of Parliament; but a law was enacted granting free toleration 
 to every one to think and worship as he pleased, which proved a great 
 eyesore to the Presbyterians, who had expected to see their opponents, 
 especially the Independents, completely crushed. 
 
 About the beginning of the last century, though the Independents 
 had greatly augmented, the Presbyterian congregations both in influ- 
 ence and numbers were nearly double theirs ; but the gradual increase 
 of Arminiasm and Arianism, and the consequent diminution of interest 
 in their preaching, powerfully operated upon the state of their congre- 
 gations, and many left them and joined the Independents. This 
 deteriorating issued with many in downright Socinianism. Ministers 
 of lax and dubious sentiments were gradually introduced to congrega- 
 tions, and their seminaries became infected with heresy, and from 
 these fountains poisoned streams were let in upon the churches. 
 Trustees of Arian or Socinian opinions appointed Ministers of their own 
 sort over orthodox congregations contrary to their will. Endowments 
 which had been founded especially with the view of maintaining the 
 doctrines of the Assembly’s confessions and catechisms, were appro- 
 priated to the support of a system which the founders would have held 
 in utter abhorrence. In this way upwards of one hundred and seventy 
 chapels came into the hands of the Socinians, who, in order to retain 
 them, arrogated to themselves the name of Presbyterians, though they 
 have not a Presbyterian form of church government, and not so much 
 as a shred of the doctrinal principles of the Presbyterian church. 
 
 With the endowments and charities which have been thus alienated 
 from their original purposes, the Socinians have in their hands a large 
 amount of funds, and yet notwithstanding all this temporal provision 
 pseudo-Presbyterianism is struggling for its existence, paralyzed as it 
 is by the influence of infidelity, with which it is too frequently found 
 in contact. 
 
 To be carefully distinguished from the above described church ane 
 the Presbyterian congregations in England, which are in communion 
 with the Church of Scotland or the Seceders. These are carrying for- 
 ward the true Presbyterian interests with energy and gratifying success. 
 
BAPTISTS. 
 
 405 
 
 SECTION V.— BAPTISTS OF ENGLAND AND CONTINENTAL EUROPE. 
 
 Continued to 1871. 
 
 In the popular mind the chief distinctive feature associated with that 
 body of Christians, comprising a number of subdivisions and known as 
 Baptists, is their practice of Immersion as in their judgment the only 
 scriptural form of Baptism. They are supposed to differ from all others 
 mainly on the mode and subjects of Baptism. This is in part true: 
 but to give our readers a more accurate conception of this large and 
 most decidedly evangelical body of Christians, now the most numerous 
 among the Dissenters of England (with, perhaps, a single exception), 
 and rapidly increasing on the continent, especially in Sweden and Ger- 
 many, we will first glance at their claim to a place in history, and then 
 give a synopsis of their beliefs and practices. 
 
 Baptists, or as formerly derisively designated Ana-baptists, i. e. re- 
 History baptizers, claim to have a history antedating the Refor- 
 mation. Indeed, they claim, substantially, that the 
 advocates of their views and principles were the true precursors of 
 Jerome of Prague, and of John Huss, of Martin Luther, and Zwingli, 
 of Calvin, and Knox. It is sometimes charged that they sprung from 
 those wild, lawless, enthusiastic, Iconoclastic peasants in Germany, 
 who appeared in time of Luther, and who are known in the records of 
 that era as “ The Madmen of Munster.” This they deny, and certainly 
 they are justified in making this denial, for no impartial historian of 
 that period now asserts that Baptists descended from those fanatics, or 
 that then they, as a body, had any participation in the dangerous 
 doings of those men. D’Aubigne, the well-known historian of the 
 Reformation, says: “Some persons imagine that the Anabaptists of 
 the times of the Reformation and the Baptists of our day are the same, 
 but they are as different as possible.”* 
 
 Baptists do not claim that there were those in the time of Luther and 
 the Reformation, or prior to that time, who were called Baptists. The 
 succession they claim, and the method by which they trace it is, that 
 of the principles they hold, and which we will presently define. That 
 they were numerous in Germany, Switzerland and England, during 
 the early part of the sixteenth century, is an unquestioned fact of eccle- 
 siastical history. At that time they were known as Anabaptists, i. e. 
 Rebaptizers, because they then, as now, regarded nothing, except the 
 immersion of a believer in water, in the name of the Trinity, as scripture 
 baptism. 
 
 But, they claim a higher antiquity than the eventful era of the Re- 
 formation. They affirm that their views of the Church, and the Ordi- 
 nances, may be traced through the Paterines, the Waldenses, the Albi- 
 genses, the Vaudois, the Cathari, and the Poor Men of Lyons— the 
 Paulicians, the Donatists, the Novatians: to the Messalians, the Monta- 
 nists, and the Euchites of the second and closing part of the first cen- 
 tury, to the Apostles and the churches they founded. 
 
 * Hist, of Reformation, vol. 1, Preface, p. 9. 
 
1 
 
 406 PROTESTANT COMMUNITIES. 
 
 They do not pretend that these ancient and greatly persecuted sects 
 were called Baptists, but, in general, that they held the more promi- 
 nent and distinctive opinions, which have always characterized the 
 Baptists. Their claim to this high antiquity it would seem is well 
 founded, for historians not Baptists, and who could have no motive 
 except fidelity to facts, concede it. 
 
 Mosheim says: “The true origin of that sect which acquired the 
 name Anabaptists is hid in the remote depths of antiquity.''* Zwingli, 
 the Swiss Reformer, says : “ The institution of Anabaptism is no nov- 
 
 elty, but, for fifteen hundred years, has caused great disturbance in the 
 Church. ”f 
 
 Drs. Dermont and Ypeij, who prepared a history of the Reformed 
 Dutch Church of Holland, give it as their opinion that “ The Baptists 
 may be considered as the only Christian community which has stood 
 since the Apostles." % Cardinal Hossius, Chairman of the Council of 
 Trent, says: “If the truth of religion were to be judged of by the 
 readiness and cheerfulness which a man of any sect shows in suffering, 
 then the opinions and persuasions of no sect can be truer or surer than 
 those of the Anabaptists, since there have been none, for these twelve 
 hundred years past, that have been more grievously punished.” || This 
 latter is certainly a very strong concession to the claims of Baptists, as 
 the cardinal was an eminent and learned prelate of the Catholic church, 
 living in the earlier portion of the fifteenth century ; thus, it will be 
 seen, he concedes their existence from the third century. 
 
 It is not pretended by Baptists that they alone have been the victims 
 
 Persecutions re ^&^ ous persecution, and intolerance, for many 
 others have suffered ; but they do claim that they have 
 not only never persecuted, but have been the greatest sufferers from the 
 severest and most studied persecutions of both the civil and the ecclesi- 
 astical power. That the several sects mentioned, through which Bap- 
 tists claim they trace themselves from the Reformation down to Apos- 
 tolic times, were bitterly persecuted, is an undoubted fact of history, as 
 our intelligent readers, of all denominations, know. But during the 
 Reformation, and loug subsequent to it, Baptists, or, as they were 
 reproachfully termed, Anabaptists, were persecuted by both Romanist 
 and Protestant. We will introduce here two quotations from the popu- 
 lar English historian, Froude. Of the Anabaptists of the Netherlands 
 he says : “ On them the laws of the country might take their natural 
 
 course, and no voice was raised to speak for them. For them no Europe 
 was agitated ; no courts were ordered into mourning ; no royal hearts 
 trembled with indignation. At their deaths the world looked on com- 
 placently, indifferently, or exultingly. For them history has no word 
 of praise" § 
 
 In describing the policy of the Duke of Somerset in England, in 
 1549, he says: “ A commissioner was appointed to hunt out and try 
 
 * Eccl. Hist. vol. 4, p. 427 ; Mac. Ed. 1811. f In trod. Orchard’s Hist. ; p. 17. 
 
 J Hist, of Reformed Dutch Ch. ; ed. Breda (1S19.) |! Orchard’s Hist. p. 3G4. 
 
 §Hist. of England, vol. 2, p. 25S. 
 
BAPTISTS. 
 
 407 
 
 Anabaptists; to examine them and report on their opinions, and, if 
 mild measures failed, to deliver over the obstinate, in the old fashion, 
 to the secular arm.’’* Jeremy Taylor, as quoted by Palfrey, says: 
 “Anabaptists are as much to be rooted out as any thing that is the 
 greatest pest, and nuisance.”! We might add many more, but must 
 content ourselves with these three. They are sufficient to show that 
 Baptists are well sustained by those not of them, when they assert their 
 growth and present power in the religious world to have been attained 
 despite the most bitter persecutions, both secular and religious. 
 
 There is much Baptists hold in common with all Evangelical Chris- 
 Doctrines tians. They believe in the Divine authenticity and cre- 
 dibility of the Bible, accepting all its books as inspired. 
 They believe in the Trinity, in man’s creation in holiness, in his fall 
 through transgression, and the consequent sinfulness of the whole 
 human race ; in man’s guilt and condemnation, and the consequent 
 impossibility of justification “ by the deeds of the law.” They believe 
 in what is teamed the “vicarious atonement.” That Christ paid the 
 penalty due our sins, and that we can be justified only by faith in His 
 word. That “we are saved from wrath through him.” They believe 
 in the necessity of regeneration, and that this is effected by the Holy 
 Spirit. 
 
 In a word, in those respects in which they agree with the great body 
 of Evangelical Christians, they are Calvinists, especially holding in 
 common with the great Presbyterian family the doctrine of election to 
 eternal life in Jesus Christ. 
 
 They differ from others in holding that no person is, on any pretence, 
 or for any reason, to be admitted into membership in the visible church 
 until they have professed regeneration. Until this is claimed and satis- 
 factory evidence given, they will not administer the ordinance of bap- 
 tism. Hence they oppose infant baptism, regarding baptism in the 
 name of the Trinity, as the “ outward sign of an inward and invisible 
 work.” Consequently, they stoutly oppose everything savoring of 
 “Baptismal Regeneration,” believing a man must be regenerated and 
 give evidence of saving faith before being baptized, and say baptism 
 must be the voluntary act of a qualified agent. They do not ask an 
 applicant for membership to subscribe to a creed or to commit a cate- 
 chism. They rely on the Holy Spirit, by means of the written word, 
 guiding him into all truth, while causing him to grow in grace. They 
 hold the Church of Christ to be a spiritual Temple, “built up of lively 
 stones.” Hence, they have always protested against all unholy alli- 
 ances of church and State, believing that Christ’s Kingdom is not of 
 this world. This has led them to entertain most decided views respect- 
 ing the headship of Jesus over His church. Their churches are all 
 independent of each other, each member, whether man or woman, 
 black or white, having the same privileges as any other member. The 
 pastor has no ruling authority. N either deacons nor ministers have any 
 governmental functions ; Christ’s authority is supreme. They deny the 
 
 * Hist, of England, vol. 5, p. 162. 
 
 t Hist, of New England, vol. 3, p. 92. 
 
408 
 
 PROTESTANT COMMUNITIES. 
 
 right of conference, or synod, or bishops, or any other ecclesiastical 
 body to legislate for His churches ; nor have they any creed binding all 
 to subscribe to it. The Bible is pre-eminently their only creed. 
 
 Such being their views, it is evident they must ever have contended 
 against all union of the Church and the State. They contend for the 
 fullest freedom to all, to worship God according to the dictates of their 
 own conscience, but deny the right of any man or body of men to exer- 
 cise lordship over God’s heritage. 
 
 Baptism, they strenuously insist, is only immersion, and that infants 
 are not scriptural subjects, while none are to be admitted until profess- 
 ing the “ new birth.” 
 
 They contend for but one order in the ministry, that of ordained pas- 
 tors. They have deacons, but their functions are not spiritual, they 
 are temporal and secular, or at most assistants of the pastor in attend- 
 ing to details, as the care of the poor of the church, the pastor’s salary, 
 and the communion service, providing the bread and wine, and distri- 
 buting at the table. 9 
 
 The pastor presides in the examination of candidates for membership, 
 but such examination takes place in the presence of the entire mem- 
 bership, and any member is at liberty to ask any appropriate question 
 of the candidate respecting what is termed his “ Christian experience,” 
 and views of Bible doctrine. The admission is by the vote of the entire 
 membership, the majority deciding. 
 
 They regard the ordinances as but two, Baptism and the Lord’s Sup- 
 per, holding the former to symbolize regeneration and the new life of 
 faith in Christ, and the latter our dependence on Christ for spiritual 
 life 
 
 Having given this brief account of the historic claims of Baptists 
 generally, and of their views of Scripture doctrine, we pass to give some 
 account of the 
 
 ENGLISH BAPTISTS. 
 
 They undoubtedly, in part at least, had their origin in the introduc- 
 tion of Baptists’ principles from the continent. We say “ in part,” for 
 there is a strong probability that the Welch contributed toward the 
 establishment of Baptist churches in England, as the Welch claim to 
 have had Baptist churches among them before the Reformation. King 
 Persecutions of Henry VIII, in 1534, issued an edict against certain 
 English Baptists. p ersons called foreigners, “who had been baptized in 
 infancy, but had renounced that baptism, and having been re-baptized, 
 had entered England, and were spreading their opinions over the king- 
 dom. They were commanded to withdraw in twelve days on pain of 
 suffering death.”* This fact makes it evident that these persons were 
 Baptists, and that they were foreigners, probably Germans. This 
 threat did not, it is certain, cause them all to leave England, for, in 
 1535, ten were burned in pairs, and fourteen more in 1536. In 1538 six 
 Dutch Baptists were detected and imprisoned, two of whom were 
 
 * Cramp’s Hist. p. 230. 
 
BAPTISTS. 
 
 409 
 
 burned. Bishop Latimer, in a sermon preached before King Edward, 
 in 1549, said: “ The Anabaptists that were burnt here in divers towns 
 in England — as I heard of credible men — I saw them not myself— went 
 to their death even intrepide , as ye will say, without any fear in the 
 world, cheerfully. Well, let them go.” That good man was blind on 
 • the subject of religious liberty, as the Reformers generally were, adds 
 Dr. Cramp,* from whom we quote this statement of Latimer. 
 
 That Baptists became sufficiently numerous in England to create 
 much fear lest their principles should prevail, is evident from the edicts 
 issued against them, and the bitter and protracted persecution they suf- 
 fered. In the sixteenth century they suffered very severely. Henry 
 the VIII appointed a commission, of which Cranmer was chairman, 
 which he charged to adopt severe measures against the alleged heretics, 
 if they should be detected, to burn all Baptist books, and, if they did 
 not recant, to burn the Baptists themselves. In carrying out this cruel 
 edict, on the 24th of November, 1538, five persons escaped the fire, by 
 bearing fagots at St. Paul’s Cross, to signify that they deserved to be 
 burned. Three days after, a man and a woman were committed to the 
 flames in Smithfield. They were natives of Holland. This spirit of 
 persecution increased, and in 1538, 1540, and 1550, edicts were issued, 
 decreeing that those who held that “infants ought not to be baptized,” 
 were excluded from the general acts of pardon issued to all offenders 
 against civil law during those years. Thieves and vagabonds shared 
 the king’s favor, but Baptists were not tolerated. This, of course, 
 fanned to a hotter flame the fires of persecution. Many suffered. Joan 
 Boucher, a lady of rank and well known at court, was the first victim, 
 showing that Baptist principles included among those ready to die for 
 them persons of distinction. Annie Askew, a lady of quality, whose 
 name stands high on the rolls of the Christian martyrology, of the six- 
 teenth century, was the next to seal her testimony by her death. She 
 was first cruelly tortured, and afterward burned alive in 1546. Bishop 
 Story preached on the occasion of her burning, and Strype, in his 
 memorials, says, he “ tried to convert her. But she was unmoved, and 
 told him he lied like a dog,” and bade him “go and read the Scrip- 
 tures.” Doubtless, needful advice. John Rogers suffered in Queen 
 Mary’s reign, and when urged to recant, by the cruelty of his death, 
 like a true hero, replied : “ Burning alive was no cruel death, but easy 
 enough, if it was God’s will.” 
 
 George Van Pare, a Dutch Baptist, was burned at Smithfield, January 
 13, 1551. His persecutors testified that he was a man of fervid piety 
 and enlarged benevolence. His condemnatory sentence was signed by 
 Cranmer, Ridley, and Coverdale. There were many Baptists, some of 
 them eminent in social life, who were sentenced to death and burned 
 at the stake in Queen Mary’s time. But we will not detain our readers 
 with further details of that barbarous cruelty religious intolerance 
 inflicts. Such things cause a recoil in our feelings, and make us blush 
 for the honor of our humanity, and startle us by the depravity and 
 
 * Hist. p. 232. 
 
410 
 
 PROTESTANT COMMUNITIES. 
 
 savageness they betray. What reason for thanksgiving have we, that 
 those days have passed, and now we may worship God according to the 
 dictates of our own conscience. 
 
 But, whatever others may have contributed, it is evident English 
 Baptists bore a conspicuous and effectual testimony to the principle of 
 religious liberty. England, and the cause of civil and religious free- 
 dom, owes much to those unyielding and martyred Baptists, who testi- 
 fied amid the lurid flames of the blazing fagots about them, and whose 
 souls washed in the blood of Jesus ascended up through much tribu- 
 lation to God. Baptist churches sprung up all over England, when 
 E^ri Churches of the Reformation dawned on her hills and 
 
 valleys. But there is good reason for the claim Baptists 
 make, that they had churches in England before that day. The Bap- 
 tist church at Hillcliffe, England, claims to have been in existence, and 
 to have an unbroken record for about 500 years. A tombstone, lately 
 exhumed from a burial ground attached to the place of worship, bears 
 date 1357. All the traditions of the place confirm the claim made by 
 the church. That it existed, and was somewhat noted, in 1523, is 
 undoubted. Martin Luther was born in 1483, consequently this Bap- 
 tist church unquestionably existed when he was but 40 years of age, 
 which was about the time the Reformation began to dawn in England. 
 As this church at that time had become so prominent as to attract the 
 attention of the civil and ecclesiastical magnates of the land, it must 
 have been in existence for some years. If we concede their claim, con- 
 firmed as it is by all the local traditions of the place, then this Baptist 
 church was in existence 113 years before Luther was born. 
 
 But, be the question concerning this ancient church, and others mak- 
 ing similar claims, as it may, it is certain that during the sixteenth 
 century and first half of the seventeenth, Baptist churches multiplied, 
 and members increased very rapidly in England. Persecution was in 
 vain. In undoubted records we find evidences of their rise and growth. 
 Many churches in England have the records of their business proceed- 
 ings almost complete, running back as far as 1600, and some, we be- 
 lieve, to 1550. They appeared everywhere. Many of their ministers 
 were eminent for learning, piety, and eloquence, several educated men 
 having left for conscience’ sake the church of England, and embraced 
 their views. During Cromwell’s wars, and during his protectorate, 
 they increased rapidly. There were many in his army, for they believed 
 his triumph would be the vindication of the principle of liberty and 
 equality in matters of religion, the complete divorcement of the State 
 from the Church, in which hope they were sadly deceived. General 
 Harrison, one of his most eminent commanders, was a Baptist. 
 
 In the seventeenth century, and in early part of the eighteenth, they 
 suffered much by fine and imprisonment, but, nevertheless, unflinch- 
 ingly held their ground, maintained their principles, and establishing 
 new churches, increased in numbers. They had a number of churches 
 in London, and in all the chief cities of England. Their influence was 
 felt increasingly, and as their principles became better known, they 
 were more respected, the civil and ecclesiastical authorities not regard- 
 
BAPTISTS. 
 
 411 
 
 ing them as the dangerous people to society, to the church, and the 
 Suite they were once thought to be because they denied infant baptism 
 and the authority of the civil government in religion. 
 
 Baptists in England can claim as belonging to their number many 
 
 Eminent Bap- men of great eminence as scholars, preachers, and phi- 
 tists. lanthropists. Dr. John Gale, who was educated at the 
 University of Leyden, and died in 1721, aged forty-one years, was con- 
 ceded one of the best scholars and able polemics of his day. Dr. John 
 Gill, the celebrated commentator, born in 1697, was one of the best He- 
 braists of his time. His commentary on the Old and New Testaments 
 and his Body of Divinity are still standard authorities, having a repu- 
 tation for learhing, and orthodoxy, far beyond the limits of his own 
 denomination. The eminent Dr. Toplady, an Episcopalian, wrote, 
 that “If any man can be supposed to have trod the whole circle of 
 human learning, it was Dr. Gill.” He was a man of noble integrity of 
 character. When his income was likely to be reduced if he pursued a 
 certain course he regarded as right, he replied to a friend who expostu- 
 lated with him : “ Sir, I am not afraid to be poor.” John Macgowen, 
 author of “ Dialogues of Devils, 11 was a Baptist; so was Robinson, 
 author of the well-known History of Baptism and of Ecclesiastical 
 Researches bearing his name. Our limits forbid our mentioning, with 
 any attempt at detail, however, the men of God whose names have 
 become eminent in the English Baptist Pulpit. We can only men- 
 tion, by name, Dr. Ryland, Dr. Andrew Fuller, John Foster, the 
 preacher, and concededly the ablest of English essayists, Robert Hall, 
 the most eloquent of divines, and Dr. Stennett. The names of many 
 others of not less note we must omit. John Howard, the philanthro- 
 pist, attended Dr. Stennett’s church in Little Wilde street, London, and 
 is thought to have been a member of it. John Milton, author of Para- 
 dise Lost, was a Baptist, so was De Foe, the author of Robinson Cru- 
 soe, and John Bunyan, the immortal dreamer, whose Pilgrim’s Pro- 
 gress has cheered and instructed thousands on thousands. Thomas 
 Hollis, one of the earliest and most liberal supporters of Yale College 
 in America, was a prominent Baptist layman. The constituency of a 
 Christian body represented by such names must, certainly, have had 
 no insignificant influence in English politics, and in moulding the reli- 
 gious thought of the people. 
 
 English Baptists inaugurated the work of Foreign Missions in 1792, 
 Missions organizing in the parlor of Dea. Bebee Wallis, of Ketter- 
 ing. Dr. Andrew Fuller, pastor of the church here, was 
 the ardent friend and life-long supporter of this enterprise. William 
 Cary, a poor shoemaker, was its moving spirit. The first collection 
 amounted to but thirteen pounds, two shillings, and sixpence, and fur- 
 nished occasion for the eccentric Sydney Smith to say, sneeringly, 
 “ The Baptists propose to convert the world with a consecrated cobbler 
 and thirteen pounds, two shillings, and sixpence.” How greatly was 
 he mistaken in the men and the character of that obscure movement 
 he made the object of his keen wit! That was the origin of modern 
 Protestant missions. It not only roused Baptists but all others. Mr. 
 
412 
 
 PROTESTANT COMMUNITIES. 
 
 Cary became one of the most eminent of Oriental scholars, having a 
 most remarkable aptitude for the acquisition of language. The names 
 of Marshman, and Ward, his co-laborers, are household words among 
 all who love and pray for missions. Dr. Marsliman’s daughter became 
 the wife of the celebrated General Havelock, the deliver of Lucknow, 
 India, from the horrors of the Sepoy control. The General was himself 
 a Baptist and a man of eminent piety, as well as great bravery. English 
 missions have been greatly prospered since their origin. They have 
 missions in Hindostan, Northern India, Madras, and Ceylon. In the 
 West Indies, in the Bahamas, in Africa, in France, in China and in Aus- 
 tralia. We give the statistics of those Missions. Of course, many of. 
 the churches have become large and self-supporting. India, 327 sta- 
 tions, 35 churches, 2,899 members. China, 3 churches, 29 members. 
 Ceylon, 74 churches, 538 members. Australia, 133 churches, 4,331 mem- 
 bers. The income of the Foreign Mission Treasury in 1870 was $200,000. 
 Beside this, there is the General Baptist Missionary Society, represent- 
 ing the Particular Baptists, having an income of $50,000. There is also 
 the British and Irish Baptist Union, having an income of $30,000, and 
 sustaining 60 Evangelists in Ireland. The English Baptists have an 
 honorable record in the History of Missions. Allied to Missions is the 
 work of ministerial and general higher education. 
 
 The Baptists of England early turned their thoughts to this subject, 
 and did what, under the adverse condition of their earlier 
 state, they could. They have now seven colleges combin- 
 ing classical and theological instruction in England. They are located 
 at Bristol, Raw don, Regent’s Park, HaverfordWest, Chilwell, near 
 Nottingham, and Chambers’ Hall, where Sir Robert Peel was born. 
 The seventh is the Pastor’s College, located in London, and under the 
 jurisdiction of Rev. C. H. Spurgeon. It is in connection with Spur- 
 geon’s Metropolitan Tabernacle, and is sustained entirely by voluntary 
 contributions, amounting in 1870 to $20,000. Its students, in 1870, 
 numbered 198. Its success is one of the most wonderful features of 
 Spurgeon’s most remarkable ministry. Beside these, they have other 
 less prominent institutions. 
 
 The Baptists at the present time occupy the foremost position among 
 Present the Dissenters of England. Rev. Mr. Douglass, a clergy- 
 Condition. ma n of the Established Church, has recently thus written 
 of them: “It is a fact that the Baptists have been growing, in recent 
 years, in a more rapid ratio than any of their neighbors. In London 
 and neighborhood the increase of Baptist chapels within, say fifteen 
 years, has been out of all proportion to previous growth. Their rate 
 of increase is twice that of the Independents, and three times that of 
 the W'esleyans. We do not believe, in a word, that we would be far 
 from the truth, were we to say that the most promising and extending 
 denomination in England at this moment is the body of Christians of 
 which we speak.”* Doubtless the wonderful prosperity of Baptists, of 
 which Mr. Douglass speaks, is due largely to the instrumentality of that 
 
 Education. 
 
 * The Pastor and his People, p. 160. 
 
 J 
 
BAPTISTS. 
 
 413 
 
 remarkable man, Rev. C. H. Spurgeon, pastor of the Metropolitan 
 Tabernacle, London. The circumference of which this man is now the 
 centre is immense. His place of worship has sittings for seven thousand 
 persons, and is filled whenever he preaches. His membership is now 
 over three thousand ; while during the past few years the impetus he 
 has given to the denomination has been the means, mainly, of estab- 
 lishing over thirty new churches, and erecting as many chapels in the 
 City of London alone. Besides preaching for this immense congrega- 
 tion, Mr. Spurgeon superintends the college for young men preparing 
 for the ministry. The design of this institution is not to give young 
 men a thorough classical culture, or make them polished rhetoricians, 
 but to assist them in the study of the Word of God, so that they may 
 be thoroughly furnished unto all good works, being able ministers of 
 the New Testament. Naturally enough they catch the spirit of their 
 eminent leader, teacher, and pastor. Connected with Mr. Spurgeon’s 
 Tabernacle is the Stock well Orphanage, sustained by voluntary contri- 
 butions, amounting, in 1870, to $30,000. The influence of such a man 
 and of such a mammoth organization, in the throbbing heart of the 
 metropolis, is, of course, felt throughout the entire Baptist fraternity, 
 and quickens it to “ newness of life.” 
 
 Mr. Spurgeon is, however, not the only eminent minister among 
 English Baptists, though he is like Saul among his brethren, “head 
 and shoulders above them.” Beside him they have many learned, 
 able, popular, and eminently useful men. We mention Dr. Baptist W. 
 Noel, formerly Queen’s Chaplain, Dr. Landells, Dr. Brock, Dr. Chowan, 
 Rev. Hugh Stowell Brown, of Liverpool, and Rev. Drs. Gotch and 
 Angus, eminent as scholars, and having a place on the Royal Commis- 
 sion now engaged in the work of revising the present English Bible. 
 
 Dr. Chalmers said, but a few years previous to his death, that “the 
 Baptist ministry of England, as a body, were the most thoroughly 
 educated in the realm.” If this was true then, in the judgment of that 
 eminent man, much more must it be true now. With such a ministry 
 their present prosperity is no matter of surprise. At present they have 
 1,910 churches, 2,397 chapels, 170,380 members, and 251,085 children in 
 their Sunday schools. Their adherents in England cannot, therefore, 
 be much less than 1,000,000, thus giving them very great influence. 
 They can speak with an influential voice in behalf of Dissenters. 
 
 While the Baptists of England are all united in one organization, 
 Sub divisions known as the British Baptist Union, there are two chief 
 sub-divisions. The General Baptists, a smaller body, are 
 regarded as Arminian. The Particular, as Calvinists, while some of 
 both are open communion, and others are strict or close in their com- 
 munion. It is thought the close communion party are gaining the 
 ascendancy, that the “ drift” of conviction on the logic of the commu- 
 nion question among Baptists in England is toward close or strict com- 
 munion, as practised by American Baptists. The open communion 
 schism found in the eloquent Robert Hall its most influential champion. 
 Spurgeon practises it to a limited extent, but is not known to be a very 
 decided advocate of its continuance. With these exceptions. Baptist 
 27 
 
414 
 
 PROTESTANT COMMUNITIES. 
 
 churches are a unit in their views of the ministry, of church govern- 
 ment, and of the mode and subjects of baptism. They are growing 
 more compact, closing their ranks, and doing each year more effective 
 service in the cause of Jesus. They subscribe generally to those views 
 we have presented under the head of doctrine, and all contribute toward 
 a building loan fund, designed to aid feeble congregations in erecting 
 houses of worship. This fund now amounts to $100,000, and is con- 
 stantly increasing. It is loaned without interest, to be repaid in annual 
 instalments, and is then re-loaned, thus kept in constant service. 
 
 Twenty-five new churches were organized by the Baptists in Eng- 
 land during 1S70 and many aided in building out of this fund. 
 
 From England we pass to Wales. Baptists here lay claim to great 
 antiquity, affirming that they date back to the first cen- 
 weisn Baptists. tury> and ho!ding a tradition that the Apostle Paul 
 
 visited their mountains, preached among them two years, founding 
 churches which continue unto this day. This, however, seems quite 
 certain. Claudia, a Welsh princess, being at Rome, was converted 
 under the ministry of Paul, and returning in the year 68 brought 
 many of her people to the knowledge of Jesus, inducing them to 
 abandon idolatry. 
 
 Mosheim, the learned German Church Historian, says of the early 
 Welsh churches, that “no persons were admitted to baptism but such 
 as had been previously instructed in the principal points of Christianity 
 and had also given satisfactory proofs of pious dispositions and upright 
 intentions.” It is conceded that during the dark ages the Welsh 
 churches remained pure and never bowed the knee in submission to 
 the Papal power. The writer has been informed by an eminent Welsh 
 clergyman that there is one Baptist church in Glamorganshire claim- 
 ing to have evidence of its existence for 800 years. But be the fact as 
 it may, respecting the antiquity of Welsh Baptists, this is certain, they 
 were numerous, having many churches in the time of Henry the VIII, 
 and previously, and the entrance of Welsh Baptists into England 
 about that time contributed largely in disseminating their principles. 
 
 At present they are numerous and influential, having in this little 
 mountainous principality 511 churches, 550 chapels, 54,853 members, 
 and 50,626 children in their Sunday schools. They have two colleges 
 in flourishing condition. One at Pontypool, another at Llangollen. 
 They have a widely circulated weekly, called the Syren Cymm, and 
 other less popular periodicals. 
 
 They have had among them some noted ministers, but none more so 
 than Christmas Evans, who was one of the most eloquent men of his 
 day. He was a most laborious man, traveling on horseback and preach- 
 ing in both the English and Welsh tongues, winning many thousands 
 to Jesus. His use of the English tongue was but limited. An old lady 
 reported to the writer hearing him once in London when he wished to 
 quote the words “behold the Lamb of God,” he could not recall the 
 word lamb, and in his effort to do so, exclaimed, “Behold the dear lit- 
 tle mutton of God.” The mistake, though amusing, was certainly par- 
 donable. Dr. Price, of Aberdare, is the ablest and most influential in 
 Wales at this time. What Spurgeon is to England, he is to Wales. 
 
BAPTISTS. 
 
 415 
 
 Scotland claims a word at this point. Here are but few Baptists. 
 
 Scotland Presbyterianism in this land has won its grandest tro- 
 phies, and has maintained since the days of Knox almost 
 undisputed possession. Baptists, however, are found here, and have 
 been for nearly two centuries. Some influential families have been 
 associated with them ; most prominent the Haldane brothers, known 
 to the world as eminent preachers and philanthropists. One of them 
 wrote an able commentary on the Epistle to the Romans, and was 
 instrumental in the conversion of D’Aubigne, the historian of the Refor- 
 mation, and Adolph Monod, the accomplished Genevan pastor and 
 writer. Dr. McLean, who wrote on the Epistle to the Hebrews, was 
 also a Scotch Baptist. At present they are a vigorous body, and becom- 
 ing aggressive. They have 110 churches, 109 chapels, 7,035 members, 
 and 4,396 scholars in their Sunday schools. They have a prosperous 
 Theological School at Glasgow, under the Presidency of Rev. Dr. Cal- 
 ross. They have among them some clergymen of learning, ability, 
 and eloquence. Their prospects are more favorable than ever before. 
 They are banded in a union meeting annually, and sustain a prosper- 
 ous Home Mission Society. 
 
 In Ireland there are but few Baptists. Of Protestants, Presbyterians 
 
 Ireland an d -^- e th°dists are ^ ie mos t numerous. Baptists are the 
 least so of all, but at the present time are in a healthful 
 condition, and since the disestablishment of the Irish church, are reap- 
 ing no inconsiderable advantage from the reconstruction of all ecclesi- 
 astical matters, and the agitation of public thought since that event. 
 For two hundred and fifty years there have been Baptist churches in 
 Ireland. Perhaps at a former period they were more numerous than 
 now, as in the drain of population by emigration, Baptists have lost 
 their proportion. They have been favored with the ministry of some 
 eminent men. John Foster, the celebrated essayist, was for some years 
 pastor of one of the Baptist churches in Dublin. And it was while here 
 he made the quaint and oft quoted entry in his journal after his Sab- 
 bath service : “Preached to-day a very uninteresting sermon to a very 
 uninteresting audience.” Dr. Alexander Carson, of Tubbermore, whose 
 work on Baptism is by Baptists and Pedobaptists conceded the most 
 exhaustive and scholarly discussion of the question, as it relates to the 
 meaning of the Greek verb “baptidzo” in the Bible and in the Greek 
 classics a work never conclusively answered, was the most eminent man 
 and minister of the Irish Baptist churches. Their ministry, as a whole, 
 is now stronger than ever before. Many efficient missionaries are at 
 work, and the whole aspect is most encouraging. Rev. R. M. Henry, 
 of Belfast, formerly Moderator of the Presbyterian Synod of Belfast, 
 but who adopted Baptist sentiments a few years since, visited America 
 last year in behalf of Ireland, and obtained the pledge of support for 
 eight missionaries additional to those sustained by the British and 
 Irish Baptist Union. At present Baptists in Ireland number 37 
 churches, 37 chapels, and nearly 5,000 members. They are increasing 
 considerably. As yet they have no Theological school, but talk of one 
 at Belfast. 
 
416 
 
 PROTESTANT COMMUNITIES. 
 
 The Baptists on Continental Europe are deserving of a far more ex- 
 Continental Eu- tended notice than our space allows. In our introduc- 
 rope. tion to this article, we glanced at the History of Baptists 
 on the Continent at the time of, and in the centuries before, the Re- 
 formation. We add, now, just a few words and figures respecting their 
 re- appearance in the last quarter of a century. We begin with Ger- 
 many. On the night of the 22d of April, 1834, Rev. Barnes Seares, 
 temporarily residing in Germany, baptized Mr. Oucken and six others 
 in the river Elbe. This was the beginning of one of the most remark- 
 able works of modern times, and Mr. Oucken became one of the most 
 successful missionaries of this missionary age. We doubt whether, in 
 the same time, the Apostles witnessed results more marvelous than we 
 have seen in these last days in the German States. But 37 years have 
 passed since Oucken’s baptism, much persecution has been endured, 
 but “what hath God wrought?” Literally, the little one has been 
 many thousands. Germany now has 72 Baptist churches, and 13,509 
 members. The work, through the zeal of German converts, has spread 
 beyond Germany. Denmark has 18 churches, and 1,872 members; 
 Holland, 1 church and 90 members; Poland, 1 church, and 771 mem- 
 bers ; Russia, 4 churches, and 1,186 members ; and Turkey 1 church and 
 120 members — all, under God, from the zeal of one man who consecrated 
 himself to God but thirty-seven years since ; a man who yet lives, full 
 of honors and growing full of years, in Hamburg, pastor of a large and 
 grateful church, contemplating, in declining life, with joy what God 
 has wrought. Sweden is not less remarkable than Germany. Here one 
 man, a little more than a quarter of a century since — Rev. Andreas 
 Weiburg, a young man who had been educated for the ministry in the 
 Lutheran Church, — was led to a change of views and was “ buried with 
 Christ in baptism.” Since then, God has wrought marvelously by 
 means of this man. Sweden now contains 201 Baptist churches, having 
 a membership of 8,120, with a theological school in Copenhagen, while 
 they are pushing into regions beyond. Little thought Andreas Wei- 
 burg, when he changed his views, that he was, under God, to be the 
 instrument of such a mighty work. But God is marvelous in working. 
 He does great things by feeble instrumentalities. 
 
METHODISTS. 
 
 417 
 
 SEC. VI— METHODISTS 
 
 Methodist, as the distinctive appellation of a religious community, is now 
 universally understood as designating the followers of the famous Mr. John 
 Wesley. In November, 1729, Mr. Wesley, being then a 
 Fellow of Lincoln College, Oxford, Mr. Charles Wesley, his 
 brother, Mr. Morgan, Commoner of Christ Church, and Mr. Kirkman, of 
 Merton College, set apart some evenings for reading the original Scriptures, 
 and prayer. Sometime after they were joined by Mr. Ingham, of Queen’s 
 College, Mr. Broughton, of Exeter, and Mr. James Hervey ; and in 1735, 
 by the celebrated Mr. George Whitefield. They soon began to leave occa- 
 sionally the more private fellowship meeting, to visit the prisoners in the 
 castle, and the sick poor in the town. They also instituted a fund for the 
 relief of the poor, to support which they abridged all superfluities, and even 
 many of the comforts of life. Their private meetings became more and 
 more of a religious character. They observed the fasts of the ancient 
 church every Wednesday and Friday, and communicated once a week. 
 “ We were now,” says Mr. Wesley, “ fifteen in number, all of one heart 
 and of one mind.” Their strict deportment soon attracted the attention 
 of the college censors and students, who branded them with many oppro- 
 brious epithets, such as Sacramentarians, the Godly Club, and afterwards 
 Methodists. 
 
 Whatever effect obloquy might have upon some of the members of this 
 select class, Mr. John Wesley, as well as his brother, and several others, 
 remained unshaken. He puzzled his opponents with questions concerning 
 the reasonableness of his conduct. He did more; he confounded them by 
 a uniform regularity of life, and an astonishing proficiency in his studies. 
 Mr. Morgan, one of the most active members, was soon after this removed 
 by death; occasioned, according to the representation of enemies, by fasting 
 and excessive austerities. His character was drawn by Mr. Samuel Wes- 
 ley, junior, in a poetic tributec&o his memory, under this text, from the book 
 of Wisdom, “We fools accounted his life madness.” In the spring of 
 1735, Mr. John Wesley was called to attend his dying' father, who desired 
 him to present to Queen Caroline a book he had just finished. Soon after 
 his return to Oxford, he went to London on this account, where he was 
 strongly solicited by Dr. Burton, one of the trustees for the new colony at 
 Georgia, to go there to preach to the Indians. At first he peremptorily 
 refused. He particularly mentioned the grief it would occasion to his 
 widowed mother. The case being referred to her, she is said to have made 
 this reply: Had 1 twenty sons, I should rejoice that they were all so em- 
 
418 
 
 PROTESTANT COMMUNITIES. 
 
 ployed, though I should never see them more. His way appeared now 
 plain ; and he made arrangements for this enterprise. On Tuesday, Octo- 
 ber 14th, 1735, he set off from London for Gravesend, accompanied by Mr. 
 Ingham, Mr. Delamotte, and his brother Charles, to embark for Georgia. 
 There were six-and-twenty Germans on board, members of the Moravian 
 church, with whose Christian deportment Mr. Wesley was much struck, 
 and immediately set himself to learn the German language, in order to con- 
 verse with them. The Moravian bishop and two others of his society began 
 to learn English. He now began to preach extempore, which he after- 
 wards made his constant practice during his life, and yet he wrote much. 
 
 The piety and devotion which Mr. Wesley and his companions mani- 
 fested during the voyage was highly commendable, and indicated a becom- 
 ing impression of the importance of their undertaking; but, owing to some 
 disagreeable circumstances, Mr. John Wesley returned to England, without 
 having made much progress in the proposed object, and was succeeded by 
 his valued friend Mr. George Whitefield, who arrived at Savannah on the 
 7th May, 1738, and was received by Mr. Delamotte and many of Mr. Wes- 
 ley’s hearers. It may be proper to notice the success which attended Mr. 
 Whitefield’s labours in this quarter of the globe. He laboured with great 
 zeal, and was so far honoured as to be made useful. He returned to Eng- 
 land in the close of the same year to receive priest’s orders. On his return 
 to America in 1739, he landed at Philadelphia, and immediately began his 
 spiritual labours, which he continued as he passed through the colonies of 
 Virginia, Maryland, and North and South Carolina, being attended. by con- 
 siderable audiences. Upon his arrival at Savannah, he found the colony 
 almost deserted, which moved him to carry into effect his scheme of build- 
 ing an orphan-house, which he had the happiness to see completed through 
 his exertions, and the liberal donations of his friends. Upon his third visit 
 to the western continent, he took a voyage to the Bermuda Islands, where 
 his ministry was successfully attended, and some contributions made for his 
 orphan-house at Savannah. Upon his sixth voyage to Georgia, he'received 
 the thanks of the governor and principal people for the advantage which 
 the colony had derived from his benevolent exertions, a circumstance which 
 tends greatly to vindicate the character of this singular man, from the very 
 unjust reproach of avarice which was frequently thrown upon him. In 
 1769, he made his seventh and last voyage to America ; but, although his 
 labours were so extensive, he formed no separate congregation. In the 
 intervals of his visits to America, he frequently made tours to Scotland and 
 Ireland, where he attracted numerous assemblies, and always made a power- 
 ful impression by his eloquence ; but having differed in doctrinal sentiment 
 from Mr. Wesley, and never having formed the idea of a separate associa- 
 tion of itinerants and of members, he can scarcely be considered as the head 
 of any party. 
 
METHODISTS. 
 
 419 
 
 On the other hand, Mr. Wesley is considered the father of the Method- 
 ists. On his return to England, he was invited to preach in several 
 churches ; but the concourse of people who followed him was so great that 
 the churches in general were shut against him. His converts at length 
 began to form themselves into a little society, which has proved the germ 
 of a religious community more extended perhaps than almost any other, 
 and surprisingly adapted by means of its regulations to increase and 
 endure.* 
 
 In respect to the principal doctrines of the Methodists, it may be observed, 
 that they maintain the total fall of man in Adam, and his utter inability to 
 recover himself, or to take one step towards his recovery, 
 Doctrines. « without the grace of God preventing him, that he may have 
 a good will, and working with him, when he has that good will.” 
 
 2. They are sometimes called Jirminians, and hold general redemption. 
 They assert “ that Christ, by the grace of God, tasted death for every man.” 
 This grace they call free , as extending itself freely to all. 
 
 3. They hold Justification by Faith. “Justification,” says Mr. Wesley, 
 “ sometimes means our acquittal at the last day. But this is altogether out 
 of the present question; for that justification whereof our articles and homi- 
 lies speak, signifies present forgiveness, pardon of sins, and consequently 
 acceptance with God, who therein declares his righteousness, or justice and 
 mercy, by or for the remission of the sins that are past, saying, I will be 
 merciful to thy unrighteousness, and thine iniquities I will remember no 
 more. I believe the condition of this is faith, (Rom. iv. 5, &c.,) I mean, 
 not only, that without faith we cannot be justified ; but, also, that as soon as 
 any one has true faith, in that moment he is justified. Faith, in general, is 
 a divine supernatural evidence, or conviction, of things not seen, not dis- 
 coverable by our bodily senses, as being either past, future, or spiritual. 
 Justifying faith implies, not only a divine evidence, or conviction, that God 
 was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, but a sure trust and con- 
 fidence that Christ died for my sins; that he loved me, and gave himself 
 for me. And the moment a penitent sinner believes this, God pardons and 
 absolves him.” 
 
 Mr. Wesley, speaking of the witness of the Spirit, says, “ The testimony 
 of the Spirit is an inward impression on the soul, whereby the Spirit of God 
 directly witnesses to my spirit, that I am a child of God ; that Jeyus Christ 
 hath loved me, and given himself for me ; that all my sins are blotted out, 
 and I, even I, am reconciled to God. The manner how the divine testi- 
 mony is manifested to the heart, I do not take upon me to explain. But the 
 fact we know, namely, that the Spirit of God does give a believer such a 
 testimony of his adoption, that while it is present to the soul, he can no more 
 
 * New Edinburgh Enc., art. Methodists. 
 
420 
 
 PROTESTANT COMMUNITIES. 
 
 Circuits. 
 
 doubt the reality of his sonship, than he can doubt the shining of the sun, 
 while he stands in the full blaze of his beams. 
 
 4. The Methodists maintain, that, by virtue of the blood of Jesus Christ, 
 and the operations of the Holy Spirit, it is their privilege to arrive at that 
 maturity in grace, and participation of the divine nature, which excludes 
 sin from the heart, and fills it with perfect love to God and man. This they 
 denominate Christian perfection ,* 
 
 A number of societies, united together, form what is called a circuit. A 
 circuit generally includes a large market-town, and the circumjacent villages, 
 to the extent of ten or fifteen miles. To one circuit, two or 
 three, and sometimes four, preachers are appointed, one of 
 whom is styled the superintendent ; and this is the sphere of their labour 
 for at least one year, but generally not more than two years. Once a 
 quarter, the preachers meet all the classes, and speak, personally to each 
 member. Those who have walked orderly the preceding quarter then 
 receive a ticket. These tickets are in some respects analogous to the tes- 
 seras of the ancients, and answer all the purposes of the commendatory 
 letters spoken of by the apostle. Their chief use is to prevent imposture. 
 After the visitation of the classes, a meeting is held, consisting of all the 
 preachers, leaders, and stewards in the circuit. At this meeting, the 
 stewards deliver their collections to a circuit steward, and every thing re- 
 lating to temporal matters is publicly settled. At this meeting the candi- 
 dates for the ministry are proposed, and the stewards, after officiating a 
 definite period, are changed. It is superior to a leader’s meeting, and is 
 called a quarterly meeting. 
 
 A number of these circuits, from five to ten, more or fewer, according to 
 their extent, form a district, the preachers of which meet annually. Every 
 district has a chairman, who fixes the time of meeting. These assemblies 
 have authority, 1. To try and suspend preachers who are found immoral, 
 erroneous in doctrine, or deficient in abilities; 2. To decide concerning the 
 building of chapels ; 3. To examine the demands from the circuits respect- 
 ing the support of the preachers, and of their families: and, 4. To elect a 
 representative to attend and form a committee, four days before the meeting 
 of the conference, in order to prepare a draught of the stations for the en- 
 suing year. The judgment of this meeting is conclusive until conference, 
 to which an appeal is allowed in all cases. 
 
 The conference, strictly speaking, consists only of a hundred of the senior 
 travelling preachers, in consequence of a deed of declaration executed by 
 Mr. Wesley, and enrolled in chancery. But, generally 
 speaking, the conference is composed of the preachers elected 
 at ihe preceding district-meetings as representatives ; of the other superin- 
 
 Conference. 
 
 Nightingale’s All Religions. 
 
 I 
 
METHODISTS. 
 
 421 
 
 tendents of the districts ; and of every preacher who chooses to attend ; all 
 of them (except the probationers) having an equal right to vote, &c., whether 
 they belong to the hundred or not. At the conference, every preacher’s 
 character undergoes the strictest scrutiny ; and if any charge be proved 
 against him, he is punished accordingly. The preachers are also stationed, 
 the proceedings of the subordinate meetings reviewed, and the state of tne 
 connection at large is considered. It is the supreme court of the Methodists, 
 over which there is no control, and from whose decisions there is no appeal. 
 The conference is held in London, at Leeds, Bristol, Manchester, Birming- 
 ham, Liverpool, and other places in rotation. 
 
 Class Meetings are each composed of from twelve to twenty persons, one 
 of whom is styled the leader. When they assemble, which is -once a week, 
 the leader gives out a few verses of a hymn, which they 
 class Meetings. He then makes a short prayer; after which 
 
 he converses with each member respecting Christian experience, gives 
 suitable advice to all, and concludes by singing and praying. 
 
 Band Meetings consist of about four or five members, who are nearly of 
 the same age, in nearly similar circumstances, and of the same sex, who 
 meet together once a week, in order to speak their minds 
 Band Meeting. more f ree jy than ft W ould be agreeable to do in a promis- 
 cuous assembly of members, such as a class meeting. The meeting 
 is conducted in nearly the same manner as a class meeting. At stated 
 periods, those who meet in these private bands, meet all together, form- 
 ing a public or select band, when, after singing and prayer, any of the 
 members are at liberty to rise and speak their experience. After a few 
 of them have spoken, the meeting, as usual, is concluded by singing and 
 prayer. 
 
 The design of meeting in the Band society is to obey that command of 
 God, “Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that 
 you may be healed.” To this end, we intend, 
 
 1. To meet once a week, at the least. 
 
 2. To come punctually at the hour appointed, without some particular 
 reason. 
 
 3. To begin, those of us who are present, exactly at the hour, with 
 singing or prayer. 
 
 4. To speak each of us in order, freely and plainly, the true state of our 
 souis, with the faults we have committed in thought, word, and deed, and 
 the temptations we have felt since our last meeting. 
 
 5. To end every meeting with prayer, suited to the state of each person 
 present. 
 
 6. To desire some person among us to speak his own state first, and then 
 to ask the rest in order, as many and as searching questions as may be, 
 concerning their state, sins, and temptations. 
 
422 
 
 PROTESTANT COMMUNITIES. 
 
 Some of the questions proposed to every one before he is admitted among 
 us, may be to this effect : 
 
 1. Have you the forgiveness of your sins? 
 
 2. Have you peace with God, through our Lord Jesus Christ? 
 
 3. Have you the witness of God’s Spirit with your spirit, that you are a 
 child of God? 
 
 4. Is the love of God shed abroad in your heart ? 
 
 5. Has no sin, inward or outward, dominion over you ? 
 
 6. Do you desire to be told of your faults ? 
 
 7. Do you desire to be told of all your faults, and that plain and 
 home ? 
 
 8. Do you desire that every one of us should tell you, from time to time, 
 whatsoever is in his heart concerning you ? 
 
 9. Consider ! Do you desire we should tell you whatsoever we think, 
 whatsoever we fear, whatsoever we hear, concerning you ? 
 
 10. Do you desire that in doing this, we should come as close as pos- 
 sible ; that we should cut to the quick, and search your heart to the bottom ? 
 
 11. Is it your desire and design to be, on this and all other occasions, 
 entirely open, so as to speak every thing that is in your heart without 
 deception, without disguise, and without reserve ? 
 
 Any of the preceding questions may be asked as occasion may offer : the 
 following at every meeting 
 
 1. What known sins have you committed since our last meeting? 
 
 2. What temptations have you met with ? 
 
 3. How was you delivered ? 
 
 4. What have you thought, said, or done, of which you doubt whether 
 it be sin or not ? 
 
 5. Have you nothing you desire to keep secret ? 
 
 You are supposed to have the faith that overcometh the world. To 
 you, therefore, it is not grievous, carefully to abstain from doing evil. In 
 particular, 
 
 1. Neither to buy or sell any thing at all on the Lord’s day. 
 
 2. To taste no spirituous liquor, or dram of any kind, unless prescribed 
 by a physician. 
 
 3. To be at a word both in buying and selling. 
 
 4. To pawn nothing, no, not to save life. 
 
 5. Not to mention the fault of any behind his back, and to stop those 
 short that do. 
 
 6. To wear no needless ornaments, such as rings, earrings, necklaces, 
 lace, ruffles. 
 
 7. To use no needless self-indulgence, such as taking snuff pr tobacco, 
 unless prescribed by a physician. 
 
 8. Zealously to maintain good works ; in particular — 
 
 J 
 
METHODISTS. 
 
 423 
 
 1. To give alms of such things as you possess, and that to the uttermost 
 of your power. 
 
 2. To reprove all that sin in your sight, and that in love and meekness 
 of wisdom. 
 
 3. To he patterns of diligence and frugality, of self-denial and taking up 
 the cross daily. 
 
 Constantly to attend on all the ordinances of God : in particular — 
 
 1. To be at church and at the Lord’s table every week, and at every 
 public meeting of the bands. 
 
 2. To attend the ministry of the word every morning, unless distance, 
 business, or siekness, prevent. 
 
 3. To use private prayer every day, and family prayer, if you are the 
 head of a family. 
 
 4. To read the Scripture, and meditate thereon every vacant hour. And, 
 
 5. To observe, as days of fasting and abstinence, all Fridays in the year. 
 
 Watch-nights are rather similar to the vigils of the ancients, which they 
 
 kept on the evenings preceding the grand festivals. They are held once a 
 quarter, but in London, usually, only once a year. On these 
 
 Watch-nights. occas j onSj three or four of the preachers officiate, and a great 
 concourse of people attend. The service commences between eight and 
 nine at night. After one of the ministers has preached, the rest pray and 
 exhort, giving out at intervals suitable hymns, which the congregation 
 join in singing till a few minutes after twelve o’clock, when they conclude. 
 
 The following account was penned after an attendance on a watch-night 
 meeting : — 
 
 “I had often heard that the Methodists had a custom of meeting together 
 in their chapels, the last night of the year, to watch and pray. The last 
 night of the year is called on this account ‘ The Watch-night.’ 
 
 “ Having never been at the watch-night meeting, and believing it to be a 
 very solemn assembly, I went to attend it ; ten thousand stars were glit- 
 tering over my head, and the night-wind was almost enough to pierce 
 through me, though I buttoned my great-coat up to the chin. There was 
 a full congregation of people in the chapel before I arrived ; several minis- 
 ters prayed very devoutly, and one of them preached a very solemn sermon. 
 
 “A little before twelve, the minister who had preached, ascended the 
 pulpit again, to address a few words to the great multitude before him. 
 He spoke of the sins which we had all committed, and the mercies which 
 we had all enjoyed, in the year that had rolled away. He reminded us 
 that, most likely, we should never all of us assemble again to worship 
 Almighty God on the same occasion ; and that in a few minutes the year 
 would depart for ever, to be added to the years of eternity. 
 
 “The people were as mute as mice, and every face was turned towards 
 the preacher who then reminded us that we should meet again, if we did 
 
 L 
 
424 
 
 PROTESTANT COMMUNITIES. 
 
 not before, in the great day of judgment, to hear the words, ‘Come, ye 
 blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the 
 foundation of the world or, ‘ Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting 
 fire, prepared for the devil and his angels.’ 
 
 “ He then besought us all, as it was near twelve o’clock, to go down on 
 our bended knees before the Lord our Maker, and to devote the remaining 
 moments of the departing year in entering into a fresh covenant with God, 
 and in seeking an increase of faith, and hope, and joy, in his Son Jesus 
 Christ. It wanted three minutes of twelve by the chapel clock, as ministers 
 and people kneeled down. You might have heard a pin drop; I could 
 hear myself breathe, ail was so silent. It seemed as if God had come down 
 from heaven, and was among us. Once I raised my head to gaze on the 
 great multitude. Ministers and people had all hid their faces with their 
 hands ; no eye met mine ; every soul seemed occupied in solemn reflection. 
 
 “Solemn thoughts rushed through my mind. At one time I felt as if a 
 Huge balloon was about to. bear us up to heaven, and that every moment cut 
 asunder one of the cords that bound it. At another, it seemed as though 
 we all stood in a large scale, hanging from a single chain, over the mouth 
 of the bottomless pit, and the enemy of souls was trying to cut through the 
 chain. 
 
 “The three minutes seemed as long as half an hour to me. I thought 
 of all my sins ; but one seemed greater than all the rest, and that was the 
 sin of Sabbath-breaking. If I could always see Sabbath-breaking in the 
 light in which I then saw it, I should tremble at the thought of neglecting 
 to keep the Sabbath-day holy. 
 
 “ There we were all kneeling, and the whole place as silent as death ; 
 but the' moment the clock struck twelve, the multitude rose together, and 
 burst out into a hymn of thanksgiving. It was one of the most solemn 
 meetings I ever attended; and I came away determined, looking to God for 
 strength, to value and improve my Sabbaths more than ever.” 
 
 Love-feasts are also held quarterly. No persons are admitted who can- 
 not produce a ticket to show that they are members, or a note of admittance 
 from the superintendent. However, any serious person, who 
 Love-feasts. j lfts neveT been present at one of these meetings, may be 
 supplied with a note for once, but not oftener, unless he becomes a mem- 
 ber. The meeting begins with singing and prayer. Afterwards small 
 pieces of bread, or plain cake, and some water, are distributed; and all pre- 
 sent eat and drink together, in token of their Christian love to each other. 
 Then, if any persons have any thing particular to say concerning their pre- 
 sent Christian experience, or the manner in which they were first brought 
 to the knowledge of the truth, they are permitted to speak ; when a few of 
 them ha\ r e spoken, a collection is made for the poor, and the meeting is 
 concluded with singing and prayer. This institution has no relation to the 
 
METHODISTS. 
 
 425 
 
 Lord’s Supper. The elements of the Lord’s Supper are bread and wine; 
 hut at the love-feasts, bread and water only are used. The Methodists con- 
 sider the former as a positive institution, which they are bound to observe 
 as Christians; the latter as merely prudential. They have also numerous 
 prayer-meetings , at which it frequently happens that some one gives an 
 exhortation to the people. 
 
 RULES OF THE SOCIETY OF THE PEOPLE CALLED METHODISTS. 
 
 The Reverend John Wesley himself gives the following account: — 
 
 1. In the latter end of the year 1739, eight or ten persons came to me in 
 London, who appeared to be deeply convinced of sin, and earnestly groan- 
 ing for redemption. They desired, as did two or three more the next day, 
 that I would spend some time with them in prayer, and advise them how 
 to flee from the wrath to come, which they saw continually hanging over 
 their heads. That we might have more time for this great work, I ap- 
 pointed a day when they might all come together; which, from thencefor- 
 ward, they did every week, namely, on Thursday, in the evening. 
 
 To these, and as many more as desired to join with them, for their num- 
 ber increased daily, I gave those advices from time to time which I judged 
 most needful for them ; and we always concluded our meetings with prayer 
 suited to their several necessities. 
 
 2. This was the rise of the United Society, first in London, and then in 
 other places. 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 salvation.” 
 
 3. That it may the more easily be discerned whether they are indeed 
 working out their own salvation, each society is divided into smaller com- 
 panies, called classes, according to their respective places of abode. There 
 are about twelve persons in every class ; one of whom is styled the 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 prosper; to advise, reprove, comfort, or exhort, as 
 occasion may require; to receive what they are willing to give towards the 
 support of the Gospel. 
 
 2. To meet the ministers and stewards of the society once a week, in 
 order to inform the minister of any that are sick, or of any that walk dis- 
 orderly, 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. 
 
 4. There is only one condition previously required of those who desire 
 admission into these societies, namely, “ a desire to flee from the wrath to 
 
426 
 
 PROTESTANT COMMUNITIES. 
 
 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 evidence their desire of 
 salvation — 
 
 First , By doing no harm, by avoiding evil in ever)’- 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 
 thereon, or by buying or selling; drunkenness; buying or selling 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, 
 that is, unlawful interest; uncharitable or unprofitable conversation; parti- 
 cularly speaking evil of magistrates or ministers; doing to others as we 
 would not they should do unto us ; doing what we know is not for the glory 
 of God ; as the putting on of gold or costly apparel ; the taking such diver- 
 sions as cannot be used in the name of the Lord Jesus ; the singingthose songs 
 or reading those books which do not tend to the knowledge or love of God; 
 softness, and needless self-indulgence; laying up treasure upon earth ; bor- 
 rowing without a probability of paying; or taking up goods without a pro- 
 bability of paying for them. 
 
 5. It is expected of all who continue in these societies, that they should 
 continue to evidence their desire of salvation — 
 
 Secondly, By doing good; by being in every kind merciful after their 
 power, as they have opportunity; doing good of every possible sort, and as 
 far as is possible, to all men. 
 
 To their bodies, of the ability that God giveth, by giving food to the 
 hungry, by clothing the naked, by helping or visiting them that are sick, or 
 in prison. 
 
 To their souls, by instructing, reproving, exhorting all we have any 
 intercourse with, trampling under foot that enthusiastic doctrine of devils, 
 that “ we are not to do good, unless our hearts be free to it.” 
 
 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 ail possible diligence and frugality, that the gospel be not blamed. 
 
 By running with patience the race that is set before them, denying them- 
 selves, and taking up their cross daily ; submitting to bear the reproach of 
 Christ ; to be as the filth and offscouring of the world ; and looking that 
 men should say all manner of evil of them falsely, for the Lord’s sake. 
 
 6. It is expected of all who desire to continue in these societies, that they 
 should continue to evidence their desire of salvation — 
 
METHODISTS. 
 
 427 
 
 Thirdly , By attending upon all the ordinances of God : such are the 
 public worship of God ; the ministry of the word, either read or expounded ; 
 the supper of the Lord; family and private prayer; searching the Scrip- 
 tures ; and fasting or abstinence. 
 
 7 . These are the General Rules of our societies, — all which we arc 
 taught of God to observe, even in his written word, the only 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 that 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. 
 
 The following account of the latter end of John Wesley is taken from 
 “The Centenary of Wesleyan Methodism,” by Thomas Jackson, then 
 President of the Conference. 
 
 “ When his strength failed, after lying still awhile, he called for pen and 
 ink. They were brought to him ; but his hand, which had been a means 
 of conveying comfort arid instruction to thousands, could no longer perform 
 its office. ‘Tell me,* said one, ‘what you would say.’ ‘Nothing,’ an- 
 swered he, ‘but that God is with us.’ 
 
 “During the same day, when he appeared to change for death, he said, 
 with a weak voice, ‘Lord, thou givest strength to those that can speak, and 
 to those that cannot. Speak, Lord, to all our hearts, and let them know 
 that thou loosest the tongue.’ 
 
 “ Several friends being in the house, they were called into his room, and 
 all kneeled down to prayer ; when his fervour of spirit was manifest to all 
 present. In particular parts of the prayer his whole soul was engaged in 
 such a manner as evidently showed how ardently he longed for the accom- 
 plishment of their united desires. When Mr. Broadbent prayed that if 
 God were about to take away their father to his eternal rest, he would 
 continue and increase his blessing upon the doctrine and discipline which 
 he had long made his aged servant a means of propagating and establishing 
 in the world ; an unusual degree of earnestness accompanied the loud Amen 
 of the dying patriarch and saint. When they rose from their knees he 
 took hold of their hands, kindly saluted them, and said, ‘ Farewell, fare 
 well !’ 
 
 “ Some time after, he strove to speak ; but finding that the friends who 
 were present could not understand him, he paused a little, and then with 
 all his remaining strength cried out, ‘The best of all is, God is with us.’ 
 
1 
 
 428 PROTESTANT COMMUNITIES. 
 
 “ When his parched lips were wetted he devoutly repeated his usual 
 thanksgiving after meat, ‘ We thank thee, O Lord, for these and all thy 
 mercies. Bless the Church and King; and grant us truth and peace, 
 through Jesus Christ our Lord, for ever and ever.’ 
 
 “In the course of the same day, at different times, he said, ‘ He causeth 
 his servants to lie down in peace.’ ‘ The clouds drop fatness.’ ‘ The Lord 
 is with us, the God of Jacob is our refuge.’ 
 
 “ The next morning the closing scene drew near. Joseph Bradford, his 
 faithful and well-tried friend, prayed with him, and the last word he was 
 heard to utter was, ‘Farewell.’ While several of his friends were kneeling 
 round his bed, without a groan, this man of God, this beloved pastor of 
 thousands entered into the joy of his Lord. 
 
 “ His will contains the following characteristic item : — ‘ I give six pounds 
 to be divided among the six poor men who shall carry my body to the 
 grave ; for I particularly desire there may be no hearse, no coach, no es- 
 cutcheon, no pomp, except the tears of them that loved me, and are follow- 
 ing me to Abraham’s bosom. I solemnly adjure my executors, in the name 
 of God, punctually to observe this.’ 
 
 “Few men have been more honoured in their death than this venerable 
 servant of the Lord. On the day preceding his interment his remains were, 
 according to his own direction, placed in the chapel near his dwelling- 
 house in London ; and the crowds that went to see them were so great 
 that business was generally suspended in the City-road, and it was with 
 great difficulty that any carriage could pass. His funeral took place early 
 in the morning, lest any accident should occur, in consequence of the vast 
 concourse of people which was otherwise expected to attend. When the 
 officiating clergyman at the grave-side pronounced the words, ‘Forasmuch 
 as it hath pleased Almighty God to take unto himself the soul of our dear 
 father here departed,’ the people who nearly filled the burying-ground 
 burst into loud weeping ; and it is believed that scarcely a dry eye was to 
 be seen in the entire assembly. When the funeral sermon was preached, 
 the men occupied one side of the City-road chapel, and the women the 
 other ; and with one solitary exception, it is said that not a coloured riband 
 was to be seen in the vast congregation. One lady with a blue riband on 
 her beaver hat found her way into the gallery, and on observing her singu- 
 larity she instantly tore it from her head, and thus assumed the garb of 
 mourning with the rest of the people.” 
 
 The following is the inscription upon Mr. Wesley’s tomb:-— 
 
METHODISTS 
 
 429 
 
 TO THE MEMORY OF 
 
 THE VENERABLE JOHN WESLEY, A. M. 
 
 LATE FELLOW OF LINCOLN" COLLEGE, 
 
 OXFORD. 
 
 THIS GREAT LIGHT AROSE, 
 
 BY THE SINGULAR PROVIDENCE OF GOD, 
 
 TO ENLIGHTEN THESE NATIONS, 
 
 AND TO REVIVE, ENFORCE, Al/D DEFEND 
 THE PURE APOSTOLICAL DOCTRINES AND PRACTICES OF THE 
 PRIMITIVE CHURCH: 
 
 WHICH HE CONTINUED TO DO, BOTH BY HIS WRITINGS AND HIS LAPOUEft, 
 
 FOR MORE THAN HALF A CENTURY: 
 
 AND TO HIS INEXPRESSIBLE JOY, 
 
 NOT ONLY BEHELD THEIR INFLUENCE EXTENDING, 
 
 AND THEIR EFFICACY WITNESSED, 
 
 IN THE HEARTS AND LIVES OF MANY THOUSANDS, 
 
 AS WELL IN THE WESTERN WORLD AS IN THESE KINGDOMS, 
 
 BUT ALSO, FAR ABOVE ALL HUMAN POWER OR EXPECTATION, LIVED TO SEE 
 PROVISION MADE, 
 
 BY THE SINGULAR GRACE OF GOD, 
 
 FOR THEIR CONTINUANCE AND ESTABLISHMENT, 
 
 TO THE JOY OF FUTURE GENERATIONS! 
 
 READER, IF THOU ART CONSTRAINED TO BLESS THE INSTRUMENT, 
 
 GIVE GOD THE GLORY 1 . 
 
 AFTER HAVING LANGUISHED A FEW DAYS, HE AT LENGTH FINISHED HIS COURSE 
 AND HIS LIFE TOGETHER, GLORIOUSLY TRIUMPHING OVER DEATH, 
 
 MARCH 2d, AN. DOM. 1791, 
 
 IN THE EIGHTY-EIGHTH YEAR OF HIS AGE. 
 
 The following is inscribed upon a marble tablet in the City-road chapel: 
 “ The best of all is, God is with us.” 
 
 SACRED TO THE MEMORY OF 
 
 THE REV. JOHN WESLEY, M. A. 
 
 SOMETIME FELLOW OF LINCOLN COLLEGE, OXFORD. 
 
 A MAN, IN LEARNING AND SINCERE PIETY, 
 
 SCARCELY INFERIOR TO ANY: 
 
 IN ZEAL, MINISTERIAL LABOURS, AND EXTENSIVE USEFULNESS, 
 
 SUPERIOR, PERHAPS, TO ALL MEN, SINCE THE DAYS OF ST. PAUL. 
 REGARDLESS OF FATIGUE, PERSONAL DANGER, AND DISGRACE, 
 
 HE WENT OUT INTO THE HIGHWAYS AND HEDGES, 
 
 CALLING SINNERS TO REPENTANCE, 
 
 AND PUBLISHING THE GOSPEL OF PEACE. 
 
 HE WAS THE FOUNDER OF THE METHODIST SOCIETIES, AND THE CHIEF 
 PROMOTER AND PATRON 
 OF THE PLAN OF ITINERANT PREACHING, 
 
 WHICH HE EXTENDED THROUGH GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND, 
 
 THE WEST INDIES AND AMERICA, WITH UNEXAMPLED SUCCESS. 
 
 HE WAS BORN THE 17tH OF JUNE, 1703, 
 
 AND DIED THE llTH OF MARCH, 1791, 
 
 IN SURE AND CERTAIN HOPE OF ETERNAL LIFE, 
 
 THROUGH THE ATONEMENT AND MEDIATION OF A CRUCIFIED SAVIOUn 
 HE WAS SIXTY-FIVE YEARS IN THE MINISTRY, 
 
 AND FIFTY-TWO AN ITINERANT PREACHER ; 
 
 /LE LIVED TO SEE IN THESE KINGDOMS ONLY, ABOUT THREE HUNDRED ITINERANT 
 AND ONE THOUSAND LOCAL PREACHERS, 
 
 RAISED UP FROM THE MIDST OF HIS OWN PEOPLE, 
 
 AND EIGHTY THOUSAND PERSONS IN THE SOCIETIES UNDER HIS CARE. 
 
 HIS NAME WILL BE EVER HELD IN GRATEFUL REMEMBRANCE 
 BY ALL WHO REJOICE IN THE UNIVERSAL SPREAD 
 OF THE GOSPEL OF CHRIST : 
 
 SOLI DEO GLORIA. 
 
 23 
 
430 
 
 PROTESTANT. COMMUNITIES. 
 
 The Methodists may truly say, with regard to themselves, “A little one 
 has become a thousand, and a small one a strong nation ;” for in the year 
 1838, the number of their members throughout the world amounted to more 
 than a million. They had also, including ministers at home, and mission- 
 aries abroad, between four and five thousand persons employed preaching 
 the gospel. 
 
 The New Methodist Connection , among the followers of Mr. Wesley, 
 separated from the original Methodists in 1797. The grounds of this sepa- 
 ration they declare to be church- government, and not doc- 
 New Methodists. tr j negj ag a ffi rmec | by SO me of their opponents. They object 
 
 to the old Methodists for having formed a hierarchy, or priestly corporation, 
 and say that, in so doing, they have robbed the people of those privileges 
 which, as members of a Christian church, they are entitled to by reason and 
 Scripture. The New Methodists have attempted to establish every part of 
 their church-government on popular principles, and profess to have united, 
 as much as possible, the ministers and the people in every department of it. 
 This is quite contrary to the original government of the Methodists, which 
 in the most important cases is confined only to the ministers. This, indeed, 
 appears most plainly, when their conference, or yearly meeting, is consi- 
 dered ; for in this meeting no person, who is not a travelling preacher, has 
 ever been suffered to enter as a member of it; and, indeed, this is the point 
 to which the preachers have always steadfastly adhered with the utmost 
 firmness and resolution, and on which the division at present entirely rests. 
 They are also upbraided by the New Methodists, for having abused the 
 power they have assumed ; a great many of these abuses the New Method- 
 ists have formally protested against, which are enumerated in various pub- 
 lications, and particularly in the Preface to the Life of one of their deceased 
 friends, Mr. Alexander Kilham. Hence these New Methodists have been 
 sometimes denominated Kilhamiles . 
 
 These are a disowned branch of the Wesleyan Methodists, originating in 
 Staffordshire, England, under Hugh Bourne. Their first camp-meeting 
 
 Primitive was held May 31, 1807. It commenced at six o’clock in the 
 
 Ramers 818 ’ ° r morning, and continued till eight in the evening. These 
 
 camp-meetings being disapproved of by the old connection, a separation took 
 place, when H. and J. Bourne enlarged their views, and the cause spread 
 in every direction. Societies were established at Boylstone, Todely, and 
 Hallington in Derbyshire. A general meeting was held at Tunstall, Feb. 
 13, 1812, and a preparatory meeting at Nottingham, Aug. 18, 1819, when 
 arrangements were made for annual meetings: quarterly meetings have 
 been held in March, June, September, and December, under which “the 
 work mightily enlarged.” Missionary exertions, which had been declining, 
 were revived at Belper “very powerfully,” while “the praying people, in 
 returning home, were accustomed to sing through the streets of Belper !” 
 
METHODISTS. 
 
 431 
 
 It is added, that “this circumstance procured them the name of Ranters , 
 and the name of Ranter, which first arose on this occasion, afterwards spread 
 very extensively.” The work, we are told, then spread to Derby and Not- 
 tingham, whence circuits were established, one circuit having been hitherto 
 sufficient for the connection. The camp-meetings also had declined, out 
 were thus revived. 
 
 “ The declining state of the camp-meetings was severely felt in the 
 circuit, and caused considerable anxiety ; but as much prayer and suppli- 
 cation was made to Almighty God, he, in the year 1816, pointed out both 
 the evil and the remedy by the following means : — H. Bourne had put into 
 his hand ‘The Narrative of a Mission to Nova Scotia, New Brunswick,’ 
 &c., by J. Marsden, Methodist Missionarjr.” The author, during his 
 mission, visited New York, and attended several of the American camp 
 meetings. These meetings continue day and night, for several days to 
 gether. He shows that they have sometimes four, and sometimes five 
 preachings in the course of twenty-four hours ; and the intermediate time 
 is filled up with services carried on by praying companies. He says : — 
 “ During my continuance in this city, I had an opportunity of attending 
 several camp-meetings, and as the nature of these stupendous means of 
 grace is not distinctly known, I will spend a few moments in making my 
 readers acquainted with them. 
 
 “ The tents are generally pitched in the form of a crescent, in the centre 
 of which is an elevated stand for the preachers, round which, in all 
 directions, are placed rows of planks for the people to sit upon, while they 
 hear the word. Among the trees, which spread their tops over this forest- 
 church, are hung the lamps, which burn all night, and give light to the 
 various exercises of religion which occupy the solemn midnight hours. 
 As it was nearly eleven o’clock at night when I first arrived on the borders 
 of a camp, I left the boat at the edge of a wood, one mile from the scene, 
 though the sound of praise from such a multitude, and at such an hour, in 
 the midst of a solitary wilderness, is difficult to describe ; but when I 
 opened upon the camp-ground, my curiosity was converted into astonish- 
 ment, to behold the pendent lamps among the trees — the tents half en- 
 circling a large space — four thqusand people in the centre of this, listening 
 with profound attention to a preacher, whose stentorian voice and animated 
 manner carried the vibration of each word to a great distance through the 
 now deeply-umbrageous wood ; where, save the twinkling lamps of the 
 camp, brooding darkness spread a tenfold gloom ; — all excited my astonish- 
 ment, and forcibly brought before my view the Hebrews in the wilderness. 
 
 “ The meetings generally begin on a Monday morning, and on the Friday 
 morning following break up. The daily exercises are carried forward in 
 the following manner : In the morning at five o’clock the horn sounds 
 through the camp, either for public preaching or prayer ; this with smallei 
 
432 
 
 PROTESTANT COMMUNITIES. 
 
 exercises, or a little intermission, brings on the breakfast hour, eight o’cIock 
 At ten the horn sounds for public preaching: after which, until noon, the 
 interval is iiJIed up with little groups of praying persons, who scatter them- 
 selves up and down the camp, both in the tents and under the trees. Aa 
 these smaller exercises are productive of much good, a powerful spirit of 
 prayer and exhortation is often poured forth. I have not unfrequently seen 
 three or four persons lying on the ground, crying for mercy, or motionless, 
 without any apparent signs of life, except pulsation. After dinner the horn 
 sounds at two o’clock ; this is for preaching. I should have observed, that 
 a female or two is generally left in each tent, to prepare the proper mate 
 rials for dinner, which is always cold meats, pies, tarts, tea, &c. (the use of 
 ardent spirits being forbidden,) and a fire is kept burning in different parts 
 of the camp, where the water is boiled. After the afternoon preaching, 
 things take nearly the same course as in the morning, only the praying 
 groups are upon a larger scale, and more scope is given to animated ex- 
 hortations and loud prayers. Some who exercise on these occasions soon 
 lose their voices; and, at the end oLa camp-meeting, many, both preachers 
 and people, can only speak in a whisper. At six o’clock in the evening 
 the horn summons to preaching, after which, though in no regulated form, 
 all the above means continue until morning; so that, go to whatever part 
 of the camp you please, some are engaged in them : yea, and during 
 whatever part of the night you awake, the wilderness is vocal with praise. 
 
 “At this camp-meeting, perhaps, not less than one hundred persons were 
 awakened and converted to God. I have heard many say, that they never 
 heard such praying, exhorting, and preaching, anywhere else ; and those 
 who engage feel such a divine afflatus, that they are carried along as by 
 the force of a delightful torrent ; indeed, this has been so much the case 
 with myself, the several times I preached and exhorted at these meetings, 
 that I was sensible of nothing but a constraining influence, transporting me 
 beyond myself, carrying me along with a freedom and fulness, both of 
 emotion and language, quite unusual, and yet I had no very friendly views 
 of camp-meetings until I attended them ; however, I am now satisfied that 
 they are the right-hand of Methodism in the United States, and one main 
 cause why the societies have doubled and. trebled there within these few 
 years.” 
 
 SEC. VII.— QUAKERS. 
 
 The Quakers owe their origin to George Fox, who was born in Leices- 
 tershire about the year 1624. It is reported of him, that in his youth he 
 was of a particularly thoughtful temper, and loved to be by 
 himself. At an early age he became apprentice to a shoe- 
 maker. While in this situation, he devoted himself with great diligence 10 
 the perusal of the Scriptures, and, as opportunity presented, was wont to 
 
QUAKERS. 
 
 433 
 
 exhort his fellow-shoemakers, from whom, however, he received no great 
 encouragement. As he was one day walking alone in the fields, reflecting 
 according to custom on the disorderly lives of men, and considering of the 
 most proper means to reform them, for the glory of God, and their own 
 temporal and eternal happiness ; he thought he heard a voice from heaven, 
 or rather he felt one of those sudden impulses, which the Quakers receive 
 as special motions from the Holy Ghost. This impulse set before his eyes 
 a lively representation of the corrupt and abandoned lives of men, from their 
 cradle to extreme old age, at which time nothing is left to return to God, 
 but weak and decayed senses, and a second childhood ; exhorting him at 
 the same time to retirement and an absolute separation from the general 
 corruption of the world. This is the true epoch of Fox’s vocation : con- 
 sidering that he had received a call from heaven, he lived in a closer 
 retreat than before ; he searched narrowly into the state of his conscience ; 
 retrenched whatever he found superfluous, and followed his trade no 
 further than was necessary for his subsistence. He went about preaching 
 from place to place, and boldly entered into disputes with divines and 
 ministers, trusting solely to and being guided only by what he considered 
 to be that divine voice, which interiorly speaks to the heart , and draws 
 men as it pleases. This caused Fox to be looked upon as a seditious 
 person ; on which account he was seized at Nottingham, in 1649, and im- 
 prisoned. This first imprisonment occurred when he was twenty-five 
 years of age. On being released from Nottingham jail, he preached in 
 other places, where he was roughly handled by the mob for his eccentric 
 behaviour, and the boldness with which he ' interrupted the ministers in 
 their sermons. At Derby, he was shut up for six months in a house of 
 correction ; and when he came out of it, in order to be examined by Jeremy 
 Bennet, a justice of the peace, the name of Quakers was given to him and 
 his disciples, because, in his answers and public exhortations, he often said 
 quaking and trembling were necessary dispositions to hear the word of Goi 
 with profit. 
 
 Nottingham and Derby were not the only places in which Fox was 
 punished on account of the very eccentric course he pursued ; he had been 
 cast into prison, and whipped in those towns; at other places he was put 
 in the pillory, and underwent some punishments equally ignominious r he 
 was often stoned or beaten almost to death ; but he endured all tnose 
 affronts according to the literal sense of the gospel precept ; he desired the 
 judges to order a second execution of the sentence pronounced against him ; 
 he presented his cheek and his back to those who had struck or whipped 
 him ; and in the midst of these temporal afflictions he rejoiced, and was 
 comforted by the daily increase of the number of his adherents. 
 
 The Quakers flattered themselves with the hope of enjoying some quiet 
 at the restoration of Charles II. ; but refusing to take the oath of allegiance 
 
to that monarch because in their opinion all oaths are forbidden, a grievous 
 persecution was raised against them. While suffering these persecutions, 
 they were considerably strengthened by the accession to their fraternity of 
 the well-known William Penn, who, on account of his talents and ample 
 fortune, soon acquired no small influence and reputation among them. 
 About the same time, also, the persecution against them abating, they em- 
 ployed themselves in reducing their views to a more regular system, and in 
 adopting rules according to which they were to govern themselves. These 
 we shall briefly notice. 
 
 Both sexes have general meetings, which may be called classes, collo 
 quies, and synods. In those assemblies, which are either provincial, and 
 General Meet- held ever y three months, or general, and called together 
 In s s - every year, censures are pronounced, ecclesiastical affairs 
 
 reviewed, books examined, and the most material occurrences registered in 
 their records. In England the Quakers’ general meeting is fixed to the 
 third day after Pentecost ; not out of superstition, they say, as if they ex- 
 pected their deputies should be more particularly inspired at a time when 
 the commemoration of the Holy Ghost’s coming down upon the Apostles is 
 celebrated, but solely out of a principle of regularity in meeting on a fixed 
 day, and at a convenient season ; and it is notorious that the Quakers keep 
 no holydays, and solemnize no festival. The Holy Ghost, the spirit within , 
 neither knows nor admits any such distinctions. Deputies from all the 
 Quakers dispersed through the whole world meet at these assemblies ; in 
 which there is a secretary to register, or propose the matters to be debated, 
 or copy out the decisions: but the Holy Ghost is the invisible president; 
 and they do not admit of a visible one. 
 
 Their outward exercises of devotions consist in a profound contemplation, 
 whilst some one of them, man or woman, rises up either with a sedate and 
 composed motion, or in a kind of transport, as if actuated by 
 an irresistible power, and often with sighs, groans, and tears. 
 This variety of behaviour is caused, as they say, by the impression of the 
 spirit, which often dictates to the man or woman preacher, sermons two or 
 three hours long, after a deep silence of an equal duration. This quietude, 
 the Quakers say, disposes them to enter into a serious consideration of the 
 state of their own souls, into a deep meditation, Dy means oi which the 
 Spirit prepares to itself hidden ways to penetrate into their hearts: then it 
 breaks forth in sermons and exhortations, or in prayer or psalmody: during 
 which those who are not inspired to speak, remain in a state of recollection, 
 examine themselves, and make a suitable application of what they hear to 
 the circumstances in which they find their own souls. From that inward 
 conflict of the spirit against the flesh; from the devil’s furious assaults to 
 keep the mastery, proceed sometimes those bodily motions, those shakings 
 and tremblings with which many of them are seized. It not un frequently 
 
 Public Devo- 
 tions. 
 
QUAKERS. 
 
 435 
 
 happens that a meeting is concluded without any sermon, exhortation, or 
 public prayer. 
 
 Meditation, prayer, recollection, contemplation, and reading the Bible, 
 are the chief devotions which the Quakers use at home; they are longer or 
 Private Devo shorter, more or less frequent, and alternately diversified, as 
 
 tions, &c. the impulses prevail. Their children are brought up to 
 
 those exercises from their infancy, have a very plain and modest education, 
 without any ornaments, fine clothes, what is called a genteel behaviour, or 
 endeavouring to please other men. The Quaker’s dress is brown, or of 
 some plain dark colour, somewhat like a waistcoat, without plaits on the 
 sides, without buttons on the pockets or sleeves, their hats broad-brimmed 
 and horizontal ; all the politeness they aim at is an open, frank access, and 
 natural, easy conversation. 
 
 They keep no festivals, but may meet on any day; in England and Hol- 
 land they meet regularly every Sunday: they neither pray nor speak, either 
 in public or private, with a loud voice, but when, as they 
 Time of worship. S p( r {{ within bids them. If this spirit do not 
 
 move them, they are only to think at church, at table, at going to bed. 
 
 The Quakers place no great value on the knowledge of languages and 
 learning; which, although they do not think entirely useless, yet they say, 
 Estimation of are not necessary for the ministry: they express a great 
 honors, g &c. tUleS ’ contempt of philosophy and divinity, chiefly as taught in 
 the schools, and esteem them no otherwise than as the inventions of Satan. 
 
 They likewise reject all titles of honour, either in the ^state or in the 
 church, and have no regard to academical degrees. All these marks of 
 distinction are only apt to set up so many masters, which the gospel ex- 
 pressly forbids, we being all equally brethren : they give the name of hire- 
 lings to Protestant clergymen, on account of the income they receive from 
 the lands they possess, from tithes, salaries, or pensions. And according to 
 their system, it is evident they cannot approve of a limitation in the number 
 of ministers, nor of that function being appropriated to a particular order of 
 men, since the spirit within is not and cannot be confined. Moreover, they 
 think the number of pastors is too small to comply with all the duties 
 required of them; and that there ought to be missionaries, who might, as 
 amongst Catholics, labour without intermission for the propagation of the 
 faith ; and are of opinion, that the present behaviour of other Protestants in 
 that particular paves the way for antichrist. v 
 
 Duties, taxes, great salaries, and profits, all other means employed in 
 civil societies, to engage men to do their duty, and become useful members 
 of the commonwealth, by the hope of considerable gains, seem odious and 
 dangerous to the Quakers, as becoming only hirelings and slaves to avarice, 
 not good citizens, or Christians, who ought to have their duty at heart. 
 
 Amongst the Quakers the spirit is free, and does not submit to synods, 
 
436 
 
 PROTESTANT COMMUNITIES. 
 
 T'Totion of the 
 
 nor to worldly learning, wisdom, or customs: this is one of the chief and 
 most essential articles of their religion. All the members of the church 
 may and ought to concur to the general good of the body; 
 all may have the same helps from the Holy Ghost, and feel 
 ,l ie -me impressions of his power ; all are animated and fed, like our bodily 
 members by the same efficacy and in the same manner; all by consequence 
 ou^ht to give a helping hand to the edification of the mystical body, as 
 natural members contribute to the welfare of human bodies. This they 
 apply to the evangelical ministry : the Spirit, say the Quakers, notifies by 
 its impulse what is wanting to the church, and obliges those members upon 
 whom he makes that impulse, to give a speedy help to the mystical body. 
 If it should happen that out of laziness, neglect, or distraction, the person 
 so moved should not be sensible of the impulse, or not give a due attention 
 to the defects of which the members of the mystical body are guilty; then 
 they ought to rouse themselves with new fervour, and by a perfect recol- 
 lection make a trial of the gifts and power of the spirit of life. The call to 
 pastoral functions essentially consists in this: it requires no pomp, no cere- 
 mony, no improvement of the mind, no preparation, no examination, nor 
 any of the means used in other Christian societies, to provide churches with 
 pastors and teachers. Yet if after this inward trial any one be moved and 
 forcibly drawn by the Spirit to engage in the ministry, the ecclesiastical 
 council must not omit the formality of examining whether the person so 
 inspired be in reality fit for it, and ought to be admitted to that dignity ; the 
 importance of which, in regard to himself, and to the whole church, is 
 strongly represented to him, in a speech or exhortation made to that end. 
 This ceremony is sometimes accompanied by the letters of other churches 
 and societies of Quakers, recommending such or such to that office. When 
 installed, they are maintained by voluntary contributions only, without any 
 settlement, contract, or previous agreement. Each Quaker contributes 
 freely according to his power, and the minister is not to accept of their 
 benevolence, further than is necessary for a sober and frugal maintenance; 
 but if he be reduced to poverty for want of such contributions, it is lawful 
 for him to leave the congregation which he served; he may even, accord- 
 ing to their historian, shake the dust off his feet against that church, as 
 Christ ordered his apostles to do against those who would not receive them. 
 
 The Quakers reject baptism and the Lord’s Supper. The truth is, they 
 look upon baptism as a Jewish ceremon)', yet they are willing that other 
 Christian societies should receive it as a token of regenera- 
 tion, of initiation, or an introduction to Christianity. But 
 they say, that in our holy and all-spiritual religion, outward signs ought 
 not to prevail upon duty, nor a wicked man be esteemed a Christian on 
 account of his being baptized*; whilst, for want of that ceremony, another 
 man, who complies with all the Christian duties, is looked upon as a 
 
 Estimation of 
 Baptism, &c. 
 
QUAKERS. 
 
 437 
 
 Marriage. 
 
 heathen. The true baptism of Christ, say they, is the purifying of the soul, 
 and that only can save men. Their belief concerning the communion is 
 also another stumbling-block ; We have no communion , say they, but the 
 union of hearts. 
 
 Marriage is contracted amongst them with as little ceremony as all their 
 other duties are performed. Their youth are christianly instructed in what- 
 ever concerns that honourable state ; they are admonished 
 that it is of the highest importance, that it requires a serious 
 and strict examination, and is not to be entered into without a nice choice, 
 much reflection, and the approbation and consent of their parents. When 
 after all this they persist in the resolution of marrying, they must give no- 
 tice of their design to the ecclesiastical council, who make the usual inqui- 
 ries, Whether they be qualified to marry? and have the consent of their 
 parents? &c. Informations are likewise taken from those who are present, 
 to know if no opposition be made to the marriage intended, and on the next 
 Sunday following they publish a kind of ban. These preliminaries being 
 over, the contract becomes valid amongst the Quakers in this form ; the 
 bride and bridegroom come to the assembly accompanied by their friends 
 and relations whom they think fit to invite. There, in presence of the 
 saicT friends and relations, they are desired to declare whether they love one 
 another, whether they be mutually willing to have each other, and are 
 resolved to help and assist each other. To these, and such other questions 
 suitable to the occasion, the Quakers give, with all sincerity, the usual 
 answers ; which, with their mutual consent, are registered in a book kept 
 for that purpose. The contracting parties set their names to it, as also the 
 friends and relations, as witnesses; which being done, the new-married 
 couple are dismissed. The disorders usually committed at weddings are, 
 or ought to be, wholly unknown amongst Quakers. The body being, in 
 their system, the vessel and garment of the soul, it must be maintained and 
 kept with simplicity and modesty, without superfluity, or endeavouring to 
 please the senses at the expense of the purity of the soul. Those mar- 
 riages of the Quakers were heretofore deemed illegal in England; but they 
 are now tolerated, and looked upon as valid and indissoluble contracts. 
 
 Their obsequies are without pomp, without funeral orations, all which, 
 according to their notions, are as opposite to Christian simplicity as the 
 foolish diversions allowed by other Christians, at the celebra- 
 tion of their marriages. Can any thing be more extravagant, 
 they say, than that the friends and relations of the deceased should, with a 
 sorrowful countenance, follow his corpse, and accompany it to the grave in 
 a mourning dress, and then come back to the house to drink, and some- 
 times get drunk in his honour? What contrary proceedings are these ! is 
 it not a mere comical farce to see their formal, affected grief, seeming, in 
 their long black cloaks, to shed tears for the loss of a parent or friend, of 
 
 Funerals. 
 
438 
 
 PROTESTANT COMMUNITIES. 
 
 whose death they are heartily glad, for the sake of the riches he has be- 
 queathed to them ? All those abuses are avoided by the Quakers. They 
 carry the dead to their burying-place, without attendance or mourning; and 
 content themselves with a serious meditation on the frailty of human life, 
 and mutually exhorting each other to the practice of virtue, and to a faithful 
 imitation of the deceased, if his example were truly worthy of being 
 followed. 
 
 Our limits admit of but a partial exposition of the faith of the 
 Creed. Quakers. The following are their principal articles of belief ■ 
 
 Every one who leads a moral life, and from the sincerity of his heart 
 complies with the duties of natural religion, must be deemed an essentially 
 good Christian. An historical faith and belief of some extraordinary facts, 
 which the Christians own for truths, are the only real difference between a 
 virtuous pagan and a good Christian, and this faith is not necessary to 
 salvation. 
 
 Christ is the true inward light, which enlightens all men. This is per- 
 formed by an immediate inspiration, and not by the outward doctrine of the 
 gospel, which Christ has preached to men as a rule of their belief and 
 practice ; which outward preaching of evangelical truths, is not the usual 
 and ordinary method used by God to enlighten mankind ; but he sends to 
 each person interior inspirations. This interior light is the true gospel; it 
 is to be adored, as being Christ himself and God himself. 
 
 Scripture is not the true rule, the real guide of Christian faith and moral 
 doctrine ; this is a prerogative belonging only to the inward light, which 
 each has within himself, or which breaks forth in the assemblies of the 
 brethren or friends. The dead letter of the sacred writings is not of so 
 great authority as the preaching of the authors of them ; the particular 
 books which make up the Scripture were directed to private churches or 
 persons, and we are not interested in them. 
 
 The chief rule of our faith is the inspiration of the Holy Ghost, who in- 
 teriorly teaches us ; and the Scripture is only a rule subordinate to that 
 Spirit. An immediate inspiration is as necessary to us as to the apostles ; 
 it teaches us whatever is necessary to salvation. The promise which Christ 
 made to his apostles, to teach them all truth by his Spirit, and that the 
 Holy Ghost should always remain with them , was not confined to the 
 apostles only, it belongs to all the faithful ; and it is said of them ail, that 
 the unction shall teach them all things. 
 
 All true ministers of Christ are as infallible in what they teach as the 
 prophets and apostles were : otherwise the Spirit of Christ would not be 
 infallible. All those who are filled with the gifts of the Spirit are equally 
 infallible, without which the infallibility of the Holy Ghost must be divided ; 
 there is no eiterior way of teaching, which may help one to judge of the 
 truth of the doctrine which he preaches. The immediate inspiration is 
 
QUAKERS. 
 
 439 
 
 sufficient to enable a mitister to preach without Scripture, or any other 
 exterior helps. Without this particular inspiration all those who pretend 
 to argue upon or explain the words of Christ, are false prophets and de- 
 ceivers. The church ought to have no other ministers, but those who are 
 called by an immediate inspiration, which is best proved by interior miracles, 
 of which the outward signs were only a representation or figure. The 
 Quakers do not preach a new gospel, and therefore need not work miracles 
 to prove their doctrine; a visible succession of ministers, ordained or other- 
 wise established, is likewise of no use. Whoever is inwardly called to the 
 ministerial functions, is sufficiently qualified for that post ; inward sanctity 
 is as essentially requisite in a true minister, as in a true member of the 
 church. 
 
 Women may preach with as much authority as men, and be ministers of 
 the church ; for in Christ there is no distinction of male and female , and 
 the prophet Joel has foretold that women should have the gift of prophecy 
 as well as men. 
 
 The Scripture nowhere says, that the Father, the Son, and the Holy 
 Ghost, are three persons ; there are three several manifestations ; but three 
 persons would in reality be three gods. The Scripture being silent as to 
 the manner of the unity, and of the distinction in the Trinity, it is a great 
 rashness in the Christian churches to meddle with deciding such intricate 
 points. The distinction of persons in the godhead is a speculative subtlety, 
 not calculated to mend our lives, and very prejudicial to Christian peace 
 and charity. To draw up an exact profession of faith, it is necessary to 
 adhere closely to the expressions used in Scripture. 
 
 The true Christ is he, who existed before he was manifested in the flesh, 
 and who has never been seen with the eyes of the flesh. Jesus Christ, as 
 God, has a heavenly humanity, of which the earthly one is but the outward 
 garment, the type or figure. Jesus Christ, the Word and Son of God, did 
 not personally unite himself to our human nature, he only took it as a suit 
 of clothes, which he was to put on for a while. This human nature was 
 inspired, as other men, but in a superior and more particular degree. 
 Christ could not be united to a corrupt nature ; his interior birth within 
 men is a greater mystery than his outward nativity. The faith in and the 
 knowledge of Christ, according to the flesh, and of his mysteries, were but 
 the first elements fit for the infancy of Christianity, which being over, 
 those rudiments become useless ; we now have learned to be in Christ, to 
 become new creatures, to let old things pass away in order to make room 
 for the new. 
 
 The expiaiion of our sins has not been merited by the outward spilling 
 of Christ’s blood, which was not more precious than that of any other 
 saint : neither has the church been redeemed by it, but an inward and 
 spiritual blood, which purifies our hearts and consciences, of which the 
 
 L. 
 
440 
 
 PROTESTANT COMMUNITIES. 
 
 Scripture says, it was spilt for our justification; lastly, of which Christ 
 himself says, that he who does not drink his blood shall not have life in him. 
 
 The Scripture does not say that Christ satisfied the justice of God for our 
 sins. As God may without any injustice forgive our sins without such a 
 satisfaction, it was not necessary, neither can it be reconciled with the gra- 
 tuitous remission of our sins : and moreover, God’s punishing his own Son, 
 who was innocent, is contrary to divine justice. 
 
 Christ did not go up to heaven with the body which he had on eartl\ 
 which is not now in heaven at the right hand of God. It is an erroneous 
 opinion to think or believe that the body of Christ, which is in heaven, occu- 
 pies and fills any particular limited place : the body of Christ is wherever 
 his spirit is ; and it cannot save us, if distance of place separates it from us ; 
 whoever preaches a doctrine opposite to these propositions, is a false minis- 
 ter, and deceitful teacher : the same gift of discernment in the examination 
 of spirits, which was bestowed on the apostles, remains still in the church. 
 
 Our sins being once forgiven, it is wholly unnecessary to repent of them 
 any further, or to go on in asking forgiveness for them. We cannot become 
 God’s servants unless we be first purified. 
 
 Outward baptism is not an ordinance of Christ, or at least not to be 
 observed as a perpetual law. Whoever pretends that Christ’s order is to 
 be understood of water-baptism adds to the text, which does not mention 
 water. The baptism enjoined by Christ is a baptism of spirit, not of water. 
 The water-baptism was St. John’s, and has been abolished. St. Paul says 
 he was not sent to baptize, but to preach. Water-baptism was used by the 
 apostles only as a toleration for the weakness of the Jews, but it can do no 
 good to the soul. Baptism by inspersion is nowhere mentioned in Scrip- 
 ture. Water-baptism, and the spiritual baptism, are two entirely different 
 baptisms. The inward baptism alone is the true baptism of Christ. 
 
 Children ought not to be baptized, since they are not capable of taking 
 any engagement upon themselves, or of making a profession of faith, or of 
 answering to God according to the testimony of a good conscience. 
 
 Taking or receiving the Eucharist is not a perpetual obligation ; it was 
 instituted heretofore only for those who were newly converted to the 
 Christian religion, or for weak Christians in the beginning of their Chris- 
 tianity. 
 
 ADVICES. 
 
 The following Advices are set forth to be read, at least once in the year, 
 in the Quarterly, Monthly, and Preparative Meetings of men and women 
 Friends : they are to be read in the men’s and women’s meetings sepa- 
 rately. 
 
 Dependence on the Holy Spirit. — “ Take heed, dear friends, we entreat 
 you, to the convictions of the Holy Spirit, who leads, through unfeigned 
 
QUAKERS. 
 
 441 
 
 repentance and living faith in the Son of God, to reconciliation with our 
 heavenly Father, and to the blessed hope of eternal life, purchased for us by 
 the one offering of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. 
 
 Religious Meetings. — “ Be earnestly concerned in religious meetings 
 reverently to present yourselves before the Lord, and seek, by the help of 
 the Holy Spirit, to worship God through Jesus Christ. 
 
 Closet Exercises.— “ Be in the frequent practice of waiting upon God in 
 private retirement, with prayer and supplication, honestly examining your- 
 selves as to your growth in grace, and your preparation for the life to come. 
 
 The right observance of the First day of the Week. — “ Be careful to 
 make a profitable and religious use of those portions of time on the first day 
 of the week, which are not occupied by our meetings for worship. 
 
 Living in Love. — “Live in love as Christian brethren, ready to be help- 
 ful one to another, and to sympathize with each other in the trials and 
 afflictions of life. 
 
 Following after Peace. — “ Follow peace with all men, desiring the true 
 happiness of all ; and be liberal to the poor, endeavouring to promote their 
 temporal, moral, and religious well-being. 
 
 Moderation in the pursuit of the things of this life. — “ With a tender 
 conscience, and in accordance with the precepts of the Gospel, take heed 
 to the limitations of the Spirit of Truth, in the pursuit of the things of this 
 life. 
 
 Maintenance of Integrity. — “ Maintain strict integrity in all your trans- 
 actions in trade, and in your other outward concerns, remembering that you 
 will have to account for the mode of acquiring, and the manner of using, 
 your possessions. 
 
 Watchfulness over Children. — “ Watch, with Christian tenderness, over 
 the opening minds of your offspring ; inure them to the habits of self- 
 restraint and filial obedience ; carefully instruct them in the knowledge of 
 the Holy Scriptures, and seek for the ability to imbue their minds with the 
 love of their heavenly Father, their Redeemer, and their Sanctifier. 
 
 Of household Furniture and manner of living. — “ Observe simplicity 
 and moderation in the furniture of your houses, and in the supply of jour 
 tables, as well as in your personal attire, and that of your families. 
 
 Attention to the Holy Scriptures. — “ Be diligent in the private and daily 
 family reading of the Holy Scriptures : and guard carefully against the 
 introduction of improper books into your families. 
 
 Of placing out Children. — “Be careful to place out children of ail 
 degrees with those friends whose care and example will be most likely to 
 conduce to their preservation from evil ; prefer such assistants, servants, 
 and apprentices, as are members of our religious society ; not demanding 
 exorbitant apprentice fees, lest you frustrate the care of friends in these 
 respects. 
 
442 
 
 PROTESTANT COMMUNITIES. 
 
 Watchfulness over Servants. — “ Encourage your apprentices and ser- 
 vants of all descriptions to attend public worship, making way for them 
 herein : and exercise a watchful care for their moral and religious improve- 
 ment. 
 
 On Wills and Trusteeships. — “ Be careful to make yoi.r wills and settle 
 your outward affairs in time of health ; and when you accept the office of 
 guardian, executor, or trustee, be faithful and diligent in the fulfilment of 
 your trust. 
 
 Conversation and Conduct. — “ Finally, dear friends, let your conver- 
 sation be such as becometh the gospel. Exercise yourselves to have always 
 a conscience void of offence towards God and towards man. Watch over 
 one another for good ; and when occasions of uneasiness first appear in any, 
 jet them be treated with in privacy and tenderness, before the matter be 
 communicated to another: and friends, every where, are advised to maintain 
 tils ‘ unity of the spirit in the bond of peace.’ ” 
 
 Excellent observations of Quakers respecting Benevolence and Charity . 
 —The best recreation of a Christian is the relief of distress ; and his chief 
 delight to promote the knowledge and to exalt the glory of his heavenly 
 master: and this is most effectually done, under His holy influence, by a 
 life of faith, purity, and general benevolence. 
 
 Warn those that are rich in this world, that they apply not the blessings 
 of God to the indulging of their appetites in pleasure and vanity ; but that 
 they be ready to do good, and to communicate to the relief of those who 
 are in necessity. The principal, if not only satisfaction a man of a truly 
 Christian disposition can have in affluence, and the increase of the things 
 of this world, must arise from the greater opportunities put into his hands 
 of doing good therewith. 
 
 Observations of Elisha Bates, an accredited authority among Quakers, 
 are as follows : — However humble or obscure your station may be, you are 
 to contribute either to the suffering or the rejoicing of the living members 
 of that body to which you belong. Your lukewarmness and indifference 
 to the great objects of religious regard, cannot fail to increase the weakness 
 of the Society, and those painful exercises which arise in consequence of 
 that weakness. And, on the contrary, your close attention to what passes 
 in your own minds, and the secret exercises into which you would be led, 
 like the prayers and alms-deeds of Cornelius, would rise as a memorial 
 before Him who sees in secret. And thus you might not only know an in- 
 crease of religious experience and religious enjoyjnent, but also contribute 
 to the prevalence of that power, which is the crown of our most solemn 
 assemblies. But by settling down into a belief that there is nothing for 
 you to do, you will deprive yourselves of that improvement, usefulness in 
 society, and peace of mind, which would otherwise be your portion. It is 
 not always from among the most wise, according to the wisdom of this 
 
QUAKERS. 
 
 443 
 
 world, nor from those who possess the brightest natural talents, that religion 
 has found its ablest advocates, or Christianity its brightest ornaments. 
 Suffer, therefore, your minds to be aroused from that state of ease into 
 which you have fallen — not to an unqualified activity in the church, but to 
 an entire submission to the renovating power of truth. You will find that a 
 remembrance of God, and a submission to the regulating, sanctifying opera- 
 tions of his Spirit, will not interrupt the right order of your domestic con- 
 cerns. But through the seasoning virtue and illuminating nature of that 
 influence which would regulate your feelings and direct your conduct, you 
 would take your portion of that character which our Lord gave of his dis- 
 ciples, when he called them “ the salt of the earth,” and “ the light of the 
 world.” 
 
 What if your opportunities of improvement have been limited — or your 
 capacities, in your own estimation, be small — or your natural energies 
 already begun to decline ? you have souls to be saved or lost — you have 
 no continuing city here; and are bound, by the most solemn obligations, 
 to prepare for the final change ; “and so much the more, as ye see the day 
 approaching.” In that very preparation for the world to come, from 
 which no age or condition in life can exempt you, you will experience a 
 preparation for the various duties that devolve upon you in civil or reli 
 gious society. 
 
 Whatever may be our name as to religious profession — whatever out 
 stations in the militant church, the closing address of the apostle on a very 
 interesting occasion may be suitably applied : “I commend you to God, and 
 to the Word of his Grace, which is able to build you up. and to give you 
 an inheritance among all them which are sanctified.” 
 
PART V. 
 
 A BRIEF ACCOUNT OF RELIGIOUS DENOMINATIONS 
 IN THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 Under this head it is proposed to advert to such customs and ceremonies 
 as have not been previously described, and to furnish information with 
 respect to the history and statistics of all the religious denominations in this 
 country; thus rendering the book a more valuable work of reference to the 
 American reader. 
 
 In the’ first article an expanded statement of the principles and usages 
 of Presbyterians is made, because the account of the Kirk of Scotland is 
 exceedingly meager and unsatisfactory; and it seemed fit that a full account 
 of Presbyterianism, as well as of Roman Catholics, and Lutherans, and the 
 Church of England, should be found somewhere in the volume. In the 
 minor divisions of the family of Presbyterian churches, we have referred tc 
 this for an account of general principles. So, in the account of Roman 
 Catholics, Lutherans, Episcopalians, and others in this country, the reader 
 is referred to the larger general statement in the preceding part for more 
 complete information. 
 
 SEC. I.— AMERICAN PRESBYTERIANS. . 
 
 The word Presbyterian is often used in a wide sense as characterizing 
 a large portion of the Protestant church. It embraces all those denomina- 
 tions which are opposed to prelacy. In prelatical church government and 
 usages a large number of sects are included. Thus the Greek Church 
 alone is made up of “The Greek Church proper” “The Russian Greek 
 Church,” “The Georgian and Mingrelian Churches,” “The Nestorian 
 
AMERICAN PRESBYTERIANS. 
 
 445 
 
 Churches,” “The Christians of St. Thomas,” “The Jacobites,” “The 
 Copts,” “ The Abyssinians,” “ The Arminians,” and many other minor 
 denominations. “ The Roman Church,” “ The English Episcopal Church,” 
 and “ The American Episcopal Church,” are also each of them a por- 
 tion of that great family of churches included under the term Prelacy. 
 These all agree in one great fundamental principle. They believe that 
 ecclesiastical government is a gift from Christ to priests, and that they 
 possess the power of transmitting this authority to their successors. 
 They differ in respect to their acknowledged head ; some of the Greek 
 Christians acknowledging one Patriarch, and some another, and some the 
 Roman Pontiff. Some Romanists also acknowledge the Pope, and some 
 deny his supremacy. The English Episcopal Church acknowledge the 
 king, or, during the present reign, the queen, as their head ; while Ameri- 
 can Episcopalians account diocesan bishops as the highest ecclesiastical 
 officers. 
 
 Presbyterians differ from Prelatists in respect to the source of ecclesias- 
 tical authority ; and are divided, perhaps, into an equal number of minor 
 denominations. They hold that all ecclesiastical authority is derived from 
 the church itself ; that the teaching office is transmitted by a plurality of 
 presbyters or bishops; and that the whole body of believers, either as asso- 
 ciated, or by their representatives, participate in the government. A bishop, 
 according to the views of Presbyterians, is the pastor of a single congrega- 
 tion. Sometimes, as in the church of Ephesus, mentioned Acts xx. 28, 
 several bishops or pastors unitedly presided over the spiritual instruction 
 of a single worshipping assembly. This general system is sometimes 
 termed “parity,” because a leading feature of it is the equal official dignity 
 of Christian ministers. Prelacy and Parity divide the Christian world. 
 
 The Presbyterian Church, in this general denomination, includes Lu- 
 therans, Reformed Dutch, Congregationalists, Baptists, Scotch, English, 
 and American Presbyterians. Among these, the English Presbyterians, 
 Congregationalists, and Baptists, allow the popular will in ecclesiastical 
 matters to be expressed by the members of the church as occasion may de- 
 mand; while the Reformed Dutch, Scotch, and American Presbyterians 
 call for the exercise of popular, liberty in the electiori of lay elders, as 
 making a part of the ecclesiastical courts, and in the election and dismis- 
 sion of pastors, and in the entire control of the church edifices and congre- 
 gational funds. 
 
 As the articles of the Jewish faith have been given, and the creed of the 
 Mohammedans, and those of the Greek, Roman, and Episcopal Churches, 
 have been amply unfolded, the articles of faith as held by the Presbyterian 
 Church cannot, with propriety, be omitted. 
 
 Though Presbyterianism in the Kirk of Scotland is of earlier origin, 
 yet as all the fundamental principles are essentially the same in Scotland 
 29 
 
446 
 
 DENOMINATIONS IN THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 and America, and as the development of these principles in the account of 
 the Scottish kirk was not made in this work, it is not deemed improper 
 to insert them in this place. 
 
 Presbyterianism acknowledges no authority in respect to the doctrines 
 and duties of the Christian church, but the will of God as found in the 
 sacred Scriptures. It maintains that God alone is Lord of the conscience, 
 and hath left it free from the doctrines and commandments of men ; and 
 that the rights of private judgment, in all matters that respect religion, are 
 universal and inalienable. It holds, that all ecclesiastical power is only 
 ministerial and declarative ; that is to say, that the Holy Scriptures are the 
 only rule of faith and manners ; that no church judicatory ought to pre- 
 tend to make laws to bind the conscience in virtue of their own authority, 
 and that all their decisions ought to be founded upon the word of God. 
 Ecclesiastical discipline is purely moral and spiritual in its object, and 
 ought not to be attended with any civil effects ; hence it can derive no force 
 whatever, but from its own justice, the approbation of an impartial public, 
 and the favour and blessing of the great Head of the church. 
 
 The Officers of the Presbyterian church are bishops or pastors, ruling 
 elders, and deacons. The pastor is the spiritual teacher of the congrega- 
 tion. He is expected to preach the gospel in the church on the Lord’s 
 day, to instruct the people by occasional lectures, to superintend the cate- 
 chismal teaching of the young, and to visit the sick and bereaved, and 
 console them by spiritual counsel adapted to their necessities. Ruling 
 elders are elected by the people as their representatives in the ecclesiasti- 
 cal courts, and to co-operate with the pastor in watching over the spiritual 
 interests of the congregation. They are designated by the apostle Paul, 
 under the title of “ Governments,” and as “ those who rule well,” in dis- 
 tinction from such as labour in word and doctrine. Deacons are secular 
 officers whose duty is the care of the poor, and the reception and disburse- 
 ment of the charities of the congregation. 
 
 The Session is the primary court of the church, and consists of the 
 bishop or pastor, and the ruling elders. The bishop is the president, and 
 has the title of “Moderator of the session.” In this primary court origi- 
 nates all the legislative action of the church. If the superior courts would 
 take any step involving new constitutional principles, they are obliged to 
 send the question down to the church sessions, that they may thus know 
 the will of the church itself, before any revolutionary measures can be 
 adopted. The session is also charged with the duty of watching over the 
 spiritual interests of the congregation. It can summon offenders to an ac- 
 count for their irregularities, or their neglect of Christian duty. It can 
 investigate charges presented by others, and admonish, rebuke, or suspend 
 or exclude from the Lord’s table, those who are found to deserve censure, 
 according to the degree of their criminality. It is the business of the ses 
 
AMERICAN PRESBYTERIANS. 
 
 447 
 
 sion also to appoint a delegate of its own body, to attend, with the pastor, 
 the higher judicatories of the church. It is required of the session to keep 
 a fair record of all its proceedings, as also a register of marriages, bap- 
 tisms, persons admitted to the Lord’s Supper, deaths, and other removals 
 of church members, and to transmit these records, at stated periods, to the 
 presbytery for their inspection. 
 
 A Presbytery consists of all the ministers, and one ruling elder from 
 each church within a certain district. Three ministers, and as many elders 
 as may be present, are necessary to constitute a quorum. The presbytery 
 has power to receive and issue appeals from church sessions, and refer- 
 ences brought before them in an orderly manner; to examine and license 
 and ordain candidates for the holy ministry; to install, remove, and judge 
 ministers ; to examine and approve or censure the records of church ses- 
 sions ; to resolve questions of doctrine or discipline, seriously and reasona- 
 bly proposed ; to condemn erroneous opinions which injure the purity or 
 peace of the church ; to visit particular churches for the purpose of in- 
 quiring into their state, and redressing the evils that may have arisen in 
 them ; to unite or divide congregations, at the request of the people, or to 
 form or receive new congregations ; and, in general, to perform whatever 
 may be deemed necessary to the spiritual welfare of the churches under 
 their care. 
 
 A Synod consists of several presbyteries united. Not less than three 
 presbyteries are necessary to compose a synod. It is not made up of 
 representatives from the presbyteries, as presbyteries are of representatives 
 from the sessions. On the contrary, each member of ail the presbyteries 
 included in its bounds is a member of the synod, so that a synod is nothing 
 different from a larger presbytery, constituted by a combination of several 
 presbyteries into one. The synod reviews the records of presbyteries, 
 approving or censuring their proceedings, erecting new presbyteries, unit- 
 ing or dividing those which were before erected, taking a general care of 
 the churches within its bounds, and proposing such measures to the 
 General Assembly as may be for advantage to the whole church. The 
 synod is a court of appeal for the presbyteries within its bounds, having 
 the same relation to the presbyterial courts which the presbyteries have to 
 the sessions. 
 
 The General Assembly is the highest judicatory in the Presbyterian 
 Church. It is constituted of an equal delegation of bishops and elders 
 from the presbyteries. In one branch of the Presbyterian Church in 
 America, the General Assembly is an appellate court ; in the other it is 
 only an advisory council, except that it possesses power to review the pro- 
 ceedings of the inferior bodies, and to decide, as a supreme court, the 
 meaning of the constitution. 
 
 The General Assembly is not necessary to the most perfect development 
 
448 
 
 DENOMINATIONS IN THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 of Presbyterian Church government, nor, indeed, is any court higher that, 
 the presbytery ; but, it has this obvious advantage of representing all the 
 congregations of this denomination under the same civil government in a 
 single body. Thus, the General Assembly of the Kirk of Scotland, and 
 the General Assembly of the United States, before either were divided, 
 presented an imposing influence in the visible unity of each. 
 
 The church sessions meet at stated periods as often as may be deemed 
 necessary. In some churches, they convene once in each week ; in others 
 less frequently. Presbyteries hold two stated meetings in a year, while 
 the synods in the United States meet annually. In the two great branches 
 of the Presbyterian Church, in the United States, one General Assembly 
 meets annually, and the other triennially. It is a rule in all the judica- 
 tories of the Presbyterian Church, that the meetings shall be constituted 
 with prayer. In the stated meetings of presbyteries, synods, and the 
 General Assembly, the session is opened by a sermon from the Moderator, 
 or presiding officer of the preceding meeting. 
 
 The Doctrines of the Presbyterian Church are Calvinistic : — the doc- 
 trines of all the leading Reformers ; of the Waldenses, for five or six 
 hundred years before the Reformation ; of Augustin, and the primitive 
 church. They are substantially the same with the doctrinal symbols of 
 the Synod of Dort, the Heidelberg Confession and Catechism, and of the 
 Thirty-nine Articles of the Church of England, and of the Episcopal 
 Church of the United States. No other branch of the reformed churches 
 has maintained Calvinistic doctrines with so much tenaciousness as Pres- 
 byterians. While the Earl of Chatham could say of his own Church of 
 England, “We have a Popish liturgy, a Calvinistic creed, and an Armi- 
 nian clergy and while that denomination seem to be engaged in an 
 interminable controversy to decide whether their branch of the church 
 ought to be considered Arminian or Calvinistic ; the Presbyterian Church 
 is unitedly Calvinistic, so that any man who should avow himself Armi- 
 nian could not obtain ordination in the Presbyterian Church of either Scot- 
 land or America. 
 
 The system of doctrine is clearly set forth in the Westminster Confession 
 of Faith, and the Larger and Shorter Catechisms. Without attempting an 
 extended exposition of those great principles, more amply unfolded in the 
 standards of the church, it is proper to submit a brief and comprehensive 
 summary. 
 
 The Presbyterian Church maintains that since the fall of Adam, and in 
 consequence of his lapse, all men are naturally destitute of holiness, alien- 
 ated entirely from God, and justly subject to his eternal displeasure. The 
 plan of man’s recovery from this state is, from first to last, a system of 
 unmerited grace. The mediation of Jesus Christ, including his instruc- 
 tions, his example, his sacrifice on the cross, his resurrection, ascension, 
 
AMERICAN PRESBYTERIANS. 
 
 449 
 
 and intercession, are the means of bringing men back to God. Yet these 
 means would be without efficacy if there were not revealed to man a gra- 
 tuitous justification, through the merit of our Saviour’s sacrifice, and if the 
 Holy Spirit did not by his own invisible agency cause sinners to accept a 
 free pardon and salvation. 
 
 Hence the provisions of mercy are gratuitous not only, but, the disposi- 
 tion to accept these provisions is also produced by a sovereign interposition 
 of the divine Spirit. It is evident from observation as well as from Scrip- 
 ture, that many die in their sins, and consequently it could not have been 
 the original purpose of Him, who never changes his plans of operation, to 
 bring all to repentance and faith in a Redeemer. Known unto God are all 
 his works from the beginning of the world. All the dispensations of his 
 grace, as well as of his providence, and, among the rest, the effectual call- 
 ing and salvation of ever)' - believer, entered into his plan from all eternity. 
 Still, these statements are to be taken in connection with the most full and 
 perfect maintenance of human freedom and responsibleness. In the 
 language of the standards, “So as, that, thereby neither is God the 
 author of sin, nor is violence offered to the will of the creatures, nor is 
 the liberty, or contingency of second causes taken away, but rather esta- 
 blished.” 
 
 Presbyterians do not regard a prescribed liturgy in worship as autho- 
 rized by the word of God, and they deem it contrary to the spirit and in- 
 tention of divine worship that all public services, amid the most various and 
 changing circumstances, should be prescribed. They do not, however, deny 
 the lawfulness of pre-corn posing prayers, ami the Reformed Dutch Church, 
 which is- Presbyterian, uses a limited liturgical service. 
 
 “The Directory for the Public Worship of God in the Presbyterian 
 Church in the United States of America,” points out the duties of the 
 church in public services and ordinances in fifteen chapters. They are 
 arranged under the following heads and subdivisions : 
 
 CHAP. I. OF THE SANCTIFICATION OF THE LORD’S DAY. 
 
 1. Preparation is to be made for observing it. 
 
 2. The whole day is to be kept holy to the Lord. 
 
 3. Families are to make such arrangements as to allow servants and all 
 the household to enjoy its privileges. 
 
 4. Every person and family .is to prepare for the public worship of God 
 by prayer and holy meditation. 
 
 5. The people are to attend upon public worship at the stated hour. 
 
 6. The remainder of the day, after the public services are over, is to be 
 spent in prayer and praise, and devotional reading and teaching the young, 
 and works of charity. 
 
450 
 
 DENOMINATIONS IN THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 CHAP. II. OF THE ASSEMBLING OF THE CONGREGATION AND THEIR BEHAVIOUR 
 
 DURING DIVINE SERVICE 
 
 1. The people are charged to assemble in a grave and reverent manner- 
 
 2. To join in the services without allowing their attention to be distracted 
 from the solemn duties appropriate to the time and place. 
 
 CHAP. III. OF THE PUBLIC READING OF THE HOLY SCRIPTURES. 
 
 1. The reading of the holy Scriptures is a part of public worship. 
 
 2. The holy Scriptures are to be publicly read in the vulgar tongue, so 
 that the people may understand. 
 
 3. The portion to be read is to be selected by the officiating pastor or 
 'eacher in the exercise of Christian discretion. 
 
 CHAP. IV. OF THE SINGING OF PSALMS. 
 
 1. It is enjoined on Christians as a duty to praise God in the singing cf 
 psalms and hymns. 
 
 2. Sacred music is to be cultivated, so that the spirit of true devotion 
 may be united with a proper exercise of the understanding. 
 
 3. The whole congregation should be furnished with books, that all may 
 take part in singing. 
 
 4. The proportion of time to be spent in singing is to be left to the dis- 
 cretion of the minister. 
 
 CHAP. V. OF PUBLIC PRAYER. 
 
 1. Public worship to be commenced with a brief invocation of the divine 
 blessing. 
 
 2. After singing a psalm or hymn and reading the Scriptures, a more 
 full and comprehensive prayer is to be offered. The parts of prayer are 
 specified under this direction — adoration, thanksgiving, confession, &c. 
 
 3. There should be a prayer after sermon, which should have relation to 
 the subject treated of in the discourse. 
 
 4. It is enjoined upon ministers to prepare themselves for an acceptable 
 and edifying performance of this duty. 
 
 CHAP. VI.— OF PREACHING THE WORD. 
 
 1. Preaching the word is an institution of God, and demands great at- 
 tention. 
 
 2. The subject of a sermon should be some verse or verses of Scripture; 
 and its object to explain, defend, and apply some part of the system of di- 
 
AMERICAN PRESBYTERIANS. 
 
 451 
 
 vine truth ; or, to point out the nature, and state the bounds and obligation 
 of some duty, 
 
 3. The method of preaching requires much study and prayer, and mi- 
 nisters ought not to indulge themselves in loose extemporary harangues 
 They are to avoid ostentation, and to adorn their doctrines by their lives. 
 
 4. Sermons are not to be too long and tedious. 
 
 5. The sermon being ended, the minister shall pray and return thanks 
 to Almighty God, a psalm or hymn shall be sung, and the assembly dis- 
 missed with the apostolic benediction. 
 
 6. No person must be permitted to preach in any pulpit except by the 
 
 consent of the pastor or church session. 
 
 # 
 
 CHAP. VII.-— OF THE ADMINISTRATION OF BAPTISM. 
 
 1. Baptism is to be administered by none but a minister of Christ. 
 
 2. It is usually to be administered in the church in the presence of the 
 congregation. 
 
 3. Children are to be presented by one or both of their parents, or in 
 case of adopted children or servants, they are to be presented by those who 
 are really responsible for their religious training. God-fathers and God- 
 mothers are rejected by the Presbyterian church, as unauthorized, and 
 inconsistent with the design of the ordinance, as binding those who are 
 charged with, the spiritual training of the young. 
 
 4. Before baptism let the minister use some words of instruction respect- 
 ing the institution, nature, use, and ends of this ordinance ; showing “That 
 it is instituted by Christ ; that it is a seal of the righteousness of faith ; that 
 the seed of the faithful have no less right to this ordinance under the gospel 
 than the seed of Abraham to circumcision under the Old Testament ; that 
 Christ commanded all nations to be baptized ; that he blessed little children, 
 declaring that of such is the kingdom of her ven ; that children are federally 
 holy, and therefore ought to be baptized ; that we are, by nature, sinful, 
 guilty and polluted, and have need of cleansing by the blood of Christ, and 
 by the sanctifying influences of the Spirit of God.” 
 
 The minister is also to exhort the parents to the careful performance of 
 their duty ; requiring “ That they teach the child to read the word of God ; 
 that they instruct it in the principles of our holy religion, as contained in 
 the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments ; an excellent summary of 
 which we have in the Confession of Faith of this church, and in the Larger 
 and Shorter Catechisms of the Westminster Assembly, which are to be 
 recommended to them as adopted by this church as their direction and 
 assistance in the discharge of this important duty ; that they pray with it, 
 and for it; that they set an example of piety and godliness before it; and 
 endeavour, by all the means of God’s appointment, to bring up their child 
 in the nurture and admonition of the I*«rd.” 
 
452 
 
 DENOMINATIONS IN THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 5. Then the minister is to pray for a blessing to attend this ordinance, 
 after which, calling the child by its name, he shall say, “ I baptize thee in 
 the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.” As he 
 pronounces these words, he is to baptize the child with water, by pouring 
 or sprinkling it on the face of the child, without adding any other ceremony ; 
 and the whole shall be concluded with prayer. 
 
 CHAP, VIII. OF THE ADMINISTRATION OF THE LORD’S SUPPER. 
 
 ]. The times for celebrating the Lord’s Supper are to be determined by 
 the minister and eldership. In some portions of the church it is observed 
 only semi-annually ; more generally, however, as* often as once in three 
 months ; in others, once in two months, and in a few monthly. 
 
 2. The ignorant and scandalous are not admitted. In the Presbyterian 
 church in the United States it is not deemed necessary to protect the table 
 of the Lord from unworthy communicants by requiring tickets of admission. 
 It is found that very seldom does any one offer to approach without being a 
 regularly acknowledged communicant. 
 
 3. Public notice is given of the intention to celebrate the Lord’s Supper 
 one Lord’s day previous to the administration of the ordinance, and a lecture 
 is delivered on some convenient season in the course of the week, that by 
 preparatory instruction and devotion the church may come in a suitable 
 manner to this holy feast. 
 
 4. When the service has been introduced with appropriate devotional 
 exercises or a sermon, the bishop or pastor shows that this is an ordinance 
 of Christ ; by reading the words of the institution, either from one of the 
 Evangelists, or from 1 Cor. xi. chapter ; which, as to him may appear 
 expedient, he may explain and apply. 
 
 5. The table on which the elements are placed, being decently covered, 
 the bread in coivenient dishes, and the wine in cups, and the communi- 
 cants orderly and gravely sitting around the table, or in their seats before 
 it, the minister sets the elements apart by prayer and thanksgiving. He 
 then takes the bread and breaks it, in the presence of the people, saying, 
 in expressions of this sort: “Our Lord Jesus Christ, on the same night in 
 which he was betrayed, having taken bread and blessed and broken 
 it, gave it to his disciples ; as I, ministering in his name, give this 
 bread to you, saying, (while the elders commence the distribution,) Take, 
 eat, this is my body which is broken for you : this do in remembrance of 
 me.” 
 
 After having given the bread with due care that none have been neg- 
 lected, he takes the cup and says: “After the same manner our Saviour 
 took the cup : and having given thanks, as hath been done in his name, he 
 gave it to his disciples ; saying, (while the minister repeats these words 
 
AMERICAN PRESBYTERIANS. 
 
 453 
 
 he gives the cup to the elders,) This cup is the New Testament in my 
 blood, which is shed for many, for the remission of sins : drink ye all of 
 it.” The pastor and elders may communicate at such times as are conve- 
 nient. The service is commonly concluded with exhortation and prayer, 
 and singing a hymn, and pronouncing the apostolical benediction. 
 
 6. It has been customary in some parts of the Presbyterian church, to 
 observe a fast before the Lord’s Supper ; and to have a sermon on the 
 Saturday preceding, and the Monday following ; and to invite two or three 
 ministers to assist, on such occasions; and as these seasons have been 
 blessed to many persons, and may tend to keep up a stricter union of mi- 
 nisters and congregations, it is thought not improper that those who 
 choose it may continue in this practice. 
 
 It may be well to observe, that Presbyterians regard the ordinances of 
 baptism and the Lord’s Supper as having no efficacious influence in their 
 own nature. They do not allow that the water of baptism has an influ- 
 ence upon the soul ; it is the mere symbol of the Holy Spirit’s power in 
 renewing and sanctifying our nature. So, the bread and wine in the 
 Lord’s Supper are memorials and symbols only. They possess no differ- 
 ence of nature, after the prayer by which the blessing of God is implored 
 on the ordinance. 
 
 The doctrine of the Presbyterian church is clearly presented in the 
 first volume of “ Bruce’s Sermons on the Sacrament of the Lord’s Sup- 
 per,” published by the Wodrow Society. We give it in the quaint style 
 and spelling of the author. 
 
 “ The word leads us to Christ be the ear : the sacraments leads us to 
 Christ be the eye ; twa senses, of all the rest, quhilk God hes chosen as 
 maist meete for this purpose, to instruct us, and bring us to Christ. For 
 that doctrine man be maist effectuall and moving that walkens and steirs 
 up moniest of the outward senses; that doctrine that walkens not onely 
 the eare, hot the eye, the taist, the feeling, and all the rest of the outward 
 senses ; therefore it man be (gif we cum weil prepared to it) maist effec- 
 tual to steir up the inward senses of the dull hart. But there is a thing 
 that ye man ever remember; there is na doctrine, nather of the simple 
 word, nor yit of the sacraments, gif Christ abstract his Haly Spirit, that is 
 able to move.” 
 
 CHAP. IX. OF THE ADMISSION OF PERSONS TO SEALING ORDINANCES. 
 
 1. Children born within the pale of the visible church and baptized in 
 infancy, are to be admitted to the Lord’s Supper, when they arrive at the 
 proper age, if they give evidence of true piety. The rite of confirmation 
 is rejected as without warrant in the word of God. 
 
 2. The years of discretion are to be judged of, by the eldership in indi- 
 
454 DENOMINATIONS IN THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 vidual cases, as they arise, and the session is to judge of the qualifications 
 of those who make application to be admitted to sealing ordinances. 
 
 3. Those thus admitted must be previously examined by the session as 
 to their knowledge and piety. 
 
 4. Unbaptized persons applying for admission to sealing ordinances, 
 shall make a public profession of their faith in the presence of the con- 
 gregation. 
 
 o o 
 
 CHAP. X. OF THE MODE OF INFLICTING CHURCH CENSURES. 
 
 1. Christ has given the church power by its proper officers to exercise 
 discipline over offenders for their good, and the general purity of the church. 
 
 2. When any member of a church shall have been guilty of a fault de- 
 serving censure, the judicatory shall proceed with tenderness to restore 
 their offending brother. 
 
 3. When gentler means fail, they must proceed to rebuke the delinquent, 
 or to suspend him from the privilege of the Lord’s table. 
 
 4. After such suspension it is the duty of the bishop and the elders to 
 converse with him kindly, as well as to pray in private that God would 
 grant him repentance. 
 
 5. When the judicatory shall be satisfied of the reality of the repentance 
 of any offender, he shall be admitted to profess his repentance, and be 
 restored to the privileges of the church. 
 
 6. When an offender has been adjudged to be cut off from the communion 
 of the church, it is proper that the sentence be publicly pronounced against 
 him. 
 
 7. The design of excommunication is to operate on the offender as a 
 means of reclaiming him ; to deliver the church from the scandal of his 
 offence ; and to inspire all with fear by the example of his punishment. 
 
 8. When an excommunicated person shall give to the session satisfactory 
 evidence of true repentance, they may, with the advice and concurrence of 
 the presbytery, restore him. 
 
 CHAP. XI. OF THE SOLEMNIZATION OF MARRIAGE. 
 
 1. Marriage is not a sacrament. 
 
 2. Christians ought to marry in the Lord ; therefore it is fit that their 
 marriage be solemnized by a minister of the gospel. 
 
 3. Marriage is to be between one man and one woman only ; and they 
 are not to be within the degrees of consanguinity or affinity prohibited by 
 the word of God. 
 
 4. The parties ought to be of such years of discretion as to be capable o( 
 making their own choice. 
 
AMERICAN PRESBYTERIANS. 
 
 455 
 
 5. Parents ought not to compel their children to marry contrary to their 
 inclinations, nor deny their consent without just and important reasons. 
 
 6. Marriage is of a public nature, involving the interests of the commu- 
 nity and of families. It is therefore enjoined on all ministers of the gospel, 
 not to solemnize a marriage without being well assured that no just ob- 
 jections lie against it. 
 
 7. When marriage is solemnized a competent number of witnesses must 
 be present. 
 
 8. When the parties present themselves, the minister is. to ask if there 
 be any person present who can show any reason why these persons may 
 not be joined together in the marriage relation. No objections being made, 
 he is then to address himself, severally, to the parties to be married, in the 
 following or like words : — “ You, the man, declare, in the presence of God, 
 that you do not know any reason, by pre-contract or otherwise, why you 
 may not lawfully marry this woman.” Upon his having answered affirma- 
 tively, he addresses himself to the bride in similar terms, “ You, the woman, 
 declare, in the presence of God, that you do not know any reason, by pre- 
 contract or otherwise, why you may not lawfully marry this man.” Upon 
 her declaring that she does not, he is to begin with prayer for the blessing 
 of God. Then, after such suitable prefatory address as he may judge fit, 
 he causes the bridegroom and bride to join their right hands, and pro- 
 nounces the marriage covenant first to the man, in these words : 
 
 “You take this woman, whom you hold by the hand, to be your lawful 
 and married wife : and you promise and covenant in the presence of God, 
 and these witnesses, that you will be unto her a loving and faithful hus- 
 band, until you shall be separated by death.” 
 
 When the man has given his assent, the minister addresses himself to 
 the bride, in these words : 
 
 “ You take this man, whom you hold by the hand, to be your lawful and 
 married husband : and you promise and covenant in the presence of God 
 and these witnesses, that you will be unto him a loving, obedient, and 
 faithful wife, until you shall be separated by death.” 
 
 Her assent being given, the minister says, “I pronounce you husband 
 and wife, according to the ordinance of God : whom, therefore, God hath 
 joined together, let not man put asunder.” He then concludes the whole 
 with prayer, sometimes adding the benediction. The Presbyterian church, 
 however, does not bind her ministry to this precise form of marriage. They 
 may vary it to gratify the parties, if the principles brought to view in this 
 formula are only expressed. Presbyterian ministers, while they prefer 
 their own simple form, in which nothing is said without meaning, some- 
 times make use of the forms of the Episcopal denomination. 
 
456 
 
 DENOMINATIONS IN THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 CHAP. XII. OF THE VISITATION OF THE SICK. 
 
 1. It is enjoined on the sick to send for their minister. 
 
 2. The minister shall teach the sick to make a spiritual improvement of 
 “ the chastening of the Lord.” 
 
 3. He shall instruct the ignorant in the nature of repentance and faith. 
 
 4. He shall exhort to self-examination. 
 
 5. If the sick signify any scruple, doubt, or temptation, the minister shall 
 endeavour to remove them. 
 
 6. If the sick he stupid and regardless of spiritual things, he shall endea- 
 vour to awaken his mind. 
 
 7. If the spirit of the sick appear to be broken with a sense of sin, and 
 under an apprehension of the want of the divine favour, he shall administer 
 consolation and encouragement from the all-sufficiency of the righteousness 
 of Christ, and the supporting promises of the gospel. 
 
 8. The minister shall guard the sick against ill-grounded persuasions of 
 the mercy of God. 
 
 9. In one word, the minister is charged to administer to the sick person 
 instruction, conviction, support, consolation, or encouragement, as his case 
 may seem to require. At a proper time, when he is most composed, the 
 minister shall pray with and for him. 
 
 10. Lastly, the minister may improve the occasion to exhort others. 
 
 In all this it will be perceived that the object is to deal with the intelli- 
 gence and the conscience of the sick. No rites are proposed for the benefit 
 of the sick. 
 
 CHAP. XIII. OF THE BURIAL OF THE DEAD. 
 
 1. When any person departs this life, let the corpse be taken care of in 
 a decent manner; and be kept a sufficient and proper time before inter- 
 ment. 
 
 2. The body is to be decently and solemnly attended to the grave. 
 Sometimes the corpse is first taken to the church, and a funeral sermon is 
 delivered. More commonly, however, there is a brief service of reading 
 the Scriptures, prayer, and exhortation, at the house of the deceased per- 
 son. These services are by some, and in pleasant weather, performed at 
 the grave. 
 
 CHAP. XIV. OF FASTING, AND OF THE OBSERVATION OF THE DAYS OF THANKS- 
 
 GIVING. 
 
 1. There is no holy day to be observed except the Lord’s day. 
 
 2. Nevertheless, days of special fasting and thanksgiving are indicated 
 by peculiar providences. 
 
AMERICAN PRESBYTERIANS. 
 
 457 
 
 3. Such days may be observed by individuals, or families, or single 
 congregations, or by a number of congregations, as the proper authority, 
 that is, the people or their representatives, may appoint. 
 
 4. It must be left to the discretion of individuals, families, churches, 
 presbyteries, &c., to judge when a fast or thanksgiving may be proper for 
 each. If the civil power appoint such a day, as good citizens and Chris- 
 tians we are to observe it religiously. 
 
 5. Public notice is to be given beforehand of days of public fasting and 
 thanksgiving. 
 
 6. The services are to be adapted to every special occasion. 
 
 7. On the fast day, the minister is to point out the authority and provi- 
 dences demanding such an observance, to confess the sins with their aggra- 
 vations that have brought down the judgments of heaven, and to lead the 
 people, as far as may be, to humiliation and mourning before God. 
 
 8. On days of thanksgiving, he is to give similar information respecting 
 the authority and providences that call to the observance of them, and to 
 adapt his services to the promotion of a spirit of thankfulness and praise. 
 
 CHAP. XV. THE DIRECTORY FOR SECRET AND FAMILY WORSHIP. 
 
 1. It is a duty enjoined on each person alone to pray in secret, and of 
 each family to hold daily family worship. 
 
 2. Secret worship is enjoined by our Lord. It should consist of prayer, 
 reading the Holy Scriptures, meditation, and serious self-examination. 
 
 3. Family worship ought to be performed, ordinarily, .by every family, 
 morning and evening. 
 
 4. The head of the family who is to perform this service ought to be 
 careful that all the members of his household duly attend. 
 
 5. The heads of families are to be careful to instruct their children and 
 servants in the principles of religion. 
 
 It will be perceived from this outline of “The Directory of Worship,” 
 that the Presbyterian Church lays great stress upon instruction as adapted 
 to the circumstances and wants of the church, and rejects all ceremonies 
 that are not enjoined in the New Testament. It will be proper here to 
 notice the manner of appointing the officers of the church, and the method 
 of their induction into office. 
 
 OF THE ELECTING AND ORDAINING OF RULING ELDERS AND DEACONS. 
 
 Eiders and deacons are appointed by a majority of the people. When 
 an elder or deacon elect shall have signified his willingness to accept the 
 office, a day shall be appointed for his ordination. The day being arrived, 
 after sermon the bishop or minister shall propose to the candidate, in the 
 presence of the congregation, the following questions : 
 
458 
 
 DENOMINATIONS IN THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 1. Do you believe the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments to be 
 the word of God, the only infallible rule of faith and practice ? 
 
 2. Do you sincerely receive and adopt the Confession of Faith of this 
 church as containing the system of doctrine taught in the holy Scriptures ? 
 
 3. Do you approve of the government and discipline of the Presbyterian 
 church, in these United States ? 
 
 4. Do you accept the office of ruling elder, (or deacon, as the case may 
 be,) in this congregation, and promise faithfully to perform all the duties 
 thereof ? 
 
