either wholly sinful or wholly righteous, and that every being in the
universe, at any given time, is either entirely holy or entirely wicked.
Consequently, they unblushingly maintain that they themselves are free
from sin. In support of this doctrine, they say that Christ dwells in and
controls believers, and thus secures their perfect holiness; that the body
of Christ, which is the church, is nourished and guided by the life and
wisdom of its Head. Hence they condemn the greatest portion of the
religion in the world named Christianity, as the work of Antichrist. “All
the essential features of Judaism,” they say, “and of its successor,
Popery, may be distinctly traced in nearly every form of Protestantism;
and although we rejoice in the blessings which the reformation has given
us, we regard it as rightly named the _reformation_, it being an
improvement of Antichrist, not a restoration of Christianity.” This last
opinion, which has some foundation in truth, has been long held, variously
modified, in different parts of the Christian world.
An unsuccessful attempt was made to propagate the views of this sect
through the medium of a paper published at New Haven, Conn., entitled the
_Perfectionist_.
Methodists’ Views Of Perfection.
“The highest perfection which man can attain, while the soul dwells in the
body, does not exclude ignorance, and error, and a thousand other
infirmities. Now, from wrong judgments, wrong words and actions will often
necessarily flow; and in some cases, wrong affections, also, may spring
from the same source. I may judge wrong of you; I may think more or less
highly of you than I ought to think; and this mistake in my judgment may
not only occasion something wrong in my behavior, but it may have a still
deeper effect; it may occasion something wrong in my affection. From a
wrong apprehension, I may love and esteem you either more or less than I
ought. Nor can I be freed from a liableness to such a mistake while I
remain in a corruptible body. A thousand infirmities, in consequence of
this, will attend my spirit, till it returns to God, who gave it; and, in
numberless instances, it comes short of doing the will of God, as Adam did
in paradise. Hence the best of men may say from the heart,
“Every moment, Lord, I need
The merit of thy death,”
for innumerable violations of the Adamic, as well as the angelic law. It
is well, therefore, for us, that we are not now under these, but under the
law of love. “Love is [now] the fulfilling of the law,” which is given to
fallen man. This is now, with respect to us, “the perfect law.” But even
against this, through the present weakness of our understanding, we are
continually liable to transgress. Therefore every man living needs the
blood of atonement; or he could not stand before God.
“What is, then, the perfection of which man is capable while he dwells in
a corruptible body? It is the complying with that kind command, ‘My son,
give me thy heart.’ It is the ‘loving the Lord his God with all his heart,
and with all his soul, and with all his mind.’ This is the sum of
Christian perfection: it is all comprised in that one word, _love_. The
first branch of it is the love of God; and, as he that loves God loves his
brother also, it is inseparably connected with the second, ‘Thou shalt
love thy neighbor as thyself;’ thou shalt love every man as thy own soul,
as Christ loved us. ‘On these two commandments hang all the law and the
prophets:’ these contain the whole of Christian perfection.
“Another view of this is given us in those words of the great apostle,
‘Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus.’ For, although
this immediately and directly refers to the humility of our Lord, yet it
may be taken in a far more extensive sense, so as to include the whole
disposition of his mind, all his affections, all his tempers, both toward
God and man. Now, it is certain that, as there was no evil affection in
him, so no good affection or temper was wanting; so that ‘whatsoever
things are holy, whatsoever things are lovely,’ are all included in ‘the
mind that was in Christ Jesus.’
“St. Paul, when writing to the Galatians, places perfection in yet another
view. It is the one undivided _fruit of the Spirit_, which he describes
thus: ‘The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering,
gentleness, goodness, fidelity, [so the word should be translated here,]
meekness, temperance.’ What a glorious constellation of grace is here!
Now, suppose all these things to be knit together in one, to be united
together in the soul of a believer,—this is Christian perfection.
How To Be Sought.
“’But what is that faith whereby we are sanctified, saved from sin, and
perfected in love?’ It is a divine evidence and conviction, first, that
God hath promised it in the holy Scripture. Till we are thoroughly
satisfied of this, there is no moving one step farther. And one would
imagine there needed not one word more to satisfy a reasonable man of this
than the ancient promise, ‘Then will I circumcise thy heart, and the heart
of thy seed, to love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy
soul, and with all thy mind.’ How clearly does this express the being
perfected in love!—how strongly imply the being saved from all sin! For as
long as love takes up the whole heart, what room is there for sin therein?
