The Book of Religions
Comprising The
Views, Creeds, Sentiments, or Opinions,
Of All The
Principal Religious Sects In The World
Particularly Of
All Christian Denominations
In
Europe and America
To Which Are Added
Church and Missionary Statistics
Together With
Biographical Sketches
By John Hayward
Author of “New England Gazetteer”
Boston:
Albert Colby And Company.
20 Washington Street.
1860
CONTENTS
Preface.
Index.
Lutherans, Or, The Evangelical Lutheran Church.
Calvinists.
Hopkinsians.
Arians.
Socinians.
Humanitarians.
Sectarians.
Church Government.
Presbyterians.
Cumberland Presbyterians.
Episcopalians.
Historical Notice Of The Church In The United States.
Articles Of Religion.
Cambridge And Saybrook Platforms.
Moravians, Or United Brethren.
Tunkers.
Mennonites, Or Harmless Christians.
Disciples Of Christ; Sometimes Called Campbellites, or Reformers.
Friends, or Quakers.
Shakers, Or The United Society Of Believers.
Reformation.
Reformed Churches.
Reformed Dutch Church.
Reformed German Church.
Restorationists.
Universalists.
Roman Catholics.
Bereans.
Materialists.
Arminians.
Methodists, Or The Methodist Episcopal Church.
Methodists, Or The Methodist Protestant Church.
Protestants.
Sabellians.
Sandemanians.
Antinomians.
Pelagians.
Pre-Adamites.
Predestinarians.
Orthodox Creeds.
Andover Orthodox Creed.
New Haven Orthodox Creed.
Swedenborgians, Or, The New Jerusalem Church.
Fighting Quakers.
Harmonists.
Dorrelites.
Osgoodites.
Rogerenes.
Whippers.
Wilkinsonians.
Aquarians.
Baxterians.
Miller’s Views on the Second Coming of Christ.
Come-Outers.
Jumpers.
Baptists.
Anabaptists.
Free-Will Baptists.
Seventh-Day Baptists, Or Sabbatarians,
Six-Principle Baptists.
Quaker Baptists, Or Keithians.
Pedobaptists.
Anti-Pedobaptists.
Unitarians.
Brownists.
Puritans.
Bourignonists.
Jews.
Indian Religions.
Deists.
Atheists.
Pantheists.
Mahometans.
Simonians.
Pagans.
Satanians.
Abelians, or Abelonians.
Supralapsarians.
Dancers.
Epicureans.
Skeptics.
Wickliffites.
Diggers.
Zuinglians.
Seekers.
Wilhelminians.
Non-Resistants.
Southcotters.
Family Of Love.
Hutchinsonians.
Mormonites, Or The Church Of The Latter-Day Saints.
Daleites.
Emancipators.
Perfectionists.
Waldenses.
Allenites.
Johnsonians.
Donatists.
Se-Baptists.
Re-Anointers.
Tao-Se, or Taou-Tsze.
Quietists.
Knipperdolings.
Mendæans, Mendaites, Mendai Ijahi, Or Disciples Of St. John, That Is, The
Baptist.
Muggletonians.
Yezidees, Or Worshippers Of The Devil.
Greek or Russian Church.
Primitive Christians.
Trinitarians.
Millenarians.
Whitefield Calvinistic Methodists.
Nonjurors.
Nonconformists.
Christian Connection.
Puseyites.
Free Communion Baptists.
Transcendentalists.
Augsburg Confession Of Faith.
Armenians.
Primitive Methodists.
Novatians.
Nestorians.
High-Churchmen.
Ancient American Covenant Or Confession Of Faith.
Statistics Of Churches.
Baptists.
Free-Will Baptists.
Seventh-Day Baptists.
Christian Connection.
Calvinistic Congregationalists.
Disciples Of Christ.
Episcopalians.
Friends.
Jews.
Lutherans.
Protestant Methodists.
Methodists.
Presbyterians.
Other Presbyterian Communities.
Reformed Dutch Church.
Roman Catholics.
Swedenborgians.
Unitarians.
Universalists.
Missionary Statistics.
First Protestant Missions.
Moravian Missions.
London Missionary Society.
American Board Of Foreign Missions.
Presbyterian Board Of Foreign Missions.
English Baptist Missionary Society.
American Baptist Board Of Foreign Missions.
Free-Will Baptists.
Episcopal Missions.
Society For Propagating The Gospel Among The Indians And Others.
Wesleyan Or English Methodist Missionary Society.
Missions Of The Methodist Episcopal Church.
Seventh-Day Baptist Missionary Society.
French Protestant Missionary Society.
Netherlands Missionary Society.
Scottish Missionary Society.
German Missionary Society.
Church Of Scotland Missions.
Rhenish Missionary Society.
Missions Of The Roman Catholic Church.
Jews’ Missionary Society.
Indians.
Biographical Sketches of the Fathers of the Reformation, Founders of
Sects, and of other Distinguished Individuals Mentioned in this Volume.
John Wickliffe.
Jerome of Prague.
John Huss.
John Œcolampadius.
Martin Luther.
Ulriucus Zuinglius.
Martin Bucer.
Philip Melancthon.
Peter Martyr.
Henry Bullinger.
John Knox.
John Calvin.
Jerome Zanchius.
Theodore Beza.
Leo X.
Justin.
Arius.
Athanasius.
Moses Maimonides.
John Agricola.
Michael Servetus.
Simonis Menno.
Francis Xavier.
Faustus Socinus.
Robert Brown.
James Arminius.
Francis Higginson.
Richard Baxter.
George Fox.
William Penn.
Benedict Spinoza.