 5. Do you promise to study the peace, unity, and purity of the church ? 
 
 These questions having been answered in the affirmative, the minister 
 
 shall address to the members of the church the following question, namely : 
 
 Do you, the members of this church, acknowledge and receive this bro- 
 ther as a ruling elder, (or deacon,) and do you promise to yield him all that 
 honour, encouragement, and obedience in the Lord, to which his office, 
 according to the word of God and the constitution of this church, entitles 
 him ? 
 
 These questions having been answered in the affirmative, the minister 
 proceeds to set the candidate apart to his office by prayer, after which the 
 members of the session take the newly ordained elder by the hand, saying, 
 “We give you the right hand of fellowship, to take part of this office 
 with us.” 
 
 OF LICENSE TO PREACH THE GOSPEL. 
 
 The Presbytery licenses candidates for the sacred office, that the people 
 may be able to judge whether they are suitable persons to become bishops 
 in the church. Before proceeding to licensure, the Presbytery require 
 satisfaction with respect to the piety and learning of the candidate. For 
 this purpose he must sustain an examination in respect to personal piety 
 before the Presbytery. In addition to this, and an examination on the arts 
 and sciences, he must exhibit instances of his learning and ability in seve- 
 ral written compositions, as, 
 
 1. An exegesis in Latin, on some important head in divinity. 
 
 2. A critical exercise on some difficult portion of Scripture. 
 
 3. An expository lecture adapted to popular instruction, and 
 
 4. A popular sermon. 
 
 If the Presbytery be satisfied with his “ trials,” they proceed to license 
 him in the following manner. The moderator proposes to him these four 
 questions : 
 
 1. Do you believe the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments to be 
 the word of God, and the only infallible rule of faith and practice ? 
 
 2. Do you sincerely receive and adopt the Confession of Faith of this 
 church, as containing the system of doctrine taught in the holy Scriptures ? 
 
AMERICAN PRESBYTERIANS. 
 
 459 
 
 3. Do you promise to study the peace, unity, and purity of the churcn ? 
 
 4. Do you promise to submit yourself, in the Lord, to the government 
 of this presbytery, or of any other presbytery, in the bounds of which you 
 may he called ? 
 
 These questions having been answered in the affirmative, the modeiator 
 proceeds to license him in the following words : 
 
 “ In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, and by that authority which he 
 has given to the church for- its edification, we do license you to preach the 
 gospel, wherever God in his providence may call you : and for this pur- 
 pose may the blessing of God rest upon you, and the Spirit of Christ fill 
 your heart. Amen 
 
 ORDINATION OF A BISHOP OR PASTOR. 
 
 The preliminary examinations having been passed through with in 
 much the same method as in case of licensure, and a sermon having been 
 preached to the congregation, the moderator of the presbytery propounds 
 several questions to the candidate. The first three are the same as those 
 proposed to an elder. The remainder are as follows : — 
 
 4. Do you promise subjection to your brethren in the Lord ? 
 
 5. Have you been induced, as far as you know your own heart, to seek 
 the office of the holy ministry from love to God and a sincere desire to 
 promote his glory in the gospel of his Son ? 
 
 6. Do you promise to be zealous and faithful in maintaining the truth 
 of the gospel, and the purity and peace of the church ; whatever perse- 
 cution or opposition may arise unto you on that account? 
 
 7. Do you engage to be faithful and diligent in the exercise of all pri- 
 vate and personal duties, which become you as a Christian and a minister 
 of the gospel ; as well as in all relative duties, and the public duty of 
 your office ; endeavouring to adorn the profession of the gospel by your 
 conversation, and walking with exemplary piety before the flock over 
 which God shall make you overseer? 
 
 8. Are you now willing to take charge of this congregation, agreeably 
 to your declaration in accepting their call? And do you promise to dis- 
 charge the duties of a pastor to them as God shall give you strength ? 
 
 These questions having been answered in the affirmative, the presiding 
 minister proposes to the people the following: — 
 
 1. Do you, the people of this congregation, continue to profess your 
 readiness to receive A. B., whom you have called to be your minister ? 
 
 2. Do you promise to receive the word of truth from his mouth, with 
 meekness and love, and to submit to him, in the due exercise of discipline ? 
 
 3. Do you promise to encourage him in his arduous labour, and to 
 assist his endeavours for your instruction and spiritual edification ? 
 
 4. And do you engage to continue to him, while he is your pastor, that 
 
1 
 
 460 DENOMINATIONS IN THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 competent worldly maintenance which you have promised, and what- 
 ever else you may see needful for the honor of religion,; and his com- 
 fort among you? 
 
 The people having answered these questions by holding up their right 
 hands, the candidate kneels down, and the presiding minister, by 
 prayer and with the laying on of the hands of the presbytery upon his 
 head, according to the apostolic example, solemnly ordains him to the 
 holy office of the gospel ministry. Prayer being ended, he rises from 
 his knees ; and the minister who presides first, and afterwards all the 
 other members of the presbytery, in their order, take him by the right 
 hand, saying, “We give you the right hand of fellowship, to take part 
 of this ministry with us.” 
 
 All the spiritual officers of the Presbyterian Church hold their offices 
 for life. 
 
 The presiding officers over the church judicatories, (except in the ses- 
 sion, where the pastor is always the moderator,) are elected anew at each 
 stated meeting. 
 
 HISTORY OF 
 
 THE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH IN THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 Continued to 1871, 
 
 The Presbyterian Church in the United States is to be considered as 
 the offspring of the Church of Scotland. So far as is now known the 
 first Presbyterian Church that was organized and furnished with a 
 place of worship in the American Colonies, was in the City of Phila- 
 delphia, about the year 1703. The next year a Presbytery was formed 
 under the title of “The Presbytery of Philadelphia.” As early as 1716 
 the Presbyterian body had so far increased thataSynod was constituted, 
 comprising four Presbyteries. After the formation of this Synod the 
 body was increased not only by emigrants from Scotland and Ireland, 
 but also by the accession of persons from England, Wales, France, 
 Holland and Switzerland. A number from New England were induced 
 by local considerations or other circumstances to connect themselves 
 with it. 
 
 While these acquisitions from so many different parts of the world 
 tended to enlarge the Presbyterian body, they, at the same time, greatly 
 diminished its harmony. It soon became apparent that entire unity 
 of sentiment did not prevail among them respecting the examination 
 of candidates for the ministry on experimental religion, and also re- 
 specting strict adherence to presby terial order, and the requisite amount 
 of learning in those who sought the ministerial office. Frequent con- 
 flicts on these subjects occurred in different Presbyteries. Parties were 
 formed. Those who were most zealous for strict orthodoxy, for ad- 
 herence to presbyterial order, and for a learned ministry were called 
 the “ Old Side,” while those who laid a greater stress on vital piety 
 than on any other qualification, and who undervalued ecclesiastical 
 order and learning, were called the “New Side,” or “New Lights.” 
 The whole body, in 1729, adopted the Westminster confession of faith 
 
PRESBYTERIANS. 
 
 461 
 
 and catechisms as the standards of the Church. Still it was found that 
 a faithful and uniform adherence to these standards could not, in all 
 cases, be secured. At length, in 17-11, the Synod was rent asunder, and 
 the Synod of New York, composed of “New Side 1 7 men was set up in 
 opposition to that of Philadelphia, which retained the original name 
 and comprehended all the “Old Side” men who belonged to the 
 general body. 
 
 These Synods remained in a state of separation for seventeen years. 
 At length, however, a plan of re-union was agreed upon. Several 
 years were spent in negoliation. Mutual concessions were made, the 
 articles of union in detail were happily adjusted, and the Synods were 
 united under the title of the “ Synod of New York and Philadelphia,” 
 in the year 1758. 
 
 After this time the Presbyterian body went on increasing in num- 
 bers, harmony and general edification until the close of the Revolu- 
 tionary war, when it could reckon about one hundred and seventy 
 ministers and a few more churches. At the meeting of the Synod of 
 New York and Philadelphia in May, 1785, finding the independence 
 of the United States established, that judicatory began to take those 
 steps for revising the public standards of the Church which issued in 
 their adoption and establishment in their present form. The complete 
 adjustment of this business occupied several years. In 1788 the work 
 of revising and arranging the standards was completed, and they were 
 then ordered to be printed and distributed for the government of all 
 the judicatories of the Church. 
 
 Under the new arrangement the body was divided into four Synods, 
 viz.: the Synod of New York and New Jersey ; the Synod of Phila- 
 delphia ; the Synod of Virginia ; and the Synod of the Carolinas ; and 
 over these, as a bond of union, was constituted a “ General Assembly,” 
 modeled in all its essential particulars after the General Assembly of 
 the Church of Scotland. 
 
 The next year (1789), the first General Assembly of the Presbyterian 
 Church in the United States met in Philadelphia, and was opened with 
 a sermon by the Rev. Dr. Witherspoon, who presided until the first 
 moderator of that body (the Rev. Dr. Rogers) was chosen. At this 
 meeting there were about one hundred and eighty or one hundred and 
 ninety ministers belonging to the whole Presbyterian body. These 
 were distributed into four Synods and seventeen Presbyteries, embrac- 
 ing a large number of vacant congregations. 
 
 Tlje increase of this denomination thereafter was constant and rapid. 
 In 1834 it embraced twenty-two Synods, one hundred and eleven Pres- 
 byteries, about nineteen hundred ordained ministers, about two hun- 
 dred and fifty licentiates, about the same number of candidates for 
 license under the care of Presbyteries ; and, according to the best au- 
 thority, above two hundred and twenty thousand communicants. But 
 this gratifying tide of prosperity was unhappily interrupted by internal 
 dissensions. Affinities and a fraternal confidence between Presby- 
 terians and Congregationalists had led to an admixture of Congrega- 
 tionalism in Presbyterian judicatories. The Old School insisted that 
 30 
 
462 
 
 DENOMINATIONS IN THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 this admixture, as unconstitutional, should cease. The New School 
 contended for its toleration and extension. The Old School preferred 
 strictly ecclesiastical agencies for conducting the missionary and other 
 general evangelical work of the Church, urging, particularly, the es- 
 tablishment of a Presbyterian Board of Foreign Missions. The New 
 School desired, in union with Congregationalists, to confide this work 
 to voluntary associations, the foreign part of it to the American Board 
 of Commissioners. Both professed to be Calvinistic, and to ‘‘receive 
 and adopt the confession of faith, as containing the system of doctrine 
 as taught in the Scriptures,” but they differed widely as to what was 
 essential to that system. The Old School contended that certain errors, 
 utterly inconsistent with it, were prevalent in the Church, and endeavored 
 to visit with discipline several prominent ministers charged therewith. 
 The New School resisted the discipline proposed, arguing that some of 
 the views alleged to be erroneous were irreconcilable with the Calvin- 
 istic system, and denying that the others were really entertained by 
 the parties accused, or were seriously prevalent. This difference as to 
 doctrine was by far the most serious difference between the parties. 
 An open rupture occurred in 1837, when the Old School majority in the 
 General Assembly disowned four Synods, as so far Congregationalized 
 that they could no longer be acknowledged as Presbyterian bodies, 
 whereupon the New School commissioners to the Assembly of 1838 
 refused to recognize an organization of this judicatory which excluded 
 representatives from the disowned constituency, and formed another 
 assembly. This was but the commencement of the division. The pro- 
 cess of separation was not completed for several years. It is but just 
 to add that the New School acquiesced in the separation with great re- 
 luctance. While each party adhered firmly to its own view of the 
 questions at issue, the New School body urged that there was no occa- 
 sion for a disruption. The relative strength of the two, when they 
 separated, cannot be definitely ascertained. The undivided Church 
 made the following report in 1837 : Synods, 23: Presbyteries, 135; min- 
 isters, 2,140; licentiates, 280, candidates, 244; Churches, 2,865; mem- 
 bers, 220,557. The first tabular statement of the denomination 
 called the “New School ” appeared in 1839, showed eighty-five Pres- 
 byteries ; twelve hundred and eighty-six Churches, and one hundred 
 thousand eight hundred and fifty communicants. An examination 
 of the roll reveals the fact that ten Presbyteries are improperly included 
 in this exhibit and must be deducted, which leaves the actual number 
 of Presbyteries seventy-five and of communicants ninety-seven thou- 
 sand and thirty-three. 
 
 The statistical report of the Old School in 1840 showed seventeen 
 synods, ninety-six presbyteries, seventeen hundred and sixty-three 
 churches, and one hundred and twenty-six thousand, five hundred and 
 eighty-three communicants. 
 
 To test their claim to the true succession and their title to the funds 
 and institutions of the Presbyterian church, the New School com- 
 menced a suit in March, 1839, in the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 
 before Judge Rogers and a jury at nisiprius. The verdict was in favor 
 
PRESBYTERIANS. 
 
 403 
 
 of the New School. A new trial was obtained, in which this decision 
 was entirely reversed, and the whole case settled in favor of the Old 
 School. By being thus judicially declared to be the true Presbyterian 
 church, the Old School were greatly the gainers, in character and in- 
 fluence, while the New School were correspondingly weakened. In 
 the same year the latter proposed a “plan of peaceable division, ” de- 
 signed only to secure their constitutional privileges as Presbyterians, 
 while it relinquished to the other body all the chartered rights, institu- 
 tions and funds of the Presbyterian church. This proposition was not 
 agreed to, and all hope of an amicable arrangement was given up. The 
 two bodies can hardly be said to have fairly started upon their career 
 as distinct denominations until 1843. 
 
 Their relative strength at that time was, New School, twelve hun- 
 dred and sixty-three ministers, and fourteen hundred and ninety- 
 six congregations. Old School — fourteen hundred and thirty-four 
 ministers and two thousand ninety-two congregations. Starting with 
 many points of advantage, it is not to be wondered at that the pro- 
 gress of the Old School was much more rapid than that of the New, 
 yet both exhibited a high degree of prosperity for the next ten years. 
 As a faithful historian we cannot omit to notice a display of Christian 
 feeling on the part of the New School body, which must ever redound 
 to its credit. In 1846 the two assemblies met in Philadelphia at the 
 same time, and the New School made a proposition to the other body 
 for a recognition of each other, as bodies of Christian brethren, by 
 communing together at the Lord’s table. This proposition the Old 
 School found it inexpedient to accept, to the general regret of both 
 schools. They rejected it kindly, yet decisively. 
 
 From 1840 to 1849 we find the increase of the Old School to have been 
 seven hundred and forty-nine churches and seventy-four thousand two 
 hundred and forty-seven communicants, or an average gain of more 
 than eight thousand per year. The gain of the New School from 1839 
 to 1849 was two hundred and ninety-five churches and forty-two thou- 
 sand and fourteen communicants, or an average gain of over four thou- 
 sand communicants a year. In the next decade we find a still greater 
 increase in the Old School. The report for 1859 shows the total number 
 of churches to have been three thousand, four hundred and eighty- 
 seven, and of communicants two hundred and seventy-nine thousand 
 six hundred and thirty, a gain of nine hundred and seventy-five 
 churches and seventy -eight thousand eight hundred members. 
 
 At the same date the New School reported fifteen hundred and forty- 
 two churches and one hundred and thirty-seven thousand nine hun- 
 dred and ninety communicants, showing a falling off in churches and 
 communicants since 1849, but it must be borne in mind that in the year 
 1858 the Southern synods, in the heat of the slavery controversy, sepa- 
 rated from their brethren of the North, carrying with them about two 
 hundred churches and ten thousand members. Another period of ten 
 years covers the remainder of the separate history of the two branches, 
 and in this decade the Old School were the sufferers. Simultaneously 
 with the attempted secession of the Southern States from the Union, 
 
464 
 
 DENOMINATIONS IN THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 the Southern synods of this branch of the Presbyterian church with- 
 drew and organized into a separate church. Thus were lost ten synods, 
 forty-five presbyteries, eleven hundred and thirty-four churches, and 
 seventy-six thousand communicants. Again, after the war of the rebel- 
 lion the action of the Assembly upon the state of the country and of 
 the church gave great offence to many persons, particularly in the 
 border States. The presbytery of Louisville issued a “Declaration and 
 Testimony , ” to which they solicited the signatures of all w T ho agreed 
 with them. This paper testified against various errors in the acts of 
 the Assembly, growing out of the war, which it attributed to political 
 feelings, charged the Assembly with unjust and scandalous self-contra- 
 diction, and even falsehood, and raised avowedly the standard of revolt. 
 The result was that in 1866 the larger portion of the churches in Ken- 
 tucky, and about one half of those of Missouri, embracing some ten 
 thousand members, ceased to be enrolled as an integral part of the 
 church. Adding this to the other loss of 1861, and we find a total loss 
 of eighty-six thousand members. Yet, to counterbalance these appal- 
 ling losses, the church, in this decade, gained sixty-five thousand mem- 
 bers, thus leaving her, in 1869, but twenty-one thousand members 
 short of her number in 1859. The last report shows two thousand 
 seven hundred and forty churches and two hundred and fifty-eight 
 thousand nine hundred and three members. The progress of this branch 
 of the Presbyterian church, since the separation, was most remarkable. 
 Thus in the three decades— from 1839 to 1369— three hundred and seventy 
 thousand five hundred and eighty-nine members were admitted on pro- 
 fession of their faith. In the first, ninety-three thousand five hundred 
 and forty-six; in the second, one hundred and thirty nine thousand 
 six hundred and fifty-seven ; in the third, one hundred and thirty- 
 seven thousand three hundred and eighty-six. From 1840 to I860 the 
 inprease of population of the country at large was eighty-one and one- 
 lialf per cent. During the same period the advance in the membership 
 of the Old School church was one hundred and thirty-one per cent. 
 
 The last decade was a prosperous one with the New School Church. 
 The summary for 1869 exhibits the follow ing results : ministers, eighteen 
 hundred and forty-eight ; churches, sixteen hundred and thirty-one ; 
 communicants, one hundred and seventy-tw T o thousand five hundred 
 and sixty — a gain of about three hundred ministers, one hundred 
 churches, and thirty-five thousand members. Thus it will be seen that 
 at the time of re-union both bodies were in a highly prosperous and 
 satisfactory condition. The crudities and objectionable features which 
 were manifest in the early history of the Church were eliminated, and 
 there now appeared no visible reason why they should not become the 
 most influential and effective of Protestant denominations in this 
 country. Their consolidation was all that was needed to accomplish 
 this result, and in 1869 this was consummated. 
 
 The causes that led to re-union may be very easily explained. The 
 principal actors in the separation of 1837 had passed away; their 
 gradually increasing intercourse had brought about a friendly feeling 
 between the two bodies ; and the issues which led to the separation had 
 
PRESBYTERIANS. 
 
 465 
 
 in the main died out. The common agitating excitements, alarms, 
 perils, and sufferings of a struggle for the nation’s life drew Old and 
 New School men into closer and more frequent communion, and con- 
 tributed largely to awaken the feeling which afterwards developed into 
 practical re-union. Yet in 1862 the Old School Assembly still declined 
 to talk of re-union, though it unanimously agreed to open a corres- 
 pondence by delegates. No doubt this correspondence was a great 
 advance toward organic unity. But, although the subject was brought 
 every year to the notice of both Assemblies, nothing more definite was 
 accomplished until 1866, when the first joint committee was appointed 
 to confer upon “ the desirableness and practicability of re-union.” The 
 Presbyterian National Union Convention of November, 1867— held in 
 Philadelphia — gave a perceptible impulse to the whole movement. It 
 developed a growing, enthusiastic, and irresistible feeling in favor of 
 re-union, which had the effect to turn many opponents into friends of 
 the measure. In 1869 the report of the Joint Committee on Re-union 
 was perfected and adopted by both Assemblies. The only points in it 
 which we deem it necessary to mention here are the following : 
 
 1. The two bodies “ shall be re-united as one Church, under the name 
 and style of the Presbyterian Church in the United States of America, 
 possessing all the legal and corporate rights and powers pertaining to 
 the Church previous to the division in 1838, and all the legal and cor- 
 porate rights and powers which the separate Churches now possess.” 
 
 2. “ The re-union shall be effected on the doctrinal and ecclesiastical 
 basis of our common standards; the Scriptures of the Old and New 
 Testaments shall be acknowledged to be the inspired Word of God and 
 the only infallible rule of faith and practice ; the Confession of Faith 
 shall continue to be sincerely received and adopted as containing the 
 system of doctrine taught in the Holy Scriptures ; and the government 
 and discipline of the Presbyterian Church in the United States shall 
 be approved as containing the principles and rules of our polity.” 
 
 Thus was consummated what must be regarded as the most important 
 and auspicious event in the religious annals of our country. It was the 
 occasion of general congratulation and rejoicing throughout the land. 
 
 But still there remained an important body of Presbyterians outside 
 the fold — those of the Southern and Border States who withdrew in 
 1861 and 1866 — and were now known as the Southern Presbyterian 
 Church, and in 1870 the United Assembly addressed itself to the task 
 of persuading this body to crown the work of re-union by connecting 
 itself again with the parent Church. A committee was appointed, and 
 armed with resolutions expressive of the cordial desire of the body they 
 represented for the speedy establishment of fraternal relations with the 
 Southern Presbyterian Church, repaired to Louisville, where the last 
 named body was sitting. Their overtures, however, were unsuccessful, 
 and further efforts in this direction were postponed. 
 
 The following statistics will show the condition of the Southern 
 Presbyterian Church in 1870. It then reported eleven synods ; fifty-five 
 presbyteries ; eight hundred and forty ministers ; fifty-three licentiates ; 
 one hundred and sixty-one candidates ; fourteen hundred and sixty-nine 
 
406 
 
 DENOMINATIONS IN THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 churches ; eighty-two thousand and fourteen communicants, and forty- 
 seven thousand three hundred and seventeen children in Sabbaih 
 Schools and Bible Classes. The following were its contributions for the 
 year 1870: To sustentation, $49,002; to foreign missions, $23,269; to 
 education, $34,209; to publication, $10,279; for presbyterial purposes, 
 $12,247; for congregational purposes, $676,432 ; for miscellaneous pur- 
 poses, $66,917. Total amount contributed, $872,355. 
 
 It now but remains for us to give a brief account of the condition of 
 the re-united Presbjfierian Church. Its statistical report for the year 
 ending May, 1870, showed fifty-one synods ; two hundred and fifty-nine 
 presbyteries ; five thousand and seventeen ministers (including licen- 
 tiates and candidates) ; four thousand five hundred and twenty-six 
 churches ; four hundred and forty-six thousand five hundred and sixty- 
 one communicants, and four hundred and forty-eight thousand eight 
 hundred and fifty-seven Sabbath School scholars. 
 
 Its contributions for the year are deserving of special mention, 
 amounting as they did to the magnificent total of $8,440,121. The net 
 increase in membership for the year was over fifteen thousand, and the 
 gain in churches one hundred and fifty-five. Allowing for the same 
 gain in the year ending May, 1871, and we find at the present time a 
 membership of upwards of four hundred and^sixty-one thousand, and 
 four thousand eight hundred and thirty-six churches. The Church 
 has the following theological seminaries under its control, viz. : Alle~ 
 gheny, Auburn, Chicago, Columbia, Danville, Lane, New Albany, 
 Princeton, Union, Union of Va. school for Germans, all of which are 
 ably managed and, we believe, liberally sustained. Upon the day when 
 the union of the two bodies was consummated, the Rev. Dr. Samuel W. 
 Fisher, of the Joint Committee on Union, presented on behalf of said 
 Committee a paper which, after reciting the unparalleled significancy 
 of the important event and the happy influence it was calculated to 
 have upon the country and the world, in effecting corresponding re- 
 sults among all those who love the cause of the Redeemer, said “Let 
 us then as an expression of our devout gratitude to Him who has 
 brought this once dissevered and now united Church up to this Mount 
 of Transfiguration, signalize this most blessed and joyful union, with 
 an offering in some good degree commensurate with the pecuniary gifts 
 he has bestowed upon us.” Then followed the resolution, which, as 
 amended and unanimously passed, was in substance, “to make a special 
 offering to the treasury of our Lord, of five millions of dollars; and 
 we pledge ourselves, first of all, to seek in our daily petitions the bless- 
 ing of God, to make this resolution effectual ; and second, that we will, 
 with untiring perseverance and personal effort, endeavor to animate 
 the whole Church with like purpose, and to secure the accomplishment 
 of the great work before the third Thursday of May, 1871.” 
 
 Upon the assembling of the General Assembly at Chicago, in May, 
 1871, the result of this effort was reported at $7,607,499.91, which sum 
 was applied to the following objects: New Churches, $3,236,475.61; 
 Manses, $83,884.05 ; Repairs and Enlargements, $733,707.60 ; Payments 
 of debts, $1,083,478.72; Institutions of learning, $1,405,548.66; Perman- 
 
PRESBYTERIANS. 
 
 467 
 
 ent Institutions in foreign lands, $93,509.96; Special Gifts to the Board, 
 $80,340.40; Hospitals, $48,665.35; Relief Fund and Sustentation, $41,- 
 150.46; Presbyterian Houses, $46,882.37; Amounts not specified by 
 Churches reporting, $162,681.10; Committees’ Expenses, $11,175.63. 
 
 The Assembly of 1871 was characterized by dignity and harmony 
 throughout. A vast amount of business of importance to the Church 
 was dispatched, and measures were taken in pursuance of the plans of 
 the union of all Presbyterian bodies to wliich the Church has com- 
 mitted itself, by the appointment of Committees, &c. 
 
 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. 
 
 We append to this brief history of the Presbyterian Church in the 
 United States biographical sketches of a few of her representative men, 
 to whom she is in a large measure indebted for her rapid growth and 
 commanding position. Within this denomination there are scores of 
 eminent divines, who, in point of intellectual power and literary at- 
 tainments, are worthy to be classed with the best minds of the nation. 
 We are compelled, however, by our limited space to pay but this general 
 tribute. 
 
 REY. ALBERT BARNES. 
 
 One of the brightest lights of the American pulpit ; one of the mighti- 
 est of men in the cause of the Son of God ; one of the most unpreten- 
 tious yet most manly of men, was Albert Barnes, the subject of this 
 sketch. Born at Rome, N. Y., December 1, 1798, of virtuous and indus- 
 trious parents, his early training was attended to with more than or- 
 dinary care. At an early age he entered upon the occupation of his 
 father, as a tanner, but relinquished this ere long to prosecute his studies, 
 having in view the profession of law. Up to the age of nineteen he 
 was a skeptic in religion, and had no belief in the Bible as a revelation 
 from God. An article from the pen of Dr. Chalmers convinced him 
 of the truth of the Christian religion, but though convinced he was 
 not yet willing to embrace it. In his twenty-first year he entered the 
 senior class of Hamilton College, and while there embraced Christianity, 
 and consecrated himself to the ministry. In 1820 he was graduated, 
 and thereupon entered the Theological Seminary at Princeton, NT. J., 
 from which he emerged a licentiate in 1823. 
 
 In 1825 he settled as pastor of the Presbyterian Church in Morristown, 
 N. J., where he remained nearly five years. In 1830 he was installed 
 pastor of the First Presbyterian Church of Philadelphia, which office 
 he filled with entire acceptability for thirty-seven years, resigning in 
 1867, when he was unanimously elected pastor emeritus. 
 
 While laboring in his first charge, he was struck with the great need 
 of a plain and simple commentary on the gospels, and at once entered 
 upon a course of careful study, which resulted in the production of his 
 Notes on the Gospels, which are known wherever Christianity is known. 
 His first issue bears date August 25, 1832. Devoting a small portion of 
 each day, year by year, to annotating the Scriptures, book after book 
 appeared until to his own surprise he found himself at the end of the 
 
468 
 
 DENOMINATIONS IN THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 New Testament. Turning then to the Old Testament, he prepared his 
 annotations successively on Isaiah, Daniel, Job and the Psalms. He 
 lived to see half a million volumes of his Commentaries sold in this 
 country, and perhaps even a greater number in England, Scotland and 
 Ireland, while translations were made into the languages of France, 
 Wales, India and China. 
 
 In December, 1870, like a shock of corn fully ripe he passed away, 
 mourned by the whole Protestant world. His funeral on the 28th day 
 of that month was attended by a large concourse of people. The Pall 
 Bearers on the occasion were prominent ministers and laymen repre- 
 senting nearly all denominations. Among the addresses delivered was 
 one by the Rev. William Bacon Stevens, D. D., of the Protestant Epis- 
 copal Church, others by Rev. John Chambers, Rev. T. H. SkinDer, D. 
 D., and Rev. Herrick Johnson, D. D. 
 
 GEORGE JUNKIN, D. D., LL. D., 
 
 Son of Joseph and Eleanor, born in Cumberland County, Pa., Novem- 
 ber 1, 1790. His parents were of Scotch-Irish descent, and belonged to 
 that branch of the Presbyterian Church called Covenanters. He pur- 
 sued his studies under great difficulties, and graduated at Jefferson Col- 
 lege in 1813. In 1816 he graduated from the Theological Seminary of 
 the Associate Reformed Church. For two years he was engaged in 
 Missionary labor in Pennsylvania and Maryland. In 1818 he became 
 pastor of the united congregations of Milton and Pennell, (McEwens- 
 ville,) where he continued eleven years. In 1824 he withdrew from the 
 Associate Reformed to the Presbyterian Church. In 1830 he resigned 
 his charge, and became Principal of the Manual Labor Academy at 
 Germantown. After two years he removed with his students to Easton, 
 and Lafayette College was organized, of which he was made President. 
 
 In 1833 he received the degree of D. D. from the College at which he 
 graduated, and in 1856 that of LL. D. from Rutgers College. In 
 1841 he accepted the Presidency of Miami University, Ohio. After 
 three years he resumed his former position at Easton, and continued 
 there until 1848, when he accepted the Presidency of Washington Col- 
 lege, Va. Here he continued until 1861, after which date he resided with 
 his son, in Philadelphia. His literary productions were a Treatise on 
 Sanctification ; a Treatise on the Ancient Tabernacle of the Hebrews; 
 a Treatise on Justification and Lectures on Prophecy, and some smaller 
 works. In the controversy which separated the Church in 1837, he took 
 great interest, and exerted a commanding influence. 
 
 REV. DAVID ELLIOTT, D. D. t LL. D., 
 
 Moderator of the General Assembly of 1837, being the last Assembly 
 previous to the division. 
 
 Born Feb. 6, 1787, of Thomas and Jane Elliott, at Sherman’s Valley, 
 Perry County, Pa., graduated at Dickinsou College in September, 1808, 
 and pros°cuted his Theological studies under the direction of Rev. John 
 Linn and Rev. Joshua Williams, D. D., licensed by the Presbytery of 
 Carlisle September, 1811; settled at Mercersburg in 1812. In 1829 he 
 
REFORMED CHURCH. 
 
 4G9 
 
 settled in Washington, Pa., succeeding Rev. Obadiah Jennings, D. D. 
 For eighteen months he acted as President of the College there. In 1836 
 he removed to Allegheny, and assumed the chair of Theology, which he 
 still holds. In 1837 Dr. Elliott was chosen Moderator of the General 
 Assembly. He received the degree of D. D. from Jefferson College in 
 1835, and that of LL. D., from Washington College in 1847. 
 
 REV. MELANCTHON W. JACOBUS, D. D., LL. D., 
 
 Moderator of the General Assembly (Old School,) 1869, being the last 
 Assembly known as Old School. 
 
 Born September 19, 1816, at Newark, N. J. ; entered Princeton Col- 
 lege in his fifteenth year, and was graduated in his eighteenth year 
 with the first honors of the College; entered Princeton Theological 
 Seminary in 1835, and having completed his course, was invited to re- 
 main as assistant to Prof. J. Addison Alexander, in the Hebrew de- 
 partment. In 1839 he was installed pastor of the First Presbyterian 
 Church of Brooklyn. His health having failed in 1850, he spent a year 
 in foreign travel in classic and Bible lands. During his absence he 
 was elected Professor of Oriental and Biblical Literature in the Theo- 
 logical Seminary of Allegheny, Pa., upon the duties of which office he 
 entered in 1852. In 1848 he published his first volume of “Notes on 
 the New Testament,” entitled “Matthew with the Harmony,” and in 
 1853 he issued “ Mark and Luke.” In 1856 he published a “ Commen- 
 tary on John,” and in 1859 an elaborate Commentary on the Acts of 
 the Apostles. Some of these works were re-published in Scotland. In 
 1864-5 he issued two volumes on Genesis. In 1852 the degree of D. D. 
 was conferred upon him by Jefferson College, and in 1867 LL. D. by 
 the College of New Jersey. In 1858 he assumed charge of the Central 
 Presbyterian Church, Pittsburgh, which he continues to serve in addi- 
 tion to the duties of his professorship. 
 
 REV. PHILEMON H. FOWLER, D. D., 
 
 Moderator of the General Assembly (New School,) 1869, being the 
 last Assembly known as New School. 
 
 Philemon H. Fowler, the son of William and Margaret Fowler, was 
 born in Albany, N. Y., February 9, 1814, graduated at Hobart College, 
 (Geneva, N.Y.,) in 1832, and at Princeton Theological Seminary in 1836 ; 
 ministered to the Second Presbyterian Church of Washington, D. C., 
 from 1836 to the Fall of 1839, when he settled over the First Presbyte- 
 rian Church of Elmira, N. Y. In 1850 he became pastor of the First 
 Presbyterian Church of Utica, N. Y., in which charge he still continues. 
 The degree of S. T. D., was conferred upon him by both the University 
 of Norwich, Vt., and Williams College, Mass. In 1869 Dr. Fowler was 
 Moderator of the General Assembly which met in May in the Church 
 of the Covenant, N. Y., and in November, in the Third Presbyterian 
 Church, Pittsburgh. At the latter meeting the Re-union of the Pres- 
 byterian Church was consummated. Dr. Fowler is a trustee of Hamilton 
 College, N. Y., and of the Theological Seminary at Auburn, N. Y. 
 He is also a corporate member of the American Board of Commissioners 
 for Foreign Missions. 
 
470 
 
 DENOMINATIONS IN THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 THE REFORMED CHURCH IN THE UNITED STATES OF NORTH 
 
 AMERICA. 
 
 The Reformed Church (late German) dates its origin in Am erica about 
 1720. Members of this denomination in Europe began to emigrate to 
 Pennsylvania soon after the province was confirmed, to William Penn, 
 which event took place in 1681. From this time forward German emi- 
 gration continued and increased. They formed congregations and 
 schools, and, for want of regular church ministrations, sought to edify 
 each other by singing and listening to sermons and prayers read by the 
 schoolmasters. 
 
 In 1727 the Rev. George Michael Weiss was sent over by the classis 
 of the Palatinate, accompanied by about four hundred emigrants. They 
 settled at Skippach, in Montgomery County, Pa. ; organized a consis- 
 tory; built a log church, and placed Mr. Weiss over them as pastor. 
 Through him the wants of the Reformed people in America were made 
 known to the parent church, and the classis of Amsterdam furnished 
 men and means to carry forward the work. In 1730 the number of the 
 Reformed faith in this country was 15,000, and thereafter there was a 
 large annual increase. Settlements were made in the colonies of New 
 York, New Jersey, Maryland, Virginia, and the Carolinas, but owing 
 to a lack of ministers, the work of organizing churches was greatly 
 retarded until about 1746, when the Rev. Michael Schlatter arrived in 
 this country on a mission from the church of Holland. He was com- 
 missioned to gather together the Reformed people, organize them into 
 churches, arrange for supplying churches with ministers, and form an 
 annual synod, besides adjusting all difficulties in churches, and visiting 
 them statedly. In September of that year the first synod met in Phila- 
 delphia, holding their sessions with the First Reformed Church, now 
 located on Race street, below Fourth, and which still maintains a vigor- 
 ous existence, and is regarded with veneration as one of the parent 
 churches of the denomination. This synod numbered thirty-one minis- 
 ters and elders, representing a few thousand members, though it was 
 by no means a full representation of the strength of the denomination 
 which at that time was forty-six congregations, embracing some thirty 
 thousand members. The meeting of the synod was productive of great 
 good to the church. Its affairs were reduced to an orderly condition, 
 and acquaintance and good fellowship was cultivated among the dele- 
 gates in attendance. In 1751 Mr. Schlatter, in his report to the Amster- 
 dam classis, gave the following as a complete list of Reformed congre- 
 gations in America. The first charge was Philadelphia and German- 
 town (afterward united as the First Church, now on Race street) 
 2. Goshenhoppen and Great Swamp. 3. Falkner Schwam and Provi- 
 dence. 4. Skippach, Witpen, Indian Creek and Tohicken. 5. Lancas- 
 ter and Schaffer’s Church. 6. York, Kreutz Creek, Conewago and Ber- 
 mudian. 7. Tuipehocken. 8. Weiseichenland, Modecreek, Cocalico 
 and Zeltenrich. 9. Donegal, Swatara and Quitopehilla. 10. North- 
 ampton and Southampton. 11. Great Lehigh, Little Lehigh, Forks of 
 Delaware, Saccony and Springfield. 12. Heidelberg, Egypt and Jor- 
 
1 
 
 REFORMED CHURCH. 471 
 
 dan. 13. Magunchy, Allemangel, Schmaltzgass and Manatawny. All 
 the foregoing were in Pennsylvania. To these must be added : 14. 
 
 The charge in Virginia, consisting of Misanotti, South Branch and 
 New Germantown. 15. In Maryland, Monocacy and Conogocheague. 
 16. In New Jersey, Rockaway and Foxhill. These sixteen charges 
 embraced forty-six' congregations, of which number thirty-two were 
 without ministers, and many of the others were served but once 
 monthly. 
 
 From this time forward the progress of the church was very slow. 
 The French and Indian war, and later the Revolutionary war, sadly 
 interfered with its prosperity by breaking off in a great measure its 
 communication with the parent body in Europe, and thus losing 
 its material aid. In 1792 the church severed its connection with 
 the European body, which caused it to languish to a still greater 
 degree. The absence of an educated capable ministry, the great 
 lack of funds, the unfortunate prostration of business and spirit- 
 ual interests by wars, the separation from the discreet, able, wise 
 and liberal parent Church, all served to prostrate the energies and 
 reduce piety to a low ebb in a denomination which bade fair, in its early 
 history, to prevail over all others in America. This condition of affairs 
 continued until 1812, when the Church began to exhibit a measure ol 
 its old energy. In that year it was resolved to extend her borders, and 
 a missionary (Jacob William Dechaut) wa3 sent to Ohio and stationed 
 at Miamisburg, Montgomery county. Shortly afterward two others 
 (Revs. Weiss and Winters) joined him, and their united labors were 
 rewarded with gratifying success. A classis was formed in 1819, fol- 
 lowed, in a short time, by others. In 1820 the numerical strength of 
 the entire Church was fifty ministers and about three hundred congre- 
 gations, in most of which services were held only at intervals of one 
 and two months. In 1824 a majority of the Ohio classes erected an in- 
 dependent judicatory under the name of the “Synod of Ohio,” and, 
 for many years thereafter, the Reformed Church consisted of two inde- 
 pendent Synods, viz.: the Synod of the German Reformed Church in 
 the United States, which was the Eastern and parent body, and the 
 Synod of Ohio and the adjoining States. These bodies were slightly 
 bound together by a triennial convention, which, however, was not a 
 court of appeal, and possessed none of the powers of a general synod. 
 Until 1825 the Church had no institutions of learning with which to fill 
 its clerical ranks, but in that year a theological school was established 
 at Carlisle, Pa., in connection with Dickinson College. In 1829 this 
 was transferred to York, and in 1835 to Mercersburg, Pa., where it still 
 remains, enjoying a good measure of prosperity. From 1825 onward, 
 the growth of the Church was more rapid, and in 1845 the published 
 minutes of the two Synods made the following exhibit : The Eastern 
 Synod comprised ten classes ; one hundred and fifty-five ministers ; 
 four hundred and seventy-one congregations, and thirty-one thousand 
 one hundred and seventy communicants. The Western Synod com- 
 prised six classes ; seventy-two ministers ; two hundred and thirty-six 
 Congregations, and seven thousand eight hundred and eighty-five com- 
 
472 
 
 DENOMINATIONS IN THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 municants. The whole Reformed Church, then, consisted of two 
 synods, sixteen classes, two hundred and twenty-seven ministers, seven 
 hundred and seven churches, and thirty-nine thousand and fifty-five 
 communicants. Up to the present time (1871) there has been a steady 
 increase in the numbers of the Church and a measurable improvement 
 in all its departments. Instead of two independent synods there is now 
 one general synod and four particular synods, viz : Eastern, Pittsburg, 
 Ohio and North-western. These comprise thirty- two classes, five hun- 
 dred and forty-seven ministers, twelve hundred and fourteen congrega- 
 tions, one hundred and eighty-nine thousand nine hundred and sixty- 
 four baptized members, of which number, however, only one hundred 
 and twenty-one thousand three hundred and fourteen are communi- 
 cants, the remainder not having yet been confirmed. 
 
 There are one thousand and nineteen Sunday schools, with between 
 fifty and sixty thousand scholars. 
 
 The benevolent contributions of the Church, for the year 1870, were 
 $94,019.S9, in addition to the amounts applied to the home wants of the 
 congregations. 
 
 Considerable zeal has been manifested, of late years, in advancing 
 the educational interests of the denomination, and it may now be said 
 to be fairly supplied with institutions of learning which are generally 
 well sustained ; among them Heidelberg College, Franklin and Mar- 
 shall College, Ursinus College, and Mercersburg Theological Seminary 
 are worthy of special mention. 
 
 In the work of foreign missions, the Church has been comparatively 
 inactive. No distinctive denominational effort has been put forth on 
 the foreign field, but for the past twenty-five years it has contributed to 
 the cause through the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign 
 Missions. 
 
 In 1869, however, it was decided that the Church should support her 
 own missions, and measures were taken in pursuance of this resolution. 
 
 In the department of Home Missions a commendable degree of 
 activity has been displayed. The aggregate number of Missions under 
 the care of the Board during the three years ending with 1869, was 
 ninety-seven. At the end of this time many of these had become self- 
 sustaining congregations, and but forty Missions were left requiring 
 aid. The aggregate appropriation to these was $8,290 annually. 
 
 While most of the denominations of European parentage in this 
 country have become, to a greater or less extent, Americanized, the 
 Reformed body has preserved, with singular fidelity, its distinctive 
 German characteristics. Its membership is composed almost entirely 
 of Germans or persons of German extraction. Of its five hundred and 
 forty-seven ministers, four hundred can preach in the English language, 
 and three hundred in the German. A large proportion can officiate in 
 either language as occasion may require. In 1867 a very wise move was 
 made. Up to that time the official name of the Church was the 
 “ German Reformed Church in the United States of North America,” 
 and a movement was then made to strike out the word “German” 
 therefrom. It was argued that this word could not rightfully be 
 
REFORMED CHURCH. 
 
 473 
 
 retained; that the Reformed Church was only German so far as it was 
 confined to people of that nationality ; that in America it should be 
 thrown open to all people, in accordance with the free spirit of our 
 Republican institutions and with the precepts of the Divine Master. 
 
 There was some opposition to this movement, but in 18G9 the word 
 “German” was stricken out. Unimportant as the omission of this 
 single word may seem, its effect upon the future growth and prosperity 
 of the Church cannot be measured. It transforms it at once from a 
 sectional to a world- wide church ; it sweeps away the bars that have 
 heretofore circumscribed its operations, and as it enlarges its scope, so 
 will it inevitably enlarge its capacity and its plans. 
 
 The government of the Reformed Church is strictly Presbyterian, 
 and identical with that of the Reformed (Dutch) Church in America, 
 which see for course of procedure and explanation of the terms con- 
 sistory, classis, &c. It would seem that the best interests of both these 
 Reformed Churches pointed toward their union, and with absolutely 
 no material points of difference between them, it is a matter of surprise 
 that this has not been effected. Leading minds in both Churches are 
 directing their attention to this matter, and it is to be hoped that their 
 efforts will succeed in uniting these forces in the cause of our common 
 Master. 
 
 In doctrine the Church is closely allied to the Presbyterians. The 
 Heidelberg Catechism is its symbol of faith. This excellent work was 
 prepared and published under the formal authority of Elector Frederick 
 the Third of the Palatinate in 1563, and was universally adopted by the 
 Reformed as embodying the genius and spirit of their faith. In 1869 
 the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church endorsed it and 
 sanctioned its use in the churches of that denomination. 
 
 The Reformed Church is now spread over most of the States of the 
 American Union. In the West especially it has taken a strong hold, 
 and exhibits all that energy and enterprise for which that section is 
 distinguished. 
 
 With harmony within its own borders and a sincere devotion to its 
 great mission of saving souls, an era of unprecedented prosperity is 
 before this branch of the church militant. 
 
 THE REFORMED CHURCH IN AMERICA. 
 
 (j Late Dutch.) 
 
 This is the oldest body of Presbyterians in America. It descended 
 immediately from the church of Holland, and for about a century from 
 its commencement in this country it hung in colonial dependence on 
 the classis of Amsterdam and the Synod of North Holland, and was 
 unable to ordain a minister or perform any ecclesiastical function of the 
 kind without a reference to the parent country and mother church. 
 
 The origin of this church will lead us back to the earliest history of 
 the city and State of New York, for they were first settled by this peo- 
 ple, and by them a foundation was laid for the first churches of this 
 persuasion. 
 
474 
 
 DENOMINATIONS IN THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 The colony of New Amsterdam (now New York) was settled in 1612. 
 Missionaries and pious immigrants arrived here in the very beginning 
 of the colony, but precisely at what time a church was first organized 
 is not known. The collegiate church is supposed to have been formed 
 in 1619, though the earliest period to which its records conduct us is the 
 year 1639. An authentic document is said to be still extant containing 
 a list of its members in 1622. 
 
 The Dutch church was the established religion of the coiony until it 
 surrendered to the British in 1664, 'after which its circumstances were 
 materially changed. Not long after the colony passed into the hands 
 of the British an act was passed which went to establish the Episcopal 
 church as the predominant party, and for almost a century afterward 
 the Dutch and English Presbyterians and all others in the colony were 
 forced to contribute to the support of that chui*ch. 
 
 From this time forward emigration from Holland very materially 
 declined, but for a length of .time the Dutch inhabitants had a prepon- 
 derance in numbers and wealth, and the natural increase aided by a 
 small emigration gradually extended their settlements. 
 
 The first judicatory higher than a consistory among this people was 
 a Coetus, formed in 1747. The object and powers of this assembly were 
 merely those of advice and fraternal intercourse. It could not ordain 
 ministers, nor judicially decide in ecclesiastical disputes without the 
 consent of the classis of Amsterdam. The erection of this Coetus was 
 the result of a movement made in 1737 to throw off the authority of 
 the parent classis. For a number of years prior to this time many lead- 
 ing minds in the American church had been discussing the expediency 
 of forming entirely independent church judicatories and training and 
 ordaining their own ministers. The result was a protracted controversy 
 which agitated the church for thirty-four years, embracing the period 
 from 1737 to 1771, and finally resulting in the mutual adoption of the 
 Articles of Union proposed by the classis of Amsterdam. The dis- 
 tinct organization was then unitedly and harmoniously made, since 
 which time the church has had a peaceful history. 
 
 The following appears, from the most reliable authorities, to be the 
 order in which the churches of this faith were planted in America. 
 We have before mentioned the collegiate Church as the first ; after it 
 followed the churches in Albany, Flatbush, New Utrecht, Flatlands, 
 and Esopus, now Kingston. The first church edifice erected by the 
 colony in New Netherlands (now New York) appears to have been 
 located near the lower end of Stone street, in New Amsterdam. The 
 second stood close down by the water’s edge, within the fort of New 
 Amsterdam and on the spot now called the Battery. This was after- 
 ward transferred to the site of the late Garden street church. The first 
 miuister in New York was the Rev. Everardus Bogardus. The length 
 of his pastorate or the date of his arrival cannot be determined. It is 
 said that he became blind, and (on the authority of the Rev. Dr. De- 
 witt) that in returning to Holland he was shipwrecked and lost. From 
 the period of his ministry to 1634, we find the names of only two, Dom- 
 inies, I. and S. Megapolensis. From this time until 1737 the church was 
 
REFORMED CHURCH. 
 
 475 
 
 for the most part in a highly prosperous condition, though its efforts 
 were confined chiefly to what is now the State of New York. It had 
 there a large majority over all other denominations, and carried with 
 it a large part of the wealth and influence of the province. It seems 
 also to have been characterized by great piety and strict government. 
 
 During the internal trouble that disturbed it from 1737 to 1771, it suf- 
 fered much in every way. Many of its members were alienated ; the 
 legitimate work of the churches in their mission of saving souls was 
 neglected in a great measure, and in the heat of strife the spirit of 
 humble piety which had characterized it before could no longer be re- 
 garded as its distinguishing feature. 
 
 The church also during this period experienced severe losses from 
 another cause. Despite the fact which was plainly apparent, that the 
 English language was to become the common language of the count y, 
 there was an unwise persistence in the use of the Dutch language in 
 the services of the church, notwithstanding that a very large body of 
 the younger members clamored for a change which would accommodate 
 both German and English hearers. Finally, the point was yielded and 
 English sermons permitted, though not until many of their members 
 were driven off into other denominations. 
 
 The first minister who preached exclusively in English was the Rev. 
 Dr. Laidlie, a native of Scotland and a graduate at Edinburgh. He 
 was called by the consistory of the collegiate church, and entered on 
 his ministry in 1764. His first sermon, preached to an immense audi- 
 ence, was founded on 2 Cor. v. 11. “Knowing the terrors of the Lord 
 we persuade men.” A signal revival of religion soon commenced under 
 his ministration, and the church greatly flourished. 
 
 The statistics of the denomination in 1834 were one hundred and 
 sixty-seven ministers; one hundred and ninety-seven churches; 
 twenty-one thousand one hundred and fifteen communicants ; about 
 thirty thousand families, and one hundred and fifty thousand souls. 
 In 1847 the minutes of the General Synod showed : particular synods, 
 two; classes, twenty-four; ministers, two hundred and eighty-nine; 
 churches, two hundred and seventy-six; communicants, thirty-two 
 thousand eight hundred and forty; members of congregations, one 
 hundred and ten thousand. 
 
 In 1870 the statistics of the church were as follows : churches, four 
 hundred and sixty-four; ministers, four hundred and ninety-three; 
 communicants, sixty-one thousand four hundred and forty-four ; fami- 
 lies, thirty-eight thousand five hundred and fifty-two ; received during 
 the year five thousand nine hundred and twenty-two ; number of cate- 
 chumens, twenty-two thousand four hundred and seventy six; num- 
 ber under Biblical instruction, twenty-three thousand eight hundred 
 and thirty-six; Sunday school scholars, forty- eight thousand four hun- 
 dred and eleven ; contributions for religious and benevolent purposes, 
 $281,647.3.6 ; contributions for congregational purposes, $906,034.27 ; total 
 contributions, $1,187,681.63. 
 
 The doctrines of the church are those handed down by the reformers, 
 and are shared in common by all branches of the Reformed Church. 
 
476 
 
 DENOMINATIONS IN THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 They hold that the Bible is the only and all-sufficient rule of faith and 
 practice, and reject traditions and expositions of the fathers except only 
 as they strictly and rigidly agree with it : — 
 
 They receive the Confession of Faith of the Council of Dort; the 
 Heidelberg catechism; the Compend of the Christian religion; the 
 canons of the Council of Dort on the famous Five Points, (Predestina- 
 tion, Atonement, Man’s entire corruption and helplessness, His conver- 
 sion by grace alone, Perseverance of the Saints in grace,) as their creed. 
 
 In government the church is strictly Presbyterian. They only use a 
 different nomenclature in some respects in speaking of ecclesiastical 
 affairs. Their primary court is that of the consistory— the same as that 
 called a session in the Presbyterian church. This consists of *the three 
 distinct offices : ministers or bishops, elders, and deacons. The pastor 
 and elders meet as a spiritual court to admit members, exercise discip- 
 line, &c., and the deacons meet statedly to provide for the poor, &c. 
 The pastors, elders and deacons meet as a consistory for the transaction 
 of all temporal business relating to their own church. On important 
 occasions, such as calling a minister, the Great Consistory is called to- 
 gether. This is composed of all those who have at any time been elders 
 and deacons in the church. 
 
 The next court is the classis , which corresponds precisely with the 
 presbytery in the Presbyterian church. This is composed of a minis- 
 ter and an elder from each distinct church under the care of the classis. 
 
 Next is the Particular Synod, which consists of two ministers and 
 two elders from each classis within its bounds. 
 
 The General Synod is the highest court, and from it there is no appeal. 
 It is composed of three ministers and three elders from each classis 
 throughout the entire church. Its meetings are now annual for the 
 transaction of the business of the church. 
 
 Until within a few years the official name of the church was the 
 Reformed Dutch Church in America, but it gradually became apparent 
 to the majority of the denomination that this name was not only un- 
 suitable to their present condition, but furthermore that it was abso- 
 lutely a bar to their growth and prosperity; consequently the word 
 “Dutch” was stricken out, leaving the name as it should be, the Re- 
 formed Church in America. With this change also passed away the 
 name of Dominie, by which pastors or ministers were formerly styled. 
 Great care is taken by this church in the education of her ministers 
 and religious teachers. Her college and theological seminary at New 
 Brunswick, N. J., are an honor to the church. Amply endowed and 
 furnished with able professors, they exert their full share of influence 
 in raising up a learned and able ministry. The charter of the college 
 was obtained in 1770. The seminary was founded and opened in 1810, 
 with Rev. Dr. John H. Livingston at its head. 
 
 ASSOCIATE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. 
 
 This church originated in a secession from the Established Church 
 of Scotland, in the year 1733. Corruptions in the doctrines of the church 
 and tyranny in her government were the grounds of the secession. At 
 
REFORMED CHURCH'. 
 
 477 
 
 the revolution of 1688, when Presbyterianism was restored in Scotland, 
 hundreds of the Episcopal incumbents, who had before been thrust 
 upon the people, were retained in their charges. They were ignorant, 
 unsound, worthless men, and many of them clearly vicious. In this 
 way the leaven of corruption was introduced into the Presbyterian 
 Church, and it spread itself until many of the people and a majority of 
 the ministers were leavened. Matters were brought to an issue in 1733 
 by the presentation of a protest to the General Assembly against certain 
 acts, by Rev. Messrs. E. Erskine, Wilson, Moncrieff and Fisher. This 
 protest excited the wrath of the assembly, and having refused to with- 
 draw it, these four ministers were “suspended from the exercise of the 
 ministerial functions and all parts thereof.” This occurred in August, 
 1733. 
 
 In the succeeding November it was found by the commission that 
 the four brethren had continued to exercise their ministry, and the 
 order of the assembly was to proceed to a higher censure. The tyran- 
 nical proceedings of the ecclesiastical courts, and the undaunted bear- 
 ing of the accused, awakened a wide-spread sympathy for them. Seven 
 synods sent up communications to the commission in their favor, and 
 some presbyteries sent petitions of a like character. 
 
 Finally the commission decided, by a large majority, to “Loose the 
 relation of the said four ministers to their charges, and declare them no 
 longer ministers of this church, and to prohibit all ministers of this 
 church to employ them in any ministerial function.” Seven ministers 
 of the commission protested against this sentence. When the sentence 
 was announced to the four brethren they handed in a paper, declaring 
 themselves under the necessity of seceding from the church. They 
 soon after met as a presbytery, and published what has generally been 
 distinguished as the Extra-judicial Testimony. They declined to act 
 judicially for about three years after their secession, hoping that the 
 breach would be healed, but toward this end no substantial progress 
 was made. 
 
 It was soon found that the secession was regarded with favor by the 
 better class of people, and that it afforded a very convenient refuge for 
 those who were oppressed by the system of patronage. When a min- 
 ister was intruded upon a congregation against its will, it soon came 
 about that the congregation set to work peaceably to build a church of 
 their own and call a seceder minister. 
 
 In 1736 the four seceding ministers proceeded to judicial acts, and 
 near the close of that year published their “Judicial Testimony.” They 
 appointed Mr. Wilson Professor of Theology, and at his death Mr. 
 Moncrieff filled the chair. 
 
 In May, 1739, a libel was framed against them by the commission of 
 the assembly and laid before the assembly itself. It charged, in sub- 
 stance, their secession and their acting as an independent court of Christ. 
 Being summoned, the seceders, now eight in number, appeared as a 
 constituted presbytery at the bar of the assembly and formally denied 
 its authority. The next year the assembly passed an act of deposition 
 against them, and they were violently thrust out of their places of 
 worship. 
 
 31 
 
478 
 
 DENOMINATIONS IN THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 Notwithstanding these trials in their early history, the associate 
 presbytery had soon increased so much in number that they found it 
 necessary to constitute themselves into a synod, to consist of three pres- 
 byteries. This was done in 1714, at which time the whole number of 
 settled ministers was twenty-six. 
 
 Not long after this a question came before them in regard to the law- 
 fulness of swearing certain Burgess oaths, containing this clause: 
 “ Here I protest, before God and your Lordships, that I profess and 
 allow with my heart the true religion presently professed within this 
 realm and authorized by the laws thereof : I shall abide thereat and de- 
 fend the same to my life’s end, renouncing the Roman religion called 
 papistry.” 
 
 The synod was nearly equally divided upon this point. Two years 
 of sharp contention ensued, and, in 1747, a breach took place and two 
 distinct synods were formed, the General Associate or Anti-burgher 
 Synod and ‘the Associate or Burgher Synod. After a separation of over 
 seventy years these two branches were re-united September 8, 1820. 
 Having given an account of the rise of this church in Scotland, we 
 must now turn our attention to the church in America. 
 
 The Associate brethren were characterized by a missionary spirit 
 from the first, and their particular attention was addressed to the 
 American field. 
 
 In 1736 a letter was received from Pennsylvania urgently requesting 
 that either an ordained minister or a probationer be sent over to labor 
 in that district. This the presbytery was not then able to do. In 1750 
 petitions were again sent, addressed to the Anti-burgher Synod, from 
 some of the colonists of Eastern Pennsylvania. In 1751 urgent applica- 
 tions were again made by Rev. Alex. Craighead, of Pennsylvania, and a 
 number of other persons, earnestly beseeching the synod to send min- 
 isters to labor in that part of America. The synod accordingly ap- 
 pointed Mr. James Hume, a licentiate, and Mr. John Jamison, student, 
 after being licensed to be ordained, and sent to Pennsylvania as mis- 
 sionaries. Both these young men, however, were called and settled in 
 congregations at home, and thus the design was frustrated. In 1753, Mr. 
 Alexander Gellatly was appointed to this important work, and had the 
 honor to become the first missionary of the Associate Church in this 
 country, and is entitled to the name of the Father of Secession in the 
 United States. In the latter part of that year he arrived, accompanied 
 by Rev. Andrew Arnot, who was temporarily to assist him. 
 
 The two found an extensive field of labor, much larger than they 
 could possibly attend to. Their labors were, for some years, confined 
 chiefly to Lancaster, Chester and York counties, Pennsylvania. 
 
 Soon after their arrival, according to instructions, they constituted 
 themselves into a presbytery, named the “Associate Presbytery of 
 Pennsylvania,” subordinate to the Associate Anti-burgher Synod. 
 The Presbyterians who had been occupying the field before them, in- 
 vited them to join with them, and upon their declining to do so they 
 issued a warning against the associate body, denouncing them as schis- 
 matics, separatists and hereticals. A protracted controversy between 
 the two bodies ensued. 
 
REFORMED CHURCH. 
 
 479 
 
 In 1758 Matthew Henderson arrived as a missionary from Scotland, 
 and was settled at Oxford, and Pencader in Chester couni y. In 1 761 
 Mr. Gellatly died in the forty-second year of his age. In the sanoe 
 year Mr John Mason, father of Dr. John Mason, of New York, arrived 
 and settled in New York. At this time the Associate Presbytery of 
 Pennsylvania consisted of only three ministers — Proud fit, of Pequa, 
 Henderson, of Oxford, and Pencader and Oxford, of New York. 
 
 Hitherto all the missionaries sent had been connected with the 
 Anti-burgher Synod, but, in 1764, Rev. Thos. Clark (known as Dr. Clark) 
 arrived in America with most of his congregation, of Ballibay, Ire- 
 land. They were connected with the Burgher Synod. Arriving at 
 New York, part of the people went to Long Cane, South Carolina, and 
 the rest, with their minister, settled at Salem, New York The next 
 year Dr. Clark, having assented to certain articles, was received as a 
 member of the Associate Presbytery of Pennsylvania. This union be- 
 tween Burghers and Anti-burghers was, by instructions from the Anti- 
 burgher Synod, dissolved in 1771. 
 
 In 1776 an associate presbytery was so far strengthened that it was 
 found expedient to divide it into two presbyteries. The Presbytery of 
 Pennsylvania consisted of ten ministers, and the Presbytery of New 
 York consisted of three ministers. These two were co-ordinate but 
 both subordinate to the Synod of Edinburgh. During the Revolutionary 
 war their allegiance to the church of the mother country was sensibly 
 weakened. A movement was set on foot to unite the two associate 
 bodies and the reformed presbyteries into one ecclesiastical body. This 
 resulted in the union at Pequa, June 13, 1782. Several ministers and 
 elders protested and appealed to the Associate Synod of Scotland, and 
 their protest not being admitted they withdrew, claiming to be the 
 true Associate Presbytery of Pennsylvania. The united body took the 
 name of the Associate Reformed Church. 
 
 Our present business is to follow the history of the protesting body 
 (which still retained its former name) down to the present time. The 
 church was now greatly weakened, and missionaries were soon sent 
 to its aid from Scotland. The first of these were Messrs. Anderson and 
 Beveridge, and a number of others followed before the close of the 
 century. In 1784 the presbytery issued a narrative and testimony. 
 Subordination to the Synod was found inconvenient and disadvanta- 
 geous, and the testimony was adopted without consulting with the 
 synod. This called forth expressions of dissatisfaction, but practically 
 subordination became gradually a dead letter thereafter. 
 
 In 1794 the church established a theological seminary in Beaver 
 county, Pennsylvania, of which Dr. John Anderson continued to be 
 the sole professor until 1819, when he resigned, owing to age. The num- 
 ber of students was very small, the average attendance being not more 
 than four or five and the highest number nine. In 1800 a Synod was 
 constituted, consisting of four presbyteries— Philadelphia, Cambridge, 
 Chartiers and Kentucky (now Miami.) Its first meeting was at Phila- 
 delphia, May 20, 1801. The evil of slaveholding had engaged the at- 
 tention of the church for many years, and, in 1811, at the synod in 
 
480 
 
 DENOMINATIONS IN THE UNITED STATES, 
 
 Canonsburg, an act was passed declaring it a moral evil to hold negroes 
 in bondage, directing the members of the church to set them at liberty 
 or to treat them as free in the matters of food, clothing and wages. 
 Those who refused were declared unworthy of church fellowship. 
 These provisions not being complied with, the synod, in 1831, passed 
 an act by which all slaveholders were forthwith excluded from her 
 communion. The effect of this was to entirely extinguish the Asso- 
 ciate Presbytery of the Carolinas, and at the same time to purge the 
 church of the sin of slaveholding. 
 
 In 1820 the theological seminary in Beaver county, having been 
 given up, two others were established ; one at Philadelphia, of which 
 Dr. Banks was chosen professor, and the other at Canonsburg, with 
 Dr. Ramsey, as professor. 
 
 The union of the two branches of the secession in Scotland at this 
 time caused considerable controversy in the American church, which 
 was not finally ended until 1835. In 1826 the synod condemned the 
 union “ as a defection from a covenanted Reformation,” and they subse- 
 quenty agreed to continue in union with the protesters. 
 
 In 1820 overtures were made by the Associate Reformed Synod of the 
 West for a union of the two bodies, and correspondence and meetings 
 of committees followed for two years. Finally, however, through a 
 very trifling cause, the whole matter fell through. 
 
 In 1822 the presbyteries of the church were seven in number, em- 
 bracing sixty-one congregations and 7,378 communicants. In 1825 the 
 church commenced missionary operations in the West, which were 
 continued from year to year until they had been the means of organ- 
 izing six presbyteries, some of them the largest in the denomination. 
 In 1826 the Eastern Seminary ceased to exist, owing to the death of Dr. 
 Banks, its professor. In 1842 the synod commenced missionary effort 
 in the foreign field. Two missionaries were appointed to labor on the 
 island of Trinidad. Others were sent to California and Oregon. They 
 also established a presbytery in Hindoostan. 
 
 In 1851 the Reformed Dissenting Presbytery proposed a union with 
 this church, which was effected. In 1854 the presbyteries of Cambridge, 
 Albany, and Vermont (which, in 1840, had withdrawn from the church 
 and claimed to be the true associate synod) reunited with it. In 1858 a 
 union was effected between the Associate and Associate Reformed 
 churches, and they chose as their name the “United Presbyterian 
 Church.” For an account of their union and the doctrines of the 
 church the reader is referred to the sketch of that church which will 
 be found in its proper place. 
 
 When the two bodies united the Associate Church consisted of 21 
 presbyteries, 293 congregations, and 23,505 members. 
 
 ASSOCIATE REFORMED CHURCH. 
 
 The Associate Reformed Church had its origin in a union which was 
 agreed upon at Pequa, Pennsylvania, June 13, 1782, between the Asso- 
 ciate and the Reformed Presbyterian churches, and took its title from a 
 union of the names of the two bodies. The Associate wa3 the older of 
 
REFORMED CHURCH. 
 
 481 
 
 these churches in this country, and until the war of the Revolution it 
 continued in subjection to the Synod of Scotland. The war inter- 
 rupted their intercourse with the Synod, and the Associate people, the 
 earliest and warmest advocates of American independence, began to 
 agitate the question of a separation from the Synod and a union of the 
 different Presbyterian bodies in this country. First, the Burgher and 
 Anti-burgher portions of the Associate church united. Next, overtures 
 were made to the Presbyterian Synod of New York and Philadelphia 
 for a union, but these resulted in failure. Afterwards a union with the 
 Reformed (Covenanter) Presbytery was proposed. Some twenty con- 
 ventions were held in reference to it, and at length the Reformed Pres- 
 bytery, the Associate Presbytery of New York, and nearly all the 
 members of the Presbytery of Pennsylvania united in one organic body 
 which constituted the Associate Reformed Church. This was consum- 
 mated at Pequa, and the Synod was formally constituted in Philadel- 
 phia on the 30tli of October, 1782. The basis of the union consisted 
 chiefly in a modification of the doctrine of the Westminster Confession 
 of Faith concerning the power of civil magistrates in matters of reli- 
 gion, and an adaptation of the form of church government to the Word 
 of God and the circumstances of the church in this country. The united 
 body then consisted of three presbyteries and fourteen ministers. 
 
 On the 31st of May, 1799, the Synod issued its formal standards at 
 Greencastle, Pennsylvania. 
 
 From this time forward the church prospered and grew rapidly. Soon 
 its churches were scattered over the country from the Canadas to the 
 Carolinas and southwest as far as Kentucky. In October, 1802, the 
 Synod was divided into four subordinate Synods, viz : New York, Penn- 
 sylvania, Scioto and the Carolinas. On May 30th, 1804, the first Gen- 
 eral Synod met in Greencastle, Pennsylvania, of which Rev. Alex. 
 Dobbin w T as chosen Moderator. 
 
 The province of the General Synod was declared to be to preside over 
 the religious interests of the church at large. It was also the highest 
 court of appeal. It soon began, however, to transact all the important 
 business of the church, so that the subordinate synods being of little 
 interest or importance, were given up. This centralizing of power pro- 
 duced trouble ; unhappy feelings were excited, and in 1820 the entire 
 Synod of Scioto withdrew all connection with the General Synod, and 
 the following year the synod of the Carolinas asked to be constituted an 
 independent synod. , 
 
 About this time propositions were made for a union with the Re- 
 formed Dutch Church, but this result w’as not accomplished. In 1821 
 overtures were made by the General Assembly of the Presbyterian 
 Church for an organic union. A basis of union was prepared by a joint 
 committee, and in 1822 it was adopted by the General Synod of the 
 Associate Reformed Church by a vote of seven to five. The General 
 Synod was then declared dissolved and its members invited to seats in 
 the General Assembly. Thus terminated the General Synod, but the 
 great mass of the ministry and membership did not acquiesce in the 
 union and set themselves at once to the work of perpetuating the Asso- 
 ciate Reformed body on true and proper grounds. 
 
I 
 
 432 
 
 DENOMINATIONS IN THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 The Associate Reformed Synod of the West had, in 1820, constituted 
 itself an independent Synod. It was then composed of fourteen minis- 
 ters and eight elders. This now became the nucleus of the church in 
 the West, and her interests again advanced rapidly. Numerous 
 churches were organized, new presbyteries were formed, and in Octo- 
 ber, 1839, a new Synod was formed, styled the Second Associate Re- 
 formed Synod of the West, which held its first meeting at Hamilton, 
 Ohio, the following year. 
 
 In October, 1852, a third Synod was organized, named the Associate 
 Reformed Synod of Illinois, whose first meeting was held at Oquacoka, 
 Illinois. These several Synods were placed under the care of the Gen- 
 eral Synod of the Associate Reformed Church of the West. In 1858 it 
 had three subordinate Synods ; twenty-two presbyteries ; 360 churches 
 and congregations ; 23,916 communicants ; two theological seminaries, 
 several colleges, higher schools and academies, and three foreign mis- 
 sionary fields. 
 
 The Synod of the Carolinas which in 1821 became an independent 
 synod, called the Associate Reformed Synod of the South, numbered 
 in 1858 eight presbyteries and sixty-five ministers, and had an efficient 
 college and theological seminary under its care at Due West, South 
 Carolina. 
 
 The Synod of New York having never withdrawn from the General 
 Synod, and not having acceded in any way to the act of union with the 
 Presbyterian Church in 1822, upon that event occupied the ground and 
 claimed the rights of the General Synod. It now numbers six presby- 
 teries, forty-seven churches, and 7,368 communicants. It has a theo- 
 logical seminary and an efficient band of missionary laborers in the 
 foreign field. 
 
 Until 1855 these different Synods had been independent, though ad- 
 hering to the same standards, but on May 17th of that year a union 
 was effected between the Synod of New York and the General Synod 
 of the West, under the name of the General Synod of the Associate 
 Reformed Church. The Synod of the South continued its separate ex- 
 istence. 
 
 In 1S58 a union was effected between the Associate and Associate Re- 
 formed churches, and the united body assumed the name of the United 
 Presbyterian Church. In this union there was no sacrifice of essential 
 points of doctrine on the part of either body, as there were before but 
 slight differences between them. Therefore, the reader is referred to 
 the article on the United Presbyterian Church for a resume of the doc- 
 trines of this church. 
 
 REFORMED PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. 
 
 The sixteenth century saw the beginning of that glorious revival of 
 evangelical religion, the Protestant Reformation. In Scotland it may 
 be said to have assumed practical shape in 1559, when, under the preach- 
 ing of John Knox, the people were brought to regard the Church or 
 Rome with such hostility that the Queen Regent avowed her intention 
 
 J 
 
REFORMED CHURCH, 
 
 483 
 
 to suppress the Reformation with fire and sword. This precipitated the 
 crisis, and induced the Reformers to combine and arm themselves in 
 self-defence. 
 
 The Protestant movement had no political character prior to this. Its 
 friends did not desire to overthrow the existing government. All they 
 sought was to reform the abuses in the Church, and practise their own 
 religion without molestation. This was refused them, and their non- 
 conformity to the Papal establishment was proclaimed to be a crime to 
 be punished by civil pains and penalties. Thus the alternative was 
 forced upon them either to abandon their faith aud submit to the bond- 
 age of Anti-Christian superstition without reserve or inquiry, or to 
 assert, defend, and maintain their conscientious liberties against all 
 opposers. They chose the latter course. 
 
 From this time forward the progress of the Reformation was rapid. 
 In 1580 the authority of the Pope was renounced, the Bible was declared 
 free to all, and a Confession of Faith and Book of Discipline, giving to 
 the Church a Presbyterian constitution, were adopted. In 1580 the 
 Scottish Reformers entered into a solemn covenant, which was sub- 
 scribed and sworn to by the king and people of all ranks. This was 
 called the “National Covenant,” and it defined and gave stability to 
 the First Reformation. In subscribing to it the covenanters solemnly 
 bound themselves to adhere to and defend the true religion, as expressed 
 in the Confession of Faith, and to forbear from the practice of the inno- 
 vations recently introduced, which, in their belief, were “ contrary to 
 the Word of God and tending to the re-establishment of the Popish 
 religion and tyranny.” Thus arose the Reformed Presbyterian Church. 
 
 The union of the crowns of Scotland and England in 1603 resulted in 
 a hierarchy which was deemed dangerous in the last degree to the 
 Presbyterian interests. This united in still closer bonds the friends of 
 ecclesiastical liberty. When King James VI, on the death of Queen 
 Elizabeth of England, became monarch of that kingdom also, he laid 
 aside his Presbyterian principles and became one of the strongest 
 asserters of arbitrary power. He held that the King is the Head of 
 the Church, and “that Presbytery was fit only for a nation of 
 republicans.” 
 
 In 1617 James endeavored to impose on the Church of Scotland the 
 whole system of superstitions and fantastic rites observed in the Eng- 
 lish Church, but upon the first attempt to introduce the carved and 
 tinselled images, so unmistakable were the murmurings of the people 
 that the bishops took the alarm and wisely laid them aside. The Eng- 
 lish liturgy was, however, read every day in the Royal Chapel, and for 
 the first time since the Reformation the sound of instrumental music 
 was heard there. What was first introduced into the Royal Chapel was 
 but a prelude to foisting the same upon the people. 
 
 In 1618 an assembly held in Perth passed certain acts for the intro- 
 duction to Scotland of some English ceremonies. These were, kneeling 
 at sacrament; the private administration of baptism ; private commu- 
 nicating; the observance of holidays; and confirmation. They are 
 known as the “Five Articles of Perth;” they were ratified by Parlia- 
 
484 
 
 DENOMINATIONS IN THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 ment and became the law of the land. Their rigorous enforcement 
 followed, which resulted in the banishment of many ministers eminent 
 for piety, learning, and eloquence. Some of these repaired to Ger- 
 many, and others to the north of Ireland, where they laid the founda- 
 tion of the Presbyterian Church of that country. 
 
 In 1633 King Charles imposed upon Scotland a “Service Book,” 
 which destroyed the last vestige of the ancient worship of the Reforma- 
 tion Church. In 1637 the liturgy of the “ Service Book” was ordered 
 to be introduced into the churches of Scotland. It was at the first ser- 
 vice of this kind at Edinburgh that an old woman named Janet Geddes 
 seized the stool on which she had been sitting aud discharged it at the 
 dean’s head, saying, “Villain, dost thou say mass at my lug?” Her 
 example was followed by others, and the dean was obliged to flee. 
 This was the signal for a most determined resistance to the innovations 
 from all parts of Scotland, and the result was the great moral revolu- 
 tion of 1638. In this year, while Charles I and Parliament were con- 
 tending, the Protestants of Scotland entered into a solemn league and 
 covenant with the English Parliament, by which the independence of 
 the Presbyterian churches was confirmed. It was at this time that the 
 Scottish Presbyterians began to be styled “ Covenanters.” 
 
 At the accession of William and Mary in 1689, Episcopacy wa3 estab- 
 lished in England and Ireland, and Presbyterianism in Scotland. This 
 retained the very obnoxious feature against which the Covenanters had 
 so long struggled — royal supremacy over the church — and a portion of 
 them dissented from it, urging, 1st. That the Solemn League and 
 Covenant, which they considered the constitution of the empire, was 
 entirely disregarded in its arrangements; and, 2d. That the civil rulers 
 usurped an authority over the church which virtually destroyed her 
 spiritual independence, and was at variance with the sole headship of 
 the Redeemer. 
 
 For more than sixteen years these remained without a ministry, 
 organizing themselves into praying societies aud meeting statedly for 
 religious worship. In 1706 the Rev. John MacMillan left the estab- 
 lished church and joined them. The Rev. Mr. Nairne followed, from 
 the secession church in 1743, and these two, with ruling elders, con- 
 stituted the “ Reformed Presbytery.” Through this body the Reformed 
 Presbyterians in America received their present ministry. 
 
 From the early part of the eighteenth century the persecutions at 
 home had gradually driven a number of Covenanters and their families 
 to America. In 1743 the Rev. Mr. Craighead collected the Covenanters 
 of Pennsylvania together and induced them to bind themselves to abide 
 by and maintain their principles. In 1752 the Rev. Mr. Cuthbertson 
 arrived in America from the Reformed Presbytery of Scotland, and 
 being joined by Messrs. Lind and Dobbin, from the Reformed Presby- 
 tery of Ireland, in 1774 a presbytery was constituted and the Church 
 took her stand as a distinct visible community in the North American 
 Colonies. 
 
 Her growth was slow until 1782, which year was signalized by tlia 
 union of the presbyteries of the Associate and Reformed Churches, 
 
UNITED PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. 
 
 485 
 
 which gave origin to the “Associate Reformed Church in the United 
 States.” A portion of the Associate Church and one of her ministers, 
 however, did not approve of the union, and a large number of the 
 people of the Reformed Presbyterian Church were also opposed to it. 
 Neither of these bodies would enter into it when consummated, and 
 thus both, though diminished in numbers, retained their distinctive 
 organizations. Hence, instead of the consolidation of two bodies into 
 one, there resulted but the addition of a new body to the original 
 number. 
 
 Within ten years from this time four ministers emigrated from 
 Europe to aid in maintaining the Reformed Presbyterian cause. They 
 were the Revs. Reid, McGarragh, King, and McKinney. In 1798 the 
 Rev. Messrs. McKinney and Gibson, with ruling elders, proceeded to 
 constitute the “ Reformed Presbytery of the United States of North 
 America.” Thus the Church took her stand on American ground. 
 Some Reformed Presbyterians have, from time to time, entertained the 
 opinion that the Constitution and government of the United States are 
 essentially infidel and immoral, and- that, therefore, they should be 
 dissenters from both, and principally on the ground of maintaining 
 this opinion a number of ministers with adherents, in 1833, seceded 
 from the General Synod, and up to the present time the two bodies 
 have maintained a separate existence, each claiming to be the original 
 church. The seceding party of 1833 assumed the name of the “ Synod 
 of the Reformed Presbyterian Church,” while the other body retains 
 the name which the church had before the division, viz.: “The 
 General Synod of the Reformed Presbyterian Church.” 
 
 The doctrinal principles of the Church are thoroughly Calvinistic. 
 Their leading doctrines and order of worship are substantially the same 
 as those of the Presbyterian Church (to which the reader is referred,) 
 except in the following respects : 
 
 1. That in singing God’s praise the Psalms are to be used in social 
 worship, to the exclusion of all imitations and uninspired compositions. 
 
 2. Sacramental communion is not to be extended to those who do not 
 approve the principles of this particular church or submit themselves 
 to her authority. Not that she designs by this to unchurch any other 
 denomination, but she does not feel at liberty to allow every man to be 
 the judge of his own qualification for sealing ordinances. 
 
 This church possesses a high character in respect to the training of 
 children to fear God, and is a self-denying missionary body. Among 
 its ministers are men eminent for piety and learning. Its growth in 
 this country has been slow. The following statistics will show the con- 
 dition of the two branches respectively in 1871 : 
 
 The General Synod of the Reformed Presbyterian Church (which 
 was the name before the division) has presbyteries, 7 ; ministers and 
 licentiates, 41 ; congregations, 66 ; communicants, 6,670 ; theological 
 seminaries, 1 ; foreign missions, 1. 
 
 The Synod of the Reformed Presbyterian Church has presbyteries, 
 8; ministers and licentiates, 86; congregations, 87; communicants, 
 8,577 ; theological seminaries, 1 ; foreign missions, 1 ; Sunday-school 
 
486 
 
 DENOMINATIONS IN THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 scholars, 2,303. Contributions for the year — foreign missions, $7,465.10 ; 
 home missions, $4,146 ; freedmen’s mission, $2,359.21 ; theological sem- 
 inaries, $3,062.80 ; church building, $28,355.09 ; pastors’ salaries, $59,442. 
 66; all other objects, $40,311.61. The churches of the Reformed Pres- 
 byterian Church are located principally in the Middle and Western 
 States. 
 
 UNITED PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH OF NORTH AMERICA. 
 
 The United Presbyterian Church was formed in Pittsburgh, Penn- 
 sylvania, May 26, 1858, by a union of the Associate and Associate Re- 
 formed Churches of North America. These churches claimed as their 
 common parent the Church of Scotland, and were substantiaUy one in 
 doctrine, worship, and church government. 
 
 Of the same family was the Reformed Presbyterian Church. The 
 members composing these different churches were intermingled all 
 over the country, and in their divided condition their congregations 
 were so small as to be unable in. many cases to support pastors. The 
 consequence was that in many portions of the country these people 
 were not able to enjoy the preached word by ministers of their own 
 faith. 
 
 To remedy this evil, and, if possible, to bring these Churches into a 
 closer relation, a call for a convention was issued, and delegates. from 
 the three denominations assembled in Pittsburgh, October 17th, 1838. 
 This convention contemplated only a “ nearer approximation pre- 
 paratory to organic union,” and measures were taken for a fraternal 
 exchange of pulpits and a union in meetings for prayer and other reli- 
 gious exercises. 
 
 The second convention was held in Philadelphia, on September 29th, 
 1839. On this occasion there was a free interchange of opinions upon 
 subjects on which it was supposed there existed a diversity of views, 
 which might present some difficulty in the way of union, such as 
 psalmody, communion, slavery, testimony bearing, and covenanting, 
 but it appeared that there existed a remarkable degree of harmony. 
 Further than a full discussion no steps toward union were taken at 
 this time. 
 
 Other conventions followed in 1841 and 1842, and at the latter one it 
 was resolved that there was such a degree of harmony and unanimity 
 on the more prominent subjects as to encourage the convention to take 
 further measures toward a visible ecclesiastical union. In 1845 the 
 convention met for the seventh time, and adopted a Confession and 
 Testimony as a basis of union. This basis was submitted to the su- 
 preme judicatories of the respective churches, but, after consideration, 
 it did not prove entirely acceptable. The eighth meeting of the con- 
 vention was marked with discouragement, and it adjourned sine die , 
 after resolving “ That this Convention finds nothing more that it can 
 do at present in furtherance of the object of its appointment.” 
 
 This action had a salutary effect upon the people, who were, with 
 few exceptions, strongly favorable to union. They redoubled thei2 
 
UNITED PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. 
 
 487 
 
 efforts to create an overwhelming sentiment in favor of the measure. 
 The General Synod of the Associate Reformed Church took up the 
 matter and appointed delegates to attend a future convention, should 
 the sister churches or either of them concur in the measure. At this 
 time the Reformed Presbyterian Church withdrew and no longer co- 
 operated in the efforts to effect a union of the churches. 
 
 At length a basis, framed in accordance with the general principles 
 which had been approved by the supreme judicatories of the Associate 
 and Associate Reformed Churches respectively, was prepared by a 
 committee, which, being presented to the Synods, was by them trans- 
 mitted in overture to the Presbyteries. After revising the reports of 
 the Presbyteries at the annual meeting of the supreme judicatories the 
 basis was adopted by them both, with the understanding that the 
 formal consummation of the union should take place at the time of the 
 annual meeting in 1858. 
 
 On Wednesday, May 26, 1858, the union of the Associate and the 
 Associate Reformed Churches was consummated in Pittsburgh, Pa., 
 and the measure was hailed with rejoicings by the people of both 
 churches throughout the land. Of the “Testimony of the United 
 Presbyterian Church,” we give the following as the substance : 
 
 Article 1. The Scriptures are in every part the inspired Word of God 
 both in language and in sentiment, and are the only rule of faith and 
 practice. 
 
 Article 2. Jesus Christ is Supreme God, being one in essence with 
 the Father, and also the Son of God in respect of his natural, neces- 
 sary, and eternal relation to the Father. 
 
 Article 3. God created man in a state of perfect holiness and 'with 
 perfect ability to obey him, and entered into a covenant with him, in 
 which covenant Adam was the representative of all his natural pos- 
 terity, so that in him they were to stand or fall as he stood or fell. 
 
 Article 4. Our first parents, by breach of covenant with God, sub- 
 jected themselves to his eternal wrath and brought themselves into a 
 state of depravity wholly inclined to sin, and unable, of themselves, to 
 perform a single act of acceptable obedience to God ; that their posterity 
 are born in the same state of guilt, depravity, and inability, and so will 
 continue until delivered therefrom by the grace of our Lord Jesus 
 Christ. 
 
 Article 5. That Jesus Christ, by appointment of the Father and by 
 his own voluntary act, placed himself in the room of a definite number 
 who were chosen in him before the foundation of the world ; so that he 
 was their proper and legal surety, and, as such, in their behalf, satisfied 
 the justice of God and answered all the demands which the law had 
 against them, and thereby infallibly obtained for them eternal re- 
 demption. 
 
 Article 6. That in justification there is an imputation to the believer 
 of that righteousness, or satisfaction and obedience, which the Lord 
 Jesus Christ, as surety of his people, rendered to the law ; and it is only 
 on the ground of this imputed righteousness that his sins are pardoned 
 or his person accepted of God. 
 
 J 
 
483 
 
 DENOMINATIONS IN THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 Article 7. That the gospel in its strict and proper sense, as distin- 
 guished from the law, is a revelation of grace to sinners as such ; and 
 that it contains a free and unconditional offer and grant of salvation 
 through Christ to all who hear it, whatever may be their character or 
 condition. 
 
 Article 8. That saving faith is not merely an assent of the mind to 
 the proposition that Jesus Christ is the Saviour of sinners; but also a 
 cordial reception and appropriation of him by the sinner as his Saviour, 
 with an accompanying persuasion or assurance corresponding to the 
 degree or strength of his faith that he shall be saved by him. 
 
 Article 9. That repentance is one of the fruits of a justifying faith; 
 and, of course, cannot be regarded as a ground of the sinner’s pardon, 
 or as necessary to qualify him for coming to Christ. 
 
 Article 10. That although the moral law is of perpetual obligation, 
 and ever binds the believer as a rule of life, yet as a covenant, he is, by 
 his justification through Christ, completely and for ever set free from 
 it, and, consequently, is not required to yield obedience to it as a condi- 
 tion of life and salvation. 
 
 Article 11. That the Holy Spirit accompanying the word so acts 
 upon the soul as to quicken, regenerate, and sanctify it; and that 
 without its direct operation the soul would have no ability to perceive 
 in a saving manner the truths of God’s Word or yield to the motives 
 which it presents 
 
 Article 12. That Jesus Christ has a two-fold dominion besides that 
 which belongs to him as God. These are over the Church, of which 
 he is the living Head and Lawgiver, and over all created persons and 
 things. 
 
 Article 13. That the law of God is supreme in its authority and obli- 
 gations, and where commands of Church and State conflict we are to 
 obey God rather than man. 
 
 Article 14. That slaveholding is a violation of the law of God and 
 contrary to the letter and spirit of Christianity. 
 
 Article 15. That all associations which impose an oath of secresy or 
 an obligation to obey a code of unknown laws, are inconsistent with 
 the genius and spirit of Christianity, and church members ought not 
 to have fellowship with them. 
 
 Article 16. That the church should not extend communion in sealing 
 ordinances to those w T ho refuse adherence to her profession or subjec- 
 tion to her government and discipline, or who refuse to forsake a com- 
 munion which is inconsistent with the profession she makes; nor 
 should communion in any ordinance of worship be held under such 
 circumstances as would be inconsistent with the keeping of these ordi- 
 nances pure and entire, or so as to give countenance to any corruption 
 of the doctrines and institutions of Christ. 
 
 Article 17. That public social covenanting is a moral duty, not at 
 stated times, but upon extraordinary occasions, in times of danger to 
 the Church, in times of exposure to backsliding, and in times of re- 
 formation. Such covenant transactions bind posterity faithfully to 
 adhere to and prosecute the object for which they were entered into. 
 
BAPTISTS. 
 
 439 
 
 Article 18. That it is the will of God that the songs contained in the 
 Book of Psalms be sung in his worship, both public and private, to the 
 end of the world; and in singing God’s praise these songs should be 
 employed to the exclusion of the devotional compositions of uninspired 
 men. 
 
 The foregoing declarations cover the views of the United Presbyterian 
 Church “ in relation to certain articles of divine truth which have been 
 either denied by not a few professing Christians, or permitted to lie in 
 obscurity.” By them they did not design to displace the Confesfion of 
 Faith, but rather to direct attention to it as a document to which the 
 church had solemnly declared its adherence. 
 
 With these as its leading principles the United Church started upon 
 her career in 1858. The combined strength of the two bodies out of 
 which she was formed in that year was 54,789 communicants. On 
 coming together some of the members of both bodies dropped off, and 
 the new church may be said to have consisted of fifty thousand mem- 
 bers upon its formation. 
 
 Its progress has been reasonably rapid up to the present time. It 
 now (1871) has eight Synods, fifty-six Presbyteries, 553 ministers, 729 
 congregations, 58 mission stations, 69,805 communicants, 43,227 Sabbath 
 school scholars, 6,820 officers and teachers; contributions, Home Mis- 
 sions $25,999; Foreign Missions $40,079; Freedmen’s Missions $10,066. 
 Total contributions $812,553 ; average contributions per member $11.64. 
 The United Presbyterians are a God fearing people, strict in the educa- 
 tion of their children, and conscientious in all their dealings. They 
 have ever been earnest in the work of the Lord, in their peculiar way, 
 both at home and in the missionary fields, and in preserving simple 
 piety, and unostentatious forms of worship, their influence has been 
 for good. 
 
 PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH, U. S. (SOUTH ) 
 
 General View of the Church During the Year ending April 1 , 1870. 
 
 Synods 11 
 
 Presbyteries 55 
 
 Ministers 840 
 
 Licentiates 53 
 
 Candidates 161 
 
 Churches 1,469 
 
 Licensures 16 
 
 Ordinations 14 
 
 Installations 52 
 
 Pastoral relations dissolved 40 
 
 Churches organized 33 
 
 Churches dissolved 14 
 
 Members added on examination... 6,048 
 
 Members added on certificate 2,851 
 
 Total number of communicants 82,014 
 
 Adults baptized 1,529 
 
 Children baptized 3,555 
 
 Sabbath School Scholars 47,317 
 
 Contributed to Susteniation $19,002 
 
 Contributed to Foreign Missions... 23,209 
 
 Contributed to Education 34,209 
 
 Contributed to Publication 10,279 
 
 Contributed for Presbyterial pur- 
 poses 12,247 
 
 Contributed for Congregational 
 
 purposes- 676,432 
 
 Contributed forMiscellaneous pur- 
 poses 66,917 
 
 Whole amount contributed 872,355 
 
 Churches not reporting number of 
 members 208 
 
r 
 
 490 DENOMINATIONS IN THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 SECTION IX.— AMERICAN BAPTISTS. 
 
 Having given, in section fifth, a statement of what Baptists claim 
 respecting their existence prior to the Reformation of the sixteenth 
 century, we will not say anything here of them previous to their 
 appearance in the United States, but refer our readers to what we have 
 there said. And, as the creed of American Baptists is substantially the 
 same as that of Baptists in England and on the continent, we will not 
 repeat the statement of that creed here, but shall, in matters of doctrine 
 or practice, confine ourselves to those points alone in which the several 
 bodies of Christians coming under the description “American Bap- 
 tists” differ from each other. By the name Baptist, when not preceded 
 by any qualifying term, we mean that largely predominating class of 
 Baptists in the United States and the British Provinces who are Cal- 
 vinistic in their doctrines, and who maintain close communion. These 
 we will notice first, giving a more particular account of them, as they 
 comprise the great body of that large number of Christians in America 
 known as Baptists. 
 
 As the Baptists of America and of England and the continent have 
 “ one Lord, one faith, and one baptism,” so they are bound together by 
 strong bonds of sympathy. This is yearly strengthening. Last year 
 (1870) a delegation representing the Baptists of England, Wales, Scot- 
 land, and Ireland, visited the Baptists of America, bringing fraternal 
 greetings. The delegation consisted of Rev. Dr. Price, of Abedare, 
 Wales, Rev. Dr. Todd, pastor of the Baptist Church, Sydenham, 
 London, and Rev. Dr. R. M. Henry, pastor of the First Baptist Church, 
 Belfast, Ireland. This was not the first delegation of the kind visiting 
 America, but it contributed very greatly in awakening and strengthen- 
 ing the bonds of sympathy, and promises good results. 
 
 The name of Roger Williams must have the honor of being placed 
 Ro er Williams head of every account of the introduction of Bap- 
 
 * tists into America, and of the establishment of Baptist 
 churches. In our article on English Baptists, in alluding to the history 
 of this people in Wales, it will be remembered by our readers we re- 
 ferred to the proportionally large membership there now, and the claim 
 made by Welsh Baptists to great antiquity. The mention of Roger 
 Williams turns our thoughts again to the little mountainous Princi- 
 pality of Wales. Here Roger Williams was born in the year 1598. At 
 an early age he was sent to Oxford College, and educated through the 
 munificence of Sir Edward Coke. He was a member of the Church of 
 England, and was designed for the priesthood. But he became a 
 Puritan, and emigrated to America in 1630, settling at Salem, Massa- 
 chusetts, and was soon after called to the office of teacher in connec- 
 tion with the Rev. Mr. Skelton. He was not here long before his 
 liberal views on the question of conscience in matters of belief ren- 
 dered him obnoxious to the Puritan settlers of the colony. He con- 
 tended against religious persecution in all forms. He protested against 
 the union of church and State, which then and long after existed in 
 both Massachusetts and Connecticut. He was not then a Baptist, 
 
BAPTISTS. 
 
 491 
 
 though in advocating these views he was defending principles of which 
 Baptists had ever been the representatives. This the authorities of the 
 colony would not tolerate. He was therefore condemned for no other 
 reasons than holding those opinions which now none think of ques- 
 tioning, but all love. In the enjoyment of civil and religious liberty, 
 we think it was always so. But it was not. It cost much heroic suffer- 
 ing and noble sacrifice to obtain it for us. To none is the world more 
 indebted than to Roger Williams. They sentenced him to banishment, 
 and expelled him in 1635 from the colony. In the spring of 1636 he 
 settled in what is now the State of Rhode Island on the site where the 
 opulent city of Providence stands. Here he founded a colony, obtain- 
 ing a charter from the King. A fundamental principle of this colony 
 was, that there should be no persecution for conscience’ sake in matters 
 of religion, but that every man was to have perfect freedom to worship 
 God after his own conviction of truth and duty. It was not toleration 
 he established which implies the right to punish, but magnanimously 
 withholds it. It was perfect freedom which denies the right. This is 
 just the difference between Rhode Island Colony, and that of Lord 
 Baltimore in Maryland. The latter granted toleration, only a privilege 
 they retained power to revoke at their pleasure. The former incorpo- 
 rated religious liberty into the fundamental law of the Commonwealth. 
 It was the first time the world ever beheld such a sight. That little 
 Colony of Rhode Island was the first government that ever was based 
 upon it. The Puritans who fled from religious intolerance knew not 
 how to be tolerant. Roger Williams fled from their intolerance and 
 established a colony in which perfect freedom was guaranteed by the 
 law to all its inhabitants. 
 
 It was after he arrived in Rhode Island, but before he obtained the 
 charter, that he was baptized, though in theory he was a Baptist when 
 he was banished. 
 
 We will here introduce the testimony of the eminent American 
 Bancroft’s historian Bancroft to the character of this man, and the 
 
 Testimony, importance of that place he occupies as a contributor to 
 those free institutions now the glory and strength of our land: “In 
 the unwavering assertion of his views he never changed his position. 
 The sanctity of conscience was the great tenet which, with all its con- 
 sequences, he defended as he first trod the shores of New England, and 
 in his extreme old age was the last pulsation of his heart. It was his 
 glory to found a State upon that principle, and to stamp it upon its 
 rising institutions in characters so deep that the impress has remained 
 to the present day, and can never be erased, without the total destruc- 
 tion of his work. He was the first person in modern Christendom to 
 assert in its plenitude the doctrine of religious liberty, of conscience, 
 the equality of all before the law, and in its defence he was the har- 
 binger of Milton, and the precursor of Jeremy Taylor. His philan- 
 thropy compassed the earth. Williams would permit the persecution 
 ot no religious opinion, of no religion, leaving heresy unharmed by 
 law, and orthodoxy unprotected by penal enactments.”* 
 
 History of United States, vol. 1, chap. 9. 
 
492 DENOMINATIONS IN THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 Such was Roger Williams, the first of American Baptists. Possibly 
 a few were in the other colonies before he avowed himself one, but we 
 hear of Baptists first in connection with him. 
 
 The principles he advocated were destined to spread, and have 
 influence of exerted a mighty influence in moulding the free institu- 
 Principles. tions of our nation. All now defend religious liberty ; 
 but American Baptists claim to have been its first and stanchest 
 defenders. In England they stood alone as representatives of the right 
 of all men to worship God according to the dictates of their own con- 
 science. The-same was true of them for a time in America, though 
 soon after their appearance the Quakers became their zealous co- 
 operators in this good cause, now so triumphant, but which our fathers 
 were so slow to accept, and to give others the benefit of. Dr. Bushnell 
 says of the Pilgrim Fathers : “ They as little thought of raising a 
 separation of Church and State as of planting a new democracy.”* 
 The feeling of the Puritans of New England toward all dissent from 
 the standing order may be gathered from these lines, found, at death, 
 in the pocket of a Mr. Dudley : 
 
 “ Let men of God in court and churches watch 
 O’er such as do a toleration hatch.” 
 
 But principles live, and in due time triumph. So Baptists claim it 
 has been with them, as the representatives of liberty of conscience, and 
 the denial of the right of the civil magistrate to coerce for religious 
 dissent. What they claim has been conceded by high authority among 
 those not of them. In 1789, George Washington, who was an Episco- 
 palian, in a letter addressed to the Virginia Baptists, said : “ While the 
 Baptists have always defended the principles of religious liberty, they 
 have never violated them. They have had but one opportunity of 
 forming a system of civil government, and they so formed it as to create 
 an era in the history of civilization. In the little Baptist State of 
 Rhode Island was the experiment first attempted of leaving religion 
 wholly to herself, unprotected and unsustained by the civil arm. The 
 principles which w’ere here first planted have taken root in other lands, 
 and have borne abundant fruit. The world is coming nearer to the 
 opinions of Roger Williams; and so universally are his sentiments 
 now adopted in this country, that, like other successful philosophers, 
 he is likely himself to be lost in the blaze of his own discovery.” 
 
 The influence of their principles at this time and for years previous 
 must have been great to call forth such a testimony from “the Father 
 of his country.”f Mr. Jefferson resided in Virginia within a few miles 
 of a Baptist church. He was accustomed often to attend its service. 
 As is now often the fact, so then, when business was to be attended to 
 it was done by the church in the presence of the whole congregation. 
 The pastor one day asked Jefferson what he thought of the working of 
 the democratic form of government in the Baptist Church. He replied, 
 
 * Quoted by Dr. Belcher, History of Denom. p. 146. 
 f Wlnebrenner’s History of Denom. p. 58. 
 
BAPTISTS. 
 
 493 
 
 “ It interests me much, I consider it the only form of true democracy 
 now existing in the world, and have concluded it would be the best^ 
 form for the government of these American Colonies.”* This was 
 before the declaration of independence. Plow far the practical workings 
 of the democratic principles of Baptists as illustrated under the eye of 
 Jefferson, among the little band of Baptists worshipping within a few 
 miles of his residence, influenced his political views, we do not say. 
 But, undoubtedly, it was not inconsiderable. And through him how 
 far it aided in making the genius of our government what it is none 
 can tell. In August, 1789, a delegation of Virginia Baptists waited on 
 General Washington to express their fears that the principle of reli- 
 gious liberty was not as well guarded as it ought to be. In one month 
 after the expression of those fears by this delegation of Baptists, that 
 portion of our National Constitution was adopted which provides that 
 “ Congress shall make no law establishing articles of faith, or modes of 
 worship, or prohibiting the free exercise of religion, or abridging the 
 freedom of speech, or of the press, or the right of the people peace- 
 ably to assemble and to petition to the government for a redress of 
 grievances.”! 
 
 Thus was the principle of religious liberty stronger than all its foe3. 
 Struggling long it won its way to the favor of statesmen by its essential 
 justice. But while it made that progress the extracts we have given 
 show, yet, the emancipation of Church and State was not complete, for, 
 though the fundamental law of the land had incorporated into it the 
 provision just quoted, making it for all time illegal and impossible for 
 the general government to intermeddle with the subject of religion, in 
 favor of any denomination, yet, in New England, the Congregation- 
 alists remained by statute law the standing order, for support of which 
 all others were taxed. Nor was this odiously unjust law repealed in 
 Connecticut until 1838. In Virginia the Church of England was not 
 established by law until some years after the Revolution. While as 
 late as 1785, through the influence of Episcopalians, the legislature of 
 Georgia enacted a law on the subject of religion against which Baptists 
 protested, and in consequence of which it was repealed at the next ses- 
 sion. At length the principle triumphed in every one of the original 
 thirteen colonies, in which Church and State had been united in any 
 form, so that now the Constitutions of every State in the Union accord 
 with the Amendment to the National Constitution passed, as is be- 
 lieved, through the influence of the protest of the Virginia Baptists in 
 1789. And to-day the Republic of the United States and its daughter, 
 the Republic of Liberia, are the only two governments in the world 
 where Church and State are completely divorced, and where perfect 
 religious freedom exists. Others did nobly, especially the Quakers, but 
 Baptists claim to have been the leaders and the largest contributors. 
 The statistics, to be riven further on in our article, will show that their 
 influence in the United States to-day is very great; perhaps numeri- 
 cally greater than any other body. 
 
 * Curtis’ Progress of Baptist Principles, p. 356. 
 
 f Curtis’ History of Baptists, p. 206. 
 
 32 
 
49 1 DENOMINATIONS IN THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 This position was not easily gained. It cost the early churches and 
 
 Persecution P reacIiers much suffering. As we have seen, Roger 
 Williams was banished from Massachusetts Colony for 
 its defence, in the midst of the rigors of a New England winter, and 
 compelled to track his way across the wilderness in search of a home 
 for himself and followers on the banks of the Narragansett, seeking an 
 asylum among Pagan savages, when banished from the civilization of 
 Christian men who had themselves fled from persecution. 
 
 The law3 of Massachusetts Colony against Baptists and Quakers were 
 severe. John G. Whittier has quaintly written, 
 
 “ The Baptists felt their iron heel, 
 
 And Quakers quaked with unaccustomed zeal.” 
 
 The more their principles prevailed the more violent became the 
 punishment. The penalties inflicted were the severest the spirit of the 
 age— which had softened down as compared with previous years — would 
 allow ; banishment, whipping, fine, and imprisonment, beside being 
 taxed to support the clergy of the “Standing Order. ” For failure or 
 refusal to pay this tax, regarding it as unjust, they “ oftentimes had 
 their bodies seized upon and thrown into the common jail, as male- 
 factors, and their cattle, swine, horses, household furniture, and imple- 
 ments of husbandry, forcibly distrained from them and shamefully 
 sold, many times at not quarter of their first value.”* In 172S a law 
 was passed by the general Court relieving Baptists from this tax. But 
 it relieved their persons only, not their property. Hence it was of little 
 service, retaining and enforcing the unjust principle on which all such 
 laws rest. In Connecticut Baptist ministers were put in the stocks, 
 and afterward thrown in prison for preaching the Gospel contrary to 
 law. In Virginia Dr. Hawks, an Episcopalian, says : “ No dissenters 
 experienced for a time harsher treatment than did the Baptists. They 
 were beaten and imprisoned, and cruelty taxed its ingenuity to devise 
 new modes of punishment and annoyance.”! This spirit of persecu- 
 tion long lingered after the strength of popular feeling had bound it 
 hand and foot, and the laws it enacted remained unrepealed on the 
 statute books of the New England Colonies and of Virginia years after 
 public sentiment had made their execution impossible. 
 
 Into the details of persecution suffered in the effort to force compli- 
 ance with those iniquitous laws we are forbidden by our limits to enter, 
 though they are more numerous than our readers may at first suppose, 
 and exhibited, on the side of the persecuted, a nobleness of heroism 
 worthy of all praise, and of intolerance and cruelty and utter disregard 
 of the conscience of others, on the part of the persecutors, we are sur- 
 prised to find existing in the very morning of the day in which we 
 live. We will mention a few, however. In Virginia, on June 4, 17G8, 
 only 103 years since — men are living, no doubt, whose fathers remember 
 it: — three Baptist ministers, John Walker, Lewis Craig, and James 
 Childs, were brought before the magistrates in Spottsylvania County, 
 
 * Dr. Hovey’s Life and Times of Backus, p. 167. 
 f History of Prot. Epis. Church in Virginia, p. 161. 
 
BAPTISTS. 
 
 495 
 
 and bound over for trial as “disturbers of the peace,” cha r ged with 
 p caching the Gospel, their accusers saying they could not meet a man 
 “ without putting a text of Scripture down his throat.” 
 
 This trial has been made memorable in history because of the part 
 taken in it by the eloquent Patrick Henry, who, on hearing of their 
 arrest, rode sixty miles, that he might be present at their trial, and 
 volunteer in their defence. Seating himself in the court room, he 
 listened to the reading of the indictment. The words “ For preaching 
 the Gospel of the Son of God,” caught his ear. Rising immediately on 
 the concluding of the reading, he stretched out his hand, received the 
 paper, and then addressed the Court. He dwelt on the charge “ For 
 ; preaching the Gospel of the Son of God. 11 He asked, at the close of a 
 most eloquent appeal, “What law have they violated?” And 
 then, for the third time, in a slow, dignified manner, he lifted his eyes 
 to heaven, and waved the indictment about his head. The effect was 
 electrical. The Court and audience were at the highest pitch of excite- 
 ment. The prosecuting attorney and the witnesses against these three 
 men grew pale and trembled. The Judge shared in the excitement, 
 now becoming extremely painful, and with tremulous voice gave the 
 authoritative command, “ Sheriff , discharge those men. 11 
 
 Patrick Henry defended those men from ardent love for religious 
 liberty, and not because they were Baptists. His descendants are now 
 Baptists, and the inhabitants of the counties of Virginia where Bap- 
 tists were most harrassed and persecuted by those unj ust laws against 
 them are now almost all connected with them. Baptists have now in 
 Virginia 948 churches, and 122,120 communicants, having, it is said, 
 more members in the City of Richmond alone, than the Episcopalians, 
 once established by law, have at present in the entire State. But none 
 rejoice more than Baptists that Episcopalians and all others now enjoy 
 that perfect liberty once denied to them. 
 
 In New England their sufferings were longer in duration, because 
 commencing at an earlier period, but were much more severe. In 1649, 
 John Clark, Obadiah Holmes, and John Crandal, were arrested and 
 imprisoned in Boston, each well whipped, and fined, in the order in 
 which we have written their names, twenty, thirty, and five pounds 
 each. Judge Endicott, in sentencing them, said: “You go up and 
 down, and secretly insinuate things into those who are weak, but you 
 cannot maintain it before our ministers, you may try and dispute with 
 them.” No wonder such opinions prevailed when those who forsook 
 infant baptism were regarded as deceived by the Devil. 
 
 About this time Dr. Dunstar, President of Harvard College, an able 
 preacher, and learned in Hebrew, Greek and Latin, became a Baptist. 
 He was not only removed from his Presidency, but the feeling against 
 him in the colony was so bitter that he was compelled to go to Ply- 
 mouth Colony, where he died in 1659. But, as we have said, it is im- 
 possible to give extended details. We will, therefore, dismiss this part 
 of our history with a single additional case. In the seventeenth cen- 
 tury, Dr. Hezekiah Smith, “a godly and learned man,” of imposing 
 personal appearance and of eloquent speech, became a Baptist. He was 
 
496 
 
 DENOMINATIONS IN THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 full of zeal for the Lord and for the new principles he had embraced. A 
 few Baptists lived in Haverhill, Massachusetts. Dr. Smith visited them 
 that he might preach the word to them, and confirm their faith. The 
 authorities dreaded the possible consequences of the coming of a man 
 of so much power, whose antecedents would necessarily create a wide- 
 spread popular interest in him. They therefore took measures to pre- 
 vent his preaching in the place. Orders were accordingly issued by the 
 town authorities to that end. The order prohibiting him from preach- 
 ing, and designed to expel him from the place, was put in the hands of 
 a constable to read to Dr. Smith and urge him to depart, and certainly 
 to desist from preaching. When that worthy official was confronted 
 by the commanding presence of Dr. Smith, he was overcome with 
 amazement. He attempted to read his paper to him but utterly failed. 
 He stammered — became confused. His brain swam, and his vision 
 grew dim. Gazing at Dr. Smith, he forgot his paper, and began : “ Mr. 
 Smith, I warn — I warn — I warn— I warn you off God’s earth,” and 
 then, turning, beat a hasty and inglorious retreat, leaving Dr. Smith 
 master of the field. Dr. Smith preached often in Haverhill, and his 
 labors bear fruit to-day in the strength and influence of Baptists there. 
 
 But, thank God, those days of persecution are now passed, and we 
 will not linger among their sad stories of suffering and injustice. We 
 rejoice that we live in other days, and this glance backward serves to 
 show how great progress has been made in religious as well as civil 
 freedom. 
 
 The first Baptist Church was organized in America, in 1639, in Pro- 
 vidence, Rhode Island, though the first Baptist Church 
 
 ai y urcies. ^ Newport disputes this claim. The verdict of opinion 
 in the controversy that sprung up a few years since, on this question of 
 priority between the two churches, is, we believe, generally in favor of 
 the first church of Providence. 
 
 Of this church Roger Williams was a member. It originally con- 
 sisted of twelve members. This small body was soon increased by the 
 addition of twelve others, whether by baptism in Providence, or by 
 letter, having been members of Baptist Churches in England, we have 
 no means of knowing. It yet exists, vigorous and influential, under 
 the able ministry of Rev. Dr. S. L. Caldwell. Its present edifice was 
 erected nearly a century since and is the largest church edifice in the 
 city. It stands in the centre of an open square, surrounded by spread- 
 ing elms, the favorite shade tree of New England cities. 
 
 Other churches were soon after organized in the different colonies. 
 The First Newport, in 1644; Second Newport, in 1656; First Boston, in 
 1665; Middletown, New Jersey, in 1688; and the Piscataway and Co- 
 hansy Churches, in the same State, the former in 1688 and the latter in 
 1689 ; First Philadelphia, in 1698; Brandywine, Pa., in 1715, and First 
 Church in New York City, in 1724. Churches were organized at many 
 other points where new settlements sprung up, so that within about 
 a century after Roger Williams became a Baptist there were about sev- 
 enty-five in existence, notwithstanding the oppressive laws against 
 them. Connected with some of these early churches were laymen who 
 
 J 
 
BAPTISTS. 
 
 497 
 
 became prominent in civil positions, and, while the ministry of that 
 early day among Baptists- was not, as a whole, a well educated body, 
 they comprised some who ranked high as scholars. 
 
 Those early churches became centres of influence, and sent out, in 
 time, colonies that in a few years became rigorous churches, and these 
 again became fruitful vines. The pastors of those bodies were earnest 
 men of God, even their bitterest adversaries acknowledging them to be 
 godly and earnest men, mighty in word and deed. From these 
 churches missionaries went out into destitute settlements, and, preach- 
 ing the gospel, baptized those who believed and organized churches. 
 The record of their labors is on high, and being dead their works still 
 follow them. 
 
 From the early churches the transition of our inquiries to the growth 
 Growth natural and easy. From the planting of 
 
 the First Baptist Church of Providence, Rhode Island, 
 to this date, 1S70, 241 years have elapsed. Within the first century we 
 found about 75 churches planted under most adverse conditions. Dur- 
 ing the remaining 141 years the Baptists have grown to be, probably, the 
 first denomination, in point of numbers in the United States. This is 
 undoubtedly true, when, as we now do, we include all denominations 
 coming under the general classification of Baptists. “A little more 
 than 100 years ago, Dr. Ezra Stiles, of Newport, R. I., afterwards Presi- 
 dent of Yale College, published an estimate of the relative strength of 
 the different denominations then existing in New England, and what 
 their numbers might be in 100 years, i. e. in 1860. Pie reckoned the 
 Baptists then at one-twentieth of the Congregationalists (his own 
 people,) and estimated that they would be in about the same propor- 
 tion in 1860. But, though sanguine and mathematical, he has proven, 
 now that 1860 has come and passed, a false prophet. Baptists equal the 
 strongest if they be not the most numerous, while the relative propor- 
 tion of the Congregationalists to Baptists is as 1 to 7 when we include 
 ail who practice immersion and deny the validity of infant baptism, 
 and as 1 to when we confine ourselves to the regular Close Commu- 
 nion Calvinistic Baptists, with whom Dr. Stiles compared them in 1760. 
 
 Baptist churches are to be found in all parts of the United States and 
 Canada, while the strength of Presbyterians, Dutch Reformed and 
 Episcopalians is limited lo certain districts rather than general. At 
 present the aggregate of all coming under the general name of Baptist 
 in the United States, embraces a membership of 2,014,524, gathered in 
 24,790 churches and having 18,391 ministers. The proportion of these 
 figures belonging to the several subdivisions of Baptists will be given 
 in their proper place and relation. 
 
 Having given this general view of the history of the American Bap- 
 tists, we now proceed to give our readers some account of that largely 
 predominating body among them, usually and properly designated 
 Baptists without any qualifying term, being Calvinistic in doctrine, 
 and adhering rigidly to the practice of close communion. 
 
 Their membership is now 1,419,493, gathered into 17,745 churches, 
 Baptists havin S 10,818 ordained ministers ; like all Baptists, their 
 church government is strictly congregational, each 
 
498 
 
 DENOMINATIONS IN THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 church being a perfect community within itself, and under no amena- 
 bility to any other body or church, none having the right to legislate 
 for it, but governing itself by the will of a majority of all its members, 
 male and female. True, these churches are banded into associations, of 
 which there are 799 in the United States. To these bodies each church 
 reports its condition annually by letter, and is represented by delegates 
 in its sittings. These associations, however, are purely voluntary, and 
 have no legislative functions whatever. The most they can do is to 
 advise and recommend. They can enact nothing binding any church 
 connected with them. 
 
 This large body are close communionists. They complain of the un- 
 fairness of the representations often made of their views and practice 
 on the communion question. They, in common with all the leading 
 evangelical denominations, regard baptism as a prerequisite to commu- 
 nion. The real question at issue is baptism. Baptists say immersion 
 only is Scripture baptism ; others accept immersion, sprinkling, or 
 pouring as equally valid. The early churches we have already noticed 
 were the American parents of this body, and were close or strict in their 
 communion. Their mode of worship is identical with Congregation- 
 alists and Presbyterians, while the tone and doctrine of the preaching 
 heard in their pulpits is the same. 
 
 While there were exceptions, it is true that the majority of the early 
 Education ministers of this body were men who knew nothing of 
 the learning of the schools, not having received a clas- 
 sical training. Nor do Baptists believe it ought to be made a requi- 
 site, but that if a man feel himself called of God to preach, and is 
 either too far advanced in life, or has been educated for another pursuit, 
 the absence of a regular classical and theological education ought not 
 to be made a bar to his preaching. They, however, encourage all young 
 men to obtain the most thorough training possible, and have in most 
 of the States education societies to aid worthy but indigent young men. 
 Many men among Baptists who felt called to the work of the ministry, 
 but were without the culture of the schools, by diligent application 
 became eminent in scientific and classical knowledge, and eloquent as 
 preachers. Baptists may, therefore, be classed, both in their past and 
 in the present, among the friends of education, and when we take into 
 account their early history, and the difficulties against which they have 
 struggled, they have done much in this direction. 
 
 Brown University, located at Providence, Rhode Is 1 and, is their oldest 
 institution, having been in existence more than one hundred years, and 
 now having personal property and real estate the combined value of 
 which is near $1,000,000. But previous to the planting of this venerable 
 institution they had an academy at Hopewell, New Jersey, out of which 
 Brown University sprang. Many eminent men have been students of 
 Brown. Chief Justice Chase, Bishop Clark, Horace Man, Dr. Angel, 
 President of Michigan University, and many others are among her 
 alumni. They now have 29 colleges and universities, the aggregate 
 value of properties and endowments being $2,737,000; and aggregate 
 volumes in libraries 125,721; Brown contains 38,000. Beside Brown 
 
BAPTISTS. 
 
 499 
 
 their best known colleges are Rochester and Madison in New York, 
 Lewisburg in Pennsylvania, Chicago University in Illinois, and Water- 
 ville in Maine. The others are in flourishing condition also. 
 
 Of Theological Seminaries they have nine. Two of these are quite 
 handsomely endowed. Newton, Mass., has endowment and real estate 
 worth $400,000, and Crozier, at Upland, Delaware connty, Pa., recently 
 established, $317,000, the gift of one family, the heirs of the late John 
 P. Crozier, a prominent, wealthy and libeial Baptist, well known for 
 his abundant liberality towards the Christian Commission, and his ar- 
 dent friendship for its President, G. H. Stuart, Esq. 
 
 Their Colleges contained, in 1870, 3,455 students, and their Theo- 
 logical Seminaries, 560. Of course the latter are all preparing for the 
 ministry, while many of the former have the same vocation in contem- 
 plation. 
 
 In addition to the Colleges, Universities and Theological Seminaries 
 mentioned, they have a number of other institutions of lesser grade. 
 We must not omit, however, to mention the Vassar Woman’s College, 
 located at Poughkeepsie, New York, and founded by the princely mu- 
 nificence of Matthew Vassar, Esq., whose entire gift amounted to 
 $825,000. It had nearly 400 students in 1870. It is designed to be for 
 young ladies what Harvard, Yale and Brown are for young men. A 
 great impetus has recently been given, through the untiring energy of 
 Rev. S. S. Cutting, D. D., to the establishment of Academies in all the 
 States. Much interest i3 shown in the movement and already muni- 
 ficent donations have been made. Hon. E. Cook, of Havana, N. Y., 
 has given $150,000. 
 
 Of religious periodicals this body have 25 weeklies, 1 bi-weekly, 3 
 semi-monthlies, 6 English monthlies, three German 
 monthlies and 1 quarterly. Of the weeklies, the “ Watch- 
 man and Reflector,” of Boston, the “ Examiner and Chronicle,” of New 
 York, and the “Standard” of Chicago, have the largest circulation. 
 Next to these, in circulation, but the equal of the best, is the “Na- 
 tional Baptist, ” of Philadelphia. These four papers are conceded 
 among the best religious weeklies of the country. There are none 
 better. The Baptist Quarterly is one of the most scholarly publica- 
 tions of its kind in America. 
 
 This body have been and are now pre-eminently a missionary body. 
 
 . The origin of the Foreign Mission work among them 
 
 Missions. ° Q 0 
 
 was most providential. Rev. Adoniram Judson and 
 
 Luther Rice left this country in 1812, sent out by the Congregation- 
 alists of New England as missionaries to India. On the voyage the 
 study of the New Testament made both them and their wives Baptists, 
 and on landing at Seram pore they were all baptized by Rev. W illiani 
 Ward, an English Baptist Missionary, at that place. Rice returned 
 to lay the matter before the Baptist churches of America and urge the 
 formation of a Mission Board among them. Judson remained, but 
 God led him to Burmah. His sufferings and his work there are too 
 well known to justify recital here. Judson toiled in Burmah. Rice, 
 with trumpet tones, roused the churches here. The work has moved 
 
500 DENOMINATIONS IN THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 on gloriously. The American Baptist Missionary Union now has in 
 Asia 20 stations, 328 out stations, 319 churches and 17,426 members. In- 
 cluding those in Burmah not under immediate supervision of the 
 Board, the number of the members is about 20,000. Of the laborers 
 among these 100 are American, 48 male, 52 female and 476 natives, of 
 whom 80 are ordained ministers of the gospel. The union has mis- 
 sions in Africa and Europe as well. The total statistics for 1870 are 
 1,919 stations, 630 churches, 957 preachers and teachers, 4,600 baptized 
 last year, and 46,964 members — the whole sustained at an annual cost 
 of $210,000. 
 
 Beside the Foreign Mission they have a Home Mission Society, the 
 object of which is to send the Gospel to destitute portions of the West, 
 and now to the freedmen of the Southern States. This society is doing 
 a grand work. Its receipts in 1870 were $230,000. Beside sustaining 
 missionaries it has a building loan fund designed to aid feeble churches 
 in erecting places of worship. It is designed to increase this fund to 
 $500,000, a considerable portion of which has been secured by Rev. Dr. 
 E. E. L. Taylor, who has the matter in charge. 
 
 They have a Publication Department sustained by a separate society, 
 for the publication of Sunday school books and denominational litera- 
 ture. This society now has large assets and does a business of about 
 $350,000 annually, and is constantly increasing. 
 
 The movement in favor of missions awakened hostility at the time 
 Old School °f its inception and formation. This led to a secession 
 Baptists. 0 f a number of churches from the great body. These 
 churches are found chiefly in Delaware and Maryland, and farther 
 south, and in the Southwest. They are generally feeble, have but little 
 influence, are opposed to missions, to Sunday Schools, and to an edu- 
 cated ministry. They number, it is thought, about 60,000. But this is 
 only an approximation, as- they pay little attention to the collection of 
 their statistics. 
 
 As the Baptists of the British Provinces are in perfect accord with 
 Baptists of the the g rea t body of whom we have just given an account, 
 Bl •' t nd 1 Canada CeSa wor( * res P ec ting them is fitting at this point. The first 
 Baptist church was constituted in New Brunswick, 
 October, 1778, at Horton. Soon after churches were organized at various 
 points; and on June 23, 1800, the first Baptist Association of British 
 North America was organized in Lower Granville, Nova Scotia. Bap- 
 tists now have 567 churches, and 41,000 members. Their growth has 
 been quite rapid. They have four colleges* and publish three English, 
 and one French periodical, each weekly. They co-operate in Foreign 
 Missions with the American Baptist Missionary Union. In Nova 
 Scotia they predominate. 
 
 L 
 
BAPTISTS. 
 
 501 
 
 FREEWILL BAPTISTS. 
 
 This body of Christians, though one of the smallest of those in the 
 Origin United States coming under the general classification 
 “ Baptists,’ ’ is one of the most active in the promotion 
 of spirituality of personal religious character. 
 
 They appeared for the first time, as organized and distinctive, in the 
 year 1780. The causes leading to their separation were two. The first 
 is found in the Arminian tendencies, existing, to a limited extent, 
 among some of the early Baptist churches. It is true that, generally, 
 the early Baptist churches of this country were Calvinistic, yet, there 
 were members, and some ministers, who having belonged in England 
 to that division of Baptists called “ General ,” and who have always 
 been moderate Calvinists, and some of them Arminian, brought those 
 views with them and sought to propagate them in the churches here. 
 This would, of course, awaken opposition, and in time cause just such 
 a separation as we are now describing. The second is found in the 
 Antinomianism evidently spreading to a considerable extent about this 
 time, and which, in a quarter of a century later, caused the secession 
 of another body, heretofore alluded to, and known as Old School Bap- 
 tists, leaving the great body of Baptists, of whom we have given an 
 account, Calvinists, without falling into Antinomianism on the one 
 hand, or Arminianism on the other. Against the former, the principles 
 of the body we are now giving a sketch of were the natural and inevit- 
 able reaction. 
 
 The founder of this body was the Rev. Benjamin Randall. He was 
 an uneducated man, but of sound sense and fervent piety. He was 
 converted at New Castle, New Hampshire, under the preaching of the 
 celebrated George Whitefield, when twenty-two years of age. About 
 four years after his conversion, in 1776, he united with the Calvinistic 
 Baptist Church in Berwick. 
 
 Feeling called to preach, license was granted him by the Church to 
 “exercise liis gift,” which he did with remarkable success. Pie was 
 instrumental in the promotion of an extensive revival of religion in 
 Hover, N. H., the place of his birth, and in many other places. He 
 imbibed Arminian notions, thus dissenting from the body with which 
 he had connected himself. The Baptist Church in Berwick met, con- 
 sidered his case, and withdrew the hand of fellowship from him. 
 
 There was not a denomination in existence in America to which he 
 and his followers could naturally ally themselves. On the mode and 
 subjects of baptism they were Baptists, but Baptists were Calvinists, 
 while they were Arminians. The first church organized was at New 
 Durham, N. H. Like all new sects, terms of reproach were used in 
 describing them. They were called Randallites, General Provisioners, 
 New Lights, and Freewillers, the last of which has clung to them, and 
 which they have accepted, being known now as Freewill Baptists. 
 
 They are a unit with the great body of Baptists on the subject of 
 
 Peculiarities ^ a P^ sm an( * the question of church government, but 
 they do not accept the doctrines of Cavinism. They 
 
502 DENOMINATIONS IN THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 deny personal, unconditional election to eternal life in Christ, in con- 
 sequence of an eternal decree. Hence, they repudiate the doctrine of 
 final perseverance, as explained in harmony with the Calvinistic theory, 
 but that election is made sure by perseverance only. They differ also 
 on the subject of communion, practising what is known as “open com- 
 munion, ” and not, like the Regular Baptists, regarding immersion as 
 essential to communion. In fact, they do not regard baptism as a 
 scriptural prerequisite to the Lord’s table. In this they differ from 
 others, as much as from the great body of their Baptist brethren. 
 They have also always been unflinching opponents of slavery. For 
 this reason they had no churches in the South prior to the late rebellion. 
 Now they have missionaries at various points, and have established, on 
 a liberal basis, a school at Harper’s Ferry, Virginia. 
 
 Their early ministers were men without the advantages of a thorough 
 Schools and collegiate training, having received only such an educa- 
 Penodicals. tion as the common schools of New England afforded at 
 that time. In a few instances, a few months at an academy may have 
 supplemented this. But the cause of education has received their 
 hearty support, as they have increased in numbers, wealth, and influ- 
 ence. We have mentioned the college founded by them at Harper’s 
 Ferry. Beside, Bates’ College, in Maine, is under their control, and 
 liberally endowed by Mr. Bates, after whom it is named. At Hillsdale t 
 Michigan, they have a college largely attended. They have academies 
 at other points. Their principal periodicals are the “ Morning Star” 
 and the “ Baptist Union,” of New York. 
 
 They have not grown rapidly, and for a few years past they have 
 Numbers ^ een stationary, and by some thought to be retrograding. 
 
 At present they number 1,875 churches, 1,141 clergymen, 
 and 66,691 ministers. 
 
 CAMPBELLITE BAPTISTS, OR DISCIPLES. 
 
 The designation by which this body have chosen to be known is that 
 of disciples. They regard the title “Campbellite Baptists,” as a reproach; 
 for, though Rev. Alexander Campbell was their founder, they claim to 
 be the restorers of “Primitive Christianity,” and hence object to de- 
 nominating a church by any other designation than is found in Scripture. 
 The followers of Christ having been termed disciples, they have chosen 
 this as their appellative; sometimes, we believe, they employ the phrase 
 “ the Church of the Disciples.” They are by far the largest body (after 
 the Regular Baptists,) in America. They have had a rapid growth, aad 
 in many sections of the United States, and in parts of the British Pro- 
 vinces, they are now numerous and influential. It is common to cite 
 the growth of the Methodist Episcopal body as most surprising in its 
 rapidity, but we think it probable that a careful comparison of statistics 
 would show no less rapidity, if, indeed, not much greater, in the pro- 
 gress of the Disciples, who from a feeble origin, far/within the lifetime 
 of many now living, have become strong— in some sections almost con- 
 trolling. 
 
 j 
 
BAPTISTS. 
 
 503 
 
 The character and life of a man who possessed the mental abilities, 
 Rev. Alexander and force of character to originate, organize and estab- 
 Campbeii. lisli such a monument as this, and whose followers in a 
 few years after his death number hundreds of thousands, are worthy of 
 study. His memoir has recently been issued in two large volumes, and 
 will well repay perusal. 
 
 A brief sketch of this eminent man is all our limits allow; he was of 
 Scotcli-Presbyterian education, and parentage. His father, Rev. Thr.s. 
 Campbell, had lohg been a Minister of high standing in the “Secession ” 
 branch of the Presbyterian Church, in the North of Ireland, who, with 
 his family, emigrated to this country early in the beginning of the pre- 
 sent century. His liberal views soon rendered him the object of per- 
 secution among his Presbyterian brethren, for which reason he encoun- 
 tered much opposition. He was at one time formally arraigned before 
 an ecclesiastical tribunal of his brethren, on the charge of heresy. His 
 fundamental position, while yet in connection with the Presbyterians, 
 was, that the divisions existing among Christians w r ere caused by a 
 want of conformity to Scripture, and that the true and certain way to 
 insure such unity, was to cast aside all creeds, and follow only tho 
 teachings of the Bible. The more rigorously he advocated his peculiar 
 views, the stronger the opposition to him became, until on September 
 7th, 1810, he and his family and a considerable number of others, who 
 had imbibed his sentiments, separated from the Presbyterians, and 
 organized a church at Brush Run, in Washington County, Pennsylva- 
 nia, where a house of worship was erected. Of this church, Rev. Thos. 
 Campbell and his son, Alexander, became joint pastors. In this church 
 much devotion was manifest, and perfect concord prevailed ; at length 
 a subject of difficulty presented itself— a member raised the question 
 “Is Infant-baptism Scriptural ; ” Mr. Campbell and his son entered into 
 the discussion occasioned by this query, and having been educated in 
 its belief, undertook the defence of “Infant Baptism.” The result of 
 the investigation was, that they both, and many members of the Brush 
 Run Church, were convinced not only that Infant Baptism was with- 
 out Bible authority, but that Immersion alone was Scriptural Baptism. 
 They, at the conclusion of the investigation, were Baptists. 
 
 True to their convictions they became Baptists ; and on the 12th of 
 June, 1812, were immersed by Rev. Mr. Luce, and forming a Baptist 
 church, were admitted, in the fall of 1813, into the Redstone Baptist 
 Association. About this time Rev. Alexander Campbell comes promi- 
 nently into notice. He was educated at Glasgow University in Scot- 
 land, and was, from a student, eminent for energy of character, bril- 
 liancy of talents, and love of learning, together with a wonderful 
 ability in debate. He first attracted attention by a speech in the Red- 
 stone Baptist Association in defending the position that “no terms of 
 communion should be required other than the Holy Scriptures re- 
 quired. ” He subsequently became famous as a debater. Perhaps 
 America never saw his superior in this. He loved what he regarded 
 truth, and brought to its defence rare abilities, wide reading, and much 
 learning. A debate with Rev. J. Walker, in Mount Pleasant, Ohio, on 
 
504 
 
 DENOMINATIONS IN TEtE UNITED STATES. 
 
 the subject of baptism, raised him high in the estimation of Baptists, 
 and gave wide celebrity to his talents and knowledge for the first time. 
 Three years after he held a debate with Rev. Mr. McCalla, of the 
 Presbyterian Church, in Washington, Kentucky, which contributed 
 largely to increase his fame and extend his influence among the Bap- 
 tists. Beside these, he held other debates in the course of his remarks 
 able career. The two most prominent being those with Rev. Mr. 
 Purcell, now Archbishop of Cincinnati, Ohio, on the Romish question, 
 and with Rev. Dr. N. L. Rice, at Lexington, Kentucky, on the subject 
 of baptism. Mr. Campbell having at this time founded, and being in 
 the zenith of his leadership of that large body whose history we are 
 tracing. This was one of the most noted of his numerous encounters 
 with theological opponents, w'hile his opponent, Dr. Rice, was one of 
 the ablest disputants the Presbyterian Church in America ever pro- 
 duced. Henry Clay, the great statesman of Kentucky, presided at this 
 debate, and thousands gathered to hear it. 
 
 From the time of his union with the Baptists in 1812, and especially 
 Oi<nn s P eec h before the Redstone Association, it was evi- 
 
 dent that while lie was in his views essentially a most 
 decided Baptist, yet he w 7 as not, on some points, in full sympathy. 
 Those points he pressed. Perhaps his growing popularity, and his 
 remarkable abilities made him an object of jealousy with some, and 
 thus caused his points of dissent to be magnified beyond their true 
 value. 
 
 The chief point of dissent is on the design of baptism. The Baptists 
 
 Peculiarity rec l u i re °f all candidates for admission into their churches 
 the relation of what they term “Christian experience.” 
 That is, they require a statement in evidence of the power the truth 
 in which belief has been avowed has had upon the heart, as an indis- 
 pensable condition to baptism. The Disciples oppose this as unscriptural, 
 and refer to the confession of the Eunuch (Acts viii, 37,) as all we are to 
 demand. Like Baptists, they do not require submission to a creed as a 
 condition of membership. They, however, attribute to the act of im- 
 mersion an effect Baptists will not allow, and wffiich, in the judgment 
 of the latter, is regarded as akin, if not identical, with the ritualistic 
 theory of baptismal regeneration. We will, however^ give their pecu- 
 liar conception of the efficacy of baptism in their own language. “No 
 one is taught to expect the reception of that heavenly monitor and 
 comforter (the Holy Spirit) as a resident in his heart until he obeys the 
 Gospel. Thus, while they proclaim faith and repentance, or faith and 
 a change of heart, as preparatory to immersion, remission of sins, and 
 the gift of the Holy Spirit, they say to all penitents, or all those wffio 
 believe and repent of their sins, as Peter said to the first audience 
 addressed, after the Holy Spirit was bestowed after the glorification of 
 Jesus, ‘ Be immersed every one of you, in the name of the Lord Jesus, 
 for the remission of sins, and you shall receive the gift of the Holy 
 Spirit.’ ” 
 
 Baptism, they teach, is designed to introduce the subjects of it into the 
 participation of the blessings of the death and resurrection of Christ, 
 
BAPTISTS. 
 
 505 
 
 who died for our sins, and rose again for our justification. But it has 
 no abstract efficacy without previous faith in the blood of Christ, and 
 deep and unfeigned repentance before God ; neither immersion in water 
 nor any other action can secure to us the blessings of peace and pardon. 
 It can merit nothing ; still to the believing penitent it is the means of 
 receiving a formal, distin'ct, and specific absolution, or release from 
 guilt. Formed for a new state, by faith and repentance, the believer 
 enjoys its heavenly adaptations the moment he enters the Kingdom, 
 by being baptized in the name of Christ. The waters of Baptism, in 
 connection with the death of Jesus, afford him as great an assurance 
 of safety, as did their type, the waters of the Red Sea, to redeemed Is- 
 raelites, when they engulphed Pharaoh and his hosts. Thus we are 
 taught, that penitent believers are born the children of God by baptism ; 
 that salvation is connected with baptism when accompanied by faith, 
 that remission of sins is to be enjoyed by baptism, through the blood 
 of Christ ; that persons having previously believed and repented, wash 
 away their sins in baptism, calling on the name of the Lord ; that men 
 are saved by baptism, in connection with the renewing of the Holy 
 Spirit ; and, that the answer of a good conscience is obtained in Baptism 
 through the resurrection of Jesus Christ.* 
 
 They call Bible things by Bible names. This has led to the calumny 
 that they have been exposed to, of denying the Divinity of Jesus 
 Christ, and of the Holy Spirit. They will not use the current Theo- 
 logical technicalities' as applied to the Godhead. They repudiate 
 the terms “trinity, ” “eternal generation, ” “eternal filiation, ” “etern- 
 ally begotten,” “ co-essential and consubstantial,” and all others of a 
 like character. But they are believers in the Trinity, and with 
 the exception of their peculiar and seemingly mystical conceptions on 
 the design of baptism are orthodox. Their statements on this subject 
 are the chief cause of their denominational severance from Baptists. 
 
 Recent movements in the Western States, where they are numerous, 
 look towards their future identification with the great Baptist body. 
 Whether such a consummation be reached or not, it is certain, from the 
 account we have given of them, there are points of union, while the 
 ground of disagreement and separation is mainly on the effect of 
 Baptism — Baptists denying baptismal regeneration, and regarding all 
 statements in definition of its effects implying baptismal regeneration 
 as dangerous. 
 
 The strength of this body is found in Western Pennsylvania, in 
 Kentucky, in Virginia, and in the Western and Northwestern States. 
 They are found in the British Provinces, and hav' Missions in the 
 Holy Land; Dr. Barclay, author of the “ City of the Great King,” is 
 their Missionary at Jerusalem. They have 5,000 Churches, 45,000 
 Ministers, and 500,000 members. 
 
 Rev. A. Campbell, in the incipiency of the formation of this body, 
 Institutions and founded the Christian Harbinger. The Quarterly issued 
 
 Periodicals. a t Cincinnati, under their auspices, is one of the ablest 
 
 ^Christian Baptist. 
 
503 
 
 DENOMINATIONS IN THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 in the United States. Besides, they publish several weeklies, and minor 
 periodicals. They have a College at Bethany, Va., among the best in 
 our country, and other Institutions of minor grade, but popular, at 
 other points. The Homestead of Henry Clay, in Kentucky, is owned 
 by them. Here, they have laid the foundations of a first-class College. 
 
 BAPTISTS— MINOR DENOMINATIONS. 
 
 Under this Section we group several divisions of the Baptist family, 
 of less importance than those we have just noticed. 
 
 We begin with that body popularly known as Winebrennarians, but 
 
 Winebrenna- who call themselves “The Church of God.” They agree 
 rians. with Baptists on the mode and subjects of Baptism; 
 regarding believers as the only Scriptural subjects, and immersion as 
 the only Scriptural mode. They dissent from Regular Baptists on Cal- 
 vinism, being strongly Arminian in their doctrinal views, approach- 
 ing more nearly the Methodists than to Baptists, or to the Presbyterians. 
 They practice feet-washing generally, but not regarding it as an ordi- 
 nance in the same positive sense as Baptism, and the Lord’s Supper, 
 they do not hold it as a Church ordinance, and therefore do not regard 
 its non-observance as sufficient cause for discipline. Its general ob- 
 servance is the result of the strength of sentiment in the denomination 
 in its favor, rather than of any law. Their Church government is 
 somewhat similar to that of the Methodists, excepting that they have 
 no Bishops. They have local Elderships, and a General Eldership, 
 the latter owning and controlling all property, superintending print- 
 ing, having charge of the publication of hymn books, and all periodi- 
 cal literature. From this statement it is evident that on the subject of 
 Baptism they are Baptists, but on doctrine and Church government 
 they are Methodists. 
 
 They take their popular name from their founder, Rev. John Wine- 
 . . brennar. This divine became, in 1820, pastor of the Ger- 
 man Reformed Church in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. 
 His ministry was remarkable for the extensive revivals of religion that 
 occurred under it. These were not confined to Harrisburg, but, as he 
 preached and labored in all the region round about, they were shared 
 by numerous other German Reformed churches. During those revival 
 scenes the mind of Mr. Winebrennar underwent a radical change on 
 some important points, and his sentiments were accepted by many who 
 had been awakened under his preaching. This led to the call for a 
 convention to consider the duty of a separate organization. This con- 
 vention met at Harrisburg in October, 1830, and resulted in the forma- 
 tion of “ The Church of God,” agreeing on the great subject of salvation 
 through Christ, with all evangelical Christians, and holding those 
 peculiar views we have stated. They are numerous in parts of Penn- 
 sylvania, in Ohio, in Indiana, and are found in Illinois, Michigan, 
 Iowa, Missouri, and the Territories. They have one eldership in 
 
BAPTISTS. 
 
 507 
 
 Texas. They have in all 350 churches, about the same number of 
 preachers and Sunday schools, and a membership of 35,000. They have 
 a Board of Publication located at Harrisburg, and issue the “ Church 
 Advocate,” circulation 4,000, and “ Sunday School Gem,” circulation 
 10,000. They have no churches in the Eastern States, and none in the 
 British Provinces.* 
 
 This bbdy derive their popular name, Dunkards, from the German 
 word Tunker , which signifies Tumbler, in allusion to dunkards 
 their peculiar form of baptism. They have the candi- 
 date, when in the water, go upon his knees, and then immerse him by 
 pushing him forwards, and thus under the water. This they repeat 
 three times. Hence, they are called trine-immersionists. They ap- 
 peared in Germany about the close of the sixteenth century. A few 
 are still found there, the lineal descendants of those fathers. Many 
 emigrated to America between 1718 and 1730, and subsequently many 
 others arrived. They settled chiefly in Pennsylvania, Maryland, and 
 Virginia, and are now found in the older Western States, especially 
 Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois. They are a quiet, peaceable, industrious, 
 pious people. They are remarkably simple in their habits, plain in 
 dress, and spiritual in their worship. They are generally wealthy, 
 kind to the poor of their own number, and have ever been decided in 
 their testimony against slavery. They regard the term Dunkard as a 
 reproach, and call themselves German Baptists. They publish no very 
 definite statistics, but, from the most reliable information we can 
 gather, we judge their number about 10,000, mostly in Pennsylvania. 
 
