pretended patriarch, another usurper, whose || able opinion of the Germans, as it was upon name was Peter, aspired to the same dignity, this basis alone that the success of the present and, taking the title of Ignatius XXV., placed enterprise could be built. Wansleb, however, himself in the patriarchal chair; but the law- whose virtue was by no means equal to his abiful patriarch of the sect had credit enough with lities, instead of continuing his journey to the Turks to procure the deposition and banish- Abyssinia, remained several years in Egypt. ment of this pretender; and thus the small con- On his return thence into Europe, he began to gregation which acknowledged his jurisdiction entertain uneasy apprehensions of the account was entirely dispersed.* The African Mono- that would naturally be demanded both of his physites, and more especially the Copts, not-conduct, and of the manner in which he had withstanding that poverty and ignorance which employed the sums of money he had received exposed them to the seductions of sophistry and for his Abyssinian expedition. These appregain, stood firm in their principles, and made|| hensions rendered him desperate, because they an obstinate resistance to the promises, presents, and attempts, employed by the_papal|| missionaries to bring them under the Roman yoke. With respect to the Abyssinians, we have mentioned already, in its proper place, a revolution by which they delivered themselves from that tyrannical yoke, and resumed the liberty they had so imprudently renounced. It is proper, however, to take notice here of the zeal discovered by the Lutherans, in their attempts to dispel the ignorance and superstition of this people, and to bring them to the knowledge of a purer religion and a more rational worship. It was with this pious design that the learned Heyling, of Lubec, undertook a voyage into Ethiopia in 1634, where he resided many years, and acquired such a distinguished place in the favour and esteem of the emperor, that he was honoured with the important office of prime minister of that mighty empire. In this eminent station he gave many instances of his zeal both for the interests of religion and the public good; after which he set out for Eur, but never arrived there; nor is it known in what manner, or by what accident, he ended his days.† were attended with a consciousness of guilt. Hence, instead of returning into Germany, he went to Rome, where, in 1667, he embraced, at least in outward profession, the doctrine of that church, and entered into the Dominicar. order.* Thus the pious design of the best of princes failed in the execution. To his formation of that scheme, however, we are indebted for the great light that has been thrown by the learned and laborious Ludolph on the history, doctrine, literature, and manners of the Abys sinians, which before this period were very superficially known in Europe. VII. The state of the Christians in Armenia underwent a considerable change soon after the commencement of this century, in consequence of the incursions of Abbas the Great, king of Persia, into that province. This prince ravaged that part of Armenia which lay contiguous to his dominions, and ordered the inhabitants to retire into Persia. These devastations were intended to prevent the Turks from approaching his frontier; for the Eastern monarchs, instead of erecting fortified towns on the borders of their respective kingdoms, as is done by the European princes, laid waste their borders upon the approach of the invaders, that, by thus cutting off the means of their subsistence, their progress might be either entirely stopped, or considerably retarded. In this general emigration, the more opulent and the better sort of the Armenians removed to Ispahan, the capital of Persia, where the generous monarch granted them a beautiful suburb for their residence, with the free exercise of their religion under the jurisdiction of a bishop or patriarch Under the sway of this magnanimous prince, who cherished his people with a paternal tenderness, these happy exiles enjoyed the sweets of liberty and abundance; but after his death the scene changed, and they were involved in calamities of various kinds. The storm of persecution that arose upon them shook their constancy; many of them apostatised to the Mohammedan religion, so that it was justly to Several years after this, Ernest, duke of Saxe-Gotha, surnamed the Pious, on account of his sanctity and virtue, formed the resolution of making a new attempt to diffuse the knowledge of the Gospel, in its purity and simplicity, among the ignorant and superstitious Abyssinians. This design was formed by the counsels and suggestions of the famous Ludolph, and was to have been executed by the ministry of the abbot Gregory, an