Ann Lee.
John Glass.
George Keith.
Nicholas Louis, Count Zinzendorf.
William Courtney.
Richard Hooker.
Charles Chauncey.
Roger Williams.
John Clarke.
Ann Hutchinson.
Michael Molinos.
John Wesley.
George Whitefield.
Selina Huntingdon.
Robert Sandeman.
Samuel Hopkins.
Jonathan Mayhew.
Samuel Seabury.
Richard Clarke.
Joseph Priestly.
James Purves.
John Jebb.
John Gaspar Christian Lavater.
John Tillotson.
Isaac Newton.
Charles V.
Francis Bacon.
Matthew Hale.
Princess Elizabeth.
Robert Boyle.
John Locke.
Joseph Addison.
Isaac Watts.
Philip Doddridge.
John Murray.
Elhanan Winchester.
Saint Genevieve.
Gilbert Burnet.
Theological Schools.
Footnotes
PREFACE.
A few years since, the Editor of the following pages published a volume of
“Religious Creeds and Statistics;” and, as the work, although quite
limited, met with general approbation, he has been induced to publish
another of the same nature, but on a much larger plan, trusting that it
will prove more useful, and more worthy of public favor.
His design has been, to exhibit to his readers, with the utmost
impartiality and perspicuity, and as briefly as their nature will permit,
the views, creeds, sentiments, or opinions, of all the religious sects or
denominations in the world, so far as utility seemed to require such an
exhibition; but more especially to give the rise, progress, and
peculiarities, of all the principal schemes or systems of religion which
exist in the United States at the present day.
The work is intended to serve as a manual for those who are desirous of
acquiring, with as little trouble as possible, a correct knowledge of the
tenets or systems of religious faith, presented for the consideration of
mankind;—to enable them, almost at a glance, to compare one creed or
system with another, and each with the holy Scriptures;—to settle the
minds of those who have formed no definite opinions on religious
subjects;—and to lead us all, by contrasting the sacred truths and sublime
beauties of Christianity with the absurd notions of pagan idolaters, of
skeptics, and of infidels, to set a just value on the doctrines of HIM WHO
SPAKE AS NEVER MAN SPAKE.
To accomplish this design, the Editor has obtained, from the most
intelligent and candid among the living defenders of each denomination,
full and explicit statements of their religious sentiments—such as they
believe and teach. He is indebted to the friends of some new sects or
parties in philosophy and religion, for an account of their respective
views and opinions. With regard to anterior sects, he has noticed, from
the best authorities, as large a number as is thought necessary for the
comparison of ancient with modern creeds.
The Church and Missionary Statistics are believed to be as accurate as can
be constructed from materials which annually undergo greater or less
changes.
The Biographical Sketches are derived from the most authentic sources.
While they convey useful knowledge in regard to the fathers and defenders
of the various systems of religious faith, they may also stimulate our
readers to the practice of those Christian virtues and graces which
adorned the lives of many of them, and render their names immortal.
A few only of the works from which valuable aid has been received, can be
mentioned:—Mosheim and McLaine’s Ecclesiastical History; Gregory and
Ruter’s Church History; Encyclopædia Americana; Brown’s Encyclopedia of
Religious Knowledge; Adams’s View of Religions, and History of the Jews;
Benedict’s History of all Religions; Evans’s Sketches; Buck’s and
Henderson’s Theological Dictionaries; Eliot’s, Allen’s, and Blake’s
Biographical Dictionaries; Davenport; Watson; Grant’s Nestorians,
Coleman’s Christian Antiquities; Ratio Disciplinæ; Haydn’s Dictionary of
Dates, &c.
To clergymen and laymen of all denominations, who have assisted the Editor
in presenting their various views with clearness and fairness; to the
secretaries of the several missionary boards; to editors of religious
journals, and to other persons who have kindly furnished documents for the
Statistics and Biographical Sketches, he tenders acknowledgments of
unfeigned gratitude.
While the Editor assures the public that the whole has been prepared with
much diligence and care, and with an entire freedom from sectarian zeal or
party bias, he cannot but indulge the hope that his “Book of Religions”
will prove acceptable and beneficial to the community, as imbodying a
great variety of facts on a subject of deep concern, worthy of the
exercise of our highest faculties, and requiring our most charitable
conclusions.
INDEX.
Abelians, or Abelonians, 243
Addison, Joseph, 417
Agricola, John, 370
Allenites, 280
American Missions, 336
Anabaptists, 190
Ancient American Covenant, 308
Andover Orthodox Creed, 138
Antinomians, 128
Anti-Pedobaptists, 196
Apostles’ Creed, 102
Aquarians, 168
Arians, 18
Arius, 368
Armenians, 303
Arminians, 115
Arminius, James, 373
Assembly’s Catechism, 141
Athanasian Creed, 102
Athanasius, 368
Atheists, 217
Augsburg Confession, 302
Bacon, Francis, 407
Baptists, 182, 311, 340
Quaker, 193
Baptist Missions, English, 339
Baxter, Richard, 376
Baxterians, 169
Bereans, 109
Beza, Theodore, 366
Bible Chronology, 175
Biographical Sketches, 350
Bishops, Episcopal, 314
Bourignonists, 201
Boyle, Robert, 412
Brown, Robert, 373
Brownists, 200
Bucer, Martin, 360
Bullinger, Henry, 363
Burnet, Gilbert, 429
Calvin, John, 365
Calvinists, 11, 313
Cambridge Platform, 48
Campbellites, 58
Charles V., 405
Chauncey, Charles, 385
Christian Connection, 295, 313
Christianity, Progress of, 432
Chronology, Bible, 175
Church Government, 20
Church Statistics, 311
Clarke, John, 387
Clarke, Richard, 399
Come-Outers, 177
Congregationalists, 20, 313
Courtney, William, 384
Creed, Andover, 138
Apostles’, 102
Athanasian, 102
Augsburg, 302
New Haven, 142
Nicene, 105
Orthodox, 132
Cumberland Presbyterians, 25
Daleites, 272
Dancers, 244
Deists, 215
Diggers, 246
Disciples of Christ, 58, 314
Disciples of St John, 284
Dissenters. See _Puritans_.
