sion and the seduction of fancy, both into er- || rable patrons of this fanatical doctrine, we may roneous notions and licentious pursuits, we are reckon Christian Bartholomew de Cordt, a Jannot perhaps to reject, in consequence of an ex-senist, and priest of the oratory at Mechlin, cessive charity or liberality of sentiment, the who died at Nordstrand, in the duchy of Slestestimonies of those who have found many wick;* and Peter Poiret, a man of a bold and things worthy of censure, both in the life and penetrating genius, who was a great master of doctrine of this turbulent enthusiast.* the Cartesian philosophy.† The latter was shown in a striking manner by his own example, that knowledge and ignorance, reason and superstition, are often divided by thin partitions; and that they sometimes not only dwell together in the same person, but also, by an unnatural and unaccountable union, afford mutual assistance, and thus engender monstrous productions.

IV. Among the fanatical contemporaries of Labadie was the famous Antoinette Bourignon de la Porte, a native of Flanders, who pretended to be divinely inspired, and set apart, by a particular interposition of Heaven, to revive the true spirit of Christianity, that had been extinguished by theological animosities and debates. This female enthusiast, whose religious feelings were accompanied with an unparalleled vivacity and ardour, and whose fancy was exuberant beyond all expression, joined to these qualities a volubility of tongue, less wonderful indeed, yet much adapted to seduce the unwary. Furnished with these useful talents, she began to propagate her theological system, and her enthusiastical notions made a great noise in Flanders, Holland, and some parts of Germany, where she had resided some years. Nor was it only the ignorant multitude that swallowed down with facility her visionary doctrines, since it is well known that several learned and ingenious men were persuaded of their truth, and caught the contagion of her fanaticism. After experiencing various turns of fortune, and suffering much vexation and ridicule on account of her religious fancies, she ended her days at Franeker, in Friseland, in 1680. Her writings were voluminous; but it would be a fruitless attempt to endeavour to draw from them an accurate and consistent scheme of religion; for the pretended divine light, that guides people of this class, does not proceed in a methodical way of reasoning and argument; it discovers itself by flashes, which shed nothing but thick darkness in the minds of those who investigate truth with the understanding, and do not trust to the reports of fancy, that is so often governed by sense and passion. An attentive reader will, however, learn something by perusing the writings of this fanatical virgin: he will be persuaded, that her intellect must have been in a disordered state; that her divine effusions were principally borrowed from the productions of the|| Mystics; and that by the intemperance of her imagination, she gave an additional air of extravagance and absurdity to the tenets which she derived from those pompous enthusiasts. If we attend to the main and predominant principle that appears in the incoherent productions of Bourignon, we shall find it to be the following: "That the Christian religion neither consists in knowledge nor in practice, but in a certain internal feeling, and divine impulse, arising immediately from communion with the Deity." Among the more conside

*Moller's Cimbria Literata, tom. iii. p. 35, and his Isagoge ad Histor. Chersones. Cimbrica, p. 2, cap. v. p. 121.--Arnold's Hist. Eccles. v. i. p. ii. lib. xvii. cap. xxi. p. 1186.-Weissman's Hist. Eccles. sæc. xvii. p. 927. For an account of the two famous companions of Labadie, namely, Du Lignon and Yvon, see Cimbria Literata, tom. ii. p. 472, 1020.

See, for an ample account of Bourignon, Moller's Cimbria Literata, and his Isagoge.-Bayle's

V. The same spirit, the same views, and the same kind of religion that distinguished Bourignon, were observable in an English, and also a female fanatic, named Jane Leadley, who, toward the conclusion of this century, se duced by her visions, predictions, and doctrines, a considerable number of disciples, among whom were some persons of learning; and thus gave rise to what was called the Philadelphian Society. This woman was of opinion that all dissensions among Christians would cease, and the kingdom of the Redeemer become, even here below, a glorious scene of charity, concord, and felicity, if those who bear the name of Jesus, without regarding the forms of doctrine or discipline which distinguish particular communions, would all join in committing their souls to the internal guide, to be instructed, governed, and formed by his divine impulse and suggestions. She even went farther, and declared, in the name of the Lord, that this desirable event would happen, and that she had a divine commission to proclaim the approach of this glorious communion of saints, who were to be collected in one visible universal church, or kingdom, before the dissolution of this earthly globe. This prediction she delivered with a peculiar degree of confidence, from a notion that her Philadelphian society was the true kingdom of Christ, in which alone the divine spirit resided and reigned. We shall not mention the other dreams of this enthusiast, among which the famous doctrine of the final restoration of all intelligent beings to perfection and happiness held an eminent place. Leadley was less fortunate than Bourignon in this respect, that she had not such an eloquent and ingenious patron as Poiret to plead her cause, and to give an air of philosophy to her wild reveries; for Pordage and Bromley, who were the chief of her associates, had nothing to recommend them but their mystic piety and contemplative turn of mind. Pordage, indeed, was so far destitute