“It is a divine evidence and conviction, secondly, that what God hath
promised he is able to perform. Admitting, therefore, that ‘with men it is
impossible’ ‘to bring a clean thing out of an unclean,’ to purify the
heart from all sin, and to fill it with all holiness,—yet this creates no
difficulty in the case, seeing ‘with God all things are possible.’ And
surely no one ever imagined it was possible to any power less than that of
the Almighty! But if God speaks, it shall be done. God saith, ‘Let there
be light; and there [is] light.’
“It is, thirdly, a divine evidence and conviction that he is able and
willing to do it now. And why not? Is not a moment to him the same as a
thousand years? He cannot want more time to accomplish whatever is his
will. And he cannot want to stay for any more _worthiness_ or _fitness_ in
the persons he is pleased to honor. We may, therefore, boldly say, at any
point of time, ‘Now is the day of salvation!’ ‘To-day, if ye will hear his
voice, harden not your hearts.’ ‘Behold, all things are now ready; come
unto the marriage.’
“To this confidence that God is both able and willing to sanctify us now,
there needs to be added one thing more—a divine evidence and conviction
that he doeth it. In that hour it is done: God says to the inmost soul,
‘According to thy faith be it unto thee.’ Then the soul is pure from every
spot of sin; it is clean ‘from all unrighteousness.’ The believer then
experiences the deep meaning of those solemn words, ‘If we walk in the
light as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the
blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.’
“ ‘But does God work this great work in the soul gradually, or
instantaneously?’ Perhaps it may be gradually wrought in some: I mean, in
this sense, they do not advert to the particular moment wherein sin ceases
to be. But it is infinitely desirable, were it the will of God, that it
should be done instantaneously; that the Lord should destroy sin ‘by the
breath of his mouth,’ in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye. And so he
generally does—a plain fact, of which there is evidence enough to satisfy
any unprejudiced person. _Thou_, therefore, look for it every moment.”—See
_Wesley’s Sermons_, vols. i. and ii.
Oberlin Views Of Sanctification.
In the fall of 1836, during an interesting revival of religion in Oberlin,
Ohio, the minds of many became deeply interested in the inquiry, “Can we
live holy lives? and, if we can, how?” At first, fears were entertained
that some would run into the errors of the Perfectionists; but, finally,
after much prayer and investigation, they adopted the following views of
sanctification:—
“1. That entire obedience to the moral law constitutes entire
sanctification or holiness.
“2. That all moral agents are able to render this obedience.
“3. That because all moral agents are able to render this
obedience, they are bound to do so.
“4. That sufficient grace for the actual attainment of this state
is abundantly in the gospel, and that nothing prevents any
Christian from making this attainment in this life, but a neglect
to avail himself of the proffered grace of Christ.
“5. That all are bound to aim at and pray for this attainment in
this life, and that aiming at this state is indispensable to
Christian character.
“6. That obedience to the moral law, or a state of entire
sanctification, is in such a sense attainable, as to make it an
object of rational pursuit, with the _expectation of attaining
it_.
“7. That the philosophy of the mind, the commandments of God, the
promises and provisions of the gospel, and the attainments of Paul
and many others, should be presented, to induce men to aim at a
state of entire sanctification, with the expectation of attaining
it.”
Since these views were embraced at Oberlin, they have been extensively
circulated by many books and pamphlets, and a paper, entitled the _Oberlin
Evangelist_. By many Christians and ministers of different denominations
these views have been received; but by others they are opposed.
WALDENSES.
Many authors of note make the antiquity of this denomination coeval with
the apostolic age. The following is an extract from their confession of
faith, which is said to have been copied out of certain manuscripts,
bearing date nearly four hundred years before the time of Luther:—
“1. That the Scriptures teach that there is one God, almighty,
all-wise, and all-good, who made all things by his goodness; for
he formed Adam in his own image and likeness; but that, by the
envy of the devil, sin entered into the world; and that we are
sinners in and by Adam.