Doddridge, Philip, 420
Donatists, 281
Dorrelites, 164
Dutch Reformed Church, 88
Elizabeth, Princess, 411
Emancipators, 272
English Baptist Missions, 339
—— Methodist Missions, 343
Epicureans, 244
Episcopalians, 26, 314, 341
Essenes, 202
Family of Love, 259
Fighting Quakers, 162
Fox, George, 377
Free Communion Baptists, 300
Free-Will Baptists, 190, 312, 341
French Missions, 346
Friends, or Quakers, 64, 319
Genevieve, 162, 428
German Missions, 346
German Reformed Church, 90
Glass, John, 383
Glassites, 126
Government, Church, 20
Greek Church, 288
Hale, Matthew, 408
Harmless Christians, 57
Harmonists, 163
Hicksites, 74, 319
High Churchmen, 308
Higginson, Francis, 310, 374
Hooker, Richard, 385
Hopkins, Samuel, 397
Hopkinsians, 13
Humanitarians, 19
Huntingdon, Lady Selina, 395
Huss, John, 354
Hutchinson, Ann, 389
Hutchinsonians, 259
Independents, 20
Indian Missions, 342
Religions, 210
Statistics, 347
Jebb, John, 401
Jerome of Prague, 352
Jews, 202, 319, 347
Johnsonians, 280
Jumpers, 181
Justin Martyr, 368
Keith, George, 383
Keithians, 193
Knipperdolings, 283
Knox, John, 363
Latter-Day Saints, 260
Lavater, John G. C., 402
Lee, Ann, 381
Leo X., 367
Locke, John 415
London Missionary Society, 335
Luther, Martin, 355
Lutherans, 9, 320
Mahometans, 220
Maimonides, Moses, 203, 370
Martyr, Peter, 362
Materialists, 112
Mayhew, Jonathan, 398
Mendæans, 284
Melancthon, Philip, 361
Mennonites, 57
Menno, Simonis, 372
Methodists, Episcopal, 117, 321
Protestant, 123, 321
Methodists, Primitive, 305
Methodists’ Missions, 344
Views of Perfection, 274
Miller’s Views on the Second Coming of Christ, 170
Millenarians, 292
Missionary Statistics, 333
Missions, American Foreign, 336
Missions, Indian, 342
Molinos, Michael, 389
Moravians, 49, 333
Mormonites, 260
Muggletonians, 284
Murray, John, 423
N.
Necessarians. See _Materialists_.
Nestorians, 306
Netherland Missions, 346
New Haven Orthodox Creed, 142
New Jerusalem Church, 150
Newton, Isaac, 403
Nicene Creed, 105
Nonconformists, 294
Nonjurors, 294
Non-Resistants, 247
Novatians, 305
Oberlin Views of Sanctification, 278
Œcolampadius, John, 355
Orthodox Creeds, 132
Osgoodites, 166
Pantheists, 219
Pagans, 234
Pedobaptists, 193
Pelagians, 130
Penn, William, 378
Perfectionists, 274
Pharisees, 202
Popes of Rome, 326
Pre-Adamites, 131
Predestinarians, 132
Presbyterians, 22, 322
Cumberland, 25
Presbyterian Missions, 338
Priestley, Joseph, 400
Primitive Christians, 290
Methodists, 305
Princess Elizabeth, 411
Progress of Christianity, 432
Protestants, 125
Protestant Methodists, 123, 321
Missions, 333
Puritans, 200
Purves, James, 401
Puseyites, 299
Quakers, or Friends, 64
Quaker Baptists, 193
Quietists, 283
Ranters. See _Seekers_.
Re-Anointers, 282
Reformation, 85
Reformed Churches, 88
Reformed Dutch Church, 88, 324
German Church, 90
Rhenish Missions, 347
Restorationists, 91
Rogerenes, 166
Roman Catholics, 102, 324, 347
Russian Church, 288
Sabbatarians, 191
Sabellians, 125
Sadducees, 202
Sanctification, Views on, 278
Sandemanians, 126
Sandeman, Robert, 396
Satanians, 243
Saybrook Platform, 48
Seabury, Samuel, 33, 398
Schools, Theological, 432
Scottish Missions, 346, 347
Se-Baptists, 281
Sectarians, 20
Seekers, 247
Servetus, Michael, 371
Seventh-Day Baptists, 191, 312, 345
Shakers, 75
Simonians, 233
Six-Principle Baptists, 192
Skeptics, 245
Socinius, Faustus, 372
Socinians, 19
Southcotters, 255
Spinoza, Benedict, 380
Statistics of Churches, 311
of Missions, 333
Succession of Bishops, 315
Supralapsarians, 243
Swedenborg, 150
Swedenborgians, 150, 330
Tao-Se, 282
Taylor’s (Dr.) Views, 142
Theological Schools, 432
Tillotson, John, 402
Transcendentalists, 301
Trinitarians, 290
Tunkers, or Tumblers, 55
Unitarians, 196, 331
United Brethren, 49
United Society of Believers, 75
Universalists, 95, 331
Waldenses, 279
Water-Drinkers, 168
Watts, Isaac, 418
Wesley, John, 390
Wesleyan Missions, 343
Westminster Catechism, 141
Whippers, 167
Whitefield, George, 393
Whitefield Methodists, 293
Wickliffe, John, 350
Wickliffites, 245
Wilhelminians, 247
Wilkinsonians, 167
Williams, Roger, 386
Winchester, Elhanan, 425
Worshippers of the Devil, 285
Xavier, Francis, 161, 372
Yezidees, or Worshippers of the Devil, 285
Zanchius, Jerome, 366
Zinzendorf, Count, 383
Zuinglius, Ulricus, 359
Zuinglians, 246
LUTHERANS, OR, THE EVANGELICAL LUTHERAN CHURCH.