Abyssinian, who had resided for some time in Europe. The unhappy fate of this missionary, who perished in a shipwreck in 1657, did not totally discourage the prince from pursuing his purpose; for, in 1663, he entrusted the same pious and important commission to John Michael Wansleb, a native of Erfort, to whom he gave the wisest orders, and whom he charged particularly to leave no means unemployed that might contribute to give the Abyssinian nation a favour-be feared that this branch of the Armenia.. church would gradually be lost. On the other bishop of Antioch in the first century,) and of conse-hand, the state of religion in that church deriv. quence the lawful patriarchs of Antioch. A like reason in luces the religious chief of the Maronites, who also claims the same dignity, to assume the rame of Peter; for St. Peter is said to have governed the church of Antioch before Ignatius. *Jo. Simon. Assemani Biblioth. Oriental. Clémentino-Vatican. tom. ii. p. 482, and his Dissert. de Monophysitis, sect. iii. † A very curious life of Heyling was published in German by Dr. Michaelis at Halle, in 1724.-See also Moller's Cimb. Litera. t. i. p. 253. ed considerable advantages from the settle *For an account of this inconstant and worthless, but learned man, see Lobo's Voyage d'Abyss. tom i. p. 198, 227, 233, 248.-Cyprian's Catalog. MSS. Biblioth. Gothanæ, p. 64.-Eus. Renaudot's Præf. ad Histor. Patriarch. Alexand. and his Historia Ecclesiæ Alexandrina: see also Scriptor. Ordin. Prædica torum, edited by Echard and Quetif. t. ii. p. 693. † See Chardin's Voyages en Perse, tom. ii. p. 106 and the Nouvelles Relations au Levant, by Gabrie! I See Ludolphi Proemium ad Comm. in Wist. ment of a great number of Armenians in dif- || Nestorians were received, at this time, into the ferent parts of Europe for the purposes of com- communion of the Romish church, or that the merce. These merchants, who had fixed their bishops of Mosul were, after this period, at all residence, during this century, at London, Am-solicitous about the friendship or good-will of sterdam, Marseilles, and Venice,* were not un- the pope. The Nestorian bishops of Ormus, mindful of the interests of religion in their na- who successively assume the name of Simeon, tive country; and their situation furnished them proposed also, more than once,* plans of recon with opportunities of exerting their zeal in this ciliation with the church of Rome; and, wita good cause, and particularly of supplying their that view, sent to the pontiff a confession of Asiatic brethren with Armenian translations of their faith, which gave a clear idea of their rethe Scriptures, and of other theological books, ligious tenets and institutions. But these pro from the European presses, especially from those posals were little attended to by the court of of England and Holland. These pious and in- Rome, either in consequence of its disapprɔstructive productions, being dispersed among bation of the doctrine of these Nestorians,† or the Armenians, who lived under the Persian of that contempt which their poverty and want and Turkish governments, contributed, no of influence excited in the pontiffs, whose amdoubt, to preserve that illiterate and super-bition and avidity aimed at acquisitions of stitious people from falling into the most con- greater consequence; for it is well known, that, summate and deplorable ignorance. since the year 1617, the bishops of Ormus have been in a low and declining state, both in point of opulence and credit, and are no longer in a condition to excite the envy of their brethren at Mosul. The Romish missionaries gained over, nevertheless, to their communion, a small number of Nestorians, whom they formed into a congregation or church, about the middle of this century. The bishops or patriarchs of this little flock reside in the city of Amida, or Diarbek, and all assume the denomination of Jo of Malabar, called also the Christians of St. Thomas, suffered innumerable vexations, and the most grievous persecution, from the Romish priests, and more especially from the Jesuits, while those settlements were in the hands of the Portuguese; but neither artifice nor violence could engage them to embrace the communion of Rome. When Cochin was taken by the Dutch, in 1663, and the Portuguese were driven out of these quarters, the persecut VIII. The divisions that reigned among the Nestorians in the preceding century still subsisted, as all the methods employed to heal them had hitherto proved ineffectual. Some of the Nestorian bishops discovered a propensity to accommodate matters with the church of Rome. Elias II., bishop of Mosul, sent two private embassies to the pope, in 1607 and 1610, to solicit his friendship; and, in the letter he addressed upon that occasion to Paul V.,|| he declared his desire of effecting a reconcilia-seph.