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HISTORY OF THE GREEK AND EASTERN CHURCHES.

dans in Palestine; though this pretended origin || could not fail, one would think, to gain an is a matter of the greatest uncertainty. What immense number of proselytes to Rome, conthe doctrine and discipline of this nation are sidering the unhappy state of the Grecian at present, it is extremely difficult to know, churches. But the case is quite otherwise; for as they are at the greatest pains imaginable the most respectable writers, even of the Roto conceal their religious sentiments and prin- man catholic persuasion, acknowledge fairly, ciples. We find, however, both in their opi- that the proselytes they have drawn from the nions and practice, the plainest proofs of their Greek churches make a wretched and despiacquaintance with Christianity. Several learn- cable figure, in point of number, opulence, and ed men have imagined, that both they and the dignity, when compared with those, to whom Curdi of Persia had formerly embraced the sen- the religion, government, and the very name timents of the Manicheans, and perhaps still of Rome, are disgusting and odious. They obpersist in their pernicious errors.* serve farther, that the sincerity of a great part of these proselytes is of the Grecian stamp; so that, when a favourable occasion is offered them of renouncing, with advantage, their pretended conversion, they seldom fail, not only to return to the bosom of their own church, but even to recompense the good offices they received from the Romans with the most injurious treatment. The same writers mention another circumstance, much less surprising, indeed, than those now mentioned, but much more dishonourable to the church of Rome; and that circumstance is, that even those of the Greek students who are educated at Rome with such care, as might naturally attach them to its religion and government, are, nevertheless, so disgusted and shocked at the corruptions of its church, clergy, and peo

The Chamsi, or Solares, who reside in a certain district of Mesopotamia, are supposed, by curious inquirers into these matters, to be a branch of the Samsæans, mentioned by Epiphanius.†

There are many other Semi-Christian sects of these kinds in the east, whose principles, tenets, and institutions, are far from being unworthy of the curiosity of the learned. And those who would be at the pains to turn their researches this way, and more especially to have the religious books of these sects conveyed into Europe, would undoubtedly render eminent service to the cause of sacred literature, and obtain applause from all who have a taste for the study of Christian antiquities; for the accounts which have hitherto been given of these nations and sects are full of uncertain-ple, that they forget, more notoriously than ty and contradiction.

XX. The missionaries of Rome have never ceased to display, in these parts of the world, their dexterity in making proselytes, and accordingly have founded, though with great difficulty and expense, among the greatest part of the sects now mentioned, congregations that adopt the doctrine, and acknowledge the jurisdiction, of the Roman pontiff. It is abundantly known, that among the Greeks, who live under the empire of the Turks, and also among those who are subject to the dominion of the Venetians, the emperor of Germany, and other Christian princes, there are many who have adopted the faith and discipline of the Latin church, and are governed by their own clergy and bishops, who receive their confirmation and authority from Rome. In the latter city is a college, expressly founded with a view to multiply these apostatising societies, and to increase and strengthen the credit and authority of the Roman pontiff among the Greeks. In these colleges a certain number of Grecian students, who have given early marks of genius and capacity, are instructed in the arts and sciences, and are more especially prepossessed with the deepest sentiments of veneration and zeal for the authority of the pope. Such an institution, accompanied with the efforts and labours of the missionaries,

* See Lucas' Voyage en Grece et Asie Mineure, tom. ii. p. 36.-Hyde's Hist. Relig. Veter. Persar. p. 491, 554.-Sir Paul Ricaut's History of the Ottoman Empire, vol. i. p. 313.

t Hyde, Histor. Relig. Veter. Persar. p. 555. The Jesuit Diusse (in the Lettres Edifiantes et Curieuses des Missions Etrangeres, tom. i. p. 63,) informs us of the existence of a sect of Christians, in the mountains which separate Persia from India, who imprint the sign of the cross on their bodies with a red-hot iron.

others, the obligations with which they have been loaded, and exert themselves with peculiar obstinacy and bitterness in opposing the credit and authority of the Latin church.*