Dict. at the article Bourignon.-Arnold, vol. ii. See also Poiret's Epist. de Auctoribus Mysticis, of his book, de Euriditione solida et superficiaria sect. xiv. p. 565. This treatise is inserted at the end * Molleri Cimbria Literata, tom. ii. p. 149.

† Poiret dressed out in an artful manner and reduced to a kind of system, the wild and incoherent fancies of Bourignon, in his large work, entitled, L'Economie Divine, ou Systeme Universel, which was published, both in French and Latin, at Amsterdam, in 1686. For an account of this mystic philosopher, whose name and voluminous writings made such a noise, see Bibliotheca Brem. Theolog. Philol. tom. iii. p. 75.

of the powers of elocution and reasoning, that || of awe by a high-sounding jingle of pompous he even surpassed Jacob Behmen, whom he words.* admired, in obscurity and nonsense; and, instead of imparting instruction to his readers, did no more than excite in them a stupid kind ||

*Jo. Wolf. Jaegeri Historia Sacra et Civilis, sæc. xvii. decenn. x. p. 90.-Petri Poireti Bibliotheca Mysticor. p. 161, 174, 283, 286.

A SHORT VIEW;

OR,

GENERAL SKETCH OF THE ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY

OF THE

EIGHTEENTH CENTURY.

1. THE History of the Christian Church | faint and superficial notions of the doctrines of during this period, instead of a few pages, would alone require a volume; such are the number and importance of the materials that it exhibits to an attentive inquirer. It is therefore to be hoped that, in due time, some able and impartial writer will employ his labours on this interesting subject. At the same time, to render the present work as complete as possible, and to give a certain clue to direct those who teach or who study ecclesiastical history, through a multitude of facts that have not yet been collected, or digested into a regular order, we shall draw a general sketch that will exhibit the principal outlines of the state of religion since the commencement of the eighteenth century. That this sketch may not swell to too great an extent, we shall omit the mention of the authors who have furnished materials for this period of church history. Those who are acquainted with modern literature must know, that there are innumerable productions extant, whence such a variety of lines and colours might be taken, as would render this group and general draught a finished piece.

II. The doctrines of Christianity have been propagated in Asia, Africa, and America, with equal zeal, both by the Protestant and Popish missionaries. But we cannot say the same thing of the true spirit of the Gospel, or of the religious discipline and institutions which it recommends to the observance of Christians; for it is an undeniable fact, that many of those whom the Romish missionaries have persuaded to renounce their false gods, are Christians only as far as an external profession and certain religious ceremonies go; and that, instead of parting from the superstitions of their ancestors, they observe them still, though under a different form. We have, indeed, pompous accounts of the mighty success with which the Jesuistical ministry has been attended among the barbarous and unenlightened nations; and the French Jesuits, in particular, are said to have converted innumerable multitudes in the course of their miss ons. This perhaps cannot be altogether denied, if we are to call those converts to Christianity who have received some

the Gospel; for it is well known, that several congregations of such Christians have been formed by the Jesuits in the East-Indies, and more especially in the Carnatic, the kingdoms of Madura and Marava, some territories on the coast of Malabar, in the kingdom of Tonquin, the Chinese empire, and also in certain provinces of America. These conversions have, in outward appearance, been carried on with particular success, since Antony Veri has had the direction of the foreign missions, and has taken such especial care, that neither hands should fail for this spiritual harvest, nor any expenses be spared that might be necessary to the execution of such an arduous and important undertaking. But these pretended conversions, instead of effacing the infamy under which the Jesuits labour in consequence of the iniquitous conduct of their missionaries in former ages, have only served to augment it, and to show their designs and practices in a still more odious point of view; for they are known to be much more zealous in satisfying the demands of their avarice and ambition, than in promoting the cause of Christ, and are said to corrupt and modify, by a variety of inventions, the pure doctrine of the Gospel, in order to render it more generally palatable, and to increase the number of their ambiguous con verts.