 The description of the Regular Baptists is a description of the tenets 
 of the Sabbatarian Baptists, except on a single point. Si ° r 
 The Sabbath day. They dissent from the body, and Baptists. y 
 from all Christians, in continuing the observance of the Jewish Sabbath. 
 They appeared in E ngland soon after the Reformation. They appeared 
 in this country first in 1665, organizing a Church at Newport, Rhode 
 Island, other Churches were soon after organized in that State, and in 
 New York and New Jersey, several of which still exist. They have 
 Churches in Virginia, and Ohio, and perhaps a single Church in each 
 of a few other Western States. They are generally a people of ardent 
 piety, and of deep devotion. They have several Missionaries in China, 
 and at other points. They have 75 Churches, 82 Ministers, 7,336 mem- 
 bers, one weekly periodical; “The Sabbath Recorder,” and two Aca- 
 demical Institutions, one in New Jersey and another in New York. 
 
 There is a fragmentary body of Baptists, now nearly extinct, called 
 Six Principle Baptists. They hold to the six principles six Principle 
 Paul lays down in Hebrews vi, 1. They once had some Baptists, 
 influence in Rhode Island, and perhaps churches at other points, but 
 in 1845 they had but 19 churches, 14 ministers, and 3,000 members. 
 Since then they have been gradually declining, and now make no 
 report of statistics, though having a few churches. 
 
 * I am indebted to Rev. C. H. Forney, Harrisburg, Pa., for statistics, &c. 
 
1 
 
 508 DENOMINATIONS IN THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 PROTESTANT EPISCOPAL CHURCH. 
 
 ITS COLONIAL CONDITION. 
 
 The Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States is the daughter 
 of the Church of England. She retains, in substance, the articles of 
 faith and the ritual of the mother Church. 
 
 The members of the Church of England in the Colonies were com- 
 paratively few. The nothern Colonies had been established by Puri- 
 tans, in order to escape from the persecutions and disabilities to which 
 they were subjected in the mother country. But they did not learn 
 from their sufferings the lesson of toleration. They retaliated upon the 
 members of the Church of England, and upon all other dissentients 
 from “ the common order,” the persecutions to which they themselves 
 had been subjected.* In Maryland, Virginia, and the Carolinas, the 
 number of adherents to the Church of England was more numerous ; 
 and in those Colonies it was protected and fostered by the Governors 
 and the laws of the local Legislatures.! Yet even in these southern 
 Colonies the Episcopalians were outnumbered by members of other 
 denominations. When the Revolutionary War began there were not 
 more than eighty parochial clergynlen to the north and east of Mary- 
 land. In Connecticut the Episcopal Church received an impulse, in 
 the early part of the eighteenth century (1722-27), from the accession to 
 its ranks of several eminent Presbyterian clergymen — some of them 
 members of the faculty of Yale College — and soon became “rooted ” in 
 that State “amid storms and persecutions.”! The larger part of the 
 clergy were supported by the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel 
 in Foreign Parts. In the cities of Boston, Newport, New York, and 
 Philadelphia alone, were the Episcopalians able to support their clergy- 
 men without assistance from this society. 
 
 The Church of England in the Colonies labored under many disad- 
 vantages. In the absence of bishops, its ministry could be replenished 
 only by emigration from the mother Church of England, or by a double 
 voyage of candidates across the Atlantic. The same cause naturally 
 led to a relaxation of discipline. Although many of the clergy in the 
 Colonies were exemplary and devoted men, yet the condition of things, 
 in those distant dependencies, was such as to open a refuge there for 
 clergymen of doubtful reputation and antecedents in the Church of 
 England. The evils resulting from this state of things led to early, 
 but unsuccessful, attempts to secure the introduction of bishops into 
 the American Colonies. 
 
 “ Letters and memorials, says Bishop Wilberforce, “from the Colo- 
 nies supply, for a whole century, a connected chain of expostulations ; 
 yet still the mother country was deaf to their entreaties. At home 
 they were re-echoed from many quarters. Successive Archbishops 
 
 * The American Church and American Union, Henry Caswell, p. 35. Beardsley’s 
 History of the Church in Connecticut, pp. 14, 59. Colt’s Puritanism, p. 177. 
 
 t Bishop White’s Memoirs of the Church, p, 18. 
 
 t Beardsley’s History, p. 32-60. 
 
 2 History of the American Church. 
 
PROTESTANT EPISCOPAL CHURCH. 
 
 509 
 
 pressed them on successive administrations; and the Society for the 
 Propagation of the Gospel during almost every year made some effort 
 in the same cause. The records of these memorials show how earnestly 
 and with what strength of argument it pressed this great cause upon 
 the notice of the government.” 
 
 The Episcopal oversight of the Colonies was committed to the Bishop 
 of London. Commissaries of the Bishop, who were charged by him 
 with authority to enforce the discipline of the Church, were appointed 
 for Virginia, Maryland, New York, and South Carolina.* But the 
 effort on the part of the clergy of the Colonies to secure the Episcopacy 
 not only encountered the indifference of the mother Church, but was 
 also met by violent resistance on the part of the other denominations. 
 They declared that Bishops from England would come into the Colonies 
 possessed of all the prerogatives which they enjoyed at home, and 
 would thus bring other churches under Episcopal jurisdiction, and 
 subject them to the action of ecclesiastical courts. “ What would have 
 been the event,” says Bishop White, “ in this respect, had the Epis- 
 copal clergy succeeded in their desires, is a problem which it will be 
 for ever impossible to solve. In regard to the motives of the parties in 
 the dispute, there are circumstances which charity may apply to the 
 most favorable interpretation. As the Episcopal clergy disclaimed the 
 designs and expectations of which they were accused, and as the same 
 was done by their advocates on the other side of the water, particularly 
 by the principal of them, the great and good Archbishop Seeker, they 
 ought to be supposed to have had in view an Episcopacy purely reli- 
 gious. On the other hand, as their opponents laid aside their resistance 
 to the religious part of it, as soon as American independence had done 
 away all political danger, if it before existed, it ought to be believed 
 that in their former professed apprehensions they were sincere.”! 
 
 ORGANIZATION OF THE CHURCH AFTER THE REVOLUTION. 
 
 The Episcopal Churches in the American Colonies established, as we 
 have seen, by the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign 
 Parts, and placed under the jurisdiction of the Bishop of London, were 
 called collectively “the Church of England in America.” When the 
 Colonies became independent, the Episcopal Churches became, of 
 necessity, severed from all connection with the Church of England. 
 Their organic union with it was dissolved, but their essential unity in 
 the ministry, creeds, liturgy, and articles was maintained . X 
 
 The position of the several Episcopal congregations toward each other 
 was peculiar. They were not united in any organization. Each parish 
 stood alone. All the congregations dropped off from the authority 
 which had hitherto united them, and each congregation became, for a 
 time, an independent church. But it was the recognized principle of 
 them all that they should be united not only in faith and worship but 
 also in ecclesiastical union in one body. Providentially left as separate 
 
 * American Church and Union, p. 64. 
 f Bishop White’s Memoirs, p. 19. 
 t Hawk’s Constitution and Canons, p. 5-8. 
 
 33 
 
510 
 
 DENOMINATIONS IN THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 churches, it was their duty and desire, on Gospel principles, and in 
 accordance with primitive usage, as they believed, and on the ground 
 of their own historical derivation, to be united as one National Church 
 in several Dioceses under the Episcopate. 
 
 The existence of separate States in a Federal Union, furnished a pro- 
 vidential provision for realizing the theory of the Episcopal Church, 
 viz. ; that of a National Church consisting of separate dioceses united 
 in one representative body. The proper mode of proceeding, in order 
 to carry out this theoiy, was obvious, and was immediately adopted. 
 The several congregations in each State met and adopted a constitution 
 and canons which made them separate and independent dioceses in 
 each State. This was the first step toward the union of all the churches 
 in the United States in one organization. 
 
 At the close of the Revolution the Episcopal Church was in an ex- 
 ceedingly feeble state. Most of its clergy in the Northern States had 
 adhered to the parent government, and had fled to England, or to other 
 Colonies, on the breaking out of the war. Those who remained and 
 refused to omit the prayers for the King, or to pray for Congress, were 
 treated with much violence. In many of the northern Colonies not 
 one church remained open ; and in Pennsylvania only the one church, 
 of which Dr. White (subsequently Bishop White,) was rector, was left 
 undisturbed.* In Virginia the loyal clergy were ejected from their 
 livings. The consequence of this state of things was that when peace 
 was proclaimed in 1783. the Episcopal Church was found to have been 
 almost destroyed. Virginia had entered in the war with one hundred 
 and sixty-four churches and chapels, and ninety-one clergymen spread 
 through her sixty one counties. At the close of the war ninety-five 
 parishes had become extinct, and of the ninety-one clergymen only 
 twenty-eight remained.! The churches had been desolated by the 
 war, and the character of many of the clergy was worldly, and religion 
 at a low ebb among the congregations. A similar state of things 
 existed in Maryland. But twenty of the clergy remained there, and 
 the parishes had suffered in an equal proportion with those of Virginia. 
 In North and South Carolina the Church was, if possible, in a still 
 worse condition. It was also exceedingly unpopular with the people, 
 in consequence of having been more largely than other churches iden- 
 tified with the Tory cause. 
 
 The first step toward the union of all the churches of the United 
 States in one body was taken at a meeting of a few clergymen from 
 New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania, at Brunswick, New Jersey, 
 on the 13th and 14th of May, 1784. They had assembled for the purpose 
 of reviving a society, formerly existing in the Colonies, for the support 
 of the widows and children of deceased clergymen. A meeting was 
 appointed to be held in October, to confer upon some general principles 
 of union.! 
 
 * Bishop Wilberforce, p. 175. 
 
 t Dr. Hawks’ History of the Church in Virginia, p. 154. 
 t General Convention, with Notes, &c., Hawks & Perry, 377 et seq. 
 
PROTESTANT EPISCOPAL CHURCH. 
 
 511 
 
 The meeting was accordingly held in October of the same year. It 
 consisted of fifteen clergymen and eleven laymen from New York, New 
 Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, and Virginia. The general 
 principles which they agreed should be the basis of the union were as 
 follows : The continuance of the three orders of the ministry — the use 
 o : the Book of Common Prayer— the establishment of a representative 
 body of the church, consisting of the clergy and laity, who should vote 
 in separate orders. They recommended to the churches to send clerical 
 and lay deputies to a meeting to be held in Philadelphia, on the 27tli of 
 September, 1785. 
 
 A delegate from Connecticut attended this convention, but took no 
 part in its proceedings. The clergy of Connecticut refused to unite in 
 the general organization, until they should have a Bishop at their head. 
 As soon as peace had made it possible (March, 1783,) the clergy had met 
 in convention and elected Dr. Samuel Seabury, of Staten Island, to be 
 their Bishop. Dr. Seabury had sailed for England to obtain consecra- 
 tion there, before the British troops had evacuated New York. He 
 made application for consecration to the Archbishop of York — the see 
 of Canterbury being then vacant — but the Archbishop could not conse- 
 crate a citizen of the United States without a special Act of Parliament. 
 Hence Dr. Seabury had recourse to the Scottish bishops, who were not 
 connected with the State, and who could, therefore, if they were so. dis- 
 posed, consecrate a Bishop for the United States. The application of 
 Dr. Seabury was readily granted ; and he was consecrated at Aberdeen 
 by Bishop Kilgour, of Aberdeen, Bishop Petre, of Boss, and Bishop 
 Skinner, of Moray. 
 
 The first General Convention of the Protestant Episcopal Church, 
 agreeably to the suggestion made in the meeting in Philadelphia in 
 October, 1784, was assembled on the 27th of September, 1785, in Phila- 
 delphia. It was composed of clerical and lay deputies from seven of 
 the thirteen States of the Union, viz. : New York, New Jersey, Penn- 
 sylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, and South Carolina. They 
 made such changes in the Prayer Book as were necessary to accommo- 
 date it to changes in the State. A general Constitution was proposed; mea- 
 sures were taken to obtain the Episcopacy ; changes in the Prayer Book 
 and Articles were proposed and published in a volume called “ the Pro- 
 posed Book.” It remained to be seen whether the Episcopacy could be 
 obtained from England, and whether the union would be ratified, and the 
 constitution adopted in a subsequent convention. A committee was ap- 
 pointed with power to re-assemble the convention at Philadelphia. 
 
 In this Convention of 1785 there were some decided differences of 
 opinion, and some warm discussions as to the terms of union. Three 
 distinct parties were developed in the course of the debate upon the 
 terms of union. (1.) The Southern States, and particularly South 
 Carolina, would have greatly restrained the power of bishops ; made 
 them subject to their own conventions ; refused them the privilege of 
 presiding, ex officio, in the convention ; and would have distinguished 
 them from presbyters only by the prerogatives of ordaining and con- 
 firming. (2.) The Eastern States, under the lead and influence of Con- 
 
DENOMINATIONS IN THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 512 
 
 necticut, would have given to bishops all spiritual government; the 
 presidency, ex officio, of conventions ; the exclusion of the laity from 
 all agency in the legislation and government of the church ; and an 
 unqualified veto upon the enactments of their conventions. (3.) Dr. 
 White and the other representatives of the Middle States would have 
 given the presidency of the conventions, ex officio, to the bishops, and 
 admitted the laity to a co-ordinate rank in legislation and government. 
 Similar differences appeared in the proposed revision of the Prayer 
 Book. The deputies from Virginia proposed that the first four petitions 
 of the Litany should be omitted, and objected to the rubric which 
 allowed ministers, at their own discretion, to expel notorious evil livers 
 from the communion. On the other hand, deputies from the Eastern 
 States would have restored to the communion service those portions of the 
 office of Edward VI, which had been omitted in the English, but re- 
 tained in the Scotch Liturgy, and which were regarded as attributing 
 higher honor and efficacy to the sacrament. These differences, how- 
 ever, were either harmonized or adjourned. The presidency, ex officio, 
 of the Bishop in the convention remained undetermined; but it was 
 conceded in practice and afterwards adopted as law. The preparation 
 of the Proposed Book, and its submission to the dioceses, saved it from 
 many direct proposals of alterations which might have been warmly 
 pressed and obstinately resisted. 
 
 The outlines of the Constitution, as finally agreed upon, were as 
 follows : There shall be a triennial convention, consisting of a deputa- 
 tion from each diocese of not more than four clergymen and four lay- 
 men ; they shall vote by dioceses, each order having a negative on the 
 other ; when there shall be a Bishop in the State he shall be ex officio a 
 member of the convention ; the different orders of the clergy shall be 
 accountable only to the ecclesiastical authority of their own dioceses ; 
 previous to ordination there shall be a declaration of belief in the Ploly 
 Scriptures and conformity to the doctrines and worship of the Church. 
 
 There was more harmony in the convention as to the measures to be 
 taken to secure the Episcopate. Bishop Seabury, indeed, and his clergy 
 declined to attend the convention because they apprehended that it 
 would (as it did) sanction the representation of the laity, and refuse the 
 veto to the Bishop on the proceedings of his diocesan convention. The 
 convention appointed a committee to correspond with the Archbishops 
 and Bishops of the Church of England, with a view to obtain the 
 Episcopate. The convention then adjourned to meet in Philadelphia 
 on the 20th of June of the following year. 
 
 The address of the committee to the English prelates was forwarded 
 to John Adams, then the American Minister in England, with the 
 request that he should present it to the Archbishop of Canterbury. 
 The Governors of New York, Maryland, Pennsylvania, and Virginia, 
 for which States it was contemplated that Bishops should be conse- 
 crated, also sent certificates testifying to and approving the acts of the 
 convention, and enforcing its application. In the spring of 1786, the 
 committee received an answer signed by two Archbishcps, and eighteen 
 of the twenty Bishops of England. It was courteous in its tone, and 
 
PROTESTANT EPISCOPAL CHURCII. 
 
 513 
 
 expressed a desire to comply with the request, but delayed compliance 
 until they could be advised of the alterations which were to be made in 
 the Prayer Book. The General Convention held in June, 1786, and the 
 subsequent one which met in Wilmington in October, made such satis- 
 factory representations to the English Bishops that all obstacles to the 
 consecration of the American Bishops were removed. Accordingly, 
 Dr. White, of Pennsylvania, and Dr. Prevost, of New York, sailed to 
 England; and were consecrated in the Chapel of Lambeth Palace on 
 Sunday, February 4, 1787, by the two Archbishops and the Bishops of 
 Bath and W ells, and Peterborough. In the Convention of 1789, in Phila- 
 delphia, after the provision for the power, on the part o£ the House of 
 Bishops, of originating acts and of a negative on the proceedings of the 
 lower house, Bishop Seabury and the clergy of Connecticut and Massa- 
 chusetts took their seats in the convention. The Prayer Book received 
 certain modifications — some of which had long been desired by many 
 eminent bishops and divines in the English Church — and thus the * 
 Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States was finally estab- 
 lished with the Constitution, Ritual, and Discipline which it has since, 
 with a few unimportant modifications, retained. 
 
 SUBSEQUENT HISTORY AND PRESENT CONDITION OP THE CHURCH. 
 
 Since the final settlement of the Episcopal Church in the United 
 States it has made rapid progress. At that period there were but three 
 bishops, and the number of the clergy was less than two hundred. In 
 the present year (1871) there are fifty-two bishops, and nearly three 
 thousand clergymen. The number of communicants is upwards of two 
 hundred thousand; and the reported contributions for the year (which 
 are always much less than the actual contributions,) fell but little short 
 of five millions of dollars. The number of dioceses and missionary 
 jurisdictions in the United States is forty-five. There are also three 
 foreign missionary fields — Africa, China, and Japan — with their re- 
 spective bishops ; and also a Greek mission at Athens, a mission at 
 Ilayti, and parishes at Paris and at Rome, which are under the juris- 
 diction of the Presiding Bishop. 
 
 In accordance with the provisions of the Constitution, a General 
 Convention has been regularly held every three years, and a few special 
 conventions, which are also provided for in cases of emergency, have 
 also been convened. Until within the last thirty years the Church 
 pursued an even tenor; and the controversies and doctrinal differences 
 which arose among its ministers and members were not such as greatly 
 to disturb its peace and progress. In the Northern (States its increase 
 was steady and rapid. But in the South it still continued feeble. In 
 the General Convention of 1811 the Church of Maryland w T as reported 
 as “still in a deplorable condition,” and the Church in Virginia was 
 declared to be “ in danger of her total ruin.” In the next General Con- 
 vention of 1814 the same representations, with regard to the Southern 
 dioceses, are repeated. In Delaware the condition was “ truly distress- 
 ing, and the prospect gloomy.” In Maryland the Church still con- 
 tinued “in a state of depression;” in many places “ her ministers had 
 
514 
 
 DENOMINATIONS IN THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 thrown off their sacred profession,” “ her liturgy was either contemne d 
 or unknown,” and “ her sanctuaries desolate.” From the reports made 
 in the convention in 1S20 the Church appears to have received a i ew 
 impulse. A theological school, subsequently transferred to New York, 
 had been established at New Haven, and a General Missionary Socie t y 
 organized. “The Church was now rapidly extending on every side, 
 and the clergy lists record over three hundred names.” 
 
 In the Convention of 1829 seventeen dioceses were represented by 
 forty -seven clerical deputies, and thirty-seven lay deputies, from fifte< n 
 dioceses, and by nine bishops. Thirteen bishops, fifty-one clerical and 
 thirty -eight 3>ay deputies made up the Convention of 1832, which con- 
 vened in New York on the 17th of October. The Convention of 1835 
 was one of the most important that was ever held ; and was a turning 
 point in the policy, and a starting point for an accelerated progress of 
 the Church. Fourteen bishops and one hundred and twenty deputies, 
 sixty-nine clerical and fifty-one lay, representing twenty-one dioceses, 
 composed the convention. Illinois, with the Rt. Rev. Philander 
 Chase, was received into union. The Constitution of the Board of Mis- 
 sions was established, making every baptized member of the church a 
 member of the missionary organization. Provision was made for 
 Missionary Bishops, and for the divisions of dioceses. The Canons 
 were revised and reported in one body. Arrangements were made for 
 securing historical documents of the churches, and the Rev. I>r. Hawks 
 was appointed their conservator. 
 
 From this period the progress of the Church was much more rapid 
 than before. Under the zealous and Apostolic labors of Bishops 
 Moore and Meade, the Church in the diocese of Virginia revived, and 
 became one of the most prosperous in the union. In Maryland, also, 
 and in North and South Carolina a similar revival of spiritual life and 
 of missionary zeal was awakened. 
 
 “ The Convention of 1844 met in Philadelphia. Twenty-four bishops, 
 ninety-three clerical and eighty-four lay deputies were in session for 
 eighteen days. In the words of the late Bishop of Maine (Bp. Burgess) : 
 “The recent resignation and suspension of one bishop, (Ben. T. Onder- 
 donk, of N. Y.,) the overhanging rumor that foreboded the trial and 
 suspension of another, (Henry U. Underdonk, of Penn.,) the personal 
 discussion which arose out of the election to the Episcopate of Mis- 
 souri;* the effort to procure a declaration against the doctrine of the 
 Oxford Tracts ; the consecration of Bishops Chase, of New Hampshire, 
 Cobbs and Hawks, f the nomination of the missionary bishops, Free- 
 man, Southgate and Boone; the renewed but unsuccessful efforts to 
 require a longer delay before the ordination of ministers from other 
 denominations ; the inquiry into the state of the General Theological 
 Seminary ; and the adoption, not without controversy, of the principle 
 
 •Of the Rev. Dr. Hawks, oi'New York, whose election was negatived by the House 
 on account of the pecuniary embarrassments in which he had been involved in the 
 management of a school at Flushing, 
 f Rev. Cicero Hawks, Bishop of Missouri. 
 
PROTESTANT EPISCOPAL CHURCH. 
 
 515 
 
 of an unlearned Diaconate in certain cases ; all concurred to make thi3 
 the busiest and most exciting of all our General Conventions.”* 
 
 The Convention of 1853 was memorable for the memorial presented 
 by the Rev. Dr. Muhlenberg and other prominent divines, in favor of 
 Liturgical relaxation and Church comprehension. It resulted in the 
 appointment of a commission having the consideration of these sub- 
 jects committed to them. Notwithstanding the earnest desire of some 
 of the most eminent of the bishops and clergy for the promotion of 
 this object, nothing further was effected than the development of flie 
 fact that some of the first minds of the Church anxiously desired larger 
 liberty in the use of the Liturgy, and more flexibility in all the agencies 
 for Church extension. A record of the feelings and views of those 
 who favored this movement is contained in the “Memorial Papers,” 
 edited by the late Bishop Potter, of Pennsylvania. 
 
 The Convention of 1862 met in New York in troublous times. No 
 bishops or delegates, of course, appeared from the seceded States. The 
 introduction of resolutions having reference to the disturbed state of 
 the country, occasioned lengthy debate, and absorbed a large part of 
 the session. One portion of the Convention desired that an emphatic 
 testimony should be given to the sin of rebellion, and to the duty of 
 supporting the government in putting it down ; and another portion 
 were anxious that the Convention should limit its action to strictly 
 ecclesiastical and religious questions ; and thus interpose no obstacles 
 to the subsequent reunion of the separated dioceses. This reunion in 
 fact took place in the next Convention of 1865. The Churches in the 
 seceded States had become formally separated by their independent 
 action during the civil war, in organizing a Council, framing a Consti- 
 tution and Canons, and proceeding to the consecration of a Bishop, 
 with an express disavowal of the' authority of the General Constitution 
 of the Church. But a reconciliation was effected ; and the Bishop of 
 Alabama, who had been consecrated during this period, was received 
 into the Episcopate of the Church of the United States, by signing an 
 equivalent to the promise of conformity taken by the other Bishops at 
 their consecration. 
 
 The organization of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the United 
 States is singularly analogous to that of our Republic. There is noth- 
 ing which belongs essentially to Scriptural Episcopacy which is ad- 
 verse to, or inconsistent with civil freedom. The prevalent impression 
 that the system of the Church, as contained in her Constitution and 
 Articles, is priestly and monarchical; that the laity are more excluded 
 than those of other churches from participating in its government ; 
 and that Bishops wield a vast, undefined, irresponsible authority, is an 
 entire misapprehension. That such claims are sometimes urged in 
 its behalf, is unfortunately too true ; but they are wholly unsupported 
 by the laws and standards of the Church. Our entire Church scheme 
 is singularly analogous to our State and National governments. It is 
 essentially republican. It is democratic and representative. The doc- 
 
 * Perry’s Churchman’s Year Book for 1870. 
 
 
516 
 
 DENOMINATIONS IN THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 trine that the Bishop is, by Divine appointment, the chief officer and 
 ruler of the Church, does not, in the least degree, interfere with the 
 establishment of a representative system, which shall not diminish or 
 take away those powers, but shall define and regulate their exercise by 
 law, and shall secure to all other orders and degrees of men in the 
 Church, the maintenance of their own liberties and rights, as set forth 
 in the Word of God. 
 
 Let us make good our assertion that the Episcopal Church organiza- 
 tion is eminently republican and free. 
 
 Begin with the parish. Every regular member of a parish is a voter 
 for the Vestry, which administers the affairs of the parish. This is 
 analogous to town and district elections, of civil officers to administer 
 civil affairs. 
 
 The Vestry, thus elected, select a clergyman, fix his salary, and 
 manage all the temporalities of the Church. No Bishop, convention, 
 or other power, can prescribe whom they shall elect, what salary they 
 shall give, or how they shall manage their affairs. These Church ves- 
 trymen are analogous to the select men and Common Councilmen of 
 our towns and cities. 
 
 At an annual meeting of the Vestry lay delegates are appointed to a 
 Diocesan Convention, in which the clergy and laity have an equal 
 voice, and which legislates for the Church in the diocese. A diocese 
 bears the same relation to the Church at large as a fitate bears to the 
 United States; a Diocesan Constitution has the same relation to the 
 General Constitution as a State Constitution has to that of the United 
 States ; a Diocesan Convention stands to the General Convention as 
 State legislatures do to Congress. 
 
 Again — the General Convention is composed of two houses — the 
 House of Bishops and the House of Clerical and Lay Deputies — each 
 house having a veto on the other ; just as Congress is composed of a 
 Senate and a House of Representatives, which have each the same, 
 power of negative. Both legislate under a Constitution of granted, 
 specified, limited powers, which neither may transcend. 
 
 Let us look at some other features of our system, with more special 
 reference to the supposed power of bishops. A young man wishes to 
 become a minister. The Bishop cannot, of his own will, authorize 
 him to become so. The young man cannot even become a candidate 
 for orders until he receives the testimony of some of his fellow par- 
 ishioners, that by their judgment he is fit, by his character and 
 talents, to enter the ministry. 
 
 Let us look at the administration of a Diocese by the Bishop. He 
 does not administer its affairs alone. A standing committee is ap- 
 pointed by the diocese, consisting usually equally of clergymen and 
 laymen, without whose sanction he cannot admit a candidate for the 
 ministry ; cannot ordain him ; cannot discipline or punish him. In 
 short, he can perform no governmental act without the assent of this 
 committee, and then only according to written law — law made not by 
 his order, but by all the orders .in the Church. 
 
 Let us look at the condition of laymen in the Church. The clergy- 
 
PROTESTANT EPISCOPAL CHURCH, 
 
 517 
 
 man can administer discipline over them only in accordance with the 
 specifications of the rubrics and canons ; and when it is exercised an 
 appeal to the Bishop is always in their power. The clergyman cannot 
 say to the layman: “ I do not believe you are a true Christian, and 
 therefore I suspend you from the communion of the Church.” He 
 must proceed on something done, and that something must be specified 
 in the laws. 
 
 Again, let us look at the power of the Bishop, by some supposed to 
 be so formidable and despotic. What is it? How did the Bishop re- 
 ceive — how does he hold — how can he exercise his office ? 
 
 He became a Bishop by the election of a majority of the clergy and 
 laity of the diocese, and by the sanction of a majority of the bishops 
 and standing committees of the Church. His powers are all defined 
 by law. He only can confirm or ordain ; but he can do either only as 
 the law directs. He presides in the conventions, and administers the 
 affairs of the diocese, but only as the law provides and the standing 
 committee sanctions. He can do nothing of his mere will ; he cannot 
 reverse the action of his conventions ; he cannot censure or discipline 
 a clergyman, but upon trial and condemnation by his peers; he can- 
 not come into a parish and set aside the clergyman except upon occa- 
 sions of visitation, prescribed by canons. From these facts it appears 
 that the power of a Bishop in the Church can become exhorbitant, 
 only when the clergy and laity choose to surrender their well guarded 
 rights. It appears also from the history of the Episcopal Church in 
 the United States, that its alliance, in the past, with monarchy, and 
 its tendency to support arbitrary power, was an accident of its position, 
 the consequence, in large part, of its union with the State, and not the 
 necessary result of its own organization. 
 
 The doctrines of the Church are found systematically stated in the 
 creeds and the XXXIX Articles of the Church. The articles are, 
 many of them, taken from the Augsburgh Confession ; and in them 
 the great doctrines of the Trinity, the Atonement, and of justification 
 by faith alone, are emphatically presented. 
 
 The Liturgy of the Church is substantially the same as that of the 
 Church of England. The changes that have been made in it have 
 been such as to prevent repetitions, to shorten the service, and to re- 
 move some obsolete and some doctrinaHy objectionable phraseology, 
 which many of the most eminent divines in the Church of England 
 have desired to see removed. 
 
 Different parties and schools of theology have existed in the Episco- 
 pal Church in the United States, as in the Church of England. Until 
 the publication of the Oxford tracts in this country, about thirty years 
 ago, there had been two parties, designated respectively high and low 
 Churchmen, whose divergence had increased from the period of the 
 consecration of Bishop Hobart, of New York, (1811,) who was an 
 earnest champion of the exclusive and Jure divino right of the Episco- 
 pacy. The great leaders of these parties respectively in the earlier 
 periods were Bishops White and Griswold, and Bishops Hobart and 
 Bavenscroft; and in a later period the two Bishops Onderdonk, of 
 
518 
 
 DENOMINATIONS IN THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 New York and Pennsylvania; and Bishop Mead, of Virginia, and 
 Bishop" Mcllvaine, of Ohio. The former school contended for the ex- 
 clusive validity of Episcopal orders, exacted strict compliance with the 
 rubrics, and the exclusive use of the Liturgy on all occasions, dis- 
 countenanced meetings for social and extempore prayer, presented the 
 church and the fathers as the authoritative interpreters of scripture, 
 exalted the sacraments as channels of grace, rested salvation equally 
 upon faith and works, and declined union with the ministers of other 
 evangelical denominations in worship and in work. The latter school 
 for the most part admitted that Episcopacy was of Apostolic insti- 
 tution, under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, and that it was necessary 
 to the perfection, but not to the being of the Church. They admitted 
 the obligation to use the Liturgy alone as prescribed, in the public 
 services upon Sundays and Holy Days; but claimed the liberty of 
 extempore prayer, or of using portions of the service only, on occasions 
 of weekly lectures and of social worship. They advocated the right of 
 private judgment in interpreting the scripture; regarded the sacra- 
 ments as signs and seals, and not sources of grace ; proclaimed with 
 emphasis the doctrine of justification by faith alone; and freely joined 
 with Christians of other denominations in social worship, in the circu- 
 lation of Bibles and of tracts, and in many other methods of extending 
 the knowledge and power of the Gospel in the world. They also 
 claimed with equal emphasis, and with powerful argument, that they 
 truly represented the Reformers by whom the prayer book was formed ; 
 and that the exclusive and unchurching dogma of Episcopacy and the 
 whole connected High Church system, was unknown in the Church 
 until the middle of the seventeenth century. 
 
 Since the introduction of the Oxford tracts a still higher Ritualistic 
 and Churchly party has appeared in the Church of England, and in 
 the Protestant Episcopal Church in this country. Hundreds of clergy- 
 men of this party in England, and a score or more in this country, 
 have joined the Church of Rome. This party have introduced into 
 the worship of the Church many ceremonies which were carefully 
 excluded by the framers of the Anglican formularies of faith and 
 worship. Their theology, their phraseology, their whole tone of 
 thought and feeling is far more Mediaeval and Romish than Protestant. 
 The progress of this party has been watched with painful solicitude by the 
 conservative members of the Church. At the last General Convention (Oct. 
 1871), in Baltimore, the Protestant sentiment of the Church found full and 
 emphatic expression ; the extremes of Ritualism were vindicated by only 
 a small minority ; and the House of Bishops, in their admirable Pastoral 
 Letter to the churches, uttered solemn warnings against the introduction 
 of Romish errors and superstitious innovations. It is now hoped that the 
 parties known as the Evangelical and Conservative may come into more 
 complete harmony in their doctrinal views, more cordial fellowship of 
 spirit, and more earnest co-operation in works of faith and labor of love ; 
 and that their united Christian intelligence and zeal will discountenance 
 and arrest the further progress of high and superstitious Ritualism in her 
 community. 
 
PROTESTANT EPISCOPAL CHURCH. 
 
 519 
 
 EPISCOPALIANS. 
 
 BISHOPS OF THE PROTESTANT EPISCOPAL CHURCH IN THE UNITED STATES 
 
 OF AMERICA. 
 
 P. O. Cons. Tr. 
 
 BENJAMIN BOSWORTH SMITH, D. D., Bishop of Kentucky Frankfort 1882 
 
 CHAS. P. McILVAINE. D. D., D. C. L., LL. D., Bishop of Ohio Cincinnati 1833 
 
 SAMUEL A. McCOSKRY, D. D., D. C. L., Bishop of Michigan Detroit 188) 
 
 WM. R. WHITTINGHAM, D. D., LL. D., Bishop of Maryland Baltimore 1840 
 
 ALFRED LEE, D. D., Bishop of Delaware Wilmington 1841 
 
 JOHN JOHNS, D. D., Bishop of Virginia Theo. Sem 1842 
 
 MANTON EASTBURN, D. D., Bishop of Massachusetts Boston 1842 
 
 CARLTON CHASE, D. D., Bishop of New Hampshire Claremont 1844 
 
 HORATIO SOUTHGATE, D. D., late Bishop at Constantinople New York 1844 
 
 GEORGE UPFOLD, D. D., LL. D., Bishop of Indiana Indianapolis 1849 
 
 WILLIAM MERCER GREEN, D. D., Bishop of Mississippi University Place, Ten. 1850 
 
 JOHN PAYNE, D. D., Missionary Bishop of Cape Palmas (Africa). ..New York 1851 
 
 JOHN WILLIAMS, D. D., Bishop of Connecticut Middletown 185L 
 
 HENRY JOHN WHITEHOUSE, D. D., LL. D., Bishop of Illinois.. Chicago 1851 
 
 THOMAS FREDERICK DAVIS, D. D., Bishop of South Carolina.. Camden 1853 
 
 THOMAS ATKINSON, D. D., LL. D., Bishop of North Carolina... Wilmington 1853 
 
 WILLIAM INGRAHAM KIP, D. D., Bishop of California San Francisco 1853 
 
 HENRY WASHINGTON LEE, D. D., LL. D., Bishop of Iowa Davenport 1854 
 
 HORATIO POTTER, D. D., LL. D., D. C. L., Bishop of New York..Avw York 1851 
 
 THOMAS MARCH CLARK, D. D., LL. D., Bishop of Rhode Island. .Providence 1851 
 
 ALEXANDER GREGG, D. D., Bishop of Texas Galveston 1859 
 
 WILLIAM HENRY ODENHEIMER, D. D., Bishop of New ..Burlington 1859 
 
 GREGORY THURSTON BEDELL, D. D., Assistant Bishop of Ohio. Gambier 1859 
 
 HENRY BENJAMIN WHIPPLE, D. D., Bishop of Minnesota Faribault 1859 
 
 HENRY CHAMPL1N LAY, D. D., LL. D., Bishop of Easton Easton, Md 1859 
 
 JOSEPH C. TALBOT, D. D., LL. D., Assistant Bishop of Indiana. ..I>idia?iapolis 1859 
 
 WM. BACON STEVENS, D. D., LL. D., Bishop of Pennsylvania ... Philadelphia 1802 
 
 RICHARD HOOKER WILMER, D. D., Bishop of Alabama Mobile 1SG2 
 
 THOMAS HUBBARD VAIL, D. D., Bishop of Kansas Lawrence 1804 
 
 ARTHUR C. COXE, D. D., Bishop of Western New York Buffalo 18 5 
 
 CHAS. TODD QUINTARD, D. D., LL. D., Bishop of Tennessee...A5w/W& 1805 
 
 ROBERT HARPER CLARKSON, D. D., Bishop of Nebraska Omaha 1805 
 
 GEORGE M. RANDALL, D. D., Missionary Bishop of Colorado Denver 1806 
 
 JOHN BARRETT KERFOOT, D. D., LL. D., Bishop of Pittsburgh../Y/^«r^ 1866 
 
 C. M. WILLIAMS, D. D., Missionary Bishop of China and Japan Osaka, Japan 1866 
 
 JOS. PERE BELL WILMER, D. D., LL. D., Bishop of Louisiana . ..New Orleans 1866 
 
 GEO. DAVID CUMMINS, D. D., Assistant Bishop of Kentucky Pewee Valley 1803 
 
 WILLIAM EDMOND ARMITAGE, D. D., Bishop of Wisconsin Milwaukee 1866 
 
 HENRY ADAMS NEELY, D. D., Bishop of Maine Portland. 1867 
 
 DANIEL S. TUTTLE, D. D., Missionary Bishop of Montana Salt Lake City, U. T... 1867 
 
 JOHN FREEMAN YOUNG, D. D., Bishop of Florida Fernandina 1867 
 
 JOHN WATRUS BECKWITH, D. D., Bishop of Georgia Macon 1868 
 
 FRANCIS McNEECE WHITTLE, D. D., Assistant Bishop of Va 1868 
 
 WM. HENRY AUGUSTUS BISSELL, D. D., Bishop of Vermont ...Burlington 1863 
 
 CHARLES FRANKLIN ROBERTSON, D. D., Bishop of Missouri..^. Louis ^ 1888 
 
 BENJ. WISTAR MORRIS, D. D., IVtissionary Bishop of Oregon Portland 1833 
 
 ABRAM NEWKIRK LITTLEJOHN, D. D , Bishop of Long Island ..Brooklyn, N. Y. I860 
 
 WILLIAM CROSWELL DOANE, D. D., Bishop of Albany Albany, N. Y. 1869 
 
 FRED. D. HUNTINGTON, D. D., Bishop of Central New York Syracuse, N. Y. 1869 
 
 OZI W. WHITAKER, D. D., Mis’y Bishop of Nevada and Arizona.. Virginia, Nev 1869 
 
 HENRY NILES PIERCE, D. D., Missionary Bishop of Arkansas 18 7 0 
 
 WILLIAM WOODRUFF NILES, D. D., Bishop of New Hampshire 1870 
 
 WILLIAM PINKNEY, D. D., Assistant Bishop of Maryland 1870 
 
 M. A. D. WOLFE HOWE, D. D., Bishop of Central Pennsylvania 1871 
 
 THE GENEEAL CONVENTION. 
 
 This Body, which meets triennially, is composed of the House of Bishops, consisting of all the 
 Diocesan and Missionary Bishops in the American Church ; and of the House of Clerical and Lay 
 Deputies, consisting of four Clergymen and four Laymen from each Diocese. It legislates for the 
 American Church within the limits of the United States, but can make no alteration in the Constitu- 
 tion, or in the Liturgy and Offices, unless the same has been adopted in one Convention, and sub- 
 mitted to all the Dioceses, and afterwards adopted in another Convention. 
 
 Presiding Bishop : The Right Rev. Benjamin Bosworth Smith, D. D., Frankfort, Ky. 
 
 Secretary of the House of Bishops : The Rev. Henry C. Potter, D. D., New York, N. Y. 
 
 Assistant Secretary of the House of Bishops : The Rev. William Tatlock, Stamford, Ct. 
 
 President of the House of Clerical and Lay Deputies : Rev. James Craik, D. D., Louisville, Ky. 
 
 Secretary of the House of Clerical and Lay Deputies : The Rev. William Stevens Perry, D. D., 
 Geneva, N. Y. 
 
 Assistant Secretary of the House of Clerical and Lay Deputies: The Rev. J. Sebastian B. 
 Hodges, D. D., Newark, N. J. 
 
520 
 
 DENOMINATIONS IN THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 Second Assistant Secretary of the House of Clerical and Lay Deputies: The Rev. Tohn M 
 Mitchell, Savannah, Ga. J 
 
 Treasurer of the General Convention : F. Ratchford Starr, Philadelphia Pa 
 Registrar of the General Convention: The Rev. John H. Hobart, D. D.’ Summit N T 
 Deputy Registrar of the General Convention : The Rev. William Stevens Perry D D * 
 Custodian of the Standard Prayer Book: The Rev. Benjamin I. Haight D D ’ LL D 
 Historiographer of the Church: The Rev. William Stevens Perry, D D 
 
 T rustees of the Missionary Bishops' Fund: Messrs. Cyrus Curtiss, Horace White, and Samuel H 
 Huntington. 
 
 The last General Convention met at Baltimore, October 4th, 1871. The next General Convention is 
 to meet at New York, on the first Wednesday in October, 1874. 
 
 SUMMARY OF THE DIOCESES. 
 
 No. 
 
 DIOCESES AND 
 MISSIONS. 
 
 Clergy. 
 
 Parishes. 
 
 Baptisms. 
 
 Communi- 
 
 cants. 
 
 Sunday 
 
 Schools. 
 
 Contributions 
 
 for 
 
 Missionary 
 
 and 
 
 Church 
 
 Purposes. 
 
 Infants. 
 
 Adults. 
 
 Total. 
 
 Confirma- 
 
 tions. 
 
 Present 
 
 Number. 
 
 Teachers. 
 
 Scholars. 
 
 1 
 
 Alabama 
 
 28 
 
 26 
 
 
 
 
 286 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 
 2 
 
 Albany 
 
 86 
 
 104 
 
 
 
 1,343 
 
 767 
 
 7,887 
 
 915 
 
 6,708, 
 
 $186,342 58 
 
 3 
 
 California 
 
 43 
 
 40 
 
 
 
 
 128 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 
 4 
 
 Central New York 
 
 65 
 
 98 
 
 626 
 
 319 
 
 945 
 
 623 
 
 8,093 
 
 925 
 
 6,795' 
 
 181 425 84 
 
 5 
 
 Connecticut 
 
 158 
 
 137 
 
 1,382 
 
 450 
 
 1,832 
 
 1,119 
 
 10,609 
 
 1 1,713 
 
 11,780 1 
 
 471,124 97 
 
 6 
 
 Delaware 
 
 26 
 
 31 
 
 299 
 
 47 
 
 346 
 
 177 
 
 1,576 
 
 318 
 
 2,981 
 
 23,738 13 
 
 7 
 
 Easton 
 
 25 
 
 32 
 
 309 
 
 31 
 
 351 
 
 240 
 
 1,581 
 
 140 
 
 904, 
 
 
 8 
 
 Florida 
 
 *16 
 
 *14 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 o 
 
 Georgia 
 
 30 
 
 31 
 
 316 
 
 62 
 
 378 
 
 309 
 
 2,616 
 
 222 
 
 1,823 
 
 34.289 96 
 
 10 
 
 Illinois 
 
 89 
 
 84 
 
 975 
 
 2716 
 
 1,211 
 
 750 
 
 5,815 
 
 943 
 
 6,168 
 
 215,473 11 
 
 11 
 
 Indiana 
 
 36 
 
 32 
 
 382 
 
 123 
 
 505 
 
 351 
 
 2,418 
 
 437 
 
 3,491 1 
 
 42,039 81 
 
 12 
 
 Iowa 
 
 35 
 
 54 
 
 255 
 
 107 
 
 368 
 
 236 
 
 1,931 
 
 365 
 
 2,596 
 
 60,205 67 
 
 13 
 
 Kansas 
 
 15 
 
 14 
 
 79 
 
 33 
 
 112 
 
 98 
 
 486 
 
 61 
 
 418 
 
 8,126 87 
 
 14 
 
 Kentucky 
 
 48 
 
 35 
 
 
 
 753 
 
 565 
 
 3,468 
 
 462 
 
 3,759 
 
 89,005 53 
 
 15 
 
 Long Island 
 
 87 
 
 70 
 
 1,605 
 
 345 
 
 1,950 
 
 1,255 
 
 10,307 
 
 1,438 
 
 ; 12,780 
 
 318,786 70 
 
 16 
 
 Louisiana 
 
 29 
 
 48 
 
 501 
 
 109 
 
 610 
 
 351 
 
 2,351 
 
 285 
 
 | 2.397 
 
 29.107 92 
 
 17 
 
 Maine 
 
 19 
 
 21 
 
 323 
 
 117 
 
 440 
 
 248 
 
 1,751 
 
 218 
 
 1,765 
 
 64,767 01 
 
 18 
 
 Maryland 
 
 135 
 
 107 
 
 
 
 
 1,347 
 
 
 
 
 
 19 
 
 Massachusetts 
 
 122 
 
 85 
 
 1,117 
 
 230 
 
 1,347 
 
 821 
 
 110,965 
 
 
 8.902 
 
 139,531 95 
 
 20 
 
 Michigan 
 
 67 
 
 78 
 
 936 
 
 i 302 
 
 1 1,241 
 
 622 
 
 6,021 
 
 807 
 
 5,673 
 
 89,813 87 
 
 21 
 
 Minnesota 
 
 42 
 
 42 
 
 391 
 
 127 
 
 518 
 
 247 
 
 2,400 
 
 256 
 
 2,053 
 
 45,666 42 
 
 22 
 
 Mississippi 
 
 *27 
 
 *44 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 23 
 
 Missouri 
 
 34 
 
 34 
 
 
 
 571 
 
 447 
 
 2,509 
 
 
 
 
 24 
 
 Nebraska 
 
 22 
 
 16 
 
 
 
 186 
 
 90 
 
 843 
 
 
 
 6,429 52 
 
 25 
 
 New Hampshire 
 
 22 
 
 22 
 
 75 
 
 34 
 
 106 
 
 86 
 
 939 
 
 111 
 
 778 
 
 4,600 70 
 
 26 
 
 N^w Jersey 
 
 123 
 
 116 
 
 1,455 
 
 321 
 
 1,959 
 
 1,109 
 
 9,499 
 
 1,271 
 
 ! 10,960| 
 
 338,325 31 
 
 27 
 
 New York 
 
 287 
 
 170 
 
 3,133 
 
 , 51 1 
 
 3,644 
 
 2,560 
 
 § 
 
 o 
 
 1,894 
 
 ,20,867, 
 
 565,329 69 
 
 28 
 
 North Carolina 
 
 *49 
 
 *73 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 29 
 
 Ohio 
 
 105 
 
 106 
 
 899' 
 
 '269 
 
 1,168 
 
 786 
 
 1 8,310 
 
 11,053 
 
 8,793] 
 
 200,772 18 
 
 30 
 
 fPennsvlvania 
 
 209 
 
 177 
 
 3,244 
 
 531 
 
 3,775 
 
 1,705 
 
 20,196 
 
 2,808 
 
 41,176 
 
 613,820 70 
 
 31 
 
 Pittsburgh 
 
 47 
 
 51 
 
 654 | 
 
 97 
 
 751 
 
 437 
 
 3,012 
 
 412 
 
 i 2.814' 
 
 98,455 00 
 
 32 
 
 Rhode Island 
 
 40 
 
 35 
 
 381 
 
 133 
 
 514 
 
 272 
 
 4,533 
 
 601 
 
 4,786! 
 
 134,867 85 
 
 33 
 
 South Carolina 
 
 *57 
 
 *59 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 34 
 
 Tennessee 
 
 38 
 
 32 
 
 
 
 556 
 
 420 
 
 2,066 
 
 
 
 16,793 42 
 
 35 
 
 Texas 
 
 20 
 
 35 
 
 255 
 
 80 
 
 375 
 
 239 
 
 1,520 
 
 188 
 
 1,321 
 
 12,959 60 
 
 36 
 
 Vermont 
 
 28 
 
 42 
 
 
 132 
 
 3b8 
 
 372 
 
 2,421 
 
 200 
 
 1,502 
 
 16,984 88 
 
 37 
 
 Virginia 
 
 135 
 
 172 
 
 236 | 
 
 
 
 
 8,600 
 
 
 6,500 
 
 63,747 00 
 
 38 
 
 Western New York 
 
 *78 
 
 *82 
 
 
 
 
 1,070 
 
 
 
 
 
 39 
 
 Wisconsin 
 
 70 
 
 58 
 
 CO 
 
 £ 
 
 272 
 
 1,128 
 
 618 
 
 5,580 
 
 564 
 
 4,343 
 
 106,696 74 
 
 40 
 
 Oregon and Washington. 
 
 12 
 
 13 
 
 
 
 120 
 
 33 
 
 233 
 
 
 526 
 
 13,835 80 
 
 41 
 
 Arkansas 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 42 
 
 Dakota 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 43 
 
 Colorado 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 44 
 
 Montana 
 
 7 
 
 5 
 
 65 
 
 12 
 
 77 
 
 19 
 
 130 
 
 37 
 
 316 
 
 12,014 67 
 
 45 
 
 Indian 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 46 
 
 Nevada 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 47 
 
 Western Africa 
 
 13 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 48 
 
 China and Japan 
 
 9 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 49 
 
 Greece 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 50 
 
 Haiti 
 
 3 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 General Summary. — Dioceses, 51 ; Bishops, 53 ; Priests and Deacons, 2,710 ; Parishes, 2,512 ; 
 Baptisms of Infants, 20,749 ; of Adults, 5,030 ; not specified, 3,760 ; Confirmations, 20,793 ; Communi- 
 cants, 176,686; Sunday School Teachers, 18,644; Scholars, 185,975; Contributions, $4,205,029. Re- 
 ports are wanting, as the asterisks (*) show, from several Dioceses, 
 f Central Pennsylvania. 
 
I 
 
 EVANGELICAL LUTHERAN CHURCH. 521 
 
 EVANGELICAL LUTHERAN CHURCH. 
 
 No church possesses a more honorable history than the Lutheran 
 Church, for she justly claims the glory of the Reformation. She is the 
 mother church of Protestantism, and is in regular succession from the 
 first Lutheran Reformers. 
 
 The preceding pages have treated of the European Church, and it 
 now remains for us to glance briefly at the American Church, from its 
 establishment down to the present time. 
 
 The earliest settlement of Lutherans in this country was made by 
 emigrants from Holland to New York, soon after the first establish- 
 ment of the Dutch in that city, then called New Amsterdam, which 
 took place in 1621. 
 
 This fact, which is of some historical interest, rests upon the au- 
 thority of the venerable patriarch of American Lutheranism, Henry 
 Melchior Muhlenberg. In his report to Halle he says: — “As I was 
 detained in New York I took some pains to acquire correct information 
 concerning the history of the Lutheran Church in that city. This 
 small congregation took its rise almost at the first settlement of the 
 country. Whilst the territory yet belonged to Holland the few Low 
 Dutch Lutherans were compelled to hold their worship in private, but 
 after it passed into possession of the British, in 1664, liberty was 
 granted them by all the successive governors to conduct their worship 
 publicly, without any obstruction. 7 7 
 
 Indeed, so great was the number of Lutherans, even at this time, 
 that the very next year (1665) after the English flag had been displayed 
 from Fort Amsterdam, they petitioned for liberty to send to Germany 
 a call for a regular pastor. 
 
 This petition Governor Nicols of course granted, and in February, 
 1669, two years after he had left the government, the Rev. Jacobus 
 Fabricius arrived in this colony and began his pastoral labors. 
 
 On the thirteenth of October, 1669, Lord Lovelace, who had suc- 
 ceeded Governor Nicols, publicly proclaimed his having received a 
 letter from the Duke of York, expressing his pleasure that- the 
 Lutherans should be tolerated. 
 
 But, although the first settlement of Lutherans was in New York, 
 that city cannot claim the distinction of having established the first 
 Lutheran churches. On the excellent authority of Rev. J. C. Clay, in 
 his “Annals of the Swedes on the Delaware, 7 7 and of Schubert, in his 
 “Schwedische Kirchenverfassung, 77 we find that the first Lutheran 
 churches in the United States were established by the Swedes, who 
 emigrated to this country and settled on the banks of the Delaware 
 during the reign of Queen Christina, and under the sanction of her 
 prime minister, Oxenstiern, about the year 1636, sixteen or seventeen 
 years after the settlement of New England by the pilgrim fathers, and 
 about thirty years after the establishment of an English colony in 
 Virginia. 
 
 As these churches were few in number and received no accessions 
 from the mother country, the Swedish language was soon lost by the 
 rising generation, and preaching in the English tongue was necessary 
 
522 
 
 DENOMINATIONS IN THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 long before any of the German pastors officiated in that language. 
 Under these cirumstances recourse was had to Episcopalian clergymen 
 for English ministrations, and thus these churches gradually became 
 connected with that denomination, though by their charters they are 
 still styled Swedish Lutheran churches. 
 
 In 1703 a Lutheran church was erected in the city of New York by 
 Lutherans from Holland, in which worship was conducted in the 
 Dutch, the English, and afterwards also in the German tongue. This 
 Church made one with the congregation previously alluded to, of 
 which Jacob Fabricius was the first pastor. To preserve the chrono- 
 logical order of the establishment of Lutheran Churches in America 
 then we have first, the Churches of the Swedes on the banks of the 
 Delaware; second, the Church at New York; and third, the German 
 Lutheran Churches in Pennsylvania, of which we are now to speak. 
 
 From the date of the grant of Pennsylvania to William Penn, in 
 1681, until 1700, many hundred German families emigrated to that 
 colony. 
 
 It was not until a few years later, however, that the tide of German 
 emigration fairly set in. In the year 1710 about three thousand Ger- 
 mans, chiefly Lutheran, who went from the Palatinate to England in 
 1709, to escape Romish intolerance, were sent over to New York by 
 Queen Ann. In 1713, one hundred and fifty families of these settled 
 in Schoharie, in New York, and so rapidly did German settlers flock 
 into Pennsylvania that in 1717 the Governor felt it his duty to call 
 the attention of the Provincial Council to the fact “ that great numbers 
 of foreigners from Germany, strangers to our language and constitu- 
 tion, had lately been imported into the province . ” 
 
 In 1727 large numbers of Germans came to Pennsylvania from the 
 Palatinate, Wurtemberg, Darmstadt, and other parts of Germany. 
 This colony was long destitute of a regular ministry, and until they 
 were supplied the Swedish ministers labored among them as far as 
 their duties to their own churches would permit. 
 
 The first German Lutheran churches in this country were regularly 
 organized by the Rev. Messrs. Bolzius and Gronau in 1733, in Pennsyl- 
 vania. 
 
 Others were gradually formed, not only in that State, but in Mary- 
 land, Virginia, the interior of New York, and the Western States. 
 
 In 1733 a number of Lutherans established themselves in Georgia, 
 and to designate the gratitude of their hearts to God, who had protected 
 them, styled their location Ebenezer. 
 
 These emigrants were from Saltzburg, formerly belonging to Bavaria, 
 and restored to the Austrian dominions at the peace of 1814. 
 
 Through the aid of the British Society for the Promotion of Christ- 
 ianity these people were enabled to find a refuge in the wilds of America 
 from the persecutions of the Romish Church. Those two able and 
 faithful ministers, Messrs. Bolzius and Gronau, came to them shortly 
 after their arrival, and settled among them as pastors, in which ca- 
 pacity they continued to serve them until their death. Gronau died 
 twelve years after his arrival in Georgia, but Bolzius was spared to the 
 Church about thirty years. 
 
EVANGELICAL LUTHERAN CHURCH. 
 
 523 
 
 In 1738 these colonists erected an orphan house atEbenezer, to which 
 work of benevolence important aid was contributed by the distinguished 
 George Whitefield, who also furnished the bell for one of the churches 
 erected by them. The descendants of these colonists are still numerous, 
 and are connected with the Lutheran Synod of South Carolina and 
 adjacent States. 
 
 Soon after the above colonization numerous Germans, coming from 
 Pennsylvania and other States, settled in North Carolina, and there 
 enjoyed the services of many excellent ministers, among whom were 
 Nussman, Arndt, Storch, Roschen, Bernhard and Shober. The de- 
 scendants of these colonists constitute the present numerous Churches 
 in the Carolinas. 
 
 In 1735 a settlement of Lutherans was formed in Spottsylvania, as 
 Virginia was then sometimes called. A Church was formed, and the 
 pastor, the Rev. Mr. Stoever, visited Germany for aid. He obtained 
 three thousand pounds, part of which was expended in the erection of 
 a church, the purchase of a plantation and slaves to work it for the 
 support of the minister, and the balance for a library or consumed by 
 the expenses of the town. This is supposed to be the Church in Madi- 
 son Comity, of that State. It seems to have enjoyed but a small mea- 
 sure of prosperity. 
 
 In 1739 a few Germans emigrated to Waldoborough, Maine, to whose 
 number an addition of fifteen hundred souls was made thirteen years 
 thereafter. But the title to the land given them by General Waldo 
 proving unsound, many left the colony, and its numbers never greatly 
 increased. 
 
 Heinsius speaks of a colony of Swiss Lutherans who, tired of the 
 persecutions of the Church of Rome, also sought a refuge in this 
 Western world. They came by way of England, under the direction 
 of Colonel Purry, who established them in a place called after himself, 
 Purrysburg. 
 
 This colony, if we mistake not, was in Beaufort County, South Caro- 
 lina, but we have not been able to find any account of its progress or 
 present condition. 
 
 We have now given an account of the first planting of the Lutheran 
 faith in America. Of all these colonies, that which in the providence 
 of God has most increased, and has hitherto constituted the great body 
 of the Lutheran Church in this country, is that in the Middle States, 
 Pennsylvania, interior of New York, Maryland, &c. 
 
 The year 1742 was a memorable one for the Church. It was signalized 
 by the arrival of Henry Melchior Muhlenberg, the patriarch of the 
 Americal Lutheran Church. He possessed high intellectual and moral 
 qualifications, and his whole life had been one of indefatigable zeal and 
 arduous and enlightened labor for the Master’s cause. His education 
 was of the very first character. In addition to his knowledge of Greek 
 an 1 Hebrew, he spoke English, German, Hollandish, French, Latin 
 and Swedish. But what was still more important he was educated in 
 the school of Francke, and had imbibed a large portion of his Heavenly 
 spirit. 
 
 He first landed in Georgia, and spent a week with his brethren, 
 
524 
 
 DENOMINATIONS IN THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 Bolzius and Gronau, to refresh his spirit and learn the circumstances 
 of the country. He then pursued his course by a dangerous coasting 
 voyage, in a small insecure sloop, which had no accommodations for 
 passengers, until he arrived in Philadelphia November 25, 1712. 
 
 Here he surmounted the opposition of Count Zinzendorf, (who, under 
 the assumed name of Thornstein, had passed himself off as a Lutheran 
 minister and inspector,) and was cordially received and entered upon 
 his labors with comprehensive and well directed views for the benefit 
 of the whole Church. He continued his labors for near a half century 
 with indefatigable zeal. 
 
 Soon after his arrival Muhlenberg was joined by other highly re- 
 spectable men, of excellent education, and of spirit like his own, the 
 greater part of whom came like himself from Germany. Among them 
 were Brunnholtz and Lemke, in 1745; Handshuh, Plartwick (the 
 founder of the flourishing Seminary which bears his name,) and Wey- 
 gand, in 1748 ; Heinzelman and Schultz, in 1751 ; Gerock, Hausil, 
 Wortman, Wagner, Schartlin, Shrenk and Rauss, in 1753; Bager, in 
 1758; Voigt and Krug, 1764; Helmuth and Schmidt, 1769; and Kunze, 
 in 1770. In 1743 Naesseman, the Swedish minister, reported to Sweden 
 that there were at that time twenty German Lutheran congregations 
 in America. 
 
 The number of ministers increased but slowly. The first Synod was 
 held in 1748, and there were then only eleven regular Lutheran min- 
 isters in the United States. 
 
 In 1751 the number of congregations was rated at about forty, and 
 the Lutheran population in America at sixty thousand. 
 
 But the ministers, though few in numbers, were for the most part 
 earnest andundefatigable workers. 
 
 The difficulties that beset their way were numerous and arduous. 
 The population was unsettled, ever tending farther into the interior ; 
 intemperance had already made sad havoc in the land ; the semi-civi- 
 lized habits, so natural to pioneers in colonization, were formidable 
 obstacles to religion. Inadequate ministerial support ; difficulty of 
 traveling for want of roads ; and not unfrequently the tomahawk and 
 scalping knife of the savage impeded their progress. 
 
 • In common with all other religious denominations the Lutheran 
 Church suffered severely from the disastrous influences of the wars 
 that followed close upon this period. First came the French and Indian 
 war, and later the war of the Revolution. Christianity is a religion of 
 peace, and the tempests of war never fail to blast and scatter the leaves 
 which are for the healing of nations. During the wars many of the 
 churches were destroyed throughout the land, and especially in New 
 England. 
 
 While the war of the Revolution was in progress no regular reports 
 were forwarded to Halle, and consequently our acquaintance with the 
 particulars of the Church’s history is necessarily limited. 
 
 We learn from the “ Kirchenagende,” published in 1786, three years 
 after the independence of the United States was acknowledged by 
 Great Britain, that the Lutheran ministry in the Middle States then 
 embraced the following twenty-four persons: Henry Melchior Muhlen- 
 
EVANGELICAL LUTHERAN CHURCH. 
 
 525 
 
 berg, D. D., senior of the ministerium, Nicholas Kurtz, William 
 Kurtz, Lewis Voigt, John Andrew Koag, Christian Imanuel Schultze, 
 John George Bager, Just Christian, Henry Helmuth, D. D., John 
 Frederick Schmidt, John Christopher Kunze, D. D., Gotthilf Henry, 
 Ernst Muhlenberg, D. D., Conrad Wildbohn, Jacob B. Buskirk, John 
 Frederici, Christian Streit, John George Jung, Conrad Boeller, Jacob 
 Georing, Daniel Schroeter, Daniel Lehman, Henry Moeller, Frederick 
 Ernst, Frederick Valentine Melsheimer and Daniel Kurtz, D. D. 
 
 From this time forward many other able and efficient ministers 
 entered the field from year to year, and assisted greatly in carrying 
 forward the work of the Church, but owing to the want of a suitable 
 institution for their education and to other causes, the proportion of 
 men destitute of a thorough education in the ministry was also greatly 
 augmented ; and although the number of congregations was largely 
 increased the standard of piety materially declined, and was until 1820 
 at a low ebb, though it must be borne in mind that all the denomina- 
 tions shared alike in this falling off of spirituality. The cause of this 
 was the war of the Revolution and the war of 1812, together with 
 the almost universal thirst for riches which characterized the people 
 of this new country at that early period. In their eagerness to take ad- 
 vantage of the unprecedented opportunities then offered to accumulate 
 wealth, they were too frequently unmindful of the welfare of their souls. 
 
 In 1786 the Kirchenagende (“ Directory of Worship,”) was published, 
 which continued in use until 1818, when the one now in use in the 
 German Churches was published. 
 
 In 1787 the Legislature of Pennsylvania, out of gratitude for the revo- 
 lutionary services of the Germans, and respect for their industry and 
 excellence as citizens, endowed a college in Lancaster for their special 
 benefit, to be forever under their control. Of this institution Dr. 
 Muhlenberg, then pastor in Lancaster, was chosen president. 
 
 In 1791 the same body passed an act appropriating five thousand 
 acres of land to the flourishing free school of the Lutheran Church in 
 Philadelphia, in which at the time eighty poor children were receiving 
 gratuitous education. 
 
 In the year 1820 the General Synod of the American Lutheran 
 Church was formed. The formation of this noble institution was a 
 starting place and a central radiating point of improvement in the 
 Church, and its influence has been uninterrupted and most propitious. 
 
 Prior to this era the Church had gradually become divided into five 
 or six different distant and unconnected Synods. Having no regular 
 intercourse with each other these several portions became more or less 
 estranged, and lost all the advantages of mutual consultation, confi- 
 dence and co-operation. The formation of the General Synod was the 
 precursor of union and improvement, and though much prejudice and 
 hostility were encountered in the effort to institute this body, yet by the 
 prudence and kindness of its leaders, and particularly by the good fruits 
 which were soon seen to result from it, these obstacles were overcome. 
 
 This Synod tended to diffuse a spirit of brotherly love, of union and 
 piety. It established a theological seminary, in which several hundred 
 
 laborers have been trained for the vineyard of the Lord. 
 
 34 
 
526 
 
 DENOMINATIONS IN THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 Its influence in introducing scriptural discipline into the Churches 
 and promoting correct views of Church government has been powerful 
 and extensive. It published a selection of ardently pious and evangeli- 
 cal hymns which have doubtless had a most salutary influence, and 
 by which hundreds of thousands of souls have been aided in their 
 devotions. 
 
 In other Synods not connected with the General Synod, a similar 
 spirit of improvement was manifested, and upon the whole, the Luthe- 
 ran portion of the Redeemer’s kingdom in America, from 1820 to 1840, 
 made rapid strides in improvement. 
 
 This period was also distinguished by the establishment of the theo- 
 logical seminaries at Hartwick, (which is the oldest of all,) at Lexington 
 and at Columbus, all of which have done and are doing an important 
 work for the Church and the age. 
 
 The general progress of the Church may be seen from the fact that 
 while in 1820 there were but one hundred and forty Lutheran ministers 
 in the United States, in 1841 they numbered four hundred and six, of 
 which the Synod of Pennsylvania, including Maryland and Virginia, 
 contained seventy-four ; the Synod of Ohio, twenty-three ; North Caro- 
 lina, fifteen; South Carolina, ten; and New York, ten. In 1851 the 
 total number of ministers was seven hundred and seventy-one. 
 
 From that date to the present (1871,) the Church has experienced a 
 steady and gratifying increase, and has evinced a remarkable degree of 
 energy in prosecuting its Church work. The earnestness manifested 
 by this body in the education and training of youth is an evidence of its 
 wisdom in providing for the future growth of the Church, a point too 
 often neglected by protestant denominations. 
 
 It is stated upon undoubted authority that the Lutheran Church has 
 more educational institutions under its control than any religious body 
 except the Roman Catholics. 
 
 The “Statistical View” of the Church for 1871 makes the following 
 exhibit: District Synods in the General Synod of the United States of 
 America, twenty-one; number ot Ministers, six hundred and forty- 
 seven; Churches, eleven hundred and fourteen; Communicants, nine- 
 ty-eight thousand and seventy seven. District Synods in the General 
 Synod in America, twelve; Ministers, five hundred and forty-four; 
 Churches, nine hundred and sixty-two; Communicants, one hundred 
 and twenty-four thousand eight hundred and nineteen. District Synods 
 in the (Southern) General Synod in North America, six; Ministers, 
 one hundred and fourteen; Churches, one hundred and ninety-five; 
 Communicants, sixteen thousand six hundred and eleven. District 
 Synods not connected with any general body, fourteen; Ministers, nine 
 hundred and six; Churches, twelve hundred and sixty- six; Communi- 
 cants, one hundred and fifty-three thousand, two hundred and fourteen. 
 Grand total, Synods, fifty-three; Ministers, two thousand two hundred 
 and eleven ; Churches, three thousand five hundred and thirty-seven ; 
 Communicants, three hundred and ninety-two thousand, seven hundred 
 and twenty-one. 
 
 Of the benevolent contributions of the Church we can only give but 
 a partial account. The General Synod, in its report in 1870, gives the 
 
EVANGELICAL LUTHERAN CHURCH. 
 
 527 
 
 following account of the contributions of that particular body for the 
 year: Beneficiary Education, $9,992.01; Home Missions, $14,205.02; 
 Foreign Missions, $3,920.20; Local Objects, $282,608.38; General Be- 
 nevolence, $29,248.27. In regard to the contributions of the General 
 Council, the General Synod of North America, and of that larger body 
 than either which is not connected with General Synod or Council, we 
 have no statistics, but estimating contributions of these the bodies at 
 the same rate with those of the General Synod of the United States of 
 North America, we reach the approximate total of $1,500,000, as the 
 contributions of the whole Church. 
 
 The following are the general benevolent institutions of the Church : 
 Parent Education Society ; Foreign Missionary Board ; Home Mis- 
 sionary Board ; Church Extension Board ; Pastor’s Fund Board; Board 
 of Publication; Historical Society. 
 
 We have before referred to the zeal manifested by the Lutheran 
 Church in the cause of education, and we here give a list of her educa- 
 tional institutions. 
 
 Theological Seminaries: Hartwiek; Theol. Sem. of Gen’l Synod; 
 Theol. Dep’t Wittenberg College; Theol. Dep’t Capital University; 
 Theol. Sem. of Philadelphia; Theol. Sem. of Gen’l Synod; (Southern) 
 Theol. Sem. Missouri Synod ; Theol. Dep’t M. Luther College ; Au- 
 gustana Seminary ; Theol. Seminary, St. Sebald, Iowa; Scandinavian 
 Theol. Seminary. Colleges: Pennsylvania; Muhlenberg; Thiel; Wit- 
 tenberg; Capital University ; Roanoke; North Carolina; Newberry; 
 Concordia; Carthage; St. Paul’s; Augustana; Mendota; Luther; North 
 Western University ; Martin Luther ; Colorado. Female Seminaries: 
 Lutherville; Hagerstown; Susquehanna Col.; Burkittsville ; Mont 
 Amoena; Staunton; Lexington; St. Joseph’s; Conestoga; Hartwiek; 
 St. Matthew’s; Missionary Inst.; Washington Hall; The “Hill” 
 School; Conoquenessing ; Greenville; Bethel; Swatara; Overlea; 
 Tableau; Normal Scientific School; Teacher’s Sem’y ; St. Ansgar; 
 Marshall ; Stoughton ; Holden ; Classical Seminary, Miss. Eleemosy- 
 nary Institutions : Tressler’s Orphan Home; Orphans’ Farm School; 
 Orphans’ Home, (Rochester) ; Wartburg Orphans’ School ; Passavant’s 
 Infirmary; Emmaus Institute; Immigrant Mission; Scandinavian 
 Orphan House ; Deaconness’ Hospital ; Soldier’s Orphan School ; In- 
 firmary, (Milwaukee) ; and Orphan Homes at the following points : 
 Germantown, Toledo, Buffalo, Jacksonville, Wasa and St. Louis. 
 
 The following are the periodical publications of the Church : 
 
 In the English language: The Lutheran Observer; The Lutheran 
 and Missionary ; The American Lutheran ; The Lutheran and Visitor ; 
 The Lutheran Standard; The Lutheran S. S. Herald; Busy Bee; The 
 Quarterly Review. 
 
 In the German language: Der Lutherische Kirchenfreund ; Der 
 Lutheraner ; Die Lutherische Kirchen-Zeitung; Der Lutherische Her- 
 old; Das Kirchenblatt; Das Lutherische Gemeindeblatt ; Das Kirch- 
 liches Informatorium ; Die Wachende Kirche ; Die Lebre und Wehre ; 
 Das Luth. Schulblatt; Das Lutherische Kirchenblatt; Der Jugend- 
 Freund ; Der Sonntagsschul-Lehrer ; Die Lutherische Zeitschrift ; Die 
 Theologische Monatshefte ; Der Pilger. 
 
528 
 
 DENOMINATIONS IN THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 In the Norwegian language : Kirkelig Maanedstidende ; Den Norske 
 Lutheraner; Lutheraneren ; Missions Bladet ; Ebenezer. 
 
 In the Swedish language : Ratta Hemlandet aud Augustana Missio- 
 naren. 
 
 Outside of the denomination there exists a wide-spread misconception 
 of the strength and character of the Lutheran Church, and the fore- 
 going particulars are entered into to show what a mighty power that 
 body is in the land. Through her press, her institutions of learning, 
 her churches, she is wielding a vast and growing influence among our 
 whole population ; and in her Christian effort she has received signal 
 evidences of the Divine favor. 
 
 To render this sketch complete we have now but to notice very briefly 
 the doctrines and government of the American Lutheran Church. 
 
 The great and leading principle of the Lutheran Church is that the 
 holy Scriptures are the only source whence we draw our religious 
 sentiments, whether relating to faith or practice. The books subsidi- 
 ary to the Bible were the Apostles’ Creed, the Nicene Creed, and the 
 Athanasian Confession, the Augsberg Confession, the Apology or De- 
 fence of this Confession, and the Smalcald Articles and Luther’s 
 Catechisms. The prominent doctrines taught in these books are : 
 
 First. The Trinity — “ There is one Divine essence which is called and 
 is God, eternal, incorporeal, indivisible, infinite in power, wisdom and 
 goodness, and yet there are three persons who are of the same essence 
 and power, and are co-eternal, the Father, the Son, and the Holy 
 Spirit.” * 
 
 Secondly. The proper and eternal divinity of the Lord Jesus Christ. 
 
 Thirdly, The universal depravity of our race. “All men are born 
 with a depraved nature and with sinful propensities.” 
 
 Fourthly. The Atonement. “The Son of God truly suffered, was 
 crucified, died and was buried that he might reconcile the Father to us, 
 and be a sacrifice not only for original sin but also for all the sins of 
 men.” 
 
 Fifthly. Justification , which is through faith. 
 
 Sixthly. A Holy Life or Good Works. “ This faith must bring forth 
 good works.” 
 
 Seventhly. The Ministerial Office and the Means of Grace. “ Through 
 the instrumentality of the Word and the Sacraments as means of grace 
 the Holy Spirit is given.” 
 
 Eighthly. Th c Future Judgment and world of retribution. “At the 
 end of the world Christ will appear for judgment ; he will raise all the 
 dead ; that he will give to the pious and elect eternal life and endless 
 joys, but will condemn wicked men and devils to be punished without 
 end.” 
 
 Dr. Schmucker gives the following points of progressive development 
 or improvement of the Lutheran Church. 1. The entire rejection of 
 the authority of the Fathers in ecclesiastical controversy. 2. Assent 
 to the doctrine of the real presence of the Savior in the Eucharist is no 
 longer required. 3. The relinquishment of private confession. 4. The 
 entire rejection of everv remnant of papal superstition in the adminis- 
 tration of baptism. 
 
EVANGELICAL LUTHERAN CHURCH. 
 
 529 
 
 The government and discipline of each individual Church is sub- 
 stantially like that of the Presbyterians. The Synods in structure and 
 powers most resemble their Presbyteries. The General Synod is wholly 
 an advisory body, resembling the consociation of the Congregational 
 Church. In addition to these regular ecclesiastical bodies constituting 
 the system of government the Lutherans have special conferences for 
 the purpose of holding stated protracted meetings. These are subdivi- 
 sions of Synods, containing five to ten ministers each, who are annu- 
 ally to hold several protracted meetings within their district. This 
 feature mainly resembles the quarterly meetings of the Methodists. 
 
 GENERAL SUMMARY. 
 
 I. General Synod. 
 
 Contributions. 
 
 •aouapAauag 'uaQ 
 
 SSSSSSSSSSSSSSS §8§SS 
 
 |||||!l|spii|| llsjs 
 
 £ 
 
 1 
 
 a 
 
 ss 
 
 •S3oafq 0 poog 
 
 88SS8 
 
 SigSSlSSlSigSSS SISsu 
 
 § S S S S * S ^ SS 
 
 •suoissrpj u2pjog 
 
 $155 15 
 1,065 94 
 178 14 
 235 50 
 382 35 
 212 02 
 865 17 
 65 91 
 5 08 
 193 50 
 33 00 
 54 88 
 42 79 
 70 37 
 60 00 
 
 225 25 
 32 15 
 
 53 00 
 
 8 
 
 I 
 
 CO 
 
 •suoissjh auioji 
 
 SIS S 
 
 3S25gai#s8i8BSS *83 1 
 
 14,205 02 
 
 ■ U °P.P3 X.pgauag 
 
 $1,312 36 
 1,941 42 
 380 16 
 320 49 
 462 02 
 919 15 
 2,211 85 
 216 74 
 38 10 
 572 43 
 
 51 36 
 
 52 05 
 333 00 
 421 72 
 126 25 
 
 65 00 
 459 00 
 4 00 
 
 104 91 
 
 0 
 
 1 
 $ 
 
 Sunday 
 
 Schools. 
 
 •sreiotps 
 
 <^ToO(M to ^ O W H 1C « (N ^ ^ co" CC— r CO 
 
 71,832 
 
 •sjaqouax 
 
 S|l®ll|lSgsSlis is 3 
 
 2 
 
 05 
 
 *s.iaquiaj^ Suiunuiuio 3 
 
 qo tpco ^ rtT iC so ^ of cf i>7 eo e<5i-c.-iTt< 
 
 § 
 
 53 
 
 Additions to full 
 membership. 
 
 Xg 
 
 |ggs2l§ S egesP||s«ss»ss 
 
 s 
 
 CO 
 
 •suopuuuyuo3 
 
 
 6,409 
 
 •suispdug 3ppv 
 
 
 1,931 
 
 •suispdug }ubjuj 
 
 |E3*aji|sa2sifigs*B8s«a 
 
 7,727 
 
 •suorjuSojSuoo 
 
 
 1 
 
 •SJ33SIUIJAJ 
 
 
 IS 
 
 NAMES 
 
 OF 
 
 SYNODS. 
 
 . Maryland, 
 
 , W. Penna., 
 
 . Hartwick, 
 
 . New York, 
 
 . East Ohio, 
 
 , Allegheny, 
 
 . East Penna., 
 
 . Miami, 
 
 . Central Illinois. 
 . Wittenberg, 
 
 . Olive Branch, 
 
 . North Illinois, 
 
 . Pittsburgh, 
 
 , Central Penna., 
 Northern Ind., 
 
 , Southern 111., 
 
 . Iowa, 
 
 , Melanchthon, 
 
 . New Jersey, 
 
 . Franckean, 
 
 , Susquehanna, 
 
 , Kansas, 
 
 
 r-H«MCO^iC<»l>COOiO-H<McO'^*lOCOb-OOOi0^c4 
 
 rtHHHHHriHHHNCPN 
 
530 
 
 DENOMINATIONS IN THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 II. General Council. 
 
 
 Ministers. 
 
 Churches. 
 
 Communicants. 
 
 1. New York Ministeritim 
 
 50 
 
 50. ... 
 
 .. 13,000 
 
 2. Synod of Pennsylvania 
 
 141 
 
 305 
 
 51,800 
 
 3. Pittsburgh Synod, (Penn.) 
 
 58 
 
 103 
 
 8,605 
 
 4. English District Synod of Ohio 
 
 
 90 
 
 10,000 
 
 5. English Synod of Ohio 
 
 12 
 
 26 
 
 2,280 
 
 6. Synod of Illinois 
 
 35. 
 
 48 
 
 4 746 
 
 7. Synod of Michigan 
 
 ' 15. 
 
 
 3,300 
 
 8. Synod of Iowa 
 
 60 
 
 105 
 
 8,000 
 
 9, 
 
 . ... 26 
 
 . 60 
 
 . 3 742 
 
 10. Scandinavian Augustana Synod. 
 
 48 
 
 96 
 
 13,203 
 
 11. Synod of Texas 
 
 20 
 
 28 
 
 2,920 
 
 12. Synod of Canada 
 
 24 
 
 60 
 
 7,920 
 
 
 527 
 
 998 
 
 129,516 
 
 III. General Synod of North America. 
 
 1. Synod of Virginia 
 
 2. Synod of South-West Virginia 
 
 21 
 
 61 
 
 40 
 
 3,200 
 
 2,179 
 
 3. Synod of North Carolina 
 
 4. Synod of South Carolina....... 
 
 
 34 
 
 3,716 
 
 33 
 
 44 .... 
 
 , 4,817 
 
 5. Synod of Georgia 
 
 
 10 
 
 750 
 
 6. Holston Synod, (Tenn.) 
 
 14 
 
 25 
 
 2,000 
 
 121 
 
 214 
 
 16,682 
 
 IV. Not Connected with General Synod or General Council. 
 
 1. Joint Synod of Ohio 
 
 2. Joint Synod of Missouri 
 
 142 
 
 335 
 
 295 
 
 362 
 
 35,500 
 
 50,000 
 
 3. Synod of Wisconsin 
 
 52 
 
 103 
 
 15,200 
 
 4. Norwegian Synod, (Wis., etc.1 
 
 60 
 
 220 
 
 31,480 
 
 5. T ennessee Synod 
 
 3a 
 
 82 
 
 7,000 
 
 6. Eilson's Synod 
 
 9 
 
 
 2,000 
 
 7. Union Synod, (Ind.) 
 
 
 17 
 
 2,110 
 
 8. Buffalo Synod, (N. Y.) 
 
 15 
 
 22 
 
 1,850 
 
 9. German Synod of New York 
 
 
 11 
 
 1,800 
 
 10. Concordia Synod of Virginia 
 
 
 
 1,000 
 
 11. Synod of Mississippi 
 
 7 
 
 11 
 
 2,000 
 
 12. Missionary Synod of the West 
 
 11 
 
 20 
 
 700 
 
 
 687 
 
 1183 
 
 150,040 
 
 Grand Total — 52 Synods, 1,926 Ministers, 3,392 Churches, 388,538 Communicants. 
 
 
METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH. 
 
 :3i 
 
 THE METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH OF AMERICA: 
 
 The name given to a denomination of Christians (Arminian in the- 
 ology) which sprang from Wesleyan Methodism of England. 
 
 HISTORY. 
 
 The “United Societies” arose in England under the Wesleys in 
 1739, and although they had preachers traveling over the United King- 
 dom, it was not until thirty years later, in 1769, that their first mis- 
 sionaries were sent to the Colonies. The true introduction of Method- 
 ism in America, however, dates three years earlier, and was in this 
 wise : In 1758 John Wesley visited the county of Limerick, Ireland, 
 where he found a singular community, settled in several villages, that 
 were not native Irish, but of German descent; and being for nearly 
 half a century without pastors who could speak their own language, 
 had become greatly demoralized and noted for drunkenness, profanity, 
 and utter neglect of religion. The Methodist itinerants penetrated to 
 their homes and preached to them the Word of God. Many were con- 
 verted, and the entire community were now a reformed and devout 
 people. These German-Irish were called “Palatines,” from the fact 
 that they had been driven from the Palatinate on the Rhine, by the 
 Papal troops of Louis XIV. They found refuge under the kindly gov- 
 ernment of Queen Anne. In the spring of 1760 a company of these 
 Palatines sailed from Limerick to America. A large company gathered 
 on the quay to say farewell for the last time. One of their number, a 
 young man with thoughtful look and resolute bearing, is evidently the 
 leader of the party. He was their spiritual adviser and helper, and had 
 often preached to them the Word of Life; many had been converted 
 under his preaching, and now, surrounded by his spiritual children, he 
 once more breaks to them the bread of life. His name was Philip Em- 
 bury, the first class leader and preacher of Methodism in America. The 
 company landed at New York August 10, 1760, and were scattered 
 abroad. It is not known that any meetings were held by them until 
 in 1766 they were joined by other relatives and fellow countrymen, and 
 although the religious life of rdany had declined, Embury, at the earn- 
 est solicitation of his cousin, Mrs. Barbara Heck, called them to wor- 
 ship in his own house, on Barrack street, now Park place, where after 
 a stirring sermon a class was organized. They continued to meet 
 weekly thereafter, and in a short time Embury’s house could not ac- 
 commodate all the hearers, and he hired a large room in the neighbor- 
 hood, providing for the rent by gratuitous contributions, and preaching 
 to them regularly on the Sabbath. 
 
 In the year following they were visited by Captain Thomas Webb, a 
 Quartermaster in the British army, stationed in New York City, who 
 was also licensed by Wesley as a local preacher. 
 
 In 1767 a rigging-loft, sixty by eighteen, on William street, was 
 rented, where Webb and Embury preached twice a week to crowded 
 assemblies. It could not contain half the people who desired to hear 
 the Word of the Lord and to join in the services of his devout com- 
 pany. 
 
532 
 
 DENOMINATIONS IN THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 In 1768 the first effort was made to build a church ; a site was selected 
 and leased on John street, and purchased two years later, and a stone 
 building, faced with blue plaster, sixty feet by forty-two was erected. 
 Embury was chief architect, and also worked on its walls with other 
 voluntary or paid workmen. On the 30th of October, 1768, he ascended 
 its pulpit, and dedicated the building by the name of ‘‘Wesley Chapel,” 
 preaching a sermon on the occasion from Hosea X, 12: “ Sow to your- 
 selves in righteousness, reap in mercy, breakup your fallow ground ; 
 for it is time to seek the Lord till He come and reign righteousness 
 upon you.” 
 
 Thus was Embury the originator of Methodist meetings in the New 
 World, being its first preacher, first class leader, first treasurer, and 
 first trustee of the first Society organized. Captain Webb made fre- 
 quent excursions to other parts of the country, preached, and formed 
 classes in Philadelphia, Wilmington and New Castle, and extended his 
 labors as far as Baltimore. 
 
 While these two local preachers were laying the foundations of a 
 great work in New York and elsewhere, Robert Strawbridge, another 
 Methodist Irish emigrant, had arrived in the country and settled on 
 Sam’s creek, in Frederick county, Maryland. As an Evangelist he 
 preached through all that neighborhood, and formed a Methodist Soci- 
 ety, and not long after built a log meeting-house on Sam’s creek, and 
 also founded Societies in Baltimore and Harford counties. The first 
 chapel in the county was built near Baltimore, and here Richard Owen 
 was converted, who, after laboring as a local preacher for some years, 
 entered the itinerant rank and died in it, being the first native Method- 
 ist preacher in this country. 
 
 Joined by Sater Stephenson, Nathan Perigo, Richard Webster and 
 others, they carried Methodism into the heart of Pennsylvania, aroused 
 the population of the Eastern Shore of Maryland, thence passed to 
 Georgetown and Alexandria, on the Potomac, through Fairfax county, 
 Virginia, and winning great victories through Delaware and Mary- 
 land, and the entire peninsula. 
 
 In 1769 Robert Williams, one of Wesley’s preachers, came to America 
 and gave himself up wholly to the work- of an Evangelist, and labored 
 with great success in Petersburg, Norfolk, and through Eastern Vir- 
 ginia and North Carolina. John King, a local preacher, came from 
 England in the same year and began his labors in the Potters’ field, now 
 Washington square, Philadelphia, and extended them through Dela- 
 ware, Maryland and New Jersey. 
 
 On the third of August, 1769, Wesley announced in their Conference 
 in England the cry that came from America for help, and asked “ Who 
 is willing to go?” Richard Boardman and Joseph Pilmoor responded 
 to the call, and were set apart and returned on the Conference Journal 
 as Missionaries to America. They arrived in Philadelphia in 1769, and 
 were warmly welcomed by Rev. George Whitefield, who was then 
 laboring in that city. They set themselves at once to systematize the 
 work, and in 1770 “America” appears for the first time on Wesley’s 
 printed minutes, with four preachers, Boardman, Pilmoor, Williams 
 and King ; and the following year records 316 church members. 
 
METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH. 
 
 533 
 
 In 1771 two other regular preachers were sent over by the Confer- 
 ence, Francis Asbury and Richard Wright. The former, then a young 
 man of twenty-six, was destined to be the most influential and success- 
 ful of laborers, and the most historical of its preachers. 
 
 Other ministers arrived in 1772, and on the 14th of July, 1773, the 
 first American Methodist Conference was held at Philadelphia, con- 
 sisting of ten preachers, with a church membership of 1,160. All the 
 preachers agreed to labor under the authority of Mr. Wesley, and to 
 abide by his doctrine and discipline, and not to administer the sacra- 
 ments. The Second Annual Conference met again in Philadelphia, 
 May 25, 1774, Thomas Rankin presiding, with 17 preachers, and 2,073 
 members. 
 
 In the succeeding ten years the Societies were very much distracted 
 by the political excitements growing out of our Revolutionary contest. 
 The Societies were still identified with the Wesleyans of England, and 
 many of the preachers had left the country. In 1776 all had returned 
 to England except Mr. Asbury, who found retirement at the home of 
 Governor Bassett in Delaware. 
 
 In 1779 the Seventh Annual Conference assembled in Virginia. The 
 ordinance question again came up. A former Conference had passed a 
 resolution by which they had agreed to “exhort the people to attend 
 the established Church and receive the ordinances there only.” This 
 was very obnoxious to the people ; the ministers not being ordained 
 could not administer the sacraments ; hence in many places they were 
 destitute of the Lord’s Supper, and their children were growing up 
 without baptism. After much discussion a committee of four of the 
 oldest preachers were appointed to ordain ministers. They first ordained 
 each other, and then some of the other members of the Conference. 
 Those thus ordained administered the ordinances during the year. The 
 question continued to agitate the Conferences until the close of the 
 war, when a special Conference was called by Mr. Wesley to take 
 measures to adapt this religious Society to the new condition of affairs. 
 
 Up to this time Wesley had enjoined at home and in the Colonies 
 the necessity of loyalty to the Church of England. No sacraments 
 were received or administered by them outside of the churches of the 
 establishment. All the Methodist preachers except the Wesleys and 
 a few other clergymen were unordained lay preachers. Episcopal 
 churches are still standing in New York and elsewhere in which Em- 
 bury, Pilmoor, Boardman, Rankin and Asbury received the sacrament. 
 Wesley now foresaw that an independent Society was inevitable, and he 
 at once set to work to give direction to the important movement that was 
 now assuming definite shape in the new Republic. The preachers were 
 clamorous for ordination, and satisfying himself that a Presbyter and a 
 Bishop were one and the same order in the Church of Christ, Wesley 
 assumed the office of Bishop, and, assisted by other Presbyters of the 
 Church of England, he set apart and ordained Rev. Thomas Coke, 
 LL. D., already a Presbyter of the Church of England, as “General 
 Superintendent” of the American Societies. He arrived in America 
 November 3, 1784, and summoned all the preachers to meet him at Bal- 
 timore on the 24th of December. 
 
534 
 
 DENOMINATIONS IN THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 On that day sixty preachers assembled in a special, though not a reg- 
 ular General Conference. “After some deliberation, ” says Mr. Asbury, 
 “it was agreed to form ourselves into an Episcopal Church.” Rev. 
 Richard Wiiatcoat, afterwards Bishop, says, “ We agreed to form a 
 Methodist Episcopal Church.” 
 
 Here the “ Methodist Episcopal Church of America” was launched 
 forth as a separate and distinct church, with Superintendents, Elders 
 and Deacons. 
 
 Dr. Coke and Mr. Asbury were chosen Superintendents, the former 
 being already in orders, proceeded to ordain Francis Asbury. On Sat- 
 urday he was ordained Deacon, on Sunday Elder, and on Monday was 
 set apart as General Superintendent. Three Deacons and twelve El- 
 ders were also ordained. Articles of religion were adopted, and a gen- 
 eral system of government established. The work was divided into 
 three Conferences, and the following year, 1765, the Bishops met them, 
 transacted the usual Conference business, and statioued the preachers. 
 
 Although the church endured severe struggles in later years, and 
 there were several secessions from the M. E. Church, its progress has 
 been steadily onward, due very largely to its earnest ministry, its work- 
 ing membership, its pure doctrine, and its evangelical experimental 
 piety. 
 
 DOCTRINES. 
 
 Its doctrines are embraced in twenty-five “ articles of religion ,” de- 
 claring : — 
 
 1st. Faith in the Holy Trinity. 
 
 2d. That the Word or Son of God was made very man, possessing 
 two whole or perfect natures whereof is one Christ very God and very 
 man, 
 
 3d. A belief in the resurrection of Christ. 
 
 4th. The Divinity of the Holy Ghost. 
 
 5th. The sufficiency of the Holy Scriptures, as containing all things 
 necessary to salvation. 
 
 6th. Obedience to the commandments of the Old Testament to be re- 
 quired. 
 
 7th. A belief in original sin as attaching to the nature of every man. 
 
 8th. A belief in the free moral agency of man. 
 
 9th. A belief in the doctrine of justification through faith in Christ. 
 
 10th. Good works to be pleasing and acceptable to God, though not a 
 ground of justification. 
 
 11th. The utter absence of power to perform works of supererogation. 
 
 12th. The possibility of sin after justification. 
 
 13th. The true Church of Christ is declared to be a congregation of 
 faithful men in which the pure word of God is-preaclied and the sacra- 
 ments duly administered. 
 
 14th. Declares purgatory, worshiping, and adoration of images and 
 saints as repugnant to the Word of God. 
 
 15th. Requires all speaking in the congregations to be in such tongue 
 as the people understand. 
 
METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH. 
 
 535 
 
 16th. Declares the sacraments to be signs of grace, and recognizes 
 two only as Divinely established. 
 
 17th. Declares Baptism to be a sign of regeneration as well as of pro- 
 fession of faith. 
 
 18th. The Lord’s Supper — a sacrament of our redemption by Christ — 
 disclaims all proof of transubstantiation. 
 
 19th. Both the wine and the bread should be received by the laity. 
 
 20th. The perfect oblation of Christ, finished upon the cross. 
 
 21st. Declares it lawful for ministers to marry at their discretion. 
 
 22d. Allows of freedom in its rites and ceremonies. 
 
 23d. Requires respect for rulers of the United States and allegiance 
 to all their authority and laws. 
 
 24th. The riches and goods of Christian men are not common prop- 
 erty ; requires liberality in alms-giving. 
 
 25th. Allows of judicial oath-taking. 
 
 GOVERNMENT. 
 
 The only canon law of the Church is found in the “ General 
 Rules,” which are the same as those adopted by Wesley. 
 
 The legislative authority is in the General Conference, which is com- 
 posed of ministerial delegates from the annual conferences, and holds 
 its session once in four years. The General Conference of 1868 made 
 provision for the admission of lay delegates to that body, when re- 
 quested by vote of the laity approved by a three-fourths vote of the an- 
 nual conferences. On being submitted, an overwhelming majority 
 voted in favor of the change, and hereafter the General Conference will 
 be more thoroughly in accord with our republican institutions, being 
 composed of one ministerial delegate for every thirty members of the 
 annual conferences, and two laymen from each conference, the lay 
 delegates to be chosen by an electoral conference of laymen. The 
 General Conference meets quadrennially, and now (1871) has subordi- 
 nate to it seventy-two annual conferences. The annual conferences 
 are composed of all the traveling ordained elders and deacons included 
 in a district of country defined by the General Conference, and averag- 
 ing about one hundred and twenty-five members each. Their annual 
 meeting, called “Conference Session,” is presided over by one of the 
 bishops, who, with the advice of the presiding elders, meet in private 
 council, arrange the work for all the preachers, the appointments 
 being made every year, and no pastor may return to the same charge 
 more than three years in six. The Conference passes every preacher’s 
 character under careful examination, and if complaints are made 
 against any, a court of investigation or trial is appointed, who may sus- 
 pend or expel him if found guilty of moral wrong. Reports are re- 
 ceived from the several denominational interests, and action taken in 
 reference thereto. Ministers who have traveled two years, and who 
 pass a satisfactory examination before a committee, on general literary 
 and theological qualifications, are admitted to membership in the Con- 
 ference and ordained deacons, and such as have traveled four years 
 and passed satisfactory examination are ordained elders. Action is 
 also had on many moral and religious questions. 
 
536 
 
 DENOMINATIONS IN THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 The territory of each annual conference is again subdivided into dis- 
 tricts comprising several stations or circuits under the superintendence 
 of a traveling preacher, denominated presiding elder. He holds a 
 business meeting with each charge quarterly, the members of the quar- 
 terly conference being the traveling and local preachers, exhorters, 
 class leaders, stewards, trustees, and Sunday-school superintendents. 
 It is from this body that all recommendations of persons to preach 
 must originate, so that the laity guard the door of approach to the an- 
 nual conference, and none are admitted until recommended by them. 
 
 CUSTOMS AND USAGES. 
 
 Class meetings are weekly social meetings for the relation of Christian 
 experience, presided over by a layman appointed by the preacher in 
 charge, styled the class- leader. It is usual to have from twelve to forty 
 persons in each class, and any number of classes required in a church 
 to accommodate all the members. In the class-meeting an hour or 
 more is spent in the relation of Christian experience by the members, 
 responded to by the leader in words of encouragement, reproof, exhor- 
 tation, or council, as the spiritual well-being of the individual may 
 seem to require. It is in no sense analogous to the Romish confes- 
 sional. 
 
 Love Feasts are held quarterly, in which all the members of a society 
 unite ; bread and water are partaken of by all, as an evidence of their 
 good-will and fellowship, after which the time allotted is spent in the 
 relation of religious experience, singing, and prayer. 
 
 Members are received on probation for six months, are placed under 
 the watchful care of class-leaders, and at the expiration of the above 
 period, if they still give satisfactory evidence of religious character and 
 experience, are admitted into full membership. In all questions of in- 
 terest before the church the female members have equal rights with 
 the male, and gave a large vote on the lay delegation question. 
 
 STATISTICS. 
 
 At the close of 1870 there were in the Methodist Episcopal Church : 
 
 Bishops 
 
 Annual conferences 
 
 Traveling preachers 
 
 Local preachers 
 
 Total members 
 
 Baptisms, adults 
 
 Baptisms, children 
 
 Churches 
 
 Parsonages 
 
 Value of church buildings. 
 
 Value of parsonages 
 
 Number of Sunday schools 
 
 Number of teachers 
 
 Number of scholars 
 
 Benevolent collections 
 
 1870. 
 
 8 
 72 
 9,193 
 11,404 
 . 1,388,368 
 66,481 
 50,453 
 13,373 
 4,179 
 .52.614,591 
 . 7,293,513 
 16,912 
 189J412 
 . 1,225,398 
 $967,862 
 
 Increase over 
 1869. 
 
 363 
 
 1,064 
 
 70,260 
 
 5,334 
 
 2,944 
 
 1,325 
 
 211 
 
 5,361,524 
 
 431,283 
 
 518 
 
 4,816 
 
 45,409 
 
 9,927 
 
 The usual estimate of non-communicant adherents, children, and 
 other members of Methodist families to each communicant is three, so 
 
METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH. 
 
 537 
 
 that the Methodist population (such as the Roman Catholic Church in- 
 cludes in its statistics) would be 5,468,536. 
 
 This is at least one-tliird more than the largest estimates of the Ro- 
 mish population claimed by their own statisticians. 
 
 The net increase in the number of churches for 1870, was 1,325, and 
 is the largest ever reported in a single year. It gives an average of over 
 four new churches for every working day in the year , a rate of progress 
 unparalleled in the history of the churches. 
 
 There was spent on new churches during the same year more than 
 five and a quarter million of dollars. In five years the increase of the 
 value of churches has been 96.6 per cent. 
 
 INSITUTIONS. 
 
 Sunday School Union , organized April 2d, 1827. Its collections have 
 amounted to $20,000 per year. It publishes 1,574 bound volumes. The 
 Sunday School Advocate, published semi-monthly, has a circulation of 
 320,000. 
 
 Tract Society ; to Wesleyan Methodism belongs the honor of organi- 
 zing the first Tract Society, in January, 1772, its object being “to dis- 
 tribute religious tracts to the poor.” Every member was expected to 
 subscribe half a guinea annually to its support. Annual contribution 
 for 1870, over $20,000. 
 
 Bible Collections are given to the American Bible Society and amount 
 to an annual offering of $125,000. 
 
 Missionary Society , for Home and Foreign work, $800,000 per annum, 
 with flourishing missions in India, China, Bulgaria, Italy, Germany, 
 Scandinavia, South America and California. 
 
 Its Publishing Interest is in the “Book Concern,” with a capital of 
 one million dollars. The profits of the Concern make a fund for the 
 support of the Bishops, aged and worn out preachers, and the widows 
 and orphans of preachers. There is a branch Concern also at Cincinnati, 
 with a capital stock of $380,000. The annual sales of both Concerns 
 amount to about $1,500,000. 
 
 Periodicals: The following are published by the denomination: 
 Quarterly Magazines, one ; Monthly Magazines, two; Monthly Papers, 
 three; Weekly Papers, ten. Of 
 
 Literary Institutions under the charge of the M. E. Church, there 
 are: Universities, 13; Colleges, 40; Theological Institutes, 4; Semi- 
 naries and Academies, 160. 
 
 One of the most interesting events in the history of this denomina- 
 tion was the 
 
 CENTENARY CELEBRATION, 
 which occurred in 1866. 
 
 The General Conference of 1864 made careful provision for permanent 
 results to the Church from the occasion, aud laid broad plans for great 
 financial contributions. 
 
 The primary object of the celebration was the spiritual improvement 
 of the membership, and a cultivation of a feeling of devout thankful- 
 
538 
 
 DENOMINATIONS IN THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 ness by a careful review of the great things God had wrought through 
 the Church. 
 
 As the gratitude of the heart ever seeks expression in outward acts, 
 a spontaneous offering of pecuniary contributions was suggested for 
 general Church purposes, that should render more efficient, in the 
 century to follow, those institutions and agencies to which the Church 
 has been so deeply indebted in the past. A central committee, consist- 
 ing of the board of bishops, with twelve ministers and twelve laymen, 
 were appointed, who laid their plans for great financial results, whose 
 largest anticipations were more than realized. 
 
 The first Sunday in January was observed throughout the Church as 
 a day of special and united prayer for the Divine blessing upon the 
 centenary services of the year ; for a general revival of religion, and 
 that the year might prove to be an epoch in the spiritual progress of 
 the Church. A memorial sermon was preached before each annual 
 Conference as their sessions occurred. The celebration proper began 
 on the first Tuesday of October, and continued throughout the month. 
 Immense meetings were held during the month of a general character 
 in all the cities and towns of the country, at which addresses were 
 made by leading ministers and laymen. One Sunday of the month 
 was set apart as the children’s day of jubilee, and was celebrated with 
 great interest and grand results. Appropriate medals were distributed 
 to all contributors. 
 
 The last Sunday of October was observed as a day of thanksgiving. 
 
 The ladies of the Church had a special organization. Their anni- 
 versary meeting was held in St. Paul’s Church, New York city, and 
 was one of the most successful of the year. It was presided over by 
 Chief Justice S. P. Chase, who made one of the most eloquentspeecb.es 
 of his life on that occasion. He was followed by Bishops Janes and 
 Simpson in addresses of remarkable beauty and power. At the request 
 of the ladies the historian of the church, Rev. Abel Stevens, LL. D., 
 prepared and published a volume of great beauty and interest entitled 
 “The Women of Methodism.” 
 
 Dr. Stevens also prepared, and the Central Committee published, a 
 succinct history of the Church entitled “The Centenary of American 
 Methodism,” which was sold in great numbers for the benefit of the 
 fund. 
 
 The contributions of the Church were munificent. Besides the 
 amounts reported below, the occasion was seized as a favorable moment 
 in which to build, enlarge, or otherwise improve home churches and 
 parsonages. The result of which, amounting to several thousands of 
 dollars, is not reported here. 
 
 In the contributions the first place was given to Educational Institu- 
 tions, the chief object being the Connectional. 
 
 Educational Fund, amount $ 9,195.36 
 
 For Garrett Biblical Institute, Chicago, 111 3,300.00 
 
 Boston Theological Institute 10,526.20 
 
 Drew Theological Seminary 500,016.00 
 
 Biblical School, Germany 1,675.00 
 
 Dickinson College, Carlisle, Pa 51,500.00 
 
METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH. 
 
 539 
 
 Wesleyan University $ 100,000.00 
 
 Sunday School Children’s Fund 27,846.00 
 
 The Chartered Fund 15,690.00 
 
 Church Extension 2,550,299.00 
 
 New York Mission House 70,000.00 
 
 Irish Connectional Fund 50,000.00 
 
 German Mission House 2,000.00 
 
 For Connectional Objects, unspecified Contributions, and 
 
 Local Enterprises.. 3,990,676.00 
 
 Total Contributions for the Year, $8,032,755.00 
 
 LAY REPRESENTATION. 
 
 The movement in favor of lay delegates being admitted to the legis- 
 lative councils of the Church excited great interest for many years. 
 Twice the General Conference expressed its willingness to legalize lay 
 representation as soon as convinced that the membership of the Church 
 desired the change. This was in 1860 and 1864. In the latter year the 
 question was submitted to a vote of the people, and was rejected by a 
 small majority, by far the larger number of the membership declining 
 or neglecting to vote. This was thought to be very largely on account 
 of the absorbing interest of our national affairs, and the hesitation of 
 the people to interfere with any system of government that had, under 
 God, been productive of such sublime results. The demand still con- 
 tinued from leading and influential ministers and laymen. Some of 
 the regular church papers strongly urged the claim, while Bishop 
 Simpson and other prominent ministers strongly urged the change. 
 The Methodist , an independent journal edited by Dr. Geo. H. Crooks, 
 assisted by Rev. Abel Stevens, LL. D., Rev. John McClintock, LL. D., 
 Rev. Drs. Nadal, Foster, Newman, Eddy and others, and supported by 
 wealthy laymen, gave great prominence to this subject. It published 
 stirring editorials, able communications, and full reports from the many 
 great mass meetings that were held throughout the country, and a much 
 greater interest was awakened on this subject throughout the Church. 
 In 1868 the General Conference again voted in favor of submitting the 
 question to a popular vote, and called upon the membership, both lay 
 and clerical, to express their preference. 
 
 The lay vote was taken in the month of June, 1869, all members, 
 male and female, having the privilege of voting “ for ” or “ against lay 
 delegation.” The election was held in each Society, presided over by 
 the Pastor. The total vote cast was about 250,000, of which 170,000 were 
 cast in favor of the change and about 80,000 against it. This was con- 
 sidered a large vote, and being above the required majority vote, was 
 made an argument in urging all the ministry to vote in their several 
 annual Conference sessions for the change. The clerical vote was taken 
 in the fall of 1869 and spring of 1870, and resulted in giving the re- 
 quired three-fourths vote of approval, and the General Conference of 
 1872 was authorized to make the change, and lay delegates will be cho- 
 sen to sit with that body by the electoral conferences of laymen. The 
 General Conference of 1872 has yet to give an approving two-thirds 
 vote before the change will be complete, and lay delegates may be ad- 
 
540 
 
 DENOMINATIONS IN THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 mitted to the General Conference. It is thought that in due time this 
 feature Trill also be introduced into the Annual Conferences. 
 
 SOUTHERN METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH. 
 
 The secession of the Conferences within the bounds of the slavehold- 
 ing States occurred in 1845. 
 
 Methodism obtained a strong hold upon the Southern population of 
 our country at an early date, and embraced in its membership large 
 numbers of the negro or slave population, together with a very fair pro- 
 portion of slaveholders. They all enjoyed equal rights and privileges. 
 The agitation of the slavery question in the Church began early in its 
 history, and continued with increasing earnestness until 1844, when the 
 inevitable crisis was reached. Rev. Mr. Harding, a member of the 
 Baltimore Conference, had been suspended for holding slaves. He pre- 
 sented an appeal to the General Conference at its session held in New 
 York, May, 1S44. After much discussion the action of the Annual 
 Conference was sustained, and the law of the Church was executed 
 against him. 
 
 A complaint was then entered against Bishop Andrew for holding 
 slaves. He was a citizen of Georgia, had married a lady possessed of 
 slaves, and at this time held them as his own property. A protracted 
 and heated discussion followed, resulting in the adoption of a resolu- 
 tion requiring the Bishop “ to desist from all the functions of his office 
 until he had relieved himself from this embarrassment.” Against this 
 action Dr. Bascom presented a protest signed by 53 Southern delegates 
 and 7 from the border States. 
 
 The representatives from thirteen Annual Conferences, embraced in 
 the slaveholding States, presented a declaration setting forth their con- 
 viction that the continuance of these Conferences under the jurisdic- 
 tion of the General Conference would be greatly detrimental to the 
 general prosperity of the Church in those States, and that a separation 
 •was imperatively demanded. 
 
 A plan of separation was adopted, according to which there should 
 be an amicable adjustment of boundary lines and a fair division of the 
 property of the Church, should the Annual Conferences in the slave- 
 holding States deem it necessary to form a distinct organization. 
 
 Special Conferences were held throughout the South and Southwest, 
 and in May, 1845, a convention was called at Louisville, Ky., which 
 dissolved their union with the General Conference and created a 
 separate ecclesiastical connection, under the title of the M. E. Church 
 South. Their first General Conference was held at Petersburg, Va. 
 The senior Bishop of the M. E. Church, Dr. Joshua Soule, withdrew 
 and connected himself with the Southern branch. It is scarcely to be 
 wondered at that bitter feelings were engendered and that a suit in the 
 civil courts became necessary before the property question became 
 properly settled. A fair pro rata division was enforced by the United 
 States courts. 
 
 In this organization no change was made in the doctrine, polity, 
 
METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH. 
 
 541 
 
 usages, or form of government peculiar to Methodism. On the divid- 
 ing question the Southern branch held that “ slavery, wherever estab- 
 lished and protected by constitutional law, is a civil question with 
 which ecclesiastical bodies have no authority to meddle, and that the 
 true function of the Church is to preach the gospel and administer the 
 sacraments and discipline of Christ’s religion alike to master and 
 slave.” The M. E. Church condemned slavery, proclaimed themselves 
 in duty bound to do all in their power for the extirpation of what they 
 regarded as a great evil. 
 
 The Southern Church suffered heavy loss during the late war, and 
 has not recovered its former prosperity in all respects at the present 
 date. Some changes in government have also been made since the war 
 closed. In 1866, lay delegation to the Annual and General Conference 
 was adopted, also, four years as the pastoral term and the partial veto 
 power of the bishops. 
 
 Recent statistics present the following condition of the Church : — 
 
 Bishops 10 
 
 Annual conferences 30 
 
 Traveling preachers 2,680 
 
 Superannuated 200 
 
 Local preachers 4,800 
 
 Membership 620,000 
 
 Educational Institutions — 
 
 Universities, colleges for young men 15 
 
 Academies for young men 20 
 
 Academies for females 28 
 
 The publishing house was established in 1854, and has added greatly 
 to the strength of the denomination, and furnished valuable literary 
 helps to all the churches, Sunday schools, &c. The General Confer- 
 ence publishes a Quarterly Review, Ladies’ Magazine, Sunday School 
 Journal, and several weekly papers. 
 
 THE METHODIST PROTESTANT CHURCH 
 
 was organized in 1830, by a secession from the M. E. Church. 
 
 Disaffected members met in council at Baltimore, (1824,) and styling 
 themselves “ Reformers,” organized “ Union societies ” throughout the 
 country, their object being to bring about a change in the M. E. 
 Church, so as to limit the powers of the bishops and secure the admis- 
 sion of lay delegates to the councils of the Church. 
 
 Conventions were also held in 1826, ’27, and ’28. In November, 1830, 
 a constitution and book of discipline was adopted for the independent 
 societies, and the name Methodist Protestant Church was assumed by 
 the seceding societies. The Rev. Francis Waters, D. D., of Baltimore, 
 was first President of their Conference. 
 
 Their doctrinal tenets were and are still precisely the same as those 
 held by the M. E. Church. 
 
 The General Conference meets every seven years and is composed of 
 an equal number of ministers and laymen ; there being one of each 
 class for every 1,000 communicants. It recognizes the mutual rights 
 of ministers and laymen, fixes salaries of ministers, regulates bounda- 
 
542 
 
 DENOMINATIONS IN THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 ries, and is the final court of appeal in the Church. The Annual Con- 
 ference is composed of all the ordained ministers in the traveling con- 
 nection, who elect and ordain ministers, station the preachers, exarfiine 
 character, hear and try complaints against ministers ; it chooses its own 
 President annually. 
 
 They have the Quarterly Conference, class meetings, leaders’ meet- 
 ings, &c., as already described in the M. E. Church, but has neither 
 Bishops nor Presiding Elders. 
 
 It now numbers about nine hundred (900) traveling ministers ; local 
 preachers, 800 ; membership, about 110,000. It has eight colleges, four 
 weekly periodicals, and some 1,200 church buildings. 
 
 THE WESLEYAN METHODIST CHURCH 
 
 Adopted the same principles of church government as held by the 
 M. E. Church. They were formally organized into a separate religious 
 body in 1843. Three questions were involved in the discussion that re- 
 sulted in this secession : slavery, church government, and the use and 
 sale of intoxicating drinks, of which the first was the most prominent 
 and important. 
 
 They excluded from Church membership and Christian fellowship 
 all slaveholders, and all persons who manufacture, buy, sell, or use 
 intoxicating liquors, unless for mechanical, chemical or medicinal 
 purposes. Each Church has power to act for itself, and ministerial 
 equality is declared. They have Annual and Quarterly Conferences. 
 Although flourishing for some years, have more recently declined, 
 many of their members and ministers uniting with the M. E. Church, 
 which came fully up to their platform on the slavery and temperance 
 questions. 
 
 THE EVANGELICAL METHODISTS, 
 
 Or Allbrights, are in fact German Methodists. Their first society was 
 organized in 1800, under the pastoral care of Jacob Allbright, a con- 
 verted German, of Pennsylvania. As the society increased, and other 
 preachers were raised up, Mr. Allbright was elected Presiding Elder. 
 Their first conference was held in 1816. They have the same form of 
 government as the M. E. Church, and all its customs and usages. 
 They now number about fifty thousand members, almost entirely 
 German. 
 
 THE AFRICAN METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH 
 Is composed entirely of colored members. They have six Annual 
 Conferences, Bishops, Elders and Deacons, with General Annual and 
 Quarterly Conferences, and now number about 350.000 members, 1000 
 ministers, 5000 lor-al, and $5,000,000 in church property. This was a se- 
 cession from the M. E. Church in 1787. 
 
 THE ZION AFRICAN METHODIST 
 
 Episcopal Church, seceded in 1820, now numbers 192,000 members, 817 
 traveling preachers, 19 Conferences and six bishops, who are elected for 
 four years. 
 
METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH. 
 
 543 
 
 I. METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH (NORTH.) 
 
 BISHOPS OF THE METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH. 
 
 Names. 
 
 Entered Ministry. 
 
 Conference. Y ear. 
 
 Remarks. 
 
 *Thomas Coke 
 
 ^Francis Asbury 
 
 ^Richard Whatcoat 
 
 *William M’Kendree 
 
 *Enoch George 
 
 ^Robert R i chford Roberts 
 *Toshua 8oule 
 
 British Wesleyan. 
 British Wesleyan. 
 British Wesleyan. 
 
 M. E. Church 
 
 M. E. Church 
 
 Baltimore 
 
 New York 
 
 * Elijah Hedding 
 
 J-James Osgood Andrew.. 
 *John Emory 
 
 New England 
 
 South Carolina 
 
 Philadelphia 
 
 * Beverly Waugh... 
 
 Baltimore 
 
 Thomas A. Morris 
 
 Ohio 
 
 *Leonidas Lent Hamline 
 
 Edmund Storer Janes 
 
 Levi Scott 
 
 Ohio 
 
 Philadelphia 
 
 Philadelphia 
 
 Matthew Simpson 
 
 Pittsburgh 
 
 Osmon Cleander Baker... 
 Edward Raymond Ames. 
 ^Francis Burns 
 
 New Hampshire.. 
 
 Illinois 
 
 Liberia 
 
 *Davis Wasgatt Clark 
 
 * Edward Thomson 
 
 New York 
 
 Ohio 
 
 *Calvin Kingsley 
 
 Erie 
 
 John Wright Roberts 
 
 Liberia 
 
 ow 
 
 1778 
 
 1706 
 
 1769 
 
 1788 
 
 1790 
 
 1802 
 
 1799 
 
 1801 
 
 1813 
 
 1810 
 
 1809 
 
 1816 
 
 1833 
 
 1830 
 
 1826 
 
 1833 
 
 1839 
 
 1830 
 
 1838 
 
 1813 
 
 1833 
 
 1«41 
 
 1838 
 
 1784 
 
 17.s4 
 
 1800 
 
 1808 
 
 1816 
 
 1816 
 
 1824 
 
 1824 
 
 1832 
 
 1832 
 
 1836 
 
 1836 
 
 1844 
 
 1844 
 
 1852 
 
 1852 
 
 1852 
 
 1852 
 
 1858 
 
 1864 
 
 1864 
 
 1864 
 
 1866 
 
 Died at sea, May 3, 1814, aged 67. 
 
 Died in Virginia, Mar. 31, 1816, aged 71. 
 Died in Delaware, July 5, 1806, aged 71. 
 Died in Tennessee, Mar. 5, 1835, aged 78. 
 Died in Virginia, Aug. 23, 182 <, aged 60. 
 Died in Indiana, March 28, 1843, aged 65. 
 Ent. M. E. Ch. S., 1810; died Mar. 0, 1867. 
 ' D’d, Poughkeepsie, N. Y. Ap. 9, '52, a’d 72. 
 Bishop of M. E. Church, South, 1846. 
 Died in Maryland, Dec. 16, 1835, aged 47. 
 Died in Maryland, Feb. 9, 1858, aged 69. 
 Residence, Springfield, Ohio. 
 
 Resigned 1852 ; died in Iowa, Mar. 22, '65. 
 Residence, New York, N. Y. 
 
 Residence, Odessa, Del. 
 
 Residence, Philadelphia, Pa. 
 
 Residence, Concord, N. H. 
 
 Residence, Baltimore, Md. 
 
 Died at Baltimore, Md., April 18, 1863. 
 Died at Cincinnati, Ohio, June, 187 '. 
 D’d, Wheel’g, W.Va., Mar. 22, ’70, a’d 59. 
 Died, Beirut, Syria, April 6, 1870, aged 57. 
 Residence, Monrovia, Africa. 
 
 * Deceased. 
 
 f Withdrawn. 
 
 COMPARATIVE STATEMENT. 
 
 By examining the official returns of the Conferences for the whole country, and comparing them by 
 decades, from 1776, we have the following table : 
 
 Year. 
 
 Traveling 
 
 Preachers. 
 
 Increase of 
 Preachers. 
 
 Members. 
 
 Increase of 
 Members. 
 
 1776 
 
 24 
 
 24 
 
 4,921 
 
 4,921 
 
 1786 
 
 117 
 
 93 
 
 20,689 
 
 15,768 
 
 1796 
 
 2 L 3 
 
 176 
 
 56,664 
 
 35,975 
 
 1806 
 
 452 
 
 159 
 
 130,570 
 
 73,906 
 
 1816 
 
 665 
 
 213 
 
 214,235 
 
 83,665 
 
 1826 
 
 1,406 
 
 711 
 
 360,800 
 
 146,565 
 
 1836 
 
 2,928 
 
 1,522 
 
 650,103 
 
 289,303 
 
 1846 
 
 3,5S2 
 
 654 
 
 644,229* 
 
 Decrease, 5,874 
 
 1856 
 
 5,877 
 
 2,295 
 
 800,327 
 
 156,098 
 
 1866 
 
 7,576 
 
 1,699 
 
 1,032,184 
 
 231,857 
 
 * By the withdrawal and separation of the Southern Conferences in 1844, organizing the Methodist 
 Episcopal Church, South, the Methodist Episcopal Church lost 1,345 traveling preachers, and 
 495,288 members; and yet so rapid was her growth during the decade, that at its close (two years 
 after the separation) there was a net gain of 654 preachers, and a lack of only 5,87 4 members of making 
 up the number lost. 
 
 II. METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH (SOUTH.) 
 
 BISHOPS. 
 
 Rev. JAMES OSGOOD ANDREW, D. D., Summerfield, Ala., 1832. 
 
 Rev. ROBERT PAINE, D. D., Aberdeen, Miss., 1846. 
 
 Rev. GFORGE FOSTER PIERCE, D. D., Culverton, Ga., 1854. 
 
 Rev. JOHN EARLY, D. D., Lynchburgh, Va., 1S54. 
 
 Rev. HUBBARD HINDE KAVANAUGH, D. D., Lexington, Ky., 1854. 
 Rev. WILLIAM MAY WIGHTMAN, D. D., Charleston, S. C., 1866. 
 
 Rev. ENOCH MATHER MARVIN, D. D., O’Fallon, Mo., 1866. 
 
 Rev. DAVID SETH DOGGETT, D. D., Richmond, Va., U66. 
 
 Rev. HOLLAND NIMMONS McTYEIRE, D. D.. Nashville, Tenn., 1866. 
 
544 
 
 DENOMINATIONS IN THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 CONGREGATIONALISM. 
 
 The Congregational form of Church organization is that which re- 
 cognizes no human authority over the local church or Christian con- 
 gregation. The term is, however, limited by ordinary usage to Churches 
 holding what is called the orthodox system of theology. There are 
 also numerous Churches, Congregationally organized, which by their 
 own choice, or by common consent, have received some other title, and 
 are never included in the term Congregationalists. The Baptist de- 
 nomination is a notable example of this. With this explanation we 
 proceed to give a sketch of those Churches known to each other, and 
 more or less associated under the title — the Congregational Denomina- 
 tion of the United States. 
 
 Congregationalism in modern times had its beginning in the seven- 
 teenth century. Previous to that time, Christianity had been in most 
 countries where it prevailed a State religion, governed as to its forms, 
 and influenced not a little, even in its doctrines, by the same power 
 that controlled the nation. But separation between Church and State 
 was a necessary condition of human progress, an inevitable consequence 
 of free thought. The State refused to be governed by the Church, and 
 the Church began to learn that if God never organized it for the ad- 
 ministration of civil affairs, He certainly never placed it in the power 
 of the State to destroy individual responsibility, or limit the faith and 
 practice of Christians to the uniformity of a State religion. From 
 many quarters at once there came a cry for liberty of conscience. A 
 cry which was met on the other hand by those who seeing nothing in 
 liberty but anarchy, insisted that the State should produce uniformity, 
 only they could not agree by whose conscience that uniformity should 
 be regulated. But uniformity had then become impossible, and organi- 
 zations independent of the State began to prevail. 
 
 The advocates of each new system, since they could not but perceive 
 the sad consequences of endless division, every one of them sought, 
 by some means, to bring all the nation into conformity with their 
 system. There were two possible directions which these new organi- 
 zations could take. The one was to attempt the establishment of 
 national Churches, with governments and ecclesiastical powers, similar 
 to those formerly exercised in connection with the civil power. The 
 other was to renounce all idea of national religious institutions, and 
 resolve Church organization into the mere fact of the organized fellow- 
 ship and co-operation of Christians living near together. Most of the 
 Churches which express the former of these tendencies, have been at 
 one time or another connected with the State, while the latter tendency 
 expressed from the beginning the strongest aversion to State interfer- 
 ence or control. Episcopacy, Presbyterianism, and the system of the 
 Lutherans illustrate the first. 
 
 Congregationalism is the result of the second. The idea of the Church 
 as it is now held by Congregationalists, had doubtless a somewhat 
 
 
CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH. 
 
 545 
 
 gradual development. The independence of the local Church was first 
 recognized, for the notion of it grew naturally out of the existence of 
 feeble congregations, who knew no larger body with which they could 
 conscientiously fraternize. Afterwards these Churches learned what 
 seemed to them almost as important as their own independence— the 
 fellowship of Churches ; an idea still rejected by some, who are called 
 Brownists, or Independents, rather than Congregationalists. As early 
 as the year 1562, when the separation of the Church of England from 
 that of Borne may be said to have been finally completed, we begin to 
 find casual notices of persons called Separatists, and in 1567 a company 
 of them meeting in Plummer’s hall, in London, were committed by 
 the Lord Mayor to the Bridewell. In that prison they organized what 
 seems to have been the first independent Church in England. The 
 pastor, the deacon, and several members of this Church died in prison, 
 of the plague, but that was the beginning of a movement yet in pro- 
 gress both in England and America. 
 
 An active persecution failed to repress it. The new Protestant Church 
 was scarcely more tolerant of dissent than its predecessor. Nor should 
 this seem strange when we know that such men as Bichard Baxter ap- 
 proved of persecution for conscience’ sake, under certain circumstances. 
 
 In the year 1606 at Scrooby, a village in the north of England, there 
 was organized an independent Church, probably a branch of one before 
 existing at Gainsborough, which proved the germ of Congregationalism 
 in America. 
 
 Their second pastor was John Bobinson, and among the early mem- 
 bers were elder Brewster and William Bradford, both afterwards famous 
 among the “Pilgrim Fathers,” of New England. This Church, to 
 escape from continual annoyances, and the peril of martyrdom, which 
 had already come upon several of their brethren, was transplanted in 
 the year 1608 to Leyden in Holland. In the year 1620 the same persons 
 organized a colony which emigrated, one hundred and two in number, 
 to the wilderness of New England, where they landed upon Plymouth 
 Bock, on the 21st of December, of the same year. The Church which 
 they organized in the May Flower, just before landing, was, with the 
 exception of perhaps two or three Episcopal Churches in Virginia, the 
 first Church in this country. By this time the doctrines of Congrega- 
 tionalism, as now understood, were pretty clearly developed. Other 
 colonies speedily followed this one, settling in Salem, Boston, and other 
 places. 
 
 They were composed for the most part of men of like spirit with the 
 Pilgrims. But these new immigrants lacked the advanced views of 
 the Pilgrims; and only gradually came under the influence of their 
 liberal and enlightened convictions. To them are to be mainly attribu- 
 ted the deeds of superstition and persecution, the Salem witchcraft 
 trials, and the persecution of Quakers, so often mentioned in connection 
 with the history of New England. They were not at first prepared for 
 such ideas as that of the independence of the local Church. 
 
 But the logic of New England history more and more separated the 
 
 i 
 
546 
 
 DENOMINATIONS IN THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 Colonists from the institutions of the mother country, and so favored 
 the ideas prevalent in the Plymouth Colony, that they soon pervaded 
 nearly all the religious institutions of the region. New England became 
 generally Congregational, and has remained so to a great extent ever 
 since. One vigorous attempt early made to render the community 
 Presbyterian entirely failed. 
 
 With such a foothold in a part of the country prolific in emigration 
 and influential from the beginning, especially through its institutions 
 of learning, which are still the most prominent in the land, and still 
 for the most part in Congregational hands, the denomination might 
 naturally have been expected to fill a larger place than it does in the 
 religious statistics of America. The fact is that for several years it 
 made little progress toward the West. When, near the commencement 
 of the present century, the New England emigrants, who were rapidly 
 filling up the State of New York and establishing there churches of 
 their own order, found in the same region a simultaneous emigration 
 from Maryland and Pennsylvania — where Presbyterianism had taken 
 root about the year 1790 — it was felt that denominations so similar in 
 their views of theology should be practically united. Various discus- 
 sions finally produced a plan of union which influenced the movements 
 of the two denominations for several years, not only in New York but 
 farther west. Both parties entered upon this plan in an honest and 
 Christian spirit. But when we consider that with one party the 
 church meant only the local body, while the other was thoroughly 
 imbued with the idea of a national organization which their convictions 
 compelled them as far as possible to realize, and that the union was to 
 be only such as the Constitution of the Presbyterian Church would 
 admit, and especially when we consider that the New Englanders were 
 educated to think little of forms, it will not seem strange that the plan 
 of union tended for the most part to build Presbyterian churches. 
 Congregationalists found what was for them the essential thing — living 
 local churches — among the Presbyterians, and the desire for more per- 
 fect union continually drew them toward the centralized system of 
 their brethren. Twenty-five years later Congregationalists, who had 
 by this time many churches scattered in the West, began to take a 
 different view of the relation of their polity to the ecclesiastical history 
 of America. They began to see that centralized church governments 
 might be multiplied indefinitely without bringing us any nearer to the 
 much-desired union of Christians. They came to believe, on the other 
 hand, that, in the independence of the local church — the union of 
 Christians simply on the ground that they are Christians — they saw 
 the final cure for the divisions of Christendom. A general council of 
 Congregational churches, held at Albany in the year 1852, did much to 
 spread these ideas and to promote sympathy between the different 
 churches of the denomination throughout the land. The same move- 
 ment was strengtheced, six or seven years later, by the separation of 
 the New School Presbyterians from the American Home Missionary 
 Society, in which the two denominations had co-operated ever since 
 the early days of the plan of union. Since that time Congregationalism 
 
CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH. 
 
 547 
 
 has been far more progressive and earnest. Its friends claim that it has 
 the polity taught in the New Testament, and that it is peculiarly 
 adapted to American ideas, and especially fitted to harmonize the dis- 
 cordant religious elements of our land. Another general council was 
 held at Boston in the year 1865. This council sought to effect a more 
 perfect union of the denomination, and while it studiously avoided all 
 centralization of power and put forth no claim of authority, it did 
 much to give practical efficiency to the Christian efforts of those who 
 are united by their membership with churches holding the same faith 
 and order. It is expected that similar councils will, from time to time, 
 be held. 
 
 A few statistics of the denomination will here be in place. The 
 number of churches, ministers, and church members, with the rate of 
 increase, will appear from the following table, which is taken from the 
 “ Congregational Quarterly.” These figures show the state of the 
 denomination for the year previous to their publication. 
 
 No. of Churches. No. of Ministers. 
 
 No. of Members. 
 
 1861,?. 2,583 
 
 1866, 2,773 
 
 1871, 3,121 
 
 2,634 253,765 
 
 2,802 263,296 
 
 3,098 306,518 
 
 Congregationalists are most numerous in Massachusetts, where there 
 are five hundred and two churches, and eighty thousand members. 
 The largest Church is Plymouth Church, Brooklyn, of which Bev. Henry 
 Ward Beecher is pastor, numbering over two thousand members. As 
 our purpose is to speak only of the United States, we omit the statistics 
 of Canada, as we have also omitted all mention of the very large num- 
 ber of Congregationalists in England and Wales. 
 
 Congregationalists have no ecclesiastical machinery by which they 
 are able to control institutions subordinate to the Church, and they 
 think it safer that colleges, theological schools, and publishing estab- 
 lishments should be managed by individuals for the benefit of the 
 Church. There are six Congregational theological seminaries, located 
 at Andover, New Haven. Hartford, Bangor, Oberlin and Chicago, 
 under the management of Boards of Trust, all of which, excepting the 
 one at Chicago, have power to fill their own vacancies. 
 
 The trustees of the latter institution are appointed by a triennial 
 convention of Churches. Congregational periodicals and newspapers, 
 such as the “Congregational Quarterly,” the “ Congregationalist ” 
 and the “Advance,” are owned and managed entirely by indi- 
 viduals. Even their benevolent operations are under the care of 
 voluntary societies, controlled by their contributors, such as the 
 American Home Missionary Society, the American Board, and the 
 American Missionary Association, all of which, though organized as 
 Union Societies, have now fallen entirely into Congregational hands, 
 
513 
 
 DENOMINATIONS IN THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 through the withdrawal of those at one time co-operating 'with them. 
 It remains to give a more particular account of wffiat Congregational- 
 ists believe. 
 
 1. In respect to theology. They are universally recognized as ortho- 
 dox and evangelical, and they hold with great uniformity that system 
 known as “New England theology,” which is neither “ Arminianism,” 
 on the one hand, nor “High Calvinism” on the other. Yet there 
 exists among them, as with most other denominations, considerable 
 diversity in shades of opinion and modes of statement, while in refer- 
 ence to matters considered non-essential they encourage entire freedom. 
 For example, some Churches use a liturgy which gives no offence to 
 the majority of their brethren who do not. It has been assumed by 
 many that a denomination with no authoritative creed and no central 
 government must of necessity be loose and variable in respect to doc- 
 trine. Congregationalists, on the other hand, contend that no such 
 creed can be sufficient for the varied wants of the Churches, and that 
 such a creed has never kept the Church from lapsing into error. They 
 claim to find greater safety in the sense of individual responsibility 
 which comes through an organization all of whose members are upon 
 an equality, and where the question of faith continually comes up as a 
 matter of personal conviction. They assert that the denomination ex- 
 hibits substantial unity in all essentials, and a history of remarkable 
 consistency and harmony But they consider this in part due to the 
 liberal use they have made of creeds as testimonies for the truth, and 
 as grounds of Christian fellowship. While they neither impose nor 
 receive creeds as a matter of authority, they are greatly given to making 
 what they j>refer to term confessions of faith. General councils or 
 synods were held in 1648, 1680, 1852 and 1865, each of which made a 
 confession of faith, or re-affirmed those of its predecessors. Councils of 
 Churches recognize each new organization on the exhibition of its 
 articles of faith. Churches are received to local associations, and 
 ministers are installed, not in view of assent to standards of belief, 
 but after reading their creeds or making verbal confession of their 
 faith. In the same way persons are received to Church member- 
 ship. 
 
 2. In respect to polity. They define a Church as a society of pro- 
 fessed believers, united by covenant (expressed or implied) with the 
 Lord and each other, to maintain Christian ordinances and worship, 
 and to promote spiritual religion in themselves and others. They hold 
 that all Christians are bound, if possible, to associate themselves with 
 those around them, and to receive all who seem to be Christians to 
 their own fellowship. A society thus organized is an independent 
 Church subject to no external human authority. It may need, and 
 should gladly receive the advice of the brethren, and if it departs from 
 the faith other Churches are bound to admonish, and finally to with- 
 draw fellowship from it, but it does not need government from without. 
 It does not even need a higher court of appeal in cases of discipline, 
 because in such cases the real question is shall the transgressor continue 
 
CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH. 
 
 549 
 
 to receive fellowship as a Christian, and that is a question for his 
 Christian neighbors to answer. 
 
 To a Church thus constituted belongs the right to exercise all Church 
 functions, to make its own confession of faith, to choose its own officers, 
 to determine for itself whom it will receive and whom it will exclude, 
 and finally to manage all its internal affairs. And since to the local 
 Church alone belong all these proper church functions, to it alone 
 should the term Church be applied. There are matters of fellowship 
 and co-operation which should combine all the Christians of a State or 
 a nation, but this combination does not constitute a national Church. 
 These views Congregationalists defend as scriptural, by insisting that the 
 New Testament use of the word Church accords with them. It speaks 
 of the Church in Ephesus, and the Churches in Asia, never of the 
 Church in Asia, and it never uses the word church in a sense which 
 conflicts with their view. 
 
 They also claim that Church discipline is in the New Testament the 
 act of the local body, not of its officers or of any higher court. In 
 accordance with these views they are careful to speak of Congrega- 
 tional Churches, never using the phrase, the Congregational Church. 
 They arrange their systems of co-operation by the consent of the 
 Churches, and are careful by no means to interfere with their inde- 
 pendence. The same idea also accords with their theory of Church 
 officers and Christian ministry. All Churches which have been at one 
 time connected with the State, and others modeled after the same 
 forms, have a class of clergymen who are members, not of the local 
 bodies, but of the national Church or some of its subdivisions, and 
 amenable only to its discipline. They differ among themselves in that 
 some of them hold the equality (parity) of the clergy, while others 
 (sometimes called prelatists) divide the clergy into two or more orders. 
 Congregationalists differ from both quite as much as they differ from 
 each other. They hold the equality of the brotherhood. They have, 
 it is true, an order of ministers, but they are members of the Churches, 
 and subject to their discipline. Consecrated hr a particular work these 
 ministers are esteemed for its sake ; but they have neither office nor 
 authority, except as they are chosen by some Church to the Pastorate, 
 and they hold that office only during the pleasure of the Church. The 
 system of Church officers is very simple. They find in the New 
 Testament only two classes of officers, the elders or bishops, (called 
 also Pastors,) who administer the spiritual affairs of the Church and 
 are its religious teachers, and the deacons who are charged with its 
 temporal interests. In former times it was customary to have several 
 elders in each Church, some of whom were executive officers but not 
 public teachers. Of late, however, these offices are for the most part 
 concentrated in one elder, or as he is generally called Pastor. A Pastor 
 may be called from the membership or even the Pastorate of another 
 Church, but when he is installed he becomes a member of his own. 
 In practice the Deacons have usually a large share of spiritual 
 care 
 
550 
 
 DENOMINATIONS IN THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 The doctrine of the independence of local societies is, howevor, 
 limited by that of the fellowship of the churches, which is thus stated : 
 “ Although churches are distinct, and therefore may not be confounded 
 one with another, equal, and therefore have no dominion one over 
 another, yet all the churches ought to preserve communion one with 
 another, because they are all united to Christ as integral parts of His 
 one catholic Church militant against the evil that is in the world, and 
 visible in the profession of the Christian faith, in the observance of the 
 Christian sacrament, in the manifestation of the Christian life, and in 
 the worship of the one God of our salvation, the Father, and the Son, 
 and the Holy Ghost.’ ’ And although the attempt to unite all Chris- 
 tians into one church has caused the divisions of Christendom, this 
 fellowship should find all proper expression and may do so without 
 peril. It is expressed in part by ordinary courtesies between churches, 
 especially by the reception of members on letters of recommendation 
 and in part by stated meetings of pastors and delegates, called Asso- 
 ciations or Conferences. But it is more definitely expressed by the 
 system of ecclesiastical councils. In view of any important matter of 
 common concern any church may call an ecclesiastical council. In all 
 the more important events in their own history, such as the establish- 
 ment of a new church, and the settlement or dismission of a pastor, 
 churches are expected in that way to advise with their brethren. 
 Also in cases of special difficulty or trial, such as serious differences 
 among the members, or between the church and its pastor, or a knotty 
 case of discipline, a council may be called. And even a single member, 
 if he deems himself aggrieved, may request the church to unite with 
 him in calling a “ mutual” council, and in case of their refusal he may 
 himself call an “ ex parte” council. The party calling a council makes 
 choice of what churches shall compose it. The churches are invited 
 by “letter missive ” to be present on such a day, by pastor and delegate, 
 with the others named, and deliberate on the matter in hand. The 
 decision of a council is only advisory and failure to accept the advice 
 of council doe3 not necessarily subject a church to loss of standing 
 in the denomination. In extreme cases, however, a council may 
 advise the churches to receive a member who has been, in their 
 judgment, unjustly disfellowshiped, or even to refuse fellowship to 
 a church because of its persistence in serious errors of doctrine or 
 practice. 
 
 SEC. V.— CUMBERLAND PRESBYTERIANS. 
 
 About the beginning of the present century there arose a remarkable re- 
 vival of religion among a portion of the Presbyterian church in Kentucky . 
 Meetings were held in the open air ; and multitudes flocked together from 
 the distance of fifty and even in some instances a hundred miles. This 
 was the origin of camp-meetings. As the number of converts was great, 
 and religion was extended into destitute and neglected regions, a strong 
 
CUMBERLAND PRESBYTERIANS. 
 
 551 
 
 necessity was felt for a more rapid multiplication of Christian ministers. 
 This led the Cumberland Presbytery, in 1801, to encourage four laymen, 
 without a classical education, to prepare written discourses with a view to 
 the receiving of license to preach the gospel. In 1803 Mr. Alexander 
 Anderson, and Mr. Finis Ewing, were ordained to the work of the ministry. 
 Others were licensed as probationers, and several candidates were received 
 under the care of the presbytery. 
 
 In 1805, the Synod of Kentucky, in reviewing the book of records of the 
 Cumberland Presbytery, took notice of their having introduced men into the 
 sacred office who had not acquired a regular education, and who were 
 understood to have taken exceptions to the doctrinal standards of the 
 church. This led to the appointment of a commission, with full powers to 
 act in the place of the synod, both in holding a friendly conference with the 
 presbytery, and in judicially terminating the case. 
 
 The commission demanded that all those persons who had been ordained 
 or licensed without an examination on all the branches of learning and 
 doctrine required in the Confession of Faith, should appear before them- 
 selves, and submit to a full and regular examination. To this demand the 
 presbytery declined to submit. 
 
 The commission then passed a resolution that those who had been thus 
 licensed or ordained without a full examination should be prohibited from 
 the exercise of official functions, until such times as they should submit 
 themselves to their jurisdiction. 
 