This denomination adheres to the opinions of Martin Luther, the celebrated
reformer.
The Lutherans, of all Protestants, are those who differ least from the
Romish church, as they affirm that the body and blood of Christ are
materially present in the sacrament of the Lord’s supper, though in an
incomprehensible manner: this they term _consubstantiation_. They likewise
represent some rites and institutions, as the use of images in churches,
the vestments of the clergy, the private confession of sins, the use of
wafers in the administration of the Lord’s supper, the form of exorcism in
the celebration of baptism, and other ceremonies of the like nature, as
tolerable, and some of them useful. The Lutherans maintain, with regard to
the divine decrees, that they respect the salvation or misery of men in
consequence of a previous knowledge of their sentiments and characters,
and not as founded on the mere will of God. See _Augsburg Confession of
Faith_.
Towards the close of the last century, the Lutherans began to entertain a
greater liberality of sentiment than they had before adopted, though in
many places they persevered longer in despotic principles than other
Protestant churches. Their public teachers now enjoy an unbounded liberty
of dissenting from the decisions of those symbols of creeds which were
once deemed almost infallible rules of faith and practice, and of
declaring their dissent in the manner they judge most expedient.
The capital articles which Luther maintained are as follow:—
1. That the holy Scriptures are the only source whence we are to draw our
religious sentiments, whether they relate to faith or practice. (See 2
Tim. 3:15-17. Prov. 1:9. Isa. 8:20. Luke 1:4. John 5:39; 20:31. 1 Cor 4:6,
&c.)
2. That justification is the effect of faith, exclusive of good works, and
that faith ought to produce good works, purely in obedience to God, and
not in order to our justification. (See Gal. 2:21.)
3. That no man is able to make satisfaction for his sins. (See Luke
17:10.)
In consequence of these leading articles, Luther rejected tradition,
purgatory, penance, auricular confession, masses, invocation of saints,
monastic vows, and other doctrines of the church of Rome.
The external affairs of the Lutheran church are directed by three
judicatories, viz., a vestry of the congregation, a district or special
conference, and a general synod. The synod is composed of ministers, and
an equal number of laymen, chosen as deputies by the vestries of their
respective congregations. From this synod there is no appeal.
The ministerium is composed of ministers only, and regulates the internal
or spiritual concerns of the church, such as examining, licensing, and
ordaining ministers, judging in controversies about doctrine, &c. The
synod and ministerium meet annually.
Confession and absolution, in a very simple form, are practised by the
American Lutherans; also confirmation, by which baptismal vows are
ratified, and the subjects become communicants. Their liturgies are simple
and impressive, and the clergy are permitted to use extempore prayer. See
_Statistics of Churches_.
CALVINISTS.
This denomination of Christians, of the Congregational order, are chiefly
descendants of the English Puritans, who founded most of the early
settlements in New England. They derive their name from John Calvin, an
eminent reformer.
The Calvinists are divided into three parties,—_High_, _Strict_, and
_Moderate_. The _High_ Calvinists favor the Hopkinsian system. The
_Moderate_ Calvinists embrace the leading features of Calvin’s doctrine,
but object to some parts, particularly to his views of the doctrines of
predestination, and the extent of the design of Christ’s death. While they
hold to the election of grace, they do not believe that God has reprobated
any of his creatures. They believe that the atonement is, in its nature,
general, but in its application, particular; and that free salvation is to
be preached to sinners indiscriminately. The doctrines of the _Strict_
Calvinists are those of Calvin himself, as established at the synod of
Dort, A. D. 1618, and are as follow, viz.:—
1. They maintain that God hath chosen a certain number of the fallen race
of Adam in Christ, before the foundation of the world, unto eternal glory,
according to his immutable purpose, and of his free grace and love,
without the least foresight of faith, good works, or any conditions
performed by the creature; and that the rest of mankind he was pleased to
pass by, and ordain to dishonor and wrath, for their sins, to the praise
of his vindictive justice. (See Prov. 16:4. Rom. 9: from ver. 11 to end of
chap.; 8:30. Eph. 1:4. Acts 13:48.)
2. They maintain that, though the death of Christ be a most perfect
sacrifice, and satisfaction for sins, of infinite value, abundantly
sufficient to expiate the sins of the whole world,—and though, on this
ground, the gospel is to be preached to all mankind indiscriminately, yet
it was the will of God that Christ, by the blood of the cross, should
efficaciously redeem all those, and those only, who were from eternity
elected to salvation, and given to him by the Father. (See Ps. 33:11. John
6:37; 10:11; 17:9.)
3. They maintain that mankind are totally depraved, in consequence of the
fall of the first man, who being their public head, his sin involved the
corruption of all his posterity, and which corruption extends over the
whole soul, and renders it unable to turn to God, or to do any thing truly
good, and exposes it to his righteous displeasure, both in this world and
that which is to come. (See Gen. 8:21. Ps. 14:2, 3. Rom. 3:10, 11, 12,
&c.; 4:14; 5:19. Gal. 3:10. 2 Cor. 3:6, 7.)