XXI. In their efforts to extend the papal empire over the Greek churches, the designing pontiffs did not forget the church of Russia, the chief bulwark and ornament of the Grecian faith. On the contrary, frequent deliberations were holden at Rome, about the proper methods of uniting, or rather subjecting this church to the papal hierarchy. In this century John Basilides, or Basilowitz, grand duke of the Russians, seemed to discover a propensity toward this union, by sending, in 1580, a solemn embassy to Gregory XIII. to exhort that pontiff to resume the negotiations relative to this important matter, that they might be brought to a happy and speedy conclusion. Accordingly, in the year following, Antony Possevin, a learned and artful Jesuit, was charged by the pope with the commission, and sent into Moscovy, to carry it into execution. But this dexterous missionary, though he spared no pains to obtain the purposes of his ambitious court, found by experience that all his efforts were unequal to the task he had un

*See, among other authors who have treated this point of history, Urb. Cerri, Etat present de l'Eglise Romaine, in which, speaking of the Greeks, he expresses himself in the following manner: "Ils deviennent les plus violens ennemis des catholiques lorsqu'ils ont apris nos sciences, et qu'ils ont connoissance de nos imperfections:" i. e. in plain English, they (the Greeks) become the bitterest enemies of us Roman catholics, when they have been instructed in our sciences, and have acquired the knowledge of our imperfections.-Other testimonies of a like nature shall be given hereafter.-Mich. Le Quien has given us an enumeration, although a defective one, of the Greek bishops who follow the rites of the Roman church, in his Oriens Christ. tom. iii. p. 360.

HISTORY OF THE GREEK AND EASTERN CHURCHES. SECT. III.

dertaken; nor did the Russian ambassadors, || some monks of the Theatin and Capuchin orwho arrived at Rome soon after, bring any thing to the ardent wishes of the pontiff, but empty promises, conceived in dubious and general terms, on which little dependence could be placed. And, indeed, the event abundantly showed, that Basilowitz had no other view, in all these negotiations, than to flatter the pope, and obtain his assistance, in order to bring to an advantageous conclusion the unsuccessful war which he had carried on against Poland.

* See the conferences between Possevin and the duke of Moscovy, together with the other writings of this Jesuit, (relative to the negotiation in questions; for they not only allow the Greek and tion,) subjoined to his work, called Moscovia.-See also La Vie du Pere Possevin, par Jean Dorigny, liv. v. p. 351.

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HISTORY OF THE GREEK AND EASTERN CHURCHES.

other eastern proselytes the liberty of retaining || the ceremonies of their ancestors (though in direct opposition to the religious service of the church of Rome,) and of living in a manner repugnant to the customs and practice of the Latin world; but, what is much more surprising, they suffer the peculiar doctrines, that distinguish the Greeks and Orientals from all other Christian societies, to remain in the public religious books of the proselytes already mentioned, and even to be reprinted at Rome in those which are sent abroad for their use.* The truth of the matter seems to be briefly this: at Rome, a Greek, an Armenian, or a Copt, is looked upon as an obedient child, and a worthy member of the church, if he acknowledges the supreme and unlimited power of the Roman pontiff over all the Christian world. XXIV. The Maronites who inhabit the mounts Libanus and Anti-Libanus, date their subjection to the spiritual jurisdiction of the Roman pontiff from the time that the Latins carried their hostile arms into Palestine, with a view to make themselves masters of the Holy Land. This subjection however was * Assemanus complains (in several passages of his Biblioth. Orient. Vatican.) that even the very books printed at Rome for the use of the Nestorians, Jacobites, and Armenians, were not corrected or purged from the errors peculiar to these sects; and he looks upon this negligence as the reason of the defection of many Roman converts, and of their return to the bosom of the eastern and Greek churches, to which they originally belonged.-See, on the other

hand, the Lettres Choisies de R. Simon, tom. ii. let. Xxiii., in which the author pretends to defend this conduct of the Romanists, which some attribute to indolence and neglect, others to artifice and prudence.

