the Pacific Ocean. In the Society Islands, in || tants of this, and every other country, should particular, a great change has taken place. receive instruction in reading and writing: but The manners and deportment of the natives the proposal has been condemned by some preale comparatively civilized; their morals are judiced men of the higher class of society, who much less depraved, and (says a reverend gen-pretend that the plebeian learners would thus tleman) a "system of idolatry has been anni- sooner imbibe ideas of reform and false dochilated, which was reared by treachery and trines of every kind, or, from the pride of learncrime, and had for ages, through the terrors ing, would contract ideas too high for the sta which it inspired, kept the population in a tions which they might eventually fill. In restate of abject wretchedness." The Scriptures ply to these objections we may remark, that have been translated into that language which, principles of pretended reform may be taught with little variation of dialect, is diffused over to individuals who cannot read, and whose ilmany clusters of islands in the wide extent of literacy will render them less able to detect the Pacific; and, in various places, public the fallacies of the artful teacher; and, in the meetings are annually holden by the chieftains, next place, that the instruction derivable by to deliberate on the most effectual means of the poor from this plan, though useful, will propagating that religion which they consider not be of so elevated a kind as to inspire them as a great blessing, communicated to them by with overweening pride or vanity, or give the servants of God and the friends of mankind. them a disgust to the meanness of ordinary As the success of these labours, however, occupations. appeared to be partial and limited, it was found expedient to quicken, at intervals, the zeal of the public. It was therefore stated, in a late address from the Society for the Propagation of Christian Knowledge, that the great increase of population in those territories to which its operations had been more particularly directed, rendered a considerable augmentation of the number of missionaries and school-masters necessary for the useful prosecution of its career, although these now exceeded 200 in the American colonies alone; that, 'with a view to the formation of a body of native clergy for the service of the colonies, the society had contributed largely to the support of the King's College (at Windsor in Nova Scotia,) by an annual grant and by the endowment of divinity scholarships and exhibitions;' that the directors of its funds had also made frequent grants to-houses. The chief preacher fled in consterward the erection of churches in the infant settlements, and had been greatly instrumental in diffusing the national system of education over every part of the Trans-Atlantic colonies; and that another source of expenditure had been opened by the extended colonization of the southern parts of Africa and the interior of New Holland. Thus religious instruction and elementary learning were happily combined.

The labours of the missionaries in the West Indies were exposed to a serious check by the commotions which arose at Barbadoes in the year 1823. Apprehending that the parliament might be induced to put an end to slavery, and knowing that measures had been taken to repress the shameful tyranny of the planters, the leading men in that island exclaimed against the villanous African Society,' calumniated the characters of Mr. Wilberforce and his friends, and denounced vengeance against the Methodist missionaries, whom they accused of instigating the negroes and mulattoes to disaffection and sedition. The charge was illfounded; yet many persons of reputed respectability encouraged the white rabble of Bridgetown to insult and harass the Methodists and their friends, and demolish their meeting

nation to the island of St. Vincent; those who remained at Barbadoes were not allowed to act as ministers, and no other missionaries were suffered to land. The parliament expressed its indignation at these outrages; but we do not find that any steps were taken for the punishment of the perpetrators. This forbearance excited strong animadversion when contrasted with the cruel treatment of the slaves in Demarara, many of whom, for an unwillingness to work, and for some riotous acts, were sacrificed, under the forms of justice, to the vindictive rage of the planters.

The systematic addition of the duty of the school-master to that of the missionary, arose from the zeal of the Rev. Dr. Bell, who, wishing to render ordinary scholarship more general, introduced a system of elementary educa- The late appointment of several bishops for tion more comprehensive with regard to the the West Indies will, it is hoped, produce, by number of pupils, and more rapid in its pro- the influence of their examples and persuagress, than the ordinary mode of instruction.sions, a better spirit among the white populaThe supporters of the scheme boasted that 500 || boys and girls might be taught to read and write, and to perform the common rules of arithmetic, sooner than fifty in the usual way. The plan chiefly consisted in simultaneous dictation to a large assemblage, and in the employment of a number of instructors gradually selected from the aggregate number of the pupils.

tion, and promote the conversion and enlight enment of the people of colour and the negroes. But it is necessary, for the due accomplishment of these desirable purposes, that the new prelates should be more active and zea lous than those of Europe.