§ The Nestorians, resident on the coast tion between the Nestorians and the Latin church. Elias III., though at first extremely averse to the doctrine and institution of that church, changed his sentiments in this respect; and, in 1657, addressed a letter to the congregation de propagandâ Fide, in which he intimated his readiness to join with the church of Rome, on condition that the pope would allow the Nestorians a place of public worship in that city, and would abstain from al attempts to alter the discipline of the sect. The Romished Nestorians resumed their primitive liberty, doctors could not but perceive that a reconcilia- and were reinstated in the privilege of serving tion, founded on such conditions as these, would God without molestation, according to their be attended with no advantage to their church, consciences. These blessings they still conand promised nothing that could flatter the tinued to enjoy; nor are such of them as enterambition of their pontiff; and accordingly weed into the communion of Rome disturbed by do not find that the proposal above-mentioned was accepted. It does not appear that the *For an account of the Armenians who settled at Marseilles, and of the books which they ordered to be printed in that city for the use of their brethren in foreign parts, see Richard Simon's Lettres Choisies, tom. ii. p. 137.-The same author (tom. iv. p. 160,) and the learned Joachim Schroder, in a dissertation prefixed to his Thesaurus Linguæ Armenicæ, give an account of the Armenian Bible that was printed in Holland. The latter also takes notice of the other Armenian books that were published at Venice, Lyons, and Amsterdam. t Jos. Sim. Assemani Biblioth. Orient. Clement, Vatican. tom. i. ii. iii. Idem Opus, tom. iii the Dutch, who are accustomed to treat with toleration and indulgence all sects that live peaceably with those who differ from them in religious opinions and ceremonies.¶ * In the years 1619 and 1658. † Assemani Biblioth. tom. i. ii. iii. Pet. Strozza, Præf. ad Librum de Chaldæorum Dogmatibus. § See Le Quien, Oriens Christianus, tom. ii. p. 1078. La Croze, Histoire du Christianisme des Indes liv. v. p. 334. Schouten, Voyage aux Indes Orient. tom. i. p 319, 446. SECTION II. PART II. THE HISTORY OF THE MODERN CHURCHES. CHAPTER I. The History of the Lutheran Church. II. The example of the landgrave of Hesse was followed, in 1614, by John Sigismund, elector of Brandenburg, who also renounced Lutheranism, and embraced the communion of the reformed churches, though with certain restrictions, and without employing any acts of mere authority to engage his subjects in the same measure; for it is observable, that this prince did not adopt all the peculiar doctrines of Calvinism. He introduced, indeed, into his dominions the Genevan form of pub I. We have already seen* the calamities and vexations that were entailed on the Lutheran church, by the persecuting spirit of the Roman pontiffs, and the intemperate zeal of the house of Austria, which, on many occasions, showed too great a propensity to second their ambitious and despotic measures; we shall, therefore, at present confine our view to the losses it sustained from other quarters.lic worship, and embraced the sentiments of The cause of Lutheranism suffered considera- the reformed churches concerning the person bly by the desertion of Maurice, landgrave of of Christ, and the manner in which he is preHesse, a prince of uncommon genius and sent in the eucharist, as they appeared to him learning, who not only embraced the doctrine much more conformable to reason and Scripand discipline of the reformed church, but ture than the doctrine of the Lutherans relaalso, in 1604, removed the Lutheran professors ting to these points. But, on the other hand, from their places in the university of Marpurg, he refused to admit the Calvinistical doctrines and the doctors of that communion from the of divine grace and absolute decrees; and, on churches they had in his dominions. After this account, he neither sent deputies to the taking this vigorous step, on account of the synod of Dordrecht, nor adopted the decisions obstinacy with which the Lutheran clergy op- of that famous assembly on these intricate subposed his design, he took particular care to jects. This way of thinking was so exactly have his subjects instructed in the doctrine of followed by the successors of Sigismund, that the Helvetic church, and introduced into the they never would allow the opinion of Calvin, Hessian churches the form of public worship concerning the divine decrees, to be considered that was observed at Geneva. This plan was as the public and received doctrine of the renot executed without some difficulty; but it formed churches in their dominions. 