 The members of presbytery continued to exercise their ministry, but not 
 without making various efforts during a period of five years to obtain 
 through the General Assembly a “redress of grievances.” Having faileS 
 in all these endeavours, the Rev. Messrs. Ewing, King, and McAdam, in 
 1810, declared themselves independent, and constituted the Cumberland 
 Presbytery, which was the germ of the present Cumberland Presbyterian 
 Church. In their constitution the following statement is made as defining 
 their position : 
 
 “ We, Samuel McAdam, Finis Ewing, and Samuel King, regularly 
 ordained ministers of the Presbyterian Church, against whom no charge 
 either of immorality or heresy has ever been exhibited before any judica- 
 ture of the church, having waited in vain more than four years, in the 
 mean time petitioning the General Assembly for a redress of grievances, and 
 a restoration of our violated rights, have and do hereby agree and deter- 
 mine to constitute ourselves into a presbytery, known by the name of the 
 Cumberland Presbytery, on the following conditions: 
 
 “All candidates for the ministry, who may hereafter be licensed by this 
 presbytery, and all the licentiates or probationers who may hereafter be 
 ordained by this presbytery, shall be required, before such licensure and 
 ordination, to receive and accept the Confession of Faith and Discipline of 
 
552 
 
 DENOMINATIONS IN THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 the Presbyterian Church, except the idea of fatality that seems to be taught 
 under the mysterious doctrine of predestination. It is to be understood, 
 however, that such as can clearly receive the Confession of Faith without 
 an exception, will not be required to make any. Moreover, all licentiates, 
 before they are set apart to the whole work of the ministry, or ordained, 
 shall be required to undergo an examination in English Grammar, Geogra- 
 phy, Astronomy, Natural and Moral Philosophy, and Church History. It 
 will not be understood that examinations in Experimental Religion and 
 Theology will be omitted. The presbytery may also require an examina- 
 tion on any part, or all, of the above branches of knowledge before licen- 
 sure, if they deem it expedient.” 
 
 So rapid was their growdh, that three years after, in 1813, they became 
 three presbyteiies, and constituted a synod. At the sessions of the synod 
 in 1828, three new synods were erected, and measures were taken for the 
 organization of a general assembly. The first meeting of the General 
 Assembly occurred at Princeton, Ky., in 1829. 
 
 The doctrines of this church are a modification of the Westminster Con- 
 fession. The chief point of difference is their rejecting the doctrine of elec- 
 tion, as in their view tending to fatality. They are strictly Presbyterian in 
 government and order. 
 
 Soon after tl?e colonization of Texas by Austin, there were Cumberland 
 Presbyterian preaching stations and small churches planted there. They 
 increased in size and numbers. In the process of time a presbytery w r as 
 organized. Now a flourishing synod, composed of several presbyteries, 
 exists. In it there is a religious periodical, well conducted, and promises 
 to exert a considerable religious and moral influence. 
 
 On the authority of the Assembly, which met in May, 1847, at Lebanon, 
 Ohio, there were 17 synods, 68 presbyteries, 800 congregations, 650 minis- 
 ters, 200 licentiates, 150 candidates for the ministry, and over 100,000 
 communicants. The number of communicants in some estimates has been 
 placed considerably higher than this. The lowest has here been stated. 
 Reckoning four children, and other adherents, to each communicant, w r hich 
 it will bs acknowledged is a very low estimate, there will be found 500, 00C 
 persons connected with this branch of the Redeemer’s kingdom. 
 
 In 1871 it reports 100 presbyteries, 1,116 ministers, 195 licentiates, 222 
 candidates, 43,41 1 communicants, 451 congregations. From 45 presby- 
 teries there is no report of communicants. The whole number of com- 
 municants, it is believed, is more than 80,000. 
 
MORAVIANS. 
 
 553 
 
 MORAVIANS. 
 
 The Moravians or Unitas Fratrum are generally said to have arisen 
 under Nicholas Lewis, Count of Zinzendorf, a German nobleman of the 
 last century, and thus called because the first converts to the system 
 were some Moravian families. 
 
 From the society’s own account, however, they derive their origin 
 from the Greek Church in the ninth century, when, by the instrumen- 
 tality of Methodius and Cyrillus — two Greek monks — the kings of 
 Bulgaria and Moravia were converted and, together with their subjects, 
 united with the Greek Church. After many struggles between the 
 Greek and Roman churches, however, the greater part of the brethren 
 were compelled to submit to the See of Rome. A few, however, adher- 
 ing to the rites of their mother church, united themselves, in 1170, to 
 the Waldenses and sent missionaries into many countries. In 1547 
 they threw off all reverence for human compilations of the faith, and 
 professed simply to follow the doctrines and precepts of the Word of 
 God, from which they were called Brethren of the Law of Christ. In 
 1523 they opened a friendly correspondence with Luther, and afterwards 
 with Calvin and other leaders of the Reformation. For this they were 
 persecuted and their existence for a time threatened, but in 1575 the 
 persecution ceased and the Brethren obtained an edict for the public 
 exercise of their religion. 
 
 In 1612 civil war broke out in Bohemia, and a violent persecution 
 which followed it in 1621 dispersed the ministers and brought great 
 distress to their cause. Many submitted to Rome ; some fled to Eng- 
 land, and others to Saxony and Brandenburg One colony of those 
 who adhered to their principles removed, in 1722, to Upper Lusatia, 
 where they put themselves under the protection of Nicholas Lewis, 
 Count of Zinzendorf, and built a village upon his estate. In 1735 the 
 Count was ordained one of their bishops, and in 1760 he died. The 
 Church honors his memory, and regards him as the instrument by 
 which God restored and built up its cause. Much has been said and 
 written in regard to Count Zinzendorf calculated to throw doubts upon 
 his sincerity and piety, but, upon the whole, if we look at the fruits of 
 his life, it will be found that they all tended to encourage humble piety, 
 Christian love, and a self-sacrificing devotion to the Master’s work. 
 By their fruits ye shall know them. The Moravians in the United 
 States have not increased to any great extent since the beginning of 
 the present century. 
 
 They live in distinct communities, and unite their interests very 
 closely, but do not hold to a community of goods. In their separate 
 communities they do not allow the permanent residence of any persons 
 as householders, who are not members in full communion. Their dis- 
 cipline allows no balls, dancing, or plays, and forbids all promiscuous 
 assembling of the youth of both sexes. Public religious meetings are 
 held every evening. On Sunday morning the Church Litany is read, 
 and sermons are delivered. The festival days, such as Easter and 
 Christmas, are celebrated. Music holds a prominent place in their 
 
554 DENOMINATIONS IN THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 devotions. They partake of a “love feast’ ’ of coffee, tea, and light 
 cakes, with instumental music and hymns, previously to celebrating 
 the Lord’s Supper. Funerals are attended by bands of music, without 
 any external badges of mourning. 
 
 The ecclesiastical church officers are the bishops, through whom the 
 regular succession of ordination, transmitted to the United Brethren 
 through the ancient Church of the Bohemian and Moravian Brethren, 
 is preserved, and who alone are authorized to ordain ministers, but 
 possess no authority in the government of the church, except such as 
 they derive from some other office, being most frequently the presidents 
 of some board of elders ; the presbyters, or ordained stated ministers of 
 the communities, and the deacons. The degree of deacon is the first 
 bestowed upon young ministers and missionaries, by which they are 
 authorized to administer the sacraments. 
 
 Females, although elders among their own sex, arb never ordained ; 
 nor have they a vote in the deliberations of the Board of Elders, which 
 they attend for the sake of information only. 
 
 The Moravians have been distinguished for their zeal in propagating 
 Christianity among the heathen. The number of their converts among 
 Pagans is about 40,000. They have no symbol of faith but the Bible ; 
 yet they adhere mostly to the Augsburg Confession. 
 
 Count Zinzendorf came to America in 1741, and preached at German- 
 town and Bethlehem. On February 11th, 1742, he ordained at Oly, Pa., 
 the missionaries Rauch and Buetner ; and Rauch baptized three Indians 
 from Shekomeco, east of the Hudson, “the firstlings of the Indians.” 
 He soon, with his daughter Benigna, and several brethren and sisters, 
 visited various tribes of Indians. 
 
 The Moravians have separate communities at Bethlehem, Nazareth, 
 and Litiz, in Pennsylvania, and at Salem, North Carolina. The first 
 named of these is their largest establishment in America, and they 
 have here an educational institution which enjoys a large patronage 
 and an enviable reputation. The education of youth is regarded by the 
 Brethren as worthy of the greatest attention, and, therefore, wherever 
 their communities are located the most thorough and excellent schools 
 will be found. At Litiz, Nazareth, and Salem, Moravian schools are 
 located which, although not enjoying the extensive patronage of the 
 Bethlehem institution, are deservedly popular and well sustained. The 
 whole number of their congregations is twenty-six, embracing 5,680 
 communicants. 
 
 UNITARIANS. 
 
 Unitarians are so called from their belief in the personal unity of 
 God. They believe in only one supreme, self-existent God, the Father, 
 who exists as one person, one being, infinite in His attributes, and the 
 only proper object of the highest love and adoration. 
 
 They regard Jesus Christ as a person distinct from God, and depend- 
 ent on God, from whom He derived His being and power. They accept 
 literally His saying : “ My Father is greater than I.” 
 
 * 
 
UNITARIANS. 
 
 555 
 
 While agreeing in the doctrine of the subordination of Christ to God 
 they differ very much in their views of the nature of Christ and of His 
 precise relation to God. Some regard Him as simply a man, distin- 
 guished for His goodness and spiritual endowments, the son of Joseph 
 and Mary ; others, as the son of the Virgin Mary by supernatural gene- 
 ration, especially enlightened, empowered, and sent into the w r orld by 
 God; others as the highest representative of humanity and of God; 
 others, again, believe in His pre-existence, and super-angelic nature. 
 This last theory was held by some of the early fathers of the third and 
 fourth centuries, who had been initiated in the latter Platonic philoso- 
 phy before they embraced Christianity, and who were familiar with, 
 or who had accepted, the doctrine of the pre-existence of all souls. 
 Many of the earlier Unitarians in this country were Arians, believing 
 in the p re-existence of Christ, and a few still hold to this doctrine. 
 
 Unitarians have never believed in the Holy spirit as a person, but 
 regard it as an attribute or influence of God, or God Himself acting on 
 the spiritual nature of man. 
 
 But there are other doctrines and principles to which Unitarians, 
 considered as a denomination or a class of Christian believers, attach 
 great importance. They believe especially in the fatherhood of God, 
 that His government is paternal, and that His mercy and love are 
 never withheld from His children. As a consequence of this belief, 
 while they maintain that there will be a sure and just retribution for 
 sin, they believe that the punishment for sin which the soul suffers, 
 both in this life and in the future life, is sent in love, not in wrath, is 
 disciplinary in its nature, and is intended to purify the soul and bring 
 it back to holiness and happiness. 
 
 They reject the doctrines of native and total depravity, and deny 
 that the human race has become corrupt and guilty in consequence 
 of Adam’s fall. They hold that every child born into the world is 
 born in a state of innocence. They admit that in the soul there are 
 capacities for evil as well as good, and that in some children strongly 
 developed tendencies to evil may be inherited, but these rather palliate 
 than deepen the guilt of actual transgression. Then the doctrine of 
 the dignity of human nature, and of the unlimited capacities of the 
 soul for progress in truth and goodness, has been one of their deeply 
 cherished tenets. 
 
 They reject the doctrine of the vicarious atonement of Christ, and 
 deny that he died to make it just and possible for God to pardon man, 
 by satisfying the claims of the law, appeasing the divine w r rath, or 
 bearing Himself the punishment which the sinner otherwise would 
 suffer. Their theory is that Christ saves men by His truth, by the in- 
 fluence of His example and life, by generating in them His spirit of 
 faith, of love, of obedience, and of self-sacrifice; by bringing them to 
 repentance, and to new and holy living. 
 
 A very brief sketch only can be given of the history of Unitarians. 
 The Jews at the coming of Christ were believers in the strict unity of 
 God, and no other doctrine was taught in the Old Testament. Unita- 
 rians maintain that Christ, the apostles and the evangelists taught the 
 
556 
 
 DENOMINATIONS IN THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 same doctrine, according to their interpretation of the New Testament. 
 They believe that, as the Jews have ever been tenacious defenders of 
 the unity of God, if Christ had taught a contrary doctrine a violent 
 opposition would have been excited, a record of which would have 
 been preserved in the New Testament writings. In support of the 
 position, that only Uni tarianism was taught in the Christian Church 
 before the date of John's Gospel, which is supposed to have been written 
 after the other Gospels and after the Epistles of Paul, in the year 68, 
 they claim that the early Christian fathers knew of no doctrine of the 
 deity of Christ in the Church before John wrote his Gospel. In ac- 
 cordance with this admission, all who were converted to Christianity 
 for nearly forty years by Christ and His apostles, were converted to 
 Unitarian Christianity. 
 
 Then they find historical evidence for believing that for the first two 
 centuries the Jewish converts held to the doctrine of the simple hu- 
 manity of Christ, and were not regarded as heretics, and that the 
 common people, speaking both the Greek and Latin tongue, in large 
 numbers, if not the majority, were Unitarians in their faith. 
 
 But some of the Church fathers who have left records of their opin- 
 ions, who lived in the first four centuries, had been instructed in the 
 latter Platonic philosophy before they embraced Christianity, and all 
 were more or less familiar with its principles. They were acquainted 
 with the Platonic doctrine of the Logos, which by Philo was regarded 
 as a real person ; they were not strangers to the theory of the pre-ex- 
 istence of human souls, and the heathen ideas of Gods of different 
 grades were not foreign to their thought. They, therefore, easily 
 applied their philosophy to Jesus Christ; regarded Him as the Logos, 
 taught that He was created or begotten by God, in time, “the be- 
 ginning of God's ways to His works." Arius taught that he was cre- 
 ated out of nothing, not from the Logos or reason of God. But all 
 these Arian-Nicene fathers, even the most orthodox, believed in Christ 
 as a being distinct from God, deriving His existence from Him, and 
 dependent on Him ; and though they called Him God, yet to them He 
 was a second or subordinate God, not the supreme God. This was 
 essentially a Unitarian theory, yet it was the most orthodox theory of 
 the early Church. The Nicene creed, adopted in the year 325, was an 
 attempt to raise the dignity of Christ, yet it did not make Him equal 
 with God, nor did it assert the personality of the Holy Spirit. During 
 the fourth century the Arian and the Nicene doctrines of the nature of 
 Christ struggled for the mastery, and the doctrine of the trinity took 
 shape, till at length it was made the doctrine of the Church, and oppo- 
 sition to it was suppressed by force. 
 
 Although Arianism afterwards became predominant for a time in 
 the Western Empire, yet it finally yielded to the pressure of the 
 Romish Church,* which stifled all free expression of thought in its 
 endeavor to enforce uniformity of faith. 
 
 But in that awakening of free thought, and in the renewed study of 
 the Scriptures, which accompanied and followed the Reformation, 
 Unitarian opinions began to be adopted and expressed. They were 
 
UNITARIANS. 
 
 557 
 
 avowed and defended by Cellarius, at one time an intimate friend of 
 Luther and Melancthon. Several learned men in Germany and Swit- 
 zerland embraced the same sentiments. In Italy two learned men, 
 Faustus and Lelius Socinus, became Unitarians. They taught that the 
 doctrine of the trinity was no more a doctrine of the Bible than that of 
 transubstantiation. They gained many followers, of whom two were 
 put to death for their faith, others were banished or imprisoned, and 
 they themselves were obliged to flee the country. They finally took 
 refuge in Poland, where Unitarianism had been planted by a Dutchman 
 of the name of Spiritus, in 1546. Poland was the only country at that 
 time where religious liberty was enjoyed, there being severe edicts in 
 other countries, even where the Reformed religion prevailed, forbidding 
 the denial of the trinity. Here Unitarians became very numerous, 
 and their academy or university at Bacon at one time had more than 
 one thousand students from different countries. 
 
 But this prosperity excited the jealousy of both Catholics and Calvin- 
 istic Protestants. Decrees were passed depriving the Unitarians of the 
 rights of citizens, and closing their churches, schools and printing 
 offices. Their pastors and professors were banished, the profession of 
 Unitarianism was forbidden on pain of death, and every Unitarian 
 was obliged to quit the kingdom within three years. They fled, some 
 to England, some to Transylvania, where a large and flourishing com- 
 munity of Unitarians still exist, and others to Holland, where now a 
 majority of the Protestants are Unitarians. 
 
 At the same time Servetus, who had been an earnest advocate for the 
 Unitarian faith for twenty years, was condemned to be burned alive 
 through the influence of Calvin. 
 
 In England there were severe laws against Unitarians. Joan Bacher 
 was put to death by burning, Edward the Sixth signing her death 
 warrant. Under Elizabeth a number of persons were burned alive for 
 being Unitarian Anabaptists. In the reign of James two Englishmen 
 and a Spaniard were burned for being Unitarians. These were the last 
 executions in England for this cause, though an act of the Long Par- 
 liament, in 1648, makes the denial of the doctrine of the trinity felony, 
 punishable with death ; and a Mr. Biddle, for his Unitarianism, was 
 cast into prison, where he died in 1662. 
 
 But legal prohibition did not prevent the growth of Unitarianism. 
 Milton and Lock were Unitarians, and afterwards Sir Isaac Newton, 
 Lardner, Dr. Samuel Clark, and many other men distinguished for 
 their scholarship and learning. 
 
 Since religious freedom has prevailed in the Protestant countries of 
 Europe there has been ‘great progress of Unitarianism. It prevails 
 extensively in Holland, Germany, Switzerland and France, where it is 
 embraced and openly professed by many pastors and congregations 
 connected with the national Churches. 
 
 In the United States, the Puritan settlers of New England were 
 Calvinists in their theology, yet they were diligent students of the 
 Scriptures, defenders of the rights of private judgment, and supporters 
 of religious liberty as it was then understood. 
 
 36 
 
558 
 
 DENOMINATIONS IN THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 The Pilgrim fathers, who settled at Plymouth, had resided for more 
 than eleven years in Leyden, the seat of a famous university to which 
 Arminius, Grotius, and other distinguished thinkers had belonged, and 
 without doubt shared in the more liberal sentiments which there found 
 expression. The parting address of their pastor, Robinson, warning 
 them not to be bound by the theology of Luther or Calvin, and exhorting 
 them to receive whatever further truth God should reveal to them, he 
 “being very confident the Lord had more truth and light yet to break 
 forth out of His Holy Word,” must have had a permanent influence on 
 their minds. The seeds of Unitarian thought were thus early sown in 
 the minds of the Pilgrim fathers, the covenants of their Churches were 
 so indefinitely expressed that they allowed much liberty of interpreta- 
 tion, and, although for more than a hundred years there was no open dis- 
 sent from Calvinism, yet the parishes of the Old Colony were ready to 
 sympathize with the Unitarian or liberal movement which showed 
 itself about the middle of the eighteenth century. At the present 
 time, of the twelve original parishes now extant, from Barnstable to 
 Plymouth, situated nearest to Massachusetts Bay, including the first 
 Churches founded by the Pilgrims, eleven are Unitarians. 
 
 Unitarianism grew up in New England imperceptibly, not so much 
 because the ministers preached its doctrines, as because they ceased to 
 preach Calvinism. The early Unitarians were called Moderate Calvin- 
 ists and Arminians. Edwards dates in 1734 the beginning “of the 
 great noise in this part of the country about Arminianism.” President 
 John Adams asserted that in 1750 Jonathan Mayhew and a number of 
 other ministers, whose names he gave, were Unitarians. In 1756 Em- 
 lyn’s Scripture account of Jesus Christ was re-published in Boston, and 
 extensively read. During the latter part of the eighteenth century many 
 became Unitarian in their theology. During the first fifteen years of 
 the present century the drift of thought in most of the Congregational 
 Churches in Boston, and in the Eastern part of Massachusetts, was 
 towards Liberal Christianity, as Unitarianism was then called. In 
 1805 a controversy arose of considerable violence between the Orthodox 
 and Liberal Congregationalists, on the appointment of Dr. Ware to 
 the Hollis Professorship, of Harvard College. 
 
 But there w T as no open division in the churches, or final severing of 
 fellowship and interchange of pulpits till 1815, when, after the re- 
 publication in Boston of Belsham’s article on “ The progress and state 
 of the Unitarian Churches in America,” party lines were more strictly 
 drawn, the liberal churches were compelled to occupy the position of a 
 sect, and the name of Unitarian was bestowed upon thetn, but by 
 which many of the older parishes have never consented to be called. 
 
 Another controversy, occasioned by a sermon preached by Dr. Chan- 
 ning in Baltimore at the ordination of Mr. Sparks in 1819, arose, in 
 which Professor Stuart and Dr. Woods, of Andover, and Dr. Miller, of 
 Princeton, in behalf of the Orthodox, and Mr. Norton and Dr. Ware, 
 of Cambridge, and Mr. Sparks, of Baltimore, on the side of the Unita- 
 rians, took a prominent part. 
 
 Since that time the separation between the Orthodox and Unitarian 
 
UNIVERSALISM. 
 
 559 
 
 Churches has been complete ; except that for the administration of cer- 
 tain charities the ministers of the two denominations in Massachusetts 
 meet annually in convention as Congregationalists. 
 
 The religious societies classed as Unitarian in the Year Book of the 
 denomination for 1871, were 336 in number. Of these 236 were in the 
 Now England States, 34 in the Middle States, 5 in the Southern States, 
 59 in the Western and Pacific States, and 2 in Canada. 
 
 UNIVERSALISM, 
 
 So far as has been ascertained, was first preached in this country by 
 Dr. George DeBenneville, of Germantown, Pa., in 1741 In 1754-9, it 
 was preached by Rev. Richard Clark, of the Episcopal Church, Charles- 
 ton, S. C. In 1762, Dr. Jonathan Mayhew preached it in Boston ; and 
 prefacing his “Dialogues,” Rev. Elhanan Winchester speaks of a law- 
 yer and of an Episcopal minister, each of whom, without knowledge of 
 the other, had advocated it “ a few years before’’ 1778, in Virginia. The 
 movement originating the Universalist Church was definitely fixed by 
 the celebration of its Centenary in 1870. There is a question of priority 
 between Adam Streeter, in New England, and John Murray, in New 
 Jersey, as its pioneer. But the priority is usually conceded to the lat- 
 ter, and the Church dates its history from his first sermon at Good 
 Luck, N. J., September 30, 1770. Thomas Potter dwelt there. Hold- 
 ing peculiar opinions, he had years before built a house of worship, 
 saying that God would send him a preacher. The house was opened 
 for any who wished it, but time passed and the expected one came not. 
 At length, seeing a vessel in Cranberry Inlet, Potter was impressed 
 that his preacher had arrived. Murray was the man. A Whitfieldian 
 Methodist in England, he had become a Universalist under Relly, and, 
 bereaved and beset by various discouragements, had taken passage for 
 this country, resolved to hide himself among strangers and never to 
 speak in public again. Providentially, the craft in which he made the 
 voyage was thrown into the Inlet, and on its becoming necessary to 
 transfer a portion of her cargo to a sloop, he was put in charge, and by 
 a change of wind was left behind. Going ashore for provisions, he 
 was led to Potter’s door, to be told that he had been sent there to preach 
 the next Sunday. He protested and refused, but was assured by Potter 
 that he would not be able to leave until he had delivered his message. 
 And so it proved. Murray preached, and thus began the career which 
 made him one of the most distinguished religious pioneers of this 
 continent. If Adam Streeter had not preceded him, he commenced at 
 about the same time. Caleb Rich followed in 1775, knowing nothing 
 of Murray, and Elhanan Winchester in 1781, also independent of Mur- 
 ray. To them others slowly joined themselves — among the rest, in 
 1791, Hosea Ballou. 
 
 I. ORGANIZATION. 
 
 At first, those who preached Universalism did so in widely sepa- 
 rated districts, solely upon their individual responsibility, without per- 
 
560 
 
 DENOMINATIONS IN THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 sonal acquaintance, or the slightest concert of action. But as ministers 
 and congregations increased, the necessity for acquaintance and co- 
 operation asserted itself, and attempts at organization ensued. The 
 first society was formed in Gloucester, Mass., January 1, 1779. Not far 
 from 1780, the believers in Warwick, Mass., and Richmond and Jaf- 
 frey, N. H., associated themselves as a society, establishing church dis- 
 cipline, and ordaining Caleb Rich to be their minister. The General 
 Convention — or rather the body which became the present General 
 Convention — was formed in September, 1785. Since that time, and 
 .especially during the last thirty years, the elements have been grad- 
 ually crystallizing, and through various plans and amendments, the 
 Church has been developing towards an effective and harmonious eccle- 
 siastical system. The problem has been to combine individual free- 
 dom and congregational independence with denominational method 
 and Church unity and authority. This problem, those interested think, 
 was solved at the late Centenary session of the General Convention at 
 Gloucester, where a plan, reported by a committee, was adopted by a 
 virtually unanimous vote, providing that — 
 
 “The ecclesiastical organization of the Universalist Church in the 
 United States shall be constituted as follows : 
 
 “1. The General Convention, having jurisdiction over all Universal- 
 ist clergymen and denominational organizations. 
 
 “2. State Conventions, exercising within State limits a similar juris- 
 diction, subject to the General Convention. 
 
 “3. Parishes, composed of persons associated for religious improve- 
 ment and the support of public worship.’ ’ 
 
 Some difference of opinion still exists as to the best method of organ- 
 izing the primary bodies. Some prefer but one, the Church. Others 
 prefer two — the parish, and within this the Church. This diversity of 
 opinion will probably lead to a diversity of practice in this particular 
 for some time to come. But the General Plan will doubtless be ratified, 
 and thus become, in substance, the permanent form under which the 
 Church will henceforth work. 
 
 II. DOCTRINE. 
 
 Murray, Winchester and all the early Universalists were in substan- 
 tial doctrinal accord with the existing churches of their time except as 
 to the extent of salvation. But in 1795, Hosea Ballou began to preach 
 the strict unity of God and the corresponding doctrine of the Atone- 
 ment ; and under his lead the opinions of the entire body soon became 
 modified accordingly. In 1803, the General Convention framed a 
 Statement of Faith which has ever since stood as the basis of fellow- 
 ship, known as the “ Winchester Confession,” because adopted at Win- 
 chester, N. H. It is as follows : 
 
 “Art. I. We believe that the Holy Scriptures of the Old and New 
 Testaments contain a revelation of the character of God, and of the 
 duty, interest and final destination of mankind. 
 
 “Art. II. We believe that there is one God, whose nature is Love, 
 revealed in one Lord Jesus Christ, by one Holy Spirit of Grace, who 
 
UNIVERSALISM. 
 
 561 
 
 will finally restore the whole family of mankind to holiness and hap- 
 piness. 
 
 “Art. III. We believe that holiness and true happiness are insep- 
 arably connected, and that believers ought to be careful to maintain 
 order and practice good works, for these things are good and profitable 
 unto men.” 
 
 This Statement is so general as to admit of numerous differences in a 
 common loyalty to it; but agreeing in its substance, whatever their 
 other differences, Universalists are a unit on these points, viz: the 
 authenticity of the Bible; the absolute unity and universal Father- 
 hood of God; the universal brotherhood of man; the sonship and de- 
 pendence, but none the less the infallibility and Divine efficiency of 
 Christ; the impersonality of the Holy Spirit, but its necessity and 
 power as Comforter and Sanctifier ; the unescapable certainty of Retri- 
 bution ; the readiness of God to forgive sin ; the reality of the Atone- 
 ment as the process of man’s reconciliation to God through Christ ; the 
 necessity of faith, penitence and the new birth as the indispensable 
 conditions of salvation ; and the certain ultimate triumph of Christ in 
 the victory of good over evil, as God shall be “ all in all.” 
 
 Universalism is commonly supposed to be synonymous with the doc- 
 trine of no future punishment. But such is not the fact. Until 1816-17, 
 very little was heard of this doctrine among Universalists. About 1817, 
 Mr. Ballou reached the conclusion “ that the Scriptures begin and end 
 the history of sin in flesh and blood ;” and for ten or fifteen years subse- 
 quent to 1824, on account of his great personal influence, his theory 
 that all punishment is confined to this life became the predominant 
 sentiment of the denomination— resulting, in August, 1831, in the 
 secession of eight ministers, headed by Revs. Adin Ballou, Paul Dean 
 and Charles Hudson, for the organization of a new sect, under the 
 name of “ Restorationists.” But Universalism never became identical 
 with this theory of Mr. Ballou; nor has the Universalist Church, as 
 such, ever been committed to it, or responsible for it. Even when most 
 prevalent, many in the denomination, including some of the most 
 esteemed and prominent of its leaders, never accepted the theory. They 
 discountenanced it, and condemned the secession (which soon came to 
 nought) fomented because of it, confident that time would bring its due 
 reactions. Their anticipations have not been disappointed. Person- 
 ally, Mr. Ballou is held in the highest honor as the patriarch of the 
 Church, and his theory as to punishment still has its believers ; but for 
 the last thirty years the movement of opinion has been very decidedly 
 away from it, and a considerable majority, both of ministers and peo- 
 ple, now hold to the continuity of character, insisting that those who 
 die in sin must take their character and its consequences with them, 
 and that they are to be saved only because they will at some time com- 
 ply with the conditions of salvation. 
 
 It should also be said that no Church has set itself more persistently 
 than the Universalist Church against all the influences of German 
 Rationalism in this country. Claiming that its interpretation of 
 Christianity is eminently rational, in the true sense of that word, it 
 
 L 
 
562 
 
 DENOMINATIONS IN THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 has steadily maintained one position, viz: that there can be no Chris- 
 tianity without the Christ of the Bible ; and that, while there must be 
 the largest liberty of interpretation, no person can be recognized as a 
 Universalist except upon a profession of faith in the genuineness and 
 authority of the Scriptures and the supernatural mission and authority 
 of Christ. This position — the definitely stated position of the Church 
 from the outset, was first formally emphasized against “ Parkerism ” by 
 the “ Boston Association,” in 1847, and, repeatedly reiterated since, is 
 now understood to be the ground upon which, come what may, this 
 Church is immovably fixed. 
 
 III. POSITION WITH RESPECT TO MORAL REFORM. 
 
 So early as May 25, 1790, “ the representatives of sundry societies be- 
 lieving in the salvation of all men,” convened in Philadelphia, bore 
 testimony against offensive War and against Slavery, recommending 
 “ a total refraining from the African trade, and the adoption of prudent 
 measures for the gradual abolition of the slavery of the negroes in our 
 country, and for the education of their children ;” and ever since, while 
 it has not been without the usual differences of opinion among its indi- 
 vidual members, the Universalist Church, as a Church, has been with 
 those most advanced and emphatic in its utterances and labor against 
 Slavery, Intemperance and Capital Punishment, and in favor of Peace, 
 Prison Reform, Christian Legislation against the Liquor Traffic, and 
 all efforts looking to the Relief of the Poor, the rescue of the Perish- 
 ing and the Triumph of Justice and Purity in the world. Its record, 
 also, during our fearful struggle with rebellion, was one of conspicuous 
 loyalty and of patriotic and Christian fidelity. 
 
 IV. STATISTICS. 
 
 The Universalist Church has one General Convention ; 19 State Con- 
 ventions ; 74 Associations; (probably about) 1,000 parishes, with an esti- 
 mated membership of 30,000 families, and an estimated total attend- 
 ance of 60,000; 625 ministers ; 700 meeting houses, valued at $5,560,000, 
 with an annual current expense of $600,000; 500 Sunday schools (re- 
 ported at Gloucester as “known to exist”), with 40,000 scholars, 5000 
 teachers (estimated), and from 110,000 to 115,000 volumes in their 
 libraries; 20,000 communicants (probably); three colleges (with two 
 others in process of erection) ; seven academies ; two theological schools, 
 and one law school — these several educational institutions having a 
 corps of 80 professors and teachers, assets of $2,000,000, and an aggre- 
 gate of 2,000 pupils. Of periodicals, it has one quarterly ; three monthly 
 magazines, one of which is especially for ladies, and one for Sunday 
 school teachers; six weekly journals, with an estimated aggregate cir- 
 culation of 35,000 ; two children’s Sunday school papers, circulating 
 (probably) 20,000. The year 1870 being the Centennial, Centenary Offer- 
 ings were made to the amount of more than $1,000,000, in the payment 
 of church debts, building and improvement of church edifices, &c., 
 including something more than $100,000 towards the Murray Fund of 
 $200,000, which is to be the special Memorial of the year. 
 
 This sketch of the Universalist Church would not be complete with- 
 
SWEDENBORGIANS. 
 
 5G3 
 
 out the remark that the fact most gratifying to its friends is its evident 
 growth in spiritual sensibility and religious life. It was born of pro- 
 test and argument, and its history hitherto has, of necessity, been one 
 of struggle and warfare. As the demand for these ceases, attention is 
 turned to the more interior and experimental conditions on which 
 alone any church can have permanent increase and power ; and learn- 
 ing the lesson of systematic giving and doing for Christ’s sake, it is 
 applying itself with increasing zeal to personal Christian culture and 
 to effort to extend itself as a spiritual power. 
 
 SWEDENBORGIANS. (NEW JERUSALEM CHURCH.) 
 
 Those who compose this body of Christians are popularly called 
 Swedenborgians from Emanuel Swedenborg. They hold to the doc- 
 trines of the supreme divinity of the Lord Jesus Christ, the full inspi- 
 ration of the Sacred Scriptures, and the necessity of a good life. 
 
 To understand their system of religious belief, something ought to 
 be known of Swedenborg. 
 
 This remarkable man, the son of Jesper Swedberg, Bishop of Skara, 
 in Sweden, was born in Stockholm, January 29tli, 1688. His father 
 was highly esteemed as a man of piety and learning, and held import- 
 ant positions in the Church. His son early received a good education, 
 and careful religious training, and exhibited, at a very early age, a 
 strong inclination towards pious and holy meditations, which seemed 
 to foreshadow his subsequent remarkable spiritual experiences. He 
 was not, however, educated for the ministry, but graduated in his 
 twenty-second year, as Doctor of Philosophy in the University of 
 Upsala. He early manifested a strong taste for mathematics, and soon 
 began to publish works on scientific subjects, after spending four years 
 in travel in Europe, and becoming distinguished as a man of science. 
 Charles XII appointed him Assessor of the Board of Mines, of Sweden, 
 an office which was regarded as one of great importance, requiring an 
 extensive knowledge of metallurgy and mechanics. 
 
 From this time Swedenborg devoted himself to science, pursuing 
 various studies and publishing valuable treatises on different subjects, 
 which embraced Algebra, Mechanics, Metallurgy, Mining, Chemistry, 
 Anatomy and Physiology. His largest work, entitled “ Opera Minera- 
 lia et Philosophica,” was published at Leipsic and Dresden, 1733, in 
 three volumes, folio. Two other works which have attracted the atten- 
 tion of the learned are “The Animal Kingdom,” aud “The Economy 
 of the Animal Kingdom.” These works were written in Latin. The 
 last two have been translated into English, and one volume of the first 
 named. After receiving various marks of public favor, having with 
 his family been ennobled by Queen Ulrica — the name being changed 
 from Swedberg to Swedenborg — he resigned his office of Assessor in 
 the year 1747. As a further mark of esteem, the Queen continued his 
 salary during life. His retiring from public office was in order that he 
 might devote himself to the study of spiritual and divine subjects. He 
 declares that the Lord called him to a higher office, and that in the 
 
564 
 
 DENOMINATIONS IN THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 year 1745 his spiritual senses were opened so that he could see and hear 
 things in the spiritual world and converse with angels. In justice to 
 Swedenborg, it may here be stated, that it does not appear that he 
 sought intercourse with the world of spirits, and he solemnly affirms 
 that the privilege was granted to him that he might communicate to 
 the world a knowledge of the spiritual sense of the Divine Word, and 
 of the philosophy of the future state, in order that ignorance might be 
 removed and infidelity overcome. 
 
 In the year 1749 he published at his own expense, at London, in 
 Latin, the first volume of the “Arcana Coelestia,” or “Heavenly Mys- 
 teries;” the whole work was completed in 1756, making eight 4to 
 volumes. It is an explanation of the spiritual sense of Genesis and 
 Exodus, with intervening chapters on various subjects relating to the 
 future life. This was followed by several other works, published 
 either at London or Amsterdam, of which the following are the titles 
 and dates : “An Account of the Last Judgment and the Destruction of 
 Babylon;” “Concerning Heaven and its Wonders, and concerning 
 Hell ;” “ On the White Horse mentioned in the Apocalypse ;” “ Earths 
 in the Universe;” “On the New Jerusalem and its Heavenly Doctrine.” 
 All of the above were published during the year 1758, in London. In 
 1763-4, he published the following at Amsterdam; “The Doctrine of 
 the New Jerusalem concerning the Lord;” “The Sacred Scripture;” 
 “Faith;” “Continuation respecting the Last Judgment;” “The Di- 
 vine Love and Wisdom;” “The Divine Providence.” In 1766, at 
 Amsterdam, ‘ ‘ The Apocalypse Revealed 7 7 appeared. ‘ ‘ The Apocalypse 
 Explained” was published after his death from his MS. In 1768, 
 
 “ Conjugal Love;” in 1769, “A Brief Exposition of the Doctrine of the 
 New Church,” and “ The Intercourse between the Soul and the Body;” 
 and finally, in 1771, his last great work appeared, called, “The True 
 Christian Religion, containing the Universal Theology of the New 
 Church.” All of the above works have been translated into English 
 and some of them into the German, French, Swedish and Italian lan- 
 guages. Others were printed after his death from his MSS., which 
 were deposited in the Academy of Sciences at Stockholm, of which he 
 was a member. 
 
 Swedenborg never attempted to establish a Church or found a sect, 
 and never preached. He printed his works at his own expense, with- 
 out profit, and seemed to entertain no doubt of the ultimate reception 
 of his doctrines by large numbers ; although, he said, their reception 
 would be very slow. He died in London, March 29th, 1772. He was # 
 never married. Before his decease, a few distinguished scholars and 
 divines of Sweden, Denmark and England, received his doctrines, but 
 it was not until some years afterwards that any considerable number of 
 persons openly espoused them, or made efforts to propagate them. 
 
 These doctrines may be summed up as follows : He maintains the 
 absolute unity of God and the identity of Jehovah with Jesus. The 
 Lord Jesus Christ was God manifest in the flesh, having a human 
 nature like other men, but a Divine nature within, as the soul in the 
 body. The human nature was assumed that the work of redemption 
 
I 
 
 SWEDENBORGIANS. 
 
 565 
 
 might be accomplished, which was done through temptations admitted 
 into the human nature, and combats and victories over the powers 
 of darkness, collectively called in the Scriptures, “Satan” and the 
 “ Devil. ” He arose from the dead a glorious Divine Man, “God over 
 all, blessed forever.” Swedenborg does not deny the trinity in a proper 
 sense, but says there are not three persons but three essential princi- 
 ples in one Divine Being, all centered in the person of the Lord Jesus 
 Christ. These three he distinguishes as the Divine Love, or essential 
 Divinity, called the Father; the Divine Wisdom or Word, or the 
 Humanity, called the Son ; and the Divine proceeding life or influence, 
 called the Holy Ghost or Spirit. 
 
 As to the Atonement, he teaches that it was not the sacrifice of one 
 being to satisfy the wrath of another; but the reconciliation of man to 
 God, through the power of the truth by which evil was overcome and 
 a way opened for man to approach God, the humanity of Jesus being 
 the medium or mediator through which the reconciliation was effected, 
 according to the saying of the Apostle, “ God was in Christ reconciling 
 the world unto Himself.” (2 Cor., v. 19.) 
 
 As to the Sacred Scriptures, he teaches that such books of the Bible 
 as contain a spiritual sense are the very Word of God, and, conse- 
 quently, Divinely inspired and holy. These are the five books of Moses, 
 Joshua, Judges, Samuel, Kings, the Psalms and the Prophets in the 
 Old Testament, and the four Gospels and the Book of Revelation in 
 the New. The others, he says, are good books of instruction for the 
 Church, but are not inspired in such a sense as to form a part of the 
 very Word of God. The spiritual sense lies concealed within the 
 letter, as the soul in the body, the Word having been written by cor- 
 respondences of natural things with spiritual. The science of corres- 
 pondences was known to the ancients, hence arose the hieroglyphics of 
 Egypt and the mythologies of Greece and Rome. To restore this long 
 lost science and thus to reveal the hidoen or spiritual meaning of the 
 Word, is declared to be the main object of his mission. Indeed Swe- 
 denborg says that by the second coming of the Lord is not meant a 
 coming in person, but a coming in the spirit and power of His Word. 
 This is what is meant by the “Son of Man coming in the clouds of 
 Heaven, with power and great glory;” (Matt, xxiv,) the “clouds of 
 Heaven ” denoting the literal sense, and “ power and great glory ” the 
 spiritual sense of the Word. 
 
 Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ is a primary principle, but salvation 
 depends not on a mere profession of belief, but upon a life of obedience 
 to the commandments. The old dogma of Justification by Faith alone 
 is rejected, and charity and good works are insisted upon as necessary. 
 
 As to the Resurrection, Swedenborg teaches that when man dies, he 
 puts off the material body never to resume it, and rises in a spiritual 
 body He is then judged in an intermediate state, called the world of 
 spirits, the judgment consisting in an unrolling of his book of life, in 
 which all his secret motives are written. After this, his state is fixed 
 either in heaven or hell, according to his life in the world. The last 
 judgment, he says, has already taken place in the world of spirits, 
 
5G6 
 
 DENOMINATIONS IN THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 having consisted in a separation of the good from the evil, who were 
 gathered there from the time of the Lord’s first coming. The date is 
 fixed at 1757. When this judgment was effected a new order of things 
 began to prevail in heaven and on earth. A new heaven and a new 
 earth (that is, a new Church,) began to be established, and the New 
 Jerusalem began to descend. The effects of this judgment, it is said 
 by believers of these doctrines, may be seen in the vast changes that 
 have taken place during the past century in the civil, social and relig- 
 ious condition of the Christian world. For particulars respecting Swe- 
 denborg’s philosophy of the future state, the reader is referred to his 
 work on Heaven and Hell. It may be stated here that there is little 
 sympathy between the members of the New Church and Modern 
 Spiritualists, as Swedenborg teaches that seeking intercourse with 
 spirits is attended with danger to a man’s soul. As to forms of worship 
 he prescribes none, but teaches that Baptism and the Holy Supper are 
 Divinely appointed ordinances. The members of this Church are 
 baptized “ into the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.” 
 
 At the time of Swedenborg’s death but few had received his doctrines, 
 but believers gradually increased, a number of the clergy in Sweden 
 and England openly or secretly teaching them. No attempt was made 
 to form a separate organization until the year 1787, when Robert Hind- 
 marsh and others formed a Society for worship in London. Soon 
 afterwards twelve men were made ministers by the laying on of hands, 
 the choice being made by lot. In 1789, the General Conference, com- 
 posed of representatives from different places in Great Britain, first 
 met and has continued ever since. The New Jerusalem Church in 
 that country numbers between four and five thousand registered mem- 
 bers, and fifty or sixty ministers and licensed preachers. They have 
 established Sunday Schools and Day Schools, and have several institu- 
 tions for missionary and publishing operations. 
 
 The doctrines were introduced into this country by means of books 
 brought by James Glen into Philadelphia, in the year 1784. The 
 “True Christian Religion” was reprinted in that city in 1788. The 
 first permanent Church was formed in the City of Baltimore in 1798, 
 under the pastorship of the Rev. John Hargrove, formerly of the 
 Methodists, who was re-ordained by the laying on of hands. Other 
 Societies or Churches afterwards sprang up in Philadelphia, New York, • 
 Cincinnati and Boston. There are now about eighty-five ministers in 
 the United States and Canada, and a membership of between six and 
 seven thousand, with numerous believers scattered through other 
 Churches; but the influence of Swedenborg’s teachings cannot be 
 estimated by the number of avowed believers. They have a General 
 Convention, meeting annually, and State Associations in some of the 
 Eastern, Middle and Western States. They have a College at Urbana, 
 Ohio, and a Theological School, at Waltham, Massachusetts. They 
 publish a weekly newspaper in New York, called “ The New Jerusalem 
 Messenger,” and several other periodicals. 
 
ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH. 
 
 567 
 
 THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH IN THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 From the discovery of the New World by Columbus, who was a 
 member of its communion, and took possession in the name of the 
 “ Church, the Queen and Sovereign of the world,” the Roman Catholic 
 Church has been favored by the best opportunities, and has not neglected 
 them. Its increase and rapid development has been owing chiefly to 
 immigration of Catholics, the church not having been able to retain all 
 the new comers even, for a large proportion of them stray away; and, 
 to use the words of one of their own Archbishops, (Hughes,) “ are igno- 
 rant, others careless, others in time become ashamed of their religion, 
 and hundreds of thousands of the descendants of the Catholic immi- 
 grants fall away from their religion after their arrival in the United 
 States.” 
 
 The additions by conversion have always been few, and in the clear 
 light of a Protestant education are not likely to increase. 
 
 Missionaries, priests, and Jesuits were at work in many of the early 
 settlements, scattered along the Atlantic shore, from St. Augustine to 
 Maine, and along the lakes in Canada, some few even reaching the 
 Mississippi and the Gulf. Their impression on the Indians was in 
 almost all cases but momentary, scarcely turning them even for a time 
 from their ancient Pagan rites, except in a very few cases, as in that of 
 the Hurons and St. Regis tribes, which have persevered in the faith to 
 the present time, although there are a very few of them left. 
 
 The convent of St. Helena, in St. Augustine, Florida, was for a long 
 time a centre of their efforts, which were extended in every direction 
 by Spanish, French, Irish, and English priests and monks, some of 
 whom have left their names to cities or rivers, as Marquette, on Lake 
 Superior. 
 
 The first important movement was the settlement of Maryland, in 
 1634, which was ihe result of the designs of Sir George Calvert, a mem- 
 ber of the privy council of James I, who, on becoming a convert to 
 Romanism, resigned his place, and accepted as a favor from the king 
 the title of Lord Baltimore, a peer of Ireland, with a grant of land in 
 New Foundland. On being subjected to a test oath of the supremacy 
 of the king in civil and religious matters, he left the colony, and was 
 afterwards granted a charter in Virginia, subject only to the yearly 
 homage of two Indian arrows, and one-fifth of the gold and silver from 
 the mines. 
 
 The second son of Lord Baltimore, Leonard Calvert, carried out the 
 objects of the enterprise, and landed with 200 English Catholic families, 
 from two ships, the Ark and the Dove, on March 25, 1634. 
 
 The first priest of the colony was Father White, a Jesuit, who was 
 educated at Do way, France. 
 
 About this time the Acadians were driven from Nova Scotia by the 
 English, some of whom found homes in Maryland, and added to the 
 numbers of the communion, building a church near Baltimore, under 
 the pastorate of Leclerc. 
 
568 
 
 DENOMINATIONS IN THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 The union of all ranks of men in the colonies against England in the 
 Revolution, gave the Romanists increased liberties by laying aside 
 many restrictions which the prudence of the rulers had thought neces- 
 sary to guard against the encroachments of popery. In 1776 there were 
 twenty priests in Maryland, and probably a hundred in the whole 
 country, scarcely any one of whom has left his name attached to any 
 share of fame, except the first bishop of the Roman Church in this 
 country, John Carroll, who was also the first Archbishop. 
 
 He was a native of Maryland, but was educated partly at home, and 
 finally at St. Omers, France, where he was ordained in 1759. After an 
 extensive tour in Europe, he returned to his home, and entered with 
 zeal into the cause of the Revolution, and was appointed on the mission 
 to Canada with Franklin, Charles Carroll, and Chase. 
 
 On the conclusion of peace, and the establishment of religious tolera- 
 tion in the United States, Rome saw its opportunity and hastened to 
 profit by it. The first move was to appoint a Superior of the Romish 
 clergy in America, to which office John Carroll was called, with many 
 of the powers of a bishop, in 1784 ; and in 1789 he was advanced to the 
 full dignity of bishop, and the See of Baltimore, the first in the United 
 States, was founded. 
 
 His first efforts as a bishop were directed towards the building up of 
 schools and monastic institutions. 
 
 How well he succeeded and to what an extent the system is carried 
 out in the present day may be seen by a glance at the table near the 
 close of this article, where the number of schools, convents, <fcc., will 
 be seen to be very great, considering that they are in the midst of a 
 people whose early education and prejudices are opposed to the dark 
 seclusion of the monastic cell and habit. The first convent in the 
 country was of the Ursulines at Port Tobacco, in 1790. 
 
 These orders now include in the United States nearly every one 
 known to the church in the old world, which have been invited across 
 the ocean from time to time, to assist in spreading among the people 
 the peculiar ideas of Romanism. A very few American born boys and 
 girls have entered these institutions, their numbers being recruited by 
 immigration, or from the children of Roman Catholics, and orphans. 
 
 Several of these religious orders have been imported, tried for a while, 
 and finally abandoned, as not adapted for our society. 
 
 Among them is one, the Sisters of Charity, which recommends itself 
 by its services to the sick and poor, an order which was founded in 
 the United States by an American woman, Mrs. Seton, wife of a Scotch 
 Episcopalian of New York, and a convert to Romanism in 1805. The 
 first building occupied by them was at Emmetsburg. 
 
 Early attention was given to the foundation of colleges in which 
 Romanists could feel secure that their youth might “imbibe principles 
 of faith and morality along with human knowledge.” They have now 
 several colleges add a large number of schools under their exclusive 
 control, where, among others, young men are trained up for the 
 priesthood. 
 
 Books, newspapers, and other publications were also added to their 
 
ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH. 
 
 569 
 
 machinery for reaching the public ; and every effort has been made to 
 supply the demand of their congregations, especially the young, with 
 books entirely of their own make, which should carefully exclude all 
 references to any other faith, or practice, or church, but the Church of 
 Rome. Cummiskey in Philadelphia, and Doyle in New York, were 
 the leaders in Catholic publications, in 1823, followed by Lucas in Balti- 
 more, in 1830, and Saddlier of New York. 
 
 The right of electing bishops in “ America as in Ireland,” was granted 
 by the Propaganda at Rome in 1833, since which time there have been 
 bishops appointed and distributed throughout the country in sixty-three 
 dioceses, which are included in seven provinces, each governed by an 
 archbishop (details of which are given at the end of this article.) 
 
 The machinery of the Church of Rome is now extended like a vast 
 net-work all over the Union, thoroughly organized for its peculiar pur- 
 poses, and in active and vigorous operation, as a glance at the table in 
 this article will show. Their constant efforts to exclude the Bible from 
 the public schools, and to secure the use of their share of school money 
 apart from the public schools, shows their intention to control and 
 depress all educational enterprise which does not directly feed their 
 church, in this country as they have in others, where they have had 
 the power to carry out these designs against human intelligence. This 
 disposition in favor of the church is also seen in their persistent use of 
 a dead language in the church services, only a very small part of which 
 is permitted to be said in English. The mass is and must be always 
 said in Latin. 
 
 In the year 1846 the idea of religious liberty was at its greatest height 
 in this country, and all parties sought to win the Catholic vote by con- 
 cessions and laudations, such as permitting the appointment of two 
 Romish priests to be chaplains in the army in Mexico ; the enthusiastic 
 public meetings in honor of Pope Pius IX ; the vote of several cities of 
 gratulatory addresses on his election to the chair of St. Peter ; the invi- 
 tation to the Archbishop of New York to preach in the halls of Con- 
 gress ; and in the President and Cabinent walking in the funeral pro- 
 cession of the Archbishop of Baltimore. 
 
 In 1853 the Archbishop of Baltimore was specially invested with the 
 functions of an Apostolical Legate, and held the First National Council 
 of the Roman Church in the United States. 
 
 While the Pope was in exile in the city of Gaeta (1848), the Roman 
 Archbishop Eccleston, of Baltimore, invited the Pope to visit the 
 United States, and there was a tribute raised and sent him of about 
 twenty-six thousand dollars. The invitation was not accepted. 
 
 In answer to some inquiries from England, William Penn reported 
 that there were a few Romanists and an old priest in the new colony ; 
 and in 1686 there was reported a chapel on the north-west corner of 
 Front and Walnut Streets, where “mass was publicly celebrated.” 
 There was another in 1736, on the corner of Chestnut and Second 
 Streets, and a third on the Frankford Road, where services were held 
 under the law which restricted the Romanists to private residences. 
 
 The first active worker in the cause in Philadelphia was a Jesuit, 
 Josiah Greaton, who, having been assigned to the mission by the Bishop 
 
570 
 
 DENOMINATIONS IN THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 of Baltimore, entered the city in the disguise of a Quaker, and found a 
 ready assistant in a wealthy widow, who aided him to build a Romish 
 chapel on Fourth Street, in 1730, which was really the authorized 
 foundation of the church in that diocese. No time was lost in spreading 
 their works into the neighboring towns, and a few years after there 
 were missions in nearly a dozen different localities. 
 
 The first administration of the sacrament of confirmation in the 
 Catholic Church in this country was by John Carroll (then Superior, 
 and afterwards Archbishop,) in 1784. About that time the prejudice 
 against the Romanists was declining somewhat, on account of the 
 presence and friendly aid of Frenchmen of that communion ; which 
 favorable impression was increased during and just after the Revolu- 
 tionary war, because of the services of such eminent Catholics as 
 La p ayette and Commodore Barry, together with their soldiers and 
 sailors. This feeling appears in a report of a speech of Washington 
 when first President. 
 
 There were then about 7,000 communicants in the diocese of Phila- 
 delphia. 
 
 The administration of the church has not always continued without 
 difficulty, for in the matter of the bishop and the church trustees, and 
 the ownership of church property by the trustees instead of by the 
 bishop as Rome claims, Bishop Conwell contended with a priest named 
 Hogan, until the troubles culminated in bloodshed, in 1822. Hogan 
 afterwards left the Catholics and published several books against Popery, 
 Nunneries, and Auricular Confession, which were widely circulated. 
 
 In 1833-4, the anti-Catholic movement stirred up the people all 
 through the Union against nunneries and convents, some of which 
 were destroyed, while many volumes were published, exposing the 
 peculiar system and working of the Romanists. 
 
 Pittsburg was set apart into a separate see in 1843, the first bishop 
 being Michael O’Connor. 
 
 Lord De la Ware, Governor of Virginia, was honored by having his 
 name given to the river and the State of Delaware. The State was 
 settled in 1638, by the Swedes, and afterwards passed into the hands of 
 the Dutch in 1655, and of the English in 1664, and finally formed into 
 a separate colony in 1703. 
 
 Each of these nationalties left its impress on the people, and there 
 are still in the State churches which keep up a connection with their 
 origin in Europe; the Swedes with Stockholm, the Dutch with the 
 classis in Holland, and the Episcopal with the Anglican Church. 
 
 The Catechism of Luther was translated into the dialect of the 
 Indians who lived along the Delaware, by Campanius, in 1690, and cir- 
 culated free by the King of Sweden. 
 
 The first efforts there were about the year 1798, and were the work of 
 the various religious orders, whose success was not very promising. 
 
 The first edition in the United States of the Doway Bible was pub- 
 lished in Philadelphia in 1790 by Carey. 
 
 The Romanists have been represented from the earliest times in New 
 York and Canada, but in the beginning, and for a long series of years, 
 their numbers were very few, and their work not success fal. Their 
 
ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH. 
 
 571 
 
 missions among the Indians on the shore of the Onondaga Lake date 
 from 1654, when the Jesuit Le Moyne built a bark hut only a few rods 
 from the famous salt springs, which it is claimed that he reported, but 
 which he certainly never made any use of. They have since been 
 developed into a vast industry producing millions yearly. Their mis- 
 sion among the Indians was abandoned after a few years, and has been 
 revived by the Protestants with almost complete success, as may be 
 witnessed on any Sunday at the little chapel near the chief’s residence 
 on the reservation, a few miles south of Syracuse, N. Y. 
 
 In 1683 Colonel Thomas Dongan was appointed by the King of Eng- 
 land Governor of New York, when an impetus was given fo the immi- 
 gration of Catholics, but it appears that not many remained in New 
 York, for in 1696 there were reported for the census only seven families. 
 
 The first bishop of the Romish Church in New York was Luke 
 Concanen, a Dominican monk, who was consecrated at Rome, in 1808, 
 by Cardinal Antonelli, but who never visited his diocese, being cut off 
 by death on the way. He had set on foot the monastic order of 
 Dominic in Kentucky, which movement was carried out by others, 
 aided by his contributions. 
 
 The corner-stone of St. Patrick’s Cathedral was laid June 8, 1809, by 
 Anthony Kohl man, who was Vicar General in the absence of Bishop 
 Concanen, and it was opened for worship by Bishop Cheverus, of Boston, 
 in 1815. The affairs were managed by trustees, a system that seriously 
 galled the bishops, who wished to carry out the Romish system of 
 having absolute control of all church property and church affairs, 
 denying any rights or privileges (except prompt payment) to the people. 
 
 Bishop Hughes, in 1838, almost completely established the claims of 
 Rome to the control of church property in America. 
 
 The question of revealing the secrets of the confessional in evidence 
 before the courts, for purposes of justice, w T as decided, after much agita- 
 tion, in favor of the church, and a law was passed defining the matter, 
 enacting that “ no minister of the gospel, or priest of any denomination 
 whatsoever, shall be allowed to disclose any confessions made to him in 
 his professional character.” 
 
 This law applies only to the State of New York, but has been practi- 
 cally adopted in Virginia in a case in point before the courts. 
 
 The first priest who was allowed to officiate publicly in New York 
 city was Father Ferdinand Farmer (alias Steenmayer,) who came from 
 Philadelphia for that purpose occasionally; some of whose services 
 were held over a carpenter’s shop near Barclay Street, and in the parlors 
 of the Spanish consulate and the Spanish ambassador, in 1785. The 
 city was then the capital of the United States. 
 
 The first building erected as a Romish church in New York was in 
 Vauxhall Garden, near the North River, between Warren and Cham- 
 bers Streets. St. Peters’ was built in 1785 on land bought from Trinity 
 Church (Episcopal,) corner of Barclay and Church Streets. 
 
 A summary of the Catholic Church in the United States will give 
 some idea of the extent and number of its active membership, and 
 their division of labor in training the youth of the country to familiarity 
 with its faith and practices. 
 
572 
 
 DENOMINATIONS IN THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 There are seven Provinces : 
 
 1. Baltimore, which extends over the States of Delaware, East Florida, 
 Georgia, Maryland, North and South Carolina, Pennsylvania, Virginia, 
 and the District of Columbia. 
 
 2. Cincinnati, including Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, and Ohio. 
 
 3. New Orleans, comprising Alabama, Arkansas, Louisiana, Missis- 
 sippi, and Texas. 
 
 4. New York, embracing New England, New York, and New Jersey. 
 
 5. Oregon, extending over Oregon, Idaho, and British Columbia. 
 
 6. St. Louis, including Arizona, Colorado, Dakota, Illinois, Iowa, 
 Indian Territory, Kansas, Minnesota, Nebraska, New Mexico, Ten- 
 nessee, and Wisconsin. 
 
 7. San Francisco, comprising California, Nevada, and all the territory 
 east to the Colorado River. 
 
 In these seven provinces there are sixty-two dioceses. 
 
 7 Provinces. 
 
 © 
 
 u 
 
 o 
 
 s 
 
 j Cincinnati. 
 
 New Orleans. 
 
 New York. 
 
 i 
 
 Oregon. 
 
 St. Louis. 
 
 San Francisco. 
 
 j Totals. 
 
 Churches. 
 
 504 
 
 780 
 
 217 
 
 927 
 
 49 
 
 292 
 
 84 
 
 2,853 
 
 Now building. 
 
 * 
 
 27 
 
 9 
 
 71 
 
 
 18 
 
 * 
 
 125 
 
 Chapels. 
 
 284 
 
 105 
 
 24 
 
 150 
 
 56 
 
 284 
 
 185 
 
 1,088 
 
 Stations. 
 
 
 158 
 
 25 
 
 141 
 
 * 
 
 24 
 
 70 
 
 600 
 
 Priests. 
 
 476 
 
 771 
 
 311 
 
 1,112 
 
 51 
 
 1,223 
 
 138 
 
 4,082 
 
 Theo. Students. 
 
 295 
 
 104 
 
 421 
 
 225 
 
 * 
 
 165 
 
 8 
 
 918 
 
 Academies 1 5?*^’ 
 
 53 
 
 1 
 
 34 
 
 23 
 
 4 
 
 13 
 
 * 
 
 128 
 
 ACdaemies. j Qi r j s . 
 
 * 
 
 35 
 
 20 
 
 37 
 
 5 
 
 61 
 
 * 
 
 158 
 
 Convents. 
 
 13 
 
 50 
 
 22 
 
 45 
 
 2 
 
 50 
 
 9 
 
 189 
 
 Parochial Schools. 
 
 158 
 
 284 
 
 17 
 
 251 
 
 1 
 
 216 
 
 2 
 
 959 
 
 Select “ 
 
 * 
 
 118 
 
 15 
 
 80 
 
 7 
 
 6 
 
 3 
 
 229 
 
 Colleges. 
 
 * 
 
 5 
 
 4 
 
 9 
 
 * 
 
 6 
 
 2 
 
 26 
 
 Hospitals. 
 
 10 
 
 10 
 
 16 
 
 25 
 
 * 
 
 21 
 
 1 
 
 83 
 
 Orphan Asylums. 
 
 11 
 
 21 
 
 2 
 
 30 
 
 1 
 
 11 
 
 8 
 
 84 
 
 Charitable Inst. 
 
 * 
 
 ' 16 
 
 15 
 
 37 
 
 4 
 
 18 
 
 * 
 
 90 
 
 For the places in the columns marked with a star there were no 
 reports, and it may be that the matter is included under some other 
 item, as select schools may have been returned as parochial schools. 
 
 There are also several minor religious orders not mentioned in the 
 table, both for men and for women, whose work is directed to the 
 same end. 
 
 In Canada there are 959 churches, 437 chapels and missions, 1,507 
 priests, 25 colleges, 184 convents, 11 nunneries, 15 hospitals, and 35 
 orphan asylums in the Catholic Church organization and control. 
 Several monasteries are not included in this summary in Canada. 
 
 Recent events in Rome, since the closing of the so-called (Ecumenical 
 Council, have borne testimony to the very low estimation in which the 
 papacy is now held in Italy, and in all Europe. The proposition has 
 been made by Bismark to establish the Catholic Church in Germany 
 by law, independent of Rome, with the Kaiser at its head. If this is 
 carried out it will be a serious blow to Catholicism in Europe. 
 
THE SOCIETY OF FRIENDS. 
 
 573 
 
 THE SOCIETY OF FRIENDS. 
 
 In the time of Queen Elizabeth of England, about 1647, the Reformers 
 whom Queen Mary had driven out of the country returned to find 
 Archbishop Laud striving to introduce the peculiar forms and tenets of 
 the Church of Rome into the Church of England, and the Scotch 
 Presbyterians growing powerful, and all parties mistaking the nature 
 of Christianity, when a large number, grieved at this corrupt condition 
 of things spiritual, sought to remedy the evil in a quiet and prayerful 
 manner. 
 
 They did not originally design to form a sect, or establish a new reli- 
 gion, or even lay claim to having discovered a new truth, but they did 
 propose a revival of primitive Christianity. 
 
 George Fox is the first eminent name among them, who having been 
 summoned before a magistrate at Derby, bade him “to quake at the 
 word of the Lord,” when the name Quakers was at once given them in 
 ridicule. Some also called them Seekers. 
 
 They sent out preachers all over England and the Continent, who 
 met with great success. 
 
 In CromwelPs time they were persecuted, and with greater severities, 
 in systematic, legalized efforts in the reign of Charles II. Four thou- 
 sand two hundred of them were in prison at one time in England. So 
 attached were they to each other in the faith, that many sound persons 
 offered to take the places in prison of those that were feeble from con- 
 finement. 
 
 They profess a belief in the only wise, omnipotent, and everlasting 
 God, the Father, the Creator of all things in heaven and earth, and 
 Preserver of all that he hath made ; who is God over all blessed forever. 
 
 And in Jesus Christ, His Son, our Lord ; conceived by the Holy 
 Ghost, born of the Virgin Mary ; in whom is redemption for man, and 
 the forgiveness of sins. 
 
 And in the Holy Spirit, the Comforter. (John i, 9 ; 1 Cor. xii, 7 ; Titus 
 ii, 11-14.) 
 
 Jesus is alone man’s Redeemer and Saviour; a perfect example and 
 pattern to all his followers ; and none can be saved without repentance 
 towards God, and faith in the Lord Jesus the Christ. He also ascended 
 upon high, and sitteth on the right hand of God, and ever liveth to 
 make intercession for us. (John iii, 16 ; Acts iv, 12; 1 Tim. iv, 5 ; 1 John 
 iv, 10.) 
 
 They believe in the Divine inspiration and authority of the Old and 
 the New Testaments, and that they are “ able to make wise unto salva- 
 tion, through faith which is in Christ Jesus.” (2 Tim. iii, 16, 17; 2 
 Pe^er i, 21.) 
 
 The public worship of Almighty God is an inestimable privilege, as 
 well as a bounden duty ; and they therefore meet publicly “ on the first 
 day of the week,” and on some other day of the week. Their meetings 
 are not conducted after certain forms of singing, prayer, or preaching, 
 for the business of these meetings is the Lord’s, who declared, “ where 
 37 
 
574 
 
 DENOMINATIONS IN THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst 
 of them.” (Ps. xxv, 5; xxvii, 14; xlvi, 10; lxii, 5; cxxiii, 2; Is. xxv, 
 9 ; John xxiii, 23, 24; vi, 63; Rom. viii, 26 ; 1 John ii, 27.) 
 
 None will speak without feeling a direct call of the Holy Spirit for 
 the service, the Gospel ministry being regarded as peculiarly precious. 
 
 Prudent persons, gifted with a discerning spirit, are appointed as 
 eiders, whose duty it is to counsel, foster, and aid the ministers, and to 
 encourage or restrain the vocal offerings according as they believe they 
 see evidences of the work of the Holy Spirit in the speakers. 
 
 They consider that the payment of money to ministers is contrary to 
 the example of Christ’s apostles. (Mat. x, 8 ; Acts xx, 33-35 ; 1 Peter 
 iv, 10, 11 ; v, 2, 3.) 
 
 Friends do not baptize with water, but believe in the “ One Baptism 
 of the Spirit,” as the only one that can save the soul. 
 
 The sacrament of the Lord’s Supper is not to be had by eating bread 
 and drinking wine, or any outward performance, but is to be enjoyed 
 in a spiritual sense, and that a man must eat and drink the flesh and 
 blood of the Son of Man spiritually, if he hope for eternal life. They 
 teach that the eating of the passover supper by Jesus and his disciples 
 was the fulfilment of a Jewish ordinance, and that it is no longer 
 binding. 
 
 They hold the same opinion of “ washing the disciples’ feet.” Both 
 of these are to be observed spiritually, and not outwardly. (John vi, 
 32-35, 51-56, 63.) 
 
 Theologic training after a system could not be permitted, but educa- 
 tion of all, rich and poor, is a duty. The Holy Spirit selects his own 
 ministers, and instructs them what to say. 
 
 They favor and assist in the distribution of the Bible, their efforts in 
 this matter dating before the formation of any Bible Society. 
 
 The duty of prayer, vocal and silent, is regarded as of the highest 
 importance, as a part of worship ; counselling to omit vain words and 
 repetitions, and avoid the use of any set form. 
 
 Friends object to the use of oaths, even in a court of law, they making 
 an affirmation instead, holding that Jesus and the apostles positively 
 forbade them. (Mat. v, 33-37 ; James v, 12.) 
 
 War is believed to be utterly opposed to the Gospel, and unlawful to 
 the Christian, holding that “no weapons of defence will be found so 
 effectual in promoting the good of all mankind as the exercise of 
 Christian meekness, kindness, and forbearance in the suffering of 
 injuries, the absence of revenge, the return of good for evil, and the 
 ever operating love of God and man.” (Mat. v, 43, 44; vii, 12; Luke 
 x, 27; Romans xii, 19-21 ; James i, 20 ; 1 John iv, 21.) 
 
 Their plain speech, using “thee” and “ thou,” instead of “you,” is 
 believed to be according to Scripture, wherein it is enjoined by the pre- 
 cept and example of our Lord Jesus and his apostles. They do not 
 prescribe a form of speech or of dress as a condition of membership, 
 but they do require of their members the practice of simplicity and 
 truthfulness, becoming the Christian, and to avoid flattery, exaggera- 
 tion, and untruthfulness, vain compliments and superfluous or gay 
 
THE SOCIETY OF FRIENDS. 
 
 575 
 
 apparel. (Mat. xxiii, 8; Rom. xii, 9; Eph. v, 9 ; Phil, iv, 5; 1 Peter 
 iii, 3, 4.) 
 
 They do not apply to the months and days the names given in honor 
 of the Pagan gods, preferring the numbering as used in the Scriptures. 
 
 They have always relieved their own poor, in a quiet way, so that 
 none of their members come upon the public for support or education. 
 
 Friends also believe in the doctrine of the resurrection from the dead, 
 and of eternal judgment, (Heb. vi, ii,) and that the soul of man was 
 created immortal, and never dies. (On the Resurrection, see Mat. xiii, 
 43; xxii, 30, 31 ; Mark, xii, 25 ; Luke xx, 36; John v, 29 ; 1 Cor. xv, 19, 
 <fcc. ; Phil, iii, 21 ; Colos. iii, 4; 1 John iii, 2 ; 1 Thes. iv, 16 ; Rev. xx ? 
 12-15: on the Judgment, see Mat. xiii, 39-42; x, 15; xi, 24; Mark viii, 
 38; Luke ix, 26; Acts xvii, 31 : on Immortality, see Gen. i, 27; ii, 7; 
 1 Kings xvii, 21 ; Mat. xvi, 26 ; Mark viii, 36, 37 ; Eccles. iii, 21 ; xii, 7 • 
 Luke xvi, 22, 23 ; 2 Cor. v, 1, 2.) 
 
 The duty of private admonition rests on all true believers, as occasion 
 may require, yet it is also a special duty of the most experienced mem- 
 bers of the church. The first church was taught to submit to the 
 government of Christ, and to exercise a mutual care among themselves, 
 and it was also supplied with elders, who watched for their souls, as 
 they that must give an account. (Heb. xiii, 17.) It was the Chief 
 Shepherd himself who called these elders or overseers to their office. 
 (1 Peter v, 1-3.) They believe also that God has appointed in the church 
 in all ages, apostles, prophets, teachers, evangelists, and pastors. (Eph. 
 iv, 11 ; 1 Cor. xii, 11.) 
 
 On all subjects connected with the interests of religion, and the wel- 
 fare and good order of the members, the ultimate authority rested with 
 the community of believers. 
 
 They find many records of such meetings in the history of the early 
 church, when even the apostles acted with the body as simple members. 
 When a new apostle was to be appointed in the place of Judas, the 
 whole company of believers united in the election of Matthias. (Acts 
 i, 15-26.) Deacons were set apart by all the brethren. (Acts vi, 3.) 
 Stewards were appointed in the same manner. (2 Cor. viii, 19.) 
 
 When an unfaithful professor is to be separated from the church the 
 whole membership are charged with the duty of deciding. (1 Cor. vi, 
 3-5.) By an act of the same body a penitent offender was restored. (2 
 Cor. ii, 6, 7.) 
 
 Women had their part of the duties ; especially in the instruction of 
 the younger sisters, “to be sober, to love their husbands, to love their 
 children ; to be discreet, chaste, keepers at home, obedient to their own 
 husbands, that the word of God be not blasphemed.” (Titus ii, 4, 5.) 
 
 Select conferences may be held by the elders and overseers, and other 
 gifted members of the church, on subjects concerning themselves or 
 the body at large, but without authority as against the church itself. 
 The act of the church in binding or loosening will be confirmed in 
 heaven by Christ according to the merits of each case. 
 
 Discipline was maintained on certain principles: 1. That Christ is 
 the Supreme and only Head of his Church ; 2. That Christians are to 
 
576 
 
 DENOMINATIONS IN THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 minister to the temporal and spiritual needs of each other, in privacy 
 and love ; 3. Elders and overseers are to be guardians of the flock, dis- 
 tinct from those who preach; 4. No one (or class) is to make himself 
 a lord over God’s heritage, which power belongs to the people in their 
 collective capacity; 5. The Holy Spirit has immediate control of all 
 affairs in the church, from the time that the church was established by 
 a most extraordinary outpouring of the Holy Ghost. 
 
 The form of the church government was settled as early as 1666, under 
 the lead of George Fox, who advocated the setting up of women’s meet- 
 ings, which very soon were held as regularly as those of the brethren. 
 
 The chief authority is in the yearly meeting of the body at large, by 
 their representatives, men and women meeting separately. 
 
 Minor matters are arranged at the monthly meetings, such as the 
 care of the poor, visiting of the afflicted, and in prison, marriage and 
 burials, births and deaths, education, and the settlement of legal 
 matters (appeals to courts not being allowed.) 
 
 Certain inquiries respecting the moral and religious state of each 
 body (church or meeting), are circulated periodically, and returned for 
 the information of the Quarterly Meetings. These inquiries concern 
 the observance of worship, discipline, and decorum; growth in the 
 truth ; differences, and the care to heal them ; talebearing ; training of 
 children in the church, speech, and dress ; reading of the Holy Scrip- 
 tures ; dealings ; amusements ; public houses and intemperance ; against 
 paying tithes, priests’ demands, and church-rates ; war, including the 
 dealing in prize-goods ; poor ; education of the poor ; discipline ; new 
 members ; marriage ; overseers ; private accounts ; duties to the govern- 
 ment ; registration of births, marriages, and deaths ; titles ; legacies ; 
 to which are added such advice and counsel as may seem fit at the time. 
 
 In case of a breach of discipline, (for a crime or other wrong doing,) 
 the first duty is j private admonition , (Eccles. xix, 13, 15) ; the ijext is 
 the duty of the official overseers to inquire into the matter, (1 Peter v, 
 5) ; and the object in both these acts is to restore the erring, not drive 
 away, (2 Tim. ii, 21-26) ; the third step is to inform the meeting, when 
 a temporary separation is to be decreed, and efforts to reclaim put forth. 
 
 The Society grew rapidly into favor in America under William Penn, 
 who founded Pennsylvania in 1680, and who was a minister in their 
 church. 
 
 George Fox, traveling here in 1672, found meetings of Friends in 
 North Carolina (Perquimans County,) where the membership still 
 numbers over three thousand. 
 
 In New England the Quakers were cruelly persecuted, three men 
 and a woman having been hanged on Boston Common ; the jail, the 
 whip, and other means of persecution were only given up on a royal 
 mandamus. 
 
 In 1827 a schism occurred, on doctrinal and personal matters, and 
 there are now two distinct societies, each claiming the right to the 
 same name, Friends. Six out of ten Yearly Meetings (in Europe and 
 America,) joined the new party, which bore the title of “Hicksite,” 
 from Elias Hicks, a leader, though they rejected the name. 
 
SHAKERS. 
 
 577 
 
 There are twelve Yearly Meetings now held, the oldest of which is 
 that of London, dating from 1672; from which is issued an annual 
 address, as from the Mother of the Yearly Meetings, and this is repub- 
 lished by all the others. The members in England number about 
 14,000, with an additional attendance of non-members of nearly 4,000. 
 
 The Society of Friends have members in France, Germany, Norway, 
 and Australasia, all reporting annually to London. There is a Yearly 
 Meeting in Ireland. 
 
 In America there is one Yearly Meeting in Canada, and nine in the 
 United States, which are known as the Yearly Meeting of New Eng- 
 land, of New York, of Philadelphia, of Baltimore, of North Carolina, 
 of Ohio, of Indiana, of Western Indiana, and of Iowa. There are also 
 settlements in Kansas and Missouri. The total membership is reckoned 
 at 80,000. 
 
 There are First Day Scriptural Schools in many of the meetings, 
 well managed, exerting a wide evangelical influence. 
 
 There are several colleges under the control of Friends : Haverford 
 College, Pennsylvania; Earlham College, Richmond, Indiana; Whit- 
 tier College, Salem, Iowa; besides many large boarding schools, the 
 most noted of which are at West Town, Pa., Providence, R. I., Union 
 Springs, N. Y., and New Garden, N. C. 
 
 SHAKERS. 
 
 The term Shaker is given in mockery and reproach to “ The United 
 Society of Believers in Christ’s Second Appearing.” Their original 
 locality is at Mount Lebanon, near Lebanon Springs, New York, where 
 they follow very closely the rules of the ancient Essenes, tilling the 
 soil, and living in celibacy. 
 
 Their origin was in a protest against the Apostolic Church in Eng- 
 land as having gone out of the true way, and a belief that this sect was 
 especially raised up to restore the true faith and practice. James 
 Wardley, a tailor, and his wife Jane, Quakers, of Bolton-on-the-Moors, 
 England, joined some French Quakers in this movement in 1747. In 
 1757 Ann Lee (a blacksmith’s daughter,) joined the society by confessing 
 her sins to Jane Wardley, and at once began a series of surprising 
 assumptions. The first was that she was the “ elect lady ” mentioned 
 in Rev. x, 11, the Bride of the Lamb, and claimed that her proper name 
 was “ I am Ann, the Word,” which meant that she was the mother of 
 all the elect or saints, and equal to Jesus the Christ, head of all women 
 as he was head of all men. In her it is claimed that the second coming 
 of Christ was realized. She lived apart from her husband from that 
 time, but he took another wife. 
 
 Their creed is based on three grand ideas : The kingdom of heaven 
 has come ; Christ has actually appeared on earth the second time ; the 
 personal rule of God has been restored. 
 
 Therefore the old law is abolished, and the command to multiply ; 
 Adam’s sin has been atoned ; the intercourse of heaven and earth has 
 been restored; the curse is taken away from labor; the earth, and all 
 
578 
 
 DENOMINATIONS IN THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 that is on it, will be redeemed ; angels and spirits have become, as of 
 old, the familiars and ministers of men. 
 
 Only the elect are aware of these great changes; for all others are 
 blind and deaf, as they were of old. On being called by Him men and 
 women die to the world, forgetting its rivalries, pleasures, and passions, 
 in the new heavenly existence. Ho soul can be born into the society, 
 and no members can marry. They live as souls will in the society in 
 heaven, where the sexes must dwell apart ; love must be celibate, in 
 spirit and in fact 
 
 The Shaker is a monk, and the Shakeress a nun, and young men and 
 girls join the society, who, if they were in Italy or Spain, would go into 
 monasteries and convents. They do not proselyte, believing that none 
 but God can draw the saints into His rest. 
 
 The people are soft in speech, demure in bearing, gentle in face; 
 seeming at peace with themselves, with nature, and with God. 
 
 The men dress in a plain sack, with a linen collar, and no neck-tie, 
 with a vest buttoned to the throat, and reaching below the thighs, short 
 loose trowsers, and a broad brimmed straw hat. 
 
 The women wear a small cotton cap, a white handkerchief folded 
 around the chest and shoulders, a skirt, narrow and straight down from 
 the waist to the ankle, white stockings and shoes. Each one chooses a 
 color to suit the taste. 
 
 The men are grave in aspect, easy in manner, and the women have 
 an air of calm repose. 
 
 Order, temperance, frugality, and worship make an Eden filled with 
 peace and innocence among them in contrast to the turmoil of the out- 
 side world. 
 
 They have no police, no judges, no soldiers, and law and courts are 
 unknown. They subdue their passions, and are never angry, peevish, 
 or unjust. 
 
 To the looker-on tneir worship appears to be a moral craze, a religious 
 comedy, a ritual of jerks, a church of St. Vitus, but to the “saints’ 7 
 themselves it has a singular attraction and magnetic power. 
 
 Their worship consists in dancing, or springing from the floor, three 
 or four inches up and down, continued for a long time, by the men in 
 one room, and the women in another, keeping time by clapping hands, 
 or by singing. 
 
 They also whirl rapidly, like the Dervishes among the Mohammedans, 
 as a more perfect means of worshiping God, suggested by the Scripture 
 account of David. 
 
 Sometimes the Spirit moves one of them to speak, when all the others 
 keep quiet for a little while, after which they dance again. 
 
 They eat in a common room, at tables ranged side by side, a few feet 
 apart, at 6 in the morning, at noon, and at 6 in the evening ; coming in 
 at the sound of a bell, the women at one end of the room, and the men 
 at the other ; when they all kneel and pray in silence. 
 
 Not a word is spoken at the table except to ask for something, and 
 then in a whisper, and no one thanks another for service at any time. 
 
 The food is always simple and well-cooked, and almost entirely the 
 
 J 
 
SHAKERS. 
 
 579 
 
 produce of the garden and field. Meat is furnished in small quantities 
 (perhaps only to visitors). The drinks are water, milk, and tea. 
 
 About twenty minutes is the usual time of meals. A few minutes 
 more and the table is swept bare of dishes ; the plates, knives, forks, 
 and glasses are cleaned and put in their places, and order is restored. 
 Wine is not used, and tobacco is never touched by their lips. Tea and 
 coffee are used, (it may have been in compliment to the visitor.) Pork 
 is never touched. 
 
 Their bed-rooms are furnished simply but well, with two beds, that 
 slide, one under the other, out of the way in the daytime; and there 
 are looking-glasses, but no pictures. 
 
 The men and women sleep in separate rooms, the men have each a 
 room, the women one room for two, but a bed for each. 
 
 Their stairways are ventilators, and stoves of a peculiar pattern are 
 used in winter in all the rooms. 
 
 A husband and wife who join the society become brother and sister, 
 only ceasing to be husband and wife, living for God alone. 
 
 Before a person can be received the convert must separate honorably 
 from the world ; pay all debts, discharge all bonds and trusts, renounce 
 all contracts, cancel all wills and settlements, give up all friends and 
 kinsmen, as though it was the grave that opened instead of their doors. 
 
 As the World fell by human passions, so by human love it must be 
 redeemed ; every chosen one of the Father has the privilege of aiding 
 in this redemption, by his hands, his brain, and his soul ; covering the 
 earth with verdure, filling the air with perfume, storing the granary 
 with fruit. The earth was before this a servant only; now it is a part- 
 ner, bound by celestial ties. Whatever they produce bears the stamp 
 of excellence— of those who put their souls into the soil, and give it all 
 the affection which others bestow on wife and child, and money and 
 honors. 
 
 They hold to the dogma that those who die, only leave their bodies, 
 but do not go away, out of the sight of those who are purified and 
 exalted by the gift of grace, which enables them to see the world of 
 spirits, moving about in the air, invisible to all others. 
 
 This is also a belief of the Spiritists, although the Shakers claim to 
 have been first in its discovery. They believe that this spirit-seeing is 
 to increase as souls become pure, until many all over the world will see 
 the spirit forms of those who have lived before them. In that time the 
 real resurrection will have come, in the change from blindness to 
 spiritual sight. 
 
 Every Shaker settlement is a school, scattering ideas on all sides; 
 teaching that the church of the future will be an American Church ; 
 the old law is abolished ; the new dispensation is begun ; intercourse 
 between heaven and earth is restored ; God is king, and priest ; the sin 
 of Adam is atoned, and man is free except as to his own acts ; every 
 human soul will be saved ; heaven is to be on this earth when it is 
 purified by men’s labor and love into its original Eden state. 
 
 Every great revival of religion results in a new union of saints, and 
 there are eighteen now in the United States. (1) Water Yliet, Albany 
 
580 
 
 DENOMINATIONS IN THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 County, (the original society); (2) Mount Lebanon; (3) Groveland, 
 Livingston County, in New York State; (4) Hancock, and (5) Tyring- 
 ham, Berkshire County ; (6) Harvey, and (7) Shirley, Middlesex County, 
 in Massachusetts ; (8) Enfield, Grafton County, and (9) Canterbury, 
 Merrimac County, in New Hampshire ; (10) Alfred, York County, and 
 (11) New Gloucester, Cumberland County, in Maine; (12) Enfield, 
 Hartford County, Connecticut, (the birth-place of Meacham, the Shaker 
 Moses) ; (13) White Water, Hamilton County; (14) Water Vliet, Mont- 
 gomery County; (15) Union Village, Warren County, and (16) North 
 Union, Cuyahoga County, Ohio; (17) Pleasant Hill, Mercer County, 
 and (18) South Union, Logan County, Kentucky. 
 
 The whole number is about seven thousand. 
 
 They seem to have no interest in the outside world ; reading no news- 
 papers, and few books, scarcely more than the Bible. They have no 
 political meetings, and never vote. God is their only right, and obedi- 
 ence to his will their only freedom. 
 
 The members sign a covenant, and submit to the direction of an 
 Elderess, and the present one is named B§tsy Bates, Elderess Betsy, 
 the title Mother being reserved for Ann Lee, who is visible to spiritual 
 eyes among them. The chief Elder is Daniel Boler. There are two 
 orders, Probationers and Covenanters. The first stage of the celestial 
 trial allows the use of the private fortune and other little indulgences, 
 but the second is a vow of chastity, and a community of goods. 
 
 They do not teach that celibacy is right in every person and in every 
 place, but as marriage is a great source of temptation to do evil (as wine 
 leads to intemperance,) this temptation must be put away by those who 
 would become saints, and aid in redeeming the world from $in. 
 
 They teach that there are two orders in the world, of Generation and 
 of Resurrection. The saints are in the resurrection order. 
 
 The present danger to the peaceful flow of the society is that there is 
 a man among them who has new ideas, Elder Frederick W. Evans, 
 who is the official expounder of their doctrines. Elder Boler represents 
 the divine principle among them, and Frederick the art and govern- 
 ment of their society. 
 
 Their agriculture is perfect, always improving while using the soil. 
 Their architecture is scientific, every building being provided with fans, 
 flappers, drafts, and ventilating shafts. 
 
 They have no need of doctors or medicine. They say that they ‘ ‘ have 
 had but one case of fever in forty years, and that was wholly their fault. 
 Fresh air is the only medicine needed by Shakers.” 
 
 The art of music is cultivated with great success, some of their tunes 
 having spirit and fire, electrifying the hearers, most especially the 
 saints. 
 
 In poetry their success is not so apparent to others, although the 
 saints seem to regard their poetic efforts as the direct inspiration of the 
 “spirits.” 
 
 Their eloquence has been heard in nearly every State in the Union, 
 and if we regard the numbers convinced and drawn into the society, 
 the art has not yet been cultivated to a very great perfection. 
 
JEWS. 
 
 581 
 
 In painting and all decorative arts they have as yet found but little 
 to engage their attention. 
 
 A cultivated man of the world, busy with its activities, earnest in 
 the walks of science and art, “ posted ” in the progress of society, would 
 pronounce them a dull, indifferent, lazy-witted, ignorant, superstitious, 
 visionary set of imitation monastics, who are never acceptable in any 
 light. 
 
 One of the best signs of the real progress of grand and true ideas of 
 human freedom from old exploded ideas in America is found in the 
 fact that there are so few who can sell themselves body and soul, to 
 such wild and weird illusions. 
 
 JEWS OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 
 
 The first appearance in our country of a community 
 Congregations. ^ men p ro f ess i n g Judaism dates from the year 1694. 
 They who formed it were a number of wealthy families of Spanish and 
 Portuguese descent. Having emigrated from some of the West India 
 islands, they settled in Newport, It. I. The Synagogue they erected 
 and the burial ground they purchased are still objects of considerable 
 interest. Though no longer in use by reason of the absence of any 
 Israelites, care is taken that they be always kept in perfect order. In- 
 structions were left to that effect by Judah Touro, an American born 
 of the Hebrew persuasion. Among his munificent legacies to Jews 
 and Christians, he bequeathed the necessary means to carry out his 
 intentions respecting the preservation of those two places associated 
 with the establishing of his brethren in this land. 
 
 The next settlement of Jews was in New York, in the year 1729. 
 Before that period scarcely any of the ancient faith could be met in 
 that city. But since then the influx of foreigners has been remarkably 
 perceptible in the increase of Israelites. Their number is said to reach 
 at present seventy-five thousand, which, if those residing in Brooklyn 
 be calculated together, will probably amount to one hundred thousand. 
 Their synagogues are very many, and they compare well in architec- 
 tural beauty and elegance with the handsomest churches adorning that 
 State. 
 
 Savannah, Ga., had formed in 1733 a religious body, which, till 
 recently, remained the only congregation. But ritual differences gave 
 rise to the establishment of another Synagogue, more in consonance 
 with the customs and taste of the worshipers. 
 
 In Charleston, S. C., the Jewish congregation has records going as 
 far back as 1765. And up to 1843 there was but that first established. 
 About that time, however, a division of opinions touching certain 
 ritual questions occasioned a separation, and another was formed by 
 those who disapproved of changes in the Synagogue service. In late 
 years mutual concessions effected a reconciliation, and the two congre- 
 gations merged into a flourishing one. 
 
 The oldest congregation in Philadelphia was organized in 1782, prin- 
 cipally— as usual in those days — by men of Spanish and Portuguese 
 
582 
 
 DENOMINATIONS IN THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 extraction. But in the course of years, persons from the North of 
 Europe constituted themselves into separate bodies. At present eight 
 synagogues are open for worship to the Jewish population. The latter 
 is variously reckoned. But ten thousand would seem to approach 
 the correct number. Congregations of Hebrews can be found also in 
 smaller cities of Pennsylvania, increasing in proportion to the advanta- 
 ges that the respective places offer to industry ; for, it may be safely 
 asserted, that wherever commerce flourishes there Israelites take up 
 their abode. 
 
 Richmond, Va., had one Synagogue, during a period of nearly half a 
 century. But within the last thirty years the settling of foreigners in 
 that city added considerably to the number of Jewish houses of prayer. 
 
 A State whose Hebrew citizens rival those of New York and Penn- 
 sylvania in standing and wealth is Ohio. Cincinnati especially con- 
 tains several congregations noted for the commanding influence of their 
 members. Fifty years ago a person in search of a synagogue might, 
 perhaps, have found a few worshipers in a hired room. Now structures 
 of imposing stateliness and grandeur will meet his vision in various 
 localities. 
 
 Maryland, since the year 1823, in which a congregation was organ- 
 ized, has witnessed a vast increase of Jewish inhabitants. Baltimore 
 alone counts five synagogues, some of which are thronged with wor- 
 shipers on each revolving Sabbath, and on the festivals. 
 
 New Orleans, La., which the opulent Judah Touro had chosen for 
 his residence, has a Synagogue largely endowed by his liberality. It 
 is not quite so old as that which German Israelites founded in 1828 ; 
 nevertheless, its status has not been impaired by the progress which 
 the last named has attained. 
 
 Number of Jews To offer a detailed account of Jewish congregations 
 in the U. S. which have sprung up in our midst within the last half 
 a century would be to allow this article a space exceeding the limits we 
 purpose assigning to it. Indeed, so rapidly do those religious organiza- 
 tions increase, that it might baffle the endeavors of giving correct sta- 
 tistics. Suffice to say, that the descendants of the patriarchs can be found 
 through the length and breadth of the Union. Whether we travel in 
 the New England States, or in the distant regions of the West, houses 
 of worship will be met which resound with prayers uttered by the out- 
 casts of Judea. Possessing no other data than the aforesaid to form a 
 criterion, we may, in the aggregate, put down the number of Jews in 
 the United States to about half a million. 
 
 Rituals I n P rece( ^ n g pages, the name of Spanish and 
 Portuguese, in contradistinction to that of German Jews, 
 has been mentioned. The reader may feel curious to know in what 
 they differ. With regard to the tenets of their faith, they hold pre- 
 cisely the same views. They both accept the thirteen creeds laid down 
 by Maimonides, (see the first article on this subject,) and conform like- 
 wise to the traditional rules embodied in the Talmud. The long dis- 
 persion, however, and the interruption of communication consequent 
 thereupon, caused a notable diversity in the liturgy, but specially in the 
 
JEWS. 
 
 583 
 
 pronouncing of the Hebrew language; those whose ancestors dwelt, 
 previous to the expulsion of 1492 by the edict of Ferdinand and Isa- 
 bella, in the Iberian land, giving to it a softer sound than their co-re- 
 ligionists, who are of Teutonic origin. It would be impossible at this 
 distance of time — and since the language has ceased to be spoken — to 
 ascertain which accent is the most correct. Grammarians appear to 
 favor, if not in toto, partly at least, that of the Spanish and Portuguese 
 Jews. 
 
 With respect to the liturgy, that of the Germans, for ordinary occa- 
 sions, contains the traditional prayers in a more condensed form. But 
 for the festivals and fast days it abounds in poetical compositions of 
 little merit and of obscure meaning. 
 
 Reform and This fact has furnished the ground for the introduction 
 
 Orthodox. 0 f radical changes in the Synagogue. It was argued 
 that to detain the congregation with the recital of that which requires 
 a comment to understand, would be to estrange them from the worship. 
 That the absence of mind exhibited by many, during the reading of 
 that portion of the ritual, was detracting from the sanctity of the ser- 
 vice. And that unless it be expunged the rising generation would join 
 religious communions more congenial to their feelings. 
 
 The pruning knife was then unsparingly used, but, as it often 
 happens, no sooner was the natural reluctance of altering what had 
 stood for centuries overcome, than a desire for changes of a different 
 nature found strong advocates. 
 
 Heretofore simplicity had characterized the Jewish worship. A 
 Reader (Hhazan,) chosen by the congregation, chanted the established 
 prayers, and the audience made the responses. Either that individual, 
 or another possessed of the requisite knowledge, delivered an occasional 
 lecture explanatory of the Biblical lesson of the week, or instructive of 
 the duties connected with some approaching holiday. But that system 
 was declared by Jews of the modern school incompatible with the 
 wants of the age. First vocal music was introduced, and soon after 
 instrumental music echoed in the synagogue. Hymns in English and 
 German superseded Hebrew psalmodies; and preaching, which had 
 been, however welcome, a mere adjunct, became the most indispensa- 
 ble part of the service. 
 
 These innovations, to which many Israelites object, because they 
 divest the synagogue of the venerable appearance which antiquity 
 gives it, and because they dress it in a garb foreign thereto, would 
 nevertheless have been tolerated, as not encroaching absolutely upon 
 the tenets of Judaism; but when the innovators went further, and 
 erased from the ritual every mention of the restoration of their people 
 to Palestine, every allusion to the resurrection of the dead, and taught 
 in their sermons the abrogation of the dietary laws, then a schism 
 divided the Jews into two camps; so that at present they are dis- 
 tinguished in almost all cities by the name of orthodox and reformers. 
 
 Charities But, n °t w Bhstanding this diversity of opinions, they 
 generally unite in objects of benevolence. It is the 
 acknowledged merit of Israelites that they are very solicitous for the 
 
581 
 
 DENOMINATIONS IN THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 welfare of their needy brethren. They will never suffer the destitute 
 to be an incubus upon society at large. Rarely is any of their faith an 
 inmate of the alms-house, and more rarely is any arrested as a vagrant 
 or an outlaw. Charitable associations supplying food, garments, fuel 
 and house-rent ; loan societies, to encourage the industrious ; hospitals, 
 orphan asylums; foster-houses, and homes for the invalid and the 
 decrepit, are supported wherever a Jewish community exists. In- 
 calculable is the sum yearly spent upon the maintenance of these 
 institutions, and the effect thereof can be seen in the general absence 
 of Jewish mendicants, Indeed, the facility with which assistance 
 may be obtained, has doubtless encouraged, in various instances, idle 
 habits. Sensible of this fact, and anxious to prevent imposition, the 
 directors of beneficial associations have been endeavoring of late to 
 correct the evil by a fusion of all charities, under the guidance of a 
 Board of Managers. These are men that have the capacity to discrimi- 
 nate, and leisure to examine into each case coming under their notice. 
 Chicago took the lead in the matter, Philadelphia followed, and other 
 cities are active to bring it to a successful completion. 
 
 Secret «ociet ; es Within the last decade three secret societies have been 
 started, and they are rapidly spreading among our Jew- 
 ish population. The first, called “The Sons of the Covenant,” is the 
 oldest, and consequently the largest. Under its auspices several public 
 charities had their origin. The second, named “The Free Sons of 
 Israel,” has been divided into two orders, “ The Independent S. of I.,” 
 and “The Improved S. of I.” The third, styled “The Iron Band,” 
 bids fair to become very popular, for, in a short lapse of time, one 
 hundred and fifty lodges were installed. 
 
 All the three are founded upon the same principle, and they aim to 
 reach the same end. An amount, varying with the age of the appli- 
 cant, is demanded before his initiation, and he is likewise bound to pay 
 a fixed yearly subscription. That entitles him, if unable to follow his 
 habitual vocation, because of sickness, to five dollars a week. At his 
 death his funeral expenses are defrayed, and his heirs receive a thou- 
 sand dollars. 
 
 Should any member in good standing be in need, a grant is made by 
 the lodge to which he is affiliated, for his temporary relief ; and in a 
 manner to spare his feelings. 
 
 Schools Not * ess h ee( ^ u l than in dispensing charity, the Jews 
 
 of our country are in affording education. Recent sta- 
 tistics show that the average attendance of their children to schools 
 exceeds that of other denominations. The majority, recognizing the 
 advantages of our admirable system, avail themselves of our public 
 schools, and have their sons and daughters taught there. But some 
 parents, wishing to combine religious with secular instruction, prefer 
 those institutes where a portion of the time is given to studying the 
 Hebrew language and the ritual. Institutions of that kind, however, 
 are neither popular nor numerous; the Israelites of the United States 
 evidently preferring to blend with the rest of their fellow citizens in 
 all things which do not immediately appertain to their peculiar belief. 
 
JEWS. 
 
 535 
 
 Colleges. 
 
 But to facilitate the acquiring of the ancient tongue, almost every con- 
 gregation has a school attached to it, where that branch of education is 
 imparted during the afternoon or evening. 
 
 In addition to that, Sunday Schools are frequented by 
 un ay c oo s. c j 1 jj ( j ren both sexes. A Philadelphia lady, highly 
 accomplished, and devoted to her people, started the idea, about thirty 
 years ago, of establishing such an organization. Her exertions were 
 crowned with success. Sunday Schools have spread everywhere, and 
 they command the hearty support of the community. Hundreds of 
 pupils attend with regularity, and their gratuitous teachers take pride 
 in the task voluntarily assumed. 
 
 A great want yet felt, and not easily supplied, is the 
 existence of colleges for the training of ministers. To 
 this day none of the Readers and Preachers at the Synagogue can 
 claim the United States of America as their birthplace, or as the nur- 
 sery of learning in which their minds were shapen. Foreigners fill all 
 positions in the Jewish Church, and some of them too far advanced in 
 life to become conversant with the vernacular, others unable to learn 
 it by reason of their surroundings and occupations ; so that the Ger- 
 man is the vehicle of religious teaching in most of the pulpits. An 
 effort to establish colleges was made in Cincinnati and in New York, 
 but it proved abortive. One has been in existence for the last four years 
 in Philadelphia, but it has not met with due encouragement. An idea 
 seems to prevail that as long as Europe can furnish America with 
 Rabbis, the means necessary for the support of seminaries and acade- 
 mies may be bestowed on other objects. A few years will reveal the 
 extent of an error so generally entertained. The youths of the Hebrew 
 faith, having grown to manhood, will demand to be guided by indi- 
 viduals identified with them in language and national feelings. 
 
 Journals Papers mainly devoted to the interest of the Jewish 
 Church are still few. New York publishes four weekly, 
 one entirely in English, (the Jewish Messenger,) two in English and 
 German, (the Hebrew Leader and the Jewish Times,) and another in 
 Hebrew, (the Observer.) In Brooklyn, one entitled the Era has just 
 begun to appear. Cincinnati issues one in English, (the Israelite,) 
 and another in German, (the Deborah.) In San Francisco, Cal., two 
 periodicals called “The Gleaner” and “The Hebrew” are printed, 
 and occasionally we hear of some ineffectual endeavors to give there 
 and elsewhere the Jewish press a larger scope. A severe loss journalism 
 sustained in the cessation of a monthly magazine named “The Occi- 
 dent,” ably conducted for upwards of a quarter of a century in Phila- 
 delphia. After the decease of its editor and proprietor, an attempt was 
 made, for a time, to prevent its extinction, but it failed. 
 
 Literary Asso- An increasing taste for polite literature is evinced by 
 tions. -the rising in our midst of associations which aim at the 
 mental improvement of their members. Various subjects are debated, 
 short essays prepared, select portions of the classics read, upon all of 
 which the sharp criticism of appointed judges is passed. 
 
586 
 
 DENOMINATIONS IN THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 Publication So- But what bids fair to promote the cause of learning, 
 ciety. but specially of Jewish literature among the Hebrews of 
 this land, is the project recently set on foot of forming a publication 
 society. Properly speaking, it might be termed a revival, because 
 some twenty-five years ago it existed, and gave to the public pamphlets 
 and volumes as valuable as they were interesting. But it was suffered 
 to die out. Now a new spirit has exhibited itself in various circles, 
 and the promises for a speedy accomplishment of that design are very 
 flattering. It is proposed that a translation of the Old Testament, 
 more agreeable to the text than the authorized version, shall be the 
 first fruit offered to American Israelites. That all-important work 
 is to be followed by others, which multitudes may read with profit and 
 procure for a nominal sum. 
 
 Board of Dele- The credit of having imparted a fresh impetus to the 
 gates. undertaking, is vastly due to the Board of Hebrew Dele- 
 gates. That body lent its influence, and offered its support in this 
 instance, as it has in many others, since its organization. Sixteen years 
 ago a few prominent men of the Jewish persuasion, met to consult how 
 they could effectually redress any public wrong done them, as a relig- 
 ious body, and how they could cast a protecting shield around the life 
 of millions of their fellow believers continually exposed to persecution 
 in benighted countries. They issued a circular, urging each congrega- 
 tion to send two delegates to a meeting which would be held in New 
 York. The response was not at first encouraging, yet it did not deter 
 those zealous few from carrying out their intentions. They formed an 
 association whose inherent vigor has been displayed in many a case of 
 emergency. Through its energetic remonstrances injustice against the 
 Hebrews, even in our midst, was prevented. By its strong appeals the 
 government of the United States interposed on behalf of the oppressed. 
 It likewise seasonably rebuked narrow-mindedness and prejudice 
 among high officials, and forced such before the bar of public opinion. 
 The Board of Delegates joined similar organizations originated in 
 Europe, for the mental and moral elevation of the scattered members 
 of the Hebrew race. It has encouraged agricultural schools in the 
 Holy land, the introduction of a better system of education in the 
 Barbary States ; the sending of a missionary to rescue the Falasha 
 Jews from heathenism. It has encouraged emigration to this country 
 of freedom among the Hebrews still weighed down by relentless despot- 
 ism, and whenever and wherever the hand of tyranny was raised to 
 strike, it strove, though not always effectively, to parry the blow. 
 That young but energetic association, alive to the advantage of foster- 
 ing love for ancient literature, and a strong desire to rear Ministers “to 
 the manner born,” is now actively engaged in working out these two 
 objects. It wfill shortly be seen whether the time is yet ripe for the 
 consummation of such an enterprise. 
 
 standing of the It would be superfluous to say that the Jew labors 
 Jews in theU. s. un cler no disability, political or civil, in our Union. All 
 avenues to greatness are open equally to him as to any member of the 
 community. He is in every sense of the word the peer of his fellow 
 
MORMONISM. 
 
 587 
 
 citizens of another creed. This knowledge imparts to him the full 
 dignity of manhood, and while raising him in his own estimation it 
 develops all his capacities. On the bench, as well as in the busy marts 
 of trade, alike among the medical as among the legal faculty, he occu- 
 pies a seat, and the hall of legislation has, more than once, heard his 
 voice. In this country, wrested from tyranny, and devoted to liberty, 
 the Jew can, like his ancestors in the days of Solomon, “sit under his 
 vine and his fig tree, with none to make him afraid.’ 7 
 
 MORMONISM. 
 
 Joseph Smith, Jr., was born in the town of Sharon, Windsor County, 
 Vermont, December 13th, 1805. In 1816 his parents, then living in 
 Royalton, Vermont, moved to Palmyra, New York. There were nine 
 brothers and sisters: Alvin, Hyrum, Sophronia, Joseph, Samuel H., 
 William. Catherine, Carlos, and Lucy. 
 
 They were poor, living from the sale of “ cakes and beer,” and street- 
 peddling, until they took a farm two miles south of Palmyra, in Man- 
 chester, where they lived in a log-house of their own make. A frame 
 house begun by them was never finished. In its garret Joseph “ trans- 
 lated” the “Mormon Bible.” 
 
 The family gained but little real friendship among the neighbors, 
 being more noted for their skill in the use of “ mushrat” traps, the gun, 
 and fishing-tackle, than for farming ; while tradition is well stocked 
 with accounts of various night expeditions among hen-roosts and sheep- 
 folds, smoke-houses, and other movable property, which somehow 
 “ became scarce,” and all of which losses were charged in the general 
 account against the “ lazy, whisky-drinking Smiths.” 
 
 Joseph was aroused by a “revival,” joined a class in a Methodist 
 church on probation, but fell away after a short trial, when he was 
 about twelve years old. 
 
 Schemes of money-digging were started by him over and over again for 
 several years, which were carried on at midnight, with many solemn 
 mummeries, always drawing whatever gold there was in the case from 
 the pockets of his dupes. 
 
 He was also gifted at telling fortunes, and describing the whereabouts 
 of lost property, by the use of a seer-stone, which was found in digging 
 a well, and was a piece of milky-quartz, rudely shaped like a baby’s 
 foot. 
 
 These matters having been often ridiculed in papers, Joseph Smith, 
 Jr., became known for his impostures, and was visited by Higdon, who 
 suggested the scheme of producing a new Bible, or “ Book of Mormon,” 
 the foundation for which should be the “Manuscript Found.” This 
 was the work of Rev. Solomon Spaulding, who had retired from the 
 pulpit on account of ill health, and to while away the time engaged in 
 the study of archaeology, visiting many of the Indian mounds in the 
 West. 
 
588 
 
 DENOMINATIONS IN THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 He conceived the idea of writing a romance which should pretend to 
 give a history of the ancient inhabitants of the American wilderness, 
 and account for the mounds that have so long baffled the researches of 
 scholars and archaeologists. His theory was that the Indians were 
 descendants of the lost ten tribes of Israelites, and a lively imagination, 
 aided by a classical education, developed this into a very entertaining 
 romance, full of mythical and legendary inventions. 
 
 The work was not kept secret, the author delighting m reading parts 
 of it to friends, at different times, during three years, when, in 1812, he 
 offered it to Mr. Patterson, a printer in Pittsburg, Pa., for publication. 
 “The Manuscript Found” was declined, but not returned at once to 
 its author, and one of Patterson’s employees, Sidney Higdon, made a 
 copy of it for himself. Mr. Spaulding died in 1827, leaving the work 
 with his widow, who was then living in Amity, Otsego County, N. Y. 
 Higdon then ventured to use his copy, and called on Smith, near 
 Palmyra, where the business of making the Book of Mormon was soon 
 begun. 
 
 The additions and changes copied or imitated from the Bible, were 
 probably the work olf the three, Higdon, Cowdery, and Smith. The 
 “visions” were first announced soon after these “assistants” (Higdon 
 and Cowdery,) had been at work with Smith in the garret of the house 
 on the farm. 
 
 Soon after the visits of Rigdon and Cowdery to Smith’s house, Joseph 
 announced that he had seen “ a vision,” in which all his sins had been 
 forgiven, and he had been instructed that “ all present religions were 
 false, and none of them acceptable to God ; and that the true Gospel 
 should be revealed to him in a history which was engraved on metallic 
 plates, which were hidden in a certain place, where they had been 
 buried by the American Indians, who were a remnant of the Israelites, 
 and that he was the chosen prophet to make this known, and translate 
 the Gospel to the world.” 
 
 He also said that the angel “ commanded” him to dig at a certain 
 place, the time and manner being very particularly described, where 
 he was to find a metallic book, whose leaves were covered with mystical 
 characters, which he alone of all mankind could translate, or even “ see 
 without instant death.” 
 
 This wonderful metallic book was the topic of conversation far and 
 near for some time, but as no one had seen it, and as it was seriously 
 doubted that any such thing existed, Joseph found it necessary to have 
 another revelation , permitting him to show it to eleven witnesses, who 
 were found among his associates, and who signed their names to a 
 paper, stating that they had seen the plates. 
 
 The hint for the invention of the “plates” (if there ever were any,) 
 was derived from the discovery of some metallic plates bearing written 
 characters, in the mounds of the West, and in Mexico, which had been 
 known for some years, were kept in some private museums, and were 
 described in the Asiatic Journal in 1832. The letters on these plates 
 were arranged in columns from top to bottom, the columns standing 
 
MORMONISM. 
 
 589 
 
 side by side. Those found in Pike County, Illinois, were flat, bell 
 shaped, having a hole at the small end, through which a ring was put, 
 holding six together, and two clasps at the lower end ; the plates being 
 of brass, and the ring and clasps of iron. Joseph may have seen 
 these, or had a description of them, for the page of characters which 
 Martin Harris showed to Professor Charles Anthon, the Greek scholar 
 of .New York, was an imitation of them, not quite literal, but very 
 close. 
 
 Martin Harris was a farmer of some means, very superstitious, 
 anxious to get rich and notorious suddenly, and furnished the money 
 to publish the “ translation.” Before actually doing so, he thought it 
 best to show a page of the work to Professor Anthon, asking his opinion, 
 who described it as “a singular scroll. Consisting of all kinds of char- 
 acters, in columns, and had evidently been prepared by some person 
 who had before him at the time a book of various alphabets ; Greek and 
 Hebrew letters, crosses, flourishes, and Roman letters inverted or side- 
 ways, the whole ending in a rudely drawn circle divided into compart- 
 ments, full of strange marks, evidently copied from a Mexican calendar 
 in Humboldt’s works.” This was in 1832. 
 
 These “records,” although each character was distinct and well 
 known, really meant nothing, being a mere string of letters and signs, 
 having no order founded on language, and no more meaning than any 
 accidental or fanciful arrangement or jumble of letters. The inventors 
 were probably not aware of the fact that the Hebrews from the earliest 
 times have had a reverence for their language, which, among the 
 Scribes, amounted to a superstitious idolatry, believing it to have been 
 given to Adam by God himself, and that they probably never used any 
 Egyptian characters, and certainly never wrote any books in the 
 Egyptian language, for they said that the mysterious plates were written 
 in the Egyptian language, which was also said to have been spoken by 
 the “remnant of the Israelites in America.” 
 
 There is another point against them, of which they were probably 
 not aware ; that the materials used by the Hebrews for writing upon 
 were never metallic plates, but were either stone, waxed tablets, linen 
 sized with certain gums, leather, vellum, parchment, or papyrus ; spe- 
 cimens of which, of every kind, dating from 1000 years before Christ, 
 are found in the Abbott Egyptian Museum (in the Historical Society, 
 New York,) and in the British Museum, London, but not one “ metallic 
 plate of gold.” 
 
 The “saints,” Joseph, Cowdery, and Rigdon, say that the plates 
 were actually found by Joseph, and translated by him, being aided only 
 by a very large and curious pair of spectacles, made of precious stones, 
 which were the Jewish Urim and Thummim, which have been so long 
 lost. (The Urim and Thummim was the name given to the twelve 
 engraved stones in the breast-plate of the Jewish high-priest $ con- 
 taining each one a name of one of the twelve tribes.) 
 
 The title will give an idea of the style of the work. 
 
 38 
 
590 
 
 DENOMINATIONS IN THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 “ THE 
 
 BOOK OF MORMON; 
 
 AN ACCOUNT WRITTEN BY THE HAND OF MORMON, UPON PLATES TAKEN 
 FROM THE PLATES OF NEPHI. 
 
 Wherefore it is an abridgment of the Record of the people of Nephi; 
 and also of the Lamanites ; written to the Lamanites, which are a 
 remnant of the House of Israel,” &c., (including a long sketch of the 
 contents, with an apology and an injunction to charity towards its 
 errors.) 
 
 • “ By Joseph Smith, Junior, 
 
 Author and Proprietor. 
 
 Palmyra : 
 
 Printed by E. B. Grandin, for the Author. 
 
 1830.” 
 
 The contents are : 1st and 2d Books of Nephi, his Reign and Ministry 
 (7 and 15 chapters); the Book of Jacob, the brother of Nephi (5); of 
 Enos (1); of Jarom (1); of Omni (1); the Words of Mormon (1); the 
 Book of Mosiah (13) ; of Alma, the son of Alma (30) ; of Heleman (5) ; 
 of Nephi, the son of Nephi, which was the son of Heleman (14) ; the 
 Book of Nephi, which is the son of Nephi, one of the disciples of Jesus 
 Christ (1) ; of Mormon (4) ; of Ether (6) ; of Moroni (10). Making 588 
 pages, 12mo., small pica. 
 
 By a special agreement (according to a revelation,) Mr. Harris was to 
 control the entire sale and profits of the book, the price being fixed at 
 $1.25 a copy. After a few weeks of very slow sales the Smiths were 
 permitted, by a special revelation , to assist in the sale, and use a part of 
 the funds. 
 
 The “ translator” neglected to give his work the appearance of design, 
 which is so valuable in historical writings, and also allowed himself to 
 overlook the chronology and geography, which are so carelessly noticed 
 that much confusion is the result. 
 
 The theory adopted by the writers was, that at the dispersion from the 
 Tower of Babel, after the confusion of tongues, some tribes found their 
 way into America, by divine guidance, where their history is traced for 
 1,500 years, in what they call the bountiful land, when for their sins 
 in forsaking the true religion they were utterly destroyed, 600 years before 
 Christ. The prophet Ether wrote an account of these things, (it would 
 seem that Ether lived 1,600 years,) leaving his “plates” hidden by 
 divine direction, where they were found by a prophet who came to the 
 bountiful land with a second colony, composed of Israelites (of the tribe 
 of Joseph,) 600 years before Christ, from whom the country was re- 
 peopled. They in time divided into two rich and powerful nations, the 
 Nephites and Lamanites. The Lamanites became idolatrous and bar- 
 barous, and were the ancestors of the American Indians. 
 
 The Nephites were spiritually very perfect, having visions, angels’ 
 visits, prophesy, and finally a visit from Jesus Christ after his resur- 
 rection, who taught them the true Gospel, and gave them the power of 
 foretelling the future. Falling into temptation and sin, the Nephites were 
 
MORMONISM. 
 
 591 
 
 destroyed by the Lamanites in the 4th century after Christ. Their most 
 noted prophet was Mormon, who wrote the history of his people, and 
 left it with his son Moroni, who hid the metallic (gold) plates in a hill 
 (Camorah,) near Palmyra, N. Y., A. D., 420. On September 22d, 1827, 
 Joseph Smith, Jr., being directed by the Lord, found the plates, which 
 he was instructed to keep secret, for his instruction only, there being a 
 penalty of “instant death” threatened by the “angel” in the vision 
 for any other mortal seeing them. 
 
 The theory is developed in a very careless and incomplete manner, as 
 a few specimens will show. 
 
 Mormon finishes and buries all the plates in one chapter, but a little 
 further on Moroni fills up the plates, “until there is no more room,” 
 and after that even there are 47 more pages in the published work. 
 
 The blood of Jesus Christ cleanses sinners a hundred years before the 
 date of the crucifixion, and the Holy Ghost is credited with works 300 
 years before the Pentecostal Feast Day. Lehi is divinely directed to 
 leave Jerusalem in one chapter, which he does, and is driven out by 
 the people in another. 
 
 The Nephites build a temple, more magnificent than Solomon’s, in 
 the wilderness, but its location is not given, nor have any ruins or re- 
 mains of the edifice or foundation been found. High-Priests and Priests 
 are mentioned, with their duties. Baptism was practiced 400 years before 
 Christ. Scalping is said to have been a divinely ordered thing, and in- 
 troduced by a prophet. The mariner’s compass, and animal magnetism 
 were known to the Nephites 600 years before Christ. 
 
 The American Revolution is mentioned (in a prediction?) several 
 hundred years before it took place. 
 
 The imitations of the Scriptures are very numerous, a few of which 
 will give an idea of the style and poverty in invention of the writers. 
 
 Daniel and the “writing on the wall;” the Apocalypse in many 
 places, especially those passages that are usually applied to the Church 
 of Rome; Paul’s conversion; Peter’s escape from prison; the incident 
 of Ananias and Sapphira; Moses watering Jethro’s flock ; many mira- 
 cles, such as those of Shadrach and the fiery furnace; Elijah, and the 
 widow’s son; healing the dumb, &e. 
 
 It is remarkable that the ancient people on this continent had names 
 (as the Book of Mormon says) of noted men precisely similar to the 
 modern orthography of well known names in ancient Europe and Asia, 
 Hebrew, Greek, Roman, &c. 
 
 Many passages are copied entire from the Bible; as the march of the 
 Assyrian King to attack Jerusalem (from Isaiah, x.); almost the whole 
 of the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew, vi.); and many others. 
 
 There are several sentences which are peculiar to this book in con- 
 struction; as “silence to reign;” “all eternity is pained;” “that I 
 might engraven”; and indicate carelessness if not ignorance of Eng- 
 lish grammar. 
 
 The whole book, from the title page to the end, bears the marks of the 
 meddling of incompetent hands with a work of but ordinary merit; 
 and its only claim to notice is that it is the basis for a religious system. 
 
592 
 
 DENOMINATIONS IN THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 Born in the very lowest walks of life, reared in poverty, educated in 
 vice, having no claims even to ordinary intelligence, coarse and vulgar 
 in deportment, Joseph Smith, Jr., succeeded in establishing a religious 
 creed, the tenets of which have been made known throughout the 
 civilized world. The ministers of “The Church of the Latter Day 
 Saints ” have been welcomed in every continent, by every people to 
 whom they have come, where they have displayed their standard, even 
 on the banks of the Nile and Euphrates, over the hills of Palestine, and 
 among the profound students of Europe. Joseph built a city of 25,000 
 people, in one of the most beautiful places in the Western world, at 
 Nauvoo, on the Mississippi river. 
 
 He claimed to be Vicegerent of God, and was a tavern-keeper; he 
 claimed to be a prophet, and was a libertine ; he was a minister of peace, 
 and a general; a preacher of righteousness, and a profane swearer; a 
 worshiper of Bacchus, and mayor of a city, and a bar-room fiddler; a 
 judge on the bench, and an invader of the civil, social, and moral re- 
 lations of men. 
 
 Without learning, means, or experience, he met the learned world, 
 a rich century, and “a hard-hearted and wicked generation,” as his fol- 
 lowers claim, “with truth that could not be resisted, facts that could 
 not be disproved, revelations whose spirit had so much God in them 
 that the servants of the Lord could not be gainsayed or resisted. The 
 pages of his history, though his enemies never ceased to persecute him, 
 and hunt for offences against him, are as unsullied as the virgin snow.” 
 
 His first journey as preacher was into Northern Pennsylvania, where 
 he found his wife, Emma Hale, and was married by Higdon. Mr. Hale 
 did not become a Mormon. 
 
 About thirty persons in the vicinity of Manchester professed belief in 
 the pretensions of Joseph, and some few from a distance, among whom 
 was Parley P. Pratt, of Lorain County, Ohio, where there was a con- 
 gregation under the charge of “ Rev. Sidney Rigdon.” The first one 
 who was “called” to preach, besides Rigdon and Joseph, 'was Calvin 
 Stoddard, who was called in the night by two young men, who did it 
 for fun, expecting to make a sensation; the call being shouted at the 
 door in slow and solemn tones. Stoddard heard and went to work the 
 next day. 
 
 The first church gathered in form under Joseph Smith, Sr., the first 
 patriarch and president, was at Kirtland, Ohio. Here, in answer to the 
 preaching of several missionaries sent out to preach the Gospel of Nephi, 
 many converts gathered, and it seemed to some reflecting minds that 
 the last days were really at hand, when men and women of character 
 and influence, could be found to believe such “revelations.” The 
 “prophet” Joseph was credited with the power of “ speaking in un- 
 known tongues, performing miracles, and healing the sick.” 
 
 Brigham Young joined the Mormons at Kirtland, in 1832, with his 
 father, four brothers, and six sisters. He soon became the real leader, 
 and in 1836 was made president of the Twelve Apostles (organized in 
 1834) ; the absolute rulers of the Church. From that day to this he has 
 been the accepted chief of The Latter Day Saints. 
 
MORMONISM. 
 
 593 
 
 The fortunes of the Church at this time seem to have been advanced 
 by the expulsion of some of the early assistants, such as Harris, Cow- 
 dery and Whitmer ; and also by unwise persecution by their neighbors. 
 Joseph and Rigdon escaped on horseback in the night, to Independence, 
 Missouri, where the “saints” were soon gathered to the number of 
 about twelve hundred. 
 
 Here violence again made them martyrs and increased their numbers. 
 Their printing-office was destroyed, several of the “ saints ” tarred and 
 feathered, and a few killed by the mob, and the prophet Joseph with 
 forty others lodged in jail. 
 
 The Mormons at this time were charged with every crime in the 
 criminal code, and were finally driven from Missouri, in 1839, the main 
 body going to Hancock County, Illinois, where they founded the city 
 of Nauvoo in 1840, (chartered in 1842.) Preachers were sent out in 
 every direction, and proselytes came in great numbers. 
 
 A large hotel was built, a temple commenced, and a military legion 
 organized. Joseph in addition to his dignitaries as prophet, mayor, 
 general, and hotel-keeper, aspired to the presidency of the United States, 
 on which topic he corresponded with Clay and Calhoun. The converts 
 at this time numbered about 100,000. 
 
 It was at Nauvoo that Joseph announced the “ revelation” in favor 
 of spiritual wives and polygamy, the prophet setting the example by 
 “sealing” to himself ten spiritual wives. 
 
 In a few years they were driven out of Nauvoo by mobs, Joseph with 
 several having been killed in the jail at Carthage, while in the custody 
 of the authorities. 
 
 The killing of the prophet and violent persecution of his people made 
 them friends and sympathizers, and converts flocked to Nauvoo. The 
 temple was finished in 1844, a few months after Joseph’s death. It was 
 built of white limestone, 128 feet long by 88 wide, and 60 high. 
 
 From Nauvoo they were also driven, and led by Brigham Young, set 
 out on the journey across the plains, with scanty provisions and few 
 animals. This march has not been equaled since the exodus from 
 Egypt, and the distance is six times that from Cairo to Jerusalem. 
 They found an asylum in a sterile valley, watered by creeks of brine, 
 and fields sown with salt. 
 
 They left their pleasant homes in Illinois, with all they contained, 
 and all their surroundings, and began the march across the Mississippi, 
 on the ice, in the winter, and they defended themselves against the 
 Indians and wild beasts along the entire route. 
 
 Young’s energy soon put the colony into a prosperous condition, say- 
 ing that “ the first duty of a saint, when he comes to this valley, is to 
 learn to grow a vegetable, then how to rear pigs and fowls, to irrigate 
 his land, and build up his house.” 
 
 They began another city and another temple, and a newspaper, and 
 laid out gardens and fields which were watered by the melting snows 
 of the Rocky Mountains. 
 
 “The Church of the Latter Day Saints” is a theocracy, having a 
 
594 
 
 DENOMINATIONS IN THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 person for its head who claims and is believed to be a prophet and 
 apostle of God. 
 
 This prophet demands perfect obedience, in virtue of the authority 
 of divine revelations, which are handed down, from time to time, as 
 occasion demands. From his decrees there is no appeal, and against 
 his will there must be no resistance. 
 
 The creed and the theology are subject to change by new revelations. 
 Their present condition is : 
 
 That there are many gods, of both sexes; but to Mormons there is 
 but one God, the Father of mankind and Creator of the earth. 
 
 Men and women are literally the sons and daughters of God; and 
 are spiritually begotten by God, in the heavens, and sent into this 
 earth. 
 
 God has a form, of which the human form is an image ; His body 
 being of spiritual substance. Spirit is only matter of a finer degree. 
 
 God is omnipotent, but not omnipresent. He is every where present 
 by His Holy Spirit. He has a body, parts, and passions. His residence 
 is at the centre of the universe, near the planet Kolob, which revolves 
 once a day (a day is 1,000 years.) (This planet has not yet been noticed 
 by astronomers.) 
 
 Jesus Christ was the Son of God, literally begotten by the Father, 
 and had the Spirit of God in the body of a man. After his resurrection 
 he had a body of flesh and bones only, typical of man’s resurrected 
 body. He differs in nothing from the Father, except in age and 
 authority. 
 
 The Holy Spirit is a subtile fluid, like electricity, and pervades all 
 space. Electricity is the subtlest form of matter. By the agency of the 
 Holy Spirit all so-called miracles are performed, which are simply the 
 effects of natural laws of a higher character than those known to U3. 
 The Holy Spirit is communicated by laying-on of hands, by one of the 
 properly authorized priesthood, the recipient being able to perform 
 wonderful things, either of prophesy, of healing, or of speaking in 
 unknown tongues, &c. 
 
 There are three Heavens, the telestial, the terrestrial, and the 
 celestial. The telestial and the terrestrial heavens are to be occupied 
 by those who have neither obeyed nor rejected the gospel. The telestial 
 is typified by the stars, and the terrestrial by the moon. The celestial, 
 or highest heaven, has for its type the sun, and is reserved for those 
 who received the testimony of Jesus, believed on his name, were bap- 
 tized by one having authority from him, and who afterwards lived a 
 holy life. 
 
 The earth, as purified and refined, after the second coming of Christ, 
 is to be the final habitation of those entitled to the glories of the celes- 
 tial kingdom. 
 
 Jerusalem is to be rebuilt, and Zion, or the New Jerusalem, is to be 
 built in Jackson County, Missouri (whence the saints were expelled in 
 1833.) 
 
 The fourth class of persons are those who sin against the Holy Ghost 
 (which is apostacy after receiving the laying-on of hands,) and these go 
 
MORMONISM. 
 
 595 
 
 away into everlasting punishment, to remain with the devil and his 
 angels. 
 
 For Membership it is required to believe in Jesus Christ as the Son 
 of God, and in his authorized priesthood ; to repent of all sins ; to be 
 baptized by immersion ; to receive the laying-on of hands. 
 
 The Faith and Doctrine. 
 
 “ 1. We believe in God the Eternal Father, and in his Son Jesus 
 Christ, and in the Holy Ghost, who bears record of them, the same 
 throughout all ages and forever. 
 
 “2. We believe that all mankind, by the transgression of their first 
 parents, and not by their own sins, are subject to eternal banishment 
 from the presence of God, their bodies never to rise from the dust, and 
 their spirits to remain under the power of Satan, with no power of their 
 own to escape therefrom. 
 
 “3. We believe that through the sufferings, death, and atonement of 
 Jesus Christ all mankind, without one exception, are to be completely 
 and fully redeemed, both body and spirit, without any condition on 
 their part ; the most righteous man that ever lived, and the most wicked 
 wretch, without any agency of their own, were placed under the same 
 curse, and they both alike will be redeemed. (Rom. v, 18 ; John xii, 
 32.) Jesus hath destroyed the effect of the original sin ; hence eternal 
 life will be theirs if they themselves are not found transgressors of the 
 law. 
 
 “ 4. We believe that infants are incapable of knowing good and evil, 
 and that therefore there is no law given to them ; hence they are inno- 
 cent, and if they should die would enjoy eternal life. 
 
 “5. We believe that those who grow up to years of understanding 
 know good and evil, in consequence of Adam’s sin ; and are capable of 
 obeying and disobeying a law ; and the penalty for sin is a second 
 banishment from the presence of God. 
 
 “6. We believe that this second law only affects those who have done 
 evil, having a knowledge of the law, in this life, or if they sin in igno- 
 ranetfj and afterwards come to know the law, they will be punished in 
 the world to come. They are prisoners shut up in this world, waiting 
 with awful fear, for the judgment, and cannot devise any way of escape ; 
 but Jesus has opened a way on conditions. 
 
 “7. We believe the first condition is to believe in God, the sufferings 
 and death of his Son, Jesus Christ, his resurrection and ascension, and 
 in the Holy Ghost. 
 
 “That the second condition is to repent humbly before God, and con- 
 fess their sins with a broken heart and contrite spirit, to turn away 
 from them, and make restitution to all whom they have injured, as far 
 as it is in their power. 
 
 “The third condition is to be baptized by immersion in water, in the 
 name of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, for remission of sins, by one 
 who is called and authorized of Jesus Christ to baptize. 
 
 “ The fourth condition is to receive the laying-on of hands, in the 
 name of Jesus Christ, for the gift of the Holy Ghost, by the apostles or 
 
596 
 
 DENOMINATIONS IN THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 elders, and to be received only by those who believe, repent, and are 
 baptized into this church. 
 
 “These are the first conditions; all who comply with them receive 
 forgiveness of sins, and are made partakers of the Holy Spirit, and be- 
 come the adopted sons and daughters of God, being born again, first of 
 water, then of spirit, and become children of the kingdom, heirs of God, 
 saints of the Most High, the church of the first-born, the elect people, 
 and heirs to a celestial inheritance, eternal in the presence of God. 
 
 “8. It is the duty and privilege of the saints to believe in and enjoy 
 all the gifts, powers, and blessings which flow from the Holy Spirit, 
 such as revelation, prophesy, visions, the ministry of angels, healing 
 the sick by laying on of hands, the working of miracles, and all the 
 gifts mentioned in Scripture. Inspired apostles and prophets are 
 necessary to be in the Church in these days.” 
 
 They also believe in the Millenium in a certain way, and they teach 
 that the latter days are now passing. 
 
 The church services are conducted on the model of the Methodist 
 Church, with the variation of giving the sacrament of water and bread 
 during the sermon. 
 
 All members of the church are required to assent to the belief in one 
 God, and one Christ ; in the prophet Mormon, in the prophet Joseph 
 Smith, Junior, and in the Church of the Latter Day Saints. 
 
 The ceremony of admission to membership includes a stripping, 
 anointing with spiced and perfumed oil, the recitation of passages of 
 Scripture from the Bible and from “Mormon;” robing in a peculiar 
 dress, giving a new name, and the rehearsal of a kind of drama which 
 symbolizes the creation, man’s fall, Christ’s atonement, and the whole 
 Mormon plan of salvation. 
 
 The church organization consists of: 
 
 1. The Presidency of three, chosen from among the high-priesthood 
 and apostleship, who are a President and twb Counsellors. The Presi- 
 dent is also seer, revelator, translator, and prophet. Absolute ruler in 
 both spiritual and temporal affairs. 
 
 2. The Apostles, who organize, build up, preside and minister.* 
 
 3. The Seventies, who are to preach the Gospel and administer its 
 ordinances and blessings. The Patriarch blesses the fatherless, and 
 prophesies their future. 
 
 4. The Elders and High Priest. The high priest has care of the 
 churches abroad. The elders preach and baptize, and ordain other 
 elders, teachers, and deacons. These are all of the Melchizedek priest- 
 hood, and they are hedged about with holy sanctions and sublime mys- 
 teries, which awe the minds of simple persons. They hold the key 
 by which all heavenly mysteries and spiritual blessings are locked up 
 and unlocked, only by the duly authorized agent. 
 
 5. The Aaronic priesthood, including bishop, priest, preacher and 
 deacon. The High Council consists of twelve high priests, with a 
 president, who settle all important difficulties. They hold the keys of 
 the ministering of angels, and are to attend to outward ordinances ; the 
 letter of the Gospel, the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins. 
 
MORMONISM. 
 
 597 
 
 The present peculiar institution of polygamy was not originally a 
 part of the system, and was added to it by the “prophet” Joseph, in 
 1S43. It produces divisions, schism, and one of the Mormon elders 
 says, “ there is scarcely a mother in Israel but would, if they could, 
 break asunder the cable of the Church of Christ, and say that they 
 have not seen a week’s happiness since they became acquainted with 
 that law, or since their husbands took a second wife.” 
 
 The “ Book of Mormon ” bears witness against the evil, and it is only 
 sustained on the plea of a later revelation. 
 
 They claim that only a small portion of the world is opposed to it, 
 and insist that their people believed in the doctrine long before the 
 “ revelation ” was received. 
 
 The law requires that when a man wishes to take a certain woman 
 for a wife and has a wife already, he must ask a prophet’s advice, who 
 must receive a special revelation in his case ; then he gets the consent 
 of the parents, and, lastly, of the lady herself. The President can over- 
 rule any first wife’s objections to a second or more wives, even to the 
 extent of divorce. 
 
 A Mormon may have as many wives as he can support. There is no 
 such crime as incest. 
 
 There is a “ higher degree ” marriage, called the “ Order of the Clois- 
 tered Saints.” This concerns purely spiritual wives, an idea borrowed 
 from the Vermont Methodists (Perfectionists.) A man and a woman 
 can form a spiritual union, even if both are married to others. The 
 duties and privileges of the spiritual marriage are in no particular 
 different from any other. A man may “ seal ” a wife for time only, or 
 for both time and eternity. 
 
 Marriage for eternity may be contracted with either the living or the 
 dead, by substitution. (The ancient Hebrews required a brother to 
 raise up children in the name of the dead with the widow.) The 
 woman becomes the spiritual wife of some dead saint, and the actual 
 companion of some living one. In such a state of society there seems 
 to be no such crime as adultery. 
 
 “ A woman has no soul apart from her husband, and can only hope 
 to be saved by becoming a wife.” 
 
 The natural effect on woman of these ideas and laws has been to se- 
 clude her from society by a kind of Mohammedan jealousy, which is 
 in dismal contrast to the Christian home, and to drape her form in the 
 cheap drab of suggestive mourning. 
 
 Men who die unmarried will have their development checked, and 
 they will be only servants and messengers forever. 
 
 The Mormons are a praying people, shaping every action, domestic 
 or public, social or commercial, by what they conceive to be the will of 
 God. 
 
 The Church is free, and open to comers from every quarter, and every 
 creed in the world, except to the Negro, who is regarded as the de- 
 scendant of Cain, the first murderer. 
 
 The spirit of the Church is to tolerate all dissenters, asking no ques- 
 tions, applying no test, demanding no sacrifice. The convert merely 
 
598 
 
 DENOMINATIONS IN THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 adds to his former creed a new truth, accepts the prophet Joseph in 
 addition to his original faith. 
 
 The Church teaches that God is in constant, daily and hourly con- 
 tact with his saints, in all their occupations, from sealing a wife to 
 leading an army. 
 
 “ True worship is true enjoyment ; a blessing from on high ; a sense 
 of duty being done, of service accepted, of life refreshed.’ 7 
 
 Work is honorable ; the whole earth being regarded as a waste to be 
 redeemed by labor into the future heaven. Blessed by labor, the earth 
 becomes a paradise for man’s enjoyment. To be a toiling and pro- 
 ducing man, is to be in a state of grace. 
 
 The Mormons, if they could have remained isolated in their “ happy 
 valley,” and controlled their people and their resources, would have 
 carried out their original intention of founding a separate nation, dis- 
 tinct in religion, fenced in by the Rocky Mountains, rich and powerful, 
 and the whole people, with all their wealth, the slaves of one absolute 
 master, in what they intended should be called “ The Kingdom of 
 God.” 
 
 The principal causes why this result was not reached, were, the dis- 
 covery of silver mines in the territory, the opening of the Pacific Rail- 
 road, and the Reform movement in the Mormon Church. 
 
 When the movement to Utah was first designed, the territory was out 
 of the Union, and if it could have been carried forward to a success 
 before the Mexican war, which resulted in annexing a part of Cali- 
 fornia, including Utah, to the United States, the Mormons would have 
 been independent of the Government at Washington, but the Union 
 extended its jurisdiction to the Pacific, and the Mormons were com- 
 pelled to recognize its authority, and applied for admission under the 
 title of the “ State of Deseret.” On account of the peculiar institution 
 of polygamy, Congress still governs the country as the Territory of 
 Utah, refusing it admission as a state. 
 
 Brigham Young has been the actual ruler of the Mormon State until 
 a very recent time, although several governors have been appointed by 
 Congress, and have resided in Utah. Young has been the appointee of 
 Congress, and also the Indian Agent. When he was not governor he 
 was actual ruler, and his wishes were law at Washington, removing 
 any of the officers of the United States in Utah at his will. 
 
 The first military force sent out to support the authority of Congress 
 among the Mormons was under the command of Colonel Steptoe, who 
 was favorable to the “saints,” and did not effect its purpose, Young 
 continuing his disloyal speeches and conduct, and his priesthood by 
 their arrogance and defiance succeeded in driving the United States 
 judges from the Territory. 
 
 The first vigorous measures were begun under Buchanan’s adminis- 
 tration, when Albert Sidney Johnston was sent out with a force, but at 
 the wrong time of the year, when they had to go into winter quarters 
 at Ham’s Fork, which delay gave the Mormons time for action. 
 
 Young was careful to announce that he was governor by the appoint- 
 ment of Congress ; had not been removed ; did not need the army for 
 
 j 
 
MORMONISM. 
 
 599 
 
 any purpose, as his district was in peace, and the laws obeyed ; and, 
 moreover, the apostles declared that they would burn and destroy every 
 city and farm in the valley, leaving it the wilderness it was when they 
 found it, and, as Brigham said, “ Make a Moscow of every settlement, 
 and a Potter’s Field of every canon,” if the United States army should 
 enter his territory. When the special commissioners, with the newly- 
 appointed governor, Cumming, arrived in Salt Lake City, the threat- 
 ened exodus was actually begun, when Governor Cumming, by judicious 
 management, averted the evil, and restored peace, and Camp Douglas 
 was established in sight of Salt Lake City. 
 
 This conduct of the Mormons caused a general reaction in their 
 favor in this country and in Europe. 
 
 When the rebellion broke out in 1861, Young declared in favor of 
 secession, probably hoping the Union would go to pieces and give him 
 a chance to erect his “ Kingdom of God.” 
 
 The Reform movement began to call attention to itself by asserting 
 in its newspapers the absurd idea that Mormonism was essentially 
 republican, and gained friends among the Gentiles as well as the 
 “Saints,” including several leading elders. 
 
 When the Pacific Railroad became a certainty, Young secured a large 
 contract for the construction of the section in Utah (the last spike was 
 driven Jan. 10, 1870,) and introduced the telegraph in 1866, connecting 
 the different settlements, centralizing and organizing his power. 
 
 A means of increasing the power of the church, and especially of its 
 leader, was devised in the system of co-operation among Mormon mer- 
 chants, known as “Zion’s Co-operative Mercantile Institution,” ex- 
 cluding the Gentiles ; to which it was intended to add the “Celestial 
 Order of Enoch,” which, by a skillful arrangement, was to supersede 
 the law of tithing, and in effect “ consecrate” the entire property and 
 the persons of the Saints to the sole use and control of the “prophet, 
 priest and king,” Brigham Young. The persistence of Young in push- 
 ing this scheme, aroused opposition in his church, caused a schism 
 among his elders, and provoked the passage by Congress of the “ Cul- 
 lom ” bill, and was one of the incentives to the visit of Vice President 
 Colfax, whose calm, clear, truthful eloquence left an indelible impres- 
 sion on the minds of the Saints which has already resulted in hopeful 
 signs of progress towards a solution of the Mormon difficulty, aided by 
 such men as Harrison and Godbe, and their friends. 
 
 Young also attempted to control the price of labor, by threatening to 
 bring in Chinese laborers, but he was defeated in this movement by the 
 press, especially the Utah Magazine, and when the autocrat had really 
 been once firmly checked in one of his pet schemes, his rage was fierce, 
 but useless, for the Reform was now fairly and boldly under way. His 
 claim to infallibility was put to the test of facing his bad policy and 
 blunders ; one of the most important of these being his neglect to open 
 up and popularize the mineral resources of the territory. 
 
 As an offset to this movement, the “prophet” attempted a peculiar 
 work, no less than prophesying, in the “ School of the Prophets,” con- 
 cerning the danger that was threatening his “Israel,” denouncing by 
 
600 
 
 DENOMINATIONS IN THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 name Godbe, Harrison, Stenhouse, Watt, Tullidge, and others, and 
 summoning them to appear for trial. 
 
 The prophet made another blunder, for instead of silencing a few 
 eiders he created a party against himself in his church, and had his 
 supremacy denied by Godbe in a plain, sensible, and powerful speech, 
 before several thousand “ Saints, ” followed and seconded by Elder Har- 
 rison, when the Reform was advanced to a public recognition, respect, 
 and power, in an organized movement of protest and reform, which, as 
 an event of rebellion, may be dated from December 19, 1869. 
 
 On February 12, 1870, a bill of the Utah Legislature was approved by 
 President Young, granting the right of suffrage to women, which 
 proved to be another assistant to the reform movement. 
 
 Still another mistake was made by Young in packing the political 
 meeting just preceding the city elections, and defeating the free action 
 of the people, which called out a protest from the United States officers, 
 threatening the presence of their soldiers in the streets on election day. 
 