agreed to, with an express condition, that neither the popes nor their emissaries should pretend to change or abolish any thing which related to the ancient rites, moral precepts, or religious opinions, of this people; so that in reality, among the Maronites, there is nothing to be found that savours of popery, if we except their attachment to the Roman pontiff,* who is obliged to pay dearly for their friendship; for, as they live in the utmost distress of poverty, under the tyrannical yoke of infidels, the bishop of Rome is under a necessity of furnishing them with such subsidies as may gratify the rapacity of their oppressors, procure a subsistence for their bishop and clergy, provide all things requisite for the support of their churches and the uninterrupted exercise of public worship, and contribute in general to lessen their misery. Besides, the college erected at Rome by Gregory XIII. with a view of instructing the young men, frequently sent from Syria, in the various branches of useful science and sacred erudition, and prepossessing them with an early veneration and attachment for the Roman pontiff, is attended with a very considerable expense. The Maronite patriarch performs his spiritual functions at Canobin, a convent of the monks of St. Antony, on mount Libanus, which is his constant residence. He claims the title of Patriarch of Antioch, and always assumes the name of Peter, as if he seemed desirous of being considered as the successor of that apostle.f

priests, who are, after the manner of the Syrians, much addicted to boasting and exaggeration. Certain it is, that there are Maronites in Syria, who still behold the church of Rome with the greatest aversion and abhorrence; and, what is still more remarkable, great numbers of that nation residing in Italy, even under the eye of the poutif, opposed his authority during the last century, and threw the

The Maronite doctors, and more especially those who reside at Rome, maintain, with the greatest efforts of zeal and argument, that the religion of Rome has always been preserved among them in its purity, and exempt froin any mixture of heresy or error. The proof of this assertion has been attempt-court of Rome into great perplexity. One body of ed, with great labour and industry, by Faust. Nairon, these non-conforming Maronites retired into the in his Dissertatio de Origine, Nomine, ac Religione, valleys of Piedmont, where they joined the WaldenMaronitarum, published at Rome in 1679. It was ses; another, above six hundred in number, with a from this treatise, and some other Maronite writers, bishop and several ecclesiastics at their head, fied that De la Roque drew the materials of his discourses into Corsica, and implored the protection of the reconcerning the origin of the Maronites, together with public of Genoa against the violence of the inquisithe abridgment of their history, which he inserted tors. See Urb. Cerri's Etat present de l'Eglise Roin the second volume of his Voyage de Syrie et du maine, p. 121. Now may it not be asked here, What Mont Liban. But neither this hypothesis, nor the could have excited the Maronites in Italy to this authorities by which it is supported, have any weight public and vigorous opposition to the Roman pontiff, with the most learned men of the Roman church, if it be true that their opinions were in all respects who maintain, that the Maronites derived their conformable to the doctrines and decrees of the origin from the Monophysites, and adhered to the church of Rome? This opposition could not have doctrine of the Monothelites, until the twelfth cen- arisen from any thing but a difference in point of tury, when they embraced the communion of Rome. doctrine and belief, since the church of Rome alSee R. Simon, Histoire Critique des Chretiens Ori-lowed, and still allows the Maronites, under its entaux, ch. xiii.-Euseb. Renaudot, Histor. Patri-jurisdiction, to retain and perform the religious rites arch. Alexand. in Præfat. iii. 2. in Histor. p. 49. The very learned Assemanus, who was himself a Maronite, steers a middle way between these opposite accounts, in his Biblioth. Orient. Vatic. tom. i., while the matter in debate is left undecided by Mich. le Quien, in his Oriens Christianus, tom. iii., where he gives an account of the Maronite church and its spiritual rulers. For my own part I am persuaded, that those who consider that all the Maronites have not as yet embraced the faith, or acknowledged the jurisdiction of Rome, will be little disposed to receive with credulity the assertions of certain Maronite

Those who maintained, that, notwithstanding the two natures in Christ, viz. the human and divine, there was, nevertheless, but one will, which was the divine.