In the United States of North America, the episcopal appointments are still kept up, and the other religious communities and congrega The scheme has an air of quackery; but it tions are in that regular progress which proves has been practised with such success, in the that the nation is not ungodly, although the national schools of Great Britain, and in vari-laws and government do not ordain or recogous parts of the continent, that there are more nize, as in the European states, the superiority readers and writers than at any former period. of a particular creed or mode of worship It is now a prevailing wish that all the inhabi- || Hence there is no occasion for the grant of

Aleration, as that term implies an allowance, || creed can properly be called a sect) has arisen by the ruling power, of such doctrines, cere- in North America; but it is little known, and monies, and practices, as are not exactly con- not very prevalent. Mr. Rees, a Welsh clersonant with the established system. As no gyman, transported himself to America with community predominates over another, all are the benevolent view of propagating Chrisequal in the eye of the law; the Episcopalians tianity in that form which he considered as the and Presbyterians, the Jews and Roman Ca- most pure and genuine, or rather in that way tholics, the Moravians and Quakers, are per- which would leave every one at liberty to folfectly on a level. low his own opinion in points which were not essential, while he acknowledged Christ as his only head. He proposed that the society which should be instituted should be styled the Christian Church, and that no other guide than the New Testament should be allowed to its members; and a secondary part of his scheme was the propagation of the Gospel among the heathen communities. While he laboured to make religious converts, he endeavoured, with equal zeal, to put an end to the existence of slavery in the United States; but he did not, either in this or in his other pursuit, meet with that success which his good intentions deserved.

Among the more recent religious communities beyond the Atlantic, the Shakers seem to have excited the greatest degree of attention. Having mentioned their origin and their doctrines on a former occasion, we now state some particulars respecting their manners and conduct. Even while they disallow marriage, and do not permit a man to touch a woman on any occasion or pretence, they are assembled in families. The males and females occupy different apartments in the same house, and have separate tables, but meet occasionally for society and labour, as well as for religious service. They exercise all the useful arts and manufactures among themselves, without be- || ing indebted to persons of other persuasions for the least assistance. As far as they conveniently can, they have every thing in common; and, when new members are admitted, they are required to assign their property to the directors of the society for the general benefit. They profess to follow the advice of the apostle, "Let all things be done decently || and in order." In one respect they appear to be disorderly; for, in the midst of their public worship, they sing and dance like maniacs: yet they have "method in their madness." Upon the whole, they form a quiet, inoffensive, and apparently virtuous community.

Another sect (if indeed a religious party in country which has no established national

Thus we have taken a cursory survey of the state of Christianity, both in the eastern and western hemispheres, and its progress during the first quarter of the present century. Some progress it has unquestionably made, although its increase has not been so great as its zealous friends wished or expected. Its movements, depending on human agency, are necessarily slow; and, if no miracles should intervene, many ages may elapse, before the majority of the pagan nations, of the Jewish tribes, and of the followers of the Arabian pseudo-prophet, shall be numbered among the votaries of that system which we conscientiously follow and earnestly recommend. In the mean time, let Christians preserve their faith unimpaired, and exhibit, to unbelievers, impressive exam ples of piety and virtue.

CHRONOLOGICAL TABLES.

ADVERTISEMENT,

BY DR. MACLAINE.

THE following Tables have been compiled with much attention and pains from the best ad thors; and it is therefore hoped that they will be considered as an useful addition to Dr. Mo sheim's work; and the more so, as they are not confined to the persons and things contained in it The dates, that are placed in the tables which contain the sovereign princes and popes are designed to mark the year of their decease.

As several of the Ecclesiastical and Theological Writers, mentioned in these Tables, deserve a place also among profane authors, on account of their philosophical, literary, or historical productions; so their names will be repeated in the two distinct heads that contain the learned men of each century.