 The case was carried to Washington and laid before President Grant, 
 by W. S. Godbe, when the policy of the government was announced to 
 be to use the army as a moral force only, unless circumstances com- 
 pelled other action, and to allow the saints to work out their own re- 
 demption. 
 
 General Shaffer was sent to Utah as governor, with explicit direction 
 to overturn the rule of the theocracy, which he has done by asserting 
 the supremacy of the United States, and maintaining it in his procla- 
 mation forbidding the mustering, arming, or drilling of the Mormon 
 militia, September, 1870. The matter was settled practically on the 4th 
 of July, 1871, when an attempted parade of the militia was abandoned 
 by the Mormon leaders, on an order from the United States officer in 
 command. 
 
 The recent decision of Chief Justice J. B. McKean, that the United 
 States Marshal has the right to call the j urors of the Supreme Court, 
 takes the United States courts out of the hands of the “ Saints.” 
 
 The future of the “ Church of Saints” seems to be destined to wit- 
 ness great changes, probably no less than an entire renunciation of the 
 blot and blunder of polygamy, and a repudiation of the assumed power 
 of the prophet, ending in the establishment of a republican form of 
 government. 
 
 The support of the church, and all of the machinery of government, 
 is derived from a tithe of one-tenth of all produce of the head or hand. 
 
 The existence of a second Mormon Church, which is a formidable 
 and increasing body, including great numbers of the saints, is charge- 
 able to the deep-rooted opposition to the state of polygamy. Very few 
 believe that Joseph lived in that state ; and his four sons, Joseph, Wil- 
 liam, Alexander, David, and their mother, (Emma) his -widow, deny 
 and denounce the imposture of plurality. This party is now opening 
 the door to the incoming of the enemies of the system. 
 
 The absolute sway of Brigham Young has been broken by the United 
 States government, and several governors of Utah have ruled in Salt 
 Lake Valley. An attempt to parade the Mormon militia, against the 
 
MOKMONISM. 
 
 601 
 
 orders of the governor, only last July 4 (1871), ended in a triumph for the 
 government, and the laws were sustained. 
 
 But this assertion of the law was only preliminary to proceedings far 
 more fatal to the authority of Brigham Young and the life of the Church. 
 A little over two months afterwards, on September 19, the Grand Jury of 
 the United States was empanelled at Salt Lake City, and during its session 
 bills of indictment on charges of bigamous practices were found against 
 Brigham Young, Daniel H. Wells, the Mayor of the city, Thomas Hawkins, 
 and others, who were subsequently arrested, Brigham being taken Octo- 
 ber 2d and immediately admitted to bail. The case of Thomas Hawkins was 
 at once proceeded with, and having been convicted, he was sentenced to a 
 fine of $500 and imprisonment at hard labor for three years. The other 
 cases could not be pushed, inasmuch as against none of the defendants 
 would the first wife prefer the charge, as required by law. An appeal was 
 entered by Hawkins, but there is little chance of the verdict being set 
 aside. The conviction practically settles the fate of polygamy, placing every 
 Mormon at the mercy of his first wife. But the authorities did not stop 
 here, Their next step was to secure the indictment of Mayor Wells, Hosea 
 Stout, formerly general of the Territory, William Kimball, Brigham Young, 
 Joseph A. Young and Orson Hyde, on the charges of murdering as far back 
 as 1847, by means of the “ avenging angels,” persons obnoxious to the Mor- 
 mon government. On October 28 the three first-named persons were ar- 
 rested, and Mayor Wells admitted to bail, but Brigham Young and Orson 
 Hyde had left the city before that day, and for a time it was thought that 
 the former had abandoned forever the community over which he had so 
 long held despotic sway. Toward the close of the year, however, he re- 
 turned to the city, and being at once arrested, he was taken before Chief 
 Justice McKean, who absolutely declined to admit him to bail, whereupon, 
 having tendered one of his properties to the United States Marshal for the 
 purpose, he became a prisoner in his own house. Orson Hyde is still at 
 large. Chief Justice McKean has been the leading spirit in the prosecu- 
 tions, which have occasioned apprehensions from time to time of violence, 
 and the presence of military reinforcements to check any possible ebulli- 
 tion. All such fears, however, have proved groundless, no opposition being 
 offered by the Mormons to the course of the law, except in the way of de- 
 nunciatory speeches. 
 
 Steps are again being taken to procure the admission of Utah into the 
 Union as a State. 
 
 The “Temple of the Lord” is in process of building, with large blocks of 
 granite, quarried near (18 miles). When it is finished, Brigham says “ that 
 Christ with his holy angels, the prophets and apostles of old, and Joseph 
 and Hyrum, and all who have died in the faith, and all who have obeyed 
 revealed authority, will come and set up His kingdom on earth.” 
 
 The Joseph Smith, Junior, who was sainted by the mistake of a mob a few 
 years ago, in the midst of less than thirty thousand followers, now has in 
 the Church nearly a million. The living Joseph was the weakest thing in 
 the movement ; the dead prophet excited the most terribly powerful fanati- 
 cism, the religion of impulse and inclination. 
 
602 
 
 ECCLESIASTICAL STATISTICS. 
 
 VALUABLE INFORMATION AS TO THE DIFFERENT RE- 
 LIGIOUS DENOMINATIONS OF THE WORLD. 
 
 The population of the world is religiously distributed very nearly in the following proportions : 
 
 Christians 388,600,000 Pagans 200,000,000 
 
 Buddhists 360,000,000 Mohammedans 165,000,000 
 
 Other Asiatic Religions 360,000,000 Jews 7,000,000 
 
 In Europe, America, Australia, and many of the Polynesian Islands, Christianity is the prevailing 
 creed of every State. In Africa, the only independent Christian States are Abyssinia and Liberia, 
 while Christianity prevails in several European colonies. The largest empire of Asia — Russia — is 
 also a Christian country. India, the third country in point of extent, is under the rule of a Christian 
 government, and so is a large portion of Farther India. 
 
 The Mohammedan countries in Asia are Turkey, Persia, Afghanistan, and the Khanates of Central 
 Asia; in Africa — Morocco, the dependencies of Turkey (Egypt, Tunis, Tripoli,) and a number of 
 interior States. 
 
 Buddhism prevails in India, Farther India, in many parts of China, and in Japan. The govern- 
 ments of Japan, Burmah, and Siam are Buddhist; the government of China adheres to the religion 
 of Confucius. 
 
 GENERAL STATISTICS OF CHRISTIANITY. 
 
 It is common to divide the Christian Churches into three groups : 
 
 (I.) The Roman Catholic Church. This Church is apparently one organization, and the recog- 
 nition of the Pope as the head of the entire Church is an article of faith. There is one religious 
 organization in Holland, (the Jansensits,) who, while they claim to belong to the Roman Catholic 
 Church, are not recognized by the Pope. Besides, in the Roman Catholic countries of Europe there 
 are many millions whose connection with the Roman Catholic Church is only nominal, of which the 
 attitude of Italy, Austria, France, Belgium, Spain, Portugal and other States is a conclusive proof. 
 
 (2.) The Eastern or Oriental Churches. This group embraces the following denominations : 
 The Greek Church, the Armenian Church, the Nestorians, the Jacobites, the Copts, and the Abys- 
 sinians. All of them recognize the first (Ecumenical Council of Nice, and have Bishops for whom 
 they claim an apostolic succession. 
 
 (3.) The Protestant Churches. All the Churches not belonging to one of the two preceding 
 groups, are generally comprised under the coUeclive name of Protestants. 
 
 The following tables contain, as nearly as can be ascertained, the statistics of the Roman Catholic, 
 Eastern and Protestant Churches in every country of the world. 
 
 AMERICA. 
 
 Total Population. Roman Catholic. Protestant. East. Church. 
 
 United States, (including Alaska,)... 40,000,000 
 
 Mexico 8,218,080 
 
 Central American Republics 2,665,000 
 
 United States of Columbia 2,920,473 
 
 V enezuela 2, 200,000 
 
 Ecuador 1,300,000 
 
 Peru 2,500,000 
 
 Bolivia 1,987,352 
 
 Chili 2,084,960 
 
 Brazil 11,780,000 
 
 Argentine Republic 1,465,000 
 
 Paraguay 1,337,431 
 
 U ruguay 350,000 
 
 Hayti 572,000 
 
 San Domingo 136,500 
 
 Brit. N. America — (Domin. of Can- 
 ada, Pr. Edwards Isl., Newfound- 
 land, Brit. Columbia, Red River 
 
 Col., Bermuda,) 3,880,000 
 
 Other British Possessions 1,130,910 
 
 Danish Possessions, Greenland, St. 
 
 Thomas, St. John, St. Cruz,) 48,231 
 
 French Possessions 315,677 
 
 Spanish Possessions 1,979,838 
 
 Dutch Possessions 92,521 
 
 Swedish Possessions 2,898 
 
 Patagonia and Fireland 30,000 
 
 5,000,000 
 
 8,200,000 
 
 33,500,000 
 
 5 >000 
 
 2,660,000 
 
 2.890.000 
 
 2.200.000 
 
 5,000 
 
 io;ooo 
 
 1^250,000 
 
 2.400.000 
 
 1.750.000 
 
 1.950.000 
 
 11,100,000 
 
 2,000 
 
 20,000 
 
 100,000 
 
 1,340,000 
 
 20,000 
 
 1,337,000 
 
 237.000 
 
 560.000 
 
 135.000 
 
 3,000 
 
 10,000 
 
 1,000 
 
 1,700,000 
 
 2 , 100 , ooo!!!!!!!!! 
 
 150,000 
 
 600,000 
 
 9,200 
 
 314,000 
 
 1,977,000 
 
 32,000 
 
 800 
 
 38,000"!!'"" 
 
 1,000 
 
 2,000 
 
 40,000 
 
 2,000 
 
 10,000 
 
 Portugal 
 
 Azores and Madeira 
 
 86,996,871 47,192,000 36,459,000 10,000 
 
 EUROPE. 
 
 Total Population. Roman Catholic. Protestant. ^Last. Church. 
 
 :::::: 4 , 340,000 7,000 
 
 16,30^626 16,280,000 10,000 
 
ECCLESIASTICAL STATISTICS. 
 
 603 
 
 Total Population. Roman Catholic. 
 
 Andora 
 
 France 
 
 North German Confederation.... 
 
 South German States 
 
 Austria 
 
 Italy 
 
 San Marino 
 
 Monaco 
 
 12,000 
 
 29,910,377 
 
 8,611,523 
 
 25,091,908 
 
 5,700 
 
 1,887 
 
 12,000. 
 
 36,000,000. 
 
 7;875;000. 
 
 4,935,000. 
 
 27,000,000. 
 
 2i;7io;ooo. 
 
 ' 5,700. 
 
 11800. 
 
 Switzerland 
 
 2,510,494 
 
 1,023.000. 
 
 Holland 
 
 Luxemburg 
 
 3,552,6651 
 
 199,958 J 
 
 \ 1,450,000. 
 
 Belgium 
 
 Great Britain 
 
 29.321 .2881 
 
 4,850,000. 
 
 1 1,000. 
 
 Heligoland, Gibraltar and Malta. 163,683 I 
 
 Denmark 1,608,0951 
 
 Faroe and Iceland 75.909 1 
 
 Sweden 
 
 Norway 
 
 Turkey 
 
 4,070,001 1 
 
 13,544,0001 
 
 1 5,000. 
 
 Roumania 
 
 3,864,848 | 
 
 - 700,000., 
 
 - 160,000., 
 
 Servia 
 
 Montenegro 
 
 Greece 
 
 Ionian Islands 
 
 1,078,281 1 
 
 196,2381 
 
 251,712 j 
 
 Russia 
 
 
 6,769,000.. 
 
 
 293,513,035 
 
 142,117,500 
 
 ASIA. 
 
 Total Population. Roman Catholic. 
 
 Russian Possessions 
 
 Turkish Possessions 
 
 Arabia 
 
 Persia 
 
 AfFghanistan and Herat 
 
 Beloochistan 
 
 ... 9,748,017 
 
 .... 16,463,000 
 
 .... 4,000,000 ... 
 
 .... 4,000,000 ... 
 .... 2,009,000 
 
 25.000. 
 260,000. 
 
 10.000. 
 
 Toorkistan 
 
 ... 7,870,000 ... 
 
 
 China and dependencies 
 
 Japan 
 
 ...477,500,000 
 
 .... 700,000. 
 
 100,000. 
 
 East India and British Burmah... 
 
 Ceylon 
 
 Farther India 
 
 East India Islands 
 
 ...193,340,4149 .. 
 
 ... 20,769,915] .. 
 
 .... 27.678,477 .... 
 
 .... 1,600,000. 
 2 000 000 
 
 
 805,419,477 
 
 4,695,000 
 
 AFRICA. 
 
 The total population of Africa was estimated in 1868 at 190,950,000. 
 population are about as follows : 
 
 Roman Catholic. 
 
 British Possessions 140,000. 
 
 French Possessions 133,000. 
 
 Portuguese Possessions 439,000. 
 
 Spanish Possessions 12,000. 
 
 Angola, Benguela, Mozambique 100,000. 
 
 Algeria 190,000, 
 
 Egypt 50,000. 
 
 Abyssinia 30,000. 
 
 Liberia.... 
 
 Morocco and Fez 200. 
 
 Tunis and Tripoli 10,000. 
 
 Madagascar 2,000. 
 
 Transvaal Republic. 
 
 Kaffraria 
 
 Basutos 
 
 1,106,200 
 
 Protestant. East. Church. 
 
 .. 1,600,000 
 
 ..20,682,000 2,000 
 
 .. 3,351,000 
 
 .. 3,600,000 3,200,000 
 
 ,. ' 6,000 
 
 . l 489 non 
 
 .. 2,200,000 
 
 
 .. 25,000 
 
 
 ..23,400,000 
 
 
 ,. 1,675,000 
 
 
 .. 5,760,000 
 
 
 . 50,000 
 
 
 3,000 
 
 ... 1,270,000 
 
 . 4,122,000 
 
 .... 52,810,000 
 
 68,028,000 
 
 69,782,000 
 
 Protestant. East. Church. 
 
 .. ' 10,000 4,885,000 
 
 10,000 3,000,000 
 
 2,000 300,000 
 
 20,000 1,000 
 
 1,000 
 
 300,000 
 
 500.000 
 
 170.000 
 
 713,000 8,486,000 
 
 The statistics of the Christian 
 
 Protestant. East. Church. 
 500,000 
 
 10,000 
 
 10,000 200,000 
 
 3,000,000 
 
 40,000 
 
 50.000. 
 
 15.000. 
 
 30.000. 
 
 30,000. 
 
 685,000 3,200,000 
 
 AUSTRALIA AND POLYNESIA. 
 
 The total population of Australia, according to the latest census, was 1,313,946; the population of 
 the islands is estimated at 2,823,925; total, 4,192,000. 
 
 The number of Roman Catholics in New South Wales is 99,193; in South Australia, 15,591 ; in 
 Victoria, 107,610; in New Zealand, about 30,000 ; in the Sandwich Islands, 22,000. The total num- 
 ber of Roman Catholics in Australia and Polynesia may be estimated at 350,000. 
 
 Nearly the whole population of the English Possessions, that is not Roman Catholic and Jewish, 
 may be set down as Protestant. This gives about 1,300,000 for Australia, Tasmania and New Zea- 
 land. In the Sandwich, Fiji and other islands, there may be about 150,000. Total number of Pro- 
 testants, abont 1,450,000. 
 
604 
 
 ECCLESIASTICAL STATISTICS. 
 
 America 
 
 Europe 
 
 Africa 
 
 Australia and Polynesia 
 
 RECAPITULATION— TOTAL. 
 
 Total Population. Roman Catholic. Protestant. East. Church. 
 
 86 , 996,871 47 , 192,000 36 , 459,000 10,000 
 
 293 , 513,035 142 , 117,000 68 , 028,000 69 , 782,000 
 
 805 , 419,908 4 , 695,000 713,000 8 , 486,000 
 
 190 , 950,609 1 , 106,200 685,000 3 , 200,000 
 
 4 , 000,000 350,000 1 , 450,000 
 
 1,380,880,423 195,460*200 107,335,000 81,478,000 
 
 CONTRIBUTIONS IN AMERICA. 
 
 1. CHURCH BUILDING. 
 
 Amer. Congregational Union... $50,642 
 Lutheran Church Extension So- 
 ciety 4,258 
 
 Meth. Epis. Church [North] 61,5:35 
 
 Presb. Church, U. S. A. [North] 210,930 
 
 Presb. Church, Reformed [O.S.] $28,351 
 Presbyterian Church, United... 5,686 
 
 Reformed [Dutch] Church 13,708 
 
 Reformed [German] Church 6,598 
 
 $381,750 
 
 2. EDUCATION FOR THE MINISTRY. 
 
 American Education Society... $28,369 
 Presb Church, U. S. A. [North] 246,889 
 Presb. Church, U. S. [South].., 17,369 
 
 Presbyterian Church [United]... $4,288 
 Reformed Church [Dutch] 13,181 
 
 $310,096 
 
 3. MISSIONS. 
 
 1.— FOREIGN. 
 
 American Bapt. Miss. Union. ..$200,953 
 
 American Board of Commission 
 
 for Foreign Missions 525,215 
 
 Am. Church Miss. Society 107,931 
 
 American Colonization Society 71,080 
 American and F oreign Christian 
 
 Union 116,689 
 
 Free Will Baptist Society 9,480 
 
 Methodist Episcopal Church 
 
 [North] 187,863 
 
 Presb. Board of Foreign Miss. 
 
 [North] 316,542 
 
 Presb. Board of Foreign Miss. 
 
 [South] $29,048 
 
 Presb. Board of Foreign Miss. 
 
 [United] 53,805 
 
 Presb. Church [Reformed] 8,453 
 
 Protestant Episcopal Board of 
 
 Foreign Missions 88,342 
 
 Southern Baptist Board of For- 
 eign Missions 14,832 
 
 Woman’s Union Missionary So- 
 ciety 59,599 
 
 $1,789,898 
 
 2.— HOME. 
 
 American Baptist Home Mis- 
 sionary Society $190,051 
 
 American Female Guardian So- 
 ciety 71,936 
 
 American Home Missionary So- 
 ciety 283,102 
 
 American Seaman Friend’s So- 
 ciety 74,065 
 
 Methodist Episcopal Mission- 
 ary Society [North] 442,240 
 
 Presb. Board of Home Mis- 
 sions [North] $300,598 
 
 Presb. Board of Home Mis. 
 
 sions [United] 28,177 
 
 Presb. Board of Sustentation 
 
 [South] 23,430 
 
 Prot. Epis. Board of Domestic 
 
 Missions 132,859 
 
 Reformed Church [Dutch] 26,950 
 
 $1,573,418 
 
 3.— FREEDMEN. 
 
 American Missionary Associa- 
 tion $413,000 
 
 Presb. Com. of Miss, for Freed- 
 
 men 90,079 
 
 Presb. [United] Board for Freed- 
 
 men $14,744 
 
 Prot. Epis. Board for Freedmen 20,831 
 
 $538,654 
 
 4. PUBLICATION. 
 
 American Bible Society $747,058 
 
 Amer. and For. Bible Society... 16,054 
 
 1.— BIBLE. 
 
 I Amer. Bible Union [Baptist]... $58,368 
 | $821,480 
 
ECCLESIASTICAL STATISTICS. 
 
 605 
 
 2.— PUBLICATION. 
 
 Amer. Baptist Pub. Society $321,799 
 
 Amer. Sunday School Union... 429,043 
 Amer. Tract Society [Boston]... 104,966 
 Amer. Tract Soc. [New York].. 479,081 
 
 Methodist Book Concern 594,191 
 
 National Temperance Society.. 51,400 
 Aggregate 
 
 Pre-ib. Board of Pub. [North]... $207, 595 
 Presb. Board of Pub. [South]... 35,457 
 Reform. Church Board of Pub. 
 
 [Dutch] 31,294 
 
 -$2,254,826 
 $7,670,122 
 
 5. YOUNG MENS CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATIONS. 
 
 The number of Young Men's Christian Associations reported to the General Convention at Albany 
 in 1866 was sixty-three. They have since greatly multiplied in numbers, as appears from the follow- 
 ing table : * 
 
 Montreal. 
 
 Detroit. 
 
 Portland. 
 
 Indiana] 
 
 1867. 
 
 1868. 
 
 1869. 
 
 1870. 
 
 .... 141 
 
 257 . ..... 
 
 325 
 
 378 
 
 .... 104 
 
 
 
 334 
 
 . . 425 
 
 
 ~613 
 
 ~659 
 
 803 
 
 Of these 325 report 50,901 members ; and eleven have Association Buildings, as follows : 
 
 Place. 
 
 Bethlehem, Pa 
 
 Newtown, N. Y 
 
 N. Y. City 
 
 Value. 
 
 $25,000 
 
 . 5,000 
 
 . 500,000 
 
 Debt. 
 
 $6,500 
 
 2,000 
 
 150,000 
 
 Place. 
 
 Rockport, Mass 
 
 San Francisco, Cal 
 
 Shoreham, Vt 
 
 Value. 
 
 $3,500 
 
 125,000 
 
 2,000 
 
 Debt. 
 
 ... 45,000 
 400 
 
 N. Y. City (German)... 
 
 Omaha, Neb 
 
 Philadelphia, Pa 
 
 , 2o;ooo 
 
 17,000 
 
 Chicago 
 
 200,000 
 
 
 . 6,000 
 
 75,000 
 
 1,500 
 
 
 
 Washington, D. C 
 
 200,000 
 
 
 Nine others have undertaken to secure buildings, and pledges of large 
 made for this object. 
 
 sums of money 
 
 have been 
 
 CONTRIBUTIONS IN GREAT BRITAIN. 
 
 1. EDUCATION. 
 
 Book Society £8,169 
 
 Brit, and Foreign School Society 15,539 
 
 British Orphan Asylum 4,800 
 
 Christian Book Society 760 
 
 Chris. Vernacular Educ. Soc. 
 
 for India 9,105 
 
 Church of Eng. Sunday School 
 
 Institute 4,433 
 
 Church of Scotland Education.. £7,554 
 
 Education of the Blind 1,871 
 
 Free Church of Scot. Education 25,180 
 Home and Colonial School So- 
 ciety 9,022 
 
 Ragged School UnioU 45,240 
 
 Reform and Refuge Union 5,879 
 
 £164,355 
 
 0 . MISCELLANEOUS. 
 
 Additional Curatqf Society £36,832 
 
 Army Script. Readers’ Friend 
 
 Society ;.... 8,926 
 
 Asso. in aid of Deaf and Dumb 1,259 
 
 Band of Hope Union 2,571 
 
 Baptist Bible Translation Soc. 4,948 
 
 Baptist Building Fund 1,135 
 
 Baptist Tract Society 1,071 
 
 Brit, and For. Sailors’ Society.. 6,436 
 
 British Home for Incurables 10,036 
 
 Friend of the Clergy Corpora- 
 tion (about) 10,000 
 
 Ladies' Association for Imp. of 
 
 Syrian Women 4,636 
 
 Liberation Society £6,698 
 
 Lord’s Day Observance Soc. ... 1,242 
 
 Mariner’s Friend Society 424 
 
 National Temperance League... 4,154 
 
 Naval and Military Bible Soc... 2,171 
 
 Palestine Exploration Fund 3,500 
 
 Protestant Reformation Society 4,132 
 
 Seamen’s Christian Friend Soc. 1,016 
 
 Systematic Beneficence Society 1,200 
 
 Workingmen’s Lord’s Day Rest 
 
 Association 848 
 
 Young Men’s Association, 3,592 
 
 £116,447 
 
 3. MISSIONS. 
 
 1.— COLONIAL AND CONTINENTAL. 
 
 Col. and Con. Church Society... £33,806 
 Col. Miss. Soc. (Congregational! 5,212 
 Church of Scotland Colonial 
 
 and Continental Miss 4,787 
 
 39 
 
 Free Church of Scotland Col. 
 
 and Con. Miss £3,321 
 
 £47,126 
 
606 
 
 ECCLESIASTICAL STATISTICS. 
 
 2.— FOREIGN. 
 
 Baptist Missionary Society .£39,339 
 
 Church Missionary Society 141,828 
 
 Church of Scotland For. Miss... 8,601 
 English Presbyterian For. Miss 7,330 
 Free Church of Scot. For. Miss 34,935 
 
 London Missionary Society 104,670 
 
 Primitive Meth. Miss Society... 20,300 
 
 So. for the Propagt’n of the Gos. £106,434 
 South American Miss. Society.. 7,925 
 Turkish Missions Aid Society... 2,794 
 United Meth. Free Churches... 10,445 
 Unit. Presb. Church For. Miss. 29,118 
 Wesleyan Missionary Society... 145,751 
 
 £659,470 
 
 3.— HOME. 
 
 Ch. of England Scripture Read- 
 ers’ Society £12,111 
 
 Ch. of Scotland Home Miss. 
 
 and End. Fund 31,339 
 
 Church Pastoral Aid Society. ... 51,994 
 English Presb. Home Missions 2,408 
 Free Church of Scotland Home 
 
 and Highland Missions... 15,708 
 Home Miss. Soc. (Congregat’l) 9,715 
 
 Irish Church Missions £23,197 
 
 Irish Evang. Soc. (Congregat’l) 3,971 
 
 Irish Society, 7,857 
 
 London City Mission 40,616 
 
 Unit. Presb. Church and Home 
 
 * Mission 10,865 
 
 Wesleyan Home Missions 25,787 
 
 £235,538 
 
 4.— JEWISH MISSIONS. 
 
 British Jewish Society £8,680 
 
 Church of Scot. Miss, to Jews.. 4,245 
 Free Ch. of Scot. Miss, to Jews 4,245 
 
 [London Jewish Society -.£33,879 
 
 Operative Jewish Converts 5,381 
 
 £60,800 
 
 4. PUBLICATION. 
 
 British and Foreign Bible So- 
 ciety £182,265 
 
 I Religious Tract Society (exclu- 
 1 sive of sales) £14,97E 
 
 £197,244 
 
 Aggregate, 
 
 £l,4S0,93O 
 
 Statistics of 51 Denominations of Protestants in 1870, and 
 
 for 5 and 10 years past . 
 
 
 
 
 Churches. 
 
 Members. 
 
 Ministers. 
 
 1. 
 
 Congregational 
 
 ..I860, 
 
 2,369 
 
 230,000 
 
 1,922 
 
 
 
 1865, 
 
 2,720 
 
 263,000 
 
 2,760 
 
 
 
 1870, 
 
 3,050 
 
 300,500 
 
 3,000 
 
 2. 
 
 Presbyterian, Old School 
 
 .I860, 
 
 3,480 
 
 279,000 
 
 2,577 
 
 
 
 1865, 
 
 2,600 
 
 232,500 
 
 2,200 
 
 
 Old and New School 
 
 ..1870, 
 
 4,370 
 
 450,000 
 
 4,250 
 
 3. 
 
 New School 
 
 ..I860, 
 
 1,480 
 
 135,000 
 
 1,520 
 
 
 
 
 1,480 
 
 144,000 
 
 1,700 
 
 4. 
 
 Presbyterian Church, South 
 
 ..1865, 
 
 1,280 
 
 84,000 
 
 811 
 
 5. 
 
 Reformed Presbyterian 
 
 ..1870, 
 
 1,470 
 
 83,000 
 
 840 
 
 
 
 1860, 
 
 60 
 
 6,500 
 
 50 
 
 
 
 1865, 
 
 91 
 
 7,800 
 
 65 
 
 
 
 1870, 
 
 93 
 
 8,600 
 
 86 
 
 6. 
 
 Synod of Reformed Presbyterian 
 
 ..1865, 
 
 80 
 
 6,500 
 
 61 
 
 7. 
 
 Associated Presbyterians, or United') 
 
 i 1860, 
 
 660 
 
 57,000 
 
 410 
 
 
 , Presbyterian Church in North 
 
 ^1865, 
 
 659 
 
 58,200 • 
 
 515 
 
 
 America J 
 
 1 1870, 
 
 730 
 
 67,000 
 
 554 
 
 8. 
 
 Asso. Reformed, 
 
 ..1843, 
 
 43 
 
 1,300 
 
 34 
 
 
 
 1867, 
 
 44 
 
 1,630 
 
 16 
 
 9. 
 
 Asso. Reformed, South 
 
 
 26 
 
 1,500 
 
 30 
 
 10. 
 
 Asso. Reformed, North 
 
 ..1867, 
 
 15 
 
 780 
 
 11 
 
 11. 
 
 Free Presbyterian 
 
 
 49 
 
 4,000 • 
 
 41 
 
 12. 
 
 Ind. Presb. in No. and So. Carolina... 1861. 
 
 9 
 
 1,000 
 
 4 
 
 13. 
 
 Cumberland Presbyterian 
 
 ..I860, 
 
 1,190 
 
 85,000 
 
 927 
 
 
 
 1865, 
 
 1,200 
 
 98,000 
 
 1,000 
 
 
 
 1870, 
 
 1,195 
 
 88,000 
 
 1,120 
 
 14. 
 
 Lutheran, 
 
 ..I860, 
 
 2,600 
 
 2SO,000 
 
 1,400 
 
 
 
 1865, 
 
 2,857 
 
 313,000 
 
 1,620 
 
 
 
 1870, 
 
 3,538 
 
 892,720 
 
 2,210 
 
 15. 
 
 German Reformed, 
 
 
 1,050 
 
 93,000 
 
 390 
 
 
 
 1865, 
 
 1,160 
 
 108,000 
 
 470 
 
 
 
 1870, 
 
 1,195 
 
 120,000 
 
 52-5 
 
 16. 
 
 United B. in Christ. Ger 
 
 
 2,500 
 
 75,000 
 
 600 
 
 
 
 1865, 
 
 3,320 
 
 96,000 
 
 830 
 
 
 
 1870, 
 
 3,729 
 
 109,4 U 
 
 877 
 
 17. 
 
 Moravians 
 
 ..I860, 
 
 
 6,000 
 
 24 
 
 
 
 1865, 
 
 
 6,500 
 
 23 
 
 
 
 1870, 
 
 
 6,770 
 
 26 
 
ECCLESIASTICAL STATISTICS. 607 
 
 
 
 Churches. 
 
 Members. 
 
 Ministers. 
 
 18. Dutch Reformed, (Name changed 
 
 \ 1860, 
 
 371 
 
 50,500 
 
 388 
 
 to Reformed Church in America 
 
 f 1865, 
 
 428 
 
 55,000 
 
 440 
 
 
 1870, 
 
 470 
 
 62,000 
 
 500 
 
 
 1850, 
 
 273 
 
 35,000 
 
 245 
 
 
 1865, 
 
 315 
 
 38,000 
 
 270 
 
 
 1870, 
 
 317 
 
 40,200 
 
 271 
 
 20. Reformed Mennonites 
 
 
 70 
 
 11,000 
 
 56 
 
 21. German Evangelical Association 
 
 1 I860, 
 
 301 
 
 34,000 
 
 261 
 
 (German Methodists) 
 
 / 1865, 
 
 305 
 
 51,000 
 
 410 
 
 
 1870, 
 
 490 
 
 63,400 
 
 480 
 
 22. Christians 
 
 ...1860, 
 
 1,500 
 
 325,000 
 
 2,000 
 
 
 1865, 
 
 • 5,000 
 
 500,000 
 
 3,000 
 
 
 1870, 
 
 5,444 
 
 530,000 
 
 3,200 
 
 23. Church of God 
 
 
 278 
 
 14,100 
 
 141 
 
 
 1865, 
 
 350 
 
 31,000 
 
 150 
 
 
 1870, 
 
 400 
 
 35,000 
 
 260 
 
 24. Baptists 
 
 
 17,600 
 
 930,000 
 
 7,200 
 
 
 1865, 
 
 12,712 
 
 1,041,000 
 
 7,870 
 
 
 1870, 
 
 12,020 
 
 1,221,350 
 
 8,790 
 
 25. Free Will Baptists 
 
 
 1,179 
 
 56,800 
 
 955 
 
 
 1865, 
 
 1,285 
 
 56,785 
 
 1,151 
 
 
 1870, 
 
 1,385 
 
 67,000 
 
 1,180 
 
 26. 7th Day Baptists 
 
 ..I860, 
 
 58 
 
 6,700 
 
 52 
 
 
 1865, 
 
 78 
 
 6,800 
 
 55 
 
 
 1870, 
 
 80 
 
 7,300 
 
 75 
 
 27. German Baptists (Dunkers) 
 
 ..I860, 
 
 161 
 
 8,705 
 
 151 
 
 
 1865, 
 
 204 
 
 21,000 
 
 146 
 
 
 1870, 
 
 200 
 
 20,000 
 
 150 
 
 28. German 7th Day Baptists 
 
 
 
 - 1,800 
 
 187 
 
 29. Antimission Baptists 
 
 ...I860, 
 
 1,751 
 
 62,000 
 
 477 
 
 
 1865, 
 
 1,790 
 
 67,000 
 
 813 
 
 
 1870, 
 
 1,830 
 
 120,000 
 
 940 
 
 30 Six Principle Baptists 
 
 ..1870, 
 
 20 
 
 31,000 
 
 18 
 
 31 River Brethren 
 
 ..I860, 
 
 80 
 
 7,000 
 
 65 
 
 32 Disciples of Christ (Campbellites) 
 
 ..I860, 
 
 1,890 
 
 300,000 
 
 1,480 
 
 
 1865, 
 
 1,800 
 
 305,000 
 
 1,520 
 
 
 1870, 
 
 1,809 
 
 307,000 
 
 1,525 
 
 33 Protestant Episcopal 
 
 ..I860, 
 
 2,151 
 
 142,300 
 
 2,118 
 
 
 1865, 
 
 2,322 
 
 154,118 
 
 2,467 
 
 
 1879, 
 
 2,520 
 
 208,700 
 
 2,840 
 
 84 Methodists (Protestant Episcopal) , 
 
 ..I860, 
 
 7,300 
 
 960,080 
 
 6,600 
 
 
 1865, 
 
 7,200 
 
 965,000 
 
 6,121 
 
 
 1870, 
 
 
 1,299,000 
 
 8,835 
 
 35 Methodist Protestant Church 
 
 ..I860, 
 
 
 91,000 
 
 2,100 
 
 
 1870, 
 
 
 73,000 
 
 1,800 
 
 36 Methodist Church 
 
 ..1867, 
 
 
 50,000 
 
 625 
 
 
 1869, 
 
 
 49,030 
 
 624 
 
 37 True Wesleyan Methodist 
 
 ..I860, 
 
 605 
 
 21,000 
 
 565 
 
 
 1865, 
 
 600 
 
 23,000 
 
 500 
 
 
 1870, 
 
 420 
 
 20,000 
 
 225 
 
 38 African Methodist Episcopal 
 
 ..I860, 
 
 350 
 
 20,000 
 
 320 
 
 
 1865, 
 
 600 
 
 
 405 
 
 
 1870, 
 
 1,580 
 
 210,000 
 
 1,500 
 
 39 Zion African Methodist Episcopal 
 
 ,.1860, 
 
 
 6,000 
 
 
 
 1865, 
 
 
 39,000 
 
 296 
 
 
 1870, 
 
 
 165,000 
 
 310 
 
 40 Methodist Episcopal South 
 
 ..I860, 
 
 
 700,000 
 
 2,408 
 
 
 1865, 
 
 
 505,000 
 
 3,750 
 
 
 1870, 
 
 
 560,000 
 
 3,980 
 
 41 Free Methodist 
 
 .1860, 
 
 5 
 
 300 
 
 5 
 
 
 1865, 
 
 70 
 
 4,500 
 
 75 
 
 
 1870, 
 
 116 
 
 7,300 
 
 105 
 
 42 Wesleyan Primitive Methodists 
 
 .1865, 
 
 23 
 
 2,000 
 
 20 
 
 
 1870, 
 
 21 
 
 2,100 
 
 18 
 
 43 Quakers 
 
 .1870, 
 
 
 
 
 44 Hicksites 
 
 .1870, 
 
 
 40,000 
 
 
 45 Shakers 
 
 .1870' 
 
 
 4,715 
 
 
 46 Adventists 
 
 .1870; 
 
 
 30,000 
 
 
 47 Swedenborgian 
 
 . 1879 ' 
 
 
 6,000 
 
 
 48 Spiritualism 
 
 .1870' 
 
 
 175,000 
 
 
 49 Mormon 
 
 .1870, ... 
 
 
 60,000 
 
 
 50 Church Perfection 
 
 .1870,' 
 
 
 260 
 
 
 51 Catholic Aoostolic 
 
 . 1870 '. 
 
 
 255 
 
 
 Total Number 
 
 
 
 
 l 
 
PART VI. 
 
 RELIGIOUS CEREMONIES AND CUSTOMS OF PAGAN 
 NATIONS, &c. 
 
 SEC. I.— RELIGIOUS BELIEF AND CEREMONIES OF THE ANCIENT 
 
 EGYPTIANS. 
 
 According to the most authentic ancient records in Egypt, the priests 
 held the next rank to kings, and from among them were chosen the great 
 officers of state. They enjoyed many privileges, and, among others, that 
 of having their lands exempted from the payment of taxes ; of which we 
 have a remarkable instance in Genesis, chap, lxvii., verse 26, where we 
 read that “Joseph made it a law over the land of Egypt that Pharaoh 
 should have the fifth part, except the land of the priests only, which became 
 not Pharaoh’s.” As they had the sole management of the religious rites 
 and ceremonies, so they were at the head of all the public seminaries of 
 learning; and to their care was committed the education of the youth, espe- 
 cially such as were designed for high employments. That the progress of 
 idolatry was very rapid after the Deluge cannot be doubted ; and yet the 
 Egyptians pretend that they were the first who instituted festivals, sacri- 
 fices, and processions, in honour of the gods. These festivals were held in 
 the most celebrated cities, where all the inhabitants of the kingdom were 
 obliged to attend, unless prevented by sickness ; and when that happened, 
 they were to illuminate their windows with torches. They sacrificed many 
 different sorts of beasts; and at every sacrifice the people drew near, one 
 by one, and laid their hands upon the head of the victim, praying that God 
 would inflict upon that creature all the punishment due to him for his sins. 
 Then the priest stabbed the victim, part of which was burned, and pait 
 eaten ; for no person was thought to gain any benefit from the sacrifice who 
 did not taste less or more of it. 
 
 The Egyptians believed that the souls of men, at death, went into other 
 bodies; such as had been virtuous going into such persons as were to be 
 happy in the world ; but the vicious, into the bodies of such as were to be 
 
 miserable, and sometimes into those of serpents. In that state of punish- 
 608 
 
PAGAN NATIONS. 
 
 609 
 
 ment they were to remain a certain number of ^ears, till they had been 
 purified from their guilt, and then they were to inhabit more exalted beings. 
 The priest had the keeping of all the sacred books, whether relating to reli- 
 gion or to civil polity ; and therefore to the common people every thing was 
 delivered in a mysterious, emblematical manner. Silence, with respect to 
 their sacred rites, was pointed out by a figure called Harpocrates, resem- 
 bling a man, holding his finger upon his lips — intimating that mysteries 
 were, not to be revealed to the vulgar. They had likewise, at the gates of 
 all their temples, images of a similar nature, called sphinxes ; and every 
 thing in their religion was symbolical. The figure of a hare pointed out 
 attention, or watchfulness, because that creature has been always esteemed 
 as one of the most fearful in the universe. A judge was painted without 
 hands, with his eyes fixed on the ground, thereby intimating that a magis- 
 trate should judge with impartiality, without considering the characters or 
 stations of the persons who are brought before him. 
 
 From attending in a careful manner to the perusal of the Egyptian his- 
 tory, it would seem, that while idolatry was in some measure cultivated by 
 the neighbouring nations, there it flourished in a state of perfection. The 
 number of their idols was endless; but those which seem to have been most 
 regarded by them in ancient times were Osiris and Isis, which we have 
 much reason to believe were the sun and moon. These, however, were 
 only the general gods of Egypt, and such as were worshipped by the king 
 a*id his courtiers; for almost every district had its particular deity. Some 
 worshipped dogs ; others, oxen; some, hawks; some, owls; some, crocodiles ; 
 some, cats ; and others, ibis — a sort of an Egyptian stork. The worship of 
 these animals was confined to certain places ; and it often happened that 
 those who adored the crocodile were ridiculed by such as paid divine ho- 
 nours to the cat. To support the honour of their different idols, bloody 
 wars often took place ; and whole provinces were depopulated to decide the 
 question, whether a crocodile or a cat was a god! And yet it is remark- 
 able, that although they disputed concerning the attributes of their idols, yet 
 they all agreed in this, that every person was guilty of a capital offence 
 who injured any of those animals whose figures were set up in their tem- 
 ples: of this we have a remarkable instance in Diodorus Siculus, who was 
 an eye-witness to the fact which he relates. 
 
 A Roman soldier, during the time of Mark Antony, having inadvertently 
 killed a cat at Alexandria, the populace rose in a tumultuous manner, drag- 
 ged him from his house, and murdered him. Nay, such was the respect 
 the Egyptians had for these animals, that during an extreme famine, they 
 chose rather to eat one another than to hurt them. But of all the idois 
 worshipped by the Egyptians, the Apis, or bull, had the preference ; and 
 it is undoubtedly from his figure that the Jews formed the golden calf in the 
 wilderness. The most magnificent temples were erected for him ; he was 
 
610 
 
 EGYPTIANS. 
 
 adored bv all ranks of people while living; and when he died, for he was 
 a living bull, all Egypt went into mourning for him. We are told by 
 Pliny, that, during the reign of Ptolemy Hagus, the bull Apis died of ex- 
 treme old age ; and such was the pompous manner in which he was interred, 
 that the funeral expenses amounted to a sum equal to that of twelve thou- 
 sand pounds sterling. The next thing to be done was to provide a succes- 
 sor for this god, ana all Egypt was ransacked on purpose. He was to be 
 distinguished by certain marks from all other animals of his own species; 
 particularly he was to have on his forehead a white mark, resembling a 
 crescent; on his back the figure of an eagle ; and on his tongue that of a 
 beetle. As soon as an ox answering that description was found, mourning 
 gave place to joy, and nothing was to be heard of in Egypt but festivals and 
 rejoicings. The new-discovered god, or rather beast, was brought to 
 Memphis to take possession of his dignity, and there placed upon a throne, 
 with a great number of ceremonies. Indeed, the Egyptians seem to have 
 given such encouragement to superstition, that not content with worshipping 
 the vilest of all reptiles, they actually paid divine honours to vegetables. 
 
 That such absurdities should have taken place among a people justly 
 celebrated for their knowledge of the sciences, is what we are hardly able 
 to account for; but that it did so, we have the greatest authority to assert, 
 from the whole evidence of antiquity. To read of animals and vile insects 
 honoured with religious worship — placed in the most pompous temples, 
 erected at a most extravagant expense — that those who killed them shoukl 
 be put to death — and that those animals were embalmed after death, and 
 treated with divine honours — is what a sober heathen would hardly believe ; 
 and yet we have it from the testimony of the most sober heathens. 
 
 We may add further, that to hear that leeks and onions were worshipped 
 as deities — nay, were invoked in all cases of necessity — are such surprising 
 instances of the weakness of the human understanding, and the corruption 
 of human nature, that we have reason to bless God for the times, and the 
 places where we were born. Lucian, a profane heathen author, who wrote 
 about the middle of the second century of the Christian era, seems to have 
 had very just notions of the ridiculous rites and ceremonies of the Egyptians 
 in his time. His words are, — “You may enter into one of their most mag- 
 nificent temples, adorned with gold and silver; but look around you for a 
 god, and you behold a stork, an ape, or a cat.” 
 
 It is, therefore, proper that we should inquire what motives could induce 
 these people to act in such a manner ; but here we are led into a large field 
 indeed. The ancient Egyptians had a tradition that, at a certain period, 
 men rebelled against the gods, and drove them out of heaven. Upon this 
 disaster taking place, the gods fled into Egypt, where they concealed them- 
 selves under the form of different animals ; and this was the first reason 
 assigned for the worship of these creatures. But there was another reason 
 
PAGAN NATIONS. 
 
 611 
 
 assigned for the worship of those animals, namely, the benefits which men 
 often received from them, particularly in Egypt. 
 
 Oxen, by their labour, helped to cultivate the ground ; sheep clothed them 
 With their wool; dogs, among many other services, prevented their houses 
 from being robbed ; the ibis, a bird somewhat resembling a stork, was of great 
 service in destroying the winged serpents with which Egypt abounded ; the 
 crocodile, an amphibious creature, was worshipped because it prevented the 
 wild Arabs from making incursions; the ichneumon, a little animal, was of 
 great service to them in different ways : he watches the crocodile’s absence 
 and breaks his eggs, and when he lies down to sleep on the banks of the 
 Nile, which he always does, with his mouth open, this little creature jumps 
 out of the mud, and leaping down his throat, forces his way down to his 
 entrails, which he gnaws, then he pierces his belly, and thus triumphs over 
 this most dreadful animal. 
 
 The first Christian fathers ridiculed the Egyptian idolatry, and painted 
 the absurdity of it in the most lively colours, and asked the heathen priests 
 how they could dishonour the great God of heaven and earth, by offering 
 sacrifices to the vilest and most contemptible animals and reptiles, such as 
 serpents, crocodiles, and cats. Indeed, God, in his righteous judgment, gave 
 them up to a reprobate mind, and whilst they professed themselves to be 
 wise, they became fools, for having changed the glory of the incorruptible 
 God into an image, made like to corruptible man, and to birds and four- 
 footed beasts, and creeping things. 
 
 The funeral ceremonies of the Egyptians deserve particular notice, tor no 
 people, of whom we have any account transmitted to us, ever paid so much 
 regard to the bodies of their departed friends. Of this we have a striking 
 instance in what still remains of their pyramids, the most stupendous build- 
 ings that ever were erected to perpetuate the memory of their princes. 
 This ostentation, like most other customs, originated first in the courts of 
 their kings ; but in time was imitated, as far as lay in their power, by the 
 lower ranks of people 
 
 When any of their relations died, the whole family quitted the place of 
 their abode ; and during sixty or seventy days, according to the rank or 
 quality of the deceased, abstained from all the comforts of life, excepting 
 such as were necessary to support nature. They embalmed the bodies, and 
 many persons were employed in performing this ceremony. The brains 
 were drawn through the nostrils with an instrument, and the intestines were 
 emptied by cutting a hole in the abdomen, or belly, with a sharp stone, after 
 which the cavities were filled up with perfumes and the finest odoriferous 
 spices; but the person who made the incision in the body for this purpose, 
 and who was commonly a slave, was obliged to run away immediately after, 
 or the people present would have stoned him to death ; but those who em- 
 balmed the body were treated with the utmost respect. 
 
612 
 
 EGYPTIANS. 
 
 The interior parts of the body were filled with all sorts of curious spices, 
 which they purchased from the Arabians ; and after a certain number of 
 days had expired, it was wrapped up in fine linen, glued together with 
 gum, and then spread over with the richest perfumes. The body being 
 thus embalmed, was delivered to the relations, and placed either in a sepul- 
 chre, or in their own houses, according to their rank and ability. It stood 
 in a wooden chest, erect ; and all those who visited the family treated it 
 with some marks of respect. This was done, that those who knew them 
 while alive should endeavour to imitate their conduct after death. Of this 
 we have a striking instance in the account of the funeral of Joseph, in 
 Egypt, and the regard that was paid to his remains long after his decease. 
 The Egyptians would not suffer praises to be bestowed indiscriminately 
 upon every person, let his rank be ever so elevated ; for characters given to 
 the deceased were bestowed by the judges, who represented the people at 
 large. The judges who were to examine into the merits of the deceased 
 met on the opposite side of a lake, of which there were many in Egypt ; 
 and while they crossed the lake, he who sat at the helm was called Charon, 
 which gave rise to the fable among the Greeks, that Charon conducted the 
 souls of deceased persons into the Elysian fields, or the infernal regions. 
 When the judges met, all those who had any thing to object against the 
 deceased person were heard ; and if it appeared that he had been a wicked 
 person, then his name was condemned to perpetual infamy, nor could his 
 dearest relations erect any monument to perpetuate his memory. 
 
 This made a deep impression on the minds of the people ; for nothing 
 operates more strongly than the fear of shame, and the consideration of our 
 deceased relations being consigned to infamy hereafter. Kings themselves 
 were not exempted from this inquiry; all their actions were canvassed at 
 large by the judges, and the same impartial decision took place as if it had 
 been upon one of the meanest of the subjects. Of this we have some in- 
 stances in Scripture, where we read that wicked kings were not suffered to 
 be interred in the sepulchres of their ancestors. Happy for mankind, if 
 this were more attended to in our days; then wicked princes and sovereigns 
 would learn, that notwithstanding their elevated rank in life, yet the justice 
 of their country, which they often trample on, will scrutinize with severity 
 their actions, while their bodies are consigned to the silent tomb. 
 
 If no objection was made to the conduct of the deceased, then a funeral 
 oration was delivered in memory of him, reciting his most worthy actions; 
 but no notice was taken of his birth, because every Egyptian was consi- 
 dered as noble. No praises were bestowed, but such as related to temporal 
 merit; and he was applauded for having cultivated piety to the gods, and 
 discharged his duty to his fellow-creatures. Then all the people shouted 
 with voices of applause, and the body was honourably interred. The 
 Egyptians, however, believed much in the doctrine of the transmigration 
 
PAGAN NATIONS. 
 
 613 
 
 of souls, and likewise that for some time after death the souls of the de* 
 ceased hovered round the bodies; which, among many others, was one of 
 the reasons why they deferred the interment of their relations so long. 
 
 SEC. II— RELIGIOUS BELIEF AND CEREMONIES OF THE CARTHA- 
 GINIANS AND TYRIANS. 
 
 The religion of the Carthaginians, which was the same as that of the 
 Tyrians, Phoenicians, Philistines, and Canaanites, was most horrid and bar- 
 barous. Nothing of any moment was undertaken without consulting the 
 gods, which they did by a variety of ridiculous rites and ceremonies. Her- 
 cules was the god in whom they placed most confidence; at least, he was 
 the same to them as Mars was to the Romans, so that he was invoked before 
 they went upon any expedition; and when they obtained a victory, sacri- 
 fices and thanksgivings were offered up to him. They had many other 
 deities whom they worshipped; but the chief of these was Urania, or the 
 Moon, whom they addressed under different calamities ; such as drought, 
 rain, hail, thunder, or any dreadful storms. The Christian fathers, having 
 attained to the knowledge of the truth, often in their writings ridicule these 
 imaginary deities ; particularly St. Austin, who was a native of Hippo, in 
 Africa, and consequently had reason to point out the absurdities of their 
 idolatry. Urania, or the Moon, is the same which the prophet calls the 
 queen of heaven, Jer. vii. 18 ; and there we find the inspired writer re- 
 proving the Jewish women for offering up cakes and other sorts of sacrifices 
 to her. 
 
 Saturn was the other deity whom the Carthaginians principally worship 
 ped ; and he was the same with what is called Moloch in Scripture. This 
 idol was the deity to whom they offered up human sacrifices, and to this 
 we owe the fable of Saturn’s having devoured his own children. Princes 
 and great men, under particular calamities, used to offer up their most be- 
 loved children to this idol. Private persons imitated the conduct of their 
 princes, and thus in time the practice became general; nay, to such a 
 height did they carry their infatuation, that those who had no children of 
 their own purchased those of the poor, that they might not be deprived of 
 the benefits of such a sacrifice, which was to procure them the completion 
 of their wishes. This horrid custom prevailed long among the Phoenicians, 
 the Tyrians, and the Carthaginians; and from them the Israelites borrowed 
 it, although expressly contrary to the order of God. 
 
 The original practice was to burn these innocent children in a fiery fur- 
 nace, like those in the valley of Hinnom, so often mentioned in Scripture ; 
 and sometimes they put them into a hollow brass statue of Saturn, flaming 
 hot. To drown the cries of the unhappy victims, musicians were ordered 
 to play on different instruments — and mothers — shocking thought . — made 
 
614 
 
 ASSYRIANS. 
 
 it a sort of merit to divest themselves of natural affections while they beheld 
 the barbarous spectacle. If it happened that a tear dropped from the eyes 
 of a mother, then the sacrifice was considered as of no effect; and the 
 parent who had that remaining spark of tenderness was considered as an 
 enemy to the public religion. In latter times they contented themselves 
 with making their children walk between two slow fires to the statue of 
 the idol; but this was only a more slow and excruciating torture, for the 
 innocent victims always perished. This is what in Scripture is called the 
 making their sons and daughters pass through the fire to Moloch; and 
 barbarous as it was, yet those very Israelites in whose favour God had 
 wrought so many winders, demeaned themselves so low as to comply 
 with it. 
 
 It appears from Tertullian, who was himself a native of Carthage, that 
 this inhuman practice continued to take place long after the Carthaginians 
 had been subdued by the Romans. That celebrated father tells us, that 
 children were sacrificed to Saturn or Moloch down to the proconsulship of 
 Tiberius, who hanged the sacrificing priests themselves on the trees which 
 shaded their temple, as on so many crosses raised to expiate their crimes, 
 of which the soldiers were witnesses who assisted at these executions. 
 
 Diodorus relates an instance of this more than savage barbarity, which is 
 sufficient to fill any mind with horror. He tells us tnat when Agathocles 
 was going to besiege Carthage, the people seeing the extremity to which 
 they were reduced, imputed all their misfortunes to the anger of their god 
 Saturn, because that, instead of offering up to him children nobly born, 
 he had been fraudulently put off with the children of slaves and foreigners. 
 That a sufficient atonement should be made for this crime, as the infatuated 
 people considered it, two hundred children of the best families in Carthage 
 were sacrificed, and no less than three hundred of the citizens voluntarily 
 sacrificed themselves, — that is, they went into the fire without compulsion. 
 
 Such was the religion of the ancient Carthaginians, the Phoenicians, the 
 Tyrians, and indeed the Philistines, who were, as we have already observed, 
 a remnant of the Canaanites. 
 
 SEC. III.— RELIGIOUS CEREMONIES AND CUSTOMS OF THE 
 ASSYRIANS. 
 
 In treating of the religion of the ancient Assyrians, we must be partly 
 directed by sacred history, but more particularly by what has been transmit- 
 ted to us by pagan writers. It is in general allowed that Nimrod, the great- 
 grandson of Noah, was the first founder of idolatry ; and there remains no 
 manner of doubt but he was the same who was afterwards worshipped under 
 the title of Belus, which in the Eastern language means “ strength.” He 
 is in Scripture called a mighty hunter before the Lord; and different opi- 
 
 
PAGAN NATIONS. 
 
 615 
 
 nions have been formed concerning the singularity of this very extraordinary 
 character, but the whole may be reduced to a very narrow compass. 
 
 The descendants of Noah soon forgot the knowledge of the true God, and 
 plunged themselves into the grossest idolatries; but as the passions of men 
 are often made subservient towards promoting the ends of Divine Provi- 
 dence, and as the worst intentions of men often become beneficial in the 
 end, so Nimrod, by his ambition, laid the foundation of an empire, which 
 existed for many years after his death, and in the end became a scourge to 
 those people of whom God made choice. That he was a mighty hunter, 
 cannot be doubted ; and under that character he displayed his political abili- 
 ties in two respects. The country in which he lived was infested with wild 
 beasts, and therefore he acquired popularity by delivering the people from 
 the ravages made by those furious creatures; and secondly, by hunting, he 
 trained up the youth in all sorts of martial exercises, and inured them to all 
 sorts of hardships. He formed them to the use of arms and discipline, that 
 in a proper time he might make them subservient to his purposes, in ex- 
 tending his power over his peaceful neighbours. That he resided for some 
 time at Babylon, or rather at the place which has since obtained that name, 
 cannot be doubted ; but Nineveh was the grand seat of his empire. This 
 city was built on the eastern banks of the river Tigris, and it was one of 
 the largest ever known in the world. It was above sixty miles in circum- 
 ference ; the walls were a hundred feet high, and so broad, that chariots 
 could pass each other upon them. The walls were adorned with fifteen 
 hundred towers, and each of these two hundred feet high, which may in 
 some measure account for what we read in the book of Jonah, that Nineveh 
 was an exceeding great city, of three days’ journey. 
 
 “ Her lofty towers shone like meridian beams, 
 
 And as a world within herself she seems.” 
 
 Fortified within such an extensive city, and regardless of the duty he 
 owed to the Great Parent of the universe, Nimrod gave himself up to all 
 manner of debauchery; and while he continued to trample upon the rights 
 of his fellow-creatures, he proceeded to the highest degree of impiety, 
 namely, to set up idols in temples which he had built, and even to worship 
 the works of his own hands. 
 
 From what we shall learn in the course of this work, it will appear that 
 the most ancient species of idolatry was that of worshipping the sun and 
 moon. This idolatry was founded on a mistaken notion of gratitude, which, 
 instead of ascending up to the Supreme Being, stopped short at the veil 
 which both covered and discovered him. Had those idolaters considered 
 things in a proper manner, they would have been able to distinguish be- 
 tween the great God himself and such of his works as point out his com- 
 municable attributes. 
 
s 
 
 616 
 
 ASSYRIANS. 
 
 Men have, in all ages, been convinced of the necessity of an intercourse 
 between God and themselves; and the adoration of God supposes him to be 
 attentive to men’s desires, and, consistent with his perfections, capable of 
 complying with them. But the distance of the sun and moon is an obstacle 
 to this intercourse. Therefore foolish and inconsiderate men endeavoured 
 to remedy this inconvenience by laying their hands on their mouths, and 
 then lifting them up to their false gods, in order to testify that they would 
 be glad to unite themselves to them, notwithstanding their being so far 
 separated. We have a striking instance of this in the book of Job, which, 
 properly attended to, will throw a considerable light on ancient pagan idol- 
 atry. Job was a native of the confines of Assyria ; and being one of those 
 who believed in the true God, says, in his own vindication, “ If I beheld the 
 sun while it shined, or the moon walking in brightness; and my heart hath 
 been secretly enticed, or my mouth hath kissed my hand,” &c. — Job xxxi. 
 26 , 27 . 
 
 This was a solemn oath, and the ceremony performed in the following 
 manner: 
 
 The person who stood before his accusers, or before the judge’s tribunal, 
 where he was tried, bowed his head and kissed his hand three times, and 
 looking up to the sun, invoked him as an almighty being, to take the highest 
 vengeance upon him if he uttered a falsehood. 
 
 As the sun, moon, and other heavenly bodies were the first objects of 
 worship among the Assyrians, so, in consistency with the corruption of 
 human nature, they adored the fire as their substitute ; and that sort of 
 adoration was common among the Assyrians and Chaldeans, as will appear 
 from the following passage in Eusebius, who lived in the fourth century. 
 
 “ Ur, which signifies fire, was the idol they worshipped ; and as fire will, 
 in general, consume every thing thrown into it, so the Assyrians published 
 abroad that the gods of other nations could not stand before theirs. Many 
 experiments were tried, and vast numbers of idols were brought from foreign 
 parts; but they, being of wood, the all-devouring god Ur, or fire, consumed 
 them. At last an Egyptian priest found out the art to destroy the reputa- 
 tion of this mighty idol, which had so long been the terror of distant nations. 
 He caused the figure of an idol to be made of porous earth, and the belly of 
 it was filled with water. On each side of the belly holes were made, but 
 filled up with wax. This being dohe, he challenged the god Ur to oppose 
 his god Canopus, which was accepted of by the Chaldean priests; but no 
 sooner did the wax which stopped up the holes in the belly of Canopus 
 begin to melt, than the water burst out and drowned the fire. 
 
 Adramelech was another idol belonging to the Assyrians ; but his sup- 
 posed power seems to have been confined to some of the more distant pro- 
 vinces ; for we read, that when Salmanessar took captive the greatest part 
 of the ten tribes, he sent in their room the inhabitants of a province called 
 
PAGAN NATIONS. 
 
 617 
 
 Sepharvaim ; and these people were most horrid and barbarous idolaters, 
 for they burnt their children alive, and committed such other abominations 
 as are not proper to be mentioned. 
 
 In the latter times of the Assyrian empire, before it was joined to that of 
 Babylon, Nisrock was the god worshipped in Nineveh ; and it was in the 
 temple of this idol that the great Sennacherib was murdered by his two 
 sons Adramelech and Shanezzar. Both the ancients and the moderns agree, 
 that this idol was represented in the shape of a fowl ; but they differ much 
 concerning the species; some thinking it was a dove, and others an eagle. 
 The Jewish rabbis tell us that it was made of a plank of Noah’s ark, which 
 had been preserved on the mountains of Armenia. 
 
 As it was the universal practice of the ancient heathen nations to wor- 
 ship their idols in groves, before temples were erected, it may be proper 
 here to inquire what gave rise to that notion. It is a principle acquired by 
 experience without reading, that in every act of devotion the mind should 
 be fixed on the grand object of worship. Every one who has walked in a 
 grove will acknowledge that there was more than a common reverential 
 awe upon his mind, which must be ow'ing to the small number of objects 
 that presented themselves. We may justly call them the haunts of medi- 
 tation ; but still, it cannot be denied, that many abominable crimes were 
 committed in them : some parts near their altars were set apart for secret 
 lewdness, and even for such unnatural practices as ought not to be related. 
 Strange, that men cannot use things properly without abusing them ! 
 
 It is remarkable, that none of those Eastern nations burnt the bodies of 
 their deceased relations, although they offered in sacrifice those of their 
 living ones. They buried the dead bodies in the earth ; and this they did 
 in consequence of a tradition common among them, that the first man was 
 buried. 
 
 Their marriages were civil contracts between the parties; and polygamy, 
 or a plurality of wives, was universally allowed. In their temples, dis- 
 courses were delivered after the sacrifice was over, consisting chiefly of 
 explanations of some of their mysteries, and exhortations to the people to 
 be obedient to their sovereigns. That the idolatry of the Assyrians had 
 been great, we have the evidence of many of the prophets ; and ail these 
 prophecies have been literally fulfilled. It is true they repented for some 
 time, at the preaching of Jonah; but they soon relapsed into the practice 
 of their former enormities; and God has now, in his infinite justice, left 
 nothing of them besides the name. So true are the words of Sacred Scrip- 
 ture, namely, that “ Righteousness exalteth a nation, but sin is a reproach 
 to any people.’ , 
 
G18 
 
 BABYLONIANS. 
 
 SEC. IV.— RELIGIOUS CEREMONIES AND CUSTOMS OF THE 
 BABYLONIANS. 
 
 The city of Babylon owes its origin to the vanity and madness of those 
 people who built a tower on the spot, and not to Nimrod, as many ancient 
 heathen writers would have us to believe ; for Nimrod was alive at the time 
 when the confusion of languages took place, and, therefore, we cannot rea- 
 sonably imagine he would boldly set himself at defiance against Heaven, 
 after he had seen such a signal instance of the Dvine displeasure. Thus 
 we may naturally conclude, that what was left of the tower was some years 
 after enclosed within a wall; but the exact time of its being enlarged, so as 
 to deserve the name of a city, cannot now be known. In time, however, it 
 rose to grandeur ; but idolatry increased so fast in it, that many of the pro- 
 phets denounced the most dreadful judgments upon it. Like the Assyrians, 
 they worshipped the fire and images ; of which we have a striking instance 
 in the book of Daniel, chap. iii. Like most other ancient nations, the 
 Babylonians had strange notions concerning the first promulgation of their 
 religion. Whether they worshipped fire or images, yet they indiscrimi- 
 nately gave the names of Bel or Belus to all their deities. This idol was 
 the same with what is called Baal in the Old Testament, and always signi- 
 fies “strength.” Some are of opinion that it was Nimrod, but more proba- 
 bly his son Ninus, who, according to ancient testimony, founded the city and 
 kingdom of Babylon. Berosius, a very ancient writer, tells us, that the god 
 Belus having but the chaos of darkness, divided the heaven and earth from 
 each other, and reduced the world into proper order; but seeing that there 
 were no people to inhabit it, he commanded one of the gods to cut off his 
 own head and mix the earth with the blood, from whence proceeded men, 
 with the several species of animals ; and Belus regulated the motions of the 
 sun, moon, and stars, with all the rest of the heavenly bodies. 
 
 This idol, Bel, was of such repute among the people of Babylon, that a 
 most magnificent temple was erected for him on the ruins of the famous 
 tower which was built by the descendants of Noah in order to perpetuate 
 their name upon the earth. This, we are told by Herodotus, was one of 
 the most magnificent temples in the world. It was adorned with many 
 curious statues, among which was one of gold, forty feet high ; and the 
 rest of the furniture of the temple amounted to eight hundred talents of 
 gold. It is probable, nor indeed has it ever been disputed amongst the 
 learned, that this famous image was the same which king Nebuchadnezzar 
 set up in the plains of Babylon, and commanded all his subjects to 
 worship it. 
 
 It is not our intention to consider any of the books called Apocryphal, 
 as written by Divine inspiration ; and yet we cannot see why the same 
 degree of credit should not be paid to them as to other human compositions, 
 
PAGAN NATIONS. 
 
 619 
 
 if the evidence by which they are supported is rationa.. And let us now 
 appeal to every unprejudiced person, whether the history of Bel and the 
 Dragon has not a more rational appearance than some things related by the 
 best heathen authors. Nothing was more common than for the pagan priests 
 to make their votaries believe that all the sacrifices offered in their temples 
 were eaten up by their idols, although the priests sold them in the markets. 
 The story of Bel and the Dragon is as follows : Cyrus having taken Baby- 
 lon, like most of the ancient conquerors, worshipped Bel or Belus, the god 
 of the country; but the rites and ceremonies not being so simple as those in 
 Persia, where he had been educated, he began to entertain some doubts 
 concerning them. Daniel being, without dispute, at that time prime minis- 
 ter to Cyrus, and the king being a man of an inquisitive turn of mind, na- 
 turally entered into conversation with Daniel concerning the religion of the 
 Jews. In this, there is nothing at all surprising; for, first, the Jews 
 were a people different in their manners, customs, and religion, from all 
 others in the world ; and secondly, they were then about to return from 
 captivity. 
 
 The great fame of Daniel had undoubtedly procured him admittance into 
 the temple of Belus, not to worship, but to discover the knavery of the 
 priests. Zealous to promote the worship of the true God, he mentioned to 
 the king the circumstance of his being imposed on by the priests, and 
 pointed out the way to detect them, namely, by causing the floor of the 
 temple to be sprinkled with ashes. The priests, who were seventy in 
 number, desired the king to seal up the door, which was done ; but they 
 had a private passage under the table or altar, through which they with 
 their wives and children passed, and ate up the provisions set before the 
 idol, and what was not eaten up they carried away. In the morning, the 
 king, accompanied by Daniel, went to the temple, where he found the door 
 sealed ; but, on going in, saw the marks of feet on the pavement. The 
 king being much incensed, ordered the priests to show him the privy door; 
 and as soon as he had extorted from them a confession of their guilt, he 
 ordered them all to be massacred, with their wives and children, — a prac- 
 tice very common in that age, and in other periods of time, of which many 
 examples will be given. 
 
 Nor is the account of the Dragon less probable ; for, besides Bel, the 
 Babylonians had many other idols whom they worshipped ; and what 
 serves most to support the truth of the narrative, is, that a great insurrec- 
 tion took place in Babylon, on account of the king’s partiality to the Jews. 
 It is true, Cyrus was prophesied of above two hundred years before he was 
 born, as a great prince, who was to deliver the Jews from captivity; but the 
 means to be used by him were not pointed out. God, in his all-wise 
 government of the world, often produces great events from causes which we 
 look upon as trifling. But here we meet with something striking and na- 
 
620 
 
 BABYLONIANS. 
 
 tural, and consistent with all those rules by which the evidence of history 
 has in all ages been regulated. 
 
 Cyrus had not been brought up in the religion of the Babylonians ; and 
 although as a political prince he complied with their outward form of wor- 
 ship, yet no sooner had he discovered the tricks practised by their priests, 
 than he let loose his vengeance upon them, and granted many privileges 
 to the Jews. The only objection that can be brought against any part of 
 this narrative is, that the author mistakes some names and facts ; which is 
 not to be wondered at, when we consider that the best historians of anti- 
 quity have done so. 
 
 Another idol worshipped in Babylon, was called Merodach, of whom we 
 read, “ Babylon is taken, Bel is confounded, Merodach is broken in pieces, 
 her idols are confounded, her images are broken in pieces.” Jer. 1. 2. 
 
 It is not certain who this Merodach was; but probably he was an ancient 
 king of Babylon, who, having performed some wonderful exploit, was after- 
 wards considered as a deity, as was common among other heathen nations* 
 Several of their kings seem to have been named after him, such as Evil- 
 Merodach, and Merodach-Baladan ; which last began to reign about seven 
 hundred and seventeen years before the birth of Christ. 
 
 Succoth-Benoth was another idol worshipped by the Babylonians ; as is 
 evident from what we read in 2 Kings xvii. 29,30. “Howbeit, every 
 nation made gods of their own, and the men of Babylon made Succoth- 
 Benoth.” 
 
 Having said thus much concerning the religion of the ancient Babylo- 
 nians, we shall now proceed to describe in what manner that magnificent 
 city was destroyed ; which were we to omit, would be utterly inconsistent 
 with the plan we have laid down. This, indeed, is one of the most remark- 
 able events upon record, and serves to point out the wisdom and justice of 
 the Divine Being. Here let the profligate tremble, and the deist hide his 
 face ! That the children of Israel should be taken captives to Babylon, was 
 foretold long before the event took place ; but the same prophets, who 
 pointed out their afflictions, predicted, at the same time, the fate of this 
 haughty city. Nay, it was promised, that at the end of seventy years, the 
 Jews should be delivered, and that God would bring everlasting destruction 
 upon Babylon. 
 
 We mortals are too apt to be filled with pride, when we consider the vic- 
 tories obtained by conquerors, who, although instruments in the hands of 
 God, to accomplish the designs of his Providence, yet are considered by him 
 in the most diminutive point of view — or rather, as most illustrious robbers 
 and murderers, as scourges for men’s impieties, and such as God will in his 
 vengeance cut off. 
 
 It had been prophesied long before, that this great city should be taken 
 oy l he Medes and Persians, under the command of Cyrus, and that it was 
 
PAGAN NATIONS. 
 
 C21 
 
 to be attacked in a very extraordinary manner. They reckoned their 
 strength to consist in the river Euphrates, and yet that river proved their 
 folly by being the means of their destruction. The city was to be taken 
 in the night, during a great festival. Their king was to be seized in an 
 instant: and so was Belshazzar, when Cyrus took their city. Lastly, 
 their king was to have no burial : and Belshazzar’s carcase was thrown to 
 the dogs. See Jer. 1. 51, with many other passages in the prophetic 
 writings. 
 
 Cyrus having besieged the city of Babylon upwards of two years, con- 
 trived to cut a vast ditch, or canal, to draw off the stream of the Euphrates ; 
 and just about the time he had got it completed, he was told that there was 
 to be a solemn feast in the city, and he availed himself of that circumstance 
 During the night, the inhabitants of Babylon were lost in all manner of 
 debauchery, and the king, as if intending to mock the great God, sent for 
 the sacred vessels which had been brought from Jerusalem ; but mark the 
 justice of God ! at a time when men forget him. During the feast, a hand 
 appeared, writing the following words on the wall : — “ Mene, Mene, Tekel 
 Upharsin.” Dan. v. 25. The king, being much terrified, sent for the ma- 
 gicians, desiring them to interpret the meaning of the words, which none 
 of them could do, for they were written in those characters which are 
 now called Syriac. The king, not knowing what to make of this extraor- 
 dinary circumstance, was desired by the queen to send for Daniel ; and 
 this queen, whom the Greeks call Nitocris, must have been either the 
 mother or grandmother of Belshazzar, for she had been long acquainted 
 with Daniel, and he was at that time a very old man. Daniel explained 
 the words to the king, but he was too much lost in drunkenness to pay any 
 regard to them. 
 
 In the mean time, Cyrus opened the sluices of his canals ; which, draw- 
 ing off the water of the river at two different parts, his army marched into 
 the city without opposition. Belshazzar, roused from the stupidity into 
 which his wine had thrown him, came out to meet his enemies, but was 
 soon killed with all those who attended him, and all who were found in the 
 streets. Such was the end of the city of Babylon, after it had flourished 
 many years ; and Cyrus having removed the seat of empire to Shushan in 
 Persia, it soon became a desert, and the place where it stood is not now 
 exactly known. Alexander the Great attempted to rebuild Babylon ; but 
 that the purpose of God might stand, and that the prophecies might be ful- 
 filled, the ambitious tyrant was taken off by death before he could complete 
 his design. It was prophesied that Babylon should become the habitation 
 of wild beasts, and that at last it should be turned into pools of water. Let 
 us now see how this was literally fulfilled. 
 
 When it was first deserted of its inhabitants, the Persian kings turned it 
 
 into a park for hunting, and there they kept their wild beasts. When the 
 40 
 
622 
 
 MEDES AND PERSIANS. 
 
 Persian empire declined, the beasts broke loose ; so that when Alexander 
 the Great marched eastward, he found Babylon a perfect desert. He 
 intended to have restored the Euphrates to its ancient channel, but that only 
 served to complete the ruin of the place ; for the design not being com- 
 pleted, the river overflowed its banks, and the greatest part of that once 
 celebrated city became a lake or pool of water. Theodorus, who lived 
 about four hundred years after Christ, tells us, that Babylon was the recep- 
 tacle of serpents, and all sorts of noxious animals, so that it was dangerous 
 to visit it. Benjamin of Tudela, a Jew, who visited it in 1112, tells us, 
 that few remains of it were left, nor were there any inhabitants within many 
 miles of it. Rawolffe, a German, who travelled into the East in 1572, found 
 it very difficult to discover the place upon which it stood, nor could the 
 neighbouring inhabitants give him proper directions. Many later travellers 
 have sought for her situation in vain, particularly Mr. Hanway, who visited 
 that part of the world about a century ago. 
 
 That great and good man tells us, that he spent several days to find out 
 the situation of Babylon, but could not, although he had every assistance a 
 modern traveller could procure. Nay, so uncertain was he of its ancient 
 situation, that the more he inquired, the more he was left in the dark. It 
 was once a nest of vile idolaters, and afterwards became a cage for unclean 
 beasts; but now we have nothing left but the name. 
 
 SEC. V.— RELIGIOUS CEREMONIES AND CUSTOMS OF THE MEDES 
 
 AND PERSIANS. 
 
 The ancient kingdoms of Persia and Media were so nearly connected by 
 a variety of concurring circumstances, that they cannot be separated in this 
 article. Nay, it is much better that they should be kept joined, especially 
 as they were many ages under one sovereignty. 
 
 During the continuance of the Assyrian empire, the Medes had no regu- 
 lar form of government, but lived in clans or tribes, much in the same man- 
 ner as the ancient Britons. At last Deyoces, the son of Phaortes, a Mede 
 by birth, projected the scheme of bringing them all under one monarch}'-. 
 He was a man of great prudence, and much esteemed by his countrymen; 
 he had beheld with concern the many disorders which had taken place from 
 the jarring contentions among petty tyrants, and he resolved to avail him- 
 self of such favourable circumstances. His reputation was so great, that 
 the people of his own district made him their judge; and his decrees were 
 so much approved of, that his popularity increased every day. The next 
 part of his plan was, to pretend that he could not neglect his own domestic 
 affairs to serve the public, and therefore desired to retire from business. 
 Then it was that the good effects which had flowed from his wise adminis- 
 tration began to be sensibly felt ; for no sooner was it known that Deyoces 
 
PAGAN NATIONS. 
 
 623 
 
 had resigned, than all sorts of licentiousness took place among the lower 
 orders of the people. 
 
 These disorders, which threatened destruction to the state, occasioned a 
 meeting of the chiefs to be held; and Deyoces having sent his emissaries 
 thither, a motion was made that a king should be chosen, and the election 
 fell unanimously on him. Deyoces obtaining the end of his ambition, set 
 himself about reforming abuses, and polishing the minds of his subjects. 
 For this purpose he set about building a city and palace; for before that 
 period the people lived in huts in the woods. This city was called Ecba- 
 tana, and it was most magnificent and beautiful. It was built in a circular 
 form, on an eminence, from whence there was a most delightful prospect 
 over a plain diversified with woods and rivers. His next business was that 
 of composing a body of laws for his people; and from what we read in 
 ancient history, they were well calculated to promote order among men who 
 had not till then been under a regular form of government. 
 
 Persia had been long under the government of its own kings, and con- 
 tinued so till the reign of Cyrus the Great, who united them, not by con- 
 quest, but by right of succession. Shushan, the royal city, seems to have 
 been built long before the times of Cyrus; for we find it mentioned as a 
 flourishing place about the time that great prince issued his order for the 
 Jews to return to their own country. The religion of the Medes and Per- 
 sians was of great antiquity, and probably taught by one of the grandsons 
 of Noah, who planted colonies in those parts, soon after the confusion of 
 languages. Noah had taught his children the knowledge of the true God; 
 and that they were to trust in his mercy, through the mediation of a Re- 
 deemer. In Persia, the first idolaters were called Sabians, who adored the 
 rising sun with the profoundest veneration. To that planet they conse- 
 crated a most magnificent chariot, to be drawn by horses of the greatest 
 beauty and magnitude, on every solemn festival. The same ceremony was 
 practised by many other heathens, who undoubtedly learned it from the 
 Persian and other Eastern nations. 
 
 In consequence of the veneration they paid to the sun, they worshipped 
 the fire, and invoked it in all their sacrifices; in their marches they carried 
 it before their kings, and none but the priests were permitted to touch it, 
 because they made the people believe that it came down from heaven. But 
 their adoration was not confined to the sun ; they worshipped the water, 
 the earth, and the winds, as so many deities. Human sacrifices were 
 offered by them; and they burnt their children in fiery furnaces, appro* 
 priated to their idols. These Medes and Persians at first worshipped two 
 gods, namely, Arimanius, the god of evil, and Oromasdes, the giver of all 
 good. By some it was believed that the good god was from eternity, and 
 the evil one created ; but they all agreed that they would continue to the 
 end of time, and that the good god would overcome the evil one. They 
 
 
624 
 
 MEDES AND PERSIANS. 
 
 considered darkness as the symbol of the evil god, and light as the image 
 of the good\me. They held Arimanius, the evil god, in such detestation, 
 that they always wrote his name backward. Some ancient writers have 
 given us a very odd account of the origin of this god Arimanius, which mav 
 serve to point out their ignorance of divine things. Oromasdes, say they, 
 considering that he was alone, said to himself, “ If I have no one to oppose 
 me, where, then, is all my glory?” This single reflection of his created 
 Arimanius, who, by his everlasting opposition to the divine will, contributed 
 against inclination to the glory of Oromasdes. 
 
 We are told by Plutarch that Oromasdes created several inferior gods, or 
 genii : such as wisdom, goodness, justice, truth, the comforts of life, and all 
 lawful enjoyments. On the other hand, Arimanius created as many devils, 
 such as lies, wickedness, and all sorts of abominations. The former like- 
 wise created twenty-four devils, and enclosed them in an egg; the latter 
 broke the egg, and by that means created a- mixture of good and evil. This 
 doctrine of the origin of good and evil bears such a striking resemblance to 
 that of God and the devil, that it must have been borrowed from the tradi- 
 tion concerning the fall of angels, which was undoubtedly known to the 
 ancient Persians; or it might be taken from the account which Moses has 
 transmitted to us, concerning the creation of light and darkness. 
 
 The religion of the Persians underwent a variety of very remarkable 
 revolutions ; for the Sabians, having fallen into disgrace, they were succeeded 
 by another sect, called the Magi ; who, on account of their pretensions to 
 superior knowledge and sanctity, became extremely popular among the 
 vulgar. Nay, such was the respect paid to them, that no king could take 
 possession of the throne till he had been first instructed in their principles ; 
 nor could they determine any affair of importance till it had received their 
 approbation. They were at the head both of religion and philosophy; and 
 the education of all the youth in the kingdom was committed to their care. 
 
 It is the general opinion, that the founder of the Magian religion was one 
 Zoroaster, who lived about the year of the world 2900, and it continued to 
 be the established religion of the country for many years after. The priests 
 kept up continual fires in their temples ; and standing before these fires with 
 mitres on their heads, they daily repeated a great number of prayers. The 
 name of their chief temple was Amanus, or Namanus, which signifies the 
 sun ; and is the same with what we find under the name of Baal in Scrip- 
 ture. Their great reputation induced people to visit them from all parts 
 of the known world, to be instructed by them in the principles of philosophy 
 and mythology ; and we are assured that the great Pythagoras studied 
 many years under them. They believed, with the Egyptians, and many 
 otber heathen nations, that the soul passed from one body to another ; and 
 this sentiment daily gaining ground, paved the way for the propagation of 
 otners of a more pernicious nature. 
 
PAGAN NATIONS. 625 
 
 The chief priest of the Magi was called Archimagus, or worshipper of 
 fire; but, in latter times, the kings of Persia assumed that dignity to -them- 
 selves: but there was an inferior order of priests called Narbards, who were 
 obliged to have very long beards; their caps were round, falling over their 
 ears ; and they had a girdle with four tassels, to remind them of four esta- 
 blished maxims. First, that there is but one God; secondly, that they were 
 to believe all the articles of the Magian religion ; thirdly, that Zoroaster was 
 God’s true and faithful apostle; and, lastly, that they must never be weary 
 of well-doing, as the only thing that could promote their honour in time, 
 and their happiness in eternity. 
 
 While they washed themselves, or sat at meals, they observed the most 
 strict silence, no person being permitted to speak a word ; and this proba- 
 bly gave rise to some of the sentiments taught by Pythagoras to his scholars, 
 that they were to be silent in school, and always to adore fire. 
 
 The religion of the ancient Magi fell into contempt, both in Media and 
 Persia, in consequence of the priests of that order having usurped the su- 
 preme authority upon the death of Cambyses; and the slaughter which was 
 made of the chief men among them, sunk them so low, that they never rose 
 to their original greatness; but still the affection which the people had to a 
 religion which had prevailed among them upwards of six hundred years, 
 was not to be easily rooted out, and therefore an impostor, under the name 
 of Zoroaster, undertook to revive and reform it. 
 
 Having seen the mischievous effects of adoring two gods, this artful im- 
 postor introduced one superior to both ; and the learned Dr. Prideaux is of 
 opinion, that he took this hint from what we read in Isaiah, chap. xlv. 7 : 
 “ I am the Lord, and there is none else; I form the light, and create dark- 
 ness; I make peace, and create evil.” In a word, Zoroaster held that there 
 was but one supreme God, who had under him two principles, one good, 
 and the other bad; that there is a perpetual struggle between them which 
 shall last to the end of the world ; and then the angel of darkness and his 
 disciples shall go into a world of their own, where they shall be punished 
 in everlasting darkness; and the angel of light and his disciples shall also go 
 into a world of their own, where they shall be rewarded with everlasting 
 happiness. 
 
 This Zoroaster was the first who built temples for the worship of the fire ; 
 for before his time, the Magi performed their devotions on the summits of 
 hills in the open air, where they were exposed to all the inclemency of the 
 weather, which often extinguished their sacred fires. This second Zoroaster 
 pretended to have received fire from heaven, which he placed on tne altar 
 of the temple of Xis in Media, from whence the priests gave it out, and it 
 was sent to all the other cities and temples in the Median and Persian em- 
 pire. The Magian priests kept their sacred fire with the greatest diligence, 
 watching it continually without ever suffering it to go out. They ted it 
 
626 
 
 MEDES AND PERSIANS. 
 
 with wood stripped of the bark, and they were prohibited from blowing it 
 with their breath, or with bellows, lest it should be thereby polluted; to 
 nave done either was death by their law. The Magian religion, as reformed 
 by Zoroaster, seems to have been, in many points, copied from that of the 
 Jews; and this is not much to be wondered at, when we consider that 
 Zoroaster lived at the time when the Jews were captives in Babylon, and 
 where he had an opportunity of conversing with them. The Jews had the 
 real fire from heaven, and the Magi pretended to have the same; from all 
 which it is evident, that during the time the Jews were in captivity, much 
 of their religion was known to the Persians, and some of their latter systems 
 founded upon it. 
 
 The Magian priests were all of one tribe, like those among the Jews; 
 and none but the sons of the priests could be ordained of their order: nay 
 so strict were they in keeping the priesthood among their families, that 
 rather than mix with the rest of the people, they trampled on one of the 
 most sacred laws of nature, by committing incest with their sisters, and, 
 horrid to mention, with their mothers. 
 
 The Magian priests were divided into three orders: the arch-priests, their 
 deputies, and the inferior ones, who, for the most part, resided in the coun- 
 try. The second Zoroaster had the address to get his religion established 
 in the Persian empire; and there it continued to flourish till the Moham- 
 medans, by force of arms, established their own on its ruins. 
 
 He compiled a book for the use of the priests, who were to explain it to 
 the public at large, who attended the sacrifices. This book was called the 
 Zend, a word which signifies a kindler of fire, because it was for the use 
 of those who worshipped the fire; but the allegorical meaning was, to kindle 
 the fire of religion in their hearts. The first part of this book contains the 
 liturgy of the Magians ; and although Mohammedism is now established 
 in Persia, yet there are still some worshippers of fire among them, for the 
 truth of which we have the testimony of Mr. Hanway, who was an eye- 
 witness to the nature of their service. When Zoroaster had finished this 
 book, he presented it to Darius Hystaspis, bound up in several volumes, 
 making, in the whole, twelve hundred skins of parchment. In this book 
 there are so many passages taken out of the Old Testament, that some 
 learned men have supposed the author was a Jew. He gave almost the 
 same account of the creation of the world as we find written in the book of 
 Genesis; and of the ancient patriarchs as recorded in Scripture. He 
 enjoins, relating to clean and unclean beasts, the same as was done by 
 Moses; and in the same manner orders the people to pay tithes to the 
 priests. The rest of the book contains the life of the author; his pretended 
 visions; the methods he uses in order to establish his religion; and con- 
 cludes with exhortations to obedience. But, notwithstanding such striking 
 similarities between the Zend and the law of Moses, yet it will not follow 
 
PAGAN NATIONS. 
 
 627 
 
 from hence that he was a Jew. The Jews had been seventy years in cap- 
 tivity; and many of them being men of learning, no doubt but such a great 
 man as Daniel, or such an illustrious queen as Esther, would get them 
 placed at the head of their seminaries of learning. Josephus tells us that 
 the great fame of Daniel in revealing and interpreting the dreams of Nebu- 
 chadnezzar diffused itself throughout the whole empire. The Chaldeans 
 and Persians were an inquisitive people, they even sent students to India 
 and Egypt; and finding the Jews in a state of captivity among them, they 
 would naturally inquire into the mysteries of their religion. 
 
 In considering every system of ancient idolatry, new reflections present 
 themselves to our minds. Thus, in Persia, two ancient systems of idolatry 
 took place, and at last an artful impostor established another on its ruins. 
 But although it might not be so gross as some of those that went before, yet 
 still it was idolatry, which may serve to show that without Divine Revela- 
 tion no man can come to the knowledge of the truth. Abraham would 
 have been an idolater, had not God called him from Ur of the Chaldeans ; 
 and when Christ came in the flesh he found the whole world lying in 
 wickedness. How wretched then must the condition of those persons be 
 who reject the gospel of our Saviour ! Well might it be said of such per- 
 sons, that they love darkness rather than light, because their deeds are evil 
 
 SEC. VI— RELIGIOUS BELIEF AND CEREMONIES OF THE SCY 
 THIANS, SCANDINAVIANS, AND CELTS, OR DRUIDS. 
 
 The Scythians inhabited a large tract of country to the north of Europe 
 and Asia. In early times their religion was very simple : it taught the 
 belief of a Supreme God, to whom were attributed infinite power, know- 
 ledge, and wisdom ; it forbade any representation of this being under a cor- 
 poreal form, and enjoined the celebration of his worship in consecrated 
 woods. Under him, a number of inferior divinities were supposed to go- 
 vern the world, and preside over the celestial bodies. The doctrine of a 
 future state formed an important part of the mythology of these people ; and 
 their fundamental maxims were, to serve the Deity with sacrifice and 
 prayer, to do no wrong to others, and to be brave and intrepid. But in the 
 course of time the religion of the Scythians degenerated, a multitude of 
 other divinities were introduced amongst them, and as they were a warlike 
 people, they made the god of battles their favourite deity ; to him they con- 
 secrated groves of oak, which were held so sacred that whoever injured 
 them was punished with death. A scimitar raised upon the summit of an 
 immense wooden altar was the emblem of this God, to whom they sacri- 
 ficed horses, and every hundredth man taken in battle; the first fruits of 
 the earth, and a portion of the spoils gained in war, were the offerings made 
 to the other divinities. The principal Scythian deities were — Tabite, the 
 
628 
 
 SCYTHIANS, SCANDINAVIANS, AND CELTS. 
 
 Vesta of later times ; Papius, the Jupiter ; Apia, or the Earth, the consort 
 of Papius; Stripassa, the Venus ; Oestasynes, the Apollo; Thamimasiaes, 
 the Neptune. 
 
 The Scythians venerated fire, as the principle of all things; and the wind 
 and the sword, as the cause of life and death ; a being called ZamoiXis, 
 was supposed to have the charge of conducting departed spirits to their 
 respective abodes ; and sacrifices were made to him by the friends of de- 
 ceased persons on their behalf. 
 
 The Scandinavians sacrificed human victims, and sometimes offered up 
 even their kings, to appease the gods in times of public calamity. 
 
 Their chief divinities were Odin or Wodin, Frea or Friga, and Thor. 
 Odin or Wodin is generally supposed to have been a deified warlike prince; 
 he was the god and father of war, and was thought to adopt as his children 
 all who died in battle; he was also worshipped as the god of arts and 
 sciences, from his having in some degree civilized the countries which he 
 subdued. The fourth day of the week was consecrated to him, and was 
 called Wodin’s day, which is now corrupted into our Wednesday. 
 
 Frea or Friga, the consort of Odin, was the most amiable of ail the Scan- 
 dinavian goddesses. She was also called Vanadis, or the goddess of Hope; 
 and under the name of Hertha she was considered as a personification of 
 earth. Virgins of high birth devoted themselves to her service ; and Fri- 
 day, the sixth day of the week, was named after her. 
 
 Thor, the eldest and bravest of the sons of Odin and Frea, was the god 
 of the aerial regions ; prayers were addressed to him for favourable winds 
 and refreshing showers ; and Thursday, the fifth day of the week, was dedi- 
 cated to him. 
 
 In the earliest times the Scandinavians performed their rites in groves ; 
 but they afte; wards raised temples to their gods, the most magnificent of 
 which were at Upsal and Drontheim. 
 
 The inferior deities of the Scandinavians were — Niorder, who presided 
 over the seas, navigation, hunting, and fishing; Isminsul, or the column of 
 the universe ; Surtar, prince of the genii of fire ; Balder, a son of Odin ; 
 Tur, the dispenser of victory; Heimdal, the guardian of the heavens; Hoder, 
 the blind, a son of Odin ; Vidar, the god of silence, a son of Odin ; Braga, 
 the god of poetry ; Vati, the formidable archer ; Uller, presiding over trials 
 by duel; Hela, the dreadful goddess of death; Torseti, decided the differ- 
 ences of gods and men ; the Valkyries were goddesses of slaughter; Iduna, 
 the queen of youth; Saga, -the goddess of waterfalls; Vara, the witness of 
 oaths ; Lofen, the guardian of friendship ; Synia, the avenger of broken 
 faith. 
 
 The notions the Scandinavians entertained of hell were very remarkable; 
 it was called Niffhien, and consisted of nine vast regions of ice, situated 
 under the North Pole, the entrance to which was guarded by the dog of 
 
pagan Nations. 
 
 629 
 
 darkness, similar to the Grecian Cerberus. Loke, the evil genius, who 
 was the cruel enemy of gods and men, with his daughter Hela, the god- 
 dess of death; the giantess Angherbode, the messenger of evil: the wolf 
 Femis, a monster, dreaded by the gods, as destined to be their destruction, 
 and the equally formidable serpent, resided in this gloomy abode; which 
 has been described by Gray, in his “Descent of Odin.” 
 
 The Scandinavians believed that what formed their highest enjoyments 
 m this world, would likewise constitute their happiness in the next. They 
 imagined that the souls of heroes who had fallen in battle would pass their 
 days in hunting shadowy forms of wild beasts, or in combats with warriors ; 
 and at night would assemble in the hall of Odin, to feast and drink mead or 
 ale out of the skulls of their enemies whom they had slain in their mortal 
 life. This view of happiness in a future state of existence has prevailed 
 amongst all nations. 
 
 We now come to the religion of our forefathers, the Celts, which was 
 also that of the ancient Germans and Gauls. The Celtic priests were called 
 Druids. All the Celtic nations, like the early Scythians, performed their 
 religious ceremonies in sacred groves ; and they regarded the oak and the 
 mistletoe growing upon it with peculiar reverence. Their principal deities 
 were — Teulates, the god of war; Dis, the god of the infernal regions, and 
 the Pluto of after times; and Andate, the goddess of victory. 
 
 The god of war was the divinity of the greatest importance; upon his 
 altars human victims were sacrificed; and though criminals were deemed 
 the most acceptable offerings, innocent persons were frequently immo- 
 lated. 
 
 Druid is derived from the word deru , which in the Celtic language sig- 
 nifies an oak ; because their usual abode was in woods. These priests were 
 most highly revered ; they were referred to in all civil as well as religious 
 matters ; and so great was their influence in the state, that even kings could 
 not ascend the throne without their approbation. They were divided into 
 four classes, — druids, bards, sarronides, and vates or eubages; the first were 
 the supreme chiefs, and so highly reverenced, that the inferior orders could 
 not remain in their presence without permission to do so. The bards, whose 
 Celtic name signifies a singer, celebrated the actions of heroes in verse, 
 which they sang, and accompanied on the harp. 
 
 The sarronides had the charge of instructing youth, whom they were 
 enjoined to inspire with virtuous sentiments; and the vates or eubages had 
 the care of the sacrifices, and applied themselves particularly to the study 
 of nature. 
 
 The Druids enjoyed great privileges; they were exempted from serving 
 in war and paying taxes. 
 
 Numbers aspired to gain admission into this order of society, for it was 
 open to all ranks ; but this was rather difficult, as the candidates were obliged 
 
630 
 
 GREEKS AND ROMANS. 
 
 to learn the verses which contained the maxims of their religion and politi- 
 cal government. 
 
 It was unlawful to commit the druidical doctrines to writing; and there- 
 fore they were taught, and transmitted from generation to generation, entirely 
 by the poems recited by the Druids, who required a period of fifteen or even 
 twenty years to acquire an adequate knowledge on that subject. 
 
 The Druids considered the mistletoe as a special gift from the divinity 
 to the oak, and the gathering of this plant was the most sacred of their 
 ceremonies. 
 
 SEC. VII.— RELIGIOUS BELIEF, CEREMONIES, AND CUSTOMS OF 
 THE ANCIENT GREEKS AND ROMANS. 
 
 The Greeks are supposed to have derived many of their deities from the 
 Egyptians, as well as no small number of their religious ceremonies. The 
 Egyptians, no doubt, at an earlier period, believed in one Deity as supreme, 
 the Maker and Ruler of all things ; but after that they worshipped the 
 sun, moon, and stars, under various forms, as well as living creatures and 
 lifeless things. 
 
 In the first ages of the world men had neither temples nor statues for 
 their gods, but worshipped in the open air, in the shady grove, or on the 
 summit of the lofty mountains, whose apparent proximity to the heavens 
 seemed to render them peculiarly appropriate for religious purposes. Igno- 
 rantly transferring to the works of the Supreme Being that homage which 
 is only due to their Author, they adored the sun as a god, who, riding on 
 his chariot of fire, diffused light and heat through the world; the moon, as 
 a mild and beneficent divinity, who presided over night and silence, con- 
 soling her worshippers for the departure of the more brilliant light of day. 
 
 It is thought that the Greeks received from the Egyptians the custom 
 of building temples, which were erected, some in valleys, some in woods, 
 and others by the brink of a river, or fountain, according to the deity who 
 was destined to inhabit them ; for the ancients ascribed the management of 
 every particular affair to some particular god, and appropriated to each a 
 peculiar form of building, according to his or her peculiar character and 
 attributes. 
 
 But when temples were first erected, the ancients still continued to 
 worship their gods, without any statue or visible representation of the 
 divinity. 
 
 It is supposed that the worship of idols was introduced among the 
 Greeks in the time of Cecrops, the founder of Athens, in the year 
 1556 b. c. 
 
 At first these idols were formed of rude blocks of wood or stone, until 
 when the art of graving, or carving, was invented, these rough masses 
 were changed into figures resembling living creatures. Afterwards, mar- 
 
PAGAN NATIONS. 
 
 631 
 
 bie, and ivory, or precious stones, were used in their formation, and lastly, 
 gold, silver, brass, and other metals. At length, in the refined ages ot 
 Greece, all the genius of the sculptor was employed in the creation of these 
 exquisite statutes, which no modern workmanship has yet surpassed. 
 
 Temples, statues, and altars, were considered sacred, and to many of them 
 was granted the privilege of protecting offenders. 
 
 Chaos was considered the most ancient of all the gods, and that Coelus, or 
 heaven, followed him. Vesta, Prisca, or Terra, the earth, was the wite ot 
 Coelus, and ranked as the first goddess. 
 
 The Greeks divided their deities into three classes, — celestial, marine, 
 and infernal, though there are many others not embraced in this classifi- 
 cation : 
 
 JUPITER. 
 
 Jupiter, the father of gods and men, is said to have been born in Crete, 
 or to have been sent there in infancy for concealment. He was the son of 
 Saturn, the god of Time, and of Cybele, otherwise called Rhea. He was 
 the most powerful of all the gods, and every thing was subservient to hia 
 will. His father, Saturn, had received the kingdom of the world from hia 
 brother Titan, on condition of destroying all the sons who should be born 
 to him. Saturn, therefore, devoured his children immediately after birth. 
 This may be considered as having an allegorical meaning; namely, that 
 time destroys all things. 
 
 As soon as he was a year old, Jupiter made war against the Titans, a 
 race of giants, who had imprisoned his father, Saturn, and having con- 
 quered them, set his father at liberty. But Saturn having soon after con- 
 spired against him, was deposed by Jupiter, and sent into banishment. 
 Being thus left sole master of the world, Jupiter divided his empire with his 
 two brothers, Neptune and Pluto. 
 
 For himself he reserved the kingdom of heaven; to Neptune he gave 
 dominion over the sea, and to Pluto the infernal regions. His first name 
 was Jo vis, from which, by the addition of Pater, father, was formed 
 Jupiter. But the appellations given to him were numerous, and were de- 
 rived either from the actions which he performed, or from the places where 
 he was worshipped. 
 
 As the ancients, inconsistently, attribute to their gods all the passions and 
 vices which disgrace human nature, so they frequently represent Jupiter as 
 having recourse to the most unworthy artifices, in order to accomplish the 
 basest designs. 
 
 Their poets describe him as a majestic personage, sitting upon a throne 
 of gold or ivory, under a rich canopy, holding a thunderbolt in one hand, 
 and in the other a sceptre of cypress. At his feet, or on his sceptre, sits 
 an eagle with expanded wings. He has a flowing beard, and is generally 
 
 L 
 
632 
 
 GREEKS AND ROMANS. 
 
 represented with golden shoes, and an embroidered cloak. The Cretans 
 depicted him without ears, to signify impartiality. 
 
 APOLLO. 
 
 Apollo was the son of Jupiter and Latona, and brother of the goddess 
 Diana. He was born in the island of Delos, where his mother fled to avoid 
 the jealousy of Juno. He was the god of all the fine arts ; and to him is 
 ascribed the invention of medicine, music, poetry, and eloquence. He pre- 
 sided over the Muses, and had the power of looking into futurity. His 
 oracles were in general repute over the world. 
 
 Apollo had various other surnames. He was called Delius, from the 
 island where he was born; Cynthius, from a mountain in that island ; Del- 
 phinius, from the city of Delphi, in Boeotia; Didymasus, from a Greek word, 
 signifying twins; Nomius, which means a shepherd; Paean, from his skill 
 in shooting arrows; and Phoebus, from the swiftness of his motion. 
 
 It is generally supposed that by Apollo the sun is to be understood; for 
 which reason he was called Sol by the Latins. He is represented as a 
 graceful youth, with long hair, on his head a laurel crown, in one hand a 
 bow and arrows, in the other a lyre. His head is generally surrounded 
 with beams of light. His most celebrated oracle was at Delphi, and he fre- 
 quently resided with the Muses upon Mount Parnassus. The olive, the 
 laurel, and the palm-tree were sacred to him; as were also the griffin, the 
 cock, the grasshopper, the wolf, the crow, the swan, and the hawk. 
 
 MARS. 
 
 Mars was the god of war, and son of Jupiter and Juno. He was edu- 
 cated by the god Priapus, who instructed him in every manly exercise. 
 His temples were not numerous in Greece, but from the warlike Romans 
 he received unbounded honours. His priests were called Salii. 
 
 Mars presided over gladiators, and was the god of hunting, and of all 
 warlike exercises and manly amusements. He married Nerio, which sig- 
 nifies valour, or strength. The Areopagus, which means the Hill of Mars, 
 was a place at Athens, in which Mars, being accused of murder, was tried 
 before twelve gods, and acquitted by six voices. He gained the affections 
 of Venus, and was the father of Cupid, the god of love. 
 
 MERCURY. 
 
 Mercury was the son of Jupiter and of Maia, the daughter of Atlas. He 
 was born in Arcadia, upon Mount Cyllene, and in his infancy was intrusted 
 with the care of the seasons. He was the messenger of the gods, and more 
 especially of Jupiter. He was the patron of travellers and shepherds. He 
 conducted the souls of the dead into the infernal regions, and not only pre- 
 sided over merchants and orators, but was also the god of thieves and of all 
 dishonest persons. 
 
PAGAN NATIONS. 
 
 633 
 
 He was the inventor of letters, and excelled in eloquence. Hence he 
 was called by the Greeks Hermes, which signifies interpreting, or explain- 
 ing. He first taught the arts of buying, selling, and trafficking, from 
 whence he derived his name of Mercury, and is accounted the god of mer- 
 chants and of gain. 
 
 He is represented as a young man, with a cheerful countenance. He has 
 wings fastened to his sandals and to his cap. In his hand he holds the 
 caduceus, or rod, entwined with two serpents. A touch of this wand would 
 waken those who were asleep, or cause sleep in those who were awake. 
 
 BACCHUS. 
 
 Bacchus was the god of wine, and the son of Jupiter and Semele. Se- 
 mele was the daughter of Cadmus, celebrated as the inventor of the alpha- 
 bet, and of Hermione, the daughter of Mars and Venus. She was destroyed 
 by the jealous cruelty of Juno. 
 
 It is probable that Bacchus was an ancient conqueror and lawgiver. He 
 was born in Egypt, and educated at Nysa in Arabia. He taught the cul- 
 ture of the grape, the art of converting its juice into wine, and the manner 
 of making honey. He was, on that account, honoured as a god by the 
 Egyptians, under the name of Osiris. 
 
 The festivals of Bacchus are called orgies, bacchanalia, or dionysia. 
 
 These festivals were celebrated with riot and excess. The priestesses, 
 called Bacchantes, ran wild upon the mountains, with dishevelled hair, and 
 torches in their hands, filling the air with shouts, and chanting hymns in 
 his praise. The Romans called these feasts Brumalia. During their cele- 
 bration the people ran about the city in masks, or with their faces daubed 
 with the dregs of wine. 
 
 The fir, the ivy, the fig, and the pine, were consecrated to Bacchus, and 
 goats were sacrificed to him on account of the propensity of that animal to 
 destroy the vine. He is represented sometimes as an effeminate youth, and 
 sometimes as a man advanced in years. Pie is crowned with ivy and vine- 
 leaves. In his hand he holds a thyrsus, which is a javelin with an iron 
 head, encircled with ivy or vine-leaves. He sits in a chariot drawn by 
 tigers and lions, and sometimes by lynxes and panthers, while his guards 
 are a band of riotous satyrs, demons, and nymphs. 
 
 At other times we see him riding upon the shoulders of Pan, or of his 
 foster-father Silenus; and again he is represented sitting upon a celestial 
 globe, bespangled with stars. Bacchus married Ariadne, the daughter of 
 Minos, king of Crete, after Theseus had forsaken her in the island of Naxos, 
 and gave her a crown of seven stars, which after her death was made a 
 constellation. 
 
 VULCAN. 
 
 Vulcan was the son of Juno: he was the god of fire, and the patron of 
 
634 
 
 GREEKS AND ROMANS. 
 
 all those artists who worked in iron or other metals. He was educated in 
 heaven; but Jupiter being offended with him, hurled him from Olympus. 
 He -lighted on the island ©f Lemnos, and was a cripple ever after. He 
 fixed his residence there, built himself a palace, and raised forges to work 
 metals. 
 
 He forged the thunderbolts of Jupiter, and the arms of the gods and 
 demi-gods. The golden chambers, in which the gods resided, were his 
 workmanship; also their seats and their council-table, which came self- 
 moved from the sides of the apartment. 
 
 Vulcan is usually represented at his anvil, with all his tools about him, 
 forging a thunderbolt, with a hammer and pincers in his hand. His fore- 
 head is blackened with smoke, his arms are nervous and muscular, his 
 beard long, and his hair dishevelled. The fable of Vulcan shows us how 
 highly the ancients esteemed the art of working in metals, since they sup- 
 posed it to be an occupation fit for a god. 
 
 JUNO. 
 
 Juno was the queen of heaven, the sister and wife of Jupiter, and the 
 daughter of Saturn and of Ops, otherwise called Rhea. She was born in 
 the isle of Samos, and resided there till her marriage with Jupiter : her 
 children were Vulcan, Mars, and Hebe. 
 
 The poets represent Juno with a majesty well befitting the empress of 
 the skies. Her aspect combines all that we can imagine of the lofty, grace- 
 ful, and magnificent. Her jealousy of Jupiter and her disputes with him 
 occasioned perpetual confusion in heaven. On account of her cruelty to 
 Hercules, Jupiter suspended her from the skies by a golden chain. Vul- 
 can having come to her assistance, was kicked down from heaven by Jupi- 
 ter, and broke his leg by the fall. 
 
 MINERVA. 
 
 Minerva was the goddess of wisdom, and is said to have sprung, com- 
 pletely armed and full-grown, from the brain of Jupiter. She was imme- 
 diately admitted into the assembly of the gods, and became Jupiter’s faithful 
 counsellor: she was the most accomplished of all the goddesses. 
 
 The countenance of Minerva, as generally represented, was more expres- 
 sive of masculine firmness than of grace or softness. She was clothed in 
 complete armour, with a golden helmet, a glittering crest, and nodding 
 plume: she had a golden breastplate. In her right hand she held a lance, 
 and in her left a shield on which was painted the dying head of Medusa, 
 with serpents writhing around it. 
 
 Her eyes were of celestial blue: a crown of olive was entwined round 
 her helmet: her chief emblems w’ere the cock, the owl, the basilisk, and 
 the distaff. Her worship was universally established, but her most magni- 
 ficent temples were in the Acropolis, the upper city or citadel of Athens. 
 
PAGAN NATIONS. 
 
 635 
 
 One was called the Parthenon, and was built of the purest white marbie. 
 In it was the statue of the goddess, made of gold and ivory. It was twenty- 
 six cubits high, and was considered one of the masterpieces of Phidias. 
 The remains of this temple are still to be seen at Athens, and excite the 
 admiration of every beholder. 
 
 VENUS. 
 
 Venus was the goddess of beauty, the mother of love, and the queen of 
 laughter, grace, and pleasure. She is said to have risen from the froth of 
 the sea, near the island of Cyprus. The Zephyrs wafted her to the shore, 
 where she was received by the Seasons, the daughters of Jupiter and 
 Themis. As she walked, flowers bloomed beneath her feet, and the rosy 
 Hours dressed her in divine attire. 
 
 The rose, the myrtle, and the apple, were sacred to Venus ; and among 
 birds, the dove, the swan, and the sparrow. She was sometimes described 
 as traversing the heavens in an ivory chariot drawn by doves. She was 
 clothed jn a purple mantle, which glittered with diamonds, and was bound 
 round the waist by the cestus. Her doves were harnessed with a light 
 golden chain. Cupid and a train of doves fluttered round her chariot on 
 silken wings. The three graces, Aglaia, Thalia, and Euphrosyne, were 
 her attendants. 
 
 At another time she was borne through the ocean in a shell, her head 
 crowned with roses; while cupids, nereids, and dolphins, sported around 
 her. She w’as represented as perfectly beautiful and graceful, with a 
 countenance expressive of gentleness and gayety. 
 
 Her temples were numerous; but those most celebrated Avere at Paphos, 
 Cythera, Idalia, and Cnidus. Her most beautiful statue is entitled the 
 Venus de Medicis, and is still viewed with admiration by all who visit the 
 gallery of Florence. Her favourite residence was supposed to be the 
 island of Cyprus ; and her chief worshippers were at Paphos, a city of that 
 island. 
 
 CUPID. 
 
 Cupid, the son of Venus, and god of love, was represented as a beautiful 
 boy, with wings, a bow and arrows, and generally with a bandage over his 
 eyes. He had wings, to show his caprice and desire of change. He is 
 described as blind, because we are apt to shut our eyes to the faults of those 
 we love. 
 
 DIANA. 
 
 Diana was the goddess of hunting. She was the daughter of Jupiter and 
 Latona, and the twin sister of Apollo. On earth she was worshipped under 
 the name of Diana; but in heaven she was called Luna, and in Tartarus 
 she was invoked as Hecate. 
 
 Diana shunned the society of men, and retired to the woods, accompanied 
 
1 
 
 636 GREEKS AND ROMANS. 
 
 by sixty of the Oceanides, daughters of Oceanus, a powerful sea-god, and 
 by twenty other nymphs, all of whom, like herself, had determined never 
 to marry 
 
 Armed with a golden bow, and lighted by a torch which was kindled at 
 the lightnings of Jupiter, she led her nymphs through the dark forests and 
 woody mountains, in pursuit of the swift stag. At the twang of her bow 
 the lofty mountains were said to tremble, and the forests were said to resound 
 with the panting of the wounded deer. 
 
 When the chase was over, she would hasten to Delphi, the residence of 
 her brother Apollo, and hang her bow and quiver upon his altar. There 
 she would lead forth a chorus of Muses and Graces, and join them in sing- 
 ing praises to her mother Latona. 
 
 Diana was represented as very tall and beautiful, and dressed as a 
 huntress, a bow in her hand, a quiver of arrows hung across her shoulders, 
 her feet covered with buskins, and a bright silver crescent on her forehead. 
 Sometimes she was described as sitting in a silver chariot, drawn by hinds. 
 The cold and bright moon, which scatters a silver light over the ’ hills and 
 forests, is the type of this goddess. 
 
 As Luna this goddess enlightened the heavens with her rays on earth, 
 as Diana she subdued the wild beasts with her arrows; and in hell, under 
 the name of Hecate, she kept all the ghosts and shadowy inhabitants under 
 subjection. 
 
 CERES. 
 
 Ceres was the goddess of corn and harvests, and the daughter of Saturn 
 and Vesta. 
 
 The most celebrated festivals in honour of Ceres were held at Eleusis. 
 They were called the Eleusinian Mysteries, on account of the secrecy with 
 which they were conducted. Those who were admitted to these solemn 
 assemblies were called the initiated. 
 
 When a new member was about to be admitted, he was brought to the 
 temple by night. At the entry his hands were washed, and a crown of 
 myrtle was put upon his head. He was then instructed in the laws of 
 Ceres. After this the priest conducted him into the sanctuary, and sud- 
 denly a thick darkness overspread every object. 
 
 Then a bright light flashed through the temple, and the statue of the 
 goddess was seen all decked in gold and jewels. 
 
 The new member was bound by a solemn oath to secrecy, ana dismissed. 
 By these means the initiated were struck with terror, not being aware that 
 they were merely contrivances of the priests to impress their minds with 
 religious awe. It is probable that these mysterious associations first gave 
 the moderns the idea of freemasonry. 
 
 Ceres is represented as tall and majestic. A wreath of corn is bound 
 round her golden hair. She holds a sickle in her right hand, and in Iter 
 
FAGAN NATIONS. 
 
 637 
 
 left a lighted torch. There were many festivals in honour of Ceres, and 
 many splendid temples erected to her. The husbandmen offered sacrifices 
 to her in the spring, and oblations of wine, honey, and milk. 
 
 VESTA. 
 
 This goddess was the daughter of Saturn and Rhea. Her worship was 
 introduced into Italy by iEneas, a famous Trojan prince. The Palladium 
 of Troy was preserved in her temple, and upon its continuance there the 
 safety of Rome was supposed to depend. 
 
 In the temple of Vesta a perpetual fire was kept burning; and seven 
 priestesses were chosen, whose duty it was to prevent this fire from being 
 extinguished. These priestesses were called Vestal virgins. If, owing to 
 any accident or negligence on the part of the Vestals, the sacred fire was 
 permitted to go out, the offender was severely punished by the high priest. 
 It was considered a bad omen, foretelling calamities to the city of Rome if 
 the fire was extinguished. It consequently caused universal consternation, 
 and the fire was instantly rekindled by glasses with the rays of the sun. 
 
 At the Vestalia, which were festivals in honour of Vesta, all the ladies 
 in Rome walked barefooted to her temple. She was represented in a long 
 flowing robe, with a veil on her head. In one hand she held a lamp, in 
 the other a javelin, or the sacred palladium. She was considered as the 
 goddess of file, and as animating the human body with that vital heat which 
 is the source of health and vigour. 
 
 NEPTUNE. 
 
 Neptune was the son of Saturn and Ops. He received from his brother 
 Jupiter the sovereignty of the sea. Rivers, fountains, and all waters, were 
 subject to him. He could raise earthquakes at his pleasure, and with a 
 blow of his trident he could cause islands to spring from the bottom of the 
 ocean. He was the god of ships, and of all maritime affairs. At his com- 
 mand dreadful storms arose, and vessels were swallowed up by the waves. 
 But with a word he could still the tempest, and allay the fury of the waters. 
 
 Neptune was represented as a majestic god, with a grim and angry aspect. 
 He had black hair and blue eyes, and wore a bright blue mantle. He stood 
 upright in his chariot. In his right hand he held his trident, with his lett 
 he supported his queen Amphitrite. His chariot was a large shell, drawn 
 by sea-horses, or dolphins. 
 
 The worship of Neptune was very general. The Libyans considered 
 him the most powerful of all the gods. The celebrated Isthmian games 
 were instituted by the Greeks in honour of him. He was the father of 
 Proteus and of Triton. 
 
 TRITON. 
 
 Triton was another sea-god. He was the son of Neptune and Amphi- 
 trite, and was trumpeter to his father. He is described as half man and 
 half fish, and is generally represented in the act of blowing a shell. 
 
 41 
 
638 
 
 GREEKS AND ROMANS. 
 
 He was a very powerful marine deity, and could raise storms at sea, 
 and calm them at his pleasure. 
 
 OCEANUS. 
 
 This was an ancient sea-god, the son of Ccelus and Vesta. When Jupiter 
 became king of heaven, he took away the empire of Oceanus and gave it 
 to Neptune. He married Thetis, which word is sometimes used in poetry 
 to signify the sea. He had three thousand children, and was the father of 
 the rivers. 
 
 He was described as an old man with a long flowing beard, sitting upon 
 the waves of the sea. He held a pike in his hand, and a sea-monster stood 
 by his side. The ancients prayed to him with great solemnity before set- 
 ting off upon any voyage. 
 
 NEREUS. 
 
 Nereus was the son of Oceanus. He married Doris, and was the father 
 of fifty-six sea-nymphs called Nereides. He lived chiefly in the iEgean 
 Sea, and was represented as an old man with azure hair. 
 
 He had the gift of foretelling future events. He was often drawn with 
 nis daughters, the Nereides, dancing around him in chorus. 
 
 PLUTO. 
 
 Pluto was the king of hell, and the son of Saturn and Ops. 
 
 None of the goddesses would marry him, because of the .sadness and 
 gloominess of the infernal regions where he resided; and for this reason he 
 was determined to obtain one of them by force. He carried away Proser- 
 pine, whom he saw gathering flowers with her companions in Sicily ; driving 
 up to her in his black chariot and coal-black horses, and forcing her away 
 notwithstanding all her tears. 
 
 It was in vain that the young nymph Cyone tried to stop the snorting 
 steeds, for Pluto struck the ground with his sceptre, when, instantly, the 
 earth opened, and the chariot and horses descended through the rift with 
 Pluto and Proserpine; the latter then became the queen of hell. 
 
 Black victims, and particularly black bulls, were sacrificed to this gloomy 
 god; the blood of the slaughtered animal was sprinkled upon the ground, 
 that it might penetrate to the infernal regions. The melancholy cypress-tree 
 was sacrificed to him, and also the narcissus, and the white daffodil, because 
 Proserpine was gathering these flowers when Pluto carried her away. 
 
 He is represented sitting upon a throne of sulphur, with a crown of 
 cypress. The three-headed dog Cerberus keeps watch at his feet. His 
 queen Proserpine sits on his left hand. He holds a key, to signify that 
 when the dead are received into his kingdom, the gates are locked, and 
 they can never return to life again. 
 
 PLUTUS. 
 
 This was the god of riches. He was the son of Jason and Ceres. He 
 is represented as blind and injudicious, to show us that wealth is frequently 
 
PAGAN NATIONS. 
 
 639 
 
 given to wicked men, whilst good men remain in poverty. He is described 
 as being lame, to show us that great riches are acquired slowly. He was 
 said to be timid and fearful, to represent the care with which men w r atch 
 over their treasures. 
 
 SOMNUS. 
 
 Somnus was the god of sleep, and the son of Erebus and Nox. Pits 
 palace was a dark cave, where the sun never penetrated. Poppies grew 
 at the entrance ; and Somnus himself was supposed to be always asleep 
 upon a bed of feathers, with black curtains. In his palace there were two 
 gates through which dreams passed and repassed. Morpheus was his chief 
 minister. 
 
 CHAOS. 
 
 The most ancient of all the Grecian deities was Chaos. The word chaos 
 means a rude and shapeless mass of matter. In this condition the poets 
 suppose the world to have existed, before an almighty voice called the con- 
 fused elements into order. Chaos was the consort of Darkness, and of them 
 was born Terra, that is, the earth. Thus the obscure fiction of the poets 
 agrees with the inspired account given us by Moses: 
 
 “And the earth was without form and void, and darkness was upon the 
 face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. 
 And God said, Let there be light, and there was light.” 
 
 Terra, the earth, married Caelus, or heaven. Their children were Titan 
 and Saturn. Titan w’as the eldest son, but he gave up his dominion to his 
 brother Saturn, who thus became the king of heaven and earth. Saturn 
 married his sister Ops, otherwise called Rhea. 
 
 SATURN. 
 
 The reign of Saturn was called the golden age. The earth produced 
 subsistence for its inhabitants without culture ; war was unknown ; all things 
 were in common; and Astrea, the goddess of Justice, ruled over the actions 
 of men. 
 
 But Saturn had received his kingdom from Titan upon one condition. 
 He had made a solemn promise to devour all his male children. His wife 
 Ops hid one of these children, and brought him up unknown to Saturn. 
 This child was Jupiter. Titan, therefore, made war upon Saturn. He was 
 assisted by his half-brothers, the gigantic Titans. 
 
 Each of these Titans had fifty heads and a hundred hands. They de- 
 prived Saturn of his kingdom and liberty. Jupiter then arose and assem- 
 bled the modern gods on Mount Olympus. The Titans collected their forces 
 on Othrys, an opposite mountain, and the war of the gods began. 
 
 This war lasted for ten years, when Jupiter called the Cyclops to his 
 assistance, together with some mighty giants who owed to him their deliver- 
 ance from confinement. These joined him in battle: and now Olympus was 
 
640 
 
 GREEKS AND ROMANS. 
 
 shaken to its foundation. The sea rose, the earth groaned, and the mighty 
 forests trembled. 
 
 The thunderbolts were hurled from the mighty hand of Jupiter. The 
 lightnings flashed, and the woods blazed. The giants in return threw 
 massy oaks at the heavens, piled the mountains upon each other, and 
 hurled them at the Thunderer. Jupiter was victorious, and released his 
 parents from captivity. 
 
 But Saturn was afterwards deposed by Jupiter, and took refuge in Italy, 
 lie was highly honoured there, and became king of Latium, a part of Italy 
 which lies along the Mediterranean Sea. He taught his subjects agricul- 
 ture, and other useful arts. He had a temple on the Capitoline Hill, and 
 his festivals at Rome were called Saturnalia. 
 
 Saturn was represented as an old man, bent with age and infirmity. He 
 held a scythe in his right hand, and in his left a child which he was about 
 to devour. By his side was a serpent biting its own tail, which is an em- 
 blem of time, and of the revolution of the year. 
 
 JANUS. 
 
 When Saturn arrived in Italy, he was hospitably received there by Janus, 
 king of that country. Janus was the son of Caelus and Hecate. He was 
 drawn with two faces, to intimate his knowledge of the past and the future. 
 He first built temples and altars, and instituted religious rites. His temple 
 was very celebrated in Rome. 
 
 It was built by Romulus, and Numa ordained that it should be opened 
 in time of war, and shut in time of peace. During the whole period of the 
 Roman republic, this temple was only shut twice. In religious ceremonies 
 the name of Janus was invoked first, because he presided over gates and 
 avenues, and it was supposed that no prayers could reach heaven but 
 through his means. 
 
 When Saturn was expelled from his throne, the ancient gods were nearly 
 forgotten : they seemed to retreat behind mysterious clouds and mist. Jupi- 
 ter became the first of the- gods, and the father and king of heaven. Homer 
 thus describes his absolute power: 
 
 He whose all- conscious eyes the world behold, 
 
 The eternal thunderer, sat enthroned in gold : 
 
 High heaven the footstool for his feet he makes, 
 
 And wide beneath him all Olympus shakes. 
 
 He spake, and awful bends his sable brows ; 
 
 Shakes his ambrosial curls and gives the nod, 
 
 The stamp of Fate, and sanction of the god : 
 
 High heaven with trembling the dread signal took, 
 
 And all Olympus to the centre shook. 
 
 The deities above enumerated are but a small part of those which the 
 Grecians and Romans worshipped. Let us now proceed to some of their 
 temples. 
 
PAGAN NATIONS. 
 
 641 
 
 TEMPLES. 
 
 Temples in honour of Jupiter, Juno, and Minerva, were erected in places 
 of the greatest eminence, whence a view of the town walls might be obtained. 
 Temples to Mercury stood in the market-place. Those of Apollo and Bac- 
 chus were placed near the Theatre. Temples to Hercules were built near 
 the Gymnasium, the amphitheatre, or the circus; while those of Venus, 
 Vulcan, and Mars, were without the city walls. Doric pillars were sacred 
 to Jupiter, Mars, and Hercules; Ionic to Bacchus, Apollo, and Diana; and 
 Corinthian to Vesta. 
 
 The number of temples erected to Jupiter was very great, for his wor- 
 ship was universal. He was the Ammon of the Africans, the Belus of 
 Babylon, and the Osiris of Egypt. 
 
 The temple of Jupiter Olympius at Athens was a model of art. It was 
 raised from the spoils which the Eleans took at the sacking of Pisa. It 
 was of the Doric order, and from the centre of the roof there hung a gilded 
 victory. 
 
 It sometimes happened that ancient temples were dedicated to several 
 gods. The following is an inscription on ofie of them: “To Jupiter, the 
 Sun, Great Serapis, and the gods who cohabit in the same temple.” And 
 in another, Ceres, Bacchus, and Phoebus. Besides these, I might mention 
 Juno and Minerva; Apollo, Palatinus, Latona, and Diana; Hercules and 
 the Muses; Venus and Cupid; Castor and Pollux, and others. 
 
 One of the most ancient of all Grecian temples was that of Jupiter Pan- 
 hellenios, standing on Mount Panhellenios, far from any habitation. A 
 forest of pine and juniper surrounded the mount. The temple was of stone 
 stuccoed over, and had thirty-six principal pillars. 
 
 Perhaps no temple exceeded that of the Parthenon, or temple of Minerva 
 at Athens. The pillars tvere truly magnificent, and the pediments were 
 decorated with the finest sculpture. Battles with men, horses, and cen- 
 taurs, contending together, were represented thereon, in a manner that 
 called forth the admiration of every spectator. 
 
 In the Parthenon stood the famous statue of Minerva, of ivory and gold, 
 executed by the celebrated Phidias. Minerva was represented with gar- 
 ments reaching to her feet, holding a spear in her hand, while a helmet 
 defended her head, and a Medusa’s head adorned her breast. 
 
 The temple of Apollo Epicurius, standing on Mount Kotylion in Arcadia, 
 was a magnificent structure. It was built by Iktinos, who erected the Par- 
 thenon under the direction of the famous Phidias. It could not be regarded 
 without wonder and admiration. 
 
 Apollo had a temple at Antioch, which has been spoken of as a kind of 
 enchanted place. Some will have it that the statue within it sang, and 
 others affirm that it played on the lyre. 
 
642 
 
 GREEKS AND ROMANS. 
 
 The temple of Apollo at Delphos was not on such a magnificent scale as 
 some others, though it was a superb structure ; the cost of it amounting to 
 not less than three hundred talents, or forty-five thousand pounds. 
 
 The temple of Corinth was of the Doric order, with fluted pillars ; a noble 
 pile, though not of such costly workmanship as many other temples erected 
 when architecture had attained a greater degree of perfection. 
 
 The theatre of Bacchus was not wanting in grandeur; indeed we can 
 now form but a very faint conception of the magnificence of ancient build 
 ings of this kind. 
 
 The temple of Ceres and Proserpine, at Eleusis, was of the Doric order, 
 and so large that it could contain thirty thousand persons. There was also 
 a fine temple at Sunium. 
 
 Diana had a temple on Mount Aventine at Rome, adorned with a cow’s 
 horns, on account of the offering of a very fine cow to the goddess by Autro 
 Coratius, a Sabine. But the principal temple of Diana was at Ephesus : 
 this was considered as one of the seven wonders of the world. For as 
 much as two hundred years, all Asia may be said to have contributed to its 
 erection. 
 
 Near Crotona stood a temple dedicated to Juno, famous for the vast con- 
 course of people who came to it from all countries. I will tell you a strange 
 story respecting this temple. In it there stood a column of massy gold, and 
 Hannibal wa3 determined to apply this to his own use. In the night, how- 
 ever, Juno appeared before him, and so frightened him with the threat of 
 putting out his remaining eye, for he had but one, that he gave up all 
 thoughts of taking possession of the golden column. 
 
 There were three temples a little northward of the Parthenon ; that to 
 the east was Neptune Erectheus, that to the west Minerva Polias, protect- 
 ress of Athens, and the remaining one was called Pandrosus, or the Pan- 
 drosium. Before the temple of Neptune Erectheus stood an altar of Jupiter. 
 Cakes without wine were here offered, but no living thing was sacrificed 
 thereon. 
 
 In the temple of Minerva Polias stood the most ancient of all the statues 
 of the goddess, which many believed to have fallen down from heaven. It 
 was said to be guarded by a large serpent, which had a regular allowance 
 of honeyed cakes to satisfy his hunger. The reptile was looked upon as 
 divine, and lived to be very old. This is another of the many strange tales 
 with which mythology abounds. 
 
 The temple of Janus, at Rome, was built by Numa, with two brazen 
 gates, one on each side. These gates were to be kept open in time of war, 
 and closed in time of peace. 
 
 The Temple of Victory formed the right wing of the Propylea — a 
 building at Athens, with a roof of white marble, which adorned the 
 entrance to the Acropolis The idol in this temple was called Victory. 
 
PAGAN NATIONS. 
 
 G43 
 
 without wings. She held a pomegranate in her right hand, and a helmet 
 in her left. 
 
 The Pantheon was built at Rome by Agrippa, in the reign of Augustus ; 
 it was dedicated to all the gods. This temple, also, was destroyed, or nearly 
 so, being burned by lightning; but Adrian repaired it. After this it was 
 \ used as a Christian temple, and attracted much attention. The temple of 
 Belus is usually considered to have been the most ancient of any in the 
 pagan world. It was originally the Tower of Babel; and when at the con- 
 fusion of tongues this was destroyed, the ruins were set apart for a temple 
 of Belus. It was a huge structure of eight towers, one rising above another, 
 gradually diminishing from the lowest to the highest. 
 
 The height of it might be, perhaps-, twice as high as St. Paul’s cathedral 
 in London. 
 
 The temple of Theseus w r as very costly ; but indeed there were many 
 temples raised to him. 
 
 CONSECRATIONS. 
 
 The act of consecrating, or making sacred their temples, idols, and 
 groves, was considered one of much importance by pagan nations. Among 
 the Greeks and Romans it was performed in an economical or lavish 
 manner, according to circumstances. Common images, such as that of 
 Mercury, which stood in the market-place, were not consecrated in so 
 costly a manner as images of Jupiter and Minerva, which stood in magnifi- 
 cent temples. 
 
 Three things were necessary to convert an image into a deity: orna- 
 ments, consecration, and oration. Without these a statue was not wor- 
 shipped or regarded as holy, but with them the pagans reverenced highly 
 their stocks and their stones. 
 
 There was little, if any, difference in the consecration of altars and 
 images. In the most common consecration, an offering of sodden peas or 
 beans was made: a woman dressed in a garment of various colours bore* 
 this on her head in a pot. 
 
 This offering was presented with certain forms to the deity, personified 
 by the image, or to whom the altar was erected, as a grateful remembrance 
 retained by the people of their ancient diet. 
 
 When, however, consecrations to superior statues took place among 
 worshippers who could better afford to manifest their high reverence for 
 their gods, they were more expensively conducted. Sometimes a new 
 vessel with two ears was used in the ceremony ; on each of the ears was 
 bound a chaplet of w'hite wool, the vessel being covered. The libation 
 poured out before this was of water, honey, and all kinds of fruit, attended 
 
 ith many rites. 
 
 Another mode of consecration, and not an uncommon one, was, to put a 
 
644 
 
 GREEKS AND ROMANS. 
 
 crown on the images, and to anoint them with oil. Prayers and oblations 
 were then offered, and a denunciation uttered against all such as should 
 injure or profane them. The name of the deity, and the cause of the dedi- 
 cation, were frequently inscribed on the base on which the image stood. 
 
 The unction, or anointing with oil, was one of the principal rites of the 
 act of consecration, from a very remote period. Many of the ceremonies 
 of the pagan world were, at first, learned from the Egyptians ; and those 
 practised by the Jews, during the time they were in captivity in Egypt, 
 were no doubt imitated. 
 
 Not only did Moses consecrate by the Divine command the priests of the 
 congregation, by pouring oil on their heads, but all the Jewish kings and 
 prophets were consecrated in the same manner. 
 
 Nor was the right of anointing among the Jews confined to persons, for 
 we are told in Holy Writ that Jacob anointed the stone that he set up at 
 Bethel. “And Jacob rose up early in the morning and took the stone that 
 he had put for his pillow, and set it up for a pillar, and poured oil upon 
 the top of it; and he called the name of that place Bethel.” Gen. xxviii. 
 18 , 19 . 
 
 The more we read the Old Testament, the plainer we see the resemblance 
 between many of the pagan customs and the religious observances of the 
 Jews. This striking difference, however, must not be overlooked, that the 
 Jews worshipped the true and living God, while the pagans bowed down 
 to the false and the dead idol. 
 
 Great sacrifices were sometimes made at pagan consecrations, and 
 sumptuous entertainments given. This was the case also among the Jews 
 when Solomon’s temple was dedicated. The king offered burnt-offerings, 
 and meat offerings, and held a great feast. When Moses consecrated his 
 tabernacle, the Jewish princes offered oblations: and when Aaron sinned 
 against God, in making a golden calf for the children of Israel to worship, 
 he made a proclamation and a feast was made. The people rose up betimes 
 to offer their burnt offerings, and their peace offerings, to eat, and to drink 
 and to. play. 
 
 PRIESTS. 
 
 Priests were considered mediators between gods and men. They offered 
 the sacrifices and prayers of the people to their deities ; and, on the other 
 hand, they were employed by the gods to interpret their divine will to man. 
 Thus the office of priest was hekl very sacred, and in some parts of Greece 
 their dignity was equal to that of kings. Some temples were served by 
 priestesses, who were chosen from the most noble families. 
 
 Among different nations there were different modes of appointing to the 
 priesthood, and sometimes even among the same people. Inheritance was 
 the customary tenure by which the holy office was held; but it was also, in 
 
 1 lL 
 
PAGAN NATIONS. 
 
 645 
 
 other cases, acquired by lot, by the appointment of the prince, or by the 
 election of the people. 
 
 Every one appointed to be a priest was required to be free from any bodily 
 disease or ailment, and to possess a pure and upright mind ; for it was not 
 thought right that one who was imperfect or impure should take part in the 
 worship of the gods, ministering in holy things. 
 
 To every god a different order of priests was consecrated. There was 
 likewise a high priest who superintended the rest, and executed the most 
 sacred rites and ceremonies. When the priests officiated in the temples, 
 the garments which they wore were made of fine flax or linen. They com- 
 monly descended to the ankles, and were of a white colour. They worp 
 crowns, and their feet were bare. 
 
 Sacrifices were of different kinds. 1st., They were vows or free-will 
 offerings : these were such things as were promised to the gods before, and 
 paid after, a victory. 2dly, They were propitiatory offerings to avert the 
 wrath of some angry god. 3dly, Petitionary sacrifices for success in any 
 enterprise. 4thly, Such as were imposed by an oracle. 5thly, Sacrifices 
 in honour of the gods from respect and veneration in their worshippers, or 
 the sacrifices offered by those who had escaped from some great danger. 
 The most ancient sacrifices were very simple; they consisted of herbs and 
 plants, burnt with their leaves and fruit, or of corn and salt. 
 
 Among the Greeks and others, different animals were sacrificed by differ- 
 ent persons ; by a shepherd a sheep, by a neatherd an ox, by a fisherman 
 a fish. To an infernal deity a black victim, but white to a celestial power. 
 Particular animals were consecrated to particular deities. A stag to Diana, 
 a horse to the Sun, a dog to Hecate, to Venus a dove. The Boeotians used 
 to sacrifice large eels ; and when a stranger asked them the reason of this 
 practice, they replied that they were not obliged to give any answer to a 
 stranger. 
 
 Men were sometimes sacrificed, but rarely in Greece. In Arcadia, 
 young damsels were beaten to death in honour of Bacchus. In Sparta, 
 children were whipped in honour of Diana. Every one sacrificed accord- 
 ing to his means. A rich man sometimes offered a hecatomb, or a hundred 
 oxen at once ; a poor man might offer a cake ; both were equally acceptable. 
 Every person was purified by water before attending a sacrifice. 
 
 Those who sacrificed to the infernal deities were dressed in black ; to the 
 celestial in purple ; and to Ceres in white. Various ceremonies were used 
 \n the performance of the sacrifice. The offerings to the infernal gods, who 
 were supposed to hate the light, were frequently made at midnight. The 
 victim w r as killed by the priest, or sometimes by the most honourable person 
 present. Prayers were offered up while the sacrifice was burning; and if 
 the deity was a gay and aerial power, harmonious music was played to pro- 
 pitiate his favour. 
 
646 
 
 GREEKS AND ROMANS. 
 
 Sometimes they danced round the altars, while they sang the sacred 
 hymns. Of all musical instruments the flute was chiefly used. After the 
 sacrifice there was generally a feast, where the worshippers drank to excess, 
 and continued to sing the praises of the god. 
 
 OATHS. 
 
 In the golden age, say some, when men were true and just, oaths were 
 unnecessary; but when men degenerated from their first simplicity, they 
 found it necessary to take precautions against the fraud and falsehood of each 
 other; hence the origin of oaths. They were considered by the Greeks as 
 very sacred and binding. Oaths were supposed more peculiarly to belong 
 to Jupiter. The Greeks, however, swore by various other deities: the 
 women swore by the goddesses. Sometimes the Greeks swore by all the 
 gods, sometimes by the ground on which they stood, or by the rivers, foun- 
 tains, floods, and the sun,jhe moon, and the stars. 
 
 In all solemn leagues and covenants the Greeks sacrificed to the gods by 
 whom they swore. In some places false swearers suffered death; in others, 
 only a pecuniary fine. Perjured persons were supposed to be haunted 
 by the Furies. The crime of perjury, however, was common in Greece. 
 
 The following laws respecting sacrifices were observed. 
 
 “Let sacrifices be performed with fruits of the earth. Let it be a law 
 among the Athenians, for ever sacred and inviolable, always to pay due 
 homage in public towards their gods and native heroes, according to the 
 usual customs of their country; and with all possible sincerity to offer in 
 private first-fruits with anniversary cakes. 
 
 “Cattle designed for sacrifice should be culled.” This law provided that 
 the best of the cattle should be offered to the gods. “ It is ordered that the 
 sacrificer carry part of his oblation home to his family. All the remains of 
 the sacrifice are the priests’ fees. 
 
 “All slaves and foreigners are permitted to come to the public temples, 
 either out of curiosity of seeing or devotion. 
 
 “ They who survive the report of being dead, are prohibited entrance 
 into the Furies’ temple 
 
 “ Let no violence be offered to any one who flies to the temple for suc- 
 cour.” This is a very ancient law. 
 
 “ While the celebration of the new moon, or other festival, continues at 
 Athens, it is ordered that no one be defamed or affronted in private or public ; 
 and that no business be carried on which is not pertinent to this feast. 
 
 “ No foreigner is to be initiated into the holy mysteries. 
 
 “ Death shall be his penalty who divulges the mysteries. 
 
 “ No one shall be arrested or apprehended during the celebration of the 
 mysteries. 
 
 “No impure person shall be elected into the priesthood.” 
 
PAGAN NATIONS. 
 
 647 
 
 FESTIVALS. 
 
 Festivals were very numerous and very splendid, and their celebration 
 was attended with every demonstration of joy and festivity. After gather- 
 ing in the fruits of the earth, the people of the different nations assembled 
 to offer up sacrifices, and to indulge in that mirth which is the natural con- 
 sequence of plenty. 
 
 Those festivals instituted in honour of the gods, were intended as a 
 grateful acknowledgment of services rendered by them. When a great 
 victory had been obtained, or a signal danger averted, or when success 
 had attended any important undertaking, it seemed reasonable that the par- 
 ticular deity, supposed to have conferred the favour, shall be honoured by 
 a festival being instituted in his praise. 
 
 The superstitious opinions of the Grecians led them to believe that offer- 
 ings and festivals were acceptable to their deities, and that by these means 
 their favour was secured. No wonder then that in times of danger, of 
 famine, and of difficulty, they endeavoured by festivals to propitiate them. 
 
 The festivals in honour of Bacchus were celebrated at Athens with pecu- 
 liar splendour. At some of them the worshippers wore the skins of fawns, 
 carried drums, pipes, and flutes, and crowned themselves with ivy and vine 
 leaves. Some rode upon asses, dressed as Pan or Silenus, or the Satyrs. 
 Others ran about the hills, dancing and shouting. His festivals were nearly 
 innumerable. The most celebrated festivals in Greece were those in honour 
 of Ceres. They lasted nine days, and much mystery and solemnity was 
 observed by the worshippers. 
 
 No people among the Grecians outdid the Athenians, either in the num- 
 ber of their gods or their festivals. On their high and holy days labour 
 was altogether suspended, shops were shut, and courts of justice closed; 
 solemnity and splendour were mingled with revelry and mirth ; and the 
 very excesses into which the people ran were in many cases considered 
 rather as commendable than worthy of reproach. 
 
 Festivals were called Feriae, or days of rest. Feriae Stativae were im- 
 movable feasts; Feriae Conceptivae were movable; Feriae Imperativae were 
 extraordinary holidays; and Feriae Nundinae were days for fairs and markets. 
 
 Among the Romans, the Saturnalia, or feasts of Saturn, were the most 
 celebrated. 
 
 At an Athenian festival, celebrated on a day sacred to Jupiter, it was 
 customary to place certain cakes on a table of brass, and to drive oxen 
 round the table, when such of them as tasted the cakes were slaughtered. 
 Three families were employed in this festival; one family drove the oxen, 
 another knocked down such of them as were condemned, and the third 
 slaughtered and cut them up. 
 