“2. That Christ was promised to our fathers, who received the law;
that so knowing, by the law, their unrighteousness and
insufficiency, they might desire the coming of Christ, to satisfy
for their sins, and accomplish the law by himself.
“3. That Christ was born in the time appointed by God the Father;
that is to say, in the time when all iniquity abounded, that he
might show us grace and mercy, as being faithful; that Christ is
our life, truth, peace, and righteousness, as also our pastor,
advocate, and priest, who died for the salvation of all who
believe, and is risen for our justification; that there is no
mediator and advocate with God the Father, save Jesus Christ;
that, after this life, there are only two places, the one for the
saved, and the other for the damned; that the feasts, the vigils
of saints, the water which they call holy, as also to abstain from
flesh on certain days, and the like, but especially the masses,
are the inventions of men, and ought to be rejected; that the
sacraments are signs of the holy thing, visible forms of the
invisible grace; and that it is good for the faithful to use those
signs, or visible forms, but that they are not essential to
salvation; that there are no other sacraments but baptism and the
Lord’s supper; that we ought to honor the secular powers, by
subjection, ready obedience, and paying of tribute.”
ALLENITES.
The disciples of Henry Allen, of Nova Scotia, who began to propagate his
doctrines in that country about the year 1778, and died in 1783, during
which interval he made many proselytes, and at his death left a
considerable party behind him, though now much declined. He published
several treatises and sermons, in which he declares that the souls of all
the human race are emanations, or rather parts, of the one great Spirit;
that they were all present in Eden, and were actually in the first
transgression. He supposes that our first parents, in innocency, were pure
spirits, and that the material world was not then made; but that, in
consequence of the fall, that mankind might not sink into utter
destruction, this world was produced, and men clothed with material
bodies; and that all the human race will, in their turn, be invested with
such bodies, and in them enjoy a state of probation for immortal
happiness.
JOHNSONIANS.
The followers of Mr. John Johnson, many years Baptist minister at
Liverpool, in the last century, of whose followers there are still several
congregations in different parts of England. He denied that faith was a
duty, or even action of the soul, and defined it “an active principle”
conferred by grace; and denied also the duty of ministers to exhort the
unconverted, or preach any _moral duties_ whatever.
Though Mr. Johnson entertained high Supralapsarian notions on the divine
decrees, he admitted the universality of the death of Christ. On the
doctrine of the Trinity, his followers are said to have embraced the
indwelling scheme, with Calvinistic views of justification and the
atonement.
DONATISTS.
A denomination which arose in the fourth century. They derived their name
from Donatus, bishop of Numidia. They maintained that their community was
alone to be considered as the true church, and avoided all communication
with other churches, from an apprehension of contracting their impurity
and corruption. Hence they pronounced the sacred rites and institutions
void of all virtue and efficacy among those Christians who were not
precisely of their sentiments, and not only rebaptized those who came over
to their party from other churches, but, with respect to those who had
been ordained ministers of the gospel, they either deprived them of their
office, or obliged them to be ordained the second time.
SE-BAPTISTS.
A sect of small note, which was formed in England about the beginning of
the seventeenth century, by one John Smith, who maintained that it was
lawful for every one to baptize himself. There is at this day an
inconsiderable sect in Russia who are known by this name, and who perform
the rite upon themselves, from an idea that no one is left on earth
sufficiently holy to administer it aright.
RE-ANOINTERS.
A sect in Russia, which sprang up about the year 1770. They do not
rebaptize those who join them from the Greek church, but insist on the
necessity of their having the mystery of the chrism or unction again
administered to them. They are very numerous in Moscow.
TAO-SE, OR TAOU-TSZE.
The name of a famous sect among the Chinese, who owe their rise to
_Laou-tsze Lao Kian_, or _Laokium_, a philosopher, who lived, if we may
credit his disciples, about five hundred years before Christ. He professed
to restore the religion of _Tao_, (_Taou_,) or Reason. Some of his
writings are still extant, and are full of maxims and sentiments of virtue
and morality. Among others, this sentence is often repeated in them:
“_Tao_ hath produced one, one hath produced two, two have produced three,
and three have produced all things.”