It is farther to be observed, that the Romish church, even long before the time of the Reformation, looked upon many persons as heretics, whom we, on our principles, cannot consider in the same light, and whose doctrines really tended to promote that reformation in which we glory. I have therefore, in many places, added the words real or reputed after heretics, rather than seem to submit, in this point, to the decisions of a superstitious church.

CENTURY L

SOVEREIGN PRINCES.

Roman Emperors:-A. D.-Augustus, 14. Tiberius, 37. Caligula, 41. Claudius, 54. Nero, 68. Galba, 69, Otho, 69. Vitellius, 70. Vespasian, 79. Titus, 81. Domitian, 96. Nerva, 98.

POPES, OR BISHOPS OF ROME.

The succession of the first bishops of Rome is a matter full of intricacy and obscurity.-We shall herein follow the learned bishop Pearson. Linus. Anacletus. Clement. Evaristus. Alexander. The dates of the deaths of the Roman pontiffs are not the same in the accounts of chronologists. Petau, Fleury, Pearson, Marcel, Pfaff, Bower, Lenglet, and others, differ frequently in this respect; and their differences sometimes are considerable. For example, the death of pope Anicetus is placed, by Petau and Lenglet, in the year 161, by Pearson and Pfaff in 162, by Fleury, Walch, and Bower, in 168. As it is impossible to reconcile these historians, and difficult often to decide which calculates best, we shall follow Pearson and Pfaff as the surest guides.

ECCLESIASTICAL AND THEOLOGICAL WRITERS.

The Evangelists and Apostles. The three Apostolic Fathers, Clement, Barnabas, Hermas. Philo, the Jew. Flavius Josephus. These are almost all the genuine ecclesiastical writers of the first century, whose works are now extant; for the supposed letter of Christ to Abgarus, the Gospels, Acts, Epistles, and Liturgies, that have (beside those which we esteem canonical) been attributed to the Apostles-as also the Epistles of Mary to Ignatius and others-the Acts of Pilate-the Epistles of Seneca to St. Paul, &c., must be considered as apocryphal and spurious. The works that bear the name of Dionysius the Areopagite, were forged in the fifth century.

HERETICS.

Dositheus. Simon Magus. The Gnostics, Cerinthus, Hymenæus, Philetus, who together with Demas and Diotrephes, are rather to be considered as apostates than as heretics. The Nicolaitans. Ebion. The Nazarenes. N. B. The Ebionites and Nazarenes, though generally placed by the learned in the first cen tury, yet belong more properly to the second.

REMARKABLE EVENTS.

The tax of Augustus Cæsar. The birth of Christ. The offerings presented to Jesus Christ by the Wise Men from the East. The Four Passovers celebrated by Christ. John the Baptist beheaded. Christ's miracles, sufferings, death, resurrection, and ascension. The descent of the Holy Ghost. St. Stephen, the first Martyr. The conversion of St. Paul. Institution of Agape, or Feasts of Charity. Baptism is administered by immersion. Several Christian Churches founded. The first persecution under Nero. The VOL. II.-54

oracles reduced to silence, a dubious, or rather a fabulous story. The destruction of Jerusalem. The accounts of a dispute between St. Peter and Simon the magician at Rome, and of the erection of a statue to the latter in that city, seem idle fictions. The second persecution of the Christians under Dkant. tian. St. John thrown into a caldron of boiling oil, a doubtful story. The adventures of Apollonats Tyaneus.

PROFANE AUTHORS.

Titus Livius. Germanicus. Gratius. Ovid. Hyginus. Labeo. Valerius Maximus. Phædrus. Ver tius Flaccus. Strabo. Dionysius of Alexandria. Seneca, the rhetorician. Seneca, the philosopher and poet. Velleius Paterculus. Cremutius. Isidore of Charax. Celsus, the physician. Massurius Sabinus. Didymus of Alexandria. Cocceius Nerva. Philo the Jew. Pomponius Mela. Columella. Remmius Palemon. Votienus. Servilius Marcus. Annæus Cornutus. Lucan. Andromachus. Petronius.. Persius. Epictetus. Dioscorides. Flavius Josephus. Silius Italicus. Valerius Flaccus. Pliny the Elder. Pliny the Younger. Asconius Pedianus. Plinius Valerianus. Juvenal. Martial. Statius. Frontinus. Quintilian. Dion Chrysostom. Tacitus. Phlegon. Apion. Trogus Pompeius. Athenodorus.