'It must acquired a complete degree of stability and con- be particularly mentioned, to the honour of sistence in 1619, when deputies were sent by this wise prince, that he granted to his subthis prince to the synod of Dordrecht, with ex-jects an entire liberty in religious matters, and press orders to consent, in the name of the left it to their unrestrained and free choice, Hessian churches, to all the acts that should whether they would remain in the profession be passed in that assembly. The doctors of Lutheranism, or follow the example of their of the reformed church, who lived at this sovereign; nor did he exclude from civil hoperiod, strenuously defended the measures nours and employments, or from the usual followed by Maurice, and maintained, that in marks of his protection and favour, those who all these transactions he observed the strictest continued in the faith of their ancestors. This principles of equity, and discovered an uncom- lenity and moderation, which seemed so adaptmon spirit of moderation. Perhaps the doc-ed to prevent jealousy and envy, and to satistors of modern days may view this matter in a different light. They will acknowledge; perhaps without hesitation, that if this illustrious prince had been more influenced by the sentiments of the wisest of the reformed doctors, concerning the conduct we ought to observe toward those who differ from us in religious matters, and less by his own will and humour,|| he would have ordered many things otherwise than he actually did.‡ fy both parties, aid not however produce this natural and salutary effect; nor were they sufficient to restrain within the bounds of decency and charity several warm and inconsiderate votaries of Lutheranism. These over-zealous persons, who breathed the violent spirit of an age in which matters of consequence were usually carried on with vehemence and rigour, deemed it intolerable and highly provoking, that the Lutherans and Calvinists should enjoy the same honours and prerogatives; that all injurious terms and odious comparisons should be banished from religious debates; that the controverted points in theology should either be entirely omitted in the public discourses of the clergy, or explained with a spirit of mo guage, may also consult Garth's Historischer Bericht von dem Religions-Wesen in Furstenthum Hessen-Cyprian's Unterricht von Kirchlicher Vereinigung der Protestanten, and the Acts published in the Un schuld. Nachrich. An. 1749. desty and Christian charity; that certain rites || III. It was deplorable to see two churches, which had discovered an equal degree of pious zeal and fortitude in throwing off the despotic yoke of Rome, divided among themselves, and living in discords that were highly detrimental to the interests of religion and the welfare of society. Hence several eminent divines and leading men, both among the Lutherans and Calvinists, anxiously sought some method of uniting the two churches, though divided in their opinions, in the bonds of Christian charity and ecclesiastical communion. A competent knowledge of human nature and human passions served to persuade these wise and pacific mediators, that a perfect uniformity of religious opinion was not practicable, and that it *The edicts of Sigismund and his successors, relating to this change in the state of religion in Brandenburg, have been several times republished in one collection. Beside these, there are many books, treatises, and pamphlets, which give an account of this remarkable transaction, and of which the reader will find a complete list in the German work, entitled, Unschuldigen Nachrichten, An. 1745, p. 34; An. 1746, p. 326, compared with Jo. Carol. Kocheri. Biblioth. Theolog. Symbol. p. 312.-The reader who desires to attain a perfect acquaintance with this controversy, and to be able to weigh the merits of the cause, by having a true state of the case before him, will do well to consult Arnold's Histor. Eccles. et Hæret. p. ii. lib. xvii. c. vii. p. 965.-Cyprian's Unterricht von der Vereinigung der Protestant. p. 75, and Append. Monum. p. 225. Unschuldigen Nachrichten, An. 1727, p. 1069, et An. 1732, p. 715. They who affirm that the elector's ultimate end, in changing the face of religion in his dominions, was not the prospect of augmenting and extending his authority, found their opinion rather on conjecture than on demonstration; nor do they confirm this assertion by testimonies that are sufficient to produce full conviction. It must, however, be acknowledged, on the other hand, that their conjectures have nei ther an absurd nor an improbable aspect. would be entirely extravagant to imagine that either of these communities could ever be brought to embrace universally, and without limitation, the doctrines of the other. They