 The origin of this strange custom was as follows : — A hungry ox, at a 
 
 L 
 
 J 
 
C48 
 
 GREEKS AND ROMANS. 
 
 feast of Jupiter, ate a consecrated cake, when the incensed priest killed him. 
 To kill an ox under such circumstances was a great offence, and the priest 
 fled for safety. The Athenians tried the bleeding ox instead of the priest, 
 and brought him in not guilty. This is one version of the story ; but 
 another is, that the priest and people present, when the deed was commit- 
 ted, were accused and acquitted, while the ox was condemned. 
 
 There was a solemn sacrifice to Jupiter made by the Messenians, when 
 any of them killed a hundred enemies. 
 
 At a festival held in honour of Juno, a hundred oxen were sacrificed, and 
 their relics distributed among the citizens. 
 
 There was an annual festival throughout Greece in honour of the god- 
 dess Venus, to commemorate the death of Adonis, whom she loved. The 
 first day all was mourning and lamentation, but on the second, rejoicing 
 and mirth, because it was supposed that Proserpine had restored Adonis 
 to life. 
 
 A festival held in the isle of Delos was instituted by Theseus in honour 
 of Venus. The statue of the goddess was crowned with garlands, music 
 was performed, and horse-races appointed. At this festival a singular 
 dance, called the Crane, was introduced, in which the dancers imitated the 
 various turnings and windings of the Cretan labyrinth, from which Theseus, 
 who invented the dance, had escaped. 
 
 At Thebes, Apollo had a festival, in which he was represented with gray 
 hairs. The custom was to sacrifice a bull; but it so happened on one occa- 
 sion that no bull could be had ; — a working ox was therefore taken from 
 his labour, and sacrificed in his place. After that time labouring oxen 
 were frequently killed, though before then it was considered profanity to 
 destroy them. 
 
 A feast in honour of Bacchus was held by night, in which women pre- 
 tended to search for the god; not finding him, they agreed that he must 
 have hidden himself among the Muses. An entertainment then followed; 
 a great quantity of ivy was used at the festival, that plant being sacred to 
 Bacchus. The family of Minya was excluded from this feast on pain of 
 death, because on one occasion the daughters of Minya, in a furious fit of 
 devotion, slew Hippasus, the son of Leucippe, and served him up at the 
 table. 
 
 At a feast of Bacchus, kept by the Eleans, it was thought that the god 
 himself personally attended; the reason for such supposition was as fol- 
 lows : — In a certain chapel three priests placed three empty vessels in the 
 presence of the multitude, the doors were then shut, and sealed with the 
 signets of the people. The next day the people returned, to see that their 
 signets were unbroken ; after which, on opening the doors, the vessels were 
 found filled with wine. 
 
 At another festival of Bacchus, the worshippers ate raw flesh and entrails 
 
PAGAN NATIONS. 
 
 649 
 
 of goats, to imitate the god. They also counterfeited madness, as indeeu 
 they did in other bacchanalian revelries. — But you have now had enough 
 of Bacchus. 
 
 At two of the festivals of Minerva, the Great Panathea, and the Lesser 
 Panathea, ten presidents elected out of the ten tribes of Athens took the 
 management of the games, which consisted of races with torches by horse- 
 men and footmen, wrestling, musical contentions, and other displays, and 
 trials of skill and manhood, when prizes were distributed. 
 
 Racing with torches furnished much amusement to the Grecians. At a 
 feast in honour of Vulcan, the race was thus conducted : — Three young 
 men contended ; one of them started off with a lighted torch, and if it 
 were extinguished before he arrived at the goal, one of the others took it, 
 and ran on. In like manner the third took it, if it again went out. He 
 who took it lighted to the goal was the victor. No one was allowed to 
 run slowly ; if he did so, the people struck him with the palms of their 
 hands. 
 
 It was a custom at one of the festivals of Diana for certain men to sing 
 one of Homer’s poems. The most remarkable of the persons present at the 
 ceremony were ten virgins, dressed in yellow vestments, consecrated to 
 Diana. These virgins were called Bears, for the following reason : — 
 
 At a certain place in Attica a tame bear used to eat and play with the 
 young people, till a young maiden made too free with it, when it tore her 
 in pieces. The maiden’s friends killed the bear, when a pestilence fol- 
 lowed. The oracle advised the people to appease the wrath of Diana, who 
 was angry on account of the bear, by consecrating virgins to her. The 
 Athenians, in obedience to this divine command, enacted a law, which 
 required every virgin prior to marriage to go through this ceremony. 
 
 At another festival of Diana, free-born boys were publicly whipped at 
 the goddess’s altar; but in after-times, boys of meaner birth underwent 
 the cruel ceremony. The parents of the sufferers were present, to exhort 
 their children to endure with fortitude and patience. Though sometimes 
 boys were lashed to death, it was a rare thing for one of them to utter a 
 groan. 
 
 Some say that this custom was introduced by Lycurgus, to accustom the 
 youths of Sparta to think lightly of pain. 
 
 The following particulars of what is said to have taken place at a feast 
 of Diana, will show you what a love of patriotism and disdain of death 
 existed among the Grecian people. Diana, having the name of “ The 
 Huntress,” had a cake presented to her in the form of a deer at this festi- 
 val, which had its origin in the following manner: — 
 
 The Thessalonians having reduced the Phocensians to extremity, Dia- 
 phantus proposed, rather than submit to their enemies, to heap up a vas f , 
 pile of combustible matter, and to place upon it their wives and children, 
 
650 
 
 GREEKS AND ROMANS. 
 
 together with all their substance, that in case the Thessalonians got the 
 better, the pile might be set on fire, and nothing fall into the enemy’s 
 hands. 
 
 This daring resolution, however, could not be well executed without the 
 consent of the wives. A public assembly of them took place, and the pro- 
 posal was made ; when instead, as you may imagine, of opposing the 
 design, the women highly applauded it, and decreed a crown to Diaphantus 
 for his noble design. The boys also gave their full consent to the resolution. 
 
 The consequence of this was, that the Phocensians, knowing how much 
 they had at stake, fought with such fury that their enemies were entirely 
 routed. It was in commemoration of the victory obtained, that this festival 
 of Diana was established. The attendance of the people was very nume- 
 rous, and great solemnity was observed 
 
 A festival was held in Achaia to Diana, wherein they made an ascent to 
 the altar, in the shape of steps, formed of soft earth, and placed pieces of 
 green wood around it, with dry wood upon it; on the second day they 
 offered up in sacrifice, birds, bears, and lions, with wolves and bucks, as 
 well as garden-fruits. 
 
 At a festival in Crete, held, I think, in honour of Mercury, the servants 
 sat down to table, while their masters stood round, and waited upon them. 
 This custom was also kept up at the Roman Saturnalia. 
 
 Among the many commemorations and solemnities observed among the 
 Grecians, there was one so mysteriously solemn, and so famed for its secrecy, 
 as to receive the name of “The Mysteries.” It was held by some every 
 fourth year, but by the Athenians every fifth, at Eleusis, a town of Attica. 
 Adrian, the emperor, translated it to Rome. 
 
 Habitually severe as the Grecians were in all things belonging to their 
 religious ceremonies, they were particularly so in the mysteries. A greater 
 offence could scarcely be committed, than that of divulging any of the rites 
 practised therein. The offender was held unworthy of clemency; a divine 
 judgment was supposed to hang over him; he was treated as a public 
 enemy, and put to death. 
 
 This solemnity was sacred to the goddess Ceres and her daughter Pro- 
 serpine ; and such was the secrecy enjoined, that if any one not initiated, 
 either by design or error, attended, his life became forfeited. 1^ have 
 already told you a little about this strange festival, but will now speak more 
 at large. 
 
 Superstition came with its terrors and its rewards, to render the myste- 
 ries more solemn and impressive ; for those who neglected the ceremony 
 were looked on as having committed a heinous offence, for which they would 
 be punished after death; while those who were initiated in the mysteries 
 would, as the favourites of the goddesses, spend happier lives than others, 
 and at death be allotted a more honourable place in the Elysian shades. 
 
PAGAN NATIONS. 
 
 C51 
 
 When Socrates was condemned to death, one part of the accusations 
 brought against him was a neglect of the mysteries. 
 
 In the more primitive times, the Athenians would not allow any one who 
 was not a member of the commonwealth to partake of this celebration- 
 Every one, also, who had committed a crime was rejected; but in after 
 years, the rigidness of these rules was somewhat relaxed. 
 
 It is said that Hercules, happening to go near where the mysteries were 
 being commemorated at Eleusis, desired to be initiated; — what was to be 
 done? The laws forbade a stranger’s admission, yet Hercules, who had 
 rendered such public services to his country, was not a person to be refused. 
 An expedient was found. Another ceremony, called “The Lesser Myste- 
 ries,” was instituted, and to this he was admitted. 
 
 In later times the lesser festival was used as a preparative to the greater; 
 and those who attended it purified themselves, offering sacrifices and 
 prayers, and wearing crowns and garlands of flowers, having under foot the 
 skin of a victim offered to Jupiter. 
 
 It was not till about a year after, that, having sacrificed a sow to Ceres, 
 they were allowed to attend the greater mysteries. Being crowned with 
 myrtle, they were admitted into the mystical temple, an edifice of vast 
 dimensions. 
 
 They were directed to wash their hands in holy water, and admonished 
 to present themselves with pure minds, without which the outward cleansing 
 was of no avail. After which the holy mysteries were read to them, and 
 they were questioned by the priest. 
 
 And now came around them fearful things that awed their very souls. 
 Strange and amazing objects were before their eyes, while the walls of the 
 edifice seemed to* totter. At one moment, light and radiant fire blazed 
 brightly, and the next, darkness and horror surrounded them. Thunder- 
 ings and lightnings followed ; terrible apparitions were visible, and loud 
 noises and frightful bellowings were heard. 
 
 The garments they wore on these occasions were ever after held sacred; 
 they resisted charms, incantations, and other evils, and were never cast off 
 till they were worn to rags. 
 
 This strange festival continued nine days, during which time no man 
 could be arrested, and no petition presented, without incurring a penalty of 
 a thousand drachms. It was not lawful for those who partook of the rites 
 to eat beans, mullets, or weazels, or to sit upon a well ; nor was a woman 
 permitted to ride in a chariot to Eleusis, under a fine of six thousand drachms. 
 
 The first day the worshippers assembled; the second they purified them- 
 selves by washing in the sea; the third day they offered sacrifices; the 
 fourth day they made a solemn procession to Ceres; the fifth day, at night, 
 the men and women ran about with torches ; the sixth day they carried the 
 statue of Iacchus, the son of Jupiter, in procession, with a torch in his 
 
■ 
 
 652 GREEKS AND ROMANS. 
 
 hand, from Ceramicus to Eleusis ; the seventh day they filled two earthen 
 vessels with wine, one easterly and one westerly — mystical sentences were 
 spoken, and then the earthen vessels were thrown down, and the wine, as 
 a libation, spilt upon the ground. 
 
 t GRECIAN MARRIAGES. 
 
 The first inhabitants of Greece lived without laws and government, no 
 hounds were prescribed to their passions ; their love, like the rest of their 
 desires, was unconfined ; and promiscuous mixtures, because forbidden by 
 no human authority, were publicly allowed. The first that restrained this 
 liberty was Cecrops, who, having raised himself to be king over the people 
 afterwards called Athenians, among many other useful institutions intro- 
 duced that of marriage. 
 
 Marriage was very honourable in several of the Grecian common- 
 wealths, being very much encouraged by their laws, as the abstaining 
 from it was discountenanced, and in some places punished ; for the strength 
 of states consisting in their number of people, those that refused to contri- 
 bute to their increase were thought very cold in their affections to their 
 country. The Lacedaemonians are very remarkable for their severity 
 against those that deferred marrying, as well as those who wholly abstained 
 from it: no man among them could live without a wife beyond the time 
 limited by their lawgiver, without incurring several penalties; as first, the 
 magistrates commanded such once every winter to run round the public 
 forum naked, and to increase their shame they sang a certain song, the 
 words whereof aggravated their crime, and exposed them to ridicule. An- 
 other of their punishments was to be excluded from the exercises wherein, 
 according to the Spartan custom, young virgins contended naked. A third 
 penalty was inflicted upon a certain solemnity wherein the women dragged 
 them round an altar, beating them all the time with their fists. Lastly, 
 they were deprived of that respect and observance which the younger sort 
 were obliged to pay to their elders; and therefore, saith Plutarch, no man 
 found fault with what was said to Dercyllidas, a great captain, and one 
 that had commanded armies, who coming into the place of assembly, a 
 young man, instead of rising and making room, told him, “Sir, you must 
 not expect that honour from me being young, which cannot be returned to 
 me by a child of yours when I am old.” To these we may add the Athe- 
 nian law whereby all that were commanders, orators, or entrusted with any 
 public affair, were to be married, and have children, and estates in land; 
 for these were looked on as so many pledges for their good behaviour, with- 
 out which they thoug t it dangerous to commit to them the management 
 of public trusts. 
 
 The time of marriage was not the same in all places ; the Spartans were 
 not permitted to marry till arrived at their full strength 
 
PAGAN NATIONS. 
 
 653 
 
 This Lacedemonians were forbidden to marry any of their kindred, 
 whether in the direct degree of ascent, or descent; but a collateral relation 
 hindered them not, for nephews married their aunts, and uncles their nieces, 
 and it was not considered unlawful in several places for brothers to marry 
 their half sisters; and sometimes their relation by the father, sometimes by 
 the mother, was within the law. The Lacedaemonian lawgiver allowed 
 marriages between those that had only the same mother and different 
 fathers. The Athenians were forbidden to marry sisters by the same 
 mother, but not those by the same father. Most of the Grecian states, espe- 
 cially those that made any figure, required their citizens should match with 
 none but citizens, for they looked upon the freedom of their cities as too 
 great a privilege to be granted upon easy terms to foreigners or their 
 children. Hence we find the Athenian laws sentencing the children of 
 such matches to perpetual slavery. This was not all; for they had a law, 
 that if a foreigner married a free woman of Athens, it should be lawful for 
 any person to call him to account before the magistrates, where, if he was 
 convicted, they sold him for a slave, and all his goods were confiscated, and 
 one-third part of them given to his accuser. The same penalty was inflicted 
 upon such citizens as gave foreign women in marriage to men of Athens, 
 pretending they were their own daughters, save that the sentence of slavery 
 was changed into ignominy, whereby they were deprived of their voices in 
 all public assemblies, and most other privileges belonging to them as citi- 
 zens. Lastly, if any man of Athens married a woman that was not free of 
 that city, he was fined a thousand drachms. But these laws were not con- 
 stant and perpetual. Sometimes the necessity of the times so far prevailed, 
 that the children of strange women enjoyed all the privileges of free-born 
 citizens. The old law, which prohibited the men of Athens from marrying 
 strangers, having been some time disused, was revived by Pericles, and 
 afterwards at the instance of the same person abrogated by a decree of the 
 people, but again renewed in the archonship of Euclides, at the motion of 
 Aristophon, when it was enacted, that no persons should be free denizens 
 of Athens unless both their parents were free. 
 
 Virgins were not allowed to marry without the consent of their parents. 
 The mother’s consent was necessary as well as the father’s, nor were men 
 permitted to marry without consulting their parents; for even the most early 
 and ignorant ages were too well acquainted with the right which parents 
 have by nature over their children, to think these had power to dispose of 
 themselves without their parents’ consent. 
 
 When virgins had no fathers, their brothers disposed of them ; when they 
 had neither parents nor brethren, or if their brethren were not arrived to 
 years of discretion, they were disposed of by their grandfathers, those espe- 
 cially by the father’s side ; when these failed they were committed to the 
 care of guardians. 
 
 42 
 
654 
 
 GREEKS AND ROMANS. 
 
 They had several forms of betrothing ; such as, “ I give you this my 
 daughter to make you father of children lawfully begotten.” The dowry 
 was sometimes mentioned, as we find in Xenophon, where Cyaxares betroths 
 his daughter to Cyrus ; saying, “ I give you, Cyrus, this woman, who is my 
 daughter, with all Media for her dowry.” 
 
 The ceremony in promising fidelity was kissing each other, or giving 
 their right hands, which was the usual form of ratifying all agreements. 
 
 In the primitive ages, women were married without portions from their 
 relations, being purchased by their husbands, whose presents to the woman’s 
 relations were called her dowry. Thus we find Shechem bargaining with 
 Jacob and his sons for Dinah: “Let me find grace in your eyes,” saith he, 
 “and what ye shall say unto me I will give : ask me never so much dowry 
 and gifts, and I will give according as ye shall say unto me, but give me 
 the damsel to wife.” Several instances may be produced to the same pur- 
 pose, were not this custom too well known to need further confirmation; 
 only thus much must be observed, that when civility and good manners 
 came to be established in any place, it was usually laid aside, for Aristotle 
 makes it one argument to prove that the ancient Grecians were an uncivilized 
 people, because they used to buy their wives. No sooner, therefore, do we 
 find them beginning to lay aside their barbarous manners, than this prac- 
 tice was left off, and that of women bringing portions to their husbands 
 began; some make the most essential difference between wife and concubine 
 to consist in this, that wives had dowries, whereas concubines were usually 
 without. 
 
 Men who were content to marry wives who had no fortune, commonly 
 gave them an instrument in writing, whereby the receipt of their dowry 
 was owned. The rest of their distinction was chiefly founded upon this, 
 for she that had a dowry thought it a just title to a greater freedom with 
 her husband, and more respect from him than such as owed their mainte- 
 nance to him. , 
 
 When there were any orphan virgins without inheritance, he that was 
 next in blood was obliged to marry her himself, or settle a portion on her 
 according to his quality; if he was one of the first rank, five hundred 
 drachms — if of the second rank, three hundred — if of the third rank, one 
 hundred and fifty; but if she had many relations equally allied, all of them 
 contributed their proportions to make up the sum. If there were more 
 than one virgin, their nearest kinsman was only obliged to marry, or 
 give a portion to one of them; and upon his refusal to do this, any person 
 was allowed to indict him before the archon, who was obliged to com- 
 pel him to his duty, and if he refused to put the law in execution, was 
 fined a thousand drachms, which were consecrated to the goddess of 
 Marriage. 
 
 When virgins had no relations to provide for them, and were descended 
 
PAGAN NATIONS. 
 
 655 
 
 from men that had been serviceable to their country, it was common for the 
 state to take care of them. 
 
 The Athenian virgins were presented to Diana before it was lawful for 
 them to marry. This ceremony was performed at Brauron, an Athenian 
 city; the custom being instituted to appease the goddess, who had been 
 incensed against some of the Athenians for killing a bear. Another custom 
 there was for virgins, when they became marriageable, to present certain 
 baskets full of little curiosities to Diana, to gain leave to depart out of her 
 train, (virgins being looked upon as under the goddess’s peculiar care,) ana 
 change their state of life. 
 
 The Lacedaemonians had a very ancient statue of Venus Juno, to which 
 all mothers sacrificed when their daughters were married. The most 
 ancient Athenians paid the same honour to Heaven and Earth, which were 
 believed to have a particular concern in marriages; the latter of these being 
 rendered fruitful by the benign influences of the former, and therefore a fit 
 emblem of marriage. 
 
 ROMAN MARRIAGES. 
 
 A legal marriage among the Romans was made in three different ways, 
 called Usus, Confarreatio, and Coemptio. 
 
 Usus, usage or prescription, was when a woman, with the consent of her 
 parents or guardians, lived with a man for a whole year without being 
 absent three nights, and thus became his lawful wife or property by pre- 
 scription. If absent for three nights, she was said to have interrupted the 
 prescription, and thus prevented a marriage. 
 
 Confarreatio was when a man and woman were joined in marriage by 
 the Pontifex Maximus, or Flamen Dialis, in presence* of at least ten 
 witnesses, by a set form of words, and by tasting a cake made of salt, 
 water, and flour, called Far, which was offered with a sheep in sacrifice to 
 the gods. 
 
 This was the most solemn form of marriage, and could only be dissolved 
 by another kind of sacrifice, called Diffarreatio. By it a woman was said 
 to come into the possession or power of her husband by the sacred laws. 
 She thus became partner of all his substance and sacred rites; those of the 
 Penates as well as those of the Lares. If he died intestate, and without 
 children, she inherited his whole fortune as a daughter. If he left children, 
 she had an equal share with them. If she committed any fault, the husband 
 judged of it in company with her relations, and punished her at pleasure. 
 'The punishment of women publicly condemned was sometimes also left to 
 their relations. 
 
 The children of this kind of marriage were called Patrimi et Matrimi, 
 and often employed for particular purposes in sacred solemnities. Certain 
 priests were chosen only from among them, as the Flamen of Jupiter, and 
 
656 
 
 GREEKS AND ROMANS. 
 
 the Vestal Virgins. According to Festus, these were so called whoso 
 parents were both alive. If only the father was alive, Patrimi ; if only the 
 mother, Matrimi. Hence Minerva is called Patrimi virgo, because she had 
 no mother; and a man who had children while his own father was alive. 
 Pater patrimis. 
 
 This ceremony of marriage in later times fell much into disuse. Hence 
 Cicero mentions only two kinds of marriage, Usus and Coemptio. 
 
 Coemptio was a kind of mutual purchase, when a man and woman were 
 married, by delivering to one another a small piece of money, and repeat- 
 ing certain words. The man asked the woman if she was willing to be 
 the mistress of his family. She answered that she was. In the same 
 manner the woman asked the man, and he made a similar answer. 
 
 The effects of this rite were the same as of the former. The woman was 
 to the husband in the place of a daughter, and he to her as a father. She 
 assumed his name together with her own. She resigned to him all her 
 goods, and acknowledged him as her lord and master. The goods which a 
 woman brought to her husband, besides her portion, were called Para- 
 pherna. In the first days of the republic dowries were very small. Some- 
 times the wife reserved to herself a part of the dowry, and a slave, who 
 was not subject to the power of her husband. Some think that Coemptio 
 was used as an accessary rite to Confarreatio, and retained when the pri- 
 mary rite was dropped. 
 
 The rite of purchase in marriage was not peculiar to the Romans, but 
 prevailed also among other nations; as the Hebrews, Gen. xxix. 18. 
 
 Some say that a yoke .used anciently to be put on a man and woman 
 about to be married, whence they were called conjuges; but others think 
 this expression merely metaphorical. 
 
 A matrimonial union between slaves was called Contubernium ; the 
 slaves themselves Contubernales ; or when a free-man lived with a 
 woman not married, Concubinatus, in which case the woman was called 
 Concubina. 
 
 Married women were called Matron®. There could be no just or legal 
 marriage, for better for worse, unless between Roman citizens, without a 
 particular permission for that purpose obtained first from the people or 
 senate, and afterwards from the emperors. Anciently, a Roman citizen 
 was not allowed even to marry a freed- woman. Antony is reproached by 
 Cicero for having married Fulvia, the daughter of a freed-man, as he after- 
 wards was detested at Rome for marrying Cleopatra, a foreigner, before he 
 divorced Octavia; but this was not esteemed a legal marriage. 
 
 By the Lex Papia Poppaca a greater freedom was allowed. Only 
 senators and their sons and grandsons were forbidden to marry a freed- 
 woman, an actress, or the daughter of an actGr. But it was not till 
 Caracalla had granted the right of citizenship to the inhabitants of the 
 
PAGAN NATIONS. 
 
 657 
 
 whole empiie, that Romans were permitted freely to intermarry with 
 foreigners. 
 
 ’i’he Romans sometimes prohibited intermarriages between neighbouring 
 districts of the same country; and, what is still more surprising, the states 
 of Italy were not allowed to speak the Latin language in public, nor their 
 criers to use it in auctions without permission. 
 
 The children of a Roman citizen, whether man or woman, and a foreigner, 
 were accounted spurious, and their condition little better than that of slaves. 
 They were called Hybridae, the general name of animals of a mixed breed, 
 or produced by animals of a different species, mongrels; as a mule, from a 
 horse and an ass — a dog, from a hound and a cur: hence applied to those 
 sprung from parents of different nations, and to words compounded from 
 different languages. The children of a lawful marriage were called Legi- 
 timi; all others Ulegitimi. Of the latter there were four kinds: Naturales, 
 Spurii, Adulterini, et Incestuosi. There were certain degrees of consan- 
 guinity, within which marriage was prohibited, as between a brother and 
 sister, an uncle and niece, &c. Such connection was called Incestus ; or 
 with a Vestal Virgin. These degrees were more or less extended, or con- 
 tracted at different times. 
 
 Polygamy, or a plurality of wives, was forbidden among the Romans. 
 
 The age of puberty or marriage was from fourteen for men, and twelve 
 for girls. 
 
 A custom prevailed of espousing infants, to avoid the penalties of the 
 law against bachelors: but Augustus ordained that no nuptial engagement 
 should be valid which was made more than two years before the celebration 
 of the marriage — that is, below ten. This, however, was not always observed. 
 
 No young man or woman was allowed to marry without the consent of 
 their parents or guardians. 
 
 There was a meeting of friends, usually at the house of the woman’s 
 father or nearest relation, to settle the articles of the marriage contract, which 
 was written on tables, and sealed. This contract was called Sponsalia, 
 espousals; the man who was betrothed or affianced, Sponsus, and the wo- 
 man, Sponsa. The contract was made in the form of a stipulation. Then 
 likewise the dowry was promised to be paid down on the marriage day, or 
 afterwards, usually at three separate payments. On this occasion there 
 was commonly a feast: and the man gave the woman a ring, by way of 
 pledge, which she put on her left hand, on the finger next the least, because 
 it was believed a nerve reached from thence to the heart. 
 
 Then also a day was fixed for the marriage. Certain days were 
 reckoned unfortunate, as the Kalends, Nones, and Ides, and the days 
 which followed them, particularly the whole month of May, and those 
 days which were called Atri, marked in the calendar with black ; also 
 certain festivals, as that of the Salii, Parentalia, &c. But widows might 
 
658 
 
 GREEKS AND ROMANS. 
 
 marry on those days. The most fortunate time was the middle of the 
 month of June. 
 
 If after the espousals either of the parties wished to retract, it was called 
 Repudium. 
 
 On the wedding-day the bride was dressed in a long white robe, bor- 
 dered with a purple fringe, or embroidered ribbons, thought to be the same 
 with tunica recta, bound with a girdle made of wool tied in a knot, which 
 the husband untied. Her face was covered with a red or flame-coloured 
 veil, to denote her modesty. Her hair was divided into six locks with the 
 point of a spear, and crowned with flowers. Her shoes were of the same 
 colour with her veil. 
 
 No marriage was celebrated without consulting the auspices, and offer- 
 ing sacrifices to the gods, especially to Juno, the goddess of marriage. 
 Anciently a hog was sacrificed. The gall of the victim was always taken 
 out, and thrown away, to signify the removal of all bitterness from mar- 
 riage. The marriage ceremony was performed at the house of the bride’s 
 father or nearest relation. In the evening the bride was conducted to her 
 husband’s house. She was taken apparently by force from the arms of her 
 mother or nearest relation, in memory of the violence used to the Sabine 
 women. Three boys, whose parents were alive, attended her; two of them 
 supporting her by the arm, and the third bearing a flambeau of pine or 
 thorn before. There were five other torches carried before her. Maid- 
 servants followed with a distaff", a spindle and wool, intimating that she was 
 to labour at spinning as the Roman matrons did of old, and some of the most 
 illustrious in later times. Augustus is said to have seldom worn any thing 
 but the manufacture of his wife, sister, daughter, and nieces — at least for 
 his domestic robes. A boy named Camillus carried in a covered vase, 
 called cumerum, the bride’s utensils, and playthings for children. A great 
 number of relations and friends attended the nuptial procession. The boys 
 repeated jests and railleries as she passed along. 
 
 The door and door-posts of the bridegroom’s house were adorned with 
 leaves and flowers, and the rooms with tapestry. 
 
 A new-married woman was called Caia, from Caia Cecilia, the wife of 
 Tarquinius Priscus, who is said to have been an excellent spinster and 
 housewife. Her distaff" and spindle were kept in the temple of Sangus, or 
 Hercules. 
 
 The bride bound the door-posts of her husband with woollen fillets, and 
 anointed them with the fat of swine or wolves, to avert fascination, or en 
 chantments; whence she was called Uxor. 
 
 She was lifted over the threshold, or gently stepped over it. It was 
 thought ominous to touch it with her feet, because the threshold was 
 sacred to Vesta, the goddess of Virgins. 
 
 Upon her entry, the keys of the house were delivered to her to denote 
 
PAGAN NATIONS. 
 
 659 
 
 her being intrusted with the management of the family. A sheep’s skin 
 was spread below her, intimating that she was to work at the spinning of 
 wool. Both she and her husband touched fire and water, because all things 
 were supposed to be produced from these two elements: with the water 
 they bathed their feet. The husband on this occasion gave a feast to his 
 relations and friends, and to those of the bride and her attendants. Musi- 
 cians attended, who sang the nuptial song. 
 
 After supper the bride was conducted to her bedchamber by matrons, 
 who had been married only to one husband, and laid in the nuptial couch, 
 which was magnificently adorned, and placed in the hall, opposite to the 
 door, and covered with flowers ; and sometimes in the garden. If it had ever 
 been used for that purpose before, the place of it was changed. There were 
 images of certain divinities around. Nuptial songs were sung by young 
 women before the door till midnight; hence called Epithalamia. The hus- 
 band scattered nuts among the boys, intimating that he dropped boyish 
 amusements. Hence “ Nuces relinquere,” to leave trifles, and mind serious 
 business; or, from boys playing with nuts in the time of the Saturnalia, 
 which at other times was forbidden. Young women, when they married, 
 consecrated their playthings and dolls, or babies, to Venus. The guests 
 were dismissed with small presents, 
 
 Next day another entertainment was given by the husband, called Repotia, 
 when presents were sent to the bride by her friends and relations; and she 
 began to act as mistress of the family, by performing sacred rites. A woman 
 after marriage retained her former name, as Julia, Tullia, Octavia, Paulla, 
 Valeria, &c., joined to that of her husband: as Catonis Marcia, Julia Pom- 
 peii, Terentia Ciceronis, Livia Augusti, &c. 
 
 Divorce, or a right to dissolve the marriage, was by the law of Romulus 
 permitted to the husband, but not to the wife, as by the Jewish law, (Deut. 
 xxiv. 1;) not, however, without a just cause. A groundless or unjust 
 divorce was punished with the loss of effects; of which one-half fell to the 
 wife, and the other was consecrated to Ceres. 
 
 A man might divorce his wife, if she had violated the conjugal faith, 
 used poison to destroy his offspring, or brought upon him supposititious 
 children; if she had counterfeited his private keys, or even drunk wine 
 without his knowledge. In these cases, the husband judged together with 
 his wife’s relations. This law is supposed to have been copied into the 
 twelve tables. 
 
 Although the laws allowed husbands the liberty of divorce, there was no 
 instance of its being exercised for about five hundred and twenty years. 
 Sp. Carrelius Ruga was the first who divorced his wife, although fond of 
 Jier, because she had no children, on account of the oath he had been forced 
 to take by the censors, in common with the other citizens, that he would 
 marry to have children 
 
660 
 
 GREEKS AND ROMANS. 
 
 Afterwards divorces became very frequent, not only for important reasons, 
 but often on the most frivolous pretexts. Caesar, when he divorced Pom- 
 peia, the niece of Sylla, because Clodius had got admission to his house in 
 the garb of a music girl, at the celebration of the sacred rites of the Bona 
 Dea, declared that he did not believe any thing that was said against her, 
 but that he could not live with a wife who had once been suspected. 
 
 If a wife was guilty of infidelity, she forfeited her dowry; but if the 
 divorce was made without any fault of hers, the dowry was restored to her. 
 When the separation was voluntary on both sides, she sometimes also 
 retained the nuptial presents of her husband. 
 
 In the later ages of the republic, the same liberty of divorce was exer- 
 cised by the women as by the men. Some think that right was granted to 
 them by the law of the twelve tables, in imitation of the Athenians. This, 
 however, seems not to have been the case ; for it appears they did not enjoy 
 it, even in the time of Plautus ; only if a man was absent for a certain time, 
 his wife seems to have been at liberty to marry another. Afterwards, some 
 women deserted their husbands so frequently, and with so little shame, that 
 Seneca says, they reckoned their years not from the number of consuls, but 
 of husbands. But a freed-woman, if married to her patron, was not per- 
 mitted to divorce him. 
 
 Augustus is said to have restricted this license of Bona Gratia divorces, 
 as they were called. They still, however, prevailed, although the women 
 who made them were by no means respectable. 
 
 A divorce anciently was made with different ceremonies, according to the 
 manner in which the marriage had been celebrated. A marriage contracted 
 by Confarreatio was dissolved by a sacrifice called Diffareatio, which was 
 still in use in the time of Plutarch, when a separation took place between 
 the flamen of Jupiter and his wife. 
 
 A marriage contracted by Coemptio was dissolved by a kind of release, 
 called Remancipatio. In this manner Cato is supposed to have voluntarily 
 given away his wife Marcia to Hortensius, and Tiberius Nero his wife 
 Livia to Augustus, even when big with child. 
 
 In later times a divorce was made with fewer ceremonies ; in presence 
 of seven witnesses the marriage contract was torn, the keys were taken 
 from the wife, then certain words were pronounced by a freedman, or by 
 the husband himself. If the husband was absent, he sent his wife a bill of 
 divorce, on which similar words were inscribed. This was called Matri- 
 monii Renunciatio. 
 
 If the divorce was made without the fault of the wife, her whole portion was 
 restored to her ; sometimes all at once, but usually by three different payments. 
 
 There was sometimes an action to determine by whose fault the divorce 
 was made. Divorces were recorded in the public registers, as marriages, 
 births, and funerals. 
 
PAGAN NATIONS. 
 
 661 
 
 Widows were obliged to wear mourning for their husbands at least ten 
 months ; and if they married within that time, they were held infamous, 
 but men were under no such restriction. 
 
 M. Antonius, the philosopher, after the death of his wife Faustina, lived 
 with a concubine, that he might not bring in a step-mother on his children. 
 
 Second marriages in women were not esteemed honourable; and those 
 who had been married but to one husband, or who remained in widow- 
 hood, were held in particular respect. Hence Univira is often found in 
 ancient inscriptions, as an epithet of honour. Such as married a second 
 time were not allowed to officiate at the annual sacred rites of Female 
 Fortune. 
 
 GRECIAN FUNERALS. 
 
 Among the Greeks and Romans great attention was paid to the obse- 
 quies of the dead. They were well aware of the impression that was thus 
 made on the minds of the living. The dead were ever held sacred and 
 inviolable, even amongst the most barbarous nations; to defraud them of 
 any due respect was a greater and more unpardonable sacrilege than to 
 spoil the temple of the gods ; the memories of the illustrious were preserved 
 with a religious care and reverence, and all their remains honoured with 
 worship and adoration: hatred and envy themselves were put to silence; 
 for it was thought a sign of a cruel and inhuman disposition to speak evil 
 of the dead, and prosecute revenge beyond the grave. No provocation was 
 thought sufficient to warrant so foul an action ; the highest affronts from 
 themselves whilst alive, or afterwards from their children, were esteemed 
 weak pretences for disturbing their peace. Offenders of this kind were not 
 only branded with disgrace and infamy, but, by Solon’s laws, incurred a 
 severe penalty. 
 
 But of all the honours paid to the dead, the care of their funeral rites 
 was the greatest and most necessary; for these were looked upon as a debt 
 so sacred that such as neglected to discharge it were thought accursed. 
 And no wonder that they were thus solicitous about the interment of the 
 dead, since they were strongly possessed with an opinion that their souls 
 could not be admitted into the Elysian shades, but were forced to wander, 
 desolate, and without company, tili their bodies were committed to the 
 earth ; and if they had never the good fortune to obtain human burial, the 
 time of their exclusion from the common receptacle of the ghosts was no 
 less than a hundred years. 
 
 As soon as any person had expired, they closed his eyes. The design 
 of this custom seems to have been not only to prevent that horror, which 
 the eyes of dead men when uncovered are apt to strike into the living, bu f 
 also for the satisfaction of dying persons, who are usually desirous to die in 
 a decent posture. For the same reason the mouth of the dead person was 
 
662 
 
 GREEKS AND ROMANS. 
 
 closed. This done, his face was covered. Almost all the offices about the 
 dead were performed by their nearest relations ; nor could a greater mis- 
 fortune befal any person, than to want these last respects. All the charges 
 expended on funerals, and the whole care and management of them, 
 belonged also to relations, saving that persons of extraordinary worth were 
 frequently honoured with public funerals, the expenses whereof were 
 defrayed out of the exchequer. 
 
 Before the body was cold, they composed all the members, stretching 
 them out to their due length. After this the dead body was washed, 
 This done, the body was anointed. After the body was washed and 
 anointed, they wrapped it in a garment, which seems to have been no other 
 than the common pallium or cloak they wore at other times, as we find 
 the Romans made use of the toga. Then the body was adorned with a 
 rich and splendid garment ; the whole body was covered with this 
 garment. 
 
 When persons of worth and character died in foreign countries, their 
 remains, being brought home in urns, were honoured with the ceremonies 
 customary at other funerals. 
 
 Some time before interment a piece of money was put into the corpse’s 
 mouth, which was thought to be Charon’s fare for wafting the departed soul 
 over the Inf3rnal River. Besides this, the corpse’s mouth was furnished 
 with a certain cake, composed of flour, honey, &c. This was designed to 
 appease the fury of Cerberus the Infernal doorkeeper, and to procure him 
 a safe and quiet entrance. 
 
 It may farther be observed, that during this time the hair of the deceased 
 person was hung upon the door, to signify the family was in mourning; 
 and, till the house was delivered of the corpse, there stood before the door 
 a vessel of water. The design of this was, that such as had been concerned 
 about the corpse might purify themselves by washing. For not the Jews 
 only, but the greatest part of the heathen world, thought themselves pol- 
 luted by the contact of a dead body. 
 
 The air proceeding from the dead body was thought to pollute all things 
 into which it entered : whence all uncovered vessels which stood in the 
 same room with the corpse were accounted unclean by the Jews. Hence 
 it was customary to have the whole house purified as soon as the funeral 
 solemnities were over. 
 
 The next thing to be observed is their carrying the corpse forth. The 
 time of burial seems not to have been limited. The ancient burials took 
 place on the third or fourth day after death ; nor was it unusual to perform 
 the solemnities, especially of poor persons, on the day after their death. 
 Servius was of opinion, that the time of burning bodies was the eighth day 
 after death — the time of burying the ninth ; but this must only be under- 
 stood of the funerals of great persons, which could not be duly solemnized 
 
PAGAN NATIONS. 
 
 663 
 
 without extraordinary preparations. In some instances it was usual to keep 
 the bodies seventeen days and seventeen nights. 
 
 The ceremony was performed in the day, for night was looked on as a 
 very improper time, because then furies and evil spirits, which could not 
 endure the light, ventured abroad. 
 
 Young men only, that died in the flower of their age, were buried in the 
 morning twilight; for so dreadful a calamity was this accounted, that they 
 thought it indecent, and almost impious, to reveal it in the face of the sun. 
 The Athenians went counter to the rest of the Grecians; for their laws 
 enjoined them to celebrate their funerals before sunrise. 
 
 The body was sometimes placed upon a bier; instead of which the Lace- 
 daemonians commonly used their bucklers: whence that remarkable com- 
 mand of one of their matrons to her son, — “Either bring this” (pointing to 
 his buckler) “ back, or be brought upon it.” But the most ancient Gre- 
 cians seem to have conveyed their dead bodies to their funerals without any 
 support. 
 
 The persons present at funerals were the dead man’s friends and rela- 
 tions, who thought themselves under an obligation to pay this last respect 
 to their deceased friend. Besides these, others were frequently invited to 
 increase the solemnity, where the laws restrained them not from it; which 
 they did at some places, either to prevent the disorders which often hap- 
 pened at such promiscuous meetings, or to mitigate the excessive charges 
 of funerals. 
 
 The habit of these persons was not always the same; for though they 
 sometimes put on mourning, and in common funerals as frequently retained 
 their ordinary apparel, yet the exequies of great men were commonly cele- 
 brated with expressions of joy for their reception into heaven. When the 
 body was conveyed out of the house, they took their last farewell, saluting 
 it in a certain form of words. 
 
 The procession was commonly made on horseback, or in coaches; but at 
 the funerals of persons to whom a more than ordinary reverence was thought 
 due, all went on foot. The relations went next the- corpse : the rest walked 
 some distance off. Sometimes the men went before it, with their heads 
 uncovered — the women following it; but the ordinary way was for the body 
 to go first, and the rest to follow; whereby the survivors were put in mind 
 of their mortality, and bid to remember they were all following in the way 
 the dead person had gone. At the funerals of soldiers their fellow-soldiers 
 attended with their spears pointed towards the ground, and the uppermost 
 part of their bucklers turned downwards. This was not done so much 
 because the gods were carved upon their bucklers, whose faces would 
 have been polluted by the sight of a dead body, as that they might 
 recede from their common custom, the method of mourning being to act 
 quite contrary to what was usual at other times ; and therefore not only 
 
 J 
 
664 
 
 GREEKS AND ROMANS. 
 
 their bucklers, but their spears, and the rest of their weapons, were 
 inverted. 
 
 The ceremonies by which they used to express their sorrow on the death 
 of friends, and on other occasions, were various and uncertain ; but it seems 
 to have been a constant rule amongst them to recede as much as possible 
 in habit v and all their behaviour, from their ordinary customs; by which 
 change they thought it would appear that some extraordinary calamity had 
 befallen them. Hence it was that mourners in some cities demeaned them- 
 selves in the very same manner with persons who in other places designed 
 to express joy ; for the customs of one city being contrary to those of another, 
 it sometimes happened that what in one place passed for an expression of 
 mirth, was in others a token of sorrow. The most ordinary ways of 
 expressing sorrow were these that follow : — 
 
 They abstained from banquets and entertainments, and banished from 
 their houses all musical instruments, and whatever was proper to excite 
 pleasure, or bore an air of mirth and gayety. They frequented no public 
 solemnities, nor appeared in place of concourse, but sequestered themselves 
 from company, and refrained even from the comforts and conveniences of 
 life. Wine was too great a friend to cheerfulness to gain admission into so 
 melancholy society ; the light itself was odious; and nothing courted but 
 dark shades and lonesome retirements, which they thought bore some 
 resemblance to their misfortunes. 
 
 They divested themselves of all ornaments, and laid aside their jewels, 
 gold, and whatever was rich and precious in their apparel. Their mourn- 
 ing garments were always black, and differed not from their ordinary 
 apparel in colour only, but likewise in value, as being of cheap and coarse 
 stuff. 
 
 They tore, cut off, and sometimes shaved their hair. They had several 
 ways of disposing of their hair ; at times it was thrown on the dead body. 
 It was likewise frequent to cast it into the funeral pile, to be consumed with 
 the body of their friend. Some restrain this practice to sons, or very near 
 relations ; but it appears, by many instances, to have been common to all 
 that thought themselves obliged to express their respect or love to the dead, 
 insomuch that, upon the death of great men, whole cities and countries were 
 commonly shaved. It was used partly to render the ghost of the deceased 
 person propitious, which seems to be the reason why they threw the hair 
 into the fire to bum with him, or laid it on his body, that they might appear 
 disfigured, and careless of their beauty. It may further be observed, that 
 in solemn and public mournings it was common to extend this practice to 
 their beasts, that all things might appear as deformed and ugly as possible. 
 The Persians shaved themselves, their horses, and their mules; but 
 Alexander, as in the rest of his actions, so herein went beyond the rest of 
 mankind ; for at the death of Hephsestion, he not only cut off the manes of 
 
PAGAN NATIONS. 
 
 665 
 
 his horses and mules, but took down the battlements from the city walls, 
 that even towns might seem mourners, and instead of their former beauteous 
 appearance, look bald at the funeral. 
 
 It was frequent for persons overwhelmed with grief, and unable to bear 
 up under it, to throw themselves upon the earth, and roli in the dust; and 
 the more dirty the ground was, the better it served to defile them, and to 
 express their sorrow and dejection. 
 
 They covered their heads with ashes. These customs were likewise 
 practised in the Eastern countries, whence we find so frequent mention of 
 penitents lying upon the ground, and putting on sackcloth and ashes. 
 
 When any occasion required their attendance abroad, their heads were 
 muffled up. 
 
 They went softly, to express their faintness and loss of strength and 
 spirits. Thus Ahab, king of Israel, being terrified by the judgment Elias 
 denounced against him, fasted, and lay in sackcloth, and went softly ; and 
 Hezekiah, king of Judah, being told by the prophet that he was never to 
 recover of a distemper he then lay under, amongst other expressions of 
 sorrow hath this: — “I shall go softly all my years in the bitterness of my 
 soul.” 
 
 They beat their breasts and thighs, and tore their flesh, making furrows 
 in their faces with their nails ; which actions, though practised sometimes 
 by men, were more frequent among women, whose passions are more vio 
 lent and ungovernable. 
 
 “ Women with nails their breasts and faces tear, 
 
 And thus their boundless, headstrong grief declare.” 
 
 The Lacedaemonians bore the death of their private relations with great 
 constancy and moderation; but when their kings died, they had a barbarous 
 custom of meeting in vast numbers, where men, women, and slaves all 
 mixed together, and tore the flesh from their foreheads with pins and 
 needles. The design of this was not only to testify their sorrow, but also 
 to gratify the ghosts of the dead, who were thought to feed upon and to 
 delight in nothing so much as blood. Nor was this the effect of extrava- 
 gant passion, or practised only by persons of weaker understandings in the 
 extremity of their sorrow, but frequently done by men of all qualities, and 
 that in the most grave and solemn manner. 
 
 When public magistrates, or persons of note died, or any public calamity 
 happened, all public meetings were intermitted, the schools of exercise, 
 baths, shops, temples, and all places of concourse, were shut up, and the 
 whole city put on a face of sorrow. Thus we find the Athenians bewail- 
 ing their loss of Socrates, not long after they had sentenced him to death. 
 
 They had mourners and musicians to increase the solemnity , which 
 custom seems to have been practised in most parts of the world. 
 
 What the design of their musical instruments was, is not agreed : some 
 
666 
 
 GREEKS AND ROMANS. 
 
 will have them intended to affright the ghosts and furies from the soul of 
 the deceased person ; others would have them to signify the soul’s departure 
 into heaven, where they fancied the motion of the spheres made a divine 
 and eternal harmony ; others say they were designed to divert the sorrow 
 of the dead man’s surviving relations: but the most probable opinion seems 
 to be, that they were intended to excite sorrow, which was the reason that 
 the lyra was never used at such solemnities. 
 
 Interring and burning were practised by the Grecians; yet which of 
 these customs has the best claim to antiquity may perhaps admit of a dis- 
 pute ; but it seems probable, that however the later Grecians were better 
 affected to the way of burning, yet the custom of the most primitive ages 
 was to inter their dead. The philosophers were divided in their opinion 
 about it; those who thought human bodies were compounded of water, 
 earth, or the four elements, inclined to have them committed to the earth ; 
 but Heraclitus, with his followers, imagining fire to be the first principle of 
 all things, affected burning; for every one thought it the most reasonable 
 method, and most agreeable to nature, so to dispose of bodies, as they might 
 soonest be reduced to their first principles. 
 
 Eustathius assigns two reasons why burning came to be of so general use 
 in Greece : the first is, because bodies were thought to be unclean after the 
 soul’s departure, and therefore were purified by fire; the second reason is, 
 that the soul, being separated from the gross and inactive matter, might be 
 at liberty to take its flight to the heavenly mansions ; and it seems to have 
 been the common opinion, that fire was an admirable expedient to refine the 
 celestial part of man by separating from it all gross and corruptible matter, 
 with the impure qualities which attend it. 
 
 The piles whereon they burned dead bodies seem not to have been erected 
 in any constant form, or to have consisted of the same materials, these being 
 varied as time and place and other circumstances required. The body was 
 placed upon the top of the pile, but was rarely burned without company; 
 for besides the various animals they threw upon the pile, we seldom find a 
 man of quality consumed without a number of slaves, or captives ; besides 
 these, all sorts of precious ointments and perfumes were poured into the 
 flames. 
 
 Soldiers had usually their arms burned with them. It seems, likewise, 
 to have been the custom for the garments they had worn in the time of their 
 lives to be thrown into the pile. Some were so solicitous about this, that 
 they gave orders in their last wills to have it done ; and the Athenians were, 
 as in all other observances which related any way to religion, so in this 
 the most profuse of all the Grecians, insomuch that some of their law 
 givers were forced to restrain them by severe penalties from defrauding 
 the living by their liberality to the dead. The pile was lighted by some 
 of the dead person’s nearest relations or friends, who made prayers and 
 
PAGAN NATIONS. 
 
 667 
 
 vows to the winds to assist the flames, that the body might quickly be 
 reduced to ashes. 
 
 At the funerals of generals and great officers, the soldiers, with the rest 
 of the company, made a solemn procession three times round the pile, tc 
 express their respect to the dead. During the time the pile was burning, 
 the dead person’s friends stood by it, pouring forth libations of wine, and 
 calling upon the deceased. When the pile was burned down, and the 
 flames had ceased, they extinguished the remains of the fire with wine, 
 which being done, they collected the bones and ashes. The bones were 
 sometimes washed with wine, and (which commonly followed washing) 
 anointed with oil. The bones and ashes thus collected were deposited in 
 urns. The matter they consisted of was different — either wood, stone, 
 earth, silver, or gold, according xto the quality of the deceased. When 
 persons of eminent virtue died, their urns were frequently adorned with 
 flowers and garlands ; but the general custom seems to have been to cover 
 them with cloths till they were deposited in the earth, that the light might 
 not approach them. 
 
 Concerning interment it may be observed that their bodies lay in their 
 coffins with faces upwards ; it being thought more proper, and perhaps more 
 conducive to the welfare of the deceased, to have their faces towards heaven, 
 the abode of the celestial gods, and fountain of light, than the dark man- 
 sions of the infernal deities. 
 
 The primitive Grecians were buried in places prepared for that purpose 
 in their own houses ; the Thebans had once a law that no person should, 
 build a house without providing a repository for his dead. It seems to 
 have been very frequent, even in later ages, to bury within their cities, the 
 most public and frequented places whereof seem to have been best stored 
 with monuments ; but this was a favour not ordinarily granted, except to 
 men of great worth, and public benefactors; to such as had raised them- 
 selves above the common level, and were examples of virtue to succeeding 
 ages, or had deserved by some eminent service to have their memories 
 honoured by posterity. 
 
 Temples were sometimes made repositories for the dead, whereof the 
 primitive ages afford us many instances ; insomuch, that some have been 
 of opinion that the honours paid to the dead were the first cause of erecting 
 temples. But the general custom, in later ages especially, was to bury 
 their dead without their cities, and chiefly by the highways, which seems 
 to be done either to preserve themselves from the noisome smells wherewith 
 graves might infect their cities, or to prevent the danger their houses were 
 exposed to, when funeral piles were set on fire. 
 
 Every family was wont to have their proper burying-place, to be 
 deprived whereof was reputed one of the greatest calamities that could 
 befal them. 
 
668 
 
 GREEKS AND ROMANS. 
 
 The common graves of primitive Greece were nothing but caverns dug 
 in the earth, but those of later ages were more curiously wrought; they 
 were commonly paved with stone, had arches built over them, and were 
 adorned with no less art and care than the houses of the living, insomuch 
 that mourners commonly retired into the vaults of the dead, and there 
 lamented over their relations for many days and nights together. Kings 
 and great men were anciently buried in mountains or at the feet of them; 
 whence likewise appears the custom of raising a mount upon the graves of 
 great persons. 
 
 The ornaments wherewith sepulchres were beautified were numerous. 
 Pillars of stone were very ancient ; they frequently contained inscriptions 
 declaring the family, virtues, and whatever was remarkable in the deceased, 
 which were commonly described in verses; nor was it unusual to omit the 
 names of the deceased, writing instead of them some moral aphorism, or 
 short exhortation to the living. 
 
 Isocrates’ tomb was adorned with the image of a syren — Archimedes* 
 with a sphere and cylinder; whereby the charming eloquence of the former 
 and the mathematical studies of the latter were signified. Nor was it un- 
 usual to fix upon graves the instruments which the deceased had used. 
 The graves of soldiers were distinguished by their weapons; those of ma- 
 riners by their oars; and, in short, the tools of every art and profession 
 accompanied their masters, and remained as monuments to preserve their 
 memory. 
 
 It was also customary to pray for their friends, and men of piety and 
 virtue, that the earth might lie light upon them; for their enemies, and all 
 wicked men, that it might press heavy upon them; for they thought the 
 ghosts that still haunted their shrouds, and were in love with their former 
 habitations, had a very acute sense of all the accidents which befel their 
 •bodies. 
 
 Monuments were erected in honour of the dead, which, with all things 
 belonging to the dead, were had in so great esteem, that to deface or any 
 way violate them was a crime no less than sacrilege, and thought to entail 
 certain ruin upon all persons guilty of it. 
 
 It has been a question whether the Cenotaphis had the same religious 
 regard which was paid to the sepulchres where the remains of the deceased 
 were reposited ; for the resolution hereof it may be observed, that such of 
 them as were only erected for the honour of the dead, were not held so 
 sacred as to call for any judgment upon such as profaned them ; but the 
 rest, wherein ghosts were thought to reside, seem to have been in the 
 same condition with sepulchres, the want whereof they were designed to 
 supply. 
 
 Funeral orations were delivered, games instituted, and lustrations, enter- 
 tainments, and consecrations, performed in honour of the illustrious dead. 
 
PAGAN NATIONS. 
 
 669 
 
 ROMAN FUNERALS. 
 
 The Romans, as I have already intimated, paid the greatest attention to 
 funeral rites, because they believed, like the Grecians, that the souls of the 
 unburied were not admitted into the abodes of the dead, or at least wan- 
 dered a hundred years along the river Styx before they were allowed to 
 cross it ; for which reason, if the bodies of their friends could not be found, 
 they erected to them an empty tomb, at which they performed the usual 
 solemnities ; and if they happened to see a dead body, they always threw 
 some earth upon it, and whoever neglected to do so was obliged to expiate 
 his crime by sacrificing a hog to Ceres. Hence no kind of death was so 
 much dreaded as shipwreck. 
 
 When persons were at the point of death, their nearest relation present 
 endeavoured to catch their last breath with their mouth, for they believed 
 that the soul, or living principle, then went out at the mouth. They now 
 also pulled off their rings, which seem to have been put on again before they 
 were placed on the funeral pile. 
 
 The corpse was then laid on the ground, from the ancient custom of 
 placing sick persons at the gate, to see if any that passed had ever been ill 
 of the same disease, and what had cured them. 
 
 The corpse was next bathed with warm water, and anointed with per- 
 fumes by slaves called Pollinctores, belonging to those who took care of 
 funerals, and had the charge of the temple of Venus Libitina, where the 
 things requisite for funerals were sold. 
 
 In this temple was kept an account of those who died, for each of whom 
 a certain coin was paid. 
 
 The money paid for the liberty of burial, and other expenses, was called 
 Arbitrium. 
 
 The body was then dressed in the best robe which the deceased had worn 
 when alive ; ordinary citizens in a white toga, magistrates in their practexta, 
 &c., and laid on a couch in the vestibule, with the feet outwards, as if about 
 to take its last departure. Then a lamentation was made. The couch was 
 sometimes decked with leaves and flowers. If the deceased had received 
 a crown for his bravery, it was now placed on his head. A small coin was 
 put in his mouth, which he might give to Charon, the ferryman of hell, for 
 his freight. Hence a person who wanted this and the other funeral obla- 
 tions was said — Abiisse ad Acheruntum sine viatico; for without them it 
 was thought that souls could not purchase a lodging or place of rest. 
 
 A branch of cypress was placed at the door of the deceased, at least if he 
 was a person of consequence, to prevent the Pontifex Maximus from enter- 
 ing, and thereby being polluted ; for it was unlawful for him not only to 
 touch a dead body, but even to look at it. The cypress was sacred to 
 Pluto, because when once cut it never grows again. 
 
 43 
 
670 
 
 GREEKS AND ROMANS. 
 
 The Romans, at first, usually interred their dead, which is the most 
 ancient and most natural method. They early adopted the custom of 'burn- 
 ing from the Greeks, which is mentioned in the laws of Numa, and of the 
 twelve tables ; but it did not become general till towards the end of the 
 republic. 
 
 Sylla was the first of the patrician branch of the Gens Cornelia that was 
 burnt ; which he is supposed to have ordered, lest any one should dig up 
 his body, and dissipate his remains, as he did those of Marius. Pliny 
 ascribes the first institution of burning among the Romans to their having 
 discovered that the bodies of those who fell in distant wars were dug up by 
 the enemy. 
 
 Under the emperors it became almost universal, but was afterwards gra- 
 dually dropped upon the introduction of Christianity ; so that it had fallen 
 into disuse about the end of the fourth century. 
 
 Children before they got teeth were not burnt, but buried in a place 
 called Suggrundarium. So likewise persons struck with lightning were 
 buried in the spot where they fell, called Bidental, because it was conse- 
 crated by sacrificing sheep. It was enclosed with a wall, and no one was 
 allowed to tread upon it. To remove its bounds was esteemed sacrilege. 
 
 Of funerals there were chiefly two kinds — public and private. The 
 public funeral was called Indictivum, because people were invited to it by 
 a herald. Of this kind the most remarkable were, Funus Censorium ; Pub- 
 licum, when a person was buried at the public expense ; and Oollativum, 
 by a public contribution. Augustus was very liberal in granting public 
 funerals, as at first in conferring the honour of a triumph. 
 
 A private funeral was called Taciturn. The funeral of those who died 
 in infancy, or under age, was called Acerbum. Infants and young men 
 were buried sooner than grown persons, and with less pomp. 
 
 When a public funeral was intended, the corpse was kept usually for 
 seven or eight days, with a keeper set to watch it, and sometimes boys to 
 drive away the flies. When the funeral was private, the body was not 
 kept so long. 
 
 On the day of the funeral, when the people were assembled, the dead 
 body was carried out with the feet foremost, on a couch, covered with rich 
 cloth, with gold and purple, supported commonly on the shoulders of the 
 nearest relations of the deceased, or of his heirs — sometimes of his freed- 
 men. Julius Cfesar was borne by the magistrates, Augustus by the sena- 
 tors, and Germanicus by the tribunes and centurions. So Drusus, his 
 father, who died in Germany, by the tribunes and centurions to the winter 
 quarters; and then by the chief men in the different cities on the road to 
 Rome ; and Paulus iEmilius by the chief men of Macedonia, who happened 
 to be at Rome when he died. Poor citizens and slaves were carried to the 
 funeral pile in a plain bier or coffin. 
 
PAGAN NATIONS. 
 
 671 
 
 Children who died before they were weaned, were carried to the pile by 
 their mothers. 
 
 All funerals used anciently to be solemnized in the night time, with 
 torches, that they might not fall in the way of magistrates and priests, who 
 were supposed to be violated by seeing a corpse, so that they could not 
 perform sacred rites till they were purified by an expiatory sacrifice. But 
 in after ages public funerals were celebrated in the day time, at an early 
 hour in the forenoon, as it is thought with torches also. Private or ordi- 
 nary funerals were always at night. Torches were used both at funerals 
 and marriages. 
 
 The order of the funeral procession was regulated, and every one’s place 
 assigned him, by a person called Designator — an undertaker, or master of 
 ceremonies, attended by lictors, dressed in black. First went musicians 
 of various kinds — pipers, trumpeters ; then mourning women, hired to 
 lament and to sing the funeral song, or the praises of the deceased to the 
 sound of the flute. Boys and girls were sometimes employed for this last 
 purpose. The flutes and trumpets used on this occasion were larger and 
 longer than ordinary, and of a grave, dismal sound. By the law of the 
 twelve tables, the number of players on the flute at a funeral was restricted 
 to ten. 
 
 Next came players and buffoons, who danced and sung. One of them, 
 called Archimimus, supported the character of the deceased, imitating his 
 words and actions while alive. These players sometimes introduced apt 
 sayings from dramatic writers. Then followed the freed men of the deceased, 
 with a cap on their head. Some masters at their death freed all their slaves, 
 from the vanity of having their funeral procession attended by a numerous 
 train of freedmen. 
 
 Before the corpse were carried images of the deceased and of his ances- 
 tors, on long poles or frames, but not of such as had been condemned for 
 any heinous crime, whose images were broken. The Triumviri ordained 
 that the image of Csesar, after his deification, should not be carried before 
 the funeral of any of his relations. Sometimes there were a great many 
 different couches carried before the corpse, on which it is supposed the 
 images were placed. After the funeral, these images were again set up in 
 the hall, where they were kept. If the deceased had distinguished him* 
 self in war, the crowns and rewards which he had. received for his valour 
 were displayed, together with the spoils and standards he had taken from 
 the enemy. At the funerals of renowned commanders were carried images 
 or representations of the countries they had subdued, and the cities they had 
 taken. At the funeral of Sylla, above 2000 crowns are said to have been 
 carried, which had been sent him by different cities on account of his victory. 
 
 The lictors attended with their fasces inverted. Sometimes also the 
 officers and troops, with the spears pointing to the ground. 
 
672 
 
 GREEKS AND ROMANS. 
 
 Behind the corpse walked the friends of the deceased in mourning; his 
 sons with their head veiled, and his daughters with their head bare and 
 their hair dishevelled, contrary to the ordinary custom of both. The ma- 
 gistrates without their badges, and the nobility without their ornaments 
 The nearest relations sometimes tore their garments, and covered their hair 
 with dust, or pulled it out. The women, in particular, who attended the 
 funeral, beat their breasts and tore their cheeks, although this was forbidden 
 oj the twelve tables. 
 
 At the funeral of an illustrious citizen the corpse was carried through 
 the forum, where the procession stopped, and a funeral oration was deli- 
 vered in praise of the deceased from the rostra by his son, or by some near 
 relation or friend — sometimes by a magistrate, according to the appoint- 
 ment of the senate. 
 
 This custom is said to have been first introduced by Poplicola, in honour 
 of his colleague Brutus. It was an incentive to glory and virtue, but hurt- 
 ful to the authenticity of historical records. 
 
 The honour of a funeral oration was decreed by the senate also to 
 women, for their readiness in resigning their golden ornaments to make up 
 the sum agreed to be paid to the Gauls as a ransom for leaving the city; 
 or, according to Plutarch, to make the golden cup which was sent to Delphi 
 as a present to Apollo in consequence of the vow of Camillus after the 
 taking of Veii. 
 
 But Cicero says that Popilia was the first to whom this honour was paid, 
 by her son Catulus, several ages after; and, according to Plutarch, Caesar 
 introduced the custom of praising young matrons upon the death of his 
 wife Cornelia. But after that, both young and old, married and unmar- 
 ried, were honoured with funeral orations. While the funeral oration was 
 delivering, the corpse was placed before the rostra. The corpse of Caesar 
 was placed in a gilt pavilion like a small temple, with the robe in which he 
 had been slain suspended on a pole or trophy, and his image exposed on a 
 movable machine, with the marks of all the wounds he had received; for 
 the body itself was not seen — but Dio says the contrary. Under Augustus 
 it became customary to deliver more than one funeral oration in praise of 
 the same person, and in different places. From the forum the corpse was 
 carried to the place of burning or burial, which the Jaw of the twelve tables 
 ordered to be without the city, according to the custom of other nations ; 
 the Jews, the Athenians, and others. 
 
 The ancients are said to have buried their dead at their own houses ; 
 whence, according to some, the origin of idolatry, and the worship of house- 
 hold gods, the fear of hobgoblins or spectres in the dark. 
 
 Augustus, in his speech to his soldiers before the battle of Actium, says 
 that the Egyptians embalmed their dead bodies to establish an opinion of 
 the>r immoitality. Several of these still exist, called mummies, from mum, 
 
PAGAN NATIONS. 
 
 673 
 
 the Egyptian name of wax. The manner of embalming is described by 
 Herodotus. The Persians also anointed the bodies of their dead with wax, 
 to make them keep as long as possible. 
 
 The Romans prohibited burning or burying in the city, both from a 
 sacred and civil consideration; that the priests might not be contami- 
 nated by seeing or touching a dead body, and that houses might not 
 be endangered by the frequency of funeral fires, or the air infected by the 
 stench. 
 
 The flamen of Jupiter was not allowed to touch a dead body, nor to go 
 where there was a grave. So the high-priest among the Jews ; and if the 
 pontifex maximus had to deliver a funeral oration, a veil was laid over the 
 corpse to keep it from his sight. 
 
 The places for burial were either private or public; the private in fields 
 or gardens, usually near the highway, to be conspicuous, and to remind 
 those who passed by of mortality. The public places of burial for great 
 men were commonly in the Campus Martius or Campus Esquilinus ; for 
 poor people, without the Esquiline gate, in places called Puticulas. 
 
 As the vast number of bones deposited in that common burying-ground 
 rendered the places adjoining unhealthy, Augustus, with the consent of the 
 senate and people, gave part of it to his favourite Maecenas, who built there 
 a magnificent house, with extensive gardens, whence it became one of the 
 most healthy situations in Rome. 
 
 There was in the corner of the burying-ground a stone pillar, on which 
 was marked its extent towards the road, and backwards to the fields, also 
 who were buried in it. If a burying-ground was intended for a person and 
 his heir, it was called Sepulchrum. If only for himself and family, Fami- 
 liare. Freedmen were sometimes comprehended, and relations, when un- 
 deserving, excluded. The right of burying was sometimes purchased by 
 those who had no burying-ground of their own. 
 
 The Vestal virgins were buried in the city; and some illustrious men, as 
 Poplicola, Tubertus, and Fabricius ; which right their posterity retained, 
 but did not use. To show, however, that they possessed it, when any of 
 them died, they brought the dead body, when about to be burned, into the 
 forum, and setting down the couch, put a burning torch under it, which 
 they immediately removed, and carried the corpse to another place. The 
 right of making a sepulchre for himself within the Pomaerium was decreed 
 to Julius Cassar as a singular privilege. 
 
 When a person was burned and buried in the same place, it was called 
 Bustum. A place where one only was burnt, Ustrina. 
 
 The funeral pile was built in the form of an altar, with four equal sides, of 
 wood which might easily catch fire, as fir, pine, cleft oak, unpolished, accord- 
 ing to the law of the twelve tables, but not always so ; also stuffed with paper 
 and pitch, and made higher or lower, according to the rank of the deceased, 
 
674 
 
 GREEKS AND ROMANS. 
 
 with cypress trees set around, to prevent the noisome smell, and at the dis- 
 tance of sixty feet from any house. 
 
 On the funeral pile was placed the corpse with the couch. The eyes 
 of the deceased were opened. The nearest relations kissed the body with 
 tears, and then set fire to the pile with a lighted torch, turning away 
 their face, to show that they did it with reluctance. They prayed for a 
 wind to assist the flames ; and when that happened it was thought 
 fortunate. 
 
 They threw into the fire various perfumes, incense, myrrh, cassia, &c., 
 which Cicero calls Sumptuosare-spersio, forbidden by the twelve tables ; 
 also cups of oil, and dishes, with titles marking what they contained; like- 
 wise the clothes and ornaments, not only of the deceased, but their own. 
 Every thing, in short, that was supposed to be agreeable to the deceased 
 while alive. * 
 
 If the deceased had been a soldier, they threw on the pile his arms, 
 rewards, and spoils ; and if a general, the soldiers sometimes threw in their 
 own arms. 
 
 At the funeral of an illustrious commander, or emperor, the soldiers 
 made a circuit three times r^und the pile, from right to left, with their 
 ensigns inverted, and striking their weapons on one another to the sound 
 of the trumpet, all present accompanying them, as at the funeral of Sylla 
 and of Augustus ; which custom seems to have been borrowed from the 
 Greeks : used also by the Carthaginians, and sometimes performed annu- 
 ally at the tomb. 
 
 As the manes were supposed to be delighted with blood, various ani- 
 mals, especially such as the deceased had been fond of, were slaughtered 
 at the pile, and thrown into it. In ancient times, also men, captives, or 
 slaves. Afterwards, instead of them, gladiators, called Bustuarii, were 
 made to fight. So among the Gauls, slaves and clients were burned on 
 the piles of their masters; and among the Indians and Thracians, wives 
 on the piles of their husbands. As one man had several wives, there was 
 sometimes a contest among them about the preference, which they 
 determined by lot. Instances are recorded of persons who came to life 
 again on the funeral pile, after it was set on fire, so that they could not be 
 preserved; and of others, who, having revived before the pile was kindled 
 returned home on their feet. 
 
 The Jews, although they interred their dead, filled the couch on which 
 the corpse was laid with sweet odours, and divers kinds of spices, and 
 burned them. 
 
 When the pile was burned down, the fire was extinguished, and the 
 embers soaked with wine. The bones were gathered Dy tne nearest rela- 
 tions in loose robes, and sometimes barefooted. We read also of the nearest 
 female relations gathering the bones in their bosoms. 
 
 o o 
 
PAGAN NATIONS. 
 
 675 
 
 The ashes and bones of the deceased are thought to have been distin- 
 guished by their particular position. Some suppose the body to have 
 been wrapped in a species of incombustible cloth, made of what the Greeks 
 call asbestos. But Pliny restricts this to the kings of India, where only 
 it was then known. The bones and ashes, besprinkled with the richest 
 perfumes, were put into a vessel called an urn, made of earth, brass, 
 marble, silver, or gold, according to the wealth or rank of every one. 
 Sometimes, also, a small glass vial full of tears, called by the moderns a 
 Lachrymatory, was put in the urn. The urn was solemnly deposited in 
 the sepulchre. 
 
 When the body was not burned, it was put into a coffin, with all its orna- 
 ments, usually made of stone, as those of Numa and Hannibal ; sometimes 
 of Assian stone, from Assos, a town in Troas or Mysia, which consumed 
 the body in forty days, except the teeth. Hence called Sarcophagus, which 
 word is also put for any coffin or tomb. 
 
 The coffin was laid in the tomb on its back ; in what direction among 
 the Romans is uncertain ; but among the Athenians, looking to the west. 
 Those who died in prison were thrown out naked on the street. 
 
 When the remains of the deceased were laid in the tomb, those present 
 were three times sprinkled by a priest with pure water from a branch of 
 olive or laurel, to purify them, then they were dismissed by the Prsefica, or 
 some other person, pronouncing the solemn word “ Ilicet,” You may depart. 
 At their departure, they used to take a last farewell, by repeating several 
 times “Yale,” expressing a wish that the earth might lie light on the 
 person buried. This desire is found marked on several ancient monuments. 
 Sometimes the bones were not deposited in the earth till three days after 
 the body was burned. 
 
 The friends, when they returned home, as a further purification, after 
 being sprinkled with water, stepped over a fire, which was called Suffitio. 
 The house itself also was purified, and swept with a certain kind of broom 
 or besom, which purgation was called Exverrae, and he who performed it 
 Everriator. 
 
 There were certain ceremonies for the purification of the family, when 
 they buried a thumb, or some part cut off from the body before it was 
 burned, or a bone brought home from the funeral pile ; on which occasion 
 a soldier might be absent from duty. 
 
 A place was held religious where a dead body, or any part of it, was 
 buried, but not where it was burned. For nine days after the funeral, 
 while the family was in mourning, and employed about certain solemnities 
 at the tomb, il was unlawful to summon the heir, or any near relatior of 
 the deceased, to a court of justice, or in any other manner to molest them. 
 On the ninth day a sacrifice was performed, with which the solemnities 
 were concluded. 
 
676 
 
 GREEKS AND ROMANS. 
 
 Oblations, or sacrifices to the dead, were afterwards made at various times, 
 both occasionally and at stated periods, consisting of liquors, victims, and 
 garlands ; an atonement was made to their ghosts. 
 
 The sepulchre was then bespread with flowers, and covered with crowns 
 and fillets. Before it there was a little altar, on which libations were made, 
 and incense burned. A keeper was appointed to watch the tomb, which 
 was frequently illuminated with lamps. 
 
 A kind of perpetual lamps are said by several authors to have been found 
 in ancient tombs, which, however, went out on the admission of air. But 
 this by others is reckoned a fiction. A feast w r as generally added, both for 
 the dead and the living. Certain things were laid on the tomb, commonly 
 beans, lettuces, bread, and eggs, or the like, which it was supposed the 
 ghosts would come and eat. What remained was burned ; for it was 
 thought mean to take away any thing thus consecrated, or what was thrown 
 into the funeral pile. 
 
 After the funeral of great men, there was not only a feast for the friends 
 of the deceased, but also a distribution of raw meat among the people, with 
 shows of gladiators, and games, which sometimes continued for several days ; 
 sometimes celebrated also on the anniversary of the funeral. Faustus, the 
 son of Sylla, exhibited a show of gladiators in honour of his father, several 
 years after his death, and gave a feast to his people, according to his father’s 
 testament. 
 
 The time of mourning for departed friends was appointed by Numa, as 
 well as funeral rites and offerings to appease the manes. 
 
 There was no limited time for men to mourn, because none was thought 
 most honourable. Women mourned for a husband or parent ten months, 
 or a year, according to the computation of Romulus, but not longer. 
 
 In a public mourning for any signal calamity, the death of a prince, or 
 the like, there was a total cessation from business, either spontaneously or 
 by public appointment. When the courts of justice did not sit, the shops 
 were shut. In excessive grief the temples of the gods were struck with 
 stones, and their altars overturned. 
 
 Both public and private mourning w r as laid aside on account of the public 
 games ; for certain sacred rites, as those of Ceres, &c. ; and for several 
 other causes enumerated by Festus. Immoderate grief was supposed to 
 be offensive to the manes. 
 
 The Romans in mourning kept themselves at home, avoiding every 
 entertainment and amusement ; neither cutting their hair nor beard. They 
 dressed in black — which custom is supposed to have been borrowed from 
 the Egyptians — and sometimes in skins, laying aside every kind of orna- 
 ment : not even lighting a fire, which was esteemed an ornament to the 
 house. 
 
 The women laid aside their gold and purple. Under the republic they 
 
PAGAN NATIONS. 
 
 C77 
 
 dressed in black like the men ; but under the emperors, when party-coloured 
 cloths came in fashion, they wore white in mourning. 
 
 In a public mourning, the senators laid aside their latus clavus and 
 rings; the magistrates the badges of their office; and the consuls did not sit 
 on their usual seats in the senate, which were elevated above the rest, but 
 on a common bench. 
 
 The Romans commonly built tombs for themselves during their lifetime. 
 Thus, the mausoleum of Augustus, in the Campus Martius, between the 
 via Flamina and the bank of the Tiber, with wood and walks around. If 
 they did not live to finish them, it was done by their heirs, who were often 
 ordered by the testament to build a tomb, and sometimes did it at their 
 own expense. Pliny complains bitterly of the neglect of friends in this 
 respect. 
 
 The Romans erected tombs, either for themselves alone, with their wives, 
 or for themselves, their family, and posterity; likewise for their friends, 
 who were buried elsewhere, or whose bodies could not be found. When a 
 person falsely reported to have been dead returned home, he did not enter 
 his house by the door, but was let down from the roof. The tombs of the 
 rich were commonly built of marble, the ground enclosed with a wall, or an 
 iron rail, and planted around with trees, as among the Greeks. 
 
 When several persons had a right to the same burying-ground, it was 
 sometimes divided into parts, and each part assigned to its proper owner. 
 
 But common sepulchres were usually built below ground, and called 
 Hypogasa, many of which still exist in different parts of Italy, under the 
 name of catacombs. There were niches cut out in the walls in which the 
 urns were placed ; these, from their resemblance to the niches in a pigeon- 
 house, were called Columbaria. 
 
 Sepulchres were adorned with various figures in sculpture, and with 
 statues and columns. • 
 
 But what deserves particular attention is the inscription or epitaph, 
 expressed sometimes in prose and sometimes in verse, usually beginning 
 with these letters, — “D. M. S. — Dis manibus sacrum.” Then the name 
 of the person followed, his character, and the principal circumstances of 
 his life. 
 
 When the body was simply interred without a tomb, an inscription was 
 sometimes put on the stone coffin, as on that of Numa. 
 
 There was an action for violating the tombs of the dead. The punish- 
 ment was a fine, the loss of a hand, working in the mines, and banishment 
 or death. 
 
 A tomb was violated by demolition, by converting it to improper pur- 
 poses, or by burying in it those who were not entitled. Tombs often served 
 as lurking-places for the persecuted Christians. 
 
 The body was violated by handling or mutilating it, which was some- 
 
678 
 
 CHINESE. 
 
 times done for magical purposes; by stripping it of any thing valuable, 
 as gold, arms ; or by transporting it to another place, without leave ob- 
 tained from the Pontifex Maximus, from the emperor, or the magistrate of 
 the place. 
 
 Some consecrated temples to the memory of their friends. This was a 
 very ancient custom, and perhaps is the origin of idolatry. 
 
 The highest honours were decreed to illustrious persons after death. The 
 Romans worshipped their founder, Romulus, as a god, under the name of 
 Quirinus. Hence, afterwards, the solemn consecration of the emperors, by 
 a decree of the senate, who were thus sai-d to be ranked in the number of 
 the gods ; also some empresses. Temples and priests were assigned to 
 them. They were invoked with prayers. Men swore by their name or 
 genius, and offered victims on their altars. 
 
 The real body was burned, and the remains buried in the usual manner. 
 But a waxen image of the deceased was made to the life, which, after a 
 variety of ridiculous ceremonies paid to it for seven days in the palace, was 
 carried on a couch in solemn procession on the shoulders of young men of 
 equestrian and patrician rank ; first to the forum, where the dirge was sung 
 by a choir of boys and girls of the most noble descent; then to the Campus 
 Martius, where it was burned with a vast quantity of the richest odours 
 and perfumes, on a lofty and magnificent pile, from the top of which an 
 eagle, let loose, was supposed to convey the prince’s soul to heaven. 
 
 SEC. VIII.— RELIGIOUS CEREMONIES AND CUSTOMS OF THE 
 
 CHINESE. 
 
 It is scarcely possible to give a distinct account of the religion of China, 
 and to class its numerous superstitions under appropriate heads. It is 
 Difficult to give indeed pretended, by some writers on the subject, that the 
 
 an account of the . ... 1 . . 
 
 religion of china, ancient religious system of the Chinese has continued un- 
 changed amidst all the corruptions w r hich have been grafted upon it during 
 many successive ages; that this system is found to agree, in its most essen- 
 tial parts, with that of the Israelites, before the giving of the law by Moses; 
 and that it may be traced back, by means of regular traditions, even to the 
 renewal of the human race, by the grandsons of Noah. It is affirmed, on 
 the contrary, by an intelligent traveller of England, that the primitive reli- 
 gion of China no longer exists, or exists only in a most corrupted state ; 
 that there is at present no national, nor scarcely any state religion in the 
 empire ; and that the articles of faith are as various as the modes of wor- 
 ship. All that we can attempt, therefore, amidst these discordant opinions, 
 is to present our readers with a short view, first, of the principal religious 
 systems which have been introduced into China at different periods, as fai 
 as can be ascertained from their own historical records ; and next, of their 
 present religious observances, as far as these have been described by later 
 
PAGAN NATIONS. 
 
 679 
 
 Primitive Creed. 
 
 travellers in that country. All accounts of the religious opinions and cere- 
 monies of the Chinese, previous to the time of Confucius, are mixed with 
 fable, and full of uncertainty. Indeed, as their best existing historical 
 documents must be regarded as his productions, and are at least ascribed 
 chiefly to his pen by the Chinese themselves, none of the allusions to reli- 
 gious practices, which are to be found in the earliest period of their history, 
 can be considered as resting upon any authority more ancient than his. 
 But, as the Chinese affirm the greater portion’of their canonical book, Shoo- 
 king, to have been composed long before the age of Confucius, and to 
 have only been restored by his labours, we may proceed upon this idea, 
 and consider the tenets expressed in this work as the ancient religion of 
 China. 
 
 In this view of the subject, their primitive creed seems to have contained 
 the general doctrines of theism, with regard to the Supreme Being, whom 
 they worshipped under various names, such as Tien or Kien, 
 heaven , Shang-tien, supreme heaven , Shang-tee, supreme 
 Lord , and Hoan-s hang-tee, sovereign and supreme Lord . This Supreme 
 Being they regarded as possessed of all natural and moral perfections, as 
 exercising a minute and judicial providence over mankind, as rewarding 
 virtue and punishing vice, even in this life, as sending calamities to warn 
 and reform the offender, and as ready to relent and pardon him upon his 
 repentance. The first worship instituted in honour of the Shang-tee con- 
 sisted in prayers, accompanied with sacrifices or gifts, offered upon some 
 natural eminence, or artificial mount, or merely in the open fields, upon an 
 altar called tan , composed of a round heap of earth, or of a quantity of 
 stones thrown together in a round form. At a very early period, however, 
 of their history, we find them associating with the Shang-tee, or Supreme 
 Being, a multitude of tutelary spirits as objects of worship, under the name 
 of Shin, or Kooey-shin. In succeeding periods arose a multitude of super- 
 stitions ; and the wind, the rain, the thunder, diseases, &c., were all, in 
 like manner, personified, and addressed as divinities, while warriors, empe- 
 rors, and illustrious men became demi-gods. The people forgot the simple 
 worship of the Shang-tee, and embraced every new invention of idolatry 
 with the utmost avidity. 
 
 The most ancient of the religious sects which have at different periods 
 engrafted their superstitions upon the primitive theological system of China, 
 is that of the Tao-tse, or sons of immortals, which was 
 founded by a philosopher named Lao-kiun, or Lao-tse, who 
 was born in the province of Honan, about 600 years before Christ, and 
 concerning whose birth a multitude of strange stories are circulated among 
 his countrymen. His followers, named Tao-tse, therefore, place the supreme 
 duty and felicity of man in a state of perfect tranquillity, recommending the 
 suppression of all violent desires and passions, the utmost moderation in 
 
 Sect of Tao-tse. 
 
680 
 
 CHINESE. 
 
 Confucius. 
 
 every pursuit or enjoyment, and an utter indifference with regard to the 
 past, the present, or the future. 
 
 This sect became particularly powerful under the dynasty of Song; and 
 one of the emperors of that race carried his superstitious reverence for a 
 „ , . celebrated teacher among them to such a length, as to com- 
 
 this secu mand him to be worshipped under the name of Shang-tee, 
 
 which had hitherto been appropriated to the Supreme Being. The sages 
 of the nation were so greatly shocked by this act of impiety, that they pre- 
 dicted the ruin of that dynasty as fast approaching; and the wiser part of 
 the learned men frequently presented strong remonstrances to different 
 emperors against the patronage which was bestowed upon these deceivers ; 
 but the sect of the Tao-tse continued to increase in power and numbers, 
 under the protection of princes, the countenance of the great, and the cre- 
 dulity of the people ; and has preserved its extensive influence even to this 
 day, in spite even of ail the attempts of the celebrated Confucius to intro- 
 duce more enlightened doctrines. 
 
 Confucius, or Kong-foo-tse, was born 550 years before Christ, and is 
 regarded by the Chinese as the chief of their wise men, and as the author 
 of their whole civil constitution. He endeavoured to restore 
 the ancient system, and to improve the conduct of his coun- 
 trymen, by exhorting them to obey the commands of Heaven, to love their 
 neighbours, and to restrain their passions. Some of his philosophical prin- 
 ciples are, that out of nothing there cannot any thing be produced ; that 
 material bodies must have existed from all eternity ; that the cause or prin- 
 ciple of things must have had a co-existence with the things themselves ; 
 that this cause, therefore, must also be eternal, infinite, and indestructible ; 
 and that the central point of influence, from which this cause chiefly acts, 
 is the blue firmament, (tien,) whence its emanations are spread over the 
 universe; but neither he nor his disciples ascribe to the Deity any personal 
 existence, or represent the first cause under any distinct image : while the 
 sun, moon, stars, and elements are considered also as composing the firma- 
 ment, or tien, as the immediate agents of the Deity, and as the productive 
 powers in creation. The universe, in short, according to this philosopher, 
 is one animated system, made up of one material substance, and of one 
 spiritual being, of which every living thing is an emanation, and to which, 
 when separated by death from its particular material part, every living thing 
 again returns; hence the term death is never used by his followers; but 
 they say of a person, at his decease, that he has returned to his family. 
 Thus he taught that the human body is composed of two principles, — the 
 one light, invisible, and ascending, — the other gross, palpable, and de- 
 scending ; that the separation of these two principles causes the death 
 of human beings; and that, at this period, the light and spiritual part 
 ascends into the air, while the gross and corporeal matter sinks into the 
 
PAGAN NATIONS. 
 
 681 
 
 earth. He taught, further, that the spirits of those who had performed 
 their duty in life were permitted to visit their ancient habitations, and such 
 places as might be appointed for receiving the homage of their descendants; 
 that they have the power of conferring benefits upon their posterity; that 
 it was thus the indispensable duty of every man to perform the sacred ritesi 
 to the memory of his ancestors; and that, whosoever neglected this duty 
 would be punished after death by his spirit being rendered incapable of 
 visiting the hall of his ancestors, and receiving the homage of his descend- 
 ants. Besides the performance of these sacred rites to the memory of 
 ancestors, the principal religious worship which he required was, that the 
 prince, in the name of his people, should present offerings to the tien, par- 
 ticularly at the two equinoxes, for the purpose of obtaining a propitious 
 seed-time and a plentiful harvest ; but, at the same time, that the Deity is 
 always best satisfied when men perform the moral duties of life, which he 
 comprised chiefly in these two, viz. — filial piety towards parents, and 
 unreserved obedience to the will of the emperor. With these tenets was 
 naturally connected a belief of good and evil genii, and of tutelary spirits 
 presiding over families, towns, mountains, and other places; and while the 
 system of Confucius was little better than atheism in the mind of the philo- 
 sopher, it became a source of gross idolatry among the people, who could 
 not comprehend the more refined notions, but, needing some visible object 
 upon which to fix their attention, represented the tutelary spirits by images, 
 and worshipped them by sacrifices. Confucius himself was much addicted 
 to a species of divination or fortune-telling, and says expressly in one of 
 his works, that the wise man ought to know future events before they 
 happen, and that this may be done by means of lots. His tenets, in short, 
 instead of overcoming the old errors, gave rise to new superstitions; and 
 the chief difference between the proper followers of Confucius and those of 
 Lao-tse is this, that the former inculcate the duty of living among men, and 
 endeavouring to improve them ; while the latter avoid every kind of society 
 and occupation, and lead a frugal, retired life, as their only felicity. 
 
 During the reign of the emperor Ming-tee, of the Han dynasty, a new 
 superstition was introduced into China, whose influence is, perhaps, still 
 more extensive and pernicious in that country than any of 
 those by which it was preceded. One of the Tao-tse doctors 
 had promised to a brother of the emperor’s that he would open to him a 
 communication with the spirits; and this superstitious prince having heard 
 of a spirit in Tien-tso, or Hindostan, named Fo, or Foe, prevailed upon the 
 emperor, by his importunities, to send an embassy for this foreign divinity. 
 When the officer who was intrusted with this mission arrived at the place 
 of his destination, he found only two Sha-men, or priests of Fo, whom he 
 carried to China, with some of their canonical books, and several images of 
 the idol painted on linen. The followers of Fo describe him as the son of 
 
682 
 
 CHINESE. 
 
 a prince of one of the kingdoms of India, near the line ; and affirm, that as 
 soon as he was born, he stood upright, walked seven steps without assist- 
 ance, and, pointing to the heavens with one hand, and to the earth with 
 the other, cried aloud, “In the heavens and the earth there is none but 
 myself who deserves to be honoured.” At the age of seventeen he mar- 
 ried three wives, by one of whom he had a son, named by the Chinese 
 Moheoo-lo ; but at the age of nineteen he abandoned his house and family, 
 with all the cares of life, and committed himself to the care of four philo 
 sophers, with whom he retired to a vast desert. Being filled with the 
 divinity at the age of thirty, he was metamorphosed into the Fo, or Pagod, 
 as the Indians term it, and immediately thought of establishing his doctrines 
 by miracles, which attracted numerous disciples, and spread his fame over 
 every part of India. 
 
 When he had attained his seventy-ninth year, and perceived from his 
 infirmities that his borrowed divinity could not exempt him from mortality, 
 he is said to have called his disciples together, and to have 
 declared to them that hitherto he had spoken to them by 
 figurative expressions, but that now he would discover his real sentiments, 
 and unveil the whole mystery of his wisdom; namely, that there is no other 
 principle of things but a vacuum, or nothing; that from this nothing all 
 things at first sprung; that to nothing they shall again return; and that 
 thus end all our hopes and fears at once. After his decease a multitude of 
 fables were propagated concerning him by his followers ; such as, that he 
 was still alive, and had been born 8000 times, appearing successively under 
 the figure of an ape, a lion, a dragon, an elephant, &c. His last words 
 excited much dissension among his disciples; some of them resolving to 
 adhere to his original tenets ; others adopting his concluding atheistical 
 view of things ; and a third class attempting to reconcile both systems 
 together, by making a distinction between the external and internal doctrine. 
 The internal doctrine, to which the disciples of the idol are exhorted to 
 aspire, is a system of the most absurd atheism; of which some of the prin- 
 cipal tenets are, that nothing is the beginning and the end of all things ; 
 that all beings are the same, differing only in figure and qualities; that the 
 supreme happiness of man consists in acquiring a resemblance to this prin* 
 ciple of nothing, in accustoming himself to do nothing, to will nothing, to 
 feel nothing, to desire nothing ; that the sum of virtue and happiness is to 
 be found in indolence and immobility — in the cessation of bodily motion, 
 the suspension of all mental faculties, the obliteration of all feelings and 
 desires; that when men have attained this divine insensibility, they have 
 nothing to do with virtue or vice, rewards or punishments, — providence or 
 immortality, no changes, transmigrations, or futurities to fear, but have 
 ceased to exist, ard become perfectly like the god Fo. The external doc- 
 trine as the greatest number of followers. It teaches a great distinction 
 
PAGAN NATIONS. 
 
 683 
 
 between good and evil, and a state of rewards for the good, and of punish- 
 ment for the wicked, after death, in places suited to the spirits of each. 
 It acknowledges the transmigration of the soul through different bodies, till 
 it is at length completely purified and prepared to be united to the Deity. 
 It affirms that the god Fo came upon this earth to expiate men’s sins, and 
 to secure them a happy regeneration in the life to come. Its practical 
 injunctions are simply these : — To pray to the god Fo, and to provide his 
 priests with temples and other necessaries, that by their penances and sup- 
 plications they may procure for the worshippers the forgiveness of their 
 sins ; and to observe five precepts, viz. — to kill no living creature — to take 
 nothing that belongs to another — to commit no act of impurity — to utter no 
 falsehood — and to drink no wine. The practice of these duties is enforced 
 by threatenings of future punishment, especially of transmigration into the 
 bodies of dogs, horses, rats, serpents, &c. In consequence of this doctrine 
 a multitude of idols have sprung up wherever the religion of Fo has pre- 
 vailed ; and temples have been erected to quadrupeds, birds, and reptiles 
 of every description, according as the god was imagined to have occupies 
 any of their bodies in the course of his transmigration. 
 
 Fo is supposed to have lived 500 years before the time of Pythagoras ; 
 and from his followers the Grecian sage is conjectured to have learned the 
 doctrine of the metempsychosis, when he travelled in India. 
 The worship of Fo was introduced into China, a. d. 69, and 
 is understood to have been originally the same as that of the Indian 
 Buddha, from the evident coincidences between the history and worship of 
 the two divinities. The Buddha of the Hindoos was the son of Ma-ya, 
 and one of his names is Amita. The Fo of China was the son of Moy-a, 
 and one of his names is Om-e-to, or, as it is pronounced in Japan, Amida. 
 The Menshin, or guardian spirit of the door in China, is the same as the 
 Ganesa of Hindostan ; and in both countries, his figure, or at least the cha- 
 racter expressing his name, is painted on the door of almost every house. 
 The Lui-shin, or spirit of thunder of the Chinese, represented under the 
 figure of a man with the beak and talons of an eagle, is equivalent to the 
 Vishnu of the Hindoos, who is generally figured as riding upon an eagle, 
 or at least attended by that bird; and it is noticed as a curious circum- 
 stance, that the same reason is assigned by the Chinese for giving an eagle’s 
 face to this idol which Pliny adduces for the consecration of that bird to 
 Jupiter, viz., that there is no instance known of an eagle having been 
 killed by lightning. So, Hai-vang, king of the sea, represented in China 
 as reposing on the waves with a fish in his hand, corresponds with the 
 Hindoo Varuna riding on a fish; and the Indian Ganga, or goddess of the 
 Ganges, has an exact counterpart in the Shing-moo, or holy mother, of the 
 Chinese. 
 
 Between the followers of Lao-tse and of Fo, which have always been the 
 
684 
 
 CHINESE. 
 
 two prevailing sects in China, the greatest rivalship and enmity have con- 
 stantly subsisted, which frequently extended to persecution and bloodshed. 
 
 Contests be- Whenever the court or principal eunuchs appeared to favour 
 sects! 1 1 e d ove the one in preference to the other, the more powerful sect at 
 the time commenced hostilities against its opponent. These contests, how- 
 ever, were confined to the priests of the two religions ; and the people 
 either remained neutral, or took no active part in the quarrel, which was 
 seldom terminated but by the levelling of monasteries to the ground, and 
 the slaughter of some thousands of priests on both sides. Since the acces- 
 sion of the Tartar dynasty, no particular preference or distinction has been 
 shown to either of them ; and, indeed, except that the priests of Lama are 
 paid and supported by the Tartar government, as a part of the imperial 
 establishment, and that the principal Tartar officers are attached to their 
 tenets, (separated from the absurdities grafted upon them by the Tao-tse,) 
 the government gives no particular support to any religious sect whatever* 
 
 About the year of Christ 1070, under the dynasty of the Song, several 
 learned men applied themselves to interpret the sacred books called King; 
 
 The system of anc ^ one named Shao-kang-tse, distinguished by his 
 
 sect° of "Se^Lite- su P er i° r erudition, became the founder of a new system. 
 rali - He taught first of all, that the world had a beginning, and 
 
 will come to an end, when it will be again produced, and again destroyed, 
 in endless succession. He fixed its duration at 129,600 years, which he 
 divided into twelve periods, each containing 10,800 years. In the first of 
 these, the heavens were gradually created by the motion which the Tay- 
 kee impressed upon matter, which had hitherto remained immovable ; in 
 the second, the earth was produced in the same deliberate manner ; in the 
 third, men and the other living creatures began to come into existence; and 
 so on to the eleventh period, when all things shall be destroyed, and ths 
 world shall return into the state of chaos, from which it shall not again be 
 evolved till the end of the twelfth period. About the year 1400, the em- 
 peror Yong-lo, of the Ming dynasty, commanded several learned men to 
 combine the principles of Shao-kang-tse into a system, by interpreting the 
 books of Confucius and Meng-tse, caked King. In this work they gave 
 the name of Tay-kee (or great height) to the cause of all things, although 
 this word is not to be found in the writings of Confucius or Meng-tse; but, 
 from a passage in one of the commentaries of the former philosopher, they 
 profess to derive those tenets, that Tay-kee is separated from the imper- 
 fections of nature, is an existing being, and the same with the heaven, the 
 earth, and the five elements; that when he moves, he produces Yang, that 
 is, subtle and active matter, such as the heavens, fire, day — that which is 
 perfect and of the male sex ; that when he rests, he produces Yin, that is, 
 gross and motionless matter, such as the earth, the moon, darkness — that 
 which is in perfect and of the female sex: that by the union of these are 
 
PAGAN NATIONS. 
 
 680 
 
 produced eight elements, which, by their various combinations, form the 
 peculiar and distinguishing nature of all bodies, the vicissitudes of the uni- 
 verse, the fertility or barrenness of the earth, &c. From these and similar 
 mysticisms, the partisans of Tay-kee went on in their speculations, till they 
 ended in atheism, by excluding from the world every supernatural cause, 
 and admitting only an inanimate virtue or energy in union with matter. 
 In their system of morals* they adopted more rational principles; directed 
 the wise man to make the public good the great object of his actions, and 
 to extinguish his passion^ that he may follow the light of reason ; and 
 explained the reciprocal duties of princes and subjects, of parents and 
 children, of husband and wife. 
 
 None of these different systems can be said to be the prevailing creed in 
 China ; or, what is more remarkable, can be found existing pure and dis- 
 n . tinct from the rest. The greater part of the Chinese have 
 
 of the Chinese. no decided opinion whatever on the subject, and are either 
 complete atheists, or, if they acknowledge a Supreme Being, utterly igno- 
 rant in what view he ought to be regarded ; while they all combine with 
 their peculiar sentiments the multifarious superstitions of the more popular 
 sects. Of all these tolerated and established religious persuasions the 
 emperor is the supreme head ; without whose permission not one of them can 
 enjoy a single privilege or point of pre-eminence; and who can diminish or 
 increase, at his pleasure, the number of their respective temples and priests. 
 
 The existing worship of China, then, is a confused mixture of supersti- 
 tions, of which individuals receive and observe just as much as they please; 
 and those parts of it which the government seems to uphold may be 
 viewed rather as political than religious institutions. The emperors reserve 
 to themselves the privilege of adoring the Tien ; but they equally sacrifice 
 to the spirit .of the earth, the sun, or the moon, and attach themselves 
 more or less to the notions of the Tao-tse or of Fo. While the reigning 
 Tartar family acknowledge more particularly the faith of the Grand Lama, 
 they nevertheless perform the established sacred rites of their predecessors, 
 and repair to the festivals which the calendar prescribes. And while the 
 Literati study the doctrine of the King, they are as superstitious as unbe- 
 lieving, and are found with others in the temples praying to the idols.* 
 
 There are two sorts of ceremonies instituted by the Chinese in com- 
 memoration of Confucius ; one of which consists entirely in prostrating 
 Honours paid to th 6018 ^^ 8 an( l striking the ground nine times with their 
 Confucius. foreheads before a certain cartridge , or little picture, which 
 
 is placed on a table. encircled with lighted wax candles and divers incense 
 pots on which the name of this celebrated philosopher stands conspicuous 
 in capitals. In former times they paid this testimony of their respect to 
 
 44 
 
 •New Edinburgh Encyc. ; art. China. 
 
686 
 
 CHINESE. 
 
 the statue of Confucius ; but their emperors perceiving that the people ran 
 blindly into idolatry, ani being unwilling that Confucius should be reck- 
 oned amongst the number of their idols, caused this cartridge to be substi- 
 tuted, in all their schools, in the room of the statues of the philosopher 
 The mandarins perform this ceremony when they take possession of their 
 respective posts, and the bachelors of arts when they take their degrees. 
 The governors of all their cities, and all the Literati, are obliged once in 
 fifteen days to pay these public honours to Confucius in the name of the 
 whole nation. 
 
 In regard to the worship paid to Confucius, the sect of the Literati 
 differs widely from that of Fo, &c., in which the Bonzes only are the 
 
 Honours of the priests and sacrificators ; but among the Literati, it is the 
 
 sect of the Lite- . - . ... , . 
 
 lati. peculiar province oi the mandarins, viceroys, and even the 
 
 emperor himself, to offer up sacrifices in honour of Confucius and their 
 ancestors. What may be properly called the religious worship of Confu- 
 cius, consists in some peculiar testimonies of their veneration, and some 
 oblations made before a tablet or a pyramid, which is gilt all over, and de- 
 posited in a ceremonial manner on an altar. On this tablet is written the 
 following inscription in characters of gold : — Here is the throne of the soul 
 of our most holy and most illustrious prime minister Confucius. The 
 sacrifice does not consist barely in devoting to his service bread, wine, wax- 
 tapers, and perfumes; for they present him frequently with a sheep and a 
 piece of taffety, which they set on fire in commemoration of him. All these 
 ceremonies are solemnized in an edifice consecrated to Confucius, not as an 
 academy set apart for the examination of young students, or their advance- 
 ment in the arts and sciences, no business of that nature being there 
 transacted; on the contrary, censers, candlesticks, and tables, are placed in 
 the form of altars, and, in short, all other implements and materials proper 
 for the decoration of a temple. The model of these chapels is exactly the 
 same as that of the temples of their idols, and the name which they give 
 them in the Chinese language signifies a temple. 
 
 Their most solemn sacrifice, in commemoration of their ancestors, is cele- 
 brated on the fourteenth day of August. “This ceremony,” says Father 
 
 Sacrifice to Moralez, who was an eye-witness of it, “ was performed in 
 tiieir ancestors. a temple, over the door of which were written these two 
 words, Kia Cheu, the temple of the forefathers , &c. The pavement was 
 all of porcelain clay; the temple was wainscoted all round, and adorned 
 with pillars, &c. There were three porticoes, fronting different ways, and 
 beyond them was a kind of a yard. There were two steps, likewise, to go 
 up to the temple. Six tables had been prepared for the sacrifice, on which 
 were set meats ready dressed, and raw flesh, with fruits, flowers, and per- 
 lumes, which were burned in divers little chafing-dishes. 
 
 “At the upper end of the temple were the inscriptions of their ancestors 
 
PAGAN NATIONS. 
 
 68/ 
 
 artfully disposed, and each in its proper niche. The images of their grand- 
 fathers were fastened on each side to the walls. In the yard, several carpets 
 were spread on the ground, upon which lay large heaps of papers, cut in 
 the shape of the coin of their country, which they imagined would in the 
 other world be converted into real money, and, passing current there, serve 
 to redeem the souls of their relations. In short, in one corner of the yard 
 they had erected a large tree, the bottom of which was surrounded with 
 brushwood or chips, which were set on fire, and burned during the cele- 
 bration of the sacrifice, in order that the souls of their dead might be 
 accommodated with sufficient light. 
 
 “ The licentiati, who assisted at this sacrifice, were dressed like doctors 
 on a solemn festival. One of them officiated as priest, two others as deacon 
 and sub-deacon, and a third as master of the ceremonies. Several other 
 doctors performed divers other ministerial offices, as that of acolytes, &c. 
 Those who had not taken their doctor’s degree appeared in their best 
 clothes, all regularly ranged and divided into divers choirs at the lower end 
 of the temple on each side of the doors. The sacrifice began after the 
 following manner: — As soon as the priest was seated, with his two assist- 
 ants on each side of him, upon a carpet that covered the entire middle of 
 the yard, the master of the ceremonies ordered that all the congregation 
 should fall down upon their knees, and prostrate themselves to the ground; 
 then he ordered them to rise again, which was accordingly done with great 
 decency and order. The priest and his attendants with great gravity 
 approached the place of the inscriptions and images of their dead, and per- 
 fumed them with frankincense. The master of the ceremonies then ordered 
 to be offered up the wine of blessing and true happiness. At the same 
 time, the attendants gave the wine to the priest, who took up the chalice 
 with both his hands, elevated it, then set it down again, and emptied it. 
 The priest and his assistants then turned their faces towards the congrega- 
 tion. He who officiated as deacon pronounced, with an audible voice, all 
 the benefits and indulgences which those who were present might expect 
 as the result of their attendance. Know ye, says he, that all you who 
 have assisted at this solemn sacrifice may be very well assured of 
 receiving some particular favours from your deceased ancestors , in return 
 for these grateful oblations, which you have in this public manner noiv 
 made unto them. You shall be honoured and respected by all men , live 
 to a good old age, and enjoy all the blessings which this life can afford . 
 After this declaration, they set fire to their whole store of paper-money, 
 and so the sacrifice concluded.” These ceremonies, it must be allowed, 
 bear some affinity to several made use of by the Roman Catholics; but we 
 shall, m this instance, merely notice, that the Chinese, before they go into 
 the temple to sacrifice to their ancestors, utter three dreadful groans, as if 
 they were just expiring. 
 
688 
 
 CHINESE. 
 
 The whole formulary of this worship is set down in the Chinese ritual, 
 with the prayers and supplications which ought to be made to their 
 deceased ancestors. Nothing, in the opinion of the Chinese, can be more 
 efficacious, and have a more prevailing power, than these acts of devotion. 
 The merits of the dead, according to them, are so great, that they may 
 with justice stand in competition with those of Heaven itself. They 
 imagine, that their souls sit for ever on the right and left hand of the 
 Divine Majesty. 
 
 In a word, it is on the due performance of this religious worship that the 
 Chinese ground all their expectations of future happiness. They flatter 
 themselves, that by virtue of these testimonies of their veneration for their 
 ancestors, they, their descendants, shall be possessed of innumerable 
 blessings. 
 
 Chin-hoan. 
 
 Temples are also built in all the cities of China, in commemoration of 
 the first five emperors, also of some other illustrious men, and their public 
 benefactors. When their emperors die, they are immediately 
 
 Temnles 
 
 deified, and honoured as gods ; for it is pretended, that after 
 their decease they obtain the power of aiding and assisting all those who 
 make their supplications to them. Although they do not admit that whilst 
 Jiving they possess that power, yet have they their picture or tablet in their 
 temples, on which is written, in large characters, May the Emperor of 
 China live many thousands of years. They sacrifice and bow the knee 
 before this inscription. 
 
 They imagine the genius called Chin-hoan to be the guardian deity of 
 their provinces, cities, and courts of judicature; and temples are erected to 
 his honour throughout the whole empire. The mandarins, 
 when they take possession of any important post, are obliged 
 in the first place to do homage to the Chin-hoan of that peculiar city or 
 province which is committed to their care, and to take a formal oath, that 
 they will faithfully discharge the trust reposed in them, and consult him 
 about the most effectual means to perform their duty with success. This 
 homage must be repeated twice a year, under the penalty of being dis- 
 carded in case of their neglect. These Chin-hoans are much the same as 
 guardian angels ; but the Chinese acknowledge a divinity in them inferior 
 to that of the first principle, although they admit, at the same time that 
 formerly they were men as well as themselves. 
 
 1 he Chinese pay divine adoration to the sun, moon, and stars, and 
 ascribe to a certain Causay not only the government of the lowest part of 
 the heavens, but likewise the power of life and death. There 
 are three ministering spirits who are subservient to him, viz., 
 Tanquam , Tsuiquam, and Teiquam. The first sends down his rain to 
 refresh the earth ; the second is their Neptune, or god of the sea; and the 
 last presides over births, is the director of all their rural concerns, and their 
 
 Deities. 
 
PAGAN NATIONS. 
 
 689 
 
 god of war. The goddess Quonin presides over all their household affairs, 
 and the products of the earth. They represent her with an infant on each 
 side of her; one of them holding a cup in his hand, and the other having 
 his hands closed one within another. Chang-ko is the goddess whom the 
 bachelors of the sect of the Literati particularly worship, as the Greeks 
 and the Romans did Minerva. The idol or deity which presides over 
 mirth and voluptuousness is called Ninifo , who is looked upon as a J£m, 
 and worshipped as such by the devotees, though he presides equally over 
 criminal as well as innocent diversions. They have also a spirit, which is 
 the grand tutelar genius of China, that presides over immortality, and 
 which in all probability is no other than their god of war, of whom we 
 have already spoken, or Kito, whom the Chinese soldiery honour as their 
 patron. Finally, we must not omit to mention Lin-cing, whose peculiar 
 province, however, we are at a loss to determine ; and Hoaguam, who 
 presides over the eyes. 
 
 Puzza, who is always represented sitting on a flower of the lotus, or 
 rather, according to Kircher, upon a turnsol, is called by him the Isis, or 
 Cybele of the Chinese. “ She has sixteen hands, every one 
 of which is mysteriously armed with knives, swords, hal- 
 berts, books, fruit, plants, wheels, goblets, vials,” &c. The following is the 
 traditional history of this deity, as given by the Chinese Bonzes. Three 
 n)nmphs in the days of yore came down from heaven to wash themselves 
 in a river. They had scarcely got into the water before the 'herb called 
 Vesicari appeared on one of their garments, with its coral fruit upon it, 
 and they could not imagine whence it could have proceeded. The nymph 
 was unable to resist the temptation of tasting such charming fruit, but 
 became pregnant by indulging her curiosity, and was delivered of a boy, 
 whom she took care of till he was of age, then left him to pursue the 
 dictates of his own inclinations, and returned to heaven. He after- 
 wards became a great man, a lawgiver, and a conqueror. “ The learned 
 amongst the Chinese ascribe to Puzza such a number of arms,” says 
 Kircher, “ in all probability to insinuate that she is the mother of all the 
 gods ; and she is seated on a flower of the lotus, surrounded with water, to 
 denote, that as this herb is always in the water and swimming on its sur- 
 face, so, by the assistance of this element, nature contributes towards the 
 production and fruitfulness of all things.” 
 
 The god, idol, or genius, known by the name of Quante-cong, was the 
 founder of the Chinese empire, the inventor of several of their arts, and 
 their great lawgiver. He introduced the custom of wearing 
 
 Quante con e . decent a pp are ] amongst the Chinese, who before went almost 
 naked ; he brought them under some regulation and form of government, 
 and prevailed on them to reside in towns, &c. Such useful and extraor- 
 dinary inventions entitled him to a stature larger than the generality 
 
690 
 
 CHINESE. 
 
 of mankind ; and they have represented him accordingly as a prodigiously 
 strong giant. 
 
 We now come to treat of their dragons, which have a considerable share 
 in the superstitious worship of the Chinese. The arms and ensigns of the 
 Worship of empire are composed of dragons. The Chinese make repre- 
 Dntgons. sentations of them upon their apparel, books, and linen, and 
 
 in their pictures. Fohi, the inventor of sixty-four several symbols, first 
 established this superstitious regard for dragons. He thought it requisite, 
 with a view only of giving a sanction to these symbols, by which he 
 attempted to render his system efficacious, to call in the marvellous to his 
 aid and assistance. Fohi accordingly assured the populace, that he had 
 seen these symbols upon the back of a dragon, that rushed suddenly upon 
 him from the bottom of a lake. “This emperor,” says Father Martini, 
 “ rather made choice of the dragon than any other creature whatsoever, 
 because it is looked upon amongst the Chinese as the most propitious omen. 
 The emperor’s dragons were represented with five talons to each foot. If 
 any other person thought fit to make use of this animal as a symbol, he 
 was charged on pain of death to represent it with no more than four.” 
 Whether Fohi was the first that inspired them with this superstitious 
 regard for the dragon, or whether he found the superstition previously esta- 
 blished, it is at least evident that it is of a very ancient standing among the 
 Chinese, although not by any means to be justified. The Chinese not 
 only imagine that the dragon is the source and fountain from whence 
 flows all the good that ever befals them; but that it is he who bestows 
 rain and fair weather upon them in their seasons ; it is he who 
 thunders in the clouds, and rides in the whirlwinds. The superstition 
 of searching with indefatigable industry and vast expense the veins of 
 this enormous beast, when they dig their sepulchres, is owing to the 
 conceit that the good or ill fortune of their families entirely depends 
 upon it. 
 
 The Bonzes are the priests of the Fohists; and it is one of their esta- 
 blished tenets, that good and evil are not blended nor huddled together in 
 the other world, but that, after death, rewards are prepared 
 and allotted for the righteous, and punishments for the 
 wicked. The other tenets of the Bonzes are, — make charity your habi- 
 tual practice ; treat us with reverence and respect ; maintain and support 
 us as well as you are able ; erect monasteries and temples for us, that our 
 prayers and voluntary penances may deliver you from those punishments 
 which your sins have deserved ; burn all the gilt paper and silk clothes 
 you can procure, for in the other world they will be converted into real gold 
 and silver, and apparel, and will be faithfully delivered to your deceased 
 parents for their sole use and property. Unless you comply with these 
 injunctions, you will be cruelly tormented after deatl^ and be subject to an 
 
 Priests, &c. 
 
PAGAN NATIONS. 
 
 691 
 
 endless train of disagreeable transmigrations. You shall be transformed 
 into rats, mice, asses, and mules. 
 
 Some of the Chinese monks are dressed in black, and have their chapels 
 like those of the Roman Catholics ; but they must not be confounded with 
 the other Bonzes. There are others, likewise, who are dressed in yellow 
 from head to foot, and furnished as tne former, with a large chaplet. 
 These two colours distinguish the two different orders of monks, who are 
 sectaries of Lanzu. These monks, like those of the Catholic church, always 
 go abroad, two and two together. The Bonzes, according to Father le 
 Comte, are no better than a gang of dissolute, idle fellows, whom indolence, 
 hunger, and ease, prompt to herd together, and live upon the charitable 
 contributions of well-disposed persons. All their aims are to excite the 
 populace to commiserate their abject condition. The same father gives us 
 a particular account of their several tricks and impostures. When they 
 find the common arts of address fail them, they have immediate recourse to 
 public acts of penance, which are always looked upon as highly merito- 
 rious by the unthinking populace, and effectually move their pity and com- 
 passion. Of this gang are those who drag heavy chains after them thirty 
 feet long, and go from door to door, often repeating, in a drawling, canting 
 tone, “ It is by these austere penances that we make atonement for your 
 sins.” And those, likewise, who plant themselves in the most public places 
 of resort, and in the highways, to receive the charity of those who pass by 
 them, knocking their heads against large flint stones, till their imposture 
 proves successful. Others set some particular drugs on fire upon their 
 heads, to attract the eyes of the crowd upon them, and excite their com- 
 passion. Those likewise may very justly be reckoned amongst the num- 
 ber of mendicant devotees, whose heads have been wilfully deformed and 
 moulded, on purpose, into a conical form. They appear in the streets and 
 highways with a large chaplet about their necks, and are reckoned by the 
 vulgar as extraordinary saints. There are other monks, however, of the 
 Mendicant order, who beg in public, without being guilty of any such self- 
 violence. 
 
 Another way of raising contributions for the Chinese monks is, by pre- 
 vailing on those who pass by to write their names in a kind of memoran- 
 dum-book, which one of them offers to their benefactors for that purpose, 
 Amongst this order may likewise be reckoned those vagabonds who amuse 
 the public with their legerdemain. There are some of them who, with 
 ui daunted courage, will get on the backs of tigers tamed for that purpose, 
 and ride from town to town, and place to place, without ine least apprehen- 
 sion of danger from those savage beasts, though they are neither bridled nor 
 fettered. These impostors have always a large retinue of mendicants, who 
 act the part of the devotees and penitents, and who bestow on each other 
 severe blows on the head, by way of devotion. 
 
692 
 
 CHINESE. 
 
 •Among this mendicant crow there are some who live like hermits, retired 
 in rocks and caverns; for whom the devotees make large voluntary contri- 
 butions, and consult them, as they would an oracle. As the Chinese 
 encourage and support several distinct orders of these pious drones, so there 
 are various kinds of discipline observed among them. Some are collected 
 into a society, live in cloisters, and in a state of celibacy, being obliged to 
 abstain from flesh, fish, wine, and women. They are maintained out of 
 the annual revenue established by the government for the support of all con- 
 vents in general, and by the charitable contributions of the people. Some 
 of these monks are, however, sufficiently diligent and ingenious to maintain 
 themselves by their own manual operations; the other monks are extracted 
 from the very dregs of the populace, who in their infancy were sold for 
 slaves, and who in all probability constitute, out of their despicable body, 
 the major part of the before-mentioned vagabonds. One peculiar employ- 
 ment of the Bonzes, who are Fohists, is to attend and assist at all funeral 
 solemnities ; whilst those of the sect of Lanzu take upon themselves the 
 office of exorcists, pretend to find out the philosopher’s stone, and to foretell 
 all future events. 
 
 There are four several orders of this sect of Lanzu, who are distinguished 
 by four several colours, viz. — black, white, yellow, and red. They have 
 one principal, or general, who has several provincials, subordinate to, and 
 dependent on him; and they live upon the established revenue, and the 
 charity of the devotees. When they beg about the streets they repeat 
 some peculiar prayers, which the devotees pay for the advantage of, viz., 
 an absolute remission of ail their sins. These priests or monks are assist- 
 ants likewise at all funeral solemnities. They are enjoined not to marry 
 during the time they keep their solemn vow; but by way of recompense, 
 they have the privilege of abandoning it whenever they think it convenient. 
 
 A monk who is found guilty of fornication during the time of his vow, 
 is punished most severely. They bore a hole in his neck with a hot iron, 
 and thrust a chain through the wound, of about sixty feet long; and in that 
 deplorable condition, and naked as he was born, lead him all over the 
 city, till he has collected a considerable sum of money, for the sole service 
 of the convent to which he belongs. Another monk who follows him 
 lashes him severely, whenever he offers to lay hold of the chain to miti- 
 gate his pain. 
 
 Independently of the Bonzes, there are some nuns who make a vow of 
 perpetual virginity. These female devotees have their heads closely 
 shaved ; but their number is inconsiderable, in comparison with that of the 
 monks. The latter (at least such among them as are of the sect of Fo) are 
 obliged to let their beards and hair grow. The monks of the sect of Lanzu, 
 or Fo, and both of them, in all probability, assume the power of calling 
 down the rain at pleasure, and are obliged to perform it when required. 
 
PAGAN NATIONS. 
 
 693 
 
 Dapper, in his extracts relating to China, tells us, that a Bonze who under- 
 takes that it shall rain, is threatened hard to be bastinadoed, if he fail of 
 producing rain within six days. 
 
 The feast of the Lanterns is the most remarkable of the Chinese festivals. 
 This is celebrated the fifteenth day of the first month ; every one sets out 
 Feast of Lan some lantern or another, but of various prices, according as 
 
 terns circumstances will best admit; some of them are valued at 
 
 ten thousand crowns, on account of the decorations about them, and are 
 from twenty-five to thirty feet in diameter. They are a kind of halls, or 
 spacious apartments, in which they can make sumptuous entertainments, 
 take their rest, receive visits, act plays, and have balls and assemblies. 
 These lanterns are illuminated with an infinite number of wax candles, and 
 surrounded with bonfires. The Chinese ascribe the rise of this festival to 
 an unhappy misfortune which happened in the family of a certain man 
 darin, whose daughter, as she was walking one evening on the bank of a 
 river, fell in and was drowned. . The disconsolate father ran to her assist- 
 ance, attended by all his domestics. In order to find her, he put out to sea, 
 with a vast number of lanterns along with him. All the inhabitants of the 
 place followed him with lighted flambeaux. The whole night was spent 
 in search after her, but, alas! to no manner of purpose. The only conso- 
 lation the mandarin had, was to find himself beloved, and that his neigh- 
 bours were officious to assist him. The year following, on the same day 
 of the month, bonfires were made upon the river side, &c. This ceremony 
 was annually observed ; and at that time every one lighted up lanterns, 
 till by degrees it grew into an established custom. Others ascribe the 
 origin of this Chinese festival to an extravagant project of one of their 
 emperors, who formerly proposed to shut himself up with his concubines 
 in a magnificent palace, which he erected on purpose, and illuminated with 
 pompous lanterns, that he might have the pleasure, if we may credit the 
 Chinese history, of beholding a new sky, as a canopy over his head, for 
 ever illuminated, alwa)^ calm and serene, which might make him forget 
 in time the various revolutions of the old world. These irregularities 
 caused an insurrection among his subjects, who demolished his costly and 
 magnificent palace ; and in order to transmit to posterity the remembrance 
 of his shameful conduct, hung out the lanterns all over the town. This 
 custom was annually repeated, and in process of time became an established 
 solemn festival. 
 
 The festival of agriculture, the establishment of which is ascribed to an 
 emperor who flourished about a hundred and eighty years before the nati- 
 
 Festivai of vity our Blessed Saviour, is celebrated, likewise, with 
 
 Agriculture. considerable solemnity. In every town throughout the 
 
 whole empire, when the sun is in the middle of Aquarius, “one of the 
 chief magistrates, being crowned with flowers, and surrounded with musi- 
 
694 
 
 CHINESE. 
 
 cians, and a crowd of people provided with lighted flambeaux, streamers, 
 and colours, marches in procession out of the eastern gate of the city 
 Several persons follow him, who carry on levers various images composed 
 of wood and pasteboard, set off and embellished with silk and gold, repre- 
 senting the ancient histories that relate to agriculture. The streets are 
 hung with tapestry, and beautified with triumphal arches. The magistrate 
 then advances to the east, as if he were going to meet the new season, when 
 a kind of pageant appears, in the form of a cow, made of burnt clay, of 
 such an enormous size, that forty men are scarcely able to carry it ; and on 
 the back of it sits a beautiful boy, alive, who represents the genius of hus- 
 bandry, in a careless dress, with one leg bare, and the other covered with 
 a kind of buskin. This youth never ceases from lashing the cow. Two 
 peasants, loaded with all the various implements made use of in tillage, 
 march immediately after him. All these ceremonies are emblematical. 
 The incessant lashes which the youth gives the cow, denote the constant 
 application which is required for all rural labours; his having one leg bare, 
 the other buskined, is the symbol of their hurry and diligence, which 
 scarcely affords them time to dress themselves before they go to work. As 
 soon as this magistrate is arrived with his pompous retinue of attendants at 
 the emperor’s palace, all the flowers, and other embellishments with which 
 the monstrous cow is dressed, are taken off; after that, her belly is opened, 
 from whence several little cows, composed of the same materials, are taken 
 out, which the emperor distributes among his ministers of state, in order 
 to remind them of the care which is requisite in all affairs relating to hus- 
 bandry, and to admonish his subjects never to let any piece of ground lie 
 fallow, and to avoid idleness, which is the inlet to all misfortunes. On this 
 day they are encouraged to the practice of industry, by the royal example 
 of the emperor himself, who, according to the ancient practice, made the 
 bread, which was peculiarly appropriated for the service of their sacrifices, 
 out of that part of the harvest which he had gathered in with his own 
 hands. 
 
 The Chinese celebrate likewise their New-year’s Day with considerable 
 pomp, and sumptuous preparations. • At that time there is a perfect cessa- 
 tion from all manner of business; the posts are stopped, and 
 New years Day. ^ courts 0 f j U( Ji ca ture throughout the empire are shut 
 
 up. The Chinese call these vacations the shutting up their seals , because 
 at that time they lock up the seals which belong to each particular court in a 
 strong box kept for that purpose. Everybody then makes merry, and par- 
 takes of the general joy. As the Chinese are superstitious to the last degree 
 in respect to the observance of particular days, they are obliged to make a 
 formal choice of one day for shutting up their seals, and another for opening 
 them again. The mathematical court, the members of which are the proper 
 intendants of their lots, and choice of days, settle and determine the affair of 
 
PAGAN NATIONS. 
 
 695 
 
 Pagods. 
 
 their seals, some considerable time before their new year commences. The 
 choice and determination made by this court are communicated in due time 
 to all the provinces ; so that this peculiar ceremony of shutting up and 
 opening the seals is performed on the very same day throughout the whole 
 empire. The Chinese, on this grand festival of their new year, take par- 
 ticular care to bring out their gods, and plant them, as commodiously as 
 may be, over their respective doors. These idols are called their Portal 
 Gods / and though this custom be observed indeed for the most part on all 
 their festivals, yet it is more particularly practised at this season than at 
 any other. 
 
 The pyramidical towers have always, according to the relations of 
 Father Kircher, Le Comte, Dapper, and several other historians, some 
 pagod adjacent to them ; for which reason there is a communication between 
 the celebrated porcelain tower and the edifice which the 
 Chinese have distinguished by the title of the Temple of 
 Remembrance. There is such a variety of these temples, that they are 
 almost innumerable. The Bonzes, and other persons of the same stamp, 
 reside in them, and live either on the settled revenues of them, or on such 
 other emoluments as their art and industry can procure. They are like- 
 wise appointed for the accommodation of travellers ; and, as such, bear a 
 very near affinity to the Turkish caravansaries. The inner part of the 
 temple is embellished with several images and idols; some of which are 
 their real deities or genii; and others only symbols or hieroglyphics, after 
 the manner of the Egyptians. The' walls of these pagods are generally 
 made hollow, and full of little niches, for the more convenient situation of 
 their idols, which are mostly represented in basso-relievo. The pagod is 
 illuminated with a vast variety of lamps, which bum night and day in 
 honour of the dead. In the centre stands an altar, and on the table belong- 
 ing to it an idol of gigantic size, to which the temple is peculiarly devoted. 
 This monstrous idol has several others of a more moderate size, who stand 
 round him, in the quality of guards. In general, a hollow bamboo, which 
 is both long and thick, and encloses several lesser ones, on which are writ- 
 ten divers predictions in Chinese characters, is placed before the principal 
 idol. Censers, in which incense is for ever burning, are placed on each 
 side of the altar. At the front of it is a wooden bowl, for no other use but 
 to receive their oblations. The altar is painted all over with a beautiful 
 red, which colour is appropriated to those things only which are sacred. 
 
 It is in one of the pagods that the emperor himself offers up his sacri- 
 fices with extraordinary pomp and magnificence. No procession that i3 
 Sacrifices of the ever ma( ^ e i n Europe is more grand and solemn than this 
 Emperor. public act of the emperor’s devotion. Four-and-twenty 
 
 trumpeters, dressed with large golden rings, or hoops ; four-and-twenty 
 drummers ; four-and-twenty officers, with varnished or gilt staves ; one 
 
CHINESE. 
 
 eae 
 
 hundred soldiers, with rich and magnificent halberts ; a hundred mace 
 bearers, and two principal officers, march before him. This kind of van- 
 guard is followed by four hundred lantern-bearers, four hundred link-men, 
 two hundred lance-bearers, adorned with large locks of silk ; four-and 
 twenty standards, on which are painted the signs of the zodiac ; and fifty- 
 six other signs, which represent the celestial constellations. After them 
 two hundred large gilt fans are carried, embellished with the figures of 
 dragons, and other living creatures; four and twenty large magnificent 
 umbrellas ; and after them his imperial majesty’s buffet, supported by his 
 gentlemen-officers — the whole furniture of which is solid gold. 
 
 At the close of this pompous march the emperor himself appears on 
 horseback, dressed in the most gorgeous apparel, surrounded with ten 
 white sumpter-horses, whose trappings are all embellished with gold and 
 precious stones, attended by a hundred guards, and several pages of honour. 
 An umbrella is held over the head of the emperor, which secures him from 
 all the injuries of the weather, and is embellished with all the costly curi- 
 osities that the most lively imagination can possibly devise. Several princes 
 of the blood, and mandarins of the first order, and other persons of the 
 highest quality and distinction, dressed in their robes of state, follow his 
 imperial majesty. After them march five hundred young noblemen, 
 attended by a thousand footmen ; thirty-six porters, bearing on their shoulders 
 an open chair, like a triumphal car; a hundred and twenty other porters, 
 bearing a covered chair ; four chariots, some drawn by elephants, and others 
 by horses. Each chair and chariot is attended by fifty servants, all richly 
 dressed ; and all the elephants, as well as the horses, are caparisoned with 
 the most magnificent housings. 
 
 The whole procession is closed by two thousand mandarins, and two 
 thousand military officers. As there is no variation in this pompous 
 solemnity, and as every one is fully apprized that the ceremony will always 
 be celebrated in the same pompous manner, the emperor is at no extrava- 
 gant expense to support the grandeur of it ; so that whenever he is disposed 
 Id perform his public sacrifices, his subjects in general are always ready to 
 attend him. 
 
 Independently of the juggling empirics who impose almanacs, calendars s 
 and other little books upon the devotees and good old women, as infallible 
 guides for their future conduct, there are others who treat 
 of divination by numbers, circles, and figures, by palmistry, 
 dreams, and physiognomy. Some of these vagabonds pretend to instruct 
 the female sex how to have children soon, and with success. Others pro- 
 fess to sell the wind, as it is practised in the north of Sweden, &c. These 
 last-mentioned quacks hunt always in couples. One of them, with a very 
 grave and demure countenance, carries on his right shoulder a bag, in 
 which his airy commodity is inclosed, out of which he delivers, at the price 
 
PAGAN NATIONS. 
 
 697 
 
 agreed on, such a quantity as the credulous purchaser imagines he shall 
 have occasion for. In his left hand he carries a hammer, with which he 
 strikes the ground in a formal manner, in order, as he pretends, to make 
 the genius or spirit of the wind ascend, who, if you give credit to their 
 assertions, rides conspicuously in the air in a human shape, borne on the 
 wings of some bird of note. 
 
 The ceremony, as it is instituted and appointed by the Chinese ritual, 
 for the conjuration or raising up of spirits, consists in pouring a certain 
 _ . quantity of wine on the figure of a man composed of straw. 
 
 Spirits. B u t nothing can be more whimsical than the manner in 
 
 which they consult their domestic idols. They take two little sticks, on 
 one side flat and on the other round, and tie them fast together with thread ; 
 and having made their humble supplications to the idol, with all imaginable 
 fervency and devotion, they throw the sticks down before it with a full 
 assurance that their petitions will be graciously heard and answered. If 
 they accidentally fall on the flat side, they can expostulate with their god : 
 however, they proceed to cast the lots a second time ; and if on this repeti- 
 tion they prove as unsuccessful as before, they resent their ill-treatment, 
 and proceed from words to blows. Notwithstanding all this, they are seldom 
 discouraged, but cast their lots over and over again, till at last they prove 
 propitious. Sometimes they throw these little sticks into a pot ; and after 
 they have drawn them out, consult some book of conjuration, to know 
 whether their lots be fortunate or unfortunate. 
 
 There are other divinations of the Chinese, which consist in a curious 
 inquiry into the motion of tortoises, the flight and noise of some particular 
 birds, the various cries or sounds of beasts, their accidental rencounters in 
 a morning, &c. Several who profess themselves adepts in these supersti- 
 tious practices, reside in solitary dens and gloomy caverns. These people, 
 however, do not make prognostications their sole study and employment, 
 for they are very assiduous in their search after the philosopher’s stone 
 in the composition of philtres, and other secrets equally pernicious. 
 
 The Chinese, when they are determined to marry, have not the liberty 
 to consult their own inclinations. They are obliged to declare their inten- 
 tion to their relations, or to some old women, who make it 
 their trade (if the expression may be allowed) to be match* 
 makers, and who are well paid for their deceitful offices. The wedding- 
 day having arrived, the bride is carried in a chair of state, preceded by 
 several musicians, and followed by the bridegroom and several relations. 
 The bride brings no other portion than her wedding-garments, with some 
 other clothes, and a few household goods. The bridegroom attends her 
 to his own door. He opens the chair of state, in which before she was 
 closely shut up, and conducting her into a private apartment, recommends 
 her to the care of several ladies invited to the wedding, who spend the 
 
f 
 
 698 CHINESE. 
 
 whole day together in feasting, and other innocent amusements, whilst 
 the bridegroom follows the same example amongst his male friends and 
 acquaintance. 
 
 Gentil informs us that the young ladies receive their portions from their 
 future husbands, one part of which is paid down, on the execution of tfte 
 marriage articles, and the other a little before the nuptials are solemnized, 
 The bridegroom, moreover, in addition to this dowry, makes several valuable 
 presents of silks, fruits, wine, &c., to the relations of his mistress. The 
 intended bride and bridegroom never see each other till their nuptials, 
 which are always carried on by match-makers, and are fully concluded on 
 both sides, so that nothing remains to complete them but the wedding cere- 
 mony. When that is over, the bridegroom, after several particular cere 
 monies, presents a wild duck to his father-in-law, whose servants carry it 
 directly to the bride, as a further pledge and testimony of the bridegroom’s 
 love and affection. After this, both parties are introduced into each other’s 
 company for the first time: a long, thick veil, however, even then conceals 
 the beauty or deformity of the bride from the eyes of the bridegroom. 
 “ They salute each other, and on their knees, with reverence, adore the 
 heavens, the earth, and the spirits. After this, the bride’s father gives an 
 elegant entertainment at his own house; the bride then unveils her face, 
 salutes her husband, who examines all her features with the utmost atten- 
 tion. She waits with fear and impatience to know the result of his accu- 
 rate survey, and endeavours to read in his eyes the opinion he has formed 
 of her. He salutes her in his turn ; and after the bride has kneeled down 
 four times before him, and he twice before his bride, they both sit down 
 together at table. Meanwhile, the father of the bridegroom gives a sumptu, 
 ous entertainment to his friends and relations, in another room ; and the 
 bride’s mother, in the same manner, entertains her female relations, and the 
 wives of her husband’s friends, in her own apartment. After these repasts 
 are over, the bride and bridegroom are conducted into their bedchamber, 
 without the former so much as having seen her husband’s father or his 
 mother. But the day following she pays them a visit, in a very formal 
 and ceremonious manner, when another public entertainment is prepared, 
 at which she takes upon herself the office of entertaining her guests. She 
 waits upon her mother-in-law at table, and eats her leavings, as a testimony 
 that she is no stranger, but one of the family ; for it is a constant custom 
 among them never to offer, even to the servants of strangers, the fragments 
 which are taken from their own table. 
 
 “The solemnization of their nuptials is always preceded by three days’ 
 mourning, during which they abstain from all manner of gay amusements. 
 The reason on which this custom is grounded is, that the Chinese look 
 upon the marriage of their children as an image or representation of their 
 own death, because at such time they become their successors, as it were, 
 
PAGAN NATJONS. 
 
 690 
 
 beforehand. The friends and relations of the father never congratulate 
 him on this occasion ; and in case they make him any presents, they never 
 take the least notice of the intended nuptials.” 
 
 The Chinese in their mourning lay aside yellow and blue, which in their 
 opinion are gay colours, and dress themselves only in white, a colour 
 destined by them to express their sorrow from the earliest 
 
 Mourning. No 0 ne, from the prince to the meanest mechanic, 
 
 ever deviates from this established custom. In general they wear girdles 
 made of hemp. Their mourning for all their relations is ol longer or 
 shorter duration, according to proximity of blood. 
 
 As soon as ever a person has expired, some relation or friend imme- 
 diately takes his coat, ascends to the top of the house, and turning his face 
 towards the north, calls as loudly as possible upon the soul of the deceased 
 three times successively. He addresses himself jlo the heaven, the earth, 
 and the mid region of the air. After which, he folds the coat up, and 
 turns his face towards the south; then he unfolds the coat again, and 
 spreads it over the deceased, there to remain three days untouched, in 
 expectation that his soul will resume its former state. The same cere- 
 mony is observed out of their cities, for a person who has unfortunately 
 been killed. 
 
 When a Chinese dies, an altar is immediately erected in some particular 
 room in the house, which in general is hung with mourning. An image 
 or representation of the deceased is laid upon the altar, with all the deco- 
 rations before mentioned, and the corpse behind it in a coffin. All who 
 approach it, to testify their concern, or pay their compliments of condolence, 
 bow the knee four times before the image, and prostrate themselves to the 
 very ground : but before these genuflexions, they make their oblations of 
 perfumes. The children of the deceased, if there be any who survive him, 
 stand dressed in mourning close by the coffin ; and his wives and relations 
 weep aloud, with the female mourners who are hired, behind a curtain 
 which conceals them. It is to be observed, that according to the Chinese 
 ritual, as soon as the corpse of the deceased is laid in the coffin, there must 
 be as much corn, rice, silver, and gold, put into his mouth as his circum- 
 stances will admit of. They put, likewise, a quantity of nails, and several 
 Bcissors tied up in purses, and laid at each corner of the coffin, that he may 
 cut them as occasion shall require. 
 
 The day on which the funeral is to be solemnized, all the relations and 
 friends meet at the house of the deceased, dressed in mourning, who, 
 together with the priests, form the funeral procession, which is attended 
 with the images or pictures of men, women, elephants, tigers, &c., all 
 destined to be burned for the benefit of the party deceased. The priests, 
 and those who are hired to read prayers or make a funeral panegyric over 
 the grave, bring up the rear. Several persons march in the front, with 
 
700 
 
 JAPANESE. 
 
 brazen censers of a considerable size on their shoulders. The children of 
 the deceased march directly after the corpse, on foot, leaning upon sticks, 
 which is an expression — at least, an external one — of sorrow and concern. 
 
 After the children come the wives and the more distant relations of the 
 deceased, in a close litter. A great variety of ceremonies attends this pro- 
 cession ; but we shall only take notice, that it is accompanied with the 
 sound of tymbals, drums, flutes, and other instrumental music. As soon 
 as the coffin has advanced about thirty yards from the house, a considerable 
 quantity of red sand is thrown upon it. 
 
 Each family has a sepulchre belonging to it, which is erected on some 
 little hill, or place adjacent^ embellished with figures and other decorations, 
 like those at the procession. Epitaphs and other inscriptions are also in 
 use among them. 
 
 SEC. IX— RELIGIOUS CEREMONIES AND CUSTOMS OF THE 
 JAPANESE. 
 
 The most prevalent religious sects in Japan are those of Sinto and 
 BudscLo. That of Sinto, w r hich is the most ancient, though its adherents 
 are now least numerous, is conceived to have originated from 
 
 Religious Sects. i on j an emigrants, and to have been originally very 
 
 simple and pure in its tenets. Its followers acknowledge a Supreme 
 Being, who inhabits the highest heavens, and who is far too great to require 
 their worship ; but they admit a multitude of inferior divinities, who exer- 
 cise dominion over the earth, water, air, &c., and have great power in pro- 
 moting the happiness or misery of the human race. They have some 
 conception of the soul’s immortality, and believe that a happy abode imme- 
 diately under heaven is assigned to the spirits of the virtuous, while those 
 of the wicked shall be doomed to wander to and fro under the firmament. 
 Their practical precepts are directed to inculcate a virtuous life, and obe- 
 dience to the laws of the sovereign. They abstain from animal food, and 
 are reluctant to shed innocent blood, or even to touch a dead body. Their 
 churches contain no visible idols, nor any representation of the Supreme 
 Being ; but sometimes a small image is kept in a box, to represent some 
 inferior deity to whom the temple is consecrated. In the centre of the 
 temple is frequently placed a large mirror, made of well-polished cast metal, 
 which is designed to represent to the worshippers, that in like manner as 
 their personal blemishes are therein displayed, so are theii secret evil 
 thoughts exposed to the all-searching eyes of the immortal gods. The 
 worshippers approach these temples with great devotion of manner, and 
 with the most scrupulous attention to cleanliness of person and apparel. 
 Advancing reverently to the mirror, they bow themselves to the ground, 
 prefer their prayers, present their offerings, and then repair to their amuse- 
 ments. The Kubo professes himself to belong to this sect, and is bound tc 
 
PAGAN NATIONS. 
 
 701 
 
 make a visit annually in person, or by an ambassador, to one of their tem- 
 ples, to perform his devotion and present gifts. 
 