4. They maintain that all whom God hath predestinated unto life, he is
pleased, in his appointed time, effectually to call, by his word and
Spirit, out of that state of sin and death, in which they are by nature,
to grace and salvation by Jesus Christ. (See Eph. 1:19; 2:1, 5. Phil.
2:13. Rom. 3:27. I Cor. 1:31, Titus 3:5.)
5. Lastly, they maintain that those whom God has effectually called, and
sanctified by his Spirit, shall never finally fall from a state of grace.
They admit that true believers may fall partially, and would fall totally
and finally, but for the mercy and faithfulness of God, who keepeth the
feet of his saints; also, that he who bestoweth the grace of perseverance,
bestoweth it by means of reading and hearing the word, meditation,
exhortations, threatenings, and promises; but that none of these things
imply the possibility of a believer’s falling from a state of
justification. (See Isa. 53:4, 5, 6; 54:10. Jer. 32:38, 40. Rom. 8:38, 39.
John 4:14; 6:39; 10:28; 11:26. James 1:17. 1 Pet. 2:25.) See _Orthodox
Creeds_, and _Hopkinsians_.
HOPKINSIANS.
This denomination of Christians derives its name from Samuel Hopkins, D.
D., formerly pastor of the first Congregational church in Newport, R. I.
The following is a summary of the distinguishing tenets of the
Hopkinsians, together with a few of the reasons they bring forward in
support of their sentiments:—
“1. That all true virtue, or real holiness, consists in
disinterested benevolence. The object of benevolence is universal
being, including God and all intelligent creatures. It wishes and
seeks the good of every individual, so far as is consistent with
the greatest good of the whole, which is comprised in the glory of
God and the perfection and happiness of his kingdom. The law of
God is the standard of all moral rectitude or holiness. This is
reduced into love to God, and our neighbor as ourselves; and
universal good-will comprehends all the love to God, our neighbor,
and ourselves, required in the divine law, and, therefore, must be
the whole of holy obedience. Let any serious person think what are
the particular branches of true piety; when he has viewed each one
by itself, he will find that disinterested friendly affection is
its distinguishing characteristic. For instance, all the holiness
in pious fear, which distinguishes it from the fear of the wicked,
consists in love. Again, holy gratitude is nothing but good-will
to God and our neighbor,—in which we ourselves are included,—and
correspondent affection, excited by a view of the good-will and
kindness of God. Universal good-will also implies the whole of the
duty we owe to our neighbor; for justice, truth, and faithfulness,
are comprised in universal benevolence; so are temperance and
chastity. For an undue indulgence of our appetites and passions is
contrary to benevolence, as tending to hurt ourselves or others,
and so, opposite to the general good, and the divine command, in
which all the crime of such indulgence consists. In short, all
virtue is nothing but benevolence acted out in its proper nature
and perfection; or love to God and our neighbor, made perfect in
all its genuine exercises and expressions.
“2. That all sin consists in selfishness. By this is meant an
interested, selfish affection, by which a person sets himself up
as supreme, and the only object of regard; and nothing is good or
lovely in his view, unless suited to promote his own private
interest. This self-love is, in its whole nature, and every degree
of it, enmity against God; it is not subject to the law of God,
and is the only affection that can oppose it. It is the foundation
of all spiritual blindness, and, therefore, the source of all the
open idolatry in the heathen world, and false religion under the
light of the gospel: all this is agreeable to that self-love which
opposes God’s true character. Under the influence of this
principle, men depart from truth, it being itself the greatest
practical lie in nature, as it sets up that which is comparatively
nothing above universal existence. Self-love is the source of all
profaneness and impiety in the world, and of all pride and
ambition among men, which is nothing but selfishness, acted out in
this particular way. This is the foundation of all covetousness
and sensuality, as it blinds people’s eyes, contracts their
hearts, and sinks them down, so that they look upon earthly
enjoyments as the greatest good. This is the source of all
falsehood, injustice, and oppression, as it excites mankind by
undue methods to invade the property of others. Self-love produces
all the violent passions—envy, wrath, clamor, and evil speaking;
and every thing contrary to the divine law is briefly comprehended
in this fruitful source of all iniquity—self-love.
“3. That there are no promises of regenerating grace made to the
doings of the unregenerate. For, as far as men act from self-love,
they act from a bad end; for those who have no true love to God,
really do no duty when they attend on the externals of religion.
And as the unregenerate act from a selfish principle, they do
nothing which is commanded; their impenitent doings are wholly
opposed to repentance and conversion, therefore not implied in the
command to repent, &c.: so far from this, they are altogether
disobedient to the command. Hence it appears that there are no
promises of salvation to the doings of the unregenerate.
“4. That the impotency of sinners, with respect to believing in
Christ, is not natural, but moral; for it is a plain dictate of
common sense, that natural impossibility excludes all blame. But
an unwilling mind is universally considered as a crime, and not as
an excuse, and is the very thing wherein our wickedness consists.
That the impotence of the sinner is owing to a disaffection of
heart, is evident from the promises of the gospel. When any object
of good is proposed and promised to us upon asking, it clearly
evinces that there can be no impotence in us, with respect to
obtaining it, besides the disapprobation of the will; and that
inability which consists in disinclination, never renders any
thing improperly the subject of precept or command.