made it, therefore, their principal business to persuade those, whose spirits were inflamed with the heat of controversy, that the points in debate between the churches were not essential to true religion;-that the fundamental doctrines of Christianity were received and professed in both communions;-and that the difference of opinion between the contending parties, turned either upon points of an abstruse and incomprehensible nature, or upon matters of indifference, which did not tend to render mankind wiser or better, and in which the interests of genuine piety were in no respects concerned. Those who viewed things in this point of light, were obliged to acknowledge, that the diversity of opinion was by no means a sufficient reason for the separation of the churches, and that in consequence they were called, by the dictates of that Gospel which they both professed, to live not only in the mutual exercise of Christian charity, but also to enter into the fraternal bonds of church communion. The greatest part of the reformed doctors seemed disposed to acknowledge, that the errors of the Lutherans were not of a momentous nature, or of a pernicious tendency, and that the fundamental doctrines of Christianity had not undergonc any remarkable alteration in that communion; and thus on their side an important step was made toward peace and union between the churches. But the majority of the Lutheran doctors declared, that they could not form a like judgment with respect to the doctrine of the reformed churches; they maintained tenaciously the importance of the points which divided the two communions, and affirmed, that a considerable part of the controversy turned upon the fundamental principles of all religion and virtue. It is not at all surprising, that the opposite party branded this steadiness and constancy with the epithets of morose obstinacy, supercilious arrogance, and the like odious denominations. The Lutherans were not behind-hand with their adversaries in acrimony of style; they recriminated with vehemence, and charged their accusers with instances of misconduct, different in kind, but equally condemnable. They reproached them with having dealt disingenuously, by disguising, under ambiguous expressions, the real doctrine of the reformed churches; they observed farther, that their adversaries, notwithstanding their consummate prudence and circumspection, gave plain proofs, on many occasions, that their propensity to a reconciliation between the churches arose from views of private interest, rather than from a zeal for the public good. IV. Among the public transactions relative formed and Lutheran churches, we must not to the project of an union between the reomit mentioning the attempt made in 1615 by James I., king of Great Britain, to accomplish this salutary purpose. The person employed for this end by the British monarch, was Pete du Moulin, the most eminent among the 'ro a still more extensive plan of religious unior than those which have been mentioned; he proposed a reconciliation, not only between the Reformed and Lutheran churches, but also between these communions and that of Rome. For this purpose, he ordered a conference to be holden at Thorn, in 1645, the issue of which, as might naturally have been expected, was far from being favourable to the projected union; for the persons employed by the three churches to heal their divisions, or at least to calm their animosities, returned from this conference with a greater measure of party zeal, and a smaller portion of Christian charity, than they had brought to it. The conference which took place at Cassel 1661, by the order of William VI., landgrave of Hesse, between Musæus and Henichius, professors at Rintelen, on the side of the Lutherans, and Curtius and Heine, of the university of Marpurg, on that of the reformed, was attended with better success; and, if it did not bring about a perfect uniformity of opinion, it produced what was more desirable, a spirit of Christian charity and forbearance. For these candid doctors, after having diligently examined the nature, and weighed the importance, of the controversies that divided the two churches, embraced each other with reciprocal marks of affection and esteem, and mutually declared that their respective doctrines were less different than was generally imagined, and that this difference was not of sufficient moment to prevent their fraternal union and concord. But it unfortu nately happened, that these moderate theolo testant doctors in France;* but this design was neither carried on with spirit, nor attended with success. Another attempt of the same pacific nature was made in 1631, in the synod of Charenton, in which an act was passed by the reformed doctors of that respectable assembly, declaring the