 Budsdo’s doctrine was brought originally from the coast of Malabar, and 
 is considered the same with that of Buddha in Hindostan. Passing from 
 
 China into Japan, it became blended with that of Sinto, and 
 
 Sect of Budsdo. . . . • ^ c • . Tl 
 
 gave birth to a monstrous mixture ol superstition. Its pecu- 
 liar tenets are, that the souls of men and of beasts are equally immortal, 
 and that the souls of the wicked are condemned to undergo punishment 
 and purification, by passing after death into the bodies of the lower ani- 
 mals. There are many other sects, very opposite in their tenets and ob- 
 servances; but they are said to live together in great harmony, or rather to 
 share in all their mutual superstitions. The Dairi, or ecclesiastical sove- 
 reign, seems to be the general head of all these different sects, and appoints 
 the principal priests throughout the country. Every sect has its respective 
 church and peculiar idols, which are commonly remarkable for their un- 
 couth and hideous form. Thunberg mentions one colossal wooden image 
 which measures ten yards across the shoulders, and affords room for six 
 men to sit upon its wrist. The inferior divinities are innumerable, as 
 almost every trade has its tutelar god ; and in one temple not less than 
 thirty-three thousand three hundred and thirty-three are said to be ranged 
 around the supreme deity. The temples are commonly built in the suburbs 
 of the town, on the most elevated and suitable spots, to which are frequently 
 attached beautiful avenues of cypress trees, with handsome gates. The 
 idols are usually exhibited upon an altar, surrounded with flowers, incense, 
 and other decorations. They are filled with the lower or secular priests, 
 who attend to keep them clean, to light the lamps and fires, to present the 
 flowers and incense, and to admit worshippers at ail times of the day. 
 Even strangers are allowed to enter, and sometimes to lodge in the tem- 
 ples. To some of the more noted churches it is common to perform pil- 
 grimages, especially to the temples of Tsie, the most ancient in the empire, 
 and almost completely decayed with age, notwithstanding the utmost care 
 to preserve its ruins. Its sole ornaments are a mirror, denoting that nothing 
 can be hid from the Supreme Being, and slips of white paper hung round 
 the walls, to signify that nothing but what is pure should approach his pre- 
 sence. To this place the emperor must send an ambassador on the first 
 day of every month, and every individual must make a visit at least once 
 in the course of his life. Such a pilgrimage, besides its merit, is rewarded 
 with an indulgence or remission of sins for a whole year. There are also, 
 in Japan, orders of monks or nuns ; one of which consists of blind persons, 
 a kind of beggars dispersed over the empire ; and another, called monks of 
 the mountain, are a species of fortune-tellers and quack-doctors, who are 
 bound to live on roots and herbs, to practise constant ablutions, and to tra- 
 verse deserts and mountains once in a year. There are likewise several 
 45 
 
702 
 
 JAPANESE. 
 
 philosophical sects in the country, who disclaim all external worship ; one 
 of the most celebrated of which adopts the tenets of the Chinese Confucius, 
 and resembles in its general principles the ancient school of Epicurus. Its 
 followers acknowledge a kind of anima mundi , but limit the existence of 
 man to the present life; and inculcate the general practice of virtue, but 
 allow, and even applaud, the commission of suicide. Almost immediately 
 after the discovery of Japan by the Portuguese, the Christian religion wa 3 
 introduced into the country by the Jesuit missionaries in the year 1549., 
 and made such rapid progress, that several princes of the empire were 
 soon ranked among its converts ; and about the year 1582, a public embassy 
 was sent from the Japanese court with letters and valuable presents to the 
 Roman pontiff. But the Portuguese, who had settled in great numbers in 
 Japan, intoxicated by the extent of their commerce and the success of their 
 religion, became so obnoxious to the natives by their avaricious and domi- 
 neering conduct, that the representations of the heathen priests became at 
 length sufficiently powerful to procure a prohibition from the emperor 
 against the new religion, which threatened to overturn all the ancient insti- 
 tutions of the country. A violent persecution was commenced against the 
 Christians, of whom twenty thousand are said to have been put to death in 
 the year 1590. Still did the number of proselytes continue to increase ; 
 and in the years 1591 and 1592, twelve thousand were converted and bap- 
 tized. One of the emperors, named Kubo Fide Jori, with his wffiole court 
 and army, embraced the Christian name ; and had the Portuguese settlers 
 in the country acted with ordinary prudence and gentleness, their cause 
 must have triumphed ; but the insolence of some of their prelates, to some 
 princes of the blood, became so insupportable, that a new persecution arose 
 in the year 1596, which was carried on without intermission for the space 
 of forty years, and ended in the year 1638 with the total extermination of 
 the Christians, and the banishment of the Portuguese from the country. 
 The Japanese government, considering the unwarrantable conduct of these 
 settlers to be inseparable irom their principles as Christians, have perse- 
 vered in the enforcement of the most efficacious measures to prevent their 
 re-introduction into the county ; and in order to detect any concealed adhe- 
 rents to these proscribed sentiments, all persons are required to prove their 
 freedom from such heresy, by publicly trampling, at the festival of the new 
 year, upon the images of the Catholic saints. 
 
 Having given a general account of the two prevalent religious sects in 
 Japan we shall proceed to notice more particularly some of their religious 
 tenets and practices. 
 
 If the Japanese have any idea of rewards and punishments in a future 
 state, they perfectly extinguish it, both by their conduct and their system. 
 
 Rewards and Their most refined conceptions amount to no more than this, 
 punishments. that th e a f ter j ls separation from the body, wings her 
 
PAGAN NATIONS. 
 
 703 
 
 Morality. 
 
 way towards Takamans-ferra, — that is, high and sub-celestial fields, which 
 lie, in their opinion, beneath the three-and-thirtieth heaven. The souls of 
 the virtuous are admitted in a moment into those realms of bliss; but those 
 of the vicious are refused admittance, and obliged to wander about in a dis- 
 consolate manner for a long time, to make atonement for their sins. As to 
 their notion of hell, Kaempfer assures us, that the Sintoists acknowledge no 
 other than the torment of wandering like vagabonds around those sub- 
 celestial fields, nor any other devil than the detestable fox, whom they con- 
 jure in the most solemn manner; for a great number of the Japanese look 
 upon that animal as the receptacle of the souls of the wicked in a future 
 state. The odious name which their priests give to that creature is much 
 the same with our denomination of the foul fiend. 
 
 We shall next proceed to the morals of the Sintoists. They who are of 
 this sect maintain, that in order to draw down the benediction of the gods 
 upon their souls in the life to come, but more particularly in 
 this, they must take indefatigable pains to keep their souls 
 unspotted and undefiled, religiously abstain from every thing that may pos- 
 sibly pollute them or their bodies — strictly observe all festivals and other 
 days set apart for the service and worship of the gods, and make voluntary 
 pilgrimages to the province of Isie. This part of their empire is looked 
 upon by their devotees as their Holy Land, because Isanagi-Mi/cotto, and 
 his wife Isanami, who are the Adam and Eve of these islanders, sojourned 
 there during the whole of their lives. Tensio-daisin, who was the first of 
 the race of their terrestrial gods, and the eldest son of Isanagi, sojourned 
 likewise in this very province. They who carry their devotion to the 
 highest pitch add penance and humiliation to these four precepts of 
 Sintoism. 
 
 Purity of soul, according to these Sintoists, consists in a strict obedience 
 to the dictates of nature and the voice of reason ; in an utter abhorrence of 
 what those dictates respectively prohibit; in the exact ob- 
 
 Punt) of ‘■Oui. seryance 0 f t | le j awg 0 f t he rea i m , an d th e commands of their 
 
 prince; and in the absence from every action that is inconsistent with 
 either the one or the other. But Sintoism, in a more peculiar manner, 
 recommends to its admirers an external purity, to which its devotees are 
 inviolably attached, — as devotees, indeed, in all religions generally are, 
 This external purity consists in not defiling themselves with blood, in ab- 
 staining from all manner of flesh, and taking particular care not to touch 
 the dead. 
 
 The observance of solemn festivals, and of those days which are set 
 apart for the service of the gods, is the third article of Sintoism. At those 
 Observance of ^ mes devotees are obliged to visit their pagods, unless 
 festivals. th e y happen to be in a state of impurity, or their minds be 
 
 ruffled and discomposed by any inordinate passions. But before they pre- 
 
704 
 
 JAPANESE. 
 
 sume to appear in the presence of their gods, even before they depart from 
 their houses, in order to go to the temple, they first purify and wash them- 
 selves, then dress with propriety and neatness ; and, above all, take par- 
 ticular care to put on their kamisino, which is a ceremonial habit, and 
 undoubtedly looked upon as a fundamental article of their religious worship. 
 They go to the temple with an air of gravity and sedateness ; and as soon 
 as they enter the outward court, there is a large conservatory of water, in 
 which they are obliged to wash their hands before they proceed any fur- 
 ther. After this ablution, they approach the temple with downcast eyes 
 and an air of contrition ; then they present themselves before a window, in 
 which stands a large looking-glass, which is an emblem of the Deity, who 
 sees all things, past, present, and to come, at one view, as in a glass. He 
 knows all the secrets, all the thoughts, of his adorers. This is the illustra- 
 tion which the Japanese give of this looking-glass. The Sintoists fall upon 
 their knees, and bow down their heads before this window ; and after 
 having remained a few moments in that humble posture, they lift up their 
 heads, and as they say their prayers, turn their eyes with considerable 
 humility towards the sacred mirror. After this, they put some pieces of 
 silver through a lattice into the temple, or the charity-box, which stands 
 close by the latter. This is an oblation to the gods, or rather an alms to 
 their priest. After they have made this free-will offering, they ring a bell 
 three times, as a testimony of their love and affection for the gods, who, as 
 they imagine, take great delight in such agreeable sounds. 
 
 The Sintoists look on pilgrimage as the fourth important article of their 
 religion. Keempfer takes notice of three kinds of it, amongst which that 
 Pii^rimao-e to ma( ^ e to Isie, or Tsie, is, properly speaking, the only one 
 isie or Tsie. peculiar to Sintoism. That of Isie is called Sangct, which 
 signifies the devotion of ascending or going up to the temple. The temple 
 of Isie bears the name of Dai-singu ; that is to say, the Temple of the great 
 God. The fabric is composed of wood, and covered with straw. They 
 take peculiar care to preserve it in its native simplicity, in order to com- 
 memorate the abject state and condition of their ancestors, more particularly 
 those who laid the first foundation of their empire. There is nothing 
 remarkable in this temple, excepting a large brazen looking-glass, curiously 
 polished, and several pieces of white paper, cut after the Chinese fashion, 
 which hang upon the walls. This white paper is a symbol of that poverty 
 of spirit which the Deity requires of all those who pay their adorations to 
 him, as also of the sanctity of the place. The temple is surrounded with 
 a hundred little chapels, erected in honour of some of the inferior deities; 
 these are only small edifices, in the form of temples ; for they are so low, 
 that a man can scarcely stand upright in any of them ; every chapel, how- 
 ever, has its peculiar priest. Near to this temple of Dai-singu, and the 
 cnapeis which surround it, is established a religious order, the members of 
 
PAGAN NATIONS. 
 
 705 
 
 which assume the title and quality of the ministers and messengers of the 
 gods, whose proper province it is to accommodate with convenient lodgings 
 all the pilgrims who resort to that sacred place. 
 
 The true Sintoists are obliged, once a year, or at least once in their lives, 
 to perform the Sanga. The priests, at such terms, present every devout 
 pilgrim with an Ofaray , which is a kind of certificate, or an absolution, 
 entitling him to appear before the gods. Those who, through age, weak- 
 ness, or their necessary avocations, cannot personally perform the Sanga, 
 must at least be provided with one of these Ofarays of Isie. 
 
 The Sanga may be performed by deputation; and the grandees of Japan, 
 and the tributary kings of the monarchy, perform it all by proxy. The 
 emperor discharges himself of this duty by sending ambassadors annually 
 to the pagod of Isie. As to those who undertake this pilgrimage them- 
 selves, if their circumstances be but indifferent, they go on foot, and the 
 poorer sort beg the whole of the way for their daily subsistence. The 
 majority of them carry a staff in their hand, and wear at their girdles a 
 small bucket, which serves them not only to drink out of, but to store up 
 the charitable presents which are from time to time bestowed upon them. 
 They wear likewise hats made of reeds, the brims of which being very 
 broad, serve them to write their names upon, and the particular places of 
 their nativity, or usual residence, that in case of death, or any other unfore- 
 seen misfortune, they may be known and challenged by their friends and 
 relations. The devotees, on their return from this pilgrimage, wear over 
 their common dress a little white vestment, without sleeves, on which their 
 names are embroidered both before and behind. 
 
 As soon as these pilgrims set out for the Sanga, their friends who stay 
 at home hang up a cord at their doors, and twist white paper all round 
 about it, the intent of which is to keep those people from the house who 
 are actually in Ima — that is, in the highest degree of pollution. Should 
 any person in this Ima unhappily enter the house, he would thereby 
 expose the poor pilgrim to a thousand dreadful calamities and perplexing 
 dreams. Signals of the same nature are placed at the entrance of several 
 of their pagods : such prudent precautions, however, are not sufficient of 
 .hemselves to crown the pilgrim’s devotion with success ; for he is required, 
 during his whole journey, to live as free as possible from all manner of 
 impurity. 
 
 As soon as the pilgrim arrives at Isie, he makes a visit directly to the 
 priest, to whom he is either recommended, or of whom he has himself made 
 choice for his ghostly father, and with him he lodges all the time he resides 
 at Isie ; and if he have not money of his own sufficient to repay him for 
 his trouble, he pays him out of the charitable collections he makes at the 
 place. The most zealous devotees begin their pious course with visiting 
 the two temples near that of Tongu, or Ten-sio-dai-sin, and take the little 
 
706 
 
 JAPANESE. 
 
 chapels which surround them in their way. After this visitation they 
 repair to a cave, which they call the country, or region of the heavens, 
 because Ten-sio-dai-sin, having also retired into it, deprived the sun and 
 the stars of all their radiant lustre, and spread darkness over the face of the 
 whole earth, to demonstrate that he alone was the Supreme Being and the 
 source of light. Not far from this carve a chapel is situate, in which is to 
 be seen a Carni, mounted on the back of a cow. The term Cami signifies 
 a representation, or rather an emblem of the sun. The pilgrim performs 
 his devotions in this chapel, after he has said his prayers in the cave of 
 Ten-sio-dai-sin. His devotions conclude with his charitable contributions 
 to the priests of these sacred places. After this he is conducted to the 
 temple of Ten-sio-dai-sin, to whom the pilgrim opens all the secrets of his 
 heart. Although his preceding acts are indeed very meritorious, yet they 
 are but the introduction to the true devotion which is due to Ten-sio-dai-sin, 
 who seems to be the image of the Supreme Being, but disfigured by the 
 fictions which the priests have extracted from their legends. At last, when 
 the devotee is ready to return, the priest makes him a present of an Ofaray, 
 which has been already cursorily mentioned. This Ofaray is a little 
 wooden box, not perfectly square, being somewhat longer than it is broad. 
 This box is full of little sticks, amongst which some of them are wrapped 
 up in white paper — a symbol, as we have before observed, of the purity of 
 the heart. On one side of the box the words Dai-Singu are written, in 
 large characters ; and on the other, the name of the officiating priest, with 
 the additional title or epithet of Taiju — that is, the Messenger of the Gods. 
 The pilgrim having received this little treasure, with all the testimonies of 
 the profoundest veneration and respect, hangs it generally on the fore flap 
 of his hat, so that the Ofaray falls just before his forehead : on the hind flap 
 he fastens another little box, or a little straw, as it were, by way of balance. 
 The priests who give, and the devotees who receive this Ofaray, ascribe 
 several extraordinary virtues to it, but with quite different views. All its 
 supernatural qualities, indeed, are lost within the compass of a year; but, 
 however, it is still preserved in high esteem, and fixed by some upon a 
 tablet in their best parlour, and by others over the street door, under a pent- 
 house made on purpose. The Ofarays of the dead, and of those who are 
 accidentally found in the streets and highways, are always concealed within 
 the trunk of some hollow tree. The priests carry on an advantageous 
 traffic with these Ofarays, especially on New-year’s Day, that being one of 
 their most solemn festivals, at which time they understand well how to 
 make their market to advantage, and to soothe the good humour in which 
 the common people generally are at that remarkable season. 
 
 According to the advocates of the religion of Budsdo, its founder, Budhu, 
 
 or, as Kaempfer calls him, Siaka, was the son of one of the 
 
 Siaka, or Budhu . . - ~ • r 
 
 kings of Ceylon. VV hen he was about nineteen years ot 
 
PAGAN NATIONS. 
 
 707 
 
 age, he not only abandoned all the pomps and vanities of the world, but 
 also his wife and only son, to become the disciple of a celebrated anchoret. 
 Under this great master he made a very considerable progress in the state 
 of contemplation; and the more effectually to wean his thoughts from all 
 external objects, he habituated himself to sit in such a posture as, according 
 to the disciples of Siaka, engages the mind so intentivrlv that a man thereby 
 descends, as it were, into himself, and is wholly wrapped up in his own 
 ideas. Siaka’s posture was as follows: — He sat with his legs across 
 directly under him, and his hands laid one over another, in such a manner 
 that the tip of his thumbs met close together. It was in this situation that 
 the divine truths were revealed to this enthusiast ; that he penetrated into 
 the most hidden mysteries of religion, and discovered the existence both of 
 heaven and of hell ; that he entertained an adequate idea of the state of 
 souls after their separation from the bodies which they animated, and all 
 their various transmigrations ; that he was fully apprized of their rewards 
 and punishments in another life ; together with the omnipotence of the 
 gods, and their divine providence, &c. On this revelation he grounded 
 his system, and in process of time confirmed his disciples in the steadfast 
 belief of it. 
 
 The - doctrine of Siaka is, that the souls of men and beasts are equally 
 immortal, and of one and the same substance; all the difference consisting 
 in the bodies which they respectively animate. As soon as 
 the soul is separated from the body, it enters immediately 
 into a state of happiness or misery, there to be rewarded or punished, 
 according to its deportment whilst united to the body. This state of bliss 
 is called by a name which signifies, the seat of everlasting happiness; and 
 although there be different degrees of pleasure in this paradise, and all are 
 rewarded in proportion only to their respective merits, yet every inhabitant 
 is so fully contented, that he esteems himself more happy than his neigh- 
 bour, and his utmost ambition extends no farther than to enjoy to all eter- 
 nity that share of happiness which he already possesses. Amidas is the 
 sovereign lord and absolute ruler of this paradise ; he is the protector of all 
 human souls, the father and god of all those who are made partakers of the 
 delights of this paradise : he, in short, is the mediator and saviour of man- 
 kind. It is through his intercession that souls obtain a remission of thair 
 sins, and are accounted worthy of eternal life. To live uprightly, and to 
 observe strictly all the commandments of Siaka, are the two fundamental 
 points which are capable of rendering them acceptable in the sight of 
 Amidas. 
 
 As there are degrees of pleasure in paradise, so there are degrees, like- 
 wise, of pain in hell. Jemima is the judge of the wicked, and the grim 
 monarch of this place of torments. He beholds in a large 
 looking-glass all the most secret transactions of mankind; he 
 
 Doctrines of 
 Siaka. 
 
708 
 
 JAPANESE. 
 
 is, nevertheless, almost inexorable : but if the priests make intercession to 
 Amidas for the sinner, and the relations of the deceased contribute by their 
 liberal oblations towards the efficacy of the prayers of the priests, Amidas 
 solicits the stern judge in such prevailing terms, that he not only mitigates 
 the pains of the transgressor, but frequently discharges him, and sends 
 him into the world again, before the term allotted for his chastisement be 
 fully expired. 
 
 After the souls of men have made an atonement for their crimes in hell, 
 by undergoing those’ torments which Jemma thinks fit to inflict upon them, 
 they return into this world, and animate the bodies of such unclean beasts 
 as are most suitable to the vicious inclinations that led them astray in their 
 former state: as, for instance, one takes up her residence in a toad, another 
 in a serpent, &c. From these impure animals they transmigrate into 
 others not so odious and contemptible, and so insensibly return in process 
 of time to human bodies ; in which, if they behave after the same profli- 
 gate manner as they did before, they expose themselves after death to new 
 and inexpressible torments. 
 
 After the death of Siaka, two of his favourite disciples made a cohection 
 of his maxims, and all his manuscripts, which were written With his own 
 hand on the leaves of a certain tree. The whole was con- 
 
 Sacred Book. . , . . , . , , T . » 
 
 tamed m one volume, which the Japanese, by way oi emi- 
 nence, call Kio — that is, The Book. They call it likewise Toke-kio — that 
 is, The Book of Fine Flowers. The two compilers of Siaka’s manuscripts 
 were honoured with deification. They are general^ placed in the temples 
 of their master ; one on his right hand, and the other on his left. 
 
 The gods of Japan are exceedingly numerous, and their temples amount 
 to many thousands. Within these temples there are generally no idols ; 
 
 but their squares and highways are always honoured with 
 the presence of some idol, which is erected there either with 
 a view to kindle the flames of devotion in the souls of travellers, or with an 
 intent only to support and protect the place. Idols are erected likewise 
 near their bridges, and surround their temples, chapels, and convents. The 
 people purchase either the pictures or images of these idols. The former 
 are in general drawn on a sheet, or half a sheet of paper. They are pasted 
 like bills or advertisements, upon the gates of their cities, and other public 
 buildings, or on posts at the corners of their bridges and streets. The 
 people, however, are not obliged, as they pass by, to prostrate themselves, 
 nor to bow the knee before them. They have generally, likewise, an 
 image of their domestic and tutelar gods before the doors of their houses. 
 Giwon is the particular idol which is most commonly represented by these 
 images. They call him, likewise, God-su-ten-oo ; the literal signification 
 of which is, The Prince of the Heavens with the head of an ox. The 
 Japanese ascribe to him the power of protecting them from all manner r* 
 
PAGAN NATIONS. 
 
 709 
 
 distempers ; particularly the small-pox, and from other casualties incidental 
 to mankind. Others, still more superstitious, or rather more whimsical 
 and extravagant, imagine that they shall always be healthy and happy, 
 provided the doors of their apartments be decorated with the monstrous 
 figure of a savage of Jesso, who is hairy all over, and armed with a cutlass, 
 which he holds in both hands, and with which, according to their notion, 
 he denies admittance to all casualties and distempers whatsoever. Some- 
 times the door is secured by the monstrous head of some devil, or the tre- 
 mendous figure of a dragon. Sometimes they content themselves with 
 adorning the door, in the manner of a festoon, with the boughs of some par- 
 ticular trees, or with the plant called liverwort. In short, they frequently 
 place their Ofarays over the doors of their apartments; and it is highly pro- 
 bable that throughout the whole a great conformity exists between the amu- 
 lets of the ancients and the talismans of the Arabians. 
 
 Amidas, whom travellers sometimes call Omyto, is the god and guardian 
 of souls, who preserves them, and saves them from those punishments 
 which by their sins and iniquities they have deserved. He 
 is represented upon an altar, and mounted on a horse with 
 seven heads, which are hieroglyphics of seven thousand ages, each head 
 representing one thousand. Amidas is represented with a dog’s head, 
 instead of a human face; he holds in his hands a gold ring, or circle, which 
 he bites. This may be said to bear a very near affinity to the Egyptian 
 circle, which was looked upon as the emblem of time. At least it demon- 
 strates that this god is a hieroglyphic of the revolution of ages, or rather of 
 eternity itself. Amidas is generally represented as dressed in a very rich 
 robe, adorned with pearls and precious stones ; and as he is considered the 
 protector of their souls, and their saviour, is revered after a very singular 
 manner, by some particular devotees, who voluntarily sacrifice their lives 
 in honour to this idol, and drown themselves in his presence. This cere- 
 mony consists principally in embarking in a pretty little boat, which is in 
 general gilt, and adorned with several silken streamers ; the devotee having 
 previously tied a considerable number of stones to his neck, waist, and legs. 
 The destined victim, however, first takes a dance, and frisks about to the 
 sound of gongums, and other instrumental music ; after which he throws 
 himself headlong into the river. On this solemn occasion he is attended 
 by a numerous train of his friends and relations, and several Bonzes. This 
 voluntary catastrophe is preceded by an intimate converse for two days 
 between him and his god. 
 
 T lat Amidas is in their opinion the Supreme Being, is undeniably evi- 
 dent from the description which his disciples give of him ; for they say he 
 is an invisible, incorporeal, and immutable substance, distinct from all the 
 elements; that he existed before Nature, and is the fountain and foundation 
 of all good without beginning or end ; in short, that he created the uni 
 
710 
 
 JAPANESE. 
 
 verse, and is infinite and immense. They likewise add, that he governs 
 the universe without the least trouble or care ; by which they must either 
 mean an absolute order, which the Supreme Being has established from the 
 beginning, by virtue of which all things are disposed in such a manner that 
 Nature indispensably obeys it ; or simply, that the providence of God 
 governs every thing he has created, according to his own good will and 
 pleasure, without the least trouble. However that may be, if they acknow- 
 ledge that Amidas governs the universe, they own, by consequence, his 
 providence. Besides the temples and altars which are erected to his honour 
 throughout the whole empire of Japan, a great number of convents are con- 
 secrated to him, in which several monks and nuns reside, who are for ever 
 destined to a single state on pain of death. 
 
 Canon, called by some travellers the son of Amidas, presides over the 
 waters and the fish. He is the creator of the sun and the moon. This 
 
 idol, according to the representation of him, has four arms, i 
 like his father; is swallowed up by a fish as far as his mid- 
 dle, and is crowned with flowers. He has a sceptre in one hand, a flowei 
 in another, and a ring in the third ; the fourth is closed, and the arm ex- 
 tended. Opposite him is the figure of an humble devotee, one half of 
 whose body lies concealed within a shell. Four other figures are placed 
 at a little distance on an altar, each of them with their hands closed like 
 humble suppliants, from which, as from so many fountains, flow streams 
 of water. 
 
 Toranga is another idol of the Japanese. This hero of Japan was 
 formerly a huntsman. He took possession of the empire soon after its first 
 establishment, and by his extraordinary merit, in process of 
 ° ’ time, was revered as one of their Camis, and consequently 
 was ranged among the gods. He delivered Japan from a tyrant, who, with 
 eight kings of the country, his confederates and allies, laid the empire 
 waste ; upon which account it was thought proper to represent him with 
 eight arms, and in each hand some weapon of defence. Toranga defeated 
 them with a hatchet only, and, during the combat, trod under foot a mon- 
 strous and formidable serpent, which in all probability is looked upon as a 
 hieroglyphic at Japan, as well as it is with us. His Mia, which is situated 
 in the province or kingdom of Vacata, is remarkable for the four oxen which 
 are gilt all over, and fixed, by way of decoration, on the four corners of 
 the roof, which projects on all sides, according to the custom observed in 
 the erection of all their Mias. The wall of this Mia is, moreover, embel- 
 lished with the figures of several ancient Camis, or demi-gods of Japan, 
 and the whole structure is raised after the same model with the rest. A 
 number of vagrants and beggars assemble before the doors of this temple, 
 and, as they sing the praises of their heroes, beg the charity and benevo- 
 lence of the public. 
 
PAGAN NATIONS. 
 
 711 
 
 Apes and monkeys are said to be worshipped and to have their pagods 
 in Japan. Their veneration for dogs is of modern date. The emperor 
 . . who sat on the throne when Kaempfer resided in Japan was 
 
 and dogs. so extravagantly fond of them, that since his reign a greater 
 
 number of them have been kept in that kingdom than in any other nation 
 in the whole world. Every street is obliged to maintain a fixed and deter- 
 mined number of them. They are quartered upon the inhabitants; and in 
 case of sickness, they are obliged to nurse and attend them. When they 
 die, they are obliged to inter them in a decent manner, in the mountains 
 and hills peculiarly appropriated for the interment of the people. It is 
 looked upon as a capital crime, not only to kill them, but even to insult 
 and treat them ill ; and no one but the legal proprietor is allowed so much 
 as to correct any of them. All this reverence and respect is owing to a 
 celestial constellation, which the Japanese call the dog, under the influence 
 of which the aforesaid emperor of Japan was born. 
 
 Jemma-o, the judge, or, more properly speaking, the grim tyrant of the 
 infernal regions, has a pagod consecrated to him some small distance from 
 Miaco, situate in a very delightful grotto; in which is also 
 situate a convent, to which the nobility, whose circumstances 
 are but narrow, and their families large, send their younger children whom 
 they cannot with any convenience support in a manner suitable to their 
 character and grandeur. In the same place stands likewise a pagod of 
 that infernal judge, who is styled the king of the devils. Two large devils 
 are placed on each side of him; and as for himself, his figure is as mon- 
 strous and formidable as is suitable to his function and his gloomy habita- 
 tion. One of these devils acts as a secretary, and registers in a book 
 kept for that particular purpose all the offences and transgressions of 
 mankind : the province of the other is to read them distinctly over, 01 
 rather to dictate what the secretary is to enter. The walls are embellished 
 with frightful pictures of all the inexpressible tortures which the wicked 
 undergo in the regions of hell. This pagod is prodigiously crowded by 
 the people, who resort to it from all parts, with oblations and money in 
 their hands, to redeem their souls from the torments of so formidable a 
 judge. 
 
 Dai-both, or Dai-but, is one of the principal deities of the empire. The 
 etymological signification of his name is, the Great God, or Great Deity. 
 
 In all probability, therefore, he may be the same as Amidas, 
 or the Supreme Being, considered under some of his parti- 
 cular attributes ; or he may be Budhu, perhaps, from whom the Budsdoists 
 derive their denomination. This idol is set up in a very remarkable pagod 
 at Miaco. The following is the most authentic account of the celebrated 
 temple consecrated to the idol Dai-both : — On entering the temple itself, a 
 kind of a gate is passed through, on each side of which are erected two 
 
 Dai-both, or 
 Dai-but. 
 
 L 
 
712 
 
 JAPANESE. 
 
 monstrous figures, with several arms, full of arrows, swords, and other 
 offensive weapons. These two monsters stand in a posture of defence, and 
 seem prepared to combat each other. From this gate the way leads to a 
 large quadrangle, with galleries on each side of it, which are supported by 
 pillars of freestone. Having crossed this square, another gate presents 
 itself, embellished with two large lions made of stone, which leads directly 
 into the pagod, in the centre of which the idol Dai-both is seated, after the 
 Oriental fashion, on an altar table, which has a slight elevation from the 
 ground. This idol is of a monstrous height, his head touching the very 
 roof of his temple. 
 
 Besides the foregoing, the Japanese have numerous other gods, which 
 preside over their fortune, &c. : — Daikoku , to whom they are indebted for 
 all the riches they enjoy. Tossitoku , who presides over the good or ill 
 
 fortune of mankind. Fottei , who presides over all their diversions. Sueva, 
 who is the god and patron of their huntsmen, &c. 
 
 It is one of the fundamental principles of Sintoism, to visit, as often as 
 , possible, the temples consecrated to the gods, and the souls 
 
 of those saints who in their lives were conspicuous for their 
 merit. This act of devotion, indeed, is always commendable, but must be 
 neglected on no account at such times as are set apart for divine service. 
 
 The festivals of the Sintos are all fixed and immovable ; some are 
 monthly, others annual. There are three in every month ; that is, at the 
 increase, full, and decrease of the moon. In regard to the first, it is a day 
 rather devoted to conversation, and other innocent amusements among 
 friends, than to the service of the gods. The last is set apart likewise for 
 nearly the same purposes. But the fifteenth day of the month is, properly 
 speaking, a solemn festival, and spent in acts of devotion. The Sintos 
 have, moreover, five annual festivals, which are also immovable ; that is to 
 say, New-year’s Day, the third day of the third month, the fifth of the fifth, 
 the seventh of the seventh, and the ninth of the ninth month. The reason 
 of this exceedingly curious choice of unequal numbers is, that they fall 
 upon unfortunate days, and that the usual rejoicings on such festivals are, 
 in the opinion of the Sintos, acceptable to the gods, and avert those evils 
 and misfortunes which would otherwise infallibly fall out on those unlucky 
 days. It is an established notion of the Sintoists, that the gods take delight 
 in the various recreations which constantly attend their festivals, and that 
 the innocent amusements of those who honour them by such public demon- 
 strations of their joy can never offend them. 
 
 Pilgrimages are performed by great numbers, who are generally dressed 
 in white, and seldom march more than four or five in a body; one of whom 
 is, as it were, their commanding officer, and carries in his 
 . 0 rima s es. ^and a s t a flr or kind 0 f halberd, adorned with little bundles 
 of white paper, fastened to one another, which may witn the greatest pro- 
 
PAGAN NATIONS. 
 
 713 
 
 priety be called their fasces. Their discipline, or order of marching, is 
 this : — Two of the leaders of the van move with a slow and solemn pace, 
 and every now and then, with a considerable .degree of formality, make a 
 halt. These two conjointly carry a kind of hand-barrow, on the top of 
 which there is a bell, or something like one, of a light metal, or a large 
 kettle — or, in short, some other instrument alluding to the history of their 
 gods, adorned with the boughs of fir-trees, and slips of white paper, cut 
 in various forms. The superior or commanding officer dances before the 
 hand-barrow, and at the same time sings, in a very melancholy tone, some 
 composition or another suitable to the present subject. Meanwhile another 
 of these devout soldiers files off and gets forward, in order to beg from door 
 to door through the next town, or to collect upon the road the charitable 
 contributions of those well-disposed persons who accidentally pass by him. 
 
 Another set of pilgrims oblige themselves to visit the three-and-thirty 
 principal pagods, which are peculiarly consecrated to their god Quanwon 
 or Canon. These devotees all sing, as they proceed from house to house, 
 some psalm or hymn, in honour to their god, &c. They are dressed in 
 white, and wear about their necks a list or catalogue of the several temples 
 of Canon, which they are still to visit. This course of life — this method 
 of travelling the kingdom over, in the name of some deity or other — is so 
 commodious and agreeable, that thousands become pilgrims, in order to live 
 free from the solicitudes and anxieties of life. 
 
 There are others who commence pilgrims with more credit and reputa- 
 tion than the rest, and voluntarily submit to such austerities and acts of 
 self-denial as are looked upon by the majority of the people to be the 
 external and visible marks of true holiness. They travel naked, even in 
 frost and snow, with no other covering but a twist of straw girt round their 
 loins. This penance is complied with, in order either to perform their 
 solemn vows made in times of distress, or with the pleasing prospect of 
 drawing down some singular blessing of the gods upon them ; and they are 
 such great strangers to the occupation of begging, that they will not accept 
 of the least charitable contribution, even when offered to them. 
 
 There is another set of people who dedicate themselves entirely to 
 Amidas, whose very title plainly shows the devotion to which alone they 
 are inviolably attached ; that is, to repeat as often as possible the Namanda* 
 or prayers, which the Japanese likewise distinguish by the name of Nam- 
 butz. They are a sort of religious body, or confraternity; and both citi- 
 zens and gentlemen enter themselves as members of their society, but the 
 majority of them, indeed, consist of vulgar people, who assemble in the 
 streets and places of the most public resort. There they either sing or 
 repeat the Namanda to the tinkling of a little bell, which they make use of 
 to gather round about them a crowd of passengers, and especially of such 
 credulous devotees as are of opinion that prayers are always effectual, let 
 
714 
 
 JAPANESE. 
 
 Their prayers. 
 
 the person wfto pronounces them be ever so impious or hypocritical. As 
 these prayers, according to the exalted idea which the Japanese entertain 
 of them, are highly conducive to the consolation and relief of their friends 
 and relations who are doing penance in another world, every one contri- 
 butes some charitable benefaction, to extenuate the torments of their de- 
 ceased friends. The members of this society are very punctual in the 
 relief of each other under any misfortunes whatsoever; and this mutual 
 testimony of their love and friendship is the basis and foundation of their 
 order. They bury the dead themselves, and contribute out of their own 
 private stock, or the alms which they collect, towards the interment of those 
 who are unable, through their necessitous circumstances, to bear the expense. 
 When any devotee of wealth and reputation presents himself to be a mem- 
 ber, they ask him, in the first place, if he be willing to contribute, as far as 
 in him lies, towards the interment of any deceased brother. If he refuse 
 to enter upon this engagement, he is peremptorily denied admittance. 
 
 The Japanese say their prayers upon a rosary or a chaplet. Each sect 
 has one peculiar to itself; that belonging to the sect of Seodosin consists 
 of two circles, one over the other. The first, or uppermost, 
 consists of forty beads, and the lowest of thirty. The sects 
 of Ikosia and Sensju have each their respective chaplets. The latter is 
 made use of by the Chinese, as well as the Japanese, and is called in the 
 language of the latter Fiakmanben. These are their most remarkable 
 chaplets, by the assistance of which these islanders count their prayers, 
 which are much longer than those of the Roman Catholics. They are 
 obliged to repeat them a hundred and eight times over, because the Bonzes 
 assure them that there are as many different sins, which render a man 
 polluted and unclean ; and against each of their attacks a faithful and true 
 member of the Japanese church ought always to be provided with a proper 
 prayer for his spiritual defence. Every morning, as soon as ever they 
 rise, they are obliged to make some ejaculatory prayer, lifting up the 
 fingers of their right hand. The Japanese imagine, that by this devout 
 precaution they shall frustrate the wicked devices of the devil. 
 
 The emperor of Japan was formerly the Dairi himself, who, though of 
 race divine, is not honoured with the illustrious title of Mikotto, which is 
 only ascribed to those gods and demi-gods who were his 
 ancestors. However, his title of Ten-sin is very august and 
 glorious, the signification of it being no less than the son of Heaven. In 
 their common discourse, indeed, he is only called the Dairi : his person is 
 looked on as sacred ; and he is never permitted to touch the ground with 
 his sacred feet. It is derogatory to his dignity to walk ; and for that reason, 
 whenever he appears in public, his guards carry him upon their shoulders. 
 He is never exposed to the inclemency of the air, nor the heat of the sun ; 
 and so sacred is his person, that no one must presume to touch his beard. 
 
 Their Dairi. 
 
pagan nations. 
 
 715 
 
 hair, or nails, unless they take the favourable opportunity, whilst he is 
 asleep, to rob him of those excrescences, which, if neglected, would appear 
 slovenly and indecent. Formerly this prince was obliged to expose himself 
 every morning to public view, for several hours together; at which time he 
 appeared seated on his throne, with his crown upon his head ; his eyes, 
 hands, and feet were all kept fixed, and his whole body seemed as im- 
 movable as a statue. On this grotesque exhibition the tranquillity, in short, 
 of the whole kingdom entirely depended. But this ceremony is now done 
 away; the Dairi has at present no business upon his hands but to consult 
 his ease and his diversions. Every dish that is served up at his table, and 
 every plate laid upon it, must be perfectly new. By the established rules 
 of their ceremonial, every implement, of what nature or kind soever, that 
 is once made use of at his table, must never be brought before him any 
 more ; they must be wholly destroyed and broken to pieces ; for which 
 reason his furniture is very cheap and very ordinary. Should they be pre- 
 served, the consequence, it seems, might prove fatal to other people ; for 
 the superstitious Japanese are of opinion, that if a layman should, through 
 inadvertency, eat off a plate that had been served at the table of his holi- 
 ness, he would immediately be tormented with a sore mouth, and an inflam- 
 mation in his throat. Upon the same principle, should a layman presume 
 to put on any vestment whatever belonging to the Dairi, without express 
 orders from the emperor, his body would infallibly be bloated like one that 
 has been poisoned. 
 
 As soon as ever the throne of the Dairi becomes vacant, a successor is 
 sleeted without the least regard either to age or sex; but proximity of blood 
 is observed with the utmost exactness, insomuch that some- 
 
 Election of Dairi. . . r ...... . . , 
 
 times an infant is established on the throne, and sometimes, 
 
 likewise, the widow and relict of the deceased monarch. In case there be 
 several candidates for the throne, and the right of primogeniture appears 
 dubious, and difficult to be decided, then each reigns alternately so many 
 years, in proportion to their respective titles to this impotent royalty: for so 
 it may properly be called ; for notwithstanding the religious adoration, or 
 something nearly allied to it, which is paid to this prince, yet his dignity 
 is without authority, and it must never be exerted without the approbation 
 of the emperor. He is a pope, and infallible with respect to the people ; 
 but his infallibility ceases whenever it is repugrrant to the interests of the 
 secular monarch. Sometimes the Dairi abdicates his crown to promote his 
 children ; and in that case, if he have a numerous issue, he has the plea- 
 sure to see some part of their reign before he dies. 
 
 The Dairi, in general, wears a black tunic under a scarlet robe, with a 
 large veil over it, made something like our crape, the fringes of which fall 
 over his hands ; and upon his head he has a cap, embellished 
 with divers tufts or tassels. All his court distinguish them- 
 
 Dress. 
 
1 
 
 716 
 
 JAPANESE. 
 
 selves frcm the laity by their dress. Their various habits likewise denote 
 their respective quality and functions. It would be tedious to expatiate on 
 this variety of their attire, the most remarkable circumstance consisting prin- 
 cipally in the fashion of their cap, which is the mark of their distinction. 
 Some wear it with a crape band, either twisted or hanging loosely down ; 
 others with a piece of silk, which falls over their eyes. They likewise 
 wear a scarf over their shoulders, which may properly be called their cere- 
 monial. When they pay their respects, their congee must be made only 
 so low, as that the bottom of the scarf may just sweep the ground ; and for 
 that reason, as there are degrees of quality among them, the scarf is either 
 longer or shorter, in proportion thereto ; and consequently their salutations 
 are either more or less submissive. 
 
 When the Dairi was supreme head of the kingdom, he had no fixed 
 place of residence ; but at present, both he and his court are settled at 
 Authority of the Miaco. The emperor allows him a very strong life-guard, 
 Dairi - under the specious pretence of paying him those honours 
 
 which are due to his rank and dignity, and of securing his sacred person 
 from any public or private insults. It was about the middle of the twelfth 
 century, that the Dairi was dispossessed of his sovereignty. Before that 
 time, the civil and ecclesiastical power was concentrated in one and the 
 same monarch ; and for a considerable time after this revolution, the secu- 
 lar prince was so modest as to be contented with the title of general or 
 viceroy of the crown, and willing to submit some part of the civil authority 
 to the supreme head of the church, till the reign of Taiko, who, in the 
 year 1585, made himself absolute monarch, and left the other the empty 
 title only of a prince, without any authority to support his power. 
 
 It is the Dairi’s province to canonize their saints, by which must be 
 understood the deification or exaltation of their illustrious nobility, to the 
 rank of heroes and demi-gods after their decease. The Dairi himself, who 
 is vice-god upon earth, is by his dignity entitled to canonization. He 
 imagines himself, even in his present state of humanity, so pure and holy 
 that the Geges (for so they call the laymen) are unworthy to appear in his 
 presence. It is a received opinion among them, that all the gods conde- 
 scend to pay him a formal visit once a year, that is, in their tenth month; 
 for which reason it is called the month without a God ; and as they are all 
 assembled at the court of their earthly vicegerent, nobody pays them any 
 divine adoration during their residence here below. 
 
 The gods, who visit the Dairi, are obliged to watch round his sacred 
 person night and day, during the whole visitation month. Father Floes 
 assures us, that three hundred and sixty-six idols lodge in the Dairi’s pa- 
 lace, and that a select number stand guard around h’s bed alternately every 
 night. It is added, that if he happen to have a restless night, the idol upon 
 duty is immediately bastinadoed, and banished the court for a hundred 
 
1 
 
 PAGAN NATIONS. 
 
 717 
 
 Hermits. 
 
 days. In short, the Dairi is held in such high veneration in Japan, that 
 the water in which that prince washes his feet, is looked upon as very 
 sacred. It is stored up with the utmost precaution, and no one must pre- 
 sume to make use of it for any profane purposes whatsoever. 
 
 The Budsdoists have a very large number of pagods, commodiously and 
 agreeably .situated, and in them are several altars, images, and statues, as 
 tall as men, all gilt ; but the whole is rather neat than mag- 
 nificent. As the religion of Budsdo is divided into several 
 branches, each division has its peculiar mode of worship, with proper pa- 
 gods and priests ; and both are dependent on one superior church ; in which 
 particular there is but a trivial difference between them and us. Near 
 these pagods are situated the convents, which are plentifully stored with 
 monks, whose profession or trade it is to make atonement for the sins both 
 of the living and the dead. There are some monks among these sects who 
 are allowed to marry, and even to educate their male issue in the convent 
 where they are born. 
 
 There are various orders of hermits, nuns, &c., in Japan. Our limits 
 will permit us to notice such only as are most distinguished. Among the 
 former are the Jammabos, or soldiers of the mountains. By 
 their institution they are taught to fight manfully, on all occa- 
 sions, in defence of their gods, and the established religion. The solemn 
 vow which they make, is to renounce all temporal advantages for the 
 prospect of eternal happiness, and it is with this godly view that they un- 
 dergo the severest mortifications, impose upon themselves the most arduous 
 undertakings, ascend the most craggy mountains, and wash themselves 
 frequently in the coldest water in the depth of the severest winter. The 
 more affluent of these Jammabos have their respective habitations ; but 
 the poorer sort rove about from place to place, and beg for their daily 
 sustenance. 
 
 The monks of these orders dress like laymen ; but their usual dress is 
 embellished with some decorations that are rather uncommon. They 
 wear a sabre in their girdles, a little staff in their hands, with a brass head, 
 and four rings of the same metal ; and in order to excite the charity and 
 compassion of those who pass by them, they also carry a shell, which in 
 fashion and sound resembles a horn. They frequently wave their staves 
 as they arc muttering some particular expressions in their prayers. 
 
 They wear about their necks a scarf, or rather a silk band, adorned with 
 fringes, which is longer or shorter, according to their respective qualifica- 
 tions. The form and beauty of their fringes likewise distinguish their qua- 
 lity, and their cap is made according to a very singular fashion. They 
 carry a wallet upon their backs, with a book in it, a little money, and a 
 Coat. They wear sandals on their feet, composed either of straw, or the 
 
 stalks of the flower lotos. This is not, however, the only plant that is 
 46 
 
713 
 
 JAPANESE. 
 
 looked upon as sacred; for the Japanese entertain the same idea of the fir 
 and the bamboo. They imagine, that these plants have a supernatural 
 influence over their future fortunes. The bamboo is deposited in the armo- 
 ries of the emperor of Japan ; and his subjects look upon that and fire as 
 emblems of his sacred majesty. 
 
 These hermits, who originally professed Sintoism in its utmost beauty 
 and extent, have entirely degenerated from their first institution. Their 
 laws were severe, and their establishment simple; but they have gradually 
 forsaken and neglected the austerity of the former, and the plainness of the 
 latter. They have blended the worship of strange gods with their Sinto- 
 ism, and all the superstitions and ceremonies of the Indies are added to 
 their theology. By their laws they are obliged to climb up to the summit 
 of the most craggy mountains ; this penance, however, is never performed 
 at present, but with apparent indifference and inattention. As their habita- 
 tions are generally adjacent to some Mia, they in a very earnest and noisy 
 manner beg the charity and benevolence of all those who pass by, in the 
 name of the illustrious Cami, to whose service their temple is peculiarly 
 devoted ; at the same time, giving them a long and tedious detail of his life, 
 character, and miracles, attended with a preposterous agitation of their 
 staves, on which a large number of copper rings are fastened; in the inhar- 
 monious sound of a kind of sea-horn, of which they make use instead of a 
 trumpet. Their children likewise join in the chorus, and are as noisy and 
 importunate as their parents. 
 
 The Bikunis is an order of mendicant nuns in Japan, who take on them- 
 selves the habit either from the compulsion of their parents, or to gratify 
 their own vicious inclinations. These female devotees are 
 in general perfect beauties. The poorer classes, having 
 several daughters, endeavour to promote those who are young and hand- 
 some to this mendicant profession ; and some of them solicit it for them- 
 selves, from a secret persuasion that the strongest motive to love and com- 
 passion is beauty. The Jammabos make no scruple of selecting their 
 wives out of this society of Bikunis, or entering their daughters as religious 
 members among them. This order of young ladies may with propriety be 
 styled the nuns of Venus, for there are several of them, who, after they 
 liave been so complaisant to the public, as to devote their charms for some 
 time to its service, dedicate the remainder of their youth and beauty to this 
 sociable retreat ; in short, they have no one mark of sanctity about them, 
 but their tonsure; being obliged by the rules of their order to be shaved. 
 
 The following is a description of the nuptial ceremony among the Japa- 
 nese : — The bridegroom and the bride go out of town by two different ways, 
 
 Nuptial cere with their respective retinues, and meet by appointment at 
 
 m ' ,|lus - the foot of a certain hill. In the retinue of the former, inde- 
 
 pendently of his friends and relations, are many carriages loaded with pro- 
 
PAGAN NATIONS. 
 
 719 
 
 visions. Having arrived at the hill, to the summit of which they ascend 
 by a flight of stairs made on purpose, they there enter a tent, and seat 
 themselves, one on the one side, and the other on the other, like plenipo* 
 tentiaries assembled at the congress of peace. The parents of both parties 
 place themselves behind the bride, and a band of musicians range them- 
 selves behind the bridegroom, but all without the precincts of the tent. Both 
 their retinues stay below at the foot of the hill. The bridegroom and the 
 bride, each with a flambeau, then present themselves under the tent, before 
 the god of marriage, who is placed upon an altar there, having the head of 
 a dog, which is a lively emblem of the mutual fidelity requisite in a state 
 of wedlock. The string in his hands is another symbol of the force and 
 obligation of its bands. Near the god, and between the two parties, stands 
 a bonze, whose office is to perform the marriage ceremony. There are 
 several lighted lamps at a small distance from the tent, at one of which the 
 bride lights the flambeau which she holds in her hand, pronouncing at the 
 same time a form of words, which axe dictated to her by the bonze ; after 
 this the bridegroom lights his taper or flambeau, by that of his intended 
 bride. This part of the ceremony is accompanied with loud acclamations 
 of joy, and the congratulations of all the friends and relations then present 
 of the newly-married couple. At the same time the bonze dismisses them 
 with his benediction, and their retinue make a large bonfire at the foot of 
 the hill, in which are thrown all the toys and playthings with which the 
 young bride amused herself in her virgin state. Others produce a distaff 
 and some flax before her, to intimate, that henceforward she must apply 
 herself to the prudent management of her family affairs. The ceremony 
 concludes with the solemn sacrifice of two oxen to the god of marriage. 
 After this the newly-married couple return with their retinues, and the 
 bride is conducted to her husband’s house, where she finds every room in 
 the most exact order, and embellished in the gayest manner. The pave- 
 ment and the threshold are strewed with flowers and greens, whilst flags 
 and streamers on the housetops seem to promise nothing but one continued 
 series of delight, which may continue unfeigned, in all probability, the time 
 of the nuptials, which are celebrated eight days successively. 
 
 The Japanese burn their dead. If the deceased be a person of distinc- 
 tion, all his friends and relations, dressed in mourning, repair to the place 
 Funeral so- appointed for burning the corpse, about an hour before the 
 lemnities. funeral procession. They are preceded by several compa- 
 
 nies of bonzes. The deceased, seated in a coffin, is carried by four men ; 
 his head is somewhat inclined forwards, and his hands closed, as if in a 
 praying posture. The spot where the body is burned is surrounded with 
 four walls, covered with white cloth, the four gates only excepted, through 
 which they are to enter. These gates front the four cardinal points of the 
 compass. They dig a deep grave in the middle, which is filled with *vood, 
 
720 
 
 TARTARS. 
 
 and on each side a table is placed, covered with all manner of provisions. 
 On one of them stands a little chafing-dish, like a censer, full of live coals 
 and sweet wood. As soon as the corpse is brought to the brink of the 
 grave, they fasten a long cord to the coffin, which is made like a little bed 
 for the deceased to lie on. After they have carried the little bed in form 
 thrice round the grave, they lay it on the funeral pile, whilst the bonzes 
 and relations of the deceased call incessantly on the name of his tutelary 
 idol. After this, the superior bonze, that is, he who marched at the head 
 of the procession, walks three times round the corpse with his lighted taper, 
 waving it three times over his head, and pronouncing some mystic words, 
 to the meaning of which the assistants themselves are perfect strangers. 
 The last action denotes that the soul exists from all eternity, and will never 
 cease to be ; but this emblem seems forced and very obscure. After this 
 he throws away his taper, and two of the nearest relations to the deceased 
 taking it up, wave it thrice over the corpse, and then toss it into the grave 
 But, according to Crasset, the bonze gives it to the youngest son of the de- 
 ceased, who, after there has been a considerable quantity of oils, perfumes, 
 and aromatic drugs poured into the grave, throws his torch into it. During 
 the time that the body is consuming in the flames, the children, or nearest 
 relations of the deceased, advance towards the censer that stands upon the 
 table, put perfumes into it, and then worship and adore it. This ceremony 
 being concluded, the friends and relations of the deceased withdraw, leaving 
 none but the populace and the poor behind them, who either eat or carry 
 home the entertainment provided for the deceased. 
 
 SEC. X.— RELIGIOUS TENETS, CEREMONIES, AND CUSTOMS OF 
 THE THIBETIANS AND TARTARS. 
 
 The name of the Grand Lama is given to the sovereign pontiff, or high- 
 priest, of the Thibetian Tartars, who resides at Patoli, a vast palace on a 
 mountain near the banks of Barampooter, about seven miles 
 
 Grand Lama. f rom Lahassa. The foot of this mountain is inhabited by 
 twenty thousand lamas, or priests, who have their separate apartments 
 around the mountain ; and, according to their respective qualities, are placed 
 nearer, or at a greater distance from, the sovereign pontiff. He is not only 
 worshipped by the Thibetians, but also is the great object of adoration for 
 the various tribes of heathen Tartars who roam through the vast tract of 
 continent which stretches from the banks of the Wolga to Correa, on the 
 sea of Japan. He is not only the sovereign pontiff, the vicegerent of the 
 Deity on earth, but the more remote Tartars are said to absolutely regard 
 him as the Deity himself, and call him God , the everlasting Father of 
 Heaven. They believe him to be immortal, and endowed with all know- 
 ledge and virtue. Every year they come up from different parts to wor- 
 
PAGAN NATIONS. 
 
 721 
 
 ship, and make rich offerings at his shrine. Even the emperor of China, 
 who is a Manchou Tartar, does not fail in acknowledgments to him in his 
 religious capacity ; and he actually entertains, at a great expense in the 
 palace of Pekin, an inferior Lama, deputed as his nuncio from Thibet. 
 The Grand Lama, it has been said, is never to be seen but in a secret place 
 of his palace, amidst a great number of lamps, sitting cross-legged on a 
 cushion, and decked in every part with gold and precious stones ; where 
 at a distance the people prostrate themselves before him, it not being lawful 
 for any so much as to kiss his feet. He returns not the least sign of 
 respect, nor ever speaks even to the greatest princes ; but only lays his 
 hand upon their heads, and they are fully persuaded they receive from 
 thence a full forgiveness of all their sins. 
 
 The Sunniasses, or Indian pilgrims, often visit Thibet as a holy place ; 
 and the Lama always entertains a body of two or three hundred in his pay. 
 Besides his religious influence and authority, the Grand Lama is possessed 
 of unlimited power throughout his dominions, which are very extensive. 
 The inferior Lamas, who form the most numerous, as well as the most 
 powerful body in the state, have the priesthood entirely in their hands; 
 and, besides, fill up many monastic orders, which are held in great venera- 
 tion among them. The whole country, like Italy, abounds with priests; 
 and they entirely subsist on the great number of rich presents which are 
 sent them from the utmost extent of Tartary, from the empire of the Great 
 Mogul, and from almost all parts of the Indies. 
 
 The opinion of those who are reputed the most Orthodox among the 
 Thibetians is, that when the Grand Lama seems to die, either of old age or 
 infirmity, his soul, in fact, only quits a crazy habitation, to look for another, 
 younger or better; and it is discovered again in the body of some child by 
 certain tokens, known only to the Lamas or priests, in which order he 
 always appears. 
 
 Almost all the nations of the East, except the Mohammedans, believe the 
 metempsychosis as the most important article of their faith ; especially the 
 inhabitants of Thibet and Ava, the Peguans, Siamese, the greatest part of 
 the Chinese and Japanese, and the Monguls and Kalmucks, who changed 
 the religion of Schamanism for the worship of the Grand Lama. Accord- 
 ing to the doctrine of this metempsychosis, the soul is always in action, 
 and never at rest : for no sooner does she leave her old habitation, than she 
 enters a new one. The Dalay being a divine person, can find no better 
 lodging than the body of his successor; or the Fo, residing in the Dalay 
 Lama, which passes to his successor ; and this being a god to whom all 
 things are known, the Dalay Lama is therefore acquainted with every thing 
 which happened during his residence in his former body. 
 
 This religion is said to have been of three thousand years’ standing; and 
 neither time, nor the influence of men, has had the power of shaking the 
 
TARTARS. 
 
 authority of the Grand Lama. This theocracy extends as fully to temporal 
 as to spiritual concerns. 
 
 Though in the grand sovereignty of the Lamas, the temporal power has 
 been occasionally separated from the spiritual by slight revolutions, they 
 have always been united again after a time ; so that in Thibet the whole con- 
 stitution rests on the imperial pontificate in a manner elsewhere unknown. 
 For as the Thibetians suppose the Grand Lama is animated by the god 
 Shaka, or Fo, who at the decease of one Lama transmigrates into the next, 
 and consecrates him an image of the divinity, the descending chain of 
 Lamas is continued down from him in fixed degrees of sanctity : so that a 
 more firmly established sacerdotal government, in doctrine, customs, and 
 institutions, than actually reigns over this country, cannot be conceived. 
 The supreme manager of temporal affairs is no more than the viceroy of 
 the sovereign priest, who, conformable to the dictates of his religion, dwells 
 in divine tranquillity in a building that is both temple and palace. If some 
 of his votaries, in modern times, have dispensed with the adoration of his 
 person, still certain real modifications of the Shaka religion is the only faith 
 they profess, the only religion they follow. The state of sanctity which 
 that religion inculcates, consists in monastic confidence, absence of thought, 
 and the perfect repose of nonentity. 
 
 To give as clear an account as possible of this religion, little more is 
 required than to extract the ample account given of it in a description of 
 Thibet, published in Green’s Collection of voyages, and re-published in 
 Pinkerton. 
 
 Friar Horace says, that in the main the religion of Thibet is the coun- 
 terpart of the Romish. They believe in one God, and a trinity, but full of 
 errors ; a paradise, hell, and purgatory, but full of errors 
 also. They make suffrages, alms, prayers, and sacrifices foi 
 the dead ; have a vast number of convents filled with monks and friars, 
 amounting to thirty thousand; who, besides the three vows of poverty, obe- 
 dience, and chastity, make several others. They have their confessors, 
 who are chosen by their superiors, and receive their licenses from their 
 Lama, as a bishop, without which they cannot hear confessions, -or impose 
 penances. They have the same form of hierarchy as in the Romish 
 Church ; for the)'- have their inferior Lamas, chosen by the Grand Lama, 
 who act as bishops in their respective diocesses, having under them simple 
 Lamas, who are the religious. To these may be added, the use of holy 
 water, crosses, beads, and other matters. 
 
 The chief object of worship in this country, is the same which in China 
 is called Fo, but by the Lamas in Thibet, La. This prince, who was born 
 one thousand and twenty-six years before Christ, and reigned in a part ol 
 India called Chantyencho, or as others say, Si-tyen, gave himself out to be 
 God, assuming human flesh; and when he died, it was pretended, that he 
 
 Creed of the 
 Thibetians. 
 
PAGAN NATIONS. 
 
 723 
 
 Titles of the 
 Grand Lama. 
 
 only withdrew for a while, and would appear again in a determinate time: 
 as he actually did, if the testimony of his devout disciples, the writings of 
 the primitive fathers among them, and, in short, the tradition and authority 
 of the whole church, from age to age, down to the present, are at all to be 
 regarded in proof. And this imposture has been practised since as often 
 as there has been occasion for it : so that the god La still lives, and is cor 
 porally present in the person of the Dalay Lama. In which respect, the 
 church of Thibet has infinitely the advantage of the Romish, inasmuch as 
 the visible head of it is considered to be God himself, not his vicar, or 
 deputy; and the incarnate deity, who is the object of divine worship, 
 appears alive in human shape to receive the people’s adorations: not in the 
 form of a senseless bit of bread, or playing at bo-peep in a diminutive wafer, 
 which would be too gross a cheat to impose on the understandings of the Thi- 
 betians, however ignorant and superstitious the missionaries represent them. 
 
 The Great Lama, who, as we said before, is La, or Fo incarnate, is, 
 according to Grueber, called in the country. Lama Konju, or the Eternal 
 Father. He is also styled Dalay Lama. The same author 
 says, in another letter, that Great Lama signifies the Great 
 High Priest and Lama of Lamas; as he is also styled the High Priest 
 of High Priests. These last titles regard only his office, or degree, in 
 his ecclesiastical or religious capacity ; but with respect to his divine 
 nature, or quality, which entitles him to be adored as God, the)'- term him 
 likewise the heavenly Father, ascribing to him all the attributes of the 
 true deity; as, that he is omniscient, and that all things are open to his 
 view, even the secrets of the heart. If, at any time, he asks questions, it is 
 not, say they, for sake of information, but to remove the scruples of the 
 incredulous and disaffected. They believe that Fo (or La) lives in him : 
 hence those of his religion in China call him Ho-fo, or the living Fo. In 
 consequence of this persuasion, he is held to be immortal, and that, when 
 in appearance he dies, he only changes his abode; that he is born again in 
 an entire body, and the happy place of his residence is revealed by certain 
 pretended tokens, which the Tartarian nrinces themselves are obliged to 
 learn of the other Lamas ; who only know the child appointed by the pre- 
 ceding Grand Lama to succeed him. 
 
 To keep up this opinion of his immortality, the Lamas after his death 
 seek, throughout the whole kingdom, for another person, as like unto him, 
 in all respects, as may be, to supply his place ; and thus he 
 
 His successor. , , .... 
 
 has undergone a new resurrection, or incarnation, seven times 
 since his first appearance. Bernier relates the matter thus, as he had it 
 from a Lama physician. When the great Lama is old, and ready to die, 
 he assembles his council, and declares to them, that now he was passing 
 into the body of a little child, lately born; that when this child, who was 
 bred up with great care, was six or seven years of age, they (by way of 
 
724 
 
 TARTARS. 
 
 trial) laid before him a parcel of household goods mixed with his own, which 
 yet he could distinguish from the rest: and this, he said, was a manifest 
 proof of the transmigration. 
 
 Grueber says, that this belief is propagated by the policy of their kings, 
 and those who are in the secret of this cheat, in conjunction with the 
 Lama Konju. The popish missionaries rail heavily at this imposture, 
 calling it wicked and diabolical, as if besides transubstantiation, which is 
 worse, they had no other impostures in their own religion. But it is done, 
 doubtless, out of envy; because they have none which redounds so much 
 to the honour and wealth of themselves. 
 
 Grueber says, the Great Lama sitteth in a remote apartment of his 
 palace, adorned with gold and silver, and illuminated with lamps, in a lofty 
 Homage paid to P^ ace like a couch, covered with costly tapestry. In ap- 
 him * proaching him, his votaries fall prostrate with their heads to 
 
 the ground, and kiss him with incredible veneration. Thus, adds the 
 Jesuit, hath the devil, through his innate malignity, transferred to the wor- 
 ship of this people that veneration which is due only to the Pope of Rome, 
 Christ’s vicar, in the same manner as he hath done all the other mysteries 
 of the Christian religion. 
 
 „ The same author further observes, that he always appears with his face 
 covered ; letting none see it but those who are in the secret : that he acts 
 his part extremely well, while the Lamas or priests, who are perpetually 
 about him, attend him with great assiduity, and expound the oracles that 
 are taken from his mouth. Here it must be noted, that Grueber learns all 
 he writes concerning the Great Lama from the citizens of Barantola; for the 
 missionaries could not see him, no Christian being admitted into his pre- 
 sence, nor, indeed, any body of a different religion, without adoring the 
 pretended deity: however, they took an exact copy of his picture, as it was 
 exposed to view in the entrance of the palace; to which they paid the same 
 veneration as to himself in person. 
 
 Bentink tells us, that at the foot of the high mountain near Putala, 
 whereon the Dalay Lama resides, about twenty thousand Lamas dwell in 
 several circles round it, according as the rank and dignities which they 
 possess render them more worthy to approach the person of their sovo- 
 leign pontiff. 
 
 According to the account transmitted by Regis the Grand Lama sits 
 cross-legged on a kind of altar, with a large and magnificent cushion under 
 him ; where he receives the compliments, or rather adorations, not only of 
 his own subjects, but of prodigious multitudes of strangers; who make long 
 Journeys to offer him their homage, and obtain his blessing. Some even 
 travel there from India, who never fail to enlarge before him upon their 
 own merit, and magnify the sufferings they have undergone in their pain- 
 ful pilgrimage. But next to the people of Thibet, the Tartars are mc*t 
 
PAGAN NATIONS. 
 
 725 
 
 devoted to the Grand Lama, some of whom resort to Lasa from the most 
 distant corners. 
 
 Princes are no more excused from this servile adoration than the mean- 
 est of their subjects ; nor do they meet with more respect from the Grand 
 Lama, who never moves from his cushion, nor any other way returns the 
 salute. He only lays his hand upon the head of the worshippers, who then 
 think all their sins pardoned. The Lamas who drew the map observed, 
 that in receiving the emperor’s ambassador, he did not kneel like the Tar- 
 tar princes; but when he inquired after Kang-ki’s health, resting upon one 
 hand, he only made a small motion, as if he intended to rise from his seat. 
 He was at that time dressed in a red habit of woollen frieze, such as the 
 common Lamas wear, with a yellow hat gilt. 
 
 Grueber assures us that the grandees of the kingdom are very eager to 
 procure the excrements of this divinity, which they usually wear about 
 their necks as relics. In another place, he says that the Lamas make a 
 great advantage by the large presents they receive for helping the grandees 
 to some of his excrements, or urine ; for by wearing the first about their 
 necks, and mixing the latter with their victuals, they imagine themselves 
 to be secure against all bodily infirmities. In confirmation of this, Ger- 
 billion informs us, that the Mongols wear his excrements pulverized in 
 little bags about their necks, as precious relics, capable of preserving 
 them from all misfortunes, and curing them of all sorts of distempers. 
 When this Jesuit was on his second journey into Western Tartary, a 
 deputy from one of the principal Lamas offered the Emperor’s uncle 
 a certain powder, contained in a little packet of very white paper, neatly 
 wrapped up in a scarf of very white taffety: but that prince told him, that 
 as it was not the custom of the Manchews to make use of such things, he 
 durst not receive it.= The author took this powder to be either some of 
 the Gr^at Lama’s excrements, or the ashes of something that had been 
 used by him. 
 
 Trophies are erected on the tops of the mountains in honour of the 
 Great Lama, for the preservation of men and cattle. All the kings, who 
 profess the religion of the Great Lama, before they are inaugurated, send 
 ambassadors, with very rich presents, to crave his benediction, as a means 
 to render their reigns happy. 
 
 Formerly, the Dalay Lama was a mere spiritual prince ; but he has 
 now become a temporal one also, with a large patrimony; the Chian of the 
 Eluths, who conquered it in the seventeenth century, 
 a present of it, which is a much larger 
 patrimony than that called St. Peter’s, usurped by the popes. Yet, for all 
 this, Bentink informs us, that he does not meddle, in any sort, with the 
 temporality of his dominions, or suffer any of his Lamas to meddle with 
 it ; hut puts all secular matters under the government of two Khans of the 
 
 
 having made him 
 
726 
 
 TARTARS. 
 
 Kalmucks, who are to furnish him with all things necessary for the main- 
 tenance of his family. When he has any political affairs to transact, 
 it is the Deva, (or Tipa, a sort of plenipotentiary,) who acts under his 
 orders. 
 
 The religion of the Great Lama seems to be more extended than any 
 other in the world : for besides Thibet, which is its native seat, it has 
 Extent of this s P rea d itself overall the Indies, China, and Western Tar- 
 reiigion, &c. tary, from one end to the other. It is true, the provinces of 
 the Indies and China have, many ages ago, thrown off his jurisdiction, and 
 set up chief priests of their own, who have modelled the religion of their 
 respective countries according to their different fancies or interest. But 
 Thibet, and the greater part of Tartary, are still subject to him in spirituals. 
 The better to govern this vast dominion, he constitutes deputies, or vicars, 
 to officiate in his stead. These are called Hutuktus, or Khutuktus; which, 
 according to Regis, are chosen from among the disciples of the Great 
 Lama. It is esteemed a real happiness to be admitted into the number of 
 these last, which never exceeds two hundred ; and they on whom the 
 honour of Hutuktu is conferred are considered as so many lesser Fos; they 
 are neither confined to the pagods, nor limited to Thibet, but settle where 
 they please ; and soon acquire great riches, by the offerings of their nume- 
 rous worshippers. One of them who resided among the Kalka Mongols, 
 about the beginning of the last century, set up for himself, in opposition to 
 his master, assuming all the privileges and powers which the Grand Lama 
 pretends to ; and, in all likelihood, others from time to time will follow his 
 example. 
 
 For keeping up discipline and order in ecclesiastical matters, there is a 
 kind of hierarchy in Thibet, consisting of church officers, answering to the 
 archbishops, bishops, and priests. They have also their priors, abbots, and 
 abbesses, superiors, provincials, or such-like degrees, for ordering what 
 concerns the regular clergy. The Lamas, or priests, who preside over the 
 temples throughout the country, are sent from the college of the Lama’s dis- 
 ciples before mentioned.' The other Lamas officiate as assistants at divine 
 service in the churches and monasteries ; or go abroad on the mission into 
 foreign countries. 
 
 Regis says, the Lamas generally wear a woollen frieze like ours, but nar- 
 rower, and not so close ; yet it is lasting, and retains its colour. They use, 
 besides the hat, different kinds of bonnets, according to their several digni- 
 ties ; one of which is somewhat remarkable, as it resembles our bishops’ 
 mitres, but they wear the slit before. 
 
 The Great Lama’s colour is red; but as the emperor of China has gained 
 some footing in Thibet, those of his party, as well as all the Mongol and 
 Kalka Lamas, wear yellow. Bentink, speaking of these latter, observes, 
 that they go habited in long yellow robes, with great sleeves, which they 
 
PAGAN NATIONS. 
 
 727 
 
 bind about their waist with a girdle of the same colour, two fingers broad. 
 They have the head and beard shaved very close, and wear yellow hats. 
 They always carry a great pair of beads of coral, or yellow amber, in their 
 hands, which they turn incessantly between their fingers, saying prayers 
 to themselves after their manner. The nuns wear very nearly the same 
 dress, excepting that they wear bonnets edged with fur, instead of hats, 
 which the Lamas wear. 
 
 There are several princes in Thibet, who assume the Lama habit, and, 
 under the titles of the Grand Lama’s principal officers, act almost inde- 
 pendently of him. The dignity of Lama is not limited to the natives of 
 Thibet alone. The Tartars and Chinese, who are equally ambitious of 
 this honour, go to Lassa to obtain it. 
 
 The multitude of Lamas in Thibet is incredible, hardly a family being 
 without one, either out of their devotion, or expectations of preferment in 
 the Grand Lama’s service. The rules of the Lamas are too many and bur- 
 densome to be observed by one Lama ; therefore they divide the load 
 among them, one confining himself to this particular duty, and another to 
 that ; but they are all obliged to conform to celibacy, as well as to renounce 
 worldly grandeur and employments. 
 
 As to their character, if you will take it from their greatest adversaries, 
 the missionaries, most of them are debauched ; yet they govern princes, 
 who offer them the chief place in assemblies, and are blindly followed by 
 their votaries, who give them the best of what they have. Some of them 
 are tolerably skilled in medicine ; others have some notion of astronomy, 
 and can calculate eclipses. Bernier met with one of these Lama physi- 
 cians at Kashmir, who came in the train of an ambassador from Great 
 Thibet. He had with him a book of recipes, which he would by no means 
 part with. 
 
 The religion of the Chinese and Russian Tartar tribes is a mixture of 
 Lamaism, Islamism, and Gentooism, partaking, in some cases, also of a 
 
 Chinese and resemblance of the corruptions of the Greek and Roman 
 tr!bes an arUr churches. The idolatrous tribes principally follow the wor- 
 ship of the Grand Lama ; but even a grosser species of idolatry is followed 
 by some of the Tartars, particularly some of the Cossacks, who inhabit the 
 borders of China. 
 
 Some of them are the grossest idolaters, and worship little rude images, 
 which generally consist of a small bit of wood a few inches in length ; the 
 upper part is rounded off, and adorned with some rude marks to resemble 
 the human features, and being thus prepared, the figure is dressed up in 
 rags. In fine weather and prosperous seasons, they caress these ragged 
 deities, but are apt to treat them very roughly when the contrary happens. 
 
 Others of the Tartars profess a belief in the existence of one supreme 
 God, the creator of all things, who has divided the government of the 
 
TARTARS. 
 
 70 c; 
 
 world, and the destiny of men, among a great number of subaltern divini- 
 ties, who are left to act according to their own pleasure, and consequently 
 whose favour it is necessary to obtain by special acts of homage and 
 attention. 
 
 It is the custom among some of the Tartar nations to burn their dead, 
 and inter their ashes on an eminence, upon which they raise a heap of 
 stones, and place on it little banners ; but the greater part of the Pagan 
 Tartars bury their dead, and with each man his best horse and movables, 
 for his use in the other world. Others, however, throw their dead into 
 open fields, to be devoured by the dogs, of which many run wild, and some 
 are kept for this purpose. If the bodies are thus devoured by any number 
 exceeding six, they think honourably of the deceased ; otherwise he is a 
 disgrace to his relations. 
 
 On some of the skirts of the villages are seen tombs, which are larger 
 and better built than the houses : each of them encloses three, four, or five 
 biers, of a neat workmanship, ornamented with Chinese stuffs, some pieces 
 of which are brocade. Bows, arrows, lines, and, in general, the most 
 valuable articles belonging to these people, are suspended in the interior of 
 the monuments, the wooden door of which is closed with a bar, supported 
 at its extremities by two props. 
 
 Although no external distinction seems to exist between the living inha- 
 bitants, yet the same cannot be said of the dead, whose ashes repose in a 
 style of greater or less magnificence, according to their wealth ; it is pro- 
 bable that the labour of a long life would scarcely defray the expense of 
 one of these sumptuous mausolea ; which, however, bear no comparison 
 with the monuments of more civilized people. The bodies of the poorest 
 inhabitants are exposed in the open air, on a bier, placed upon a stage, 
 supported by stakes. They all appear to hold their dead in great vene- 
 ration, and to employ the whole of their industry and ingenuity in procur- 
 ing them an honourable burial. They are interred with their clothes on, 
 and the arms and implements that they made use of when alive ; and it 
 would probably be esteemed sacrilege to take any of these away. 
 
 The Mongols on the frontiers of China have built several temples in the 
 countries which they inhabit : one of these is near the river Tchikoi. It 
 was formerly their principal temple, and the Lama who offi- 
 
 The Mon 0 ois. c j ate( j ^ ere h ac [ superintendence of all the others. There 
 is another spacious edifice of this kind, twenty-five wersts from the town 
 of Selinginsk, to the south-west of the lake of Kulling Noor, which pos- 
 sesses the supremacy over four others. 
 
 The Bouraits and Bourettes, of Mongol origin, were not known till the 
 17th century, the period of the conquest of the west part of 
 Siberia by the Russians. They also reside on the frontiers 
 of China, in the government of Irkutzk, along the Angara and the Lena, 
 
PAGAN NATIONS. 
 
 729 
 
 to the south of Lake Baikal, and in Daouria. Their number is estimated 
 at ninety-three thousand. Still attached to a roving life, they have no other 
 habitations than huts made with poles, and covered with pieces of felt tied 
 with hair-ropes. The fire occupies the centre. The huts of each family 
 form a small village. Their furniture is very simple : broad benches serve 
 for a bed , they have a pillow of hair or feathers, under which they put 
 the casket containing their most valuable effects. 
 
 The religion of the Bouraits is a mixture of Lamaism and Shamanism. 
 In their huts they have wooden jdols, naked or clothed ; others are of felt, 
 tin, or lamb’s-skin ; and others again rude daubings with soot by the Sha- 
 mans, who give them arbitrary names. The women are not allowed to 
 approach or to pass before them. The Bourait, when he goes out, or 
 returns to his hut, bows to his idols, and this is almost the only daily mark 
 of respect he pays them. He annually celebrates two festivals in honour 
 of them, and at these men only have a right to be present. The priests 
 preside at a sacrifice : a sheep is commonly chosen for the victim, which 
 they slaughter by ripping open the belly ; the heart is then taken out, 
 and the Shaman places a small flock of wool cut from the back in the 
 lungs, which ceremony is designed to preserve the other sheep from all 
 kinds of diseases. The flesh is afterwards separated from the bones, 
 dressed, and set before the idols, where it is left the whole time the Sha- 
 man is singing. When he has finished, he repeats fresh prayers, with 
 abundance of ceremonies, throwing into the fire four spoonfuls of broth, 
 and as many small pieces of meat ; the rest is distributed among the com- 
 pany. Before he dismisses the assembly, the priests set up a flesh song, 
 much more obstreperous than the first, accompanied with shivering, leap- 
 ing, and howling, pronouncing the names of different demons, which makes 
 the Bouraits believe that he is cursing them, and will thereby prevent those 
 spirits from injuring them or their herds. Particular sacrifices take place 
 on occasion of a journey, sickness, or accident. 
 
 THE JUKOGAIES AND THE JTKUTZES. 
 
 The Jukogaies, who are inhabitants of the parts adjacent to Lena, pay 
 divine honours to their dead, after they have hung up and dried their 
 skeletons in the air, and adorned them with necklaces made of glass. The 
 Jukutzes seem to acknowledge the existence of a god, who is their creator 
 and preserver, and the all-wise disposer of good and evil. They have an 
 annual festival, which they celebrate every spring with a great degree of 
 solemnity — that is, by kindling a large bonfire, which must be kept up as 
 long as the festival lasts, and abstaining the whole time from all kinds of 
 liquors, they being destined only for libations, which consist in pouring 
 their common drink eastward into the fire. In this ceremony there seems 
 to be a kind of religious adoration paid to that element. 
 
730 
 
 TARTARS. 
 
 CALMONES-BARABINSKI. 
 
 There are some Calmones-Barabinski, who have a clumsy wooden idol 
 for their god, dressed like a merry-andrew, in a party-coloured coat. This 
 idol is locked up in a cabinet, when they are indolent and inactive at home ; 
 but they take it along with them when they go hunting or coursing in the 
 fields. On those public occasions he is carried in procession in an open 
 chariot, which is kept for such particular purposes, and the first beast 
 which is met with is sacrificed to his honour. If the chase has proved 
 successful, the idol, at their return, is placed in his niche at the very sum- 
 mit of a hut, which is adorned from top to bottom, before, behind, and on 
 each side, with marten-skins and sable-skins, the spoils of the chase ; and 
 these hang there till the weather perfectly destroys them. It would be 
 looked upon as a profanation, and an act of sacrilege, to make use of them 
 on any common occasion, or sell them to strangers, who might employ them 
 to their own use. 
 
 THE TUNGUSES. 
 
 The Tunguses, who are inhabitants of almost all the eastern parts of 
 Siberia, practise the same kind of idolatrous worship. They acknowledge 
 a god, who is called Sahamman, the creator of all things; but they never 
 make their applications to him in times of distress, whether public or pri- 
 vate ; but they pay their devotions to some particular wooden idols, of about 
 a foot and a half long, carved only with a knife, which are treated with 
 veneration or contempt, accordingly as they give their adorers occasion 
 either to expostulate with or applaud them. 
 
 THE WOGULTZES. 
 
 The Wogultzes, as well as the Tunguses, entertain some idea of a god, 
 who created all things. They acknowledge, likewise, the resurrection of 
 the dead, and believe that the wicked will then be punished, and the right- 
 eous be rewarded. Their public worship consists in assembling once a 
 year, about autumn, to sacrifice in an adjacent wood one beast of every 
 species. After which they hang up their skins on the most beautiful trees 
 in the forest, and prostrate themselves before them. This annual festival 
 concludes with regaling themselves on the flesh of their sacrifices ; after 
 which they return home, and think themselves discharged from all religious 
 duties for the current year. 
 
 THE CIRCASSIAN TARTARS. 
 
 The Circassian Tartars are reckoned as Mohammedans and Greeks, there 
 being several of both those persuasions among them ; idolatry, neverthe- 
 less, has a prevailing power over them. When any person of distinction 
 
PAGAN NATIONS. 
 
 731 
 
 among them dies, they sacrifice a he-goat, hang up his skin upon a high 
 pole in the middle of the town, and come one after another to pay it divine 
 adoration. This skin is never taken down till some other person of dis- 
 tinction dies ; and then they put a fresh one in its place. John de Luca, 
 in his account, informs us that they sacrifice rams, and call those victims 
 Ourbans ; and, moreover, that the places where the sacrifices are made 
 are deemed so sacred, that the most determined thief among them will 
 never venture to touch the least thing that is carried to them. He adds 
 likewise, “ that there are bows, arrows, and scimitars hung on the trees 
 in these sacred places, as public testimonies that they have performed their 
 vows.” 
 
 THE OSTIACS. 
 
 The Ostiacs, who inhabit the southern parts of the Samoides, from the 
 Irtis and Oby to the river Jenitzea, have likewise two sorts of idols; so 
 that in all probability it is a received custom all over Tartary. This, on 
 the whole, does not differ from the practice of all other known idolaters, 
 who never fail to add to their public gods their lares and guardian deities. 
 Their public idols are, for the most part, placed on the top of the most 
 agreeable mountains they can find, or in the middle of their forests, in 
 small wooden huts, with commodious apartments contiguous to them, in 
 which they deposit the bones of those beasts which have been sacrificed 
 in honour of those idols. They have no stated days nor hours for the 
 regular performance of their sacrifices. They only supplicate their gods 
 when they stand in need of their assistance ; but the priests, indeed, use 
 their utmost endeavours to make the people shake off this shameful indif- 
 ference. These priests have no regular call or ordination ; every ancient 
 housekeeper having sufficient authority of his own to exercise the priest- 
 hood. And, accordingly, the worship of their public idols is somewhat 
 more regular, as it is instituted by an authority more ancient and better 
 known. They are peculiarly fond of these idols, and the good old men 
 recommend them to their children. Their sacrifices consist in the fat of 
 fish, and in beasts of various kinds. The victim is exposed in the pre- 
 sence of the gods, with its legs tied, and after that the celebrant, or officiat- 
 ing priest, lays before them, in the warmest terms, the petitions of their 
 humble supplicants. During this kind of prayer, one of the assistants 
 stands with his bow levelled at the victim, and as soon as the priest has 
 concluded, and struck the beast upon the head, he discharges his arrow, 
 and another thrusts a stake through its body. After this they take it by 
 the tail, and drag it along three times into the presence of the idol. The 
 blood is preserved in a vessel consecrated for that particular purpose, some 
 part of which is used in sprinkling the hut of the idol ; another part is 
 drunk among them, and the mouth of the idol is besmeared with the 
 
1 
 
 732 TARTARS. 
 
 remainder. It is almost a universal custom among the Tartars to hang up 
 the head, feet, tail, and skin, of the victim upon some particular trees; to 
 regale themselves with the flesh, and to sing before and after their solemn 
 entertainment. After this they rub the mouth of the idol a second time 
 with the remaining fat of the sacrifice. They frequently pay the same 
 deference and respect even to their domestic idols. The ceremony being 
 over, the whole assembly shout for joy, and wave their sticks in the air, 
 in honour of the soul of their idol, which, according to their notion, returns 
 home after she has assisted at her own festival ; from which it is plain and 
 manifest, that however savage and stupid they are represented to be, they 
 are not so senseless as to imagine that a stock or stone is absolutely the 
 object which they ought to adore. The bear has likewise some part in 
 their divine worship. As soon as they have killed the creature, they pull 
 off its skin, and hang it, in the presence of their idol, upon a very high 
 tree ; they afterwards revere it, and excuse themselves with doleful lamen- 
 tations, as if they repented of the impious deed. They ridiculously plead 
 that it was the arrow, and not they who gave the fatal wound, and that the 
 feathers added wings to its unhappy flight. This extravagance is grounded 
 on a received notion among them, that the soul of this beast roving about 
 the woods, from one side to the other, will take the first opportunity of gra- 
 tifying his resentment, in case they do not take timely care to appease its 
 wrath, and make it some suitable reparation. 
 
 By the description of the idols of the Ostiacs, we may plainly discern 
 that they bear some affinity to the Talismans ; and it is very probable that 
 the infinite number of ancient idols in general owe their rise to the Talis- 
 mans, unless we should be more inclined to believe that the Talismans 
 themselves were originally idols. One of the idols of the Ostiacs was a 
 brazen goose,, with her wings extended, whose peculiar province it was to 
 take care of their geese and ducks, and to protect them from all disasters. 
 Another very remarkable idol is that which travellers have described under 
 the denomination of the Old Man of Oby. His devotees oblige him to 
 change his place of residence once every three years, and transport him- 
 self over the Oby, from one place to another, with a great degree of solem- 
 nity, in a vessel made for that particular purpose. This Old Man of Oby 
 is the guardian of their fishery. He is composed of wood ; his nose, 
 which resembles a hog’s snout, has an iron hook in it, to denote that he 
 drags the fish out of the sea into the Oby. His eyes are made of glass, 
 and his head is embellished with a pair of short horns. When the ice 
 dissolves, and the river overflows its banks, the Ostiacs flock to him in a 
 body, to make their joint requests that he will prove propitious to their fish- 
 ery ; but if the season do not answer their expectations, they load him with a 
 thousand reproaches, and insult him in the most shameful manner ; but, on 
 the other hand, if they prove successful, the god, by way of retaliation, is 
 
PAGAN NATIONS. 
 
 733 
 
 allowed his share of the booty. He has the very first-fruits of their labour; 
 for before they presume to touch one dish themselves at their general feast, 
 they rub his snout with some of the choicest fat. After their entertainment 
 is over, they conduct the son! of the god back again, by beating the air 
 with their cudgels. But, on the contrary, if the season have proved bad, 
 or if they have met with any disappointments, they not only revile him, 
 but they strip him naked, whip him, and throw him into the dirt, as an 
 old, impotent, despicable deity. 
 
 THE SAMOIDES. 
 
 In regard to the Samoides, they are idolaters, as well as the Ostiacs, 
 but much more savage and unpolished. They adore the sun and the 
 moon, to which they add some idols, wrought in such an artless manner 
 that it would be scarcely imagined they had any intention to resemble the 
 human species. These idols are either kept in their proper huts, or some- 
 where near them, or hung upon their choicest trees. They acknowledge, 
 according to De Bruyn, one Supreme Being called Heya. 
 
 THE CZEREMISSIAN TARTARS. 
 
 The Czeremissian Tartars, who dwell on the borders of the Wolga, 
 beyond Casan, acknowledge one God, who is immortal, and the author of 
 all good ; and they believe that there are evil spirits, or demons, who are 
 the professed enemies of mankind, and take delight in tormenting them as 
 long as they live ; for which reason they offer up sacrifices to them, in order 
 to appease their wrath, and tempt them, if possible, not to injure them 
 They take particular care to go in pilgrimage to a place which is called 
 Nemda, and to perform several other acts of devotion to their honour. 
 Thither they carry their oblations to those malignant beings, and never 
 presume to go empty-handed, being fully persuaded, that those who are so 
 imprudent as to carry nothing wdth them will infallibly pine away, and die 
 at last of some lingering distemper. The sacrifices which are peculiarly 
 devoted to their deity are either oxen or horses. The manner of roasting 
 the flesh of one of them is this : — They first throw large slices of it into a 
 dish with one hand, having a bowl full of metheglin, or some liquor of the 
 like nature, ready in the other ; and then they cast both of them into a large 
 fire, made before the skin of the victim. This skin is extended upon a 
 pole, which is laid crosswise, and rests between two trees. They im- 
 plore this skin to present their humble petitions to their god, and to be a 
 mediator, for them ; and sometimes they pay their addresses directly to it. 
 The sun and moon, as being the authors of the products of the earth, are 
 likewise the objects of their divine adoration. These Tartars always per- 
 form their religious ceremonies near some rivers or rapid streams. 
 
 47 
 
734 
 
 TARTARS. 
 
 their priests, their nuptial ceremonies and funeral solemnities. 
 
 The Lamas, who are regular priests of the greatest part of Tartary, have 
 their heads as well as their beards shaved ; nor are these the only charac- 
 teristics or marks of their dignity; for they wear a kind of yellow hat, and 
 a yellow gown, with long sleeves, which they tie with a girdle of the same 
 colour. In their hands they carry a yellow chaplet, which they are per- 
 petually turning over, because, according to their rules, they ought to pray 
 without ceasing. According to the same laws, they ought to live in a state 
 of celibacy, and devote themselves to the constant practice of all good works. 
 There are nuns of this order of lamas, who are subject to the same laws 
 and obliged to observe the same vow. The priests of the Tunguses have a 
 principal, or superior, whom they call Schamman, and devote themselves 
 wholly to the study and practice of the black art, whereas the lamas know 
 little or nothing of it. The schamman, in the exercise of his magical opera- 
 tions, observes the following method : — After he has gone through his' pre- 
 liminary penances, he puts on a kind of robe, or covering, composed of 
 divers pieces of old iron, some in the form of birds, others in that of beasts 
 and fishes ; and all are hung together by rings of the same metal. He puts 
 on stockings made of the same materials, and gloves likewise of the same 
 sort, made in the fashion of a bear’s paws. He puts iron horns likewise 
 upon his head. Thus equipped, he takes a drum in one hand, and a little 
 wand, embellished with the skins of mice, in the other; leaps and capers 
 about, crossing his legs sometimes this way, and sometimes that ; observing 
 at the same time the tune, and accompanying it with most hideous outcries. 
 In all these movements his eyes are steadfastly fixed on a hole at the top 
 of his hut, and as soon as ever he discerns a blackbird, which, as is pre- 
 tended, perches on the roof, and vanishes in a moment, he falls upon the 
 ground in a kind of trance, and continues for about a quarter of an hour 
 entirely deprived, to outward appearance, of all sense and reason. When 
 he comes to himself, he resolves the queries of those who consult him. ^ 
 
 The priests of the Samoides, who are likewise magicians, when any one 
 consults them, put a rope round their necks, and tie it so tightly that they 
 fall down as if they were dead. When they foretell any future event, the 
 blood gushes out of some part of their faces, and stops again as soon as 
 they have finished their prediction. It appears that there is no material 
 difference between these people and the schammans and other priests of 
 the Tartars. 
 
 their oaths. 
 
 When any one is to take a solemn oath among the Bouraits, they carry 
 the party to a high mountain, and there make him swear, with an audible 
 voice, assuring him, at the time, that if he prove perjured he will never get 
 down again alive. 
 
PAGAN NATIONS. 
 
 735 
 
 The Ostiacs display ail their instruments of war before the party who 
 takes the oath, to intimate that if he forswear himself, one of those particu- 
 lar weapons will infallibly in a few days be the instrument of his absolute 
 destruction. The Tunguses clear themselves of any crime laid to their 
 charge by the death of a dog; thrusting a knife into his left thigh, and cut- 
 ting him open to the very mouth. After this they suck up every drop of 
 his blood. The Ostiac takes his oath upon a bear’s skin, spread upon the 
 ground, on which are laid a hatchet, a knife, and a piece of bread, which 
 is tendered to him. Before he eats, he declares all he knows relating to 
 the matter in question, and confirms the truth of his evidence by this solemn 
 imprecation : — May the bear tear me to pieces, this piece of bread choke 
 me, this knife be my death, and this hatchet sever my head from my body, 
 if — , &c. In dubious cases, they present themselves before an idol, and 
 pronounce the same oath, with this additional circumstance, that he who 
 takes the oath cuts off a piece of the idol’s nose with his knife, saying, — 
 If I forswear myself, may this knife cut off my own nose in the same 
 manner, &c. 
 
 THEIR MARRIAGES. 
 
 The Mongols and Calmucs give themselves very little trouble with 
 respect to the degrees of consanguinity in their marriage engagements. 
 They make no scruple of cohabiting even with their mothers. The issue 
 of such incestuous matches are looked on as legitimate, and have a right 
 of inheritance as w r ell as any others ; but in case they be the children of a 
 chan, or some other person of distinction, he w'ho is born in honourable 
 wedlock obtains the preference. They take particular care to find out 
 young wives ; for after they are forty years of age, they look upon them 
 only as governants of their families, or even simply as their domestics. 
 
 The other Tartars are as regardless of the degrees of consanguinity as 
 those we have already described. Some of the most conscientious, indeed 
 will never marry either their mothers-in-law or their sisters ; but the 
 Czeremissian Tartars make no scruple with regard to the latter. 
 
 There is nothing very remarkable in the courtship and amorous adven- 
 tures of these people. Among the Ostiacs, the lover sends one of his 
 friends to his mistress’s father, in order to agree about the price, and when 
 the bargain is actually made, the intended father-in-law covenants to sur- 
 render and yield up his daughter at the expiration of a certain term therein 
 
 limited ; and during the whole courtship, he must not, on any account 
 
 whatsoever, presume to pay his mistress a visit. If he pay his respects 
 
 to her father or mother, he goes backward into their house ; not presum- 
 
 ing to look them in the face ; and, as a farther testimony of his esteem 
 and submission, turns his head on one side whenever he speaks to them. 
 At the expiration of the term of his courtship, the father, according to his 
 
1 
 
 736 TARTARS. 
 
 contract, surrenders his daughter to his son-in-law, and at the same time 
 recommends them to a happy union, as the fundamental article of wed- 
 lock. What the Ostiacs mean by that expression is a nice point to deter 
 mine. 
 
 The Ostiac, as a trial of his wife’s honour, cuts a handful of hair off a 
 bear’s skin, and presents it to her. If she be virtuous, she accepts of the 
 offer without the least reluctance ; but if she be conscious of her own 
 inconstancy, .she ingenuously refuses to touch it ; whereupon her husband 
 immediately puts her away ; and that is all the ill consequence that 
 attends her illegal amours. Besides, she has the liberty to marry whom 
 she pleases after such separation. This ingenuous confession of their 
 wives is owing to their dread of being torn to pieces by the paws of the 
 very bear, the hairs of whose hide are made use of as an expedient to prove 
 their chastity or falsehood. This bear, according to their notion, revives at 
 the expiration of three years, in order to devour the bride who is perjured 
 and inconstant 
 
 FUNERAL CEREMONIES. 
 
 The mourning of children for their parents, among the Tartars, consists 
 generally in weeping over them for several days successively; and during 
 all that time they are obliged to abstain from all manner of amusements, 
 and from the society of women for several months. The child must inter 
 his father or mother with all the funeral pomp and solemnity of which his 
 circumstances will admit, and pay his annual respects to their respective 
 tombs, which must be attended not only with tears, but loud lamentations. 
 These people, as well as the Indians, Chinese, &c., make provision for 
 their dead, and supply them with variety of apparel. The Tunguses 
 hang their dead upon some particular trees, and there leave them till they 
 have nothing but skin and bone remaining ; then tney inter them. The 
 Jukogaies, likewise, hang up their deceased relations in the very same 
 manner, and when their skeletons are perfectly dry, adorn them with coral 
 and little pieces of painted, glass. Afterwards they carry them in solemn 
 procession round their houses, and revere them as idols. 
 
 The Ostiacs either bury their dead, or hide both them and their bows f 
 arrows, implements of household, and provisions, in the snow, from the 
 very same principle which actuates others, who are habituated to these 
 customs. A widow, to testify her unfeigned sorrow for the loss of her 
 dearly beloved husband, takes an idol, dresses it up in the good man’s 
 clothes, lays it in the bed with her, and affects to have it always before 
 ner eyes, in order to aggravate her grief, and bring her departed husband 
 to her remembrance. The widows of the Ostiacs kiss the idols of their 
 deceased husbands, and honour them as partners of their beds during a 
 whole year, and then they are looked upon as encumbrances, and thrown 
 
 J 
 
PAGAN NATIONS. 
 
 737 
 
 * neglected into some corner of the house ; no more mention is then 
 made of iheir old bedfellows, for the time of their mourning is then ac- 
 complished. 
 
 The Samoides hang their deceased infants, who have not attained the 
 age of one year, upon trees ; but they inter between two boards those who 
 are of a more advanced age. They drown or otherwise make away with 
 those relations who are superannuated, infirm, and who have become a 
 burden to themselves and all about them. Near the place where they 
 bury their dead, they hang up their fire-arms, their hatchets, their ham- 
 mers, and, in short, all the other implements which they made use of 
 during their lives. 
 
 All these people in general acknowledge the doctrine of the metempsy- 
 chosis, but in two different acceptations. Some are of opinion, that the 
 very souls transmigrate from one body into another ; others, that there is 
 no other transmigration than that of the operations and faculties belonging 
 to the soul of the deceased. These last, in all probability, imagine, that 
 there is only an emanation of virtues, because they confound the body and 
 the soul together. 
 
 Antiquities. 
 
 SEC. XI— RELIGIOUS DOCTRINES, CEREMONIES, AND CUSTOMS OF 
 
 THE HINDOOS. 
 
 The most singular people on the globe, in respect to religion, are doubt- 
 less the Hindoos, or the inhabitants of Hindostan, a country in Asia, 
 General view of bounded S. E. by the Coromandel coast and Bay of Bengal, 
 Hfndoos. lon ° f the and extending north to the boundary of Cashmere, begin- 
 ning in Lat. 8°, and running to 35° N., near 2000 miles in length. 
 
 Of the great antiquity of this people, and of the permanency of their 
 religion and customs, there appear no reasonable grounds to doubt. In 
 almost every respect, these are the same now as they were 
 in the most ancient periods of the history of India, of which 
 we possess the most faint knowledge. It is supposed, however, by many 
 authors, that the religion of Boodha,* which still remains in the Burman 
 empire, Ceylon, &c., was, in very remote times, the prevalent religion of 
 Hindostan. At present, it is the Brahminical. Brahma, or Brama, the 
 creating power; Vishnu, the preserver; and Siva, the 
 destroyer, are their three greatest deities. Since the crea- 
 tion of the world, however, Brahma interests himself little with mundane 
 affairs. He is regarded as the father of legislators ; since from his ten 
 sons all science and laws proceeded, while he himself was the author of 
 the Vedas, or sacred books. Of his sons, Menou is the most celebrated. 
 From him the Hindoos derive the institutes which bear his name. Brahma 
 
 Gods. 
 
 * This word is spelt differently by different authors. 
 
738 
 
 HINDOOS. 
 
 is represented with four hands, and a crown on his head. The image of 
 the flamingo, on the wings of which he is supposed to fly, is constantly 
 placed near the statue in the temple. His wife, whose name is Seraswatee, 
 is regarded as the patroness of learning. Yishnu, whose province it is to 
 preserve and protect mankind, is represented as constantly attended by an 
 eagle, or large brown kite, and as having four hands and a number of heads, 
 • emblematical of his omniscience and omnipotence. He is said to have 
 passed through different bodily existences, in all of which he destroyed the 
 enemies of the human race. His wife, or female favorite, is Sree, the 
 goddess of fortune and plenty. Siva is worshipped not only as a destroyer, 
 but also as a re-producer. His principal characters are Budra, Iswara, and 
 Mahadeo. As the first, he is cruel ; as the second, he is worshipped as 
 the lord of all; and under the third name, he is known in the mountainous 
 parts of India. He is a great favorite with the common people. He is 
 generally represented with only one head ; the number of his hands varies 
 from four to thirty-two. Bound his neck there are strung a number of 
 human skulls. His hat is the skin of the tiger or elephant. His wife, 
 Parvaty, is the goddess of time and the punisher of evil-doers. Besides 
 these great deities, there is a number of inferior ones, the principal of whom 
 are those who preside over death and hell ; the gods of fire, of medicine, 
 of the wind, and of the atmosphere. G-anesa, whom Sir William Jones 
 justly compares to Janus, is invoked the first, by the Brahmins, in all sacri- 
 fices. His name, and that of Seraswatee, appear at the beginning of all 
 writings ; and his statue Is placed on roads, and at the boundaries of vil- 
 lages, &c. There are two great sects among the Hindoos; the worshippers 
 of Yishnu, and those of Siva. Formerly the worship of the former appears 
 to have predominated on the Coromandel coast, while on the opposite coast, 
 especially in the neighborhood of Bombay, that of Siva prevailed. The 
 followers of Vishnu distinguished themselves by painting their faces with 
 a horizontal line ; the followers of Siva draw a perpendicular line. The 
 gopee chunden, a white clay, taken from a holy tank near Positra in Gruze- 
 rat, and chalk from the vicinity of the celebrated temple of Dwaraos, in the 
 same province, are used for this purpose, as well as distinguishing the dif- 
 ferent castes. There is, however, very little difference in point of religion 
 between these or any other Hindoo sects. 
 
 Yishnu is believed to have undergone nine avatars, or incarnations ; the 
 most celebrated is the eighth, when he appeared as Krishna, and by his 
 victories obliged the Hindoos to substitute the offering of images instead 
 of human sacrifices, and milk for blood. A more particular account of 
 these incarnations will be given. The tenth incarnation of Yishnu has not 
 yet taken place. The religion of the Hindoos is contained in their sacred 
 books, called Yedas, the divine authority of which, however, is rejected 
 by the Jains in the south of India, — a sect who differ in some important 
 
PAGAN NATIONS. 
 
 739 
 
 tenets from those who follow the Brahminical religion. All the Hindoo 
 sects believe in the immortality of the soul, transmigration, and a future 
 state of rewards and punishments; but their faith in these important points 
 is intermixed and debased by the most absurd legendary tales and mystical 
 allegories. 
 
 Having presented our readers with the foregoing general view of the reli- 
 gious system of the Hindoos, we shall proceed to such details in respect 
 to their religious ceremonies and customs as our limits permit ; observing, 
 however, that such as would desire a full account of the various supersti- 
 tious opinions and practices of this extraordinary people, may consult the 
 ample account given by Dr. Ward, in his “View of the History, Litera- 
 ture, and Religion of the Hindoos.” 
 
 The first objects of worship among the Hindoos are supposed to have 
 been fire, air, water, earth, and space, together with the heavenly bodies 
 and aerial beings. But as such a system of mythology could 
 
 Worship. . . - , . 1 c , 
 
 in no wise account for the existence and government of the 
 universe, later Hindoo theologians added three new gods, under the charac- 
 ters of the Creator, the Preserver, and the Destroyer — Brahma, Vishnu, 
 and Siva. Besides the gods already named, and others which might be 
 named, the Hindoo worship extends to the various objects of nature, among 
 which we may specify the following: 
 
 1. The Worship of Human Beings. — The Hindoos worship their spiri- 
 tual guides; also, Bramins, their wives and daughters: and, among the 
 Vamacharees, women of the lowest caste, and even prostitutes, are wor- 
 shipped with rites too abominable to be recorded. 
 
 2. The Worship of Beasts. — The cow is an object of worship, and 
 receives the homage of the Hindoos at an annual festival. The very dung 
 of the cow is eaten as an atonement for sin; and, with its urine, is used in 
 worship. A Hindoo does not carry any thing out of his house in the 
 morning, until he has rubbed his doorway with cow-dung- Notwithstand- 
 ing this reverence, the bullocks employed in carrying burdens, and at the 
 plough, are used more cruelly by the Hindoos than any other animals. 
 Hunoomanu , the Monkey , has also been placed among the gods, as a form 
 of Shivu. Temples of this god are to be seen, and in some places his 
 image is worshipped daily ; he is even chosen by many as their guardian 
 deity. Hunoomanu bears some resemblance to Pan ; and, like him, owes 
 his birth to the god of the winds. The dog, the jackal , and a number of 
 other animals, have also places among the Hindoo deities, though they are 
 not greatly honoured. 
 
 3. Worship of Birds. — Gurooru, the carrier of Vishnoo, half a bird and 
 half a man, has received deification, as well as his brother Uroonu, the 
 charioteer of Vishnoo. Jutayoo, another bird, the friend of Ramu, receives 
 divine honours ; as do the eagle of Coromandel, (said to be an incarnation 
 
740 
 
 HINDOOS. 
 
 of Doorga,) the wagtail, the peacock, the goose, and the owl ; but the ho- 
 nours they receive are not of the highest kind. 
 
 4. Worship of Trees. — The Hindoos do not seem ever to have conse- 
 crated groves, hut several trees they esteem sacred. Tool usee, a female 
 raised to deity by Vishnoo, was cursed by Lukshmee, his wife, in a fit of 
 jealousy, and turned into a tree of his name ; which the Hindoos preserve 
 with great care near their houses, and erect pillars to its honour. The 
 heads of these pillars, which commonly open like a cup, are filled with 
 earth, and the plant is placed in them. Its leaves and wood are esteemed 
 sacred ; and with the latter they make their beads, with which they repeat 
 the names of their guardian deities. Several other trees receive almost 
 an equal homage. It is considered as a great sin among the Hindoos for 
 any member of a family to cut down trees planted by an ancestor ; and 
 the misfortunes of many a family have been ascribed to such an act of 
 indiscretion. 
 
 5. River Worship. — The Hindoos not only reverence their rivers, but 
 actually worship them', dividing them into male and female deities. But 
 Gunga, (the Ganges,) both in their poems, their Pooranus, and in the 
 superstitious customs of the natives, appears to rank highest among the 
 river deities. She is declared to have descended from Vishnoo’s heaven; 
 an anniversary of which event is celebrated by particular festivities. The 
 most extravagant things are related in the Pooranus respecting the purify- 
 ing nature of these waters ; and several works have been written to extol 
 the saving properties of the Ganges. Its waters are carried to immense 
 distances ; every thing they touch becomes purified ; crowds of Hindoos 
 perform their worship on the river, daily, after purifying themselves in 
 the stream ; the sick are laid on its banks, expecting recovery from the 
 mere sight of this goddess ; and it is reckoned a great calamity not to die 
 within sight of Gunga. Many other rivers receive the honours of divine 
 worship. 
 
 6. Worship of Fish. — Even the finny tribes are honoured by the Hin- 
 doos, though the worship paid to them is of an inferior sort. 
 
 7. The Worship of Books is very common among this people. The 
 lower orders have such a profound respect for a book, that they think every 
 thing in such a form must be divine. On several occasions a book is con- 
 verted into an image, and worshipped with all the form used before the 
 most popular idol. 
 
 8. Worship of Stones. — The Shalugramu, as a form of Vishnoo, is more 
 frequently worshipped than any other idol in India, not excepting the 
 Lingu itself ; which, perhaps, ought to be placed next, and which is also a 
 stone. The representatives of Punchanunu and other gods are shapeless 
 stones. Many images of idols sold in the markets are made of stone, and 
 worshipped. 
 
PAGAN NATIONS. 
 
 741 
 
 Festivals. 
 
 Festiva. of Siva. 
 
 9. A Log of Wood . — The pedal with which rice is cleansed from the 
 husk has also been raised to godship by the Hindoos. 
 
 The festivals of the Hindoos are numerous. Our limits will permit us to 
 notice only the following ; namely, the festival in honour of 
 the god Siva, and the festival of Juggernaut. 
 
 In the month of Choitru, an abominable festival is celebrated in honour 
 of Siva, which is thus described by Mr. Ward : — “ In the year 1806 I went 
 to Kaleeghatu, in company with two or three friends, to 
 witness these practices ; at which place we arrived about five 
 o’clock in the morning. We overtook numerous companies who were pro- 
 ceeding thither, having with them drums and other instruments of music ; 
 also spits, canes, and different articles to pierce their tongues and sides. 
 Some with tinkling rings on their ankles were dancing and exhibiting 
 indecent gestures as they passed along, while others rent the air with 
 the sounds of their filthy songs. As we entered the village where the 
 temple of this great goddess is situated, the crowds were so great that we 
 could with difficulty get our vehicles along, and act last were completely 
 blocked up. We then alighted, and went among the crowd. But who can 
 describe a scene like this ? Here, men of all ages, who intended to have 
 their tongues pierced, or their sides bored, were buying garlands of flowers 
 to hang round their necks, or tie round their heads ; there, others were 
 carrying their offerings to the goddess : above the heads of the crowd were 
 seen nothing but the feathers belonging to the great drums, and the instru- 
 ments of torture which each victim was carrying in his hand. These 
 wretched slaves of superstition were distinguished from others by the quan- 
 tity of oil rubbed on their bodies, and by streaks and dots of mud all over 
 them : some of the chief men belonging to each company were covered 
 with ashes, or dressed in a most fantastic manner, like the fool among 
 mountebanks. For the sake of low sport, some were dressed as English- 
 women ; and others had on a hat, to excite the crowd to laugh at Euro- 
 peans. As soon as we could force our way, we proceeded to the temple 
 of Kalee, where the crowd, inflamed to madness, almost trampled upon 
 one another, to obtain a sight of the idol. We went up to the door- way, 
 when a Bramin, who was one of the owners of the idol, addressed one of 
 my companions.in broken English: “Money — money — for black mother.’ 
 My friend, not much liking the looks of his black mother, declared he 
 should give her nothing. From this spot we went into the temple yard, 
 where two or three blacksmiths had begun the work of piercing the 
 tongues and boring the sides of these infatuated disciples of Shivu, or Siva. 
 The first man seemed reluctant to hold out his tongue ; but the black- 
 smith, rubbing it with something like flour, and having a piece of cloth 
 betwixt his fingers, laid firm hold, dragged it out, and, placing his lancet 
 under it in the middle, pierced it through, and let the fellow go. The next 
 
742 
 
 HINDOOS. 
 
 person whose tongue we saw cut directed the blacksmith to cut it on a con- 
 trary side, as it had been already cut twice. This man seemed to go 
 through the business of having his tongue slit with perfect sang-froid - 
 The company of natives were entirely unmoved, and the blacksmith, pock- 
 eting the trifling fee given by each for whom he did this favour, laughed 
 at the sport. I could not help asking, whether they were not punishing 
 these men for lying. After seeing the operation performed upon one or 
 two more, we went to another group, where they were boring the sides. 
 The first we saw undergoing this operation was a boy, who might be twelve 
 or thirteen years old, and who had been brought thither by his elder bro- 
 ther to submit to this cruelty. A thread rubbed with clarified butter was 
 drawn through the skin on each side with a kind of lancet having an eye 
 like a needle. He did not flinch, but hung by his hands over the shoul- 
 ders of his brother. I asked a man who had just had his sides bored, why 
 he did this ? He said, he had made a vow to Kalee at a time of dangerous 
 illness, and was now performing this vow : a bystander added, it was an 
 act- of holiness or merit. Passing from this group, we saw a man dancing 
 backwards and forwards with two canes run through his sides, as thick as 
 a man’s little finger. In returning to Calcutta, we saw many with things 
 of different thicknesses thrust through their sides and tongues, and several 
 with the pointed handles of iron shovels, containing fire, sticking in their 
 sides. Into this fire, every now and then, they threw Indian pitch, which 
 for the moment blazed very high. I saw one man whose singular mode of 
 self-torture struck me much : his breast, arms, and other parts of his body 
 were entirely covered with pins, as thick as nails or packing-needles. This 
 is called vanuphora.* The person had made a vow to Shivu thus to pierce 
 his body, praying the god to remove some evil from him. 
 
 “ Some sunyasees at this festival put swords through the holes in their 
 tongues ; others spears ; others thick pieces of round iron, which they call 
 arrows. Many, as a bravado, put other things through their tongues, as 
 living snakes, bamboos, ramrods, &c. Others, to excite the attention of 
 the crowd still more, procure images of houses, gods, temples, &c., and, 
 placing them on a single bamboo, hold them up in their hands, and put the 
 bamboo through their tongues. In 1805, at Calcutta, a few base fellows 
 made a bamboo stage, placed a prostitute upon it, and carried her through 
 the streets, her paramour accompanying them, having one of her ankle 
 ornaments in the slit of his tongue. Another year, a man put his finger 
 through the tongue of another person, and they went along dancing and 
 making indecent gestures together. Others put bamboos, ropes, canes, the 
 stalk of a climbing-plant, the long tube of the hooka, &c., through their 
 sides, and rubbing these things with oil, while two persons go before, and 
 
 * Piercing with arrows. 
 
PAGAN NATIONS. 
 
 743 
 
 two behind to hold the ends of the things which have been passed through 
 the sides, they dance backwards and forwards, making indecent gestures. 
 These people pass through the streets with these marks of self-torture upon 
 them, followed by crowds of idle people. They are paid by the towns of 
 villages where these acts are performed, and a levy is made on the inha- 
 bitants to defray the expense. On the evening of this day, some sunyasees 
 pierce the skin of their foreheads, and place a rod of iron on it as a socket, 
 and on this rod fasten a lamp, which is kept burning all night. The per- 
 sons bearing these lamps sit all night in or near Shivu’s temple, occasion- 
 ally calling upon this god by different names. On the same evening, dif- 
 ferent parties of sunyasees hold conversations respecting Shivu in verse. 
 
 “ On the following day, in the afternoon, the ceremony called Churuku, 
 or the swinging by hooks fastened in the back, is performed. The posts 
 are erected in some open place in the town or suburbs ; they 
 are generally fifteen, twenty, or twenty-five cubits high. In 
 some places a kind of worship is paid at the foot of the tree to Shivu, when 
 two pigeons are let loose or slain. In other parts, — i. e. in the neighbour- 
 hood of Calcutta, the worship of Shivu is performed at his temple ; after 
 which the crowd proceed to the swinging posts, and commence the horrid 
 work of torture. The man who is to swing prostrates himself before the 
 tree, and a person, with his dusty fingers, makes a mark where the hooks 
 are to be put. Another person immediately gives him a smart slap on the 
 back, and pinches up the skin hard with his thumb and fingers ; while 
 another thrusts the hook through, taking hold of about an inch of the skin ; 
 the other hook is then in like manner put through the skin on the other 
 side of the back, and the man gets up on his feet. As he is rising, some 
 water is thrown in his face. He then mounts on a man’s back, or is ele- 
 vated in some other way; and the strings which are attached to the hooks 
 in his back are tied to the rope at one end of the horizontal bamboo, and 
 the rope at the other end is held by several men, who, drawing it down, 
 raise up the end on which the man swings, and by their running round 
 with the rope the machine is turned. In swinging, the man describes a 
 circle of about thirty feet in diameter.” 
 
 The* festival of Juggernaut is annually held on the seacoast of Orissa, 
 where there is a celebrated temple, and an idol of the god. The idol is a 
 Festival of Ju" carve( ^ block of wood, with a frightful visage, painted black, 
 gernaut. and a distended mouth of a bloody colour. He is dressed 
 
 in gorgeous apparel, and his appellation is one of the numerous names of 
 Vishnu, the preserving power of the universe, according to the theology 
 of the Bramins. On festival days the throne of the idol is placed upon a 
 stupendous movable tower, about sixty feet in height, resting on wheels, 
 which indent the ground deeply as they turn slowly under the ponderous- 
 machine. He is accompanied by two other idols ; his brother Balaram. 
 
 L 
 
744 
 
 HINDOOS. 
 
 and his sister Shubudra, of a white and yellow colour, each on a separate 
 tower, and sitting on thrones of nearly an equal height. Attached to the 
 principal tower are six ropes, of the length and size of a ship’s cable, by 
 which the people draw it along. The priests and attendants are stationed 
 around the throne on the car ; and occasionally address the worshippers in 
 libidinous songs and gestures. Both the walls of the temple and sides of 
 the car are covered with the most indecent emblems, in large and durable 
 sculpture. Obscenity and blood are the characteristics of the idol’s wor- 
 ship. As the tower moves along, devotees throwing themselves under the 
 wheels are crushed to death ; and such acts are hailed with the acclama- 
 tions of the multitude as the most acceptable sacrifices. A body of pros- 
 titutes are maintained in the temple for the use of the worshippers ; and 
 various other systematic indecencies, which will not admit of description, 
 form a part of the service. A number of sacred bulls are kept in the place, 
 which are generally fed with vegetables from the hands of the pilgrims ; 
 but, from the scarcity of the vegetation, are commonly seen walking about, 
 and eating the fresh ordure of the worshipping crowds. In the temple 
 also is preserved a bone of Krishna, which is considered as a most venera- 
 ble and precious relic, and which few persons are allowed to see. 
 
 The following account of the burning of a Gentoo woman on the funeral 
 pile of her deceased husband, is taken from the Voyages of Stavorinus, who 
 was an eye-witness to the ceremony. “We found,” says 
 M. Stavorinus, “ the body of the deceased lying upon a 
 couch, covered with a piece of white cotton, and strewed with betel leaves. 
 The woman who was to be the victim sat upon the couch, with her face 
 turned to that of the deceased. She was richly adorned, and held a little 
 green branch in her right hand, with which she drove away the flies from 
 the body. She seemed like one buried in the most profound meditation, 
 yet betrayed no signs of fear. Many of her relations attended upon her, 
 who, at stated intervals, struck up various kinds of music. 
 
 “ The pile was made by driving green bamboo stakes into the earth, be- 
 tween which was first laid fire-wood, very dry and combustible ; upon this 
 was put a quantity of dry straw, or reeds, besmeared with grease : this was 
 done alternately, till the pile was five feet in height, and the whole was 
 then strewed with rosin finely powdered. A white cotton sheet, which had 
 been washed in the Ganges, was then spread over the pile, and the whole 
 was ready for the reception of the victim. 
 
 “The widow was now admonished by a priest, that it was time to begin 
 the rites. She was then surrounded by women, who offered her betel, and 
 besought her to supplicate favours for them when she joined her husband 
 in the presence of Ram, or their highest god ; and, above all, that she 
 would salute their deceased friends whom she might meet in the celestial 
 mansions 
 
 Burning of 
 Widow. 
 
 L. 
 
PAGAN NATIONS. 
 
 745 
 
 “In the mean time, the body of the husband was taken and washed in 
 the river. The woman was also led to the Ganges for ablution, where she 
 divested herself of all her ornaments. Her head was covered with a piece 
 of silk, and a cloth was tied round her body, in which the priests put some 
 parched rice. 
 
 “She then took a farewell of her friends, and was conducted by two of 
 her female relations to the pile. When she came to it, she scattered 
 flowers and parched rice upon the spectators, and put some into the mouth 
 of the corpse. Two priests next led her three times round it, while she 
 threw rice among the bystanders, who gathered it up with great eagerness. 
 The last time she went round, she placed a little earthen burning-lamp to 
 each of the four corners of the pile, then laid herself down on the right 
 side, next to the body, which she embraced with both her arms, a piece of 
 white cotton was spread over them both, they w r ere bound together with 
 two easy bandages, and a quantity of fire-wood, straw, and rosin, was laid 
 upon them. In the last place, her nearest relations, to whom, on the banks 
 of the river, she had given her nose-jewels, came with a burning torch, and 
 set the straw on fire, and in a moment the whole was in a flame. The 
 noise of the drums, and the shouts of the spectators, were such, that the 
 shrieks of the unfortunate woman, if she uttered any, could not have been 
 heard.” 
 
 Voluntary suicide is considered an act of great merit. The person who 
 is about to offer himself, is directed first to offer an atonement for all his 
 Voluntary Sui sins ’ making a present of gold to the Bramins, and honour. 
 cide * ing them with a feast ; afterwards, putting on new apparel, 
 
 and adorning himself with garlands of flowers, he is accompanied to the 
 river by a band of music. If he has any property, he gives it to whom he 
 pleases: then, sitting down by the side of the river, he repeats the name 
 of his idol, and proclaims, that he is now about to renounce his life in this 
 place, in order to obtain such or such a benefit. After this, he and his 
 friends proceed in a boat, and fastening pans of water to his body, he 
 plunges into the stream. The spectators cry out, “ Huree bul ! Huree bul ! 
 Huzza ! Huzza !” and then retire. Sometimes a person of property kindly 
 interferes, and offers to relieve the wants of the victim if he will abstain 
 from drowning himself ; but the deluded man replies, that he wants nothing, 
 as he is going to heaven. 
 
 People in some parts of India, particularly the inhabitants of Orissa, ana 
 of the eastern parts of Bengal, frequently offer their children to the goddess 
 Gunga. The following reason is assigned for this practice : 
 when a woman has been long married, and has no children, 
 it is common for the man, or his wife, or both of them, to make a vow to 
 the goddess Gunga, that if she will bestow the blessing of children upon 
 them, they will devote the first-born to her. If after this vow they have 
 
 Infanticide. 
 
746 
 
 HINDOOS. 
 
 children, the eldest is nourished till a proper age, which may be three, 
 four, or more years, according to circumstances, when, on a particular day, 
 appointed for bathing in any holy part of the river, they take the child 
 with them, and offer it to this goddess : the child is encouraged to go 
 farther and farther into the water, till it is carried away by the stream, or is 
 pushed off by its inhuman parents. Sometimes a stranger seizes the child, 
 and brings it up, but it is abandoned by its parents from the moment it 
 floats in the water, and if no one be found more humane than they, it infal- 
 libly perishes. The principal places in Bengal where this species of 
 murder is practised, are Gunga-Saguru, where the river Hoogley disem- 
 bogues itself into the sea ; Voidyuvatee, a town about fourteen miles to the 
 north of Calcutta; Trivenee, Nudeeya, Chakduh, and Pruyagu. 
 
 A sick person after his removal to the banks of the Ganges, if he pos- 
 sesses sufficient strength, directs quantities of food, garments, &c., to be 
 _ presented to the Bramins. That he may not be compelled 
 
 death - to cross Voiturunee, whose waters are hot, in his way to 
 
 the seat of judgment, he presents to a Bramin a black cow. When about 
 to expire, the relations place the body up to the middle in the river, and 
 direct the dying man to call aloud on the gods to assist him in doing so. 
 
 The burning of the body is one of the first ceremonies which the Hindoos 
 perform for the help of the dead in a future state. If this ceremony have 
 not been attended to, the shraddhu, or rites for the repose of the dead, can- 
 not be performed. If a person be unable to provide wood, cloth, clarified 
 butter, rice, water pans, and other things, besides the fee to the priest, he 
 must beg among his neighbours. If the body be thrown into the river, or 
 burned without the accustomed ceremonies, (as is sometimes the case,) the 
 ceremonies may be performed over an image of the deceased, made of 
 kooshu grass. 
 
 Immediately after death the attendants lay out the body on a sheet, 
 placing two pieces of wood under the head and feet ; after which they 
 anoint the corpse with clarified butter, bathe it with the waters of the 
 Ganges, put round the loins a new garment, and another over the left 
 shoulder, and then draw the sheet on which the body lies over the whole. 
 The heir-at-law next bathes himself, puts on new garments, and boils 
 some rice, a ball of which, and a lighted brand, he puts to the mouth 
 of the deceased, repeating incantations. The pile having been prepared, 
 he sets fire to it, and occasionally throws on it clarified butter and other 
 combustibles. When the body is consumed, he washes the ashes into the 
 river; the attendants bathe, and, presenting a drink-offering to the deceased 
 return home ; before they enter the house, however, each one touches fire 
 and chews some bitter leaves, to signify that parting with relations by death 
 is an unpleasant task. 
 
 The Bramins undergo voluntary austerities of great severity. Of one, 
 
PAGAN NATIONS. 
 
 747 
 
 Mr. Rogers gives the following account. After having finished various 
 „ . services, he went into the green on which the pagod stood, 
 
 nties. where two bamboos were raised like poles, in the shape of 
 
 a gibbet, at the top of which two ropes were fixed with a slip-knot. Under- 
 neath was a square pit, where he lighted a fire, and laid some sticks near 
 it. After this he turned himself thrice round the fire, observing, by way 
 of respect, to have the pit always at his right; then prostrating himself 
 several times, he went up, twisted the ropes about his feet, then suspend- 
 ing himself with his head downwards, and his face turned towards the 
 flame, he swung himself up and down like a bell, and increased the fire by 
 throwing wood into it, which was in his reach. After this painful exer- 
 cise, which lasted half an hour, he came down, went round the pit, and 
 returning into the pagod, seated himself as before. In this manner did this 
 Bramin exercise himself daily, not with the view of obtaining heaven, for 
 that he looked upon as granted, but in order to attain a pure and exalted 
 degree of felicity. However, he was censured by the rest of the Bramins, 
 for violating, as they said, the law, in not having made choice of such a 
 holy place as the Joguis are permitted to spend their whole lives in. 
 
 Another Bramin had his head thrust through an iron collar, of twenty- 
 four pound weight, made like a rail, four feet in diameter at the top. He 
 had enjoined himself to carry it till such time as he had collected a great 
 sum of money, in order to complete the building of an hospital. 
 
 Two others had long heavy chains upon their legs, one end of which 
 came over their shoulders, and the other dragged upon the ground after 
 them. 
 
 Another chained himself by the foot to a tree, with a firm resolution of 
 dying in that place. 
 
 Another walked in wooden shoes stuck full of nails in the inside: 
 whenever he put them on he used to lie along the ground with his hands 
 clasped. 
 
 DIFFERENT SECTS AMONG THE BRAMINS. 
 
 The brief sketch of the Hindoos already given will rather have excited 
 than satisfied the curiosity of the reader, so that the following more extended 
 account may not - be unwelcome. 
 
 The Bramins are divided into several sects, and are six in number, — viz., 
 the Vishnuvas, the Seivias, the Smaertas, the Schaervaeckas, the Pasendas, 
 and the Tschecteas. 
 
 The Vishnuvas are so called, because they acknowledge no other god 
 than Vishnu. Some Soudras assume the quality of Daetseri, — i. e. ser- 
 vants. The Bramins are also called Daetsja, or Dasa, which also signifies 
 servants, but with this difference, that the Bramins are servants of God. 
 and the Soudras those of the Bramins ; who assure them that they are infi- 
 
 i 
 
1 
 
 748 HINDOOS. 
 
 — 5 
 
 nitely more agreeable to Vishnu upon that account, and also that those Sou- 
 dras who die in defending or preserving the Bramins, go after their deaths 
 into Devendre-Locon, a kind of paradise, which will afterwards be men- 
 tioned. The Vishnuvas are of two sorts ; the one are called Tadvadi- 
 Vishnuvas, or Madva-Vishnuvas. Tadvadi is a word in the Samscortam 
 language, signifying a divine, from Tadva, divinity. Madva is the name 
 of their founder. The other sort of Vishnuvas are called Ramanouja, from 
 Ramanowa-Atsjaria, the founder of that sect. The Tadvadi are distin- 
 guished by a red streak, which is made by themselves daily, from the nose 
 to the forehead, and on the temples, and by a little round mark, which they 
 make at the junction of the arm and shoulder-blade, and on the two nipples. 
 They pretend that this is Vishnu’s mark ; that it defends them from the 
 devil, and Jamma, the judge of hell. They promise Vishnu neither to 
 serve nor acknowledge any other god but himself, and add, that a virtuous 
 life must illustrate this promise, and that otherwise they will be punished 
 for breaking their vows. The chief of the Tadvadi lives at Combecomne, 
 a place known in Palliaccate. He has generally a bamboo cane in his 
 hand, and is obliged either to live single, or, when he marries, to relinquish 
 all his possessions. 
 
 The Ramanoujas draw with namou, a kind of chalk, a figure resembling 
 the letter Y, which extends from the nose to the forehead ; but they mark 
 themselves indelibly at one time w r ith fire, at the junction of the arm and the 
 shoulder-blade : this, they say, is sufficient, and dispenses them from the 
 necessity of marking their bodies daily. They are a kind of Quietists, and 
 assert that it is sufficient for a man to give himself once to God with a sin- 
 cerity of heart, and to have made a vow of being his only ; and that if they 
 should happen after this to lead a dissolute life, Vishnu would not punish 
 them for it ; for it is their opinion he never abandons those whom he has 
 once loved. These Ramanoujas go bareheaded, and with their hair cut 
 very short, except that they leave a tuft upon the crown, which hangs 
 behind in a knot. Their principal chief resides at Cansjevaram, a famous 
 city of the kingdom of Carnata. He has the privilege of wearing a piece 
 of linen cloth wound round his head whenever he speaks to any person. 
 They boast that they are better men than the Tadvadi, because they never 
 interfere with traffic. 
 
 The second sect of the Bramins is that of the Seivias, who acknowledge 
 Eswara for the sovereign god, making him superior to Vishnu. Those of 
 the Soudras who join themselves to the Bramins of this sect are called 
 Tangam. The Seivias are known by three or four streaks, which they 
 make upon their heads with cow-dung ashes. Some wear a Lingam about 
 their necks, which is a stone of a certain shape, and others wear it in their 
 hair. Their children of eight or ten years old also wear it; but then it is 
 covered with wax, ana is tied about their arms with a small cord. This 
 
 t 
 
PAGAN NATIONS. 
 
 749 
 
 Lingam is a public testimony of their being wholly devoted to Eswara ; 
 and the Soudras who wear it abstain, like the Bramins, from every thing 
 that has life. 
 
 The third sect is called Smaertas, and was founded by Saricra Atsjaria. 
 The Smaertas say that Vishnu and Eswara are one and the same god, and 
 worshipped only under different representations or images ; and they do 
 not approve of the disputes which the two preceding sects have among 
 themselves about either of these names. These are not distinguished from 
 one another by any exterior mark, and have few followers among the com- 
 mon people. 
 
 The fourth sect is that of the Schaerwaeckas, who are a kind of Epicu- 
 reans, who do not believe in the immortality of the soul, and treat every 
 thing they hear mentioned concerning a life to come as foolish and ridicu- 
 lous ; with the exception of this particular, they may be said to lead very 
 regular and exemplary lives. 
 
 The fifth sect, called the Pasendas, look upon every thing which the 
 first three maintain as fabulous, and agree with the fourth in their notions 
 of the mortality of the soul ; but they are far from being as strict in their 
 morals. The members of this sect dare not always own themselves to be 
 of it ; for some of them have been torn to pieces, from a hatred of their 
 impious doctrine. 
 
 The Tschecteas are the sixth sect. These pretend that Tschecti is the 
 true god, and that Vishnu, Eswara, and Brahma are his creatures, and exist 
 only through him. They refuse tcHfollow the precepts of the Vedam, and 
 reject every thing that cannot be demonstrated by the testimony of the 
 senses. The last three sects are looked upon as heretics, and are too odious 
 to gain over many followers. 
 
 THE VANAPRASTAS, THE SAN-JASIIS AND THE AVADOUTAS. 
 
 The Bramins have also their anchorets, who distinguish themselves 
 from the rest of mankind by a peculiar way of life, to which they ascribe 
 a certain degree of perfection. Those of the first tribe are called Jaguis ; 
 those of the caste of the Soudras are named Joquis. There are three kinds 
 of Jaguis, viz. the Vanaprastas, the San-jasiis, and the Avadoutas. 
 
 The Vanaprastas live retired in the woods, together with their wives 
 and children, and feed only on such herbs and fruits as they can get with- 
 out labour. A great many scruple to pluck up even the least root, imagin- 
 ing they should commit a sin, were they thus to dislodge the soul of a plant 
 from the body in which it resides. This is looked upon as a very holy 
 way of life. 
 
 The San-jasiis affect a greater abstinence, and abstain from marriage, 
 betei, and all pleasures in general. They are allowed to make but. one 
 
 meal, and to live on alms ; and instead of a copper cup, which others 
 48 
 
750 
 
 HINDOOS. 
 
 generally carry about them, are permitted to use earthen-ware only. Their 
 clothes are dyed with red earth, and they have a long bamboo cane in their 
 hands. They are forbidden to touch either gold or silver, much less to 
 carry any about them : they are not permitted to have any fixed habitation, 
 nor suffered to lie two nights together in the same place, once a year ex- 
 cepted, when they are allowed to continue two months together in the 
 same place. They then make choice of such a spot as is thought to be 
 holy, and there they are suffered to spend not only two months, but all 
 their lifetime, if they think proper. They are bound to be always ready 
 to oppose six enemies, — viz. first, Cama, lust ; second, Croota, anger ; third, 
 Lopa, avarice ; fourth, Madda, pride ; fifth, the love of the things of this 
 world; sixth, Matsara, a thirst for revenge. Those only of the tribe of the 
 Bramins, who lead this kind of life, are called San-jasiis , (or if they be 
 Sattreas, or Veinsjas, they are called Perma-Ampha ; and if Soudras, they 
 are then called Joguis : the latter indulge themselves in greater liberties 
 than the true San-jasiis. 
 
 The Avadoutas leave their wives and children and abandon even what 
 the San-jasiis keep, such as an earthen porringer, a bamboo cane, clothes, 
 &c. Their whole property in the world consists only in a little piece of 
 linen cloth, but some of them are even destitute of that slight covering, and 
 go stark naked. They rub their bodies with ashes; and whenever they 
 are hungry, they go at once into any house, where, without so much as 
 speaking one word, they only hold out their hands, and immediately eat 
 whatever is given them. Some of these will not even give themselves the 
 trouble to ask for alms in this manner, but lay themselves down on the 
 bank of some river, where the country people, who look upon these rivers 
 as holy, never fail to bring them milk and fruits in abundance ; so that these 
 lazy devotees are not so miserable as some people may imagine. 
 
 OF THE VEDAM, AND THE PRIVILEGES WHICH IT ALLOWS THE BRAMINS. 
 
 The Vedam is the book of the law among these people, and contains all 
 they are to believe or practise. It is written in the Sanscrit tongue, which 
 is understood by those of the Bramins who never traffic. It was divided 
 into four parts, — viz., first, the Rago-Vedam, which treats of the first cause, 
 of the first matter, of the angels, of the soul, of rewards and punishments, 
 of the generation and corruption of creatures, of sin, and the manner in 
 which it may be remitted, &c. ; secondly, Tssoure-Vedam, which treats of 
 the powers that preside over and govern all things ; thirdly, Sama-Vedam, 
 containing a system of morality to prompt men to the practice of virtue, 
 to shun vice, and hate the wicked ; and fourthly, Addaravana-Vedam, 
 which treated of their religious ceremonies, temples, sacrifices, and feasts. 
 The last part has been lost for many years; and it is to this circumstance 
 that the Bramins impute the diminution of their honours, and the powe” 
 
PAGAN NATIONS. 751 
 
 they formerly enjoyed. The Vedam is with the Bramins of indisputable 
 authority, being obliged to submit to its decisions whenever it is appealed 
 to ; however, as they used to dispute frequently on the manner of inter- 
 preting it, the sense of it has been fixed by the Jastras, or Declarations. 
 
 This book allows the Bramins five privileges. The first is, to celebrate 
 the Jagam, which is a feast accompanied with a sacrifice. They strangle 
 their victims, whether it be that they are forbidden to shed the blood of 
 any animal, or in order to have it more entire. They afterwards cut it 
 up, then burn it, at the same time repeating certain prayers adapted to 
 the solemnity; but they reserve the heart, which is divided among those 
 Bramins who assist at the feast, who are not allowed to eat flesh on any 
 other occasion. A number of Bramins shun this solemnity, merely from 
 the horror with which they are seized at the thoughts of eating the 
 victim. 
 
 The celebration of the Jagam is very expensive ; for the person at whose 
 expense it is made, is obliged to maintain all the Bramins who assist at it, 
 even if they should amount to a thousand ; and they sometimes continue at 
 his house ten, twenty, and even thirty days. He was formerly obliged to 
 give them whatever they took it into their heads to ask of him, but now 
 the act of treating them absolves him from all other expenses. They per- 
 form this sacrifice merely that they may deserve to go to Devendre-Locon, 
 which is the mansion of the blessed, where Devendre will preside over 
 them. Those Bramins who hope to go into heaven itself, take care never 
 to celebrate the Jagam. 
 
 The second privilege of the Bramins, is their being allowed to instruct 
 the Sattreas in the manner of celebrating this feast, from which the Veinsjas. 
 as well as the Soudras, are excluded. 
 
 The third privilege is the permission of reading the Vedam. 
 
 The fourth is a liberty of teaching it to other Bramins and the Settreas, 
 who, because they have learned it of the Bramins, are therefore allowed to 
 read it, but not to teach it to others. The Veinsjas dare not read it, nor 
 repeat any part of it, nor even hear any of it repeated ; but the same pro- 
 hibition does not exist in regard to the Jastra. As for the Soudras, they 
 are not allowed so much as to speak of the Vedam, nor even to learn the 
 Jastra. 
 
 The fifth privilege is, the liberty allowed them of begging. The other 
 tribes are suffered to give alms, but they are not permitted to receive any ; 
 and indeed there is not any thing that the Bramins recommend so much in 
 their writings as alms-giving and charity, provided it be exercised towards 
 themselves ; but they never fail to hint, that they are no ways meritorious 
 when bestowed on any other persons. As for themselves, they only extend 
 their charity to some few Bramins ; and all the answer which they would 
 give to a Soudra, who should tell them of their great necessity, would be 
 
 
752 
 
 HINDOOS. 
 
 Po, po, «. e., Go on, go on. They receive the most alms from the devotees 
 on those solemn days which are called Samcramanan, and at the burials 
 of those who leave some property behind them. Some of them are so in- 
 fatuated with the merit of this charity, that the alms they bestow on the 
 Bramins and Joguis brings them to utter ruin, and indeed their doors are 
 continually crowded with them. 
 
 THE EMPLOYMENTS AND MAINTENANCE OF THE BRAMINS. 
 
 The Bramins are the instructors of the people, whom they are obliged 
 to educate in reading, writing, and accounts, and to instruct their disciples 
 in all things relating to religion. If they be in good circumstances, they 
 are not allowed to take any recompense ; but if poor, they have the liberty 
 of receiving from their disciples whatever may be necessary for their sub- 
 sisting in a decent manner. Their kings are obliged to provide for them, 
 to enable them to teach gratis ; but the number of Bramins is so great that 
 it is impossible to provide for them all. It is asserted that they possess a 
 third part of the revenues of the country, notwithstanding which, a great 
 number of them are reduced to the necessity of begging ; others traffic, or 
 practise physic. They are forbidden to follow any mechanical trades, under 
 which husbandry, painting, &c., are ranked. They cannot perform cer- 
 tain offices without derogating from their quality, such as washing the feet, 
 folding betel, &c., for any person whatever, not even for the king himself; 
 and a Bramin who should demean himself in this manner, would be de- 
 graded and expelled the society of the remainder. But they may be secre 
 taries, ambassadors, and counsellors, and these employments are generally 
 exercised by them only. 
 
 To those Bramins whom the king maintains he gives villages, but not 
 in the character of pastors, or teachers, as our rectors, but as proprietors and 
 possessors. It has sometimes happened, as under the reign of Rama Raja, 
 whose memory is still cursed on that account, that the kings have claimed 
 those possessions, or commanded the Bramins to give them a moiety of the 
 revenue of those villages ; but other kings, either moved with compassion, 
 or tired out with their complaints, have dispensed with this division of their 
 revenues. But the Bramins, fearing that they might at some future time 
 De dispossessed of the villages, in order to assist the exigencies of the state, 
 upon pretence that they have enjoyed them long enough, ask leave to allow 
 certain persons who are extremely poor to hold a share in their villages, 
 which they have no sooner obtained, than they make a private engagement 
 with some of their relations. This permission is engraved on copper, and 
 all those villages which are divided in this manner, are not liable to be 
 re-demanded ; for the kings who succeed the donor would be afraid that the 
 complaints of the poor would make them obnoxious to Vishnu, or Eswara 
 
PAGAN NATIONS. 
 
 753 
 
 MARRIAGES OF THE BRAMINS. 
 
 Those Bramins who have sons, endeavour to marry them early ; the 
 rich are more expeditious in this matter than the poor, but those of the 
 three first castes never marry them till such time as they have received the 
 Dsandhem. 
 
 When a Bramin goes to demand a young woman in marriage foT his 
 son, he pays the highest regard to presages. If he meets a sinister sign in 
 his way, he then postpones the affair to some other day ; in case he has a 
 bad sign a second time, he again puts it off; but if the same happens a 
 third time, he then lays aside all thoughts of the match, from a firm persua- 
 sion that it would be unhappy. To hear a serpent named the first day 
 on which a Bramin is going upon such an affair is a bad sign, but seeing 
 one is enough to make him lay it wholly aside. The Veinsjas have a 
 particular custom among them, and that is, the melting down a half-pagod, 
 or half-ducat of gold ; in case the gold, after it is thus melted down, appears 
 with a shinmg hue, it is then a propitious sign ; but in case it be dull, 
 they change their resolution ; the Bramins, however, laugh at this kind of 
 divination. 
 
 The man w hose daughter is sought for in marriage, desires to see the 
 youth who is to be his future son-in-law, when he makes the necessary in- 
 quiries into his circumstances. In case he finds matters to his satisfaction, 
 he then allows him to visit her in the presence of her parents ; and if the 
 young couple be then pleased with each other, and the parents give their 
 consent, they are immediately married. The consent of the Soudras must 
 be purchased, and they oblige the lover, before they allow him to marry 
 their daughter, to give them a certain sum of money over and above the 
 bargain, or, in other words-, a luck-penny; and this they call a gift, for 
 they would be ashamed to have it thought that they sold their daughters. 
 
 When the parties are agreed, they make choice of a fortunate day ; for 
 these people have a calendar, in which the lucky and unlucky days are set 
 down. Then the relations on both sides meet, and perform a ceremony 
 which answers to our betrothings. The bride’s father presents betel to the 
 bridegroom’s relations, and declares to the company that he has given his 
 daughter to N— , a member of the family of the persons present. This 
 being done, the bridegroom’s relations give betel to those of the bride, when 
 they make the same declaration, and take the company for witnesses ; and 
 when this is performed, the couple are married, provided it be at a proper 
 time ; for they are not allowed to marry in all seasons of the year. There 
 are certain months appointed for that purpose, and these are February, 
 May, June, October, and the beginning of November ; as also certain 
 stated hours in those months, all which they observe very carefully. 
 