VOL. II.-11

and institutions that have been handed down to them from their ancestors, and to follow the precepts and rules of life to which they have always been accustomed. Compare, with the authors above cited, Thesaur. Epistol. Crozian. t. i.

*The reader will do well to consult principally, on this subject, the observations subjoined by Rich. Simon to his French translation of the Italian Jesuit Dandini's Voyage to Mount Libanus, published in 1685. See also Euseb. Renaudot's Historia Patriarch. Alexandr. p. 548.

See Petitqueux, Voyage a Canobin dans le Mont Liban, in the Nouveaux Memoires des Missions de la Compagnie de Jesus, tom, iv. p. 252, and tom. viii. p. 355.-La Roque, Voyage de Syrie, tom. ii. p. 10.Laur. D'Arvieux, Memoires ou Voyages, tom. ii. p.

418.

PART II.

THE HISTORY OF THE MODERN CHURCHES.

CHAPTER I.

The History of the Lutheran Church.

books so as to draw from them any propositions inconsistent with the express declarations of the word of God. The Confession of AugsI. THE rise and progress of the Evangelical burg, and the annexed Defence of it against or Lutheran church, have been already related, the objections of the Roman catholic doctors, so far as they belong to the history of the Re-may be deemed the chief and the most respecformation. The former title was assumed by table of these human productions.* In the that church in consequence of the original de-next rank may be placed the Articles of Smal sign of its founder, which was to restore to its cald,† as they are commonly called, together native lustre the Gospel of Christ, that had so with the shorter and larger Catechisms of Lulong been covered with the darkness of super-ther, calculated for the instruction of youth, stition, or, in other words, to place in its proper and the improvement of persons of riper years. and true light that important doctrine, which To these standard-books most churches add represents salvation as attainable by the merits the Form of Concord; which, though not uniof Christ alone. Nor did the church, now un-versally received, has not, on that account, ocder consideration, discover any reluctance to casioned any animosity or disunion, as the few an adoption of the name of the great man, points that prevent its being adopted by some whom Providence employed as the honoured instrument of its foundation and establishment. A natural sentiment of gratitude to him, by whose ministry the clouds of superstition had been chiefly dispelled, who had destroyed the claims of pride and self-sufficiency, exposed the vanity of confidence in the intercession of saints and martyrs, and pointed out the Son of God as the only proper object of trust to miserable mortals, excited his followers to assume his name, and to call their community the Lutheran Church.

When the confession of Augsburg had been presented to the diet of that city, the Roman catholic doctors were employed to refute the doctrines it read to that august assembly. A reply was immedi contained; and this pretended refutation was also ately drawn up by Melancthon, and presented to the emperor, who, under the pretext of a pacific spirit, refused to receive it. This reply was afterwards Augustana; and is the defence of that confession, published, under the title of Apologia Confessionis mentioned by Dr. Mosheim as annexed to it. To speak plainly, Melancthon's love of peace and concord seems to have carried him beyond what he confession of Augsburg. In that edition of the Deowed to the truth, in composing this defence of the fence which some Lutherans (and Chytræus among others) look upon as the most genuine and authento the church of Rome; whether through servile fear, tic, Melancthon makes several strange concessions excessive charity, or hesitation of mind, I will not pretend to determine. He speaks of the presence of Christ's body in the eucharist in the very strongest doctrine of transubstantiation, and adopts those reterms that the catholics use to express the monstrous markable words of Theophylact, that the bread was not a figure only, but was truly changed into flesh.' He approves that canon of the mass, in which the

The rise of this church must be dated from that remarkable period, when pope Leo X. drove Martin Luther, with his friends and followers, from the bosom of the Roman hierarchy, by a solemn and violent sentence of excommunication. It began to acquire a regular form, and a considerable degree of stability and consistence, from the year 1530, when the system of doctrine and morality which it had adopted was drawn up and presented to the diet of Augsburg; and it was raised to the dig-priest prays that the bread may be changed into the nity of a lawful aid complete hierarchy, total-body of Christ.' It is true, that, in some subsequent ly independent of the laws and jurisdiction of the Roman pontiff, in consequence of the treaty concluded at Passau, in 1552, between Charles V., and Maurice, elector of Saxony, relating to the religious affairs of the empire.