“5. That, in order to faith in Christ, a sinner must approve, in
his heart, of the divine conduct, even though God should cast him
off forever; which, however, never implies love of misery, nor
hatred of happiness. For if the law is good, death is due to those
who have broken it. The Judge of all the earth cannot but do
right. It would bring everlasting reproach upon his government to
spare us, considered merely as in ourselves. When this is felt in
our hearts, and not till then, we shall be prepared to look to the
free grace of God, through the redemption which is in Christ, and
to exercise faith in his blood, ‘who is set forth to be a
propitiation to declare God’s righteousness, that he might be
just, and yet be the justifier of him who believeth in Jesus.’
“6. That the infinitely wise and holy God has exerted his
omnipotent power in such a manner as he purposed should be
followed with the existence and entrance of moral evil into the
system. For it must be admitted on all hands, that God has a
perfect knowledge, foresight, and view of all possible existences
and events. If that system and scene of operation, in which moral
evil should never have existed, were actually preferred in the
divine mind, certainly the Deity is infinitely disappointed in the
issue of his own operations. Nothing can be more dishonorable to
God than to imagine that the system which is actually formed by
the divine hand, and which was made for his pleasure and glory, is
yet not the fruit of wise contrivance and design.
“7. That the introduction of sin is, upon the whole, for the
general good. For the wisdom and power of the Deity are displayed
in carrying on designs of the greatest good; and the existence of
moral evil has, undoubtedly, occasioned a more full, perfect, and
glorious discovery of the infinite perfections of the divine
nature, than could otherwise have been made to the view of
creatures. If the extensive manifestations of the pure and holy
nature of God, and his infinite aversion to sin, and all his
inherent perfections, in their genuine fruits and effects, is
either itself the greatest good, or necessarily contains it, it
must necessarily follow that the introduction of sin is for the
greatest good.
“8. That repentance is before faith in Christ. By this is not
intended, that repentance is before a speculative belief of the
being and perfections of God, and of the person and character of
Christ; but only that true repentance is previous to a saving
faith in Christ, in which the believer is united to Christ, and
entitled to the benefits of his mediation and atonement. That
repentance is before faith in this sense, appears from several
considerations. 1. As repentance and faith respect different
objects, so they are distinct exercises of the heart; and
therefore one not only may, but must, be prior to the other. 2.
There may be genuine repentance of sin without faith in Christ,
but there cannot be true faith in Christ without repentance of
sin; and since repentance is necessary in order to faith in
Christ, it must necessarily be prior to faith in Christ. 3. John
the Baptist, Christ, and his apostles, taught that repentance is
before faith. John cried, ‘Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at
hand;’ intimating that true repentance was necessary in order to
embrace the gospel of the kingdom. Christ commanded, ‘Repent ye,
and believe the gospel.’ And Paul preached ‘repentance toward God,
and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ.’
“9. That, though men became sinners by Adam, according to a divine
constitution, yet they have, and are accountable for, no sins but
personal; for, 1. Adam’s act, in eating the forbidden fruit, was
not the act of his posterity; therefore they did not sin at the
same time he did. 2. The sinfulness of that act could not be
_transferred_ to them afterwards, because the sinfulness of an act
can no more be transferred from one person to another than an act
itself. 3. Therefore Adam’s act, in eating the forbidden fruit,
was not the _cause_ but only the _occasion_, of his posterity’s
being sinners. God was pleased to make a constitution, that, if
Adam remained holy through his state of trial, his posterity
should, in consequence, be holy also; but if he sinned, his
posterity should, in consequence, be sinners likewise. Adam
sinned, and now God brings his posterity into the world sinners.
_By_ Adam’s sin we are become sinners, not _for_ it; his sin being
only the _occasion_, not the _cause_, of our committing sins.
“10. That, though believers are justified _through_ Christ’s
righteousness, yet his righteousness is not _transferred_ to them.
For, 1. Personal righteousness can no more be transferred from one
person to another, than personal sin. 2. If Christ’s personal
righteousness were transferred to believers, they would be as
perfectly holy as Christ, and so stand in no need of forgiveness.
3. But believers are not conscious of having Christ’s personal
righteousness, but feel and bewail much indwelling sin and
corruption. 4. The Scripture represents believers as receiving
only the _benefits_ of Christ’s righteousness in justification, or
their being pardoned and accepted for Christ’s righteousness’
sake; and this is the proper Scripture notion of imputation.
Jonathan’s righteousness was imputed to Mephibosheth when David
showed kindness to him for his father Jonathan’s sake.”
The Hopkinsians warmly contend for the doctrine of the divine decrees,
that of particular election, total depravity, the special influences of
the Spirit of God in regeneration, justification by faith alone, the final
perseverance of the saints, and the consistency between entire freedom and
absolute dependence, and, therefore, claim it as their just due, since the
world will make distinctions, to be called HOPKINSIAN CALVINISTS.
The statistics of this denomination are included with those of the
_Calvinists_, near the close of this volume.
ARIANS.
The followers of Arius, a presbyter of the church of Alexandria, about A.
D. 315, who held that the Son of God was totally and essentially distinct
from the Father; that he was the first and noblest of those beings whom
God had created, the instrument by whose subordinate operation he formed
the universe, and, therefore, inferior to the Father, both in nature and
dignity; also, that the Holy Ghost was not God, but created by the power
of the Son. The Arians owned that the Son was the Word, but denied that
Word to have been eternal. They held that Christ had nothing of man in him
but the flesh, to which the Word was joined, which was the same as the
soul in us.
In modern times, the term _Arian_ is indiscriminately applied to those who
consider Jesus simply subordinate to the Father. Some of them believe
Christ to have been the creator of the world; but they all maintain that
he existed previously to his incarnation, though, in his preëxistent
state, they assign him different degrees of dignity.