 When the time for consummating the marriage is come, they light the 
 
754 
 
 HINDOOS. 
 
 fire Homarn with the wood of ravisitou. The Bramin blesses the former, 
 which being done, the bridegroom takes three handfuls of rice, and throws 
 it on the bride’s head, who does the same to him. Afterwards the bride’s 
 father clothes her in a dress according to his condition, and washes the 
 bridegroom’s feet, the bride’s mother observing to pour out the water. 
 This being done, the father puts his daughter’s hand in his own, puts 
 water into it, some pieces of money, and giving it to the bridegroom, says, 
 at the same time, “ I have no longer any thing to do with you, and I give 
 you up to the power of another.” The tali, which is a ribbon with a 
 golden head hanging to it, is held ready, and being shown to the company, 
 some prayers and blessings are pronounced, after which the bridegroom 
 takes it, and hangs it about the bride’s neck. It is by this knot that he 
 particularly secures the possession of her; for before he had tied the tali 
 on, the remainder of the ceremonies might have been made to no purpose, 
 for it has sometimes happened, that when the bridegroom was going to fix 
 it on, the bride’s father has discovered that he is not satisfied with the 
 bridegroom’s gift, when an additional offering has carried off the bride with 
 her father’s consent. But when once the tali is put on, the marriage is 
 indissoluble ; and whenever the husband dies, the tali is burnt along with 
 him, to show that the marriage bands are broken. Besides these particular 
 ceremonies, the people have notice of the wedding by a pandal, which is 
 raised some days previous to it before the bride’s door. The whole con- 
 cludes with an entertainment, which the bride’s father gives to the common 
 friends ; and during this festivity, which continues five days, alms are 
 given to the poor, and the fire Homam is kept in. The seventh day the 
 new-married couple set out for the bridegroom’s house, whither they fre- 
 quently go by torch-light. The bride and the bridegroom are carried in a 
 sedan, pass through the chief streets of the city, and are accompanied by 
 their friends, who are either on horseback or mounted on elephants. In 
 case the bride be not of an age fit for consummating the marriage, her re- 
 lations do not leave her above three or four days in her husband’s house, 
 after which she is brought back to that of her father ; but if she be arrived 
 at puberty, she stays with her husband. 
 
 OF THE LUCKY OR UNLUCKY DAYS, AND OF THE PANJAMGAM. 
 
 The Bramins are superstitiously of opinion, that there are certain days 
 on which it would be impossible for them to succeed in any affair what- 
 ever. But this fatal prejudice often makes them neglect the most favour- 
 able opportunities, when they happen to fall out on such a day as is 
 marked an unlucky one in the panjamgam, i. e. in an almanac, in which 
 both the lucky and unlucky days are set down. This panjamgam, which 
 they look upon as infallible, is of two kinds ; the one was made by Bra- 
 haspeti, doctor of the Devetas, or good angels, wherein he has set down 
 
PAGAN NATIONS. 
 
 Too 
 
 the lucky and unlucky days, and even those which are but half-lucky, or 
 so during a few hours only. A new one is annually made on this model, 
 which serves for a guide to the country people. The other panjamgam, 
 they say, was composed by Succra, doctor of the Ratsjastas, or dewls. 
 This is so very particular as to take notice of every hour in the natural day, 
 which this people divide into sixty hours. 
 
 It is evident that they must often let opportunities slip, if, to the great 
 number of days and hours during which they are diverted from attempting 
 any affair, we should add their great credulity with regard to signs and 
 presages. It is a good sign when they see the bird Garrouda, or what is 
 called Pala, flying before them, and cross-ways, from right to left. Other 
 birds are, on the contrary, of good augury, if they fly from left to right. If 
 a magpie, of which there are great numbers in that country, happens to 
 touch any person in its flight, they immediately conclude that such person, 
 or one of his relations, will die in six weeks. If any one happen to 
 
 3neeze while a person is going out of the house, he turns back again 
 
 immediately. 
 
 DAILY EXERCISES OF THE BRAMINS. 
 
 The Bramins are obliged to observe' certain ceremonies, which it is 
 impossible for them to dispense with without violating the Jaw. They 
 are obliged to wake two hours, or one at least, before the dawn, and begin 
 by repeating the several names of God. In case they have no business 
 that obliges them to rise so soon, they then may lie half an hour longer in 
 bed, and repeat the name of God to themselves. On rising, they wash 
 their hands, their face and feet, and seat themselves either on a board or a 
 carpet, but never on the bare earth, nor on their beds, with their faces 
 
 turned towards the north or east, but never to the south nor west. The 
 
 reason of their turning towards the east, is because the sun rises in that 
 quarter of the heavens ; and towards the north, because those places which 
 they look upon as most holy are on that side. They afterwards begin to 
 sing the story of Gasjendre Mootsjam ; but in case the sun be not yet 
 risen, they sing some hymn. This being done they rise, wash their 
 mouths and their teeth ; or if there be any sacred river near their houses, 
 or some Tan, i. e. pool of water, they then go and wash at home, and put 
 themselves in it ; but in case there be none, they bathe at home, and put 
 on clean clothes. 
 
 The Bramins call such clothes clean as have not been put on since they 
 have been washed, or have been wetted since they were worn : they are 
 looked upon as clean so long as they have not been worn nor touched bv 
 any person. But as silks are spoiled by wetting, they have found out a 
 remedy in this case, by declaring that silk clothes are naturally pure. 
 However, if any one were to eat with a silk gown on, it would immediately 
 
756 
 
 HINDOOS. 
 
 become unclean ; and for this reason they throw it off before they sit down 
 to table. 
 
 Being dressed, they sit down again in the same place, and take some 
 well-water just drawn ; for if it were a day old, it would be too stale ; in 
 this they dip that thing with which they mark their faces, pour water into 
 their hands thrice, and throw it as many times into their mouths, observing 
 not to touch it with their hands. This being done, they repeat the twenty- 
 four names of God, which they call making Japon, by touching so many 
 parts of the body. 
 
 At sunrise they pour water thrice into the hollow of their hands, and 
 throw it on the ground, repeating a short prayer at the same time. This 
 ceremony, which is performed for the sun’s sake, is founded on the chimera 
 that the sun rises between certain mountains, and is obliged to pass through 
 a narrow passage, which is infested by certain genii or spirits, who endea- 
 vour to check his progress. Some Bramins one day threw up water into 
 the sun, which made such a noise, that it frightened away those devils, and 
 put them to flight. We are very sensible, say the modern Bramins, that 
 what we now do is of no manner of advantage to the sun ; however, we 
 thereby give him a testimony of the good-will we bear him, in imitation of 
 those who really succoured him. 
 
 They afterwards begin again to throw water thrice into their mouths, 
 as they pay their adorations to the sun, and to the beings who preside over 
 the worlds situated under the heavens. If they be of the sect of the 
 Vishnuvas, they take a kind of chaplet, the beads of which are made of a 
 very fragrant wood called Toleja ; but the beads of those of the caste of 
 the Seivias are made of coral or crystal. Some put this chaplet about 
 their necks; others hold it in their hands, but hidden under their coats, 
 or in a pocket made for that purpose. At the end of every prayer they 
 let drop a bead. Those who have not much time to spare say only 
 twenty-eight prayers ; those who have more leisure, repeat one hundred 
 and twenty-eight ; but those devotees who have nothing to do, repeat a 
 thousand. 
 
 These prayers being ended, they worship Salagrammas, and wash 
 with clean water. This is an idol made of a particular stone, having a hole 
 in it, in which they say are the coats of arms of God. Tiertum is the 
 name of the water in which they wash it, which is kept for another reli- 
 gious use, as will be seen in the sequel. The idol Salagramma being thus 
 washed, is dressed in a clean suit, or wrapped up in linen, and anointed 
 with a perfume composed of sandal, odoriferous flowers, and leaves of toleja. 
 The same ceremony is performed before another little idol of copper, on 
 each side of which they light up one or more wax tapers, according to 
 their circumstances or devotion. They present the victuals just dressed, 
 or else fruits or milk. They scatter flowers over it, turn thrice, and some- 
 
PAGAN NATIONS. 
 
 757 
 
 times more, round it ; and at every turn they fall prostrate on the ground, 
 with their hands clasped and their arms stretched out. They afterwards 
 set the idol on the ground, take the tiertum, or water with which they had 
 washed Salagramma, throw it once on their heads and thrice in their 
 mouths, with a few leaves of toleja, and anoint their foreheads with some 
 angaram, which is a preparation of the gum called benjamin. It is said 
 that the angaram has the virtue of fortifying the mind against sin, but then 
 it must have been offered to the idol ; as also the toleja, which they put 
 into their ears, to prevent the impurity they might otherwise contract by 
 touching a dead carcass or a Soudra. The virtue of the tiertum is so great 
 as to purify them from all the sins they may have committed from their 
 infancy. After having presented the whole company with tiertum, they 
 burn a little incense, and then have the liberty to go and breakfast with 
 those Bramins who assisted at the ceremony. They pray before and after 
 meals, wash their hands, throw water thrice into their mouths, make japon, 
 and take tiertum again ; and after this ceremony, they are altogether as 
 pure as they were before. They repeat this ce.remony as often as they 
 imagine they have been polluted. 
 
 If they do not breakfast nor eat before noon, the ablution at daybreak is 
 not sufficient ; they therefore repeat it, and return to their idol, before which 
 they strew flowers, or, for want of these, some toleja, and present it with 
 whatever they are to eat ; for the Bramins dare not take any sustenance 
 before it has been offered to it. A little before sunset they wash themselves 
 again, mark themselves, perform japon, and give water to the sun. If they 
 be Grahastas — i. e., married — they sup. It has been already observed, that 
 the Bramasariis and the Sansjasii make but one meal a day. Lastly, they 
 say a prayer, and after that go to rest. 
 
 In the morning, at noon, and in the evening, after they have performed 
 the ceremony of the twenty-four names of God, they read the Poranes, or 
 ancient chronicles ; and this book is held in such great veneration among 
 these people, that they carefully observe to wash their ears, in order t^at 
 being pure, they thereby may be more worthy to hear so holy a work 
 read. 
 
 Nevertheless, this exercise is not so punctually observed, but that a great 
 many Bramins dispense with several circumstances in it. However, they 
 are indisputably obliged to perform the tiertum and the japon ; and if a 
 single person in a house performs every thing according to the foregoing 
 injunctions, it suffices for the whole family. Indeed, very few execute 
 punctually all the things prescribed by the law, except those who are em- 
 ployed in the public worship of the idols. 
 
758 
 
 HINDOOS. 
 
 CUSTOMS OBSERVED DURING THE SICKNESS, OR AT THE DEATH OF THE 
 BRAMINS, AND OF THEIR BURIAL. 
 
 When a Bramin falls sick, though the vessels of the body be ever so 
 much overcharged with blood, they yet always prefer abstinence to bleed- 
 ing ; but then they frequently make him fast so long, that he quite loses the 
 habit of eating ; by which means he is unable to swallow, when they after- 
 wards think proper to give him sustenance. 
 
 When the symptoms of death appear, a Bramin is sent for to pray with 
 the sick person, and alms are given to the poor. In the mean time, the 
 sick person is repeating continually the name of God ; and when he is no 
 longer able to do it, his friends ring it incessantly in his ears. 
 
 The Vedam declares, that as God has promised to assist those who think 
 on his name, and repeat it, he is obliged to succour them in this extreme ; 
 but in case their speech fails them, and their friends do this office for them, 
 it is the same thing as if they themselves had performed it. If the sick 
 person be married, and his senses are not yet gone, he asks his wife whe- 
 ther she will be burned, or buried with him. If she answers in the affirm- 
 ative, she is obliged to adhere to her promise, and it then becomes her 
 duty, because of the oath by which she bound herself at her marriage, in 
 presence of the Bramin and the fire Homam. She then took an oath that 
 her soul should not be separated from that of her husband, and she could 
 not, without being guilty of a great sin, violate an oath which the presence 
 of the Bramin and the fire had made sacred. In case she has any chil- 
 dren, and loves them better than she did her deceased husband, then she 
 is at liberty either to live with them or die with him. If she dreads the 
 fire, she must not be forced to throw herself into it ; but the general opi- 
 nion is, that no virtuous woman will refuse to make herself a sacrifice on 
 this occasion ; for, according to the Vedam, the duty of a wife consists in 
 the three following particulars : — The first is, a blind and implicit compli- 
 ance in all the desires and wishes of her husband. 
 
 The second duty of a virtuous wife is to observe a great modesty and 
 simplicity in her dress, and not to lead a dissolute life when her husband is 
 out of town. 
 
 The third is to die when her husband leaves the world. However, some 
 women, before they marry, put in this clause, viz. that they shall not be 
 burned with him, and oblige their husbands to ratify it. The Bramins 
 leave a woman at her liberty to answer either “Yes” or “No,” when her 
 husband asks her in his expiring moments, whether she be willing to fol- 
 low him to death. They themselves confess that the forcing a woman tc 
 it, either by violence or threats, is a crime that merits hell. But the Set- 
 treas, who are the nobles, constrain their wives to submit to this cruel cus- 
 tom, thinking that their surviving them would cast a stain on their honour; 
 
PAGAN NATIONS. 
 
 759 
 
 and once, at tne death of a Settrea, threescore women threw themselves on 
 his funeral pile, and were there consumed. 
 
 They believe that when the sick person is at the point of death, two 
 Jamma-doutas, or judges of hell, always appear to him, whose hideous 
 ligure terrifies him ; but then a Vishnu-douta is present at the same time. 
 In case the dying man has led a virtuous life, the latter carries away his 
 soul in a magnificent flying chariot ; but if he has been a wicked wretch, 
 one of the Jamma-doutas carries him to Jamma-locon, or the place where 
 Jamma presides. This judge orders his registrar to acquaint him with the 
 particulars of the life of the deceased, pursuant to the information he had 
 received from Vishnu ; when these being read, he sends him back into 
 the world, where he skips up and down like a hobgoblin for ten days 
 together, till such time as his doom is pronounced. It is for this reason 
 that the Bramins, after the death of a relation, feed a magpie for ten days, 
 from a notion they entertain, that his soul may possibly be among those 
 birds. 
 
 As soon as the sick man is dead, his beard is shaved, he is washed, is 
 clothed in a clean suit, and his mouth is rubbed with lime and pounded 
 betel, and the women also rub it with raw rice. When he is carried from 
 his house to some place adjacent to the city, he is attended by his friends, 
 who wash their hands, and put a little rice on his mouth. They wash their 
 hands a second time, and begin a Beteani round the pile on which the body 
 lies. This Beteani is a kind of procession which a Perrea makes, who is 
 followed by certain persons that beat on a little drum, when they go thrice 
 round the corpse. This being done, one of the company preaches to the 
 rest, in Death’s name, and observes that his empire equally extends over 
 all things — over the young and old, rich and poor; that those who lead a 
 life of virtue shall be happy after death, but that those who tread the paths 
 of vice must expect nothing but torment. 
 
 All the Bramins are not burned after their deaths ; for some of them 
 are buried. The Vishnus and Smartas are always burned, from an opi- 
 nion which prevails among them, that though they have served Vishnu 
 ever so faithfully, they yet contract certain impurities, which are tho- 
 roughly purged by fire. On the contrary, the Seivias and Sensjasiis 
 maintain, that their sins will not be imputed to them, though they have not 
 exactly filled up all the duties of life ; consequently, that they have no oc- 
 casion for this purification, and therefore may be quietly laid in the ground. 
 The former have an eye chiefly to God’s justice ; the latter rely more on 
 his mercy. 
 
 OF WOMEN WHO ARE BURNT OR BURIED WITH THEIR HUSBANDS. 
 
 When a woman has promised to follow her husband either to the funeral 
 pile or the grave, he is no sooner dead than preparation is immediately 
 
 L. 
 
760 
 
 HINDOOS. 
 
 made for the interment of both ; nor can she retract nor suspend the per- 
 formance of her promise. She must be consumed on the same day, and 
 in the same fire in which her husband’s body is burnt. The Bramins 
 and Veinsjas are extremely rigorous on this article ; but the Settreas allow 
 their wives to burn themselves at different times, and in different places, 
 when their husbands either died in a foreign country, or many years 
 before. 
 
 Notice being given of the husband’s death, the woman is seated in a 
 chair before the door, splendidly dressed after the manner of the country. 
 Then the instruments begin to strike up; the drums beat; upon which 
 betel is given her to chew, and she is entertained by conversation, for fear 
 lest, by thinking too intensely on her impending fate, she should repent of 
 her choice. The Settreas and the Soudras mix something with the betel, 
 which has the property of benumbing all the senses, and locking up all the 
 faculties of the soul ; but the Bramins never do this, because they would 
 have this sacrifice a voluntary one. 
 
 At her leaving the house she bids her friends farewell, having a citron 
 or lemon in one hand, and a looking-glass in the other, and all the time re- 
 peating the name of God incessantly ; some use the word Naraina, others 
 Ramma, or some other name. If she be of the caste of the Bramins, or of 
 the Veinsjas, she then, instead of a lemon and a looking-glass, holds some 
 of those red flowers in her hand which are strewed in the temple and 
 before the idols, and it is necessary that these flowers should have been 
 presented to it. An idol is also hung about her neck. 
 
 The woman, being thus equipped walks on foot to the place where the 
 corpse of her husband was burnt ; and if she be of the caste of the Settreas, 
 or that of the Soudras, she is accompanied by her relations, who employ 
 a great many exhortations, and cheer up her spirits ; but if she be the 
 wife of a Bramin, she is drawn on a kind of sledge. Not far from the 
 funeral pile is a pond, where she goes and washes herself. They take off 
 her jewels and other ornaments, when a Bramin prays by her, and alms are 
 distributed among the Bramins. On coming out of the water, she wraps 
 herself up in a yellow shroud, and draws near to the pile. It is raised in 
 a pretty deep hole, the earth of which being all thrown on one side, forms 
 by that means an eminence, on which she ascends. The wood with which 
 the corpse of her husband had been consumed, is half burnt, and casts a 
 dreadful blaze; but to prevent this sight from terrifying her, they place a 
 mat between her and the fire, so that she does not see it. It is on this 
 eminence that she takes the last farewell of her relations, who all exhort 
 her to behave with great bravery on this occasion. She then takes some 
 kitchen utensils, such as a pilang, or a pestle to pound rice, a soup, or 
 little fan to winnow it after it be pounded, and tosses them into the fire 
 over the mat. She afterwards takes a pot full of oil, part of which she 
 
PAGAN NATIONS. 
 
 761 
 
 pours on her head, repeating incessantly the name of God ; when at last, 
 the mat being taken away, she throws herself into the fire with the pot of 
 oil. She then is immediately covered with wood five or six feet deep, 
 while others pour oil and butter on the fire to make it blaze the more. 
 Sometimes, when the female slaves find their mistress is greatly afflicted at 
 the loss of her husband, they promise her, in case she be resolved not to 
 survive him, to burn themselves along with her, and are always as good as 
 their words. There is less ceremony used upon their account ; they danc8 
 near the funeral pile, and throw themselves into it, one after another. 
 
 The burning of the women of the first caste is accompanied with still 
 more barbarous circumstances. These ascend the funeral pile, and lay 
 themselves down by the corpse of their husbands, as if they were going to 
 sleep with them. Being thus placed, the funeral pile is raised over them, 
 when the fire is set to that part of it that is nearest their heads, on which 
 oil and other unctuous substances have been poured, in order to make the 
 fire sooner catch the funeral pile, the wood of which is of a coarser or more 
 precious kind, according to the condition and circumstances of the deceased. 
 Some of them use a wood called aquila-brava, a sort of aloe, which grows 
 in the island of Ceylon, and on the coasts of Coromandel ; and others em- 
 ploy sandal-wood on these occasions. 
 
 At Surat, over the funeral pile a small hut is raised, made of thick 
 millet-straw, entwined with small wood ; the woman goes into this hut, sits 
 down on the funeral pile, takes her husband’s head into her lap, and puts 
 fire to it with a torch, which she holds in her hand ; while a great number 
 of Bramins, with pokers in their hands, stir up the fire, which they also 
 light on the outward part, and even push the woman forward, in case the 
 dread of the fire should make her attempt to leap out of it ; but this does 
 not any way correspond with the liberty which they pretend to indulge the 
 women in on this occasion. 
 
 The same preparations are made, whether the woman is to be burned or 
 buried ; but the circumstances of the burial are different. When she is 
 come to the grave where the corpse of her husband lies, she goes down 
 into it, and seats herself on a bench made of earth, which is made under a 
 kind of vault dug in the earth. Having seated herself, she takes the corpse 
 in her arms, throws incense into a fire that is just by her, and perfumes her 
 body. This being done, they begin to fill the grave gently, and the woman 
 draws the earth to her, and disposes it about her with her hands. When 
 she is up to the neck in it, two of those who fill up the grave taKe a carpet 
 and hold it before the grave, to prevent her seeing what they are going to 
 do. After this they give her poison in a shell, which, as soon as she has 
 swallowed, they twist her neck round so very dexterously, that it is 
 impossible for any of the spectators to perceive it, unless tney happen to 
 stand very near her. Both these infernal tragedies are exmbited to the 
 
762 
 
 HINDOOS. 
 
 sound of instruments, the noise of drums, and the shouts of ail the people 
 present, which drown the cries of the unhappy victims ; some of them 
 devote themselves to death with inexpressible resolution. 
 
 Any woman who should refuse to die with her husband, would be looked 
 upon as a most infamous wretch. Their hair is cut off; they are not al- 
 lowed to touch any betel, to wear precious stones, or marry again, but are 
 exposed to insults of every kind ; for which reason, those among them who 
 are gifted with heroic sentiments, prefer death to so wretched a life. As 
 they are incapacitated from enjoying the most inconsiderable trifle, and are 
 not allowed to have the least honours paid them, they do not inherit the 
 smallest portion of their husband’s estate, but lie at the mercy of their 
 eldest son, who succeeds to it, and has an absolute empire over them. If 
 such a woman has only daughters, the inheritance devolves on her hus- 
 band’s brother, who is obliged only barely to maintain her and her daugh- 
 ters ; but they never fail to reproach her with it so long as she lives ; and 
 are often reproaching her with not loving her husband, since she had not 
 the courage to die with him. To this may be added their artful insinua- 
 tions, in assuring them that if they either burn or bury themselves with 
 their husbands, they will save their souls from hell, and that all those who 
 thus submit to death out of pure love and affection feel none of those 
 torments which the fire causes on other occasions. These things con- 
 sidered, we may easily account for their devoting themselves to death in 
 this manner 
 
 OF MOURNING AND THE PRAYERS FOR THE DEAD. 
 
 The Bramins have various methods of expressing their sorrow for the 
 death of their relations. At the death of one older than themselves, they 
 shave their beards, and cut off their whiskers, abstain from betel ten days, 
 and eat but one meal a day during that term, which is precisely the time 
 that his soul may possibly be condemned to skip up and down the world. 
 But in case the deceased were younger, they do not impose on themselves 
 this penance ; as their wives are always younger, they are consequently 
 never obliged to mourn in this manner for them, much less for their chil- 
 dren. The Soudras do not make this distinction, for they mourn for the 
 young as well as the old, and not only shave their beards, but also their 
 heads, leaving only a tuft on the crown of it, and wrap the rest with a 
 punger instead of a piece of linen, which they commonly use for that pur- 
 pose, and likewise abstain from betel for three or four days. When a 
 Soudra loses a child, he neither has his beard nor head shaved, but 
 deprives himself of betel for the first three days, and puts a punger about 
 his head. 
 
 When any person in a house dies, all the bearded slaves shave them- 
 selves; and if the deceased were a ploughman, of the family of the Vettalas, 
 
PAGAN NATIONS. 
 
 763 
 
 or of that of the Ambrias, which are the two principal among the Soudras, 
 twelve sorts of persons are to pay him the last duties, — viz., 1. The Bra- 
 mins, who serve the pagods. 2. The Beteanis, or Perreas, who beat the 
 drum. 3. The Pannejevas, who play on long horn flutes 4. The gold- 
 smiths. 5. The carpenters. 6. The locksmiths. 7. The Yasseris. 8. 
 The barbers. 9. The Poumaliandes, who scatter flowers round the dead. 
 10. The Canapules, who are writers or secretaries. 11. The Salevadis. 
 12. The Kaicules, or courtesans. The Bramins, the Canapules, and Pou- 
 maliandes, do not at this time practise this custom. A certain tax or duty 
 is paid to all those who come on this occasion, and a Vasseri gives to each 
 person present a punger, which they fix on their heads, so as to let it hang 
 half an ell down their backs. They prostrate themselves in the place 
 where the alms called Nili, or rice that has not been winnowed, are 
 bestowed. 
 
 The fire of the pile being out, they gather up the remnants of the bones 
 which are not consumed, and throw them into the Ganges ; for the waters 
 of that river being reputed very holy, are therefore of great comfort to the 
 soul of the deceased. They also think to procure him a superlative degree 
 of felicity, by building, pursuant to his last will, Tampandals, or huts, in 
 the highways, in which all these passengers who are thirsty have cold 
 and warm water given them, or Canje, — i. e. water in which rice has been 
 boiled, and sometimes a few beans. 
 
 They often build pagods over the graves of the dead ; but as they are 
 considered impure, no religious act is therefore ever performed in them). 
 Some figures are indeed to be mot with ; but these are not the object of any 
 religious worship, and are no more than merely the images of those persons 
 who were either burned or buried in that place. If they pay them any 
 honours, such as the presenting them victuals, or incensing them, it is only 
 with this view, — to engage the soul of the deceased, in case it be a Rats- 
 jasja, or devil, not to do them any harm, nor frighten them in any manner. 
 They also dig wells and tanks for the service of the public, and imagine 
 that the benefit which will thereby accrue to every individual will be of 
 advantage to the departed soul. 
 
 OF TIIE IDOLS AND THEIR WORSHIP. 
 
 Divine worship among the Bramins does not, as with the Christians, con- 
 sist in the assemblage of people who meet regularly to pray, hear sermons, 
 and sing the praises of God. There are certain nights on which the 
 images of Vishnu, and others on which that of Eswara, are carried in pro- 
 cession through the city. This ceremony is performed monthly in honour 
 of Eswara, on the day of Amavali, or the first day on which the moon does 
 not appear ; and the ninth after the new moon, viz. the day of Jeccadesi, 
 in honour of Vishnu. The following is the manner of this procession ; — 
 
764 
 
 HINDOOS. 
 
 The image of this god is set on a prancing horse, carved in wood, stand 
 ing only on his hind legs, which are fixed on the hoard on which he is car- 
 ried. The men who carry this machine upon their shoulders do not walk 
 straight forward, but wheel up and down, in imitation of the pacing of a 
 manege horse. Torches are carried before the idol, who has a sombreiro 
 or umbrella over its head : at the side of the horse is a man who fans his 
 idol, and drives away the flies. When they have gone their rounds, they 
 place it again in the pagod, when a number of young prostitutes, consecrated 
 to the latter, dance in honour of the god ; they likewise sing hymns, and 
 play on instruments made of horn, the drums beating at the same time. 
 
 Though the Bramins think the bare touch of a Soudra would pollute 
 their pagods and images, they yet do not look on public prostitutes as 
 unworthy of dancing before the objects of their religious worship ; nor do 
 they suppose they are excluded the felicities of the next life, especially if 
 they keep constant to the man to whom they first made a sacrifice of their 
 chastity. 
 
 The worship of images consists in honouring them, and in dressing them 
 up in those ornaments which, according to tradition, are most agreeable to 
 them. As for instance, Vishnu delights in having his statues decked with 
 flowers, rich clothes, and precious stones ; and the Vishnuvas never fail to 
 indulge him in his desires. Eswara has a different taste, and delights in 
 having his statues washed with essences ; and his worshippers are very 
 careful to sprinkle them with water in which pounded sandal has been 
 steeped, or with other odoriferous waters. They testify the veneration 
 they have for those idols, by lighting up^ lamps before them, and those of 
 their wives, and by presenting victuals to them twice a day. He who 
 carries the dish, having a little bell in his hand, is preceded by one who 
 plays on the flute, and a drummer. After the rice has stood an hour 
 before the idol, the above-mentioned person comes and takes it back, then 
 this mess is considered as a gift which is bestowed by the god on those 
 who eat it. 
 
 OF GOOD WORKS AND RELIGIOUS AUSTERITIES. 
 
 The Bramins think that rewards and punishments are not distributed 
 in this life ; as man, in their opinion, has a variety of births, they believe 
 that divine justice is exercised only in the life to come. Thus every man 
 who suffers expiates the sins he had committed in the preceding life, and 
 before he assumes the body which is punished. As very few have so good 
 an opinion of their purity as to imagine it will absolutely entitle them to a 
 place either in Veicontam or in Surgam, most of them rely entirely on the 
 merits of certain exercises, which convey a forgiveness of sins along with 
 them. Besides those austerities which are expressly enjoined by the 
 Vedam. there are others which are exercised out of pure whim by certain 
 
PAGAN NATIONS. 
 
 765 
 
 devotees, who aspire at a greater perfection than other people. Mr. Rogers 
 saw an instance of this mortification in the little pagod of Parvati, near that 
 of Eswara, which, according to the account he has given of it, exceeds all 
 the austerities that were ever practised by any religious order. 
 
 This Bramin abstained from whatever is usually eaten, and fed only on 
 a little sweet milk, and a little fruit. He continued sitting all the daylong 
 without once stirring from his place, and never laid down to sleep, but 
 keeping himself in a very uneasy posture, endeavoured to refrain from sleep 
 as long as possible, repeating incessantly the thousand names of Eswara. 
 He had the idol representing that deity, which he adorned with flowers, 
 lighted up a lamp before it, and incensed it. He had no sooner finished 
 this exercise, but rising up, he placed his head in the place where his heels 
 should be, and in this posture repeated several pretty long prayers ; which 
 being done, he went and sat down in the same place where he had stood 
 before, and began again the same exercise. 
 
 THE PILGRIMAGES OF THE BRAMINS. 
 
 According to the Bramins, the condition of a man who dies in sin is not 
 altogether desperate ; and they imagine themselves in possession of cer- 
 tain resources, by which they procure the remission of a person’s sins as 
 effectually as if he himself performed what they do for him. The 
 Ganges is to these people an inexhaustible fund of holiness. Whenever 
 they meet with any human bones, they gather them up in a very devout 
 manner, and throw them into this river, and fancy that for every year 
 they continue in it, the soul of the creature to whom they belonged enjoys 
 a thousand years of felicity in the heaven of Devendre. Its waters, how- 
 ever, have not the virtue of cleansing sinners so thoroughly as to procure 
 their immediate admission into heaven ; it only secures them from being 
 excluded according to their merits, since after they have resided a certain 
 limited time in the heaven which that river obtains them, they are doomed 
 to return again upon the earth, to be born again, and begin another life. 
 However, they have this advantage when they return again upon the earth, 
 which is, that they are not in a worse condition than in the preceding life, 
 but, on the contrary, are happier; and this last stage, or life, is so merito- 
 rious; that the moment the soul leaves the body, it instantly takes its flight 
 to the regions of perfect bliss and felicity. 
 
 The pilgrimage to Gaya, a city situated to the south, and thirty leagues 
 from Casi, enjoys a particular privilege, and salvation is there easily 
 obtained for the dead. Here a rock is shown, in which, they say, God 
 left the print of his foot ; and for the security of so precious a relic 
 this city is fortified on all sides. The following is the order of this pil- 
 grimage. 
 
 The pilgrims go first to Preyaga, where they are allowed to pass a 
 49 
 
766 
 
 HINDOOS. 
 
 month. E rery morning before sunrise they wash themselves in the Ganges, 
 to cieanse themselves from their sins ; the month being expired, they go to 
 Casi, where they again bathe themselves in the river; thence they go to 
 Gaya, where they make a particular kind of dough. They break off some 
 little pieces of it, and every time they put one of them upon the rock, they 
 repeat the names of one of their deceased friends ; and in this manner 
 repeat the names of their deceased friends and relations to the seventh 
 generation, and even higher. The Vedam promises that all whose names 
 are repeated in this manner, feel the immediate efficacy of it, and although 
 they were in the hell of Jamma, yet they would be immediately wafted 
 into the mansions of Devendre. 
 
 RELIGIOUS CEREMONIES AND CUSTOMS OF THE EAST INDIES IN 
 
 GENERAL. 
 
 THE DEITIES OF THE EAST INDIES. 
 
 BRAMA. 
 
 Brama is the first person of a kind of Trinity in the heathen theology 
 This first person is not only the grand progenitor of all mankind, but has 
 also created as many worlds as he has considerable parts in his body. 
 
 The Bramins, as Kircner tells us, relate, that the first world, which is 
 situated over heaven, was made from Brama’s brain ; the second from his 
 eyes, the third from his mouth, the fourth from his left ear, the fifth from 
 the palate of his mouth and tongue, the sixth from his heart, the seventh 
 from his belly, the eighth from his privities, the ninth from his left thigh, 
 the tenth from his knees, the eleventh from his heel, the twelfth from the 
 toes of his right foot, the thirteenth from the sole of his left foot, and the 
 fourteenth from the air with which Brama is surrounded. They pretend, 
 that there is some affinity or relation between these fourteen worlds, and 
 the parts of Brama’s body; and add, that all those men who are formed in 
 these different worlds, partake of the character and inclinations peculiar 
 to each of them, which they preserve in this world as long as they live. 
 Thus those created in the first world are wise and learned; those of the 
 second, penetrating; those of the third, eloquent ; of the fourth, cunning and 
 artful; of the fifth, gluttonous; of the sixth, generous and splendid; of the 
 seventh, niggardly; those of the eighth are addicted to pleasures, particu- 
 larly those of love ; the ninth are laborious; the tenth, country people and 
 rustics ; the eleventh consist of the dregs of the people, and are employed 
 in the lowest offices; the twelfth, infamous wretches and vile rascals; the 
 thirteenth are unjust and merciless wretches; the fourteenth are ingenious 
 and dexterous people. On these principles the Bramins ground all the 
 rules of physiognomy, and think, that by looking on a person’s face, they 
 can tell the particular world from whence he originally came ; after which, 
 
PAGAN NATIONS. 
 
 r 67 
 
 they boldly pronounce the character and inclinations of the person whose 
 face they have thus examined. 
 
 Although the theology of the Indians be very much confused, it is never- 
 theless manifest that they ascribe to Brama the direction of the fate of man- 
 kind and the destiny of the world, the disposal of events, and their various 
 revolutions. But this is much more than they ought to ascribe to a god 
 who, though he be a creator, is nevertheless dependent, and a created 
 being;; since the Bramins relate that he is the son of Q,uivelinga, who is 
 no other than Priapus, or nature. 
 
 The following is an ingenious fiction of the Bramins, which imparts to 
 us the idea which they entertain of the creation of the world, and which 
 induces us to believe that they look upon matter as the essence of the 
 Deity itself. They tell us, the spider is the first cause and first principle 
 of all things; that the universe was produced by that insect spinning out 
 its own entrails and belly, so that it brought forth first the elements, and 
 secondly the celestial globes ; that it governs all things by its wisdom and 
 providence, directs every thing by its conduct ; and that things are to con- 
 tinue in this state till the end of ages, which will never happen till this 
 insect shall have withdrawn into its body the several threads or filaments 
 which had issued out of it, when all things will be destroyed, and the world 
 no longer exist, but in the belly of a spider. 
 
 Della Valle says, there is a temple dedicated to Brama, in Hagra ; its 
 statue stands in the midst of the temple, amongst a great number of idols 
 of white marble. It has several arms, and three faces. This statue has 
 not the least drapery about it, and is represented with a long, sharp, but 
 ill-shaped beard, like all the rest of the figure, which has too prominent a 
 belly in proportion to its height. This defect ought probably to be ascribed 
 to the ignorance of the sculptor, unless we are to consider it as a caprice 
 of the Indians, who, perhaps, with tHe people of Sumatra, think that the 
 most pot-bellied people are the best shaped. This statue of Brama stands 
 upright ; at its feet are two other small statues, representing his children ; 
 and on both sides of it two images of women, a little less than Brama, one 
 to the right, and the other to the left, representing his two wives. In 
 another corner of the pagod, to the left of Brama, two nudities are placed 
 representing bearded men, which are almost of the same height. The last 
 figures represent two devotees, who were formerly Brama’s disciples. 
 
 IXORA. 
 
 Ixora, who is the same as Eswara, is not to be confounded with Ixoretta. 
 who, according to Baldaeus, is properly the bud of the world. Some 
 idoiatrous doctors, according to Baldaeus, affirm, that one day the universe 
 dwindled away in so extraordinary a manner, that Ixoretta alone remained, 
 who existed in the shape of a drop of dew ; but that Ixoretta in process of 
 
768 
 
 HINDOOS. 
 
 time recovered all his strength ; that this bud was at first no larger than a 
 grain of mustard-seed, but afterwards swelled to the size of a pearl, when 
 lastly it became like an egg, in which five elements were contained : the 
 egg was covered with seven coats like those of an onion, whence fire and 
 air issued. From the egg, divided into two unequal portions, the heaven 
 and earth were formed ; and the seven coats were divided in the same 
 manner: of the upper part of it seven heavens were formed, and of the 
 lower seven worlds. Nevertheless, a thread or string which cuts the egg 
 diametrically through the centre, united together in some measure all 
 these several parts. Ixoretta placed himself on the top of the string. A 
 mountain was made on the earth, on the top of which there appeared a tri- 
 angular figure, having a round thing in the middle, which they call 
 Q,uivelinga. These two figures represent the two sexes. They add, that 
 Ixoretta and Quivelinga are one and the same thing, and their opinion is 
 grounded on the near relation they bear to each other. 
 
 The head of Ixora is adorned with long and beautiful hair; his face is 
 white and shining, and a crescent is represented on his head. His three 
 eyes denote the extent of his foresight and penetration. One day Brama 
 being desirous of seeing Ixora’s head, took his flight for that purpose 
 towards heaven, but in spite of all his endeavours, he was not suffered to 
 gratify his desires. On the other side, Vishnu, the god of metamorphoses 
 or changes, endeavoured to pierce through to the place where Ixora’s feet 
 stood : in order to succeed in this attempt, he transformed himself into a 
 hog, and made a great hole in the ground with his snout ; but in vain ha 
 endeavoured to push forward, for his snout could never reach the place 
 on which stood the feet of the god. The body of Ixora is so prodigiously 
 bulky, that the serpent Baltegu, which surrounds seven worlds and as 
 many seas, was not long enough to serve him as a bracelet. 
 
 Ixora is represented standing on a pedestal, with sixteen arms, each of 
 which grasps something ; those of the right side hold fire, silver, a drum, a 
 pair of beads, a rope, a stick, a wheel, and a serpent ; those of the left, a 
 heart, a musical instrument, a bell, a china bowl, a chain, a Bramin’s head, 
 a trident, and an axe or hatchet. By these sixteen arms, the power and 
 strength of God are represented. He has an elephant’s skin over his 
 shoulders, and is likewise clothed with a tiger’s skin, the spots of which 
 represent the stars in the firmament. He is surrounded with a great num- 
 ber of serpents, which probably the Indians, as well as the Egyptians, have 
 made the emblem of the revolution of ages. He wears a necklace, to 
 which is suspended a little bell, denoting Ixora’s vigilance: this necklace 
 is made of the skin of an animal, called by the Indians Mandega. He has 
 another necklace set off with flowers, and a third, garnished witn several 
 heads of Brama ; and a fourth, to which are attached *ihe bones of Chatti, 
 [xora’s wife. The theology of the Bramins of Malabar and Coromandel, 
 
PAGAN NATIONS. 
 
 7G9 
 
 relates that this god has two wives, Chatti Grienga, his dearly beloved and 
 inseparable consort, who resides behind him, and conceals herself in his 
 hair : as for Chatti, his other wife, she dies and comes to life annually, in 
 the same manner as Brama ; and Ixora, every time she dies, takes her 
 bones and ties them to his fourth necklace. We must not omit, that the 
 body of this deity is smeared over with earth and ashes, to denote genera- 
 tion and destruction. 
 
 PUDA, THE PEXAIOS, ETC. 
 
 They associate to Ixora certain deities, whom the Malabarians and the 
 remainder of the Indian idolaters call by the name of Puda, Pexaios, and 
 Pes. Puda is represented under the shape of a squat, thick, pot-bellied, 
 beardless man, with three serpents over his head. He has one serpent 
 upon his left arm, in the form of a ring, and two upon his thighs, and a 
 shepherd’s crook is seen in his left hand. The Pexaios and Pes are 
 larger, and wrought with greater skill than Puda — all of them bear some 
 relation to the rural gods of the ancient heathens. 
 
 QUENAVADY. 
 
 Quenavady is seated on a throne behind a curtain, which is drawn back 
 whenever any devotee comes to pay homage to him. This god is the 
 eldest son of Ixora. He is represented with the head, the teeth, and the 
 trunk of an elephant, with a crescent on the crown of his head ; he has 
 long hair, large eyes, broad ears, and red spots on the face ; but the 
 remainder of the body, which glitters like gold, is of a human shape. He 
 has four arms, and a prodigiously wide and prominent belly; his loins are 
 girded either with a piece of stuff or painted linen, which, tied under his 
 navel, hangs down before on his thighs. He has several gold rings on 
 his feet ; in one of his hands he holds a discus, or quoit, in another a long 
 staff, in the third an instrument made in the shape of a porringer, and in 
 the fourth a kind of string. Ixora begot Gluenavady in a solitude to which 
 he had banished himself for having cut off one of Brama’s heads ; and the 
 reason of that created deity resembling an elephant is, because his parents 
 metamorphosed themselves into those creatures when they begot him. 
 This transformation was made in the midst of a wood, and the offspring of 
 their commerce was tainted with the brutish fierceness of wild beasts. 
 
 The Indian doctors represent duenavady as an insatiable deity, who 
 devours every thing that is set before him. They relate that he dwells in 
 the midst of a sea of sugar, in a delicious place, where riches and pleasure 
 flow with uninterrupted abundance, so that the senses may there riot in 
 whatever they can possibly desire. It is here that Quenavady eats, or 
 rather devours, perpetually his victuals. Two women who stand by his 
 side are incessantly throwing sugar down his throat with very large spoons ; 
 
HINDOOS. 
 
 and to prevent the uniformity of the viands from creating a loathing in the 
 god, he has placed round him several other dainties, and a prodigious 
 quantity of all sorts of fruit. 
 
 It is to this god the Indians offer the first-fruits of their works : authors 
 set his name at the head of their writings ; artificers, and tradespeople ot 
 all kinds, invoke his name before they engage in any work whatever. 
 The Indians say, that a man must serve Gluenavady six-and-thirty years 
 before he can obtain any thing for which he prays ; at the end of twelve 
 years he moves his right ear, though almost imperceptibly, which signifies 
 that he requires still twelve years more worship ; after which he moves his 
 left ear, to denote they must serve him the remaining twelve years with 
 the utmost strictness. 
 
 The fourth of the moon of August is a very unlucky day in the opinion 
 of the Indians of Coromandel and Malabar, because of the curse which 
 Quenavady uttered in his anger against the moon, for laughing at him one 
 day when he happened to fall down. The choleric god protested that 
 whoever should presume to look on the moon that day should fall into 
 great misfortunes, and be cut off from his caste. The idolaters, because of 
 this curse, confine themselves to their houses the fourth of the moon of 
 August ; on which day they neither undertake the most inconsiderable 
 affair without doors, nor do they even look into the water, for fear of seeing 
 the reflection of the moon in it. In fine, if they chance to be so unlucky 
 as to be on a journey in this season, they are sure to cover their faces very 
 closely. 
 
 VISHNU, VICHNU, OR V1STNUM. 
 
 This god, who is son to Gluivelinga, is inferior to Ixora ; he is often 
 represented under a hideous shape, as black as a negro, and with four 
 arms. This god governs the world, and resides in the sea of sugar; but a 
 very whimsical circumstance is, that he there spends his whole time in 
 sleeping, and yet directs the affairs of the universe ; he uses the serpent 
 Anatum for a throne, and its five heads serve as so many cushions, on 
 which the sleeping god reposes himself. 
 
 The god Vishnu has on his breast the mark of a kick, which Ricxi, who 
 was originally a genius of India, gave him one day as he was in a deep 
 sleep. Liximi and Si ri Pagoda are looked upon as his wives, the latter of 
 whom he met with in a rose which had a thousand leaves. 
 
 The Ten Incarnations or Metamorphoses of Vishnu . 
 
 Vishnu has already metamorphosed himself nine times in this world, and 
 is to undergo a tenth transformation. These metamorphoses comprehend 
 all the mystery of the Indian theology ; he first assumed the shape of a fish, 
 
PAGAN NATIONS. 
 
 771 
 
 in order to search for the Vedam at the bottom of the sea, whither it had 
 been carried by an evil genius who had forced it away from the Deutas. 
 Vishnu, at the urgent request of the Deutas, plunged into the sea, killed 
 this evil genius, and returned with the Vedam, which he found in a shell.. 
 The figure represents Vishnu coming out of the fish, whose form he had 
 assumed ; his two right hands hold the Vedam open, and a ring; his two 
 left a sabre, and a shell in which the Vedam was inclosed: the monster is 
 seen headless at his feet. 
 
 Second Incarnation. 
 
 The second metamorphosis of Vishnu was into a tortoise. One day the 
 sea being elated with pride, presumed to give an insolent account of its 
 power and riches. Brama, accompanied with certain demons, was ordered 
 to punish this element for its insolence ; accordingly, they took up the 
 mountain of Merupa, which is all of massy gold, and placed it in the midst 
 of the sea ; they wound the serpent Signag, or Scissia, as the Bramins call 
 it, several times round this mountain ; then using this serpent as a cable, 
 they lifted up the mountain, and afterwards let it fall again, till they at last 
 forced this haughty element to restore all the wealth which had made it so 
 proud. The sea was forced to throw up again the following things — viz., 
 silver, a very precious jewel, the tree Parsatig, a vessel in which the 
 water called Sora was contained, Dannewanter, the Indian Esculapius, the 
 moon, the white cow, the Amarith, or water of eternal life, the elephant 
 with seven trunks, the virgin Remba, the seven-headed horse, the bow 
 called Dennock, a shell called Sank, and the poison Sahar. Thus was the 
 sea humbled, all its wealth was distributed in different places, when, the 
 expedition being ended, Brama reascended into heaven. 
 
 Third Incarnation. 
 
 A powerful genius, Renniaxem by name, took the earth one day and 
 rolled it in his hand like a bowl ; but not satisfied with having thus far 
 tried his skill, and imagining himself to be the peaceable possessor of the 
 terrestrial globe, he went and hid himself in Patalam, which is the bottom 
 of the abyss. Vishnu, who was asleep at the instant when he took his 
 flight, awaking on a sudden, was surprised to see the earth was gone ; upon 
 which he immediately transformed himself into a hog, pierced as far as 
 Patalam by the help of his snout, armed with two monstrous tusks, attacked 
 the thief, killed him, and then laying the earth on his tusks, returned from 
 the abyss with this important conquest. 
 
 Fourth Incarnation. 
 
 Brama, in the first age, subdued the giant or devil called by the Indians 
 Hirrenkessep, and kept him in a very tedious and severe confinement. 
 After he had thus suffered for twelve years, the giant implored the mercy 
 
772 
 
 HINDOOS. 
 
 of Brama, who, taking pity on the unhappy wretcn, indulged him with 
 most uncommon favours; for he released him out of prison, made him a 
 powerful monarch, and to assure him that he should continue to Jive, he 
 granted him the following privilege, — viz. that it should be impossible for 
 him to die, unless in the most extraordinary and uncommon manner. 
 Hirrenkessep was hereby secured from the insults of the heaven, the earth, 
 the sun, the moon, thunder, lightning, the day, the night, the wind, storms, 
 and all accidents of that kind. The giant, having recovered his liberty, 
 raised several armies, and made such rapid conquests, that he soon became 
 the terror of the universe. He carried his insolence to such a pitch, that, 
 forgetting who he was, he commanded that himself only should be adored 
 as God. The Bramins opposed this impious worship, and besought Vishnu 
 to deliver them from the tyranny with which they were oppressed. Vishnu 
 assured them that the wife of this tyrant should bring forth a child, who 
 should free them from his usurpation. Vishnu’s promise was fulfilled : the 
 giant became the father of a son, whom he would have brought up in the 
 worship of himself only; but the babe, so far from owning him to be 
 God, made a solemn confession of his faith, by which he acknowledged 
 Vishnu as creator of the fourteen worlds, and father of truth, &c. The 
 tyrant, highly incensed, treated this little martyr to the Bramin’s faith very 
 inhumanly, and was going to knock him down with his staff, when the 
 child escaped the blow, by hiding himself behind a pillar, which received 
 the stroke, and immediately split in two, when lo ! a dreadful monster 
 issued out of it. Vishnu had assumed that shape purposely to chastise the 
 insolence of this tyrant. The metamorphosed god seized the giant by the 
 middle, and tore him to pieces. 
 
 Fifth Incarnation. 
 
 In the time that Mavaly governed the world — i. e ., during the golden 
 age of the Indians, there was a wonderful profusion of all things, so that 
 no one would work ; no subordination was to be seen, every thing was in 
 common, and a man needed only put forth his hand to take whatever he 
 wanted. Vishnu, desirous of putting a stop to a circumstance which might 
 be attended with very ill consequences, resolved therefore to dethrone 
 Mavaly, and to bring want, hunger, misery, and poverty into the world. 
 To succeed in his attempt, he employed artifice, and assuming the shape 
 of a poor Bramin, presented himself to Mavaly as a beggar craving alms. 
 Mavaly offered him kingdoms and treasures; to which the Bramin an- 
 swered, that he begged only three feet of ground for himself to inhabit with 
 his baggage, consisting of an umbrella, a book of devotion after the Bramin 
 worship, and a goblet. 
 
 It must be observed, that the furniture of a Bramin consists only in these 
 three particulars. He required at the same time, that for the more solemn 
 
PAGAN NATIONS. 
 
 773 
 
 ratification of his right to this ground, Mavaly should pour water into his 
 hand. The latter, surprised at the Bramin’s modesty, pressed him re- 
 peatedly, but in vain, to accept of those advantages which, to all outward 
 appearance, were infinitely greater than the three feet of ground he re- 
 quested. However, as he was just going to bestow the three feet of ground 
 on the Bramin, Mavaly’s wife, suspecting some trick, strongly opposed the 
 grant. But Mavaly refused to forswear himself, and taking the vessel in 
 which the water appointed for the fatal ratification was contained, he poured 
 some of it into the Bramin’s hand, who drank it off; when immediately resum- 
 ing his divinity, he covered the earth with one foot, and heaven with the 
 other : after which, going to appropriate to himself the rest of the ground 
 which the unhappy Mavaly had then granted him, he set his foot upon 
 his throat, and knocked him backwards into the abyss, which he measured 
 at the same time. The husband and wife being thus dethroned by an arti 
 fice so unworthy of Vishnu,' made heavy complaints to him upon that ac- 
 count, when the god, moved with his complaints, restored Mavaly as king 
 of the abyss. Ever since this revolution, riches and poverty, abundance 
 and misery, prosperity and adversity, the natural result of the inequality 
 of conditions, have alternately prevailed in the world : but Vishnu, in 
 order to transmit to posterity a type of the felicity which mankind enjoyed 
 under the reign of Mavaly, instituted a festival called by the Malabarians 
 Ona, and by them celebrated in the month of August ; it is a kind of 
 bacchanal, during which the Indians of all ranks and conditions dress 
 themselves as richly as their circumstances will possibly allow, they feast 
 one another to the best of their abilities, and spend that season in joy and 
 festivity. 
 
 Sixth Incarnation. 
 
 A Bramin, who was a very good man, having married a very virtuous 
 female Bramin, withdrew with his wife to the banks of the river, called by 
 the Indian legends Bewa. They pitched upon this place for their fixed 
 habitation, and resolved there to spend their days in devotion. In this 
 calm state there was one circumstance wanting to complete their happi- 
 ness, and that was children — the Bramin’s wife not bringing him any. 
 The Banians look upon those nuptials as dishonourable which are not 
 crowned with children. Our pious pair, inconsolable at the reproach 
 which was cast upon them, resolved to withdraw to the desert, there to 
 implore, with greater fervency than ever, the blessing of Heaven, in order 
 that they might have children ; and for this purpose were resolved to 
 make choice of some remote and unfrequented place. Our couple, after 
 having long wandered through the fields, at last arrived at a pagod, situated 
 in the midst of a little, but very agreeable grove. Here they offered up 
 very long prayers, but to no effect, which made them conclude that the 
 beauty of the place was the sale cause of their prayers being rejected 
 
774 
 
 HINDOOS. 
 
 Hereupc n they resolved to see if they could not succeed better in the plains, 
 and continued, for that purpose, always exposed to the burning rays of the 
 sun, and the inclemencies of the weather. But still this rigorous penance 
 availed them nothing. At last they made a resolution to suffer the extremes 
 of hunger, till such time as it should please the power they worshipped 
 either to hear their prayers, or put an end to their lives. For nine days 
 they underwent this rigorous trial; after which Vishnu appeared to them 
 under the shape of a beautiful child, and asked them the occasion of these 
 repeated austerities. They satisfied his demands ; upon which Vishnu 
 revealing himself, promised them three children, and vanished away in an 
 instant. Two of these three children were produced by transmigration ; 
 the souls of the Bramin and his wife, whom a too severe abstinence and an 
 over-violent affliction had brought to their graves, transmigrated into the 
 bodies of two new-born children ; these afterwards grew up, were married, 
 and gave birth to a child, the last fruit of Vishnu’s promise. The father, 
 according to the legend, was called Sandichemi, the mother Rameka, and 
 the child Prasserum : Rameka had a sister that was married to a giant who 
 had a thousand arms. 
 
 Seventh Incarnation. 
 
 One Rawana, born a Bramin, had formerly an extraordinary devotion 
 for Ixora, to whom he daily offered a hundred flowers. The god Ixora 
 being one day desirous of making a trial of his faith, stole one of them 
 away, and afterwards complained that the oblation was less than usual. 
 Rawana counted the flowers, and finding but ninety-nine, was immediately 
 disposed to pluck out one of his eyes, to make up the deficiency. Ixora, 
 satisfied with this pledge of his fidelity, would not suffer him to do it, and 
 as an acknowledgment, offered to grant him whatever he should request. 
 The Bramin desired that the government of the world might be committed 
 to him, which was granted. In the mean time, Rawana continued his 
 devout exercises ; and his prayers, though they were frequent, were yet 
 very selfish ; upon which Ixora spoke to him as follows : — “ As I have 
 indulged thee ip all thou demandedst of me, why dost thou still continue to 
 address me in prayer? What is it thou now wantest of me?” “ I have 
 one thing more to request of thee,” says the importunate Rawana, “ and 
 that is, to give me ten heads, to govern this universe which thou hast 
 given me, and survey all things in it with my own eyes; and twenty arms, 
 to exercise my power therein.” Ixora granted him also this request ; 
 after which, Rawana fixed upon Lanca for the place of his residence, and 
 fortified himself very strongly in it ; when, after a long and prudent reign, 
 he forgot all his obligations to Ixora, and would have obliged his subjects 
 to acknowledge him only for God. Upon this Vishnu assumed a human 
 shape, and came upon the earth under the name of Ram, the wife of 
 a Rajah bringing him into the world, to chastise Rawana’s insolence. 
 
PAGAN NATIONS. 775 
 
 Ram performed several wonderful exploits : he first killed Rawana, who 
 had metamorphosed himself into a stag ; but the soul of the cunning Raw- 
 ana immediately quitted the stag, and went and shot itself into the body of 
 a Faquir. In this new disguise he played Ram a true Faquir’s trick, by 
 carrying off his wife Sitha ; but Hanuman, the ape-god, revenged this 
 affront which Rawana, transformed into this mock devotee, had put upon 
 Ram. The ape made a dreadful havoc in Lanca ; nor were Rawana, or 
 the giants, his subjects, able to put a stop to it ; and when they, by the 
 virtue of certain magical words, had at last found out the secret of taking 
 Hanuman prisoner, they nevertheless could not put him to death, because 
 of the help that Ram continually afforded him. Rawana asked the ape by 
 what means his strength’ might be subdued ; but the ape imposed upon 
 him, by telling him he must dip his tail in oil, surround it with flax or 
 hemp, and afterwards set fire to it ; assuring him that by this means 
 he would lose his strength. Hanuman being thus equipped, set fire to 
 Rawana’s palace, and destroyed part of Lanca. We have taken a par- 
 ticular notice of this incident, because of its great resemblance to the story 
 of Samson, and shall add, that Rawana’s obstinate refusal to give up the 
 woman he had carried off, the punishment which Ram and his brother 
 Lekeman inflicted upon him on that account, and Ram’s passage through 
 the waters, have a great affinity with the history of Moses. At last Ram 
 and Lekeman killed the ravisher Rawana with arrows ; and the ape Han- 
 uman fought as bravely for them at this juncture as he had done on former 
 occasions. 
 
 Eighth Incarnation. 
 
 The history of this incarnation includes several particulars which bear 
 some relation to the life of Moses and that of our Blessed Saviour. Vishnu 
 became man under the form of a child, called in the Indian legend, Kristna? 
 is rescued from the fury of a Raja, who was destined to die by the hand 
 of a child. 
 
 Ninth Incarnation. 
 
 Vishnu went by the name of Boudhe, in order to reveal himself to men. 
 This Boudhe, according to the doctrine of the Banians, had neither father 
 nor mother: he is invisible, and all spirit ; but whenever he reveals him- 
 self to his faithful servants, under heaven, he assumes the figure under 
 which Vishnu is worshipped by the East Indians. They affirm that 
 Boudhe, who is the mediator of mankind, prays to Mahedu day and night 
 for them. 
 
 Tenth Incarnation. 
 
 The time for this incarnation is not yet come ; Vishnu will one day 
 reveal himself, with Kellenki, or Kelki, which is the name the Bramins 
 give to a white, winged horse, adorned with rich trappings, whom they 
 suppose to be in the heavens : the horse is led by a king, who has a lifted 
 
776 
 
 LAPLANDERS. 
 
 Sabre in his hand ; and this monarch is undoubtedly Vishnu. The horse 
 has always his right foot lifted up ; but whenever he shall think fit to set 
 it down upon the earth, in order to punish the impious and the wicked, it 
 will then sink under the weight of it ; the serpent Signag shall then 
 no longer be able to support the earth ; the tortoise, oppressed with the 
 weight, shall plunge to the bottom of the sea, and mankind in general shall 
 be destroyed. Such will be the end of the last age of the world ; after 
 which the first age is to return again ; for the Indians and other idolaters 
 of the East suppose a revolution in the universe, like to that of the Pla- 
 tonists. 
 
 Sacrifices. 
 
 SEC. XII.— RELIGIOUS CEREMONIES AND CUSTOMS OF THE 
 LAPLANDERS. 
 
 From the time that so large a portion of Lapland fell under the domi- 
 nion of Sweden, repeated attempts were made to convert the natives to the 
 Christian faith ; and the same object was diligently prosecuted by the 
 Danish government. The Laplanders, however, continued to retain a 
 strong attachment to their ancient mythology ; and, even so late as the 
 middle of the eighteenth century, a great part of the nation secretly wor- 
 shipped idols, while publicly professing the Christian religion. 
 
 To these idols were presented various offerings and sacrifices. Upon 
 any change of habitation, libations were made of whey or milk, to conci- 
 liate the guardian divinity of the place ; and of brandy to 
 the Lares or household gods, who were supposed to reside 
 under the fire-place. To conciliate the favour of the deities to their chil- 
 dren, sacrifices of sheep or deer were offered, before the child was born : 
 a dog was buried alive at the moment of the birth ; and some other animal 
 killed when the infant was at the breast. Offerings and sacrifices were 
 usually made for the removal of epidemic disorders, for success in hunt- 
 ing, &c. In these cases, sometimes the w r hole of the victim was presented, 
 sometimes only a part, sometimes merely the bones, while the blood was 
 sprinkled upon staves, which were left on the spot, or mingled with the 
 waters of an adjacent river or lake. The liver of a bear, the horns and 
 other parts of a deer, taken in the chase, were very frequently consecrated 
 to the deity of the place. 
 
 The Laplanders, according to Picart, worship their gods under the form 
 of a tree, or block of wood, the top of which they form into a rude resem- 
 blance of a man’s head. In the head they were wont to 
 drive a large nail, to which was fastened a flint stone, that 
 he might make himself a fire whenever he found one needful. Some- 
 times their god was raised upon a kind of table, which served in capacity 
 of an altar. Their domestic deity, or household god, they represented 
 under the form of a large stone, carved in a rude manner, and bearing some 
 
PAGAN NATIONS. 
 
 777 
 
 resemblance to a human face. The sacrifices which were offered to these 
 idols were presented by a privileged class of men, named Noaaids, who 
 divided the victims with great expertness, and wore at the time of sacri- 
 ficing a peculiar habit. 
 
 The Laplanders still retain much of their ancient superstitious spirit, 
 even in the Christian rites which they have adopted. They particularly 
 regard the sacrament as a powerful charm to preserve them 
 from the attempts of evil spirits. It is not long since they 
 used to take a cloth with them to church, into which they were accus- 
 tomed to spit out the sacramental bread, which they wrapped up with great 
 care, and afterwards divided into as great a number as possible of small 
 crumbs. One of these crumbs was given to every one of their cattle, in 
 the full persuasion that the herd would thus be secure from all injury. 
 Their very deficient acquaintance with Christianity may, in some measure, 
 be ascribed to the very inefficient manner in which they are instructed. It 
 has generally been the practice of the Missionaries and pastors to address 
 the natives by means of an interpreter, and the attempts of the Danish 
 government to remedy this defect have hitherto proved unsuccessful. 
 
 The Laplanders rarely intermarry with the Norwegian, or other neigh- 
 bouring nations. Their matrimonial negotiations are conducted with extra- 
 ordinary formality and decorum. When a young man has 
 selected his object, he communicates his wishes to his own 
 family, who repair in a body to the dwelling of the young woman’s parents, 
 carrying a slight present, such as a ring or ornamental girdle, to the fair 
 one, and a quantity of brandy to entertain the friends. When arrived at 
 the hut, the suitor is left without, till he shall be invited to enter ; and as 
 soon as the rest of the party have entered, their spokesman fills out a bum- 
 per of brandy, which he offers to the girl’s father, and the acceptance of 
 which indicates his approbation of the match to be proposed. After the 
 liquor has gone round the company, leave is obtained for the young man 
 to present himself, while his advocate in a set speech opens the treaty. 
 The lover, upon being introduced, takes his seat near the door, at some 
 distance from the rest ; and it is only when the parents of the girl have 
 signified their full consent, that he offers her the present which he has 
 brought, and promises wedding clothes to her father and mother. Some- 
 times a sum of money is given, both to the bride and to her parents ; and 
 not unfrequently considerable bargaining is employed to raise the amount. 
 AIL that the bride receives on this occasion becomes her own private pro- 
 perty; and, among the better class, a wife, counting all expenses, com- 
 monly costs the husband above a hundred copper dollars. Should the 
 parents depart from their promised consent, it is an established law, that 
 iney must repay all the expenses and presents, even to the brandy which 
 has been drunk at the first visit. After the parties have been in this man 
 
778 
 
 LAPLANDERS. 
 
 ner betrothed, the young man is allowed to visit the bride, whose favour 
 he generally endeavours to conciliate by presenting tobacco, brandy, or 
 whatever he thinks will be most acceptable. On the marriage day the 
 bride appears in her best dress, but her head, commonly closely covered, 
 is, on this occasion, only adorned with a bandeau or fillet, while her hair 
 flows loose upon her shoulders. The bans are usually published only once. 
 The marriage ceremony, which is very short, is sometimes performed 
 before, and sometimes after the entertainment. The wedding feast is cele- 
 brated in a frugal and sober manner, without music, dancing, or any other 
 festivity. Such of the guests as are able, make a present to the bride of 
 money, rein-deer, or other useful articles, to begin the stock, or furnish the 
 dwelling of the young couple. In some parts of Lapland it is the custom 
 that the friends and relations o\ the parties meet together, a few days after 
 the marriage, and partake of a homely entertainment, consisting usually 
 of a mess of broth, a little roast mutton, and metheglin. The bridegroom 
 usually remains with the parents of the bride for the space of one year ; 
 and, at his departure, receives what portion they are able to give with their 
 daughter, to establish the young people in the world. It is usual, at the 
 birth of a child, to assign a female rein-deer, with ail her future offspring, 
 as a provision for the boy or girl, who is thus, when grown up, not unfre- 
 quently the owner of a considerable herd. 
 
 The funerals of the Laplanders are conducted with little ceremony. 
 The body, slightly wrapped in a coarse cloth, is carried to the grave by 
 the friends and relatives, who are entertained with a slight 
 repast, and a small portion of metheglin. In former times, 
 it was the custom to raise a heap of stones over the grave ; but an old 
 sledge, turned with its bottom upwards, is now the only monument placed 
 over the spot of interment. Before the conversion of the Laplanders to 
 Christianity, they placed an axe and tinder-box beside the corpse of a man; 
 and beside that of a woman, her needle and scissors, supposing them to 
 require these implements in the other world. They likewise interred a 
 quantity of provisions along with the dead body; and, during the first 
 three years after the decease of a relative, were accustomed, from time to 
 time, to deposit, in holes dug beside the grave, small quantities of tobacco, 
 or of whatever was most agreeable to their departed friend during his life- 
 time. 
 
 Funerals. 
 
 SEC. XIII. — RELIGIOUS CEREMONIES AND CUSTOMS OF INDIAN 
 
 TRIBES. 
 
 England. 
 
 The aborigines of New England not only believed in a plurality of 
 who made and govern the several nations of the world, but they made deities 
 Indians Of New of ever Y thin g the Y imagined to be great, powerful, benefi 
 ciai, or hurtful to mankind; yet they conceived an almighty 
 
PAGAN NATIONS. 
 
 779 
 
 Canadians. 
 
 Being, who dwells in the south-west regions of the heavens, to be superior 
 to all the rest. This almighty Being they called Kichtan, who at first, 
 according to their tradition, made a man and a woman out of a stone ; but, 
 upon some dislike, destroyed them again, and then made another couple 
 out of a tree, from whom descended all the nations of the earth : but how 
 they came to be scattered and dispersed into countries so remote from one 
 another, they cannot tell. They believed their supreme God to be a good 
 being, and paid a sort of acknowledgment to him for plenty, victory, and 
 other benefits. But there is another power, which they call Hobamocko, 
 (i. e. the devil,) of whom they stood in greater awe, and worshipped 
 merely from a principle of fear. The immortality of the soul was in some 
 sort universally believed among them. When good men die, they said, 
 their spirits go to Kichtan, where they meet their friends, and enjoy all 
 manner of pleasures. When wicked men die, they go to Kichtan also; 
 but are commanded to walk away, and to wander about in restless discon- 
 tent and darkness for ever. 
 
 The original inhabitants of Canada, like other heathen, had an idea of a 
 supreme Being, whom they considered as the creator and governor of the 
 world. It is said, that most of the nations which speak the 
 Algonquin language, give this being the appellation of the 
 Great Hare, but some call him Michabou, and others Atahocan. They 
 believe that he was born upon the waters, together with his whole court, 
 who were composed of four-footed animals, like himself; that he formed the 
 earth of a grain of sand taken from the bottom of the ocean ; and that he 
 created men of the bodies of dead animals. Some mention a god of the 
 waters, who opposed the designs of the Great Hare, who is called the 
 great Tiger. They have a third called Matcomek, whom they invoke in 
 the winter season. 
 
 According to the Iroquois, in the third generation there came a deluge, 
 in which not a soul was saved ; so that, in order to repeople the earth, it 
 was necessary to change beasts into men. Besides tne first 
 Being, or Great Spirit, they hold an infinite number of genii, 
 or inferior spirits, both good and evil, who have each their peculiar form 
 of worship. They ascribe to these beings a kind of immensity and omni- 
 presence, and constantly invoke them as the guardians of mankind ; and 
 they only address themselves to the evil genii, to beg of them to do them 
 no hurt. The) believe in the immortality of the soul, and say that the 
 region of their everlasting abode lies so far westward, that the souls are 
 several months in arriving at it, and have vast difficulties to surmount. 
 The happiness that they hope to enjoy is not believed to be the recompense 
 of virtue only, but to have been a good hunter, brave in war, &c., are the 
 chief merits which entitle them to their paradise ; this they and other 
 American natives describe as a delightful country blessed with perpetual 
 
 Iroquois. 
 
780 
 
 INDIAN TRIBES. 
 
 spring, whose forests abound with game, whose rivers swarm with fish, 
 where famine is never felt, but uninterrupted plenty shall be enjoyed with- 
 out labour or fatigue.* 
 
 The Indians of Virginia gave the names of Okee , Quioccos , or Kiwasa , 
 to the idol which they worshipped. These names might possibly be so 
 many epithets, which they varied according to the several 
 Virginians. f unct j ons they ascribed to this deity, or the different notions 
 they might form to themselves of it in their religious exercises, and com- 
 mon discourses. Moreover, they were of opinion that this idol is not one 
 sole being, but that there were many more of the same nature, besides the 
 tutelary gods. They gave the general name of Quioccos to all these genii, 
 or beings, so that the name of Kiwasa might be particularly applied to the 
 idol in question. 
 
 These savages consecrated chapels and oratories to this deity, in which 
 the idol was often represented under a variety of shapes. They even kept 
 some of these in the most retired part of their houses, to whom they com- 
 municated their affairs, and consulted them upon occasion. In this case 
 they made use of them in the quality of tutelary gods, from whom they 
 supposed they received blessings on their families. 
 
 The sacerdotal vestment of their priests was like a woman’s petticoat 
 plaited, which they put about their necks, and tied over their right shoulder ; 
 but they always kept one arm out to use it as the occasion required. 
 This cloak was made round at the bottom, and descended no lower than 
 the middle of the thigh : it was made of soft, well-dressed skins, with the 
 hair outwards. 
 
 These priests shaved their heads close, the crown excepted, where they 
 left only a little tuft, that reached from the top of the forehead to the nape 
 of the neck, and even on the top of the forehead. They here left a border 
 of hair, which, whether it was owing to nature, or the stiffness contracted 
 by the fat and colours with which they daubed themselves, bristled up, and 
 came forward like the corner of a square cap. 
 
 The Virginians had a great veneration for their priests ; and the latter 
 endeavoured to procure it, by daubing themselves all over in a very fright- 
 ful manner ; dressing themselves in a very odd habit, and tricking up their 
 hair after a very whimsical manner. Every thing they said was consi- 
 dered as an oracle, and made a strong impression on the minds of the 
 people : they often withdrew from society, and lived in woods or in 
 huts, far removed from any habitation. They were difficult of access; 
 and did not give themselves any trouble about provisions, because care was 
 always taken to set food for them near their habitations. They were always 
 addressed in cases of great necessity. They also acted in the quality of 
 
 * Hannah Adams's Diet, of Ali Religions. 
 
PAGAN NATIONS. 
 
 781 
 
 physicians, because of the great knowledge they were supposed to have ot 
 nature. In fine, peace or war was determined by their voice, nor was any 
 thing of importance undertaken without first consulting them. 
 
 They had not any stated times nor fixed days on which they celebrated 
 cneir festivals, but they regulated them only by the different seasons of the 
 year. As, for instance, they celebrated one day at the arrival of their wild 
 birds, another upon the return of the hunting season, and for the maturity 
 of their fruits ; but the greatest festival of all was at harvest time. They 
 then spent severa* days in diverting themselves, and enjoyed most of their 
 amusements, such as martial dances, and heroic songs. 
 
 After their return from war, or escaping some danger, they lighted fires, 
 and made merry about them, each having his gourd-bottle, or his little bell, 
 in his hand. Men, women, and children, often danced in a confused man- 
 ner about these fires. Their devotions in general consisted only of accla- 
 mations of joy, mixed with dances and songs ; except in seasons of sorrow 
 and affliction, when they were changed into howlings. The priests pre- 
 sided at this solemnity, dressed in their sacerdotal ornaments, part of which 
 were the gourd-bottle, the petticoat above-mentioned, and the serpents’ or 
 weasels’ skins, the tails of which were dexterously tied upon their heads 
 like a tiara, or triple-crown. These priests began the song, and always 
 opened the religious exercise, to which they often added incantations, part 
 of the mysteries of which were comprehended in the songs above-men- 
 tioned. The noise, the gestures, the wry faces, in a word, every thing 
 contributed to render these incantations terrible. 
 
 The deities of the ancient Mexicans are said to have exceeded two thou- 
 sand, who had their respective temples, ceremonies, and sacrifices. There 
 was hardly a street without its tutelary divinity, nor was 
 Mexicans. there scarcely a disease which had not its peculiar altar, to 
 which the Mexicans flocked in order to be healed. Their principal deity 
 was Vitzliputzli, whom they considered the sovereign lord of all things, 
 and creator of heaven and earth. The greatest god after Vitzliputzli was 
 the Sun. Another of their divinities was Tlaloch, whom some writers 
 confound with Tescalipuca. But these were considered brothers, of equal 
 strength, and so similar in disposition, that the sovereign power of war 
 was divided between them. Tescalipuca was, however, more appropri- 
 ately the god of penance, whom the Mexicans invoked in seasons of 
 adversity. The Mercury and Plutus of the Mexicans, the former of whom 
 was sometimes called Quitzalcoalt , was represented under a human shape, 
 except that it had the head of a bird, with a painted paper mitre upon its 
 head, and a scythe in its hand. The body of it was covered with jewels 
 of extraordinary value. Besides the foregoing, the Mexicans worshipped 
 various other deities, among whom we shall mention only Tozi, a beauti- 
 ful woman, for whom, at her death, Vitzliputzli procured divine honours. 
 
 50 
 
 
 
782 
 
 MEXICANS. 
 
 Nearly all their divinities were clothed with terror, and delighted in ven- 
 geance. The figures of serpents, of tigers, and of other destructive ani- 
 mals, decorated their temples. Fasts, mortifications, and penances, all 
 rigid, and many of them excruciating to an extreme degree, were the means 
 which they employed to appease the wrath of the gods. But of all offer- 
 ings, human sacrifices were deemed the most acceptable. At the dedica- 
 tion of the great temple at Mexico, it is reported there were 60 or 70,000 
 human sacrifices. The usual amount of them was about 20,000. 
 
 When the bloody sacrifices of the Mexicans took place, the victims 
 about to be slain were assembled at a charnal-house on a terrace. A 
 priest, holding in his hand an idol made of wheat-maize and honey, drew 
 near to these unhappy wretches, and presenting it to each of them, cried 
 out at the same time, “ There is your God !” 
 
 This done, they withdrew, going off on the other side of the terrace, 
 when the victims were immediately brought upon it, being the place 
 appointed for the sacrifice. Six ministers of the idol here slaughtered 
 these victims ; and having torn out their hearts, they threw the bodies 
 down the staircase, from the top to the bottom of the terrace. 
 
 They never sacrificed less than forty of these victims at a time ; and 
 those nations who either bordered on, or were tributary to, the Mexicans, 
 imitated them in this bloody worship. 
 
 Another religious ceremony, which indeed does not seem so barbarous as 
 the former, was the duel of the victim, if we may give this name to the 
 liberty he was allowed of defending himself against the priest who was to 
 sacrifice him. The captive, whose feet were tied to a stone, parried the 
 instrument with which the priest struck at him, and even attacked him in 
 his turn. If he had the good fortune to conquer the priest, he was released, 
 and considered as a brave man ; but if the priest came off conqueror, 
 he first killed him, then stripped off his skin, and had his limbs dressed 
 and served up at one of those meals called by them their religious meals. 
 
 The high priest was called Tapizlin in the Mexican language. It 
 is pretended that his dignity was equal to that of the pope. He wore 
 on his head a crown of beautiful feathers of various colours, with golden 
 pendants, enriched with emeralds, at his ears, and a small blue tube, similar 
 to that of the god of penance, ran through his lip. He was clothed in 
 a scarlet robe, or rather mantle. The vestments of their priests were 
 frequently changed according to the different seasons or festivals. 
 
 The priesthood of Vitzliputzli was hereditary, and that of the other gods 
 elective. Children were often destined from their most tender years to the 
 service of idols, and officiated as clerks, and singing boys, when but mere 
 striplings. The priests used to incense four times every day the god, 
 whose ministers they were ; but at midnight, the principal ministers of the 
 temple rose to perform the nocturnal office, viz., to sound a trumpet and 
 
PAGAN NATIONS. 
 
 783 
 
 horn for a considerable time, and to play on certain instruments, accompa- 
 nied with voices, which together celebrated the praises of the idol. After 
 this, the priest, whose turn it was, took the thurible, saluted the idol, and 
 incensed it, himself being clothed in a black mantle. In fine, after the in- 
 censing was over, they all went together into a chapel, where they prac- 
 tised all those rigorous penances which have been already described. 
 
 The Mexicans, at the end of every month, which among them consisted 
 of twenty days, used to observe a solemn day of devotion, mixed with 
 rejoicings. They then sacrificed some captives, and ran up and down the 
 streets clothed in the skins of those miserable victims that had been just 
 flayed. They danced, they sang, they collected alms for the priests, the 
 giving of which among them, as in other places, was looked upon as an 
 effect of real piety. The great festival of Vitzliputzli was celebrated 
 in the month of May, two days before which, the nuns used to make 
 a figure of maize and honey, representing that god. Then having dressed 
 it in as magnificent a manner as possible, they seated it on an azure throne, 
 which was supported by a kind of shaft. The nuns, who on that festival 
 used to call themselves the sisters of Vitzliputzli, carried it in procession 
 on their shoulders, to the area before the temple, where the young monks 
 before cited received the idol, and, after having paid homage to it, carried 
 it also on their shoulders to the steps of the sanctuary. 
 
 The festival of Tescalipuca was celebrated the nineteenth of the same 
 month, when the priests granted the people a remission of their sins. At 
 the same time they sacrifice a captive, which we may almost consider as 
 an imperfect image of the death which our blessed Saviour suffered for the 
 redemption of mankind. 
 
 The Mexicans used to celebrate a jubilee every four years, which was 
 nothing more than the feast of penance, such as we have already described, 
 except that it was more solemn, there being at that time a more general 
 and plenary remission of sins. We are assured that the Mexicans sacri- 
 ficed many human victims at this season. And the youth used to make a 
 kind of challenge, who should first, and in one breath, get to the top of the 
 temple. This enterprise was a very difficult one, since it gained applause 
 to all those who had the glory of coming first to the goal, not to mention 
 that they were distinguished from the rest of their countrymen, and, more- 
 over, had the privilege of carrying off the sacred viands, of which they 
 made the same use as Catholics do of relics. 
 
 Forty days before the feast of Q,uitzalcoalt, the merchants purchased a 
 slave of a very fine shape, who, during that time, represented the deity to 
 whom he was to be sacrificed as a victim on the day of the festival ; but 
 they first washed him in the lake of the gods, which was the name they 
 gave to the water which fitted him for the fatal apotheosis which ended 
 with his death. 
 
MEXICANS. 
 
 rs4 
 
 Marriage was solemnized by the authority of the priests, and a public 
 instrument was drawn up, in which were mentioned the particulars of the 
 wife’s fortune, which the husband was obliged to return in case of separa- 
 tion. After their having agreed upon the articles, the couple went to the 
 temple, where one of the sacrificing priests examined their resolutions by 
 certain precise questions appointed for that purpose. He afterwards took 
 up the husband’s mantle and the woman’s veil, and with one of his hands 
 tied them together at one corner, to signify the inward tie of the wills. 
 They then returned to their house, bound in this manner, accompanied by 
 the sacrificing priest. Then they went and visited the hearth, or fire, 
 which they looked upon as the mediator of all disputes between man and 
 wife. They used to go seven times round it, successively, the sacrificing 
 priest walking before ; after which ceremony they both sat down, in order 
 to be equally warmed by the heat of the fire, which gave the perfection to 
 marriage. 
 
 Burials and all funeral rites were regulated by their priests. They 
 generally buried their dead in their gardens or houses, and commonly chose 
 the courtyard for that purpose ; they sometimes buried them in those 
 places where they sacrificed to the idols. In fine, they frequently burned 
 them, after which they buried their ashes in the temples, together with 
 their movables, their utensils, and all they thought might be useful to them 
 in the next world. They used to sing at funerals, and even made feasts 
 on those occasions, which custom, how ridiculous soever it may be, some 
 Christian nations have not been able to persuade themselves to lay aside. 
 Above all, they buried their great lords in a very magnificent manner, and 
 used to carry their bodies with great pomp and a numerous train into the 
 temples. The priests walked first with their pans of copal, singing fune- 
 ral hymns with a melancholy tone, accompanied with the hoarse and 
 mournful sound of flutes. They lifted the body several times on high 
 while they were sacrificing those who were appointed to serve the illustri 
 ous dead. The domestics were put to death to keep their masters com- 
 pany. It was a testimony of great affection, but very common among the 
 lawful wives, to solemnize, by their deaths, the funerals of their .husbands. 
 They buried a great quantity of gold and silver with the deceased for th& 
 expense of his journey, which they imagined was long and troublesome. 
 The common people imitated the grandees in proportion to their substance. 
 The friends of the deceased came and made presents to him, and talked to 
 him as if he were still living ; the same ceremonies were practised whether 
 they burned or buried the dead. We must not omit to state that they car- 
 ried with them the achievements and trophies of the deceased, in case he 
 were a man of quality, and that the priest who read the funeral service was 
 dressed so as to set forth the glory of the idol whom the nobleman repre- 
 sented. The funeral lasted ten days. 
 
PAGAN NATIONS. 
 
 785 
 
 The city of Mexico is said to have contained nearly 2000 small temples, 
 and 360 which were adorned with steeples. The whole empire of Mexico 
 contained about 40,000 temples, endowed with very considerable revenues. 
 For the service in the grand temple of Mexico itself, above 5000 priests 
 were appointed ; and the number in the whole empire is said to have 
 amounted to nearly a million. The whole priesthood, excepting that of 
 the conquered nations, was governed by two high priests, who were also 
 the oracles of the kings. Besides the service in the temple, their clergy 
 were to instruct the youth, to compose the calendars, and to paint the 
 mythological pictures. The Mexicans had also priestesses, but they 
 were not allowed to offer up sacrifices. They likewise had monastic 
 orders, especially one, into which no person was admitted under sixty years 
 of age. 
 
 The Peruvians, previously to being governed by their Incas, worshipped 
 a great number of gods, or rather genii. There was no nation, family, 
 city, street, or even house, but had its peculiar gods ; and for this particu- 
 lar reason, that they thought none but the god to whom they immediately 
 devoted themselves was able to assist them in time of need. They wor- 
 shipped herbs, plants, flowers, trees, mountains, caves, tigers, lions, adders; 
 in fine, every thing that appeared wonderful in their eyes was thought 
 worthy of adoration. 
 
 These ancient idolaters of Peru offered not only the fruits of the earth 
 and animals to these gods, but also their captives, like the rest of the 
 Americans. It was their custom to sacrifice their own children, whenever 
 there was a scarcity of victim* 
 
 Some other idolaters offered their own blood to their deities, which they 
 drew from their arms and thighs, according as the sacrifice was more 
 or less solemn ; and they even used, on extraordinary occasions, to bleed 
 themselves at the tips of their nostrils, or between the eyebrows. 
 
 Such was the state of idolatry all over Peru, when the Inca Mancocapac 
 the lawgiver of that vast empire, taught the savages the worship of the 
 Sun. From this time, sacrifices of various kinds of animals were offered 
 m honour of the sun, and also cocoa, corn, rich clothes, and a liquor made 
 of water and maize. They always presented the last offering to the sun, 
 in the following manner: when they were very thirsty, they first' satisfied 
 their hunger, and afterwards dipped the tip of their finger in the vessel 
 into which the liquor was poured ; this being done, they lifted up their 
 eyes to heaven in a very submissive manner ; shook that finger on which 
 the drop hung, and offered it to the sun as an acknowledgment for his 
 goodness in providing drink for them. At the same time they gave two 
 or three kisses to the air. This oblation being made, they all drank as they 
 thought proper. 
 
 Every time they entered tneir temples, the chief man in the company 
 
786 
 
 AFRICAN TRIBES. 
 
 Caribbees. 
 
 laid his hand on one of his eyebrows, and whether he tore off any of the 
 hairs or not, he blew it into the air before the idol, as a mark of its being 
 an oblation. They paid the same adoration to trees, and to all those things 
 which a divine virtue had made sacred and religious. 
 
 The savages or Indians of the Caribbee Islands, if they may be so 
 called, have no words, it is said, to express a supreme Being ; but acknow- 
 ledge a good and an evil principle, both of which they cab 
 Maboia. They believe in a multitude of good spirits, one 
 of whom each savage appropriates to himself, under the title of Chemen. 
 To these Chemens they offer the first of their fruits, and sometimes out of 
 gratitude make a feast to their honour. They make better images re- 
 sembling the form under which Maboia reveals himself to them, in order to 
 pievent his doing them any harm. They wear these images about their 
 necks, and pretend that they give them ease. They also fast and cut 
 themselves for his sake. 
 
 There was formerly at Campeche 
 earth and stone, about four cubits 
 _ . . the marble statue of i 
 
 Campeche and 
 
 Tobasco. ordinary shape seemed ready to tear in pieces. Near this 
 
 figure a serpent was also represented, forty-seven feet in length, and of a 
 proportionable thickness, which swallowed up a lion. These two last 
 figures were made of marble like the rest, and enclosed in some measure 
 by palisadoes. On the pavement were bows and arrows, bones and skulls. 
 This is all we are told by Purchas concerning these figures, which possibly 
 might have some mysterious signification couched under them. 
 
 In the sacrifices made to their idols, by the natives of Tobasco, they 
 used to rip up the victim’s breast and tear out his heart ; they afterwards 
 set, or rather enclosed the bloody body of the victim in a hollow made in 
 a particular part of the lion’s neck. The blood of the victim fell into a 
 stone reservoir, on the side of which was placed a stone statue representing 
 a man, who seemed to look steadfastly at the blood of the sacrificed victim. 
 As to the heart, the sacrificing priest, after having torn it out, smeared the 
 idol’s face with it, and then threw it into the fire, which was lighted for 
 that purpose. 
 
 square theatre, or scaffold, built of 
 high. Upon the theatre was fixed 
 man, whom two animals of an extra- 
 
 SEC. XIV. — RELIGIOUS CEREMONIES AND CUSTOMS OF AFRICAN 
 
 TRIBES. 
 
 The natives of Africa universally believe in a Supreme Being, and have 
 some ideas of a future state. They address this being by a fetishe or 
 fetish, which is a sort of charm or manner of conducting their worship. 
 The term is often applied to whatever represents their divinities. 
 
 The Negroes of Congo believe in a good and an evil principle, which 
 
PAGAN NATIONS. 
 
 787 
 
 are both supposed to reside in the sky. The former sends rain, the latter 
 withholds it ; but they do not seem to consider either of 
 them as possessing any influence over human affairs. After 
 death they all take their place in the sky, and enjoy a happy existence, 
 without any regard being paid to their good or bad actions while here 
 below. 
 
 Each town has a grand kissey, or presiding divinity. It is the figure 
 of a man, the body stuck with feathers, rags, and bits of iron, and resembles 
 nothing so much as one of our scarecrows. The chenoo of Gooloo had a 
 kissey so redoubtable that if any person attempted to shoot at it, he would 
 v fall down dead, and the flint would drop out of the musket. This powerful 
 divinity was the figure of a man, about two feet high, rudely carved 
 in wood, and covered with rags. 
 
 Kolloh is the name of a great spirit, who is supposed to reside in the 
 vicinity of Yangroo, in Western Africa. He makes his abode in the 
 woods, and is rarely seen except on mournful occasions, such as the death 
 of the king or of some of their head men, or when a person has been buried 
 without the usual ceremonies of dancing, drinking palm-wine, &c., in re- 
 membrance of their departed friends. 
 
 The Kolloh is made of bamboo sticks in the form of an oval basket, about 
 three feet long, and so deep that it goes on to the man’s shoulders. It is 
 covered with a piece of net, and stuck all around with porcupine quills on 
 the nose. It has a frightful appearance, and has a great effect in exciting 
 the terror of the inhabitants. 
 
 A certain man pretends to have some very intimate intercourse with this 
 Beelzebub, and therefore he is called by the spirit to take the Kollah 
 on his head, and to go about with it on certain occasions to see that the 
 various ceremonies of the country are strictly observed, and if any are 
 absent he seeks them out and drives them to the place of assembly. — He 
 is a faithful servant of the Devil. 
 
 The Kolloh-man carries a stick in his hand, to show his authority ; and 
 to give notice of his coming he rings a bell, which is fixed inside of the 
 Kolloh or basket. These Kolloh-men are a set of plunderers, who disturb 
 the peace and greatly deceive the ignorant natives. 
 
 The fetishes of Whidah may be divided into three classes ; the serpent, 
 tall trees , and the sea. The serpent is the most celebrated, the others 
 being subordinate to the power of this deity. This snake 
 has a large, round head, beautiful, piercing eyes, a short, 
 pointed tongue, resembling a dart : its pace slow and solemn, except when 
 ’t seizes on its prey, then very rapid ; its tail sharp and short, its skin of 
 an elegant smoothness, adorned with beautiful colours, upon a light gray 
 ground : it is amazingly familiar and tame. Rich offerings are made to 
 this deity ; priests and priestesses appointed for its service ; it is invoked 
 
788 
 
 AFRICAN TRIBES. 
 
 in extremely wet, dry, or barren seasons; and, in a word, on all the great 
 difficulties and occurrences of life. 
 
 The people of Benin believe in an invisible deity, who created heaven 
 and earth, and governs them with absolute power ; but they conceive it 
 needless to worship him, because he is always doing good 
 without their services. They also believe in a malignant 
 deity, to whom they sacrifice men and animals, to satiate his thirst of blood, 
 and prevent him from doing them mischief. But they have innumerable 
 objects of worship; as elephants’ teeth, claws, bones, dead men’s heads, or 
 any trifle that chance throws in their way, to which they make a daily 
 offering of a few boiled yams, mixed with palm oil. On great occasions 
 they sacrifice a cock, treating the divinity with the blood only, and reserv- 
 ing the flesh for themselves. Persons of high rank give an annual feast to 
 their gods, at which multitudes of cattle are offered to the idols and eaten 
 by the people. Each offers his own sacrifices, without giving the priests 
 any sort of trouble. 
 
 Picart has given a particular account of a ceremony of some tribes in 
 Guinea, around a sacred tree, called the tree of the Fetish. At the foot 
 thereof, he says, they set a table, which is embellished below 
 with boughs wreathed in the form of crowns. The table is 
 covered with palm wine, rice, millet, &c., in order to drink and eat after 
 their service is over, in honour of their fetishes. The whole day is spent 
 in dancing and capering round the tree of the fetish, and in singing and 
 drumming upon divers instruments of brass. Their priest frequently sits 
 near the centre of the place before a kind of altar, on which he offers up 
 some sacrifices to the fetishes. Men, women, and children, sit promiscu- 
 ously round the celebrant, who reads or pronounces a kind of homily to 
 them. At the conclusion, he takes a wisp of straw, twisted hard, which 
 he dips into a pot full of some particular liquor, in which there is a ser- 
 pent. He either besmears, or sprinkles the children with this holy water, 
 mumbling over them a certain form of words. He observes the same 
 ceremony with respect to the altar, and afterwards empties the pot ; and 
 then his assistants close the service with some inarticulate, unintelligible 
 sounds, loud acclamations, and clapping of hands. On this solemn day, 
 they wash their faces and bodies with more care and pains than on any 
 other, for they practise ablutions. They wash themselves every morn- 
 ing, and afterwards draw white lines upon their faces, with a piece of 
 earth, like chalk or lime, as acts of devotion, performed in honour of the 
 fetish. 
 
 The priest, attended by two women, frequently repairs to the tree of the 
 fetish, in order to accomplish his magical incantations ; at the foot of which 
 appears a black dog, which answers all his interrogatories. 
 
 The religion of the Dahomans, like that of the neighbouring kingdoms 
 
PAGAN NATIONS. 
 
 789 
 
 Dahomans. 
 
 consists of such a mass of superstition as can hardly be described. The 
 objects of their devotion are the sun and moon, various and 
 mals and trees, and other substances. The Portuguese word 
 feticOy or, as the English pronounce it, fetish , signifying witchcraft, has 
 been adopted by most of the maritime natives of Africa, as well as by the 
 Europeans who trade thither. Of their amulets , or charms , the principal 
 is a scrap of parchment, containing a sentence of the Koran, which the 
 natives purchase from the Moors who visit the country, and which they 
 hang up in their apartments, and decorate with a variety of rude images. 
 Among the objects of their idolatrous worship is a species of snake or ser- 
 pent, called JDaboa ; they put it in a basket, and place it in the temple 
 destined for it, where they secretly feed it with rats, but pretend that it 
 lives upon air. The temple is served by priestesses, supported at the 
 king’s expense. Every year there is a festival in honour of this serpent, 
 at which the grandees assist, and for which the king supplies the neces- 
 sary articles. It lasts usually seven days, during which time the people 
 abandon themselves to drinking, music, and dancing. Great faith is 
 placed in the serpent. Those who labour under bodily pains, appiy the 
 animal to the part affected, and pregnant women offer prayers to it for a 
 favourable delivery. The tiger is also held in veneration, and there is a 
 temple dedicated to the devil, or bad demon. Notwithstanding these su- 
 perstitions, the people have a confused idea of a Supreme Being, all-pow- 
 erful and infinite, whom they endeavour to propitiate by their fetish; but 
 pay him no other worship, as they are convinced that he is too good to do 
 them any evil. 
 
 The Ashantees are, perhaps, the most polished nation of negroes to be 
 met with in Western Africa. They are, however, gross idolaters, and most 
 lavish of human blood in sacrifices at their funerals and fes- 
 tivals. They say that, at the beginning of the world, God 
 created three black men, and three white, with the same number of wo- 
 men, and placed before them a large box, or calabash, and a sealed paper. 
 The black men had the privilege of choosing, and they took the box ex- 
 pecting it contained every thing ; but when they opened it, they found 
 only gold, iron, and other metals, of which they did not know the use. 
 The white men opened the paper, which told them every thing. This 
 happened in Africa, where God left the black men in the bush. The white 
 men he conducted to the water side, where he taught them to build a ship, 
 which carried them to another country. From hence they returned, after 
 a long period, with various merchandise, to trade with the black men, who 
 might have been superior people if they had chosen right. The kings 
 and governors are believed to dwell with God after death, enjoying to eter- 
 nity the luxuries and state they possessed on earth: the paradise of the 
 poor affords only a cessation from labour. There are two orders of men 
 
 Ashantees. 
 
790 
 
 THE MALAGASY. 
 
 attached to the inferior deities calJed fetishes. Every family has its domes- 
 tic fetish, to which they offer yams, &c. ; some of them are wooden figures ; 
 others are of fanciful forms, and different materials. When the Ashantees 
 drink, they spill a little of the liquor on the ground, as an offering to the 
 fetish ; and when they rise from their chairs or stools, their attendants 
 hastily lay the seat on its side, to prevent the devil, or evil spirits, from 
 slipping into their master’s place. This evil spirit is supposed to be 
 white ; doubtless from the same motive or feeling which induces Europeans 
 to say that he is black : for, indeed, who would wish to resemble the devil, 
 either in colour or shape, however some of us may not object to a resem- 
 blance to him in character ? 
 
 SEC. XV— RELIGIOUS CEREMONIES AND CUSTOMS OF THE 
 MALAGASY. 
 
 The latest, and no doubt the most correct, account of the superstitious 
 rites and ceremonies of the people of Madagascar is to be found in Ellis’s 
 History of Madagascar. From that work, the greater part of the informa- 
 tion about to be given has been obtained. 
 
 It has long been thought, that the Malagasy were a people favourably 
 prepared by circumstances to receive Christianity, for they have usually 
 been represented as being free from popular idols and religious observances 
 to any extent that would render them averse to the influences of a better 
 religion than their own. This impression, however, only arose from a want 
 of that knowledge which has latterly been painfully obtained. 
 
 The same feelings and passions which move in the breasts of other 
 people, are at work in the hearts of the Malagasy, and they, moved by the 
 same hopes and fears, and joys and sorrows, that characterize humanity, 
 have, in their destitution of the light of revelation, sought a refuge to arm 
 them against evil, and to inspire them with hope, in a belief of charms. 
 They cannot regard creation around them without being convinced of an 
 unseen and powerful agency, and being unable to account for effects visible 
 to their eyes, and possessing no impression of a superintending Providence 
 they consider that charms alone could have effected what is above their 
 apprehension. 
 
 But while the Malagasy believe in ody, (charms,) they have a conviction 
 of the infallibility of the sikidy, or divination, by which the charm must 
 be decided, and to this must also be added, an undefined belief in some 
 superior, though unknown power, whose will the diviner’s art is about to 
 make known. The art of the diviner is considered as certain in its result 
 though the premises from which that result issues are avowedly iaid in 
 chances. The Mohammedan is not more wedded to the doctrine of fate 
 than the Malagasy to their “ vintana” — a stern and unbending destiny. 
 
 Though Madagascar has no visible objects of worship calculated to claim 
 
PAGAN NATIONS. 
 
 791 
 
 veneration, and charm the senses to any great degree, and recognises no 
 order of priests, yet it is not without its idols, its ceremonies, its sacrifices, 
 and its divinations. It has, too, its altars, its vows, and its forbidden things 
 (forbidden because hateful to the supposed genius of the place,) as well at 
 its mythology, oaths, and forms of benediction. No people surpass the 
 Malagasy in credulity; ghosts, witches apparitions, legendary wonders, 
 and feats of ferocious giants and monsters, have their full influence over 
 their minds. The people appeal to a superior but unknown power to pro- 
 tect them from sorcery, and to purge the land from the evils of witchcraft, 
 the innocent blood is shed of numberless human victims, who are perse- 
 cuted, poisoned, speared, strangled, or hurled over a fatal precipice. Being 
 without divine truth, the Malagasy cling tenaciously to the superstitions of 
 their forefathers. 
 
 Though they speak of God, pray to God, appeal to God, and bless in 
 the name of God, yet is the notion they form of God so vague, uncertain, 
 and, indeed, contradictory, that it can hardly be said with truth that they 
 know any thing of the creator, preserver, and redeemer of mankind. “Ra- 
 dama, king of Madagascar, was, a few years ago, offered the knighthood of 
 the order of St. Patrick, which he declined, assigning as his reason that he 
 could not take the oath which required him to say that he believed in God, 
 meaning the God of the Europeans.” There is no doubt that the real 
 belief of the Malagasy, concerning God, is far from being what the terms 
 found in their language would seem to imply. 
 
 The terms for God in the native language are Andriamanitra and Zan- 
 ahary, or Andria-nanahary, but the notions entertained, respecting them, 
 are of the most confused kind ; whatever is great, or grand, or new, or 
 extraordinary, is at once called Andriamanitra. Rice, money, thunder and 
 lightning, with earthquakes, and other things, are called God. A book is 
 god, a deceased king is god, velvet is son of god, and silk is god in the 
 highest degree. “It is related of Radama, that in a heavy thunder-storm 
 which occurred one evening, he amused himself in firing off some pieces 
 of cannon. The British agent went to him, and inquired his reason for 
 doing so. 4 Oh !’ said the king, ‘ we are answering one another — both of 
 us are gods. God above is speaking by his thunder and lightning, and 
 I am replying by my powder and cannon.’ Mr. Hastie pointed out to 
 him the presumption of his conduct, and the king ordered the firing to 
 cease.” 
 
 The Malagasy believe that when the body dies, the mind becomes 
 “levona,” — i. e. vanished, invisible, and that the life becomes “rivotra,” — 
 air, or wind, a mere breeze. Some of the inhabitants on parts of the coast 
 believe in the existence of four superior divinities, or lords, who govern the 
 four quarters of the earth — in the interior of the country this belief is 
 regarded as a fable. The doctrine of a future state of retribution is not 
 
 L 
 
T92 
 
 THE MALAGASY. 
 
 known to the Malagasy. No conceptions are entertained of the relation 
 existing between the creator and the created, and no moral responsibility 
 impressed on the mind. Chicanery, lying, and cheating, are considered 
 but very light offences, compared with trampling on a grave, eating pork 
 in places where it is forbidden, running after an owl, or wild cat, or pre 
 paring any kind of enchantment. 
 
 The Malagasy practise the ceremony of circumcision, purification, and 
 offering sacrifice ; but they have no traditions of the creation, the fall of 
 man, the deluge, the favoured people of God, or of the Messiah. The 
 doctrine of a Mediator, the birth of a Redeemer, the salvation of man, the 
 renewal of the heart, the resurrection, the general judgment, and the glory 
 to be revealed, are unknown to them. 
 
 There are twelve or fifteen principal idols in the vicinity of Tananariva, 
 which excite the religious dread of the people, and four of these are 
 regarded as superior to the rest. They are supposed to exert more influ- 
 ence in protecting and benefiting the sovereign and the country than the 
 others, and are therefore national idols. Different clans and districts have 
 their own idols, which are little known beyond their immediate neighbour- 
 hood. The idols of Imerina have no power among the Sakalavas, nor have 
 the Sakalava gods any influence in Imerina. 
 
 Not only has every clan its own idol, but every house and family its 
 ody, or charm ; many wear crocodiles’ teeth as receptacles of their ody, 
 and in this they put their trust in all circumstances of sickness and peril, 
 in life and in death. 
 
 It is not known whether the kings who raised the national idols to their 
 present elevation, instituted any public worship, for none is now offered to 
 them ; yet still they are called God, and regarded as such. A native Ma- 
 lagasy thus describes the idol gods : — “The idols are called God, prayed to, 
 praised, thanked, highly regarded, honoured, and lifted up : they are said to 
 be that which causes to live, and causes to die, and are supposed to see the 
 future, the past, and the present, and to be able to cast down the thunder- 
 bolts, pour down the hail, to remove the disease, and inflict curses, and to 
 assemble the snake tribe against all who calumniate them. It is said, also, 
 that their calumniators are strangled by them. They are called ‘means 
 of life,’ and are kept in boxes.” The serpents of Madagascar are very 
 numerous ; they are regarded as the particular agents of the idols, and on 
 this account are looked upon with much apprehension. The national idoU 
 of Madagascar are kept very secret : to endeavour to see them is a crime. 
 No strangers are allowed to approach the houses where they are pre- 
 served, so that the materials of which they are made and the forms given 
 to them cannot be described here. When one of them is carried in 
 public, its appearance is that of a small image wrapped in red cloth. It 
 is elevated on a pole, that it may be borne along with greater ease, and 
 
PAGAN NATIONS. 
 
 793 
 
 at the same time make an impression on the awe-struck multitude. 
 Though it is carried along in this public manner, the people are forbidden 
 to gaze upcn it — an inconsistency that can hardly be accounted for. The 
 sovereign gives the red velvet in which the idol is enveloped. A Malagasy 
 idol was given on a certain occasion, and its appearance was of the most 
 extraordinary kind. 
 
 The household gods of Madagascar are of many kinds : any thing which 
 strikes the fancy, or allures the eye, will do for a god. One man worship- 
 ped a piece of silver about the size of a walnut, shaped like a bullock ; he 
 called it his “bullock of money.” An old chief had hung up in his dwell- 
 ing an odd-looking bushy plant ; this was his god. 
 
 The names of the principal idols already alluded to are as follows 
 
 1. Rakelimalaza. 5. Ramanjaibola. 9. Ravalolona. 12. Ralehifotsy. 
 
 2. Ramahavaly. 6. Rafaronatra. 10. Rafohitanana. 13. Ralehimalemalema. 
 
 3. Ramanjakatsiroa. 7. Ratsimahavaly. 11. Razanaharitsi- 14. Ratsisimba. 
 
 4. Rafantaka. 8. Rabehaza. inandry. 15. Ralandrema. 
 
 Of these fifteen, the two first are by far the most important. 
 
 At a distance of seven miles eastward of Tananariva, is situated the 
 village of Ambohimanambola ; this place is the residence of Rakelima- 
 laza. The whole of the 'hill occupied by the village is looked upon as 
 sacred. The signification of the name of the idol is “ Renowned although 
 diminutive.” 
 
 There are certain animals and objects which may not be admitted within 
 the sacred precincts, and they have the name of Fady. Every idol has 
 its own particular Fady. Gunpowder, pigs, onions, a shell-fish called 
 sifotra, robes that are striped or spotted, goats, horses, cats, owls, with fire- 
 arms, and any thing of a black colour, form, for the most part, the Fady 
 of Rakelimalaza. The benefits supposed to be conferred by this idol are, — 
 rendering the sovereign invisible and victorious, defending those who cross 
 rivers from crocodiles, protecting true worshippers from sorcery, and extin- 
 guishing fires. 
 
 Ramahavaly ranks next in importance ; the signification of his name is, 
 “Capable of replying:” his residence is at Ambohitany, though a house 
 is prepared at the capital for his occasional residence. There is a steep 
 hady or fosse round the idol-house, and no stranger is allowed to dravtf near 
 to it, lest the power of the charms of the idol should suffer injury. The 
 Fady of articles forbidden to approach Ramahavaly, are the flesh of ani- 
 mals killed at funerals, and other things. This idol most strictly forbids 
 the killing of serpents. 
 
 Ramahavaly is considered as the physician of Imerina, and is frequently 
 taken from one place to another to arrest the progress of disease. A cere- 
 mony, called Miafana, takes place at the capital, almost every year, wherein 
 a guardian of the idol officiates as priest, and sprinkles the people assem- 
 bled as they pass by, in the presence of the idol, with honied water. 
 
794 
 
 MALAGASY. 
 
 While the sprinkling goes on, the priest cries out, “ Take courage, you, 
 your wives and children ! You have Ramahavaly ! take courage for your- 
 selves and your property! He is the pieserver of life; and should dis- 
 eases invade, he will suddenly arrest them, and prevent them coming near 
 to injure you.” 
 
 The name of the idol kept at the capital is Ramanjakatsiroa, — i. c., 
 “ There are not two sovereigns,” or, “ The king is supreme.” This idol 
 is, however, considered to be inferior to both Rakelimalaza, and Rama- 
 havaly. 
 
 The idol called Ranakandriana, on a high mountain at Andringitra, is 
 supposed to have imparted the knowledge of divination to the Malagasy; 
 and he is said, also, to reply when any one addresses him. It is not an 
 improbable supposition that this belief has been brought about by the echo 
 of the place, every sound being reverberated very distinctly among the 
 rocks. Some years ago, King Radama resolved to visit Ranakandriana, 
 to ascertain whether it was really true that an answer was given by him 
 to any question proposed. No sooner had the monarch entered the dark 
 cavern of the idol, and saluted the invisible divinity, than he heard a low 
 and solemn voice reply to him. He then presented a small donation of 
 money, but immediately seized the hand that was gently put forth* to 
 receive it. This hand he held fast, crying out, “This is no god — this is a 
 human being!” At his command the impostor was then dragged forth ; 
 and thus the spell was broken, and the disbelief of the king in the practised 
 superstition confirmed. 
 
 There are many inferior idols, and among them Keli-manjaka-lanitra, 
 “Little, but ruling the heavens;” Manara-mody, “The restorer to one’s 
 home;” Rakapila, “Half dishevelled;” Randrano-vola, “The silver 
 water;” Randrano-mena, “The red water ;” Ramanandroany, “The go- 
 vernor of the past part of the day ;” Rafortribe, and others. Ramanan- 
 droany is considered potent in punishing an unknown thief ; and the owner 
 of the lost property thus addresses him: “As to whoever stole our pro- 
 perty, O Ramanandroany ! kill him by day, destroy him by night, and 
 strangle him ! Let there be none among men like him : let him not be 
 able to increase in riches — not even a farthing — but let him pick up his 
 livelihood as a hen pecks rice-grains : let his eyes be blinded, and his knees 
 be swollen, O Ramanandroany !” 
 
 When any one wishes to obtain a favour from an idol, he accompanies 
 his request with a present and a vow. The keeper of the idol receives the 
 offering in the name of the idol, and retains it for his own benefit. What- 
 ever be the object of desire, it is stated to the keeper, who repeats it to the 
 idol ; and if the request be favourably received, a wisp of straw is rapidly 
 whirled round by the keeper ; but if the straw move not, it is a sign that 
 the idol is not propitious. If the request be for a safe return from war, 
 
PAGAN NATIONS. 
 
 795 
 
 or prosperity in any enterprise, or the birth of a child, the vow made with 
 the request must be fulfilled as soon as may be after the benefit has been 
 obtained. To fulfil the vow is to bring the promised offering : this is called 
 Manala-voady, the signification of which is, “ to fetch away, or remove the 
 
 5 ? • 
 
 VOW. 
 
 Sacrifices and offerings are not compulsory. Each individual gives what 
 he pleases, according to his riches or poverty. In some places the idol 
 has the head, the blood, and the fat only, while the carcass is devoured by 
 the sacrificers and their friends : — this is a very convenient arrangement 
 for the sacrificers. 
 
 There are many occasions on which the idols are publicly exhibited, and 
 their antipathies are then proclaimed ; the following is one of these procla- 
 mations: — “Practise abstinence well; let each of you take good heed to 
 avoid what is prohibited by his idol, whose antipathies are the pig; — let 
 him take heed that it have no access to the villages of his abode. The 
 snail, musket, and onions, let them not be borne there ; and the goat and 
 the horse, suffer them not to ascend his villages; and in the time of thunder 
 (that is, summer) the children shall not play at kicking each other blue. 
 Ye shall not throw dirt at each other; for these things are his antipathies, 
 so do not these things, but take good heed.” 
 
 The processions of the idols are curious. In one of them the first man 
 carries the symbol of the idol on the top of a pole twenty feet in height. 
 Round the symbol, and round the top of the pole, is wrapped scarlet velvet, 
 which hang down like the skirts of a child’s doll. The next man bears a 
 bullock’s horn, filled with honey-water, while in his right hand he holds a 
 bunch of twigs, to be used in sprinkling. Then come fifty fine young 
 men, each one carrying in his left hand a bundle of grass containing a ser- 
 pent ; his right hand is left free, that he may seize the reptile with it when 
 he pleases. These young men walk two abreast, and brandish their arms 
 about continually. When the procession arrives at any place considered 
 to be affected with sorcery or evil of any kind, it is sprinkled to purify it, 
 and preserve it from harm ; and when any fence or building is approached 
 that is repugnant to the idol, a small part of it is removed, as a sign that it 
 must be taken down ; and with this requirement the owner of it is obliged 
 to comply. 
 
 It was once thought that no human victims were slain, but this impres- 
 sion is incorrect. Human sacrifices were offered in former times in the 
 province of Yangardrano. An immolation took place every Friday, and 
 chiefs and principal men were often slain as a more costly sacrifice to the 
 blood-thirsty Moloch who presided. The victims were speared, and de- 
 voured by dogs and birds. These sacrifices were not, strictly speaking, 
 offered directly to the idol. The victims were slain before an enormous 
 pole, on the top of which ody, or charms, were suspended, and the incan- 
 
1 
 
 796 MALAGASY. 
 
 tation and sacrifices were, both together, expected to work wondrous 
 effects. 
 
 There are two ceremonies connected with the religious rites of Ankova, 
 called Faditra and Afana. The first is any thing chosen by the sikidy fo. 
 the removal of diseases : it may be ash*es, a sheep, cut money, or a pump- 
 kin. The priest reckons upon it all the evils that may be hurtful to the 
 person for whom it is made, and charges the Faditra to take them away 
 for ever. If the Faditra be ashes, the wind is allowed to blow it away , if 
 money, it is cast into deep water; if a sheep, it is carried to a great distance 
 on the shoulders of a man, who runs along, complaining all the while of 
 the evils the Faditra is carrying away ; and if it be a pumpkin, it is carried 
 to a distance, and dashed in pieces against the ground. % 
 
 The Afana is performed at the grave of a person lately buried, and con- 
 sists of slaughtering cattle and feasting, accompanied with firing of muskets 
 or cannon. The skulls of the slaughtered cattle are fixed on poles, at the 
 head of the tomb. This is done to take evil from the dead, that he may 
 repose in peace. The last kind act which can be performed for the dead 
 is the ceremony of the Afana. 
 
 The term Vazimba has three significations, but in its strictest %ense it 
 designates the aborigines of the interior of Madagascar. The graves of the 
 Vazimba are numerous, and to violate them in the slightest degree is a very 
 heavy crime. So terribly tenacious and revengeful are the ghosts of the 
 Vazimba said to be, that an accidental stumble against one of their resting- 
 places would bring down a terrible doom on the inadvertent offender. 
 
 There are two characters attributed to the Vazimba : when a Vazimba 
 grants what is asked of him, he is called masina — holy, forgiving, and 
 effective : when he does not grant it, and occasions evil, he is called 
 masiaka — fierce and implacable. 
 
 To convince the Malagasy of the folly ot their fears respecting the 
 Vazimba, the missionaries cut off a branch from a tree growing near the 
 most popular Vazimba grave, and also carried away one of the stones. 
 This absolutely terrified some young men who were present, and they 
 doubted not that some terrible accident would avenge the impiety, or that 
 the Vazimba would appear to resent the affront offered to the tomb. Day 
 after day the missionaries inquired if the Vazimba had appeared, and the 
 young men were convinced that their fears were groundless. When, how- 
 ever, the missionaries asked them whether their parents were convinced 
 that no danger was to be apprehended, they replied — “ No ! our parents say 
 that you white people have some strong charms which the Vazimba are 
 not able to resist.” 
 
 Reports were circulated, after the death of king Radama, that he was 
 seen one night in his garden, dressed in one of the uniforms buried with 
 him in his silver coffin, and riding on one of his best horses. Old Andria- 
 
PAGAN NATIONS. 
 
 797 
 
 mamba, one of the principal ministers, was immediately sent by the queen, 
 attended by many priests, to ask Radama why he came again to disturb 
 them. The priests had with them the idols and sikidy, and they sacrificed 
 a bullock on the occasion. The priests inquired of Radama whether they 
 had not buried property enough in his tomb ? and whether he did not turn 
 his back upon them of his own accord, for they had not driven him away 
 It seems that this attention, in the opinion of the Malagasy, appeased the 
 ghost of the old monarch, and it came again no more. It is not known 
 what is the origin of the term sikidy. The word means, among the Mala- 
 gasy, a certain kind of divination, to which they are devotedly attached. 
 It is not astrology, nor is it necromancy. It has nothing to do with the 
 flight of birds, the inspection of the entrails of slaughtered animals, nor the 
 interpretation of dreams. It partakes neither of the nature of magic, leger- 
 demain, nor ordinary incantation. It is the mode of working a particular 
 process with beans, straw, rice, or sand. The rules for this are fixed and 
 invariable, and the result is considered certain. 
 
 Missionary efforts have been successfully made in Madagascar, schools 
 , have been formed, and a Malagasy Bible has been printed : but since the 
 death of King Radama, the queen has prohibited the profession of the 
 Christian faith by the natives; indeed the profession of Christianity and the 
 observance of Christian ordinances are punishable with death. At the 
 present time a strong persecution is carried on against the native Christians, 
 and the missionaries have left the island. A young woman named Rasala- 
 ma has been cruelly put to death. She was severely flogged for several 
 days before her life was taken. Rafaralahy, a young man, has also been 
 put to death for professing the Christian faith. — He died with great firm- 
 ness and constancy. The reported death of Rafaravavy, who was accused 
 to the government of possessing the Holy Scriptures, and reading them, is 
 not correct. There is now but little prospect of the superstitious rites and 
 ceremonies of Madagascar being soon exchanged for the Christian faith. 
 
 SEC. XVI.— RELIGIOUS CEREMONIES AND CUSTOMS OF THE 
 POLYNESIANS. 
 
 Polynesia is a name given by geographers to the great body of islands 
 scattered over the Pacific ocean, between Australasia and the Philippines, 
 and the American continent. It extends from lat. 35° N. to 
 
 Polynesians. gQ 0 g. . anc [ f rom i on> j^qo to 230° E. ; an extent of 5000 
 
 miles from north to south, and 3600 from west to east. It includes, there- 
 fore, the Sandwich islands, the Marquesas, Navigators, Society, Mulgrave, 
 Friendly, Ladrone, and Pelew Isles, the Carolines, Pitcairn’s island, &c. 
 
 A general similarity in respect to the objects of religious worship, as 
 well as the forms of idolatrous and superstitious practices, obtains through- 
 out the whole of Polynesia ; although some differences may be found be- 
 
798 
 
 POLYNESIANS. 
 
 Gods. 
 
 Idols. 
 
 tween groups of islands, and even between islands belonging to the same 
 group. 
 
 The supreme deity of Polynesia, who is generally regarded as the creator 
 of the world, and the .parent of gods and men, has different names in dif- 
 ferent groups. By the Tahitians, he is called Taaroa; 
 by the Hawaiians, Tanaroa; and by the inhabitants of the 
 Western Isles, Tangaroa. According to one of the legends of the Tahi- 
 tian mythology, Taaroa was born of Night, or proceeded from Chaos, 
 as did his consort Ofeufeumaiterai. Oro, the great national idol of Raitea, 
 Tahiti, Eimeo, and some other islands, was the son of the foregoing. Oro 
 took a goddess to wife, who became the mother of two sons. These four 
 male and two female deities constituted their divinities of the highest rank. 
 This was the catalogue furnished the missionaries by the priests of Tahiti. 
 Other gods of high and uncreated order, however, are mentioned, as 
 Raa, Tane, &c. Besides the above, they had numerous other inferior 
 deities. 
 
 The image of Taaroa cannot well be described. It may be stated, how- 
 ever, in respect to one, which was taken from the temple at Rurutu, that 
 it bore some resemblance to the human figure. It was 
 about four feet high, and twelve or fifteen inches broad, and 
 was carved out of a solid piece of close, white, durable wood. On his 
 face and body a great number of images were formed, denoting the number 
 of gods which had proceeded from him ; the image was hollow, and within 
 was found a number of small idols. 
 
 In the Sandwich islands there is a resemblance among all their idols. 
 The head has generally a horrid appearance, the mouth being large, and 
 ^andwi-h usually extended wide, exhibiting a row of large teeth, re 
 idols. sembling the cogs in the wheel of an engine, and adapted to 
 excite terror rather than inspire confidence. Some of these idols are of 
 stone ; others are composed of wicker work covered with red feathers. 
 
 The Polynesian temples are of three classes — natural, local, and do 
 mesti-c. In the first are deposited their principal idols, and in and around 
 them are held their great festivals : the second belong to the 
 several districts ; the third are appropriated to the worship 
 of their household gods. In the South Sea islands the name of their 
 temples was Marae ; these were buildings of a rude construction, and 
 resembled oratories more than temples. 
 
 The worship of the Polynesians consists of prayers, offerings and sacri 
 fices. In theilr prayers, they address their gods either in a kneeling pos- 
 ture, cross-legged, or crouching. Like the Pharisees in the 
 Worship. days of our Saviour, they extend their supplications to a 
 great length, and use many vain repetitions, thereby hoping to recommend 
 themselves to the special notice of the deity. Their offerings consist of 
 
 Temples. 
 
PAGAN NATIONS. 
 
 799 
 
 fowls, fishes, beasts of the field, fruits of the earth, and manufactures 
 of various kinds. When animals are offered, they are generally whole ; 
 but fruits are commonly dressed. Portions of the offerings are considered 
 sacred, and may not be eaten ; the remainder is monopolized by the priests, 
 and other sacred persons, who are privileged* to eat of the sacrifices. 
 Human victims were formerly offered in great numbers, especially in 
 seasons of war, at great national festivals, during the illness of their rulers, 
 and on the erection of their temples. When an individual had been 
 selected for sacrifice, the family to which he belonged was said to be tabu , 
 i. e. devoted ; and, hence, if another victim was wanted, it was likely to be 
 taken from such a family. When the person was about to be sacrificed, 
 he was generally murdered at a moment when he was little expecting the 
 stroke. As soon as dead, his body was placed in a long basket, and 
 carried to the temple. Here it was offered, not by burning it, but by 
 placing it before the idol. After a variety of ceremonies by the priest, 
 among which one was to pluck out an eye of the victim, which being 
 placed on a plantain leaf was handed to the king, who passed it to his 
 mouth, as if he would eat it ; the body was wrapped in a basket of cocoa- 
 nut leaves, and frequently deposited on the branches of a neighbouring tree. 
 Here having remained a considerable time, during which it became dry 
 and shrivelled, it was taken down, and the bones were buried beneath the 
 wide pavement of the Marae. 
 
 When a person deceased, the first object was to ascertain the cause of 
 his death, as the ceremonies which followed varied accordingly. These 
 
 ceremonies being performed, the body was to be disposed of. 
 
 Funeral Rites. T c , . c c , . . . 
 
 In case of a chief, or person of rank, the body was pre- 
 served ; but all others were buried. When about to be interred, the corpse 
 was placed in a sitting posture, with the knees elevated, the face pressed 
 down between the knees, the hands fastened under the legs, and the whole 
 body tied with a cord. The interment usually took place on the day the 
 person deceased, or the day following. During the interval which elapsed 
 between death and burial, the surviving friends watched the corpse, indulg- 
 ing their grief in loud and bitter lamentations, and cutting themselves with 
 a shark’s tooth. The bodies of their chiefs were embalmed, and after- 
 wards preserved in houses erected for that purpose. 
 
 The substance of the following account of the religion and religious rites 
 and customs of Polynesia, is obtained from J. Williams’s interesting parti- 
 culars of the South Sea islands. 
 
 The religious system of the Samoans differs essentially from that which 
 obtained at the Tahitian, Society, and other islands. They have neither 
 maraes, nor temples, nor altars, nor offerings ; and, consequently, none of 
 the barbarous and sanguinary rites observed at the other groups. On this 
 account the Samoans were considered an impious race. When the people 
 
800 
 
 POLYNESIANS. 
 
 of Rarotongo upbraided a person who had neglected the worship of the 
 gods, they called him “a godless Samoan.” 
 
 But, although the Samoans had no altars stained with human blood., no 
 maraes strewed with the skulls and bones of its numerous victims, no 
 sacred groves devoted to brutal and sensual rites, their religious system 
 was as obviously marked as any other with absurdity, superstition, and 
 vice. In order to furnish a sketch of the religion of the Polynesians, it 
 will be necessary to describe their gods ; the nature of their worship ; 
 their ideas of a future state ; and the means they adopted to secure final 
 happiness. 
 
 The objects worshipped by them were of three kinds — their deified an- 
 cestors, their idols, and their etus. Many of their ancestors were deified 
 for conferring supposed benefits upon mankind. It was believed that the 
 world was once in darkness ; but that one of their progenitors, by an absurd 
 process, created the sun, moon, and stars. For this he was worshipped, 
 until the light of Christianity dawned upon them. Another tradition stated 
 that the heavens were originally so close to the earth* that men were com 
 pelled to crawl, being unable to walk upright. An individual attempted to 
 elevate the heavens to a more convenient height. For this purpose he put 
 forth his utmost energy; and by the first effort, raised them to the top of a 
 tender plant, called teve, about four feet high. There he left them until 
 he was refreshed. By a second effort, he raised them to the height of a- 
 tree called kauariki, which is as large as the sycamore. His third effort 
 lifted them to the summits of the mountains ; and, after a long interval of 
 repose, by a most prodigious effort, he elevated them to their present situa- 
 tion. This vast undertaking was believed to have been facilitated by my- 
 riads of dragon flies, which, with their wings, severed the cords that con- 
 fined the heavens to the earth. This individual was deified, and the de- 
 luded inhabitants worshipped him as “the elevator of the heavens.” They 
 had, likewise, the god of the fisherman, of the husbandman, of the voyager, 
 of the thief, and of the warrior. The chief of Aitutaki gave a short ac- 
 count of the relics of idolatry. The following selection may give the reader 
 a general idea of the whole : 
 
 An idol named Te-rongo, one of the great deities, called a kai-tangata, 
 or man-eater. The priests of this idol were supposed to be inspired by the 
 shark. 
 
 Tangaroa, the great national god of Aitutaki, and of almost all the 
 adjacent islands. He holds the net with which he catches the spirits 
 of men as they fly from their bodies, and a spear with which he kills 
 them. 
 
 A rod, with snares at the end, made of the fibres of the cocoa-nut husk, 
 with which the priest caught the spirit of the god. It was used in cases 
 of pregnancy, when the female w r as ambitious that her child should be a 
 
 S3 3N 
 
PAGAN NATIONS. 
 
 801 
 
 son, and become a famous warrior. It was also employed in war time to 
 catch the god by the leg, to secure his influence on the side of the party 
 performing the ceremony. 
 
 Ruanuu ; a chief froVn Raiatea, who, ages ago, sailed in a canoe from that 
 island, and settled at Aitutaki. From him a genealogy is traced. He died 
 at Aitutaki, and was deified, as Te atua taitai tere, or the conductor of fleets. 
 The Raiateans have several interesting traditions connected with Ruanuu. 
 To this idol was appended an old tattered silk handkerchief, and the foot 
 of a wine-glass ; both of which were obtained from Captain Cook’s vessel, 
 and dedicated to Ruanuu, the “god or guide of fleets,” for conducting that 
 celebrated navigator to their shores. 
 
 Taau, with his fan, &c., the god of thunder. When the thunder pealed, 
 the natives said that this god was flying, and producing this sound by the 
 flapping of his wings. 
 
 The chief begged that the idols might be burned in cooking food, and 
 not sent to England, as they would expose his folly. 
 
 Many mothers dedicated their children to one of these deities, but prin- 
 cipally to Hiro, the god of thieves, and to Oro, the god of war. If to the 
 former, the mother while pregnant went with offerings to the marae, when 
 the priest performed the ceremony of catching the spirit of the god with 
 the snare previously described, and infusing it into the child even prior to 
 its birth, that it may become a clever and desperate thief. 
 
 The parents, however, were generally anxious that their children should 
 become brave and renowned warriors. Numerous ceremonies were per- 
 formed before the child was born ; and after its birth it was taken to the 
 marae, and formally dedicated to Oro. The spirit of the god was then 
 caught and imparted to the infant, and the ceremony was completed by 
 numerous offerings and prayers. At New Zealand, they were accustomed 
 to thrust stones down the throat of the babe, to give it a stony heart, and 
 make it a desperate warrior. 
 
 Idols formed the second class of objects regarded with religious venera- 
 tion. These were different in almost every island and district. Some 
 were large, and some were small ; some were hideous, while others were 
 beautiful. The makers of these idols seem to have followed no pattern, 
 but to have shaped them according to their own fancy. 
 
 The third object of worship was the etu. It consisted of some bird, fish, 
 or reptile, in which the natives believed that a spirit resided. • This form of 
 idolatry prevailed more at the Samoas, than at any other islands. There, 
 innumerable objects were regarded as etus. It was not uncommon to see 
 an intelligent chief muttering some prayer to a fly, an ant, or a lizard. A 
 vessel from New South Wales once touched at the Samoas, the captain of 
 which had on board a cockatoo that talked. A chief was invited to the 
 ship ; when he was in the cabin, the captain began a colloquy with the 
 
802 
 
 POLYNESIANS. 
 
 bird. The chief was struck with amazement ; he trembled exceedingly, 
 and immediately sprang upon deck and leaped into the sea ; he called 
 aloud to the people to follow him, and affirmed that the captain had on 
 board his devolo, which he had both seen and heard. The natives dashed 
 at once into the sea, and swam on shore with haste and consternation. It 
 was with difficulty they were persuaded to revisit the ship, as they believed 
 that the bird was the captain’s etu, and that the spirit of the devil was 
 in it. 
 
 On another occasion, a party landing upon an island, and exposing 
 a dead sea-snake, which they had in their possession, it was seen by some 
 heathen fishermen. They raised a terrific yell and rushed upon the party, 
 threatening them with their clubs, and shouting, “ You have killed our 
 god, you have killed our god !” 
 
 Besides these objects of adoration, the islanders generally and the Sa- 
 moans in particular had a vague idea of a Supreme Being, whom they re- 
 garded as the creator of all things, and the author of their mercies. They 
 called him Tangaloa. At their great feasts, before the distribution of the 
 food, an orator arose, and after enumerating each article, exclaimed, “ Thank 
 you, great Tangaloa, for this !” Their deities were worshipped with 
 prayers, incantations, and offerings of pigs, fish, vegetable food, native 
 cloth, canoes, and other valuable property. Human sacrifices, at some of 
 the islands, were fearfully common. In addressing their gods, they inva- 
 riably concluded with the following sentence. After presenting the gift, 
 the priest would say, “Now, if you are a god of mercy, come this way, and 
 be propitious to this offering : but, if you are a god of anger, go outside the 
 world, you shall neither have temples, offerings, nor worshippers here.” 
 
 The infliction of injuries upon their persons, was another mode in which 
 they worshipped their gods. The Sandwich islanders frequently struck 
 out their front teeth, when performing some of their rites. The Friendly 
 islanders often cut off one or two of the bones of their little fingers. This 
 practice was so common, that scarcely an adult could be found who had 
 not mutilated his hands. The young daughter of a chief was asked, why 
 she had cut off her finger? She replied, that her mother was ill, and 
 that, fearful lest her parent should die, she had done it to induce the gods 
 to save her. This, she said, was her offering, to persuade the gods to 
 restore her mother. 
 
 When, at a future period, another offering is required they sever the 
 second joint of the same finger; and when a third or fourth is demanded, 
 they amputate the same bones of the other little finger: and when they 
 have no more joints which they can conveniently spare, they rub the 
 stumps of their mutilated fingers with rough stones, until the blood streams 
 from the wound. 
 
 The system of presenting human victims did not prevail at the Navi- 
 
PAGAN NATIONS. 
 
 803 
 
 gators ; but at the Hervey group, and still more at the Tahitian and Society 
 islands, it was carried on to an extent truly appalling. 
 
 At a ceremony called Raumatavehi-raa, the feast of restoration, no less 
 than seven human victims were always required. This festival was cele- 
 brated after an invading army had driven the inhabitants to the mountains, 
 and had desecrated the marae by cutting down the branches of the sacred 
 trees, and cooking their food with them, and with the wooden altars and 
 decorations of the sacred place. As soon as the retirement of the invaders 
 allowed the refugees to leave their hiding-place, their first object was to 
 celebrate this “Feast of Restoration,” which was supposed to restore the 
 marae to its previous sanctity, and to reinstate the god in his former glory. 
 
 A few years ago a very sacred relic was sent to England, called Maro- 
 ura, or the Red Sash. This was a piece of net-work about seven inches 
 wide and six feet long, up*on which the red feathers of the paroquet were 
 neatly fastened. It was used at the inauguration of their greatest kings, 
 and the most honourable appellation which a chief could receive was, Arii 
 maro ura, “ King of the Red Sash.” A new piece, about eighteen inches 
 in length, was attached at the inauguration of every sovereign ; to accom- 
 plish which several human victims were required. The first was for the 
 mau raa titi, or the stretching it upon pegs, in order to attach to it the new 
 piece. Another was necessary for the fatu raa, or attaching the new por- 
 tion ; and a third for the piu raa, or twitching the sacred relics off the pegs. 
 This not only invested the sash itself with a high measure of solemn im- 
 portance, but also rendered the chiefs who wore it most noble in public 
 estimation. 
 
 Human victims were also invariably offered on the eve of war. The 
 following is a brief relation of the circumstances under which the very last 
 Tahitian victim was slain, and presented to the gods. Pomare was about 
 to fight a battle which would confirm him in, or deprive him of, his do- 
 minions. To propitiate the gods, therefore, by the most valuable offerings 
 he could command, was with him an object of the highest concern. For 
 this purpose, rolls of native cloth, pigs, fish, and immense quantities of 
 other food were presented at the maraes ; but still a tabu, or sacrifice was 
 demanded. Two messengers were sent by Pomare to the house of the 
 victim, whom he had marked for the occasion. On reaching the place, 
 they asked the wife where her husband was. She replied, that he was 
 planting bananas. “ Well,” they continued, “ we are thirsty, give us some 
 cocoa-nut water.” She told them that she had no nuts in the house, but 
 that they were at liberty to climb the trees, and take as many as they 
 desired. They then requested her to lend them the o, which is a piece of 
 iron-wood, about four feet long, and an inch and a half in diameter, with 
 which the natives open the cocoa-nut. She cheerfully complied with their 
 wishes, little imagining that she was giving them an instrument with 
 
804 
 
 POLYNESIANS. 
 
 which they intended to destroy her husband. Upon receiving the o, the 
 men left the hause, and went in search of their victim. The woman 
 having become rather suspicious, followed them shortly after, and reached 
 them just in time to see her husband struck down. She rushed forward, 
 but she was immediately seized and bound hand and foot, while the body 
 of her husband was placed in a long basket made of cocoat-nut leaves, and 
 borne from her sight. While the men were carrying their victim to the 
 marae, he recovered from the stunning effect of the blow he had received. 
 The men then laid him down on the ground, placed a stone under his head, 
 and with another beat it to pieces. In this state they carried him to their 
 “savage gods.” 
 
 As soon as the priest announced that a human sacrifice was required, 
 the king despatched messengers to the chiefs of the various districts ; and 
 upon entering a dwelling, they would inquire’ whether the chief had a 
 broken calabash at hand, or a rotten cocoa-nut. These and similar terms 
 were invariably used, and well understood, when such applications were 
 made. It generally happened that the chief had some individual on his 
 premises, whom he intended to devote to this horrid purpose. When, 
 therefore, such a request was made, he would notify by a motion of the 
 hand or head, the individual to be taken. The only weapon with which 
 these procurers of sacrifices were armed, was a small round stone concealed 
 in the hollow of their hand. With this they would strike their victim a 
 stunning blow upon the back of the head, when others, who were in readi- 
 ness, would rush and destroy the victim. 
 
 At other times, the king’s gang of desperadoes would arm themselves 
 with spears, surround the house of their victim, and enjoy the sport of 
 spearing him through the apertures between the poles which encircled the 
 house. There were various other occasions on which victims were pre- 
 sented. At Rarotonga, two victims were invariably offered at the birth of 
 the son of a principal chief. 
 
 When one person had been selected from a family as a victim, all the 
 other male members of it were looked upon as devoted to the same horrid 
 purpose. It availed them nothing, if they removed to another island, for 
 the reason of their removal was soon known there; and whenever a sacri- 
 fice was required, it was sought among them. 
 
 The Polynesians believed in the existence of a future state, but they were 
 ignorant of the value and immortality of the soul, and knew not that eter- 
 nity would be the measure of its sorrows or its joys. 
 
 The Tahitians believed that there were two places for departed spirits : 
 one called Roohutu noanoa, or the sweet-scented Roohutu, which in many 
 points resembled the paradise of the Rarotongans ; and the oiher was 
 Roohutu namunamua,-or foul-scented Roohutu, their description of which 
 is too disgusting to be inserted. 
 
PAGAN NATIONS. 
 
 805 
 
 * 
 
 The Rarotongans represented their paradise as a very long house, encir- 
 cled with beautiful shrubs and flowers, which never lost their bloom or 
 fragrance, and whose inmates enjoyed unwithering beauty and perpetual 
 youth. These passed their days without weariness or alloy, in dancing, 
 festivity, and merriment. The hell of the Rarotongans consisted in their 
 being compelled to crawl round this house, observing the pleasures of its 
 inmates, while racked with intense but vain desires of admittance and enjoy- 
 ment. The heaven of the Samoa islanders seems to have nearly resem- 
 bled that of the Rarotongans. 
 
 In order to secure the admission of a departed spirit to future joys, the 
 corpse was dressed in the best attire the relatives could provide ; the head 
 was wreathed with flowers, and other decorations were added. A pig was 
 then baked whole, and placed upon the body of the deceased, surrounded 
 by a pile of vegetable food. After this, the father would thus address the 
 corpse: — “My son, when you were alive, I treated you with kindness, and 
 when you were taken ill, I did my best to restore you to health ; and now 
 you are dead, there’s your momoe o, or property of admission. Go, my 
 son, and with that gain an entrance into the palace of Tiki, and do not 
 come to this world again to disturb and alarm us.” The whole would 
 then be buried ; and if they received no intimation to the contrary within 
 a few days of the interment, the relatives believed that the pig and the 
 other food had obtained for him the desired admittance. If, however, a 
 cricket was heard on the premises, it was considered an ill omen. They 
 would utter dismal howiings, and exclaim, “ Oh, our brother ! his spirit 
 has not entered the paradise ; he is suffering from hunger; he is shivering 
 with cold !” Forthwith the grave would be opened, and the offering 
 repeated. This was generally successful. 
 
 The Tiji islanders present most costly sacrifices. Their chiefs have from 
 twenty to a hundred wives, according to their rank. At the interment of a 
 principal chief, the body is laid in state upon a spacious lawn, in the pre- 
 sence of an immense concourse of spectators. The principal wife, after the 
 utmost ingenuity of the natives has been exercised in adorning her person, 
 then walks out, and takes her seat near the body of her husband. A rope 
 is passed round her neck, which eight or ten powerful men puli with all 
 their strength, until she is strangled, and dies. Her body is then laid by 
 that of the chief. In this manner four wives are sacrificed, and all of them 
 are then interred in a common grave, one above, one below, and one on 
 either side of the husband. This is done, that the spirit of the chief may 
 not be lonely in its passage to the invisible world ; and that, by such an 
 offering, its happiness may be at once secured. 
 
 Infanticide is closely connected with the religion of Polynesia ; the 
 extent to which it once existed may be gathered from the following 
 particulars : — 
 
806 
 
 POLYNESIANS. 
 
 The practice of infanticide did not prevail either at the Navigators or 
 Hervey Groups ; but the extent to which it was carried at the Tahitian 
 and Society Islands almost exceeds credibility. Prior to the introduction 
 of Christianity, in the last-mentioned group, there were few females that 
 had borne children who had not destroyed some of them, and frequently as 
 many as from five to ten. 
 
 On one occasion, three women, who had been converted to Christianity, 
 were asked how many children they bad destroyed. The first woman 
 replied, with a faltering voice, “I have destroyed nine the second, with 
 eyes suffused with tears, said, “ I have destroyed seven and the third 
 said that she had destroyed five. 
 
 On another occasion, the wife of a chief was visited in dying circum- 
 stances. She had professed Christianity for many years. She expressed 
 great remorse on account of the crimes she had committed when in an 
 unenlightened state, and exclaimed, “Oh, my children, my murdered 
 children ! I am about to die, and I shall meet them all at the judgment 
 seal of Christ.” Being asked how many children she had destroyed, she 
 replied, “ I have destroyed sixteen !” 
 
 Affecting scenes were sometimes witnessed at the examination of the 
 school children. One of these occurred at Raiatea. Upwards of six hun- 
 dred children were present, and they walked through the settlement in 
 procession. The children had prepared flags, with such mottoes as the 
 following: — “What a blessing the Gospel is !” — “Had it not been for the 
 Gospel, we should have been destroyed as soon as we were born.” On 
 this occasion a venerable chieftain, gray with age, addressed those present. 
 This chief was an arioi of the highest rank, and the laws of his class re- 
 quired the destruction of all his children. He exclaimed, “ Oh, that I 
 had known- that the Gospel was coming, then I should have saved my chil- 
 dren, and they would have been among this happy group ; but, alas ! 1 
 destroyed them all ; I have not one left.” This chieftain had been the 
 father of nineteen children. 
 
 One of the numerous modes of infanticide was, to put the babe in a hole 
 covered with a plank to keep the earth from pressing it, and to leave it 
 there to perish. 
 
 Various reasons were assigned for the inhuman practice of infanticide. 
 The first cause alleged was their wars. These were so frequent, sudden, 
 and desolating, that to avoid the horrors and distress thus entailed on those 
 who had families, they destroyed many of their children. 
 
 A second cause was inequality of station. If a woman of rank was 
 united to a man of inferior grade, the destruction of two, four, or six infants 
 was required to raise him to an equality with her ; and when this had been 
 effected, the succeeding children were spared. 
 
 A third adduced for the practice was, that nursing impaired the personal 
 
PAGAN NATIONS. 
 
 807 
 
 attractions of the mother, and curtailed the period during which her beauty 
 would continue to bloom. 
 
 The modes by which they destroyed their children were truly affecting. 
 Sometimes they put a wet cloth upon the infant’s mouth ; at others they 
 pinched their throats until they expired. A third method was, to bury 
 them alive. And a fourth was, if possible, still more brutal. The moment 
 the child was born, they broke the first joints of its fingers and toes, ana 
 then the second. If the infant survived this agonizing process, they dis- 
 located its ankles and wrists; and if the powers of endurance still conti- 
 nued, the knee and elbow joints were then broken. This would generally 
 terminate the tortures of the little sufferer ; but if not, they would resort 
 to the second method of strangulation. 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
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