II. The great and leading principle of the Lutheran church, is, that the Scriptures are the only source from which we are to draw our religious sentiments, whether they relate to faith or practice; and that these inspired writings are, in all matters that are essential to salvation, so plain, and so easy to be thoroughly understood, that their signification may be learned, without the aid of an expositor, by every person of common sense, who has a competent knowledge of the language in which they are composed. There are, indeed, certain formularies adopted by this church, which contain the principal points of its doctrine, ranged, for the sake of method and perspicuity, in their natural order. But these books have no authority but what they derive from the scriptures of truth, whose sense and meaning they are designed to convey; nor are the Lutheran doctors permitted to interpret or explain these

editions of the defence or apology now under consideration, these obnoxious passages were omitted, fence, was considerably mitigated. There is an amand the phraseology, which had given such just of ple account of this whole affair, together with a history of the dissensions of the Lutheran church, in the valuable and learned work of Hospinian, entiet seq. These expressions, in Melancthon's Apologia, will appear still more surprising, when we recollect that, in the course of the debates concerning the manner of Christ's presence in the eucharist, he, at length, seemed to lean visibly toward the opinions of Bucer and Calvin, and that, after his death, his followers were censured and persecuted in Saxony on this account, under the denomination of Philippists. This shows either that the great man now under consideration changed his opinions, or that he had formerly been seeking union and concord at the expense of truth.

tied, Historia Sacramentariæ Pars posterior,' p. 199,

The articles here mentioned were drawn up at Smalcald by Luther, on occasion of a meeting of the protestant electors, princes, and states, at that place. They were principally designed to show how far the Lutherans were disposed to go, in order to avoid a final rupture, and in what sense they were willing to adopt the doctrine of Christ's presence in the eucharist. And though the terms in which these articles are expressed, be somewhat dubious, yet they are much less harsh and disgusting than those used in the Confession, the Apology, and the Form of Concord.

churches are of an indifferent nature, and do not, in any degree, affect the grand and fundamental principles of true religion.

genius of the government, and the nature and circumstances of the place where it was founded. Hence it has happened, that, even so far down as the present times, the Lutheran churches differ considerably one from another, with respect both to the number and nature of their religious ceremonies; a circumstance so far from tending to their dishonour, that it is, on the contrary, a very striking proof of their wisdom and moderation.*

IV. The supreme civil rulers of every Lu

III. The form of public worship, and the rites and ceremonies that were proper to be admitted as a part of it, gave rise to disputes in several places, during the infancy of the Lutheran church. Some were inclined to retain a greater number of the ceremonies and customs that had been so excessively multiplied in the church of Rome, than seemed either lawful or expedient to others. The lat-theran state are clothed also with the dignity, ter, after the example of the Helvetic re- and perform the functions of supremacy in the formers, had their views entirely turned toward church. The very essence of civil governthat simplicity and gravity which character- ment seems manifestly to point out the necesized the Christian worship in the primitive sity of investing the sovereign with this spiritimes; while the former were of opinion, that tual supremacy, and the tacit consent of the some indulgence was to be shown to the weak- Lutheran churches has confirmed the dictates ness of the multitude, and some regard paid of wise policy in this respect. It must not, to institutions that had acquired a certain de- however, be imagined, that the ancient rights gree of weight through long established cus- and privileges of the people in ecclesiastical tom. But, as these contending parties were affairs have been totally abolished by this conboth persuaded that the ceremonial part of re- stitution of things, since it is certain, that the ligion was, generally speaking, a matter of vestiges of the authority exercised by them in human institution, and that consequently a di- the primitive times, though more striking in versity of external rites might be admitted one place than in another, are yet more or less among different churches professing the same visible every where. Besides, it must be carereligion, without any prejudice to the bonds of fully remembered, that all civil rulers of the charity and fraternal union, these disputes Lutheran persuasion are effectually restrained, could not be of any long duration. In the by the fundamental principles of the doctrine mean time, all those ceremonies and obser- they profess, from any attempts to change or vances of the church of Rome, whether of a destroy the established rule of faith and manpublic or private nature, that carried palpable|| ners, to make any alteration in the essential marks of error and superstition, were every doctrines of their religion, or in any thing that where rejected without hesitation; and wise is intimately connected with them, or to imprecautions were used to regulate the forms of pose their particular opinions upon their subpublic worship in such a manner, that the gen-jects in a despotic and arbitrary manner. uine fruits of piety should not be choked by a multitude of insignificant rites. Besides, every church was allowed to retain so much of the ancient form of worship as might be still observed without giving offence, and as seemed suited to the character of the people, the

