miny. base conduct, or lastly by their disagree- were exceedingly captivated with it, and ment among themselves. eagerly applied it to the explanation and 17. Many place in this class the Herren-confirmation of the truths of revealed relihutters, or those who first associated at Her-gion. But this gave great dissatisfaction renhut in Lusatia under the illustrious count to many good men who were anxious for Zinzendorf, and who afterwards increasing the safety of the truth taught us by Christ; have spread themselves through a large and hence the old conflict between philosopart of Europe, and even travelled to the phy and theology, piety and reason, was Indies, to Tartary, and the utmost bounds revived, and was urged on with great veheof the earth. They tell us they are de- mence for a series of years. For many scendants of those Bohemian and Moravian are of opinion that this metaphysical phibrethren who, in the fifteenth century, were losophy imbues the minds of young men excited by the preaching and example of with sentiments hostile to all religion and John Huss to cast off the Romish yoke. all worship, with arrogance also, contempt They might more correctly call themselves for divine revelation, excessive confidence imitators of those brethren, for it is con- in human reason, and other vices; and that ceded by all that only a very small part of it does not throw light and dignity around this new fraternity consists of Bohemians theology, but rather darkness and ignoand Moravians; and it is very uncertain also whether those of them who are Bohemians by descent are the posterity of those ancient Bohemian brethren. They declare farther that they do not differ from the Lutherans in regard to doctrines, but only in their customs and regulations, in which they come near to the ancient Bohemians. But many question whether they here assert the truth, and are suspicious that these new brethren adopt the language of the Lutherans while among the Lutherans, the more readily to obtain toleration, and that in reality they are a mixture of people of various characters and sentiments. How-contemplation. But the project was disever this may be, it is at least difficult to understand why they are so zealous to extend their particular sect, if they differ from us only in their customs and mode of discipline. For whoever truly follows Jesus Christ will care little how the Christian community is constituted and regulated, because he knows that religion does not consist in external rites and regulations but in faith and love. 19. In proof of the correctness of this opinion respecting the tendency of this philosophy, they appeal especially to the case of Lawrence Schmidt of Schweinfurt, who is commonly called the Wertheim translator from the place where he resided. This man, who was by no means destitute of abilities and was very well versed in the philosophy in question, projected a new German translation of the Bible to serve as the foundation or basis of a new body of divinity, drawn up according to the strict rules of demonstration, which he had in astrous to him. For scarcely had he published a specimen of the work in a translation of the inspired books of Moses, when he was not only attacked in numerous publications, but was accused before the supreme tribunal of the Germanic empire as a capital enemy to the Christian religion and a caviller at divine truth. The chief ground of accusation was, that he had boldly construed certain passages in the books of Moses, which designated or foretold the coming of the Messiah, in such a manner as to give them a different signification. He was therefore thrown into prison and ordered to be tried for his life. But he escaped from prison and saved himself by flight. 18. This progress of superstition among us nothing could arrest, as many supposed, except philosophy. And hence the cultivation of philosophy, which was apparently neglected towards the close of the preceding century, was not only revived but was prosecuted by many with great diligence. The 20. The controversies and contentions of general method of philosophising which I this age have been very numerous. First, have called the Metaphysical obtained pre- what is called the Pietistic controversy has ference before all others. The superlative been carried on, in some places more fiercely genius of Godfrey William von Leibnitz and in others more moderately, according elucidated this philosophy with elegance, and to the dispositions of persons and the cirmoulded it into a better shape; but it was the cumstances of different parts of the counvery