(See Matt. 4:10; 19:17; 27:46. Mark 5:7; 13:32 John 4:23; 14:28; 20:17.
Acts 4:24. 1 Cor. 1:4; 11:3; 15:24. Eph. 1:17; 4:6. Phil. 1:3, 4, &c.)
SOCINIANS.
A sect so called from Faustus Socinus, who died in Poland, in 1604. There
were two who bore the name of Socinus,—uncle and nephew,—and both
disseminated the same doctrine; but it is the nephew who is generally
considered as the founder of this sect. They maintain that Jesus Christ
was a mere man, who had no existence before he was conceived by the Virgin
Mary; that the Holy Ghost is no distinct person; but that the Father is
truly and properly God. They own that the name of God is given, in the
holy Scriptures, to Jesus Christ, but contend that it is only a deputed
title, which, however, invests him with a great authority over all created
beings. They deny the doctrines of satisfaction and imputed righteousness,
and say that Christ only preached the truth to mankind, set before them,
in himself, an example of heroic virtue, and sealed his doctrines with his
blood. Original sin, and absolute predestination, they esteem scholastic
chimeras. Some of them likewise maintain the sleep of the soul, which,
they say, becomes insensible at death, and is raised again, with the body,
at the resurrection, when the good shall be established in the possession
of eternal felicity, while the wicked shall be consigned to a fire that
will not torment them eternally, but for a certain duration, proportioned
to their demerits. (See Acts 2:22; 17:31. 1 Tim. 2:5.)
HUMANITARIANS.
The Humanitarians believe in the simple humanity of Christ, or that he was
nothing more than a mere man, born according to the usual course of
nature, and who lived and died according to the ordinary circumstances of
mankind.
SECTARIANS.
This term is used among Christians to denote those who form separate
communions, and do not associate with one another in religious worship and
ceremonies. Thus we call Papists, Lutherans, Calvinists, different sects,
not so much on account of their differences in opinion, as because they
have established to themselves different fraternities, to which, in what
regards public worship, they confine themselves; the several denominations
above mentioned having no intercommunity with one another in sacred
matters. High, Strict, and Moderate Calvinists, High Church and Low
Church, we call only parties, because they have not formed separate
communions. Great and known differences in opinion, when followed by no
external breach in the society, are not considered constituting distinct
sects, though their differences in opinion may give rise to mutual
aversion.
The Jewish, Christian, Mahometan, and Pagan world is divided into an
almost innumerable variety of sects, each claiming to themselves the title
of orthodox, and each charging their opponents with heresy.
Where perfect religious liberty prevails, as in the United States, and
where emigrants from all quarters of the globe resort in great numbers, it
is not surprising that most of the Christian sects in foreign countries,
with some of native origin, should be found in this part of the American
continent.
CHURCH GOVERNMENT.
There are three modes of church government, viz., the _Episcopalian_, from
the Latin word _episcopus_, signifying _bishop_; the _Presbyterian_, from
the Greek word _presbuteros_, signifying _senior_, _elder_, or
_presbyter_; and the Congregational or Independent mode. Under one of
these forms, or by a mixture of their several peculiarities, every church
in the Christian world is governed. The Episcopal form is the most
extensive, as it embraces the Catholic, Greek, English, Methodist, and
Moravian churches.
Episcopalians have three orders in the ministry, viz., bishops, priests,
and deacons; they all have liturgies, longer or shorter, which they either
statedly or occasionally use. All Episcopalians believe in the existence
and the necessity of an apostolic succession of bishops, by whom alone
regular and valid ordinations can be performed.
The Presbyterians believe that the authority of their ministers to preach
the gospel and to administer the sacraments is derived from the Holy
Ghost, by the imposition of the hands of the presbytery. They affirm,
however, that there is no order in the church, as established by Christ
and his apostles, superior to that of presbyters; that all ministers,
being ambassadors of Christ, are equal by their commission; that
_presbyter_ and _bishop_, though different words, are of the same import;
and that prelacy was gradually established upon the primitive practice of
making the _moderator_, or speaker of the presbytery, a permanent officer.
The Congregationalists, or Independents, are so called from their
maintaining that each congregation of Christians, which meets in one house
for public worship, is a complete church, has sufficient power to act and
perform every thing relating to religious government within itself, and is
in no respect subject or accountable to other churches.
Independents, or Congregationalists, generally ordain their ministers by a
council of ministers called for the purpose: but still they hold that the
essence of ordination lies in the voluntary choice and call of the people,
and that public ordination is no other than a declaration of that call.
PRESBYTERIANS.
The first settlers of New England were driven away from Old England, in
pursuit of religious liberty. They were required to conform to the
established Protestant Episcopal church, in all her articles of belief,
and modes of worship and discipline: their consciences forbade such
conformity: their ministers were displaced: their property was tithed for
the support of an ecclesiastical prelacy, which they renounced; and the
only relief which they could find, was in abandoning their country for the
new world.
Most of the first settlers of New England were Congregationalists; and
established the government of individuals by the male communicating
members of the churches to which they belonged, and of congregations by
sister congregations, met by representation in ecclesiastical councils. A
part of the ministers and people of Connecticut, at a very early period of
her history, were Presbyterians in their principles of church government.
Being intermixed, however, with Congregational brethren, instead of
establishing presbyteries in due form, they united with their
fellow-Christians in adopting, in 1708, the Saybrook Platform, according
to which the churches and pastors are consociated, so as virtually to be
under Presbyterian government, under another name.
