SECT. III.

PART I.

CENT. subsidies as may appease the voracity of their opXVI. pressors, procure a subsistence for their bishop and clergy, provide all things that are requisite for the support of their churches, and the uninterrupted exercise of public worship, and contribute in general to lessen their misery. Besides, the college erected at Rome by Gregory XIII. with a design to instruct the young men, frequently sent from Syria, in the various branches of useful science and sacred erudition, and to prepossess them with an early veneration and attachment for the Roman pontiff, is attended with a very considerable expence. The patriarch of the Maronites performs his spiritual functions at Canobin, a convent of the monks of St. Anthony, on mount Libanus, which is his constant residence. He claims the title of Patriarch of Antioch, and always assumes the name of Peter, as if he seemed desirous of being considered as the successor of that apostle [*].

[*] See Petitqueux, Voyage a Canobin dans le Mont Liban, in the Nouveaux Memoires des Missions de la Compagnie de Jesus, tom. iv. p. 252. and tom. viii. p. 355.-La Roque, Voyage de Syrie, tom. ii. p. 10.-Laur. D'Arvieux Memoires, eu Voyages, tom. ii. p. 418.

THE

SIXTEENTH CENTURY.

PART II.

THE HISTORY OF THE MODERN CHURCHES.

CHAP. I.

The History of the Lutheran Church.

TH

XVI.

mencement

church.

I. HE rise and progress of the Evangelical CENT. or Lutheran church, have been already related, so far as they belong to the history of PART II. the Reformation. The former of these titles was assumed by that church in consequence of the ori- The comginal design of its founders, which was to restore of the Lu to its native lustre the gospel of Christ, that had theran so long been covered with the darkness of superstition, or, in other words, to place in its proper and true light that important doctrine, which represents salvation as attainable by the merits of Christ alone. Nor did the church, now under consideration, discover any reluctance against adopting the name of the great man, whom Providence employed as the honoured instrument of its foundation and establishment. A natural sentiment of gratitude to him, by whose ministry the clouds of superstition had been chiefly dispelled, who had destroyed the claims of pride and selfsufficiency, exposed the vanity of confidence in the intercession of saints and martyrs, and pointed out the Son of God as the only proper object of

trust

CENT. trust to miserable mortals, excited his followers to XVI. assume his name, and to call their community the SECT. III. Lutheran church.

PART II.

The sum

stance of its

doctrine.

The rise of this church must be dated from that remarkable period, when the pontiff Leo X. drove Martin Luther, with his friends and followers, from the bosom of the Roman hierarchy, by a solemn and violent sentence of excommunication. It began to acquire a regular form, and a considerable degree of stability and consistence, from the year 1530, when the system of doctrine and morality it had adopted, was drawn up and presented to the diet of Augsburg. And it was raised to the dignity of a lawful and complete hierarchy, totally independent on the laws and jurisdiction of the Roman pontiff, in consequence of the treaty concluded at Passau, in the year 1552, between Charles V. and Maurice elector of Saxony, relating to the religious affairs of the empire.

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

books

SECT. III.

PART II.

books so as to draw from them any propositions CENT. that are inconsistent with the express declarations XVI. of the word of God. The chief and the most respectable of these human productions is the Confession of Augsburg, with the annexed Defence of it against the objections of the Roman-catholic doctors [a]. In the next rank may be placed the Articles

[a] When the confession of Augsburg had been presented to the diet of that city, the Roman-catholic doctors, were employed to refute the doctrines it contained; and this pretended refutation was also read to that august assembly. A reply was immediately drawn up by Melancthon, and presented to the emperor; who, under the pretext of a pacific spirit, refused to receive it. This reply was published afterwards, under the title of Apologia Confessionis Augustana; and is the defence of that confession, mentioned by Dr. Mosheim as annexed to it. To speak plain, Melancthon's love of and concord seems to have carried him beyond what peace he owed to the truth, in composing this defence of the confession of Augsburg. In the edition of that defence that some Lutherans (and Chytræus among others) look upon as the most genuine and authentic, Melancthon makes several strange concessions to the church of Rome; whether through servile. fear, excessive charity, or hesitation of mind, I will not pretend to determine. He speaks of the presence of Christ's body in the eucharist in the very strongest terms that the Roman Catholics use to express the monstrous doctrine of Transubstantiation; and adopts those remarkable words of Theophylact, that the bread was not a figure only, but was truly changed into flesh.' He approves of that canon of the mass, in which the priest prays that the bread may be changed into the body of Christ.' It is true, that in some subsequent editions of the defence or apology now under consideration, these obnoxious passages were left out, and the phraseology that had given such just offence, was considerably mitigated. There is an ample account of this whole matter, together with a history of the dissensions of the Lutheran church, in the valuable and learned work of Hospinian, entitled, Historiæ Sacramentariæ Pars posterior,' p. 199. & seq. These expressions in Melancthon's Apologia, will appear still more surprising, when we recollect that, in the course of the debates concerning the manner of Christ's presence in the eucharist, he, at length, seemed to lean visibly towards the opinions of Bucer and Calvin; and that, after his death, his followers were censured and persecuted in Saxony on this account, under the denomination

SECT. III.

PART II.

CENT. Articles of Smalcald [b], as they are commonly XVI. called, together with the shorter and larger Catechisms of Luther, designed for the instruction of youth, and the improvement of persons of riper years. To these standard-books most churches add the Form of Concord; which, though it be not universally received, has not on that account, occasioned any animosity or disunion; as the few points that prevent its being adopted by some churches are of an indifferent nature [c], and do

not,

denomination of Philippists. This shews either that the great man now under consideration changed his opinions, or that he had formerly been seeking union and concord at the expence of truth.

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

[c] Dr. Mosheim, like an artful painter, shades those objects in the history of Lutheranism, which it is impossible to expose with advantage to a full view. Of this nature was the conduct of the Lutheran doctors in the deliberations relating to the famous Form of Concord here mentioned! a conduct that discovered such an imperious and uncharitable spirit, as would have been more consistent with the genius of the court of Rome than with the principles of a protestant church. The reader, who is desirous of an ample demonstration of the truth and justice of this censure, has only to consult the learned work of Rod. Hospinian, entitled, "Concordia Discors, seu de Origine et Progressu Formulæ Concordiæ Burgensis. The history of this remarkable production is more amply related in the thirty-ninth and following paragraphs of this first chapter, and in the notes, which the translator has taken the liberty to add there, in order to cast a proper light upon some things that are too interesting to be viewed superficially. In the mean time I shall only observe, that the points in the Form of Concord, that prevented its being universally received, are not of such an indifferent nature

as