Dr. Mosheim, like an artful painter, shades those objects in the history of Lutheranism which it is impossible to expose with advantage to a full view. Of this nature was the conduct of the Lutheran doctors in the deliberations relating to the famous Form of Concord here mentioned; a conduct that discovers such an imperious and uncharitable spirit, as would have been more consistent with the genius of the court of Rome than with the principles of a protestant church. The reader who is desirous of an ample demonstration of the truth and justice

The councils, or societies, appointed by the sovereign to watch over the interests of the church, and to govern and direct its affairs, are composed of persons conversant both in civil and ecclesiastical law, and, according to a very ancient denomination, are called Consistories. The internal government of the Lutheran church seems equally removed from episcopacy on the one hand, and from presbyterianism on the other, if we except the kingdoms of Sweden and Denmark, which retain the form of ecclesiastical government that preceded the reformation, purged, indeed, from the superstitions and abuses that rendered it so odious. This constitution of the hierarchy

*See Balth. Meisneirus, Lib. de Legibus, lib. iv. art. iv. quæst. iv.-Jo. Adam Scherzerus, Breviar. Hulsemann. Enulc. p. 1313-1321.

Since nothing is more inconsistent with that subordination and concord, which are among the great ends of civil government, than imperium in imperio, i. e. two independent sovereignties in the same body politic, the genius of government, equally with the spirit of genuine Christianity, proclaims the equity of that constitution, which makes the head of the state the supreme visible ruler of the

of this censure, has only to consult the learned work of Rod. Hospinian, entitled, 'Concordia Discors, seu de Origine et Progressu Formule Concordiæ Bergensis.' The history of this remarkable production is more amply related in the thirty-ninth and following paragraphs of this first chapter, and in the notes, which the translator has taken the liberty to add there, in order to cast a proper light upon some things that are too interesting to be viewed superficially. In the mean time I shall only observe that the points in the Form of Concord, that prevented its being universally received, are not of such an indifferent nature as Dr. Mosheim seems to imagine. To main-church. tain the ubiquity or omnipresence of Christ's body, In these two kingdoms the church is ruled together with its real and peculiar presence in the by bishops and superintendants, under the inspeceucharist, and to exclude from their communion tion and authority of the sovereign. The archbishthe protestants, who denied these palpable absurdi-op of Upsal is primate of Sweden, and the only ties, was the plan of the Lutheran doctors in composing and recommending the Form of Concord; and this plan can neither be looked upon as a matter of pure indifference, nor as a mark of Christian charity. ↑ See, for an account of the Lutheran confessions of faith, Christ. Locheri Biblioth. Theologiæ Symbo licæ, p. 114.

archbishop among the Lutherans. The luxury and licentiousness that too commonly flow from the opulence of the Roman catholic clergy are unknown in these two northern states, since the revenues of the prelate now mentioned do not amount to more than 400 pounds yearly, while those of the bishops are proportionally small.