The first Presbyterian churches duly organized in the United States, were
the first Presbyterian church in Philadelphia, and the church at Snow
Hill, in Maryland.
The first presbytery in the United States was formed about 1794, by the
voluntary association of several ministers, who had received Presbyterian
orders in Europe, and who agreed to govern themselves agreeably to the
Westminster Confession of Faith, Form of Government, Book of Discipline,
and Directory for Worship. (See _Andover Orthodox Creed_.)
The reason why the Presbyterians first settled in Pennsylvania, Maryland,
and New Jersey, was undoubtedly this—that in these places they found
toleration, and equal religious rights, while the Episcopacy was
established by law in Virginia, Congregationalism in New England, and the
Reformed Dutch church, with Episcopacy, in New York.
The doctrines of the Presbyterian church are Calvinistic; and the only
fundamental principle which distinguishes it from other Protestant
churches is this—that God has authorized the government of his church by
presbyters, or elders, who are chosen by the people, and ordained to
office by predecessors in office, in virtue of the commission which Christ
gave his apostles as ministers in the kingdom of God; and that, among all
presbyters, there is an official parity, whatever disparity may exist in
their talents or official employments.
All the different congregations, under the care of the general assembly,
are considered as the one Presbyterian church in the United States,
meeting, for the sake of convenience and edification, in their several
places of worship. Each particular congregation of baptized people,
associated for godly living, and the worship of Almighty God, may become a
Presbyterian church, by electing one or more elders, agreeably to the form
prescribed in the book styled the Constitution of the Presbyterian Church,
and having them ordained and installed as their session.
They judge that to presbyteries the Lord Jesus has committed the spiritual
government of each particular congregation, and not to the whole body of
the communicants; and on this point they are distinguished from
Independents and Congregationalists. If all were governors, they should
not be able to distinguish the overseers or bishops from all the male and
female communicants; nor could they apply the command, “Obey them that
have the rule over you, and submit yourselves; for they watch for your
souls, as they that must give account.” (Heb. 13:17.) If all are rulers in
the church who are communicants, they are at a loss for the meaning of the
exhortation, “We beseech you, brethren, to know them that labor among you,
_and are over you in the __ Lord_, and admonish you; and to esteem them
very highly in love for their work’s sake.”
If an aggrieved brother should tell the story of his wrongs to each
individual communicant, he would not thereby tell it to the church
judicially, so that cognizance could be taken of the affair. It is to the
church, acting by her proper organs, and to her overseers, met as a
judicatory, that he must bring his charge, if he would have discipline
exercised in such a way as God empowered his church to exercise it.
The general assembly is the highest judicatory in the Presbyterian church,
and is constituted by an equal number of teaching and ruling elders,
elected by each presbytery annually, and specially commissioned to
deliberate, vote, and determine, in all matters which may come before that
body. Each presbytery may send one bishop and one ruling elder to the
assembly: each presbytery, having more than twelve ministers, may send two
ministers and two ruling elders, and so, in the same proportion, for every
twelve ministerial members.
Every Presbyterian church elects its own pastor; but, to secure the whole
church against insufficient, erroneous, or immoral men, it is provided
that no church shall prosecute any call, without first obtaining leave
from the presbytery under whose care that church may be; and that no
licentiate, or bishop, shall receive any call, but through the hands of
his own presbytery.
Any member of the Presbyterian church may be the subject of its
discipline; and every member, if he judges himself injured by any portion
of the church, may, by appeal, or complaint, carry his cause up from the
church session to the presbytery, from the presbytery to the synod, and
from the synod to the general assembly, so as to obtain the decision of
the whole church, met by representation in this high judicatory.
Evangelical ministers of the gospel, of all denominations, are permitted,
on the invitation of a pastor, or of the session of a vacant church, to
preach in their pulpits; and any person known properly, or made known to a
pastor or session, as a communicant in good, regular standing, in any
truly Christian denomination of people, is, in most of their churches,
affectionately invited to occasional communion. They wish to have
Christian fellowship with all the redeemed of the Lord, who have been
renewed by his Spirit; but, in ecclesiastical government and discipline,
they ask and expect the coöperation of none but Presbyterians. See
_Statistics_.
CUMBERLAND PRESBYTERIANS.
In the year 1800, a very great revival of religion took place within the
bounds of the synod of Kentucky, in consequence of which, a greater number
of new congregations were formed than it was possible to supply with
regularly-educated ministers. To remedy this evil, it was resolved to
license men to preach who were apt to teach, and sound in the faith,
though they had not gone through any course of classical study. This took
place at the Transylvania presbyter; but, as many of its members were
dissatisfied with the proposed innovation, an appeal was made to the
synod, which appointed a commission to examine into the circumstances of
the case, the result of whose report was, a prohibition of the labors of
uneducated ministers, which led the opposite party to form themselves into
an independent presbytery, which took its name from the district of
Cumberland, in which it was constituted.
As to the doctrinal views, they occupy a kind of middle ground between
Calvinists and Arminians. They reject the doctrine of eternal reprobation,
and hold the universality of redemption, and that the Spirit of God
operates on the world, or as coëxtensively as Christ has made the
atonement, in such a manner as to leave all men inexcusable.
The Cumberland Presbyterians have about 550 churches and ministers, and
about 70,000 members. They have a college at Cumberland, Ky.
EPISCOPALIANS.
That form of Church polity, in which the ministry is divided into the
three orders of Bishops, Priests, and Deacons, each having powers and
duties, distinct from the others, the Bishops being superior to the
Priests and Deacons, and the immediate source of all their authority, is
called EPISCOPACY, and those who adhere to this polity, are called
EPISCOPALIANS.