The morality of this philosopher and his disciples is not unlike that of
the Epicureans, consisting in a tranquillity of mind, free from all
vehement desires and passions. But as this tranquillity would be disturbed
by thoughts of death, they boast of a liquor that has the power of
rendering them immortal. They are addicted to chemistry, alchemy, and
magic, and are persuaded that, by the assistance of demons, whom they
invoke, they can obtain all that they desire. The hope of avoiding death
prevailed upon a great number of mandarins to study this diabolical art,
and certain credulous and superstitious emperors brought it greatly into
vogue.
The doctrine of this sect, concerning the formation of the world,
according to Dr. Milne, much resembles that of the Epicureans. If they do
not maintain the eternity of matter, on the other hand, they do not deny
it; but, in analogy with the favorite science of alchemy, they represent
the first pair as drawn out of the boiling mouth of an “immense crucible,”
by a celestial being. The Platonic notion of an _anima mundi_, or soul of
the world, is very common; and hence it is that the heavens are considered
the body of this imaginary being, the wind its breath, the lights of
heaven as proceeding from its eyes, the watery fluids as its spittle and
tears.
QUIETISTS.
The disciples of Michael de Molinos, a Spanish priest, who flourished in
the seventeenth century, and wrote a book called “The Spiritual Guide.”
They argue thus:—“The apostle tells us, that ‘the Spirit makes
intercession for,’ or _in_ ‘us.’ Now, if the Spirit pray in us, we must
resign ourselves to his impulses, by remaining in a state of absolute
rest, or quietude, till we attain the perfection of the unitive life”—a
life of union with, and, as it should seem, of absorption in, the Deity.
KNIPPERDOLINGS.
A denomination in the sixteenth century, so called from Bertrand
Knipperdoling, who taught that the righteous, before the day of judgment,
shall have a monarchy on earth, and the wicked be destroyed; that men are
not justified by their faith in Christ Jesus; that there is no original
sin; that infants ought not to be baptized, and immersion is the only mode
of baptism; that every one has authority to preach, and administer the
sacraments; that men are not obliged to pay respect to magistrates; that
all things ought to be in common; and that it is lawful to marry many
wives.
MENDÆANS, MENDAITES, MENDAI IJAHI, OR DISCIPLES OF ST. JOHN, THAT IS, THE
BAPTIST.
From twenty to twenty-five thousand families of this sect still remain,
chiefly in the neighborhood of Bassora, a city between Arabia and Persia,
on the extremity of the desert of Irac. They are sometimes called
_Christians of St. John_—a name which they probably received from the
Turks, and to which they contentedly submit for the sake of the toleration
it affords them; but they are better known in ecclesiastical history as
_Hemero_ (or every day) _Baptists_, from their frequent washings.
MUGGLETONIANS.
The followers of Ludovic Muggleton, a journeyman tailor, who, with his
companion Reeves, set up for great prophets, in the time of Cromwell. They
pretended to absolve or condemn whom they pleased, and gave out that they
were the two last witnesses spoken of in the Revelation, who were to
appear previous to the final destruction of the world. They affirmed that
there was no devil at all without the body of man or woman; that the devil
is man’s spirit of unclean reason and cursed imagination; that the
ministry in this world, whether prophetical or ministerial, is all a lie,
and abomination to the Lord; with a variety of other vain and inconsistent
tenets.
Muggleton died in 1697, and on his gravestone is this inscription:—
“Whilst mausoleums and large inscriptions give
Might, splendor, and, past death, make potents live,
It is enough briefly to write thy name:
Succeeding times by that will read thy fame;
Thy deeds, thy acts, around the world resound;
No foreign soil where Muggleton’s not found.”
The raven plume of oblivion hath long ago waved over this prophet’s grave.
YEZIDEES, OR WORSHIPPERS OF THE DEVIL.
From a very interesting work recently published by Asahel Grant, M. D., a
medical missionary to the Nestorians, we copy the following account:—
“The passage of the Tigris transferred me from Mesopotamia into Assyria,
and I stood upon the ruins of Nineveh, ‘that great city,’ where the
prophet Jonah proclaimed the dread message of Jehovah to so many repenting
thousands whose deep humiliation averted for a time the impending ruin.