III. A famous question arose in this century, relating to the conduct of the Jesuits in China. and their manner of promoting the cause of the Gospel, by permitting the new converts to observe the religious rites and customs of their de-ancestors. This question was decided to the disadvantage of the missionaries, in 1704, by Clement XI., who, by a solemn edict, forbade the Chinese Christians to practise the religious rites of their ancestors, and more especially those which are celebrated by the Chinese in honour of their deceased parents, and of their great lawgiver Confucius. This severe edict was, nevertheless, considerably mitigated in 1715, in order to appease, no doubt, the resentment of the Jesuits, whom it exasperated in the highest degree; for the pontiff allowe

to diffuse the light of Christianity through the benighted regions of Asia, and America, have been carried on with more assiduity and zeal than in the preceding age. That the Lutherans have borne their part in this salutary work appears abundantly from the Danish mission, planned with such piety in 1706 by Frederic IV. for the conversion of the Indians who inhabit the coast of Malabar, and attend

the missionaries to make use of the word tien, || and Dutch, and more especially by the former to express the divine nature, with the addition of the word tchu, to remove its ambiguity, and make it evident, that was not the heaven, but the Lord of heaven, that the Christian doctors worshipped:* he also permitted the observance of those ceremonies which had so highly offended the adversaries of the Jesuits, on condition that they should be considered merely as marks of respect to their parents, and as tokens of civil homage to their law-ed with such remarkable success. This noble givers, without being abused to the purposes of superstition, or even being viewed in a religious point of light. In consequence of this second papal edict, considerable indulgence is granted to the Chinese converts: among other things, they have in their houses tablets, on which the names of their ancestors, and particularly of Confucius, are written in golden letters; they are allowed to light candles before these tablets, to make offerings to them of rich perfumes, victuals, fruits, and other delicacies, and even to prostrate the body before them until the head touches the ground. The same ceremony of prostration is performed by the Chinese Christians at the tombs of their ances

.ors.

The former edict, which was designed to prevent the motley mixture of Chinese superstition with the institutions of Christianity, was conveyed into China, in 1705, by cardinal Tournon, the pope's legate; and the second, which was of a more indulgent nature, was sent, in 1721, with Mezzabarba, who went to China with the same character. Neither the emperor nor the Jesuits were satisfied with these edicts. Tournon, who executed the orders of his spiritual employer with more zeal than prudence, was, by the express command of the emperor, thrown into prison, where he died in 1710. Mezzabarba, though more cautious and prudent, yet returned home without having succeeded in his negotiation; nor could the emperor be engaged, either by arguments or entreaties, to make any alteration in the institutions and customs of his ancestors.† At present the state of Christianity in China being extremely precarious and uncertain, this famous controversy is entirely suspended; and many reasons induce us to think, that both the pontiffs and the enemies of the Jesuits will unite in permitting the latter to depart from the rigour of the papal edicts, and to follow their own artful and insinuating methods of conversion; for they will both esteem it expedient and lawful to submit to many inconveniences and abuses, rather than to risk the entire suppression of popery in China.

IV. The attempts made since the commencement of the present century, by the English

The phrase Tien Tchu, signifies the Lord of heaven.

Tournon had been made, by the pope, pa

triarch of Antioch; and Mezzabarba, to add a certain

degree of weight to his mission, was created patriarch of Alexandria. After his return, the latter was promoted to the bishopric of Lodi, a preferment which, though inferior in point of station to his imaginary patriarchate, was far more valuable in point of ease and profit.