acute Christopher Wolff who perfected try. But the controversy has gradually it, digested it into a system, and—-what was abated as time rolled on, and at present it entirely a new thing and never before at- seems to be reduced nearly to the single tempted-gave it the form of a mathemati-point, whether an irreligious man may have cal science. In this improved state, most true and certain knowledge of divine things of those who search after truth and certainty or some sort of illumination, which many regard as a contest about words rather than things. Besides this, there have been several other controversies which also produced excitement in the preceding century respecting the eternity of the torments of the damned, the final restoration of all things, Christ's [millennial] reign on the earth, and others of like character. With John Fabricius, a divine of Helmstadt, and with some others, there has been a dispute respecting the importance of the disagreement between us and the papists; for he and his associates deemed it not so great as it is commonly supposed to be, so that he believed a person might lawfully go over to the Romish church. Respecting the law of marriage, the grounds of divorce, and concubinage, there have been great disputes between certain theologians and some distinguished jurists. Minor contests which suddenly spring up and as soon die away, as they contribute little to a knowledge of the internal state of the church, need not be enumerated. 22. Whoever therefore duly considers the whole subject must freely acknowledge, that neither the Lutherans nor the Arminians have any longer ground for controversy with the Reformed church, but only with individual doctors of this family. For this church leaves every one at liberty to think as he pleases, on those points which were formerly the ground of its separation from the Lutherans and Arminians, and deems the fundamentals of religion safe, however those points are explained. And yet this very moderation thwarts the designs of those who would effect a union between the Lutherans and the Reformed. For those among us who are strenuous for orthodoxy complain that the Reformed open the door of salvation too wide, and that they offer communion and friendship not only to us! but to all the sectarians. When therefore about twenty years ago, certain excellent men among us (at the head of whom was Christopher Matthew Pfaff, a man on many accounts venerated and renowned). took very great pains to effect a union between us and the Reformed, the majority [of the Lutherans] so vigorously opposed the object, both by deeds and by publications, that it was soon abandoned. The Episcopalians are the reigning party, and number among their adherents the sovereign, with the nobility of the realm and the greatest part of the people. But toleration is granted to the Puritans or Presbyterians, and to all the others who are included under the very comprehensive appellation of Nonconformists. 21. The Reformed church not only preserves the same aspect which was above described, but studies to make it still more her appropriate characteristic. For notwithstanding the formulas of faith, by which the vigilance of their ancestors enclosed 23. The English church, which holds the and fortified their religion, remain every-first rank among the Reformed, is the same where the same, yet in most countries no now that it was in the time of William III. preacher is compelled to think in exact accordance with them, but is supposed to fulfil his duty if he holds up the great and primary truths of Christianity, and avoids too much familiarity with the papists and Socinians. Hence in this very ample community, at the present day, Arminians, Supralapsarians, Infralapsarians, and Universalists [i.e. believers in a universal atonement], live amicably together, and with united efforts strive to extenuate and lessen the importance of those contests which divide the Christians who have separated themselves from the Romish communion. There are indeed some, especially among the Swiss, the Germans, and the Dutch, who are greatly troubled at this moderation; who deplore bitterly the loss of the ancient purity and rigour, and occasionally wax warm and attack the despisers of their ancient discipline. But the others, who are greatly superior in numbers, respectability, and power, care little for their resentments. 