But when her proud monarchs had scourged idolatrous Israel and carried the
ten tribes into captivity, and raised their hands against Judah and the
holy city, the inspired strains of the eloquent Nahum, clothed in terrible
sublimity as they were, met their full accomplishment in the utter
desolation of one of the largest cities on which the sun ever shone.
‘Nineveh is laid waste! who will bemoan her? She is empty, and void, and
waste; her nobles dwell in the dust; her people are scattered upon the
mountains, and no man gathereth them.’
“Where her gorgeous palaces once resounded to the strains of music and the
shouts of revelry, a few black tents of the wandering Arab and Tûrkomân
are now scattered among the shapeless mounds of earth and rubbish,—the
ruins of the city,—as if in mockery of her departed glory; while their
tenants were engaged in the fitting employment of weaving ‘sackcloth of
hair,’ as if for the mourning attire of the world’s great emporium, whose
‘merchants’ were multiplied above the stars of heaven. The largest mound,
from which very ancient relics and inscriptions are dug, is now crowned
with the Moslem village of Neby Yûnas, or the prophet Jonah, where his
remains are said to be interred, and over which has been reared, as his
mausoleum, a temple of Islâm.
“Soon after leaving the ruins of Nineveh, we came in sight of two villages
of the Yezidees, the reputed worshippers of the devil. Large and luxuriant
olive-groves, with their rich green foliage, and fruit just ripening in
the autumnal sun, imparted such a cheerful aspect to the scene as soon
dispelled whatever of pensive melancholy had gathered around me, while
treading upon the dust of departed greatness. Several white sepulchres of
Yezidee sheiks attracted attention as I approached the villages. They were
in the form of fluted cones or pyramids, standing upon quadrangular bases,
and rising to the height of some twenty feet or more. We became the guests
of one of the chief Yezidees of Baa-sheka, whose dwelling, like others in
the place, was a rude stone structure, with a flat terrace roof. Coarse
felt carpets were spread for our seats in the open court, and a formal
welcome was given us; but it was evidently not a very cordial one. My
Turkish cavass understood the reason, and at once removed it. Our host had
mistaken me for a Mahometan towards whom the Yezidees cherish a settled
aversion. As soon as I was introduced to him as a Christian, and he had
satisfied himself that this was my true character, his whole deportment
was changed. He at once gave me a new and cordial welcome, and set about
supplying our wants with new alacrity. He seemed to feel that he had
exchanged a Moslem foe for a Christian friend, and I became quite
satisfied of the truth of what I had often heard,—that the Yezidees are
friendly towards the professors of Christianity.
“They are said to cherish a high regard for the Christian religion, of
which clearly they have some corrupt remains. They practise the rite of
baptism, make the sign of the cross, so emblematical of Christianity in
the East, put off their shoes, and kiss the threshold when they enter a
Christian church; and it is said that they often speak of wine as the
blood of Christ, hold the cup with both hands, after the sacramental
manner of the East, when drinking it, and, if a drop chance to fall on the
ground, they gather it up with religious care.
“They believe in one supreme God, and, in some sense at least, in Christ
as a Savior. They have also a remnant of Sabianism, or the religion of the
ancient fire-worshippers. They bow in adoration before the rising sun, and
kiss his first rays when they strike on a wall or other object near them;
and they will not blow out a candle with their breath, or spit in the
fire, lest they should defile that sacred element.
“Circumcision and the passover, or a sacrificial festival allied to the
passover in time and circumstance, seem also to identify them with the
Jews; and, altogether, they certainly present a most singular chapter in
the history of man.
“That they are really the worshippers of the devil can only be true, if at
all, in a modified sense, though it is true that they pay him so much
deference as to refuse to speak of him disrespectfully, (perhaps for fear
of his vengeance;) and, instead of pronouncing his name, they call him the
‘lord of the evening,’ or ‘prince of darkness;’ also, Sheik Maazen, or
Exalted Chief. Some of them say that Satan was a fallen angel, with whom
God was angry; but he will at some future day be restored to favor, and
there is no reason why they should treat him with disrespect.