See a more ample account of this mission in Dr. Mosheim's Memoirs the Christian Church in China.

establishment, which surpasses all that have been yet erected for the propagation of the Gospel, not only subsists still in a flourishing state, but progressively acquires new degrees of perfection under the auspicious and munificent patronage of that excellent monarch Christian VI. We will, indeed, readily grant, that the converts to Christianity, made by the Danish missionaries, are less numerous than those which we find in the lists of the popish legates; but it may be affirmed, that they are much better Christians, and far excel the lat ter in sincerity and zeal. There is a great dif ference between Christians in reality, and Christians in appearance; and it is very certain, that the popish missionaries are much more ready than the protestant doctors, to admit into their communion proselytes, who have nothing of Christianity but the name.

We have very imperfect accounts of the labours of the Russian clergy, the greatest part of whom are still involved in that gross ignorance which covered the most unenlightened ages of the church: but we learn, from the modern records of that nation, that some of their doctors have employed, with a certain degree of success, their zeal and industry in spreading the light of the Gospel in those provinces which border upon Siberia.

V. While the missionaries now mentioned exposed themselves to the greatest dangers and sufferings, in order to diffuse the light of divine truth among these remote and darkened nations, there arose in Europe, where the Gospel had obtained a firm footing, a multitude of adversaries who shut their eyes upon its excellence, and endeavoured to eclipse its immortal lustre. There is no country in Europe where infidelity has not exhaled its poison; and scarcely any denomination of Christians among whom we may not find several persons, who either aim at the extinction of all religion, or at least endeavour to invalidate the authority of the Christian system. Some carry on these unhappy attempts in an open manner, others under the mask of a Christian profession; but no where have these enemies of the purest religion, and consequently of mankind, whom it was designed to render wise and happy, appeared with more effrontery and insolence, thar under the free governments of Great Britain and the United Provinces. In England, more especially, it is not uncommon to meet with books, in which not only the doctrines of the Gospel, but also the perfections of the Deity, and the solemn obligations of piety and virtue, are impudently called in question, and turned into derision.* Such impious produc

*This observation, and the examples by

tions have cast a deserved reproach on the || names and memories of Toland, Collins, Tindal, and Woolston, a man of an inauspicious genius, who made the most audacious though senseless attempts to invalidate the miracles of Christ. Add to these Morgan, Chubb, Mandeville, and others. And writers of the same class will be soon found in all the countries of Europe, particularly in those where the Reformation has introduced a spirit of liberty, if mercenary booksellers are still allowed to publish, without distinction or reserve, every wretched production that is addressed to the passions of men, and designed to obliterate in their minds a sense of religion and virtue.

ed from that which is only accessory;* for the whole religious system of this author consists in the three following points:-That there is a God, that the world is governed by his wise providence, and that the soul is immortal; and he maintains, that it was to establish these three points by his ministry, that Jesus Christ came into the world.

VII. The church of Rome has been governed, since the commencement of this century, by Clement XI. Innocent XIII. Benedict XIII Clement XII. and Benedict XIV. who may be all considered as men of eminent wisdom, virtue, and learning, if we compare them with the pontiffs of the preceding ages. Clement XI. and Prosper Lambertini, who at present fills the papal chair under the title of Benedict XIV.,† stand much higher in the list of literary fame than the other pontiffs now mentioned; and Benedict XIII. surpassed them all in piety, or at least in its appearance, which, in the whole of his conduct, was extraordinary and striking. It was he that conceived the laudable design of reforming many disorders in the church, and restraining the corruption and li

VI. The sect of Atheists, by which, in strictness of speech, those only are to be meant who deny the existence and moral government of an infinitely wise and powerful Being, by whom all things subsist, is reduced to a very small number, and may be considered as almost totally extinct. Any who yet remain under the influence of this unaccountable delusion, adopt the system of Spinosa, and suppose the universe to be one vast substance, which excites and produces a great variety of motions, all un-centiousness of the clergy; and for this purpose, controllably necessary, by a sort of internal force, which they carefully avoid defining with perspicuity and precision.