1 Mosheim still continues to speak of all those who are styled Reformed as if they were united in one church or religious community, while in fact they form a number of totally distinct communities, often differing widely in doctrine, discipline, and worship, and in several instances having no sort of communion with each other. And hence his remarks respecting them as a body are liable to much criticism.—Mur. Those however who are particularly acquainted with English affairs tell us that the Nonconformists diminish continually, and that this gradual diminution is ascribable to the mildness and gentleness of the bishops towards them. The Episcopalians are of two sorts. Some believe the government by bishops to be of divine institution, and they exalt and magnify immoderately the prerogatives of the church. Others are more moderate; and though they fully believe that an ecclesiastical government by bishops is more holy and more perfect than any other, and think that great care should be taken to prevent the clergy from becoming subject to the will and authority of kings and magistrates, yet they do not invidiously deny the name of a church to those communities in which there are no bishops, and they are tempe 2 Thus wrote Mosheim in 1741. The precise year of Pfaff's attempt for a union was 1719.-Schl. rate in defending the prerogatives of pre- | perfect than all others, nor is he altogether lates among Christians. These two parties unsuccessful. It would seem, if the man is are sometimes engaged in sharp contests, a self-consistent and does not follow the blind striking example of which occurred in the impulse of fancy rather than any deterpresent century. For the present bishop mined rule, that he places religion altoof Winchester, Benjamin Hoadley, a man gether in holy emotions and an indescribable eminent for talents and eloquence, greatly kind of sensation, and that he requires his lowered the authority of the church, that followers to dismiss all reliance on reason is, of its presiding officers, and confined it and study as means of [religious] knowledge, within narrow limits. On the other hand, and to submit their minds to be guided and John Potter, now archbishop of Canterbury instructed by a divine illumination. and at the head of the British clergy, and others, contended for the prerogatives and authority of the church with great eloquence and erudition. Moreover, the disposition of the established church of England towards those who dissent from it, cannot be learned from anything more exactly than from the fact that William Wake, the late archbishop of Canterbury, a few years ago was disposed to form an alliance with the French church, on terms which would secure to both most of their respective peculiarities of sentiment." 25. The Dutch, down even to our times, have been occupied with the Cocceian and Cartesian controversies, though now less intensely than heretofore. And there is a prospect that these contests will wholly cease, since the Newtonian mode of philosophizing has expelled the Cartesian from the Dutch universities. Of the Roëllian disputes we have already given an account. Frederick van Leenhof in the year 1703 fell under suspicion of being a Spinozist, and was attacked by many on account of a book he published, entitled, Heaven upon Earth; in which he taught, that a Christian should always be joyful, and never mourn or be sorrowful. The same crime was charged by many upon Wil 24. The unbounded liberty which Englishmen enjoy of publishing their opinions without restraint, and of worshipping God in the manner each one thinks right, naturally causes various sects to arise occa- liam Deurhoff, an illiterate man, who sionally, and controversies respecting things pertaining to religion to be perpetual. But it is hardly possible for any one, who has not himself lived some time in England and formed acquaintance on the spot with the opinions, privileges, laws, and parties of that happy nation, to give a full and accurate account of these different sects and controversies. Of several of the sects not even the names reach us, and of many of them we have only an imperfect and indistinct knowledge. Of the controversies we are to a great extent unable to ascertain the true foundation and the points at issue, because we are destitute of the sources from which information can be drawn. At this present time, one George Whitefield is collecting a party, and contemplates the formation of a Christian community more 1 The learned and pious archbishop Wake, in a letter to Father Courayer, dated from Croyden House, July 9, 1724, expresses himself thus: "I bless God that I was born and have been bred in an Episcopal church, which, I am convinced, has been the government estabthe Apostles. But I should be unwilling to affirm, that where the ministry is not episcopal there is no church, nor any true administration of the sacraments. And very many there are among us who are zealous for Episcopacy, and yet dare not go so far as to annul the ordinances of God performed by any other ministry." -Macl. lished in the Christian church from the very times of See the account of the negotiation of archbishop Wake, and the letters which passed between him and Du Pin on the subject, in Maclaine's third Appendix to his translation of Mosheim's Institutes of Ecclesiastical History.