CENTURY II.

SOVEREIGN PRINCES.

Roman Emperors:-A. D.-Trajan, 117. Adrian, 138. Anton. Pius, 161. M. Antoninus, 180. L. Verus Commodus, 192. Pertinax, 193. Did. Julianus, 193. Niger, 194. Albinus. 197.

POPES, OR BISHOPS OF ROME.

Xystus or Sixtus, 127. Telesphorus, 138. Hyginus, 150. Pius I., 153. Anicetus, 162. Soter, 172. Eleutherius, 185. Victor, 196.

ECCLESIASTICAL AND THEOLOGICAL WRITERS.

Ignatius of Antioch. Polycarp. Justin Martyr. Hegesippus. Theophilus of Antioch, the first who made use of the word Trinity to express the distinction of what divines call persons in the Godhead. The Christian church is very little obliged to him for his invention. The use of this and other unscriptural terms, to which men attach_either no ideas, or false ones, has wounded charity and peace, without promoting truth and knowledge. It has produced heresies of the worst kind.-Melito. Tatian.* Papias. Claudius Apollinaris. Hermias. Athenagoras. Clemens Alexandrinus. Tertullian. Aquila. Theodotion. Symmachus. The unknown author of the Sibylline oracles. Irenæus. Polycrates. Dionysius of Corinth. Pantænus. Quadratus. Add to these several fragments of the writings of some of the princi. pal heretics mentioned in the following table. These fragments are collected by Cotelerius, Grabe, &c.

HERETICS.

Nazarenes. Gnostics. Cainites. Elxai. Saturninus. The Millenarians. Basilides. Isidore, the Son. Carpocrates and his followers. Marcellina and Epiphanes. Prodicus, the chief of the Adamites. Valentine and his followers. *Tatian supposed to be the chief of the Encratites, Hydroparastates, anċ Apotactics. Ptolomæus Secundus. Cerdo. Marcion. Florinus. The Docetæ, or Phantasiasts. The Melitonians. The Saccophori. Severians. Ophites. Artotyrites. Theodotus, the Tanner, chief of the Alogi. Montanus. Tertullian. Priscilla and Maximilla, who were called Montanists, Cataphryges and Pepuzians. The Sethites and Abelites. Heracleon. Bassus. Colarbasus. Blastus. Mark. The Valentinians. Bardesanes. Hermogenes. Apelles. Praxeas, the chief of the Patropassians, Seleucu and Hermias. Artemon.

REMARKABLE EVENTS, AND RELIGIOUS RITES AND INSTITUTIONS.

Third persecution under Trajan, mitigated by the intercession of Pliny, the Younger. Fourth perse cution under Adrian. Fifth Persecution under Antoninus Pius, continued under Marcus Aurelius and Lu cius Verus. Conversion of the Germans and Gauls, and (if we may give credit to Bede) of the Britons. The Thundering Legion-a dubious event. Insurrections of the Jews against the Romans. Sedition and slaughter of that people under the standards of Barcocheba, the false Messiah. The Jews are driven from Jerusalem. Horrible calumnies thrown out against the Christians by Lucian, Crescens, Celsus, and the Pagans in general. The perusal of the Sibylline Oracles prohibited by an imperial edict. Christian assemblies are held on Sundays, and other stated days, in private houses, and in the burying-places of Martyrs. Infant baptism and sponsors used in this century. Various festivals and fasts established A distinction formed between bishops and presbyters, who, with the deacons and readers, are the only orders of ecclesiastics known in this century. The sign of the cross and anointing used. The custom of praying towards the East introduced.

PROFANE AUTHORS.

Arrian. Aulus Gellius. Plutarch. Florus. Celsus, the lawyer. Enomaus Philo of Phoenicia. Ptolemy the astronomer and geographer. Salvius Julianius. Seutonius. Apollonius, the philosopher. Appian.