The Deists, under which general denomination those are comprehended who deny the divine origin of the Gospel in particular, and are enemies to all revealed religion, form a motley tribe, which, on account of their jarring opinions, may be divided into different classes. The most decent, or to use a more proper expression, the least extravagant and insipid form of Deism, is that which aims at an association between Christianity and natural religion, and represents the Gospel as no more than a republication of the original laws of nature and reason, that were more or less obliterated in the minds of men. This is the hypothesis of Tindal, Chubb, Mandeville, Morgan, and several others, if we are to give credit to their own declarations, which, indeed, ought not always to || be done without caution. This also appears to have been the sentiment of an ingenious writer, whose eloquence has been ill employed in a book, entitled, Essential Religion distinguish

which it is supported in the following sentence, stand in need of some correction. Many books have, indeed, been published in England against the divinity both of the Jewish and Christian dispensations; and it is justly to be lamented, that the inestimable blessing of religious liberty, which the wise and good have improved to the glory of Christianity, by setting its doctrines and precepts in a rational light, and bringing them back to their primitive simplicity, has been so tar abused by the pride of some, and the ignorance and licentiousness of others, as to excite an opposition to the Christian system, which is both designed and adapted to lead men, through the paths of wisdom and virtue, to happiness and perfection. It is, nevertheless, carefully to be observed, that the most eminent of the English unbelievers were far from renouncing, at least in their writings and profession, the truths of what they call natural religion, or denying the unchangeable excellence and obligations of virtue and morality. Dr. Mosheim is more especially in an error, when he places Collins, Tindal, Morgan, and Chubb, in the list of those who called in question the perfections of the Deity and the obligations of virtue: it was sufficient to put Mandeville, Woolston, and Toland, in this infamous class. VOL. II-39

in 1725, he held a council in the palace of the Lateran, whose acts and decrees have been made public. But the event did not answer his expectations; nor is it probable that Benedict XIV. who is attempting the execution of the same worthy purpose, though by different means, will meet with better success.

We must not omit observing here, that the modern bishops of Rome make but an indifferent figure in Europe, and exhibit little more than an empty shadow of the authority of the ancient pontiffs. Their prerogatives are diminished, and their power is restrained within very narrow bounds. The sovereign princes and states of Europe, who embrace their communion, no longer tremble at the thunder of the Vatican, but treat their anathemas with contempt. They, indeed, load the holy father with pompous titles, and treat him with all the external marks of veneration and respect; yet they have given a mortal blow to his authority, by the prudent and artful distinction they make between the court of Rome and the Roman pontiff; for, under the cover of this distinction, they buffet him with one hand, and stroke him with the other; and, under the most respectful profession of attachment to his person, oppose the measures, and diminish still more, from day to day, the authority of his court. A variety of modern transactions might be alleged in confirmation of this, and more especially the de bates that have arisen in this century, between the court of Rome and those of France, Portugal, Naples, and Sardinia, in all of which that

The original title of this book (which is supposed to have been written by one Muralt, a Swiss, author of the Lettres sur les Anglois et sur les Francois,) is as follows: "Lettres sur la Religion essentielle a l'Homme, distinguee de ce qui n'en est que l'accessoire." There have been several excelent refutations of this book published on the conti nent; among which the Lettres sur les vrais Princi. pes de la Religion, composed by the late learned and ingenious M. Bouiller, deserve particular notice. This history was published before the death of Benedict XIV.

ghostly court has been obliged to yield, and || the Spanish Netherlands, and all the Roman to discover its insignificancy and weakness.

ists who live under the jurisdiction of the United Provinces, embrace the principles and doctrines of Jansenius.* The latter have almost renounced their allegiance to the pope, though they profess a warm attachment to the doctrine and communion of the church of Rome; nor are either the exhortations or threats of the holy father, sufficient to subdue the obstinacy of these wayward children, or to reduce them to a state of subjection and obedience.