-Mur. published several tracts in the vernacular tongue, in which he speculated concerning the divine nature, as if he viewed it to be an energy pervading the whole material universe and operative in all parts of it. The most recent contests are those of James Saurin and Paul Maty. The former, a minister of the gospel at the Hague and distinguished for his genius and eloquence, if he erred at all, erred very slightly. For if we except a few inaccurate and unwary expressions, he deviated from the common doctrine only in this one point, that he thought it sometimes lawful to deceive men by our speech for the sake of accomplishing some great good. Most of the Reformed churches, it is to be noted, adopt the principle of Augustine, that every deception and every falsehood is sinful. The other, namely Maty, committed a much greater fault. For in order to explain the profound mystery of three persons in one God and to render it easy to be understood, he assumed that the Son and the Holy Spirit are two finite beings, created by God, and who at a certain time became united to God." See Saurin's Discours Historiques, Théologiques, Critiques, et Moraux, sur les évènements les plus Memora bles du Vieux et du Nouveau Testament, volume i. of the folio edition.-Macl. 4 See Mosheim's Historia Critica novæ explicationis Dogmatis de Tribus in Deo Personis, quam vir clariss. 26. In Switzerland, especially in the can- | [of mathematics] in the university of Camton of Berne, the Formula Consensus which bridge, who chose rather to resign his chair has been already mentioned produced very than to renounce his opinions, which he fierce disputes. In the year 1718, the defended in numerous publications. Simimagistrates of Berne required all public lar to him, according to the common estiteachers, and particularly those of the uni- mation, was Samuel Clarke, a man richly versity and church of Lausanne (in whom endowed with powers of genius and educathere was supposed to be some stain of error), tion, who in the year 1724 was convicted to assent to this Formula and to receive it of adulterating the sound doctrine in regard as the standard of their faith; for it had for to three persons in the Godhead. But no some time been neglected, and subscription ingenuous and reasonable man will rank to it had not in all cases been required. Dr. Clarke among the Arians, if this name But several, both of the professors and of is to be taken in its native and proper the candidates for the sacred office, declared acceptation. For he merely defended with that they could not conscientiously sub-greater clearness and diligence, what is scribe, and accordingly some of them were called the Arminian subordination, which subjected to punishment. This caused has been and is still embraced by so many grievous contentions and complaints, to quiet of the first men and by very learned prewhich, the king of Great Britain and the lates in England, and taught that the States-General of Holland, as well as others, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are in nature offered their kind offices. The result was, equal, but in rank unequal. A great that the Formula lost much of its credit and number of persons among the English have authority. In the German [Reformed] endeavoured in various ways to invalidate churches, nothing very remarkable has oc- and assail the most sacred doctrine of the curred. The Palatine church, once so very divine Trinity. And this induced an opuflourishing, has, through the machinations lent lady, whose name was Moyer, to leave of the papists, suffered a great diminution by her will a rich legacy as a premium for of its prosperity. eight public discourses to be delivered annually by some learned man, in opposition to this species of impiety. The institution has been in operation since the year 1720, and promises to future ages a rich collection of the best productions in defence of this part of revealed religion.3 27. The Socinians dispersed over various countries of Europe, have hitherto been able nowhere' to obtain the liberty of forming themselves into a regular community, and of publicly setting up worship according to the views of their sect. At the head of their learned men, in our times, stood Samuel Crell, who died at an advanced age at Amsterdam. He however chose to be called an Artemonite rather than a Socinian, and he actually differed on many points from the common doctrines of the Socinians. The Arians obtained a great advocate in William Whiston, a professor Paulus Maty excogitavit, in his Dissert. ad Historiam Except in Transylvania.