Lutheran system of religion conformable with the spirit of true piety, and free from pernicious and fundamental errors. By this act, an opportunity was offered to the Lutherans of joining with the reformed church upon honourable terms, and of entering into the bonds both of civil and religious communion with their Calvinistical brethren. But this candid and charitable proceeding was attended with very little fruit, since few of the Lutherans were disposed to embrace the occa-in sion that was here so freely offered to them, of terminating the dissensions that separated the two churches. In the same year, a conference took place at Leipsic between the Saxon doctors, Koe, Lyser, and Hopfner, on one side, and some of the most eminent divines of HesseCassel and Brandenburg, on the other; to the end that, by exposing with fidelity and precision their respective doctrines, it might be more easily seen, what were the real obstacles to the union projected between the churches. This, conference was conducted with decency and moderation, and the deliberations were neither disturbed by intemperate zeal nor by a proud spirit of contention and dispute; but that openness of heart, that mutual trust and confidence, which are so essential to the success of all kinds of pacification, were not manifested on this occasion; for, though the doctors of the reformed party exposed, with great pre-gians could not infuse the same spirit of peace cision and fairness, the tenets of their church, and charity that animated them, into their Luand even made several concessions, which the theran brethren, nor persuade them to view Lutherans themselves could scarcely expect; the diversities of opinion that divided the Proyet the latter, suspicious and fearful, and al-testant churches, in the same indulgent point ways apprehensive of schemes, formed by artifice under the mask of candour, to betray and ensnare them, did not dare to acknowledge, that they were satisfied with these explications and offers; and thus the conference broke up without having contributed in any respect to promote the salutary work of peace.§ To form a true idea of these pacific deliberations, of the reasons that gave rise to them, and of the principles by which they were conducted, it will be necessary to study the civil history of this interesting period with attention and care. part ii. V. Uladislaus IV., king of Poland, formed * See Le Vassor, Hist. de Louis XIII. tom. ii. King James, who would have abandoned the most important and noble design, at any time, to discuss a point of grammar or theology, or to gain a point of interest for himself or his minions, neglected this union of the Lutheran and reformed churches, which he had begun to promote with such an appearance of piety and zeal. Benoit, Histoira de l'Edit de Nantes, tom. ii. p. 544.-Aymon, Actes des Synodes Nationaux des Eglises Reformees de France, tom. ii. p. 500.-Ittigii Dissert. de Synodi Carentoniensis Indulgentia erga Lutheranos, Lips. 1705. 4to. § Timanni Gesselii Historia Sacra et Ecclesiastica, p. ii. in addendis, p. 597-613, in which the acts of this conference are published.-Jo. Wolfg. Jaegeri Historia Sæculi XVII. decenn. iv. p. 497. This testimony of Dr. Mosheim, who was himself a Lutheran, is singularly honourable to the reformed doctors. of view in which they had considered them in the conference at Cassel. On the contrary, this their moderation drew upon them the hatred of almost all the Lutherans; and they were loaded with bitter reproaches in a multitude of pamphlets,* that were composed expressly to refute their sentiments, and to censure their conduct. The pains that were taken after this period by the princes of the house of Brandenberg, and more especially by Frederic William and his son Frederic, in order to compose the dissensions and animosity that divided the Protestants, and particularly to promote a fraternal union between the reformed and Lutheran churches in the Prussian territories, and in the rest of their dominions, are well known; and it is also equally notorious, that innumerable difficulties opposed the execution of this salutary design. *The writers who have given accounts of the conferences of Thorn and Cassel, are enumerated by Sagittarius, in his Introd. ad Hist. Ecclesiast. tom. ii. p 1604. See also Jaegeri Historia Sæculi XVII. decenn. v. p. €89, and decenn. vii. p. 160, where the acts of the two conferences are extant.-Add to these Jo. Alphons. Turretini Nubes Testium pro moderato in Rebus theologicis Judicio, p. 178.-There is an ample account of the conference of Cassel in the life of Musæus, given by Moller, in his Cimbria Litera ta, tom. ii. p. 566. The reader will find, in the same work, an accurate index of the accounts of this cop ference, published on both sides. |