VIII. There have been no serious attempts made in recent times to bring about a reconciliation between the Protestant and Romish churches; for, notwithstanding the pacific projects formed by private persons with a view to this union, it is justly considered as an impracticable scheme. The difficulties that attended its execution were greatly augmented by the bull Unigenitus, which deprived the peacemakers of the principal expedient they employ- X. The cause of the Jansenists acquired a ed for the accomplishment of this union, by peculiar degree of credit and reputation, both putting it out of their power to soften and mi- in this and the preceding century, by a French tigate the doctrines of popery, that appeared translation of the New Testament, made by the most shocking to the friends of the Refor- the learned and pious Pasquier Quesnel, a mation. This expedient had been frequently priest of the Oratory, and accompanied with practised in former times, in order to remove practical annotations, adapted to excite lively the disgust that the Protestants had conceived impressions of religion in the minds of men. against the church of Rome; but that edict put The quintessence of Jansenism was blended, an end to all these modifications, and, in most in an elegant and artful manner, with these of those points that had occasioned our separa- annotations, and was thus presented to the reation from Rome, represented the doctrine of der under the most pleasing aspect. The Jethat church in the very same shocking light in suits were alarmed at the success of Quesnel's which it had been viewed by the first reformers. book, and particularly at the change it had This shows, with the utmost evidence, that all wrought in many, in favour of the doctrines the attempts the Romish doctors have made, of Jansenius; and, to remove out of the way from time to time, to give an air of plausibility an instrument which proved so advantageous to their tenets, and render them palatable, were to their adversaries, they engaged that weak so many snares insidiously laid to draw the prince Louis XIV. to solicit the condemnation Protestants into their communion; that the of this production at the court of Rome. Clespecious conditions they proposed as the terms ment XI. granted the request of the French of a reconciliation, were perfidious stratagems; || monarch, because he considered it as the reand that, consequently, there can be no firm quest of the Jesuits; and, in 1713, issued the dependence upon the promises and declarations famous bull Unigenitus, in which Quesnel's of such a disingenuous set of men. New Testament was condemned, and a hundred and one propositions contained in it were pronounced heretical. This bull, which is also known by the name of The Constitution, gave a favourable turn to the affairs of the Je

IX. The intestine discords, tumults, and divisions, that reigned in the Romish church, during the preceding century, were so far from being terminated in this, that new fuel was added to the flame. These divisions still subsist; and the animosities of the contending parties seem to grow more vehement from day to day. The Jesuits are at variance with the Dominicans, and some other religious orders, though these quarrels make little noise, and are carried on with some regard to decency and prudence; the Dominicans are on bad terms with the Franciscans; the controversy concerning the nature, lawfulness, and expediency of the Chinese ceremonies, still continues, at least in Europe; and were we to mention all the debates that divide the Romish church, which boasts so much of its unity and infallibility, the enumeration would be almost endless. The controversy relating to Jansenism, one of the principal sources of that division which reigned within the papal jurisdiction, has been carried on with great spirit and animosity in France and in the Netherlands. The Jansenists, or, as they rather choose to be called, the disciples of Augustin, are inferior to their adversaries the Jesuits, in number, power, and influence; but they equal them in resolution, prudence, and learning, and surpass them in sanctity of manners and superstition, by which they excite the respect of the people. When their affairs take an unfavourable turn, and they are oppressed and persecuted by their victorious enemies, they find an asylum in the Low-Countries; for the greatest part of the catholics in

This assertion is too general. It is true, that the greatest part of the catholics in the United Provinces are Jansenists, and that there is no legal toleration of the Jesuits in that republic. It is, nevertheless, a known fact, and a fact that cannot be indifferent to those who have the welfare and secu

rity of these provinces at heart, that the Jesuits are daily gaining ground among the Dutch papists. They have a flourishing chapel in the city of Utrecht, and have places of worship in several other cities, and in a great number of villages. It would be worthy of the wisdom of the rulers of the republic to put a stop to this growing evil, and not to suffer, in a protestant in a popish one, and declared hostile to the state.* country, a religious order which has been suppressed

To show what a political weathercock the infallibility of the holy father was upon this occasion, it may not be improper to introduce an anec dote which is related by Voltaire in his Seicle de Louis XIV. vol. ii. The credit of the narrator, indeed, weighs lightly in the balance of historical fame; but the anecdote is well attested, and is as follows: ing to be at Rome in the first year of the pontificate "The abbe Renaudot, a learned Frenchman, happenof Clement XI., went one day to see the pope, who was fond of men of letters, and was himself a learned man, and found his holiness reading Father Ques nel's book. On seeing Renaudot enter the apartment, the pope said, in a kind of rapture, Here is a most excellent book: we have nobody at Rome that is ca pable of writing in this manner;-I wish I could enAnd yet this same gage the author to reside here!"" book was condemned afterwards by this same pope

*This note is left for the purpose of showing the state of affairs, at the time when Dr. Maclaine in serted it; but its purport is superseded by the effec of the French revolution.-EDIг.