- Schl. 2 Mosheim has here mistaken the true hypothesis of 3 As this legacy consisted merely of a leasehold estate, POSTSCRIPT.-It is to be hoped that the learned translator of this work which terminates so abruptly here, will be enabled to fulfil the intention, indicated in the conclusion of his Preface, of compiling a continuation of It, embracing the ecclesiastical history of the eighteenth century and first half of the nineteenth; a work which is very much wanted. Mosheim has had indeed several English continuators already; but they are very inadequate associates of this great historian, and leave the field quite unoccupied for Dr. Murdock, who, I have no doubt, will worthily and profitably occupy it. In German, there are many histories of the eighteenth century; scholars have long been expecting an addition to them from the pen of Gieseler, the first volume of whose Lehrbuch der neueren Kirchengeschichte, published in 1840, stops in the middle of the previous century. An excellent manual for this period is the third volume of the edition of Jablonski's Institutiones Historiæ Christiane, by Stosch and Schickedanz, 18mo; but it comes no lower down than the year 1786.-R. 1 INDEX. The letter p stands for PAGE-s for SECTION—and n for NOTE. ABAKA, emperor of the Tartars, sends envoys to the Abasgi, embrace Christianity in the 6th cent. p. 213, Abbas I. king of Persia, p. 784, s. 7 Abbo of Fleury, 10th cent. p. 330, s. 5 of St. Germain, historian, 9th cent. p. 305, n. George, archbishop of Canterbury, p. 820, s. 19 Abelard, Peter, 12th cent. p. 407, 411, s. 18; p. 419, Abelites, a sect in the 7th cent. p. 81, s. 18, n. 4 Abrams, Nicholas, p. 761, s. 31 Abraxas a term used by Basilides, p. 78, s. 11 missions, papal, p. 750, s. 17 Acacius, bishop of Cæsarea, 4th cent. p. 137, n. | Adrian, emperor in 2d cent. p. 51, s. 1; p. 6, s. 3 Ædesius, a philosopher in 4th cent. p. 126, s. 2 bishop of Paris, 9th cent. p. 305, n. Sylvius, 15th cent. p. 534, s. 16.-See Pius II. Epinus, John, p. 657, s. 46 Aerius, a Semiarian, 4th cent. p. 151, s. 21 Aëtius, Arian, 4th cent. p. 137, n. Affelmann, John, p. 792, s. 15 Africa, missions to, p. 723, s. 18 Agapetus, deacon at Constantinople, 6th cent. p. 223, bishop of Rome, 6th cent. p. 229, n. Agilulph, Italian king, 6th cent. p. 216, s. 3 Agnoëtæ, sect in 6th cent. p. 33, s. 9, n. 7 Agobard, bishop of Lyons, 9th cent. p. 292, s. 6; p. bishop of Constantinople, 5th cent. p. 180, Agricola, Rudolph, 15th cent. p. 544, n. 8. 1; n. p. 186, s. 18; p. 206 Academics, their doctrine, p. 31, s. 21, 11; s. 12 Acephali, a sect, 5th cent. p. 207, s. 20; 6th, p. 232, 8. 10 Achery, Luke d', p. 761, s. 31 Acœmetæ, áκoyunтai, 5th cent. p. 196, n. 5 abbot of Fleury, 9th cent. p. 305, n. marquis of Tuscany, 10th cent. p. 333, s. 2 8. 7 Adam, a Scotch canon, 12th cent. p. 413, n. Adamnanus, Irish monk, 6th cent. p. 245, s. 3 Adamus Magister, 11th cent. p. 375, n. Adelaide, empress, 10th cent. p. 327, s. 9 Adelbold, bishop of Utrecht, 11th cent. p. 374, n. John, p. 594, s. 3 Agrippa Castor, writer in 2d cent. p. 65, n. Aguirre, Joseph, p. 763, s. 32 Aidan, bishop in England, 7th cent. Aids of Grace, congregations on, p. 626, s. 41; p. 767, 8. 37: see Grace Ailly, Peter: see Alliaco Ailred or Ealred, 12th cent. p. 413, n. Aimoin of St. Germain, 9th cent. p. 303, s. 14 French historian, 11th cent. p. 374, n. Aistulphus, king of Lombardy, 8th cent. p. 269, s. 8 Alain de l'Isle, or Alanus de Insulis, p. 413, n. p. 464, Alans, converted in 6th cent. p. 213, s. 1 the Great, scholastic, 13th cent. p. 442, s. 8; p. 464, s. 44 of Stade, chronicler, 13th cent. p. 468, n. of Strasburg, 14th cent. p. 513, n. Albigenses, p. 343, s. 3; p. 385, s. 2; p. 425, s. 5; p. Adiaphoristic controversy, Lutheran, p. 594, s. 5; p. Albion, Saxon chief, 8th cent. p. 264, s. 6 Albius, Thomas, p. 777, s. 51 Albizi, Bartholomew, 14th cent. p. 499, s. 21; p. 513, n. Alciat, John Paul, p. 703, s. 6 Alcimus, Ecdicius Avitus, bishop of Clermont, 8th Alcuin, 8th cent. p. 266, s. 3; p. 275, s. 18 |